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  <row Id="2" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:49:22.470" Score="19" ViewCount="2399" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference? I'm looking at shake options and some contain whey isolate, some contain whey concentrate and some both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="36" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T20:18:52.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:18:52.207" Title="What's the difference between Whey Isolate and Whey Concentrate in shakes?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-01-23T18:16:38.733" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="3" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="39" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:49:25.090" Score="56" ViewCount="10633" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provided that I'm not hungry, should I eat breakfast before or after a 30-minutes morning jog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;: There are many answers detailing opinions -- thanks! If someone could supply evidence supporting their view, I'd be even happier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastEditorDisplayName="user26" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T13:26:24.507" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T19:46:37.367" Title="Breakfast before or after jogging?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="5" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:50:04.177" Score="23" ViewCount="2968" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started training martial arts (mostly striking, some wrestling).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have trainings twice a week (monday/wednesday). Trainings are pretty demanding, even after 3 months. I don't train anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of exercises can I do at home that complement my martial art training? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-30T21:54:15.873" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T00:48:42.193" Title="What kind of home exercises are helpful when one trains martial arts?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="363" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:51:38.393" Score="108" ViewCount="42842" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercises are recommended for people, who sit in front of the PC working for long hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25" LastEditorUserId="1640" LastEditDate="2011-08-10T12:51:41.193" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:22:38.350" Title="Exercises for a programmer sitting by the PC all day" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="27" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="120" ClosedDate="2013-01-02T08:25:26.703" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="70" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:53:41.173" Score="28" ViewCount="24533" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been overweight most of my life and recently I've been slimming down (lost &gt; 50 lbs so far, shooting for 35-40 more) and I'm wanting to start running. I have no problems walking for miles and miles (walked 8 one day just to see how far I could go, never got tired), but when I start running my lungs are on fire after about 1/10th of a mile and I can't continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something that will go away, is there something I can do to improve it, or should I be seeing a doctor about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also might note I'm an ex-smoker of about 7 years, just quit about 5 months ago as part of my beginning a healthier lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T19:37:41.827" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:38:58.600" Title="Lungs on Fire When Running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="12" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:56:50.323" Score="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats, deadlifts, and bench press. Actually the same exercises that are good for anybody. If you want a real specific answer, I'd say deadlifts for the extra back support. Helps maintain a good posture while sitting all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:56:50.323" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="13" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:57:03.740" Score="37" ViewCount="2050" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a period of inactivity I recently started running again and want know what gadgets or tools I use to monitor my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should offer workout programs (based on my level or goal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should graphically show my progress over time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should be mobile, so I can take it with me during running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what can I use to monitor my running workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T20:44:51.440" LastActivityDate="2020-02-14T16:17:48.837" Title="What can I use to monitor my running workout?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="14" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:57:15.480" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I'm not a smoker and can't comment on that(but here's an interesting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_4674662_building-heart-lungs-after-smoking.html&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; that may apply), I have found though, that if I don't keep up on running, I get the same feeling.  Two years ago, I was able to run 10 miles no prob.  After getting married and in school full time I haven't ran for a while.  I went running the other day, and had the same feeling.  I'm no Doctor or health expert, but I'm assuming that working out your lungs and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/22608-breathing-exercises-increase-lung-capacity/&quot;&gt;lung capacity&lt;/a&gt; is the same as working out your other muscles.  It takes time, and pain to get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some excercises that you can do to build up your lung capacity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Belly Breath Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This belly breath exercise is designed to deepen your breathing and increase your overall energy levels. Lie down on the ground with a pillow behind your head and your back flat on the ground. Put one of your hands down on your stomach and push till you have pushed down on your diaphragm. According to UMKC, pushing down on your diaphragm helps to draw additional air into your lungs. From here, take a slow deep breath and don't stop inhaling until you have reached full capacity. Exhale and repeat this belly breathing exercise for one minute. After one minute, rest for one minute before repeating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing Breathing Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This standing breathing exercise is designed to improve lung capacity and help people with respiratory illnesses. Stand up straight with your legs shoulder width apart. From here, relax your knees and bend your upper torso down over your body. As you bend your upper torso, exhale deeply to remove all air that is currently found within your lungs. After you have released the air, stand up straight and take in a deep breath of air. From here, hold this breath for 15 to 20 seconds. While you are holding your breath, stretch your arms out over your head to maximize lung capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Higher Altitude Running Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This exercise is designed to help you increase lung capacity by training at higher altitudes. Find a mountain or place that has a high elevation and prepare to run. Prior to running, stretch out for 10 to 15 minutes, acclimating yourself to the new altitude and weather. From here, run for 30 minutes to an hour, making sure that you are keeping pace with your normal running routine. Higher altitude training increases lung capacity because of an increase in red blood cells and haemoglobin found in your body. Because a higher altitude reduces the amount of available oxygen in the atmosphere, your body compensates by increasing the concentration of red blood cells in your body. This is ideal for athletes looking to temporarily increase their lung capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/204281-exercises-for-lung-capacity/&quot;&gt;reference site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T20:09:37.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:09:37.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="15" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:57:35.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been searching for a while on this subject as well and I came across this writeup on reddit and it has some pretty informative stuff in it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/ewrr0/writeup_on_the_dreaded_anterior_pelvic_tilt_or/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reddit.com/r/fitness&lt;/a&gt; . It has a bunch of stretches you should be doing every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:57:35.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="16" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:58:36.993" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main difference is in the &quot;purity&quot;, how much lactose and fat is left with the protein after filtering. Whey isolate usually contains around 90% protein and whey concentrate is more like 70-85%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have trouble digesting the lactose or are trying to minimize carbohydrate content, then whey isolate would be a good choice. Otherwise, it probably doesn't matter; just pick the concentrate since it's cheaper in terms of protein grams/dollar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:58:36.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="18" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:59:03.230" Score="75" ViewCount="7388" Body="&lt;p&gt;For weight loss results is there a time of day that is most beneficial to exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14" LastEditorUserId="3806" LastEditDate="2017-11-12T14:21:02.183" LastActivityDate="2017-11-12T14:21:02.183" Title="Is there a best time of the day to exercise for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="24" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:59:03.333" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Body weight squats will help with leg strength and balance. Bicycle crunches and situps for oblique and core. Pushups or elevated pushups for triceps. I would avoid excessive bicep curls as big biceps will decrease your punching speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:59:03.333" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="21" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:01:09.503" Score="67" ViewCount="11088" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Protein shakes&quot; and other high-protein dietary strategies are believed by some to improve muscle recovery times after workouts.  However, there is some opinion to the contrary: that protein intake beyond a normal level does not result in quicker recovery times.  Does ingesting huge amounts of protein actually help speed muscle recovery after workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T06:59:36.890" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T11:05:41.927" Title="Effect of protein intake on muscle recovery" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="17" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="25" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:04:42.450" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had lots of success of &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RunKeeper Pro&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It comes with some preset training programs and you can customize them yourself.  Granted, the programs themselves are only for single running sessions as opposed to a long term plan. There are also training programs (Fitness Classes) available through the site, though you have to buy them. However, you can set them up yourself as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZQhby.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RunKeeper Pro is available for free on both the iPhone and Android. Which uses GPS to track your running speed and gives you feedback during your running session. The results are automatically uploaded to their website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BDpkq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RRRFX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you login to their site, you can see reports of your progress/activity over time. There are also options to add reports for other workouts, like swimming or rowing and also upload heart rate reports from your Polar to get a more complete overview of your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wJEG1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also RunKeeper Elite (19$/year) that offers access to more advanced features.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T17:07:25.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T17:07:25.260" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="26" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:05:15.567" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back bridges (where you go into a bridge, lower yourself to about 20 cm above the ground, then raise yourself back into a full bridge – think an upsidedown pushup) are excellent for strengthening your back, which will improve your mobility on the ground; very useful for a grappling-based martial art.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n3rAQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Developing your hand strength with grip trainers (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heavygrips.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.heavygrips.com/&lt;/a&gt;) is also very useful for grappling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YzJ0Q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T20:45:06.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:45:06.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="27" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:07:12.993" Score="11" ViewCount="1906" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to not take large meals for at least 12 hours before starting, yet abdominal exercises still can make me feel unwell and go to bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal? Or should I reconsider my diet? Does anyone else have this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-08T03:07:53.590" LastActivityDate="2012-09-08T03:07:53.590" Title="Is there any way or need to empty your bowels before excercise?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:08:00.777" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should have at least some protein prior to exercise. This will largely serve to prevent you from overeating after your workout is over, and will provide some excess energy during your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:08:00.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="29" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="37" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:08:15.783" Score="6" ViewCount="9330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to lift weights at the gym some years ago and my intention is to get back in shape this month. I'm still in reasonable shape, around 18-20% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to maximize my gains/losses as this provides the motivation to keep on doing it. Should I cut or bulk first? If there are any studies about this I'd love hearing about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T16:36:41.577" Title="Back to the gym: should I bulk or cut first?" Tags="&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="31" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:09:18.277" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest working up to running by running very small distances at first during your walks. Walk a mile, run a block, repeat. Gradually increase the distance that you run, but stop if you feel you're overexerting. The goal is to gradually build up your endurance when running and you don't have to be able to sprint the whole 8 miles on your first go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: if you are concerned that there could be something wrong, then absolutely go see your doctor! Nobody on this site will (or should) say anything different...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:09:18.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="32" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:10:37.067" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.micoach.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Adidas MiCoach&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It comes in several flavors: foot pod, foot pod + heart rate monitor, iPhone App or Android App.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does it do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It lets you choose training programs, based on general workouts, losing weight, or more 'professional' goals like running a certain race distance or improving your race times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can customize your workout based on your level and the amount of training sessions per week:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FrOFD.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it gives you an overview of your progress + options to analyze each separate workout:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PDVa6.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QQQHC.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How does it work?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My version uses a heart rate monitor + foot pod. They have a wireless connecting with a 'Pacer' which stores the results. You have one earphone connected to the Pacer, which tells you what you have to do during your workout. As you can see in the image above, it will tell you to speed up when you reach the green zone or slow down when you have to go back to the blue one. For the rest, it's pretty much out of your way and you can wire it through an mp3 player, which will be muted when you get a new command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're done, you connect the Pacer to your computer using USB and your workout gets synchronized to the Adidas site, where you can analyze it. It has space for 15 workouts and it will automatically download a new one after you've finished another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there any downsides?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It costs 120 euro, which is expensive compared to using pen and paper or just a Polar watch. As you can see in one of the screenshots, if you 'miss' one of your scheduled workouts while having the Pacer connected, it will assume you did the workout and 'skip' it. Also, while new features are added steadily, Adidas doesn't seem able to keep up with some of the competing smartphone apps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="1055" LastEditDate="2011-08-21T21:37:06.040" LastActivityDate="2011-08-21T21:37:06.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:12:27.247" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't go for deadlifts right away. Yes, they are good, but chances are high that your posture has problems, your mobility is reduced and as a result your execution of DLs will suck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on stretching and try yoga or other activities like that to work on that posture and core strength. Other than that, any regular workout is a good workout for everyone, same rules apply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:12:27.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="35" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:13:45.247" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this depends on what your ultimate goal is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is to be able to lift as much weight as possible, bulk first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is look like an underwear model, probably cut first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is general health/something in between, I seen no reason why you can't just start working out without making any radical changes first and let your body gain muscle/lose fat as it will.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:13:45.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="37" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:14:42.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always find it more satisfying to gain, since I like to eat. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just getting back into things, you'll find that your strength gains will be rapid until you get close to your old level (muscle/nerve memory) and that will be psychologically satisfying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, having more muscle can only help later when you want to cut (burning more calories, if you believe in that, and helping you produce a better hormonal state for weight loss).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd suggest gaining first for a while. 18-20% isn't magazine-cover material, but it's not horribly obese either...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:14:42.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="38" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:15:27.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is too vague. How often do you train? Do you do any other sports? How is your recovery going? How intense are the workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that you can put some extra work in there, really any part of the workout you are already doing for that martial art will be good. Work on technique, cardio, body strength etc. Just make sure that you are allowing your body enough &quot;off&quot; time to recover.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:15:27.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="39" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:16:48.997" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say this depends on your fitness, the intensity of the workout and perhaps how much you've eaten the night before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming jogging means a running speed of about ~10 km/h or ~6 mph, I expect you don't use that much energy that you can't cope with without jogging. More importantly, low intensity workouts mainly burn through fat and anything you would eat either isn't absorbed yet or only serves you energy for a couple of minutes, which won't help you during 'longer' workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off course, if you start to feel faint at the end of the workout, you could take some glucose with you, just to recharge when you need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advise: &lt;strong&gt;go running and enjoy your breakfast after the workout!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-06-04-eating-exercise_N.htm&quot;&gt;Skip breakfast before exercise to burn more fat, studies say&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/&quot;&gt;The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="10871" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T18:36:12.587" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T18:36:12.587" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="40" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:17:30.320" Score="84" ViewCount="8798" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a lazy person, so running while staying in the same place appeals to me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there any benefits to running outside worth considering, besides aesthetics and feeling the wind in your hair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-09-27T19:20:33.020" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T06:12:50.107" Title="Is there any benefit of &quot;real&quot; running outdoors vs running on a treadmill in gym?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="13" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="41" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="276" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:19:46.140" Score="33" ViewCount="1352" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm always trying to find different ways to exercise (currently playing lots of Wii - that counts, right?) but I find the problem of after a few weeks to a month I lose motivation, get distracted and move on to something else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any tips or idea on how to keep motivated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:15:44.487" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T12:03:31.850" Title="How do you motivate yourself to keep exercising?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="43" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:21:13.493" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking in the mirror is a pretty good way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also got a great motivation boost, when I received much more attention from ladies after losing 10kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:21:13.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="44" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:21:16.683" Score="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, I don't think it really matters for your metabolism when you start working out. There are no golden rules, because some people are night owls and others are early birds. Furthermore, you can habituate your body to a certain rhythm, so pick what suits you best and your body will probably adapt to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general you should try to workout not right after eating, so that means getting up early to do it before breakfast or just before dinner. If all else fails, you generally will have to wait until a couple hours after dinner before you can get going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd say the two most important factors are &lt;strong&gt;your sleeping and eating habits&lt;/strong&gt; and of less importance, your working schedule which could dictate when you have the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:21:16.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="45" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:21:29.303" Score="9" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;In late 2007, I fell really sick. As a result, I spent the next two years or so being unable to eat enough proteins to meet my daily needs and didn't do any physical exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I recovered, I started training again (mostly bodybuilding and swimming) but I never was able to go back to running like I used to. I simply didn't enough endurance to run, even in intervals. Whenever I ran, however careful and reasonable I was, I always ended up injuring myself to the calf or ankle. I gave rope skipping a try as well, but that was several times worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been taking regular walks but I'm still a long way from where I used to be, and Canadian winters are terribly cold. Are there exercises I can do to regain my past endurance quicker or must I just keep on walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastActivityDate="2013-06-08T14:37:58.763" Title="Regaining endurance after an illness" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="47" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:22:52.713" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One tip I've heard about is to reward yourself, but not in an unhealthy way of course. Things like letting yourself hang out with friends only if you follow your excercise schedule, or going to see a movie in the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try telling your friends and relatives about your goal. The social pressure might persuade you to keep excercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:22:52.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="48" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:22:55.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/henryrollins_iron.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; by Henry Rollins. I actually printed part of it out and taped it in my living room.&#xA;&quot;The Iron Never Lies&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I think setting realistic goals and watching you progress towards them is huge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:22:55.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="49" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:23:07.563" Score="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few advantages to running outdoors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunshine (get your vitamin D!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on smog levels and your gym's cleanliness and air filtration system, there is probably fresher cleaner air outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you run &quot;barefoot&quot; (e.g. Vibrams) on dirt/grass, you'll get some extra stabilizing work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you get chased by a dog, you'll have extra motivation to really push yourself to 100%! :-)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:23:07.563" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="50" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:23:09.087" Score="6" ViewCount="15342" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is circuit training most beneficial if you do it everyday?   Should you take days off or alternate with something else to get better results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="36" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T18:20:16.750" Title="Can you do circuit training every day?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="51" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="243" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:25:56.870" Score="16" ViewCount="2539" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found various online &quot;calculators&quot; for looking up how many calories are burned when doing an exercise like using an Elliptical machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to calculate how many calories I burned during an activity with some reliability?   Does it matter if I train in intervals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="36" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2016-06-13T22:35:43.703" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T22:35:43.703" Title="How can I calculate calories burned during an activity?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="52" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:26:18.490" Score="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;For someone who is sitting for long periods of time I would highly recommend doing yoga very often during the week.  Here are a small handful of reasons why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working in a chair means you are&#xA;mostly sedentary and aren't moving&#xA;around much.  This will cause your&#xA;muscles to tighten and shorten. &#xA;Yoga, which involves lots of intense&#xA;stretching, helps correct any&#xA;problems caused by sitting for long&#xA;periods of time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga helps immensely&#xA;with core strength, posture, and&#xA;balance.  It will reinforce proper&#xA;body positioning and posture and make&#xA;it easier for you to sit up straight&#xA;with proper posture while working in&#xA;a chair. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga is a great stress&#xA;relief outlet.  If you work in a&#xA;chair/desk all day, chances are you&#xA;also work in an office environment. &#xA;Office environments tend to be the&#xA;most stressful location any one&#xA;person is in during their day to day&#xA;lives.  Yoga helps your body with&#xA;stress relief before or after tough&#xA;days at the office.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:26:18.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="53" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="110" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:28:08.600" Score="17" ViewCount="681" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty new to running and can only run for 2-3 minutes at a time. Is there any rule of thumb I should know of for setting goals? For example, each week run two minutes more or something like that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it really hard to know what I should do, and I think my current method of running till I'm really puffed probably isn't the best way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:32:35.267" Title="Is there a rule of thumb for setting running goals?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;tips&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="54" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="130" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:30:20.227" Score="10" ViewCount="4468" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using planks to increase my trunk strength, and am getting OK at holding the plank for 1 1/2 minutes.  Will I get more benefit by starting to increase that time, or adding a different exercise (and which one do you recommend)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastEditorUserId="68" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T20:58:19.233" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T07:54:45.270" Title="Where to go after &quot;mastering&quot; 90 second planks?" Tags="&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="55" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="95" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:30:26.460" Score="34" ViewCount="5676" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have an sources on this? I love the idea of playing video games to lose weight, just not sure how effective it is. At the end of my exercises it tells me your burned x calories, but not really sure how reliable the numbers are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T20:05:20.173" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T11:14:10.640" Title="Are video games like Wii Fit Plus actually any good for losing weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;video-games&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="56" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="51" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:31:25.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could get a wearable heart-rate monitor like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybugg.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodybugg&lt;/a&gt;. It won't be perfect, of course, but it can use your heart rate throughout the day coupled with your height, daily weight, age, gender, etc. to estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:31:25.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="57" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="117" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:31:53.780" Score="13" ViewCount="2407" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that being ill for a few weeks or so is enough for your endurance to drop drastically. Is this really true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:02:50.863" Title="For how long can I stop doing cardio training before losing my endurance?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="58" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:32:35.217" Score="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a good article/study on this, but I can't find a link to it right now. The general idea for criticism regarding the treadmill that I recall was that the movement is not as natural as it seems, because the treadmill is moving your leg backwards instead of your muscles doing all of that and this apparently can create strength imbalances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runforefoot.com/treadmill-running-does-not-approximate-overground-running/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Treadmill Running, Not Such a Great Idea&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;biomechanical differences which may lead to injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when fatigued, ground contact is &lt;em&gt;longer&lt;/em&gt; on the treadmill than over ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/296197-is-running-on-a-treadmill-bad/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is Running on a Treadmill Bad?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;...research is inconclusive when it comes to determining whether or not treadmills are better for your joints than track running.&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2017-04-14T15:37:45.073" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T15:37:45.073" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="59" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:33:02.517" Score="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will find a lot of advice on the Internet about this one, most of it is not demonstrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what the British Journal of Sports Medicine says about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recent research suggests that the timing of the intake of protein related to exercise may be more important than the total amount of protein consumed in a day. In the case of resistance training, an intake of approximately 20–25 g of a high quality protein source in the hour after exercise appears to produce the maximum rate of protein synthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the total amount of protein consumed is not important, the timing is. But this amount is much more smaller what the supplementation guys say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(to view the full article linked above you would have to subscribe for 30 days free).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:19:56.320" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:19:56.320" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="60" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="51" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:34:37.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using an app like &lt;a href=&quot;http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dailyburn-calorie-workout/id378928008?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DailyBurn&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://loseit.com/index.jsp#Home&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lose It!&lt;/a&gt; which have built-in calorie calculators for typical exercises may be of use to you.  I'm not sure how accurate they are, but this make it an easier job.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:34:37.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="61" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:35:24.667" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, not really exercises, but I've been using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shelterpub.com/_fitness/_desk_stretches/stretches_graphic.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this sheet about desk stretches&lt;/a&gt; for a couple months now and feels it's helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes less than 5 minutes to work through all the stretches.  I printed the PDF and hung it to my cube wall to use with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.workrave.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Work Rave&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-01T14:21:46.463" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:21:46.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="62" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:35:28.317" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The unevenness of the ground outside can cause you to workout different muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:35:28.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="63" PostTypeId="7" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:35:29.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fitness - Stack Exchange is for fitness professionals, athletes, trainers and enthusiasts. If you have a question about …&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;improving your exercise performance or technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;choosing a training program&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nutrition as it relates to exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gear and gadgets used during exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;achieving physique milestones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;injury prevention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it is &lt;strong&gt;not about&lt;/strong&gt; …&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the rules of a sport&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a purchase recommendation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nutrition unrelated to exercise, such as food safety, nutritional needs for children, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trainer certification -- it’s for professionals, but not about the profession&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wellness, general health, medical advice and injuries unrelated to exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;… then you’re in the right place to ask your question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you intend on asking about a particular routine or exercise for yourself, please be sure to tell everyone your training goals. The amount of detail you can provide will result in improved answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-07-24T20:30:58.600" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T20:30:58.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="64" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="51" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:35:42.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm unsure of the reliability of the various calculators. The calculations depend on many factors including muscle density making it difficult to perform a precise calculation. You can buy a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybugg.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodybugg&lt;/a&gt; which is purported to be incredibly reliable. These are the devices they use on the T.V. series &quot;The Biggest Loser&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaking your routine into intervals will decrease the effectiveness of your workout. You will burn more calories and gain more tone working tired muscles than rested muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:35:42.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="65" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="75" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:36:10.253" Score="10" ViewCount="5823" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do squats, I find that my shoulders are often very sore (from the weight of the bar) afterward, and sometimes shoulder soreness becomes as much a limiting factor during exercise as the strength/endurance of my legs and trunk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to lay the bar across the meaty part, far enough back that my hands have to push forward to maintain stability (if I let go of the bar it would slide off the back, NOT balance on top of my shoulders).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to prevent my shoulders from becoming the &quot;weak link&quot; in terms of my squat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T13:55:56.340" Title="How to reduce shoulder soreness during and after squats" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="66" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:37:50.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Increasing your muscle mass first will raise your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMR&lt;/a&gt; making it easier to lose the fat afterwards. Also, I think that it will be very difficult to increase your muscle mass without putting on at least some amount of fat, so cutting is perhaps a better thing to do later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:37:50.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="67" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:37:56.367" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people's AM is more routine than their afternoons.  If you work out before you start your day, you're less apt to have something get in the way of your workout, and less apt to find an excuse.  Also, the gym is way less crowded in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:37:56.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="68" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="55" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:38:22.603" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;YES! but with a caveat: as with any other diet or workout plan, you have to stick to it.  My sister-in-law everyday would workout using the Wii Fit.  This included walking/running around the house for a half hour each day, doing yoga stretches, etc.  Combined with a diet, she lost close to 26lbs in the course of a year.  She still, to this day, wakes up early and works out using the Wii.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VQ7vn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sorry this is such a terrible picture, my cell phone was all that I could use at the time.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her workout consisted of on average a 30 to 45 mins of aerobic workouts, and may have included others, such as stretches, or strength building exercises.  Her main 'game' she used was Wii fit Plus, but now uses EA sports Active and says that it is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A man going by the name of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wiinintendo.net/2007/01/15/wii-sports-experiment-results/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DeLorenzo&lt;/a&gt; has also claimed to have lost weight using the Wii:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Six weeks ago (December 3rd, 2006), I began what has become a huge obsession of mine. It is called the “Wii Sports Experiment”  I outlined a 6 week game plan for myself, the idea being that I would continue. ALL normal activity and eating habits, and simply add 30 minutes of Wii Sports to my day. For the past month and a half, I’ve stuck to these guidelines very strictly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight:&lt;/strong&gt; For most people this is their most anticipated category. To be honest, I was genuinely surprised by my end results, so I’ll just get right to it. &lt;strong&gt;I lost 9lbs!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wiiweightlossplan.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are a few &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wiihealthy.com/2007/05/23/wii-sports-weight-loss-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;links&lt;/a&gt; of other's success stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:13:49.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="69" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="57" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:41:51.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This really depends on your fitness level and of course the length of the break, but in general, yes, a few weeks of illness (anything over 7-10 days in my experience) will have your endurance drop. The more training you do, the steeper the drop will be, on the other hand you will also regain it more quickly. For the average fitness person (i.e. non (semi-)professional athlete) the drop shouldn't be too bad (but noticeable, nonetheless).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said this, if you are sick, you shouldn't train. Rather take the drop in endurance than risk a more severe issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="76" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:41:51.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="70" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:43:20.597" Score="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having guided a group of 'Start-to-Runners' (&lt;a href=&quot;http://felttip.com/c25k/&quot;&gt;similar to Couch to 5K&lt;/a&gt;), I'm convinced anyone can get started with running (except those who can't walk properly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of things you should keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't overdo yourself&lt;/strong&gt;, because if you get injured, you can't run at all and you'll lose any progress you've made. Also, you'll get less muscle soreness, which makes working out out on a regular basis easier to maintain. Besides, speed is of no relevance when building up your fitness, so it's literally a waste of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try running at a speed that you can still talk&lt;/strong&gt;, because your breathing frequency (and thus ability to speak) and your VO2Max (your capacity for exercise) are very strongly related. The speed at which you can still speak is mostly a speed at which you're performing aerobic exercise. If you run any faster, you start to create more CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; than your body can get rid off, which is what you want to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to run with a buddy&lt;/strong&gt;, because you have somebody to talk to during running and someone who can keep you motivated when things start to get tougher (and vice versa). Especially when running with someone of a similar level can be very motivating.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why does this all matter?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, you say you can walk for miles with no problem, but your lungs start burning when you exercise. So you need to do two things: improve your general fitness so your lung capacity increases and your body is stressed less during exercise and find a sweet spot at which you're not walking, but your lungs aren't burning either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, people think you have to go fast to get a good workout, but they're wrong. Even jogging at 8-9 km/h can greatly improve your fitness when done regularly, so take it easy and enjoy yourself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:56:30.733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:56:30.733" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="71" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:43:58.967" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should not need to empty your bowels prior to exercise. If you are experiencing discomfort during abdominal exercise, you should make sure your diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contains enough fiber to allow you to go regularly&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fiber-foods/NU00582&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Mayo Clinic has a nice list of high-fiber foods&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are not taking excessive &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diuretics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diuretics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are not taking in foods that cause excess gas or bloating&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ibs.about.com/od/ibsfood/a/GassyFoods.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;About.com has a list of foods known to cause excess gas and bloating&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are following all of those rules and still experiencing this problem regularly, then you should consider talking to your doctor about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T18:30:26.883" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T18:30:26.883" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="72" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:44:05.970" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any source for this but my chiropractor and my experience, but I advise against working out in the morning on an empty stomach.  My goal is to burn fat through 30-45 minutes of low intensity exercise 3-4 mornings a week, but trying to burn fat without any carbs doesn't work; your body ends up eating its own protein (read: muscle).  From experience, this seems to be true; I felt myself getting weaker about 3 months into my regime when I exercised on an empty stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that getting a tiny amount of carbs into my system about 30 minutes before I exercise, then eating breakfast after, has worked well for me for about two years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:44:05.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="74" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="78" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:46:16.267" Score="12" ViewCount="10764" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine told me that you can pretty much eat whatever you want within about 15 minutes of a big exercise session without putting on weight. I can't really understand the science behind this. Is there any truth to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:55:48.097" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T13:37:24.147" Title="Is it true that you can eat anything you want within 15 minutes of working out without putting on weight?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="75" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="65" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:46:40.680" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bar should actually sit on the ridge formed by your shoulder blade whenever you grab the bar.  For instance, see the following image for an approximation of where it should sit.  You really shouldn't have to be pushing forward much with your hands to keep the bar in place.   &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ytd7I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are you using any kind of padding on the bar?  Try to put padding on the bar if you aren't or take it off if you are.  I always preferred no padding, as it makes the bar sit oddly on my shoulder blades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are really super concerned with &lt;em&gt;how much&lt;/em&gt; you can squat, perhaps consider switching to nothing but front squats for your primary lower body lift instead of a back squat.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/7-benefits-of-the-front-squat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here are some advantages of doing front squats.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T21:03:39.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:03:39.643" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="76" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:47:27.157" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using landmarks [buildings, trees, signs, etc.], you can do interval sprints easier than having to deal with treadmill settings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:47:27.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="77" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:48:11.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, it is a good idea to mix up the type of exercise to give your body some new stimulus every few weeks (8-10). So, do crunches or planks on the side or other variations, you should be able to find a ton of exercises online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and try to increase your plank time to over three minutes :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="76" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:48:11.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="78" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="74" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:48:27.247" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not true. Your body will process the food that you ingest, and if the caloric intake of the food is greater than the amount of calories burned during the ensuing exercise, you will gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have some carbohydrates before your workout if you find that your diet doesn't supply you with enough energy to not feel weak or excessively tired during your workout. You can also add protein before your workout if you find yourself incredibly hungry in the middle of your exercise. Again though, if you take in more than you burn, you will gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:31:52.737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:31:52.737" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="79" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="65" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:50:32.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Work your shoulders and traps a bit more to thicken 'em up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, maybe wear a thick sweatshirt and wrap the bar up with a towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:50:32.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="80" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:52:02.040" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slowing down your pace might help, too. I used to have the same problem and hated running. Then I tried treadmill on the gym. At first with very slow speed and then gradually increasing. With this I can keep a pace slow enough to be able to run for 40 minutes without feeling out of breath. It might just be that my &quot;running&quot; is closer to jogging or walking, but treadmill has helped me to start running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="72" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:52:02.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="81" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="93" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:55:01.783" Score="9" ViewCount="22943" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently read advertisements for &quot;micronized&quot; creatine which is supposedly more pure, easier to absorb, and more effective than regular creatine. Is there any validity to this claim? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2018-11-05T21:36:44.930" Title="Is &quot;micronized&quot; creatine better than regular creatine?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-11-05T22:03:27.483" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="83" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:56:02.253" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No breakfast, but half of an energy bar before jogging is good to get some sugar and carbs in your system to get the jogging started.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then a not too heavy but well-rounded breakfast afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:56:02.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="84" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="107" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:57:54.437" Score="12" ViewCount="1030" Body="&lt;p&gt;For as long as I can remember, my legs will start to itch when I begin jogging. Sometimes the itching is unbearable and I have to stop. I noticed that it doesn't happen during sprinting / high intensity interval work. Is there a reason for this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T15:31:23.950" Title="Why do my legs begin to itch during my running warm up?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="85" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="45" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:59:22.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're question lacks a little bit of detail about what your workouts looked like, but general causes for exercise related lower leg injuries are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running too fast&lt;/strong&gt;, puts massive strain of the soft tissue around your shin bone. The only way to cope with this is slowly built up your exercise to allow the tissue to strengthen. Run at a speed that you're still able to speak is a nice rule of thumb for not running too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running on hard surfaces&lt;/strong&gt;, if you're like me forces to run in the suburbs, your feet hit the pavement hard with each step. This causes the same problem as my previous point, it will just happen faster on hard undergrounds. If you can: go to the woods or a park.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running with bad shoes&lt;/strong&gt;, while the barefoot running crowd may disagree, running on old or plain wrong shoes is &lt;strong&gt;bad&lt;/strong&gt;. Old shoes have degraded EVA, which has bad or inconsistent cushioning. Using your aerobics or tennis shoes for running is also a bad idea, because while they may look similar, they are really built completely different and often of different material as well. Getting a pair of good running shoes will go a long way of reducing your chances of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all else fails, you could get a pair of orthotics (don't overpay!) or compression stockings. The first helps reduce movement of your foot in the shoe or make slight corrections to your feet roll off pattern. The latter keeps your calf muscle in place and thereby reduces the stress on the soft tissue &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last part I can really recommend: &lt;strong&gt;get a training plan&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm sure you've tried one before, but this time get a training plan and cut your goals by 20%. So instead of aiming to run at 10 km/h start out at 8 km/h, instead of trying to run for half an hour, start with 20 minutes. Also, I can really recommend a program like Start to Run or your C25K, this forces you to alternate between walking and jogging for at least the first few weeks. This greatly reduces the total stress on your soft tissue and should give your body time to start adapting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But remember, even when things start to get better, stick to your plan!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T21:26:40.667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:26:40.667" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="86" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="106" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:59:49.130" Score="17" ViewCount="2453" Body="&lt;p&gt;I travel a good bit for my job.  As a result, the weeks that I travel often involve a lack of physical activity since I am primarily a weight lifter when it comes to exercise and most hotel gyms have very little useful equipment for weightlifting - if they even have it at all.  With that said, I'd like to develop some 30 minute routines to at least maintain some semblance of strength training while I'm on the road.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presently, all I end up doing for strength training without weights is a mass number of body squats, pushups, and some core work. This hits a number of muscle groups, but not all.  It is also very boring and not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some suggestions for developing some routines that will ultimately encompass all muscle groups for times when I travel and have no access to any weightlifting equipment whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:58:29.363" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T07:43:56.530" Title="What are some short 30-minute body-weight lift routines for travel." Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;body-weight-lift&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="87" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="91" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:01:19.287" Score="12" ViewCount="19343" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past two weeks, I've been getting up at 5:30AM every day to workout. I do a DVD-based workout at fairly high intensity. Because of my life demands, I've only been able to fit in about six hours of sleep a night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I headed toward burnout / injury / problems or can I maintain this sleep pattern for the next three months? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T21:11:06.083" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T09:23:58.923" Title="Can I workout six days a week with only 6 hours of sleep a night?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="89" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="74" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:02:56.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that there is a window (not sure if it's 15 minutes exactly, I suspect longer, and there's probably a gradual drop-off) after a heavy strength-training session in which your body is in a hormonal state that causes it to route most e.g. carbohydrates into repair and refueling your muscles &amp;amp; supporting systems, rather than routing it into fat storage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind as well, however, that digestion takes time and certainly more than 15 minutes so you might be better off doing that eating before or during your workout (not to the point of being stuffed) or immediately afterward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:02:56.547" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="90" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:03:19.190" Score="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Morning is better because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's the first thing you do, so no excuses as to no time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get it done.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your metabolism increases for the rest of the day, burning a few more calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get energized and your muscles are stretched, so you're more apt to take stairs, walk a little further, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Save an extra shower.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:03:19.190" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="91" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="87" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:05:30.883" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone is different. I wouldn't be able to workout even just 3 days a week if I was only getting 6hrs of sleep, but maybe you'll be able to. Experiment and observe :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for signs of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overtraining&lt;/a&gt; and if it happens cut down on the workouts (or preferably, try to increase how much you sleep). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of workout is also important. I've noticed that weight-lifting takes a bigger toll than others, for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:05:30.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="92" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:05:50.647" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look into Pavel Tsatsouline's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045555&quot;&gt;The Naked Warrior&lt;/a&gt;. In a nutshell, he recommends one-legged squats and one-armed pushups, with full body tension. He discusses proper technique and discusses alterations to make them easier or harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also googling Prisoner Workout might find you some interesting links.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:05:50.647" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="93" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="81" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:07:15.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most comprehensive answer I've found to this is at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/james12.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyBuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;. Essentially, standard creatine won't make you retain water like micronized creatine, and the standard creatine is used continuously, whereas the micronized creatine should be used in a load-maintain-unload cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lack of water retention will change the look of the muscle you are building to be less soft if you're using standard creatine, as well as lowering your weight/size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:07:15.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="94" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="87" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:08:09.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take another day off so that you can sleep in &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; give your body a chance to repair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:08:09.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="95" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="55" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:08:50.840" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girl friend and I used Your Shape (Xbox360 with Kinect) and in her case the calories indicated by the game were actually too low compared to what her Polar was indicating. Now by no means is this scientific or calibrated, but at least it means they're a nice estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say there's three things that are important:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does the game make you keep coming back?&lt;/strong&gt; Because in the end any diet is based on sticking to it, so if the workouts are fun and keep you motivated, that's a plus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does it make you workout regularly?&lt;/strong&gt; Not only do you have to keep working out, you have to do it at least ~three times to be a little bit effective. Especially if you want to get better at something, you have to regularly stress your body and let it recover, so you become more fit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does it make you workout longer?&lt;/strong&gt; Your body needs about 30 minutes to get your fat-burning going, so if you worked out for 15 minutes and then quit, well then you only burned the sugar you shouldn't be eating ;-) If you can find a workout that keeps you busy for 30-60 minutes, then it's becoming really effective. Note that you may include warming up and cooling down, as long as it keeps you moving!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And off course Kronos is absolutely right: if you eat more than you burn during the workouts, you don't loose anything... But! as your fitness improves, so will your metabolism, so it's OK-ish to eat a little bit more, but then you have to promise me that you'll do an extra two sets of Wii Tennis!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This image shows different games and their metabolic equivalent task (MET):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jBvBy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T21:17:38.937" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T21:17:38.937" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="96" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="105" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:09:24.827" Score="70" ViewCount="6239" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are rest days important?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the weather permits, I jog (or otherwise work-out) every day, but people often tell me I should not, because rest days are important. What is the rationale behind this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="84" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T19:49:18.490" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T19:49:18.490" Title="Importance of Rest Days" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="24" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="97" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="337" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:19:25.080" Score="16" ViewCount="1430" Body="&lt;p&gt;About five years ago, I did BJJ about five times a week. It was one of my favorite hobbies of all time with the exception of all the amount of &quot;annoyances&quot; that came with it: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carpal tunnel pain &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;finger numbness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;knee pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lower back pain &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bumps and bruises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;back thrown out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;knee injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;toe injuries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the advent of a family, fatherhood, and career ambition, it took a backseat to my life and eventually was phased out. But I have a daydream of getting back into it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is I'm 41 now and I can't show up to work in crutches and elbow braces anymore. Is this type of high-intensity sport better suited for a young man's life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="20" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T21:22:35.517" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T06:13:03.397" Title="Is there an age limit for high-intensity sports like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?" Tags="&lt;age&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="98" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="96" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:19:53.130" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without rest, you will build muscle mass quicker than your supporting organs can build and adjust to enable their proper use. At that point, you will hit a plateau which you will be unable to cross. However, this does not hold true for aerobic exercise, where the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/AN01713&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic suggests 30 minutes daily&lt;/a&gt;. This is more for muscle building and strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:19:53.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="99" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="96" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:20:07.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume this depends on person, as well as speed and duration of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, after running few days in a row I get muscles tired: it feels like your legs are filled with lead. Not something you want before a big college competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you notice no changes in your body, I daresay it's ok. Walking is also an exercise and we do it daily without a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:20:07.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="97" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:22:23.457" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Work into it slowly. If you're experiencing that many problems from it often, then you are likely training too hard. I've known 70 year olds who could easily out-do me in the martial arts without breaking a sweat or getting injured. It has far less to do with your age than with your experience and endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:22:23.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:24:16.280" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an ex-smoker (I smoked for 10 years, 10 years ago) and runner I can remember the feeling of being breathlessness and it was actually one of the motivators to quit smoking along with watching videos of people with emphysema. The way I got into running was first of all having a goal (a half marathon) and initially concentrating on sprinting short distances ~ 100m (20-30 seconds) or 400 metres with 2 sprints. Interval training gave me more reward than trying to do long distances and then failing - in other words something really easily achievable. Preferably sprint on the treadmill to save any outdoor embarassment - or on a park track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1/10th of a mile is around 160m, so reduce that to something where you aren't going to be in pain, say 80m, and break for 2 mins after. Repeat it 3-4 times and increase the distance each run. It's usually easier to just time the sprints, so time your initial sprint and work from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easier more pain free to start out would be to buy a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000NJXFWS&quot;&gt;PowerBreath&lt;/a&gt; and use it twice daily for a few weeks first, and then try running again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T23:23:46.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T23:23:46.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="96" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:27:38.103" Score="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1623894&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Evidence shows&lt;/a&gt; that more than 5 days a week training increases your risk of musculoskeletal injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest is physically necessary so that the muscles can repair, rebuild and strengthen -- continuous training can actually weaken it. Without sufficient time to repair, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining often occurs from a lack of recovery time.  Some signs of overtraining are feeling of general malaise, staleness, depression, decreased sports performance and increased risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This image from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/strength-training-overloading-to-increase-muscle-mass-40882&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pponline.co.uk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; explains why you need some rest.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KxC9H.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making sure to workout when you're muscles are slightly stronger than before your workout will allow you to literally built up your muscles:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RMVtB.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:51.107" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:51.107" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:29:12.750" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a few links to some great body-weight exercises that I use regularly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot;&gt;Beginner Body Weight Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/17/advanced-body-weight-workout-warning-this-will-kick-your-ass/&quot;&gt;Advanced Body Weight Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/prison-workout/&quot;&gt;Prison Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:29:12.750" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="84" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:29:23.377" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Itching/tingling indicates an increase in bloodflow due to expanded capillaries and arteries. This problem should go away as you increase your level of physical fitness. If the itching comes with a rash though, it's more likely to be exercise-induced anaphylaxis (an allergic reaction).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-08-10T15:31:23.950" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T15:31:23.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:31:09.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend push ups and crunches.  100 push up is a really popular workout for short period of time.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One Hundred PUshups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my man, give Plyometrics a good try it will not dissapoint you =) . i am not sure if this is considered spam but here is a simple 15 min workout link &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://topfatlosstrainer.com/2009/08/16/plyometric-cardio-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plyo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know after Plyometric what you think about working out HARD please =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="92" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:06:37.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:06:37.483" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:34:35.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since circuit training is a form of strength training (strength endurance), you should only do it 2-3 times per week with a day or two in between. Failing to take time off will cause you to reach a plateau due to the fact that your skeletal muscles will develop faster than your internal organs can keep up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:34:35.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="53" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:34:47.503" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general rule of thumb is to add no more than 10% (measured in either time or distance) per week. If you're just getting started running, I would recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://c25k.com/&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; program. I used this last year to start running (after having never done any running in the past), and completed my first marathon in December.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:34:47.503" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="57" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:39:28.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being ill for an extended (more than a 3-4 days) will always cause your endurance to drop. However, if you've reached a plateau in strength training due to excessive workouts, an extended rest will often cause a significant jump in performance, as you've built muscle that your internal organs could not previously support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:39:28.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="96" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:40:54.383" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supercompensation&lt;/a&gt; would be some of the explanation if the goal is to get in better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it: When the body rests it creates more muscle mass than what was actually destroyed during the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:58.287" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:58.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="166" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:48:26.503" Score="47" ViewCount="11973" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to run outside and therefore need shoes to run.  However, there's a massive market for running shoes and I get lost in all of the options.  What are some guidelines in selecting a good shoe for running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Note:  I'm not looking for &quot;which is best&quot; but rather, what &lt;strong&gt;technology or features&lt;/strong&gt; should I look for)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:38:29.020" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T02:51:31.933" Title="What should I look for in a running shoe?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="19" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="135" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:50:46.413" Score="57" ViewCount="54288" Body="&lt;p&gt;This one has been bothering me for quite a while.&#xA;I've heard different opinions on this, ranging from&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is absolutelty nothing to worry&#xA;  about, running is great for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; shouldn't be running&#xA;  while overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since I'm asking this about myself, a few specs: I'm 195cm(6' 4&quot;), about 124kg(275 pounds), and have been moderately active in the past. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell: If I start running now, will it be detrimental to my knees, even if there is only discomfort, not something I would really call pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="47" LastEditDate="2011-05-10T20:18:10.847" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T20:36:51.490" Title="Is running while overweight bad for your knees?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:53:03.037" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always mix up exercise types, as each different exercise targets different areas and muscles and stresses/strengthens different tendons and joints. After a period of doing the same exercise with the same resistance, you will no longer be gaining strength, but rather endurance. Increasing time will gain you additional endurance, but I doubt seriously that it will benefit you significantly in raw usable strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:53:03.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="57" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:55:37.000" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly I don't have access to the journal to verify, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.copacabanarunners.net/i-detraining.html&quot;&gt;but Copacabana Runners is citing the journals&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Medicine and Science in Sports &amp;amp; Exercise&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Sports Medicine&lt;/em&gt;, that reviewed over 60 detraining studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They found the following physiological effects after 2-4 weeks of detraining:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;VO2 max:    down 4-10%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Blood volume:   down 5-10%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Heart rate: up 5-10%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Stroke volume:  down 6-12%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Flexibility:    Decreases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lactate threshold:  Decreases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Muscle glycogen levels: down 20-30%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Aerobic enzyme activity:    Decreases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Running economy:    Unchanged&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically your body gets hit across the board! Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your level of fitness (the more you have, the more you have to lose), the amount of inactivity you had (bed rest vs just no training) and most likely your age (the older you are, the harder it is to regain what is lost).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="12" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:02:50.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:02:50.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="123" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:58:41.020" Score="13" ViewCount="10031" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never made real exercise. Recently i began doing push-ups starting with&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1 a day and finally increasing it to 15 day. Sometimes doing it 3-4 times (45-60).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If i continue this routine, will it help to reduce my belly fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="97" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T12:39:33.740" LastActivityDate="2018-04-01T18:12:41.177" Title="Will daily push-ups help to get rid of my belly fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="115" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:59:31.943" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running long distances as a newbie (even when not overweight) will put stress on your knees. Issues such as correct footwear and running form will affect this. You need to consider what your goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're only considering running to lose weight, then you might want to consider other options (such as focusing on your diet (80% of the battle) and walking to begin with whilst completing bodyweight exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running long distances needs to be built up gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T07:35:35.717" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T07:35:35.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1054" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:59:46.000" Score="7" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm exercising 3 days a week (every other day), each day doing 2-3 muscle groups. Currently, my goal is to increase muscle mass. My question is, given my exercise goal, is it better to really stress a given muscle group for a single day and then &quot;ignore&quot; it until next week, or to work out all groups each day, but to a lesser extent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:04:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:01:07.067" Title="Optimal method to vary muscle group recruitment?" Tags="&lt;routine&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="115" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:00:12.323" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being overweight in general is bad for your knees. Stressing that and adding the intense of shock of running to the already overweight state is just asking for trouble. The amount you are overweight definitely has some to do with this as well, as 5 extra pounds is obviously going to be less damaging than 50. I would seriously consider starting with a brisk walk instead until you are down to a more manageable weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:00:12.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="53" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:01:36.607" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Runner's world has a great tool called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/runners-world-smartcoach/3057.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Smart Coach&lt;/a&gt; for improving your speed gradually over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The formula is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You run 3 days a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 Long run (whatever that means for you)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 short run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 4 break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 5 speed run or sprints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 6 Break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 7 Break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you did the long run on Sundays:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: long run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: short run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: sprints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: break&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smart coach is geared towards training for a 5k/10k/marathon competition over a 12 week training period, so you will probably need to reduce the times/distances it gives you quite a bit if you're only running 2-3 minutes. Increasing by one minute or two minutes a week would be more achievable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T19:21:13.287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:21:13.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="118" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:01:46.480" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply put; no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is 80% of the battle when it comes to weight loss. Focus on this before any other area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you cannot 'spot-reduce' fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups are a useful exercise but they should not be your only exercise. Too many push-ups (and little else) will lead to posture issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider adding squats, pull-ups, planks etc - these are compound exercises that'll hit more than one area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:01:46.480" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="138" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:01:47.070" Score="3" ViewCount="640" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing very light workout, e.g. 10 push-ups a day. I want to know that if I keep my diet to cereals with full-cream milk, will it have any effect on my belly fat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="97" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T18:22:34.420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:22:34.420" Title="Light workout with cereal diet to reduce fat" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="118" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:03:34.720" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time you exercise to the point of increasing your daily caloric burn higher than your caloric intake, you will burn fat. The body alone will decide where to take that fat from. Adding to or toning muscle in an area is not equivalent to losing fat in that same area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:03:34.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="120" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:03:45.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your muscles increase in size during their recovery, not during the exercise itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, you should not be working muscle groups on consecutive days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally find 2-3 times a week is ideal, on non-consecutive days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:03:45.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:15:09.043" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dr. Stuart McGill suggests everybody should be able to hold the plank position for two minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are comfortable with this, I vary my routine with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;elevated planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;single leg planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stability ball planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;side planks,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;elevated side planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;planks with&#xA;feet on wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;planks with feet on&#xA;wall raising one leg to chest&#xA;alternatively (I find this very&#xA;tough).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:15:09.043" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="113" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:15:10.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the options exist because running shoes are a very individualized item. Some people need more support in one area but not another while others need the exact opposite. Your best bet is to get a cheaper pair, use them for a time until broken in, and determine where you need to make improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get them the right length:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't get them too short, or your toenails will turn black (seriously).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't get them too narrow, or you'll cause ingrown toenails.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should have difficulty fitting your thumb behind your heel.&#xA;-- With the shoes tied, you should have full range of motion in your ankle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't tie them too tight or you'll cause extreme discomfort in the bridge of your foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The heel should fit to your heel but not press on your ankle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your arch should feel comfortable when running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="12" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:34:58.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:34:58.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="113" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:15:34.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience with running shoes is it's more important to replace them regularly than to worry yourself too much with some kind of marketing bs that manufacturers like Nike like to use to sell the shoes. A shoe with a lot of 'bounce' and flexibility in its sole that provides shock absorbence for your knees is best for running on concrete. Avoid the fashion house trainers and stick to Asics, New Balance, Mizuno as they're better value for money and made for runners instead of to pose in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com.sg/mh-runners/5-tips-master-barefoot-running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There's a trend&lt;/a&gt; with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--6728-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bare foot running&lt;/a&gt; now (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-iGZPtWXzE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this TED talk&lt;/a&gt; explains why), so you could save some dollars by grass/beach running instead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:15:34.067" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="115" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:18:50.680" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running at about that sort of &quot;build&quot;- it certainly is something to be careful about, and I did injure myself a few times but never ended up doing anything really bad to myself (at least, as far as I know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being tall and being overweight both mean you have to take &quot;build up slowly but surely&quot;, so if you're both tall and overweight then it goes double! Don't run if your knees are already aching, or you're limping. If you have to take ibuprofen just to sleep- ease off. Get proper running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="102" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:18:50.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="223" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:26:55.740" Score="7" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working on my own workout structure for sometime now, trying to find the right combination of warm ups and exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always begin with a warm up, working on the muscles I'll be hitting that session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I move on to the exercises I need to be freshest for, eg. any sort of jumps, box jumps etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I'll work on resistance exercises, finishing with treadmill or bike work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any scientific theory behind constructing workouts in the right order?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="5" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T03:12:34.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:51:46.587" Title="Is there any scientific theory behind constructing workouts in the right order?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="115" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:27:50.207" Score="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're walking you apply about 1.2 times your body weight to the ground in Newtons (Fz = 1500N in your case). When you start running, this rapidly increases to two times or more. Furthermore, when you're walking you have bipedal phases, which means your body weight is carried by both legs. But jogging is characterized by going from bipedal to unipedal, so all the force is being applied to the one leg and thus one knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u4WFr.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Fancy graph that explains nothing...&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're perfectly capable of walking, so what you are looking for is a speed at which the forces on your knees are higher than during walking, but not as high as during running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's also important is to reduce the moment arm your bodies center of mass has towards your knee. Because the muscles around your knee have to stabilize the joint, the further you put your foot (and thus knee) away from your center of mass, the larger forces they will exert on your knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UUgGo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the single most common injury in runners is &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/knee_injuries/a/knee11.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a jumpers knee or patellofemoral pain&lt;/a&gt; syndrome. You can bet that the tendons connected to your patella won't like the strains when you start to run faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we want two things: &lt;strong&gt;lower speeds&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;shorter steps&lt;/strong&gt;. Luckily, with shorter steps and the same step frequency, you automagically get... lower speeds! Now how do we know we're actually doing this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well one great way is to listen to your body or in other words: &lt;strong&gt;talk to yourself, out loud&lt;/strong&gt;! If you're able to talk normally, you're walking at the right speed. Because as soon as you start speeding up, the words... don't... come... out... steady... anymore... You get what I mean? I can't check it with a heart rate monitor, but I'd bet it would be around 60% of your maximal heart rate, which is ideally for burning fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're more serious about it, you can get a heart rate monitor yourself and an accelerometer (like a step counter only fancier) and keep track of yourself, but really nothing beats listening to your yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:27:50.207" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="113" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:34:19.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my (limited) experience, I find its better to go to a shop for advice on what shoes to buy than use my own judgement. In the UK, there are a range of shops called The Sweat Shop which have treadmills in the shops. They use these treadmills and slow motion cameras to analyse your running technique and advise you on the type of shoe to buy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought this was a much better way of buying shoes than trying to find the shoes myself and they know what they are talking about. I'm guessing there are similar shops for our American cousins. So in summary, leave the choice to someone who knows that they're talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:34:19.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="141" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:37:49.210" Score="6" ViewCount="2465" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can tight psoas muscle cause lower (lumbar) back pain? If yes, which exercise would be best to recover? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you differentiate if the pain in lower back is because of tight psoas or due to locked facet joint (No neurological problem)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EXTRA (if it seems relevant to question)&lt;/strong&gt;: This pain also seems to sometime transfer to hip and tail bone, and as per the MRI and X-ray reports there's no disk or nerve pinching problem I've had ~10 MRIs and 10 X-rays and all show no problem in spine or joint. Though there's inflammation in hip (it was in SI joint as well, but now it is not). It seems to me now that it is probably a muscle related problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user106" LastEditorDisplayName="user106" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:51:27.797" LastActivityDate="2018-02-26T08:56:20.643" Title="Can psoas muscle cause lower back pain?" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;psoas&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="124" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:41:15.790" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/118/will-daily-push-ups-help-to-get-rid-of-my-belly-fat/126#126&quot;&gt;Reiterating&lt;/a&gt;: Your body alone determines where fat is taken from or added. You cannot &quot;target&quot; an area for fat loss or gain. In 10 days, 10 push-ups a day will gain you 100 push-ups worth of tricep and pectoral strength, but will have no bearing on where your body decides to take fat from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen extremely obese people lose weight only on one leg for a month before starting to even out and lose in other parts of the body. It's rare, but it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating cereals and milk only will not give your body all the nutrients you need, and you'll likely encounter health problems. Eating more calories than you burn will cause you to gain weight. Likewise, eating less calories than you burn is the only (healthy) way to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:41:15.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="146" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:48:50.573" Score="16" ViewCount="1968" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can do plenty of sit-ups and other ab exercises. I also have a house-mate who is a personal trainer so I know I'm doing them right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I can stick to a routine of doing reasonable quantities of abdominal exercises every second day. But I usually loose interest after 3 - 6 months as I never see any results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My abs are definitely stronger, however I think I have a hereditary beer gut. It just doesn't want to go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also combine these exercises with a reasonable diet and other exercise e.g. swimming, jogging and other team sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T14:01:07.380" Title="How can I get a flat stomach?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:51:37.873" Score="13" ViewCount="97606" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard numerous times that you should not sit down immediately after the exercise when the heart rate is high and you should stand and walk around for a bit. However I don't remember a convincing explanation as to why this is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true or an urban myth based on some dated research? If true, what exactly happens in a human body that makes it bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-02T03:57:32.290" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T02:41:01.413" Title="Is it bad to sit down immediately after the exercise?" Tags="&lt;medicine&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-07-03T13:01:24.070" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="137" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:53:28.293" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it can cause lower back pain, groin pain, abdomen pain, and other pains. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/list_6817224_psoas-ball-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;eHow has an article&lt;/a&gt; with some very good exercises to loosen the muscle and relieve much of the pain. It walks you through:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Side Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ball Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Ball Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:53:28.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="143" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:53:49.477" Score="5" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I play football (soccer) I get incredibly light headed similar to when I'm really hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best type of food I should eat before playing a team exercise, preferably something that won't feel heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:56:54.720" Title="What should I eat before team exercise to maintain energy?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;sports&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="142" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:56:54.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating carbohydrates (sugars and complex carbs, not fibers) will prevent you from getting light-headed, weak, or tired during exercise. Often a single piece of candy or a cookie is enough to restore and maintain energy. Play around and determine the amount that works best for you, but don't take more than you need or you'll lose the weight-loss/maintenance benefits of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:56:54.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:59:21.897" Score="8" ViewCount="10908" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that improving passive static flexibility is only possible for children, but for adults it's more or less set in stone, because it's not possible to lengthen the ligaments as you age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So by this logic it's hopeless for an adult with average and below-average flexibility to try to do a split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any studies that would confirm or deny these claims? If it's not true, what kind of exercises can improve passive static flexibility in adults?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T02:14:02.390" Title="Is it possible for an adult to significantly improve passive static flexibility?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="139" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:00:17.013" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot &quot;target&quot; an area of the body for fat loss. The body will determine where to add or remove fat. Just stick with your routine and make sure that you burn more calories than you take in every day and you will be certain to eventually lose the gut. It just takes time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:00:17.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="139" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:05:26.380" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your problem is simply fat, just regular weight loss will get you there, like md5sum said. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your problem is (either or additionally) &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_distension&quot;&gt;abdominal distension&lt;/a&gt;, there are some exercises you can do to help with that and some foods/drinks to avoid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:05:26.380" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="144" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:08:14.870" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;With work, you can improve your static-passive flexibility at any age. However, the gains you will see in time will significantly decrease as your age increases: the older you get, the harder it is to gain flexibility. Stating that it's impossible would be entirely incorrect, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the &quot;How Aging Effects Flexibility&quot; section of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_3.html#SEC23&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stretching and Flexibility - Flexibility&lt;/a&gt; by Brad Appleton for some of the scientific reasons behind this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:08:14.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="144" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:09:57.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't read any studies saying that's an issue and I would be interested in seeing one if anyone has encountered them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as exercise, I found that yoga greatly helped me improve flexibility (dynamic and static - active/passive). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:09:57.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="294" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:17:23.357" Score="7" ViewCount="428" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family are all big meat eaters. We are country people who like to BBQ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12577618&quot;&gt;article on BBC news&lt;/a&gt; says that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;adults are advised to consume on&#xA;  average no more than 70g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;of red meat per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am probably eating around 200g of meat per day (this can be chicken, fish, pork or red meat). Regardless of the type of meat I am guessing this is too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if I cut back on meat I get really hungry about half an hour after eating, which is a temptation to start eating snack foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you suggest I can use in replacement of meat in my diet that will let me feel full and also won't have me feeling hungry again after 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:28:34.743" Title="What to replace large quantities of meat with in my diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;meat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-09-12T21:06:57.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:18:26.927" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;It usually comes down to a personal preference, but this is what worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start doing a sport that involves continual learning of a skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be a team sport, or a martial art, if you don't want/don't have the opportunity to do team sports. I get bored very easily by repetitive exercises like running or swimming, but getting into Muay Thai and boxing kept me going for a few years so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise in a group, or with a partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't underestimate this one. Your ability to push yourself increases if there are other people, who train with you. In the gym where I go, people are paired up in class: one is holding the pads/mits for a round, another one is doing the drill for a round, then swap. I, for one, have a much higher slack-off rate if I'm training alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:18:26.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="150" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:19:43.103" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chicken and Fish!  Especially fish.  Fish contain great deal of &quot;good&quot; fat and lots of protein.  When you get hungry snack on nuts, protein shake, or protein bar.  Lots of veggie.  If you need rice, eat brown rice.  I know it taste like plastic, but the best way is to put some scrushed seaweed seasoning on top (not too much).  It'll make it taste better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:19:43.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="153" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="159" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:20:16.350" Score="21" ViewCount="3790" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems there are a ton of easy ab exercises, but very few for the lower back to keep the muscles balanced as your abs get stronger. What are simple home exercises for the lower back? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T18:42:20.530" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T23:36:38.147" Title="What's a good home exercise for the lower back?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="155" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:23:35.613" Score="11" ViewCount="1724" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm on a calorie deficit and trying to burn fat, at what point do I start burning muscle instead of fat?  How can I be sure that I'm eating enough to minimize muscle loss, but remain on a calorie deficit so that I can burn fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T07:30:49.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:47:49.253" Title="At what point do I start to burn muscle on a calorie deficit diet?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="167" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:26:30.993" Score="14" ViewCount="1462" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are quite competitive, however being of the opposite sex it's hard for us to compete with things like push-ups etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to find some other exercises that we can do together that have a competitive edge, but where we can be on an even playing field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note my wife is around the same fitness level, but not the same in terms of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T23:41:45.390" Title="Interesting and competitive exercises for couples" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-02T03:21:04.667" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="158" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="163" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:27:23.600" Score="7" ViewCount="735" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you determine if something is good carb or bad carb?  Reason I ask is after a month of hardcore working out I realized my body has changed.  While I was eating five meals a day with very low carbohydrate I find myself now in need of six - seven meals daily else I feel dizzy.  I am ALOT leaner compare to pre-workout condition.  I was told to intake more carbohydrate but I don't want to over do it.  So, what's the best way to determine if food is good carb or bad carb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess i should word it better.  Ok let's say if i were to go into a grocery store today and shop for &quot;good carb&quot; food what would i be looking for and what's the most obvious way to look for them? Besides simply reading the label, which fresh produce usually don't have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="92" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T01:09:17.043" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:09:17.043" Title="How can I tell the difference between good carbs and bad carbs?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:29:06.577" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try rolling over onto your stomach and doing a &quot;superman&quot;. You can hold tension in the position, or do reps similar to doing &quot;reverse situps&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VWk8w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://getpaidwithfitness.net/p90x-day-28-and-29-stretch-and-core-synergistics/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ref site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you might think about doing slow squats or wall sits where you focus on contracting both your abs and lower back. Tense up so as to make the line between anus and belly-button as short as possible during this exercise - maybe you can replace your ab work at the same time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T18:23:02.627" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:23:02.627" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="157" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:29:19.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an example of one that we currently use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both people sit upright opposite each other with each person's legs lifted and feet facing the other persons feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arms off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using just your feet try and knock the other person off balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to knock the person flat on their back. Play competitively not aggressively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2013-12-24T19:04:39.970" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T19:04:39.970" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-02T03:21:04.667" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="158" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:38:14.510" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically a &quot;good carb&quot; indicates that the food has nutrients and is absorbed into the bloodstream slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whole&lt;/strong&gt;: Fibers, husks, and other materials provide fiber (which limits an insulin spike) and vitamins. (e.g. Choose brown rice over white rice)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unrefined&lt;/strong&gt;: Refining processes typically remove nutrients. In addition, they tend to render foods such that they are absorbed faster. (e.g. Avoid regular white flour in favor of stone-ground, or better yet avoid flour altogether)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Complex&lt;/strong&gt;: Natural foods containing &quot;complex carbohydrates&quot; instead of sugars or starches have fiber and other material that helps slow the absorption into the bloodstream (e.g. Choose beans over potatoes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low-Glycemic&lt;/strong&gt;: The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.glycemicedge.com/glycemic-index-chart/&quot;&gt;glycemic index&lt;/a&gt; (and the related glycemic load) is a measurement of how quickly foods are absorbed into the bloodstream. Low-glycemic is typically defined as foods with an index no higher than 30-50 (normalized against table sugar at 100).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:38:14.510" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="215" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:02:25.253" Score="13" ViewCount="1171" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the best ways to maintain my energy levels throughout the day. I find that I am becoming very tired during the day and go to bed early but then wake up still tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, things in my diet that I should include more of and things that I should avoid to increase my energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also fitness activities that would help my energy levels as I understand the body has some natural energy rhythms but not how to best take advantage of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:16:30.443" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T18:49:04.960" Title="How can I maintain my energy levels?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="113" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:08:40.213" Score="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;code&gt;I've worked for a company that makes pressure plates, that allow you to analyze running patterns (with or without shoes). I've done research at a specialized running shoe shop and my father is an orthopedic shoe manufacturer. So in short, my opinions are fairly biased, but by no means scientifically proven.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While md5sum names some great rules of thumb, they apply to every shoe and don't help you determine what type of shoe you're looking for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First a short note: Adidas did a study way back in 1987 and found that most injuries come from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injuries caused by training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrong intensity of training: 12%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too rapid increase in intensity: 9%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Several others: 9%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injuries caused by shoes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad quality of shoes: 17%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wearing your shoes for too long: 11%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wrong kind of shoes&lt;/strong&gt;: 44%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, picking the right kind of shoes is pretty darn important! &lt;strong&gt;So how do we pick one?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yo6Cd.png&quot; alt=&quot;Dissection of a Saucony shoe&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you dissect a shoe, it's made up out of two main components: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the upper, which is the mesh, leather or synthetic material + the shoe laces;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the sole of the shoe, which can consist out of several layers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first component is composed the same for nearly every pair of running shoe. While the last around which it is made, may or may not fit your foot (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/113/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-running-shoe/131#131&quot;&gt;see md5sum's answer for some excellent advise there&lt;/a&gt;), you won't find much variety within a certain brand. However, you should note that this is mostly true for the running shoes. &lt;strong&gt;Don't even consider running on those cheaper aerobic or tennis models&lt;/strong&gt;, because you'll fall in the trap Adidas found earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other component, which is the sole of the shoe. Now when I say sole, I'm actually referring to everything that is below your foot when you're inside the shoe. Trying to discuss all the bits and pieces that compose it depends strongly on the brand and their design-department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When limiting choices towards endurance running and excluding fancier shoes that are meant for trail running or sprinting on a track. &lt;strong&gt;You're left with a shoe sole that serves several functions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;offer stability and control of motion,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shock absorption and/or reduction,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protection against the underground and overuse/strain,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;comfort,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;enhancing your performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shock absorption is mainly determined by your body weight, rather than the type of shoe. When you're lighter, you can get away with having a 'softer' (as in lower shore values) soles than when you're heavier. When I say shock absorption, don't immediately think: Nike Air! because most absorption comes from flexing your joints, rather than compressing your sole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several 'special' features for motion control, though you can safely assume that unless you have some severe disorder, you probably don't need any of the extreme models. With extreme, I mean shoes with extreme angles at the heel or other gimmicks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pkhBf.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're 'normal' &lt;strong&gt;you fall in one of three groups&lt;/strong&gt;: those who pronate too much, those who run neutral, those who don't pronate enough (or supinate). Don't mistake this for the other three types people like to call out: flat, normal arched and high arched feet. Hate to break it to them, but since the shoes all have the same shape on the inside, they surely aren't adapted to your arch! No I'm talking about biomechanics here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Maoq.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These pictures depict the maximal motion in this subjects ankle, that your running shoe is trying to limit. Funny enough, I almost never encounter shoes that help against eversion (supination), so choice boils down to: how much pronation do you have, ranging from excessive to normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This boils down to three main types of shoes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy support shoes, you can recognize them by having a very straight last and the arch area is either entirely filled or there's antipronation support running from the back till the ball of the shoe. You can recognize this by its gray color or at least using a distinctive color difference between the inner (medial) and outer (lateral) side of the shoe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderate anti-pronation shoes, these often only have the antipronation support in the heel area. Again, you can recognize this by the grey color.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neutral shoes, these have no special features for reducing pronation (that the other two models don't have already).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So how do I know which one I need?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well one easy way of determining this is looking back at your history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You never had anti-pronation shoes and didn't sustain any injuries? --&gt; Get neutral shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you run a lot and for long distances? Neutral shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're not overweight? --&gt; Neutral shoes unless move point 3 applies. If not, more stable shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you ever have any injuries that are linked to pronation? Get more stable shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're overweight and you have a history of pronation-related injuries then yes, probably you need the heaviest kind of support you can get. In most other cases, the neutral shoe is of such decent quality that you don't need anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So isn't there any choice at all?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, yes all the brands will tell you they have superior technologies built into their shoes and they're all right. But sadly for them, that technology also has to fit your foot. When you take 5 different brands and you start to test them on a treadmill, you probably end up having to chose between two brands, because &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/113/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-running-shoe/131#131&quot;&gt;the rest 'didn't feel right'&lt;/a&gt; and you end up picking the one with the fancy colors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do I do if I want to start with running and don't know what's good for me?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, it depends on many things, but any good running shop should be able to advise you based on your conditions. What's your posture, age, physique, level of activity, general health, your goals with running, training intensity etc...? But all in all, in most cases a good stable running shoe is more than sufficient. When you have a good shoe, the other factors from the Adidas study become more important: running too hard, on a too hard underground, for too long, far too often in a short amount of time will causes injuries no matter what shoes you wear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any final words?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seasoned runners will generally disagree with my advice, but it isn't catered to them. Because if you're capable of running a lot and very often, chances are that natural selection decided you're a pretty good runner or else Mother Nature would have stopped you in your tracks long ago. This means that you get to wear lighter shoes or silly shoes like the Vibram ones, because you let your body do all the work. That's mainly where the performance enhancing comes from: leaving as much of the shoe out to not get in your way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:19:10.377" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="157" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:12:41.020" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do something that doesn't require strength in the traditional sense (i.e. moving large weights). For example, with yoga, I often found myself shaking and occasionally falling flat on my face, even though the exercise didn't seem hard or difficult at first. Try holding the posture for 10+ seconds and it's a different story. &#xA;I also found that on average, in my class, women were doing better than men, so this is probably a good thing for what you're looking for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:12:41.020" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-02T03:21:04.667" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:16:33.247" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;From yoga: spinal flexion and cat-cow. Very simple exercises and quite effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Cat-Cow looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L35pF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.massagewilliamsburg.com/blog/5-yoga-moves-you-should-know/862&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ref site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T18:23:09.100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:23:09.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="171" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:33:29.667" Score="11" ViewCount="843" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been on a reduced calories diet for past 4 months and lost about 20kg, but I keep on getting sweet tooth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main &lt;em&gt;unhealthy&lt;/em&gt; thing that I eat is mostly 85% chocolate, which I usually eat after excercising. By eat I mean I take couple of bites, not eat the whole thing :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to eat something like this more less regularly, or just try to stick with the diet for as long as I can and then eat a lot of it? By that I mean letting myself off the diet for a day or something like that. What do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when I'm about to eat some chocolate, should I do so before or after some excercise? In the morning, afternoon, or it doesn't matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorUserId="658" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T09:38:25.233" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T09:38:25.233" Title="What is the least damaging way to eat unhealthy food?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:38:46.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:36:15.117" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you look at solving your craving by eating fruits which are naturally sweet and not an unhealthy food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can vary this by eating different types of seasonal fruits or try and find your favourite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love to eat watermelon and rockmelon (canteloupe) after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like the flavour of chocolate not necessarily the sweetness you can try something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratonia_siliqua&quot;&gt;carob&lt;/a&gt; bars which have a similar taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T00:41:20.523" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:41:20.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:42:40.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slowly. Take small bites. Savor the flavor. Enjoy the texture on your tongue. Let the enjoyment slither around in your mouth. But then when it's gone, remind yourself that that's it. That you'll enjoy it more if you abstain until the next time you allow yourself the pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:42:40.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="150" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:44:50.107" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For many people, &quot;full&quot; feeling is usually triggered by fat rather than by the mechanical stuffing of the stomach. Red meats tend to be higher in fats than poultry and fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;adults are advised to consume on average no more than 70g of red meat per day.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poultry and fish are not red meat. Pork, sheep and beef are the most common red meats that you will encounter in a modern western diet. If you are concerned about getting enough protein, one could add tofu or tempeh to one's diet, although tofu can be high in fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:44:50.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:45:33.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many diets allow or even recommend a weekly cheat meal or cheat day. This might be one approach to controlling your cravings - and on that one meal/day go ahead and stuff yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some discussion of the cheat day as well as a supplement stack* and other techniques that help block absorption of the sugars can be found in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/030746363X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;4 Hour Body&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Specifically, the recommended basic supplement stack was a combination of garlic, ALA, green tea extract, and policosanol. Cissus quadrangularis may also have some beneficial effects.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:45:33.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="139" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:48:27.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for &quot;sixpack abs&quot; like you saw in the movie &lt;em&gt;300&lt;/em&gt;, you need to get your body fat levels down to about 9%. Most adults can't get their bodyfat levels that low, and going too much lower (starting about 6% body fat) will cause medical problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:48:27.263" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="134" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:51:28.770" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The theory is, there should be no set order. You need to mix things up - not only the exercises you are doing, but the order in which you are doing them. My philosophy is &quot;never do the same exercises twice&quot;. This obviously doesn't work if your exercise is running or biking, but you can always choose a different route. If you are weight lifting then mix it up EVERY time you go to the gym. Gains are attained by challenging your muscles. If you do the same thing day in and day out your muscles will get use to it and you'll stop gaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you should warm up at the beginning and probably stretch at the end. Warm up on the exercise you are going to do first with lighter weight. Add two extra sets at the beginning to work yourself up to the working sets with the real weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:51:28.770" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="388" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:52:42.620" Score="9" ViewCount="659" Body="&lt;p&gt;I regularly play football (soccer) and jog a couple of times a week for at least an hour. I occasionally experience soreness with my knees. I'm worried I might be doing long term damage. However, on the football field I see a lot of guys 10 - 15 years older than myself that can still run and plenty of them faster than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any chance the impact from doing this type of exercise will be doing damage in the long term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:35:02.507" Title="Long term impact of team sports and jogging on my knees" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:52:43.980" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's some contradiction as to what's the most important part: timing, quantity etc. I have found pretty good studies that indicate that the post-workout shake doesn't really make a difference and then there are studies like the one Duopixel quotes that suggest the opposite. There are also many variables even regarding the post-workout shake: with/without carbs, what &quot;type(s)&quot; of protein, what quantity of protein, distance from previous/next meal etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that some things are more or less agreed upon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein is important for recovery and for general health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;huge&quot; amounts of protein are not healthy, nor do they offer advantages over a normal quantity (it's very important to be clear about what huge vs normal means though, since the &quot;right&quot; amount of protein is subject to debate as well), no matter where they come from&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;supplements are meant to help .. supplement your diet, they should not &quot;replace&quot; it; if you are getting enough protein from your diet, I see no reason to take protein supplements. If you need more protein and cannot, for some reason, resolve that through your diet, supplements will of course be helpful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="54" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T19:51:25.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:51:25.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="158" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:54:42.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, the difference between &quot;good&quot; and &quot;bad&quot; boils down to whether the carbs are &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosaccharide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple&lt;/a&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysaccharide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;complex&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; In more modern days, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycemic index&lt;/a&gt; is also a good measure of &quot;goodness&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:54:42.703" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="182" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="326" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:57:59.267" Score="42" ViewCount="11707" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past few years, barefoot (or close to it) running has become extremely popular. New Balance, Nike, Saucony, and I'm sure more have come out with minimal shoes, not to mention the Vibram Five Fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We hear enough about the benefits from ad campaigns - what are some potential downsides of running in minimalist shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="119" LastEditorUserId="119" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:24:01.300" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T05:31:37.447" Title="What are the downsides of minimalist running shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="13" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="307" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:58:14.240" Score="16" ViewCount="3436" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glucosamine is quite popular and is featured prominently in pharmacies and supermarkets in Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was once recommended by a GP to take glucosamine tablets to reduce joint soreness as I exercise quite regularly and occasionally have joint soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence (peer reviewed papers etc.) that glucosamine actually works to built up cartilage in joints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience was I didn't notice any perceivable difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T22:48:27.823" Title="Are glucosamine tablets actually effective in building up cartilage in joints?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="179" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:58:15.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes of course it is. Any activity creates wear and tear on your bones and ligaments. Just getting out of the bed causes wear. But, the effects on your body due to exercise are almost guaranteed to be better for you than not exercising at all. The rule of thumb is, if it's hurts, stop. Don't get your ego in a twist or try to muscle through the pain. Pain is your body telling you something is wrong. Rest a bit, stretch, and then start again when the pain is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A personal note, I found that taking a daily dose of fish oil or some other omega3 fatty supplement helps tremendously with joint soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:58:15.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:01:45.270" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've been wearing shoes all your life you're in for a real sore time if you leave your shoes at home next time you run a marathon. You need to develop callouses on your feet in order to safely run barefoot. To avoid having to take time away from running, I would suggest working your way up to it. Take your shoes, but don't wear them for the first quarter/half/full mile as you get use to it. Eventually you'll be able to run all you want without.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, without shoes your feet will meet the pavement in different ways. Your soreness might not only come from the lack of hard skin protecting your feet, but from the wear on your bones and tendons from running differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:01:45.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:03:47.680" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.visionworksusa.com/computereyestrain.htm&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; has a number of  good quality exercises for eye strain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to look after your eyes and not just your body as looking at a computer all day puts strain on your eyes and not just on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:03:47.680" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:05:27.950" Score="15" ViewCount="851" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for some diatary ways to keep my metabolism high, especially between meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kinds of foods or supliments can help keep your body processing long after you've consumed them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally I'm looking for categories &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a list of examples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T01:43:46.023" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T20:05:42.313" Title="Keeping my metabolism high" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="371" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:09:42.627" Score="4" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;We all know that sugar intake should be limited in general, but people seem to look on high fructose corn syrup especially poorly. Why is it any worse than sucrose? Crystalline fructose? Other sweeteners such as stevia or aspartame?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="119" LastEditorUserId="119" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:14:28.017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T06:00:46.047" Title="How bad is high fructose corn syrup relative to the alternatives?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-03-03T17:55:12.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="188" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:18:34.480" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;High fructose corn syrup has gone through processing to turn some of the glucose into fructose which makes it about 3x sweeter. The big difference is how the body metabolizes and stores the two. Fructose goes right to the belly which gives you a better chance of heart attack and stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some studies have even found trace amounts of mercury in high fructose corn syrup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:18:34.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:20:40.463" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that walking and biking are 2 good ones. Just getting up from the computer and walking around the office is helpful, and I try to arrange a 30 minute walk outside after lunch (even when it is below freezing). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:20:40.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="238" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:30:41.247" Score="20" ViewCount="100108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My BMI is 26.8, which means that I am in the overweight category. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When one hits a gym regularly every day, what is the minimum amount of calories that he should burn in order to see a change in his weight over a month's time? I generally focus on simple exercises like being on the treadmill for around 20mins (150 Cal) and on the cross trainer for 20mins as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this enough or should I increase my workout? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user122" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:58:29.497" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T12:15:56.507" Title="How many calories to burn daily to see a change in weight within a month" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="187" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:44:55.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drink lots and lots of water, this will keep the system running smoothly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can put this in the &lt;em&gt;fluids&lt;/em&gt; category if you need one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:44:55.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:59:55.403" Score="9" ViewCount="13597" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that every time I do a leg-intensive cardio workout, like stair climbing, intense elliptical machine, or running more than 3-4 miles, my legs take forever to bounce back.  They don't hurt so much as they just feel heavy and lethargic.  I try to do cardio every other day, but my legs seem to only allow intense cardio once or twice a week.  What are some strategies for combating this, so that I can do intense cardio at least 3x a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-25T14:28:43.103" LastActivityDate="2011-12-02T07:07:15.710" Title="How can I recover more quickly from leg-intensive cardio workouts?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="200" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:05:00.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar issue as I regularly play football so I try to run hard. I experience soreness especially in my thigh and calf muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you do some warm down and stretching after the exercise, this will help you bounce back sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have the benefit of a back yard swimming pool and after football I do a few laps and also some running in the shallow end. The combination of the cold water and the light exercise seems to be a big help. Maybe you can join a gym that also has a swimming pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be careful as your body might be telling you that it can only handle two sessions a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:05:00.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:05:37.037" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back extensions, side bends (with or without weights), pointers and plank. Anything that strengthens the back and core muscles. Try sitting on a fitball instead of a chair and do pelvic rocks and circles while you work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="125" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:05:37.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="217" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:09:28.333" Score="10" ViewCount="571" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to measure how much protein a person should consume per day based on their body weight?  The objective is to burn fat and maximize metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:41:16.973" Title="What is the ideal amount of protein in take daily per body weight?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="204" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="240" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:11:22.490" Score="24" ViewCount="6594" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often like to set short term goals that don't really work for weight loss. I'm wondering if there is a general principle I should obey like 'lose 1 kilogram per two weeks' - what sort of rate of weight loss should I work towards? I'd appreciate it if anyone had any good information or sources that discuss this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T04:01:15.367" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T11:04:18.553" Title="What is a reasonable rate of weight loss to work towards?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;goals&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="200" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:14:16.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cold whirlpool daily does wonders for recovery.  I always experienced tired legs and aching knees during my entire football career.  Only a dip in the cold pool would help refresh my legs.  It forces increased bloodflow to the legs, which results in better recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without access to a cold whirlpool, a cold bath in which only your legs are immersed or perhaps a quick swim in a pool of any kind would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:14:16.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:27:11.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will widely vary person to person and most claims that you will lose x number of kilos in a certain period of time are unfounded. You should consult your GP or a dietician if you want a definitive answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should set your exercise goals based on fitness milestones and have your weight milestones as a consequence of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your current fitness level you could set yourself a goal for either distance or time with either walking, jogging or running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is also a great for setting goals as it can be done by people of all fitness levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also apply similar goals to your eating habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:27:11.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:37:38.330" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight loss depends from person to person.  Some people are able to lose the weight faster than others.  It can also be a terrible metric of success if weight-loss is the &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; concentration.  (For example, muscle weighs more than fat, if one gains more muscle than he/she loses fat, they will actually gain in weight)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better mindset to have is to set goals regarding the &lt;em&gt;actual&lt;/em&gt; exercise rather than weight loss.  As you set a goal to exercise more frequently and with greater efficiency.  Some example goals can be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run x miles everyday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X amount of push ups each day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By end of the month, I will be push myself to do X amount of sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you set goals like these, fat will be lost, and you will become more healthier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:37:38.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:40:56.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your metabolism slows down as you age, so a rate that is good (or sustainable) for one age bracket will not be suitable for an older age bracket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:40:56.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:42:05.347" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Garmin Forerunner 305, and have used it for over a year. I love it. It offers training, and the software shows graphs and shows reports. There is 3rd-party software for even more functionality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="126" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:42:05.347" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-02T02:50:11.723" Score="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer running outdoors for several reasons...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can keep your mind somewhat more engaged than when using a treadmill (i.e. taking in the scenery, etc.) (and possibly keep it away from the fact that you're exercising). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get to &lt;em&gt;go somewhere&lt;/em&gt; and see things other than the inside of a gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As Greg mentioned, the natural benefits of fresh air and sunshine are a huge plus and should not be underrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can establish routes using bike paths, neighborhood/city blocks, hills, etc. to track progress as well as to switch things up to keep it interesting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're less likely to quit. You can easily hop off a treadmill, but once you've jogged in one direction, you have to jog back. ;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T02:50:11.723" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="234" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:03:38.720" Score="1" ViewCount="429" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do alcohol calories work.  I'm not talking beer, but straight gin or vodka.  I've heard it's about 100 calories per ounce, and it's not digested by your normal digestion system, but your liver.  What kind of effect do alcohol calories have on the body.  And can I get away with having a gin every night on a strict diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T04:00:53.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T05:32:25.530" Title="Will calories from drinking spirits effect my diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-05-25T12:32:44.763" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="222" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:07:07.237" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you progress at different levels for different exercise, but as a (very) general rule of thumb, would it be reasonable to add 10lbs a month with bench presses, and maybe more like 20 with squats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:48:53.777" Title="How much weight should I be able to add to my routine monthly." Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:10:27.127" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many factors that contribute lack of energy, but nutrition-wise, one of the reasons is &quot;fast&quot; carbohydrates (especially sugar). Carbonated soft drinks are usually the worst offenders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you consume sugar, it immediately ends up in your blood, so your blood sugar level rises rapidly. Your body counters it by producing more insulin to maintain stable sugar level. Since it has to produce a lot of it (&quot;insulin spike&quot;), your blood sugar level plummets, leading to loss of energy and the feeling of tiredness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut out sugar and sweets out of your diet, or, at least, limit it significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:10:27.127" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="226" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:11:48.733" Score="7" ViewCount="2020" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hardly ever do curls or any exercise that focuses solely on making my arms stronger.  I've found, however, that they're probably the part of my body that grows the fastest as a side effect of the other exercises I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess my question is, is that fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T17:48:09.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:48:09.497" Title="Is it okay to skip arm specific exercises?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="203" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:13:07.873" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to build muscle and lose fat, I've heard it's about 1 gram per 1 pound of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:13:07.873" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="224" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:30:46.493" Score="1" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen these terms a couple times here already.  Also, is there a good place to ask these questions?  I feel &quot;what are some good exercise terms and their meanings&quot; would get closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="24" LastEditDate="2011-10-01T09:15:35.513" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T19:19:21.593" Title="What are planks and box jumping" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="193" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:48:13.193" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how many calories you consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a tool like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FitDay&lt;/a&gt; to track both your calories in and your calories out. You should aim for a daily deficit of around 500 calories per day. Be careful to avoid any more than that kind of amount as you will trigger your body in to starvation mode, get low energy and find it difficult to shift weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T19:10:52.083" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T19:10:52.083" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="214" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:48:53.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the rule of thumb here is a dangerous guide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why, because it may work for one or two iterations, but by the third iteration if you have added 60lbs to your squats in 3 months it may be way too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is something you need to listen to what your body is telling you and also a trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:48:53.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="134" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:51:46.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among many powerlifters, the theory is that you should try to warm up very little. Warmups are simply tests to spot joint or technique problems that could cause injury at full weight. Anything more is needlessly tiring yourself out before you can get to the heavy lifts that really increase strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intuitively you would expect to lift the most weight in your first set since you are the freshest, the next most weight in your second set, and so on. Also intuitively, if you were to apply your lifts to the &quot;real world&quot; you may not get to warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you must combine cardio and strength training into one workout, then do the strength training first as you need to be fresh for heavy lifts, and not for cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I'm assuming that you are lifting for strength and doing cardio for heart health. If you're training to become e.g. a competitive runner then this may not be the right advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I would save stretching for the end of your workout, unless you are very tight, and don't overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:51:46.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:55:06.560" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Box Jumping is one type of Plyometrics exercise that is based off high impact jumping routines.  Plank is a type of AB workout that focus on holding a position with your back skyward, elbows on the floor supporting the body while keeping your back straight maintaining a straight line from your shoulders, to the hips, to the knee while tip toeing.  While you are at the Plank make sure to keep breathing.  In fact, keep a consistant breathing pattern while doing any exercise.  Keep your stomach, butt, and leg muscles tight during the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-03-07T19:19:21.593" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T19:19:21.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="216" CreationDate="2011-03-02T03:57:02.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fine to skip arm specific exercises if you are already happy with how they are progressing without direct exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally focus more on my legs because I need them more for the sport I play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also focus more on strengthening exercises using something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportstek.net/pab.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ausband&lt;/a&gt; than building large arm muscles. Which is what I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T03:57:02.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="216" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:02:43.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what you are looking for. As xiaohouzi79 said, if you're happy with your current arm growth doing other exercises, that's perfectly fine. However, if you're looking for additional definition (not growth) you will most likely at least have to have one good time in your lifting cycle focusing on your arms. I would recommend that you make sure you are working both sides of your arms (biceps and triceps) through your other exercises. The worst thing would be to have one side grow faster/bigger than the other. Not only does this look weird, it can cause injuries later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T04:02:43.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:05:24.650" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend good cardio along with the other recommendations that have been made. I find that, after sitting all day (as I too am a developer) my body responds very well to getting blood flowing through it and getting my heart rate up. Not only does it help clear my mind, but it gives me the endurance for sitting those long hours throughout my work week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching is also important to reduce injury from repetitive motion. You can do many of those right at your desk for arms/hands/fingers. Perform other stretching in the gym for your back, neck, and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T04:05:24.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="140" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:10:08.613" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general idea behind the rule of &quot;don't sit after working out&quot; (and I am not a medical expert - I don't know how valid this is) is that if you go from an intense workout to just sitting and not moving at all, blood will start to pool in the lower areas of your body. This will later cause muscle pain and extra stress to the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my mind, this at least makes some sense. Just as you should not go from lifting weights to stopping and going home, you should also cool down from an intense cardio workout. Not only will you prevent injury, but you will continue to reap the benefits of the workout for awhile longer. (Stretching after lifting, walking after running, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T04:10:08.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="213" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:27:52.923" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram, ~70 per fluid ounce, and ~100 per jigger&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/gin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. It is converted in the liver to acetate which is given priority in metabolism in the same way that carbs &amp;amp; protein are given priority over fat&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. As long as you properly count the calories in the alcohol you drink, you should be able to work it in to your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="65" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T04:27:52.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:55:13.227" Score="1" ViewCount="575" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some info about me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm 21 years old. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 50kg (110 pounds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 1.70m (5'7&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you suggest I do to gain weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt; and doing exercises, but I need some advice: what should I eat, or what routine should I follow when doing exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="131" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T16:41:56.903" Title="Advice on gaining weight" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-12-23T13:23:13.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="263" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:56:44.677" Score="3" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my limited knowledge - you must train differently depending on what you want to achieve. E.g. to lose weight one should do small weight lifting with lots of repetitions (also - according to my limited knowledge). What are the traits of other workout types (gain muscle strength, improve stamina, etc.). And what are the types of workouts in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:32:23.437" Title="What are the traits of different types of workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="213" CreationDate="2011-03-02T05:32:25.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, with alcohol, the extra calories are really not the main thing to worry about. There are a lot of other changes going on in the body.&#xA;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage#Effects_of_alcohol_on_health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good place to start&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you ok having a drink every now and then? Sure, I don't see a problem with that. But a spirit every night might not be what you need on a diet (or even off a diet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially on a &quot;strict&quot; diet, your body is already being pushed hard by the caloric deficit; I would do my best to help it out, not strain it even more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T05:32:25.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="232" CreationDate="2011-03-02T05:39:26.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get enough sleep and eat well and healthy. &#xA;Make sure you get enough vitamins, whether from diet or supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you are eating &quot;enough&quot;, make sure that the nutrients you are eating don't go to waste. Try taking some enzymes for a while, see how that works for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, train. Lift some weights. Be patient, results will be slow (think years). Don't rush to big weights and creatine and other &quot;helpers&quot;. Start slow and develop your body carefully, avoid injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you're motivated and you keep working at it, you will see results. Always remember that you want to grow muscles, not fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T05:39:26.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="239" CreationDate="2011-03-02T06:12:24.827" Score="7" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 12 years old and we have a school-wide relay champiniship and I was wondering what is the best tips to train in a 4x100m relay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was wondering how do you train for a relay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: We won by a few secs on now we are in Dictrect Aths relay team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="135" OwnerDisplayName="Benny" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T07:05:20.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T07:05:20.830" Title="Best way to train for a relay" Tags="&lt;tips&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="193" CreationDate="2011-03-02T07:56:57.900" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 kilo fat equals &lt;strong&gt;7700 kcal&lt;/strong&gt; or 1 pound fat equals &lt;strong&gt;3500 kcal&lt;/strong&gt;, so if you keep your diet the same and start working out more: that's how it takes to lose a kilo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So assuming your 2 workouts burn 300 kcal together, you need 7700/300 = 25.6 workouts to lose a kilo. That would mean you would have to train nearly every day of the month to lose it... Clearly, that's not really an optimistic goal to work towards, though on the other hand: it's easier to keep up since you don't have to eat less (but not more!) and the result is probably more sustained than with some crash diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off course, increasing the intensity or the duration will chance those numbers, but adding  more 'exercise' is a more effective way of increasing the amount of calories burned in a day: cycle to work, take the stairs, take a stroll during lunch, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your other option would be to consume 200 kcal's less each day, which would also result in a 1 kilo difference. So doing them both, would probably give you quicker results. Funny enough if you add those two, you get the 500 kcal that @Campbell mentioned, so I guess his estimate seems about right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T12:15:56.507" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T12:15:56.507" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="236" CreationDate="2011-03-02T08:09:58.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to practice doing sprints, the 100m shouldn't be too long a distance. You can start smaller and practice doing 50m sprints and then build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also make sure you get a decent amount of sleep the two nights before the event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you will be doing sprints, during training and before the event I suggest you do a reasonable amount of warming up and stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also another exercise where you sprint about 10 - 15 metres, touch the ground then sprint back another 10 - 15 metres and do several repetitions. So you are practising taking off from a point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:02:31.243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:02:31.243" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-02T08:35:33.703" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You lose weight because you either eat less or exercise more.&lt;/strong&gt; So it will depend on a combination of those two how fast you would lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since 1 kg fat gives your body 7000 kcal of energy, 7000kcal/14 days = &lt;strong&gt;500 kcal/day.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on your activity level, your job and lifestyle whether that's a healthy goal. The purpose of any diet is not just to lose, but also keep off any weight you lose. So rushing yourself only to swing back a couple of months later won't do you any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what can you do?&lt;/strong&gt; Get more exercise, but here exercise means working out at 50-60% of your maximal heart rate, examples? Take the stairs at work, cycle to your work or for grocery shopping, get a dog and walk it each day, take a stroll through the park at lunch, anything that will keep you moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, like the other mentioned: pick a sport and set yourself a goal. I prefer running, because you'll be burning lots of calories from the start and it will only get more once you're able to run longer. While jogging for 20 minutes may seem like a bad exercise, you'll be surprised how long you'll be able to run three or six months from now. If you can run 5 km every other day, you'll be burning at least 5000 kcal a month, so you'll keep losing weight as long as you keep it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My take home message:&lt;/strong&gt; The goal is not to lose a kilo every 2 weeks now, but to permanently keep them off for the rest of your life. You're working out to improve your &lt;strong&gt;fitness&lt;/strong&gt;, so you'll be able to lose weight once you're fit enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And perhaps more importantly: there's a strong correlation between your capacity for exercise and your general health. So you should be working out regardless of your weight, losing weight in the process just makes it more worthwhile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-08-21T11:16:06.490" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T11:16:06.490" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-03-02T09:10:03.780" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest &lt;a href=&quot;http://endomondo.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Endomondo&lt;/a&gt; which is available for all mobile platforms and synchronizes the results to a web application. There's a strong focus on social networking and other users or friends can leave comments on your workout. You can also create challenges that other have to beat or let others track your progress live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/He6U0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/393Vj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dDjVx.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MAo88.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0nRZK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Endomondo Sports Tracker PRO ($3.99) also features some additional features. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endomondo.com/help&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Though not yet on all platforms.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beat yourself: Set a previous workout as your target and the audio coach will help you perform better this time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Headset control: Use the headset media button to get audio feedback and pause/resume a workoutt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="141" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T17:44:58.223" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T17:44:58.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="51" CreationDate="2011-03-02T09:21:42.507" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should get yourself a decent heart-rate monitor and calibrate it yourself (as good as possible). What you do is you take a cycling home trainer and you follow the following protocol:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintain 80 rpm all the time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start cycling for 3-5 minutes at 100 Watt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add 30 Watt every 3 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor your heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming everything is more or less accurate, your heart rate should be increasing more or less linearly until you start get above your anaerobic threshold after which it may start to increase steeper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is: it gives you a nice estimation of how much Watts you burn at what heart rate. And since Watts can be roughly translated to kilo-calories (1 kcal = 1.163 Watt), you get an idea of how much calories you've burned. &lt;strong&gt;Convert your heart rate over time to Watts and convert those to calories.&lt;/strong&gt; Though I'm sure most of them will have one built-in. You can use your own 'calibration' to adjust the values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt; If your a heart patient or you have any other diseases, your mileage may vary&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T09:21:42.507" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="245" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="259" CreationDate="2011-03-02T09:25:44.897" Score="28" ViewCount="24397" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any truth to the claim that you should wait (at least) an hour after you wake up, before you start a workout. I've heard something about &quot;the back is not lubricated enough before that&quot; but that doesn't make sense in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T16:46:45.613" Title="Should you not work out within an hour of waking up?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="252" CreationDate="2011-03-02T09:38:29.990" Score="17" ViewCount="2056" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am six weeks away form my first marathon and the last two and half weeks of training have been badly affected as i have been suffering with a bad winter cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am still coughing fairly regularly and don't feel fully over it but am starting to get concerned that my fitness level is going to start spiraling downwards if I don't start getting back out and racking up the miles. My last long run of 19.5 miles was over two weeks ago now and I've only managed a couple of easy 4-6 miles since.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I just continue resting until&#xA;I feel fully recovered and accept&#xA;that I probably won't achieve my sub&#xA;4 hour goal or can I start to get my&#xA;training schedule back on track as I&#xA;recover?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would running actually    help me&#xA;clear my chest and help    recovery&#xA;or could I end up causing    more&#xA;problems for myself?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:51:05.010" Title="Should you run with a cold?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;illness&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="311" CreationDate="2011-03-02T09:46:36.520" Score="12" ViewCount="3191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone put in human terms what does it mean to work out in &quot;anaerobic pulse zone&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I mean anaerobic heart rate in context of running on a treadmill. I'm 26 and while running on 12km/h speed my heart rate is 170 which is (according to table hanging on the wall of the gym I go to) is between &quot;anaerobic workout&quot; and &quot;red zone&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T12:44:30.757" LastActivityDate="2011-11-28T00:31:47.903" Title="What does it actually mean &quot;anaerobic pulse zone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="248" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:00:37.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear the advice that if the symptoms are only from the neck up (ie stuffy nose) it's OK, if neck downwards (aches and pains) you shouldn't exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually sit it out if I feel any way under the weather. When I don't feel my best I just get frustrated and this has further detrimental effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:00:37.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="248" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:00:58.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to be careful with running and hydration and having a cold a lack of water can exacerbate your cold. Also, if your body is still fighting the virus you need sufficient amount of rest. So if running is going to make you feel exhausted this is a sign that your body still needs more rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if I am on the mend I prefer to do regular exercise even if I feel bad. So I usually call it based on whether I am on a downward spiral or in recovery mode. If I'm recovering I usually prefer to do some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may not be likely that you can make your goal, but maybe you can ease yourself back into it. I wouldn't start exactly where you left off, but drop off and see how you go over a shorter distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:00:58.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="248" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:03:01.573" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, keep resting would be the commonest medical answer for this (acute bronchitus). My view is: given all the hours of training you've put in, it's better to complete the marathon slightly slower than to escalate the condition in the cold air and not complete it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:51:05.010" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:51:05.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="248" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:03:43.313" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely rest. The importance of resting during the last weeks before a marathon is already hugely underrated. You also risk more serious problems for just a couple of days off. Rest!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few &lt;em&gt;very easy&lt;/em&gt; miles should be ok (they may even help) but nothing more until you &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; you are ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You still have enough time to catch up (maybe throw in some intense workouts later, during the last month, to spike you up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:03:43.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:17:03.107" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before dismissing treadmills I'll point out some advantages of running on [your own] treadmill:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even surface so the chance of injury (tripping for example) is reduced&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less impact on knees and feet - no concrete&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For longer runs, no worrying about the toilet or carrying drinks with you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More accurate measurement of timing and distance which helps for self-improvement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No hill running required unless you choose it - if you don't enjoy hill running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Faster workouts if you don't have to drive to your location to run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But main disadvantages of treadmills:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Demotivating repetitive drudgery, unless you really vary it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You stare a wall/Sky news/CNN for 20 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less intensive exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No variation through new runs, or tracking yourself with GPS&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No opportunity for 'social' running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initial cost&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer treadmills for short or interval training runs, and outdoors for longer runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:17:03.107" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:45:23.113" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guide-Sports-Nutrition-Guides/dp/1408105381/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1299062349&amp;amp;sr=8-5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This book&lt;/a&gt; recommends &lt;strong&gt;0.5kg a week&lt;/strong&gt; in order to avoid muscle wasting, which assumes you are exercising regularly while you lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;0.5kg is also fairly achievable if you don't over indulge on chocolate, crisps or alcohol etc. on a regular basis. It may get tough if you're a social eater or drinker, but as long as your daily calorie intake, averaged across the week, is less than the amount you require then you'll lose weight. A slow steady burn is far easier and a lot more rewarding than losing 1-2kg quickly and bouncing back again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'algorithm' it uses is fairly easy to apply, and has been adapted slightly and used on sites like livestrong. It goes into great details, giving you your daily intake of grammes of fat, carbs and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Estimate your RMR (resting metabolic rate):&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;31-60 male     : (body weight kg x 11.6) + 879&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;31-60 female  : (body weight kg x 8.7) + 829&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(There's other age ranges which I'd need to look up again)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate your daily energy expenditure:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sedentary: RMR x 1.4 &lt;em&gt;(n.b. this coefficient assumes some degree of walking during the day)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderate: RMR x 1.7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very active: RMR x 2.0&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Estimate the number of calories expended during exercise over the course of a week then divide by 7.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add figures from steps 2 + 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce your calorie intake by 15%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate your carbohydrate needs in g - step 5 x 0.6%, divide by 4.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate your protein needs in g - 1.6g per kg, per day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For a percentage, multiply by 4, divide by total calories from step 5, multiply by 100.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate your fat needs (percentage) : 100 - 60 - (protein %)&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn this back into grammes: (cals x fat %) / 9&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my own experience this formula gives you more calorie allowance than you should get on the Sedentary level. If you want to something to calculate it for you, I wrote &lt;a href=&quot;http://yetanotherchris.info/nutritioncalculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this calculator&lt;/a&gt; based on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my view the livestrong.com version is more refined and a better option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2012-08-20T18:14:16.783" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T18:14:16.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="245" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:52:55.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is good to delay a morning workout until you reach proper hydration and pressure levels (among other things).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To wait one hour is just a guideline. If you want to get up and have an &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt; work out right away, I don't see why not (if you feel that you can).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:52:55.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-02T11:16:52.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to nutritionist &amp;amp; weight-loss expert in the past few months who helped me loose about 20kg, and he recommended &lt;strong&gt;0.5 - 1kg per week&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T11:16:52.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="245" CreationDate="2011-03-02T11:58:13.230" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given how difficult it is for the average person to maintain a regular exercise routine, I would encourage exercising first thing in the morning if that makes it more likely that you will exercise that day.  Just give yourself some extra time during your warm-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T11:58:13.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="245" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:13:33.263" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen any scientific proof as to whether you should or shouldn't work out straight out of bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you might be a little stiff at first, simply strolling for five minutes should be more than enough to get everything going. Sitting indoors for one hour won't nearly stress your body as much as just walking a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as long as you start the workout a little relaxed, there's probably nothing bad that could happen to you. As for pulling a muscle or straining your back: listen to your body! If it's start complaining, slow down and take it easy, nobody said you should be pushing yourself and there's zero benefit to getting injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Eelvex that making sure you drank something before you go (or taking something with you) is important, because you probably didn't drink anything for the past 6-8 hours. For the rest, you're body will adjust itself quickly enough when you start walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt; I have no experience with weight lifting in the morning, but I reckon the same applies there: start with something light to get the blood flow going and increase the loads from there &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:13:33.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="249" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:21:50.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming you mean anaerobic hear rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training in this heart rate (80-90%) will train your lactic acid system. In this heart rate, you stop using as much fat for energy and start using the glycogen stored in your muscle. Burning glycogen will create lactic acid in your muscles which creates the soreness you feel when lifting heavy object repeatedly or sprinting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:21:50.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="262" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:24:22.023" Score="27" ViewCount="7140" Body="&lt;p&gt;What methods can I use to calculate my body fat percentage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="148" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-06T07:29:28.890" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T07:29:28.890" Title="How can I calculate my body fat percentage?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="233" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:32:23.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To lose weight, burn more calories&#xA;than you eat. This can be by working&#xA;out more or eating less.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To gain muscle, you need to challenge&#xA;your muscles. This is most often done&#xA;by lifting heavy weights. You also&#xA;need a calorie surplus in order to&#xA;grow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To improve stamina do the thing that&#xA;requires stamina longer or more&#xA;often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you interpret &quot;lose weight&quot; as &quot;lose fat&quot; then there's no reason you can't do all three things at once. I don't agree that there are &quot;types&quot; of workouts, just different goals. Someone that just wants to lose fat might just run on a treadmill, but that doesn't mean that lifting weights wouldn't be equally (or even more) effective at that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:32:23.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:37:14.460" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Body-Fat-Using-the-US-Navy-Method&quot;&gt;how the navy does it&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, use your height and measurements of a couple body parts in a formula to arrive at a estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure your height (without shoes).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure the circumference around your abdomen, at a horizontal level around the navel for men, and at the level with the least width for women. Don't pull your stomach in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure the circumference of the neck, below the larynx with the tape sloping slightly downward to the front. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For women only: Measure the circumference of the hips, at the largest horizontal measure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the following formulas to calculate your &lt;em&gt;estimated&lt;/em&gt; body fat percentage: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;For Men (Measurements in Inches):&#xA;%Fat = (86.010*LOG(abdomen - neck) - 70.041*LOG(height) ) + 36.76&#xA;&#xA;For Women (Measurements in Inches):&#xA;%Fat = 163.205*LOG(abdomen + hip - neck) - 97.684*LOG(height) - 78.38&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy some calipers and measure it yourself. There a sophisticated machines and even bathroom scales that claim to be able to measure body fat. The most accurate would probably be the hydrostatic submersion test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite way is looking in a mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-09T09:37:22.473" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T09:37:22.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:44:06.513" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for over twenty years and I do not see enough emphasis here on the psychological benefits of running outdoors.  Running outdoors is a great stress reliever, running on a treadmill...not so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:44:06.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:58:29.403" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to measure your body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/fitnessevalandassessment/a/Body_Fat_Comp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sportsmedicine.About.com has a nice description of the most important ones&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/fitnessevalandassessment/a/Body_Fat_Comp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in order of their reliability&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Underwater Weighing - Hydrostatic Weighing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One method of body composition&#xA;  analysis in which a person is weighed&#xA;  while submerged in a large tank of&#xA;  water is called underwater or&#xA;  hydrostatic weighing This method of&#xA;  determining body composition relies on&#xA;  Archimedes' Principle of displacement&#xA;  which states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HheQm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The density of fat mass and fat-free&#xA;  mass are constant Lean tissue is more&#xA;  dense than water Fat tissue is less&#xA;  dense than water. Therefore person&#xA;  with more body fat will weigh less&#xA;  underwater and be more buoyant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skinfold Thickness Measurements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because underwater weighting it is&#xA;  complicated and cumbersome and&#xA;  requires special equipment, most&#xA;  exercise physiologists use simple&#xA;  skinfold measurements to determine&#xA;  body fat percent. The American College&#xA;  of Sports Medicine says that when&#xA;  performed by a trained, skilled,&#xA;  tester, they are up to 98% accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SaVXC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bioelectrical Impedance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bioelectrical Impedance is another&#xA;  method of assessing body fat&#xA;  percentage. There are a variety of&#xA;  body composition and body fat&#xA;  analyzers and scales available for&#xA;  home use that provide more than just&#xA;  total weight measurements. These&#xA;  devices determine total weight, the&#xA;  percent and amount of body fat, muscle&#xA;  mass, water, and even bone mass. While&#xA;  the readings can be affected by&#xA;  hydration levels, food intake, skin&#xA;  temperature, and other factors, if you&#xA;  follow the directions and take the&#xA;  reading under similar conditions, you&#xA;  will obtain the best results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:58:29.403" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:01:07.100" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finding free software that is good at tracking your runs may be difficult to find.  One suggestion that I have, but have not used yet is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/what_is_nike_plus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nike+ system&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nike+ helps you track your distance, pace, time and calories burn while you run.  After your workout you can send you run stats to Nike+ online.  Where you can set goals, join challenges and connect with friend in the Nike+ community.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use an iPod to listen to music, while tracking your run stats, or use their &quot;Running Band&quot; instead.  The software app for Nike+ for the iPod is 1.99 and the gear to use Nike+ cost money as well: ~$70 for sports band, iPod sensor is $20.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I've never used this myself, I've been very interested and will hopefully be using soon and be able to give more personalized feedback.  However the advantage appears to be in the seamlessness of the tracking, syncing and reporting of all your runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sY6TQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T13:01:07.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="245" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:30:56.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find swimming great first thing in the morning, if this can complement your work out (assuming you are not restricted to lifting weights)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T13:30:56.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:32:48.390" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not everything has to be super automatic, cost a lot of money, and generate cool graphs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep a &lt;em&gt;table&lt;/em&gt;, and I run the same route each time (so the distance is fixed, measured with my car's odometer/Google maps &quot;walk&quot; once)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;ROUTE A&#xA;(Can draw diagram of route here)&#xA;Date               Time           Notes&#xA;2/3/2011 12:50pm   32:11:450      Cramp @ 23:50&#xA;2/5/2011 8:30pm    32:22:501      No food before&#xA;2/7/2011 6:00am    31:12:100      Breakfast banana + bread&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(if I ran more than one route I'd keep a separate table for each route, since hill information is embedded in the times)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you need is paper, a pen, a stopwatch, and &lt;strong&gt;discipline&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T13:32:48.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:39:26.413" Score="21" ViewCount="5291" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a healthy heart, I've got myself into a habit of stopping by the gym after work and using the fitness equipment (treadmill, stair machine, etc.) or using the stationary bike I have at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'll have a vacation in the future where I'll be in a foreign city for a few weeks.  I won't have access to a gym or fitness equipment.  I can take a pair of running shoes, but I don't think I'd like to run in a foreign city, and I'm not much of a runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, aside from running, what other kinds of cardio exercise could I do while on vacation, say, from the comfort of a hotel room?  I know sit-ups are easy but could those be considered a cardio exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T01:36:10.117" Title="What kind of cardio exercises can be performed without a gym or fitness equipment?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:45:08.983" Score="4" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;In one book I read, the target heart rate for a cardiovascular workout for a person my age (36) was somewhat lower (10-15bpm) than the rate listed on some of the machines I'm familiar with at the gym.  I've also seen the range differ slightly from one brand of machine to another.  So, I'm slightly confused about this.  I don't want to overdo it, but I also don't want to underdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there definitive information available (e.g. a study or paper) that details the correct approach to estimating one's target heart rate range?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:15:10.883" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:15:10.883" Title="Is there a definitive way to calculate a target heart rate for a cardiovascular workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:45:26.943" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because your legs are the biggest muscle groups in your body and have the greatest potential for burning calories, you need to find a exercise that primarily involves them. Walking lunges would be a good one, doesn't require much space. Although, if you're planning on doing a lot of walking I would avoid this as you can get quite sore from DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were in your situation, I would take a pilates DVD with me and do it. It's amazing how much you work at even a simple pilates workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T13:45:26.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:49:45.830" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to gym for around 4 years, where I sometimes run on a treadmill, but I don't really enjoy it for longer period of time. But about 3 months ago, I started running outdoors every day and I totally love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me the biggest plus is, that I hafe to finish the track I choose. If I feel good, I take a longer track around the park and there's just no way other than running the whole thing. On a treadmill, it's easy to just stop for whatever reason (you might need to go to toilet) and don't get back on again. But when you're 2 miles from home, you still have to get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another great thing are &lt;em&gt;checkpoints&lt;/em&gt;. For example you're running and you're getting really tired, so you can say to yourself &lt;em&gt;ok I'm going to run to that tree and then take a little break&lt;/em&gt;. It gives you much better motivation when you're running towards something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you might be running up very long stairs and you say &lt;em&gt;40 more steps&lt;/em&gt;, and you can see how you're progressing towards the end. While running on a treadmill, you can only monitor time/distance, which isn't really a good motivator, at least for me it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T13:49:45.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:54:43.880" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Set yourself goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because they give you something to focus on, you can measure if you're making progress towards it and it can be very gratifying to accomplish them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example when running I'm using MiCoach from Adidas, though any performance monitoring gadget will do. It allows me to keep track of my progress and see how well I sticked to my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BaMkK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also keeps track of overall statistics and gives 'achievements' when you hit a certain milestone. But off course, you can use several metrics to keep you motivated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to run longer,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to run faster,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lift more weights,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do more repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just measuring your exercise and using it to set goals can be a great motivator, especially when you can't exercise in a group! But off course, this isn't suited for everyone. You need intrinsic motivation to keep this up. Otherwise, I agree with the rest: go run in groups!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T13:54:43.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="341" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:02:22.650" Score="19" ViewCount="1873" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been told when doing cardio to breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.  Where I live though, the air is cold enough 3-4 months of the year so that deep breathing through my nose stings my nasal passages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this healthy?  Should I change up my breathing pattern, or will the stinging go away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastActivityDate="2018-09-03T13:30:49.743" Title="Breathing while exercising in cold weather" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="287" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:05:10.330" Score="8" ViewCount="577" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband and I have both been lifting dumbbells in an attempt to build some muscle. We feel like we're hitting our upper arms pretty well, but not the lower arms. What are some good exercises to work the forearms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="86" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T19:27:36.877" Title="What are some good exercises to work the forearms?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:17:23.133" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recall learning that breathing in through the nose actually warms up the air you breath before it reaches your lungs, more so than when you breathe through your mouth. This in turn keeps your body temperature better regulated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try to exercise when it's warmest outside. However, as long as the air is cold, I don't believe the stinging sensation will go away from your nasal passages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:17:23.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="279" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:20:06.727" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wrist curls do wonders. One exercise is like a preacher curl, but instead of moving your entire forearm, just move your hands at the wrist. Another is just the opposite, with your palms facing down and hand bending up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, though, the forearms are hit by most exercises that hit the biceps and triceps. Even if you don't think you're working them, you are in reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:20:06.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="279" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:28:31.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of development will come from just working with progressively bigger weights, but if you really want something specific, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ForeArmWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;check this list out&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:28:31.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="289" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:28:34.427" Score="22" ViewCount="5448" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I lift weights, I lift heavy. I expect to be sore afterwards because I know I've pushed myself hard. Unfortunately, sometimes I push myself too far and get very bad delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). What can I do either before working out to prevent excessive soreness or after working out to relieve the soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T17:40:03.147" Title="Prevent or treat delayed onset muscle soreness" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="279" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:31:23.983" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifts in no particular order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Wrist Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Farmer's Walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist Roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Curls (these interject the outside of the forearm almost as much as the bicep)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things that help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When running, do so with tennis balls in your hand so you force yourself to grip the entire time.  The gain is nominal, but it is another chance to work your forearms while exercising&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When at work, periodically squeeze on a stress or tennis ball when not typing/writing, or otherwise using your hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When lifting, make sure to squeeze the bar/weight as much as possible, no matter what lift you are doing.  If it's a machine, grip the handle as hard as possible.  This forces you to tighten not only your hands/formarms to work them, but also makes you tighten the rest of your body.  There's really no such thing as a lift that only works parts of your body - if you are doing them correctly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:31:23.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:40:07.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When running in cold weather I've been recommended to breath through the mouth from the start and find it better doing so.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also helps to do some warm-ups indoors first and wear thermals so that I don't start the run cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:40:07.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:05:31.033" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing will totally prevent or 100% effectively treat Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To treat DOMS though, you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ending your workout with aerobic exercise will decrease it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking aspirin or ibuprofen will reduce the pain&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You shouldn't take ibuprofen before working out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This will only treat the symptoms and will not reduce healing time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent DOMS:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good warm up will go a long way in reducing the soreness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid sudden major changes in workout type or length. Work into it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more tips (some with significantly less scientific backing) see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuries/a/doms.htm&quot;&gt;Sports Medicine article on About.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="2034" LastEditDate="2011-12-01T19:51:50.380" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T19:51:50.380" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:10:20.673" Score="17" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've reached a point where my training runs are long enough (2 - 3 hours) and far enough (15+ miles) that I  need to take on board some additional energy in the form of gels and/or sports drinks in order to complete them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there any documented or recognised rate or consumption or guidelines as to how this should ideally be done in order to get the maximum benefits?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should they be taken at regular intervals throughout the run or delayed towards the second half of the run?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I appreciate this will vary depending on effort and fitness; I am currently using a couple of gels and a bottle of sports drink to get me through a 19.5 mile three and a quarter hour run although the last 3 or 4 miles are still a real struggle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:19:19.957" Title="Refuelling during a run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:14:05.977" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Your target heart rate is based on a percentage of your maximum heart rate. The formula is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(((220 - Age) - RHR) * 0.7) + RHR&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This formula will figure for 70% of your maximum based on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate#Karvonen_method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Karvonen Method&lt;/a&gt;. Your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) should be averaged over a few days (3-5). You should take it upon waking, before getting out of bed, and count total beats for one minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T16:30:49.293" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:30:49.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="305" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:58:17.000" Score="2" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll start this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shoulder &quot;dislocations&quot;&lt;/a&gt; - great for improving shoulder mobility&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T19:34:36.240" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T17:24:07.897" Title="What are good ways to prevent shoulder injuries?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-01-03T21:59:51.473" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-02T18:04:36.037" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="386" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:58:29.773" Score="70" ViewCount="5376" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard a lot about the 'barefoot' running idea that has seemed to gain a lot of popularity with the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307266303&quot;&gt;&quot;Born to Run&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. The main idea is that the human foot has evolved to be very effective at running and by putting a lot of things in between it and  the ground we more often cause problems then solve them. I don't plan to actually run barefoot but I was thinking of getting some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/index.htm&quot;&gt;Vibrams&lt;/a&gt; since the general idea seemed to make sense to me and they are designed with barefoot running in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen the flame war arguments about statistics on this so don't bother sharing any of that. What I am really looking for is information from people who have tried both running with traditional running shoes and have also tried running with something like Vibrams. I want to get an idea about what the difference has been for real people who have actually tried it and who don't have a vested interest in one side of the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T05:04:36.787" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T19:42:08.853" Title="Experiences with 'barefoot' running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="19" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="150" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:03:38.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also agree with what was said about that article not being serious or backed-up by science, but I just want to add that if you are feeling hungry just from cutting down on the meat, you might also want to watch the other aspects of your diet. Energy should come from carbs and/or fat, make sure you are getting enough of that as well. You don't want to be burning protein for energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:03:38.307" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:28:13.070" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an old problem with my knee from mountain biking and I am also terribly bad at running. As a result, running never really worked out for me. My knee would hurt making the whole experience sour. This also applied for treadmills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I did various martial arts I would run barefoot in the gym during the workouts and I was surprised to see that my knee didn't bother me at all. So I bought myself a pair of those Vibrams and started running outdoors with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Impressions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I run a lot better and faster than I do normally; the feeling is amazing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As long as I keep to fairly soft surfaces (i.e. avoiding running on the street), my knees are happy, my back is happy, all is good. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you first start running barefoot, your feet might get sore because you're not used to it, but it goes away in a few weeks. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping in mind that this experience is from an UNEXPERIENCED runner, let me just say that running barefoot is one of the best things I did for myself :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:28:13.070" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:31:12.437" Score="15" ViewCount="1007" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a student, I'm not exactly rich. I can't currently afford a gym membership or to buy training equipment. Luckily, my roommate has been kind enough to let me borrow his equipment. So far, I've been able to get by with the dumbbells and barbells he lent me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I realized I have not trained my grip strength in a long, long time. Unfortunately, the only grippers he owns are far too difficult for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the equipment I have at my disposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One weight training bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Several weight disks (2.5 lb, 5 lb, and 10 lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two barbell bars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two dumbbell bars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two 15 lb dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that gear, is there any exercise that I could do to improve my hands' grip strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T10:36:41.840" Title="Low-tech grip strength exercises" Tags="&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="297" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:39:02.483" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to do a special exercise just for grip strength, work it into whatever other exercises you do by squeezing the bar as hard as you can. Not only will this increase your grip strength, but it will help you create more body tension so that you can lift more and get more benefit from each workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:39:02.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="297" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:42:19.740" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can improve grip strength by simply gripping the bars as tight as you can while working out. You can also get stress balls or tennis balls and practice squeezing them while you're doing cardiovascular exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:42:19.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="300" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:42:25.920" Score="33" ViewCount="2104" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my goal is size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: Since other people with potentially different goals than mines are likely to see this question, it would be good if your answer includes the optimal rest times for different goals (strength, endurance, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="148" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-08T23:07:03.103" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T11:21:44.500" Title="How long should I rest in between sets?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="300" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:46:53.077" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to build mass, you should rest 45-60 seconds between sets of 8-12 repetitions for optimal gains. This timing builds optimal muscle mass and hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If instead you are looking to improve your strength or endurance, you should be looking at a 3-4 minute break between sets. You'll want 4-6 repetitions with heavier resistance for strength or 16-24 repetitions with lower resistance for endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://artofmanliness.com/2011/03/02/hero-training-the-chase-down-a-purse-snatcher-workout/&quot;&gt;The Art of Manliness&lt;/a&gt; published a great article with an extremely simple strength/endurance training routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/rest-between-sets/&quot;&gt;World Fitness Network&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T20:16:46.080" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T20:16:46.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="300" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:49:14.580" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want size, you don't want to rest very long - perhaps under a minute between sets. Your goal in the gym is to get your muscles as fatigued as possible as quickly as possible (and then go home to eat!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing a hybrid workout to gain size (but I still want to work on strength a little, which is generally my long-term goal) and my workout is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 set of 5 x heavy (80-90% one-rep-max). Then as many sets of 5 as possible (at 80% of the first set) while still doing good form. 40-60 seconds of rest between these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say this is a hybrid, because if I were going purely for size and not worried about strength at all I would probably increase the number of reps to 8-12 (and make the weights accordingly lighter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:49:14.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="303" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:51:06.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Barefoot' refers to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barefoot running&lt;/a&gt;. This is essentially running using no shoes or simple thin shoes such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_Free&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nike Free&lt;/a&gt; or shoes in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vibram Five Fingers&lt;/a&gt; line. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A popular book known for advocating this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chrismcdougall.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Born to Run&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_McDougall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Christopher McDougall&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T07:35:44.080" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T07:35:44.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="304" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:51:06.217" Score="0" Body="'Barefoot' refers to barefoot running. This is essentially running using no shoes or simple thin shoes." OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T18:22:06.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:22:06.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2011-03-02T17:07:52.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anterior shoulder stretches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grip hands behind back. If flexibility prevents this, grip a stick or something to make up the difference.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stick out your chest and raise your arms away from your body using your shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Posterior shoulder stretches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reach across your body and let your hand go as far as it can over your shoulder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using your opposite hand, pull your elbow toward your body as far as you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you can actually injure yourself while stretching if you stretch &quot;wrong&quot;. Stretches should be done slowly, consistently, and repetitively. They should not be done quickly or as hard and fast as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T17:07:52.800" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-02T18:04:36.037" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="297" CreationDate="2011-03-02T17:20:40.007" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a dumbell bar and tie one end of a length of rope to it. Tie the other end to one of your weight disks. Hold the dumbell bar out in front of you, one end in each hand, and rotate it so the rope wraps around the bar. The weight should rise with the rope creating resistance. Twist the bar one way until the weight touches it, then reverse the direction all the way down and back up again. Repeat until your forearms burn like fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T17:20:40.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="183" CreationDate="2011-03-02T17:36:54.743" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I head to NIH if I want non biased supplementation information. The problem is that it almost always has to do in the context of disease, so &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/807.html&quot;&gt;their write-up seems to be effective in the context of Osteoarthritis&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Osteoarthritis. Most research on&#xA;  glucosamine sulfate has measured its&#xA;  effectiveness on osteoarthritis of the&#xA;  knee. However, there is some evidence&#xA;  that it might also help osteoarthritis&#xA;  of the hip or spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some research suggests that&#xA;  glucosamine reduces pain of&#xA;  osteoarthritis in the knee about as&#xA;  well as the over-the-counter pain&#xA;  reliever acetaminophen (Tylenol). It&#xA;  also seems to reduce pain about as&#xA;  much as the nonsteroidal&#xA;  anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)&#xA;  ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and&#xA;  piroxicam (Feldene). But there is a&#xA;  difference between glucosamine sulfate&#xA;  and these drugs in the time it takes&#xA;  to reduce pain. The NSAIDs, such as&#xA;  Motrin, Advil, and Feldene, relieve&#xA;  symptoms and reduce pain usually&#xA;  within about 2 weeks, but the&#xA;  glucosamine sulfate takes about 4-8&#xA;  weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Glucosamine sulfate does not seem to&#xA;  decrease pain in everyone who takes&#xA;  it. Some people get no benefit. Some&#xA;  research shows that glucosamine&#xA;  sulfate might not work very well for&#xA;  people with more severe, long-standing&#xA;  osteoarthritis, or for people who are&#xA;  older or heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In addition to relieving pain,&#xA;  glucosamine sulfate might also slow&#xA;  the breakdown of joints in people with&#xA;  osteoarthritis who take it long-term.&#xA;  Some researchers hope that glucosamine&#xA;  sulfate might keep osteoarthritis from&#xA;  getting worse as quickly as it&#xA;  otherwise might. There is some&#xA;  evidence that people who take&#xA;  glucosamine sulfate might be less&#xA;  likely to need total knee replacement&#xA;  surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I want to know things related with sports, I use the British Journal of Sports Medicine, keep in mind most of the content is behind a paywall. Fortunately &lt;a href=&quot;http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/37/1/45.full?sid=f6e2453b-e5fe-4c09-80fb-6e09a4bcd989&quot;&gt;this study on glucosamine&lt;/a&gt; is not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;glucosamine supplementation can&#xA;  provide some degree of pain relief and&#xA;  improved function in persons who&#xA;  experience regular knee pain, which&#xA;  may be caused by prior cartilage&#xA;  injury and/or osteoarthritis. The&#xA;  trends in the results also suggest&#xA;  that, at a dosage of 2000 mg per day,&#xA;  the majority of improvements are&#xA;  present after eight weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T17:36:54.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="317" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:10:58.857" Score="10" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gatorade.com/default.aspx#home&quot;&gt;Gatorade&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerade.com/&quot;&gt;Powerade&lt;/a&gt; claim to help fill your bodies needs of electrolytes, vitamins, and other nutrients.  I'm looking to find out if there's documented proof that these drinks really make a difference in your workout or replenishment of nutrients.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T06:59:10.620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:59:10.620" Title="Do sports drinks make a difference in a workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="297" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:16:56.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find extra, extra large jars, e,g. big pickle jars. [go to a local deli...they might have empty one's that they get rid of]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start light, fill with some water.  Close lid.  Grip lid evenly with all fingers.  You can hold standing for a specific time, or walk around with them (preferred).  As it gets easier, add more water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do one hand at a time or both together, depending on how many jars you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:16:56.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="249" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:17:34.650" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;To understand what anaerobic means, let me explain a couple of things about &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnesswithnicholas.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/fat-loss-fat-burning-zone-vs-high-intensity-interval-training/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;where your energy comes from:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/alQ8e.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When at rest, most of your energy comes from fat. But as soon as you start to exercise, your metabolism kicks in and increases proportionally to your rate of work. But because burning fat happens too slow and requires a lot of oxygen (CO2) to burn, you gradually start to burn glycogen (CHO) instead. The relation between these two is pretty much inverse, which means that the harder you start working, the less fat and the more glycogen you start burning. All the while, your heart rate and oxygen uptake increase pretty much linearly. This phase is called the &lt;strong&gt;aerobic phase&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;with oxygen&quot;&lt;/a&gt;), because you have sufficient oxygen to burn both the fat and the glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you start reaching a point where your cardiovascular (heart + vessels) or respiratory (lungs) system are starting to lag behind the required lung ventilation. This point is called your &lt;strong&gt;lactate threshold&lt;/strong&gt; and indicates that you're starting to accumulate too much lactate in your blood. Lactate is the by product of anaerobic glycolysis, because you burned the glycogen with insufficient oxygen. A second thing that happens is that your red blood cells get saturated with carbon dioxide (CO2), it can take up less oxygen to supply the muscles with 'fresh air'. The phase above the lactate threshold is the &lt;strong&gt;anaerboic phase&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/52Kke.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;a href=&quot;http://brendan-gray.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/VO2MaxLactate.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;keep increasing the load from this point on&lt;/a&gt;, your body is starting to saturate and you're rapidly depleting your glycogen resources. Unless you're a highly trained athlete, these levels of exercise (80-90% of your maximal oxygen uptake) are generally hard to sustain for long periods of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as you can see a lot of factors are involved in determining your where your aerobic phase starts. Your heart has to be able to increase its heart rate and increase the blood pressure, your lungs have to ventilate old air out and new air in and transfer O2/CO2 with the blood, blood has to transfer O2/CO2 with both the lungs and the muscles and your muscles have to produce energy, contract and relax and transfer all the involved products.&#xA;And all these factors together determine your anaerobic capabilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also dependent on how well you are trained. The more trained you are, the higher levels of lactate you can sustain, the more glycogen you have in your muscles or even the more blood you have (and many more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So how does this apply to you?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming your maximal heart rate lies at 200 bpm and you're working out at 170, that's 85% of your maximal capacity. My cynical guess is that your heart rate monitor is slightly off. One way of determining whether it's correct is trying your own VO2Max-test only without the actual oxygen testing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow a standard testing protocol to test how your heart rate increases when you incrementally increase the home trainers wattage until you can no longer sustain the load. That's a fair guess estimate of your real maximum and will give you an idea whether 170 bpm is around or above your lactate threshold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt; I greatly simplified several aspects, if you have any questions or find that I need to explain something, just leave a comment &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="104" LastEditDate="2011-11-28T00:31:47.903" LastActivityDate="2011-11-28T00:31:47.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="360" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:18:53.050" Score="9" ViewCount="2385" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a gym quality elliptical at home I'm using mainly to do cardio for &lt;strong&gt;weight loss&lt;/strong&gt; purposes.  Should I be looking into adding other equipment to my home gym or other exercises to my routine in order to get a more balanced workout or perhaps see better results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="155" LastEditorUserId="155" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T00:56:37.507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T10:23:22.740" Title="Home Gym: Is an elliptical trainer alone enough?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:52:27.270" Score="34" ViewCount="2139" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been a few times in my life, where I believe I have experienced the phenomenon called &quot;Runners High&quot;, or the euphoric state during a run where you feel like you can keep running for forever.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is two fold:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What exactly is this sensation?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there ways to 'train' your body to get into this state quicker?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T21:23:10.393" LastActivityDate="2013-04-22T09:16:49.583" Title="What is a &quot;Runners High&quot;?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="312" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:54:54.740" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pound of muscle burns more calories at rest than a pound of fat. This fact alone should tell you that weight lifting is a two-edged sword: not only do you burn calories while you're performing the exercises, but you're also increasing your muscle mass which will burn more calories at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you need to add exercises to your workout. You need to lift weights (even if it's just your body weight), challenge your body, and force it to improve. You can start out with standing lunges, pushups, pullups, and crunches. If you can't do those, there are ways to cheat the exercise to make it easier. Once that's no longer a challenge pick up a sledge hammer and swing it at a tire or toss a bag of sand around. Most importantly, switch it up so your body doesn't get use to one set routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:54:54.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="193" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:56:54.473" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pound = 3500 calories. So creating a calorie deficit of 500 a day (either by consuming less or burning it off) should result in a pound lost per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="86" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:56:54.473" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:00:22.343" Score="27" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a groundbreaking 2003 experiment, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology found that &lt;strong&gt;50 minutes of hard running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bicycle significantly increased blood levels of endocannabinoid molecules&lt;/strong&gt; in a group of college students.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The endocannabinoid system was first mapped some years before that, when scientists set out to determine just how cannabis, a k a marijuana, acts upon the body. They found that a widespread group of receptors, clustered in the brain but also found elsewhere in the body, allow the active ingredient in marijuana to bind to the nervous system and set off reactions that reduce pain and anxiety and produce a floaty, free-form sense of well-being. Even more intriguing, the researchers found that with the right stimuli, the body creates its own cannabinoids (the endocannabinoids). These cannabinoids are composed of molecules known as lipids, which are small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier, so cannabinoids found in the blood after exercise could be affecting the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/phys-ed-what-really-causes-runners-high/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phys Ed: What Really Causes Runner’s High?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:00:22.343" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="308" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:13:24.920" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10739268&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The effectiveness of commercially available sports drinks.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study from the University of Tasmania suggests so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our conclusions are 3-fold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, because of variations in drink composition and research design, much of the sports drinks research from the past cannot be applied directly to the effectiveness of currently available sports drinks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Secondly, in studies where a practical protocol has been used along with a currently available sports beverage, there is evidence to suggest that consuming a sports drinks will improve performance compared with consuming a placebo beverage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, there is little evidence that any one sports drink is superior to any of the other beverages on the market.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:20:49.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="312" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:46:00.260" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to buy equipment, you may want to consider reading up on so-called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/prison-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prison workouts&lt;/a&gt;. You can do a lot of exercising using nothing more than a small room and a bench, and it won't cost you much, if anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:46:00.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="321" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:57:46.613" Score="30" ViewCount="1574" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is is possible to take on enough protein to build muscle whilst eating a vegetarian diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many sources of proteins such as meat, poultry and fish are obviously ruled out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have experience of building muscle without meat? I'd be interested to know which foods you do consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T06:58:38.687" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T22:26:30.477" Title="How to get enough Protein as a vegetarian?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:06:06.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="320" CreationDate="2011-03-02T21:26:37.133" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/special_diets/vegetarian_eating&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; from the Australian Institute of Sports. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About halfway down the page it has a section titled: &lt;strong&gt;Protein – are vegetarian diets adequate?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is too much info to quote there so I'll put it in point form, but I suggest you read the whole article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Although most vegetarian athletes meet or exceed recommendations for total protein intake, diets of vegetarians often provide less protein than those of non-vegetarians&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vegetable or plant proteins may be limiting in one or more essential amino acids&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no requirement to include complementary proteins at each meal as long as a variety of protein sources are included&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As plant proteins are less well digested than animal proteins, vegetarian athletes are advised to consume approximately 10% more protein than current athlete protein recommendations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The AIS is the organisation that trains Australian olympians.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2015-09-29T22:26:30.477" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T22:26:30.477" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-02T21:30:19.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running in Vibram KTOs for about a year. I like them a lot but they aren't for everything. Running on concrete sidewalks is very jarring - I got some gnarly shin splints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asphalt is better, I feel like it isn't terrible for my joints, although that's just a feeling and not empirical. At any rate, it's moot for me because my Vibrams really started to shine when I started running trails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the slightly uneven ground works your muscles differently and I like being able to feel the ground under my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this is not running specific, but looking for drawbacks in general: once I helped someone move all day wearing my Vibrams and apparently my toe nails were a little long. That turned out to be extremely uncomfortable after four hours or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also... very rarely I will be wearing them and suddenly realize they're emitting a horrible smell. That is not ideal. Mine are easy to clean though - I toss them in the washer with a little detergent and then sun dry them. Works reliably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="156" LastEditorUserId="156" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T05:15:26.030" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T05:15:26.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-02T21:38:37.950" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whilst there are surely other downsides, I have to say one of the biggest downsides I have found with my Vibrams is the smell...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They stink!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the washing machine did not solve anything. I would like to know how to fix this issue but that is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/400/how-do-i-avoid-stench-with-my-vibram-five-fingers&quot;&gt;another question for another time&lt;/a&gt;! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-05-20T13:33:33.380" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:08:06.513" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that inherently there's nothing &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; about minimal shoes, but as the saying goes: &quot;if the shoe fits, wear it&quot;. The shoes aren't for everyone, so while it may be great for some, they can be harmful to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A shoe like the Nike Free was designed to be used together with regular running shoes, to mimic barefoot walking on a grass field, as an additional workout. Studies from the university of Cologne showed that the strength in certain muscles (especially the one used for bending the large toe) increased after training with the Nike Free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you can imagine what happens when somebody starts using them all the time, rather than complementary to normal running shoes. Instead of increasing strength, you're far more likely to overuse those muscles instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with a lot of the arguments that are being made in the advantage of these shoes, but I would personally only recommend them to more seasoned runners and people without overweight or excessive pronation. The first group has the technique and the fitness to cope with additional stresses that might arise from wearing them. The other two points mainly exclude two high risk factors for getting injuries in the first place, so I wouldn't recommend them to experiment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps everyone could wear them, but then I would advise them to start wearing gradually and preferably as much as possible. The advantage of this is that you give your body the time to adapt and strengthen the muscles to deal with running without 'support'. The main advantage of this off course, would be that overall stronger muscles make you more resistant to injuries, so that's always a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:08:06.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="370" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:20:53.407" Score="3" ViewCount="14890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use creatine and L-glutamine for my workouts, typically taking the L-glutamine about an hour before my workout, and creatine immediately after. (I don't take them together because I understand they compete for receptors, limiting absorption). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also try to keep the load up by taking creatine first thing in the morning, and L-glutamine last thing before bed regardless of whether I worked out that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: do I need to take these supplements on rest days in order to maintain my &quot;load&quot;? Should I be taking two servings* of each on rest days instead of just one? Are the daily servings unnecessary? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*A serving for me is typically a heaping spoonful dissolved in water or cold tea (I know that a sugary drink would help absorption, but I'm not willing to take the downside of the sugar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T23:49:17.817" Title="Do I need to take creatine and L-glutamine on rest days to maintain a load?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;l-glutamine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="331" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:24:09.643" Score="16" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I regularly workout on my own but on the occasions I workout with a training partner I find my &lt;strong&gt;motivation increases, my output increases and perhaps most importantly, my overall enjoyment increases&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jasonferruggia.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jason Ferruggia&lt;/a&gt; (a world-renowned S&amp;amp;C coach) has always said that having a good training partner is one of the best things you can do to enhance your rate of progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in mind, how do you go about finding a training partner, if indeed you workout with a partner at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to walk into a gym and find people there?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to workout with friends? &lt;em&gt;(Especially if you're there to exercise seriously, rather than catch up and chat)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What experience do you have on finding a training partner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:21:03.057" Title="Advice on finding a training partner" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="329" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:31:59.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to offer a dissenting opinion. I find that having a training partner (friend or otherwise) makes me at least partially out of control of my own timing. I can't e.g. just leap onto the equipment when I feel ready or when the stopwatch goes off if my partner hasn't finished. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but for some workouts timing can be crucial, and having to work with someone else potentially &quot;in the way&quot; and being responsible for that person's safety and motivation adds an extra challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:31:59.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="329" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:38:43.750" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my own experience I have regularly attended a gym with a friend when I was just out of high school. He was a few steps ahead of me in terms of fitness and strength and he was quite committed. This was really helpful as it meant I would try harder to reach my goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also joined gyms and made friends by attending regularly. You tend to find a few of the same people showing up at the same time if you attend the same time regularly. Meeting people this way is less 1 on 1 and means you can do your own thing if you want, but also makes the overall experience more enjoyable and encouraging to keep returning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:38:43.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="320" CreationDate="2011-03-03T00:06:26.520" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is is possible to take on enough protein to build muscle whilst eating a vegetarian diet?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'd be interested to know which foods you do consume.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I had a vegetarian partner, I had to maintain a vegetarian diet, and she was a fan of (the now discredited) &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining&quot;&gt;protein combining&lt;/a&gt; theory. The premise was that since most vegetarian proteins are deficient in one amino acid, that one should take a combination of 2 proteins so that one supplies the amino acid that the other one is missing. Typically, this means &lt;code&gt;beans&lt;/code&gt; plus &lt;code&gt;grains&lt;/code&gt;. While you normally can get by with getting all the proteins spread out over a day, if you are going to be working out vigorously, I'd recommend following the idea of protein combining. It was originally documented in the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345321200&quot;&gt;Diet For a Small Planet&lt;/a&gt;. Working out with a vegetarian diet was harder than when I was on a meat based diet. I found that consuming protein shakes helped with getting enough protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T00:06:26.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:16:24.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing bench press, keep your elbows close to your trunk (no more than 45 degrees out) and bring the bar to your sternum and don't let it creep up closer to your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was taught how to bench press wrong in school (elbows out almost 90 degrees, bar higher, flat back), and it wrecked my shoulders for years before I realized what was wrong and corrected it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T01:16:24.690" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-03T01:16:24.690" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="338" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:19:21.770" Score="19" ViewCount="3876" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever jogging for long distances after some time I feel my breathing is quite laboured. The only solution is to slow down my pace for a while before proceeding. I have checked with my GP and I don't have asthma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any exercises or techniques I can use to improve my breathing or lung capacity that will be a benefit while I'm jogging?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T12:55:38.437" Title="Improve breathing and increase lung capacity" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="350" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:45:02.777" Score="16" ViewCount="3525" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number of push-ups I can do is dismal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried over the years to increase the number and have received to pieces of advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start easy and try something like a raised bar or railing and work your way down &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; start on your knees until you strengthen your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep persisting, even you can initially only do a few, you will eventually be able to do more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried both approaches but never seem to get anywhere more than around 15 and then collapse in a heap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to increase the number and be able to do more without it being a major struggle as neither of the above methods seems to work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T14:19:11.387" Title="How can I increase the number of push-ups I can do?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="335" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:51:26.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing consecutive push ups do them by sets of 2 or more.  So if you can only do 20 at a time rest between sets.  Do different types of push ups to increase endurance to your overall chest.  Chest muscle requires time to heal so do chest once a week and make sure you give it good amount of rest time.  Keep at it and make sure you keep track of it.  Write them down how much you can do and compare them week to week.  That way you know what you are capable and throwing in extra rep if you can each week.  Eventually, you'll increase the amount you can do.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a list of different types of push ups you can do: standard shoulder width, wide, military, triangle push ups, plyo/clap push ups, decline, single arm push ups...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to build chest muscle + endurance there are types of push ups that focus mostly on slow movements and 4 seconds count down and 4 seconds count up with max rep.  In addition you can mix slow movement push ups w/ standard once consecutively.  That way you are confusing your chest muscle and increase peak performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="92" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T02:06:03.630" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T02:06:03.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="97" CreationDate="2011-03-03T02:06:32.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did gymnastics as a kid and tried to get back into it two years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trained hard before going back to the gym, however I found my body couldn't deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to ease myself in and I was still able to do a lot of what I could before, but I was finding I was waking up the next day and something would be strained or incredibly sore (I don't just mean &lt;em&gt;owwww&lt;/em&gt;.... I mean &lt;em&gt;&quot;I better not put pressure on that for a while&quot;&lt;/em&gt; sort of pain) so I gave it up again after 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spoke to a GP and they said if I wanted to do it I would need to take baby steps, but to do it seriously I can't just do the basics all the time. You want to have some serious fun otherwise its not worthwhile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let this put you off, however I assume it will either be very tiny steps and go very slowly otherwise you may find yourself in some pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T02:06:32.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="334" CreationDate="2011-03-03T02:15:57.973" Score="12" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Plyometric exercises are specialized,&#xA;  high intensity training techniques&#xA;  used to develop athletic power&#xA;  (strength and speed). Plyometric&#xA;  training involves high-intensity,&#xA;  explosive muscular contractions that&#xA;  invoke the stretch reflex (stretching&#xA;  the muscle before it contracts so that&#xA;  it contracts with greater force). The&#xA;  most common plyometric exercises&#xA;  include hops, jumps and bounding&#xA;  movements. One popular plyometric&#xA;  exercise is jumping off a box and&#xA;  rebounding off the floor and onto&#xA;  another, higher box. These exercises&#xA;  typically increase speed and strength&#xA;  and build power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you combine Plyometric sessions while maximizing the cardio side of it with minimal rest time, you can achieve high lung capacity.  The small window of rest with these sessions will increase your heart rate and force your body to adjust to the right breathing pattern (of course done w/ moderation and safety in mind).  Plyometric is considered a must in all athletic training.  Soccer players recovering from ACL surgery participate in Plyometric to get back into competition shape.  Plyometric will increase your performance in any sports including running if it is done right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T02:15:57.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2011-03-03T04:23:21.860" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nose has natural air filters for all sorts of things; &lt;strong&gt;temperature regulating filters&lt;/strong&gt; for example. Nasal breathing is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; important at &lt;strong&gt;cold weather&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a lot of debate concerning the &lt;em&gt;general&lt;/em&gt; advice to breath through the nose during cardio workouts. You need a lot of oxygen and &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; nose is too small to deliver enough. Many runners breath both through nose and mouth at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(I should add some sources later - please edit if anyone has some handy)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:23:21.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="335" CreationDate="2011-03-03T05:19:10.860" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is this great &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/week1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training program&lt;/a&gt; that gets you do 100 pushups. It is well thought, well presented and works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to any strength exercise is to split your training to &lt;strong&gt;sets&lt;/strong&gt;. The number of sets and repetitions depend greatly on your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training#Realization_of_training_goals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training goals&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, Ι would suggest considering pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T05:19:10.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2011-03-03T05:22:35.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that it is better to go much easier during very cold or very hot weather as my bronchial passages have a tendency to get so inflamed that it resembles asthma. Stinging is a sign that your nasal passages don't like what is going on. Perhaps during winter months you might consider spending time on a treadmill at the gym. In my case, the total lack of humidity is another problem, and major exertion during winter months (which have lower humidity than is normal for Denver) tend to give me nose bleeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T05:22:35.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="357" CreationDate="2011-03-03T05:37:03.653" Score="6" ViewCount="2555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just won my school's 200m race, which means I qualify for the Athletics in a month's time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment, my time for 200m is 36.37 secs. I am 12 years old and this is my first race over 200. What should I do to practice for it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="135" OwnerDisplayName="Benny" LastEditorUserId="135" LastEditorDisplayName="Benny" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T06:35:12.533" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T13:29:04.247" Title="Best way to train for a 200m race" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="355" CreationDate="2011-03-03T05:47:16.237" Score="12" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should or shouldn't I run when it is cold? Is it easy to pull a muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="135" OwnerDisplayName="Benny" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T09:23:57.170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:24:01.070" Title="Should I run when it is cold?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="290" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:10:24.123" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard advice is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a good meal 3 hours before race/training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;refuel (like a small gel+water) 20 minutes before start&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;begin fueling 15 minutes after you start&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hydrate every 15-20 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use bars/gels/drinks every 10-30 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is that you can calculate how many calories you'll burn and be sure to get that much from your gels/drinks in &lt;strong&gt;regular intervals&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally you have to try and see &lt;strong&gt;what works for you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't know how well are all these documented but they get used a lot)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Be careful&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when running for 2+ hours you may refuel &lt;em&gt;too little&lt;/em&gt; but you may also do so &lt;strong&gt;too much&lt;/strong&gt;: don't drink too much, don't refuel too much; it's dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:10:24.123" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="335" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:14:25.977" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was in the Army, we did wide-arm push-ups, elevated push-ups, diamond (close-hand) push-ups, push-ups with resistance (someone putting pressure on your back or a sandbag on your back) and push-ups on our knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The variations in resistance, targeting different muscle groups, and working towards a burn-out all contributed to breaking the muscle down to the point where it would grow back stronger during the recovery period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, endurance is about numbers.  You have to do lots of sets and lots of reps, with a rest period of at least 1 day in between.  For instance, we did push-ups Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:14:25.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="329" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:21:03.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only time I ever successfully worked out in groups was in the Army, in a structured program led by our noncommissioned officers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After leaving the service, I tried working out with others a few times, but usually they ended up abandoning ship.  Sometimes the schedule just wasn't right.  Other times, the other person just wasn't dedicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I ended up getting results was to go at it alone with some good, upbeat music and headphones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:21:03.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="368" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:39:17.907" Score="8" ViewCount="2466" Body="&lt;p&gt;During my run today I suddenly felt weak with hungry about 15 minutes after I started. This only happens some times -- not every run. I feel very hungry and weak, and I can usually only make it to about the 20 minute mark before I have to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume it must be nutrition related. Today I had:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x multigrain weetbix with light milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 tub of light yoghurt &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slice of toast with slice of cheese and vegemite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;glass of apple and mango juice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Midmorning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cup of tea with spoon of sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chicken breast in roll with some chips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;600mL Coke zero&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went for the run in late afternoon. Any advice appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:53:55.050" Title="Why do I sometimes get suddenly hungry 15 minutes into my workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;hunger&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:51:01.777" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The owner of the gym I go to said to drink a full glass of orange juice.  It's light, so you won't get tired, but it will also fuel you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:51:01.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="354" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="385" CreationDate="2011-03-03T07:02:54.577" Score="6" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;What techniques are there for identifying areas you need to work on and that you will be likely to injure so you can work on that areas before they get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; Most of the activities I do are high explosive all round work-outs like combat sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T09:21:44.160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:14:20.683" Title="Technique for identifying potential injury weak spots" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="346" CreationDate="2011-03-03T07:25:27.190" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can certainly run when it's cold, but there are some things you should do to make sure you're comfortable and safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This guide on &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/safetyweather/tp/coldweathersafety.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cold Weather Safety&lt;/a&gt; recommends that you dress in layers.  As you warm up, which you will, you can remove layers as needed.  If you feel cold, you can add the layer back on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nylon or Goretex is recommended to reduce moisture and protect you from the wind, and a knit cap can keep 40% of your body heat from escaping through your head!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gloves and a ski mask are also options if it gets cold enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T07:25:27.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="344" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:15:12.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my own experience and what I've read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with warm ups to losen all your muscles, especially lower legs, thighs etc. (anything that will get a workout while you're running)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice your running technique - pumping your arms and stretching your legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Develop a strategy for running the race; start strong, keep a good pace through the middle, push yourself to get a little faster, and then try and stop thinking about the race so you can keep pushing your body without getting too tired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found a couple of interesting posts that might help - this one on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.athletesacceleration.com/200metertraining.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strategy for running the race&lt;/a&gt; and this one on &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100409193350AA6wglZ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;how to run the race and improve your times&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, and wish you all the best for your race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:15:12.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="346" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:24:01.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should also be careful of slips and falls if it is or has recently snowed or rained. Make sure you have decent shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you are much warmer when you are running so when you stop if you are not wearing too much make sure you go somewhere warmer once you start to cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be careful not to take too long breaks in between running if you are clothed lightly. Depending on how cold it is, your body will cool down rapidly if you stand there without moving. I've seen people jogging on the spot at traffic lights to keep their legs warm and the blood flowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:24:01.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="312" CreationDate="2011-03-03T10:23:22.740" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Theoretically you can loose weight with doing just one exercise.&lt;/strong&gt; However, if you want to loose more weight, you have to raise the number of calories you've burned. You can do this by exercising under higher loads or working out longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But fitness machines often fail at mimicking the natural increase in loads: on an elliptical trainer, when you increase the loads going 'round' get's harder everywhere. I've made a small model of the forces during an elliptical workout, when you increase the load from the light to the dark blue arrow, the forces get proportionally higher everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3sjsg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the problem is, when you're leg is stretched away from the center of your body, those 'small' forces have a large moment arm (towards the center of your body). So while it's not an issue for the forces to increase under your body, it because &lt;strong&gt;extra&lt;/strong&gt; hard when they increase far away from your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This causes it to be pretty hard to go faster and faster on your home trainer, even when your fitness increases. So that option is basically out, as there's almost no home trainer that doesn't make the same mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your other option is to workout longer, which happens to be a very good choice when you want to burn fat. Because burning fat happens mostly at lower intensities, so actually when you start to work out harder, your body shifts gear and moves away from fat to other 'faster' fuels. Therefore it would be better to burn 500 kcal at 60% of your maximal heart rate than at 80%, because at least you got rid of some fat! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U4wIP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's another reason why you need to work out longer: fat is a slow fuel and your body doesn't really start to burn fat until you're 30 minutes into a workout. Luckily, nobody said you had to workout hard to get to this point, so I'd advise you to use a long, relaxing 'warming up' just to get your metabolism going and then get going with the real deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically: &lt;strong&gt;no, you don't need to go out and buy anything else!&lt;/strong&gt; But if you like some variation, I'd really recommend you to start running outdoors instead. Running does become heavier 'naturally' when you increase your speed and it's generally more pleasant to workout outdoors as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T10:23:22.740" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-03T12:18:23.753" Score="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get outdoors.&lt;/strong&gt; Because you're sitting inside all day, it's great to get some fresh air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend either going &lt;strong&gt;jogging/running&lt;/strong&gt; or cycling, because they're very accessible and you can do it practically everywhere. The big advantage of jogging is that it burns through calories like crazy and you're using a lot of different muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a pool nearby, I would also recommend &lt;strong&gt;swimming&lt;/strong&gt;. During swimming you're using your arms in a totally different way than when working behind the desk. It also strengthens your arm and shoulder muscles, which hopefully let's you bear the stresses of working with stretched out arms all day. Especially focusing on backstroke is good, because when sitting behind the desk, you're 'exercising'/using your breast muscles more, so training the back muscles helps balance that. Furthermore, swimming is like a master-combo of all the arms movements anti-RSI campaigns make you do!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your commute isn't too long, you could &lt;strong&gt;cycle commute&lt;/strong&gt;. Ride your bike from home to work in the morning and from work to home at the end of the day. This is easiest in the summer when the days are longer and there's less rain, but possible all year. If there's a shower available at or near work you can cycle long and hard and then clean up, but if you go a bit slower you should be able to do it in regular clothes and just change your shirt and fix your hair when you get to work. If you're depending on exercise to get around it's harder to skip it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a combination of &lt;strong&gt;multiple workouts&lt;/strong&gt; every other day keeps it fun, because you're not constantly doing the same. It takes quite some discipline to do workouts with weights every day and if you're coming from being a couch potato, it's all the more important your doing something fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go &lt;strong&gt;join a team&lt;/strong&gt; or set yourself goals to keep you motivated, because while it's great that you've decided to want to get started, you need to find something you want to keep doing as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take it easy.&lt;/strong&gt; If you haven't done any exercise for quite some time, chances are your fitness is very low. Doing too much, too fast can cause injuries! Furthermore, working out very hard with a poor physical condition is almost a guarantee of having terrible muscle soreness the next day. If you have to endure that for several weeks: not very motivating! Instead of rushing to get fitter as quickly as possible, focus on getting in better shape gradually. You'll be able to workout much longer or harder in a couple of months, if you rush it, you'll probably not be able to work out at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="4799" LastEditDate="2012-12-18T04:02:11.647" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T04:02:11.647" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="369" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:54:45.767" Score="6" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;To what extent can a good exercise programme help to recover lost muscle in people over 70 who, while very fit and active, have not exercised regularly in earlier years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:17:04.797" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T21:05:11.373" Title="Muscular Atrophy in Senior Citizens" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="367" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:58:57.727" Score="19" ViewCount="34964" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard to help muscle growth one has to sleep a lot after doing a workout. How long is the recommended one? Does this mean the best time to workout is at night so you can go to sleep immediately after?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:22:55.557" Title="For better muscle growth, how many hours' sleep are recommended after doing a workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="366" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:12:19.213" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is quite well known, that average adult human being needs about 8 hours of sleep a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of feeling well rested, It does not matter how long you sleep, rather what quality is the sleep You are getting. The same goes for muscle building. Sleeping 7-8 hours every day would be the optimum. More than that, and you risk oversleeping, which, in my experience, is much worse than sleeping too little. There is a good e-book on this subject: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dl4all.com/e_books/21151-how-to-sleep-less-and-have-more-energy-than-you.html&quot;&gt;How To Sleep Less and Have More Energy Than You Ever Had&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the time question: It is never a good idea to go to bed immediately after a workout. You should plan the workout to end at least 2 hours before You go to sleep, to have the best sleep, and the best rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if Your goal is weight loss, then the best time to workout is in the morning. You have just woken up, Your energy levels are quite low, carbohydrates are not available, so the body has to burn fat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Louis: In answer to Your comment,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right after the workout, Your energy levels are at their highest. It stands to reason, that even if You were tired and sleepy before, You will most definitely be not after a good workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, our biological clock is temperature oriented. That means, that when You go to sleep, Your body temperature is lowered. That is a prerequisite for a good nights sleep. That is why we sleep best in a cool room, rather than in a hot room. Right after the workout, Your body temperature is quite high, so there will be no sleep for You. This is from a biological standpoint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to the 2 hours, that is not a specific time limit. That is just something that was mentioned in the book, and I usually follow it, just as a guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="94" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T21:22:55.557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:22:55.557" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="352" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:12:55.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost everything you're eating looks like it's fairly high in carbohydrates and low in protein. Try a protein shake or drink a few minutes before your workout and see if that helps. I've found that drinking a &quot;Special K2O&quot; before a workout stems my hunger significantly. It comes in several flavors and is high in protein and fiber (5g each), and low in carbohydrates (1g net).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein mixes and things like that will typically be available in the pharmacy section of your local supermarket, and the resident pharmacist will be able to assist you in making the right choice. That's what they're trained to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:12:55.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:19:58.420" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A proper exercise routine, including strength training, can be extremely beneficial and helpful to anyone, including the elderly. You should always consult your physician before beginning an exercise routine to see if you are healthy enough to perform it, especially if you have heart, lung, or other ailments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cmellc.com/geriatrictimes/g010726.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Geriatric Times&lt;/a&gt;&quot; published an interesting article on this in 2005.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:19:58.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:30:53.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be taking your supplements daily to maintain your load. Both of those supplements do good things not only for workouts, but for your body in general, including the brain. I would suggest continuing to take them in the same manner that you take them on &quot;on&quot; days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, most people I've come into contact with suggest taking creatine and L-glutamine twice a day, once being before bed or mid evening and once either in the morning or prior to/following your workout. When and how you take your supplements really depends on how your body reacts to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm with you on the sugar... why they have to add so much sugar to our food these days I'll never know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:30:53.597" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="188" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:40:05.243" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think research is inconclusive on this matter, I don't believe there has been consistent scientific proof that HFCS is as bad as it was blamed to be recently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aspartame is also similar. While generally seen as &quot;bad&quot;, research seems to suggest otherwise. I personally avoid it, just to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal level, I think that as long as you have a fairly healthy diet (without too much &quot;processed&quot; food in it), you should be perfectly safe from these sweeteners whether or not they're &quot;the devil&quot;. If you are, on the other hand, eating a lot of processed stuff, sweeteners are probably not the main issue with that type of diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:40:05.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="354" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:52:40.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed the question is quite general.. but I'll try to answer with general problems as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle imbalance can be a problem if you train incorrectly. For example, if you focus a lot on push-type movements (pecs, triceps, front delts), as would be specific in a striking sport, but don't work pull-type movements as well (back, biceps, rear delts), this will create a strength imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also similar is training the abs very hard if the lower back is ignored, that can also lead to some serious problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think not training your core well enough can be a problem as well. As you get stronger, bigger and faster you want to make sure that your body can keep up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:52:40.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="352" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:53:55.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with md5sum. You need more complex carbs and fats in there and possibly some more protein as well. The reason why it probably all burns out quickly is because it's all very &quot;sugary&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:53:55.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="188" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:07:18.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fructose (the substance enzymatically produced from sucrose in the production of high fructose corn syrup) is found naturally in fruits, vegetables, and grains. As with any sweetener, eating too much of it will naturally raise the amount of carbohydrates in your diet and upset the natural way in which the body expects to be nourished. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only difference in the two is that fructose is absorbed into the body slightly faster than sucrose, meaning that eating excessive amounts of fructose will yield slightly more weight gain than sucrose over a shorter period of time, but will have little to no relative effect over the long term: if you overeat, whether it's sucrose, fructose, or fat, you'll gain weight. Period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of the processed and &quot;fast&quot; foods now contain added sugar or high fructose corn syrup for seasoning purposes, and those foods which have been artificially sweetened should be avoided generally. It is always healthier to eat natural foods in their raw form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie free sweeteners and sugar alcohols are a matter of debate, and from studies conducted seem to largely depend on how an individual responds to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:07:18.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="354" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:20:20.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything &quot;extreme&quot; you are going to do, try it lightly first and pay attention to your body. Little twinges and pulls during a warmup are warning signs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, before doing heavy lifts I always do one set at 50-60% of my maximum weight just to test my joints and see if I notice anything that might cause an injury if I were pushing myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &quot;high explosive&quot; &quot;combat sports&quot; you might try doing kicks, jumps, falls, etc. lightly before going all-out, again focusing most of your attention on whether everything in your body feels &quot;right&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:20:20.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="155" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:47:49.253" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are &quot;actually&quot; overweight, meaning that your body considers itself to have excess fat, then you can restrict calories significantly as long as you maintain a healthy lifestyle of exercise and can do so without becoming exhausted or excessively hungry. Some people can reduce intake into the low hundreds (300-500) or even stop eating completely for a period of time and stay active and are healthy, while others have to stay above 1000-1200 to maintain an active lifestyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, when I was on a weight loss plan, I was able to go for a period of time eating 3-4 small meals (~500 calories per meal) each week. This only lasted for a few weeks, and during that time I lost an average of a pound each day. During that time, I walked 4-5 miles every day and remained almost as active as normal, with only very slight changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is intelligent enough to start burning the stuff it needs least first, and will not start to burn needed/used muscle until you are down to your lowest healthy body fat percentage. If you sit on the couch and don't eat, your body will consider muscle fair game since it isn't being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie reduction will also cause dehydration, and the further you reduce, the more severe the dehydration becomes. Be certain to drink all the pure, plain, unaltered water (I stress pure water) that you need. Drink water any time you feel thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your doctor before you decide to do any diet, especially any form of extreme calorie reduction. Some doctors refuse to recommend extreme calorie reduction for patients, while others are fine with it, but at least ask about the risk specifically presented to your health, as your doctor will know your health history best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be absolutely certain that you do not continue a calorie restrictive diet past the point of reaching your minimum healthy weight, or you will begin burning muscle. The muscle you will burn includes your internal organs such as your heart. Taking muscle from your organs is extremely hazardous to your health and can lead to long term or permanent damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:47:49.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="382" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:08:29.540" Score="24" ViewCount="3434" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a good definition of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mascsa.psu.edu/dave/Mental-Toughness.pdf&quot;&gt;mental toughness&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mental toughness is having the natural&#xA;  or developed psychological edge that&#xA;  enables you to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Generally cope better than your    opponents with the many demands&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (e.g., competition, training,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  lifestyle) that are placed on you as&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a performer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Specifically, to be more consistent    and better than your opponents in&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  remaining determined, focused,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  confident, resilient, and in control&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  under pressure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where can I learn more about mental toughness and how to develop it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:21:28.533" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T21:54:33.957" Title="Are there any good resources for developing mental toughness?" Tags="&lt;books&gt;&lt;mental&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="17" ClosedDate="2014-01-03T22:00:51.603" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-04T04:22:13.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="408" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:14:04.233" Score="7" ViewCount="1106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any substantiated health risks to a high protein, low-carb diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:50:35.887" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T17:23:18.257" Title="Do high protein diets pose any serious risk to health? " Tags="&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-12-10T20:02:25.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:30:37.703" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a nice article on developing mental toughness on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.potential2success.com/develpomentaltoughness.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ralph Jean-Paul's blog&lt;/a&gt;. The main key to developing mental toughness is the same as developing a muscle: repetitive use and practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the development of mental toughness is also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedailyman.org/2010/12/being-good/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a spiritual battle (Biblically)&lt;/a&gt; (see the last paragraph where Paul speaks of beating his body into subjection), and while normally I wouldn't throw a religious link into the mix here, I think it's important to recognize, on some level, that in order to successfully develop a better, stronger attitude, the spiritual side is certainly an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consider looking into most of what are known as the &quot;Spiritual Disciplines&quot; as a method for developing mental toughness. These include fasting, meditation, prayer, servitude, simplicity, etc. All of them will have a positive effect both on you, and on those around you, and will do wonders at developing your character and inner strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Note: I own the blog referencing Paul's spiritual battle. However, this same information can be found at many other sources through a quick search on Google.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addressing comments about the spiritual aspects of mental toughness, take a look at this quote from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hood.army.mil/resiliencycampus/Spirit.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fort Hood Resiliency Campus of the US Army's web site&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any human being functions in three modes i.e. Physical (Body), Mental (Mind), and Spiritual (Soul). These three aspects of our lives are not independent from each other, but dependent and usually intertwined. They are reflected in our behavior, our relationship to others, and also seen in the way we respond to challenges and crisis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Stoic philosophy&lt;/a&gt; is another spiritual discipline that leads to mental toughness, and that is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a religion, which you might want to look at. One excellent source of information (links, on-line books, videos, training courses, etc) is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.btinternet.com/~k.h.s/stoic-foundation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stoic Foundation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:32:09.423" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:32:09.423" CommentCount="2" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-04T04:22:13.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="379" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:47:55.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;High-protein diets only pose a serious health risk if you do not take in enough fat and/or carbohydrates with them. The maximum for a high-protein diet is 60% protein. The human body only requires 0.36g protein per pound of body weight daily, and my understanding is that high-protein diets are usually regarded in the medical community as unnecessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates and/or fats are absolutely essential to both maintaining energy levels and maintaining healthy brain activity. Increasing protein sufficiently that you crowd out your energy calories is going to pose some serious side effects. Other than that, you run some risk of dehydration, and should watch your hydration levels carefully and drink pure water any time you're thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, before starting a diet like this, you should talk to your physician and make sure that your health history won't negatively impact your attempts at it. High-protein diets are meant for bulking up, not losing weight. Be sure to take supplemental vitamins, as you are not going to get all you need from a diet of lean meats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:47:55.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="354" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:14:20.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general the method I would use would be this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a sports trainer or other resource for your specific sport. When I say &quot;trainer&quot; I don't mean &quot;coach.&quot; You want the guy that would prescribe an ice bath or massage vs. the guy who doles out the workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Through that resource, determine what physical capabilities are needed for your sport.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Devise a way to test your capabilities to identify any areas of weakness you might have. The test could emphasize different physical aspects like muscle strength, flexibility, endurance, stamina, range of motion, hand-eye coordination, etc. It all depends on your sport.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using the results of the test, craft a training plan that will minimize or eliminate those defficencies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Retest yourself to see how well you have improved after being consistent with your training plan after enough time has passed. (&quot;Enough time&quot; can vary depending on what you're doing, but a good rule of thumb is six weeks.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:14:20.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:37:45.113" Score="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for about twenty years and always found the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE&quot;&gt;logic behind barefoot running&lt;/a&gt; quite compelling. If you want to read more about it after watching that video you can look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/&quot;&gt;Harvard's Skeletal Biology Lab's Barefoot Running Website&lt;/a&gt; or just watch the &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html&quot;&gt;compelling videos&lt;/a&gt; showing ground reaction forces for different types of foot strikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After becoming a father my running slipped to about four months of running a year leading to a big July 4th 10K in Atlanta, GA (The Peachtree Road Race), followed by eight months off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years ago I decided to give barefoot running a try during my normal off season.  I destroyed the soles of my feet a few times by running with bad form and trying to do too much too soon, but they healed up surprisingly quickly :-)  ONE CANNOT PUT TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON GOING SLOWLY WITH BAREFOOT RUNNING!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually I bought a pair of Vibram Fivefinger KSOs and this made a huge difference.  I would start out running a short distance barefooted to help me with my form, then put on the Vibrams and run a mile or so.  Running in Vibrams made my feet sore for the first few weeks.  This was muscular soreness most noticeable when I got out of bed each morning and the muscles in my feet were stiff.  The soreness would go away after about five or ten minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually I stopped having sore feet and gradually worked my way up to a mile barefooted followed by three more in my VFFs - all on concrete and asphalt.  I still run this way and really enjoy it.  Last year I ran the last three miles of the Peachtree Road Race barefooted and it was hilarious.  I got quite a few comments :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I consider myself to be a &quot;Natural Runner&quot;, running as I would run barefooted but using minimalist footwear to protect the soles of my feet from the friction of concrete and asphalt.  After running in VFFs for 5 years I am sure that I will never go back to traditional running shoes, though I also do not think barefooted running is practical if you are running on concrete and asphalt.  One can do it, but it would take me more than a year of committed effort to develop the necessary toughness in the soles of my feet to put in 15 or 20 miles a week this way.  These surfaces are just soooo abrasive!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my current perspective, the notion that you would take a complex shock-absorbing structure like your foot and encase it in a shoe that filled-in the arch and presented a flat surface to the ground, then add shock-absorbing materials to the shoe and expect that to be &quot;better&quot; for your feet seems somewhat comical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One additional note:  if you are going to experiment with barefoot running, read the advice found &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.com/?page_id=109&quot;&gt;here on barefootrunning.com&lt;/a&gt;.  It is the best advice I found online. While it discusses the foot strike it does not put too much emphasis on it.  If you really try to &quot;land&quot; on your forefoot you will blister your foot.  Focus primarily on the other advice like landing with your feet under your hips and bending your knees more and lifting your whole foot rather than pushing off with your toes.  I find it helpful to think that I am placing my forefoot on the ground then shifting my weight to it.  Of course this happens very quickly and the effect feels more like landing on your whole foot, but your forefoot contacts the ground first then your foot and ankle absorb much of the impact compared to a heel strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  03/20/2012 I just found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; that gives a nice overview of why I decided to switch to minimalist and barefoot running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  09/04/2013 I added links to Harvard's Skeletal Biology Lab's Barefoot Running Website and modified a sentence to reflect that fact that, 5 years in, I will certainly never go back to traditional running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  04/22/2014 I added the last paragraph with the link to how to run naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2014-04-22T19:42:08.853" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T19:42:08.853" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:47:15.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to add my two cents here.  I have been running in VFFs for three years and love them.  However, learning to run with the proper form and developing the necessary foot strength took considerable effort and patience.  You can read more about my experiences in my response to another question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/293/experiences-with-barefoot-running/386#386&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I commented on another answer regarding odor control and suggested adding a small amount of bleach when washing.  Now I would like to add another suggestion.  Several months ago I purchased a few pairs of Injinji socks and started wearing my Vibrams with socks like I would any other shoe.  Since then my Vibrams have not had any odor problem in excess of what I would expect from any other shoe, so I suggest buying some toe socks to go with your Fivefingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T13:57:18.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="179" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:35:02.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time you perform an activity that causes joint pain or soreness, you're doing long-term cumulative damage to your joints. Typically, soccer (football) should not cause knee joint pain. There are a few different things that can cause this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorrect or badly fitted footwear. Try some different shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorrect technique/balance/weight. If you're overweight and running, or if you're not moving with some fluidity (running smoothly vs. pounding your feet) you'll hurt your knees.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak or previously injured joints. Some people have weaker joints due to genetics or poor nutrition. Others have weakened joints due to prior injury. Typically, damage done to joints, especially to the knees, is permanent and cumulative. Every minor injury adds up, even some of the ones you never &quot;feel&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the pain persists, check with your doctor and see what he recommends. There are some great products now for people who have weakened joints to help alleviate any pain from activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:35:02.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:36:29.133" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.softballperformance.com/6-mental-training-tips-how-to-improve-your-mental-toughness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; has some really great tips on improving your mental toughness; aimed at softball, but works in any situation if you ask me. This is a brief summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overcome fear of failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make no excuses and take full responsibility for all your failures and  all your successes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accept the fact that you will fail, make a lot of mistakes and learn from them. Failing is a big part of the game&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be here, now (i.e. take it one step at a time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on the process rather than the outcomes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Develop routines to help you get in the zone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own personal experience says learning from your own experiences is key. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Learn from your mistakes. If you can see a positive from your own failures, you will feel better, learn more, and have more ability to endure hard times, to cope under stress, and to work hard to achieve difficult goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:33:07.430" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:33:07.430" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-04T04:22:13.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="397" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:28:15.483" Score="16" ViewCount="2567" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually do a 10-20 mins Cardio (Treadmill/Elliptical/Cycling) before I go for the weights and other exercises. Is this a good practice? Would there be any advantages if I order my routine differently? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:59:37.973" Title="Cardio before or after exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-12-04T21:08:33.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="395" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:35:39.350" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're going to use those machines, use them after you use weights or perform any sort of skilled exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not want to be fatigued before you use weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest a targeted warm up consisting of bodyweight exercises involving the muscles you will workout (ie. bodyweight squats, jumping jacks etc) before moving onto weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the exercises that required most movements done first e.g. do deadlifts before 'core' work such as planks, stability ball work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:35:39.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="395" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:46:57.247" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can give an advice in case of weight loss training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is considered better to do a light warm up before a workout, just to get Your blood pumping, and energy going, and the cardio after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Main reasoning behind this is once again - carb levels in Your body are way less than in the begining of the workout. Therefore, You have less carbs to burn, and the rest of the energy has to be taken from the fat. Also, as Adam mentioned, doing cardio before a workout will take all of the muscle building/shaping energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in case of weight loss it would be more useful to do a longer cardio training, somwhere around 35-45 mins. It is said, that fat only starts to burn for energy after about 30mins of cardio, so 35-45 mins should do great after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the way I have been doing cardio eversince I started going to gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:46:57.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="401" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:50:21.327" Score="26" ViewCount="46552" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/index.htm&quot;&gt;FiveFingers&lt;/a&gt; are great shoes for running, hiking, and general lounging. I believe that running barefoot has improved my fitness and also general running ability -- even with conventional shoes. But they possess an interesting characteristic that my wife loves to remind me of: they stink. Not just a little stink. These are a &quot;put those things out on the patio and go take a shower&quot; level of stink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vibram states that you can wash your FiveFingers in the washing machine and then air dry. This gets rid of the stench for a short period, but it usually comes back after wearing the shoes a few times. If I wear &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.injinji.com/&quot;&gt;Injinji socks&lt;/a&gt; with the shoes it keeps the stink away, but that's not going to be practical once Minneapolis emerges from it's arctic winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of my marriage, what's the best way to keep my FiveFingers from stinking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="169" LastEditorUserId="24" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T02:19:56.613" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T22:27:53.690" Title="How do I avoid stench with my Vibram Five Fingers?" Tags="&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;" AnswerCount="16" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:54:37.847" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The odor is standard (although possibly more acute) bacterial foot odor. Spraying them with Lysol after use will make them go longer without needing washed, as will putting them in a (very) mild bleach/water mixture. Basically anything to kill the odor-causing bacteria (laundry detergent is typically not anti-bacterial), washing them in the sink with an anti-bacterial soap by hand is more effective than the laundry. You'll probably still need to wash your feet (or hit them with the Lysol/bleach as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible suggestions to kill the bacteria (and thus eliminate the funk) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vinegar (white)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;UV light&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;air them in sunlight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:54:37.847" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="395" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:59:37.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;See my answer to a similar question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/134/is-there-any-scientific-theory-behind-constructing-workouts-in-the-right-order/223#223&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, doing cardio before you lift takes up energy that you no longer have to lift. Depending how much the cardio wears you out, this effect could be significant or trivial. However any energy lost theoretically takes away from your ability to push/pull big weights - it could make the difference in grinding out that one last rep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the point of your cardio is just general endurance or health, you won't lose anything by moving it until after your weight routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:59:37.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:02:58.517" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never had similar problems in my Vibrams, but then I wash them after almost every use (if I did something like running to get sweaty - I also love them for weightlifting which doesn't cause me to sweat nearly as much).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it this way: you're wearing them directly against your skin and they'll be in contact with any sweat or dampness. Would you keep re-wearing the same pair of socks for several days without washing them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:02:58.517" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:18:22.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have shoes that I've worn for many years without problems. The key is to allow the shoes to dry out completely between usages. I have shoes that are over 10 years old that still don't stink because I switch them out daily. They also wear longer when they're fully dried between usages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:18:22.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="406" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:21:39.587" Score="19" ViewCount="1097" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know my form isn't terrible, but it certainly isn't perfect either. How do you work on improving it? Are there certain exercises that will strengthen the right muscles and force better form? Do you concentrate on footfall while running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="119" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-09-12T23:08:45.907" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T02:12:59.110" Title="How can I improve my running form?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="405" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:45:01.710" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advice I was given by a professional physiotherapist was to concentrate on stride length, and landing on the back of the foot/heel (I pronate though, so this was probably foot shape specific). It may have been very generic advice and not something an Olympic champion would care about, but it helped my pace/lap time quite a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats and glute exercises are worth considering too, especially if you are increasing your mileage fairly quickly, both help if you suffer from shin-splints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T09:57:32.443" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T09:57:32.443" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:49:31.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meditation can help you a lot with this, even if it's just 10 minute a day and self-taught. You'll be surprised how much your concentration increases after 4–5 sessions. &lt;a href=&quot;http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=502469226312126362&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; is a good intro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:33:54.497" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:33:54.497" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-04T04:22:13.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="379" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:01:02.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Too much protein is excreted so there are no health risks in that respect. You will also avoid muscle wasting with a high protein diet, however you're likely to have low energy levels from the lack of carbs so maintaining protein-only for more than one day isn't a good idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tryptophan&lt;/a&gt; found in protein also needs carbohydrates to be transported, which essentially equates to low &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;serotonin&lt;/a&gt; levels for the duration of the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T17:23:18.257" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T17:23:18.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="438" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:05:18.837" Score="12" ViewCount="851" Body="&lt;p&gt;What weight training exercises can I do with dumbbells that will benefit me most for running 5-10ks? Are stomach crunches/sit ups worth doing too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T17:17:19.887" Title="Dumbbell weight training for distance running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="405" CreationDate="2011-03-04T02:25:11.393" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number one thing you can do is train with a coach who knows about good running form. Many cities have various track clubs that are friendly to people who are less than lightning fast. However, that costs money, takes time, and may not be ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One activity that I used to learn a lot about my running style was setting up a video camera to record me running on a treadmill. I set up the treadmill to have me run in a couple of different ways, about the pace I use for my long slow runs and my &quot;racing pace&quot;, both with and without shoes. I then stepped through each of the videos frame by frame to get an idea for how my foot was hitting and rolling as I ran. Unfortunately, because the video was from the side, it made it hard judge whether or not my feet were actually hitting straight on and how far left or right they were. After watching each video in slow motion, I stepped through the shoe and barefoot videos side by side to understand how my kick was working and, more importantly, what sort of pressure I was putting on my feet while landing. It wasn't pretty and made it obvious why my knee hurt so much, with shoes I was hitting on my heel with my leg fully extended. There was nothing to absorb shock except my heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using that information I've been paying extensive attention to my running form while on training runs -- regardless of whether or not I'm barefoot. Mainly this consists of making sure that I land further up on the ball of my foot with a slight bend in my leg and that my heel hits the ground after the ball of my foot. An easy way to tell if you've done this right is by listening to to the noise that your footfall makes. Landing on your forefoot is usually much quieter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will, however, end up hurting your calves. It took me about four weeks before I was comfortable running with a forefoot strike without focusing on my food landing. My calves still haven't built up all the way, but that's coming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I got the idea of recording my running from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrOgDCZ4GUo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;running analysis video by NJ Sports Medicine on YouTube&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="169" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T02:25:11.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-04T02:53:35.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to ease into using them very carefully. I've given myself 2 stress fractures by transitioning to Vibrams too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both times I tried to switch in the space of a month. I'm going to give it another go soon but I'll be transitioning very gradually over about 6 months I think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular when you first start wearing them, &lt;strong&gt;run on grass only&lt;/strong&gt;. Phase them into your road running routine very slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="173" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T02:53:35.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="409" CreationDate="2011-03-04T02:56:58.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your aim with weight training for running is for strength and not for &quot;bulking up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a whole bunch of exercises that you can find just by Googling &quot;weight training for running&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dumbbells you will be looking at doing things like lunges, steps and squats to target the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, just Google &quot;dumbell squats&quot; etc. and have a look on youtube to see videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest doing crunches and sit-ups for long distance running. You will find that strong abdominals helps improve balance and if your legs are quite strong you will notice the burn in your abs once you start running long distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T02:56:58.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="405" CreationDate="2011-03-04T03:19:32.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're probably past this point but the advice I give beginners about running form is to stop looking down while they run. My girlfriend improved her running form and speed remarkably in about 2 minutes just by following this advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you look down while running, you lean forward too much, your feet land too soon and your stride becomes more of a shuffle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look well ahead like you do when you're driving a car. It keeps you upright and your feet will get a chance to move ahead of your body before they land. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about tripping don't be. Because you're not shuffling anymore your feet come down to meet the ground at a higher angle and so don't hit the obstacles you used to hit when you were shuffling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="173" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:19:32.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="417" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:45:48.657" Score="15" ViewCount="1038" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always see BMI charts posted in various health related places, and I know life insurance companies use it for assessing risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard the normal range of the index is supposedly based on what normal was in 1800s Poland.  Is this true?  In any case, should a reasonably bulky person using cardio/strength training ever expect to hit that normal range in the normal course of events, or might one expect to stay in the 'overweight' category due to new muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="155" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T01:06:22.857" Title="Is having a &quot;normal&quot; BMI a healthy target?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="416" CreationDate="2011-03-04T06:03:45.140" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about the origin, but there was an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nzherald.co.nz/all-blacks/news/article.cfm?c_id=116&amp;amp;objectid=10585212&quot;&gt;interesting article&lt;/a&gt; in the local newspaper about the All Blacks (the New Zealand rugby team/world number one team) in which it was stated even the lightest member of the team was overweight (based on BMI), and four of the players were obese. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As professional sportsman, these players are all very well built, and very muscular, but hardly what you would think of as obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think measuring your body fat might be more helpful, as being X KGs/X cm tall with 5% body fat vs 25% body fat is a big difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could probably also form your own judgements as to whether or not you are overweight, but I'd say, while BMI might be a useful guide, it's hardly definitive as to what your ideal weight is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T06:03:45.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="419" CreationDate="2011-03-04T06:43:31.513" Score="20" ViewCount="1274" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each day I drink lots of coffee and energy drinks (redbull 355ml cans). I go to gym 3 times a week (on evenings). Are there any effects on my workouts? I stopped drinking any caffeine (at least from coffee and energy drinks) for 3 weeks and didn't feel any changes. Not during daytime nor before, during or after my workouts. My friends often tell me that my heart will explode from such huge amounts of caffeine (I read about caffeine OD and felt &quot;caffeine induced disorders&quot; symptoms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what's the effect of caffeine on heart/body when person is working out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T06:57:08.813" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:37.740" Title="Excessive caffeine consumption effect on heart/body" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="418" CreationDate="2011-03-04T07:22:59.690" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you read the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Effects_on_the_heart&quot;&gt;wiki article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In large amounts, and especially over&#xA;  extended periods of time, caffeine can&#xA;  lead to a condition known as&#xA;  caffeinism. Caffeinism&#xA;  usually combines caffeine dependency&#xA;  with a wide range of unpleasant&#xA;  physical and mental conditions&#xA;  including nervousness, irritability,&#xA;  anxiety, tremulousness, muscle&#xA;  twitching (hyperreflexia), insomnia,&#xA;  headaches, respiratory alkalosis, and&#xA;  heart palpitations.&#xA;  Furthermore, because caffeine&#xA;  increases the production of stomach&#xA;  acid, high usage over time can lead to&#xA;  peptic ulcers, erosive esophagitis,&#xA;  and gastroesophageal reflux&#xA;  disease. Caffeine may also&#xA;  increase the toxicity of certain other&#xA;  drugs, such as paracetamol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are four caffeine-induced&#xA;  psychiatric disorders recognized by&#xA;  the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual&#xA;  of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition:&#xA;  caffeine intoxication,&#xA;  caffeine-induced anxiety disorder,&#xA;  caffeine-induced sleep disorder, and&#xA;  caffeine-related disorder not&#xA;  otherwise specified (NOS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer to article for more info and references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T07:22:59.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:21:38.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're machine washable, just wash them regularly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vibram FiveFingers® footwear is&#xA;  machine washable. Use gentle, warm&#xA;  water cycle with liquid or powdered&#xA;  detergent. Hang to air dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/faq/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/faq/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:21:38.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="431" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:31:25.977" Score="5" ViewCount="6984" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym got a new back extension machine recently and it is horrible.  It's designed for someone much smaller than me, the angles are all wrong, and I find it very difficult to isolate the right muscles (I end up working my legs instead).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way I can target those muscles and do weight training using other equipment available at the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had been lifting &gt; 100 pounds with the old back extension machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastEditorUserId="68" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T15:16:52.380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:22:51.643" Title="How to simulate a back extension machine with other gym equipment" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="427" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:35:11.670" Score="17" ViewCount="1371" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long distance runner thats not really a fan of all the goo type products. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious if there are any natural sources of concentrated sugars with the right balance of electrolytes for long distance running? I know that fruits are the most obvious natural sources for these nutrients, but which fruits? Is there a specific mix of fruits? Dried fruits? Should salt be added? Is the high fiber a concern (don't want to have to go to the bathroom during a race)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T14:57:30.700" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T14:57:30.700" Title="Can I get sugar and electrolytes from natural sources, as opposed to goo, during a race?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="424" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:03:47.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supermans will work your lower back without the need for ill fitting machines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y6ejn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://getpaidwithfitness.net/p90x-day-28-and-29-stretch-and-core-synergistics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ref site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does the plank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nPUHv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T18:22:51.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:22:51.643" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="425" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:04:16.467" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't want to overdo electrolytes, so if you're going to get them from fruits or vegetables, don't add much of anything. An avocado is a great example to get potassium. Also, bananas are great as well. Presumably unprocessed banana chips (dehydrated banana) would be a good start. Celery is also a good way to up your sodium levels. All of your electrolytes can be gotten from purely natural sources, and your body will absorb them slightly easier from these natural sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic thing to remember is what your electrolytes are: sodium chloride, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Potatoes, avocados, and bananas are good for potassium, leafy green vegetables like lettuce and cabbage for magnesium, cheese and yogurt for calcium, and celery for sodium chloride. Just plain table salt will also work for sodium chloride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High fiber isn't a big concern. Fiber is regulatory, not diuretic. As long as you're going normally to start with, then having the extra fiber won't cause you to need to go in the middle. The big thing is the amount you'll need to consume to balance your electrolytes may actually cause you to need to go, so I would start switching over to the natural stuff slowly to see how you perform. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: 1oz of cheese on a few leaves of lettuce, 1/4 - 1/2 of an avocado, and a celery stalk for a &quot;salad&quot;. That will add a load of electrolytes, but only be about 1 - 1 1/2 cups of food. Start that during practice so that if you do have to stop to go, you can get the timing down to where you can eat it long enough before you begin that you'll need to go before your run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T15:10:29.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:10:29.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="460" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:04:24.720" Score="54" ViewCount="42264" Body="&lt;p&gt;While using the freestyle technique of swimming, what is the proper way to breathe?  Is using the nose to breathe out while under better or is there any difference?  Is there a specific number of 'strokes' that should be done before taking a breath?  I've been told to alternate your breathing sides, and to always make them opposite of the arm raised out of the water, is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="155" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T18:49:47.623" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T13:01:50.720" Title="How do I properly breathe while swimming freestyle?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="19" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="453" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:07:34.453" Score="13" ViewCount="18709" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are multiple technique out there, with the two I mainly use being breastroke and freestyle.  Is there a difference between the two as far as their effectiveness in a cardio workout?   Is there a technique that stands &quot;supreme&quot; for cardio, or is swimming in general just effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:01:53.963" Title="What swimming technique is more effective for a cardio workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="432" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:16:19.833" Score="4" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have started Yoga, but I find myself unable to hold any position more than ten seconds.  I was told to exaggerate my posture, but I simply could not.  My flexibility is horrific and feel counter productive even when I follow the Yoga books and routines (books and videos).  It has been two weeks, and I am having hard time improving it.   Is there a modified way to help me get into the basic positions of Yoga before I can at least be effective in beginner Yoga workout? How can I improve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:19:33.560" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T03:19:33.560" Title="How can someone new to Yoga improve on their workout?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="424" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:32:50.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order of resistance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To work your entire back at once (especially your lower back), just get on the end of a bench (or a couple of folding chairs) with your upper body hanging off (waist up), and have someone hold your legs down. Bring your forehead nearly to the floor (15-30 degree angle) and then bring yourself back to a flat position (back level with legs). If you want to add more resistance than body weight, clutch a weight to your chest while you're working. Don't add too much weight too fast, as you don't want to seriously injure your back. Start with your body weight only, you'll be surprised how much resistance that alone is. Holding a weight will also add bicep exercise to your workout in this routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as Sparafusile suggested, you can do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/superman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supermans&lt;/a&gt;. Lay down on the floor on your stomach with arms out in front of you (like Superman). Lift your legs, arms, and chest off the floor slowly all at the same time, hold it for 10-15 seconds, then relax back to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you can do &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises_10.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Planks&lt;/a&gt;. Lay down on the floor resting on your forearms. Bring your body up to a straight line, resting only on your toes and forearms. Keep your back straight and your butt tucked in. Hold that position for 20+ seconds (however long you feel comfortable and can work up to). Then lower yourself back to the floor. This exercise will also work your legs, stomach, and arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:32:50.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="430" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:39:47.027" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two weeks isn't adequate time to make a determination if you're not in good shape to start. You will improve if you are following the directions properly. Just don't give up, and stick with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your question, it sounds like you're probably also doing this at home via multiple sources, media, or routines. Pick ONE, and stick with that one. Don't try to follow multiple routines or programs, find a single routine, and practice that single routine, nothing more or less. You will see much more improvement in that manner than you will by trying to work from multiple sources simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:39:47.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:42:31.720" Score="18" ViewCount="546" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should one continue to exercise even when you are sick? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it may depend on the sickness, so I am specifically asking about minor things like a cold or fever? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there chronic sicknesses where you should still regularly exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T17:20:21.033" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T17:20:21.033" Title="Should you still exercise when sick?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="433" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:46:51.673" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you should not exercise with with temporary illness such as a chest cold, flu, or fever. A runny nose or sore throat shouldn't prevent your exercise routine though. Once you have an infection or illness that effects your cardiovascular or digestive system, you should sit it out and let your body have the time needed to heal itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People with chronic ailments such as asthma, heart disease, and anything more serious needs to talk to their doctor before even thinking the word exercise. Some people can, some people can't even with the same symptoms. Your doctor will know best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:46:51.673" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="416" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:06:33.147" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI is a rough estimate that is easy to calculate about where you stand for health, however it can be very rough. People with a lot of muscle can easily be overweight or obese, however this does not mean that they're unhealthy. The problem is that it doesn't differentiate between fat and muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The metric was developed in the 1840's by Adolphe Quetlet in Belguim, however the current guidelines that are used for overweight/underweight are based off frequently updated data from the World Health Organization. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://apps.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=intro_3.html&quot;&gt;most recent update of BMI ranges took place in 2004&lt;/a&gt; and indicate that 18.5 - 25 is considered to be normal weight for individuals with average muscle build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, to know the true state of your health you'll want to know your body fat percentage too. A $40 scale can usually do this for you reasonably well. It won't be 100% accurate, for that you'll want something like a BodPod or Dexa measurement, but it will give you an idea of trend. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/blog/112/what-are-the-guidelines-for-percentage-of-body-fat/&quot;&gt;American Council on Exercise provides some body fat recommendations&lt;/a&gt; for both men and women depending on fitness level. For men a fit body should have 14-17% fat and women should have 21-24% fat. If you're a man looking to get six pack abs you'll need to push down to 10-12% fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, BMI is a tool that can help, but it's not the only tool. If you know what goes into it it will make a lot more sense and be significantly more useful. It's a good starting point for non-athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="169" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:06:33.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="437" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:32:17.033" Score="10" ViewCount="1484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go for a 5km before work 2-3 times a week, with a longer run at weekends. I was doing crunches and other weight based exercises on the off days, but have been advised to do it after my runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, why is this a better way to do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:44:22.007" Title="Crunches after a run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="436" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:44:22.007" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you do them on the same day, your body has at least one full day of recovery between workouts. Running is largely a cardiovascular exercise once you're in good enough shape to do it effectively (which at 5K I would consider you to be). Effectively, it will get everything loosened up, warmed up, and slightly tired for you to have an extremely effective workout. So, you'll build more strength and tone (or bulk if you work it that way) by doing your other lifting and exercising immediately following your run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a complete day of rest (or 2) in between workouts enables the body to more effectively and completely repair itself, meaning you'll be working everything again from it's peak, and not keeping your body and muscles stressed all the time. Currently, your routine works almost your entire body every day, and that's literally just too much; your body never gets a rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:44:22.007" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="409" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:21:27.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend going with a rapid fire style of workout using light dumbbells that is a hybrid of both cardio and strength training. For instance, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://zentofitness.com/minimal-upper-body-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; from Scott Abel.  The rationale for why you would want to do this workout is in the zentofitness.com article, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T11:43:52.367" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:52.367" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="428" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:24:07.587" Score="23" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Mouth vs nose&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some exhale through the nose, some through the mouth and some through both at the same time. &lt;strong&gt;Both is somewhat better&lt;/strong&gt; (it's faster, deeper and prevents water coming in) but maybe needs more practice to be done properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Rhythm&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything from &lt;strong&gt;1:1 to 5:1&lt;/strong&gt; is very common but &lt;strong&gt;3:1 is considered the most efficient&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; (3:1 is 3 strokes for 1 breath). When you use even strokes (2:1, 4:1 etc) it is very difficult to keep a straight path but other than that (as far is I know) it is a matter of style and personal preference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*I think olympic freestylers use 2:1 though&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Breathing side&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always&lt;/strong&gt; breath to the side of the arm that is out of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;edit&lt;/em&gt;: I'm not sure if you are asking that but you should &lt;strong&gt;DEFINITELY&lt;/strong&gt; breath out while under water; usually straight down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastEditorUserId="144" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T17:29:43.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:29:43.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="429" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:47:52.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strokes like freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke use your abs, glutes, biceps, triceps, quads, and hams. It's basically a full body workout which is excellent cardio. Like Eelvex said, switch it up. If you do the same exercises, in or out of the pool, your body will adapt and you wont be burning as many calories as you potentially could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:47:52.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="429" CreationDate="2011-03-04T18:27:35.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you mean when you say effective? Burning the most calories? Working the most muscles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's working as much of your body as you can, obviously you want to mix in several styles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just looking at it as a calorie-burning/resistance-training thing, it really comes down to what gets YOUR heart-rate up and allows you to train longer and safely push yourself. The rhythm is very important, the style.. not so much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you seek to increase resistance of a certain muscle group, then focus on that weak spot; if you seek to increase general cardio-resistance, mix it up so that you can swim longer. Otherwise just enjoy being in the water and don't worry about it :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T18:27:35.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="416" CreationDate="2011-03-04T18:37:14.700" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a cool picture that I feel encompasses what the problem with BMI (or any calculation based mainly on weight) is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BcYNh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;muscle versus fat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles are &quot;heavy&quot; (i.e. their density is considerably larger than that of fat). Once you start adding even just a decent amount of muscle mass, you will become heavier and throw the BMI way off-balance. I think most bodybuilders fall at least in the &quot;overweight&quot; category. Pros probably show up as obese. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-12-29T01:06:22.857" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T01:06:22.857" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="430" CreationDate="2011-03-04T18:42:53.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;These things take time, don't worry about it. If you are consistent you will see results, but plan to evaluate at least every few months, not weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have difficulty maintaining your motivation, join a class, that really helps a lot. You don't want to give up on holding that position when the person next to you is still doing it (even though they are probably thinking the same about you). Also, even if you fail to hold it for the given time, don't just give up. Let's say you have to do 30 seconds and collapse after 10. No problem, relax for a few seconds and then go at it again. You will fail in five. Relax, try again. Keep pushing yourself until the proper time expires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this goes for resistance exercises. Don't try to push yourself on stretches too much, that's a guaranteed way to injure yourself. You should feel tolerable discomfort, not agonizing pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really...the class will help. Also some exercises seem simple, but there's a subtle catch to them where the instructor can help you a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T18:42:53.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="424" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:47:31.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are willing to do a less focused exercise (a good thing IMHO), try deadlifts. All you need is a barbell and it will work not only your lower back and abs (what you get from proper use of the back extension machine), but also your legs, grip, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that deadlifts do require a focus on proper form and full body tension to be safe and effective, but if you do them right they are hard to beat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core needs to be tight throughout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always look up at 45 degrees, not down at the bar - this will help keep your back straight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate grip (one hand forward, one backward) - you'll be able to hold much more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;em&gt;controlled&lt;/em&gt; drop of the bar on the way down is acceptable, but do it on a proper platform or with bumper plates or your gym might get upset.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjWZuARDQqs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; is pretty good at quickly demonstrating proper hanging deadlift form, and a regular deadlift is essentially the same except that a rep starts and ends on the floor instead of at the top of the lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:01:28.847" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:01:28.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="452" CreationDate="2011-03-05T07:12:06.977" Score="16" ViewCount="4204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do several times a week strength and cardio training (Thai boxing, to be specific), but also try to mix in extra weight sessions to build up muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it good or bad to mix these two? I've heard contradictory opinions, none backed by evidence. Which of the following is more &quot;correct&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout every day, alternate the type of training (time sink, recovery is tricky, injuries heal slower).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do both in the same session (is it too much load for one session? which one should go first?).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can't have it all, it's a tradeoff: stick to either one or the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T16:03:16.367" Title="Mixing weight training and cardio/strength" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="450" CreationDate="2011-03-05T16:23:22.873" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question only you can answer for yourself. Actually, all three of your scenarios are correct. If you train too much you will stop gaining and it will take longer to heal. If you do too much in one session you have a higher risk of injury and you will probably get burnt out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do martial arts on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and weight lift on Monday, Wednesday and one day on the weekend. So far I haven't injured myself or gotten burnt out, but I do take regular breaks from one or the other for a week or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're working out this much, and especially if you're doing heavy weight lifting, you need to take a break. This is called de-loading and you'll notice that you perform better when you return from a break. Listen to your body. If you hurt, stop. If you find yourself getting sore without recovery, take a break. If you aren't looking forward to your workouts, take a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T16:23:22.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="429" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:17:49.560" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are four major strokes in swimming:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Freestyle,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Backstroke,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breaststroke,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butterfly stroke&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of these, freestyle is the fastest and most efficient swimming style. In my own experience the butterfly stroke is by far the hardest to maintain for long distances. How you fill in your workout depends on two factors, how well can you swim and how hard do you want to be working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How well can you swim?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a poor technique or a poor condition, swimming will become quite heavy to sustain at a decent speed very quickly. The poor technique causes you to swim inefficient, because having a wrong posture creates a lot of unnecessary drag and inefficient breathing. The poor condition means fatigue will have a negative influence on both your speed and your technique. A combination of both will lead to a complete downward spiral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why should you care?&lt;/strong&gt; Well, the point is you want to be swimming for a long stretch off time, enough for some real cardio-exercise. You don't want to be 'wasting' energy and end up completely wasted half way through. You should only make it harder on yourself once yourself once you have a decent baseline condition. &lt;strong&gt;Pick the strokes that allow you to swim for as long as possible.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How hard do you want to be working out?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like running, swimming is something you can make as hard as you want to. If you swim faster, it will cost you more energy. You can also add tougher strokes (like butterfly stroke) or add resistance (wear a t-shirt or use paddles) to increase the resistance. The other option is working out longer, though unless your serious about swimming long distances, I reckon this is the last option for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why should you care?&lt;/strong&gt; This means that if you always swim for half an hour and you're swimming condition + technique start to improve, you can either do more in those 30 minutes or add some minutes to make it harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So say your already capable of swimming half an hour non-stop, what should you be doing? &#xA;As with every other workout, you can either try to swim faster (more miles/hour) and just swim non-stop or use interval training to push yourself harder during short stretches of time combined with periods of relative rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For pushing yourself faster, I'd recommend the latter. Though you should always combine it with 'rest' days where you simply swim non-stop and perhaps focus on improving your technique rather than pushing for speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 'typical' swimming workout with intervals could consist out of a 400m warming up, it doesn't really matter what stroke you swim, just that you get your heart rate up to a nice and steady level. Then you start swimming 100/200m intervals, you have two options with how to approach these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swim freestyle as fast as possible &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/training.html&quot;&gt;without going over your lactate treshold&lt;/a&gt; and then rest. Depending on your condition you could take off every 1:45 or 2 min, this means the faster your swim the longer your allowed to rest. But don't over do yourself, you're not trying to break World Records here!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swim freestyle with a certain time goal in your mind (not your fastest), then after the 100m swim backstroke or breaststroke for 50m. I prefer backstroke, because you train your back muscles which helps with some variation and more importantly, you can get to breath non-stop which is often the most important thing during your 'rest'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try to focus on swimming faster for longer stretches of time. An often used method for this is using a 'pyramid' built up. It basically goes like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;100m --&gt; 200m --&gt; 300m --&gt; 400m --&gt; 300m --&gt; 200m --&gt; 100m&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which totals in 1600m (not bad!) + 400m of your warming up. Swim each interval as fast as possible (under the lactate threshold), but try to keep up a constant pace rather than ending very slow. This teaches you to spread your efforts when the workout starts to become longer and will help you find a pace of breathing and stroking that you can keep up for longer stretches of time. You can use the same protocol as with the 100m workouts, if you aim for 1:45 min with rest, just multiple that for every 100m you swim. This means your need to swim the 400m within 7 minutes and you get the rest of the time to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can shorten your 100m time, but you can also switch the resting for swimming 50m backstroke. This gives you less rest, but you don't have to push yourself to swim much faster (which is often much harder!). Alternatively, you could do a medley, where you combine all strokes. The recommended order is: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, because it has a good mix of intensity and 'rest'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice: &lt;strong&gt;always swim freestyle&lt;/strong&gt; unless you want some variation or rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T17:48:05.157" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T17:48:05.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="450" CreationDate="2011-03-05T18:39:44.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can mix those, but in my experience, it will be very difficult at first. I workout everyday, doing weights alternate days, jiu-jitsu five days a week, &amp;amp; thai boxing 2 days a week, plus assorted other exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting into a such a routine is not something you can do instantly, but if you slowly ramp up the amount of exercise you do and don't get discouraged and stop when you find yourself utterly exhausted for the first week or two after ramping up, it should be doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:39:44.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="470" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:27:54.570" Score="81" ViewCount="12145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there benefits with stretching right after exercising? Does stretching afterwards affect the risk of injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T13:14:50.240" Title="Should I stretch after exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="33" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="480" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:31:21.667" Score="16" ViewCount="2831" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it common to rest between sets of repetition? Could I, instead of resting, exercise another muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:58:59.367" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T18:38:17.407" Title="Why rest between sets?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:44:09.463" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without resting, you won't have enough energy to properly break down your muscle tissue so that it can build back up.  If your goal is to build muscle, then to get the best results, you need to break down that tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're tired from doing other exercises, you won't achieve the most repetitions in your sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:44:09.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:56:24.233" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/?p=775&quot;&gt;brief article&lt;/a&gt; on how problems arise from the muscle specialization we form from spending all day in a chair.  See the bottom for a short regimen of yoga exercises designed specifically to help compensate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't tried it myself, yet, just read it 2 minutes ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:56:24.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="428" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:57:33.000" Score="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stumbled onto &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/breathing.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a great resource of swimming information: Swimsmooth.com&lt;/a&gt; that happened to have a couple of great tips I'd like to share:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/exhalation.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Focus on exhaling rather than inhaling&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you want to breathe is not because you have a lack of oxygen. You only consume a couple percent of the 20% oxygen you breathe in, no the reason you breathe is to get rid of the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;! So focus on exhaling as fast or powerfully as possible. With focus, I mean practice it regularly while swimming more slowly and really try to get rid of all the breath in your lungs as fast as possible. When you've exhaled, you're able to inhale again, so mastering exhaling gives you more flexibility in when you decide to inhale again (you never have to wait).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. When you're not breathing, keep your head still.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your head is like the steering wheel of your entire body, so keeping your face still, looking down means your body will have a steady posture too. If the swimming pool has lines on the bottom, it greatly helps to swim straight above, because it gives you a point of focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Breathe &quot;in your armpit&quot;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Swim Smooth puts it: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you move through water you create a 'bow wave' with your head and body, just like a boat does. The shape of the bow wave means the water level drops along the side of the swimmer's face. This creates a trough either side of your head and body that is beneath the surface level of the pool - so there's air lower than you might expect there to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to limit unnecessary movement, so simply rotate your head by moving your chin towards your armpit. Normally the trough created by your head should be large enough to allow your mouth to be just above the water, so you can breathe in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Don't lift your head.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you listened to my previous tip, you already knew you not supposed to lift your head, but simply rotate it. One important reason you don't want to lift your head is because it's very straineous on the back/neck muscles, but more importantly it causes your legs to sink lower! This slows you down and makes the swimming heavier, thus increases your need for air... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BWfPj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Don't over rotate your head.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A picture says more than a 1000 words, so here's another great example from Swim Smooth: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KWTmg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you rotate your head too far, remember your entire body is rotating with. This is bad for several reasons: your leg might be kicking near the surface of the water rendering it pretty much useless; your arm dives too deeply, making it heavier to lift out of the water again and you're increasing your frontal surface within the water, which is also very bad!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6. A lack of body rotating hurts your breathing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first reason for this one is obvious: if you rotate your body, you don't have to rotate your neck as much to be able to breathe. But there's more, so much actually &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/rotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;that Swim Smooth has a whole article about it that I highly recommend!&lt;/a&gt; Other than because you need it for a good technique, I think there's one important point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aKKiG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those muscles are much more effective if you rotate slightly, because when lying face down, it means more strength would have to come from your breast muscles instead of the very strong back muscles. It also means you have to lift your arm higher out of the water when swinging it back forwards. But just as with over rotating your head, also don't over rotate your torso! Instead, read the article to see what you should be doing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/bilateral.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Learn to breathe bilaterally.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This helps you create a symmetrical swimming technique, prevents over-using one side, gives you more flexibility to breath when you &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; to and it forces you to keep up a decent stroke frequency. The bilateral breathing forces you to rotate slightly from side to side (see previous point) and because you breathe every three strokes, if you make too long strokes you'll start to run out of air. That's how it forces you to optimize the length and speed of your strokes to find a ratio that fits you best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So how much should you be breathing?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That depends on how fast you're swimming and how much oxygen you need. When sprinting you could be breathing at nearly every stroke, because you're in dire need of oxygen. But when you're swimming longer distances, you're probably breathing every three strokes. This makes a great habit, because of the bilateral breathing, but also because it helps you find a good rhythm. If you can make 5 strokes before needing to breath, you're probably not swimming fast enough for a decent workout. If you need less than 3 strokes, you're probably swimming too fast or not breathing out enough (thus leaving some CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; behind in your lungs!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exhaling should definitely be done while the face is submerged underwater, by doing this you are decreasing the amount of time that the face needs to be out of the water. When the face is out of the water it causes disruption to the streamlined position of the stroke and increases water resistance and drag, this decreases your momentum. It also reduces your balance meaning you have to work harder. Also, the longer your face is out of the water the more disruption to the rhythm of your stroke there is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breathing rate is completely dependent on what the individual finds comfortable. However, I do not agree with the earlier suggested patterns. Sprinters do not need to breathe as much. Sprinters rely on their anaerobic energy systems, meaning they do not require oxygen! Breathing, even when done so correctly disrupts the rhythm and momentum of the stroke. Sprinters rely solely on speed! They cannot afford too much disruption to their stroke of rhythm. If 25m can be swam without breathing then it should be done so, same with 50m, although unless at absolute elite level this is difficult. A pattern can be developed such as breathing every three strokes but since it is a sprint race something like every 7 stroke would be better suited. Alternatively, breathing every three or similar on the first 25m and then as little as possible on the second 25m is also ideal. 100m is still classed as a sprint race, but again presuming this is not a question for elitist athletes then breathing patterns should be similar to every three or five as with all classed middle distances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As distance increases, so does the variation in breathing patterns. However we do normally see an increase in the breathing rate, this is so more oxygen can be consumed to prolong the onset of fatigue. I can go on about how each energy system works but the energy system which requires oxygen is the only one which does not cause fatigue, due to it not causing lactic acid. It is true that we still get fatigued when using the aerobic (oxygen) energy system but that is when our demand for energy becomes too much for this system to handle as we can not consume enough oxygen to cope with the demand and we begin to use the energy systems which do not require oxygen which produce fatiguing by-products- lactic acid. Quite often with very long distances such as 800m and 1500m, many elitist performers breathe every other stroke for the majority of the race but then reduce their breathing rate as they enter the final, sprint stages of the race. Breathing can also become tactical, such as Ian Thorpe who breathes out of only one side, not arm. This enables him to keep an eye on who he considers to be his main competitor throughout the whole race. Breathing bilaterally does produce a more rounded stroke in some respects but there are also some benefits to breathing to one side, it all depends on the performer as to how often as well as how they breathe. But these are the most typical examples of breathing rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Last piece of advise:&lt;/strong&gt; find your own, natural pace! Best practices go a long way, but you also have to feel comfortable with them. Also, try to spend some time every week focusing on improving your technique, rather than your condition, because you'll need to make further improvements in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-06-22T18:14:18.727" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T18:14:18.727" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="455" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:10:27.357" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people may say the &lt;strong&gt;best&lt;/strong&gt; time to stretch is right after exercising. Your muscles are warmed up allow you to get a nice deep stretch. Stretching afterwards will begin the process of relaxing your muscles, something I find really helpful after lifting heavy weights. During my years of martial arts I have found that stretching after a workout will allow me more flexibility during the next class than I would have had just stretching before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T20:10:27.357" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="463" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:33:15.247" Score="11" ViewCount="7622" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many creatine distributors, health forums, etc. recommend avoiding mixing creatine with citrus juices, as supposedly the citric acid could combine with the creatine to produce creatinine, which isn't a useful substance for strength training and bodybuilding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it occurs to me that stomach acid is stronger and more acidic than any juice that one is likely to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there something specific about citric acid and creatine that would not apply to stomach acid, or is the creatine/citrus warning a myth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T06:54:08.067" LastActivityDate="2018-10-08T15:00:06.677" Title="Can creatine and citrus be combined?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="462" CreationDate="2011-03-05T21:26:37.667" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This advice doesn't pass simple common sense.  Creatinine is a toxin used as a proxy to detect kidney problems, It almost certainly would never have made it to store shelves if it broke down to creatinine on contact with acid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritionexpress.com/article+index/vitamins+supplements+a-z/creatine/showarticle.aspx?articleid=208&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Conquering creatine myths with science&lt;/a&gt; simply boils it down simply as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Myth: Creatine is instantly destroyed by acid, either in the stomach or in juice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fact: Creatine easily survives stomach acid and can be mixed with acidic beverages if you consume them shortly after mixing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The myth &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; began with some creatine producers differentiating themselves by claiming their formula protects the creatine from stomach acid, thereby increasing absorption rates [citation needed].  At any rate, the idea that citric acid has an affect that stomach acid does not is false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="155" LastEditorUserId="155" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T21:42:01.393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:42:01.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2011-03-06T00:50:15.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;4 exercises I was given by an osteopath when I had fairly chronic muscular lower back pain were all leg related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie on your back, hold each leg to the ceiling in turn and hold for 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull a knee towards your face and hold for 30 seconds, for each leg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch each leg against a chair seat,while standing up, as if doing a warm up for running. Hold for 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull each knee as far as possible to the opposing shoulder and hold for 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another exercise involves using the elbow to massage the back, with a fair amount of pressure - obviously you'll need a partner/friend/willing house mate to do it though, and it hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2011-10-17T18:10:44.567" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T18:10:44.567" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-06T07:29:18.460" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the biggest afflictions for programmers is a phenomenon called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheComputerBackPainAndTheProgrammer.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Programmers Back&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We sit for 8 to 10 hours per day, sometimes longer, which is perhaps the worst thing you can do for your back.  Human beings just weren't designed to sit for extended periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article I referenced recommends stretching.  Specifically, lower back stretching.  Sitting puts a lot of pressure on the lower back, reduces blood flow to the legs, and can cause the muscles to shorten and atrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching helps reduce those muscle-weakening issues, helps you gain much-needed flexibility, and gets the blood flowing throughout your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally try to stretch at least once per day.  If I go into work before everyone else, I use about 5 to 10 minutes to do some stretches in the office to help start my day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, another helpful tip is to use a standing desk.  The &lt;a href=&quot;https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/35049/code-while-standing/35059#35059&quot;&gt;Speedy Stand&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/35049/code-while-standing/35050#35050&quot;&gt;Ikea Fredrik&lt;/a&gt; are two very affordable options.  People who use stand-up desks say they feel more active, productive, and alert.  In addition, they claim they feel less soreness from being sedentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-12T07:32:02.133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T07:29:18.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T12:50:29.953" Score="11" ViewCount="1619" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm spending most of the day in front of the computer (10+ hours), and as expected, my wrist tendons experience strain during work. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue, but after I have started training more aggressively (especially with free weights), I feel slight pain and weakness in the wrists when they are at unnatural position under load. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The frequency of training is not the issue -- usually at most 3 times per week, and I do torso/arms exercises only twice per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Which arm exercises are known to put less strain on the wrists? I'm interested in upper-arm/chest exercises mostly, but advice for other muscle groups is appreciated as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there something else I can do to reduce the problem (training accessories, special exercises, other)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm doing exercise on the weight machines and cables mostly, some free weights and stretching. No push ups whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T17:19:20.243" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T17:19:20.243" Title="Reducing wrist pain/weakness during exercising" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="455" CreationDate="2011-03-06T15:46:10.813" Score="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching is clearly a very controversial subject&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instead, use of stretching as a prevention tool against sports injury has been based on intuition and unsystematic observation rather than scientific evidence. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gytk.sote.hu/gyki/Oktatok/Horpet/Bozot_suggested_article.pdf&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A second major reason that many coaches and athletes still view static stretching as an important preactivity ritual is the belief that it reduces the likelihood of subsequent&#xA;  injury. This belief is based on the idea that a &quot;tight&quot; muscle-tendon unit is less extensible without stretching, which means that its tolerance for elongation&#xA;  is lower, This intuitive concept has resulted in a widespread belief that stretching will prevent muscle and tendon strain (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mirallas.org/Esport/AgainstStretching.pdf&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Like many sports physicians, Dr. Bartoli tells her patients that rather than stretching before physical activity, they should do the sporting activity at 50 percent of the target intensity. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://tca.d4sportsclub.com/object.aspx?id=516&amp;amp;o=486&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I continue I should note that I have found no study that focused on stretching after working out. But based on the results from other literature reviews, I don't think the effect after a workout is much different. Also the lack of scientific interest in the topic should make one highly skeptical as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/medicine/bmj/sportsmedicine/pdfs/ch3.pdf&quot;&gt;Shrier points out several&lt;/a&gt; important points to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Both the muscle-tendon unit and the joint capsule may limit ROM [range of motion]. Flexibility is usually considered the ROM limited by muscle-tendon, and mobility is usually considered the ROM limited by capsule/ligament.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Stretching must be differentiated from ROM. There are many individuals who have excellent ROM but never stretch, and many individuals who stretch but continue to have limited ROM.&#xA;  Therefore, different injury rates in people with different ROMs may not be related to the effect of stretching, but rather to the underlying interindividual variation in tissue properties, anatomy, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Stretching immediately before exercise may have different effects than stretching at other times and should be considered as a separate intervention. Whereas there is considerable amount of clinical&#xA;  data on stretching immediately before exercise, there is much less data on stretching at other times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Some people claim that negative results in some studies are due to improper stretching technique. Because the effect of stretching are believed to occur through changes in stiffness and ROM,&#xA;  an &quot;improper&quot; technique implies that the ROM is not increased. If ROM is increased without causing an immediate injury, then by definition the stretches were done properly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Warm-up is not synonymous with stretching. In the colloquial sense, warm-up means any activity performed before participating in sport. Used in this sense, stretching is only one component of&#xA;  warm-up, and if stretching is included in the pre-exercise activity, I explicitily state that stretching was used. The other component of warm-up is participating in an activity that requires active muscle contractions.&#xA;  This type of warm-up can be divided into general or sport-specific warm-up. In a general warm-up, the objective is to increase body temperature. ... In sport-specific warmp-up, the acitvity is the same&#xA;  but performed at a lower intensity. Be aware that the mechanism of action will dictacte whether one type of warm-up is superior to another.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The term &quot;dynamic stretching&quot; is currently used differently by different people, but in essense it refers to stretching of a muscle by contracting and relaxing the antagonist muscle. &#xA;  One should note that dynamic stretching includes both classical stretching and warm-up at the same time. Because dynamic stretching includes both classical stretching and warm-up at the same time.&#xA;  Because dynamic stretching requires the muscles to contract, other possible mechansms include central programming of muscle contraction/coordiantion and decreased fatigue through increased warm-up activity.&#xA;  Those who promote dynamic stretching as a method to prevent injury should provide some evidence that supports their claim.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After discussing many articles he concludes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A review of the clinical evidence strongly suggests that pre-exercise stretching does not prevent injury, and that the evidence on stretching at other times suggests that it may be&#xA;  beneficial but is too limited to make definitive recommendations at this time. Considering that these results are contrary to many people’s beliefs, it seems prudent to review why&#xA;  some people ever believed stretching before exercise was so beneficial. There appear to be six general arguments that have been proposed in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;First, paraphrasing an old Chinese saying, “that which does not bend, breaks.” However, when a tree bends, the force (i.e., the wind) changes from a perpendicular force to a&#xA;  longitudinal force; it is much easier to break a stick by applying a perpendicular force to the middle in comparison with longitudinal forces at the end. In stretching a muscle prior&#xA;  to activity, we do not alter the direction of force at the time of injury, and the analogy is inappropriate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Second, compliance refers to the length change that occurs when a force is applied, but is not necessarily related to a tissue’s resistance to injury. For example, even though a&#xA;  balloon will stretch before it bursts (high compliance), a sphere made of metal with the same thickness as the balloon might never stretch (low compliance) and still withstand&#xA;  extremely high pressures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Third, if muscle compliance is increased with warming from 25 °C to 40 °C, the muscle ruptures at a longer length but absorbs less energy. Which is more important, length or&#xA;  energy absorbed? Although muscles are sometimes injured when stretched beyond their normal length of motion, most authors believe that the majority of injuries occur within&#xA;  the normal ROM during eccentric activity, and that the most important variable with respect to muscle injury is the energy absorbed by the muscle&#xA;  Finally, the reader must remember that the damage occurs at the level of the sarcomere and not the whole muscle. Therefore, if there is excessive sarcomere lengthening so that&#xA;  the actin and myosin filaments no longer overlap, the force is transmitted to the cytoskeleton of the muscle fiber, and damage occurs. This occurs within the normal ROM, because&#xA;  sarcomere length within the muscle is heterogeneous; some sarcomeres lengthen during a contraction at the same time as others are shortening. Therefore, it appears that it is&#xA;  the sarcomere length that is related to most exercise-related muscle strains, rather than the total muscle length. Under this hypothesis, an increase in total muscle compliance is&#xA;  irrelevant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fourth, overstretching a muscle can certainly produce damage. However, even strains as little as 20% beyond resting fiber length, as one would expect with “correct” stretching&#xA;  techniques, can produce damage in isolated muscle preparations. Therefore, the basic science evidence suggests that “correct” stretching techniques may be more difficult to&#xA;  define than previously thought.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fifth, we have seen that the increased ROM with stretching is partly due to an analgesic effect. This may explain some preliminary findings that muscle aches and pains are&#xA;  reduced in pre–post testing, but does not mean that the risk of injury is decreased.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sixth, some argue that stretching may prevent tendon or other injuries, even though there is no effect on total injuries. Finally, even if stretching does prevent one specific type of injury, because overall injury&#xA;  rates among stretchers and non-stretchers are not different, any protection against one type of injury would mean an increased risk of other types of injuries in order to balance the equation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on his results, on can conclude that there are some conflicting results. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.futevolei.com.br/fisio2.pdf&quot;&gt;Witvrouw et al&lt;/a&gt; point out that this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;can be explained by considering the type of sports activity in which an individual participates. Sports involving 'explosive' type skills, with many and maximal SSC (stretch-shortening cycles) movements require a muscle-tendon unit which is compliant enough to store and release the high amount of elastic energy. Recently, it has been shown that stretching is able to increase the compliance of human tendons, and as a result increase the capacity of the tendon to absorb energy. Consequently, in these sports we suggest that stretching is important as a prophylactic measure for injury prevention.&#xA;  When an individual's muscle-tendon unit is less flexible in these types of sports activities, there exists a predisposing factor for exercise-related injuries since the tendon is unable to absorb enough energy, which may lead to tendon and/or muscle damage. When the sports activity contains no, or only low SSC movements (cycling, jogging), all or most of the work is directly converted to external work.&#xA;  In these cases, there is no need for a compliant tendon since the amount of energy absorption remains low. Hence, additional stretching exercises to improve the compliance of the tendon may have no beneficial effect on injury prevention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It must be acknowledged that the aetiology of injuries can be multifactorial. Taking out only one aspect (e.g. stretching) and examining its effect on the incidence of injuries is a rather narrow outlook on this problem. For example, fatigue is  widely believed to be predisposing factor in muscle injury. In addition, other problems remain. Even within the same sport,the demands on different players may be different. However, we believe that far greater attention should be given to an examination of the type of activity in which the athlete participates when one considers the merits of stretching to reduce injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I can see you wonder: &lt;strong&gt;what if my workout require a large ROM?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help you decide, &lt;a href=&quot;http://tca.d4sportsclub.com/object.aspx?id=516&amp;amp;o=486&quot;&gt;here's a small anecdote from a professional dance trainer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is often shocked when she walks into dance studios to teach for the first time and sees dancers stretching on a cold floor.&#xA;  &quot;I say, 'Please don't do that!' and explain that we'll stretch in the middle and at the end of class,&quot; she said.&#xA;  According to Solomon, stretching must be an integral part of the warm-up process.&#xA;  &quot;As long as the blood is coursing through the body, the oxygen is flowing through the muscles, and the muscles are warm-then you can stretch,&quot; she said. &quot;But not before. &#xA;  If you don't stretch and strengthen together, you'll have a weak muscle. The strength must balance the stretch if you want to control your movements.&quot;&#xA;  Solomon explained that dancers are at risk for injury partly because dance demands such extended ranges of motion. Moreover, ballet dancers typically do exercises such as &#xA;  developpes and grand battements that develop their quadriceps, but may neglect the hamstrings. The resulting strength imbalance puts extra stress on the knee joint.&#xA;  &quot;If the muscles are really stretched out, the ligaments may not be able to protect the joints,&quot; she said. &quot;So you get unstable joints, particularly knees, and you may get &#xA;  hyperextension and ligament tears.&quot; Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretches are now favored in the dance community because they both strengthen and lengthen muscles, Solomon said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what should you do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well the studies I reviewed concluded injuries occured in subjects with too much flexibility (lack of balance/strength) or a lack of flexibility (limited ROM). The latter group might consider increasing their ROM by stretching regularly (but not prior to exercising), however I would rather recommend you to perform workouts that let you make the desired motion naturally. You see, your body adapts itself to its needs, so instead of stretching to become more flexible stop working out so rigidly! Even worse, if you would stop stretching, you would loose all the gained flexibility because the body&#xA;adapts itself to the lack of stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand this, one must understand the way your muscles are built up. Your muscle consist of actin and myosin, which glide into one another during a contraction. &#xA;These two parts optimize their length and overlap to get the highest force output. So if you start stretching your muscle, you require your muscle to adapt to retain an optimal overlap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xBczD.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I expect you want to stretch after a workout because your muscles are still feeling contracted and by 'stretching' them, they'll be more relaxed. You know, yoga-style!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PoZlE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I show you this image and tell you that the mysion 'arms' require ATP (energy!) to release the actin, else they'd be holding on like rigor mortis. &#xA;Furthermore, we just saw that your muscles probably have a lot of overlap and crossbridges, but you just depleted your energy resources, because you had an intensive workout.&#xA;Do you think you're muscle will respond well to stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, &lt;strong&gt;I'd recommend you do a proper cooling-down&lt;/strong&gt;, give your muscles time to get rid of lactate (which is a great resource of energy, when you burn it aerobically) and more importantly give it time to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.futevolei.com.br/fisio2.pdf&quot;&gt;Stretching and injury prevention, An obscure relationship&lt;/a&gt;. Witvrouw, E; Mahieu, N; Danneels, L; McNair, P. Sports Med 2004; 34(7): 443-449&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thiagovilelalemos.com.br/downloads/esportiva/Does%20Stretching%20Improve%20Performance%20-%20sys%20review.pdf&quot;&gt;Does stretching improve performance?&lt;/a&gt; A systematic and critical review of the literature. Shrier, I; Clin J Sport Med 2004; 14:267-273&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/medicine/bmj/sportsmedicine/pdfs/ch3.pdf&quot;&gt;Does stretching help prevent injuries? Shrier, I.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="797" LastEditDate="2012-08-04T13:14:50.240" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T13:14:50.240" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1234" CreationDate="2011-03-06T16:37:04.683" Score="28" ViewCount="19805" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercises do you recommend, if one's main target is broad shoulders (and chest too, but less priority)? Does reducing exercises for other muscle group help? Any other tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T21:03:43.507" LastActivityDate="2018-02-19T15:31:37.567" Title="What are the recommended exercise types for getting broad shoulders?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="474" CreationDate="2011-03-06T16:43:37.610" Score="6" ViewCount="2120" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of selections that athletes have in selecting socks. Most of these socks are ear toward &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drymaxsports.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;moisture whicking material&lt;/a&gt;.  My question is, do these type athletic socks make a difference in the overall care of the foot and thus performance of the athelete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T21:01:30.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:01:30.110" Title="Do athletic socks make a difference to performance?" Tags="&lt;foot-care&gt;&lt;performance&gt;&lt;socks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="473" CreationDate="2011-03-06T17:06:21.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sport socks can make a world of difference, especially during longer workouts or if you have sweaty feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They help reduce the moisture and friction, which becomes more important the longer you run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In diabetics, they sometimes add patches of low friction material to the insoles, because this reduces the shear forces on high risk areas. Good sport socks do the same, they allow your foot to slip a little bit relative to the insole, which greatly reduces the friction and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ipfh.org/uploads/white-papers/friction_blisters.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thus reduces the chance of blisters&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular cotton socks tend to get wet after about 20-30 minute workouts and don't transfer the moisture away from your foot sole. Therefore, any negative effect from the moisture, like increasing friction, get's worse over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.centralillinoisfootandankle.com/files/Socks.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Furthermore&lt;/a&gt;, wet cotton socks can loose their shape and start to wrinkle or bunch up. After several wash-wear cycles, cotton socks have been noted to become abrasive, which can potentially be irritating on the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper socks are also known to improve the fitting of a shoe, because they're generally thicker in some important areas, whereas regular socks are more homogeneous in their composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd advice anyone who has to do some serious running for longer stretches of time to wear sport socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T18:08:38.140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T18:08:38.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2011-03-06T17:43:00.140" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.projectswole.com/weight-training/the-top-5-best-shoulder-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing  Military Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OIhBc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The military press is in league with squats, deadlifts, and bench presses as one of the mandatory exercises for all serious weight lifter. If you are not overhead pressing you are not really lifting. This is the ultimate compound pressing exercise for your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waeCyaAQRn8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:36:50.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:36:50.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2011-03-06T18:20:51.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now that I'm thinking about this I realized I have a solution. But it is pretty makeshift, but it might work for someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a stable stool that I can raise to 25&quot;. If I hook my legs under a counter or very heavy table (it needs to be very steady), and place my hips on the stool I can do back raises with a makeshift Roman Chair. Kind of like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XsrZR.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.latestinpaleo.com/blog/2010/9/8/todays-paleo-workout-wednesday-ab-spazz.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ref site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The disadvantages are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's pretty uncomfortable on my hips, though my stool is padded, and on my ankles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's hard to find a good stable place to hook my legs. My table isn't heavy enough. I've found opening the door to low cupboards and hooking my legs under the counter works best, but these tend to only be available in cramped spaces. But my desk has enough junk in it to work, but is the most uncomfortable on my legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At 6' I can't get full range of motion, as my forehead hits the floor at about 45°.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would guess most don't have a stool as stable as mine. It has a pretty low and wide three leg base.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-12-30T23:36:38.147" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T23:36:38.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2011-03-06T22:16:38.417" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise depends on several factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your muscles for doing the actual work and their local storage of energy;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your blood as a transfer system of O2/CO2 and energy;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your heart for making the blood flow;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your lungs as a transfer system of O2/CO2;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your liver as a supplier of energy;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your nerves for stimulating your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So depending on the intensity of your exercise, all of these systems will be taxed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a certain amount of reps, you have depleted all your muscles local storage of glycogen and they will need to recharge before they're able to perform work again. After the local storage is gone, your blood will have to resupply your muscles to deliver you new energy. This also means, that if you start working on another muscle group, that muscle group has to share its new supplies of energy with the muscles that are recovering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you were to rest, your body has a storage of lactate acid it needs to process and an oxygen deficit to compensate for. This requires oxygen, but more importantly produces a lot of CO2 your body needs to get rid off. This is called having an oxygen debt. If you switch muscle groups, you don't give your body time to recover from its oxygen deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cIkCh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to work out on your maximum lung capacity, you have to subtract a part of your oxygen supply for the oxygen debt, so you're not working out maximally anymore: you're simply out of breath. Furthermore, if you can't supply your muscles with sufficient oxygen, it will anaerobically burn it's fuels. While they're a great fuel, it won't last you very long and it will most likely hamper the amount of repetitions you can make with the same fuel. Because as soon as you rest, then the fuel get's processed again, but you already moved on to another muscle group...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body feels tired, your central nervous system (CNS) might also inhibit any further exercise. It won't stop you from trying, but you probably won't be able to perform the amount of reps you could perform with sufficient rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all in all, even if you were to switch muscle groups: &lt;strong&gt;your body needs some rest between repetitions&lt;/strong&gt;. How much rest your body needs depends on: how heavy the exercise is, how fast your performing it and how many times you perform it per repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T22:16:38.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="499" CreationDate="2011-03-07T03:05:18.173" Score="6" ViewCount="6206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen fitness programs that focus six days of workout per week, and following three or four weeks have an entire recovery week.  The term &quot;recovery&quot; is misleading, because you still workout six days a week, but it's just on a lighter weight.  I am wondering why or if this week is needed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:19:09.910" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T12:03:45.907" Title="Is it necessary to have a rest week?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="468" CreationDate="2011-03-07T04:02:07.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you may be addressing the issue at the wrong point if this is related to your work. I suggest you have a look at why you are experiencing pain and strain related to your work rather than how you can reduce the pain during workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intentionally trying to avoid this pain during your workout may still exacerbate the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible you may be doing the exercises incorrectly, in that case I would check with a trainer or someone experienced that your arms, wrists and grip are correct. I've had someone come up to me before in a gym and say &quot;you're doing that wrong&quot;, this advice is priceless. So always check with someone if it doesn't feel right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would then attempt to address the issue at the source and find out why you are straining your wrists at work. This is not good. I used to have this problem when I started programming and after about six months I was in screaming pain. I replaced the keyboard I was using with one I bought myself and I found the problem went away after 3 or 4 days. I also learnt to take periodic brakes and how to touch type properly. Touch typing (if done properly) will help immensely with strain if you are trying to go as fast as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this doesn't answer your question directly, however I think you are avoiding the underlying problem and could put yourself at risk by avoiding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T04:02:07.110" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="483" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T04:59:39.590" Score="6" ViewCount="7486" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are two or three finger push-ups a matter of finger/hand or arm strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What techniques should I use to learn two or three finger push-ups (if it is finger strength how do I build this up etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:56:10.473" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T21:53:23.797" Title="How to do 2 or 3 finger push-ups" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="489" CreationDate="2011-03-07T05:05:28.773" Score="31" ViewCount="18391" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't do a single decent chin-up, are there any easy alternatives that I could build up in quantity as a forerunner to being able to do chin-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively are there are any weights exercises that could help achieve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any online resources that outline a program for beginners to learn chin-ups and increase the number? Maybe something similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com&quot;&gt;hundredpushups.com&lt;/a&gt; that I can follow daily (I know they are working on a program called 25 pullups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-14T02:18:37.773" LastActivityDate="2019-09-13T12:18:00.363" Title="What exercises are good to build up to performing chin-ups?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="491" CreationDate="2011-03-07T05:11:45.600" Score="5" ViewCount="1041" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some exercises that I can do in a swimming pool that will help my muscles to recover after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen footballers on TV walking/jogging in the swimming pool the day after a match. If you can provide some specific exercises and also timings for when this should be done (e.g. immediately after the workout or next day etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could doing exercises in a pool actually provide more strain on the muscles if overdone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:54:04.407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:54:04.407" Title="What specific exercises can be done in a swimming pool to aid recovery after a workout?" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="483" CreationDate="2011-03-07T06:07:23.370" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many muscle groups are involved, including hand, arm, chest, shoulder, back strength... it really depends on where your weak link happens to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest first making sure that you can do regular flat-hand pushups with good form. Once you can do that, then try raising up onto all five fingers. Once you have those down, you can start taking fingers away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that it is too difficult to do many on your fingertips at first, try going to your knees and doing pushups from your knees with your fingers. The point of these isn't to tax your chest/arm/shoulder assembly, but rather to train your fingers to hold up the light load before you do full pushups on them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T06:07:23.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="484" CreationDate="2011-03-07T06:12:04.503" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LXUw4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a Weight-Assist Machine.  The woman in the photo is using it for dips, but this particular machine also supports Chin-Ups.  Some Gyms and Fitness Centers have these.  The one where I work out has one, and with it, I'm able to get 10 reps instead of my normal 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T06:12:04.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="484" CreationDate="2011-03-07T06:13:03.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a gym, try (in order of preference):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assisted pull-up machine - generally there is a platform with an adjustable counterweight under the pullup bar that you kneel on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Band-assisted pull-up using an elastic band - tie to the pullup bar, and then stand in the other end with one or both feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pulldowns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T06:13:03.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="484" CreationDate="2011-03-07T07:44:10.787" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;strong&gt;&quot;negative chin ups&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;: Jump/hop/use a chair/whatever to get to the top of the bar and make it down as slow as you can. Rest for a minute, repeat 5 - 8 times, 3 times a week. You'll be ready in less than 10 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastEditorUserId="144" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T10:10:35.690" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T10:10:35.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="498" CreationDate="2011-03-07T09:23:00.697" Score="5" ViewCount="1056" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between the protein found in red meat (like beef and ostrich) and white meat (like chicken and pork) and protein from fish and should you aim to get these in in any particular ratio to one another? Or could protein intake coming mostly from just one of these types be sufficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorUserId="138" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T11:22:13.200" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:19:17.630" Title="Protein of red and white meat" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2011-03-07T10:22:09.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess one of the benefits of working out in a swimming pool offloads the joints vertically (you're floating after all), so after a heavy workout this reduces the strain on the fatigued muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it can still be a great workout, because it increases the resistance in pretty much any direction. So it's a great resistance training for the muscles that make your leg swing (back and forward), because they have to overcome a much larger resistance than during normal running. To get the same forces while running normally, you'd probably have to increase your speed to above your lactate threshold, which means your exercise wouldn't last very long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess you train in a swimming pool to train certain muscles without overusing your regular muscle groups, because of the non-weight bearing condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T10:22:09.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="492" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="497" CreationDate="2011-03-07T13:44:53.457" Score="26" ViewCount="25668" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a hard work out, it's generally a good idea to not stop immediately, but rather to cool down.  What is the specific purpose of cooling down?  Does not properly cooling down affect the actual efficiency of the work out itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:50:39.650" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T14:47:55.003" Title="What is the purpose of 'cooling down'?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="493" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="496" CreationDate="2011-03-07T13:46:53.220" Score="8" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/492/what-is-the-purpose-of-a-cool-down&quot;&gt;Having already asked why a cool-down is so important&lt;/a&gt;, my next question is how do you properly get into a cool down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be specific of how to get into this cool-down with metrics that can either be measured for ALL exercises or to a specific type of work-out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:47:53.257" Title="How does one properly 'cool down'?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="505" CreationDate="2011-03-07T13:52:27.223" Score="12" ViewCount="2729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that this may sound silly, but I was wondering if there is a proper way to pedal the road bike?  I've noticed that you can be pedaling more with the front, or balls of the feet, or by staying flat for the most part, or even having the heel of your foot slightly angled down.  Is there a specific way to pedal that will yield the most efficient use of 'foot power'?  If so, what makes that specific technique more efficient? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T14:54:08.037" LastActivityDate="2011-10-08T19:39:48.120" Title="Is there a specific, efficient way to pedal a road bike?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="494" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:01:32.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use clipless pedals which places the ball of the foot over the pedal.  Given that I've never seen biking shoes with the attachment anywhere but the ball, I'm assuming that there must be some power and/or health advantage there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep your feet almost straight with toes pointed slightly out.  In the short term, this may provide less power, but if you don't, you'll over develop your outer quads which leads to knee problems.  Again, clipless pedals 'enforce' this behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T14:01:32.710" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="493" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:05:45.087" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0736044892&quot;&gt;Physiology of Sports and Exercise:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every endurance exercise session should conclude with a cool-down period. &lt;strong&gt;Cool-down is best accomplished by slowly reducing the intensity of the endurance activity during the last several minutes of your workout.&lt;/strong&gt; After running, for example, a slow, restful walk for several minutes helps prevent blood from pooling in your extremities. Stopping abruptly after an endurance exercise bout causes blood to pool in your legs and can result in dizziness or fainting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you've been working out near the lactate threshold, your body has also been piling some amount of lactate. If you lower the intensity of your workout, such that you get enough oxygen, your muscles will start using lactate as a fuel and get rid of it. Because burning lactate creates by products like CO2, it's advisable to keep up some level of activity, so that your body can get rid of it easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would therefore suggest &lt;strong&gt;to reduce the intensity of your workout.&lt;/strong&gt; For example in running, start jogging at a speed your still able to talk. This ensures you get plenty of oxygen (to pay your oxygen debt), while still maintaining sufficient blood pressure to let your body adjust itself. In cycling you could keep up high revolutions, but with very low resistance or in swimming you could vary your strokes, focusing on getting back to normal breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As md5sum suggested: a recommended cool down for weight lifting is a &lt;strong&gt;short cardio workout&lt;/strong&gt; (stationary bike, treadmill, etc). Depending on the intensity, I'd recommend a bike over a treadmill as this is non-weight bearing, which can be pleasant after heavy squats/leg exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T18:00:17.000" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:00:17.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="492" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:11:58.527" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0736044892&quot;&gt;Physiology of Sports and Exercise:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every endurance exercise session should conclude with a cool-down period. Cool-down is best accomplished by slowly reducing the intensity of the endurance activity during the last several minutes of your workout. After running, for example, a slow, restful walk for several minutes helps prevent blood from pooling in your extremities. Stopping abruptly after an endurance exercise bout causes blood to pool in your legs and can result in dizziness or fainting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you should remember that intensive exercising effects your entire body: your heart is pumping, your lungs are ventilating, your blood is racing through your body, your muscles are contracting, your liver is producing energy. If you were to suddenly stop, your body will slightly lag behind your abrupt change in exercise intensity (or the lack thereof). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you've been working out near the lactate threshold, your body has also been piling some amount of lactate. If you lower the intensity of your workout, such that you get enough oxygen, your muscles will start using lactate as a fuel and get rid of it. Because burning lactate creates a lot of waste products like CO2 and creatine kinase, it's advisable to keep up some level of activity, so that your body can get rid of it easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During workouts, your body releases hormones &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioroom.com/prevention/cool_down1.php&quot;&gt;such as adrenaline and endorphins&lt;/a&gt;, if you were to abruptly stop exercising, you maintain higher levels of these hormones which can cause a feeling of restlessness or a sleepless night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good reason is that when you exercise, your muscles stretch and shorten a lot. If you were to stop abruptly, you leave your muscles in a somewhat misaligned state. By cooling down, you gradually limit the range of motion back to the state it would be in when you're in rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, &lt;strong&gt;the goal of cooling down is giving your body time to readjust itself to the change in requirements.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajp.physiotherapy.asn.au/AJP/vol_53/2/AustJPhysiotherv53i2Law.pdf&quot;&gt;a study by Law and Herbert from the university of Sydney&lt;/a&gt; indicated that cooling down &lt;strong&gt;did not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness&lt;/strong&gt;. Which might indicate that this isn't directly related to residual waste products. Furthermore, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canibaisereis.com/download/cool-down-after-workout-myth.pdf&quot;&gt;Tanaka, an exercise physiologist from the University of Texas&lt;/a&gt; claims it's an understudied topic and that there's no science behind the advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to point out that my while my answer is based on the physiological processes going on during exercise, I don't have any publications to back them up. Lucky for me, neither has he.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T14:36:28.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T14:36:28.590" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="490" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:19:17.630" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Realistically, protein is just protein. Certainly there are some minor differences in types of protein as there are differences in carbohydrates and fats as well. The primary difference in terms of digestion, however, is what you are getting with your protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein in fish contains a very small amount of fat compared red meat. It's difficult to take in the fat that the body needs without eating it in meats unless you want to upset another ratio of your diet (e.g. you could drink milk to increase fat, but would jump your carbohydrate intake as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary idea is that you would want to balance your ratios of protein, carbohydrates, and fats to suit the type of diet you are undertaking, but don't worry too much about the various types of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:19:17.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="481" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:27:01.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're doing a full body workout 6 days a week, you absolutely need the rest week. If you are working different muscle sets each day then it's less important. The body does need time to catch up to the new muscle that you are building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body's internal organs have to gain strength to handle working those muscles, and without the rest, your body can never make full use of the muscle you are building and you will reach a plateau that you will be unable to cross.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:27:01.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="493" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:32:37.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ivo's answer is good.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, 'how' to cool down can also depend on how you got to the gym and what you did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you walked/biked to the gym, and you just came in to run/jog, you can use the walk/bike back as your cool down.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you lifted weights, it's good to cool down with a couple of light sets [finish with just the bar].  This lets your pumped muscles go through the motions and stretch without being worked hard with a heavy load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:32:37.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:40:51.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this for after weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, swim for a few laps concentrating on your arms/shoulders.  [You will be swimming to work your muscles not your stroke.]  For example, swim freestyle but keep your hand open, fingers together, as you push through the water, giving a little resistance to work the muscles.  You can also do chest fly's standing in the pool and also bicep curls and tricep push downs, all with hands open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:40:51.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="484" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:48:45.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the assisted pull-up machine already mentioned...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If doing them with palms facing towards you with a shoulder-width grip:  Work your biceps, forearms, and triceps [even though triceps are a pushing muscle, these will just help in strengthening your arms]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If doing them with palms out with a wide grip:  Work your forearms, lats, biceps, triceps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't cheat so you can up your number.  Stay in good form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have some pounds to lose, do cardio.  Working your muscles and losing the amount of pounds you need to pull up will get you to your goal faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:48:45.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="558" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:15:02.353" Score="39" ViewCount="10276" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've read some articles that suggest that you should go below 90 degrees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I've talked with a trainer in my gym, and he usually places a bench behind him so that he couldn't go below 90. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your take? Below 90 or 90?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: When I'm talking about degrees, I mean the angle your shin bone and femur makes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T22:16:04.090" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T14:01:21.940" Title="How deep should a squat be?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="494" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:43:07.247" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;[I will treat this from a purely mechanical point of view, as this is my area of expertise -- the actual body mechanics are much more complex, but the effect is similar.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a mechanical point of view, the most efficient way to propel yourself on the bike is to step on the pedal so that the distance between your heel and the pedal is maximized. Ideally this place would be your toes; however, due to the toe joints, your ability to do so is rather limited, as the the flexible joint will change the way power is transmitted through your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the optimal place to step is the ball of the foot -- it has a good surface area for good contact, and the muscular mass which reduces the reaction from the pedal and dampens somewhat vibrations from the bumpy road. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why the most efficient place is as far from your heel as possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this handy force diagram below that I found when writing my answer (image license unknown). Although not exactly what we need here, it will come in handy in the explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qtkVT.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How this whole biking deal works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You step on the pedal with force &lt;code&gt;PF&lt;/code&gt;, which creates a torque &lt;code&gt;Tc&lt;/code&gt; with arm `CL', and which is transmitted through the drive train system to the real wheel, which due to its traction with the ground pushes you forward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mechanically, the greater the arm &lt;code&gt;CL&lt;/code&gt;, the greater torque you get for a given force &lt;code&gt;PF&lt;/code&gt;. They are related linearly as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Tc=PF.CL&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt; You might be tempted to think that if you make your pedals long enough, you can exert enormous amount of force, and indeed this is so. Archimedes famously said &quot;Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the earth with a lever&quot;. The thing is, your feet will need to travel much farther to cover the same distance as with shorter pedals -- but requiring a  negligible force. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch in mechanics as well. &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;But wait, this only takes into account the length of the pedal, not the foot!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed. Your foot only serves as an extension of the pedal, effectively increasing the torque you produce by increasing the lever length. If the length of your foot is &lt;code&gt;Lf&lt;/code&gt;, then the torque will become:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Tc=PF(CL + Lf)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;effectively increasing the torque you produce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="180" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T19:50:11.923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:50:11.923" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:43:16.230" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not about anyone's personal &quot;take&quot; on the subject. It's about what your knees can handle. People who hurt themselves doing deep knee bend squats are either not flexible enough to do them, or are using bad technique. As a blanket rule, we just say not to go past 90 degrees because just about anyone's knee will bend to 90 degrees with weight without risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to go further, go further but do so with caution, a small amount at a time (low or no weight is suggested while training for deep knee bend squats). This will ensure that your ligaments and muscles are prepared for the extra strain. Going below a 90 degree bend will cause quite a bit of extra stress on an exponential curve (the deeper you go, the higher stress coming back up). If you feel any pain or &quot;stretching&quot; in the knees, you're going too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand with feet slight more than shoulder width apart, toes pointed outward slightly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your knees lined up with your toes and your back straight, bending at the knees and hips and lowering yourself toward the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raise yourself back up placing the pressure on the heel of your foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid injury:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let your knees flex inward. Keep them bent outward from your sides.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try lifting your toes off the ground to get the hang of placing pressure on your heel coming back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you're properly stretched before working out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you feel joint or ligament pain, intense stretching, or just &quot;something wrong&quot; in the knees, drop backward to a sitting position and stand up from there, do not try to lift yourself up by completing the squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T17:43:16.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="494" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:54:09.370" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, you want to expand beyond the &quot;power stroke&quot; and consider pedaling in a &quot;full circle&quot;.  Starting just past the top of the stroke around 1:00 you would drop your heel slightly then gradually extend you foot somewhat during the power stroke, then extend it further at the bottom, sort of &quot;flicking&quot; the pedal across the bottom.  Then, you would pull with your hamstrings during the &quot;back&quot; of the stroke, driving your knee up and pulling your toes up slightly as you go to prepare for the next power stroke.  At the top you would flick your foot forward then repeat the whole cycle.  It is easier to understand if you attempt each of these while pedaling a bicycle.  If feels pretty natural after a small amount of practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not necessarily say this is the &quot;most efficient&quot; way to pedal, but that it is the method that produces the most output.  When Mountain Biking I use the full circle to accelerate or climb short hills. On a long hill I alternate emphasis from the power stroke to the back stroke to shift the load around while climbing.  On a mostly level road I pedal full circle to maintain the maximum sustainable pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read a lot of detail &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tri-ecoach.com/art13.htm&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T17:54:09.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:42:25.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My strategy for really intense workouts (ie long distance running) -- drink lots of water and eat some carbs (ie granola bars) before starting. Relax for a half hour or so while you hydrate and much lightly. I find this helps my bowels to move so I won't have to go while running. This consistently works for me, if this doesn't make me have to go, nothing will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:42:25.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="522" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:45:50.870" Score="58" ViewCount="48815" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've always wondered what about running makes you have to go to the bathroom? Why is it that it seems to accelerate the downward progress of any ... you know ... Or maybe I'm the only one this happens to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking seriously, I want to know why!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T17:00:43.580" Title="Why does running make you have to poop?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="518" CreationDate="2011-03-07T19:47:31.003" Score="11" ViewCount="295314" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been participating in Zumba lately and I feel more stiff after I do something else rather than Zumba. Is Zumba a good choice to working out or is it more a fun choice if it was Zumba or nothing? What does Zumba do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:44:59.233" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T09:04:13.427" Title="How effective is Zumba in weight-loss and toning?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;zumba&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="519" CreationDate="2011-03-07T21:22:07.677" Score="9" ViewCount="2293" Body="&lt;p&gt;What difference, if any, will it make if my hands are over the bar rather away from me or behind the bar towards me when doing a chin-up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this work different sets of muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is one more difficult than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should my workout contain different sets of both ways or is it just a preference thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2011-08-16T13:37:16.527" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T13:37:16.527" Title="What difference does hand/arm position make in chin-ups" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="455" CreationDate="2011-03-07T21:46:43.333" Score="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;After doing some research, Ivo's response is correct in that stretching before and exercise &lt;em&gt;may not&lt;/em&gt; prevent injuries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Karl Fields et. all in Current Sports Medicine Reports had this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Typical of the findings was a randomized trial of 421 runners with stretching, warm up, and cool down before and after running. &lt;strong&gt;This trial showed a slightly lower injury rate in the control group vs the group that used stretching as an intervention before running&lt;/strong&gt; (67). Another intervention in a military population showed that 1538 army recruits placed on a stretching protocol vs no intervention &lt;strong&gt;showed no reduction in injury risk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However Fields did find findings that may conclude stretching &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; an excercise, &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; prevent injuries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many athletes have adopted the strategy of stretching after activity rather than before. One study raises the possibility that this might offer injury protection...For the intervention program, the athletes stretched after practicing and while fatigued...&lt;strong&gt;Results favored the intervention in that in preintervention 9 and 11 athletes sustained hamstring injury compared with 2 and 4 after intervention.&lt;/strong&gt; In addition, competition days missed were reduced from 31 and 38 to 5 and 16 after intervention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also stretching does seem to be of use in relief of an injury (again Fields):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most positive of these involved a stretching intervention in plantar fasciitis...For phase 2, all patients were given the PF stretch protocol. &lt;strong&gt;Follow-up at 2 yr showed that 92% had a high degree of satisfaction.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, streching does seem to be helpful in the removal of 'tightness' and enabling freer motion of the muscles.  Two studies I found appear to back this up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;ACUTE EFFECT OF STATIC AND DYNAMIC STRETCHING ON HIP DYNAMIC RANGE OF MOTION DURING INSTEP KICKING IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS by Mohammadtaghi Amiri-Khorasani et. all conducted this study and found these results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of static and dynamic stretching within a pre-exercise warm-up on hip dynamic range of motion (DROM) during instep kicking in professional soccer players. The kicking motions of dominant legs were&#xA;  captured from 18 professional adult male soccer players.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Restults:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Within-group analysis showed no signiﬁcant difference in DROM after the dynamic stretching (2.59 6 4.67) compared with the static stretching (0.35 6 2.197) relative to&#xA;  the no stretching group during the backswing phase. &lt;strong&gt;There was, on the other hand, a signiﬁcant (p , 0.03) difference in DROM after the dynamic stretching (3.35 6 6.36)&#xA;  compared with the static stretching (21.35 6 7.86) relative to the no-stretching group during the forward phase&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b9A74.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Effects of Two Modes of Static Stretching On Muscle Strength and Stiffness. by Herda TJ, et all found these findings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of constant-angle (CA) and constant-torque (CT) stretching of the leg flexors on peak torque (PT), electromyography (EMGRMS) at PT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;PT decreased (mean ± SE 5.63 ± 1.65 Nm) (P = 0.004), and EMGRMS was unchanged (P &gt; 0.05) from pre- to post-stretching for both treatments...In addition, MTS decreased at all three angles (angel 1 0.23 ± 0.29 Nm°; angel 2 0.26 ± 0.35 Nm°; angle 3 0.28 ± 0.44 Nm°) following the CT stretching treatment (P &amp;lt; 0.005), however, MTS was unchanged following CA stretching (P &gt; 0.05).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Therefore, if the primary goal of the stretching routine is to decrease MTS, &lt;strong&gt;these results suggest CT stretching (constant pressure) may be more appropriate than a stretch held at a constant muscle length (CA stretching).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally back to Fields:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data suggest that too short of a time (less than 10 s) is ineffective and that prolonged stretches longer than 60 s accomplish no more than stretching periods of 10-60 s...The results showed that static stretching resulted in no change in Achilles stiffness, whereas ballistic stretching decreased Achilles stiffness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;In Essence:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically injury prevention is something that studies seem to debate over, and have no conclusive findings as to whether or not stretching decreases injury prevention.  However, there does seems to be conclusive evidence from multiple studies to suggest that relief of muscle soreness, and gain in freedom of motion can be improved through use of stretching.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prevention of Running Injuries&lt;/strong&gt;.  Fields, Karl B.; Sykes, Jeannie C.; Walker, Katherine M.; Jackson, Jonathan C.  &lt;em&gt;Current Sports Medicine Reports Issue: Volume 9(3), May/June 2010, pp 176-182&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ACUTE EFFECT OF STATIC AND DYNAMIC STRETCHING ON HIP DYNAMIC RANGE OF MOTION DURING INSTEP KICKING IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS&lt;/strong&gt;  MOHAMMADTAGHI AMIRI-KHORASANI,AND ASHRIL YUSOF The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 24 February 2011 &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Effects of Two Modes of Static Stretching On Muscle Strength and Stiffness.&lt;/strong&gt;  Herda TJ, Costa PB, Walter AA, Ryan ED, Hoge KM, Kerksick CM, Stout JR, Cramer JT.  &lt;em&gt;Medicine and science in sports and medicine 28 Feb 2011&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T22:05:58.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:05:58.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="512" CreationDate="2011-03-07T21:56:51.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zumba, like any physical activity will have benefit in weight-loss and toning. It just depends on how long and how hard you go at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to keep up your heart rate and keep moving. As long as you do this you will be burning calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toning_exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best way to tone is to utilize&#xA;  aerobic exercise to reduce body fat&#xA;  and perform weight resistance exercise&#xA;  to build muscle. Performing a&#xA;  combination of such exercises can be&#xA;  referred to as toning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the dance exercises involved in Zumba this definitely fits in the &lt;em&gt;aerobic exercise&lt;/em&gt; category. For best results you should combine this with some resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T21:56:51.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="512" CreationDate="2011-03-07T21:57:01.783" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;A big part of choosing a weight loss regiment is choosing something you are going to continue doing. Zumba appeals to a lot of people because it has a dance aspect, which makes it fun for them. (There is a stigma associated with working out in a &quot;boring old gym.&quot;) If you are going to continue to do Zumba over other workout routines, then definitely stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how effective it is, that really depends on the length and intensity of your workout. There is a lot of movement to it, and if you are actually working hard (and sweating), then you are burning off calories. That means, assuming you watch your diet as well, you will lose weight and achieve muscle tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you do a combination of activities (helps mix it up, too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zumba - A few times a week. This is your cardio/weight loss exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight/Strength Training - Do this once or twice a week. Doing this actually helps you burn MORE calories when you're doing your cardio portion because your muscles require more energy. It's been shown time and time again that individuals who supplement cardio with weight training maintain a healthier physique and reduced weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat Correctly - Do NOT starve yourself or go on any fad diet. Eat properly. Healthy proteins (chicken, fish, etc). Vegetables. Fruits. Don't come home from a class and gorge on ice cream or you will see no weight loss (and probably the opposite). However, it is good to reward yourself at times (at least a couple times a week) with a small treat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep those three things in mind, and make sure you're working out at the proper intensity level, and you will see the changes you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T21:57:01.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="513" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:12:40.210" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hands facing away tends to focus on your back and lats. Hands facing toward you emphasizes the biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as which to use when... that depends on what you are trying to accomplish with that workout. Obviously, the two still use a lot of the same muscle groups so take that into account if you're going to use both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:12:40.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:18:44.040" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agree with everything md5sum says. Also would like to add one more technique to the list: when you go down into your squat, don't think of letting gravity pull you down or the weight of the bar pushing you down. Visualize using your muscles and core tension to pull yourself down into the squat. This will maintain a muscular tension throughout your body that will not only help you lift more, but also help avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:18:44.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="523" CreationDate="2011-03-07T23:37:54.213" Score="13" ViewCount="1652" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just given a set of weights - adjustable weight dumbells -  as a present, but I have no idea what sort of weights/how many reps I should be doing in order to achieve the best results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to increase the strength of my arms and wrists (lean strength?), and hope it can increase my strength for playings sports like tennis, squash and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule of thumb for weights/reps I should be aiming at?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="271" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T20:44:59.043" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T06:35:12.343" Title="How do I know how much weight I should be lifting with dumbells?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="509" CreationDate="2011-03-08T02:22:14.650" Score="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not the only one this happens to, exercise is one of the best natural laxatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I found &lt;em&gt;interesting&lt;/em&gt; is that any physical activity can help prevent constipation, because it isn't just the physical rebounding of the gut from running which loosens things up, the colon also gets stimulated so it can both absorb the nutrients you'll need while exercising and expel waste more efficiently.  So, &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; exercise will actually have a laxative effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/constipation/DS00063/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Physical activity increases muscle activity in your intestines. Try to&#xA;  fit in exercise most days of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="155" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-09T17:00:43.580" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T17:00:43.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2011-03-08T03:47:42.993" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you'll want to pick a set of exercises to do and learn how to do them with proper form. Then you can start increasing the weight and set a schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I would recommend a full-body workout that hits all the muscle groups with a few compound lifts. However, I'll try to craft a workout for you here that fits your stated goal with the equipment that you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For exercises, try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm18W1LIZ9A&quot;&gt;Dumbell curls&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRiJVZDpdL0&quot;&gt;Tricep extensions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pVt5lGKj8s&quot;&gt;Forearm reverse curls&lt;/a&gt; (make sure to do these &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the regular curls above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can experiment more as you get comfortable, but this might be a good workout to start with. You can do it as often as you feel energetic and not sore, but a good starting goal might be 2x/week; err on the side of an extra day of rest rather than straining yourself because muscles grow when they recover. I would suggest doing 3-5 sets of 8 reps of each with a couple minutes rest between each set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as how much weight to use, you need to first use a very light weight and make sure that you have your form down (pay attention to the tips and the motions in the videos). When you're comfortable with the movements, add weight for each exercise gradually. If you're doing 8 reps per set, then you'll want a weight at which you'd fail after perhaps 10-12 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few other hints that will help pay off down the road:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your core tight when doing these exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squeeze the bar when you're lifting, especially for the dumbell curls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower the weight slowly; these are called &lt;em&gt;negatives&lt;/em&gt; and can be as beneficial as lifting the weight up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T03:47:42.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="524" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:30:05.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Food is the substance we consume to power our bodies. Generally a blessing, it can become a curse when we eat too much of it, and especially too much of the wrong stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorUserId="118" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:59:06.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:59:06.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="525" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:30:05.747" Score="0" Body="Food is what we eat to give us energy and nutrition. " OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorUserId="118" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:59:08.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:59:08.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="526" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:34:37.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;h1&gt;If your question is &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; tagged with nutrition it will probably be closed as off topic.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are seven major classes of nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, water, fiber, minerals, vitamins and fat. A body needs some of each, in the right amounts to keep working. Too much, and one gets sick. Too little, and one gets sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-08-07T04:00:57.277" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T04:00:57.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="527" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:34:37.430" Score="0" Body="IF YOUR QUESTION IS *ONLY* TAGGED WITH NUTRITION IT WILL PROBABLY BE CLOSED AS OFF TOPIC.&#xD;&#xA;&#xD;&#xA;Getting the right substances into your body and to your cells to support life. " OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-08-07T04:01:37.980" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T04:01:37.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="528" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:39:15.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vegetarians can eat grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. Some include milk and eggs, while others do not. Generally, a vegan is a subset of vegetarian and one that does not include any animal products such as eggs, dairy or honey. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people are vegetarians for religious or ethical reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorUserId="118" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:59:33.517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:59:33.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="529" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:39:15.817" Score="0" Body="A vegetarian is someone who does not eat meat. " OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorUserId="118" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:59:35.903" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:59:35.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="530" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:42:21.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Goals&lt;/em&gt; may include losing weight, gaining weight, or gaining strength. &lt;em&gt;Milestones&lt;/em&gt; are steps along the way towards your goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorUserId="118" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:59:12.987" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:59:12.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="531" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:42:21.197" Score="0" Body="A goal is a target you strive to reach." OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorUserId="118" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:59:15.717" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:59:15.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="513" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:49:07.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to hands facing away and hands facing towards you, you can also work different muscle groups by varying the width of your grip.  While a wide grip will focus on your upper/outer lats, a closer grip will target your lower lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this resource on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ridgely9.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pull-Ups&lt;/a&gt; for photos and more tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T04:49:07.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2011-03-08T05:22:00.947" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another option for building your shoulders is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpWrzp9Mnyg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Shoulder Press&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3KDYY.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://weighttraining.about.com/od/exercisegallery/tp/frontraise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Front Raises&lt;/a&gt; will also help build your shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CsJxA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build any muscles, it's important to do a variety of different exercises that target different muscles in the same area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Adam pointed out, military presses and exercises that target large muscle groups is critical to building mass.  However, make sure you don't neglect the exercises that help target and strengthen supporting tissues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastEditorUserId="160" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T05:11:55.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:11:55.303" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="535" CreationDate="2011-03-08T05:36:20.070" Score="4" ViewCount="529" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spent about 6 to 7 years working out hard both in the gym and running, when I was in college.  When I graduated and got a job, I stopped working out cold turkey.  After about 3 years working, I realized I needed to get back into exercising regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've since since started working out again and weight more than ever.  I want to lose weight and gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take supplements that are all protein or should I take supplements that provide more carbohydrates?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T06:11:17.907" Title="What Supplements Should I Take When Restarting a New Exercise Plan?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="534" CreationDate="2011-03-08T06:11:17.907" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about supplements just yet, if you're only getting back into exercising now. They are intended to finesse results. The core of your plan should be healthy diet and exercise; you certainly don't need supplements to lose weight or to be healthy in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to pick between a focus on protein and carbohydrates I think that you're going to be better off with the protein. Protein is used to build up muscle and also helps suppress your appetite. Carbohydrates are extra energy, which you really don't need; certainly you'll pick some up in your diet (I'm not necessarily advocating for or against a very low-carb diet like Atkins - although it &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T06:11:17.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2011-03-08T09:56:05.570" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For strength, 3 work sets of 5 reps is suggested by &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;.  5x5 is recommended at &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;.  Work sets do not include warm up sets.  For warm-up, you can do 3 sets at 25%, 50%, 75% of work weight with about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just starting then begin with a small weight to get used to the motion and improve form.  At every workout that you succeed your work sets, increase weight by the smallest increment you can.  This is the most important part: &lt;em&gt;If you want to get stronger, you must lift heavier weight.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't neglect your shoulders for tennis and squash.  Do Overhead Presses and Bench Presses.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T09:56:05.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="542" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:01:33.927" Score="8" ViewCount="473" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many chemical processes that used to be time-consuming or tiresome can be worked around, e.g migraine, vitamin deficit, bad eye-sight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endurance training and muscle anabolism are just chemical processes. Is there a theoretical reason for why they are always done through tiresome exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:18:52.140" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T03:18:52.140" Title="Why do you have to exercise to build muscle?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:02:25.423" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your knee is designed to squat low.  Babies learning to stand squat well below parallel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the problem from squat depth is not the knees but the lower back.  As you get lower, your hamstrings stretch to the point that your hips are pulled.  The first thing noticed is that your lower back is losing concavity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would say that you can go deep until your lower back rounds.  Work on getting this as low as possible, to increase your strength and flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T10:02:25.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:05:55.123" Score="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Workout at a time that you can stick to.  The most important thing is that you can develop a routine and stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T10:05:55.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:01:45.727" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way muscles are put to work is more electrical than chemical. Yes, the electrical 'twitches' give off chemicals, it's not like you could drink a magic potion to get them where they need to be. Even worse, you wouldn't be able to dosage them, which would probably result in a tremor/rigor mortis kind of reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/GCaplan/anat/Notes/API%20Notes%20J%20%20Muscle%20Contraction.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How it works?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your nerve stimulates motor units, which starts to release ACh, which binds with the muscle fiber. If the stimulation is steady enough and enough ACh is released, an electrical charge will be transmitted along the muscle fiber and open ion gates, this is called depolarization and sends off an action potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WTTh0.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/GCaplan/anat/Notes/API%20Notes%20J%20%20Muscle%20Contraction.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;From: http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This causes the SR to release calcium, which bind with troponin on the actin filament (within the muscle), so that the myosin crossbridges can connect. According to the sliding filament theory, this then shortens the muscle fiber, because mysion is drawn into action.&#xA;  Then ADP (from ATP) connects to myosin and it releases again, but if there's enough stimuli, others will reconnect. Shortening the muscle further and further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BzHN2.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/GCaplan/anat/Notes/API%20Notes%20J%20%20Muscle%20Contraction.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;From: http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that the ion gates have to open to start this whole process, you need nerve stimulation to get even start a contraction. That off course leaves out that you need your heart and lungs to be working to get rid of all the waste and supply your hard working muscles with oxygen. And if you wanted to maintain it for longer than a minute, your liver has to start supplying you with new energy sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I suggest you look into muscle physiology some more! I can highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0736044892&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Physiology of Sport and Exercise&lt;/a&gt;, because it covers almost anything regarding exercise you'd want to know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T17:25:31.343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:25:31.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="543" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:03:55.803" Score="9" ViewCount="27017" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear sometimes that after running you should wait with eating for 30 or 40 minutes (may be the metabolism is still in fat burning mode?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the reason for this advice? How long exactly should I wait? And is it valid for any food or is e.g. okay to eat a banana after the exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:05:06.477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:05:06.477" Title="How long should I wait with eating after an exercise?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="543" CreationDate="2011-03-08T15:56:14.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the body is still in full gear burning calories for a time (up to an hour) after exercise (especially cardio). After that your metabolism will slow again. So the idea is to burn as much fat from your body for fuel as possible, rather than fueling it with food, especially carbohydrate-rich foods which are converted faster to energy and will prevent the body from burning it's own fat stores first. However, if you aren't worried about burning fat, there's really no other reason to wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, on days you do strength training or muscle building workouts, eating a short time after your workout is fine, as your metabolism isn't in high gear the same way, and the extra protein that you might consume will help to begin rebuilding your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not to say that you should overeat. If you take in more calories than you burn during your exercise, you will gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T22:22:07.140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:22:07.140" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="543" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:54:05.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You get free increased calorie burning after exercise for up to two hours, so if you can hold off that long you'll still be burning calories at a higher rate than you BMR. You can drink water during this period to help stave it off, 30 minutes is about the length I can manage without grabbing at least a fruit drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates are best for post run, combined with protein on a 60/40 ratio. For example a yoghurt and sandwich - it promotes protein synthesis in the muscles and also glycogen recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first few chapters of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1408105381&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Anita Bean book&lt;/a&gt; goes into masses of detail on pre-workout, during-workout and post-workout foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="95" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T22:23:09.980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:23:09.980" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:19:53.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main problem with eating breakfast before a work out is you have to wait an hour or more for it to be digested. For jogging, a lot of people prefer to eat a carbohydrate rich meal before bed to avoid the wait in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't doing anything intense, a low speed 30 minute jog for example, this probably isn't necessary. But for more intense work outs you will use your glycogen supplies quickly without carb-loading the night before. You'll then get tired and do less, and lose lean tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the choice for running is a low intensity jog on a piece of fruit or drink, or mid-high intensity with a meal the night before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:19:53.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="548" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:25:32.147" Score="7" ViewCount="2019" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while back I injured my wrist, and while I have a clean bill of health now, during that time I was not able to work my upper body (delts, lats, biceps, triceps, pects).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was there some way I could be been safely working my upper body during those weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T19:37:22.153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:37:22.153" Title="How can I workout my upper body with an injured wrist?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="547" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:33:38.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could have tried different exercises to see which strained your wrist and which did not (with light weights) - it may be that pulling exercises wouldn't strain as much as pushing or vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the right answer is to just stay off your wrist and let it recover. Losing a few weeks is really not that big a deal, and re-injuring yourself is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel restless during that time, take the opportunity to focus on something else - lower body work, or cardio endurance... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a similar scenario last summer. I injured my knee and really couldn't do any lower body exercise. I took the opportunity to really focus on my bench press and let the knee recover. I didn't end up losing that much lower body strength and have long since gained it back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:33:38.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:14:51.683" Score="16" ViewCount="2689" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has been on Weight Watchers for quite awhile and although she's lost a considerable amount of weight, she's still over 60 lbs away from her final goal.  The problem is that for over the past month she's been stuck at the same weight (give or take a pound).  She's pretty strict on tracking her diet intake and works out 4-5 days a week (mainly cardio on her own, cardio/strength training with her trainer 2x a week).  She's still noticing clothes getting looser, so we're pretty sure her fat loss and muscle gain are evening out.  Of course seeing this big plateau in weight loss is pretty demoralizing and between the two of us we cannot find new things to try outside of exchanging new exercises our trainers throw at us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted everybody's different, but are there some effective tricks for pushing past a weight loss plateau?  I've read that women can have a harder time dropping weight compared to men, but she was making great progress and she's just been stuck at the same point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: She's hit a couple plateaus in the process so far, but they were short term for 2-3 weeks at most before progress became visible again.  So she's aware that they are a natural part of the process.  This current plateau has gone past that point which is a big reason for the demoralizing point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also gone through losing over 50 pounds myself, so I'm familiar with what it takes to lose weight.  So I've picked up a lot of tips myself that I've passed along to her, but they haven't helped so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="192" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:03:49.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:21:27.833" Title="Pushing past a weight plateau?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:31:30.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While she's working out, she will gain muscle and lose fat, and that can appear as a stall. If she still wants to focus on losing some weight, and still has 60 pounds to lose, she could likely cut 500-1000 calories from her diet and maintain some weight loss while not limiting muscle gains. Every 500 calorie daily deficit is a pound per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not incredibly familiar with the specifics of Weight Watchers, but I do know that there is no reason for a normal, healthy person (without hormone problems, or other health problems) with excess adipose tissue (fat) not to be able to lose it while continuing to work out and maintain a healthy lifestyle, with the exception of too much caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is still losing inches, but not losing weight, I personally wouldn't be as concerned about it, as cutting more calories can add some complications such as hunger and/or weakness during workouts. Those complications can easily be dealt with, however, if she would like to see the scales drop as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did this myself on the Atkins diet. I stopped losing weight but was still dropping inches. I cut nearly 1000 calories from my diet and started losing again immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:31:30.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="53" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:32:35.267" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm pretty new to running and can only&#xA;  run for 2-3 minutes at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was in your situation. During a martial arts belt test, they sent us out for a couple-mile run, and I wound up having to walk most of it. Since I knew it would only get worse at higher belts, I decided I needed to become a passable runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's generally how I did it, using a battery-powered kitchen timer, and running three days a week with a recovery day in between. I focused solely on time, not distance, and would do each step either for a week (three running sessions), or move on faster if I felt comfortable but not like I was pushing myself into injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 minutes, alternating run one minute, walk two (1/2).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 minutes, alternating run one minute, walk one (1/1).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 minutes, 2/1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stick to 15 minutes, but progressively lengthen the cycles (3/1, 4/1, etc.) until you're at run seven, walk 1, run seven.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 15 minutes straight. By this point, it will probably be a breeze.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the time by 2-3 minutes until you get to 30.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that point, I was doing about 4 km in 30 minutes, which is really a jog. After than, I stuck to 30 minutes but worked on lengthening my stride, which increased my speed and distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worked great for a chubby old geek in his late 40s whose prior running experience was mostly in high school gym class. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I consider myself a runner, and have done it literally around the world while on business trips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:32:35.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:36:33.497" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;After losing 65 pounds myself and helping my wife lose 40 pounds, I went into fitness training and focused specifically on coaching people with a lot of weight to lose. I say this not to brag but so you know the position I'm saying this from, one not just of my personal experience but also the experience of working with others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, plateaus happen. They just do. The body is extremely complex and not predictable and sometimes you may go several weeks without losing weight. Sometimes you may even gain it. It's not always fat, but in fact can be water weight and other factors that are sometimes related to the stress of dropping the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you are using to gauge progress but weighing daily is fine to see the trend over time but making decisions should only happen weekly or bi-weekly as that's enough time to see a real change. So, I wouldn't call a plateau a &quot;real plateau&quot; unless it's lasted at least 2 - 3 weeks. This is where many people get frustrated and give up, so the key here is &quot;don't give in.&quot; Keep pushing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get past that point, obviously something has to change. You really have two main opportunities to do this: training and nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With nutrition, sometimes it may seem counter-intuitive but you may want to increase calories slightly to give your body a break from extreme dieting. While I know Weight Watchers is based on points I'm not a fan because I don't think it promotes the right types and combinations of foods. If anything, one smart move will be to add as many fresh or lightly steamed vegetables as possible. I know so many people who don't believe how powerful it is to add tons of vegetables and are amazed when they do it and break through a plateau. When I dropped my weight, I would literally bring a whole bag of frozen broccoli or green beans into the office and cook it and eat it throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other is fiber. It's easy to eat &quot;x&quot; calories with processed foods, bars, pre-made meals, but one thing you'll find is a lot of those lack fiber. To the extent you can switch to as natural as possible with your foods - pick whole oats over processed cereal, pick old fashioned oatmeal over instant, pick fresh fruit over fruit juice, etc - you'll also increase your fiber intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, this one is very specific to women. Unfortunately, history created a huge misperception of fats as evil and people have shied away. People are finally starting to learn fats are not created equal and that there are healthy fats. They are still shy of these fats however and too many people work on reduced fat as opposed to switching to quality fat. Women require a steady intake of healthy fats and oils as their estrogen production is tied to it. I can't tell you how many women I coached would come to me AMAZED after just a few weeks of adding fats because despite the extra calories, they suddenly started dropping weight, lost cravings, even saw reduced PMS symptoms and more regular menstrual cycles. If your wife is not eating foods with healthy fats - salmon, other cold water fish, even getting 2% as opposed to 0 fat dairy - I'd suggest she try that out and even consider supplementation with fish oil or flax oil. That can be a major plateau buster for someone not getting a quality intake of healthy fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For training, changing the style of training is key. Most people do slow, steady state (long jogs, bikes, etc) and switching to interval-style training can be a booster (you can Bing &quot;HIIT&quot; and find out more). Hopefully her trainer isn't sticking to the same resistance routine but is keeping that fresh as well. If she's not into cardio, perhaps a cardio tape or something that has her moving in a different way will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is change - change the nutrition, eat healthy options but don't eat the exact same meal every day, and change the training. If she needs to add a little more and her schedule permits, do it! Keep pushing through and you can and will bust that plateau. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of health and success to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jeremy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:36:33.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:38:25.943" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things to mention here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consistency and persistence is key. I know that being stuck can be demoralizing, but if you want to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle, you can't have thoughts of giving up at the first roadbump.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, if she has been dieting consistently for a long time, it can help to take a short break. Long term dieting will affect hormone levels and metabolism. Taking a week or two off can allow your metabolism and hormone levels to return to normal levels, making future weight loss easier. Note: this does not imply pigging out for a month straight. Just a week or two of eating maintenance should do it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you lose weight, your caloric requirements go down. This means that the same amount of food that was effective for weight loss earlier is not as effective after losing a &quot;considerable amount of weight&quot;. She may need to eat even loss or exercise more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If her clothes are getting looser, then it's possible that she is losing &lt;em&gt;fat&lt;/em&gt; but her weight overall stays the same because she's also gaining some muscle. This isn't a bad thing - it's healthy and will help future weight loss efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:38:25.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:38:59.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is not a linear process and it is quite common for people to plateau while loosing weight. This is something that has to be accepted and should be a positive for your girlfriend so that she can understand that what is happening is normal. It's a matter of persisting with the diet and with the exercise although there won't be any immediate visual indicators that she is progressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plateau happens as part of your body's normal adaption to weight loss. It has to adapt to the new situation and this takes time. So even if you persist through this plateau there will likely be others as your girlfriend heads towards her goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let her know that it is normal and it will take time. Also she can take pride in knowing that by eating right and exercising she is still doing the best thing for her body even though there is no weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and keep up the hard work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:38:59.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="563" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:43:19.963" Score="9" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;Counting calories is one thing, but trying to keep track of things like fat, protein, fiber, and carbohydrates are just as important in a good overall exercise plan.  It's not that hard to find nutrition information on processed foods, but when you buy fresh produce and the like it's a lot harder to find the information.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE&lt;/strong&gt;: This is about everyday food (fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.), not fast food.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anybody found a good resource for (a) finding out nutrition information of food that do not normally come in packaging with that information, and possibly (b) being able to track that information for diet purposes (or combining them for recipes to find overall information)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked at &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&lt;/a&gt; before, but I've found a number of great healthy recipes have ingredients that it doesn't have or are difficult to find.  Also trying to build out a recipe is quite time consuming if there's more than a few ingredients (especially if you have to go through the process of converting units to fit the site's need).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="192" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:28:25.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:28:25.147" Title="Where to find nutrition information for general foods?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;diet-tools&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="556" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:45:41.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to find nutritional info on fruits and veg. because they are not written on the side of the packet in the supermarket so it's something you will need to research for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About.com has the breakdown on many foods including fruit and veg. here are the links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutrition.about.com/od/nutritionalinfofruits/Nutrition_Information_for_Individual_Fruits.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition information for individual fruits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutrition.about.com/od/nutritionalinfoveggies/Nutrition_Information_for_Vegetables.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition information for vegetables&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more detailed information including meats and recipes, check out this link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://caloriecount.about.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T22:51:15.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:51:15.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:46:29.320" Score="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ii5wn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;squat depth&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A proper squat involves the hip joint ending up below the knee joint as seen from the side (see the image above). This is called squatting &quot;below parallel&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Squats.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Many studies&lt;/a&gt; indicate that &quot;squats, when performed correctly and with appropriate supervision, are not only safe, but may be a significant deterrent to knee injuries&quot;. A look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Safety.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;weight training injury rates&lt;/a&gt; and using common sense when thinking about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;third world squat&lt;/a&gt;, how you sit on any low surface (e.g. toilet), and the fact that olympic weightlifters - who routinely squat crazy loads WAY below parallel - can still walk should also be fairly convincing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:46:29.320" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="556" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:48:17.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the layout of &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&lt;/a&gt; quite well, but I agree that it's missing a lot of common ingredients to recipes. The most holistic list I've ever found is the one maintained by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FDA&lt;/a&gt;. It doesn't have as nice an interface, but I've found it to be incredibly comprehensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:48:17.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="492" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:50:41.000" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two scientific reasons to cool down are to allow your heart rate to return to a normal, resting rate gradually instead of suddenly, and to provide lactic acid relief. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is probably the most important. A sudden cessation of activity can create a lot of rapid changes in the body that place undo strain on the heart. The muscles are engorged with blood and suddenly stop working and this must all be flushed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look at studies like this one: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12735426&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12735426&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That suggest various markers for stress are far reduced in people who cool down compared to those who don't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study shows more benefits, this time to the respiratory system, of cooling down:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10732850&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10732850&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely an important part of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:50:41.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="556" CreationDate="2011-03-08T22:57:35.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailyburn.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DailyBurn&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;.  I currently use Myfitnesspal.  Here are the features I recall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DailyBurn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create/find food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create your own recipe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get USDA information on raw foods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enter/track more vitamin and minerals on full web browser version&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create/find food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create your own recipe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create your own meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find raw foods searching for &quot;[FOOD] raw&quot;, example: carrot raw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Verify nutrition information (accuracy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:57:35.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="481" CreationDate="2011-03-08T23:03:23.230" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are both physiological and neurological reasons to build in rest. Even elite athletes who take on volumes of training most of us would not be able to comprehend have smart periods of lighter training and even full rest periods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physiologically training works by stressing the body just enough that the adaptation allows you to recover and the body overshoots a bit so you end up stronger/more coordinated than before. Doing this too much, however, will back fire due to a principle known as GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome). You can read about it here: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthnewsnet.com/gap.html&quot;&gt;http://www.healthnewsnet.com/gap.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically it ultimately leads to exhaustion and dramatically increases risk of injury. In training steadily (3 - 5 days per week) for the past 10 years I've had no serious injuries because I build in rest. On the flipside I know people who refuse to stop, believing &quot;more is better&quot; and go non stop ... until an injury has them on their back for months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much better to build in the rest periods when you can control them than to end up being forced to rest because you didn't allow your body the recovery it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll often hear you are less likely to need rest if you alternate muscle groups. After all, if I work my legs, my arms are resting, right? This isn't entirely true for two reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason one: unless you're using totally isolated movements like single arm dumbbells, machines, etc, your other muscles do participate to an extent. Your core is always stabilizing your torso, your leg muscles work to provide stability while your upper body is moving, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason two, and more important: every workout taxes your neuromuscular system. There is a neurological effect. This is where the idea of &quot;muscle memory&quot; comes from and the reason why some people can be extremely strong without having large muscles - it's because their neurological system reacts to the workout by improving coordination of motor units, the bundles of nerves that fire to contract muscle (when you lift a heavy weight or a small one, motor units are helping you do that and it's just a question of how many are activated at once). Any type of training will tax your central nervous system and too much training can lead to fatigue. This fatigue can tax your adrenal system and raise cortisol levels, a stress hormone that also makes it more difficult to burn fat. Literally you'll stress your body to the point your metabolism slows, you burn fat less efficiently and stop making strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, please build in rest. If you train 5 - 6 days per week then a week of light activity is probably fine, but even elite athletes I know try to take at least a week off of ALL training at least once per year. I've found if I train just 3 - 4 days per week then I can go a lot longer without having to take a longer period for rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T23:03:23.230" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="556" CreationDate="2011-03-08T23:14:52.230" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wolframalpha.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wolfram|Alpha&lt;/a&gt; has nutritional information for a wide variety of foods. Just type in the food and the amount, and it will tell you the carbs, protein, fat, calories, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=50+g+apples&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;50 g apples&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eChYm.png&quot; alt=&quot;apples&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It even works for things like raw ingredients, so if you know how much flour, sugar, and butter you put in a recipe, you could tally up each of those quantities, to get the total nutritional info for that recipe. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+cups+flour+%2B+1+cup+butter+%2B+2/3+cup+brown+sugar&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2 cups flour + 1 cup butter + 2/3 cup brown sugar&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="226" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T23:14:52.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="188" CreationDate="2011-03-08T23:17:09.147" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;HFCS is usually 55% fructose and 42% glucose, while sucrose is 50% glucose and 50% fructose molecule - this is why HFCS is slightly sweeter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glucose can be used as energy in every cell in the body, while fructose, like ethanol, must be metabolized in the liver. Fructose in nature is fairly rare (small quantities in fruits, packaged in lots of fiber) so it is not surprising that the liver is not prepared to process the large quantities of fructose in our current western diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While HFCS is not in itself worse than sugar, its low cost (made from subsidized corn instead of highly taxed sugar canes) makes it very attractive for food manufacturers to put HFCS into everything - soda, milk, sauces, bread, you name it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, instead of ingesting a few grams of fructose, many people on a western diet now ingest several ounces, and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, depending on who you ask, is bad, very bad, or the single leading cause of the obesity epidemic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other sweeteners are not sugars; if they're harmful, they're harmful in completely different, incomparable ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information about the metabolism of sugar, see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sugar: The Bitter Truth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="202" LastEditorUserId="202" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T06:00:46.047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T06:00:46.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="543" CreationDate="2011-03-08T23:27:58.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your goals.  If you want to &lt;strong&gt;lose weight&lt;/strong&gt;, don't consume food after a run; wait up to two hours if you can.  If you want to to &lt;strong&gt;go hard&lt;/strong&gt; your next run, consume food (80% carb / 20% protein) within 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T23:27:58.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1251" CreationDate="2011-03-09T00:29:55.493" Score="18" ViewCount="1888" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any documented studies that show how sleep effects your workouts or athletic performance?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would seem that more sleep would help and less sleep would hinder performance, but that's just an educated guess.  Is there anything out there that documents this or counters this??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="233" LastEditorUserId="233" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:22:16.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:21:36.963" Title="How does sleep affect your workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="575" CreationDate="2011-03-09T00:51:00.757" Score="14" ViewCount="1797" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the fact that it doesn’t distinguish between lean body weight and fat weight, why is body mass index so widely used to determine ideal body weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started seriously exercising a number of years ago (lifting weights and cardio), I gained 20+ pounds and dropped 2 waist sizes in my pants. I'm not muscle bound, but do have a lot more muscle now then when I started. According the BMI chart for my height and weight, I'm borderline obese, yet in reality I'm quite fit. At an annual physical my doctor pulled out the BMI chart, looked at me again and said &quot;well, that obviously doesn't work for you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a better way to measure/guage fitness or appropriate weight? Is it solely by measuring % of body fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="233" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:00:07.763" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:00:07.763" Title="Why is body mass index so widely used to determine ideal body weight?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2011-03-09T01:04:20.217" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a simple measurement that provides an immediate &lt;em&gt;idea&lt;/em&gt; of whether you're overweight, underweight, or neither.  It's based on the idea that people who weigh significantly more or less than the average person of their height are probably not a healthy weight.  That's true in most cases, not all, and again it has only ever been meant as a general guide.  We can only assume that people who took it more seriously simply weren't educated about it very well, or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for other measures, I'm sure everyone has their favourite.  Possible options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist size compared to chest size&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Percent body fat, as you mention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMI will still work for a person of &quot;average build&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that none of these mean you are &lt;em&gt;healthy&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;fit&lt;/em&gt;.  There are more factors that can be measured with bloodwork and the like, but everything is only an indication.  I think the best measure of fitness is your own honest personal assessment, based on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your personal history&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How you feel mentally and physically&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What you are capable of (running, lifting, whatever it may be)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What and how you eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What you do (exercise, appropriate rest and sleep, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, this is not to say that if you're doing well on everything then you should forgo regular checkups, and whatnot.  Sometimes things just pop up and we may not know the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="193" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:12:16.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:12:16.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T01:21:04.493" Score="7" ViewCount="6579" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have strong, very short hamstrings, and a weak, flexible lower back. If I try to touch my toes, I get about 1/2-way down my shins. However, most of that mobility is in my lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I lie on my back and lift my foot in to the air, I can get it about 2' off the ground (as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/483&quot;&gt;Suptapādāṅguṣṭhāsana&lt;/a&gt;). Any more than that requires my back to bend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when I try to stretch out my hamstrings, I stretch out my lower back instead. Meanwhile, my hams stay short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stretch my hamstrings but not stretch (and strain) my lower back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="234" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T15:40:39.810" Title="How can I stretch hamstrings in isolation?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2011-03-09T01:23:08.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI is about as simple as it gets to give a measure that works for a lot of people. But you're absolutely right that it doesn't work for everyone. For someone who isn't fit, I would say the BMI works pretty accurately as a signal they need to do something or face medical problems. For someone who &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; fit, the BMI isn't useful. But you're already fit so don't worry about your BMI. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We need to be watchful of health insurance companies, and employers, who might use the BMI across everyone as if it were accurate for everyone. BMI could show up in incentive programs, and it would be very wrong to penalize someone who's fit who happens to have a messed-up BMI score.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="238" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:23:08.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="509" CreationDate="2011-03-09T01:26:46.240" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be a combination of running and your diet.  Generally, you should stay away from a high fiber and high fat diet 24 hours before a long run.  I also recommend holding back on as much fiber and fat as you can until you complete a regular run for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:26:46.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2011-03-09T01:31:52.783" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trust taste.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a reason you feel the urge to eat that chocolate. It's a real reason, a real &lt;strong&gt;unmet need&lt;/strong&gt;, and it's an important need. Don't dismiss it. Just realize that chocolate may not be the best way to meet that need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, eat with as much attention as you can. You're eating this thing strictly for enjoyment, right? So enjoy it as much as you can! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The deeper you go, the better.&lt;/strong&gt; If you can enjoy it twice as much, you'll get what you're needing with 1/2 as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can experience your food very deeply, you may notice that it's not meeting your true need, and you'll be in a position to take even better care of yourself. For example, I eat junk when I'm tired, to avoid feeling tired. With a little more self-awareness, I can rest instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, instead, you eat while thinking about how you're failing on your diet, or you're a bad person for eating this, or you hope you don't get caught eating this, or you deserve a reward for being such a good person when you exercise, or whatever, then you aren't really going to experience the food you've chosen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="234" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:31:52.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2011-03-09T01:40:05.443" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI is best suited for analyzing &lt;em&gt;populations&lt;/em&gt;, not individuals. A single person might carry more muscle than the average and a BMI calculation would label them as &quot;obese&quot;. However, when calculated for thousands of people (which can be done with BMI since it's so quick/cheap/easy to measure), the fluctuations tend to average out, and BMI is accurate enough to be useful. For personal use, measurements like body fat percentage, blood pressure, etc are far more accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:40:05.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T02:44:50.303" Score="30" ViewCount="2624" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to keep a latish schedule, sleeping often around 2-3 AM, I'm often eating odds and ends late at night.  If someone eats Meals A, B &amp;amp; C of certain calorie content, and then timeshifts his schedule so that he's eating the same meals later at night, and closer to when he's about to sleep, will he gain &quot;excess&quot; weight? If so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="242" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T13:34:12.400" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T20:20:41.470" Title="Does eating late at night cause weight gain?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T02:58:57.123" Score="8" ViewCount="26383" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do squats, I place my feet slightly wider than shoulder width, pointed outwards at about 30 degrees. I still have trouble keeping my balance going all the way down without bending forward heavily. My ankles are not particularly flexible, I have tight achilles tendons and hamstrings, and I think that I am not able to bend my lower legs far enough to keep my weight centered over my feet. I basically fall over backwards and my &quot;shin muscle&quot; gives out unless I come up on my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried using small weights under my heels with some success, but I wonder if I should focus on increasing my achilles tendon flexibility or is this just an issue of weakness in my lower legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="245" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T06:30:18.293" Title="How can I keep my balance while doing squats?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="586" CreationDate="2011-03-09T03:03:02.220" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely sounds like a flexibility issue.  You need to work on getting more mobility in your ankles and hips.  Goblet squats are a good exercise that tends to automatically enforce good form in the squat.  If you don't keep an upright position you fall over.  I would recommend combining goblet squats with a dumbbell or kettlebell with ankle and hip mobility exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="246" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T03:03:02.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="576" CreationDate="2011-03-09T03:05:10.330" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try a standing hamstring stretch. Which will allow you to keep your back reasonably straight while stretching out your hamstring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZZyXC.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc-of-fitness.com/leg-stretch/standing-hamstring-stretch.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.abc-of-fitness.com/leg-stretch/standing-hamstring-stretch.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also &lt;a href=&quot;http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/flexibilityexercises/a/hamstingstretch_4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;follow link to see image&lt;/em&gt;) from about.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand one foot from a wall and place your hands on the wall at shoulder height, shoulder-width apart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a step back with one leg while pushing into the wall.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your back straight and press your heels into the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold for 10 seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step forward and repeat with the other leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these should allow you to stretch your hamstring without straining your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T03:10:23.290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T03:10:23.290" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="576" CreationDate="2011-03-09T03:06:57.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Partner stretching can be helpful for this.  Stand with your back flat against a wall and have a partner lift one of your legs up stretching the hamstring.  Hold for a bit, then see if you can go slightly further.  This should keep your lower back out of the stretch as long as you don't bend forward off the wall during the stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="246" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T03:06:57.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2011-03-09T03:12:47.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://weighttraining.about.com/od/exercisegallery/a/birddog.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bird Dog&lt;/a&gt; is a good exercise.  Also a single-leg deadlift can be a great good exercise for strengthening the back if you have some dumbbells or suitable items to use as weight around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="246" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T03:12:47.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="586" CreationDate="2011-03-09T03:13:38.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Matt, you can do the same exercise (squats) while holding onto something in front of you e.g. a bar or chair for support until you build up the strength in your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will allow you greater control while doing the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't go so far down that you risk injury. If you can't make it all the way you are better of only going part of the way down until you build up the necessary strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T03:13:38.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T03:45:39.667" Score="11" ViewCount="961" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read about and tried intermittent fasting in the past few months with some great results. The only hiccup was getting sick for about 3 weeks and losing that will to continue with it, until I restarted it recently. I was wondering what others experience were with intermittent fasting and also any recommendation of websites, books, research, etc on the subject. My personal experience is that when I am fasting I actually feel better and seem to be a bit more engergized. I even feel more energy when I workout in a fasted state.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;-rich&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:59:54.843" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T11:53:16.823" Title="Experience and references about intermittent fasting" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-09-05T01:45:23.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2011-03-09T04:06:25.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to gain weight is eating more calories. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T04:06:25.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="139" CreationDate="2011-03-09T04:15:40.907" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skip the soda. It will make you bloated.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches and other abdominal exercises will certainly help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But ultimately, it comes down to diet, exercise, and weight loss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Target 11% body fat if you're interested in washboard abs or a six-pack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="251" LastEditorUserId="251" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T04:23:59.430" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T04:23:59.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="611" CreationDate="2011-03-09T04:42:14.153" Score="4" ViewCount="649" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go through a bi-weekly exercise program that includes long distance running, sprints, front crawl, upper body compound exercise and stretching. I would think my metabolism and protein needs varies with those activities, so what strategy for timing and amounts should I adopt to try to optimize my protein consumption in each case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The different types of activities I am interested in are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running long distance (e.g. 7.5+ miles)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running sprints (e.g. 12 minute Cooper or 5K)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slow front crawl (e.g. 45 to 60 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;compound upper body exercises (e.g. 45 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user240" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T05:25:59.757" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T21:09:33.373" Title="At what point during my weekly routine should I be consuming extra protein" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:43:35.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a great book &lt;em&gt;The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence&lt;/em&gt; by Josh Waitzkin. It's great for improving your mental toughness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="132" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:33:35.527" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:33:35.527" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-09T05:43:35.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:44:10.397" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Join a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_boats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dragon boat&lt;/a&gt; team!&lt;/strong&gt; Seriously, if there is a dragon boat paddling team in your area, consider joining it. I paddled for several years, and every person who started paddling and came to practices regularly grew broad shoulders, even if they started scrawny. It's an amazing full-body workout, and results in much stronger shoulders, abs, lats, and other parts of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G2G2q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;STRONG MEN&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;YOU WANT TO BE AS STRONG AS THESE MEN&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;LOOK AT THEIR SHOULDERS&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In addition to being an excellent workout and good way to grow broader shoulders, paddling can also be great stress relief, a fun way to get outside in nature, and the team dynamic is rewarding as well. Paddling on a dragon boat team was one of the best experiences of my life, and I miss it every day. (I'm at a college where there isn't a team and there's no good body of water to start one on.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think this might be a good experience, feel free to ask me questions. If you live in the US, the US Dragon Boat Federation has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://76.163.192.59/info/?page_id=4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;listing of many of the teams in the US&lt;/a&gt;, and you can always try just searching on Google for teams in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="226" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:44:10.397" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2011-03-09T06:16:15.063" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the vast majority of cases, it doesn't matter when you eat. What matters is what you eat and how much of it. If you take in more calories than you spend, you gain weight. If you take in fewer, you loose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this said, you need to find a method that is sustainable for you. Most diets fail because people can't sustain the effort. So it's critical to find the method (to limit calories) which is the least difficult for you to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely that some people find it harder to exercise moderation at night, especially in a fatigued state. Therefore they might find themselves overeating at 10pm when they would have eaten smaller amounts earlier in the day. It's also possible that the kind of food you go to at night be more conducive to a high caloric load (e.g., &quot;snacks&quot;, highly palatable fat and/or sweet foods, nuts, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those people it might be beneficial to simply not eat to much at night. Others will do better on a low carb or low fat diet (either of which &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; result in lower calories intake), or by a strategy of having multiple small meals each day, or fasting, etc, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hormonal changes induced by the type of food you eat or your timing might have an impact for some people some of the time &lt;em&gt;at the margin&lt;/em&gt;, but the research is very spotty on that. In the best of cases, they only matter for small refinements, but not for an everyday approach to loosing weight. In short, they might be relevant to elite athletes trying to &quot;make weight&quot;, and training on the bleeding edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="259" LastEditDate="2014-09-22T20:20:41.470" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T20:20:41.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="592" CreationDate="2011-03-09T06:20:42.750" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.leangains.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the site of Martin Berkhan, who is a guy who has based his entire coaching on the concept of intermittent fasting.  He is a Swede, but the site is in English.  It's quite a large repository of info, and it includes a bunch of before / after testimonies from some of his clients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've had very good results with the Leangains approach of a 16hr fast each day, combined with a paleo diet.  I've dropped at least one pant size in the first 2 - 3 weeks.  I don't know how much of that is due to the paleo or the IF.  I try to do some walking or short, intense exercise while fasted (it wouldn't be a good idea to do a metabolic conditioning type of training as those require a lot of glucose and you could end up in glucose deficit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, Tim Ferriss advocates a protein fast once a  week, to trigger autophagy and other cell renewal mechanisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="259" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T21:09:32.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:09:32.877" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="626" CreationDate="2011-03-09T07:15:12.040" Score="2" ViewCount="38142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a long-standing (no pun intended) injury which gets worse when doing any kind of leg exercise that puts strain on the groin area. For example sit-ups, press-ups and plank exercises all cause pain in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will hopefully be having surgery soon to fix the problem now that it's been diagnosed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I want to exercise without putting strain on this area of the body and would like some opinions on any exercises that will help keep me in shape during this period. I'd like to work the ab area, and I need to get some cardio exercise (my weight is going up horribly during this fallow period).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What experience do people have of keeping things going while recovering from injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="266" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T10:29:48.427" Title="Exercises while recovering from groin injury/surgery" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T07:16:50.957" Score="4" ViewCount="1087" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to start training for a 15km trail run and am wondering if the crossfit endurance program is effective. Is it worth getting a gym membership so I can do the heavy squats and deadlifts involved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="262" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:59:08.713" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T14:57:26.807" Title="Do the heavy squats in crossfit endurance program help with running performance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2011-03-09T07:58:31.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you attend a gym am sure there will be qualified personal trainers that will be able to point you in the right direction. Before doing this it would be worth making sure it's ok with your doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would imagine your personal trainer will give you sitting down upper body exercises with the possibility of some resistance training. As for cardio, if you have access to a hand cycle then you can burn calories without effecting your lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know not being able to exercise can be frustrating, just stick in there. Problem has been diagnosed and soon you will be fighting fit. Eat healthy and always keep in mind, light at then end of the tunnel. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T07:58:31.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="601" CreationDate="2011-03-09T08:08:35.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds exciting.  If I were training I would be running different small trails extending into length and difficulty.  Re-producing the environment you will be running in can prepare your mindset and all the muscles required to complete your goal. On your small trail you could make it interesting by adding in little circuits like 15 press ups here, jumping jacks there, the fun you could have.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joining a gym can encourage routine. Classes like circuits or spinning, and equipment like the treadmill or cross trainer will help but outside real environment wins hands down. Another side to this is the possibility of meeting other people who have the same goals that could lead to team training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and have fun :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="269" LastEditorUserId="269" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T09:00:23.220" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:00:23.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="573" CreationDate="2011-03-09T08:32:48.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As well as being physically fit you also need to be mentally fit. While sleeping you're giving your body and mind time to &quot;repair&quot;.  If you're tired can you say that you're giving a 100% in the exercise or class your doing? Is your mind drifting off and you start to lack concentration?  This could lead to injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone is different but a quick Google came up with between 5 - 8 hours of sleep. Check out &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://uk.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_300/394_working-out-and-sleep.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://uk.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_300/394_working-out-and-sleep.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know your body and your limits. Exercise safe :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T08:32:48.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="610" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:17:02.460" Score="3" ViewCount="1958" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is normal rate of fat loss? Is it changing depending on how much person has left to normal BMI (considering he/she doesn't want any extra muscle weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T11:56:40.507" Title="What is normal rate of fat loss?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="601" CreationDate="2011-03-09T11:52:38.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do CrossFit and several guys in my box are crazy endurance athletes. A few of them recently did ultra marathons. Other than a lot of running, they follow the HQ WOD. CF is just a conditioning program. If you follow it, it'll help you train for your 15km. But we're generalist, so you probably won't be the fastest even if you complete it comfortably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to complete it and do your best, you should find out what people with fast 15km times do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T11:52:38.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="606" CreationDate="2011-03-09T11:56:40.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not a &quot;normal&quot; rate because of so many factors including stress, amounts of sleep, age, metabolism, gender, etc. However, as a good rule of thumb, I've found that aggressive fat loss for men can typically be 1 - 2 percent of their body weight and for women 0.5 - 1.5 percent. That means at 300 pounds, losing 3 - 6 pounds per week for males and at 200 pounds, losing 1 - 3 pounds per week for females is possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically I've found people can lose more weight than that per week, but when it's faster than those guidelines, the extra weight is often water weight and muscle. Water weight is an illusion - it really isn't helping you with your goals, so when you first switch to a low carb diet for example and lose 8 pounds in a week, you've really only burned a few pounds of fat and then flushed water from your muscles. Muscle weight or what we call &quot;lean mass&quot; also isn't good to lose because that will slow your metabolism and actually make it harder to burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T11:56:40.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="595" CreationDate="2011-03-09T12:01:37.923" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no &quot;timing&quot; for consuming protein. There is not a single study that demonstrates eating protein at a specific time will somehow boost recovery or muscle gain. What's far more important is just your protein intake on average, over time. Your body is actually quite adept at regulating your protein metabolism. You have something called an amino acid bank that contains amino acids and when your body requires certain proteins, it can &quot;withdraw&quot; from this bank and when you consume proteins it can &quot;deposit.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That's an oversimplified description of a complex biochemical process, but the needs for protein are actually quite small. The idea you need tons and tons of protein is more marketing than science (after all, supplement companies have to sell their protein shakes so of course they want you to believe you need tons of it). The body actually adapts to protein intake and excess protein is simply converted (via a highly inefficient process) to energy and burned rather than used to build muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best online articles I've read with respect to protein intake is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/mcdonald/protein-01.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lyle McDonald's series&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line you'll find is that there is a lot of myth and speculation, there really is no magic to consuming protein. If you train excessively hard, you don't recover immediately after the workout but in the days after the workout, and therefore it's just average intake over those intake that counts, not specific protein on a given day or hour of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastEditorUserId="10376" LastEditDate="2014-09-08T21:09:33.373" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T21:09:33.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="616" CreationDate="2011-03-09T12:27:29.440" Score="10" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been several questions about sleep deprivation asked here. The general response seems to be &quot;don't do it&quot;. This seems to be what google says too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have a baby coming to my house soon. This coupled with a full time job and a part time programming addiction is going to restrict the amount of sleep I will be able to get. So I need to prepare myself to cope as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goals at this time will be mental alertness and vitality. I am assuming weight training will be off the cards. It also makes sense to me to lay off the heavy carbs and obviously steaks etc.. . Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much cardiovascular training should I be doing? What intensity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other exercises that may help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there ideal sleep patterns to try to follow? I've heard conflicting reports about the benefits of a 20 minute nap..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of diet should I try to follow? Are there any supplements that may help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:25:29.213" Title="What is the best routine during times of sleep deprivation?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="640" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:01:53.047" Score="15" ViewCount="6617" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was cycling with a group, it wasn't a particularlly hard ride and it wasn't terribly hot outside.  During a break one of the riders didn't look good at all and commented that he didn't feel well. We offered him some fluids and some food, which he declined.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now there could have been an infinite number of things wrong with this guy but it raised a question in my head...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the symptoms of dehydration and can you &lt;strong&gt;visually&lt;/strong&gt; tell if someone is dehydrated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="233" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-07T20:13:05.380" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T20:13:05.380" Title="How can you tell if someone is dehydrated?" Tags="&lt;dehydration&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="613" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:19:27.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise: I suggest you walk.  If you will be spending the majority of your time consumed in your programming addiction and taking care of your new child, the best exercise for you is walking.  Walking will drastically reduce the chance of you getting an injury, which could stop you from doing any form of exercise.  Also, more intense forms of cardio or weights require a good amount of sleep to be effective.  Walking is also something you can do with your baby.  If you currently aren't doing any form of exercising now, start with a 20 minute walk the first week.  Over a month or two try to increase the walk to an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility: If you decide to do more intense cardio (or even if you don't), I suggest you work on flexibility.  There are some great books on stretching, and there is also yoga :)  Flexibility will help prevent injury (especially as your baby turns into a toddler).  Yoga also consists of breathing exercises, which have been reported by many as beneficial to their overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleep: I suggest you do your best to keep it consistent.  This means going to bed at the same time and always sleeping a minimum number of hours.  Eight hours is recommended, but some research has shown the older you are, the less sleep you need.  I would avoid the 20 minute naps in your condition, as the REM sleep you would get from a solid 5+ hours of sleep would be very beneficial. I have not had a child yet, but I believe it will be difficult, so good luck!  If you are sensitive to caffeine, do your best to avoid it a few hours before sleeping.  Also, pay attention to the last meals or foods you eat before sleeping.  Some may help you sleep better, and others may ruin a potential good night sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet: Use the general BMI scale and your a low exercise level to determine how many calories you should eat in a day.  I would suggest a low fat (less than 20%), and a low protein (less than 25%) diet.  Stick with a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and if you are not a vegetarian, fish, lean meats, and low fat dairy products.  If you are not getting 4-5 different colors of foods every day from vegies/fruit, and/or if you are not eating any meats, I would suggest looking into supplements (but that's a whole different long conversation).  If you have a hard time keeping within the recommended calories, try to slowly increase more fiber into your diet.  Both fiber and protein have shown effects of curbing hunger.  Do you best to avoid bleach/enriched flour, processed sugar, and salt.  Drink plenty of water (8+ cups a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on the baby, and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T14:25:29.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:25:29.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:39:44.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cramps would be a dead giveaway especially while riding a bike. Some other signs to look for are confusion, dizziness, tiredness, irritability, and a swollen tongue. None of these are necessary or sufficient to diagnose someone as dehydrated however. You'll need to play it by ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more serious condition that you should certainly be on the look out is heat stroke. This will develop quite quickly in individuals that are dehydrated, out in the head, and exercising. Symptoms of heat stroke are the same as I listed above, but most easily identified by a lack of sweat. Once somebody has developed heat stroke they are no longer able to cool their body and require immediate attention (cold water, shade, fan, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:39:44.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:07:21.080" Score="11" ViewCount="4726" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had been a avid weight lifter and runner for a number of years, but I slacked off for a few (4) years and have gotten to be in pretty rough shape. I've also noticed that I've developed something of a hunch which I suspect is from always being at the computer (first school, then work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from posture and stretches, which I've started to do (and have seens some minor results from), are there any exercises that can help straighten out a hunch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T16:15:30.613" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T19:10:55.033" Title="What exercises can I do to reverse a 'hunch'" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="622" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:12:39.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a hunch, it could be from a muscle imbalance. If your pectoral muscles are over developed it could pull your shoulders forward causing you to lower your head and arch your back slightly. To correct this, you should work your trapezoid muscles with rowing exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:12:39.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="622" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:38:38.033" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several great posture building exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is to lay on your stomach on the floor (or on a pillow or something if this makes your back hurt) with your arms above your head. Then raise your pelvis off the floor and one leg and the opposite arm (pelvis, right leg, left arm or pelvis, left leg, right arm). This can be extended into Supermans once you're comfortable doing them, by simultaneously lifting both arms, both legs, and your pelvis at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another is to simply do Planks. Lay on your stomach resting on your forearms. pull your body up into a strait line with only your forearms and toes touching the floor and hold that position as long as you feel comfortable, then lower yourself back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Sparafusile stated, you can also do rows. One of the easiest ways to exercise the muscles exercised doing rows is to lay down on your stomach on a bench with dumbbells on either side and lift them up until your elbows are straight out to your sides and your elbows are bent at a 45 degree angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/library/blbackexercises.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;About.com also has a great article&lt;/a&gt; with more exercises to strengthen back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should take into consideration your age as well, and any other conditions which may play a part in having a hunch in your back, such as scoliosis or damaged vertebrae or discs. If any exercise causes you extreme discomfort or pain, stop doing it immediately and talk to your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:38:38.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:53:31.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, the standard disclaimer when it comes to medical issues... I am not a doctor and you should talk to your doctor before doing exercise with an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of this is going to depend on the exact location and nature of the injury. The problem with injuries in the groin (especially upper groin) and abdominal area is that it's your core muscles. That means that almost any strenuous exercise is going to have the possibility of hurting or re-injuring because people tend to tighten that area when they strain other muscles. Even if you could immobilize the area, you might still tense the muscles. Given that, I would stay away from any heavy lifting, even upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Si Philip's suggestion of using a hand cycle is excellent since it could be low stress and if you're seated properly shouldn't put any stress on the groin area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might also try a modified crunch that's even shorter than a regular crunch. When you do a sit-up from your back, the initial part of the motion uses your psoas muscles (which connect in at the groin area) rather extensively. As your body rises up you start to engage the abdominal muscles more and the psoas muscles less. If you started up near the top and just did short motions you might be able to almost completely eliminate the psoas muscles from the picture. I haven't tried this and again, I'm not a doctor, so you need to be extremely careful if you want to go this route. If you feel any groin pain AT ALL, stop immediately. If you have access to an ab machine (the kind that you can sit up in) and you can rig it to allow for the shorter motion at the end of the spectrum then that might work even better as you can get into position more easily without using the groin (with a crunch you still need to sit up for the first one). Just use very little or no weight to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MOST IMPORTANT piece of advice though is this: being out of commission for some amount of time may stink, but it's much worse if you end up re-injuring the muscle and causing an even longer time injured. If you need to completely take time away from working out then do that and spend the time concentrating on other areas - improved diet, better sleep habits, mental health, etc. If you push things too soon it ends up being counterproductive because instead of the small improvement in health from one or two extra workouts you could end up causing a long, extended time injured, so it's just not worth the risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T15:05:00.583" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:05:00.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="592" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:56:12.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fasting for an extended period of time (usually more than 3 days) places your body into a state of ketosis, and you begin burning any excess fat on your body. If you are overweight and have fat that you can safely lose (safe is relative, but definitely over 3% body fat), then fasting will not hurt you as long as you get plenty of liquids. (see my answer to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/155/&quot;&gt;At what point do I start to burn muscle on a calorie deficit diet?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you fast for 3 days and then eat like a pig for 3 days, you're going to do yourself some serious harm. There are no known benefits to intermittent fasting exceeding the benefits of simple calorie reduction. If you're looking to lose weight, restrict your calories first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'm a big fan of the Atkins diet. It places your body into the same state of ketosis as fasting, but you still get to eat as well. Even with Atkins though, you will still gain or maintain your weight if you eat too many calories. Atkins is safe while you are sick under most circumstances. Fasting can be seriously detrimental while you are sick if not done properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:56:12.070" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="622" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:00:13.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see you say you're working on posture - I'd still recommend having a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://egwellness.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Esther Gokhale's site and book about posture&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;Don't let the name of the book put you off, the book is poorly named in my opinion (I see you can download a free chapter there, that'll give you a better idea).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I sit at the computer all day now without back support and I sit straight. I'm not perfect yet, but I sit better than I possibly could in a chair with support...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user303" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T19:10:55.033" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T19:10:55.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:04:25.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: if it hurts, don't do it. Pain is the body's way of telling us that something is wrong. The absolute worst thing you can do to yourself is ignore the pain and keep going. Just eat healthy, exercise what you can, and once your problem is resolved and you are through the proper recovery, then go back slowly into your routine. The single best thing you can do for yourself when you have an injury is just let your body rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:04:25.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:50:51.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;All depends on where your weak points are....are you out of energy? focus on Tabata type of training.  If you're not explosive enough then plyometric.  If it's strength (and you have no weights/equipment at home) - pullups, pushups, dips, squats and situps......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My real recommendation - ask your teacher/trainer what areas you need to focus on (and he might be telling/hinting that during class)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:50:51.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:58:59.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really must have something sweet, eat it early in the morning because then you have the whole day to burn it off.  The worst time to eat sweet things is at night.  You should not be eating anything 2 hours before bedtime (if you are trying to loose weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you have a cheat day where you eat a small quantity of chocolate (or whatever your craving is) instead of having a huge amount every 2 weeks.  During the week you will be more motivated to avoid bad foods, because you don't need to long for them because you know that on Friday (for example) you are 'allowed' to eat something less healthy and you will also not feel as guilty about it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am most definitely not suggesting you spend the whole day eating chocolate on Fridays.  Buy yourself a small and delicious expensive bar of chocolate instead of something cheap and nasty.  That way you know it will be delicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:58:59.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="668" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:01:10.137" Score="12" ViewCount="1389" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a fair amount of weightlifting; in particular heavy compound lifts power-lifting style. I also compete on a target pistol team. Over the years, I've heard a number of coaches and marksmen recommend that serious shooters stay away from heavy lifting because it could affect arm stability/precision when holding the pistol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physical requirement for this sport is to be able to hold a 2 lb pistol (with one hand/arm only) at arm's length with elbow locked as steady as possible for 5-10 secs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question: are these two sports at odds? Can someone give an explanation for why heavy lifting might (or might not) compromise my ability to hold the pistol as steady as I could if I didn't lift? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T05:26:29.457" Title="Does heavy lifting affect steadiness and precision?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;stability&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:07:10.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you do a bit of research (Google) before you go on your trip.  You will be surprised how many cities have gyms.  I have found gyms in cities like Bangkok, Cape Town, Amsterdam you name it!  Also check with your hotel to see if it has a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that if you're going hotel chances are it will have a gym or at least a swimming pool.  Swimming is a great cadio. workout and has no impact on your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or buy yourself a skipping rope - this you can do in your hotel room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the hotel doesn't have a swimming pool you can also swim in the sea.  If you're going somewhere like Greece, there are hardly any waves, so its great for swimming!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:07:10.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="633" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:09:10.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heavy lifting can cause a muscle-binding effect and limit your flexibility, making it difficult to get into correct positions for shooting or effect your stability. The sports aren't specifically at odds, but you do want to make sure that you don't work to the point of limiting your mobility with heavy lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know a guy who could not shoot for this very reason, his shoulders had limited range of motion due to excessive exercise (at work, not in a gym) and he had to cut way back on what he was doing at work so he could get back full mobility in his shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a lot of work and a long time to get there, and you should see early warnings far before you get to that point. Just make sure that all of your exercises, especially in the shoulders and arms, are exercising your full range of motion, and cut back if you notice a decrease in that range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, with what you're describing, along with the exercises for stability, I would say that you're in no danger of this becoming a problem. I'm primarily stating that it is possible, without appropriate care to maintain balance and full range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T17:52:09.870" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:52:09.870" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="216" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:26:18.397" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely yes.  I used to be incredibly skinny but changed my workout completely on the advice of a personal trainer.  I used to work hard on biceps with zero results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I changed my workout to focus on the major and largest muscles of the body e.g. legs and chest and my arms grew in size dramatically and that is after doing zero biceps curls or anything directly targeting the arms!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises like Dead Lifts, Machine Leg Press, Military Press etc are key to building great arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:26:18.397" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:28:18.417" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is by no means definitive, but often a skin turgor test is performed to check for dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To determine skin turgor, the health care provider grasps the skin on the back of the hand, lower arm, or abdomen between two fingers so that it is tented up. The skin is held for a few seconds then released.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skin with normal turgor snaps rapidly back to its normal position. Skin with decreased turgor remains elevated and returns slowly to its normal position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003281.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003281.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:28:18.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:48:27.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mayo Clinic offers a great list of symptoms associated with dehydration: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dehydration/DS00561/DSECTION=symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dehydration/DS00561/DSECTION=symptoms&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you visually tell if someone is dehydrated?  That depends.  If they show visual symptoms, such as lack of sweat, yes.  However, from experience, the answer is not always yes.  Occasionally I get dehydrated and my symptoms are not visual. It usually includes headaches and full body aches.  A bystander would not be able to assume I was dehydrated just by looking at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:48:27.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:08:20.023" Score="12" ViewCount="777" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anyone read &quot;Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It&quot;? Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307272702&quot;&gt;book on amazon&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His basic argument is this (my words):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The author argues that insulin in&#xA;  large part is responsible for&#xA;  regulating how much fat you have, the&#xA;  more the insulin the more fat. Insulin&#xA;  tells your fat cell to absorb and&#xA;  maintain their supply of fat, and not&#xA;  to release it into the blood stream.&#xA;  Insulin is produced in response to the&#xA;  presence and amount of blood sugar in&#xA;  your body, when you start to eat your&#xA;  blood sugar increases. Fructose and&#xA;  carbohydrates rapidly increase your&#xA;  blood sugar levels resulting in a&#xA;  highly elevated level of insulin.&#xA;  Eating a lot of fructose and&#xA;  carbohydrates every day will result in&#xA;  a condition known as insulin&#xA;  resistance. This will result in your&#xA;  body having an elevated level of&#xA;  insulin at all times, making you&#xA;  virtually incapable of using anything&#xA;  but glucose and carbohydrates as&#xA;  energy. Because the cells in the rest&#xA;  of your body quickly run out of energy&#xA;  you get hungry faster because you are&#xA;  just coasting off of the carbs from&#xA;  your last meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is Gary Taubes correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T14:44:51.700" Title="Is &quot;Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It&quot; thesis correct?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="8" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:35:03.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="556" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:11:01.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com&lt;/a&gt; is the best of the others I've tried. It allows user data and has a decent user interface unlike the competition. It'd be nice if they could all get together and offer a single database instead of the 5-6 bad ones you get now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another place to try is mysupermarket, for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/Fruit/Tesco_Braeburn_Apples_Class_1_Loose_Approx_160g.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an Apple&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T18:11:01.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:38:38.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The description you put in your own words does seem correct, in the matter that insulin does make fat.  However, insulin is a necessary hormone.  It is the consumption of excess calories and the lack of exercise that makes people fat.  Insulin can convert fatty acids, carbs, and protein into fat molecules; however, insulin uses about ten times more energy to convert carbs and protein into fat than it does to convert fatty acids to fat molecules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a great article on How Fat Cells Work: &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/cells-tissues/fat-cell.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/cells-tissues/fat-cell.htm&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T19:20:47.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:20:47.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="655" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:14:00.950" Score="5" ViewCount="908" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most of my life, I stretched out before cycling to avoid cramps or pulling a muscle. However, I discovered last year that I could skip stretching exercises in favor of a slightly extended warm-up period, riding gently for about five minutes and avoiding any strenuous climbing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is stretching before non-weight bearing exercise (like cycling) detrimental to performance? Can gently stretching a cold muscle harm it? Should the intensity of your workout change when (or whether) you stretch out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My knowledge on this is strictly limited to trial and error with my own body and exercise routine, so it'd be helpful if answers were non-anecdotal.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/q/781/8&quot;&gt;Will stretching make me slower?&lt;/a&gt; on Bicycles.SE. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="314" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:32:41.563" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T19:04:43.127" Title="Is stretching cold muscles before cycling harmful?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:16:06.080" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Insulin is absolutely proven to be a major contributor in the production of new fat cells. Fructose, sucrose, and glucose all rapidly increase your blood sugar, causing an equal or greater insulin reaction as well. Weight and weight loss still essentially boil down to calories, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take in 1200 calories a day in almost nothing but carbohydrates, and you expend 2200 calories a day, you can lose fat, and you will lose 2 pounds a week using this method. Is it healthy? No. Can it be done? Sure. Since your body needs more energy than is provided by 1200 calories, the carbohydrates are burned first, and as your blood sugar decreases, your body stops producing insulin, and then the excess required energy is taken from the body's fat supply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trust me, I actually tried this 1200 calories of carbs a day one time to see it's effect, and I lost quite a bit of weight. Eventually, I did reach a plateau though that could not be broken. Unfortunately, excess carbohydrate intake also causes you to be hungry pretty much all the time. I was eating four meals a day and was still pretty hungry in between when I was doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss this way is very slow and ineffective, difficult to maintain, and very bad for your body. Reducing your carbohydrate intake makes it significantly easier to maintain a diet, a healthy lifestyle, and lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:16:06.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="650" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:21:53.267" Score="7" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a kid we spent nearly every waking moment playing games and such OUTSIDE. We didn't have computers or video games to consume our time. Today's kids have a lot of modern devices that keep them inside and static. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much time should kids be actively playing (exercising) a day or week? The NFL (American National Football League) has an ad campaign (Play-60) that encourages an hour a day of play. Does anyone know if there's any data to support this or any other amount per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="233" LastEditorUserId="233" LastEditDate="2011-04-02T11:48:57.173" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T12:55:51.083" Title="How much exercise for children?" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="649" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:34:27.047" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. To my knowledge, there is no conclusive amount of exercise for children that is all-encompassing. Realistically, just look at your kids. If they're fat, they need more exercise and less food, providing that there are no other health issues at hand. If they're too skinny (read &quot;too skinny&quot; as &quot;malnourished&quot;), they need more food, once again taking into consideration any health issues they may have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like adults who react differently to different amounts of activity, children react differently to different amounts of activity. There's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on the New York Times&lt;/a&gt; that will offer some little more information, but not a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:34:27.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="647" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:47:31.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always warm up before stretching anyway. So, yes, stretching &quot;cold&quot; muscles before anything is harmful. In relation to your question of performance, static stretching may possibly reduce chances of injury, but it also reduces your strength in that muscle for up to 60 minutes. Therefore, it is possible that stretching could make you slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscle-health-fitness.com/stretching-before-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscle-health-fitness.com/stretching-before-exercise.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T20:40:46.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:40:46.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:49:31.103" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are countless possibilities that use no/minimal equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jogging, sprinting, intervals, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stair climbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump rope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burpees (this one will surprise you: try to get through 50 as fast as you can)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuck jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shadow boxing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power yoga&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Best of all: any timed circuit/interval workout. check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://cfmoncton.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/comprehensive-bodyweight-workout-list-v15.pdf&quot;&gt;Crossfit Bodyweight Workouts PDF&lt;/a&gt; for a great list.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:49:31.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-09T20:01:20.470" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was not always a minimalist/BF evangelist... I ran NCAA xc and track for Florida State for 5 years, so we were sponsored by Nike, so I had a large bias towards all Nike everything (who doesn't when you're getting free gear in exchange for working your tail off 4-6 hours a day in the weightroom, at morning practice, and at evening practice). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that being said, the importance was on improving my running form. Now that my running form has greatly improved from the sorry lot that I was going into that program my freshman year, I was able to run in most anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally, I would have said that I could only run in stability shoes in college, because of my pronation issues, but during high school I did ballet 5 times a week and had really strong arches and actually ran in training shoes and minimalist wear a lot (although I only ran about 20 miles a week compared to collegiate 35-55 miles a week). Now that I've strengthened my arches by a lot of barefoot strides, barefoot cooldowns, running in my Invisible shoes for my double day easy runs, and walking around my house in Invisible Shoes, now I can run in the Nike structure triax, a brooks adrenalin, an Invisible Shoe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.invisibleshoe.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.invisibleshoe.com/&lt;/a&gt;, a Saucony Kinvara, a Nike Free for 14 miles without any issues...   barefoot barefoot if I'm on a soccer field I could run forever or on dirt... I haven't tested my ability as to how well I do barefoot-barefoot on trail-trails of Boulder, Colorado or off-roading-- my Invisible Shoes are close enough to barefoot enough for that and provide just enough layer of protection while still offering true barefoot feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, there's NO downside to minimalist shoes IF you are patient enough to improve your running form over time to not accrue injuries and instead use minimalism as a valuable source of feedback towards running form. You don't need minimalist footwear to improve running form, but it can help. And once you have great running form and strong arches, strong hip flexors, etc etc, you can run in practically anything or nothing and it shouldn't make a difference. So there's no downside to minimalism, simply a downside to impatient Americans who don't want to put in the time to improve their overall strength and running form and want a quick fix versus to see the overall problem-- that their arches and foot ligaments/tendons have atrophied and weakened over years of wearing overly cushioned running shoes that act as a cast. Which, it's not a problem to wear that, IF you've mastered your running form to run in ways that are healthy and don't invoke injury... but i you haven't, minimalism can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:01:20.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="450" CreationDate="2011-03-09T20:02:09.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your workouts should be geared towards meeting your objective...and most people (including me) don't set SMART objectives (Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-framed)...so we put our bodies through the exercise flavor of the day and wonder why we don't see any gains...when we're not sure what we're trying to gain.......SO, is it ok what you're doing? Ask yourself if you're seeing the results that you wanted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:02:09.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="647" CreationDate="2011-03-09T20:45:39.763" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise/470#470&quot;&gt;I answered here &lt;/a&gt;, I personally don't recommend stretching unless the workout requires it.&#xA;Witvrouw et al found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recently, it has been shown that stretching is able to increase the compliance of human tendons, and as a result increase the capacity of the tendon to absorb energy. ... When the sports activity contains no, or only low SSC movements (cycling, jogging), all or most of the work is directly converted to external work. &lt;strong&gt;In these cases, there is no need for a compliant tendon since the amount of energy absorption remains low.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling doesn't rely on stretch-shortening cycles for producing power and but rather requires a steady supply of power. Having a more compliant muscle-tendon complex would just mean your muscle has to shorten more to take up all the 'slack' in the muscle before supplying the same amount of power. In general, your body adapts itself to the workouts you do, so if you get 'short' muscles that's because you use them that way. If you want to change the length, change your bike settings instead and you'll start using them differently as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your right, &lt;strong&gt;it's most likely better to do a good warming up than to stretch.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reference:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.futevolei.com.br/fisio2.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stretching and injury prevention, An obscure relationship&lt;/a&gt;. Witvrouw, E; Mahieu, N; Danneels, L; McNair, P. Sports Med 2004; 34(7): 443-449&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:45:39.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:12:42.113" Score="5" ViewCount="1636" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently spent some time googling to find treadmill workouts for specifically weight loss, but it turned out to get nothing than couple of mediocre essays. Can anyone recommend either online resources or provide sample workouts for treadmills?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="324" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:48:16.570" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T11:28:44.980" Title="Treadmill workouts for weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:15:02.590" Score="5" ViewCount="28445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been suffering from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/knee-pain/runners-knee&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Runner's Knee&lt;/a&gt; for the last couple of weeks and I've read in some places to put heat on your knee, and other places to put cold (like the above referenced webmd article). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is it? Is it one or the other, or should I use cold after I walk or run, and heat before bed, or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T21:33:48.953" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T11:09:39.577" Title="Treating a Runner's Knee - Apply Heat or Cold?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="675" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:28:33.170" Score="6" ViewCount="1363" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find after strenuous exercise (competitive basketball specifically) that my knee needs a couple days to recover.  Are there any specific exercises I can do to strengthen the joint and reduce my recovery time?  I prefer in-home techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifics:  I jammed my knee into a rock while fielding a ground ball three years ago and have had issues since.  I wear a brace/sleeve whenever jumping is involved, though I usually can run with no pain.  95% of the time, I'm fine.  I started to wear the sleeve because I had occasions where I'd come down to the ground and my knee would buckle like it wanted to give out completely.  When there's pain (minor, generally just a hindrance on stairs), I tend to have a hard time with any squat type movements, particularly with weight (like a toddler).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="325" LastEditorUserId="325" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T02:47:26.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:39:00.880" Title="Are there any specific exercises I can do to strengthen my knee?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="657" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:33:06.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, you want to use heat before exercising and ice after exercising or after sustaining a new acute injury (&lt;a href=&quot;http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sportsmedicine/a/iceorheat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heat tends to increase bloodflow and loosen tissues, but it's not going to help with inflammation. Ice will reduce inflammation, which is going to be a top short-term goal for many sports injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:33:06.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="657" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:40:23.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common thing I've ever been told by a doctor for treating such conditions is to alternate heat and cold. Cold reduces swelling and inflammation, heat induces blood flow. If your knee is hurting you should not be exercising. Pain is the body's way of letting us know something is wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do some moderate exercise, that's ok unless it makes the knee hurt. The best thing you could do is not run, but maybe do some light walking if it doesn't hurt you (at all). Like Greg said, for the purpose of exercise, use heat before and cold after. For every three minutes of heat applied, you should have one minute of cold applied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For proper healing though, rest is your best friend. If it doesn't get better soon, I would definitely talk to your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:40:23.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:43:34.450" Score="11" ViewCount="79912" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/Five-Fingers-KSO-Mens.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vibram KSO&lt;/a&gt; currently and it works great, especially for trail running. However, running on cement starts to hurt after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q71al.png&quot; alt=&quot;Vibram KSOs&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of getting a different kind, but there are several types that look like they could be candidates such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Bikila &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eU0BA.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the KSO Trek&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zeNS0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had any experience with these? How do I pick the right model?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T13:09:48.453" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:40:53.037" Title="What is the best Vibram Five Fingers shoes for running long distances?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="6" ClosedDate="2014-01-03T22:01:15.277" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:46:43.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="657" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:45:49.323" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While both have their uses (see below), the experts (such as WebMD and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chondromalacia-patella/DS00777/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;) suggest only icing in the case of Chondromalacia patella .  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/chondromalacia.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Stretching Institute&lt;/a&gt; actually advises not to use heat 24 to 72 hours after an injury.  Because of these articles, I would use ice only, unless told otherwise by my doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ice after a run will help relieve swelling and pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heat helps increase blood circulation, bringing additional oxygen and nutrients.  In general, heat has been recommended before a workout to loosen the localized area, and before bed to increase blood flow, which brings additional oxygen and nutrients to the localized area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other advice included rest, elevation, compression, aspirin, and of course, seeking appropriate medical treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:45:49.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:49:37.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't use &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; Vibrams for cement. They are intended to simulate &quot;natural&quot; running, but there's nothing natural about cement. If you're going to run on cement, just get a regular pair of running shoes with nice padded soles and save the Vibrams for the trail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:49:37.137" CommentCount="3" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:46:43.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="692" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:55:48.593" Score="6" ViewCount="611" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to keep increasing my endurance when I can't do lower body exercises.  Are there any interesting high-intensity programs out there that don't rely on your legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, Beachbody's Insanity and P90X Plyometrics are what I typically use for a cardio workout.  Ideally I'd like a similar level of interval/circuit training that I can do at home when my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/658/knee-strengthening-exercises&quot;&gt;knee&lt;/a&gt; is cranky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="325" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T19:31:16.160" Title="What are some  upper-body cardio programs to increase endurance?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="656" CreationDate="2011-03-09T22:31:04.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) would be a good type of exercise to do. Workouts are usually short and aimed at burning fat. An example would be running for a minute followed by sprinting for 30 seconds followed by running for a minute etc. Another example is running at an incline for a couple minutes followed by level running. If your treadmill can simulate a natural running course with hills and valleys that would have a similar effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple websites that explain the details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/od/treadmillworkouts/a/treadmillhiit.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Treadmill Workouts Using High Intensity Intervals - HIIT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tryingfitness.com/how-i-do-hiit-on-a-treadmill/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How I Do HIIT on a Treadmill&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_100/135b_fitness_tip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High Intensity Interval Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T19:51:11.143" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T19:51:11.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="667" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="669" CreationDate="2011-03-09T22:54:46.737" Score="10" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would prefer to measure my body fat, rather than weigh myself. Is monitor like this: &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d1kbj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;worth its money or should I look for something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T23:23:32.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:08:47.827" Title="Is body fat monitor worth buying?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="633" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:12:20.710" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;To understand how these two sports might conflict, we need to delve deeper into how muscles are controlled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://chadwaterbury.com/the-science-of-motor-unit-recruitment-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chad Waterbury had this nice picture&lt;/a&gt; showing how a motor unit touches several muscle fibres. I suggest those who don't know what motor units are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_unit_recruitment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;start reading up a little bit&lt;/a&gt; :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/W1flF.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the biceps as an example, this muscle has about 200 of these motor units to stimulate all the muscle fibers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you want to contract your muscle, they don't all go fire at the same time. This is due to the &lt;strong&gt;size principle&lt;/strong&gt;, motor units of the smallest size will be recruited first. For a more detailed explanation, I can recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Human-Physiology-Mechanisms-Body-Function/dp/0071216847&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human Physiology: The Mechanism of Body Function&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RXTUj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this picture shows, your muscle fibers are divided into roughly three groups. First the green ones are recruited: these are your Type I fibers, meant for endurance. Then when you start to recruit more motor units (by increasing the force of the contraction), you recruit the yellow ones: these are your faster Type II fibers, but as you can see they aren't the strongest muscle fibers. If you would contract even harder, you would start recruiting all your motor units (well as much as possible) and you reach your maximal power output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does this have to do with shooting?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lift a lot of heavy weights, you're mostly training that last group of muscle fibers. When you do this enough, you're muscles start to adapt to become better at it. However, &lt;strong&gt;my hypothesis&lt;/strong&gt; would be that this influences how your muscles recruit muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if keeping a gun stretched out requires 20% of your biceps forces, that means it has to recruit the yellow muscle fibers. But since they work in an on/off kind of way, they'll recruit a surplus of fibers and thus produce more force than required, so you have to counter it with your triceps. But that muscle is also a lot stronger, so your muscles have a very hard time at load balancing to keep your arm steady!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, weight lifters aren't trained for fine-grained motion, so regardless of whether my hypothesis is entirely correct, you're training your muscles for the wrong kind of exercise. &lt;strong&gt;So yes, I'd say they are &lt;em&gt;somewhat&lt;/em&gt; conflicting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:12:20.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="667" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:47:46.717" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stumbled on this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/64/2/529.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reliability and validity of bioelectrical impedance in determining body composition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They tested how reliable the bioelectrical impedance method (BIA) is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;compared to the golden standards.&lt;/a&gt; They found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cross-validation correlations for the &lt;strong&gt;BIA determinations of % fat ranged from 0.71 to 0.76&lt;/strong&gt;, which were significantly lower than that obtained with the sum of seven (sigma 7) skinfolds equations (rxy = 0.92 for men and 0.88 for women). &lt;strong&gt;The correlations between the weight-to-height ratio body mass index (BMI) and hydrostatically determined % fat were 0.75 and 0.74&lt;/strong&gt; for men and women, respectively. The standard errors of estimate for the two BIA models ranged from 4.6 to 6.4% fat compared with 2.6 and 3.6% fat for the sigma 7 equations. The BIA method for measuring body composition was comparable to the BMI method, with height and weight accounting for most of the variance in the BIA equation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically, that would indicate that your BMI is about as accurate as using one of these fancy impedance meters!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those interested, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bioanalogics.com/validity.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here's another study&lt;/a&gt; by Girandola and Contarsy that found correlations of about 0.76. They conclude:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The results of the present study support the use of this bioelectrical impedance technique as simple, reliable and yet accurate method of assessing the percent of body fat in males and female in the clinical setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it's a matter of opinions, &lt;strong&gt;but I would recommend a weight scale with a built in impedance meter, at least you'll get your weight from it!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:55:11.843" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="670" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="681" CreationDate="2011-03-10T00:26:32.747" Score="13" ViewCount="9848" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does smoking effect the muscle building process? I understand it can effect your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastEditorUserId="24" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T02:55:48.260" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T17:41:37.490" Title="Smoking and its effects on muscle building" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="671" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T00:50:25.090" Score="20" ViewCount="532" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a distance runner, and sometimes go running on trails where there aren't likely to be many people. Since I have type-1 diabetes, I must carry a blood glucose tester and a source of quick sugar with me, particularly since exercise can lower blood sugar. While this all amounts to a pretty small amount of equipment, it's more than fits comfortably in the pockets of my running shorts. What are some ways to carry this gear without it impeding running or causing discomfort? We're talking about maybe 200-300g of total mass, though space for a little bit more would not be bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="226" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:30:01.327" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T03:39:14.717" Title="How to comfortably carry equipment when running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="656" CreationDate="2011-03-10T00:52:34.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your focused on losing weight and losing body fat, you should concentrate on building muscle mass just as much as doing high intensity cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my exercise program that has helped me lose 10 lbs.  Just a note:  I am 5'11&quot; and currently weight 185lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday I do the below scheduled workout, then post workout I do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 Minutes of elliptical&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 Minutes of treadmill at 3.5 incline&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have the elliptical, it is suggested to do 40 minutes of cardio post-workout, so I would do something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 minutes treadmill warmup at 3.5 speed w/ 1.5 incline&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25 minutes treadmill at 4.5 speed w/ 3.5 inline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 minutes treadmill cool-down at 3.0 speed w/ 1.5 incline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;M, W, F&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest:&#xA;Bench press 5 x 6-10&#xA;Flat bench flyes 5 x 6-10&#xA;Incline bench press 6 x 6-10&#xA;Cable crossovers 6 x 10-12&#xA;Dips (body weight) 5 x failure&#xA;Dumbell pullovers 5 x 10-12.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back:&#xA;Wide-grip chins (to front) 6 x failure&#xA;T-bar rows 5 x 6-10&#xA;Seated pulley rows 6 x 6-10&#xA;One-arm dumbell rows 5 x 6-10&#xA;Straight-leg deadlifts 6 x 15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs:&#xA;Squats 6 x 8-12&#xA;Leg press 6 x 8-12&#xA;Leg extensions 6 x 12-15&#xA;Leg curls 6 x 10-12&#xA;Barbell lunges 5 x 15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calves:&#xA;Standing calf raises 10 x 10&#xA;Seated calf raises 8 x 15&#xA;Oneplegged calf raises (holding dumbells) 6x12 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forearms:&#xA;Wrist curls (forearms on knees) - 4 sets, 10 reps&#xA;Reverse barbell curls - 4 sets, 8 reps&#xA;Wright roller machine - to failure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs: &#xA;½ hour of a variety of nonspecific abdominal exercises, done virtually nonstop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;T, Th, Sat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps: &#xA;Barbell curls 6 x 6-10&#xA;Seated dumbell curls 6 x 6-10&#xA;Dumbell concentration curls 6 x 6-10  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Triceps:&#xA;Close-grip bench presses 6 x 6-10&#xA;Pushdowns 6 x 6-10&#xA;French press (barbell) 6 x 6-10&#xA;One-arm triceps extensions (dumbell) 6 x 6-10 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders:&#xA;Seated barbell presses 6 x 6-10&#xA;Lateral raises (standing) 6 x 6-10&#xA;Rear-delt lateral raises 5 x 6-10&#xA;Cable lateral raises 5 x 10-12&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calves , Forearms &amp;amp; Abs: &#xA;Same as Monday, Wednesday, Friday workout &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is the Arnold muscle workout schedule located &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trulyhuge.com/news/tips63jb.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T00:52:34.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="677" CreationDate="2011-03-10T00:53:10.333" Score="4" ViewCount="2959" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me start by saying that I am a Systems Engineer and have been working professionally for the past 10 years, in a very demanding and stress oriented environment.  This has not allowed me to care for my physical body for that period of time.  Before that, throughout high school and college I was in fair shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently 5'11&quot; weight about 185lbs and would guess to say that I have about 10-15% body fat.  My skin stretches due to the fact that I have that much body fat, and that I've gained and lost weight repeatedly throughout these 10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting from late November 2010, I begun working out mainly concentrated on losing body fat and gaining endurance and strength.  Currently, I have 2 session exercises, broken out as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Session #1 (morning time)&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;- 30 minutes of working out the chest, biceps, triceps, and sit-ups&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;- 40 minutes of elliptical&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;- 15 minutes of treadmill at 3.5 speed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Session # 2 (night time)&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;- 30 minutes of working out the chest, biceps, triceps, and sit-ups&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;- 35 minutes of cycling&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;- 15 minutes of treadmill at 3.5 speed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've lost about 10 lbs since I started, and gained strength and endurance.  However, I have not gained any muscle mass on my upper body, and my lower body (legs, thighs, buttocks) is full of fat and not proportional to my upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, why am I not gaining enough muscle on my upper body, and why am I not losing the fat on my lower body.  Any advice on what type of work out to do to lose more fat and strengthen my lower body, at the same time gaining muscle mass on my upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:28:25.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:28:25.103" Title="Upper and lower body proportion, gaining muscle losing fat" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-03-10T02:18:49.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know guys using the Bikala for marathons. I use Sprints for training which sometimes means running on cement. I feel they are fine if you change your running style. I've switched to running Pose (as best as I can) because of other knee issues, and since there are no hard impacts the lack of any support is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you would get very far heel striking in Five Fingers though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T02:18:49.327" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:46:43.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-03-10T02:27:19.033" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have osteochondritis desicans(sp?) in my left knee. Basically a nerve is pinched when my support muscles tire and sometimes the pain is bad enough that my knee buckles. My physio initially recommended movements like swimming (breast stroke) and cycling. This was good at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what really helped was lots of squats and bar bell training (deadlift, front squat, back squat, various Olympic lifts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T02:27:19.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="678" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:28:09.217" Score="3" ViewCount="4829" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering about this for some time now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A LOT of diets include sweet potatoes as a source of complex carbs, which would be just fine, if I lived in US. Since I don't there aren't any available to me ( and no, it's not the price, you just CAN'T buy them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, could the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sweet potatoes&lt;/a&gt; be substitued with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regular potatoes&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:41:38.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:41:38.463" Title="Nutritional difference between Sweet and Regular potatoes." Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-09-12T21:09:27.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="673" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:37:33.330" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;IF the sessions you mention are done every day, then the answer probably is, that you have &lt;strong&gt;too little rest&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle needs rest to be able to recuperate and grow. Usually muscle won't grow properly if you do the same muscle group exercises 2 days in a row, but twice a day could actually diminish your muscle mass more than they grow. Therefore, You should try giving your muscles some time to recuperate, probably &lt;strong&gt;at least&lt;/strong&gt; a day before another hard workout for that particular muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the legs, I don't see any lower body exercises on the list. Sure, the amount of cardio you are doing is great for the overall body fat level to drop, but is not enough for your legs. It may be the case, that there is actually quite little fat on your buttocks and legs, but it just looks a lot because of lack of muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either case, you should introduce some lower body exercises in your training programm. At least some squats and deadlifts. They should be the bare minimum to start growing your lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T03:37:33.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="676" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:39:19.943" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the surface (by nutrient breakdown), they look pretty similar except that a sweet potato has massively more vitamin A. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/sweet_potatoes_not_white.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. Mirkin&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;7-ounce white potato with skin: 220&#xA;  calories, 5g protein, 51g carbs, 20mg&#xA;  calcium, 115mg phosphorus, 2.8mg iron,&#xA;  16mg sodium, 844mg potassium, 4g&#xA;  fiber, .22mg thiamin, .07mg&#xA;  riboflavin, 3.3mg niacin, 16mg vitamin&#xA;  C&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;7-ounce sweet potato: 208 calories,&#xA;  3.5g protein, 49g carbs, 56mg calcium, 110mg phosphorus, 1mg iron, 20mg&#xA;  sodium, 693mg potassium, 5g fiber,&#xA;  4350 RE vitamin A, .14mg thiamin,&#xA;  .13mg riboflavin, 1.2mg niacin, 49mg&#xA;  vitamin C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One difference not captured in that breakdown is that the glycemic index is quite different at 85 (high) for white potato and 54 (medium) for sweet potato. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T03:39:19.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="671" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:41:15.573" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spibelt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SPIbelt!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; I don't run without one. They're also frequently used by diabetics as well as runners. They stretch, so they're tiny, but expand to hold a surprisingly large amount of stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tDjCH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="86" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T09:21:54.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:21:54.677" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2011-03-10T05:05:16.643" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've spoken to 2 sports nutritionists on this very subject over the past year, and both told me that protein is ineffective in post-recovery workouts, that the muscles can't absorb protein after working out. They said to eat a high-protein breakfast instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also said that carbs are all that count for recovery, and that you should eat carbs immediately after a workout, and then about 200-250 calories every 2-3 hours afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, it's been the most effective nutrition plan for me, as I haven't felt the need to eat everything in sight after a long bike ride or karate workout. Your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="335" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:05:16.643" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2011-03-10T06:19:26.343" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the most detrimental aspect of smoking while bodybuilding is the lack of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I smoked, I was quite lethargic most of the time and in gym I used to just quit whenever it got too hard, or took too much energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I didn't feel fresh or rejuvinated even after a good nights sleep, going to the gym was usually out of the question, because I just didn't feel like it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a medical standpoint, probably the most detrimental aspect of smoking is lack of oxygen. Whilst smoking, the oxygen intake is lessened and it is replaced by various other elements, usually, ones bad for the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the toxins that the cigarettes contain may lead to various diseases, in which case, doing serious weight training is probably out of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Standard Disclaimer:&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;I am not a doctor, so anything I say should not be considered an advice to bet your health on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:48:02.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:48:02.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2011-03-10T07:07:43.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good Question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to direct you away from StackExchange, but Bodybuilding has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek99.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll just copy over the ones related to muscle building and fitness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Increase in heart rate&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Increase in hormone production&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Increase in blood pressure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Constriction of small blood vessels on skin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Changes in blood composition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Changes in metabolism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the spirit of positive thinking,&#xA;  here are the benefits of quitting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Breathing improves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Improved ability to cope with sudden    exertion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Loss of smokers cough and reduction    of phlegm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sense of taste and smell improves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Natural decline in lung efficiency    slows down to a rate similar to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  nonsmokers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Reduced risk of smoke related    diseases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say the increase in heart rate, and the incremental damage to the lungs will be most problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:48:43.367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:48:43.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="673" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:13:23.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are focusing too much on exercises in the gym and too little on your diet.  I have been weight training and exercising for about 10 years now and nutrition is the absolute most important part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest that you read &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1579549985&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Abs Diet&lt;/a&gt;.  It really has helped me over the years to understand what causes fat and what types of food you need to gain muscle and lose fat.  It also has great exercises and recipes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:13:23.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="687" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:51:48.127" Score="21" ViewCount="1392" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I know that it's time to buy running shoes before they start looking like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lY4fh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:11:58.717" LastActivityDate="2011-06-24T16:24:02.820" Title="When is it time to buy new running shoes" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:54:22.773" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on the quality of the material and even within shoes from the same factory, there can be quite some variation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.perg.bham.ac.uk/pdfs/p142_Heel_shoe_interactions_and_EVA_foam_f_web_150dpi.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study &lt;strong&gt;Heel-shoe interactions and the durability of EVA foam running-shoe midsoles&lt;/strong&gt; by Verdejo and Mills from 2004&lt;/a&gt; &lt;code&gt;they found that after 500 km the peak plantar pressures had increased by 100% on average.&lt;/code&gt; Furthermore, they did electron microscopy scans that showed structural damage in the foam after 750 km. Since fatigue of the foam reduces heelstrike cushioning, it might cause running injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can recognize the damage somewhat by the wrinkles that arise on the side of the heel. If you wear the shoes for much longer, you sometimes can feel it getting 'softer' when you try to squeeze it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another indication is that the outer layer of your sole is sanded away. If this is quite dramatic, you might start to get a misalignment of the loads. Small note: the material is sanded away because you load it like that, so it's not necessarily a bad thing.  And off course if you start to see holes in the upper of the shoe, it probably means other parts (invisible) are worse off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advise: &lt;strong&gt;bad running shoes are a major cause of injuries!&lt;/strong&gt; You've been conditioned to let the shoes aid you in the shock absorption and rolling off. If the shoes stop doing this, you don't magically alter your running style! So don't keep running for too long or start to learn to run better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-06-16T12:27:36.440" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T12:27:36.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="667" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:51:18.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, use something more accurate and cheaper: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=body+fat+measure+caliper&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a skin fat caliper.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nNMMT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/how-to-measure-bodyfat-using-calipers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This image comes from Muscle and Strength.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="343" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T13:08:47.827" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:08:47.827" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="665" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:04:34.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know of a program.  But as a boxer I would suggest you try a speed bag and you could pair that with body weight hanging exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:04:34.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:28:22.757" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most running shoes need replacing after 300-500 miles. It will be different for everyone. I can usually tell mine are breaking down, because I start to get aches and pains that were never there before when running. If you think your shoes are wearing down, you can take them to a specialty running store. They typically have experts that can look at your shoe and tell what's going on with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="86" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:28:22.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="695" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:37:59.330" Score="8" ViewCount="892" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing 45 minutes of cardio (static bike) keeping my heart rate above 160bpm, 3 times a week and working my way up to 60 minutes, 3 times a week.  However, it is boring as hell and that current 45 minutes seems to drag on forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried listening to music, watching a movie, taking the bike out, but nothing i have done so far has got me into the mentality &quot;can't wait to exercise&quot;, I am still stuck at &quot;man, I have to exercise&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on past experience, when I don't enjoy something, something seems to happen and I stop doing it because I do not enjoy it.  So my question is, how do I enjoy cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I cannot afford to sign up with a yearly contract with a gym at the moment because of family commitments and financial situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:27:15.333" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T03:58:32.107" Title="How to make cardio less of a chore" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:50:45.577" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To stay motivated is very useful to set short-term targets. More time, more bpm, harder..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to other people who exercise like you, visit social sites fitness, helps you stay motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:50:45.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:55:25.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the are too many variables to really predict when you need new shoes - I've had shoes that last well over 1000kms and some that Ive switched after just 300. And since I guess that most people dont actually count the number of kms they've ran in a pair of shoes, it seems unhelpful to be suggesting a change after a given distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'conventional wisdom' of replacing shoes after 500 miles has never worked for me. I'd suggest that you will be able to feel the difference in your shoes when you run. I replace mine when they start to feel hard underfoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better still, fix the cause (bad form), not the symptom(aches and pains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:55:25.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:59:49.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For you, I would try to find a workout buddy.  For most people, it will be much hard to stop doing something if others are relying on you.  As JoaquinG stated, setting short-term goals and increasing your bpm could also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listening to music or watching TV are suggestions, but you already said that has not helped you.  Going out side and enjoying weather or surroundings is also a suggestion, but again, you said that has not helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to switch it up, and start doing some running, roller blading, or using other equipment.  You already stated that you cannot attend a gym, and you have financial commitments, so this may not be the best option for you, because you would need to attend a gym or maybe buy new equipment for other types of activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:59:49.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:06:17.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For treadmills, stationary bikes etc, I like to use the profiles to make things more interesting. Try out all the hill profiles and see which ones you find hard / enjoyable and try to improve your times. Make it like a competition against yourself and you'll find that you push to achieve your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:06:17.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:12:47.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't rely so much on the 'target' heart rate zones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets say the 'fat burning zone' is at 70% of your max, that does'nt mean you'll burn more calories at that rate than if you were at 80%, it means you'll get slightly more benefit per effort you put in. Your NET calories burnt will still be higher at the end of a workout of the same length if your heart rate was 80% than if it was at 70%. Its all relative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway my point is dont use it as an excuse to not train hard. Push yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:12:47.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:13:30.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran a half-marathon in Bikilas, and have been running daily on concrete with them without much trouble; it does take some time to adjust though, expect some pain if you don't ramp up your distance slowly enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that KSOs wear through far too quickly on rough surfaces, I would recommend against using those for much running on concrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:13:30.330" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:46:43.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:25:24.317" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a big fan of LONG cardio workouts, I don't see (or heard of) any good/long term benefit to them.  I would recommend trying something different like Tabata (http://gymboss.com/tabata.php) interval training.  It's shorter (16 to 20 minutes), very effective (best personal improvements I've ever seen) and doesn't require any special equipment (so you can do it at home)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:25:24.317" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:41:32.500" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly recommend adding yoga to your home exercise routine. It seems to help me recovery from muscle soreness faster. Additionally, it really helps me keep still in between kata moves (not sure which style you do). Personally, I haven't seen much flexibility improvements from it, but I know of others who have seen a difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="335" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:41:32.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:54:25.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I goofed and didn't read that the question assumes no gym full of stuff.  With that said, I still think the advice of breaking your workout up and including plyometrics in between and changing the motion and intensity of the bike ride throughout the workout is key to keeping it interesting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, one day do 10 minutes on the bike and 5 minutes off where&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 minutes on the bike is at a slower, maintainable pace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 minutes off the bike is intense plyometrics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... and then the next day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 minutes on the bike doing intense riding to the point where 10 minutes exhausts you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 minutes off the bike doing brisk walking around the room and very very light plyometrics.  You can even mix in some abs here too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Original Post&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to do cardio using machines or stationary for a substantial length of time and you find yourself getting bored while doing it, the best advice I can give is to constantly switch up which piece of equipment you use - either on a per workout basis or in-between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if you do cardio 3 times a week, get a two week rotation going where you hit all of these machines once:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stairmaster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elliptical&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stationary Bike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handbike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treadmill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, you could combine machines together within the same workout.  For example, do 15 minutes each of three of the above.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a twist on combining those cardio machines together, when you switch, spend 5 minutes doing very light plyometrics - even jumping jacks would suffice there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On some of those machines you can even vary the style of motion you make. Some suggestions there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the treadmill, increase the incline, ortry a slower pace while side shuffling or walking backwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the elliptical, vary the angle and try going backwards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On a stairmaster, turn around and do it backwards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tweak the custom programs on each machine to do things like Hill Training or Interval training... or Random.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, the principle I'd suggest is to constantly switch it up.  Doing the same motion on the same machine for 45 minutes at a time is just asking for monotony.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:43:30.093" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:43:30.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:04:05.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen people take the front part of a shoe and try to fold it together like a taco (i.e. not folding the top of the shoe back to the laces, but rather folding the front of the shoe in half longways like a taco). If they are able to bend it at all, then it is time for new shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another test, just like a toothbrush or tires on a car, is to check the treads on the bottom of the shoe. if they are gone (or mostly gone on one side), it's time for new shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="335" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:04:05.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:08:39.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flip them over. Is the tread bald on one side? If so, change them. Your pronation has worn your shoes on your dominant side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they hurt? Do you reguarly suffer from blisters or dark toe nails? If so, the cushioning is no longer effective/the running shoes, combined with your socks, offer insufficient room in the toe box. Replace them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the soles spongey? Do you get knee pain? If no to the soles and/or yes to knee complaints, your running shoes are no longe absorbing the shock of striking the ground whilst running. Replace your running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:08:39.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:09:48.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;VFF are absolutely not for people with low to no arches. I wore them every day around the house for 3-4 months, then i finally decided to lightly run in them for 5 minutes on a soft track (at a college's track and field). Just those 5 minutes caused some serious tendonitis in my ankle. Took me months to recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My life lessons learned from this: it's all about proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="335" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:09:48.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:12:20.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is riding a bike outdoors an option for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that once I shifted from jogging on a treadmill indoors to jogging outside through my town I had a much easier time of it - the time went by quicker, didn't feel like such a chore, and best of all, it felt more fun. I also discovered that jogging outdoors is much much harder than jogging on a treadmill at the same speed, so the difficulty of the workout overall increased as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="354" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:12:20.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:13:03.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why did you pick a Bicycle for Cardio in the first place? This implies you enjoy riding a Bike. Take one outside. Find some scenic routes and take your camera!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not train for a race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, pick something else (not neccessarily exclusively, since variation serves to keep you interested). The stop/start nature of Soccer leads to great doses of High Intensity Interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick is to make the Cardio a product of something you enjoy doing... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Didn't Mary Poppins once say something similar about chores, work and fun? ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:13:03.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="712" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="714" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:19:03.073" Score="33" ViewCount="77013" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I am taking a multivitamin, fish oil, and I recently added vitamin D supplements (D3 to be specific).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current routine is take each of the three (along with some unrelated medication in pill form) after I eat breakfast each day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The addition of the Vitamin D supplement has led me to wonder if taking all of these at the same time of the day is the best idea, or if it would be better to take them separately. For example, my multivitamin already has 400 IU of Vitamin D in it, and then I am adding another 1000 IU in the D3 pill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my body capable of ingesting this much of the vitamin (along with everything else in the multivitamin) at the same time, or will some of it be wasted and end up being excreted? Would it be better to take one at morning and one at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="354" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:16:57.423" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T19:53:12.483" Title="When taking vitamins and supplements, does it matter if I take them all at once or should I spread it out throughout the day?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T19:45:21.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="712" CreationDate="2011-03-10T18:09:02.303" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can take all of the listed various vitamins and supplements together. If you're only going to take them once a day, it is more beneficial to take them with your largest meal of the day, and that hopefully being dinner rather than with breakfast. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.truestarhealth.com/tour/vitaminwhenhow.asp?code=house&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.besthealththerapy.com/guide-taking-vitamins.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is better to take smaller amounts with each meal than to take a single large dose once a day if at all possible. This way your body will maintain a more constant and stable supply of it's needed vitamins and nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to remember that some vitamins are fat-soluble (dissolve in fat) and some vitamins are water-soluble (dissolve in water). If you have a low-fat meal with your multivitamins, you're going to miss out on all the fat-soluble vitamins and only absorb the water-soluble ones. The reason you're suggested to take your vitamins at your largest meal if you can't take them in multiple phases is because your largest meal is the most likely to be well-rounded for more full absorption of the vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:40:15.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:40:15.073" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:20:25.877" Score="7" ViewCount="46740" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it true that i should wear thick clothes such as a hoody while doing cardio to sweat more? Or is it just water weight that gets put back on when you drink? I have heard both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user358" LastEditorUserId="155" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:27:05.180" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T21:29:33.477" Title="Will wearing thick clothes during cardio provide better weight loss results?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="715" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:23:08.167" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will make you sweat more.   Sweating more means you will need to drink more.  It doesn't help you lose fat faster, if that is what you're asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="359" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:23:08.167" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="715" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:33:58.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If pure weight loss is what youre after ( and I mean just kg/pounds, not fat loss), then that extra hoodie could help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-Saunas-Help-With-Weight-Loss?&amp;amp;id=613099&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amy Nutt&lt;/a&gt; makes a great point about heat and weightloss. Sweating helps body get rid of the salts. And as we know, salt, besides making our food taste &lt;em&gt;different&lt;/em&gt;, has the side effect of lessening the water throughput of your body. In other words, it keeps the water inside the body, therefore increasing, or certainly not lessening, your bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if we assume, that you are on a good diet, there should be quite a small intake of salt, so there will be initial gains, but not in the long run. It may help you loose those first couple of kg/lbs that people are so ecstatic about, but will not help your weight loss in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:33:58.637" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="718" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:41:55.763" Score="65" ViewCount="40858" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well this one is embarrassing as hell to ask, but its a real issue for me. I do dips often, as people say that's good, but different people say different things - that bench press will make them more noticeable or that it will make them better. I am also doing 45-60 minutes on the cross ramp, exactly the same with inverted bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don't know what makes it better and what makes it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="361" LastEditorUserId="24" LastEditDate="2011-09-11T00:49:13.710" LastActivityDate="2019-06-05T00:35:35.040" Title="How to lose manboobs?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="718" CreationDate="2011-03-10T20:12:06.063" Score="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have &quot;man-boobs&quot;, the only practical &quot;cure&quot; is to lose weight. Your only other option is plastic surgery. When starting weight loss, you need to remember that the body will remove fat from wherever it wants to, and you may drop pant sizes before you see a noticeable decrease in fat where you want to see it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing exercises like butterflies and bench press will (for lack of a better term) make your chest perkier. It will build a larger concentration of muscle under the upper part of the fat causing a lifting effect so they won't be as saggy, but it won't reduce their size at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just stick with a diet and fitness program and the problem will resolve itself soon enough. And if you do bench press and stuff, once they're gone you'll just have nice pecs to flex and show off for the ladies, so go ahead and work out whatever you want or need to work out to get a nicely rounded, full-body exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:12:06.063" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="724" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:04:42.587" Score="12" ViewCount="5689" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Tim Ferriss' &lt;a href=&quot;http://fourhourbody.com/&quot;&gt;The Four Hour Body&lt;/a&gt;, the claim is made that lactose intake seems to inhibit fat loss. Note that it is not claimed that it causes fat gain. Like many claims in this book, it is (and the author is upfront about this) anecdotal and he does not provide an explanation for why it might be so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question: can anyone verify that this is or isn't the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T21:48:01.200" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T18:14:05.153" Title="Does lactose inhibit fat loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:22:33.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question, as &quot;Dairy Products&quot; will help you lose weight due to their high calcium concentration (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12514303&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;). &quot;Lactose&quot; specifically, though, is where the carbohydrates in milk come from, and complex carbohydrates are converted into glycogen in the liver and used for the body's energy source, thus inhibiting the body from burning it's fat as a resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lactose is a disaccharide derived from the condensation of galactose and glucose - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intake of excessive carbohydrates leads to an uptake in the body's blood sugar levels, triggering the body to produce more insulin. Insulin promotes and aids in fat storage in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, &quot;Milk&quot; and &quot;Dairy Products&quot; in moderation aren't going to have a major effect on your fat loss, but excessive amounts of &quot;Lactose&quot; will. Note that the lactose is strained from curdled milk, leaving almost lactose-free curd for cheese production, which is why your hard cheeses have little to no carbohydrates in them, although there is usually enough lactose to trigger a reaction in those allergic to lactose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:22:33.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:25:19.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lactose is broken down by the lactase enzyme into galactose and glucose&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;.  Glucose, of course, stimulates insulin production&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, which stimulates fat retention&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;.  So yes, lactose should inhibit fat loss.  (&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;) But, as per my comment on Andrew's answer, galactose has the opposite effect as glucose&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt;.  I am inclined to believe, due to the results of the study posted in his answer&lt;sup&gt;5&lt;/sup&gt;, that the galactose actually outweighs the glucose and thus lactose actually aids fat loss (at least at &amp;lt;10% energy intake from lactose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(1): &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactase#Function_and_mechanism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia - Lactase&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(2): &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Synthesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia - Insulin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(3): &lt;a href=&quot;http://unu.edu/unupress/food2/UID07E/UID07E0H.HTM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UNU.edu&lt;/a&gt; - &quot;The inhibitory effect of insulin on lipolysis in adipose tissue, and the subsequent decline in plasma free fatty acid levels leads to the postprandial inhibition of fat oxidation.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(4): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2010/12/01/ajcn.110.005785.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Journal of Clinical Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(5): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v15/n11/full/oby2007312a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nature&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="193" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T21:52:38.710" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:52:38.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:42:42.667" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the 2007 study, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v15/n11/full/oby2007312a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effects of Dietary Lactose on Long-term High-fat-diet-induced Obesity in Rats&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;the addition of lactose to a high-fat diet decreased body weight, body weight gain, fat accumulation, and the level of serum leptin.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the study, four groups were observed over 84 days:  A control diet group (Cont), a lactose diet group (Lac) in which corn starch in the control diet was replaced by lactose at 10% of the diet weight, a high-fat diet group (Fat) in which lard was added to the control diet to adjust the lipid energy ratio to 40% , and a lactose-added high-fat diet group (Fat+Lac) in which 10% lactose was added to the high-fat diet.  The graphs below compares the weight of fats and the amount of serum leptin (a hormone that regulates long-term appetite) between the four groups at the end of the observation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The graphs show there is no significant difference between the fat accumulation and serum leptin levels between the Cont and Lac group, but the Fat+Lac group does have decreased fat accumulation and serum leptin from the Fat group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DVJs6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T22:48:25.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T22:48:25.463" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="936" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:59:38.563" Score="4" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to build a daily or bi-daily strength and flexibility workout around a new exercise ball I have.  What are some good exercises to start with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T07:39:12.360" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T19:59:49.107" Title="What are some good exercises for a beginner to do with an Excercise Ball" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;tips&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="671" CreationDate="2011-03-10T22:30:47.220" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a small camel bag (not too full) for that. Not ideal for reaching the gels but you got liquid as well something you really want on long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4rvek.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="288" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T22:33:00.137" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T22:33:00.137" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="732" CreationDate="2011-03-10T23:19:12.010" Score="7" ViewCount="1536" Body="&lt;p&gt;When searching for the internet, or even talking to trainers, you will get an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/routines/&quot;&gt;infinite&lt;/a&gt; number of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/workoutdatabase.htm&quot;&gt;routines&lt;/a&gt;. How should one choose a routine that is best for him? Is there any logic about it at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not addressing the exercises themselves but to the general diversion of muscle groups across days of the week. It looks like every mix is possible even when I'm looking for the most recommended routines. Of course most of the routines don't include any explanation other than &quot;you will see the results in X months&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only logical thing about routines that I've heard is that it's better to do the Biceps exercises the same day you do the back, and Triceps on the shoulders + chest day, because the big muscle exercises also effort the according arm-muscle. This way you provide full rest for the Biceps/Triceps when it's not their workout day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true, can I have more examples for this kind of &lt;em&gt;sense&lt;/em&gt; in the vague world of routines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm working out since August and my results are not satisfying enough. I'm not looking for reasons of why I didn't grow up the way I wanted, but for a fresh routine to become more motivated and consistent. It's just so hard to pick one, and it seems so... consequences-full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having 4 workout days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="367" LastEditorUserId="367" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T23:53:14.773" LastActivityDate="2012-04-03T23:41:35.877" Title="How to choose a routine for building muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="712" CreationDate="2011-03-10T23:45:02.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are subtleties with different supplements. e.g. I take a lot (45 mg) of zinc daily. Taking so much zinc means I have to take copper at a different tine of day since zinc can inhibit absorption of copper. Also zinc can give a stimulant effect, so it is best not taken at night. Horses for courses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user369" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:45:02.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2011-03-11T00:53:21.837" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main reason you're not getting the results your looking for is you're working out too often. Unless you take illegal and questionable supplements your body is not going to have time to recover and the result is that you're actually breaking down muscle tissue instead of building it up. You also don't want to exercise for more than 30-45 minutes at a time because it increases cortisol hormone which is catabolic. If you want to increase muscle you want a high level of anabolic hormones (like testosterone) and a low level of catabolic hormones (like cortisol or adrenaline).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that it's not the weight lifting itself that builds muscle tissue. It's the hormonal changes induced by the weight lifting, the resting time in between lifting and the food that you eat that builds muscle. Given that weight lifting is actually catabolic in nature and breaks down muscle tissue you want to find the perfect sweet spot of lifting just enough to induce a hormonal change while minimizing how much muscle is broken down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should form the scientific basis on selecting a training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are widely different opinions on exactly where this sweet spot is and depending on genetics and whether supplements are used this sweet spot will be different for you compared to others. The best way to find your sweet spot is to track progress by using an exercise log and a measuring tape (MyoTape is good as you can use it with one hand). You want to increase weight or time under load (this is a more accurate measurement than number of repetitions) almost continuously. If you stop progressing for several weeks you're either not getting enough rest (add more rest), not enough food (eat more) or your body has adapted to your current routine (find a new routine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also other factors that can change your hormonal balance such as too much alcohol or smoking (can decrease testosterone) or too much stress or too little sleep (increases cortisol).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've studied various weight lifting workout strategies lately and the approach that seems to be based on the most recent research is the high intensity training (also called &quot;HIT&quot;) approach outlined in for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0071597174&quot;&gt;Body by Science&lt;/a&gt;. It recommends one workout per week of extremely high intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am personally doing a split version of that program roughly twice a week. I combine this with low level cardio (brisk walking) for about 5 hours per week and about 1 high intensity interval training session per week (5 minutes of tabata interval sprints at 90-95% heart rate maximum).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing this routine for about 2 months and almost doubled my 7 repetition maximum. Before that I've done several years of more &quot;traditional&quot; weight lifting of medium intensity several times a week with only moderate gains. I've plateaued the last 2 weeks though so I might swap things around a little bit but I will probably stick to a high intensity/low frequency approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition is also important but that is a different topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="374" LastEditorUserId="374" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T02:04:34.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T02:04:34.537" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:26:17.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I never did any sport until 4 years ago. This was because team-sports are the most common sports over here, and I just don't like them. My conclusion was that I did not like sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imho, the same applies to cardio. There's not one single cardio workout! There are lot of sports to try, a lot of which (almost) free. Try to find out what sport you like. because this really differs per per person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I really like any outdoor sport which you do in nature: swimming in a lake, running in the country-side, bicycling for 100 kms a day on a holiday, hitching through the mountains, skating on natural ice...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But some friends of mine really like spinning, I also know a lot of people who like to run through the city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My point being: try out some different (cardio) sports, and see which one suits you&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="377" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:26:17.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="739" CreationDate="2011-03-11T02:04:37.087" Score="3" ViewCount="1280" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some practical yet tasty solutions for a high protein diet. I like food that has intense flavour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a bid for this question not to be closed, can you please post a bit of information on the nutrional value of the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, Egg whites:&#xA;11g of protein per 100g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T01:56:28.677" Title="Practical and Tasty choices for a high protein diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:36:03.943" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="737" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:12:36.057" Score="5" ViewCount="8357" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I'm a little too fat to be doing a real push up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you recommend me to push up with my knees supporting my body first and then progress further?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you think it's better if I start with the less push ups, (say.. 5.. 10..15.. incremental over days)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals are to increase endurance, strengthen my wrists, forearms, and chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm not really fat. No offence to any if they sorta are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-04T19:10:31.667" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T19:10:31.667" Title="Alternative push-up methods for sightly fat people " Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="736" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:34:10.253" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should do the push as it was designed. While it may be difficult at the start and your rep count may be low it will facilitate proper body position and with time your rep count will increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T04:34:10.253" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:39:29.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind that nicotine acts as a coronary vasoconstrictor and increases insulin resistance. I imagine the decreased blood flow might adversely effect your cardiac output despite the increased rate, or likely reduce your total potential cardiac output. I know it also does some peripheral vasoconstriction, potentially in muscle cells, the extent to which that is overcome by the metabolic hyperemia that comes with weight training but there is a good chance you're forcing your muscle cells into switching to anaerobic energy metabolism early than they should. (thus reducing force of contraction) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, decreasing insulin sensitivity is a bad thing if you are trying to put on muscle. Just ask any of those bodybuilders who inject the stuff. It is an &quot;anabolic&quot; hormone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The improvement in lung function is probably more important than all the other stuff I just mentioned. Better lung function = better oxygenation to muscles during exercise = increased output&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buyer beware, I'm not a physiologist, and it's been a while since I studied it formally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T04:39:29.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="735" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:42:39.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was able to put together a day with about 1400 calories and 148g protein.  I have added a little bit of intensity to most of the meals.  I love chobani greek yogurt and edamame the way they are, so I didn't add intensity to them.  Also, 1400 calories is probably too low for you, so go ahead and adjust this to reach your calorie goal.  &lt;em&gt;Please note, I am not advocating 148g of protein as healthy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt; - 360 calories, 44g protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cereal, milk, blueberries - Special K Protein Plus (3/4 cup) + 1/2 Cup Fat Free Milk - 140 calories, 18g protein.  &lt;em&gt;Intensity&lt;/em&gt; - 1/2 cup blueberries - 42 calories, 0g protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scrambled eggs - 1 large egg - 70 calories, 6g protein. 3/8 cup of egg white - 44 calories, 10g protein.  Ham 2oz - 60 calories, 10g protein.  &lt;em&gt;Intensity&lt;/em&gt; - 2 cloves of garlic. Scramble&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brunch&lt;/strong&gt; - 160 calories, 13g protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greek yogurt - Chobani greek yogurt - 160 calories, 13g protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt; - 520 calories, 46g protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuna fish sandwich - 2 slices of whole grain bread - 220 calories, 10g protein. 4oz of Tuna - 100 calories, 22 protein.  2 tbsp fat free mayo - 20 calories, 0g protein.  &lt;em&gt;Intensity&lt;/em&gt; - 1 tbsp pickle relish - 20 calories, 0g protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pinto beans - 1/2 cup pinto beans - 130 calories, 8g protein. &lt;em&gt;Intensity&lt;/em&gt; - 1 tbsp Hot &amp;amp; Sweet mustard - 30 calories, 6g protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack #1&lt;/strong&gt; 110 calories, protein 9g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edamame - 1/2 cup edamame - 110 calories, Protein 9g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supper&lt;/strong&gt; - 240 calories, 36g protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chicken breast - 4 oz chicken breast - 190 calories, 36g protein. &lt;em&gt;Intensity&lt;/em&gt; - 2 tbsp hot salsa - 50 calories, 0g protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ideas for adding Fat to the diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Replace Skim Milk with 2% or whole milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Along with your scrambled eggs, stir fry chopped onions, peppers, and mushrooms in a tbsp of olive oil.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;As another snack, make your favorite salad.  Add cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eat your favorite natural peanut butter with crackers, a rice cake, or make a peanut butter sandwich.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eat a handful of your favorite nuts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T13:40:16.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T13:40:16.177" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="744" CreationDate="2011-03-11T06:46:48.130" Score="2" ViewCount="1329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I jammed my shoulder a few years ago while catching myself in a skateboard fall, and since then, it has had issues, off and on, where during periods where it bothers me, I can't do pushups or dumbbell work.  The injury has been in the aggravated period for the last several months, and is showing no signs of getting better.  It is affecting my workouts, at least those involving chest/back/shoulders (i.e. any exercises that involve pressure on the shoulder).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen chiropractors with little success.  I haven't tried physical therapy, and I haven't gone to a specialist through my Primary Care Phsyician.  Stretching and yoga also not a big help.  The injury doesn't get worse, and doesn't get better.. Just is there, slightly annoying, and especially annoying with certain exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="390" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:18.053" Title="Any suggestions on dealing with a longer-term shoulder injury?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-03-11T06:54:45.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second the 100 pushups workout above. I recommend alternating it day by day with 200 squats (linked at the same website). For a more intense workout, do burpees. Aside from pullups, these are really all you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T06:54:45.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="740" CreationDate="2011-03-11T08:59:34.117" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some links that might help you (I'm also recovering from a shoulder injury):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idoportal.blogspot.com/2009/07/scapula-mobilization-and-sequences.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ido's Blog - Scapula mobilization and sequences&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/shoulder_savers_part_i&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T Nation - Shoulder Savers: Part I&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/shoulder_savers_part_ii&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T Nation - Shoulder Savers: Part II&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/shoulder_savers_part_iii&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T Nation - Shoulder Savers: Part III&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overwhelming consensus is don't do anything that hurts.  If your shoulders hurt, stop working them - completely, for as long as it takes.  Not a good news, I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:18.053" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:18.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-11T09:14:37.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you want is probably fat loss, not weight loss.  It's more a body recomposition thing and it's not easy to track.  The best low-tech, cheap method is measuring the waist, using a tape measure or calipers. That's what worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case you will want to combine a nutrition / feeding habits component with an exercise regimen component (otherwise you will loose muscle mass).  My experience is that adhesion to a given regimen is really the most important variable, and this is a personal thing.  I think some diets are more effective than others but a 50% effective diet adhered to 100% is better than a 100% effective diet adhered to 30%...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T21:44:33.790" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T21:44:33.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-11T09:16:29.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between 0.5Kg and 0.6Kg per week is safe. &#xA;More may be dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several studies show that &quot;A slow weight loss of 1 or 2 pounds a week, until the desirable body weight is reached, is best.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rockville American Heart Association Nutrition Committee; &#xA;A descriptive study of individuals successful at long-term maintenance of substantial weight loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="343" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T21:29:56.893" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T21:29:56.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2011-03-11T09:18:56.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whole body exercises like deadlifts and squats - with good form!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Swimming is good, but it takes a while to see the effects.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T09:18:56.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="736" CreationDate="2011-03-11T09:21:45.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try  to make 12, with knees support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you can do 12 with knees, then you can do it as usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, to build muscle, try to reach to 12 reps, and then increase the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T09:21:45.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2011-03-11T09:31:04.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd also recommend doing a high rep sets of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good-morning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Good Mornings&lt;/a&gt; with no weight for extra lower back work around the house.  Good mornings hit both the lower back and glutes/hamstrings.  Everything back in that region of your body is connected very tightly so good glutes/hamstrings are just as important to lower back strength and stability as your lower back muscles are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T09:31:04.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8372" CreationDate="2011-03-11T10:09:40.267" Score="15" ViewCount="3628" Body="&lt;p&gt;When specifying sets and reps like 5x5, 3x5, (in general, XxY), which is which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like it usually means &quot;X sets of Y reps.&quot; but on some forums I see logs that seem to indicate that either they are (a) doing dozens of 1 rep sets (which might be valid) or (b) they are using the notation in the other order (i.e. &quot;X reps done Y times&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a &quot;traditional&quot; way of reading/writing these? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T13:42:02.713" Title="Which is which in XxY specifications (i.e. 5x5, 3x5, etc.)?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="757" CreationDate="2011-03-11T10:32:24.787" Score="2" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm attempting to understand if I should be using something other than whey (isolate) protein shake after my gym workouts (weight lifting and core strengthening).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of specific products advertised both on TV, at the gym and at the supplement store that have names like Bulk or hydroxycut as well as many, many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Is the science in on whether these other products have some advantage over &quot;just&quot; taking a straight 100% protein powder mixed with pure water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an elite bodybuilder, just looking to stay fit an healthy and ensure I don't lose any lean muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T10:36:47.840" Title="What if any is the advantage of taking a bulking supplement over just having pure whey protein after a gym session?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="756" CreationDate="2011-03-11T10:36:47.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To build muscle mass you need an excess of calorie intake, over the calories you are burning.  Bulking products will give you maybe 300-400 extra calories per shake in your diet which can be benefit in building muscle mass faster.  However you may also put on more fat than you would with a more pure protein shake.  It depends on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For strength or bodybuilding perhaps a bulking shake would be better, and for less strength orientated athletic performance a more pure shake may be preferable, hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T10:36:47.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="115" CreationDate="2011-03-11T10:38:47.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Non technical answer:&#xA;Yes it's bad for your knees, but everything in life is finite. What's worse is the damage your doing to the rest of your body by being overweight. Running is the quickest way to burn calories. Combined with a small caloric deficit diet and you have the ingredients for losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will you have bad knees when your eighty? Maybe who knows. Will you even get to eighty if your overweight... unlikely...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T10:38:47.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="752" CreationDate="2011-03-11T12:03:43.093" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;3x5 is 3 sets of 5 reps - it follows the same order as when you write or say it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two examples from two well known strength coaches &amp;amp; programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Texas_Method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reduce the volume on Monday. Sometimes&#xA;  the Monday’s workout is too stressful.&#xA;  You need more time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dropping a work set or two (&lt;strong&gt;5x5 becomes 4x5 or 3x5&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T Nation&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each training cycle lasts four weeks,&#xA;  with these set-rep goals for each&#xA;  major lift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 1: 3 x &lt;strong&gt;5&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 2: 3 x &lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 3: 3 x &lt;strong&gt;5, 3, 1&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 4: deloading  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(...)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exercise 1)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Standing shoulder press:  3 sets of:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 1 - &lt;strong&gt;5 reps&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 2 - &lt;strong&gt;3 reps&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 3 - &lt;strong&gt;5/3/1 reps&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Week 4 - &lt;strong&gt;5 reps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:08.433" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:08.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="764" CreationDate="2011-03-11T12:27:17.673" Score="32" ViewCount="8671" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know, that there is the standard 8x8oz glasses or ~ 3 liters of water per day. But today I read, that since about 75% of muscle is water, people using their muscles intensively need more water, about two times as much as standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: at which point does more become too much? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much water can I drink before I start hurting my kidneys?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Background: I'm currently drinking about 5 liters of water per day if training, about 4 if on rest.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T03:29:58.910" Title="How much water is too much?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="760" CreationDate="2011-03-11T12:36:04.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no need to over drink water.  And everyone has different water needs so there is no limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately you have something called a brain that will tell you when your not thirsty anymore!  Drinking excessively past this limit can be bad for your health.  Your brain is good at regulating your thirst, listen to it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would concentrate on rest, eating and your workout program if you want to build muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T12:36:04.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="760" CreationDate="2011-03-11T12:39:59.583" Score="8" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Normal, healthy (physically, nutritionally and mentally) individuals have little reason to worry about accidentally consuming too much water. Nearly all deaths related to water intoxication in normal individuals have resulted either from water drinking contests, in which individuals attempt to consume large amounts of water, or long bouts of intensive exercise during which electrolytes are not properly replenished, yet excessive amounts of fluid are still consumed.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11732457?dopt=Abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  Water can be considered a poison when over-consumed just like any other substance&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[citation needed]&lt;/a&gt;. The recommendation from the medical field is to drink at least 1 to 2 liters per day&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Kidney-stones/Pages/Prevention.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt; depending upon body mass. Water intoxication would only occur at levels far higher than that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="203" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:41.707" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:41.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2011-03-11T12:40:20.783" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a fantastic place to start, do some reading, stick to the program and you will get stronger and bigger - guaranteed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a relative beginner I believe it is much more beneficial to start with a strength program like this.  Otherwise you may struggle to see benefits of a bodybuilding program without the core strength you will gain from Starting Strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T12:40:20.783" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="760" CreationDate="2011-03-11T12:40:22.223" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;The kidneys of a healthy person can process about 15 liters of water a day - well beyond your current intake. The only caveat is that you can't drink it all at once! If you space your water consumption over a long enough time then it's very difficult to induce water intoxication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to drink your normal 5 liters in the span of an hour, say, you will start to get hyponatremia which is the dilution of salt in the body. When that happens you will start to see symptoms similar to being drunk - confusion, lack of balance, etc. If that occurs it's a serious medical condition that could result in your death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink about a gallon or more of water a day and have been doing so for several years. The amount isn't as important as how long it takes you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T18:56:09.707" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:56:09.707" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="767" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="781" CreationDate="2011-03-11T13:16:02.267" Score="2" ViewCount="3670" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does it make any sense to use caffeine/menthol slendering gels? There are many products for women and also some from (I've seen abdomen gel from shiseido). Do such gels work? Do you recommend any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;What I mean by those gels working is: do they really increase fat loss in the areas where you use them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T14:18:42.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:29:54.463" Title="Are slender gels any good?" Tags="&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;gel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:32:45.297" Score="8" ViewCount="494" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard on a podcast that pounds of fat burn calories at a different rate than pounds of muscle.  The thinking is that a pound of fat, sitting idly over the course of the day, requires X calories, whereas a pound of muscle, sitting idly over the course of the day (that is to say, without being vigorously exercised) requires X+Y calories, because muscle is &quot;more expensive&quot; for your body to maintain, nutritionally speaking.  That would seem to imply that if one were to undertake a workout regimen designed to build muscles (lots of strength training, minimal focus on cardiovascular activities) that the additional muscle mass would result in the body burning more calories per day while it was in its &quot;at rest&quot; state.  That would seem to imply that one would then be able to lose some of their fat weight, as they would now have a more favorable ratio of caloric intake to caloric expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a healthful approach to weight loss?  If someone were in a situation where they were overweight (but not yet obese) is strength-training a logical approach to achieving a higher fitness level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="399" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:17:10.400" Title="Strength Training, Muscle Mass, and Weight Loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="771" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:44:54.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a great approach and one that I follow and would recommend.  Free weight training, done correctly (don't overdue it and hurt yourself) is the best for weight lose and overall physical (and mental) improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:44:54.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:48:43.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a great book: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/158333338X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Maximum-Muscle/dp/158333338X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1299858336&amp;amp;sr=8-1&lt;/a&gt; that talks about the 6 basic moves that should be in any strength work out (deadlifts of course being #1).  Full body exercises are the best, don't worry about your biceps and spend some time reviewing your diet.  One of the biggest recent improvements I've made recently is keeping a log of what I'm doing as I work out - it provides insight to where I'm lacking and reinforces the good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:48:43.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2893" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:55:43.340" Score="5" ViewCount="2368" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the link below, Mark Rippetoe of Starting Strength says that when positioning oneself for a bench press:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Lifts#The_Bench_Press&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Lifts#The_Bench_Press&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your eyes should not be gazing&#xA;  directly beneath the bar, but rather&#xA;  looking just past the &quot;foot side&quot; of&#xA;  the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what the &quot;foot side&quot; of the bar is?  When lying on my back, should the bar be right above my eyes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T20:25:54.560" Title="Bench press starting position - what should I be looking at?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="774" CreationDate="2011-03-11T16:05:53.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the bar should be roughly above your eyes. By foot side, he means you should be &lt;em&gt;looking&lt;/em&gt; just slightly towards your feet, rather than straight up at the bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T16:05:53.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="771" CreationDate="2011-03-11T16:18:35.187" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is absolutely a good approach. You get to build up some muscle, and you don't damage your metabolism the way you would with severe calorie restriction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is worth doing a little myth-busting. A pound of muscle will burn more calories per day, but only about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/fitnessqanda/fitnessqanda_display.aspx?CMP=EMC-HET_0309&amp;amp;itemid=358&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;6 more calories&lt;/a&gt; and you'll likely eat a little more to compensate. However, the correlation to fat loss is very real, which I think debunks the oft-quoted but over-simplified &quot;calories in minus calories out&quot; approach, and a couple possible explanations are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A larger percentage of food eaten goes to repairing and further building your muscles and other supporting systems such as skeletal and even cardiovascular instead of being stored as excess energy (fat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra muscle, and in particular the process of building extra muscle, tends to put the body into a favorable hormonal state for fat loss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T16:56:35.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T16:56:35.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="760" CreationDate="2011-03-11T17:23:07.440" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original research that stated we need about 8 glasses of water per day included all sources.  This includes water from food as well as all fluids we drink.  There has never been any reputable research that show we need to drink 8 glasses of water per day in addition to other sources.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following a water contamination disaster in Walkerton, Ontario, Canada it was found that excessive water intake appears to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kidney-friends.net/showthread.php?tid=2091&quot;&gt;damage the kidneys and blood vessels&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to ensure I drink enough that my skin remains flexible, and I need to empty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="404" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T17:23:07.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="767" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:12:24.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I read an article about weight loss medicine and supplements. From what I gathered there (and I tend to believe that)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are is a very little number of prescription drugs that are scientifically (clinical studies) known to reduce weight. Those apparently also have very strong side effects and stomach and liver problems are likely&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most of the supplements do nothing else than making you pee very expensive as there is no measurable effect. Of course due to the placebo effect, some people report to feel better or have faster recovery times after workouts...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: Keeping up your current lifestyle (diet, workout (if any)) and just adding those obscure gels to your diet will have absolutely no effect and the only one loosing in size is your bank account. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now a bit off-topic :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to reduce weight is a good diet based on good, fresh, products and meals cooked from scratch (so you know what is in there) and a balanced workout (gym, running,...). Latter points require a certain amount of self control and the ability to say &quot;No&quot;. My personal method is not to retrain myself from eating e.g. sweets, but a fruit low fat yoghurt with honey and blueberries is just as good as, ehm, custard... so replace bad things, break habits and get yourself the endorphin kick when you succeed &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:12:24.597" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="767" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:19:41.040" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no scientific evidence that these gels work. From a site reviewing a Hoodia weight loss gel:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is not much actual evidence that the Hoodia Slender Gel actually works. However, there seems to be quite a bit of sales copy pointing to the fact that this product may be the very best, lowest priced, most successful, and the strongest.&#xA;  However, not much evidence is offered to this fact. The hugest problem is that there is not yet much evidence that that hoodia Functions trans-dermally (meaning, that it absorbs through the skin).&#xA;  So save your funds for any Hoodia solution that is established to assist suppress your appetite and shed pounds. Don’t waste it on fad items. It is possible that Slender Gel could be one of those fad items. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hoodiareviewed.org/slender-gel-hoodia-review/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the Shiseido site, on the &quot;Body Creator Abdomen Toning Gel&quot;, if you check the &quot;Technology&quot; tab, you'll find a lot of fluff, and an extremely short list of ingredients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Contains Caffeine, Houttuynia Cordata Extract, Red Pepper Extract, and Menthol [...] (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shiseido.co.uk/men/shiseido-men/targeted-solutions/body-creator-abdomen-toning-gel.htm#/men/shiseido-men/targeted-solutions/body-creator-abdomen-toning-gel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine, as we all know, is a stimulant. Caffeine is absorbed through the skin. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&amp;amp;_udi=B6T7W-47555D3-1FX&amp;amp;_user=10&amp;amp;_coverDate=03/15/1994&amp;amp;_rdoc=1&amp;amp;_fmt=high&amp;amp;_orig=gateway&amp;amp;_origin=gateway&amp;amp;_sort=d&amp;amp;_docanchor=&amp;amp;view=c&amp;amp;_searchStrId=1675002562&amp;amp;_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&amp;amp;_acct=C000050221&amp;amp;_version=1&amp;amp;_urlVersion=0&amp;amp;_userid=10&amp;amp;md5=fd7117b3d479bc683c8d1f5550cbee87&amp;amp;searchtype=a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Houttuynia Cordata Extract is an anti-inflammatory. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18325701&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;) It is also an anti-oxidant. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/bitstream/246246/176799/1/13.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Red Peppers are also an anti-oxidant, and also have anti-bacterial properties. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/natural-foods/natural-weight-loss-food-peppers-ga.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Menthol has a wide variety of useful properties, most affecting the skin (anti-inflammatory, anesthetic, etc), but also has a few others, including: decongestant, strengthening the heart muscles, reducing muscle and joint inflammation. It has many other uses, but none are associated with weight loss. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-menthol-supports-your-bodys-health.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is possible that the caffeine in the gel may be able to carry a portion of the houttuynia cordata and red peppers through the skin and into the subcutaneous layer, those elements will effectively be absorbed into the bloodstream and carried and spread throughout the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true of liquid nicotine, if you spill it on your leg (in sufficient quantity) it will kill you. Certainly, it absorbs locally, but it doesn't make your leg fall off. Such items as the red pepper and the menthol will be more noticeable at the localized area because of their extreme effects on the nerve endings and their diminished effects as they are spread thinner through the bloodstream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to test this in theory if you really want to see if it works. Simple method: take yesterday's coffee that was left on the burner overnight, mix it into some menthol rub, add some finely ground red peppers (they will extract into the caffeine/menthol suspension), and you'll have to buy some houttuynia cordata extract. Then rub this concoction on your skin. It will sting and tingle a little bit for a few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final question is: Will it stimulate caloric burn? In order to achieve weight loss, one must burn more calories than they consume. The body's ability to absorb this mixture will require metabolization within the internal organs of the substance absorbed through the skin. This is also true if the substance were ingested. I would say that given the amount of the mixture one might use, it is unlikely that it would stimulate the metabolism enough to make any detectable change on any sensitivity of equipment used for such testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even from the review you linked in comments on your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But then again like many other toning gel, this cannot give you your desired results if you won’t cut your calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, you could acquire the same materials that these gels are primarily comprised of for a fraction of the cost of the gels, and the bottom line is that they will have negligible effects on any stimulation of weight or fat loss. There is no scientific data to support any effect of weight loss, fat loss, or metabolic stimulation from the use of these gels. Simply put, no, they have not been shown to be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T18:29:54.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:29:54.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="715" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:06:04.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seem bodybuilder wearing loads of cloth for their cardio workout just before a competition. They do it to minimize the water body which will in a lean and trained body cause the muscles to appear more defined. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, however, is not healthy. Your body regulates the temperature by sweat that evaporates from your skin and cools the body down (You can cool down a drink in summer by wrapping it in a wet newspaper and put it in the sun - same effect). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sweating more will do not do anything because your body will just be carving for more water after your workout. So wear whatever you are comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:06:04.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="771" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:17:10.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you describe is a good way to increase muscle mass.  In theory, it should also result in lower fat.  However, in practice it's likely that the incremental amount of fat you will lose this way might not be material if you don't also follow some kind of diet / feeding habits change.  But it's an indispensable component of an overall body recomposition strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:17:10.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:27:44.207" Score="29" ViewCount="132967" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says, I would like to know what is the best time to drink water, is it before, during, or after having a meal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also suppose the answer was during, what quantity is recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="408" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T21:12:47.703" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T14:50:12.310" Title="Should I drink water before, during or after eating?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:33:00.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I can answer your question with a single word, it would be &quot;yes&quot;. Water is necessary for the proper digestion of food. Add to that the fact that many people are dehydrated from not enough fluid intake and you could conclud that people should drink water all the time, whether they are eating or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a meal, I would suggest drinking a glass of water. Overall, I would just make sure I don't drink too much: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/760/35&quot;&gt;How much water is too much?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it doubt, drink more water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:33:00.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:36:49.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should drink whenever you feel like it. My grandma always forbade my mom to drink during meals (for whatever reason) but I don't see the point of that and think that it was a 1940s fashion. As other questions pointed out already, it is usually not a good idea to drink a large amount at one point of the day. It is best to spread your water/liquid intake throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to eat my meals with a drink but I tend to drink little or nothing immediately before I go running because I feel sick otherwise. Although I drink about 20-30 minutes before my run because I think it is good to be hydrated properly for the time of the workout. I was never concerned about being dehydrated and running around with a water bottle all day is ridiculous in my humble opinion:) I do 10-15h of sport a week and never crashed because of water deprivation. So, listen to your body and you will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="405" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-04-19T14:50:12.310" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T14:50:12.310" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="740" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:27:24.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to talk to a real doctor and see what's been damaged and take proper physical therapy for it. At this late juncture, full recovery via physical therapy may be a bit too late. It's very important to go to a medical doctor when an injury like this occurs. By medical doctor I mean M.D. not D.C. A chiropractor is a D.C, not an M.D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:27:24.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:55:06.783" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A link from Mayo Clinic. &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/digestion/AN01776&quot;&gt;In fact, drinking water during or after a meal can actually improve digestion.&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt;  There are proponents on all sides of this question, and at this point I can't find enough definitive information that could cause me (or cause anyone to worry about it very much) to drink or not drink during a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can find no mention of whether to drink water before, during or after meals in 2 references so far. One is &lt;em&gt;Understanding Nutrition, 10th Ed., Whitney/Rolfes&lt;/em&gt; a college nutrition text. Nor in the &lt;em&gt;Ace Personal Trainer Manual, 3rd Ed., American Council on Exercise&lt;/em&gt;. Both texts suggest the typical daily 8 glasses, but not necessarily as &lt;em&gt;glasses&lt;/em&gt; of water, since a considerable amount of one's daily needs come with food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was some research reported in a number of popular news media outlets at the end of 2010 that suggests drinking water &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; meals can be conducive to losing weight. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/health/16really.html&quot;&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/health/16really.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Water.html&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;There is no magic number in prescribing the amount of water to consume throughout the day. The optimal amount varies according to body size, activity level, enviornmental factors, and diet.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I watched my grandparents live well (healthily) into their 90's drinking either coffee, water, or sweet iced tea with every meal. I actually never even thought about this question, but tend to drink beverages with meals dependent on whether the food is moist or dry and whether I'm thirsty or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="203" LastEditorUserId="203" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T22:02:23.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T22:02:23.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:59:01.427" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an excerpt from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://gutsandblackstuff.com/2010/03/07/dont-drink-and-digest/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blog post&lt;/a&gt; I did a while back addressing this question: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The “plug” in the bottom of your&#xA;  stomach is a stoma not a valve. It can&#xA;  be pushed open, so when you drink&#xA;  during a meal the liquid can push the&#xA;  food out of your stomach pouch and&#xA;  down into your intestines. There are&#xA;  two reasons you should care:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This frees up extra room in your&#xA;  stomach pouch so you’ll eat more&#xA;  during that meal. You’ll feel hungry&#xA;  again sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A recommendation that I’ve stumbled&#xA;  across is the 15/30 rule. Don’t drink&#xA;  anything from 15 minutes before a meal&#xA;  until 30 minutes after a meal. This&#xA;  isn’t a license to under-hydrate, just&#xA;  a guideline on when to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; The comment thread has indicated a desire for &quot;proof&quot; (pedants! :-) ), so here is some reference information and some reasoning built on top of that in support of the above hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the amount of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/stomach/emptying.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fluid in the stomach is positively correlated with the rate of gastric emptying&lt;/a&gt;. It so happens that 30 minutes is an approximate inflection point in the gastric emptying of both a solid and liquid meal, per the chart below (same source).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dtZ2b.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Gastric emptying rate of solid and fluid meals&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll assert that drinking water will render the net contents of the stomach more fluid, moving the gastric emptying rate from the blue curve towards the red curve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to confirm the conclusion that avoiding liquid during the meal will help stave off the next bout of hunger because a more solid meal will take longer to empty. The 15 minutes before also seems to fit, as roughly half of liquid consumed 15 minutes beforehand will have been emptied before the meal starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one further considers the dynamics, drinking water immediately before a meal will help fill up the stomach and reduce immediate hunger but will cause that meal to be digested faster, so I hypothesize that you will be hungrier sooner with this approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T05:47:16.550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T05:47:16.550" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:04:41.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/pot.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Potassium&lt;/a&gt; helps a great deal. Keep in mind when you're lifting, you're tearing muscle fibers (That's how your muscles grow). It actually helps more of the stiffness than soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another (and better IMO) method is to get a high quality whey protein powder with high amounts of branch chain amino-acids, which protect and decrease muscle damage/inflammation. So protein powders or EAAs supplements high in BCAAs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Taken post work out you should notice a difference and it's a good idea anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you give proper rest between sets. 30-60 seconds between sets is optimal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/south127.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article about DOMS&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-09T09:37:09.900" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T09:37:09.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="792" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="907" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:15:52.440" Score="34" ViewCount="8563" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently taking in 100 grams a day of protien via whey powder. I used to take 250 grams when I was training. I've read that you should intake 1 gram per pound of body weight you have when training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen numbers such as between 0.8 and 1 gram of protein per kilogram of weight a day (about 7 grams per 20 pounds. So a person who weighs 150 pounds would need around 52 grams a day.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm ~250lbs right now. I was 260 but I'm cutting wieght to 240. I'm not doing any serious training right now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: To be clear, my question is about how much is too much for the body before seeing side effects such as kidney problems, digestion problems, etc. Not necessarily about wieght loss. At my body weight, how much is too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-22T00:23:47.650" LastActivityDate="2018-12-17T17:12:41.167" Title="Protein: How much is too much?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="752" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:25:32.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends where the word is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;5 x 10 pushups&#xA;5 x 15 situps&#xA;5 x 50 jumping jacks&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks a lot nicer than&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;10 pushups x 5&#xA;15 situps x 5&#xA;50 jumping jacks x 5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prettier way to write it would be the first option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="364" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T22:25:32.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="797" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:59:16.630" Score="3" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at charts they will all say that I'm obese or worse. I'm 6'1&quot; ~250 (dropping to 240) but I'm not &quot;fat&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These charts seem to base it on the fact that my weight vs my height is not in proportion. According to those charts I should be 150-170 (which IMO is far too small. Not to offend anyone.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't this be based on body fat % instead of weight vs height? What body fat % should be considered obese?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is the term obese not meaning &quot;fat&quot; but &quot;weight overall relative to what your heart can handle&quot; which would have those charts making more sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:02:31.953" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:02:31.953" Title="What is &quot;obese&quot;?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="796" CreationDate="2011-03-11T23:35:34.167" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Simple BMI is the one which doesn't take the ratio of lean to fat mass into consideration.  If you are athletic or muscular it has less value than if you are not.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obese means you are carrying an unhealthy amount of weight as fat.  So a true measure would have to include body fat %.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason the Simple BMI exists is it is good as a &quot;general&quot; measure.  When I weighed nearly 300 lbs, I would frequently remark that BMI was meaningless without fat % consideration.  However I acknowledged that it was probably closer to accurate for me than it would be if I was heavily muscled and athletic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are BMI calculations that take body fat % into account, but to make use of them you need some way to reliably measure your body fat%.  There are many methods, but discussing them is out of scope for this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ASIDE:&#xA;For the record, I'm an endurance athlete now.  I'm 6'2&quot; and weigh 175 lbs with a body fat % hovering around 10%.  You do not offend me, but I am &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; too small by any stretch.  I wear size small mens t-shirts but I get funny looks when I say so because I have a long torso and am fairly broad chested.  I will acknowledge that I'm not particularly muscular above the waist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="204" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T23:35:34.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="796" CreationDate="2011-03-11T23:35:44.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6.1 and 196 lbs (89kg) and according to BMI overweight too. The BMI measurement claims for my height I should be 82kg, in order to simply not be obese. This measurement doesn't factor in that muscle weighs more than fat. It's such a stupid measure of obesity but is still used in gyms, by doctors and health insurance. It shouldn't be taken as an exact measurement point, but a guide to get within. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ivo has a good answer on body fat measurement &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat/266#266&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Unless you happen to be a student on a University course for nutrition/fitness and have access to the modern measurement techniques that outdate BMI, sticking to BMI is good enough but give it quite a bit a approximatation, I use +- 4kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Here's an interesting new alternative to BMI called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/oby201138a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BAI&lt;/a&gt; (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20928030.200-obesity-expert-a-better-fat-measure-than-bmi.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; on obesity)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:12:38.180" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="822" CreationDate="2011-03-11T23:52:09.880" Score="10" ViewCount="3707" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since being told that biceps are bad for punching speed, I've toned down the amount of pull-ups I do, and switched to a wide grip with palms facing away to emphasize the lats more than the biceps. Now I'm worried whether lats are also bad for punching speed... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard that triceps-training exercises like push-ups are good, particularly if you can do them plyometrically (i.e. with a &quot;hop&quot; at the top). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other exercises are good, or bad, for punching and kicking speed? Any suggestions would be appreciated, though I would prefer exercises that can be done at home (e.g. calisthenics). I would also accept answers to the slightly different question &quot;what muscles are good/bad to train&quot;, without recommending particular exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Thanks for the many responses. One thing that would be greatly appreciated are some suggestions of exercises for training kick speed, since nobody has commented on that yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT #2:&lt;/strong&gt; As has been commented below, speed and accuracy are more a matter of muscle coordination than muscle strength. However, I was thinking of starting martial arts classes in the summer, so I'm hoping to get exercise tips, to better direct my workouts until then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="412" LastEditorUserId="412" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T22:48:34.813" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T09:08:54.407" Title="what exercises are good (and bad) for striking speed in martial arts?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2011-03-11T23:54:18.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/health/16really.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;New York Times&lt;/em&gt; article&lt;/a&gt; claims you should drink water before eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the most recent [study], a randomized trial published in the journal Obesity in February, scientists at Virginia Tech followed a group of overweight subjects age 55 and up on low-calorie diets for about three months. &lt;strong&gt;Half the people were told to drink two cups of water before every meal. At the end of the study, the water group had lost an average of 15.5 pounds, compared with 11 pounds in the other group&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="398" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T23:54:18.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:34:36.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No exercise is &quot;bad&quot; for punching speed.  You may not want to add additional mass since fighting in a higher weight class is less than awesome, but bicep exercise will not inhibit you punching speed.  You will want to focus on training your fast twitch muscle my doing exercise that are focussed on delving power as quickly as possible.  Think explosive type pll ups where you clap your hands or medicine ball throws where you try to throw it as far as possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T00:34:36.150" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="740" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:18:44.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes -- my suggestion is that you need to see a doctor and get a diagnosis.  When you say &quot;jammed my shoulder&quot;, that could mean any number of injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I have had shoulder pain in my left shoulder when raising my left arm outwards, for about three months.  I waited about a month for it to get better, and finally saw a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I saw my doctor, he had me perform a number of different movements while providing resistance with his hands.  He diagnosed me with something called &quot;sub-acromial bursitis&quot;.  This is an inflammation of a fluid filled sack (a bursa) in the shoulder joint.  I have been seeing a physical therapist for about six weeks, once a week, and performing exercises at home every other day.  The physical therapist leads me through specific exercises, and also treats the area with ultrasound.  The discomfort and pain is very slowly improving.  I am also taking Aleve (Naproxen) to help reduce the inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your shoulder injury, you may need physical therapy, corticosteroid injections, surgery or other treatment.  Only a doctor can determine this for sure.  My experience has been that shoulder injuries take a long time to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="417" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:18:44.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2011-03-12T02:10:34.177" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't underestimate the importance of just exercising your technique for increasing speed. Often the problem is not so much how fast can you throw your hand forward, but how fast can you do it correctly, with the proper rhythm, form etc. That's what makes a correct quick punch difficult to do. It's not so much the muscle contraction, it's that there are many things that need to happen all at once. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T02:10:34.177" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="736" CreationDate="2011-03-12T06:56:02.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kettlebells.com.au/store/plyometric-boxes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plyo box&lt;/a&gt; or something similar. So you put your hands on the top edges of the box and do a push up as normal. Use a shorter box to make it more difficult until you can do them off the ground. I feel this is better than knee push ups if you need to scale the movement since to me they feel closer to real pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T17:11:00.050" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:11:00.050" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="806" CreationDate="2011-03-12T09:44:27.340" Score="10" ViewCount="1030" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a sprinter around the grand old age of 21.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At our track, there is a lot of debate of whether cold bath (or ice bath if you're brave enough) aids recovery of the muscle. What are your opinions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other post-training techniques that you would recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dont think this has to be sport-specific, as it will easily go across the board for most sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="420" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-10-22T19:34:22.117" LastActivityDate="2011-10-22T19:34:22.117" Title="Cold Bath After Training - Recovery Techniques" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="805" CreationDate="2011-03-12T12:52:14.870" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Wikipedia article about Running states:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cold bath is a popular treatment of subacute injuries or inflammation, muscular strains, and overall muscular soreness, but its efficacy is controversial.[14] Some claim that for runners in particular, ice baths offer two distinct improvements over traditional techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, immersion allows controlled, even constriction around all muscles, effectively closing microscopic damage that cannot be felt and numbing the pain that can. One may step into the tub to relieve sore calves, quads, hams, and connective tissues from hips to toes will gain the same benefits, making hydrotherapy an attractive preventive regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second advantage involves a physiological reaction provoked by the large amount of muscle submerged. Assuming one has overcome the mind's initial flight response in those first torturous minutes, the body fights back by invoking a &amp;quot;blood rush&amp;quot;. This rapid transmission circulation flushes the damage-inflicting waste from the system, while the cold water on the outside preserves contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sampleworkouts/a/Ice-Bath.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reference: [14] is a decent About.com review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cebp.nl/vault_public/filesystem/?ID=3149&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a study by Sellwood et al&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;Ice-water immersion and delayed-onset muscle soreness: a randomised controlled trial&amp;quot; found no significant changes in pain parameters, tenderness, isometric strength, swelling, hop-for-distance or serum creatine kinase (CK) over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18058595&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vaile et al found in their study&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;Effect of hydrotherapy on recovery from fatigue&amp;quot; that: &lt;code&gt;Sprint (0.1 - 2.2 %) and a total of 9-min sustained effort (time trial - TT) (0.0 - 1.7 %) performance were enhanced across the five-day trial following cold water immersion (CWI) and contrast water therapy (CWT), when compared to hot water immersion (HWI) and passive recovery (PAS).&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would therefore hypothesize that the effect of a cold water bath may depend on the type of workout and the intensity thereof. Given that you're a sprinter, perhaps it can be beneficial when you've done a high intensity workout where you are more likely to have microscopic damage than during an endurance training. But then again, that's just my hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T12:52:14.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="805" CreationDate="2011-03-12T21:36:06.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, I find it good if I have done a really tough session, and if I dont I do feel I am more stiff and sore the next day. However, for a minor or easy session I dont think it is necessary, nor should it be a daily thing. I think the post-session warm-down and stretching is more important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user426" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T21:36:06.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="815" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:53:42.590" Score="20" ViewCount="3142" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is increasing strength, must you always train to the point where you feel the burn later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T02:49:05.507" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T06:39:01.233" Title="Do you need to &quot;feel the burn&quot; to become stronger?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="812" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:21:30.053" Score="3" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should I choose a multi-vitamin as a man? Should I just try and get the most potency/per dollar product? Are there any well known generally accepted superior brands?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="430" LastEditorUserId="160" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T11:26:06.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T06:53:35.997" Title="How Should I Choose A Multi-Vitamin Designed for Men?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T19:43:41.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="811" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:40:21.410" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;To increase strength, you must effectively break down your muscle tissue so that, when it heals, it comes back stronger than before.  This means that, to some extent, you must &quot;feel the burn&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, after the workout, you must give yourself proper nutrition in the form of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, as well as give yourself plenty of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, you'll feel less sore after the workouts as your body adapts and becomes stronger.  With that said, you should never exercise to the point where you are in physical pain.  Soreness and pain are different animals, minimal soreness can be good both mentally and physically.  If you are feeling pain, that means that you're doing something wrong, and you should make adjustments to prevent the pain from recurring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:40:21.410" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="811" CreationDate="2011-03-13T02:32:22.517" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not. Training for powerlifting (completely strength-oriented) involves avoiding failure, keeping the number of reps low, and resting a lot between sets, none of which are really conducive to &quot;burn&quot; during a workout or soreness afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pavel Tsatsouline gave this answer to a similar question during an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/the_evil_russian_speaks_part_2&quot;&gt;interview&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One thing is for sure, you can’t use&#xA;  soreness as an indicator of progress.&#xA;  The only meaningful gauge is the&#xA;  increase in your strength or your&#xA;  muscle mass. Soreness doesn’t mean a&#xA;  thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on the likelihood of soreness from powerlifting-style training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If they go to low rep, heavy,&#xA;  non-exhaustive training — three sets&#xA;  of three or five sets of five — they&#xA;  would not get sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:32:22.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="811" CreationDate="2011-03-13T03:33:00.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to believe you had to &quot;feel the burn&quot; for a long time, until I heard an expert (sorry but I forgot who it was), explaining that the &quot;burn&quot; is actually the body's signal for us to stop. It's like the safe limit, the point where lactic acid begins to build up a bit too much, and the time where you need to take a break before going again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Natural pains after &quot;working out&quot;, are pretty fine, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T03:33:00.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-03-13T12:46:04.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had knee pain and these two exercises helped me to strengthen my knees. After some weeks, the pain disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyvSfVjQeL0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leg extensions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tq3QdYUuHs&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prone Leg Curl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I recomend you to visit a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T12:46:04.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="812" CreationDate="2011-03-13T16:57:38.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your age. How old you are can determine what things you need to focus on. Men's formulas have varying amounts of ingredients (like small amounts of iron). Some increase certain ingredients to help focus on specific areas (memory, prostate, cholesterol etc). My suggestion is you get a physical and talk to your doctor about the results and discuss what you should be taking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, just grab a centrum for men. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T16:57:38.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="792" CreationDate="2011-03-13T18:54:02.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According M.D. Nick Evans to lose weight need a diet of 50% protein, 40% carbohydrates, 10% fat and a negative caloric balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that 1 gr. proteins are 4 kcal then you can calculate how much protein do you need to lose weight without losing muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: On a diet of 2200 kcal you need to eat 275gr of protein.&#xA;(2200x0.5) / 4 = 275gr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just only need to know how many calories you need to eat to be in a negative balance. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T18:54:02.633" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="821" CreationDate="2011-03-13T21:39:36.907" Score="6" ViewCount="727" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 41, regular gym visitor for one year, general fitness level &quot;OK but not great&quot;. Recently I started to enjoy a kickbox aerobics course at my gym. I realized I hardly ever trained such rapid movements (except in soccer), but I'm improving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, during the workout I cannot make the roundhouse kicks parallel to the ground without losing control, let alone make high kicks. What should I do to improve that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focusing on the muscles in the legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;focusing on the core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;becoming more flexible in general (I know, only slight improvements possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all of the above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the answer is &quot;all of the above&quot;. But how to start? Any suggestions for a good compilation of exercises on the gym machines or choosing a supplemental course? What to avoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T21:38:41.277" Title="kickbox aerobics: want to make higher roundhouse kicks" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="820" CreationDate="2011-03-14T02:09:00.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think it's more of a combination of hamstring and hip strength and flexibility...I would recommend step ups, squats and dynamic stretching  - here's a link to some: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/7-dynamic-stretches-to-improve-your-hip-mobility/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/7-dynamic-stretches-to-improve-your-hip-mobility&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The steps to success here are: technique, speed and then power...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T02:09:00.527" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2011-03-14T02:16:59.507" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First - don't focus on single muscles - muscles do not work independent from each other.  A punch is a combination of shoulder, lats, delts (I don't think biceps really come into play-at least in a major way).  The biggest inhibitor to speed is muscle tension, if you feel yourself tensing while delivery, you're slowing yourself down.  Plyometric pushups (clapping pushups) are great, band resistance training is good (rows, presses), but what I would think is the #1 way to improve speed and strength is using a heavy bag....one last bit of advice: it's not speed that's important, it's timing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T02:16:59.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-03-14T02:34:37.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knee pain can have many causes which can't be resolved in the scope of an internet forum, but squatting, with or without weight, is an excellent natural motion that helps in strengthening all the components of the knee. To build endurance and strength gradually over time, I recommend twohundredsquats.com. If basketball on a hard surface is your only knee exercise, that is pretty tough. I recommend sprinting barefoot on grass, sand or track surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T02:34:37.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="820" CreationDate="2011-03-14T05:07:18.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most often when I see this it's not a fitness issue at all, it's technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One particular technique issue: you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; turn your hips as you kick (so that if you stopped at the high point and just put your foot down your be facing 90 degree from your original heading).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're doing that you should have better balance in the kick. &lt;em&gt;Then&lt;/em&gt; if you want to stop and recover the kick, you'll probably need more core strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;// Yes, there are systems that teach round kicks wihtout the hip turn. I even see value in kicks executed that way. And I'd still teach them this way at the start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T05:07:18.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="792" CreationDate="2011-03-14T06:47:50.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The information you are asking about is not well known. We know that excess protein can stress the kidneys, but so far there is really no evidence that higher amounts of protein can damage healthy kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a fair amount of evidence that many of us eat too much protein. In addition, countries that eat more animal protein have higher rates of cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to stay closer to the lower end of protein intake and only increase to the point it shows improved performance and no more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="442" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T06:47:50.057" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="812" CreationDate="2011-03-14T06:53:35.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend against getting the highest potency for the dollar. Quality matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher quality supplements tend to be better absorbed and utilized by the body. Mega dozes of cheap supplements generally have a high percent pass through unused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, some research suggests unnatural forms of supplements may not provide the same benefits or may even be harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally buy New Chapter which is very expensive. It's actually made from cultured and fermented real foods and is highly absorbable even though cheaper brands may provide higher dozes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="442" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T06:53:35.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="830" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="831" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:28:30.863" Score="5" ViewCount="2953" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using my stationary bike to do cardio 3 times a week for about 50 minutes each session for almost 2 months now.  When I started off, I found it very uncomfortable to sit on the seat, so I got a softer seat, which didn't really help.  Now after about 30 minutes into the session, I find it very painful, and am sore for about 2 days after finishing a session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to avoid getting sore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T15:40:09.277" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T16:12:41.267" Title="Stationary cycling and soreness" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="830" CreationDate="2011-03-14T14:18:22.257" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're getting a rash or hives from your thighs rubbing together or against the seat, there are several things you can do to help it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, wear tighter shorts when&#xA;working out. If your thighs can't rub&#xA;together, they wont cause a problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear fitness shorts - running shorts,&#xA;biker shorts, etc. Try to avoid&#xA;cotton and buy the ones that feel&#xA;slippery in the store.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear spandex bike pants under your&#xA;shorts. Two layers of protection for&#xA;extra comfort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If all else fails, use Vaseline or&#xA;Body Glide to lubricate the areas&#xA;that are rubbing together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T14:18:22.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:50:50.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an ACL reconstruction patient, I was told to always stretch before you do anything.  Work on hamstring, calf, leg extension, and knee bend stretch before you do anything physical.  These are the exercises that i do to strengthen my knee back to 100%:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static, side, split-squats, ploymetric lunges:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Static lunges are great for working all the major muscles of the hips, glutes and thighs. In this version of lunges, you're simply dropping your knee down rather than stepping forward or back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;side lunges are similar to static but you are basically stepping to the side to work the lateral movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split-squats can be done with or without weights(dumbbell or barbell).  There are different variations of split-squats you can do it with dumbbell with one leg elevated on a chair and squad down as if you are doing static lunges or you can use barbell without elevation and position barbell on back of shoulders and grasp barbell to sides. Stand with feet far apart; one foot forward and other foot behind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyometric lunges involves fast pace, burst movement, and balance coordination. This is more advance form of lunges and builds strength.  They come in many different forms one example would be &quot;Mary Katherine Lunges&quot; where you basically repeatedly doing static lunges with a jump in between each rep with little down town as possible.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="92" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T17:39:00.880" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:39:00.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="830" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:51:31.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what Sparafusile said, you may want to get a cut-out seat like this to help alleviate the pressure on certain areas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/52hWh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cut-out seat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, a firm (but not hard) seat may help reduce friction since you won't be sinking into it and moving as much as you pedal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:51:31.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="839" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:36:54.070" Score="7" ViewCount="7576" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just what the title says. What will be the tradeoff of losing weight only by running on a treadmill instead of doing separate muscle group workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T23:34:10.340" Title="Will I effectively lose weight only by running? Is it better than doing full body workout?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="805" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:47:19.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, it helped me a lot when I was running. Bear in mind, though, that I'm talking long distances and 2-3 hour runs, so pretty much the opposite of sprinting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to get shin splints on the inside of my lower leg and was in almost permanent pain unless I kept up with my cold baths. Also useful was to rub ice cubes on the area which was inflamed. So I think ice baths are great for inflamation and injuries, maybe not AS useful for general recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:47:19.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:01:19.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One unexpected thing that worked very well for my trapeziums was carrying a heavy backpack during my University days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a business-styled backpack with a flat back, with firm, comfortable and thin belts that would use the clavicle as hook and place all the weight from the backpack on the shoulder, which I believe wasn't designed for the heavy load I had to carry around. I generally carried around ~15kg/~33lbs: my 17'' laptop, it's AC adapter and a lot of heavy books. Every day, I would stand for several hours and spend an hour or two walking in a fast pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consider this as a supplement to your shoulder exercises. I had sore muscles the first month, but afterwards I wouldn't ever even notice the load I was carrying and it felt I could go for much much more before I'd feel any strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="441" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:01:19.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:18:24.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your pace, you'll most likely be doing an aerobic exercise, since endurance is essential for running. You'll be using a lot of muscle groups on your legs mainly to maintain forward moment and to some extent your back muscles for balancing, rotating the rib cage and to improve your air flow, depending on your running style. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's already a large surface, so expect to burn fat effectively. You'll be toning the muscles that are heavily involved in the exercise, but you won't be gaining any considerable mass, which is sometimes hard to achieve if you get too carried away when focusing on a certain muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="441" LastEditorUserId="441" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T17:24:14.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:24:14.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:24:31.573" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Losing weight is more about burning calories than using different muscles.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running has several advantages: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it's weight bearing, so you are your own workout tool. The harder you run, the more energy it will require: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qHyJK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running uses more than just the legs, because you have to stabilize your torso against the swings of your legs. This trains your abdomen and uses the arms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;everybody knows how to run, because it's just a faster way of walking. Not everyone knows how to properly lift weights or perform other workouts (without training).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running is easy to maintain for long stretches of time when done at a moderate speed, yet burns a lot of calories in the process. This is excellent for burning fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running has a very constant rate of burning calories, whereas most other exercises like lifting weights often consist of bursts of high intensity workouts. The high intensity means you're burning more glycogen rather than fat, compared to during a moderate running workout, even though you can feel exhausted after both.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So no, you don't have to do anything else but running&lt;/strong&gt;, however if you want to loose more weight: run more! Be careful for working out too often, too hard or too long, it might get you injured. Instead, focus on building up a better fitness and in a couple of months you'll be able to run longer and more often, that's when you really start to loose weight. So just be patient!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:24:31.573" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:42:55.660" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is only losing weight you're after, then Yes, as Ivo Flipse stated, running will do you loads of good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I don't approve of only losing weight, as in loosing only fat. That is probably going to leave you in a great athletic shape, but with not much upper body strength. Therefore I would encourage you to do at least some upper body training, eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chinups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/prison-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;playing cards&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, you will,&lt;/strong&gt; but probably not much muscle gain in that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:42:55.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:16:22.887" Score="10" ViewCount="3234" Body="&lt;p&gt;Various weightlifting and exercise resources either claim that ATG squats (a**-to-ground, i.e. as low as you can) are perfectly fine or claim they will destroy your knees in two sessions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone has any insight as to what is going on here. Will a properly performed (weighted) squat that brings legs below parallel to the ground have any greater negative impact on the knees or other joints compared to parallel squats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets assume for a moment we aren't talking about competitive weightlifting weights, so with a squat weight smaller than 1.5x your body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I side with the &quot;it won't do anything wrong&quot; side, considering that  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With bar weight at approximately your body mass you could exchange the bar with squatting on one leg, i.e. this is strain your body is &quot;designed&quot; to be able to withstand.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you assume that there is the possibility of excess joint strain, you would be seeing epidemic levels of knee injuries among competitive weightlifters, who routinely go below parallel in the clean&amp;amp;jerk, with &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; greater weight, and while weightlifters can get various joint injuries, I haven't seen anything demonstrating that injuries are more biased towards the knee. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="448" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-12T13:51:19.697" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T14:47:01.553" Title="Joint impact of ATG Squats" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:30:03.567" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on what your goal is.  If you're just looking to lose weight, either running or some full body/body weight routine is fine.  Part of the deciding factor is if there's other goals you're looking to achieve, if you have any health limitations, time limitations, etc.  Take a look at fitdeck (www.fitdeck.com) for an example of some full body/body weight exercises that you can do in a limited space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:30:03.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:36:11.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at FitDeck (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitdeck.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.fitdeck.com&lt;/a&gt;) - basically playing card exercises used/developed by the Navy Seals.  You may also want to look into Tabat interval training - some of the most intense/quick  routines developed to build indurance and strength (4 exercises, each of which you do 8 x 20 seconds sets of with 10 second rest periods - sounds easy until you do them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:36:11.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="845" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:41:35.453" Score="15" ViewCount="2196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear a lot of people talking about going to the gym to &quot;tone&quot; up their muscles. What they usually do to improve their tone is to do relatively high reps with relatively low weights - say 30-50 reps with 30-50% max. These exercises are done without changing anything else about their diet or exercise routine. Does this sort of workout successfully tone specific muscles or a person's entire body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clarification: I'm using the word &quot;tone&quot; to mean &quot;improving the shapeliness of existing muscle&quot; rather than the scientific definition &quot;muscle tension at rest&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-24T02:42:59.150" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T20:09:39.907" Title="Is it possible to &quot;tone&quot; up your muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="843" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:05:19.843" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a source, but there is no such thing as &quot;improving the shapeliness of existing muscle&quot; - you are either adding, maintaining, or decreasing the amount of your muscle mass. You can't improve the appearance of your muscles without either adding muscle mass or decreasing fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of the discussion of &quot;toning&quot; seems to come out of a fear that some people have that after lifting just a few weights, they'll walk out of the gym looking like an Olympic-class bodybuilder, which is just completely ridiculous - it would be like thinking that a few golf lessons would turn you into Tiger Woods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="354" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T19:05:19.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="843" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:16:46.363" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Toning exercises are done to teach the body to more efficiently conserve it's resources (such as oxygen) and to build endurance. Doing that many reps with that light of weights is likely not achieving much of an effect at all. Your muscles are developed by use, and that easy of an exercise relates closer to cardio than to a true workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, there are two types of muscle tone: myogenic and neurogenic. The former refers to your muscle tone at rest; the latter refers to muscle tone that's expressed when muscular contractions occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low(er) rep training increases the sensitivity of various motor units resulting in increased neurogenic tone. On the other hand, myogenic tone is correlated with the overall density of your muscles (specifically the contractile proteins myosin and actin) and is vastly improved by lifting heavier weights. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/4-things-your-girlfriend-should-know-revisted/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, you can do more reps with lighter weights to make your muscles look better in a relaxed state, and less reps with heavier weights to make them look better in a contracted state. As a general rule, I've always been told to use the maximum weight you can do 12 reps with for toning, and the maximum weight you can do 7 reps with for building. The same article I've quoted there also says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;... utilizing light weights (anything above twelve reps in my book) while dieting will likely result in loss of muscle, which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T20:09:39.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:44:28.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always told that cardio helped you lose weight while running but building muscles helped you lose weight while you're not at the gym.  I lost 50 pounds last year and what I did was have a days of cardio(spinning, kickboxing) and then 2 days of weight training.  But to try to get the best of both worlds on my weight training days I would start with a run for 15-30 minutes and get my heart rate up, then do my weight training while my heart rate was elevated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a heart reate monitor, so when it dropped below a certain level then I'd go back on the tredmill and get my heart rate back up. This way my weight training was also like a cardo  session as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="452" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:44:28.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:58:22.700" Score="4" ViewCount="877" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing bench presses, both the left and right areas of my shoulders make this really loud clicking sound and it feels as if the bones are clicking against each other.  This has been happening for a few months now.  I thought it would go away, however it remains exactly the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:38:30.650" Title="Clicking and clicking noise with bench presses" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="850" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:01:24.400" Score="4" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be better to spread my workout into two different shifts, or better to do it all at once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My focus is to lose fat, gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5'11&quot;, weight 185 lbs and I'm 26 years old.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trulyhuge.com/news/tips63jb.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I currently use Arnold's weight lifting program which I found on the web.&lt;/a&gt;  Then I do post workout cardio, 45 minutes of elliptical and 15 minutes of treadmill at 3.5 - 4.0 speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of doing half the weight lifting in the morning with the full cardio program mentioned above.  Then doing the rest of the weight lifting at night with another full cardio program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T21:17:48.093" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:59:28.590" Title="Spreading workout into two" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="849" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:10:17.527" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Idealy you would do the workout all at once, and then spread out your cardio if you enjoy going more than once a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with doing the scenario you describe is that depending on the intensity of the workout in the morning, you may be over doing it at night before your body has a chance to repair. This is especially true if your second workout is heavily using the muscles you already damaged earlier in the day. While your muscles may have recovered enough to 'do' the exercises, you might end up over-working them to the point of ineffectiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if your schedule only leaves you with a few days a week to work out and you want to cover more specific workouts, you can try to pair up antagonist/unused muscle groups in the morning/night. For instance you could do a Back workout in the morning, and instead of doing the common pairing of Back and Biceps (I don't know about you, but my Biceps are quite well used after a Back workout!), you could do Triceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get even more specific in your workouts you could pair true antagonist muscle groups (using their full names) into splitting up workouts into morning and night:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectorals/latissimus dorsi (pecs and lats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anterior deltoids/posterior deltoids (front and back shoulder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trapezius/deltoids (traps and delts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abdominals/spinal erectors (abs and lower-back : caution here, do abs first!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left and right external obliques (sides)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadriceps/hamstrings (quads and hams)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shins/calves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps/triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forearm flexors/extensors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="453" LastEditorUserId="453" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T21:23:04.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:23:04.177" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="848" CreationDate="2011-03-14T22:13:35.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there is just one advice that can be given in this case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;See a doctor!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else would be plain bad for you. This is something that cannot be answered correctly without a physical exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear, that this &quot;clicking&quot; is not something that should be happening normally and should be taken care of by a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T22:13:35.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="830" CreationDate="2011-03-14T22:29:55.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is that your saddle should be just wide enough for your 'sit bones' to be supported and no wider.  A seat that is too wide for your anatomy is bound to cause chafing, and a seat that is too narrow is bound to cause discomfort due to the flesh in-between the sit bones supporting more load than it's designed for.  Also, consider some adjustment to the seat angle -- the most comfortable positions tend to be perfectly flat, or with the front of the seat angled upwards slightly (which may be a bit counter-intuitive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A nice primer on the topic can be found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sheldon Brown's website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="456" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:31.543" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:31.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="856" CreationDate="2011-03-14T22:39:04.813" Score="5" ViewCount="3470" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some good exercise programs to lose as much body fat possible in a short period of time, but still keeping it healthy.  A treadmill and elliptical is available to me 24/7.  I am 5'11&quot; and weight 185lbs, and I have lots of body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:17:44.187" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T15:09:21.497" Title="How much cardio to lose body fat fast and healthy" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:46:20.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding energy use in exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 kilocalorie = 3,085.96 foot pounds &#xA;(Don't believe me? Type &quot;1 Calorie in foot pounds&quot; into google)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A kilocalorie is the same thing as a food Calorie.&#xA;A foot pound is the amount of work it takes to raise a weight of one pound by one foot against standard gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your basic 100 Calorie snack pack thus contains enough energy for you to lift a 154 ton object a distance of one foot, or for a 150 pound person to climb a 2057 foot cliff (assuming perfect muscle efficiency).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changing your diet by restricting Calories is far more effective for weight loss than running, or pumping iron. When I do 3 sets of 10 leg presses at 450 Lbs, I'm lifting the equivalent of 27,000 pound through a distance of 1 foot (450 X 2ft X 30 = 27,000), But that takes only 9 Calories to do. That's just slightly more than what I'd get eating half a teaspoon of sugar (15 Cal/tsp).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user461" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:46:20.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="858" CreationDate="2011-03-15T00:09:49.360" Score="5" ViewCount="32206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some way to exercise my upper trapezius muscles using only my body weight. Normally, this would be accomplished with shrugs or upright rowing, but without weight, shrugs and rowing are practically useless. I think every other muscle gets hit during my workout cycle, but I'm missing my upper traps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erb%27s_palsy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Erb's Palsy&lt;/a&gt; (right arm) due to a birth injury, and hence cannot do handstands of any kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T05:03:27.483" LastActivityDate="2018-11-29T09:01:36.967" Title="Body-weight exercises to target Trapezius muscles?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;body-weight-lift&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="853" CreationDate="2011-03-15T00:18:56.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to do enough exercise to burn more calories than you consume in a day. For every 3500 calorie deficit, you'll lose approximately a pound. The more strenuous your exercise is, the more calories you'll burn and the longer your excess post oxygen consumption phase will last. Anywhere from 30 minutes to about an hour and a half is considered healthy, as long as you aren't overworking yourself by doing this routine more than every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember, fat loss has very little to do with exercise, it's simple mathematics of calories in/calories out. If you eat more calories than you burn, they get stored as fat for later. If you consume 5000 calories a day and burn 3000 with lots of exercise, you'll still put on a 2 pounds every 3.5 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are eating a proper healthy diet, you should be able to healthily lose 2-4 pounds each week. Considering that with exercise, one will doubtfully burn more than 3000 calories in a day, so on a 2000 calorie diet, burning 3000 calories, you'll lose 2 pounds a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T00:25:09.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T00:25:09.920" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:55:03.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traps can be a bit hard to hit with bodyweight only, but handstands, handstand walks, handstand push-ups, pull-ups, and levers all use them in supporting roles. If you don't have barbells but have access to other heavy objects - sandbags, kegs, stones, tires - any motion where you press/hold something overhead (press, push press, jerk, overhead squat) or carry/pull something by your sides (farmers walk, shrugs, cleans) will make heavy use of the traps. The latter is easy to do: grab a couple heavy suitcases and go for a nice, long walk :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:55:03.340" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="843" CreationDate="2011-03-15T10:34:01.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Toning' is a look you might achieve after weight loss (dieting + cardio). It causes your muscles to look more defined.  It has nothing to do with weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training for &lt;strong&gt;endurance&lt;/strong&gt; instead of &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; is less likely to increase muscle size if that is your desired appearance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are a good workout for your muscles and endurance weightlifting is a good complement to dieting and cardio for your overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:34:01.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="848" CreationDate="2011-03-15T10:38:30.650" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably lowering the barbell too high up your chest which causes your elbows to flare out.  Try moving the barbell lower down your chest on the way down so you can keep your elbows more tucked in (perhaps &amp;lt; 45 degrees to your body instead of 90).  This will make sure the bench press is a chest and arm workout and not a dangerous shoulder workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously its impossible to know if you are doing this without seeing your technique, try an empty barbell at the gym next time and get someone to watch your elbow position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:38:30.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="715" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:55:32.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweating is one of many body responses to higher temperature, and begins when other responses are working to maximum efficiency, such as vasodilation (dilation of capillaries close to skin) and the increase in heart rate, both working to cool the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An increase in cellular respiration performed by the body's cells, is needed to fuel these systems, and the hotter the body is the more the body must work to maintain a satisfactory temperature. Obviously there are many more factors to consider when exercising such as water intake and the types of exercise being performed, but if applied appropriately, wearing thick clothes during cardio WILL provide better weight loss results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user468" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T12:55:32.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:26:01.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend looking into isometric exercises, simulating weight ones.  You can take hold to the bottom of a couch or door jam and pull (simulating a row) and focus on the tension.  Same thing with shrugs and pull ups, you don't need to come off the ground to put tension on the traps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T13:26:01.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="871" CreationDate="2011-03-15T15:57:44.457" Score="11" ViewCount="6799" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found when exercising (through Kinect, pilates video, etc) that I am asked to 'engage my core'. How do I do this? How do I know when I am truly engaging my core rather than just sucking in my stomache?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T01:26:55.613" Title="How to 'engage your core'?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="870" CreationDate="2011-03-15T15:59:50.693" Score="56" ViewCount="18346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a couple of lower back surgeries in the past but I'm okay to do any activity. During the last 10 years I have gained a little more weight around the mid section but have been actively trying to lose the weight but with little success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing hot yoga to increase my flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I hit the gym 2 to 3 times a week and yoga every other week, I would like to do more of both but being a dad of four, time is limited. I have been working out in the morning for about an hour (usually cardio) and one day of the weekend for about 2 hours (Full body, upper/lower).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also changed my diet, the time of the day that I've been eating and the amount I eat to a healthier diet with smaller amounts about 5 times a day. I heard this would increase my metabolism. The total intake of calories for the day has stayed the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm about 6'3&amp;quot;, 230 pounds, but would like to be around 190.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weight loss I'm doing cardio with some weight lifting but not seeing the results I would like to see. &lt;strong&gt;What exercises can I perform to reduce my belly fat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T16:03:59.477" Title="What exercises should I perform to reduce fat on a specific area of my body?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="33" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:31:17.593" Score="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no &quot;best&quot; exercise to lose belly fat. In fact, there is no exercise that will specifically target weight loss in any part of your body. The only way to lose fat in your belly is to lose fat overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number one thing you can do to lose weight is look at your diet. Losing weight is as simple as burning more calories than you consume. The easiest way to reduce your caloric intake is to eat healthier foods. Alternatively, you could eat the same foods and just eat less of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food you buy at the grocery store and cook yourself are often healthier than what you would get at a fast food joint because they haven't been processed as much. For many people, cutting out most of the sugar in their diet (obviously not sugar from fruit and other healthy sources) is an excellent way to lose the weight. You can split your 3 big meals into 5 smaller ones, but make sure your 5-meal calorie count total is really less than your 3-meal plan total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get your diet squared away, then you will really start to see the benefits of your exercising. I would suggest doing a lot of different exercises in the beginning and there are many to try. Figure out what you like to do and works best for you. Is there anybody you could work out with? A partner is always a big plus to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, it took you 10 years to gain the little extra weight you have right now. A healthy weight loss routine would have you losing a &lt;strong&gt;maximum&lt;/strong&gt; of 2 pounds per week on average. If you want to get down to 190 again, you're looking at around a year or more of a dedicated lifestyle change in order to accomplish that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T16:48:37.110" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T16:48:37.110" CommentCount="9" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="868" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:42:18.037" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The core, as it is referred to, consists of the muscles of your torso, such as your pecs, lats, psoas, abs, traps, obliques, etc. When you are asked to &quot;engage&quot; these muscles, this means utilizing them for stability and smooth motion. Rather than just flinging yourself wildly and letting the forces of nature work on you (centrifugal force, gravity, etc), you need to &quot;engage your core&quot; to produce smooth, stable movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of raising your arms above your head and lowering them back to your sides. You have to use your traps to raise the arms, but you can just let gravity take over to lower them and let them flop back to your sides. To get the full benefit though, you would want to raise your arms slowly, engaging muscles to fight against the raising of your arms, although not to make it impossible to raise them. Lowering them, you would want to utilize muscles to lower them, and also fight against the lowering at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This engagement works two or more sets of muscles simultaneously, and if you follow the directions you have, taking this sort of &quot;fight&quot; into account, you'll get a much more well-rounded and beneficial workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:42:18.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="890" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:51:48.367" Score="132" ViewCount="141490" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it healthy or is it damaging to exercise a muscle while it's still sore from a previous workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T18:31:03.513" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T10:13:02.183" Title="Is it healthy to exercise a muscle when it's still sore?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="60" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2011-03-15T18:27:40.877" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Sparafusile that &quot;targeted fat reduction&quot; is not possible. When your body stores fat you have no control over where it happens. The only solution is to convince your body to stop storing so much fat. Because fat storage is regulated by hormonal signals that are influenced by WHAT you eat, I have some different recommendations. Try eating less often. Skipping breakfast is a form of intermittent fasting, and makes your body burn fat throughout the morning. Eliminate processed carbohydrates from your diet and you will probably find that your energy levels are more steady and missing a meal will not bother you. Instead of hours of cardio that can just end up making you eat more the next day, do some high intensity interval exercise, with or without weights. Crossfit.com or P90X are good examples. I have had good success with these methods and the most important factor for me is the short duration of the workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T18:27:40.877" CommentCount="4" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="872" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:00:26.217" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your muscles need time to recover. Thats why you don't work on your arms every day for example.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Mon = arms&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tue = legs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wed = back&lt;br&gt;&#xA; etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, stretching and light workouts can actually help soreness and stiffness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/phil10.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Truth about stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/stretching_types.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Importance &amp;amp; Dangers Of Stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say it isn't a good idea to do heavy training consecutively on the same muscle group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sometimes when you're starting out a new exercise like a cardio routine your muscles can get sore because they're not used to being worked. In that case I would say that it would be just fine (with moderation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way you need to let your muscles recover properly and it's a good idea to change up your routine day-to-day or to have a staggered schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, overworking can hurt your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T20:11:08.073" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T20:11:08.073" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:08:42.663" Score="4" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some good exercises that utilize free weights to increase leg strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="399" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T05:30:57.767" Title="Leg Strength Exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-20T05:34:22.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="872" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:08:54.290" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you workout, my answer is an unequivocal yes, while I do not know the frequency of your workouts or the intensity. I workout each muscle type every 48 hours even if the muscles still ache. I have been doing this for many years and had no issues. Most trainers recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out often is great for building muscle and maintaining a routine is just as important even if you do not feel like you should. Do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the gym this feeling is called DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), and is caused by muscle tearing brought on by your previous workout session. Its also a sign you had a &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; exerting workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will not feel DOMS often, once you get used to your workouts or &lt;strong&gt;reach a plateau&lt;/strong&gt; with your routine you will stop feeling the DOMS and its a sign you need to make the routine more challenging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="474" LastEditorUserId="474" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T19:28:42.510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:28:42.510" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:16:13.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the previous answers about there being no way to 'target' belly fat.  Sounds like you're aware of your diet and are trying to modify it to reduce your weight.  The most important change I made (and lost about 20 lbs - went from 220 to 200, back around 210 but healthy weight) was to keep a journal (simple book and pen) of what I ate and what exercises I did.  My diet changes were similar to yours: smaller meal size, but more frequent, cleaner eating, removing BAD things like ice cream and soda........and fast food.  I also started a heavy weight lifting program and Tabata (the best exercise routine I think for cardio in a short time frame available).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:16:13.403" CommentCount="3" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="843" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:21:10.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quick answer is if you're body isn't fit to show your &quot;tone&quot; then you can tone until you're dead but you wont achieve anything visually unless you change your diet. This is where I'm at right now. I have cuts but I also have a layer of goo that prevents them from being well defined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case-in-point: body builders use diuretics to drain every last drop of water from their skin before a competition to expose as much of their &quot;tone&quot; or &quot;cuts&quot; as possible. As soon as they hydrate again, the toned look fades a bit but they are still toned underneath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles can be toned even if you cant see it. The more weight you lose, the more your tone will become visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:21:10.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:28:31.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's going to take less energy for a muscle to perform an action if it has been trained to perform that action where as an untrained muscle is going to require far more energy to do the same action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is a great way to stay in shape and lose weight but inlcuding other cardio and focusing on all of your muscle groups will increase your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while you'll notice that you're going to have to run longer and longer (or find some way to do more work while running, maybe change the incline) to see the same results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results are not linear and will flatten off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:28:31.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="875" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:41:28.583" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats are probably the most common and are a very effective leg exercise. There are a lot more options that are available to you depending on your weight set and any available equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a good increase in raw leg strength, you can also do Chair Jumps. Get a (solid, stable) chair, and standing 6&quot; away from it, jump up onto it and back down. This doesn't require any weights at all and is incredibly effective at working nearly every muscle in your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:41:28.583" CommentCount="2" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-20T05:34:22.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="884" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:11:43.193" Score="3" ViewCount="3387" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started taking BCAA to help me recuperate after a gym session as it was taking me a long time to recuperate.  Now recuperation is almost instant.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to gain muscle mass, which is working fairly well.  But wanted to know what would be the next supplement to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm already taking my daily protein shake (39 grams of protein), multi-vitamin, Omega-3 and now BCAA.  I'm only taking 2 doses of the BCAA and the instructions says I can take up to three a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions or great articles would be great.  I already read a lot, but all everyone offers is an opinion, but no real general guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also note that I also take Siberian Ginseng. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T21:13:21.517" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T14:27:37.777" Title="After protein shakes and BCAA, what is the next supplement to take?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="883" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:20:23.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creatine and L-Glutamine seem like good choices. L-Glutamine may already be included in your BCAA mix. Both are good for recovery and growth; creatine also provides extra easily-accessible fuel to your muscles during a lift so that you can get that extra rep cranked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;s&gt;Do avoid taking creatine and L-Glutamine at the same time, as they can compete for receptors to be absorbed in the body. I tend to take L-Glutamine about an hour before working out and creatine immediately afterward. (Also creatine first thing in the morning, and L-Glutamine last thing at night before bed)&lt;/s&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: per &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/910/22&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, it seems that there may not, in fact, be competition between these two supplements, so they could be taken together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T21:27:58.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="868" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:22:18.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's one simple visualization technique that engages and stabilizes your core:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine a straight line running through your body connecting anus to belly-button. Now, without sucking in, try to make that line as short as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:22:18.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="889" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:28:34.817" Score="6" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a shakeweight as a gag gift for Christmas. I actually tried it and it does feel like you get a work out from the instructional DVD. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious if the principles behind the product are sound? Can you really build muscle through the quick, impulses of muscle contractions that device requires? Can I actually look like the guy in the video from doing just Shakeweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastEditorUserId="413" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:51:50.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:51:50.843" Title="Do the principles behind the shakeweight and related products work? (a lot of quick, short impulse muscle contractions)" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="875" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:46:08.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat (back squat, front squat, overhead squat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean &amp;amp; jerk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snatch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:46:08.933" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-20T05:34:22.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="886" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:46:55.643" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic principles behind the ShakeWeight appear to be somewhat sound, however, the research displayed in their advertising is (likely intentionally) misleading. Their advertising states that a minute of exercise with the ShakeWeight is equivalent to 42 minutes of exericise with dumbells. What you don't see (or most people don't see) is the little print at the bottom that says that the study was done with the same weight in dumbbells as what the ShakeWeight weighs. For the men's version, this is 5 pounds, and for the women's version is only 2.5 pounds. I've never seen a man working out with only 5 pound dumbbells, personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the ShakeWeight does not allow for a full range of motion exercise routine which will seriously limit the effectiveness of your muscles outside of the range in which they are being worked and could be seriously detrimental to future workout efforts not involving the ShakeWeight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as &quot;can you look like that guy?&quot;, no. The ShakeWeight is only designed to work your shoulders (deltoid and trapezius), arms (bicep, tricep, and forearms), chest (pecs), and upper back (lats and traps). It will not work your legs, lower back, abs, etc. You will still be required to work those muscles separately if you want to look like the guy in the commercials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly certain that you can use the ShakeWeight to go a certain distance in training the muscles I mentioned before, but scalability is going to eventually catch up to you, and likely quite quickly if you are really trying to build. Since you cannot increase the weight, you can only go faster to get more of a workout. There will come a point where you can't go faster, and the device will be too light. At that point, the device will become useless, and if you hope or plan to maintain any gains you have made or advance further, then you'll need to be prepared to devote some time to a normal workout routine. However, due to the lack of a full range of motion exercise, you'll be far more prone to injury when switching to standard weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice: Don't work out with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T20:55:39.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:55:39.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="872" CreationDate="2011-03-15T21:36:29.557" Score="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, training while sore is perfectly fine and usually &lt;em&gt;beneficial&lt;/em&gt;, subject to a few caveats discussed below. Almost every serious athlete frequently trains while still a bit sore from the previous workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oyii6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from the wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to understand is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;supercompensation&lt;/a&gt;: a short while after training, your muscles end up a bit stronger. If you train again during this period, your next supercompensation period will be slightly stronger again. Repeat this cycle with proper timing over and over again and you'll gain strength in the most efficient way possible. Wait too long and the muscle returns back to a &quot;normal&quot; state and strength gains are slowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing to understand is that soreness has nothing to do with the effectiveness of your workout. It's more of a side effect, which is actually not well understood. Depending on your training level and workouts, you may still be sore even when your muscles are in the supercompensation period. If this happens, you just need to put up with it and train sufficiently hard to keep the gains coming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, this is also a reason why split routines - where you train each muscle once a week - are very inefficient for the vast majority of beginner &amp;amp; intermediate lifters. Your muscles hit the supercompensation period in far less than a week and have started to return to normal by the time you train again. In this respect, fully body routines 2-3 times per week are going to produce strength gains much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some caveats: if you are sore to the point that it interferes with the workout (ie, you can't do the motion correctly), then you won't gain much from exercise and are better off resting. A rule of thumb to determine this is to do a &lt;em&gt;thorough&lt;/em&gt; warm-up: if everything loosens up and you feel ok, train on. If you are still stiff and it hurts to move, rest. If you are new to a certain type of exercise, soreness levels will be much higher, so the first few weeks may require skipping more workouts than normal (don't make it a habit though). Finally, more advanced lifters who are moving a lot of weight will take longer to recover, which will impact things like workout frequency and volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastEditorUserId="3283" LastEditDate="2012-06-11T23:37:27.643" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T23:37:27.643" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="840" CreationDate="2011-03-15T21:38:12.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All I can recommend is to try it out and see, I often do squats like this. I never called them ATG Squats though, its the first time I have seen the term ATG Squat to me it was just a very deep squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it cause injury to your knees I am not sure, performing squats is all about technique. If you get the technique wrong then the chances of injury are high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned by @md5sum &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/504/how-deep-should-a-squat-be&quot;&gt;How deep should a squat be?&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="474" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T21:38:12.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="883" CreationDate="2011-03-15T22:31:09.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Greg, but creatine is going to add a lot of water weight. Do your research on which creatine to take. Monohydrate is the most common but there are some others types. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for performance then creatine and some type of Nitric Oxide Booster such as Nitrix or NoXplode or just a crap load of L-Arginine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use Nitrix and I like it, but a good creatine blend can go a long way for your pumps and recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T22:31:09.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2011-03-15T22:46:37.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;DOMS is not well understood and there aren't too many foolproof methods to prevent/treat it. At the end of the day, time is the only thing that is guaranteed to help: both in terms of DOMS going away after a few days, as well as your body getting more used to the exercise with more practice. Other than that, some things that may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Massage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active recovery: very light, low intensity exercise to flush blood through the area &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contrast showers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure to warm-up properly before workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T22:46:37.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="898" CreationDate="2011-03-15T22:53:55.610" Score="11" ViewCount="937" Body="&lt;p&gt;While ellipticals offer stationary movement with low impact on the knees, they also seem to offer burning off insane amounts of calories when compared to equal time/work on a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Same brand equipment, similar workout profiles&#xA;&#xA;~200 calories 30 minutes on a treadmill &#xA;~670 calories 30 minutes on an eliptical&#xA;~200 calories 30 minutes on a bike&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard from many different sources including personal trainers both sides that ellipticals are great for burning calories and also that they are just lies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The equipment I have at home all have a calorie counter that continues to climb even if i'm stationary. It's making assumptions about my effort to determine calories burned so I dont believe either one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The equipment at gyms ask for weight, height and even use your heart rate to determine your calories burned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spread between the treadmill and the elliptical calories burned readings both from my home equipment and the gym equipment are very similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the truth? Does the eliptical really just burn 2-3 times more calories per session than a treadmill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T06:22:46.257" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:20:14.197" Title="Burning calories: Using elliptical type equipment" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="900" CreationDate="2011-03-15T23:05:04.930" Score="12" ViewCount="10644" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night at the gym, I apparently pushed myself a little too hard, and I threw up all over the shower.  I'd rather not do that again, so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What causes this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What can I do to increase how much work I can do without throwing up?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="359" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-06-20T16:57:11.203" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T16:57:11.203" Title="How to prevent getting nauseated during workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nausea&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2011-03-15T23:12:40.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cold bath, right after a workout.  I don't recall where I heard about this.  I tried it once and it did work, although anecdotal evidence based on one trial is hardly proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context, I went for a really hard run, long enough that I would normally be very sore next day.  As soon as I got back to the apartment, I jumped into the bathtub filled with cold water and a few trays of ice cubes.  I stayed there for about 5 min.  The next day, I wasn't sore at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="359" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T23:12:40.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="840" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:20:32.280" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The majority of studies show that squatting just below parallel is perfectly safe and in fact, even beneficial to the knee. However, there is a difference between just breaking parallel and squatting until your hamstrings hit your calves (ATG). My personal opinion is that even ATG squatting is safe for the knees and studies of weightlifters - who squat as deep as humanly possible - generally confirm this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; studies that show increased risk of knee injury from very deep squatting. Even more importantly, the benefits from going ATG vs. just below parallel aren't huge for most goals/activities and not many people have the flexibility to do so while maintaining a proper lumbar arch. Therefore, while I'd always recommend squatting below parallel, I'd only suggest ATG squatting if your goals directly benefit from it, with olympic weight lifting being the primary use case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your reading pleasure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/Squats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx - Squat Analysis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apec-s.com/2012/03/11/deconstructing-the-squat-part-i-are-deep-squats-bad-for-the-knees/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deconstructing The Squat Part I&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/articles/are_deep_squats_a_safe_and_viable_exercise.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Are Deep Squats a Safe and Viable Exercise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16558570&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Injury rates and profiles of elite competitive weightlifters.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2001&amp;amp;issue=01000&amp;amp;article=00020&amp;amp;type=abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Knee biomechanics of the dynamic squat exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2015-05-11T14:47:01.553" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T14:47:01.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="894" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:41:57.223" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it highly unlikely that you would burn more calories on an eliptical trainer than running at a similar pace on the treadmill. The treadmill is more like using free weights, whereas the elliptical trainer just needs a push in somewhat the right direction to keep going round. Also, pushing with one leg automatically moves the other, which is almost like a free lunch! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically: all the things that make it great are also what make it bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, it has lower impacts on the knees, but that also means your knee extending muscles are trained less. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, using your arms increases the intensity of the workout, but because the arms drive the legs, that's all energy your legs aren't going to provide. You win some, you loose some.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also the enforced stride length may not be the right one for you, depending on your size and physical condition. Running at a different frequency effects the efficiency and intensity of the workout as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And lastly, the resistance on an elliptical trainer comes from a fly wheel, that requires air resistance. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/312/home-gym-is-an-elliptical-trainer-alone-enough&quot;&gt;As I explained on another question&lt;/a&gt; this doesn't scale very naturally. So to workout at 75-80% of your maximal heart rate, which is probably what you would need for ~700 calories/30 minutes, you'd have either a ridiculous frequency or abnormal high resistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for finding out the truth: I highly recommend you try all the devices with the same heart rate monitor, rather than trusting the built in one. That way you can compare the increases in heart rate when you increase the resistance of the machine in three/four steps. Do that for the elliptical trainer, bike and treadmill and you get a much better idea of whether it actually measures correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final note: it's more important you do something that's fun, so if the elliptical trainer makes you come back more often, than go for it! Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1241&amp;amp;context=ijes&amp;amp;sei-redir=1#search=&amp;quot;Elliptical+trainer+heart+rate+vo2max&amp;quot;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;there's a study that showed that elliptical trainers can be a great replacement during the winter times&lt;/a&gt;, but they had to workout at 80% of their maximal heart rate, which was comparable to the intensity of their normal running exercise and the runners complained it was hard to keep this up. &lt;strong&gt;Either way: 3x more calories than on a treadmill is absolutely not possible!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T06:49:42.083" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="895" CreationDate="2011-03-16T07:17:07.380" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a Wikipedia article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_induced_nausea&quot;&gt;Exercise-induced nausea&lt;/a&gt; where they suggest two possible causes: endorphins and too much water. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11237347?dopt=Abstract&quot;&gt;There has also been a study&lt;/a&gt; that showed that exercising shortly after eating is likely to cause this. Which is supported by this article about &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://skinnybulkup.com/exercise-induced-nausea/&quot;&gt;Nausea during a strength training workout&lt;/a&gt;&quot; that suggests three common factors that contribute to workout nausea:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Too much food or water in the stomach, which is likely the case just&#xA;  after eating or drinking too much&#xA;  water (see above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;High or maximum heart rate and uncontrolled breathing, which elevates&#xA;  the blood pressure to heights that can&#xA;  give a 'sick to the stomach' feeling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bending over during a period of maximum heart rate, while inhaling.&#xA;  This messes with the muscle that&#xA;  closes off the top of the stomach and&#xA;  fails under such strains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also provide several tips to prevent it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Get enough rest between sets with very high heart rates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don't bend over to adjust the weights, this avoids compressing the&#xA;  stomach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Drink the bare minimum amount of water that you feel you need (not too&#xA;  much, but also not too little)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don't drink carbonated drinks!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, resist the urge to gulp water when you're thirsty. Drink the water in sips and pause for a moment to let your body absorb. The thirst satisfaction of your brain doesn't respond instantaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting more exercised or in better shape won't help, because you'll always have a maximum and if you push for it, you'll reach it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T12:28:53.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:28:53.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T10:58:50.033" Score="5" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working out 3 days a week for 1 hour - Muay Thai kickboxing + the same amount of time pumping iron at the gym. The Muay Thai involves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UeXLS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full contact sparring &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg and arm conditioning (taking hits)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intensive core, leg and arm cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a reasonable healthy western diet, but it's quite random and unhealthy at times too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there either any specific nutritional based additions or changes that I should make to my diet to ensure I get enough to maintain current muscle and recover from my activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't include my current diet because I only want core or optional food products that would enhance regular hard sparring (muscle damage/bruising). It's a bonus if such things are already part of my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T17:23:45.760" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T17:23:45.760" Title="What additional nutrition should I consider when starting to train in Muay Thai?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:34:48.027" Score="5" ViewCount="535" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the suggested amount of time to rest muscle groups between workouts to prevent injury? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to tone (improve shapeliness of existing muscle)  my body and workout on average 6 times/wk lifting weights, doing high intensity aerobic classes and doing the elliptical.  My typical regimen at the gym involves 45 min of cardio and 6 exercises (15 reps) - 3 exercises of large muscle group (ie chest) and 3 exercises of small muscle group (ie triceps). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:53:10.753" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:53:10.753" Title="Advice on resting muscles" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="903" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:00:37.220" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're working the same muscles each day, you're likely exercising far too much. Typically, a person should only work a muscle every 2-3 days. Check out the chart in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/872/is-it-healthy-to-exercise-a-muscle-when-its-still-sore/890#890&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/872/is-it-healthy-to-exercise-a-muscle-when-its-still-sore&quot;&gt;Is it healthy to exercise a muscle when it's still sore?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and a similar chart as &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days/105#105&quot;&gt;figure 2 in this answer&lt;/a&gt; to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days&quot;&gt;Importance of Rest Days&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. The optimum time to work a muscle out again is at the peak of it's supercompensation/adaptation. Working out more often inhibits any potential gains with fatigue, and working out too seldom causes the gains to already be lost by the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very individualized, and you need to find out what works best for your body. If you find that you are not progressing though, you need to change something up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:00:37.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="902" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:28:11.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three things that I changed about my diet when I started training in martial arts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink more water. I drink a gallon a&#xA;day. You'd be surprised how much you&#xA;sweat while working out. Have you&#xA;ever weighed yourself before and&#xA;after a heavy leg day for example?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a fish oil or other omega-3&#xA;fatty acid supplement. Once you get&#xA;into training kicking and punching in&#xA;earnest, your knees and elbows may&#xA;start to ache. I found that a daily&#xA;fish oil dose cured almost all my&#xA;aches and pains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, take a multi and lift heavy.&#xA;You said you have a randomly healthy&#xA;diet already. I'm not sure what that&#xA;means, but adding a multi vitamin&#xA;couldn't hurt. This is pretty&#xA;standard advice for anybody however.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:28:11.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="418" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:30:44.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get into the details of this, there are two things I suggest you read/watch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/caffeine.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Caffeine, Stress and Your Health: Is Caffeine Your Friend or Your Foe?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A snippet from it points to one specific hormone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cortisol - Can increase the body’s&#xA;  levels of cortisol, the “stress&#xA;  hormone”, which can lead to other&#xA;  health consequences ranging from&#xA;  weight gain and moodiness to heart&#xA;  disease and diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this is not the only stress hormone, but caffeine increases stress hormones in the body. To understand some studies on the effects stress can have on your body, watch this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netflix.com/Movie/National-Geographic-Stress-Portrait-of-a-Killer/70107420&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;National Geographic documentary&lt;/a&gt; if you have Netflix (or haven't used your 1 month free trial):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite informative and interesting, and has lead me to re-evaluate my own caffeine consumption as well as the general 'stresses' of my life. Take care and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="484" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:37.740" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:37.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="792" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:41:13.707" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to research (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2290421/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;), the body only needs 0.36g of protein per pound (0.79g per kg) each day for maintenance. In 2009, the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine released an abstract supporting 0.5g to 0.8g of protein per pound (1.1g to 1.8g per kg) each day as sufficient (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatright.org/About/Content.aspx?id=8365&amp;amp;terms=Nutrition+and+Athletic+Performance&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take in a significant amount more than this and be fine, as excess protein is excreted, so long as you get enough fats and/or carbohydrates as well to balance your nutrition needs and solubilize your fat-soluble vitamins that your body requires, as well as calcium to replace that which the protein will leech from your system (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein-full-story/index.html#protein_bottom_line&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;). You must consume enough water to flush the excess. There's not any point in buying &quot;extra&quot; protein though if you already have plenty in your diet to start with. Those doing body-building will need to be on the high end of this scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on those research articles, at 250 pounds (113 kg), the figures are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.4g/lb = 0.88g/kg = 100g/day (sedentary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.5g/lb = 1.10g/kg = 125g/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.6g/lb = 1.32g/kg = 150g/day (active)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.7g/lb = 1.54g/kg = 175g/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.8g/lb = 1.76g/kg = 200g/day (body-building)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the amount of calories in your diet, your &quot;necessary&quot; protein will fall into that range of amounts. Anything over that amount will be flushed from the body. If you eat more food, you won't need to also add more protein. The amounts listed above are sufficient. If you eat less food, you won't need to drop protein. Just stay within that range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're cutting pounds, but not doing any serious weight training, you're going to fall somewhere between 0.4g and 0.6g of protein per pound (0.88-1.32g/kg). If you want to take more than that, as long as you're taking in enough fiber, you won't see much in digestive problems, taking in enough calcium will prevent bone density problems, and taking in enough water will prevent kidney problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="24580" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T07:28:12.547" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T07:28:12.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="909" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:59:47.217" Score="4" ViewCount="15447" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while back I stumbled upon the honey diet. According to the &quot;inventor&quot; you should take 1-2 tablespoons of honey before going to sleep. It's supposed to help reduce stress hormones, increase fat-burning  and help you sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your liver is supposed to dish out 10 grams of glucose per hour, taking honey before you go to sleep &quot;fuels&quot; the liver since honey is comprised of glucose and fructose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the liver does not have sufficient supply of glucose, adrinal glands release stress hormones which raise heart rate and blood pressure and result in muscle and bone degredation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is much more &quot;science&quot; behind the explination as to why this works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took 2-3 spoon fulls of honey each night for almost a year (still do). I didn't see any loss of weight but I did sleep much better (thats why I kept doing it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, with all this science behind it, how come it doesn't work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T19:16:27.613" Title="The Honey Diet - Why doesn't it work?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T17:57:50.653" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="908" CreationDate="2011-03-16T18:26:41.467" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple: You're adding calories to your diet. If that's the only change you've made, and you were gaining weight or maintaining weight prior to adding the honey, why would you start losing weight by eating more, especially when it's more sugar? You will see better sleep, I'll agree with that, because honey is a great source of very raw and natural carbohydrates which are easily broken down by the body, significantly easier to break down than fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were not taking the honey, the liver would still need to dish out either 10g of glucose or an equivalent weight in ketones per hour in order to maintain body and brain function (not saying that 10g of ketones is equal to 10g of glucose). As it stands, you're simply providing your body something easier to take than your body's fat, so your body takes the path of least resistance during sleep, which is exactly what it's designed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I should add to my answer here that taking honey is very beneficial in several ways. Taking honey from local sources is well-known to reduce allergies. It also will help you sleep better, as noted by the question asked. However, one should never expect to lose weight by adding more sugar to their diet. Sugar causes the body to produce insulin, which aids in the storage of fat and prevents the release of energy from fat cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you were to reduce the amount of carbohydrates you take in throughout the day to compensate for the amount in the honey that you take at night, there is a slim possibility that you may see some difference in the way your body responds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T19:02:47.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:02:47.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1321" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:52:08.940" Score="5" ViewCount="9004" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of hearsay on bodybuilding forums (as well as &quot;research&quot; published by some supplement companies) suggests that creatine and L-glutamine compete for &quot;receptors&quot; and that taking them together can limit the effectiveness of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, there is an argument that L-glutamine may compete in a similar way with protein if taken with meals (and so, the logic goes, not effective for bulking since bulking requires constant eating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone substantiate or disprove this with a solid explanation of how creatine and L-glutamine are absorbed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2017-06-03T23:44:12.847" Title="Do creatine and L-glutamine compete for receptors?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;l-glutamine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="982" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:08:26.460" Score="8" ViewCount="3939" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between protein supplements and branch chain amino acid supplements?  Isn't protein composed of amino acids?  Are there scientific studies showing the benefits of BCAA supplement as compared to protein supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastEditorUserId="458" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T22:34:29.747" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T16:08:25.980" Title="What is the difference between protein supplements and branch chain amino acid supplements?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:45:49.407" Score="5" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would you recommended a different post-workout diet depending on the type of exercise - yoga class, lifting weights, long distance running, swimming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-13T11:51:04.780" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T11:51:04.780" Title="Do different workouts require different diets?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="918" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:26:49.030" Score="12" ViewCount="28420" Body="&lt;p&gt;The day of or the day after a gym session I'll often grab a nap on the couch after work around 8pm.  I'll fall asleep for a couple of hours and wake up on my own.  When I do wake up I feel like I'd been hit by a truck.  I'm well rested, but not energized.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't go to bed for a few hours after that; for example yesterday I didn't go to bed until 2AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I lacking sleep, or not enough rest or lack of protein.  I've recently started taking BCAA which has been helping me to recuperate a lot faster from those gym sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea why?  I do take my multi-vitamins, Omega-3, protein shakes and BCAA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T10:35:17.630" Title="When I wake up after a two hour nap I feel like I was hit by a truck." Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2011-03-16T23:24:30.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of protein supplements out there already have BCAA in them. BCAA are the type of amino acids that your body cannot naturally produce, so taking them in addition to protein might be a good idea. BCAA's are known to be anti-catabolics which is beneficial for recovery when working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T23:24:30.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="913" CreationDate="2011-03-17T00:20:17.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I get low blood sugar levels, I get drowsy. When I take a nap in that drowsy state, I don't wake up rested, instead I feel hung over and even more tired. What I usually do is eat a little fruit (an apple, a banana, or a handful of raisins/grapes) and then I don't get that drowsy state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T00:20:17.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="913" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:16:31.803" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2006/12/07/how-to-sleep-less-and-have-more-energy-than-you-ever-had-before/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;free e-book&lt;/a&gt; gave me an answer to this a while ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we sleep, we go through various sleep cycles, starting from 1, the lightest, to 4, the strongest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b48nb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sleep cycle graphics&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While in stage 1, a person probably doesn't even know, he's asleep. Its the feeling that when we sit somewhere boring, and suddenly we sort of wake up - thats 1st stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second stage is light sleep. A person can still be woken up quite easily, and while in this stage is quite prone to waking up because of quiet noises and little movements. In other words, one is still quite awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if we take a look at the graph and compare it to your information, we conceive, that when you wake up after those 2 hours, you are most probably in the second or third stage of sleep, which means, that your brain is still sleeping, and it will take you a while to get up properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be this: &lt;strong&gt;Shorten the nap to no more that 50 minutes.&lt;/strong&gt; That way, you will probably reach only stage 2, but will have slept a while, and feel more energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T15:15:32.733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:15:32.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="921" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="922" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:19:20.887" Score="16" ViewCount="1421" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently watched a program on a bodybuilding website, and something in the diet plan struck me as quite weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It said, that in the breakfast, you should eat 8 egg whites, but no yolks. That struck me as odd, since you have to waste a lot of money to get just the whites. Later on, a discussion on a board turned to flame wars, over this issue. So, the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When training, should you also eat egg yolks, or just whites?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a science behind this theory, or is it just plain imagination/tradition/etc. ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-29T02:46:09.710" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T08:20:26.493" Title="Egg whites and yolks" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T15:55:40.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="921" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:06:18.933" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The egg whites are used for the muscle to recover, and grow. The amount of egg whites you &quot;should&quot; eat varies from person to person, and according to how intense you work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very good alternative is taking egg whites as a powder, or drink shakes with whey. I will not post any particular brands here, but you should be able to find a lot of products online. The benefit here is that you don't &quot;waste&quot; the yolks, besides those nutrient powders contain a lot of other nutrients and minerals which improve muscle recovery after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some images with nutritional information.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zfp74.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Nutritional information on egg whites&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eyYs0.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Nutritional information on egg yolks&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastEditorUserId="494" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T08:20:26.493" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T08:20:26.493" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="912" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:14:58.987" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are doing bodybuilding, or powertraining you should definitely eat &lt;strong&gt;within two hours&lt;/strong&gt; after the workout. Your body, muscles, are in great need of protein, egg white, and -yes- even calories, to recover. It will take whatever energy supplies in your body to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you workout a lot, and don't eat enough, you will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; put on any muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing you need to think about is: how many calories/protein/egg whites does my body need - how hard was the work out? A normal full grown man should have an intake of 2000 - 2300 calories, depending on daily activity. You need to raise that to 2800 - 3000 if you do serious work outs, like body building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do long distance running, or swimming, the problems you're most likely going to have are sore muscles, and cramps. To avoid these, you can eat bananas, and drink milk. Also, taking a very light extra dose ( available in powder ) of Creatine helps. Creatine keeps water in your muscles, and so lessens cramps and soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're on a yoga class, i would recommend avoiding heavy meats, like Steak, ... and switch to chicken, which is easier to digest, and will not give you that &quot;blown belly&quot; feeling. Also look at what kind of vegetables you're eating. Some vegetables will give you more gas than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastEditorUserId="494" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T12:45:36.163" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:45:36.163" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="849" CreationDate="2011-03-17T12:59:28.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My recommendation - follows the program you have during the morning sessions and then a little cardio or some hobby at night.  The last thing you want to do is burn yourself out and/or get tired and stop exercising all together.  To much, to fast is not a good way to approach exercising and your health...work into it, build it up and constantly adjust - it's a life long process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:59:28.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="925" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:00:36.757" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T13:00:36.757" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:00:36.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="926" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:00:36.757" Score="0" Body="Cooldown refers to a period of time after intense physical activity, when one should slowly reduce the intensity, to avoid muscle soreness and reduce the risk of injury." OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="94" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:38:25.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:38:25.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="928" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:06:41.367" Score="4" ViewCount="980" Body="&lt;p&gt;After running or cycling when it's not all that warm outside the area around my kidneys (just above waistline, at the sides, towards the back) is particularly cold and stays cold for longer than the rest of my body. Is this normal? Is it part of the kidney function or just my 'lovehandles' radiating heat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T15:12:32.407" Title="Cold kidneys after exercise" Tags="&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="927" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:36:33.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I very much doubt you are experiencing coldness coming from as far inside your body as your kidneys are.  It is most likely just your skin.  If the air is cold I guess the sides of your body would experience an increased flow of cold air over them making them cooler than the front of back of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm only making an informed guess but I would think if there was something wrong with your kidneys you would know about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:36:33.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="921" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:41:35.973" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any reason to avoid the egg yolks; they have just as much protein as the whites (see nutrition facts in @Uw Concept's answer). The avoidance of egg yolks in almost every case stems back to the (false) theory that eating egg yolks damages one's blood cholesterol profile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, egg yolks have a lot of nutrients and just as much protein as a white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:41:35.973" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="903" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:43:04.883" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you only need rest days if your working out big compound exercises.  Before I started properly squatting and deadlifting and following a program I needed any hardly any rest days.  If you are doing isolation machine exercises it definitely doesn't hit you as hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:43:04.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="921" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:08:55.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It features &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83C3UpTHdYo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in Rocky&lt;/a&gt; therefore has all the associations related to that film. Egg yolks have lots of fat in, however egg whites are really just water and protein (about 90% water and 10% protein). They would be slightly cheaper than chicken if you don't mind eating 10 of them. Chicken however has a lot more protein as a percentage - 24% compared to 3%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'd be cheaper and less labor-intensive to simply eat protein shakes or chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:08:55.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:24:59.063" Score="3" ViewCount="24319" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to have flat chest. Something in line with what Paul Walker has in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2flashgames.com/photo/paul_walker/Paul_Walker_0006.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this picture&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my general observation, I have found that surfers &amp;amp; swimmers have that kind of physique specially flat chest.  Unfortunately it's not possible for me to become either. I swim once per week (Sunday) and workout 5 days per week (excluding swimming).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be great to know if I am on right track. Or Am I doing something wrong? Or should I be doing something different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the summary of what I am doing to achieve my goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5&quot;11 and weigh 162 lbs. I neither want to gain weight nor lose any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diet - eating vegetarian salads &amp;amp; stir fry (Olive oil) vegetables 4 days per week (no dressings, no cheese but I do add tofu). For 2 days of the week I eat normal protein and carbs rich food.  I make Sundays a cheat day and eat anything I want but in limited quantity. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I avoid doing bench press, push-ups and if I do then I do with very light weights because I have seen that my chest is usually pumped after doing above exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Concentrate on Biceps, Shoulder, abs and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whey Protein isolate shake (30 grams of protein) every day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I started above routine in November 2010 have lost around 2.35 inches from my belly but have not notices much difference in my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user496" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T21:57:33.473" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T21:57:33.473" Title="Avoid chest exercises for flat chest" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="933" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:37:00.243" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah, if you don't want to build muscles, then don't use them. Hope you don't ever have to use them though. If you aren't working them, they also won't get stronger. I'm rather curious as to why you would not want to build muscle on your chest, but what you're doing sounds like it should work to that goal just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T16:37:00.243" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="725" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:11:41.160" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness/36_fitness_list.html&quot;&gt;AskMen.com&lt;/a&gt; has a nice beginners' exercise ball routine including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trunk Extensions for your lower back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core Crunchers for your abs and core.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Basic Crunches for your abs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevated Pushups for your pecs, shoulders, triceps, and abs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Knee Bridges for your gluts and hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abdominal Rolls for your abs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Opposite Limb Extension for your lower back, gluts, and hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balanced Pushups for your pecs, shoulders, triceps, and abs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supermans for your entire back and gluts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Wall Roll for your quads, hamstrings, and gluts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that this workout seems to be missing is a biceps and calves. Your calves can be worked out by sitting on the ball with your feet flat on the ground, knees bent ad at a 90 degree angle, and then rocking up on your toes. This will roll the ball forward, add weight and instability to your calves, requiring you to balance. For biceps, you're going to really need to get a set of dumbbells or do some non-exercise ball related exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:11:41.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="965" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:16:25.063" Score="55" ViewCount="26144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to start running. However I am afraid of damaging my feet, knees or hips by running on a regular basis. So what are the most important things to have in mind to avoid any dangers for my joints from the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should mention that I am not overweight on the contrary, I am in very good shape and 27 years old. However I don't have any running experiences. Perhaps I should add that I like it to work out hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The running distances I have in mind are 4km - 8km, so I don't want to run very long distances. However I would like to incorporate some interval runs and sprints into my running sessions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be nice if you could add some (sports-scientific) references to your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="499" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T15:43:43.063" LastActivityDate="2020-02-16T16:49:28.013" Title="How to run without damaging your feet, knees or hips. " Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:32:42.973" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two things from my running experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Its going to take a lot of running before you have to worry about long term injury. To prevent injury, listen to your body. Know where running impacts your body. This can be a lot of things. I sometimes get plantar fasciitis (soreness under my feet) when doing long distance training. Sometimes it can even impact my carpal tunnel. -- The good news is if you run regularly, you'll learn your weak spots. You'll figure these things out and target those areas for preventative intervention (different shoes/knee brace/change in gait/etc). Unless you have a serious fall, your joint pains start very slowly, may change, or go away entirely. You'll know where your body is the weakest starting with innocuous pain and if something bad is happening its a very gradual and almost always a preventable decline. In my experience, its much easier to twist/hurt/injure something suddenly and badly in most sports compared to running.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do meditative/stretching yoga along with your running. You'll find a lot of the complaints surrounding joint issues are really the result of excess muscle tension pulling on your tendons/ligaments. Doing meditative, relaxed yoga will make running more comfortable and reduce your risk for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its also worth pointing out that I've done mild running 5km+ everyday for 5+ years and am no worse for the ware. My body appears to have become acclimated to running. Its part of my homeostasis now. I only start to experience issues when I begin training for long distance events -- something outside my body's expected norm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastEditorUserId="174" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T21:06:17.407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T21:06:17.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:51:03.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not running at all but I know the following tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small steps are better than bigger steps, less impact on your joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is best not to &quot;jump&quot; too high - always imagine as if you have a very low ceiling above you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't run on empty stomach (i.e. hungry) - you will get dizzy and you you will become tired too quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:51:03.830" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2011-03-17T22:12:00.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about joint issues, running on grass or dirt is better than pavement since it's softer and has more give under your feet. See if there's a cross country course or other flat, grassy area such as a soccer or football field near where you live. If you run somewhere that isn't maintained for exercise purposes watch out for anything that can trip you up, like acorns or sticks, holes from ground-dwelling creatures, or sprinklers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All-weather tracks rank in between grass and pavement for give, and some are better than others. It depends on what they're laid on. Some have rubber underneath for extra spring, and some have just concrete, which won't be much better for your joints than sidewalks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some people run on beaches for this same reason, but I don't have any experience with them since I live in the Midwest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another benefit, or downfall depending on your outlook, the softer the surface you run on, the more work it takes to maintain the same speed as on harder surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't forget tips like @yellowblood's and to stretch regularly and get enough water and nutrients to sustain your running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="500" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T22:12:00.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="951" CreationDate="2011-03-17T22:25:54.963" Score="5" ViewCount="2699" Body="&lt;p&gt;If one has normal activity throughout the day, for example wake up at 10AM sleep at 11:30PM, drive to work, work, walk to get lunch, drive home, do laundry, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the estimated amount of calories one will burn.  I heard you even burn calories while you sleep, so please estimate that in and add to the estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please assume, that this person does not get any cardio or workout in his daily activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T15:05:33.007" Title="Estimated calories you burn throughout day" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="942" CreationDate="2011-03-18T02:26:30.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on a whole bunch of variables: age, gender, type of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I decided to lose some weight I started counting my calories and on average I was burning 1400 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you start keeping track of your calories for the next month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T02:26:30.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="830" CreationDate="2011-03-18T02:42:45.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a very active cyclist, spending many hours on a bike, I can recommend 3 things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have inflammation, let that heal first. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a pair of decent, padded cycling shorts. The better models have &quot;anatomical&quot; padding that go a long way towards comfortable cycling. You can even get padded liners that can go under regular gym shorts if modesty is an issue. Cycling shorts are designed to minimize issues like chafing and soreness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can use a product like, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pacelineproducts.com/Category.aspx?MenuElementID=56&amp;amp;FileName=Chamois_Butt_r&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paceline Chamois Butt'r&lt;/a&gt; which is a skin lubricant &amp;amp; chamois cream. This product prevents the uncomfortable rubbing and chafing that most cyclists experience when sitting on their saddles. You could also use a skin moisturizing lotion on the affected areas. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As others have pointed out, part of the issue may be the saddle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Is it possible to avoid getting sore?&quot; - Most definitely with the proper gear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="203" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T02:42:45.863" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="977" CreationDate="2011-03-18T07:28:20.090" Score="4" ViewCount="1042" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this problem. Since I'm a dancer, but I'm also a tad bit overweight, the strain on my knee joints and ligaments is a little bit bigger than it should be. So, a while ago I started feeling pain in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patellar_ligament&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Patellar ligament&lt;/a&gt;, or to be more specific, in the place where it connects to the bone. The doc told me to abstain from dancing for a while, while I reduce my weight, but this is not possible, since a competition is coming up. Some elastic binding do help with the pain. But I also think, that a possible cause for this pain is not stretching the ligament enough before a practice, so my question is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I warm up my Patellar ligament?&lt;/strong&gt; What are some stretching exercises for this, without a lot of equipment? I have a ballet bar, a floor, and some people, that can help me stretch, and that is about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's not like I haven't tried to find something for this, I just can't think of anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:38:09.140" Title="Knee ligament stretches" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:34:53.467" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many things that you can do right or very wrong when you start a running-career.&#xA;Since your question focuses on feet, knees, and hips, the field of possible answers is narrowed down drastically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 21 years of running experience, the last 6 years as a member of a local athletics club. You can Google the science behind running, and also find some links to the science behind specific areas here on fittness.stackexchange.com. For example, you can look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/685/when-is-it-time-to-buy-new-running-shoes&quot;&gt;this question I asked about running shoes&lt;/a&gt;, which has a good answer with links to a scientific article behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to some more specific advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get some good running shoes!!!&lt;/strong&gt; All your weight will be put on your feet - actually just one foot at a time - over and over during a run. This is the alpha and omega when it comes to running. This point can't be stressed too much, so I'll say it again: Get some good running shoes!!!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start up slowly, and join a running club with experienced coaches, or find an experienced runner to start with.&lt;/strong&gt; People often tend to start out on their own, since they are ashamed of the (bad) physical state they're in. Don't be. Run with others who know how to run, and ask for their advice. If you tell them you are a beginner who needs guidance, they will gladly give it to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Giving your body time to recover is at least as important an activity, as the running itself.&lt;/strong&gt; When running, you strain your body and induce numerous small &quot;damages&quot; to your body. This is actually a good thing - when your body repairs and recovers, it rebuilds the damaged parts to be slightly stronger than before. That's how your physical condition improves. &lt;strong&gt;But don't overdo it!!!&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;No pain, no gain&quot; is not the right mantra when you start up on running, and it certainly doesn't mean &quot;More pain, more gain&quot;. This leads us to the next point...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Listen to your body.&lt;/strong&gt; Running can be - and should be - a lot of fun. Don't push yourself more than what your body can deliver. If you have aches other than ordinary muscle pain after exercise, something is not right, and you should ask a doctor, physio therapist or the like. You'll just damage yourself. Take it easy, have fun, make sure you don't run faster than a speed where you still are able to talk. That's also why it's a good idea to run together with others - as long as you can talk, you're not pushing yourself too hard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take care and have fun :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T11:34:53.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="942" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:58:06.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you can figure out how many calories your body burns in a resting state (BMR) by using one of the various &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculators&lt;/a&gt; on the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get your resting BMR, you just have to multiply that by your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;activity factor&lt;/a&gt;, and that should give you a rough estimate of how many calories you burn in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="507" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:21:01.880" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:21:01.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="946" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:42:31.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you continue to dance against your doctor's advice, then you can expect to have more problems than you have now. The only way to prevent further injury to an already injured ligament is to rest it for enough of a period of time to fully heal. No amount of stretching or warming up first will prevent further or more permanent damage to an already injured ligament. Stop using it until your doctor says otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:42:31.267" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="942" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:55:13.200" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get a fairly exact calculation follow these steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1:&lt;/strong&gt; Calculate your &lt;strong&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the number of calories that's needed to keep your body functioning without you doing any activity at all. It doesn't take muscle mass into consideration so it will underestimate the calories needs for very muscular people and overestimate them for obese people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The formula is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Metric&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in&#xA;  kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - (&#xA;  4.7 x age in years )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in&#xA;  kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8&#xA;  x age in years )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Imperial&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in&#xA;  pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches )&#xA;  - ( 4.7 x age in years )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in&#xA;  pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches )&#xA;  - ( 6.8 x age in year )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example if you're a 32 year old man who is 181 cm tall and weighs 89 kilos, the BMR would be &lt;strong&gt;1973&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2:&lt;/strong&gt; Calculate your &lt;strong&gt;Physical Activity Level (PAL)&lt;/strong&gt;. This is done by looking at the BMR value for the different activities you do each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some example of activities and what BMR value they have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleeping, lie down silently   0.9&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit silently, drive, watch tv     1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Office work sitting down  1.5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cooking, eating       2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shower, get dressed, light household work, work standing up   2.5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking on flat ground, cycle 16 km/h 4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobics low impact   5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jog 7 km/h    7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice hockey game, basketball game  8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Football game, jog 10 km/h, swimming breaststroke 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycle 25-30 km/h  12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 16 km/h       16&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example if you spend 8 h sleeping, 6 h drive &amp;amp; watch tv, 8 h office work, 1.5 h light household work and 0.5 h walking, the total BMR value for one day is 27.2 (8*0.9 + 6*1 + 8*1.5 + 1.5*2.5 + 0.5*4). Divide this by 24 hours and you get the average PAL value for a day, which in this case is &lt;strong&gt;1.13&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3:&lt;/strong&gt; Multiply the average PAL value with the BMR value and you'll get the number of calories you can eat per day to maintain your weight:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;1.13 * 1973 = 2229.49 kcal&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="435" LastEditorUserId="435" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T17:53:01.263" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:53:01.263" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="725" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:37:01.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's another link with some &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exerciseballworkouts.net/free-exercise-ball-video.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise ball workout videos&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think exercise/swiss balls are a great addition to any program, but don't get into the 'new toy' syndrome and focus on just using that, you'll become bored, your body will get used to the routine(s) and the rest of your body will be neglected.  Determine what your goal is and use whatever tools make the most sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:14.163" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:14.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="956" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:30:52.703" Score="4" ViewCount="5924" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always stopped when my muscles are moderately sore, but I've seen some people on this site say that soreness is not an accurate gauge of how good of a work out you got. How do I tell when my body's had enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T18:31:28.297" Title="When Do You Stop Working Out?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="910" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:31:26.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they do not complete with each other for absorbtion and serve different functions. Glutamine will help shift your body from it's post workout catabolic state and will help with muscle repair and growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glutamine is a non-essential ammino acid which helps prevent the breakdown of muscle fiber. Creatine helps the muscle fiber store more H2O and ATP energy. Supplementing with creatine also helps muscle recover faster from working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protien:&#xA;Glutamine is directly involved in the regulation of protein synthesis and breakdown. So how is it going to compete with protien? Also the protien you're taking contains ammino acids including glutamine so again, why would it compete? Glutamine is absorbed into the bloodstream, kidneys, liver and gut. Protien is processed in the stomache and then the intestine and finally absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine:&#xA;Creatine is derived from 3 non essential amino acids: glycine, methionine and arginine. After ingestion, creatine binds with phosphates in your body to form creatine phosphates. This phosphate bound creatine molecule donates its own phosphate molecule with ADP to reform ATP. Creatine absorbtion can be increased by using carbohydrates. Most people use some type of juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are you going to be taking glutimine orally or through injections? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;http://www.getbig.com/articles/glut-1.htm &#xA;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beast37.htm &#xA;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_(nutrient) &#xA;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine &#xA;http://www.building-muscle-guide.com/what-is-creatine.html&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="413" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T20:55:58.327" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:55:58.327" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:02:47.710" Score="4" ViewCount="982" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear people say they like to stretch out because it feels good. I've never had that experience. It's not painful, but it's somewhere between unpleasant and neutral. Hence, stretching is work, and I have to struggle to motivate myself to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the factors that affect how stretching feels? How can we make it feel good to stretch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="234" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T09:41:58.347" Title="Why doesn't stretching feel good?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2011-03-18T17:52:23.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the standard approach to training is to have a set of goals (better health, better in a specific sport, recovery from some injury, etc.) that you've set and you gear a training program/schedule to accomplish that.  The schedule is developed to guide you to your goal in a given time without causing additional injuries. For some people the schedule/workout takes you beyond the point of soreness and for others it's prior to reaching that point. The schedule/plan could be time based (x minutes on a bike) or effort based (x sets/reps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you should stop when your set plan dictates. In other words, don't go into an exercise program with an open ended 'work till I drop' type of plan because it will most likely result in injury and a very short term engagement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If during a well planned schedule you feel ill, out of sorts, weak, etc. - much different from prior exercise sessions - you should also stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T18:23:01.517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T18:23:01.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="955" CreationDate="2011-03-18T18:01:59.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretching to loosen up, or stretching to increase your flexibility?  Stretching to loosen up feels good for me unless my muscles hurt from a previous workout.  Stretching to increase my flexibility I would never classify as 'feeling good'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For motivation, pick a time or activity you do often, and always do a short stretch with that.  For example, a few years back, I wanted to be able to touch the floor with locked knees.  Each time I would use the WC/restroom/toilet/[insert preferred term here] I would do a short amount of stretching (10-20 seconds).  It did the trick: after several months, I achieved my goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="359" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T18:01:59.623" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2011-03-18T18:31:28.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with stopping when you're sore is you don't always know until it's too late. Many times I've engaged in full contact sparing sessions where one or both of us ends up with blood all over our uniform. Usually, we have to examine each other just to find out whose blood it is. Obviously, if we had felt anything we would have stopped earlier. I'm sure it's the same with many activities: lifting weights, riding a bike, swimming, ect. You're probably on a adrenaline high and have exercise induced endorphins clouding your senses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you know when to stop exercising is simple: you've finished your planned work out for the day. If you weight lifting you should choose the exercises and choose the weights and rep you're going to do even before stepping foot in the gym. If you're running, biking, or swimming then you should choose a distance. If you're working with a coach he will know if you're going to hard or fast, trust his judgement. Stick to a plan, it'll keep you from working too hard and from injuring yourself by trying something foolish. If you end up getting sore then adjust your plan for the next exercise session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obvious exception to my statement above is if you feel pain during the exercise. In that case you should &lt;strong&gt;always stop immediately&lt;/strong&gt;. Check your form, check your pace, and check your weight. Make sure everything is fine and the pain hast left before starting again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T18:31:28.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="961" CreationDate="2011-03-18T18:49:17.607" Score="5" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started training some months ago (mainly strength), but when I do sit-ups/ crunches I tend to &lt;strong&gt;forget counting repetitions&lt;/strong&gt; and just continue until I can't do any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros and cons of counting when training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:14:59.117" Title="To count or not to count?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T18:49:20.960" Score="9" ViewCount="15290" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally we look to stretching exercises, and then yoga as ways to increase flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't enjoy stretching and yoga, then increasing flexibility becomes a chore. What other activities are good for increasing flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="234" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T13:45:28.107" Title="Which activities increase flexibility?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="959" CreationDate="2011-03-18T18:56:56.013" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It gives you a basis for comparing yourself to yourself. If you could only do 10 pushups for years, then tried a new exercise and all the sudden you can do 50 pushups, you might want to example that and see why there was a change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weight lifting, you don't want to do too many reps. For example, don't more than 20 leg extensions means you're probably not moving enough weight. You need to balance out your weight and reps to keep them within certain ranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, without counting how will you ever be able to brag to your buddies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T18:56:56.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:01:41.687" Score="0" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whats the best exercise moves to target toning of the area (flab) that sticks out between your chest, arm and shoulder when wearing sleeveless tops? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="482" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T19:17:58.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:17:58.740" Title="Upper body toning" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="962" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:08:05.057" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot target any particular area of the body for fat loss. The body will remove fat from the areas that it feels like need to be reduced first. Proper diet and exercise will decrease your body fat overall, and eventually your body will get to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/139/how-can-i-get-a-flat-stomach&quot;&gt;How can I get a flat stomach?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/118/will-daily-push-ups-help-to-get-rid-of-my-belly-fat&quot;&gt;Will daily push-ups help to get rid of my belly fat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/718/how-to-lose-manboobs&quot;&gt;How to lose manboobs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these have also the same response. Just keep working at fat loss in general and eventually you'll see the results you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:08:05.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="959" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:37:04.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the reasons mentioned by @sparafusile, I would also add that counting, especially out loud, encourages you to BREATHE while you do your situps.  And breathing while doing crunches helps you to do &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:37:04.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:37:55.690" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the other answers mention several possible causes, they fail to address why. So I'm going to add my 2 cents here as well, which I'll base &lt;a href=&quot;https://biblio.ugent.be/input/download?func=downloadFile&amp;amp;recordOId=471212&amp;amp;fileOId=1876398&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mainly on the results of the phd-thesis from Tine Willems from the university of Ghent (Belgium)&lt;/a&gt;, which focused on the intrinsic risk factors for exercise related lower leg pain and &lt;a href=&quot;http://bjsportmed.com/content/37/1/13.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Murphy et al. in a study about risk factors for lower extremity injury.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you must understand about injuries, is that there are many possible causes and they all interact with each other, so it can be difficult to prevent any form injury. You can get an injury from either a single overload, that exceeds a tissue's maximum tolerance (trauma) or from repeatedly overloading, which causes an overuse injury. As you're most likely to sustain an injury in your weakest link, you want to prevent overloading it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The factors that might cause this are divided in extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors. Amongst &lt;strong&gt;the extrinsic risk factors&lt;/strong&gt; we count things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;poor quality shoes, because their material properties aren't constant, they can load your joints in unexpected or simply the wrong ways.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hard underground surfaces, if you're an inexperienced runner, you'll probably have a poor technique as well. Especially in heavier runners, this means that when they land, they insufficiently dampen the impact by flexing all the joint. Instead, they land with a hard impact, which overloads the muscles/soft tissue around the ankle that have to bear the load.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exercise load, doing running as a cardio exercise is done at lower speeds and thus require less forces. Whereas, when you want to do sprint intervals, you get short intervals of high intensity during which you have very high impact forces. You're more likely to sustain a trauma at higher intensities, because your body is no longer able to withstand the forces. However, due to various intrinsic factors, exercise load is also a problem in beginning runners, because their body has not yet adapted to the loads of running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exercise frequency, if you're already risking overloading your muscles, they need sufficient rest between workouts to fully recover. However, a lot of 'fit' beginners will jump in running head of heels and overdo themselves by not giving their body sufficient rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among the &lt;strong&gt;intrinsic risk factors&lt;/strong&gt; are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a lack of running experience, which as notes above can cause overloading, because of wrong foot placement, insufficient dampening of the impact forces and your muscles/tendons aren't adapted to running loads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;poor aerobic fitness, might cause altered muscle recruitment patterns, which alters the distribution of forces through the muscle-tendon complex. It also has a negative influence on your running technique and causes your body to be less capable to withstand certain loads. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;previous injuries, if you have sustained injuries in the past and possibly rehabilitates insufficiently, you are more likely to sustain new injuries due to lax tendons, muscle strength impairment and imbalance or scar tissue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several others, such as body composition (high BMI), postural stability, anatomical misalignment or a lack of joint flexibility and range of motion. However, the strongest contribution is attributed to an adverse biomechanical running pattern. The &lt;strong&gt;most important factors for ankle sprains&lt;/strong&gt; were: landing too much on the lateral side of the heel, pushing off too medially and too late resupination during the roll off. Most of these will improve when you increase the strength of the muscles around your ankle and improve your rolling off (which requires some experience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For overuse injuries the most important factor&lt;/strong&gt; was: increased inversion (of the foot/ankle) and increase loading under the medial side of the foot. This is normally called (over)pronation, which has several negative influences. Amongst them are rotational strain on the shank, increased strain on the soft tissue and stabilizing muscles. Another risk factor was a more forward position of the COP at first foot contact, which indicates a lack of the early pronation that's required to absorb the impact forces, so this takes place further ahead in the roll off in an exeggerated form. However, while too much or too late pronation is considered a problem, the exact opposite isn't good as well. All these movements can come from a lack of muscle strength, poor control of the muscles and technique or the wrong footwear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what can you do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to manage your extrinsic factors: so get the right shoes, try to workout on soft undergrounds, use a training program or join an athletics club, that helps you rate limit your workout frequency and intensity and also ensures sufficient rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd need a checkup to see whether some of the intrinsic risk factors apply to you or not. However in all cases what you yourself can do is: make sure you get in a decent shape before you increase your pace; a decent aerobic capacity doesn't guarantee you're adapted to running. If you have a history of injuries, make sure you do additional exercises to strengthen this area. Doing yoga is a great exercise, because it mixes stabilizing joints with increasing the range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="3355" LastEditDate="2020-02-14T21:03:27.273" LastActivityDate="2020-02-14T21:03:27.273" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="960" CreationDate="2011-03-19T03:23:41.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only activities I know of to increase flexibility are stretching.  Don't look at it as a chore, look at it as a way for you to relax.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally find that I'm more likely to enjoy stretching if the environment is right.  If I have to stretch in the middle of the weight room because the gym I'm in doesn't have a stretching area, I find that I don't enjoy it and feel like I'm going to get stepped on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a quiet area, then I find it more beneficial and relaxing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T03:23:41.387" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="968" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3391" CreationDate="2011-03-19T04:00:45.260" Score="9" ViewCount="31191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard hardcore lifters saying that resistance is not the same as weight. Bascially that 100lb of resistance is not equal to 100lbs of weight. Imagine a bowflex vs a cable machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd imagine that the resistance type of equipment might not offer 100lbs through the entire rep, possibly ramping up on a curve especially with a machine like bowflex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference and if so, what is each type good for? Keep in mind i'm not asking about bowflex or if I should get one, it's the only machine I can think of ATM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updating my question to be clear: When all is equal (machines or not), what is the difference between resistance (be it from a spring or tension) and actual weight (moving a heavy object)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="413" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T16:54:20.797" LastActivityDate="2021-01-24T05:04:14.353" Title="Weight vs resistance" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="986" CreationDate="2011-03-19T04:50:11.260" Score="21" ViewCount="37341" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try and have my last meal about 3-4 hours before sleeping.  This means that I'm going to be &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; on the edge of being hungry at the time I go to sleep.  I usually have a bit of water, and hit the hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard previously eating &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; before sleeping is just going to pack on weight.  However, body repair and muscle building may happen overnight.  If I worked out during the day, I'm afraid the nightly muscle building routines may not complete optimally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what is the effect of sleeping hungry on: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;body fat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle building, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;assuming you worked out that day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2013-04-23T14:32:58.177" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T11:55:01.317" Title="Is going to bed hungry going to help me trim fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="960" CreationDate="2011-03-19T06:05:09.967" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any activity that requires a large range of motion will increase your flexibility, assuming you do it consistently and strive for proper technique: gymnastics, olympic weightlifting, martial arts, break dancing, parkour, climbing. Of course, dedicated stretching is going to be most effective of all, but doing some of these is better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:05:09.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="959" CreationDate="2011-03-19T06:14:59.117" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3ZbUa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different rep schemes produce different effects on the body. If you use enough resistance so that you can only do 3-5 reps, you'll primarily develop strength and power. If you use a lot less resistance so you can do 30 reps, you are primarily developing muscular endurance, pain tolerance, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, you should track how many reps you can do and what resistance you used so you can track progress. Increased strength/size/endurance/etc is the body's adaptation to stress. However, the body adapts &lt;em&gt;exactly and specifically&lt;/em&gt; to the stimulus that stresses it. This means that once your body adapts to handle, say, 10 reps at some weight, if you keep using the same weight/reps over and over, your body will NOT adapt any further. In other words, if you don't progressively increase the difficulty, you are not increasing your fitness and are just spinning your wheels (well, maintaining your fitness, at best). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:14:59.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="968" CreationDate="2011-03-19T06:35:19.817" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using machines is vastly different than free weights for a number of reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machines typically move the weight over a fixed path. Free weights require you to balance the weight yourself. This means the same exercise with free weights engages more muscles, but even more importantly, it allows you to develop neuro-muscular coordination. This coordination means that the strength you develop from free weights transfers much better to real world situations. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fixed motion of machines often does not allow for proper biomechanics. Everybody is a little different and you naturally make the appropriate adjustments to exercises when using free weights. These are typically not possible with machines, which leads to unnatural and sometimes dangerous movements. For example, check out the images below of a smith machine squat and a free weight squat. Because the smith machine only allows you to move straight up and down, most people end up leaning back against the bar, squatting behind their knees and rarely getting below parallel, which means the exercise almost exclusively uses your quads. The free weight squat, on the other hand, allows for a little curvature during the descent and results in the person squatting &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; the knees, going below parallel and engaging almost every single muscle in the body (quads, hamstrings, glutes, adductors, erectors, abs, obliques, etc).&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lcMy2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Smith machine squat&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t5ywV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Free weight squat&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machines are often focused around isolation exercises, where a single muscle/joint is used. For example, using solely the hamstrings when doing leg curls. These are unnatural - all normal uses of the hamstring (running, jumping, lifting objects, etc) &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; involve all the other muscles in the leg too - and also not as efficient for training. Although you can certainly do isolation exercises with free weights, you have far more options for compound exercises: squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, cleans, snatches, rows, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machines simply can't provide for certain types of exercises/loads. For example, the olympic lifts - clean, jerk, snatch - are phenomenal for building power (&quot;speed strength&quot;). However, they require very rapid/explosive movements that most machines can't handle. Also, most machines (other than the smith machine, which is just a barbell anyway) can't provide enough resistance for the heavy lower body lifts. Most males can very quickly work up to a barbell squat of over 200lbs and deadlift of over 300lbs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On top of all of that, machines differ greatly in what a certain amount of &quot;resistance&quot; means. For example, depending on the levels/angles/etc involved, 150lbs on one pull-down machine can be vastly different than 150lbs on another one. However, a 150lb man doing pull-ups is the same just about everywhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:35:19.817" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:30:39.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't want to go to bed starving because your body won't have the fuel to repair itself, but at the same time you don't want to over-eat either since you won't be burning as many calories while you sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend a light, healthy snack to provide your body fuel without packing on the pounds.  Consider that when you starve yourself, it puts your body into storage mode, slowing down your metabolism.  The very act of eating frequent, smaller meals actually helps to boost your metabolic rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;:  Here is just one of many resources on the subject of eating more frequently to boost your metabolism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Proper diet will increase and speed up your metabolism. It is important to never skip a meal or go on any type of starvation diet. You should always eat healthy snacks between meals. The idea is to eat frequently to prevent hunger pangs, and to keep your energy levels consistent which in turn will increase and speed up your metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tbfinc.com/metabolism.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metabolism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eat small, frequent meals. Extending the time between meals makes your body go into &quot;starvation mode,&quot; which decreases your metabolism as a means to conserve energy and prevent starvation. Skipping meals does not help you cut calories or lose weight; in fact, people generally eat less overall when they eat small, frequent meals. In addition to having four to six small meals per day[6], eating healthy snacks will also increase metabolism.[2]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Increase-Your-Metabolism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Increase Your Metabolism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastEditorUserId="160" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T07:58:30.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T07:58:30.040" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:45:55.293" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a weight loss perspective, the most important factor, by far, is overall caloric intake. The exact timing is far less important. If you eat the same number of calories overall, it doesn't matter if you eat something 10 minutes before sleep vs. 10 hours before sleep. Of course, meal timing &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; have an impact on hunger/energy levels, so eating more frequently can help from a psychological standpoint. However, most things you hear about meal timing - including &quot;eat more frequently to boost your metabolism&quot; - are total myths disproven by many studies (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theiflife.com/eating-more-meals-does-not-speed-up-your-metabolism/&quot;&gt;this article mentions a few&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T07:45:55.293" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="955" CreationDate="2011-03-19T09:41:58.347" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise/470#470&quot;&gt;As I already wrote a lengthy piece about stretching I won't repeat myself too much&lt;/a&gt;, but stretching is actually 'meant' to be painful. Your muscle has several proprioceptors (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs&lt;/a&gt;) that protect the muscle against possible injury. Basically, its supposed to hurt!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this pain gets less due to habituation of the CNS to the signals of your muscle's nerves, this is more a 'stretch tolerance' than an actual physiological change required to get 'longer' muscles. This only happens when you stretch frequently, which might cause &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thiagovilelalemos.com.br/downloads/esportiva/Does%20Stretching%20Improve%20Performance%20-%20sys%20review.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stretch-induced-hyperthrophy&lt;/a&gt;. Sadly, this effect is easily lost again if you stop stretching, because your body constantly adapts itself to its loads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what can you do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise with a larger range of motion. Since your body adapts itself to the loads you apply to it, either you should use your body in more stretched positions (with an increased range of motion) or you should forget about stretching altogether, because you won't sustain it anyway.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An exception to this would be if you have a lack of flexibility due to a wrong posture (Hello programmers!), injury (broken limbs) or some other cause (stroke). In these cases it may be advisable to stretch to retain a more natural posture or range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;1: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise/515#515&quot;&gt;There may be situations where it is beneficial&lt;/a&gt;, however I remain skeptical that these athletes should look at how they exercise before thinking that stretching will solve their problems.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;The explanations above are very summarized and somewhat incomplete, for a more complete overview I suggest you read several of the literature reviews about stretching&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T09:41:58.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="946" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:38:09.140" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there are several injuries related to the patellar tendon, the most likely one is that you have a Jumper's knee (basically it's just inflamed), which needs rest to recover like everybody sensible will tell you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are several things you can or should do to prevent the injury from returning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;train the balance of your lower limbs&lt;/strong&gt;. While you would assume you only have to strengthen your knee because that's where the problem is, it's more likely your knee is overcompensating for another unstable joint. Doing either squats or yoga, require you to built up allround stability and will improve your balance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;increase your hips range of motion&lt;/strong&gt;. Assuming you're a programmer, you probably sit all day. This means your hip joint spends most of its time in a flexed position, rather than stretched. If you then start to dance and try to stretch your hip, the quadriceps resist because its not used to it. This is because your quadriceps is (partially) bi-articular which means it runs over both your hip and your knee and is attached to your patella. Straining this muscle means you're also straining your tendon. So doing some exercises (again yoga perhaps) to increase the range of motion of your hip will hopefully improve your knee as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;try working on your jumping technique&lt;/strong&gt;. With some help from Google I found you liked Folk dancing, which means your hopping/jumping quite a lot. You can imagine that this puts quite some strain on your knee. Try to work on landing 'softer' and/or train your muscles more with squats or lunches to resist these loads better.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;change your footwear&lt;/strong&gt;. Perhaps you don't have much choice, given the clothing restrictions during dancing, but consider wearing better shoes or getting a pair of orthotics. I'm suspecting you have quite some pronation in your ankle joint, which coupled with the strain of dancing can cause internal rotation of your shank. Whilst this won't 'solve' your problem, at least it can help prevent the problem from getting worse or returning faster.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that these are all just general guidelines and might not give the best results. In the end, you will have to either loose more weight or increase your strength and give your knee time to recover (which means it shouldn't hurt any more during working out). Most of my advice requires you to work out to strengthen your knee, which you obviously can't do while it's hurt. The goal of these exercises however, is also to teach you how to use your knee the right way so that hopefully it won't come back anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:38:09.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="994" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:29:00.540" Score="4" ViewCount="772" Body="&lt;p&gt;Timothy Ferriss has a lot of fitness and nutrition advice in the bestseller &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCMQFjAA&amp;amp;url=http://www.fourhourbody.com/&amp;amp;ei=kOeETe3YKJOqsAOEwrSIAg&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNGgvJnXTd1l3BC0tkO2f5Zi6pbDDQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;4-hour body&lt;/a&gt;.  He advocates one-set-only (per muscle group) workouts.  Is that good advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="516" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T03:14:31.897" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T03:14:31.897" Title="One set weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-27T03:15:28.277" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="671" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:56:29.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fuelbelt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FuelBelt&lt;/a&gt;! It carries water bottles and has various pouches the can hold a gel, a cellphone, or a small camera. I bought the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fuelbelt.com/s.nl/it.A/id.73/.f?sc=9&amp;amp;category=-109&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;four-bottle trail-runner model&lt;/a&gt; because of the extra pouches, and in case I ever need all four bottles. I haven't needed more than two bottles, but it's nice to have the option. Instead of a glucose snack or in addition to it, you could have a glucose drink in one bottle. During the summer, I fill one bottle with a sports drink and another bottle with plain water. Each bottle holds 8oz. With four bottles, that's a total of 32oz (1 quart). My belt has two gel pouches, and two zip pouches. My mobile phone easily fits in either of the zipper pouches, and it is comfortable. My only complaint is that my phone tends to make my belt want to rotate slightly, but otherwise, I love it! I don't go running in the heat without it. If you put similar shaped items in the zipper puches, then it won't have this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="126" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T17:56:29.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="991" CreationDate="2011-03-19T20:17:08.357" Score="10" ViewCount="731" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you train sit-ups correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard you can damage your back if you don't do it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are there any varieties that allows one to use weights or similar objects? I ask about this because I want to build &lt;strong&gt;bigger muscles&lt;/strong&gt; rather than focusing on endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get it you need to do few repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="510" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T16:41:04.277" Title="Doing it right: sit-ups" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="980" CreationDate="2011-03-19T20:48:11.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tough question because it wide open. I use different setups for different muscle groups. Each setup has it's own set of standards according to what you're trying to work.&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;On the flip side of that, I did run into some generic things not to do.&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;When you're attempting to slim, don't use an incline board. do them on the flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T20:48:11.233" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2011-03-19T22:06:16.730" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Branch-chain amino acids (BCAA) are a set of amino acids with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branched-chain_amino_acids&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;particular chemical structure involving an aliphatic side-chain with a multiple carbon-bond&lt;/a&gt;. There are three relevant BCAA: leucine, isoleucine, and valine; these are three of the nine essential amino acids for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BCAA by themselves could be considered a protein supplement, but they are not complete for dietary purposes as a BCAA-only mix does not contain all nine essential amino acids (or more, for efficiency). Any commercial protein mix could have some or all BCAA, but that's going to vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BCAA supplementation has been demonstrated to decrease muscle damage and increase muscle-protein synthesis. A couple relevant studies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/134/6/1583S.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effects of BCAA Supplementation on Skeletal Muscle during Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BCAA supplementation before and after&#xA;  exercise has beneficial effects for&#xA;  decreasing exercise-induced muscle&#xA;  damage and promoting muscle-protein&#xA;  synthesis; this suggests the&#xA;  possibility that BCAAs are a useful&#xA;  supplement in relation to exercise and&#xA;  sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/281/2/E365.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BCAA intake affects protein metabolism in muscle after but not during exercise in humans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;results suggest that BCAA have a&#xA;  protein-sparing effect during the&#xA;  recovery after exercise, either that&#xA;  protein synthesis has been stimulated&#xA;  and/or protein degradation has&#xA;  decreased&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:24.423" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:24.423" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:35:26.613" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start with cardio and progress to weights&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by targeting a 'moderate' heart rate to burn the fat you already have. By moderate I mean Aerobic on the chart below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d0Ouu.png&quot; alt=&quot;Heart rate chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Image taken from [Wikipedia][4] and falls under CC-SA license.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ignore the 'Weight Control' region for a minute and bear with me. What you're targeting here is the Aerobic Zone. Why, you may ask? While the weight burning zone is good for burning fat while you work out, it isn't really optimal for weight loss because as soon as you stop your body will go back to it's normal resting heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do an Aerobic workout, not only will the workout burn a lot of energy itself but it will continue to burn energy for the rest of the day. Try taking your heart rate a few hours after you finish running, you'll find that it's still chugging along burning energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that takes care of initially burning off the excess energy (fat) but how do you keep it off in the long term without having to go to the gym 3 times a week (for your 30-60 minute cardio run)? Build muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not talking about the Type 1 muscles that you build from doing long distance running. I'm talking about the Type 2 fast twitch muscles that use tons of energy just to maintain themselves. These are what you build with exercises like weight lifting, (some) team sports (basketball, soccer, hockey), sprinting, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 3 ways to check your heart rate while working out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Count your pulse &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method is a PITA and it's nearly impossible to do while running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a heart rate monitor &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend using one of these if you have the money to burn because not only does it let you see a real time measurement but having constant feedback over a long period of time gives you a sense of how hard you should be pushing yourself while you work out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Listen to what your body tells you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the best method when you first start out. The problem with the generic chart above is it assumes that you're in good health and average everything when in fact you're not (especially when you're out of shape).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key terms you need to remember are 'aerobic' and 'anaerobic'. What these two terms mean are 'with oxygen' and 'without oxygen'. When you hit your aerobic range you start breathing harder because your body requires more oxygen to meet the performance needs of your workout. This is about the equivalent to a moderate-fast jog for somebody in good shape. The anaerobic range is when your body loses its ability to break down lactate at a fast enough rate and it starts to accumulate in your blood stream. Lactic acid is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism and one of the reasons you feel sore the day after a hard workout. This is the stage when you find yourself gasping for air and feel your muscles burning. It's also the state you'll find yourself in when you start doing strenuous workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I say to feel it out when you first start is, your body is most likely in poor working shape. Because it's not used to the strain of exercise, it won't be adapted to the high demand of oxygen. You'll find yourself gasping for oxygen even on easy workouts and everything in the chart gets shifted because your VO2 max is much lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes some time for your body to adjust to exercise. It has to produce more red blood cells to carry oxygen. Drinking enough water is important for this or you'll get the workout hangover feeling. Your body also needs to cleanse itself of toxins like crap in your lungs and vascular system. It takes time for your body to fully adjust (don't rush the progression). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listen to what your body tells you. Start out with the aerobic stuff and wait until it starts to feel easy until you introduce the harder workouts. Eventually, when you're ready you can shift over completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually start with 30-60 minute runs and after a week or two introduce a sprint. The sprint involves a mile to warm up (and to gradually get up to speed) a mile on full speed, and a mile to cool down (and gradually reduce the speed). When I say gradually increase/decrease the speed I'm talking some small increment that you use (like .5mph per 10th of a mile). Even if you're gasping after the mile at full speed force yourself to follow the gradual decreases in speed (unless you physically can't). What this does is push your anaerobic threshold even higher. A higher anaerobic threshold means you'll feel less sore and you'll be able to work out harder without feeling fatigued in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that point the workout doesn't need to get any longer (the sprints only get more difficult if you choose to push yourself). The sprint takes about 15-20 minutes to accomplish (less if I the warm-up cool-down phases are shortened) and you don't really need to do it that often for maintenance (max 2 times a week). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits are, your body will naturally burn more energy because of the increase in muscle mass and if you quit for a while you still won't get chubby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My general rule for muscle mass is, it takes 3 times longer to lose it than it took to build it (that's what I find at least). Meaning that if you work out and continue to improve over a 3 month period it'll take 9 months until you fall back into bad shape (a really bad diet can make this worse).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may replace sprinting with lifting weights if you want but take note that it will take more time/work to maintain. Running builds muscle all throughout your body whereas lifting weights only targets individual regions. My 15-20min routine may take 1hr of lifting weights to effectively match.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for diet, increase lean protein sources and decrease carbohydrates and fatty meats (like beef). By lean protein I'm referring to eggs, tuna, edamame, beans, chicken (if it's cooked right). Be sure not go on a protein-only diet though, a diverse diet is still important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to make sure of is, always do cardio on an empty stomach (don't eat within 3 hours of a workout). If you're exercising in the morning, make sure you get a good meal the night before. You shouldn't need a whole lot of energy if you're not exercising for an extended period and this will force your body to burn the energy it has readily stored (fat). Save the meal for right after the workout, within 45 minutes after a workout is the period when nutrient uptake is at its greatest (and if feels the most satisfying).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for lifting weights, if you plan to do it for an extended period of time you may need to eat before. Watch out for a feint light headed feeling (if you feel like this don't keep lifting). Light headedness is an indicator of low blood sugar so adjust your routine to eat before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have just realized a glaring mistake in the heart rate chart. The 'Maximum Effort' zone is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; your V02 MAX. Your VO2 MAX is the point where your body's oxygen uptake reaches it's maximum so it has to fire up your anaerobic metabolism to compensate. This 'correct' classification of this would be the borderline between your aerobic and anaerobic zones.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;@ldx Also had a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; interesting link&lt;/a&gt; with a lot of good info about studies that determine the differences (results obtained) between aerobic/anaerobic exercises that should help your further optimize your workouts (I'm definitely going to try making some adjustments).&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T18:30:09.033" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:30:09.033" CommentCount="16" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:57:00.293" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't run constantly...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I smoke occasionally (definitely not a regular habit but rare occasions like when I drink) and have sports induced asthma (you may suffer from the same). Don't worry, it goes away when you get into better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know how it feels because I have to go through it every time I decide I'm going to start getting back into shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've found recently is simple. Change from running to a light jog at regular intervals. I found that the burning lung feeling is no longer an issue. You can still get some effective running in without the miserable feeling afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you listen to music while you run, goto &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.djsteveboy.com/intervals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; and download one of the intervals podcast mixes. They're programmed with audio cues that let you know when to switch from running to jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;SideNote:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I actually didn't realize how much worse off I was (I always did cardio solo when I was younger) until recently when I worked out with a buddy of mine. We both did about the same run (even though I'm probably in better shape physically) and he felt good when we finished whereas I felt like I was about to die.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I just assumed that everybody felt like hell when they first start trying to get back into shape. I didn't know it was possible to go from out of shape to working out and walk away feeling good immediately afterward.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;BTW, I was actually diagnosed with sports induced asthma by a doctor when I was a kid and an asthma attack almost killed me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T20:03:28.070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:03:28.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:06:18.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to take a look at (and perhaps avoid) sumo wrestlers' eating/sleeping patterns. According to them, the keys to their &quot;fatness&quot; are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skipping breakfast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;napping after a meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eating a lot of carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and off course taking in a lot of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:06:18.523" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="990" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:09:55.030" Score="4" ViewCount="2349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been steadily progressing with the Starting Strength program for a couple of months now.  But my last two trips to the gym have been a disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started the program I could only confidently squat 70kg now I can below parrallel squat 105kg 5x3, similar higher gains seen on my bench and deadlift.  The last times I've been to the gym, I can't even do 3 reps on my first set of 107.5kg. My bench I've been stuck on 87.5kg for a week or so, I've been getting the first and second set done ok.  But today I couldnt even complete the first set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very demoralising because I havent ever gone back in my progress at the gym (I'm still a beginner so everything is new).  I don't know how best to react and handle it, got any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T00:43:26.097" Title="Going backwards in training, do I need a break?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="988" CreationDate="2011-03-21T00:43:26.097" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a number of factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough sleep. 8 hours/night is the absolute minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough food. Seriously, you need to eat non stop. Possibly even &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;GOMAD&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad technique. This is a very common cause of stalling, though if &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; your lifts are failing, this probably isn't the main issue. Still, posting some form check videos never hurts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing too much. I've seen people upset at stalling quickly on Starting Strength, not realizing that the sports they do on off days, the 10km run on the weekend, and the 12 sets of sit-ups/bicep curls/skullcrushers after each workout are impacting their recovery. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Need a rest. A few days off with nothing more than light recovery exercises (stretching, yoga, easy jog) can help you come back strong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Need a reset. If you can't make progress on a lift 3 times in a row, sometimes you need to drop the weight ~15% and work your way back up. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T00:43:26.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="980" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:34:16.330" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/abdominal-training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sport fitness advisor&lt;/strong&gt; is a good site for abs/core exercises&lt;/a&gt;. Here are some examples from their site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uCeuu.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E8itW.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out their site for more exercises!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal recommendation: get a swiss/exercise ball, start off with no weights and focus on the tension in the core.  I'm assuming when you say bigger muscles, you mean a six pack - Six packs are hard to come by and are seen on people who have very little body fat, the abs are interlaced muscles that are one small part of the core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question about hurting yourself - Yes, just like any other exercise, you can hurt yourself if not done properly. Technique first, then add intensity. A good, consistent, complete body routine is what the focus should be on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T12:16:55.540" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:16:55.540" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:00:53.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think one thing to remember is the role of the foot as a sensory organ is huge. The feedback that we get from the running support surface is vital to our gait and our foot’s role as the first line of defence and stability for the body.  This is one of the biggest benefits’ of true barefoot running. Although the minimal shoes do free up many of the planes of motions and with the unrestricted ROM we are better able to develop a more ideal gait and a rehabilitation of the musculoskeletal system, the minimal shoes still to a certain extent acts as a sensory insulator to the  sensorimotor system. Regardless of which minimal shoe you purchase you should think about accentuating its benefits with the use a biofeedback based insole (see barefoot science for one example). Devices of this type interact with the sole of the foot itself through a progressive means and thus are able to mimic the sensory feedback you would normally be receiving from the ground itself. Above all else – be patient and take it slow. You are now working some muscles that have been braced, supported and subsequently have atrophied for probably decades. Slow and steady wins the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user544" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:00:53.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:16:01.630" Score="14" ViewCount="1856" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to tone my body up and build muscle, but don't want to look like the Hulk or the chicken-legged guys with a huge upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to target:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower Body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mid area (stomach)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm in the process of losing weight as well (Doing Cardio for this) and Yoga (Hot Vinyasa/Bikram) once a week (But I think I'm going to do this more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to target each area different days, so day 1 might be core, day 2 might be upper and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any optimal routines/exercises that would be great for defining/toning ones look?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T14:05:49.523" LastActivityDate="2019-09-13T12:54:51.720" Title="Muscle building exercises without looking like the Hulk, think toned and defined" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="978" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:43:20.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for posting this.  I've read/reviewed the one set approach and I think it's worth trying.  Like any other approach (steps/pyramid, waves, etc.) - they probably all work, but not forever.  I think there's a 2-3 month period where you will see gains and then the body adopts/adjusts to the routine, at which point you need to change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:43:20.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="993" CreationDate="2011-03-21T14:26:22.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are loads of routines that you could do, and &quot;optimal&quot; is entirely up to how your body responds to the workout. Currently, I do a sort of hybrid upper/lower workout. I work my legs and run every other day, and on in between days I work my upper body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I wasn't running, I used to do a &quot;push/pull&quot; workout: work push (chest, triceps, quads, calves, shoulders) muscles on one day, and pull (traps, abs, biceps, hamstrings) muscles on the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't break your workout down into more than 2-3 day cycles, otherwise you'll likely not gain anything from the workout (See: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days/&quot;&gt;Importance of Rest Days&lt;/a&gt; ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the best of my knowledge it is fine to do yoga every day (I've not done extensive research on it, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kristi19.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; supports it), and cardio is fine (and preferred) every day as well (See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.families.com/blog/10-reasons-to-do-your-cardio-every-day&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Families.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:26:22.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="993" CreationDate="2011-03-21T14:29:23.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not going to turn into the hulk overnight, it takes years of training and discipline to get that kind of mass.  Train for strength size will come, when you get to a size you want don't add weight.  But there is no workout routine that will make you look like the hulk or not make you look like the hulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="545" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:29:23.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1011" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:23:25.390" Score="5" ViewCount="597" Body="&lt;p&gt;By supplementing my running with working additional muscle groups, can I increase my metabolism? I'm thinking of doing about 30 situps 30 pushups before running and gradually building up. I might add some additional weight/core training in the mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets say for arguments sake I burn 25 calories doing these exercises. Will the 25 calories applied to different muscle groups increase my metabolism any moreso then if I had just burned 25 calories by doing more running? Is working different muscles any better then just using the same muscles over-and-over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T07:47:01.607" Title="Does working a diverse set of muscles increase metabolism?" Tags="&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="993" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:26:56.057" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things that I want to hit on here...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, as Stefano says, you're not going to turn into the Hulk overnight. Make sure that in addition to any resistance exercises that you're also doing plenty of stretching between exercises and at the end of your workout. Experiment and see what works best for your body. Traditional advice is 12-15 reps per set for tone and 6-8 for size and strength. The actual exercise will change that a bit of course. I've also seen some evidence that goes contrary to the common wisdom, but I would still suggest higher reps and lower weight if you're looking for tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned cardio for losing weight, but I'll tell you what I tell everyone who's trying to lose weight - one of the best things that you can do to lose weight (besides improving your diet) is resistance training. Cardio is great, but only causes an increase in metabolism during the exercise and for a short period afterward. The added muscle from resistance training burns extra calories 24 hours a day. Definitely still keep up with the cardio though, especially if it's something that you enjoy - if exercise is a chore you're much less likely to stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you're just starting out with resistance training then I'd stick to full body workouts for at least the first couple of months. Split routines are best for experienced lifters who are able to push their bodies to the fullest. They can use the targeted workouts to do more exercises/sets/reps for each body part and the extended period of time between workout of any given body part lets them fully recuperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body isn't used to resistance training then it's going to be counterproductive to spend a lot of time on any one given body part. You're likely to over train that body part which can actually cause muscle loss since it can't heal fully and grow in between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with just a couple of exercises for each body part to begin with and workout every other day (M-W-F with an extended rest on the weekend can work well, but do whatever fits your schedule). After a couple of months, once your muscles have gotten used to the strain then you can switch it up and start splitting your workouts by body parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The push/pull that md5sum mentions is one great way to split workouts. One reason that it works is that a lot of the muscles can be &quot;pre-exhausted&quot;. Start with the larger muscle groups (say, chest) then when you do the smaller muscle groups (for example, triceps) they're already a little tired from the earlier exercises and you can use lighter weights and fewer exercises while still pushing them to exhaustion. By the time I'm done with flat bench press, incline bench press, and shoulder press it doesn't take much to finish off my triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:14:50.230" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:14:50.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1000" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:42:35.403" Score="7" ViewCount="59579" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I come home from work (as a programmer) I am mentally very tired, and thus not able to concentrate on my exercises fully, yawning at the gym even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea to take a nap for an hour before I go to the gym, or should I go straight from work while my mind is still working? Or should I drink an energy drink with high caffeïne levels to give me an extra boost at the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to go to the gym too late, because then I get back home too late, and am not able  to have a proper pause between eating and going to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the gym, I do a little cardio, but mostly bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-02T22:23:44.437" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T12:53:34.267" Title="Is taking a nap before workout good idea?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="999" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:05:38.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a short nap might be a good idea if you are very tired. You want to be well-rested when lifting weights in order to be able to fully work your muscles, not to mention alertness and safety. However, I think you'll want to keep your nap to 20-30 minutes or else you'll go into a deeper sleep (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/913/22&quot;&gt;When I wake up after a two hour nap I feel like I was hit by a truck.&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't resort to sugary high-caffeine energy drinks for general health purposes and because they can wear off (and may prevent you from sleeping at night if you take them after work). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might help your energy level is eating a healthy snack with some fiber, protein, and complex carbs an hour or so before you go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course make sure you're getting enough sleep at night!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:05:38.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1004" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:11:34.360" Score="5" ViewCount="902" Body="&lt;p&gt;To reach a certain training goal, e.g &quot;get more 'speed strength' &quot;, &quot;get more muscle mass&quot;: Should a white-muscle-fiber guy do the same workout, or a different workout than a red-muscle-fiber guy to reach this objective?. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming equal weight, equal age, fitness level, general health in both persons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACTN3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;: &#xA;Fast versus slow twitch muscle fibers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skeletal muscle is composed of long cylindrical cells called muscle fibers. There are two types of muscle fibers, slow twitch or muscle contraction (type I) and fast twitch (type II). Slow twitch fibers are more efficient in using oxygen to generate energy whilst fast twitch fibers are less efficient. However, fast twitch fibers fire more rapidly and generate more force.These are also called the white muscle fibers and red muscles fibers respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(in fact, I had already much more text in this question, and was about to post. But then I realized that I am more interested in a general answer, rather than an answer to &quot;I am suchandsuch, want to improve my thisandthat&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited: Title of the post: Changed key words, &#xA;body: added wikipedia link + quote. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorUserId="422" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:59:38.993" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:59:38.993" Title="should a white-muscle-fiber guy do the same type of workout as a red-fibre-muscle guy?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="997" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:21:14.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using more and different muscles will cause you to burn more calories and will increase your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Burn (EPOC)&lt;/a&gt;. I would definitely advise you to work your entire body, and not just running. I work my upper body every other day and work my legs and run on the days between. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:21:14.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="993" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:50:06.687" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, don't worry about &quot;becoming a hulk.&quot;  The average guy who works out 3-4 times a week and eats a reasonable diet will never get past the fit/toned stage you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the key to a good beginner program is KISS: keep it simple, stupid.  The only thing you need to worry about is 1) consistently stress your muscles by working out regularly, and 2) gradually, but continually increase the stress you apply to your body (i.e. increase the weights you use a tiny bit every single workout.)  Getting caught up in the ideal body part split or latest training fad is counter productive for a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, focus on your form first and the weight will come.  If you want to improve your overall body composition as quickly as possible and avoid injury you need to make sure you're doing the exercises properly, through a full range of motion with an appropriate load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a beginner looking to add size and strength and you're willing to concede that there are no shortcuts, I have not found a better program than the one outlined by Mark Rippetoe in his book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805421&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;.  The companion website is: &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/&lt;/a&gt;.  If you read this book, learn the exercises in it according to his methodology and progression, and follow his beginner program to a tee you will absolutely see major improvements in your body composition and strength within a few months.  This is not to say there aren't other programs that will also work for you, but I've never seen another program that distills the essence of a beginner's weight training program so well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:50:06.687" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1001" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:58:46.930" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If both people are looking for the same results, than the workout plan (short/long term) will probably look about the same - given everything being equal.  The difference will be in the weights used, intensity, etc. expected from each.  For example, if the focus is on boxing and the goal to be more explosive - then both will probably incorporate both plyrometric and explosive weight training (cleans, etc.) - the difference in the jumps heights and weights used for each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:58:46.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1008" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:27:32.600" Score="2" ViewCount="318019" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is causing a lot of pain on my SI joint when the hip is out of place, Saturday I went to the Chrio and he popped it back in place, Sunday I noticed a huge improvement in my movement. By the end of the day Sunday, it was back out again. Now it's Monday and the pain is back, I'm sick of going into the office to get fixed and it only lasts a few days. Is there any technique for a self re-adjustment of the hip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="484" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T14:09:26.833" Title="My hip goes out of place within a matter of days after the Chiroproactor pops it back into place, is there any way I can pop it back myself?" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-03-12T14:11:02.887" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1001" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:23:30.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the workouts should be incredibly similar. What will work to build muscle in general for one person will work for another. Remember that there are many different types of exercises and routines that work better or worse for different individuals, but those routines are shared by skinny people, muscly people, and fat people alike when sharing a common goal. You will each be using unique weights and exercises based on where you are in your physical fitness, but you can share the same exercise routines as long as they're working for you individually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:23:30.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1012" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:10:27.300" Score="4" ViewCount="2941" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was reading one of the answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/942/estimated-calories-you-burn-throughout-day&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; that based on the calculation suggests I intake 3400 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a scale at home that measures body fat and also calculate about the same number of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year when I was counting my caloric intake, the number of calories I needed to maintain my weight was averaging 1800 calories.  So I can't see how I can maintain my current body weight, or even gain only muscle at 3400 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone explain this to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well here are my stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 201 lbs &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 5'10&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender: Male &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 41 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activity: 4 hours of&#xA;salsa dancing a week, 3 hours of&#xA;weight lifting, 5 hours of private&#xA;dance lessons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:00:08.780" Title="Is 3400 calories a day unreasonable for me?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1005" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:13:41.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, I'm not a doctor, and you seriously should talk to yours to see if they can come up with a more permanent solution for you. However, depending on how badly out of place it is, you can sometimes put it back by sitting on the floor on your butt with your feet out, legs straight, then spread your legs apart. If it's badly out, this could fail and you could seriously injure yourself. If it's bad enough that this doesn't help, you could also have a friend help you do the Allis Maneuver.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Allis Maneuver, lay on your back, legs straight, and your friend should pull against your hip while pressing your pelvis down, rotating your leg up to a 90 degree angle with your back, knee bent at a 90 degree angle, then with a great deal of force pulling your leg up and pressing your pelvis down. This requires a great deal of force, and hurts really bad from what I understand. It is also very dangerous and you could end up (once again) seriously injuring yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the Stimson Maneuver, which would likely require 2 friends' assistance. I would advise very strongly against using any of the methods I've listed, and would urge you to go talk to your doctor. These maneuvers listed here could cause serious, permanent damage to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BpthP.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:13:41.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1010" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:25:53.167" Score="7" ViewCount="6276" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will doing strength exercises and working out the leg muscles like the thigh and calve on machines improve speed or endurance in running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T00:04:07.203" Title="Will developing my leg muscles improve my running?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:25:14.083" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Training for strength &amp;amp; power - low reps, heavy weight, compound lifts, explosive movements - can help your speed &amp;amp; acceleration. If you train your muscular endurance - high reps, low weight, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Crossfit&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitendurance.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Crossfit Endurance&lt;/a&gt; style metcons - you'll help your endurance running. However, it's worth mentioning a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not all exercises are the same. There is a big difference between machines and free weights and between compound exercises and isolation exercises. See my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/968/weight-vs-resistance/972#972&quot;&gt;answer here&lt;/a&gt;. You'll see MUCH more of an effect from squats, deadlifts, cleans, snatches, lunges and step-ups than you will from leg curls, leg extensions, and calf raises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on your current level of running &amp;amp; exact goals, weight training might not be a high priority. It should go without saying that the best way to improve your running is to do more running. Any cross training you do is secondary in importance and should be scheduled accordingly. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch your diet. Weight training benefits from increased mass. Running, at least for any distance over ~400m, doesn't. It is certainly possible to build a ton of strength/power without gaining any extra mass, but you have to watch what you eat. Don't get me wrong - you won't become the hulk overnight or even over a year - but adding 5-10lbs by squatting &amp;amp; eating a lot is easy and could negatively impact your running. Just eat maintenance calories and you'll be fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:25:14.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="997" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:52:56.030" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with everything md5sum says but there are a few thing's I'd add.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the link points out is that, while aerobic exercise burns more calories during the exercise (and soon afterward), the anaerobic exercise continues to burn calories well after the exercise (up to 38 hours) because your body uses a lot of energy during recovery (reversing the residual affects of the anaerobic exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to know how to distinguish between aerobic/anaerobic exercise. Check out this heart rate chart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/terGt.png&quot; alt=&quot;Heart Rate Chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Image from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=exercise%20zones#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikimedia Commons&lt;/a&gt; and falls under CC-SA license&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, take this chart as a generic guideline, not fact. Your VO2 Max will increase as you get into better shape and you're probably better off than this chart states if you're in good shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're targeting is the Anaerobic zone. Anaerobic workouts are basically intense workouts that push your body beyond the ability to provide energy just through normal aerobic metabolism. I'm talking about lifting weights, sprinting, hard cardio, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you're just going for maximum calorie burning, it shouldn't really matter whether you do running alone or mix it up with other high intensity exercises (like push-ups) as long as you're pushing yourself up into that anaerobic zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say this because running works out a lot more muscles (especially your core) than just your legs; and so do exercises like push-ups (triceps, shoulders, core, etc...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing running, focus on short interval hard sprints. For push-ups and lifting weights, minimize the resting time between exercises (30-45 seconds instead of 3-5 minutes). Also, doing fewer repetitions at a higher intensity is better (like 3 sets of 5 at higher weight instead of 2 sets of 10 at lower weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not so much what you workout but how you do your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T07:47:01.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T07:47:01.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2011-03-21T22:16:22.743" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The estimated BMR for a male of your height/weight/age is 2000 calories/day. This is how many calories you'd burn if you &lt;em&gt;stayed in bed all day long&lt;/em&gt;. Your daily activities, including going to work, doing chores, taking care of kids, reading, etc, will burn a few hundred calories on top of that, more if your job isn't sedentary. Finally, any exercise you do - you seem to average almost 2 hours a day - will burn even more. Add that all up and you get your maintenance calories: the number of calories you need to eat to maintain body weight. It wouldn't surprise me at all if your maintenance calories were in the 3k range. For reference, a few years ago I dropped from 223lbs -&gt; 180lbs (I'm male, 5'11&quot;) and was losing 1-1.5lbs/week while eating 2500 calories per day (implying my maintenance calories were over 3k). My activity levels were actually less than yours: sedentary job, 3-4 hours of weight lifting a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all calorie counting is just an estimate and genetic differences can mean that your exact BMR and maintenance levels are a bit different than other people. Fortunately, you can hone in your estimates by using something that you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; measure: your bodyweight. If your bodyweight is changing at the rate you are expecting - e.g. losing 1lb a week on a 500/day calorie deficit - then your estimates are accurate. If not, you'll have to tweak them until they match reality. Note: bodyweight can fluctuate quite a bit on a daily basis due to unrelated factors (e.g. water retention), but if you pay attention to your bodyweight &lt;em&gt;trend&lt;/em&gt; over a week, the fluctuations should average out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T22:16:22.743" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1016" CreationDate="2011-03-21T23:35:54.543" Score="27" ViewCount="2230" Body="&lt;p&gt;What shoes have you found to be most effective for exercises like squats and deadlifts etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="553" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:19:36.930" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T13:11:35.320" Title="Shoes for Weightlifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1021" CreationDate="2011-03-22T00:30:08.490" Score="12" ViewCount="6524" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a relatively easy way to get better values for my heart rate zones if I already have a heart rate monitor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple workouts I've done have my heart rate in the &quot;hard&quot; zone for 90-95% of the time, and practically none in the &quot;light&quot; or &quot;medium&quot; zones. My maximum heart rate so far is 193 and estimated resting heart rate between 55-65.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="556" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T17:13:33.327" Title="How do I workout my heart rate zones for training?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1013" CreationDate="2011-03-22T00:39:21.393" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing any weight training that involves the legs/feet, you want a shoe that provides:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hard, incompressible sole. Avoid squishy sneakers, as they are a bit like doing push-ups on a mattress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide &amp;amp; stable. You don't want to be wobbly.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xVg3Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specific cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any type of squatting (including the clean, jerk, snatch): a raised heel is advantagous when squatting. Proper weightlifting shoes are your best bet, such as the ones available at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/gear-apparel/weightlifting-shoes.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rogue Fitness&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlaybarbell.com/20pewlse.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pendlay Barbell&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/products/shoesFR.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eleiko&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just about everything else (including deadlifts): you want to be as low/close to the ground as possible. Barefoot or in socks is ideal when conditions allow. If not, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Taylor_All-Stars&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chucks&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vibram Five Fingers&lt;/a&gt; are good alternatives.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T12:09:20.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:09:20.817" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-03-22T01:25:50.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Toss them in the wash as needed. If they get a real nasty smell that doesn't come out, soak the VFFs for 30 minutes in a mixture of oxy clean and hot water and then toss in the wash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:25:50.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1015" CreationDate="2011-03-22T12:20:44.070" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, 50% is the transition point between resting and the first zone and every next zone is a 10% increase. Your max is 90%+.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the chart:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U50k2.png&quot; alt=&quot;Heart Rate Chart&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Image is from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exercise_zones.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikimedia commons&lt;/a&gt; and released under CC-SA&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But look at the charts as an approximate baseline average for most people they also don't paint a very realistic picture. Your VO2 MAX will actually increase if you do workouts that extend your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anaerobic threshold&lt;/a&gt;. The harder you push toward your maximum, the higher your maximum raises so you'll be able to do even more intense workouts as it increases with less soreness/recovery time needed in between. Also, your resting heart rate will lower because of a healthier circulatory system (from your numbers it sounds like you're doing pretty good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the Weight control zone (which IMHO is the worst zone to work out if you're trying to lose fat) think of light exercise. Exercise you'll likely break a sweat from (unless it's cold/windy) but it doesn't really get you breathing hard (like a brisk walk). The type that you will cool down immediately after you stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the aerobic range, your body starts to require more oxygen (for metabolism) so you start to breathe harder. I like to think of this as the point where you transition from normal resting breathing patterns to a point where you need to start focusing on more controlled breathing (I may be wrong about this though). If you stop after working out into your aerobic zone, it will actually take hours for your body to cool down completely (I'm more sure that this point is more accurate). You can see this effect by your heart rate being elevated above normal well after your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I talk about anaerobic I want to make one thing clear first, when you transition into the anaerobic range your body doesn't just magically turn off its oxygen-based metabolism and switch over to oxygen-deprived metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The anaerobic range is just the range where your body is working at a sufficient intensity where it can no longer break down lactate fast enough; so it starts accumulating in your bloodstream. If you had a lab, you could test your blood as you work out to see this effect but that isn't very convenient so I use another technique to gauge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I gauge it is, hop on a treadmill and slowly increase the speed and continually monitor your heart rate. When you're in the aerobic range (and you're warmed up) you'll start to settle into a 'zone' where it feels like you can just keep on going and going and going (because you can). This is because your body is efficiently using its energy stores. As you increase the speed slowly, you'll eventually hit a speed where the running feels like it's getting hard. Like you'll eventually start to wear down and have to focus your willpower to keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really see much point in working out in the lower zones unless you're away from your regular workout environment and want to get in some maintenance. If your goal is to increase endurance for a specific sport (like a marathon) targeting the aerobic zone is probably a good idea. If you're trying to lose weight and you're already fit enough to be comfortable with pushing well into your anaerobic zone (which it sounds like you are), then anaerobic workouts will probably be more effective for you. For the reasons see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/997/does-working-a-diverse-set-of-muscles-increase-metabolism/1002#1002&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; or more specifically, the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies show that the EPOC effect exists after both anaerobic exercise and aerobic exercise. Such comparisons are problematic, however, in that it is difficult to equalize and subsequently compare workloads between the two types of exercise. For exercise regimens of comparable duration and intensity, aerobic exercise burns more calories during the exercise itself,[6] but the difference is partly offset by the higher increase in caloric expenditure that occurs during the EPOC phase after anaerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise in the form of high-intensity interval training was also found in one study to result in greater loss of subcutaneous fat, even though the subjects expended fewer than half as many calories during exercise.[7] Whether this result was caused by the EPOC effect has not been established, and the caloric content of the participants' diet was not controlled during this particular study period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, with both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, your body's metabolism increases and burns more energy well after your workout. Even though aerobic burns more during exercise, the amount is offset by the higher increase in metabolism after anaerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The EPOC effect clearly increases with the intensity of the exercise, and (at least in the case of aerobic exercise, perhaps also for anaerobic) the duration of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies comparing intermittent and continuous exercise consistently show a greater EPOC response for higher intensity, intermittent exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, higher intensity is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A heart rate monitor is a great tool to have. Once you get a feel for where the different zones for you, it should be easy to target whatever specific zone you're trying to hit and monitor how your body is adjusting as you improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="35162" LastEditDate="2021-04-17T17:13:33.327" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T17:13:33.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1024" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:35:30.720" Score="4" ViewCount="728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering pursuing Personal Trainer certification, and I quickly realized there are a large number of organizations that offer personal training, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/getcertified/certification_pt.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nptifitness.com/training-programs.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NPTI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nasm.org/getcertified/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NASM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Certification_Home&amp;amp;Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&amp;amp;ContentID=14642&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACSM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nsca-cc.org/nsca-cpt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NSCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncsf.org/certexam/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NCSF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.starting-a-personal-training-business.com/personal-training-certification-school.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This random website&lt;/a&gt; lists these and a bunch more (it's where I got the above organizations from, to be honest), but I don't even know whether &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; site is trustworthy, particularly for the &quot;industry recognition&quot; row. &lt;strong&gt;Which certification, if any, is the best to pursue?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:16:02.577" Title="Which personal trainer certifications are most respected?" Tags="&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T14:36:51.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="999" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:09:33.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not go to the gym before work. That is what I have almost always done.  I have a high energy level first thing in the morning.  It's not for everyone and requires you go to bed earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:09:33.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:14:17.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certificates themselves only make your services more marketable, they don't make you a better personal trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where do you plan to work? If it's at a gym, ask them what certificates they respect the most. Some organization will require specific ones, and others don't really care, and will give you more pay based on the number (not quality) of certificates. In that case you might as well get the cheapest ones you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you going to market yourself to the general public, almost nobody you talk to will know the difference between NCCA and ACE. They might ask &quot;are you certified?&quot; (and they should), but that's about it. In this case, the decision is really up to you: what do you think will make you a better trainer? These certificates will only help get customers in the door, not retain them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really, really want your question answered then ACE and NCCA are the two I hear mentioned the most and are probably the most recognizable. This is only my personal observation and yours might differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:14:17.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:52:43.923" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Programmers often get caught up in the urgency of deadlines. That makes it hard to find time to exercise. What are you going to cut from your schedule to make time to move?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lived 2 miles from work, so the overhead of motorized transport (waiting at the bus stop, parking the car) was a substantial part of the trip. Riding my bike to work only took slightly longer, and gave me some activity each day. I usually took an indirect route to avoid traffic, bringing in up to a whopping 3 miles. That was a lot for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vigorous bike ride followed by a shower was the perfect way to start my day. I found myself jumping in to the work in new ways. My success at work improved in a way that was greater than the time lost to my workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="234" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:52:43.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1033" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:05:06.350" Score="9" ViewCount="1198" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then I'll indulge in an extravagant dessert, such as a brownie sundae, which contains as many calories as I'd normally eat for dinner. What is the best way to nutritionally compensate for this behaviour to avoid health repercussions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat the brownie sundae &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; dinner, maintaining my normal caloric intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a small veggie-rich dinner to get some vitamins and minerals, and eat the brownie sundae for dessert, even though this will increase my caloric intake for the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat the brownie sundae on top of a normal dinner with the mentality that stressing about calories will lead to as many health problems as occasional overeating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:23:10.480" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T17:44:37.277" Title="How to compensate for a brownie sundae?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1032" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:07:08.100" Score="7" ViewCount="5868" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &quot;What to Expect When You're Expecting&quot; after birth of baby, it advises to close the gap in your vertical ab muscles before going back to a strenuous routine. My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) checking for the gap: I think this is going to be pretty easy to tell? Just palpating my abs to see if there is a gap (soft spot) in the middle of my belly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) the description for the work-out to close this gap is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;While on your back (&quot;the basic position&quot;) inhale, cross your hands over your abdomen, using your fingers to draw the sides of your ab muscles together as you breathe out, pulling your belly button inward toward the spine while raising your head slowly. Exhale as you lower your head.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've translated this to: Inhale, raise head (so abs are clenched), massage abs inward as you exhale and lower head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that right? Does anybody have recommendations for other &quot;closing the gap&quot; exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I had a pretty strong core before pregnancy, what if I can't detect a gap? Should I just do some &quot;closing&quot; exercises just to be sure? Should I see a sports doctor to verify?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the feedback!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:50:31.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:50:31.147" Title="After Pregnancy: exercise to close gap in vertical muscles in abs" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="978" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:27:57.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what activity level you are at and what your goals are. Like a lot of programs you will see progress but eventually your body gets efficient at it so it's best to change up exercises every few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat loss - you can't target fat loss. You can do a thousand crunches a day and still have flab on top of your incredible six-pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sculpting/Toning muscle - you need to have muscle first in order to tone it. Any weight lifting regimen will build muscles for you. For target-specific exercises - I'd just caution against getting a muscle imbalance (i.e. making sure if you work biceps, you work triceps too, etc...). Having one muscle stronger than its opposing muscle will make you susceptible to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any exercise is better than none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:27:57.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1026" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:37:21.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Make a mini-version of it to adjust to your diet/work-out regimen while making adjustments to the recipe such as not adding sugar or doing a sugar substitute&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Eat for lunch rather than dinner so you have more time during the day to work it off&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Nutritionally, if you are already eating pretty healthy, a cheat once in a while should not totally derail you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) On the days you do have the sundae, make your exercise regimen harder that day to compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:37:21.900" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1026" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:53:12.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make it a reward for some planned goal being met - make sure you have meaningful weekly goals to keep yourself motivated. There's nothing like positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:37:41.253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:37:41.253" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1015" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:58:14.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are training for something big (like a marathon?). I would suggest getting a heart rate monitor that allows you to get the graph of the data like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0011UK35K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Garmin Forerunner 405&lt;/a&gt;. It's super easy to track your progress with a gadget with GPS capabality especially if you are doing cardio (i.e. running, cycling), you can see how your heart rate improves on hills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your heart rate values will naturally improve as your muscles become more efficient from your training. The workouts eventually get easier on your heart as it gets trained. Not sure what your goal is (i.e. time? distance?) but training your body to get used to say running 20 miles a day will make one 5K race a cinch! So you can train for something bigger if you want to be more efficient in something shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T20:05:07.477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T20:05:07.477" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1027" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:04:39.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seeing a doctor is always recommended if you have any health questions. Being a man, I've never been pregnant, so I can't testify to any of this, but according to what I've read I would definitely advise doing some of the &quot;gap-closing&quot; exercises before going back to a full workout routine. When you're pregnant, the muscles elongate and stretch, and the area in the center becomes weak. It's called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diastasis_recti&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diastasis recti&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that your abdominal muscles may not have separated during pregnancy. You should be able to feel a ridge running vertically up your abdomen if they have, and that ridge should become more pronounced if you strain or flex your abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pregnancy-info.net/separated_muscles.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pregnancy-Info.net&lt;/a&gt; suggests the following exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Work to bring your navel as close as possible to your spine, so it looks as if your stomach is &quot;caving in&quot;. Hold this for a minute or two, while continuing to relax and breathe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place both of your hands on your abdomen, fingers pointing towards your pelvis. Exhale and lift your head off of the floor, while pressing down with your fingers. (the exercise from your question)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Exhale and extend one leg out in front of you. Wait for your abdomen to contract, and then inhale and place your leg back on the floor. Alternate legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrap a long towel around your stomach with the ends in front of your abdomen. Do a crunch. As you raise your shoulders and head off of the ground, pull the ends of the towel towards one another.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises are meant to be a low-stress muscle building technique to prevent tearing or injuring the muscles or tendons in their weakened state. You should not do any abdominal exercises until after your stitches have been removed and your scars are healed if you had a cesarean section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your shortened description of the exercise would be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:04:39.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1026" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:32:21.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to truly &quot;compensate&quot; for it, you either have to cut as many calories as are contained in the item, or you must burn that amount of calories. If &quot;every now and then&quot; means somewhere around or less than once a month, and the rest of the time you eat healthy and maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, I wouldn't worry about compensating for it. If instead it means once or twice a week, you need to compensate for it in some manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things you should remember is that you don't need to compensate for it all at once. If you eat an excess of 3500 calories one day, but have a 610 calorie deficit every other day of the week, your weight will be the same at the end of the week as it was in the beginning. Our weight fluctuates constantly within some margin due to this effect and the effect of hydration on the body, and small fluctuations shouldn't be perceived as a bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do want to compensate, you can mix and match cutting or burning in any way you want to to make a full compensation. For example, you could just cut the calories. If you didn't want to cut any calories, you could just work out. If you wanted to though, you could do half the workout and cut half the calories. With the exception of hormonal imbalances, weight gain, maintenance, and loss is all about calories taken in versus calories expended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:32:21.163" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:57:13.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally you need to have a 500 calorie deficit every day to lose approximately a pound a week. Losing weight is all about calories in vs. calories out. Quality of your meals is also paramount. Garbage in = garbage out after all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So long as what is or isn't in your stomach does not affect your ability to sleep, that's all that matters so that your body can repair your muscles. Personally, I can't go to sleep hungry. You need quality sleep and avoid overeating for weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Waking up ravenous may make some people overeat during their first meal. If you need to eat smaller, more frequent meals while incorporating healthy snacks to avoid being so hungry for the next meal, then that might be what you need to avoid over indulging. If you are used to eating 3 &quot;full&quot; meals, then that is fine too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your overall calories in control and you'll burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:57:13.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1038" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:39:28.997" Score="8" ViewCount="3002" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard on Doctor Oz once that drinking cold water can help burn calories in a rather passive way since the body will have to work to warm it back up. Would this concept work practically in general? Could I just turn down the thermostat some, and it help me lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:08:30.897" Title="Does being cold help lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:49:26.523" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;For weight loss, all that matters is the calorie deficit. You can lose weight just by reducing caloric intake and without exercising. *Of course, exercising can help you lose weight faster because a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat (a help of maybe about -6 calories/day for us non-Olympic athletes - it's still help!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to exercise is a personal thing. Some people like to avoid a crowded gym so they go on &quot;off-hours&quot;. Some people like having someone to talk to, so they go during &quot;peak&quot; hours. Some people don't want to shower at the gym so they'll work out after work and shower when they get home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't feel like you have to lock into a routine (always morning, noon, or night), life happens. You might get discouraged if an emergency lunch meeting derails your gym plans and you feel like you've &quot;failed&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make your dedication routine and you'll fit it in your day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T20:49:26.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2011-03-22T21:08:24.300" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, there's almost no way this can be true. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1253/is-it-possible-to-diet-with-beer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This question was answered on Straight Dope.com&lt;/a&gt; (though there they tried using beer...):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It takes 36.000 calories to heat one liter water from 0 to 37 degrees Celsius. However, the calories we use in food energy are &lt;strong&gt;kilocalories&lt;/strong&gt;, so that's only 36 kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you probably only drink 2 liters tops, that's a whopping 70 kcal you just burned there! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this is drinking nearly freezing water, which is highly unpleasant. And because the water travels through your body, the heat loss is spread out through your mouth, gullet and stomach. This might not reduce the local temperature enough to get your body actively warming it and potentially could be warmed up from your regular activities, so there wouldn't be a net gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more positive side effect would be that drinking lots of water fills your stomach and might reduce your need to eat, which probably will do more for your diet than the actual body warming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info can be found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/weight-loss/question447.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;howstuffworks.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://ask.metafilter.com/55142/Does-drinking-cold-water-really-burn-calories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MetaFilter.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:08:24.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2011-03-22T21:09:33.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;@svrist is right in his comment. However, in nutrition, 1kcal = 1 Cal. So, if you drank 1 gallon of freezing cold water, you would burn about 140 calories. Besides being extremely difficult, this isn't really significant enough to make a big difference. But if you're staying hydrated at the gym, you might as well do it with ice water to squeeze out an extra few calories. However, if you're looking to lose weight, remember your body will retain a lot of this excess water causing you to gain weight (although healthy weight). As far as turning down the thermostat, it might save on your heating, but you'd be lucky to see any difference without turning the AC on overdrive (simply, just no).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="571" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:09:33.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2011-03-22T21:38:58.600" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congrats on your weight loss and quitting smoking! I do think your smoking history has something to do with your lungs burning. Your body isn't used to your new lifestyle (you pretty much shocked it by quitting smoking and losing 50 lbs I assume was the same time as quitting?) and it's adjusting. I would suggest letting your lungs heal and letting your body clean itself out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is an advanced activity. Keep at a pace before you feel the burn so that you are out there longer. I would suggest incorporating a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1600940579&quot;&gt;weight training regimen&lt;/a&gt; into your exercises. It will get you into running shape. That program does high intensity interval training so you can run-walk. Eventually the burn will go away as your lungs heal. Exercise isn't going to heal your lungs, time and nutrition will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:38:58.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:25:51.537" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can multi-task if you go outdoors! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At my old job, I used to run to the post office to drop off mail. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could end your run at the grocery store and then walk back with groceries as your cool-down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's easier to do a hill workout naturally than constantly pushing the buttons on a treadmill especially if you want to do a really steep hill (which can take FOREVER on the treadmill to adjust)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could run to friend's/relative's house and have them prepare you a nice post-run meal ;-) and then have them drive you home or you could run back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can scope out the fine guys running with their shirts off or fine girls running in their sports bra (I once saw my vice president working out in her sports bra at our gym, that was awkward to see so much skin on a co-worker but she did have a nice six-pack...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T22:51:18.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:51:18.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:39:46.133" Score="8" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting fat every month and I just still at home. I always say OK I will run tomorrow but I don't. I even register in a GYM but I just went twice and then didn't go till my account finished. I want to walk outdoors but there is nothing that encourage me to do it. What should I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="574" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:49:55.440" Title="I don't walk, jog, run but I hope to. How can I get into habit of running?" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="290" CreationDate="2011-03-23T03:19:19.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/15106911/ns/today-today_health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a mix of carbs, proteins, and healthy fat 30-60 min. before running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100-200 calories per hour during your run (whether with gel packs, snacks, or sports drinks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;refuel within 30 minutes after the run with 8-12 oz of a sports drink&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally think GU isn't very appetizing and would opt for packets of honey instead. Although honey won't have sodium and potassium like you find in gel packs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found an interesting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathonguide.com/training/articles/mandbfuelonfat.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; and an &lt;a href=&quot;http://trueslant.com/runningshorts/2010/04/19/carbohydrate-depleted-trainin/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; that suggests training your body to tap into your fat stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the study says to create a condition where your body is used to using fat stores:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train at the top of your fat-burning zone (run without going anaerobic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raise the lactate threshold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It concludes that &quot;before a long race or run you will have more endurance and perform better if you eat a meal containing carbohydrate two to three hours before. Early in the morning, your liver glycogen stores, which supply blood glucose, have been depleted by the overnight fast. The brain and nervous system rely on blood glucose for energy. If you start a marathon without replenishing these stores, you will bonk. The two-hour time interval is sufficient to reduce blood glucose levels back to normal and restore fat metabolism.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the article mentions a &quot;superstarch&quot; drink UCAN you can try to see if it doesn't wretch your stomach&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:19:19.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1047" CreationDate="2011-03-23T03:41:13.190" Score="7" ViewCount="1238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got one of those lazy &quot;Ididntexerciseinalongtime&quot; heels which is causing improper form on my squats. I've spoken to some knowledgeable fellas at my gym  and they pinpointed my weakness in my squat form is my heels and their inability to flex when coming down (they lift up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats are 5foot9 (175cm) I'm 80kgs, 28 years old and as I first said, I haven't done a lot of exercising for a good 5 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal trainer told me to stick some 5kg plates under my heels which has helped tremendously on my squat form, but I shouldn't and don't want to rely on doing my squats forever this way. He also gave me some stretching tips to try and gain some flexibility into my heels, which were doing free weight squats at home and squatting as low as I can go while maintaining my heel to the ground with both legs in uniform (1 leg in front of the other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm squatting 80kgs easily, to the point that I need to lift a heavier weight, but it'd be pointless to squat heavier with a crappy form (even with a mediocre form using the plates, I'm a bit worried I'll damage my knees). Specifically doing back squats, although I am practising front squats for power clean form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any other exercises or something I can do to gain some more flexibility in my heels?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[edit 29/03/2011] Added Youtube links showing me doing my squat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8HaIgewyVQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Olympic Bar only back squat (no plates under heels)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrjdWIPvGFQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;60kg Back Squat (plates under heels)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bad on the recording them wrong way round (I wasn't filming obviously! ;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastEditorUserId="573" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T06:36:08.370" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T07:49:30.227" Title="strengthing and improving flexibility in heels" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2011-03-23T03:49:06.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the circuit you do. You could alternate a circuit such that you don't do the same muscle group on consecutive days if you like working out every day. If you are working your muscles hard, you definitely want a 48-hour recovery period for each muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a pretty intense circuit program 3 days a week (M-W-F) so I could have weekends free. And if you do it right, you sure appreciate those days off. But sometimes due to scheduling, I've done circuits consecutively. So long as you know your limits and keep good form, you can avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can always do another activity for days in between. I would suggest if you worked legs the day prior to not run a really long distance the next day. A lower level of intensity like a leisurely walk, swim, or bike ride is nice but it's all relative to your activity level. Listen to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:49:06.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1044" CreationDate="2011-03-23T04:21:04.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you in any pain? If you are in pain, you might want to consult a physical therapist/sports doctor before trying to exercise your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't in pain, you can go up and down on your tippy-toes to work your heels using body-weight or you can do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.best-leg-exercises.com/calf-raises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standing calf raises&lt;/a&gt; if you have access to a gym. The machine will allow for a deeper stretch and standing on steps (from a staircase/stairwell) will work the same if you want to start off with body-weight (recommended). And stretching your heels using regular &lt;a href=&quot;http://achesandjoints.org/2008/05/14/heel-and-achilles-tendon-stretch/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stretches&lt;/a&gt; as well as manually (i.e. bending the foot one way and back and holding) would be sufficient to stretch it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T04:21:04.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1044" CreationDate="2011-03-23T04:26:48.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming you're doing a classic squat with feet and knees hip-width apart, knees pointing in the same direction as the toes and bending to 90 degrees at the lowest. In safe squatting form, in which knees stay above the shoelaces, the ankles are not too deeply flexed, so you shouldn't need any more flexibility than you'd need to walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your heels are coming off the ground, this is a sign that you're letting the knees come too far forward. This is a common &quot;cheat&quot; that makes the exercise much easier for the quads. However, it is dangerous, because it puts a lot of strain on the knee joint. Besides, the quads are one of your main targets, so you want to target them, not avoid them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trick for correcting this is to lift all ten toes inside the shoes and try to keep them lifted throughout the squat. This forces you to send your hips out behind instead of letting your knees come forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand sideways to a mirror with no weight and check out your form. If your knees jut out beyond your shoelaces, keep working with no weight until you can get those knees back. On the way down, try to move your hips back before moving your knees at all. On the way up, try to send your hips upwards instead forwards. A trick is to extend to arms forward to counterbalance. It's a bit of a crutch, but it will train your muscles to contract in the right combination. Once you have the form, slowly begin to add weight. Setting the bar lower on the back of the shoulders can help keep you in good form (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/7-ways-to-keep-your-heels-on-the-floor-on-squats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). If you add so much that your heels pop off the floor again, you're lifting too much. You'll gain more strength in your quads by lifting less weight in proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, if you still want to work on ankle flexibility in a way that's relevant to a squat, you should do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/medicine/stretches/calf-soleus.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;soleus stretch&lt;/a&gt;. Since the knee is bent, it stretches the muscles more similarly to a squat than a straight-leg calf stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T16:41:18.063" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:41:18.063" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1041" CreationDate="2011-03-23T04:38:24.927" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kudos for wanting to be more active!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enlist a gym/work-out buddy! Knowing someone is counting on you and holding YOU accountable for showing up will help motivate you to get moving. You can always walk to a mid-point and grab lunch together. But you &lt;strong&gt;must&lt;/strong&gt; recognize if your &quot;buddy&quot; is making excuses and making it easier for you to quit too. Then you have to cut them loose!!!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't enlist a buddy, try to just get outside: walk to the park or grocery store. Can you run some errands by walking instead of driving? Window shop?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since you are just starting to run, alternate running and walking. Use landmarks like, &quot;I'm going to jog to that tree&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Write down your accomplishments!&lt;/strong&gt; This is very important in self-motivation especially if you see yourself starting to slack off. By keeping a log, you can see how far you've come and also keeps tabs on yourself for taking too many days off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't feel like you need to be running for a certain distance or time to feel accomplished. That's why a personal log is good because it's relative to YOU and your only competition is yourself. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check out local running shops.&lt;/strong&gt; They usually have meet-up's on certain days and have all sorts of levels. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check out running &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/index.shtml&quot;&gt;websites&lt;/a&gt; for training programs and &lt;a href=&quot;http://community.active.com/thread/143495&quot;&gt;forums&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;You are not alone!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! You can do it! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T04:38:24.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1068" CreationDate="2011-03-23T06:39:00.347" Score="6" ViewCount="4602" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to work out if there is a particular diet or habits around eating that would minimize the sensation of &quot;being hungry&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;being hungry&quot; a psychological sensation determined simply by the habit of eating at specific times during the day? Are there any observable biological processes associated with hunger? Is it driven by an empty stomach or some other biological process? Are there any particular hormones associated with hunger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="374" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:06:34.010" Title="What are the biological processes behind the sensation of &quot;being hungry&quot;?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;hunger&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-12-23T13:22:18.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1041" CreationDate="2011-03-23T07:15:31.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rhea's answer is pretty good. I just wanted to expand on #4: track your progress. Seriously, this is massively motivating. Going back through a workout journal and seeing the progress you've made is amazing. As always, there is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/189/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;xkcd comic for it&lt;/a&gt;. If you are running in particular, an app like &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RunKeeper&lt;/a&gt; can do a lot of the tracking, exercise planning &amp;amp; coaching for you, including recording distance, pace, intervals, plotting the run on a map and more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, running isn't the only way to get in shape. If you don't enjoy it or can't get into it, consider other physical activities instead. Regularly play sports. Learn martial arts. Learn to climb &amp;amp; boulder. Try swimming, biking, or rowing. Take up weight training or Crossfit. Find something that you &lt;strong&gt;enjoy&lt;/strong&gt; and can do &lt;strong&gt;consistently&lt;/strong&gt; and the fitness &amp;amp; health improvements will come along for the ride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T07:15:31.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1056" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:51:30.363" Score="18" ViewCount="31598" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me they go against everything safe about lifting! Lifting with your lower back and not your legs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ud4p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://woof.tistory.com/304&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone have any thoughts on the safety and science behind them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T11:10:28.513" LastActivityDate="2013-12-02T11:26:49.900" Title="Why aren't stiff legged deadlifts bad for your back?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2011-03-23T11:27:33.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't target the fat in your belly as everyone has pointed out, however you can do certain exercises that are best for fat burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High impact aerobic exercise is better for fat burning than low impact - an example of low impact is swimming. A great high impact activity for fat burning is interval training. There's a 1001 variations on it, just Google &quot;sprint training&quot;. Alternatively a sport like 5-aside football, tennis, basketball. You'll need to do those 2-3 times a week though to get any noticeable benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a training routine from Men's Health a few years ago (which also re-iterated the paragraph above)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Fat burner&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Use a running track.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Sprint 100m as fast as you&#xA;  can, then jog the rest.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Repeat 5 times.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Treadmill version: 20 second sprint,&#xA;  60 seconds jog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Enjoy a metabolism increase of 40%&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoiding alcohol is the other obvious way to lose the belly fat. If you drink 2-3 pints of beer three times a week, being alcohol free for a week will lose you 0.25kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2011-09-11T21:51:01.077" LastActivityDate="2011-09-11T21:51:01.077" CommentCount="2" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="120" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:01:07.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is yes. Yes, you can do a 2/3/4/5 day split each week. And, yes, you can do a full body workout 2-3 times a week. In fact, I would suggest doing both - just not at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people who go to a gym will do a split routine. Usually a 3 day split involves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 - Legs: hams, quads, calves,&#xA;glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 - Push: triceps, chest,&#xA;shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 - Pull: biceps, back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also add in core muscles on any or all of those days. Alternately, you can do a full body work out. A workout of this type will involve exercises that engage most of the muscles in your body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean and press/jerk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kettlebell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot do both these routines at the same time, it would be way too much. You can alternate them however. Do a 3 days split for a couple months, then switch to a full body routine for a while, then back again. This will challenge your body in different ways and will keep you from getting use to your exercises and plateauing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:01:07.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1052" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:12:13.393" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on the weight your lifting and the form you use. If I drop a napkin on the floor, I can safely bend down and pick it up without bending my back and using my legs. It's not bad for my back for obvious reasons. Even if I don't have proper form, the weight is so light, and I am still young enough, that no damage will occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stiff leg deadlifts, also know as Romanian deadlifts, may seem unsafe to the casual observer, but they can be just as safe as regular deadlifts assuming you use the proper form and the correct weight. The reason there are posters on the wall at my work telling me to &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; bend my legs when I pick something up is because corporations assume (and rightly so) that almost nobody will know the proper technique to lift something any other way. Using the proper technique, an experienced weight lifter can lift several hundred pounds off the floor without any long term effects other than increased strength. In my case, I usually lift less weight with stiff legs than I would with bent legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I encourage you to get proper instruction before engaging in any heavy lifting techniques for the first time, especially if you're doing deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:12:13.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1052" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:39:06.650" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another key point is this is largely a hamstring exercise as much as it is a lower back exercise. With proper form your lower back is not the only muscle group working to help you stand up. Another thing to think about: your lower back is just another muscle group, that through strength training will become stronger and greatly reduce the likelihood of injury overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest mistake people make when attempting this exercise is locking their knees. Despite its name, proper form in this exercise requires a slight bend of the knees and when you bend down you need to be letting the middle of your body lean backwards over your center of gravity. This takes pressure off your vertebrae. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A combination of the following two images for best results(slightly bent knees, leaning back):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JqVEH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZHnH1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Stiff leg deadlift&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="453" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:39:06.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1044" CreationDate="2011-03-23T13:24:48.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a number of things and various ways to approach it.  I had a similar problem due to leaning forward to much, so instead of standard squats, I first focused on front squats (weight in the front - either barbell or dumbbells) and also picking my toes up.  This helped me feel how my body should be for standard squats.  I also spread my feet out a bit and pointed my toes out a bit once I started standard squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:24:48.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="157" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:46:41.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You guys should do relay races together! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the states, my husband and I do the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muddybuddy.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muddy Buddy&lt;/a&gt;. He is 10&quot; taller than me so sharing a bike has been daunting. He looks like those clowns that ride tiny bikes (less the make-up). I see you are in Australia, here's a site for some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eventlist.com.au/search/index.php?searchSport=Adventure+Racing&amp;amp;searchState=&amp;amp;searchDate=&amp;amp;limit=10&amp;amp;page=0&amp;amp;submit.x=65&amp;amp;submit.y=15&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adventure Races&lt;/a&gt;. You guys can work on improving times together. Adventure races are so much fun with a partner and it's always a great community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T00:09:58.693" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T00:09:58.693" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T14:46:41.423" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1041" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:49:55.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rhea's covered a lot in her answer but another option is to sign up for a race. This may seem a bit much when you're starting from scratch but it will certainly provide an incentive to put on your trainers and go out the front door and will have the added benefit of completing the challenge.&#xA;There are usually plenty of 5k events targeting casual runners and if you choose one in about 3 - 6 months time then this will give you plenty of time to get ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:49:55.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1052" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:58:57.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heart deadlifts and good morning's. Deadlifts are a pretty natural body movement we do probably more than we think about it (sans weights to start usually of course) - lifting kids off the floor, picking up something you dropped, opening lower cabinet doors, putting/removing items from the trunk of your car...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercise is just a way of strengthening those every day muscles with proper form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:58:57.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2011-03-23T15:08:30.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm I hadn't heard that about cold drinks. I do know that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightlossnote.com/hot-green-tea-improves-digestion/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hot drinks&lt;/a&gt; like hot tea aid in digestion. Tea is a very popular drink in Asia. Look at the people in Japan who have the most centenarians and Asia has a 0-5% &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7151813.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;obesity rate&lt;/a&gt; (study in 2008).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:08:30.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2011-03-23T15:21:27.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When anybody hits a plateau they need to change up their exercise regimen. The body got used to the old ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would up the strength training to 3x a week at least - bump it up to 4x a week if she wants results faster. A lot of cardio makes your body efficient at it. Your legs get used to running the same distance; your heart gets used to pumping the right amount of oxygen for that distance. You want your muscles to be &lt;strong&gt;inefficient&lt;/strong&gt; to keep the results coming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend this &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1583333398&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;program&lt;/a&gt; having done it myself. She will not be disappointed with the results. That program has a little cardio in it but really emphasizes strength training. Post-workout, need to replenish with a protein shake - feed your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:21:27.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1065" CreationDate="2011-03-23T15:43:04.607" Score="15" ViewCount="7841" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard various opinions on how long a person should stick to a weightlifting routine before changing it up.  Some have mentioned 8 weeks, others 12 weeks.  How long should duration be?  Also, should the routine be changed drastically?  So can some of the staples of lifting like the flat bench press be kept in the routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="576" LastActivityDate="2012-03-16T03:13:59.483" Title="How long should a person stick to the same weightlifting routine?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1063" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:03:37.457" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should never do the same exact routine twice in a row. The first time you do any routine, let's assume you're muscles are 100% challenged. If you do the same routine the next time, your muscles will only be 90% challenged. The next time you do the same routine, your muscles will only be 81% challenged. Etc, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you do a different routine every single day, your muscles will always be challenged to the maximum. They can never get use to a given routine because it's constantly changing. This will stimulate your muscles to continually grow. There are enough exercises, enough different ways to do them, and enough different orders to do them in that you should be able to go for years and years without repeating a single routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your bench press for example. There is the flat bench, the incline bench, the decline bench, even the military press, and Arnold press. They all work the same muscle groups. Now add in wide grip, normal grip, and narrow grip. Do them with low weight and high reps or high weight and low reps. Add chains, use dumbells instead of the bar, throw in some 21's, etc. There are so many variations just to that basic exercise if you use a little imagination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't repeat workouts, change it up and you'll constantly be challenging your muscles to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:03:37.457" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1063" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:13:04.710" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends. You could still be progressing in your weight lifting routine (still able to add more weights) after 8 weeks depending on where you started. By 12 weeks, I would say that generally many people would be close to if not at the point of plateau after doing the same stuff that whole time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My program changed every month (with 2 work-out routines that alternated) by increasing in duration, added work-outs, and increased difficulty variation of a previous exercise. There were some repeat exercises in there though. For me, it was nice changing every month because the exercises always felt &quot;new&quot; which helped my mental stamina a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench press &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.projectswole.com/weight-training/the-top-5-best-chest-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;isn't the only way&lt;/a&gt; to target your chest muscles but if you like that exercise then keep it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The change doesn't need to be drastic. You can change up your routine in many ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;working out for a longer time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rotating exercises in &amp;amp; out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increasing difficulty &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;change altogether&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adding high intensity interval training if you don't have it in there already&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, you will be able to tell when it's time to change it up. And if you are still feeling good, change it up when you want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:13:04.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1049" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:55:54.277" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Feeling hungry&quot; is a chemical and physiological response to lack of nutrients in the bloodstream. When the bloodstream is sufficiently filled with nutrients for the body's use, the brain slows the digestive process in the stomach. When the nutrients in the blood are absorbed or used (turned to fat or burned), then the brain resumes the digestive process. When the digestive tract is activated without sufficient nutrients for it to absorb, we &quot;feel hungry&quot; and our stomach starts growling. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lifeinfocentre.com/why-do-we-feel-hungry/67/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking a glass of water will often relieve the hungry feeling that we get. Additionally, protein and fiber take longer to process than fats and carbohydrates, and will thus &quot;stick with us&quot; longer. So having more protein and fiber in your diet and less carbohydrates and fats will decrease the amount of time you spend feeling hungry. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/4444113/Prevent-Hunger-Pangs-and-Food-Cravings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this document&lt;/a&gt; on preventing hunger pangs and food cravings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that taking &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_chorionic_gonadotropin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HCG&lt;/a&gt; (human chorionic gonadotropin) injections will eliminate food craving and hunger pangs from a physical standpoint, although I've known people on it to experience extreme food boredom. I don't advise anyone to take hormone injections unless specifically instructed to by their physician. If you do start HCG, it is absolutely imperative that you follow every step of the diet including the retraining phase for 3 weeks after the HCG regimen is ended. I have known people that have successfully lost significant amounts of weight while taking HCG; however, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cvshealthresources.com/topic/dietscams&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Journal of the American Medical Association&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/29/9/940.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Journal of Clinical Nutrition&lt;/a&gt; both claim that it is ineffective and unsafe as a weight-loss aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:55:54.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:56:40.133" Score="9" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it useful to change the grip between sets?  If I'm doing lat pulldown or seated rows, is it helpful to switch from narrow to wide grip between sets?  Or am I diluting the value of doing multiple sets of one exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="400" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:03:54.703" Title="Change grip between sets?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1049" CreationDate="2011-03-23T19:06:34.010" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunger is the physiological drive to eat, influenced by hormones, nutrient levels in the body, and eating patterns. Scientists differentiate this from appetite, which is the psychological drive to eat. I wont discuss appetite here. Scientists also differentiate between hunger and satiety (fullness), because they are regulated by different centres. I will discuss both of these, because they directly affect each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hypothalamus (&lt;strong&gt;HT&lt;/strong&gt;) contains centers that tell you if you're hungry or satiated. Although they are separate centres, the hunger centers inhibit the satiety centers (i.e. when you're hungry you feel less full), and vice versa. When the hunger centers are activated, activity in your sympathetic nervous system decreases, which signals you to eat. The opposite occurs when the satiety centers are activated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &quot;decide&quot; which of these centers should be activated, the hypothalamus receives input from a few sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The gastrointestinal (GI) tract (the stomach and intestines)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a hormone released by the small intestine in response to fat entering the small intestine. It decreases activation in the hunger centres of the HT (i.e. it makes you less hungry), and increases activation in the satiety centres (i.e. it makes you feel more full).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peptide YY is a hormone release by the small and large intestines in response to eating. There is some evidence that protein consumption increases peptide YY release. It also inhibits your hunger centres.  &lt;em&gt;Relevance to weight control&lt;/em&gt;: Between CCK and Peptide YY, &lt;strong&gt;both fat and protein consumption decrease hunger&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ghrelin is a hormone released by the stomach in response to emptiness. It stimulates the hunger centres in the HT (i.e. makes you feel more hungry). Since an empty stomach causes hunger, you can see how it would be beneficial to slow down the stomach's emptying. The hormones CCK (as mentioned above, it is released in response to fat) and GIP (released from the small intestine in response to food) both delay gastric emptying. Fiber has also been shown to delay gastric emptying. &lt;em&gt;Relevance to wight control&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;High fiber&lt;/strong&gt; and high fat &lt;strong&gt;meals may help delay the next onset of hunger&lt;/strong&gt;. Smaller meals also slow gastric emptying, but I'm not sure if it's enough to compensate for the fact that the meal is smaller.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;From nutrients in the blood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When glucose enters the the blood stream, the hormone insulin is released. Insulin inhibits the hunger centres of the HT (i.e. it makes you less hungry). Any carbohydrates you eat will enter the blood stream as glucose, however, complex carbohydrates (think whole grain foods) enter the bloodstream more slowly, causing a lower but more sustained level of insulin than simple carbs do (think sugary treats), which will cause a spike and drop in insulin. &lt;em&gt;Relevance to weight control&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;Complex carbs keep you more satiated than simple carbs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;From body fat stores&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stored body fat releases a hormone called leptin, which tells the HT that you're gaining body fat. If you gain fat (increasing leptin), it decreases your hunger and increases your satiety, and the opposite happens if you lose fat. &lt;em&gt;Relevance to weight control&lt;/em&gt;: some people have a disorder in their production or reception of leptin, making it easy to gain weight uncontrollably.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also evidence that orexin, a hormone involved in sleep/wakefulness cycles, stimulates hunger. Sleep deprivation has been shown to increase food intake. &lt;em&gt;Relevance to weight control&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;Get enough sleep&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/MDMIRAJMONDAL-290103-physiological-basis-control-appet-appetite-body-weight-education-ppt-powerpoint/&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:06:34.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1067" CreationDate="2011-03-23T19:16:25.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on a lot of things. Basically, changing your grip from narrow to wide changes the level of involvement of the different muscles. Changing your grip might be good in that you can hit areas that aren't being targeted enough otherwise in your workout(s) or it could be not so good if you're removing the stress from a major area before it's fully exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of those two is the case is going to depend on your full workout, where your body is physically, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One useful situation for this is when the supporting muscle(s) aren't able to &quot;keep up&quot; with the major muscle in an exercise. You can change an exercise slightly (or move to another exercise) to take the strain off of the supporting muscle(s) while still targeting the major muscle. I hope that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:16:25.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1072" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:46:36.937" Score="7" ViewCount="7519" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can water be replaced with fruit juice?  So instead of drinking a certain amount of water daily, would it be better to get your H2O from fruit juices?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about veggi juice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="345" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:31:00.563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:22:29.407" Title="Fruit juice or water?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;tips&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-09-21T15:44:41.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:27:45.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're supposed to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. 8-10 glasses of juice is a lot of excess calories and sugar. You might find yourself gaining weight at a rapid pace which maybe you want. It's like drinking soda. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;355 mL can of Coca Cola = 39g of sugar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;200 mL juice box of Trader Joe's White Grape Juice = 30g of sugar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just some thoughts to consider if you do switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T14:22:29.407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:22:29.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:33:42.147" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no absolute &quot;better&quot; or &quot;worse&quot; for this type of substitution. It depends &lt;em&gt;entirely&lt;/em&gt; on what problem you are trying to solve and what nutritional goals you are trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question most literally &amp;mdash; &lt;em&gt;&quot;Yes&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, you can satisfy your daily water requirements with fruit juice. There is sufficient water in virtually any fruit juice for your body to extract the water it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But water and fruit juice are not the same thing. Only you can decide what that balance is to achieve your goals (or provide more details in your question to get it answered properly). Consider also: Why the extremes? Why is it all water or all juice? Moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some differences to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Juice has calories (sometimes a lot). Water doesn't. If you substitute juice for water, you will have to cut back on caloric intake somewhere else, or gain weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Juice contains vitamins and other nutritional benefits. Water has none. If your diet doesn't currently contain enough of these nutrients, juice is a good way to get them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Juice can contain a lot of sugars; some naturally occuring, some not. Too much sugar (no matter where it comes from) is not good for you. Without more details in your your question, only you can decide if the juice-equivalent of your &quot;eight glasses per day&quot; (give or take) contains an excessive amount of sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Juice is not a direct one-to-one substitution for water. It takes a certain amount of water for your body to metabolize the juice. Your body wont have the same amount of water available from juice as it would from an equivalent amount of water. But unless you are living on that dire-edge of dehydration, this will not likely be a problem. Drink when you are thirsty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fruit juice is, essentially, a food. It provides nutrition. It provides calories. You should treat it like any other food; You should know what you are putting in your body and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastEditorUserId="5" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:40:01.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:40:01.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="157" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:59:41.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try picking up a new sport...I recommend Tennis for both you and your wife. If you are both new to the sport, you will be on the same level. Also, Tennis has a very large competitive edge to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:59:41.373" CommentCount="3" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T22:59:41.373" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:31:36.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For SAMBO you are going to want to focus on core strength as much as possible. Do not isolate your training...SAMBO is a sport which utilizes compound movements such as throws and take-downs which all require muscle and tendon strength and stability. If you are a strong male, buy yourself a pair of 16KG or 20KG Kettle Bells, the best athletes in the world use them for a reason, Fedor Emelianenko. IMO Kettle Bells are the only way to go for a incredible home workout.Kettle Bells will also greatly improve your grip strength and your overall balance. The idea of isolation training is a western one...very rarely will you see this with training in eastern countries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do all your basic stretches. I do not believe you need to become involved with yoga for a sport like SAMBO, although it won't hurt, I believe there are better ways to train more effectively. Maintain your cardio by cycling and running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:31:36.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:58:13.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For someone who is new at the sport, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Strength_training_for_runners.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength training&lt;/a&gt; not only helps prevent injuries but will increase muscle mass thereby making running easier which means your endurance and speed improves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for the elite-athlete (i.e. marathoners) the endurance gains are far less from strength training but more from just honing their craft - they just run a lot. All their muscles are used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T00:04:07.203" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T00:04:07.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:01:03.537" Score="8" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a training program tells you to run say 5 miles one day, what are the consequences of splitting up that run? Is there some gray area where you can reap the same/most benefits (say splitting run to 4 and 1 VS. 5 one-milers)? Studies to show the difference would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are marathon training and your run that day is 20 miles, the point is to get used to running that mileage so I would say splitting the run is detrimental to the training. I think there may be some leeway in the lower mileage zones though?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T07:59:31.563" Title="Consequences of splitting up training runs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1077" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1078" CreationDate="2011-03-24T03:27:32.640" Score="4" ViewCount="1170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of salsa dancing and like many other dances you need to have certain muscles subconsciously and almost perpetually tense so that the dancer isn't having to remember to 'flex' all the time to keep posture, etc.  Hopefully some of you understand what I'm getting at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By keeping muscles tense I mean remembering which muscles to use to perform certain routines properly without having to think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what kinds of exercises can I do so that my core is always ready when I need it without having to think about it? When I do spins and turns I often forget to tense my core.  And because the core is a supporting muscle than one used to perform actions it's very hard to use it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-02T15:19:35.457" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T15:19:35.457" Title="Dancing and the core" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1077" CreationDate="2011-03-24T03:53:42.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep good posture you should work your pelvic floor, lower back, and ab muscles. Those muscles are always getting engaged in dancing. A tight core will greatly improve your dancing posture and make it easier for you to maintain that posture throughout the routine. Here are some exercises to help your endeavors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIoXccmYLhc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Posture Exercises - YouTube&lt;/a&gt; - need foam roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-strength/SM00047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic - Slideshow of Core Exercises&lt;/a&gt; - bridge a.k.a. pelvic tilts (works pelvic floor), planks (works abs and lower back) and superman's (lower back, stretches abs) are great, no additional equipment needed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnBREGM7pE0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deadlift&lt;/a&gt; - you want to maintain muscle balance by exercising the opposing muscle (the lower back and abs are opposing muscles), need access to bar/plates or dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T03:53:42.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1076" CreationDate="2011-03-24T04:39:22.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find anything for splitting &quot;short&quot; runs. From the lack of discussion on the Internet, I infer that the running world is probably just telling me to suck it up, stop thinking about it, and just run. Safe to assume then that splitting short runs is fine, split any which way, and I can give myself full credit for &quot;getting the miles in&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that training runs for a 5K thru a half-marathon distance do not qualify as candidates for a &quot;split run&quot; according to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningplanet.com/training/splitting-your-long-run.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; which had a great table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:39:22.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1076" CreationDate="2011-03-24T07:59:31.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I don't have any studies to confirm my ideas, common sense can go a long way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you need to travel to a suitable place to run, like a forest or a track, you don't want to do this more often than necessary as it wastes times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Almost any exercise requires some time spent on warming up and/or cooling down. If you break up your exercise, you effectively double the time spent or wasted on this as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you work out, several chemical responses occur, like the building up of endorphin, cortisol or adrenaline. These help regulate processes in the body such as increasing your blood pressure, stimulating your heart to beat faster or inhibit your indigestion. If you break up your workout, your body has to built up all these hormone levels again, before being able to work out at a sufficient level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working out at a &lt;em&gt;sufficient intensity&lt;/em&gt; causes very small damage, which will impair it's capabilities. While your body will start to restore (and superimpose), it would be better to give the muscles sufficient rest to do so. Splitting up the work means you would potentially undo any recovery your muscles have undergone already.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigued muscles are more prone to injuries. So if you've worked out hard during the first part of your exercise and your muscles are fatigued, there's an increased chance of injury, because the muscles are no longer able to withstand high loads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you work out hard enough to start sweating, you would either have to shower twice or endure your own smell during the day ;-)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can depend on your type of workout, some workouts require you to built up some measure of endurance, so cutting up the workout is not an option.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's often not advisable to eat (too much) right before working out, so splitting up your workouts can put some strain on your eating habits (unless you can workout all day long like celebrities).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are off course practical reasons why not everyone is able to workout for long stretches of time. So if you're simply unable to do so, splitting up exercises (most often) won't hurt you either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T07:59:31.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1082" CreationDate="2011-03-24T08:17:37.047" Score="23" ViewCount="48438" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to some different gyms in the past few years and at every new place I would ask for a new training plan. One radical difference I observed was that some suggested me to run on the treadmill before the workout, others after the workout, some also said it was better to run before AND after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really not getting it, what is the actual difference? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="582" LastActivityDate="2017-12-04T12:03:39.340" Title="Should I run before or after the workout" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1081" CreationDate="2011-03-24T09:50:09.893" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume your workout consist of weightlifting or other strength training. This mostly consist of short, high intensity exercises, which are likely mostly done anaerobic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running before this workout&lt;/strong&gt;, means your body is warmed up, the activity of your cardiovascular and pulmonary systems are increased and your body has started to make sure you have enough energy to workout. So if you then start to workout, you'll basically have a flying start because you're body is well prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the workout itself is mostly anaerobic, your body will slowly but surely create more lactic acid, because of all the glycogen that wasn't properly oxidated. &lt;strong&gt;So if you run after your workout&lt;/strong&gt;, your body will take this lactic acid and start using it as a fuel and thus also get rid of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is important that you run at moderate intensity, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/492/what-is-the-purpose-of-cooling-down/497#497&quot;&gt;because you need sufficient oxygen to oxidate the lactic acid&lt;/a&gt; and don't want to be creating more! &lt;strong&gt;So generally it won't really be running, but rather jogging&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Stefano comments: your (anaerobic) workout will deplete your glycogen storage. If you then start to &lt;strong&gt;jog&lt;/strong&gt; afterwards, you'll body will have not much choice then to use fat as it's main source of energy. So jogging after your workout is a great way to burn fat, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/249/8&quot;&gt;but be sure to workout at the right intensity.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qsuaT.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Working out at a moderate intensity means you'll burn the most fat.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:10:12.480" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1084" CreationDate="2011-03-24T11:57:47.733" Score="3" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am often getting sick. I believe that it is because of smoking, since I get my throat inflamed a lot. Beside losing that habit is there any diet, that could make my immune system stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2012-09-15T06:06:03.533" Title="How to change diet to boost immune system?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2011-03-24T13:29:58.193" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat a healthy, well balanced diet. If you're already doing that then add a daily multi vitamin. Still getting sick? Seek the advice of a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past 15 years or so of my life I've gotten sinus infections and strep throat every year like clockwork around the later part of February. Last year I decided to go to a doctor due to asthma-like symptoms. He refereed me to an asthma and allergy specialist that told me I had asthma and pretty sever allergies. I started following his medical advice and, so far, haven't been sick this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sister, like you, was always getting strep throat, bronchitis, and other upper respiratory infections. A couple years ago she and her doctor had had enough and looked into it. Turns out she needed to have a tonsillectomy. Afterwards she's been healthy and happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is, diet usually isn't enough to fix being ill. It will always help you stay healthy, but often times getting sick is out of your control. I'll say it again, discuss this with your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T13:29:58.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1085" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1095" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:06:27.103" Score="26" ViewCount="8060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing kung fu and tai chi for 3.5 years to date which has helped my posture. I can straighten out my back when I stand, but I still collapse my shoulders forwards when I stand because it's so ingrained. I can consciously open that area up (I like to pretend that I'm Superman getting ready to fly), but eventually I want this to become more natural so that I don't have to put in as much conscious effort as I am now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a programmer by trade spending a lot of time in front of a computer, but I suspect my hunching posture also comes from some self-esteem and psychological issues from being bullied when I was younger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are specific things I can do to work on this area? Will &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/153/whats-a-good-home-exercise-for-the-lower-back&quot;&gt;lower back exercises&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/622/what-exercises-can-i-do-to-reverse-a-hunch&quot;&gt;reversing a hunch&lt;/a&gt; help? How would mentality come into play in achieving my goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-02-24T06:20:22.830" Title="Opening up my chest and shoulders" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:26:33.363" Score="10" ViewCount="680" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed as I've gotten older that my hands tend to get colder faster when outdoors in the winter. This is especially annoying skiing in the winter where I feel I have to be even more mindful of preventing frostbite then I had to when I was younger. It seems that the general circulation to my extremities has diminished over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there's any exercises or any dietary way I could improve the ability for my body to keep my hands and feet warm? Either long-term preventitive or something I could do right before I go outdoors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add I'm 30, I run regularly (5km most days) and try to eat a fairly reasonable diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastEditorUserId="174" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T17:01:21.543" LastActivityDate="2011-10-15T19:52:09.190" Title="Exercises/diet to improve circulation to extremities? (ie for warmth)" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;circulation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:28:24.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting proper nutrients is essential to maintaining a healthy immune system. Human bodies are built on a system of threes. We start with three macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Each one of those is broken down by a system of three micronutrients. The micronutrients' balances are maintained through a system of threes as well. The same is true of plants, which is why we give them three part fertilizers, such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have enough of a balance in these things, your body will become weakened and ill. You should start by maintaining a healthy lifestyle of proper exercise and nutrition. Exercise plays almost as large of a role in staying away from the doctor as proper diet (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.collegeathletictrainer.org/newsletter/getfile.php?fetch=3_17_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;). Taking a vitamin will help to ensure that you are getting most of your necessary vitamins and nutrients, and will help largely with staying away from the doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as Sparafusile pointed out, there are some conditions that will require medication or surgical intervention to prevent you from being sick, such as hormonal imbalances. Depending on the type of illness you keep encountering, it would be wise to seek a specialist if you are certain you are maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine but continue to fall ill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:28:24.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="150" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:40:51.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/health/28brod.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;findings&lt;/a&gt; that suggest we cut back on red and processed meat consumption as they are being linked to reduction of life span and risks to overall health. Though correlation does not imply causation, I don't think it hurts to cut back esp processed meat. As a fellow die-hard carnivore, I have been substituting lean ground turkey (white meat) in place of ground beef in chilli and burger patties. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seafood and poultry are not red meat so you are not intaking as much red meat as you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:28:34.743" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:28:34.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1086" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:42:34.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having proper circulation is very important in that it helps the transferring of nutrients and oxygen to various parts of the body. Usually the main cause for poor circulation is a lack of movement or exercise. There are many ways to improve this both through exercise and dietary means. Simply by improving your cardiovascular system through running or cycling will greatly diminish poor circulation. Stretching will also help prevent poor circulation. As for dietary means, eating Cayenne (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/275/1/R92.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://newhope360.com/cayenne-hot-therapeutic-ticket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;), Ginger or Garlic (&lt;a href=&quot;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/96/8/2649.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[3]&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955286303001670&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[4]&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ptr.1663/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[5]&lt;/a&gt;) are some of the best defenses against poor circulation. There are also many Herbal teas which will help increase your circulation, just ask you local vitamin store clerk for some advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastEditorUserId="458" LastEditDate="2011-10-15T19:52:09.190" LastActivityDate="2011-10-15T19:52:09.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1077" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:47:12.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have the muscles built already, then the thing you need to do is just practice. Eventually you'll remember to call on the muscles you need and it will become second nature. There is an example known as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Johari Window&lt;/a&gt; which is commonly used to portray this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mg6ea.png&quot; alt=&quot;Johari Window&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clockwise from the top-right corner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't realize there is more to learn, and so therefore you don't know that you don't know.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You become aware (in your case through dance lessons) that there is more to know, but you don't know them yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You learn to do those things consciously with effort through practice, repetition, and training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You become familiar enough with performing those trained actions that you no longer realize you are doing them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're currently in the third phase of this process from your question and comments, and if you will continue to consciously practice and make an effort to perform the movements correctly with correct posture, it will eventually become a trained response that you will perform automatically. Just don't give up and keep on practicing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:47:12.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1085" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:48:20.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the same boat as you in regards to self-esteem, and occupation, I was told seeing a chiropractor will help with posture.  Besides aligning your spine and telling you what your posture should be like, they also have exercises that you perform at home to help your muscles adjust to your natural posture.  Most health insurances cover up to 12 chiropractic visits per year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chiropractic Exercises for Better Posture&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Shoulder Shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repetitive Chin Tuck Exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Towel Neck exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referecnes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/112915-chiropractic-exercises-better-posture/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/112915-chiropractic-exercises-better-posture/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8eik2qsbsU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8eik2qsbsU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="545" LastEditorUserId="545" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T17:23:58.650" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:23:58.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1096" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:51:29.563" Score="11" ViewCount="3414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe there is increased strain on your heart if you are overweight due to body fat. However I am overweight due to my muscle mass. Since I started training my BMI has gone from the middle of normal to overweight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know the BMI should be ignored for adults with high muscle to fat percentage, but I still am overweight, I weigh 81kgs and I am 5ft 11&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since muscle needs a lot of blood, is there still extra strain damaging my heart? And if not, why not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:05:27.340" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T02:05:27.340" Title="Is the strain on your heart the same if you are overweight due to muscle or fat?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1085" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:03:14.703" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back exercises (lateral pull downs, deadlifts, back extensions, planks - make sure you work the opposing muscle - your abs and chest) will definitely help your posture. I used to never work my back and after I did a lot of my friends have said I look &quot;taller&quot;. Honestly, I attribute the majority of that to working out giving me a lot of confidence which made me stand straighter and the compliments were great affirmations of an added perk. Of course, having the muscles strong helped support my posture. You want to work on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-strength/SM00047&quot;&gt;strengthening your core&lt;/a&gt; too as that's what holds you upright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulder stretches will greatly help loosen up and open your chest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/stretching/anterior_shoulder_stretch.php&quot;&gt;Anterior Shoulder Stretch&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/stretching/chest_stretch_partner.php&quot;&gt;Partner Chest Stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/stretching/posterior_shoulder_stretch.php&quot;&gt;Posterior Shoulder Stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/stretching/chest_stretch.php&quot;&gt;Chest Stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not knowing the severity of your hunch, it will take time and lots of awareness of your posture to remember to push your shoulders back. As your muscles get stronger and as you get used to your new posture, it will come naturally. Ask your friends to call you out if you hunch and always check yourself out in a mirror (i.e. watch yourself walk into a restroom) or windows of buildings when walking down the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T15:21:08.853" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:21:08.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1067" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:03:54.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Useful is a very relative term in relation to working out. Varying your grip between sets will change the order in which muscles are activated in order to complete the exercise. For an example, see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/charles4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on BodyBuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; about the various chin-up grips and their varying strengths and weaknesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changing the pathway you follow to achieve a full repetition will also change the activation order of the muscles, and also activate muscles that you might not normally activate much, if at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't be diluting the value of doing multiple sets as long as you are still achieving a full range of motion during the exercise, as all the muscles will still be activated, just in varying order and intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:03:54.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1085" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:13:07.363" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have the muscles already developed, then you just need to continue to consciously make an effort to activate them when they should be activated. It sounds like you are also in the third phase of the example that I cited on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1077/dancing-and-the-core/1090#1090&quot;&gt;Dancing and the core&lt;/a&gt;. You just need to keep it up so that it becomes second nature to you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must confess, as a programmer also, I sit in a chair a large portion of my day, and during that time in my chair, I slump a lot. I'm working to correct this, and so every time I realize that I'm doing it, I make a conscious effort to correct it. I've also switched to sitting on an exercise ball the last half of the day as well. It doesn't &quot;make you sit straight&quot; but the muscles in your back start to bother you a lot quicker if you assume a poor posture which reminds you to sit up straight quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will agree that self-esteem will play a large part in your posture as well, and would suggest that if you have any serious self-esteem issues that you see a counselor. Low self-worth leads to a lot of other complications as well, including motivation and health. Leading a healthy lifestyle of diet and nutrition and feeling good about oneself is very important. I'd say that if you've been doing kung fu and tai chi for 3.5 years, you should be quite proud of your accomplishments to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:13:07.363" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1092" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:17:24.173" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you've been using steroids and/or have a history of heart conditions in your family, I don't believe that having a lot of muscles is a risk factor for heart problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You gain muscles by working out, so while you were building up your muscles, you also built up your heart! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, unless you notice any limiting factors during working out (like an abnormally high heart rate) or the opposite: feel faint during the day (which might be due to low blood pressure), I don't think there's anything to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you read some more about the relation between power output and your maximal oxygen uptake + heart rate. These factors are all heavily linked and if you have a feeling there's anything wrong with them in your case, you can always ask another question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T15:34:58.743" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:34:58.743" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1092" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:33:31.027" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overweight&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being over recommended weight is not equivalent with being obese. It is important that you maintain some body fat (the U.S. military requires 3% to the best of my knowledge) in order to be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bad news is that just a few extra pounds of fat can lead to endothelial dysfunction. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shedyourweight.com/the_slightest_body_fat_gain_can_harm_blood_vessels.html&quot;&gt;ShedYourWeight.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extra weight in muscle, unless artificially generated through steroids or other unhealthy means will have nothing but possible positive effects on your health, including your heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extra weight in fat, on the other hand, is very damaging to your health, including your heart. It also causes a myriad of other health problems, including the storage of toxins in your body which muscle would readily flush out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:33:31.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1086" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:56:30.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are healthy, exercising, and especially doing cardiovascular exercises frequently, you should not have serious problems with circulation. However, there are several other reasons for poor circulation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress - This is a big reason why you might have poor circulation. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healtharticles101.com/7-causes-of-poor-blood-circulation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smoking - Smoking causes peripheral vascular disease, which inhibits blood circulation. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/assessing-the-consequences-of-smoking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plaque - Cholesterol and plaque are commonly known to clog your arteries and cause poor circulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight Clothing - You're saying that it's particularly bad in the winter, especially when skiing. Often in the winter we end up putting on so many layers of clothing trying to stay warm that we get them too tight and decrease our blood circulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are loads of other reasons why one might have lowered circulation, and you should probably talk to your doctor about it. Your doctor might be able to identify some underlying cause and prevent something even more serious in the long run such as heart attack or stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:56:30.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:16:34.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sprints are supposed to be very good.  You can do them any way you want.  Obviously, not really doable outdoors if the weather is really sucky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:16:34.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:56:22.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grab yourself a copy of this comprehensive &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitflagstaff.com/CrossFitBodyweightWorkoutResourcev2.0.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crossfit Bodyweight Workouts&lt;/a&gt; (PDF). It lists a ton of workouts you can do with bodyweight or minimal equipment for strength and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:56:22.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1104" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:19:24.500" Score="21" ViewCount="2128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask me to do a headstand or nearly any other yoga arm balance, and I can do it, but I cannot for the life of me stick a handstand without the help of a wall or a spotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zk0z8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/788&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from Yoga Journal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When going against a wall, I use the technique described by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/788&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yoga Journal&lt;/a&gt; where you kick up from a downward facing dog-like position. I can do it, but I rely on the wall to stop my feet. If I try to do it free-standing, my legs go right over!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any alignment tricks, learning sequences, or strengthening/flexibility exercises I can do to help me stick a handstand away from the wall?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:56:23.690" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T18:55:51.213" Title="How do you stick a free-standing handstand?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:52:14.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;When you feel most of your weight on your hands, attempt to keep the force of your weight around the base of your fingers. This allows you to push forward or backwards with your hands, to compensate for when you kick too hard or not enough. You might need to try a few times before you get to balance. Soon you will get it almost every time. Just keep all the weight on your hands.&quot; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Handstand&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiHow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need a good sense of balance and decent strength in your forearms. Just keep trying and practicing and you'll eventually get it down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:52:14.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:59:36.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your throat is getting inflamed from smoking, boosting your immune system won't help, because the inflammation is your immune system fighting back. Now as far as your immune system being stressed goes, I've found Oil of Oregano to be very good (in the 2 years I've had it in my house, and have taken it when I feel slightly sick, I've never come down with anything serious). Also very important is getting a good amount of sleep - particularly at least a few hours before midnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:59:36.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:06:54.577" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Work on strengthening your core muscles and back. Arm strength won't help you much if your core starts tipping over. You need to push yourself up with you core and lower back and hold it there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to work on balance is to spread your weight by separating your legs and feet outwards (like a center split) when you hold your lower body up. It's a similar idea in juggling when you start balancing objects on your hand or chin. Having more weight on top actually makes balancing easier. The distribution of weight will aid in learning what to do with your muscles specifically figuring out which way to move to re-align the center of mass. As you improve you can close the gap, your movements to compensate will become more and more subtle, and the weight will become more concentrated in one area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:06:54.577" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:16:02.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The certification that matters the most is the type that also gets you liability insurance where you're practicing. I'm not sure how it's handled in the US, but in Canada it's on a province by province basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:16:02.577" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="484" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:21:35.887" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any exercises that work your lats and biceps should be about equally as effective if you do them correctly and in sufficient quantity/sets. After about a month or so of steady training you should be able to start doing regular pull-ups without assistance, if only a few. Just keep working at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my personal favorites is just getting on a chair or jumping to get up to the bar, then lowering yourself as slowly as possible back down (Negatives). This way you are using the actual weight you'll be working with later with exactly the same grip and position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this article courtesy of @Barbie: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/10-ways-to-get-stronger-at-pull-ups-fast/&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has some great pointers to help you build the strength and endurance to be able to do more pull-ups or chin-ups, and it also supports that within four weeks you should be able to do at least a few if you train steadily. StrongLifts' advice is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid machines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use Resistance Bands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do Chin-Ups instead of pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a human assistant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use Hip Momentum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do Negatives&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang a bar and use it once every time you pass it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do multiple sets of low reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the Armstrong Pull-Up Program&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't give up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T20:13:59.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:13:59.763" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1110" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:24:50.937" Score="5" ViewCount="4081" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will my psoas muscles stop hurting after using an exercise ball for a chair for a while? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using the exercise ball as a chair for about a week now 4 hours a day at work, and it seems that the muscle it effects the most is my psoas muscles. This is mostly due to the fact that I'm used to slumping in my chair for 8 or 9 hours a day, and using the exercise ball I'm having to make a concentrated effort to sit up straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long will it take for this to stop being so painful, and is it possible that I'm overdoing it with 4 hours a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T09:27:13.823" Title="Psoas Muscles Hurt Using Exercise Ball for a Chair" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;psoas&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1108" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:52:06.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on Barbie's excellent answer, I suspect we should view the exercise ball exactly for what it is: &lt;strong&gt;a ball to exercise on.&lt;/strong&gt; It might help you train to get a better posture, which is useful for when you sit in a regular chair, but it isn't meant as an alternative for your permanent seating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In your specific case&lt;/strong&gt;: pain while sitting is never a good sign, especially since these muscle are very strong and used very often. I therefore suspect that you overdid yourself and should either built it up more gradually or use the ball and chair in an alternating fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try building it up with 1 hour incremental steps to see how long you can maintain it or alternate in one hour long intervals. If it starts to hurt, be sure to give your muscles rest before trying the ball again. This might mean not using the ball for a day. The pain doesn't have to be completely gone, but you should give your muscles sufficient time to recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to gradually built up the strength required, so while it may be slow, keep in mind you're coming from hunchbacking 8-9 hours a day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another option&lt;/strong&gt; is to slightly change your position, so that while you still need your iliopsoas to remain upright, other muscles take up part of the load. While you might not be maintaining your perfect upright posture, it's probably still better than slacking in a chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a small schematic image of what I mean:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3HweX.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nIr1h.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YV4WK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By moving more forward and flexing your hip differently, your iliopsoas will be stressed differently and your rectus femoris (part of the quadriceps femoris) can aid you more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T23:26:18.390" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T23:26:18.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1108" CreationDate="2011-03-24T21:13:21.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some evidence that using an exercise ball as an office chair may do more harm than good (source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18508028&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt;). This study found that there was a higher level of activation in the low back muscles on an exercise ball than on an office chair. This doesn't sound like such a bad thing, but according to the authors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems ... that low-level activations can lead to enhanced development of muscle fatigue. Higher muscle activation would also cause higher forces on the spine and consequently enhanced fluid loss from the intervertebral discs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accordingly the study found that sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair was related to spinal shrinkage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the psoas major originates from the lumbar vertebrae, it may be compensating for the extra strain on the low back. My advice would be to nix the exercise ball and go for an office chair designed by ergonomic specialists, but if you want to keep using the ball, &lt;a href=&quot;http://backandneck.about.com/od/deskexercises/f/Exercise-Ball-Office-Chair.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; offers some decent tips, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Develop good sitting posture on a normal chair before moving to an exercise ball. If you have bad posture, sitting on an exercise ball could just make it worse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with only 15-20 minutes per day on the exercise ball, and work your way up. Don't push through discomfort to keep sitting on it, that's your cue to get off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do core strengthening and stability exercises on the side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T21:13:21.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1112" CreationDate="2011-03-24T21:53:24.310" Score="7" ViewCount="13614" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I've started running I've noticed that my appetite has gone up incredibly.I need to know how much I can eat to stave off the hunger while staying under my caloric burn. Is there a way to calculate how many calories you burn during interval running (run 2 minutes walk 3 minutes, etc)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've worked very hard to drop a significant amount of weight, and while being hungry is unpleasant, I don't want to overeat and start putting the weight back on for sure. Additionally, I still have a few pounds left to lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T23:44:29.577" Title="How many calories are burned while doing interval running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1111" CreationDate="2011-03-24T23:44:29.577" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a decent estimate, figure out the total number of minutes you spent walking and the total amount you spent running, and multiply each by the appropriate number of Calories/minute (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/energyexp.htm&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a site with some speed vs. energy expenditure charts). If you don't know how fast you run/walk find a measured track (they're usually 200 or 400m) and time yourself. Many smartphones have good enough GPS to give you your running speed too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This calculation is a little bit of an oversimplification since your energy expenditure will remain elevated throughout the walking interval. If you're willing to put a bit of money into it, get a GPS/heart rate monitor. The good ones combine a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/11/how-calorie-measurement-works-on-garmin.html&quot;&gt;number of factors&lt;/a&gt; to estimate your caloric expenditure. I have an older one, and although the GPS can't handle being under any tree cover whatsoever, it's an awesome training tool for running on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this next bit is negligible, but for completeness: even using a GPS/heart rate monitor wont factor in the calories you burn due to an elevated metabolism after exercising. &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/82/2/661.long&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; compared the calories burned after running continuously or with high-intensity (anaerobic) intervals. The people who did the high-intensity intervals burned about twice as many extra calories in the nine hours post-exercise: 64 vs. 32 additional Calories. Since the subjects were all 21-year-old males, these numbers probably aren't generalizable to the general population, but they at least give you a ballpark idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T23:44:29.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1114" CreationDate="2011-03-25T02:57:02.077" Score="8" ViewCount="1673" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working on an aerial (cartwheel with no hands), and I'm close to getting over yet I have to keep putting my hands down to avoid falling on my face. Part of it is fear, but largely once I'm in the air I just hang there instead of continuing forwards. In comparison to regular cartwheels, I am able to use my hands to push off the floor and keep my momentum going. What part of my body do I need to use to right myself back up once I'm off the ground?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wp60x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NVQvl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ydBx5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/t_aerial&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The images are from Tricks Tutorial.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T03:01:49.913" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T19:42:10.297" Title="Finishing an aerial" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1113" CreationDate="2011-03-25T03:48:57.487" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe this comes down to simple physics.  When your hands are on the ground, the energy of your body moving forward is transferred to your lower extremities, and your hands on the ground become a pivot point.  Whereas when you try to do a cartwheel without touching the ground, your whole body moves as a single unit because there is no pivot point on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to move your body such that your pivot point is your center of gravity instead of at a point (your head or feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T03:48:57.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1113" CreationDate="2011-03-25T03:56:32.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aerials are an explosive move. Get fired up and give it your best shot each time you practice. The power is going to come from your legs but your upper body is what twists you back upright. So your core is going to be working too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/t_aerial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tutoria&lt;/a&gt;l. His tip to avoid putting your arms down is to jump - that way your arms can't reach the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and post a video of your aerial!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T03:56:32.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1123" CreationDate="2011-03-25T05:56:23.210" Score="18" ViewCount="11114" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the race is early in the morning, is it unwise to skip breakfast beforehand? &lt;strong&gt;How long should you avoid eating before running a 5K?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally finish in twenty-one minutes, and the race is at 8:30AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="558" LastEditorUserId="558" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T19:37:18.780" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T22:44:35.617" Title="How long should you avoid eating before running a 5K?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T07:52:08.250" Score="5" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does exercising help to treat varicosis? Which exercises do you suggest me to do? They are at the beginning phase. It is difficult for an outsider to recognize them unless he inspects my legs carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="602" LastEditorUserId="602" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:17:49.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:17:49.633" Title="Does exercising help to treat varicosis?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1136" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:59:27.373" Score="9" ViewCount="67884" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to skip in the past, but always ended up stopping after a week when I could no longer handle the pain in the lower legs, i.e. knees, shins, feet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foottrainer.com/foot/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Looking at these diagrams from Foottrainer.com:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hyTjA.png&quot; alt=&quot;Images of the anatomy of the foot and leg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say, most of the pains are at or close to the:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plantar aponeurosis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calcaneal tendon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tibialis anterior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plus knee pains (which seem to be under the knee caps, at the inner sides of the knees)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will getting better footwear get rid of the buildup of pain, or do I need to do leg/feet specific stretching/warmups/cooldowns to stop the pain buildup?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, I used to warm my legs up on the stationary bike, but did not do any stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't know if the pain was because of the footwear, lack of leg/feet specific stretching or a combination of both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I am not in pain at the moment, the pain starts 1 day after jumping rope, and after that day, if I continue every day or every other day, the pain would continue to increase. It would take over a week of no jumping rope for the pains to subside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2021-05-20T18:27:36.093" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T18:27:36.093" Title="Why do my legs hurt while jumping rope?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;jump-rope&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1116" CreationDate="2011-03-25T13:39:23.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its perfectly fine (and common) to skip breakfast if your race is in the morning &lt;strong&gt;PROVIDED&lt;/strong&gt; that you eat a good meal the night before with lots of healthy carbs (wholewheat pasta is a good one). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also bear in mind that it is very subjective and what works for one person won't for another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that I would highly recommend is to work training runs into your schedule that are at the same time as your race so that you are used to getting up and running in the morning already. Make sure to test whether you can eat breakfast or not during these tests and you'll have no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T13:39:23.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1118" CreationDate="2011-03-25T14:13:17.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you could post of video of you jumping rope, that would be ideal.  Rope jumping is low impact, depending on the surface and your form.  I'm assuming if your knees hurt, you're not bending your knees at all and if the bottom of your feet hurt, it's the shoes you're wearing OR very very stiff tendons.  How long are you jumping? Try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jumping barefoot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reduce the time you're jumping to no more than 5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make sure the surface your jumping on is padded (foam/rubber)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep your knees bent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:13:17.070" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1117" CreationDate="2011-03-25T14:55:40.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything you do to increase your circulation will help with varicosis. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.varicose-help.com/varicose-veins-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;varicose-help.com&lt;/a&gt;, exercises such as walking, bicycling, and swimming will not only help to prevent varicosis, but also deep-vein thrombosis and spider veins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-spider-veins.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Getridofthings.com&lt;/a&gt; also suggests exercise as the number one way to get rid of varicose and spider veins, followed immediately by maintaining a healthy body weight. Excess fat is known to reduce circulation, which in turn adds to the problem of varicosis. For worse cases that a healthy lifestyle alone won't recover, they also suggest sclerotherapy, laser surgery, or traditional surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you shouldn't wear any restrictive clothing (unless recommended by a doctor) such as tight pants or socks with a tight band, as these will also reduce your circulation. In the articles I've cited, they also suggest sitting with your legs uncrossed, or elevating your legs above your heart when resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:55:40.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1116" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:03:22.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You certainly don't want to be hungry right in the middle of your run, as that hungry feeling is quite distracting. Eating immediately before exercise though can lead to cramps, which are quite undesirable as well. &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/nutritionandhydration/f/preruneating.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Running.about.com&lt;/a&gt; suggests eating a light snack or meal an hour and a half to two hours prior to running. They also suggest that what you do eat be higher in carbohydrates for quickly available energy, and lower in fat, fiber, and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience is that I'm fine to run in the morning provided I ate a sufficient supper the night before. If I didn't, I'll have something light like less than 300 calories about an hour before I go. I will say though, I'm not quite up to 5K yet either, and I can't guarantee that my personal experience will remain the same as I increase my running distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/nutritionforrunners/f/What-If-I-Do-Not-Have-Time-To-Eat-Before-Running.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another article on about.com&lt;/a&gt; agrees with this, stating that you should simply get up early enough to eat well before your run if you're going to be running for more than an hour. They also suggest a 300-500 calorie breakfast. As a less-preferred alternative, they suggest taking an energy gel about 30 minutes into your run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:03:22.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1116" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:15:53.397" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main problem with eating before running is nausea and burping up your breakfast during your race. Once the food moves from the stomach to the small intestine, most people are fine (some people experience cramping, but this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/stomach_cramps.html&quot;&gt;uncommon&lt;/a&gt; in healthy runners). The stomach usually takes 30-60 minutes to empty, and it empties more quickly with a liquid meal than a solid meal (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11748444&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In endurance running, your main nutritional concern is carbs, because your body has relatively small stores of them. Runners often load up on carbs in the days before long races to fill up these stores as much as possible. Full stores can last 30-90 minutes, depending on intensity (&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportsnutrition/a/Carbohydrates.htm&quot;&gt;about.com&lt;/a&gt;), so maybe that covers you for a 5k, maybe it doesn't, but why not give yourself a little extra fuel, just in case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before a race, I usually go for something like a banana smoothie made with yogurt about 45-60 minutes before the race. It has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthynutritionguide.info/glycemicindex.htm&quot;&gt;low glycemic index&lt;/a&gt;, which means it will give you a sustained delivery of glucose throughout your run (rather that a spike and a drop). Bananas are also high in potassium, which is important to prevent muscle cramps (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health911.com/cramps_%28muscle%29&quot;&gt;health911&lt;/a&gt;). If you want to really step up your game, caffeine is an effective performance enhancer, which is thought to work by increasing muscle contractility, mental alertness, and pain tolerance (&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/Abstract/2003/08000/Caffeine_and_Exercise.8.aspx&quot;&gt;Current Sports Medicine Reports&lt;/a&gt;). According to the article I cited its diuretic properties (makes you have to pee more) are not significant enough to dehydrate you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T16:09:46.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T16:09:46.567" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1157" CreationDate="2011-03-25T23:02:18.437" Score="5" ViewCount="1075" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an athlete and trying to find what constitutes the healthiest breakfast I can eat. I'm considering wholemeal bread, bran flakes and fruits. So far fruits seem to be the tastiest option, but are they also the healthiest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user604" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:26:30.493" Title="Is eating only fruits for breakfast healthy?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1126" CreationDate="2011-03-26T00:39:40.820" Score="13" ViewCount="8856" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there some push-up variations I can do to work the biceps or shoulder muscles? Illustrations or pictures would be appreciated as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T01:30:56.757" Title="Push-up Variations" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1125" CreationDate="2011-03-26T01:04:09.207" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/133272-different-push-up-variations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Livestrong.com has a great article&lt;/a&gt; about variations in push ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regular push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/caIab.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plyometric push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;, the goal is to push yourself off the ground to develop power. Careful, it's tough on the wrists&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ur7P0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diamong push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;, involves making a diamond shape with both hands. Pushing up like this focuses on the triceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qpatB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Staggered push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.little-black-dress-fitness-tips.com/chest-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;basically means you put one hand further back&lt;/a&gt;. This can be used to train towards one-handed pushups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ghNvI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deficit push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;, means putting your hand on some elevation and lower your chest below the level of your hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e6U1g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fist push-ups aka Knuckle push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;, To increase wrist strength. They're also a healthy alternative if doing 'regular' push-ups causes wrist pain. Just be sure to do them on a soft surface (like a mat or folded towel).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dvn07.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To work your shoulders you can increase the elevation of your feet. If you can, you could do handstand pushups against a wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups do not really target biceps. You probably want pullups for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reverse push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;, are a combination of a pull-up and a push-up in a hanging position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These probably aren't really push-ups in the traditional sense. They're more like a hybrid between a push-up and a pull-up. They have the benefits of a push-up as in they target your core, chest, and shoulders. With the added benefit of a pull-up because they also target your upper back, lats, and biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8WFiR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Decline Reverse push-up using a swiss ball&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ultimateclimbing.com/2010/11/ill-be-back/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ultimateclimbing.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Using a swiss ball to increase resistance (difficulty) is completely optional (and pretty hard core), it's only included here for lack of a better picture that demonstrated the full movement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UY6h3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Reverse push-up knees bent&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/10/08/jacked-up-chick-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodyrock.tv&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easier variation is to do them with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many more variations, but these should keep you busy for a while!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:22:21.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:22:21.053" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1124" CreationDate="2011-03-26T03:59:19.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds to me like its a good start, but I'd also work in some protein.  Your body hasnt had any in hours, the whole time you've been sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey protein, eggs, cheese, a little bit of lean meat, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep what you've mentioned so far tho, sounds like some good carbs for the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="606" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T03:59:19.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1135" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:09:28.113" Score="6" ViewCount="2794" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I train 3 times a week. Which alternative is better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just train all target muscles in each session, no focus on any muscles on any session, or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dedicate each session to some muscles. For example: Tuesday for leg and shoulders, Friday for abs and back, Sunday for chest and arms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a beginner and my goal is increase my muscle size. However it would be useful if the answer provided more general guidelines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So can anyone explain whether I should train all muscles or focus on some muscle groups for a well balanced workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: &lt;em&gt;I'm a beginner, and the goal is size. However I think it will be useful to explain also how the answer varies depending on the person.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="165" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T03:19:29.180" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T06:38:21.377" Title="Should I train all muscles or concentrate on some muscles in each session?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1185" CreationDate="2011-03-26T11:43:46.327" Score="11" ViewCount="1176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading questions on &lt;a href=&quot;https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Programmers&lt;/a&gt; and I came across &lt;a href=&quot;https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/62149/do-you-have-finger-wrist-pain-how-do-you-deal-with-that&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; where a use is having issues with a Repetitive Stress Injury from typing. It got me thinking, is exercise alone a viable alternative therapy to correct the problems that cause RSI? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand (and I'm probably wrong), RSI problems like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Carpel Tunnel Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyphosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kyphosis (Hunchback)&lt;/a&gt; not related to spinal disorders are caused by repetitive action or posture in an awkward position that causes muscles to strengthen in an unnatural manner (Ie out of balance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm feeling mild (intermittent not consistent) pain in my wrists, doing wrist exercises helps relieve the pain. Or, if my back is starting to hurt from working on a laptop that core/back exercises are an effective way to correct my posture (and get rid of the soreness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forearm workout&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you need to make a little setup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a short (or cut-off) broomstick&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a weight (5/10/15lb plate with a handle works best) or cinder block&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grab a 5 ft length of string (parachute cord works best) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tie one end of the string to the center of the broomstick (clove hitch knot or two for additional strength)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The the other end to the weight (same as the broomstick)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the exercise...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grab the broomstick in front of you with both hands spread apart, palms down, with the cord dangling down between (elbows hanging down slightly bent) and proceed to roll up the cord onto the broomstick in the same manner that you'd roll up a flag onto a flag pole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few of those, change the direction that you roll up the cord (to target the opposite side of the forearm). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These types of exercises &lt;em&gt;seem&lt;/em&gt; work for me but are they &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; a viable alternative to traditional treatment? Or, is there something I completely missed about the causes of RSI?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer: The question talks about measures to prevent severe RSI injuries &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; cure an an existing severe injury. If your RSI gets bad enough that you feel consistent pain and/or numbness see a doctor.&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUyMNyrOHJQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video from &lt;a href=&quot;https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/167/how-can-i-avoid-carpal-tunnel-syndrome&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; containing some &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; good stretches to target specific tendons in the wrists that may be causing the pain.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-12T07:32:02.133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:00:08.470" Title="Is working out a healthy alternative to combat RSI (Repetitive Stress Injuries)" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1134" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:14:35.557" Score="12" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep hearing about vinegar being used for weight loss. There is at least one study to back this up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to the study: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bbb/73/8/73_1837/_article&quot;&gt;Vinegar Intake Reduces Body Weight, Body Fat Mass, and Serum Triglyceride Levels in Obese Japanese Subjects&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone tried this or heard of other studies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:04:49.907" Title="Can vinegar cause fat loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1116" CreationDate="2011-03-26T14:34:20.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually eat breakfast before I run for races or training. For races, I usually eat before I leave the house. By the time the race starts, then it's been at least an hour because I get to the race early to register, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For training, I run in the evenings before dinner and mid-morning on the weekend. On the weekend, I eat breakfast and run sometime after 1.5 hours. I eat the same breakfast on training and race days, so I know how I will react. I'll get up earlier on a race day so that I can eat my normal breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="126" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:34:20.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1132" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:04:49.907" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd never heard of this before, but I did find other studies to back it up. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16321601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; study from 2005 found that vinegar (and peanuts, if you're interested) decreases glycemic load (i.e. it slows down the entry of glucose into your system). This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16015276&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; 2005 study replicated these findings, and found that vinegar also increases feelings of fullness.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19917452&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; study from 2009 supports both of these findings (along with similar effects for cinnamon). An &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9630389&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;older study&lt;/a&gt; links these effects of vinegar to delayed gastric emptying (i.e. food sits around in your stomach for longer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it sounds like vinegar supports weight loss by keeping you full for longer. Because it lowers glycemic load, it can probably also help decrease risk for obesity-related disease like diabetes and heart disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:04:49.907" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1130" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:52:22.060" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACE&lt;/a&gt; Personal Training Manual (American Council on Exercise (2003). &lt;em&gt;ACE Personal Trainer Manual&lt;/em&gt; (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because the muscle rebuilding process&#xA;  typically requires about 48 hours,&#xA;  strength workouts should be&#xA;  scheduled on an every-other-day basis.&#xA;  Clients who prefer to train more&#xA;  frequently should avoid working the&#xA;  same muscles groups on consecutive&#xA;  days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ASCM&lt;/a&gt; (see &quot;Frequency&quot;) recommends weight training 3 days per week if doing a total-body workout and 4 days per week if doing a split routine (different muscles on different days, to work each muscle group twice a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you know you want to weight train 3 times per week, I would apply this information by recommending you leave 48 hours between each workout and do a full body workout every time. If you work different muscles groups during each of your three workouts, you may not end up meeting the recommendation to hit each muscle group 2-3 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For completeness, the ACE manual also mentions that more stressful training sessions may require a longer recovery period. In these cases, a split routine (targeting different muscle groups on different days) could be justified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="3194" LastEditDate="2012-03-26T06:38:21.377" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T06:38:21.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1118" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:57:58.743" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've got a few things going on here, and I would suggest seeing a physiotherapist to get a personalized assessment and treatment prescription. What I'll say here is only a guess, so take it with a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The calf muscles are major players in skipping. When they contract, you foot goes into a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_5452816_definition-plantar-flexion.html&quot;&gt;plantar-flexed&lt;/a&gt; position, helping to power your jump. Most of these muscles attach into the Achilles (a.k.a calcanear) tendon. After skipping, these muscles can become tight, putting tension into the Achilles tendon, which can cause pain and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/achilles/tendinitis.htm&quot;&gt;tendonitis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tight Achilles tendon, in turn, puts you at high risk for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/foot/plantarfaciitis.htm&quot;&gt;plantar fasciitis&lt;/a&gt;. Plantar fasciitis causes pain right around where that plantar aponeurosis label on your diagram points (check out the plantar fasciitis link for more details about symptoms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tight lower leg muscles can also cause &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/lowerleg/shinsplints.htm&quot;&gt;shin splints&lt;/a&gt;, which cause pain in the tibialis anterior area. Shin splints can also be caused by more serious problems like stress fractures in one of the lower leg bones (skipping on concrete could do that), so if the pain persists, it's worth getting checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The knee pain could be due to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/knee_injuries.htm&quot;&gt;number of things&lt;/a&gt; (check out the stuff under the &quot;Medial&quot; header). It could be related to the impact on the concrete floor, or to overpronation (tendency to roll the foot inwards), which is also a risk factor for plantar fasciitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on all these guesses, I would try the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch your lower leg muscles, making sure to target your gastroc, soleus, and tibialis anterior. See the &lt;strong&gt;right&lt;/strong&gt; column of this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/CalfWt.html&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; page for a bunch of stretching options.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid jumping on concrete. Asphalt, turf, or some other padded surface would have more give, so your body wouldn't have to absorb as much impact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See a physiotherapist for a diagnosis and rehab prescription (if overpronation is a factor, they may be able to give you some exercises to correct this).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your gait analyzed, and get appropriate footwear/orthotics. Some shoes correct for stuff like overpronation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:57:58.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1139" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:20:58.510" Score="5" ViewCount="2573" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adidas.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I have Adidas micoach Pacer&lt;/a&gt; and plan to do start a marathon program. But first I want to do an assessment workout, to make sure I have my Pacer uses the right zone settings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OZlDP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've never done an assessment workout and I wonder how I should dosage my running speed, as I don't have any idea how fast I would be running in my red zone. Here's an example of my latest workout, to give you an idea of how heart rate and pace. Obviously these zones aren't necessarily correct, so I may have been slacking all this time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mr0Zm.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to determine how much faster (in paces/min for example) I should be going to reach my peak? Or does this simply not matter for a correct assessment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Just as an update, here's my assessment workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uLC0f.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I underestimated how short the interval between 7 and 8 was and forgot about the fact that there's no level 10. Still, it seems about right compared to the VO2max tests I had back in grad school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-04-25T19:35:37.813" LastActivityDate="2019-05-26T10:40:40.017" Title="How do I perform a micoach assessment workout?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;micoach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1138" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1161" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:33:31.227" Score="7" ViewCount="3281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work with lots of youths, and there a number of them that don't adhere to the proper push-up position. Rather than keeping their bodies straight, they will stick their butts up in the air. When they do &quot;push-ups&quot; they tend to just move their hips up and down while keeping their arms static.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understandably, some children lack the strength to hold themselves up, but I want to encourage the strength build-up over time rather than have a bad habit develop. I get the impression that the youth who can't do a proper push-up will just go on auto-pilot without consciously telling their bodies what to execute in terms of movement and control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are ways to move towards the right position and maintain it (without the use of any extra props)? Saying &quot;keep your body straight/flat&quot; or &quot;don't stick your butt up in the air&quot; does not click for some younger ones. Are there better ways to describe what to do and &quot;trick&quot; their minds to get their bodies to listen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:54:19.320" Title="Establishing a proper push-up form for younger children" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1137" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:49:27.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to what I read before performing my assessment workout with mine, the intervals are defined as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;3 / 10 – Brisk walking. You can carry a conversation and even sing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;4 / 10 – Easy jog. You can carry a conversation but you can’t sing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;5 / 10 – Medium jog. You’re struggling to carry out a conversation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;6 / 10 – You can say a couple of words but cannot carry a conversation. This would be your tempo pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;7 / 10 – Sprint. It’s difficult to say a couple of words.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;8 / 10 – Very uncomfortable and cannot be maintained for long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;9 / 10 – Run like there’s a lion after you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calvinshub.com/2010/02/micoach-pacer-review-part-5-the-assessment-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be impossible to say in paces/min, since each person's assessment will be different, the above chart gives a good idea of where you should be at each interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Pacer will instruct you to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start at a 3/10 pace for 2 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase to 4/10 for 2 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase to 5/10 for 1.5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase to 6/10 for 1.5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase to 7/10 for 1.5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase to 8/10 for 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run at your top speed (9/10) for 45 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cool down with a 2.25 minute 3/10 paced interval&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience with this was that it was a very difficult &quot;workout&quot; even though it was only 12 minutes, but that the assessment seems to be right on target for me. I did have a bit of a difficult time with increasing my pace steadily in the slower part of the assessment, but the test seems to have adjusted quite well for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uWxPO.png&quot; alt=&quot;My first assessment workout&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, after performing the assessment and then looking over my previous workouts, I've been running slightly faster than I should have been on most of my intervals for my current training level (edging into yellow frequently, and staying at the top of green yesterday, even though I was really trying hard to slow down). Getting the Pacer configured right should really help with getting my levels down so my heart rate isn't 190 bpm while I'm running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T13:29:37.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:29:37.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1131" CreationDate="2011-03-27T02:17:59.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury#Psychosocial_factors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury#Psychosocial_factors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to suffer from RSI in my wrists. I never got a diagnosis since I started exercising regularly around the same time I started noticing the pain. I never did any wrist specific exercises but my wrists were always better after working out. As I got into a routine of exercising regularly, the pain disappeared altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if the main cause of the pain is purely psychological for me and working out reduces my stress levels, getting rid of the pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T02:17:59.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1163" CreationDate="2011-03-27T02:22:37.153" Score="9" ViewCount="5816" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is quite a lot of pressure on my hands when doing deadlifts and lat pulldowns. If the bar lays away from my fingers, the bar will pinch the fat on the top of my palms. On the other hand, if I lay the bar on the lower fingers, the bar puts pressure on the bones because the fingers have relatively low fat padding compared to the palms. What are other options for low pressure grips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T08:39:17.363" Title="Painful grip on deadlift and lat pulldown" Tags="&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T02:29:44.323" Score="7" ViewCount="1374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I track my running on DailyMile. The interface is simple, I can share with Facebook and I get inspired watching the running logs of my friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a similar social website for general fitness? (I can add weights workouts to DMile, but it is plain text and I get no graphs or logs for them.) For example, I also want to track my weights and core body workouts. The website interface should be as simple as possible and should have sharing ability to Facebook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="614" LastEditorUserId="165" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:18:09.967" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T14:32:54.270" Title="Any social website for sharing and tracking fitness workouts?" Tags="&lt;websites&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2011-03-27T03:35:02.567" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitango.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fitango.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fitango is a fitness and goal tracking web site that goes beyond merely logging your progress and offers guides, expert-created plans, easy tracking, and peer-based motivation to keep you moving towards your goals—fitness-related or otherwise. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/#!5720489/fitango-offers-easy-goal-planning-peer-motivation-and-progress-analysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lifehacker review&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can create an account using Facebook, which allows you to share your results with friends. Then you either create your own workout or you get one through their Planstore. There are also other categories to get challenged in, but here's an example from the Fitness &amp;amp; Sports department:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DzLvB.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this example I picked a marathon plan, you can &lt;strong&gt;invite Motivators&lt;/strong&gt;. These are friends, trainers or fellow athletes, that can offer advice, motivation and help you stay on track!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QakhM.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to manually keep track of your workouts, which you can then easily publish to Facebook. You can get an overview of your workouts on your Report tab, which gives you graphs and other info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WLftb.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily they also have an app, which means you can update your Actions from your mobile phone, rather than requiring a computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mRf49.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for any further social activity, there's &lt;strong&gt;the Bubble&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Bubble is a place for all users of an Actionplan to discuss their progress, challenges, and experiences. Using the Bubble is simple. Just write something in the text box and click Post. Remember -- whatever you post in the Bubble is visible to all users of that Actionplan. You can easily attach photos or include links in your Bubble posts by clicking the appropriate icons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y4MuO.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitango has a ton of options and since it's still a beta product, they will probably add a lot of new features in the future. One downside compared to apps like RunKeeper or Endomondo, you have to manually fill in your Actions. But in return, it has a lot more social features and let's you keep track of virtually anything!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:05:34.580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:05:34.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1175" CreationDate="2011-03-27T06:55:05.853" Score="29" ViewCount="103277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that eating protein is important on the day of your weight lifting session. The most important time to eat protein is right after the session. But I've never heard advice on when to eat and how much protein to eat on off-days. How quickly does your muscle's need for protein diminish over time? My guess is that the 1-2 hours right after the weight lifting are crucial. Then the night of sleep uses moderate amounts. Then on the next day (the off day), you need minimal amounts of protein. Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T06:16:31.250" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T10:44:55.940" Title="How much protein should I eat on off-days?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2011-03-27T07:05:42.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.JEFIT.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;JEFIT&lt;/a&gt; is a site and an Android app, mostly targeted for bodybuilders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a huge databases of exercises, almost all of them have illustrations and explanations about how to perform them (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/exercises/exercise-database/?id=26&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;). You can set your routine with the exercises you're doing, and log your workout each time you're at the gym, using the app. You can then track your progress easily and make sure you're getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;social&quot; part comes to play mostly in the routines database of the site, where anyone can share their routine for others to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A video about the app &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTlfzyaWQy0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;can be found here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site and app are free, although there's also a paid version of the app ($5) with a bit more options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="367" LastEditorUserId="367" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T09:01:26.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T09:01:26.610" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1141" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:08:28.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If overhand and underhand grips are both painful, I can't think of anything other way of holding it that would help.  So maybe the better question is what tool you can use to make it hurt less:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Time and determination.  There's no substitute for good old-fashioned skin toughening.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weightlifting gloves.  Padded to fix exactly this problem.  There are plenty of choices on the market.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Towel/shirt/etc.  Less effective than #2, but cheaper.  Might be good enough, especially in combination with #1.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T13:08:28.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:35:17.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is primarily a calorie tracker, but it also keeps a log of nutrition, exercise, and weight. It is free and has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/mobile&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iphone/android/blackberry&lt;/a&gt; apps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food calorie calculations use an excellent database of foods and an adequate database of exercises. The foods have most groceries, popular restaurants, and recipes from popular cookbooks and websites. You can also add your own recipes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises are used to calculate calories burned. This is based on your exercise and your body weight. The database is fairly complete, but there are some limitations and a lot of assumptions that do not always seem to provide accurate estimates, but this may be inherent to any calculation of calories burned (I have no way of checking their estimates).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are excellent social networking capabilities. - you can tweet, post on facebook, or build a community within the site. I haven't used these though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can download your food and exercise logs. And there are some rudimentary data summaries provided by the site. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:35:17.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1141" CreationDate="2011-03-27T18:19:52.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your gym allows it, the &quot;correct&quot; solution is to use chalk. It keeps the bar from slipping, which is the primary source of pain, and still allows you to strengthen your grip by gripping the bar directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T18:19:52.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2011-03-27T18:51:31.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at LiveStrong (Lance Armstrong's site) @ www.livestrong.com and Body Building at www.bodybuilding.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T18:51:31.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1141" CreationDate="2011-03-27T18:58:16.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When lifting heavy I use a combo of over/under hand grip (left and under and right hand over and on the next lift I reverse this) - I found that this gives me the ability to lift heavier (I also do the same when I get fatigued doing pull ups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to look into straps( &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodysmart-usa.com/Consumer/Weightlifting/WLAC.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodysmart-usa.com/Consumer/Weightlifting/WLAC.htm&lt;/a&gt;), but don't use them as a long term crutch and start building up your hand strength by holding the final up position doing deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T18:58:16.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="573" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:54:31.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's plenty of evidence supporting this.  As evidenced by experiments on mice, if you're kept awake for long enough, your immune system starts to fail and you'll actually die.  Although as you'd expect, you have to be forced to stay awake long enough for this to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In lesser degrees, sleep deprivation can hurt you in all sorts of ways.  The first 3 hours or so of nightly sleep (slow-wave sleep) are historically seen as most critical for physical activity, since that's when your body rests and recuperates the most.  The rest of your sleep regimen (up to however much sleep works best for you) will help keep up the concentration and mental focus required to perform well and push your body as hard as it will go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: personal education in psychology &amp;amp; neuroscience)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:54:31.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1124" CreationDate="2011-03-28T00:26:30.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The food pyramid(s) are basically useless for practical numbers, but you can't fault the general advice: a balanced approach is generally best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A real nutritionist would probably be required to give exact dietary figures, and it probably depends on what kind athletics you're doing.  But making sure you get enough protein (at breakfast and throughout the day) and complex carbs (especially early in the day) is probably a good bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:26:30.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1141" CreationDate="2011-03-28T01:57:25.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are your fingers short in length? That might be compounding your problem. My fingers are short - I can't palm a basketball. Some lateral pull down bars have the foam padding which makes it a greater circumference. I usually use the bar that is pad-less (because of my fingers being short).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you don't have to use the &quot;conventional&quot; methods to target your back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF5CGQmNxyI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kettle ball deadlift&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try using the different bar attachments for the lat pull down machine like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/close-grip-pull-down.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;V-bar&lt;/a&gt; and see if you like the &quot;feel&quot; of that better. That site also shows the &quot;close grip&quot; other grips such as reverse grip, neutral grip, overhand close grip, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T01:57:25.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1125" CreationDate="2011-03-28T02:08:08.110" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There sure are, check out this article - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefatlossauthority.com/fat_loss_tips/7-muscle-targeting-push-up-variations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;7 Muscle Targetting Push Up Variations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push Up Variation #4: Biceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You’re probably thinking that traditional push ups work your biceps just fine, and you’d be right. They do. But they tend to get a little stale after a few days and you forget to maintain the integrity of the moves, losing nearly all the effectiveness of doing push ups in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lancetraining.com/pushup-variations-side-tap-pushup/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;side tap push ups&lt;/a&gt; by starting in push up position. Perform the same motion as in traditional push ups, but when you come up tap the side of your thigh your left hand before you come down again. On your next trip up, tap your right thigh with your right hand before lowering yourself down again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push Up Variation #6: Stability &amp;amp; Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This next push up variation is tricky, but if done correctly you will improve your posture, grip strength, shoulders and midsection. You’ll need a barbell with weights on it, particularly the kind of barbell that rolls if you don’t perform the moves properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wrap your hands around the barbell in classic push up starting position, balancing on your hands and toes. Slowly lower yourself down to the bar and then push yourself up, remembering to breathe throughout. It’s important that you focus on performing this move properly rather than just finishing them because one accidental sleep and your friends will be callin’ you Toothless Joe!&#xA;  &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x1ERV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T02:08:08.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1138" CreationDate="2011-03-28T02:44:41.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to start them off with incline push-ups (like on a bench) which are easier than horizontal push-ups. It doesn't totally eliminate the butt rising but maybe because it's an easier work-out, it will allow them to focus on the proper arm motion. This change also serves as a leveling field for those who do not yet have the strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:54:19.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:54:19.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T03:01:30.157" Score="16" ViewCount="2274" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I run, after I have run enough to feel tired, if I stop, for even a bit, it becomes incredibly painful to restart. The pain is muscle pain, in all the muscles that I use to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am often able to slow down enough to get a rest without stopping and restarting. If I do this, I feel no pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this happen? Is there anything that can be done to mitigate it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="84" LastEditorUserId="84" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T20:51:07.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T04:36:23.007" Title="Why is it so hard to restart running if you stop?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1141" CreationDate="2011-03-28T03:10:10.740" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grip is a big part of the deadlift, pull-ups, pull-downs, etc. It consists of not only muscular strength, but also the skin toughness and pain tolerance to hold a ton of weight. It is very common for grip to be the limiting factor early on. Don't give up - grip strength is incredibly useful in all aspects of life (working with tools, climbing, opening jars for the ladies) and will improve quickly if you work at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/7-ways-increase-deadlift-grip-strength/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; has a great guide on improving your grip for the deadlift. Read it through carefully. The only things I'd add to that article are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take care of your hands and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/removing-calluses/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;calluses&lt;/a&gt;. Calluses take some time to develop, but are very useful in protecting your hands. Taking proper care of them not only prevents tears, it also makes them less noticeable to anyone you might be touching.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In addition to mixed grip, another grip option is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_grip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hook grip&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't use straps and don't use gloves. Straps are a crutch and will prevent your grip from getting stronger. Gloves (a) don't prevent calluses/blisters particularly well, (b) increase the bar thickness, making the lift &lt;em&gt;harder&lt;/em&gt; and (c) make you useless for lifting heavy things if you happen not to have them on you. It's sad to see a lifter who can't deadlift because he left his straps or gloves at home. On the other hand, I always have my calluses with me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In addition to static holds at the end of a deadlift, other exercises that strengthen the grip include farmer's walks, pull-ups, cleans, snatches, and climbing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastEditorUserId="35048" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T08:39:17.363" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T08:39:17.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1243" CreationDate="2011-03-28T03:44:11.243" Score="2" ViewCount="4404" Body="&lt;p&gt;How often should someone trying to gain muscle mass take measurements?  The only answer I could find was for weight loss, which from experience shouldn't be more than once a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can that information be used to alter my training routine to work harder, determine if I'm eating enough protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that when I was losing weight, I could alter my diet and within a day or two I could see the outcome of what I had consumed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it will take a lot longer to see the results from a hard workout, but what is the usual turn around time, 2 - 3 months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2018-09-16T00:13:26.020" Title="How often to take measurements?" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1162" CreationDate="2011-03-28T03:45:25.063" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If slowing down instead of stopping seems to help then why not just go that route.  When I was in the Army, we didn't stop running.  We slowed down, but we didn't stop.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of it is keeping a rhythm and is mental, the other part is adrenalin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that in order to increase your aerobic fitness, you must keep your heart rate up above a certain threshold over a sustained period of time.  If you stop running, you risk letting your heart rate drop below the level necessary to increase your level of aerobic fitness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T03:45:25.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1162" CreationDate="2011-03-28T03:48:31.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will take a stab at it and say it lactic acid build up in the muscles.  It has to do with your muscles not efficiently burning its energy due to a lack of oxygen and so you get a build-up of lactic acid.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It used to happen to me when I was younger, but not as much now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://judoinfo.com/soreness.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lactic Acid Build Up and Soreness in Muscles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T03:53:50.377" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T03:53:50.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1173" CreationDate="2011-03-28T06:13:44.340" Score="7" ViewCount="13554" Body="&lt;p&gt;In weightlifting, we have a condition called &lt;em&gt;overtraining&lt;/em&gt;. It's when you train so frequently that your muscles don't grow. You're breaking down muscle while it's still trying to build up. Not only does growth get stunted, but you also experience other ailments such as susceptibility to disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if overtraining also applies to cardiovascular exercise. Will running too often stunt the growth of your cardiovascular endurance? The lungs don't break down and rebuild like muscle, so I thought more training means better lungs and blood flow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T10:15:27.623" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T14:54:04.980" Title="Can overtraining also occur during cardio exercise?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1164" CreationDate="2011-03-28T06:59:30.370" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of us (me, friends and a few instructors) do measurements monthly. In a 4 week period, you should be able to see relevant changes to your physique if the routines, all the lifting, and diet you take are working all together to achieve your goal - just enough time for you to rectify whatever you're doing wrong...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="282" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T06:59:30.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1182" CreationDate="2011-03-28T07:10:41.600" Score="4" ViewCount="12841" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently found out about the p90x training program, but what interests me the most is it's ab-ripper. Has anyone tried it before? Any input is appreciated... :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="282" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T18:50:21.710" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T22:07:39.033" Title="Does p90x ab-ripper work?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1172" CreationDate="2011-03-28T07:21:51.500" Score="7" ViewCount="424" Body="&lt;p&gt;People these days seem to all be crazy about low carb, slow carb, Atkins, and South Beach diets, but the &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/MyPyramid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;USDA Food Pyramid&lt;/a&gt; suggests we eat more grains than anything else in a day, with at least half of those being whole grains. Specifically for me to gradually lose weight, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mypyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interactive tools at mypyramid.gov&lt;/a&gt; suggest I eat the following daily:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6.5 ounces of meats and beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 cups of milk/dairy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 cups of fruits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.5 cups of vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9 ounces of grains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is there such an emphasis on grains? Would I be missing out on some sort of nutritional goodness if I ate 9 ounces of meat and 6.5 ounces of grains instead? What about the 4.5 ounces of grains that aren't whole? Won't they spike my blood sugars and drive me nuts? What about the rest of the Pyramid? If I hate fruits and eat veggies instead, am I going to be missing out on a key fruit vitamin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="622" LastEditorUserId="622" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T08:37:24.837" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:00:39.873" Title="What's the logic behind the Food Pyramid" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T15:54:07.830" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1171" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:50:37.620" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The emphasis on grains comes from the fact that the food pyramid is produced by the USDA and grain is a major crop that the organization is behind. You'll also find the major U.S. subsidies (dairy, corn, soy) will play highly in the &quot;recommendations&quot; that come from the organization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will not be missing out on major nutrients if you choose to take grains out of the base of your pyramid. An easy way to see this is to look at the number of people who suffer from Celiac disease and cannot process gluten, which is present in most grains. They are able to live an alternate lifestyle not based on the prevalence of grains and do just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for fruits and vegetables, you need both. Every fruit and vegetable has a different composition of thousands of different organic chemicals that contribute to optimal health. Certain fruits are rich in anti-oxidants that aren't as abundant in vegetables, and vegetables have bioflavanoids that aren't found in the same ratios in fruits, etc. So you'll want to eat a variety of both fruits and vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:50:37.620" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1167" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:53:33.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In cardiovascular training I haven't heard of an observed effect with overtraining relating to lung capacity or endurance. What seems to correlate more highly there is risk of injury: those who overtrain cardio increase their risk of becoming injured (and then they don't get to train at all). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the correlation is directly related to the level of impact/intensity. In other words, it's far easier to overtrain doing sprints and intervals than it is to walk long distances. While not scientifically supported I'm sure anecdotally this is why some people do fine going on mega-events like running a marathon every week or running a mile every day, I'm not so sure it would be as positive a result if someone targetted runnin 10 100m sprints every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:53:33.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1164" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:01:17.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The measurements are a loaded question and it has to do as much with psychology as anything else. I encourage people to weigh daily but react weekly. This is because your weight can fluctuate dramatically from day to day due to shifts in water balance and not necessarily due to gaining fat or losing muscle. Gaining muscle is an extremely slow process so when you read someone gained 5 pounds in a week, more likely they are retaining water which is not fat. Anything that is not fat is referred to as &quot;lean mass&quot; so they increased their lean mass. It is often assumed lean mass is muscle ... not true. Lean mass is &quot;everything but the fat.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I'm fine with people weighing daily is so they can see and understand these fluctuations. That way they start to learn how a meal with more salt than they are used to will result in several pounds gained while a day with fewer carbohydrates can result in rapid weight loss but only because of water flushed out of the system. They'll see that weight can fluctuate up and down several pounds and stop worrying about &quot;Oh my gosh did I derail.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It only takes a little math and common sense to realize a lot of fluctations simply can't be fat or muscle. I've dropped 5 pounds on a 10K run. That would be 3500 calories x 5 = 17,500 calories if it were fat, which clearly isn't possible on a 6 mile run. It's water. On the same token, coming in after a weekend of eating and gaining 5 pounds probably isn't all due to fat, unless you managed to somehow overeat 17,500 calories as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you really won't see the average trend unless you look at week after week, but knowing daily is good to see how your body fluctuates. For body fat, I suggest going even longer - 2 to 4 weeks. Unfortunately, while people love to proclaim they are &quot;6.5%&quot; body fat the truth is even the most skilled instructors do not assess fat that accurately. The so-called &quot;precision&quot; devices such as hand-held or scales that use electricity are actually even more prone to error due to shift in electrolyte and water balance (trust me, as a trainer for years I've watched people in all different shapes and levels of fitness use these devices). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll often see someone post &quot;I dropped 2% body fat this week&quot; but the truth is that is going to incude a lot of rounding error. The same person might &quot;gain&quot; 1% the next week and suddenly fret their diet/exercise is off when it's just more rounding error. Instead, I'd shoot for looking at body fat as a trend every 2 - 4 weeks which is long enough to have a substantial difference that won't be as subject to error. I'd also highly, highly recommend having a certified/trained instructor measure using calipers. It's far more accurate to look at &quot;20mm of a pinch of skin&quot; and measure the subcutaneous fat consistently than it is to rely on an electric current passed through your body, especially as you become more fit and lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:01:17.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:09:45.027" Score="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea that the most apt time to eat protein is right after a training session has no scientific validity. It's a great marketing claim used by shake manufacturers to impress upon you the need to buy their convenience powders. Your body does not suddenly start building muscle immediately after a workout. Protein metabolism is a very well-studied process, and it happens over a period of days after your training. In fact, your body goes through a diurnal cycle that involves period of net anabolic and catabolic activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the importance of protein is not the timing of after a workout or even on &amp;quot;off days&amp;quot; but on average over a period. I wouldn't complicate your nutrition trying to time it specially on on or off days because you don't really know when the &amp;quot;on day&amp;quot; is for your recovery. So, you need a steady stream of quality protein every day, and there is no need to spike it at certain periods. Excess protein in a short period of time simply gets converted to sugars and burned as fats, albeit through a highly inefficient metabolic pathway that has the net effect of slightly raising your metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the &amp;quot;requirements&amp;quot; for protein are overblown as well. This is a two-part whammy, one from the supplement industry again trying to sell protein and two from the bodybuilding industry where anabolic steroids do in fact increase the body's capacity to process protein ... unfortunately, it just doesn't work the same way for natural athletes. While it may come as a shocker because all the &amp;quot;advice&amp;quot; forums tell you that you need 1 - 2 grams your body weight in protein per day, the truth is that Dr. Peter Lemon conducted intensive research on the protein requirements of both sedentary and athletic individuals and found that there is no benefit of added protein above 1.5 - 2.0 grams per KILOGRAM of body weight, or about 0.8 grams per pound. The World Health Organization has also researched this ad nauseum in the effort to find the most inexpensive form of usable protein to fight starvation. Most of the &amp;quot;high protein&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;protein after workout&amp;quot; advice comes from paid endorsements and studies funded by the companies promoting the product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastEditorUserId="10054" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T10:44:55.940" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T10:44:55.940" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1130" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:13:58.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love to cite reams of scientific journals and studies to support this but unfortunately most of what I know about effective training comes through the certifications I received, working with successful trainers, and years of training clients myself. What I found in that experience is that beginners benefit the most from full body workout routines. There is a learning period when you first begin weight training and your body is primed to respond by building muscle mass - a lot of phenomenal gains you see comes from people training the first time, and it seems that full body workouts using compound movements (bench, squat, dead-lift, etc.) can provide the best base for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your experience grows, you'll find you can start to break out and working on muscle groups and eventually very experienced trainers (5 - 10 years) find that focusing on specific muscles and even breaking it down by segment (i.e. arms one session, back one session, shoulder one session) provides value. The most successful long term trainers I know phase their training to accommodate all of these models using periodicity - so they'll have a phase of strength that focuses on full-body and compound movements, and another phase they'll call &quot;sculpting&quot; but is really just a focus on specific body parts and perhaps more isolation movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:13:58.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1170" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:48:28.713" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I know of the p90X program, it's an intense program based on High Impact Interval Training (HIIT), that alternates exercises every 3-4 weeks to keep the body's adoption to the specific set of exercises from happening.  The few people I know who have tried it have seen results, but none have stayed with it long term - the problem with fad exercises and diets...it doesn't set the stage for long term personal changes due to it's required intensity to work.  So, specific to the ab ripper - it probably does 'work' if you're looking to burn calories.  If you're looking for the '6 pack' goal, you're better off focusing on a well rounded, long term exercise program. IMO&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:48:28.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1162" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:37:16.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;incredible pain&quot; you state is what jumps out at me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You should not run through pain&lt;/strong&gt;, you will get hurt, maybe not that day but continuing to do so will get you injured enough to force you to stop running altogether. This I know from experience. &quot;No pain, no gain&quot; does not work all the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are you simply running too hard?&lt;/strong&gt; It sounds like your body likes the slower speed since it's not sending you pain signals then.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You should warm-up a little bit to loosen your muscles before your &quot;real run&quot; and also &lt;a href=&quot;http://kemibe.com/distancecoach/labreports/cooldown.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cool-down&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; after a run to clear out any lactate and adrenaline. A warm-up and cool-down will help prevent injury. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest getting a running watch that tells you your speed if you don't have one already. Once I get loose (after 1st mile), my body just starts taking off. I have to use my watch to curb my speed because of my knee. If I do too much too soon that knee acts up and I can't run for 4-6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2013-08-04T02:33:34.983" LastActivityDate="2013-08-04T02:33:34.983" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1183" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:29:23.320" Score="8" ViewCount="3911" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running every other day, and I run pretty hard. I'm looking for the best way to build endurance so that I can run for longer without wearing out, but I'm also liking the amount of calories that I'm burning during my runs as well. Would it be more beneficial to slow down my pace to lower my heart rate, or should I continue to run hard? According to my miCoach Pacer, almost all of my running intervals are in the &quot;yellow&quot; zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xxnf1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this level, breathing is difficult, and I can only say a few words, but there's no way I could carry on a conversation. I've been doing this for almost 4 full weeks, though, and I am definitely improving, but would I improve more if I slowed down (into the green zone) for my running intervals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T14:40:17.383" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:42.850" Title="Should my running be aerobic or anaerobic?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1167" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:00:55.073" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can overtrain from doing an excessive amount of exercise even cardio. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overtraining&lt;/a&gt; &quot;is a physical, behavioral, and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual's exercise exceeds their recovery capacity&quot;. You can get injured and you can show signs of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--12200-1-1X2-2,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;emotional and behavioral changes&lt;/a&gt; from overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybody is different so there is no one-size-fits-all rule, but there are general guidelines to help people avoid overtraining during cardio: See previous question, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/53/569&quot;&gt;Is there a rule of thumb for setting running goals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Too much too soon&quot; is a common phrase to describe why people got injured. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/144.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cool Running&lt;/a&gt; website describes phases of physical shape you should be in as a disclaimer before attempting their rigorous training program (shown is half-marathon training phases):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beginner&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;  For runners who currently run 15 to 25 miles per week and expect to run the half marathon in about 2 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermediate&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;  For runners who curently run 25 to 50 miles per week and expect to run the half marathon in under 1:45:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;  For runners who currently run 40 to 60 miles per week and expect to run the half marathon in under 1:30:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Competitive&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;  For runners who currently run over 60 miles per week and expect to run the half marathon in under 1:20:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio is all about making the muscles you use more efficient. Say you run 3 miles a day, your body gets into a routine. Your muscles get trained to keep running that distance and naturally your endurance will increase and running that distance will feel &quot;easier&quot; on you. Your heart rate isn't as high as when you started training; you're body is managing oxygen better. As you push yourself, increasing your miles, you push your endurance to also increase with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, more cardio training will make your lungs and heart operate more efficiently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ASIDE:&lt;/strong&gt; I know it wasn't asked but it is important to note that changing your regimen to a majority of cardio will change your muscle composition to slow-twitch (long and thin) muscles which are more efficient for endurance. If you want to target your fast-twitch muscles you got from weight lifting, you should be doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_100/135_fitness_tip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;high-intensity interval training&lt;/a&gt; (HIIT) in conjunction with your strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:05:13.767" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1170" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:34:15.217" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've watched part of the Ab Ripper X video, and reviewed all the exercises involved, and while I've not tried the program particularly, I have used several of the exercises that they have in their routine in my workouts in the past and can say with absolute certainty that the exercises will build muscle and burn calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many calories you will burn I could not state for certain. Also, there is a limit to how far this workout will take you, and at that point, you'll need to add more reps, more resistance, or increase the intensity in some other more creative way in order to continue to progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are overweight or have excess fat on your stomach, having strong stomach muscles will not make your stomach look less fatty or more ripped/toned. You'll need to lose the fat to show off the muscles. Losing the fat involves a change in diet and/or activity level, probably beyond what you're going to get just from the Ab Ripper X routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab Ripper X is a fairly intense workout, especially for a beginner or someone not already in decent shape, and as Meade Rubenstein pointed out, starting out with too intense a workout often causes beginners to lose interest and quit. Building a stronger, healthier you is a lifestyle change with a lifetime commitment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:34:15.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1180" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:41:18.190" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For endurance training, &lt;strong&gt;distance is more important than pace&lt;/strong&gt;. You will find many programs will ask you to run slower for longer and run at a certain % of your anaerobic threshold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportslog.com/running-log/running-endurance-training.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;For example, if you’re training for a 10k (6.2 miles), make your shorter endurance runs four to five miles and longer ones seven to nine miles.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the goal is endurance, you should not be running high intensity intervals which is what it looks like from your heart rate rising and falling. For endurance, you run one pace for a long time. So yes if you want to improve endurance, you have to slow down and quit intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningtools.com/endurancetrainingtable.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; has tables to break down which % anaerobic threshold (based on 3 speeds) you can run in and how long you should spend at that threshold with respect to your training run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I plugged in an anaerobic threshold of 150 (a random # just to explain the website screenshot below) and race time to populate the numbers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how the website generates it's numbers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;·   By endurance training you run in the same speed, therefore without discontinuances and speed changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;·   The mentioned % are percentages of the anaerobic threshold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;·   The anaerobic threshold is approximately = 220 - age - 15. Another method is: take 80 % (beginners) to 90 % (advanced) of the maximum heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Running speeds&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;·  &lt;strong&gt;Speed 1:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  The long quiet endurance training: 75% and 80%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Convalescence training: under the 75% &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;·  &lt;strong&gt;Speed 2:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  The average endurance training: 85% and 90% &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;·  &lt;strong&gt;Speed 3:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  The intensive endurance training: 93% and 95%&#xA;  Only arranged for the advanced runner in the preparation period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example from the table below, if your run is 10 miles and you're training at speed 1, you will run it for an hour and 28 minutes at 75-80% of your anaerobic threshold. Maintain your HR around 128-136.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2hIYF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This website also has it in kilometers for those who prefer the metric system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T13:51:08.287" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T13:51:08.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1187" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:35:50.087" Score="3" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;If only relatively recently trans fats were discovered to be much worse for you then saturated fats, does that have implications on past research on saturated fats? Is that research now outdated? Can research that didn't control for trans fats still be said to be valid? I'm imagining in my mind these studies from way back when that compared two diets, diet A rich in saturated fats, and diet B lacking saturated fats. Because trans fats weren't controlled in the study, diet A would have varying levels of trans fats. The study concludes that diet B is healthier. But maybe its only healthier because of the trans fats in diet A? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has more up to date research been done to determine whether diets rich in saturated fats but without trans fats are still to be avoided? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T05:06:22.257" Title="Does the existence of trans fat invalidate years of research on saturated fats?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1131" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:38:06.683" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, you can do all the exercises you want, if you do not eliminate the base &lt;strong&gt;cause&lt;/strong&gt;, it won't help. I was experiencing RSI problems while doing lots and varied exercises, including forearm specific. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me this meant investing in a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;new ergonomic keyboard (Logitech Wave, I love it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a mousepad with good wrist support (I bought a gaming one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a better mouse (I have really large hands/palms and so it took me a while to find a mouse that I felt my hand can actually &quot;rest&quot; on)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a better chair (even on a budget, you can get some really good office chairs from IKEA)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I got this setup, even during several months when I had no time to exercise in any way, I had no more problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my 2c are... fix your work area first, then look towards exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T18:38:06.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1184" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:33:23.193" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trans fat only occurs naturally in a few food sources, and at very low levels (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/gras-trans-fats/tf-ge/tf-gt_rep-rap-eng.php#2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Health Canada&lt;/a&gt;). If a food is high in trans fat, the trans fat there on purpose (e.g. processed foods use trans fats to improve texture, increase shelf life, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a scientist's focus is saturated and unsaturated fat, and if food intake could be carefully controlled (such as in animal studies), they probably wouldn't include foods high in trans fat at all. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2302144&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; study from 1990 compares soybean oil-based and lard-based rat food, neither of which contain trans fat. Even before we knew the health effects of trans fat, including it in one group but not another would be an obvious confounding factor. I would say any older animal or in vitro studies haven't lost any validity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies on humans have to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;epidemiological&lt;/a&gt; for ethical reasons, so it's harder to control for trans fat (and a whole lot of other things), especially since many processed foods are high in both saturated and trans fat. Evidence from epidemiological studies is usually combined with animal and in vitro to support for conclusions about causation, so these findings are a little sketchy to start out with. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/91/3/535.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; study re-evaluated a bunch of older epidemiological studies to better control for various confounding factors. It found no link between reducing saturated fat intake and reduced risk for heart disease and stroke in humans. So maybe saturated fats aren't damaging our bodies as actively as we once thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a practical standpoint though, even though saturated fats may not hurt your health, they are not thought to actively help it, whereas polyunsaturated fats are thought to &lt;em&gt;decrease&lt;/em&gt; risk of heart disease and stroke (based on in vitro, animal, and epidemiological studies). If you increase your intake of polyunsaturated fats without decreasing your intake of saturated fats, you'll increase your total caloric intake, which would increase your risk of obesity and other associated health risks. So, even if saturated fat is benign, I would still argue that it makes sense to cut back on it to make more room in your diet for polyunsaturates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditDate="2011-04-02T05:06:22.257" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T05:06:22.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1180" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:19:40.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my (limited) experience I would recommend using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/runners-world-smartcoach/3057.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Smart Coach&lt;/a&gt; to set yourself speed goals. The tool speeds you up gently over a 12-16 week period (or less amount of time if you're feeling like a challenge). It gives you an indurance run, a gentle run and speed training each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only use it for 10k running so I can't speak for half or full marathon running, but it really improved my pace a lot - down to about 46 mins from 50+ mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:19:40.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1196" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:04:39.663" Score="3" ViewCount="1240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing interval training on the treadmill for quite some time now. My routine started out with a simple minute-minute preset regime on an inexpensive treadmill which I have since killed with overuse and replaced with a superior one. The minute-minute interval saw me through a lot of weight loss and dramatically boosted my fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new treadmill has an 'interval' preset, which recalculates intervals based on the workout duration entered. So, for a one-hour training session, each interval is four minutes long (four minute run, four minute walk). A fourty-five minute duration gives me three-three, etc. The program simply halves the run-speed for the cooldown, so if I'm running at 12Km/h the cooldowns are at 6Km/h.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about a month of doing that program 3-5 times a week, I felt that I wasn't working hard enough, simply because the cooldown period seemed too long, so I decided on &quot;switching all systems to manual&quot;. My manually-controlled regime now consists of either a fourty-five minute or one-hour long interval session of running at 12-13Km/h for 1Km, followed by a three-minute walk at anything between 6 to 6.8Km/h. I try to do this daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Main Q: Can my current regime still be classified as HIIT? I have read so much conflicting literature on the subject over the past two years, that I'm having trouble drawing a solid conclusion (instinctively I would say &quot;Yes&quot; but I figured this would be the place to get a more informative answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus: What is an effective way of gradually increasing the intensity of the overall workout? As in, by how much should I be 'upping' the average speed and how frequently? Or should I only be 'upping' the speed of the running part, keeping the cooldown intervals at a walk? Should I be tweaking the time intervals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am deeply confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I do weight training at least twice a week, so there's no need for any skit on fast/slow twitch muscle fibers, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sorry for the long read)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="631" LastEditorUserId="631" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:10:05.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T07:58:07.053" Title="Is this still HIIT? How can I tweak my routine?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1451" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:23:59.147" Score="13" ViewCount="4559" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while back I read in the Bodybuilding Bible, that if you are able to read while doing cardio - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You're doing it wrong!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now since then, I've always kinda smiled to myself at the gym, when seeing someone reading while doing cardio, thinking - &lt;strong&gt;&quot;I'm probably doing much better than they are, losing more fat&quot;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But today I saw a video of Kris Gething, where he actually promotes reading as a way to pass time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what is it: &lt;strong&gt;Is reading good or bad for your cardio training?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2020-11-05T01:02:34.360" Title="Reading while doing cardio." Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:28:12.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different strokes for different folks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't read while running. I can barely pay attention to TV while running. If I'm on a recumbent bike though, I can read a magazine and watch TV. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever keeps you going, it's all good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:28:12.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:28:38.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I quite often read while I'm on the cross-trainer. Reason is mainly that I find it hard to motivate myself to work on it otherwise and by reading I stay on it longer then if I am just focusing on training. Also by reading I feel that I have to work a bit harder to keep my balance and by doing so maintain a stronger core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not read anything about this, neither good or bad but I have thought about it without coming to any conclusion. Looking forward to see what others think about this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="632" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:28:38.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1203" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:01:45.550" Score="7" ViewCount="1792" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm extremely unfit and out of shape. I'm not super super fat, but I've been almost sedentary for a couple years now, so running is really hard for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't enjoy being out of breath and uncomfortable, so instead of e.g. running on the treadmill, I will power walk. I find that if I try to run I usually run out of breath and have to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately I've been wondering how it is that I know that I'm working hard enough. I have no idea how fast I should be walking or cycling or whatever. I'm using a mix of the treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical and cross trainer. I feel that maybe you have to really push yourself and get sweating to be burning calories. Should I be getting to the point where I'm out of breath? Am I going to burn fat by power walking? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this is a stupid question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:43:27.773" Title="Do I have to push myself to the limit to burn enough calories?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:25:56.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was dieting for a bodybuilding competition I tried reading whilst on the recumbent cycle, but I couldn't really do it as I was jiggling about too much and also I got too sweaty. So I used to watch tv instead. When I was doing early morning cardio I would watch tv which I had recorded the night before (cos I had to go to bed early so I could get up and do my cardio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HOWEVER... when I have been doing slightly more gentle cardio not specifically aimed at competing I have quite often read and I think it's great. If you can do it then that's fine. Certainly you shouldn't be working too hard unless you are doing Tabata intervals or something...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T23:25:56.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1190" CreationDate="2011-03-29T01:20:52.603" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can my current regime still be classified as HIIT?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, most definitely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time intervals you're using are short enough and the numbers you posted make it sound like you're doing very well so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is an effective way of gradually increasing the intensity of the overall workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a few options... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 1 - Gradually increase intensity overall:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can continue with the same intensity for each round like you have been. Just increase the speed of the high speed legs when they start to get too easy. When I kick up a notch I usually do it in 1/2 mi/hr increments which would be a little less than 1km/hr for you. You should still continue to see benefits as you increase and adapt because it'll keep forcing your V02 MAX and anaerobic threshold to increase as you push harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside to this plan is, you probably have some good days where you run really well and some bad where you don't really run as well; especially as the workouts start to become a lot more difficult. A more dynamic plan will enable you to adjust to always be pushing your maximum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pattern for this workout would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6k 13k 6k 13k 6k 13k 6k 13k 6k ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the high intensity length (13k) would increase by 1k the next workout if you feel like you need to push more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 2 - Increase until you break:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start below your current maximum and gradually increase beyond. What I mean is, if you're 13km/hr max now, start at 10 (or lower) and for each round of high intensity increase the speed 1km/hr. Keep increasing until you hit your &lt;strong&gt;real&lt;/strong&gt; maximum (when you don't see yourself doing another high intensity round any faster) then decrease at the same rate until you reach cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of this pattern is, you'll be pushing your maximum during &lt;strong&gt;every&lt;/strong&gt; workout. So, some days you'll hit 16k/hr others you'll only reach 13k/hr. You push based on how much you can handle. This becomes more important as you reach the absolute maximum you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the length of your workouts (45 min is a lot for HIIT) you could probably do your whole warm-up and cooldown using this. Ie, start at 6k/hr, increase to max, cool back down to 6k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pattern for this workout is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10k 6k 11k 6k 12k 6k 13k 6k 14k 6k 15k 6k 16k 6k 15k 6k 14k 6k 13k 6k 12k 6k 11k 6k 10k 6k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The really hard part about this workout is the round right after you reach your max. It takes a lot of discipline to stick to the routine because the max will take a lot out of you. If that isn't challenge enough for you, I don't know what is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try it this out and see how it works for you. You could probably even develop one where you peak multiple times during the workout and increase/decrease at a faster rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...by how much should I be 'upping' the average speed and how frequently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up the intervals based on what you can handle. Based on how much you've done so far you should have a pretty good idea on how to gauge the intensity. Keep in mind that it won't be the same every day. You'll have good days and bad days. Listen to what your body tells you and adjust to compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also help to get a heart monitor so you can accurately measure the load the workout puts on your heart. HIIT is all about increasing your V02 MAX and anaerobic threshold (how effectively your body uses oxygen). Measuring and targeting your pace to specific heart ranges may be a better way to set your pace than arbitrary speed measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or should I only be 'upping' the speed of the running part, keeping the cooldown intervals at a walk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't increase your low intensity intervals to be much more than 6km/hr. If you do, it'll start to rob you of your recovery between intervals. If you want more of a challenge, just increase the intensity of the high intensity intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I be tweaking the time intervals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure I already covered this topic in depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps. The concept is pretty simple. As the intensity gets more difficult to increase, you just need to mold the workouts to increase (or decrease) based on what you're capable of doing. You'll hit hard limits and plateau at some point. Whether you want to continue to push depends on what you're goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T12:57:52.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:57:52.527" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1194" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:00:06.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baby steps are the key words here.  If you want to lose weight by exercising good for you.  You need to find something you enjoy and the rest will almost take care of itself.  Maybe go hiking, where running isn't an option, but can be fun.  Maybe mountain biking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But don't work yourself to exhaustion though.  Just be sure to stay within 70% of your maximum heart.  That is the maximum you should work out at.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See this link to see how to calculate your heart rate.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three years ago I started taking salsa dance lessons. Got so addicted to it and the lifestyle that goes with it that I had no choice but to dance some more to get better.  Eventually diet came into the picture and things are looking great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the answer is no, you should be comfortable to be able to burn calories.  I think I read somewhere once that pushing yourself harder will not necessarily burn more fat.  Fat is burned when you move more slowly.  As you move more aggressively, carbohydrates start to burn more and you burn less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T02:10:46.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:10:46.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:15:34.883" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be breathing properly while doing cardio, in through the nose and out through the mouth.  When you're reading you often forget to breath.  That is the reason why you shouldn't read while doing cardio.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course if you can do those all at the same time, then go to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T00:02:24.303" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T00:02:24.303" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1206" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:33:29.720" Score="2" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a big believer in listening to my body.  I stay on a strict and healthy diet, but once in a while my body craves fat, so I'll opt for french fries to that it out of my system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same when I go to the gym, if I feel a body part feels neglected, I'll do whatever I need to do for that body part to feel fulfilled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when it comes to consuming protein sometimes I feel like I'm forcing myself.  Sometimes the protein shake becomes impossible to drink.  Water will go in just fine, but I get repulsed by the protein drink.  Would this be a good sign that my body has all the protein it needs at the moment and I should wait before consuming more?  I'm aiming for the 0.75-0.8 gram per pound of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T07:32:53.143" Title="Should I always listen to my body when it comes to consuming lots of protein?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1202" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:39:15.660" Score="3" ViewCount="964" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a pretty skinny guy, and I've been weight lifting, working out, etc, and I've noticed some results with my upper body, but I'm as chicken-legged as ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what are some good, rather simple home exercises to work out the Calve muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastActivityDate="2019-01-03T22:17:30.350" Title="Home Calve Exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:43:19.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though the answer has already been accepted, thought I'd throw in my two cents.  I've been on protein shakes for a year or so and going to the gym and other activities.  After going to the gym I'd get extremely exhausted and it would take me a week to recover each time.  So I went to the nutrition store and they suggested I take BCAA and right away I noticed that I would recuperate a lot faster after going to the gym.  So for me, this really worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the difference, when you got the answer already checked. Does it work?  Heck yeah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:43:19.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:01:06.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do standing calf raises by going on your tip-toes and then flat. You can do them on the floor or for a greater extension use stairs to get a deeper flex going down (i.e. heel lower than toes). You can carry dumbbells but for stability and safety reasons, I would suggest doing those on flat ground and not on a step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HfwYa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-01-03T16:23:24.017" LastActivityDate="2019-01-03T16:23:24.017" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1194" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:43:27.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will burn fat by creating a calorie deficit. You want to shoot for a deficit of 500 calories a day or 3500 calories in a week to burn 1 lb. of fat. Easier to try to do it daily though than one big weekend work-out fest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/tools/exercise/calculator1_2.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculator&lt;/a&gt; for an estimate of how much calories you burn for your activity. If you don't want to deal with a heart rate monitor, do the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1044&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Talk Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to gauge your intensity levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Moderate&lt;/strong&gt; - can still carry on a conversation, breathing is &quot;light&quot; to &quot;somewhat hard&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vigorous&lt;/strong&gt; - can't talk, breathing is &quot;hard&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switch intensity levels during your walks (i.e. 3 minutes moderate to 1 minute vigorous, repeat). You will burn more calories this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be successful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create a food diary and count your calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create a work-out diary and count your work-outs. This will help you track your improvements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:43:27.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:45:50.327" Score="7" ViewCount="2215" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a slow runner averaging about 7 min/km. I run 2-3 times every week with a weekly mileage of 20-24 kms. I plan to sign up for a few HMs this summer and I am targeting a sub 2:30 hours finish time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are a lot of training plans available on the web, but is there some program which can significantly help in increasing pace? Do any of you have personal experience by following a plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a fan of the Gallloway style of running and I do run/walk in intervals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="638" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-12T21:17:07.323" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T21:17:07.323" Title="How to improve half marathon pace?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1204" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:03:14.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems you are just a smidge under the recommended low-limit weekly mileage (25 km - 40 km) for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/134.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Beginner Half-Marathon training program from Cool Running&lt;/a&gt;. But that program &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; for people who would like to finish around 2 hours which meet your requirements for a sub 2:30 hour finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cool Running also has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/102.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speedwork drills&lt;/a&gt; to help you increase your pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:03:14.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1199" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:24:57.050" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not every stomach is built for protein powder (if that's what you're using) so I think your body is saying that it has to get used to it and/or it just doesn't like the taste. You might just need to find the brand and/or flavor you do like. I personally like Metabolic Drive protein powder - that doesn't seem to be so rough on my digestion. Muscle Milk tends to have a lot of sugar in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently though, I just make homemade shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my recipe that I throw in a magic bullet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greek yogurt (it has a lot more protein than other yogurt brands but if you find that is too tart, just use a yogurt you like, vanilla might be a good base, and low-fat helps cut out extra calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ripe banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 big tablespoons of peanut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I want to splurge, I throw a little bit of Nutella in there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can throw in protein powder if you want or greens. If you are strength training, I think you need to try to meet your protein intake. Do some experimenting or try a home shake. In the meantime, get the rest of your servings from protein you &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; like: eggs, chicken, lean beef, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/good-protein-sources&quot;&gt;and what have you&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:24:57.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1207" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:35:16.590" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T04:35:16.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:35:16.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1208" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:35:16.590" Score="0" Body="A product review is a competitive comparison to provide solutions to some problem related to fitness or nutrition. These solutions may be commercial or free and may be comprised of devices, hardware, or other instantiations." OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T13:35:56.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:35:56.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1209" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:36:58.863" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T04:36:58.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:36:58.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1210" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:36:58.863" Score="0" Body="Pregnancy is the condition where a woman is carrying one or more offspring." OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T04:49:08.557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:49:08.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1211" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:37:55.837" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T04:37:55.837" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:37:55.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1212" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:37:55.837" Score="0" Body="Cardio is a shorthand term for aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is comprised of activities that tend to improve the body's utilization of oxygen." OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T04:52:37.460" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:52:37.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1204" CreationDate="2011-03-29T05:11:11.470" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do 3 main exercises each week in order to increase pace:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do repetitions of about 3 * 400m at 90% of capacity with 2 minutes off once a week. This should feel hard, and it's ok if you cannot do 3 to begin with. None of your other runs should come close to the difficulty of this. Do this twice a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do one &quot;long run&quot; a week, where you try to run, without stopping, for a given length of time. This run should be at no more than 70% of your max HR. The idea of this run is to build endurance, and to concentrate on style; often in faster runs under pressure, style deterioates into old habits. Run for however long you can run for now without stopping, and without feeling completely exhausted by the end and gradually increase the time each week, up to about 1:20 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a timed &quot;fast&quot; medium distance run. This is a run where you do 4kms at a pace that is just above combfortable talking. Begin this by a 20 minute slow warm up jog. Do this once a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember also, take it easy! If you show your body samples of what you want it to be doing, growth hormone will naturally do it's work at night time. Beginners can sometimes be over-enthusiastic and if there is any &quot;twitchiness&quot; or soreness while running, stop that day's exercise and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each exercise should be done to the extent that you feel that you have had a workout, but with enough left in reserve so you feel like doing it tomorrow or the day after. If you do any more you might burn out. Regularity before intensity!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="639" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-12T22:02:13.807" LastActivityDate="2011-06-12T22:02:13.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1044" CreationDate="2011-03-29T07:49:30.227" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but after watching the videos you posted, what you are doing is barely a &lt;em&gt;half&lt;/em&gt; squat. Your technique is pretty damn far off and it has very little to do with &quot;heel flexibility&quot;. I &lt;strong&gt;strongly&lt;/strong&gt; recommend that you start from scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick yourself up a copy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805421&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. This book should be a pre-requisite for entering a gym. It is, by far, the single best resource I've seen for teaching the basics of strength training: detailed instructions on each lift, the effects of the exercises, a simple beginners routine, and everything else you need to know. You'll learn from this book that a proper squat includes the &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitscottsdale.com/homeblog/wp-content/uploads//2010/09/back-squat-diagram.jpg&quot;&gt;hip joint dropping below the knee&lt;/a&gt; (as seen from the side), heels flat on the ground, knees out, back locked in extension. Getting to proper depth makes an &lt;em&gt;enormous&lt;/em&gt; difference in the difficulty of the squat, engages far more muscles, and keeps your knees safe. If you want to &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfit951.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/back-squat.jpg&quot;&gt;get strong&lt;/a&gt;, learn to squat properly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other useful guides to squatting include &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/&quot;&gt;Stronglifts squat guide&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ&quot;&gt;Starting Strength wiki&lt;/a&gt; (see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ%3aThe_Lifts#The_Squat&quot;&gt;squat section&lt;/a&gt; for a preview of the actual book's contents), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq8CWv8UPAI&quot;&gt;Squat Rx&lt;/a&gt; video series and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html&quot;&gt;Crossfit exercises&lt;/a&gt; page.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T07:49:30.227" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:59:40.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also do a seated calf rise:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapefit.com/calf-exercises-barbell-seated-calf-raises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.shapefit.com/calf-exercises-barbell-seated-calf-raises.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can substitute bands for the bark or any weight on your legs.  It sounds like you're focused on your legs and not just the calve muscles...which makes sense, since isolating a single muscle isn't always the best approach (since various muscles work together).  What I would really recommend is doing squat exercises, either with or without weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to a body weight squat example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://doubleyourgains.com/how-to-do-bodyweight-squats-and-hindu-squats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://doubleyourgains.com/how-to-do-bodyweight-squats-and-hindu-squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and a pic of a prisoner squat:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tweG0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:59:40.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1199" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:19:46.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't necessarilly think that you being replused by the drink is your body rejecting it, rather just the fact that protein drinks are often not very nice. It sounds as though you're probably attempting to get quite a lot of your protein from these drinks. I would advise that you increase the amount of protein in your diet overall in order to hit your 0.8g/lb target. Do this by throwing some more meat into your meals. Fair enough have a shake immediately after training but it's more important to eat properly the rest of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="641" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:19:46.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1217" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:20:58.127" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T13:20:58.127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:20:58.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1218" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:20:58.127" Score="0" Body="Tips are forms of advice from user experience (i.e. opinion) and/or research. Tips should not be taken as medical advice. The reader takes responsibility for consulting with a professional before utilizing a tip." OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T13:43:07.237" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:43:07.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1260" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:42:59.187" Score="8" ViewCount="1338" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1184/does-the-existence-of-trans-fat-invalidate-years-of-research-on-saturated-fats/1187#1187&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; it was stated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;saturated don't do you any favors,&#xA;  whereas polyunsaturated fats have been&#xA;  shown to decrease risk of heart&#xA;  disease and stroke&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any health benefits to consuming saturated fats? Or should they always be avoided in favor of polyunsaturated fats? Is there a health/nutritional downside to never consuming saturated fats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking fats from dairy, meat, bacon, eggs, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've got two completely opposite answers. I'm really not savvy enough to tell the difference to pick the best answer... Help me out by posting more answers, commenting, upvoting/downvoting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T01:45:50.197" Title="What are the nutritional benefits of saturated fats?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T15:53:38.283" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1220" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:53:08.227" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T13:53:08.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:53:08.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1221" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:53:08.227" Score="0" Body="The rest day is also known as an &quot;off day&quot;. It is a period of recovery but necessarily inactivity." OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T14:31:47.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:31:47.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1253" CreationDate="2011-03-29T15:21:23.887" Score="15" ViewCount="3897" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running for about 5 years now and almost every year I get problems on the medial side of my shins. If I keep running, eventually the soft tissue even swells up enough to be palpable and painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I have very poor ankle stability, when I try ice skating it's so bad that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kunstijsbanen.nl/site/images/noren.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the medial side of my shoes&lt;/a&gt; even touches the ice. I also have quite some pronation, all the way through my roll off, that get's worse when I start running faster. Together my weak ankles and some overweight, this is resulting in some recurring shin problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7iWo9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Here's some nice images from under my feet when walking&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running again 2 months ago and focused on building it up slowly and not running too much (max 3 x 5km per week). I hoped this would prevent it from recurring and built up sufficient strength, but this morning I started feeling one of my shins again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So now I'm looking for exercises I can do (at home) to strengthen my ankles!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also fine if its whole leg exercises, but my main focus is on increasing my ankle strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T16:22:05.393" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T23:28:15.393" Title="What kind of exercises can I do to strengthen my ankle?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1171" CreationDate="2011-03-29T15:54:36.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Marketing the emphasis of certain foods as being beneficial to health will make key industries more money... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goes right along with the &quot;milk does a body good&quot;, &quot;beef, it's what's for dinner&quot;, and &quot;High Fructose Corn Syrup is Corn Sugar&quot; campaigns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very little of what they say is based on scientifically proven facts and the recommendations made don't take into consideration that it's perfectly acceptable to substitute certain types of foods for others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pyramid does a terrible job of describing what people need. Carbohydrates can be effectively replaced with proteins and still maintain a healthy diet whereas the opposite isn't true because of our amino acid requirements. Certain types of fats are important for growth because they contain fatty acids. Some types of fats (like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats) aid good health not harm it. Vegetables are very important but not for the quantity eaten as much as the variety (Ie eating 3 heads of lettuce a day definitely won't cover your basic vitamin/nutrient needs). Last, but not least, who decided that a healthy diet should include more grains than anything else? The new one even has a large section for milk alone (without considering that most dairy products contain a lot of saturated fats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; point that the food pyramid got right was, 'it's important to eat a diverse diet'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T19:35:38.363" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:35:38.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1231" CreationDate="2011-03-29T15:58:20.690" Score="2" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or to put it another way - is there a benefit to alternating between e.g. the treadmill and the stationary bike, other than making it a bit more interesting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mostly asked because right now I'm splitting up a 1 hour work-out into 20 mins on 3 different machines (usually bike, treadmill, cross trainer). This is mainly to stop it getting too boring for me. However I'm not really sure if this is the most efficient since there's inevitably a few minutes of time whilst I'm swapping and I calm down/regain my breath a bit inbetween. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="633" LastEditorUserId="633" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T21:44:20.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:44:20.183" Title="Is it necessary to use different types of cardio machines?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1219" CreationDate="2011-03-29T16:21:32.863" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saturated fats are &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; important to eat. Here's a big long article about different kinds of fats and how they affect your body, with references to medical journals: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coconutoil.com/truth_saturated_fats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.coconutoil.com/truth_saturated_fats.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydrogenated oils are the really bad stuff, natural saturated fats are good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50% of cell membranes are made of saturated fatty acids, it's an essential component of the human body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturated fats aren't the ones that clog your arteries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturated fats are necessary for processing fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating minimally processed oils is the best thing to do, like coconut oil, palm oil, lard, extra virgin olive oil, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Homogenized milkfat isn't as good for you as whole (since it oxidizes easier)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, your quote there is exactly backwards; eating saturated fats is essential, polyunsaturated fats isn't (and may be harmful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="642" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T16:21:32.863" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1229" CreationDate="2011-03-29T16:22:18.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not really...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from making workouts less monotonous, changing machines will also help you build different muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main focus of a 'cardio' workout is heart/lungs so it doesn't really matter what type of exercise you do as long as it's the right intensity to kick your body into increased metabolism mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A side effect of using different machines is, by working out more muscle groups you may also increase your caloric expenditure vs always using the same machine (Ie more muscles strength increases require more energy overall). But, that depends completely on what types of workouts you're doing and probably won't have a drastic effect overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T17:07:35.307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T17:07:35.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1355" CreationDate="2011-03-29T16:44:18.017" Score="10" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read and heard from several bodybuilders (Arnold, big Youtube guys) that the pectorals will only grow in proportion to the upper lats. Both must be trained equally to see growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the scientific explanation for this? How do the muscle fibers in the pecs know how the muscle fibers in the back are doing?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does this rule apply to all pairs of opposing muscles?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, the pecs and upper lats are not mechanically opposing, but are physically placed opposite of each other. Examples of other opposing muscles include bicep/tricep, quads/hamstrings, tibialis anterior/gastrocneumus. Arnold said that the tricep should be two-thirds of the upper arm to be aesthetically pleasing, so the proportion requirement could not always be 1:1 for all muscle pairs. He said that was an &lt;em&gt;aesthetic&lt;/em&gt; requirement, not a &lt;em&gt;physical&lt;/em&gt; requirement, but this doesn't rule out that a minimum &lt;em&gt;physical&lt;/em&gt; requirement of some other proportion exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-11-09T18:39:37.447" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T18:40:31.873" Title="Is growth of a muscle limited to the size of the opposing muscle?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T17:02:41.567" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wide pull-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ds8OT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Wide pull-up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://resultsprivatefitness.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-do-i-work-my-way-up-to-wide-pullups.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This blog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet. The muscle that gives the overall appearance of 'broad shoulders' is the 'Latissimus dorsi' or your 'lats'. Wide pull-ups are a great exercise for targeting this region as well as your shoulders (deltoids), arms (both biceps and triceps), and forearms (from gripping the bar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For proper form be sure to cross your legs and lock your knees to prevent swinging or cheating by using momentum (no frog kicking for 'just one more' allowed). Raise &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; lower yourself in a slow/controlled manner. I can't stress how important it is to maximize both the raising and lowering during the exercise. Forget about the number of reps you can do (this isn't an exercise to impress the 'how much can you bench?' guys at the gym). If you do them 'right' you'll &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:  If you don't have the strength to pull yourself up to the bar yet, grip the bar and start by jumping up the position where your eyes are level with the bar, then lower yourself down slowly. This will help you build up the strength needed to be able to do the full motion.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ia9G1.png&quot; alt=&quot;Latissimus dorsi&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latissimus_dorsi_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going for more of the 'thick neck' or 'no neck' look, or what I like to dub the 'meat head' look you'll want to target your 'Trapezius muscle' or 'traps'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jX2zf.png&quot; alt=&quot;Trapezuis muscle&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezius_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises that exclusively target your traps are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'shoulder shrugs' - done with either dumbbells or a barbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'upright row' - done with either dumbbells, a barbell, or using a bar attached to a weighted cable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may surprise you but the 'broad shoulder' look has little to do with your shoulders and more to do with upper/lower body proportions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update: Added some more specifics about the wide pull-up exercise including tips on proper form and and easier variation for those who don't have sufficient strength to do the full motion yet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T15:43:03.890" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:43:03.890" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1237" CreationDate="2011-03-29T17:32:02.867" Score="9" ViewCount="783" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to dead lift heavier (up to 380), but seem to have reached a plateau...the biggest obstacles seem to be my grip strength (thinking of using straps) and pressure on the lower back.  Is it time to use a belt? what are the drawbacks to using one? and should I just put it on when I get to the heavy sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T23:06:25.433" Title="When do you recommend using a belt for deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2011-03-29T17:49:33.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Satisfy the craving...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you're capable of only indulging a little, it doesn't have a measurable impact on your progress, and it's a 'physical' craving not an 'emotional' one; it shouldn't hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that not all cravings are equal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A physical craving has the following qualities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You are physiologically hungry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The craving does not go away if you try to wait it out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The craving intensifies over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Nothing you do will take away the craving except the craved food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An emotional craving, on the other hand, looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You are not physiologically hungry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It does go away if you try to wait it out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The craving does not intensify over time; the emotion does.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Doing something else satisfies the real need, and the craving disappears.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://life.familyeducation.com/foods/nutrition-and-diet/44294.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;familyeducation.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is, &quot;Nothing you do will take away the craving except the craved food.&quot; That means, if you're specifically craving chocolate (and it isn't just an emotional craving) then not just any other type of sugar (like fruits) will meet your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Satisfy it or you might find yourself eating larger quantities of other foods in vain without satisfying the craving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also try some different types of chocolate to pinpoint exactly what you're craving. Is it the sweets, cocoa, or a quick spike in fat that your body is &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; craving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for 'when' you should eat chocolate. Eat it during those moments where ignoring it for a while only makes the craving more intense. If that is following a workout, do it then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;SideNote: I feel a little embarrassed admitting this but I get a vicious craving for fried chicken (like those little nugget things from ckick-fil-a) occasionally after some good sex. I have no idea why but eating anything else doesn't suppress the craving. If I don't meet the craving, I usually find myself eating a lot of other crap instead. The funny thing is, aside from that I rarely ever eat fast food (and never crave fast food specifically). Cravings are a strange beast...&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T18:25:22.620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:25:22.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1235" CreationDate="2011-03-29T18:17:44.937" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise against either straps or a belt. Your grip and lower back seem to be weak points; you want to work on strengthening them and these pieces of equipment do the opposite, taking pressure off. You'll end up with an even greater strength imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, work around your plateau for a while and focus on techniques that will help these problem areas. A few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squeeze the bar HARD whenever you grip it and keep squeezing throughout your set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't use gloves as this inhibits your squeezing. If your hands get raw (and they probably will at that weight), use chalk. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on a tight core during your lift: squeeze (internally) anus-to-bellybutton, and make sure you are looking up at ~45 degrees and not rounding your back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold the bar at the top position for a few seconds before dropping it on the last rep of each set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have your grip and lower back stronger, then you'll develop new weak points (quad strength, for example) and you can once again work on increasing that and increasing weight without equipment crutches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T18:44:15.383" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:44:15.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1241" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:24:13.070" Score="5" ViewCount="871" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a machine to do 8-12 crunches to failure.  I also like to perform sit-ups to failure (and I feel it in the front of my hips, not my abs).  Does it matter in which order I do these two exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I was wondering whether wearing-out the abdominals would make the sit-ups less effective. I've read you're supposed to do certain exercises before others, but the reason is not always clear to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="400" LastEditorUserId="400" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T19:32:48.073" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T07:40:45.483" Title="Crunches before or after sit-ups?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1240" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:27:13.333" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll probably want to do the crunch machine first. The machine uses a heavier weight than just your bodyweight per a sit-up (I assume you do more than 8-12 sit-ups during that set), so you really use that machine to build strength and the sit-ups for endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do the sit-ups first, you may have exhausted your muscles beyond the point where you can really take advantage of the extra weight on the machine and develop strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:27:13.333" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1240" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:32:39.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regular situps, as most people do them, are not the best exercise for the abs. You should look for another exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:32:39.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1164" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:38:38.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use to take measurement every forth night. I usually see results that often. For example, in a period of 6 weeks, my arms increased about 0.5 cm in size every fourteen days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:38:38.190" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1141" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:43:04.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;a GREAT exercise that will increase your grip strength is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Rolling Thunder&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, which can be bought at IronMind. They also have a lot of other equipment for grip strength. Most people will start to train at about 30-50 kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:43:04.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:53:25.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dr Barry Sears (Zone Diet) claims that no one can take of more than about &lt;strong&gt;0.75 kg every week&lt;/strong&gt;, in pure fat that is. Everything over that is not healthy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:53:25.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:04:13.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats that aren't low enough usually involves more weights, which for a lot of people give a lot more pressure on the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:04:13.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="96" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:24:38.230" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has everything to do with the person. Top athletes train every day, and a lot of hours. Usually, they have spent some years making the body able to withstand a lot of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was the fastest running youth in Norway some years back in 60-200m, and trained about 20 hours a week in the weeks with the most load. That was when between the age of 15 and 18. I had no problems with injuries, but again, this is often individually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone wants to train everyday, like I do, the trick is to have &lt;strong&gt;a lot variation&lt;/strong&gt; in the training. One simple example, just to easily show what I mean is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Running&#xA;Tuesday: Upper body weightlifting&#xA;Wednesday: Lower body weightlifting&#xA;Thursday: Mobility and stretching&#xA;Friday: Running&#xA;... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:24:38.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:27:38.773" Score="5" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm somewhat overweight (BMI of 28) and mainly sit behind my desk all day, so I've been on quite a calorie deprived diet. I go running about three times a week for half an hour and occasionally go cycling. I also get sufficient sleep, so I get plenty of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vegetarian diet feels pretty balanced, I get sufficient fibers, fruit, vegetables and eat meat-replacements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So now I'm wondering how do your eating habits affect your recovery?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you need some minimal amount of certain nutrients when working out or is there no need to worry as long as you don't have any physical complaints? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about this, because I was starting to get more DOMS, while I didn't significantly change my workouts but did reduce my calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like some more specific examples on how to balance calorie restriction with full spectrum nutrient replacement (Both macro and micro).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T17:26:53.303" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T17:26:53.303" Title="How do my eating habits affect my recovery?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:28:03.407" Score="8" ViewCount="1138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arm Wrestling consists of both technique and strength. An arm wrestler must of course master all of the techniques, and be strong in all the muscles involved in all of the techniques. I want to increase the strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best strength exercises for getting good at arm wrestling, at a professional level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T22:49:13.160" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T16:19:53.497" Title="Best strength exercises for arm wrestling" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1255" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:14:55.097" Score="23" ViewCount="6354" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I first started to strength train in high school, one of the first things I remember reading in the weight room was this giant chart that highlighted areas of so-called &lt;em&gt;fast-twitch&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;slow-twitch&lt;/em&gt; muscle fibers in the body. Lots of &quot;the boys,&quot; that is, the friends that I trained with, took this apparent knowledge to heart, and for different looks each of us wanted to achieve, we designed different workouts based on whether they would fatigue our &quot;slow-twitch&quot; or &quot;fast-twitch&quot; muscles.  For example, those of us who wanted a lithe look of the runner did low-weight, high repetition workouts so that we might fatigue the &quot;slow-twitch muscles&quot;, and those who wanted a more bulky, cut look of a sprinter performed more high-weight, short-repetition workouts to fatigue the &quot;fast-twitch&quot; muscles.* This information was particularly relevant for those few of my friends who wanted to try out for various positions on the football team, which as everyone knows weight on stamina, endurance, and power differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the study of fitness and nutrition as a scientific discipline is replete with misinformation and pseudoscience, to the point that one can't really Google for even basic information without being afraid that one is being marketed to or upsold in some fashion.  Still, I distinctly remember reading later somewhere that either &quot;fast-twitch&quot; and &quot;slow-twitch&quot; muscles were pseudoscience or, at the very least, outdated terms, much in the same way &quot;alpha dog&quot; is an outdated term for those who study dominance hierarchies among wolves, but a term which still persists in the common parlance. Alas, I can't remember exactly, and lots of different websites in my search results seem to take &quot;fast-twitch&quot; and &quot;slow-twitch&quot; seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here are my canonical questions:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are &quot;fast-twitch&quot; and &quot;slow-twitch&quot; actual scientific terms? If they were so, are they so now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If they are indeed scientific, does knowing about them help one design better workouts? E.g.,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does one have a natural endowment or ratio of &quot;fast-twitch&quot; to &quot;slow-twitch&quot;? Can it be determined practically?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If not the above, is it possible to convert one type of muscle to another in some way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do certain muscles contain more of one muscle fiber than other muscles? Is that relevant to designing workouts?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do members of certain athletic professions (sprinters, swimmers) possess different ratios of fast-twitch to slow-twitch than others?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) I am well aware that many strength trainers recommend high-weight, low repetition workouts regardless of which look one wants to achieve.  &lt;em&gt;That is not what I'm asking&lt;/em&gt;.  I'm asking whether the rationale that we came up with was sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="242" LastEditorUserId="242" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:08:19.277" LastActivityDate="2014-02-16T07:18:20.070" Title="Are &quot;fast-twitch&quot; and &quot;slow-twitch&quot; muscles actual scientific terms? If so, are they useful for the strength trainer?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="573" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:21:36.963" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep is vital to balancing our hormones&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleep is important to balance hormones that control hunger, metabolism, and weight gain/loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sleeping has also been shown to enhance human growth hormone (HGH) secretion, which is our body's natural anti-aging hormone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturalnews.com/031101_sleep_hormones.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;naturalnews.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HGH is also important to the development of lean muscle. If you Google around you can find a lot more info on HGH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more detailed information about sleep and how it directly affects our hormone balance can be found in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturalnews.com/031101_sleep_hormones.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if you don't get enough sleep, your body won't be able to properly balance your hormones and your body will be all 'out-of-whack'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:21:36.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1225" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:39:02.233" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience, simple walking will do a lot to strengthen the ankles. I had Achilles tendinitis in January in both ankles due to trying to run without having conditioned myself properly. I took a couple weeks off of all unnecessary walking or being on my feet, then started walking every day for the next 6 weeks. I started running again at the beginning of March using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://felttip.com/c10k/&quot;&gt;Couch to 10K&lt;/a&gt; app on my iPhone. It steps you slowly into running with intervals of running and walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/fitness/Articles/12_Ways_to_Build_Ankle_Strength_for_Top_Performance.htm&quot;&gt;Active.com&lt;/a&gt; has a nice list of ankle-strengthening exercises to prevent ankle injuries, shin splints (which it sounds like you have), and Achilles tendinitis (which I had in January). These exercises include...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Balance exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance on one leg for 30 seconds, building to a minute. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/betteru49.htm&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; suggests building on this exercise with weights or on an unstable surface like foam) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Strengthen-Your-Ankles&quot;&gt;WikiHow&lt;/a&gt; suggests using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Balance-Board&quot;&gt;Balancing Board&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play a game of catch with a friend while balancing on one leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do one leg squats (squat about halfway down while balancing on one leg).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance Band exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inversion (rotating the ankle inward)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eversion (rotating the ankle outward)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dorsiflexion (lifting your toes toward your head)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plantar flexion (pushing your toes away from your body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For a simpler description of inversion and eversion, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Strengthen-Your-Ankles&quot;&gt;WikiHow&lt;/a&gt;'s notes on &quot;Ankle Turns&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body-weight exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scissor hops (standing in a &quot;lunge&quot; position, jump and switch your forward foot with your back foot)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat jumps (jumping from a quarter-squat position)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bounding (their description is rather unclear, but you should sort of &quot;hop&quot; forward like you're running on your toes, but very slowly, around 50% of running speed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/betteru49.htm&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; also suggests swinging dumbbell calf raises, where you do a single leg calf raise while swinging a dumbbell around randomly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:39:02.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1250" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:45:47.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle is muscle.  However there are multiple pathways for muscle to expend energy and these fit into your question, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Phosphagen&lt;/strong&gt;: typical activities that&#xA;  use this system to metabolize ATP are&#xA;  explosive, require maximal effort and&#xA;  are very short in duration. A barbell&#xA;  snatch is a good example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glycolytic&lt;/strong&gt;: a typical activity is&#xA;  wrestling, which requires a sustained,&#xA;  intense effort, but not maximal. Use&#xA;  of this pathway causes lactic acid&#xA;  build up, which must be addressed in&#xA;  training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oxidative&lt;/strong&gt;: if enough oxygen is&#xA;  available, the glycolytic pathway is&#xA;  diverted to the oxidative system. The&#xA;  most familiar activities that use this&#xA;  system are low intensity, long&#xA;  distance activities like marathon&#xA;  running and XC skiing. ATP recovery is&#xA;  very high in the oxidative system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/the-three-muscle-energy-systems-and-how-to-train-them/default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dragon Door&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="648" LastEditorUserId="399" LastEditDate="2011-12-22T19:03:18.740" LastActivityDate="2011-12-22T19:03:18.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1250" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:56:09.990" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, there are two different types of muscles and knowing the differences between them is important&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Type I, slow oxidative, slow twitch, or &quot;red&quot; muscle is dense with capillaries and is rich in mitochondria and myoglobin, giving the muscle tissue its characteristic red color. It can carry more oxygen and sustain aerobic activity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Type II, fast twitch muscle, has three major kinds that are, in order of increasing contractile speed:[4]&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Type IIa, which, like slow muscle, is aerobic, rich in mitochondria and capillaries and appears red.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Type IIx (also known as type IId), which is less dense in mitochondria and myoglobin. This is the fastest muscle type in humans. It can contract more quickly and with a greater amount of force than oxidative muscle, but can sustain only short, anaerobic bursts of activity before muscle contraction becomes painful (often incorrectly attributed to a build-up of lactic acid). N.B. in some books and articles this muscle in humans was, confusingly, called type IIB.[5]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Type IIb, which is anaerobic, glycolytic, &quot;white&quot; muscle that is even less dense in mitochondria and myoglobin. In small animals like rodents this is the major fast muscle type, explaining the pale color of their flesh.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are &quot;fast-twitch&quot; and &quot;slow-twitch&quot; actual scientific terms? If they were so, are they so now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Read the quote above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If not the above, is it possible to convert one type of muscle to another in some way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, although targeting specific workouts will either increase the mass of one, the other, or both. It all depends on how you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do certain muscles contain more of one muscle fiber than other muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely, but that depends on each and every muscle. You'd probably need to check on a muscle by muscle basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is that relevant to designing workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really. Just understanding that there are two different types and specific workouts will target either one or the other is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do members of certain athletic professions (sprinters, swimmers) possess different ratios of fast-twitch to slow-twitch than others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most definitely. And, it's important to know which types. Sprinters, will be targeting Type II (fast twitch) meaning that they want to focus more on a regime of High Intensity Interval training to increase their anaerobic threshold and build muscle mass for power. Swimmers are more concerned with endurance so they'll focus more on endurance workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The great part about knowing which muscle fiber type your targeting you can supplement training with other types of workouts to maximize the benefits. For instance, if you play football you'll want to maximize power in shorter timer intervals so you can practice by doing hard high intensity sprints to increase your anaerobic threshold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're a swimmer and you don't have access to a pool, you could to aerobic exercise by running long distances at a moderate pace to increase your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Swimmers isn't exactly the best example of slow-twitch because they need a good combination of both for power and endurance.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are benefits to both and whichever you choose depends completely on what your goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="193" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T14:47:20.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:47:20.910" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1171" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:00:39.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you compare the nutrition of grains to veggies or to meat you will see the grains are largely worthless.  Notice how most cereal are 'Fortified with vitamins and minerals!!!'.  They do that cause otherwise there is no nutritional value.  We evoloved to eat meat and veggies - not grains.  Most people are to some degree alergic to gluten that is found in grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't eaten any grains in months and I feel great.  Give it a try. I follow Eelvex's advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:00:39.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1261" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:34:38.020" Score="9" ViewCount="31272" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the healthier quinoa (assuming they are different)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the various health benefits of each?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2012-02-11T23:46:09.320" Title="Quinoa: red or white, which is healthier?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-09-21T16:58:01.633" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1262" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:46:55.313" Score="16" ViewCount="2349" Body="&lt;p&gt;From time to time during aerobic workouts such as running or heavy cycling, I get side stitches that force me to slow down my effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes side stitches?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that reducing your effort reduces the stitch, but is there something that you can do to prevent them from occuring in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly I only ever seem to get them on one side (my right) and never on the other.  Is that typical of a stitch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="233" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-04-04T19:28:23.477" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T17:50:13.060" Title="What causes side stitches?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stitch&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1249" CreationDate="2011-03-29T23:27:48.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;By the mechanics of the movement I'd say palms-up barbell wrist curl, dumbell fly's, and tricep extensions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="650" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-04-07T03:51:46.067" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T03:51:46.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1219" CreationDate="2011-03-29T23:33:38.330" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saturated fat is essential for the body to function properly, but that doesn't mean you need to eat it. It is well-established that for most people, the only two fatty acids that are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;essential&lt;/a&gt; in the diet are omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which are both polyunsaturated fats. Your body can make all other types of fats from these as it needs them (saturated fats, cholesterol, etc.). Because saturated fat can be made by your body, there is no additional benefit to getting it from a dietary source instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10490&amp;amp;page=422&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Institute of Medicine&lt;/a&gt; of the National Academies supports the notion that there is no minimum requirement for saturated fat itself, however it also reports:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A UL [Tolerable Upper Intake Level] is&#xA;  not set for saturated fatty acids&#xA;  because any incremental increase in&#xA;  saturated fatty acid intake increases&#xA;  CHD [Coronary Heart Disease] risk. It is neither possible nor&#xA;  advisable to achieve 0 percent of&#xA;  energy from saturated fatty acids in&#xA;  typical whole-food diets. This is&#xA;  because all fat and oil sources are&#xA;  mixtures of fatty acids, and consuming&#xA;  0 percent of energy would require&#xA;  extraordinary changes in patterns of&#xA;  dietary intake. Such extraordinary&#xA;  adjustments may introduce undesirable&#xA;  effects (e.g., inadequate intakes of&#xA;  protein and certain micronutrients)&#xA;  and unknown and unquantifiable health&#xA;  risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you don't have to be a total freak about reducing saturated fat. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/FoodLabelingNutrition/FoodLabelingGuide/ucm064928.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FDA&lt;/a&gt; suggests that no more than 10% of your daily Calories come from saturated fat (~20g in a 2000 Cal diet--a gram of fat yields 9 Cal) and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4582&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heart Foundation&lt;/a&gt; suggests no more than 7%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: One possible benefit of saturated fat is that it is less likely to degrade. You do have to be careful about how you &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_oil#Cooking_with_oils&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cook and store&lt;/a&gt; polyunsaturated oils, because oxidized polyunsaturated oil is associated with &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-4506.2001.tb00028.x/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;health risks&lt;/a&gt; (e.g. high-temperature frying can degrade canola oil). However, monounsaturated fats also make olive oil more stable, so when doing high-temperature frying it's hard to say whether you should follow the prevailing advice and go for an oil high in monounsaturated fatty acids (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado_oil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;avocado oil&lt;/a&gt;), or if you should embrace &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2676998/?tool=pmcentrez&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recent&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2676998/?tool=pmcentrez&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt; that indicates saturated fat is no worse than monounsaturated fat, and grab some butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T18:12:46.393" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T18:12:46.393" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1257" CreationDate="2011-03-30T00:45:30.140" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the nutrition facts of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_details.php?products_id=106905&amp;amp;eID=aa5b6b126dc19c5134b27b8752ce8fa7#nutrition&quot;&gt;red&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_details.php?products_id=106900#nutrition&quot;&gt;white&lt;/a&gt; quinoa from the same company. The main differences I can see are that red quinoa is slightly lower in total fat, marginally higher in sodium, fiber, sugar, and protein, vitamin E, riboflavin, and folate. Their amino acid profiles are pretty similar (they are both complete proteins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because red quinoa has less fat doesn't make it necessarily healthier (saturated and trans fats are the ones potentially implicated in health problems, and they're the same in both types of quinoa). Foods high in fiber and vitamins promote health, so red quinoa is slightly superior to white quinoa on those fronts. High sodium diets can increase risk of high blood pressure and high sugar diets can increase risk of diabetes, but even though red quinoa has slightly more of both, neither type of quinoa would be considered high in sodium or sugar. If you're a strict vegetarian, red quinoa would be a little better than white to help you meet your protein needs, but meat eaters generally have no trouble meeting their protein requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say red quinoa is marginally healthier, but really, if you like white quinoa better, they're about the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T00:45:30.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1258" CreationDate="2011-03-30T03:48:46.503" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not clear why they happen, though there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_stitch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;several theories&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For running, exhaling on the left foot has helped me a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also get them sometimes while practicing kicks. This was trickier to work with, but a powerful exhale while kicking seemed to also help here (breathing exercises were indirectly useful as well). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T11:43:28.827" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:28.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1248" CreationDate="2011-03-30T05:31:55.100" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the modern, cultivated foods can lead to gut inflammation - wheat (gluten), quinoa (saponins), and legumes are some examples of foods that may slow down recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, these foods - along with other glucid rich foods like potatoes - lead to insulin spikes that will make it very difficult to loose fat. Carrying a large amount of fat is by itself inflammatory and makes your exercise of choice (running) more stressful to your body than it would be otherwise, if only because of the added weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, those foods might lead to a gross imbalance of omega 3's and 6's.  Such an imbalance (too much omega-6, not enough 3's) can also impede recovery.  Flax seeds have a larger ratio of omega-3's, but they are not the omega-3's most needed by the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T05:31:55.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1258" CreationDate="2011-03-30T07:32:39.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stitches commonly occur if this is the first time you are running in a while. They also occur if your stomach is somewhat full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a new runner or have not run in a while, just run at a slower pace where the pain does not occur. Also, run only after a couple of hours or more after having food or drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info on stitches can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_5/227.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Cool Running article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="614" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T11:43:31.947" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:31.947" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1269" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:01:54.920" Score="15" ViewCount="39401" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, if I use one of these calculators that tells me how many calories to eat,&#xA;if I put in that I am sedentary it tells me to eat (for example) 2000 calories. If I put in that I'm moderately active and work out 3 times a week it tells me to eat (f. ex.) 2300 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/&quot;&gt;this calculator from the Health Weight Forum&lt;/a&gt; recommends almost twice as many calories for someone working out heavily than someone who is sedentary. And it recommends this for losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't make sense to me, if I go from being sedentary to becoming very active, surely I would want to eat around the same amount of calories so as to lose weight? Why do calorie recommendation calculators advise me to eat more calories when working out even if my intention is to lose weight? Why would I want to eat more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it seems to imply that it makes sense to exercise less and eat less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="633" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T12:07:39.207" LastActivityDate="2015-11-22T19:22:36.443" Title="Should I eat more calories when working out even though I'm trying to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1278" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:02:55.637" Score="6" ViewCount="407" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen various techniques for this, I have hear everything from pinching yourself, to simply comparing yourself to photos of other people with varying degrees of body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any techniques that have been useful to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T21:20:18.593" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T21:20:18.593" Title="What is a good way to estimate percentage of body fat?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1267" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:45:06.787" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calorie calculators calculate how many calories you need to consume to remain the same weight.  If you are active it means you burn more calories during the day, thus you need to consume more calories to remain the same weight.  If you'd like to lose weight you should eat less calories then what is recommended (not substantially though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key point here is 'you need to consume more Calories to remain the same weight.' To lose weight you need to eat less than that number. The technical term for this is called your 'caloric expenditure' or 'energy expenditure'. What it means is, to lose weight you need to be eating fewer Calories than your 'energy expenditure'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, one pound of stored fat is equal to about 3500 kcal (or 1kg is ~7000kcal). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example. Lets say your 'energy expenditure' is 2000 kcal and you consume exactly 2000 kcal a day (Ie, you neither gain/lose weight). Then you start doing a moderate workout that increases your caloric expenditure to 3000 kcal a day but maintain the same diet. How much body fat mass should you expect to lose in a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, since you're burning 1000 kcal more than your eating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(days * (caloric intake - energy expenditure)) / 3500 = lbs of fat burned/week &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(7 * (2000 - 3000)) / 3500 = 2 lbs of fat/week&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an over-simplification because as you gain more muscle mass your caloric expenditure will go up even if you aren't working out and not all exercises are equal but, that's the gist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more specifics on setting goals to lose weight without negatively impacting health be sure to take a look at '&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/204/501&quot;&gt;What is a Reasonable Rate of Weight Loss to Work Towards&lt;/a&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some links about what exactly '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/facts_5566777_caloric-expenditure.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;caloric expenditure&lt;/a&gt;' and '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_expenditure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;energy expenditure&lt;/a&gt;' define.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutribase.com/exercala&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a table that shows the caloric expenditures for different types of activities&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="661" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:30:46.987" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1267" CreationDate="2011-03-30T13:23:00.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Old school thought is that you want to reduce eating and increase exercising to reduce fat - this is true in the short term.  HOWEVER to gain long term advantage, you need to ensure that your metabolism is in high gear and burning fat.  The problem with fad diets, fasting, etc. is that your metabolism will slow down if you continue to reduce calories - aka &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/burning_calories/starvation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;starvation mode&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to use the number of calories as a guide and the key to long term weight loss is proper dieting (good sound eating habits and good food) and an exercise program that you can do long term (you got your entire life ahead of you and it should include a regular exercise program).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T20:11:31.417" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:11:31.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1280" CreationDate="2011-03-30T13:51:52.797" Score="3" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.montignac.com/en/la_methode.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Montignac Method&lt;/a&gt; is some sort of &quot;diet&quot; and &quot;food recommendation&quot; that has given me great results in the past, but usually the food alternatives offered in the book, tend to be overly complicated French dishes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this is not a rule, most of the suggestions are not simple things and require a decent amount of time in the kitchen or great preparation ahead. Neither of these is actually easy to achieve unless you have a lot of free time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I follow the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.montignac.com/en/ig_concept.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glycemic Indexes&lt;/a&gt; Theory without needing to do overly complicated cooking like the Montiganc Method requires?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="659" LastEditorUserId="659" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T16:21:20.093" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T00:31:41.957" Title="Following the Glycemic Indexes theory?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-09-21T21:32:57.993" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1274" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:39:06.523" Score="13" ViewCount="103242" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between Calories, calories, and kcals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do we have different terms to describe the same concept?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what cases is it useful to use one unit of measurement over the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T03:03:54.900" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T12:47:33.517" Title="What's the difference between calories and kcal" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1445" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:56:04.887" Score="3" ViewCount="2536" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past six months I have been working on my pecs using seated cable fly and machine fly. With the seated cable fly I push downward slightly on the cables to isolate the pecs from the delts.  So far things have been very good, the pecs are growing nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fAmgN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there such a thing as lower and upper pecs? If so, what are some ways to work the upper pecs without involving the delts and lats?&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the machine fly takes it partly there as it covers the pec entirely.  But is there something to isolate the upper pecs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the research I've done suggests there is no such thing as lower, middle and upper pecs.  Does anyone have any bodybuilding experience on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T17:16:36.897" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T00:24:18.613" Title="Isolating the lower and upper pecs?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:04:06.953" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;One calorie (with a lower case c) is the amount of energy required to heat 1 gram of water by 1°C. A kilocalorie is 1000 calories, and Calorie (with a capital C) and kilocalorie (Kcal) are synonyms. On food labels, nutrition facts are in terms of kilocalories/Calories. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like with grams vs. kilograms, units are used in a way that the number most readable. Putting nutrition labels in calories would take up quite a bit of extra space. I'm not sure how the Calorie/kilocalorie synonym came about, but I can guess it was for convenience. We use kilocalories much more frequently than calories for every day measurement, and kilocalories is quite a cumbersome word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-02T07:39:53.943" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T07:39:53.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:04:17.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A kilocalorie is equal to 1000 calories.  I discovered this a while back.  Although the labels on food packages display energy as calories, the actual metric is supposed to be kilocalories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that apple you may have just ate has 70000 calories or 70 kilocalories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:04:17.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1273" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:04:53.600" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;An incline seat will put more emphasis on the upper chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QyLHz.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A decline seat will put more emphasis on the lower chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XOSEm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An upright machine fly will work both regions of the chest. It's also particularly good for inner chest because it has equal tension throughout the movement, unlike dumbbell flies which have almost no tension at the peak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Db6p0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right that flies isolate the chest. Presses involve the deltoids and triceps. It's a good idea to do both. You will plateau with flies alone because of the lack of variety to stimulate the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T17:11:57.870" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:11:57.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1273" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:21:29.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'lower pec' and 'upper pec' are actually both sub-regions of the 'pectoralis major' muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lower Pec - Pectoralis Major (Sternal Head)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jD8vu.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Pectoralis Major (Sternal Head)&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisSternal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the region that makes up the majority of the muscle mass in the Pectoralis Major. Adding a decline to a bench press or doing exercises that push forward in a manner that is angled toward your hips will emphasize this region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Pec - Pectoralis Major (Clavicular Head)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nbBs0.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Pectoralis Major (Clavicular Head)&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisClavicular.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workouts that emphasize your upper chest will be forward pushing motions angled in the direction of your head such as the 'incline bench press' or 'decline push-ups'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update: Corrected this answer. I was mistakenly calling the upper pec the 'pectoralis minor' when it's actually the clavicular sub-region of the 'pectoralis major'. Sorry about that.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T12:28:30.427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:28:30.427" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1268" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:39:59.643" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.new-fitness.com/body_fat_analyzing.html&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; website covers all the methods for accurate body fat measurement that I know of (well, besides autopsy, but I doubt you want to do that). The most accurate ones require expensive sophisticated equipment, so they're not really practical for the average person. The methods that I'd say are the most accessible are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calipers used to pinch the fat. Basically, you take a number of skinfold measurements, and use an equation that combines them to measure your body fat. They equipment is relatively inexpensive and it can still be accurate within 4% (depending on which equation you use). Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/bodyfatcalipers.html&quot;&gt;Fitness Advisor&lt;/a&gt; for more info.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bioelectrical Impedance. Scales that claim to measure body fat use this method (my scale gives you an estimate of muscle mass too). It's accuracy can be pretty bad, depending on the equipment you use, but if you use the same method every time, as least you can see if your body fat is increasing or decreasing. It's also quick and painless compared to using fat calipers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to estimate your body fat in order to assess health risk, it's also important to assess your fat distribution. For example, a high &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist%E2%80%93hip_ratio&quot;&gt;waist-to-hip ratio&lt;/a&gt; is related to increased health risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T19:49:36.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:49:36.780" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1295" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:33:02.517" Score="3" ViewCount="2998" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was doing workout last year and was regularly taking multivitamins and whey protein. But now, I am resting after a bone fracture, So I am no regular to Gym. I am not taking meat and heavy foods now so I am starting to  feel  weak. So Started taking multivitamins (Anavite from Gaspari Nutrition) again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My doubt is taking multivitamins without a regular exercise ? Is it good or bad ? Will it speed my recovery ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="651" LastActivityDate="2019-12-03T14:24:42.830" Title="Taking multivitamin tablets without workout , will it cause any problems ?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1271" CreationDate="2011-03-30T21:07:49.633" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glycemic index refers to the rate at which foods increase blood sugar levels. Foods with a high glycemic index increase blood sugar levels quickly, and those with a low glycemic index increase blood sugar levels slowly (making it easier for your body to regulate blood sugar level). One way to check the glycemic index of your food sources is to use databases like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gilisting.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, and try to avoid foods in the high range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to look up all your foods, here are some rules of thumb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foods &lt;strong&gt;low in carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt; (like meat) tend to have a lower glycemic index (since blood sugar comes from carbs, this makes sense). That said, it's hard to get adequate vitamins and minerals without consuming some carbs, and high carb doesn't necessarily mean high glycemic index.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs in foods can come from sugar, starch, and fiber (on the nutrition label, only sugar and fiber are listed, but [Total carbs] - [sugar] - [fiber] = [starch]). Sugar has the highest glycemic index since it doesn't take much to break it down; the body can absorb it almost immediately, spiking blood sugar. Starch takes longer to break down, so it enters the bloodstream more slowly. Fiber goes mostly undigested, so it doesn't contribute much to blood sugar, and has a very low glycemic index. It also makes food harder to digest, prolonging the digestion process. So, in general, &lt;strong&gt;high-fiber, slow-sugar foods&lt;/strong&gt; have a lower glycemic index. This is one reason whole grain bread is so much healthier than white bread.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a sugar craving, fructose (&quot;fruit sugar&quot;) has a much lower glycemic index than glucose. So to satisfy your sweet tooth eat fruit or veggies (these foods are also high in fiber). Be careful though, consuming large amount of fructose (such as soda sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup) will still cause weight gain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating carbs along with fat and protein&lt;/strong&gt; lowers the glycemic index of a food. It's kinda counterintuitive, but chocolate has a lower glycemic index than, say, jelly beans (pretty much pure sugar), because it contains protein and fat. Protein and fat also prolong digestion, just like fiber. Don't overdo it on the fat though. Fat yields over twice as many Calories/gram as carbs or protein, so eating too much fat can rack up Calories quickly. Certain types of fats can increase your health risks, so I would recommend trying to get unsaturated fat rather than trans or saturated fat (however, there's been some &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1219/what-are-the-nutritional-benefits-of-saturated-fats-if-any/&quot;&gt;debate&lt;/a&gt; around here about that lately).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are a few foods that slow the emptying of your stomach into your small intestine. Since most food is absorbed into your body in the small intestine, this slows down the entry of carbs into the bloodstream, lowering glycemic index. Not only that, having food in your stomach for longer also increases feelings of fullness. Protein, fat, and fiber all have this effect (See my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1049/what-are-the-biological-processes-behind-the-sensation-of-being-hungry/1068#1068&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; here for mechanisms). There is also evidence that other substances, such as &lt;strong&gt;vinegar and cinnamon&lt;/strong&gt; do the same (Addressed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1132/can-vinegar-cause-fat-loss/1134#1134&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt; here). Incorporating these into your cooking could help lower glycemic index.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the way you combine foods has a huge effect on glycemic index, so instead of just looking for low glycemic index foods, you want to try to create low glycemic index meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T21:07:49.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1267" CreationDate="2011-03-30T22:34:42.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that if you eat the same amount of calories (or close to the recommended amount if you're working out) but change the combination of &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; you eat, you will lose weight.  I've had great success with that - swapping out much of the empty carbs I was eating for protein and complex carbs in the form of vegetables and high-fiber carbs.  Futhermore, I'm rarely ever hungry (except after a really good workout).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T22:34:42.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1285" CreationDate="2011-03-30T23:44:21.980" Score="4" ViewCount="652" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand the B Vitamins are water-soluble, so it is more difficult to take too much -- you flush them out of your system (as opposed to fat-soluble vitamins, which can stay with you for a long time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, is it possible to take so many B vitamins that they start to become toxic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the negative effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T04:12:18.810" Title="Vitamin B toxicity?" Tags="&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T19:42:49.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1240" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:20:40.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you can only get so much work out of doing crunches and sit ups. To truly engage your core you should lift heavy things over head. Lifting heavy weights correctly forces you to use your Abs to stabilize. One of the best workouts I have found for abs is the Overhead Squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="665" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2011-05-30T07:40:45.483" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T07:40:45.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1282" CreationDate="2011-03-31T04:12:18.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes but it depends on which B Vitamin...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the complete list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;thiamin (B1):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No known toxicity from oral intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;riboflavin (B2):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No evidence of toxicity based on limited human and animal studies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;niacin (B3):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Intake of 3000 mg/day of nicotinamide and 1500 mg/day of nicotinic acid are associated with nausea, vomiting, and signs and symptoms of liver toxicity. Other effects may include glucose intolerance, and (reversible) ocular effects. Additionally, the nicotinic acid form may cause vasodilatory effects, also known as flushing, including redness of the skin, often accompanied by an itching, tingling, or mild burning sensation, which is also often accompanied by pruritus, headaches, and increased intracranial blood flow, and occasionally accompanied by pain.[9] Medical practitioners prescribe recommended doses up to 2000 mg. per day of niacin, usually in time release format, to combat arterial plaque development in cases of high lipid levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Large doses (Ie, greater than 1000mg) are usually only taken as a measure to lower cholesterol in place of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;statins&lt;/a&gt; or other prescribed medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the 'slow release' or 'no flush' formulas have been known to cause liver damage if taken in large doses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pantothenic acid (B5):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No known toxicity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pyridoxine (B6):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All effects are unconfirmed: (peripheral) sensory neuropathy [causal association with intake of vitamin B6 is likely]; dermatological lesions [causal association is unlikely]; B6 dependency in newborns [causal association is also unlikely].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;biotin (B7):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No known toxicity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;folic acid (B9):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Masks B12 deficiency, which can lead to permanent neurological damage&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cobalamin (B12):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Acne-like rash [causality is not conclusively established].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: All the information presented in block quotes is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_vitamins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T04:12:18.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1311" CreationDate="2011-03-31T05:22:37.540" Score="7" ViewCount="3897" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many bacterial cultures found in probiotic foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B. bacterium breve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B. bacterium longum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. acidophilus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. bulgaricus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. casei&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. lactis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. plantarum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. rhamnosus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leuconostoc cremoris&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S. diacetylactis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S. florentinus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S. thermophilus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bifidus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(to name a few common ones)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the nutritional differences between the different cultures? Or are all probiotic bacterial cultures created equal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, do some cultures help produce certain types of vitamins? Do some aid in digesting specific foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastEditorUserId="649" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T05:52:18.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:35:34.377" Title="Probiotics: differences between bacterial strains" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T15:53:45.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1199" CreationDate="2011-03-31T07:32:53.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being repulsed by something doesn't mean that your body doesn't need it. You can be repulsed by fruits and vegetables, but that surely doesn't mean your body doesn't need them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diets aren't always fun, however they are necessary if you are trying to obtain a specific body composition or level of health. If you have a plan set out for yourself (in your case approximately 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight), stick to it even when it's not enjoyable if you truly want to reach your goals. Sometimes achieving results means doing things that are not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T07:32:53.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-03-31T07:40:33.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea is that if your goal is to lose fat, you should be putting in a certain level of effort in order to burn fat. If you are able to read while doing your cardio, you are most likely not putting in the required level of effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T07:40:33.653" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1190" CreationDate="2011-03-31T07:58:07.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd just like to clarify - there's a difference between interval training and HIIT. What you are doing is most likely interval training. HIIT is meant to be short periods of &lt;b&gt;max effort&lt;/b&gt;. In other words, sprinting as fast as you possibly can for short intervals with short rests. I recommend trying this outdoors because sprinting at max speed is difficult on a treadmill. I highly doubt you'll still be able to do 1 hour of HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a good HIIT program, look into Tabata. You can do it with exercises other than running (such as burpees or squat jumps) but the important part is to do them as hard and fast as you physically can. The Tabata program is only 4 minutes long, but if you're doing it right, it will feel like it's 10 years long because you'll just want it to end already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tabata protocol:&#xA;1) 20 seconds of max effort cardio&#xA;2) 10 seconds of rest&#xA;3) Repeat 1 and 2 eight times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find good Tabata timers on YouTube or you can buy the Gymboss timer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T07:58:07.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T09:02:43.287" Score="7" ViewCount="769" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working on a 3-day split routine, about 5(+1 support) exercises per day. It's the first time I'm putting something together for myself, so I was hoping you'd be able to put in some comments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not own (I work out at home) cables, just a squatrack, bench, weights and a pull up bar. My prior experience is with stronglifts 5x5 and before that some random using of machines in a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest/Triceps   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lying Lateral Raise (shoulder support)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bench Press  (major pec, sternal)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Bench Press  (major pec, clav)   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Shoulder Raise (serratus)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Dips (tricep)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decline Close Grip Push-up (tricep, could go incline close grip bench press, but want to do push ups because thats just the beach boy I am ;))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back/Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying External Rotation (shoulder support)   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups (back/bicep)    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift (back)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Shrugs (traps)       &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer Curls (bicep/arms)    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep Curls  (bicep)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs/Schouders  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell Shoulder Internal Rotation (shoulder support)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Squat (quads)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight-leg deadlift (hams) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press (anterior)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upright Row (lateral)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear Delt Raise (posterior)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do one rotary cuff exercise daily, mostly prevention for future injury after having had some problems with my supraspinatus. I perform these with a low weight (empty dumbells, 2.5kg each) with a high number of repetitions, 3 sets of 15. My normal sets just will be plain old 3x10, trying to add weight when I get 3x10 with good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips in general? I would like to target my glutes better as well, any tips for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see it's a pretty short routine, I guess a little over an hour every time, followed by 30-45 minutes of jogging. Supplement wise, I just take a protein shake in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What say you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:31:02.793" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T16:24:16.043" Title="Am I missing exercises for a balanced total body workout in a 3 day split?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1292" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:58:05.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it looks like a very good overall workout, my one criticism is the lack of leg exercises on your leg day. At the very least you could do some calf work:&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ydseV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also throw in some abduction and adduction work, but that might be difficult with your limited equipment. Do you ever do any abdominal work? You have some nice full body exercises, but it couldn't hurt to do some crunches once in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other thing I would suggest is mixing it up. It seems like you've found a workout routine and you're going to stick with it for a while. This is something I don't agree with. You should always be challenging your muscles by doing new exercises. I try to never do the same exercise in the same way ever! Don't underestimate the usefulness of body weight exercises (lunges, squats, leg lifts, push ups, etc). You could even get outside and toss some sandbags around for a good workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:58:05.523" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1279" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:03:24.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you taking a typical dose of multi vitamins? If so then keep it up. Thousands if not millions of people are taking a multi without exercising regularly. Taking a multi will help you stay healthier overall which will help you recover faster. For no other reason than your body doesn't have to work as hard to fight off illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't quite understand the train of thought between: you changed your diet, you started feeling weak, you took a multi vitamin. It seems to me that the change in diet is what's having the adverse effects on you and that is where you need to fix in order to feel less weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:03:24.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1303" CreationDate="2011-03-31T13:09:28.410" Score="10" ViewCount="5261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym since august 2010 now after a long break ( 2 years ), and I am changing my workout programmes regularly to not have any plateauing or adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must say that I do not sleep enough at the moment, and I'm pretty sure it has an effect on my workouts and causing less muscle growth. I'm aware of that, but starting your own business just demands a lot of your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always faced the fact that my chest, abs and shoulders gain more easily &lt;strong&gt;than my biceps&lt;/strong&gt;, though you'd assume they would grow the most, because you use them in virtually every exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current workout programme allows me to &quot;rest&quot; enough between workouts. I don't stick to it that precise, i see it more as a guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 1: Chest ( flys, peck deck, bench press ( + incline or decline), incline dbs press, ...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 2: Shoulders &amp;amp; back ( laterals, military press, ...) + 30 mins of cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 3: Legs or rest ( week 2 / week 1 ) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 4: Arms ( curls, triceps exercises, ... )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 5: 40 mins of cardio ( rowing for my back, running ) + abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 6: rest or legs ( week 1 / week 2 ) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 7: light workout ( overall, but very light ) approx. 40 mins of workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not seeking for any exercises &lt;em&gt;in particular&lt;/em&gt; for me to gain biceps muscle more easily. I have been working out ( with long breaks ) for 7 years now and know a great deal of exercises ( and there's still the internet ). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What i would be very happy with, is to get some advice, some guidelines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it is in my genes to gain chest more easily than arms, maybe it is to do with the fact that my job as a programmer doesn't let me use my arms a lot...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is greatly appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T05:36:56.950" Title="biceps gaining slower than the rest" Tags="&lt;muscle-groups&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1299" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1317" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:24:35.640" Score="15" ViewCount="3937" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I am a pretty skinny guy with a fat thigh. Is it possible to lose fat exclusively in some part of the body? For example, is it possible to lose thigh fat while not losing any weight in my upper body? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-22T20:04:58.647" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T20:04:58.647" Title="How to lose fat only in your thigh?" Tags="&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:27:27.227" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading in itself isn't helping/hurting (I know I'm stating the obvious) - I think the BB Bible was using it as an indicator to your intensity.  I'm not a big fan of long cardio workouts for anything....but if you're seeing positive results than continue what you're doing (reading or not).  Some people get on a treadmill, bike, etc. and read as a means to reduce stress as well as to burn some calories...SO, if you're happy with the results do it, if not and you're looking to reduce weight - you probably want to look into a more intense cardio OR weight program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:27:27.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1299" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:30:09.713" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nope, it's completely impossible to target and reduce fat in one spot on your body. The only way to lose fat in your thighs is to lose fat everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, you can target and improve the look of a specific body part. For your thighs I would suggest squats (but I suggest those for just about anything). Simply sprinting would help the shapeliness of your legs overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:30:09.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:32:06.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoulder injury is often caused by weakness in or overloading of the rotary cuff. It's badly developed by most people since they don't really train it. Badly executed Bench Presses seem to be a major cause too, by putting too much strain on the shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this light I think it's important to train the muscles involved with your rotary cuffs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Infraspinatus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supraspinatus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subscapularis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teres Minor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few very easy to execute exercises that can help in strengthening your cuffs, with only a dumbbell:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Shoulder Internal Rotation &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw8HVQuMpNc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw8HVQuMpNc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Shoulder External Rotation &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuHuKq3elzQ&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuHuKq3elzQ&amp;amp;feature=related&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you can use cables in stead of the dumbbells if you happen to have those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: BUT! If you ever feel a strain on your shoulders or pain while exercising, go see a kinesiologist!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastEditorUserId="669" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T16:18:55.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:18:55.677" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-31T15:32:06.343" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:42:39.220" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lift &lt;strong&gt;heavy&lt;/strong&gt;! If you can do 8 reps of a bicep exercise, you need more weight. If you can still lift your toothbrush the next morning, you need to add more weight. Since you know a lot of exercises, I'll skip that part. Here are some different way to do the exercises that may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positives, negatives, and statics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Positives are what you're probably doing already: lift the weight and engage your muscle throughout the contraction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Negatives are the opposite - grab some weight that is too much for you to lift regularly and start in the fully contracted position. Slowly, and carefully, allow the weight to pull your hand away from your shoulder while you try and hold it still. This is guaranteed to make it hard to brush your teeth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Statics are where you don't move at&#xA;all. Grab some heavy weight (90% max&#xA;for example) and hold it mid-rep for&#xA;as long as you can. This technique&#xA;can be combined with negatives.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Twenty-ones&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This consists of three different movements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7 reps in the bottom part of your&#xA;normal range of motion. Start fully&#xA;extended and flex your muscle until&#xA;the weight is half way through the&#xA;rep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7 reps in the top part of your normal&#xA;range of motion. Start in the mid-rep&#xA;position and flex your muscle to&#xA;finish the rep as normal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7 full reps! From bottom to top&#xA;flexing your muscle the entire way.&#xA;Don't forget to think about your&#xA;muscle flexing and go slow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different Grips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using a bar to do your bicep exercises there are three good grips you can use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Super wide. As far apart as is&#xA;comfortable, but make sure you don't&#xA;put stress on your elbows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Super narrow. Just the opposite. Do&#xA;the reps with your pinky fingers&#xA;touching eachother.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse grip. Instead of palms up,&#xA;palms down. This take some getting&#xA;use to and you'll probably have to&#xA;drop the weight for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider not working out almost every day. Most people use a 3-day split to make sure they get enough rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:42:39.220" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1312" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:40:56.197" Score="12" ViewCount="2781" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read a lot of stuff that says the brain is one of the parts of the body that consume the most oxygen. Is this true? Does that mean when you're thinking hard, you're actually burning a lot of stuff? Is chess considered a sport in this sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastActivityDate="2018-11-29T04:45:18.020" Title="Is it true that thinking uses a lot of calories?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;brain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:52:39.417" Score="5" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prior to the invention of agriculture, humans lived in numerous climates, ecosystems and environments. So, exactly what is a &quot;paleo&quot; diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, at some point in time before the origin of agriculture, there were &quot;paleo&quot; humans who ate grains. The original grain eaters were no doubt hunter-gatherers who happened to live in a region where grains were a &quot;gathered&quot; food source. Another example is an acquaintance who follows a paleo diet, but eats a large amount of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. This strikes me as odd, because from what I understand, hunter-gatherers didn't limit themselves to breast meat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a link perhaps with good clarification on exactly what a paleo diet is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="203" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T13:49:22.450" Title="How do I determine what a paleo diet is?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1305" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:34:20.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of resources that I use for it, but it's very hard to find a concise source, as a lot of people have varying degrees of what they'll allow that range from no concessions (strict paleo) to including dairy and peanut butter and the like (usually when it's paleo with dairy, the word primal is thrown around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&lt;/a&gt; - Marks Daily Apple (A paleo blog (refers to it as &quot;primal&quot; though)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://robbwolf.com/&lt;/a&gt; - Robb Wolf's blog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://altmed.creighton.edu/Paleodiet/Foodlist.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a list of foods, but the more you search lists, the more you find that they'll contradict each other based on how paleo the list maker is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Summary:&lt;/b&gt; Eat lean meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. Generally avoid foods that come in boxes (preservatives and other added ingredients). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="507" LastEditorUserId="507" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T18:17:25.217" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:17:25.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1304" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:36:47.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is true is that the brain uses alot of energy. &#xA;Relative to its size it's the most energy-consuming of all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this &lt;a href=&quot;http://acnp.org/g4/gn401000064/ch064.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACNP&lt;/a&gt; study would be a perfect place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Although the brain represents only 2% of the body weight, it receives&#xA;  15% of the cardiac output, 20% of total body oxygen consumption, and&#xA;  25% of total body glucose utilization. With a global blood flow of 57&#xA;  ml/100 g·min, the brain extracts approximately 50% of oxygen and 10%&#xA;  of glucose from the arterial blood.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some pretty neat resources on that site, like: &lt;a href=&quot;http://acnp.org/publications/neuro5thgeneration.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neuro 5th Generation&lt;/a&gt;. Covering science once thought impossible, like neurogenesis in adult brains, which could provide useful for people suffering from varioous diseases to the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T18:20:29.040" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T18:20:29.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1309" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:00:07.043" Score="9" ViewCount="20546" Body="&lt;p&gt;It takes me 10-15 minutes to cool down - body temp wise - after a work out, this is after a 'cool down' in the gym and a cold'ish shower.  It becomes an issue when I workout at lunch time.  Does anyone have any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T00:25:33.300" Title="What is the best way to cool down after a workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1309" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:20:18.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cool down period after a workout is very important and should not be minimized. A workout is a strain on the body as joints and muscles struggle to keep up with the challenge. After this challenge is over the body need to calm down so that it have the time to flush out tired muscles, keep joints warm and flexible and of course to slowly cool down the temperature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good tip is to use 10-15 minutes after a workout to stretch during the cool down period and let the body to calm down in its own pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you to an article about the benefits of the cool down at &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/od/exerciseforbeginners/a/anatomyworkout_5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise.about.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="632" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:20:18.300" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1288" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:35:34.377" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow, what a research project. I found a couple review papers on probiotics (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anaturalhealingcenter.com/documents/Thorne/articles/probiotics8-2.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PDF1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/view/1790/1697&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PDF2&lt;/a&gt;) that summarized the functions of the Lactobacillus and one of the Bifidobacterium strains you listed. A lot of the research in the first study is based on animal studies, but the second one bases its conclusions solely on human studies. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.probiotic.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Probiotic.org&lt;/a&gt; also has a lot of info, but their referencing is a little sketchy, so I only referenced them here if I had to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bifidobacterium (previously known as L. bifidus)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B. bacterium breve: Keeps yeast in check (prevents yeast infections), shortage has been linked to antibiotic-associated diarrhea, allergies, and irritable bowel syndrome symptoms (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.probiotic.org/bifidobacterium-breve.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;probiotics.org&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B. bacterium longum: May help prevent gastrointestinal side effects cased by antibiotic treatment (PDF2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lactobacillus: Improves digestion, reduces symptoms of lactose intolerance, improves immunity via improved mucous secretion (PDF1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. acidophilus: Keeps yeast in check, helps prevent colon cancer, helps prevent urogenital infections (like bladder infections), lowers blood cholesterol (PDF1), reduces symptoms of lactose intolerance, may help reduce chronic heart burn (PDF2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. bulgaricus: May help prevent antibiotic-related diarrhea (PDF2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. casei: May play a role in bladder and colon cancer treatment/prevention (PDF2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. plantarum: Produces and preserves nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants, eliminates toxic components from food, positive effect on immunity in some cases (PDF1), reduces many symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (PDF1 &amp;amp; PDF2), may help reduce chronic heart burn (PDF2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L. rhamnosus (includes L. GG): helps prevent colon cancer, keeps yeast in check, helps prevent urogenital infections, reduces food allergies and atopic dermatitis, boosts immunity (PDF1), decreases duration and/or prevents a number of different types of diarrhea (PDF1, PDF2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Streptococcus: According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&amp;amp;cpsidt=1325292&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this abstract&lt;/a&gt;, they're not yet well-studied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S. diacetylactis: This is a probiotic, but I couldn't find out much more about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S. thermophilus: Not a probiotic, since it's destroyed during digestion (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptococcus_thermophilus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saccharmyces florentinus: I couldn't find much on this specifically, but other types of Saccarmyces (which are yeasts) are apparently associated with various health benefits (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.probiotic.org/saccharomyces-bouldarii.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;probiotics.org&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lactococcus lactis: Immune stimulation, improves digestive health, reduces antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leuconostoc cremoris: From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302%2882%2982198-X/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; it sounds like, when combined with other probiotics, leuconostroc cremoris decreases the amount of lactose in milk, making it easier to digest for people with lactose intolerance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in digestion/absorption, you may also want to look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prebiotic_%28nutrition%29#Effects&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prebiotics&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:35:34.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1304" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:56:09.913" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/304577-calories-burned-by-brain-activity/&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; on Livestrong, your brain burns ~20% of your body's energy (pretty impressive, considering it only accounts for 2% of your body weight). Here's a more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046985/?tool=pubmed&quot;&gt;acedemic source&lt;/a&gt; to support this (Thanks matt!). However, according to Livestrong, this is not really due to &lt;em&gt;thinking&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most of your brain's energy use is&#xA;  dedicated to operating your body --&#xA;  and not to self-conscious thinking per&#xA;  se.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T16:24:53.970" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T16:24:53.970" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1304" CreationDate="2011-03-31T21:38:10.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the amazing book: &lt;em&gt;Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: An Updated Guide to Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping&lt;/em&gt; by Stanford Professor Robert M. Sapolsky: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;chess grand masters, during their&#xA;  tournaments, can place metabolic&#xA;  demands on their bodies that begin to&#xA;  approach those of athletes during the&#xA;  peak of a competitive event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:38:10.420" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1309" CreationDate="2011-03-31T22:45:24.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, if not having a higher body temp is very important to you after your lunch breaks, I don't recommend working out during lunch. My body takes a couple of hours before it's at a normal temperature and I'm not sweating after the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of things happening in your body immediately following a workout that are causing higher body temps and I don't know that you should really be trying to cut them short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:45:24.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1292" CreationDate="2011-03-31T23:01:05.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;To address some of your more specific questions:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sets/reps sound fine, though I'd concentrate on reaching muscular failure as opposed to numbers. Try for a month or so not counting your reps and just going til you can't rep anymore. Something helpful to prevent yourself from habitually counting reps is to just count every rep as 1. In your head, you'll be saying '1...1....1...' and so on. One of the problems with counting reps is that you can sometime limit yourself in how much you can actually do because you've reached your pre-determined max.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing your squats and deadlifts properly, you should be heavily targeting your glutes. Remember, squats are very much a hip and glute exercise. Try squatting ATG (all the way to the ground). Make sure you have good form by watching the following videos:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6529481301858251744#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6529481301858251744#&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;The following video is part 1 of a 4 part series:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkF9QD7oCIA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkF9QD7oCIA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try taking the protein shake after your workout. Assuming you're drinking whey protein, you'll be taking full advantage of whey's fast absorption properties. It'll help replenish your body after a hard workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Other suggestions:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try a bent over row for targeting your back muscles a bit better. Chin-ups will be good for biceps and lats. Deadlifts are good for lower back, glutes, and hammies. With the bent-over row, you'll have a more well rounded back workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Skullcrushers would be great for triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a question on your workout, but remember DIET is just as important as your workout, so make sure you're getting the right nutrition in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T11:37:50.423" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T11:37:50.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1299" CreationDate="2011-03-31T23:05:10.360" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Sparafusile said, you can't target fat loss effectively. Try adding mass to your upper body instead to look more proportional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, with regards to Sparafusile's suggestion of doing leg exercises, this will certainly help with improving their composition. They might not lose size, but instead of looking flabby, they'll start to look more toned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T23:05:10.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2011-03-31T23:10:42.553" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;We could give you all great advice on how to grow your biceps but I'm sure you've probably read a lot of that already. The reality is that genetics plays a major role in how your muscles grow. For me, my quads, glutes, and back grow pretty easily, however my arms and calves just can't seem to lag behind always. Some are the opposite and have a really easy time growing their arms while their chest remains flat as a board.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the best you can, but be understanding that genetics is just something you simply cannot change.....yet ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sidenote: If you want major gains - eat more!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T23:10:42.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-04-01T00:51:02.123" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whoever said &quot;You're doing it wrong!&quot; is wrong.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cardio&quot; is a very broad term and it's hard to do it wrong.  You can train in the cardio range at a variety of intensities and in a variety of ways.  If you goal is fat loss, it doesn't really matter how you perform you cardio as long as you are burning more calories than you are taking in.  If train at a lower intesity that allows you to read then you have to go longer to burn as many calories as a high intensity session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you goal is performance than you should be doing cardio exercises that stress your cardiovascular system while training the aerobic fitness of the performance specific muscles.  I suppose it could be said that if you are training for a swimming competition and you are reading while you train you probably are doing it wrong because either your pages are getting wet or you are riding an exercise bike which will have only marginal affects on you swimming ability.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are following a specific program and they say &quot;if you're reading, you're doing it wrong&quot; you are probably doing it wrong, eg. not training at a high enough intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T00:51:02.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="910" CreationDate="2011-04-01T04:37:48.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is taken from an &lt;a href=&quot;http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20080906150736/http://www.musculardevelopment.com/content/view/89/54/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;archived article&lt;/a&gt; on musculardevelopment.com (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biolayne.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the author&lt;/a&gt; is a professional bodybuilder and nutrition PhD).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There's not an ounce of truth to this.&#xA;  Creatine and glutamine have completely&#xA;  different receptors. Creatine&#xA;  transport into skeletal muscle is&#xA;  regulated by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11693194?dopt=AbstractPlus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&#xA;  Transporter&lt;/a&gt; while glutamine&#xA;  transport into skeletal muscle is&#xA;  regulated by a system known as&#xA;  &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3328779?dopt=AbstractPlus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;System Nm&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; The only thing these&#xA;  transporters have in common is that&#xA;  they are  both sodium-dependent&#xA;  transporters, meaning that they use&#xA;  differences in sodium concentrations&#xA;  across the cell membrane to drive&#xA;  Creatine into cells. Apparently&#xA;  somewhere along the line, somebody&#xA;  believed that since glutamine and&#xA;  Creatine transporters both shared that&#xA;  characteristic, they must be the same&#xA;  transporter and the myth spread from&#xA;  there. Let the confusion end here:&#xA;  they do not share the same&#xA;  transporter, and taking&#xA;  protein/glutamine with Creatine won't&#xA;  decrease Creatine uptake into muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T04:37:48.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1334" CreationDate="2011-04-01T13:34:11.823" Score="16" ViewCount="14281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have joined a charity race in 1 and a half month's time. (I have 7 weeks before the race)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My PB for 10k is 48:45.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been running on and off since then but I can still run a 26 min 5k if I push hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my goal realistic and what's the best way to achieve it? What sort of schedule do I need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-10-07T20:20:01.093" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T20:20:01.093" Title="How can I train to run a sub-45 minute 10k?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-01T15:42:00.230" Score="0" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your focus is on strength training and your only means was working out at home (Home Gym), what equipment would you purchase, at what cost and how would it provide assistance for a complete strength training program?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="295" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T18:52:10.100" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T03:39:58.417" Title="What's at your Home Gym?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2011-04-04T22:36:38.117" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1323" CreationDate="2011-04-01T17:49:50.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull up bar (the ones that sticks to the top frame of your doors) - $20-30&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push up bars - $10-20&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance Band - $10-20 or A set of dumbbells $50-$100&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T17:49:50.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1323" CreationDate="2011-04-01T18:46:58.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say: a barbell (with weights ofcourse), an (adjustable) bench and a squat rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This setup offers you a full range of possibility in strength training by allowing you to perform many of the big exercises, like squats, deadlifts and bench presses.&#xA;You can easily perform dips with your bench, maybe even pull-ups in the rack if it's high enough. With these exercises you perform a excellent full-body work out and you wouldn't really miss out on anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my opinion that if you'd have to choose, this will give you the best bang for your buck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastEditorUserId="669" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T19:00:06.707" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T19:00:06.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1323" CreationDate="2011-04-01T20:31:37.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to build a self-sufficient home gym, here are my suggestions:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-Olympic weights (around 200lbs.)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-Olympic bar&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-Bench with barbell rack&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optional:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-Adjustable weight dumbbells&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-Pull up bar&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-Stereo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A setup like this is probably the minimum you'd need if you want to be able to get a full body workout and were serious about increasing strength. The equipment I've listed allows you to perform the majority of basic strength training workouts. In addition, you likely won't outgrow it. For example, if you were to purchase resistance bands or set-weight dumbbells, eventually you'd be too strong to get any use out of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Purchasing&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I recommend looking on craigslist for people selling them locally. Just search up 'olympic' and you should get good search results. If you buy weights in store, you'll often be paying somewhere around $1 per lb. which can add up, but buying them used can save you good money. After all, metal is metal and it's unlikely any used olympic weights you come across will be in an unusable condition. This may not apply to 'home-gym' cable type set ups. All the weights I have at home are second hand (hell, the bench that I have I grabbed off the side of the road as someone was dumping it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T20:31:37.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1232" CreationDate="2011-04-01T22:03:44.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how you would research this :) You would have to have a group train, for example, only pecs (and no lats) for a long enough time to observe this phenomenon; the duration is problematic, not to mention convincing someone to do it. Then I feel it's also not really 100% ethical since as a researcher in the field you would probably be aware that intentionally creating a strength imbalance increases the risk of injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as less scientific evidence, I've seen a lot of talk about this problem of having much stronger pecs than lats for example, so I feel that this invalidates the theory, since it describes a completely opposite situation (that of unwanted strength imbalance) as being very prevalent. I am presenting this as anecdotal, but I am fairly certain that there is some medical and scientific work to support this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I think that what applies at their level (Arnold etc.) is not necessarily applicable for the general population. When you are Arnold's size (I'm of course thinking of him during the years in which he was competing), there are probably tons of little details like this that you can observe, because you've already grown so much and are now trying to push your body even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I feel like this doesn't really answer your question and I'm sorry for that, but I guess that what I am trying to say it that I'm not sure if it can be answered :) I hope at the very least that my answer can be a good start for more discussion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T22:03:44.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1323" CreationDate="2011-04-01T23:43:40.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For home gyms, you will be limited by the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Square footage&lt;/strong&gt; - you need space for all this stuff&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ceiling height&lt;/strong&gt; - ceiling height can be a big deal if you want to purchase machines/stations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Range of your lifting ability&lt;/strong&gt; - if your roommate lifts considerably less or higher weights than you, you're going to find yourself with a lot more dumbbells. You might also want to consider flooring pads in case you are one of those people that like to drop weights on the ground. Don't want to wreck your floor. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal preference&lt;/strong&gt; - What exercises would you do at a gym (i.e. Do you like to bench press or do you do push-ups for your chest?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cost&lt;/strong&gt; - adjustable dumbbells can get pricey (esp. if you lift heavier weights), if your lifting range is narrower, you can get away with fixed dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We only have an 800 sq. foot apartment so we've got:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002KN77LA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adjustable dumbbells&lt;/a&gt;: to work legs, arms, back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002QCIS6I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stamina 1700 Power Tower&lt;/a&gt;: to work arms, back, abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0007A5OQS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SPRI&lt;/a&gt; resistance bands: to work inner thigh muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yoga mat for stretching (you don't want to stink up your carpet) and well for, yoga!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*We're not heavy lifters. We do push-ups, planks, and run outside as well. If we had room, we'd have an incline bench and stability ball (right now my stability ball is deflated). We don't so I just use a chair (that's straight-back) as a step, for bulgarian split squats, and for arm/back work-outs. I do tricep dips using the bathtub.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T23:49:40.680" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T23:49:40.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1322" CreationDate="2011-04-02T00:05:27.207" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you are only running 10-15 miles/week and your race is in 7 weeks with a goal of sub 45 min, it's going to be tough (unless you are an incredible athlete). Had you been following the training runs from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/137.shtml&quot;&gt;Cool Running's 10K schedule&lt;/a&gt;, you would have ran 28+ miles this week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To work on your speed you need to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/102.shtml&quot;&gt;speed drills&lt;/a&gt; and you need to up your running. It's not really a realistic goal... HOWEVER...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cool Running's training schedule is somewhat conservative. That schedule is for a 40 min - 48 min finish time and you said you can already do it in 48:45 min. You can try out the training run for the week you should be on and see how you feel. If you feel good, keep going with the schedule!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2011-04-02T01:28:02.167" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T01:28:02.167" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1305" CreationDate="2011-04-02T02:37:36.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's most important what you DON'T eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than trying to re-enact caveman or hunter-gatherer dietary practice from whatever region and time period you can imagine to be most important, stick to this rule of thumb: avoid foods that are not available without processing and machinery, OR are plausibly linked to modern &quot;diseases of civilization.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I keep fructose, seeds and seed oils to a small fraction of my diet. Other than that, I eat whatever tastes good to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good resource: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T02:37:36.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2011-04-02T07:49:45.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If done properly, ATG (all the way to the ground) squats are excellent. The problem is that the majority of people don't know proper squat form, so I wouldn't recommend this until a person has learned good form. Here are some resources that have really helped me a lot:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part 1 of a 4 part series on squatting - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkF9QD7oCIA%5d&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;So You Think You Can Squat&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one great way to increase strength safely is to do a box-squat, which is essentially what your trainer is doing. If you are using a bench for box squats, this is generally slightly above parallel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-12T14:01:21.940" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T14:01:21.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1341" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1370" CreationDate="2011-04-02T08:43:22.033" Score="63" ViewCount="15647" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you tell me what are all the cases when muscle would be cannibalized? I've heard the two following cases will cannibalize muscle, but I still don't quite understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Aerobic Exercise&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arnold Schwarzenegger says in &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0684857219&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The New Ecyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too much aerobics also encourages the&#xA;body to metabolize lean body mass --&#xA;muscle -- to create additional energy.&#xA;The body can actually cannibalize&#xA;muscle tissue, especially white fiber&#xA;&amp;quot;power&amp;quot; muscle in order to fuel&#xA;aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would the human body evolve to cannibalize muscle during cardio? Why not just take energy from the food in your stomach (granted that you do have leftover food)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Skinny People&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi-jnsG0Z7Y&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scooby from Youtube&lt;/a&gt; says that the body's energy stores are three tiered - Food &amp;gt; Fat &amp;gt; Muscle. If energy can not be obtained from one tier, the body seeks the next tier. Since muscle is the last tier, and virtually everyone has some amount of fat, how is the muscle tier ever reached? I suppose the muscle tier will be reached for anorexic people, how about for everyone else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;High Intensity Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jamez said this in an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek8.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on optimal rep range&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember the muscle-building process&#xA;described in Grow Baby, Grow?&#xA;Microtrauma stimulates increased&#xA;protein synthesis, and muscle growth&#xA;is positively affected by a number of&#xA;hormones that are released after&#xA;weight training. High volume, multiple&#xA;set programs cause more microtrauma&#xA;and greater hormone secretion-so the&#xA;end result is more muscle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This probably explains why I was&#xA;unimpressed with HIT. Although HIT&#xA;uses high reps, you only perform one&#xA;&amp;quot;hardcore&amp;quot; set per bodypart. I&#xA;actually lost muscle and began to feel&#xA;like I didn't even train!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His train of logic isn't so clear. What about HIT causes muscle loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T21:47:48.043" Title="When will muscle be cannibalized?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="23" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1322" CreationDate="2011-04-02T09:17:18.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never managed to get below 46 minutes for a 10k because there is actually quite a big fitness and training gap with just those two minutes. As Rhea points out it's down to miles per week and then raising the tempo from 4:36 km/minute to 4:30 (I think) or using another strategy such as increasing the tempo post 5k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing the weekly mileage will make shaving a few seconds per minute off easier, however the speed training is important for the races as you're rarely able to keep one consistent pace with a lot of runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've linked it a few times on the site but the Runner's World Smart Coach can really help, and also doing the speed training on a treadmill. I realise that as someone who hasn't done a sub 45 minute race my advice is really just anecdotal, however I believe enough miles per week turns it into a breeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T09:17:18.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1258" CreationDate="2011-04-02T11:34:23.210" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stitches can happen for a lot of reasons: breathing issues, eating too recently, dehydration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get rid of them, focus on exhaling as you step with the foot on the opposite side of the stitch. I've gotten stitches hundreds of times, and this has never failed to fix them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T11:34:23.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1345" CreationDate="2011-04-02T13:57:48.543" Score="1" ViewCount="961" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Wikipedia article for complete protein&lt;/a&gt; has the following table that lists the optimal profile of the essential amino acids:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essential Amino Acid |  mg/g of Protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tryptophan | 7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Threonine | 27&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isoleucine | 25  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leucine | 55&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lysine | 51  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Methionine+Cystine | 25  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phenylalanine+Tyrosine | 47  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Valine | 32  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Histidine | 18&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What foods come closest to matching the distribution of amino acids in the table?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T16:08:57.247" Title="Foods with optimal amino acid profile?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T15:53:50.547" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1344" CreationDate="2011-04-02T16:08:57.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One measure is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCAAS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS)&lt;/a&gt;, which ranks the following with 1 being the maximum score and 0 the minimum:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.00  casein (milk protein)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1.00  egg white&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1.00  soy protein&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1.00  whey (milk protein)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.92  beef&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.91  soybeans&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.78  chickpeas&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.76  fruits&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.73  vegetables&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.70  legumes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.59  cereals and derivatives&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  0.42  whole wheat&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T16:08:57.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1351" CreationDate="2011-04-02T16:36:54.903" Score="24" ViewCount="12480" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using DailyBurn.com as my guide/tracking system for losing weight and I always seem to hit my recommended carb limit for the day really easily. I really like eating rice, pasta and bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put this into perspective, I'm hitting my carb limit whilst still at half of the limit for calories, fat, etc. I don't really want to give up eating things I like that aren't at all unhealthy (like rice and pasta) in order to lose weight. Am I going to have problems losing weight if I carry on eating like this? i.e. eating low calorie, low fat food that is high in carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="633" LastEditorUserId="347" LastEditDate="2011-04-12T15:17:30.263" LastActivityDate="2018-11-21T03:18:48.170" Title="Is it necessary to eat fewer carbs in order to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2011-04-02T16:50:48.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is wikipedia's answer, which I've been led to believe are the reason for the sensation both during and after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endorphines&lt;/a&gt; ... resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce analgesia and a feeling of well-being.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A publicized effect of endorphin production is the so-called &quot;runner's high&quot;, which is said to occur when strenuous exercise takes a person over a threshold that activates endorphin production. Endorphins are released during long, continuous workouts, when the level of intensity is between moderate and high, and breathing is difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes on to give the same quote that adamnuttall's answer has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2011-11-14T19:39:56.530" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T19:39:56.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2011-04-02T19:30:32.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My handful of experiences of &quot;runner high&quot; bear a considerable resemblance to my handful of experiences hitting &quot;flow state&quot; doing martial arts sparring or practice. Others have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29#Religion_and_spirituality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compared &quot;flow state&quot; with a zen trance&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are other route to a similar experience or state of being, which is not to say that they are any easier to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T19:30:32.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2011-04-02T19:47:58.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran long-distance track in high school (I'm currently in college) and still run to this day. However, it was during season when I trained a lot that I experienced this sensation - I know it's a release of endorphins which give you the Euphoria, but I also noticed that after running I was in a great mood as well. The endorphins last quite a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I could reach the Runners High very quickly when I was in really good shape (generally after my first half of a mile). I think it differs with everybody but I do remember it becoming more common as I ran more often. Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T19:47:58.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1347" CreationDate="2011-04-02T19:56:39.897" Score="14" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Short answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is NOT necessary to eat less carbs to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Scientific answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you take in. The body can take calories from the following food sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also break down body fat and muscle when there's no more food in your gastrointestinal tract. The rate at which this occurs is not as simple as counting grams of food, so I won't go there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body uses those calories for maintaining these functions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5% - building muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20% - exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25% - brain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50% - basal metabolism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the sum of all the grams of food you eat multiplied by their respective caloric value is less than the calories you expend, weight loss will occur. Take this oversimplified example of a typical day: I eat 50g of carbs and 10g of fat. And lets say I sat in some scientific chamber to measure heat generated by calorie usage and determined that I expended 300 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;CaloriesIn = 50 * 4 + 10 * 9 = 290&#xA;CaloriesExpended = 300&#xA;Net = 290 - 300 = -10&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where can the body get this 10 calories it needs to survive? My food has been depleted, so I'll go into my blubber to burn those 10 calories. And there you have it: body fat is lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's say you wanted to go on a low carb diet. Since I'm not eating my pasta and bread, I'm going to satiate my stomach with extra fat. In this example, I will eat 30g of fat and 5g of carbs. I will also carry out my day as usual by expending 300 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;CaloriesIn = 5 * 4 + 30 * 9 = 290&#xA;CaloresExpended = 300&#xA;Net = 290 - 300 = -10&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still have a negative net value, meaning I will lose weight. You see, no matter if it's a low or high carb diet, it is still possible to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Practical answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do we hear about these low carb diets like the Atkins diet? It's just a matter of preference. People on low carb diets may not like eating bread, pasta, and rice. They much rather eat fats like cake, fatty meats, and ice-cream. All they've done is shifted the caloric intake from carbs to fats. There's no magic here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason for sticking to low carb diets is because fat is very hard to burn. If fat from your food is not burned, it will be deposited as body fat. During cardiovascular exercise, the body more readily burns carbs. It burns very little food fat. As the cardio progresses, the ratio energy consumption shifts towards fat. After an hour of steady cardio, the ratio of carb to fat usage can be as much as 50:50. Thus, people who don't have time to do hours of cardio should eat less carbs. Well, you should eat less of everything in general, but the proportion of carbs should be lower. This way, the body will be forced to burn the food fat as soon as whatever little amount of carbs you have is depleted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-04-02T20:19:24.090" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1360" CreationDate="2011-04-03T00:05:10.603" Score="6" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been playing basketball a lot lately and I'd like to improve my vertical.  Currently it's not terribly bad, but I'm guessing below the average competitive basketball player (somewhere around 30-32&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what are the best things I can do to increase my vertical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="691" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-04-03T17:17:15.327" LastActivityDate="2011-04-03T17:17:15.327" Title="How can I improve my vertical?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;vertical-jump&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1353" CreationDate="2011-04-03T02:33:16.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plyometrics&lt;/strong&gt; and strength training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that is a very general answer but I'm not one for saying &quot;Do such and such an exercise and you'll get better&quot; because a truly effective training plan has a lot of nuances that get lost in these short form answers.  I can recommend a great book that'll help: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0880118466&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jumping into Plyometrics&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastActivityDate="2011-04-03T02:33:16.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1232" CreationDate="2011-04-03T02:53:22.753" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the best of my knowledge this statement is not true.  I can think of several possible explanations for why this is such a prevalent &quot;docterine&quot; and espoused by such successful body builders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's not a scientific statement and thus doesn't mean &quot;grow&quot; literally.  In body building size is only one factor.  Proportion and shape are also very important.  While working on your chest, your pecs will grow, however if they grow in mass not in proportion to your back they will not appear to grow, instead they will start to pull your shoulder forward as the imbalance progresses and they increase in size while occupying the same amount of lateral space.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In coaching, you generally don't give your athletes &quot;facts&quot;, you give them &quot;cues&quot;.  The difference is that Facts are true but may not communicate to the athlete effectively what they should be focusing on, and &quot;cues&quot; may or may not be true but they are designed to invoke the athlete to execute the desired behavior/performance.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This may be something they learned from experience which doesn't mean it's invalid but it's far from being a scientific truth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say that if an extreme imbalance develops that very well may trigger physiological mechanisms that inhibit growth, but I think that would have to be extreme.  I think that in the context that this statement is used regularly it is more about coaching/encouraging balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-11-09T18:40:31.873" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T18:40:31.873" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1167" CreationDate="2011-04-03T03:10:04.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can over train your cardiovascular system.  Endurance running and weight lifting are very different activities that stress your body's systems differently but they both rely on the Overload Principle.  Basically all the benefit you get from your training happens during rest, when your body is recovering from the overload.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you train endurance you may not be tearing your lung tissue like you do your muscle tissue in weight training but you still overload your cardiovascular system and your endocrine system and if you don't give them the appropriate recovery time those systems will begin to operate less efficiently and you're performances will begin to decline.  This is not to mention the over training affects on other systems of your body, pulled muscles, stress fractures... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, regardless of the type of training a well planned program that balances overload and recovery is important to gain maximum improvement and reduce injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastActivityDate="2011-04-03T03:10:04.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1389" CreationDate="2011-04-03T04:31:07.433" Score="6" ViewCount="717" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that resting heart rate is talked about as an important indicator of your fitness level.  But, how do I know what a good resting heart rate is for me?  Is RHR consistent enough across similar body types/ages/fitness levels etc. to make decent comparisons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="691" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-01T04:39:30.750" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T04:39:30.750" Title="How do I know what a good resting heart rate is?" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1167" CreationDate="2011-04-03T05:13:19.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phenomenon of overtraining in distance racing is similar to the problem in weightlifting. Your body needs time to recover, you can reach a plateau sooner if you don't rest, and you get diminishing returns if you don't plan well. That's just with regards to improving speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you training is fine for your racing results, it can be overtraining in the sense that you are increasing the risk of death and heart disease... those hours of cardio are a real strain on your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/p-nu/201103/cardio-may-cause-heart-disease-part-i&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Cardio&quot; may cause heart disease - Part I&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://radiology.rsna.org/content/251/1/50.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prevalence, Pattern, and Prognostic Relevance in Marathon Runners&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/15/1903.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Running: the risk of coronary events&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:19:59.707" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:19:59.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1367" CreationDate="2011-04-03T11:32:35.820" Score="4" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using the recumbent bike is a lot more comfortable but it also feels a lot more &quot;lazy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="633" LastActivityDate="2013-02-18T09:10:00.910" Title="Is there any benefit to using a recumbent over a stationary bike or vice versa?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1353" CreationDate="2011-04-03T17:16:52.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be interested in a chapter of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/030746363X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Four Hour Body&lt;/a&gt; &quot;Hacking The NFL Combine.&quot; It covers a training session with Joe DeFranco in which the author improves his vertical jump by 3 inches with some technique improvements. The focus is on an isolated jump, per the combine, but perhaps with some practice to drive these techniques into muscle memory you could work them into real-world usage i.e. basketball. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder Drive&lt;/strong&gt; - The speed of your vertical descent into a half-squat will correlate into the maximum height. Start a jump with arms overhead like a diver and throw them down as fast as you can, recoiling with the same speed. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Extended Arm&lt;/strong&gt; - Don't pull the extended arm at the apex of the jump.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat Stance&lt;/strong&gt; - Keep the initial stance narrow, with feet just inside the hips, back flat, and eyes on the target.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hip Flexor Tightness&lt;/strong&gt; - Static stretching of the hip flexors can tire them so they don't inhibit maximal leg extension. For best effect, do them right before the jump; of course this isn't possible during a basketball game, but perhaps this sort of stretching before the game will still be beneficial.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-03T17:16:52.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1359" CreationDate="2011-04-03T19:08:13.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll likely work your core slightly more on an upright bike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upright bikes require more core engagement to support your upper body. I qualified it with &quot;likely&quot; and &quot;slightly&quot; because that level of engagement is going to depend on how you personally ride the bike. If you are leaning heavily on your arms you are going to be taking more strain off your core for support as opposed to someone who is riding in a more neutral position. The seat in a recumbent bike provides the core support isolating the legs from the upper body more completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T01:49:27.370" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T01:49:27.370" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1359" CreationDate="2011-04-04T01:30:10.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll find that they let you utilize two different groups of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/234050-what-muscle-groups-do-recumbent-bikes-use/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/234050-what-muscle-groups-do-recumbent-bikes-use/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;may help...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="695" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T01:30:10.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1359" CreationDate="2011-04-04T03:33:28.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary advantage is you won't be putting any pressure on your genitals, causing them to go numb. This will depend on how upright you're sitting and on the seat as well, but having had my crotch go numb once, followed by a pins and needles feeling as blood got back in I just don't use an upright bike anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T03:33:28.337" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1323" CreationDate="2011-04-04T03:39:58.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your budget allows it, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hoistfitness.com/consumer/equipment/pts-1000.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hoist PTS 1000 dual-action smith cage&lt;/a&gt; is a versatile and safe way to do most free weight exercises. It takes Olympic size plates and you'll want a bench to go with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the Bowflex 5.1 bench. Also, a set of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bowflexselecttech.com/bowflex_selecttech_us/products.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bowflex SelectTech 1090 dumbbells&lt;/a&gt; (the ones that go from 10 to 90 lbs) are a nice way to add dumbbells without taking up a lot of space although they are a little more ackward to use the regular dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some decent quality, but slightly less expensive equipment, check out the Body Solid line (i.e., power rack and free weight equipment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="697" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T03:39:58.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1371" CreationDate="2011-04-04T07:44:02.400" Score="9" ViewCount="30041" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was used to doing running and cycling but now I want to work more on my abdominal muscles. I had read from some sources that a rowing machine is good for that. From other sources I have read otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are rowing machines such as Concept2 useful for abdominal muscles ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oL2iO.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="698" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-20T23:22:17.317" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T17:52:59.180" Title="Using a rowing machine for abdominal muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1341" CreationDate="2011-04-04T08:13:30.473" Score="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To make a long story short&lt;/strong&gt;: you will start burning muscle when you run out of carbs and dietary protein. Also, your body will only keep as much protein in the muscles as it has to: if you're not training in a way that requires a muscle to maintain it's size, the body will leech out some of its protein and use it for something else. If you want more details, here's the long story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background.&lt;/strong&gt; To understand why protein is drawn from the muscles to be used as energy, you have to understand a little bit about how energy is made in the body (metabolism). In order for fat or carbs (or protein, as a last resort) to be fully converted into energy (i.e. burned), they have to go through a process called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle&quot;&gt;citric acid cycle&lt;/a&gt;, which releases energy through a number of reactions. This is the predominant energy system at rest and during prolonged aerobic exercise, and the primary source of energy in these states is usually fat. But here's the thing: one of the intermediary products of the citric acid cycle (oxaloacetate) requires a derivative from either carbs or protein. Because of this, to metabolize fat, you have to break down at least some carbs or protein. A common summary of this is &quot;at burns in a flame of carbohydrates.&quot; Your body prefers to burn carbs over protein, but it has limited carb stores. If it runs out of those, it will start breaking down protein (into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone_bodies&quot;&gt;ketone bodies&lt;/a&gt;) to be used as fuel. This is also important for fueling your brain once you run out of carbs, since it can only use carbs or ketone bodies as fuel (not fat). It kind of makes sense that your body would evolve the ability to use protein for energy as a back-up energy source considering there's so much of it in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic Exercise.&lt;/strong&gt; Prolonged cardio can deplete your carb stores (colloquially known as &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit_the_wall&quot;&gt;hitting the wall&lt;/a&gt;&quot;). For example, if you do a marathon without carb-loading in the days before the event and without consuming carbs during the race, you will run out of carbs in your body and start burning protein. According to the &quot;hitting the wall&quot; article on Wikipedia, carb stores can come depleted in under two hours of moderate exercise. The harder you work out, the faster you'll deplete your stores, because as you work out harder, you begin to burn a larger proportion of your energy as carbs instead of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes sense that you would burn protein that you recently ate first, but even if that's all you burn, now you don't have that protein around to help you &lt;em&gt;build&lt;/em&gt; muscle (not to mention all the other stuff in your body). Also, if you don't have an immediate use for protein, your body converts it irreversibly into fat (i.e. your body can't convert fat back into protein), so depending on when you ate, you may not have as much protein available as you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food &gt; Fat &gt; Muscle.&lt;/strong&gt; This is hard to discuss in detail, because it's an oversimplification, but I can at least comment on the spirit of it. During starvation (or dieting) muscle is preserved as much as possible, but based on the info above you can see how this hierarchy wouldn't always apply; there are some things protein can be used for that fat can't be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High Intensity Training.&lt;/strong&gt; I'm not very familiar with weight training HIT, but I get the author's logic. As I understand it, HIT is when you do one high-rep set to exhaustion (per muscle group). However, according to the author, doing &lt;em&gt;multiple&lt;/em&gt; sets is more beneficial for muscle growth. I assume this is because HIT doesn't overload the muscles in the right way (there are a few different ways to overload the muscles that all correspond to different goals. Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot;&gt;ACSM position stand&lt;/a&gt; if you want to know more). Your body doesn't waste resources making a muscle any bigger than it has to be. If you don't constantly require your muscle to be big/strong (by doing the right type of training), your body will take unneeded protein from the muscle and use it for something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T08:13:30.473" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1369" CreationDate="2011-04-04T08:57:45.503" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you row, you do trunk and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Hip.html&quot;&gt;hip flexion&lt;/a&gt;, which are the ab-targeting motions of a sit-up; however, the resistance is in the opposite direction as in a sit-up. This means that you'll actually target the low back, glute muscles, and hamstrings (these muscles do hip and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Spine.html&quot;&gt;trunk extension&lt;/a&gt;--scroll down to below the &quot;Thoracic, Lumbar&quot; header for images). That said, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19204587&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt;, you do use your abs (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/RectusAbdominis.html&quot;&gt;rectus abdominus&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Obliques.html&quot;&gt;obliques&lt;/a&gt;) at the very end of your rowing motion to slow down the trunk extension movement, so you do probably use them a little bit more than on other cardio machines. I wouldn't use it as an excuse to skip out of crunches though :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T08:57:45.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1380" CreationDate="2011-04-04T12:04:50.887" Score="12" ViewCount="1372" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I run barefoot on asphalt concrete to the nearest park (1km) without damaging my feet? I'd do this every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running 2-5km three times a week for a year running barefeet, except for a few months in winter where I used shoes and only ran once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditorDisplayName="user26" LastEditDate="2012-07-02T16:06:21.173" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T18:25:19.880" Title="Can I run barefeet on asphalt?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1376" CreationDate="2011-04-04T14:43:02.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing about barefoot running on asphalt is that it provides no damping whatsoever, so your knees will be brutalized a bit more. To my best recollection they advise to run on a 'softer' underground when you go barefoot.&#xA;Apart from that, asphalt will get really hot, really fast, to the point where you might as well be walking on coals ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, you could go running barefoot on asphalt, but I'd say: walk to the park and start running on the grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T14:43:02.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1376" CreationDate="2011-04-04T14:52:04.887" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously any environmental hazards like glass and debris could cause a problem but I'm assuming you are asking about the impact on your foot and leg and lack of cushioning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many barefoot runners run on concrete and asphalt, including during road races.  All of the benefits of barefoot running hold true on hard surfaces.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0103/mw.htm&quot;&gt;This articles&lt;/a&gt; points out that barefoot running (as opposed to wearing shoes) in fact reduces the risk of injury when running on hard surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; The &quot;Yes&quot; answer is dependent on using proper running technique.  I thought this went without saying because the same goes for shoe'd running.  When you have poor form you are more likely to get injured.  &quot;What is proper technique?&quot; is a whole new question of it's own but generally speaking barefoot running with fore-foot strikes are going to transmit less impact into the joints and lower leg than heel-strike running with shoes on.  Another important note is that if you are a new barefoot runner, you need to ease into it, just like you would any other new activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditDate="2011-04-05T13:37:10.757" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T13:37:10.757" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1305" CreationDate="2011-04-04T15:27:58.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Paleo is a poor term choice, because the point is to eat healthy, not to replicate a lifestyle.  The goal is to eat what we have evolved to eat during millions of years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grains were only widely available in our diet when we started agriculture, a few thousand years ago.  Before that, they couldn't be a material part of the diet.  In fact, many modern grains probably didn't exist in a calory dense format until recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who follow a paleo diet are warry of nuts and chicken fat (therefore skin) because of the high omega-6 content.  Our modern diet is much richer in omega-6 than what we used to eat for millions of years before agriculture started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T15:27:58.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1305" CreationDate="2011-04-04T15:47:13.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the more accessible (and less dogmatic) approaches can be read here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There are many varieties of the Evolutionary Eating idea, so a strict definition of &quot;this is PALEO&quot; will be hard to come by.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2011/3/30/paleo-20-a-diet-manifesto.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2011/3/30/paleo-20-a-diet-manifesto.html&lt;/a&gt; is a good view as to what the Paleo movement may be evolving into....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pasting an answer here that I wrote for Paleohacks.com in regards to which BOOK was a good first introduction to Paleo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really depends on the learning style and history of the targeted reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They are just looking a solid approach in an entertaining (tough-loveish) format?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Robb Wolf's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982565844&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They have a science-minded bent, but just want the overview?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Gary Taubes' &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307272702&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They have a science-minded bent, but want all the details?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Gary Taubes' &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1400033462&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They need the friendly, easy access version.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Mark Sisson's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982207700&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I started with Sisson's work and website, and then dove into GCBC and loved it... but I'm a huge science geek. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would give Sisson to my  ( not steeped in science ) relatives, and  I would would set the rest up with Taubes' &lt;em&gt;Why We Get Fat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure to tell them that this is the first stepping stone, and the start of a great journey.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="695" LastEditorUserId="695" LastEditDate="2011-04-05T13:49:22.450" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T13:49:22.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1369" CreationDate="2011-04-04T17:43:21.240" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Funnily, I stumbled over this explanation &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/us/training/muscles_used.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;on the Concept2.com site&lt;/a&gt;, which they retrieved from &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Citation/1988/04000/SPORTS_PERFORMANCE_SERIES__Kinesiology_of_the.1.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kinesiology of the rowing stroke&lt;/em&gt; by Thomas Mazzone&lt;/a&gt;. As you can see and Barbie also explained, the only moment you use your abs, is during the recovery. The rest of the time you use a whole lot of muscles, but mostly the extensors of your back and legs and the flexors of your arms. &lt;strong&gt;So no, a rowing machine is a poor way abdominal exercise.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Catch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1T8SS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Drive, emphasis on the legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xn6ax.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Drive, emphasis on the body swing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IX2yu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Drive, emphasis on the arm pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v2xoy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Finish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RE0k7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JTunH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more explanations, read the Concept2 page or the original article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T17:43:21.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1388" CreationDate="2011-04-04T18:37:11.973" Score="5" ViewCount="2229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to gain some more weight before the summer. How would I achieve that the most effectively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current diet is something along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7:00 AM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoghurt and muesli&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein shake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10:00 AM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 slices of brown bread with either:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peanutbutter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roast beef&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;01:00 PM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 - 4 slices of brown bread with either:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roast beef&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coconut&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cheese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;04:00 PM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 slices of brown bread with either:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peanutbutter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roast beef&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;06:00 PM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;08:00 PM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein shake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes a banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I work out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday/Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="704" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T05:30:36.967" Title="Gaining weight - carbohydrate and proteins?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1387" CreationDate="2011-04-04T18:44:35.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining weight is as easy as eating more or exercising less. All you need to do is bring the caloric consumption above your caloric expenditure. It doesn't matter if you eat more carbs, protein, or fats. That being said, fats have the highest caloric density.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to lose weight is to basically eat your normal diet, but less. I would suggest, if you're serious about gaining weight, to eat the same things you are eating, but increase the quantity. The more you eat, the more you gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T18:44:35.347" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1357" CreationDate="2011-04-04T19:41:57.597" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ultimately a &quot;good&quot; resting heart rate must be determined by you and your doctor/physiologist/licensed personal trainer. Many things go into determining what is a &quot;good&quot; resting heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a good rule of thumb is the lower the better. As you increase your aerobic fitness, your heart rate will usually drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A personal example: At the peak of my personal fitness (wrestling and running the 400m dash in high school), my resting heart rate was 45-48 BPM. At the low point of my personal fitness (about 6 months ago), it was 85-ish BPM. January 1st it was 75-ish. Today it's about 65.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have the time to get all hooked up with all of the tests that coaches/trainers use to determine optimal heart rate zones, so I'm aiming for maximum fitness and the reduction in resting heart rate has been a byproduct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T19:41:57.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1433" CreationDate="2011-04-04T20:24:53.473" Score="7" ViewCount="3226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been strength training 4 days a week for about 8 months. My goal is to increase mass. The usual recommendation for this is to do three sets of 8-12 repetitions for most exercises, and that's what I'm doing. I try to pick a weight so that I reach failure within 8-12 repetitions for each of the three sets, and if I can do 12-10 on each set, I increase the weight. I made great progress in both strength and mass when I was starting out, but lately I seem to be plateauing: on each workout I can only struggle out 0-2 more reps per set than the workout before, and it takes me several workouts to increase weights now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is if continuing like this will efficiently build muscle mass, even though I seem to make very modest strength gains, or do I need to change my workout?&lt;/strong&gt; (It of course sounds obvious that you need to get stronger in order to encourage the body to build muscle, but maybe it is enough for muscle growth to continually challenge the muscles, and not necessarily get much stronger?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some possibilities for change I am considering: changing my routine (I've been doing the same exercises for many months now, mostly isolation exercises); do sets of 6-8 repetitions instead so that I can increase in strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user677" LastEditorDisplayName="user677" LastEditDate="2014-07-21T18:03:46.880" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T18:03:46.880" Title="Need to gain strength to gain muscle?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1390" CreationDate="2011-04-04T23:24:11.697" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always be changing up your routine at least every couple months. Muscles tend to adapt to the training that you give it, so you must do what's called 'muscle confusion' by using different exercises in different ways. This can mean changing from flat bench press to incline bench press, increasing/decreasing rep range or number of sets, or even trying things like super sets or drop sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've probably been experiencing some really great progress partially due to what we call 'noob gains'. When people first start working out, they'll be able to gain strength and mass at a much higher rate than after a couple months or years. Going forward, your progress may be slower than what you're used to, but keep at it - you're still improving as long as you're trying to increase strength. And when you hit plateau's, just switch things up. The key is to be increasing strength - lifting heavy (with good form, of course) is a sure way to pack on the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I noticed you mentioned you've been concentrating on isolation - don't do this. If you really want to increase mass, you should be doing compound workouts. Here are some exercise suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press w/ barbell  (flat, incline, decline)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over row w/ barbell  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-04-07T13:32:16.477" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T13:32:16.477" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1387" CreationDate="2011-04-04T23:36:08.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at your diet, you are probably not taking in that many calories. Most of what you're eating is pretty lean, and it doesn't seem like you're eating that much of it. If you want to gain weight, it's simple - eat more! That's it! Here's a look at a diet I used to gain 25 lbs. in 3 months:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7am - 6 whole eggs, 1 cup of oats, banana, protein shake, multi-vitamin  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10am - Breakfast burrito w/ 2 eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, cheese, hashbrown, ketchup wrapped in a tortilla  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12pm - Lunch (whatever leftovers I had) ex. - Chicken breast w/ brown rice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3pm - Yogurt and peanuts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6pm - Protein shake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9pm - Dinner - ex. Steak and a salad (spinach with olive oil and balsamic vinegar)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-04-04T23:36:08.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1409" CreationDate="2011-04-05T03:09:07.100" Score="8" ViewCount="2113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that a lot of runners stock up on carbs before a run. What is the benefit of this? I've heard some people say that you'll &quot;hit a wall&quot; if you don't take in some carbs before running. I'm assuming this is like hitting a plateau in your running ability where you can't progress any further. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm on a ketogenic diet (low/no-carb) normally, but it seems I definitely perform better when I have some carbs before a run. Why do carbs make such a big difference during exercise while ketone bodies are fine for fuel all the rest of the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-04-05T16:12:49.297" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T05:16:11.047" Title="Carbohydrates prior to running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1415" CreationDate="2011-04-05T03:13:54.727" Score="12" ViewCount="11274" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the best form to get carbohydrates in prior to running, and how much should one take in, and how long before the workout? I know I had an easier time running when I had some breaded and fried chicken (not sure how many carbs in the breading) one day before a run, but I had some chocolate before my run today (8g carbs) and it didn't help nearly as much. Is it the amount of carbs, or is it the type of carbs, or possibly a combination of both? I'm currently doing interval running during which I burn approximately ~1000 calories (+/- 150 depending on the day and workout).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been on a low-carb diet, and I'm comfortable with breaking that if I need to in order to have energy for running, I just don't want to overdo it and take in more than is required for energy for my run, since I still have some weight to lose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T04:42:48.383" Title="How many carbs before a run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1393" CreationDate="2011-04-05T05:34:38.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To put it simply, carbs are going to act as your fuel. Loading up on carbs prior to a run is like filling up your gas tank before driving a long distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T05:34:38.207" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1403" CreationDate="2011-04-05T10:05:01.293" Score="6" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last weekend, I ran a 13K competition and repeated an old mistake, starting out too fast and getting hit with the hammer after 5km, making the last 8km very slow and painful. At the time, I felt like I was running easily enough at 12km/h, but got a big hit after the first round (it was pretty hot too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine suggested switching to the Negative Split method, because it also gives your body time to 'warm up' as it were and because its psychologically easier to speed up at the end and 'catch' people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you calculate what pace to use at your negative split though? And do you split the race in two or in three?  Any pointers on this negative split method would be highly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYi, I'm 37 and currently running between 11km/h and 11.5km/h depending on distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="344" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T13:43:35.287" Title="Best way of doing a Negative Split" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1417" CreationDate="2011-04-05T12:14:02.293" Score="2" ViewCount="549" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started Spinning on a regular basis (once a week). However I seem to become very dehydrated afterwards and this causes me to have a very bad headache for most of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried drinking water the night before, and in the morning before the class, however this doesn't seem to help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest something I can eat/drink beforehand to try and prevent this from happening in the future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="711" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T04:50:52.073" Title="Pre-spinning suggestions" Tags="&lt;dehydration&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1390" CreationDate="2011-04-05T13:20:44.203" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Nick mentioned, there are a couple of changes to suggest.  Switch up your workout, with a focus on compound lifts.  Stick with a tried and true workout if you don't feel comfortable making your own.  I suggest Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest lowering your reps to 5.  Five seems achieve the maximum effect for training (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;From the starting strength wiki&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bBtRl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Repetitions&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="661" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T13:20:44.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1398" CreationDate="2011-04-05T13:26:37.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes do negative splits for my workouts. However I don't do the entire distance in one go. We might do something like 4 x 800m, or 1600m/1200/800/400 or 400/800/1200/800/400 with 1:30 to 2:00 rests. With the varying distances, we'd average the lap time and try to beat that pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one I did was 1600, 1200, 800 and 400. My pace for the first 1600 was a good minute slower &lt;em&gt;per 400m&lt;/em&gt; than my 400m. Which is about 1.7 times slower. To get a negative split is easy, just increase your pace for some portion of the next distance then fall back to your old pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say you can split your 13km into whatever you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastEditorUserId="284" LastEditDate="2011-04-05T13:43:35.287" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T13:43:35.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1398" CreationDate="2011-04-05T13:27:12.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are having a problem with pacing I'd break your splits down to 1K if possible.  Your exact strategy from there is going to depend on what your limiting factor is.  Lactic acid build-up? Winded? Psychological...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend that you start out aiming for even splits to your goal and just give the last 1K all you have.  From there you will probably get a better idea what a realistic goal time is and you can play around with loading different parts of the race for optimal physiological and psychological results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T13:27:12.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1405" CreationDate="2011-04-05T18:15:01.890" Score="4" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got my new Whey/Caseine/Egg protein supplement which also contains 5000 mg Taurine per 100gram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to take this supplement on a daily basis (as breakfast with some milk and cereals)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know energy drinks contains lower volumes (like 1000-2000mg). Is Taurine any bad for your health? I can only find positive features ;) (like it's good for your heart, eyes, skin, muscles, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="714" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T18:21:48.713" Title="5000mg Taurine bad?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2011-04-05T18:21:48.713" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 2003 study by the European Food Safety Authority found no adverse effects for up to 1,000 mg of taurine per kilogram of body weight per day. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1211902328128.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1211902328128.htm&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/612/35&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/612/35&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I'm assuming you weight more than 5kg (11 lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T18:21:48.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1393" CreationDate="2011-04-05T19:37:57.920" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Athletes carbo load in order to avoid going into glycogen debt during their performance ( essentially avoiding doing your diet ;)  The body is designed to use glycogen for energy. Ketogenesis is an emergency backup when that fuel is not available. Its meant to keep your body going which it does but not as efficiently as glycogenisis so you end up depleting your fuel faster than you can make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T01:50:11.630" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T01:50:11.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1410" CreationDate="2011-04-05T21:26:47.923" Score="7" ViewCount="31500" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having some minor (uncomfortable) pain in the outside top of my right foot (think around the inferior peroneal retinaculum or the inferior extensor retinaculum near the external malleolus). It started out just noticeable for a bit after my run, but as of today it's a little tender even to walk. I have changed shoes in the past few weeks to start running &quot;barefoot&quot; (with Vibram Bikila LS). Is it normal to have some foot pain like this until my feet fully adjust to the new shoes? It isn't preventing me from doing anything yet, it's just mightily uncomfortable.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S35Ty.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Image from Angelo Podiatry Associates&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-04-05T22:05:39.343" LastActivityDate="2015-03-28T19:24:02.563" Title="Pain in the top of my foot" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-05T22:30:23.730" Score="3" ViewCount="630" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if looking slightly down and to the left puts more strain on the left or right side of my neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a little background, I use two enormous monitors and I think I use the on on the left more than the one on the right. I also have constant neck pain on the left back side of my neck so I was wondering if the two are connected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="715" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T17:05:04.340" Title="neck pain vs. head orientation" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1393" CreationDate="2011-04-05T23:37:24.240" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Hitting the wall&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; isn't so much a plateau as &quot;&lt;strong&gt;precipitous fatigue and loss of energy&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;). It happens when you run out of glycogen (the storage for of carbohydrate in your body). When I was training for a marathon a couple years back, I went out on a 16 mile run without bringing a source of carbs along. For my first 10 miles (~1h 20min) I had an average pace of 8:21 minutes/mile. After that I started to hit the wall and my pace dropped to 10:40 min/mile. After about 3 miles like that, I was totally depleted had to walk the last 3 miles home. There was just no more energy available. Eating carbs before (and during, if it's really long) helps prevent this by topping my glycogen stores. Many athletes even &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_loading&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;carb load&lt;/a&gt; the week before an event to maximize glycogen stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every nutrition textbook I've read has recommended a &lt;strong&gt;high carb diet as definitively the best plan for endurance athletes&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=u1p_G8CJ-mwC&amp;amp;lpg=PA592&amp;amp;ots=XLTFEfovEM&amp;amp;dq=coleman%20carbohydrate%20and%20exercise%20sports%20nutrition&amp;amp;pg=PA563#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;'s the relevant section in the Nutrition textbook my university uses). However, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/1/1/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; with a differing viewpoint. According to the author, people on a high protein diet can &lt;strong&gt;maintain their endurance performance &lt;em&gt;if given enough time to adapt to using ketones.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This may take 3-4 weeks. However, apparently if you wax and wane on your ketogenic diet (sometimes eating carbs, sometimes not), your body wont adapt; you have to be consistent. The author also explains that there are a couple things you have to be careful about when exercising on a ketogenic diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ketogenic diets cause diuresis (water loss) which can take minerals with it. If you're on this kind of diet, &lt;strong&gt;you may need to supplement your electrolytes&lt;/strong&gt;. A scary running-related health issue that pops up in the media every summer is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hyponatremia&lt;/a&gt;, which is caused by losing too many electrolytes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't have enough dietary protein to meet your exercise needs, your body will start drawing protein from its &quot;stores,&quot; i.e. your muscles (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1341/when-will-muscle-be-cannibalized&quot;&gt;discussed more here&lt;/a&gt;). Just because you're on a high protein diet doesn't automatically mean you're consuming enough protein, since the point is often to reduce total calories so you can lose weight. The author recommends you &lt;strong&gt;consume 1.2 – 1.7 g of protein per kilogram body mass&lt;/strong&gt;, and says that if protein intake exceeds 25% of your caloric intake there are negative side effects (protein yields 4 Cal/g, so to figure about how many grams of protein you're allowed, calculate 0.25 * [total Calories consumed] / [4 Cal/g]).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given all this information, I can think of one additional concern. To prevent your body from tapping into your muscles to get energy during prolonged endurance, you would have to eat protein &lt;em&gt;during exercise.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt; is known to delay gastic emptying (it stays in your stomach for longer), so it's &lt;strong&gt;not pleasant to eat during exercise&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author also squeezes in one final caveat at the end:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anaerobic (ie, weight lifting or sprint) performance is limited by the low muscle glycogen levels induced by a ketogenic diet, and this would strongly discourage its use under most conditions of competitive athletics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I recall correctly, you do interval training, which may push you into the &lt;strong&gt;anaerobic&lt;/strong&gt; zone. If this is the case, it sounds like a &lt;strong&gt;ketogenic diet would negatively affect your performance&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm having a hard time finding a source to explain why this is the case, but maybe it's because anaerobic exercise uses glucose as its primary energy source (you rely more on fat during aerobic exercise and at rest), so large amounts of it would have to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;synthesized from protein&lt;/a&gt;; maybe the body can't keep up with the demand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T23:37:24.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2011-04-05T23:55:14.163" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you could go below all the fascia and muscle in that picture, you could see the ligaments that connect the bones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RSbO1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The anterior talofibular ligament lies in the area you point to in your image. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_talofibular_ligament&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; this is &quot;the most commonly sprained ligament,&quot; so there's a good chance that's your problem. &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sprainsstrains/a/anklesprain.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; can give you more info about the signs and symptoms of an ankle sprain and what you should do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vibrams have zero ankle support so you rely completely on your own muscles for stability: great for building strength, but you're much more likely to get injured. Make sure you take enough rest time to let your injury recover, then I would suggest working up to running barefoot to prevent overuse injuries (sometimes use running shoes, sometimes use vibrams). Also, consider doing &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1225/what-kind-of-exercises-can-i-do-to-strengthen-my-ankle&quot;&gt;ankle strengthening exercises&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-04-05T23:55:14.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1428" CreationDate="2011-04-06T03:10:32.637" Score="16" ViewCount="22523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've primarily been a long distance runner, but I have recently started incorporating swimming and upper body exercises into my weekly exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My latest addition is compound exercises like squat and dead lift. After a one hour proper introduction with a personal trainer, I was surprised to find I got really sore muscles the following day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize these exercises affect my muscles differently than running does, but that got me to thinking: What's the long term effect of combining squats and dead lifts with long distance running? Is it mutually beneficial, a hindrance, or, perhaps, no significant mutual effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, I'm not taking up squat and dead lift to improve my running. I'm merely looking to see if there are any arguments for or against combining long distance running with squat and dead lift in my weekly exercise routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user240" LastEditorDisplayName="user240" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T17:45:10.347" LastActivityDate="2020-03-02T04:48:54.940" Title="Effect of squat and dead lift on long distance running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2011-04-06T04:08:06.633" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were already an avid runner before you started the barefoot thing, you have to remember that barefoot running is completely different.  If you run 5 miles a day in tennis shoes, you will most likely get injured if you all of the sudden start running in vibrams.  You have trained your feet to work with a standard support system your entire life, and can not expect them to be able to hold up when they're suddenly stripped of all that support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably have an injury that will need some time to heal meaning stop wearing the vibrams until the pain stops.  In the mean time, use an anti-inflammatory, ice your foot regularly, and of the pain persists, go to your doctor, and consider seeing a physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that ankle exercises are a very good idea.  You could get a balance board for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you feel that the problem is alleviated, you can restart your barefoot running program, but you should really limit the amount of time you spend running in the vibrams initially, and increase the time at a very slow rate.  Your connective tissues do not increase in strength as readily as your muscles do, so give your body plenty of time to adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know from personal experience that you can do major damage to your feet and ankles running when it doesn't feel that bad at the time.  Don't just go out for a run, and decide you feel pretty good that day so you do your long run in the vibrams even though it's just your second week in them.  It's not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest using the vibrams 2 to 3 times a week for easy runs only for an entire month.  Then start using them for an additional run each week maybe doing intervals or some other type of speed work.  Don't be in a hurry to get rid of your running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if your feet aren't structurally sound, vibrams might just not be an option for you, so be open to that possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T04:08:06.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2011-04-06T04:32:05.403" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Low carb diets and running don't mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're running primarily for weight loss, you might want to stick it out until you get closer to your goal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you switch to a higher carbohydrate diet, you'll be able to burn more calories in your runs, so it is possible to continue to lose weight.  However, if you increase your carbs, and that makes your runs feel easier and you don't actually pick up the pace and work harder, you might not burn more calories.  It just depends on your level of effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're running to become a better runner, you need to eat carbs multiple times a day.  You should eat complex carbohydrates at least 3 times a day.  Your body can store complex carbohydrates more effectively than simple carbohydrates.  Taking in some simple carbs immediately before your run in addition to the complex carbs throughout the day can be helpful too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably felt better with the battered chicken because of the fat content more than from the breading...it's just high calories.  If you've been eating low carb, you might be very sensitive to carbs until you readjust, so carbs may be making you feel more tired right now.  If you have kept your carbs low for a long time, you're not used to an elevated insulin level, so you might be more likely to get a little insulin crash which will make you feel sluggish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T04:32:05.403" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2011-04-06T04:40:41.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short version is that there won't be a big effect on long runs from combining exercises like squats.  These exercises develop fast twitch muscle fibers instead of the slow twitch muscle fibers your legs are most likely primarily made of.  It will give you more &quot;pop&quot; if you will at the start or near the end of the race, but I doubt it would be noticeable.  For the long version or if you want to read more in depth about the different muscle fiber, a great resource is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coachr.org/fiber.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.coachr.org/fiber.htm&lt;/a&gt;  especially take note of the &quot;IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING&quot; section, that may be very beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="716" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T04:40:41.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1400" CreationDate="2011-04-06T04:50:52.073" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to cure dehydration is to drink some more.  Drinking the night before will have absolutely no effect on hydration the next day.  Drink a few To determine how much water you should drink after you spin, you should weight yourself before and after you exercise to get a sense of how much fluid you typically lose. Try to drink about 1.5 pints for every pound you lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, while water is good, a drink with a little sodium, potassium, chloride and other elements is absorbed faster by the intestine than pure water. This puts more water into the blood faster. You could try to have a sports drink after you exercise.  Sports drinks can be helpful to athletes who are exercising at a high intensity for at least an hour. It's necessary to replace losses of sodium, potassium and other electrolytes during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also be suffering from a condition called hyponatremia which is a low blood sodium concentration that results during longer events when athletes drink excessive amounts of plain water.  A sports drink will help cure this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there is cellular damage after any kind of exercise. As a result, there is an increased breakdown of protein during exercise. This damage is structural, and the body's structural building materials are proteins.  Most disrupted cellular processes begin repair as soon as the stressor is removed. Protein consumed during exercise may help speed recovery following exercise. Plus, during extended exercise, protein can provide up to 20 percent of the muscle's energy needs because the muscle is becoming depleted of glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, adding protein to a sports drink minimizes muscle protein breakdown that would then speed muscle recovery after exercise. Thus, a little protein during and after work is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Ron Maughan conducted many studies on hydration for athletes.  You might want to try to look up some of his findings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="716" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T04:50:52.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-06T05:00:40.233" Score="1" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing lots of aerobic exercise to lose weight: almost 2 hours of vigorous boxing three times a week. I now want to dedicate more time to my regimen: should I complement that exercise with some weight lifting or it's better to extend the aerobic exercise to four or five days a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T19:34:03.967" Title="Aerobic VS Aerobic + Weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1393" CreationDate="2011-04-06T05:16:11.047" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose weight, the bottom line will always be calories, so if you're eating extra carbs to help with your runs, you'll have to eat less calories to balance it back out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As was already stated, fats aren't as readily available for energy as carbohydrates, so they are ideal for low intensity exercise like walking and doing normal daily activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a bodybuilder (used to be a runner) - The most important time for a bodybuilder to take in carbohydrates is post workout because when the body is depleted it needs to absorb nutrients like amino acids.  Carbohydrates increase insulin levels which in turn increases the body's ability to uptake nutrients.  So, bodybuilders take in protein with carbohydrates post workout.  The second most important time for bodybuilders to take in carbs is pre workout for all the same reasons that a runner takes in carbs before their workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer...The following is just my loose interpretation of what's going on in your body during a run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you take off for a run and are full of nervous energy and maybe a little jumpy, you're running on sugar in the bloodstream.  That doesn't last very long before you &quot;settle into a pace&quot; and start burning glycogen that is stored in your muscles when you eat carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a runner &quot;hits the wall&quot; it feels like a sudden loss of energy as if you can not possibly go any further.  I believe this to be the point at which glycogen has become depleted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you push past the wall and maintain a strong pace despite all the signals your body is telling you, you'll &quot;get your second wind&quot;.  At this point, I believe your body has transitioned from burning glycogen to metabolizing protein for energy.  When exercising at a high intensity, fat is not as efficient an energy source as muscle tissue, so it is not likely that fat is being burned primarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes you can &quot;hit the wall&quot; again.  If you continue to push past that for very long and get a third wind, you'll get &quot;runner's high&quot; which is your body releasing endorphins because that's all you have left to run on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I miss runner's high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T05:16:11.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1387" CreationDate="2011-04-06T05:30:36.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is only to gain weight on the scale, then I agree that you need to eat more calories.  However, I imagine you would like to gain muscle rather than fat.  In that case, it matters very much whether it comes from protein, carbs, or fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would help to know how much you weigh, and how much weight you want to gain.  Also if you're exercising by doing cardio and/or lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to your diet... Chicken, peanut butter, roast beef, cheese, and coconut are not interchangeable.  Chicken and roast beef are proteins.  Peanut butter, coconut, and cheese are fats.  Brown bread is not the best carbohydrate source.  I would suggest brown rice and/or sweet potatoes instead.  I suggest getting a protein with every meal for lean mass gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T05:30:36.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1347" CreationDate="2011-04-06T05:45:29.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many grams of carbs does this diet suggest you take in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not have to have a low carb diet to lose weight, but you do have to have low calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason so many diets do not suggest breads and pastas is because they are very calorie dense.  You're probably going to have to cut back your portions or increase your activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't expect to be able to take in more than 30 to 50 grams of carbs per meal unless you're involved in an endurance sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you're eating 200g carbs/day, that's about 800 calories, so over half of your calories are from carbs That's okay as long as you're continuing to lose weight. You're calories are not overly restrictive, but they are low. You might reach a plateau on such low calories, and when you do, you will have 2 choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you can continue to cut your calories lower which I would not suggest. You will probably reach a plateau because of slowed metabolism over time. Cutting your calories lower still may allow you to lose more weight immediately, but it will contribute further to a slowed metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second option would be to change the distribution of your calories. This is what I would suggest. What you aren't going to like, is that you might have to severely restrict your carbs for a few weeks in order to trick your body into starting to drop weight again. Hopefully, you would be able to keep your calories the same and continue to lose weight this way. Then, you can switch back to the higher carb diet once the ball gets rolling again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-04-07T03:39:46.070" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T03:39:46.070" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1258" CreationDate="2011-04-06T05:54:17.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people would chalk this up to a lack of conditioning, but focusing on your breathing can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try breathing in your nose, and out your mouth.  Also, time your breathing as some people described as exhaling on a certain foot.  I always timed my breathing by inhaling for an even number of strides and exhaling for one.  That means you'll exhale on the opposite foot each time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T05:54:17.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1292" CreationDate="2011-04-06T06:18:29.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your quads and glutes, you can vary your squat stance between close to wide from week to week.&#xA;Adding weighted lunges would be a movement that will target your glutes a little more.&#xA;Plyometrics are also a great way to target fast twitch muscle groups and you can hit lots of different angles this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also thought that a row movement for the back was missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you mean by &quot;incline dumbbell raise&quot; for the serratus?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Did you mean a dumbbell pullover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T06:18:29.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1271" CreationDate="2011-04-06T06:32:49.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more fiber a food has, the lower glycemic it is. &#xA;The more simple sugar a food has, the higher glycemic it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you build a meal with one of the below carbohydrates, you can bring down the average glycemic impact of the meal by adding any of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fiber in the form of low calorie fibrous vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a simple grouping of foods according to the glycemic index:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Very low glycemic complex carbs (best)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oatmeal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sweet potatoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brown rice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grapefruit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;berries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Low glycemic complex carbs (good)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;corn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lentils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Medium low glycemic carbs (okay)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pastas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breads&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;white potatoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kinda low glycemic carbs (okay, these fruits are both high sugar and high fiber)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;apples&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oranges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;peaches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not so low glycemic (not good)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;refined sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;candy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-04-07T00:31:41.957" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T00:31:41.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-06T12:10:07.097" Score="15" ViewCount="7033" Body="&lt;p&gt;As recommended by SS (Starting Strength) I am running workouts A and B, alternating every other day. However, with only a two day break in between squats I feel like I haven't fully recovered most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was stuck on 112.5kg for about a week, then I had to miss a training session.  I came back with 4 days rest (an extra 2 days) from squats and completed 112.5kg relatively easily because I was fully recovered.  Should I keep with my schedule or change it to increase gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-17T18:26:50.583" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T18:26:50.583" Title="I missed a Starting Strength workout and squats are getting intense - should I change my schedule?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1426" CreationDate="2011-04-06T13:11:01.557" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The importance of rest cannot be overstated. Your case is the perfect example of why rest is needed. In the beginning of the book, I believe the author stated that, even though the book is called &quot;Starting Strength&quot;, he expected the reader to be in good physical condition. Even if you are in good condition, perhaps your body is not use to the types of exercises you are doing. Furthermore, the book is only a guide and will not work exactly the same for everybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find yourself stuck on a plateau you need to change something. In your example, resting helped. You could also skip doing squats for a couple days and focus on different exercises like leg press or other leg exercises. You could also try switching to front squats as that can help you bust through tough spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moral is listen to your body and get enough rest. If you're getting enough rest and still find your progress trailing off, change something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T13:11:01.557" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2011-04-06T15:17:18.420" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;This all depends on how you are performing the exercises (how much weight, how many reps, how much rest between sets, how much rest between sessions...).  Based on your comments, my answer is no, they are not going to negatively affect your running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were executing those exercises to train max strength or power (eg. higher weight, low-mid reps, moderate to full recovery) they are only going to have marginally positive affects on your distance running ability but that could be offset by adding more muscle weight that will make you a less efficient runner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing them with less intensity (lower weight, higher reps) and less recovery will be more beneficial to your running by improving the strength and strength endurance of your legs and your core.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On another note swimming isn't the most efficient way to improve your running endurance.  It helps improve cardiovascular endurance, but it does not train the strength or aerobic capacity of the muscles that are used in running.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately your training plan is going to depend on your goals.  If you are training to be a competitive distance runner this is not the most efficient approach.  If your goal is overall fitness then this may work for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T21:00:28.013" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T21:00:28.013" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1418" CreationDate="2011-04-06T16:41:51.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With any sport, repetitive motions can cause injury, so cross training is always a good idea as opposed to narrowing your training regimen by adding more boxing days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training can be a good compliment to boxing.  In the beginning, you may feel as though it interferes with your boxing due to soreness, but that should pass as you adjust.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plyometrics, olympic lifting, and/or kettle bell training may be an even better form of resistance training than standard weight training to add as part of your regimen.  The explosive movements can help you to become faster and more agile in boxing.  Maye sure that if you choose to take up this type of training that you have someone teach you proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any type of endurance training can also be a great complement to boxing training, so running, biking, or swimming between boxing days is a good idea too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T16:41:51.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1430" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-04-06T17:04:28.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gymnastics is an activity involving performance of bodyweight exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, balance, and grace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-11T02:39:48.637" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T02:39:48.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1431" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-04-06T17:04:28.537" Score="0" Body="Gymnastics is an activity involving performance of bodyweight exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, balance, and grace." OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="720" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T17:11:59.323" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T17:11:59.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1408" CreationDate="2011-04-06T17:05:04.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two are definitely related.  Changing the orientation could help, but then maybe you would have the same issue in another area.  Being aware of the fact that your head orientation does affect the musculature in your neck is a good star to finding a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a big fan of regular massage.  While massage will alleviate some issues, daily stretching is the thing that will keep these pains from developing into a chronic problem.  There are lots of good neck stretches that you can do while sitting in your chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grip the bottom of the chair with the left hand.  Reach over your head with your right hand and place it on your left ear.  With your neck in neutral position, pull your right eat down toward your right shoulder.  Hold for 2 to 3 seconds, release and return to neutral.  Repeat several times then duplicate on the opposite side.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next turn your face 45 degrees to the right, and reach your right hand up and place it on the back of your head close to your neck.  Pull your nose down toward your right pec.  Hold for 2 to 3 seconds, release and return to neutral.  Repeat several times then duplicate on the opposite side.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last stretch, turn your face 45 degrees to the left, and reach over your head with your right hand, and place it on your left ear.  Pull your right ear down toward your right pec.  Hold for 2 to 3 seconds, release and return to neutral.  Repeat several times then duplicate on the opposite side.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do these stretches several times a day, but don't stop doing them just because it feels better.  Unless you change your work conditions, you should probably continue to do these on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these stretches do not alleviate the pain you're experiencing, I would suggest you consider seeing a physical therapist to address a possible underlying problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T17:05:04.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1390" CreationDate="2011-04-06T17:07:58.970" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is that yes, you can gain muscle without gaining significant strength. While there is some correlation due to leverage, size is a physiological phenomenon whereas strength is more neurological and depends on the efficiency with which your nervous system coordinates the firing of motor units. The keys to growing muscle regardless of what your strength might be are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mechanical load - you must increase load from workout to workout, on average, to achieve hypertrophy&#xA;Chronic progression - you should consistently apply a similar load and not change too frequently or your body will be forced to deal with mechanical and neurological adaptation rather than physiological&#xA;Strategic deconditioning - per Bryan Haycock &quot;At this point, it is necessary to either increase the load (Progressive load), or decrease the degree of conditioning to the load (Strategic Deconditioning). The muscle is sensitive not only to the absolute load, but also to the change in load (up or down). Therefore, you can get a hypertrophic effect from increasing the load from a previous load, even if the absolute load is not maximum, assuming conditioning (resistance to exercise induced micro-damage) is not to extensive. There is a limit to the number of increments you can add to increase the load. You simply reach your maximum voluntary strength eventually. This is why Strategic Deconditioning is required for continued growth once growth has stopped (all things remaining equal).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, you don't want to change workouts too frequently but eventually you'll have to, and load is king so a training methodology where you can consistently increase load is going to work the best. That means perhaps starting at higher reps, lighter load and progressing to fewer reps, heavy load and then starting over again in what is known as &quot;stair stepping&quot; or &quot;pyramid&quot;, i.e. for bench I do 200, 220, 240, 260, then fall back and do 205, 225, 245, 265, etc. to progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some people want the science so if you really do go out and read the journals, here's a boat load of references Bryan Haycock gave me in an interview many years ago (he developed Hypertrophy Specific Training/HST which is a method based specifically on the science behind hypertrophy or muscle building)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1: Nosaka K, Newton M. Repeated Eccentric Exercise Bouts Do Not Exacerbate Muscle Damage and Repair. J Strength Cond Res. 2002 Feb;16(1):117-122. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: Nosaka K, Newton M. Concentric or eccentric training effect on eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2002 Jan;34(1):63-9. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3: Proske U, Morgan DL. Muscle damage from eccentric exercise: mechanism, mechanical signs, adaptation and clinical applications. J Physiol. 2001 Dec 1;537(Pt 2):333-45. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4: Nosaka K, Newton M, Sacco P. Responses of human elbow flexor muscles to electrically stimulated forced lengthening exercise. Acta Physiol Scand. 2002 Feb;174(2):137-45. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5: Allen DG. Eccentric muscle damage: mechanisms of early reduction of force. Acta Physiol Scand. 2001 Mar;171(3):311-9. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6: Clarkson PM. Eccentric exercise and muscle damage. Int J Sports Med. 1997 Oct;18 Suppl 4:S314-7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7: Paddon-Jones D, Abernethy PJ. Acute adaptation to low volume eccentric exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Jul;33(7):1213-9. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8: Nosaka K, Sakamoto K, Newton M, Sacco P. How long does the protective effect on eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage last? Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Sep;33(9):1490-5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9: McHugh MP, Connolly DA, Eston RG, Gleim GW. Exercise-induced muscle damage and potential mechanisms for the repeated bout effect. Sports Med. 1999 Mar;27(3):157-70. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10: Nosaka K, Sakamoto K, Newton M, Sacco P. The repeated bout effect of reduced-load eccentric exercise on elbow flexor muscle damage. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2001 Jul;85(1-2):34-40. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11: Rennie MJ. How muscles know how to adapt. J Physiol. 2001 Aug 15;535(Pt 1):1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nosaka K, Sakamoto K. Effect of elbow joint angle on the magnitude of muscle damage to the elbow flexors. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Jan;33(1):22-9. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;13: Lieber RL, Friden J. Morphologic and mechanical basis of delayed-onset muscle soreness. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2002 Jan-Feb;10(1):67-73. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;14: Nosaka K, Clarkson PM. Influence of previous concentric exercise on eccentric exercise-induced muscledamage. J Sports Sci. 1997 Oct;15(5):477-83. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15: Carson JA. The regulation of gene expression in hypertrophying skeletal muscle. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 1997;25:301-20. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;16:. Lieber RL, Friden J. Mechanisms of muscle injury after eccentric contraction. J Sci Med Sport. 1999 Oct;2(3):253-65. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;17: Nosaka K, Clarkson PM. Muscle damage following repeated bouts of high force eccentric exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1995 Sep;27(9):1263-9. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T17:07:58.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2011-04-06T19:40:07.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another good way to increase speed is to do whatever sequence of punching/striking moves you normally do with hand weights, slowly.  Remove weights and do it as fast as you can.  Hand weights back on, slow.  Off, quick.  Do that three times and you'll be amazed at the change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: We did this in my martial arts class yesterday, and it made a dramatic improvement in speed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I would think that this same technique would be effective with a sequence of kicking exercises as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T19:40:07.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-06T20:27:19.757" Score="8" ViewCount="35753" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago I hurt my psoas muscle and a couple of ligaments around it. I've been off of it since then and it's been healing and I'd like to get back into the things that I had to quit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know, how can I lower the chances or re-injuring it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I stretch it out? (I'm not sure of the right stretch to accomplish this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I safely strengthen the muscle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I protect it by strengthening muscles around it, and what exercises should I do for this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And anything else that'd help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional Information:&lt;/strong&gt; I hurt it by overworking it over time, slowly injuring it playing ultimate frisbee - lots of spriting and changing directions hard, so plenty of small yanks on the muscle without having warmed it up enough (that's my best guess). Now I'm not going back into frisbee but instead have started to do less strenuous activities. I started learning windmills (breakdancing move) and I think the psoas is being worked because I have to swing my legs to create momentum for the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="725" LastEditorUserId="725" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T22:53:57.313" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T01:39:50.400" Title="Strengthening and healing the psoas (leg-lifting) muscle" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;psoas&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1438" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-06T21:48:17.060" Score="1" ViewCount="430" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the best personal training websites? I am looking for site that will provide me with all of the information I would get from working with a personal trainer, such as exercise programs, nutrition recommendations, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user726" LastEditorUserId="2807" LastEditDate="2012-04-18T18:09:00.067" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T16:44:45.327" Title="Personal training and fitness websites" Tags="&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-09T03:42:05.310" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-07T00:26:19.423" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2011-04-06T21:53:30.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The serratus anterior is the muscle directly responsible for punching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G25lZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Serratus_anterior.png/250px-Serratus_anterior.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The serratus anterior is occasionally&#xA;  called the &quot;big swing muscle&quot; or&#xA;  &quot;boxer's muscle&quot; because it is largely&#xA;  responsible for the protraction of the&#xA;  scapula — that is, the pulling of the&#xA;  scapula forward and around the rib&#xA;  cage that occurs when someone throws a&#xA;  punch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can increase the strength of the serratus anterior by doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_3TJ_x-kzg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pullovers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with some of other responses, saying that other muscles are indirectly related to punching. The tricep and chest are probably also just as important as the serratus anterior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T21:53:30.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1436" CreationDate="2011-04-06T22:36:02.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pulled my psoas a few months ago and saw a doctor.  He recommended doing the following stretch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lie down inside a doorway, with your hips even with the doorframe.  Lift your left leg and place it against the wall on the right side of the door, keeping your back flat against the floor.  You can scoot forward or backwards on the floor to increase or decrease the stretch.  Repeat on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seemed to work for really focusing on that tendon and stretching it out gently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T22:36:02.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1448" CreationDate="2011-04-06T22:41:49.693" Score="7" ViewCount="515" Body="&lt;p&gt;I attend regular martial arts classes (about 3-4 a week).  We spend a lot of time stretching, particularly the hip area and the legs, to increase flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often after some classes where we do a lot of stretching, I find that the muscles/other soft tissues I don't know the name of/tendons I stretched are pretty sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a normal reaction to increasing flexibility?  Should I view the soreness as evidence I'm becoming more flexible, or should I ease up a bit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The general location of the soreness is the hip, psoas area (I'll try to roust up a picture later).  It usually fades after a couple days, some ice/heat application speeds recovery.  I have as yet not noticed any marked improvement in flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastEditorUserId="457" LastEditDate="2011-04-06T22:56:53.523" LastActivityDate="2011-05-07T02:43:58.100" Title="Overstretching to increase flexibility" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-04-06T22:54:08.417" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased a pair of Merrell True Glove minimalist shoes. Can't say enough about how much I like them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, as a runner I've always had a mostly forefoot strike, since I was a sprinter in high school and did all of my training in my track spikes. This continued through my time in the Army, and even though I had a running hiatus of practically 5 years, when I started running again in January I still found it easier and more natural to run forefoot-first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to the True Gloves. Even though my Asics weren't/aren't heavy, the Merrells definitely feel lighter on my feet. I've only run on a treadmill with them so far, as the weather has been bad, but the True Gloves make the landing much more vivid. Every stride I know exactly which part of my foot is in contact with the belt. The actual mechanics of my stride haven't changed much, the main difference being that now my heel only lightly touches down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard a lot about the importance of easing into minimalist running, and after 3 short (10 minute) runs in my True Gloves, my calves are definitely feeling the difference between running forefoot first and letting the cushioned soles of my Asics pick up some weight, and running forefoot first with no cushioned soles chipping in to the shock absorption system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-06T22:54:08.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1446" CreationDate="2011-04-06T23:00:13.560" Score="3" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure we're all familiar with the soreness that comes from a new form of exercise that impacts muscles that haven't been overly stressed (or at least not for a long time). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I recently switched from &quot;normal&quot; running shoes to minimalist shoes, and while I have always used a forefoot-first stride, and I've cut down drastically the length of the 3 runs I've done since buying them (no more than 10 minutes) my calves are definitely on the sore side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, I'd greatly prefer to keep my every-other-day upper body vs. run schedule, so what are some effective ways, to eliminate, or at least lessen the soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T08:54:00.683" Title="Easing the soreness from new exercises" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1273" CreationDate="2011-04-07T00:24:18.613" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a bodybuilder, and can give you some tips on form in the chest press movement that will help you to focus the work toward the pecs.  Of course, in a pressing movement you cannot strictly isolate the chest, but these tips will help you to minimize the involvement of the shoulders and triceps and lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To isolate as a bodybuilder would, you want to do the opposite of what a powerlifter does.  Powerlifters try to recruit as many muscle groups as possible to move the most weight possible.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Arching your back allows you to recruit your lats into the movement.  To keep from using your back, keep it flat against the bench.  If you have trouble doing this, raise your knees up and put your feet on the bench, and this will flatten the low back out.  You can even lift your feet up and bring your knees toward your torso while doing the exercise.&#xA;A narrow grip on the bar allows you to recruit your triceps.  To keep your triceps involvement to a minimum widen your grip until your forearms are able to remain perpendicular to the ground through most of the movement.&#xA;Slipping your shoulder blade out and Rolling your shoulder forward allows you to recruit your shoulder muscle more.  To avoid this, you have to do two things.  First, start each set by squeezing your shoulder blades together.  Leave them together throughout the set, and keep your shoulder back.  Do not push your shoulder forward as you extend your arm.  The other thing you need to pay attention to is your elbow position.  Your elbows should be tucked slightly toward your torso, more in line with your chest than your shoulder.  This also keeps you from putting your rotators in a compromised position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another technique you can use is to pre-exhaust the chest with an isolation movement (machine flyes) before the compound movement (bench press).  Do not be concerned with the amount of weight you are lifting rather pay attention to whether you feel the pecs working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One exercise that is severely underutilized is dumbbell pullovers.  Lie perpendicular to a bench with your rib cage supported by the bench, feet on the ground, and knees bent.  You may slide down so that the edge of the bench supports part of your neck if you need to.  Allow your hips to drop a few inches below your chest.  Hold a dumbbell vertically by one end above your chest with arms extended.  Move the dumbbell back over your face and toward the ground until your arms are parallel to the ground pivoting in the shoulder and keeping the elbows straight, then lift the dumbbell back to the starting position.  The pullover targets the area of the chest that attach at the collarbone, highlighted in the second muscle picture.  It also targets the pec minor, and the serratus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T00:24:18.613" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1443" CreationDate="2011-04-07T00:35:27.593" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch, ice, heat, massage, ibuprofen &amp;amp; light activity&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no real cure for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and some of these suggestions are unproven (while some have been proven not to work) there is some science and lots of anecdotal evidence that these things will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching after your workout is a common practice which has many benefits.  Some people report that it helps reduce DOMS but unfortunately &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17943822&quot;&gt;the science says that it doesn't really&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heating and icing help facilitate bringing blood into and pushing blood out of the sore area which help recovery.  Ice/heat can have a soothing affect too but that depends on the person (personally I hate the feeling of icing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lightly massaging the sore muscles has also been report to help reduce DOMS but again there is no proof to back it up.  I think it feels good though so it may just be psychological. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever.  I think this benefits of this are obvious, but I will say to be careful to understand the health risks as you should do when ingesting any kind of chemical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing an Active Recovery (light activity) immediately after your workout will help &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/2004/02000/Passive_versus_Active_Recovery_during.20.aspx&quot;&gt;reduce muscle lactate levels&lt;/a&gt;.  Continuing to do active recovery activity in the days after your workout is a good way to keep the blood flow going to the sore muscles and prevent the muscles from tightening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T00:35:27.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1219" CreationDate="2011-04-07T01:45:50.197" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised to see that there is such a debate concerning types of fats.  I don't think there are really different opinion camps on this.  The following is not nuance.  It is just the same information that you'd get if you asked any personal trainer or bodybuilder this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturated fats are from pigs, cows, and egg yolks.  Saturated fats are saturated with hydrogen atoms.  They are a very stable molecules that do not react very readily in the body, and are more difficult to access for energy, so they are more likely to be stored for later use.  These can be stored where ever your body stores fat and can also be stored along artery walls, and can cause heart disease.  These types of fats should be limited.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fats in red meat and pork products should be limited, but that does not mean it's necessary to eliminate all red meat and pork products rather limit the fat content by choosing lean cuts of these meats.  Also remember that dairy products that are not fat free contain a considerable amount of saturated fats.  Primarily cheese, even white cheeses contain a lot of saturated fat and should be minimized.  Although some people eat cheese as a protein source, I do not believe it should be considered as such.  The amount of calories from fat in cheese is well over half even in a low fat cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Egg yolks have notable amounts of cholesterol in addition to saturated fat.  Cholesterol has been credited with increasing levels of testosterone, so it may be worth taking in a moderate amount for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unsaturated fats are from fish and plant sources.  They are called essential fatty acids because your body does not make them on its own, so you have to take them in through your diet.  Unsaturated fats have fewer hydrogem molecules than saturated fats, so they will contain one or more double bonds which makes them a polarized molecule thus more reactive in the body.  This means your body can break it down more readily to use it for energy.  Polyunsaturated fats  are unsaturated fats that have 2 or more double bonds.  In addition, unsaturated fats can combine with saturated fats and pull away a hydrogen atom converting it to an unsaturated fat.  In this manner unsaturated fats can help you both burn stored fat and break down fatty acids in the blood stream for a healthier cardiovascular system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest taking in unsaturated fats at least once or twice a day.  The best sources are nuts and plant oils including peanuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, olive oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, flax oil, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd be hard pressed to eliminate saturated fats completely from your diet because most unsaturated fats have some amount of saturated fats in addition and vise versa.  You just have to read labels and consider how much you are getting of one compared to the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also include a note about trans fats which are a chemically created form of saturated fats.  Trans fats should not just be limited but avoided completely.  They have been proven to not only increase bad cholesterol, but to decrease good cholesterol.  Trans fats can be found in icings, cooking lard like crisco, and many processed foods because they also act as a preservative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T01:45:50.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1441" CreationDate="2011-04-07T01:57:34.660" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basis of any exercise for muscle strengthening is a stretch and a contraction.  The type of aggressive stretching you are doing is actually similar to a strengthening exercise, and soreness is to be expected.  You're actually tearing your muscle fibers to create that soreness and your body will repair the muscle afterward making it stronger, but that is the natural process of increasing strength.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the soreness has not alleviated by the time you are attending the next class, I would ease up on the stretching.  You don't want to tear your muscle fibers stretching, and repeat that activity before your body has the opportunity to repair it.  That could easily develop into an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T01:57:34.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2011-04-07T03:27:51.177" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, runner's high is only obtained after you &quot;hit the wall&quot; and get your &quot;second wind&quot;.  You have to run past the wall and hit a second wall before you get &quot;runner's high&quot;.  I always thought it was a result of the release of endorphins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to reach a runner's high faster, you have to run at a high level of intensity for an extended period of time.  The more you train, the better level of conditioning you reach, which means you have to continue to push yourself even harder to reach a real runner's high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evolutionarily, I think it's a survival mechanism.  It allows you to push past all feedback from your body that tells you to stop, and continue anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T03:27:51.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2011-04-07T03:46:48.983" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume that the point about reading during cardio is that you will be exercising at a lower intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low intensity cardio exercise is very effective at burning fat if you are doing cardio first thing in the morning, or if you are on a low carb diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not on a low carb diet, which was not popular when the bodybuilding bible was written, then you will be more effective at fat loss with higher intensity cardio activities which would be inhibited by distractions like reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T03:46:48.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1522" CreationDate="2011-04-07T05:51:24.997" Score="4" ViewCount="33659" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just reading this question about drinking water &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/784/should-i-drink-water-before-during-or-after-eating&quot;&gt;during/after meals.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one of the answerers, Greg, made a comment that drinking enough water can cause the plug at the bottom of the stomach to open.  Which essentially explains why taking pills on an empty stomach works the way it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question has to do with ISO Whey Protein, which is supposed to be refined for quick absorption.  I drink 60 grams of the protein powder mixed with milk.  So if I drink this on an empty stomach it will go right into the intestines correct as it will force the plug at the bottom of the stomach to open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: Should I be drinking this protein drink on an empty stomach and should I sip it or is downing it in a few gulps okay? I usually drink it first thing in the morning mixed with creatine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T16:51:31.943" Title="How and when to consume a protein shake properly?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1457" CreationDate="2011-04-07T06:27:29.553" Score="6" ViewCount="5156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to find a good set of dumbbell exercises for a &quot;complete&quot; upper arm workout - working out the biceps, triceps, and brachialis* muscles fairly evenly.  What combination of curls or other exercises will accomplish this the best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;* In my understanding, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.highfive.me.uk/Resources/Anatomy/UpperArm/All.JPG&quot;&gt;brachialis&lt;/a&gt; is the smaller muscle that lies on the outside of the arm, a little bit more toward the elbow than the biceps, and flexes with the biceps often but not always.  Please correct me if I'm wrong!&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="691" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T07:36:21.303" Title="What is the best set of dumbbell exercises for a complete upper arm workout?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1452" CreationDate="2011-04-07T06:30:53.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You definitely want to drink plenty of water with any whey protein. The concentration of protein can be pretty tough on your kidneys, so you want to dilute the concentration to help out. Excessive consumption of whey protein w/o enough water can lead to kidney stones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T06:30:53.327" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1443" CreationDate="2011-04-07T07:04:21.933" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add creatine in your supplements. It helps in the fast recovery of torn muscles... :D You can find some details &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Creatine-for-rapid-muscle-recovery-new-evidence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here...&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="282" LastEditorUserId="282" LastEditDate="2011-04-12T08:54:00.683" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T08:54:00.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1459" CreationDate="2011-04-07T07:14:47.313" Score="4" ViewCount="7746" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should men and women differ their chest workout to attain a chest suitable for their gender? Here are the qualities that I believe are masculine and feminine. Your thoughts may differ, but I'd like to hear chest exercise variations that attain these particular definitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Masculine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A masculine chest should be like plates of armor. They should be wide, flat, and square shape, They should not be bulbous. The top should be like a plateau and not recede smoothly into the collarbone. It should not be top nor bottom heavy, but rather even throughout. Dexter Jackson, below, is a great example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3YrgT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dexter Jackson&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lex Luger, below, shows an example of a feminine male chest. His chest is round, soft, and squishy looking. We would call these &amp;quot;man boobs&amp;quot; if he were fatter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jDWbu.png&quot; alt=&quot;Lex Luger&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Feminine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A feminine chest is hard to describe because it is covered by breasts. There should not be a division between the chest and the breast. The two parts should seamlessly join. The chest should enhance the breast, making them appear bigger. Silvana Silvati, below, is a great example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZAPAI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Silvana Silvati&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is the total opposite of a feminine chest. The skin around the breast is too tight. You can clearly see that the breast is forming a bulb over the chest. On some more extreme female bodybuilders, the breasts appear to be dried up like raisins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dijhz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;female bodybuilder&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T13:30:31.703" Title="How to sculpt masculine VS feminine chest?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1453" CreationDate="2011-04-07T07:36:21.303" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're limiting yourself to the number of exercises by only using dumbbells. But if that's all you have then these are my dumbbell suggestions for the upper arm:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do hammer curls for the brachialis. It also works forearms at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SPkyw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;hammer curl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do normal dumbbell curls for the bicep. Use a narrow grip (dumbbells closer together) to put more emphasis on the outer bicep. A wide grip (dumbbells flown away from the body) puts more emphasis on the inner bicep. Use a neutral grip if you want to target the whole bicep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pYP3I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dumbbell curl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do preacher dumbbell curls to target the lower biceps. The preacher bench helps you stretch all the way to target that lower bicep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8eij.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;preacher curl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that incline dumbbell curls help target the upper bicep. You can feel that upper bicep stretch when the weights are at their lowest point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ihmK9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;incline dumbbell curl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One arm tricep extensions helps to train your stabilizer muscles because it's hard to keep balance while doing this exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BnP0o.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tricep extention&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A two-arm overhead extension allows you to do more total weight than the above exercise because it's much easier to stabilize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GdUPl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;overhead extension&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tricep kickbacks help target the upper tricep. Hold the fully extended position for a second or two to target the upper tricep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tk2FX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tricep kickback&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T07:36:21.303" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2011-04-07T09:10:06.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good jumpstart would be to register at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuildingforum.ie/ucp.php?mode=register&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; and download the workout logs &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclehack.com/download-free-workout-logs-for-tht-volume-cycle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. This is all about THT Volume Cycle and HIT training&amp;nbsp;— for maximizing strength and muscle growth. The workout logs have embedded links that show how to execute each exercise for each body part. It also tells you how many sets you should do, how many minutes you should rest, and how many weeks you should keep exercising before cycling from THT to HIT training.  You'll also be receiving additional &quot;must-know&quot; information/updates while training through email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few sample infos that I got are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclehack.com/what-to-do-in-between-sets-to-maximize-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What To Do In Between Sets To Maximize Growth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclehack.com/massive-muscle-gains-want-12lbs-of-muscle-this-year/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Massive Muscle Gains: Want 12lbs Of Muscle This Year?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A whole lot more will be sent to you from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="282" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:29:37.787" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:29:37.787" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-07T09:10:06.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1456" CreationDate="2011-04-07T13:30:31.703" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately while there are reams of bodybuilding books by &quot;experts&quot; telling you how to sculpt your body, there is very little scientific evidence to suggest you can do more than: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the overall size of the muscle, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve the definition by reducing the covering subcutaneous fat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've analyzed pictures of famous bodybuilders who claim to &quot;sculpt&quot; but I can guarantee you cannot show me two pictures side by side of any bodybuilder who changed the shape of their muscle. In every case, you might see that muscle become larger, or you might see the definition of the muscle more clearly because they are low body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the keys you have for defining your physique are nutrition and training to focus on fat burning and hypertrophy, but as far as having the larger, flatter vs. rounder muscles, that's given to you at birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T13:30:31.703" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2588" CreationDate="2011-04-07T16:58:03.920" Score="11" ViewCount="14634" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bound angle pose (pictured below) is supposed to stretch the inner thigh muscles and groin, but I can't even get to the point of feeling anything in in those areas because something in my outer hips is so tight it prevents me from getting my knees down toward the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kR3ZM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bound Angle Pose&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a wide angle seated forward bend (pictured below), on the other hand, I do feel the stretch in my inner thighs, and it doesn't affect my outer hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4PDOH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do yoga frequently and the tension in my outer hip has persisted. It's much tighter on my right side than on my left, so I worry about it causing imbalance-related problems in my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which muscle is causing the tension? Are there any stretches that will actually increase its flexibility (standard yoga poses haven't seemed to help). Unilateral stretches would be better so I can focus more on the right side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a visual of where I feel the tension. I realize the position of tension corresponds to the gluteus medius, but that muscle shouldn't be stretched in these positions... should it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XHz0l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditDate="2011-04-07T18:32:16.493" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T20:53:10.847" Title="Why is my outer hip tight when doing some inner thigh stretches?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1467" CreationDate="2011-04-07T17:19:38.550" Score="11" ViewCount="4013" Body="&lt;p&gt;You often hear people say &quot;My muscle turned into fat&quot; to explain why they used to be strong and in shape but now they are on the somewhat rotund side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is how does that transition actually happen?  Do your muscle fibers really &quot;turn into&quot; fat in any way, or is it &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; the slow decrease of muscle through lack of use, and increase of fat through bad eating habits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T17:17:38.070" Title="Does muscle really &quot;turn into&quot; fat?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1463" CreationDate="2011-04-07T17:37:48.987" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, muscles do not actually turn into fat.  &quot;My muscle turned into fat&quot; is a non-literal way of saying &quot;My muscle has been replaced by fat&quot; (which is not to say it was &lt;em&gt;actively&lt;/em&gt; replaced, either, just that the muscle has decreased and fat has increased).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases fat increase and muscle mass decrease can be linked to the same cause (inactivity), so the saying is somewhat intuitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T17:37:48.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1466" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1472" CreationDate="2011-04-07T18:04:33.253" Score="5" ViewCount="1220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to increase the amount of sprinting and cutting that I can do consecutively without getting burned out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently started a tough workout program/plan that has me doing jumps and lunges followed immediately by sprints with little down time in between reps. The &quot;little&quot; downtime turned into &quot;more&quot; downtime because I couldn't keep the pace up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to increase my anaerobic energy levels so I can increase my intensity and decrease my recovery time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 25, if that makes a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Edit:&lt;/b&gt; I should also add that I am 6'2&quot;, 190lbs and have been very active my whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what I am looking for is some general information on anaerobic endurance, anaerobic recovery and how to improve them.&lt;b&gt;/Edit&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Edit:&lt;/b&gt; I know how to pace my self as a distance runner, so I know what my aerobic energy levels can sustain over various distances. All of the exercises in this program surpass the levels that I can sustain continuously. How can I teach my body to recover quickly so I can surpass my aerobic levels repeatedly and then recover very, very quickly?&lt;b&gt;/Edit&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="732" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T20:38:17.570" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T20:38:17.570" Title="Increase Anaerobic Energy Levels" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1463" CreationDate="2011-04-07T18:09:50.430" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/865/1/Can-Fat-Turn-Into-Muscle-Or-Muscle-Into-Fat.html&quot;&gt;top&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physicalfitnet.com/ask_the_fitness_experts/does_muscle_turn_into_fat_from_not_exercising-7.aspx&quot;&gt;hits&lt;/a&gt; on a Google search will tell you definitively: no, muscle does not turn into fat. It's sort of true, but it's not that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscle is always being &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_turnover&quot;&gt;broken down and built back up&lt;/a&gt;, using amino acids as building blocks. When you're weight training, there's usually more synthesis than degradation going on, so your muscles grow. When you stop exercising, there's more degradation, so your muscles atrophy, releasing amino acids back into the blood stream. There are also amino acids from your diet in your bloodstream (dietary protein is broken down into amino acids before being absorbed). The amino acids in the bloodstream can have a couple different fates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Typically, they will go towards building protein in the body (almost everything in your body is made out of protein).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't have enough carbs or fat in your diet to meet your energy needs, amino acids will be used as fuel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your protein and energy needs are met and there are still amino acids left over, they will be converted into fat and stored. The specific amino acids that are converted into fat may have come from the diet or they may have come from muscle atrophy--they're all in one pool once they enter the bloodstream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's not like your six pack morphs into a beer belly, but it's possible for some of the protein from your muscles to be converted into fat (perhaps elsewhere in the body), if you're eating more protein than you need. However, you can see how saying it's a &quot;slow decrease of muscle through lack of use, and increase of fat through bad eating habits&quot; is a pretty accurate simplification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T18:09:50.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2011-04-07T20:07:52.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many variations and skill levels of personal trainers.  Some are vanilla gym guides, showing the proper use of equipment and how to set up a standard workout routine.  Others are available for specific sports and/or goals and/or recovery.  I would recommend listing what it is you're trying to achieve, how much time you have available and how much money you're willing to spend, and then search local gyms or recommendations from friends and then search the web for local ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that the best way to find one is through observing them train others (at your gym) and then picking the one who provides the type of interaction and results you want.  Personal training has a lot to do with good personality match and then skill level... it's not just direction but motivation that they provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:30:44.590" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:30:44.590" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-07T20:07:52.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-07T20:11:17.937" Score="10" ViewCount="985" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing strength and conditioning training for the last 4 months whilst adopting the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet&quot;&gt;Paleo diet&lt;/a&gt; from the outset, this has yielded positive results and I'm very happy with how things have gone.&#xA;I will soon be starting to train for my first marathon (eek!) and when I do my training regime will alter dramatically.&#xA;Instead of doing weights 3 days a week I'll be running 3 days a week with a side helping of strength training at weekends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the Paleo diet still a good choice for marathon training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: My typical daily diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x Eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optionally 2 x Bacon Rashers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post Training Snack&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein Shake w/whole milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large portion of Chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-3 Portions of cooked vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optionally a flaked Salmon Fillet on the side if I've trained particularly hard in the morning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pork Medallions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-3 Portions of cooked vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optionally some Sweet Potato Mash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein Shake before bed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditDate="2011-04-09T20:56:28.383" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T17:39:53.150" Title="Is Paleo A good marathon training diet?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1471" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1473" CreationDate="2011-04-07T20:35:15.047" Score="18" ViewCount="133906" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does bicycling compare to other exercises when it comes to fat loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about getting a single speed bike and riding to Uni which is about 10 minutes away by car. There is a nice trail along the highway-ish part that leads all the way to the University.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="471" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:09:24.887" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T23:35:29.937" Title="How does bicycling compare to other exercises when it comes to fat loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1466" CreationDate="2011-04-07T20:49:14.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creatine supplements can improve your ability to perform brief, intermittant, high intensity exercises.  This is specifically useful in weight training and sprint training.  By taking creatine supplements you increase your muscles stores of Phosphocreatine (PCr), which is used in the ATP/PC energy pathway (utilized for short bursts of intense activity &amp;lt; 10s). By increasing the stores of PCr you can extend the performance of the ATP/PC system and shorten it's recovery time.  While you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; see some better performances from the supplementation, it's primarily suited for allowing you to train longer and harder, so the specific training you do is going to be important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about repeated sprints that are in excess of 100m you are going to see diminishing returns from supplementation the longer you go.  To make improvements in this area you are going to need to do some training that targets the Glycolytic Pathway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you answer the questions in my comment I can provide a more specific answer about how to train to achieve the outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;  From the sounds of it you need to build your cardio base some more.  Without knowing a time frame I can't really make any suggestions.  You can continue on with the workouts as you are doing them and why they aren't intended to be cardio workouts they will serve this function until you are able to maintain the effort and stress the anaerobic lactic system.  If you have a lot of time it would be much more efficient to follow a periodized training plan that builds a cardio base before moving into phases that focus on lactic and alactic speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditDate="2011-04-07T21:17:55.383" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T21:17:55.383" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-04-07T20:51:02.227" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main indicator of &quot;fat burning&quot; in different exercises boils down to your rate of calorie burn, and how long you maintain that rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling is not a bad way to lose fat by that metric, since as you get trained up you can maintain a reasonable rate of burn for quite a long duration. Cycling burns (depending on the speed/amount of effort) several hundred calories per hour. When I'm out on a long ride I refuel at the rate of 150 or so calories per hour. Assuming that I don't completely erase that by overeating after a ride I get to keep that deficit for that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this being said, cycling 20-30 minutes per day is likely to make you stronger, but not trim you down super fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Should have been more clear on this, but cycling doesn't burn more calories per hour than running (or some other exercises). Cycling is, however, lower impact and for some people more enjoyable than running, allowing a greater amount of time in the calorie burning zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastEditorUserId="363" LastEditDate="2011-04-08T19:18:28.707" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T19:18:28.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-04-07T21:27:46.687" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cycling is a good way to burn fat but it's not going to be as efficient as running.&lt;/strong&gt;  Alesplin is right that it's all about the amount of calories burned (burning fat is going to depend on you burning more calories than you take in).  You can Google &quot;calorie burning chart for exercise&quot; or something similar and see a lot of different results that say a lot of different things (so I take them with a grain of salt) but ultimately I think you'll notice that in all of them they &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rate running as a better calorie burner than cycling&lt;/a&gt;.  Also I can tell you from experience that I have to go out for 1+ hr bike ride to feel the equivalent fatigue that I'd get from a 20 minute run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T21:27:46.687" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-04-07T23:56:11.040" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Riding to the university will be far more physical than taking the car, but the physical exertion will be dependent upon the speed you ride. A leisurely speed of 10 mph will not break a sweat, while a speed of 20mph will get your heart rate into the exercise zone and keep it there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As some examples, I can ride all day at 15 mph. At 18 mph, I can last about 5 miles. At 22 mph (the speed my co-workers prefer to pace themselves at), I can last about a half mile before I bonk. Tour-de-France riders average 30-35 mph over each day's stage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T23:56:11.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 2.5" />
  <row Id="1476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-04-08T02:59:20.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done both riding a bike and roller blading.  Biking never did much for me except the pleasure of riding, but roller blading did, especially after having gone to the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roller blading burns off a lot of calories and if the trail is well paved, you could alternate between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one year I was roller blading twice a week along this paved trail along Ontario Lake and lost a lot of weight without trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-04-08T08:06:54.083" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T08:06:54.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-04-08T10:37:16.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ride quite a lot, and I will say that getting bike fit doesn't take an extreme amount of time.  As for burning calories, whilst people are correct, in that running, per se, consumes more calories, it doesnt matter how fast or slow you run, you will only burn X amount of calories for Y distance run, wherre in cycling, the speed you cycle X distance at, determines how much you burn, and it rises with speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say, the more you push yourself, the more fat you will burn and on bikes, it is extremely easy to do interval training.  Personally, I road cycle 40 miles a trip and the undulating surfaces ensures I interval train without realising it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have this argument with many friends who run, but I think cycling is the best way to burn fat as you can actually cycle to and from places much easier than you can run i.e. I can cycle to the shops and back, I can visit friends, far easier than I can runing to the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="736" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T10:37:16.153" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-08T10:38:37.967" Score="1" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so I think constipation &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be relevant in this site because it's sort of related to nutrition, but..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the treatments to get rid of constipation is by using laxatives. However, I've heard that long-term uses of them are not desired, and can have detrimental effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about suppositories? From what I've heard, they just soften up the stool on the spot, so would it be fair to assume that there's not much to worry about in terms of long-term effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T17:25:38.250" Title="Long term effects of various constipation treatments?" Tags="&lt;medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-12-20T04:00:40.257" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1452" CreationDate="2011-04-08T16:30:18.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few thoughts come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your body simply can't use 60g of protein at one time.  Generally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://bale.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/protein-absorption-rate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;around 5-10g per hour&lt;/a&gt; is all the body can process.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_%28nutrient%29#Excess_consumption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The rest goes to various places...&lt;/a&gt;  1) converted to fat cells, 2) used by the body for energy (which is not really a good thing as protein is supposed to repair the body, not fuel it) or 3) excreted as waste.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your stomach is designed to process anything you put in your mouth so that the nutrients can be absorbed by the intestines as efficiently as possible.  I don't know that I'd be interested in bypassing that process as it would mean I'm not getting as much out of what I eat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best bet is to eat multiple times a day and include small portions of protein (10-20g) in each meal.  If you want to drink your protein, go right ahead, but understand that you are wasting a good portion of those 60g as urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="738" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T16:30:18.093" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1436" CreationDate="2011-04-08T16:47:09.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the strengthening pose we use in our yoga practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand with feet about hip-width apart.  We're going to work the left psoas.  Slightly bend your left knee and shift your weight to the right and stand firm on the right leg, feeling the four corners of your right foot pressing into the ground, especially the big toe.  Keep the right leg straight, but don't lock the knee out.  Your weight should be ever-so-slightly forward on your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place your left palm on the top of your left thigh.  Continue pressing that right leg strongly into the floor as you lift and bend your left knee trying to bring the left thigh parallel to the floor.  With the left hand, simply resist your left thigh as it raises.  Don't use more than 20% effort, anything else and you're working other muscles.  Very slight resistance is enough.   You aren't pressing down with the hand so much as you are simply acting as a barrier to moving your knee higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue to the left leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can also be done lying down if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="738" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T16:47:09.613" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1436" CreationDate="2011-04-08T17:31:34.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pulled out my copy of of &lt;a href=&quot;http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072971088/information_center_view0/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arnheim's Principles of Athletic Training&lt;/a&gt; to see what it had to say. I'm only going to give you the stuff related to strengthening/stretching, but it also lists a bunch of other therapy stuff you should be going through concurrently--if you want to give yourself the best chances of recovery, you should see a physiotherapist for rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, it says that after a groin strain (which includes a psoas strain) &lt;strong&gt;exercise should be delayed until the groin is pain free&lt;/strong&gt;, so make sure you don't get started up again too soon. Once you're ready for exercise, your program should focus on gradual restoration of the normal range of motion. It also says that until normal strength and flexibility are regained, you should wear a protective brace like one of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mhhe.com/hper/physed/athletictraining/illustrations/ch21/21-31.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mhhe.com/hper/physed/athletictraining/illustrations/ch21/21-42ab.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are a couple &lt;strong&gt;stretches for the hip flexors&lt;/strong&gt;.The &lt;strong&gt;lunge&lt;/strong&gt; and assisted stretch will target the iliopsoas. The stretch with the ankle held will target the quads (the rectus femoris works with the iliopsoas as a hip flexor). When doing the lunge, try to keep your pelvis neutral; if you tilt it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.70sbig.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/spine-atpost.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anteriorly&lt;/a&gt; (forward), it takes away from the stretch. If your other hip muscles have become tight due to lack of use, you should probably stretch those too. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exrx&lt;/a&gt; has quite a comprehensive set of stretches for the hip muscles (right column).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book has a sample injury management plan for a basketball player--not exactly the same as ultimate frisbee, but the running and direction changes are similar. Two to three weeks after the injury, they recommend doing &lt;strong&gt;resistance training&lt;/strong&gt; once a day (10 reps, 3 sets). When doing normal weight training you're supposed to leave at least 48 hours between workouts, so once you become stronger and start increasing resistance, I would stop doing this daily. Always remember that it &lt;em&gt;shouldn't hurt&lt;/em&gt;. A &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/CBStandingLegRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cable standing leg raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; would work the iliopsoas (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html#anchor1938598&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; for more options). Just like with stretching, you should target the other hip muscles as well--you probably haven't been using them as much due to the injury, and training the iliopsoas alone would create imbalances (same ExRx link as immediately above, just scroll). Other muscles that help the iliopsoas are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ThighWt.html#anchor172012&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quads&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/WaistWt.html#anchor172895&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abs&lt;/a&gt;, so you may want to focus on them as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get back into running, the book suggests you start in the pool:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jogging in chest-level water&lt;/strong&gt; (10 to 20 min) 1 or 2 times daily for first exercise rehabilitation week [2-3 weeks after injury] followed by &lt;strong&gt;flutter kick swimming&lt;/strong&gt; (pain free) once daily during subsequent weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water provides quite a bit of resistance, so it helps you build strength. Three to six weeks after the injury, you may be able to get back into jogging:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Begin a program of &lt;strong&gt;jogging on flat course&lt;/strong&gt;, slowly progressing to a 3-mile run once daily and then progressing to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://magazine.stack.com/Exercises/2215/Figure_8.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;figure eights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, start with obstacles 10 feet apart and gradually shortening distance to 5 feet, from one-half speed to full speed. &lt;em&gt;(link added for your reference)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The figure eights will prepare your muscles for the direction changes in your sport. &lt;strong&gt;Applying cold to the area&lt;/strong&gt; after exercise can also help prevent inflammation (excess inflammation slows down recovery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're outside the time window for this specific recovery time line, but most of this stuff is still probably worth trying, especially if you didn't do it within the first 6 weeks after your injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T17:31:34.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1426" CreationDate="2011-04-08T18:15:45.980" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading Starting Strength 2n Edition: Basic Barbell Training since last summer, including the awesome book about training plannings, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522703&quot;&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/a&gt; and I've been following Mark Rippetoe's very own &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot;&gt;Starting Strength site&lt;/a&gt; ever since then. Lots and lots of useful infos to be gained there! Now, I'm following the program since two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I don't lift anywhere close to the weight you're handling, I've certainly learned a few things, since I got in touch with SS, especially about recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, when one is in the novice phase (meaning, the body adapts fast, between 48 to 72 hours, which is enough time to allow an increase of workload in the next workout), you need to do some active recovery, if you want to be able handle the continually increased workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those Workouts A + B, which you mentioned, are meant to stimulate the most rapid growth in strength for a novice. It's not self-sustaining, however. For this model to work the novice needs to do everything he can to ensure, that he is getting enough sleep, protein and calories (and obviously vitamins and the like). Then he will recover just about enough to make through the next workout.&#xA;It's quite possible, you're not doing enough active recovery to get ready in time for the next workout, namely the squat. It's not exactly a bad thing, it just means, you will need longer to get the most out of the Novice's ability to adapt fast, and you won't be able to put additional weight every other workout, but maybe only every second or third workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's something else to consider: If you've nearly exhausted your ability to adapt for a higher workload between every workout, you might be close in approaching Intermediate level (which now can handle so much workload, that the recovery time needed to adapt now exceeds the time between two workouts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, 48 hours is enough time for recovery, if you do most things right (like eating lots and lots and sleep good and thorough) AND if you're still in the Novice phase. AND if you don't do silly, exhausting stuff in between. Then I would keep my schedule. If you don't do everything right, you should consider adding weights maybe every 2nd workout or so, to account for the slower rate of strength growth in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just to make sure, everyone understands it right: the term &quot;Novice&quot; DOES NOT stand for how much or how long you've been lifting weights. It stands for the ability to adapt fast enough to be able to handle higher weights after 48-72 hours - meaning, getting stronger within this timeframe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also the same for pretty much everyone, from the big young lad to an old lady, since it (the adaption I talked about) is a fundamental biological mechanism of the human body. Of course, the capability to handle weights differs for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="739" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T18:15:45.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1418" CreationDate="2011-04-08T19:34:03.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your stated goal, &quot;to lose weight&quot;, you have to do one thing, expend more calories than you take in.  It really doesn't matter what you do, eat, say, wear, or feel, that is the real and only answer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to put it in your context, what you want to do is a two things, 1) change the ratio of calories in to calories out by making tweaks to your diet and the way you eat, and 2) make changes to your routine, and thus your body, that will tip the scales in favor of weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet and nutrition variable can't be discounted!  A calorie is a calorie, and you must alter the ratio of calories in and calories out in order to lose weight.  Start small!  Drop a coke here and there, try a low fat alternative for that ice cream.  Start reducing the size of your portions a little bit.  Eat more often, snacking and grazing (on healthy food!) rather than having a few large, heavy meals.  Make small but constant and consistent changes to your diet that move you towards more efficient use of your calories.  Small changes here and there add up over time, so start small and don't rush this step, or you'll find it difficult to adhere to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your workout, you will burn more calories &lt;em&gt;over time&lt;/em&gt; by consistently doing resistance training than you will by consistently doing aerobics.  Most people will tell you that you burn more calories during a run than you will spending the same amount of time pushing iron.  This is true.  But it's not the whole story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get most of the weight-loss effect of aerobics &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; the exercise.  When you stop, your metabolism quickly returns to normal levels.  But with consistent and frequent resistance training (3-4 times a week), you are tearing your body down, literally, so that it must repair itself.  This requires a lot of energy - a calorie is nothing more than energy.  The more muscle you need to repair, the more calories your body will consume doing so.  This effect lasts for hours after your workout is complete.  You don't tear down much muscle during aerobic activity, so your body recovers from it much more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely alter your routine by adding some resistance training.  But don't stop the boxing, a balanced combination of the two is your best approach.  You actually need both weight training and aerobics to lose the most weight in the shortest period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And great job on the boxing!  I tried it for a week, and found a whole new respect for how hard it really is!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="738" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T19:34:03.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1470" CreationDate="2011-04-08T21:13:08.603" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll need to pay attention to the amount of carbs you're eating; while the basic paleo prescription tends to run lower carb, you'll want to eat things like yams and sweet potatoes pretty frequently. I would recommend Loren Cordain's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1594860890&quot;&gt;The Paleo Diet for Athletes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; as a good resource for more specifics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="65" LastActivityDate="2011-04-08T21:13:08.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1487" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1521" CreationDate="2011-04-09T06:34:51.867" Score="7" ViewCount="1183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started running again after a several-year hiatus. Most of my running so far has been on a treadmill indoors, because the weather has been bad, so I have relatively solid data for my progress so far. I've worked up from a 12-minute mile pace for 20 minutes to around 9 minutes per mile for the same 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I bought some minimalist running shoes, and have knocked my runs down to 10 minutes (and increasing my pace to almost 8 minutes per mile) this week so as not to overdo it. I'm now at a sort of critical junction in my training I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm training for the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back in June. My position has 3, 7, and 4 mile legs, the last of which climbs about 1600 feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to run a lot, and I did the Army Ten-Miler in 68 minutes, but that was 13 years ago, and for the last 4 or 5 years I haven't run much at all. Is it realistic to think I can both increase my average pace and at the same time increase my mileage to be ready for the race by June 17? I ask because I'd like to get my pace to 8 or less minutes per mile if possible, but with only 9 weeks I'm not sure I can do this and still build up the serious mileage and time I'll need to be properly conditioned for the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-14T16:33:54.400" Title="Increasing pace vs. increasing distance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1520" CreationDate="2011-04-09T07:13:15.543" Score="27" ViewCount="123993" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past 3 months I've lost 12.5kg/28 pounds doing it the &quot;right&quot; way:&#xA;Regular exercise with regular small low-fat meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 178cm/5.84 feet and now weigh 73.5kg/162 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest motivator to have kept this up might sound very silly and &quot;wrong&quot; but it worked: I made a bet with a friend that I could lose 14kg in 14 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those 14 weeks end in 4 days, on Wednesday, and I still have 1.5kg to go.&#xA;At the moment the weight loss obviously goes slower than when I still was carrying a bucket of fat on my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't want to lose the bet on a couple of grams so &lt;strong&gt;I'm looking for some kind of unhealthy brute-force attack I can do on my body to drop a lot of weight in the last days.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some extra info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I especially need advice on how much water to drink&lt;/strong&gt; and at what time. I currently drink a lot of water but I guess I should stop that at some point?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remember that just as a boxer, I &lt;strong&gt;know the exact time I will be standing on the scale.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm fully aware that this is unhealthy&lt;/strong&gt; and that I will gain that weight back by Thursday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastEditorUserId="3801" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T07:25:01.507" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T07:25:01.507" Title="Tricks to lose weight in 48 hours" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1492" CreationDate="2011-04-09T09:00:41.567" Score="17" ViewCount="10881" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer-intro.html&quot;&gt;quite intense body transformation&lt;/a&gt; coming up, and it is quite time consuming. Therefore I have finally decided I need to get rid of my worst habit - oversleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems, that every time I get the chance (free days, Saturdays, Sundays) it is quite common for me to sleep anywhere from 10-15 hours per night, and it is starting to take its toll. That means, that in any given day, I am losing 2-7 hours of valuable workout/study/work time, which is no more fine by me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;How do I get rid of oversleeping?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some background info&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;I am a freelance programmer therefore I spend quite a lot of time at a computer. I also study IT, so a bit more time is spent sitting. I currently don't work out at a gym, but have quite intense (3h+) dance practices 2x a week, so I'm not also completely sedentary. I am also a bit overweight, therefore the transformation. I am not currently on any diet per-se, but I try to keep things balanced. In regards to sleep, because of work, there are times (about 1x a week) when I have to work really late, like 4am, and get up at 6am for studies.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2016-03-26T13:12:44.637" Title="How to get rid of oversleeping?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2011-04-09T15:11:35.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_cleansing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;colon cleansing&lt;/a&gt;. That's pretty drastic. But not really sure how long it takes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-04-09T15:11:35.077" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2011-04-09T15:16:29.723" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thin you could do is get up and move around. A lot. Move your legs, don't let the blood and water pool in your ankles. Heavy exercises that make you sweat a lot such as squats and dead lifts. If you don't weight lift then get out and run or bike hard. If you have access to a sauna, us it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your diet, cut back on carbs. They are hydrophilic which means they soak up water. And drink lots of water. Contrary to what you might expect, your body wont hold onto water if you're not dehydrated. Try drinking a half gallon or more of water each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-04-09T15:16:29.723" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1489" CreationDate="2011-04-09T15:24:09.593" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing you could probably do is go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every day - even on the weekends. This let's your body get use to the rhythm of your days and you wont want to sleep longer than you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trick you can use is to turn on all the lights in your bedroom as soon as your alarm goes off. I suffered from the same thing you did and I read that, by turning on all the lights, it tricks your body into thinking it's morning. Especially helpful if you get up before the sun like I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-04-09T15:24:09.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="512" CreationDate="2011-04-09T15:25:41.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of salsa and other latin dances which Zumba is based on.  Mind you I'll do about 3-4 hours of it a week.  And it does burn off a lot of calories.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get really good at Zumba with proper weight transfers and balance and can follow the music, then you'll really enjoy it and the weight will almost fall off on its own.  Zumba like any other dancing is all about enjoying yourself.  Pushing yourself to do more complicated dance patterns and moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick is not to set a weight loss goal, it's to set a dancing achievement goal, that way you'll get addicted and never stop enjoying. Then maybe go take real Zumba classes to challenge yourself, trade tips, etc.  Next thing you know you could become a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zumba.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zumba instructor&lt;/a&gt;.  It's all about the right motivation.  You may not want to become an instructor, but still aim for it so you never stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, step on toes first, strengthen the core to help with the weight transfers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-04-09T15:44:27.813" LastActivityDate="2011-04-09T15:44:27.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1495" CreationDate="2011-04-09T15:38:07.370" Score="12" ViewCount="11901" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past I've heard Abs are different from other muscle groups.  You can work on your Abs everyday, but then I've also heard, Abs are like any other muscle groups.  It needs rest for recovery.  So, my question is, how often can you work on your Abs?  Can it be a daily routine or should you work on it every other day?  What's the best rest day/days between each Abs session?  Would like to achieve sculpted Abs with rock hard core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: To clarify, I have a set weekly workout routine, but am looking for peak performance specifically targeting my Abs.  Also, I have a strict healthy diet currently and looking to improve it as well.  I am looking for that extra boost into the 6-8 pack Abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="92" LastEditDate="2011-04-11T02:02:34.073" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T02:50:09.183" Title="How often can a person work on their Abs?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1494" CreationDate="2011-04-09T16:03:41.600" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abs are muscles like any other muscle in your body. What's different is the typical exercise regimen. Most people train abs with crunches, sit-ups, etc., which are tantamount to a very high-rep exercise with low weight. Compare with a bench press where you're doing at most sets of 10-12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This high-rep exercise is probably not too effective for much more than perhaps endurance for very light-weight work. Certainly because of the light weight, it's only hitting the slow-twitch muscles which recover quickly so you could do this sort of exercise every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to build muscle strength and mass I think you'll need to involve heavier weight, which means fewer reps to failure, which means involving your various fast-twitch fibers, which means more rest between workouts as the fast-twitch fibers (three kinds, actually) take longer to recover than the slow-twitch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this said, having &quot;sculpted&quot; abs is primarily about shedding body fat rather than doing exercises to shape and grow your abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-09T16:03:41.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-09T20:48:31.607" Score="9" ViewCount="702" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically when I workout I am not sore the next day. I'm sore the day after the next day.&#xA;My workout buddy is always sore the very next day, and I think he usually recovers faster. I was wondering if anyone else has heard of this. Could it be a problem with nutrition, or is it genetics? Is this common? Any help is appreciated =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user743" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-26T22:00:39.307" LastActivityDate="2011-05-26T22:00:39.307" Title="Am I getting sore too late?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1496" CreationDate="2011-04-09T21:59:31.483" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are experiencing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt; (DOMS). The severity of DOMS is determined by the way your lift weights and your nutrition. Experiencing DOMS days after your workout is not bad. It is a sign of muscle growth, although not the only sign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Workout&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two parts to a repetition - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;concentric and eccentric&lt;/a&gt;. The concentric portion occurs when you lift against gravity. For example, lifting upwards on a barbell curl is concentric. The eccentric portion occurs when the weight falls in the direction of gravity. For example, letting the barbell fall back towards your thighs.  DOMS is increased by lengthening the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Eccentric_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;eccentric contraction&lt;/a&gt;. For example, slowly lowering the barbell in a controlled manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles undergoing heavy eccentric&#xA;loading suffer greater damage when&#xA;overloaded (such as during muscle&#xA;building or strength training&#xA;exercise) as compared to concentric&#xA;loading. When eccentric contractions&#xA;are used in weight training, they are&#xA;normally called negatives. During a&#xA;concentric contraction, muscle fibers&#xA;slide across each other, pulling the&#xA;Z-lines together. During an eccentric&#xA;contraction, the filaments slide past&#xA;each other the opposite way, though&#xA;the actual movement of the myosin&#xA;heads during an eccentric contraction&#xA;is not known. Exercise featuring a&#xA;heavy eccentric load can actually&#xA;support a greater weight (muscles are&#xA;approximately 10% stronger during&#xA;eccentric contractions than during&#xA;concentric contractions) and also&#xA;results in greater muscular damage and&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/strong&gt; one to&#xA;two days after training. Exercise that&#xA;incorporates both eccentric and&#xA;concentric muscular contractions (i.e.&#xA;involving a strong contraction and a&#xA;controlled lowering of the weight) can&#xA;produce greater gains in strength than&#xA;concentric contractions alone.&#xA;While unaccustomed heavy eccentric&#xA;contractions can easily lead to&#xA;overtraining, moderate training may&#xA;confer protection against injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does the eccentric contraction increase DOMS, but not the concentric contraction? From the Wikipedia article, it appears that the eccentric contraction uses a very different mechanical process and is fueled by different nutrients. I recall watching a video on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/Instructionalfitness&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Intructional Fitness&lt;/a&gt; saying that workouts with extremely prolonged eccentric contractions cause DOMS, not the day after the workout, but actually two days after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nutrition&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert on how nutrition affects DOMS, but I've read in numerous places that eating &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branched-chain_amino_acids&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;branch chain amino acids&lt;/a&gt; reduces DOMS by repairing muscle faster. BCAAs are found in most high end protein powders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-04-09T22:05:12.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2011-04-10T00:53:12.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In wrestling we used water weight loss for quick weight loss. Yes it isn't permanent and it isn't particularly healthy. It was not unusual for me to lose 5 to 7 pounds (2-3 kg) in water weight per workout before the weigh-in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T00:53:12.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1489" CreationDate="2011-04-10T06:33:46.470" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are a programmer like I am; that means that your most important feature is your brain. &quot;Oversleeping&quot; is not a problem. Overweight is a problem. Insufficient sleep is a problem. Sleeping is very important for keeping your brain working properly. Without your brain, you have no job. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That 10-15 hour sleep on the weekends is your body's way of recovering what you've cheated it out of during the week. Sure, I'd love several extra hours per day, who wouldn't? You and I have the exact same 24 hours per day that every other human has. There is no other way around the fact that we're both meat bags and the bag of meat requires maintenance. Yes, we can be a lot more productive with 25+ hours per day, but reality doesn't allow that. My body prefers 9 hours of sleep per night: my lifestyle requires that I get 6 hours of sleep per night. Both things cannot be true - something has to give. For me, the weekends are for recovering what I can't get during the week. As you age, you will realize that your body is more important than your desired lifestyle. Get the sleep your body wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T06:33:46.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1489" CreationDate="2011-04-10T17:49:06.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to do a little research into why you are oversleeping so much - both revolve around the quality of sleep. There are two thoughts that I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at your diet. Your diet can greatly affect your sleep cycle. Don't eat a large meal before you go to bed. Steer clear of sugars and carbs (particularly white sugar) before going to bed. If you do have a snack before bed (so you are not hungry), have something light and healthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One reason you may be oversleeping is that the time you do spend sleeping is not quality time. You said that you are slightly overweight. Have you looked into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sleep apnea&lt;/a&gt; at all? You may be waking yourself up (though, not fully) throughout the night, thus you aren't entering restful sleep states and, thus, aren't really sleeping that well. Are you sweating at night? If so, try to change the temperature of the room/your bedding/what you are wearing to bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, Sparafusile had an excellent piece of advice - go to bed at the same time every night. As part of this, you mentioned you are a programmer/into IT. Are you looking at a screen within an hour of your bed time? If so, stop that. Studies have shown that screens actually prevent the brain from winding down and sending appropriate &quot;I am sleepy&quot; signals to the body. Give that hour of time before bed a chance to wind down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T17:49:06.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1503" CreationDate="2011-04-10T17:52:54.753" Score="4" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have both recently been discussing how we can eat healthier. We've been planning menus involving lots of fruit and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, low sugars, good fats, etc. However, we still don't have an overall picture of our nutrition content throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we have been tracking what we eat through a Google Docs spreadsheet, can anybody provide a recommendation for a way (I'm thinking a website) to easily track what we eat and what kind of nutrition we are getting. An excellent feature of the site would be one that &quot;knows&quot; food products. So, if I type in, &quot;Raisin Bran&quot; and then type in &quot;1 Cup&quot; it knows how many calories, fat content, sugars, etc that I got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-04-10T18:31:47.533" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T03:58:34.263" Title="Tracking What We Eat?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;diet-tools&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-11T14:24:22.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1502" CreationDate="2011-04-10T18:31:06.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hate to say just Google it, but... just Google &quot;calorie counter&quot;. There are no end of sites that do this. A couple that I've liked include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailyburn.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daily Burn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calorieking.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calorie King&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These sites all have most common foods, macronutrient breakdowns, and typically allow users to enter custom foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you want to be a little more hands-on, the USDA publishes a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR17/dnload/sr17dnld.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;free nutrient database&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T18:31:06.327" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-11T14:24:22.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1524" CreationDate="2011-04-10T19:40:34.270" Score="3" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are hundreds of weight loss and 'get fit' programs out there that it becomes an overwhelming and daughnting task in choosing one that is helpful. I undersand that everyone is different in the dynamics of 'losing weight' or 'getting fit'. What I'm wondering is this: Are there common factors that affect all of us in the quest of becoming fit?  If so, what are these common factors? Are there some that are more important than others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T20:34:58.057" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T20:34:58.057" Title="What are the essentials to getting fit?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;tips&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-03-01T04:46:10.743" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1502" CreationDate="2011-04-10T20:39:57.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also try &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NutritionData&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mypyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyPyramid&lt;/a&gt;. This site doesn't give the nutrition content of foods, but it can give you a better idea of how many servings of each of the food groups you should be getting. You may find it beneficial for tracking purposes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user754" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T20:39:57.677" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-11T14:24:22.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1504" CreationDate="2011-04-10T21:51:41.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My number one essential for getting fit is being realistic. If you go on a proper diet and exercise regime, which is a given, you will have setbacks and failures. Accepting those and then pushing yourself to get back into your diet and regime ASAP will do you wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be determined and realize that it takes about a month of very hard discipline.  After a month you'll start seeing some changes and things will become easier on your brain as you won't need as much focus to eat well and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That has been my experience when dieting and exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T21:51:41.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1514" CreationDate="2011-04-10T21:55:12.490" Score="3" ViewCount="1289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm vegetarian and have been hearing that in addition to protein synthesis being more difficult for us, some amino-acids may be more difficult to acquire. Does anyone know of which vegetables have those aminos or know of a good source?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="755" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T18:00:27.200" Title="What plants provide which essential amino-acids?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1502" CreationDate="2011-04-10T22:00:30.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For iPhone and Web I used to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.loseit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lose It!&lt;/a&gt;  It's one of the best apps and websites out there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped using it when I went to Android and now use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; which is also available for the web. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these allow you to create recipes, track foods, calories (fats, carbohydrates and protein) as well as exercises that you do.  If you buy a chocolate bar track it right away and see where you are in your calorie allotment for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T22:00:30.503" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-11T14:24:22.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1513" CreationDate="2011-04-10T22:40:10.037" Score="40" ViewCount="24830" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its a well documented fact that testosterone in essential for muscle development. So much so that some will want to go to the lengths of taking synthetic testosterone in order to aid their development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not somewhere I want to go. What are the best natural ways of boosting your testosterone levels?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way I am aware of is to squat heavy, since it engages so many muscles it will naturally lead to a boost. Any other ways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2013-03-11T10:01:13.513" Title="How do I naturally boost my Testosterone levels?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="19" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1494" CreationDate="2011-04-10T22:47:55.697" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than purely consider working your abs alone you should focus more on core strength. Your core includes your abs but also includes down from the chest right to the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a strong core will allow your abs to develop and be more pronounced based on the fact that the muscle around and underneath will see development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to build a strong core and in turn strong abs the following exercises are key:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (The daddy of all exercises)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Plank (Hold as long as you can, rest 30 seconds then do it again)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side Plant (Similar routine to front plank)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your squats and dead lifts if done correctly should be done no more than twice a week on different days as they will require recovery but you can probably safely do the planks after every exercise session, even daily as your core tends to recover a lot quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these train the abs and the stabilizer muscles of the core. Note that term stabilizer; this is key. The core is designed to stop things moving around and protect the spine. Too many crunches / sit-ups etc and you're asking for back problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned you also need to get your body fat down in order to be able to see your abs. There is a saying that abs are made in the kitchen, and in order to get them showing you're going to have to eat very clean and get that body fat down to something like sub 12% to really see what you've got there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T22:47:55.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1507" CreationDate="2011-04-10T22:52:22.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following vegetables give you a complete essential amino acid profile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quinoa&lt;/strong&gt; - can be eaten like rice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nBM80.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;quinoa&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soybean&lt;/strong&gt; - as tofu, milk, miso&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CTUFr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spirulina&lt;/strong&gt; - great as a sweat drink&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WTOq7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;spirulina&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Buckweat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vfUOo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Buckweat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hempseed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pH5g2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;hempseed&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Amaranth&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Um5ca.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Amaranth&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T22:52:22.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2011-04-10T23:05:36.967" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/030746363X&quot;&gt;The Four Hour Body&lt;/a&gt; examines a couple &quot;protocols&quot; for increasing testosterone, albeit with the goal for increased sexual performance rather than muscle development:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Protocol 1: Long-term and Sustained&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fermented cod liver oil + vitamin-rich butter fat&lt;/em&gt; - 2 capsules&#xA;  upon waking and before bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vitamin D3&lt;/em&gt; - 3,000-5,000 IU upon waking and before bed, until you reach&#xA;  blood levels of 55ng/mL.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Short ice baths and/or cold showers&lt;/em&gt; - 10 minutes each upon waking&#xA;  and before bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brazil nuts&lt;/em&gt; - 3 nuts upon waking, 3 nuts before bed (only if you're&#xA;  deficient in selenium)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Protocol 2: Short-term &quot;Nitro Boost&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;20-24 Hours Prior to &quot;Activity&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eat 800 mg of cholesterol within three hours of bedtime the night&#xA;  before &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;4 Hours Prior to &quot;Activity&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;4 Brazil nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 Raw almonds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;2 capsules of the fermented cod/butter combination mentioned above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Note that the above was hand-typed and without pages of context, and is a rough, but not exact, paraphrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few notes behind the reasoning for these protocols extracted from elsewhere in the book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cholesterol before bed&lt;/em&gt; - Testosterone is derived from cholesterol, and is primarily produced during sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Almonds&lt;/em&gt; - Rich in vitamin E, which counters oxidative stress that lowers testosterone (and sperm production) and (along with vitamin A and selenium) treats partial androgen deficiency in males.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vitamin D&lt;/em&gt; - Acts as a steroid hormone and regulates a number of genes related to muscular growth and performance. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fermented Cod Liver Oil + Vitamin-Rich Butter Fat&lt;/em&gt; - Contains vitamin A (directly correlated with testosterone production), vitamin K2 (activator for vitamin A/D dependent proteins).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ice Baths&lt;/em&gt; - Weak support, supposedly increases high-frequency pulses of GnRH, which results in higher levels of testosterone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brazil Nuts&lt;/em&gt; - Selenium-rich, and more effective that direct selenium supplementation. Selenium increase sperm production and quality. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T23:05:36.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2011-04-10T23:09:25.110" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;Age and genetics are the major factors in testosterone generation. It peaks in your 30s and drops steadily thereafter. There are some things you can actively do to increase testosterone level, but the effects will be miniscule compared to what your age and genetics have already given you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kraemer et al, 1991; Kraemer et al 1990:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High volume, multiple set&lt;/strong&gt; programs are&#xA;  more effective at increasing the&#xA;  body's production of testosterone and&#xA;  growth hormone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working large muscles such as those in the legs also slightly increases HGH and testosterone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat less soy.&lt;/strong&gt; Soy increases estrogen, a female hormone, which lowers testosterone. There's scientists on both sides of this. Some say the soy isoflavones are 1/10,000 the potency of real estrogen, so there's no real danger in eating soy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get more zinc&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Zinc is very important for the&#xA;  production of natural testosterone&#xA;  because Zinc prevents testosterone&#xA;  from being converted into estrogen&#xA;  (the female hormone) by making the&#xA;  enzyme aromatase not work (look at #3&#xA;  below) plus...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Zinc itself turns estrogen into&#xA;  testosterone and Zinc helps produce&#xA;  healthier sperm and higher sperm&#xA;  counts so actually... Low levels of&#xA;  zinc can cause low testosterone&#xA;  levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Foods high in Zinc include oysters (a&#xA;  natural aphrodisiac), beef, liver,&#xA;  crab, seafood, poultry, nuts and&#xA;  seeds, salmon, brown rice, cheese,&#xA;  pine nuts, beans, turkey, milk,&#xA;  yogurt, and cottage cheese or you can&#xA;  supplement with at least 50-to-100mg&#xA;  of Zinc daily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get more sleep.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A university of Chicago study showed&#xA;  that men who got little sleep had way&#xA;  lower testosterone levels than men who&#xA;  got 6-to-8 hours of sleep and...&#xA;  According to a University of North&#xA;  Carolina study... Your testosterone&#xA;  levels can drop down by as much as 40&#xA;  PERCENT when you don't get enough&#xA;  sleep and generally...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Less stress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you get stressed out - your body&#xA;  releases a &quot;stress&quot; hormone called&#xA;  cortisol that shuts down testosterone&#xA;  production&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T23:09:25.110" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1507" CreationDate="2011-04-10T23:17:39.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many plant foods have all the essential amino acids, but the ratios may be far-off of what your body needs, meaning you'd have to eat a huge amount in order to get an adequate dose of the rarer amino acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1344/foods-with-optimal-amino-acid-profile/1345#1345&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; which examines the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) demonstrating not only which foods are complete, but how well they correlate to our dietary needs when taking into account digestibility and ratios. As a quick summary, soy has a very good ratio, followed by chickpeas, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Grains aren't so good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-04-10T23:17:39.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1515" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1516" CreationDate="2011-04-11T01:53:34.827" Score="18" ViewCount="50596" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I do pull-ups, Palms facing in, my body swings forward and backward. I'm trying to avoid this because I was told that swinging will make pull-ups &quot;easier&quot;, and take stress off of the target muscles. Is staying straight something that I will have to train myself to do? Am I doing them wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T12:39:48.960" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T16:21:56.080" Title="How Can I Stop Swinging On Pull-Ups?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1515" CreationDate="2011-04-11T02:27:44.343" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cross your ankles while doing pull-ups it will keep your feet from moving upwards, which is the main cause of swinging.  Focus on using only your arms to do your pull-ups and try to engage your core (abs and obliques) as much as you can to keep yourself from swinging. If you're still swinging, slow down your pace, not only will this keep you from swinging but it will make the pull-ups harder to do and it will be a better workout for your arms. It may help to pretend that there's a big thick steel bar running from your legs through your pelvis to the tip of your head that is unbendable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="716" LastEditorUserId="19601" LastEditDate="2016-03-03T16:21:56.080" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T16:21:56.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1515" CreationDate="2011-04-11T02:35:42.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you do pull-ups or chin-ups you'll naturally bend at the hips and the knees.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just straighten your knees at the top of the movement and you'll counter the swinging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T22:19:54.680" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T22:19:54.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1494" CreationDate="2011-04-11T02:50:09.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Greg said...&#xA;Most ab exercises target slow twitch muscle fibers, so they can be trained on a daily basis.&#xA;However, since slow twitch muscle fibers have a greater propensity to grow, they might not be what you want to target in order to get a 6 pack.  Nonetheless, without decreasing your body fat, the sculpted abs will never show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training abs, you need to remember to target the muscle group at several different angles in order to work every part of the core.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T02:50:09.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1502" CreationDate="2011-04-11T03:58:34.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a big fan of www.fitday.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has lots of foods in it already where you can set the portion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can also enter custom foods right from the nutrition label of whatever you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite part of fitday is the pie chart that shows the percentage of calories from fat, carbs, and protein.  That's why I use fitday to write diets for competitors...love the pie chart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T03:58:34.263" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-11T14:24:22.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2011-04-11T04:14:59.423" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay...I have the answer.  I'm a bodybuilder, so this is the kind of stuff we do...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not lift heavy weights for large muscle groups.  I will make you swell.&#xA;Do not do a colon cleanse this close.  It can make you hold water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However much water you drank on Sunday, do the same on Monday.&#xA;Assuming you drank a gallon or more of water Sunday, Drink half of that on Tuesday before 6pm.&#xA;After 6pm, only sip as needed totaling less than a pint between 6pm Tuesday and 12pm Wednesday.&#xA;I'm assuming you're weighing in at 12pm Wednesday, so adjust accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop eating all carbohydrates immediately, including fruit.  Also stop any dairy products.&#xA;Only eat protein and veggies with no sodium added.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For protein, do not eat egg whites.  I suggest ground turkey of ground beef.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For veggies, I suggest asparagus because it is also a natural diuretic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercise, just sweat as much as possible.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do not soak in a tub or hot tub.  Dry sauna would be fine.&#xA;On Tuesday and Wednesday, only shower very quickly...in and out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T04:14:59.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1487" CreationDate="2011-04-11T05:00:34.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can probably increase your pace for the 3 and 4 mile legs, but hitting an 8 mile pace for the 7 mile leg I would consider and accomplishment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fastest way to increase your conditioning and pace is to incorporate interval training into your runs.  It can be done on a treadmill, but you should really get out and run outside if that's where you're race will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some sprint intervals where you sprint 20-30 seconds every 2-5 minutes.&#xA;Do some long intervals where you run a strong pace for 3-5 minutes every 10 minutes.&#xA;Do hill intervals where you drive up the hill, then jog or walk back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest doing 3 of these types of workouts per week.&#xA;Combine the interval workouts with with 2 easy runs per week, one paced long run for distance, and an off day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T05:00:34.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1452" CreationDate="2011-04-11T05:09:39.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that the 60 gram shake is a little excessive, but I would argue that a 40g shake is an appropriate serving size depending on your body composition and activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the timing of your meal, I'd say you could benefit more from this shake if you had it immediately after training instead of first thing in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I do not suggest the shake first thing in the morning is that ideally you'd have a slower absorbing protein and carbohydrates in the morning.  Many people drink protein shakes first thing in the morning, and do perfectly fine.  It is a better choice than skipping breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="599" LastEditDate="2011-04-11T16:51:31.943" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T16:51:31.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2011-04-11T12:37:40.440" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I wanted to lose weight very quickly in 2 days and found a pineapple diet.  Simplistically, all we ate pineapples 3 times a day, a large tin, and one banana as a treat.  I don't know how, I don't know why, but we both lost 10 lbs in 2 days.  I am guessing most of it was water, as we spent an inordinate amount of time on the toilet, but it worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, get over to Dhaka and eat off the food stalls in the streets.  I lost 47lbs in 2 weeks.  Bit drastic, and I couldn't move for two weeks, through energy loss and the need to be within sight of a toilet 24/7, but it worked...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="736" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T16:34:01.757" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T16:34:01.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1504" CreationDate="2011-04-11T14:09:57.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some components of fitness improve both your performance and health, and others only improve your performance (power training, agility training, etc.). I would say the most essential components of a fitness program are the ones that improve your health. These are generally listed as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardiovascular endurance: achieved by doing things like running, aerobics, swimming, cardio machines, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscular strength and endurance: achieved by doing resistance training (lifting weights), sprint training, and some styles of yoga.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flexibility: achieved by stretching, yoga, martial arts, and some styles of dance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body Composition: achieved by balancing your diet and exercise keep body fat and muscle levels within the healthy range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the most basic exercise program should include some cardio, some resistance training , some stretching, and some attention to your diet. Cardio and resistance training contribute to weight loss. During cardio, you burn quite a few calories, and weight training causes an increase in muscle mass, which raises your metabolic rate so you burn more calories at rest. Different people have different opinions about which is more important for weight loss. I'd say diet is more important than either though. It can take over 20 minutes to burn 250 calories, but less than a minute to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/mars-mars-bar-7149738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eat them all back&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T14:09:57.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1533" CreationDate="2011-04-11T17:18:57.993" Score="5" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've maintained a pretty poor diet for most of my adult life, and as a software developer, I've spent most of my time behind a desk with very little exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since New Year 2011 I've lost nearly 2st (12s12 to 11s1) by eating sensibly and running 3 times a week.  I started following the Couch25K plan and I'm now working towards running 10K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've surprised the hell out of myself with what I've achieved and I want to continue my fitness run, but I don't really know where to head next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to lose the remaining fat that I have around my belly, though I also have to be realistic about what I can achieve. My diet will never be perfect, I don't eat much fruit or veg, and now that I've hit my goal weight I like to treat myself to the odd bit of junk food and beers on a weekend - is it possible to lose the last bit of fat without having a perfect diet?  I've also read that it takes a long time to lose this last bit of weight, but have no idea whether than means months or years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also like to start gaining some muscle.  I'm not adverse to the idea of joining a gym, but feel like I'll just be using a load of random machines without actually knowing what I'm doing or if I'm doing the right thing.  What's the best way to get started with gaining muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Anthony&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="759" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T02:36:37.537" Title="Lost weight and getting fit - where to go from here?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2011-04-11T17:46:26.430" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a word of advice. Losing weight is not something you do for a while and then stop without reverting back to your once chubby self. I hate when people say they're &quot;going on a diet&quot; because this implies that they will eventually &quot;go off&quot; the diet. Losing weight, staying fit, and keeping healthy is not a temporary thing you can do and have it stick, it's a constant commitment to that lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description, you've got only the basic understanding of what it is you're doing right to lose weight. My first suggestion is to start reading everything you can get your hands on concerning healthy living. There are thousands of websites devoted to getting fit and staying there. Many are bogus or trying to sell you something, but you'll easily recognize and disregard those soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be intimidated by a gym. There are a lot of machines for you to use and for a first timer it can be overwhelming. Go during a non-busy time and ask a trainer who's not currently with a client or anyone else on staff how to use the equipment. They are there to keep you as a happy and paying customer. They might give you a hard sell to sign a personal trainer contract, but don't feel pressured. On the other hand, a trainer could be just the thing you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T17:46:26.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2011-04-11T17:53:17.413" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing to understand is that there's a lot of ways to losing weight and a lot of people here (or anywhere) will make many different recommendations, so here's mine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find something that will keep you motivated for a LONG LONG TIME - without that, you're very likely to slip back.  Motivation could come from a fitness goal like the one you set, a sport that you are/want-to participate in, just feeling good and internalizing that feeling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get some good advice on a program to reach your goals (the something that will keep you going).  Advice could come from a personal trainer or some good books (here's one that I've found very helpful in regards to good, simple and effective weight training: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004IE9RBW&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Maximum-ebook/dp/B004IE9RBW/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1302544083&amp;amp;sr=8-5&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a log of what you're goals are, what you've accomplished, what you did during your exercise program and what you're eating - writing things down help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't be discouraged - seek out like minded people either locally OR virtually (like here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T17:53:17.413" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2011-04-11T18:24:19.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried to take 1g (1,000mg) of Vitamin C approximately one hour before your workout?  You can also take another gram an hour or two after your workout (half-life of Vitamin C is approx 3-4 hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic idea is that having an antioxidant in your system will combat any oxidation that is caused by the workout.  (Trying to be brief here)  I'll try to add references/links in an update.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method you can try is to alternate hot and cold water during your after-workout shower.  Try 20-30 seconds per cycle (approx)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water should expand/contract your blood vessels and in doing so, could 'wash' out any waste products in your blood stream. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still sore?  Treat soreness with an analgesic creme, like Aspercreme. Use it to keep the pain-levels down to something more managable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T18:24:19.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1515" CreationDate="2011-04-11T19:01:57.913" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to slow down the pace until you can do full pull-ups with good form and not swing. If you feel that you do not have the power to do the pull-ups with good form, use alternative ways of doing them until you are strong enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternative pull-ups can be either with one or two legs on something a bit elevated from the ground so that you can help lifting yourself. You can also do negative repetitions to build strength where you have a chair or such and lift your body up and then slowly sink down without help still with good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="632" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T19:01:57.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-11T21:58:17.370" Score="10" ViewCount="24336" Body="&lt;p&gt;My eight-year old daughter is playing soccer.  She's not terrible but she is just slow compared to all the other girls.  Any ideas on exercises or drills that can help her run faster?  Never been much of an athlete myself so I have limited knowledge in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:56:49.067" Title="Exercises to improve speed and running ability" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-04-12T00:06:45.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just personal experience, over the past few months I started doing a large number of squats three times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play soccer all year round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an increase in take-off speed, I can run at higher speeds later in a game and I also feel my thighs aren't as sore during recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: You will need to figure out personally what a reasonable number of squats your child should be doing or if this is suitable for someone her age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T00:06:45.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2011-04-12T01:26:22.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you are giving mixed messages within your question.&#xA;You want to loose the remaining fat around your belly, and understand that it takes a long time to lose that last bit, but you also said you already met your goal, and want to be able to reward yourself with junk food and beer.  In addition, you have already set yourself up for failure by stating that your diet will never be perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the thing...&#xA;That last bit is the absolute hardest to lose.  You need to really commit to taking it off, or be okay with not losing it.  Pretending like maybe it'll just slough off if you sort of eat okay still, is thoroughly unrealistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens to lots of people, is that they reach an intermediate goal, reward themselves, and start to slide backward.  It takes a lot more work to lose weight than it does to maintain a weight.  If you can ramp up the intensity in the homestretch, you can get the rest of the weight off...if that is what you want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best beginner weight training routine is a circuit made up of 3 movements done consecutively...a push, a pull, and a squat.  You do each exercise one after the other resting minimally between sets of 20, and repeating for 2-5 circuits.&#xA;A push movement can be a bench press, any cable exercise simulating the same pressing motion, or even an overhead shoulder pressing movement.&#xA;A pull movement would be a low row, bent row, one arm row, or you could substitute a lat pull.&#xA;A squat movement could be a free bar squat, dumbbell squat, leg press, or lunges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anthony,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't mean to be so hard on you, just trying to keep you based in reality.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Considering that you have not incorporated weight training into your routine thus far, I imagine that when you do, you'll push past your current plateau.  I can not say whether it would be a couple months or a year to get your weight down because everybody is different.  Plus, I'm not sure what your weight was/is because it doesn't read clearly in your original post.  That information could help me to lend more insight in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me suggest that you start the circuit routine I described, and if you have not been incorporating a cheat meal already in your diet, that you start doing that also.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cheat meal can stimulate your metabolism whereas strict dieting for an extended period can stall your metabolism.  You have to be careful with a cheat meal and make sure you don't get out of control and that it doesn't become a cheat day (speaking from experience).  Also, since it stimulates your metabolism, you may end up feeling more hungry which can require you to have even more resolve on your diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leave the alcohol out of the equation for now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd love to hear how you progress when you make these changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="599" LastEditDate="2011-04-13T02:36:37.537" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T02:36:37.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-04-12T01:42:12.290" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;She's probably just not as developed neurologically as some of the other kids.  Drills for quick foot work is what she'll need to work on the most.  She'll need to practice with lots of repetition on a daily basis to show marked improvement if other girls her age seem to be preforming above her skill set right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a wall she can kick the soccer ball against over and over, she'll be able to get a lot of practice in that way.  You can play with her sort of like racket ball, with a soccer ball.  That's probably the easiest way to get her interested in working on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course any old school foot ball drills would be the number one way to improve footwork.  Ball and Chain, Karaoke, high knees, but kicks, skipping, and bounding.  They're tough to explain in words, but they're pretty standard drills that you shouldn't have trouble finding video of on line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T01:42:12.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-04-12T04:21:41.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some kids' motor skills develop at rates different than the other kids their age. This is a somewhat tricky area since in order to develop them, she needs to engage in some repetitious activity, and young children are often not fond of repetitious activity that isn't their idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earlier answer that mentioned kicking a soccer ball against a wall and making a game out of it is a pretty good idea. Other things that will help are (oddly enough) things like playing hop-skotch, skipping, and jumping rope. Anything that requires balance shifts, direction changes, and exact foot/hand placement will work, as long as it's fun for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that if it's not fun she won't want to do it enough for it to help her motor skills. And keep in mind that some children simply develop those skills slower than others. I was unable to jump rope until I was like 10. But I went on to play JV basketball, take 5th in the State Wrestling Tournament, 8th in the 100m dash, and  5th in the 400m dash in high school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T04:21:41.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2011-04-12T04:39:09.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As unpleasant as they are, good old squats are about as good a way to grow your legs as anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calf raises are not likely to make your calves bigger if you're predisposed to skinny legs. Of course, if you are so predisposed, you're going to be at least partially out of luck. But the only time in my life I haven't had chicken legs is my senior year of high school when I was doing lots of squats, stair running, running up the stupidly steep hill by my school, etc. And even then my biceps were almost as big as my calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer may just be &lt;em&gt;lots&lt;/em&gt; of squats and weighted calf-raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T04:39:09.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-04-12T08:53:19.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to play basketball. We had to work a lot on having explosive starts and fast sprints. We did &quot;suicides&quot; to accomplish this. The image below illustrates how it is done in the basketball field. Of course, you can do similar exercises at home by running on the pavement or in the lokal park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This exercise &lt;em&gt;will not&lt;/em&gt; contribute to endurance, and its sole purpose is to enhance explosive, short sprints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zKa7F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-12-25T09:08:45.253" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T09:08:45.253" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1541" CreationDate="2011-04-12T11:31:46.817" Score="7" ViewCount="2124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working on developing the muscle-up: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/53&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/53&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can perform a muscle-up at speed, but I am working at making the transition from pull-up to dip as slow as possible without relying on momentum generated in the earlier stages of the pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By performing an assisted pull-up with 'straight arms' (an open elbow) I can simulate the the motion of slowly transitioning to the dip phase of the motion. I can rise in a straight arm pull-up slowly to a point where my elbows are level with my hands with around -26kg of assistance, at a bodyweight of 72kg. My standard pull-ups are reasonable strong but do not take me as high as I imagine necessary for a slow muscle-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the most effective way to develop the necessary strength at the top of the pull?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that the benefits from performing standard pull-ups are plateauing in terms of developing strength at this range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work muscle-ups at speed without assistance, using the momentum to transition?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work straight arm pull-ups with assistance (and if so what progression should I aim for, e.g. static holds, reduced assistance)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build strength through some other movements (e.g. pull-down)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not entirely sure what muscle groups are involved during the slow transition. It feels like my biceps and triceps are engaged antagonistically to hold the arm straight, and that some muscles under my arm pit and sides of my thorax are tensed when performing the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect a variety of exercises in conjunction will be useful to improve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T13:28:42.097" Title="Developing slow transition in muscle-up" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1309" CreationDate="2011-04-12T11:49:49.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also exercise at lunch times, and am often uncomfortably hot afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking cold water should help. Pouring the same quantity over your skin and allowing it to evaporate should be more effective given the additional heat of vaporization of the water, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also find maintaining a moderate heart rate after a period of more intense exercise makes me feel cooler quicker. Perhaps the extra blood volume traversing the body more than offsets the extra heat generated by having a somewhat elevated metabolism. This is purely anecdotal on my part though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T11:49:49.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1538" CreationDate="2011-04-12T12:59:34.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was able to go from not being able to do a single muscle-up to being able to do 5 or 6 at a slow pace by practicing close-hand pullups (i.e. pullups with your hands close enough to be touching).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T12:59:34.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1538" CreationDate="2011-04-12T13:28:42.097" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm always a believer in training a skill by practicing that skill, or as close to it as you can come, rather than something different that seems complimentary. Certainly the transition from pull-up to dip is the hardest part of a muscle-up, and I believe that it is at least as much technique as it is strength: when I was learning muscle-ups I found that I was able to get them rather suddenly when something &quot;clicked&quot; about making that transition, rather than gradually coming closer and closer as I got stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd suggest doing them as you can - quickly, for now - and just trying to focus on gradually slowing down. You can still train the negative slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-12T13:28:42.097" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-04-12T17:42:21.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mentaltoughnesstelesummit.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Mental Toughness Telesummit&lt;/a&gt; featuring interviews with professional athletes, New York Times best-selling authors, sports and performance psychologists, fitness experts, and a Navy-Seal-turned-Ironman. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They'll be talking about how to stay motivated, get in the zone of high-velocity learning, break through plateaus, be at your best under pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user770" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:35:42.507" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:35:42.507" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-12T17:42:21.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1996" CreationDate="2011-04-12T18:32:12.140" Score="10" ViewCount="613" Body="&lt;p&gt;My problem is that when I start losing weight I feel so exausted that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm angry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm dumb and cannot do any mental work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I always want to cheat my diet in the end of the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All those ads say that I should be energized as a rocket and be happy with my results. But how can this happen if losing weight is not my body natural state?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPD&lt;/strong&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am exercising 3 days cardio (3.75&#xA;    miles running) + 3 days of weight&#xA;    training with personal trainer (1&#xA;    hr). This is an ideal week - I&#xA;    usually miss 1 day of cardio.         &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, I'm dieting. I think my error&#xA;is that I do not count&#xA;        calories. Still on my TODO list. I&#xA;        do eat self prepared food however&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I lost 15 pounds during 2 months and&#xA;now it stopped going down with no obvious changes to lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I work as a software project&#xA;manager, so yes - it's a desk job.&#xA;        And I do not feel pretty good during&#xA;        the day when I do not eat enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes - my question can be rephrased the way Tony says - &quot;Should losing weight make me feel exhausted?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for my English just in case :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="771" LastEditorUserId="771" LastEditDate="2011-04-13T14:22:29.960" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T18:43:03.447" Title="How to lose weight and be able to do mental work?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1543" CreationDate="2011-04-13T01:19:55.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You were not too exact, so my assumptions: Seems like you have tried at least more than once, and have quit due to these three factors each time. The thing is: it takes some time and effort before the results kick in, not only in terms of weight or looks, but also for your energy levels and general happiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next: are you having enough fun while exercising/playing? Most of the time, people who enjoy their fitness activity also enjoy the rest of the day, like fitness being a hobby or a second job, or, for some people a religion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try getting more rest and stay motivated with your physical activity. A lot of resources and people can tell you how you can get some variation and do things the fun way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking lots of water will let you stay in a better mental and physical state, and will (though this is only in my case) let you think more too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The BIGGEST thing is that fitness is like any other investment: results and a general feeling of well being only show up after you have put in some (by 'some' I mean considerable) time and effort. The initial few days are always tough, not only during the exercise' but the rest of the day too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user775" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T01:19:55.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1584" CreationDate="2011-04-13T09:54:42.250" Score="4" ViewCount="5292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out three times a week, using a full body workout plan, doing one leg exercise each time (squats, lunges, deadlifts, with the largest weight I can lift, so it's quite challenging).  Two-three times a week I also do cardio in the form of HIIT to maintain/decrease my body fat, either running or using a stationary bike.  It's short (around 20 minutes), but rather intense (8-12 intervals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is, can these sessions cause overtraining with respect to my legs?  Basically I use my legs quite intensively 5-6 days a week, so might the cardio days prevent them to get enough rest between two workout days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="565" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-01T04:45:25.547" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T13:29:12.650" Title="Overtraining my legs doing both cardio and leg workouts" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2396" CreationDate="2011-04-13T15:55:01.783" Score="36" ViewCount="2946" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently working out 5-6 days a week, typically 3 days of weights and 2-3 of HIIT/Tabata.  My focus is on strength and endurance training (not size).  When I feel tired I take a day off...some days I work out twice.  My questions is: What signs of over training should I be on the look out for?  So far, I'm happy with my progress and overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2019-03-11T00:34:22.540" Title="What are some signs of overtraining?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-04-13T18:34:38.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend stoicism. One light read on the subject is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/019531591X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy behind the Military Mind&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T18:34:38.613" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-13T18:34:38.613" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-04-13T18:45:55.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can read books by people who talk about it or read biographies of people who have it. I recommend the latter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people of interest: US Grant, Audie Murphy, George Washington, Colon Powell, Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill. (Note there are no actors or athletes in my list.) There are many others and the best ones are the ones you can associate with.  What differentiates them from us (or myself anyway)? I'm still trying to figure that out, but the base ingredients are there in all of us. Sometimes it's just a matter of doing the right thing and realizing what you did was exceptional and then making that 'exceptional' action the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:34:55.487" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:34:55.487" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-13T18:45:55.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1580" CreationDate="2011-04-13T18:57:38.023" Score="6" ViewCount="5272" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does hand position in a dumbbell flat bench affect which muscles are activated? The positions I know are palms facing each other and the traditional palms facing down. On rare occasions I see people do it with palms facing upward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-04-13T21:18:54.987" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T12:56:52.540" Title="Hand position in dumbbell bench press" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1551" CreationDate="2011-04-13T19:34:25.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing dumbell presses, I alternate palms facing in and palms facing out.  You can alternate on a rep by rep basis, or a set by set basis, or a workout by workout basis, or even stack by stack basis. Palms facing in or out gives different stretches at the bottom, works your forearms differently, and depending on angles, can hit your triceps differently.  Experiment with them and see. By alternating, you hit every single muscle fiber. Reverse grip bench press with palms facing up puts more stress on your wrists and focuses the triceps.  Normal grip with palms facing up focuses on the triceps.  The latter two are not used that much traditionally.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, wide grip bench puts emphasis on outer chest and shoulders, while close grip bench puts emphasis on inner chest and triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="782" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T19:34:25.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1309" CreationDate="2011-04-13T19:42:16.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't take a shower after a workout until your body has cooled down, and you are not sweating anymore. (or else the shower won't 'take', and you will sweat after it.) (a shower should not be used in order to cool down.  A shower should just purely be to clean yourself)  Also, you should wear a long sleeve shirt after your workout if it is even remotely chilly outside or whatever environment you will be in.  Don't let your body get cold fast.  Let your body cool down naturally.  Whenever I would not do this, I would almost feel sick like (hot/cold/achy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit** I should also add that plenty of water during the cool down is essential.  Don't go from a hard workout straight to a dead stop either.  Gradually go from a hard workout to nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="782" LastEditorUserId="782" LastEditDate="2011-04-13T20:54:04.363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T20:54:04.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2011-04-13T19:53:32.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few things that help me right before a tough workout set, a power lift, or running.  I would breathe deep and grunt a few times and do a few jumps in place.  Then for the next 30 seconds to 1 minute, I would get really quiet, breathe extremely slow, look straight, don't let anything distract my sight or mind, then do what I am about to do.  When I do this, I can lift more and run faster than I can without it.  Basically, the key is to only focus on what you are about to do, and put it in your mind that you CAN do it, and you WILL do it.  And nothing else matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="782" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T19:53:32.487" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-04-13T19:53:32.487" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1309" CreationDate="2011-04-13T21:36:37.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way would be to submerge most of your body in a tub of cold water (1-15 C or 35-59 F).  However it's horribly inconvenient and if not monitored properly, dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would regulate your body temperature by drinking VERY cold water, as cold as you can stand it. Once your esophagus warms up to a comfortable temperature, have another drink.  Repeat as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-04-13T21:36:37.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1564" CreationDate="2011-04-13T23:27:58.900" Score="22" ViewCount="2343" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to exercise. I really do. But it's boring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From conversations with others, I gather that exercise gives people a natural high, but I don't seem to get one myself. I used to try to play sports and such to make it enjoyable, but my ACL is temporarily missing and I haven't got a new one just yet. Luckily I've taken some initiative lately and combined the exercise bike with television, but I need more variety than that. Also, it doesn't help with strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My primary goal is to lose weight, but I'm not trying to do so directly, instead going for the roundabout approach of increasing fitness, muscle mass, and metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have suggestions as to how to make exercise more interesting so I'll actually do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="785" LastActivityDate="2015-04-12T16:50:21.383" Title="How can I make exercise more interesting?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;tips&gt;" AnswerCount="20" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1737" CreationDate="2011-04-13T23:49:38.950" Score="3" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;I set all of my current running program up in my miCoach Pacer. I had just been running in free mode prior to today, the only workout I had done that wasn't in free mode was my initial assessment workout. When I hit the workout selection button it just says custom workout and how long the custom workout is. How do I know which one is selected? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pushed the button a couple times to see if it would give me any other information. It turns out that all my custom workouts for the next ~2 weeks are 1 hour 10 minutes, and so I ended up selecting one that was over a week ahead of where I should have been, which was a much more difficult workout, and I only finished a little less than half of it because of the intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better way to identify them in the web interface so I can tell which is which, or is there a way to get the Pacer to identify them better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T19:33:13.403" Title="Which Custom Workout is Selected on miCoach Pacer?" Tags="&lt;micoach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-04-14T14:34:25.253" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no magic pill or easy answer....YOU need to motivate yourself. Here's some potential ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;find a work out partner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;join a gym with exercise classes (get out of the house)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;imagine what you will look like once you lose the weight - take a before/after picture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;set small/weekly goals for yourself and if you succeed, reward yourself (hopefully non-food rewards)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure why you mentioned that you don't want to 'directly' lose weight? if that's what your goal is, then directly do it.........&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-14T14:34:25.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-14T15:43:00.657" Score="4" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to start lifting weights but I haven't because I've heard that, when you do start, you need to make a very true commitment. So I need to wait a couple of months for a few things to settle before I can make such commitment of time. I suspect then after the first two months of effort it will become part of my routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I could lift every once in a while right now, just not every M W F. Any thoughts on this? Should I start doing what I can or wait until I can &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; commit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="791" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T14:18:45.623" Title="Starting to lift weights - True commitment or start as I can?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2011-04-14T15:50:38.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think starting now can only help you. If you're new to it, you're going to be focusing on learning proper technique for now anyway, which will be less impacted by schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also consider looking into HIT-style training. High-intensity training tends to imply very short workouts and lots of recovery time. For example, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body By Science&lt;/a&gt; (McGuff) recommends only one 10-15 minute workout per week. Of course that 10-15 minutes is intense! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter how busy you are, you can still find 15 minutes a week...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-14T15:50:38.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2011-04-14T16:25:33.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start now. Even though at the moment you'll probably be limited in length and regularity of workouts, you'll need the slow ramp up, especially if it's been a long time since you have done anything with those muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So start slow, learn how to do it right, and do what you can for the time being. When things get moved off your plate later, then go ahead and make the real commitment. Once you make that commitment, the fact that you have been doing something will make the transition much easier and can help prevent the excessive soreness that comes with jumping headfirst into a new training regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-14T16:25:33.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1487" CreationDate="2011-04-14T16:33:54.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;7 miles at a 9 minute pace is 63:00 minutes.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you running just 20 minutes at time or doing more than described in your question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a very 'new' runner again,  you should worry about increasing time spent running and increases in pace will follow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to build up an aerobic engine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastActivityDate="2011-04-14T16:33:54.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-04-14T17:14:55.863" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simplest answer is to find something that you like to do that makes you more active than you are now, and then do it.  Maybe it's working out with friends, or playing sports, or flying a kite, or arm wrestling.  Doesn't much matter &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; it is, as long as it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expends more energy on a regular basis than you do now, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is something you enjoy and are motivated to continue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2011-04-14T17:14:55.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1573" CreationDate="2011-04-14T22:26:14.433" Score="13" ViewCount="864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see all kinds of commercials on the TV about how to lose X amount of weight in Y amount of time, and how this old guy looks surprisingly like this younger guy, even though he's not supposed to. My main gripe about these commercials were that they are basically a tailored diet and exercise plan that anyone with Google (and some time) could figure out for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While visiting my father recently, I brought this up and he mentioned that at least one of these &quot;miracle plans&quot;, used a pill to increase metabolism (which helps a lot with dropping fat during exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: &lt;strong&gt;What natural ways can I use to increase my metabolism, and how effective are they?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard numerous things towards this such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating spicy foods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating regularly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercising Regularly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having a good-sized breakfast and eating proportionate meals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drinking plenty of water (which I picked up from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/187/keeping-my-metabolism-high&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any others that I am missing? What has worked for you? What hasn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="795" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T18:08:42.583" Title="Naturally increasing my Metabolism" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2011-04-15T03:28:39.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also had small calves at one point. I started walking around as if doing calf raises to make my muscles work more. On long walks I usually do this until they heat up, then repeat after then cool down. I avoid taking them to the point where they are painful; feeling like I've had a good workout is sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I started this I could palm my calf and nearly touch my tibia with both my thumb and middle finger; these days I can barely clear the muscle with my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unfortunately since I started this without guidance, I don't know the potential for overworking the muscle.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="755" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T03:28:39.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1571" CreationDate="2011-04-15T07:11:52.347" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have already listed some good points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe eating spicy foods has any long term effect on metabolism. It's true that spicy foods increase the body temperature. Calories must be used to generate that extra heat. After a few minutes, the heat goes away, so what good does it do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating regularly makes your body believe that food is abundant and will readily use the nutrients. Eating large portions spaced far apart will make the body believe there is a &quot;famine&quot; and will store the food as fat to prepare for hard times. This is an evolutionary trait going all the way back to the cavemen. They ate as the foraged because they had no way to store the food. As a result, they were lean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating breakfast is related to this matter. But it's more about eating protein in the morning that keeps you satiated - something not directly related to metabolism, but of mental state. Look at this April 2011 article in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Men's Health Magazine&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hard Abs, Over Easy. Wake up and smell&#xA;  the proof: People with a history of&#xA;  skipping breakfast have larger waists&#xA;  by nearly 2 inches - than those who&#xA;  eat in the a.m., new research in the&#xA;  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition&#xA;  reveals. Pass on breakfast and you may&#xA;  pig out later, the study warned. Over&#xA;  time, this can cause your body to&#xA;  store more fat. &lt;strong&gt;Shoot for 20 to 30&#xA;  grams of protein at breakfast&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to read up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_animal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Basal animal metabolic rate&lt;/a&gt; for more tips on increasing your metabolism. From personal experience, weight lifting to increase muscle mass has given boosted my metabolism through the roof. In the first 6 months of weight lifting, I dropped a pant size, yet gained 10 lbs of lean mass. Muscle burns a ton of calories just to maintain. The more ripped you are, the more calories you burn just by sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The body's generation of heat is known&#xA;  as thermogenesis and it can be&#xA;  measured to determine the amount of&#xA;  energy expended. BMR decreases with&#xA;  age and with the loss of lean body&#xA;  mass. &lt;strong&gt;Increasing muscle mass increases BMR&lt;/strong&gt;. Aerobic fitness level, a product&#xA;  of cardiovascular exercise, while&#xA;  previously thought to have effect on&#xA;  BMR, has been shown in the 1990s not&#xA;  to correlate with BMR, when fat-free&#xA;  body mass was adjusted for. New&#xA;  research[citation needed] has however&#xA;  come to light which suggests &lt;strong&gt;anaerobic exercise does increase resting energy consumption&lt;/strong&gt; (see &quot;Aerobic vs.&#xA;  anaerobic exercise&quot;). Illness,&#xA;  previously consumed food and&#xA;  beverages, environmental temperature,&#xA;  and stress levels can affect one's&#xA;  overall energy expenditure as well as&#xA;  one's BMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/epocarticle.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;afterburn effect&lt;/a&gt; also increases metabolism. This effect describes the energy burned on the days &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; your workout. Scientific studies show that high intensity cardio increases the afterburn effect. So don't waste your time doing hours of slow cardio. 10 to 20 minutes of fast running burns more calories when measured over several days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Phelian et al. (1997) investigated the&#xA;  effects of low intensity (50% VO2 max)&#xA;  and high intensity (75% VO2 max)&#xA;  exercise on the EPOC response.&#xA;  Although the energy cost of both&#xA;  exercise bouts was 500 calories, the&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;higher intensity bout caused a significantly higher EPOC&lt;/strong&gt; than the&#xA;  lower intensity bout (9.0 liters, 45&#xA;  calories versus 4.8 liters, 24&#xA;  calories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T07:11:52.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1578" CreationDate="2011-04-15T09:00:03.657" Score="16" ViewCount="5402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started running a couple of months ago. I'm 27, average height and normal weight. However it seems that no matter how slowly I run, my heart rate quickly climbs into the Max Effort zone of 170-180.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My GP checked me out before I started, and I recently had an ECG taken - everything was fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I learned to run just a tad faster than walking pace (it's tricky!) I can keep the HR in 170-175 and run like this for 45 minutes or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this me simply being extremely unfit? :) Is it likely to improve if I keep running in this zone? I can't really run any slower, and fast walking at the same speed gets me an HR of 125, which I also don't feel will improve my fitness unless done for several hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="797" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T13:38:35.030" Title="What heart rate can a beginner runner expect?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1574" CreationDate="2011-04-15T11:43:01.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you should try interval training? That way you can change pace once your heart rate goes up, run/walk slower until it's gone down again, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I started running I followed the Nike+ 5k plan, and the first session was 20 min alternating walking and running. My max heartrate on that first session was 186. After 5 weeks I did it again and my max heartrate had dropped to 171.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="435" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T11:43:01.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1574" CreationDate="2011-04-15T12:20:57.493" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice is to ignore the 'zones'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it doesn't FEEL like max effort, then its clearly not max effort.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;HR is an individual thing. I can push my HR above 220 if try hard and I'm not unfit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you can run for 45 minutes at any pace you are NOT unfit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say you should pay more attention to how you FEEL, not to the numbers infront of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T12:20:57.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1579" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1585" CreationDate="2011-04-15T12:28:00.520" Score="4" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift M-W-F. On A days I would do back squats, bench presses, power cleans, and push ups. On B days I would do back squats, overhead presses, deadlifts, and pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all fine but if I want to be aerobically fit as well I want to incorporate some form of cardiovascular exercise. I need some help incorporating this in to my workout routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely do not want to do any form of cardio before my lifts because I do not want to gimp my lifts or form. Afterwards is a possibility but I cannot exercise for too long or I could risk my body going in to a catabolic state. Also, I'm usually pretty tired after my lifts. I don't really want to do cardio on off days either because my muscles should be resting on those days. Also, I could lose a lot of motivation having to work out five or six times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I perform cardio while under a M-W-F barbell program? What forms of cardio are recommended? Does anyone have any insight in to HIIT or any other varying cardio workouts? If overall fitness, strength, and health is my goal then how should I handle this problem? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user799" LastEditorUserId="760" LastEditDate="2011-04-19T21:35:09.413" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T21:35:09.413" Title="How to incorporate cardio in to a barbell routine?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;tips&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1551" CreationDate="2011-04-15T12:56:52.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the only valuable article I could find: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitflex.com/hand-position.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.fitflex.com/hand-position.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For overhead presses the hand position seems to change where the focus on the delts are most felt......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T12:56:52.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1579" CreationDate="2011-04-15T14:59:43.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way you asked your question leads me to believe that you're working in a home gym. I will assume you don't have access to normal cardio equipment like stationary bikes and treadmills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do HIIT then you'll have to get outside. If you live in a hilly area, you can ride up bike up (the high intensity part) and down (the interval part) the hills for a good workout. If you're like me and the land around is flat then I would suggest running. Run for a minute (the interval), then sprint for 30 seconds (the high intensity), then run, then sprint, etc. If you are able to run after squats, then it may actually help &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/286/prevent-or-treat-delayed-onset-muscle-soreness&quot;&gt;Prevent or treat delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of those appeal to you, and they don't me, then consider joining a martial arts program. Good exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T14:59:43.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1546" CreationDate="2011-04-15T15:24:50.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any exercise can cause over training. There is no magic limit or number because everyone is different - you have different levels of stress, different sleeping habits, different nutrition habits, different intensity of exercise, etc. than anyone else so there is not cut and dry formula for what over training is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule of thumb, if you are seeing progress, you are not over training. If you stop making gains, find yourself more injury-prone, tired, etc., then you may be pushing too hard and should consider backing off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stationary bike will be the least invasive cardio because it is low-impact. Running is the most likely to cause issues because it is a high impact activity. However, there are plenty of documented cases of people who run huge volumes every week and continue to perform well so again, it's not a cut and dry formula but something you need to learn specific to your body and situation through trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T15:24:50.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1579" CreationDate="2011-04-15T15:54:28.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My big question back is why? Why do you want to do cardio?  What are your goals and how does cardio fit into those?  It sounds like you have a good program in place and if you're seeing the results you want, there's no reason to change it.  The program you described probably (guessing) takes 45 minutes or so depending on warm up and rest periods..and with being tired at the end, the real possibility of adding a HIIT program doesn't exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add some 'cardio' to your current program, try reducing the rest periods between sets, but be-aware that reduced rest periods will result in reduced # of reps and/or weight used (strength vs. endurance)....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You 'may' want to consider some perioidization program where you switch from a strength focused workout (heavier weights, fewer reps and longer rest periods) to endurance (lighter weights, more reps and shorter rest periods) every 6 to 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T15:54:28.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4618" CreationDate="2011-04-15T19:52:46.160" Score="9" ViewCount="102539" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm on a ketogenic diet and have stopped taking protein shakes (excepting post-workout protein powder with water) because I've heard that it may cause an insulin spike. Is it true that protein powder with water will knock you out of ketosis? The one I'm using in particular is Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T16:20:14.253" Title="Do protein shakes push you out of ketosis?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2011-04-15T21:28:45.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketosis is the deprivation of carbs. High end protein shakes, such as your ON Gold, don't contain many carbs. Thus, drinking your protein shake won't remove you from your ketogenic state. On the other hand, cheap proteins (Muscle Milk) and any protein labeled as &quot;mass builder&quot; will contain carbs to prevent ketosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your comment about protein shakes spiking insulin is wrong. Insulin is secreted to process sugar. Your ON Gold with water has hardly any sugar. Thus, drinking your protein shake will not spike your insulin. Insulin spikes usually only occur when you eat simple carbs from fruit, candy, etc... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T21:28:45.413" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1579" CreationDate="2011-04-15T23:58:24.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer to this for me was the warm-up. My warm-up is a 5 mile bike sprint from home to the gym. On the way home, I dog it as part of my cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-04-15T23:58:24.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1653" CreationDate="2011-04-16T00:35:37.037" Score="15" ViewCount="10518" Body="&lt;p&gt;I weight lifts daily and also do parkour and I tend to have problems with my wrists and forearms (&lt;strong&gt;edit:&lt;/strong&gt; specifically it's my right wrist and my left forearm. my left wrist is completely OK and my right forearm is completely OK), especially when performing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cheerleadingsupply.net/images/cheerleadingsupply08_clip_image026.jpg&quot;&gt;back handspring&lt;/a&gt; my arms hurt a lot, but also when lifting weights, for example when exercising biceps, the wrist of my right arm is killing me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain is present only during the activity itself and nothing hurts when not exercising. An elastic bandage tends to help a lot, so, my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I use elastic bandages to tighten my wrist and hope that one day I won't need them, or will they cause me more trouble than they will help me?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What else should I do to help my arms get used to heavy activities like this?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What exercises should I do either before the training or during the training to exercise my wrists/arms to get stronger? Should I use bandages while doing so?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: I don't consider my life being in danger and I don't see this as a serious health issue. I know that I should see a doctor when in need of a medical attention. I just want the opinion of experienced people in the field. I am not replacing my doctor by this community. I hope all is OK and understood, as once on another stackexchange site, people refused to answer my question, not wanting to take the responsibility for my health. This is not the case.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Current solution in the answers saying &lt;em&gt;&quot;try to give your body 48-72 hours of restitution between workouts&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is not an acceptable solution (in my case). There are days when because of work I cannot do any physical activity at all - sometimes it's even up to 7 days of a complete rest for my body - and yet, when I get &quot;back to working out&quot;, my wrist starts to hurt the same way again. Not immediately, but after for example doing a &lt;em&gt;bridge&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;back handspring&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-04-19T03:27:16.183" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T13:16:36.463" Title="My wrists and fore-arms hurt, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-16T01:57:38.397" Score="5" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to transition from all red meat to fish and chicken only, and would like to move to no chicken. However, I often feel very tired and lethargic.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What foods should I start eating as a meat substitute?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="807" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T14:19:36.297" Title="Transitioning to a vegetarian lifestyle" Tags="&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1594" CreationDate="2011-04-16T17:45:43.580" Score="4" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that the general consensus is that one should rather rely on exercise/training and proper nutrition to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm wondering what else can be used to accelerate this process. I've heard that ECA stacks are sort of risky (and ephedrine is illegal in the US now). What do people use to accelerate such processes these days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a little bit of research on google scholar, and the only supplement which seems to have some scientific papers on it are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/70/6/1040.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;green tea extracts&lt;/a&gt;, but I've only done a little amount of search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other supplements which can help the fat loss process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T01:16:33.857" Title="Fat burning supplements and their efficacy" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1593" CreationDate="2011-04-17T01:16:33.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fourhourbody.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Four Hour Body&lt;/a&gt; suggests a stack called PAGG:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Policosanol (20-25mg) - seems to enhance the fat-burning effect of the rest of the stack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ALA (100-300mg) - increases glucose uptake into muscle, leaving less to be deposited as fat; inhibits triglyceride production&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green Tea Extract (325mg EGCG) - inhibits glucose storage as bodyfat; increases programmed cell death in mature fat cells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Garlic Extract (200mg) - allicin component inhibits fat regain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take &quot;AGG&quot; before each meal and &quot;PAG&quot; (no Green Tea) before bed. Extra vigilance in consuming adequate B-complex vitamins is recommended with this stack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T01:16:33.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1612" CreationDate="2011-04-17T04:42:28.733" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to start exercising but not sure the right approach. I don't want to over do it by doing too much at first since I don't already have a routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be better to start off with a dvd program or would it be better to do short walks/runs and increase? Any techniques that others have tried and worked to help them start and keep a routine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated! I hope this is the right place to ask this question! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="812" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T00:14:21.510" Title="Is it better to start exercising with a program/dvd or running/walking/etc?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1595" CreationDate="2011-04-17T11:09:30.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start off with &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a full body free weight training program&lt;/a&gt;. Stronglifts 5x5 works great for anyone in normal health. The program is simple, balanced and offers great progress, while only taking about an hour three times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting will improve your posture, strength, balance and endurance. IMO it's a significantly better way to work out than just doing cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do note that a proper diet is just as important to reach your goals as spending time in the gym. As a beginner, I think you should aim to increase your weight by about 0.25-0.5kg/week for at least 6 months. The muscle mass you'll gain makes it easier to lose excess fat when you feel like slimming down again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T11:09:30.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2011-04-17T11:20:32.533" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop with the daily weight lifting? Try to give your body 48-72 hours of restitution between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastEditorUserId="525" LastEditDate="2011-04-17T11:30:41.137" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T11:30:41.137" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2011-04-17T17:18:21.973" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rotate your exercises. Don't do the same muscle group two days in a row. Your muscles need 48 to 72 hours rest time. &quot;Stop doing the daily lifting?&quot; is exactly right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T17:18:21.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1602" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-17T18:08:46.100" Score="1" ViewCount="1121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested if hyperglycemia can be associated with a person being thin. If the pancreas produce less insulin then need it, is possible that the reason for a person not getting fat even if it's eating a lot to be hyperglycemia?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this presumption is false, do you know any other nutrition study based on why some people can't gain weight ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="816" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T14:02:59.633" Title="Can hyperglycemia make one thin?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1621" CreationDate="2011-04-17T22:58:06.087" Score="16" ViewCount="1141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growing up in many school activities we were made to do sit-ups and push-ups. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Navy_Cadets&quot;&gt;Navy Cadets&lt;/a&gt; we did pushups and situps whenever we exercised. I have also seen it included in many general fitness programs, including in a poster that appeared in our offices in the past couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are push-ups and sit-ups so common? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any indication that these either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy for the general population to perform without significant risk of injury?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a greater reward for effort compared to other exercise?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise a greater part of the body &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; areas of the body that need more attention?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T11:17:49.127" Title="Why are push-ups and sit-ups so common?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-17T23:17:24.110" Score="5" ViewCount="2732" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it heads towards winter and our swimming pool becomes unbearably cold, what is a good daily exercise I can do to replace my daily swimming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aim is something low impact, works out most of the body and can be done almost daily without too much strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T12:53:36.727" Title="Recommend exercises to replace swimming" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1606" CreationDate="2011-04-17T23:37:21.620" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The elliptical machine is nearly no impact compared to the treadmill. Obviously, it works your legs. But if you hold on to the handles, you can pump your arms at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c7pM2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rowing is also low impact. It works your entire back and biceps. Real rowing on the river is the same, if that's an option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iv3XR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try Hot Yoga. The room is heated to warm up the muscles and stimulate sweat. When the muscles are warm, the body can sink deeper into the stretches, reducing the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tibYB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tai Chi, unlike Kung-Fu focuses on slow and controlled movements. Rarely will there be any sparring in a Tai Chi class, so you'll be safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7smlt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T23:37:21.620" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2011-04-17T23:51:17.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 pinch of MSM in an ounce of water, rub on the joint or tendon that aches, put a little icy hot on top. You should be good.  CMO, Dr Jeff's Joint Cream is expensive but good for what ails you.  It regulates inflammation cycles that are already in progress.  None of this is evaluated by the FDA, of course, and I can't say it is intended to treat anything.  But I haven't needed it on my formerly paralyzed ankle for 12 years and can still do a front flip if needed.  I prefer springy floors to grass now.  My neighbor that was in a wheel chair for 3 months from gouty arthritis has been out since day 3 after I brought some by.  She does watch her diet, too, of course.  I have had decent results.  For the intensity level you should maintain, feel within yourself.  You have to know.  I can't easily tell you that part.  I think the MSM will strengthen the joints and let you push it a little harder with less stress injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user819" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T23:51:17.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1595" CreationDate="2011-04-17T23:57:17.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, write down the goals you're trying to achieve: overall health, reduce weight, 5k run, etc.  Then based on your goal, your ability to join a gym or get a personal trainer, the amount of time you have and your current health - you can ask again and the people here can give specific advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-17T23:57:17.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2011-04-18T00:00:30.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are muscles right down by your wrist, very low forearm, that are handy for this.  They are very under utilized.  Hold yourself from going over, even if you do.  They will make themselves known very quickly  Forearm curls miss these almost completely.  You can dramatically improve your wrist strength by performing wrist push-ups.  Start at the top of a push-up with knees on the floor.  Now extend your wrists so the palms of your hands leave the ground and you are only touching with your fingers.  You can also push all the way on to fingertips.  This is assuming all other core strength is in place, which it sort of sounds like it is.  I was good for a 20 second hand stand once, probably only 5 or 10 seconds right now myself.  Those muscles were my sticking point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user819" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T10:17:54.667" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T10:17:54.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1595" CreationDate="2011-04-18T00:14:21.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that you start doing some reading.  Either browse the magazine rack to see what's there and pick a few and read them.  Or read what's on the internet.  See what other people do to exercise.  Could be all you're interested in is cycling.  Or maybe you want to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If weight training is what you are implying, then maybe join a gym and hire a personal trainer for a couple of hours to show you the ropes. They're a tad expensive, but may be a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T00:14:21.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1667" CreationDate="2011-04-18T00:46:32.200" Score="4" ViewCount="1003" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you guys think of this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.impulseadventure.com/weights/ideal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ideal Body Proportions Chart&lt;/a&gt;.  It tells me what I have always thought and that is my upper body needs to get bigger.  But it also says that my legs are too big by .75 inches.  I've never been sure if maybe I should work my legs more to increase their size, this chart says no, but a girl just this week told me to not forget to work my lower body, too. Which seems to suggest my lower body may be too straight and slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight (201 lbs) to height (5'10&quot;) ratio is: 2.90&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are their/my numbers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck: 17.50/15.50&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps: 16.45/15.372&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forearm: 13.70/11.625&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest: 45.70/43.00&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist: 34.25/37.25 - no judging. :-P&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hips: 41.10/41.625&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thigh: 24.65/24.75&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf: 16.45/16.50&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One measurement that is missing is shoulders which depends on your deltoids which can't be measured individually.  Also, how do you measure traps? Or would the extra weight of the trap muscles force to increase of the other muscle proportions in the chart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, who actually takes this chart seriously.  I've seen it displayed in a few sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Ok, did some research and found &lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Calculate-Your-Ideal-Shoulder-Size---It-All-Starts-With-Your-Height&amp;amp;id=2713952&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this for shoulders&lt;/a&gt;. And this seems to point to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Golden Ratio of 1.618&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THE QUESTION:  Is it realistic to follow the above body proportions chart?  Or should I use my own judgement?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-04-21T02:10:11.433" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T02:10:11.433" Title="Are Body proportions Charts Realistic?" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1617" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1620" CreationDate="2011-04-18T09:44:07.947" Score="8" ViewCount="17170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen people in the gym wrapping their lower belly in plastic foil. They claim it burns the fat in that area faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if this is actually contributing to a faster loss of belly fat, and if it is not harmful to wrap your body in plastic foil - not letting it breathe in that area whilst working out ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having second thoughts, because it is the principal of a sauna, i think. Sauna does not burn any fat as well, it makes you lose fluids, more than fat. Allthough I can see some sense in burning fat faster because the area underneath the foil gets hotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyone who could provide me with some information from a scientific point of view ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastEditorUserId="494" LastEditDate="2011-04-19T06:43:03.987" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T09:45:23.193" Title="plastic foil to lose belly fat faster" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1592" CreationDate="2011-04-18T11:31:37.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lived on a fish diet for a good year or so, it's really not that hard once you get past the initial meat cravings. Whale meat is a good substitute for beef, you should check if they have that in your area. Tuna-pasta is also a good satiating dish. Another personal favorite is salmon with fried mushrooms and mashed potatoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Peanut butter sandwiches, and fruits and nuts in general are good for snacks through the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you should just try to base your diet on non-processed fish as much as possible (e.g. eating fishsticks every day is probably not a good idea).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="718" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T11:31:37.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1617" CreationDate="2011-04-18T12:56:14.633" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend using plastic foil or any similar type wrap in an attempt to lose fat.  It will help burn more calories (not sure how many more) due to additional heat/intensity, but the results people claim to see are all water/liquid reduction and not fat.  You're basically short circuiting the body's attempt to cool down by trapping the heat in - not a good approach to overall health.  From all that I read, there is some level of harm and only short term 'reduction' gains - 99% water reduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T12:56:14.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1617" CreationDate="2011-04-18T14:25:30.200" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wrapping your body in plastic sounds very dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see this article from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/135850-the-dangers-wrapping-your-stomach-with-plastic-wrap/&quot;&gt;livestrong.com&lt;/a&gt; that details why you should never do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dangers of Excessive Sweating&lt;/strong&gt; - Sweating too much can lead to dehydration&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dangers Of Products Involved&lt;/strong&gt; - Cling wrap used for wrapping the stomach is made from Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which has been described as one of the most dangerous consumer products.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Considerations&lt;/strong&gt; - Plastic wraps do not help you burn fat. All you lose is water weight, which comes right back when you rehydrate your body&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safety&lt;/strong&gt; - If you are diabetic, suffer from high blood pressure, are pregnant or have any medical condition, consult your doctor before using any form of body wrap.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T14:25:30.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1603" CreationDate="2011-04-18T14:33:30.177" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking specifically to push-ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They don't require any equipment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are fairly effective&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They exercise a wide range of muscles (chest, triceps, shoulders, abs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can be easily modified depending on fitness level and target muscle(s)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are easy to learn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are pretty safe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's easy to track progress (I could do 25 push-ups last week, this week I can do 28)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit-ups have some of the same advantages, although they can cause back problems and their effectiveness as an abdominal exercise is limited because the range of motion brings into play the psoas muscles, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess as to why they haven't been fully replaced by crunches is that it's easier to learn the form and count if it's &quot;all the way up, all the way down&quot; rather than trying to learn exactly where to stop. That, and it's just habit/tradition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because back and biceps require a pulling motion, it's hard to come up with exercises that don't require &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; kind of equipment. Since the pull-up only requires a bar, it's fairly popular as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T14:33:30.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1645" CreationDate="2011-04-18T15:33:58.340" Score="12" ViewCount="1736" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started getting serious about weight loss recently and have reduced my calorie intake somewhat significantly.  I've been doing this for about 6 weeks now and the results have been very satisfying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I keep having co-workers tell me that I may be losing weight too rapidly and that its &quot;dangerous&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to be clear, in my case I weighed 283 lbs when I started.  After 6 weeks I've lost 18 lbs.  My current calorie intake is roughly 2000 a day (after counting calorie burn from mild exercise).  I feel fine.  The only side effect I've noticed is that I'm often sleepy at work (desk job). I eat mostly the same foods now that I've always eaten, just less of it and a complete ban on fast foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I get closer to my goal of ~190 lbs I know I will have to reduce calories further to keep the same 2.5 lbs a week loss, but eventually I will bring my calorie intake back to maintenance levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oddly, I don't feel hungry or anything.  I'm positive I could shave off another 250 calories a day before my body started complaining, but I think my current schedule is adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I in any real danger while following this plan?&lt;/strong&gt;  I know that losing almost 100 lbs in a year is drastic and my body will likely be affected in some way, but mostly I thought this would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="820" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T06:08:39.990" Title="How serious are the dangers to rapid weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1603" CreationDate="2011-04-18T16:05:14.330" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Aardvark's answer is excellent, and I'd like to add one more to his list...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everyone already knows about them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare this with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot;&gt;burpee&lt;/a&gt;, which is also an easy to learn, safe, effective, easily modified, easily tracked, equipment-less workout, but much less widespread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T16:05:14.330" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-04-18T18:05:48.323" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To increase running speed, you'll want to target the &quot;posterior chain&quot;, which includes hamstrings, glutes, lower back and abdominal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this question pertains to your daughter, I will avoid any weightlighting exercises since weight training at such a young age is controversial and is generally not advised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead I will try to focus on body-weight exercises. I would use a mix-and-match the following exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lunges&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squats and Squat Jumps&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plyometrics (Example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometrics-for-soccer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plyometrics for Soccer&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pogo Jumps&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-264-12079-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Want To Run Fast? Run Uphill&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the hill, but make it fast and short, and you get the maximum amount of training effect with the minimum amount of injury risk. &quot;The best way to recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers is to run at max intensity,&quot; says Hudson. &quot;The best way to build leg strength is hill running. So we run all-out up a steep hill. But we keep it to 10 seconds to avoid producing lactate and becoming fatigued.&quot; Running no more than 10-second repeats also reduces injury risk by limiting your fast-running time. And hills by their nature lessen the risk of injury because the slope shortens the distance you have to &quot;fall&quot; or land, reducing impact. &quot;Studies of sprinting uphill show that the muscles are in constant 'overload' and the nervous system is firing hard,&quot; says Hudson. &quot;It's the same speed benefit as track sprints, but safer.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T18:05:48.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1376" CreationDate="2011-04-18T20:17:03.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can. My girlfriend has run 2 half marathons, 1 full marathon and a sprint distance triathon all &quot;barefoot&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She actually wears the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vibram Five Finger&lt;/a&gt; barefoot &quot;shoes&quot; which are nice because it's basically running barefoot but gives you protection from the dangers of sticks, stones, glass, etc on the pavement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just ran her first marathon this weekend and has been training for months running multiple 10+ mile runs in the Vibrams every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has had no injuries and completed in a very respectable 4 hours!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="823" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T20:17:03.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1646" CreationDate="2011-04-18T20:37:33.563" Score="4" ViewCount="6398" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fairly often, I get cramps that are really painful. I've noticed that there seem to be 2 different varieties of these cramps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Random Foot Cramps - these are just cramps that I get in either of my foot in the arch or near the balls of my toes that just happen at random times. Most of the time to alleviate them, I just walk around for a while and it will go away, but I usually have to take my shoes off&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not so random other muscle cramps - these ones make a bit more sense. Basically if I hold some kind of pose for a while (say, a stretch, or the finish position of a crunch) then whatever muscle is involved will start to cramp up and i'll have to snap back to my normal standing or lying position to make the pain stop.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing these cramps? Could it be that I'm too inflexible to be doing some of these movements? Or maybe I'm lacking some kind of nutrient in my diet? (Diet info: I'm &quot;paleo&quot; so I eat a ton of chicken and beef, and also a sizable quantity of vegetables like broccoli, sweet potatoes, and carrots) Or maybe this is just a normal thing and I'm just being a baby?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="507" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T17:34:43.013" Title="Why do I get cramps all the time?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1627" CreationDate="2011-04-18T20:45:20.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure I can remark on the impact of cramps with your diet but I know for a fact that at least a 10 minute warm-up before and after workout out has &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; helped me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learned this from doing it routine in p90x.  I would do different warm-up exercises based on what you're working out (shoulders &amp;amp; arms, cardio, legs, quads, etc...)  For example, If i'm doing shoulders &amp;amp; arms I usually do a lot of neck stretches as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you're not as flexible as you would like to be, try some Yoga.  There are even the most basic exercises on YouTube and you can skip the whole spirtual thing and just take away the stretching if that's not your thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not working out, try doing some basic stretching in the morning.  It may sound a little odd, but I try to expand my reach to my toes every morning.  It's a great way to prepare your body and gives me as much energy as a shot of espresso.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T20:45:20.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1627" CreationDate="2011-04-18T23:50:57.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a suggestion, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brighthub.com/health/fitness/articles/23426.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;try more potassium in your diet&lt;/a&gt; (found in, among other things, bananas and radishes). It works for me quite nicely!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT be weary soliciting medical advice: if it persists consult a physician, because it could be symptomatic of another condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="827" LastActivityDate="2011-04-18T23:50:57.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2011-04-19T01:50:32.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I had this issue when I used to work as a stock boy at KMart a long time ago.  The doctor called it &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_elbow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tennis elbow&lt;/a&gt;. This had occurred one summer when we had been receiving tons of bikes in boxes.  All the boxes were the same size, shape and weight.  And I picked them all up and carried them the same way from the truck to the conveyor belt going into the basement storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My forearms were hurting because I had to grab a strong grip by the top handles and lift them high to carry them.  All this repetition led to my sore forearms.  I think he suggested I use Absorbine Junior or some anti-inflammatory cream. He explained that it was because I was doing the same moves over and over and over...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the summer sales season was over, my forearms stop hurting.  Nothing more to it.  It's a repetitive soreness which I think can lead to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-04-19T10:47:53.853" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T10:47:53.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-19T09:02:26.230" Score="6" ViewCount="76913" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to gain around 10 kg in one month, is this possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, what would be the healthiest way of doing so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 23 years old and weigh 56 kg with a height of ~6 ft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="828" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-04-19T09:45:41.060" LastActivityDate="2012-09-02T09:36:30.077" Title="How can I gain a lot of weight in one month?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-05-08T01:54:02.360" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1631" CreationDate="2011-04-19T10:49:40.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to eat 6 non-heavy balanced meals a day with an interval of 3 hours. It's the healthiest way to gain weight. I don't think you'll be gaining 10kg though. On my own experience, took me 3 months to gain 18 lbs (roughly 8kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="282" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T10:49:40.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2011-04-19T13:15:18.853" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a great article describing your symptoms, how to test and steps to take to correct:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drryan26.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drryan26.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the # 1 point is (from the article) Get the right diagnosis...without that, you don't really know what it is.  I would have suggested against using any kind of wrist support, since long term it's not 'fixing' the problem and only building the surrounding muscles, tendons, etc. - which would result in the wrist/forearm being even that much of the weaker link in the chain.  The old advice of - if it hurts don't do it - is spot on - with the complete advice I would give, stop doing it until you know how to correct the problem so you can continue building your entire body correctly.  Bad technique, to much focus on some weak area, not fixing the root cause will results in not having long term enjoyment because you're potentially doing long term damage.  I'm not sure how old you are, but I can tell you from direct experience - it all catches up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T13:15:18.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2011-04-19T15:28:24.133" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you either injured yourself or have exposed a &quot;weak link&quot; in your body, meaning your wrists/forearms are not strong enough to support your movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest going into a rehab &quot;mode&quot; where you focus on strengthening the injured parts of your body, approx 4-6 weeks. Note I would recommend that during this period, you avoid any &quot;all-out&quot; movements until you've completed your rehab mode.  In other words, no full back-handsprings!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your sport, parkour, I would start by looking up some wrist/forearm exercises related to gynmastics/tumbling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wrist Rollers (forearm)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Play&quot; in a bucket of sand (hand/wrists) - Grab/squeeze the sand, rotate your wrist in the sand, etc. Be creative here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squeeze a tennis ball or silly putty, approx 25x / set.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/193108-wrist-exercises-for-tumblers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wrist exercises for tumblers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wrist pushups (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wrist endurance&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ForeArmWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;List of Forearm exercises&lt;/a&gt; at exrx.net&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food/Nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you are providing your body with the proper foods (not pure junk food).  Take multivitamins as necessary. You may try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&amp;amp;dbid=75&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;getting more Omega-3&lt;/a&gt; fatty acid in your diet to help with pain/inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="760" LastEditDate="2011-04-19T15:35:46.323" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T15:35:46.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1602" CreationDate="2011-04-19T15:45:40.087" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 different questions being asked here and they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does hyperglycemia result in a person being thin?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why some people can't gain weight?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your first question, yes, it is directly connected. With low insulin levels the body isn't able to process/utilize the glucose for fuel, so it starts getting the required energy from fats. When these are burned, the person starts losing weight. Be aware that if the body is extremely low on insulin and starts to burn the fats down at a fast rate, this may result in ketoacidosis, which is a life-threatening condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your second question, there are various reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High energy output&lt;/strong&gt;  - this is kind of obvious. A person who moves all the time, doesn't use cars or public transport, tends to be active, etc, has a high energy output, therefore can eat as much as he wants and he won't ever gain weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High methabolism&lt;/strong&gt; - methabolism is the rate at which a person burns down energy. People with high methabolism burn the energy (the food) very fast, therefore they are unable to gain weight. In a healthy person, a high methabolism is &quot;a part of his DNA&quot;, but in some cases, it can also be caused by hyper-thyroid disorder, which can be treated. If high methabolism is a part of person's DNA, it shouldn't be fought with. If such people really want to gain weight for some reason, they should eat 5 - 6 times a day, but certainly &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; take medication to slow their methabolism down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tape worm&lt;/strong&gt; - this one is kind of ugly. Ever ate fish? Fish improperly processed? There might be a tape worm living inside of them and after you eat it, it starts living inside of you and 'consuming' the food you consume. Therefore, a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt; of the food you eat is actually eaten by the tape worm and you just keep eating and eating and you are constantly hungry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastEditorUserId="805" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T14:02:59.633" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T14:02:59.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1631" CreationDate="2011-04-19T15:56:33.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider a cheap creatine (monohydrate) supplement for increased water retention. That should net you another 1-3 kg in no time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work out, it should help a little with strength/endurance as well. And you really do want to spend some time in the gym. Even if you'll mostly be gaining fat, some muscle mass is better than none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T15:56:33.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1627" CreationDate="2011-04-19T17:02:03.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cramping, especially at night, can be a response to low calcium. There is a side symptom that shows low calcium, it's called crazy legs. Your legs don't want to stop moving. If you have both, increase your calcium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T17:02:03.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1623" CreationDate="2011-04-19T17:06:17.490" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This comes with the standard warning - I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're simply changing portion sizes without changing the proportions of fat:carbs:protein in your diet then you could have less easily available energy which could cause some fatigue. It's not just a matter of how many calories you're getting, it also matter what form those calories are in that helps to determine your energy levels. You need a nice ratio. For higher energy I would suggest 40:40:20 protein:carbs:fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're decreasing your food intake, you should also check to make sure that you're still getting enough nutrients. This is especially true if you're eating a lot of restaurant food, which tends to go low on nutrient rich vegetables. It might be as simple as adding a daily multivitamin. Many nutrients are important in helping your body actually process the food to get energy out of it. A simple multivitamin is probably sufficient. Anything beyond that will probably be a waste if you're not doing very high stress training and don't have any known deficiencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, while two miles of walking per day, five days per week (in addition to normal walking throughout the day) is probably adequate physical activity, I would suggest adding a bit of resistance training into the mix. It doesn't have to be anything serious, but 20 minutes of calisthenics or other light weight lifting every other day would likely improve your muscle tone and also give you additional energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T17:06:17.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1623" CreationDate="2011-04-19T17:18:47.613" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're losing around 10 pounds or maybe a little more per month. I've heard lots of people talk about &quot;too rapid&quot; of weight loss, but the truth of it is that you can easily lose 2 or 3 pounds a week, and it's not too difficult to lose closer to 5 pounds a week if you're quite a bit overweight. With an incredibly rigorous diet and moderate exercise, it's possible to achieve a loss of around a pound a day if you have enough to lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extreme calorie reduction usually leads to nutrient deficiencies, and it's not advisable to do this for extended periods of time (more than 30 days really). If you are taking in healthy foods like (intact) whole grains, red meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc, and you aren't feeling hungry, then you are getting sufficient energy (and likely nutrient) intake. Your body will let you know when it starts becoming deficient through cravings and feelings of hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just listen to what your body tells you and typically you'll be fine. There are cases where your body's triggering mechanisms are broken, either from abuse or genetics, and your body won't tell you what it needs, so it's never a bad idea (read: always a good idea) to consult a dietitian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T17:18:47.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1627" CreationDate="2011-04-19T17:34:43.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/what-are-cramps.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cramps come from electrolyte imbalance&lt;/a&gt;, and can be treated drinking more water and/or taking in more potassium, sodium, calcium, and/or magnesium. From your examples of cramps, I have always had the second type of cramping you mention, and no diet or nutrition changes have ever effected it in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/umioddef.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hyperthyroidism is also a known cause for muscle cramps&lt;/a&gt;. Hyperthyroidism can be caused by a lack of iodine in the diet. Using iodized salt can help regulate the amount of iodine in your diet as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T17:34:43.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1631" CreationDate="2011-04-19T17:45:46.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I'm no expert on this, there have been a couple very intriguing articles I read on this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the blog of Tim Ferriss, a post titled &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here are the six basic principles that made it happen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follow Arthur Jones’ general recommendations for one-set-to-failure&#xA;  from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuildingfanatic.com/coloradoexperiment.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;little-known Colorado&#xA;  Experiment&lt;/a&gt;, but with lower frequency&#xA;  (maximum of twice per week) and with&#xA;  at least 3 minutes between exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perform every repetition with a 5/5 cadence (5 seconds up, 5 seconds down)&#xA;  to eliminate momentum and ensure&#xA;  constant load.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Focus on no more than 4-7 multi-joint exercises (leg press, trap&#xA;  bar deadlift, overhead press, Yates&#xA;  bent row, dips, incline machine&#xA;  benchpress, etc.) and exercise your&#xA;  entire body each workout to elicit a&#xA;  maximal hormonal (testosterone, growth&#xA;  hormone + IGF-1) response.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat enormous quantities of protein (much like my current fat-loss diet)&#xA;  with low-glycemic index carbohydrates&#xA;  like quinoa, but drop calories by 50%&#xA;  one day per week to prevent protein&#xA;  uptake downregulation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise less frequently as you increase strength and size, as your&#xA;  recovery abilities can only increase&#xA;  20-30%, while you can often increase&#xA;  fat-free muscle tissue up to 100%&#xA;  before reaching a genetic set-point.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Record every workout in detail, including date, time of day, order of&#xA;  exercises, reps, and weight. Remember&#xA;  that this is an experiment, and you&#xA;  need to control the variables to&#xA;  accurately assess progress and make&#xA;  adjustments.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T17:45:46.623" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-04-19T18:01:56.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been into running and cycling for years now and have done races and different things to motivate myself. However, just recently I started the popular P90X in-home workout series, and just watching &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03tXRza7Sdc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this before and after&lt;/a&gt; YouTube video every few days got me feeling great about doing it and more confident to meet my own fitness goals. Maybe it would help you as it did me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I don't work for or partner w/ p90x.  I'm however a proud advocate of course!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T19:34:31.803" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T19:34:31.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1649" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-19T23:33:45.347" Score="19" ViewCount="1369" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you create your workout plan? How do you know when to increase your reps or stay the same? Do you use spreadsheets or other tools?  How do you keep track of your progress? Since I'm a bit of a nerd and I enjoy web 2.0, are there any online interactive websites that you use to create and track workout plans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="79" LastEditDate="2011-06-15T18:31:50.637" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:15:40.717" Title="How to create a workout plan?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-19T23:44:21.953" Score="1" ViewCount="599" Body="&lt;p&gt;What types of workouts or other things need to be done in order get rid of cellulite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-13T14:02:07.173" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T06:24:29.370" Title="How to get rid of cellulite?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-10-03T18:05:03.823" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1650" CreationDate="2011-04-20T00:11:15.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to workout in a way so that you do many reps with relatively low weight. That way, you will start losing weight and getting into a shape. Were you to workout with high weights and few reps, you'd start gaining weight. Other than that, there isn't any &lt;em&gt;treatment&lt;/em&gt; for cellulite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some cycling and running and when in the gym, use low weights and go for 5 series of 30 reps, that should be enough to start losing weight where it isn't welcome :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T00:11:15.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1631" CreationDate="2011-04-20T02:26:06.527" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not suggest gaining that much weight in one month.  You are not going to build more than 1 pound of muscle in one month which means you'll be gaining over 20 pounds in a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is very unhealthy!  That type of weight gain will negatively effect your hormone levels...increasing your estrogen level, lowering your testosterone, and slowing your thyroid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a really bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T02:26:06.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2011-04-20T02:52:36.190" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would do is revisit proper form for your parkour workouts.  You could be overusing your grip to compensate for weakness in your back or somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for lifting, make sure you're split is such that you only lift each muscle group once a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before training you should stretch your forearms.  There are 4 stretches.&#xA;Extend one arm in front of you with your hand up and your palm facing away.  Rotate your hand clockwise, and use the other hand to push it further around until you feel a stretch.  Then, rotate your hand counter clockwise until you feel a stretch.  Repeat on other side.  Next, extend your arm out with your hand down and your palm facing you.  Rotate your hand clockwise, and use the other hand to push it further around until you feel a stretch.  Then, rotate your hand counter clockwise until you feel a stretch.  Repeat on other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After training, you should stretch again and ice your wrists every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have a weakness more than an injury, so as for some type of wrist brace or support, there are pluses and minuses.  The plus is obvious as you are taking some of the work away from your body which will alleviate some pain, and most importantly it will help protect you from possible injuries.  The minus is that in supporting and taking some of the work away from your body, it also keeps it from opportunities to improve.  This is the case with any support equipment like lifting belts and straps.  You have to find a balance where you do not wear the support during easier movements that you know you do not have trouble with, but you do wear it at the most intense parts of your training.  Maybe you don't really need a support during weight training except certain exercises, and maybe you want to wear a support during parkour where there may be impact or you may not have the opportunity to move in a slow and controlled manor all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, any time you have muscle soreness that won't seem to go away, you need to consider every opportunity for recovery and see if you're shorting yourself somewhere.  Do you eat enough protein?  Do you eat enough carbs?  Do you eat healthy fats?  Do you drink enough water?  Do you get enough sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh...one more thought...in reference to it being your right wrist and left forearm.  I think you might just have weak forearms, and you are allowing the extension of the range of motion in your right wrist to support your weakness to some degree which puts extra tension in the joint.  Since you have several days when you cannot workout in a row, you should probably do forearm specific exercises on your non-workout days.  That may allow your forearms to catch up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="599" LastEditDate="2011-04-20T02:59:34.390" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T02:59:34.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1650" CreationDate="2011-04-20T03:49:03.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have cellulite, it's going to be the last place your body loses fat because it's the hardest to access for energy.  You have to lose cellulite through diet and exercise just like any other type of fat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try taking Yohimbine HCl to help mobilize the fat.  It seems to redistribute the fat and you should lose weight more evenly when taking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when I am getting ready for a bodybuilding contest, the cellulite on my butt sticks around until only a few weeks out.  I can be ripped everywhere else, and still have a little cellulite texture on my butt.  To some degree it's genetic, and there's not a whole lot you can do about it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T03:49:03.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2011-04-20T06:30:52.467" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ8Fv7wS20s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ8Fv7wS20s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is interesting this guy is doing a 30 day series of cold baths. Increased thermogenic effect, increased testosterone production and weight loss is expected...cool concept&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user833" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T06:30:52.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1606" CreationDate="2011-04-20T12:53:36.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the pleasure of using one of the longest open air swimming pools in Europe, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Green_Swimming_Pool&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jesus Green swimming pool&lt;/a&gt;. It was not uncommon at either end of its season to see swimmers in wetsuits comfortably swimming for long periods. Perhaps you would consider this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question however, consider high intensity interval training (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training). This has some similar characteristics with swimming when it is trained in intervals with rest periods. The training consists of periods of relatively high-intensity activity followed by a short period of rest that does not quite allow for full recovery anaerobic recovery (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tabata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tabata&lt;/a&gt;). It can be used to good effect with various low impact activities, particularly callisthenics, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of which can be performed in a controlled fashion with minimal impact. There seems to be good evidence that this sort of training gives provides good aerobic exercise with additional strength benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T12:53:36.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1649" CreationDate="2011-04-20T13:03:49.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way i know how is to keep a journal.  Write down how many reps you did and try to improve it next time when you workout.  Either to match it or exceed it.  One of the most important thing in fitness is to set a clear and realistic goal.  There are many tools out there that can help you monitor your progress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naming one is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endomondo.com/login&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endomondo&lt;/a&gt; which monitors and analyzes your training progress.  An important tool to use is heart rate monitor devices for cardio.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They cost around &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=heart%20rate%20monitor&amp;amp;um=1&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;cid=14300951705417459468&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=W9muTZzMHcPPgAePl8SCDA&amp;amp;ved=0CHkQ8wIwAA#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;$35 here is one for example&lt;/a&gt;.  But i believe setting a realistic goal is the best way to monitor your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T13:03:49.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1649" CreationDate="2011-04-20T15:15:04.347" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're asking a few different questions, lets start with the easy one &lt;em&gt;'How do you keep track?'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/printworklog.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a step-by-step approach to creating a log&lt;/a&gt;. It allows you to enter what your plan is and provides a print out to track it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit more regimented than what I use (I write down what I'm doing freehand in a notebook), but gives you a good format and reference to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to creating the actual plan (the thing that you will track) - it all depends on your goals (my recurring theme).  Are you looking to build strength? endurance? size? recover from an injury? That will determine the type of plan.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=WorkoutPrograms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a list of some workout routines&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend searching around for what you're looking for either google workout routines, hit the bookstore or think about getting a personal trainer to help set you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When do you increase, change a plan, etc... start with the above, the plan or trainer will let you know when - as a point of reference, you probably want to change routines ever 2-3 months so your body does not adopt to the same workout and you never want to do the same routine the same way twice - by increasing intensity through increase weights or reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-01T14:15:40.717" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:15:40.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2089" CreationDate="2011-04-20T17:30:09.663" Score="15" ViewCount="35175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using the Navy Body Fat Calculation method for about two months in conjunction with an exercise regimen. It's done it's job as far as telling me that I'm loosing body fat and gaining lean muscle in it's place, but I still wonder how accurate it is and can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From everything I've read on the net, the general consensus is that it's accurate to within 3% of what Hydrostatic Weighing gives you, but I've noticed something about it's output, namely that my neck measurement has more of a (reverse) hold on what my BFP is than my waist measurement does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If my waist measurement increases size 1/8th of an inch (which would indicate a gain of BFP), but my neck measurement increases by 3/8ths of an inch, then my BFP is calculated as &lt;em&gt;losing&lt;/em&gt; .61 percentage points.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if my waist measurement stays the same (which indicates no change), and my neck measurement decreases by 1/2 inch, my BFP is calculated as &lt;em&gt;gaining&lt;/em&gt; a half a percentage point.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand I'm being nit-picky here, as it is telling me that over the past two months I've lost about 4% (coming up on 5%) in BFP, but wouldn't my waist have more weight in the calculation of what my body fat is doing than my neck? The way it is now it seems kind ass backwards, pardon the french.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was this built into the Navy algorithm? Does this make it inaccurate? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="795" LastActivityDate="2016-08-17T05:54:09.040" Title="How accurate is the Navy Body Fat Calculator?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1631" CreationDate="2011-04-20T17:47:18.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few popular approaches to gaining weight quickly. GOMAD (Gallon Of Milk A Day) is a pretty popular method advocated by Mark Rippetoe in his Starting Strength program. Dozen Eggs a Day (DEAD) is another method which I'm currently playing with myself. One thing to keep in mind about DEAD vs. GOMAD is that w/ GOMAD you'll be getting a lot more calories which will certainly assist in the weight gain (although there will be a fair amount of fat gain). Mass gains will usually result in gaining some amount of both muscle and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="838" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T17:47:18.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1739" CreationDate="2011-04-20T19:02:14.933" Score="4" ViewCount="57614" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I started noticing some pain building in my right hip after my morning runs, culminating on last Wednesday when I could barely walk without severe pain in the afternoon. I took a few days of rest and went to the doctor yesterday, where he told me the most likely cause was trochanteric bursitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still ok to run, although I'm supposed to take it easy, and he gave me a list of hip stretches and exercises to help with my hip strength and flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to run the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back in June, and I'd like to still be able to do that. Is there anything else I can do to keep the pain down (or get rid of it) so as to be able to train effectively for the race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T10:11:08.940" Title="Recovering from trochanteric (hip) bursitis" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2011-04-20T19:40:09.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the basic assumption in the Navy calculation is that fat doesn't accumulate much, if at all, on the neck. So if your neck is getting bigger, then you're putting on muscle, and therefore the same waist measurement must come from more muscle mass and less fat. (Whether muscle really builds on the neck, or the neck measurement is a proxy for the overall scale of your body, is beyond me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="785" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T19:40:09.453" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1664" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1702" CreationDate="2011-04-20T19:56:38.647" Score="9" ViewCount="17826" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let me make it clear that this doesn't feel like &lt;em&gt;bad pain&lt;/em&gt;. It feels more like an overtraining/overuse type pain. If this were &lt;em&gt;bad pain&lt;/em&gt; I'd be going straight to a doctor or physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;My Background/Physiology&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 year old male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very active in high school/college ('95-'03)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Including football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, track, and cross country&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ran marathons from 2005-2007&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sedentary from 2007 until February 2011&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6' tall, 215 lbs, 23.4% body fat (target weight: 185 lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large frame (8&quot; wrist circumfrence)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limited flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In late February I began basic cardio focused workouts at the office gym. I did this for about 3 weeks and I started going to a CrossFit gym a little over 5 days a week (3 on 1 off). This gym's CrossFit style workouts are very beginner centric and rarely include more than 15 reps of anything. I have been working at home on my flexibility and mobility doing many of the exercises shown on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://mobilitywod.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mobility WOD&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Diet/Supplementation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take daily multivitamin and fish-oil supplements. I'm currently eating a high protein, high fat, low-ish carb diet. My carb sources are primarily bananas, apples, and sweet potatoes. Basically paleo, but I cheat one day a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirty minutes before each workout I drink a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3975295&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pre-workout amino acid cocktail&lt;/a&gt; which includes Beta-alanine, L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine, L-Arginine, L-Taurine, L-Carnitine, alpha-Ketoglutarate, and Citrulline. Within 15 minutes of finishing each workout I drink a combination of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3977730&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;protein mix&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3975296&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;post-workout amino acid elixir&lt;/a&gt; which includes L-Glutamine, L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine, L-Arginine, and Citrulline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this diet and supplementation I have never experienced significant soreness the day after a workout, except for the first week of CrossFit. Even on days where I killed my back due to my poor clean form I have been fine the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Get to the Point&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday's workout was as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2RFT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100m sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 jumping squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100m sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100m sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 box jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100m sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 dead lifts (175#)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100m sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 jumping lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100m sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I completed it in just over 16 minutes. I was definitely gassed halfway through the second round. My sprints had become a jogging shuffle, and I had to do regular lunges in place of jumping lunges. This was definitely not the most intense workout I have done, but it did have more jumping than usual. After the workout my quads and calves were sore, but not exceptionally so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I woke up this morning with a very very stiff right knee. It hurts to put it into full extension, and it hurts even more to bear weight on it in full extension. With my knee slightly bent everything is fine. After I have sat at my desk for a bit with my knee at 90 degrees I cannot walk very well for the first minute. I have a distinct limp. After about a minute or two of walking it is more or less fine as long as I avoid full extension (I don't normally lock my knees out when walking anyway). The pain is focused on the medial and lateral sides of my lower knee, maybe even below the actual knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me show you where it hurts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oo07t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;medial pain location&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yZj5d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;lateral pain location&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEtP2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;medial flexion pain&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4RFqf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;full flexion torqued&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should mention that the pain is also triggered when my knee is in extreme flexion, and also with my hip in simultaneous flexion, abduction, and lateral rotation. That last picture demonstrates this: flexing my knee as far as it can go and cranking my ankle up towards my chin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel any point tenderness anywhere on my knees. I've pressed and poked everywhere with rather extreme force and have felt no tenderness. Almost forgot, when my knee is in full extension I felt some slight discomfort on the medial side at the end of my hamstring behind my knee. I can bounce on my toes flexing both my ankles and knees on landing without feeling pain, as long as I avoid full extension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Question(s)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is this just an overuse injury? Is it even an &lt;em&gt;injury&lt;/em&gt; or just fatigue? Does it have a name? What could have caused this: the jumping, the running? Thankfully today is my rest day, so I have all day today, and most of tomorrow to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I avoid or try to be aware of during my workouts to prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Misc. Stuff that might be relevant&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been working out in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/Five-Fingers-Komodo-Sport-Mens.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vibram FiveFingers&lt;/a&gt; for the past week and a half. I have had to adapt my running gait to accomodate this. I was previously a heel striker, which is impossible in barefoot shoes, so I'm now trying to do a forefoot strike. I can definitely feel the difference in my calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I obsessively roll out my muscles before and after every workout using both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/the-stick.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Stick&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/rumble-roller.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rumble Roller&lt;/a&gt;. After last night's workout I think I did neglect my calves a bit, because they didn't feel &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; bad. I focused on my quads back and glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="486" LastEditorUserId="486" LastEditDate="2011-04-27T21:42:15.480" LastActivityDate="2013-05-15T17:14:34.207" Title="What did I do to my knee, and how should I recover?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="576" CreationDate="2011-04-20T20:56:29.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend a product called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.idealstretch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IdealStretch&lt;/a&gt;. The standing/seated hamstring technique is ok, but at some point you're going to cheat and bend your back. The IdealStretch gives you all the benefits of the partner stretch that Dougman describes, but without needing another person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using this for a few weeks now and I've gone from only being able to touch my ankles to being able to wrap nearly my entire hand over my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One great thing bout the IdealStretch is it easily allows you to load your hamstrings at both ends. If you don't know what this means, let me elaborate a bit. Your hamstrings are attached at two locations: your hips and your knees. Your hamstrings are stretched when your knee is in  extension and your hips are in flexion. If you lock your knee fully extended and then begin to flex your hip, you're going to feel that stretch targeted high on your hamstring where it attaches to your hip. If you do the opposite, flexing your hip first and then extending your knee, you'll feel the stretch target your lower hamstrings where they attach to your hip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="486" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T20:56:29.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1673" CreationDate="2011-04-20T21:04:55.407" Score="1" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;In roughly 12 weeks I am going on an alpine mountaineering holiday with friends. I'm sure that the fitter I am the more I will enjoy it. I've started doing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; program to improve my fitness as I'm told that running is the most time-effective form of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what, if any, exercise I could do between my running days to gain fitness faster? There is a gym I can use locally, but most CV type exercises involve the legs, rowing or swimming may be alternatives? Is it a good idea or will I just fail to recover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T12:16:55.397" Title="Alternating exercise to get faster fitness gains" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1615" CreationDate="2011-04-20T22:52:08.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, nobody takes these body charts seriously.&#xA;They are intended for bodybuilders in contest shape, so they do not apply to many people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a visual, it's hard to say for sure, but I bet you tend to carry more weight in your lower body.  I say this mostly because of the measurements for your waist and calves.  That being said, I think your thighs are not too big, but too fat.  These measurements are only good comparisons if you're very lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, most people don't carry much fat in their forearms.  Your forearms are significantly smaller than this charts ideal, even more than your biceps.  That indicates that you carry much less muscle than what this chart references.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulder development is limited by your trap strength, and your trap size is reflected in the neck measurement.  According to the old military height and weight requirements, if you were over the suggested weight for your class, they would measure your neck.  If the neck measurement was big enough, it indicated that you carried more muscle mass than the average man, and so your additional weight could be waived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you should strive to have the same measurements as this chart, but the same proportions as the chart.  You should be the same percentage smaller then each measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T22:52:08.293" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="576" CreationDate="2011-04-20T22:57:16.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squat down with your feet flat on the ground, your back almost swayed in a neutral position, and your elbows on your quads a few inches above your knee.  Without changing the position of your hips or arms, slowly straighten your legs at the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try it...it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T22:57:16.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1664" CreationDate="2011-04-20T23:25:12.273" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, there is nothing &quot;beginner&quot; about exercises in sets of 10 and explosive movements...even if it is only a 16 minute workout.  When you train your body, you tear muscles so that your body can repair them in the time between workouts.  It's great that you're not usually sore, because that leads me to believe that you are recovering properly.  However, tendons and ligaments do not tend to strengthen and/or recover as quickly as muscle tissues, so when you do lots of explosive movements and low to moderate reps sets (as opposed to high rep sets), your muscles have the ability to keep up with the increasingly difficult workouts, but your connective tissues tend to lag behind.  Under continued stress over time, you'll set yourself up for injury.  You could be experiencing a soreness in the connective tissues that are beginning to wear down, and you really should switch your training to higher rep sets and elliminate explosive movements for a couple weeks and then transition back to your current training program and see if the pain persists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vibrams are going to cause you to move in a way that your are not conditioned for, so there are going to be pains in one place one day and they'll move to another place the next.  You can easily acrue an injury wearing them for the types of workouts you're doing if you make a cold turkey transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should treat this as if it were an injury.  Take some ibuprofen, and ice both knees several times a day for 20 minutes.  I'd back off of the rolling for a couple days too because it could contribute to inflammation while your body is trying to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thought (although from the area you're complaining about, I really don't think this is it) is that your glutes and/or piraformous are tight.  It is not uncommon for tightness in the glutes to cause pain in the knee.  In fact, any imbalance in flexibility between the quads, hamstrings, glutes, or hip flexors can cause pain in the knee.  It's just most common that it's tightness somewhere in your butt.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, there are 2 stretches you should try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit on the floor with the right leg straight in front of you, and the left foot on the ground on the right side of the right knee.  Wrap your right elbow around your left knee, and pull it toward the center of your chest.  Repeat on other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit in a chair with your right ankle on your left knee.  Sit upright and lean the lower part of your rib cage down toward your right shin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-20T23:25:12.273" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2011-04-21T00:29:01.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just did the test at &lt;a href=&quot;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;About.com&lt;/a&gt; and it matches the value on my scale.  Weird.  And all this time I thought my scale was off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scale I was using was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tanita.com/en/bc590bt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;similar to this one&lt;/a&gt; without the wireless bit.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TqXHx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Scale&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-04-21T16:59:01.130" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T16:59:01.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1672" CreationDate="2011-04-21T01:12:30.670" Score="4" ViewCount="11930" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have tons of squat variations to work the quadriceps and glutes, but I've never seen a free weight exercise to really work the hamstrings. It seems like hamstring isolation is only possible on a leg curl machine. Machines don't work the stabilizer muscles, so a free weight variation would be more complete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T17:32:11.193" Title="What are some free weight exercises to isolate hamstrings?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2011-04-21T04:26:56.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about doing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/stiff-leg-barbell-good-morning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Good Morning&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start Position: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZPjCo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Start Position&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;End Position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qrgcw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;End Position&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T04:26:56.227" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1666" CreationDate="2011-04-21T08:11:26.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise against it, your body needs sufficient rest and trying to rush it only increases your chances of getting injured. Given that C25k is meant to let you workout for only 30 minutes, I don't expect you're in great shape. This means you have even more risk of getting overuse injuries or other discomforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it would be better to stick to the plan and if you feel like it's going well, increase the loads (like moving to C210k halfway through) so you'll end up doing more each workout, but still getting enough rest. Normally 10 weeks should be sufficient to get finish the C210k program, which would allow you to workout for twice as long :-) If you think you can't do the C210k, just look @md5sum: you don't have to run fast in order to gain fitness!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent injuries you could supplement your workouts with some basic strength exercises, like 2 sets squats, lunges and some other body-weight exercises. However, don't overdo yourself, running already causes enough strain to an untrained body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, try to improve your live style. So take the stairs instead of an elevator, take your bike next time you need to do some quick shopping, take a stroll during lunch. Basically anything you can do to be less sedentary will aid you in gaining fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T08:11:26.053" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2011-04-21T10:35:15.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A free weight isolation exercise is an oxymoron, I suggest if you want to isolate then use the leg curl machine - that will give you the isolation you desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T10:35:15.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2011-04-21T12:09:22.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yki2M.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No need to look any further than Squats.....many consider this exercise the King of all exercises.  Since your muscles don't work in isolation, you shouldn't train them in isolation. Dumbbell, barbell, body weight and 100 other variations...keep it simple and focus on technique.  Free weights always provide more overall benefit than machines ever will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T12:09:22.987" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1666" CreationDate="2011-04-21T12:16:55.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this 9 week basic program: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/elitefts4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/elitefts4.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I like to switch between HIIT and Weight training - alternating days....I've always felt that some weight program is essential to overall fitness and health. It provides long term improvements in muscle, tendon and bone health as well as long term/post workout calorie burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T12:16:55.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2011-04-21T16:13:58.100" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not precisely free weights, but if you have or use bands then you can attach one from your ankle to a stable spot near the floor and perform a &quot;curling&quot; motion. You'll need to be careful to make sure that you're stable throughout the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you truly want isolation though, then I don't know of anything outside of a leg curl machine. As Moz said, it's hard to get isolation strictly with free weights. Even something as simple as a bicep curl is going to be using your back and shoulders. If you start using a curl bench then is that really much different from using a machine? I mean, if you used a bench for your hamstrings that looked and acted exactly like a leg curl machine but with weights, is it really still &quot;free weights&quot; at that point? The only difference at that point is the angle of the resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T16:13:58.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1650" CreationDate="2011-04-21T16:31:54.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't &quot;target&quot; fat loss. You'll see a lot of people doing sit-ups to try and burn the belly fat but it just doesn't work. You need to get your body to access that fat. My suggestion is to do morning cardio BEFORE you eat. This is known as &quot;fasted&quot; cardio. What kind of cardio? My favorite is high-volume low impact, ie WALKING. You won't lose muscle doing this but your body will be more likely to access those fat stores. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="838" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T16:31:54.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1740" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:16:26.460" Score="5" ViewCount="16433" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question has to do with the relationship between your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMR&lt;/a&gt; and resting heart rate (bpm). If you are training daily, aerobic and anabolic, and after a span of time you see a decrease in your bpm would your BMR also decrease due to the more efficient bpm ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you have a BMR of 1800 and after 3 months of intense cardio and weight training you decrease your bpm from 70 to 55 would this result in a decrease of your BMR ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-15T13:07:15.920" LastActivityDate="2012-03-15T13:07:15.920" Title="Heart Rate (bpm) vs Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) ?" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2087" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:18:08.867" Score="5" ViewCount="13427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will spare everyone the gory details, but I went to my sports medicine doc yesterday and an ultrasound showed a Baker's Cyst had formed at the back of my left knee. My two options were physical therapy to eventually shrink the cyst, or a procedure in which the cyst is drained, an immediate fix. I went with the latter, even knowing that the cyst could come back. Fast forward to today, the cyst was drained, I slept the night with my leg propped on a pillow with a heating pad soothing my knee and it feels great today! There is still some swelling and soreness from the procedure, but the cyst is definitely gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll get to the point- I would like to avoid the Baker's Cyst from forming again, on either knee, and I would like to know the best methods of healing my knee and getting it back into optimal shape. (Aside from whining to my personal trainer to take it easy on me &quot;because my knee hurts&quot;-- Because he won't)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out 2 to 3 times a week doing weight training and cardio exercises, I am an avid snowboarder in the winter months, and I will be taking up surfing this summer. I walk about 45 minutes total a day during my commute, and even more on weekends, given I don't have a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="712" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T11:12:11.117" Title="Knee Dysfunction- Baker's Cyst- How can I help myself?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1631" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:19:11.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;On many medical weight-gain programs, eating &quot;doubles&quot; will help weight gain. Meaning basically eating twice what you'd normally eat during a meal. Two sandwiches for lunch, etc. Also, another method to gain weight is to add in some meal replacements as snacks or as a second lunch/dinner/meal. Because the meal replacement has all the components of a meal, adding it to your diet tells your body that you've eaten another meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="850" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T17:19:11.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1478" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:25:38.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long-term use of any type of constipation treatment (suppositories/laxatives) can be detrimental because they reduce the amount of nutrients absorbed by the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One recommendation to counteract constipation is to increase the amount of fiber in your diet. Naturally occurring fiber is best - fruits, whole grains, vegetables, etc - while chemically produced fiber can cause bloating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another recommendation is to reduce the amount of constipation-causing foods in your diet. Cheeses, heavily-processed foods, fast foods, saturated fats all contribute to constipation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third fix is to get moving - stand and walk more during the day instead of sitting. Add some stretching and exercise to your daily routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="850" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T17:25:38.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1650" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:30:33.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Massaging the targeted area can also help reduce cellulite. For example, when showering, scrub and massage the affected area for several minutes a few times a week. This helps. Some cellulite treatments do actually work - St. Ives makes a couple of good brands of cellulite creams. The other thing that helps is mosturizing the areas - when the outer skin texture is thin, the cellulite shows more. Which is why we see more cellulite as we get older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="850" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T17:30:33.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1650" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:39:05.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.velashape.com/how-velashape-works&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VelaShape&lt;/a&gt; is a new treatment that is out that is supposed to contour the body and reduce cellulite. There are also creams that can help reduce the appearance for short periods of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combining cardio and toning exercises when working out will also help to create a leaner look. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T20:49:04.543" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T20:49:04.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1690" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:39:30.237" Score="5" ViewCount="1246" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some good types of cardio exercises that are good for someone with knee problems, especially knees that have patella dislocation problems. I've tried the elliptical machine and found it to be far too boring for me to want to use on a regular basis. I also used to surf a lot, but that's really painful for my knees. So, I need something new to try that won't be boring and won't cause me excess knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="849" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-05-27T15:44:25.497" LastActivityDate="2019-11-08T00:52:51.443" Title="What are the best types of cardio exercise for someone with bad knees?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1689" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:49:07.170" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any type of low-impact cardio, but swimming would be the best since there is zero-impact. Stay away from any type of jumping or rotating activities as jumping notoriously leads to dislocated patellas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="850" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T17:49:07.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-21T17:50:14.390" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just starting a workout program at 25 years old really for the first time.  I have a bit of a routine going, involving the treadmill, arm and leg presses etc, and the stationary bike.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that my knees seem to &quot;lock&quot; (feel very stiff) when I get off the bike, and my knees and ankles start to hurt after a few minutes on the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on how I can reduce these annoyances?  Do I need to re-arrange my routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="851" LastEditorUserId="851" LastEditDate="2011-04-21T17:56:51.823" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T21:05:10.483" Title="Just starting, having problems with knees/ankles" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1691" CreationDate="2011-04-21T18:12:06.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if you need to necessarily re-arrange your routine, but stretching your knees before and during and after your exercise routine will help greatly. You also might want to look into nutrient supplements since you're first starting to exercise and already feeling joint stiffness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="850" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T18:12:06.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2011-04-21T18:39:23.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretching, maybe? Or try adding some balancing activities to both legs. Like balancing on one foot on one of those half-balls. Any type of balance exercise should provide strengthening to your joints without adding mass or putting strain on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="850" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T18:39:23.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1691" CreationDate="2011-04-21T21:05:10.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've never really exercised before, your connective tissues (tendons and ligaments) could be quite weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start small, with workouts that are short/easy enough not to cause the lockups and pain, and gradually increase your time on the bike and treadmill as your body adapts to the new load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is absolutely no amount of time on the bike/treadmill that will work for this, you may want to see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-21T21:05:10.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1696" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1775" CreationDate="2011-04-21T22:49:57.967" Score="3" ViewCount="965" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for an 800-calorie diet which is suitable for somebody who is allergic to eggs and milk.  I am able to consume soya drink (or &quot;soya milk&quot;, as some people refer to it), but am unable to tolerate eggs.  I am lactose intolerant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am able to consume eggs if they are used as part of a recipe and not a main ingredient.  I am able to consume eggs to some extent when they are used to make bread or cakes, but am unable to tolerate eggs when used in omelettes, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anybody knows of an 800-calorie diet which is suitable for me and my intolerances, I would love to hear from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much. Mick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="854" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-25T13:49:11.973" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T13:49:11.973" Title="800-Calorie Diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-04-22T05:51:46.783" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are the kind of person that can set a goal and then force yourself to work towards it until you attain it, then you can do that. Most people I know don't work that way. Doing things you hate gets old quickly, and willpower can only go so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe we are not meant to be miserable, and that taking care of yourself feels good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like working in front of the computer, but if I do it all day, my body starts to hurt. Many physical activities are a lot of fun: the wind in my hair of bicycling; the feeling of power when I lift something heavy; the thrill of climbing a wall at a climbing gym; the joy of playing catch with my kids, or ultimate frisbee with my friends. Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity is a full day of active work, and it feels wonderful to help folks out at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming laps is fun, for about 1 lap. Same with a treadmill. I often see people on a treadmill with a book or watching TV, and I think &quot;clearly you don't like what you're doing, since you have to pretend you're not doing it!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can take a little willpower to remind me to get out there and do something, but way less if it's something I love than something I hate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="234" LastActivityDate="2011-04-22T05:51:46.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1701" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1703" CreationDate="2011-04-22T20:11:32.353" Score="4" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a novice weight lifter, currently going to the gym 3 times/week for an hour each time. I recently came down with a head cold. I know that if I go to the gym I won't be able to hit my usual max performance, but is it better to get in a few bad workouts or skip it entirely and just wait until I recover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T16:32:02.473" Title="Working out while slightly ill" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1664" CreationDate="2011-04-22T20:36:02.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've &quot;diagnosed&quot; myself with a mild MCL/ACL strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following morning I woke with no pain in my knee in normal ROM. When fully extended (slightly hyper) I felt a little bit of pain. I stretched my hamstrings and calves thoroughly throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After driving and sitting at my desk my knee would stiffen up again, so I got up and walked every 20 minutes at work. I also took ibuprofen throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt that resting for two weeks was uncalled for and unnecessary given the relatively quick recovery thus far. I've decided that I'll avoid running and heavy jumping for these 3 on-days and reevaluate my condition daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Injury +2 days&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to the gym and instead of doing the 3 mile run WOD I did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 RFT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 kettlebell overhead swings (1 pood)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 sandbag cleans (80 lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 GHD situps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6:03&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt some twinges in my knee during the cleans, but I found that focusing really hard on preventing my right foot from pronating and my right knee from turning inward I avoided all pain. I also felt fine doing 5 minutes of jump rope during my warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit of a funny coincidence but the same day I asked my question here the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/04/episode-230365-squatting-with-turned-out-feet-yo-ir-yourself.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mobility WOD&lt;/a&gt; posted a video about poor hip ROM. Kelly's description of my squatting technique (feet turned out) is spot-on, and I found that the mobility exercises shown in the linked video really helped me keep my knees from shooting inward and putting strain on my MCL/ACL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Injury +3 days&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I decided to go all out and try a modified &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVBgKB4Gnsw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fran&lt;/a&gt; today. Success!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;21-15-9&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;65# Thrusters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blue-band assisted pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8:34&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wore the Vibram's both days without issue. I actually think they're making me more aware of my foot, knee and hip position and preventing the poor form that sturdier shoes allow me to use safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to be super conscious of keeping my knees spread when squatting. I've found the following cues help me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attempting to &quot;spread the ground&quot; with my feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focusing on sending my hips straight down instead of back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focusing on &quot;twisting&quot; the ground with my feet by externally rotating my hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focusing on using my hamstrings and glutes to extend out of the squat&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(I find that as I fatigue my knees shoot inward and I use my quads to stand up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also begun to supplement with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucosamine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glucosamine&lt;/a&gt;, but I don't expect to see results until 2-3 weeks later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to refrain from box jumps, jumping air squats, and jumping lunges until I feel no pain whatsoever in my knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Followup (Injury +8 days)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I continued to stick to my CrossFit schedule. I accomplished one of the most intense CF workouts on I+4: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/000881.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Murph&lt;/a&gt; (scaled pull/push ups and squats by 1/2). I wore sneakers instead of Vibrams. Neither the running nor air squats were an issue for my knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I+6's workout had my a little worried: 60 seconds jumping squats with a 45-lb barbell. This is exactly what injured my knee to begin with. Luckily I saw my PT earlier this day. She confirmed that I have an ACL strain due to my overly aggressive jumping air squats in combination with poor form. My ridiculously short and weak hamstrings prevent me from getting deep in the squat without losing anterior pelvis tilt. As my hamstrings get tight they pull my pelvis and the rest of my body forward, shifting my weight toward my toes. I compensate for this by shooting my knees forward over my toes. This puts an enormous amount of shear on my knee joint. &lt;em&gt;It's really important to keep your tibia vertical if you have a weak/injured ACL&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The PT did some PNF hamstring and quad stretches with me, and prescribed lots of box squats with vertical tibias. I'm to do 50 of these a day, keeping my knees back and maintaining my lumbar curve. As they get easier I am to lower the box until I get down to my ankles (this will take a while). She had me try some jumping squats with a PVC pipe and corrected my form here as well, again emphasizing keeping my knees back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I performed 33 45-lb jumping squats in 60 seconds without any knee pain!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the basic CF movements have been deemed off-limits by my PT. For exercises, like the push-press, where my knees are supposed to come forward I have to compensate by taking a wider stance and opening my hips up. This allows me to keep my knees back further, but still get the benefit of a powerful hip extension. (I sacrifice sheer power by compensating this way, but I don't injure myself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some videos that are must watch for fully understanding and working with sore knees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOH6b0jJ2bQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOH6b0jJ2bQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a72IhKe_2cs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a72IhKe_2cs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd17fdN6tNM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd17fdN6tNM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="486" LastEditorUserId="486" LastEditDate="2011-04-27T21:33:57.080" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T21:33:57.080" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1701" CreationDate="2011-04-22T20:37:17.893" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can speak for myself from my own experience here and I would really recommend staying at home until you are &lt;strong&gt;completely&lt;/strong&gt; recovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work out while ill, your body won't be able to give maximum performance, as it's fighting with the infection, and it won't be able to 'gain' new strength, for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work out when your illness is &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; gone, you are risking getting it back easily, as your body is still not completely recovered. You'll feel when your illness is completely gone and you are fully healthy. You'll know that you are ready to work out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physically, your body is capable of performing to &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; its maximum even when ill, of course. This comes from the ancient times when people were living more &quot;in the nature, among the animals&quot;, where even when ill, you had to be able to fight or flight, which can still be applied in some life situations today (coming accross a bear, for example), but this is applicable only in life-or-death situations, which can be triggered by the survival instinct, especially by the adrenaline. So basically, your body is capable of great performances even when ill, but not for the reasons you want it to. There's no harm at stakes, but there's no improvement at stakes either. You will only make it harder for the body to fight the illness. It's not worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So stay at home, rest, drink some good hot tea with lemon and wait until you are &lt;strong&gt;completely&lt;/strong&gt; healthy, feeling strong again. And when you are, hit the gym and you will enjoy the fact that you are healthy again, working out happily as never before!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastEditorUserId="805" LastEditDate="2011-04-22T20:43:01.817" LastActivityDate="2011-04-22T20:43:01.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1701" CreationDate="2011-04-23T02:56:32.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely wait until you're feeling better. It's better to give it your all when you're feeling better than to half-ass it with a cold just for the sake of keeping up the momentum. Occasional breaks during a training cycle can actually be very useful if you end up hitting a plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay home and hit it with all you've got when you're better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="838" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T02:56:32.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1701" CreationDate="2011-04-23T03:01:48.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend staying home mostly for the sake of the other gym members....don't pass the germs.  Spend the time reading/reviewing your exercise plan and technique, you might not be able to lift as much, but you can focus on how you're lifting, using a broom handle to go through the motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T03:01:48.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1708" CreationDate="2011-04-23T03:04:39.130" Score="2" ViewCount="2451" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does doing bicep curls with forearms facing &lt;strong&gt;down&lt;/strong&gt; achieve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that forearms facing up (standard way most people do them) exercise the &quot;outer&quot; bicep, while forearms facing down exercises an underlying layer of muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T23:23:05.517" Title="Bicep curls, forearm down" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1707" CreationDate="2011-04-23T03:22:35.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reverse curls are done with the palm down.  They primarily work the brachialis and the brachioradialis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hammer curls are done with the the palm facing inward.  They work the biceps brachii, the brachialis, and the brachioradialis more equally than the other two positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The standard curl is done with the palms facing up.  They primarily work the biceps brachii.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T03:22:35.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-04-23T13:50:37.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever seen movies where the character gets a new body, and needs time to get used to it?  That's what growing up is like, and if you don't have enough practice &quot;using&quot; your body, you will handle it incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best advice: find &lt;em&gt;a similar skill level&lt;/em&gt; for her to play with, until she develops the skills Natalie talks about.  If you can't, then yeah, any level of practice will help develop those skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Important: nothing's wrong with her, just needs practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T13:50:37.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1710" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1749" CreationDate="2011-04-23T16:58:36.713" Score="4" ViewCount="6405" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about juggling heavy balls as part of my workout routine. Could the frequent impacts of juggling balls up to 1 kg every other day hurt my muscles or tendons? Assume that I'm of average fitness and won't drop the balls on my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-21T12:25:21.863" LastActivityDate="2018-03-09T23:51:49.663" Title="Could juggling heavy balls hurt the body?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1713" CreationDate="2011-04-23T17:42:13.083" Score="13" ViewCount="2659" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I have been told, machines are not recommended for strength training, because they isolate muscles and thereby exclude the smaller stabilizing muscles from developing together with the major muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see this point. Doing a barbell bench press feels entirely different from using a machine simulating the same movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question, then, is: What justification is there for these machines at all? Should one generally prefer free weights over machines or are there plausible use cases where a machine is the better alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="757" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T13:59:17.057" Title="Should one generally avoid machines in favor of free weights?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-04-23T20:32:42.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe her muscle performance is (genetically?) more suited for long-term endurance sports like marathon running for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple experiment. Just observe what happens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell her that -although she might not be the fastest in the first half of the game- she can still be &lt;em&gt;the fastest in the last 15 minutes of the game&lt;/em&gt; when the other players are more exhausted than her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe she can simply outrun the defenders in one of the last attacks. It's possible to score key goals that way.&#xA;She must still be willing to perform well at the end, it's difficult after being slower for 80 minutes (or if the other players aren't exhausted at all). Maybe you can still motivate her? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T20:32:42.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1711" CreationDate="2011-04-23T21:03:55.770" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the most stable to the least stable, you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Machines are the most stable. They work a major muscle and neglect the the small stabilizer muscles. On the other end of the spectrum, you have dumbbells which require a fair amount of stabilizer muscles. One is not better than the other. It all depends on what your goals are. Below, we have the advice of the most successful bodybuilders saying that both stable and unstable equipment are necessary for growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dexter Jackson&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2008 Mr. Olympia on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZirzqE30A&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;choosing the right equipment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MFTkO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dexter jackson&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm a firm believer in is&#xA;barbells build mass. OK. Dumbells -&#xA;you can build a little mass, but it's&#xA;mostly for shaping.  Say for example,&#xA;you're doing 500 lb bench press.&#xA;You're not going to get 250 lb&#xA;dumbbells. You can't do that. The more&#xA;weight you do, the bigger you're&#xA;become because it's heavier.&#xA;Therefore, barbells, to me is a mass&#xA;builder of every exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With machines, you can even do more weight than a barbell because no energy has to be expended to stabilize the weight. So by the transitive property, machines are great for mass building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dorian Yates&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6 time Mr. Olympia on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dorian-yates-blood-guts-3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;machines vs. free weights&lt;/a&gt; (4:15)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3zjlO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dorian Yates&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a debate. What's better?&#xA;Machines or free weights? Neither.&#xA;They're both tools you can use. As&#xA;long as you're working a muscle to&#xA;failure, it doesn't matter if it's a&#xA;machine or free weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's advantages and disadvantages.&#xA;The advantage with free weights, of&#xA;course, is we're all built&#xA;differently. We're all different&#xA;heights. We all have different lengths&#xA;of limbs. Different attachments and&#xA;everything. Whereas a machine is just&#xA;built in one way. If you lift a free&#xA;weight and I lift a free weight, we'll&#xA;take a slightly different pathway&#xA;because or bodies are built&#xA;differently. So that's the advantage&#xA;of a free weight . It works with the&#xA;individual's body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With machines, you're locked into a&#xA;groove. The advantage of a machine is&#xA;you can isolate without too much&#xA;outside involvement. Especially if you&#xA;have injuries, they're very useful.&#xA;You have more control if you want to&#xA;do extra negatives and so on. If&#xA;you're doing a free weight bench press&#xA;it's very awkward to do extra&#xA;negatives at the end. It's just not&#xA;practical. It's not really safe. With&#xA;a machine, you can get your training&#xA;partner to lift to the top and control&#xA;it. It's safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use both in my training. I use free&#xA;weights and I use machines. The main&#xA;thing is the effort you're putting in,&#xA;not the tools you use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, Dorian says machines are better if need to work around an injury or need to do advanced techniques like forced negatives. On the other hand, free weights feel more natural and work for any body type. From personal experience, I feel the same about Dorian on the natural feel of free weights. When using bench press machines, I often find my wrists contorted into awkward positions at the peak of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Arnold Scwarzenegger&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7 time Mr. Olympia in his &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0684857219&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KsXo6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Arnold&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginning bodybuilder, the&#xA;majority of training should be done&#xA;with free weights. We live in a&#xA;technological age, and the exercise&#xA;machines being designed and&#xA;manufactured today are better than&#xA;ever. But your muscles were designed&#xA;by evolution to overcome the pull of&#xA;gravity rather than to work against&#xA;machine resistance, so the biggest&#xA;gains you will make in building size&#xA;and strength will come from pumping&#xA;iron - using a barbell and dumbbells -&#xA;rather than exercising on machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, a report in the Journal&#xA;of Strength and Conditioning Research&#xA;indicates that testosterone production&#xA;is increased when you do&#xA;large-muscle-group, free-weight&#xA;exercises in which you use and&#xA;coordinate a number of major muscle&#xA;groups at the same time, like the&#xA;Squat, Deadlift, and exercises you see&#xA;performed less often today like the&#xA;Power Clean. Testosterone production&#xA;is not similarly increased by&#xA;isolation free-weight exercises - or&#xA;training on machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, let me emphasize that I am not&#xA;against machines. ... We've been&#xA;through air- and water-resistance&#xA;machines, and are now back to more&#xA;basic design, bt a hundred times&#xA;better than ever before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a lot of machines in my own&#xA;workouts. It's obviously impossible to&#xA;get full thigh development, for&#xA;example, without a Leg Extension or&#xA;Leg Curl machine or to fully isolate&#xA;the inner chest without using a pec&#xA;deck, or cables. And it is possible to&#xA;shock the body into accelerated growth&#xA;if you occasionally use a machine or&#xA;circuit of machines you are not used&#xA;to in place of your normal free-weight&#xA;exercise for that body part. But I&#xA;believe a good bodybuilding program&#xA;should include no more than 30 to 40&#xA;percent training (at most!) with&#xA;machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, Arnold believes that machines add variety to a workout and variety is the key to growth. He recommends using more free weights than machines because our bodies have evolved to grow better with free weights. He also points out many of the things Dorian Yates advocates, but I left them out of my quoting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T21:16:15.243" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1707" CreationDate="2011-04-23T23:23:05.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a good link to some curl variations and a pic of the muscles being worked on:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson215.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson215.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In plan language (from what I understand) the palm down works more of the forearm in addition to the bicep, the hammer (neutral) a more even split of stress on forearm and bicep and the traditional curl mostly the bicep. (much like pull ups and chin ups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-23T23:23:05.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1729" CreationDate="2011-04-24T01:22:36.483" Score="7" ViewCount="12872" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the recommended time for running, in respect to meal time and hungriness (amount of sugar on your blood)? If the answer depends on the goal of the exercise, please explain for weight-loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T03:10:58.683" Title="Running - should it be done when you're hungry?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1763" CreationDate="2011-04-24T01:50:44.663" Score="11" ViewCount="3378" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what is the effective weight of doing push-ups. What would be the weight of the dumbbell/ barbell to do a bench press with the same resistance as a push-up. I understand this depends on the person's weight, maybe the answer can be an estimated percentage of the weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T15:02:33.800" Title="What is the effective weight when doing push-ups?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1689" CreationDate="2011-04-24T04:02:18.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than exercises recommended by @Alison S answer, you can also try upper body cardio exercises, such as rowing (or rowing machine) or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3JVsPN-CE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kranking&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus they will also improve your upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastEditorUserId="860" LastEditDate="2011-04-24T04:10:11.457" LastActivityDate="2011-04-24T04:10:11.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1701" CreationDate="2011-04-24T04:09:08.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the other answerer says, you should take rest if you're ill. But it wouldn't hurt if you do &lt;em&gt;light&lt;/em&gt; exercise, such as 1/3 or half your usual intensity, so that it wouldn't hurt your body's effort to fight the disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't count on these exercises improving your strength or whatever your goal is, but when you're recovered, these help you adjust your exercise back to normal smoothly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2011-04-24T04:09:08.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1717" CreationDate="2011-04-24T05:27:23.583" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can get a rough measurement by holding pushup position with your hands on a bathroom scale. I suggest doing this with your arms fully extended and locked to prevent yourself from actively pushing against the scale and skewing the reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, it ended up being about 75% of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-04-24T05:27:23.583" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-24T06:18:11.703" Score="4" ViewCount="1340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 23 years old, 5'8&quot; in height. My weight is 56 kg.&#xA;My daily schedule is busy, sometimes I can not take my meals on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should gain some muscle as my age is growing, looking like a skinny man.&#xA;My daily routine is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9 AM wake up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9:30 breakfast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 AM go to office&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 PM have my lunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:30 back from office&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 PM have dinner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;11 PM - 2 AM work &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and right now I have around 30 minutes to excercise in the morning.&#xA;I dont have enough time to go to gym, so in this situtation I am thinking of exercising in my home with some small instruments like dumbbells, push-ups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will be the healthy and perfect change for me to get some weight?&#xA;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user861" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:08:14.213" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T02:08:14.213" Title="Daily Health Routine and gaining weight suggestion" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-04-24T09:55:49.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;try out &lt;em&gt;more kinds of sports&lt;/em&gt;, some that you've never tried before. if you were into sports once, your body will adapt quickly to the new movements. &#xA;You also need to have the money (to afford the equipment and/or some initial training lessons) and need to enjoy learning new skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For outdoor sports,  in your area, you might discover a golf course, skiing, waterski or cable wakeboard pool, go kanooing, sailing, triathlon, hockey... whatever. If you start looking you'll discover a lot of things. I've discovered that each sport has its own community and attracts its own type of people - with certain traits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you simply haven't found a community yet that suits you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2011-04-24T09:55:49.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1746" CreationDate="2011-04-24T16:34:32.043" Score="5" ViewCount="3051" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 33 and male.&#xA;I've had pain in interior of my left hip for the past 5 years or so.&#xA;I first noticed the pain when playing recreational ultimate frisbee. I have since stopped playing, but the pain comes back whenever I stress my legs. This happens now when I go hiking, running, or even moving furniture around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lean slightly to my left when I walk. This puts some additional stress on my hip which hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, my hip clicks sometimes. I lie on my back and bring my left knee forward towards my chest. When I extend my leg back out, it pops/clicks. It never happens with my right leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain has been getting more frequent. I don't want to take Advil every time I exercise.&#xA;Are there any strengthening exercises I can do which will help stabilize my hip and prevent pain?&#xA;I've had great success with shoulder rotation exercises, which have stopped my left shoulder pain.... anything similar for hip, or is it a different type of problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 2011.06.09&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;To answer some of the questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had an MRI around 5 years when this first occurred. The orthopedist mentioned it was normal but my flexibility was poor in my left leg. He recommended physical therapy, but my insurance did not cover it at the time, so I could not do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past month since I posted the question, I've started going to a chiropractor. He mentioned that my left leg was 1/2 inch longer than right. In addition, he recommended left quad stretches and right hamstring stretches, as well as some other general stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chiropractor also performed some adjustments on my pelvic alignment, which he says will help my legs to equal length. He is also doing some massage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 4 chiro appointments, I have noticed some reduction in the pain. I have not started running yet, but I will see how it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="864" LastEditorUserId="864" LastEditDate="2011-06-09T17:27:23.567" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T20:04:50.177" Title="Exercises to prevent hip pain?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1732" CreationDate="2011-04-24T23:24:16.103" Score="1" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add a bit to the title:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I eat 5 grams of protein from white rice, and 7 grams of protein from beans, have I eaten 12 grams of complete protein? Have I eaten 5 grams? Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="558" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T15:55:13.560" Title="When &quot;complimenting&quot; proteins, how do you determine the amount of complete protein?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-04-04T11:24:29.447" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1716" CreationDate="2011-04-24T23:41:58.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually run after work, but before dinner. I definitely notice that I have less energy than when I haven't had an afternoon snack. I have often run when I was feeling hungry, but rarely feel light-headed after running. I'm usually hungrier after running. I think I do my best when I run about 1.5 hours after eating. That's long enough to not be nauseous, but have a good amount of energy from the meal. I find that my schedule and the weather control when I run more than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="126" LastActivityDate="2011-04-24T23:41:58.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1716" CreationDate="2011-04-25T02:52:42.780" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, I don't think that whether you're hungry or not is relevant at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because you're hungry doesn't mean that you don't have sufficient glycogen stores for a run.  If you are hungry, the hunger will probably subside once you start running as exercise causes you to have an increase in insulin.  Any increase in insulin is followed by a low, at which point you'll feel the hunger return.  This may be after you're run, or if you're exercising for a longer period, it could be before your workout is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio for weight loss is often suggested to be done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, that way you will start burning stored glycogen immediately, and if you're eating a low carb diet, possibly go directly to burning fat for energy.  Again, whether you're hungry or not is still irrelevant.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just ate, you will burn sugar in the bloodstream first when you run.  Depending on your metabolism, and how long since your last meal, you might not even digest that last meal yet because blood will be pulled to the extremities during your run, and away from the stomach in order to supply oxygen to the muscles working during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="599" LastEditDate="2011-04-26T03:10:58.683" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T03:10:58.683" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1721" CreationDate="2011-04-25T12:34:32.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about diet and exercise.  To start with, start keeping a journal of what and when you eat (and how much).  Simple short term steps would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go to a local nutrition store (GNC for example) and get some Whey protein to have on a daily basis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to gain 'mass' you need to lift weights - get some dumbbells for your house - I would recommend 10lb, 35lb and 50lb pairs - and a bench to work from&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;base exercises, including: squats, bench/shoulder press and rows should be part of your 3-4 day a week routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get some reading done: New Rules of LIfting for example - to get ideas on workout routines and example exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;set aside 45 minutes to 1 hour the 3-4 times a week for your workout.....(get up a little earlier)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T12:34:32.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1744" CreationDate="2011-04-25T15:11:09.110" Score="17" ViewCount="186381" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long after eating should I wait to exercise, or does it not matter? I am mainly talking about cardio, not weightlifting. I am trying to lose weight, not gain it, and in large amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="785" LastEditorUserId="785" LastEditDate="2011-04-25T18:58:51.963" LastActivityDate="2013-08-28T03:44:55.037" Title="How long should I wait to exercise after eating?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1727" CreationDate="2011-04-25T15:55:13.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;complete protein&quot; is not actually a protein, but rather the full set of essential amino acids in the right proportion.  You can use that proportion to determine how many &quot;sets&quot; of complete protein you have and which amino acids you got that were &quot;extra&quot;.  I'm of the opinion that this exact breakdown isn't useful, but you can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the profile of a complete protein&lt;/a&gt; to calculate the total amount of complete protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easiest to use ratios.  For example, if your meal contained 10 mg of Tryptophan, divide that by 7 mg/g from the chart to get 1.42.  If it had 54 mg of Threonine, divide that by 27 mg/g to get 2.00.  Do this for all of the amino acids, then select the &lt;strong&gt;lowest ratio&lt;/strong&gt;.  Let's assume that you continued through the chart and all the other ratios were higher than 1.42, so 1.42 is the minimum.  You therefore got 1.42 grams of complete protein.  You also got (2.00 - 1.42) * 27 mg of &quot;extra&quot; Threonine, as well as extra of the other amino acids besides Tryptophan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T15:55:13.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1701" CreationDate="2011-04-25T18:30:36.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should keep working out -- even increasing the intensity might help. I asked my doctor about this same question and was pointed to some research which says that there is no real performance loss and no negative impact on your recovery. Positive impacts may be increased emotional well-being from working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, when I have taken off time I got into a downward spiral of losing strength and feeling worse -- adding to the overall misery of the cold. Lately I've changed my views and kept working out -- It felt so much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule of thumb I follow is if it is below the neck, rest, if it is above keep working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One article that was helpful to me is entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1318446/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sports, Exercise, and the Common Cold&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;David Nieman, Ph.D., who heads the&#xA;  Human Performance Laboratory at&#xA;  Appalachian State University, and has&#xA;  run 58 marathons and ultras, uses the&#xA;  &quot;neck rule.&quot; Symptoms below the neck&#xA;  (chest cold, bronchial infection, body&#xA;  ache) require time off, while symptoms&#xA;  above the neck (runny nose,&#xA;  stuffiness, sneezing) don't pose a&#xA;  risk to runners continuing workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This view is supported by research&#xA;  done at Ball State University by Tom&#xA;  Weidner, Ph.D., director of athletic&#xA;  training research. In one study,&#xA;  Weidner took two groups of 30 runners&#xA;  each and inoculated them with the&#xA;  common cold. One group ran 30 to 40&#xA;  minutes every day for a week. The&#xA;  other group was sedentary. According&#xA;  to Weidner, &quot;the two groups didn't&#xA;  differ in the length or severity of&#xA;  their colds.&quot; In another study, he&#xA;  found that running with a cold didn't&#xA;  compromise performance. He concluded&#xA;  that running with a head cold--as long&#xA;  as you don't push beyond accustomed&#xA;  workouts--is beneficial in maintaining&#xA;  fitness and psychological well-being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="868" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2011-04-27T16:32:02.473" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T16:32:02.473" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="601" CreationDate="2011-04-25T18:39:10.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a long-distance runner who does CrossFit, I have looked into this a good bit and experimented with myself over the last two years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While CF doctrine says (at least at two gyms in DC) that endurance is a degraded mode of power, I have come to the conclusion that practice makes perfect. If you want to do your best at the marathon, you need to do a lot of long runs. If you want to crank out 100 pullups unbroken, you need to do a lot of high rep pullups. This is pretty basic, and it makes sense to me. There are no shortcuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the science behind how our muscles work, but I believe that we perform better after repeated experience. After two years of CrossFit, I am a much more fit person, able to do much more with my body than run long distances, but my long distance running times have suffered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, CrossFit makes you better at doing CrossFit, which is a a pretty darn good proxy for functional capability in life. However, if you want to win the 15K, go to runners world and find a good training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="868" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T18:39:10.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-04-25T18:43:31.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is no strict formula for this and the answer strongly depends on the intensity of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are uncomfortable when exercising, it has a direct effect on my performance. If I eat a full meal, I have to wait 2 to 3 hours before high intensity exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, before a low intensity exercise like a long run (&gt;10 miles) I always try to get some calories in me. Banana's, bagel, powerbar, and &lt;em&gt;tons&lt;/em&gt; of fluids. More than 15 miles, I try to add calories during.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="868" LastEditorUserId="868" LastEditDate="2011-04-25T20:50:08.313" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T20:50:08.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1716" CreationDate="2011-04-25T19:06:03.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often find that I'm hungry when I first wake up. However, a few minutes into my run I no longer feel hungry. I'm assuming the insulin increase is responsible for this.  I have also noticed that the mornings when I run (or do calisthenics) I stay &quot;un-hungry&quot; for up to a half-hour or even an hour after I work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think (hope?) that this is because my body has turned to burning fat for fuel once my glycogen stores are used up, because there's nothing in my stomach for it to digest, but I don't have a source for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T19:06:03.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1559" CreationDate="2011-04-25T19:33:13.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just tested running with three different Custom Workouts scheduled right before my Assessment Workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MlaSN.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It cycled through the four workouts in the order they are scheduled. They were described by how many different Zones it had, it's color and total duration. Which probably gives problems with your C210k program, because they all have nearly the same amount of intervals, the same intensity, only the ratio between the length of the intervals is different. Sadly, that information isn't included!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best work around is to turn on the Pacer, click on the Select Workout button &lt;strong&gt;once&lt;/strong&gt; and then start your Workout. That way it will always select the workout that's first on the schedule. Are you unsure if you clicked once, turn it off and back on to try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, pick one of the workouts from MiCoach itself that resembles C210k as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T19:33:13.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1662" CreationDate="2011-04-25T19:57:15.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case the inflammation/bursitis isn't very serious, you could still workout, though sufficient rest until its gone would probably be 'healthier' and you shouldn't feel any pain when working out. Because the bursitis &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/9849750/trochanteric-bursitis-hip-bursitis-physioadvis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;occurs due to repetitive strain of the gluteal muscles on the trochanteric bursa&lt;/a&gt; you should work on your hip joint strength and stabilty. I'd suggest cutting back on the intensity of your workouts until your pain free and built up sufficient strength, so you won't be overusing the structures around the bursa. As Physioadvisor.com suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ignoring symptoms or adopting a 'no pain, no gain' attitude is likely to lead to the condition becoming chronic. Immediate, appropriate treatment in patients with trochanteric bursitis is essential to ensure a speedy recovery. Once the bursitis is chronic, healing slows significantly resulting in markedly increased recovery times and an increased likelihood of future recurrence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, you should start doing the exercises the doctor gave you on regular basis, preferably several times a day, so you can spread the load. The exercises will help you improve the strength and coordination of the hip, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eorthopod.com/content/trochanteric-bursitis-hip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;which according to E-Orthopod.com will help reduce friction on the bursa.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/trochanteric-bursitis-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some of the exercises you can perform according to Buzzle.com:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Iliotibial Band Stretch - Side Leaning:&lt;/strong&gt; This iliotibial band stretch is nothing but side leaning on a wall. Stand at a foot distance from the surface of the wall, with your injured side near the wall. Lean on the wall by placing your palm on the surface of the wall. Cross your uninjured leg over the other leg and lean gently on the wall. Repeat the same for the other side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg Raise:&lt;/strong&gt; Lie down on an exercise mat on your unaffected side. Use your hand to support your head. Now, tighten the muscles of your upper thigh of affected side and raise that leg above the floor. Raise the leg 8 to 10 inches above the floor and ensure that your knees remain straight, while raising the affected leg. Hold the position for few seconds and repeat the exercise. Perform 3 sets with each set having 10 repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Iliotibial Band Stretch - Standing:&lt;/strong&gt; Stand in an upright position. Now, cross your unaffected leg over your injured leg, as in the first iliotibial band stretch. Bend down and touch your toes with your fingers. Hold the position for 30 seconds and get back to the initial position and repeat the exercise for three times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hip Extension:&lt;/strong&gt; Lie down on an exercise mat on your stomach and place your hands besides your sides. Now place your palms, such that, they touch the exercise mat. Now, slowly raise the affected leg above the floor by tightening your thigh muscles. See that your knees remain straight when you lift the affected leg. Hold the leg in raised position for few seconds and bring it down slowly. Perform 3 sets with each set having 10 repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wall Squat:&lt;/strong&gt; Stand in an upright position with your face opposite to a wall. Place an exercise ball or basket ball behind your back and lean against the wall. Keep your body straight and squat down slowly to make your thighs parallel to the floor. Hold the position for ten seconds and slide up on the wall. Repeat the steps 10 times, 3 sets. Read more on, bursitis hip exercises and hip pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T19:57:15.883" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1683" CreationDate="2011-04-25T20:21:47.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ShapeFit.com has a list of factors that influence your BMR.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed asleep all day! Calories are burned by bodily processes such as respiration, the pumping of blood around the body and maintenance of body temperature. Obviously the body will burn more calories on top of those burned due to BMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Determining factors:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetics: some of us are lucky, some of us aint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender: men on average have more muscle mass and less fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: BMR drops with ~2%/10 years&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: obese women can have a 25% higher metabolic rate than thin women&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body fat percentage: if its low your BMR is probably high&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet: starving yourself puts your body in a reduced BMR-mode&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body temperature: +0.5C = +7% BMR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External temperature: ironically being cold also helps boosting your BMR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glands: Thyroxin helps regulate your BMR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise: lean tissue requires a higher BMR than fat tissue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you can see, it's not as simple as just looking at how 'fit' you've become to judge what your BMR will do. However, assuming you've lost some weight, reduced your fat level, aren't on a starvation diet and have acquired more lean tissue, you'll probably have a net increase in BMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the calculations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the activity multipliers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports &amp;amp; physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that increasing your activity level will boost your BMR with ~15-20%, whereas a loss in kilograms will lower it with 10-15 points per kilogram. So estimating what the effect will be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(66 + (13.7 * 87) + (5 * 176) - (6.8 * 26)) * 1.2 = 2353 (being sedentary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(66 + (13.7 * 82) + (5 * 176) - (6.8 * 26)) * 1.2 = 2271 (-70, slimmer but still sedentary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(66 + (13.7 * 82) + (5 * 176) - (6.8 * 26)) * 1.4 = 2649 (+300 slimmer but more active)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, being more active is most definitely going to increase your BMR. Even if you significantly loose weight, the difference is going to be quite significant. Not that this equation &lt;strong&gt;doesn't&lt;/strong&gt; take into account all of the factors they listed themselves, but still you get the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So no, being more active is most definitely going to increase your BMR.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T20:21:47.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1716" CreationDate="2011-04-25T21:53:03.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 'burning more fat on an empty stomach' thing is mostly bullshit. Weight change is pretty much determined by the difference between your calorie intake and calories spent. Whether you're hungry doesn't factor into how effective an exercise is at burning calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always try to eat something an hour or two before working out, to avoid dizziness and nausea from my blood sugar dropping too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for weight loss, you're better off working on that in the kitchen. To get in shape, I'd shoot for &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Stronglifts 5x5&quot;&gt;weight lifting&lt;/a&gt; instead of just running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T21:53:03.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1742" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1745" CreationDate="2011-04-25T23:00:04.093" Score="6" ViewCount="2028" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a prototypical hardgainer, 23 years old and never weighed over 10 stone until recently when I started lifting weights again (lifted in the past and never saw any noticeable gains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read in an article that I should just overload my body with calories (currently taking in between 3300 and 4000 per day). Whilst this has worked for me so far (I've gained 14lbs in 4 weeks) I am worried that if I continue to load up on calories that my body will soon start to pack on fat rather than muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out three times a week for approx. 40 mins, and have just started doing two sessions on the bike a week also (around 30 mins each session). I am &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sci-mx.co.uk/pages/3023/Mass_System.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;taking Sci-MX Mass System&lt;/a&gt; twice a day currently, but am switching to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onacademy.co.uk/catalogue/products/serious-mass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass&lt;/a&gt; instead (will only take half the specified serving a day because I think 1250 calories a day is far too much for me given my workout). I plan to complement this with a low calorie whey protein also throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet consists largely of chicken soups, tuna with low fat dressings, eggs, fruit (apples and bananas), yoghurts (not low fat), cheese and bagels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is, every article/workout I read says to burn calories to get leaner, but as a hardgainer I need to add a large amount of calories to my diet in order to grow in size. I'm gaining size no problem, but my abs are invisible and my general muscle tone is lacking. Is my diet incorrect and should I cut down on calorie intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to continue in the wrong direction and have a load of fat to try and shift further down the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Example Diet for a Week Day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast (8:30am):&#xA;Quaker Oats with 300ml Semi Skimmed Milk&#xA;1 serving (or half serving of Optimum Nutrition) Mass gainer&#xA;2 Apples&#xA;Handful of unsalted and unflavoured red skin peanuts/cashews&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mid Morning (11am):&#xA;Tuna Sandwich, or Bagel with Philadelphia and Ham&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch (1.30pm):&#xA;Chicken Soup / Tomato Soup (600ml) with Cheese/Ham sandwich, or Tuna pasta salad with sweetcorn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mid-Afternoon (4pm):&#xA;Bagel with Philadelphia and Ham&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner (6pm):&#xA;Steak, Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage&#xA;Muller Light (no fat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mid Evening (8.30pm)&#xA;Toasted Bagel with philadelphia and ham, or Tuna sandwich&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before Bed (11.30pm)&#xA;Mass Gainer shake (will be swapping this with a low calorie protein shake)&#xA;Banana&#xA;Tuna Sandwich&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T19:29:08.100" Title="As a hardgainer, how do I get the right balance of calories to add size without adding fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1742" CreationDate="2011-04-25T23:39:19.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're eating way too much. Aim for an increase of 1 pound per week, i.e. a daily calorie excess of 500 kcal. That should be plenty for good muscle growth. There's no such thing as a hardgainer, you just haven't been eating as much as you thought in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your abs won't start showing until you get your body fat below 10% or something. Spend a year or so bulking first, then cut your weight by 1-2 pounds per week until you're happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-04-25T23:39:19.563" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-04-26T00:35:47.557" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It takes 30 to 40 minutes for food to digest in your stomach and 3 to 4 hours for it to absorb in your intestines. I agree that there is no strict formula for this, since it also depends on what you eat and how you intend to expend that energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience if I eat a large meal which is heavy in carbohydrates I see my best performance with a high intensity exercise 6 to 8 hours later. I have also consumed protein shakes within 15 minutes of a weight training circuit and have seen strengthened results. I recommend you experiment and find your own ideal wait length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastEditorUserId="785" LastEditDate="2011-04-26T07:19:15.450" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T07:19:15.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1742" CreationDate="2011-04-26T02:17:29.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend stop using mass gainers, That ON Mass you are using has 10g of sugar per serve, I suppose if you are halving it, it isnt too bad.... but yeah not the best for carb intake!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also try to get the tuna in spring water and also get some healthly fats in there like flax seed oil (omega 6 &amp;amp; 9). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm almost amazed you are making that many calories on that diet.. you must be drinking/eat a fair load of chicken soup :), I'd be worried if that is even real chicken in there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T02:17:29.680" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1726" CreationDate="2011-04-26T04:01:16.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a completely different problem than that of your shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your left hip is clicking, your left knee and/or foot probably turn inward slightly which causes the left hip bone to drop a bit in the front.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any time you have a tightness in the hips and glute area, it creates an imbalance in the position of your pelvic bone.  An imbalance or instability in the hips will cause other muscles in your hips to work harder to stabilize the area.  The difference between this situation and your shoulder problem, is that your shoulder has long periods of rest throughout the day, whereas your hips only rest while you're prone.  Simple daily activities are causing the problem to persist even though you are unaware of it until you exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should see a chiropractor and have him/her x-ray your hips and show you the likely rotation that is is your pelvic area.  They may suggest a treatment plan.  Even if you choose not to go back for regular adjustments to address the problem, I still suggest that you go for an initial visit.  This way you can understand what's going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fix the issue, you will need to relax the muscles that are encouraging the rotation in your hips, and you may find that you have pain in a new place that is the root of the problem.  To relax the muscles, you should get regular massage.  I suggest once a week in the beginning.  Make sure that you find a massage therapist that does deep tissue work, and doesn't avoid the front hip area and glutes.  That is where you'll need the most work, and some LMT's tend to work arms, legs, and back which isn't going to serve the purpose you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible that there is no root of the problem, rather that you favor one leg strongly to the point that your habits have allowed muscles in a certain area to shorten and muscles in another area to lengthen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added via edit...&#xA;As for exercises to strengthen the hip...Without knowing the exact root of the problem, I can't really give specific exercises that would benefit your particular issue.  I would say that any exercises that work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, abs, and low back would benefit you if done with light weight in sets of 20 or more followed by lots of stretching.  These exercises could include but are not limited to squats, dead lifts, lunges, stiff legged dead lifts, hypertensions, and crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="599" LastEditDate="2011-04-27T02:30:04.387" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T02:30:04.387" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1747" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1755" CreationDate="2011-04-26T07:58:53.143" Score="2" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Meniscus Tear to my right knee, itself subject of an ACL rebuild 20 years ago.  I don't think I will have an op, as it is not completely severed. So I know I will need to strengthen my quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises, once the swelling and pain has gone, can I do, in order to strengthen my quads, to reduce the chances of this happening again.  I know their are obvious ones, but are there any I could perform whilst sat at my desk at work?  I know I should wait, but is there anything I could be doing know, to lessen the impact on my quads as the onger it is inactive, the more muscle tone I will lose from it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's acutely painful at the moment, so I know I have to give it rest currently, and not rush back too quickly. I was injured 2 weeks ago, but then made it worse by twisting it at home the other day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises would be leg curls, squats and lunges, but obviously, only when healed. I was hoping for some advice, on maybe some ultra low impact exercises, like simply tensing the muscle, etc. I have another baby being born in 4 weeks and am desperate to be mobile, and fairly fit as it looks as though it may have to be a ceasarian section birth, which means wifey can do next to nothing for a few weeks. Apologies for the desperate nature of the post, but it's getting late!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="736" LastEditorUserId="736" LastEditDate="2011-04-26T14:25:36.477" LastActivityDate="2014-01-25T13:34:44.923" Title="Injury to knee, need advice" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1664" CreationDate="2011-04-26T09:53:53.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a torn meniscus and the pain and swelling was around for 2 weeks.  I have also had an ACL sprai years ago, and I also severed the ACL and needed a rebuild years ago.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mneniscus was torn, or even strained, they'd be pain around the middle part of the knee, on either side, it would feel like bruising.  If it is slightly torn, they'd be broad swelling over the top of the knee, and the side, just under where the quad comes down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only know this as, once more, I have torn my meniscus and am sat here in a state of swelling and pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="736" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T09:53:53.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2011-04-26T10:03:24.867" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that you're not training to become a professional juggler, I would advise against juggling the balls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your training your muscles for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://icbs.berkeley.edu/learning_complex_mt.php&quot;&gt;very specific motor-task&lt;/a&gt;, which is most likely less effective than a regular workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the balls fall down with a significant speed, the strain on the tendons around your elbows could be quite high. Given that your muscles aren't adapted/trained for this kind of workout, you're basically looking for injuries. So don't start out with something like juggling!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because the exercise is quite difficult and you're making it harder with heavy balls, chances are you won't be performing it very well. This means you'll either perform it very slow or in a way, that hardly resembles juggling. Both are probably a poor workout. Unless you consider squatting to pick them up a good alternative, again: don't juggle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say you can't work out with heavy balls! Simply trying to move your outstretched arms in full range of motion with heavy balls is destined to make your muscles very tired, very soon. Also the weight probably allows you to either do a ton of repetitions or perform them very fast. I would suggest looking for some kettle bell exercises and try doing some of those, only with the ball in your hand instead of a kettle bell. Once you've increased your fitness, you can always switch to the real deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's best about these exercises is that they also train your legs (squatting to touch the floor) and core (rotating your body against gravity). Furthermore, you use your arms in a full range of motion and in a much more natural way. So when you decide to take on something heavier, you'll be prepared!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So please, don't go juggling heavy balls unless you want to become a professional juggler.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T10:03:24.867" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1751" CreationDate="2011-04-26T10:11:46.960" Score="8" ViewCount="1189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not very good at running, but I need to get some weight loss for my little fat belly. I would like to go running because I don't know swimming and I got a fear for deep water(2m or more), shame on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know how many time do I need to run in a week and how long I need to run? I welcome an answer in terms of how much time or how far to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, how should I control my diet? I don't know how much calory do my meals have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T14:54:49.053" Title="Duration of running for weight loss, and diet control" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1750" CreationDate="2011-04-26T11:13:01.847" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't have any experience with running, are overweight and a poor fitness, I always recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot;&gt;the Couch to 5K (C25K) program.&lt;/a&gt; Which consist of 3 to 4 workouts per week that last anywhere between 20-30 minutes of moderate exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it assumes you have no running experience, so it takes the time to built up strength in your legs, so you shouldn't get injured&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it alternates between walking and jogging, as opposed to other programs that alternate between jogging and running. The walking intervals means you get plenty of rest and don't strain yourself. This also helps prevent overuse injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it starts out with very short, low intensity workouts, which again means you won't get injured, you shouldn't have a lot of DOMS and you should be able to complete each workout. That last part is important, because when done correctly &lt;strong&gt;anyone&lt;/strong&gt; should be able to to finish C25K, which goes a long way for motivating people!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important factor is that you should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; run too fast. With which I mean you should &#xA;be able to hold up a conversation while jogging, else its too fast. Yes, this almost certainly means some abysmally slow pace, but given that you were completely sedentary before you started, its a huge progress! Basically, you're not working out to lose pounds right now, you're working out to get into great shape, so you can lose pounds &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to focus on right now, is no excuses and getting started, keep it up and when you're done with C25K, pick a new target. Whatever you do, don't stop working out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your diet, I believe that should be a different question, though the easiest way to track your calories is keeping a diary and spent some time figuring out how much calories are in everything you eat. Assuming your overweight because you eat too much and haven't worked out, cut out any candy and alcohol from your diet right now. You don't need the stuff and they will only make you fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T11:13:01.847" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1831" CreationDate="2011-04-26T15:12:31.737" Score="3" ViewCount="4074" Body="&lt;p&gt;While shopping at my local vitamin shop I noticed they had pre workout supplements available. I took a quick look at them and they seemed to be designed to give you energy. All of them seemed to contain caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are these supplements effective in improving a workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are they really any better then taking caffeine pills? Or any other source of caffeine?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they perform any other function that I may not be aware of?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="874" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T19:18:01.110" Title="Purpose and Effectiveness of Pre Workout Supplements" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1754" CreationDate="2011-04-26T18:12:12.437" Score="8" ViewCount="86361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had plantar fasciitis for awhile now.  I'm seeing my doc, I wear orthotics and I stretch in the mornings.  I do personal training, 2-3 times a week, too.  But I really need to start doing more cardio, but it's hard since I have Plantar fasciitis.  I'm not a good swimmer, and I don't think I will ever be able to run, but my lack of cardio fitness is hampering my personal training (I become winded easily).  Does anyone have any ideas for good cardio workouts that aren't so hard on the feet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="876" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T07:07:27.873" Title="Cardio ideas for someone with Plantar fasciitis" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2011-04-26T18:50:46.713" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ironically, no pain, no gain. So any workout you're bad at generally becomes a great cardio workout. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uwlax.edu/faculty/foster/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Carl Foster&lt;/a&gt;, a professor from the university of Wisconsin, once said during a presentation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you want to work out, don't go cycling on this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xK7Fb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instead use this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YJH1L.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is, working out isn't about how fast your bike goes. Its about how fast your heart is racing and your lungs are ventilating. So when you say you're a poor swimmer, it might actually be a decent workout, since its guaranteed to cost you a lot of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a good workout for plantar fasciitis, you could try cycling as this is said to be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/312094-plantar-fasciitis-bicycle-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;great rehabilitation exercise&lt;/a&gt; when you have a plantar fasciitis. Other alternatives would be going to the gym or something like rowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a small note: I do find it strange your plantar fasciitis keeps recurring, even when walking normally. Besides if the orthotics don't take away the problem, don't forget to go see the specialist again, because it might not be working the right way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T08:53:23.820" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T08:53:23.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1747" CreationDate="2011-04-26T19:40:57.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If rehab &quot;speed&quot; is your primary concern, I would consult with a professional who can tailor a program specifically for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;To the Googles!&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggest perusing these articles for exercises that 1. you can do and 2. do not cause pain.  Do not try to rush this, give yourself at least week of exercise before you move to the next tier. Note that some of the suggested phases in the articles are multi-week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;EXERCISES&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meniscus tear: Rehabilitation exercises from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/rehabilitation-for-a-meniscus-tear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WebMd&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quad sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight leg raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight-leg raise to the front&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight-leg raise to the outside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight-leg raise to the back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight-leg raise to the inside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heel raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unilateral stance&#xA;10.Heel dig bridginga&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shallow standing knee bends&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Sports Injury Clinic also has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/medial_meniscus/strengthening.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5-week program&lt;/a&gt; you can follow.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;RESEARCH&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These may or may not contain useful information on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drwaltlowe.com/attachments/wysiwyg/File/MeniscusRepairProtocol.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Meniscus Repair Rehabilitation&lt;/a&gt; (pdf)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://xnet.kp.org/socal_rehabspecialists/ptr_library/08KneeRegion/06Knee-Pain.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intervention for High Performance / High Demand Functioning in Workers or Athletes&lt;/a&gt; (pdf)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/knee/cartilage_tear_exer.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Torn Cartilage Knee Injury Rehabilitation Stage 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://drmillett.com/downloads/rehab-protocols/kneescope.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercises for Knee Rehabilitation&lt;/a&gt; (pdf)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.athleticadvisor.com/images/acrobat/knee%20rehab.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;KNEE EXERCISE PROGRAM&lt;/a&gt; (pdf)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T19:40:57.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2011-04-26T20:44:59.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some ideas other than cycling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elliptical&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rowing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid high-impact exercises and no jumping!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T20:44:59.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1781" CreationDate="2011-04-26T23:05:32.857" Score="4" ViewCount="742" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year I went to the Montreal Salsa Convention and had lots of fun dancing all those 5 nights.  I had bought trail mix bars and whole grain stuff and lots of proper health food to keep me energized, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had taken a couple of days off of work to help me recuperate.  But still within a few days after the convention was over I was super exhausted.  I couldn't concentrate.  During dance lessons I had no strength and got sent home by my teacher.  And the Saturday of the next weekend I had a lot of trouble getting out of bed and it didn't happen until 2pm.  Mentally I was in great shape, but physically I was done.  It took me a couple of months to fully recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some things I can do to help me recover faster?  I'm currently taking BCAA for the gym.  The guy at the nutrition store mentioned taking glycogen replenishers which kinda makes sense.  But wondering if glycogen depletion is the real issue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-02T15:19:30.247" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T15:19:30.247" Title="How to recover from 5 days of intense dancing/fitness?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1752" CreationDate="2011-04-26T23:22:33.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've personally tried a couple of products available on the market in New Zealand and I also was a big fan of using grape juice with creatine and dextrose/gluclose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But after not using any pre-workout supplments for a month.. I've found no negating effects of just going in sober after an hour of my last meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say don't bother with any caffeine pills or powders, if you're under 35 years of age you shouldn't be worried about energy performance anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastEditorUserId="573" LastEditDate="2011-04-27T23:26:55.390" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T23:26:55.390" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1649" CreationDate="2011-04-26T23:27:58.723" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You really shouldn't create your own program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick an existing one created by someone with a clue and proven to work, then follow that to the letter. As a beginner, you can't go wrong with stronglifts 5x5. Read stronglifts.com in full, the site covers starting weights, progression, deloading, diet and so on. When you start lifting too much to cope with the workload of stronglifts, switch to Madcow's 5x5 or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do insist on coming up with your own, go buy Mark Rippetoe's &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot;. You might want to pick up his first book as well, if you don't already own a copy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T23:27:58.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1742" CreationDate="2011-04-27T03:02:23.767" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that you are gaining too much too fast.  You aren't putting on lean mass at that rate, so you should really cut your calories back some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quick critique on your current meal plan...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast needs more protein.  Dump the mass gain and just use whey protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mid meals are fine with tuna, but ham is not an appropriate substitute because it has significantly less protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch, like your mid morning meal, needs to have consistent protein intake.  Tuna is fine, but ham is not enough.  I don't really understnd the purpose of the chicken or tomato soup.  It's not normally part of a gaining diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner is better without the mass gainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestions...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should really stick to more &quot;clean foods&quot; which would exclude soups, breads, cheeses, and sugars.  Even though people probably tell you that you can have all the sugar you want because you're so thin, I do not agree with this.  You should limit your sugar as much as possible and try to stick to low glycemic foods that will process through your system slowly enough to give your body the opportunity to absorb the nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oatmeal is good for breakfast.  You should have at least a cup measured before cooking.  Add a banana, and some natural peanutbutter instead of 2 apples and so many nuts.  Although I suggested switching to a whey protein, it would be better to have a solid protein like egg whites with breakfast if you can.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a 40g whey protein shake with some nuts and rice cakes or natural peanutbutter on rice cakes for your mid meal snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lunch, have tuna with brown rice and a large salad.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dinner should be similar to lunch in that you will have a large protein serving, a low glycemic carbohydrate, and some vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to use a caesin protein as your meal before bed as it is absorbed more slowly than other proteins and will be more available to your body while you recover throughout the night.  Casein is made from cottage cheese, so you can also choose to use low fat or fat free cottage cheese before bed.  Have it with some nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, make sure you only train each body part once a week because you need lots of recovery to grow.  If you're doing fast paced full body lifting sesssions, you will not get the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T03:02:23.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1768" CreationDate="2011-04-27T04:45:38.627" Score="26" ViewCount="9902" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does using an exercise ball help strengthen your core and back muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any concerns or downside with using a body exercise ball as a chair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-04T20:07:47.510" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T20:07:47.510" Title="Is it a good idea to use an exercise ball as a chair?" Tags="&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1717" CreationDate="2011-04-27T07:26:35.223" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked this question on physics.stackexchange.com for you: &lt;a href=&quot;https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/9129/what-is-the-force-on-the-arms-in-a-pushup&quot;&gt;https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/9129/what-is-the-force-on-the-arms-in-a-pushup&lt;/a&gt; . The answer is 50% of your body weight assuming equal distribution of mass vertically and weightless arms and head. It will be more than 50% when you factor in arm and head weight and your exact vertical mass distribution. If you're top heavy, you're pushing more weight. If you're bottom heavy, you're pushing less weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:40:18.310" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T07:26:35.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1867" CreationDate="2011-04-27T09:17:47.317" Score="12" ViewCount="1809" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am shortly to begin training to run in my first marathon.&#xA;Speaking with several other people regarding their similar experiences I am now quite concerned that I could end up doing some permanent damage to my knee during the training for and then running the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lead a fairly active lifestyle: running short distances (10k), playing football (soccer) and the odd game of basketball. Not to mention I have been working out in the gym for the last 4 months doing strength and conditioning work in preparation for the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a history of bad knees... but then neither did my friends and they have still managed to hurt themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I do my best to avoid such problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T15:09:14.617" Title="How To: Avoid damaging my knee when training for and running a marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1762" CreationDate="2011-04-27T12:41:04.227" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using an exercise ball as a desk chair is not a magic bullet. It will not work for all people and may actually hurt some. There is no replacement for strength training if you want a stronger core (including back muscles). Some articles I've read (I couldn't find a source other than the article themselves) suggest that you may be compressing your spine and discs while sitting on an exercise ball due to the constant muscles strain caused by trying to keep yourself balanced. These articles and other also suggest there is not good replacement for a fully ergonomic desk chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like running barefoot or weight lifting, if you're going to switch to using a exercise ball as a chair you should transition slowly to allow your body to get use to it. I have personally used an exercise ball as a chair and loved it. I only stopped when my cats decided it was good fun to deflate the ball when I was sitting on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T12:41:04.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1764" CreationDate="2011-04-27T17:17:27.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to get injured with marathon training is to not have a solid &lt;strong&gt;running&lt;/strong&gt; base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly increase your mileage by increasing duration / distance NOT intensity.  Your training should mirror the race your planning to run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any training plan worth its salt will give you a recommend base. Hal Higdon's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00novice.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;novice plan&lt;/a&gt; recommends:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;but ideally before starting a marathon program, you should have been running&#xA;  about a year. You should be able to  comfortably run distances between 3  and 6 miles. You should be training 3-5 days a week, averaging 15-25 miles a week. You should have run an&#xA;  occasional 5-K or 10-K race. It is possible to run a marathon with less of a training base (particularly if you come from another sport), but the higher your fitness level, the easier this 18-week program will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good book is Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning (don't let the title scare you).  It has a &#xA;lot of the background info on how the plans were constructed, etc... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short:  Run lots, have a good base, have proper shoes, and take care of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T15:09:14.617" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T15:09:14.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2011-04-27T17:21:26.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently recovering from the same condition, which I've been dealing with for over a year now. I got orthotics two months ago, and they are helping immensely. If you're not seeing progress with them then definitely see your doctor again to see if the fit needs to be adjusted. Your doctor should have already been scheduling you for regular checks for this, at least early on in using them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in addition to stretching in the mornings, you might want to try doing some calf stretches at night before bed as well. It can help to prevent your leg from stiffening up in your sleep, which can put strain on the tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the major exercises have been covered (my first thoughts were cycling, rowing, and swimming). Rock climbing is another possibility as long as your careful about how you use your feet - no jarring motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also consider turning some of your resistance workouts into a combination or cardio and strength training. Use lighter weights with a lot of reps or do calisthenic types of exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, etc.). Do bursts with brief rests in between and concentrate on keeping your heart rate in the target zone. You might not get optimum strength results, but I find these workouts to be a fun change of pace for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T17:21:26.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1322" CreationDate="2011-04-27T17:31:27.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;McMillian's running calculator does a pretty good job of estimating races with a reasonable distance with &lt;strong&gt;proper training&lt;/strong&gt;.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you can do that 26 min 5k, it translates into a 54:01 assuming proper training.   To get to 48, you'd have to run 40 seconds or so faster for each mile.  That's a chunk of speed to knock off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd ignore you PB time unless it was more recent than the 26 min 5k.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increase your base and the times will go down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T17:31:27.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1696" CreationDate="2011-04-27T18:02:02.793" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The diet I'm including in my answer is safe, but has a marginally higher daily calorie intake.  It originated with a Dr. Tran in France about 30 years ago, made it to Canada, and about two years ago was approved by the FDA for the USA.  It's typically administered by doctor's offices or health clinics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ideal Protein Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It operates on the basic principle that the modern diet typically has far too much sugar and other insulin inducing chemicals.  As a result, our pancreas gets overworked and produces too much insulin (trapping the calories as fat and making you hungry again).  The diet consists of four phases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 1: let the pancreas rest and lose weight. (80-90% of weight loss goal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 2: get the stomach used to digesting more whole proteins (remainder of weight loss goal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 3: reintroduce carbs safely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 4: maintenance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are given a metered amount of protein, required to eat a certain amount of vegetables, drink at least 10 cups of water, take dietary supplements, and keep a food journal for the administrator to review.  On phase 1 you get about 900 Kcal from the food, with the balance of your daily calorie needs coming from your fat.  The protein is sufficient to protect your muscles and organs, but not enough to exercise strenuously.  I.e. keep your heart rate in the fat burning zone only if you want to work out.  You will eat four meals a day.  Your plan meals come in protein packs which are fairly good, all things considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For breakfast, you have a protein pack.  For lunch you have a protein pack and 2 cups of green vegetables.  For dinner, you have your own protein (5 oz lean beef/chicken, or 7oz seafood) plus 2 cups of green vegetables.  Snack is another protein pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protein packs come in the form of soups, cereal, pudding, drinks, etc.  You can have coffee, but every cup you drink requires another cup of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our plan administrators have noted that many women are protein deficient, so when they are on the plan they will actually gain muscle mass.  Me, being a guy, did not experience that side effect--although my wife did.  Average weight loss according to the plan is 3-5 lbs/week for women and 4-7 lbs/week for men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional note: any plan that simply limits calories without a sound medical backing will cause you to lose muscle mass.  Muscle mass is what enables you to burn fat.  When you go off the diet, you will not only gain the weight back quickly, you will gain &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than you lost.  That is why you need to be smart with the calories you take in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal Experience&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This plan is monitored, and it helped me drop 85 lbs in 5.5 months.  My wife is still on it right now and she is losing a bit more slowly (70 lbs in 6.5 months so far).  I did have some problems with constipation, but that shouldn't be a surprise considering almost everything with a decent amount of dietary fiber also has carbs and is forbidden in the first phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really helps being creative with your veggies if you are going to be on it for some time.  There were a couple of lower weight loss weeks (1-2 lbs) and some towards the beginning which were much higher.  It's best to be concerned about the inches more than the scale.  When gaining muscle, the inches get smaller even though the scale doesn't move much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T18:02:02.793" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1742" CreationDate="2011-04-27T19:29:08.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your goals. Many bodybuilders go through a bulking/off-season and cutting/competition phase. Basically, when they don't need to look cut they pack on as much muscle as possible while gaining a bit of fat. Then when it comes time to look lean, they switch to a fat burning diet that is muscle sparing (ex. Cyclic Ketogenic Diet or a simple calorie deficit). For non-professionals, this usually coincides with winter and beach seasons. If you want to put on mass as fast as possible, you have to accept that some of it will be fat gain. If you want to put on mass while remaining relatively lean, your gains will not be as quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The approach that I've personally taken (I've had a difficult time adding size as well) is to have massive bulks over the winter where I add lots of muscle, but also a decent amount of fat, then cut down over the summer a bit. Cycle this each year until you get to the body size you want, and at that point you can lean out and maintain. With this approach I've managed to gain 20 lbs. of lean muscle in 2 years (Now at 200lbs. with 10% body fat). If you are relatively new to lifting (ie. less than 3 years of serious lifting), you'll probably be able to see some fantastic results this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T19:29:08.100" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-04-27T19:48:17.840" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some of my methods of making my workouts enjoyable (mind you, I love working out anyway):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Listen to some good music. Find some tunes with a fast and recognizable beat and sync your exercises with it. For example - make each rep go to with the beat of the song. Depending on your tastes, intense rock can be great for heavy lifting. System of a Down or Rage Against the Machine are fantastic. Nobody gets motivated to pump iron listening to Dave Matthew's Band.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try new workout plans. There's a lot of garbage in fitness magazines, but pick one up, find a routine that they've laid out and give it a shot for four weeks or so. When you're done with that, try a new one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make your workouts a point of improvement and practice. Having a goal to strive for helps motivate you in the gym, but sometimes the simple goal of 'looking better' is not enough to motivate because the results come slowly. Try to make it a point to have perfect form and to lift more weight. By striving to always improve your technique, there will be motivation even when the fat around your stomach is not pushing you into the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my personal opinion, cardio is boring. That's why I don't do it. You can still lose weight by lifting weights as long as your diet is in check. If you feel cardio is boring and that's preventing you from working out, just skip it. It's better to have resistance training without cardio than no training at all.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're willing to take a pre-workout supplement, they can be great for getting you into the gym. This is for multiple reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The energy boosters in them will make you want to be active&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They have an effective time duration, so once you take it, you need to be working out within a half hour or so for it to be effective. This puts a timer on getting your butt to the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you take it, you'll force yourself to go otherwise you've just wasted money on that scoop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're willing to go this route, I recommend White Flood, Jack3d, or NO Shotgun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T19:48:17.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1780" CreationDate="2011-04-27T20:25:26.773" Score="8" ViewCount="6642" Body="&lt;p&gt;This one has been bothering me for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the strict diets, almost nobody who's training is allowed to drink any alcohol. A couple of my friends have turned to marijuana to get that Friday night high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am wondering, what impact does marijuana have on the progress of the user?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2013-12-14T03:39:43.027" Title="Impact of Marijuana on training" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2011-04-27T20:31:55.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the journal &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12744713?dopt=Abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sports Medicine, in 2003&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies have demonstrated that the use of cannabinoids can reduce anxiety, but it does not have ergogenic potential in sports activities. An increase in heart rate and blood pressure, decline of cardiac output and reduced psychomotor activity are some of the pharmacological effects of THC that will determine a decrease in athletic performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was found with a quick search, but note that there are probably other, better papers relevant to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to the comments, and working just from research literature, it seems that there's no clear answer. The majority of the research focuses either on detecting drug abuse or examining drug abuse prevention programs rather than studying how it affects performance. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695732/?tool=pubmed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This paper&lt;/a&gt; discusses some of the problems around drug abuse, and includes some interesting comments about individual drugs. However, the general feeling can be summarized by a line in the abstract of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1686120?dopt=Abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Potential health complications represent a serious risk to an otherwise healthy population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, yeah, you may increase your performance, but you're almost certainly going to damage to your body, possibly quite seriously, in the process. I know, this isn't quite earth-shattering, but this is common sense. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Marijuana is a drug, and drugs are not good for you&lt;/a&gt;. Smoking marijuana will have all the typical side effects involved with smoking any substance, including the potential for lung damage (and the decrease in blood oxygenation that results) and the increased cancer risks. Additionally, long-term marijuana use is associated with numerous mental health risks. True, these are not specifically related to exercise, but they should be considered before using drugs to improve athletic performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2011-04-28T14:42:02.947" LastActivityDate="2011-04-28T14:42:02.947" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1757" CreationDate="2011-04-27T23:03:42.697" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there's a couple of things you can do to survive the next edition of the Montreal Salsa Convention, though you might not like all of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The easiest one is simply taking more rest and/or dance less intensive during the Convention. While this doesn't require any change in your lifestyle, its probably the least fun suggestion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you get plenty of sleep, because if it were just fatigue from lack of energy, you wouldn't be able to lift your legs on the 5th day. I'd rather suspect that you didn't have sufficient sleep, which can also have quite an impact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get in better shape, not claiming you are in bad shape right now, but with a better shape you should be physically more capable of dancing for longer stretches of time and will recover faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink sufficiently. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/210413/energize_your_body_simple_tips_fight.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Associated Content says the following:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even mild dehydration forces your heart to work harder because without adequate water intake, your blood thickens, making it more difficult for your heart to pump. Rather than aim for a certain number of ounces, monitor how often you go to the bathroom. You should need to urinate at least every two to four hours, and your urine should be almost clear and odorless. If your urine is dark or has a strong odor, you are not getting enough liquids in your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But honestly, even if you followed all my tips, there's a point where too much is really &lt;strong&gt;too much&lt;/strong&gt;, no amount of preparation can help you after that point. So try to listen to your body and take it in with some moderation. No event is so much fun that its worth months of fatigue afterwards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So enjoy yourself, but with moderation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-04-27T23:03:42.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1788" CreationDate="2011-04-28T05:07:43.267" Score="1" ViewCount="20523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing weight loss of a patient with PCOS. After 3 Kg reduction also (around 5%) she is not getting her periods (menstrual cycle) naturally and so loosing weight very slowly. I got the information that reduce the intake of dairy products.Actually milk (skim milk) is low glycemic, the protein that enhances the insulin production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in PCOS we have to give low glycemic foods and also not to increase insulin production. I am also giving a supplement containing soluble fibre to take care of increased insulin production due to PCOS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So shall I reduce or stop giving milk &amp;amp; milk products? And which are other foods which I should stop giving or decrease the quantity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="878" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-04-28T19:22:53.780" LastActivityDate="2013-03-27T19:56:23.317" Title="Which foods increase the insulin production in body ?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-03-27T22:08:17.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-28T14:26:09.387" Score="6" ViewCount="1111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to change my workout, just to keep me motivated (I do this every 3-4 months) and wondered if there were any home gym/free (open source like) programs similar to Crossfit or p90x.  The problem with either is that they require specific equipment or dvd's......and I'd rather not pay anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T12:21:33.767" Title="Are there Home Gym/Open Source Crossfit or p90x training groups?" Tags="&lt;p90x&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1783" CreationDate="2011-04-28T15:06:47.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone I know has seen a doctor about this, so my answer is based on what the doctor has told them and what they're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently sugars in general are even worse for people with PCOS than others.  Even fruit sugars should be avoided.  Avocados are an exception.  Fruits traditionally thought of as vegetables are OK, such as peppers and tomatoes, due to their lower sugar content.  But the diet should be very vegetable-centric.  Most root vegetables are out, however, due to their starch.  Regular potatoes are obviously out, but so are sweet potatoes despite their lower glycemic index.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that cheese is largely OK.  Hard cheeses, such as parmesan, are better than soft cheeses.  This is because most of the sugars / carbs are consumed by the bacteria that create these cheeses.  Milk itself should be avoided as far as I know, and you probably want to go easy on the yogurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most grains are bad, especially wheat and white rice.  Even grains with low glycemic indexes should largely be avoided, due to the way their carbohydrates affect hormone production in those with PCOS.  Something like quinoa is great, since it's actually a seed not a grain and is high in protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that weight loss with PCOS is difficult due to the effect of hormones and severe cravings, and the need to restrict virtually all sweet foods and staples like bread is difficult.  Exercise is thus even more important.  Based on the above, focus on leaf/stem vegetables and proteins -- nuts, eggs, meats (esp. fish) -- for good foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="193" LastEditDate="2011-04-28T17:21:48.253" LastActivityDate="2011-04-28T17:21:48.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1789" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1790" CreationDate="2011-04-28T16:15:42.590" Score="10" ViewCount="748" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a long time being sedentary and amassing about 299 lbs peak, I decided to get serious about getting healthy.  I first &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1696/800-calorie-diet/1775#1775&quot;&gt;attacked my weight by diet&lt;/a&gt; and got down to about 210 lbs.  Next I started with some light cardio work, and slowly progressed to slightly more intense cardio work and weight training.  I use a heart rate monitor for my cardio and got tested at my gym for my personal zones.  The test came with a workable plan to improve my cardio workout.  However, because I can't afford a personal trainer right now, I'm still a bit in the dark about how good my weight training program is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Goal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is general fitness.  After being sedentary for so long I have a lot of work to do to get there.  I'm not looking to be an Adonis, or even super athletic.  I'm nearly 40, already married, so I don't need to impress anyone.  I just want to be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I'm Doing Right Now&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do cardio work 4 times a week, with two of those times in Active Recovery (i.e. heart rate in Zone 1 the whole time).  Cardio is 40 minutes of training with 5 minutes each for warmup and cooldown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three days a week I follow my cardio with the following program (3 sets of 10 reps):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inclined Press (currently 70 lbs, soon to increase)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat/Situps (currently 320 lbs, 1 rep is a set of squats and a set of situps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectoral fly? (currently 100 lbs, unsure of proper name)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curl/Crunches (currently 110 lbs, 1 rep similar to squat/situp)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row (currently 100 lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf raises/Prone iso-abs (currently 200 lbs, iso is 45 seconds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull (currently 110 lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This takes me about 50 minutes to complete, afterwards I stretch for another 10 minutes.  I follow a workout with either a protein drink or bar.  I try to do it within 15 minutes, but sometimes it's 20 due to shower/changing times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assembled the program from what I've been able to gather from web sites that cater more to information than advertising.  It's a whole body workout with at least one day of rest in between.  The one day of cardio that I have following my combo cardio/weight training day is light intensity (active recovery) with one day of rest before the next cardio/weight training day.  When I can get through a full set of an exercise with some reserve energy, the next time I'll increase on the last set.  It's pretty tough, but the next session after that I'm usually able to get close to all three sets without needing to rest for a second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I still have my heart rate monitor on from the cardio work, I incorporate it into my weight training as well.  Basically, my rest between sets is governed more by the heart rate than the clock.  I found that if I can get my heart rate down to zone 2 I can get through a full set even when I increase my weight.  Towards the beginning of a workout it takes about 30 seconds to get it down, but towards the end it can take up to 90 seconds.  Besides, it gives me a record of the calories burned.  A typical week for me would burn around 3,000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specific Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am I hitting all the right muscle groups?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the plan balanced?  I.e. am I hitting the muscle groups in the right proportions?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Considering my goal, what should I strive for to maintain?  I've heard you should be able to bench press your weight (I've quite a ways to go before then), but I haven't heard anything else for the other types of exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I modify anything in my approach?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that due to schedule limitations I don't have a buddy I can work out with, so I don't feel comfortable doing free-weights without a spotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T20:34:19.087" Title="How to establish a beginning weight program?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1789" CreationDate="2011-04-28T16:38:38.383" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you doing your weight lifting at a gym (you mention a gym and personal trainer, but I'm not sure)?  If you are, never hesitate to ask someone else in the room to spot you doing free weights.  In my experience no one has every turned me down when asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend following a standard beginners routine that focus on compound lifts.  Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; are good beginner programs.  These programs focus on getting stronger and building muscle.  Although your goal is only to become 'generally fit', these programs will help you get on the right track.  Make sure to give yourself a day of rest between workouts to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound lifts are important because they exercise many different muscles at the same time, and excercise 'stability' type muscles that machines such as the leg press or chest-press machines do not exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to your first and second questions &lt;code&gt;Am I hitting all the right muscle groups?&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Is the plan balanced?&lt;/code&gt;, machine exercises target singular muscles whereas free weight compound lifts target a set of muscles.  For example, doing the legpress instead of squats will target a much more limited set of muscles. The legpress focuses entirely on the legs, while squats workout not only your lower body but your core as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; website has a number of good goals for each standard compound lift to strive for.  It might be worthwhile to first strive for the novice milestone for each exercise, and then to the intermediate targets.  At that point you can reassess your goals and what you want to do from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand free weights can be very daunting, but once you start doing it I think you'll understand it a bit more.  I was in your position about a year ago being unsure where to start with free weights, but Rippetoe's Starting Strength has a ton of good information on form and how to start out as a beginner.  Despite the standard goal of Starting Strength and other programs like it to be &quot;more power&quot;, I don't think you can have a good general fitness lifting routine without compound exercises, which these routines emphasize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="661" LastEditorUserId="661" LastEditDate="2011-04-29T13:21:41.843" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T13:21:41.843" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1786" CreationDate="2011-04-28T18:27:32.593" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;CrossFit is a free program. It's completely &quot;open source&quot; insofar as the exercises are published and free to use without charge. You just can't slap CrossFit logos on everything and try to make money off of it without becoming an affiliate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do a great many CrossFit style workouts with bodyweight alone. Some ideas include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (box, air, jumping)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstand pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges (jumping too)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprinting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips (using a chair or box)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With very minimal equipment you can add even more exercises. Since you mention home gym I'm going to assume that a set of dumbbells is a given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell turkish getups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell snatches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell cleans (squat, power)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell press (push)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell jerk (push)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell thrusters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gczI5sINn9U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Man makers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your home gym has even a single barbell that opens up a ton more exercises. If you don't have bumper plates you'll just have to avoid max overhead weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're willing to spend minimal money you can add several more CF exercises to your repertoire:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mtnathlete.com/subpage_details.php?subpage_ID=189&amp;amp;page_ID=25&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sandbags&lt;/a&gt; - Video of how to make your own&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sandbag clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sandbag getups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sandbag runs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead sandbag runs/lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine Balls - You can make your own by cutting a large slit in a basketball, filling it with sand, and then taping the entire ball thoroughly with duct tape.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wallball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine ball cleans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead medicine ball lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyo boxes (Can be built for &amp;lt; $20 assuming you already have tools &lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/49_06_plyo_boxes.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump rope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that's noticeably lacking is pullup equipment. You're stuck with either buying a bar, or you could spend $30 and get one that fits in a door frame: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001EJMS6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar&lt;/a&gt;. I have one of these and it works great for pullups. Unless you're really short you won't be able to do kipping or butterfly pullups, just deadhangs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="486" LastEditorUserId="486" LastEditDate="2011-04-29T12:21:33.767" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T12:21:33.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1783" CreationDate="2011-04-28T18:32:12.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Matthew Read provided a solid summary of what to avoid regarding increased insulin production, so I am going to merely add some additional information to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goals sound very similar to the goals of the Slow Carb diet, proposed by Tim Ferriss.  He spends several chapters in his recent book, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/030746363X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Four Hour Body&lt;/a&gt;,  describing this diet, and fills the book with a plethora of other information for various goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to the book, he wrote up a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;great blog article&lt;/a&gt; about this diet.  I would highly recommend reading the blog post and then picking up the book.  Both are excellent reads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are some of my takeaways that I believe are relevant to your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a protein-rich breakfast within 30 minutes of waking (30% or more protein)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid all dairy (due to the insulin response that Milk has despite its low GI)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each meal should consist of a protein, veggies, and legumes (legumes seem to have the lowest insulin response of carbs that provide a good amount of calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid all fruit due to their sugar (with exceptions for avocados and tomatoes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have one day a week where you break the rules and enjoy whatever you've been missing, with the exception of breakfast.  Breakfast should be the same, but by lunch time you can have anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final point is there to help ensure your body doesn't go in to &quot;starvation&quot; mode and slow your metabolism.  While I don't know how all of this would influence a person with PCOS, I would still suggest taking this information as a starting point for additional research.  Tim Ferriss does outline a lot of the scientific thought behind why he has adopted the various goals, so that may be helpful in developing an ideal diet for your particular case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastActivityDate="2011-04-28T18:32:12.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1793" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-04-28T19:35:07.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;CrossFit is a fitness program developed by Greg Glassman. CrossFit's exercise program is practiced by members of (as of 2012) approximately 4,400 affiliated gyms , most of which are located in the United States, and by individuals who complete daily workouts posted on the company's website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrossFit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Crossfit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-11T13:06:08.913" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T13:06:08.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1794" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-04-28T19:35:07.590" Score="0" Body="CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program consisting of constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity." OwnerUserId="486" LastEditorUserId="486" LastEditDate="2011-04-28T19:44:01.617" LastActivityDate="2011-04-28T19:44:01.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1786" CreationDate="2011-04-29T04:51:30.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Join a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.meetup.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Meetup&lt;/a&gt; group&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need a program, you need people already doing it to join with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stay motivated during a high intense workouts you'll need other people do to it with. It's free and unless you live in the styx you should be able to find a P90X or equivalent fitness group near you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experiences with meetup doing other activities (snowboarding, wakeboarding, etc) the people are generally very helpful/accepting as long as you don't act like a complete douchebag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chances are, you'll probably find a group with a core of members who are super-active and at a much higher level than you that will have tips/pointers to help get you through the plateaus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really dedicated to stepping up your progress in the long term it'd be best to accept that this is something that you want to do as a lifestyle, not just a hobby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workout regiment programs are only really useful as a crutch to get started. It sounds like you're beyond that point and starting to settle into the maintenance/plateau stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, when I plateau during a workout I lay off of the workouts for a few months before I start again because I have other activities (extreme sports mostly) I do to stay in shape. Ie, I don't really exercise as a lifestyle so the extra effort isn't 'worth it' but fitness isn't my primary goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T04:51:30.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1786" CreationDate="2011-04-29T06:06:46.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd add a few things to hobodave's response:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitflagstaff.com/CrossFitBodyweightWorkoutResourcev2.0.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crossfit Bodyweight Workout Resource&lt;/a&gt;. Awesome PDF that lists just about every kind of workout you can do with minimal or no equipment. Broken down by categories: &quot;metcons, no equipment required&quot;, &quot;metcons, jump rope, rings and pull-up bar required&quot;, &quot;running workouts&quot;, &quot;endurance challenges&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many Crossfitters setup gyms in their garages. Some will let you workout with them for cheap or free. Try posting on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crossfit messageboard&lt;/a&gt; to try to find someone in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="209" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T06:06:46.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1798" CreationDate="2011-04-29T06:07:36.113" Score="6" ViewCount="3288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that our body burns carbohydrates when we begin exercising, and after 20 minutes the body will burn fat instead. Is this true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-04-29T13:16:32.863" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T12:39:46.880" Title="When do our bodies burn our fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1797" CreationDate="2011-04-29T12:57:08.413" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;With a healthy pancreas, and an eating plan that allows it, your body will start burning fat 6 hours after you have your carbs.  If your diet is very high in carbs and your pancreas is having a hard time keeping up, it will never burn fat.  I suppose a more complete answer would be in terms of glycemic impact instead of blanket carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I had some reference material to link to.  The information I have was from a registered nurse that oversaw the diet plan I was on.  The most common time that all of us have with at least 6 hours of no carbs is while we are sleeping.  Yet another reason for a good night's rest.  NOTE: according to the same source, your body can take up to 12 hours to break down complex carbs and turn it into sugar for the body to use.  That's why runners will carb up the night before a race, and not the morning of.  They need the boost of energy after the carbs are processed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to what your body burns during exercise, it's a function of your heart rate.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/cs/fitnesswalking/a/hearttraining.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zone training&lt;/a&gt; is built around &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/cs/fitnesswalking/a/hearttraining_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;different thresholds&lt;/a&gt; of what that exercise does for you.  The bottom line is that the lower the heart rate the more fat you burn, and the higher the heart rate the more sugar you burn.  If your goal is to lose fat, it's better to walk on a treadmill for an hour keeping your heart rate in zone 1 than it is to run a 5k.  There are other benefits to the higher heart rate zones, so a balanced cardio plan will have them all covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary of zones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 1 (healthy heart zone): predominately fat burning.  Different sources will have this rated at 100% fat burning to 85% like the link I used.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 2 (fitness zone): burns more calories, most sources will have this burning fat at about 80-85%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 3 (aerobic zone): aerobic-with oxygen, 50% fat, 50% sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 4 (anaerobic zone): anaerobic-without oxygen, 15% fat, 85% sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 5 (power/speed zone): max performance, 10% fat, 90% sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T12:57:08.413" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1801" CreationDate="2011-04-29T14:08:51.450" Score="2" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 6-12 year age group is in a latent period of growth, while children 12-18 years old experience their main period of growth. The usual BMI range is 18 to 23. But is it applicable to children who are 6 to 12 years old?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes with higher income groups I also find children with lower BMI scores - for example, 13. Sometimes children do not show any significant symptoms, or they have low haemoglobin counts in blood tests. And childhood obesity is becoming more common. So is it useful to take BMI into consideration to determine a balanced diet for a child of this age group? What BMI range should be considered as optimum for children below 12?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="878" LastEditorUserId="785" LastEditDate="2011-04-29T16:27:37.423" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T16:28:30.830" Title="Nutrition &amp; diet - what is the ideal BMI range for children between 6 and 12?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1789" CreationDate="2011-04-29T16:21:03.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin, congrads on your progress and determination!!! Great story!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's NO single approach to working out or weight training that works for everyone OR for anyone all the time.  The thing to keep in mind is that you will need to constantly change your workout every 2-3 months in order to gain the max benefit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For general health (and at your/our age bracket) I would recommend more strength focus and less on size or explosive strength - it doesn't sound like you want to impress and working on 'explosive strength' via plyometric or Olympic lifts could cause injuries (unless you are working with a personal trainer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My approach in a weight workout has been: Always full body focused (no splits), big muscles first, than legs, then upper body/arms and than abs - this tires out the bigger muscles and your support prior to getting to your smaller muscles - so the exercise is more effective (your smaller muscles are used more since the larger supporting muscle are tired).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a book that I would recommend: 'New Rules of Lifting': &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/158333338X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Maximum-Muscle/dp/158333338X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1304093205&amp;amp;sr=8-1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;It reviews the 6 Basic weight training movements, provides examples and variations and then a complete workout program, including periodization (the changing of your routine over time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specific to your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 - Am I hitting all the right muscle groups? - &lt;strong&gt;The only body area I see lacking is Core (twists, kettlebell swings, etc)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 - Is the plan balanced? I.e. am I hitting the muscle groups in the right proportions? - &lt;strong&gt;Seems to be, it does sound like your using mostly/all machines - switch to free weights and based on the plan (read the book) - increase intensity over time (slowly) by adding more weights until you can barley complete the given number of sets/reps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 - Considering my goal, what should I strive for to maintain? I've heard you should be able to bench press your weight (I've quite a ways to go before then), but I haven't heard anything else for the other types of exercises. - &lt;strong&gt;Never Maintain, always increase intensity or change workout to keep your body from getting use to the workout, which reduces it's effectiveness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 - Should I modify anything in my approach? &lt;strong&gt;- once again, always modify, you will see the best benefits this way&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T16:21:03.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1799" CreationDate="2011-04-29T16:22:06.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI itself is a lousy proxy for physical fitness - just ask weightlifters - and it has to be calibrated to the physical scale of adult human beings, so I can't see how it could properly apply to small children. It's better to use the standard height/weight charts to see where a given child falls compared to other children (i.e. in terms of percentile).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; For example, the charts found &lt;a href=&quot;http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/growthcharts2/l/bl_growthcharts.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and in particular the &lt;a href=&quot;http://pediatrics.about.com/library/growth_charts/nboystwo.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boys&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://pediatrics.about.com/library/growth_charts/ngirlstwo.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;girls&lt;/a&gt; aged 2-20 charts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="785" LastEditorUserId="785" LastEditDate="2011-04-29T16:28:30.830" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T16:28:30.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1547" CreationDate="2011-04-29T20:36:24.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as your progress is still good, you should be fine. When it starts to slow, stop, or reverse then you want to consider the possibility that it's because of overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to look for is pain that doesn't seem &quot;quite right&quot;. It sounds like you've been working out enough to know the difference between normal muscle soreness and something like a muscle pull or other kind of strain. When in doubt, my suggestion is to err on the side of rest if it's a concern about pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-04-29T20:36:24.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1547" CreationDate="2011-04-30T04:01:28.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have to agree with RMX that high-intensity weight training can cause mental sluggishness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, over-training might mean edgy mood and thoughts racing through my head.  This sometimes causes reduced appetite and inability to fall asleep.  There are general signs of mental stress.  I see these signs in athletes of competitive sports, such as ping-pong or fencing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="899" LastActivityDate="2011-04-30T04:01:28.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-30T13:43:09.130" Score="5" ViewCount="528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard than muscle builds at a different speed in people over forty and that it's necessary to use weights in a different way - specifically, with less weight and in shorter sets - for that reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I haven't been able to find advice to this effect online. Any truth to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="901" LastActivityDate="2011-04-30T19:39:27.573" Title="does muscle build differently after 40?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1804" CreationDate="2011-04-30T14:11:43.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not for me.  I'm 41 and returned to the gym about 8 months ago.  Workout the same way I've always have before. And people have noticed that I'm getting bigger.  So all good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-04-30T14:11:43.537" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1797" CreationDate="2011-04-30T17:54:51.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard somewhere that as you're warmed up during the exercises, you could stop and maintain your body temperature so that lipids enter the bloodstream.  Then as your system cools, you'd start your light exercises again.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  All without trying too hard, just being consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mix that with Berin's advice to do this before consuming carbs in the morning, and you've got yourself a winning formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="899" LastActivityDate="2011-04-30T17:54:51.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2056" CreationDate="2011-04-30T18:21:07.407" Score="4" ViewCount="849" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) on all my muscles except my medial deltoids. I know DOMS is not the only sign of muscle growth, but it's one good form of feedback. The way I do medial deltoid exercises isn't too different from my other exercises. I lower the weight slowly, which should increase DOMS. So I'm wondering if the medial deltoid is less prone to DOMS or just I'm not working them our effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T20:11:54.547" Title="Are certain muscles less prone to DOMS?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;doms&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-04-30T18:39:37.193" Score="21" ViewCount="41833" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to train for a pull up contest with my friend.  I can do ten now, and want to get to twenty or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I'm having is that when I do a session of pull ups, later that day or the next day, the muscles in the top and back of my neck (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezius_muscle&quot;&gt;trapezius&lt;/a&gt;, I think)  get tight and strained, so that it's uncomfortable even to twist my neck enough to look over my shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I rest a day, I get better, but the problem recurs when I do another session of pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What steps should I take to avoid these strains while doing pull ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="904" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2011-08-17T06:23:24.020" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T05:26:49.690" Title="How do I avoid straining neck muscles when doing pull ups?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1804" CreationDate="2011-04-30T19:33:13.897" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Testosterone production peaks in your 30s and steadily declines thereafter.  Since testosterone is the most important hormone for muscle growth, you will need to put more effort into your workout to see the same gains. I have not heard anything about the actual muscle tissue fundamentally change as you age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lSABm.png&quot; alt=&quot;testosterone vs age&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your digestion efficiency also declines as you age. You will be absorbing less nutrients per gram of food as you age. You will need to eat slightly more carbs and protein than a younger person to fuel your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.longevity-and-antiaging-secrets.com/digestive-system.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.longevity-and-antiaging-secrets.com/digestive-system.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hydrochloric acid deficiency is common&#xA;  in older people and prevents the&#xA;  proper breakdown and digestion of&#xA;  proteins, which are critical to&#xA;  health. Your production of digestive&#xA;  enzymes also declines with age&#xA;  affective digestion of all three macro&#xA;  nutrients (proteins, fats, and&#xA;  carbohydrates)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-04-30T19:39:27.573" LastActivityDate="2011-04-30T19:39:27.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1808" CreationDate="2011-05-01T14:58:29.170" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to make sure that you are doing the exercise properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grab a bar with a grip slightly wider than shoulder width, with your hands facing away from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang all the way down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slight pause, before lowering yourself all the way back down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the way up really concentrate on isolating your back and biceps. Don’t swing, and look up towards the bar. Looking down forces the head to be pushed forward, placing undue and dangerous stress on the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="907" LastActivityDate="2011-05-01T14:58:29.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2186" CreationDate="2011-05-01T20:41:11.897" Score="4" ViewCount="3529" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been watching videos on YouTube on how to do this. I've read about it and everyone says this is difficult to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It isn't difficult when I do it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The video show many ways of doing it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume it isn't difficult for me because I'm doing it wrong and I'm not doing it long enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsqCDbiflsg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; shows a 90/90 position but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jx19u6q4HM&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; shows two ways, one with feet on the floor and another with legs in the air. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long should I be doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: It's the next day and now I'm feeling it. My legs and butt are pretty sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T19:23:19.847" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T19:23:19.847" Title="Proper way to do the Dead Bug" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1820" CreationDate="2011-05-01T21:02:24.663" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing an exercise which I came up with (not saying I invented it) that I have not seen before and I was wondering if there was a name for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine the cherry picker move we used to do in school. Similar to that. This also reminds me of a diagonal sit-up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand with your feet apart past shoulder width. Place a dumbell 5-10lbs at one foot. With the oposite hand, reach down and grab it. Using your lower back and abs, come back to a standing position keeping your back straight. The arm with the dumbell should track your leg (as if it were on a rail). The lower and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm doing 3 sets of 10 (10 lbs) or 2 sets of 10 (25 lbs) I can feel I've worked out my love handle area (internal obliques?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T12:16:22.127" Title="Identifying an exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3141" CreationDate="2011-05-01T23:40:17.913" Score="13" ViewCount="16808" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing a workout inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/?page_id=18&quot;&gt;Body By Science&lt;/a&gt; for the last 5 weeks. I can't do the whole book justice in a quick post, but in a nutshell it recommends doing a single set of 3-5 exercises slowly, with high intensity, and to failure once per week. The purpose of the exercise is to exhaust all four types of muscle fibers simultaneously and drain their glucogen reservoirs. Supposedly this sets off different cascading effects within the body for strength gain, general endurance (including &quot;cardio&quot;) and fat loss. The workouts are spaced a week apart because supposedly it takes that time to fully recover and more frequent workouts are counterproductive. The explanations in the book are referenced and if there's any dubious science, I missed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that it seems to have maintained my strength, weight, body fat %, etc. with only the short weekly workout, but I am stagnant. I'm not getting any stronger (as measured by time-under-load) or any lighter (as measured by drop in scale weight or body fat %). I have not changed any other aspect of my lifestyle; sleep, diet, supplements, stress level have all been constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like some help diagnosing what the problem is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flaw in the book's premise or research?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flaw in my workout (will describe below)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flaw in my progress measurements? (Perhaps my &quot;intensity&quot; is increasing so I tire myself out faster, making time-under-load a poor indicator of progress)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once per week, one set per exercise (5 total)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 freeweight exercises, in order: Bench Press, Squat, Upright Barbell Row, Standing Barbell Shoulder Press, Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I use a weight for each that allows approximately 1 minute of time-under-load before I fail, doing sets at approx. a 5 sec. cadence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I track progress by measuring time-under-load (start to failure) with a stopwatch; I do not count reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough rest between exercises to move the bar/weights and set up the next exercise. I'll wait a bit long if I'm breathing hard (my heart rate stays elevated throughout, I'm just resting to get my breath back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I'm following the spirit of the book's recommendations, but for full disclosure here are the areas I can think of in which I deviate (the book didn't seem to indicate that these would be significant problems):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm using free weights instead of the recommended Nautilus machines (primarily because I use my home gym and that's what I have). I use a power rack, so I can safely bench &amp;amp; squat to true failure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I use a 5 sec. cadence instead of the 10 sec. recommended by the book, mostly because I can't go any slower than 5 without feeling like I'm stopping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;I've selected an answer, which I think addresses my issue well, but I'd like to add a couple additional items of note that I've tried (neither seemed to affect my performance) in case anyone else follows in my footsteps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;According to the follow-on BBS Q&amp;amp;A book (and one or two of the answers below), 7 days may not be enough recovery time especially for bigger guys. I've tried increasing that to 10-11 days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Started up a regimen of creatine and L-glutamine to help improve recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-06T03:49:44.953" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T09:56:42.897" Title="Troubleshooting &quot;Body By Science&quot; workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1825" CreationDate="2011-05-02T00:01:05.520" Score="10" ViewCount="4678" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently working on adding muscle and have been pretty successful over the last 6 weeks (adding well over a stone in weight, albeit a little fat as well as muscle). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week I injured my shoulder. I experience a minor pain in the rear of my shoulder blade when moving my arm and when bending down to reach something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst I am injured and obviously not lifting weights, I don't want my body to start shedding the muscle that I've worked so hard to attain. Because I have such a high metabolism, is this likely to happen? If so, what can I do to stop my body from shedding muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have stuck to my diet which I changed following the advice of this website (high protein meals around 200 calories every 2-3 hours). I have also added in an extra protein shake a day to make up some more healthier calories along with plenty of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T11:11:21.227" Title="Maintaining muscle whilst not working out (injured)" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1817" CreationDate="2011-05-02T01:51:01.017" Score="5" ViewCount="634" Body="&lt;p&gt;i had an injury recently that prohibited me from working over for several months.  Now that i am healed, i am having a hard time motivating to get back into the gym to work out (as its not a habit,etc).  i wanted to get recommendations for the best way of getting motivated to get back in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T00:38:56.247" Title="what are the best techniques for getting back into shape" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1815" CreationDate="2011-05-02T05:48:43.623" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to start slow and don't overdo it.  Set very small, achievable goals that you can measure every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, you could start by going for a walk every day during your break time at work and also supplement the walk with some stretching.  Stick with this for more than three weeks (so that it becomes a habit) and then add something else to the list, such as a run or some weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also sign up for a class at your local gym or community center.  The regular schedule and social/group aspects of the class environment may help keep you motivated and also give you a place where you have to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My local gym runs a bootcamp in the Spring, Summer, and Fall, and I am seriously considering taking it myself because I'm having trouble staying consistent at my gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T05:48:43.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1815" CreationDate="2011-05-02T12:13:17.963" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to use this opportunity to warn a fellow man about what happened to me when I was in a similar situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said, I have had a big pause and when I got back to working out, I did a huge mistake. the thing is: my muscles were still 'strong', capable of lifting great weights, but my joints weren't capable of holding those weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what happened? After a 30 minute exercise, when I got to biceps, I started with almost the same weight I was working out with before the gap. My biceps was strong, so it was pretty easy, but after about 8 reps, my wrist &quot;exploded with pain&quot; and I couldn't work out for another 2 months after that. It hurts till today and I think I'll never really get it back to its normal state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. Take care, learn from mistakes of others!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T12:13:17.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1812" CreationDate="2011-05-02T12:16:22.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to dub this exercise the &quot;One-handed kettlebell cross snatch&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ak15H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kettlebell snatch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar to the picture shown, but across the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T12:16:22.127" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1815" CreationDate="2011-05-02T14:54:31.113" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motivation is tough.....what motivated you prior to stopping? and has that goal(s) changed?  Everyone gets/is motivated differently, I like to write my goals down and visualize what it is I'm going for.  Some people get motivated by being in groups (social), others by watching movies (try a Rocky movie).  What it comes down to is that it's easy not to do something or coming up with a reason why - twist it around, just do it and unless you can come up with 5 good reasons not to, continue.  Make it a routine and over time you won't even think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T14:54:31.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-02T15:59:35.980" Score="1" ViewCount="548" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the Hay diet (essentially not mixing protein based food with carbohydrate based foods in the same meal) actually produce good results? Are such restrictions unhealthy or excessive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="694" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T22:40:08.173" Title="Hay diet's effectiveness" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1844" CreationDate="2011-05-02T16:59:07.620" Score="17" ViewCount="631" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a process of one &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1789/how-to-establish-a-beginning-weight-program/1790#1800&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; begetting another, Meade Rubenstein made a comment about something I stated in my original question.  It seems like an interesting enough question on its own, so here we are.  The comment was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Never Maintain, always increase intensity or change workout to keep your body from getting use to the workout, which reduces it's effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my goal for my strength training is more supplemental to my other fitness goals, and I am happy with the strength I've achieved, is there really any reason to keep pushing harder?  For example, my initial goals support general health.  An added bonus would be the ability to get back into martial arts which I've neglected for a couple years due to various health problems exacerbated by my weight at the time.  In martial arts, absolute strength (i.e. what you can lift) doesn't really mean much.  Your technique and your ability to flow from one movement to another is more important.  In fact, your power is directly linked to your technique.  That's what makes a small man with polio in one leg able to crush a coconut in mid air, while Arnold Schwarzenegger might have a hard time doing the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead of poling for your opinions on whether you agree or disagree with Meade's statement, I'll ask my usual mutipart question (hopefully I'll understand more):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any negative consequences to keeping the weight constant while you perform your workout? (assumption is that you are already where you want to be)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If constant growth is important, how do you keep from becoming the overly muscular guy so you can still fit in your clothes?  I worked hard to get down to the size I am, and replacing my wardrobe is expensive.  I'd rather not go back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do you manage the demands of strength training when you only want it as a supplement to your other fitness activities? (cardio/running, martial arts, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T01:35:57.633" Title="Is maintaining really so bad?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1814" CreationDate="2011-05-02T18:06:27.637" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, your body will maintain its muscle mass with .5g of protein per pound &lt;em&gt;lean body weight&lt;/em&gt; (i.e. how much you weigh without fat).  Muscle tone and strength might change, but you will be able to protect the muscle you have.  To &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt; muscle mass, increase the protein to 1g of protein per pound lean body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone that is 250lbs on the scale but only has 165lbs muscle mass will need the same amount of protein as someone who is 215lbs on the scale but has 165lbs of muscle mass.  In both cases, you would consume 83g of protein to maintain or 165g of protein to gain muscle (not fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you will probably lose some muscle tone.  I can't say anything about whether you can lose strength while maintaining mass, but I'm pretty sure its possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the interim, you you might be able to do a light treadmill workout while your shoulder is healing.  You'd want to stay away from anything that will shock your shoulder, so no running.  However, a good walk keeping your heart rate in the fat burning zone will help burn a bit extra fat while you are recovering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to resources, check out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/protein.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/protein.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/zonediet/a/zoneprotein.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/zonediet/a/zoneprotein.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T18:06:27.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1823" CreationDate="2011-05-02T19:14:21.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't personally see a problem with maintaining as you put it. I'd throw in a few warnings though...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your maintenance consists of the same workout(s) day in and day out, then you run the risk of getting bored and stopping altogether&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Although strength and size are not completely unrelated, it's possible to increase your strength quite a bit without dramatically increasing your size. Even if strength isn't the most important thing in martial arts, I can't imagine it being a bad thing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually you're going to start feeling the effects of aging. It might be a good idea to get used to pushing yourself so that you can keep up with any decline that you might experience from that&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T19:14:21.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="586" CreationDate="2011-05-02T19:42:20.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you have someone critique your squat form first. Find a friend or maybe a trainer at the gym to see if you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;proper form&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Assuming your form is correct, then we'll need to feed you some exercises that should strengthen your body to support the squat exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Trouble doing squats, try these exercises:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reverse Lunges&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Split Squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/LVStandingCalfRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calf Raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/SL45CalfPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calf Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bosu squats&lt;/strong&gt; - Put the rounded part of the bosu facing the ground and stand with both feet on the flat part. Do 3 sets of about 8-10 squats on the bosu, with an emphasis on form.  When your balance gets better, you can hold a plate or dumbbell while you do your squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you get the hang of the bosu, you can get creative and try different exercises like holding your balance on one leg or one-legged squats on bosu.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a couple of resources from exrx.net that may be of use as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Questions/FullSquatHipFlex.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flexibility issues during squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Inflexibilities.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Orthopedic Inflexibilities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (see Ankle Dorsiflexion Inflexibility)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-02T19:42:20.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1815" CreationDate="2011-05-03T00:38:56.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motivation?  Determine 3 reasons short term and long term why you want to spend your time in the gym instead of munching potato chips on the couch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Write those reasons on paper.&#xA;Put copies of that paper everywhere - mirror in your bathroom, on your bedroom door, in your car.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Read it everytime you see it and GO TO THE GYM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the gym, start slow and progressively build intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some &lt;a href=&quot;http://race-orlando.com/20-top-motivational-fitness-quotes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;great motivational quotes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T00:38:56.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1832" CreationDate="2011-05-03T13:57:37.620" Score="4" ViewCount="405" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; &gt;Pomodoro Technique &lt;/a&gt; (working on some tasks for 25 minutes, then taking 5 minutes break, and so on). In those 5 minutes breaks I like to do some training - like 3 sets of push-up and 3 sets of chin-ups. So I end up doing these training sessions about a dozen times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it good for my health and fitness, or can it cause overtraining and injuries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="132" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T12:12:35.150" Title="Are small and frequent training sessions good or bad?" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1829" CreationDate="2011-05-03T14:18:52.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's anything wrong with doing mini workouts throughout the day, especially if you wouldn't do them otherwise. Unless you're specifically trying to improve your pushups and chinups, you may want to include some other simple body weight exercises as well. Some I could think of off the top of my head:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditDate="2011-05-12T12:12:35.150" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T12:12:35.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1752" CreationDate="2011-05-03T15:17:49.303" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to address only the supplements that contain caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that the use of caffeine in sports is a controversial topic. However there appears to be some base conclusions that are beginning to appear (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine &lt;strong&gt;does not&lt;/strong&gt; appear to benefit short term, high intensity exercise&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; enhance performance in endurance sports. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerbar.com/articles/218/caffeine-and-athletic-performance.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caffeine and Athletic Performance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, the author concludes that its effects vary by sport:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pro:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's been shown to improve endurance and time trial performance in cyclists, increase endurance in runners, and improve performance times and boost power in rowers. It’s also been shown to improve performance in cycling and running events lasting approximately 5 minutes, and to increase peak power output, speed, and isokinetic strength in sprint and power events lasting less than 10 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Con:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Specifically, caffeine has been shown to have no effect, and may even be a negative factor, in sprint and power events lasting anywhere from 15 seconds to 3 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people swear by caffeine saying that &quot;improves&quot; their workout. However I believe they merely enjoy the mental boost it gives them, aka more alert, rather than giving them a real, physical boost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Special note about Caffeine and Creatine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did come across an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ergo-log.com/creatinecaffeine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; that asserted that regular, high-doses of caffeine consumption interfere with creatine absorption!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="760" LastEditDate="2011-05-05T19:18:01.110" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T19:18:01.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1829" CreationDate="2011-05-03T16:15:49.550" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question about overtraining and injury separately:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Overtraining&lt;/em&gt; is putting your body through greater stress than it is equipped to handle.  If you were talking about adding external weights to your pushups and chin-ups then you might hit that threshold.  You can do pushups daily and not put your body through enough stress to overtrain it.  However, if you are talking about hundreds of pushups throughout the day you might be pushing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Injury&lt;/em&gt; is caused by bad technique and muscle imbalance (which causes the former).  It's important to make sure you exercise the whole body.  You get the most bang for your buck with complex exercises that get a large number of muscle groups at the same time.  So you may have a routine that you alternate each day.  5 minutes is enough to squeeze out a rep of 10 &quot;whatevers&quot; easily.  You run the risk of letting your muscles get &quot;cold&quot; so be sure to warm up before you do your rep each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as long as you are talking body weight, and you have specific goals of what you want to do throughout the day in your five minute breaks, it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; work.  You'll want your 5 minute routine to be something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up for a minute&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push out a rep of one or two exercises for three minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch (cooldown) for a minute.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to pair a set of ab workouts (crunches, iso-ab plank, etc.) with your pushups/chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T16:15:49.550" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1835" CreationDate="2011-05-03T17:37:11.080" Score="6" ViewCount="4635" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently on a paleo diet which means I'm supposed to cut out sugar, however, I still chew sugarfree gum after lunch usually (Maybe 2 or 3 pieces a day). My question is this: how detrimental is this to my diet? The nutrition facts say that each stick only has 5 calories, but does chewing gum right after a meal have some other adverse effect on the way my body processes the food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="507" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T17:21:50.403" Title="How bad of a vice is gum chewing?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1838" CreationDate="2011-05-03T19:45:27.237" Score="1" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some advice to choose my next targets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started a low carbish diet (as in a not so strict low carb diet) last January together with a 20 min work out 3 times a week consisting mostly of kettlebell swings combined with some other exercises. &#xA;I started at 80Kg (I'm 25 and 176cm) and so far I have lost 6kgs. I still have a belly although its visibly smaller, and my face shrunk a bit, to a point were people are noticing and commenting. Now my final target is to completely loose the belly and be in overall better physical shape.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question to you is: should I keep this up and lose more weight or should I start working out at the gym and start gaining some 'good' weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="921" LastEditorUserId="2888" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T02:48:09.040" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T02:48:09.040" Title="Lose more or gain weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1833" CreationDate="2011-05-03T19:54:14.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paleoplan.com/resources/paleo-plan-food-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quick readup&lt;/a&gt; of what the paleo plan is, the biggest thing I can see is that it is not plan compliant.  There's a couple things to remember about &quot;sugar free&quot; gum and similar products:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sugar free gum simply doesn't contain &lt;em&gt;cane sugar&lt;/em&gt;.  However, it still contains &lt;em&gt;sugar alcohols&lt;/em&gt; which still have both calories and a glycemic impact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some sugar free gum uses an artificial sweetener, which many argue is not good for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you eliminate large good groups from your diet, and then suddenly reintroduce them, your body responds by storing it as fat.  For a stick of gum a day, that's not a big deal, but something to consider.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;unbalanced&lt;/em&gt; diet is an effective means to lose weight, but it is not sustainable for the long term.  A &lt;em&gt;balanced&lt;/em&gt; diet will ensure you get all your protein, vitamins, minerals, and calories your body needs to sustain its level of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While losing weight on my own unbalanced diet, gum--even sugarless--was a major no-no.  The reason being that it caused the pancreas to secrete insulin while I was trying to stay in &lt;em&gt;ketosis&lt;/em&gt;.  While I wasn't going to suddenly stop losing weight, it could potentially slow it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;on a personal note:&lt;/em&gt;  If chewing a couple sticks of sugar free gum keeps you from burying your face in apple pie or some other high calorie/low value food, then go for it.  I tend to get more hungry when I chew gum, but it's not the same for everyone.  Gum is a low value food, but since it is usually also low calorie it's not too bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-04T14:26:25.137" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T14:26:25.137" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1839" CreationDate="2011-05-03T19:56:44.200" Score="4" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my height, weight, age, exercise levels, how many calories should I be consuming daily to lose a healthy amount of weight each week/month?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been to about 5 difference sites and have used their calculators, which all seem to return different results ranging from 1500 to 2000 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://caloriecount.about.com/&lt;/a&gt; I should be consuming 1525 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T20:29:40.070" Title="Daily calorie intake" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1752" CreationDate="2011-05-03T19:59:24.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been taking this stuff called &lt;strong&gt;Ripped Juice.&lt;/strong&gt;  I'm not going to post a link because it's easy to Google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only take it 1-2 times a week before I expect to do a cardiovascular workout.  Last Saturday I took it in the morning on am empty stomach and was able to do p90x then a solid 5k run with no stops.  I feel like I'm more focused and consistent in my stride also.  After the run, I felt like I could go back and do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;+1 for Ripped Juice but I wouldn't recommend taking it very often and I only take 1-2 depending on how long i'm going to be working out for.  I would say go for 2 if you're not sensative to caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OBTW, it makes you feel f* amazing :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T19:59:24.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1834" CreationDate="2011-05-03T20:15:39.467" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple principles to consider with any weight loss journey:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size is more important than weight.  In other words, worry about the cm around your belly more than the Kg on the scale.  Muscle is dense, so even when the scale doesn't move you should be losing size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get the most returns in your diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need protein to feed your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More muscles burn fat quicker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a certain amount of fiber to stay regular, and fiber rich foods happen to have a decent amount of carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your calculation for net carbs should take the total carbs listed and subtract the dietary fiber.  Some manufacturers list &quot;net carbs&quot; with some incredibly low number for candy, but they don't tell you that they also subtracted sugar alcohols.  Don't do that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consume fewer calories than you burn to lose weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So make sure you have enough protein in your diet to support working out.  I was on a metered diet that was definitely low carb with a controlled amount of protein.  The amount of protein was &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; sufficient to work out on as well.  I started at 133Kg and lost 38Kg through diet alone.  I'm now off the diet but want to lose another 9Kg.  I'm doing that through exercise and eating a balanced meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your weight loss path will likely be different than mine.  Anything you can do to increase the fat burning potential for your body the better.  My recommendation is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase your exercise, it may take longer to lose than what I did, but it provides other returns as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust your diet as needed.  Not all carbs are alike, and your body may be more aggressive with storing some carbs as fat than others.  Dairy, grains, fruits are all processed a bit differently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you don't have too much fat.  Fat is calorie dense so a little goes a long way.  Also, some fats are better than others (i.e. olive oil/conola oil are better than vegetable oil)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to keep your carbs limited to no more than a couple times a day while you want to lose weight.  It takes 6 hours for your body to switch over to burning fat after you have your carbs.  If you consume all your carbs in one meal (like breakfast &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; dinner), you'll have about 18 hours of fat burning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently not doing carbs on my recovery days and eating the carbs on my exercise days.  I work out after my job, so a good breakfast is all I need to keep my energy up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T20:15:39.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1836" CreationDate="2011-05-03T20:29:40.070" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until you get tested to find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), all those calculators can do is give you an &lt;em&gt;approximation&lt;/em&gt; of what you need to eat.  The BMR is a measure of how many calories your body burns while you are being a slug on a couch--doing nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The calculators are using a formula that is based on some assumptions on what a &lt;em&gt;typical&lt;/em&gt; person your size, height, etc. would have for a BMR.  It's usually within a couple hundred calories, but I've had them estimate high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measuring the BMR usually involves measuring the air your body breaths while under a level of stress--such as the treadmill machine.  Many gyms will offer it as a service, but you might have your doctor figure it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you have the BMR, the rest is easy.  If you consume fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight.  Just a couple words of advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a certain amount of protein to protect your muscles--which in turn burn more fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you need to cut parts of your diet to hit your target calories, don't sacrifice protein.  Many women are protein deficient (based on observations from my wellness center)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to burn 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat.  That also means you need to consume 3500 &lt;em&gt;in excess&lt;/em&gt; of your BMR to &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt; a pound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To lose 1 lb per week, you should consume 500 calories &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; than your BMR.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T20:29:40.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1845" CreationDate="2011-05-03T21:19:33.283" Score="4" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to work out how much fat, carbs, and protein I should be consuming daily based on my BMR which is around 2025 calories.  Apparently you're supposed to have 500 calories less than your BMR to lose around 1lbs a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I have done the following calculations and wanted to know if I have worked it out correctly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;type        percentages     calories    grams per calorie   grams&#xA;&#xA;fat          30              457.50     9                    50.83&#xA;protein      15              228.75     4                    57.19&#xA;carbs        55              838.75     4                   209.69&#xA;&#xA;calories    100             1525.00&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have I worked this out correctly?  Does this mean I should be having around 317g of food a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="345" LastEditDate="2011-05-04T09:03:08.543" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T13:25:07.257" Title="Calories to grams" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1840" CreationDate="2011-05-03T23:45:47.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, that does not mean that you should only be eating 317 grams of food per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all food is digested, and not all food matter has energy value to the body. For example, cream cheese has about 3.5 calories per gram, while broccoli has around 1/3 calorie per gram (according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.thecaloriecounter.com&lt;/a&gt;). Vegetables in particular are ridiculously low-density in calories for human beings, since we can't digest cellulose, the major component of plant cell walls (which is about 1/3 of plant matter, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="785" LastActivityDate="2011-05-03T23:45:47.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1842" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1847" CreationDate="2011-05-04T01:00:37.763" Score="6" ViewCount="1212" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the aspects that the Starting Strength book emphasizes a good deal is that the wrists should be straight when doing the squat (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ%3aThe_Lifts#The_Squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;point 3&lt;/a&gt;, as well as the wrists of the guy in all the cartoons on that page). My problem is that my wrists always look like that of &lt;a href=&quot;http://images.wikia.com/startingstrength/images/6/68/ElbowsLowbarBackSquat.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the guy in the image to the right on that page&lt;/a&gt;; they're  severely supinated. In order to straighten them out, I have to either (1) move my hands farther out, which causes them to be bent inwards; severe &quot;yaw&quot;, if you will, or (2) push my arms &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; far back, to the point of stressing my shoulder blades, and usually by the seventh rep my back actually hurts from the stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of any stretches I should work on that will make this exercise easier? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2011-05-04T13:39:12.257" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T22:04:36.487" Title="barbell squat wrist problems" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1823" CreationDate="2011-05-04T13:03:10.497" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good Question (and thanks for the reference). I've been in martial arts (Isshinryu Karate) for 25 years and the discussion of strength training not helping is outdated. Anything that gives you the edge over the other person: strength, speed, reaction time, mental focus, etc. helps.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If your focus is in martial arts, then the area where you want to continually increase intensity is martial arts specific training as opposed to weight lifting. No two workout sessions should be the same, otherwise your body (and your mind) gets use to the specific drills and you lose the edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a great book about training – &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1581601239&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Savage Science of Street Fighting&lt;/a&gt; – where the author bashes martial arts training (for a lot of good reasons) and talks about how the dedication and determination of weight training enhances a fighters base mental attitude. A book I would highly recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specific to your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Any negative consequences to keeping the weight constant? No, you can obtain improvement through body weight training alone, but I still recommend increasing intensity, shorter rest periods, changing exercises and – specific for martial arts – focus on more explosive movements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do you stop from being muscle bound? A myth that comes true when the exercise program is not well rounded.  Dynamic stretching, plyometrics, more reps - focus on strength and explosive power as opposed to 'body building' type routines that focus on size.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How to integrate strength training with your main interest? Talk to your instructor or a experienced (and knowledgeable) trainer about the type of exercises that will help. Specific to martial arts (striking arts is different from grappling) I would recommend olympic type drills, such as squats, deadlifts and clean presses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T22:25:52.273" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T22:25:52.273" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1840" CreationDate="2011-05-04T13:08:54.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to have enough protein to protect your muscles.  This is more important than carbs and fat.  To find out how much protein you need, you can use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/zonediet/a/zoneprotein.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculator over here&lt;/a&gt;.  While it's more accurate to use your lean body mass, it won't hurt you to calculate based on your overall body weight--you might even increase your muscle mass that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try not to over-think your diet.  If it's too hard you'll give up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you have the protein you need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure to eat plenty of veggies (two servings each for lunch and dinner)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure to drink plenty of water (minimum of 2L/day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you have at lest 21g of dietary fiber a day (up to 40g if you need it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Include small doses of healthy fats (like 30-60ml of olive oil)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You'll need a multivitamin, and omega-3 supplements would be nice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any calories left after your protein and veggies, you can spend them on the things you like.  Don't worry too much about the fat to calorie ratio.  You'll find that at ~1500 calories you won't have much room for too much of that anyway.  NOTE: some people are sensitive to glutens or dairy and tend to hold on to their weight more when they have foods rich in those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a food diary/weight journal and review it weekly.  Also take your measurements at least monthly.  If you have a bad weight loss week, double-check your measurements.  My wife recently had a 0 weight loss week but lost 15cm overall.  If you still aren't happy, look at the types of food you are eating.  You may have to adjust it for what your body processes better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some veggies pack a one-two punch like Spinach.  Spinach gives you about 4g fiber per serving and even has some protein in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, exercise increases the amount of calories you burn in a day.  Anything you do to increase your muscle mass will also increase your BMR.  The combination of having higher amounts of protein (meaning 0.5g protein/Kg lean body weight) and exercise will improve your muscle mass.  If you walk on a treadmill for an hour you can burn around 400+ Calories.  That means you could have 1900 calories on your exercise day and still be on target to lose 1 lb a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-04T13:25:07.257" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T13:25:07.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2011-05-04T13:29:15.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are suppose to kick your elbows out like that, it helps &quot;lock&quot; the bar against your back and is proper form. If you're getting sore, perhaps you're just creating too much tension. I know when I do certain exercises my back get bruised because I'm unconsciously squeezing everything together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggest would be to strip the weight off the bar and work on your form until you can do it without any unusual discomfort. Then slowly build back up to your working weight with the same form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T13:29:15.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2011-05-04T13:52:32.860" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll find this &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page&lt;/a&gt; has lots of practical advice for fixing squat problems.  Believe it or not, the article they have on &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-eliminate-protruding-gut-lordosis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;How to eliminate your protruding gut&quot;&lt;/a&gt; also has some useful stretches to help improve your squat grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've included both lunge stretches and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shoulder dislocations&lt;/a&gt; to make it easier to do my form correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T13:52:32.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1848" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1849" CreationDate="2011-05-04T15:18:36.123" Score="1" ViewCount="827" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on GDA (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gdalabel.org.uk/gda/home.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guideline Daily Amounts&lt;/a&gt;), the GDA for someone who has a BMR (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate&lt;/a&gt;) of 2500 calories a day is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Calories        2500.00 kcal&#xA;Protein           55.00 g&#xA;Carbohydrate     300.00 g&#xA;Sugars           120.00 g&#xA;Fat               95.00 g&#xA;Saturates         30.00 g&#xA;Fibre             24.00 g&#xA;Salt               6.00 g&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I adjust the above values for 1525 calories a day.  Please see my attempt below.  I have concerns as some values look too high (carbs, salt etc) while others look too low (protein, fibre).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my calculations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Calories        1525.00 kcal&#xA;Protein           33.55 g&#xA;Carbohydrate     183.00 g&#xA;Sugars            73.20 g&#xA;Fat               57.95 g&#xA;Saturates         18.30 g&#xA;Fibre             14.64 g&#xA;Salt               3.66 g&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="345" LastEditDate="2011-05-05T21:10:24.290" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T21:10:24.290" Title="Help me adjust the GDA for my BMR to lose weight" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1848" CreationDate="2011-05-04T15:35:29.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically you would prorate it.  That means if 1525 kcal (or Calories) is 61% of 2500 kcal you simply multiply everything by .61.  However, there are a couple things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The amount of protein you need to consume to protect your muscles doesn't change.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The body needs at least 21g of Fibre a day to stay &quot;regular&quot; (i.e. no constipation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1840/calories-to-grams&quot;&gt;other question&lt;/a&gt; you had, you figured out that you need about 65g of protein.  Keep that number.  I would also maintain the amount of Fibre they suggest.  I personally need around 30g to stay regular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, a nice little tidbit about carbs and fibre:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On nutritional labels, fibre is usually lumped in with other carbs.  However, your body can't absorb the calories in the fibre so they really don't count.  The concept of &quot;net carbs&quot; basically means subtracting out the fibre from the total carbs in the meal.  If your English muffin (as we call them in the states) has 10g of fibre and 24g of carbs per muffin, the net impact on your body is only 14g of carbs.  Just be careful with some of the &quot;Atkins&quot; labeled net carbs, as they also subtract out sugar alcohols which your body &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; absorb.  Only subtract fibre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything else, I would multiply by 61%.  That would make it look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Calories        1525 kcal&#xA;Protein         65 g&#xA;Carbohydrate    183 g (no more than)&#xA;Sugars          73 g&#xA;Fat             58 g  (no more than)&#xA;Saturates       18 g&#xA;Fibre           24 g&#xA;Salt            3.5 g&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I personally think the sodium number for the GDA is a bit high (for the USDA the recommended allowance is around 2.5 g to 3 g of sodium).  I tend to swell up when I have that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T15:35:29.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1848" CreationDate="2011-05-04T15:35:57.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, yes, your math looks fine if you're asking did you scale the nutrient breakdowns down with calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A much bigger question would be whether this guideline is worth following. That looks like an awful lot of sugar to me, especially if you want to lose weight!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T15:35:57.757" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1853" CreationDate="2011-05-04T16:29:55.227" Score="3" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;On &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enduranceplanet.com/sports-nutrition-race-hydration-inflammatory-carbs-glutamine-and-more/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a podcast recommended to me&lt;/a&gt; (I'm not sure whether it's called &quot;Sports Nutrition&quot; or &quot;Endurance Planet&quot;) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ben Greenfield&lt;/a&gt; talked about inflammation, advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and carbohydrates (especially sugar).  He claims (IIRC) that simple carbohydrates will lead to increased creation of AGEs, which leads to increased inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to learn more about that, so I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_glycation_end_product&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Wikipedia article about it&lt;/a&gt;, but didn't see any mention of that connection.  (The Wikipedia page says AGEs may be formed inside the body through &quot;normal metabolism and aging&quot;.)  Is there evidence of a connection between sugar intake, AGEs and inflammation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="925" LastEditorUserId="925" LastEditDate="2012-10-11T06:09:06.657" LastActivityDate="2012-10-11T06:09:06.657" Title="Can diet affect the creation of advanced glycation end-products?" Tags="&lt;age&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1854" CreationDate="2011-05-04T17:21:09.713" Score="4" ViewCount="1911" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym about 4 times a week, splitting my workout between cardio and strength training.  In order to properly maintain my heart rate for my cardio plan, I have to do that before the strength training.  It's not too strenuous, but I do my cardio work 4 times a week and my strength training 3 times a week.  Necessarily, one of my cardio days is right after my strength day, and then a day off from both after that.  I just started the Strong Lifts 5x5 program, so the weight isn't anything special just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the areas I'm deficient in is flexibility.  I'm working on that, but due to the amount I use my legs, they seem to stay stiff.  In particular, I feel my quadriceps pulling on me for the first minute when I get up and start walking around.  They are also an area I don't stretch enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in more than just stretching the quadriceps, so please provide some insights, tips, stretches, etc. that will help with my leg flexibility.  I'd like walking to not feel like my legs are working against me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Feel free to post multiple stretches in your answers.  Extra kudos if you can come up with a complete routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-04T19:19:17.787" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:55:32.790" Title="What are some good leg stretches?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1851" CreationDate="2011-05-04T17:38:10.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article you referenced provides a link between AGE and hyperglycemia (common with diabetes).  Essentially, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia are both related to the pancreatic function.  The pancreas secretes insulin to store elevated sugar levels (hyperglycemia) as fat.  In insulin resistant people, the pancreas has to secrete &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; insulin than in people with normal pancreatic function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only link then to the food you eat and AGE is through the pancreas--or essentially the amount of carbs/fats/sugars you take in.  If you have these in excess (defined as in greater quantity than your pancreas can process), you will have hyperglycemia or you will get really fat.  Essentially, if you keep feeding your pancreas more than it can handle you will increase your AGE levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A healthy pancreas needs time to work and time to rest.  Unfortunately western diets are full of far more carbs/sugars/fats than your body can ever use.  For many people, we consume so much our pancreas never gets a chance to rest--increasing the risks of diabetes and the AGE levels you asked about.  When the pancreas gets tired from overwork, the quality of the insulin goes down and the quantity goes up.  Essentially, in healthy people your pancreas will secrete more insulin than you need and trap too much blood sugar as fat--causing you to be irritable and hypoglycemic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later in the article, AGE causes complications in the kidney, which gets rid of waste products in the blood.  It seems that AGE affects are cumulative and will remain a factor even if you get the pancreatic function under control.  Any more than this, I can't say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-04T17:38:10.970" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1852" CreationDate="2011-05-04T17:42:48.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few exercises which would be beneficial to the general hips/legs musculature:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/LungingHipFlexor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lunges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - a good staple stretch exercise, which can stretch your gluteous maximus (butt), quads, and hamstrings. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwTKNEGoAdo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this youtube video&lt;/a&gt; for a basic lunge. There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/BentoverLungeHipFlexor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/KneelingHipFlexor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;different&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/Standing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;variations&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;side lunge&lt;/strong&gt;, also shown in the above video, stretches the butt as well as the thights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glute Stretchs&lt;/strong&gt; - works on the butt, as name says. Can be done &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/GluteusMaximus/StandingGlute.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/GluteusMaximus/Seated.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sitting&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/GluteusMaximus/Lying.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lying&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calf stretches&lt;/strong&gt; - again, stretches specifically the calf muscle. The easiest to do is probably the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Step.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standing&lt;/a&gt; variation, but you can do this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Towel.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sitting&lt;/a&gt; using equipment, or by pulling the end of your foot with your hand if flexible enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to a comment by @Berin &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1842/barbell-squat-wrist-problems/1847#1847&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, if you want to limber up for squats I would recommend doing what Ripptoe suggests in his Starting Strength book: do squats without any weight whatsoever, just as a stretching exercise. While doing it, keep the following in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats should be done with toes facing approximately 30 degrees out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The knees should be parallel with the feet &lt;strong&gt;at all times&lt;/strong&gt; during the squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do full squats; go down until your quads (the top part of your leg) are parallel with the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the bottom, your knees should just be over your toes; if they're too far forward or back, stick your butt out back more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having trouble keeping your quads over your toes, which are 30 degrees out, he suggests that when you get to the bottom put your elbows against your knees and put your hands together. That should push your knees apart to approximately the correct distance. Maintain that for 10 seconds or so, and then go back up and do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T02:48:24.170" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1848" CreationDate="2011-05-05T05:33:13.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you some diet tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When calculating your RDA (Recommended dietary allowance) for calories, protein, Carbohydrates, fat, fiber, salt etc.first check these factors. Because RDA always changes with these factors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age, sex&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height, weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any disease condition (metabolic disorder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowel habits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical activity (Exercise)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifestyle (sedentary, moderate or very active)&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Then follow these instructions&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiply your BMR with activity factor e.g.20%, 30%, 40% accordingly and add that value in BMR.It is your basic requirement (RDA)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then see what is your target for weight loss. If it is less than 10 Kg , no need to reduce 500 Kcal directly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change the composition:Carbohydrates 65-70% of calorie value&#xA;                      Protein 15-20%&#xA;                      Fat 15-20%&#xA;                      Simple sugars-25 gm/day&#xA;                      Salt-4-6 gm according to climate condition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add fiber gradually (raw veg,low calorie fruits)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase Protein gradually from 12%-&gt;15%-&gt;20%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce amount of saturated fats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First think of maintaining the achieved weight &amp;amp; don't go below 1500 Kcal for long time. In between, plateau diets of less calories for 2-3 days can be taken; but come to normal (1500 kcal) after that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="878" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T05:33:13.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1864" CreationDate="2011-05-05T15:56:18.707" Score="4" ViewCount="380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was advice to start c25k workout schedule in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1750/duration-of-running-for-weight-loss-and-diet-control&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;, but as I run, I am worry about my knees. Today is my 4th workout since the start of c25k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My knees have been strange since some years ago, even I didn't commit to running several times a week like now. The problem is when I walk, my knees feel very strange. I am no expert to biology, I can only describe it like this: The part where the knees connect to my lower legs feel like empty or lacking something in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The syndrome will not appear if I stand still or sit. When I run or walk faster so that the pressure increase, the feeling appears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, should I see the doctor again? Should I stop running, or running will heal this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I don't workout in my life till now. In my university life, I spent 60 minutes walking to and from my school, would it sounds like the connective tissue wear out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the position I mention:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5yP2A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T02:09:37.687" Title="Should I run along?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-05T18:39:43.763" Score="1" ViewCount="2297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am posting a composite profile of a chronic dieter who doesn't seem to get anywhere from both my own experience and others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read about BMR, calories, and I get it.  Fewer calories in, more calories burned.  Since my BMR is about 2400 calories, I should be able to lose close to two pounds a week if I cut down to 1600 calories.  And if I work out I should be able to lose even faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I did that &amp;quot;Mediterranean&amp;quot; diet where you eat like people in the Mediterranean do.  You've never seen a fat person there, right?  I'm eating 1600 calories a day and I'm just evil to be around.  I have no energy, I can barely form a coherent thought, and I get paid to use my brain.  This just isn't working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been three months since I did the Mediterranean diet and I'm heavier now than I was then.  What gives?  I'm eating the 2400 calories a day to maintain, but I'm steadily getting heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be the plight of many calorie counters out there.  A friend of mine was actually told by her doctor that she was exercising too much and eating too little.  The &amp;quot;Mediterranean&amp;quot; diet was my own experience.  There's got to be some magic formula to this right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T12:38:36.820" Title="Why do I keep regaining weight and feel lethargic on my diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="187" CreationDate="2011-05-05T18:57:59.180" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to answer your question in the way that you requested, &quot;in categories &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a list of examples&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Metabolism Boosters&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spicy Foods - Jalapeno, Habanero, and Cayenne Peppers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein Meat - Lean Beef, Pork, Chicken, and Turkey.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein, Dairy - Milk, Yogurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein, Fish - Salmon, Tuna, and Sardines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein, Eggs - Chicken eggs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeinated Beverages - Green Tea and Coffee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whole Grains - Brown Rice, Oatmeal, and Quinoa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dark Leafy Greens - Spinach, Bok Choy, and Broccoli.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-sugar Fruits - Apples, Pears, Berries, Oranges, Kiwis, and Peaches.  (organic preferred)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resources/Links&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sanbenito.k12.tx.us/hot%20news/fifteen_foods.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fifteen foods that fire up your metabolism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/toplists/15_fatburning_foods/15_fatburning_foods.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;15 fat-burning foods&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wellness-junction.com/health-wellness/4-food-groups-that-can-boost-your-metabolism/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;4 food groups that can boost your metabolism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfit.ca/foods_that_speed_metabolism.asp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Foods that Speed Metabolism&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="760" LastEditDate="2011-05-06T14:10:38.283" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T14:10:38.283" CommentCount="2" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-05-05T19:16:28.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1857" CreationDate="2011-05-05T19:29:40.747" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;So there are a few problems with blindly cutting calories.  The first is you don't quite understand what your body &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt;, and how to address the problems causing you to be overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common ailment in western food is the over-abundance of carbohydrates, sugars, and fats.  So what problems does that cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pancreas gets overworked producing insulin.  In the worst cases it never has a chance to rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the pancreas is overworked, it produces low quality insulin and too much of it.  The net affect is that the insulin locks away more sugar as fat than it should.  Your brain asks for more, but because you are overloading your pancreas you are in a never ending cycle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your pancreas is also responsible for secreting a second hormone (can't remember the name right now), which is responsible for burning fat.  If the pancreas is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; dealing with the sugar rush, it will never secrete this other hormone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cutting carbs is a good start, you do have to be smart about it.  Basically your body pulls energy from three major stores:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The sugar in your blood.  Your body contains enough to fuel your brain (the only organ that only uses blood sugar for energy) for up to three days--or about 300g of sugar.  Note: diabetics may have higher or lower amounts which are &lt;em&gt;hyperglycemia&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;hypoglycemia&lt;/em&gt; respectively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fat stored all over your body.  When muscles have oxygen, they can burn fat directly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your muscles and organs.  Yes, in dire situations (such as famine) your body can cannibalize itself to preserve your life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing just about everyone agrees on: &lt;strong&gt;muscles burn fat&lt;/strong&gt;.  The more muscle mass you have the more fat you can burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So what happens when you cut out all the carbs/sugar/fat?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body will use up all the sugar in the blood first for energy.  During this time you may feel lethargic, or become very irritable (evil).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Next it will take from both the fat stores and your muscle mass and turn it into sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is called &lt;em&gt;ketonic acidosis&lt;/em&gt;.  Ketonic acidosis is a very bad thing.  Your body thinks it's in a famine situation, so it holds on to the fat more earnestly and willingly burns its muscle--which is what you need to burn fat.  This is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So how do you protect the muscles from getting turned into sugar?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glad you asked!  &lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;.  Your body needs enough protein to protect your muscles from ketonic acidosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a healthy state called &lt;em&gt;ketosis&lt;/em&gt; where your body burns fat, and not muscle.  To get into this state you need the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough protein to protect your muscles.  For sedentary people you need .5g protein per pound of lean body weight (fat free mass).  For athletes or to gain muscle at a reasonable pace you need 1g protein per pund of lean body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less than 40g of carbohydrates/sugars.  Maybe even fats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If my pancreas is overworked, can I fix it?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.  If you put your body into ketosis the pancreas rests.  While it rests it secretes that hormone that burns fat (yay!).  If it rests for three weeks or more it will return to a very healthy state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An added plus of being in ketosis is that every calorie not in your food will be taken from your fat stores.  That means you can have 900 calories a day, assuming you found highly absorb-able protein sources, and burn fat even faster!  I personally used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_caen.asp?no=142&quot;&gt;Ideal Protein&lt;/a&gt; which originated in France from a Dr. Tran.  They supply 97% absorb-able protein with their plan meals, so you can get those low calorie numbers.  There's four phases to the diet, and its monitored.  Probably not a bad idea.  If you don't have something similar (like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lindora.com/&quot;&gt;Lindora&lt;/a&gt;), then doing the Atkins diet is perfectly acceptable.  Just watch how much fat you take in and don't overdo the protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wait, can I stay in ketosis forever?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not recommended.  One of the side effects of having so few carbs is the fact you are likely not getting enough &lt;em&gt;dietary fiber&lt;/em&gt;.  Your body needs a bare minimum of 21g of fiber a day to stay &quot;regular&quot;.  If you have less than that you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; have problems with constipation.  I can speak from experience that it is not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to reintroduce carbs at some point.  But be careful how you do it.  The problem with going straight back into eating carbs after your body has been in ketosis for so long is that it's not used to processing them anymore.  When your body isn't used to processing food, it turns it into fat.  Not what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reintroduce carbs safely you should give your body at least two weeks of this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spike the body with carbs &lt;em&gt;once&lt;/em&gt; a day.  You want something from every representative source of carbs: dairy, grains, fruit.  No more than 30g from any source and less than 100g total.  Less is OK as long as it is there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No more carbs until the next morning.  The body is learning how to process them again.  Six hours after you have the carbs, your body will go back to fat burning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After the two week reintroduction, limit your carbs to breakfast and dinner.  It takes 12 hours for your body to process complex carbs and when it does you get a rush of energy.  If you have them at noon, you will get your rush of energy at midnight--when you should be sleeping!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So is that it, just no carbs and protein?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well no.  Even when you are on an unbalanced diet (like I just described), you need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamins and minerals.  Use supplements, at least a multivitamin.  Omega-3 supplements help, but are technically optional.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lots of water (at least 2L a day, more if you exercise)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lots of vegetables (western diets don't have enough of these).  Be careful, if you are trying to limit your carbs, some vegetables have a lot (like carrots).  Stick with green veggies and sweet peppers while you are trying to lose weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are on a balanced diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A reasonable amount of carbs.  Your brain only needs 100g a day.  Do you really need the 300g/day that Kellog's thinks you should have?  NOTE: anaerobic workouts (i.e. without oxygen) burn sugar, not fat.  You will need carbs 12 hours before your workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At least 21g of Fiber a day.  Increase this until you consistently have a bowel movement a day.  NOTE: it took me two weeks after the unbalanced diet to return to normal, and close to 30g of fiber a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Balanced/Unbalanced?  Are you nuts?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand what each is for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An unbalanced diet is only for the purpose of weight loss.  &lt;em&gt;That means it is temporary.&lt;/em&gt;  You use it to get to your target weight, and then start re-introducing the foods you need slowly for a balanced diet when you are done.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A balanced diet is what you will eat every day and maintain your weight.  If you eat more than your BMR, you will gain weight.  If you eat less than your BMR, you will lose weight.  But be warned, your BMR changes over time.  The more muscle you have the higher your BMR, the less muscle you have the lower your BMR will be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still want to lose weight healthily, but maintain a balanced diet your progress will be slower.  That's OK.  Just remember that there are two inescapable realities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't have enough protein you will lose muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you lose muscle mass you won't burn fat as quickly--and your BMR goes down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine for a moment chasing the ever decreasing amount of calories to support your weight loss progress as you slowly lose muscle mass.  All too often with diets like that, you lose muscle mass and then start eating the same as you did before the diet.  The problem is your BMR is different now.  You will not only gain back the weight you lost, but you'll gain more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why you don't compromise protein when you are cutting carbs/sugars/fats.  Fiber is also important for your own comfort, but not quite as important as protecting your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-05T19:43:37.280" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T19:43:37.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1861" CreationDate="2011-05-05T19:37:43.783" Score="9" ViewCount="712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in my second week of my marathon training and today I had my second threshold training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jj3H2.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So where my normal workouts are mostly of moderate intensity, these threshold training's have a high intensity interval. I was able to go above it &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1137/how-do-i-perform-a-micoach-assessment-workout&quot;&gt;during my Assessment Workout&lt;/a&gt; and I managed to stay in the Yellow Zone for 5 minutes last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1QRgJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this time half way through my Yellow Zone I had a nasty encounter with &lt;strong&gt;the Man with the Hammer&lt;/strong&gt;. I started to hyperventilate and wasn't able to go any faster, I did my best to at least not slow down any further but failed miserably. After that it took nearly 5 minutes before my breathing rhythm was restored to something normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't eaten in a couple of hours, like I have done before all my workouts, nor did I feel a lack of energy, such as light headedness. I drank 0.5l of water before so I wasn't dehydrated either. I also felt pretty good until I had to accelerate towards the Yellow Zone, so it really feels like it came out of nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In grad school I had a VO2max test, which also showed that my ventilation, rather than my heart rate was my main limiting factor. But while it was to be expected, I don't understand why it would be hitting me so early on. Granted, I've only started running again 10 weeks ago and all those workouts maximally went to the Green Zone and lasted no longer than 30 minutes. But I'm flabbergasted that I couldn't even maintain 170 BPM...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now I'm wondering why I got hit with the Man with the Hammer and what I should do to avoid it next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T22:29:27.653" Title="How can I avoid the Man with the Hammer?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1860" CreationDate="2011-05-05T22:29:27.653" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;2nd week of training, that is the answer.  2 important numbers to know.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  It takes usually at least 7 - 10 days to feel any effect from training.  In this case, it is taking you 7 days to feel the fatigue from the prior week.  So yes, you are tired from last week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  It takes 3 weeks to gain the enzymatic and hormonal benefits from training.  So next week might even be worse.  But week 4 or 5 should get better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically when creating macrocycles, it is expected to take a rest or easier week every 4th week (3 weeks of build, 1 week of compensation).  It is also normal for week 2 and 3 when re-starting a training program to be very, very tough.  It is important to push through these weeks but only if your mileage is in line with your body's ability to adapt.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't run in awhile (like more than 6 months), be sure the program isn't too aggressive to begin.  A general rule of thumb is the 10 percent rule - add no more than 10% more mileage per week.  (However, this is generalized and I often add 25% in a given week).  When increasing mileage, it is important to keep intensity consistent or even decrease.  Again, all general rules and don't necessary apply to elite or highly conditioned athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck - increase your sleep, watch what you eat and increase your hydration.  It should work out in time.  Fitness gains require patience as they are slow changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T22:29:27.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1863" CreationDate="2011-05-05T22:34:03.003" Score="8" ViewCount="37212" Body="&lt;p&gt;My routine before visiting the gym usually involves me finishing work, relaxing for a little while then eating and going to the gym. I've always eaten beforehand simply because I'm hungry at that point, however I've recently started doing situps and other ab exercises in addition to the rest of my weights work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I making ab excises un-necessarily difficult by eating beforehand? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="933" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T17:21:57.607" Title="Does eating before situps do any harm?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1862" CreationDate="2011-05-05T22:44:36.030" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You aren't making them any more difficult, but you're making it a little more difficult for your body to process the food, not on the chemical level, but rather on the physical level, you know, with all the motion around your stomach and with your intestines, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if you have a 'strong stomach' and you don't really feel anything wrong while working out, you can easily continue your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people, on the other hand, are so sensitive and have so 'weak stomach', they'd easily throw up or simply feel a bad sensation when processing the food like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to feel for yourself what your body is trying to tell you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T22:44:36.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1856" CreationDate="2011-05-05T22:56:52.873" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doctors are always good options when necessary. BUT all doctors will tell you to take time off.  Often you will and then resume training only to find the issue is still there.  Ugh!    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 4 reasons why knees hurt from running.  They are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak Hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak Thighs (Quads)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight Hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight IT Band&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By strengthening the hips and thighs and improving flexibility in the hamstrings and IT Band, the pain should lessen and/or go away entirely.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based off those ideas, here is a good routine to &lt;a href=&quot;http://christopherickes.com/running-blog/why-do-my-knees-hurt-from-running/&quot;&gt;Reduce Knee Pain from Running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-05T22:56:52.873" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1862" CreationDate="2011-05-06T13:42:37.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general recommendations I've seen are to have an hour between eating and working out.  This gives your stomach enough time to digest the worst of the food and get whatever quick energy it can from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat when you get home, before relaxing, you should be able to separate the eating and the exercise by an hour easily.  For me, I go straight from work to the gym--which puts me in with the gym rats and social hour :( but it's the only way I'll be consistent about going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, @RiMMER's advice is sound.  If you eat before hand, and you feel sick or are having a hard time performing to capacity give yourself more time between eating and working out.  Your body is splitting it's energy between digestion and effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; you eat before going to the gym.  Carbs are harder for the body to digest than protein.  In fact complex carbs take up to 12 hours to fully digest and be released as energy.  If you work out in the afternoon, have your carbs in the morning and focus on protein and veggies with that meal before working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T13:42:37.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="139" CreationDate="2011-05-06T15:33:33.643" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plank routine is the best core routine to &lt;a href=&quot;http://bit.ly/plank_routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lose belly fat&lt;/a&gt; in my experience.  This routine involves dynamic movements, isn't too hard to do and doesn't take much time.  Form is key as is consistency - doing it every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All answers are correct regarding diet, fat loss and cardio.  You need to burn more calories than you put in.  That is number 1.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T15:33:33.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1764" CreationDate="2011-05-06T15:36:02.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knee pain while running is commonly caused by 4 main issues. They are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak Hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak Thighs (Quads)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight Hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight IT Band&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By strengthening the hips and thighs and improving flexibility in the hamstrings and IT Band, the pain should lessen and/or go away entirely.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based off those ideas, here is a good routine to &lt;a href=&quot;http://christopherickes.com/running-blog/why-do-my-knees-hurt-from-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reduce Knee Pain from Running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-06-02T22:46:03.843" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T22:46:03.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1870" CreationDate="2011-05-06T15:47:25.160" Score="4" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;This thread recommends learning what your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1836/daily-calorie-intake&quot;&gt;BMR&lt;/a&gt; is.  You can estimate your BMR with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BMR Calculator&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  How do I determine how many calories I burn each day by running and/or walking and how do I account for that in my BMR calculation?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe my running would improve if I were 5-7 pounds lighter.  I need to determine how I can lose that weight while still properly fueling my highly active lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T02:45:25.903" Title="How can I determine my recommended daily caloric intake if I know my BMR?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1862" CreationDate="2011-05-06T17:21:57.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing with eating right before exercise is the strain it places on your heart.  The bloodflow to your digestive tract is significantly increased for a while after eating.  Forcing your heart to keep up that bloodflow &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; increase bloodflow to your muscles can cause a heart attack (depending on normal risk factors and everything else) as well as just plain decrease your performance if your heart can't keep up.  Of course, if you want an &quot;easy&quot; way to raise your heart rate this might be a good thing, but you should definitely be careful and I would caution against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T17:21:57.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1868" CreationDate="2011-05-06T17:27:36.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is a measure of how much your body burns &lt;em&gt;at rest&lt;/em&gt;.  Another way to think of it is your &lt;em&gt;base&lt;/em&gt; metabolic rate.  A note of caution about the BMR calculators: they will only give you an average estimate.  It's OK to use if you are sedentary with &lt;em&gt;average&lt;/em&gt; muscle mass, but if you have been inactive for a long time and have a protein deficient diet it will estimate high.  On the other hand if you are very active and have higher than average muscle mass the calculator will estimate &lt;em&gt;low&lt;/em&gt;.  The best way to know for sure is to be tested (which can be done at most gyms or your doctor's office).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much an exercise burns is also a factor of your VO2 and heart rate at the moment.  In general the higher the heart rate the more sugar you burn while the lower your heart rate the more fat you burn.  Your calories burned reported by your treadmills and such are based on people with average muscle mass and cardiovascular health.  Your actual values may be slightly higher or lower.  For fun you can use a calculator like &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.discovery.com/centers/cholesterol/activity/activity.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; which uses your weight to figure out the calories burned.  While not completely accurate, you will get close enough to plan your dietary needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5-7 pounds really isn't that much.  In fact your body can fluctuate that much weight easily based on water retention, how much food is still in your stomach undigested, and whether you are constipated or not.  Drinking lots of water will help with excess water retention, and cutting the salt intake down will also help in that area (you need &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; salt, but probably not as much as you are consuming now).  Food digests when it digests, but many times people freak out after a large meal and swear they've gained 2-3 pounds.  If gaining one pound of fat is 3500 calories, to gain 2 pounds of fat you need to eat 7000 calories &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than your BMR--most people can't eat that much if they tried.  It's probably the combination of the items listed above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cut the carbs to only breakfast and/or dinner (none at lunch or a night snack) you'll probably shed those pounds pretty quickly.  That's without calorie counting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, walking 4 mph burns about 411 calories per hour.  If you walked at the same pace daily for one hour without changing your diet at all, you would be able to lose a pound every 8.5 days.  Adjusting the diet will make that quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T17:27:36.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1857" CreationDate="2011-05-06T19:41:19.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no diet which has been shown, through clinical trials, to provide long term weight loss. Those that have been designed well and show short term weight loss (See the AtoZ study), have minimal weight loss which is consistently regained over the course of a year. People who have lost significant weight and have kept it off are anecdotal and usually have crafted their entire life around keeping the weight off by exercising multiple hours a day, and restricting food in a way that would otherwise be diagnosed as an eating disorder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While is it possible that some sort of diet and exercise combination might cause successful weight loss and weight maintenance, no such diet or exercise has yet been proven to exist by science. And that is why following any currently known diet should be done with the lowest of expectations. It has not worked for any clinical trial yet, so there is no reason to expect it will work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T19:41:19.420" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2011-05-06T22:04:36.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important not to support the weight with your hands but rather with your back. The technique I have always used is to not touch the bar with the palms at all, but rather have hands free with the bar locked onto the back by the inner wrist or heel of the hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T22:04:36.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1897" CreationDate="2011-05-07T16:25:33.047" Score="3" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anyone tried the blood group diet. I have been thin all my life, for the past 6 months, I have worked out hard in the gym and eaten well. Results are great. But along with muscle, I have also gained fat. I have been very strict with my diet, absolutely no processed food, no sugar, lots of vegetables, nuts and fruits, chicken and eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the blood group diet, I should be avoiding bananas, whey and dairy (which I have been consuming). I'm going to try that for a couple of weeks. Just want to check if anyone has tried this type of diet and seen any results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="944" LastActivityDate="2012-03-11T11:12:53.683" Title="Blood group diet" Tags="&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1884" CreationDate="2011-05-07T21:21:59.773" Score="7" ViewCount="3498" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/weight-lifting-shoes-squats-deadlifts/&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, the principles for a good weight lifting shoe has the following properties:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not slippery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incompressible soles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excellent support&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snug fit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among the cheapest alternatives were the venerable Chuck Taylor's for their hard soles, full ankle mobility, and strong canvas.  I understand running shoes with the air cells and comfort heals are just not cut out for the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it got me thinking.  Chucks are good for weight lifting, but I also want to run and they aren't so great for that.  There's a relatively new fad with running circles called &quot;barefoot running&quot;, and Nike, Converse, and other shoe manufacturers have some shoes that look like they might fit the bill for both.  I also have a pair of karate shoes on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These would have grip, the soles on all these shoes are flexible, thin, and don't compress.  I would have full ankle mobility and a good fit.  So, would something like that work for both arenas?  Basically I don't want to stop my workout and change shoes when I'm done weight lifting and switch to my cardio work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T09:13:11.580" Title="What are some good alternative shoes for strength training?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1876" CreationDate="2011-05-07T22:37:35.040" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll give up support, but otherwise Vibram Five Fingers fit the bill. If you use them for running, start with very short distances, like 100m. There are some muscles in your legs and feet that most likely will be very sore after the first few uses. The downside of vibrams is mostly found in the lack of protection when dropping a weight on your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, weight lifting for maximum weight can be improved with the right shoes; if you are deadlifting 400lbs, non-compression might help. But, if your goal is just fitness, you will be completely fine in just about any shoe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-05-07T22:37:35.040" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1903" CreationDate="2011-05-07T23:22:24.750" Score="10" ViewCount="3474" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been a few times that after a workout that I've gotten dehydrated.  Are there preventive steps to dehydration that can be done before/during the workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, after the workout or during the workout I notice that I'm dehydrated, what are some ways to combat dehydration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things I'm specifically looking for clarification of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are some drinks better than others? Is there a best?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does combating dehyrdation solely mean drinking? Are there foods that can be helpful?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the environment surrounding me key?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is sleeping/napping afterwards helpful?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:06:55.377" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T02:06:55.377" Title="How do I prevent and/or treat dehydration?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;dehydration&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1878" CreationDate="2011-05-08T00:58:28.890" Score="7" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water (H2O) is best for hydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more you sweat, the more water you'll need to drink to stay hydrated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It helps to drink glass of water about an hour before your workout, and then to drink small amounts of water throughout the entire workout. You may even want to drink another glass after the workout depending on how you feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple links to articles that discuss how much water to drink in a day:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/way_5189095_much-water-should-drink_.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ehow.com/way_5189095_much-water-should-drink_.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A factor that really effects how much water you need and your level of dehydration is the amount of Salt/Sodium in your diet. Personally, I have found that I am much less likely to feel dehydrated if I limit the amount of salt I take in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-05-08T00:58:28.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-05-08T03:43:19.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just make it fun by doing excercises you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like Biking, then go Biking.&#xA;If you like Running, then go Running.&#xA;Etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change it up and don't do the same thing all the time. Repetition can get really boring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, if you set goals for yourself and keep track of your workouts, then you'll easily be able to see your progress over time. Ex: When lifting weights, keep track of the muscle groups, amount of weight and reps that you do. Over time you should see your workout logs show an increase in your ablilities; which should help keep you motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for visible results, it doesn't hurt to take photos of yourself once in awhile so you can compare them over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-05-08T03:43:19.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2011-05-08T06:18:34.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course it does!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat late at night, and then sleep, your body does not use up the energy taken in.&#xA;So your body converts it into fat. (how much fats are produced depends on how much carbs you ate).&#xA;So make sure you eat your heavy meals during the day - not at the end of it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of course this depends on other factors (what is explained above is for normal people).&#xA;Some people have a high metabolism so they don't save up lots of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, it is just better to stay away from eating at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="947" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T23:20:14.510" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T23:20:14.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1876" CreationDate="2011-05-08T07:56:30.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Barefoot running&quot; shoes offer little protection, and are only recommended for advanced runners with good technique -- for the average runner they are no good choices.  Since running is very high impact, you need to protect your knees and joints, thus the recommended shoes are running shoes with air cells or other padding that can reduce the impact on your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting requires the exact opposite: shoes should have flat soles and no compression or air cells which can absorb part of the force you make during the exercise.  This would sacrifice both stability and efficiency, and could get in the way of developing good form and technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest to buy separate shoes for weight lifting and running shoes for your cardio work.  On the long run your body will appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="565" LastActivityDate="2011-05-08T07:56:30.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2011-05-08T12:43:48.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this problem too.  Two things that have helped me (YMMV of course):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Music.  As mentioned by someone else, energetic music can be very stimulating during workouts, especially cardio workouts.  For me, I find instrumental dance-club music the best. (Recent example, just to illustrate the type of music I mean: I found many good songs for this purpose on the album &lt;em&gt;Prague '11&lt;/em&gt; by Markus Schulz.)  The instrumental part (rather than music with a lot of vocals) is important in conjunction with #2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reading or watching videos.  Even with thumping move-it-move-it music in my ears, I would get bored stiff doing 45min–1hr of cycling on a stationary bike or elliptical bike.  What made it tolerable is reading something interesting, or (if the equipment is available) catching up on tv shows on a computer.  I find it especially easy to read while biking on a stationary reclining bicycle.  I don't have time during the day to read material that isn't work-related, but I tell myself that my exercise time is when I can read anything I want -- I catch up on magazines, I print out articles I want to read, I read fun books, etc.  Once I started telling myself that this was my free time to read, I started &lt;em&gt;wanting&lt;/em&gt; to go to the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I have no relationship whatsoever to the creators of that album I mentioned in #1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="949" LastActivityDate="2011-05-08T12:43:48.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1878" CreationDate="2011-05-09T02:52:50.647" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that prevention is the best strategy here.  By the time you recognize the symptoms of dehydration, your body has already been dehydrated for some time.  Your body can actually be dehydrated without actually showing the symptoms of dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips for preventing dehydration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of water. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Schedule fitness activities in the morning/evenings to avoid the heat of the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to perform fitness activities in a shaded area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If one cannot change the schedule of the activities or workout in a shaded area, drink more water than normal to combat the effects of dehydration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/dehydration/page5.htm#toch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.medicinenet.com/dehydration/page5.htm#toch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heat related conditions: Know the signs and symptoms of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10112&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heat cramps&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10114&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heat rash&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10111&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heat exhaustion&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10110&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heat stroke&lt;/a&gt;. Preventing dehydration is one step to avoid these conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to emphasize how important it is to prevent dehydration.  Although it's great that you're asking how to treat dehydration, it's important that you don't rely on treatment alone.  People who have had heat injuries previously are more likely to have a heat injury in the future.  Thus, the healthier you stay now, the less likely you are to become a victim of a heat injury in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T02:52:50.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2011-05-09T03:15:15.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Increase pure top speed? Short change of speed drills are best. Recommend these ideas for your daughter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) make it fun. Whatever you do, make it fun with positive reinforcement anytime she performs a desirable action. Regardless of talent or speed increase, positive reinforcement will hopefully allow her to enjoy exercise for her life and find personal value in being active. Way more important than speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) 2-3 times a week conduct speed workouts with her. Use short distances and have her run close to top speed with 3 minutes rest between reps. An example progression would be...&#xA;4 x 40 meters at top speed&#xA;6 x 40 meters&#xA;4 x 60 meters&#xA;6 x 60 meters&#xA;2 x 60, 2 x 100, 2 x 40&#xA;respect the bowerman principle of hard day followed by an easy or rest day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) once a week run short hill sprints. Sprints should be 10 seconds up the hill followed by a jog down and then followed by a 3 minute rest. Start at 4 or 5 and add one a week until you are up to 10 or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T03:15:15.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1893" CreationDate="2011-05-09T11:08:11.070" Score="4" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;this is the diet program which i wrote as the kindest personal trainer for myself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast is always 1/2 C muesli with 1/3 C non-fat yogurt and 1/3 C raspberries=150cals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3-4 hours after breakfast, I have a rice cake (40cals).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3-4 hours later, apple (50 cals).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3-4 hours after that, I have a slice of whole wheat bread with raspberry jam (100cals)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 hours later nonfat yoghurt (35 cals). &#xA;I'm thinking of cutting out something,  and replacing it with a salad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;plus 2 hours doing extra work-out or dance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="953" LastEditorUserId="953" LastEditDate="2011-05-09T12:34:47.097" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T04:53:56.030" Title="will this diet work?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1892" CreationDate="2011-05-09T11:28:39.167" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;375 calories on top of exercise? This isn't a diet, this is starvation. I'm not exaggerating. No, this will absolutely NOT work. You will lose weight, but you'll destroy your body in the process. You wont have any energy to do any exercise. Eventually your body will start to cannibalize any muscle that you do have. The lack of calories and nutrients will also wreak havoc on your hair and skin. You can even do serious damage to you internal organs as well. I don't know how tall and heavy you are or if you are male or female, but depending on your answer you should be eating anywhere from 1500 - 2000 calories and still be able to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight isn't about crash diets and starvation. Your diet should be something sustainable that can be carried on long term. the key to a good diet is balance and moderation. You should have protein with every meal along with healthy fats and a variety of fruits and veggies for nutrients. tracking calories online with a site like www.fitday.com or www.loseit.com is a great way to do this. Look for a daily calorie deficit of 500 - 1000 calories. At that pace you should lose about 1 - 2 pounds a week. This is a healthy rate of weight loss. Any more than that (unless you are obese) and you are going down the wrong path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T11:28:39.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1876" CreationDate="2011-05-09T11:41:38.687" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your just starting out, just go barefoot/socks for weightlifting, unless you are advanced I don't see any need to spend significant money on weightlifting shoes.  Learn your trade first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T11:41:38.687" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1915" CreationDate="2011-05-09T12:17:06.470" Score="6" ViewCount="1609" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read about the Five Finger shoes, also on here, but I stil have a question on the Return On Investment of buying these Five Finger shoes. I have read that they wear down more easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout programme is mainly bodybuilding and I join spinning class for cardio. In what way will I benefit from wearing these shoes as opposed to &quot;normal&quot; sneakers. I do have read about avoiding shoes with a compressible sole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baring in mind that I do mainly body building, why should I buy them? And if so, which ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T19:00:00.123" Title="Are Five Finger shoes worth their money ?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1899" CreationDate="2011-05-09T12:27:18.070" Score="3" ViewCount="1070" Body="&lt;p&gt;When going from a weight loss diet to a maintenance how should one add additional calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you slowly add calories each week until getting to maintenance level or add all additonal calories at once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="907" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T13:51:21.797" Title="Adding calories when switching from a weight-loss diet to maintenance diet." Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1874" CreationDate="2011-05-09T12:37:50.810" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Blood Type Diet is pseudoscientific hogwash. The ideas were published in a 1994 book by Peter D'Adamo. While some of his advice may be beneficial, such as avoidance of whey protein or wheat, the logic behind it is entirely fabricated and fraudulent. I will list a few of the bogus claims he makes and you can judge if he knows what he is talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;D'Adamo claims that type O is the original blood type in humans, and other types evolved as humans adopted different lifestyles (e.g., pastoral, agricultural). In 1990 “Evolution of Primate ABO Blood Type Genes and Their Homologous Genes,” Saitou and Yamamoto state [p. 405] that type A was the first to evolve in early primates. This happened long before humans even existed, let alone developed agriculture or other lifestyles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no correlation between the blood types found in native populations in the world and their lifestyle. Alaskan Inuit hunter gatherers who have never practiced animal husbandry or agriculture have a higher frequency of Type A blood than Type O. Same for Blackfoot Indians (Niitsítapi) who were nomadic buffalo hunters. On the other hand, Cantonese Chinese who have farmed rice for millenia have more Type O blood than Type A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T12:37:50.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1892" CreationDate="2011-05-09T12:39:51.747" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, it will not work.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a dangerously low level of nutrition for anyone, regardless of energy usage, and is not a very effective way of losing weight.  You'll find it hard to keep it up, and it will make you ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An effective weight loss plan needs to take into account your age, height, weight and gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want something you can start right now, look at this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/your_plan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/your_plan/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="954" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T12:39:51.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1896" CreationDate="2011-05-09T12:44:02.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My general recommendation is the same whether you used a &lt;em&gt;hypocoloric&lt;/em&gt; diet (i.e. just cutting calories) or a low/no-carb diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Re-introduce calories slowly.  It's a good chance your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_animal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMR&lt;/a&gt; changed since you last had it calculated/measured.  If you add all the calories back from your last BMR measurement you'll probably add too many.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v14/n4/full/oby200678a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Article on BMR changes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you had a low-carb diet, re-introduce your carbs slowly.  Your body has to get used to processing them again, and skipping this step can really mean the difference between keeping your weight off or regaining it.  The &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_diet_mass/the_get_shredded_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Get Shredded&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; diet has a corresponding &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_nutrition/getting_unshredded&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Get Unshredded&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; diet which elaborates on one way of re-introducing carbs.  I used a different method, but both have the principle of re-introducing sanely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best method of diet success is a two step process:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor your weight regularly, and have a &lt;strong&gt;Do not cross this weight&lt;/strong&gt; number within 5 lbs (2Kg) of your target weight.  No less than once a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your weight approaches that number, or even crosses it, start doing what you did to bring it back down.  It's easier to lose a couple pounds than 20.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why 5 pounds higher than the target weight?  Your body weight can swing close to that much between water retention, undigested food still in your stomach/intestines, etc.  However, once you hit that number it's probably most likely a little more fat than you want.  Fix it while the problem is small, and you might be able to do it with just one no-carb day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-09T13:51:21.797" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T13:51:21.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1892" CreationDate="2011-05-09T12:59:55.513" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is doomed to fail.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only types of diet that can dip that low in calories while still being safe are ones that work on the pancreatic function.  In short, if you have the amount of protein your body needs to maintain muscle mass, and very little carbs, then your body will go into a state of Ketosis.  This is the principle behind the &lt;em&gt;Get Shredded&lt;/em&gt; diet, the &lt;em&gt;Atkins&lt;/em&gt; diet, the &lt;em&gt;Ideal Protein&lt;/em&gt; diet, and the &lt;em&gt;Lindora&lt;/em&gt; diet.  In ketosis, the following things happen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your pancreas stops producing insulin, and starts producing glucogon (a fat burning hormone)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The balance of the calories your body needs to function come from your fat stores&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your liver and kidneys produce a higher amount of ketones (part of ketosis) which limit the amount of proteins your body can process (i.e. you need a bit more protein than normal) and also help convert fat to energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is near impossible to get &amp;lt;400 Calories eating protein sources (it will be closer to 900-1200 Calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise during a diet like this should be low-heart rate (zone 1), which burns much more fat than sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand that a no-carb diet is not sustainable forever, and increases the load on your liver and kidneys.  At most, 3-4 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The problems with the diet you proposed&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You still have carbs/sugars in your diet, which means your pancreas is producing insulin and not glucogon.  I.e. your body is working off of sugar, not fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Due to the intense starvation, your body will cannibalize its own muscle and organs (which you need both to burn fat and to live) to deal with the starvation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also due to the intense starvation, your body will hold on to its fat stores all the more tenaciously.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your brain doesn't get the blood-sugar it needs, you become irritable, mean, and in severe cases you start to hallucinate.  You will have no energy, and couldn't work out if you wanted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is an anorexic diet which the body will do all the things listed above even quicker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T12:59:55.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2011-05-09T13:27:25.337" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;What matters more than the time on the clock when you eat is the content and frequency.  Consider the following facts about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreas&quot;&gt;pancreatic&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caninsulin.com/Glucose-metabolism.asp&quot;&gt;function&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes 6 hours from the last carb you ate for your pancreas to switch from producing insulin to producing glucogon.  Glucogon is a fat burning hormone, and is designed to maintain a minimum blood sugar, and converts fat to sugar.  It's the opposite of insulin which is designed to maintain a maximum blood sugar and traps excess sugar as fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your pancreas is designed to have cycles of producing insulin and glucogon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common time when we have more than six hours between meals is when we sleep.  If we get the suggested 8 hours of sleep, and we eat carbs right before bed, you'll only have had 2 hours of glucogon production.  To improve your body's performance, you may want to delay breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have several small meals 3 hours apart, and all contain some form of carb, your body will be producing insulin the majority of the day.  Remember, it's designed to have cycles of insulin and glucogon production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have those same small meals 3 hours apart, but only two contain carbs (breakfast and dinner), your body will switch over to producing glucogon in the middle of the day as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the reasons that many diets suggest no meals within 4 hours of bed time is that two hours after you sleep your body is starting to burn fat.  That gives at least 6 hours of fat burning at night, and more if you eat an hour or more after you get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T13:27:25.337" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1913" CreationDate="2011-05-09T14:20:18.720" Score="18" ViewCount="2218" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do my workout, I often feel very thirsty. And I like to drink water after each set of exercises. &#xA;I often drink something around 1.5 liters of water during workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to drink water in such quantities during workout, or should I wait until the end of the workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="132" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-05-09T14:29:16.047" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T06:47:59.110" Title="Should I drink water during my workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1878" CreationDate="2011-05-09T14:52:18.247" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best treatment for dehydration is &lt;strong&gt;prevention&lt;/strong&gt;, be sure to drink enough water throughout the day. One easy way to tell if you are starting to get dehydrated is your urine. If it's clear to light yellow then you are hydrated, colors darker than that indicate dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are some drinks better than others? Is there a best?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water is best to stay hydrated. However sports drinks during/after exercise are acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does combating dehyrdation solely mean drinking? Are there foods that can be helpful?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/350652-percentage-of-water-in-fruits-vegetables/&quot;&gt;list of foods&lt;/a&gt; that contain a high amount of water. Examples include watermelon, tomatoes, and bananas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that food intake will only amount to &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/water.htm&quot;&gt;approximately 20%&lt;/a&gt; of your daily water intake, which means that you need to get the other 80% through drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One note about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/marathon/article-new_rules.html&quot;&gt;salt&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Dr. Roberts, the need for salt is exaggerated, since the average runner actually loses very little salt during a one- or two-hour run. &quot;As long as you have some salt in your diet, there is probably not a huge need to have salt in your fluids,&quot; he says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is the environment surrounding me key?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, it's not key but it is a factor. &lt;strong&gt;Exercising in humidity is absolutely harder on your body&lt;/strong&gt; because the sweat you produce does not evaporate which doesn't effectively cool your skin. Since your body doesn't cool off, you continue to sweat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it does not have to be hot to be dangerous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/dehydration.html&quot;&gt;Performance drops and heat injury becomes a real threat&lt;/a&gt;. Deaths have occurred when the air temperature was less than 75 degrees F (24 degrees C) but the relative humidity was above 95%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is sleeping/napping afterwards helpful?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. After a workout your body still needs water to get rehydrated which could take hours. Sleeping means you aren't drinking!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Resources/Links&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more on dehydration with this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gregorydoublewing.com/HYDRATION.pdf&quot;&gt;FAQ&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="760" LastEditDate="2011-05-09T15:04:06.997" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T15:04:06.997" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1904" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-09T15:52:18.417" Score="6" ViewCount="6204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am vegan and really want to gain weight. How do I get bigger in a healthy way while on a vegan diet? What should I eat, how should I work out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="958" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T08:45:03.003" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T08:45:03.003" Title="How do I gain weight as a vegan?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:41:05.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1904" CreationDate="2011-05-09T16:15:43.910" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;By just plugging your title into Google, I got the following resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gainingweight.info/how-to-gain-weight-on-a-vegetarian-diet/&quot;&gt;How to gain weight on a vegetarian diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm&quot;&gt;Protein in the Vegan Diet&lt;/a&gt; (important for muscle mass)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090422003519AAOczV9&quot;&gt;High Calorie Vegan Foods?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthboards.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-358166.html&quot;&gt;What are some high-calorie vegetarian meals?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/health-fitness/21756-high-calorie-vegan-meals.html&quot;&gt;High Calorie diet for a vegan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd be surprised how easy this is.  In fact many grocery stores have convenience vegan meals and many of the prepared meals have over 500 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legumes like &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4338/2&quot;&gt;lentils are carb and protein rich&lt;/a&gt; and can provide a good building block for increasing body weight.  Another trick that high-calorie vegans can do is to add a lot of sugars and fats.  I'd still keep your required protein, because muscle weighs more than fat, but you just need to eat a lot more than you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Manipulating the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreas&quot;&gt;pancreas&lt;/a&gt; to work with more carbs/sugars will increase the amount of time it is secreting &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin&quot;&gt;insulin&lt;/a&gt; which traps excess sugar as fat.  This is in contrast to carb cutting which increases the amount of time the pancreas secretes &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagon&quot;&gt;glucogon&lt;/a&gt; which burns fat.  You still want the pancreas to have healthy cycles of each, but more carbs will help you pack on weight more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if you increase your calories by 500 a day, you will gain about a pound a week.  The general idea is that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot;&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate&lt;/a&gt; is the amount of calories your body burns just being alive.  Every &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightlossforall.com/calories-per-pound.htm&quot;&gt;3500 calories in excess of the BMR will add a pound of fat&lt;/a&gt;.  If your body burns 1500 calories a day, you will need to eat more than this to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good exercise program will help shape that weight.  I do recommend setting a target weight, and adjusting your diet as you get close.  I.e. keeping protein constant, balance the carbs in proportion and eat the appropriate amount of calories for your BMR.  It's easier to put weight on than to take it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is not a vegan diet, this page has some practical advice for gaining weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-gain-weight-for-skinny-guys/&quot;&gt;How to gain weight for skinny guys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/muscle-gaining-secrets-review-jason-ferrugia/&quot;&gt;Muscle gaining secrets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/vegetarian-vegan-protein-build-muscle-diet/&quot;&gt;How to get your daily protein when vegetarian/vegan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-09T17:37:23.357" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T17:37:23.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1904" CreationDate="2011-05-09T17:04:11.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is just as hard to gain and keep weight on, as it is to lose it. See this study &lt;a href=&quot;http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC292021&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC292021&lt;/a&gt; (discussed in detail here &lt;a href=&quot;http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-law-of-thermodynamics-in-real.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-law-of-thermodynamics-in-real.html&lt;/a&gt;) where lean people tried to gain as much weight as possible, tripling their calories and becoming sedentary. They had a hugely difficult time gaining, and lost it all quickly when the study ended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 500 calories per day = 1 pound per week fallacy has been debunked so many times it is laughable. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/&lt;/a&gt; The laws of thermodynamics which this type of logic relies on depends on a closed system, which the body definitely is not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let anyone tell you they know how to gain weight and keep it on. There are no clinical studies to support them. Following suggestions like &quot;increase your sugar and carb intake&quot; are completely unproven and possibly damaging to your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="939" LastEditDate="2011-05-09T17:39:08.770" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T17:39:08.770" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1908" CreationDate="2011-05-09T17:33:23.190" Score="7" ViewCount="24195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, I feel sleepy when I am doing my weight training. Is this natural? It doesn't happen all the time, only sometimes, I feel so tired that I feel like sleeping immediately afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="960" LastActivityDate="2019-01-03T22:22:17.960" Title="I feel sleepy while doing weight training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1907" CreationDate="2011-05-09T17:46:40.477" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know some people who can have a great workout without fueling ahead of time, but I feel similar symptoms to what you describe if I don't have a snack before I work out. A snack of 1/4 cup of cottage cheese about an hour ahead of time is enough to help me get through my weight training. (I am 160 lbs, so you may need to eat more or less.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T17:46:40.477" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1909" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-09T18:40:48.863" Score="5" ViewCount="6169" Body="&lt;p&gt;weight loss diets recommend to drink 8 glasses of water a day, also to brighten skin. during a day, I think I drink too much water. I doubt that is it really true or it's just my illusion. the problem is when i try to drink water in a glass then i feel awful while drinking. so how can i measure how much water i drink a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="953" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T20:30:18.313" Title="how to drink 8 glasses of water a day?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1909" CreationDate="2011-05-09T20:00:17.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are concerned about is &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/hydrationandfluid/a/Hyponatremia.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hyponatremia&lt;/a&gt;.  Essentially the conditions for that to occur are probably not something you are doing.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drinking 2 galons of water in a 10 minute time frame.  It's hard to do, and quite frankly doesn't even seem pleasant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During high intensity workout, you sweat too much and don't replace electrolytes before piling on the water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the symptoms of hyponatremia are similar to severe dehydration.  The safest way to address both of those problems after you have been doing a high intensity workout is to use a sports drink that replenishes your electrolytes (see the article).  Essentially, adding more water in this state will dilute your already low supply of electrolytes.  The sports drink will help in either case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you haven't just been doing a high intensity workout, and you are simply sipping water throughout the day, you are probably going to be just fine.  Keep in mind that 8 glasses a day is a &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt; recommended daily allowance.  I personally drink roughly a gallon a day.  According to the article linked to above I could go up to 1.6 gallons and still be OK.  I don't know how I'd fit that in, but I &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My office has a water filter, so I re-use a water bottle and fill it with the filtered water throughout the work day.  Some people just can't drink cold water, and they need it room temperature.  Filling the water bottle lets you have the water convenient to you and sip on it throughout the day.  I'll have 1.5L in the morning, and another 1.5L in the afternoon (after lunch).  I have another refillable water bottle that is .5L and I sip on that throughout my workout.  I tend to work through two of those between the weightlifting and cardio work.  By that time, I am set for my daily requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind that when people recommend 8 glasses a day, they are talking about an 8oz glass (or .25L).  That's only 2L a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T20:00:17.203" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1180" CreationDate="2011-05-09T20:04:40.993" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/1996/10000/Effects_of_moderate_intensity_endurance_and.18.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some research&lt;/a&gt; suggests that high intensity intervals increase both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my own experience, intervals improve speed and help my conditioning, but distance work is still necessary once a week or my joints don't hold up over long races like a half-marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T11:43:42.850" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:42.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1909" CreationDate="2011-05-09T20:50:54.420" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of ways, and surely my listings are not exhaustive, ultimately you have to decide what's most convenient for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to &lt;strong&gt;get a transparent water bottle&lt;/strong&gt; so you can see how much water/liquid is in it whenever you fill it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time you fill it up you know exactly how much water you will be drinking and is very portable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OYe6K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Options&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure a large container, say a&#xA;half-gallon of water (64oz = 8oz * 8 glasses of water). Every time you&#xA;want a drink, fill your cup from the&#xA;container. Your net consumption of&#xA;the day will be what's left within&#xA;the container (none = target met!).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are problems with this because you have to store the water somewhere and it may not be convenient to carry large containers of water! Also if you drink less/more than your large container, you have to do a little extra measuring and math to get your total intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure every time you get water from the source before you put it in your drinking cup.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very similar to my recommendation except you need a second utensil solely dedicated to measuring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T20:50:54.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1902" CreationDate="2011-05-09T21:12:19.007" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is definitely okay to drink water during a workout! The main concern is to stay hydrated since an athlete that is dehydrated performs poorly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.complete-strength-training.com/hydration-and-exercise.html&quot;&gt;The 7 Hydration and Exercise Rules That Every Athlete Needs To Know&lt;/a&gt; recommends that you should drink about 600 - 1,200 ml (2.5 - 5 cups) of liquid per hour, which is just below your 1.5 liters that you like to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to drink less during your workout, you could always try to drink more before your training. Try starting to drink some water, every hour starting 2 hours before your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-09T21:12:19.007" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-09T21:46:26.463" Score="5" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using a 35-lb kettlebell for about a month doing swings and turkish getups as described in 'Enter the Kettlebell's program minimum. I'm 5'9&quot;, 155lbs, and in decent shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't really been feeling like I'm getting a worthwhile workout - maybe a little soreness the next day, but nothing like circuit training or road biking. My question is, would joining a kettlebell class (and learning better form) make the workouts more effective, or should I go up to the next size kettlebell? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="962" LastEditorUserId="1230" LastEditDate="2011-06-12T17:53:22.657" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T19:10:38.237" Title="Should I sign up for Kettlebell classes?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1895" CreationDate="2011-05-10T03:12:10.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uh, no, they aren't worth your ROI.  The main purposes I see in Vibram Shoes is to strengthen the supporting lower leg muscles and to change your running gait to put you more on your toes.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vibram shoes are training tools within themselves.  The shoes should be worn progressively similarly to how you would progress a workout -&gt; maybe 10 minutes a day this week and then 15 minutes a day the next week and then maybe a 15 minute run in the 3rd week, etc.  You get the idea.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For running they improve form (when properly &amp;amp; slowly introduced) and improve supporting structures (ankles, ligaments, calves, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for weight-lifting ONLY, I see them as being nothing more than a conversation piece between sets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T03:12:10.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1895" CreationDate="2011-05-10T04:11:42.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although flat-soled shoes are traditional for weightlifting, I really like Vibrams for this. Of course there is the strengthening component that everyone talks about, but the real bonus is the extra stability and &quot;grip&quot; you get on the ground when doing deadlifts, squats, etc. I even notice a difference when doing bench press (yes your feet should be involved, but that's a whole other conversation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which ones? I like styles that cover the top of the foot, just to make sure that they are as firmly fastened to my feet as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding durability, I've had mine for about two years now and they're still in good condition. I wear them regularly for workouts, and occasionally when doing yardwork. I don't run in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, just don't drop the weights on your foot! :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T04:11:42.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1907" CreationDate="2011-05-10T04:37:08.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you eat too soon before a workout your body is focusing its resources on digestion, especially if you eat a high carb meal. That may be part of why you feel sleepy. If the food is too high in carbs you'll most likely experience the 'comfort food' or 'food coma feeling' which will make you feel very sleepy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another cause of the drowsiness is caused by the lack of a good warm up. Your energy levels aren't only regulated by food consumption. When you're working out it's also important to have enough oxygen and healthy circulation so your body can transport the resources needed to fuel your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion has 2 parts. First, carb load the night before. Ie eat a healthy dinner that includes a lot of pasta and/ or rice the night before you workout. That way you have a large amount of readily available energy. Next, eat a light meal of mostly lean protein a couple of hours before you lift. Just enough to maintain your energy and provide some protein during the lifting but not so much that your body needs to invest too much energy into digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the very least warm up properly before lifting. Nothing extreme just a light jog to raise your heart rate and get the blood flowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-05-13T22:58:00.037" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T22:58:00.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1878" CreationDate="2011-05-10T04:55:18.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water isn't your only concern&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To hydrate properly it's important to restore water &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; electrolytes. Especially if you're doing strenuous exercise in a hot environment where you sweat a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Electrolytes are important to replenish because, if you don't you can become water drunk and potentially die. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By electrolytes I mean salt and potassium. Gatorade is a popular sports drink because it replenishes not only water but also salt and potassium (even if it &lt;strong&gt;does&lt;/strong&gt; have too much sugar). You can find other powder mixes to replace electrolytes such as Emergen-C elector mix or you can make your own with salt and mortens diet salt (which is pure potassium). Google around to find the correct ratios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration usually starts rearing it's ugly head with an irritable personality and headache followed by light-headed-ness. If you get that far you're in trouble and should do everything you can to find a source of water to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's not only how much you drink but how you drink&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to sip water when you drink it. If you drink too much too fast your body doesn't have the time to properly absorb so you urinate a lot of it out. I always hear people use the 8 glasses as a hard and fast rule. If you chug 8 glasses of water a day you aren't necessarily gaining the benefits. Plus, how much water you require depends largely on your environment. Too much in a cold environment will make you pee a lot because your body is conserving the energy that would otherwise be wasted warming excess water in your bladder. To little in a hot environment and your skin won't be able to perspirate properly leading to heat exhaustion and dehydration. Way too much in any environment and you could die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sometimes dehydration has less to do with water and more to do with what else you drink&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What most people don't realize is that coffee, tea, and anything containing caffeine are diuretics. A diuretic is basically a compound that makes you urinate a lot and thus lose more water mass than you would normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the hard and fast rules I was taught by my wilderness instructors before a 25 day pack hike across the Superstition Wilderness (desert) and Tonto National Forest (desert) that I have lived by for over the past 9 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're healthy and don't suffer from any adverse conditions (like asthma) exercise should feel good (maybe difficult but still good). If you feel any sort of ache or pain, drink water. If you're in a bad mood, drink water. If you feel at all abnormal or there is anything wrong with you, drink water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are made from water and water cures everything (within reason). Sip it so you don't waste it and don't take it for granted and you'll be alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't forget your electrolytes. Even if you get them from munching on a few dehydrated banana chips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-05-13T23:01:07.430" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T23:01:07.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1466" CreationDate="2011-05-10T07:14:53.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What you're looking to do is increase your Anaerobic threshold&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how it works. When you're in your aerobic range, your muscles are effectively burning oxygen and food energy. As the intensity increases, your body burns more energy and oxygen increasing your breathing rate and heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you approach your anaerobic threshold you max out your body's ability to meet the energy needs through oxygen based metabolism alone (ie, your oxygen consumption maxes out and plateaus). From that point on you are reaching into the anaerobic range, or your blood is beginning to become saturated with lactate because your body is no longer able to process the amount being produced fast enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you'll notice is, if you take a break and let your heart rate drop down to about the 140bpm range after a short hard sprint you'll feel completely refreshed (well, your muscles may feel tired from the strain). That's because your body had enough time and oxygen available to process the lactate in your blood and bring it back down to normal levels. That's also why it's important to properly cool down after anaerobic exercises (unless you like feeling sore the next day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is increasing your anaerobic threshold, or your body's ability to process the greater quantities of lactate being produced as you increase your workout intensity. To do this is simple, just increase the intensity more and more over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sustain the intensity, just be sure to include low intensity periods where your body will have the chance to bring the lactate levels back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the numbers you posted, it sounds like you're doing great already. Just be sure to include enough rest time between workouts to fully recover. Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days/105#105&quot;&gt;&quot;The Importance of Rest Days&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. Increasing the amount that you workout may be detrimental to your progress. Especially since recovery periods are even more important after anaerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T07:14:53.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1922" CreationDate="2011-05-10T13:25:23.627" Score="11" ViewCount="717" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are electrolytes and why are they important? What are they for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You always hear about needing electrolytes when exercising, but what are they for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T15:06:07.837" Title="What are electrolytes and why are they important?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1914" CreationDate="2011-05-10T14:39:10.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a kettlebell class or a personal trainer - depending on your needs.  The kettlebell is a tool like any other workout equipment.  The idea is to incorporate it within your current program (if you have one) and ensure the program is in tune with your goals (if you have those set).  Feeling 'sore' the next day is a good sign that you're working, but does not indicate that your are/are-not using proper technique or if your workout is well rounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, direct to your question, yes, I would recommend signing up for a class, it will help define/refine your technique and give you motivation and new workout ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T14:39:10.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1920" CreationDate="2011-05-10T15:06:07.837" Score="9" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An electrolyte is any&#xA;  substance containing free ions that&#xA;  make the substance electrically&#xA;  conductive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In physiology, the primary ions of&#xA;  electrolytes are sodium (Na+),&#xA;  potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+),&#xA;  magnesium (Mg2+), chloride (Cl−),&#xA;  hydrogen phosphate (HPO42−), and&#xA;  hydrogen carbonate (HCO3−). All known&#xA;  higher lifeforms require a subtle and&#xA;  complex electrolyte balance between&#xA;  the intracellular and extracellular&#xA;  milieu. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In oral rehydration therapy,&#xA;  electrolyte drinks containing sodium&#xA;  and potassium salts replenish the&#xA;  body's water and electrolyte levels&#xA;  after dehydration caused by exercise,&#xA;  excessive alcohol consumption,&#xA;  diaphoresis, diarrhea, vomiting,&#xA;  intoxication or starvation. Athletes&#xA;  exercising in extreme conditions (for&#xA;  three or more hours continuously e.g.&#xA;  marathon or triathlon) who do not&#xA;  consume electrolytes risk dehydration&#xA;  (or hyponatremia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T15:06:07.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1923" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-10T15:43:02.327" Score="16" ViewCount="1082" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running around my neighborhood, on sidewalks or streets, a few weeks ago. Recently, I took a new route on the bike trail (asphalt?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a five-minute warm-up of walking, I started a slow jog when I started getting pain in my right leg. The pain was mild and located in the middle of my shin and on the outside of the bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped jogging and immediately started stretching. This stretch felt sooo good!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ART7H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these signs of shin splints? If so how can I safely train with this condition, aka prevention and treatment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T10:24:59.850" Title="What Are The Symptoms of Shin Splints?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1923" CreationDate="2011-05-10T16:35:23.907" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like it could be shin splints. Usually you'll experience the pain right in the front of the leg or sometimes on the sides of the shinbone. It's also usually a dull pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically, shin splints can be caused by several different factors. I've experienced them as a result of over training. In that case, stretching and physical therapy worked after a couple of weeks. &quot;Physical therapy&quot; here was really just an exercise to increase the strength of the muscles so that they can keep up with the rest of your leg muscles. I would lay a towel out on the floor in front of me and put the toes of my feet on the edge of it. Then I would pull the towel in towards me by curling my toes. One time each night was plenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've noticed them after running on a hard surface it's more likely to be caused (in your case) by small stress fractures in the bone or as a result of over stretching the muscles (especially if you have flat feet). Icing should help there (20 minutes every 4 hours or so?) and an anti-inflammatory pain killer might as well. Stretching is of course helpful here if it's the second cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healing can take months and you need to make sure that you're not simply reinjuring them over and over again, so you should try to avoid exercise which puts stress on them until they are fully healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am NOT a doctor. Ideally, you should consult your physician, especially if the pain persists or is severe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T16:35:23.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1923" CreationDate="2011-05-10T17:36:26.060" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely could be shin splints.  Here are 4 ways to alleviate shin splints.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  Do the alphabet with your feet.  Sit down and pretend your foot was a marker.  Make a capital &quot;A&quot;.  Make a capital &quot;B&quot;.  etc.  Do with right leg and then the left.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  Take off your socks and stand over a bathroom towel.  Use your toes to scrunch up the towel as though you were trying to pick it up.  Do 20 reps per foot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)  Do calf raises -&gt; stand up and from a flat foot position, raise onto your toes.  Pause for 1 second, come back down to flat footed.  Do 15 reps with equal weight on each foot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4)  Do heel raises -&gt; stand on a step and hang your heel off the edge.  Let your heels dip below your toes.  Pause for 1 seconds and then raise back up so your feet are horizontal.  do 15 reps with equal weight on each foot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these every other day.  Start with 1 set of each and increase until you get to 3 sets.  Once the pain goes away (maybe 3 weeks), you can reduce to 1 set every other day.  Best of luck and good running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;  Here is an article with more detail and 3 more ways to &lt;a href=&quot;http://bit.ly/cure-shin-splints&quot;&gt;Cure Shin Splints from Running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2011-05-10T18:07:02.237" LastActivityDate="2011-05-10T18:07:02.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-11T01:26:08.697" Score="2" ViewCount="695" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel pain in my lower back and very seldom in my hip (both right sides). I have been stretching quite a lot in past 1 year and have recently started strengthening exercises for lower body. However, I don't know if the muscles are just weak or they are just tight or combination of both (The X-rays and MRIs did not diagnose anything other than inflammation in my hip).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know how would &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;strengthening&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (by strengthening exercises) the affected muscles (for e.g. the lower back muscles) respond in case of these two situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) If the muscles are contracted, or tight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) If the muscles are weak&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user106" LastEditorDisplayName="user106" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T01:34:50.183" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T12:13:36.760" Title="Effect of strengthening the muscle - 1) when muscles are tight, and 2) when they are weak?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1929" CreationDate="2011-05-11T01:56:53.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be a number of things going on from muscle imbalances to alignment problems.  The problem is that they can feed off of one another.  For example muscle imbalances can pull your spine out of alignment, and the alignment makes it difficult to balance the exercise.  Basically when you have one group of muscles significantly stronger than another group, the weaker muscles have to work harder to function properly, and can lead to cramping and tightness because they can never rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the problem is due to muscle imbalances (for example the quadriceps are much stronger than the hamstrings/gluteus) make sure you are doing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For every muscle group you exercise, make sure you also exercise the complement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cool down properly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch when done&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, when you do bench presses you are working out the front of the upper body.  The complement would be to do rows which work out the back of the upper body.  Squats get the whole leg, front and back when you go all the way down.  When doing weight lifting, you engage both your abdominal and back muscles to keep your core strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio vascular sports like running, cycling, and swimming will exercise the front and back legs.  They'll also provide strength to your core, and swimming exercises the entire body.  These may be a very good option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cooling down is a matter of bringing your heart rate down while still moving.  If you weight lift, do light cardio to cool down.  If you run, walk for your cool down.  It's an important part of exercise recovery, and helps lessen the effects of lactic acid buildup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, stretching helps the muscles become longer and less tight.  Stretching alone won't fix the muscle imbalance, but can prevent the strong muscles from becoming too tight and causing more strain on the weaker muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the type of pain, there is another possibility with an easy fix.  If the pain is from your sciatic nerve (emanating from the gluteus maximus upwards), it is most likely on the side you have your wallet in.  I've dealt with chronic pain there in the past.  The easy solution? Put the wallet in the front pocket so you aren't sitting on it any more.  When a coworker told me about this it was like a light bulb went off in my head.  If that's the cause of your pain, it will go away in a couple days after switching the location of your wallet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T12:13:36.760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T12:13:36.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2214" CreationDate="2011-05-11T03:27:24.210" Score="5" ViewCount="2728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out again (P90X Lean) about 2 weeks ago and after the 3rd day my lower back was really sore. I figured it was just muscle soreness so I continued excercise the 4th day; which made if feel better that day but made it even more sore the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I've been taking it easy for about 10 days now. It is slowly getting better each day, but I am starting to get very sick of the pain. It hurts to bend over or sit straight up in a chair. I can walk just fine and am certain it is muscle related and not anything more serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any tips to speed up the healing so I can get working out again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I do some back exercises, or lay off for now? Should I apply heat or cold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly I've been taking it easy and laying on the couch (sometimes with a heating pad) has seemed to be helping it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it can take some time for back muscles to heal, but any tips would be greatly appreciated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2012-02-19T16:27:36.577" Title="Treating Lower Back Soreness resulting from exercise" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1937" CreationDate="2011-05-11T06:54:22.253" Score="9" ViewCount="1195" Body="&lt;p&gt;While perusing bodybuilding videos on Youtube, I came across an eye-opening comment on one of the videos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are no hardgainers. There are only under-eaters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? Are people who find it difficult to gain muscle mass just not eating enough? From a scientific standpoint, this seems true. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass&quot;&gt;law of conservation of mass&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy&quot;&gt;energy&lt;/a&gt; would refute any claim of a person eating more calories than he/she expends, yet not being able to gain weight. Let's make this question easier: in the absense of any debilitating gastrointestinal diseases, is it possible to eat a lot and still be classified as a hardgainer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2019-09-01T04:55:20.677" Title="No such thing as a hardgainer?" Tags="&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1923" CreationDate="2011-05-11T10:11:25.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who has repeatedly had shin slints on and off for years, I wouldn't worry so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the change of surface has caused you to subtly change your gait (such as a change in the degree of pronation (or inward foot-roll.)) The exact same thing has happened to me - I always ran on pavements / roads but one run on a gravel path and I'll be aching all over and specifically, have the same ache in the outside of my lower leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shin splints (AKA medial tibial stress syndrome) is an inflamation of the tendons where the big muscle in the front of your leg (lift your toes towards your knee to feel which one I mean) joins to the bone. Some people incorrectly use 'shin splints' as an all-encompasing term for lower-leg pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only ran on this new surface once and felt discomfort, it's likely not shin splints, which in my experience takes time to develop. Likewise, if the feeling is more of a tightness than a specific area of pain, I would'nt worry yet. A new surface will take time to adjust to - just phase it in a little at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shin splints is more likely to occur on the inside of the shin bone, just above the ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some criteria for identifying shin splints are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the area is tender when you press on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the pain occurs at the start of a run while your muscles are cold, but reduces as you warm up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's a 'bone pain' rather than a 'muscle pain'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a cure - this is much more difficult because its hard to identify what the exact cause is. Some people will recommend stretches or exercises for your lower leg muscles but the cause could also be weak hips (it was for me), or simply poor running form. You are far better off seeing a physio if you're sure its shin splints than wasting time self-diagnosing. They'll get you on a treadmill and look at how you run to see what the cause is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To treat the symptoms an ice pack for 20 minutes will work wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastEditorUserId="347" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T10:24:59.850" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T10:24:59.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1934" CreationDate="2011-05-11T11:26:02.973" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body seems to be able to do a fantastic job of regulating its weight no matter how much or how little we eat. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC292021&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; (discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-law-of-thermodynamics-in-real.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;detail here&lt;/a&gt;) where lean people tried to gain as much weight as possible, tripling their calories and becoming sedentary. They had a hugely difficult time gaining, and lost it all quickly when the study ended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The laws of physics you reference do not apply because the body is not a closed system. The body sweats, creates heat, excretes mass and more in ways that are difficult to measure. So yes, some people can eat enormous amounts without gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T17:35:32.327" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T17:35:32.327" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1934" CreationDate="2011-05-11T12:30:38.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This article from the StrongLifts website also echos that sentiment: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/muscle-gaining-secrets-review-jason-ferrugia/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle Gaining Secrest - How to Gain Weight Fast&lt;/a&gt;.  In fact it's a common theme among weight lifting sites.  Anabolic diets (not to be confused with steroids) are designed to help you lose fat while still gaining muscle.  According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclehack.com/the-new-bodybuilding-diet-glad/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glycemic Load Anabolic Diet&lt;/a&gt; (G.L.A.D.) they've got a lot of math for you to figure out your daily protein requirements, calorie requirements, and meal plans.  Do note I'm not endorsing these diets, and have not tried them myself.  I've been successful losing weight, so I haven't needed to gain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the most important contribution of the G.L.A.D. is the fact that muscles are only 600 calories.  The advice not to overfeed calories is sound.  If you are looking to gain lean body mass, the author recommends about 100-200 extra calories--not the whole 500 others (including me at one point) have recommended.  Assuming the goal is lean mass, not fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out Medhi's recommendations and see if you are guilty of over training, under eating, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T12:30:38.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2011-05-11T12:53:04.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A reasonable plan that doesn't take too long to do is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; program.  You start with just the bar, and work on your form.  You continually progress each workout.  Essentially, you have 3 exercises for each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting started is the hardest part.  The downsides of lifting once a week instead of 3 times are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You won't progress as fast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might stall quicker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The up side is that you are getting plenty of rest between workouts, so your muscles will have more than enough time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can add another workout during the week consistently do it.  No more than 3 per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T12:53:04.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2011-05-11T14:18:45.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most import thing about lifting is to do it.  You can use any workout you want but you have to make it part of your life.  If you get in the habit of going to lift it will eventually become easier to commit.  Don't worry about the weight don't worry about how long your in the gym just get there and everything else will fall into line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T14:18:45.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1973" CreationDate="2011-05-11T15:40:07.737" Score="5" ViewCount="666" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a pair of Vibram Bikila and Saucony Mirage to give minimal shoes a shot and so I wouldn't have to rely on second hand experiences when discussing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8im9v.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard some conflicting opinions about minimal shoes and how to use them. My own idea would be to slowly introduce them into my training program, so I don't get any overuse injuries due to using different muscles when running with these shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm still at the beginning of a marathon training program, which means I run 5 times a week of which three are 'short' 30-min relaxed runs and the other two a long run and a threshold training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I've got both the Vibram and the Saucony shoes, I can shift more gradual. I can also wear them during the day, given I don't have to comply to any dress code, which means I don't necessarily have to get used to them through running alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now I'm wondering &lt;strong&gt;what would be the best way to get started with minimal running shoes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T21:42:50.833" Title="How to get started with minimal shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1971" CreationDate="2011-05-11T16:01:21.840" Score="6" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kortuk and I &lt;a href=&quot;http://sweatscience.com/the-priming-effect-how-a-hard-warm-up-can-help-performance/&quot;&gt;were reading a blog post from Sweat Science&lt;/a&gt; that argues we should do harder warm-ups, because they increase our performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It turns out there’s plenty of physiology behind this. If you suddenly start running at a hard pace, with no warm-up, it takes a while before your body can adjust to start delivering oxygen to your muscles at its maximum possible rate. That’s one of the reasons VO2max tests take 10-12 minutes, rather than simply involving a short, all-out sprint. It takes time for the blood flow to your muscles to increase, and for the enzymes that extract oxygen from the blood and oxidize fuel to ramp up their activity levels. A good warm-up gets this ramp-up process over with, allowing your body up to deliver more oxygen to muscles right from the start of the workout or race, and reducing the temporary oxygen debt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there's a delicate balance between increasing your activity levels and depleting your anaerobic energy stores and metabolite build up. In contrast, my MiCoach training program always has a 5 minute gentle jogging warm-up. So clearly, there's some disagreement about what I should be doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I'm doing a marathon training program it feels awkward to me to 'waste' so much energy at the start of my workout. But on my 30 minute workouts, a 5 minute intensive warm-up might ensure a more pleasant 20-25 minutes workout afterwards. My hypothesis would be that its mainly important before races or interval training, where higher activity levels from the start will mean you get a head start compared to still having to warm-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So should I switch from a gentle warm-up to a more intensive warm-up?&lt;/strong&gt; Will it make every workout more pleasant or is it better suited for higher performance/interval workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T16:13:50.107" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T13:28:07.660" Title="How hard should my warm-up be?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1942" CreationDate="2011-05-11T16:09:45.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I first got vibrams, I was running several times a week in preparation for a half marathon. I started by wearing them around the house for a while, and I liked them a lot, but I got the false impression that I could go straight to running because I was feeling no pain. So I jogged around the block, 400 meters or so, and went home. No problem, except the next day I could barely walk because of muscle and foot pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was to start over again, I would start with 100 meters or less on the first day and very slowly work my way up. It did not take long to adjust, but the initial adjustment period was difficult and not completely obvious during the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest starting by running on grass. The lack or protection can lead to stone bruising at first. I don't know if your feet get tougher, or if you just learn to step differently, but this problem also goes away over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T16:09:45.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1943" CreationDate="2011-05-11T16:17:19.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have asthma, so I find it important to warm up well in order to avoid breathing problems. For me, that means a gradual ramp up to the heart rate I will use for the activity. If I am jogging for an hour, I can walk for a little bit and then slowly increase speed as I feel comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was younger and raced in cycling events, my heart rate might climb to 185 at the very beginning of the race, so I made sure that my warm up got me close to that rate as well. For me, it is the quick initial increase in heart rate that causes problems. I think that is because the blood vessels have not dilated completely yet, and therefore this would benefit everyone. But maybe it is just because I have asthma. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My strategy was to ladder up to the target. For example, I would make my heart rate go to 100,90,120,110,130,120,140,130, etc. Your mileage may vary, but this worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T16:17:19.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1833" CreationDate="2011-05-11T16:33:52.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;virtually every sugarfree gum contains aspartame which has been shown to cause an insulin response, trigger cravings, and stall weight loss.  not to mention it's been proven lethal to rats and goats! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/business/yourmoney/12sweet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/business/yourmoney/12sweet.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="973" LastEditorUserId="973" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T17:21:50.403" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T17:21:50.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1909" CreationDate="2011-05-11T16:41:39.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What works for me is to alternate between water and my favorite beverage.  I drink one 12-16 oz glass of water, then a glass of whatever, then another glass of water, and so on.  This is the only thing that has worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="973" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T16:41:39.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1463" CreationDate="2011-05-11T17:17:38.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fat, carbs, and protein (muscle) can be interchanged, but it isn't like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.  Your body can take fat and break it down into glucose.  It can also take protein and turn it into glucose.  Or it can take glucose and turn it into fat.  The human body is a marvelous creation!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="973" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T17:17:38.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="492" CreationDate="2011-05-11T18:42:07.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The purpose is simply &lt;strong&gt;to recover faster&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Pfitzinger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pete Pfitzinger&lt;/a&gt; lists some cool-down benefits here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://kemibe.com/distancecoach/labreports/cooldown.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cool-down for Quick Recovery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cool-down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prevents blood pooling so blood can pump back to your heart &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Removes lactate from the muscles more quickly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduces adrenaline faster which aids in recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduces muscle stiffness for injury prevention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pete talks about this in this podcast: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/pete-pfitzinger-maximizing-your-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pete Pfitzinger on Maximizing Your Recovery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastEditorUserId="972" LastEditDate="2013-09-03T14:47:55.003" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T14:47:55.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-11T19:39:07.770" Score="4" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently took the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.presidentschallenge.org/index.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adult Fitness Test&lt;/a&gt; outlined in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adultfitnesstest.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;President's Fitness Challenge&lt;/a&gt;.  The test is broken down into 3 sections: Aerobic Fitness, Muscular Strength and Flexibility, and you are scored as a percentile of normative data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found my results to be somewhat surprising:  I was in the top 10% for muscular strength(!! /flex) but the bottom 5% for aerobic fitness.  My flexibility score was about average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was specifically concerned that my aerobic score was SO low.  I knew my cardio health needs improvement, but wow!  I was coming down with a cold at the time that I took the test, but I don't think that would have affected my score &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aerobic test is walk 1 mile at a brisk pace, or run 1.5 miles, and then measure your heart rate.  My legs are a bit short, so my 1 mile walk was 19 minutes, and my heart rate was at 120.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been taking martial arts for nearly two years now, and about half the classes I take get my heart rate up and keep it up.  I &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; noticed a marked improvement in my endurance, particularly in fighting; I'm able to sustain a fight for far longer than I did at the outset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am usually in class 5 days a week, so I don't have much time to add more to my exercise regimen.  What can I do to most effectively increase my cardio health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T21:35:43.353" Title="How best to address a strength/cardio imbalance?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1909" CreationDate="2011-05-11T20:30:18.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a couple things that I try to do regularly to help myself get enough water:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 glass of water in the morning before breakfast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 glass of water with each meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 glass of water during a work out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 glass of water at snack times between meals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that one of the keys to hydration is to drink water throughout the day, not trying to drink the entire days allotment within a couple hours. If I try to drink too much water to fast then I wont feel well. If I spread it out throughout the day, then it seems to work best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only drink 1 glass with each meal (3/day) and 1 at each snack time (2/day) then you're already at 5 glasses a day. One during excercise and one just after waking up, then you've got 7. Much easier when it's spread out during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also found that keeping my salt/sodium intake to a moderate to low level per day helps keep me hydrated more easily. Sodium does cause you to retain water, but it also can work to dyhydrate you in the process. That would be why you shouldn't drink salt water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T20:30:18.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2276" CreationDate="2011-05-11T21:40:20.723" Score="10" ViewCount="48357" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running for 11 weeks doing the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.felttip.com/c10k/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch to 10K program&lt;/a&gt;, with 8-9 weeks of that being in &lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20150730130909/http://www.vibramfivefingers.com:80/products/Five-Fingers-BikilaLS-Mens.htm?&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vibram FiveFingers Bikila LS&lt;/a&gt;. As I've steadily increased the amount of running in my workout, I've started experiencing toward the end of my workout (last 10 minutes or so) a semi-painful almost numbing sensation from slightly behind the base of my toes to the ends of the two toes nearest my big toe on my left foot only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n4LHo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n4LHo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bottom of Foot Diagram&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Bottom of Foot Diagram from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bottomof-footpain.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bottom of Foot Pain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The toes hurt in the area right around where the above image is marked &amp;quot;Toe cramps&amp;quot; and feel more numb and less painful toward the ends of the toes. Changing the distribution of weight on my foot as I run doesn't seem to help any with the pain once it starts. The pain goes away just a few minutes after my workout is completed and I've taken a short break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a result of the minimalist running shoes, am I possibly landing wrong on my foot, or is it something that will work itself out with enough time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-07-14T11:08:00.920" Title="Toes Hurt and Go Numb While Running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;&lt;numbness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1969" CreationDate="2011-05-11T23:31:12.890" Score="3" ViewCount="1262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using the Lose It! iPhone app for a few months now and it seems I'm pretty consistently well under my daily calorie budget, even on days when I'm very careful to get the measurements right. By several hundred calories actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Male&#xA;Age: 24&#xA;Height: 5'8&quot;&#xA;Weight: 150 lb&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The app estimates I should get 2121 Cal per day to lose 0.5 lb per week (not that I need it). Also, I haven't lost weight in the past 3 months, despite being under my calorie budget. However, I work out (weight lifting) about 2 or 3 times a week, so I may just be replacing fat with muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, some days my fiancée is concerned or even annoyed by how seemingly low my calories are. I'm not starving myself at all, and I don't feel hungry at the end of the day. So I'm wondering what's going on here - am I measuring wrong, or maybe my daily budget is wrong? Am I risking my health in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's yesterday's food log:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Orange: 52 Cal&#xA;Banana: 105 Cal&#xA;Fzn Lunch: 300 Cal&#xA;Pretzels: 167 Cal&#xA;6 oz Mahi: 185 Cal&#xA;1 Artichoke: 60 Cal&#xA;1/2 Mango: 70 Cal&#xA;1 Bag Popcorn: 99 Cal&#xA;Light Yogurt: 80 Cal&#xA;More Pretzels: 83 Cal&#xA;Few Almonds: 34 Cal&#xA;Another Yogurt: 100 Cal&#xA;&#xA;Total: 1,337 - 784 under budget. And yes, I'm totally 1337.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the surface it looks crazy. But honestly, it's mostly because we don't usually eat a starch with dinner, because we snack on carbs (like pretzels, popcorn, cereal) a lot instead. There are of course some days where it's not as bad, where I go out to a restaurant or something, but even then I'd still be like 200 under budget. So far today, I'm at 1,206 Cal eaten, and I'm about to go work out (I'll eat a bit more after). If I wanted to hit my budget most days, I think I'd have to snack way more than normal, and I feel like I'd start gaining fat if I did. So what's the deal here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="976" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T11:40:55.983" Title="Should I be getting more calories?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:29:50.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1942" CreationDate="2011-05-12T08:09:16.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’ll take 18 months to 2 years to adjust or strengthen the inner muscles of the foot and lower leg. Vibram is also the nearest to barefoot, there are models ( Saucony Kinvara and Mirage, Brooks Pure etc..) that you can use before Vibram…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="978" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T08:09:16.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-12T09:32:32.207" Score="7" ViewCount="735" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as the title says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if the air cushion in some sport shoes can reduce the pressure to my knees when I run,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I wear running shoes which have almost nothing, I adjust the pressure by running really slow. What can I look for in a running shoe that will reduce pressure on the knees when running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T17:29:30.917" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T17:29:30.917" Title="What should I look for in knee friendly running shoes?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1965" CreationDate="2011-05-12T11:40:55.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When losing weight, there are several things that can go on to cause a stall in progress.  The body is remarkably good at maintaining weight, so you have to fool it into doing what you want.  I'm going to list common problems and an additional way to track your progress that will be much more telling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not eating enough calories.&lt;/em&gt;  It sounds counter-intuitive, but when the body isn't getting enough calories it goes into &quot;starvation mode&quot;, and holds on to what it has all the more strongly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insufficient protein.&lt;/em&gt;  You should have at least .5g per pound of lean body weight (i.e. the weight you would be without fat).  If you don't have enough protein, your body will start burning your muscle and fat together when it runs out of glucose in the blood.  You need the muscle mass to continue burning fat efficiently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gaining muscle.&lt;/em&gt;  Since a pound of muscle takes up much less room than a pound of fat, if you gain muscle while losing fat the scale might not move--but your waist size will get smaller.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Irregular bowel movements.&lt;/em&gt;  Your colon can trap several pounds of feces (yuck), and if you have constipation you can't get rid of that weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to properly track your diet, make sure you are having one bowel movement a day, and track the following along with your weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist size.  Around the belly button&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hip size.  At the widest point&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest size.  At the biggest point&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arm size.  Relaxed, but bent arm measure the circumference of the bicep at it's largest point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women: thigh size/Men: neck size.  Relaxed, measure the thigh/neck in the middle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all places fat tends to gather, or are used in body fat estimators.  So, by tracking the sizes of these say monthly (no more frequently than weekly) you should see the sizes get smaller.  Add up the differences at each of the sites and that's how many inches you have lost.  In my book &lt;strong&gt;inches lost is more important than pounds on a scale&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the .5g/pound lean body weight is a minimum for someone with a sedentary lifestyle.  If you have an active job, you may need to increase it proportionally (use a limit of 1g/pound lean body weight to start with).  Weight lifters will probably go above this, but if you are a runner or do endurance sports it should be plenty.  Just be sure to add an additional source of protein right after your workout to help the muscles rebuild themselves.  This is in addition to your daily allowance.  You want to at least maintain your muscle mass, if not increase it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a note about the recommended calorie allowance: those are estimated based on your Basal Metabolic Rate.  Without getting that properly tested they are using some math to calculate what it should be based on what they think your fat free mass (lean body weight) is.  The simplest calculation to get in the ballpark is the BMI which is simply taking your weight in pounds and dividing by your height in inches.  It's close enough for government work, but not when you are trying to shave off a couple pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recommendation&lt;/strong&gt;: Feed yourself the recommended calorie allowance your app tells you.  Don't arbitrarily cut a lot of calories out.  If you are gaining weight, decrease the recommended calorie allowance by 200.  If you are maintaining, decrease by 100.  If you are losing, leave it alone.  Re-evaluate yourself weekly.  Your BMR changes as your muscle mass changes.  If you are constipated, use something like milk of magnesia or magnesium citrate to get things moving again.  Re-evaluate your fiber intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T11:40:55.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1968" CreationDate="2011-05-12T13:10:45.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cushioning may help prevent additional stress to your knee but it wont make the pain go away.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check this thread for help on removing your knee pain while running. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1856/should-i-run-along&quot;&gt;Should I run along?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I recommend going to a specialty running shoe store to ensure you have the right type of shoe for your feet. Good luck and good running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T13:10:45.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1943" CreationDate="2011-05-12T13:28:07.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your race distance. For races involving mostly aerobic energy, I think you are ok to stick to the simple 10-15 minute &quot;get blood flowing&quot; warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For races that involve more anerobic energy, try this 30 minutes before you race.&#xA;1) 10 minutes easy designed to get blood in the legs and the lungs.&#xA;2) 2-3 minutes a little below race intensity.&#xA;3) 30 seconds a little above race intensity.&#xA;4) 60 second easy jog.&#xA;5) a few strides&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the race is less than a 1600, break the 2-3 minutes into 2 45 second intervals below race intensity with 30 second jog between.  This gets blood to the desired areas, increases heart beat and also makes the brain adjust to faster than race pace so race pace seems easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and good running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T13:28:07.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1972" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2075" CreationDate="2011-05-12T14:16:20.340" Score="8" ViewCount="12506" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is somewhat theoretical, but I find the situation comes up often enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm in good shape, good athletic build, etc.  I have decent definition in my abs (you can see the makings of a 6-pack or at least a 4-pack).  Like most people I've got a bit of fat in the lower abdominal section.  Also I've noticed that my stomach looks better at some times than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say I was going to the beach one week from now, and wanted to do everything I could to look as good as possible, with a focus on my abs.  What would be the ideal things to do between now and then?  I'm thinking specifically about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; - What should I eat between now and then, and how much?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises&lt;/strong&gt; - Which are most likely to have the best effect in such a short time period?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Day of&lt;/strong&gt; - Should I starve myself the day I'm going?  Obviously I wouldn't eat 8 slices of pizza half an hour before going to the beach, but how long before I go should I eat?  Are there &quot;last-minute&quot; exercises I can do?  But what even about water?  I assume it would be a bad idea to drink anything at all, just because it would take up space in my stomach, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, and don't hate me for being vain!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="966" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-18T21:45:38.547" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T15:25:23.790" Title="What can I do to make my abs look their best in a very short timeframe?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1942" CreationDate="2011-05-12T15:26:03.243" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion (backed by scientific evidence), there is a lot more to healthy minimalist running then shoe marketers want us to believe.  Here is what I would recommend after LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  Strengthen the most effected areas using these &lt;a href=&quot;http://christopherickes.com/running-blog/when-to-use-vibram-five-fingers-for-running/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barefoot Running Exercises&lt;/a&gt;.  Barefoot / Minimalist Running increases torque to knee flexion, knee varus and internal hip rotation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  Wear them for walking as often as possible - office, home, neighborhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)  Work them into a workout 1 day a week.  In my experience there are 2 great places to introduce them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   a)  in a short cool down after a workout&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   b)  during form drills (if you do any) and right before a short tempo run.  That helps to reinforce the muscle memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4)  Slowly increase their usage in your workouts.  I believe a 1 year patient plan is the best for maximum adaptation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barefoot running / minimalist running has been shown to cause 2 positive changes when introduced correctly.  It should increase cadence / turnover and also increase VO2 max.  I am not sure the V02 max changes and would be interested in opinions on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T15:26:03.243" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1972" CreationDate="2011-05-12T15:30:37.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are talking about is what body builders call &lt;em&gt;cutting&lt;/em&gt;.  So understand the following two major principles about six pack abs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body fat covers the abs you already have, so you want to trim the fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet takes care of 80% of your weight loss goals, the other 20% come from the exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a book called &quot;The Truth about 6 Pack Abs&quot; that outlines what you are talking about.  Now, I have not read it, nor am I endorsing it.  I'll provide this link to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://thetruthaboutsixpackabsbookreview.com/the-truth-about-six-pack-abs-book-review-an-honest-opinion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;review of the book&lt;/a&gt; so you can form your own opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line, I would focus on your diet, and low heart rate aerobic workouts to supplement what you are currently doing.  Drink plenty of water, helps with fat loss, healthy muscles, and healthy brain activity.  Focus more on protein, and limit carbs to slow burning ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T15:30:37.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1980" CreationDate="2011-05-12T15:41:32.877" Score="5" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to find an answer to this but I couldn't. If this is a duplicate please accept my apologies and please show me the original question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A bit of background:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a developer in quite bad shape. Not specially fat, but very weak muscles which are causing me too many problems in the shoulders due to bad posture and weak support. Not too old (29 towards 30). I also have an old knee injury that forbids me to do things like football or running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've not trained before due to a mixture of lack of time plus lack of interest plus laziness plus some dislike for crowded gyms, but I've gotten to the point that I clearly see that I need to improve both my endurance and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is not to build a lot of muscle, simply to get to a healthy status with average endurance and strength, not looking for a 6-pack nor anything like this (at least not now)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been reading around an it seems that for my case swimming is the best activity. It would be kind to my knee while helping me build endurance and (to a minor extends) strength for my muscles, specially my back (which is relevant due to me being an IT guy). If I'm wrong, please correct me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, &lt;strong&gt;where can I find some training routines for swimming?From beginner to intermediate level.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen many routines for strength, cardio, etc but none specific to swimming. Is like if people assumes you now how to do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="942" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T18:48:54.207" Title="Swimming routine for a person in very bad shape?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1978" CreationDate="2011-05-12T15:45:58.557" Score="18" ViewCount="87390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been attempting to do a high-protein calorie-restricted diet, while working out with the Stronglifts 5x5 program since early February. My follow-through for the Stronglifts part has been &quot;decent&quot;. I've missed about a third of the workouts in total, but have managed to work out 2+ times per week on average. Yesterday I squatted 192 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been somewhat less successful with my diet. On average, I'm still eating more calories than I burn, I think. During the last 4 months my weight has increased from about 208 lbs to 216 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering though - how much of that 8 lbs increase might be fat, and how much might be muscle? I'd imagine I must have put &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; muscle on because of my strength increases, but it's also easy to imagine that I've put on fat, because I haven't been sticking to my diet. Looking at pictures of me from a few months ago, I feel that maybe I look slimmer...perhaps? It's hard to be sure. Other people don't seem to notice a difference. My clothes feel a bit tighter, but I think that maybe adding muscle mass might lead to tighter-fitting clothes too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short - how do I know if small weight gains are muscle gains or fat gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T22:54:03.453" Title="Am I gaining fat or muscle - how can I tell?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1979" CreationDate="2011-05-12T16:57:01.297" Score="6" ViewCount="2633" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several exercise programs I've seen suggest lifting weights 3 times per week, but also say that progress can me made by only lifting twice per week (although it will be slower). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These sorts of programs also suggest eating large amounts of protein. I've heard various numbers, although 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (or of lean bodyweight) is a common one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But regardless of how much protein you require when following a 3-times-per-week lifting program, my question is this: if you're only training 2 times per week and aiming for gains at a slower pace, do you need less protein? I would think so but I want to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T18:20:41.017" Title="Do people who lift weights twice per week need less protein than people who lift three times per week?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2011-05-12T17:24:30.183" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most tried and true method of determining if you are gaining fat or muscle is to measure yourself.  Even if you don't have a caliper, you can get a flexible measuring tape anywhere they sell sewing supplies.  With one of those, measure the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist (at navel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hips (at largest point)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest (at largest point)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps (at middle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thigh (for women) or neck (for men) (at middle of muscle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, when you are gaining muscle and losing fat, you should see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;waist getting smaller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;neck/chest/bicep getting larger (might shrink first while you are getting rid of excess fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest indicator will be where you collect the most fat.  Men tend to collect in their abdomen while women tend to collect in their hips and thighs.  That varies based on body type and genetic factors.  Botttom line is that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; know where that area is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the problem area is getting larger you are gaining more fat than muscle.  If the problem area is getting smaller, you are gaining more muscle than fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to absolute values, all methods save one or two performed at doctors offices provide estimations based on different factors.  The calipers are fairly accurate, &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; the person doing the measurements is consistent.  Even if the absolute value is a bit off, the fact that it is consistent means you can adjust the number as needed.  The electro-resistance methods are very dependent on your hydration, distribution of fat, time of day, water retention, etc.  There are a couple methods that measure based on your density (i.e. water or air displacement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing is as easy as checking the tape measure.  You may not be able to get a reliable body fat number, but you will be able to tell which direction you are going.  I recommend checking about once a month.  If you have to do it more often I recommend not measuring more frequently than once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have gained about 4 lbs since I initially lost weight, but have gone down a pant size in the process.  That tells me I've reduced by body fat--I don't know exactly by how much, but it is down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T17:24:30.183" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1977" CreationDate="2011-05-12T18:20:41.017" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 Gram of protein per pound of body weight is slightly above the absolute maximum your body can use (which is 0.8g/lb). See my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/792/protein-how-much-is-too-much&quot;&gt;Protein: How much is too much?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training less, your body will need less protein to rebuild the muscle and tissue. This also includes calories from all groups (carbohydrates, fat, and protein). The less you are burning, the less you need to consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do need to be careful though that you are not considering three moderate workouts to be &quot;more working out&quot; than two difficult workouts. It's not really about the number of times you work out per week, but how much the body has to rebuild after each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T18:20:41.017" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1975" CreationDate="2011-05-12T18:48:54.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is akin to running in that you don't define a single running routine per se; you run until tired and increase your duration as your endurance increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You define cardio activities and strength activities of which swimming could be one. Defining a specific routine leveraging ONLY swimming would withhold strength training which is a valuable component in bettering your posture along with your overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your focus is swimming; the routine can be simple. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stevendarien.wordpress.com/?s=swimming&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Begin by using laps&lt;/a&gt; as your mode of exercise and increase the length and duration of your laps as your endurance increases over time. A more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/cardio/no-treadmill/swimming-pool-workouts/?page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defined approach&lt;/a&gt; is also available if that suits you better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many individuals hold back in strength training for fear of becoming overly muscular. I can assure you that will not happen overnight and often times never happens for those attempting to reach that goal. Do not withhold your strength training as it is vital to your overall health and will go a long way in improving your posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T18:48:54.207" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1876" CreationDate="2011-05-12T23:32:26.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0000CDBSD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wushu shoes&lt;/a&gt;, 5-Fingers, barefoot, and weightlifting shoes. Barefoot was the overall best for workouts. Weightlifting shoes, while expensive, will definitely help you add to your max lift, although I don't know if they help you become stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-25T09:11:41.350" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T09:11:41.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1987" CreationDate="2011-05-13T10:50:02.197" Score="22" ViewCount="8732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing 100 push ups program and I have reached a plateau at around 65. The program suggests to have a day off between training days, but since I don't get desired results I would like to increase frequency. Is it the right move or should I think about something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-08-05T08:46:09.967" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T08:46:09.967" Title="How should I push past a training plateau for 100 push-up challenge?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1984" CreationDate="2011-05-13T12:20:22.490" Score="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your muscles only build while they are resting.  Exercise breaks them down and works them hard.  When you are not working your muscles, they start rebuilding themselves and making them strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, &lt;strong&gt;rest is an important aspect of building strength&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you can't go past the 65 barrier, it's possibly because they aren't getting enough rest in between.  At a certain point, your muscles may need &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; rest than the one day in between.  Your two choices are then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the frequency of working those muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the load on those muscles (load is weight * reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In free weights, you can sometimes break through a plateau by a process called &lt;em&gt;deloading&lt;/em&gt;.  Essentially it is taking 10% of the weight off the barbell, and then slowly increasing back to where you were.  Many times you can get through the plateau because you gave your muscles some more recovery time.  If the deloading doesn't work a couple times in a row, you have to resort to cutting the number of sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applying the same principle to you, I would recommend that you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cut back the number of pushups by 10% (about 6-7) next workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add them back on 1-2 at a time over the next workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might feel like you are going backwards, but you are putting your body back into a place where it can rebuild its muscle in time for the next workout.  The hope is that it has spare capacity when you hit the limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I could produce a direct link to the source of this information, but it is contained in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; 5x5 special report.  The report is free, has some pretty good information, but you have to register to get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T12:20:22.490" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1984" CreationDate="2011-05-13T12:23:13.093" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frequency, weight to use, sets/reps are all point-in-time individual specific settings.  What works for you today many not work tomorrow or for anyone else.  What I would recommend is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;incremental improvements - start light and slow and build up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you're not fatigued, getting injured and see improvement, continue increasing intensity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you start to see a decrease in desired results, become exhausted, start to experience injuries, cut back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specific to plateauing - there are different methods to get over your current max:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;change the exercise slightly - move your arms closer in, further apart, do t-ups, dive bombers, etc....vary the routine and see if that gets you past the 65 #&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;change the # of sets/reps - more or less time in-between the sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tabata it - 20 seconds of pushups followed by 10 seconds of rest and continue until you hit your goal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do 60 (don't go to failure all the time) - break for an hour and then do another 30&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to provide specific advice we would need to know what happens after 65 - are you sore? hands numb? just tired?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T12:23:13.093" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2006" CreationDate="2011-05-13T13:08:20.400" Score="12" ViewCount="572" Body="&lt;p&gt;8 weeks ago, I asked this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1322/how-to-run-sub-45-10k&quot;&gt;how to run sub-45 10k&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I've been training a lot and my race is on Sunday (in 2 days' time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What / when should I eat in preparation? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I need to carb-load for a 10k?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I run / crosstrain / lift the day prior to the race?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T12:22:09.043" Title="How to prepare for a race?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1991" CreationDate="2011-05-13T15:17:15.567" Score="11" ViewCount="8144" Body="&lt;p&gt;A day or two after exercise my muscles will sometimes be sore, &quot;wonderfully sore&quot; I'll say.  I think this is common, and I know I've done a good workout when this happens.  But sometimes, my muscles are not sore at all.  Does this mean I've waisted my efforts the previous day?  Can muscles still grow without ever being sore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;soreness&quot; doesn't matter, then how do you tell when you've done a good workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="988" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T15:47:02.823" Title="Should I Be Discouraged if my Muscles Aren't Sore After Exercise?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1990" CreationDate="2011-05-13T15:25:42.947" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soreness is irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you feel like you got a good&#xA;workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you look in the mirror do you&#xA;like what you see?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you meeting and exceeding your&#xA;reasonable goals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the questions you should ask yourself if you want to know if you had a good workout. Don't worry about what the scale (you can gain weight, but look better) or the calipers (you can increase fat, but get stronger) say, use your own mental scale to judge success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T15:25:42.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1990" CreationDate="2011-05-13T15:47:02.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 5x5 set of workouts (Strong Lifts, Bill Star, Pendley, Madcow, etc.) have you start with a weight that is well below what you can physically lift.  The general principle with all of the variations is that you are consistently adding on more weight each day you do the exercise.  Your supporting muscles also need to get strong, so this seems like a good plan while your body is getting used to working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another common theme among these workouts is that you are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; working your body to exhaustion or failure.  You are doing 5 sets of 5 reps each time until you can't increase any more that way.  Then you start with some of the other variations (like 3x5 or 1x5).  Sometimes you'll be sore, and sometimes not.  In the beginning definitely not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I've been doing the Strong Lifts 5x5 for two weeks (tomorrow) and I can definitely tell that my muscles have grown in that time.  And I just started out with the bar weight.  My most challenging lift is the overhead press, and after the first time doing that I felt sore.  The next time, not so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally have noticed this cycle (in the brief time I've done the Strong Lifts program):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some increases make me sore, typically when I make a mistake and go up too much (like yesterday) or do something completely new.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The next time I do the lift, I'm not sore anymore even though I've gone up 5 lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually I'll get to a place where I'm sore again after a workout, and then it goes away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, you can still build strength even though you are not sore.  I wouldn't be surprised if the soreness is a sign of your muscles rebuilding, so it might be related to size.  I have nothing to back up that claim, its just a personal theory.  Personally, I don't care so much about size, I just want to be strong and lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T15:47:02.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1994" CreationDate="2011-05-13T17:29:30.607" Score="2" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently a friend told me about D-Aspartic Acid. Since I was disillusioned about ZMA, I would like to get some knowledge, before I try it out. Are there any scientific studies, that prove it really works? Especially studies not conducted by companies, that sell products containing DAA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T18:01:04.587" Title="Is there any data that prove that D-Aspartic Acid increase testosterone level?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1993" CreationDate="2011-05-13T18:10:31.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774316/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A study on the National Institute of Health (NIH) website&lt;/a&gt; found an increase in LH and testosterone in both rats and humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some caveats though... This doesn't prove that it will be beneficial as a muscle building aid or supplement. Also, I've seen at least one reference that claimed it also causes the replacement of testosterone with estrogen so that it's not fully effective. I don't have that one handy, so I can't speak to the validity of that claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T18:10:31.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2011-05-13T18:14:05.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tim cites this study: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/74/1/96.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ajcn.org/content/74/1/96.full&lt;/a&gt;, which basically concludes that while milk products have a low glycemic index, they have a high insulinemic index, meaning they cause insulin concentrations to be higher in the blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the study cited by Andrew Ferk, I'm curious about the experiment design, especially the fact that the control group is being fed corn starch, and the experimental group is getting lactose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's of concern that the testing isolates lactose instead of feeding the rats milk products, which would include fats and proteins. It's also of concern that the protein:fats:carbs ratios are very low in protein, either 11 or 13 percent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this all adds up to Tim's main point, which is this book is a record of a number of experiments he undertook on himself, and if you aren't approaching it the same way, you might not have good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, maintain a steady diet, and try a month without milk, and a month with, keeping the other balances the same, and see how it affects things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="991" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T18:14:05.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1543" CreationDate="2011-05-13T18:43:03.447" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd take a look at &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; you are eating in addition to &lt;em&gt;how much&lt;/em&gt; you are eating.  A diet consists of many facets, and you are trying to do something that is not natural for your body to do: lose weight.  The challenge is to trick your body into burning its fat instead of just the food you consume.  The problem is that many times people cut too much of the wrong things and are actually becoming counter productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal weight loss journey started with an &lt;em&gt;unbalanced&lt;/em&gt; diet.  The key to the diet was controlling the pancreatic function.  There's a number of diets that are similar in nature to what I did, but there's a few principles to glean even if you choose to keep a balanced diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't eat &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/protein.asp&quot;&gt;enough protein&lt;/a&gt; you will lose muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle burns fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat &lt;em&gt;contains&lt;/em&gt; 3500 calories, and muscle &lt;em&gt;contains&lt;/em&gt; 600 calories.  In blood glucose shortages, you will burn both of these together--guess which shrinks faster?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise on too few calories and not enough protein accelerates the loss of muscle.  Not what you'd expect?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you might need a higher protein than normal while you are losing weight and exercising.  So your extra calories have to come from somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An ubalanced diet such as Atkins, South Beach, or Ideal Protein (the one I used) are designed to be temporary.  In short, you lose the weight, and &quot;phase off&quot; the diet to maintain--which is something your body is really good at doing.  They put the body in a state called &quot;ketosis&quot;, which is fine for 3-4 month stretches.  Essentially, you have very little carbs (less than 40g a day) and your pancreas will switch over to secreting &lt;em&gt;glucogon&lt;/em&gt; which is designed to burn fat and convert it to blood glucose.  In essence your body is still getting its full supply of calories needed based on your BMR, but the balance is coming from your fat stores.  However, if you don't have enough protein on one of these diets you will start burning muscle along with the fat which is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The irony is that simple calorie deficits don't solve the problem you want.  Low blood sugar makes you very mean and makes it hard to think.  Another, often overlooked problem that has the same effect is dehydration.  You need to be drinking lots of water throughout the day.  It helps with the weight loss, and it helps with the mental clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certain parts of your diet have &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt; requirements, and going below the minimum needed to satisfy a calorie deficit will do more harm than good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamins/Minerals (a good multivitamin helps here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fiber (while some argue this isn't necessary, &lt;a href=&quot;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/fiberbenefits.htm&quot;&gt;it really helps with colon health&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat about four times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack) or more, it will help you get through the day with a more even temperament.  I also recommend getting more calories from vegetables outside your protein source than grains or anything like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T18:43:03.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2037" CreationDate="2011-05-13T19:38:14.873" Score="7" ViewCount="1339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very overweight.  I'm also starting to lose a lot of weight on a new diet/exercise program with a trainer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As the pounds continue to drop off, how bad can I expect skin sag to be?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I do anything to mitigate it?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it last forever (if I keep the weight off), or will it change over time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 29 year-old male, &gt;350 lbs if that matters.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="993" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T14:58:10.433" Title="What's the deal with skin sag after massive weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1961" CreationDate="2011-05-13T21:35:43.353" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to get good at cardio, you're going to have to do &lt;strong&gt;more cardio&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improving your cardiovascular fitness needs continuous activity for a window between 20 and 60 minutes (more advanced = more minutes). Some really simple guidelines from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sharecare.com/question/run-to-increase-cardiovascular-endurance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;National Academy of Sports Medicine&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you're new to exercise, strive for&#xA;  15-20 minutes three days per week,&#xA;  eventually working up to 30 minutes&#xA;  three days per week. If you are&#xA;  moderately fit, you can run for 20-60&#xA;  minutes per day, 5-7 days per week to&#xA;  increase cardiovascular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more info, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/health_fitness/gln_health_fitness_zone/pdf/heart_rate_monitor_activities/cardiovascular_fitness/cardiovascular_fitness_activity_1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Principles of FITT&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions to squeeze in more cardio. &lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; monitor the workouts of your classes, since it's hard for us outsiders to gauge how intense (heart rate) they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do cardio &lt;strong&gt;AFTER&lt;/strong&gt; your martial arts classes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do cardio &lt;strong&gt;BEFORE&lt;/strong&gt; your classes. Not going to suggest this to start off with because you may become too tired for your classes! Drink lots of water and grab a snack if you do :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take one less class and spend that time doing cardio. (this doesn't mean forever)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do more&lt;/strong&gt; in your martial arts class. Got downtime? Do pushups or some jumping jacks to keep your heart rate up. Maybe even do an extra 'set' of the exercise you're practicing in class. Talk with your instructor for ideas!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MAKE time&lt;/strong&gt; for cardio. Watch any TV? Play any video games? Perhaps cut the one-hour lunch to 30 minutes?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-13T21:35:43.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2003" CreationDate="2011-05-13T21:57:57.873" Score="13" ViewCount="902" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of kettlebells until the last couple of years.  It seems that they've kind of exploded recently, and a ton of people are extolling the virtues of these things.  I've heard that they were popular in Eastern Europe for a long time, and have recently broken out to the rest of the world.  My question is why are they so popular?  What can they do that a regular dumbbell can't?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastEditorUserId="457" LastEditDate="2011-05-27T19:23:01.117" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T19:20:30.363" Title="What is behind the (apparently) recent kettlebell craze?" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2039" CreationDate="2011-05-13T22:51:40.353" Score="13" ViewCount="4340" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart rate zones, target heart rate, heart rate reserve, etc can be useful for a fitness program, however all depend on knowing your maximum heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what &lt;strong&gt;my&lt;/strong&gt; maximum heart rate is, not some theoretical average like 220 - age.  What is the best way to find my true max heart rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also...  For the same level of effort, my heart rate on a bike is significantly lower than when running.  Does max heart rate vary by activity, or any other factors besides age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="996" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-01T04:41:11.373" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T04:41:11.373" Title="Finding a personal maximum heart rate" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2001" CreationDate="2011-05-14T00:58:29.887" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quick spread and breakout of popularity has to do with the general mindset shift of Western training to a more Eastern training and fitness. In the West people have always trained to &quot;look good&quot; by isolating certain muscles i.e. bicep curls and machines that focus on a specific muscle, in contrast a Eastern regime is more functionally geared and involves compound movements with the use of kettlebells. Kettlebells DO NOT isolate muscles unlike a traditional dumbbell. IMO&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastActivityDate="2011-05-14T00:58:29.887" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2012" CreationDate="2011-05-14T02:47:56.507" Score="5" ViewCount="58819" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been wondering this for a while because I can put away a gallon of water in a reasonable amount of time if I just sip it for a while. The weird thing is that I had gastric bypass surgery so I can't fit all that in my stomach at the same time. So my question's kind of a three-parter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How does your body absorb water?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where does it absorb water?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long before the water leaves your stomach?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to disregard the gastric bypass surgery if it makes the third question easier to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="998" LastEditorUserId="940" LastEditDate="2011-05-14T14:24:00.490" LastActivityDate="2013-02-08T06:29:37.747" Title="How is water absorbed and expelled?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-02-08T13:28:53.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1988" CreationDate="2011-05-14T03:59:25.200" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 schools of thoughts on running the day before.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1) rest and save your glycogen stores for race day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) warm up and then run a few minutes at race pace. This could look like 10 minutes easy followed by 10 minutes of 30 seconds at 10k pace and 90 seconds jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you tapered the week before, I prefer 2. If you haven't cut back mileage, choose 1. Really don't think you can go wrong with either though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat before? Again, personal preference but choose something easily digestible and that you normally eat. Choose high carb, low protein, low fat. My personal favorite is a whole wheat bagel with a little bit of peanut butter about 2 hours before race time. Less time? Choose a spoon of honey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the race is Sunday, too late to truly carbo load. You need a few days before. BUT a pasta dinner the night before would be beneficial provided it isnt loaded with cheese. Besides a carbo load probably isn't needed for a 10k. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and lifting, cross training, core, etc. - definitely skip if this is a goal race. Good luck and let us know what your new PR is!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-14T03:59:25.200" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2002" CreationDate="2011-05-14T08:24:47.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your maximum heart-rate is set in our genes and can not be changed. And before going for a max heart-rate test you should be aware that it is a challenge which is very hard on your body and your heart. Due to this, &lt;strong&gt;never do max heart-rate tests when you are alone&lt;/strong&gt;. Always have a partner when doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a runner; you can try to reach your maximum heart rate by going for a warm up run for about ten minutes and then go for a small hill which need to be long enough for you to be able to run continuously upwards for more then two minutes. During the length of the hill you increase the speed in short intervalls so when you have been running for about one minute you should run as fast as your body can and you need to keep this speed up for about a full minute if possible. When you reach the top of the hill, your should bave been very close to your maximum heart-rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way of testing this is to do the same resistance with warm-up and then a full performance run on an exercise bike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all you are looking for is a quick estimation of your maximum heart-rate you can always use the old formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Maximum heart-rate = 220 - your age&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="632" LastActivityDate="2011-05-14T08:24:47.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2054" CreationDate="2011-05-14T20:03:28.070" Score="2" ViewCount="1188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started using MuscleTech's Anabolic Halo about a couple of weeks ago and I've gotten really big with it. Some body parts have grown by over an inch and 8 pounds. One of the ingredients it includes is Creatine Monohydrate and wondering how much of the gains are water and how much is muscle.  Is there a way to tell?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, I had been experimenting with Creatine Monohydrate alone a couple of months ago with the same results, although never gained more than 5 pounds and only my legs had gotten bigger.  Plus after I stopped using it lost the increased size fairly quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if you need more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, Some of the reviews I have read suggest there is actual muscle gain and not water gain.  So not really sure what to think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscletech.com/products/anabolichalo/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MuscleTech Anabolic Halo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-05-16T22:49:26.393" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T19:54:53.407" Title="How much of MuscleTech Anabolic Halo's causes the creatine effect?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2013" CreationDate="2011-05-14T21:35:16.987" Score="17" ViewCount="7151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does bench pressing work out the same muscles as push-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, What's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastEditorUserId="472" LastEditDate="2011-05-14T21:40:32.987" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T12:21:33.943" Title="Bench Pressing vs. Push-ups" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2011" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2019" CreationDate="2011-05-15T01:25:32.177" Score="7" ViewCount="517" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bodybugg gadget actually seems to think that I'm burning more calories when I'm in the sauna, but I'm kinda skeptical.  Does sauna time really accomplish anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="993" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-15T22:45:07.543" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T22:51:32.500" Title="Does sitting in a sauna actually stimulate weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2011-05-15T01:57:33.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the stomach is mostly to use acid and enzymes to break the chewed food into a mushy sludge that can be processed in the small intestine.  Pretty much all the stomach does is take food in, store it for a while, produce acid and enzymes to make food sludge, and then slowly feed the sludge into your small intestine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water (along with most of the food nutrients that you consume) is mostly absorbed by the inner lining of the small intestine.  That organ is actually quite large, with a massive inner surface area.  The intestine is typically more than 6 meters long, with a diameter of 3-5cm.  That means that the small intestine can not only take in a large volume of liquid, it can also absorb the liquid fairly quickly.  The water and nutrients absorbed in the small intestines go directly into the bloodstream to be processed and used by the various organs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a GI tract that has not been modified by surgery, the food and water can sit in the stomach for 2-3 hours before being completely emptied into the small intestine.  In your case, the water may be going almost directly into your small intestine, so long as there is no food to hold the process up.  (This depends on the details of your surgery.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's completely reasonable that you are able to consume more water than you might think (given your food intake).  Your surgery may have modified your upper GI tract in a way that makes it actually more efficient than it was before at taking in and absorbing water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="993" LastEditorUserId="993" LastEditDate="2011-05-15T03:18:18.703" LastActivityDate="2011-05-15T03:18:18.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2010" CreationDate="2011-05-15T08:25:55.777" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can use a lot more weight, so it's ideal for the low rep anaerobic range. It's for mass building.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can be assisted by a spotter, so you can go to failure. This is good for breaking plateaus and stimulating growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More dangerous if you don't have a spotter. The bar can fall on your chest if you have no more strength to get it back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do incline, decline, or flat bench press which targets upper, lower, and entire chest respectively. A push up is the same angle as a flat bench press. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only uses 50-70% of the body weight depending on your body proportions, so you're going to do higher rep aerobic range. It's for cardiovascular conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrists have to do a little bit more work because of the bent position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows for hand position variations than bench press. For example, placing hands near the abs turn the pushup into a tricep workout. Another example is the diamond pushup, which puts more emphasis on inner chest and tricep. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-05-15T08:25:55.777" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2016" CreationDate="2011-05-15T17:35:39.493" Score="6" ViewCount="1979" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym since last seven years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friends at the gym do more than 15 repetitions per set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not comparing with them, but I don't understand why can't I do more that 15 repetition of biceps, no matter what weight I take be it 20 or 25 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally use 50 lbs for my decline bench with 15 repetition per set and 20 repetitions with 40 or 45 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 12 or 13 repetitions of biceps, I feel like I can't lift my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also ensured that I am doing it in a right weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My trainer says I need to increase my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat 2 chapatis with some vegetables in the breakfast, then at the lunch, at evening breakfast and at dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Chapatiroll.jpg/250px-Chapatiroll.jpg&quot;&gt;chapatis&lt;/a&gt; has roughly 50 - 60 calories which is made of wheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it that my arms are weaker than the rest of the body ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="336" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-15T21:51:54.157" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T08:01:53.630" Title="I can't do more than 10 - 15 repetitions for biceps" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2020" CreationDate="2011-05-15T18:03:08.620" Score="11" ViewCount="6753" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many calories are burnt per hour sitting on an exercise ball?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen a number of 350 calories extra per day being tossed around on internet with no evidence or explanation. I assume thats the max that has been claimed. SO it would be around 45 calories per hour (claimed)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any evidence/information about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. I have read comments/articles on the negative aspects of replacing a chair with an exercise ball. Thats a different question, i am just interested in average calories burnt per hour for male/female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="753" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2011-05-15T23:25:50.807" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T13:27:45.730" Title="How many calories are burnt per hour sitting on an exercise ball?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2014" CreationDate="2011-05-15T21:48:14.353" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've been focusing too much on high repetitions. 15-20 is an extremely high rep range for weightlifting. High reps don't increase strength. You need to do much more weight at lower reps to increase strength. After doing a low rep routine for several months, you should be able to have enough strength to do more than 15 bicep curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some useful tips on rep ranges from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek8.htm&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;. The 1-6 rep range is for strength increase, but won't subtantially increase muscle size. I think you'll want to stick to this range to strenghthen your biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Trained Olympic lifters, for example,&#xA;  were shown over a two-year period to&#xA;  have significant strength increases&#xA;  with barely noticeable increases in&#xA;  muscle mass (Hakkinen et al, 1988). I&#xA;  had a similar experience when I used&#xA;  AST's Max-OT principals. My strength&#xA;  went up like crazy, but I gained very&#xA;  little size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Obviously, traditional strength&#xA;  training with low volume and low sets&#xA;  (&lt;strong&gt;1-6 reps, 3 or less sets&lt;/strong&gt;) is not the&#xA;  best approach &lt;strong&gt;[for size gains]&lt;/strong&gt;. Strength training does&#xA;  cause hypertrophy (Hakkinen et al,&#xA;  1985), but it won't cause maximum&#xA;  hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, your diet is completely wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I eat 2 chapatis with some vegetables&#xA;  in the breakfast, then at the lunch ,&#xA;  at evening break fast and at dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Firstly, chapatis (a wheat flatbread), has some protein, but not nearly as much protein weightlifters need. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most vegetables have negligible protein. There are only a few vegetables with good protein, such as quinoa. The easiest way to get protein is from animal meat or protein powders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You shouldn't be eating the same things for three meals a day. Most natural foods do not have the complete essential amino acid profile (the amino acids your body cannot synthesize). You need variety so that the amino acid profile of one meal can be grouped with that of another meal to fully utilize the protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weightlifters should not be eating only 3 meals a day. You need to split your food into 5-6 smaller meals spread evenly throughout the day so you always have a positive nitrogen balance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-05-19T08:01:53.630" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T08:01:53.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2018" CreationDate="2011-05-15T21:59:14.113" Score="40" ViewCount="56615" Body="&lt;p&gt;This guy claims that Olympic powerlifters working in the 1-6 rep range can increase strength without increasing muscle size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek8.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek8.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Trained Olympic lifters, for example,&#xA;  were shown over a two-year period to&#xA;  have significant strength increases&#xA;  with barely noticeable increases in&#xA;  muscle mass (Hakkinen et al, 1988). I&#xA;  had a similar experience when I used&#xA;  AST's Max-OT principals. My strength&#xA;  went up like crazy, but I gained very&#xA;  little size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Obviously, traditional strength&#xA;  training with low volume and low sets&#xA;  (1-6 reps, 3 or less sets) is not the&#xA;  best approach. Strength training does&#xA;  cause hypertrophy (Hakkinen et al,&#xA;  1985), but it won't cause maximum&#xA;  hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the scientific explanation for this? Is the inverse true? That is, can a buff guy (with lots of prominent muscle) actually be weak? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T20:40:11.943" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T23:54:46.580" Title="Why is muscle size not proportional to strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2017" CreationDate="2011-05-15T22:22:02.930" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly there is a correlation between muscle mass and strength, but there is more to the story. Two reasons why muscle mass and strength may not be completely congruous are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle fiber density&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle utilization&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Density:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Your muscles are composed of four different types of fibers (slow-twitch, and three forms of fast-twitch). These fibers have different profiles in terms of force applied and recovery time. Slow twitch fibers, for example, recover quickly but have less force as there are fewer muscle fibers per bundle, compared with the fast-twitch fibers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extra water in the form of glycogen can also cause muscles to take up more volume with the same amount of actual muscle. This glycogen can be a ready source of energy for the muscles, but isn't going to increase their maximum theoretical force for a single heavy lift (per Olympic competition) where endurance through a long set isn't at issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Utilization:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The average person is able to utilize 20-30% of their total theoretical muscle strength when trying their hardest. (Ref. Tsatsouline, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045199&quot;&gt;Power To The People&lt;/a&gt;) Top lifters use perhaps 50% of their theoretical strength. Olympic and powerlifting-style training focuses on training the neural pathways to utilize a greater percentage of the available muscle mass. Since muscle fibers contract all internal cells (the all-or-nothing principal), this training is focused on convincing a greater proportion of fiber bundles to contract during a lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Can a buff guy be weak?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, it depends on your definition of buff. A &lt;em&gt;cut&lt;/em&gt; guy can be weak (compared to a strength athlete), because muscle definition is more about having low body fat covering the muscle than it is about having large muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bodybuilder with decent volume won't be able to lift as much as a comparable powerlifter because he/she doesn't train for strength per se. It seems worth noting that Olympic/power lifters also want to minimize their size (except for the heavyweights) because it affects their weight class in competition, so there is an added incentive to train for neural utilization over additional muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-15T22:28:41.897" LastActivityDate="2011-05-15T22:28:41.897" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2011" CreationDate="2011-05-15T22:42:55.067" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be skeptical as well. Although there may be an increased metabolic load to cool the body, it seems to me that the readings are more likely to be related to measurement error of the Bodybugg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybugg.com/science_behind_bodybugg.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to the company&lt;/a&gt;, the Bodybugg contains four sensors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accelerometer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heat Flux (amount of heat being dissipated by the body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Galvanic Skin Response (skin conductivity)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skin Temperature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heat flux and skin temperature sensors are likely calibrated for room temperature and could be thrown off by the relatively high ambient temperature of a sauna. The GSR sensor could be affected by the humidity in the sauna (wet skin is more conductive than dry skin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-16T22:51:32.500" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T22:51:32.500" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2015" CreationDate="2011-05-15T22:50:38.210" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18351381&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt;, about 4.1 kcal per hour above what you would have burned sitting in an office chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sitting on a therapy ball or&#xA;  standing may be a passive means of&#xA;  increasing energy expenditure&#xA;  throughout the workday. The purpose of&#xA;  this study was to determine the energy&#xA;  expenditure and liking of performing&#xA;  clerical work in various postures.&#xA;  Subjects included 24 men and women&#xA;  employed in sedentary clerical&#xA;  occupations. Energy expenditure was&#xA;  measured while word processing in&#xA;  three standardized postures; sitting&#xA;  in an office chair, sitting on a&#xA;  therapy ball, and standing. Adults&#xA;  ranked their comfort, fatigue, and&#xA;  liking of each posture and were asked&#xA;  to perform their choice of 20 min of&#xA;  additional clerical work in one of the&#xA;  postures. Energy expenditure was 4.1&#xA;  kcal/h greater (p  on a therapy ball and standing than&#xA;  while sitting in an office chair.&#xA;  There was no difference in energy&#xA;  expenditure between the therapy ball&#xA;  and standing postures (p &gt;or= 0.48).&#xA;  Subjects also liked sitting on a&#xA;  therapy ball as much as sitting in an&#xA;  office chair and liked sitting on a&#xA;  therapy ball more than standing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare to walking fast, which can consume about 5.0 kcal per minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2011-05-16T06:32:49.660" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T06:32:49.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-16T00:05:20.913" Score="16" ViewCount="7951" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm struggling to break the 18 minute - 5km barrier. The weekly Tuesday race I enter finishes in a few weeks for the season, and I really want to crack it this season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My training runs are all conventional runs of between 5 and 15km. I do no Interval training. Effort in training runs ranges from 4:10/km up to around 5:00/km on longer runs. In the actual weekly race, I'm hitting just under 3:50/km &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I record most of my &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/user/aschroder&quot;&gt;training runs &amp;amp; races with runkeeper&lt;/a&gt;, which may be of use in spotting what I'm doing wrong. In Runkeeper you can drill in to each activity to see pace, elevation of each run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weekly official times have been:&#xA;18.48, 18.21, 18.15,&lt;em&gt;missed&lt;/em&gt;,18.09,18.08&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone offer tips; should I be running longer and slower? More hills? Shorter, faster training runs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried laying off alcohol completely for a week leading up the the race, and eating more sensibly, because it started to feel like a barrier that more training wasn't going to get me past - but no luck, I plateaued last week at around 18:10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the Garmin heart rate attachment, which I stopped using, but should I bring this back into my training, should I be looking to run for longer at higher heart rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm out of ideas, but time is running out and ideas greatly appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updated with answers to Christopher's questions. And Hi! Very positive about the site so far, big fan of the computer nerd versions of it, seems the fitness one is similarly helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1011" LastEditorUserId="1011" LastEditDate="2011-05-16T08:12:05.817" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T16:02:44.203" Title="Tips for breaking the 18 minute barrier for 5km - I'm stuck!" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2027" CreationDate="2011-05-16T00:37:36.117" Score="4" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using running to help burn some fat mostly because it is the only cardio I really enjoy doing.  I know muscle helps burn fat faster.  Would using a kettlebell between runs help promote fat loss, lean up, and get my pace higher on my runs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="885" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-09-12T15:52:11.117" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T15:52:11.117" Title="Is it useful for runners to cross-train using kettlebells?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="245" CreationDate="2011-05-16T04:23:57.737" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/lower-back-injury-training-morning-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts.com&lt;/a&gt;, the theory behind not working out within the first hour of waking is actually the opposite to the one you mention - it's because the spine is too well hydrated and heavy compression (e.g. from weight lifting) or bending movements could cause a disk to rupture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bottom line is that you should never&#xA;  do any kind of exercise during the&#xA;  first hour after waking up. Here’s&#xA;  why: when you’re lying horizontally&#xA;  for hours, like when you’re sleeping,&#xA;  your back has no compressive loading.&#xA;  As a result, water fills back into&#xA;  your discs to nourish them. That’s the&#xA;  nightly hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now imagine your discs are water&#xA;  balloons. If they’re half full and you&#xA;  push one side, the water will move&#xA;  around and return when you let go. But&#xA;  if they’re full of water, they can&#xA;  burst when you push. Well this is&#xA;  exactly what can happen to your spine&#xA;  if you do any kind of heavy bending&#xA;  first thing in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The good news as Dr Stuart McGill explained in his book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0736066926&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Low Back Disorders&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is that after the first hour of being up, your spine dehydrates by about 90% of what it will for that day (this is why you’re taller in the morning). So the risk of lower back injuries plummets after that first hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently it takes about an hour or so for the fluid to drain out once you get up, hence the suggestion for waiting an hour before exercising. However a good warm up can supposedly help speed up this process. Dr Stuart McGill's claim does seem to be backed up by at least &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11427289&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one study on PubMed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I lift weights most mornings within about 45 mins of waking. I normally spend some time stretching my back on the foam roller first and always do a good warm-up (e.g. dynamic stretches or light weight versions of the exercises I will be performing). Obviously it's  important to listen to your body and if something doesn't feel right then stop, but I haven't had any problems so far (and I actually broke my back a few years ago so I'm quite cautious). YMMV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1017" LastEditorUserId="1017" LastEditDate="2014-08-19T08:36:24.317" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T08:36:24.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2021" CreationDate="2011-05-16T04:39:13.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not familiar with RunKeeper so I couldn't get some info needed but are you running intervals at all?  Tell us more and I may edit my answer...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since time is of the essence, I recommend this plan for the next 2 weeks assuming race is on Sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tues this week - warm up and then do 12 x 400m at 1:20 with a 400m jog in between each one.  If this is too intimidating based on your current mileage, cut it to 8 OR make it a 1:20 walk in between.  Idea is to run a little faster than 5k pace (1:27 per 400) but not too much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday this week - warm up and then do 1 x 2400m at 8:30 pace or a little faster.  Jog an 800 and then &quot;sprint-float&quot; 6 laps.  Sprint the 100m backstretch and then jog the other 300m for recovery.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday of this week - Warm up and then run a hard 1600m.  Rest 3 minutes.  Run 8 laps of 200 on, 200 off where you run 200m at race pace (about 43 seconds so not all out at all) and then jog 200m easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday - no race&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday next week - Do a 3k easy run followed by 6 &quot;sprint-float&quot; laps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday next week - Do a 3k easy run followed by 4 &quot;200m on, 200m off&quot; laps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday next week - rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday - PR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T04:39:13.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2017" CreationDate="2011-05-16T04:53:20.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Low reps with high weights don't add mass because the duration of the exercise is kept short.  As a result it is an anaerobic exercise that utilizes the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ATP-CP energy system&lt;/a&gt; and never enters the glycolytic energy system.  The breakdown of ATP-CP creates the energy and Oxygen isn't used.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one rests long enough for this system to recharge (about 3-5 minutes) and then tries another set of low reps, high weight lasting less than 10 seconds in total duration, strength will increase greatly and mass will not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decreasing rest and/or increasing work time will cause mass gain as the body works into the glycolitic and/or aerobic energy systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T02:23:48.873" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T02:23:48.873" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-05-16T06:03:52.620" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am heavy (190lb) and have very flat arches. I used to run high mileage with heavily padded shoes that were marketed as being appropriate for someone like me. A couple years ago I switched to VFFs and barefoot running. At first I did barefoot sprint workouts on grass twice in two weeks, then upgraded to two mile barefoot runs on pavement barefoot. The biggest issue was skin toughness and callus buildup, which led to increased comfort and heat tolerance. Within 6 weeks after startnig I ran a 10 mile road race, at a moderate pace. The muscles were sore during the run, but there was no pain the next day. I now run barefoot whenever possible, and run in VFFs when I am not familiar with the area. I recommend this to anyone; it is not true that you need arch support or a long transition time. I suspect it is very important to have the proper barefoot stride and this may be the source of the problems some folks are reporting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T06:03:52.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2022" CreationDate="2011-05-16T06:14:22.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you mean kettlebells. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/25_04_kettlebell_swing.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kettlebell swings&lt;/a&gt; are a great full body exercise that involves explosive extending of the hips. Strengthening this group of muscles (the posterior chain) is important for &lt;a href=&quot;http://training.fitness.com/running-cycling/posterior-chain-work-runners-42325.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T06:14:22.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-16T12:02:39.927" Score="21" ViewCount="15399" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is whether all the excess energy that is left every day always go to fat, or can it be wasted or disposed of somehow? (for example by not digesting everything to 100 percent?)&#xA;Now, I am not asking for &quot;ways&quot; of consciously doing this, I understand that it can be difficult, but physiologically speaking, do any such disposing processes exist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is my main question, but just for some more clarity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's call all the energy chemically contained in a day's food A.&#xA;Let all the energy received by the body from digesting that food B.&#xA;Is A = B? If B is less, is it always smaller than A by some sort-of constant factor, or does it depend on anything going on in the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, let C be all the energy used up by the body for &quot;real work&quot; like driving muscles, sending all the electrical signals in the neurosystem, running all the chemical reactions that require energy in the cells and building new cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's say that any given day C is less than B. So now, my main question explained in variables would be: any given day, does all the excess energy (B-C) all go to fat, or can a part of it be disposed of in some way? If so, how? (again, not &quot;how do I do this?&quot;, more &quot;what physiological processes are going on if this happens?&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sure seems that way because people seem to have very different metabolisms, some never get fat no matter how much they eat (not only can their metabolism burn a lot, but it is &lt;em&gt;ADJUSTING&lt;/em&gt; to their diet) , and others gain weight very easily with just a little excess energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the physiological mechanisms behind this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- Update --&#xA;Thanks for your answers, I will try to clarify the point of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the point is: &quot;Physiologically, how do some people seem to keep their weight no matter how much they eat? (They keep the same weight if they eat a lot, BUT ALSO if they eat normal amounts). Because them doing so means that the rule &quot;All excess energy that is digested but is not used up goes to fat&quot; &lt;em&gt;does not apply&lt;/em&gt;. For them the excess does not seem to go fat, so where does it go instead?&quot; &#xA;For example, see links in this answer to another question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1934/no-such-thing-as-a-hardgainer/1937#1937&quot;&gt;No such thing as a hardgainer?&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;{label &quot;MAIN QUESTION&quot;}&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see only 2 ways of this happening, and I will keep using my variables, even though they are not 100%-bulletproof of course, considering such things as body digesting its own cells, thus sort-of increasing B without increasing A; C being used up for digestion (increasing B), and so on. &#xA;Think of variables as just a way of explaining the question and having a general mathematical picture of what is happening. Also note they only count the energy, not vitamins/proteins/etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either &#xA;1) Any given day, ratio of A/B is sort-of the same, and depends only on a) generic personal metabolism (doesnt change much from day to day), b) that day's diet c) maybe some secondary random factors such as subject's stress level or so.&#xA;This way, if B&gt;C, there must be some mechanism in the body that can use up arbitrary amounts of energy for doing same thing, and it is using more energy if the people in question eat a lot, and is using less if they eat normally. &#xA;What is this mechanism and how does it know how much energy to use? Any specific hormones doing this? Or is it building some chemicals instead of others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Any given day, if there was a lot excess energy (B-C), the digestion process for the next day is regulated in such way that the next day (or &quot;period of time&quot;, I don't think our body plans in days, but just used for clarity) the A/B ratio gets higher, thus the next day's B will get lower, and this way (B-C) of the next day will be lower or even negative, thus preventing the building of fat. Is this the case? Are there any specific known hormones/mechanisms that regulate the digestion this way? (dependent on the body's general energy vector (excess/deficiency)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or I have some very big logic flaw somewhere. In that case please just answer the part labeled {label &quot;MAIN QUESTION&quot;}&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1036" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2021-01-28T02:39:17.497" Title="How does our body dispose of excess calories (physiologically speaking)?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2028" CreationDate="2011-05-16T12:45:40.187" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer that question it would require a long discussion about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreas&quot;&gt;pancreas&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_%28anatomy%29&quot;&gt;colon&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidneys&quot;&gt;kidneys&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver&quot;&gt;liver&lt;/a&gt; and general &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestion&quot;&gt;digestion&lt;/a&gt;.  I believe the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid&quot;&gt;thyroid&lt;/a&gt; also has a role to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one organ that is most involved with regulating the fat stores is the pancreas.  When your body has a surplus of blood sugar, it secretes &lt;em&gt;insulin&lt;/em&gt; which stores the excess sugars as fat.  When your body has a deficit of blood sugar, it secretes &lt;em&gt;glucogon&lt;/em&gt; which converts fat to blood sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other organs help in various ways.  Essentially the kidneys will dispose of the excess waste as &lt;em&gt;urea&lt;/em&gt; (urine), and the colon disposes of the food that could not be digested as feces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people, if you reduce the frequency and/or intensity of insulin spikes we can not only limit how much we store as fat, but how much fat we can burn throughout the day.  Some people have a misbehaving thyroid, which requires a different approach.  A bit of warning though, don't blindly cut all carbs without consulting an expert to make sure you have sufficient nutrients in other areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info about the energy (measured in Calories or kcal).  Understand first that not all calories are created equal.  The body needs the following to function properly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamins and minerals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any discussion about the digestive system needs to understand that the calories you take in are mixed with the vitamins, minerals, and protein.  Your body can only absorb and use so much of all of these items and there is a certain balance it needs to maintain.  You can introduce problems by having too many vitamins and minerals just as you can by having too few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also understand that your body is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a closed system.  Trying to apply rules of the conservation of energy and such don't work because they defined as applying to a closed system.  So let's look at your A, B, and C and give them new names that mean something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;code&gt;A&lt;/code&gt; is dietary nutrients (i.e. what you consume).  Your body cannot absorb all of the nutrients and calories stored in that food.  Some things can never be processed (like dietary fiber), and simply pass through the system.  Depending on the type of food you are eating, full processing can take anywhere between 6 and 12 hours.  Processing food consumes calories, and the conversion rate is not perfect.  Some types of food your body can absorb more readily, and others not so much.  I don't have the space to talk about exactly which is which, nor do I have the background to say authoritatively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt; is processed nutrients (calories, vitamins, minerals, protein) that your body uses.  The body can neither process everything nor can it use everything it processes.  So your processed nutrients will &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; be lower than your dietary nutrients.  How much less depends on how efficiently your body can absorb it.  For example, pure glucose is already in a form that the body can use, so it can absorb and use almost all of it rather quickly.  However, complex carbs such as black beans require much more processing and will take much longer to process and is a bit more inefficient.  Protein is another substance that has easily absorbed sources and less easily absorbed sources.  Natural sources tend to require more work to convert to something usable than engineered sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;code&gt;C&lt;/code&gt; is your daily nutritional requirements.  This includes the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which is the number of calories that your body needs just to perform its necessary functions (breathing, pumping blood, metabolism).  In addition to this is the amount of work your body does in the course of a day whether by exercise or normal activity.  So what happens when you have excess?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excess sugar: pancreas secretes insulin to regulate the blood sugar levels, and all excess is stored as fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excess protein: kidneys process the protein, and while they will process more protein than if you took in what your body needs the remainder will be converted to urine.  People with improper renal function can cause renal failure by consuming too much protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens when there is a deficiency?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deficient sugar/carbs: pancreas secretes glucogon to regulate the blood sugar levels, and converts fat to blood sugar.  Kidneys increase the production of ketones which also assist in the breakdown of fat and protein into sugar.  To protect yourself from ketonic acidosis you need sufficient protein which will be processed before your muscles/organs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deficient protein: your muscles will not be fed properly and they will shrink.  In the case of ketosis (described in the bullet point above), your muscles will begin to be converted to calories so your brain can continue to function.  This is a dangerous and unhealthy state.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;D&lt;/code&gt; (new) is the natural byproduct of your body performing work.  There will be waste products as your muscles are pushed to exhaustion, and as part of normal function.  The waste is carried by the blood and filtered by the liver.  The liver then converts the waste products into one of the components of urine.  This includes lactic acid from exercising in an anaerobic state (which your body burns more sugar than fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-16T14:27:41.677" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T14:27:41.677" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2015" CreationDate="2011-05-16T13:27:45.730" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some small, very unscientific testing myself. I sat on a chair and ball for 2x30 minutes and averaged the heart rate and kcal/5 min. The bump at the beginning was caused by me drinking coffee. As you can see the heart rates are very similar and the difference in kcal is pretty negligible too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1xZto.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y5o7s.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On average I burn about 1-1.1 kcal / minute, which is pretty low given that my 2hr run yesterday burned an average of 12 kcal/minute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while your mileage may vary, &lt;strong&gt;I'd probably burn somewhere between 60 and 90 kcal/hour regardless on what I'm sitting.&lt;/strong&gt; To get 45 kcal more, you'd probably need to be in some very unbalanced position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T13:27:45.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2022" CreationDate="2011-05-16T14:24:08.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any proper weight training program will help 'toning up' and weight loss.  For a better run time a lot is dependent on the type of run (long/short distance) and what is holding you back from improving through running itself.  To be a better runner, you have to run - you might consider doing sprints (Tabata protocol or any that fit your needs) for endurance or plyometric training for improved explosive power.  A good overall weight program will help build strength and endurance throughout your body potentially reducing lack of endurance or power by building up supporting muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T14:24:08.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="671" CreationDate="2011-05-16T14:34:21.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a jury-rigged setup (if you'd like to get started without spending any money), you can also simply use the belt loop on your shorts.  I attach a climbing hook to my belt loop, tie one end of a string to the hook, and attach the other end to whatever it is I'm carrying.  I used electrical tape to secure my insulin pen, and another knot to secure my water bottle (a 16 oz that I keep in my right pocket).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T14:34:21.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2021" CreationDate="2011-05-16T15:14:11.577" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've found so far, there is still a need for a well-rounded training regimen. In other words, just running your target distance (in this case, 5K), on a consistent basis will not make your faster. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningplanet.com/training/great-5K-workouts.html&quot;&gt;Great 5K Runs Workouts&lt;/a&gt; from Running Planet recommends the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;endurance&lt;/strong&gt; runs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;strength building&lt;/strong&gt; hill workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;speed enhancing&lt;/strong&gt; VO2 max training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sample Programs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cool Runnings has a p&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/101.shtml&quot;&gt;rogram for Advanced Runners&lt;/a&gt;. (Defined as: For men, 5K time is between 17:00 and 20:00, and 10K is between 34:00 and 40:00. For women, 5K time is between 19:00 and 22:00, and 10K is between 36:00 and 42:00)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Kadv.htm&quot;&gt;Hal Higdon's 5-K Advanced Training&lt;/a&gt;, where you could start on week 7 or 8 in the chart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cool Runnings has another a&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/103.shtml&quot;&gt;rticle&lt;/a&gt; that details how you can tailor your own workout based on distance, speed, and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T15:14:11.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2028" CreationDate="2011-05-16T15:19:22.073" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an effort to support the very thorough answer given by @Berin Loritsch, here is a more explicit conceptual picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mass food that is taken into the body (&lt;code&gt;A&lt;/code&gt;) has 3 potential fates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) it will not be digested or absorbed by the digestive system (gut) and will pass out of the body via the anus.  There are many factors that affect this but mainly it is due to the composition of the food and the enzymes found in the body.  We cannot digest food w/o the appropriate enzymes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that your &lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt; is the net amount of energy remaining after the indigestible material is expelled, so &lt;code&gt;A&lt;/code&gt; does not equal &lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt; can then have two remaining fates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) it will be broken up into nutrients (molecules your cells can use), absorbed by the digestive system into the blood and the chemical potential energy in the molecules will be used by your body for energy (&lt;code&gt;C&lt;/code&gt;).  Most of this mass will then leave the body as $latex CO_2$ when we respire although the non-carbon portion of it will leave as metabolic waste in urine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) it will be broken up into nutrients (molecules your cells can use), absorbed by the digestive system into the blood and then used for the process of biosynthesis.  This is where the body builds its own molecules from those originally found in the food.  This process makes new tissues so it can add mass to the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt; = &lt;code&gt;C&lt;/code&gt; then there is no material remaining for biosynthesis (making new molecules and tissues) so this would be a deficient diet because case 3 could not occur.  In this case the body must take molecules from existing tissues to fulfill more pressing biosynthesis needs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt; &amp;lt; &lt;code&gt;C&lt;/code&gt; the above is just more extreme because the body would need to take molecules from existing tissues for its energy needs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt; &gt; &lt;code&gt;C&lt;/code&gt; then there is an excess amount of material and energy for cases 2 and 3.  As @Berin Loritsch points out, there are a lot of factors that determine the fate of the excess molecules.  The body generally stores excess energy as glycogen and fat but if for example one is working out and building muscle mass, then the additional material would go toward increasing the size of the muscle fibers. If one is pregnant, then the excess material would go toward producing the tissues of the new person, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit: based on question edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to the main question is basically there are only 2 ways that the body can not gain mass following the consumption of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The food is not digested and absorbed by the gut and passes out of the body as fecal material.  This loss is what is increased in some forms of bariatric surgery.  In these forms of the surgery, the absorptive portion of the gut is shortened to make it less efficient in extracting nutrients from food.  This is also how the weight-loss drug Alli works.  It prevents the gut from absorbing fat in the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The nutrients that are absorbed by the body are oxidized for energy and expelled from the body as carbon dioxide (most of the mass) and inorganic nutrients in the urine (a smaller amount). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other processes (fat production, muscle production, etc...) will add mass to the body. Since animals consume food in bulk we have mechanisms to store energy and nutrients in our tissues and make it available to the cells as they need them.  The actual processes that control these mechanisms are much too extensive to even begin to get into in this type of answer - but, in short - yes, hormones are a major player in how the body regulates whether excess nutrients are converted to fat or meet another fate.  Differences in these regulatory mechanisms control things such as the amount of nutrients that are oxidized to CO_2 and thus can give the appearance that people can eat as much or as little as they want and not change weight.  However a long-term change in the amount of food that a person eats without a corresponding change in either their activity level or these regulatory mechanisms would result in a change in weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1041" LastEditorUserId="1083" LastEditDate="2011-05-22T07:32:54.277" LastActivityDate="2011-05-22T07:32:54.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1851" CreationDate="2011-05-16T15:36:46.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin's explanation hits on a bunch of seriously good points, but as a diabetic who's taken a very keen interest in the whys and wherefores of my disease, I think I can fill in some of the blanks here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, it's important to understand that all carbs you eat will eventually boil down to sugars.  The particulars vary based on the kind of carb, but I will start with the basics and get down to the specifics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increased carb consumption is going to inevitably lead increased formation of AGEs simply because there are more glycemic materials to make the AGEs with.  The question becomes, how much of your carb intake is available as glycemic material?  That gets a little complicated.  You can get an idea by looking at the glycemic index of the foods you eat.  The lower the index, the fewer glycemic materials are coming out of that food.  So table sugar or white rice would give you a lot, but rye bread is going to give you a lot less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the hairy particulars: Glycemic index is completely dependent on what you eat together.  A bowl of dry cheerios would have a relatively high glycemic index, but a bowl of cheerios with whole or raw milk (which has lots of fat in it) is going to have a much lower glycemic index, because the fat and protein in the milk will buffer how fast the carbs are absorbed, and even how many are absorbed at all.  It doesn't make sense to stop eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast if you are still snacking on a Snickers at lunch.  The available glycemic material in your body is not going to be significantly affected.  The basic rule of thumb, though, is that the more fat and protein you are consuming with carbs, the slower those carbs are going to get absorbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the 'tired pancreas' theory is indeed well known among diabetics; we refer to it as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/71428-diabetes-affect-pancreas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pancreatic exhaustion&lt;/a&gt;.  It's a leading cause of type-2 diabetes, and even some cases of type-1 diabetes as well, where the pancreas is completely exhausted.  Essentially, an organ being tired is roughly the same as a muscle being tired.  If too much has been demanded of an organ for too long, it will be unable to keep up with the demands and simply conk out.  The distinction here isn't between 'good' and 'bad' insulin, but rather one's insulin capacity.  A healthy pancreas can excrete large amounts of insulin in a short amount of time, to properly respond to a high-carb meal.  A tired pancreas can excrete less insulin, so it takes longer and longer for blood sugar levels to come back down.  An entirely exhausted pancreas can excrete almost no or near no insulin, so for practical purposes blood sugar will never come down, since the person will have to eat again before the glucose from his/her last meal can be sunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T15:36:46.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1997" CreationDate="2011-05-16T15:56:06.453" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Skin sag entirely depends on the person, and their overall health.  I've seen some people with skin sag so bad they have 'fins' underneath their arms and others that lost 100+ pounds with no noticeable sag.  Some people are complete health wrecks and being overweight is just one problem; others actually have fairly good fundamentals, and just happen to be overweight.  To understand this a bit more concretely, think of the difference between a long-time smoker who is obese and spends much of his/her time sick, and a sumo wrestler.  If they both lost 100 pounds, skin sag would be very pronounced on the former, but not nearly so much on the latter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how to mitigate it, that is a very complicated question.  Skin sag is very closely linked to the 'aging process'; your skin can be considered an organ, and is very sensitive to changes in your overall health.  The quick, general answer is that anything you can do to increase your overall health will help alleviate skin sag.  That answer, however, is supremely unhelpful due to how general it is, so let me make a short list of pointers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased hydration (clean water intake)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowered toxin load (less artificial sweeteners, more antioxidant foods like fruits and veggies)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Losing weight the RIGHT way (relatively slowly, replacing some fat with muscle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper sleep (reduces load on the rest of the body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you've probably figured out by this point, skin sag CAN last forever if you remain unhealthy even after you get rid of your weight.  If you get healthier after you get rid of the weight, your body will repair itself and get rid of the unneeded, and likely throughly dead, cells.  How fast that happens will depend on how healthy you are and how much sag you have.  If you lose weight the right way, at about 2-4 pounds per week max, you should not have a huge amount of sag by the time you hit your target weight, anyway.  This is doubly true for you since you're still relatively young.  Unless you have some sort of chronic illness, I've got confidence you'll do just fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T15:56:06.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2002" CreationDate="2011-05-16T18:19:48.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does max heart rate vary by activity?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. Your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3674&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MAXIMUM&lt;/strong&gt; heart rate&lt;/a&gt; is how fast your heart can beat, or, contract, in one minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For the same level of effort, my heart rate on a bike is significantly lower than when running.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will experience a difference in heart rate between these exercises because you don't spend the same amount of energy while cycling as you do running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cycling and running heart rates were&#xA;  found to differ for many reasons,&#xA;  including the level of impact and the&#xA;  amount of oxygen used&#xA;  - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/198328-the-average-heart-rate-while-cycling/#ixzz1MXVdaal8&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/198328-the-average-heart-rate-while-cycling/#ixzz1MXVdaal8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To find your maximum heart rate you can use an online calculator &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm&quot;&gt;like this one&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; that will run a number of calculations against your age (there are many formulas for calculating MHR).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Performing the Test&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to find your &quot;personal&quot; heart rate, and I agree with Xenovoyance that you will want to do this supervised, you could use a treadmill and slowly increase your speed and incline in order to push your body to its limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic prerequisites&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get plenty of sleep the night before.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid eating for at least one-hour before.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Warm-up for 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To self-test your MHR, start by making&#xA;  an estimate. Subtract your age from&#xA;  226 if you are female or 220 if you&#xA;  are male. After you warm up, run hard&#xA;  enough to raise your heart rate to 40&#xA;  beats per minute below your estimated&#xA;  MHR. For most people this takes about&#xA;  a minute. For the next three minutes,&#xA;  increase your pace so your heart rate&#xA;  goes up 10 beats per minute. At this&#xA;  point you'll be at 10 beats per minute&#xA;  less than your estimated MHR. For the&#xA;  final, or fifth, minute, run all out.&#xA;  Your heart rate at the end of the&#xA;  fifth minute is your maximum heart&#xA;  rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This example test was taken from &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/338405-treadmill-maximum-heart-rate-test/&quot;&gt;LiveStrong&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, however, there are many other examples that could be used. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.training2run.com/html/mhr_test.html&quot;&gt;This one&lt;/a&gt; increases both speed and incline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T18:19:48.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2002" CreationDate="2011-05-16T18:40:18.247" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having had a zone test before, it's important to understand that your maximum workout heart rate will likely be lower than your maximum physical heart rate.  It is also important to limit testing your actual physical heart rate to proper cardiologists.  That said, you don't need to get the max physical heart rate to get a set of useful zones and a customized workout for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The testing process uses a heart rate monitor, and a VO2 analyzer.  Many fitness gyms have all the necessary equipment/software.  They are measuring your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lifetimefitness.com/magazine/index.cfm?strWebAction=article_detail&amp;amp;intArticleId=544&quot;&gt;Aerobic Base (AB) and Anaerobic Threshold (AT) levels&lt;/a&gt;. (link represents where I got the test done, but also describes in more detail).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process of the test is relatively simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk on a treadmill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The tester will increase the speed/incline to increase your heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Cooldown starts after you hit your AT (determined by CO2 exchange)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; hit your maximum heart rate.  Once the test is done, the software will supply some cardio work to help you improve your overall health--but you will notice that the max heart rate is well under your physical max.  You will not gain anything by going over that heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea and purpose of the zone training is to help you understand your current cardiovascular health and how to improve your performance.  Personally, my aerobic base is pretty high, which is good news.  However, my anaerobic threshold is pretty low.  As a result the cardio plan I'm on is going to help increase the distance between them.  It's been about 3 weeks, and I've already noticed my zones starting to shift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've since had a proper cardio test with a cardiologist.  The test process was different, but they were checking how much stress my heart could take (not for fitness, but because it was prescribed by my general practitioner).  The test was done when I started to feel light headed, and my heart rate went much higher than the prescribed maximum heart rate from the zone tests.  I still didn't reach my maximum heart rate, which would require going until I passed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take note that only a few hard core athletes ever get tested to find their true maximum heart rate.  That bit of info is from the trainer who did the zone test.  He told me, and the advice is sound, that if I ever wanted to do that I should see a cardiologist.  Considering the stress test I had with the cardiologist, I don't want to really find the MAX heart rate.  It's going to change every year anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T18:40:18.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2040" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2041" CreationDate="2011-05-16T19:06:21.800" Score="4" ViewCount="11723" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to put together a nutritional plan for myself for weight loss combined with cardio to keep me healthy and active, but am finding it difficult to incorporate fibre without overdoing the carbs.  The cardio I am doing is stationary bike, and running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which foods are high in fibre yet low in carbs that would provide adequately for my exercise plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="345" LastEditDate="2012-09-14T09:17:22.923" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T09:17:22.923" Title="What high-fiber low-carbohydrate foods are good for my exercise plan?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-05-16T19:51:57.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2040" CreationDate="2011-05-16T19:27:23.340" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is indeed a truly difficult task.  When counting carbs for your diet it helps (a little) to know that your body can't process dietary fibre.  That means you can subtract the grams of fibre from the total grams of carbohydrates.  You can't do that for any other item on the nutrition label.  That number is the true &lt;em&gt;net carb&lt;/em&gt; for the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2631/2&quot;&gt;Spinach&lt;/a&gt; has 4g fiber/100g -- 1g net carb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2341/2&quot;&gt;Green beans&lt;/a&gt; has 3g fiber/100g -- 4g net carb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2517/2&quot;&gt;Sugar snap peas&lt;/a&gt; have 3g fiber/100g -- 4g net carb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2517/2&quot;&gt;Sweet Peppers&lt;/a&gt; (green/yellow/orange/red) have 3g fiber/100g - 4g net carb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: your lettuce/cabbage has very low calories and generally runs 1g fibre/100g product -- 1g net carbs.  It's a good filler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are going to get your best results in the dark green vegetables.  The good news is you also get a number of vitamins and minerals your body needs from these vegetables.  Unfortunately, you won't find anything with an incredible 9g fibre that doesn't have a commensurate amount of other carbs.&#xA;Something you may do while you are cutting carbs is to use Fibre supplements.  I've been able to find some that give me 4g fibre/serving with a net 2g carbs.  That can help a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T19:27:23.340" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-05-16T19:51:57.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2040" CreationDate="2011-05-16T19:28:11.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be aware that there are two types of fiber out there - digestible fiber and indigestible fiber.  Digestible fiber comes from the fiber in and attached to starches and sugars, mostly.  Think the fiber in whole-wheat bread and brown rices.  You do NOT want digestible fiber if you are looking to increase your fiber intake.  I bring this up so when you see 'fiber' on a loaf of bread, you'll know it's not the fiber you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're looking for is more indigestible fiber - cellulose and lignin - to increase your gut mobility and water retention.  The best foods for these are &lt;strong&gt;green or fibrous vegetables.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have just gone &lt;em&gt;ugh!&lt;/em&gt; in your mind, but there are a lot of people who initially have that reaction that end up loving their veggies once they realize what's out there.  The salads you're most familiar with are overwhelmingly likely to have paper-like lettuce beneath twice-frozen carrots, preserved cherry tomatoes, and other such poor-quality ingredients.  If you get yourself some fresh, organic baby spinach and toss it up with sliced strawberries, chopped almonds or cashews, and dust it lightly with feta crumbles, your tune toward a salad could change very rapidly indeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://thyroid.about.com/od/loseweightsuccessfully/a/highfiber.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; to give you some idea of where to start, but if you don't see something you want right away, just google for 'high-fiber vegetables' and you'll get all sorts of information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T19:28:11.100" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-05-16T19:51:57.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2040" CreationDate="2011-05-16T19:33:54.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, it seems that beans and many veggies are high in fiber.  Most fruits I searched were in the 10-20% range. Here are my initial findings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Broccoli (~46%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Black Beans (~37%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pinto Beans (~34%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peas (~34%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cabbage (~34%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bran (~23%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barley (~23%)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Percentages based on Dietary Fiber / Total Carbs on nutritional labels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T19:33:54.253" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-05-16T19:51:57.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2058" CreationDate="2011-05-16T20:50:13.230" Score="63" ViewCount="6906" Body="&lt;p&gt;One year later - if anyone sees this note, just to say thanks. I now have 10% body fat, 85kg (started at 130!), and I run demi-marathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading a vast quantity of books and papers (about 60 monographs) the solution for me was the 1967 book W. Lutz, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Leben Ohne Brot&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.  I personally found everything else rather confused and unscientific. I hope it helps someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to thank you all for being the inspiration in the earliest days. Very best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the worthwhile suggestion of many experts, I have made my question much more consice, and focussed on the question I really am interested in!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 46 yrs male, 6', good general health, but have FAT - basically a great big &quot;beer gut&quot;.  FTR I was the chubby kid in primary school, and then from 14 to 35 very skinny, and now, FAT! Diet: fortunately I eat only home-made food (meats, vegetables, fruits). I eat no sweets. We (thank God) eat no fast food or processed food of any type. I do not drink beer or liquor (but lots of wine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally love exercise, and very fortunately have total commitment-ability, and understand results take a long time. For years I have had no time, or not made the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My basic question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting now, &lt;strong&gt;I plan to exercise for perhaps 30 minutes a day, every day.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Unless someone tells me that's wrong and I should do more/less/who knows?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My essential question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;option A&lt;/strong&gt; I will basically &quot;walk fast and hard&quot; for my 45 minutes. (I am not really able to run at this point, my knees are gettin' old. I enjoy hiking long distances, although do it only once a month presently.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;option B&lt;/strong&gt; Instead of Walking Hard for 45 mins a day, I will buy some sort of fancy machine (perhaps an elliptical, or the like? you're the experts) and use that for 45 mins a day from here on in.  Why?  Could the machine be plain &lt;strong&gt;more efficient&lt;/strong&gt; to do that?  (Rather than just walking hard?)  ie, you burn more calories (or whatever - you tell me!) on a fancy machine (elliptical? rowing? x-skiing? stationary bike?) compared to plain old Mark1 walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if so (if the machine is more efficient), it would seem to be sensible to do that, as it would essentially save time, and get &quot;more exercise&quot; (aerobic, heart, whatever - I don't know) per year. (There's also an edge of plain efficiency working out right in your house - no travel/prep time, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again - another way to phrase this, &lt;strong&gt;is walking (hard) worth anything?&lt;/strong&gt;  If you are planning to exercise 45 mins a day for the future? Or is it just plain silly compared to some posh machine?  The posh machine will burn much more, tone you better up top .. or no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So should I go with option A or option B .... ??!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the shorter version - THANKS !!!!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;JonJon - here you go!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0IuBO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2016-07-21T23:47:49.493" LastActivityDate="2019-06-05T16:54:06.567" Title="How can an overweight engineer get back in shape?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="26" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-16T22:16:04.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic equation for losing fat is to burn more calories per day than you take in.  The anecdote that they give trainers is that to lose 1 pound of pure fat per week, you need to burn 500 more calories than you take in per day.  So if you are eating an otherwise normal 2000 calorie diet, you need to burn 2500 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the #1 thing to do is to get your diet in order.  It sounds like you are already well on the way to doing that.  The top priority for any diet that has sustainable weight loss as a goal is to get rid of as much artificial and processed food as you can.  This includes soda and other such things.  Basically, if you look at a food and can't identify which plant or animal it came from, you probably shouldn't be eating it.  Beyond that, you are going to want to make sure you have a good intake of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.  The USDA says 5 a day...and really, that's about the bare minimum.  You would be much better served by eating 10 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dietary notes are all very broad and general. If you're serious about getting rid of this weight for good, I would encourage you to find a personal trainer at a local gym and figure out some specifics based on your unique situation.  I think this is particularly true for you for two main reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're older. As we age, our body processes move less and less smoothly, and that includes metabolism. A professional can assess your body's ORGAN fitness, not just your MUSCLE fitness, and get an idea for what diets are appropriate.  If you still have the stomach of a 20 year old, the calorie count may be all you care about.  If you've developed a few quirks along the way, you might have to adhere to a more strict, digestible diet (such as the Paleo diet) to give your organs some time to patch themselves up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're an engineer. I myself am a computer programmer, so I have something of an idea of how our minds work.  We like numbers, we like knowing specifics, and we like being in control. A professional will be able to tell you, down to the single calorie, how many calories your body burns simply existing.  They can also equip you with a heart monitor band and watch setup that will allow you to see exactly how many calories you are burning during any one workout.  Some more advanced models can even break down your heart rate into workout zones so you can target your workout to hit the most fat-burning zones. I personally wear a Polar RS300 and love the crap out of it.  I am never in the dark as to how many calories I need to eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get me wrong.  It's entirely possible for you to simply go out there, do the work, and see results.  That is how I gained my first 10 pounds of muscle on my chronically underworked arms and chest.  But at the end of the day you are making a lot of guesses about your situation when you do that.  As an engineer myself, to not get the essential information seemed absolutely absurd.  The equipment and initial appointments were not cheap (roughly $400 for my heart monitor, watch, fitness assessment, watch calibration, and 1 hour dietary advisory session), but now every day I KNOW that I am making progress toward my goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how hard you have to work out to reach the goals you stated, again it entirely depends upon your diet.  If you are eating so many fibrous vegetables that you only have a few hundred calories to spare per day, you won't have to work very hard at all.  If you are eating a lot, you will have to work very hard.  You are on the right track with aerobic exercises like the ellipse to help your lung and heart tone.  But the biggest thing is to stay interested.  I'd encourage you to find as many as 5-6 exercises you enjoy simply so you can rotate them up so you don't feel like you're getting into a rut. If you get bored with your exercise, you will stop doing it.  A few possible suggestions, take them or leave them as you please:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Powerwalking with the family pet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jogging, especially with a friend or loved one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A heavy-weight punching bag (70+ lb, preferably one that comes with an intro DVD)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A climbing wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chi-gong balance exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that any trainer you'd talk to would also have plenty of suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, as for what's better for your aerobic health, really what determines that is getting your heart to a strong pace and keeping it there for as long as possible.  Again, what heart rate specifically will vary from person to person - my target heart rate is about 145 bpm for cardio training.  Yours would likely be somewhat less simply because I'm younger, and heart rates tend to slow as we age.  Again, a trainer would be able to tell you for sure, but to get started without paying a dime, you can check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; for some of the most vital numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T22:16:04.170" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1822" CreationDate="2011-05-16T22:40:08.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard this called the 'Hay diet', but I am familiar with the concepts involved here.  From my learning, it's simply called 'food matching', and simply talk about which foods should be eaten with which.  The basics, as I've learned them, go like this and are pretty simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not eat grain and meat at the same time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruit (including berries) should be eaten alone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vegetables go with anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it.  The thought behind it is to not give your stomach things with two different digestive needs at one time.  I've mainly seen it used in people with chronic heartburn and other stomach problems, and the results there have definitely been very, very good.  I know 3 people personally who had heartburn almost every day of their lives for 10 or more years experience relief inside of a week.  I have never seen food matching used in terms of weight loss or athletic training, so I cannot comment there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-16T22:40:08.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2021" CreationDate="2011-05-17T03:34:49.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do no Interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the problem right there. If you do not do intervals, you can not teach your body to go faster. Hit the track, run intervals, push yourself hard, the speed will come. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ryan Hall explains it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NyfiyH9Tm0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T03:34:49.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="671" CreationDate="2011-05-17T03:39:14.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally run with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amphipod.com/products/hydration/hydration-belts/runlite-hydration-belts/runlite-4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;amphipod's runlite belt&lt;/a&gt; with or without the bottles [depends on the length of the run. Has a pouch and a little pocket in the front. Holds my phone, keys, id, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T03:39:14.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-17T04:00:31.593" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to run, A place to start is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;couch to 5k (c25k)&lt;/a&gt; program. All you need is a good pair of running shoes, some water, and 30-40 minutes of free time three times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have lead a couple of c25k groups where I saw people who could barely walk 20 minutes at a brisk pace and had them jogging for 3.1 miles straight after a few weeks. These people were not going to break any world records, but they were out burning calories and seeing the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how out of shape you are, you may have to repeat weeks in the schedule. It is not a big deal if you do. Better to take it slow and build up than to rush and fail/get injured. You also need to realize that you are not going to be fast. You will probably be going at 12-14 mile/min pace when you start. It is slow, but speed comes with time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need peer motivation, there are sites/message boards where people join and they can talk to each other about their progress. Also local running clubs in your area may also have group lead runs/programs. Our group meets at our work campus and runs at lunch twice a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T04:00:31.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2011-05-17T04:30:51.517" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;what are some potential downsides of running in minimalist shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bloody toes, sharp rocks, and cooked feet from molten blacktop are a few problems with minimalist shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearing VFF KSOs running on a cinder path that I have run on many times before. I heard a sound and looked up into a tree. Next thing I knew I was cringing in pain as I kicked a man hole cover that protruded from the ground about a half inch. Pulled off the KSO and found my stubbed toe had a cracked toenail and blood gushing from where the nail dug in. Seeing my toe was fine other than the blood. Slipped back on the tight hitting shoe and ran another 4 miles back home. :) My KSOs ended up in the wash to get the blood out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Large rocks with a tense foot equal a lot of pain. Thin rubber keeps the rock from slicing the foot, but it does not protect from the pressure from the impact. It is hard to learn to learn to not tense your feet when you land since a tense foot hurts, a loose foot takes a better impact from random objects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also running mid day in the summer means your feet are going to cook from the botttom. Running on white lines is a must in midsummer if you do not want your skin to be melt into the rubber of the shoe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastEditorUserId="1045" LastEditDate="2011-05-17T19:56:42.550" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T19:56:42.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-17T09:53:00.183" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem adamant about only doing cardio, but I really think you should consider lifting some weights. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot;&gt;Strength training&lt;/a&gt; is great for your back, knees and general posture. It will also get your ticker going just fine on its own -- but by all means, add some cardio if you must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is mainly done in the kitchen, you'll simply have to eat less (calories). Just be aware that slimming down using only diet/cardio will affect your muscle mass just as much as that fat around your belly. I'm sure strong and lean is better for your health than slimmy-fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T09:53:00.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2053" CreationDate="2011-05-17T10:54:58.123" Score="4" ViewCount="902" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a barbell and a squat rack so I can lift at home but looking around there's so many to choose from its overwhelming. I just need to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which brands are trusted and recommended?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difference between Olympic bar and other types?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much weight should I buy? I squat ~75kgs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What length bar do I need?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any other important factors which I'm missing here?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need something suitable for doing squats, snatches, deadlifts, bench press etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: also, what is the difference between an calibrated and uncalibrated plate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastEditorUserId="347" LastEditDate="2011-05-17T13:41:04.907" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T15:37:19.580" Title="Buying barbell / rack" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2052" CreationDate="2011-05-17T12:34:16.953" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely go with an Olympic bar. They will be a standard weight and have a standard diameter. If you go with anything else you may be stuck buying proprietary weights for an non standard sized bar. A typical bar will be 6-7 feet long. I would go with the longer one since you plan on doing deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good thing about buying weight is you don't need to buy it all right away. You can buy it as you need it. I would start with 4 to 6 45-pound plates, and enough smaller weights so you can bridge the gap between having a full plate on each side. I would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 5-pound plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 10-pound plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 25-pound plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That combination will allow you to go up in 5 pound increments between the larger 45-pound plates. You may also want to eventually add some 2.5 or 1 pound weights, but they aren't needed when you start out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the deadlifts, I would suggest either getting padded weights (only the 45-pound plates need to be ruberized if the lighter weights are smaller in diameter) or getting a pad to stand on while you lift. Otherwise you might damage the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for brand, it's really up to you. Certainly go try it out before you buy it, but as long as you're buying standard sized equipment you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T12:34:16.953" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2009" CreationDate="2011-05-17T19:54:53.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with this particular supplement, but I can answer your question of figuring out how much is muscle and how much is water.  You can go to a professional and have them measure your lean, fat, and water weights by conductivity through your body, but that is relatively expensive and time consuming.  Doing it at home basically requires that you weigh yourself often and get a handle on your median weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I say 'median weight' is because you can gain or lose as many as 5 pounds a day just in water weight, depending on how much you drink, how hard you work, and even just how dry the environment around you is.   It's impossible to properly control.  So weigh yourself 3 times a day for a few days, and get the median of those weights.  This will give you a figure that is reasonably close to your 'true' weight by only using a common scale.  Any changes of more than a few pounds are going to almost certainly indicate muscle or fat growth - in your case, I'd say it's a safe guess that most of the difference would be muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T19:54:53.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-17T20:07:58.037" Score="4" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been at a healthy weight and now I'm in my 30's I want to make sure that I'm taking care of myself and consuming the right foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering there is so much information out there, bias, and misinformation, how do I learn where to start, who to trust, and just live healthy without being obsessed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1052" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T15:13:42.173" Title="General nutrition for normal people where weight loss isn't a goal" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:18:09.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1807" CreationDate="2011-05-17T20:11:54.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was interested to know the answer to this question myself, and ended up asking it to a few of my chiropractor and osteopath friends.  The short answer I got is 'no'.  Muscles are, generally speaking, muscles.  If you push them to their limit, you're going to get DOMS no matter what.  What complicates the simple answer is that some muscle groups are harder to put into DOMS simply because they're more isolated and difficult to separate from the rest of the body.  The IT band on the outside of your leg is a good example of an extremely important muscle that is very important to tone properly if you're working for performance, but by the same token it is nearly impossible to separate it fully from the quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also simply the fact that people have different weak points.  A DOMS reaction may be inhibited simply by the ligaments and tendons surrounding the muscle not being up to snuff, which causes a lot of radiating burn during workout, but fairly little lingering pain since these tissues are fairly small and can be repaired easily.  Knowing that you have sub-par connective tissue like that is practically impossible without figuring it out yourself.  The question this brings up is, are you even capable of working your muscle hard enough to induce a DOMS reaction?  Or is your connective tissue going to give out first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a footnote, it is important to include that this was largely a physiological theory discussion, and not 'studies have shown x, y, and z.'  I would consider it reliable simply because it makes perfect sense in what we know of the human body, but I hesitate to go around touting it as scientific fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T20:11:54.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2055" CreationDate="2011-05-17T20:36:12.373" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Precisely what foods you need to focus on is going to depend entirely on your past diet, your current health situation, and your goals.  There are, however, a few basics that anyone can implement for a better life pretty much right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rid yourself of artificial anythings&lt;/em&gt;: This includes artificial sweeteners, overprocessed TV dinners, chemicalized 'by-products' like canned cheese and Spam, etc. An easy rule of thumb is to pick up an item, and try to figure out all the plants and animals that went into its making.  If you can't identify it as from one of those things (soda), or can't whip out the answers in 10 seconds (TV dinners and mystery meat), you probably shouldn't be eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Get used to the idea of exercising for the rest of your life&lt;/em&gt;: Sitting around is one of the best ways to lower your life expectancy. Make peace with and get excited about the idea that you are going to be doing something physical and fun until you are 90 years old.  This might be lifting small weights.  This might be jogging.  It really doesn't matter as long as you find it fun and it gets you active and moving.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Prize your sleep&lt;/em&gt;: It's all too common in the Western world to adhere to the proverb, 'you can sleep when you're dead'.  The hard truth is that if you do not sleep, you will be dead quite soon.  Always provide yourself adequate time to sleep, and don't try to convince yourself that 6 or 7 hours will be enough if you are naturally waking up at 9 hours on the weekends.  Establish a sleep pattern that has you waking up naturally within an hour of your alarm usually going off.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as who to trust, honestly any answer someone gives to that question is going to instantly be met with harsh criticism if the environment is right.  If you say the government, people can (rightly) point to the often dubious links between the FDA and the companies it regulates.  If you say someone like the Weston A Price foundation (a leading advocate for nutrition therapy), people will (rightly) point out that W.A.P is an advocacy group and is biased by its basic charter.  And I scarcely need to mention the problems with trusting corporations or their spin-offs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only place I have found that almost all reasonable people agree is reliable is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cochrane.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cochrane Collaboration&lt;/a&gt;.  They are an international, non-profit group that has a charter dedicated to providing the best in evidence-based medical research.  They are a public charity formed under the laws of the United Kingdom, their funding is open for everyone to see, and it passes muster in the opinions of almost everyone I've met.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as who to trust in your life, I would strongly recommend you build a working relationship with people who deal in nutrition and fitness every day - personal trainers, nutritionists, etc.  I personally went to 6 different gyms and rather blatantly interviewed the trainers and nutritionists to probe their current and continued learning before settling on a gym I like.  None of the people I 'interviewed' ever got angry at me, because I was paying club dues at the time - it's your right as a member/customer to know who you are working with!  The payoff to this is that as the years go on, your body changes, and our knowledge of the human body changes, you will have resources you know you can rely on to tell you the truth in their professional opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T20:36:12.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-17T23:56:17.403" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have lots of good info offered already.  Here are some of my suggestions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You say you are 47 y.o., out of shape and fat around the middle with shortness of breath on exertion  - check with your doctor before starting on an exercise program and you’ll have better success.  Your doctor will help you track improvements in your test results as you get back in shape.   And your doctor can give you a healthy diet to follow.  If you cut calories too drastically, you’ll set yourself up for long term failure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Measure your waist circumference to track your progress.  Also calculate and track your percentage of body fat. These 2 numbers are more helpful in determining your success than just monitoring your weight alone.  Your goal for your waist measurement is about half of your height.  A healthy body fat percentage in your age range is 11 to 22%.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Address your diet - food and drink.  Wine calories add up.  (85 cal for a small glass and more like 150 for the size glasses most of us like :).  A 3500 calorie deficit = 1 pound of weight loss.  Walking a mile burns ~ 100 calories.   So you can see that it takes a lot more effort to burn off  3500 calories than it does to consume that amount.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise a) cardio - Sounds like you will like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/EllliptiGO.html&quot;&gt;ElliptiGO&lt;/a&gt; - an elliptical trainer bike.  You’ll get a good cardio-vascular workout and can vary the intensity.  There is no impact like there is with running so it is easy on your knees.   Best of all you can use it outdoors.  And if it rains you can set it up in doors with a stationary trainer adaptor.  Wear a heart rate monitor to maximize your workouts and keep from over exerting. (I like my Timex T5G971).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also look into a pair of nordic walking poles for your hikes.  You’ll recruit more muscles especially through your trunk.  And they can help if your knees bother you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal Duration:&lt;/strong&gt; 2.5 hours of moderate intensity exercise per week generally broken down to 30 minutes per day most days per week, or 1.75 hours of vigorous exercise per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal Intensity:&lt;/strong&gt;  Moderate intensity would range from 55% to 75% or your max heart rate.   Or a level of exertion of 12 to 16 (somewhat hard to hard at a steady pace) on the Borg Scale when exercising.  You can calculate your target heart rate to optimize your workouts. Your doctor may also give you guideline targets. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cross Train - No, you don’t have rubbish ideas.  But you do want to cross train.  Doing the same exercise program everyday may result in overuse injuries, accommodation, boredom and plateaus.  So, mix it up.  Walk some days, use an elliptical trainer or bike on others and consider swimming (or running in water) on other days.  These use your muscles and joints in different ways and yield maximal results.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Intervals - You will also want to learn about interval training, once you have a good basis with your cardio or aerobic exercise program.  Interval training is a more efficient use of your time as it bumps up calorie burning.  Always warm up before and cool down afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise b) resistance or strength training  - Even if you don’t want muscles you will want to include resistance training 2 to 3 times per week.  This can be in the form or resistance bands, body weight exercises, free weights or weight machines.   &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot;&gt;Body weight exercises&lt;/a&gt; like the plank and side planks will help your abs and tackle your belly and they are easy to do at home.  Ball wall squats will work your quads and help protect your knees.   Lean muscle mass helps to burn more calories and provides protection to aging joints. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise c) Stretching - A well rounded program to get back in shape should also include daily stretching.  Lack of flexibility is one of the greatest aging factors on our bodies.  Breathing, rest and relaxation, balance and posture are other aspects to keep in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least - congratulations for getting started.  You owe those kids of yours to be a good role model and to give them a healthy lifestyle.  Exercise balls and resistance bands in the tv room make tv time less sedentary.  Wii Fit or Xbox’s, Your Shape, are fun for family games.  Active family outings and sports are all ways to create a healthy lifestyle.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-05-17T23:56:17.403" CommentCount="23" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-18T10:46:45.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in a similar state as you although about 9 years younger when I started, this is what is working for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Got a dog and started taking it for walks at least 30 minutes each day, longer at weekends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Amended my diet to a more healthy one, cut out almost all sweets, cakes, pastries etc and switch to diet soda while increasing the fruit, veg I was eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joined a gym and got advice from one of their trainers. They advised me to initially have a mixed workout at least 3 times a week consisting of at least 30 minutes cardo and 30 weights circuit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has taken the weight off gradually which I've been told it better, to date about 3 years in I've lost around 9 inches off my waist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1058" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T10:46:45.087" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-18T12:24:32.297" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last October (2010) I was nearly 300lb (just 5lb shy), and had some serious issues with psoriasis flaring up in a big way on my feet.  That made certain activities quite painful as the soles of my feet were just cracked open skin.  So I made some changes, and started with my diet.  That alone helped me lose 85lb (2011) and the fact I wasn't carrying around that much extra weight helped my feet clear up.  Since then I've been going to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things I've learned in the process:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet does 80% of the work losing weight.&lt;/em&gt;  Start here--and if you are like me, you'll need some external motivation.  I was in a program where we kept a weekly food diary that was reviewed by a weight loss coach.  My wife was also on board.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Heart rate is more important than speed.&lt;/em&gt;  Your body burns a certain ratio of fat and sugars (carbs) at different heart rates.  A lower heart rate workout will burn more fat than sugars.  The walking or low impact elliptical is a good idea--but keep an eye on your heart rate.  You may have to go slower than you want at first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Strength training builds muscle, which also burns fat.&lt;/em&gt;  Cardio is going to burn more calories while you are doing it, but you want more muscle to keep doing work while you aren't working out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hydration improves weight loss and your ability to think.&lt;/em&gt;  Drink plenty of water (not sports drinks or juices, etc.) throughout the day.  With my diet, I get more than enough electrolytes so the sports drinks aren't necessary.  They only become critical when you are running hard and/or long distances.  At the very least 2 liters a day, but if you do strength training I'd say a gallon a day.  I see more/better weight loss results when I stay fully hydrated than the days when I slack off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; program.  I just started it myself, and chose it because it was geared for the rank beginner.  Starting with just the bar weight is much less intimidating than starting with a bunch of math and figures you just don't know (like your 1 rep max).  In the first month you are learning form as your progressively increase weight--and you'll start getting to real work weights by month two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Choose rewards that further your fitness goals&lt;/strong&gt;.  When you get to milestones you've set for yourself (20lb loss, 40lb loss, etc.) instead of rewarding yourself with a decadent snack, buy yourself a heart rate monitor, or new running shoes, etc.  Another fun and will be needed reward is new clothes.  I found that at every 20lbs I lost a pant size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do weight lifting, you'll want higher amounts of protein in your diet, and fewer carbs.  If you do running (which you can work up to) you will still need protein, but you'll also need more carbs as your heart rate is much higher than walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, when you get to your target weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set a &quot;do not cross&quot; scale weight within 5lb of your goal weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you get close or actually cross that weight, cut out all carbs until you get back under it.  You'll find it only takes about a day or two to reign it in when you are only talking a couple pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor your weight regularly--the earlier you catch the &quot;do not cross&quot; line the easier it is to fix.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the form of cardio, one is as good as another.  The goal of cardio work is to get your heart rate up to a certain level, and your oxygen levels at a place where they can feed your muscles (i.e. aerobic workouts).  Whether you use an elliptical, a treadmill, or actually go outside and walk, they are all equally good.  I found that elliptical will get my heart rate higher with less work than the treadmill, but your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-18T12:48:15.000" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T12:48:15.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2063" CreationDate="2011-05-18T12:54:34.967" Score="10" ViewCount="25309" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6' tall with long limbs and currently slouch way to much while coding all day at my desk. I can't switch to a standing desk very easily so I would like to try sitting on an exercise ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What measurements should I use to determine which size ball I should purchase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1060" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T16:04:51.513" Title="How do I determine what size exercise ball I should use as a desk chair?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2062" CreationDate="2011-05-18T13:06:25.600" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on a couple of factors such as how tall your desk is and at what hight will you be able to have proper wrist position. When I purchased an exercise ball for this purpose, I would go to the store and get the biggest one they had (I'm 6'3&quot;). This usually ended up being 30 inches (75cm) in diameter. I would suggest you do the same thing and get the biggest one they have for sale. If it ends up being too big, you can always deflate it to make it the right height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a personal note: Keep the pump handy that comes with the exercise ball. I usually had to re inflate it once every couple months. Also keep any cats with claws away or you'll end up with a sore tail bone when your exercise suddenly deflates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T13:06:25.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2065" CreationDate="2011-05-18T13:22:54.527" Score="8" ViewCount="1081" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the most effective warm-up before doing my weight lifting circuit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to warm up by doing 10 minutes on the elliptical cross-trainer or by doing a set using a light weight before working with your training weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1058" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T11:04:28.333" Title="Effective warm-up before weight lifting circuit" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2011-05-18T13:50:27.520" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I do both. I run 5 minutes on the treadmill to get my heart active from a long day at the office, get the blood pumping through my body, fresh oxygen in the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, before I work on a certain group of muscles, my first set of the exercise consists of doing 10 - 15 quick reps with a light weight, just to make sure the muscles I will be using have blood pumping through them, and are &quot;warmed up&quot;, so I can't injure a muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For instance if I were to workout chest and do flys, I do them with a light weight first. The last 4 - 5 reps, I really stretch out the dumbells as far down as possible ( be careful not to injure your shoulder ). This way I feel my chest muscle is stretched nicely and less stiff before I do the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, I take the weight of my exercise and do the workout. Sometimes I do a dropset ( use the heaviest weight first ) or the opposite ( build up the weight - sometimes combined with less repititions  )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this is &lt;em&gt;the most&lt;/em&gt; effective way. I found this to be perfect for my body and muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T13:50:27.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2052" CreationDate="2011-05-18T15:37:19.580" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few recommendations (to address your questions):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=power%20rack&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-US%3aofficial&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;um=1&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;cid=3169779509508998796&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=wOPTTYLAIIrM0AHZgeXnCw&amp;amp;ved=0CF0Q8wIwAA&amp;amp;biw=1760&amp;amp;bih=958#&quot;&gt;power rack&lt;/a&gt;, they aren't that expensive but they are very versatile.  You can use them for squats, and as a personal spotter for bench presses.  (bench sold separately).  The lower cross bars are there to act as your spotter so you never have to drop the bar on the floor or worry about the bar pressing on your neck if you can't get a lift up.  You also might be able to build one yourself if you are handy with wood and tools.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get Olympic bars, and keep an eye on the total load they can handle.  Get one piece bars, there are a few cheap three piece models and I would not recommend them.  7' bars will be best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check to make sure the Olympic bar is truly 45lb.  Dick's Sporting Goods sells one they call an Olympic bar, but someone weighed it at 35lb.  That's not Olympic bar specs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get a starter set of weights with an Olympic bar and 300lbs (136kg) of weights for around $300 USD.  The standard set includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-45lb plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-35lb plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4-10lb plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-5lb plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-2.5lb plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my routine has me going up 5lb each time I workout (except for deadlifts, those are by 10lb) the 2.5lb plates are nice.  When you are getting close to outgrowing the core set, you can buy 45lb plates separately and add them on as you need.  That way you minimize your initial investment while still being able to work toward those 600lb deadlifts and 400lb squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;RE: Calibrated vs. non-calibrated&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A calibrated plate is certified to be the weight advertised on it.  While a non-calibrated plate is not certified.  It will likely be very close within a certain tolerance, but the calibrated plates are required for competitions.  You can likely do what you need with uncalibrated plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;RE: non-Olympic bars&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most non-Olympic bars I've seen have a smaller diameter (i.e. less than 2 inches) for the plates, and are also a lot flimsier.  They simply can't hold the same amount of weight.  While they are better than nothing, they aren't going to grow with you like an Olympic bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T15:37:19.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2068" CreationDate="2011-05-18T15:44:54.620" Score="4" ViewCount="9910" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're apparently supposed to increase fiber slowly into any new diet, which is what I have been doing. I have simply switched from white bread to brown bread (whole wheat). For some reason I am getting really intense heartburn about 30 minutes after finishing the sandwich (which used to be white bread), for about an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've changed nothing else yet. Is this happening because of the slight increase in fiber, or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-18T17:45:00.723" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T17:45:00.723" Title="Does fiber cause heartburn?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2067" CreationDate="2011-05-18T16:26:52.020" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question is that the extra digestible fiber and denser construction of whole-wheat bread means that your stomach has to work harder to break the food down.  This turns into more of a roiling motion that can splash acid around and cause heartburn.  So the basic answer is 'yes'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you should absolutely not go back to eating white bread.  This is a sign from your body that your digestion is out of whack for whatever reason, and you should try to address it directly instead of reverting back to the bad habit of consuming bleached white flour, which is probably what got you into this regrettable scenario to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you look into 'food matching', a concept I touched on in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1822/hay-diets-effectiveness/2046#2046&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, and increase your intake of dark green vegetables to give your body more indigestible fiber to work with.  5 servings a day would be a good place to start if you're not there already.  If you do those two things I would not be surprised at all if your problems vanished quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final note, usually when diets talk about increasing fiber intake, they mean indigestible fiber that comes from fruits and vegetables.  Digestible fiber from starches and grains are the other kind, and generally speaking most people get plenty of that already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T16:26:52.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2073" CreationDate="2011-05-18T17:21:53.620" Score="8" ViewCount="2431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training for the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back race next month, and I think I need to bump my efforts a little. I don't want to overtrain running, since I've got some lingering trochanteric bursitis in my right hip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was thinking I'd do some rest-day cross training. I'm a cycling enthusiast, but I haven't ridden much yet this year as I've been focusing on running. Would a 15-20 mile (about an hour) bike ride on my non-running days be harmful? Or would it be a good way to stay loose and keep working on my lung capacity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T19:15:37.870" Title="Cycling as rest-day cross training for running: good idea?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-18T18:41:40.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hacker's Diet&lt;/a&gt;. It includes some online monitoring tools that help quantify your progress in a meaningful way, and the exercises it uses are good, general-purpose ways to improve total fitness levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was created by an engineer, and takes an algorithmic, logical approach to the weight-loss program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, exercise alone is a very difficult way to lose weight, but exercise combined with quantifiable data on how your exercise and what you eat affects your goals is working so far for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T18:41:40.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2069" CreationDate="2011-05-18T20:05:27.917" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is going to depend on the course you do, what gear you stay in while cycling, how severe your bursitis is, etc.  It's impossible to say for sure, particularly if your bursitis was caused by injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, my basic suggestion would be &quot;proceed with caution&quot;.  It will be important to be as light on yourself as possible.  The cycling motion is going to involve your hip almost as much as the running motion does, so you'll need to be careful not to overwork the injury.  Under normal circumstances I'd very much encourage it, as proper exercise helps the healing process a great deal, but if you are already training on running it's important to consider the other extreme.  Rest is needed for all training to take effect.  I don't wish to warn you off; if done properly, it will likely help your training regimen a good amount, help keep your injury mobile and healing, and, most importantly, be fun.  But nothing is less fun than hurting yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a pool, I think a safer way to cross-train would be to swim laps or do water aerobics.  This will give you the loosening, aerobic workout you're looking for without absolutely requiring your hips to be in the picture.  But if you don't, cycling should be fine as long as you keep in mind that it's a rest day and muscle exhaustion is not the goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T20:05:27.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1972" CreationDate="2011-05-18T21:36:59.627" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Berin noted, bodybuilding cutting techniques are applicable here. In one week you really can't lose any appreciable fat, but what you can do is try to drop water weight. A few tips for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop taking creatine about a week before&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limit fluid and sodium intake, especially during the last 24 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a high protein diet (can act as a diuretic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day of: sweat (wear too much clothing, spend time in a dry sauna, or wrap with saran/neoprene)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a tan never hurts. Notice how in many before &amp;amp; after pictures for diet products, the &quot;after&quot; picture has a noticeably darker shade...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: this is not particularly healthy, but it should help to make you look more cut for special occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/18/how-to-cut-weight/&quot;&gt;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/18/how-to-cut-weight/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/165431-how-to-lose-water-weight-for-wrestling/&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/165431-how-to-lose-water-weight-for-wrestling/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T21:36:59.627" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-19T13:29:45.810" Score="5" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to smoke heavily (over a pack a day). A little over a year ago when my girlfriend got pregnant I quit cold turkey. I have since replaced smoking with snacking, and since then gained about 30 lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to stop gaining weight and possibly even loose some. I am not very active either, I work on a computer all day and don't do much activity at night. I am not lazy, theres just really nothing to do in this small town and taking care of the new baby takes up a lot of our time as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to start exercising, even its just pushing the stroller around going on walks. And doing push ups, sit ups, etc. at home. Not really sure how much that will help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a realistic plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1067" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T18:57:57.700" Title="How can an ex smoker stop snacking so much?" Tags="&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2077" CreationDate="2011-05-19T14:12:57.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think of two simple solutions to your problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't have snack foods in your&#xA;house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only have healthy snack foods in&#xA;your house (fruit, vegetables,&#xA;seeds, nuts, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there simply isn't anything to snack on, isn't anything you like to snack on, or isn't anything unhealthy to snack on, you may stop gaining weight. Unfortunately, this means that everybody in your house has to help you out with this goal, but perhaps your wife will like that idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercise, if you really want to do something, just do it. There are hundreds of bodyweight exercises that you can do without any equipment at all:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/86/35&quot;&gt;What are some short 30-minute body-weight lift routines for travel.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also get a excellent workout using just a simple set of dumbells once the bodyweight exercises don't hold your interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a side note: lack of sleep can cause you to gain weight. If your little one is keeping you up all night it may be contributing to your weight gain. There's not much you can do about that right now, but it's something you should be aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T14:12:57.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2055" CreationDate="2011-05-19T15:13:42.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body needs certain nutrients, and any balanced diet will have those nutrients in the right proportions.  However, within that general framework is a lot of latitude.  Take for instance the &quot;maintenance diet&quot; that I was given when I finished my diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: 1 serving carb, 1 serving fat, 1 serving protein, 1 serving fruit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: 1 serving protein, 1 serving fat, 2 servings vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: 1 serving protein, 1 serving carb, 2 servings vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snack: 1 serving protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One day a week you have a &quot;free day&quot; followed by a no-carb day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At least 2L of water a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Protein is considered: 2 whole eggs, 5oz land meat, 7oz seafood, etc.&#xA;A Fat is considered: yogurt, cheese, butter, seeds/nuts&#xA;A carb is considered: whole grains, starchy vegetables like potato or corn, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just one of many maintenance plans that will work.  Essentially you'll be eating plenty of protein, plenty of veggies which are probably two of the most important parts of your diet.  You'll also get your carbs and fats.  The free day is meant to throw your body's metabolism off so it doesn't get used to your diet and start storing more.  The no-carb day is there to correct for the extra calories you took in on the free day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast that with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-diet-muscle-gains-strength-building-fat-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts Diet&lt;/a&gt;, which is designed for weight lifters.  A diet for weight lifters is going to have a lot more protein and fat.  Also to deal with the increase of protein is a lot more water (minimum 1 US Gallon a day).  On that diet you have 10% junk meals (4 junk meals a week).  You'll be eating more, but only gaining weight if you eat a lot more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as long as you are getting the protein and vitamins &amp;amp; minerals you need, the rest is up to you.  While I have no data to back it up, I think it's a reasonable and good idea to allow for fun meals.  If you monitor your weight weekly you should be able to get an idea if your weight is going up or down and adjust accordingly.  My personal experience says that if I cut back on carbs for a day I can usually correct a 2-3lb increase (hint, it's not all fat if it came after just one free day/meal).  I also find that if I slack on my water intake, my body holds on to weight a bit more.  If I did gain a couple pounds of fat after a week on a cruise, I can still correct it easily by cutting carbs (so that my pancreas is secreting glucogon to help burn the fat for longer periods of time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T15:13:42.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2077" CreationDate="2011-05-19T16:45:31.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would proceed with making any changes to your diet slowly and incrementally, or in other words &lt;strong&gt;do NOT make radical changes&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could start with documenting your current eating habits. Track your meals and calories by using a journal/notebook or use an online/mobile journal like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Review your journal after two weeks and look at possible foods that you can target to either &lt;strong&gt;add, eliminate, or replace&lt;/strong&gt;. Commit to making these changes for approximately 1-2 weeks until you get the hang of it. After that time frame, review again and target the next series of changes. Feel free to adjust the amount of changes you make (i.e. more/less) based on how well you managed during the last period.  &lt;em&gt;Of course you are still tracking your meals, right? :)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Replace:&lt;/strong&gt; Instead of snacking on potato chips, I will eat a handful of almonds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Add:&lt;/strong&gt; I will eat an apple and/or a banana every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eliminate:&lt;/strong&gt; I will stop eating double-cheeseburgers from Hamburgers 'R Us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on having good, well-rounded core meals, meaning breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Eating properly may reduce your snack cravings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mental Awareness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you catch yourself snacking at various points of the day, try to ask yourself &lt;em&gt;WHY&lt;/em&gt; you are snacking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you &lt;em&gt;bored, stressed, depressed?&lt;/em&gt; When you smoked you may have formed unconscious desire to smoke at certain times or as a response to certain stimuli. For example, I've seen smokers light-up after every meal or every time they answered the phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you become aware of these habits you can tell yourself &amp;quot;NO&amp;quot; and choose a better alternative, like a glass of water. Over time you'll re-train yourself to automatically go for snacks that won't increase your waistline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Appetite Suppressing Foods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've included a list of 10 appetite suppressing foods from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness/top-10-appetite-suppressants_1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Men's Health&lt;/a&gt; to give you some snack ideas. Note this isn't a panacea but you may find that snacking on these may make you feel less hungry:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apples, Flaxseeds, Caffeine, Water,&#xA;Hoodia, Chicken &amp;amp; vegetable soup,&#xA;Wasabi (spicy foods), Oatmeal, Salmon,&#xA;Almonds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T16:45:31.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2119" CreationDate="2011-05-19T17:14:21.093" Score="12" ViewCount="42693" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9rLNj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Boiled egg stages&quot;&gt; (source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eier.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between nutritional content or digestibility of half-boiled eggs (the white is still runny), soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs? Please explain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T12:00:13.760" Title="Does boiling time change an egg's nutritional content?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:05:04.467" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2077" CreationDate="2011-05-19T17:18:04.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just quit smoking a month ago after 25 years. I don't think the fitness and nutrition experts have this correct, as you need to be a smoker to understand what's going on here. For a good portion of your life, your normal activities have been combined with smoking. So now, doing those activities by themselves doesn't satisfy your habit. Snacking and smoking are both very similar activities, and physiologically, the signal that you need to smoke, and the signal that you are hungry are almost the same thing - you are craving a nutrient. The problem is, snacking doesn't satisfy your craving, because you are craving nicotine, not food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, after many attempts to quit, I think I can say that the problem for you is that you quit cold turkey, and your nicotine cravings became food cravings, and you started a new habit. I have quit with a nicotine replacement, and it is a lot easier because you don't experience strong cravings, and the only task you really need to do is NOT SMOKE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to stop a habit is to simply not do it. It isn't easy, and now that you aren't dealing with a physical dependence, your problem is entirely mental. I think it can help to hear from other addicts who know what you're going through... but the bottom line is, you need to stop snacking so much. Get rid of the snack food, just like you got rid of the cigarettes - it will drive you nuts for a while, but you just have to deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I replaced my smoking activity with something else. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwvuYEv9JdY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;my youtube video&lt;/a&gt; here... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut out the caffeine! It makes the cravings worse!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1068" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T18:57:57.700" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T18:57:57.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2069" CreationDate="2011-05-19T17:20:31.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the mileage for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/wasatchback/runner_chart&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back race&lt;/a&gt; and it doesn't seem to be as punishing as a marathon since there seems to be rest in between each leg of the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know tapering before the race is important to marathoners but since this race isn't a marathon tapering will most likely not be a critical issue.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244--5958-6-1X2X3X4X5-6,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It's Taper Time&lt;/a&gt; for tips on tapering for shorter races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could interpret your description of your activity as, &lt;em&gt;I am exercising every day of the week.&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, I highly suggest that you give your body (and legs!) at least one day of full rest for recovery per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will ultimately fall upon you to learn how your body responds to the rest or lack of rest. Time your results and adjust your training as necessary for future races.  &lt;em&gt;Please come back after your race and let us know how you performed with or without the rest day!&lt;/em&gt; =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="760" LastEditDate="2011-05-19T19:15:37.870" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T19:15:37.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2081" CreationDate="2011-05-19T17:40:41.930" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might have some &lt;a href=&quot;http://chestofbooks.com/food/science/Experimental-Cookery/The-Formation-Of-Ferrous-Sulfide-In-Cooked-Eggs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ferrous Sulfide&lt;/a&gt; if cooked too long and kept in the hot water to cool slowly.  You also might have some increased risk of salmonella poisoning for the soft boiled eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I believe the nutritional content is essentially same.  See the nutrition of &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/111/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1oz raw egg&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/117/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1oz hard boiled egg&lt;/a&gt;.  You'll see minor differences in the distribution of fats and cholesterol, but the protein is untouched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T17:40:41.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2081" CreationDate="2011-05-19T17:53:31.667" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The largest nutritional difference between something that's raw and cooked is going to be the structure of the fats, proteins, amino acids, and the like inside the food. In extreme cases, such as hyper-pasteurized milk, these products may be 'destroyed', or put into a state where your body can't reasonably use them.  This doesn't mean that one or the other is always better; a raw chicken breast will be extremely hard to digest and will give you a fraction of the nutrition of a properly cooked chicken breast.  The same could be said for a chicken breast that is so overcooked it's carbonized.  Particulars will always vary from food to food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as eggs themselves go, I'm not familiar with any major changes that happen with normal cooking.  Like Berin said, there'll be slight differences because of the cooking process, but nothing to really write home about as long as you don't scorch your egg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T17:53:31.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2086" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2101" CreationDate="2011-05-19T18:35:27.950" Score="6" ViewCount="464" Body="&lt;p&gt;I joined, for the first time, a summer tennis league this year.  I do a small amount of weight training still and would like to focus my lifting sessions more toward functional lifts that might correlate directly to tennis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first crack at this has been to focus on more twisting style ab exerices (russian twists, for example), work in more tricep lifts at heavier weights/lower reps for explosions on overhead shots (e.g. the serve), and more forearm exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else should I consider here?  Note that I am looking for lifts only and not general tennis training advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T12:17:24.407" Title="Sport Specific Lifts - Tennis" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2011-05-19T19:03:21.907" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baker's cysts often stem from other conditions, such as swelling due arthritis or knee injury. The prevailing opinion in the sources I've read is that there's no known way to prevent Baker's cysts from occurring; however, treating the underlying condition could help prevent cysts. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.knee-pain-explained.com/bakerscystknee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; site suggests that if the Bakers Cyst is due to knee arthritis, strengthening the muscles around the knee can help. According to the article, &quot;the stronger the muscles get, the less force goes through the bones making it less likely that the knee will swell which therefore prevents another knee cyst from developing.&quot; If you do strengthening exercises that target the quads, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius (calf), you'll hit the main knee-strengthening muscles. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; is a good reference for finding exercises to target specific muscle groups. Rehabilitation should always be done under the guidance of a physiotherapist/doctor to target your specific needs though. Pushing the knee too hard or in the wrong way could just cause more inflammation and another cyst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T19:03:21.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2077" CreationDate="2011-05-19T19:29:26.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast - I think it would help balance your metabolism throughout the day. Maybe a banana or orange and cereal or bagel, those are simple and easy. Juice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lunch - Not fast food. Packing a lunch will generally be cheaper and healthier. Some jobs are harder to pack a lunch for, but salads with separate dressing go well in a plastic tub. Not a kid rabbit salad, but a 1 lb. man salad with almonds, cranberries, some cheese, spinach not iceberg, red/orange/yellow peppers, mandarin orange slices, etc. A lean-meat sandwich like turkey is pretty good too. Throw in an apple, maybe some o' those healthy chips.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Snacks - I used to buy big bags of cranberries, and raw unsalted almonds, throw them in a little tupperware and snack on that. Red licorice twizzlers are good. No or low sugar i think.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Soda/pop/sugars - Your body burns that sugar before it burns other stuff in your body. Drink some water, it will also help your metabolism. If you drink a lot of coffee try drinking some green tea. Not as much kick though, which might take some getting used to. Beer? A lot of carbs in beer. Dessert? smaller size? skip it sometimes?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise - Anything that gets your heart rate up. There's probably some optimal heart rate for weight loss... i dunno. Walking the stroller sounds like a great start. If there is a small grocery store, you can walk there frequently to keep fresh goods well stocked. Sit ups and push ups in the morning sound great too. Try starting at like two se. Jogging sucks, but it can be effective. Biking is great, mountain biking is an awesome challenge. Be consistent and try tracking your progress. Maybe run a half mile in one direction, then back. Time it. Log it. Maybe run 10 minutes in one direction then back. Mentally note the distance. Log it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smoking - congratulations on quitting the smoking. I have tried and tried and keep trying but it keeps coming back to bite me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Accountability - get your girlfriend to support you. I'm sure she's pleased with the not-smoking, she probably be pleased with some weight loss too. Find a friend or neighbor you can stand who wants to work out, jogging, biking, pumping iron in the front yard. Take things one step at a time. Be deliberate. Don't give up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a nutritionalist or personal trainer. This just works for me. If you get stuck, or discouraged, get some input from one of those professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1069" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T19:29:26.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2011-05-19T20:07:01.100" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Body-Fat-Using-the-US-Navy-Method&quot;&gt;WikiHow&lt;/a&gt;, the Navy's Body Fat calculation formulas are as follows (measurements in cm):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;men: %Fat = 86.010*LOG(abdomen - neck) - 70.041*LOG(height) + 30.30&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;women: %Fat = 163.205*LOG(abdomen + hip - neck) - 97.684*LOG(height) - 78.387&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find a site that actually explains these equations, but I can make some educated guess about the rationale behind them. The first term probably gives you a an estimate of body fat based on a couple circumference measurements. However, this estimate lacks precision and accuracy, so it needs to be corrected. The second term probably corrects for height (so that tall people don't get punished for have proportionate girths), and the last term is probably an experimentally-justified constant that corrects the result of the equation to it's as close as possible to actual body fat levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you check out the first term, you can see that waist and waist/hip measurements are used to estimate body fat of men and women respectively. This makes sense since these areas correspond to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tipstolivelonger.com/android-vs-gynoid-obesity-apple-vs-pear-body-shape/&quot;&gt;primary areas of fat deposition&lt;/a&gt; for each sex. You'll also notice that &lt;strong&gt;neck circumference is actually subtracted&lt;/strong&gt;, so it makes sense that gaining more girth in your neck than your waist would cause a &lt;em&gt;decrease&lt;/em&gt; in estimated body fat. I think neck circumference is &lt;strong&gt;being used to correct for your lean body mass&lt;/strong&gt; so you don't get punished for having big muscles and bones. Maybe this is because necks don't usually have that much fat. The underlying assumption seems to be: if you have a larger neck girth, you have more muscle, bigger bones, etc., which shouldn't be counted as fat. If your neck circumference increases more than your waist circumference, the assumption is that the increase in your waist was due to muscle, not fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the method is accurate within 3%, it must work pretty well for most people, but there are obvious ways the results could be skewed. For example, if a male only did exercises that beefed up his neck without adding much muscle to his torso, the equation would probably underestimate his body fat. Or, if a female had muscular thighs, but a weaker upper body and neck (typical of runners and dancers), the equation might overestimate her body fat. People with uncharacteristic fat distribution would also have skewed results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T20:07:01.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2091" CreationDate="2011-05-19T22:02:44.183" Score="4" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I stand with my feet flat and together, then lift myself onto my toes repeatedly. It's a pretty good calf workout, and I do about three reps of 100. Is there a name for this exercise/movement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1070" LastActivityDate="2011-05-21T16:03:34.913" Title="Is there a name for this exercise/movement?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2090" CreationDate="2011-05-19T22:06:02.917" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Calf-Raises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calf Raises&lt;/a&gt;. Calf raises are used to strengthen the lower legs. Calf raises may sometimes help with shin splints depending on the location of the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toe raises are the opposite lift and should be done in conjunction to avoid muscle imbalances. Stand flat footed and lift your toes towards your shin bone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2011-05-21T16:03:34.913" LastActivityDate="2011-05-21T16:03:34.913" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2044" CreationDate="2011-05-19T22:21:42.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of good answers in here so I will keep it simple.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1)  Doing the same thing everyday will make you (and your body) bored with the stimulus.  Instead try going Hard one day and Easy the next.  Repeat and take off 1 day per week.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2)  Start slowly and progressively build.  The body takes a while to change.  Keep track and try to say 10% per week with a &quot;down&quot; week every 3 to 4 weeks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3)  Definitely strength train either with or without weights.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4)  Watch diet and increase water intake.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What that looks like is this...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 1&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 1 - 45 minute cardio  (Hard day)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 2 - 20 minute cardio (Easy day)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 3 - 20 minute cardio followed by 15 minute strength training (Hard day)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 4 - 20 minute cardio (Easy day)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 5 - 30 minute cardio (Hard day)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 6 - 20 minute cardio&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 7 - rest  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample Progression:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 1 - add 5 minutes a week until Week 4.  Week 4 roll back to 45 minutes.  Repeat with Week 5 beginning at 55 minutes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Add 5 minutes a week to Day 5.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Add 1 more day of weight training&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Keep the &quot;Easy&quot; days under 30 minutes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember it is a &quot;slow&quot; progression if you truly want this to be life changing.  These needs to become a lifestyle change and not just a short term fix.  The slower the build, the less likely the burnout.  Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T22:21:42.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1762" CreationDate="2011-05-19T22:38:16.370" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends - If you tend to sit for prolonged periods without moving, sitting on an exercise ball (for part of the time) can help by giving you a more dynamic posture as your trunk muscles make frequent adjustments.   I think of the effect as improving muscle control, so in that respect you could say it is strengthening your core and postural muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, sitting on an exercise ball keeps me from slumping.  I sit with a better posture and I feel that I have some carry over when I sit in my regular chair.  I only use my ball intermittently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some down sides of using an exercise ball as a desk chair:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may cause discomfort or pain depending on your back condition, especially if you use it for too long when you begin. (The up side is that it may make your back feel better.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can fall off :(&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may find sitting on plastic is not as comfortable as a padded chair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, there is study that says in essence that the advantages of the increased trunk motion and muscle activity from sitting on an exercise ball, may be offset by the disadvantage of increased spinal shrinkage as compared to sitting in a regular chair.  (This may be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18508028&quot;&gt;the study&lt;/a&gt; Sparafusile mentioned.) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you sit on the ball to the point where your muscles fatigue, you are left with no back support, unlike you would have with an ergonomic chair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-05-19T22:38:16.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2126" CreationDate="2011-05-19T23:49:00.910" Score="5" ViewCount="1720" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it really necessary to do Creatine Loading when first starting to take it? Or, doesn't it really matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2019-03-10T20:52:36.507" Title="Is Creatine Loading necessary?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2097" CreationDate="2011-05-19T23:53:17.910" Score="6" ViewCount="1211" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that Creatine must be taken with juice, such as Grape juice, because the sugars help it get absorbed by the body. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what time is it best to take Creatine? Before or After working out? First thing in the morning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what cycling interval should be used? Is 8 weeks on, 4 weeks off, ok? Or is 4 weeks on and 4 weeks off better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T21:25:29.700" Title="What is the correct way to take Creatine?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-10-31T02:24:54.170" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2105" CreationDate="2011-05-20T03:57:25.473" Score="5" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since having children, I have taken up running because I can push them along. Sometimes I push one kid in a running stroller, other times I push two kids in a small-wheeled stroller that offers much more resistance. I have been reading and developing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ChiRunning&lt;/a&gt; technique, which provides fairly detailed instructions about movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I adapt my running technique (ChiRunning specifically, or running technique in general) to accommodate pushing a stroller?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some specific problems / questions that I am 'running' into:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One aspect of this method is to lean forward and use the constant state of falling for forward momentum. Does the backward resistance provided by the stroller mean that I should lean forward more/less/the same at a given speed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should I do with my arms and how close should my hands be to my body - there is the tendency for me to run into the stroller, but I can also keep it ahead of me with my elbows at 90 degrees and forearm perpendicular to the ground?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any way in which I can benefit from using the stroller, for example by using the backward resistance to help me develop proper posture while leaning? &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uiJfT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastEditorUserId="620" LastEditDate="2011-05-20T13:28:41.463" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T14:45:37.207" Title="How can I adapt my running technique to accommodate pushing a stroller?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2095" CreationDate="2011-05-20T04:58:13.180" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creatine is like any other supplement; taking a megadose at once will give you progressively worse absorption, so mixing it with other things is useful to help you get more.  It doesn't have to be juice.  It can be milk or any other liquid you enjoy.  I've known some people who put it in their tea.  I personally think the texture of that is pretty vile, but whatever, works for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for when to take it, before and after is the generally accepted wisdom, because those are the times your body will be making good use of the nutrition you're providing it.  Taking it when you don't need it just makes it more likely that it will get passed with your urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone else will have to handle the cycling question; I have only my own experience to draw upon there and I consider that way too little to make a statement on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T04:58:13.180" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2096" CreationDate="2011-05-20T11:58:17.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is really nothing you need to change unless you have a problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only difference is you will have one hand on the stroller making it go, so you will not have the back and forth motion on the one side. Just use the safety strap and jog away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have logged many miles with my single and double stroller, just remember that kids do get bored and hills become a real workout. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T11:58:17.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2011-05-20T12:17:24.407" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as lifts go, it is important to keep your muscles balanced or you could wind up with some bad injury.  That said, the general principle I've been able to pick up on from different weight lifting sites is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low reps/high weight builds strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High reps/low weight builds tone (and some say size)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is you want the strength for that extra force on all your strokes.  I tend to favor a whole body weight routine, so something in the 5x5 style workouts will do well for you.  The benefits you'll see are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased leg strength to help you move around the court with a lot less effort&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased core strength which helps in every area (most of your real strength comes from here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased arm strength with its obvious application to swinging the racket&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally do the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; program and find it is easy to follow, designed for a beginner like me, and doesn't keep me in the weight room for hours on end.  You also have the option of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beyondlowcarb.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=4d9687da38a5a9110cb3bb8d0f2feff5&amp;amp;topic=3489.0&quot;&gt;Pendlay 5x5&lt;/a&gt; program.  While the exercises differ a little bit, the following are common attributes of the strength training programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of 5 reps--helps build strength without overworking the muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progressive loading--you start really low, and you'll go up in weight every time you do an exercise, with advice on what to do when you can't get all 5x5 lifts in&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight lifting is 3x /week and the time spent is generally less than an hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasis is on strength, not size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm three weeks in to the program, and just got to the milestone of squatting the amount of weight I lost since last year.  It's a good feeling when that amount feels substantial, but you know you can do more.  Yes, you'll be doing squats in every workout.  The squats build just about everything--legs, core, and arms (but more of the other two).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a real danger in over building one side of your muscles and not the other?  I'd say yes.  I have a friend who in high school was a bench press fiend.  He'd bench pretty hard but never do any rows.  It got to the point where his chest muscles were stronger than his own skeletal structure.  During a basketball game, he threw the ball in and collapsed to the floor in pain.  The verdict from the doctor was that he over-trained his chest without balancing his back muscles, and as a result separated his sternum.  It was a painful recovery, but he started a more balanced routine after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your planned workout, I'd say the russian twists are a good idea--anything that builds your core will help.  I'm a bit concerned about the emphasis on triceps/forearms.  Your overhand is going to need a strong chest and core, and your backhand is going to need a strong back and core.  I'm thinking a whole body workout is going to give you better gains than focusing on just a couple parts.  In martial arts we learn that we punch with our hips, and our arms are just the extension of our core strength.  The same principle applies in tennis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T12:17:24.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2096" CreationDate="2011-05-20T16:16:57.110" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/search/results/Y2hpIHJ1bm5pbmcgd2l0aCBzdHJvbGxlcg/&quot;&gt;Chi Running with a stroller articles&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;They recommend using a Stroll-Smart attachment to free your arms allowing for better form and upper body movement.  If not using the attachment, here are some recommendations for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chiliving.com/forum/viewthread/1057/&quot;&gt;newbie chi runner with a stroller&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Ivo - Summary of links:&#xA;Learning chi running with a stroller complicates the technique because the stroller interferes with your arm swing, limiting your upper body motion.  The stroller adds resistance; and with something in front of you, it tends to inhibit the forward lean making you stand more upright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They recommend the stroll-smart adaptor, a bar that helps you push forward from your center rather than pushing forward with your arms.   It gives you the freedom and form that you are looking for with chi running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are pushing a stroller without the stroll-smart adaptor,  avoid tensing the arms and shoulders, and resist the tendency to stand more upright - use your core.   You can switch off pushing arms.  Continue the forward lean of the technique, keeping your legs relaxed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@David - One last point to your question about bending the elbows.  My study of Tai Chi addresses alignments and opening the joints to allow for the unrestricted flow of chi, so bending the elbows to 90 degrees may be too acute of an angle (in my understanding).   Also, you want a feeling of widening at the shoulders and underarms.   Go for that relaxed feeling of being propelled forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2011-05-23T14:45:37.207" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T14:45:37.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1026" CreationDate="2011-05-20T17:44:37.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In contrast to @Nathan Wheeler's answer (which was accepted), I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you can compensate for an indulgence day with a no-carb/fat day (i.e. just veggies and protein).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you eat healthy during most of the week, you can have one free day a week--as long as you follow it with a no-carb/fat day.  So let's break down what happens when you really over-indulge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You still burn a healthy amount of calories a day.  For the sake of argument let's call it 2000.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In order to gain one pound of fat you have to consume 3500 calories more than what your body burns just breathing and pumping blood.  That's up to 5500 calories in one day to gain one pound of fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes time to digest all that food, and some of the extra weight you see on the scale might just be water retention and/or undigested food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go a whole day without any carbs or fats, your pancreas secretes glucogon which will burn fat.  When eating just the protein sources and vegetables, the insulin never kicks in from six hours after your last indulgence to the next time you have carbs (over 24 hours later after you factor in sleep).  You'll also naturally have a few less calories in that day.  Add to that drinking plenty of water and you'll get rid of the excess water weight due to the over abundance of sodium in your system (I'm assuming you have a full four course meal and a decadent desert here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The combination of remaining in the fat burning state for over 24 hours and extra water are usually more than enough to properly compensate for a full free day a week.  Some people argue (my dietitian being one of them) that it is not only perfectly healthy but preferred to have one indulgence a week.  The problem becomes when you indulge every night of the week...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also assuming you are on a cruise, and you've gained more than one or two pounds over that time frame--you can compensate for that by as many no-carb/fat days as you need to correct.  You'll find that you might be able to compensate in 2-3 days for a full week's worth of damage.  You'll also find that after eating healthy 6 days a week you simply can't fit all the food in one day to truly cause serious weight gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T17:44:37.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1623" CreationDate="2011-05-20T18:06:42.390" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rapid weight loss itself isn't the problem.  The problem is the method used to get that rapid weight loss.  For example, if you starve yourself and work out like a mad man, not only will be quite lethargic, but you are going to put yourself in a state called &lt;em&gt;ketonic acidosis&lt;/em&gt; where your body actually is burning muscles and organs rather than fat.  That's the danger you want to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any safe weight loss is going to ensure you have a proper amount of protein for your body.  The minimum I would suggest is .5g protein per pound of lean body weight (i.e. how much muscle mass you have).  If you have more, don't worry it just helps build up the muscle rather than maintain what you currently have.  Sufficient protein alone will prevent ketonic acidosis, as you can cut out all carbs and fats and put yourself in a state called &lt;em&gt;ketosis&lt;/em&gt;.  That's a feature of a number of diets like Atkins or South Beach.  Of course, you don't have to do that to lose weight.  In addition to the protein, you need the proper amount of vitamins and minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my personal weight loss journey I started at 295, and 5.5 months later I was at 210.  That's an average of 4.5 pounds a week.  That said, my first week was a whopping 9 pound loss.  I did that without feeling sluggish.  I personally found that carbs caused me the most trouble with stalling weight loss--more so than fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address your fatigue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat more frequently, but smaller meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you eat out, eat half the meal there and keep the other half for an afternoon snack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of water (at least 2L a day).  It sounds funny, but it helps me think, and it also helps with the weight loss and rebuilding muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you start cutting the calories more (as you indicated you probably will), I'd start with cutting the carbs first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be helpful to measure yourself at least once a month.  I've had a couple slow weight loss weeks, but have gone down in circumference.  That to me is more encouraging than what the scale reads.  Good luck and keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-20T18:12:30.963" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T18:12:30.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2228" CreationDate="2011-05-20T19:03:27.700" Score="4" ViewCount="129382" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I wake-up (i.e. hear the alarm clock and open my eyes) I experience severe muscle fatigue, that I am hardly able to force myself to move my arms and legs to get-up. I feel like my muscles were extremely weak at that moment, and I also feel pain in them. It feels so bad and weak, that half of the time I am not getting out of bed, and sleep another few hours, although I already had enough sleep, and it doesn't feel any better after the extra sleep - in fact it feels worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do finally manage to get out of bed, the muscle fatigue and pain magically goes away after 15-30 minutes, and during the day I feel completely normal, full of energy and fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter if its after a 2-hour nap or a long 8-hour sleep, its the same fatigue. And I am not feeling sleepy, drowsy or anything like that, I just feel my muscles are extremely weak. I am skinny, 60 kg, but slowly gaining weight, in fact I am tracking my food intake and making sure I get at least 2850 kcal each day, so I have enough energy source. And during the day I am not feeling the fatigue or energy-less, its just right after wake-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might be the cause of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: more info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I measured my blood pressure immediately after wake-up. It was 77/37 mmHg. And that is an average of 10 measurements taken in the 10 minutes after wake-up. That's somehow low, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not that my blood pressure normally during the day is too good, it is on average something around: 95/62 mmHg. After riding on bicycle for an hour it is about 103/64 mmHg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can that have something to do with my wake-up fatigue? What can I do to get my blood pressure to some normal levels?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="679" LastEditorUserId="679" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T19:46:43.943" LastActivityDate="2012-08-19T12:31:30.443" Title="What can cause severe muscle fatigue and even pain at wake-up?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-08-20T03:15:42.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2081" CreationDate="2011-05-20T19:07:28.447" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/128/10/1716.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; you do want to cook your eggs for better bioavailability. As for soft vs hard, I think you should just go with whatever you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The true ileal digestibility of cooked and raw egg protein amounted to 90.9 ± 0.8 and 51.3 ± 9.8%, respectively. A significant negative correlation (r = −0.92, P &amp;lt; 0.001) was found between the 13C-recovery in breath and the recovery of exogenous N in the ileal effluents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, using the 15N-dilution technique we demonstrated that the assimilation of cooked egg protein is efficient, albeit incomplete, and that the true ileal digestibility of egg protein is significantly enhanced by heat-pretreatment.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**&#xA;That study measures &quot;bioavailability&quot; by looking at nitrogen content in the breath. Consider the following quote from that same study:&quot;These studies, however, do not take into account the intense intraluminal bacterial metabolism, and absorption and secretion of nitrogen taking place in the colon (Moran and Jackson 1990). The results thus obtained are therefore devoid of any physiologic significance. &quot;**&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-10-24T12:00:13.760" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T12:00:13.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2110" CreationDate="2011-05-20T19:20:59.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you live in any sort of shared or communal housing (such as a college dorm)? The symptoms you describe are very similar to how I felt when I had &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infectious_mononucleosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mono&lt;/a&gt;.  I'd do some basic research on it and if you feel it might fit, see a doctor.  I made the mistake of trying to ignore it and ended up grappling with the disease for 13 months.  Not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize this is more of a medical answer than a nutrition and fitness one, but in this case the cause might be medical, so I hope I'll be forgiven for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T19:20:59.747" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2115" CreationDate="2011-05-20T22:11:41.097" Score="3" ViewCount="1847" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read over and over again that you can't target specific areas to lose fat in.  Also we know that if we burn more calories than we consume, we lose weight.  My question is then:  Does it make a difference how you burn the calories?  Many &quot;get 6-pack abs&quot; sites talk about the need for cardio.  But if I burn 200 calories running or 200 calories walking, don't I burn the same amount of fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, does it somehow burn &quot;differently&quot;?  If not, from a pure weight and fat-loss standpoint, is there any benefit to cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="966" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T22:45:43.753" Title="Does cardio burn fat differently than burning calories though non-cardio workouts?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2113" CreationDate="2011-05-20T22:44:06.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;benefits to Cardio&lt;/a&gt;; some of which are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthens the heart so it doesn't need to work as hard to pump blood&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increases lung capacity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to think of it this way: Resistance training strengthens your arms, legs, etc. and Cardio strengthens your heart; which is really more important if you think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a low calorie diet without any exercise you will likely loose muscle mass due to your body burning protien (muscle) as well as fat. If you do at least some moderate exercise it will keep your body from feeding off muscles (which may include the heart!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T22:44:06.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2113" CreationDate="2011-05-20T22:45:43.753" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does burn 'differently' in that your heart rate is one of the best ways to figure out precisely what is being burned when you burn a calorie.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/l/aa022601a.htm&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; has a good basic explanation about the fat-burning basics, while &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; has more details about each cardio zone.  Basically, if you are doing moderate intensity workouts, you are burning the maximum amount of fat per calorie you burn.  After the 'red line' threshold, you will start burning pure sugar, which isn't especially helpful when your goal is eliminating weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're just starting out, the chief goal of your cardio workout should be to get to the aerobic training zone and stay there as long as you can.  That is where you will burn fat most efficiently, and it's a moderate pace so you will be able to keep it up long enough to do a number of other awesome exercise related things - get a nice endorphin buzz, build some confidence that yes, you can in fact do this, get sweaty without killing yourself, and all around have some fun with it.  This is something that a lot of people can miss when they're starting to think about exercise - at the end of the day, this is &lt;strong&gt;recreation&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you don't look forward to your workouts, it's time to ask questions and try other exercises until you find something you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get more comfortable and want more of a challenge, you can push yourself into spurts in the higher zones to help build your endurance.  You are burning more calories in the higher zones, so you still might burn more fat calories in the same time even though it's not as efficient (first page points that out too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-20T22:45:43.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2081" CreationDate="2011-05-21T02:58:18.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary benefit of hard boiled over soft boiled is less chance of salmonella, since getting sick would impact your ability to digest food in general, I'd say long term cooking the eggs more thoroughly is nutritionally better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2011-05-21T02:58:18.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2129" CreationDate="2011-05-21T11:37:58.863" Score="2" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using the calculator: &lt;a href=&quot;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm&lt;/a&gt;, I've finally had a chance to work this out properly by measuring myself as last time I did it based on guesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently I have 28.9% body fat.  I weigh 95kg, so that means my lean body weight is 67.55kg.  If you're supposed to have 0.5g of protein per kg of lean body weight, that means I should be getting around 34g of protein daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, if my BMI to lose weight (1lbs weekly) is 1525 calories daily, I am getting the following figures for GDA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;zero exercise days&#xA;calories                1525&#xA;protein                 34&#xA;carbohydrate (max)      183&#xA;- of which sugars       73&#xA;- dietary fibers        24&#xA;fat (max)               58&#xA;- of which saturates    18&#xA;sodium                  3&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a previous question, we should be getting atleast 100g carbs daily.  What is the minimum fat I should be getting if 58g is the max?  And is it normal that the GDA above allows me to have more fat than protein?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:04:35.917" LastActivityDate="2017-01-29T10:01:43.263" Title="Lean body weight protein requirements + GDA" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2125" CreationDate="2011-05-21T18:24:35.940" Score="2" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train a lot: 5 days a week 30-60 minutes of cardio, 4-5 days a week weight lifting (primarily strength training, lots of dead lifts and squats), 3-4 days a week rock climbing and 2 days a week yoga. Recently, I decided to give up all supplements, including protein shakes, and have opted to get all my nutrition from more traditional sources (eg anything that doesn't come in a powder or a pill). So to meet my protein needs, I have started eating approximately 1 lb of top round steak a day. My question is this: given my current regiment, should I be concerned about the negative side effects of consuming so much red meat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="913" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-21T19:41:48.863" LastActivityDate="2011-05-21T19:41:48.863" Title="Dietary Concern: Top Round Steak" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2124" CreationDate="2011-05-21T19:33:16.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing anything specific about your health condition and such, I would suspect the worst that could happen is you'd end up constipated if you're not getting a good amount of fibre with your steak as well. Depending on how recently you did the switch, it might also be an idea to ease yourself into it, so phase out your supplement usage over 1-2 weeks and increase eating steak, chicken, eggs and the like over the same period. I'm also a fan of traditional sources but the abrupt change might (again, depending on your specific situation) be a bit more of a shock than specifically how much you're eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2011-05-21T19:33:16.500" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2094" CreationDate="2011-05-22T06:15:16.220" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Got my hands on the full text of &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Abstract/2004/02000/Creatine_Loading_and_Maintenance_Dosing.7.aspx&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article, and based on a study that compared different creatine dosing strategies, the author came to the following conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if you are seeking a fairly rapid&#xA;  improvement in anaerobic performance&#xA;  and lean body mass, it would be&#xA;  sensible to do a loading phase with&#xA;  Cr. However, if time is not an issue,&#xA;  a dose of 2–4 g daily should be&#xA;  sufficient to fully saturate skeletal&#xA;  muscle within a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles can only hold so much creatine. Many dosage strategies will get you to that maximum level, but some--including creatine loading--will get you there faster than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-05-22T06:15:16.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-22T15:06:17.450" Score="4" ViewCount="11198" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://altmedicine.about.com/od/creatine/a/creatine.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Red meats such as Steak and Salmon do contain some creatine&lt;/a&gt; and provide a natural source. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://altmedicine.about.com/od/creatine/a/creatine.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;much of the creatine is destroyed&lt;/a&gt; from the heat as a result of cooking the meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what temperature is the creatine destroyed? Can you cook steak medium and still have creatine, or does it need to be rare? Also, when cooking salmon, does the creatine get destroyed if you cook the internal temperature of the meat to 140F as recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am pretty much wondering how practical it is to actually get a little extra creatine from eating red meats. Links to sources would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastEditorUserId="940" LastEditDate="2011-07-22T13:59:26.287" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T18:32:16.267" Title="At what temperature is Creatine destroyed when cooking meat?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;meat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-09-29T19:43:43.780" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2127" CreationDate="2011-05-22T15:36:50.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter. The amount of creatine you could possible get from meat, even raw meat, is not significant enough to matter. If you did try to get all your creatine from steak, you'd end up obese from the fat content. If you feel you need more creatine in your diet the only practical way is to supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/creatine-supplements-common-questions-answered.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/creatine-supplements-common-questions-answered.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthy.net/Health/Article/Creatine_How_Much_to_Take_and_When/1188&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.healthy.net/Health/Article/Creatine_How_Much_to_Take_and_When/1188&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-05-22T15:36:50.817" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2120" CreationDate="2011-05-22T17:38:51.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0033OK79O&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition Textbook&lt;/a&gt; I have, there are only established AI's (adequate intake levels) for two particular types of fat: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;linoleic acid&lt;/a&gt; (an omega-6 fatty acid in nuts, seeds, soybean oil, safflower oil, and corn oil) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-Linolenic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alpha-linolenic&lt;/a&gt; acid (an omega-3 fatty acid in soybean and flaxseed oil). The body can synthesize all the other types of fat it needs from these two. To make a long story short, omega-6 fatty acids are inflammatory and omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory, so they work together to keep the body in balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Males aged 19-50 require 17g of linoleic fatty acid per day and females in the same age group require 12g/day. The respective values for alpha-linolenic acid is 1.6 and 1.1 g respectively. Since omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids work in opposition, it is important not to overconsume one and neglect the other. An optional guideline: according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&amp;amp;tax_level=4&amp;amp;tax_subject=256&amp;amp;topic_id=1342&amp;amp;level3_id=5141&amp;amp;level4_id=10588&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine Food and Nutrition Board&lt;/a&gt;, up to 10 percent of the AI for alpha-linolenic can be consumed as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eicosapentaenoic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EPA&lt;/a&gt; and/or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docosahexaenoic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DHA&lt;/a&gt;, which are omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. DHA and EPA have more potent anti-inflammatory effects than alpha-linoleic acid, but they can be synthesized from it if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't mean you should try to cut out all other types of fat. Healthy, whole foods have a variety of fats and other nutrients in them. Fats also help lower glycemic index and carry vitamins. Certain diets, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ketogenic diets&lt;/a&gt; (very low-carb), have higher requirements for fat-intake, so you should also look into diet-specific recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the GDA for protein in a minimum and the GDA for fat is a maximum, I think it makes sense that the value for fat is more than protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-05-22T17:38:51.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2192" CreationDate="2011-05-22T19:58:51.763" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to go to the gym when I was younger, but I have no training or workouts for about 8 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have put on weight, but I want to start again. I love running, but I am afraid I might do something wrong, like over-running, or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does anyone know any guide, tutorial on running? And video would be much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="985" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T06:55:47.397" Title="Some video tutorials for running." Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2144" CreationDate="2011-05-23T01:51:47.570" Score="6" ViewCount="2183" Body="&lt;p&gt;After the previous &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1856/should-i-run-along&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;, I ran for 2 more times and then I stopped running because I felt that I needed to let the knee rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there is the feeling of discomfort in my knees, especially the right one, with no sign of getting better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to train my leg muscle in order to get well? As the previous post suggested, there are 4 kinds of muscle I need to work with. Do I really need to train all 4 kind of muscle? Or is there a type of muscle held more responsible to the pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T12:17:52.253" Title="I want to run but have a bad knee. How should I deal with it?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2147" CreationDate="2011-05-23T03:01:12.410" Score="3" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is somewhat of a craze about Raw-food diets going around recently, including some of my friends that have gotten into it. For an adult it is their prerogative, what they put in their stomachs, but a child has different nutritional needs from a full grown adult. I was wondering if there is any research or information on the effects of feeding a child (say 1-10 years old, after weaning)  a raw food diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="448" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T19:41:45.033" Title="Raw Diet for Growing Children" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-08-07T07:44:41.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2138" CreationDate="2011-05-23T07:14:06.470" Score="8" ViewCount="23782" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been a sport junkie, running once a week 15 miles, doing weight lifting and practicing kettlebells. After the new year the doctors found a tumor in my chest and luckily now after the treatment I can begin to train and continue with normal life. Anyway the therapy affected the power and endurance of the body and since before the disease I wasn't used to such circumstances now I am a little lost regarding the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I haven't lost much power and am able to lift almost the same weights as before, the endurance is really low right now and I would appreciate if anyone could suggest what kind of weight training (is it better to begin with lower weights and do more repetitions, is it good to train every day...) and running (should I maintain a constant heart rate or is it better to do intervals, is it better to run long distances or is it better to run shorter distances at higher heart rate...) would be appropriate to get back in shape and regain the endurance in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="270" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T16:41:02.247" Title="How to regain endurance after a long period of rest?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2150" CreationDate="2011-05-23T08:24:52.653" Score="5" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 km bicycle commute to and from work five days a week that I try to keep going all year round. This is the only exercise I get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I pedal like crazy (but still abide by the traffic rules) I can make it in 24 minutes and be all sweaty when I arrive. My other alternative is do it in about 30 minutes and not break a sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a convenience perspective I'd prefer to spend the 6 extra minutes and arrive fresh, but I'm wondering what's best from a long term health perspective? Will exhausting my self give more in terms lowered risk of heart disease etc? And how much of a difference will it make?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1088" LastEditorUserId="1088" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T07:37:05.957" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T07:37:05.957" Title="How to optimize long term health benefits of 30 minute bicycle commute" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2197" CreationDate="2011-05-23T08:50:07.113" Score="1" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Managed to get all nutritional values correct, and have got the calories upto 1000.  Still missing 500 calories.  If everything else is ok, but calories are missing 500, is that OK for health reasons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the spreadsheet: &lt;a href=&quot;https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al-CN3-vjUYvdG9SNXgtcmVNcEUyRFdyWE5EZzdqNXc&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;authkey=CJ_6xJ8G#gid=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al-CN3-vjUYvdG9SNXgtcmVNcEUyRFdyWE5EZzdqNXc&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;authkey=CJ_6xJ8G#gid=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't save the old version, but here is a newer version:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al-CN3-vjUYvdHlHbTNHZnVvalRya0RkZmdhMloyTWc&amp;amp;hl=en_US&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al-CN3-vjUYvdHlHbTNHZnVvalRya0RkZmdhMloyTWc&amp;amp;hl=en_US&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is working out to about 500 calories less than I need, but too much fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ORIGINAL QUESTION:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my BMI, my GDA is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;zero exercise days&#xA;calories                1525&#xA;protein                 34&#xA;carbohydrate (max)      183&#xA;- of which sugars       73&#xA;- dietary fibers        24&#xA;fat (max)               58&#xA;- of which saturates    18&#xA;sodium                  3&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have converted this into 1 meal so far and roughly get the right amount of everything in the list above from protein to sodium.  For example 35g protein, 100g carbs, 50g fat, almost 3g sodium etc etc.  But it's only working out to around 500 calories...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am not sure what to do now.  Is 500 calories enough if all the other values have been reached, or do I need to triple all the values just to get 1500ish calories, or do I need to get 1500ish calories without tripling the other values?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="345" LastEditDate="2011-05-27T08:54:40.690" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T08:54:40.690" Title="Only 500 Calories even though other GDA values have been achieved" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:32:33.060" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2011-05-23T09:58:36.087" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try to answer your question from my own experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to smoke a lot, almost a package of cigarettes daily. I still had a fair amount of strength, and am a slim person by natural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, I decided to work on my endurance, my stamina. I ran on the treadmill next to an overweight woman, and &lt;strong&gt;couldn't run more than five minutes without gasping for air&lt;/strong&gt;. My heart was pumping so hard it made me dizzy. That made me realise - being 24 years old at that time - that it was time to change my life drastically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How did I accomplish this?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Build up gradually, and be determined. The mental conquer was - for me - far greater than the physical, as you have to keep pushing yourself further, even though it aches, burns in your lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started riding a stationary bike, as the running was too intense at first. I didn't ride it daily but every other day, as I wanted to allow my slowly recovering physique and muscles to recover fully before the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After two months, I started jogging on the treadmill, doing intervals. This way, I could push my endurance further and further, whilst giving myself time to recover.&#xA;I followed this scheme: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 minutes of walking ( warmup prevents cramps in calves )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 minutes of jogging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 minute of walking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 minutes of jogging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 minute of walking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 minutes of jogging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cool down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As weeks and months passed, I increased speed and jogged longer periods before slowing down pace to walking speed. I always kept this interval principal as it allowed my recovering to improve. I think it is important to push your limits, but don't exagerate as it will do you more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I quit smoking for over 8 months now, and am able to run 45 minutes on average 12km/h. I do sweat a lot, however I am recovered within ten minutes of rest. This improvement has made me determined to stay off cigarettes and live a healthy life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="494" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T09:58:36.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2143" CreationDate="2011-05-23T11:25:16.457" Score="1" ViewCount="921" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read various websites that talk about gluten-free baking or low glycemic index foods but how does these things differ from low carb diets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="471" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-23T18:15:41.020" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T19:54:16.280" Title="How does gluten-free differ from low carb diets (primal, paleo, etc)?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:01:10.977" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2011-05-23T11:50:00.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like your body isn't (currently) built for running. Give it up and shoot for some other form of exercise instead, at least for the time being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd go with &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. Squats do great things for legs and knees, assuming you use correct form and follow the program (i.e. start light and get proper restitution). Perhaps after a few months you'll be fit for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastEditorUserId="525" LastEditDate="2011-05-23T12:11:54.637" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T12:11:54.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2141" CreationDate="2011-05-23T12:23:31.190" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer to gluten is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;gluten&lt;/em&gt; comes from wheat&lt;/a&gt;.  It's one source of carbs out of many.  It's in important part of baking, but a significant number of people have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten_sensitivity&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;celiac disease&lt;/em&gt; or some other form of gluten sensitivity&lt;/a&gt;.  As a result they &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; a gluten free diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo_diet&quot;&gt;paleo diet&lt;/a&gt; and diets similar to that avoid all grains.  They associate a number of bad things with grains and claim that our paleolithic ancestors didn't eat like that.  Since no-one is still alive from that era, this is of course an educated guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This much we do know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The organ most affected by carbs is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreas&quot;&gt;pancreas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pancreas secretes &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin&quot;&gt;insulin&lt;/a&gt; when the blood sugar gets high, which plays a role in regulating blood sugar and trapping excess sugar as fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pancreas also secretes &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagon&quot;&gt;glucagon&lt;/a&gt; when the blood sugar gets low, which plays a role in regulating blood sugar and converting fat to blood sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foods with a high glycemic impact will cause the pancreas to secrete more insulin than those with a low glycemic impact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For people who are very sensitive to insulin levels due to being insulin resistant or diabetic, you absolutely have to avoid the high glycemic impact foods.  However, it doesn't hurt people without those ailments to avoid high glycemic impact foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Paleo diet claims that a more natural source of carbs would be your whole vegetables--particularly the ones that you do not have to dig to get (i.e. not tubers like potatoes).  The general concept that the more processed a food becomes the less healthy is fairly sound.  In short the body doesn't have to work as hard to break it down and incorporate it, and the processing tends to remove the most useful elements from the food (vitamins and minerals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I personally think that the Paleo diet takes certain aspects too far, such as removing all grains and legumes from your diet, in general there's enough to its principles to learn from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T12:23:31.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2011-05-23T12:37:40.533" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read you previous post and wonder why you're not seeing a Dr. or a Sports Therapist to determine what the issue is with your knees.  I go by the old advice of 'if it hurts, don't do it'.  If you continue to run, you run the risk of doing more damage.  If you do need to build up the muscles, tendons, etc. around your knees, I would recommend VERY light squats - and also look into the type of sneaker you're using for running and the surface you're running on.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T12:37:40.533" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2011-05-23T15:26:59.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Under normal circumstances I would suggest interval training. If you Google &quot;couch to 5k&quot; or &quot;couch to 10k&quot; you'll find plenty of example workouts over a period of a month or two which are designed for a mostly sedentary person to work their way gradually up to having the endurance needed for a 5k or 10k run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen at least one study which showed that endurance is specific to particular exercises. What I mean is, if you run to build up your endurance then you'll have better endurance for running but not necessarily for rowing or swimming or even biking. Of course, there's some crossover, especially in the early going. When you first start endurance training much of your gains are from improved lung and heart function. Before long though, the added endurance is from the improved ability of the local muscles to process O2 and calories to generate energy (if you can find a copy of &quot;VO2 Max&quot; by Health for Life it's a good read on this subject). Since you use different muscles for different exercises this causes the activity specific improvements that I mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean? Well, if you want to improve your endurance when weight lifting then you might want to use a regimen that effectively turns your lifting into interval training. Keep up a fast pace in the gym, which may mean lighter weights. For variety (and to shock your muscles) I would occasionally mix in a heavy workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IMPORTANT:&lt;/strong&gt; This would be my advice under normal circumstances. Please run any of this by your doctor first. Sometimes when a patient asks their doctor if they can start exercising again after a major health issue the doctor doesn't consider the extent/type/intensity that the person will be doing. This isn't a criticism of doctors, but they're all pretty busy. Hopefully they think to ask, &quot;What kind of exercise&quot;, but it can get missed and they might just assume, &quot;He's just going to be doing light jogging once in awhile&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T15:26:59.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2133" CreationDate="2011-05-23T19:41:45.033" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This entirely depends on the specifics of your 'raw food' diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people use raw food diets to describe a diet that is very low in artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and other non-natural additives.  Others use it to describe a diet where you simply don't cook anything.  One makes sense, another absolutely does not.  Finding research specific to your question is going to be very difficult, though.  The annoying thing is that the question of whether a raw-foods diet is healthier for you is one of the easiest things to answer, but one of the hardest things to prove.  Everything we know about the body points away from using the over-processed junk that's wormed its way into our food supply over the last 80-90 years.  However, proving that this junk causes diseases in a controlled study is practically impossible because there are so many variables in human digestion that can't be properly isolated and eliminated.  Even if you were to sustain an experiment group completely on TV dinners and noted a huge uptick in cancer rates, there's no way to say for certain what ingredient or system of ingredients in the TV dinners did it, or even that the experiment group wasn't just more prone to cancer to begin with.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best one can do at this point in time is to look at the what facts we do know about the human body decide what to believe for yourself. To more fully answer your question, I'll go over a few variations of 'raw foods' diets with some rationales you should find fairly simple to verify or disprove on your own.  I would link a ton of websites but most of my learning comes out of textbooks given to me by health professionals - I can't easily make it available for Internet consumption due to logistics and copyright laws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Basic&quot; raw foods diets, where one simply cuts out things like high fructose corn syrup, preservatives like sodium nitrate, bleached white flours, and so forth should perform very well in children.  Meat is cooked and consumed in this diet, and grains are used in a balance with everything else (instead of eaten heavily, like the 'food pyramid' plan).  So, these are basic foods like spinach, eggs, milk, ham, beef, nuts, whole-wheat bread, and natural corn. There is no reason why this would not perform well in children because their digestive systems are getting precisely what they expect to get; nothing more and nothing less.  The foods in this diet have been consumed for hundreds or thousands of years and there is absolutely no evidence of harm coming to their consumers (excepting special cases such as food allergies).  The range of allowed foods provides all the things the body has been known to need, and a largely unaltered state.  A variation of this one is the &quot;vegetarian&quot; raw foods diet, where one doesn't eat meat but does consume animal by-products like milk and eggs.  This one needs a little more vigilance due to the voracious vitamin needs of children, but again does not pose any particular deficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;Vegan&quot; raw-foods diet has a few warning signs on it.  In this diet, no animals or animal by-products are consumed.  In adults, this can work alright if the adult does not have a big need for physical conditioning or labor.  In children, muscle, bone, and sinew gains are guaranteed.  The entire vitamin B complex is crucial for the growth and maintenance of these things and a vegan diet is critically deficient in it.  A vegan diet can procure some parts of the B complex, but you cannot get significant quantities of real, natural &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&amp;amp;dbid=107&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;B12&lt;/a&gt; without consuming animals or animal by-products.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&amp;amp;dbid=108&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;B6&lt;/a&gt; is also difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities to support a youthful growth spurt, though adults have much less trouble getting enough.  &quot;Vegan&quot; supplements of B-vitamins are often derived from mineral or crystalline sources that your body cannot digest at all, so these too are no substitute.  An 'herbivore' diet such as this one also doesn't make a huge amount of sense from a physiological standpoint.  Most herbivores have intestinal tracts that are around 10 times their length from hip to shoulder.  Humans fall short of this, usually around 6-8 times.  Humans also lack the multi-chambered stomachs and specially formulated enzymes that most pure herbivores have to get the most out of their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;pure&quot; raw-foods diet would be what Barbie was talking about above.  Meat is eaten, but it is not cooked and eaten raw like everything else.  For now, let's ignore the multitude health risks from routinely eating uncooked meat (as a matter of fact, I think this would be construed as child endangerment in many states in the USA).  The practice of eating raw meat doesn't make sense from a cursory look at the human digestive tract.  Compared to a pure carnivore, such as a lion, our average stomach pH is much closer to neutral and our intestines themselves have a smaller diameter, providing less surface area for partially digested meat chunks to be absorbed.  Cooking is what allows us to get the maximum amount of nutrition out of meat for the least amount of risk.  In fact, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/2764-cooking-cognition-humans-smart.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some theories&lt;/a&gt; that the extra nutrition from cooking is part of what made humans smart enough to form societies in the first place.  Children have a very pronounced need for that extra nutrition, as they are physically growing on a near daily basis.  Presenting that nutrition in an inherently harder to digest format does not seem to be a terribly rational thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T19:41:45.033" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2136" CreationDate="2011-05-23T19:42:48.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Varied types and intensities and durations of exercise will challenge your body more than consistent repeated activities. An activity that doesnt make you sweat is not much of an exercise. I would ride hard some days and easy some days, maybe adjusted according to which days you have time to shower :) Also consider intervals, different routes to include hills, and some days of longer rides or even walking/jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T19:42:48.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2136" CreationDate="2011-05-23T20:14:53.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like many things, the answer to this question depends entirely on what your goals are.  I'm going to go out on something of a limb and say that you seem more interested in weight maintenance and heart/lung tone than you do on training or strength gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take a look &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/l/aa022601a.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;links&lt;/a&gt; to get a feeling for what's going on when your heart is at various levels of intensity.  Once you find the description that suits your goals best, you will want to stay at or near that zone for as long as possible.  For your purposes, I'd guess that you'd be most interested in the aerobic zone, which is a fairly comfortable pace that you should be able to maintain for almost all of your bike ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get an idea of where you are in your heart rate, just put your fingers on your neck and count the beats for 15 seconds while you wait for a stop light or something.  You will probably get used to what the zone 'feels' like pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T20:14:53.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2152" CreationDate="2011-05-23T21:01:49.550" Score="4" ViewCount="576" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I am looking for a 30 min. cardio workout for 3 times a week. Goal is to reduce resting heart rate and improve general fitness. Which is better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elliptical trainer (say: max resistance, 90-110 rpm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running (say: 5:00 min/km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference, or is it just about getting a good pulse rate during workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1092" LastEditorUserId="1092" LastEditDate="2011-05-23T21:11:15.293" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T16:19:14.653" Title="Elliptical trainer vs. running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2151" CreationDate="2011-05-23T21:30:05.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There will be some minor differences in how you develop, but as far as your goals go as long as you keep your heart rate in the correct zone (check &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/l/aa022601a.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;links&lt;/a&gt; if you need info on what's correct), you'll be making progress toward your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T21:30:05.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2011-05-23T23:43:03.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same problem with my right knee. In my case the problem was that my knee cap does not slide up and down in the correct position. I saw a physiotherapist who told me to run with my right foot turned in slightly. It was harder on the muscles in my thigh at first but the knee stopped hurting. I'm not saying it's the same for you but it might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1093" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T23:43:03.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2435" CreationDate="2011-05-24T07:45:06.667" Score="10" ViewCount="13555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that during my workouts in the gym my elbow and knee joints are getting unusually warm, warmer than the rest of the leg/arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal or is this a sign that something is wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I don't have any pain, I'm doing all my exercises super accurate and I'm not overdoing it with the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As requested some more information about my current situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 years old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three times a week 60-90 minutes of mixed weight/cardio training targeted at weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 116 kg (started at 130 kg a year ago)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-01T04:38:27.867" LastActivityDate="2012-06-09T23:32:31.147" Title="Why do my joints get unusually hot during workouts?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2160" CreationDate="2011-05-24T07:57:19.407" Score="3" ViewCount="815" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any precautions for avoiding hernia when performing weightlifting? When doing exercises at the preacher curl bench, it feels as if my organs are strained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can weightlifting belts aid in this or are they only good for your back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels like my organs get pushed farther away from their &quot;&lt;em&gt;rest position&lt;/em&gt;&quot; when performing the exercises stated above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="510" LastEditorUserId="510" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T09:37:44.313" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T13:04:22.873" Title="Avoiding hernia" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;hernia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-24T09:32:24.553" Score="3" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing the 100 push up and 200 sit up programs but they are only 6 weeks long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I worry that in ten weeks I will back how I am now as I am a bit of a lazy person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm only interested in general fitness and gaining a bit of strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought I could just repeat the last week of the plan over and over but I feel the motivation will disappear as the reps get quite high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;how can I maintain the gains I make without having to train intensively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1089" LastEditorUserId="1089" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T09:53:44.263" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T14:01:28.150" Title="Maintaining gains after finishing a training program" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2156" CreationDate="2011-05-24T12:29:07.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer?  &lt;strong&gt;Keep doing it!&lt;/strong&gt;  The idea of these programs are to get you to a point where you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do all these push ups and sit ups.  Same with the Couch-to-5k/10k programs.  Building up your stamina and your strength sensibly is only part of the battle.  The remainder is to keep it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I don't know about you, but the idea of doing a bunch of push ups and sit ups doesn't sound like it will keep my interest for very long.  So an alternative to keeping up with the existing program is to transition to another type of program that will challenge you further.  If your goal is strength, you can only get so far with just your body weight.  You might consider transitioning to weight training, or progressively adding weight to your body (such as the barbell plates on your back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can also pursue another area of fitness.  If you ever fancied running, martial arts, biking, or swimming, those are all different challenges to keep you going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T12:29:07.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="450" CreationDate="2011-05-24T12:38:37.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that your body needs time to recover.  A challenging strength training session will require 48 hours rest for the muscles to be fully recovered--and sometimes longer.  However, it is possible to mix cardio and weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally follow this format 3x/week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio second&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Katas third (you have to be able to perform tired)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, martial arts do require regular practice so that the movements become second nature and you don't have to think about them.  If you do cardio every day, what you'll see is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes longer for your muscles to recover, martial arts uses your whole body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will stall quicker on your weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It will take longer to attain your strength goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it sounds like the strength training is supplementary to your martial arts, that's probably OK.  You might consider only doing strength training 2x/week but still using progressive loading (increasing by 5lbs each session).  I only work out 3x/week, but that is because I'm focusing on the strength training right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T12:38:37.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2011-05-24T12:48:20.120" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sensei has always taught me that speed and power are in the technique.  If you get the technique down, the rest will come.  He also taught me that all my power comes from the core--or body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both your punches and your kicks originate in your hips, and the rest of your muscles support it.  That's how you can generate enough power to break a board only 3&quot; away from your fist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the way I've been taught, any time I increase my core strength, I'm increasing the speed and power with which I can deliver both a punch and a kick.  Concentrate on your technique/form and the rest will follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed comes from knowing the technique so well you don't even have to think about it.  It just happens.  When you've trained your body to react to a strike a certain way, you can block and counter it without active thought.  It's that edge that makes you fast.  And if your body knows what to do without thinking, the timing also comes more naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T12:48:20.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2155" CreationDate="2011-05-24T13:04:22.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001956/#adam_000960.disease.causes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;general causes for a hernia&lt;/a&gt; as relates to this question include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy lifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poor nutrition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overexertion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, I'll go out on a limb and say that the overexertion and heavy lifting required to cause a hernia are when it is above and beyond what the body is prepared to handle.  If you have gone up in weights more quickly than you are really prepared for, then you might be in danger.  Particularly if your core is not already strong enough to support what you are doing at the preacher curl bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weightlifting belts are meant to provide stability in your core.  It will compress your organs even more.  It appears that the hernia is more related to the muscle tissue than the organs themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T13:04:22.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2161" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2426" CreationDate="2011-05-24T13:32:57.277" Score="5" ViewCount="620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing the Strong Lifts 5x5 program for about 4 weeks now, and I'm starting to get to some substantial weight.  I follow that with cardio work and finish with a bunch of stretching.  Up until I do the stretching, I feel good.  I don't have any pain after I do my squats, deadlifts, or barbell rows (the lifts that might affect my lower back more if I do them wrong).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's after I do my stretching that I start to have some lower back pain.  It goes away before the next time I lift, but for a day and a half I'm sore.  I have a feeling that I'm doing something wrong, or at least should be avoiding one of the stretches (and I know which one it is).  However, I want to make sure I have some decent flexibility overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some stretches that are recommended for doing squats properly and they will remain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shoulder dislocations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat-2-stands-flexibility-mobility-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squat 2 Stands with Overhead Reach&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesmat/ss/hip-flexor-stretch-lunge.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lunge stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I get to stretching the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadriceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hips (specifically the hip aducters)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm feeling like I need some improvement.  My hamstrings are more flexible than my lower back.  As a result when I sit and lean forward, the only place I feel the stretch is my lower back.  When I hold my legs to deepen the stretch I get lower back pain like I stretched the back too far.  It goes away by the end of the second day, but this is the stretch that I'm thinking I need to remove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do I correct the flexibility imbalances that I have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: My goal is increasing my range of mobility (ROM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T17:53:22.987" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T17:08:34.507" Title="How do I come up with a good stretching routine for post workout?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2156" CreationDate="2011-05-24T14:01:28.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short term programs and diets often lead you back to where you were - or worse.  I would recommend finding a sport/activity that you would be interested in long term and setting your goals to be good at that (golf, volleyball, swimming, hiking, etc.).  You can alternatively focus on the results you're seeing/feeling now and imagine what it would be to keep/improve on those - I don't know if that would be enough to keep you going long term...but every person has different motivating points.  I think the key to any successful, positive change is realizing that there will be a life style change (diet, time for exercising, etc.) - but it's a positive change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T14:01:28.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-24T14:12:24.667" Score="5" ViewCount="12844" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a casual runner who tends to come in mid-pack on a 5K race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I really push myself on a 4-mile run, as I get toward the end my heart rate approaches 190 BPM and my fingertips and lips feel tingly.  Is that from lack of oxygen?  Am I getting fit or am I being stupid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="400" LastActivityDate="2021-03-15T00:15:24.653" Title="Tingling in fingertips and lips on a hard run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2166" CreationDate="2011-05-24T14:39:38.077" Score="43" ViewCount="114226" Body="&lt;p&gt;For as long as I can remember, I've heard the question &quot;can you touch your toes?&quot; asked by people trying to ascertain another person's physical fitness. I've grown up thinking that being able to touch your toes was a basic ability that every healthy person should have, and that not being able to do it meant that you were in bad shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have actually never been able to touch my toes. If I keep my knees locked and bend over I actually can't get the tips of my fingers much closer than 8 inches to my toes. I've been stretching for over a month now in an attempt to remedy this, but aside from a somewhat unpleasant feeling in my lower back and thighs, my efforts haven't seen much results as of yet. And now I'm starting to ask myself, &quot;why is this even important?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that what I thought was common knowledge and/or common sense is completely wrong? Are there people that just can't touch their toes, period, end of story? In short - &lt;strong&gt;is it important that I become flexible enough to touch my toes, and if so, why?&lt;/strong&gt; If this actually is important to my athletic ability and/or physical health, I'll keep at it. But maybe it isn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Edit 2011-05-31:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really appreciate the answers so far, they have been quite informative. However, I'm having a hard time marking any one of them as the official &quot;accepted&quot; answer, because I don't see a direct, definitive answer among them. Ivo Flipse's comment seems to me to be the most direct answer, but I'd really appreciate if someone could provide an answer (preferably linked to a authoritative source) that specifically mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the majority of healthy, active people can touch their toes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to tell if you have the potential to be able to do this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What sort of activities/situations are helped by having this flexibility, or hindered by not having it? If flexibility prevents injuries, what sort of injuries are likely if one doesn't have this flexibility?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks again for everyone's help. If I don't get a better answer in the next few days, I'll accept YYY's answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="323" LastEditDate="2011-05-31T14:48:17.800" LastActivityDate="2013-05-15T08:49:06.753" Title="How important is it that a person be able to touch their toes?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2163" CreationDate="2011-05-24T14:52:22.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you are experiencing a lack of blood flow, and thus oxygen deprivation, to those parts of your body. Most of your blood will be pumping through your legs (actually, your legs are helping to push blood through your heart) and less will be flowing to other areas of the body, specifically areas level with or above the heart will take the largest deficit of blood flow and oxygen. If you are experiencing a tingling sensation like that, then you need to slow down and let your body regain some oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are running with your arms out, or your elbows bent at greater than a 90 degree angle, you are more likely to experience the tingling in your fingers. Your hands will likely be raised higher than your heart, and an increased bend in your elbow will also create a tighter area for the blood to pump through. You can't really lower your head below your heart when you're running though, and your brain is in your head, so if you are experiencing a lack of oxygen to your fingers and lips, you are also experiencing a lack of oxygen to your brain, and this can cause damage or in extreme cases even be fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I run, my heart rate used to get up to around 185 and I didn't experience any of those symptoms, so I would think that it is likely not just your BPM but also the amount of oxygen you are consuming and burning. You may need to control your breathing a little better by taking longer, deeper breaths. If you are overdoing it, breathing like this will slow you down on it's own, since you will start hyperventilating if you are running too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You aren't really doing yourself any favors by running that hard. The amount of energy, in calories, that is expended during a hard run is barely higher than the amount expended in a slower run (on the magnitude of around 20 calories per mile). According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburnedrunning.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt;, the amount of calories expended (and work done) per mile is exactly the same at 5 miles per hour and 10 miles per hour, you just get more miles in the same amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T14:52:22.533" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2011-05-24T14:55:28.390" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your flexibility is inversely related to how injury-prone you are.  The more flexible you are, the less likely you are to accidentally injure yourself during training.  This is true of major injuries, but it is also true of minor injuries that leave you stiff and sore for 3-4 days (when you should be bouncing back after 1 day of rest, ideally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility also means that you're less likely to hurt yourself in a fall or other accident as you age.  In terms of intensity of workout to health benefit, flexibility training will give you the biggest payout of almost any exercise out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, I'm not sure why you're having so much trouble limbering up.  My suspicion is that you are not performing the stretches properly, or the stretches you are doing aren't addressing your real issue.  A personal trainer would be able to tell you more simply because they can physically look at you and see how your body is working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T14:55:28.390" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2168" CreationDate="2011-05-24T15:15:30.847" Score="4" ViewCount="1039" Body="&lt;p&gt;From time to time people have suggested to me that I see a personal trainer. However, what I've read and also seen firsthand suggests to me that a lot of personal trainers aren't really good at making people fit and/or don't necessarily know what they're supposed to be teaching. Teaching people to do exercises with bad form, routinely working people out until they puke, etc, are things I've seen. Fear that getting bad advice from a trainer would be worse than not seeing one at all has thus far prevented me from seriously looking into this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is - if I were to see a personal trainer, how could I be sure to find one who really knows their stuff? Is there a special certification beyond the basic license (in the US) that I should look for? Are there certain questions I can ask? Do you even get to interview a trainer before you schedule a session with them? I really have no idea where to even start with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T16:09:34.297" Title="How do you find a good personal trainer?" Tags="&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2167" CreationDate="2011-05-24T15:34:25.080" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, firstly, if you're not outright given a chance to talk to a personal trainer before you start working with them, you should assertively insist upon being allowed to do so.  You're absolutely within your rights to know who you're working with.  Before I settled on my current gym, I went to multiple gyms and my interviews of the nutritionists and trainers there were extremely thinly veiled.  I never once had one of them look at me cross-eyed for my questions.  Sometimes it can be difficult to get the time to ask your questions, since some gyms have their staff very busy, but if you can get the time there isn't a soul who will find qualifying questions odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what to ask, the best thing you can ask is 'What's the plan for getting me to my goals?'  This puts the trainer's deeper understanding of a program on the spot.  If they give you a reply that focuses on specific muscle groups, specific exercises, or specific numbers, you can be assured that their knowledge is pretty shallow and you probably don't want to work with them.  Real trainers know that the numbers follow the program, not the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good sign in answers to this question is the trainer talking about specific sub-goals to get you to your final goal.  If your goal is to put on 15 pounds of muscle, you might hear that the first step is flexibility training, the second step is toning what you already have, and then the third step is full-on strength training to increase muscle size.  Another good sign is to hear these sub-goals, and then hear an acknowledgment of a cycle of changing sub-goals.  The body is very much interconnected, so you cannot simply do one thing all the time - this will cause other health problems.  I met a bodybuilder at a local chiropractor's office who literally tore a ligament in his shoulder because his bicep was too big and heavy for it.  That's a very extreme result of constant strength training without changing goals, but it can happen and a personal trainer needs to be aware of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Another good question to ask is to inquire how many other people they're currently training, and how many people have similar goals to you.  If a trainer is seeing 15 people that all want to train for athletic competitions and you're the only one who is interested in good, old-fashioned health, it's not a good fit simply because of the trainer's current focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T15:34:25.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2439" CreationDate="2011-05-24T15:53:20.500" Score="6" ViewCount="7300" Body="&lt;p&gt;So today I had my &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MneUU.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;first run with my Vibram Bikila's&lt;/a&gt;, but strangely enough I ended up with blisters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n7L40.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked the inside of the Vibrams and saw there were some stitching's on the place where approximately my blisters are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sdtOL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm wondering why I got blisters in the first place and whether its to be expected to go away. If not, what should I do to prevent getting blisters or should I just 'bite the bullet' and wait until I get some callus there or the material softens a little?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T17:31:26.947" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T12:39:54.283" Title="Why do I get blisters from wearing Vibrams?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2205" CreationDate="2011-05-24T15:59:11.853" Score="3" ViewCount="1447" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is sleeping while not lying down (for example in a train or in a car) not as good as sleeping lying down in bed? How do you compare 1 hour sleep in a car vs an additional 1 hour night sleep in bed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T11:01:34.657" Title="Sleeping while not lying down" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="450" CreationDate="2011-05-24T16:03:16.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, as a general matter of fact you suppose to change your workout routine in every 3-4 weeks. Because your body gets use to it and you probably will be hitting a plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About cardio+weight lifting combination the best thing to do is seperating cardio from weight training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also lift weights at least for 3-4 days of week and add some cardio. But never workout 7 days of the week. You should take a day off, so your muscles can recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance workout 2 days, 1 day off, workout 3 days, 1 day off and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way is to split your cardio session and do it during your weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance go for chest, do 3x3 sets, hit 10 mins cardio, shoulder exercises, 10 min cardio, abs, 10 min cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all up to you tbh and your training intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T16:03:16.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2151" CreationDate="2011-05-24T16:19:14.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't do cardio to build up muscle. It's essential for your cardiovascular health and it's the best way to burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's not really &quot;that much&quot; important whether you do elliptical or run on a threadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure that your heart beat rate is between optimal rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, for me optimal range is 140-160. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have no idea about your's, ask for assistance to a trainer in your gym or a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also some calculators on web which can give you a rough idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T16:19:14.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2011-05-24T16:31:13.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most likely &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blister&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cause for the blisters&lt;/a&gt; is the forceful rubbing of the Vibrams on your foot during the run.  The fact that the stitching matches where you got the blisters supports the fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to prevent the blisters, you have a couple options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep causing them until your foot develops callouses to provide a natural barrier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add your own barrier between the foot and the shoe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Socks do provide a nice barrier that allows the shoe to rub the sock while the sock stays fairly motionless against the foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative is to tape your foot, or use gauze over the most affected areas of your foot.  While both of these options prevent the natural formation of callouses they also prevent the primary cause of the blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T16:31:13.213" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-24T18:19:15.870" Score="-1" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently using a  good, but cheap, weight lifting belt - and looking to upgrade.  I heard that one that is the same width all around is the best.  Can you recommend a good one/brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T18:40:53.850" Title="What weight lifting belt would you recommend?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-12-31T01:55:21.897" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2174" CreationDate="2011-05-24T18:40:53.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a little searching and found both some recommendations and some counter arguments.  The general opinion is that you get what you pay for.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.afboard.com/forum/showthread.php?24133-Lifting-Belt-Recommendation&amp;amp;s=3a96feba97fe431d0197310d8b94e3ea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;So first a thread covering the recommendations&lt;/a&gt;.  The most recommendations I saw were for single prong Inzer belts, and nothing on whether it should be the same all the way around or wider in the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/weight-lifting-belts-to-wear-or-not-to-wear/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;counterpoint&lt;/a&gt; is also worth looking into.  Essentially the points put forward by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.backfitpro.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stuart McGill&lt;/a&gt; are that belts don't help unless:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You've injured your back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have bad technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to lift a few more pounds than you are currently capable of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More concerning is the idea that an injury while wearing the belt will be &lt;em&gt;worse&lt;/em&gt; than if not wearing a belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to recommendations.... &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=20502&amp;amp;s=d9606a61e1634fe3ae66a5afdaa97ac9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength forum's first recommendations&lt;/a&gt; were for &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestbelts.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bestbelts.net&lt;/a&gt;.  Inzer got another recommendation there.  Again the recommendation is for single prong belts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T18:40:53.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2240" CreationDate="2011-05-24T19:04:26.077" Score="4" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is kind of strange question, but I'm wondering if there's a specific name for the type of movement I'm describing (I'm not sure if it's a &quot;real&quot; yoga movement or what) - I have tried to search for this but can't come up with anything so I figured I'd try here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often when at yoga, I'll have my feet behind my body (say in downward dog, for example), and the teacher will tell us to move them forward (e.g. so we end up sitting on our rear ends with our legs out in front of us).  I realized I could support myself with my hands, and lift my legs off the ground, and move them (still off the ground) in front of me.  In other words, I'm basically rotating so my feet/legs/waist move through the space between my chest and the floor, and the only parts of my body that's touching the floor are my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that's descriptive enough.  My question is if there is a specific name for types of movements like this, because I really like the balance and strength that they require, and would like to learn more similar movements and get tips on them.  I guess in some ways they are similar to inversions but the only search results for that are actual headstands and stuff like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any information you might be able to give...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="966" LastActivityDate="2011-10-08T12:59:57.990" Title="Is there a name for this type of yoga/balance movement?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2011-05-24T19:51:31.773" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Body shape has a lot to do with it.  I've got really long legs and short arms, so it would take a huge amount of angle for me to be able to touch my toes (which I can't).  My 80 year old grandmother always used to be able to (and might still), but her legs are very short compared to her arms...  She can do it without stretching anything at all, whereas for me I'm doing huge amount of stretching and not even able to reach!  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="758" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T19:51:31.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2011-05-24T20:03:45.463" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have also never been able to touch my toes, not even close, even in military basic training.  I found out much later that I have an extra vertebra.  It was never an issue of limberness.  It wouldn't hurt to ask your doctor why you can't, everything else is pure conjecture.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1099" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T20:03:45.463" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2095" CreationDate="2011-05-24T21:25:29.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;5 grams with your post-workout shake is the best way to take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have it for 8 weeks then givve a 4 weeks of, but some people don't even cycle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no known any side effects for creatine if you consume it responsibly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people talk about kidney failure etc but it's more about consuming right amount of water every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T21:25:29.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4228" CreationDate="2011-05-24T21:44:17.100" Score="12" ViewCount="3025" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume this is a very atypical question for this community, but I believe it's on-topic, so, I'll go ahead with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was hoping someone could help me resolve the problem of overcoming fear. To be more specific, I tend to have problems when training back flips or back handsprings. I always train them in a gym on very soft mattress, where I can hardly hurt myself. There's really no harm at stake. When thinking about it rationally, I do realise this fact. Also, I'm already in a stage where I can perform them at least in a way where I don't hit the ground in a wrong way, so basically, there's absolutely no reason why I should worry when training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, when standing there on the spot, seconds before performing a certain jump, I feel fear and I never give my maximum power to the jump, therefore never doing it as perfectly as I'm physically capable of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that if I put my total maximum, I could do wonders, but my brain doesn't let me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas how to overcome this fear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I'm 22 years old, I started late. I think it's connected. I'm not as agile as I used to be, so maybe that's the reason why I don't just &quot;throw myself into danger&quot; like 15-year-olds do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T11:04:01.347" Title="How to overcome fear?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2161" CreationDate="2011-05-24T21:46:32.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is that your hamstrings are not as loose as you think.  They attach proximally to the ischial tuberosities.  If the hamstrings are tight they prevent the pelvis from rotating as you lean forward which causes your back to round.  Instead of getting motion at your hip joints, your motion comes from your low back.  So if you are feeling the stretch (overstretch) in your back, or if your back is rounding then you are probably not actually stretching your hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To isolate the hamstrings when you stretch, lie on your back.  Bend your hip and knee to 90 degrees.  Hold your thigh so that your hip remains at 90 degrees and see if you can get your knee straight without your thigh changing position.  If you can’t, then your hamstrings are tight.  You can use a strap to stretch them in this position while protecting your back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your hamstrings are tight, your back may also be rounding when you do squats which would add strain.  How is your form when you squat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the onset of back pain may be delayed after an activity, and you could be experiencing the pain as you cool down.  However, your question sounds like it is more specific to when you perform the hamstring stretch. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T21:46:32.397" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1811" CreationDate="2011-05-24T22:25:31.740" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dead bug is a dynamic lumbar (low back) stabilizing exercise, which means the main goal is to keep the spine neutral despite shifts in torque caused by the big arm and leg movements. Sending the center of mass of one leg or both away from your core may cause your pelvis to tilt forward, and extending your arms overhead may cause your rib cage to tilt back, and both of these movements make your lower back arch. The goal in dead bug is to keep the core constantly contracted to maintain a neutral pelvis, low back, and rib cage. It's pretty subtle: you want to &lt;strong&gt;maintain a position like A in the image below, and avoid a position like C&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nT2zR.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Pelvis and spine position&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter exactly what your arms and legs are doing in dead bug, as long as you do a variation that's easy enough that you can keep your low back pressed into the floor. With all else equal, I'd say the &lt;strong&gt;easiest option&lt;/strong&gt; is to have &lt;strong&gt;one foot on the floor&lt;/strong&gt; with the knee bent while the other one lowers (first option from the second video), because in that position, the bent leg helps support the neutral position of the pelvis. The &lt;strong&gt;medium option&lt;/strong&gt; is to have one &lt;strong&gt;leg straight up&lt;/strong&gt; above the hips while the other one lowers (second option from the second video), because the leg that is up is stacked straight above the pelvis so it doesn't contribute much forward-tilting torque to the pelvis. The &lt;strong&gt;hardest option&lt;/strong&gt; is to have one &lt;strong&gt;knee bent at 90-90&lt;/strong&gt; while the other lowers (first video), because now both legs are contributing to forward-tilting torque on the pelvis. You have to keep the bent knee above the hips though, if you bring it in toward the chest you lose that torque. In any of these positions, &lt;strong&gt;only lower the leg down as far as you can keep the lower back pressed into the floor&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do all of these variations without arching your back at all, the &lt;strong&gt;next step&lt;/strong&gt; up is to do &lt;strong&gt;exercises in which you lower both legs&lt;/strong&gt;, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKcAu0nrmgo&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. In this video they add another variation you can incorporate into dead bug with the head and shoulder lifted. This engages the upper abs, and helps keep the rib cage in a neutral position, which in turn prevents the low back from arching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T22:25:31.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2189" CreationDate="2011-05-24T23:45:33.797" Score="16" ViewCount="4899" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to lose weight, and I'm looking for something healthy to snack on. I've tried eating different kinds of fruit like apples, bananas, and grapes. Most of the time, the fruit will go bad before I have eaten it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still go back to my habit of buying/eating potato chips. I find that there's something addictive about chips that makes me want to eat most of the bag in a sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can anyone recommend a healthy snack that has that same sort of &lt;em&gt;&quot;addictiveness&quot;&lt;/em&gt; that I can substitute for keeping potato chips in the house?&lt;/strong&gt; What makes chips so addictive anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="644" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-25T14:58:19.210" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T21:43:47.930" Title="What are good examples of healthy snacks?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="6" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:06:53.917" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2187" CreationDate="2011-05-25T04:27:41.243" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think some of the &quot;addictiveness&quot; is learned. I've found that when I've been eating healthy, faithfully, for a couple weeks, I start to crave healthier foods, and my desire for things like french fries and potato chips fades away. But if I eat the old junk foods again, the old cravings will come back again for days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Edit 2011-05-25: At the request of @Ivo Filpse I've added some information about why I recommend these foods. I've also linked the foods to ShopWell.com so that people can easily view their nutritional content. I am not affiliated with ShopWell.com in any way. I just find their site useful.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some healthy snacks that I really like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/santa-cruz-applesauce-organic/apple-sauce/p/3619212291?f=sr&amp;nr=10&amp;sp=4&quot;&gt;Applesauce&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. I recommend the unsweetened, all-natural variety. Yeah, it has some carbs and sugar, but it's about 1/3 the calories of ice cream and is almost as satisfying. 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce has about 120 calories, 4 grams of fiber, and 60% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C. It is also very low sodium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/usda-watermelon-raw/fresh-fruit/p/S093260900?f=sr&amp;nr=85&amp;sp=0&quot;&gt;Watermelon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. Watermelon is very low calorie by weight/volume, due to being mostly water. 1 cup of watermelon balls has only 46 calories, 21% of the RDC of vitamin C, almost no sodium at all, no fat, no cholesterol, and 1 gram of fiber.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Popcorn&lt;/b&gt;. This is one of the least healthy options on this list, but it's still a lot better than potato chips, and it might satisfy the &quot;chip&quot; craving. Popcorn is a &quot;whole grain&quot;, high in fiber, and low in cholesterol. How much fat and sodium it has depends a lot on which variety you choose. There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/grandma-gibbles-old-fashioned-popcorn/popcorn/p/4166430003?f=sr&amp;nr=279&amp;sp=5&quot;&gt;healthier&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/orville-redenbachers-microwave-popcorn-pour-over-movie-theater-butter-38-oz/popcorn/p/2700048539?f=sr&amp;nr=279&amp;sp=6&quot;&gt;less healthy&lt;/a&gt; options. I can't eat popcorn without some kind of seasoning, but to minimize the impact to your diet, try to avoid trans-fats like &quot;partially hydrogenated oil&quot; and varieties that have a lot of butter. Air popped is better than microwave.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/kraft-snackables-mozzarella-string-cheese/cheese-hard/p/7104006486?f=sr&amp;nr=99&amp;sp=0&quot;&gt;String Cheese&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. This is a high protein option. One stick of the linked string cheese has only 70 calories, yet 8 grams of protein. That's 45% of the calories from protein! There is some fat and cholesterol (as with any dairy product), but it's not too bad. This isn't a low sodium option so watch that you don't go overboard (but again, not nearly as bad as potato chips).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/usda-grapes-red-or-green-european-type-varieties-such-as-thompson-seedless-raw/fresh-fruit/p/S091320900?f=sr&amp;nr=429&amp;sp=0&quot;&gt;Grapes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. Grapes are higher sugar, and higher calorie, than watermelon or applesauce, but are still a pretty healthy choice. 110 calories per cup, they're full of vitamins, especially vitamin C. No fat or cholesterol. Almost no sodium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/usda-peanuts-all-types-raw/nuts-seeds/p/S160871600?f=sr&amp;nr=850&amp;sp=0&quot;&gt;Peanuts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. Peanuts are high fat, so eat them in moderation. But eating 160 calories (1oz) of peanuts is a lot better for you than 1oz of potato chips. They're fairly high in protein, and a good source of fiber. No cholesterol. Lots of vitamins. Raw, unsalted peanuts have almost no sodium, but since you're probably going to want to eat them salted, you will end up with some sodium. Still, a lot better than potato chips. Peanuts can really fill you up and leave you feeling satisfied, where potato chips would have you feeling sluggish and craving more in a couple hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/nabisco-triscuit-crackers-baked-whole-grain-wheat-original-big-bag/crackers/p/4400001641?f=sr&amp;nr=18&amp;sp=2&quot;&gt;Triscuit crackers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. Simple, natural, ingredients. Whole grain. High fiber. A good source of Iron. Not necessarily a low calorie option, and definitely not a low-carb one, but you're getting a lot more for those carbs than other salty snacks would give you. Eat them with tuna fish and/or cheese for a light meal! (Incidentally, Tuna is an awesome source of protein and other nutrients, although I don't really consider it a &quot;snack&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/brown-cow-greek-yogurt-all-natural-nonfat-blueberry-w-fruit-on-the-bottom/yogurt-yogurt-drinks/p/8819451003?f=sr&amp;nr=40&amp;sp=10&quot;&gt;Greek yogurt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. This is a high protein option. About 40% of the calories from protein! And you can get even healthier by choosing a &quot;vanilla&quot; or &quot;honey&quot; flavor, although honestly I really don't like the non-fruit varieties. Blueberry's my favorite. Greek yogurt has no fat and no cholesterol, and low sodium. It's a great source of calcium. And like all yogurt, the live cultures have a positive effect on your digestive system.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/quaker-oatmeal-oatmeal-quick-1-minute/hot-cereal/p/3000043806?f=sr&amp;nr=215&amp;sp=0&quot;&gt;Oatmeal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; High fiber. Pretty decent protein content. No cholesterol. Low fat. Good source of iron. Whole grain. No sodium whatsoever. This is an excellent, excellent choice unless you need to avoid carbs for some reason. Most people will add some kind of sweetener, but it needn't spoil the nutritional value if you go easy. I recommend raisins and a tiny bit of sugar and cinnamon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="323" LastEditDate="2011-05-25T14:00:39.177" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T14:00:39.177" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-05-25T06:46:12.520" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;With regards to the &quot;programmers hunch&quot; referenced above as &quot;programmer's back&quot; the single most effective exercise to fight it is the KettleBell Swing. Stretching is nice, ,but let's be honest and acknowledge that a strong back resists the hunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if you are limited in available time, and can only devote enough time for one exercise, this is it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/tim-ferriss-superhuman-kettlebell-swing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example video&lt;/a&gt; of the KettleBell Swing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This movement drives the core pretty well as well as serving as an exercise to bring your left and right sides into a better balance. It is also a surprisingly effective. Depending on your current level of fitness start with say a 44 pounder and work up to a 53. This is an exercise you don't need to spend an hour doing. I do mine in a few minutes per day usually every other day - though for 2 days a week I hit them harder for more building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a multi-joint exercise that brings nearly your entire body into the movement. Be warned: you will get out of breath quite quickly - more quickly than you'd normally expect. It will pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend starting with running or jogging. They really are time sinks (even though I love to run). That said, once you've built up a reasonable KB Swing habit (for example you can do 75 non-stop) you'll find your cardio ceiling raised enough that running or jogging will be less unpleasant - possibly to the point of being pleasant. At that point I'd go for short bursts of speed and build up to running a mile in under 10 minutes then shoot for a 5k if you find you enjoy the running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, sitting on a yoga ball for your chair will help with posture and encourage you to move. While you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; have a bad sitting posture on a ball the bounciness and low rolling resistance will often have you bouncing or rolling around after sitting a while. This is an indicator your body is ready to move around. So when you find that going on, indulge it and if you can (and you usually can) get up and take a walk, do some &quot;wall pushups&quot; or air squats or something to get the blood pumping. 10 minutes at a time three times a day is a &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; bump for us coders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-01T14:20:26.983" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:20:26.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2196" CreationDate="2011-05-25T06:50:09.870" Score="12" ViewCount="3237" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am on this 12 week transformation by Kris Gethin, and I am supposed to do 20mins of cardio twice a day, every day. So I'm thinking of alternatives of climbing stairs, running ,etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So I thought - could sex be a form of cardio?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having sex for 20mins twice a day would be waaaay more pleasant and not as monotonous as running :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T20:55:02.427" Title="Can Sex be counted as a form of cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;sex&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2130" CreationDate="2011-05-25T06:55:47.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Ivo in that we need some more information before we can properly answer. That said some specifics that would help us help you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much weight is &quot;some&quot;? Or if you don't want to say precisely (which I thoroughly understand), how overweight are you on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is &quot;Have you seen The Biggest Loser?&quot; and 1 is &quot;no seriously, I've got about 5-10 pounds extra.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is important in the running game. If you are above a 5 on that scale I would start with walking and some non-impact cardio before running, maybe some swimming. Once you felt comfortable (rough guess 3-6 weeks depending on the position, higher on the 1-10 scale above means longer) move to some jogging. I'd go with short bursts with rest periods - say 50-70% of your ability for a few minutes followed by an equal rest time and do this for half an hour. From there feel free to try any number of running programs till you find something you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads to the second important detail: why? what is your goal? Do you want to do a 5k? Consider the Couch to 5k program. Marathon? Just to lose some weight or get healthier? That determines what you will want to progress to once you've got a baseline capability restored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T06:55:47.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2184" CreationDate="2011-05-25T07:06:43.993" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go jump off of a cliff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No that's not really a joke. Fear is relative, and you might know this. But there is a difference between knowing and &quot;groking&quot;. Knowing is intellectual. Once you've done something that you are &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; afraid of, such as bungee or the high dive, or what have you, the lesser fears shrink even further. It not the dissimilar to &quot;how do I lift 20 pounds easier? By lifting 40.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know enough to know &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; to be afraid and the body listens to that. But how much &quot;serious fear&quot; have you personally experienced? The more fear you conquer, the less fear conquers you. While it may be possible to build up with smaller fears, I have found that just hitting a big one is &lt;em&gt;far&lt;/em&gt; more efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are even slightly afraid of heights, falling, or even (like me) just that sudden stop at the bottom, taking a plunge is a one-fell-swoop affair that shrinks lesser fears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus: the rush you get might encourage your gymnastics since you'll get (I assume) a rush from accomplishing those maneuvers better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T07:06:43.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-25T07:13:48.693" Score="6" ViewCount="2697" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to take the stairs ever day and was wondering if its a good exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 9 floors, with about 180 steps of 6 inch or 15 cm, so it would be a total of 1080 inch or 27.5 meter height difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would walking up these stairs once a day be a good exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1095" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-25T14:30:29.793" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T15:22:41.260" Title="Is walking up the stairs a good exercise ?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-25T10:37:59.073" Score="5" ViewCount="2198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 6 ft tall 20year old boy. I currently weigh 60Kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take regular diet which consists of morning breakfast, milk, day lunch, evening snacks, dinner and half liter milk in night as well.&#xA;In spite of all this, I am not able to get fat and gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the problem? What should be my diet plan and what should I eat/what not.&#xA;Is there any problem with metabolism ? As I feel hungry even after 1-2 hours of heavy lunch/dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1106" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:03:38.647" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T02:03:38.647" Title="What can I do to start gaining weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-07-14T23:57:53.877" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2191" CreationDate="2011-05-25T12:14:16.420" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my wife was on bed rest when she was pregnant with our daughter I asked if it precluded sex.  The rhetorical question I got back was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it get her heart rate up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is, yes it is a form of cardio workout.  The question then becomes a matter of the quality of cardio.  In other words, how high does your heart rate go?  You want to be in the aerobic zone to do what your plan wants for you.  You don't want the heart rate too high, nor do you want it too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the other side of the problem is a willing partner for 2x/day.  You or your partner may become sore and need a break--particularly if you are doing what is necessary to keep your heart rate up.  Using a heart rate monitor will help you know how your cardio work is doing, but it lessens the enjoyment of sex when you are concentrating on something else (like your heart rate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, do you really want something that is meant to be fun to now be viewed as work?  I'm of the mindset to keep work and play separate.  While merging them makes work more fun, it makes play less enjoyable.  Keeping them separate activities works better for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T12:14:16.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2137" CreationDate="2011-05-25T12:30:58.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, now that I'm looking at the spreadsheet again, and the fact that this is a whole day's worth of food, I can make a few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't count lettuce in your daily calorie counts.  It is mostly water, and useful as a filler if you get hungry in the middle of the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livingthenourishedlife.com/2010/08/how-much-protein-do-we-really-need-part_03.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You don't have enough protein&lt;/a&gt;, unless you only have 32kg of lean muscle mass.  You should have 1g protein per kg of lean muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat is less harmful to losing weight than sugar/carbs (personal experience)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeds/Nuts are high in fat for the amount of protein you get.  Use sparingly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need some sodium, but not a whole lot.  USDA recommends about 1500mg/day which seems to be enough to keep your body chemistry healthy without causing hypertension.  You'll probably need to add some salt in your preparation of your food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a suggested meal plan to start with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 whole eggs for breakfast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 tilapia filet (high protein, low fat/calories) and 2 servings broccoli for lunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;140g of lean chicken and 2 servings spinach for dinner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 serving 0% fat Greek yogurt for evening snack (good source of protein, not too many carbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2L water throughout the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30-60ml Olive Oil or Canola Oil throughout the day (or similar oil that is equally healthy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice with this type of plan you'll be getting plenty of protein, a proper amount of fat, but very little carbs.  That's OK as carbs tend to pack our your calories without giving you enough of the other things your body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have carbs, make them count.  For example, using &lt;a href=&quot;http://products.mercola.com/coconut-flour/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;coconut flour&lt;/a&gt; to bread the tilapia filet will also add a decent amount of dietary fiber as well.  Also, certain vinegars can be used to sweeten or flavor your vegetables to keep them from being boring or to turn a normally bitter vegetable into something palatable.  Good vinegars are: apple cider vinegar, coconut vinegar, rice vinegar (not the kind used for salads or rice &lt;em&gt;wine&lt;/em&gt; vinegar as they have too much sugar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about the lack of carbs in the proposed meal plan, then I recommend loading them all at breakfast while you are losing weight.  For example, add a couple slices of whole grain toast to breakfast and 1 serving of fruit.  Berries do you a lot of good, but a pear or an apple would also be nice.  Another option would be making a sandwich.  A personal favorite of mine is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 Thomas' English muffin (high fiber kind)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 whole egg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 oz goat cheese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 slices of Canadian bacon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gives me plenty of carbs for the day, and combined with the veggies will also give you a good head start on your dietary fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember if you don't have enough protein you will lose muscle mass.  If you lose muscle mass, your BMR will go down.  If your BMR goes down then you have to adjust your diet more and more.  It's a viscous cycle until you get to the point where you aren't eating enough but still getting fatter.  Don't skimp on the protein.  Skimp on the carbs, but not the protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for decent sources of protein consider these useful guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Land meat (poultry, beef, pork) should be lean, and about the size of your closed fist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sea meat (fish, scallops, etc.) is naturally lean and full of good oils, and should be about the size of your open hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 whole eggs--half the protein is in the yolk as well as other nutrients.  If you really don't want the yolk then use the whites of 4 eggs as an equivalent protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat is not as harmful to weight loss as carbs (in my experience), so if you need something crazy for a snack it's better to have a handful of mixed nuts than a brownie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far everything looks good on your spreadsheet.  If you want to cut fat, you may consider swapping the leg meat for breast meat.  The white meat of a chicken is leaner, which improves the protein to fat ratio.  It also makes it more difficult to cook correctly, too little cooking and you risk getting sick, too much cooking and it becomes dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, in my experience fat is less damaging to weight loss than carbs.  We're only talking 3g of fat here.  Your body is going to work harder to convert fat to useable energy than it will with sugar.  That's a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how much Olive Oil you have translates to volume (i.e. ml instead of grams), but you may compensate by cutting 3g of Olive Oil if the excess fat truly concerns you.  I will say that Olive Oil, a mono-unsaturated fat, is going to be healthier for you so I would just keep it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be concerned less with the exact numbers, or you are going to drive yourself crazy.  As long as you are close, you will lose weight and you will remain healthy.  3g is a 5% difference between your ideal of 58g and your actual of 61g of fat.  I'd say that's an acceptable margin of error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-25T14:09:03.890" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T14:09:03.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2184" CreationDate="2011-05-25T13:06:35.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You never overcome fear, you just need to make sure fear doesn't overcome you.  Easier said than done.  Once someone fails or gets hurt the thought of that moment remains within us, no matter how many successful attempts were made before or after that incident.  You ever wonder why Mike Tyson couldn't come back from his lose to Douglas? Most likely because he never thought of fear and once faced with it didn't know how to handle it (sort of the downside of people who start off with no fear). Overcoming a known/accepted fear is called courage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Visualize (really visualize) successfully doing the back flips/handspring, over and over and push back on any thoughts of failing.  Accept that you might get hurt and when you do, pick yourself up, shake it off and do it again.  Remember others have done what your doing, remember when you've done other things that could have resulted in injury and then just do it.  The strange and as far as I know unproven fact is, that the more you fear something, the greater the likelihood of you getting more injured from it (increased tension).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary: accept the fear, visualize success and just do it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T13:06:35.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2291" CreationDate="2011-05-25T13:29:37.920" Score="4" ViewCount="1814" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a way to accurately workout how many calories I am burning on my bike.  I have a standard bike mounted on a cycle exercising stand.  At the moment, I have no way of working out anything.  I only have a heart rate monitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="345" LastEditDate="2011-05-31T08:25:46.670" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T10:48:08.213" Title="How to accurately work out calories burned on exercise bike" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2194" CreationDate="2011-05-25T14:37:59.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to apply some really crude physics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gravitational Potential Energy (Joule)&#xA;  = Mass (kg) * Gravitational Acceleration (g) * Height difference&#xA;  (m)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using some example values: &lt;strong&gt;70kg * ~10m/s^2 * ~30m results in 21000 Joules&lt;/strong&gt;. While that may seem a large number, converting it to kcal leaves you with a measly &lt;strong&gt;5 kcal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd have to conclude that while all small bits help, you'd have to walk the stairs more frequently for it to be a truly useful exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-25T14:51:47.960" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T14:51:47.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2194" CreationDate="2011-05-25T15:22:41.260" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is more than one way to measure exercise. Yes the number of calories is low and to increase the number of calories would take a whole lot of climbing. The low level cardio and the psychological values of the exercise can far outdo the pure caloric count. Add to that the alternative of taking the elevator which will give you far less. What I'm saying is that you should take the stairs whenever possible, but don't use it as a primary exercise. Every little bit helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T15:22:41.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1813" CreationDate="2011-05-25T15:38:16.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When relying on one single workout per week to build muscle, your diet and nutrition intake before, after, and the rest of the week becomes a lot more important if you want a steady progress. I suggest looking into that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet and exercise compliment each other and are extremely dependent on each other in order to get results both in loosing and gaining weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T15:38:16.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2170" CreationDate="2011-05-25T15:47:05.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is one major problem with sleeping in a sitting position - gravity. When you lie down both your blood pressure and heart rate decrease. This allows your body to relax more and, perhaps, increase the rate at which you recover from illness or injury. I'd imagine if you're body didn't have to work as hard getting blood to your brain while you're asleep, you might sleep better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowerpressure.com/bp-levels-sitting-up-vs-laying-down/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.lowerpressure.com/bp-levels-sitting-up-vs-laying-down/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything that goes up must come down and your head is propped awfully high on your shoulders. Maybe I'm a light sleeper, but having my head bob around makes it hard to sleep, not to mention limbs flopping around when muscle relaxing REM kicks in or just loosing your balance completely and falling out of your chair. I think I'll stick to lying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditDate="2011-07-15T11:01:34.657" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T11:01:34.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2207" CreationDate="2011-05-25T17:39:02.220" Score="4" ViewCount="917" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to improve my bench press and I'm having trouble about 1/4 way off my chest - can someone describe what muscles are primarily activated during each phase (break the movement down to 1/4's or 1/3's).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-27T13:13:31.130" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T13:13:31.130" Title="Improving my Bench Press - what muscles are used during what phase?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2206" CreationDate="2011-05-25T18:05:28.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; have what you are looking for.  Since I can't get in, I can't be certain.  There are a couple other articles that may be of interest, but not exactly what you wanted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thepumpingstation.com/anatomy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anatomy of a Rep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/documents/raw_bp_solution.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Problem--Raw Bench Press--Solution--Plyometrics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscles involved in bench press&lt;/a&gt; (but not by phase)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you may need to try a process called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/documents/deload.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deloading&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.  Essentially, cutting back 10% on the weight so you can get your full set in.  Then &lt;em&gt;progressively load&lt;/em&gt; by adding 5lbs back on each bench press session.  As the theory goes, you should be able to get past the plateau that way.  In short, it's taking longer for your muscles to recover than the typical 48 hours or however much rest you normally give them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually you'll get to the point where even deloading won't get you past a plateau.  With the StrongLifts program you compensate by going from 5x5 (5 sets/5 reps) to 3x5 on that lift.  The threshold for that is when you deload twice and it doesn't help you improve.  From there you go to 1x5, and eventually transition to another routine when you've maxed out that program.  I think the takeaway is that eventually you have to reduce load to increase weight on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T18:05:28.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1813" CreationDate="2011-05-25T19:02:32.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm relatively new to weightlifting, so take this with a grain of salt.  There's more than one view on the concept of training to failure, Glenn Pendlay (USMAW Olympic coach for several years) is one of the people who doesn't believe in them.  That said, based on what I've read so far, you may have to do something unintuitive in order to increase your strength.  That's Lift Less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Particularly when changing a workout plan, you have to adjust to what is demanded from that plan.  In particular, when I migrate off the StrongLifts program to one of the Pendlay programs or Madcow, etc. there will be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/documents/deload.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deloading&lt;/a&gt; process.  In short, you lift less weight while your body adjusts to its new demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You admitted that you are not doing two things on the Body by Science program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are not using nautilus machines.  To that, I think the barbell lifts you are doing are great--and probably hit a lot more muscle groups than the machines do.  Those are the same lifts I'm doing on the StrongLifts program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a 5 sec cadence instead of a 10 second cadence.  I think this may be where your problem is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deload to the point where you can comfortably do the 10 second cadence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progressively load by 5 lbs per session on each lift, and keep going until you stall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you stall (can't get a full set in), repeat the same week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you stall twice in a row deload, and lower the amount you go up each time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's advice based on what I've read from the StrongLifts material, but it seems sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T19:02:32.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2187" CreationDate="2011-05-25T20:44:29.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The real problem here is your diet at large, not the snacks.  Joshua gives you some really good 'small meal' ideas that can substitute as snacks, but if you do not have an overall satisfying diet, you are going to continue to revert back to old habits.  You are working for your diet right now.  Your diet should instead work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to note is that you don't necessarily have to count calories.  If you are not actively attempting to eliminate fat or build muscle, I would go so far as to say counting calories is pointless overhead.  As long as you don't notice your weight fluctuating under a new diet that's all you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your small meal &amp;lt;-&gt; large meal cycle sounds like you are attempting to limit yourself to meals that lack the nutrition your body requires to thrive.  They might be too small, they might be the wrong foods, they might simply not have enough nutrients in them.  I don't know for sure because I haven't seen your diet.  However, here are a few things you can bear in mind when reviewing your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eating often is good&lt;/em&gt; - 5-6 smaller meals a day will keep your digestion going at a constant clip and keep you from getting too overhungry.  Especially if you have a job that allows you enough flexibility to take a few 15 minute breaks to eat instead of a single 1 hour break, you may want to look into this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fat does not make you fat&lt;/em&gt; - Fat, cholesterol, and all the other traditionally 'evil' things are not what cause you to become overweight and unhealthy.  The inability to handle these things is what causes this. This inability usually stems from eating way too much fast energy such as sugars and carbohydrates (which backs up your digestive processes), or habitual ingestion of things that mess up the digestive process, such as trans-fats, artificial sweeteners, and select preservatives.  Use clean, easy-to-digest fats from  things like chicken, pork, eggs, and dairy to keep you satisfied for longer after a meal.  Fats will digest relatively slowly and provide longer-term 'fullness' and energy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Balance in all meals&lt;/em&gt; - Meals are most satisfying when they have a large variety of nutrients in them.  Your body likes to use a large array of nutrients, and when it's short on something it wants, it has a tendency to ask very loudly by inducing a food craving. If you are having simply a bowl of oatmeal for a meal, you cannot expect it to keep you satisfied for long.  A bowl of oatmeal mixed with eggs and garnished with cinnamon and apple slices, however, will probably hold on nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T20:44:29.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1931" CreationDate="2011-05-25T21:13:03.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rested for about 3 weeks, then started doing some cardio (on an elliptical) daily for a week. Yesterday I started working out again and things seem to be moving forward again. I just need to make sure I don't overwork my lower back muscles again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just took some time of rest to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T21:13:03.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-25T22:22:55.027" Score="4" ViewCount="2025" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a pretty avid mountain biker and I want to take my fitness and skills to the next level with it.  When I go on rides over 1.5 hours my legs feel pretty beat and start to cramp (in quads and calves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be some good exercises to increase my strength and stamina and reduce the cramps?  For the most part it feels like me quads are lacking the most in power and stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1112" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T19:51:26.763" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T20:02:13.243" Title="What is a good routine for strengthening legs for mountain biking?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2217" CreationDate="2011-05-25T22:30:24.767" Score="9" ViewCount="3649" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been very health-conscious over the past few years - I've never been overweight, but I've always been motivated to have a fit-looking body and a flat stomach, so I've been very disciplined when it comes to diet and exercise.  I generally stick to a very low-fat, low-carb diet, and exercise regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, lately, people have been telling me I look very &lt;em&gt;underweight&lt;/em&gt;.  I recently checked my BMI, which came to 17.9 - so, I'm officially underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So obviously I need to gain weight.  But generally, whenever I gain weight I gain it in unsightly places, like in the abdominal area.  Is there any way to increase my BMI without adding fat to the abdominal region?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1113" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T23:17:29.987" Title="Gaining weight without gaining fat" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2216" CreationDate="2011-05-25T23:17:29.987" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would recommend is not using BMI to determine whether you are over or under weight.  Instead go by &lt;a href=&quot;http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcharts.htm&quot;&gt;body fat composition&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, in order to gain weight, and not be fat you'll need to do a couple things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat some fat and carbs.  I'm not telling you to go nuts, but this is going to help get more weight on.  (more on the later)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build muscle.  I'm not saying be a body builder, but you want to increase your lean mass to keep your body fat low as you gain weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a guy, 10% body fat will give you a six pack and 15% will be a fit look.&#xA;If you are a woman, it will be higher (something like 23-28%)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are on a very low fat, low carb diet, your body probably doesn't know what to do with that type of food.  Be careful with re-introducing them.  There's a couple strategies to do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the AM meal, incorporate grain carbs, fruit carbs, dairy fat/carbs along with your protein.  I don't have my guidelines handy, but one serving each at the most.  Do this for two weeks.  After that, you can have some carbs with your dinner and fats with your lunch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; you can add one serving of one type of carb each day.  Introduce a new one each week until you have all the sources covered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I shouldn't have to tell you this, but you still want a good amount of protein.  At least 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass while you want to gain muscle.  Of course with the extra protein, drink lots of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the exercise you choose is up to you, but you won't build bigger muscles (getting heavier while not getting fat) without demanding more of them.  Some options are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strength training (obvious one here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swiming (excellent full body workout and cardio all in one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;climbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea here is to demand more of your muscles so you can build them up, and feed them protein so they can increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T23:17:29.987" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2215" CreationDate="2011-05-26T04:52:43.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadriceps: Squat or Leg Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring: Leg Curl &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf: Calf Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T20:02:13.243" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T20:02:13.243" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2222" CreationDate="2011-05-26T14:48:12.627" Score="7" ViewCount="1411" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend asked me once if eating a banana was a good post-work out snack, to which I gave him a knee jerk reply of &quot;any fruit is a good post work-out snack&quot;.  I've conditioned myself in to thinking this because I've often heard and have experienced myself that having something that consists of simple carbohydrates (e.g. the natural sugars in fruit) that is also nutritious after a workout is a great way to start replenishing your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is fruit really that great post-workout by itself?  Should you combine those simple carbohydrates with something else post-workout beyond water for rehydration?  What about proteins and fats post-workout (either immediately or within 1-2 hours of finishing)?  Are all fruits created equally in this context of being a post-workout snack or are some better than others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume that by &quot;workout&quot; I mean something between 30 minutes to 1 hour where your heartrate is averaging over 70% of your maximum heart rate.  If that doesn't narrow it down, perhaps answers may describe what workouts are a post-workout snack of fruit desirable and which ones aren't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2011-05-26T15:35:40.637" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T02:30:40.923" Title="Fruit as optimal post-workout snack? What else besides fruit?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2221" CreationDate="2011-05-26T15:39:35.910" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High heart rate workouts (running, swimming)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to replenish carbs and electrolytes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sports drinks are probably preferred&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruits help replenish carbs, some better than others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low heart rate/high load workouts (strength training/body building)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to replenish protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Best consumed within 1 hour post workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Special properties of Bananas over other fruit?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bananas (and potatoes) have plenty of potassium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potassium helps prevent or deal with muscle spasms/cramping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;original answer:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really depends on the type of workout.  For high heart rate workouts like running and swimming, it's good to replenish your carbs since you more than likely burned them all up exercising.  In that case any fruit will help replenish your carbs--as will a sports drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, for all workouts some form of protein post workout is also beneficial.  The chief reason being that the muscles that were just worked will be looking for more protein to build themselves back up for next time.  It's absolutely critical to have protein if you are strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bananas and potatoes are also high in potassium, which can really help deal with muscle cramps.  If you experience those regularly, you might be potassium deficient.  You'll have to replenish that after working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is no one-size fits all answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-26T15:46:55.870" LastActivityDate="2011-05-26T15:46:55.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2239" CreationDate="2011-05-26T16:48:57.643" Score="5" ViewCount="2626" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been hearing a lot about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zumba.com/&quot;&gt;Zumba&lt;/a&gt; lately and I've been doing a little bit of research on it. From my understanding, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dance.about.com/od/danceandyourhealth/f/Weight_Loss.htm&quot;&gt;many forms of dance can cause weight loss&lt;/a&gt;. I'm trying to find out if it is more effective than just taking dance classes. Obviously this would depend somewhat on the type of dance you were practicing, but how would it line up in comparison to standard dance lessons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2012-03-10T19:48:54.857" Title="Is Zumba more effective than dance class for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;zumba&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2223" CreationDate="2011-05-26T17:09:37.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is a little awkward to answer, but I'll do my best.  Net weight drop is going to depend on how many more calories you've burned than you've taken in, and the heart rate you maintain while exercising (since that influences whether you burn fat or sugar).  Zumba in and of itself isn't going to be any more or less effective than any other form of dance if the two keep your heart at its target rate (70-80% of its max) for roughly the same amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dance as a whole is a very good way to accomplish these ends, though, since most dance styles are developed to be fairly easy to pick up, sustainable for at least a good 20-30 minutes, and fun to do.  Zumba definitely fills these points, so chances are pretty good it'll be quite effective at busting weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as 'more effective', that's going to depend on the dance style you're comparing it to.  Swing dancing is probably just as effective, break dancing...likely not so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-26T17:09:37.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2215" CreationDate="2011-05-26T17:32:48.073" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;+1 for squats. Lunges are another good biking power builder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to mix running stairs with squats to provide a little variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Riding on the road can help you build fitness too. Generally speaking, road riding is lower impact than mountain biking, which allows you to log some serious miles without the off-road pounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as training on the bike, hill intervals are the best way to strengthen your legs and build power. Find a hill that you can do in a decent gear (granny gear doesn't make you much stronger) and that can be made into a loop of some sort. Sprint up the hill, then ride the rest of the loop to cool down before sprinting the hill again. The ability to adjust the length of the loop gives you longer/shorter &quot;rest&quot; periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-05-26T17:32:48.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2011-05-26T19:28:11.050" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in agreement with Gary Taubes when you want to put it in terms of sustainable weight loss and maintaining healthy organs.  &lt;em&gt;Over&lt;/em&gt; production of insulin causes your body to resist its presence so that its role in building muscle is limited just as the fact it is converting your excess blood sugar to fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pancreas is also responsible for producing a complimentary hormone called &lt;em&gt;glucagon&lt;/em&gt; which is used to convert stored fat to blood sugar.  The pancreas is designed to cycle between insulin and glucagon production, and consuming too many carbs severely limits the production of glucagon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, by limiting your carb intake to say once a day, you remain in a fat burning state longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You still need to keep your total calories lower than what you burn in a day to lose weight.  However, you can lose faster and more sustainably if you limit your carbs.  I've been told that you can reverse insulin resistance after three weeks being in the state of ketosis.  It might take longer if you have a modest amount of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-26T19:28:11.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2110" CreationDate="2011-05-26T19:56:13.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;*Thank you for posting this. I struggled with the SAME symptoms as you for years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that you &lt;strong&gt;detox&lt;/strong&gt; your body of toxins that have accumulated over time. Your body flushes out those toxins through your urine so drink as much water as you can handle. As you cleanse your body you may experience increased fatigue, moodiness, and in extreme cases, flu symptoms. This should only last a few days. One trick I use is to take &lt;strong&gt;Epsom Baths&lt;/strong&gt;. I ALWAYS keep Epson Salt on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensuring that those deep body aches will not return requires drinking plenty of &lt;strong&gt;water&lt;/strong&gt; each day, detox friendly foods, &lt;strong&gt;stretching&lt;/strong&gt; out your muscles, and &lt;strong&gt;excersize&lt;/strong&gt;. All of these will also prevent pressure points or those knots in your muscles. Good Luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase Water Consumption&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase Physical Activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch Muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Epsom Baths&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Detox-Friendly Diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;visit   www.livestrong.com/article/72677-full-body-detox-diet/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1122" LastActivityDate="2011-05-26T19:56:13.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2021" CreationDate="2011-05-27T00:13:46.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As many others have either said directly or indirectly, adding some kind of interval work will definitely help. They will teach your body to adapt to a faster pace than you may be able to handle now. My suggestion is to run the intervals (depending on the distance) 15 to 30 seconds faster than your goal pace (17:30-17:45).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is not an option, then concentrate on fartlek runs (which are a way to integrate interval training with your normal runs) and slightly uncomfortable runs - that is a run which is slightly faster than what you can run easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I write this, I looked into your logs and noticed that you had already broken 18, so congratulations and hopefully the tips here will help for your next goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T00:13:46.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2221" CreationDate="2011-05-27T02:30:40.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a runner, I tend towards a combination of peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a banana and chocolate milk and/or gatorade (or insert your favorite sports drink). This provides some simple sugars for immediate energy, some complex carbohydrates for long term energy, and a bunch of electrolytes to replace those lost during the run. I started doing this after reading about the surprising benefits of chocolate milk. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/superfoods/chocolate-milk-after-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Check here for more information&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T02:30:40.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2234" CreationDate="2011-05-27T04:03:11.987" Score="12" ViewCount="26147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't worked out in about 2 years and I want to start exercising again. My diet is also pretty bad- I eat a lot of fast food. I am only about 5 pounds over weight though, (5'10, 155 lbs) but I feel very unhealthy. My question is this. Should I work on my diet prior to getting back into exercising again, or should I just start both (working out and dieting) immediately? I'm trying to avoid getting discouraged by taking on too much at one time, but at the same time I really want to get back into shape. So, what do you think I should do, and what other tips do you have for someone just getting back into shape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T02:30:49.100" Title="Working out after a long period of not exercising" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2011-05-27T04:51:41.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Build a routine through a new eating regimen then add in the exercising after you are comfortable with your newly defined eating regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you do both in parallel? Absolutely. The idea behind building a routine with either diet or exercise first will allow you to build confidence and also adjust to a defined routine in and of itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lack of routine is one of the single biggest reasons people do not eat healthy. They reach a hunger threshold that removes all coherent thinking and they grab whatever is closest and quickest. A routine will plan and address these moments and prevent them from surfacing in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T04:51:41.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2011-05-27T05:32:20.403" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you say, your biggest challenge is to avoid doing too much at once.  Exactly what is 'best' is going to be subjective for the most part, so what I'm going to do is give you a few stages you can set goals at and work toward without getting too overwhelmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the diet side:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop eating fast food.  This will break you of some of your bad habits and provide a good basis for a new routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop eating out completely, unless it's socially.  Learn to cook and prepare your own meals.  This will establish part of the routine that Aaron was talking about.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read up on preparing diets for specific fitness goals (or post more questions here when you get to that point).  This will empower you to cook for whatever your goal is, and give your routine direction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn about various ingredients and how they affect your nutrition (or, again, post more questions on ingredients you don't understand).  This will allow your cooking to satiate your appetite better, and give your routine greater effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're informed, and you know enough about your food that you can prepare meals that are very satisfying, you will never want to go back to a McDonald's again.  You will know for a fact that your own food is both more healthy and more satisfying than the junk they pedal there.  Your routine will work for you and it will be effortless to stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the fitness side:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spend 15 minutes outside every sunny day.  Read a book and enjoy the sunlight.  You don't have to start with any particular exercises.  Just stroll through the park, around the block, sit on a bench or your lawn and read.  This will start to break your sedentary pattern and provide some (probably much-needed) vitamin D to start activating your body.  You will also start to associate this time with leisure and fun - which is what your exercise should be in the first place.  Do it on your break from work if you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn those 15 minutes into a brisk walk.  Don't push yourself or try to break a sweat.  Just walk a little faster than you normally would and breathe deep.  This will start to establish the exercise routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you get more comfortable, extend that 15 minutes into 30-45, whatever's comfortable.  This provides the basis for the exercise period you'll work into.  You may have to move your time slot to make it fit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start exploring (more questions here would be great) on what sorts of exercises are out there, and what sort of exercises interest you.  Exercise for the sake of exercise is not sustainable for most people.  Most people need to exercise for the sake of fun.  Ask around for input until you hear something that makes you say, 'hey, that sounds fun!'  Then work that into your normal workout.  You will want to start with cardio exercises since those tend to be easiest and provide the biggest mental boost.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start learning how to work toward weight and strength goals.  Again, more questions here would be great, as would be help from fitness professionals.  Learn a structure for stabilizing, isolating, and strengthening muscles so you can fulfill needs when you see them.  This will really empower your routine and make you feel like you're absolutely in control of your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've gotten to the point where you mostly know what to do in order to make yourself feel and look better and stronger, and your exercise is in the context of being fun leisure time, you will eagerly look forward to your workouts and feel annoyed when you have to skip them.  At this point you have a very sustainable situation where you no longer have to put forth effort to exercise; you'll just do it automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These goals should be hit and surpassed as you feel comfortable.  Breaking yourself of fast food may take 1-2 weeks, and that's perfectly fine.  You may want to completely master the kitchen before you touch your workout.  You may want to tackle both simultaneously.  It may take a year or more to really change everything.  There's no good pace or bad pace, fast or slow.  It's all up to you, it's the destination that matters.  The journey is all yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hoping to see you around here more often (and with a permanent account) so we can help you work out the particulars when the times come!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T05:32:20.403" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2223" CreationDate="2011-05-27T12:12:50.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zumba is a high impact dance workout, and compared with an equivalent form of dance like hip-hop or salsa dance it probably doesn't have any special properties.  However, it is higher impact than some of the more traditional ballroom dances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that if you are psyched to do it and be more consistent with it, then yes it will be more effective for weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T12:12:50.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2223" CreationDate="2011-05-27T14:11:14.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most effective dance form will be the one that you like the most. Zumba can definitely work up a sweat, but if you don't enjoy it and aren't motivated then you'll most likely give it up eventually or skip workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like ballet might not get you moving as fast, but the jumps and balance moves are going to probably build up stronger leg muscles, which will help you burn more calories when you're at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it all depends on which form of dance you're most likely to stick with. A good idea might be to try several different forms. You can then either pick a favorite or keep with several different forms so that there's always some variety. This might also help due to the concept of muscle confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T14:11:14.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2176" CreationDate="2011-05-27T16:08:04.237" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what you're describing, it sounds like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/765&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Jump Through&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. A Jump Through involves starting in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/warming-up-the-downward-dog-yoga-exercise-1106&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Downward Dog&lt;/a&gt; position and pivoting your body on your shoulders until you reach the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogawiz.com/yoga-poses/seated-poses/staff-pose.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Staff&lt;/a&gt; position. Doing this transition in reverse is called a Jump Back. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmxu4DI4qzQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; that has a pretty nice example of both transitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in order to perform this transition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start in the Downward Dog position.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v7dW7.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Propel your body forward and tuck yourself into a ball-like shape, engaging your abs and crossing your legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straighten you legs and body into the Staff position as you land again on your buttocks.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QQ87j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-05-27T16:25:05.820" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T16:25:05.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2011-05-27T19:24:54.370" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Re fueling for runs, HIGHLY recommend you read the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/essential-knowledge/&quot;&gt;Endurance Athlete's Guide to Success&lt;/a&gt; on Hammer Nutrition's website. And for losing weight, equally strong recommendation to read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drfuhrman.com/&quot;&gt;Eat to Live&lt;/a&gt; by Joel Fuhrman, MD. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some learning, of course, is involved. The takeaway points are these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To lose weight, eat minimal carbs, especially starchy carbs, except as described in further points below.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3-4 hours before a run, especially a long run, &quot;top up&quot; your carbs by eating 200-400 calories of complex carbs, e.g., toast, brown rice, a smoothie with banana and a &quot;running gel&quot; (e.g., Hammer Gel).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Within 15 minutes after each run, be sure to carb-up as described in the Hammer Nutrition PDF mentioned above. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going into your run &quot;carbed-up&quot; makes a HUGE difference in your energy level while running. And, as the Hammer guide states, the times shortly before and immediately after the run are when you can accomplish the &quot;carbing&quot; that has the greatest effect on your running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW, see my &quot;Carbenflarb&quot; articles on the Fitness Intuition site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1135" LastActivityDate="2011-05-27T19:24:54.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2243" CreationDate="2011-05-27T21:58:20.473" Score="3" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to start running, I bought myself running shoes for 'over pronators' as I am flat footed(still not too sure what that means when running). But I have a few questions about running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'll be getting up early to do my runs (just as I'd feel more comfortable knowing not many people are there to watch me :P) about 6:30am. Would it be better to have breakfast before or after I run? If before, how long before should I eat before running?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I haven't exercised for a long time, and when I did my stamina was pretty terrible then. So whats a good way to quickly build up stamina to be able to run for longer? At the moment I doubt I could run non stop for any longer than 3-5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I want to improve on is my flexibility, it's quite bad. What simple ways are there to better this?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps I'm not particularly looking to lose weight but just generally increase fitness, although it would be a bonus. I wouldn't say I am huge but definitely on the chunky size, I'm 5'7 and weigh about 80kg...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1137" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-28T06:16:19.087" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T13:45:40.870" Title="Starting out with running and increasing flexibility" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2242" CreationDate="2011-05-28T06:49:21.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that you're a beginning runner, chances are you won't be exercising so hard that you'd need additional energy before working out. So you should be able to go out running without breakfast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For building up stamina, there's no real way to 'rush' the process, because your body will need time to adapt itself and rushing ahead of your body is only likely to get your injured. Instead, you should focus on a training program that's fun, easy to keep up and won't get you injured. That way you'll be able to slowly, but surely built up your fitness and make long term changes in your lifestyle. Also important to note is that the calories you will be burning the first few months are negligible, but over time you'll progress and increase your workout frequency and intensity. That's the real goal: getting fit enough for the worthwhile exercise. The catch is, you need to stick to exercising long enough to get to this level of fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So Instead of trying to run non-stop without any structure, I'm going to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommend you try the C25K&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adidas.com/nl/micoach/#Start/sdf/mdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;if you have a smartphone the Adidas micoach app&lt;/a&gt;. They both offer training programs for absolute beginners with no stamina, but if you strictly follow the program, you should be able to run non-stop for 5k within 10 weeks. An important thing to note though, is that you shouldn't be running as fast as possible, but instead 'run' at a speed that you're still able to hold up a conversation. You'll be surprised how slow this pace may be, but its probably the single most effective way of preventing injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for flexibility, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise/470#470&quot;&gt;I've been quite vocal about stretching being quite controversial&lt;/a&gt;, but a blog post I found recently called &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.80percentmental.com/2011/03/research-says-dont-bother-with.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Research Says Don't Bother With Stretching Before You Run&lt;/a&gt; mentions that more important than stretching or not was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;switching pre-run stretching routines (runners who normally stretch stopping and those who do not stretch  starting to stretch before running).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you never stretched, starting to incorporate this into your pre-run routine is a pretty bad idea. Instead, if you feel that you have a limited range of motion, start stretching regularly and in a more functional way such as yoga instead of focusing on a arbitrary set of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with getting started and be sure to come back if you have any follow-up question as you progress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T13:45:40.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2251" CreationDate="2011-05-28T07:27:22.480" Score="8" ViewCount="15475" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine has obviously brought her metabolism into starvation mode by performing strict low-calorie diets (without any exercise) for over ten years. This has resulted in a yo-yo effect where she can hardly eat more calories than her basal metabolic rate without gaining weight, so she diets again every few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to break this vicious circle of dieting and gaining weight again after eating normally? How can she bring her metabolism out of starvation mode?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-11T21:28:59.373" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T07:50:15.213" Title="What is the best way to bring one's metabolism out of starvation mode following a diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2011-05-28T08:14:53.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To bring out the metabolism to normal you can follow these steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give small amount of food at 2 hour interval.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First increase cereal servings gradually at the interval of 3-4 days. Start with easily digestible ones like soft rice, porridge, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then add high protein foods like milk and milk products. Give fermented milk products like curd, yogurt, and buttermilk. Soft pulses e.g. green gram. Fish, chicken etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then add fats like cream, toned milk (3%), Cottage cheese, soft cheese etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then add soft fruits like banana, papaya.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then add blanched vegetables-green leafy vegetables like spinach, cabbage, celery, lettuce etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also stewed fibrous fruits &amp;amp; vegetables like apple, carrot, and radish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on how much weight you want to increase incorporate other high calorie, fatty foods. Also the protein intake will depend on the same.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thus you have to increase Calorie &amp;amp; protein intake, cereal servings on 2-3 hour interval, give at least two liter water per day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All these things will help to maintain the normal metabolism &amp;amp; will help to gain the weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="878" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-28T08:19:04.613" LastActivityDate="2011-05-28T08:19:04.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2246" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-28T08:40:40.173" Score="4" ViewCount="1511" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play indoor mixed beach volleyball every week. I've noticed that if the sand is really quite cold (like during winter), then after the game has finished my second toe (next to the big toe) is white, while the rest of my toes are of normal colour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just (most likely) a circulation problem...?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rthby.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="867" LastEditorUserId="867" LastEditDate="2011-06-18T01:33:36.270" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T06:11:37.323" Title="White toes on cold sand after sport" Tags="&lt;circulation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-28T08:47:17.933" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a good exercise/training method to improve cross court speed? Specifically in mind is netball, but could be applied to other court sports. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, in particular I'm looking at improving acceleration and short burst speed for competitive play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="867" LastEditorUserId="867" LastEditDate="2011-05-29T08:01:22.003" LastActivityDate="2011-05-29T12:30:50.137" Title="Cross court speed" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2195" CreationDate="2011-05-28T08:58:33.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are not gaining weight in spite of eating high calorie, high protein foods at regular intervals of 2-3 hour:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before thinking of weight gain by diet way, check other medical problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood examination to check-hyperthyroidism or any other disease condition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stool examination for any worms problem etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For this consult a Doctor (general physician), confirm you don’t have any medical problem. If you have any medical problem then start the treatment with proper therapeutic diet. Your weight gain problem will get solved.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don’t have any medical problems then go to a dietitian for weight gain because weight gain is not that easy to do on your own.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="878" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-28T09:31:52.153" LastActivityDate="2011-05-28T09:31:52.153" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2011-05-28T13:16:25.123" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One word: Exercise. (Strictly speaking, your best option is diverting that unspent energy to something more useful than fat gain.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally not some silly cardio regimen; aim for resistance training, preferably with free weights. It's good for the body, and some modicum of muscle mass looks great on everyone. More lean body mass will also increase your BMR. I'd recommend Stronglifts 5x5 if she can manage the empty barbell, perhaps some dumbbell program if she's a tiny ana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do keep track of calorie intake. 'Normal eating' doesn't mean anything, and people tend to focus a lot more on metabolism than warranted..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastEditorUserId="525" LastEditDate="2011-05-29T18:04:45.270" LastActivityDate="2011-05-29T18:04:45.270" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2247" CreationDate="2011-05-28T13:44:44.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to sprint faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to interval/running training, you probably want to start lifting weights for stronger muscle. In particular hamstrings, quads and calves, but core and upper body strength is important as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always recommend Stronglifts 5x5 for beginners, and I'm sure that should suit you well too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-05-28T13:44:44.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2011-05-28T14:43:26.697" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a situation where she needs to take a step backward in order to move forward. The worst thing she could do is lower her net caloric intake again via diet or lots of exercise, as that will just reinforce &quot;starvation mode&quot; to her body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest she starts by eating natural whole foods to fill for a few weeks. Its probably best to avoid tracking calories or scale weight during this time, because of the potential psychological impact. She isn't likely to gain any &quot;bad&quot; weight with these foods and it sounds like her body could really use the nutrients.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progress can be measured by trying to determine her basal temperature; it's probably quite low now (almost nobody on the planet actually has a 98.6 deg. temperature). I'd suggest measuring this first thing each morning. As she eats well, per above, her temperature should slowly rise. Somewhere in the upper 97's might be a good target to shoot for, but some significant gain is a good sign that her body's state is improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding exercise, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybyscience.net/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body By Science&lt;/a&gt; workout might be a good choice, as the workouts are infrequent and burn few calories, while still encouraging muscular growth and cellular cardiovascular efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-05-28T19:06:07.053" LastActivityDate="2011-05-28T19:06:07.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2247" CreationDate="2011-05-28T18:17:53.937" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are dealing with racquet sports, you really need to be able to sprint quickly in very short bursts of no more than 15 yards (often shorter) at a time with the ability to recover and change direction quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, going out and sprinting as hard as you can in a straight line for 40 yards (like the much ballyhoo'ed speed test for American football) isn't going to be very important for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to focus on first step quickness (getting you going in correct direction as fast as possible) and hip explosion (makes sure you achieve maximum acceleration once you are moving in a particular direction).  Improving your acceleration to your top speed is going to be more important than increasing your top speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For actual running drills to improve this I'd recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnx8-hRzBYQ&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T-Drill&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT9QMeWSSv0&amp;amp;NR=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;L-Drill&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWF1sCEvaRo&amp;amp;NR=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Agility Drill&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are popular in American football but would just as applicable to racquet sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for lifts, you want anything that encourages explosion from an athletic position - box jumps, squats, cleans, dead lifts.  Make sure those are part of your lifting routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2011-05-29T12:30:50.137" LastActivityDate="2011-05-29T12:30:50.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2195" CreationDate="2011-05-28T19:12:31.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might have a fast metabolism but it would be very useful if you shared an example of your daily intake so we can see how much and what you eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should eat a lot of proteins and the right ammount of carbs and have enough sleep (at least 8 hours a day) in order to gain quality weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started to train I went to the gym 4 times a week, each time exercising 2 muscle groups and abs and used the following diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 egg whites&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 cup of cereals with low-fat milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sanwich with integral bread and turkey ham&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;low-fat yogurt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pasta or rice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;300g of meat (turkey, chicken, horse or fish)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vegetables&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 apples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;300g of meat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vegetables&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a healthy person, eat the right ammount of quality food, exercise well and sleep enough sooner or later you will get the right results. Many people complain about not being able to gain weight but in most cases it is not because of metabolism or health issues but the matter of incorrect daily habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="270" LastActivityDate="2011-05-28T19:12:31.233" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-28T19:18:58.290" Score="9" ViewCount="1007" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very frustrated by my inability to lose weight.  I'm a 28 year old female and I'm stuck in the overweight range.  Despite years of consistent and steady weight watchers and exercise, I cannot break it!  I was 10-15 lbs heavier at times, but I've hit a plateau in my efforts for six months now.  Worse, ANY indulgence has immediate consequences.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually prepare my own meals - low fat, low sodium, fresh vegetables, fish.  I eat small quantities which I measure and tally in weight watchers.  I exercise several times a week - spinning, running, Jillian's workout videos.  I have goals which I feel I deserve to reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it's frustrating to see other people with apparently different body chemistry eating terribly, exercising never, all without consequence.  The hard solution, I guess, is to continue to reduce my intake and increase my exercise, but I feel that I'm behaviorally a very healthy already.  Further, any deviation from my aggressive plan puts the weight right back on, pound for pound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does my body need to be heavier than other bodies?  Is that just what I'm stuck with?  Are there certain nutritional components I need to avoid besides the standard fat, sugar, carbs that might be keeping me fat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I'd just like to hear from qualified nutritionists or individuals like me who have learned any tricks to resetting their body's preferred weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1141" LastEditorUserId="1040" LastEditDate="2011-05-29T03:55:51.087" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T16:32:42.583" Title="Strict weight watchers adherence and regular, varied exercise not achieving results" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2310" CreationDate="2011-05-28T19:19:43.877" Score="8" ViewCount="4070" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play tennis on hard courts usually 1 - 3 times per week.  Several times a year there are weekend tournaments or other competitive weekend events that I like to participate in.  Typically, by the end of the one of these weekends my calves and/or knees are so sore I have a lot of trouble reacting to the ball.  It goes away after a few days though and doesn't bother me on daily basis. Is this normal?  Are there exercises I can do to prepare myself better for these weekends?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="756" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T21:12:35.373" Title="How do I avoid calf and knee pain after a weekend of tennis?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2094" CreationDate="2011-05-29T00:07:34.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebestcreatine.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt; loading only has one benefit, reaching the maximum saturation after 5 days as opposed to around 20 days without loading. Once the muscles have reached saturation point the effects are the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overuse of creatine causes problems as it tends to settle in the intestines and cause distress.  Anyone with kidney related illnesses should avoid taking creatine but there is litle evidence that it can cause damage to a healthy kidney as excessive amounts are unlikely to make it into the blood stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body gets creatine from it's diet but it also creates it itself.  While supplementing with creatine this stops and focuses it's energy on producing other beneficial substances such as antioxidants.  This gives creatine users an added health benefit of having a healthy methylation system&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1143" LastActivityDate="2011-05-29T00:07:34.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2254" CreationDate="2011-05-29T03:55:35.627" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people on a Weight Watchers diet lose muscle, not fat.  Their diets do not typically deliver a reasonable amount of protein and clean fat to maintain healthy organs and muscles.  There are some exceptions, and while I'm not a nutrition professional I shadow a number of them in preparation for a career change in the next few years.  In my experience, probably 9 out of every 10 people who walk in the door saying they're on Weight Watchers report a general feeling of bad health, food cravings, and frustration with their weight yo-yoing.  In my PERSONAL experience, Weight Watchers and similar 'one size fits most' diets are not effective for the majority of the population.  I am sure there are people out there who would argue the point, but in truth I have never seen them perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real solution is to devise your own solution using known good nutrition fundamentals.  Find foods and meals that work for you, don't work to fit your diet into meals someone else made.  These are some basics you can get yourself started in; feel free to post up new questions asking for specifics about anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance in all things, and equal balance in all things: I am instantly wary of any diet that suggests going very low in or outright cutting one of the major macronutrients (fat, protein, carbs).  Pure and simple, your body needs all of these things to function properly.  You can choose to cut out some classes of these (such as no-starch for carbs or no-red meat for protein/fat), but cutting fat or carbs out of your diet is not going to make you healthier, nor is it going to be sustainable in the long term.  Despite what Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and their contemporaries will tell you, fat does not make you fat.  The inability to digest fat properly will make you fat.  That inability will often come from overloading on carbs, especially starches.  This will backlog your digestion and make any fat you consume get stored as fat pretty quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fullness happens when you get the right nutrition: Directly coming from the first point, it's important to realize that hunger is a request for nutrients from your body.  When you give your body the nutrients it requires, you will stop feeling hungry.  People who eat meat, veggies, fruit, and carbs in a general balance will often have to eat fewer ounces of food to feel 'full'.  I again have alarm bells go off whenever I read a diet that suggests using anything besides water as an 'appetite suppressant'.  One Jenny Craig brochure I read suggested using wheat bread as a suppressant.  This is completely bogus.  If your diet is actually working, you will not need to suppress your appetite.  The real solution is to have an inventory of small, balanced meals that you can fall back on if you need a pick-me-up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat burning comes from calorie deficits: The point that most diets will gloss over is that you will get rid of fat for good, you need to be burning off more calories than you take in.  The majority of work for permanent weight cutting goes on in the kitchen.  To get rid of 1-2 pounds of fat per week, you need to be burning 500 more calories than you're taking in on a daily basis.  Again, if your diet is balanced and your exercise is moderate, this is much easier than it might first sound.  However, you're not going to get there with a 'low-fat' diet since you'll have to put carbs in to replace the fat or starve.  Without the fat, you won't have any long-term energy or fullness, so you'll eat more and more carbs and never burn through all the calories you're eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't be eating it: Get used to looking at ingredient lists and figuring out what is in what you're eating.  All the 20-dollar names you see on things like TV dinners represent preservatives, chemical sweeteners, and other things that have only been in the human diet for the last 30-40 years - not coincidentally, around the same time the average person started to have lots of problems with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.  You do not need any of these things in your diet and you will be much better off if you get rid of them.  You will probably hear that, in moderation, these things can't hurt you.  That's probably true.  The trouble is, nobody can really agree on what 'in moderation' means, and nobody knows how these chemical additives interact.  There are dozens of different artificial preservatives out there.  1 gram a day of Preservative A might be harmless, and 1 gram a day of Preservative B might be harmless, but 1 gram of each a day might disrupt digestion and make digesting things like fat and protein much harder.  Nobody really knows.  This is the lowest-hanging fruit out there for most peoples' diets.  If you're having problems putting your weight right where you want it, get rid of the variables nobody can give you an answer on first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd encourage you to ask followup questions, either in comments or in entirely new threads, on any details you might be confused about.  This is very much a 100,000 foot view on things and there is a whole world of help out there for getting you fit, properly nourished, and happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-05-29T03:55:35.627" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2277" CreationDate="2011-05-29T04:56:34.393" Score="21" ViewCount="137523" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I wore them when I'm not exercising, like if I wore them at work (I work in an office), or at home, all day, would it be like a passive form of exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To estimate how much I walk: I guess I walk to the bus stop, probably about 100-200 metres. Get off bus, maybe 100 metres. Then I sit around all day. But maybe go and talk to somebody two or three times - average distance maybe 5-10 metres (?). Go to kitchen or toilet maybe three times (i drink a lot of water), so that's probably about 50 metres away? Maybe I'll take the stairs too, that's 5 floors up and down. Probably its barely half a km in total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would wearing ankle weights help me get fitter or will it not be enough to make any sort of difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1144" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-30T18:39:04.467" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T10:28:23.153" Title="Will wearing ankle weights all day long make any difference?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2260" CreationDate="2011-05-29T07:53:07.110" Score="4" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started jogging recently. I can complete 2-3 rounds jogging(3 miles appprox.) and 2-3 rounds walking. While jogging, my stomach aches (the right side, I don't know what that part is called). And a day after I jogged I experienced pain in my calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to prevent stomach pain during a jog and knee pain a day after jogging?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1047" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-05-29T08:55:46.033" LastActivityDate="2011-05-29T09:11:01.127" Title="What can I do about the pain during and after jogging?" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2259" CreationDate="2011-05-29T09:11:01.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The biggest mistake all beginners make is running too fast&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your stomach starts to hurt, simply slow down and the pain should become less. Do note that you shouldn't start running straight after a meal, as this can also cause pain in your stomach. But most of the time you're simply running too fast. Instead start running at a speed that you're still able to hold up a conversation. You'll be surprised how slow this may seem, but your pace will start to increase soon enough, so just be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, while its not entirely clear how you alternate jogging and walking, I recommend you start following a proven training schedule, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;such as Couch 2 5K&lt;/a&gt;. This makes sure that you don't run for long stretches at a time, while you're not ready for it yet. Instead, it gradually built up the duration of the running intervals and the workout in total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the pain in your calves, this too is a result of you running too fast and too long. If you start to follow the C25K plan, you shouldn't have any problems with but your stomach and your legs. If you do: again, you're running too fast, so slow down!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and be sure to come back if you get any other questions as you progress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-05-29T09:11:01.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1571" CreationDate="2011-05-29T22:16:46.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;American Journal of Critical Nutrition &#xA;'99&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/70/6/1040.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; mentioning that drinking green tea has an increasing effect on the metabolism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Green tea has thermogenic properties and promotes fat oxidation beyond that explained by its caffeine content per se.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T19:23:00.597" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T19:23:00.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2264" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-30T06:17:24.150" Score="1" ViewCount="492" Body="&lt;p&gt;In relation to eating, when should I not exercise? Or rather, are there times that are better or worse than others to exercise during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, is it better or worse to exercise in the morning? If you do it in the morning, should you do it before or after you eat? Should you wait for a while between you eat and exercise? Or at night, is it better or worse to exercise before you go to bed? Is it better or worse to do it before or after supper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe not the clearest question, but hopefully someone understand what I'm asking about. Basically, during a day, when taking sleeping and eating into account, when is it preferable to exercise or not to exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T07:36:52.877" Title="When should I not exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2279" CreationDate="2011-05-30T06:24:21.327" Score="18" ViewCount="28122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a jump rope, and my pulse sure goes up while jumping. But what am I exercising exactly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastEditorUserId="33155" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T12:59:36.057" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T12:59:36.057" Title="What is a jump rope good for?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;vertical-jump&gt;&lt;jump-rope&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2264" CreationDate="2011-05-30T07:36:52.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Under normal circumstances you should be exercising after like 1,5-2 hours you have your meal, which should be consisting of complex carbs mainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you wake up your glycogen level is so low in muscle cells. So if you wanna hit the gym in the morning, consume simple sugars. Because there are 2 opportunity windows to consume simple sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is right after you workout, the other one is right after you wake up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you may feel week if you don't eat anything and start exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Liquid form is always absorbed faster, so drink fruit juice, eat couple tpbs of honey or something if you want to exercise after you wake up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But overall, you can exercise any time of the day, doesn't matter much really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we are talking about bodybuilding, motivation is really important. So for example, after i get out of work my performance is a bit lower compared to the weekend. Although i consume same amount of protein and carbs, my motivation is low because of stress during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T07:36:52.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2265" CreationDate="2011-05-30T07:41:37.280" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are jumping on your toes tips then you are definetely working out your calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you can count that as a cardio if you can keep jumping for like 20 minutes. But if your heartbeat rate is going really high, no point to do that as a cardio exercise. You should be able to keep your heartbeat rate at a constant range, let's say 140-160 for most of the males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Yep, i meant toes! :) Sorry, English is not my mother language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastEditorUserId="1096" LastEditDate="2011-05-30T12:39:08.600" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T12:39:08.600" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2315" CreationDate="2011-05-30T08:59:39.713" Score="6" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an cyclist. I at least cycle about 30 km everyday. Other than, I love playing basketball. I play at least about an hour everyday. The problem is, when I am doing these, I sweat a lot than other guys. My shirt is completely soaked, when others are hardly sweating . Is this is a disorder? Is it hyperhidrosis? I am hoping I am not suffering from hyperhidrosis, because casually I am fine, no sweats. It just happens during sports or similar activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1149" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-01T04:38:04.183" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T04:38:04.183" Title="Is Abnormal Sweating a physical disorder?" Tags="&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2294" CreationDate="2011-05-30T16:19:55.293" Score="10" ViewCount="27659" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently about 30 lbs overweight. I'm also generally much warmer than many others around me, and am constantly seeking ways to cool off. I'm already working on slimming down, but I'm wondering - if I lose 30 lbs and reach my target weight, will I be significantly cooler as well? How much difference does fat make in regulating one's body temperature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T20:05:58.780" Title="How much does body fat affect body temperature?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1963" CreationDate="2011-05-30T17:51:57.230" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metatarsalgia/DS00496&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;metatarsalgia&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to me. If you check out the symptoms section that article they match what you described. Running and jumping increase the risk of metatarsalgia, and anything that increases impact on your feet makes it worse. The article lists wearing shoes without appropriate padding as a risk factor, so your vibram's lack of padding may be contributing to the problem. Being overweight also increases impact, which contributes to the problem (I don't know if this is an issue for you or not). I imagine that running on high-impact surfaces like concrete would also increase your risk (grass and asphalt have more give).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Distributing more weight into the ball of the foot also makes it worse. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072971088/information_center_view0/&quot;&gt;Arnheim's Principles of Athletic Training&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the causes of metatarsalgia is&#xA;  restricted extensibility of the&#xA;  gastrocnemius-soleus complex. Because&#xA;  of this restriction, the athlete&#xA;  shortens the midstance phase of the&#xA;  gait and emphasizes the toe-off phase,&#xA;  causing excessive pressure under the&#xA;  forefoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translation: if your calves are tight, you run in a way that puts more pressure on the ball of your foot. This might be an issue for you. One of the benefits of barefoot running is that it strengthens your ankles by strengthening the lower legs muscles that support them. The problem is, if you don't stretch those muscles regularly they can get tight. Metatarsalgia can also be caused by a fallen metatarsal arch (the arch that goes across the ball of the foot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If tight calves are suspected contributors, Arnheim suggests stretching the calves several times a day (see the right column of the Gastrocnemius and Soleus sections on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/CalfWt.html&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; for some stretches). If you have a fallen arch cauaed by weakness, you should also do foot-strengthening exercises. In addition, both sources I mentioned suggest &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000KPP4RY&quot;&gt;metatarsal pads&lt;/a&gt;, which sit behind the balls of the feet to help with support and shock absorption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T17:51:57.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2011-05-30T18:37:26.793" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;About.com has &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/od/gear/bb/weights.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a nice article about ankle/walking weights&lt;/a&gt;. They estimated the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adding weight will allow you to burn more calories per mile, but only about 5-8 calories more per mile for every 10 pounds added. Compare that to walking a quarter of a mile - a 100 pound person burns 15 calories in a quarter mile at an easy pace, while a 200 pound person burns 30 calories. That takes only 5 more minutes and you aren't increasing your risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2194/is-walking-up-the-stairs-a-good-exercise&quot;&gt;the question about walking up stairs&lt;/a&gt;, where I calculated that the additional calories are simply not worth it. This isn't an excuse to stop taking the stairs, instead you need to realize that &lt;strong&gt;walking only a 1000 steps per day simply isn't enough exercise.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing the workload with even 20% would still only be the equivalent of 1200 steps, while &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/od/measure/f/10000steps.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you probably should be targeting 10.000 steps&lt;/a&gt;. As you can see you're almost an order of magnitude behind on the amount of exercise you should be getting and just &lt;strong&gt;adding the weights isn't going to cut it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice would be to not use weights, but find more 'excuses' to walk more during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T18:37:26.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2265" CreationDate="2011-05-30T19:36:56.170" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jump roping can be very effective in conditioning and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jump roping is a very helpful cardiovascular exercise. You're really exercising a complex system of muscles. You're not really isolating one muscle. You're exercising your upper body, core and lower muscles all in one action. You can't get more complete than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Body&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because your arms are constantly&#xA;  working to move the jump rope, the&#xA;  upper body muscles are used&#xA;  extensively, including your deltoids&#xA;  (shoulders), back, forearms, biceps&#xA;  and triceps. If you use a heavier&#xA;  rope, your upper body will get more of&#xA;  a workout because it is like adding&#xA;  weight training to your jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Core&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  Jumping rope requires balance, which draws on your core&#xA;  muscles each time you jump and land&#xA;  with the timing of the rope.&#xA;  Abdominal, lower back and hip muscles&#xA;  are all used as they help stabilize&#xA;  and coordinate your movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lower Body&lt;/strong&gt; Because you are constantly on your toes and making&#xA;  vertical jumps, the calf muscles are&#xA;  used a great deal in jumping rope. It&#xA;  also uses the quadriceps (front of the&#xA;  thighs), hamstrings (back of thighs)&#xA;  and glutes (buttocks) for power and&#xA;  strength. Adding in different moves&#xA;  where you travel forward, backward or&#xA;  side-to-side as you jump, will also&#xA;  engage the smaller stabilizer muscles&#xA;  in your lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/25493-muscles-used-jump-rope/#ixzz1NrmHvweU&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T19:11:00.493" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T19:11:00.493" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2265" CreationDate="2011-05-30T23:34:06.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the earlier answers that slow-paced jumproping can increase your cardio-respiratory endurance, but I think the primary benefit is increasing power and speed. This is why you see it used in any movie with a boxer getting ready for a fight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the rapid higher jumping required, double unders are the most effective way to use a jumprope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T23:34:06.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-31T00:55:33.130" Score="7" ViewCount="7786" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for Protein suggestions that I can have to consume 30grams after waking up. I am a vegetarian but I do eat eggs. Not too keen on consuming 5 boiled eggs first thing in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started exercise (Boxing Bootcamp twice a week and Mountain Biking once a week) for last 4 weeks and after listening &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/05/27/the-shortcut-to-the-shortcut-the-4-key-principles-of-the-4-hour-body/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tim Ferris's talk&lt;/a&gt;, I would like to give it a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1153" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T02:54:02.193" Title="30 grams of Protein within 30 minutes of waking up" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2011-05-31T01:40:29.317" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A whey protein shake would be an easy way to get protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T01:40:29.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2011-05-31T01:43:26.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go to see one of the Chinese Medical Traumatology and Orthopaedics in my local area first, as recommended by my brother. He said the doctor is good. And you don't need the referral letter from a generic doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T01:43:26.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2335" CreationDate="2011-05-31T04:51:14.563" Score="18" ViewCount="2744" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the proper form for running? I find that whenever I run, even for a short distance, I end up hurting my legs. Sometimes my shins hurt, but most of the time after a little running the bottom of my foot hurts and I'm forced to stop. The area where the pain is at is right below where the balls of your feet are and whenever I take a step and go through the motion there is a sharp pain. I don't have special running shoes yet, I'm just running in some Chucks I have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what I'm looking for in running form and technique. But I just found a tip to keep my hips up higher and it has slightly helped, in that it takes longer before my foot starts hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I'm now running in Vibram Five Fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="178" LastEditorUserId="178" LastEditDate="2011-06-02T22:33:00.223" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T17:19:40.290" Title="What is the proper way to run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-05-31T08:24:07.043" Score="16" ViewCount="5863" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I have done some exercise and the next few days I am rather sore in certain muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best thing to do about that? Let them rest (avoid using them)? Use them a lot? Exercise more? Rub them? Hot bath?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T21:16:10.940" Title="What to do with sore muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2011-05-31T10:59:57.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep working out according to your schedule (assuming there's a 48-72 hour recovery period after each session -- if not, get a new schedule). It's not harmful, and might even make the soreness go away sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T10:59:57.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2011-05-31T13:08:40.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What to do depends on how sore your muscles are, how long they've been sore and your prior experience with sore muscles.  The easy answer is to rest, but it may not be the best advice for your specific situation.  I've always felt that you should continue exercising, but with the focus on areas not directly related to the 'sore' muscle area, this builds an exercise pattern that will provide long term benefit, help increase your pain threshold (pain management is key to any aggressive exercise program) and gives those 'sore' muscles time to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're hydrating enough and getting sufficient protein to help reduce the intensity and duration of muscle soreness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T13:08:40.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2199" CreationDate="2011-05-31T14:53:19.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a VERY &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/scientist-measure-calories-burned-ft54677&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;accurate approach&lt;/a&gt;, but it requires being in a lab and having equipment hooked up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another approach is using a calories burnt &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculator&lt;/a&gt;. (If you look up calorie burned calculator you'll find dozens - they should be based on type of exercise, your weight and the exercise duration).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some points to keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do the same exercise, the same way, but burn calories differ based on what you ate prior to the workout, room temp, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories burned related directly to weight loss, but not the same every time, depending on your eating habits, intensity, sleep level - you will most likely not burn the same # of calories, but if you did, most likely not 'lose' the same amount of weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post exercise 'after' burn needs to be taken into consideration - the more aerobic the exercise the less 'after' calorie burn is present&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T19:23:14.963" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T19:23:14.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2011-05-31T16:44:49.727" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sensei used to work out with ankle weights and wrist weights when he was younger.  This was &lt;em&gt;against&lt;/em&gt; his sensei's advice.  He would keep doing it until they wore out (and shot the metal bars out the bottom when he was kicking a target), and then replace the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that the body is not meant to deal with those additional stress of that weight at the extremities.  He ended up having to get both hips replaced later in life due to the unnatural stresses the ankle/wrist weights put on his body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do add weight, use something like a weighted vest.  It provides a more natural balance of weight and doesn't interfere with the normal motion of your legs and arms.  Additionally, you can add &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; weight when it is close to your body than you can at your ankles and wrists, providing a better advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I agree with Ivo's advice: find more excuses to walk more during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-05-31T18:26:45.400" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T18:26:45.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2274" CreationDate="2011-05-31T16:52:45.230" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, I can say that you will lose some insulation when you lose fat, but that may not change much for you.  I lost around 85 pounds of fat, and I can say that I get really cold in the winter.  My hands are almost always ice cubes, but my thyroid tested out OK.  I have to button up my jackets now, but now I &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; so it's OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always run a bit cooler than most people, seeking ways to stay warm.  My basic physiology is a bit different than yours.  You'll probably still be looking for ways to cool off, but you won't have to work as hard to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insulation traps body heat in, and slows the effect of the outside environment.  What you will see is that with less fat (insulation):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are already cold, it will take less time to warm up when you go outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are already hot, it will take less time to cool off when you go where there's air conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T16:52:45.230" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2011-05-31T17:00:25.867" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness after exercise is a very common symptom of a strenuous exercise, and is usually indicative of a &quot;good&quot; workout, i.e. one in which you've stressed the muscles to the point at which they will grow stronger. The cause of the soreness is currently unknown. Previous hypotheses involving lactic acid and muscle spasms have been demonstrated to be incorrect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can provide temporary relief using warm compresses and gentle massaging of the affected muscle, but the soreness will persist until about 72 hours. The best thing to do is to stick to a regular routine; soreness is notably worse the first time a muscle group is significantly stressed. Note that while continuing to exercise will stave off soreness, overstressing can lead to sprains and tears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T17:00:25.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="718" CreationDate="2011-05-31T19:15:58.203" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;In violent agreement with Nathan Wheeler's answer, I'll just word things a bit differently.  &quot;man-boobs&quot; are fat.  I had them, and when I was heavier they even hung a little bit.  Not flattering at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is no way to target weight loss to any given area of your body.  The only thing you can do is lose fat all over, and the man-boob and keg abs (my problem area) will go away.  The best way to deal with fat is through diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you want something impressive when the fat is gone, you need to strengthen the muscles underneath the fat.  Muscle groups &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be targeted, and bench presses are an excellent way to improve your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how my man-boobs have melted away (still a bit in progress):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they were sagging, they stop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The whole chest will look larger, not quite firm pecs yet, but a lot more impressive than they used to be&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The chest will appear to get smaller again, but as the fat gets burned off it leaves behind the muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now they look like pecs.  They aren't massive, but they'll improve over time as the muscle gets stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same will happen with my keg abs.  My &quot;dunlap&quot; disease is gone (where your belly &quot;done lapped&quot; over your belt), and the core below the belt line is tight and right.  Unfortunately, above the belt line I have this bump of fat--slowly but surely shrinking.  Eventually it will start looking like abs, but for my body it's the last place my fat is holding on.  I really wish it was possible to target weight loss, but the best I can do is leave something strong for when the fat is burned off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T19:15:58.203" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2299" CreationDate="2011-05-31T19:59:34.317" Score="14" ViewCount="61824" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started exercising after a long time and did some exercises of legs (running, squatting, etc). The exercise was not strenous. Just after the session I had to go to a party, so I jumped in my car and drove to the location which was an hour away. When I tried to get out of the car and stand up, I couldn't. I didn't feel any strength in my thighs. I summoned all my strength and got out of the car and collapsed back on the ground. Few people helped me get in a room and I lay there overnight. After spending the night wondering whether I had lost my legs, in the morning I was able to stand back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now why did this happen? What can I do prevent it from happening again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T03:27:13.633" Title="Why did my legs give way?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="718" CreationDate="2011-05-31T20:23:13.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I initially agreed 100% with Nathan, basically, there is no spot reduction approach and you will need to focus on diet and exercise to solve the issue.  However I did come across another potential solution: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynecomastia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gynecomastia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gynecomastia […] is the abnormal development of large mammary glands in males resulting in breast enlargement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, I would recommend visiting a Dr. to have the symptoms reviewed and to ensure your in good enough condition otherwise to begin an intense exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T22:14:10.217" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T22:14:10.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2297" CreationDate="2011-05-31T20:37:57.323" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Preface: this is anecdotal, and I Am Not A Doctor™&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first began doing squats, I noticed exactly the same thing. I never had it as bad as you, but I did notice that on my way home from the gym, while walking to the bus, I could barely get the strength to continue walking, and if I tried to run I would almost collapse. The main cause is probably that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadriceps_femoris_muscle&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;quadriceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, the muscle group being worked out by the squat, is so essential for begin able to stand upright. With that muscle almost completely exhausted, simply standing upright is effected via &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot;&gt;synergists and stabilizers&lt;/a&gt;, which are nowhere near as good at keeping you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, that level of exhaustion should not last very long. If the problem persists, definitely talk to a doctor, preferably a sports medicine specialist or orthopedics specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-05-31T20:37:57.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2303" CreationDate="2011-06-01T08:28:20.387" Score="12" ViewCount="2795" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure what the muscle is called, or if there is more than one, but seems like there is a muscle under my feet going from somewhere close to the heel and forward to where the toes are &quot;attached&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to get tired there quite easily, and sometimes it hurts a little (mostly like a sore muscle hurts) after walking a lot or jumping around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way I can strengthen this muscle? Preferably without any equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T06:43:55.930" Title="How to strengthen the &quot;foot muscle&quot;" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2304" CreationDate="2011-06-01T09:48:27.333" Score="9" ViewCount="884" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an extremely slow resting pulse. It is not uncommon for it to be around 50. Last night it was around 45. I know that super athletes have a slow resting pulse, but I wouldn't class myself as one of those: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cycle to work (about 8 mile round trip) which is up and down some quite steep inclines and go to the gym 0-2 times a week to do some weight training and some running on the treadmill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1160" LastEditorUserId="1160" LastEditDate="2011-07-14T10:51:07.357" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T10:14:46.663" Title="Slow Pulse Question" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2011-06-01T10:20:47.670" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good breakfast for me can consist of a 2-3 scrambled eggs mixed with half a can (~150g) cottage cheese. Spice it up with some tabasco sauce and it's totally edible, and it takes about 5 mins to make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to just eat a whole can of cottage cheese straight (perhaps mixed with something sweet like a splash of kool aid). That's nearly 40 grams of protein by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not into milk products, then 2-3 eggs and a bowl of oatmeal on the side will also put you in the 30g protein range. Raw rolled oats can be as high as 16g/100g of protein, plus they're dirt cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="718" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T10:20:47.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2300" CreationDate="2011-06-01T12:29:30.383" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you already figured out how to strengthen it.  Yes, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foottrainer.com/foot/&quot;&gt;several different muscles in the foot&lt;/a&gt;.  The only way to strengthen any muscle is to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many times, wearing shoes prevents many of your foot muscles from activating, which also prevents them from getting stronger.  They don't have to activate because the shoe is providing the stability that the muscle normally would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do &quot;barefoot running&quot; to help build them up.  Or you can do your exercises without shoes on.  You'll find that you'll have to ramp up slowly.  Perhaps start with 100m and increase 10% each time you run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news for you is that you really can't strengthen them with equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T12:29:30.383" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2301" CreationDate="2011-06-01T12:45:57.113" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsdoctor.com/articles/heart.html&quot;&gt;The Athlete's Heart&lt;/a&gt;.  Looking at your exercise regimen, I think you are more of an athlete than you realize.  Just biking the 8 miles a day has you putting on at least 40 miles per week of aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article states that with a heavy aerobic exercise regimen, the heart responds by lowering its heart rate, but increasing the volume of blood in each beat.  With anaerobic exercise (weight lifting, other high intensity sports), the heart walls thicken to increase the blood pressure during exertion.  These are normal affects, and the changes occur within the first 4-6 weeks of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also according to the article you should consult your doctor if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A history of fainting for no apparent reason, especially if the fainting occurred during or immediately after exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Symptoms of an irregular heartbeat, palpitations, skipped beats or fluttering heartbeat either when resting or exercising.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A close blood relative who died suddenly before the age of 55, or a family history of early coronary heart disease, high cholesterol, Marfan's syndrome or enlarged heart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A family or personal history of seizures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are a male over age 40 or a female over 50, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you have a medical evaluation before you begin an exercise program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T12:45:57.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1574" CreationDate="2011-06-01T13:38:35.030" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In contrast to @rmx's answer, I'll say that the zones are a very useful way to intelligently build up your cardiovascular performance.  The key is to get tested to find your personal heart rate zones.  They will also provide you with a set of workouts that incorporate some intervals to increase your overall performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The zone testing will find your AB (Aerobic Base) and AT (Anaerobic Threshold).  The interval training will be designed around improving your performance by increasing your AB and/or the distance between your AB and AT levels.  The idea is to improve the cardio to the point where your running heart rate will be within the aerobic region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By your description of your running and heart rate, you are in the same boat as me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your Anaerobic Threshold is low, causing your running to be at an oxygen deficit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing the amount of lower heart rate work will help improve your aerobic performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intervals cycling through zones 2-4, spending more time in zones 2-3, will help increase the distance between your AB and AT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Including the occasional zone 1 workout will help increase the AB.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, since I lift and I do martial arts, my performance in the anaerobic range is pretty good.  I can sustain a high heart rate for a good while.  I just get into the anaerobic range a little too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working smarter will get you results quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T13:38:35.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2011-06-01T13:49:05.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most effective way to train for martial arts is to do it daily.  I assume you have forms of some sort?  By practicing those forms daily, you will increase your ability to do them correctly as well as to do it longer.  This will help you with the type of cardio you need to do SAMBO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, strength training does help.  It's supplementary so it's OK to increase slowly, but stick with compound lifts like squats, bench press, overhead press, rows, and deadlifts.  Your forearms/grip will improve as the weight goes up if you use barbells.  Done correctly, you will also increase your flexibility.  All the lifts I mentioned will increase your core strength, which will help with whatever martial art you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T13:49:05.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2301" CreationDate="2011-06-01T14:49:22.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've wrestled for my highschool for only a couple of months.  Since then, my heartbeat has been extremely slow.  It doesn't take too much activity to slow down your heartbeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1161" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T14:49:22.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2285" CreationDate="2011-06-01T18:17:57.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try running barefoot. Running barefoot will naturally train you into a proper form, since improper form hurts when you're not wearing shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best running form utilizes a forefoot or midfoot stride (landing on the balls of your foot, or just behind the ball of the foot--essentially landing on the whole foot), which allows the natural structure of the arch, together with the achilles tendon and calf muscles to absorb the impact of your weight with the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that in the beginning you only want to run barefoot for short distances, as the muscles and connective tissue in your foot are likely highly underutilized (and therefore underdeveloped). So start slow, maybe 100 to 200 meters/yards at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also helps if you can video yourself running on a treadmill so you can play it back slower to see exactly what your foot does when you run, both barefoot and in shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've determined how to run barefoot that doesn't hurt your feet (this is likely to be much closer to &quot;proper form&quot;), just run that way when you're wearing shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T18:17:57.947" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2011-06-01T18:30:26.743" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Second Wind, Runner's High, etc... are probably caused by reaching the point where your body begins to burn fat for fuel. Fat is a much richer source of energy and is easier to get useful fuel from than sugar, so when your body, which has been burning sugar, starts burning fat you'll feel like you suddenly have a greater-than-expected amount of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous answer dealing with endocannibinoids mentions that this is caused by lipids, which are small enough to make it into the brain from the bloodstream. These lipids are likely the byproduct of your body beginning to burn stored fat for fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T18:30:26.743" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2255" CreationDate="2011-06-01T20:14:40.123" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you work so much longer and harder than usual at tournaments, it's not surprising that you're feeling some soreness (see this Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt; for more info), but I can think of a couple things that might help your calves and knees hold out a little better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm up properly&lt;/strong&gt;. Warming up increases blood flow to the muscles, which makes your muscles less likely to fatigue; increases the temperature of your muscles, making them more elastic and less likely to get injured; and increases production of synovial fluid in the joints, which helps with lubrication and shock absorption. Warming up isn't just stretching, and in fact, static stretching (long holds) aren't generally recommended as part of a warm-up (You Tube: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtPZZorRpMo&amp;amp;NR=1&amp;amp;feature=fvwp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Truth&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21373870&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; recent review on warming-up suggests that &lt;em&gt;&quot;a warm-up to minimize impairments and enhance performance should be composed of a submaximal intensity aerobic activity followed by large amplitude dynamic stretching and then completed with sport-specific dynamic activities.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; So, for example, you could start with a 5 to 10 minute jog, followed the dynamic stretches explained in The Truth (linked above). Here are some more dynamic stretches to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nyrr.org/ycr/ars/activity/middle/prerun/m11.asp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;specifically target the lower leg&lt;/a&gt; (drawing the alphabet works wonders for me). You should also include some tennis-specific drills, focusing not only on the upper body, but also on &lt;a href=&quot;http://tennis.about.com/od/drillspracticegames/a/footworkwarmup.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;footwork&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch after exercise&lt;/strong&gt;. Tight lower leg muscles can cause all sorts of problems, including foot pain, shin splints, and knee problems, so it's important to keep them limber. &lt;a href=&quot;http://yogatwists.barbiehebron.com/some-love-for-the-lower-legs/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is the lower leg stretching routine I use, and you can find some other lower leg stretches on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/CalfWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; (right column). Tight quads, hamstrings, and IT bands may contribute knee pain as well, so you should stretch these too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthen weak muscles&lt;/strong&gt;. This is a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.summitmedicalgroup.com/library/sports_health/shin_pain_exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;program&lt;/a&gt; for building strength and flexibility in your lower leg muscles. Doing the ones that are a challenge for you as part of your regular training may help solve your problems (try the full 3 sets of 10 to figure out if it's a challenge for you or not; sometimes the intensity takes a few reps to set in). My husband does a subset of these exercises after he runs (with a more challenging &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mavenlive.com/physical-therapy-exercises/single-heel-raise-on-step.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;variation&lt;/a&gt; on the heel raise), and it has eradicated the pain he used to get during/after running.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure you have appropriate shoes&lt;/strong&gt;. Shoes without proper support or padding for your sport make your lower leg muscles and knees work a lot harder than they have to in order to stabilize the joints and absorb impact.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-06-01T20:14:40.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-02T03:36:15.057" Score="13" ViewCount="625" Body="&lt;p&gt;After running my knees will be hurting, I will stop running after that, but still I want to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I start running, I mostly alternate between running and walking, it would be 30 minutes by then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that I can't run anymore, so can I walk? How useful is that for burning the fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2011-06-02T10:24:18.953" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T06:39:58.190" Title="Can walking be a way to lose weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2311" CreationDate="2011-06-02T08:20:29.660" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess you should use good pair of shoe and check your body weight before trying to run longer distance rather before running only, otherwise it can be detrimental to your progress(burning fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can climb up and down stairways, do skipping, etc along with these(running and walking) to burn fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also&#xA;Do some weight training. If you don't want to go to gym, trying doing exercises at home with&#xA;items available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T08:20:29.660" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2255" CreationDate="2011-06-02T08:37:08.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had these experiences, these are quite normal for anyone who is playing for long.&#xA;I guess you can reduce the stress on them by following methods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretch before beginning any activity(walking, running, playing tennis, gym, etc)&#xA;it warms up the muscles and they will be ready to take the load/stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching should be done very slowly, even though they consume some time, you should&#xA;always stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very important you should be keep stretching in between the activity, this relaxes the &#xA;muscle group and the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretch at end of the session, I know this would be boring and people would tend to skip this, but it is very important for your progress and safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Do some weight training for legs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many exercises, like squats, half squats, sitted leg extension, donkey calf rise, reverse curls, etc which will strengthen your legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. After the session&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give yourself a hot water(water should be hot enough and not very hot) treatment, place your feet in hot water tub with little salt(common salt) added to it, for sometime. This would easy the soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Take rest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very very very important, this is the time when muscles recover the max. Increases strength of your muscle and muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Wear proper attire&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be wearing proper dress like, shock absorbing shoe, socks(cotton sports socks), etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6. Proper technique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should constantly update your knowledge about the techniques used from internet, magazine, articles, talking with people who are good at it, keeping reading about the activity and keep seeing the pros. You should be able get proper techniques from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7. Perfect practice.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice not just practice but perfect practice, with the proper techniques you learn, practice them, you'll become stronger and perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2011-06-02T08:50:38.630" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T08:50:38.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2311" CreationDate="2011-06-02T14:59:54.377" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;80% of weight loss is through your diet.  However, for that last 20% a low heart rate workout such as swift walking will help you burn more fat than a high heart rate workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If knee pain is a problem, you might want to do something lower impact such as an elliptical for your cardio work.  NOTE: going &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; stairs is a good workout that will strengthen the knees some, but going &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt; stairs will add a lot more stress to them than running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training, and specifically full barbell squats will strengthen your knees better than anything else.  Just start with the bar and go up 5 lbs per workout as long as you can (3x per week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T14:59:54.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2269" CreationDate="2011-06-02T16:30:00.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are fine.  Check out the following articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003218.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sweating: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/conditioning/a/aa052001a.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;About.com Fitness Myths and Half-Truths&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/fitnessqanda/fitnessqanda_display.aspx?itemid=279&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ace Fitness Q&amp;amp;A&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all three articles sweating as a response to working out is normal.  In fact, the body adapts to sweat sooner the more fit you get so it doesn't store the extra heat your body is producing during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important caution from all sources is to make sure you stay hydrated.  Considering the heavy cardio work you do, a sports drink may be more necessary than just water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MedlinePlus link does have additional symptoms to look out for that indicate you should talk to a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Contact your health care provider if sweating is accompanied by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chest pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Shortness of breath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Rapid, pounding heartbeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These symptoms may indicate a problem, such as hyperthyroidism or infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also call your health care provider if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You sweat a lot or sweating lasts for a long time or can't be explained.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sweating occurs with or is followed by chest pain or pressure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sweating is accompanied by weight loss or most often occurs during sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T16:30:00.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2316" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2317" CreationDate="2011-06-02T17:00:02.707" Score="4" ViewCount="826" Body="&lt;p&gt;High intensity interval training raises your heart rate really high and I was wondering if this is safe. Is it okay for anybody to jump straight into HIIT like obese or people that haven't been training for long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="178" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-10-30T14:49:44.137" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T14:49:44.137" Title="How safe is High Intensity Interval Training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2316" CreationDate="2011-06-02T17:17:55.527" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I suspected, the common advice is to consult your doctor before doing HIIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sharecare.com/question/heart-during-hiit-training-safe&quot;&gt;http://www.sharecare.com/question/heart-during-hiit-training-safe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://training.fitness.com/weight-loss/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-safe-older-newbies-37482.html&quot;&gt;http://training.fitness.com/weight-loss/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-safe-older-newbies-37482.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this is particularly true if you know you are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; in good physical health or are at aa high risk for coronary disease.  That said, you can get conditioned, as long as you do it a little at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you talk with your doctor, and they have concerns with the HIIT protocol ask for suggestions of how to work up to it--or what to look for when your body can't handle it any more.  If you start light and progressively increase, it gives your cardiovascular system time to beef up and get ready for the real HIIT training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T17:17:55.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2392" CreationDate="2011-06-02T17:28:34.587" Score="8" ViewCount="518" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a quite avid triathlete.  I do work with a coach and typically peak my training weeks at around 16 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At one time, not too long ago, I was a traveling consultant.  At times I would be on the road 3-4 weeks out of the month, typically Sunday night through Friday.  To add to this, rarely did I visit the same place twice and most times travel involved airplanes (as opposed to driveable destinations).  Luckily for the past 18 months, I have not been on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I did travel, I struggled with maintaining my training schedule.  I can basically run anywhere.  But, I had a hard time doing the bike portion and definitely finding a pool.  Since then, I have found the www.swimmersguide.com website which is a great resource for finding pools and pool information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am looking for is advice from other travelling professionals who are able to maintain 2-3 swim workouts and/or 2-3 bike workouts during the week while traveling for business, in the event that my travels start back up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At one time, I am told, it was economical (albeit a pain) to travel with a bike.  That doesn't seem to be the case anymore.  Some airlines (like Southwest and Frontier) are very bicyclist friendly.  Most are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2011-06-04T01:40:24.827" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T21:04:25.553" Title="How to train for triathlons during business travel" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-02T18:40:00.223" Score="9" ViewCount="4431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe just about every long distance runner, hiker, and many more sports enthusiasts have run into the ever long problem of chafing: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dipv4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;caused by constant rubbing of another part of the skin—two thighs, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chafing&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some preventative measures that can be conducted in order to prevent chafing?  Are these techniques universal to all sports/activities or are these specific measures that need to be considered for each sport?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;note: I went hiking the other day, and even with my 'under armor' spandex I had some chafing in the upper thigh area&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T21:21:01.963" Title="How do I prevent chafing?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;chafing&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2319" CreationDate="2011-06-02T18:44:33.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lubricate!  Here's a good article from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/292289-how-to-prevent-chafing-from-mens-workout-shorts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LiveStrong regarding exercise chaffing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you already have chaffing, a rash, or know that you are prone to chaffing, use a skin lubricant. Usually, regular petroleum jelly will help to lubricate the area but other products such as Runner's Lube, Body Glide and Sportslick can help, according to Time-to-Run.com. Using a talcum powder can also help to absorb moisture and reduce chaffing, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-06-02T19:24:32.487" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T19:24:32.487" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2319" CreationDate="2011-06-02T18:47:21.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These may help you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Stay Hydrated&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will have lot of fluid to sweat off and hence lubricating the area; and reducing&#xA;the friction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Clothing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This very important one, avoid clothes that have lot of seems, which are loose. Wear &#xA;proper under garments which have snug fit. I have would prefer cotton inner garments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Stay Dry&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sweating then lubricate the area, otherwise completely keep the area dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Lubricant&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If you are sweating keep that area lubricated so that there wouldn't be any salt(from sweat) deposits, which would lead to friction and chafing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treatment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wash the area with soap and cool to luke warm water. Apply some antibacterial ointment&#xA;or antiseptic spray and cover it with bandaid. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewalkingsite.com/blisters.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;For more information.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2011-06-02T19:28:24.863" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T19:28:24.863" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2011-06-02T19:12:40.490" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two major types of soreness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;From a very good workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Over training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending what is the cause of your soreness you have to take appropriate actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If its of type 1, give it rest for roughly 4 days(infact it depends on the muscle/muscle group that is/are sore) to recuperate, do not work the muscle and strain it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the recuperation time, actual growth and adaptation(of the muscles to higher levels of stress and strain) takes place. So rest is very important. Which leads to &lt;strong&gt;not to train harder or more often.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Type 2 occurs when you work a muscle too often to allow it to fully recuperate, you have to consult a doctor, because he might prescribe a pain killer or some medicine. Take lot of rest, sometimes weeks of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important factor: Trained muscles recover from fatigue faster than untrained muscles.&#xA;So the better you get at exercising the faster your recovery rate will be and the more intense your training can become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T19:12:40.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2311" CreationDate="2011-06-02T19:13:32.367" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every mile you walk burns about 100 calories.  The farther you walk, the more calories you burn.  So yes, you can still burn fat and lose weight with a good walking program.   You can even do some interval training with your walking, by speeding up for short intervals and then slowing back down to your normal pace.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your knee pain while running, it can often be lessened with improvements in footwear, running technique and exercises to balance your lower extremities through stretching and strengthening.  For example, tight calf muscles,  hamstrings, IT bands, quads, hip rotators, flexors and adductors can cause alignment problems that are aggravated with the impact of running.   Strengthening of your calf muscles, quads, hams and glutes will help absorb the impact of running so that your knee joints absorbs less shock.  However, while these measures can help, they won’t necessarily eliminate pain with running, esp. if you have joint or cartilage damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatives to running - Walking is a great exercise if done consistently.  Adding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.HowToGetBackInShape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot;&gt;nordic walking poles&lt;/a&gt; to your walk can increase your calorie burn by incorporating more muscle groups of the trunk and arms.  At the same time the poles allow you to transfer some of your weight off of your knees and get a better stride.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elliptical trainers, swimming and cycling allow you to get a good workout with little to no impact to your knees.  You can also get a good workout by running or jogging in water with or without resistance bands with minimal impact to your joints.  The deeper the water, the less the impact.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For strengthening, stair climbing whether up or down, and squats may bother your knees depending on the origin of pain. Using equipment like a total gym or an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOs9OYV9CX8&quot;&gt;exercise ball&lt;/a&gt; can help you strengthen your legs as they let you perform a squat with some support.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.  And of course, hydrate well and eat a healthy diet.   Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T19:13:32.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2319" CreationDate="2011-06-02T19:24:59.977" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyglide.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body Glide&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://assos.com/en/19/singleProduct.aspx?cat=6,19,31,36&amp;amp;prod=175&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Assos cream&lt;/a&gt;, or plain old vaseline.  Each has specific uses or uses that are better than others.  For instance, Body glide is great for feet to prevent blisters on runs and also works well to prevent rub burns when using a wetsuit in swims.  The Assos cream (and other chamois creams) are excellent for cycling and also fend off the &quot;funk&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T19:24:59.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2326" CreationDate="2011-06-02T19:53:45.127" Score="8" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a big event (in my case a weekend tennis tournament), what's an appropriate recovery time before continuing to workout again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="756" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T21:02:03.993" Title="What's an appropriate recovery period after a summit event?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2325" CreationDate="2011-06-02T19:58:06.590" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good rule of thumb, is one day of rest or active recovery for every one hour of your event. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active recovery is low intensity, low effort, low impact. A very easy swim would be great active recovery. The ideal is to get your blood flowing a bit and circulate any lactic acid and other post-workout &quot;stuff&quot; to help the body recover. Typically, I would avoid any kind of impact like running, jogging, plyometrics and even an aggressive game of basketball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2011-06-02T21:02:03.993" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T21:02:03.993" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2011-06-02T20:11:50.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;vegetarian&quot; mean &quot;no dairy&quot;? Because greek yogurt is great for morning protein. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chobani.com/products/c/nonfat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blueberry Chobani&lt;/a&gt; is the variety I usually buy. Two 6oz containers will get you 28 grams of protein and only 280 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If 12oz of yogurt is too much or too boring for you, or you want some more carbs, I might suggest something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6oz &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chobani.com/products/c/nonfat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fruit-flavored natural greek yogurt&lt;/a&gt; - 140 calories, 14g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 stick of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/kraft-snackables-mozzarella-string-cheese/cheese-hard/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;low-fat string cheese&lt;/a&gt; - 70 calories, 8g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 slice of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/natures-own-bread-cinnamon-raisin-swirl/bread/p/7225000862?f=sr&amp;amp;nr=44&amp;amp;sp=7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cinnamon raisin toast&lt;/a&gt; with 2 Tbsp &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopwell.com/smuckers-natural-peanut-butter-creamy-no-salt-added/peanut-butter/p/5150001704?f=sr&amp;amp;nr=467&amp;amp;sp=11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;natural peanut butter&lt;/a&gt; - 295 calories, 10g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total: 505 calories, 32g protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T20:11:50.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2297" CreationDate="2011-06-02T20:17:43.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could just be muscle exhaustion. FWIW, anecdotally of course, I can remember at least 2 occasions where I did heavy squats and didn't feel like I'd really pushed my limits, but then later almost fell on my face when I tried to walk up a flight of stairs. My legs felt like they were like noodles, strength-wise. I was able to walk around though, slowly and carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with Eykanal that you should ask a doctor though. The possibility that this could be something more serious isn't something you want to ignore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T20:17:43.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2319" CreationDate="2011-06-02T20:21:25.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_shorts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compression shorts&lt;/a&gt; help me reduce chafing when biking. The spandex in the typical ones tend to wick away moisture to keep things dry enough to minimize chafing. I've been obese enough that just ordinary walking would abrade the hairs off my inner thighs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T20:21:25.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2311" CreationDate="2011-06-02T20:32:35.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, walking will help lose weight. As you get older, you may find yourself able to run less and less (before the onset of knee pain), so continuing walking will be helpful as exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that the difference between daily 30-45 min of walking (I have a desk job) and 0min walking is about 5-7 pounds (or maybe you'd rather prefer this explained as &quot;if I walk 30-45 minutes per day, after about 2-3 months, my baseline weight is about 5-7 pounds lighter than when I have no time to walk at all&quot;). When I was carless, I had to walk about 90-120 minutes daily as part of my commuting and was about 20 pounds lighter than when I later got a car and was able to drive everywhere. Your experience will probably be different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T20:32:35.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2319" CreationDate="2011-06-02T21:15:47.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the arms and sholders that cause the shirt to move and cause the chafing.  I like to wear a tight polyester tank-top shirt under another shirt when running.  With underwear and socks I just tried many kinds until I found some that were tight enough to stay in place but confortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1167" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T21:15:47.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2333" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-02T21:19:12.783" Score="6" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dislocated my shoulder about 9 months ago.  I had thought it healed well until I started trying to play throwing sports again.  It feels normal now anytime except when I try to throw a ball hard.  I've had a few minor (i.e. not all that painful) subluxations when doing so, and no longer have the range of motion to throw very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I'm debating between surgery and giving up throwing for a while and hoping for the best.  How long does a dislocated/subluxated shoulder continue to improve in terms of stability and range of motion if strengthened via normal weightlifting, stretched with normal stretching exercises and not reinjured?  If it's unstable now, is there still a decent chance it will gradually improve even after 9 months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T22:45:02.713" Title="How long do injured joints continue stabilizing?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2319" CreationDate="2011-06-02T21:21:01.963" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My meaty thighs rub together quite a bit and I've found that cutting the &quot;legs&quot; off of some spandex shorts and wearing them over my thigh is the only thing to stop that from happening. I've tried BodyGlide, MilkButter, etc. It all wears off. Spandex doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="364" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T21:21:01.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2285" CreationDate="2011-06-02T21:24:18.680" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how you mean by &quot;Proper&quot;.  To me, the proper way to run is in a way that prevents injury so you can enjoy running for either long durations of time and/or uninterrupted calendar periods due to injury.  Some may subscribe to proper meaning achieving the greatest efficiency or pace or otherwise fastest times.  My answer/advice to your question focuses on preventing injury, which I believe is the proper way to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read many articles in print and on line, consulting a coach, and have gone through a lot of trial and error on this subject over the last 15 months.  There are wildly varying opinions on this subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people recommend &quot;barefoot&quot; style running or minimalist style. Others may recommend forefoot, midfoot running. And yet others, usually &quot;traditionalist&quot; Doctors and Scientist seem to support only negative results from anything but a mild heel strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience is that I was always a chronic and severe heel striker. And every year when my mileage and/or intensity picked up, I ended up with the same nagging injuries (chondromalacia, shin splints, etc).  Last March, I transitioned (not over night) into a forefoot stride with the help of my coach.  I transitioned rather quickly over about 2 weeks, running about 10-15 miles a week and incorporating some running drills.  I have been injury free since.  Please read this as being the recommended approach for ME and what works for ME.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice to you is if you make a change, do it very, very slowly. I transitioned quickly, but I've also read of people who took several months to change their stride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, before you run any more, please, please, please go to a specialized running store.  I like Chucks too, but not for running.  There's a whole plethora of information on shoe types and topics like pronation that your running store will be able to help you with.  Finding the right shoe (or at least a good shoe) is very important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T21:24:18.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1764" CreationDate="2011-06-02T21:40:07.443" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should find a local organization that has a marathon training class.  It does many things for you: you get weekly feedback on how to improve, you will be motivated to do all the training and not take shortcuts, and you will set reasonable goals for yourself on how fast and how far you can run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also IMHO you knees and back are balanced by core (&quot;Stomach&quot;) when running.  If you have too much weight there (like me) or don't do any sit-ups (the thin guys) you pay for it in other areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1167" LastActivityDate="2011-06-02T21:40:07.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2011-06-02T22:22:20.103" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prevent them from getting sore in the first place&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_2178765_recover-sore-muscles.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bananas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat bananas after a workout. A healthy source of potassium is essential to prevent muscle soreness. If you have ever drank (alcohol) heavily you may have also experienced muscle soreness. This is due to losing a lot of electrolytes (salt, potassium) due to the diuretic effects of alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_2178765_recover-sore-muscles.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;B Vitamins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B vitamins are also important to eat after strenuous exercise. Especially B1 (thiamine) as a deficiency will cause sore muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cool after-workout swim (my personal anecdote)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have an official source to back this up but I find that a swim in cool water after a strenuous exercise helps to cut down on the after-workout soreness. The combination of cool water and non-strenuous workout to get a good supply of oxygen/blood to the taxed muscles works wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_down&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Properly cool down after a workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do workouts that push your heart into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anaerobic&lt;/a&gt; range (think faster than a light jog) your body's oxygen intake will max out and it will start metabolizing anaerobically (without oxygen). The byproduct of anaerobic metabolism is still a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/lactate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;controversial topic (due to traditional teaching vs current research)&lt;/a&gt; but it's basically what causes the 'burn' you feel from a hard workout. If you don't take the steps to process the byproduct of an anaerobic workout you'll feel more sore the next day. That's why going from a sprint to a dead stop is a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do you recover after an anaerobic workout? Do a proper cool-down aerobic workout (like a light jog) to provide the oxygen and circulation your body needs to process those byproducts created through the anaerobic (or strenuous) exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.bath.ac.uk/masrjb/Stretch/stretching_4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretch before you workout. Not static stretches (long hard stretches in a relaxed state) but dynamic stretches (short quick stretches where you flex the muscles) or else you'll elongate your muscles too much and increase your risk of ligament pain/injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warming_up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Warm up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Properly warm up your muscles. If you have ever worked out with a heart rate monitor you probably already know that your body doesn't go from 0-max very well. It takes some time for your circulatory system to fully adjust to the increased intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Increase your fitness level&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept is pretty simple. The better your body can circulate and provide oxygen to muscles, the better it will be able to process the byproducts of the strenuous workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How you do so depends on what you're building up to. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training for long distance running, then you'll want to do more workouts in the aerobic range mainly due to the fact that more Type II muscle means more weight to carry and more resources (energy) you'll need to sustain the pace. As you may see on this site, many people like to bring up the topic of 'runners high' where you feel like you can keep going forever without getting tired. This is mainly due to the fact that your body is completely warmed up and effectively metabolizing in the aerobic (and therefore not creating any nasty byproducts) as well as releasing endorphins. As long as you can keep going without any functional issues (muscle strain, ligament pain, boredom) and you can maintain a healthy energy level, &lt;em&gt;theoretically&lt;/em&gt; you &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; go forever. Unfortunately, your body doesn't have the ability to properly maintain itself (digestion, recovery, etc) during exercise. This is due to your body focusing it's resources on the '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_nervous_system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sympathetic nervous system&lt;/a&gt;' during exercise as opposed to the 'parasympathetic nervous system'.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're geared more toward weight lifting, higher intensity, short burst exercises, or other types of anaerobic activities like sprinting; The hard-and-fast rule is, 'the harder you workout the harder you will be able to workout'. This is mainly due to the fact that the more you push into the anaerobic range the better your body will adjust to be able to handle processing of the anaerobic byproducts. Fewer residual byproducts means less after-workout soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want specifics on 'why' that rule holds true, google the term 'anaerobic threshold' and spend some time reading up on the topic. Most people (including myself) were brought up to believe 'no pain no gain'. That is only partially true. You will feel some soreness/stiffness when you first start no matter what you do but pain does not equal progress. If you focus on increasing fitness &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; before strength you will have a much less painful path to progress (and you will probably be more healthy overall).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're already sore, don't completely avoid activity. Moving around will help loosen up the muscles a bit and recover faster, just take it easy and let your body recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just stumbled on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/recovery_project_coaches_booklet.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Recovery Guide by the USTA (United States Tennis Association)&lt;/a&gt; that covers all of these points and more in detail. Including CNS (Central Nervous System) and psychological fatigue - which I neglected to cover in my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2013-03-14T22:10:58.270" LastActivityDate="2013-03-14T22:10:58.270" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2344" CreationDate="2011-06-02T22:39:52.423" Score="7" ViewCount="556" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 165 cm tall and I weigh 56 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm the ideal weight for my height now, but don't like my body and what it looks like!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd love to be skinny but I don't know how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat tummy, belly, leg ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am, as you have probably noticed, very nervous about this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know what's wrong with me and how to get rid of this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" LastEditorUserId="10871" LastEditDate="2016-08-27T14:11:00.203" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T14:11:00.203" Title="Is it possible to lose weight on some special parts of body?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2338" CreationDate="2011-06-03T04:18:48.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you eat excessively, you can't decide where your body should store fat. So when your try to lose weight or burn fat, again you can't decide which part of your body should lose weight first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T04:18:48.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-03T11:22:21.257" Score="8" ViewCount="12158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have cracking knees especially in my left knee and sometimes in the right one too, but not much. I have checked it they said it's nothing but it's uncomfortable. I dont like the feeling when squatting and when I go up, the knee just pops back to its place in the knee cap area. I am afraid it will evolve into something bad. Is there any exercise to strengthen the knees and stop this awful sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1170" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-24T20:06:26.410" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T20:06:26.410" Title="Are there any exercises to strengthen and stop cracking in the knees?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-03T11:28:28.147" Score="3" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a snapping sound in my right ankle. It was bad but I started to wear braces most of the time, even while I am working out. That does help a lot, and it feels stronger and more comfortable, but the snapping is still there (although less than before). Are there some exercises to do that will help to minimize or stop the sound forever? I am kind of addicted to working out and can't bear the idea of leaving the gym because of this kind of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1170" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-03T12:35:08.307" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T12:35:08.307" Title="Snapping sound in my ankle" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2338" CreationDate="2011-06-03T11:59:47.450" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say you are the ideal weight for your height.  I'm assuming you mean according to the BMI measure.  Your example would be the other reason I dislike that measure.  BMI is a general indicator of someone who would be obese or underweight.  It is by no means accurate, nor does it take into account your body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, while you can't target where your body burns fat, what you can do is change the proportions of muscle and fat at your weight.  Your body is really good at maintaining weight, so that's the easy part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you I would recommend exercise.  Do something you love that will challenge your muscles.  Challenging the muscles causes them to grow, and since you'll be using more energy you'll have less fat to boot.  In essence, you'll be lean but muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some potential ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kayaking (a friend of mine loves this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rock climbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running (you'll lose fat, but you're only going to put muscle on where you use it--your legs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Martial arts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boxing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the list goes on.  Since you aren't trying to lose weight, you probably won't have to do too much to your diet.  Now it's just about getting active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T11:59:47.450" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2342" CreationDate="2011-06-03T12:09:28.197" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you said you had it checked out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate to say it, but one of the best exercises for your knees is the squat.  I'd check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&quot;&gt;video with Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt; (a respected coach) for good information on proper form to get the most out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Only squat with free weights.&lt;/strong&gt;  The machines don't let your stabilizing muscles do any work, which is probably a big cause for the uncomfortableness you feel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deload and focus on form.&lt;/strong&gt;  Go all the way back down to just the bar if you have to, but you want to strengthen the stabilizing muscles.  You can only do that with free weights and good form.  Then, go up by 5lb/session until you get back to your working weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that time your knees, and all the rest of your stabilizing muscles should be at the same level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T12:09:28.197" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2343" CreationDate="2011-06-03T12:29:47.890" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could be experiencing gas escaping, or tendons popping in and out of place.  See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/joint.html&quot;&gt;everyday mystery about cracking joints&lt;/a&gt;.  Due to the repetitive nature of this affliction you have, it very well &lt;a href=&quot;http://mcr.coreconcepts.com.sg/snapping-ankle/&quot;&gt;may have to do with the tendons&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeing an experienced Sports Physician, Orthopedic Surgeon or Sports Physiotherapist (as per the second link)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporate stretching exercises on your ankle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the braces:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Braces are intended to be a temporary stability helper when you are injured, not a long term solution.  Example, to provide stability after you sprain your ankle until the tendons heal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you use a brace, your supporting muscles are not being used, which causes them to become weaker.  In short you will be at greater risk of injury any time you do not use the brace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to ween off of the brace, you'll have to go light until you build your ankles back up.  I.e. start light, and build intensity a little at a time, consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T12:29:47.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2349" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-03T16:28:17.800" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that just about every sports athlete and fitness guru has run into this problem.  I've addressed already what to do to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2319/how-do-i-prevent-chafing&quot;&gt;prevent chaffing&lt;/a&gt;, but let's say that we didn't follow that.  What are some things that can be done to &lt;em&gt;treat&lt;/em&gt; chafing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-06-05T22:25:22.790" Title="How do I treat chafing?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;chafing&gt;&lt;treatment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2342" CreationDate="2011-06-03T17:05:02.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the exact same problem when I started training and I could seriously improve the &quot;cracking&quot; noise and the related feeling over time. I read somewhere that this is caused by uneven distribution of fluids in the joints, but I can't find the source anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's actually helped me was a lot of different leg related exercices, even those where the knee joints are not directly used. Squats, leg extensions, leg curls, hip abduction and adduction, running, cycling, elliptical trainer, ... From that list I think running and the leg curls had the most effect, especially when using cables instead of machines, but &lt;strong&gt;I think the key was the broad spectrum of exercises&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said I could &lt;em&gt;improve&lt;/em&gt; my situation, but the cracking noise sometimes still comes back, especially if I did a halfhearted warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1038" LastEditDate="2011-08-24T19:25:32.473" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T19:25:32.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2353" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-03T18:33:30.977" Score="2" ViewCount="4494" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you do stretching before walking or walking and stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you mean by warming up? How do you warm up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T16:20:31.127" Title="What to do first, stretching or walking?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2011-06-03T19:31:39.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the first things you want to do before you do any type of exercise including walking is to stretch your muscles for at least 5 - 10 minutes. This will reduce stress and strain on the muscles that you are working and they won't be as tense if you didn't stretch first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warming up is doing a light to moderate walk to increase the heartrate. The higher the heartrate is increased, the more blood will be pumped through your body which carries oxygen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1173" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T19:31:39.743" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2333" CreationDate="2011-06-03T19:55:13.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a broken bone to heal it takes 6-8 weeks, for a shoulder it could be a little longer. My father dislocated both of his shoulders years ago and he does not throw ball or bowl anymore because of the pain he says he experiences. Have you already spoken with a doctor or done some research to find out what surgery could do to your shoulder good/bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1173" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T19:55:13.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2357" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-06-03T21:49:50.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motivation is a driving force to achieve your goal, it can be from within (intrinsic) or from external source (extrinsic) or combination of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It varies from person to person. It is subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you use this as a tag, it can mean that you are looking for/suggesting that the post to would be motivational for you or whoever would be reading or you expecting some motivation from people here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-06-03T21:57:03.490" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T21:57:03.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2358" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-06-03T21:49:50.290" Score="0" Body="Motivation is something which makes you achieve your goal. It is subjective." OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2011-06-03T21:56:00.793" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T21:56:00.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2011-06-03T22:03:13.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This recent study from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/low_carb_higher_fat_diets_add_no_arterial_health_risks_to_obese_people_seeking_to_lose_weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Johns Hopkins&lt;/a&gt;, while far from conclusive, supports Taubes' position. It shows that a group of people on a low carb diet lost weight faster than those on a low fat diet (each eating the same number of calories), while not adversely affecting their coronary risk factors. It is not conclusive, because it is just one study, and a small sample size. It also had both groups on a reduced calorie diet, while Taubes claims calories don't matter. But it does suggest that the conventional wisdom (reduce weight by reducing fat intake) is not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="845" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T22:03:13.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2333" CreationDate="2011-06-03T22:45:02.713" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;“How long does a dislocated/subluxated shoulder continue to improve in terms of stability and range of motion”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That depends on the amount of damage sustained in the dislocation - ie was the labrum, or capsule and/or supporting ligaments torn away or just stretched.  There are degrees of instability and different directions of instability.   It also depends on your activity level and whether or not you limit the offending motions during healing, or whether you continue to stress the weakened tissues. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“if strengthened via normal weightlifting”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Normal weight lifting does not necessarily rehab an unstable shoulder.   While it may help to strengthen the shoulder muscles in general, normal weight lifting does not address neuro-muscular control and dynamic stabilization of the shoulder complex.  Also, some weight lifting exercises can actually aggravate the instability.  Overhead or military presses, bench presses, or wide grip lat pull downs esp. with the bar behind the head, and the squat with the bar behind the shoulder girdle for example, need to be modified to avoid over stressing the joint. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“stretched with normal stretching exercises” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some of the normal shoulder stretching exercises may add to your instability.  With anterior instability for example, pec stretches can strain the front of the joint.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;and not reinjured?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each recurrent subluxation can stretch the supporting structures more or increase a tear. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“If it's unstable now, is there still a decent chance it will gradually improve even after 9 months?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again this depends on the degree and nature of the instability.  But to get the improvement you want, imo you will need professional help so that you have a good exercise program to follow and avoid impeding your healing process.  Hoping for the best works better with specificity of exercise.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are considering surgery, your doctor will be able to answer your questions as to the degree of instability and whether or not you have a tear.  If you have not already had physical therapy it is worth having an evaluation and rehab, or at least getting instruction on specific exercises for your condition.  Try to go to a therapist who is either an OCS or SCS (orthopedic or sports certified specialist).   Your doctor or prospective surgeon would give you the best recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rehab will address exercises to retrain the shoulder, rotator cuff and shoulder blade stabilizing muscles, and improve the neuro-muscular control, not just static strength.  When you are ready, your therapist can evaluate your throwing technique,  make corrections if appropriate and give you a progression to follow.  Good luck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-03T22:45:02.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2364" CreationDate="2011-06-04T00:43:03.950" Score="9" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently a personal trainer recommended I use a foam roller for muscle massage and flexibility. Most research I've done on the web simply states the roller 'massages the muscle' or 'breaks down scar tissue'. Is there a more scientific explanation about the benefits (or negatives) of using a foam roller to improve flexibility and reduce soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1176" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:36:00.390" Title="Using a Foam Roller" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2011-06-04T00:48:27.300" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if his theory is correct, it focuses on only a very small subset of the issues that could potentially cause weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason nobody has been able to produce a single bulletproof theory on weight gain is due to the fact that there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; no single cause. Weight gain is the result of many potential causes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Excess Catabolism of Muscle Mass:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people say that running (aerobically) is effective for weight loss but there is a case where it isn't. For instance, say you routinely run vary long distances but don't consume enough calories to sustain the energy... What happens is, your body will kick into catabolic metabolism and start using your muscle as energy. Less muscle means your caloric expenditure decreases. That means that you will have to start eating even less to maintain your current weight in response to the physiological changes. If you don't, whatever energy you consume that your body doesn't immediately use is stored as fat. Body fat is not necessarily bad as it creates a buffer between an empty tank of available energy and catabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Survival Mode&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ever wonder why people who take up extreme dieting can never keep it off in the long term? One possible reason is that they have cut their caloric intake too much. Initially, your metabolism will continue to burn energy at the same rate resulting in quick fat mass losses (ex a 1500 KCal diet). But, your body's number one concern is survival and it will adjust to the changes in food intake. In the long term your metabolism will lower to the point where, if you &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; eat a 'normal' meal your body will store as much excess energy (in the form of fat) as physically possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have experimented with this to a small extent. I wanted to see how effective I could lose some fat mass with no exercise (I weighed 185 at the time whereas 170 is my 'healthy weight'). I have always been one of those 'you have to workout to lose weight' types so it was more of an experiment than anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me tell you, it wasn't fun. Not only did I put on weight faster than I ever had before when I started eating normal again but I was freezing all the time (and I'm one of those guys who &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; gets cold).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hormone Imbalance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you genetically have a hormone balance or you live an unhealthy lifestyle you can throw your hormones into a tailspin. By unhealthy lifestyle I'm referring to sleep deprivation and/or obesity. Your body returns your hormones to a healthy state while you sleep, especially the hormones that control hunger, metabolism, and weight gain/loss. See my answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/573/how-does-sleep-affect-your-workouts/1251#1251&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for a more detailed breakdown. If you gain too much fat mass your body will also start to produce less testosterone and more estrogen. Hormone balance is partially to blame for what people call 'man boobs'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating Too Much&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know everybody pulls the 'eat less' card but there's more to the relationship between weight gain and eating too much. I attempt to sum it up here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, humans are a pretty versatile animal. Like pigs, we can survive off of just about anything as our digestive systems are very versatile at converting a wide range of different foods into energy. What most people don't consider is the amount of energy present in the food we eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this, a seed has enough energy to sustain a plant's full germination until it grows large enough to send roots down and leaves up (over the period of days-months). That's a lot of energy and we eat them by the shovel full. Just the fact that we provide ourselves with such large quantities of food with little/no effort involved in obtaining such food is a risk factor all on it's own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people preach whole bread as a healthy alternative to white bread. In reality it isn't really. You're still eating flour (which is just crushed wheat seeds) except with the outer husk of the wheat included in the mix. You could eat a white bread sandwich of grass from your lawn and get the same affect (dogs eat grass all the time for the same reason). Fiber is good for keeping things moving well through your digestive system but in the end you're just eating ruffage that your body can't digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating Too Fast&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, digestion is chemistry and chemistry takes time. When was the last time you had a camp fire. Remember how long it took to burn a log? Now, consider that fire is an extremely fast process of converting energy to heat and it still takes hours to break down a log of wood. Now consider that digestion is a similar but much slower process. True, chewing helps you get their quicker but in the end it still takes hours to completely digest food from beginning to end (depending on what type of food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, take into consideration that our body doesn't know how much we eat until it can digest some of the food and trigger a response. In fact, it takes until about 15-20 minutes after you start eating until you really start to feel satisfied. Unless you are eating pure sugar (which is digested much faster).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You literally may be full for 15 minutes before you know it and continue to keep eating. Especially if you are eating dense foods like carbohydrates and protein (which take much longer to break down). Take your time eating and you won't eat so much that you feel sick afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to curb your hunger quickly but still enjoy a full meal, consider a light serving of an appetizer containing fat and/or sugar to satisfy your appetite so you don't end up wolfing down large quantities of high carb food during the main course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list is just the start... There is no 'magical cause' to accumulating fat mass. Increased fat mass production is simply a product of many different bodily reactions to your environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to improve your diet to lose fat mass I have a simple formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentrism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Get Over Your Anthropocentric Self&lt;/a&gt;. Take a minute to get comfortable with the &lt;em&gt;fact&lt;/em&gt; that you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; an animal. Our bodies have an amazing capacity to adapt to maximize the resources at our disposal. If fat mass loss is your goal then stop and consider 'what type of environment do I need to be in to have an active healthy body' with a low fat percentage. I can give you a clue, it has nothing to do with living in a temperature controlled building, sitting 95+% of the time with an inexhaustable source of food within reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="26502" LastEditDate="2017-08-27T14:44:51.700" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T14:44:51.700" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2362" CreationDate="2011-06-04T01:37:14.283" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of it as a gentle meat tenderizer. But instead of weakening the muscle by pulverizing it, the added pressure and use simply promotes blood flow to massaged areas.  Foam rollers are great recovery tools because they generate similar benefits as a sports massage, but can be performed by one's self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-04T01:37:14.283" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-05T04:12:10.623" Score="10" ViewCount="578" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been noticing recently that I've had problems with my energy level. Eventhough I'll have a proper 8 hour sleep, I'll still be extremely tired during the day and would need a nap to get through the day. I was wondering if there are ways other than exercise to increase my energy levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seriously exercised for the last 3 years until a few days ago. I'd normally play tennis once or twice a week in the Spring/Summer months for an hour at a time, then nothing for Fall/Winter. Over the past week, I decided that I should start regularly running again, so I've been running about 20-30 minutes a day to start (the first day was rough) and that seems to have been working pretty well. I'm not nearly as tired as I used to be and it's only been 4 days into my new running regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1184" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T06:06:20.987" Title="Ways to increase your energy level" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-05T06:59:51.643" Score="4" ViewCount="4875" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout a lot and one day during my deadlift, I exceded my limit. So, I had a little pain a while after that in my lower back and it evolved a little bit. I went to the doctor and checked it. He told me that it is a lower back pain in the tendons right in the lumbar region. He gave me some muscle relaxant and it really helped for that time. After I finished the treatment the pain stayed but not like before. So I started stretch more when working out and focused on the form not on the weight. But it has been 4 months and the pain still there. Some said it may be a chronic lower back pain. Is there some kind of workout that might help to cure it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1170" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-05T19:03:15.037" LastActivityDate="2018-08-02T21:49:47.417" Title="Chronic back pain after deadlift injury" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-05T12:41:49.373" Score="11" ViewCount="27168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that squats and deadlifts promote overall muscle growth in the body. Does this mean that if I want to increase growth faster in, say, my arms, I should exercise my arms on the same day as I do one of these heavy compound lifts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user677" LastEditorDisplayName="user677" LastEditDate="2014-07-21T17:59:38.207" LastActivityDate="2020-11-07T18:47:26.223" Title="Better for arm growth to train arms on the same day as squats?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2371" CreationDate="2011-06-05T15:58:01.003" Score="9" ViewCount="2443" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lowest I have gone is 6 reps per set for heavier weights and up to 20 reps for lighter weights.  I will often do a high number of sets when I use the pyramid method, ranging from 8 to 20 reps depending on the weights used and if I'm increasing or decreasing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I just read an article where the writer mentioned in passing doing 2-3 reps per sets. Does this particularly achieve anything?  Usually if I do really heavy weights, I will push for 6 reps, but never actually aim for less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, is there any benefit to doing a really high number of reps and particularly an extremely low number of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-06-05T20:59:01.360" Title="Any benefits to doing really low or really high number of reps per set?" Tags="&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2370" CreationDate="2011-06-05T17:01:46.323" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on this &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot;&gt;position statement&lt;/a&gt; from the American College of Sports Medicine, the answer to both questions is yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the ACSM, sets of &lt;strong&gt;15-25 reps&lt;/strong&gt; (using light loads) are most effective for increasing &lt;strong&gt;muscular endurance&lt;/strong&gt;, and have also been shown to increase &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; in moderately trained people. High rep sets may also &lt;strong&gt;supplement&lt;/strong&gt; a conventional training programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Goto et al. showed that the addition&#xA;  of one set per exercise (to a&#xA;  conventional RT workout) consisting of&#xA;  light loading for 25-35 repetitions&#xA;  led to increased muscle CSA [cross&#xA;  sectional area] whereas conventional&#xA;  strength training alone (e.g.,&#xA;  multiple sets of 3-5 RM) did not&#xA;  increase muscle CSA. The addition of&#xA;  the high-volume sets led to greater&#xA;  acute elevations in GH [growth&#xA;  hormone]. However, light loading alone&#xA;  may not be sufficient as Campos et al.&#xA;  have reported that 8 wk of training&#xA;  with two sets of 25-28 RM did not&#xA;  result in Type I or Type II muscle&#xA;  fiber hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incorporating &lt;strong&gt;some low-rep sets&lt;/strong&gt; is recommended for advanced &lt;strong&gt;hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; (bulking up) training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For advanced training, it is&#xA;  recommended that a loading range of&#xA;  70-100% of 1 RM be used for 1-12&#xA;  repetitions per set for three to six&#xA;  sets per exercise in periodized manner&#xA;  such that the majority of training is&#xA;  devoted to 6-12 RM and less training&#xA;  devoted to 1-6 RM loading&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing &lt;strong&gt;power training&lt;/strong&gt; (training to apply strength quickly; important for many sports), you should incorporate some faster-paced sets. These sets should have &lt;strong&gt;relatively low reps&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is recommended that concurrent to a&#xA;  typical strength training program, a&#xA;  power component is incorporated&#xA;  consisting of one to three sets per&#xA;  exercise using light to moderate&#xA;  loading ... for three to six&#xA;  repetitions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-06-05T17:01:46.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2349" CreationDate="2011-06-05T20:52:59.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that using Desitin or other 'diaper rash' ointments helps to relieve the pain and swelling.  Apply to the affected area liberally and rub it in. I suggest an application of twice daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kz7eW.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: these rash ointments do have active ingredients and therefore make sure you are not allergic and discontinue use if skin gets worse. Be sure to follow the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.desitin.com/how-to-treat-diaper-rash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;directions precisely&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You for sure want to make sure that your skin stops rubbing against the material that has caused the chaf. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2011-06-05T22:25:22.790" LastActivityDate="2011-06-05T22:25:22.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2370" CreationDate="2011-06-05T20:59:01.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article in Men's Health&lt;/a&gt; very interesting and have shaped my workouts on it over the last month or so. The page I linked to breaks down the reps/sets combinations for your different goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a flabby weakling, and am working on building strength just to get started. I'm doing 6 sets of 4 reps of a very few basic exercises at about 80%-90% max weight, and I definitely feel the burn when I get the weight right. My workouts don't take all that long and have been very satisfying with low reps at high weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1188" LastActivityDate="2011-06-05T20:59:01.360" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2390" CreationDate="2011-06-05T23:56:11.563" Score="7" ViewCount="55466" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on my second day of a low-carb diet.  Never done one before, but I really need to lose 15 pounds to be on my ideal weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I had a great big lunch. (Burger meat with bacon and cheese, tomato slice, lettuce and brocoli).  Also at dinner another great meal. (New York Strip, with arugula, lettuce, spinach, and tomato) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure why, but after both meals, I felt hungry.  HUNGRY&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=427161&quot;&gt;thread&lt;/a&gt;, where some people are saying that artificial sweeteners are the culprit for continues hunger.  They say that some people will produce insulin just with artificial sweeteners.  IF that is my case, that would defeat the purpose of doing a low-carb diet, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1178" LastEditorUserId="1178" LastEditDate="2011-06-06T04:06:15.457" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T20:30:44.420" Title="In relation to Low-Carb diet, Why I feel hungry after I eat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2366" CreationDate="2011-06-06T03:35:47.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercising is definitely helpful to increasing your energy level, but if you exercise hard every day that can also wear you out. It's better to exercise 4-5 times per week and cross train rather than run every day. I agree that it's very important to eat well. Some examples of good carbs are whole wheat or multigrain bread and brown rice. You'll want to try to eat breakfast in order to kick start your metabolism throughout the day. Eggs are a great source of protein and they keep you full for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1190" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T03:35:47.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-06T04:55:30.403" Score="5" ViewCount="3634" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some effective ways to decrease recovery time? I find my recovery times are in excess of 30 minutes after hard exercise, such as sprinting (on a road bike), despite exercising fairly regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="556" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T13:48:52.750" Title="Effective ways to decrease recovery time" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-06T10:32:38.697" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a vegetarian, mostly happy with my diet. I noticed that some meals are a bit harder to digest for me than others, which lead me to Google for “good” food combinations. As usual, I feel a bit lost in all the information and I feel that there aren’t many good combinations left :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the rules that’s repeated quite often (and therefore got through the first sanity-check information filter) is that &lt;em&gt;proteins should not be eaten with carbohydrates&lt;/em&gt;. Doesn’t that leave out some very common food combinations like bread + cheese or bread + scrambled eggs? What about common side-dishes like potatoes or rice, aren’t they disqualified once the meal includes a big source of protein? And what about foods that are a good source of both carbohydrates and proteins? (The rule seems to break down completely there.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not taking this too seriously and I’m certainly not going to starve here. But I am quite interested in good food combinations from the practical perspective. (Where “practical” means “not willing to eat single-food meals all day long”.) So, returning back to the core question, how to mix food sensibly? What combinations are bad for most people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1187" LastEditorUserId="1187" LastEditDate="2011-06-06T11:26:41.300" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T14:36:46.950" Title="How to combine food sensibly?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-04-04T11:24:14.477" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2011-06-06T10:38:45.377" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calories!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, you are not eating enough.  There are only about 30 calories in a cup of brocolli, whereas there are about 210 calories in a cup of mashed potatoes.  When switching to a low-carb diet, you have to take this in to consideration and make sure you are still getting enough food to sustain yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T10:38:45.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2011-06-06T12:33:14.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to feeling full, there's no such thing as a single factor, in fact it is not 100% clear, which factors lead to this feeling, although some are known. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To feel full a number of factors must be met, the more the better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stuffing of the stomach (mechanical receptors in the stomach)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutritional values of the food (chemical receptors in liver and colon)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Releasing of hormones as a result of digestion (Insulin, leptin, ...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other chemical factors (blood sugar level)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Psychological factors (taste, portion size)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unknown factors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After switching to a low carb diet it's the &lt;em&gt;lack of carbohydrates&lt;/em&gt; which most likely causes your hunger: The receptors in your colon and liver register lower levels of carbs, also your blood sugar levels doesn't raise as fast as your body is used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as all other factors are met (portion size, calories, taste, ...) there's nothing else you can do except waiting a few days for your body to adjust to the low-carb diet. From my personal experice it takes 2-3 days to happen. After that I had to force myself to eat. (Because of the lack of appetite)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T12:33:14.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2397" CreationDate="2011-06-06T12:33:22.633" Score="2" ViewCount="666" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out 5-6 times a week and the days I take off seem more stressful - basically thinking I should work out. I realize rest days are important, but how do you recommend dealing with the assoc. stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T17:56:50.813" Title="Day off from training...how to mentally relax" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2384" CreationDate="2011-06-06T13:25:21.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this might be off topic for F&amp;amp;N. Have you considered seeing a friendly local therapist? Feeling guilty over not exercising 1-2 days of the week borders on a disorder IMHO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do insist on giving in to your compulsion, I guess Yoga, light Tai Chi or something similar on those off-days could be good for you, while not hurting your restitution too bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastEditorUserId="525" LastEditDate="2011-07-13T17:56:50.813" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T17:56:50.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2478" CreationDate="2011-06-06T13:26:17.387" Score="4" ViewCount="522" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am am a 28 year old male and the owner of a 16kg kettlebell which I have been using for a while now. I find this weight to be fine for most two handed exercises but when I try to do exercises with one hand like 'military press' I find that it feels too heavy and I am not confident doing the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is should I buy a lighter bell (or bells) or should I just push myself a bit to handle the one I have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if I do go for a lighter bell is there a rule of thumb for how much smaller I should go based on being fine with the 16kg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T14:35:12.317" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T14:35:12.317" Title="Kettlebell weight for one handed exercises" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2386" CreationDate="2011-06-06T13:48:19.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go smaller.  Don't risk injury.  And I suspect, although, I have no proof, that a one-handed 8kg bell will be harder to do than a two-handed 16kg bell.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T13:48:19.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2389" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-06T14:01:03.790" Score="2" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a guy in my mid-thirties and I want to know how often and for how long I should run to reduce stress. I put the most stock in research studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I'm in good shape and I've been running since I was 5 or so. I'd like to get a lot of stress reduction while minimizing time spent running. The ideal answer would probably quote a study which says something like, &quot;Several studies have shown that running at a moderate pace for X minutes per day Y times per week is sufficient to reduce stress. Cortisol, blood pressure, blah blah blah, were measured ...&quot;. I've web searched and come up short&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1196" LastEditorUserId="1196" LastEditDate="2011-06-07T18:58:02.707" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T23:49:39.510" Title="Exercise regimen for a runner to reduce stress" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2011-06-06T14:13:57.130" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first few days after switching to a low carb diet I felt the &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; hungry.  The main culprit for me at any rate was the fact that my body was still craving carbs and I wasn't giving it any.  Don't get me wrong, I filled my stomach until I couldn't add any more food but I was still hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It takes up to four days for your body to burn through all its carb reserve in the blood stream, and after that's done you'll feel fine without them.  The bottom line is &quot;Just say no&quot; while your body is readjusting itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming by the list of things you are eating that it is something similar to the Atkins diet (if it's not that diet).  If that's correct, the goal is to go into &lt;em&gt;ketosis&lt;/em&gt;, which requires that you have no more than 40g of carbs per day.  During the initial transition your body will be screaming for carbs.  Give yourself lettuce to fill the stomach, and drink plenty of water.  You will need &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; water to keep your kidneys happy during the diet.  The first 3-4 days are the roughest, and then it gets a lot easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This advice is from my own weight loss journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T14:13:57.130" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2011-06-06T14:17:37.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To reduce stress, I would recommend slow and steady running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certain forms of exercise (jogging,&#xA;cross country skiing, swimming,&#xA;hiking, bicycling) require a fairly&#xA;consistent repetitive motion that can&#xA;alter one's state of consciousness.&#xA;Described by some as moving&#xA;meditation, the physiological effects&#xA;of regular participation in these&#xA;activities is very similar to what&#xA;happens when one practices meditation.&#xA;Breathing and movement, act as a&#xA;mantra and may in part be responsible&#xA;for the feelings of calmness and&#xA;tranquility claimed by some in&#xA;response to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imt.net/%7Erandolfi/ExerciseStress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercise as a Stress Management Modality&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also try to apply some of the recommendations from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--13333-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Runner's World&lt;/a&gt; where they summarize a list of stress symptoms and propose solutions to each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress Symptom: YOU'RE DISTRACTED&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE SOLUTION Run on a flat, well-lit&#xA;surface, and try to pick a scenic&#xA;route you find calming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress Symptom: YOU'RE FIRED UP&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE SOLUTION &amp;quot;Take it down a notch and&#xA;keep the pace comfortable,&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress Symptom: YOU'RE TOO TENSE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE&#xA;SOLUTION Improve your flexibility and&#xA;strength—especially in those weak,&#xA;injury-susceptible spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress Symptom: YOU'RE EATING POORLY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE SOLUTION Eating small, frequent&#xA;mini-meals that include a lean&#xA;protein, complex carbohydrate, and&#xA;monounsaturated fat helps stabilize&#xA;your blood sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; Because you phrased your question as &amp;quot;how often and for how long I should run&amp;quot;, this leaves out A LOT of other stress reducing activities, like yoga :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T14:17:37.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2318" CreationDate="2011-06-06T14:32:19.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to travel a lot, and to be able to bike I looked at hotel with gym onsite, allowing me to have an hour in the evening or early morning, depending of my schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the swimming I always spend a little bit of time on google maps trying to find a pool that I could hit during lunch break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1197" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T14:32:19.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2380" CreationDate="2011-06-06T14:36:46.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best approach is to try mini experiments for what works for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;.  Some people can handle carbs better than than others, and some people are only sensitive to certain &lt;em&gt;kinds&lt;/em&gt; of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my &quot;maintenance&quot; guidance after I lost weight, I got the following guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein with every meal, 4 meals a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: combine one portion each of carb, protein, and a fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: combine one portion each of protein and fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: combine one portion each of protein and carb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snack: just protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of water (minimum 2L a day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs should be &lt;em&gt;whole&lt;/em&gt; grains or other slow to digest carb (like beans)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fats are things like cheese, nuts, butter, milk, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once a week have a fun day followed by a no-carb day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;reasons&lt;/em&gt; for those guidelines were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs and fats mixed together can cause you to put on weight--so limit it once per day and avoid mixing them when you can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs take up to 12 hours to process, so eat them later in the day so you don't have a rush of energy when you should be sleeping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs in the morning and evening meals give you the rush of energy when you are awake and can use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fun day is there to throw your metabolism off to keep it from adapting to your normal diet (and having the pounds creep back up).  The no-carb day is there to compensate for the fun day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, those are guidelines.  Even within those guidelines, some people can't handle &lt;em&gt;certain&lt;/em&gt; carb/protein combinations or carb/fat combinations.  Others can handle it quite well.  When you can't handle a combination your body responds in a couple ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excess water weight due to bloating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Indegestion (those with celiac disease can't handle gluten)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher than normal weight gain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will fluctuate within a couple pounds daily, but if you notice that the morning after you have a meal that you really don't feel well and the scale is up, think about what you had for dinner.  It could be one of the ingredients didn't agree with you.  That's when you know the combination is bad for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the above guidelines do work for maintenance, it's not the only way to maintain.  If the way you eat works for you and keeps you where you want to be, great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, unfortunately, there is no list of combinations that are bad for &quot;most people&quot;, or if there were that the list would necessarily apply to you.  We're all different, so we'll have to adjust.  For example, you may find that you are perfectly fine with potatoes + cheese + eggs, but not using bread instead of the potatoes.  Or you may find that only certain breads are a bad combination for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T14:36:46.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2384" CreationDate="2011-06-06T14:55:23.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your symptoms lead me to believe you have a very stressful day job or even life. In other words, by taking a day off you are removing the coping mechanism that allows you to deal with your stress - so the stress has no way out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, I would recommend that you find the &quot;root cause&quot; of the stress and remove that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the reason why your question causes so much concern is you admit that rest is important yet are still experiencing stress when NOT exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask yourself if any of these apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brainphysics.com/exercise-addiction.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seven Warning Signs of Exercise&#xA;  Addiction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Always working out alone, isolated from others.&#xA;Always following the same rigid exercise pattern.&#xA;Exercising for more than two hours daily, repeatedly.&#xA;Fixation on weight loss or calories burned.&#xA;Exercising when sick or injured.&#xA;Exercising to the point of pain and beyond.&#xA;Skipping work, class, or social plans for workouts.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T14:55:23.170" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1547" CreationDate="2011-06-06T15:12:41.257" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/overtraining/a/aa062499a.htm&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Common warning signs of overtraining include:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain in muscles and joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sudden drop in performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insomnia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Headaches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease in training capacity / intensity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moodiness and irritability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of enthusiasm for the sport&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased incidence of injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A compulsive need to exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T15:12:41.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2384" CreationDate="2011-06-06T16:57:58.193" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the biggest concern I have with the question is that you are using exercise as a coping mechanism, so not exercising is adding to your anxiety.  It's the same as using food as a coping mechanism, except it doesn't expand your waistband.  So, my first response is to attempt to figure out where all this stress is coming from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you constantly worried about work while you are at home?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you constantly worried about home while you are at work?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you have seemingly insurmountable obstacles looming on the horizon?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are other people in your life adding to that stress?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you constantly in a state of panic due to playing &quot;fireman&quot; all the time?  (i.e. working frantically to put out fires)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that several of these might be at work at any given time.  Although there are some things you can do reduce the stress, or at least the perceived stress to a bearable level.  I'm going to start with a big one, but it might help uncover other causes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Planning&lt;/strong&gt;:  When you work out, you have a definite plan.  You know what to expect, and its easy to clear your mind and get to the task at hand.  It becomes relaxing to work.  Is that the same at work and at home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people I have worked with in the past who were always feeling stressed were in perpetual &quot;firefighter&quot; mode.  In short, because they had no plan in place, they were constantly scrambling to try and keep the customer from getting fed up and leaving.  That relationship is not enjoyable for either the client or the contractor.  It takes effort to dig out of the hole, but if you take some time to set up expectations, reviews, and other defensive actions before delivery day, the customer will usually accommodate the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thing with home life.  The top three things that put stress on any marriage is communication, sex, and money (or lack thereof).  Take time to get on the same page and work out a plan to correct the things that just are not working.  While you are planning, make sure you set aside fun time and date time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a plan, do it.  Just the same as exercise.  You know what to expect, the other parties know what to expect, and while things may be uncomfortable for a time they will at least be bearable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What goes on in Vegas...&lt;/strong&gt;:  Don't let work spill over to home life, and vice versa.  When you are at work focus what you need to get done.  When you are at home, put work out of your mind.  You'll never relax when you are constantly reliving the deadline hanging over you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same with major future events that are looming over the horizon.  Essentially, &lt;em&gt;plan&lt;/em&gt; and execute your plan, but don't keep reliving the major event.  It's not here and there's enough to worry about today.  You never know, the event may not ever happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I know the answer doesn't have much to do with fitness...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, stress can adversely affect your health.  Learning how to manage it, is quite important.  &lt;em&gt;You will never learn to relax if you don't manage stress&lt;/em&gt;.  It's just as important to actually &lt;em&gt;rest&lt;/em&gt; as it is to exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T16:57:58.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2011-06-06T17:49:21.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.AnxietyCentre.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Anxiety Centre&lt;/a&gt; is the best web site I know to learn all there is to know about stress and anxiety, and more. They specifically suggest you do no more than light to moderate exercise (such as a medium paced walk for 30-40 minutes). Any more than this will stress the body and make your stress condition even worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1154" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T17:49:21.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="187" CreationDate="2011-06-06T20:05:42.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green Tea is thing to have lots of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It contains a great deal of Catechin's that has a metabolic enhancing effects. Additionally, Green tea contains a lot of excellent anti-oxidants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T20:05:42.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2011-06-06T20:28:20.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://sharkfitness.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/after-exercise-ice-bath-recovery/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ice bath&lt;/a&gt; may help against muscle soreness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ice bath is thought to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Constrict blood vessels and flush waste products, like lactic acid,    out of the affected tissues &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Decrease metabolic activity and slow down    physiological processes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Reduce swelling and tissue breakdown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="1147" LastEditDate="2012-10-08T14:44:59.050" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T14:44:59.050" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2011-06-06T21:01:15.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glad to hear you are looking to exercise as a way of reducing stress! While running is an excellent way to do that, your posts actually raises a couple of other questions that need to be addressed prior to jumping into any type of exercise regiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Are you overweight?&#xA;2) Do have you have any experience as a runner? If so how long ago and what type?&#xA;3) As Tony R asked why not Yoga? &#xA;4) How much time are you willing to dedicate?&#xA;5) Are there other benefits that you would like to derive from said activity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is to jump into a regiment that results in an injury will only ADD stress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience is stress relief can be obtained in various forms of activity from surfing to hiking to biking...I am not a natural runner and the beating my body endures while running only yields more stress! Having said that, I know that if I were interested in pursuing running as a regular activity I could slowly adapt my body, but at my age....I think you get the point! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Peace &amp;amp; best,&#xA;g &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T21:01:15.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2367" CreationDate="2011-06-06T23:58:39.903" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Summit Medical Group has some great rehabilitation resources. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.summitmedicalgroup.com/library/senior_health/low_back_pain_exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are some strengthening and stretching exercises they recommend for people with low back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h0d5i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the page linked above, they also suggest sports and activities to avoid, as well as activities that are good for people with lower back problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T23:58:39.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2011-06-07T04:37:58.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an issue with the KSO and the logo on the big toe. I took an exacto knife to it and removed the backing to the logo. Looking at your photo, looks like you do not have that luxury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a permanent red mark on my foot where the logo was. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T04:37:58.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2411" CreationDate="2011-06-07T11:15:08.097" Score="5" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually sleep in the morning till noon, is it really important to sleep at nights rather than morning or other times in a day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any documented studies about &lt;strong&gt;when&lt;/strong&gt; to sleep? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2338/is-it-possible-to-lose-wight-on-some-special-parts-of-body/2341#2341&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, does it affect weight loss process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T13:41:48.333" Title="Is it important &quot;when&quot; to sleep or only &quot;how much&quot; is important?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2427" CreationDate="2011-06-07T11:16:28.877" Score="13" ViewCount="3645" Body="&lt;p&gt;During exercise I often notice that I'm physically capable, but not mentally. At some point a strong mental listlessness makes me stop my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally at this stage a training buddy or a personal trainer would give you a good kick in the butt to create the motivation to do that extra repetion or that extra minute on the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you do this if you are on your own? How can you build up enough willpower to push you through in the moments where your willpower is at its lowest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1038" LastEditDate="2011-06-09T20:03:56.663" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T18:14:26.560" Title="How to overcome lack of willpower when not having access to a personal trainer or training buddy?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;mental&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2408" CreationDate="2011-06-07T12:47:44.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the things I like about the 5x5 style lifting programs is the following model:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You start below what you are currently capable of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You increase each session (adding 5lb or 2kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You focus on form over performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one of my lifts, I have the same mental issues.  I have this lingering doubt in my mind that &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; is the session I'm going to stall on.  Yet, I push out the reps and keep going.  It's that process of overcoming the doubt 5lb at a time that helps me keep pushing.  I want to see how far I can go without stalling.  I know how many reps I need to do, so I do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when you are lifting on your own, you simply &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; push yourself as much as when you have someone there to push you.  Part of the problem is that when you have someone else as a spotter you have a safety you don't have on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give yourself a plan for progressive improvement.  You aren't at your limit yet, but you'll get there eventually.  I.e. always go up in weight or increase the distance of your run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give yourself a set amount of work.  I.e. the sets/reps or the intensity you run should be the same.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easier to convince yourself to push out a rep when you know it's the last one.  At some point you have to tell yourself to shut up and work.  Every time you push past the last limit it builds your confidence that you'll be able to repeat history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T12:47:44.460" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2407" CreationDate="2011-06-07T12:54:13.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the most important part is &lt;em&gt;quality&lt;/em&gt; of sleep.  In other words you want a deep REM sleep and you want your total stleep to be 8 hours a day, ideally.  The things that can ruin the quality of sleep for you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra light, sending the message to your body that it's time to be up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rush of energy after your body is done processing carbs 12 hours earlier (or 6-7 hours after alcohol)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra noise, sending the message that you need to be aware of what's going on around you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason night time works for most people is that it is both quieter (because everyone else is sleeping) and there is no sunlight waking you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a night job, then blackout curtains can be a very important investment.  All you have to do after that is deal with the noise.  Either invest in a white noise machine or fountain to drown out distracting noise or sound proof your room (very expensive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to documented studies, you can try &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.stanford.edu/news/2003/may28/sleep.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T12:54:13.817" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2407" CreationDate="2011-06-07T13:24:57.233" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's far better to attempt to sleep on a natural cycle with the sun, in order to keep your circadian rhythm (and the hormonal cycles behind it) in &quot;tune&quot;. From Shawn Talbot's excellent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cortisolconnection.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cortisol Connection&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Remember that cortisol levels normally&#xA;  peak in the early morning (about 6:00&#xA;  a.m. to 8:00 a.m.) as a way to get a&#xA;  person moving and prepare her to face&#xA;  the challenges of the day. Between&#xA;  8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., cortisol&#xA;  levels begin to drop, and they&#xA;  continue to gradually decline&#xA;  throughout the day, typically causing&#xA;  us to feel a decrease in energy levels&#xA;  and ability to concentrate sometime&#xA;  around 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (the&#xA;  &quot;afternoon slump&quot;). This dip in energy&#xA;  levels is the body's way of saying,&#xA;  &quot;The day is almost over; better get&#xA;  ready for sleep.&quot; Unfortunately,&#xA;  instead of getting ready for sleep,&#xA;  our modern lifestyles cause most of us&#xA;  to search for a way to boost our&#xA;  energy levels in the evenings so that&#xA;  we can get through soccer practices,&#xA;  piano recitals, business dinners, and&#xA;  time with our families. Our body clock&#xA;  really wants us to eat our last meal&#xA;  of the day around 5:00 p.m. and to be&#xA;  asleep by 8:00 p.m., but our&#xA;  wristwatch has us awake late into the&#xA;  night. The major problem with our&#xA;  modern &quot;late to bed, early to rise&quot;&#xA;  lifestyles is that our cortisol levels&#xA;  never have enough time to fully&#xA;  dissipate (which is supposed to happen&#xA;  overnight), so our bodies never have a&#xA;  chance to fully recover and repair&#xA;  themselves from the detrimental&#xA;  effects of chronic stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cortisolconnection.com/ch6_4.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full section&lt;/a&gt; on cortisol and sleep/insomnia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to really be healthy on a delayed sleep schedule, you'd need to adjust and properly time a lot of factors, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Darkness while you sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light while you're awake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meal times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stressors, both dietary and lifestyle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding weight, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cortisolconnection.com/ch4_1.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;different chapter&lt;/a&gt; examines a fat storage enzyme HSD and its connection to cortisol. It's not quite so simple as saying that more cortisol directly causes more HSD, but there is a more complex relationship. HSD in your cells amplifies their exposure to cortisol and other stress hormones, which results in more weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers from the University of&#xA;  Helsinki, in Finland, have shown that&#xA;  cortisol causes fat accumulation in&#xA;  specific sites most likely to be&#xA;  associated with insulin resistance&#xA;  (prediabetes). These sites are&#xA;  abdominal fat tissue and the liver—and&#xA;  fat accumulates in these areas because&#xA;  of the activity of HSD. Higher&#xA;  activity of HSD means a higher rate of&#xA;  fat storage and a faster accumulation&#xA;  of fat stores. In abdominal areas, a&#xA;  high HSD activity leads to a rounder&#xA;  waistline, while in the liver it means&#xA;  a higher risk for diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-07T13:41:48.333" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T13:41:48.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2408" CreationDate="2011-06-07T14:29:19.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like George Throrogood says - I drink alone when I'm by myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out alone isn't for everyone, if you feel lack of inspiration or mental fortitude when you're by yourself, you have two options: change your situation and find a workout partner (or trainer) or learn to inspire yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you inspire yourself?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;join workout forums and list your logs for others to view/comment on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;watch training videos or inspirational movies (Rocky?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;talk to yourself - in a positive way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may end up not being able to workout alone, many people can't, we (most of us) are social animals and need that interaction.  If the issue with a gym or personal trainer is money related...post on workout forums for local partners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T14:29:19.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2414" CreationDate="2011-06-07T15:08:41.123" Score="8" ViewCount="8233" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it's been explained to me that it's basically just a matter of burning more energy than you consume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So say, in theory, if I were to do heaps and heaps and heaps of exercise every day. But then I was to also eat takeaway for every meal, but the exercise I was doing burnt more calories than the food I was consuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would that be okay? Would that constitute a healthy lifestyle? Are there any negative consequences of eating improperly that can't be negated with exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1144" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T00:33:53.020" Title="As long as I do enough exercise, can the effects of junk food intake be offset?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2413" CreationDate="2011-06-07T16:10:10.987" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM&quot;&gt;video on YouTube called &quot;Sugar: The Bitter Truth&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, a lecture by Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, that (from my understanding) implies that, at least in the context of taking in copious amounts of unhealthy sugars such as sucrose, fructose, and high fructose corn syrup, you can offset the bad effects of those sugars by burning them off as quickly as they are processed in the liver. It would definitely take a lot of work to do that though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are a few problems with the theory of just simply eating junk food. Junk food rarely contains enough useful vitamins, nutrients, and electrolytes to maintain healthy body function, without having to rebuild muscle tissue that is damaged during a workout. Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/toomuchexercise.htm&quot;&gt;according to About.com&lt;/a&gt; and several other sources, excessive exercise increases your risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most junk food contains high fructose corn syrup, which inhibits the body's fullness mechanism, causing you to eat more than you actually need. This will cause you to need to exercise even more to burn off the excess. It goes without saying that you need proper electrolyte levels. You also need protein, and protein causes you to need calcium, etc., etc. In order for your body to properly process one nutrient, you typically need an appropriate level of two others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, along with bicarbonate (which your body builds from water you drink and the air you breathe) are important electrolytes. While you're likely going to get plenty of sodium from junk food (probably enough to cause water retention problems), you are unlikely to get much potassium and magnesium, and you aren't likely to be drinking much water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, since maintaining an unhealthy diet of junk food will prevent you from taking in the vitamins and nutrients needed to restore damaged tissue, and excessive exercise is a known factor leading to an increase in injury, you're likely to spend more time recovering from extreme muscle soreness or serious injuries than you are going to spend exercising, and thus you won't be burning off the excess unhealthy sugars in your junk food diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, you're going to be dealing with a host of short- and long-term health problems by eating unhealthy and thinking you can work it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T16:10:10.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2413" CreationDate="2011-06-07T16:12:01.887" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it's not always simple arithmetic.  Yes, losing weight is essentially burning more calories than you consume.  But, this simplistic view doesn't account for the complex happenings of food digestion and body activity associated with eating unhealthy food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A prime example is diet soda.  Diet soda has 0 calories, so theoretically, you could drink infinite portions of the stuff and not gain any weight.  However, the body does react to the sweeteners in the soda (even 0 calorie sweeteners) in a tumultuous manner.  Within 20 minutes of consuming a sweetened beverage or food, your blood sugar spikes causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar into fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I guess you could lose weight be drinking diet soda and exercising a lot, your body fat will increase which will only lead to wrong results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, YES, you might be able to lose weight simply by doing some arithmetic on calories, but NO it does not constitute a healthy lifestyle, and YES there are plenty of negative consequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T19:59:52.190" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T19:59:52.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2413" CreationDate="2011-06-07T16:15:37.747" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, not all calories are the same.  The problem is that your body needs vitamins, minerals, and protein.  Due to the way fast food, and most takeout is prepared, the nutritional value is very limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be at risk of malnutrition for sure if that was your only diet.  Even if you supplemented with a multivitamin, you will be hitting your body with the types of foods that increase risk of heart disease (LDL cholesterol), diabetes or insulin resistance (all those simple carbs and sugars), trans fats, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you will be unhealthy and fat unless you can find takeout places that serve food that is actually healthy for you.  Those are few and far between.  Take it from me, someone who used to eat out a lot, and peaked at 299lb.  It took a lot of work to reverse the worst of the effects, and there's more work to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T16:15:37.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2011-06-07T18:25:57.210" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some thought/comments/recommendations: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;doing squats and dead lifts on back to back days will not get you the muscle growth you seek.  In essence you are working many of the same muscles two days in a row. My suggestion is swap day 1 and day 2 and make day 4 an off day which I assume it is already.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;squat and dead lift do promote overall muscle growth, but not in the way i think you understand it.  squats and DL's strengthen your core and the overall foundation of your muscle skeletal system which is required as you build secondary muscles. whether you do arms on the same day as your legs is really not the point. however, one could argue in favor of doing arms on leg day, but because your arms will not be pre-fatigued from doing other primary muscle exercises. then someone else will argue pre-fatiguing yields better results.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;abs 1x per 3 days is not enough...every workout!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;change splits every 4-6 weeks....inevitably you will need to do arms with other upper body parts, but as long as you keep rotating and mixing it up the growth and results will continue. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An Example:&#xA;1. Chest - Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Back - Bi's (No Deadlifts)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Legs - Tri's (Squats)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great bi busters - 21's - get a medium/light weight barbell and do standing curls - 7 reps that go from bottom to halfway point then without rest or putting dumbbell down do 7 reps from top to the halfway down point then without rest or putting dumbbell down do 7 full range reps! I usually do 3-5 sets of these and call it a day! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fav is get three sets of dumbbells  10-15-20 and do super sets - 1x10 w/10lb then without rest 1x10 w/15lb - then without rest 1x10 w/20lb - I usually do 3-5 sets of these and call it a day! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On last recommendation for overall arm size...DIPS, DIPS and more DIPS! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T18:25:57.210" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-07T19:53:09.560" Score="5" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to do a 'Summer transformation' over this summer vacation (I'm sure that's not a new concept). I'm male, 16, 5'9, and 167.5 lbs. I'm not overweight, but I'm got stomach fat, and I'd rather have a 6 pack than 6 pounds (who wouldn't?). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not doing anything in June, so the ability to completely control my amount/type of food consumption and exercise is completely at my disposal. I have pretty much the same amount of time in July, minus a few weeks for vacation. I don't really know how many pounds I should lose, nor am I concerned. I'd just like to rid myself of all the (excess) fat and gain some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also looking at P90X, because I've got 90 days and all the reviews I've read about it say it's legitimate and fantastic, you just need to stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1205" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T14:48:53.103" Title="What diet/excercise plan should I take on this summer?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2420" CreationDate="2011-06-07T20:03:30.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possibility is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodyforlife.com/challenge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body4Life&lt;/a&gt; program.  It too is 90 days (to start), but gears you to a lifestyle change. I did it about 10 years ago and went from ~165 lbs to ~152 lbs and from 15% body fat to about 4% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P90X is intriguing.  But, I know a half-dozen people who started the program and didn't get past the fourth week for various reasons.  I don't know anyone who actually finished the full 90 days.  Something to think about.  Also, when I looked into P90X about 2 years I ago, I swear I read that P90X should be done AFTER completing a easier program that the same company offers.  But, I can't find that now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-07T20:03:30.507" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2424" CreationDate="2011-06-08T03:41:35.000" Score="2" ViewCount="6983" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your experience are there any benefits of changing your workout regimen often?  As in experiences in muscle growth or weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually get in 3-4 times a week to weight lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty boring. I like to stick to the same muscle groups on a particular day. I like to by habit stick to some semblance of a routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it does get boring and i lose focus. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T04:29:03.963" Title="Changing workout routine often vs. same workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2422" CreationDate="2011-06-08T12:18:20.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you answered your own question - change to stay engaged.  I've seeing articles stating that people should change every 10-12 weeks because their bodies adopt to the exercises - but if you have a complete plan, covering your body to meet your goals, there's no - physical reason (and many power builders stay with the same exercises for years).  I feel that each workout should be an improvement over the last, increased intensity through weights, duration, etc....but the actual exercises could remain the same as long as they keep you engaged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T12:18:20.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2422" CreationDate="2011-06-08T13:32:55.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no complete agreement with continual change vs. progressive loading, and I think they have different focuses.  The competing views are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as you change the amount you are lifting, your muscles are confused so why change?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change routinely to confuse your muscles or keep from being bored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, from one of the proponents of the first view point, a change in programming is eventually necessary but not for the same reasons as those who advocate continual change.  I'm currently doing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; program, and its creator Medhi is a proponent of the first viewpiont.  In fact it's fairly common among most strength training programs (Pendlay 5x5, Star 5x5, Rippetoe, etc.).  These programs tend to emphasize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low number of reps of high weight (starting at 5 sets of 5 reps, and eventually working down to 1 x 5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progressive loading, the challenge is to get your sets in with another 5-10lbs on the bar each session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A small number of compound lifts such as squat, bench, rows for one day and squat, overhead press, and deadlifts for the alternate day. (actual combination of exercises is different between the programs but the concept is the same)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x per week with a full day of rest in between&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only when you've maxed out what you can do with a program do you deload and switch programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposing view seems to come from the body building community (although I am so new to this, that statement might be over simplified).  The body building community tends to emphasize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher number of reps of lower weight, emphasizing time under load&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slower increases in weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation exercises or split workouts (i.e. upper body one day, lower body the next, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potentially more frequent workouts (up to daily)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Routine program changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I just don't know as much about the body building side of things.  My focus is strength.  For me, I don't get board because my time at the gym is relatively short (I get my routine done in less than an hour), and I'm continually challenging myself.  There's a lot to think about just getting the form right.  Additionally, the progressive loading really exposes problems in your technique pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is Progressive Loading?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just in case you are not familiar with the term, it is the concept of going up in weight every workout session.  This is different than doing pyramids where you increase weight and decrease reps each set.  As an example, I'll use the Strong Lifts 5x5 program to illustrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Session 1: A workout&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45lb squat 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45lb bench 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;65lb BB row 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Session 2: B workout&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50lb squat 5x5 (go up by 5lb on squats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45lb overhead press 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90lb deadlift 1x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Session 3: A workout&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;55lb squat 5x5 (go up by 5lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50lb bench 5x5 (go up by 5lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70lb BB row 5x5 (go up by 5lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue until you stall (i.e. can't get all 5 sets of 5 reps in).  Deadlifts in the SL5x5 program are a little different than the others because you are starting at 1 set of 5 reps and you go up by 10lb each session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short in every session you increase weight.  There are other strength programs where you increase much slower, but those are designed for advanced lifters who have already maxed out the gains from the beginner programs (like SL 5x5).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-06-08T14:56:59.317" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T14:56:59.317" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="820" CreationDate="2011-06-08T15:08:56.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's just all practice. You just need to let your muscles work on muscle memory of the particular routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You had two issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Working on Balance:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is typically a common problem when taking Tae Kwon do (a predominantly kicking oriented martial arts). Remaining balance and stability is just working your coordination and timing. &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice Grasshopper. Your dedication is needed to perfect a roundhouse kick.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Break it Down: If you work on various parts of executing a roundhouse kick into smaller pieces and work on specific parts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Height:&lt;/strong&gt; This comes from merely flexibility and strength. @meade provides some good advice. &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dynamic Stretching: It is highly recommended to work on dynamic and static stretching. This will allow you greater flexibility and this all takes time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working on your the height of your jump (if you want maximum height you can include jumping and a round house kick) There are some great threads on this:  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1353/how-can-i-improve-my-vertical&quot;&gt;How can I improve my vertical?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also look into taking a tae kwon do class. It's really fun, works on focus and you do a lot of dynamic stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T21:38:41.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2161" CreationDate="2011-06-08T17:08:34.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possible sources of low back pain and ways to avoid them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You may be tilting the pelvis forward and &lt;strong&gt;arching your low back&lt;/strong&gt; during the lunge stretch and quad stretch to compensate for tight hip flexors. This compresses the lumbar spine and may cause low back pain. I am one of the most flexible people I know, and I still tend to do this if I'm not specifically focusing on preventing it. Try &lt;strong&gt;backing off the stretch and finding a neutral spine&lt;/strong&gt; by contracting the low abs, directing the tail bone straight down toward the floor, and lengthening up through the back of the torso (if you lengthen through the front, you'll tilt your rib cage back, which also sends an arch into the low back). One you have this neutral position, maintain it as you deepen into the stretch. You may not have to go as deep into the lunge or quad stretch to feel a stretch. I find it easier to maintain a neutral pelvis and spine doing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.markstephensyoga.com/html/practice/visual/web-galleries/1-suryanam/basicposes/03anjaneya/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lunge with the back knee down&lt;/a&gt; and doing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Quadriceps/SideLying.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;quad stretch on the side&lt;/a&gt;. Considering the tightness discrepancy you described between you low back and hamstrings, you may have a &lt;strong&gt;muscle imbalance&lt;/strong&gt; contributing to an exaggerated low back arch. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/lowback/lordosis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; article explains further and provides some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/lowback/lordosis/execises.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rehabilitative exercises&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You may be &lt;strong&gt;overstretching the low back&lt;/strong&gt; by wrenching it during the hamstrings and hip aductor stretches to try to feel a stretch in the targeted areas. In these stretches, &lt;strong&gt;keeping a long spine rather than rounding into the spine&lt;/strong&gt; will help prevent this. I can't give you too much personal experience on aductor stretches, because I have some of my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1462/why-is-my-outer-hip-tight-when-doing-some-inner-thigh-stretches&quot;&gt;own imbalances&lt;/a&gt;, but you can try out some of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ThighWt.html#anchor1943047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; (right column) to find out which ones will allow you to keep your spine neutral. I find doing a hamstring stretch on the back helps keep the spine long because it's anchored to a flat surface--just focus on keeping your sacrum grounded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y6EYc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;supine hamstring stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may be &lt;strong&gt;stretching the back in an uncontrolled way&lt;/strong&gt;. If you do a forward fold with the torso hanging without support or bounce while you're stretching, this puts the low back at higher risk of injury. I'd say &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2468&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat stretch&lt;/a&gt; is one of the safest ways to stretch your low back, because it's completely controlled by your trunk flexor muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ypTPs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to explore more stretches for yourself, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; is great resource with exercises/stretches arranged by muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T17:08:34.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2408" CreationDate="2011-06-08T19:02:11.883" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here's what works for me&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Music&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a taste for techno, develop one. The high BPM (135+) songs not only give you a beat to match; they also give you a rate of momentum to match so you can measure when you're starting to fall off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to sync into your own little world. One of the greatest barriers (at least for me) of working out is the social awkwardness of doing it alone. The better you're able to tune out the people around you the less anxiety you'll feel about doing activities by yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use two different (and both very high quality) podcasts for workout music. Podrunner and Beatport Burners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn how to make snap decisions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may seem pretty rudimentary but the ability to make very quick precise decisions is a good skill to have when you need to step out of your comfort zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one strategy I've used to build this skill in the past. When you wake up in the morning (for work or school) instead of milling around in bed, immediately jump out of bed as if your house is on fire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more time you spend dwelling on a decision the harder it is to make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another would be to literally split the decision into two different options and flip a coin to decide. Instead of a lazy/active decision make it an active/active decision. For instance, instead of deciding whether or not to go workout, make it 'workout at the gym' or 'go for a run'. That way you have no path to laziness. The coin is only used as a crutch to get over the anxiety barrier involved in decision making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMHO, contrary to popular belief, indecisiveness has very little to do with laziness and very much to do with anxiety. Many people are lazy simply because they're too afraid to break out of their comfort zone. The reward (benefit of getting out) has to be greater than the risk (fear/anxiety involved in the unknown of trying something new).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shaming yourself into believing that your just a 'lazy person' only makes it harder to become motivated because now you have to overcome both the anxiety of trying something new &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; the insecurity created by your self-image as a 'lazy person' (ie the risk increases).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine the different ways you can critique a person. First you can attack a person's actions (why don't you get off your butt and get outside), attack their traits (why are you being lazy), or attack their person (you are a lazy person). The first two are easy to change, the third... not so much because you're describing the essence of what that person represents, not their actions. Take this idea into consideration when you critique yourself. People have the singular ability to destroy their own self-esteem without any external interaction because of this. Learning how to separate the 'who I am' from the 'what I do sometimes' is an important skill to learn to prevent from any unnecessary confidence speed bumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding an imaginary sense of danger is a means to increase the reward of getting out (escape from danger) whereas flipping a coin leaves the decision up to a higher power (luck, god, ect). I could probably write a dissertation about how religion relates to the higher power aspect of decision making but I'll spare you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet/Health&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mental barrier is not always strictly mental. Sometimes, a lack of energy/motivation can be due to your diet/health. For instance: if you're not getting enough sleep your hormones are likely not balanced properly; if you overtrain, your body hasn't had enough time to properly recover yet; if you don't have enough energy you will feel like you don't have enough energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solutions to these issues are simple: get enough rest; plan enough recovery time in between workouts (if you start to feel a decrease of energy); and eat enough (carb load the night/morning before a day of high energy activity) and be sure to eat a lot of protein right after an activity (protein uptake is greatest &amp;lt;45min after exercise) for a better recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have dealt with and continue to deal with these issues on a daily basis. I could probably be considered a high anxiety personality type (even though my general demeanor is extremely relaxed) because it takes an extra conscious push for me to get involved in a lot of the activities I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, I've found that the more I get involved in, the easier it is to see the reward instead of the risk when it comes time to make those snap decisions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update: @Ivo Flipse just recently posted &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2011/06/15/how-can-we-get-willpower-back-once-it-has-been-depleted/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How Can We Get Willpower Back Once It Has Been Depleted&lt;/a&gt;. It's a good read and definitely related to the Op's question.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-06-16T23:51:42.530" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T23:51:42.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2422" CreationDate="2011-06-08T19:20:06.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a finite number of exercises. The key is to change the order both of the exercises and the days in which you do the exercises. The more you mix and match, the better the overall results. Additionally, if you write down each workout and build a plan, it is more likely that you will stay more engaged mentally. You will be able to track your exercises, weight and see improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For Example 4 Day workout 5 week block #1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1 - Chest Back Shoulders:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flat Bench 5x10; &#xA;Incline 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lat Pull Downs 5x10; &#xA;Bent Over Rows 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Military 3x10; &#xA;Standing Side Lat Raises 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2 - &#xA;Legs &amp;amp; Arms:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat 5x10; Stiff legged dead lifts 3x10&#xA;Standing Barbell 5x10; Preacher Dumbbell 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3 - &#xA;Chest Back Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incline DB Press 5x10; Pec Deck 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pull-ups 5x10(to failure); Seated Rows 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seated Dumbbell Press 5x10; Shrugs 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 4 - Legs &amp;amp; Arms:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg Press Sled 5x10; Hamstring Curl Machine 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seated Dumbbell Curl 5x10; Standing Cable Curls 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Block #2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1 - Back &amp;amp; Arms:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dead lifts 5x10; Bent over barbell 2x10; Stiff-legged Dead Lift 2x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2 - Chest &amp;amp; Shoulders:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decline Bench 5x10; Incline Dumbbell Press 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seated Military 4x10; Standing Front Lat Raises 3x10; Upright Rows 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3 - Legs &amp;amp; Arms:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat 5x10; Leg Ext 3x10; Hamstring Curl Machine 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standing Dumbbell Curls 5x10; Seated Curl Machine 3x10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 4 - Back, Chest &amp;amp; Shoulders:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super-set - Pullups 5x10 (To Failure); Dips 5x10 (To Failure); Pushups 5x10 (To Failure); Shrugs 5x10(To Failure)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T19:20:06.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2422" CreationDate="2011-06-08T20:28:21.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are getting bored and losing focus, change it up somehow.  You have over 600 muscles, surely if you are doing the same thing every time you are ignoring some in favor of others (though, to be fair, you're not exactly going to be exercising muscles like your cheek muscles or your tongue at the gym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, cross-training improves your fitness level.  I've heard a lot of explanations (most of which seemed only quasi-scientific) but I've noticed that if I run every day, my time and cardio fitness do not improve.  If I run twice a week, lift weights twice, walk once and do yoga once, it improves rapidly and steadily, i.e., I can run faster, further and longer each time.  I've found the same thing with lifting weights - instead of doing the same routine every time, or the typical A-B format each week (e.g., upper body on Monday, lower body on Thursday), if I do A-B for three weeks, then C-D for three weeks, then E-F(or whatever), I get stronger and more toned faster.  (I don't mix it up every single time, like A-B then C-D then E-F, because it's a little overwhelming and it makes it harder to notice improvement, though there might be some.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1214" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T20:28:21.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-08T20:55:12.037" Score="1" ViewCount="1257" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a way to test blood glucose without a pinprick? I'm open to commercial products (perhaps optical?) or ways to estimate it based on other observable factors. I'm not diabetic, so I don't need the accuracy that a normal glucose meter offers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background to put this question in the context of fitness: Blood glucose, while usually considered in the context of diabetes, is directly correlated to insulin efficiency - or in too many cases, insulin resistance (inefficiency). Because &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/cells-tissues/fat-cell2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;insulin is the primary mechanism&lt;/a&gt; by which fat is stored, I don't believe it is possible to design an effective long-term weight management strategy without accounting for your own body's utilization of insulin. This is the hormonal basis of low-carb diets, slow-carb diets, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that, combined with detailed logs of sleep, diet, and exercise, measuring blood glucose on a frequent basis can provide information that will help to understand the impact &lt;em&gt;on my personal physiology&lt;/em&gt; of these activities as they pertain to weight management; it's another tool to be used in conjunction with the scale and the measuring tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-10T04:29:39.403" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T05:13:10.770" Title="Non-prick glucose meter" Tags="&lt;diet-tools&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2011-06-08T23:49:39.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Tai Chi studies, I’ve learned that in the West we spend a lot of time in our heads, thinking in our overstimulated world and are less in touch with our bodies and its sensations.  We can reduce our stress by draining our attention out of our heads and becoming more mindful of our bodies.  That is why many stress reduction techniques focus on the breath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is asking for an academic answer to solve your “feeling” of stress.  By searching for studies to tell you how long and how often to run to reduce your physiologic markers of stress, you are overlooking the most direct answer, “to run until you feel your stress release.”   While I know that this is not the answer that you are looking for, it may be the most direct way for you to reduce your stress and achieve your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ChiRunning’s article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/chi-library/article/stress-reduction-made-easy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stress Reduction Made Easy&lt;/a&gt;, describes their “fun run” as a way of running to reduce stress.  It suggests to run without a plan, without speed, and without time limit “until you sense the need in your body to head back.”  How long?  “It doesn't matter as long as you're enjoying being in your body and not in your head.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-08T23:49:39.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2431" CreationDate="2011-06-09T00:44:26.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a diabetic, I can very easily tell you that the answer is that there isn't a way.  Trust me, if there were, we wouldn't be using blood monitors.  All the expletives in the English language cannot describe how much they suck. Anyone who claims the spring loaded lancets are painless is trying to sell you one. Period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2011-06-09T00:44:26.990" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2154" CreationDate="2011-06-09T00:49:49.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't give you a definitive answer, but I dug up some info that might help you decide how concerned you should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joint heat may be a sign something is wrong. Heat is one of the cardinal signs of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammation#Cardinal_signs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inflammation&lt;/a&gt;, so hot joints could indicate something in there is starting to act up. Inflammation could be exacerbated by high-impact cardio, especially if you're overweight (I don't know your BMI). You don't seem to have other typical signs of inflammation though (pain, redness, swelling, loss of function), so it's hard to say if you should be worried about it or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1001282/?tool=pubmed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; that compares the heat distribution over normal to inflamed joints. Check out page 495 for images of the heat distribution of normal joints and page 496 for inflamed joints. You'll see that the centers of normal joints are actually cooler than surrounding tissues. However, you should take this with a grain of salt because the measurements were taken on subjects at rest, not after exercise, and heat distribution might change a bit when you work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any research that directly compared to the temperature of muscles to that of joints during exercise, but from this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerimages.com/Images/Biomedicine/1-10.1007_s10439-008-9512-1-0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thermogram&lt;/a&gt; from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerlink.com/content/b21563472m305777/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; examining heat changes of the thigh after exercise, it looks like the area behind the knee does heat up quite a bit during exercise; however, this may not be representative of the state of entire knee joint. If you look at the images of from the study linked above, the healthy knee was much hotter behind the knee than in the actual joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-06-09T00:49:49.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2384" CreationDate="2011-06-09T08:54:24.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think about how focused you are during exercise, I for one am completed encapsulated in my sport when swimming or running.  Constantly thinking how hard can I push myself, or can I run comfortably in those further miles.  Basically what I'm saying is do something which suits you, if your mind is running at two hundred miles an hour then how do you feel about doing nothing?  Are you the kind of person is wants to be totally focused a 100% of your time, even on days off?  Then Zen meditation maybe what your looking for, it has the same mental commitment of working out, except its all in the head.  However if you want to totally relax then go something a bit less demanding; casual computer games, talking to friends, spending time with a loved one (provided she makes you happy),  etc.  It all depends on how your mind works, I do believe some people are hard wired to be on the go all the time, while other are not.  Just the way things are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1217" LastActivityDate="2011-06-09T08:54:24.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2011-06-09T16:09:15.700" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Think like a dancer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dancers (ballerina, tap, etc) obviously put a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of strain on their feet and deal with blisters on a regular basis. Therefore, I'd trust that they have some pretty good advice on prevention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following quotes were taken directly from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dance.about.com/od/danceandyourhealth/ht/Prevent-Blisters.htm&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure your shoes fit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The easiest way to get a blister is to wear dance shoes that are either too big or too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cover your feet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most dance instructors recommend wearing dance tights or socks with dance shoes. As your feet begin to sweat, your bare skin will rub against the inside of your shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use foot powder&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sprinkling a small amount of powder inside your shoes will help keep your feet dry and prevent them from rubbing. Use foot powder, talcum powder, or cornstarch. Sprinkle a small amount inside each shoe and on your bare feet before slipping on your shoes.\&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cover hot spots&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A &quot;hot spot&quot; is a warning sign that a blister is about to develop. Hot spots are areas that appear red and feel warm to the touch. Cover suspicious areas with bandages, medical tape, gauze or moleskin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest your feet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Overuse is a common cause of any injury, so allowing your feet to rest will help prevent blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your particular case, since I doubt you purchased shoes that don't fit correctly, your best option is to take action to mitigate the blisters by treating the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blisters are caused by friction and made worse by sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you should prevent the current blisters from getting worse by covering them with a bandage and/or tape until they fully heal. Next, to prevent blisters in the future add a sock/liner to your feet and/or talcum powder to cut down on the sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that @dee is experiencing the same issue in the same spot, it's most likely a design flaw in the shoe. Unfortunately, until you build up a sufficient callous, you'll still need to be careful about preventing blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastActivityDate="2011-06-09T16:09:15.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2408" CreationDate="2011-06-09T16:50:21.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the other answerers about music, planning, and gradual improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to gradual improvement, I would also like to emphasize that &lt;b&gt;tracking can also be a huge motivator&lt;/b&gt;. What's your personal record for this exercise? Can you try to pass it? If you ran 1 mile last time, can you run 1.05 miles this time? If you lifted 100 pounds can you lift 102.5? If you finished your circuit in 10 minutes can you do it this time in 9:50? If you are determined to at least improve on your last workout you may find it easier to keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help my track my progress I graph all my workouts using Microsoft Excel. It's fairly easy to record your numerical records in a spreadsheet and create a graph out of it. When you look back on the last 3+ weeks of records and see the lines on the graph moving steadily upwards, it's very motivating. You want to work out because you can easily see what you're getting out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing I've used before when running is always giving myself &lt;b&gt;1 more minute&lt;/b&gt; before I quit. For example, I may have planned to run for 45 minutes. It's now been 30, and I'm really feeling like quitting. My muscles ache and my feet hurt, and I'm tired. But I don't feel like I &lt;i&gt;have&lt;/i&gt; to quit, I just &lt;i&gt;want&lt;/i&gt; to. I think to myself &quot;I could quit now and still be happy with myself. I don't need to run the last 15 minutes. 30 minutes of running isn't bad. I can do better later... BUT, before I quit let me see if I can run &lt;b&gt;just one more minute&lt;/b&gt;.&quot; When that minute is up, I think &quot;Ok, it's been a minute, I can quit now. But... could I go just one &lt;i&gt;more&lt;/i&gt; minute before I do?&quot;. Ocassionally I really do quit, but often I find that I'll give myself &quot;one more minute&quot; all the way to the end of my planned workout, and I never do quit. It's that mental trick of giving myself an out, then thinking about just &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; delaying it, rather than focusing on the enormity of what's left, that allows me to keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-06-09T16:50:21.913" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2431" CreationDate="2011-06-10T05:13:10.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One method seems to be urine test strips. Although the strips are inexpensive and completely non-invasive, there are a couple drawbacks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is usually not glucose in the urine until the blood glucose exceeds the renal threshold, so this technique can't work for lower glucose levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The readings actually reflect the level of blood glucose from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/noninsulin-diabetes/check.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a few hours earlier&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, the strips seem to simply measure an under/over threshold. For instance, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anytestkits.com/urine-tests.htm#Glucose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; have a sensitivity of 100mg/dl (this seems to be a standard threshold, although others do seem to exist).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A urine-based system might involve obtaining test strips with different sensitivities. It wouldn't be possible to get an exact reading this way, but as long as blood sugar fluctuated above the renal threshold then it might be possible to chart it in a range bounded by two consecutive strips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T05:13:10.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2448" CreationDate="2011-06-10T11:37:21.383" Score="7" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once I'm asking a question on behalf of someone else who isn't comfortable to write on an English site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife wants to get in shape, i.e. lose some fat, gain some muscle, increase stamina, increase overall fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now there's a problem: She currently has only 90 minutes per week to go the gym, which is a lot less than normally required to get good results, but it's still better than doing nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;How to make the most out of these 90 minutes in the gym?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some obvious aspects, split training for example is out of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here are so many more aspects to this, where I'm not sure what's best here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More cardio or more resistance training?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low or high weights?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low or high number of repetions?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ultra-slow or explosive movements?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often should the workout routine be changed? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other aspects I'm not aware of?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's tons of information on these aspects on the internet and on this site, but all in context of multiple training sessions per week, which I apply on my own training sessions (3-4 times a week) but I'm not sure how they apply to a single and mostly isolated workout session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T11:04:00.860" Title="How to train to make the most out of only 90 minutes of training per week?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2445" CreationDate="2011-06-10T13:21:31.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybyscience.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body By Science&lt;/a&gt;. This workout consists of perhaps 20 minutes of high-intensity resistance training around once per week. Then your wife will have to figure out what to do with the rest of her 90 minutes, maybe take a nap! :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, BBS examines both muscular growth and aerobic conditioning at a cellular level. It turns out that what we think of as &quot;cardio&quot; isn't as effective as we've been led to believe, and aerobic conditioning is a localized cellular phenomenon and not actually tied to the heart muscle per se; it's more about how efficiently the cells in your body can absorb the oxygen (a catalyst for processing stored energy) that the heart delivers to it. While trashing steady-state low-intensity cardio, BBS recommends a workout that does the minimum necessary to stimulate growth in that efficiency as well as in muscular strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-10T14:41:14.563" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T14:41:14.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2445" CreationDate="2011-06-10T14:07:50.850" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few things to consider considering the current situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90 minutes concentrated on one day isn't a whole lot, but at least the new mom is not giving up completely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are other things you can do that don't require being at the gym to keep fit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She'll have to be creative to keep active while not at the gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the 90 minutes at the gym, I would focus on things you can't do at home such as strength training or a fun but challenging class like Zumba or something else she may enjoy.  In fact, the class might help with the wife's need to be with people who can form complete sentences after they've been with a baby all this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home you have the following options available to you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A brisk 20 minute walk pushing the baby in a stroller.  As long as it's not too hot for the baby (summer days can be really hot so be careful), and the baby has some shade, that's about as long as they can handle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good stretch routine at home will also help regain some flexibility.  Again we're talking a 20 minute investment of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Invest in a running stroller so she can jog with the baby.  Babies get board easily so it won't be a long distance thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyometrics or body weight resistance training can also help.  We're talking crunches, pushups, pull ups, etc.  Add some resistance bands and you can get a lot of mileage out of it.  Just set up a routine and stick to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Babies will sleep off and on during the day, and it is all to easy to take your nap with the child.  By investing 20 minutes a day, you can do things at home that will boost your energy and make you stronger.  Some of those activities include the child being with you.  Some of those activities require the baby either sleeping or playing in the bassinet.  You may alternate the walking/jogging with the plyometrics every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do remember, the baby doesn't need to be held the whole time, but you do need to be aware of the baby.  If you start the workout in front of the baby they may start crying at first because they are jealous that you aren't paying all your attention on them.  Just make sure there aren't any other needs (diaper changes, hungry, or hurt).  It's actually good for the child to learn that you don't jump just because they cry.  Besides, crying is a form of exercise for the baby.  If the wife hasn't already learned the differences in the way the child cries, she will soon.  Let the child cry for a bit, they'll stop when they get tired of waiting and eventually will be OK with it.  Just make sure to spend time doting on the baby afterwards and both mom and child will be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T14:07:50.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2445" CreationDate="2011-06-10T14:40:09.133" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;After our son was born, gym time dropped like a rock. We found it easier to do 15-20 minutes a night of training at home than driving to the gym two or three times a week. I did a combination of strenght training using body weight exercises and some light dumb bells with some nights doing short 7-minute HIIT routines of things like pushups, burpees, russian twistc, etc. The routine was changed every 6 weeks by removing and adding new exercises and rearranging the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife used the same time to do yoga and pilates videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine was much more effective in terms of raw strength gain and weight loss (I had put on some sympathy weight), but hers was better for getting her head into the right space that some new moms need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She needs to determine what her top priorities are for working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T14:40:09.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2450" CreationDate="2011-06-10T16:54:29.540" Score="3" ViewCount="732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear people on this site throwing the term 'Glycemic Index' a lot and I'd like to familiarize myself with how the GI of specific foods affect my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I have recently started eating potato bread instead of white bread and I'd like a way to compare the Glycemic Index of the two to see how the change will affect my current diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a particular source that's good for looking up the GI of specific foods (like Wolfram Alpha is for researching nutritional facts)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T18:39:15.777" Title="Where can I go to research the Glycemic index of specific foods" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2449" CreationDate="2011-06-10T18:33:41.473" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can always go to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.glycemicindex.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycemicindex.com&lt;/a&gt;.  They have a database of foods available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: certain foods don't have any glycemic reaction like chicken, beef, etc.  However if you marinade them, you'll have to check out what the GI is on the marinade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;South Beach also has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.southbeach-diet-plan.com/glycemicfoodchart.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GI food chart&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A chart for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycemic index and load&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gilisting.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gilisting.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably one of the most useful would be this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Self Nutrition Data&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-06-10T18:39:15.777" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T18:39:15.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2451" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2452" CreationDate="2011-06-10T19:12:02.437" Score="4" ViewCount="8557" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I tried the EAS AdvantEdge 100% Whey Protein.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below their website description:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;23 grams of high quality protein. Only&#xA;  3 grams of carbohydrates. High&#xA;  concentration of BCAAs. Protein is on&#xA;  of the fuels that helps make athletes&#xA;  go. To help support peak performance&#xA;  and optimal muscle growth, the protein&#xA;  you put in you body needs to be high&#xA;  quality. EAS 100 percent Whey Protein&#xA;  is high biological value protein that&#xA;  is naturally abundant in branched&#xA;  chain amino acids ( BCAAs). Research&#xA;  shows that BCAAs- isoleucine, leucine,&#xA;  and valine- support muscle protein&#xA;  synthesis and thus may help muscles&#xA;  recuperate from strenuous exercise.&#xA;  EAS 100 percent Whey Protein is&#xA;  isolated through a series of&#xA;  filtration steps, and instantized for&#xA;  ease of mixability. This produces a&#xA;  great- tasting, high quality protein&#xA;  that mixes easily in to water or your&#xA;  favorite beverage. 100 percent of the&#xA;  protein in this product comes from&#xA;  whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will like to know if drinking this type of shakes will damage a low-carb diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1178" LastActivityDate="2011-06-11T01:02:26.037" Title="Is Whey protein good for low-carb diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2451" CreationDate="2011-06-11T01:02:26.037" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a low carb diet, 23 grams of protein to 3 grams of carbs is fantastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not a low carb diet is a good idea or if protein shakes deliver results to anyone other than body builders is a different question altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-11T01:02:26.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2366" CreationDate="2011-06-11T07:19:02.243" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;These have often been helpful to me in this area:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper vitamins such as B and Magnesium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce or eliminate alcohol intake as this can act as an inhibitor &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper eating (smaller meals more frequently)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Include short bursts of intense activity with lower intensity activity in your workouts several times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure you are not depriving your body of proper calories and a balanced diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this interesting article relating to the affects of alcohol and metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Drinking alcohol will give a negative&#xA;  effect on the metabolism of the body&#xA;  particularly to the aspect of fats&#xA;  metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of energy that fats can&#xA;  give to your body through the process&#xA;  of metabolism is limited by the&#xA;  effects of alcohol that you take in&#xA;  your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ability of your body to bring on&#xA;  lipid oxidation or the burning of fats&#xA;  will be greatly hindered by even just&#xA;  a small amount of alcohol. This was&#xA;  the findings of researchers and as&#xA;  published in the American Journal of&#xA;  Clinical Research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Further research on this matter&#xA;  revealed that when alcohol passes&#xA;  through the liver, acetate is formed.&#xA;  And the body, instead of burning fats&#xA;  for energy will burn the acetate&#xA;  instead of fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The other bad effect of alcohol in the&#xA;  body is that it prevents the proper&#xA;  processing of vitamins and minerals&#xA;  which are needed in the natural&#xA;  function of metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is because of the process by&#xA;  which the liver converts alcohol to&#xA;  acetate. During this stage, minerals&#xA;  and vitamins that are supposed to be&#xA;  processed by the liver will be over&#xA;  shadowed by the system of&#xA;  detoxification and would be wasted&#xA;  through this process.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.extrametabolism.com/how_does_alcohol_affects_metabolism.php&quot;&gt;Reference&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1228" LastActivityDate="2011-06-11T07:19:02.243" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2458" CreationDate="2011-06-11T14:07:34.063" Score="6" ViewCount="28964" Body="&lt;p&gt;BCAAs seem to be a widely recommended (for example, Art DeVany and Martin Beckham of LeanGains) weightlifting supplement. What are they, and how can they help a training program? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-09-23T15:27:30.920" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T15:27:30.920" Title="What are BCAAs, and what are they used for?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1757" CreationDate="2011-06-11T14:31:06.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;trail mix bars and whole grain stuff and lots of proper health food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trail mix bars and whole grain anything is nowhere as healthy as you think.  They are very pro inflamatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat anti-inflamatory foods: that means large helpings of omega-3 foods (salmon, sardines, non-grain finished beef), no grains, nuts, seeds, or seed oils.  No dairy, limited sugar and fructose (so no sweets and limited fruits - a little bit of 85% dark chocolate is OK).  Beware of oils that have a large potential for oxydation.  Consider using ghee and coconut oil for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement with Vit D: you probably need several thousand UI over what you currently get, unless you are getting a huge amount of sun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get at least 8hrs a night of high quality sleep in a dark, quiet room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat plenty of quality foods.  You might need to increase your caloric intake more than you think.  The body needs plenty of proteins and good quality fats to offset the damage of exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement your food with some raw fermented sauerkraut / pickles / kimchi / etc, to make sure your gut flora is in order.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="259" LastEditDate="2011-06-11T15:09:23.573" LastActivityDate="2011-06-11T15:09:23.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2456" CreationDate="2011-06-11T16:56:14.857" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;BCAA stands for &lt;strong&gt;branched-chain amino acids&lt;/strong&gt;. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/1/269S.short&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article, from the Journal of Nutrition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, and&#xA;  valine), particularly leucine, have&#xA;  anabolic effects on protein metabolism&#xA;  by increasing the rate of protein&#xA;  synthesis and decreasing the rate of&#xA;  protein degradation in resting human&#xA;  muscle. Also, during recovery from&#xA;  endurance exercise, BCAAs were found&#xA;  to have anabolic effects in human&#xA;  muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, BCAA's may &lt;strong&gt;stimulate muscle growth&lt;/strong&gt;. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/1/264S.short&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article, timing is important: Leucine can stimulate muscle protein synthesis for a short period, but with chronic supplementation, the body quickly adapts, and muscle protein synthesis returns to normal after 2 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jarretmorrow.com/branched-chain-amino-acid-supplementation-athletic-performance/&quot;&gt;well-cited blog post&lt;/a&gt; summarizing the latest research on BCAA's reports that BCAA supplementation has been shown to &lt;strong&gt;decrease muscle fatigue and soreness&lt;/strong&gt; during running, as well as &lt;strong&gt;increasing the oxygen carrying capacity&lt;/strong&gt; of the blood and &lt;strong&gt;decreasing muscle damage&lt;/strong&gt; during athletic training. However, the author cites a study that reports that supplementing with &lt;strong&gt;casein and whey protein works better for resistance training&lt;/strong&gt; than supplementing with BCAA's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth noting that you don't have to get BCAA's from supplements, they occur naturally in protein-containing foods. In fact, &lt;strong&gt;amino acid supplementation has some major disadvantages&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ingesting free, crystalline L-amino&#xA;  acids is thought by many athletes to&#xA;  be superior to ingesting natural foods&#xA;  containing protein for muscle protein&#xA;  synthesis. However, amino acids using&#xA;  the same carrier system compete with&#xA;  each other for absorption. Thus,&#xA;  ingesting one amino acid or a&#xA;  particular group of amino acids that&#xA;  use the same carrier system may&#xA;  create, depending on the amount&#xA;  ingested, a competition between the&#xA;  amino acids for absoprtion. The result&#xA;  may be that the amino acid present in&#xA;  highest conentration is absorbed but&#xA;  also may impair the absorption of the&#xA;  other, less concentrated amino acids&#xA;  carried by that same system. Thus,&#xA;  amino acid supplements may result in&#xA;  impaired or imbalanced amino acid&#xA;  absorption. Furthermore, absorption of&#xA;  peptides (which are obtained from&#xA;  digestion of natural protein-contain&#xA;  foods) is more rapid than absorption&#xA;  of an equivalent mixture of free amino&#xA;  acids ... Moreover, the supplements are usually expensive, typically taste terrible, and &gt; may cause gastrointestinal distress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=rXSO9YLr72YC&amp;amp;lpg=PA192&amp;amp;ots=0ABfi0jnwz&amp;amp;dq=amino%20acid%20compete%20transporter%20amino%20acid%20supplementation&amp;amp;pg=PA192#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-06-11T16:56:14.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2386" CreationDate="2011-06-12T17:31:32.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you lift that 16Kg-kb at least once? Then you should get a 12 Kg bell, it's going to feel a lot lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you can lift it once, you could also just push yourself with 16 Kg. Working your way up from sets of 1 rep each is perfectly possible, but it will take longer. Safety comes from concentration, tension and proper breathing. You should be able to lift a bell safely even if you can do it only once, but learning proper technique first with a lighter bell is still a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-12T17:31:32.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1914" CreationDate="2011-06-12T18:28:47.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are you looking for in a workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for health, you should already be getting that from Swings an Get-Ups. Swings are one of the best things you can do your posterior chain and your back, get-ups are possibly the healthiest full-body movement you can do. Physical therapists love get-ups (those who know them). Of course you have to do them properly, so getting you form checked may still be a good idea. Also, get-up technique has been refined significantly since ETK came out. Check with &quot;Kettlebells from the ground up&quot;, your local RKC or possibly youtube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for cardio, you can either work your way up to high rep swings, which are excellent cardio all by themselves, or you can just learn more exercises with kettlebells. The full ETK program is much more intense than ETK's program minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A complex of clean&amp;amp;presses, swings, maybe snatches, pull-ups and push-ups will have you collapse on the floor in no time. But put the kettelbell down safely first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering Swings, you might try to go hardstyle and work on your hip-drive. At the top of the movement, you should drive your hips forward as hard as you can (with your glutes) and contract your abs hard, your body should be completely stiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-12T18:28:47.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2464" CreationDate="2011-06-12T20:17:42.320" Score="14" ViewCount="503" Body="&lt;p&gt;My problem: For aerobic exercise, my target heart rate is 120. I aim to exercise at that level for say 30 minutes per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if I &quot;walk as hard as possible&quot; I only get to about 100, 105.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I'm just too old, fat, and my knees are too weak, for now, to actually jog or run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solution: very fortunately there's a perfect hill near me: at a strong walk, it produces 120 bpm.  Fantastic. I am so lucky about that hill!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem: from the bottom to the top, it's about 13, 14 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I amble down the hill in around 6-7 minutes, with my heartrate down to perhaps 100, 105.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you can see, my regime there is along the lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;at 120: 13 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;at 100: 7 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;at 120: 13 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;at 100: 7 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;at 120: 13 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;at 100: 7 minutes  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(either two or three &quot;laps&quot; thereof).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I certainly get a wonderful 20 or 30 mins at 120 bpm -- BUT interrupted by easy-going doddles at around 100/105.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question, &lt;strong&gt;does sport science have anything to say about this&lt;/strong&gt;?  Am I completely wasting my time, is there no beneficial effect from &quot;10, 10, 10&quot; minutes (with pleasant pauses in between) compared to 30 minutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you understand me --- What do you experts think?  That's the question in a nutshell. Thanks!!!!!!!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastActivityDate="2011-06-12T23:19:24.200" Title="Is 10,10,10 as good as 30?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1726" CreationDate="2011-06-12T22:06:26.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;@frankadelic Thanks for the update.  I’m glad that the chiropractic treatments are helping and that you have seen an orthopedist to rule out anything serious.  As your pelvic alignment, range of motion and flexibility improve, you should have less stress on the hips.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are ready to return to running, if you begin by jogging in chest or waist deep water you will reduce the compressive forces on your hip.  Then you can gradually add more weight as your hip tolerates the workout.  If your hip does hurt when you resume running, your chiropractor will be able to tell you if you need any follow up with your orthopedist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some more info about the hip joint, (if you can wade thru &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafp.org/afp/991015ap/1687.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;).  It explains about that “click” with the Thomas test as you describe and possible causes of pain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing to discuss with your chiropractor before you finish treatment is any muscle weaknesses you may have.  You say you lean as you walk, so ask which muscles are testing weak.  Pain was probably the reason you started limping, but pain can also cause muscle inhibition and gradual weakness.  When your chiropractor says you are ready, do isolated muscle strengthening exercises for those hip muscles.  Or see a physical therapist at least for one or two sessions to learn specific exercises.  (Take your camera so you will remember the moves).  There are hip rotators, ab and adductors in addition to the flexors and extensors that all need to be flexible as well as strong and coordinated, so like the shoulder they do need to be in balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don’t overlook the rest of the leg.  Tight heal cords, IT band, hamstrings or quads can also throw off your alignment, so ask about balancing out everything from the waist down.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-12T22:06:26.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2462" CreationDate="2011-06-12T23:19:24.200" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are doing great; and no, you are certainly not wasting your time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new physical activity &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot;&gt;guidelines according to the cdc&lt;/a&gt;  say that you can break up your exercise into 10 minute workouts and still get the health benefits as long as you are getting at least 150 minutes (2.5 hrs.) per week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise such as brisk walking.  Once you are comfortable with the baseline of 2.5 hours per week, the new guidelines recognize greater health benefits with increasing your activity to 5 hours per week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guidelines also include strength training (body weight exercises, resistance bands or weights)  at least 2 times per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can cross train to give your knees a break while still getting your aerobic workout.  For instance on some days you may want to do aquatic exercise, swim, cycle or use an elliptical trainer instead of your walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-12T23:19:24.200" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2445" CreationDate="2011-06-13T01:34:07.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have lots of good suggestions, so I’ll just add a caution.  Since your wife’s primary language is not English, make sure she has clearance from her doctor for exercise and understands whether or not she has any restrictions.  Depending on the type of delivery and her level of activity during pregnancy, her doctor may have specific recommendations.  In the first few months for example, she may need to be careful of high impact activities like jogging.  And doing abdominal exercises will depend on the amount of separation or gap between her abs.  Also, her exercise program should include specific pelvic floor muscles exercises.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say she only has one window of opportunity to exercise, but with a baby carrier or a stroller, she can strap the baby on her, or put the baby in the stroller and go for a walk which is something she can do everyday.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a lot of postpartum exercise classes are baby friendly.  Your wife can take a class geared to new moms, meet other moms and have a safe environment for the baby all at the same time.   These classes may not be at your gym, but may be offered thru the YMCA or yoga studios.  Holly Rigsby, CPT has a good online program &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/For-Busy-Moms.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for busy moms&lt;/a&gt; that is home based 15 minute workouts comprised primarily of compound resistance circuit training.  Your wife’s language limitation may not work for the forum and support, but the video workouts should be easy to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By doing the walking and a home based workout on a regular basis, she can go to the gym once a week and enjoy whatever she feels like doing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the 12 hour work days, that is something else to think about :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-13T01:34:07.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2445" CreationDate="2011-06-13T02:54:16.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go for a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) at home. I recently discovered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyRock.TV&lt;/a&gt; and it really is a great page, the girl has daily work outs that are easy to follow, and short, only 12-15 minutes long but REALLY exhausting, don't feel bad if you cant keep up the first few weeks. (I'm 25yo guy who was a little out of shape and I had trouble doing all the reps she does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really is a nice page with a nice community, it takes almost no time, and its mostly self body exercises, no weights. The fact that she posts different routines every day keeps it fresh and varied, and the only things she uses are jumping ropes, swiss/pilates ball, and a dip station. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check it out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyRock.TV&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2011-06-13T02:54:16.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2506" CreationDate="2011-06-13T06:47:14.370" Score="4" ViewCount="331" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a heart rate monitor that specifically does this: Say your target HR is a given band or zone, perhaps 115-125. I want a display that shows &lt;strong&gt;total elapsed time, inside, that zone&lt;/strong&gt;.  Thus, the stopwatch only advances, if, you are in the target zone/band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise any advanced watch includes a file of your HR over time which can be reviewed later.  But I'm looking for a &lt;strong&gt;live and continuous&lt;/strong&gt; display of elapsed time-in-zone, while you are actually running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution:&lt;/strong&gt; With thanks to Kevin Mackinnon at ironman.com and Keith Meyer at Timex, it turns out there is in fact one watch which does this....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;'Timex Race Trainer Pro'&lt;/strong&gt; which is: &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B004M7FUC0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this watch&lt;/a&gt; - the one with the &quot;angled&quot; digits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly sure, it is in fact &lt;strong&gt;the one and only&lt;/strong&gt; watch available that has &lt;strong&gt;continuous&lt;/strong&gt; time-in-zone display.  I checked with polar and none of their watches do it. Ditto Suunto. I am familiar with all garmin models and none of them do it.  Interestingly, even Timex's new fancier gps-model, does not have the feature.  So the &quot;Race Trainer Pro&quot; (that angled digits model) appears to be pretty much the only solution. Hope it helps someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T09:41:00.830" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T09:41:00.830" Title="HRM that shows time-in-zone? " Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2473" CreationDate="2011-06-13T14:12:53.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll need a combination of the watch and the computer software.  For example, my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/maximize_performance/running_multisport/RS400&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Polar RS400&lt;/a&gt; comes with software for your PC to help track your performance.  The watch has several display modes, although I don't recall the &quot;time in band&quot; function you are talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that watch &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; have programmable routines and shows where your heart rate is within the band.  It will warn you when you are getting too high or too low.  For me that is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The software that comes with the watch tracks total time in each band, allows you to review the entire routine, and reports the calories burned cumulatively.  The calendar screen also shows the cumulative results for the week.  It's fairly handy as I can set up my workout sessions way in advance and sync the schedule.  The watch will sound off when the scheduled time has arrived, along with defaulting to the exercise on the schedule.  It's great for zone training in that sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as a programmable meter, you might have to look at the iTouch/iPhone or a Droid phone.  The Nike software is able to get your pulse from a Polar heart rate sensor.  If you can figure out how to receive/process it then you can get your custom app doing exactly what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-13T14:12:53.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2476" CreationDate="2011-06-13T14:39:52.893" Score="26" ViewCount="19578" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been training with a personal trainer now for about a year; we work four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) and do bodybuilding splits. So, we do dynamic lower core, heavy upper, heavy core, and then high-rep dynamic upper again. I have definitely seen some gains in a year; I was about 315 or so and and now am about 255 lbs. and have gone from 29.9 % body fat to about 17% or so now and have gained about 13 pounds of lean muscle. I just can't seem to get to that new plateau and my trainer tells me it's all about diet now to push past the next hurdle. Basically he told me up my clean proteins during the day and do lots of veggies and fruits. Of course we do carbs around the workout and in the morning in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have since started doing that but the problem is that I like my drink. Not saying that I'm pounding a six pack every night but I do enjoy 1-2 glasses of wine pretty regularly or go out for a beer after work with my friends or whatever. I like to have a good time but I'm being told this is probably the reason why I can't shave off the last few percentage points off my body. My trainer has said that alcohol cranks up estrogen, blocks protein synthesis, and also can stop fat burning for up to three days because of acetate metabolism or something. Is this true? Has anyone had an experience where alcohol has hindered their gains? If I have to quit I will but I have to admit it will be a sad day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1235" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-03-11T02:28:23.077" LastActivityDate="2019-03-26T07:16:25.513" Title="How does alcohol really affect gains?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2475" CreationDate="2011-06-13T15:49:43.383" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at this article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/alcohol_and_nutrition/article.htm&quot;&gt;Alcohol and Nutrition Facts&lt;/a&gt;.  It's pretty long, so I'll try to summarize the high points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unlike proteins, carbs, and fats it cannot be stored by the body, so it takes precedence over all other metabolic functions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase helps in metabolizing alcohol, but what it can't metabolize is absorbed by the blood stream.  Women have that enzyme in smaller quantities, so men metabolize 30% and women metabolize 10% in the stomach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The liver tries to detoxify the blood and processes alcohol at a rate of about .25 to .33oz per hour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within 5 minutes of imbibing you have enough alcohol in your blood to measure, with small amounts being excreted through the lungs and urine (which is how breathalyzer tests work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The blood alcohol level will peak about 35-45 minutes after you imbibe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All alcohol related drinks contain an appreciable amount of calories, and these are calories with no other benefits (like protein or vitamins and minerals).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It affects the body's ability to maintain proper blood sugar levels, negatively affecting the pancreatic function--this is made worse when you exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this is from the first four pages.  There are more effects.  Now, does that mean you have to go cold turkey and not have another drink as long as you live?  Maybe not.  However, it might be a good idea to limit it to once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-13T15:49:43.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2475" CreationDate="2011-06-13T16:31:13.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alcohol used and estrogen have been linked in several studies, but most of those have focused on postmenopausal women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still there is good reason to believe it would have a similar effect on a man. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/19363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good summary&lt;/a&gt; of why that would be bad for your work outs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-13T16:31:13.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2386" CreationDate="2011-06-13T17:09:35.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use a 1 rep max &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculator&lt;/a&gt; to help you figure out how much weight you'd need in order to make 1 or 2 reps with 16kg. So if you do 1 rep with 16, you should do 10 reps with 12. That way you can make a training choice between high weight, low rep and low weight, high rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, form is critical in strength training and a rep only counts if it is done with good form. Sloppy exerices don't benefit you and could cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-13T17:09:35.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-13T19:37:51.227" Score="6" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering why this isn't adding up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 oz. of Chicken Breast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;300 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carb: 0g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: 60g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: 3.8g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When calculating the calories that come from each macro in the food:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs:     0 * 4 = 0 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein:  60 * 4 = 240 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat:     3.8 * 9 = 34.2 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;0 + 240 + 34.2 = 274.2 calories DOES NOT equal the given total 300 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where did the missing 25.8 calories go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1236" LastEditorUserId="1236" LastEditDate="2011-06-13T20:08:58.767" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T21:11:15.727" Title="Why doesn't it add up when calculating the macronutrient calories for a food?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:37:44.847" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2480" CreationDate="2011-06-13T20:56:56.260" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small factor is rounding error.  There is probably not exactly 60 g of protein any more than there is exactly 9 calories per gram of every single type of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another may be over-estimation.  The could just be rounding up to 300 to provide a nice number or cover themselves, since some chicken breasts may be larger or fattier than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally is how calories are measured.  They put the chicken breast in a calorimeter and burn it, and see how much heat it generates.  This is not a perfect process and, also, some things that burn aren't used as energy by your body.  (One example would be fiber, although there's none of that in chicken).  So the number of calories is just an estimate of how many calories are provided to your body, and the estimate is not actually based on some sort of human study or model.  Some food companies might skip the calorimeter and just add up the numbers like you did, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastActivityDate="2011-06-13T20:56:56.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-14T00:05:04.560" Score="4" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently come across several books describing workout plans that were not including any kind of running or cycling or swimming. Only weight lifting and free weight training were included in these workout plans. The authors were claiming that there is no scientific evidence that running is actually a good exercise for the heart (and can prevent heart). To get fit, developing a high metabolism is much more effective than long running sessions. Where is the truth ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1238" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T15:46:44.880" Title="Is running good ?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2662" CreationDate="2011-06-14T01:01:52.670" Score="8" ViewCount="2860" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read on other nutrition forums that raw eggs contain some protein inhibitor that prevents humans from digesting the protein correctly. They say when you cook the egg it destroys this inhibitor making cooked eggs a good source of protein but raw eggs a poor source. Is there any truth to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1239" LastActivityDate="2011-06-27T08:26:36.647" Title="Do raw eggs contain protein inhibitors" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2486" CreationDate="2011-06-14T04:58:13.733" Score="4" ViewCount="3111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need an effective exercise for chest wings.&#xA;Basically my body is normal, but my chest is almost same in width to my lower body and the belly.&#xA;I want my chest/wings to be more in width, so it becomes like v shape. Currently it seems straight.I want to gain some weight for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I need an effective exercise for lower abdominal, and abs.&#xA;Thanks in Advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, Currently I dont do much, just few push ups, and use dumbbells for arms. That's it. But I intend to join gym in few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1241" LastEditorUserId="1241" LastEditDate="2011-06-14T19:08:48.320" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T22:49:16.850" Title="I need an effective excercise for wings/chest" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-14T08:11:20.370" Score="5" ViewCount="6380" Body="&lt;p&gt;Twice now, I've had the phenomenom that after a running competition, my head has gone very heavy and woozy. Its kindof hard to describe, but it sortof feels like needlepricks in my forehead, along with bigtime sweating and a general woozyness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does get somewhat better when I'm in a well-ventilated area (like outside), but doesn't go away completely as it tends to come back when I get back to a hotter area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time, it did go away after a while once I got to a cooler area, the second time it lasted until I got something to eat, and then went away almost instantly. What is also weird is that the second time, it only occurred 4-5 hours after the actual run (and I had already eaten and had ample liquids in that time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had someone take my blood pressure and heartbeat when it occurred, but everything was normal on that account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could I be having some kind of deficiency, caused by the stress of a running competition? I was thinking something like salt deficiency or iron, although I doubt the last one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone encounter something similar after heavy exerction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="344" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:06:33.783" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T13:32:11.360" Title="Heavy head after running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2011-06-14T12:31:30.240" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want wings (Lat muscles) the best exercise is pull ups (chin ups).  You can include rows also, but don't long to far past the standard pull up.  You can use the same pull up bar for leg tucks that will work on the lower abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/33Ckw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pull ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T12:31:30.240" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2491" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-14T14:06:25.157" Score="2" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take several supplements that are listed to be taken on an empty stomach. Since having an empty stomach all day and taking these one at a time is counterproductive, can I take all of these at one time and still receive the full benefit of each?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-14T14:30:03.507" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T18:01:42.693" Title="Combining supplements" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2475" CreationDate="2011-06-14T14:17:01.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started a similar training regime... and I am very fond of alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My trainer recommends that I can have a glass (or two) of wine on days when I haven't worked out (so that I am not impeding the recovery process) and I don't have a workout scheduled for the following day (it tends to affect my performance, particularly on the more dynamic workouts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far this has worked well for me - I have a drink with dinner on Wednesdays and I have a more social drink at the weekend. This has worked well for me so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do drop alcohol I'd be keen to hear if this helps you achieve your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T14:17:01.647" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2001" CreationDate="2011-06-14T15:04:53.493" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The kettlebell craze is not about the tool, it's about the movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most basic movement with a kettlebell is swinging it between your legs, both as an exercise of its own, the kettlebell swing, and to enable high repetition full body exercises to get some really good cardio during your resistance training. Also, this movement is excellent training for your posterior chain, giving kettlebells a reputation to produce buttocks of steel and healthy backs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kettlebell Exercises tend to build functional strength by using many muscles together, not pumping up single muscles by isolating them. The fact that the center of gravity of the weight is not in your hand, requiring that extra effort to stabilize the bell, also gets more muscles involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not interested in the kettlebell school of movement, you don't need kettlebells. Here are some example videos of what it looks like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z3f4Hxpas0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Swings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzvzG6fO5dI&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clean&amp;amp;Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLx0GcWi2-I&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Snatches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning timing, the reason kettlebells have been getting popular these last years is that Pavel Tsatsouline, the man who started it, did so in 1998 by writing a article called &quot;Vodka, Pickle Juice, Kettlebell Lifting, and Other Russian Pastimes&quot;, later founding the RKC organisation, training kettlebell instructors, producing kettlebells in the US and so on. Kettlebells have been popular in Russia for a long time, Pavel brought them to the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T19:20:30.363" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T19:20:30.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2496" CreationDate="2011-06-14T15:26:02.467" Score="8" ViewCount="8953" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently trying to do the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; weight training program &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; running program at the same time. I'm finding it hard to find time for both, especially with adequate rest. My experience tells that if I work out hard every day, or close to it, my immune system suffers and I get sick within 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the Stronglifts and the Couch to 5k programs prescribe 3 workouts per week. I'd like to change that to 3 days of Stronglifts, 2 days of Couch to 5k, and 2 days of doing nothing. I know theoretically that I could run and lift weights on the same day, but I haven't found that to be practical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;b&gt;Can I do Couch to 5k (or any running program really) 2 days per week and still get good results?&lt;/b&gt; What is the minimum running frequency to achieve the desired results? Obviously progress would be slower, but would I still get there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="1120" LastEditDate="2011-06-23T19:40:16.643" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T19:40:16.643" Title="Can I do &quot;Couch to 5k&quot; twice per week instead of 3 times?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2482" CreationDate="2011-06-14T15:46:44.880" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're confounding running and low-intensity steady state cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is a basic life skill (along with literacy, basic arithmetic, being able to ride a bicycle, being able to swim...), and if you want to be able to do it without getting sore, you need to run regularly. No other exercises can prepare you for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is also one of the most basic functions of your body. Do no running at all, and you may end up with a disfunctional and out-of-balance (mostly lower) body. We are built to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, slow steady state cardio appears to be mostly useless. Not useless in the sense of doing nothing, but useless compared to shorter, more intense cardio. Whether you do interval sprints, crossfit, kettlebell-lifting or any other high-intensity cardio, you will both save a lot of time and get more of the benefits of cardio, both in terms of training your cardiovascular systems and in terms of fat-loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allegedly, one of the secrets of Kenyan marathon runners are regular runs with low mileage and high intensity. These actually give them a fair amount of fast-twitch-muscle fibers that traditional wisdom would tell you are only for sprinters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T15:46:44.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2494" CreationDate="2011-06-14T16:08:13.950" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right, you should still get results, albeit slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you might consider lifting twice and running three times a week rather than the other way around. Given enough intensity (and proper rest), it is easy enough to see progress with lifting on just two sessions a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you might switch between blocks with focus on lifting (3xlift 2xrun) and focus on running (3xrun 2xlift). 2-4 weeks would be a good length for such a block.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T16:08:13.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-14T16:30:20.123" Score="14" ViewCount="17104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio burns more calories during the exercise, but weight-lifting builds more muscle which in turn raises your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate). I have a little over an hour to workout each day during lunch. Should I spend my time lifting, running, or a mixture of both? (if I should be doing a mixture, what should that mixture look like? e.g.(10-20% cardio)) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1219" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T15:57:57.667" Title="Cardio vs. Weight lifting. Which one is better for losing weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2498" CreationDate="2011-06-14T16:51:00.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting everyday wouldn't give your body enough time to rest so you'll have time for some cardio no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My previous trainers have all recommended lifting for 30 minutes three or four days a week and cardio the rest of the time. I've had pretty good results following that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T16:51:00.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2491" CreationDate="2011-06-14T18:01:42.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your supplements are vitamins, it would be good to know if they are fat soluble or water soluble.  Fat soluble vitamins are only absorbed into the body when combined with fat (so would not do a darn thing for you on an empty stomach).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T18:01:42.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2498" CreationDate="2011-06-14T18:11:43.157" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength training and cardio provide a potent mixture to burn fat.  The problem with strength training alone is that it burns fewer calories than you would during cardio.  For example, an hour of intense strength training will burn between 270 calories and 450 calories while you exercise (depending on how heavy the weight is).  Running at 6 mph for an hour will burn closer to 1000 calories (depending on how heavy &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are).  The other difference is that as your body builds more muscle, you are burning more calories all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do a strength training program like Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=312&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or Medhi's &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; you are working out 3 days per week.  Each workout is up to an hour long depending on how much rest you need between sets.  You will lose fat, but maybe not as quickly as if you incorporate cardio.  NOTE: you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; get a cardio workout lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In my situation&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started the StrongLifts 5x5 program 6 weeks ago and worked up from just the bar to the following weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 130lb (every session)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 85lb (A session only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Rows: 105lb (A session only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press: 85lb (B session only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 175lb (B session only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each session you go up by 5lb (except deadlift where you increase by 10lb).  I will say that it is quite challenging.  Just from doing the weight training, I have to eat more just to get through the next session.  In the mean time my neck, arms, chest, hips and thighs are getting bigger while my gut is getting smaller and the scale stays the same (+/- 5lb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do top off the weight lifting with 20 minutes of cardio.  I'm currently running 1 minute intervals on the treadmill.  The combination puts me at 90 minutes each time I'm at the gym.  I'm maintaining weight, but losing my gut which is what I really want anyway.  I've found that my cardio work is much easier due to the lifting I've done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In your situation&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend doing strength training Mon, Wed, Fri.  In your off days (Tue, Thur) do cardio for 20 minutes of work and 5 minutes of cooldown.  Start with a light jog/run interval of 1 minute each.  If you have 2mph difference between the two intervals you'll be able to recover for the next run interval.  Increase by 0.1 mph each time you do you cardio until you just can't get any faster.  This limit should be more of how your legs are trying to keep up than your heart/lungs trying to keep up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your initial workouts will be light enough that you won't have any problems.  When the weights get tougher (probably around week 6 if you are like me), you might have to back off on the cardio.  Your gut will continue to get smaller as you get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T18:11:43.157" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2494" CreationDate="2011-06-14T18:18:00.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you could do a running program consisting of 2 runs a weeks and still achieve &quot;good results&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One run should focus on a shorter and faster effort after a nice brisk warm up walk.  And the other run should focus on a longer and slower effort after a nice brisk warm up.  The shorter run should be closer to your 5K pace goal.  The longer effort could be as much as 3:00/mile slower than your 5k goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you do a nice ~10 minute brisk walk before running and a nice cool down session afterwards.  And, please don't increase your mileage/time/effort running by more than 10% each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T18:18:00.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-14T19:17:21.380" Score="9" ViewCount="1359" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read Lyle MDonald's article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/exercise-and-weightfat-loss-part-1.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; about the relaitve merits of exercise versus dieting for fat loss. He makes the argument (with numbers to back up his case) that in terms of calories lost, exercise will achieve far less than a disciplined diet will. This actually makes sense to me on a gut level (pardon the pun) as over the years I never felt exercise made as much an impact on my fat levels as dieting did. So it's good to read a more formalised argument for the case. My question is: does he have facts right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1203" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T09:26:48.360" Title="Is it true that Diet is far more effective than Exercise for fat loss?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2503" CreationDate="2011-06-14T19:37:38.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe he is quite spot on. Correct nutrition is just as important if not more important for weight loss and fat loss.  Exercise can certainly amplify results and shrink timelines, but if you were to pick one, I'd go with eating well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a lighter is a good analogy.  In order to make a flame, you need fuel (correct nutrition) and a spark (exercise).  While the spark is the catalyst to the flame, without fuel you'll get no flame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2011-06-14T19:49:36.523" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T19:49:36.523" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2503" CreationDate="2011-06-14T20:32:56.670" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you compare the number of calories you can burn per hour exercising to the calories you can consume per hour eating, eating definitely wins out. It's so easy to &quot;undo&quot; the weight-loss benefits of exercise. Even running pretty hard for half an hour, I probably only burn 300-400 Calories (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/exercise-and-weightfat-loss-part-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;table&lt;/a&gt; estimating Caloric expenditure), but I could go home and eat all those Calories back in a matter of minutes (e.g. .5 to .75 cups of trail mix &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; 2 glasses of orange juice &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; 1-3 slices of pizza). And running is one of the higher Calorie-burners!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, certain types of exercise, such as weight training, raise your metabolism so you burn more calories while you're sitting around doing nothing (more info in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1571/naturally-increasing-my-metabolism/1573#1573&quot;&gt;another answer&lt;/a&gt;). To me, that's a big plus. Drastically decreasing food intake, on the other hand, may actually lower metabolic rate (more info on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/319943-how-many-calories-must-one-eat-to-slow-metabolism/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Livestrong&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People generally have more success when they combine diet and exercise to lose weight (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v29/n10/abs/0803015a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;). I like doing a combination of both because if you only change your diet, or to only change your exercise regimen, you to have to go really hardcore to get results. If you do a combination of both you can go a little easier on each, which makes it more achievable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T20:32:56.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2473" CreationDate="2011-06-14T21:55:02.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m prefacing this answer with the fact that I’m definitely not good with tech.  I could be wrong, but I think my little Timex does this.  (I’m not sure - I usually just strap mine on and go without using any of the features).  But to try it out for you, I set a narrow target zone.  The “in zone” timer counted when I was in the zone, stopped when I was out of the zone, and then resumed counting where it left off when I got back in the zone.  So IF I understood your question, I think it does what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you have to hit the recall button to switch from the monitor screen to the timer screen and I don’t think you can always keep it on the timer screen.  Mine goes back to the monitor screen as the default.  So that may not work for you.  The activity timer gives you the time “in zone” your “ave” bpm and “peak” bpm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Amazon description says: “this watch enables you to continuously track your heart rate during exercise as well as pre-set target heart rate zones with alarms that notify you when you are out of the zone. It also offers an automatic activity timer and a workout review that recalls activity time and average/peak heart rates.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is what you want, would you do me the favor of getting it thru our site’s store?  &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B000P8VWQS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Timex T5G971&lt;/a&gt;.  If it is not, never mind :)  Thanks - hope it works out for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-14T21:55:02.450" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2515" CreationDate="2011-06-15T02:48:18.540" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past couple weeks I've unintentionally kept my workout exactly the same. Same reps, same weight. Not a lack of motivation, it's just when I'm done I can't do any more. But the crazy thing is, my muscles seem to be getting bigger! So, I realize that I won't get any stronger without increasing my workout, but should I be getting bigger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T14:37:16.533" Title="Is It Possible To Gain Mass With Out Increasing The Workout?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2542" CreationDate="2011-06-15T06:16:07.227" Score="4" ViewCount="4601" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a relationship between heart-rate over time and calories burned, or is it just duration?  What about a non-cardio workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1249" LastActivityDate="2011-06-17T22:16:34.000" Title="Does duration or intensity or both affect how many calories are burned in a cardio workout." Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2512" CreationDate="2011-06-15T12:00:52.863" Score="3" ViewCount="4691" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started working out recently and my muscles hurt to say the least. I heard potassium helps with that and that bananas are a good source of it. The thing is that I hate the taste of bananas. Is there a natural source of that out there in another fruit or vegetable, or is my only option to take potassium in pill form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="998" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T13:46:57.133" Title="Alternative sources of potassium to the banana?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2511" CreationDate="2011-06-15T12:40:10.390" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&amp;amp;dbid=90&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&amp;amp;dbid=90&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What foods provide potassium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Potassium is found in abundance in&#xA;  many foods, and is especially easy to&#xA;  obtain in fruits and vegetables.&#xA;  Excellent sources of potassium include&#xA;  chard, crimini mushrooms, and spinach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Very good sources of potassium include&#xA;  fennel, kale, mustard greens, Brussel&#xA;  sprouts, broccoli, winter squash,&#xA;  blackstrap molasses, eggplant,&#xA;  cantaloupe, and tomatoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Good sources of potassium include&#xA;  parsley, cucumber, bell pepper,&#xA;  turmeric, apricots, ginger root,&#xA;  strawberries, avocado, banana, tuna,&#xA;  halibut, cauliflower and cabbage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T12:40:10.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2509" CreationDate="2011-06-15T13:09:46.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The higher your heart rate, the more calories you will burn.  However, a person is not able to maintain a high effort/ high burn rate for as long as a lower effort /lower burn rate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, depending on the effort, the calories will be burned from different fuel sources.  For more information on this specific topic check out the &quot;Aerobic versus anaerobic exercise&quot; section at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T13:09:46.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2508" CreationDate="2011-06-15T14:37:16.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2017/why-is-muscle-size-not-proportional-to-strength&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for an indirect answer to your question.  Basically, muscle size and strength do not always go hand in hand.  Strength is the ability to do work--and you will never get stronger if you never increase weights.  However, you can get bigger when you increase the volume of work with lower weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note, that beginners tend to see bigger/quicker gains than people who have been exercising a lot longer.  The main reason is that the difference between your next potential and your current ability becomes a lot smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T14:37:16.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2509" CreationDate="2011-06-15T14:47:18.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The better way to understand it is the &lt;em&gt;load&lt;/em&gt; you are putting your body under.  If you exercise long enough (duration) you can get to the same place as you would working harder (intensity) for a shorter period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Load = Intensity x Duration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find that for your current ability you can find the sweet spot once you know how long you can maintain any given intensity.  But it also shows that if you only have so much time available, you can increase the load by increasing the intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower intensity (i.e. lower heart rate) burns more fat percentage wise, and higher intensity (i.e. higher heart rate) burns more sugar percentage wise.  The volume of calories burned can outweigh the benefits of a low heart rate workout assuming you only have so much time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is a simplification of everything, because our bodies don't linearly progress in the number of calories burned as you increase your intensity.  You get to a certain threshold and the number of calories burned jumps way higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T14:47:18.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2011-06-15T16:08:26.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Meade's answer, I'd recommend doing any lift that involves a pulling motion from a wide variety of angles.   This includes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chinups/Pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pulldowns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T-Bar Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over barbell rows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with any pulling motion be sure you achieve a &lt;strong&gt;full range of motion&lt;/strong&gt;.  A full range of motion here implies extending your arms to the point where you feel a stretch in your lats and pulling as far as you can to the point where your elbows/shoulders are back as far as possible (your chest should poke out broad at the end of each rep).  This ensures your lats receive the maximum amount of contraction and extension and gives them the proper work.  Otherwise your biceps may be performing a larger percentage of the lift than needed and steal from your lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when doing bench/incline presses, your lats work at the very base of the lift when you use a full range of motion (bar/dumbells all the way down to your chest).  Be sure to push with your lats as much as possible on your initial movement up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2011-06-15T22:49:16.850" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T22:49:16.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2518" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2760" CreationDate="2011-06-15T16:24:37.573" Score="3" ViewCount="543" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting weights since January 2010. I typically follow one routine for six weeks and then take a week (sometimes two) off before starting a modified routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've noticed is that when I resume lifting after an idle week, I become incredibly sleepy four or five hours after my weightlifting session.  This lasts for about a week and then I no longer have to deal with this sleepiness until I resume lifting after taking another week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a good idea of what's going on here? I think I actually gain more muscle during my first week exercising after a break but I really am not sure.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I try switching to 3 weeks of lifting with one week breaks or am I over thinking this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1254" LastEditorUserId="1254" LastEditDate="2011-06-15T18:56:16.443" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T14:44:08.523" Title="Sleepiness after weightlifting but only after taking a week-long break" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1649" CreationDate="2011-06-15T18:53:54.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For tracking tools, my three favorite are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jefit&lt;/a&gt; for Android&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://dailyburn.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daily Burn&lt;/a&gt; for iPhone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good old notepad for analog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of good resources for creating a structured workout plan. I like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1579546579&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Men's Health Home Workout Bible&lt;/a&gt; and their &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1594862591&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weight Free Workout&lt;/a&gt; when you aren't using a gym. If you are going to a gym, the previously mentioned Stronglifts is very popular, but I'd also recommend trying out a personal trainer for at least one or two sessions. A good trainer can help get you started by assessing where you are currently. Something a website can't do for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T18:53:54.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2541" CreationDate="2011-06-15T19:22:49.783" Score="2" ViewCount="2264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been reading this guide to low-carb dieting: &lt;a href=&quot;http://wilstar.com/lowcarb/theplan.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wilstar.com/lowcarb/theplan.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it recommends that I should take regular vitamin supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something that exists in carb-heavy foods that does not exist in meat, veg, etc, that I need to be taking? I am naturally suspicious of anything that recommends I need to take supplements for something that is generally found in food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the risks if I don't use supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="633" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T18:10:38.753" Title="If I am on a low-carb diet, is it necessary to take vitamin supplements?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-18T22:29:35.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2523" CreationDate="2011-06-15T19:40:40.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many (all?) diet plans recommend vitamin supplements to various degrees. It is exceedingly difficult to consume the full array of vitamins, minerals, fatty-acids, and what-not. This is not specific to low-carb diets, but becomes necessary to state whenever giving dietary advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T19:40:40.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-15T22:18:26.213" Score="0" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I eat:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At least 2 chicken breasts a day.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Usually a pack of noodles and a flour wrap. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-4 Chocolate wheetabix.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that I used to eat over 3000 calories a day and do no exercise, whereas I exercise every day now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 16.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I ever want a snack I'll eat some Snackajacks or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="1257" LastEditDate="2011-06-15T22:33:09.753" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T01:27:00.610" Title="My Weight Loss Diet - Opinions?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2526" CreationDate="2011-06-15T22:46:21.093" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of nutritional strategies you could choose that will determine the specifics of your diet, but if this is all you're eating then I would be very concerned as it contains no healthy fats, no vegetables, and a lot of refined carbohydrates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than the protein in the chicken, there are very few nutrients in the diet you listed. So with empty calories from the refined carbs and a lack of nutrients, your body will think it's starving and just hold onto fat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, focus on eating more natural whole foods. You can read around on this site (or your public library) for more specific strategies, but here are some mostly non-controversial changes I would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop eating the noodles, flour wrap, and wheetabix. Theses are just full of empty calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a source of healthy fats (e.g. olive oil, salmon, avocados, butter). Fat free diets have been mostly debunked by science, and are neither healthy nor effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat lots of vegetables, especially leafy green ones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add in whole carbohydrates - not too much, but a small helping at each meal. Examples are brown rice, sweet potatoes, and lentils.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruit can be a good addition, in moderation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-06-15T22:46:21.093" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2529" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2530" CreationDate="2011-06-16T03:28:24.050" Score="12" ViewCount="10342" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm willing to start some serious training at home. I'm totally new to weight lifting, but I'd still prefer to buy quality long-lasting equipement from the start, instead of wasting money into cheap stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm exactly looking for is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench with barbell rack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see any good reason to buy new items (if you know some, please share them!), so buying used would be preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, considering that I'm a starter and that I'd like to avoid low-quality equipement, which brands should I seek and which prices should I expect to pay? (please specify if price is for new or used)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1258" LastEditorDisplayName="user1258" LastEditDate="2011-08-12T13:08:26.660" LastActivityDate="2011-08-12T13:08:26.660" Title="How much should I spend for olympic weights?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2529" CreationDate="2011-06-16T03:46:17.093" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree wholeheartedly that used weights are fine. If it's heavy, it achieves its purpose! I don't think brand matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olympic plates typically go for about $0.50/lb on craigslist. You should be able to get decent-looking plates at this price (not too rusty), but if you find some rusty ones, it's easy to clean off the rust and spray paint (get them at a lower price in this case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A used 7' (45 lb) olympic bar should probably sell for $40-50.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving a going rate for benches is harder - there's just too much difference in build, features, etc. The (used) bench I bought cost me $25, which I think was a good price. It's sturdy, but it's flawed in that the supports are too close together, so the bar isn't balanced when it has a 45' plate on just one side (during loading) so I have to slide the bar for leverage, which is annoying. No frills like decline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Note: this is a very U.S.-centric response. If you're from elsewhere, this may not apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T03:46:17.093" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2011-06-16T12:59:50.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: Every 6 months or 500 miles whichever comes FIRST.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you run every day, or most days, I'd recommend two pairs of shoes and alternate between them to give them ample time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T12:59:50.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2535" CreationDate="2011-06-16T13:44:31.347" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somedays (like today) I feel literally like I could move mountains! Is there any harm to pushing yourself harder on these good days? Just likes it's okay to slow down on the low energy days (I'm talking about going from 5 sets to 7 to 8 sets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-17T16:21:45.830" Title="More energy than normal - should I push myself?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2532" CreationDate="2011-06-16T17:32:26.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but depending on your goals (i.e. strength gains versus endurance) it may make more sense to add extra weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: If your goal is to burn a specific number of calories, increasing weight or reps won't provide any benefit. If the goal is increase strength, size, power, or endurance doing more work than normal will get you closer to overload where the micro trauma occurs that allows for muscle growth (assuming your diet and rest periods will accommodate the growth). The proper balance of weight versus reps depends on which type of muscle fibers (i.e. slow twitch, fast twitch A, or fast twitch B) you want to encourage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastEditorUserId="1225" LastEditDate="2011-06-17T16:21:45.830" LastActivityDate="2011-06-17T16:21:45.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2532" CreationDate="2011-06-16T18:27:43.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase your overall time under load (which based on other posts of yours is a strong possibility), this would be a good time to increase the weight.  That way, on your low energy days you'll already have built the base to keep the higher weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why not go up by at least 5lb in all your lifts, and keep at least the same sets/reps you've been doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The arguments for and against the extra sets really depend on your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body building is trying to increase time under load, which usually emphasizes more sets/reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training keeps the number of sets/reps constant while progressively adding more weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting to failure makes the time after the gym much less pleasant--which tends to demotivate people.  Might not be an issue for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More weight at the same sets/reps is more load which also means more muscle.  I tell you, it doesn't take long before it becomes really challenging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T18:27:43.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2529" CreationDate="2011-06-16T19:06:44.333" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking into the same thing, and depending on your goals you might benefit from the research I've done so far.  So first, let's start by being honest with ourselves.  You are totally new to weight lifting, so you want these two things down first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good beginner workout that will keep you motivated.  Both Rippetoe's Starting Strength and Medhi's Stronglifts 5x5 programs are excellent programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to know about proper form or you will hurt yourself.  No matter which of the weight programs you start with, get Rippetoe's Starting Strength book.  It has everything you need to know about technique, and how your muscles actually work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you ever going to get into Olympic lifts like the Power Clean or the Jerk and Snatch (look them up if you aren't sure)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Starting with basic strength training:&lt;/strong&gt;  Both Rippetoe's and Medhi's strength programs will have you using slow compound lifts while you are getting all your beginner gains.  For this purpose, just about any set of weights will work.  Now, Rippetoe's program has you doing power cleans.  In order to pull that off you need a bar where the sleeves rotate so that the weights remain stationary and you aren't killing yourself with their momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are just starting out, it might be a good idea to get your starter set using the advice in @Greg's answer.  In the beginning you just need to start moving iron.  It will be a bit of time before you start maxing out what your starter set can do for you.  I personally have done this with my gym subscription, and am looking for the home gym now that I'm totally serious about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the following things in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;How much space do you have?&lt;/em&gt;  Your bar is going to be 7-7.5 feet long, you need a rack, bench, etc.  You'll need enough space so that the bar doesn't get caught on anything and you can lay down on your bench, etc.  10'x10' or better would be ideal, but consider 8'x8' a minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;How high is your ceiling?&lt;/em&gt;  Some lifts like the Overhead press require that you have enough room for you to stand with the bar fully extended above your head along with the plates.  Assume you would be using the full sized 45lb plates in your planning.  Your equipment (like a power rack) needs to fit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Where are you keeping your plates?&lt;/em&gt;  You can stack them up next to your power/squat rack, but in your scouring for gear a good plate rack or two will make your life easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: if you have any aspirations of doing Olympic lifts consider that you would likely need a platform which are usually 8'x8'.  You can make your platform, but your power rack does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; sit on it.&lt;/em&gt;  Make sure you have enough space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More advanced strength training and olympic lifts:&lt;/strong&gt;  When you start moving heavy iron, or you need to do some of the advanced olympic lifts your first bar just isn't going to be up to the task.  It will probably bend and and warp will set once you've maxed out what your bar can do.  It's at this point that you need to do some research on the best set of equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are at this level, you really do need to purchase good equipment.  There are a few things to look out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The good Olympic and power lifting bars use PSI ratings.  Good PSI ratings are 155k and above.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://muscledriverusa.com&quot;&gt;http://muscledriverusa.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rougefitness.com&quot;&gt;http://rougefitness.com&lt;/a&gt; for places that list the PSI ratings.  Your Pendlay bars are at about 165K PSI and there are a couple at Rougue that are at 215K PSI.  According to Eleiko's marketing info you want a bar in excess of 195k PSI rating if you are dropping the bar (really heavy power cleans and dead lifts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bearings vs. Bushings: Bearings need more care, but are necessary for those Olympic lifts.  Bushings are durable but the sleeves don't spin as freely.  If you are doing power lifting just get the bushing bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bumpers vs. Iron/Steal plates: No matter your taste, it might be good to have a couple bumper plates for your dead lift or barbell rows.  Basically, bumper plates are the same diameter and vary by thickness.  They are also designed to cushion the blow when you drop the bar.  Your warmup sets won't be at 135lb, so a pair of 10lb bumpers and a pair of 25lb bumpers would get you the right bar height for your warmup sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Word about bumpers: They are not all created equal.  Some bumpers like the Hi-Temp bumpers at Rougue may vary by as much as 10% at the lower weights.  Others are very precise (like the Pendlay bumpers or any certified bumpers).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power rack will be essential later on.  You'll want one that is load rated at 1000lb or more.  You may not be lifting that much, but you don't want your rack to fall over because you accidentally nudged your squat rack when it was loaded for your 500lb squat.  (It's possible! dream big)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you pay for new equipment you can get your home gym for about $2500 with a good bar, bumpers, power rack, weight racks, a bench, and chalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend starting out with a beater set while you are still testing the waters.  Spending a couple grand on something that just takes up space is a bad investment.  Even if you bought a basic set from Amazon you can get a 300lb set of barbell and iron plates for about $300 USD.  If you stick with it, you will outgrow that set.  By then you'll have a better idea of the type of equipment you really need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Above all: Use it!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  And have fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T19:06:44.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2539" CreationDate="2011-06-16T20:34:03.590" Score="8" ViewCount="3551" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose weight, more accurately I am trying to lose weight around my stomach area (overall I am a healthy weight), and I have taken to weighing myself in the morning and evening. Mostly to give my self some artificial goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway I noticed that I weight less in the morning than I do in the evening! It's usually around 0.2/3 of a stone difference. Is this common? What causes it? If it is common, what is the correct time to weigh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ta!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1264" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T22:09:33.000" Title="Weight is higher in the Evening than the Morning?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2538" CreationDate="2011-06-16T20:40:33.353" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's natural for weight to fluctuate throughout the day. Everything you eat, drink, excrete, sweat has mass and will therefore affect your scale weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no &quot;correct&quot; time to weigh; the most important thing is to be consistent. Pick one time of day and always weigh yourself then to try to reduce the measuring error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do my own weighings first thing in the morning because I think that's the most consistent time for me, since I don't have to account for variances in what I ate or drank that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that your absolute weight is a meaningless number (take BMI and other standards with a grain of salt). What's important is how your weight changes relative to what it was before given a consistent measurement process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T20:40:33.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2526" CreationDate="2011-06-17T12:22:26.117" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym put out a nice little newsletter talking about weightloss, and the focus of it was &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifetime-weightloss.com/blog/2011/6/9/my-food-pyramid-myplatemy-weight-problem.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;their reactions to the USDA recommended daily allowances&lt;/a&gt;.  The bottom line is that they've followed some studies that prove that low carb diets provide the best results for weight loss.  Their supporting articles are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifetime-weightloss.com/blog/2011/3/9/myth-busting-carbohydrates.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Myth Busting Carbohydrates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifetime-weightloss.com/blog/2009/11/8/comparing-low-fat-and-low-carb.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comparing low fat and low carb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifetime-weightloss.com/blog/2010/8/4/low-carb-tops-low-fatagain.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Low carb beats low fat again&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This echos my own experience losing weight.  You need enough protein to protect your muscle mass (minimum of 1g protein per kg lean body weight or .5g protein per pound lean body weight).  You need the vitamins and minerals your body needs to be healthy.  Carbs actually prevent the body from converting your existing fat to blood sugar to feed your brain.  However, I do encourage you to do your own research to find things that work.  One thing you will find just about everyone agrees on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR (basal metabolic rate) is most affected by your lean muscle mass.  That means anything you can do to increase your lean muscle mass will also increase your BMR.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR is the amount of calories your body needs to perform all its involuntary fuctions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RMR (resting metabolic rate) is your BMR multiplied by a factor depending on your normal activity level (1.5 is a desk job while 2.0 would be working construction or similar physically demanding job)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you burn more calories naturally the fat comes off easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you will find is that if you starve your protein, you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; lose muscle mass, which in turn causes you to burn fewer calories--working against your ability to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-17T12:22:26.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2523" CreationDate="2011-06-17T14:40:22.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer is &quot;yes&quot;.  When you are avoiding carbs temporarily to lose weight (an effective means of doing so) you are also avoiding certain foods that have the vitamins/minerals your body needs.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many fruits are high in vitamins and minerals not found in protein sources or vegetables, or at least have them in higher concentrations.  Unfortunately, most fruits are also very high in carbs.  Such as Vitamin A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some low carb diets also restrict dairy, which contains fat-born vitamins that our bodies need such as Vitamin D, as well as it being a good source of calcium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some high carb vegetables also are a great source of potassium, but they will be off limits for a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risks of not taking a multi-vitamin supplement are the same as if you are deficient in those vitamins.  The most common problems that both my wife and I experienced in our low carb weight loss journey when we were not faithful with the supplements were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Decreased energy.&lt;/strong&gt;  Do note you will have decreased energy and &quot;extreme hunger&quot; for the first few days after switching to low carb.  After that your energy levels return.  Your body tends to hold your metabolism until it gets all the vitamins/minerals it needs to complete it.  That means a reduction in energy until you get caught back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cramping/muscle pain.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is particularly bad if you don't have enough potassium and calcium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Headaches and general icky feeling&lt;/strong&gt;.  This is a little different than just being sick (which is always a possibility no matter what your diet).  I can't tell you which deficiency causes this, but when you get back on the stick with the multi-vitamin it goes away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that when you exercise, your body will use those vitamins and minerals in greater quantities--no matter what the diet is.  You very well may have to supplement even when you are maintaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-17T14:40:22.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2509" CreationDate="2011-06-17T20:27:49.027" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both, and here's why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Duration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer here is pretty obvious. The longer you workout the more calories you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you're trying to maximize the amount of calories burned you need to look at more than just the calories burned &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is defined as the energy expenditure necessary to maintain the physiological processes in the post-absorptive state and, depending on the level of physical activity, may represent approximately 60 to 70% of total energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet Induced Thermogenesis (DIT) refers to the increase in metabolic rate above resting levels due to food intake (i.e. high protein foods) and corresponds to approximately 10% of total energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical activity is the most variable component and is related to the energy expenditure necessary for skeletal muscle activity. In sedentary individuals it represents approximately 15% of total energy expenditure, whereas in physically active individuals this can reach 30%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hypermuscles.com/f72/burn-more-calories-lifting-1-second-up-3-seconds-down-138/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hypermuscles.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consider that exercise alone only accounts for up to 30% of overall calorie consumption then how are you supposed to achieve greater results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is simple, increase your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; burn a lot of calories through exercise. Which leads me to talk about intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intensity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Researchers compared duration and magnitude of metabolism after exercise in a typical resistance exercise session with that of aerobic exercises with same duration (27 min) and intensity. Results showed that oxygen consumption (a measure of metabolism) remained significantly elevated up to 90 min after terminating the resistance exercises and only 30 min after the aerobic activity. Calories burned after exercise was higher during the first 30 min after resistance exercises than after the aerobic exercise, representing an additional energy expenditure of 95kcals for circuit training and 64 kcal for aerobics&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hypermuscles.com/f72/burn-more-calories-lifting-1-second-up-3-seconds-down-138/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hypermuscles.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And... don't forget about EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let’s take a closer look at this for caloric burn and also from what is called EPOC, or excess post oxygen consumption.  EPOC generally accounts for the energy expenditure during recovery from the exercise bout or the “post exercise burning&amp;quot; of calories (9).  Typically this EPOC is fueled by fat and the intensity of work performed. The higher the intensity, the higher the EPOC.  When compared to post exercise fat oxidation, moderate to low intensity exercise barely compares.  Take for example the work done by Tremblay et al.  This study compared an aerobic group and an anaerobic group of subjects for caloric burn and fat loss.  The aerobic group trained for 20 weeks while the anaerobic group (interval) trained for only 15 weeks.  The results showed that although the aerobic group burned nearly 50% more calories, the anaerobic (interval) group burned nine times more subcutaneous fat than their counterparts (11).   For those not paying attention, in summary, that is five weeks less work and nine times the fat lost.  Imagine becoming the trainer who is known for giving clients better results in a shorter period of time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ptonthenet.com/articleprint.aspx?ArticleID=3263&amp;amp;m=23335&amp;amp;e=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ptonthenet.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, don't forget that lean muscle mass requires energy. The more you have, the more you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The caloric utilization of tissues in the body differs too.  The old adage that “muscle burns fat” is not entirely true.  But when compared, muscle tissue burns 7-10 kcal/kg/day whereas adipose tissue only consumes 2-3 kcal/kg/day.  Look at the figure below.  Which one of these athletes looks the leanest?  Now, which one of these athletes looks like they have more muscle mass?  Lastly, which athlete is a sprinter (high intensity interval) and which do you think is the aerobic (jogging, LSD) runner?  If you guessed the runner on the left, you were correct on all three accounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S5Yet.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Photo 1&quot; /&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ip1E3.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Photo 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see by the images, the athlete in Photo 1 appears to have a larger percentage of lean mass than does the athlete in Photo 2.  With this statement and the aforementioned data, it seems feasible that the sprinter possesses a higher resting metabolic rate (RMR) as well due to the higher level of lean mass.  In fact, there is an underlying correlation with RMR and fat free mass (FFM).  Although FFM accounts for muscle tissue, bones, and also organ tissues, muscle is the only of these three that can be altered to any varying degree and thus alone contributes to nearly 22% of RMR (2). Some of the additional benefits that the high intensity interval trained may experience in conjunction with increased fat loss include, greater improvements in VO2max, increased growth hormone response (due to lactate accumulation), and positive blood pressure response (4, 5).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intensity&lt;/strong&gt; means everything in when it comes to burning fat mass. &lt;strong&gt;Duration&lt;/strong&gt; definitely also plays a big part, but only when it comes to how you fine tune your workouts to your personal ability (ex. out of shape = shorter workout duration).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it goes against the conventional wisdom taught by most personal trainers today (being that aerobic workouts are supposedly the best types of workouts to burn fat) but the results have been proven and backed by scientific fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus, take a look around at the typical gym. How many people do you see who are overweight or out of shape putting in their 40 minutes on the treadmill 2-3 times a week vs the few who are doing weight or resistance training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always thought it was insanity that there were so many people at my local gym who would be there before I arrived and leave after me who had so little to show for how much time/effort they put into exercising. Whereas, I would do my little 30-45 minutes of a high intensity sprint (2-4 miles) with some focused bodyweight and resistance/weight exercises twice a week at most and have great results to show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, higher intensity means you need to be strict about taking rest days but the best part is, recovery takes an excess amount of energy too (say hello to elevated RMR).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-06-17T22:16:34.000" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2545" CreationDate="2011-06-18T00:17:01.213" Score="3" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been overweight most of my life. I'm 28, 5'7&quot;, and about 350 lbs. But it wasn't as bad until I was 21 or so. I have recently decided that I want and need to lose weight for better health. I have a full membership to 24hr Fitness. So far, most of the time I've been there I've done mostly cardio. I know I want to focus most on fat burning than anything else. I'm not too worried about building muscle yet until I get some of the weight off and can start doing some more intense stuff. But my problem now is finding a good routine I can stick to for working out. I have seen so many examples of starting workouts but they all seem to be for people who are just trying to get into working out and not that actually need to lose a lot of weight. So thats what I'm wondering is if anyone can help give some tips on something to work into. I don't mind going 6 or 7 days a week. I am familiar with working out as I did take weight training in school so I know a lot about form and what does what. But I know it's still basic. But still I can't seem to find a solid routine I can stick to. So if anyone could provide any tips it would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I know I have to have the proper nutrition as well. But I figured that would be a separate topic/question. So I left that stuff out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1272" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-06-18T00:36:57.100" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T11:02:30.093" Title="Help coming up with a workout routine" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2011-06-18T00:54:55.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've made a good decision to lose weight and improve health. The key to success will not be killing yourself for some crash diet and crazy workout plan, but to make lifestyle adjustments that you can incorporate painlessly for the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At your request I won't go into nutritional advice here, but do be aware that nutrition is a huge, key component and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2503/is-it-true-that-diet-is-far-more-effective-than-exercise-for-fat-loss&quot;&gt;probably more important than any exercise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your workout plan, I would encourage you to rethink your complete emphasis on cardio over weight training. I believe weight training will be more helpful to you in the long run for a few reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra muscle will increase your metabolism not only by burning more calories at rest, but also by providing larger glycogen stores so that extra blood sugar can be routed there instead of fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybyscience.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body By Science (McGuff)&lt;/a&gt;, high intensity weight training (even infrequently and in short workouts) releases a cascading hormonal reaction that helps burn fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio exercise tends only to burn calories while you're doing that exercise without much of an afterburn - and it takes an awfully long time to burn off a relatively small number of calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again according to McGuff, aerobic health is mostly localized at a cellular level meaning that traditional cardio (e.g. jogging, treadmill, elliptical) tends not to be as much of a full-body systemic workout as is popularly believed. The legs are getting cardio exercise; the rest of the body really isn't.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there is no reason you need to spend 6-7 days a week in the gym. This would probably be counterproductive (especially with any weight training component) as you aren't giving your body a chance to recover. If you'll pardon the metaphor, this is a marathon and you aren't going to get there overnight. 6-7 days a week is not likely to be sustainable, will not give your body the rest it needs, and could lead to injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As counterintuitive as it may seem, extra rest and sleep will be beneficial. Your body hangs onto weight because it thinks it's starving (calories in junk food that don't carry many nutrients contribute to fat, but aren't counted by your body when it tallies whether it's getting enough nourishment), and the extra caloric burden of frequent cardio sessions will just make this problem worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and welcome to F&amp;amp;N!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-06-18T00:54:55.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2011-06-18T01:49:48.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pick up &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1594862591&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Men's Health Best Weight-Free Workout&lt;/a&gt;. It contains 10 simple and short strength training routines that are excellent for beginners. Pick one like the 22-Minute Total-Body Plan and do it three times a week along with enough cardio to make it 45 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That routine won't bulk anyone up, but the light resistance training will put some muscles that will help with your goals and your heart rate should be in a good range for the entire time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-18T01:49:48.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-18T05:11:17.647" Score="6" ViewCount="2143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started exercising and eating healthier 3 months ago and am really motivated and on a great schedule. I swim for 30 minutes 2-3 times a week, hike with elevation gain 2.2 miles 1-2 times a week (carrying my 24 pound dog for half of the hike), and do resistance/weight training with a personal trainer 2 times a week. My routine varies a little bit from week to week but i always work out for an hour 6 days a week. I have lost 21 pounds so far but have 50-60 more to go. I really want to stay on track with my exercise program both to keep losing weight and to maintain the fitness level I have worked so hard to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am leaving for a trip to Glacier National Park next week with my husband and a friend, neither of whom work out regularly. The trip will be for 9 days. 2 days of travel. We plan to do 5 days of long hikes, but I am unsure of just how much hiking we will be able to do - this will depend on the others on the trip. I am not willing to do any hiking alone since there are grizzly bears in the park and I don't want to encounter one on my own. Also the weather is very unpredictable at this time of year - they are having thunderstorms right now, but it is supposed to clear up in a few days. I plan to bring a pack and some Nalgene water bottles that I can fill with water so that I can hike with some extra weight and get a better workout. Also my trainer is sending me with resistance bands and a detailed resistance training program. But my question is how do I make sure that I can get some serious cardio workouts even if it rains most of the time? I am very good with my diet, so the only thing I need to figure out is what to do on our non- hiking days (we will have two days off from hiking and I will already be taking the two travel days off from exercising). I have thought about running but had some trouble with my knees which I am working my way back from. Inflammation under the kneecap which I went to physical therapy for. And I think that I'd like to lose some more weight and do my knee exercises a little longer before I try running. Oh yeah, its probably already obvious, but i wont have access to a gym or any equipment. But i will bring my heart rate monitor. We will be staying in a cabin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? I would really appreciate any advice. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1273" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T05:11:50.153" Title="What can I do for cardio while I am on vacation with no equipment?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-05-02T12:20:43.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2547" CreationDate="2011-06-18T08:16:59.697" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two exercises from the school on short and intense cardio requiring just you and the floor:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Burpees&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI8u58hPam4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mountain Climbers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's usually best to do intense cardio in intervals, meaning many short sets with short breaks between them, like sets of 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between (Tabata), sets of 30 seconds with 30 to 60 seconds of rest, or something of the sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start (or at least try them) right now. If your muscles aren't prepared for this and you can't do more than two minutes, you won't be able to get much cardio out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-18T08:16:59.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2552" CreationDate="2011-06-18T13:14:38.023" Score="2" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;What machines in a typical gym would help improve my strength with regards to lifting, carrying and so on? I take it I should be looking at improving muscles in my arms and upper back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1264" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T00:03:29.333" Title="Routine to strengthen Back and Arms" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2011-06-18T13:39:52.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That machine is called a barbell and you need to deadlift it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting is not something you can start doing without learning it first, like you might with a machine. But no machine can teach to how to lift heavy weights without screwing up your back, learning how to deadlift will teach you exactly that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find yourself a powerlifter or trainer at your gym, have them show you how the deadlift works, and let them check and correct your form. The basics are easy enough to learn though, you can do that from a book or online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you can deadlift anything you want, like kettlebells, instead of barbells. The farmers walk would be a great complementary exercise to the deadlift for your purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-18T13:39:52.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-18T16:58:24.547" Score="8" ViewCount="793" Body="&lt;p&gt;My stats: Navel Waste 25&quot; Height 5'9&quot; BMI 24.8 Body fat: 19% 167.5 pounds.(from an online calculator) This is from a body weight of 147 pounds 2 years ago, and a Navel waste of about 33&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have just come out of a period where I found it difficult to find time for exercise. Previous to this most of my exercise came through my main hobby - whitewater kayaking. While I have never had particularly good cardio fitness, I have never had as high a body fat percentage as I do now. Also I had no belly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have a few questions: my body fat percentage of 19% is just below unacceptable for my age (25), and I would prefer to consider myself healthy, rather than just about avoiding heart disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things are far from critical for me, and I would prefer and gain fitness doing things I enjoy - namely mountain biking, cycling and kayaking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also don't particularly want to change my diet, which is high carb, reasonable amount of protein and not a lot of fruit veg (apart from a banana in the morning with breakfast)&#xA;So I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1: Is it possible to become relatively fit without going for runs? If this isn't the case, then is it possible to run without knackering all of my joints? How would swimming be as a substitute? (if needs be)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: I plan to track my progress on a weekly basis using RunKeeper. I would be interested to know what kind of gains someone who was taking the traditional approach to fitness would expect? I'd like to see if my progress is anything close to comparable.  At what point should I decide that what I am doing is not working?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1276" LastEditorUserId="1276" LastEditDate="2011-06-20T07:02:56.330" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T22:29:35.933" Title="Is it possible to become relatively fit without going for runs?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2562" CreationDate="2011-06-18T20:41:40.280" Score="2" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep a close watch on the nutritional content of my food for weight-control purposes, and I don't know how to account for the fats I use when cooking. For example, I've been accounting for butter as if in raw form based on the information here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/133/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/133/2&lt;/a&gt;. However, I have a feeling that this may not a correct measure, as the heat may affect its composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1278" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-09-23T15:19:58.810" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T15:19:58.810" Title="Does heat affect the macronutrient breakdown of cooking fats?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;food-preparation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-19T09:17:39.400" Score="2" ViewCount="620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for &lt;strong&gt;very advanced, intense&lt;/strong&gt; workouts or collections of exercises using only a resistance band. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am primarily interested in free online resources with good pictures or videos. However suggestions for printed books would be interesting, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may say that this is a kind of google question, however I searched the web for hours and didn't find good references. So I think it would be a good idea to collect here some good references on that topic - perhaps this question should be community wiki.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="499" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T07:22:52.743" Title="Very advanced exercises and workouts using only resistance bands" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-05-21T03:55:35.777" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-19T14:54:55.467" Score="3" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have summer to lose weight and this summer I have the motivation as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an exercise bike, cross trainer, rowing machine, pullup/push up bars, free weights and a treadmill at my disposal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've been doing half an hour with cross trainer and half an hour on the rowing machine,about 3, 4 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been thinking about doing some free weights, to be honest I can't do any pullups yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for food, I have been having my main meal at lunch, just cafeteria stuff but I think its probably around 1500 calories. My plan at the moment for dinner is to make lentil based soup, so I get proteins and fibre and nutrients but not excess calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh around 90 kilos at the moment, and would like to lose as much as possible really. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips/advice would be fantastic, and much appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1262" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T13:45:19.223" Title="Looking for some advice on weight loss routine" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-06-19T18:58:54.410" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you significantly burn fat, you have to put enough demands on the body's biochemistry, and cycling is excellent. More of that bodily response below, but first note that cycling slowly (6-11 mph) burns Calories equal to roughly 1/4 of your weight in pounds per mile vs 2/3 your weight walking or running. Of course, less stress on joints, tendons, etc. usually means you can go much farther cycling and at about 3x your walking speed, so cycling has an edge in calorie burning. As you'll see, it takes less cycling time each time you ride to tell the body it better start getting into shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscle cells contain enzymes to rapidly burn sugar or fat for energy. If you're out of shape the fat-burning enzymes decrease in concentration (the main reason people claim a &quot;slow metabolism&quot;) and the body barely releases fatty acids into the blood stream to be used as energy. Note that studies in the 90's made famous in &lt;strong&gt;Covert Bailey's fitness books&lt;/strong&gt; (like the NY Times bestseller &quot;Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit&quot;) and PBS series, as well as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/health/research/29exer.html&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a 2010-released Harvard Nurses study&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; show that the rate of fat burning (as the days go by) increases ONLY if each exercise is long enough to elicit a &quot;systemic response&quot; from the body, which essentially says, &quot;Ok, burning sugar isn't good enough, so I better create more fat-burning enzymes in the muscle cells and also release more fatty acids from the fat cells during and after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 minutes of bicycling or swimming is usually enough to generate that response, but it takes 40 minutes of walking. Running takes 15 min and cross country skiing 12 minutes, but all these times, of course, vary with the runner's current fitness level, the workout intensity, and any personal unusual biological factors. In general, the more muscles used in an activity, the less time is required. Anything LESS than these times generally does little to coax the body to get into shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Harvard Nurses study whose link I provided says that women who walked slowly from 1989-2005 did NOT lose weight and women who biked less than 15 min./day GAINED 4.5 lbs on average.  This all fits with Bailey's research on &quot;systemic response.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if you're out of shape and exceed 80% of your recommended max. heart rate [normally 220 beats/minute - your age in years = max beats/min] you begin to burn higher percentages of sugar and less fat.  The &quot;sweet spot&quot; for burning fat for most people is 65%-80% the recommended max. heart rate, the &quot;aerobic&quot; zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go under or exceed that range, you burn more sugar and less fat and, if you're out of shape, your body replaces the used-up sugar in the muscle cells with mostly bloodstream sugar, not the significant amount of bloodstream fatty-acids (converted to sugar) that fit people do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course even if you exceed the 80% max. heart rate, you're pushing your body into better fitness and better future burning of fats as long as you exceed the &quot;systemic response&quot; time for your exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1284" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-06-19T19:19:08.087" LastActivityDate="2011-06-19T19:19:08.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2011-06-19T19:40:21.517" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running is just one means to the goal of fitness. Personally, I haven't been running in any serious capacity for 22 years since I tore my Achilles tendons (yes, plural, as in both at once).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any activity that keeps your heart rate elevated (~70% HR Max) for 30-45 minutes at a time will do. Keep get in a enough sessions to total 120 minutes a week and your cardio needs should be handled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-19T19:40:21.517" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2554" CreationDate="2011-06-19T19:43:40.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cooking (whether baking, frying, grilling, or using a microwave) has a nominal effect on the nutritional value of foods. Using the uncooked data for calculating the post frying impact is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-19T19:43:40.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2011-06-19T23:41:01.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to get rid of your belly without running is to control your diet (sorry you have to) and get into resistance training.  Cardio training will burn more calories in the short term, but you will be making your body more efficient overall, reducing BMR.  The best way to track physical conditioning is looking in the mirror, you will know you reached your goal when you like what you see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-06-19T23:41:01.310" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2011-06-20T00:03:29.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the deadlift, you would probably want to learn how to sqat as well.  Sqat is another great overall conditioning movement that will leave you feeling stronger and more capable at the end of the day.  Deadlifting and farmers walks are a bit advanced, especially for someone who is not sure what a shoulder press does, be careful you don't injure yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T00:03:29.333" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-06-20T00:15:07.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is bicycling? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just ambling along on your bike on the way to Uni, it probably won't contribute much to fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you create intense interval-training cycling workouts, the results will be different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="203" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T00:15:07.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2639" CreationDate="2011-06-20T00:22:48.943" Score="5" ViewCount="5865" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was wondering what is the purpose&#xA;for some socks to be low-cut?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How high are socks suitable for&#xA;which sports? Football/soccer&#xA;players wear long socks, while some&#xA;people in gym wear low-cut ones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="163" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T14:47:57.080" Title="Height of socks and sports" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;socks&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2628" CreationDate="2011-06-20T00:25:02.407" Score="1" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;For &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroesophageal_reflux_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gastroesophageal reflux &lt;/a&gt; patient, what kinds of sports are helpful and what are not suitable? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should swimming be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about weight lifting, running, yoga, ...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="163" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T23:41:40.377" Title="What kinds of sports are suitable/not suitable for Gerd?" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2011-06-20T00:47:26.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vinyasa flow yoga is often used to describe a style of yoga in which one moves from one position to another much faster than other styles of yoga, making for a cardio workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1287" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T00:47:26.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2567" CreationDate="2011-06-20T02:02:16.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think that the long socks in sports would be for some protection.  I wear short socks when I go to the gym because I don't like/need the long socks.  But do wear medium length socks when rollerblading to pad my chins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T02:02:16.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2485" CreationDate="2011-06-20T13:07:49.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While doing high intensity workouts, the blood will rush to your brain and your heartbeats will increase. I think it is not something to worry about, But keep in mind if you are running at really high intensity do not run continuously for 11 kms and all, run to about 1 and a half minutes and then slowly for 2 minutes till heartbeat slows down and then agin sped up, continue this for 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best OF Luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1290" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T13:07:49.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2559" CreationDate="2011-06-20T13:45:19.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing your goals, I can provide a few concepts.  I went through my weight loss journey in two stages: lose weight first, then exercise.  Part of that choice was the diet I was on.  So, in general you need to make sure you get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at least .5g protein / lb lean body weight (1g / kg lean body weight).  That's the weight of your muscles and organs without the fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to increase your muscle mass it is safe to go up to 1g protein / lb lean body weight (2g / kg) while you are exercising.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All your vitamins and minerals--if necessary take a multivitamin and Omega-3 supplement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper amount of calcium for your body (keep the bones strong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A healthy amount of veggies that are not too carby (i.e. better to have broccoli and spinach than corn and potatoes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need some dietary fat.  Dietary fat/cholesterol does not directly translate to the same in your blood stream.  They carry some vital nutrients your body needs and can't get any other way.  Just don't overdo it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that you can manipulate the amount of carbs you take in to adjust the fat burning potential.  There's a good number of eating plans that suggest you have a long period of time between eating carbs, and this has to do with the pancreatic function.  Check out the roles of insulin and glucagon for more details.  This approach seems to be working for me.  Essentially, if the scale's trend is going up, cut back on the carbs.  If it's going down too far (assuming you are on maintenance), increase them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to working out, there's quite a few options.  Again, depending on your goals and what you enjoy, you can stay active and lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High cardio workouts like running will have you burning the most calories &lt;em&gt;while working out&lt;/em&gt;.  However, because they aren't making your muscles larger they aren't increasing the amount your body burns at rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High strength workouts like weight lifting (note, should be a focus on strength rather than endurance at the beginning) burn fewer calories &lt;em&gt;while working out&lt;/em&gt;.  However, because your muscles are getting stronger (and you are eating more protein), you will burn more fat while at rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both traditionally cardio and traditionally strength oriented workouts have components of the other type in them.  In short you will improve your cardio performance lifting weights (in particular, you will raise your anaerobic threshold), and you will get stronger running (in particular, your core and your legs will get more conditioned for the task at hand).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing about working out is that you have a good idea of what you want to accomplish, and then pursue that goal.  I personally enjoy strength training using a barbell to perform heavy compound lifts.  I get a challenge trying to increase weight every workout and that keeps me motivated and interested.  There's probably no more efficient way to get strong.  But strength isn't everyone's goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: the protein recommendation came from the weight loss program I did.  I like the recommendation because it is a better guide than total body weight.  If you have a high body fat percentage, you might overfeed yourself protein if you go by guidelines only using total body weight as the guide--which will eventually turn to blood sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T13:45:19.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2579" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2582" CreationDate="2011-06-20T15:14:14.287" Score="4" ViewCount="1014" Body="&lt;p&gt;After years of living with overweight I've been on a crusade against fat for a couple of month now with great success. I'm combining a low carb diet with the following training regime:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mo, Tue, Wed - One hour of cardio on my recumbent trainer between 8-9pm in the evening&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thu - one day off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fri, Sat, Sun - One hour of cardio on my recumbent trainer between 8-9pm in the evening&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed, Fri, Sun - One hour in the gym primarily working on doing a mix of exercises for gaining strength between 4pm-6pm in the afternoon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is. Could the cardio sessions on the same days that I'm doing the gym could negatively interfere with them or should I swap them perhaps? I'm just asking out of curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1292" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-06-20T17:13:21.327" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T12:48:56.657" Title="Does cardio on the same day as going to the gym negatively interfere with each other?" Tags="&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2557" CreationDate="2011-06-20T15:22:28.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodylastics.com/exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyLastics&lt;/a&gt; has a great set of exercises including video - I ordered their product and have been very happy with it (I alternate using it every few weeks to break up my routine).  Take a look at their sport specific routines for a complete set of exercises to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T15:22:28.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2579" CreationDate="2011-06-20T15:32:56.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've not read anything to indicate moderate cardio exercises interfering with resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, two hours of resistance training is very high and probably should have rest two rest days in between. Or, you could do a split workout an spend 30-45 minutes doing resistance training on Mon/Tues and Thurs/Fri. My own experience with such a split is that it gives me the best gains for time spent in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T15:32:56.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2579" CreationDate="2011-06-20T16:07:49.240" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general advice for weight training is to rest your muscles at least 48 hours before working them again.  With a beginning strength training program like Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5x5, you work out no more than three days per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, doing cardio on the same days that you are lifting is perfectly fine.  However, you can overdo it.  Your muscles need to rest to rebuild and get stronger.  If you overwork them, it takes longer to rebuild.  In the beginning you won't notice much of a difference because you are still building up the foundational strength.  The place where you'll see the effects of over training the cardio will be when you start stalling sooner and hitting plateaus for longer periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lift three days a week with one day off in between.  After lifting I run for about 20 minutes of intervals (1 min run, 1 min jog).  I'll also go through my katas in Martial Arts.  The other days I don't go to the gym at all.  Every day I keep track of what I eat so that I don't regain what I worked so hard to get rid of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: exercise is important, but you get rid of fat quickest and most thoroughly by making adjustments to your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T16:07:49.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2597" CreationDate="2011-06-20T17:26:13.603" Score="3" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;ok. I have been in a low-carb diet for the last 3 weeks. My lab report from friday showed a 213 MG/DL Total cholesterol from my last read on 2010 of 189.  Is there any scientific correlation between low-carb diets and increase of cholesterol?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another question is, if I change my low-carb diet to not include any red meat, will that make any difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked this question, but it did not help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/379/1178&quot;&gt;Do high protein diets pose any serious risk to health? &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1178" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T12:28:24.360" Title="What is the scientific relation between Low-Carb diets and High levels of Cholesterol?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-07-12T02:06:18.063" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-06-20T18:02:22.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been practicing &lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym (YAYOG) by Mark Lauren&lt;/a&gt; for 3 weeks. I've never been fitter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your problem was similar to mine. It took me for more than 10 years to get this solution. I joined a fitness club long time ago but I hardly could practice at my club because I traveled a lot. I became sedentary for a long time (my obese weight record was 110kg meanwhile my height is 175cm). I started running mixed with walking last year and followed my nutritionist's diet programme so I lost weight for 35kg this year. I've been 75kg for this past month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This certified Military Physical Training Specialist, Special Operations Combat Controller, triathlete, and champion Thai boxer offered me simple program that builds more muscle than weightlifting, burns more fat than aerobics, and is safer than both. This book contains 111 clearly illustrated exercises, developing every muscle from our neck to our ankles. He showed me how to do body-weight exercise in living room, bedroom, yard, garage, office, hotel room, wherever and whenever we like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still remember I couldn't even lift my body for only 1 push up a year ago, now I can do more than 50 push ups. I don't only do classic normal push up but also deep push up with my feet (higher than my upper body) on my bed and I use two boxes for my arms so that I can drop my chest down as far as possible. I can also do Seated Dips with 2 boxes for my feet so it's really stretching my triceps. Just to name 2 YAYOG examples. I keep pushing myself to practice better and better body-weight exercise, to be able to do Dive Bombers push up, Planche push up, One-Arm Push up, Basketball Push ups and finally Spiderman and Hand Stand Deep Push ups in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it's my 3rd week on YAYOG but I insist myself to practice Muscular Endurance to really get used to it, not to mention because I rest too long, because I've been fighting my High Blood Pressure and Vertigo. Why I love YAYOG is because it trains me : &lt;strong&gt;Muscular Strength, Power, Muscular Endurance, Cardiovascular Endurance, Speed, Coordination, Balance, and Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;. It's interesting to see one comment on YAYOG Facebook page that said he thought YAYOG is easy as the picture example looked easy to him, but once he really tried it, it's tough. For me, I practice it persistently, from easier workout I can do first then improve it better gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this once in my life time, I don't need weights, my own body is the gym I need, I feel free from weights. But I realise I'm physically still far to recommend anyone to practice YAYOG, I saw your photo anyway from your profile and your blog (you seem to have stronger body than mine), but you might want to check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marklauren.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;amp;t=1122&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this guy's pics. We noticed a difference in his biceps, forearms, delts and lower back muscles. All are larger and more defined. His lats have grown too.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I tried to give a direct link from Picasa to show the pic but this stackexchange system rejected as I got lower reputation. Anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T18:02:22.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2587" CreationDate="2011-06-20T19:26:32.713" Score="5" ViewCount="1821" Body="&lt;p&gt;In two weeks I'm going to carry old furniture from my parents home to the sidewalk in front of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I prepare for this event best? By training strength, endurance, cardio, HIIT, ...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think in general this has something to with how to best train for holding a heavy weights in a fixed position. Normally one trains by moving weights up and down but not by statically holding them in the air, so I'm not sure how to approach such a training goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I should have mentioned that I'm already training three to four times a week in the gym and I'm fairly fit (althoug still overweight), so it's more a question on how to modify my current training and not about starting from scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1038" LastEditDate="2011-06-20T19:51:12.967" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T12:25:36.747" Title="How to train for carrying heavy stuff?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2586" CreationDate="2011-06-20T19:47:55.017" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 weeks is not a lot of time to 'train' - based on the need to give your body a rest.  Typically you want to plan a 10-12 week cycle of training prior to any event....given this is 'carrying furniture out' and not a major league event I would focus on technique more than anything else since the time needed to build strength or stamina is not available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would perform basic &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/&quot;&gt;deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/&quot;&gt;squats&lt;/a&gt; and farmers walks (focus on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strongman13.htm&quot;&gt;farmers walks&lt;/a&gt;) - to get the technique down.  Don't try to lift heavy and don't do excessive sets/reps - the idea is to get the technique down so you can apply it to lifting off balance, various shaped furniture and home items.  Take your time, keep the path clear and work with a good partner in the move.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T19:47:55.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1462" CreationDate="2011-06-20T19:48:11.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the two poses you can see that in the first pose, bound angle pose, the hip goes into flexion, abduction and external rotation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second pose, the hip is flexed and abducted, but appears to be in neutral rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would seem that the key to your difficulty with the first pose and not the second is the inability to externally rotate the hip.  If the reason is structural - the way your femur is formed, then stretching exercises will not change your ability to externally rotate significantly.  If tight muscles are the cause, you can make changes over time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tight internal rotators could be the limiting cause (by limiting the external rotation).  There are several muscles that contribute to internal rotation of the hips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   the anterior fibers of the gluteus medius and minimus (as you have noted are the area you feel pain) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   the tensor fascia lata (TFL)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   medial hamstrings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, other muscles like the adductors contribute to internal rotation depending on the degree of hip flexion.  The hip muscles often have more than one function depending on the direction of the fibers or the position of the hip.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lengthen these muscles you can use stretching and massage.  PNF techniques like contract/relax or hold/relax can help with your stretching.  Here is a nice article for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailybandha.com/2011/02/how-to-release-hip-internal-rotators.html&quot;&gt;releasing hip internal rotators&lt;/a&gt; with yoga in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tennis ball massage will also help with the release of tight muscles - placing the ball on the belly of the muscle and then relaxing some of your body weight onto the ball.    This video demonstrates &lt;a href=&quot;http://fooyoh.com/fitness_video/watch/AwzizDeYK2U&quot;&gt;a TFL release&lt;/a&gt;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use the tennis ball approach for the gluteus medius.  Similar to the video for the tensor, lie partially on your side rather than on your stomach.  Place the tennis ball just in front or in back of your hip and the point of tension on the soft tissue, not on the bone.  (You have identified the point of tension in your diagram.) Then slowly roll some of your weight forward or back onto the ball being careful not to cause pain.  Do not overdo.  Only put as much weight on the ball as is comfortable.   You can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0N9VjcXFEM&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;release the medial hamstrings&lt;/a&gt; with the ball or with a foam roller.  Massage therapy may also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully with stretching and massage you can release the muscles causing you pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T19:48:11.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2586" CreationDate="2011-06-20T21:03:02.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think in terms of specificity of exercise for specific events.  If the event is lifting and carrying furniture, then a good exercise would be lifting and carrying furniture or bulky weights.   One of the main considerations to this event is to avoid injury so that you won’t miss any time in the gym.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If moving furniture is new to you, practice the squat position in front of  a piece of furniture, testing the amount of weight to lift and where to best grab hold, your back and butt position,  the lift, your breath, your ab control, the carry, your breath, and the set down.   You may need a wider stance than your regular squat to allow you to get in close to bulky furniture.  In this case you want to make sure that your hip adductors and hamstrings are flexible.  Begin with smaller, lighter furniture like a chair or end table and work your way up gradually, concentrating on your lifting form. You may also consider wearing a lifting belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get help if you can.  If you do lift with a friend, work out a count to lift and set down so that you are in sync and avoid an unexpected drop - a frequent cause of injury.  Before you start the job, check for any obstacles, steps, doorways to maneuver thru, loose rugs and electrical cords, pets etc., and plan accordingly.  Remember that your view is obstructed when carrying bulky items so make sure your path is clear and level.   Plan in advance whether you will need to use a utility or furniture dolly or hand truck so that you can work smarter and safer. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T21:03:02.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2599" CreationDate="2011-06-20T22:06:29.113" Score="2" ViewCount="2091" Body="&lt;p&gt;My workout time is 7pm, when I get out from work and hit the gym. My goal is to loose weight, therefore I don't want to have any meals after 7-8pm. How can I accomodate the meals/snacks surrounding workout in order to keep a healthy nutrition schedule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What time should I have a pre-workout snack/meal? What should the post-workout snack contain? &#xA;I guess that my main meal of the day would be sometime during the afternoon. &#xA;I am open to any suggestions you have, both for scheduling when to eat and when to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1293" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T12:33:48.473" Title="How can I organize my meals to accomodate an evening workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2011-06-20T22:58:59.337" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a nice reference page on how to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculate your body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; and the pluses and minuses of each method.   Here is a summary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BIA&lt;/strong&gt; - The simplest method is hopping on a BIA, bioimpedance analysis, monitor.  The limitations: you need a monitor that measures both the upper and lower body, not just one or the other.  The readings vary by hydration and water retention levels.  To get the most accurate readings take them at the same time of day before eating and after voiding.  Because they send a weak current thru you, people with cardiac pacemakers or who are pregnant should not use them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skinfold&lt;/strong&gt; - Another easy method is using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html#Skin-Caliper-Method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Accumeasure&lt;/a&gt;, an inexpensive skin caliper that you use on yourself.  With practice you can get reproducible readings at the supra-iliac site and find your body fat percentage by looking up the corresponding mm on Accumeasures chart that takes age and gender into account.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can have a trained tester take skin fold measurements at several body sites to calculate your body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Formula Method&lt;/strong&gt; involves taking circumference measurements at various body sites depending on your gender and applying a formula.  Different formulas involve different measurement requirements.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above methods are the easiest and most affordable ways to monitor your body fat percentage  on an ongoing basis.  The following are highly accurate, but more expensive and require finding a facility that offers them making them less suitable for ongoing monitoring your progress of your body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Dexa Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry Test&lt;/strong&gt; is probably the most accurate, but it does use X-rays even if radiation exposure is low.  It is costly and not practical for repeat measurement to determine your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Underwater Weighing&lt;/strong&gt;, although highly accurate, depends on ones ability to expel air from the lungs while submerged under water.  Results also depend on hydration levels.  This method can be expensive and cumbersome to use for ongoing body fat monitoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The newer Bod Pod method&lt;/strong&gt; is an air chamber and is similar to the underwater weighing method, however, it uses air displacement rather than water displacement making it more convenient.  The same factors apply as far as hydration levels affecting the results.  As the popularity of this method increases, it is easier to find a facility in your area.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2015-03-04T06:41:57.357" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T06:41:57.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2300" CreationDate="2011-06-21T07:45:47.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running mixed with walking a year ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I had never exercised for more than 10 years before that, I started from a very simple step. The very first time I did last year was I walked for only 60 meters and no running at all, and that's it, I got home and tired already. But that's my history, now I can walk more running actually than walk for 4 km and I often still want to do more and more when I got home. I can also walk in my weekend morning for 15 km and I don't feel hurt on my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I continued exercising persistently, being disciplined to exercise 2 - 5 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel good, fresh, fit and more productive. My body feels lightweight, being from 110kg of bodyweight last year to 75kg now. But I don't think I grew my muscles that much on my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym (YAYOG) by Mark Lauren&lt;/a&gt; 3 weeks ago, this book contains 111 clearly illustrated exercises, including muscles for feet. After practicing it for 3 weeks, I know my glutes (buttocks and hip flexors), quadriceps (front of thigh), hamstrings (rear of thigh), calves muscles being stretched and stronger. I couldn't do squats the first time I tried it I felt dizzy, I think that's because of my Vertigo. But I kept trying verrry slowly to go down as far as I could, I only could go down for about 10 cm as far as I remember, if I went down lower than that my kind of vertigo dizziness attacked me. But I'm happy to say that is also my history now :-) Now I can do squats exactly like Mark's photo example from his book. I know I'm sure my body movement is correct because I can feel the right muscle being stretched. Just to mention one of many creative exercises to strengthen feet muscles from YAYOG practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I combine running almost every morning and YAYOG to strengthen my body. As I'm still early on YAYOG, so I'm not sure, but I feel that my feet muscles help me lift my body to run/walk more easily than ever when I run/walk. My balance seems to be improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Oh, I actually want to add additional comment for Berin's answer above me on barefoot running, but it seems I can't do that because I don't see the comment link as I'm used to see on stackoverflow site, just make sure the road is good and safe enough to do that, I did barefoot running several times a long time ago, but then I stopped because my doctor adviced me to keep wearing my shoes on. She said some of her patients got diabetes not long after they stepped on nail on the street. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastEditorUserId="1291" LastEditDate="2011-06-21T20:57:26.037" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T20:57:26.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2584" CreationDate="2011-06-21T09:39:29.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's because you're not paying attention to the fats you intake.  You may be so focussed on the carbs and protein that you're not paying attention to anything else.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it would seem to me that you're assuming that the last 3 weeks are what's responsible when in fact it could have been the whole 5 months prior that caused the bad cholesterol to go up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been reading around and haven't been able to get a solid answer on how long it takes for LDL and HDL levels to change. Some sites say 14 days, others 6 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol/CL00002&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good article&lt;/a&gt; on how to bring your LDL down.  Then go see your doctor again in a couple of months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T09:39:29.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2590" CreationDate="2011-06-21T12:12:55.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been said many times, but bears repeating: weight loss is achieved primarily through diet, not exercise. If you're trying to lose weight, focus on how much and how often you're eating first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the thing you want to do is to keep your metabolism going and not let your body perceive that it is starving. Eating early in the morning after you wake up is a good way to get it started. If you can, eat a meal or small snack every 2-3 hours. Nuts, fruit, some raw vegetables, or what have you. Post workout, have something with a bit of natural sugar (e.g. fruit) within 15 minutes and protein (e.g. skim milk) within 30. Milk is actually a great post-evening workout food because the proteins take a long time to break down and will be present in your body for a good portion of your sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T12:12:55.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2584" CreationDate="2011-06-21T12:21:10.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really hard to have any definitive study about the digestive system because there are a number of interrelated systems and you can never be fully confident that the trends you are seeing are &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; of the stimulus you changed.  To that end I can only offer my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As I lost weight all my numbers improved: blood pressure, cholesterol levels, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cholesterol is most affected by exercise--i.e. the more active you are the less bad cholesterol you have in your system.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the folks at my weight loss center suggested the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lean protein (90% lean or better for red meat, white meat for poultry, or fish)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep reasonable portion sizes.  I.e. land meat is the size of your closed fist, seafood is the size of your open hand, eggs are limited to 2 whole eggs at a meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It very may well be the &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of protein you are eating that is contributing to the high cholesterol.  Even though I don't have links for you, there are studies that show that dietary cholesterol doesn't directly translate to blood cholesterol.  Higher blood cholesterol can be a symptom of other things going on in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thought is this: fish is the most protein dense food you can eat, which will help lower your cholesterol and not overdo the calories.  Essentially an 8oz tilapia filet has something on the order of 40g of protein and only about 300 calories.  The oils in the filet are good Omega-3s, and not the harmful Omega-6s.  Most of my lunches are some form of sea meat right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T12:21:10.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2195" CreationDate="2011-06-21T13:42:20.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat more than you burn, e.g. Michael Phelps eats mad amounts of food but he isn't overweight because he burns mad amounts of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calculate your daily calorie intake and estimate how much you burn through manual work, walking, exercise and sports, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If comparison of the two does not result in substantial excess of calories you will not be gaining weight. &#xA;However, if the math does add up then I'd agree with @Madhuri Sathe's suggestion about medical examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1286" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T13:42:20.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2590" CreationDate="2011-06-21T17:21:39.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not eating after any workout is not a good idea, it brings your metabolism to a grinding halt. Agree with Christopher Bibbs and post workout components. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without know what time you get up, it is very difficult to give you the exact times, but something like this will work nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7am; &#xA;10am; &#xA;1pm; 4pm; 6pm-light pre-workout carbs; &#xA;8pm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick here is to keep your metabolic rate up, therefore lots of mini meals! No food and the body goes into starvation mode and holds onto everything for dear life :[&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the engine burning with consistent, steady fuel!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T17:21:39.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2579" CreationDate="2011-06-21T17:37:23.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One ingredient that is key to any schedule is the long term viability. Based on the little bit of info presented, my concern would be burnout! As Christopher points out 2hrs. of weight training is high. Back in the day Arnold was quoted as saying anything longer than 1.5 hrs was too much...and we all know the kinds of drugs he was on! My suggestion is come up with a workout schedule for 6 weeks and know that in 6 weeks you are going to change it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting fit and staying fit is not a sprint...think marathon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently a competitive cyclist and have played sports my whole life. I currently do 5/6 days a week on the bike for approx 12 hours of cardio and go to the gym at least 2 days a week for about 45 minutes each visit. I do core and ab work 4-5 times a week usually before cycling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been times when I was doing the opposite - 6 days of weight training and only cycling 1-3x weekly. IMO, try not to be overly rigid with yourself as that tends to lead to burnout! I am not suggesting no structure. My experience is the folks that find a middle ground tend to experience real results and dramatic change in life experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T17:37:23.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2603" CreationDate="2011-06-21T20:07:12.463" Score="5" ViewCount="8926" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does running with a jumper (i.e. causing yourself to sweat more during a workout) increase the effect of a workout?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the answer is no, then what does running in a jumper do? I've read it doesn't help you to loose weight (because you're loosing water rather than fat), and you've got to be careful you don't dehydrate yourself... so does it do anything positive, or should I stick to shorts and t-shirt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to run in shorts and t-shirt, but I've switched to joggers and sweatshirt because it feels harder, and I assumed it was doing more good for me (because I can feel my body working harder running the same distance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I guess &quot;effect of a workout&quot; is ambiguous, so to add some context for my case: My intended effects of running are to keep building my stamina, improving my fitness and keep my body toned.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1055" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T20:19:37.070" LastActivityDate="2019-07-16T07:56:40.967" Title="Running wearing a jumper vs. running without" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2602" CreationDate="2011-06-21T20:15:18.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're preparing yourself for exertion in a hot environment, wearing more layers will help condition your body and make it easier. For general fitness, though, it has a nominal effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-21T20:15:18.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2616" CreationDate="2011-06-22T07:48:21.730" Score="6" ViewCount="3925" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always heard that the post-workout protein shake is the most crucial time to take fast-absorbing whey protein. I can't take a post-workout shake for these reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I live 30 minutes away from the gym. By the time I get home to prepare the shake, the optimal window for protein absorption will have elapsed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I prefer to mix the whey protein with milk, not water. I can't make the shake before hand and take it to the gym with me. The milk will spoil when unrefrigerated for an hour or two.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've been doing to make up for the lack of post-workout shake is to eat a relatively slower digesting protein an hour before hitting the gym - usually chicken, beef, or pork. I'm hoping that by timing it right, the protein release will be at its peak right when my workout ends. I'm not 100% sure if I'm timing right. I'm only going by my gut feeling, literally. Do you have any suggestions for improvements on this alternative to the post-workout shake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="2274" LastEditDate="2011-12-06T15:54:10.463" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T15:54:10.463" Title="How to replace the post-workout protein shake?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2606" CreationDate="2011-06-22T10:43:13.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask the gym if they sell it. I actually haven't seen a gym where they don't serve protein shakes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they don't: ask them if you can use their fridge, so you can bring your own shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1266" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T10:43:13.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6030" CreationDate="2011-06-22T11:10:42.087" Score="4" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started taking supplements that contain L-Arginine.  The results so far have been amazing, except for the fact that the days I take the supplement I have gas all day and need to excuse myself about 3-4 times a day at work to get a desperately needed release. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some issue with the way or time I take the supplement, or maybe there's something I can do to reduce the gas build-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscletech.com/products/nanovapor/index.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;naNO Vapor Hardcore Pro Series&lt;/a&gt; in the morning about 30 minutes before training?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2012-04-05T20:13:14.160" Title="How to deal with gas all day from nitric oxide?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2606" CreationDate="2011-06-22T11:34:58.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's wrong with water-mixed protein shake?  It takes a while to get used to, but I think it's worth the benefit.  Or you could try a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thermos.com/product_details.aspx?ProdID=965&amp;amp;CatCode=BEVG&amp;amp;q=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thermos&lt;/a&gt;, it should keep your shake cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for chicken, I know it takes a long time to digest, you'd have to get up pretty early in the morning to eat it.  But how long I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T11:34:58.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2606" CreationDate="2011-06-22T12:25:52.327" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a bit of disagreement on the optimal window.  I've heard ranges from only 15 minutes to a full hour (my weight loss center gave me the latter window).  If it's 15 minutes I can pass that window with my post lift stretches and shower.  The bottom line is that you do need more protein when lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some studies suggest that timing is not an issue at all, and some studies show that you do absorb a bit more protein just after a workout.  Usually the ones that favor the window are funded by protein manufacturers.  Still other studies suggest that it's carbs that you need just after workout more than protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, you can drive yourself nuts thinking about optimal windows.  The difference in protein absorption isn't orders of magnitude more.  The kidneys process protein at a rate of 4-9g/hour, and I think that time just after workout kicks the kidneys to the higher end of the range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T12:25:52.327" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2420" CreationDate="2011-06-22T14:10:27.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As far as a diet plan&lt;/strong&gt;, I highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://whole9life.com/2010/12/whole30-2011/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Whole30&lt;/a&gt;. It is a 30 day challenge with a paleo-centric focus, and is basically described as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cut out all the inflammatory,&#xA;  insulin-spiking, calorie-dense but&#xA;  nutritionally sparse food groups for a&#xA;  full 30 days. Let your body heal and&#xA;  recover from whatever effects those&#xA;  foods may be provoking. Push the&#xA;  “reset” button with your metabolism,&#xA;  systemic inflammation, and the&#xA;  downstream effects of the food choices&#xA;  you’ve been making. Learn once and for&#xA;  all how the foods you’ve been eating&#xA;  are actually affecting your day to day&#xA;  life, and your long term health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only will it allow your body time to heal, but will also cause your body to drop excess fat quickly. I've done this myself and can't express enough how amazing it makes you feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For a fitness plan&lt;/strong&gt;, I recommend Mark Sisson's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/introducing-primal-blueprint-fitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Primal Blueprint Fitness&lt;/a&gt;. It focused around 5 essential full-body movements, and is designed for beginners and advanced persons alike. It does not require any expensive equipment and is extremely effective. I have also been following this plan and love it. If you are looking to eventually get into P90X and have little experience working out then I definitely recommend starting here. P90X is hardcore and I don't know anyone who started with it as a beginner and made it all the way through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to read more about the style and affects of P90X and CrossFit (another hardcore fitness program), then I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/p90x-and-crossfit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; from Mark Sisson where he goes into great detail about the benefits and possible downsides to both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy changing your life!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1298" LastEditorUserId="1298" LastEditDate="2011-07-11T14:20:36.130" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T14:20:36.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2547" CreationDate="2011-06-22T14:52:34.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Enjoy the time off.  Let your body rest.  Take some pictures, enjoy the area.  You'll be back into your routine afterwards.  As long as you don't eat a lot of junk food, you'll be ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to, work your muscles instead:  Do some push ups, sit ups.  Climb trees, which will make you work different muscles that you didn't know you had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T14:52:34.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2420" CreationDate="2011-06-22T19:11:34.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had good experiences with Nate Green's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenategreenexperience.com/hero-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hero Workout&lt;/a&gt;. It's a 3-month program covering diet and exercise, focusing on initiating a full lifestyle change. The workout itself is pretty intense, but not brutally so. It took me about an hour per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345528581&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Lauren and Joshua Clark. It covers 4 full bodyweight programs of increasing difficulty, nutrition, and the mechanics behind the exercises. &lt;em&gt;Highly&lt;/em&gt; recommended. Especially if you're crunched for time or cash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="703" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T19:11:34.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2547" CreationDate="2011-06-22T20:41:27.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Craneflat, I partially agree with @eych about resting.  The body likes breaks.  But I understand that you are on a roll and don’t want an interruption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For indoors when it rains, bodyweight circuits can give you a good cardio workout. The problem with many bodyweight routines is that they involve some moves like jumps and lunges, that are hard on recovering knees as you mentioned.  (Even Mountain Climbers may aggravate a knee problem going from full flexion to extension and you don’t want a knee flare up to mess with your hiking.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452DfYDuzew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodyweight cardio circuit workout&lt;/a&gt; to give you an idea of alternating upper and lower body exercises as well as opposing muscles so that you rest one muscle group while exercising another.  The video does have squats and lunges that are hard on the knees, but you can substitute with other bodyweight exercises.  If you have enough resistance bands, or suspension bands like the TRX, you can do squats and lunges with some support to at least partially protect your knees.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you alternate your resistance band exercises using minimal breaks you can get a cardio interval workout.  You can do 20 seconds on with 10 second rest intervals for the Tabata protocol as @Waquo mentioned. Here is an example of using the TRX with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz0AuYZYfvA&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;40 second/20 second&lt;/a&gt; workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also consider a pair of Nordic walking poles for your hiking.  They will transfer some of the weight off of your knees, and you’ll use more of your core muscles, lats, abs etc. each time you plant the pole, turning your hiking into a full body workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I managed to get some good workouts on an Alaskan ferry doing functional exercises with my resistance bands attached to the berths, so you’ll do fine in a cabin with your bands and heart rate monitor.  Have a fun vacation and congratulations on your progress, determination and commitment!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T20:41:27.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2602" CreationDate="2011-06-22T23:12:32.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Layering clothing is a smart idea if you live in cooler climates, or where the weather may change suddenly [A]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;then what does running in a jumper [sweater] do?&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, it is a throwback to the fashion from the movie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075148/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rocky&lt;/a&gt;. Although I like Christopher's idea of heat conditioning [B].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A - I live in Denver, CO. We can get some very severe weather changes. Also, with the altitude and humidity here, it is possible to get 50°F (28°C) temperature swings during the day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;B - Summer highs (here) are frequently over 100°F (38°C) for extended periods. During heat waves, the night time lows are rarely 20°F (11°C) cooler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T23:12:32.990" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2567" CreationDate="2011-06-22T23:24:58.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't like short socks. My &lt;em&gt;ex&lt;/em&gt; was a dancer and she hated long socks (she'd wear ankle length ones). Most of my socks don't quite go halfway up my shins, but I have some that make it to my knees, and those are hiking socks (and are for a small amount of padding in case things go up one's pants, or you're banging into things with your legs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For sports like footy/soccer/rugby, the length of socks is more like part of the uniform of the sport, like basketball shorts are for basketball. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T23:24:58.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2568" CreationDate="2011-06-22T23:41:40.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, part of the answer depends on how/why you've got GERD. If yours is like mine [A], you need to do things that do not compress the abdomen (road biking [B] and sit-ups) as well as keep ones' head raised above one's body (so no hanging upside down). None of the nearby gyms [C] have pools, so I can't test swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A - I shouldn't eat chocolate, alcohol or fatty foods, as those irritate the situation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;B - With the ram's horns handlbars. Ones where I sit upright (such as hybrid, mountain or commuter bikes are fine).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;C - In the chain I'm a member of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="118" LastActivityDate="2011-06-22T23:41:40.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2630" CreationDate="2011-06-22T23:59:22.810" Score="14" ViewCount="828" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never been able to run even a quarter of a mile straight. Even now, I have to stop and catch my breath. I'd like to take up running. What are the best ways to ease into it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1306" LastEditorUserId="1306" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T01:10:33.960" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T01:10:33.960" Title="What are the best ways for a beginner to ease into running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2629" CreationDate="2011-06-23T01:47:54.217" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best way to start is a couch to 5k program. Teaches you to increase your mileage a little at a time over nine weeks. It is a walk run program. You start out walking more than running, but eventually you do not walk any. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot;&gt;training programs&lt;/a&gt;, some are built for your phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember that you do not need to be running 5 minute miles. Slow and steady wins the race to completing the program. Speed comes with training or you are a freak and born with it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T01:47:54.217" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2606" CreationDate="2011-06-23T03:04:11.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Milk doesn't spoil quite as quickly as you think if you are in air conditioning.  It used to be delivered from carriages in the olden days, with or without ice.  To make it safer, however, you can steam it in the microwave the night before, let it cool, and then put it in the fridge for tomorrow.  It'll essentially be ultra-pasteurized and taste caramelized like milk in a latte from Starbucks.  Should be fine for a couple hours.  Don't mix the protein in hot or it will glob and form strands.  You can also get shelf safe milk like parmalat, which may be an acquired taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T03:04:11.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2300" CreationDate="2011-06-23T03:27:21.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know from experience that this is normal when starting barefoot training.  Be careful and start slow.  If you get delayed onset muscle soreness there or in your calves, another common point, it could last for days or a week.  Get help if pain becomes chronic or if you have an injury.  jumproping is a great way to strengthen your feet and ankles, as is barefoot walking and running.  I use Vibram fivefinger shoes for that purpose to help my ankle, calf, and foot strength for breaststroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T03:27:21.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2611" CreationDate="2011-06-23T05:09:45.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't take Nitric Oxide supplements, they are a scam.  It causes gastric distress in everyone (unless you are not taking the suggested dose), and it has no effect on glycogen storage.  It also does not effect blood flow when taken orally.  You are being duped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T05:09:45.913" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2635" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-23T06:05:49.223" Score="9" ViewCount="4450" Body="&lt;p&gt;My lower belly (the navel area and below it) sticks out a bit. I am not fat. I am really slim; in fact my chest is just thin and normal, but the lower belly sticks out a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest to me some solution for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update :&lt;/strong&gt; Thanks all of you for your answers. I examined myself, and it seems my problem is neither loose connective tissues, nor anterior pelvic tilt. As far as being slim is concerned it is kind of that I am not really really slim, but just a normal kind of guy, not skinny and not fat at all. I am a programmer, so I sit at my computer all day programming, less physical activities, so I also think that I might have a fat belly due to lots of food and no exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest me a good exercise for a fat belly, specially the area around the navel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1241" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-07T11:55:16.427" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T06:51:24.423" Title="Loose lower belly (Below navel area)" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2635" CreationDate="2011-06-23T11:47:06.257" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case you are actually really slim, then your condition can also be caused by weak connective tissue or by some kind of food intolerance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former can be caused by hormones, malnutrition or just simple biological predisposition. You can alleviate it by doing core exercises (both front and back!) but be careful to not create too much abdominal pressure, because if your connective tissue really is weakened, you might risk an umbilical hernia. If you strengthen your abdominal muscles your belly will look more evenly distributed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also check if you perhaps are suffering from any kind of malnutrition or dehydration, which also brings me to the latter possible cause: It is possible, that you are consuming some kind of food, which you cannot be digested properly. In this case the food is not digested, but fermented which often results in a bloated bowel and most likely flatulence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you must experiment a little bit. Check if your condition gets worse after eating certain kinds of food. Pretty common are lactose intolerance and fructose intolerance, so if you notice that after eating dairy products or fruit you belly gets extended even more, you might have found a possible cause (but don't be paranoid, any food will extend your stomach and bowel a little bit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unsure with any of this, you should also ask a doctor to rule out any actual sickness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general advice in case these tips won't help you: By getting toned in general you can cover up many irregularities of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T11:47:06.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2635" CreationDate="2011-06-23T14:01:37.737" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of possible reasons, here are my two best guesses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. 1 is an anterior pelvic tilt. Modern lifestyles with lots of sitting and shoes with heels lead to tight hip flexors, which lead to a tilted pelvis, a hollow back and a protruding belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YVXM7.png&quot; alt=&quot;pelvic tilt&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fixing this requires attack from multiple angles, there are many muscles involved here, not just the hip flexors. Ideally, you'd find out where your weakest links are and target those. In general, I'd recommend strengthening your glutes and stretching your hip flexors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to strengthen your glutes. Kettlebell swings or deadlifts are compound exercises with a strong emphasis on the glutes. I'm not sure squats would work as well, they don't use the whole posterior chain in the same way that swings or deadlifts do. Glute bridges and hip thrusts are a more focused approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also various ways to stretch your hip flexors. The classic is the lunge stretch. But be careful to do it with good form, or you'll just hyperextend your lower back rather than stretch your hip flexors. Tim Ferris is quite enthusiastic about Supine Groin (progressive) stretches from the Egoscue method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for something completely different, your digestion can also cause your belly to produde. A bloated stomach is not flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T14:01:37.737" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2567" CreationDate="2011-06-23T14:47:57.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the sport.  Soccer and Football (I'm speaking as an American here) both use long socks to hold the shin guards in place.  The shin guards provide extra padding to prevent injuries from errant kicks and tackles.  The long socks are also in the team colors so the referees can easily identify which team the players are on even when the jersey isn't visible (such as in a pileup).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other sports like basketball don't have shin guards and the sock height is more of a personal style as they have changed over the years.  Usually the team will be consistent so the players look uniform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-06-23T14:47:57.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2646" CreationDate="2011-06-23T15:39:25.753" Score="47" ViewCount="144321" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Women weaken legs.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; -- Mickey from Rocky I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've often heard and have been told from coaches even that one should abstain from any sexual activity, irrespective of whether it is manual or with a partner, before an athletic event.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any physiological reason for this advice or if said advice is being given only so that the male athlete stays mentally focused.  Are there effects on testosterone levels that are significant enough to affect athletic performance?  Does sex really make your legs weak?  Is the effect of sex/orgasms on athletic performance even measurable due to other variables like nutrition, sleep, mood, etc. etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T21:51:24.313" Title="Effect of Sex/Male Orgasm on Athletic Performance" Tags="&lt;performance&gt;&lt;sex&gt;&lt;mental&gt;&lt;male&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2642" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-23T19:51:32.890" Score="4" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose you were in a situation of restricted access to calories -- at or perhaps even below what you need to sustain your weight long-term -- but wanted to stay/get in the best shape possible under those circumstances.  (Hypothetical example: you're a captive prisoner-of-war, and are trying to maintain shape in case you have the opportunity to escape, but not starve as a result of exercising beyond your calorie allotment.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best exercise program you can design (with or without any equipment) that will keep or improve your strength, endurance, reflexes while consuming as few calories as possible so as not to hasten starvation?  Or is that basically impossible and your best bet is to conserve energy and hope for the best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1311" LastEditorUserId="1311" LastEditDate="2011-06-25T04:23:21.703" LastActivityDate="2011-06-25T04:23:21.703" Title="How to stay fit with lowest possible calorie burn?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2642" CreationDate="2011-06-24T06:07:53.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you lack calories your body will start to cannibalize itself in order to survive which means you will lose muscle mass whether you want to or not, unless you have a good store of body fat. But I would assume to stay fit you would probably need to do some aerobics to keep your joints and muscles warm and in good condition for the eminent escape, if you get the chance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-06-24T06:07:53.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2640" CreationDate="2011-06-24T06:43:35.133" Score="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer can be found in the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spike.com/video-clips/n4hm27/manswers-no-sex-before-sports&quot;&gt;No Sex Before Sports&lt;/a&gt;&quot; episode of Manswers. Here is a summary of that video:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The assistant coach of the LA Avengers tells his players to abstain from sex the night before a game because &lt;strong&gt;late night sex can take away hours from sleep&lt;/strong&gt;. Adequate sleep is necessary for good athletic performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;David Baron, M.D. Physician, says that higher testosterone levels give better coordination, reflexes, and spatial coordination - traits for good athletic performance. He says &lt;strong&gt;testosterone levels are NOT affected by sex&lt;/strong&gt;. David says sex will generally only burn 50 calories and will not wear out an athlete before a game. David quotes Canadian physician Ian Shryder on his report that there was &lt;strong&gt;absolutely no effect of sex before a big game&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-06-24T06:43:35.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2648" CreationDate="2011-06-24T10:10:18.307" Score="14" ViewCount="1865" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked my gym instructor to check my deadlift form last night and he said I was doing it wrong. According to him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My hips were too low at the starting position - he says the hips should be as high as possible (the legs almost straight but not locked, remaining like this for the whole movement)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar should not touch the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a mixed grip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the way down, I feel my hamstrings stretching because my legs are so straight doing it like this. (I'm not naturally flexible and its hard for me to touch my toes) All the effort in this movement seems to come from the lower back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he plain wrong, teaching me a different kind of deadlift, or correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the correct way to deadlift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastEditorUserId="347" LastEditDate="2011-06-24T10:15:19.657" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T17:57:06.737" Title="What is the correct form for a deadlift?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2647" CreationDate="2011-06-24T12:01:24.857" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mehdi wrote a nice article about this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Always start with the bar on the floor. Pulling from the safety pins is a Rack Pull. Deadlifting top down is a Romanian Deadlift. With conventional DEADlifts the bar must always start on the floor. Here’s how to Deadlift in 5 easy steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 . Stand with the bar above the&#xA;  center of your feet – your stance&#xA;  should be a bit more narrow than&#xA;  shoulder-width to give your arms room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 . Grab the bar overhand so your arms&#xA;  are vertical to the floor – if your&#xA;  hamstrings are tight, do Squat 2&#xA;  stands to boost your hip flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3 . Bend through your knees until your&#xA;  shins hit the bar which must remain&#xA;  above the middle of your feet.&#xA;  Shoulder-blades directly over the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4 . Lift your chest but don’t squeeze&#xA;  your shoulder-blades like on Squats.&#xA;  Just put your shoulders back &amp;amp; down,&#xA;  head inline with rest of your spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5 . Pull - keep the bar close to your&#xA;  body, roll it over your knees and&#xA;  thighs until your hips and knees are&#xA;  locked. Do not lean back at the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1266" LastActivityDate="2011-06-24T12:01:24.857" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2642" CreationDate="2011-06-24T15:15:59.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article429001.ece&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Joseph Pilates&lt;/a&gt; originally designed the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilates&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise system&lt;/a&gt; named for him while in a WW I internment camp. The mat work portions are ideal for maintaining some muscle tone and fitness with restricted food and equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-24T15:15:59.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2485" CreationDate="2011-06-24T22:03:25.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would occasionally get symptoms just like this, for me it was hyperventilation.  I seemed to be breathing harder and deeper than normal, even hours after a run.  I could get rid of the prickly/woozy feeling after breathing in my cupped hands or a paper bag.  Sometimes it would take a few minutes if it was really bad.  Once it happened during a run as I charged up with heavy breathing for a steep hill.  I just slowed my breathing way down and the feeling went away as I climbed the hill.  For prevention, I started practicing breathing exercises and haven't had a problem in years. (Dr Weil's 4-7-8, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastActivityDate="2011-06-24T22:03:25.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-25T20:32:30.193" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that an obstacle to getting fitter is bad digestion especially when it comes to working out the belly area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I worked out for a year or more I felt great but my stomach probably didn't appreciate the protein shakes on the long run. Now I often get this bloated feeling during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what diet or foodstuffs could I adopt to ease digestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="747" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T20:14:14.297" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T16:54:16.657" Title="Digestion and getting fitter" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-10-01T00:51:28.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-25T20:39:22.017" Score="2" ViewCount="536" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I used to work out I'd sometimes get a deep sore feeling in arms and legs and even slight pain. It was similar to the feeling you get when you have buildup of lactic acid but not quite. Could this be associated with the loss of muscular mass, nerve compression or simple stress? I'm curious to have some answers as I'm certain some of you have experienced this to some degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="747" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T01:24:46.830" Title="Unusual soreness in limbs" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="895" CreationDate="2011-06-25T22:07:47.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a particularly effective HIT weight training workout today, and after two sets I was so gassed and queasy that I had to lay down on the bench for a few minutes to let everything settle down. I hadn't just eaten or drank, and while my heart was racing I don't think it was &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; high and my breathing was still under control (although certainly I was short of breath). I recalled a section addressing this from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/145057341X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body By Science Question and Answer Book&lt;/a&gt; (p. 237-240), and from that I'd like to add one more potential cause to @Ivo's list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The nausea that one feels is a result&#xA;  of burning so much glycogen out of the&#xA;  muscles that the body attempts to&#xA;  continue muscular contraction by&#xA;  manufacturing more glucose out of the&#xA;  lactic acid that has been building up&#xA;  within the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;Long chemical process explanation&lt;/em&gt;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The upshot of this complicated&#xA;  biochemical process is that when a&#xA;  trainee runs out of glycogen in his&#xA;  working muscles and his body liberates&#xA;  lactate into his bloodstream, his pH&#xA;  levels drop off markedly, producing a&#xA;  strong lactic acidosis and feelings of&#xA;  nausea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This effect causes a drop in blood pressure (often perceived as light-headedness), and the inadequate blood flow to the abdomen produces the feeling of nausea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple ways to combat this feeling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase rest time between sets to allow the body to keep up with the demands that are being placed on it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consume a bit of sugar immediately upon feeling the symptoms (or beforehand if you are certain that this will be a problem). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-06-25T22:07:47.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2656" CreationDate="2011-06-26T16:05:41.720" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great first step to preventing digestion issues (not to mention numerous other issues) is to eliminate grains from your diet, most notably wheat. Grains, again wheat especially, contain a high amount of gluten and lectins which are very difficult proteins for our bodies to digest. Over time these proteins begin to tear holes in our intestines leading to various autoimmune disorders, not to mention major indegestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some articles explaining the effects of grains on our systems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://whole9life.com/2010/03/the-grain-manifesto/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://whole9life.com/2010/03/the-grain-manifesto/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-grains/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-grains/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog/2011/02/the-perfect-frankengrain.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog/2011/02/the-perfect-frankengrain.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can then do to help heal digestive issues is eat more fermented foods in order to increase beneficial bacteria in your gut. A healthy gut flora helps break down carbohydrates and aide in digestion. A great fermented food is sauerkraut, you just need to pay attention because most commercialized versions of it are stored in vinegar and pastuerized which kills all of the beneficial bacteria therefore defeating the purpose. Another great digestive aide is coconut water, it is very high in potassium and full of electrolytes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, here are some articles to help further explain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fermented-foods-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fermented-foods-health/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/whats-up-with-your-gut-beneficial-bacteria-and-good-digestive-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/whats-up-with-your-gut-beneficial-bacteria-and-good-digestive-health/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodrenegade.com/coconut-milk-is-natures-gatorade/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.foodrenegade.com/coconut-milk-is-natures-gatorade/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1298" LastActivityDate="2011-06-26T16:05:41.720" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2483" CreationDate="2011-06-27T08:26:36.647" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, in raw eggs, especially in raw egg white an antinutrient called trypsin inhibitor protein is present which hinders in protein digestion. It can be destroyed by heating at 120 C for 15-20 minutes.&#xA;Raw egg white also contains a protein called avidin which inhibits the absorption of Biotin-a B vitamin.If you cook the eggs both the factors are destroyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="878" LastActivityDate="2011-06-27T08:26:36.647" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2657" CreationDate="2011-06-27T13:59:37.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like simple muscle soreness, depending on your health level, amount/intensity of your workout and your hydration level - it could all be normal.  Everyone has a different level of pain threshold and different ability to recover.  You need to create/modify your workout program to accommodate your current health level, your ability/need to recover and what you're looking to achieve.  The most important factor is creating a program that will keep your interest long term.  Stay hydrated and keep at it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-27T13:59:37.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2667" CreationDate="2011-06-27T18:32:59.507" Score="26" ViewCount="16121" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly is Tabata ? Is it just a form of HIIT ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes Tabata effective in fat burning or providing thermogenic effects ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T19:00:07.257" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T19:00:07.257" Title="What is tabata? How effective is it?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2011-06-28T00:15:31.000" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tabata is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt; method and the process is very straightforward, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/tabataintervals.html&quot;&gt;RossTraining.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tabata intervals consist of 20 seconds&#xA;  of maximum intensity exercise,&#xA;  followed by 10 seconds of rest. This&#xA;  cycle is repeated 8 times (for a total&#xA;  of 4 minutes)... you can apply this protocol&#xA;  to almost any exercise. A few popular&#xA;  examples include hitting a heavy bag,&#xA;  sprinting, jumping rope, or performing&#xA;  bodyweight calisthenics (ex. squats&#xA;  and pushups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It originated from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; performed by Dr. Izumi Tabata in which he discovered that the short bursts of high intensity were far more effective than slower paced, even rythmed exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for myself I have only implemented it with sprinting after reading more about it in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/what-are-tabata-sprints/&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; from Mark Sisson, but I can say that it certainly does seem to be very effective and exhausting!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1298" LastEditorUserId="2148" LastEditDate="2012-11-15T16:53:26.577" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T16:53:26.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2011-06-28T12:35:48.590" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392?dopt=Abstract&quot;&gt;link to the Library of Medicine&lt;/a&gt; article discussing the effectiveness.  Yes, it's a form of HIIT, the basic idea is 8 - 20 second intervals followed by 10 seconds of rest.  Is it effective? the studies performed have shown it to be and I can tell you from first hand experience that it's the most effective program I've used to build endurance and loss weight (real weight, not just temp water weight).  Like any other program, you get out of it what you put into it.  You need to push the intensity of each exercise as much as you can and limit the rest periods between the exercises.   You can apply the Tabata protocol to any body weight or light weight (including kettlebell) routines you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the link to the Ross Training article again: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/tabataintervals.html&quot;&gt;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/tabataintervals.html&lt;/a&gt; - worth reading a few times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to an interval timer I use: &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymboss.com/&quot;&gt;http://gymboss.com/&lt;/a&gt; (you can also download iPhone timers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apply it to heavy bag training, running, kettlebells and you will be very happy with the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-28T12:35:48.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3801" CreationDate="2011-06-29T04:27:34.183" Score="4" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for a hydration pack that I can use for riding, running, snowboarding and (by removing the bladder and putting it into my travel pack) backpacking across Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My requirements are pretty simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2L capacity (or around that mark)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimal - no extra storage or other bells and whistles are necessary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reasonably strong/good quality&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this stage I'm interested in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.deuter.com/en_US/backpack-details.php?category=127&amp;amp;id=1700&amp;amp;title=Hydro%20lite%202.0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; bag by Deuter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1343" LastEditorDisplayName="user1343" LastEditDate="2011-09-14T05:24:34.350" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T05:24:34.350" Title="What hydration system should I use for multiple activities?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2679" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-29T19:05:30.930" Score="7" ViewCount="833" Body="&lt;p&gt;This goes along with a prior question, what over-training signs to look for.  Is there such a thing as over-training? or is it that you injure yourself from lack of proper training and don't perform at peak because of bad planning? So, the question is, &lt;strong&gt;Is there such a thing as over training?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/max_out_on_squats_every_day&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Max Out on Squats Every Day&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-27T22:58:08.833" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T20:23:41.577" Title="Can you overtrain?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2679" CreationDate="2011-06-29T19:29:19.087" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article you site refers to the Bulgarian method, which produces world class lifters who can handle the high intensity, constant training, and become very strong because of it. But propenents tend to not mention all of the people who are spit out the back of the Bulgarian system because their bodies can not handle the strain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the people that can not handle constant training that can over train, and that is the majority of the population. Over training is exacerbated by two things especially:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad form: You see this in baseball pitchers. They throw hard for months, but bad form combined with too many pitches leads to injury. These are not necessarily instantaneous injuries, but often injuries related to tearing and inflammation, which could have been avoided with fewer pitches, more rest, or especially, better form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overloading the eccentric movements: Eccentric movements occur when a muscle is extended as it is trying to contract. For example, when lowering a weight to the floor, fighting gravity, your bicep is contracting, but the weight is extending the muscle at the same time. This movement can cause substantial gains in strength, but excessive weight, or excessive numbers of movements can cause long term injuries such as tennis elbow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that the person profiled in the article above is used to the average person leaving his gym, while the genetic anomalies stay and successfully work within his program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added comments: It is my &lt;em&gt;opinion&lt;/em&gt; that non-injury symptoms of over training are really caused by under recovery. In other words, you could potentially deal with the problem by sleeping more, or eating better, rather than necessarily reducing the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T05:46:13.700" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T05:46:13.700" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2679" CreationDate="2011-06-29T19:46:29.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over training is a common problem in some athletic circles where raw power is desired, but excessive training builds up endurance instead. Boxing comes to mind and can be spotted when a boxer doesn't break a sweat in the early rounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-29T19:46:29.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-06-29T23:25:11.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0025VKW5K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Garmin Forerunner 310XT&lt;/a&gt; with a heart rate monitor and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0025YSALK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foot pod&lt;/a&gt;. I've used it for over a year for running, hiking, and hunting. It monitors pace, elevation, heart rate, and cadence. I can also do basic navigation with it like marking a waypoint and finding it later, as well as following my tracks back to the trailhead. The battery lasts for 20 hours which is the longest of any of the Garmin watches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I get home, my results are wirelessly uploaded to Garmin's website where I can enter a run description and view a map. Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95021852&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example of a recent race&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really enjoy getting data from my runs, and it helps motivate me to run more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1353" LastActivityDate="2011-06-29T23:25:11.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2686" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2689" CreationDate="2011-06-30T00:12:53.480" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last two times I've done legs curls at the gym my left glute will feel the burn on the third set, but the right glute did not even though I made sure that both legs were putting in the same amount of force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After thinking about the last set I decided to do a fourth set with only the right leg doing the curl to get some burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the obvious question as stated in the title. Is it normal for only half the pair to feel the burn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T03:43:21.380" Title="Is it possible for one of a pair of muscles to feel the burn more than the other muscle in the pair?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;burn&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-30T00:59:58.667" Score="4" ViewCount="2047" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't walk and even when I plan to walk I just say I will do that tomorrow and I don't. So I say to myself I should try something at home. I don't want to buy anything, do you know any workouts that I can do easily at home and can benefit me as good as walking? I need to lose weight and get my stomach fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know any good website (even if I should pay) to see good workouts at home, please tell me about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1354" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T09:16:35.217" Title="What are workouts that I can do at home instead of walking outside?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2687" CreationDate="2011-06-30T01:55:46.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try &lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren Body Weight Exercise&lt;/a&gt; at home and you don't need to buy any gym tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start exercising &lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it&lt;/a&gt; by doing ladders easily first then gradually getting better and better after you're used to its muscular endurance practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got my core fitter/tighter by doing this. I couldn't lift my body to do just one push up a year ago, last night I just realised I can do classic push up correctly for 60 times and the total is apparently growing as long as I practice it dilligently. I'm also used to lunges and squats nowadays to make my feet stronger and I'm happy :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this exercise when I'm worried it's gonna rain on the road if I walk/jog outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T01:55:46.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2686" CreationDate="2011-06-30T03:43:21.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both muscles may not be of equal strength and ability. If you work them equally you may be able to even them out. This is definitely normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T03:43:21.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2687" CreationDate="2011-06-30T03:46:02.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running, jumping jacks, lunges, burpies, mountain climbers, squats, situps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastEditorUserId="940" LastEditDate="2011-06-30T03:51:19.010" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T03:51:19.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2697" CreationDate="2011-06-30T07:02:18.477" Score="12" ViewCount="4778" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the nutritional facts on an egg carton, I see that one medium sized egg satisfies 71% of the daily nutritional requirements for cholesterol. Many bodybuilders eat up to a dozen of eggs per day, putting them well over the suggested amount of cholesterol. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sc-AruW8kg&quot;&gt;Jay Cutler eats 2 whole eggs and 10 egg whites for breakfast&lt;/a&gt;. This puts him at 142% the suggested cholesterol, if we're being conservative and assuming most of the cholesterol is in the yolk. His 4 other meals throughout the day will put him even more over the limit. If you're an active person like Jay Cutler, can you safely consume more than the suggested daily requirements for cholesterol without damaging the heart? Does exercising flush out cholesterol at many magnitudes faster than being sedentary? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T10:25:21.863" Title="Can an active person eat more cholesterol?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cholesterol&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2692" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2693" CreationDate="2011-06-30T07:08:20.963" Score="6" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started running lately. This is mainly to build up my stamina when I play sports like soccer, tennis etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I'm running my cross trainers. When I get to about 5km or more, my feet start to hurt. It's probably because I'm unfit and not used to running and I'll probably get over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend recommended I get proper running shoes but.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think running shoes will definitely be better for running but is it a good idea if you are running so you can get better at something else? Wouldn't my feet get conditioned to all the comfort and cushioning of the running shoes, and then when I play sports, my feet won't be used to running without them? Should I just bear the pain to try to condition my feet to run in run in actual real world environments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1144" LastEditorUserId="1144" LastEditDate="2011-06-30T10:21:34.087" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T14:24:25.103" Title="Should I wear running shoes to go running if I'm training for sports" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2692" CreationDate="2011-06-30T07:18:00.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, definitely. When running, your feet/joints are under constant stress. The best way to alleviate the shocks they endure from running on asphalt or other hard surfaces is to use running shoes. They are especially designed for this purpose. Not only this, but they also give you the right movement freedom and allow you to run correctly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1293" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T07:18:00.610" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-06-30T09:33:37.453" Score="4" ViewCount="5727" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most powerlifters and heavy weight olympic lifters have a lot of muscle, but are not skinny, why not? Would excess fat not hinder them in their technical lifts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T20:46:14.433" Title="Why is it beneficial for powerlifters and heavy weight olympic lifters to not have low body fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2691" CreationDate="2011-06-30T09:45:16.017" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't name sources or studies, but I believe the warnings about dietary cholesterol are obsolete. Cholesterol in your diet has little effect on cholesterol in your blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other factors like carbs in your diet, exercise and your genes do have an effect, so a physically active person should have lower cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T09:45:16.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2694" CreationDate="2011-06-30T12:34:09.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just reading an article on this last night in PowerLifter magazine.  On avg., every 10 lbs of new weight adds at min. 4lbs of muscle (for those who do not train at all).  So, just adding weight adds strength.  The article also listed the lifts from the most to least technical - Bench Pressing being the least 'technical' and dead lifting the most with squatting in the middle...so, some of the lifts could be impacted by the extra weight but not all - and many competitions take the total of the 3 lifts as the determining factor of who wins (total lbs lifted in all lifts).  Is it healthy? no&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T12:34:09.893" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2691" CreationDate="2011-06-30T13:36:03.220" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recent research has moved away from total cholesterol counts to pay attention to good HDL, neutral LDL, bad LDL and triglycerides. It has been found that some foods with high cholesterol raise the total cholesterol number, but they do it in ways that are not bad (raising large LDL and HDL). Other foods with low or no cholesterol (sugars), raise the bad LDL cholesterol and suppress HDL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, your question centers on eggs, so here is an abstract from 2006:&#xA;Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations&#xA;Fernandez, Maria Luz&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lack of connection between heart disease and egg intake could partially be explained by the fact that dietary cholesterol increases the concentrations of both circulating LDL and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in those individuals who experience an increase in plasma cholesterol following egg consumption (hyperresponders). It is also important to note that 70% of the population experiences a mild increase or no alterations in plasma cholesterol concentrations when challenged with high amounts of dietary cholesterol (hyporesponders). Egg intake has been shown to promote the formation of large LDL, in addition to shifting individuals from the LDL pattern B to pattern A, which is less atherogenic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to note that the end goal is not cholesterol numbers, but heart disease avoidance. The first sentence in that abstract tells the tale: there is not a connection between eggs and heart disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an abundance of research showing that exercise improves your cholesterol profile. Here is the first result I got on google scholar: &lt;a href=&quot;http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&amp;amp;cpsidt=3498824&quot;&gt;http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&amp;amp;cpsidt=3498824&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T13:36:03.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2692" CreationDate="2011-06-30T14:24:25.103" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running shoes will help protect your feet by adding more cushion or encouraging better stride (go for these!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, running long distances is not the best method for improving performance in tennis or soccer. Both of those sports are more focused on short sprints with frequent stops which demand different muscle fibers than developed in long distance running and different tolerances for lactic acid. We had our tennis team focus on sprint exercises and drills that simulated the stop and go motion and we had better results than when we'd tell them to run 5k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-06-30T14:24:25.103" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2701" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2702" CreationDate="2011-07-01T05:16:40.147" Score="12" ViewCount="56935" Body="&lt;p&gt;I learn to swim and I have a common swimming pool in my apartment. But we don't have any trainer and I can't afford personal trainer. I don't know swimming but want to learn. Can i learn without any trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if yes then please give me some tips on how to learn. My weight is 100 KG.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also tell me me what accessories I should buy for swimming.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And can i go to swimming pool anytime or only in morning is better?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1358" LastEditorUserId="1358" LastEditDate="2011-07-01T12:24:36.780" LastActivityDate="2019-01-18T03:08:30.540" Title="Is it possible to learn to swimming without trainer, alone?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2701" CreationDate="2011-07-01T12:01:01.687" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safety first, if you want to learn to swim (as an adult), make sure you try it in a swimming pool where you can easily stand up if things go wrong and have supervision around in case of an emergency.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who has learned several children to swim, I'd say its pretty hard to learn it yourself &lt;em&gt;properly&lt;/em&gt;. Why? Because you can read the words, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to correct yourself if you do something wrong. But if you really put your mind to it, I do think it can be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual order of learning to swim goes sort of like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get used to water&lt;/strong&gt;, lose the fear of getting your head under water, learn how to hold your breath and breathing out under water. As an adult this step should be easy, but don't underestimate it. If you want to swim, you need to accept you're &lt;strong&gt;in the water&lt;/strong&gt;, stop trying to keep as much of your body out of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn how to float&lt;/strong&gt;. This is by far &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; most important thing to learn if you want to swim. You see, your body is perfectly able to float without you having to anything. They key to this is exhaling deeply, filling your belly with air and relax as much as possible. While its easier to float on your back, since you can keep breathing, new swimmers will often let their butt sink down which will hurts your floating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start floating on your belly. Basically start at the edge of the pool, pull up your legs and push off. Then try to float in a straight line until your feel the urge to breath and stand up again. &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.swimator.com/2006/01/tips-for-beginners-of-all-ages-kids_22.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Try to have a position like in this image from Swimator&lt;/a&gt; Note: you should be floating at the surface, just mimic the posture:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pW3QB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep practicing this until you can float like this for at least 10 seconds without 'tumbling' over. An important thing to learn is to put your head into the water, trying to keep your head up, will 'push' your back down and ruin your floating position.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next move on to floating on your back (watch your head, seriously!). You simply start in a reversed position compared to floating on your back. Hold the edges of the pool while pulling up your legs, then push off. Try to keep the same position as on your belly, putting your head between the arms and keep it in the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast to floating on your belly, you should practice to maintain this position for a longer period of time. This requires you to breath in and out of a relaxed and controlled fashion. You'll notice that you start to sink when you breath out or that your buttocks start to sink deeper, so you'll have to learn how to adept to these situations. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/video_7380818_float-back.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Have a look at this ehow video for more information&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn how to move while floating.&lt;/strong&gt; Once you've really nailed the floating, its time to learn how to move while still trying to float. The reason I tell you to push off the side of the pool is because this keeps you moving. Like a bicycle, its easier to maintain your balance if you're moving than standing still. Likewise, kicking your legs can 'push' you upwards a little bit to make floating easier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, remember that you &lt;strong&gt;shouldn't have to move to be able to float!&lt;/strong&gt; This is important, because you'll often see poor swimmers kick like crazy, while not moving very far. That's because the water has a high resistance, if you increase your frontal surface, you're effectively slowing yourself down. That's why all swimming movements are cyclic movements and when you make a stroke, you want to use that energy as efficiently as possible: by keeping your body stretched out and simply floating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it can be quite difficult to learn how to move both your arms and legs at the same time, its often easier to start with the legs first, simply kicking your legs while floating in your back or belly. The first leg movement &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/video_2366151_overview-breaststroke-leg-movement.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;to learn would be the breaststroke leg movement.&lt;/a&gt; As this ehow video shows, you can practice this out of the water. Preferably you have somebody film you or help you guide to learn the motions properly. This may feel silly, but there are countless of 'self-learned' swimmers who have a very inefficient kick, who kick without actually pushing themselves forward. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last word of advice, don't get overconfident of your swimming skills. Take the time to practice the basic skills first, before moving on to learning strokes. I can guarantee you that better basic skills will do more for your safety while swimming than learning any stroke at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to come back with any followup questions if you have trouble with any of these steps and in the mean time, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_12012_swimming-tips.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;have a look at several other swimming resources.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-07-01T12:01:01.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2694" CreationDate="2011-07-01T16:10:27.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a couple of things going on here, and they are both cultural and practical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In order to build muscle you need three things: protein + calories, lifting heavy things, rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can't build muscle without gaining weight.  I can attest to this since I have gained 11 lb of muscle and lost .6 lb of fat in the process.  Muscle is more dense than fat.  BF% is down but scale weight is up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes more calories than you think to build muscle, but if you are consuming those calories without giving your body some work to do you will have too much fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a cultural bias against body builders, and one of &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Wit_and_Wisdom_of_Mark_Rippetoe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe's quotes&lt;/a&gt; sums up the sentiment nicely: &quot;You guys that worry about eating clean are actually merely bodybuilders looking for justification for your obsession with abs. You cannot get big and strong on 3000 kcal/day. And you cannot eat 7000/day and eat perfectly 'clean'.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, while I respect Mr. Rippetoe a whole heap, I also can't bring myself to think like him in regards to food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What affects your ability to lift heavy things is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your raw animal strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your flexibility (full squats to parallel actually improve flexibility)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your technical ability (power cleans and snatches are among the most technical lifts you can do, and provide explosive power--deadlifts are just a starting point for them)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you can get your body into the right position and complete the lift properly you can lift a lot of weight.  In short, for power lifters and Olympic athletes strength is more important than the way the body looks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-01T16:10:27.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2701" CreationDate="2011-07-01T16:34:20.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two things that I learnt before I got any good at swimming.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first I learnt in elementary school ages ago and that was to go into the shallow end of the pool, dip down to about chest height and then wrap yourself into fetal position.  What that did for me was it thought me that I can float and also to learn to relax in the water.  Mind you your head will be under water, but it part of learning to relax and hold your breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing I learnt from a friend was the dog paddle.  Essentially you swim like a dog. You can easily keep your head above water and the movements are easy to do.  From there you can slowly experiment and learn to swim in other styles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-07-01T16:34:20.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2694" CreationDate="2011-07-01T16:34:42.473" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For powerlifting, record lifts are 3 or more times bodyweight, and the lifts don't really require lifting the body. An extra 50lbs of body fat will not affect the result of deadlift or bench pressing, at all. In fact, more body weight will actually help you dead lift more whether you are stronger or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at olympic lifters, they are leaner than powerlifters, but the amount of bodyweight they have to lift is still dwarfed by the weight on the bar. Fat on the body is not a major factor in how much they can lift. Flexibility would be much more important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their weight does start to matter a little bit because of weight classes. However, you might be used to seeing how cut body builders and boxers look. Both of these type of athletes are often extremely dehydrated when you see them in order to look like they have lower body fat (body builders) or to make a lower weight class (boxers). This reduces strength, which, in weightlifting, does not make up for the weight class advantage. Top lifters are rarely obese, they just don't have any incentive to be underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-07-01T16:34:42.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1623" CreationDate="2011-07-01T20:15:24.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was on an approximate lose-1-pound-per-day diet two years ago. I used to eat very little and worked out a lot. I did it for about 4 months. As a result, I ended up with a heart problem and a series of neurological disorders, mostly chemical imbalances in the brain due to my hormone composition reacting strangely to my body being worn out. You have to be really careful with rapid weight loss. It can cause many more nasty things than it seems at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1361" LastActivityDate="2011-07-01T20:15:24.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2734" CreationDate="2011-07-02T23:27:20.657" Score="3" ViewCount="18080" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen incline, decline, and horizontal squat machines at the gym. Does each one activate different muscles or are they effectively the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IAPlG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/odLvf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T16:29:54.110" Title="How does the angle of the squat machine affect muscle activation?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2701" CreationDate="2011-07-02T23:36:46.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a kid, I took many years of swimming lessons. I discovered that learning how to swim, in the notion of staying afloat, is a mental skill that no one can teach you. Fear of drowning causes you to struggle. Struggling causes you to sink. Therefore, to not drown, you should stop being scared so you don't struggle. For me, the moment I realized this I instantly transitioned from using the kiddie boogie board to being able to float. It was an instant revelation. It was not a gradual learning process where I could somehow increase my buoyancy. You either drown or float - there is no in between. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we're talking about how to swim technically, then yes, you do need an instructor. An instructor will teach you all the styles: breast stroke, back stroke, etc... He will correct your form for maximum speed and efficiency. He will show you how to place your hands and form your body to cut the water cleanly on a dive, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-07-02T23:36:46.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-03T03:50:01.063" Score="5" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a hiking vacation once and intend to do it again this summer. It isn't too sternous, and it involves sleeping at tourist lodges* and only wearing clothes in the backpack (no food or sleeping bags). I have never done any serious work outs, and have a sedentary lifestyle and weak muscles. So this is quite a big increase in physical activity for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A downside I noticed last vacation is that the food available at the lodges is very different from my usual diet. I eat moderately low carb, with maybe 90-100 g protein intake a day, and my carbs come mainly from vegetables. There are often days when I don't touch any starchy staples. The lodges, on the other hand, offer cheapest staples energy-boosted with vegetable oil. It is not unusual to have a stew consisting of rice and potatoes only, as a complete meal. If there is any meat, it is low-quality ground meat stretched with fillers before turning it into meatballs. The result is that in my most active period of the year I am getting 10-15 g of protein instead of my usual 90-100. It was noticeable last time I did it: I felt lethargic. Not tired from activity (it was an easy trek), but really languid. So this time, I want to bring protein with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that professional sportlers have protein supplements, and thought that I can use these. Somebody said that I could take protein bars with me, but these turned out to have a fairly low concentration of protein, around 30%. Not only am I better off choosing a high quality salami, it means that I'll have to take almost 300 g per day, so 2 kg for the whole seven days. This is a very big addition to my 4.5 kg backpack, and I am looking for something more compact. And in Amazon reviews, some people complain of a very soft, marzipan like consistency - this is certain to get squished in the backpack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are shakes too, but this doesn't sound very convenient for hiking. They need a shaker, which means more volume and weight in the backpack. There is always the risk of spillage of powder in the backpack. And then reviewers often hate the artificial taste, noting that it is sometimes impossible to get it down, especially when made with water instead of milk. I won't have milk available, and I dislike the taste of processed food in general. So this option has lots of drawbacks too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good protein source I have overseen? Or if bars or shake powder is the best option available, are there any tricks how to mitigate the problems with them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I couldn't find a good translation for that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1365" LastActivityDate="2011-07-04T17:28:56.363" Title="Efficient protein choices for hiking" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-03T05:22:58.477" Score="4" ViewCount="3170" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good day,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before going to the gym, and as far as I remember, even in my youth, I always had&#xA;various bodyaches: wrists, knees, shoulders and sometimes my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started going to the gym about a year and half ago. Going about 3 times a week&#xA;for like 2 months and half straight, and I must say I did great and my aches left completly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I quit because I moved and it became too complicated with the travelling distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that, since I quit, my bodyaches are back but also I'm having weaknesses&#xA;and constant tiredness since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always had a muscular build even before going to the gym and I still have it today even though&#xA;I'm slowly gaining all the fat I've lost doing the gym (I doubt I am sick because I'm not&#xA;lossing weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a computer programmer, that gives you a hint on how my muscles are being&#xA;solicited : not at all and also, I'm not doing any sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can lives with the bodyaches because I always did but I just can't stands the weaknesses and&#xA;tiredness. Is there a reason with my problems and me having quit the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I am not a doctor fan, I went there only once since my 14 y.o. and I am now 27.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1366" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T02:28:53.330" Title="Is there a reason I'm having weakness and tiredness after I quit the gym?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2714" CreationDate="2011-07-03T12:19:48.140" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've probably got a couple things going on at the same time.  And it has to do with both nutrition and exercise.  The fact that your aches and pains went away after you started going to the gym regularly gives you a hint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our bodies were meant to be exercised.  Plain and simple.  When you physically demand more of your body it responds in turn by getting ready for the next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you'll find that if you find a way to be active every day, your energy levels will rise to meet those demands.  Also, getting your blood pumping does wonders for helping you stay alert and think more clearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Inflammatory foods can increase sickness and aches/pains while anti-inflammatory foods do the opposite.  Check nutritional data at &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com&lt;/a&gt; and look at the &quot;Inflammatory index&quot;.  You want a net -100 to feel healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another gotcha is that if you rely on quick carbs (candy bars, brownies, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, processed foods) you get a double whammy.  Not only are those foods highly inflammatory, but they produce a spike in energy followed by lethargy and hunger after the pancreas spikes the insulin to deal with it.  When you do carbs, try to make sure they are complex whole carbs so that they take longer to process and give you a more controlled release of energy throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you say that you've always had a decent muscular build I'm assuming you have enough protein in your diet.  That's a good thing.  Just keep in mind that you may have to increase it after getting active again.  Also, keep up the water intake.  It should be at least 2L a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendations for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get active again.  If nothing else buy a bike and ride around your neighborhood.  Find a new gym if you have to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fine tune your diet, till you find a good combo that helps you feel good and not put on extra pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forget about calories, and concentrate on portions.  Adjust your protein, carbs, fats portions in 10% increments until you get a good balance.  Believe it or not, excess carbs contribute most to stored fat than anything else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-03T12:19:48.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2730" CreationDate="2011-07-03T14:30:19.603" Score="8" ViewCount="50054" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally can control my blood pressure (120/80) by managing to have healthy life style, following my nutritionist's diet guide, enough rest/sleep, no stress and regular exercise. But this morning (GMT +8 / Malaysia Time) I ate just a small spoon of lamb at my friend's wedding party. No wonder I kinda got headache after that, so I just took a nap as soon as I was home. And felt better when I woke up. Tonight when I checked my blood pressure is 140/90.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I usually do body weight exercise at night and walk/jog in the morning.&lt;/strong&gt; I already walked for 5.5km this morning and did 36 classic push ups and 10 push ups with my feet higher on a bench while I took rest near the beautiful lake then walked home. I just feel something is missing now, really. &lt;strong&gt;Is it safe if I exercise right now?&lt;/strong&gt; I usually do ladders: 3 sets of 6 reps push ups, 2 sets of 4 reps seated dips in, 2 sets of 5 reps deep push ups, 2 sets of 6 reps of bear walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched on and on and googled around but found nothing about this. What I found from google were always boring references of things I already do regularly, like balance diet, regular exercise, etc etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T18:18:00.177" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T21:33:02.437" Title="Should we exercise when our blood pressure is high?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1623" CreationDate="2011-07-03T18:12:18.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please don't even think of further reducing the amount of food you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the amount of speed you are loosing your weight there are  chances that you'll gain it in the same speed. (body always try to recover the loss)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go slowly and steadily you'll have better results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1369" LastActivityDate="2011-07-03T18:12:18.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-04T13:31:22.630" Score="2" ViewCount="6315" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are tennis shoes good to use for jogging and on a treadmill? Or any other type sports shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1358" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T20:03:37.893" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T20:03:37.893" Title="Are tennis shoes good to use for jogging and on a treadmill?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2713" CreationDate="2011-07-04T17:28:56.363" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a nutritional standpoint, animal protein is going to continue to be your best source of protein for your body. Most &quot;protein bars,&quot; while high(er) in protein than say, a candy bar, are mostly just high-density carbs that aren't doing your body any favors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you buy a food dehydrator and a jerky gun, you can make your own jerky that has much less salt than anything you would buy in the store. This gives you a lot more control over the protein source that you choose while still lowering the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1376" LastActivityDate="2011-07-04T17:28:56.363" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2728" CreationDate="2011-07-05T07:54:35.453" Score="4" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been slowly getting back into shape. Started with my diet and have since added walking for half an hour most days. I haven't been tracking my weight because I am not so concerned by weight as actual fat. I have lost almost 2 clothing sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I have been starting to jog as well as walk, slowly increasing the distance I jog. That has been going well and I have also tried doing short sprints in between long walks just to shake things up a bit. In addition to losing fat I also want to get back to a reasonable fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing short sprints I notice a rather sharp pain in my shins. I am wondering what this is and if it will go away as I continue to get fitter and lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T20:00:21.283" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T20:00:21.283" Title="Shins hurt when running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2727" CreationDate="2011-07-05T10:14:23.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not medically qualified, but sounds like it may be Shin Splints: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_splints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_splints&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a Runner's World article with more information on them: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/beating-injury/shinsplints---how-to-beat-them/234.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/beating-injury/shinsplints---how-to-beat-them/234.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would still see a Doctor to confirm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1383" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T10:14:23.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2011-07-05T10:55:52.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lesson's learned, I mustn't eat foods that I musn't eat, including just a small spoon of lamb, even at others' place/event, the trick : I should've been able to manage to get stuffed at home with my own diet based on my nutritionist's guide before getting to the party so all I could eat were just safe to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertension&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hbp&lt;/a&gt; and healthy fruits like watermellon etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my headache was getting worst all I did yesterday was exercised/pushed myself to my limit that I think I could handle safely, it was just 10 light push ups with my hands on my bed and my feet on the floor, so that was less contraction, less satisfaction, that's the price I must pay for just a small spoon of lamb. And only 5 deep push ups with my feet just 15cm higher from the floor. I feel so guilty whenever I don't do my body-weight exercise like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can exercise normally again starting from tonight, because I checked my blood pressure got back to normal again (120/80) recently, but I had to lie down on bed &lt;strong&gt;much&lt;/strong&gt; longer than I wanted because I couldn't resist if my head felt like being hit by many nails with a hammer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone who's been fighting &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_paroxysmal_positional_vertigo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BPPV&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertigo_%28medical%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vertigo&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertension&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hbp&lt;/a&gt; with regular exercise and balanced diet like me is always welcomed to share experience here. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T10:55:52.613" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-07-05T10:55:52.613" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2011-07-05T14:16:46.053" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You definitely have to manage blood pressure as best you can.  There are a couple things you have to keep in mind with exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anaerobic exercise will increase the blood pressure during exertion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic exercise will slow the heart rate and increase the volume (but not blood pressure)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After both types of exercise your &lt;strong&gt;resting&lt;/strong&gt; blood pressure will be lower.  However, if you already deal with high blood pressure you need to get it under control before you do anything anaerobic (like any type of strength training).  In short, if your BP is already high, doing the dips will make it peak while you are exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your answer hinted at, you have to make sure your diet is in order so you can be in a good place to get your exercise in.  It also might be a good idea to talk to your doctor about the types of exercise they would recommend.  You might be best served by sticking with purely aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother-in-law deals with high blood pressure and vertigo, and she enjoys Jazzercise safely.  When she has an episode she will back off the exercise until she can get everything back under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T14:16:46.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2731" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-05T14:58:15.050" Score="5" ViewCount="1800" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to start a 5x5 program because I've heard that there are great benefits for beginners just starting to get into weight lifting. What are some good programs, and how can I pick the one that's best for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is it really possible to add 5-10lbs per week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1377" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T23:44:11.963" Title="What are some good 5x5 programs I can follow?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2711" CreationDate="2011-07-05T16:45:57.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;These machines are both closer to leg press machines than anything else.  They will both activate the quadriceps more than anything else, although the one that has you standing will activate a little more of your glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having switched to free weights for squats I can definitely tell you that the squat machines you listed here aren't going to give you the same benefits and are a lot easier than squatting to parallel with a barbell on your back.  Even a Smith machine limits the amount of core work that the squats would normally have otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was working out with the machines, started with one similar to the one you have on the bottom and then switched to the one similar to the one pictured on the top (although it was more vertical).  Here are my observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated squats are essentially leg presses.  They hit your quads most, and barely anything else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing squat machine got a little bit more glutes, although it forced my back into an unnatural position.  I didn't feel good after &quot;sqatting&quot; 360lb with that machine (just two bars from the max it would go).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both worked the hip flexors which limits your flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The machines did not follow a natural rhythm for my body movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squatting with a barbell to parallel performs the following work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work your glutes, hamstrings, and adductors as you launch out of the hole--this is after a nice stretch at the bottom which improves your flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work your quadriceps as you complete to lockout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work your core as your body keeps the barbell steady (you lose this on a Smith machine, but keep the other two benefits)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the barbell squats hit a whole lot more muscle areas, and in the proportions your body was designed to handle stress, I can't get the same poundage up yet as I did with the machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two squat machines you listed are very similar in the areas they hit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T16:45:57.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2731" CreationDate="2011-07-05T17:09:05.423" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two programs that are best suited for beginners are Starting Strength and StrongLifts.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for some more information to help choose the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; was put together by Mark Rippetoe who is a strength training coach since the 70s.  I highly recommend his book whether you use his program or not.  It is some good, no-nonsense information on how to do the lifts correctly and safely as well as recognize when you have problems with the lift.  Rip tells you how to find your starting weight once you know your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; was put together by an enthusiastic guy named Medhi.  His program requires less technical complexity which may be good for a beginner.  Medhi recommends starting off with just the bar to get started if you've never done weight lifting before.  Otherwise he suggests deloading to 50% to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is possible to add 5-10lb per week as a &lt;em&gt;beginner&lt;/em&gt;.  I think that is the key.  Both programs realize that you can't sustain those gains indefinitely, but you can sustain them for a long time.  I've been doing the StrongLifts 5x5 plan for the past 9 weeks, and with the exception of the overhead press have been able to go up by at least 5lb every session.  On the overhead press, I did stall (which is what happens when you can't get all 5 reps in all 5 sets) at 90 lbs but was able to continue on after that.  After the introductory 12 weeks is done with SL 5x5 I am planning to switch to Starting Strength.  I like the idea of incorporating the power clean (a very technical lift) into my program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both programs do have instructions for what you do when you stall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a personal critique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;StrongLifts is easy to learn, but the details are spread across the SL5x5 report and Medhi's blog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strength has all the information you need in one place (the book).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both Rippetoe and Medhi are opinionated, but Rip has more science to back up his claims.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rip is a teacher, Medhi is a motivator.  That may help in choosing which to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of other 5x5 programs, but most of them are geared for intermediate and advanced lifters.  In essence the gains you would expect from those programs are much slower than what you would get with either SL or SS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T17:09:05.423" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2011-07-05T19:09:11.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no reason not to do them on the same day.  The key is to not overdo the load.  In short no more than 5 sets of 5 reps on squats and 1 set of 5 reps on the deadlift.  BTW, deadlift is probably the best exercise to improve your grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My background is strength training, so my answer may not exactly be what you are looking for.  Essentially for strength gains squats and deadlifts are excellent exercises.  My program alternates two full body workouts with a day of rest in between.  Squats are done every session.  The upper body swaps between bench press and overhead press.  The other exercise swaps between barbell rows and deadlifts (both get the back muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incorporating squats and deadlifts into a split routine is very tricky precisely because they hit so many areas on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats and deadlifts get your glutes, hamstrings, and core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats also get your adductors and quads&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts also get your forearms, grip, lats (great back exercise), and to a lesser degree your quads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to factor in recovery time, which really depends on how much volume you are doing, and your ability to recover.  A beginner recovers pretty quickly, but that is because they can't get the same volume as a very strong intermediate lifter (someone who can squat 1.5x body weight to full parallel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you have to make sure you do these lifts correctly or you will get injured.  If you do half squats or anything less than the full range of motion (ROM) you are setting yourself up for injury at a later point.  If you don't perform the steps of the deadlift correctly you can injure your back.  Yet, they are very powerful lifts.  Even if it's not your goal, you won't be able to help getting stronger doing these lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your program can work as long as you have a full day of rest between each workout.  Other than your forearms, neither lift works the arms appreciably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: regarding the question of them stimulating arm growth, I don't think that they do.  Your muscles respond to stress that you put on them, and neither lift stresses the arms that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T19:09:11.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1426" CreationDate="2011-07-05T19:22:37.250" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;112.5kg is almost 250lb, which depending on your body weight can be quite a bit.  For example, if you are 75kg (~165lb) that's 1.5x your body weight.  In which case you really can't be considered a beginner any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways to deal with stalls and such:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deload and rebuild (increases rest time while still actively building strength)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lower volume (if you can't get 3x5, you may have to lower to 1x5 to keep increasing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;change programs (Wendler 5/3/1 or Texas Method recognizes the additional time you need to recover as an intermediate lifter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may try combinations of the first two bullets until you've maxed out all the gains you can get from that.  Remember you are no longer a beginner if you can squat 1.5x your body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T19:22:37.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-05T19:43:09.310" Score="6" ViewCount="4657" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to gain some more weight with a better shape. But unfortunately I don't have enough time to go to a gym. I am trying to some push ups (3 sets) and some free hand exercises at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure is it the appropriate way, because I want to have a healthy series of workout in home that will help me to gain weight &amp;amp; muscle.&#xA;I have a small place in my room for workout and I have dumbbells. I am planning to buy a chest expander, push up bars and some more weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am just seeking help in this issues, what specific workout can help me to have better shape? Can you guys specify what should be my strategy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user861" LastEditorDisplayName="user861" LastEditDate="2020-08-01T11:47:36.993" LastActivityDate="2020-08-01T11:47:36.993" Title="Home weight gaining exercise list" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2721" CreationDate="2011-07-05T20:04:49.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No - tennis shoes are going to be slightly heavier and have more material/cushioning around the sides.  They are meant for stability and lots of side to side movement.  Running shoes are lighter and are built for forward movement.  You will experience aches of all kinds of you do jogging/running in tennis shoes at any amount of frequency more than about a mile a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T20:04:49.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2743" CreationDate="2011-07-05T21:39:13.483" Score="12" ViewCount="2211" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to do a one-arm pushup. I'm aware of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/45&quot;&gt;guide on Beastskills&lt;/a&gt;, but it fails to get into much specifics on how to actually progress to it (for the record, I'm trying to do what is referred in that guide as the &quot;arm in&quot; method - ie. normal pushup form, one arm, not contorting myself somehow to shift my center of mass). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, when I try it, I cannot even lower myself: I manage a few centimeters and then just drop. I guess I can't handle the tension? No method of stiffening my body, visualization or anything else helped me get past that point, so I guess it's a problem of strength (my endurance is fine, I can crank out 50 pushups easily enough). What's a good exercise to work toward a one armed pushup? I don't have any weights available but I do have a pull up bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T22:13:17.920" Title="How to do a one-arm pushup?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="483" CreationDate="2011-07-05T21:53:23.797" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I assume you can already do a fair amount of &quot;normal&quot; pushups with good form)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main limiting factor are probably your fingers - while you have muscles in most of your body otherwise, fingers are mostly tendons and fingertip pushups put a lot of stress on them. Unfortunately, tendons develop much slower than muscles and so whatever issue you might have, sooner or later it will boil down to tendon strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train your fingers, at first you'll just want to hold the &quot;up&quot; position on your fingertips. Try to spread them around as much as you can, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/uploads/beastskills/image/hand20on20fingers.jpg&quot;&gt;this picture&lt;/a&gt;. Be very, very, &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; careful as it's easy to mess up your tendons and that's a long recovery period later. Just try to do it each day (or even a couple of times per day) and have patience; it could take more than a month to get the required tendon strength. &lt;strong&gt;Stop if you feel any kind of pain.&lt;/strong&gt; Once holding it is effortless enough, transitioning to an actual pushup is easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-07-05T21:53:23.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2741" CreationDate="2011-07-05T22:46:41.757" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pavel Tsatsouline's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045555&quot;&gt;The Naked Warrior&lt;/a&gt; focuses extensively on bodyweight exercises, and the one-armed pushup is his choice for a daily upper-body exercise. A couple hints from TNW:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use an incline. Do the pushups against a couch or a bench and gradually reduce the incline to keep the effort at a challenging, but not impossible, level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Experiment with the width of your stance. Wider feet will make the pushup easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind that this is going to be as much about full-body tension as it is about upper body strength. Even when doing easier versions of the exercise, focus on keeping your entire core tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips for maintaining tension:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tension starts with the core; keep the core tight by imagining a straight line between butt and belly button and tensing to shorten that line as much as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your feet play an active part in that they should &quot;anchor&quot; or &quot;root&quot; to the ground; this doesn't mean to cheat by pushing but to feel rooted for tension.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing out naturally reduces tension (ask a competitive arm wrestler!) so don't exhale during a pushup. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-07-06T20:17:17.017" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T20:17:17.017" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2011-07-06T00:50:32.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the blister still bothers you after the socks, a very small piece of masking tape sometimes helps to keep the stitching from rubbing against your foot which causes the friction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1389" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T00:50:32.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2741" CreationDate="2011-07-06T04:09:44.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could work on improving overall core strength and doing different variations of pushups (standard, military, wide, decline, etc). Work at increasing strength and eventually working up to one armed pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, you are doubling the weight that your arm must push when doing a single arm pushup as compared to a two arm pushup. That's like if you normally curl 30 lbs. at 8 reps and then suddenly start trying to curl 60 lbs; you will strugle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing strength isn't the only option to making them easier, but sheding unnecessary weight (fat) will also help. I don't know what your body fat percentage is, but if you lower your body fat percentage it should make it easier for you to do pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T04:09:44.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="405" CreationDate="2011-07-06T07:22:53.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are reasonably fit, the best way to improve your running technique is to run faster. Don't sprint, but run for example at the maximum pace you can keep for 10 mins (I run 12, which coincides with &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Cooper_test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Cooper test&lt;/a&gt; for VO2Max, but that's not so important). Running faster will automatically correct the small mistakes you have with landing, stride length, body position, even breathing - the body will automatically eliminate the little inefficiencies if you push it to the maximum. This is why you should be at least a decent runner, as a sudden 100% effort is not nice and could be dangerous. The pace is something you'll have to judge for yourself (&lt;em&gt;stay safe!&lt;/em&gt;) but you can try a 10 min run at a slightly higher speed and then work up from that as you see fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answers still apply, but everything is easier if you don't have to think consciously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T07:22:53.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2011-07-06T07:53:37.587" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The classic school of thought is that cardio == 40-60 minute periods at 2/3rds your heart-rate or so, as explained above by &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2553/is-it-possible-to-become-relatively-fit-without-going-for-runs/2561#2561&quot;&gt;Christopher&lt;/a&gt;. On the other hand, I've personally (I'm about the same size as you) had much more luck with some &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HIIT methods&lt;/a&gt;, specifically &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training#Tabata_Method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tabata&lt;/a&gt;; the research for it is compelling and I've seen the results on myself as well. Tabata means 20 seconds of all out work, 10 seconds of rest, for 8 rounds. The community usually recommends bringing a bucket with you when trying it out, and I agree. The first few times you'll probably feel a bit dizzy afterward and you'll probably also want to lie down. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tabata is beneficial in that it will raise your metabolism for the rest of the day and thus burn more calories in the long run. It also improves your breathing technique and lung capacity which is something that will help you in any sport (it's also something people are usually not aware of, instead thinking their strength or endurance is lacking, while the true problem is a lack of oxygen in the muscles). Tabata is probably not something you'll enjoy much, but I can honestly say that after about two weeks (of daily exercising) I began looking forward to it. It will re-energize you for the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tabata can be performed with various exercises, but a full body exercise is the best. I recommend burpees, but if those are too hard for you you could try &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Squat_thrust&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;squat thrusts&lt;/a&gt;, which is basically a burpee without the pushup part. You can then work on to alternating rounds of squat thrusts and burpees and finally all 8 rounds of burpees (but if you already have upper body strength, it might not be a problem for you). Note that this is ultimately a conditioning exercise, so if endurance is a problem (in a particular muscle group or in general) you might want to either focus a bit on it and switch to some other Tabata - nothing stops you from doing the same with a bike (I'd recommend a flat road, though): 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of coasting along, repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Motivation is key here - you will improve, but the problems you'll have at the start might dissuade you from sticking to it. I find that writing down progress is very helpful, so for burpees I wrote down something like &quot;8/7/6/6/5/4/4/5 = 45&quot; every time. It's easy to miss an improvement somewhere if you do 8 rounds of it, but when after a week you notice you added a burpee here and there, you'll feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T07:53:37.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2753" CreationDate="2011-07-06T11:18:52.053" Score="6" ViewCount="1427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to have six pack abs and I am doing 6 different exercises for that. But none of them more than 10 times. Is it sufficient or do I need to increase the number of repetitions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone please guide me to the correct video which shows the necessary exercises for getting a six pack. I searched youtube and they have all kinds of different exercises. I can't do all of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1382" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-10T13:29:44.337" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T00:37:15.073" Title="Exercise for six pack abs" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2752" CreationDate="2011-07-06T12:55:44.450" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my exercise routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wake up after a good nights rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk myself into the kitchen and&#xA;cook a healthy breakfast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pack a healthy lunch to eat while at&#xA;work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit the gym/dojo on the way home&#xA;from work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a healthy dinner and don't snack&#xA;too much before going to bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get to bed early enough to get a&#xA;good night's rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Success! Notice that my exercise &quot;routine&quot; has more to do with what I eat and how much I sleep to let my body recover than it does with how many reps I do and what exercises I perform. Getting 6-pack abs requires 90% dedication to a healthy diet and lifestyle and 10% use of the correct exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get up off the floor and stop doing those crunches. Now get yourself into the kitchen and make yourself an egg white omelet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T12:55:44.450" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2752" CreationDate="2011-07-06T13:00:42.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For maximum mass gain I would recommened 15 reps each set. It is also very important to have a low fat percantage - under 12-10% should be sufficient. There are a LOT of different exercises for the abs. I would recommened you to vary between a lot. Variation is good. Some exercises focus more on the upper part than others, while some focus more on the side. You should mix so that you do exercies that trains the whole pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T13:00:42.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2739" CreationDate="2011-07-06T13:07:49.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, what is your diet like? Are you getting a well rounded diet with fruits, vegetables, and lots of protein rich lean meat? If not your body will never grow regardless of what exercises you do. If you are eating all those things, remember that you'll need to eat more if you want your body to use the calories for building muscle and not just surviving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get big and don't want to go to the gym and don't own weights then you should go work on a farm. Bail hay, lift horse feed, and pull stumps out of the ground. I don't mean literally, of course, but you need to find exercises like those to perform. They all have a couple things in common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are all full body exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They vary a considerable amount from&#xA;each other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are probably not something your&#xA;body is use to doing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since not every body has access to a farm, some good substitute exercises would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some sort of row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While teaching you how to do each of those exercises is somewhat out of the scope of this answer, I encourage you to read up on each and learn to do them safely. Many exercises like them can be down with very little to no weight. You can also almost always substitute a real world item for the dumbbell/barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T13:07:49.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-06T13:30:54.187" Score="4" ViewCount="14537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 27. I have a bad knee from doing dead lifts. Its osteoarthritis the doctor says, so not only did I give up deads but also am refraining from running or other such activities that take a toll on the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I however do benches, OHPs etc which give a fair bit of fat burn but aren't at the level that deads and running would do. Bagwork too is so-so. May be I have to just give it time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, having eschewed some of the best fat burning exercises since past 6 months, what other exercise options do I have to get rid of the generous amount of fat thats hiding my big muscles by burning loads of calories? Any interesting circuits that has enough variety to not bore me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a healthy balanced diet that I adjusted after foregoing deads and consume far less calories now. If I reduce it any further I might become tiresome I fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I am not obsessed to have a single digit bf% but need to get rid of jiggly stuff and God do I hate those love handles! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1396" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T09:44:49.083" Title="Tips to lose fat without running, jogging etc (have bad knee)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="586" CreationDate="2011-07-06T13:43:21.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having done squats now for a while, there are a few things that can throw off your balance in no order of precedence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Looking up or down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad position in the hole (knees to far forward)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number one mistake that I and many other people new to squats make is to look up.  We're either looking in the mirror to evaluate our form or we are looking at our waist directly.  Either way the head is not in an anatomically neutral position.  It's amazing how a small adjustment like that can fix balance problems or back position problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deal with flexibility, there are a few stretches that help out, and I recommend doing them before you start your session:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunge stretches.  Improves hip-flexor mobility and calf/ankle mobility.  Both feet should be flat on the floor and you should keep your body vertical as you push your hip forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body weight squats.  Hold your position at the bottom and push your knees out with your elbows.  The crease of your hips should be below the top of your patella, and your balance should be in the middle of your foot.  Hold it for about 10 seconds and do it at least twice.  Memorize the way your body feels in this position, it's what you are trying to do when you have the weight on your back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deal with balance, there are a couple of variations with the squats to help you learn your body position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blocks in front of your knees.  The blocks should be tall enough so that your knee can touch it, and placed about 1-2 inches in front of your toes.  When you squat touch the block with your knees but don't knock it over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Block under your butt.  The block should be low enough so that the crease of your hips is below your patella, and positioned so that when your knees are at the right position you will touch the block with your butt, but not sit on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These variations help you to learn proper body position and get a better kinesthetic sense of yourself during the exercise.  Remember with squats you are lowering your hips, not your back.  If your hips aren't getting low enough it will throw off your balance as well (pushing your balance on your toes).  The bar should always be over mid foot, as should your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T13:43:21.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2739" CreationDate="2011-07-06T13:49:40.240" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that Sparafusile said but you will find a whole lot of related info if you search for &quot;5x5 routine&quot;. Just take care and go easy with dead lifts though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1396" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T13:49:40.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2756" CreationDate="2011-07-06T13:49:52.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Healthy weight loss is 90% diet and 10% exercise. Lots of vegetables and protien.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you'll need to &lt;a href=&quot;http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/blcalintake.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculate your caloric needs&lt;/a&gt;. Once you have this number, you can subtract 500 to be at a small deficit that will equal 1 pound per week of weight loss. BTW, 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat. If  you want to lose 2 pounds per week then go for a 1,000 calorie deficit per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have the diet/calories down, then add at least some exercise daily. Resistance exercises to build/maintain muscle will help burn calories all day long and going forward, and cardio exercises will help burn calories when you exercise and improve cardio health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T13:49:52.440" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2518" CreationDate="2011-07-06T14:44:08.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably over-thinking this.  Here's what is happening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body needs energy to adapt to what you are asking it to do&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since you told your body you need it to build muscle, that's what it started doing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After a week off you may not lose any strength, but your body was starting to adapt to lower demands on it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you get older, it takes longer for your body to adapt and recover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An occasional break here and there is good--for example going on vacation.  Enjoy the vacation instead of obsessing over where to find an adequate gym.  However, too many breaks can force you into the cycle you found yourself in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery requires two things: food and sleep.  You really need 8 hours of sleep a day, as your body takes that time to rebuild muscles and perform its recovery activities.  You also need the protein that your body requires to build the new muscle--as well as calories to burn as muscle building takes a lot of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T14:44:08.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2762" CreationDate="2011-07-06T15:12:33.973" Score="6" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;On any machine that gives you the amount of calories burnt,  is the calorie count actual or approximation based on weight / effort?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it is an approximation, any idea on what would be the average +/- error range?  Or is it too negligible to even consider it even when using it for 1000 calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1397" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T15:41:45.493" Title="Calorie counter on an exercise machine is it actual or approximation?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2761" CreationDate="2011-07-06T15:16:23.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an approximation based on some formulas.  It assumes muscle/fat based off of simple BMI calculations (which is not always typical), and depending on the speed/intensity predicts what an average person at your body weight would be burning based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More advanced formulas that you'll find in your heart rate monitors take into consideration your heart rate to fine tune the intensity.  It still considers what you tell it your weight is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, it is a useful approximation to judge the relative effectiveness of an exercise for burning calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T15:16:23.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-06T15:53:28.590" Score="4" ViewCount="614" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are calories calculated in food? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they sum all the energy in every molecule? By for example, by burning the stuff up and calculating the energy output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is this value supposed to represent the energy that a human body will extract from that food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do they only sum up the elements that we are supposed to digest (Protein, Carbs, Fat) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, wood contains a lot of energy. We can see that by burning it. But the human body is not able to break done the fibers to extract the enery from wood. We do not eat  wood but I suppose there are multiple elements contained in food that we do not digest but that contain energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Fat contains a lot of energy compared to carbs or proteins but the human body has a much more difficult time to process fat and extract energy from it (catabolism). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it the energy outputed from the catabolism of fat that is calculated or again the theoretical quantity energy in fat (burning it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1399" LastEditorUserId="1399" LastEditDate="2011-07-06T15:58:52.563" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T19:32:47.647" Title="How are calories calculated in food" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-12-10T04:45:13.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2765" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2773" CreationDate="2011-07-06T15:57:06.790" Score="3" ViewCount="2211" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing exercises with weights 3 times per week. I started training 2 years ago and have made steady progress. I have lost weight gained strength. I had a very strict routine and I pushed myself to follow it and have not skipped any exercises or workouts for months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However recently I switched jobs and moved to a new town and now I am experiencing a lack of  progress with many of my exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress in my work was really high, so 4 weeks ago I decided to take a break from working out for a week. Coming back, I was surprised that I still could do most of my exercises and it felt better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This week, my motivation is once again gone. I already skipped my training on Monday and have now decided to take this full week off from training again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what recommendations are for workout breaks are and how it will affect my performance. Do I have to fear that I will lose the progress I made over the past 2 years? Nothing would be worse than regressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1398" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-07-06T17:38:30.057" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T19:39:57.333" Title="Taking a break from weightlifting - how often?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2770" CreationDate="2011-07-06T16:00:52.247" Score="5" ViewCount="4008" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently injured my back and am anxious to get back to the gym, but I'm used to free-weight exercises and not exactly excited about having to use machines. Are there good options for lower body, free-weight exercises that protect the back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;My injuries are in the lower back where I tore some soft tissue due to hyperextension. The original injury was years ago, but it is very easy to reinjur and it happened again a week ago. My doctor simply prescribes an anti-inflammatory and to &quot;go easy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastEditorUserId="1225" LastEditDate="2011-07-07T12:41:48.263" LastActivityDate="2011-07-07T12:41:48.263" Title="Strength training after back injury" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2766" CreationDate="2011-07-06T16:16:22.720" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid compound exercises until you heal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises are exercises that utilize a wide range of muscles such as running, dead lifting, sports, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. Basically, exercises that use a wide range of muscles almost always utilize your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only do you want to avoid using your back but also your abs until the damage is healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exception to this rule would be low impact exercises like swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to either limit yourself to a very small subset of isolation exercises that strictly avoid using your back, quit exercising and let it heal, or hop in a pool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pool is probably your best bet as it will allow you to stretch and use the muscles as they heal without causing any additional stress/injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2011-07-06T20:09:05.483" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T20:09:05.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2766" CreationDate="2011-07-06T17:35:43.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is probably going to be the best active recovery for you.  Back injuries do happen, and they aren't to be trifled with.  Depending on the severity of the injury, it might take as little as a couple days to heal or it might take a whole week or two.  Either way, you don't want to overstress your back during recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get back in the gym:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warmup&lt;/strong&gt;.  You will need to take a little longer to warm up your muscles, and stretch them a bit before you get the heavier loads on the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deload&lt;/strong&gt; 10-20%.  Focus on form, and keeping that back straight throughout your lifts.  This will help strengthen the smaller muscles in your core until you get back to your old work weights.  If you usually use a weight belt, ditch it during deload time.  You need to make your core stronger, and they don't help that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch&lt;/strong&gt; after your session.  Your muscles should still be warm, and this helps improve the flexibility you need for the squats, deadlifts, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, according to Mark Rippetoe in the Starting Strength book, deadlifts are an effective exercise &lt;em&gt;when done correctly&lt;/em&gt; to prevent further injury.  If you don't have the book, I highly recommend getting it.  There's a lot of good tips on recognizing form problems and correcting them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T17:35:43.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2765" CreationDate="2011-07-06T17:44:50.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I really would recommend is to &lt;strong&gt;change your routine&lt;/strong&gt;, if you have followed the same for 2 years. Variation is key for continued progress. You could vary both the exercises in each workout, and also the reps. I usually vary between 5 and 15 reps pr set. Maybe a month I am doing 12-15 reps, the next 8-12, and the one after that 5-8. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also focus to &lt;strong&gt;eat and sleep right&lt;/strong&gt;. Eight hours a night is recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also do a 4-5 week &lt;strong&gt;cycle&lt;/strong&gt;, where you increase your effort each week, and maybe do a 50 % effort week before you start over. This is something a lot of athletes do. 70-80-90-100-50 is an example of one cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only train each muscle group one time a week, just forget great progress. At least train them each five days. They should get 48-72 hours rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T17:44:50.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2647" CreationDate="2011-07-06T17:57:06.737" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mehdi's article is good, but there are some subtle things that are not emphasized in that article which are spelled out in great detail in Rippetoe's Starting Strength book.  If you are experiencing scraped up shins, the following tips will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar wants to travel in a straight line perpendicular to the ground.  If you have the bar too far out in front, you will experience pain as the bar swings in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar should be about midfoot.  See Medhi's instructions in step 1 for more detail.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your hips will be higher than with squats, but your knees will bend until the shins touch the bar (without it rolling)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straighten your knees &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt;.  This is a strong movement that will get the bar off the floor, and clear the path for the bar to get over your knees.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straighten your torso &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt;.  The back should be perfectly straight with the head in a neutral position.  When you set the lift your shoulders are back and the chest up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To put the bar down, bend at the torso &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; until the bar is below the knees.  &lt;em&gt;Then&lt;/em&gt; bend the knees until you are in the starting position again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar should not be scraping your body, nor should it be way out in front.  Medhi's instruction #5 is what is causing the red bruises and scrapes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These subtleties helped me improve my deadlift tremendously and made weights that felt heavy before seem light now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T17:57:06.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2765" CreationDate="2011-07-06T18:06:15.730" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stalls can occur for a number of reasons.  The most common reason has to do with recovery.  You said that the stress in your job is very high, so that prompts me to ask &quot;how are you sleeping?&quot; and &quot;how is your diet?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleeping and eating are very important parts of recovery.  You need the protein to build muscles.  Unfortunately when you are stressed, most people want to fill up on crunchy salty snacks which are high in carbs--not protein.  You can do the crunchy salty snacks in addition to the protein, but don't neglect eating/drinking your protein.  Also, you really need 8 hours of real sleep for your body to really be able to perform the metabolic processes to build new muscles.  If your eating habits have not changed, this is the first place I would look.  Stress affects your ability to sleep and recover well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question about breaks and training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A week long break once or twice a year (vacation) isn't going to cause you to magically lose muscle.  It will take at least 2 weeks before your body starts adapting to its lower amount of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you are squatting 1.5x your body weight, you are probably already past being able to progress as fast as you could at the beginning.  If that's the case, you might want to look at some intermediate programs like Wendler 5/3/1, Texas Method, Madcow, or something of that sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T18:06:15.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2011-07-06T18:38:32.080" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One more plank variation you can try is to do them with one arm: get into the normal position and then raise one hand and keep it in front of you (or anywhere else, just not flailing about). The idea is to keep the same position like usual, not to shift your body weight so that your center of mass is above the arm you use. Holding your body in such a way is sure to activate some stabilizer muscles you don't normally use. As with any unilateral exercise, though, don't forget to exercise both arms evenly. You can combine these with &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.berkeleyrunningcompany.com/Portals/3/side-plank-exercise.gif&quot;&gt;side planks&lt;/a&gt;&quot; for a very complete core workout. You can also try to spice up your planks by balancing on a medicine ball (or a basketball).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond this, you can add weight or increase the length of the hold. I wouldn't recommend adding weight as it can cause injuries down the line (you have to be very careful not to overexert some small muscle somewhere and you'll probably need a partner to help you); if you really must add weight use something like a weighted vest (ie. something that distributes the weight evenly, don't just plop it on your back). Increasing the hold length is a worthy goal, but if your goal is just general fitness then holding one of the advanced variations mentioned above for 1-2 minutes is more than enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, planks are a great exercise but you'll want to mix it up. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtVUp.html&quot;&gt;V-ups&lt;/a&gt;, straight leg raises (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leehayward.com/dvdpics/exepics/legraise.jpg&quot;&gt;lying&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/images/hk/medium/Incledon%20Ch8_img_13m.jpg&quot;&gt;hanging&lt;/a&gt;) or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmsi.ru/_uf/image/Punching_With_Power1-4.jpg&quot;&gt;lying hip swing&lt;/a&gt;. These are not isometric exercises and so will probably be a different kind of challenge to you. Remember, variety is the spice of life. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T18:38:32.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2789" CreationDate="2011-07-06T19:04:27.083" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new here.&#xA;I'm 67kg and I'm fine with my body, it's pretty normal, but I don't like 2 things. The problem is that I have a hard belly and my bum looks big from a side.&#xA;What should I eat or do? Any advice? (I don't eat much by the way)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastEditorUserId="1401" LastEditDate="2012-05-20T12:45:08.217" LastActivityDate="2012-05-20T12:45:08.217" Title="I need an advice about a training" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2765" CreationDate="2011-07-06T19:39:57.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're stressed out, take a week off, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the long term, you could take &quot;strategic&quot; breaks once every 4 ... 8 weeks. This won't affect short term progress too much, and may actually improve things over the very long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Plan accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1350" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T19:39:57.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2761" CreationDate="2011-07-06T20:03:17.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an estimate (based on standard-issue formulae) of total calories burned during the period you are on the machine. The key word here is &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt; calories; that is, you might typically burn 90% of what the readout shows with your basic metabolism (i.e. laying on the couch). The readout doesn't specify what percentage is specifically due to your activity on that machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brutal truth is that there are not very many people physically capable of burning 1,000 calories &lt;em&gt;due to the activity alone&lt;/em&gt; in one session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T20:03:17.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2786" CreationDate="2011-07-06T22:42:12.993" Score="7" ViewCount="7924" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several marathon training plans that I have read would have me running a gentle 5 mile run the day after my weekly long (15-20 mile) run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My uneducated opinion is that should be the most important rest day of the week.&#xA;5 miles is certainly not a massive challenge but with undoubtably sore and tired legs after a lengthy run it does seem like a tall ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the thinking behind doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T13:36:33.613" Title="Running the day after a long run." Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2780" CreationDate="2011-07-06T23:24:37.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general I think it is to help force some of the lactic acid out of the muscles.  Just take an easy run and you will recover faster than a total rest day.  The other argument can be that taking a light jog the day after a hard run can keep your body from peaking.  If your body decides that it has peaked before you actually race, your race performace can be worse than your last good long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-07-06T23:24:37.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2785" CreationDate="2011-07-07T04:05:01.627" Score="0" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically there are times when I have work night and times when I have to work day. What is the healthiest way to handle this situation without giving up my job?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1336" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T00:40:42.047" Title="How to handle interchange of nighshifts and dayshifts?" Tags="&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2784" CreationDate="2011-07-07T08:54:22.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is getting enough sleep. An adult should sleep about eight hours a night. Working both day and night shifts will never be healthy. I'm guessing you are asking how to handle the change between night and day shifts. With no more information about your working hours it is a bit hard to give you an answer, other than try sleeping enough to get an average of eight hours sleep each day. It is not ideal to split it up, but if you have to, you just have to get the best out of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also read some research about powernaps a month ago. It said 4-15 min powernap at the middle of the day will give you the energy equivalent to one hour sleep during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastEditorUserId="645" LastEditDate="2011-07-07T10:21:59.453" LastActivityDate="2011-07-07T10:21:59.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2780" CreationDate="2011-07-07T09:58:43.990" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The marathon training program I'm following has 5 workouts/week. If you do the Math, you'll see there's quite a lack of &lt;em&gt;rest days&lt;/em&gt;. This program consists of the following runs: 30 mins, 2+ hr, 30 mins, 30 mins, rest, interval, rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The need for rest days depends on the intensity of the runs, since in my case the 2+ hr run had to be performed at a relaxed pace. It was more important I ran for a long time, than that I tried to run fast. While your legs may feel heavy and sore the day after a long run, generally a sort relaxed run will actually make your legs feel better. This is most likely due to the increased blood flow, which helps get rid of any residues from the long run and supply your muscles with a healthy dose of blood, which can aid with the recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience I always felt more sore after the interval training, than after the long run. Muscles get damaged more during intensive workouts, partially because the impacts are (much) higher and your muscles will need to generate a lot more energy in order to achieve higher speeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could switch your rest day to right after the long run, rather than before the interval training, but I think taking rest before the interval will help you perform that workout better. That way your muscles get the time to stack up on glycogen which you'll need for the interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, you don't need a rest day right after a long run. But your mileage with my answer will vary with the intensity level of that run. If its a race, yes you will need some rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-07-07T09:58:43.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2788" CreationDate="2011-07-07T10:01:32.870" Score="8" ViewCount="503" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general advice is that after resistance training you should consume plenty of simple carbs to spike your insulin level and thus help getting nutrients to your muscles (and to replenish your glycogen stores).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, insulin is also responsible for storing excess calories as body fat which is clearly a bad thing and should be avoided as much as you can even when you're bulking.  Recent research also indicates that you don't need to skyrocket your insulin level since it gives no extra benefit, so a low-GI food with protein (e.g. whey shake and some fruit) should also do the job.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;E.g.: &lt;a href=&quot;http://user210805.websitewizard.com/files/unprotected/AARR-Jan-2008.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alan Aragon's Research Review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the truth?  Should we skip simple carbs post workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="565" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T20:39:48.980" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T20:39:48.980" Title="Post workout carbs" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2787" CreationDate="2011-07-07T13:22:19.313" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carbs post workout are a good thing.  If you've exerted yourself you have depleted all your quick reserves and you need to replenish them.  However simple carbs (like a candy bar, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc) are never a good idea unless you are dangerously hypoglycemic--a condition that diabetics have to deal with occasionally.  The processed carbs will cause your body to go hyper for a bit and then crash badly afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several studies out that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/21/effect-of-protein-intake-on-muscle-recovery&quot;&gt;show protein post workout does help recovery&lt;/a&gt;.  However there are also several conflicting ones out there as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, a combination of protein and complex carbs after you work out with a real meal seems to have all the benefits of both the carbs and the protein without the crash afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-07-07T13:22:19.313" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2776" CreationDate="2011-07-07T13:29:18.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in this prior post (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1299/how-to-lose-fat-only-in-your-thigh&quot;&gt;How to lose fat only in your thigh?&lt;/a&gt;) you really can't spot/target reduce fat.  What you can do is go on a diet plan and develop a workout plan specific to those areas you want to increase muscle in.  The most difficult area (for a man) to reduce fat is the stomach/oblique area.  Steps to success:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep a food diary for 1-2 weeks and review your intake and determine you daily intake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;determine what your daily caloric goal should be (&lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-goal.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-goal.php&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adjust your diet appropiately&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;develop a combo weight/cardio workout routine (search &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;check your progress every 3-4 weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-07-07T13:29:18.333" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-07-07T13:40:53.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your question you state, that you want to lose weight, but you aren't doing any weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to lose huge amounts of weight (fat I presume?) you should absolutely &lt;em&gt;include&lt;/em&gt; weight training into your workouts. (First weight training, then cardio training) A combined training is much more effective in burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about gaining muscle, you can do a few things to prevent it. (Although I can't image why one should want this, since additional muscle tissue means additional calorie consumption and thus faster weight loss)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a negative calorie balance. (Should not be a problem in your case) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid eating protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid eating after your workouts. (Looks like you are already planning to do this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the repetitions and decrease the weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1038" LastEditDate="2011-07-09T07:38:23.330" LastActivityDate="2011-07-09T07:38:23.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2784" CreationDate="2011-07-08T00:40:42.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I worked a rotating shift once which consisted of Days(6-2) Swings(2-10) and Mids(10-6).  The important part is to always listen to your body, and work out if you are feeling good, since these shifts can be hard on your body.  On day shift, I would work out in the afternoon, since getting up super early can be hard.  On swings, I would work out shortly before work, usually around 1.  Mids was the hard part, but I would try to work out shortly after I got up, usually around 2.  This means I always worked out between noon and 3 every day!  The body is good at rythms, so if you cant give it a good sleep rythm, at least give it a good workout rythm.  Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T00:40:42.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2794" CreationDate="2011-07-08T01:57:51.920" Score="21" ViewCount="21393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a right leg amputee.  I am trying to lose weight.  With success.  But I want to vary my workouts.  Right now I do the following: Long Walks (with crutches or my 15 lb artificial leg); Sit-ups; Using a machine akin to a rower (push with leg, pull with arms, move butt)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other exercises provide a good workout with out the need for a second leg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1407" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-08T09:02:48.007" LastActivityDate="2020-10-20T22:04:28.137" Title="What are good cardio exercises for a one legged man?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2011-07-08T09:36:30.567" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not knowing your age, fitness level and type of amputation, I'll just recommend you some exercises that don't really depend on those factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swimming&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a swimmer with relatively poor leg technique I can assure you, you can swim perfectly fine without legs. Technically speaking you should even float easier, due to the reduced average density of your body, so if you know how to swim, you should be pretty safe. Furthermore, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newtech-enews.com/2010/06/22/neptune-orthopaedic-swimming-aid-for-lower-limb-amputees-by-richard-stark/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you can get swimming aids&lt;/a&gt; which should even allow you to scuba dive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xs4UT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;swimming aid for amputees&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, swimming is a great exercise for both the core, your lungs and your arms. Obviously the arm training should benefit you when you go walking with crutches and any other situation where you use your arm to support yourself. Sticking with freestyle and backstroke is probably the safest, though I have no experience with how well turning goes, but I'm sure you'll manage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hand biking&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NLasJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;hand bike&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, you'd have to buy a special bike for it, but it does make your more mobile. Rather than having to take the car everywhere (grocery shopping etc) you could take the hand bike instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, its a great arm exercise, you can vary the intensity of your workouts and since your sitting, its much easier to keep it up for longer stretches. Compare that to going on a long hike and getting tired on the way back...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight lifting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should still be able to do most weight lifting exercises. Either go to the gym or buy a set of weights so you can do them at home. You can also perform one-legged quads, though I suspect your leg already get's plenty of exercise during the day. Unless your physician recommends it, I'd stick to arm exercises and train your leg by walking instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga/stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cardio is important for staying fit, I'd also recommend to regularly do some yoga. Not only does this keep your hip/knee joints flexible, which should help you stay mobile. Training your balance should help you make up for the lack of stability and reduce your injury rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all else, cherish your leg, so don't overdo any exercise, because that would truly make you immobile. Luckily all of the exercises I recommended &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; be done without your legs, so you can choose for yourself whether you want to use them or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and be sure to come back if you have any more specific questions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T09:10:01.713" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T09:10:01.713" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2797" CreationDate="2011-07-08T10:33:38.303" Score="10" ViewCount="30487" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always had a bit of trouble waking up in the morning - I tend to be a &quot;zombie&quot; for a few minutes, wanting to do nothing but go back to sleep, until my brain kicks in. Even an alarm clock won't help much unless it forces me to stay awake for a few minutes (and so far none have succeeded) - I just turn it off and fall asleep again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I've been having more severe issues. I've been talking to doctors, but they just seem to want to give me pills that don't appear to be helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem is, I'm sleeping more and more and not getting much rest. I recently slept for 24 hours straight without wanting to, and last night, 30. When I wake up I remember an entire night's worth of dreams, which suggests I'm not sleeping properly, as I've heard you only dream during part of a 90-minute cycle, and only remember them if the cycle gets interrupted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, if I am well-rested I might not start to feel tired until 24 hours of being awake, so when bedtime comes around, my brain is still running wild and it takes all night to get to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1410" LastActivityDate="2012-03-04T00:25:18.533" Title="I can't stop sleeping?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-03-05T00:25:55.150" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2795" CreationDate="2011-07-08T11:25:24.110" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a related question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1489/how-to-get-rid-of-oversleeping/1492#1492&quot;&gt;How to get rid of oversleeping?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although your situation sounds worse. If you're taking a nap during the day you should stop. Are you exercising at all? If not, try going for a run after work or lifting weights at the local gym. Exercising will help you in many ways: it will make you physically tired, it will get your mind off of other things for a while, and it will produce endorphin's that will make your happy. Exercise will also reduce your weight which will make sleeping easier if you're overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to stop your restless mind there are several things you can do. First, spend about an hour before bed relaxing and not thinking about anything too important. Read a book, watch something boring on TV, or paint. Second, write down anything you think you need to know for the next day and leave the list on your night stand. If you have it written down, and therefor can't forget it, perhaps your mind wont dwell on it all night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet might also be preventing you from getting a good nights sleep. Do you drink much caffeine? Try cutting it out of your diet after noon. Do you eat only large meals during the day? Try eating smaller, but more frequent meals. Try reducing your sugar intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last suggestion is to find a partner and engage in safe passionate moments after you've crawled into bed. The chemicals that pump through your body post coitus is very conducive for sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T11:25:24.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2795" CreationDate="2011-07-08T11:52:57.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be to try and get your circadian rythm back on track. This is not a quick fix, it requires patience and effort, but should be your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first order of business is basic &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_hygiene&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sleep hygiene&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to go to sleep at the same time every day.&#xA;Avoid anything that interferes with your sleep, such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;caffeine late in the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eating close to bed, or eating a difficult-to-digest dinner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strenuous exercise close to bed, it takes about 3h for your metabolism to wind down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;blue light in the evening. Light with a low color-temperature is ok.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking melatonin can help you feel sleepy, but should only be used temporarily. Don't screw with your hormones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Zeo or visiting a sleep lab could help you measure the quality of your sleep and pinpoint problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try to wake up properly. This will make it much easier to go to sleep later, and subsequently improve the quality of your sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expose yourself to blue light in the morning. Sunlight is best, light therapy devices work, too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat breakfast. The first meal is a strong signal to your body that a new day has begun, particularly if you haven't eaten for 16h or so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T11:52:57.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2795" CreationDate="2011-07-08T17:08:13.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one more possibility to throw out there: you may be dealing with sleep apnea.  Sleep apnea doesn't have anything to do with your physical activity or your diet.  Both my friend and I deal with the ailment, and long before I started getting active he has always been active and healthy.  Yet we both deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is sleep apnea?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nuvigil.com/about-obstructive-sleep-apnea-osa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sleep apnea&lt;/a&gt; occurs when your air ways become obstructed while you are asleep.  When I got tested for sleep apnea, I stopped breathing 1/4 of the time--particularly when I should have been in REM sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the symptoms I dealt with which caused my doctor to order a sleep study were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always waking up tired even after a full night's sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quality of sleep was always bad regardless of the quantity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nodding off while driving home from work (that was scary for me)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe snoring at night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wife complained about me stopping breathing on occasion (this really scared her)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep Study&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sleep study is when you go to a controlled center and they hook up all kinds of sensors to you.  The sensors monitor brain activity, muscle twitching, breathing, heart rate, etc.  You sleep at the center and they record what the sensors give them.  If you are diagnosed with sleep apnea, you will likely get a second session to figure out how much air pressure you need for a CPAP machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleeping with a CPAP machine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes some getting used to the air constantly blowing into your nose while you are sleeping, but it doesn't take too long.  When you wake up in the morning you will be refreshed for the first time in a really long time.  The hope is of course that as you continue to use the CPAP machine you will eventually no longer need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unhelpful Doctors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first treatment most doctors attempt is to order sleeping pills.  If you are sleeping alone in bed you don't have someone to tell you if you snore incessantly or if your breathing stops at all.  You won't have that information to give to your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask them to order you a sleep study to rule out anything else &lt;em&gt;because the pills are not working&lt;/em&gt;.  You will know definitively whether you have sleep apnea, or some other ailment that is affecting your sleep quality.  You need to emphasize the fact that the pills don't help, the doctor should start looking at other symptoms at that point.  If not, seek a second opinion or go to a sleep specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T17:08:13.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2806" CreationDate="2011-07-08T17:51:37.593" Score="5" ViewCount="3754" Body="&lt;p&gt;Preface: I've used a standing desk before and loved it, I'm going to switch back very soon. I also bike every day, my commute is at least 9.8 miles. The bike I use has cages on the pedals and I'm currently using new balance running training shoes (that I've barely used for running). I also want to bike longer distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to use Vibrams as my only pair of shoes for biking 13+ miles a day and standing most of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will Vibram shoes be good for biking? Or will they negatively affect my biking? And corollary to my use: Are they good for standing while working?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2020-04-08T23:53:06.610" Title="Are Vibram FiveFinger shoes good for biking?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2805" CreationDate="2011-07-08T18:25:30.980" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm all for the minimalist shoe movement. I wear Merrell Trail Gloves almost exclusively, including at my standing desk at work. However, there is something to be said for using the right tool for the job, and for biking VFFs are not the right tool for the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say you can't wear them, especially if you have cage or platform pedals on your bike. But as far as &quot;good for biking&quot; vs. &quot;negatively affect my biking&quot; from a cyclists standpoint, the less rigid the sole of your shoe, the less efficient it is for transferring power from your legs to the cranks. So the running shoes you've been wearing are also relatively un-optimal for biking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as standing at your desk all day in VFFs: it took a while to get used to standing on what is essentially a concrete floor all day in my Trail Gloves, but I'm fine now. I have a bar stool that I sit on for a combined total of maybe an hour or so of my day just to take the weight off every now and then, but your VFFs should be fine for standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T18:25:30.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2809" CreationDate="2011-07-08T19:22:53.547" Score="4" ViewCount="8849" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm working out and have to lift some heavy weight, I find that I can do it much better if I close my eyes, like focusing on the movement, but I notice that no one is closing their eyes while exercising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if I don't close them my vision blurs a little, but it usually gets fine again during the minute rest between series. Should I be concerned about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastActivityDate="2011-07-09T02:38:13.237" Title="Blurred vision during weightlifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2808" CreationDate="2011-07-08T20:26:54.413" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to ask if you are using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://skinnybulkup.com/proper-breathing-during-exercise-and-weight-lifting/&quot;&gt;Valsalva Maneuver&lt;/a&gt; while lifting the heavy weights.  According to the article I linked to, blurry vision is a side effect of taking the Valsalva Maneuver too far.  Every lifter is different, and that phenomenon only happens when you are pushing your limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bad news is that as the weight gets heavier, the risk of passing out due to the Valsalva maneuver increases.  For bench presses, the safest bet is to press in a power rack with the safety bars above your neck.  If you do pass out you won't get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is a useful tool to get those heavy weights up.  In some cases its the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; way to get those heavy weights up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be able to lessen the impact if you incorporate aerobic exercise after your weight lifting.  Aerobic exercise like jogging will help your heart become larger and pump more volume of blood per beat--somewhat easing the circumstances that cause &lt;em&gt;Valsalva retinopathy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T20:26:54.413" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-07-08T22:39:41.197" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you start exercising and you throw up, you need to wait longer next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, you're probably not trying to &quot;lose weight&quot;, you're trying to lose fat. In any case, look into weight lifting, it's quite a bit more effective in terms of results per time spent exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1350" LastActivityDate="2011-07-08T22:39:41.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2808" CreationDate="2011-07-09T02:38:13.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the type of symptom worth checking with your doctor for advice.  Blurred vision can be a symptom of high blood pressure and/or stroke. The article that @Berin notes that blood pressure can spike if you hold your breath as you exert.  So, it is worth asking your doctor about your symptoms and a trainer about your technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-09T02:38:13.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2815" CreationDate="2011-07-09T12:04:15.550" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here we have Meursault the town,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5GvDn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and here we have the end result:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jm829.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now. When I exercise, my target heart rate according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Walking Site&lt;/a&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;seventy percent&lt;/strong&gt; (that's about 120 bpm for me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's say I jog around Meursault maintaining 70%.  And say I do that for &lt;strong&gt;one hour&lt;/strong&gt; - sixty minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You often hear things like &quot;if you do such-and-such for 25 mins, that's the equivalent of two slices of wonderbread...&quot; (in other words, you burn up as much energy/fat as you would gain by eating the food in question - or in other words by merely not eating the food serving in question, you've &quot;achieved as much&quot; as the exercise in question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question. If one works out at 70% target heart rate, for one hour, what's the &quot;equivalent&quot; in terms of milliliters of Meursault white wine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone knows how to calculate this .... &lt;strong&gt;thank you&lt;/strong&gt;!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I am referring to 2006 Meursault here (that's the choice recent year!) Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-01-04T11:41:22.730" LastActivityDate="2019-01-04T11:41:22.730" Title="Help me calculate my &quot;Meursault / Hours&quot; equivalent?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2814" CreationDate="2011-07-09T13:20:22.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calories/hour @ 120bpm - Calories/0.1 Liter * 7 (1 bottle is 0.7L) = your net Calorie gain/loss&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running at 120 bpm for 1 hour for someone who's overweight would probably equate to 500 Calories. It depends on your pace and weight whether this accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the calories in your bottle of Meursault is about 90 Calories per 100 ml = 90*7 = 630 Calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;500 - 630 = -130 Calories&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this tell us? Alcohol is a huge source of Calories, so much that its almost impossible for most of us to exercise enough to compensate for a night of drinking. My advice, if you really want to drink wine, cut your meals down to something light for that day to compensate for the Calorie difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Ed] So for the &quot;hour equivalent&quot;:  It's about 500 calories for the 1 hour of exercise described. 90 Calories per 100 ml of wine.  Hence, the answer is 500/90 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;white wine equivalent&quot; of one hour exercise at 70% is about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;about &lt;strong&gt;560 ml&lt;/strong&gt; of wine &quot;per&quot; hour of 70% aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-10T08:55:50.543" LastActivityDate="2011-07-10T08:55:50.543" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-09T18:37:54.023" Score="0" ViewCount="956" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hyperextended-knee/AN00283&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a page&lt;/a&gt; that lists ligament and cartilage damage, but is it possible that the hyperextension of a joint can leave bone fragments in the joint?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1416" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T23:44:57.813" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T23:44:57.813" Title="What damage is possible due to hyperextension?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-10-05T23:49:20.903" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2826" CreationDate="2011-07-09T20:26:40.270" Score="10" ViewCount="2909" Body="&lt;p&gt;While my wrists are fine in general, some of the more strenuous exercises I (try to) do are painful sometimes; for example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2741/how-to-do-a-one-arm-pushup&quot;&gt;one-armed pushups&lt;/a&gt;. I used to have more problems, even when doing pull ups (at the bottom of the movement) and for all kinds of pushups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid this I started doing pushups on my knuckles and also did some simple wrist exercises (basically, holding my fist tight and moving the wrist around in various ways). In general, this helped, but I've obviously still got problems and I'd like to &quot;fix&quot; this permanently. I understand that wrists are mostly tendons and not muscle and I'll time to improve, which is why I want to start early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2019-03-16T19:17:11.467" Title="How to strengthen my wrists?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2822" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2830" CreationDate="2011-07-10T02:05:29.423" Score="0" ViewCount="469" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it OK to lubricate these things.  If so with what?  If not does it mean my machine is on its last days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a Cardio Glide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1407" LastEditorUserId="1407" LastEditDate="2011-07-10T18:55:52.213" LastActivityDate="2011-07-10T22:01:19.530" Title="The resistance piston on my exercise machine squeaks" Tags="&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-10T03:54:44.370" Score="1" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm lokking for home exercises that I can do easily. I'm looking to see a photo or video and apply the exercise, do you know any good free or paid websites for this thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1354" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T02:20:33.257" Title="Free Weight Exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2824" CreationDate="2011-07-10T04:17:58.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRX&lt;/a&gt; is a good resource for exercises with short video clips for different muscles.  However, nothing beats spending time with a trainer to learn proper form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-10T04:17:58.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2820" CreationDate="2011-07-10T05:17:01.393" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Begin by stabilizing your wrists in a neutral position with isometrics for the wrist flexors, extensors, medial and lateral deviators, pronators and supinators ( ie. resist the wrist moving 1) up, 2) down, 3) to the thumb side,  4) to the little finger side, and resist rotating the forearm by turning the palm 5) down and 6) up, without losing the neutral position of the wrist).   Then do the same six exercises but allow movement through a comfortable range using a resistance band and/or dumbell.  See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8122850/wrist-strengthening-exercises-wrist-rehabilitati.htm&quot;&gt;article for photos&lt;/a&gt;.  You can use these exercises to warm up before trying bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you mentioned, you need to take care with the tendons and small joints of the wrist.  Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hntmW-9qUkM&quot;&gt;wrist stretching video&lt;/a&gt; that will help with your flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises will make your wrist more stable in neutral, stronger throughout your range and more flexible which hopefully will help to eliminate your pain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-10T05:17:01.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2824" CreationDate="2011-07-10T05:49:56.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a huge fan of Matt Furey's stuff. His free articles are at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mattfurey.com/articles.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mattfurey.com/articles.html&lt;/a&gt;, but the books are excellent as well. Combat Conditioning and Combat Abs are my favorites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's mostly centered on the &quot;Royal Court,&quot; the Hindu Squat, Hindu Pushup, and Neck Bridge, all of which are well known bodyweight exercises and can easily be looked up on the net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1345" LastActivityDate="2011-07-10T05:49:56.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-10T13:36:34.167" Score="1" ViewCount="6036" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had pulled my groin muscle, so I cooled it with ice after the injury occurred and took 2 days of rest. Now I am feeling better, but I want to prevent the injury from reoccurring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So can anyone recommend me some exercises for me for strengthening my groin muscles??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-11T08:12:33.943" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T12:40:33.843" Title="What exercises should I do to strengthen my groin muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2822" CreationDate="2011-07-10T22:01:19.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a manual that says to use household oil like WD-40 if it squeaks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1407" LastActivityDate="2011-07-10T22:01:19.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-11T06:12:56.763" Score="0" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I, despite eating normally and drinking normally, on very rare occasion seem to hit a wall or something. I get really tired and start yawning very regularly and usually also start feeling light headed and sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite not feeling hungry it usually goes away if I eat some meat. I don't know what it is but it has happened twice in the last month. Does anyone know what could cause something like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit --&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly each day I eat as follows or a slight variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast : Couple of small bits of bacon, fried egg, toast, glass of water and a coffee&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning snack : Usually a flavored tuna snack and water and coffee&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch : Salad with dressing or a Soup&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afternoon snack : Biscuits and coffee&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner : variety of typical dinner options (steak &amp;amp; veggies, pasta, casserole, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also walking/jogging about 3.5kms in a little over half an hour in the mornings before breakfast 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for specific details about what I ate/drank when it happened I don't remember but will try to keep track so I will know if it happens again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="1381" LastEditDate="2011-07-14T21:35:37.863" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T08:16:00.750" Title="Tired and sick feeling fixed by eating" Tags="&lt;meat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2829" CreationDate="2011-07-11T12:05:57.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: hip adduction. Use a machine or lie on your side and lift your lower leg up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, there are lots of stabilizer muscles (e.g. obliques) that don't get exercised properly and lead to injuries of weekend athletes. Specifically targeting them with exercises like hip adduction/abduction and roman twists can help. Using free-weights with uneven loads or exercising only one side at a time can also help tremendously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T12:05:57.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2845" CreationDate="2011-07-11T12:16:26.047" Score="7" ViewCount="1528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to run at least 5 times a week with the aim to lose weight and improve my overall health. Now I want to know how should prepare myself with regards to eating and drinking to get the most out of my run.  I guess that means: to be able to run harder and longer - and indeed, caring about wear and tear on your body. For example should I:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water or not drink before?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat immediately before, or a long time before?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat bananas for their potassium  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consume drinks with electrolytes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take any specific vitamins or minerals?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is one supposed to prepare one's self for jogging?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-12T01:29:04.197" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T18:24:21.143" Title="What should I eat or drink before jogging?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2820" CreationDate="2011-07-11T12:23:03.493" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think one of the most effective exercises is the wrist roller - you can make it for about $5 using a broom handle or round piece of wood, some thick string/rope and a weight plate.  Here's a few items from Ross Training about making your own: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/index.php?s=wrist%20roller&amp;amp;sbutt=Go&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.com/blog/index.php?s=wrist+roller&amp;amp;sbutt=Go&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T12:23:03.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2820" CreationDate="2011-07-11T12:33:23.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8jgCFXYTU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; have as one of their benefits the strengthening of your grip and wrists.  It also strengthens your back, your core, and your leg muscles (quads, hams, glutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to do deadlifts, then you might want to look into fingertip pushups (all five fingers).  Essentially, the wrist gets stronger as the muscles around it get stronger which includes your forearms as well as the muscles in the hand.  Fingertip pushups strengthen both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with your wrist strengthening exercises, you will want to stretch your wrists as well.  Here are some options for that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtostretch.com/wriststretches.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.howtostretch.com/wriststretches.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puppetista.org/drums/stretch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.puppetista.org/drums/stretch.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T12:33:23.663" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2829" CreationDate="2011-07-11T12:40:33.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squats&lt;/a&gt; are a very effective workout that gets your whole body involved in the right proportions.  The key to keeping your adductors involved is to push your knees apart when you are &quot;in the hole&quot; and while you are raising back up.  The squat gets your calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, adductors, core, and back muscles all together in the right proportions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Word of advice: swallow your pride and go light at the beginning.  As long as you add weight every session for as long as you can do that, you will be lifting heavy weights soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The primary reason for muscle injuries is unbalanced strength&lt;/strong&gt;.  This is why I recommend a compound lift like the squat (to parallel) to build up your adductor (groin) muscles.  There will be a number of other supporter/stabilizing muscles that need to catch up, and it's always the weakest link that gets injured first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T12:40:33.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="649" CreationDate="2011-07-11T12:55:51.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are conflicting reports from scared moms associations to killer sergeant coaches that add a lot of misinformation to the mix.  I ran across an article by Dr. Lon Kilgore that has some sane guidelines, and while it was written from the perspective of weight training I think it has good implications elsewhere: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/Youth.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weightlifting for Special Populations: Youth&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  There's a companion article to this from the same author: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/YouthMisconceptions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Misconception About Training Youth&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the points raised are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any weight training should be done under the supervision of well trained adults (certified by a standards organization &quot;with professional membership and that the certification examination is rigorous&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Total exercise training time should not exceed 15 hours per week.  Coaches must consider the cumulative effect of all the trainee’s physical activities. We recommend a holistic approach to training, an approach that requires the coach to be cognizant of the trainee’s exercise/activity behaviors on and off campus.&quot; (quote from Dr. Kilgore)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I left out a number of weightlifting specific guidelines; however, both articles have several supporting studies that are cited.  I wanted to focus on the 15 hours per week number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you think about it, 15 hours per week is 2 hours and 8.5 minutes every day 7 days a week.  If the child only does his/her physical activity during the school week, that's 3 hours per day.  That time includes gym, sports activities, rigorous play (pickup games), etc.  Granted that number is specifically geared towards kids who are lifting weights, but if the kid is involved in football or another physically demanding sport It's a number worth paying attention to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that kids recuperate a lot more quickly than adults, but they still need rest to let the muscles grow and the kids become stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T12:55:51.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2824" CreationDate="2011-07-11T13:07:36.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your question it is not clear whether you have access to barbells (free weights) or not.  If you do, or are willing to get some, I recommend reading this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intro to Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; which will help you get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For beginners the two best programs to begin with are &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;.  The article I linked to at the beginning has a few thoughts on choosing between them.  Both programs have articles that demonstrate the lifts you would be doing.  Mark Rippetoe (Starting Strength) even has a number of videos on YouTube to help demonstrate and teach good technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you purchase barbells brand new, you can get them as cheap as $300 USD for a barbell and and weights to get up to 300lb.  You can also find them used on Craig's List or Ebay, so there are other low cost options to get you started.  That will be more than enough to get you going, and by the time you are ready to buy a better barbell/weights you will be pretty strong and better know what you really need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T13:07:36.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2824" CreationDate="2011-07-11T14:26:12.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend Mark Sisson's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/introducing-primal-blueprint-fitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Primal Blueprint Fitness&lt;/a&gt;. It focuses around 5 essential full-body movements, and is designed for beginners and advanced persons alike. It does not require any expensive equipment and is extremely effective. I have been following this plan and love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark also provides a wealth of health and fitness information as well as a vibrant community at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marksdailyapple.com&lt;/a&gt;. But most importantly, in regards to home exercises, he provides each week a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-fitness/workout-of-the-week-archive/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Workout of the Week&lt;/a&gt; which is designed to keep your fitness routine from getting mundane and keeping it exciting and fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1298" LastActivityDate="2011-07-11T14:26:12.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2834" CreationDate="2011-07-11T18:41:03.343" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're only exercising for an hour at a time, no need to really eat much before, but I would suggest drinking water before and after, and if the run goes for longer than an hour, during as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're only after weight loss, don't have a high carb recovery meal afterwards, stick to low fat protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that I only really need to eat before exercise (to not compromise performance) if the session is going over 2.5 hours.  If you're going for longer, then use any of the carb sports drinks out there before and during your run, every country has their brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're exercising every day, and start to feel fatigue after a few days then up your intake on the recovery meal, protein and carbs are essential, but you still don't need large portions. You can also eat more foods with vitamin B as it will give you more energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery meals should generally be eaten directly after the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-06-07T18:24:21.143" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T18:24:21.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2859" CreationDate="2011-07-11T21:10:44.000" Score="8" ViewCount="1636" Body="&lt;p&gt;For cardiovascular health (not training, or endurance, or other reasons for exercising), how frequently is it recommended to do cardio? What is the minimum to have any effect, what is the maximum where not much is gained, and what is optimal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or to phrase it in a different way, is jogging for 15 minutes once a week any better than doing no exercise at all? Is running for three hours a day better than one hour a day? For a healthy lifestyle, how often should cardio be done? Again, I'm asking about exercising for cardiovascular health, not building stamina or training for a sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:09:00.823" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T02:09:00.823" Title="Recommended amount of cardio exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2890" CreationDate="2011-07-11T21:20:46.477" Score="3" ViewCount="397" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should stretching be done before exercise? Does the type of exercise (running, weight training, swimming) affect the answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-07-14T18:40:28.470" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T19:49:28.270" Title="Should I stretch before exercising?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-11T22:52:06.230" Score="28" ViewCount="4794" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to improve my times in the half marathon and the marathon, so I've been reading a lot of training plans for races at those distances.  One thing I've noticed is that most of these programs tell you to do your long training runs quite slowly, often recommending 60-90 seconds per mile slower than your target race pace.  Why is that?  That is, it seems like if I want to become a faster runner at a certain distance, the best way to train would be to run that distance, quickly.  Yet most plans instruct you to do your long runs slowly, and to build speed in separate, shorter workouts.  I can see the benefit of doing shorter workouts at a faster pace, but I don't see how doing my long runs at 60 seconds/mile slower than my goal pace is going to help me as much as doing them at as close to my goal pace as I can handle.  Isn't that how most training works?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why is that?  Is it just to keep my legs fresh for other workouts?  (If so, then couldn't I run faster if I know I'm going to have a day or two of rest following my long run due to my schedule?)  And is there empirical evidence to support that these long, slow runs train athletes better than faster runs of the same distance?  Or is it just unquestioned coaching orthodoxy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; There are some good answers below, but I haven't accepted any of them because thus far no one has been able to point to any scientific studies.  They may not exist; they often don't for this type of thing (it's almost baffling how little hard, scientific evidence we have for so many of our most deeply held beliefs regarding fitness and exercise).  That's what I'm hoping to find, at any rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1431" LastEditorUserId="1431" LastEditDate="2011-10-25T16:09:39.677" LastActivityDate="2019-08-30T14:35:29.373" Title="Why do distance running training programs tell you to do long runs so slowly?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1125" CreationDate="2011-07-12T00:03:42.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a big fan of fingertip pushups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4OZhu.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They seem to build the biceps more than standard pushups, and they build hand, finger, and forearm strength as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1431" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T00:03:42.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2011-07-12T00:09:02.633" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) put out a good book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runlessrunfasterbook.com/uof/runlessrunfasterbook/&quot;&gt;Run Less Run Faster&lt;/a&gt;. You can find a lot of information contained in the book at the original article in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/printer/1,7124,s6-238-244-255-8257-0,00.html&quot;&gt;Runner's World&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the FIRST program outlines 3 types of training runs. The three FIRST workouts are a long run, a tempo run, and a speed workout that are designed to improve your endurance, lactate-threshold running pace, and leg speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this points to is that long runs improve endurance, not speed. Upping the intensity would add extra stress for little gain. FIRST has done multiple studies, and has seen great results. Whether the studies are completely scientific, I cannot say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1176" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T00:09:02.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1125" CreationDate="2011-07-12T01:30:56.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a big fan of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exrx site&lt;/a&gt;, you can browse this site based on which muscles and which body weight form to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there some push-up variations I can do to work the biceps or shoulder muscles? Illustrations or pictures would be appreciated as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll summarize some exercises to work the &lt;strong&gt;shoulder muscles&lt;/strong&gt; here based on both of my favourite sites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWHandstandPressBench.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Handstand push ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YRODI.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Handstand push ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWPikePress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pike Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9pkVf.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Pike Press&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWDeclinePikePress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Decline Pike Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DpwYK.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Decline Pike Press&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some exercises to work the &lt;strong&gt;biceps&lt;/strong&gt; here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let me ins&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QZMJW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Let me ins&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWUnderhandSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let me ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e43QZ.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Let me ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T01:30:56.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2853" CreationDate="2011-07-12T02:46:36.160" Score="5" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;People sometimes talk about a &quot;recovery meal&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is a recovery meal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When should one eat the recovery meal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Of what should it consist?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be variation depending on the preceding activity, but there are probably some guiding principles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1417" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T17:30:30.593" Title="What is a recovery meal, and of what should it consist?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2852" CreationDate="2011-07-12T11:55:14.580" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recovery meal is a meal consumed to aid your body in recovery after exercise.  You should generally eat this meal directly after exercise, except if the goal of the exercise is weight-loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your recovery meal should consist of carbs, to replace the muscle glycogen that was burned during your workout, and lean protein to aid muscle repair and recovery for the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A recovery meal is only required if your next workout will be in less than 48 hours (my opinion).  Your normal meals will do fine if the gap between workouts are 48 hours or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T11:55:14.580" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2420" CreationDate="2011-07-12T14:48:53.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're still a beginner, you'll grow and lose fat on pretty much any routine for like the first 6 months assuming your diet is in check.  I would recommend a basic strength training program and cardio on your off days.  P90X is not necessary, and personally I think it kind of stinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1433" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T14:48:53.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2846" CreationDate="2011-07-12T15:36:35.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fitness/MY00396/DSECTION=aerobic-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt; recommends 150-minutes per week. Different sources will give slightly higher or lower numbers, but this seems to be the mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The minimum I've heard for any benefit is 5 minutes which leaves very little room for excuses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T15:36:35.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2831" CreationDate="2011-07-12T15:37:14.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was happening to me, seems I was losing a lot of basic nutrients/vitamins when working out (sweated them out) - I started to take my whey protein prior to the workout and drank vita-water (added the powder to my water) during the workout and I stopped hitting the mid morning wall.  Sounds like your lacking/need to increase something (protein or vitamins).  More info is required, like what you were doing on those days, your workout, your meals.....and if there were any specific differences on those days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T15:37:14.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1005" CreationDate="2011-07-12T17:08:11.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you will do some research, you will find that a Doctor of Chiropractic [DC] is highly trained in spinal manipulation - far more than a MD.  Self spinal manipulation can be very dangerous and cause serious injuries.  If you want to help your spinal condition, learn proper rehab exercises designed specifically for your condition by a DC or PT.  Counsult a DC who utilizes spinal imaging and works with other health care specialists to achieve the best correction for your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;God Bless, Sam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1435" LastActivityDate="2011-07-12T17:08:11.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2846" CreationDate="2011-07-12T17:10:29.923" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What it sounds like you are asking is how can you improve cardiovascular health most efficiently with the use of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, heart health is mainly achieved through dietary adjustments but regular activity plays a vital role as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any activity can improve the health of your heart provided you are reaching the right intensity.  Indicators we use to determine level of intensity are breathing patterns, sweat production and heart rate.  When these measurements reach a certain level for your age group and level of fitness, then you enter what some refer to as the &quot;cardio zone&quot;.  This simply means that the body's mechanisms for dealing with a stressful situation has begun to demand more out of your heart than what it is typically used to.  This is the basis of muscle development.  The heart (a muscle) must be challenged.  Your goal here should be to maintain that intensity for about 5 minutes per session.  You should have 3-6 sessions per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The great part about this method is that you can work as quickly or slowly as you want to reach the right intensity.  And as you progress in your fitness, the rules don't change.  5 minutes of intensity will get the job done.  But you will find it harder to reach the desired level of intensity as your heart becomes stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for minimums/maximums etc:  The heart is perfectly capable of staying healthy and strong without ever reaching these levels of intensity.  However, in our present society with so many poor choices of food out there, it is a good idea to supplement your health habits with good quality exercise.  I think 5 minutes of elevated heart rate, sweat producing activity 3 times per week would be the minimum goal to shoot for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When does it become overkill?  That's a bit more subjective because the heart can and will continue to improve it's performance capability with increased demand.  I'd say just do as much as you're comfortable with and provided you're reaching your intensity goals, be satisfied knowing that you are keeping your heart healthy and strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1434" LastEditorUserId="1434" LastEditDate="2011-07-17T12:47:33.360" LastActivityDate="2011-07-17T12:47:33.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2011-07-13T02:23:05.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always found that if I run faster, I can't run as far.  It's as simple as that for me.  If I want to run a long distance, I can't run as fast.  Eventually, as I either run that distance more, or increase my distance even more past that, I can run it faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'm always surprised by my times on race day.  There's a lot more motivation to keep you going a little harder then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that your long runs are too easy and you think you should be pushing harder, you may consider upping your target time.  Maybe you underestimated your ability!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1437" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T02:23:05.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2011-07-13T04:17:38.480" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been to the FIRST running camp (two years when I was in high school).  They do have a lot of good information; however, I have anecdotal experience that will help you in particular with the half marathon or marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid any sorts of interval or short speedwork stuff.  Weldon Johnson (co-founder of Letsrun) dropped his 10,000m time to 28:06 off of slower, longer, and more frequent runs than what he had been previously doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great article by his coach John Kellogg: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.letsrun.com/jkspeaks4.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.letsrun.com/jkspeaks4.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say if you want to drastically improve your half-marathon time (as opposed to running for recreation) you will need to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run twice a day.  Historically, this has proven to be the optimal training frequency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run as much mileage as you can handle.  Build up slowly -- over a period of months and years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a long tempo run each week, or 2 of them if you can handle the stress.  It should be about 8-9 miles and about 85% of the effort of your half-marathon race pace.  To make it more interesting, you can start at a slower pace and work down to faster than your HM pace for the last few miles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery.  Increasing your training will inevitably make you feel very tired at first.  Don't worry -- this is normal and you will get used to it.  However, sleep is VERY important at this point because your body does not build fitness during exercise, but afterwards while you recover.  Make sure you're taking in appropriate nutrients as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the &quot;long run&quot; each week is highly overrated.  I could run a marathon or even a 50k faster than most of the population based on my college training for the 8k (one person on my team actually decided to run a well-known marathon just for the heck of it and won), which proves you don't need to throw in a single high mileage run to become fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day with disproportionate mileage compared to the rest of your week is only going to get you injured or tire you out.  Yes, there are physiological benefits that come with running longer, but you will reach this automatically as your day-to-day mileage steadily increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be careful with the long, slow distance (LSD) trap.  Don't purposefully trudge through your runs at a pace that feels uncomfortably slow or unnatural.  There's a famous quote -- I think by Sebastian Coe -- that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.azquotes.com/quote/588676&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;long, slow distance produces long, slow runners&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (also quoted in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/647671.The_Quotable_Runner&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt;).  The point of the slow runs is mainly to recover from your workouts.  Many people make the mistake of running their hard runs too easily and their easy runs too hard.  As another example, a different person on my team would run 14 miles at 5:20 pace followed by two days at 8:30 to 9:00 minute pace.  This pace is slower than most neighborhood joggers.  He PR'd every single race that season and moved to the front of the team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think that's about it.  I would recommend finding someone to train with as well (and maybe you already do), because as you increase your mileage you will find it much more enjoyable with a training partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1288" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-02-07T22:43:52.697" LastActivityDate="2016-02-07T22:43:52.697" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2819" CreationDate="2011-07-13T04:33:04.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyperextension is a frequent cause of bone bruises.  These are very long and painful injuries that disrupt the surface of the bone (they're more like many micro-fractures as opposed to a bruise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beyondprinting.com/sportsmed/PDF/thurs/MRI_TH_06.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.beyondprinting.com/sportsmed/PDF/thurs/MRI_TH_06.pdf&lt;/a&gt; for some more information on the relationship between bone bruises and hyperextension (it also includes bone bruise causes other than hyperextension).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1288" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T04:33:04.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2805" CreationDate="2011-07-13T04:39:28.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have no opinion on the subject of whether you should wear cycling-specific shoes or not; however, I will say that you are not going to get less efficient power-transfer from not wearing clipless pedals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's simple physics.  The energy is conserved -- it necessarily HAS to go into turning the crank.  A very VERY small amount may turn into heat, but instruments probably don't exist that can measure to that sort of precision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good article called the &quot;Shoes Ruse&quot; that details why it is perfectly acceptable to wear any shoes that you want when cycling.  I'm not sure if I entirely agree with it, but you can read it and make your own decision: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rivbike.com/article/clothing/the_shoes_ruse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rivbike.com/article/clothing/the_shoes_ruse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1288" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T04:39:28.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2870" CreationDate="2011-07-13T11:40:17.783" Score="5" ViewCount="3476" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be fit and have started at the gym to get fit once again. I've never really been a runner but have started on the treadmill (along with bikes) to improve my cardio fitness. I want to set myself a goal to reach with running, the problem being that I'm not really sure what a good time or distance to aim for is for a novice runner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-07-13T18:29:08.760" LastActivityDate="2013-09-23T13:01:51.003" Title="What's a good running goal for getting started?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2011-07-13T12:29:19.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple reason for a LSD is to get you comfortable with being on your feet for a long period of time.  The reason for doing LSD runs at a much slower pace is because running at pace is very demanding on your body, especially over several hours.  It's all about preventing injury.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T12:29:19.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2866" CreationDate="2011-07-13T13:15:26.593" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Good&quot; is a relative term and it would have to be adjusted for your age, sex, and any noteworthy medical conditions. In a very general sense, someone under the age of 40 with a reasonable level of fitness should be able to run a 5k in under 40 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're trying to improve your fitness, run 5k and mark the time. Make your goal to trim off 10% of your time in 60 days. If you haven't been running much, that should be easy to ramp up to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T13:15:26.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2866" CreationDate="2011-07-13T13:59:03.997" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say, since you're a beginner, take things slowly to determine what level of running commitment you're comfortable with.  Start with a half mile.  Time yourself and try to get your time below 3 1/2 minutes.  If you're comfortable committing more time to running, move to a mile per session.  Try to get this time below 7 minutes.  A 7 minute mile is a very good time for an athlete.  It will take some time for a novice to reach this goal but I think this distance is a very healthy amount of running.  If you are running several times per week, remember to take things slowly and give yourself enough time to recuperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue in this fashion until you have reached a level you're comfortable with both in terms of time commitment and energy expense.  From my experience, running a 7 minute mile twice a week will keep you in great shape and at a high cardio fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1434" LastEditorUserId="1434" LastEditDate="2011-07-14T02:07:14.313" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T02:07:14.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2846" CreationDate="2011-07-13T22:12:03.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends a great deal on the intensity of the exercise. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybyscience.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body By Science&lt;/a&gt;, a ~15 minute weekly session of extremely high-intensity weightlifting can serve all your cardio needs; conversely, you can spend all week doing something really low-impact and not see much benefit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we think of as &quot;cardio&quot; and &quot;aerobics&quot; is actually a body-wide process for metabolizing energy at the cellular level, and this is what particularly intense exercise targets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-07-13T22:12:03.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-14T11:01:40.763" Score="11" ViewCount="1381" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to the gym last week, and the experience was quite intimidating. Everyone there was a regular, who knew exactly what to do, whereas I was a newcomer who tried to understand how the equipment worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for nearly two years now, so it's not like I just recently started weight lifting, but have been doing so from my apartment up until now. One of my roommates had a good amount of weight lifting gear and he didn't mind lending it to me. However, we both moved out and now I have to find a gym if i want to stay in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any tricks to make the first few times less intimidating, or do I just have to man up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-05-22T13:40:51.327" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T21:54:59.263" Title="Any trick to make going to the gym less intimidating?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2011-07-14T12:55:58.230" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just man up and realize that within 3-6 weeks you're be a regular also.  MANY of the people at the gym will be more than willing to help/show you how to work any of the equipment.  I've read a lot of blog entries and forum posts about bad gym etiquette, some good things to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;getting in the way - find a corner/spot where you're not getting in the way of others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;listen more than you speak&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clean up after yourself - put the weights back, wipe up your sweat, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep off your phone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;get some advice or a few lessons from the gym's staff or personal trainer and keep going - GOOD LUCK!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="2180" LastEditDate="2011-10-27T08:02:46.840" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T08:02:46.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2011-07-14T12:56:35.030" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many gyms provide a free half hour of personal training to get you acquainted with the equipment. You might ask an employee for an overview. Also, don't worry, most people don't know how to use anything but the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T12:56:35.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2011-07-14T13:03:27.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most gyms have personal trainers for hire. They'll know the lay of the land and what equipment you can use to achieve your goals. Typically they want you to sign up for a contract of several (6-12) sessions, but you can usually make it clear you just want someone to set-up a routine for you and not be your new workout buddy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T13:03:27.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2847" CreationDate="2011-07-14T13:10:13.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Ivo has described the lack of known physical benefit in his response to a prior question (and above in his comments): &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise&quot;&gt;Should I stretch after exercise?&lt;/a&gt;  and for the most part I agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and from what I have read static/dynamic stretching does not enhance or hurt the body, if anything it could be considered as part of the workout routine.  My typical workout consists of 5 minutes of warm up (rope jumping, jumping jacks, etc.) and 5 minutes of stretching (including some yoga stuff) - and I've found that to be sufficient enough to warm my body up and &lt;strong&gt;MENTALLY&lt;/strong&gt; prepare me for the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - my opinion - I think it prepares one mentally by giving you some time to think about the workout and what your trying to accomplish and a time to adjust your body to the movements your about to make.  Make the stretching relevant to the workout (don't do static stretches if you're about to do kickboxing and don't focus on your arms if it's a heavy legs day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T13:10:13.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2011-07-14T14:19:52.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of what makes the gym intimidating to you is what you alluded to in your question: &quot;...who knew exactly what to do, whereas I was the helpless...&quot;.  In essence, it helps to have a plan before you go in.  When you are there, execute the plan.  Sometimes the equipment doesn't look like you expect or are used to, so ask someone who works there where the &quot;XXX station&quot; is.  Not to long ago I needed to find out where the dip station was.  The gym only has the assisted dip/pullup stations, but the guy there showed me how to use it unassisted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't take long to become a regular, but it helps to know what you need to do before you step foot inside.  If you are used to free weights, ignore the machines and do your routine where the free weights are.  That's essentially what I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and I also echo Meade Rubhenstein's advice on gym etiquette.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T14:19:52.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2847" CreationDate="2011-07-14T14:36:26.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what you are doing.  I don't have any links, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise&quot;&gt;Ivo's detailed answer&lt;/a&gt; about stretching after exercise alludes to the fact that stretching &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt; muscles is a bad idea.  However, with some activities you need to get a good stretch in so you can avoid injury before you begin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, when I do squats I need to get to a certain depth (below parallel) so that my whole body, including my knees can be strengthened.  When I'm cold I just can't get that deep due to a natural lack of flexibility.  To warm up, I'll do a set of five empty bar squats, followed by some stretching to get to the right depth.  I continue to warmup this way, increasing the weights until I get to my work weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is important any time you are doing something technically challenging and requires a full range of motion.  That includes martial arts, gymnastics, certain lifts (like squats and cleans), etc.  You won't be able to stretch properly until your muscles are warm.  You can do a quick jog, jumping jacks, or the basic motions you will be doing while you exercise without the same amount of resistance you would normally use.  After that, you can stretch appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre workout stretch should be short, with the goal of getting you limber enough to do your exercise with good form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post workout stretch should be longer, with the goal of increasing your flexibility for next time.  It can also be a good cool down technique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: not all exercise activities benefit from stretching, and Ivo's answer is coming from the perspective of a runner.  You have a lot less requirements on your range of motion to run than you do to execute a flying kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T14:36:26.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2011-07-14T14:49:44.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everyone there was a regular, who knew exactly what to do, whereas I&#xA;  was the helpless derp who tried to understand how the equipment&#xA;  worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please realize that you aren't the only person to feel this way! We've all had to learn our way around the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go to the gym with an &lt;strong&gt;&quot;open&quot; attitude&lt;/strong&gt;, meaning focus on listening and take feedback constructively.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on learning proper form.&lt;/strong&gt; Each exercise has an appropriate form that works the target muscles. Lose the form and you can either hurt yourself or you'll 'cheat' by engaging muscles outside of the exercise's target (which means, smaller gains). Don't ever be afraid to stop and lower the amount of weight if you feel your form slipping.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attack the easiest or least intimidating equipment first&lt;/strong&gt;. Suggest that you start with machines/equipment first rather than barbells and dumbbells. Most of this equipment has diagrams and instructions how to perform the exercise. All you have to do is follow the instructions!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start feeling comfortable, move to the free weights. Start with a low/light weight and perform the exercise to warm-up and to focus on form. When you perform the exercise with weight, do it in front of a mirror and ask someone to watch your form. The mirror is there so you can see how you are responding to their feedback, allowing you to learn what the proper form should look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch others&lt;/strong&gt;. You can learn by observing others, i.e. &lt;em&gt;how the heck does that machine work?&lt;/em&gt; Just hang out until someone starts using it! Just take note that not everyone does their exercises properly and that some exercises are inherently harder than others.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T14:49:44.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2011-07-14T15:13:04.263" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two enemies in the gym: Satisfaction and Discouragement.  Everything else is irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have allowed one of these to get the best of you.  Every person in that gym was once like you and many of them have no idea what they're doing despite appearances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent intimidation from discouraging you, I would recommend the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Prepare yourself by studying different techniques, lifts and exercises.  This will give you more confidence on the machines.  Don't be afraid to examine the placards on machines.  I've been lifting for 15+ years and I still observe these because they are very useful for proper technique and workout planning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Talk to people in the gym.  This makes a huge difference.  Just walk up to people and ask stupid questions.  Most people will be happy to talk with you about different techniques and practices.  You'll make some friends, you might learn a thing or two and it will help you realize that everyone is just like you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Employ the services of a personal trainer.  Many of them are very helpful and should be willing to assist you without charging a fee.  Remember, their goal is to build a clientele so they don't mind spending a session or two with you if they think you may become a customer down the road.  And you don't have to be embarrassed.  We have all worked with trainers before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember, most people in gyms are extremely insecure which is why they put off an intimidating demeanor.  Just ignore it.  If you stay focused and committed and just have fun, before you know it, those people who seemed intimidating will come up to you asking for advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and keep working hard!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1434" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T15:13:04.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="774" CreationDate="2011-07-14T17:01:24.577" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe is trying to describe where your eyes should be looking, and that the eyes should not follow the bar.  Essentially you are staring at the same point on the ceiling throughout the set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When unracking the bar, the bar will be above your eyes, possibly a little more toward your hair side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With arms fully locked, move the bar to it's &quot;up&quot; position without changing your gaze.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the bar is in the &quot;up&quot; position, it will be in your field of view closer to your feet (foot side).  &lt;em&gt;It will not be directly above your eyes.&lt;/em&gt;  Don't shift your gaze, but see it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each rep, the goal is to put the bar in the same place every rep.  Bring the bar down to your sternum and lift back to the same position in your field of view each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this is much clearer in the Starting Strength book.  If you are serious about lifting weights, I highly recommend buying the book.  It is well worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2017-09-06T20:25:54.560" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T20:25:54.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2847" CreationDate="2011-07-14T17:19:17.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is bodybuilding/weight-lifting that you are doing, it is probably best to do a quick (1 exercise) stretch after the warm-up cardio, and then do some stretches in between exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this does is stretch the fascia of muscle, therefore giving it more space to grow. This is heavily used in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fst-7.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FST-7&lt;/a&gt; training method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T17:19:17.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2902" CreationDate="2011-07-14T19:47:37.313" Score="10" ViewCount="9042" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to wear VFFs for running, but unfortunately I have odd shaped/length toes and feet that make these almost impossible to wear.  Are there any reasonably priced alternatives that I could look at (complete barefoot is not an option)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I visited a store in my area and asked if they carried the NBs.  I was then treated to a diatribe as to how all these companies are in it only for the money, they're not for all runners, she studies podiatry and they're horrible, why would anyone recommend them, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastEditorUserId="852" LastEditDate="2011-07-21T13:11:03.150" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T20:35:17.770" Title="Alternatives to Vibram Five Fingers" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2847" CreationDate="2011-07-14T19:49:28.270" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For weightlifting, it is not only unnecessary, it is actually detrimental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other sports, it may or may not be beneficial, depending on the sport. E.g. I could not have conceived any martial arts training session, back in the day, without very thorough stretching beforehand. I would have pulled a muscle, or worse, if I didn't stretch before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1350" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T19:49:28.270" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2011-07-14T20:49:21.530" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Nike Free 5.0 was one of the first running shoes designed to simulate barefoot running. The &quot;5.0&quot; was supposed to indicate that it was half way between running with a traditional shoe (10.0) and running barefoot (0.0). You might find the 3.0 to be good for regular running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/search/search-celebros.jsp?Query=Minimalist&amp;amp;sc=CX11B039&amp;amp;cm_mmc=psearch-_-google-_-Generic%20Running%20Shoe%20Terms-_-rrs101-1000014326&quot;&gt;minimalist running shoes&lt;/a&gt; you just need to decide what it is that you really want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-14T20:49:21.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2905" CreationDate="2011-07-15T02:18:17.953" Score="1" ViewCount="2804" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is a simple question, but it hasn't been asked on here yet (so it seems from my search results).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the most nutrient-dense source of vitamin E?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1450" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T12:02:47.490" Title="What is the most nutrient-dense source of vitamin E?" Tags="&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T19:35:06.203" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2011-07-15T02:47:11.797" Score="6" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newbalance.com/nb-minimus/&quot;&gt;New Balance Minimus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merrell.com/US/en-US/Product.mvc.aspx/22876M/50394/Mens/Barefoot-True-Glove&quot;&gt;Merrell True Glove&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T02:47:11.797" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2831" CreationDate="2011-07-15T08:10:24.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biscuits are generally high in sugar and starch, neither of which will give you energy to sustain you for more than a short time. You're better having foods containing good fats, protein, and fibre. Those foods also give you a feeling of fullness, which means you don't need to eat as much as you would with biscuits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Salads can be quite light sometimes, so if the soup doesn't have much substance to it, that won't give you much to go on either. You might need something more substantial such as some whole-grain bread (dip it in your soup?) to last you through to dinnertime, especially if you're having biscuits in the afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1451" LastEditorUserId="1451" LastEditDate="2011-07-15T08:16:00.750" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T08:16:00.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2900" CreationDate="2011-07-15T09:02:11.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best source I know is &lt;strong&gt;red palm oil&lt;/strong&gt;. (note that red = raw and unrefined, and that palm kernel oil is something else altogether)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw palm oil not contains plenty of carotenes and lycopene, but also about &lt;strong&gt;0.4 mg of tocotrienols&lt;/strong&gt; plus a similar amount of alpha-tocopherol &lt;strong&gt;per 1 g&lt;/strong&gt; of oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wheat germ oil is also rich in tocotrienols, and contains a lot more tocopherols, but is a lot less stable, resulting in a rather short shelf life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Vitamin E is a class of 8 substances, namely alpha- through delta-tocopherol and alpha- through delta tocotrienol. Most supplements contain only alpha-tocopherol, converted from a natural mix of tocopherols by a process called methylation. Reseach suggests however, that mixed tocopherols and/or tocotrienols work a lot better than one isolated tocopherol, and that overly high dosages of alpha-tocopherol are unhealty. Tocotrienols are more potent than tocopherols.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T09:02:11.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2900" CreationDate="2011-07-15T12:02:47.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;George Mateljan in the &lt;strong&gt;World’s Healthiest Foods&lt;/strong&gt;, lists &lt;a href=&quot;http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&amp;amp;dbid=57&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sunflower seeds&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&amp;amp;dbid=16&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;swiss chard&lt;/a&gt;  as sources of excellent quality Vitamin E.  Using his rating system, an excellent rating has a daily value percentage of over 75% and a nutrient density (based on total nutrient richness) score over 7.6 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almonds and spinach are rated very good.   Collard greens, kale, papaya, olives, bell peppers, brussels sprouts, kiwi, blueberries, tomatoes and broccoli are listed as good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, he writes that Vitamin E is a family of fat soluble vitamin. Food sources contain the full spectrum ( alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-trocopherols and tocotrienols).  Supplements generally contain only a synthetic di-alpha tocopherol.   Vitamin E is partially processed out of wheat/wheat germ with commercial processing.  He recommends storing oils (olive, sunflower, peanut) air tight to protect their vitamin E.  His site gives &lt;a href=&quot;http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=recipe&amp;amp;dbid=100&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recipes&lt;/a&gt; noting ways to prepare and cook to optimize vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T12:02:47.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2756" CreationDate="2011-07-15T13:23:47.040" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had good success (60Lbs+ fat loss over a year or so) on a paleo lifestyle combined with intermittent fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paleo part basically means excluding all processed foods as well as sugar (any type of sugar, as well as artificial sweeteners), grains (and all grain products like bread, pasta, pizza, etc), seed oils, legumes, and dairy.  So you eat foods that are naturally less likely to cause insulin spikes.  You can further improve the fat loss by limiting nuts and fruits.  A good resource for all things paleo is &lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Robb Wolf&quot;&gt;Robb Wolf's site&lt;/a&gt; .  It's a naturally lowish carb diet.  It's also anti-inflammatory, so it might help your knee over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other protocol I've used in combination with the above is intermittent fasting.  In short, I fast 16hrs after dinner (so no breakfast), and I train in a fasted state.  The best resource to read more on this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lean Gains&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="259" LastEditDate="2011-07-15T23:47:12.230" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T23:47:12.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2011-07-15T15:15:38.663" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunningshoes.org/&quot;&gt;http://barefootrunningshoes.org/&lt;/a&gt; has a pretty comprehensive database. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion due to the irregular toe length issue would be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunningshoes.org/vivo-barefoot-shoes/mens/vivo-barefoot-evo-mens/&quot;&gt;Vivo&lt;/a&gt; as it has the widest toe box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1453" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T15:15:38.663" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2756" CreationDate="2011-07-15T22:33:04.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to hear about your knee .  Cycling, elliptical trainers and swimming all burn calories.  They  can be used for interval training and are generally forgiving on arthritic knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nordic walking poles&lt;/a&gt;  can help you burn more calories than regular walking, up to 20% more calories according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cooperinstitute.org/research/past/nordicwalking.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cooper Institute&lt;/a&gt;.  Each time you plant the pole you use large muscle groups of the trunk, abs, lats, shoulders and arms.  Nordic pole walking is  a good alternative to running as the poles help to reduce some of the stress on your knee joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can effectively strengthen your large muscle groups and burn calories with resistance training without aggravating your knees.  Here are some examples of ways to target your glutes without knee strain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/CBStandingHipExtension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Using pulleys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Using a weight machine - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/LVLyingHipExtension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unilateral hip extension&lt;/a&gt;  or &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/LVLyingHipExtensionH.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bilateral hip extension&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Using &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/WtReverseHyperextension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodyweight&lt;/a&gt;, and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5ghYiUJrdQ&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stability ball&lt;/a&gt;.   If you can tolerate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhqfgyhQATY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kneeling&lt;/a&gt; this exercise also engages your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strengthening and using your gluteus maximus will actually help to protect and improve your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you will want to strengthen the knee muscles (quads and hamstrings) to protect your knee joints, but you may want to consult a sports or orthopedic physical therapist to give you an appropriate exercise regime that balances out your strength/range and works on your lower extremity alignment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have answered, diet is a key factor to weight loss.  Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T22:33:04.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2917" CreationDate="2011-07-16T17:58:07.697" Score="2" ViewCount="6270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I swim 3-4 times a week.  Occasionally, much less often then ~1 year ago, I get extremely bloated after swimming.  My stomach is completely full of air to the point that I can not stand up straight.  It can hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to find the cause of this.  I think it is either because I am not breathing correctly in the water (swallowing air as opposed to breathing air), or possibly due to something I've eaten earlier in the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not make a habit of swimming soon after I eat.  My swims are a mix of easy, relaxed strokes up to anaerobic sets depending on the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;** UPDATE **&#xA;I have adjusted my breathing pattern from breathing every third stroke (left, right, breathe on left, right, left, breath on right) to a 2-2-3 (left, breathe on right, left, breathe on right, left, right, breath on left, right breathe on left). This helps somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also started taking a Gas-X pill or two about 20-30 minutes prior to a hard workout set. This seems to be the best solution for me to eliminate discomfort after the swim. If I do get bloated from swallowing air, the Gas-X seems to help me get rid of it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2013-03-27T14:35:48.090" LastActivityDate="2017-02-26T20:30:50.267" Title="Bloating after swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2756" CreationDate="2011-07-16T19:08:00.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same affliction.  I chose to modify my squats (less ROM) and deadlifts (pin pulls) instead of foregoing them altogether.  Also get a pair of sleeves for your knees, those will help a lot.  I did quit running, but a modified diet can take care of that.  My doctor was fine with this, saying that it is the repetitive pounding that will hurt me, not a few sets of squats a day.  Also take lots of fish oil and chondroitin type supplements (I like the ones with hyaluronic acid), this will reduce swelling and make your knees feel much better.  Overall diet is the answer, but reduction of 1000 calories a day is insane, try a couple hundred as it is much more sustainable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-07-16T19:08:00.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-16T23:59:37.973" Score="25" ViewCount="5783" Body="&lt;p&gt;I carpool to work in the mornings but I run home after work. I have tried running with a regular backpack but that didn't work. It bounced up and down too much and wore out my shoulders. I am now running with my small camelback but that only has room for a cellphone and wallet. Because with the camelback my load is so small, I have worked out an elaborate system to get my stuff back home to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My solution would be to find a good backpack that doesn't bounce when I run so I can just take my stuff with me when I run home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on which backpacks are good for running?&#xA;Any tips on how to run with a backpack on so I don't screw up my back or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1458" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-07-23T08:12:51.393" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T08:12:51.393" Title="Running with a backpack" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-17T04:25:32.910" Score="7" ViewCount="18416" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past few years I have often been feeling tired all the time. Thus I have decided to take a friend advice and start exercising everyday in the morning and ensuring that I have about 7 hours of sleep everyday too for the past 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, things doesn't seem to change, I still feel really tired. Have gone for a medical checkup and doctor say my body is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1459" LastEditorUserId="1459" LastEditDate="2011-07-17T05:00:34.340" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T08:10:08.057" Title="Constantly feeling tired despite sufficient sleep and regular exercises." Tags="&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-07-17T06:59:06.143" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd imagine that if you tighten up the straps and kept the backpack load high on your back that it would alleviate some bouncing. Also, you could consider getting a backpack that has a hip band or support so that the bottom half is tight to your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="471" LastActivityDate="2011-07-17T06:59:06.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2911" CreationDate="2011-07-17T12:17:03.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a very interesting thread for you where &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Gastroenterology/abdominal-distention-after-swimming/show/8537&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“Star Queen”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; explains how your breathing pattern during swimming can cause excess air to go into your stomach as you inhale.  This can occur especially if you hold your breath followed by gasping or gulping for air, such as in turns and while pushing off the wall or when trying to increase your speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the solution appears to be to correct your breathing pattern.  When I taught swimming, I started the kids with blowing ping pong balls across the water and then progressed to blowing bubbles with their face in the water to learn to exhale thru the mouth as I was taught.  The explanation I was given was that by blowing out thru the mouth as you exhale while your face is in the water, you empty your lungs so that when you turn your head to breathe in your lungs are ready for the inhalation.  I also taught a rhythm of exhaling and inhaling to keep the breathing smooth and steady:  exhale 1-2-3, inhale 4-5-6.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn’t help, you may want to check with a swim coach for better breathing instruction.  Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-17T12:17:03.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-17T13:11:42.283" Score="6" ViewCount="1791" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 30yr old male, and I have a 10km (20km round trip) commute to work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- About 60/40 bike lane/road, and its a city = so can be stop-starty with traffic lights in rush hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was only riding about 3 times a week, and then using my motorbike for the other days.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have a racer bike, single speed but this is fine as route is nearly all flat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was never really pushing it - just cruising = would take around 35-40min to get to work (pending traffic lights)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 6ft2 and weigh 210lbs, and therefore BMI says im overweight, so I want to get closer to 180lbs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Therefore I aim to change my lifestyle to meet this goal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- I already have a plan with a diet - using DailyBurn to help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine I will end up doing some running at some point and also keeping an eye on ebay for some weights.&#xA;- However, I am a busy person.  Ideally I prefer the idea of maximising my use of time and turn my commute into a more efficient method of losing weight (and as a bonus getting to work quicker, saving more time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I already know the answer - &lt;strong&gt;Cycle Harder&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would prefer more detailed answers with advice on motivating me to do this.&#xA;- I was thinking perhaps a speedo for my bike to keep track on times/average speeds/etc, but the traffic lights surely make this tricky to rely on?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips (with weight loss in mind) would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I was thinking about putting this in the bicycle-se, but I think its more fitness related.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I also read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2136/how-to-optimize-long-term-health-benefits-of-30-minute-bicycle-commute&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; which is related but not a duplicate.&#xA;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://productivity.stackexchange.com/questions/496/how-can-i-transform-my-cycling-commute-time-into-productive-time&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; on how to make your commute productive is not really related, but I also aim to take advice from there too.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="654" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:52:19.210" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T12:47:42.697" Title="Cycling for weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-17T13:26:07.727" Score="2" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a FREE 1200 to 1400 calorie diet plan that has regular food (like normal food you buy in a local store) with no Hummas or Lamb or soy beans, something like eggs bread beans and rice burgers fruits that kind of food nothing fansy. It there a step by step day by day for 21 days straight diet menu that I can just praint out buy the food at my local Walmart and just do the 21 day 1200 to 1400 calorie diet until I lose the 100 pounds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1462" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-18T07:44:28.040" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T11:00:24.540" Title="How can I lose 100 pounds?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2921" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2922" CreationDate="2011-07-17T17:51:17.270" Score="2" ViewCount="102227" Body="&lt;p&gt;About an hour ago, I was working out barefoot (yeah, I know... really, really bad idea), accidentally kicked the bench's base, and ended up with a big toenail that was still attached, but separated from the toe at roughly a 45 degree angle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After getting over the shock, horror, and somehow managing to neither pass out nor vomit (both of which felt like appealing options at the time), I made it to the bathroom. Eventually, I squirted some Neosporin onto the nail bed, gently pushed it down so that it's &quot;only&quot; separated at about a 5-10 degree angle (any more, and it started to hurt), and put a loose band-aid over it to kind of hold it down. 10 minutes later, I ended up wrapping the whole foot loosely in gauze, mainly to protect the carpet from blood that was seeping out around the edges when I walked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now, here I am at the computer, about an hour later (I did other searching first), asking, &quot;WTF do I do now&quot;? So far, it hasn't really started to &lt;em&gt;hurt&lt;/em&gt;, but I'm also just sitting here and putting no stress on it whatsoever. Earlier, when I was limping up and down the stairs, it &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; aching a bit. Obviously, I can't spend the next &lt;em&gt;N&lt;/em&gt; months sitting motionless at my computer desk, and sooner or later I'm going to have to deal with getting that foot into a shoe (I doubt whether anyone will complain if I limp into Walgreens or CVS with a gauze-wrapped shoeless foot, but at the very least I'm going to have to have some kind of footwear when I go to work on Monday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've identified the following specific immediate issues that need to be dealt with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How hard should I try to keep the toenail flat against the nail bed, as opposed to allowing it to creep up and away from it? The problem I see is that the more firmly I hold it down, the more stress it's going to put on the area it grows from as I walk and the skin to which the nail is taped squishes, stretches, and generally moves around. On the other hand, it seems like once I'm finally back to wearing a normal shoe on that foot again, taping it firmly in place is probably a lesser evil than allowing it to constantly get pushed around by the shoe itself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm definitely open to suggestions for specific products to purchase this afternoon and things to do that will make the next few days and weeks more tolerable. Right now, I'm still kind of in shock &amp;amp; afraid to do much besides sit motionless... at least, until I have some concrete plan for what to do next.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, unless it's a matter of life, limb, or death, going to the hospital isn't an option. I have health insurance, but I really don't want to get hit with $1,000+ in copays and deductibles just so they can tape it down and tell me there's nothing else they can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1463" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2015-02-21T22:37:57.263" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T22:37:57.263" Title="Toenail partially kicked off and lifted up... what now? How do you clean lifted up toenail?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;foot-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2011-08-13T13:03:23.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2921" CreationDate="2011-07-17T18:25:23.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have damaged my toenails many times from playing soccer. The good new is, it will stop hurting as much very soon. Ice and advil will help with that. The bad news is, you are going to lose the toenail. I think the key is have this happen in a slow, controlled manner, as the nail naturally falls off, rather than to have it ripped off from its precarious position. My suggestions are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut it down as far as you can every day. This will depend a lot on how much it hurts.&#xA;Tape or bandage it firmly so it can't get caught on things.&#xA;Wear a loose sock and a sandal on that foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that you will be walking normally in a day or two. It may take a couple weeks to fully lose the nail, and a couple months for it to grow back. They first regrow might be mis-shapen or otherwise odd, but it's nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-07-17T18:25:23.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2011-07-17T19:11:00.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Continuing on from the answer from Nick, I think that it is a strong case for learning the principals of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll expand; If you train at 100% all of the time you will burn out within 6 months, this is because you are pushing your body to the limit all of the time. That is not good for you as our bodies were not designed to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should research periodisation as well. At certain times of the year, you want to focus more on different things. Eg, winter is for putting in the miles, summer is sharpening up for the races etc. This will vary from sport to sport and disciplines within sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 100/200m sprinter and we would following something similar to this and bare in mind that it is specific to sprinting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sept -&gt; End/Jan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting in the miles, so lots of over distance training like 3/400's (we need the base endurance to increase the speed later on). This is typically about the 80% effort mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feb -&gt; End/April&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these few months, we would up the pace to 90% for about half of our sessions keeping the rest at 80% effort. One key term we use here is lactate stacking, so short recoveries in our interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 (sets) x 6 (reps per set) x 150m (distance) with each run in 20/21 seconds off of 45 second recoveries and 5-8 min set recovery. We would then do something like 10 x 40m at near maximal effort to push our bodies even harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mar -&gt; July&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is usually race season, so the intensity gets turned up to 90% effort + every session. Loads of 100% speed work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Remember it's all specific to your distance. Research periodisation and different training types (interval,fartlek etc).&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="420" LastActivityDate="2011-07-17T19:11:00.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2970" CreationDate="2011-07-17T19:22:42.163" Score="4" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in a previous question I am a 100/200m sprinter. I have, what I consider to be, a strong body for my sport (stats at the bottom of the post).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two muscle groups that I am looking to improve are my glutes (my bottom) and my iliopsoas (hip flexors). I think that these two specific muscle groups are instrumental in a fast sprinting speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any decent exercises for these muscles groups. Bare in mind that I currently do not have access to an olympic bar, so no dead lifting etc at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advanced&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6Ft, 83kg weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;95kg Bench press (machine not free)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;250kg Leg press (gym max, machine not free, 2 legged. 1 leg 140kg right, 130kg left.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All repped at 3 x 10&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="420" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:09:06.210" Title="What are some exercises for glutes and iliopsas that don't require equipment?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2932" CreationDate="2011-07-17T20:59:47.137" Score="5" ViewCount="715" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be on the plane for 8 hours next 2 weeks. I know a bit exercise practice that I can do while sitting in the bus, ex. face to the right, then to the left, face down, face up, moving my shoulders, moving both of my legs as if I'm walking at the same place while sitting down. That's it. If the bus stopped, I could go out for a while and exercised a bit there so I'd be fresh again and free from pins and needles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do you exercise on the plane?&lt;/strong&gt; All I can think right now is if that plane is big enough I think I'll do push ups, I wish I can find more varieties so that I won't be bored exercising + travelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-26T16:23:44.390" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T16:23:44.390" Title="How do I exercise on the plane?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2914" CreationDate="2011-07-17T21:14:35.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercising everyday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of exercises are you currently doing? Are these weight training sessions? and how long do you take in each session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about your diet? do you eat sufficiently to sustain these activities (including other activities you might be doing outside of your workouts?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1464" LastActivityDate="2011-07-17T21:14:35.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="81" CreationDate="2011-07-17T21:45:05.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something most people are not aware of is the fact that in order to take advantage of creatine, the creatine powder &lt;strong&gt;must be dissolved&lt;/strong&gt; in water. For this, you simply mix the creatine in your glass of water and mix until it gets completely dissolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Micronized creatine will dissolved faster than regular, and this is why it is the preferred option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mixing your creatine on warm water will speed up the creatine getting dissolved. If the creatine does not get fully dissolved and you drink it, your body will not absorb it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good video comparing micronized creatine to that of regular. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OJvXzP39rg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OJvXzP39rg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1464" LastActivityDate="2011-07-17T21:45:05.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2914" CreationDate="2011-07-18T00:01:03.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar issue (with fatigue so severe my muscles were restless and achy by 8pm in the evening) and it turned out to be caused by my thyroid being underactive. You can get blood tests done to make sure it's working properly - your doctor may have done them already (they measure TSH [Thyroid Stimulating Hormone] and I think T-4 [the stuff produced by your thyroid] in your blood) but it might pay to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spent probably at least a year trying to improve my diet, get more exercise and get enough sleep (all to no avail) before I finally got it figured out...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1451" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T00:01:03.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2011-07-18T04:51:07.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a brief summary of a diet plan &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/&lt;/a&gt; it's not so much about restricting calories as it is upping your protein intake, and cutting out other various food types.  It's very simple and easy to follow, but it can get plain eating the same things over and over if you don't spice it up some.  Theres probably plenty of other posts about it with more detailed instructions if you google the slow carb diet.  Or if your interested you could get the book on amazon.  It's worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1466" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T04:51:07.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2926" CreationDate="2011-07-18T06:41:31.047" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important “plane” exercises are designed to &lt;strong&gt;increase circulation&lt;/strong&gt; to your feet and legs to prevent deep vein thrombosis (blood clots).  You can do simple feet and ankle range of motion exercises sitting in your seat every 20 minutes.  Point your toes up and down.  Practice writing out the alphabet in the air as if your big toe is a pen.  March in place while sitting by raising one knee and then the other toward your chest as this also helps to increase circulation.  And be sure to hydrate well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting up and walking in the aisle is important on long flights.  Just make sure that you time it so that you get up before the carts come out and block the aisle.  When you are standing, raise up and down on your toes to contract your calf muscles.  You can also do lunges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other range of motion and stretching exercises can be done in your seat as you mentioned to keep your neck, shoulders and back loose.  If you really feel like you need more exercise on the plane, you can do armchair push ups, (pushing on the arms of your chair and lifting off of your seat).  Or take a resistance band to do some resistance exercises. But the easiest ways not to be bored on long flights is to take a good book, watch movies or sleep.  Bon voyage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T06:41:31.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2846" CreationDate="2011-07-18T07:08:50.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the CDC has a concise answer for you in their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;physical activity recommendations for health benefits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  They break it down into moderate intensity exercise (150 minutes per week) or vigorous intensity (75 minutes per week) or a combination of the two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you improve, increase to 300 minutes of moderate intensity exercise or 150 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise per week or a combination of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition they recommend muscle strengthening twice per week to target all of the  major muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T07:08:50.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2937" CreationDate="2011-07-18T07:31:02.737" Score="8" ViewCount="7133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course, your weight varies throughout the day. Your weight is different morning/evening, before/after eating, and so on. Naturally if you are tracking your weight, you should measure your weight at exactly the same time each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, out of curiosity, I have found variations as high as 2 or even more kilograms.  (Call it 2% to 3%.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any specific information on the normal or usual weight variation through the 24 hours of day? Is &quot;two or three kilograms&quot; just wildly too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise that &quot;extreme weight managers&quot; such as boxers, bodybuilders and so on can deliberately vary their weight by huge amounts in a day or less.  However what I am asking about here is the normal variation for a typical person, eating and drinking normally, perhaps doing an hour of aerobic exercise a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway - in normal life is a weight variation as high as 2-3 kg per day, unusual?  What's the norm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T21:15:46.580" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T21:15:46.580" Title="Daily weight variance - as high as 2 or 3 percent?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2011-07-18T11:00:24.540" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the deal, losing 100 pounds is a wholesale lifestyle change.  Now I personally paid for help, as I needed that accountability and someone to help troubleshoot when the weight wasn't coming off that week.  If you check out my profile, you'll find a bit about my story and where I went to lose weight.  However, while the principles I learned there will also work for you, the supplements that are part of that program don't apply to your wishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to succeed, then you need to learn how to manipulate your pancreas.  That is the one thing that has been proven to work time and time again.  Essentially, low carb/high protein (in proportions) is the quickest way to safely lose weight.  Unfortunately you aren't going to find something so simple as what you are asking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are serious about losing weight (without exercise):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get someone to hold your feet to the fire.  Your willpower alone is too weak, and the very act of someone reviewing your food diary will help you say &quot;no&quot; to foods you would normally say yes to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read nutrition labels, you will need to shop differently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find out how much body fat you have (even a rough estimate will work).  This is what you will use to track progress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to eat 0.5g protein for every pound of lean mass you have.  Lean mass is how much you would weigh without the fat.  Whole protein sources here, like meat (chicken, lean beef, pork chop, fish [best source right there])&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will need to eat 4 servings of &lt;em&gt;green&lt;/em&gt; vegetables a day.  You want the carb count to be low.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose how serious you are going to be: go in to ketosis or a slower route.  To go in to ketosis you can not have any more than 40g of carbs a day.  While you are losing weight you want to cut carbs as much as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ketosis will be quicker, but the protein is that much more important.  In fact you may want to temporarily increase the amount of protein you are eating to protect your muscles and organs.  If you skimp on protein your body will convert the muscle mass and organs to blood sugar--and that will slow your metabolism down requiring even deeper calorie deficits to compensate.  Protein is a non-negotiable part of ketogenic diets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get used to serving sizes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 whole eggs at a meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7oz seafood (fish, lobster, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5oz land meat (chicken, beef, lamb, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get used to saying &quot;Don't finish it in butter&quot; when you go out.  Get used to saying no to carbs until you reach your goal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've answered why this works several times before.  If you go to my profile and look at the answers I've given, you'll understand a whole lot more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T11:00:24.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1631" CreationDate="2011-07-18T11:51:33.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about 10kg in one month, but I know of one person who &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/88-gomad-gallon-of-milk-a-day/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;added 11kg in 8 weeks&lt;/a&gt;.  It was the Gallon of Milk a Day (GOMAD) diet, where in addition to your normal food, you have 1 US Gallon of &lt;strong&gt;whole&lt;/strong&gt; milk a day.  Split it up between meals of course.  In addition to the milk, you need to do some strength training which will trigger your body to use most of that milk for your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, Nick (the guy who gained 11kg in 8 weeks) dealt with lactose intolerance, and I think his review of the experience is a fairly balanced view of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: your goals are very ambitious.  While it provides you with something to shoot for, you may have to be OK with a slower pace.  If you have a naturally high metabolism, you will have to eat so much food you will get sick and tired of eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T11:51:33.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2934" CreationDate="2011-07-18T12:01:26.197" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's within the normal variance.  Several things can contribute to the higher number on the scale including, but not limited to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water retention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Undigested food in the stomach (fresh after a banquet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mild allergic reaction to food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For women: menstruation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mild fat gain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;building muscle (while sleeping)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;feces yet to be expelled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's the deal, just because the scale shows a higher number than normal doesn't mean you have gained all that as fat.  In fact you might have a couple things working together to give you that 2-4kg swing from morning till evening.  Yet, by morning your body has been able to process the undigested food, deal with the mild allergic reaction, build new muscle, etc.  As a result the inflated number goes back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the most common reason for scale swings throughout the day is the different levels of water retention.  After a day of insufficient hydration and a lot of salty foods, I'm more bloated than after a day of plenty of water and more sane food choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-18T12:01:26.197" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-18T18:44:40.610" Score="2" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read several books advising a no grain diet. The main argument in favor of this approach is that the human body is not meant to digest grains: people started to consume grains around 10000 years ago - it is too short a period for evolution to come into action and our body are still unable to properly digest grains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to know if there were any scientific study advising this &quot;no grain&quot; approach to good health ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1238" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T14:01:36.720" Title="no grain for good diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2941" CreationDate="2011-07-19T00:33:47.273" Score="16" ViewCount="4745" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a standard (as much as can be standard) stretch routine that if used regularly over a period of time will increase/maintain flexibility and help my overall fitness level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a set of stretches I've been doing since playing basketball in high school, and I guess I'm wanting either to validate the routine or to find a standard routine that encompasses all the muscles you want to stretch on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking a routine from a branch of the military or something like that.  Does this exist, or is it another one of those areas that is too personalized to have a general rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1468" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T19:59:22.157" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T19:59:22.157" Title="Daily stretch routine to increase flexibilty and overall fitness?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2940" CreationDate="2011-07-19T06:04:31.120" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would  say that a stretching routine is something that should be personalized to be the most effective.  To help you set up your own  routine here are some suggestions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Assessment - First do an assessment to see if you have any areas or muscles with tightness or limitations of movement.  (Check neck, back and trunk range in all directions, shoulder motion, wrist/hand flexibility, hip and thigh range, and heel cords.)  If your present program of stretches addresses all your muscle groups, you should be fairly flexible.  If you find tight areas, you can add specific exercise to take care of those oversights.  I think that the spine is often overlooked.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Goal Specific - Next, look at positions that you spend a lot of time in such as prolonged sitting that would tighten hamstrings, hip flexors, neck and abs or pecs if you slump.  Consider the needs of any sports or activities you are involved in such as running, weight lifting, tennis etc. to assure that you have the range of motion needed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regularity - To be effective your stretching routine needs to be done consistently.  The more muscles that you can stretch with each exercise, the more manageable your time frame will be, giving you better overall results.  For example, child’s pose in yoga gives a good overall stretch to your  glutes, spine and lats, so it is a multi-muscle stretch.  Then for problem areas you can do some specific, dedicated stretches.   For example, if you work at a computer you would add specific forearm/wrist/hand stretches.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Resources and References - Joseph Weisberg has developed a quick &lt;strong&gt;3 Minute&lt;/strong&gt; routine that gives you a good overall stretch of the muscles of your spine, abs, back muscles and lats, shoulders, hips, adductors and hamstrings with six, 30 second stretches.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bob Anderson’s book, &lt;strong&gt;Stretching&lt;/strong&gt; is a standard reference.  It includes stretches for muscle groups and sport specific stretching routines. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ming Chew’s, &lt;strong&gt;The Permanent Pain Cure&lt;/strong&gt;  has stretching exercises that not only address the muscles, but take fascia into consideration.  He is a physical therapist, bodybuilder  and martial artist so his technique has been developed with a broad basis of scientific information, personal experience and knowledge gained from working with his clients.  The book also addresses the importance of hydration to improve your flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jay Blahnik’s, &lt;strong&gt;Full - Body Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt; gives a 3 part system, with general stretching as well as fitness and sport routines.  It includes dynamic stretching and multi-regional or compound muscle stretching.  His book also includes 23 stretching routines.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yoga exercises generally give you a good overall flexibility program and you will find  basic yoga moves incorporated into different stretching routines.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When to Stretch - Generally you will achieve more motion when the tissue is warmed up.   Immediately before sports or performance activities is NOT the best time to stretch, especially if you are doing static or passive stretching.  If you are doing an activity that requires full range of motion, such as some martial arts, you may want to do some dynamic stretching after warming up to allow you the range that will be needed.  However, to work towards increased flexibility it is best to do so at times other than before just before the activity.  This is because static stretching prior to activity may cause reduced performance and/or injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid Over Stretching - You can overdo stretching just like any other activity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.   (If you are interested in getting any of these books through Amazon, I would appreciate it if you would use &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;node=115&quot;&gt;the link on our site&lt;/a&gt;.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-19T06:04:31.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2955" CreationDate="2011-07-19T07:38:20.830" Score="4" ViewCount="3537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have bad knees and wish to do more exercise to lose weight. Running and jogging is bad. Do you have other recommendation? I don't have a bike and my home just have no place for a bike. And I can't swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, I've heard other said squating is good for knees, but I wonder if I can do it with 2 dumbbells? Because I don't want to go gym room which require monthly fee. I have a pair of weight-configurable dumbbells so I am wondering if I can do it in free weight mode. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="872" LastEditDate="2011-07-19T07:52:25.557" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T12:03:08.833" Title="Sport that is less stressful to knees?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2942" CreationDate="2011-07-19T12:12:57.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to make a few assumptions: limited space, limited $, slightly overweight (or more), beyond 20 and you're looking to lose weight and improve overall health....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is key to losing weight, start writing down everything you eat for a week (everything) and review the calorie intake each day (use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acaloriecounter.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.acaloriecounter.com/&lt;/a&gt; to determine the calories).  Use this daily caloric calculator to give you an idea of how many you should be consuming (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/&lt;/a&gt;)  - remember, calories burned, consumed and required are all estimates - you need to adjust your diet to fit your personal needs and body requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great way to improve your health is general, simple exercising that you can do every day with little impact to your current schedule.  Take a look at Fit Deck (&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitdeck.com/fitness-bodyweight-only/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fitdeck.com/fitness-bodyweight-only/&lt;/a&gt;) body weight exercises that can be done in minimal space, with no required equipment and about 30-45 minutes a day (5 to 6 days a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also ALWAYS recommend finding an activity that interests you and that gets you out and active.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-19T12:12:57.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2011-07-19T12:34:01.917" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the single most exhausting training that you could take and yet it lasts so little. Regardless of the shape you are in, it's really hard. If you are in great shape, your sprint will be faster. If in mediocre shape, your sprint will be slower. But in general, if you push yourself, both types will be barely breathing at the end. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend trying it if you are not in at least a reasonably good shape. There's an excellent &lt;a href=&quot;http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/guerrilla-cardio/id406406575?mt=8&quot;&gt;Guerrilla Cardio iPhone app&lt;/a&gt; for it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The base assumption is that after punishing yourself for those 4 minutes, you body is overloaded heavily and it will take hours to get back to normal rhythm. And for those hours, your blood will run faster through your body and thus chip away the accumulated fat. Hence it's recommended to do this on the off-days, when you are not practicing other stuff (gym, running etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1472" LastActivityDate="2011-07-19T12:34:01.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2942" CreationDate="2011-07-19T13:41:41.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to knees, your only real safe bet is something in the water.  Don't rule out water sports because you can't swim.  You can try water volleyball, for instance.  There's really no sport worth playing/doing for the purposes of weight loss that isn't going to be somewhat rough on your knees.  Probably the only high intensity sport you could get away with here is doubles tennis on a very well maintained clay court.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2011-07-20T13:12:15.023" LastActivityDate="2011-07-20T13:12:15.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2942" CreationDate="2011-07-19T14:12:45.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note, I'm assuming that you've already dismissed the idea of cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be &lt;strong&gt;in-line skating&lt;/strong&gt;, aka roller-blading.  Great cardio workout and easy on the knees. The only downside is that it won't burn as many calories as running though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also look into:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boxing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rowing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-07-19T14:12:45.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2947" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3061" CreationDate="2011-07-19T14:13:32.740" Score="3" ViewCount="1650" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started jogging slowly and I get a little back ache after jogging for 2 Km which stops me from jogging further. It is normal when i stop jogging. I am overweight by about 12-13 Kg. What I'd like to know is will this back ache disappear eventually after some days allowing me to jog as much time as I can ? I do not have this problem when i do other things and even when i play soccer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1179" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T09:06:25.720" Title="back ache while jogging." Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2866" CreationDate="2011-07-19T19:24:10.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running again after a few years hiatus from failed marathon training (knee gave out after 18 miles).  I ran a 5k with my office team and that got me spirited again.  A goal that I reached last year was to run 1 5k a month for the entire year with no time limit except to complete.  The winter ones were suprisingly a lot of fun (and invigorating).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my $.02 on a running goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-07-19T19:24:10.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-20T02:13:23.890" Score="10" ViewCount="655" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once I had a physical education teacher at the University tell me that he is experimenting with a theory. The theory is that muscle burns calories and that as muscle mass increases, the amount of calories burned during the whole day will increase, achieving weight loss. Is this claim true? I find it much easier to do weight-lifting than cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-21T15:02:26.207" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T07:32:16.630" Title="Theory to burn Calories with muscle" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2942" CreationDate="2011-07-20T04:48:27.590" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you don’t have room for a bike, you won’t have room for an elliptical trainer which is usually a good way to burn calories and is easy on the knees.   Rowing and boxing are good and have already been mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aquatics:  Even if you can’t swim, you can still run in water (with or without resistance bands), or participate in an aquatic exercise class.  Learning to squat correctly in water is one of the best ways to see how your knees tolerate squats because the buoyancy of the water reduces the weight and strain on your knees.   You can also use the resistance of water to strengthen your quads, hamstrings and hip muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot;&gt;Nordic Walking&lt;/a&gt;:  Nordic walking poles can help you burn more calories than regular walking, up to 20% more calories according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cooperinstitute.org/research/past/nordicwalking.cfm&quot;&gt;Cooper Institute&lt;/a&gt;. Each time you plant the pole you use large muscle groups of the trunk, abs, lats, shoulders and arms. Nordic pole walking is a good alternative to running, because the poles help to reduce some of the stress on your knee joints. (And poles don’t take up any space.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squats and Resistance Training:  You can effectively strengthen large muscle groups to burn calories with resistance training without aggravating your knees.  Strengthening and using your gluteus maximus will actually help to protect and improve your knees.   Here are some examples of ways to target your glutes without knee strain:&#xA;1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/CBStandingHipExtension.html&quot;&gt;Using pulleys&lt;/a&gt;  - you can also do this with a resistance band at home.&#xA;2) Using &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/WtReverseHyperextension.html&quot;&gt;bodyweight&lt;/a&gt;, and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5ghYiUJrdQ&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot;&gt;stability ball&lt;/a&gt;. If you can tolerate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhqfgyhQATY&quot;&gt;kneeling&lt;/a&gt; this exercise also engages your core, and you can add ankle weights to increase your workout.  For squats, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzeTYOlz3J0&quot;&gt;ball wall squats&lt;/a&gt; may be easier on your knees.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of exercises targeting other large muscles with dumbbells are the: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBBenchPress.html&quot;&gt;chest press&lt;/a&gt;,  &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot;&gt;rows&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBPullover.html&quot;&gt;pullovers&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight Exercises:  You can do body weight exercises as a circuit and get your heart rate into your target zone to burn fat.  However, you should stay away from exercises with full knee flexion like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/Exercises/MountainClimber.html&quot;&gt;mountain climbers&lt;/a&gt; which can be hard on knees.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you will want to strengthen the knee muscles (quads and hamstrings) to protect your knee joints, but you may want to consult a sports or orthopedic physical therapist to give you an appropriate exercise regime that balances out your strength and range of motion, and works on your lower extremity alignment.  A good Tai Chi instructor may also help you with your lower extremity alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition:  Also remember that diet is a key factor to weight loss.  If you are not the one preparing your foods, begin with smaller portion sizes.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-20T04:48:27.590" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2956" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2965" CreationDate="2011-07-20T08:02:01.273" Score="1" ViewCount="1288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that sometimes we feel hungry even when our bodies have enough food.&#xA;I am trying to lose weight by eating a smaller portion of food each meal. Sometimes I feel hungry but I don't know whether I am really eating too little or if my body just hasn't gotten used to a smaller amount of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1372" LastEditorUserId="1479" LastEditDate="2011-07-20T22:41:54.547" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T15:17:54.620" Title="How do we know if we eat too little or not?" Tags="&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2956" CreationDate="2011-07-20T13:58:19.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had tremendous success utilizing this program as of late: &lt;a href=&quot;http://Calorie%20Counter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that I do not read much about, but helps me is how I view my food. Let's say I am about to eat a bagel, I look at it and tell myself, &quot;Wow that thing is huge! I am definitely gonna feel stuffed afterwards!&quot; I do this at every meal and have found that my portions have decreased. For me, I believe so much of diet is mental!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-07-20T13:58:19.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2954" CreationDate="2011-07-20T16:12:49.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From everything I've seen this is true.  Now, what happens when you have a higher lean mass is that your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) go up.  That means you are burning more calories at rest.  For the sake of argument, let's say you've added a lot of muscle and raised your BMR.  The change might not be as much as you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I got done losing a lot of weight, I had a BMR of about 2000 calories.  I've since put on a lot of muscle.  My new calculated BMR is roughly 2200 calories.  While that's 200 more calories that I burn just breathing it's only a little bit more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio on the other hand can burn over 1000 calories an hour depending on how hard your heart is working, the type of exercise, etc.  If you did an hour of cardio every other day, or even three times a week, you can burn more calories than you would after three months of lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, there's nothing to say that you can't do both either.  Get both benefits...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-20T16:12:49.787" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2960" CreationDate="2011-07-20T17:30:16.643" Score="9" ViewCount="2463" Body="&lt;p&gt;After seeing the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2942/sport-that-is-less-stressful-to-knees&quot;&gt;suggestions&lt;/a&gt; about sport/exercise which are less stressful, or even good for my knees, I chose squatting. From the suggestions, it can be done with minimal space and equipment at my home, which is also a plus. Especially I would try squatting with my own body weight so as not to give extra pressure on the knees. (Anyway I don't have a barbell.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/1166/ryan-miller&quot;&gt;Ryan Miller&lt;/a&gt; stated that &quot;If you decide to try squats, just make sure your knees do not go more forward than your toes at the bottom of the squat.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to mimic the squatting from some videos, but as I went down, I can only keep the knees right above the toes, is it okay? The knees tend to go forwards, but I can keep them back by focusing and downward movement in my butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any key point to avoid injury, and facilitate squatting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T12:24:13.527" Title="What is the key to avoid injury when squatting with your body weight?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2959" CreationDate="2011-07-20T17:48:51.860" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend reading this article on the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot;&gt;Third World Squat&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  The general guidelines on position, etc. are good.  Essentially it will help you gain the flexibility you will need in order to do any type of squat in safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it is OK if the knees go a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; bit forward.  Acceptable is up to an inch in front of your toes.  When you have a barbell on your back (assuming you will eventually do that), the idea is that the barbell will be positioned so that it is over your mid-foot.  The only way to do that properly is to have the knees go up to an inch in front of your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do want to break parallel with your body weight squats (or any kind of squat for that matter).  Parallel is defined as when the crease of your hips breaks the plane of the top of the knee.  In short it is when the top of your leg is parallel to the ground, not the bottom.  This will improve your flexibility as well as use more of your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, etc.) and less of your knees to raise back up.  In fact, if you are feeling it in your knees you are probably shifting your weight too far forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&quot;&gt;video where he is doing classroom instruction&lt;/a&gt; for the squat.  What's important to pay attention to whether you plan to use a barbell or not is the diagram on the whiteboard and the body position during the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-20T17:48:51.860" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2914" CreationDate="2011-07-20T20:41:24.670" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sleeping the same amount every night is important, but it's just as important to go to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time every night. For example, if you sleep 10pm-5am one night, then midnight-7am the next, and 3-10am on weekends, you'll probably still feel tired even though you're getting about 7 hours of sleep every night. Our bodies work better on a regular schedule; figure out what time of night you typically get sleepy as well as the number of hours you need to feel rested, then develop a schedule from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without any other information, that is the best advice I can give...make sure you have talked to your doctor about diet, depression, thyroid conditions, or sleep disorders. Sleep apnea, for instance, will leave you feeling tired even if you get &quot;a good night's sleep&quot; because your body isn't getting enough oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1479" LastActivityDate="2011-07-20T20:41:24.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2954" CreationDate="2011-07-21T02:31:11.547" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, and there's more to consider than just muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 70% of a human's total energy expenditure is due to the basal life processes within the organs of the body (see table). About 20% of one's energy expenditure comes from physical activity and another 10% from thermogenesis, or digestion of food (postprandial thermogenesis).[6] All of these processes require an intake of oxygen along with coenzymes to provide energy for survival (usually from macronutrients like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) and expel carbon dioxide, due to processing by the Krebs cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the BMR, most of the energy is consumed in maintaining fluid levels in tissues through osmosis, and only about one-tenth is consumed for mechanical work, such as digestion, heartbeat, and breathing.[7]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing to note is that RMR is essentially your total caloric expenditure if you were to lay around doing nothing all day. Add some activity and that number goes up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As BMR and RMR only represent resting energy expenditure, an adjustment must be made to reflect your activity level. This is done by multiplying your BMR or RMR by an activity factor (McArdle et al 1996). Note that the following activity factors also take into account The Thermic Effect of Food:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Activity Factor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.2 Sedentary - Little or no exercise and desk job&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.375 Lightly Active - Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.55 Moderately Active - Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.725 Very Active - Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week4&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.9 Extremely Active - Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_BMR.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;CaloriesPerHour.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, multiply your BMR by one of the numbers above based on your usual activity level. The calories burned during exercise are actually less significant than most people believe because people don't know that they also need to adjust their RMR to their current activity level (Ie the calorie counters used on most machines to calculate calories burn only give part of the picture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also other factors to consider. Such as type of exercise and energy required through recovery. For instance, while you'll burn more calories &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; an aerobic workout, your body will burn more energy overall from an anaerobic workout if you don't forget to include recovery (yes, it requires energy to recover from exercise). I would go into greater detail &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2509/does-duration-or-intensity-or-both-affect-how-many-calories-are-burned-in-a-cardi/2542#2542&quot;&gt;but I've already addressed those details with this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your final goal is to lose body fat, then &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/644/is-why-we-get-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it-thesis-correct/2363#2363&quot;&gt;there are a lot of other factors to consider&lt;/a&gt;. The most important being sleep (to balance hormones) and diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to lose fat mass through increasing muscle, consider conditioning your body using increasingly difficult anaerobic cardio exercises first. That way your circulatory, respiratory, and increased anaerobic threshold will make the weight lifting much more effective and the recovery period much shorter. Build your body's ability to move resources to your muscles &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; before you starting demanding maximum effort from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, increased muscle mass &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; increase your body's caloric expenditure. But, don't narrow your focus to the point that you neglect the other contributing factors (nutrition, sleep, fitness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T02:31:11.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2956" CreationDate="2011-07-21T06:41:58.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have evolved in such a way that our bodies are able to store extra food.  This is in part the reason we can consume more than we need, and without even realizing it. The mind only realizes that enough food has been eaten 20 or 30 minutes after the fact (&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=zM_9Ft1j40UC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Spark&lt;/a&gt;, Ratey). So if you are still hungry after that period of time, then you didn't eat enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's important to point out that fasting is not is not a long-term solution for losing weight (&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Pm9ZcFYtLZ4C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why we get fat&lt;/a&gt;, Taubes). So don't starve yourself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1457" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T06:41:58.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2968" CreationDate="2011-07-21T08:46:23.330" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;After intensive workouts muscle soreness is a common phenomenon. I heard, that it is important to recuperate before working out again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, I had the following experience: During a two week bike trip I continued the trip despite the soreness and lost a lot of weight and gained endurance. I am wondering now, if I should continue with what I know will work (working out despite the soreness) or if I should wait until the muscles recuperated.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there any references or articles that reflect this topic? Why is it important to wait until the muscles are not sore anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1150" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T12:46:25.040" Title="Why is it important to recuperate between workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2966" CreationDate="2011-07-21T12:46:25.040" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of the answer depends on your goals and the exercise you are doing.  Our bodies are marvelous creations that can adapt to a wide range of stresses over time.  However, there are a few principles you can use to apply to your exercise regimen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle is torn down and exhausted while you exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle is built back up when you rest--usually larger/stronger than before&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurance is adapting your muscles to adapt to long periods of continuing stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maximum power is adapting your muscles to short bursts of maximal effort&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if you continually exercise without rest your body will break down until you are forced to rest.  However, since we still need sleep and we have jobs that require us to be present, we can't continually exercise.  The period of time when you are not physically involved in exercise is a period of relative rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you bike for two weeks straight, your body is adapting to the stresses and periods of rest you are giving it.  In essence you are tuning your body more towards endurance, and dealing with shorter rest periods.  That means your body won't have the time to build bigger and stronger muscles, but it will be able to repair the damages done during the period of work and fine tune how it is getting oxygen to your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If on the other hand you are strength training, or some other form of exercise that requires short bursts of energy, your body's requirements for rest become greater.  In short, you are putting stresses that are at the edge of or slightly beyond what your body is equipped to handle.  During the periods of rest, your body is building the muscle up to meet those greater demands on it.  It is also fine tuning the energy sources that the muscle requires so it is less dependent on aerobic (with oxygen) sources.  By continually increasing the weight, you will eventually need longer periods of rest to fully rebuild and adapt to the new weight.  In the beginning however, you only need one full day of rest between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T12:46:25.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2914" CreationDate="2011-07-21T12:55:18.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a couple questions for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you first wake up, do you feel rested?  In other words do you wake up tired?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How restful is your sleep?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you ever waken yourself up snoring?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you sleep with a spouse/partner, ask if they have ever heard a pause in your breathing or if you snore really loud.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short you may have a sleep disorder, and if you are getting 7-8 hours of sleep (straight) at night but you are waking up just as tired as when you went to bed this points to another problem entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it can be a number of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insomnia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep apnea (still happens even if you are well exercised and have normal or better body fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restless leg syndrome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to find out if any of these are the problems you will need to get a sleep study done.  When you talk to your doctor tell them what you are experiencing in your sleep patterns.  Most doctors will try to treat you with pills first, tell them that's not an option.  If your spouse/partner has heard a pause in your breathing tell your doctor that.  It's an indication of sleep apnea.  The sleep study will be able to tell what's going on with you when you should be sleeping, and they will have a much better answer as to why you aren't rested when you wake up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T12:55:18.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2925" CreationDate="2011-07-21T13:08:17.323" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple body weight exercises that can help your Glutes and Iliopsas.  Unfortunately for one of them you still need some equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Iliopsas:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situps (can be performed weighted)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front kicks/Round house kicks (only perform body weight, and do both)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glutes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (can be performed body weight or weighted with dumbbells or barbells)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side kicks (only perform body weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/WtBackExtension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Back extensions&lt;/a&gt; (can be performed weighted)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BWBirdDog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bird Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, exrx.net has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;number of exercises&lt;/a&gt; that target the areas you are looking at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T20:04:13.033" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:04:13.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2938" CreationDate="2011-07-21T14:01:36.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from the standard low-carb movement, the primary basis for this position is the lectins that are found in grains. Grain lectins are thought to be mildly toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certain carbohydrates seem to protect the body from some of these lectins (e.g. glucosamine protects against wheat lectins), but are not always 100% effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; about lectins, which contains an in-depth explanation and references to source research papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T14:01:36.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2972" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2974" CreationDate="2011-07-21T15:09:13.030" Score="1" ViewCount="993" Body="&lt;p&gt;Question No. 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many estimated &lt;strong&gt;percentage of my weight&lt;/strong&gt; that I lift while doing elevated push ups with my feet on my unstable bed about 60cm from the floor (so I also keep my balance work here) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do it 10 reps, after I usually do 60 - 100 reps classic push ups and 10 deep push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight is 76kg. It can vary from 73 - 76kg, I'll continue my &quot;strict&quot; diet lifestyle again in September 2011. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1717/what-is-the-effective-weight-when-doing-push-ups&quot;&gt;Related Weight thread for Classic Push ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the pic I stole from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baseops.net/basictraining/pushups.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;baseops&lt;/a&gt;, I believe for my case, my feet is 15-20cm higher than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AJJ1A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;elevated push ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question No. 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only do 2 reps of &lt;strong&gt;not perfect&lt;/strong&gt; hand stand push ups so far, I'm not 180 degree upside down, maybe about 20 - 30 degree to be completely upside down. Is it true that I lift my total body weight (76kg) while doing it ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really feel something GOOD on my shoulders' muscle for both of these kinds of push ups. Specially for hand stand push ups, about 2 - 5 minutes after that workout, I kinda feel refresher. I wonder if that happened because my blood flowing to my head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T16:03:41.563" Title="How many estimated percentage of my weight that I lift while doing elevated push ups" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2956" CreationDate="2011-07-21T15:17:54.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding whether to know if you are eating too little, I can often judge this by my energy level at any given time... especially toward the end of a strenuous exercise session.  If I'm entirely more lethargic than I'm used to being that means I either got too little sleep or probably didn't have enough calories available.  Since sleep is rather easy to track it makes it easy to determine if this is a nutrition problem.  This is terribly simplifying the task of nutrition, since you also need to consider proper balance and quality of food, but it's a simple enough metric that you can play by ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as for knowing if you are hungry or not, often times the signal for hunger is similar to the signal we receive when we are dehydrated.  What I'd suggest doing, and what I do, is to immediately drink around 16oz of water the minute I start to feel hungry and crave food.  &lt;em&gt;If&lt;/em&gt;  30 minutes later I am still hungry, then I allow myself to eat, otherwise, I chalk up the craving to dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T15:17:54.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2972" CreationDate="2011-07-21T15:49:08.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer 1: They physics is somewhat tricky since so much depends on the exact angle and the distribution of weight on your body. A better approach is just to measure by putting a scale under your hands and do a diamond push-up (so both your hands fit on the scale). See what the scale reads at the bottom of the push-up versus the top. Take the average and you're done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer 2:&#xA;Unless you're going perfectly up and down, you're not lifting the full mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T15:49:08.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2978" CreationDate="2011-07-21T16:13:24.017" Score="11" ViewCount="25047" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you supposed to use foam padding on the bar when doing barbell squats? The answer seems inconsistent even from the same professional bodybuilder. I've seen Arnold Schwarzenegger sometimes go bare and at other times use as much padding as a small yoga mat. How can several hundred pounds of pressure on the trapezius be safe and comfortable? I've always found bare barbells unpleasant on the trapezius. Is doing it bare supposed to be beneficial somehow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Padded&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N6ziv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bare&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bWQRq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T10:35:11.360" Title="Dangerous to use barbell squat without padding?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2011-07-21T18:07:14.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to the same discussion on BodyBuilding.com: &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=134123431&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=134123431&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any information on the problems going bare might cause and the general downside to using padding seems to be one of control and feel of the bar while squatting.  I'm assuming people switch on/off based on personal preference, injuries and ego.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T18:07:14.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2011-07-21T18:17:50.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note the position difference in the two images you posted. In the padded image, the bar is high on the shoulders, above the shoulder bones. In the unpadded image, the bar is supported a little bit lower, more on the muscles, and not on the bones. Changing positions of the bar is a good way to avoid adaptation, and to continue improving. Sometimes, this means putting the bar in a place that is uncomfortable without padding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T18:17:50.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2011-07-21T18:22:08.480" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several arguments about correct bar placement.  The two main locations are &quot;high bar&quot; and &quot;low bar&quot;.  Both pictures you have portray a high bar placement.  The trapezius isn't designed for massive loads; however, if you have the bar a couple inches lower so that the load is split across the mid scapula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bObGB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Low bar position&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The low bar position is better suited to bearing larger loads, and once you get used to it is more comfortable than the high bar position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to answer your question, Mark Rippetoe has some good observations whether you agree with his conclusions or not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At lighter weights, the padding pushes the bar away from your back and changes your balance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At heavier weights, the padding is completely compressed and provides no use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More back muscle provides a more dense and natural platform than the padding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally lift with a bare bar.  I've worked my way up from squatting just the bar to currently 220lb (100kg) and will be going up tonight.  There are other lifts that work to help build the back muscles to comfortably support that kind of weight.  It's at this point that padding wouldn't help me anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get rid of the padding, I recommend incorporating overhead presses and deadlifts (pulling the shoulders back) to build up the upper back muscles and create a stronger core.  This helps you support the heavier squat weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend going to YouTube and watching the Rippetoe videos on how to squat.  It answers many questions you may come up with.  Also note the depth the woman in the picture I linked to has.  Whether you squat high or low bar, you want to get that kind of depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T18:22:08.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2011-07-21T18:22:24.047" Score="8" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can several hundred pounds of pressure on the trapezius be safe and comfortable? I've always found bare barbells unpleasant on the trapezius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pad's sole purpose is to address that exact issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's &lt;strong&gt;dangerous&lt;/strong&gt; at all, it's there to prevent injury to your traps. If using the pad allows you to perform this exercise, then use it. Ideally yes, you want to get to a point where you don't need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However this article over at &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-sissy-bar-pad-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; indicates that its usage is not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all Squatting with a bar pad is a mistake for 3 reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can't position the bar correctly. This is even more true if you wrap a towel around the bar: the bar will end up higher on your back, and the higher the bar the worse your leverage. Granted, not that big of a deal with light weights, but it will be once you Squat heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can't &amp;quot;feel&amp;quot; the bar - it's like Squatting in running shoes: you have to Squat barefoot/with Chuck's to feel the difference. The only way you'll feel the bar using a pad is if the weight is heavy enough, but then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;... the bar pad will be useless when you get stronger (which you will with StrongLifts 5x5). Here's why: the weight will compress the pad and then you'll lose the cushion ability. So any short-term benefit, you will lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-07-21T18:22:24.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2990" CreationDate="2011-07-22T03:01:58.387" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking at some must haves that every guy must have on him to protect his wrist, knees, etc any other that may be useful for stretching. I need some guidance as I go to the gym regularly and do squats, bench, and rowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1486" LastActivityDate="2011-07-23T20:48:56.943" Title="What kind of training accessories must one have to protect themselves at gym?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2985" CreationDate="2011-07-22T04:04:42.793" Score="7" ViewCount="12272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play a lot of 5-a-side football/soccer on concrete, although I used to get the same issues when playing on wooden court as well. I've tried plastering my feet in bandaids, double layer socks, and currently I'm playing with real thick nike football socks, none seem to make much difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smaller the court, the larger the chance and damage of getting blisters, I assume simply because on a small court, the ball and run of play tends to switch a lot more, requiring constant change of direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't seem to get many blisters on larger astro turf or grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that getting the &quot;right&quot; shoes is a big deal, however I really don't understand the criteria to apply to find the right shoes? Should a shoe be a little loose during play, or should it be a perfectly tight fit? Are there any inserts or soles that might help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, what is the best method to deal with healing blisters? My wife seems to think I should be covering them in bandaids, where as my mind is telling me that leaving covering off for a while so that it can harden quicker is the better path to recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T05:42:04.423" Title="What are the best methods to prevent and treat foot blisters?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2983" CreationDate="2011-07-22T09:21:40.560" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;For sure, in my opinion there are two factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;1. COMPEED !&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're gonna need Compeed brand blister covers.  They come in a small blue plastic pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onestep-beyond.co.uk/140-170-home/compeed-blister-kit-medium.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.onestep-beyond.co.uk/140-170-home/compeed-blister-kit-medium.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is almost &lt;strong&gt;nothing that will help&lt;/strong&gt; once you do have a blister. I have tried everything, home-remedies to high-tech. If you do have a blister, and you must keep playing, your best bet is to use a Compeed patch.  It's better than nothing, it's your best hope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my testing (left foot versus right foot), &lt;strong&gt;you are completely right&lt;/strong&gt; they will heal faster if you leave them open to the air rather than a band aid (I mean, if you are not playing: if you have to play with a blister, try a Compeed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;strong&gt;prevention&lt;/strong&gt;, use Compeed patches liberally. The critical element is, the &lt;strong&gt;very first moment&lt;/strong&gt; you start to feel wither &lt;strong&gt;rubbing or even just &amp;quot;heat&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in a particular spot, you have to get some compeed patches on that spot.  Don't hesitate.  It feels girly to immediately slap on prevention at the very first warning (heat feeling or rubbing feeling) but the alternative is - get a blister.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;2. SOCKS !&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advances in sock technology in our time is amazing.  My current hobby is endurance day-walking (no big deal, but like 12+ hours in one day) so it's all about blisters.  For me, the new modern socks are &amp;quot;a miracle&amp;quot;.  I encourage you to try the new &lt;strong&gt;double-layer socks&lt;/strong&gt; to begin with. I use &lt;strong&gt;Monnet&lt;/strong&gt; brand. (There are various brands - some are specifically sold as &amp;quot;anti-blister&amp;quot; -&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B000O5WQG2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;example&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) They are basically &amp;quot;a miracle&amp;quot; in terms of blister prevention. If those don't work, try the various socks made by X-Socks company. Personally for me I use this model:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MU8hN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and these socks in fact specifically prevent each of the three spots between my feet where I would normally get a blister, when wearing my Meindl boots for 10+ hours. So those are the exact solution for my particular foot -- for me &amp;quot;it's a miracle&amp;quot; to be able to not get blisters, keep walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider also the &amp;quot;Sky Run&amp;quot; model.  (The &amp;quot;Speed Run 1&amp;quot; model, for example, in fact WILL give you blisters, it's only for hauling ass over short distances - their socks are very specific and all very different.)  Finally X-Socks have a new model called &amp;quot;trekking extreme light&amp;quot; (it's black all over) which is another approach to prevent blisters -- it is a very very thin sock (like a panty-hose), and your foot will (perhaps) just happily slide inside your shoe, using that sock (indeed, it's a weird material - it's almost like wearing one huge Compeed patch all over your feet). It may work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarise (1) there is nothing much you can do once you do get a blister - but a Compeed is your best hope.  (2) prevention is the secret, but, you have to be &amp;quot;girlie&amp;quot; and &lt;strong&gt;stick on a Compeed patch at the VERY FIRST feeling of heat or rubbing&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your teammates will think you are a wimp, but they'll have blisters later in the day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(3) we live in a new age of &amp;quot;miracle socks&amp;quot; which prevent blisters - and that might be the solution for you.  You will have to try various (fairly expensive) sock pairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with shoe size etc. is that it seems to me (after extensive reading, etc) that are &lt;strong&gt;two different approaches&lt;/strong&gt;.  Approach One: have a &lt;strong&gt;loose&lt;/strong&gt; shoe and use an incredibly &lt;strong&gt;slippery&lt;/strong&gt; miracle sock like the black &amp;quot;trekking extreme light&amp;quot; X-Socks.  And/or indeed use Compeeds.  With that system your foot will comfortably and harmlessly &lt;strong&gt;slide around inside the shoe, causing no blister.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas Approach Two &lt;strong&gt;is to bind everything up really tight.  Nothing will move much, and no blisters.&lt;/strong&gt; In theory, it must work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's tough because &lt;strong&gt;you have to go one way or the other.&lt;/strong&gt;  They are totally opposite approaches!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never been able to make approach two work.  For me it's approach one - sliding, but in such a way that the thing touching your skin (the sock or compeed) does not move, rather, that thing (the sock or compeed) moves against the shoe, if it must move. The actual final layer literally touching your skin, does not move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is based on my quest to prevent blisters when walking long hours, so, I hope it applies to you in the world of sports.  Hope it helps in some way!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T05:42:04.423" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2993" CreationDate="2011-07-22T12:14:56.330" Score="13" ViewCount="15950" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't swum in a very long time, although I used to be able to swim with the crawl stroke pretty well as a kid.  Now after a couple decades of not using that stroke my body has forgotten how.  My body is getting beat up from running, and I need to change the type of cardio I get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem I ran into last night, other than working on the timing of my breathing, was that I'd get about a third of the lap done and my calf locked up with cramps.  Once it calmed down I attempted to swim again, with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do the breath stroke OK, as that uses a different leg technique.  I do want to get the front stroke working for me again so I can just crank out a good 500 Calories of cardio and be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-22T20:46:39.257" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:58:22.307" Title="How to prevent calf cramps while swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-22T13:00:28.833" Score="12" ViewCount="5176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an athlete &amp;ndash; I just want to be healthy and fit with decent muscular strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the minimum amount of strength training that will yield a measurable benefit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, sitting down once a month on one fitness machine for 5 minutes won't likely yield a benefit ... I'm assuming!  On the other hand, training a couple of hours each day with multiple sets, repetitions, etc. on most of the different machines available probably would yield a benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimizing for time, what would be a reasonable minimum in terms of number of times per week, # sets &amp;amp; reps, variety of machines, etc. where strength training will still yield a positive benefit, in terms of building balanced body muscle, and not just maintaining what (little) muscle I've got?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What findings support the design of a strength training schedule &amp;amp; frequency?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T13:36:09.473" Title="What's the minimum amount of strength training that will yield a measurable benefit?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2987" CreationDate="2011-07-22T13:28:46.810" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it helps, I do about 1 hour 3x per week.  You might be able to get away with 1 hour 2x per week and still make some gains--albeit a bit more slowly.  The key to being efficient with your time is to perform exercises that recruit as many muscles at the same time time as possible.  That also means no machines.  We're talking free weights here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot;&gt;beginner's weight training program&lt;/a&gt; will consist of 5 exercises, split between two workout plans, with only three exercises per session.  Common rep schemes are either 5 sets of 5 reps or 3 sets of 5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The top four exercises you will see are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (the foundation of barbell strength training)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the remaining exercise will likely be (depending on what program you start with) either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or Power cleans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two beginners programs that seem to be really good are &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; (SL) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; (SS).  Medhi (the guy behind SL) has been going on a salesmanship spree lately, so you will have a lot to ignore, but the core program he has works and works well.  His is a 5 sets/5 reps scheme.  Rippetoe (the guy behind SS) is a pretty down to earth kind of guy with a dry sense of humor.  His book is very good as far as teaching technique and what to look for as a beginner.  SS is a 3 sets/5 reps scheme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you should be very effective at building strength using:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free weight full body compound exercises (such as what was mentioned above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 days, about 1 hour per day--and a full day of rest in between (very important)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 minimum, 5x5 maximum load&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progressive loading (adding 5 lbs each session on all the exercises)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally did the SL route for the past 11 weeks, but will be switching to SS after week 12.  The primary reasons are that 5x5 is getting a bit heavy now and I'll appreciate the lighter load, and power cleans are fun and want to incorporate them into my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-22T13:28:46.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2987" CreationDate="2011-07-22T13:32:13.173" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/&quot;&gt;Body By Science&lt;/a&gt;, you can develop strength and cellular aerobic exercise with a 15-20 minute workout every 7-10 days. In fact, this book argues that more frequent exercise may even be counterproductive. Mind you, these brief infrequent workouts are quite intense and are design to simultaneously exhaust all four muscle fibers and drain their glycogen reserves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-07-22T13:32:13.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2982" CreationDate="2011-07-22T16:00:16.207" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, for they type of exercise you are talking about, there are very few accessories you need.  Good technique will protect you a lot more than any bit of equipment.  To that end, &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; start with weights you can perform good technique with.  Increase gradually, and you will be safe for some time to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the exercises you are doing, the following tools are useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pen and paper to track your progress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fractional plates (below 2.5 lb) when you can't sustain 5lb increases any more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/138-foam-roller/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foam roller&lt;/a&gt; -- works the soft tissue and helps with muscle conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elastic bands to perform &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shoulder dislocations&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (useful for grip position on squats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chalk or an Eco-Ball to improve your grip on rows (deadlifts too)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoes with non-compressible soles (Chuck Taylor's and dress shoes work well if you don't want to buy weightlifting shoes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you may get to the point where you need additional help to get really heavy weights on squats.  That threshold is different for everyone, but you want to hold off as long as you can so your core can get stronger.  When that happens you will need a weightlifting belt.  The belt is a tool to help get your maximum weight up, not a fashion statement for the gym.  Only use it when you need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When shopping for a weightlifting belt look for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;solid construction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All one width all the way around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One row of holes to make it easier to remove&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be wondering why I said a pen and paper was needed for safety.  Tracking your workouts is more than recording the amount of weight you did.  It's keeping notes on how things felt, or if there is something you need to work on.  It helps you to not forget important details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-07-23T20:48:56.943" LastActivityDate="2011-07-23T20:48:56.943" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2982" CreationDate="2011-07-22T18:02:22.887" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mostly agree with Berin, but I'm going to reorder and shorten his list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good technique&lt;/strong&gt; - most important by &lt;em&gt;far&lt;/em&gt;, no accessories will save you from injury if your form is bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pen and paper to keep a log of your lifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of the stuff isn't as necessary. You can do dislocations using a broomstick, and non-compressible soles won't be an issue until you're doing serious heavy lifting. Chalk may be useful if you're really pushing yourself with deadlifts and cleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-07-22T18:02:22.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2986" CreationDate="2011-07-22T18:31:56.290" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than the obvious causes of cramps (lack of electrolytes and/or hydration), I think time will help you out.  I used to experience calf cramps frequently while swimming, albeit a few 100 yards in to my workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not kicking off the wall can help, but it's kind of fun to do so.  Your body probably just needs to get used to using that kick-off calf muscle and should subside in short time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would imagine doing either calf raises or jumping rope may help build that muscle or engage it similarly to pushing off the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't imagine pushing through the cramp would cause any damage.  So as long as you can tolerate it, I'd keep doing what you're doing.  And have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-07-22T18:31:56.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2986" CreationDate="2011-07-22T21:04:47.917" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, Ryans tip about doing calf raises in my own experience seems to reduce the risk of getting cramps. The easiest way to do these is by going to one of the benches around the pool near a wall and simply step up them with one leg. Repeat this 20x per leg should be a nice start of warming up your calves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I highly recommend this post on Swim Smooth &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/kick.html&quot;&gt;about the kick technique during free style swimming&lt;/a&gt;. Basically the craps are because of poor technique, you're forcing your leg in a stretched position while kicking, probably because you're bending your knee too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to remedy this is to try not using your legs at all, for example by using a plank or something else between your legs and simply drag you legs along motionless. From there on you can start working on your technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to learn is &lt;strong&gt;kick from the hip&lt;/strong&gt;, which means you keep your legs extended and pretty relaxed and try to kick starting in your hip joint and move your entire leg without bending the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't try to make powerful kicks, because if you don't have the muscle coordination yet, it will probably induce the cramps. Instead either try to make small rapid kicks or just kick  'lazily': left arm vs right leg, right arm vs left leg, rinse and repeat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See how it goes and be sure to let us know how you progress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2011-07-22T21:04:47.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-23T03:55:36.990" Score="6" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pulled a muscle in my neck and upperback. What is the best way to heal and relieve the pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice on the web is not clear. &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthopedics.about.com/od/sprainstraintreatment/ht/muscle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some people&lt;/a&gt; say apply heat, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_compression_therapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some&lt;/a&gt; say cold, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061015212026AA7voiy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some&lt;/a&gt; say alternate both. Also, are products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bengay&lt;/a&gt; efficient for relieving the pain? Are there other &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analgesics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;analgesics&lt;/a&gt; that can help with the pain of pulling a muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, think my pain comes from having carried heavy bags for too long for too many days. It just started hurting yesterday, but I am not sure what specific movement I made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My neck and upperback hurt whenever I move my head (up, down,left or right).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1493" LastEditorUserId="1493" LastEditDate="2011-07-23T18:48:25.257" LastActivityDate="2011-07-23T18:48:25.257" Title="Pulled a muscle - How to heal and relieve pain" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2995" CreationDate="2011-07-23T15:33:58.900" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, minor pulls and sprains tend to respond very well to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RICE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;RICE protocol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt; - Give the affected muscle time off to heal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ice&lt;/strong&gt; - Reduces swelling and discomfort&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compression&lt;/strong&gt; - This may be difficult depending on exactly which muscle you pulled, but placing a constant pressure on it may also reduce swelling as well as providing much needed support to the injured muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elevation&lt;/strong&gt; - On the other hand, this should be fairly easy. By keeping the injured area elevated, it also encourages the swelling to go down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need an OTC painkiller, any NSAID will help with both pain and swelling. I tend to use Advil when I'm more concerned about pain relief and Aleve when I'm more concerned about swelling, but they're basically interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1345" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-23T16:13:48.590" LastActivityDate="2011-07-23T16:13:48.590" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3018" CreationDate="2011-07-23T19:48:37.313" Score="5" ViewCount="9000" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's imagine you're not limited by time/work, therefore you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; work out twice a day, for example once in the morning and once in the evening (big time gap between those two work outs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good idea, or a bad idea? The aim is to gain strength and muscle, not lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastActivityDate="2012-04-01T00:04:20.647" Title="How good/bad an idea is it to work out twice a day?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3015" CreationDate="2011-07-23T19:51:43.877" Score="11" ViewCount="13538" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm self-employed, which means I can arrange my time however I want, therefore I &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; hit the gym every day in a week. I also do have the energy to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But,&lt;/strong&gt; I've heard it's not a good idea. Why so? How many days in a week should I work out? How should I arrange these days? (go, go, go, go, rest, rest, go), or (go, rest, go, rest, go, rest, go) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I'm talking about lifting weights in a gym in order to gain weight, strength and muscle. I'm relatively low-weight, I don't need to lose any weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastEditorUserId="805" LastEditDate="2011-07-24T05:09:46.163" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T14:07:58.257" Title="How many days in a week should I work out?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3001" CreationDate="2011-07-23T22:36:39.127" Score="6" ViewCount="20344" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2975/dangerous-to-use-barbell-squat-without-padding/2979#2979&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; mentions that you shouldn't do squat exercises in running shoes. Why is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel like performing squats and dead lifts with running shoes are creating any issues for me, but it's also less than half a year ago since I added weightlifting to my gym routine.   I don't remember ever seeing other people at the gym switch footwear between weight lift and cardio routines, but maybe I didn't pay notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would kicking off the running shoes be a viable alternative, or given the choice between that and running shoes, would keeping the running shoes on be better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user240" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T23:40:35.490" Title="Running shoes vs barefoot: which is better for squat and dead lift?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3000" CreationDate="2011-07-24T06:14:32.523" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really go heavy, one of the most import things to do in a squat or dead lift is to keep your weight on your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running shoes tend to have a thick sole and thin toe which in effect pitches you forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bare feet keep you the most connected to the ground, and gives you the best base to control your position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2011-07-24T20:44:50.210" LastActivityDate="2011-07-24T20:44:50.210" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-07-24T06:50:09.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good packs will hold firmly to you, and also firmly onto the items within them.  This allows you to efficiently carry the items as a part of your body rather than as an object hanging off of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start, consider what you need to carry and determine what a reasonably sized bag is.  Getting a bag that is &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; big enough, with cinch straps and/or a hip straps will go a long way with comfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1495" LastActivityDate="2011-07-24T06:50:09.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2011-07-24T14:46:01.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can really work out as many days per week and you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any specific recommendations on how much and often will depend on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-07-24T14:46:01.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-24T16:11:52.523" Score="3" ViewCount="7631" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has a smith machine and weights besides lot of machines. I am wondering if one can do the 5x5 program effectively with just the smith machine. I get the bench press and incline for your chest, but what about squats and deadlifts and rows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1486" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T13:26:40.200" Title="Can you do 5X5 program if your gym only has a smith machine and weights?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3012" CreationDate="2011-07-25T05:10:49.177" Score="6" ViewCount="74801" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to lose weight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have signed up to DailyBurn to keep track of my weight with weekly weigh ins.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was confused over the different diets available (Atkins and Paleo were top runners up), so have decided to start off with just trying to adopt a low-carb diet and see how it impacts my weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see friends 2-3 times a week, and we commonly end up hitting some bars.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(This is fun and I would like to continue this)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am not a fan of beer, but do like a whiskey and coke.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At the weekend, I switched to using Diet Coke/Coke Zero as it has significantly lower carbs/sugars than regular cola.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However - im sure there must be negative consequences from drinking these diet drinks?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;What impact do diet drinks have on a low carb diet?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="654" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T11:52:40.163" Title="The impact of Diet Cola on a low carb diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-01-29T19:27:08.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2011-07-25T08:52:00.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sampleworkouts/a/RestandRecovery.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a very good page describing the benefits of resting between workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T08:52:00.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2011-07-25T09:23:11.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are beginner in lifting, thus you could work out 4 days a week ABXABXX or ABXAXBX.&#xA;It works for me. If you want to work out more than 4 days, try cardio(running, cycling, etc.) on rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For experienced athletes 5-6 day split would be better, because of longer time muscles need to rest(5-7 days). Beginners with small widths need 1-2 days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1498" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T09:23:11.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="86" CreationDate="2011-07-25T11:05:32.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joey Atlas's Ultimate Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh workout is good and doesn't require any equipment, but obviously only targets those areas. P90X is my favorite home workout routine, and it comes with 15+ workouts, many of which don't require equipment (those that do only require hand weights or bands).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T11:05:32.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3005" CreationDate="2011-07-25T12:19:01.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smith machines are made for squats so you're pretty safe using it for the intended purpose. :) You can also do bent-over rows easily, but the deadlift would require a change to form (the weight wouldn't be traveling straight up and down). Poor form with a deadlift can easily result in injury so I'd recommend against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T12:19:01.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3000" CreationDate="2011-07-25T12:23:15.933" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flat, non-compressible soles work best for weight-lifting. Chuck Taylors are better than any running shoe. If that isn't trendy enough for you, something like the Vibram FiveFingers or other &quot;free&quot; running shoe will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what the other people in the gym are doing, that's a terrible gauge for proper behavior. It'd be like learning to drive by watching cab drivers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T12:23:15.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3006" CreationDate="2011-07-25T13:01:01.807" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the link you provided mentioned, diet drinks are able to remain sweet due to the artificial sweeteners.  Those same artificial sweeteners are used in many diet oriented food products as well (check out Walden Farms products).  That said, there are differences in how &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; the different sweeteners are, or how much we know about their long term effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the answer from Yahoo alluded to, aspartame is one of products we know has bad properties.  The more &quot;en vogue&quot; sweeteners like splenda (sucralose) and stevia are &quot;less bad&quot; than aspartame.  That doesn't mean they are great either.  I recommend looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic article on artificial sweeteners&lt;/a&gt; for an overview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There was a study that said that diet sodas can actually make you fatter--which had to do with psychological factors.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article has an alternative view&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You mentioned mixing alcohol with your diet soda: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2475/how-does-alcohol-really-effect-gains&quot;&gt;Alcohol will affect your diet&lt;/a&gt;.  It's best to lay off alcohol while losing weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight loss center was entirely against diet sodas because they made your body more acidic, and as a result more susceptible to getting sick.  I'm not sure if that claim was pseudo science or not, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Self Nutrition Data&lt;/a&gt; site has an inflammatory index which is measuring the same concept.  According to the data there, diet coke and diet Pepsi have no impact on the inflammatory index.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet drinks, and most sodas, coffee, and tea contain caffeine.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN01661&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Caffeine is a diuretic if consumed in large enough quantities&lt;/a&gt;.  Combined with the sodium content (see next paragraph) you can be thirstier after you drink the soda than before.  Many people drink diet sodas in sufficient quantity for it to become a diuretic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last potentially bad thing from excess diet sodas is Sodium content.  Coke zero seems to have fairly low sodium (30mg / 8oz of product) versus diet coke which has (40mg / 8oz of product).  That said. most people drink large amounts of this, with serving sizes ranging between 16-48oz of soda.  The sodium content at that point becomes a significant amount to worry about.  High sodium levels are linked to hypertension (high blood pressure) as well as water retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, Water is still the ultimate diet drink.  It helps you process protein better, it won't leave you dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, someone brought to my attention a study that suggests that artificial sweeteners raise blood sugar more than regular sugar (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20140917/artificial-sweeteners-blood-sugar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ref&lt;/a&gt;).  The proposed mechanism has to do with the artificial sweeteners affecting the microbial gut bacteria.  The article was an interesting read, but we can't exclude the last page which talks about the criticisms of the study.  The bottom line is summed up nicely in the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“By no means do we believe that, based on the results of this study, we are prepared to make recommendations on the use and dosage of artificial sweeteners,” Segal said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Elinav did say, though, that their findings have spurred him to stop using artificial sweeteners in his coffee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He doesn’t use sugar, either. “I think we must stress that by no means are we saying sugary drinks are healthy,” Elinav said. (quoted from article)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T11:52:40.163" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3000" CreationDate="2011-07-25T13:13:36.167" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer&lt;/strong&gt;: barefoot is better than running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long Answer&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;Running shoes are designed for providing a cushion to your feet.  In essence, they absorb the impact of your foot hitting the ground by compressing the sole and springing back.  This is not the behavior you want when you have more than a couple hundred pounds on your back.  With that much weight, the soles will start to compress and as you push with your feet you lose stability.  That's really bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend reading this article by Dr. Lon Kilgore on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/WeightliftingShoes.html&quot;&gt;weightlifting shoes 101&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to answer your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't have to have weightlifting shoes, but you won't be able to lift as much with running shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even a pair of dress shoes are better than running shoes (I had one of my best lifting sessions in these)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even kicking the shoes off is better than lifting in running shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are people who believe that the lift in the heel on most weightlifting shoes helps, even with the squat and deadlift.  Others say it gets in the way.  The most important thing is a stable base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-07-26T19:49:08.363" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T19:49:08.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3005" CreationDate="2011-07-25T13:26:40.200" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm of the mindset that a Smith machine is better than nothing, but understand what a Smith machine does, and what it takes away from the exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;balances the weight for you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;forces the weight along a predefined path.  Straight up and down is better than slanted at an angle, but it is not a natural path. (I've seen Smith machines with both trajectories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the benefits of doing squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, etc. without a machine is the opportunity to work your stabilizer and supporting muscles more effectively.  You lose a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of that with the Smith machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question I have for you is, are there &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; barbells at all?  If not, is there another alternative gym available to you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are barbells, but need help for ideas of how to do the lifts you need while standing you can either &quot;Clean&quot; the weight for a front squat and overhead press, or you can perform the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qls96q4Phs4&quot;&gt;Steinborn lift&lt;/a&gt; for back squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no barbells, then when you are gym shopping make sure they have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbells (free and not built into a machine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;power rack and/or squat rack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a flat bench (for bench press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;enough weights to load on the bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that you can do any 5x5 program from beginner to advanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T13:26:40.200" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2011-07-25T13:36:25.487" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal (as you edited your answer for) is to gain strength and consequently muscle mass, then you need to optimize your workout for maximal power.  The best way to do that is to go hard 3x per week with a day of rest in between each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that exercise tears down your muscle, and you need rest and proper nutrition to build it back up stronger than before.  This is even more important in the beginning than it is later on when you have a better idea of what you can and can't do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;beginning strength training&lt;/a&gt;.  It's got some links to other programs to help you get started.  However, the importance of rest after going hard when you are trying to build muscle cannot be overstated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Work + Protein + Rest = Muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T13:36:25.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2011-07-25T14:07:58.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no right answer for you, but many ideas on this subject.  I've heard that you can work out once a week and see results to 7 days a week.  Your current goals of strength and increased size leans more towards a 3-5 day plan (Berin's answer which I agree with) - but keep in mind that your current situation and goals may change and you need to be flexible to change with them.  Give yourself/your-body 6-9 weeks to adjust and based on your results adjust (more weight, fewer days, etc - as needed) - each person reacts differently at specific point in times to any work out and need to be open to change.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T14:07:58.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2011-07-25T14:49:29.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That really depends on your particular goals.  Football coaches are notorious for their 2-a-days, but those are there to build stamina at the current strength level--not necessarily to build more raw power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is to increase stamina and endurance, 2-a-days are a good tool.  You need to make sure you eat a whole bunch to keep up with the demands on your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is raw power, you need 48 hours of rest between sessions.  This longer period of rest allows your body to build up muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a healthy habit to cycle between improving your raw power and endurance.  So it really depends on your current goals.  If you are currently just starting out, I recommend increasing your raw power before you work on your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further information I would recommend reading &quot;Practical Programming&quot; by Mark Rippetoe and Dr. Kilgore.  It helps understand the the concepts of stress (work) and recovery, and how your needs change as you progress from beginner to intermediate and beyond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2012-03-28T16:13:40.933" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T16:13:40.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3000" CreationDate="2011-07-25T17:50:33.727" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I may, I'd like to supplement the answers by @rerun and @Berin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both speak to the same concept, that running shoes might not provide you the most stable platform (since they can be squishy).  I am not arguing that point, although I feel it's a generalization and should be treated as such - but it's a generalization that seems reasonable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, let's assume the shoes do make you more unstable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &quot;instability&quot; isn't necessarily a bad thing.  All it means is that you will need to invoke some extra muscle power to counteract the effect.  Your muscles are already working to &quot;stabilize&quot; you, but now they have to work a bit harder because you've chosen to increase the challenge to your stability.  You could add even more instability by doing a squat on a say, a wobble board.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are aware of and &lt;strong&gt;prepare&lt;/strong&gt; for that effect - perhaps by lowering the weight significantly until you are rock-solid in your lift - that instability may be something you want to add to your lift because it can give you a new challenge (resistance training is all about progression, right?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you are trying to achieve.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal doesn't involve controlling the instability the shoes might be providing, then remove the instability.  But if your goal is simply to lift as much weight as you can lift, without regard to the rest of your body, then the instability is an extra variable you don't need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like guns don't kill people, shoes don't harm bodies by themselves, but how a person uses them in a given situation can certainly cause unexpected and unwanted results.  This is true for ANY piece of gear or equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to think about what you are trying to accomplish, and adapt your squat accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more comment related to the shoes tilting you forward that @rerun mentioned...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The range of motion in a squat varies depending on the person doing the squat.  My range of motion isn't necessarily the same as your range of motion.  The bones in your body have a lot do to with your range of motion and at what point your hips start to rotate as you descend (which means you've exceeded your range of motion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to counteract this - for people with a very short tibia compared to the length of their trunk and femur - is to put a small wedge under the heels.  This has as similar effect that @rerun is describing, but it's really about increasing your range of motion during the squat artificially.  Someone who isn't built this way physically might find that this causes more problems than it corrects.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am certainly not recommending you do this, but I do point out that there are times when extra room under the heels can be beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="738" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T17:50:33.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3020" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3029" CreationDate="2011-07-25T18:13:50.563" Score="4" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard a lot of benefits to drinking grapefruit juice on a daily basis - from enhancing caffeine to magically eating away fat....does anyone have any hard evidence/studies supporting any of this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T05:53:32.073" Title="How magical is Grapefruit Juice?" Tags="&lt;juice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2011-07-25T20:04:47.390" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly acceptable to work out twice a day, so long as you're not working out the same muscle group twice. For example, in the morning you could do upper body, and in the evening you could do lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of strength training is to tear down the muscle fibers and then supplement with protein. The protein breaks down into amino acids and repairs the damaged muscle fibers. Protein synthesis is optimal during sleep, so unless you sleep most of the day between workouts, training the same muscle twice in the same day is actually counter-productive since your goal is to get the amino acids into the muscle for hypertrophy and your body just won't have enough time to allow that to happen without proper rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over-training is bad news. The muscles become fatigued and lose their ability to respond and handle load, and so the forces are placed on the joints and connective tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1504" LastActivityDate="2011-07-25T20:04:47.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-25T21:47:17.337" Score="7" ViewCount="30621" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training for a marathon with a training program consisting of 5-6 workouts for week. It's also varied workouts including pilates, football (read: soccer) and a weights session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During all of these workouts, I'm not doing any specific leg exercises (squats, lunges etc) to strengthen my legs. My thinking behind this is that adding these exercises will make my legs ache for about 2-3 days afterwards and it might impact my running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I correct in thinking that running with aching legs is a bad thing or should I be adding leg exercises into my weekly workout and just stretch properly before my run if my legs are aching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T16:23:56.090" Title="Should I be running with aching legs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3037" CreationDate="2011-07-26T01:19:05.687" Score="0" ViewCount="3642" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I apply pain relieving gel after muscular workout? I would feel much better using such gel and maybe faster to get to comfortable enough to have workout again, but I am wondering if there are difference done to my muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T20:16:46.630" Title="Should I apply pain relieving gel after workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3020" CreationDate="2011-07-26T05:53:32.073" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2125.1998.00764.x/full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article from the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, grapefruit juice prolongs the systemic elimination half-life of caffeine, i.e. the caffeine stays in your system for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jmf.2006.9.49&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; article supports the claim that grapefruit products promote weight loss. It also says that grapefruit products improve insulin resistance in people with metabolic syndrome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting that grapefruit juice can have dangerous interactions with a number of drugs, so make sure you double check the safety information of any drugs you take before using grapefruit juice for its &quot;magical&quot; properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T05:53:32.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2011-07-26T11:44:15.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All existing answers provide good hamstrings exercises, but none of them really &lt;em&gt;isolate&lt;/em&gt; the hamstrings. (It is rather difficult to get both &quot;free weights&quot; and &quot;isolation&quot; in one exercise as @Moz pointed out)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;isolation&quot; is more important, just go with the leg curl machine. If you don't want to use machines, you can use cables to get a good compromise between free weights and isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fullfitness.net/exercises/legs/cable-hamstring-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.fullfitness.net/exercises/legs/cable-hamstring-curl&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mAZsU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cable leg curls&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T11:44:15.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2011-07-26T12:08:55.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;On top of compound exercises like deadlifts (particularly the stiff-legged variety, if you're flexible enough) and squats (if you're flexible enough to do them right), &lt;strong&gt;glute-ham raises&lt;/strong&gt; are an excellent way to target the hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i7nD9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;glute-ham raise&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlalgTN1dgA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlalgTN1dgA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T12:08:55.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3027" CreationDate="2011-07-26T12:38:23.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is OK to apply products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biofreeze.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bio Freeze&lt;/a&gt; on occasion.  I use it for spot treatment of sore muscles throughout the year.  I would not recommend doing this as part of a daily routine however for two reasons.  First, it shouldn't be necessary.  Second, if you have muscle soreness that often, you are probably doing something else wrong (nutrition, form, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T12:38:23.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3033" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3034" CreationDate="2011-07-26T16:38:08.127" Score="8" ViewCount="38602" Body="&lt;p&gt;About eight years ago, I lost a significant amount of weight using Dr Atkins' ketogenic diet; unfortunately, I gradually let my food intake slide afterwards.  I since gained some weight back, but I'm considering kicking my body into ketosis again to rid myself of the spare tire I'm now carrying (as well as re-evaluating my long-term diet per guidelines published by Drs Westman, Phinney and Volek).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I've been thinking through my plan, it occurred to me that I don't know how long it takes for the human body to transition into and out of ketosis.  I understand that there may be some variables such as how much glycogen is stored in the body; so I will frame the question like this...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After the body has exhausted its stores of glycogen, how quickly will it take the human body to shift completely into and out of ketosis?  If those numbers are different, please explain why...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question seems relevant to me because there may be times when I'm tempted to eat a standard meal for practical reasons... but if it takes a long time for the body to shift into ketosis and a short time to transition out, I would be far less likely to entertain this idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1084" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T13:15:44.253" Title="transitioning into and out of ketosis" Tags="&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-07T21:53:07.317" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3033" CreationDate="2011-07-26T16:58:03.903" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been told that the body can store up to 3 days of glycogen, and consequently takes about that long to transition into ketosis.  You can feel lethargic and possibly even nauseous during this time (some of my friends experienced the latter where I only experienced the former).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The initial stages of ketosis are rather inefficient, and it takes about three weeks for the body to be completely attuned to the state of ketosis.  As a result in this first three weeks your weight loss will be higher than subsequent weeks--but the subsequent weeks will be losing a healthy amount of weight week after week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, when you are in a full state of ketosis (i.e. past the 3 week mark) the transitioning in and out seems to go a bit quicker.  Part of the reason is that the body hasn't fully restored its full glycogen levels yet, and it is still attuned for ketosis.  Assuming you aren't suddenly introducing thousands of calories in the form of carbs, and the odd meal is reasonable, there will only be a mild stall in your weight loss for that week.  I.e. instead of losing 4 lbs you might only lose 1/2 lb or 2 lbs that week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing is to make sure that one cheat meal doesn't become 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, when you are completely transitioning off of ketosis, be careful how you reintroduce carbs.  Your body has to get used to processing that type of food again, and simply turning on the floodgates of carbs will cause you to store more of that food as fat than you normally would.  There will be a one time 2-5 lb gain as your body is bringing back online the hormones and metabolic processes that process carbs so plan accordingly.  To come completely out of ketosis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spike your carbs all in one meal (most convenient would be morning).  Have one serving (up to 20-30g) of each representative type of carb you are going to continue eating such as grain, dairy, fruit, and fats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have no other carbs throughout the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat for two weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is information from the ketogenic diet I was on, and unfortunately all the reference material is on paper so I can't provide the links to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, 3 total weeks to get into efficient ketosis, 2 total weeks to get completely out of it.  Once in full ketosis, time to recover depends on how much of the gycogen stores you built up during your meal.  Very likely you will recover within 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T16:58:03.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3048" CreationDate="2011-07-26T18:54:11.820" Score="5" ViewCount="2396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started running a again a few weeks ago, the first three weeks I kept to a strict 30 minutes (5 km) run.  I run 3 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now after 3 weeks I upped from 30 to 40 minutes, which seemed ok, however now after my third time running this schema, I had muscle soreness that doesn't seem to go away, it has now been already 3 days that I feel sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must add that for my job I'm always on my feet running around(window washer) , and that it quite hinders me if my legs stay sore (walking stairs with heavy objects). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just continue running, even though I feel sore, or should I stop until the soreness is completely gone? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1515" LastEditorUserId="760" LastEditDate="2011-07-27T14:36:28.880" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T18:40:49.960" Title="Running, muscle soreness, what to do ?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3027" CreationDate="2011-07-26T19:36:07.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes get muscle soreness from a fairly hard workout, but I don't apply any gel or cream  on it as the pain goes away in a couple of days.  But if you're feeling something that's chronic then apply gel then see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T19:36:07.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3027" CreationDate="2011-07-26T20:16:46.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an interesting article about overuse of sports cream: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.athleteinme.com/ArticleView.aspx?id=712&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.athleteinme.com/ArticleView.aspx?id=712&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it points to a very simple, but valid point - the continued use of any medication that is not prescribed and supervised by a Dr. has the potential of direct long term harm OR continued masking of the base issue.  If you are under continued and severe enough pain to require continued/overuse of any pain relieving product, it's time to see a Dr. OR modify what you're doing.  Like the punch line to the old joke about 'it hurts when I do this' the response is 'stop doing it'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-07-26T20:16:46.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3038" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3049" CreationDate="2011-07-26T21:55:21.757" Score="6" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've been frequently consuming protein/nutrition shakes. Sometimes I make them myself using whey protein powder or a mix. Sometimes I buy them from cafe's such as Starbucks' protein/fiber powder containing Vivanno, or one of Jamba Juice's offerings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering though - am I really getting the full benefit of these nutrients when they've just been added to a drink in powder form? Or do I have to actually eat more natural foods like beans, eggs, meat, vegetables, etc, to get the full benefits? Is there any strong evidence one way or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T16:34:43.937" Title="Are protein and fiber obtained from &quot;shakes&quot; used by the body as effectively as if they were obtained from unprocessed foods?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3035" CreationDate="2011-07-27T08:23:23.713" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a little reading on the subject, the correct answer seems to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can continue, but be aware of a few facts:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light training with muscle soreness does not prolong the healing process, unless with each training session you are damaging your muscles all over again. But even then your body will get accustomed to the stress eventually, unless you really overdo it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your soreness hinders you to reach your goals, i.e. in your case you can't run your 5km/0.5h, and you have a problem with that, it is advisable to switch to a different kind of workout to avoid any demotivating experience. (Personally I get really frustrated if I see my performance dropping)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When exercising while being in pain people tend to slightly modify the exercise to ease the pain (avoidance behaviour). If you are not running correctly (different posture, hobbling, ...) you have a higher risk of getting injured, which could derail your exercise much longer than just a few days. If you can't push through the pain it is better to wait until you are completly healed and you can do the exercise accurately again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1038" LastEditDate="2011-07-27T12:53:49.253" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T12:53:49.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3038" CreationDate="2011-07-27T12:32:28.873" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more processed and isolated the nutrient, the easier it is for your body to digest and make use of it.  That's as true for protein as it is for carbs and fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you will never have 100% absorption rate of any nutrient.  Some of it will be lost in the digestion process, and the protein powders from GNC (much less Starbucks) are not as pure/isolated as you might find from a Lindora or Ideal Protein shop.  I don't see that as a bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that over-consumption of protein (i.e. more than your body needs to repair muscles) will result in that protein being converted to blood glycogen in the kidneys.  The release of energy is through a very slow and thermogenic process (i.e. it takes a lot of calories to do it).  However, with enough of an increase it will elevate the blood sugar levels to generate an insulin response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the advantage of real food vs. processed food is that your body is inefficient at processing it.  Because the body works harder, it consumes more Calories to digest the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's look at some references:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_%28nutrient%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Protein&lt;/a&gt; (lots of studies linked to here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/215632-protein-powder-facts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Livestrong Protein Powder Facts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supplements vs. Food, Which is Superior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.body-building-resource.com/bb78.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Protein Supplements vs. Protein Foods&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-07-27T16:34:43.937" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T16:34:43.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3035" CreationDate="2011-07-27T14:21:56.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/rehab/a/rice.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The basic fix for soreness is RICE.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;R - Rest&lt;/strong&gt; - Unless you are in serious training, rest the sore area for 24-48 hours minimum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I - Ice&lt;/strong&gt; - Use cold compresses on the sore areas.  The cold will reduce the inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;C - Compression&lt;/strong&gt; - Using special compression sleeves and sock speed recovery of the muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E - Elevate&lt;/strong&gt; - Sitting or laying down with your legs up will help reduce fluid and inflammation in your legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being on your feet all day doesn't help.  You might consider a good anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching before and after running can also help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, good shoes can help reduce the impact of running.  If you aren't using &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1520" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-29T18:40:49.960" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T18:40:49.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3035" CreationDate="2011-07-27T15:04:06.813" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;People get sore muscles for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-380-384--247-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;three reasons&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are not used to exercising.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are used to a different exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They push their regular exercise too hard. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said that you recently went from 30 minutes to 40 minutes. Your pain is most likely from your body adapting to the new mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you should make sure you are doing your part by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensuring that you have proper running shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving yourself enough rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving yourself enough water and food/nutrition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be aware of the &lt;strong&gt;surface&lt;/strong&gt; you are running on.  Always on the road or bike trail?  Treadmill or grass? You may try running on a different surface to mix-up your workout and give your body an easier/harder workout depending on how you feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would give yourself a day of full rest and see how your legs respond. Feel good?  Go back to running 30 minutes for a day. If you're feeling good, next run do 35 minutes.  See how we're working our way back up to 40 gradually?  Perhaps you increased the time/mileage too much and need to taper down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the soreness does not go away after 2 days of rest, I would definitely consider seeing a medical professional just to make sure no damage has been incurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to follow a training program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Knovice.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hal Higdon's 5K&lt;/a&gt; so you can vary your workouts/runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T15:04:06.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3060" CreationDate="2011-07-27T15:44:40.700" Score="3" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that first time and/or slightly-out-of-shape skiiers have a tendency to be extremely sore after their first day on the slopes. What is a good exercise my wife and I can do to prepare for our skiing trip, her first, this winter? I hope for her to have the stamina and leg strength to ski for a few days without problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know lunges are perfect for this, but her doctor said she shouldn't regularly run or do anything like lunges that puts a lot of stress on the knees so she doesn't develop arthritis at a young age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="670" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-05-29T09:48:48.660" LastActivityDate="2013-05-29T09:48:48.660" Title="What is a good exercise to prepare for skiing?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2947" CreationDate="2011-07-27T15:49:59.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely consult a sports doctor about this problem.  It could be a result of any number of conditions or a combination of conditions.  However, here is a list of issues that have caused lower back pain in my experience, in no particular order, with remedies where possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Herniated disk - surgery and/or VAX-D&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Degenerative disk - surgery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight hamstrings - stretching/yoga&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight lower back - stretching/yoga&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight hips - stretching/yoga&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe heel strike - shorten your stride, switch to mid-foot strike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Heavy&quot; running - shorten your stride, run tall, focus on quick foot turnover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-07-27T15:49:59.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2011-07-28T03:58:32.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pretty busy schedule. I'm also an avid listener to various podcasts. I use cardio time as an excuse to take time to listen to podcasts (and thus, under the covers, use podcasts as an excuse to do cardio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, it's roughly equivalent to music or movies. However, I've tried those too, and I have a noticeably better experience with my cardio workout when I fill them with interesting verbal material. I think it has something to do with stimulating a different part of my mind; I have to pay close attention to the words &amp;amp; ideas expressed, and so don't notice the time as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, YMMV, but I suggest giving it a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="206" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T03:58:32.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3057" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3058" CreationDate="2011-07-28T04:02:26.877" Score="5" ViewCount="1611" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always wondered why treadmills have inclines. It seems to me that, on a pure physics level, you shouldn't be expending any more energy, since you're not actually doing any lifting. Of course, human bodies are not simple physics experiments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What fitness benefits does a higher incline bring when exercising on a treadmill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="206" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T07:45:47.277" Title="What are the benefits of incline while on a treadmill?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3057" CreationDate="2011-07-28T07:14:27.477" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;When walking on a flat plane, your knees don't bend as much. Your &lt;strong&gt;hamstrings&lt;/strong&gt; will do most of the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   /\&#xA;  /  \&#xA; /    \&#xA;/_     \_&#xA;-----------------&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By walking on an incline, your knees bend more and as a result, your &lt;strong&gt;quads&lt;/strong&gt; can be used to extend the knee back to the straight position. The greater stretch on your &lt;strong&gt;glutes&lt;/strong&gt; allows them to generate more power to thrust the leg backward. The more acute angle of your foot will help exercise ranges of the &lt;strong&gt;calves&lt;/strong&gt; which you aren't used to in daily walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   ___&#xA;  |   |&#xA;  |   |_  /&#xA; /      /&#xA;/_    / &#xA;    /&#xA;  /&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will burn &lt;strong&gt;more calories&lt;/strong&gt; on the incline than the flat plane, granted that both are set on the same speed. This is because you need to generate an additional [mass * gravity * sin(angle)] newtons to move upward. On a flat plane, the angle is 0; sin(0) = 0, so no force is used to move upward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, the incline will work a larger range of muscles. But I don't think the incline is necessarily better than the flat plane. The point of the threadmill is to do cardio, not build muscle. But if the angle is particularly steep, it can be used to increase muscular endurance of those particular listed muscles somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-07-28T07:45:47.277" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T07:45:47.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3052" CreationDate="2011-07-28T12:29:56.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the information &lt;a href=&quot;http://osteoarthritis.about.com/od/osteoarthritis101/a/cartilage.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and the information about your wife's knees having a low amount of cartilage, you want to avoid motions that require the knee to bend--particularly under weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I was going to suggest weight training, as you are very controlled about the weight that you apply and it can strengthen the muscles and ligaments surrounding the bone.  It is much lower impact than running which &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.posetech.com/library/cs-05-2001.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;can place 2-3 times body weight force on the knee&lt;/a&gt;.  With weight training it will be several years before your wife could possibly work up to those weights.  The strength would help in controlling and minimizing the forces that you have to deal with in skiing.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squats&lt;/a&gt;, the king of all lifts, would be the best lift to support skiing in general as all the muscles and joints affected by skiing are strengthened with this lift.  The problem is the medical condition where this may not be the best idea.  At the very least, run it by your doctor explaining that the motion is slow and controlled, and that you won't be putting a lot of weight on there.  If you do choose to incorporate these, I would start with just the bar, and increase by no more than 5 lbs at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, considering that the only way for cartilage to begin healing itself is to stop any activity that would wear it away faster than it can be rebuilt, I'm thinking that swimming might be a better option.  Swimming doesn't have the impact problems as running does.  If you choose a stroke that uses a scissor kick to prevent movement in the knee (which will potentially wear away cartilage), that can provide enough resistance to strengthen the leg without the negative problems of wearing away the cartilage.  The idea is to minimize the movement of bone on bone as much as possible.  That's why I think this might be better received by your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that skiing can present a lot of force to the knee.  In the case of skiing moguls or doing any sort of jump, I would not be surprised if the forces presented to the knee are greater than that from running.  Please do be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T12:29:56.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2947" CreationDate="2011-07-28T19:28:05.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its funny I had something happen like this to me many years ago. My back would ache when I jogged for a certain amount of time but I was able to play soccer and basketball with no pain at all. I went and saw a dr about this who referred to a orthopedic dr. It turned out to be the following combination of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_type#Overpronation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overpronating&lt;/a&gt; basically my foot was striking the pavement on the outside of my foot, which means your body does not absorb the force all that well. The reason why it did not hurt with any other sports is that I usually played those sports on balls of my feet and ran only in short sprints so the effects of the pounding effect was not sustained enough to give my back pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My core (stomach and lower back) was weak which was causing me after running for an extended period to lose good form. He tested this through just having me run on the treadmill for a while and observing. By the way at the time I read runner worlds and they had some articles about good form which really helped could not find the exact article but it was something like these. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/subtopic/0,7123,s6-238-267-268-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Running Form - Runner's World Magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how did I fix these things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Custom Orthoticts - believe me you would not believe the difference these made. It took a while for me to get used to them but in the end it has really straightened out my foot strike and reduced the shock to my body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core exercises, the stuff you would think of side bridge, planks, twisting exercises like the wood chop with free weights and cables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Really thinking about my form while I was running. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pain free now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T19:28:05.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3064" CreationDate="2011-07-28T20:31:28.933" Score="16" ViewCount="8284" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you increase explosive power in your clap push-ups?  The goal isn't to do more of them or to build larger chest / arm muscles, but to launch oneself higher off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1432" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T21:43:37.353" Title="Increasing explosive power in clap push-ups?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3062" CreationDate="2011-07-29T05:12:48.793" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 4 types of muscular development:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; - exerting maximum possible force&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;power&lt;/strong&gt; - exerting maximum possible force over the shortest duration possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;mass&lt;/strong&gt; - increasing the size of the muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;endurance&lt;/strong&gt; - ability of cardiovascular system to supply oxygen to muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Developing &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; won't help the clap push-up, because you usually want to do more than one push up. Building &lt;strong&gt;mass&lt;/strong&gt; doesn't help you get height on the push-up because the more massive you are, the more force gravity pushes you down (force = mass * gravity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to develop cardiovascular &lt;strong&gt;endurance&lt;/strong&gt; to sustain you through a set of push-ups. The push up is a compound exercise, involving pecs, triceps, anterior deltoids, and core stability, which is a lot of muscles that are gasping for oxygen. To gain explosive power of the clap push-up, you obviously want to develop your &lt;strong&gt;power&lt;/strong&gt;. Power training will propel you to new heights, literally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following chart will show you how to build endurance and power. Since push-ups are dependent on body weight, you won't be able to easily tune the load and rep range into the endurance and power zone. So I recommend using free weights for total control. You can do dumbbell bench presses, barbell bench presses, and dumbbell flies to develop chest power and endurance. Preferably, do these exercises on a flat bench to mimic the position of a clap push-up. However, the part of the clap push-up before your hands leave the ground does slightly resemble a decline press, so incorporate declines as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LCt2M.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;training goal table&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T21:43:37.353" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2947" CreationDate="2011-07-29T09:06:25.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that your back pain with jogging will go away unless you specifically &lt;strong&gt;address the cause&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you jog on an alignment problem, whether it is your foot/ankle/knee/hip/pelvis or spine, the impact of each step aggravates the problem.  The more steps you take, the worse the problem becomes.  It is to your advantage to have an evaluation of your back, posture, lower extremity alignments, muscle weakness/tightness as well as a running analysis, preferably by a sports physical therapist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Richard has given you some good ideas about how orthotics, core strengthening and running form can address alignment problems.  Your problems may be the same or different, so it is worth having a pro take a look at you and give you specific recommendations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to a running evaluation, you may want to try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/what-is-chirunning/injured-runners/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chi Running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  It is a running technique designed to reduce or prevent injuries and to improve your running efficiency. The technique addresses flexibility, stride, posture, cadence, breathing, body awareness and feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can learn the Chi Running technique from their &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.chiliving.com/ChiRunning-Products/Packages/ChiRunning-Best-Seller-Package#__utma=1.1670160666.1311925067.1311925067.1311925067.1&amp;amp;__utmb=1.4.10.1311925067&amp;amp;__utmc=1&amp;amp;__utmx=-&amp;amp;__utmz=1.1311925067.1.1.utmcsr=yahoo%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chi%20running&amp;amp;__utmv=-&amp;amp;__utmk=81130519&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;book and dvd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; from their site.  Or you can get just the book on Amazon.  (If you get the book from Amazon I'd appreciate it if you use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/1416549447&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;link&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; on our site.)  The best way to learn is by attending one of their &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.chiliving.com/Workshops/ChiRunning-Workshops&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;workshops&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try the above suggestions and still can't run without causing back pain, some other options are jogging in water with or without resistance bands, cycling, using an elliptical trainer or using nordic walking poles.  The buoyancy of the water reduces the amount of weight compressing your joints and spine.  The elliptical trainer and cycling also reduce or eliminate impact.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nordic walking&lt;/a&gt; poles engage your trunk muscles, reduce impact and improve your back alignment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. Let us know how it goes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T09:06:25.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3066" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-29T10:20:26.737" Score="5" ViewCount="1003" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just started indoor bouldering and it's an enormous amount of fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm really struggling to get going. I can &lt;em&gt;just-just&lt;/em&gt; finish the easiest routes (and not even all of them) and then I'm completely drained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wall I'm starting on has a slight overhang (it's just not perfectly vertical), I'm not sure if that's a good thing for a beginner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I've never done anything active in my life, I'm very skinny, and I have zero strength or endurance. &lt;strong&gt;My grip goes very very quickly&lt;/strong&gt;, but I also &lt;strong&gt;have a hard time pulling myself up to reach the next hold&lt;/strong&gt;. I know I'm not supposed to be pulling myself up too much, but even just the effort to stay on the wall while I stand up is way beyond me. I'm struggling too much to really have a clear mind and look around for the next holds and where the route is taking me so I'm unable to improve my mental technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;strong&gt;any advice on exercises I can do at home to supplement my (I guess) 3-weekly bouldering?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm traveling for the next 3 to 4 months and will be doing as much bouldering as possible in that time, but I &lt;strong&gt;won't have access to gym equipment&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;would like to do the exercises in my room&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my grip: I have a rubber grip exerciser but I'm not sure if I should be crunching it repeatedly or rather just holding it for as long as possible? And how hard should I push myself? Can I do exercises and bouldering every day with good nutrition or should I have rest-days inbetween?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: Please help a traveling bouldering newbie with next to no strength or endurance out!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1538" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-07-29T11:27:39.710" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T12:30:50.940" Title="Improve my bouldering performance on a budget" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3066" CreationDate="2011-07-29T12:12:24.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two answers to your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improving forearm strength is usually done through a combination of exercises. Grippers are good and generally you squeeze, hold for a second, and then slowly release. Repeat until you're too sore to continue. Do it again the next day. If your hotel rooms have door molding, you can practice finger tip hangs from them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improve your technique. Staying over your feet more, using your legs more than your arms, and using locked out arms rather than bent will all improve the duration you can use your forearms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried method #1 when I first started climbing and saw some modest improvements. Then I read some books on technique (Internet resources on climbing we're as plentiful then) and hung out with a guy who'd been climbing for a few years. My technique improved a touch and suddenly I was able to last a lot longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T12:12:24.803" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3062" CreationDate="2011-07-29T14:38:21.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ross Enamait provides a &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/YUSdLtzy4M8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;very good video tutorial&lt;/a&gt; on the triple clap pushup - something I have yet to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great plyometric exercise that I'm looking into to help with the bottom part of the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T20:29:23.557" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:29:23.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3087" CreationDate="2011-07-29T15:45:11.740" Score="5" ViewCount="57745" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a newbie when it comes to running. I usually run for about 2-3 miles 3x a week for the past 6 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I've skipped too many workouts (i.e. haven't ran in a month), I experience pain in my collarbone around the first mile marker. Or if I haven't skipped any, but try to run farther than I usually do, the pain occurs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It usually goes away after another mile. However, its &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; uncomfortable for that mile. What could be the cause of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1539" LastEditorUserId="1539" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T01:05:08.347" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T20:42:23.417" Title="Why does my collarbone hurt while jogging?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3070" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-07-29T15:49:13.453" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-07-29T15:49:13.453" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T15:49:13.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3071" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-07-29T15:49:13.453" Score="0" Body="Moving rapidly on foot. Questions are about proper running form, race preparation, measuring the benefits and avoiding the pitfalls of running." OwnerUserId="1539" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-01T16:59:40.480" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T16:59:40.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2011-07-29T15:49:33.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my weightlifing circles, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBStiffLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stiff-legged deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; have always been considered THE hamstring exercise.  My buddies have used the name Romanian deadlifts interchangably with stiff-legged deadlifts, but after doing some Googling for references, I see that these names can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/rdl-vs-sldl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;differentiated&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use form like in the first link, you'll want to be standing on a raised surface so you can take the motion as low as possible without the plates hitting the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's optimal if you have a deadlift platform, because it allows you to take the barbell from the rack and go straight into your exercise.  However, if you're not lucky enough to have access to one, you'll need to find something else to step up onto.  However, it can be difficult and a little bit dangerous to step up from the floor onto a platform when carrying a barbell, so be careful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, some advice on getting started with stiff-legged deadlifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work on your flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;. If you can't touch your toes normally, don't even think about touching your toes with a barbell.  (I'm not saying you necessarily need to go this deep with your motion, but I do!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start with light weight&lt;/strong&gt;.  Even if you're a monster on leg curls, don't assume your hamstrings are strong in this motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be patient&lt;/strong&gt;.  I've seen people when first starting out on this exercise say that it was only working their lower back and not their hamstrings.  However, after giving it a few weeks of work, their backs strengthened up and their hamstrings were in (good) pain!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1537" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T15:49:33.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3073" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3103" CreationDate="2011-07-29T18:47:02.727" Score="4" ViewCount="1295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to do a workout split (to see what the impact to my results are) with the focus on strength gain.  I have the split as follows:&#xA;Day 1 - Legs/Abs - Squats, Lunges (and their variations) + crunches, planks, etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 2 Back/Arms  - Deads, kickbacks, Good Mornings, pull ups&#xA;Day 3 - Chest/Abs - Bench Presses, kettlebell&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Day 4 - Lats/Shoulders - lat raises, shoulder presses, shrugs&#xA;(the exercises listed are SOME of the main ones - I'll be including the typical bar/dumbell exercises and their many variations)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with 2 days of tabata/cardio &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the body part split correct? Does anyone have any experience to results once they moved to splits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T03:41:53.297" Title="Workout Split - what's a good 4 day split routine" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3076" CreationDate="2011-07-29T18:52:09.720" Score="1" ViewCount="3262" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long will a protein mix last before it isn't any good? Should I always mix it as soon as I want to drink it or can I pre mix a few bottles then store them in the fridge? I'm talking about using the tubs of powder, not actually buying the pre-mixed bottles like the 6 packs of Muscle Milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-07-29T21:49:55.527" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T22:14:33.133" Title="Protein mix - How long can it sit?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3079" CreationDate="2011-07-29T18:54:27.973" Score="14" ViewCount="127146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to mix protein powders with hot liquids like coffee? I did this once a while back and it turned into a rubbery blob that sat on top of the coffee. I tried to look it up but there wasn't much available (at the time anyway, 2007). What I found was claims that the protein breaks down and can become toxic. But I read about body builders who bake with protein powders all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to mix protein powders with hot liquids? Does it destroy the value of the protein? Does it matter if the powder contains maltodextrin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T13:18:04.690" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T14:30:41.617" Title="Protein: Mixing with hot liquids" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3074" CreationDate="2011-07-29T19:27:23.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the actual life of a mixed protein shake, but I wouldn't drink anything over 24 hours old.  If you want convenience what I would do is pre-fill the bottles with the powder and fill with water or milk when needed.  You will need to re-shake it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T19:27:23.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3073" CreationDate="2011-07-29T19:39:27.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Focusing on strength gain, there are a number of good options.  The main caveat (meant for the casual reader here) is that these are all intermediate or advanced programs.  That means the program gains are going to be slower than with a beginner program--but if you are an intermediate or advanced lifter your gains are slower anyways.  That that disclaimer out of the way, this forum has a number of good programs as a jumping point: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/181-the-next-step/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IronStrong - The Next Step&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think one of the options on that page that might be up your ally is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/531-jim-wendler-review-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wendler's 5/3/1&lt;/a&gt; program (link for summary information).  There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0557248299&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;corresponding book&lt;/a&gt; that helps better understand what assistance exercises to include and how to tailor the program to your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another resource that might be useful is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522703&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Practical Programming by Dr. Kilgore and Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt; as that is a more generic text on how to set up your own personal program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T19:39:27.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3069" CreationDate="2011-07-29T19:44:18.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it simply be bad posture or your muscles supporting your head aren't strong enough and get sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know exactly what muscle you'd need to work though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T19:44:18.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2011-07-29T20:16:31.917" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the protein powder is added to hot liquid, it won't mix and it does release a gas as it cooks.  I've tried it before in one of those covered shakers with a whisk ball built in.  Hot protein mess spewed all over the counter as the cap flew off due to the added pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you can apply the same approach that chefs use to flavor their meringues with chocolate.  A meringue is essentially egg white (protein) beaten until it is stiff.  The technique is called tempering.  Basically you blend in the heated substance (like melted chocolate) a little at a time into the the meringue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a hot protein drink using coffee (a very delicious combo):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mix the protein so that it is liquid at room temperature (only use enough liquid to dissolve the protein)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly add the coffee to the mixture until the mix is the right balance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heat if necessary in the microwave when you are done&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative approach is to cool the coffee to room temperature and mix the protein at that time.  Heat it back up when you are done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally prefer a chocolate/coffee/protein smoothie which is cold.  You can't really taste the protein in there at all, and it tastes like you are being decadent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T20:16:31.917" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-07-29T21:51:54.347" Score="6" ViewCount="413" Body="&lt;p&gt;So many people say Saturated Fats is bad for you and you shouldn't eat too much fatty meats or dairy because they lead to high cholesterol. Everyone just takes this as fact without asking for proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of any studies that show proof of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone eats a number of calories that are equal to or less than their daily caloric needs, does the amount of Saturated Fat in their diet really make a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, body fat is saturated fat. So, if I'm burning my own fat, isn't that just like eating the same amount of calories worth of saturated fat as I have burned? What's the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please post links to sources with your answers. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastEditorUserId="940" LastEditDate="2011-07-29T21:57:43.237" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T12:57:58.093" Title="Is Saturated Fat really as bad for you as people believe?" Tags="&lt;cholesterol&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-02-25T04:01:41.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3074" CreationDate="2011-07-29T22:14:33.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When refrigerated, I would expect it to last at least 48 hours. If not refrigerated, I would suspect that you wouldn't want to leave it sit at room temperature for more than a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lunch, you could try freezing it overnight and taking it out in the morning, then it should stay mostly cold until lunch time. Although, @Salsero69 's suggestion of measuring the powder then mixing when needed is probably the best solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-07-29T22:14:33.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3085" CreationDate="2011-07-29T22:55:51.070" Score="12" ViewCount="1214" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flat out I can do maybe 1 pull up. What can I do to improve my pull-up rep count other than &quot;doing more pull-ups&quot;? What muscle groups are used for pull-ups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T15:38:03.173" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T20:33:14.023" Title="How to improve pull-up rep count" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3069" CreationDate="2011-07-30T00:35:13.300" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bad posture can cause you to lean over and put extra stress on your next and shoulders. Also some people tense up when they run and do not relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people find holding objects in their hand helps them relax their upper body. The object in your hand can be as small as a stick or as large as a water bottle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you solve the problems? Light massage and heating pad/ice will help loosen it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.back-exercise-and-pain-relief.com/posture-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercises&lt;/a&gt; to help build the back and core muscles can help your posture.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T00:35:13.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2011-07-30T00:47:09.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just a middle of the pack runner, but what I have read over the years is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is okay to do leg workouts 1-2 times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not do the workout the day before or after your long run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to do it after a run, better to have an off day afterwards, great to mix with hill workout day &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your legs feel week take a break from the workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat, Lunge, &amp;amp; Bridge are great&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T00:47:09.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3082" CreationDate="2011-07-30T01:03:14.077" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you can do only a single pull-up, I would suggest more reps with some sort of pull-up progression. Some examples are:&#xA;jumping pull-ups&#xA;pullups with your feet on the ground in front of you, leaning backwards&#xA;assisted pullups (from a machine at the gym, with a rubber band, or by tying a rope to a weight that goes over the bar)&#xA;Finally, you might look into kipping pull-ups, which require a little bit of skill, but allow you to do more repetitions, and therefore improve your dead hang pull up as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use the same sort of rep scheme that you would use for any other lifting exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dead lifts and lat pull-downs may help as well, but the above will probably be more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T01:03:14.077" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2011-07-30T02:30:08.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably avoid leg weight exercises while marathon training.  Your body is/will be under enough stress from that kind of distance; especially if you are already training 5-6 days a week.  Running a marathon and training for one will strengthen your legs just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also caution to make sure the aches are muscle related and not bone or joint related.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you are getting enough rest (both sleep and time off of your feet).  It is not uncommon to take an anti-inflammatory like Aleve or Advil during or after long runs, but be cautious of doing it out of habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T02:30:08.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3069" CreationDate="2011-07-30T09:31:28.000" Score="8" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Any type of chest pain when exerting is worth checking out with your doctor if you have any reason to suspect heart problems.  (Probably not your case, but just a cautionary note.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clavicular pain may indicate a problem with the bone that is aggravated by the jarring or impact of running.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Likely cause:  Accessory breathing muscles, such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.manningphysicaltherapy.net/media/img/1007/shoulder_thoracic_anat02.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;scalenes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, attach to the first rib which lies under the clavicle.  If you are breathing with the upper chest, neck and accessory muscles, these muscles can pull up on the first rib, which narrows the space for nerves and muscles.  If you have tight scalenes, poor posture (forward head, elevated shoulders etc.) and are using your accessory muscles to breathe rather than the diaphragm, that may be a cause of your pain.  When the pain occurs, try relaxing your breathing, using your diaphragm rather than your upper chest and neck muscles to see if this makes a difference.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If tight scalenes are contributing to the problem, here is a video that demonstrates how to gently &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Pgz9plSd0&quot;&gt;stretch the 3 parts of the scalenes&lt;/a&gt;.  As for your posture, imagine that your head is light like a balloon so that it gently lifts and elongates your neck without forcing.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for the iPhone, an armband and earbuds would allow you to keep your head and neck more in neutral.  If you are holding the phone, you tend to tense the muscles of the neck and arm on that side. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T09:31:28.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3093" CreationDate="2011-07-30T12:16:52.570" Score="28" ViewCount="1697" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a programmer. I like coffee as it keeps me awake, I usually drink 4 small cups a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I want to know if it is dangerous for your health?&lt;/strong&gt; Or in which quantity it should be taken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1139" LastEditorUserId="757" LastEditDate="2011-07-31T20:46:41.563" LastActivityDate="2011-08-29T14:07:50.180" Title="Is coffee good or bad for your health?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="8" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T17:56:40.483" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2011-07-30T21:47:48.340" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Articles Related to this exact question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The mayo clinic has a great article answering your question:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/coffee-and-health/AN01354&quot;&gt;Is coffee good or bad for me?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, there's this great article in slate published a few days ago answering this age old debate: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2299887&quot;&gt;Cafe or Nay&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;USA Today (June 2010): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-06-14-coffee14_ST_N.htm&quot;&gt;coffee's endless health debate is grounded in fact&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mayo Clinic Article&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways here are some interesting findings in Mayo Clinic article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coffee no longer shows any link to cancer / heart disease:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recent studies have generally found no connection between coffee and &#xA;  an increased risk of cancer or heart disease.  Why the apparent&#xA;  reversal in the thinking  about coffee? Earlier studies didn't always&#xA;  take into account that known high-risk  behaviors, such as smoking and&#xA;  physical inactivity, tended to be more common among heavy coffee&#xA;  drinkers at that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Studies show coffee is linked with protecting against Parkinson's, type 2 diabetes and liver cancer because of it's high content of antioxidants:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Newer studies have also shown that coffee may have benefits, such as&#xA;  protecting against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and liver&#xA;  cancer. And it has a high content of antioxidants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The doctor, Donald Hensrud, in this article indicates that the only downside to coffee is that it doesn't contain any nutrients compared to its counterparts and that you should use coffee in moderation:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But this doesn't mean you should disregard the old maxim &quot;Everything&#xA;  in moderation.&quot; Although coffee may not be very harmful, other&#xA;  beverages such as milk and juice contain nutrients that coffee does&#xA;  not. Also, keep in mind that coffee accompaniments such as cream and&#xA;  sugar add fat and calories to your diet. Finally, heavy caffeine use —&#xA;  on the order of four to seven cups of coffee a day — can cause&#xA;  problems such as restlessness, anxiety, irritability and&#xA;  sleeplessness, particularly in susceptible individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Good:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Coffee decreases instances of MRSA in a persons nose. A most recent study shows that coffee / tea drinkers are &lt;a href=&quot;http://methicillin-resistant%20Staphylococcus%20aureus%20%28MRSA%29%20in%20their%20nose&quot;&gt;less likely to carry methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in their noses&lt;/a&gt;. This means coffee / tea have anti-microbiological impacts. However, the link between MRSA and systemic infection have not been linked.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Coffee Decreases ones risk in Prostate Cancer* &lt;a href=&quot;http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/17/jnci.djr151.abstract&quot;&gt;In may&lt;/a&gt;, Journal of National Cancer Institute found that coffee contains biologically active compounds that can be associated with reduced risk of cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Long term coffee consumption &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/archives/2004-releases/press01052004.html&quot;&gt;reduces risk of type-2 diabetes&lt;/a&gt;; Indicating Coffee seems to improve insulin sensitivity&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, so far the jury is out that coffee can be substantially important in reducing risks of cancer, and various other diseases; just limit your intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The bad:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coffee Drinkers have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11369742&quot;&gt;20% increased risk of urinary tract cancer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19362749&quot;&gt;Excessive drinking of coffee can increase chances of lung cancer&lt;/a&gt; Unfortunately, the abstract indicates that results were inconsistent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overall:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just stick to your guns and do what you feel is right. I would continue to consume coffee. It seems as there are a lot of perks of coffee. I would of course, as stated previously, enjoy coffee in moderate amounts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="1147" LastEditDate="2011-08-29T14:07:50.180" LastActivityDate="2011-08-29T14:07:50.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3140" CreationDate="2011-07-31T18:21:38.433" Score="12" ViewCount="24521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see people doing pull-ups / chin-ups with knees bent such that their legs are &quot;hanging&quot; behind. Shouldn't the legs be straight down, perpendicular to the ground?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where should our legs be when we do (standard) pull-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where should our legs be when we do (standard) chin-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="1473" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T06:37:36.013" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T17:53:29.867" Title="Where should our legs be when we do pull-ups or chin-ups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3098" CreationDate="2011-07-31T18:30:58.583" Score="12" ViewCount="11728" Body="&lt;p&gt;My target is to do 50 pullups (without coming down in between them of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it more beneficial (faster for me to hit my target) by doing 1-shot as much as I can or is it more beneficial to split it into like 5 sets but 5 times lesser?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, right now in 1-shot I can manage 20.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I do 1 and come down, pause, and 1 and come down, pause, I can do a hundred (and possibly more if I just push it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side question: is it easier to aim for 50 pullups, 50 chinups, or 50 of 1-hand-facing-1-hand-not ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T12:39:42.843" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T12:39:42.843" Title="How to train up to 50 pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3097" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3104" CreationDate="2011-07-31T20:37:07.130" Score="12" ViewCount="2627" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the start of Ramadan, I will be fasting for approximately 12 hours a day (no food or water). &lt;strong&gt;Is there any weight loss benefits to running towards the end of the day?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thoughts being that my sugar reserves would be bottoming out by then. Also, I am a vegetarian so should I try to get more protein when I break my fast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, I have run or cycled after longer fasts on 40C days, so I know I can do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1546" LastEditorUserId="1546" LastEditDate="2011-08-05T03:10:24.513" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T11:08:48.990" Title="How should I be exercising during the Ramadan?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3096" CreationDate="2011-07-31T21:19:06.860" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, 20 pullups is quite a feat, good job! I assume you are doing them with proper form: chin over bar on top, elbows locked and body still at the bottom. If you are doing something else, or eg. kipping pullups (basically, using your momentum in any way), the first thing you should do is transition to strict form pullups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing 50 pullups is as much a matter of endurance as it is of strength. Personally, I've had a lot of good results doing weighted pullups, which build up strength. This will allow you to literally &quot;fly&quot; once the weight is off. What you want to do is to use a dip-belt and hang progressively bigger weights on it. You could also use a backpack (and fill it with eg. bags of sand) but it tends to hang awkwardly and it messes up your center of mass; because of this it also limits the amount of weight you can add. Using a dip belt takes care of all this. You should start low, a few kilograms added only (so as not to stress your joints too much). You should be able to add about 2 or 2.5 kgs every week. You can combine weighted pullups with any sort of program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the program itself, I've again had a lot of luck doing &quot;ladders&quot;. Basically, do 1, then 2, then 3 up to as much as you can, and then all the way back. Add a final &quot;max effort&quot; series at the end. If the last series is close or above your maximum, increase the max next time. The idea is to completely slaughter yourself. Doing ladders is beneficial because it will help with both strength (low reps, especially on the way back) and endurance (the high reps). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, though, I don't think I know anyone who can do 50 strict form pullups, so this is all purely academic. Also, when you say you can do over a hundred with pauses, is this with hanging all the time or with letting go of the bar? If you are hanging through all this, then you are way beyond me and this advice might not apply to you at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;===&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus: Most people will find chin-ups easiest (with mixed grip in the middle and pullups the hardest) but this depends on how well some specific muscles are developed and even your technique. They all target slightly different muscle groups, though, so for the best overall results you should probably try to use all grips (and even vary your grip width). If you must focus on one, the most popular choice are pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-07-31T21:19:06.860" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3099" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3100" CreationDate="2011-08-01T00:19:08.237" Score="4" ViewCount="981" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, the exercises I normally do are running or sports such as soccer etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For probably the last 6-12 months, I've been having discomfort in my upper chest. Lately, it feels like it's getting worst. I  think it's completely muscular, as it hurts across a wide area. I have a feeling maybe I strained a muscle in my shoulders or maybe it's the way I'm sitting at work? I'm not sure, it's been happening for long enough that I don't remember when it started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to see the doctor (a GP) and basically, once he was sure it wasn't my heart, he was a bit apathetic about it. He told me to take pain killers for a week. I told him that it doesn't hurt, just causes discomfort, but he said, it was all in my head and after a week of taking the pain killers, my brain will &quot;forget&quot; that it's there. He even told me to continue doing sports and stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that good advice? I feel like taking pain killers for something that isn't causing me pain isn't a good idea. Should I go to a physio? Should I get some type of massage? Should I do any type of exercise? Can anyone suggest any alternative treatments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1144" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-01T00:34:27.177" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T00:34:27.177" Title="Pain in upper chest and upper back, what can i do?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;treatment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3099" CreationDate="2011-08-01T00:33:09.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically taking NSAIDS (e.g. Advil/Ibuprofen) may be a very good idea. It's not just for the pain, but also to reduce inflammation, which can linger and cause that pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within the last year or two, I've had (unrelated) injuries to both my knee and my foot. Both caused enough pain to prevent any sort of related exercise and had me limping. Both lingered (the knee lingered for well over a month before I got it checked out). In both cases, when I finally saw a doctor they prescribed a NSAID (double-dose ibuprofen in one case, naproxen in the other) and that fixed the problem fast. Because these injuries had lingered, I'm sure it was the anti-inflammatory properties of the drugs, rather than the painkilling aspects that did the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, assuming an inflammation-based problem, icing it can help. I iced both injuries, and it seemed to help a little on a temporary basis, but the NSAID was the real magic trick for me in both cases&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T00:33:09.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3073" CreationDate="2011-08-01T03:41:53.297" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say there's really no right or wrong way to plan your split schedule, but I'm saying that with the premise that the schedule should be &lt;strong&gt;varied periodically&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you mean that the 4-day schedule will be done weekly, the most important thing is that you &lt;strong&gt;work out each muscle group every week&lt;/strong&gt; and try to get some &lt;strong&gt;recuperation time&lt;/strong&gt; in for each muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for changing up the schedule is that you'll always have conflicts with overlapping muscle groups and adequate recuperation time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the question, there are a few potential conflicts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 &amp;amp; Day 2: Deadlifting the day after squatting could be pretty tough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 &amp;amp; Day 4: If you incline press on day 3, it's going to affect your shoulder presses on day 4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;these are not criticisms of your schedule!&lt;/strong&gt;  These conflicts are unavoidable when trying to work out every muscle group during the course of a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, every so often, change up your split schedule.  My target is sticking with a schedule for 8 weeks, take 1 week rest from lifting, and then change everything up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, maybe for your second schedule, you could do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1&lt;/strong&gt;: Chest/Abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2&lt;/strong&gt;: Arms/Lats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3&lt;/strong&gt;: Shoulders/Abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 4&lt;/strong&gt;: Legs/Back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changing the schedule now and then can help push progress along and make things more interesting if you get bored with the schedule.  Also, you'll be really happy to replace particularly grueling combinations of workouts, such as the killer Legs/Back day above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1537" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T03:41:53.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3097" CreationDate="2011-08-01T13:08:31.767" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be done, but it is not easy.  Take a look at an article posted by Medhi about &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/ramadan-weight-lifting-training-build-muscle-lose-fat/&quot;&gt;Ramadan &amp;amp; Weightlifting&lt;/a&gt;.  While you aren't weightlifting, some of the principles can be applied in your situation.  The high points will be listed below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train 2 hours before you break your fast.  That way you can get several meals in to help your recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce your training load.  You simply won't be able to recover as fast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nap to preserve energy and get the rest you need&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you intend on running, that will dehydrate you something fierce.  In that case, I recommend changing Medhi's advice to training at the time you break your fast.  That will allow you to remain hydrated, and get some serious food in you right afterwards.  He even provides a schedule to help plan your day in the article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you will need to eat some caloric dense foods, and food with plenty of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T13:08:31.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3111" CreationDate="2011-08-01T15:28:41.703" Score="23" ViewCount="104401" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told push-ups are good for the chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried some and don't quite feel it in my chest, the force is on my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I do it to focus on the chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T22:57:44.907" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T11:53:16.717" Title="How should I do push up to get better chest?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2011-08-01T15:58:07.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest dumbbell flys instead.  They really work the chest muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See Also: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/library/blsamplechest.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chest Exercises&lt;/a&gt; it suggests several chest oriented exercises including push-up techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1407" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T15:58:07.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2011-08-01T16:04:29.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your hands are doing very little during a push-up. So while you might feel some force there, don't be concerned by it. Many chest exercises (except the previously mentioned fly) use a combination of chest and tricep muscles. If all you want is a large chest, the bench press is one of the best exercises you can do. Shoot for 1.5x your body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, however, you're developing your chest for strength in a particular activity, find an exercise that mimicks the activity and use it as your basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T16:04:29.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2011-08-01T17:34:00.023" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baseops.net/basictraining/pushups.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a good link&lt;/a&gt; with illustrations and videos for doing push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some simple things to remember:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wide hand position = working the outer chest/pecs  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;close hand position = working the inner chest/pecs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can vary intensity by elevating your hands (easier) or elevating your feet (harder). There are many push up variations including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dive bombers, which are great for arms and shoulders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AjnVJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;dive bombers&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ploymetric, for power &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mfd9B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ploymetric push up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and single arm, for the core:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NcwFS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;one arm push up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T10:15:01.040" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T10:15:01.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2011-08-01T17:42:01.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For body weight exercises, the push up or the push up using resistance bands is probably your best bet.  Plyometric pushups will help build some explosive power.  If, however, you have access to weights, you can do a lot better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginner, the barbell bench press will help do a lot of good for the chest as well as the arm muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit later, dumbbell bench press will give you a better result as you are forced to bring the dumbbells together giving you a greater range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not going to tell you what proportion you should shoot for on your bench press, because that proportion changes based on your weight.  The key is to keep increasing weight as best you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be remiss if I didn't say that only working on the chest and not balancing that by working the upper back as well is a recipe for injury.  A reverse pushup will balance normal pushups, and rows will balance bench presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T17:42:01.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2611" CreationDate="2011-08-01T21:03:15.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nitric oxides supps do work to an extent, however a recent study at my uni proved beetroot juice to be just as effective!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1551" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T21:03:15.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2011-08-01T23:10:05.357" Score="18" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I tried some and don't quite effective to the chest, the force are on my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the beauty of push up, we can train various muscles from push ups. I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S990kHLMVFg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video about Chest Workout: Pushups for the Complete Beginner&lt;/a&gt; interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How should I do it to focus on the chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest &lt;strong&gt;Wide Push ups&lt;/strong&gt; to focus on our chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariekusumaatmaja/6000009316/in/photostream&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lWVgU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Wide Push ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took this pic from &lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;YAYOG book page 60&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym. The Bible of BodyWeight Exercises for Men and Women by Mark Lauren.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1291" LastEditorUserId="1291" LastEditDate="2011-08-01T23:39:20.683" LastActivityDate="2011-08-01T23:39:20.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-02T04:32:45.747" Score="12" ViewCount="17890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some help in taking the decision to use the supplement. I am trying to build my body but couldn't get a better result even after 6 months of continuous training, when asked my fellow trainer he told me that I was lacking power and needed to take protein supplements in order to build bigger muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I have heard people say that using supplements to build your body might have some residual effect on the organs of our body. Is this really true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do protein supplements have any side-effects?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1554" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-02T08:56:06.767" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T14:28:25.723" Title="Do protein supplements have any side-effects?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3129" CreationDate="2011-08-02T05:54:32.830" Score="2" ViewCount="1485" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read this in a detoxifying book, its suppose to help the liver.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I've seen maybe one or two women celebrities saying they stick with this regime. They also stick with drinking fresh fruit juice afterwards as breakfast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T14:12:37.450" Title="Drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice in warm water first thing in the morning" Tags="&lt;juice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3113" CreationDate="2011-08-02T13:26:10.990" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the bulk of protein study centers around its efficacy (or usefulness), not harmful side effects.  That said, excess protein (beyond what the body needs to build muscle) is broken down in the kidneys to become glycogen.  Drinking plenty of water facilitates this process and makes your kidneys happy.  However, if your kidneys are not functioning normally, an excess of protein can be dangerous for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, based on a Consumer Reports &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/july/food/protein-drinks/whats-in-your-protein-drink/index.htm&quot;&gt;study on available protein powders&lt;/a&gt; there are other harmful chemicals that are present in higher densities than they would be in naturally occurring food.  These are things like cadmium, arsenic, etc.  The numbers in the chart represent the load of the chemicals in 3 servings of the protein.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.muscleandfitness.com/jim_stoppani/2010/06/protein-drinks-are-dangerous-yeah-right.html&quot;&gt;protein maker's response&lt;/a&gt; calls the study into question saying that the CR report had an agenda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, there are a couple reasons for not building more muscle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You did not do enough work to cause the body to adapt (see Practical Programming by Rippetoe and Dr. Kilgore [book])&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The body's adaptive systems did not have the resources required to hyper-compensate. (see same resource)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your trainer believes that the problem you are facing is the second bullet point.  In essence your body needs sufficient &lt;em&gt;protein&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;calories&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;rest&lt;/em&gt; in order to build the muscle required to do more work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Underweight (by weightlifting standards) lifters will constantly run into this problem.  Protein powders are simply one way to get that extra protein and in many cases calories.  Another way is the &quot;Gallon of Milk a Day&quot; (GOMAD) approach which will have the same effect for probably less money and fewer risks of having too much of the disagreeable heavy metals found in the CR report.  NOTE: if you do GOMAD, don't do it for longer than 8 weeks at a time.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/88-gomad-gallon-of-milk-a-day/&quot;&gt;You will also retain water&lt;/a&gt;, which will go away after you start drinking a gallon of water a day instead of the milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-02T13:26:10.990" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2011-08-02T14:17:42.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ahhh the ole push-up! One point worth adding is the best way to isolate the chest has more to with the angle and direction of arms as you go up and down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, a wider hand stance is better for the chest overall. You will notice by going wider your arms and elbows form a right angle to your body that is the correct methodology for chest development. As you go and up/down,  your elbows fold directionally away from your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If when I lay on the ground, I put my hands on the ground at my shoulders and then as I began my push up, I kept my elbows and arm fold back,  I would be moving stress away from my chest and shifting it primarily to my triceps, shoulders and then chest. If I keep my elbows at a right or 90 degree angle I will maintain the chest and the primary muscle group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This true of push ups' cousin &quot;the dip&quot; as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, elbows back equals triceps-shoulders-chest. Elbows at a more forward/90 degree/right angle position will emphasize the chest more!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-08-02T14:17:42.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-02T20:37:30.700" Score="12" ViewCount="871" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never exercised except in grade school when I played volley ball. I am not fat 5'8 and 140 lbs, but I have no muscle tone at all, I am completely flabby. To make things worse I have no cardio stamina, I find it difficult to run a few blocks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to do things like squats and such, but have weak knees and legs that shake only a few reps in. I have a toddler and would very much like to enjoy activities with her, but I am lathargic all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to change this, but am unsure the best way to go about it. My biggest goals are to build cardio and get rid of the flab. I have thought of trying to run at least 15 maybe only 10 min a day to increase stamina, and maybe yoga to help with toning as this is easier on my legs pain wise than lunges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone think this is a good plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1561" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-03T19:30:37.443" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T09:13:43.780" Title="How to get started with exercising without any previous experience?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3120" CreationDate="2011-08-03T04:48:17.120" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yea!  It is always great to hear of someone who is committed to getting back in shape.    Walking and yoga will get you off to a great start.  Here are some additional thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check with your doctor&lt;/strong&gt; before starting on an exercise program and you will have better success. Your doctor may help you identify the cause of lethargy - inadequate rest with a toddler springs to mind, but your doctor can rule out other possible causes.  Also ask for &lt;strong&gt;a healthy diet&lt;/strong&gt; to follow.   Diet can make a big difference in how you feel. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start walking&lt;/strong&gt;.  A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Pedometers.html&quot;&gt;pedometer&lt;/a&gt; will keep you motivated.  Goal: 10,000 steps/day.  You need to prepare all your joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons and cardiovascular system to get ready for more aggressive exercise like running.  If you try to start off with running on weak knees, you may end up sidelined with an injury.  Walking should not aggravate your knees.  If you can push your toddler in a stroller that is even better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure that you are walking in your target heart rate zone.  Goal Intensity:  Moderate intensity would range from 55% to 75% or your max heart rate, or at a level of exertion of 12 to 16 (somewhat hard to hard at a steady pace) on the Borg Scale.  Goal Duration: 2.5 hours of moderate intensity exercise per week generally broken down to 30 minutes per day most days per week, or 1.75 hours of vigorous exercise per week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually work up to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; program for running. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga&lt;/strong&gt; is a fantastic way to get back in shape.  It focuses on alignment, flexibility and core strength.  Plus it teaches breathing and will help you keep centered.  It is great if you can take a class to assure that you have proper form and the necessary props, but you can also workout at home with a dvd.  Start with one of the milder forms until you are ready for more demanding poses and practices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since losing flab, not weight is your goal, if you can  include &lt;strong&gt;resistance training&lt;/strong&gt; 2 to 3 times per week, that would be good too.  This can be in the form or resistance bands, body weight exercises, and free weights which can all be done in your home.  Or you can head to the gym for weight machines.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by strengthening your core.  Body weight exercises like the plank and side planks target your abs and trunk muscles.  There is a lot you can do with an exercise ball.  Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJCgV8sqqg&quot;&gt;video example&lt;/a&gt; of strengthening glutes, hamstrings and core with a ball.  Exercise balls and resistance bands in the tv room make tv time less sedentary and more fun.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you aren't worried about your weight, measure your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot;&gt;percentage of body fat&lt;/a&gt; to track your progress.  Seeing improvements will keep you motivated to go a little farther.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congratulations for getting started.  As you improve the way you look and feel you will also be a good role model for your child.   Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T04:48:17.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3144" CreationDate="2011-08-03T07:23:20.917" Score="6" ViewCount="4150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Visualization can be an important part of doing an exercise right. I recently came upon a bit of advice on another website and I could immediately feel an improvement in my form (despite having done probably thousands of pullups before). My question is: do you know any good visualizations for doing pullups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record, the sentence which inspired this: &lt;em&gt;During this initial movement, pretend that you are squeezing a pencil between your shoulder blades and do not let the pencil drop during any phase of the pull-up.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T20:40:17.810" Title="Visualization techniques for pullups?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3128" CreationDate="2011-08-03T07:47:23.783" Score="0" ViewCount="5196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I'm doing a low-carb diet or even if I just reduce the carb portion of my daily calorie intake, my lips start to dry out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After one or two days they really get chapped and crusty. Lip balm doesn't really help. When I increase my carb intake they return to normal after a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this normal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why is this happening?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What can I do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T06:12:55.327" Title="Why do I get chapped lips while being on a low-carb diet?" Tags="&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3123" CreationDate="2011-08-03T12:01:58.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people visualize their muscles growing (I think Arnie S is known for that), when doing pull/chin ups I think of mountain climbing and pulling myself up/over a ridge - a distraction from the effort...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T12:01:58.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3120" CreationDate="2011-08-03T12:07:18.683" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest concern with any exercise program is finding something you &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to stick to.  Some of that is motivation, but a big part is what motivates you.  Depending on your age, you may want to talk to your doctor first (typically for people 40 and over).  You mentioned doing squats, are they body weight squats?  If not, I fear you may be trying to start with too much weight.  So here are the basic principles to get you started:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Find something you enjoy.&lt;/strong&gt;  I enjoy weightlifting and martial arts.  Those might not appeal to you, but do you like swimming, hiking, sports, dancing, etc.?  The more you enjoy something the longer you will stick with it, and the more motivated you will be.  For example, my wife thoroughly enjoys Zumba which is an aerobic dance class.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Define your goals.&lt;/strong&gt;  A good goal is something you can measure.  If you like weightlifting, a good goal would be doing a certain lift with X amount of weight on the bar.  If you like swimming, your first goal might be to get a full lap without stopping.  Once you can do a few laps you might have time related goals (a lap within X seconds).  You'll adjust these goals each time you reach them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concentrate on your core.&lt;/strong&gt;  No matter what you do for exercise, your core is very important.  Always add some exercises to strengthen your core.  You can even get creative.  You mentioned having a toddler.  You can find ways of activating your abs and working your core while playing with your child.  The key is to be active &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; the child.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Choose to be active more often.&lt;/strong&gt;  Your body will adapt to what you tell it to do (within reason).  If you tell it to sit in front of a TV or computer all the time, it will adapt to that level of &quot;fitness&quot;.  If you tell it to get up and walk around, be outside, etc. more then it will respond to make that easier.  The key is to be &lt;em&gt;progressive&lt;/em&gt; in your approach.  You might not be able to handle a 10 minute run just yet.  You can take a stroll with your toddler in stroller for 10-15 minutes a day just to get used to the discipline of moving.  Then add a little speed to your stroll.  And a little more.  Eventually you will be jogging and then running.  The toddler will be OK as long as they are engaged somehow.  Sometimes just talking to them is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any amount of activity will help firm up your body's muscle tone.  However, fat is burned in the kitchen.  If you are increasing your activity, you will be burning more Calories.  However, it may be tempting to overcompensate with your food.  You will be hungry after being active, just try to pick healthy things to eat afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T12:07:18.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3120" CreationDate="2011-08-03T12:13:52.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you need to modify your exercise, diet and life style to get you where you want to be.  It's tough being a mother to a new-born baby (congratulations) and having the energy and desire to get into shape.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all about maintainability - start by tracking what you eat, how much sleep you get and keep a journal of how your baby/toddler is impacting your daily routine.  Incorporate simple exercises that include your baby and some that you can do while the baby is napping (I'm assuming going to the gym by yourself is out of the question at this time).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a big fan of &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitdeck.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FitDeck&lt;/a&gt; - basically playing cards with various exercises on it that you can use to help guide/motivate you - for example, you can purchase the postnatal deck and pick out 10-20 cards to complete by end of day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some simple steps to take:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;imagine/picture where you want to be - health wise - and write it down and hang it up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take pictures along the way so you can see the change&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start slowly incorporating exercises into your schedule - don't burn yourself out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;include trips to the playground, park, etc. with your baby as part of your workout, it all counts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;track what you eat and start adjusting your diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;log your workout, join an on-line health/exercise community like dailyburn or LiveStrong to discuss with others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-25T09:13:43.780" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T09:13:43.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2011-08-03T12:19:51.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very likely it is a vitamin deficiency.  Likely culprits are water soluble vitamins like Vitamin C or Folic Acid.  If you are not taking a multivitamin with your low-carb diet to compensate for the vitamins you are missing from not having carbs, then you will be experiencing any number of unhealthy symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/vitamins-supplements/594216-cracked-lips-sore-mouth-vitamin-deficiency.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cracked lips, sore mouth vitamin deficiency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/vitamins-supplements/594216-cracked-lips-sore-mouth-vitamin-deficiency.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Possibility of insufficient calories&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've even read somewhere that taking Omega 3 fish oil vitamins can help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T12:19:51.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3114" CreationDate="2011-08-03T14:12:37.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I have been drinking lemon juice with warm water first thing in the morning for many years now. Even when we travel, we purchase lemons once we arrive at our destination so we're able to continue this practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are quite a few books out there that support it, but speaking first hand, I can tell you that it's very beneficial to the body. Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) and warm water in the morning is a great digestive aid because it stimulates the liver to produce bile. This helps with digestion and also helps to get your bowels moving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lemon juice is also full of antioxidants (Vitamin C) and bioflavanoids, which we know have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer and to boost immunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1563" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T14:12:37.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3123" CreationDate="2011-08-03T14:49:18.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the visualization technique you mentioned is good. You have to imagine yourself squeezing your shoulder blades together to really target your back. Otherwise you may find yourself cheating a little by using your biceps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to take this visualization into reality, ask a friend to straighten their hand and put the tip of their fingers in between your shoulder blades (their hand should be vertical). As you do the pull-up, your goal is to squeeze their hand with your shoulder blades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This simple technique helped me so much because I was cheating too much with my arms. In my case I did have to lower my usual weight (i.e. machine assisted) until I got used to the new form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note this works for other back exercises as well, like rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="760" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T14:49:18.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2366" CreationDate="2011-08-03T17:22:46.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a bunch of factors. Most of the ones I know are already well covered. I need to add that what is right for someone else may not be right for you. For instance, I find I am sluggish if I sleep more than 7 hours a night. I have found that the older I get, the more important it becomes to stay with a schedule. I have been a lifetime believer in supplements and exercise and I have found that my needs change over time and that it is highly cyclical.&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;When I was in college, I ran into an idea that I have used ever since. &quot;Your body will tell you what it needs.&quot; There is more than 40 years of listening to my body behind that and what I get from it changes all the time. There is also a bunch of learning and studying behind it. For instance, my mother spent a lifetime with very soft nails which I inherited. By taking vitamin D3 at the appropriate dosage level, for me that is 6000 units on top of the standard daily vitamins, I no longer have such soft nails.&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;What this is all saying is, stay with your current regimen and you will see benefits in the future. You're going to have ups and downs and over time you will get more ups than downs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T17:22:46.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3151" CreationDate="2011-08-03T19:13:02.543" Score="0" ViewCount="20552" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started the gym and have been going bout 3-4 times a week mostly focusing on cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to eat more healthy and i'm quite picky with food, so I tend to have sandwhiches with usually chicken or ham for lunch and then jacket potatoes for tea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat jacket potatoes everyday with a &lt;em&gt;small&lt;/em&gt; amount of cheese, as I don't like any other filling. I sometimes have chicken breast with them too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would eating them everyday make it more unhealthy than healthy? Am trying to lose weight, so would this help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jacket Potatoes are the only food I can think of which I like which are actually &quot;healthy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand I should have a &lt;em&gt;balanced&lt;/em&gt; diet but as i'm very picky with food its hard to have a range, without just eating junk food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appreciate any advice :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1567" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T18:06:36.887" Title="Is it unhealthy to eat jacket potatoes everyday?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:40:46.683" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3132" CreationDate="2011-08-03T20:04:55.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent study associated potato consumption with weight gain of one or more pounds per year, depending on how the potatoes were prepared:&#xA;Mozaffarian D. Tao Hao PH. Rimm EB.Willett WC. Hu PH. Hu FB. Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med. 2011;364(25):2392-2404.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, potatoes are a whole food that is considered a staple food by many cultures, so it's hard to say that they are unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T20:04:55.983" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3135" CreationDate="2011-08-03T20:22:27.733" Score="3" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started my exercise routine back up in June and recently started getting into walking/running around my neighborhood on my off days from lifting weights.  Last week I pushed myself a little harder and now I have some slight pain that seems to be just below my kneecap.  Periodically as I'm going down my stairs at home my leg feels like it might go out but doesn't.  Everything that I've read says to limit strain on the effected leg and try to avoid stairs (which is not possible at all at work and/or home).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is runner's knee how long should this last and is there anything else that I can do to help with the healing process?  My exercise routine has barbell squats 3X week and some of the  other exercises also require me to be standing/kneeling/slight squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1569" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-04T12:11:35.353" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T10:22:11.503" Title="How to recognize a Runner's Knee?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3134" CreationDate="2011-08-03T20:34:00.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be runner's knee (chondromalacia) or a bit of tendonitis.  Rest and Naproxen (Aleve) will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always ease into running longer or faster.  Don't increase mileage or effort by more than 10% per week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also add that physical therapy is usually a common treatment.  Runner's knee can be caused, besides overuse, by weak stabilizing muscles of the hips, knees and ankles.  You may wish to see a doctor (sports medicine or physical therapist) to get a proper diagnosis and for therapy exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T10:22:11.503" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T10:22:11.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2366" CreationDate="2011-08-03T22:08:12.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We would need much more information, such as: age, height, weight, body fat%, medical issues and diet to truly evaluate your energy loss issue.  On a prior question you asked about diet, so I can assume you're overweight to some degree.  One potential issue - and this is taking a real guess - is perhaps your testosterone levels are/have decreased and your recent exercise increase has had a side effect of increasing your T levels, providing you with more energy.  Take a look at these articles and please provide some of the information mentioned (age, etc.) so we can help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NAH/is_1_36/ai_n15895454/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NAH/is_1_36/ai_n15895454/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/264057-testosterone-fatigue/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/264057-testosterone-fatigue/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-03T22:08:12.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3080" CreationDate="2011-08-04T00:38:22.310" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saturated fats are good for you - 50 percent or more of our cell membrane phospholipids are saturated. The anti-saturated fat campaign was launched by U.S. vegetable interests wanting us to eat margarine, Crisco, and trans fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to them, obesity and diabetes have become the Twin Tower epidemics of our time! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232539-Enjoy-Saturated-Fats-They-re-Good-for-You-&quot;&gt;This is an excellent link&lt;/a&gt;; the truth about saturated fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1571" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-04T12:57:58.093" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T12:57:58.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3080" CreationDate="2011-08-04T08:49:42.223" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely conventional wisdom needs to be questioned in a methodical way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gary Taubes has written a lot about Saturated Fat, and while I can understand it while I read, I find it difficult to explain from scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, here's a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/good-news-on-saturated-fat/&quot;&gt;New York Times Article&lt;/a&gt; on Saturated Fats which shows that they aren't the enemy that the experts make them out to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1467" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T08:49:42.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3095" CreationDate="2011-08-04T13:53:42.070" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't really matter much - you are lifting the same weight no matter how much (or little) you shift your center of mass by moving your legs. Excessively rounding your lower back might have other consequences, though I haven't found any references to back this up. However, keeping your legs straight will activate your abs (especially upper abs in my experience) more, which means a better workout. In fact, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-627&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; compares abs muscle activation for various exercises using EMG. In shows, somewhat surprisingly, that a bodyweight chinup activated the rectus abdominis (main &quot;abs&quot; muscle) the most out of all exercises. It also proves that hanging leg raises (hang from bar and raise your legs to 90 degrees) are a good abdominal exercise, too. So, for the maximum workout you could try to keep your legs at a 90 degree angle (ie. parallel to the ground) while doing pullups (I've seen this referred to as an &quot;L-seat pullup&quot;). This is a good, almost full-body workout, but I wouldn't do it if you are unprepared. Be careful to maintain proper tension throughout the movement else you risk injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, a strict-form pullup is one where your body is in a straight line throughout the movement. [the fact that everyone does them in a certain way does not mean they are right; eg. in the link you gave, the guy in the video never actually gets his chin over the bar, he just touches it at best]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if your bar is not high enough you will have to bend your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T13:53:42.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1813" CreationDate="2011-08-04T16:22:06.100" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;After lifting a bit longer and more recent information I learned while reading Dr. Kilgore and Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522703&quot;&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/a&gt; book, there are a couple potential culprits for stalls.  I do recommend getting the book by the way as the first half of it is dedicated to understanding the theory of adaptation, what happens when we exercise, and the type of exercises that facilitate the changes we want.  Pertinent highlights below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may not be doing enough work to cause &quot;overload&quot;.  Overload is the disruption of homeostasis, which is a trigger to force the body to adapt to the new stresses.  This and the next two bullets are the bread and butter of strength training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may still be fatigued.  After doing heavy work, your muscles are in a fatigued state.  This is normal, and proper amount of rest between sets and exercises can restore enough function to get through the next set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may not have the restorative capacity to adapt between workouts.  Restorative capacity is governed by a few things such as hormone levels, rest, diet, etc.  I'll talk more about this a bit further down.  Additionally, if you are beyond intermediate gains, and are getting closer to your genetic maximum (advanced level lifting) it can take you up to a month to fully adapt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may have overtrained yourself.  Overtraining evidences itself as a loss of performance, and also has many indicators that can be confused with clinical depression.  Essentially in this state, you need to diminish your work for up to twice as long as it took to get into the state.  Once your body has regained homeostasis, you can attempt the overload cycle again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what's needed to adapt and hyper-compensate for your planned overload?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proper hormonal balance:&lt;/strong&gt;  The body usually takes care of this for you, as overload sets these in motion.  Essentially, the testosterone has to be present in greater quantity than cortisol.  This also explains why when women work out, they do not adapt in the same way that men do (normally lower testosterone levels).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep:&lt;/strong&gt;  About the time you first enter REM sleep, your testosterone levels will peak until you wake up.  An hour to hour and a half, your human growth hormone will be in peak production after you enter deep sleep.  This is why 8 hours of consecutive sleep will provide better hyper-compensation than breaking your sleep up throughout the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition:&lt;/strong&gt; you need hydration (anything that includes water will hydrate you assuming that you don't have excesses of diuretics), protein, energy, and vitamins and minerals.  Energy can be in the form of fat or carbs--the body doesn't care.  Water is a key ingredient in many restorative functions, including protein synthesis, of the body.  A weightlifter requires more hydration than the average person.  A weightlifter also needs more protein than the average person because that new protein (and water) will be used in building muscle.  The vitamins and minerals are also required in sufficient amounts to support full metabolism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, understand that the lifting community has five classes of lifter that are defined not by how much they can lift, but by how long it takes for their bodies to adapt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Untrained:&lt;/strong&gt; an untrained lifter will cause adaptation and recovery within 24 hours.  An untrained person could safely lift every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Novice:&lt;/strong&gt; someone who has been training for 0-3 months, and has gotten to the level where recovery takes 48-72 hours.  This trainee requires a full day of rest between sessions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermediate:&lt;/strong&gt; an intermediate lifter requires a week to fully adapt.  Adaptation also requires more careful manipulation of the training parameters to disrupt homeostasis and cause adaptation.  An intermediate lifter will start using a concept called &lt;em&gt;periodization&lt;/em&gt; to provide the different stresses needed to produce a new personal record at the end of the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced:&lt;/strong&gt; an advanced lifter requires a month to fully adapt.  This lifter is even closer to their genetic maximum, and the line between overload and over-training is becoming razor thin.  The periodization used by an advanced lifter will be more complicated than that used by the intermediate lifter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elite:&lt;/strong&gt; an elite lifter requires a year or more to fully adapt.  This lifter has a highly individualized and specialized program where every factor has to be considered when they are trying for a new personal record.  This represents the top 1-2% of athletes in any field.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the information of your body weight and how much you can lift, I can only offer general advice.  Compare your lifts to &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt;.  If you are above the Intermediate level lifts, it may be that the &quot;Body by Science&quot; approach no longer applies to you.  You will need more variation in your training to cause adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T16:22:06.100" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1931" CreationDate="2011-08-04T16:27:44.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're back is always going to be sore after workouts because some people hurt their back or back muscles and always will have soreness because they think rest will help and then they go all out again a week after rest. Some bodies are not made for intense training.&#xA;I could never use P90X due to my low back muscles. The angels of their movements just isn't for me. Everyone is different. I've talked to so many people that've overtrained in p90x.&#xA;Weak core muscles and stabilizer muscles could also be the cause. Good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1577" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T16:27:44.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="232" CreationDate="2011-08-04T17:36:57.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We really don't have a lot of information to go on as far as helping you understand what works for you.  Most information on intentionally gaining weight is with the idea that you want to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2216/gaining-weight-without-gaining-fat&quot;&gt;gain muscle, and not fat&lt;/a&gt;.  Most people who struggle with gaining weight are &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ectomorphs&lt;/a&gt;&quot;  If that is the case, you need to build strength to get heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news for someone who isn't exercising is that you can start building strength doing just about anything.  Eventually, however, to become a better athlete you will likely need to incorporate free weight training to improve your performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises such as the squat, bench press, overhead press, dead lift, and power clean provide a foundation of strength that applies to most sports.  The exceptions (for sports) would be medium and long distance running/swimming or endurance sports in general.  The compound exercises will stimulate growth, provided you give yourself enough nutrition and rest for your body to do the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to continue building strength and consequently weight, you will need to eat a lot of food and make sure you have enough protein and water.  I recommend increasing the amount you eat 10% per week until you are seeing the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T17:36:57.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3123" CreationDate="2011-08-04T20:40:17.810" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Tony R, but I also add two other elements of focus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the upward motion, I focus on driving first my elbows, then my shoulders back and as I reach the top I flex - squeeze as Tony R suggests. Also, this starts when arms are fully extended and requires a pause at full contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the way down, I go very slowly and shift the focus to my lats and push my lats out as if they were wings...bat wings is what I picture. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more controlled and slower the overall movement, the more conducive it is to visualization and driving blood into the exercised muscle group! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T20:40:17.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="232" CreationDate="2011-08-04T20:54:25.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely, you have a super fast metabolism. That's good and bad news. The good news is it will be very likely that you will develop excellent definition and high quality muscle density. The bad news is you will need to be very strategic and work your arse off!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree 100% w/ Berin &amp;amp; anothem, but you also need to factor in ways to attempt metabolic slow down. If possible, a midday nap goes a long way. After each meal sit, relax and put your legs up. If you are able to workout eat and then sleep that is ideal...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case you miss it..SLEEP! Most peeps who have problems gaining weight have super fast metabolism and have issues sitting still. Work hard then read, relax, take a bath anything to slowdown the revs of your metabolism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your genetic make-up, there is very high likelihood that your metabolism will slowdown as you get older. This response is based on personal experience!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is dairy...be careful, but ice cream works wonders!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T20:54:25.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3097" CreationDate="2011-08-04T23:06:45.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm muslim and I love to run. Ramadan is a tremendouse challenge physically and mentally this month, with that being said I have actually decreased my running to 2 miles a day from 3 miles at least 30 minutes before I break fast and I find it very rewarding. I still work up a good sweat and have a 32 oz sports drink ready with some fruit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really have to listen to your body on this one. I also take a nap during the day for at least 2 hours which is very beneficial and gives you a little more pep in your step. Mentally I feel very sharp and in tune with what Ramadan is all about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for weights I use a 10 pound medicine ball for about 15 to 20 minutes and I also spend at least 20 minutes on the floor with stretching and deep breathing. You just have to take it easy and cut your normal routine in half and you should be good to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remember to drink plenty of water after fasting and before the fast begins.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1580" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-05T11:08:48.990" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T11:08:48.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2011-08-05T02:34:33.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most sources on stretching I've read all agree that stretching cold muscles (i.e. pre-warmup/exercise) isn't good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally believe focused (5-10 minutes) stretching works best at the end of a workout, but if you want to stretch before a workout I would do 5-10 minutes of warmup (if you're walking just start walking) and then do some light stretching before moving to the main portion of your workout (weights, the rest of your walk whatever). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to do more dynamic stretches at the end of my warm-up (shoulder mobility with a stick, swinging legs forward and back, side-to-side), and the more static stretches (calves, hammies etc) at the end of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1581" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T02:34:33.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2011-08-05T16:20:31.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the information you have in this question (not sure if it is inspired by another), there is little benefit to stretching before you start your walk.  Walking in and of itself doesn't present a tremendous load on the body or cardiovascular system.  The range of motion is not greater than what you currently need for regular life.  In short, stretching to prepare for walking will not provide you any value whether you are warmed up or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do you mean by warming up? How do you warm up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your muscles are not prepared to work, a sudden increase in effort can cause injury.  Essentially, the muscles and tendons are not pliable and if you are asking for a larger range of motion and/or the addition of more weight your muscles can revolt by cramping up.  In some more extreme cases where there is load on your back, it can cause the spine to flex more than it is designed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To solve this problem, you have to prepare your muscles to get ready for work.  Part of the process is to get blood flowing through your muscles, which is done by increasing your heart rate.  A brisk walk can do that for you.  In some cases you need to prepare for a greater range of motion while protecting your back such as with weightlifting.  In this case, performing the motion of the technique without any load on the bar will accomplish the same thing while improving your range of motion for the work you are about to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to put forth a much greater effort, you need to ramp up your warmup.  For example, if your intent is to run quarters (sprinting from one end to the other of a basketball court 16 times) you might start the warmup with a jog around the court.  Then do a couple slow sprints to get the feel for the main part of the work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should you do stretching before walking or walking and stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking itself is a warmup.  You don't want to stretch with cold muscles, as that rarely gives you what you want.  After you warmup, then you can stretch.  Track and field athletes will run a lap or two to get ready, then perform the stretching they need so they can have the full range of motion they want while doing their main work.  They will do a more rigorous stretch after the workout as part of their &quot;cooldown&quot; routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question directly: walk first, stretch after your muscles are warm.  If your goal is greater flexibility and range of motion than you currently have, save the bulk of your stretches till &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; you walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't ask, but I'll include it anyway:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do you mean by cool down?  How do you cool down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you've done the meat of your exercise, it's a good idea to bring your heart rate back to normal and your muscles back to a resting state gradually.  Many exercises are anaerobic (sprinting, weight lifting, most sports), and as a result you may have built up some lactic acid in your muscles.  That's part of how muscles get energy during anaerobic activity.  The cool down process helps the blood keep flowing to flush the excess lactic acid without adding more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runners will cool down by decreasing their pace gradually, at least until their heart rate is well in the aerobic zone (you'll be able to talk in sentences).  Many athletes will use a more full stretching routine to increase their range of motion and help them perform their technique better by the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer I gave is the basic structure of how I exercise.  First, I warm up doing some lighter load lifting (since I lift weights) until I get to my work weight.  Next, I do the exercises I set out to do.  Finally, I cool down by stretching to improve my range of motion.  This basic structure works for me, and it will work for anyone regardless of the type of exercise they do.  The type of work that you use to warm up or cool down really depends on the main exercise you want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T16:20:31.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3132" CreationDate="2011-08-05T18:06:36.887" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Potatoes, like corn are a very starchy food. As a result it has a higher carbohydrate content than green vegetables and other foods that are known to be more healthy for you.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2770/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Self Nutrition Data&lt;/a&gt; potatoes have a decent amount of vitamins, and the proteins it has (while not much) are complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the glycemic load is what you want to be careful of while losing weight, as well as for general health.  The Self Nutrition Data site suggests that having a glycemic load above 100 for the day is unhealthy.  Lowering that to about 90 would be even better.  That guideline will give you plenty of energy, without overdoing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you are not the only picky eater I know.  You may need to explore some options to open your pallet up, which will give you healthier foods and a bit more variety:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes up to two weeks to develop a taste for something.  That's anything from black coffee to sardines.  If you find a preparation you can live with during that two weeks, you will find yourself wanting it more often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose to have something you don't like as much, and reward yourself with something you like.  For example, if you have a portion of broccoli on your plate along with a portion of potatoes you will be on your way to eating healthier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Experiment with different preparations.  There are thousands of recipes out there, and more you haven't tried that you might really like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Develop a habit of trying a food you've never tried before once a week.  If you don't like it, you don't like it.  But you won't have to be afraid of food.  Most picky eaters I know tend to refuse to try anything new and are a slave to what they know they like.  Be adventurous, regularly, but not so much you're afraid to eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T18:06:36.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2011-08-05T22:54:43.837" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that running on really sore legs is a waste of time.  My speed and endurance don't increase after those days and usually backslides.  I will run on mildly sore/achy legs, but I will not run on really sore legs (the kind of soreness that does not go away after a few minutes running). If my legs are really sore, I stop and I don't run or do leg strength training until I regenerate (usually 2-3 days).  After taking a break I find I come back faster and with more endurance, without slipping off my progression line at all...no pain, all gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the second part of your question, yes I do mix leg strength training in with my running for my marathon training and I take a couple days off from running after those days.  I have found that leg strength training (including kettlebell-swings and sprints) are significantly increasing my speed and endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastEditorUserId="1325" LastEditDate="2011-08-05T23:01:40.570" LastActivityDate="2011-08-05T23:01:40.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3190" CreationDate="2011-08-06T07:05:43.563" Score="4" ViewCount="17499" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 1.78 metres tall, weighs 125 kg(last I checked) and had a gut size of 46'. Is it possible at all for me to do the splits, and if yes, are there any good methods/advices for me on how to do the splits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never done anything that requires me to be flexible, so I guess I'm pretty rigid. So far, what I've done are leg stretches; basically I stand up and bend down trying to touch my toes. I also have done similarly while sitting down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do I want to do splits? No concrete reason, I guess I just want to be more flexible. As for fitness level, I'm leading a pretty sedentary lifestyle and out of shape. I'm 23 btw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1588" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-07T16:37:18.187" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T17:54:26.010" Title="Doing splits for fat people" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-06T07:51:46.257" Score="14" ViewCount="58809" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to buy a new set of headphones; I don't care much about audio quality, so I use the same pair of headphones for running and normal use, and prefer the kind of earbuds that slip over the ear (even for normal use).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In considering which kind of headphones to buy this time around, I realized that, although I don't mind headphone cords in normal usage, I find them extremely frustrating during running and weight-lifting. So, while browsing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_scat_172541_ln?rh=n%3A172541%2Ck%3Aheadphones&amp;amp;keywords=headphones&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1312615845&amp;amp;scn=172541&amp;amp;h=1a8b1479f13f7662ce0b9b8f53dfa262ccd0b6e1#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D172541&amp;amp;field-keywords=&amp;amp;rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A%21493964%2Cn%3A281407%2Cn%3A172541&quot;&gt;Amazon's headphones section&lt;/a&gt;, I thought there would be at least some overlap between the &lt;em&gt;Sports &amp;amp; Exercise&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Wireless&lt;/em&gt; feature categories; turns out there isn't. After doing some digging, there do seem to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002KAT45U&quot;&gt;bulky wireless headphones marketed for exercise&lt;/a&gt;, but most of their reviews make such headphones seem pretty terrible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since getting rid of the cords doesn't seem feasible at this point, what are the best ways to deal with headphone cords while exercising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1589" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-11T21:29:17.233" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T14:43:37.643" Title="What are the best ways to deal with headphone cords while exercising?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-06T08:02:17.420" Score="13" ViewCount="13898" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to work up to doing more pull-ups, but have access to only a very minimal gym (i.e., without a pull-up bar), and then no gym after that, for a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the best ways to work the muscles needed for pull-ups without access to any equipment (e.g., bars, weights, bands, jungle-gyms, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1589" LastActivityDate="2012-12-02T11:45:58.980" Title="How to Practice Pull-ups without Equipment" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3157" CreationDate="2011-08-06T09:35:45.773" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have nothing to pull yourself up to, the next best thing is rowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two most practical kinds of rows without a gym are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;inverted rows&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;which can be done under a table&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J82yF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;inverted row&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;strong&gt;dumbbell rows&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;which you can do with various heavy objects that have a handle, like a bottle-crate (preferably the kind that has the handle in the middle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xlpBO.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you should still go outside and find yourself some bar to to a pull-up with, like on a playground. Carry-over from a similar exercise is not as good as the real thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-08-06T09:35:45.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2011-08-06T14:03:25.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a pair of these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.philips.com.au/c/headphones/actionfit-adjustable-fit-washable-shq3000_98/prd/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Philips ActionFit Sports earhook headphones&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're in-ear, they go over-ear and are adjustable for snug fit, and they're washable. I've had them about a year and they've been great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run with a waist pouch. I have the pouch behind me, and I run the headphone cables down the back of my neck, under my shirt and into the pouch. It works really well, I'm never bothered by my headphones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T20:19:43.497" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:19:43.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3690" CreationDate="2011-08-06T22:48:33.340" Score="5" ViewCount="1494" Body="&lt;p&gt;Milk has an 80:20 casein:whey protein ratio according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are four different types of casein proteins, and collectively&#xA;  they make up around 80% of the protein in milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can skim cow milk be effectively used as a pre-bedtime drink for slow release of casein protein as one sleeps? Do casein protein powders found in health stores offer any advantages over skim milk? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T01:56:59.603" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T15:01:02.190" Title="Is casein protein in cow milk as good as casein powders?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;milk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-08-07T04:10:24.910" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for something different, try PaceMaker for iPhone and Android.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a unique application that help you maintain a certain pace as well as tracks your run.  It has integration with &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailymile.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dailymile.com&lt;/a&gt;, so you can post your runs to that popular running site, rather than to it's own site like many of the other apps out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You basically set a desired pace, like 9 minute mile, and it audibly tells you to &quot;speed up&quot; or &quot;slow down&quot; as you are running in order to keep you on pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does the basics as well like keeping a history of your runs and creating GPX files you can either download, or upload to Dailymile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pacemakerapp.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://pacemakerapp.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bYdFW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eUu5S.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ceHUC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GVtVr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vB4d4.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1590" LastActivityDate="2011-08-07T04:10:24.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-07T13:18:32.120" Score="6" ViewCount="18142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are women weaker then men because of something biological, or cultural, or both? &#xA;Men do have predispositions to be higher and heavier, but lets compare equal weight categories (a 70kg man against a 90kg man would have problems too).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cultural reasons that could be making women weaker:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscles considered ugly on women (or at least they think so and are afraid to do weight exercises) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;men have a big social pressure to have more strength in both childhood and as a teenager, so they often start to exercise early&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;women do the physically easier work when helping out home (the brother helps to cut wood while the sister cleans the house) and this adds up over the years. This continues into adulthood, where men have a higher chance of working in a physically harder job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do women gain strength slower with the same intensity of exercise?&lt;/strong&gt; Lets say there would be two people with identical physique (height, weight, initial strength, age) but of different gender. They both start weight lifting (for example) and they work out with the same intensity and duration and eat the same food. Would they end up equally strong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1107" OwnerDisplayName="M.K." LastEditorUserId="1107" LastEditDate="2011-08-07T13:30:54.820" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T22:46:24.440" Title="Is there a biological reason for women to be weaker then men (in the same weight category)?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3163" CreationDate="2011-08-07T13:57:51.610" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522703&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a general rule, women do not have the same level of neuromuscular&#xA;  efficiency as men. This is probably due to the differences in hormonal&#xA;  profile and the much lower levels of testosterone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also worth noting that a pound of muscle has the same absolute strength in either gender. The mass is distributed differently, leading women to lag in upper body strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And, while levels of absolute strength relative to muscle mass are&#xA;  essentially the same in the two sexes, women's upper-body movements&#xA;  suffer from the large relative difference in local muscle mass&#xA;  distribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore go on to explain that an ideal training program for women looks the same as that for men (with minor differences do to menstrual cycles &amp;amp; the resulting effects on recovery). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking a little deeper at the generally-accepted hypothesis that hormonal differences are the cause, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11706282&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; finds that testosterone increases muscle protein synthesis and protein balance, resulting in greater muscle mass. Furthermore, in-vitro and rat data suggests that ovarian hormone inhibits muscle protein synthesis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would posit that cultural correlations result from these physiological differences, rather than causing them. However, it is worth noting that cultural causes of malnutrition (American women tend to be deficient in calcium and iron) can also impact the efficiency of a strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-07T14:50:52.210" LastActivityDate="2011-08-07T14:50:52.210" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-07T14:40:11.370" Score="7" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently watched &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1151309/&quot;&gt;Bigger Stronger Faster&lt;/a&gt;, a documentary on steroid use, and was struck by their claim that commonly accepted health risks are not proven and seem to mostly be accepted because of intense government marketing (a situation not dissimilar to the misleading nutritional recommendations published by the USDA and others). In particular, they claimed that &quot;roid rage&quot; is a myth (anyone who was going to go into a rage had that in their personality anyway) and that links to e.g. cancer are speculative and very little research has been done to this effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to try to track this down, I went to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolic_steroid&quot;&gt;relevant wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; and found the following paragraph on health risks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Health risks can be produced by long-term use or excessive doses of&#xA;  anabolic steroids[citation needed]. These effects include harmful&#xA;  changes in cholesterol levels (increased low-density lipoprotein and&#xA;  decreased high-density lipoprotein), acne, high blood pressure, liver&#xA;  damage (mainly with oral steroids), dangerous changes in the structure&#xA;  of the left ventricle of the heart[citation needed]. Conditions&#xA;  pertaining to hormonal imbalances such as gynecomastia and testicular&#xA;  atrophy may also be caused by anabolic steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's notable is that citations are needed on this entire set of claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, can anyone fill in these citations? I would like to see viable studies (or popular works that reference these studies) that can either back up or debunk these claims?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-07T18:15:10.257" LastActivityDate="2018-01-03T09:31:46.730" Title="Are commonly-accepted health risks of steroids real?" Tags="&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3217" CreationDate="2011-08-07T16:32:22.537" Score="11" ViewCount="6773" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 18 years old and started bodybuilding two years ago. To build muscle mass, I want to optimize my diet/nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that 2g of protein per 1kg body mass would be a good choice and one doesn't need more than that. Anyway, this is not the point I want to discuss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming I weigh 80kg (which makes about 160g protein per day): What is the best way to split that amount of protein into single portions and what is the best time to take them in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do at the moment is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eating as much as I can in the morning :D (preferably carbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to &quot;eat as much protein as I can&quot; in the course of the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eating 500g of low-fat quark/curd (60g protein) before going to sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;taking in about 60g of protein in the two hours after training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good plan? Or rather stupid and recommended to be changed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1595" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-09T19:49:29.813" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T13:48:35.367" Title="Best timing and amount of protein intake for building mass" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3260" CreationDate="2011-08-07T16:44:52.027" Score="16" ViewCount="1477" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've often read and heard that you can only build more muscle-mass (get stronger), if you continuously increase the resistance weights (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/959/to-count-or-not-to-count&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for me, it's the case that I'm often not able to increase the resistance. I have to take the same resistance weight as before (regarding training over several weeks) because this is all I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really correct that my body won't build more muscle-mass because it needs increasing resistance? I mean, this resistance is the limit for me - so why should a constant weight be too little?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is my current schedule for training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 8-12 reps: back (trapezius etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 8-12 reps: biceps (brachii)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 16-20 reps: abs (abdominal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 8-12 reps: chest (pectoralis etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 8-12 reps: shoulders (deltoid etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 8-12 reps: triceps (brachii)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;see Monday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday (next week):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;see Wednesday (start this week with the second part now)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Someone told me to change the plan to the following:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 8-12 reps: back (trapezius etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 exercise x 3 sets x 20-30 reps: abs (abdominal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 3 sets x 8-12 reps: chest (pectoralis etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 exercise x 3 sets x 20-30 reps: abs (abdominal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 2 sets x 8-12 reps: biceps (brachii)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 2 sets x 8-12 reps: triceps (brachii)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises x 2 sets x 8-12 reps: shoulders (deltoid etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 exercise x 3 sets x 20-30 reps: abs (abdominal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a better schedule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must admit that I've never done stretching as a part of my fitness training. I know this was a mistake. But could this even be the cause for my lack of strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1595" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2018-05-05T11:32:51.420" Title="Is increasing resistance the only possibility to build more muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3187" CreationDate="2011-08-07T17:44:53.863" Score="11" ViewCount="752" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there's plenty of similar questions, but none that answered what I have to ask exactly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my situation. I'm a 23 year old male, about 6'0 ft. tall, and about 180 lbs. I have a gut, and I'm not really in that great of shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want a workout routine that's not going to own my life so to speak. I attempted P90X about 6 months ago, and made it about half way through. I didn't stop because of the work outs, I stopped because of the meal plan. I was spending so much money to try and eat according to their specifications, and it just ended up being the same food day after day, I couldn't continue. Problem is, doing P90X without this yields little to no results, and I need results to stay motivated, I get de-motivated very easily without seeing things actually happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind working out a lot, I just mind when it takes over my life. P90X was everyday for a minimum of 1.25 hours, eating at specified intervals, etc. and it basically makes every day of your life a P90X day, you can't even make plans anymore or go out, because even if you did, you can't eat restaurant food anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a workout that is going to provide me with the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RESULTS. Results that I can clearly see progress with and keep me motivated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A workout that is going to make me lose my fat (so I can finally see my abs!), and build some muscle. Yes, I want to LOOK good just as much as I want to FEEL strong and healthy. Shallow - but important to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a gym at my apartment building. I'd prefer to use this and to not buy extra equipment since I pay for it already and it's right down the street. They have free weights, and some machines for like chest presses and shoulder presses, and they also have a bench for that type of stuff - meaning they also have a straight bar as well. They don't have things like a pull up bar or whatever. They also have cardio equipment (treadmills, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something where I can eat what I normally eat. I don't over eat like a huge fatso - but I like to eat. I usually skip breakfast and have like coffee or something, or a small snack if they have some for free at work, and I usually eat a decent size lunch (yes I'll go to five guys if I feel like it!), and then I'll have a good dinner that my girlfriend makes along with maybe dessert if we have some. Tack on some snackies throughout the day (not all the time), because a lot of times at work they'll have free snacks or whatever. Honestly, I don't think I eat that badly because if I did, I would be much heavier than 180 lbs. right now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do that would satisfy all these bullet points? I've looked at things like SL5x5, and it just seems like the workouts are way too severe. Plus, I don't have a squat machine at the gym or anything, and honestly, they say you can work your way up to like dead lifting so much weight, I'm not trying to be a bodybuilder, I just want to look good!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1594" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-14T17:10:48.673" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T21:59:56.463" Title="What are some flexible workout routines that don't require a change in diet to be effective?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3171" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-07T21:57:24.193" Score="17" ViewCount="1598" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed at my local convenience store a nutrition bar I hadn't seen before -- FullBar. I was intrigued by the concepts of the &quot;science of fullness&quot;, which is documented on their site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fullbar.com/science-of-fullness/&quot;&gt;http://www.fullbar.com/science-of-fullness/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fullbar is &lt;strong&gt;inspired by the principles of weight-loss surgery. When a person undergoes bariatric or lap band surgery, a device is installed to constrict the stomach. The result is that when food is ingested, it stretches out the upper part of the stomach, telling the brain that you're full.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When you use fullbar products, your stomach fills up on less food, causing you to feel satisfied with smaller amounts of food, so you consume fewer calories during meals, helping you lose weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;fullbar works best when consumed 30 minutes before lunch and dinner or as a substitute for your daily snack. Make it part of your everyday routine, and fill up on any all-natural, fullbar product and a 16-ounce glass of water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Before meals really notice your level of fullness. This is key. Assign your hunger a number from 1-10. Then when planning your meal, monitor how much food you're making and prepare a smaller portion than usual. Don't worry - even if it's only a fraction of what you'd normally eat, you'll still feel full.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;As you’re eating, pay close attention to how your hunger lessens as you eat. Stop when you become satisfied, not when you become stuffed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some questions about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are they full of crap? I understand how &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_bypass_surgery&quot;&gt;stomach reduction surgery&lt;/a&gt; works, but is there other science corroborating this as a workable diet principle? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are there other diets that exploit this &quot;make the stomach feel extra full on relatively low-calorie but stomach expanding foods before eating full meals&quot; principle?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If #2 is yes, what types of inexpensive, tasty foods can be used to exploit this principle.. other than buying FullBars of course. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T12:40:47.807" Title="The &quot;science of fullness&quot; diets?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3171" CreationDate="2011-08-07T22:37:06.387" Score="7" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nope. I've switched to a mostly vegetarian diet over the past few years, and one thing I've noticed is how much more satisfying foods rich in dietary fiber are; although you do need to be careful not to eat too much fiber in a short period of time or your digestive system will not be happy. On the other hand, they are full of crap in the sense that their FullBar is, looking at the ingredients, just an ordinary granola bar. And I've seen healthier granola bars (Kashi are better).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've never seen a diet that has pre-eating, but any diet high in (or, you know, &lt;em&gt;containing&lt;/em&gt;) dietary fiber will be more satisfying in fewer calories than your standard meat plus more meat American diet (in my experience). So in a sense any good diet functions partly this way (&quot;eat right and exercise&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I like the aforementioned Kashi granola bars, which appear similar in ingredients, but have much less sugar per bar. Also, a diet high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds is likely to contain a whole ton of dietary fiber. Specifically, almonds seem like a great pre-meal snack. A normal serving is low in calories, high in fiber, and delicious (I prefer roasted and &lt;em&gt;lightly&lt;/em&gt; salted almonds, but some people like raw almonds). I guess almonds aren't exactly cheap &lt;em&gt;per ounce,&lt;/em&gt; but you're not supposed to eat handfuls of them at a time (a serving is something like 1/4 cup).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1605" LastActivityDate="2011-08-07T22:37:06.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3171" CreationDate="2011-08-07T23:14:47.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything that claims to help you lose weight by filling your belly is probably counter-productive in the long term, even if it helps in the short term.  One of the biggest problems with our attitudes to food in Western societies is our love of large helpings. This feeling of eating to absolute fullness is the last thing we need to be chasing for healthy weight loss or maintenance.  Better to eat foods that help us relearn portion control; one of the positive outcomes from high-protein diets is a weaning from the need for carbohydrate fullness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1608" LastActivityDate="2011-08-07T23:14:47.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2011-08-08T00:16:45.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reaching a point that you struggle to get past is usually called a &lt;em&gt;plateau&lt;/em&gt;, and there are techniques to avoid getting stuck there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, one I've used is, once you're stuck at say 3 sets of 12 curls with a 25lb dumbbell with 60 seconds of rest in between sets, you can raise the weight to 30lbs and rest 90 or 120 seconds between sets, then gradually reduce the rest time back to 60s. Repeat once you're stuck at 30lbs. Those few seconds matter, give it a try!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1609" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T00:16:45.730" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="718" CreationDate="2011-08-08T02:45:00.630" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago I had &quot;moobs&quot;. They were devastating, especially being 15/16 years old and in hell school (high school).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways I got the breast reduction liposuction surgery and at first everything was good, but soon, after continuing bad eating habits and no exercise, I gained them back. Definitely not as big as before, but they admittedly got a little bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The poi of this story is before getting surgery (if you want it) PLEASE make sure you adjust your diet and exercise patterns or the only effect it will have is on you wallet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1612" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-29T03:28:35.010" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T03:28:35.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3182" CreationDate="2011-08-08T04:33:42.993" Score="15" ViewCount="88234" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I build/improve my cardio as quickly and efficiently as possible?  I am not interested in weight loss or burning calories, just in allowing me to run for longer amounts of time without taking a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a treadmill available for this effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I am not training for any particular sport or event, I just want the best results.  I would classify my fitness level at &quot;moderate&quot; - I'm not overweight and have lifted weights on and off for 10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more direct question is: in 20 minutes on a treadmill, is it more effective to jog for 19 minutes, run for 15 minutes or sprint for 10 (where the off-time is spent walking/recovering)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1614" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-30T09:13:41.650" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T14:16:06.150" Title="What's the most effective way to improve cardio endurance?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2011-08-08T12:40:32.837" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend looking into Tabata/Interval training to build your cardio quickly (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2666/what-is-tabata-how-effective-is-it&quot;&gt;What is tabata? How effective is it?&lt;/a&gt;).  If there's a reason for you to build it (are you competing in some sport activity), then I would incorporate that specific activity into the training - in other words, don't run on a treadmill if you're looking to improve your swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T12:40:32.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3171" CreationDate="2011-08-08T12:40:47.807" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at the nutrition value of the bar it looks like their claims are largely BS. The product has high amounts of sugar and seems to fit into the mid-to-high GI/GL bracket so won't be providing a slow intake of energy (low GI foods are associated with this). And the feeling full factor is likely to come from the 500ml of water you're drinking with it rather than the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8D5kY.png&quot; alt=&quot;Facts&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The secret to feeling full is combining protein with carbohydrates, which also gives you the added benefit of aiding the transport of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/255472-foods-with-high-protein-tryptophan/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;increased Tryptophan&lt;/a&gt; from the protein. &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=protein%20carbohydrates%20fullness&amp;amp;num=10&amp;amp;btnG=Search%20Scholar&amp;amp;as_epq=&amp;amp;as_oq=&amp;amp;as_eq=&amp;amp;as_occt=any&amp;amp;as_sauthors=&amp;amp;as_publication=&amp;amp;as_ylo=&amp;amp;as_yhi=&amp;amp;as_sdt=1.&amp;amp;as_sdtp=on&amp;amp;as_sdtf=&amp;amp;as_sdts=5&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;There's a tonne of studies&lt;/a&gt; to support this, to quote one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The results of this study demonstrate that the macronutrient&#xA;  composition of a midday meal affects both food intake at dinner and&#xA;  self-reported measures of hunger, enjoyment and excitement about&#xA;  eating. These data support previous ﬁndings that the ingestion of&#xA;  higher protein foods can lead to an increase in satiety. Both a&#xA;  highprotein lunch and a balanced lunch led to lower food intake at an&#xA;  evening meal than an equicaloric high-carbohydrate lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T12:40:47.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3157" CreationDate="2011-08-08T12:48:28.193" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dudewheresmymuscle.com/chin-up-alternatives/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a link&lt;/a&gt; to some 'alternatives'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use an &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001EJMS6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iron gym pull up bar&lt;/a&gt; that fits in a door frame. I need to tuck my legs up, but find it challenging and provides for pull/chin and neutral ups. I'm 6' 215 lbs – so it's stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-02T11:45:58.980" LastActivityDate="2012-12-02T11:45:58.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3186" CreationDate="2011-08-08T13:58:09.760" Score="5" ViewCount="19752" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I've gone ice skating, I've always just let friction eventually slow me down (or the wall). I don't want to do this anymore!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to train myself to stop properly? What is the process of coming to a complete stop at will, the form the body should take, and the muscles that are actively used while doing so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-09-08T07:38:29.287" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T09:04:17.333" Title="How do I come to a stop while ice skating?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;ice-skating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3185" CreationDate="2011-08-08T14:23:08.900" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to brake with ice skates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snow plow:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend your knees,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn your heels outward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2cC8g0Fvgc&quot;&gt;Here's a video that shows what it looks like&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUW1hWyliKk&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot;&gt;Here's a video that explains it in more detail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One-legged snow plow:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn one leg inwards, putting the skate obliquely to your body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slightly bend your ankle so the skate 'shaves' over the ice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiDqHQltCD8&amp;amp;NR=1&quot;&gt;Here's a video that explains the movement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;T-stop (Reversed snow plow):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put one skate obliquely behind the other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drag it over the ice to slow you down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrCoE8csJX4&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;Here's a video that shows what it looks like&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Like a hockey player (requires experience):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Twist to put both skates at a 90 degrees angle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Break by pushing your skates in the ice &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br8dfnnWL5k&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;Here's a video of how to do it&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to practice these techniques is by skating at a slow to moderate pace a few meters from the boarding and then try to break just in front of it. Worst case you fall over against the boarding and can grab on to break your fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080123164942AAo7Y2e&quot;&gt;Attribution to Yahoo Answers for finding some of the video's&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-08T14:28:18.627" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T14:28:18.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3169" CreationDate="2011-08-08T15:58:14.813" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bullet point list of items you are asking for are at odds with one another and you need to recognize this and adjust either your goals or what you're willing to take on in order to achieve them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to continue your current diet &lt;strong&gt;AND&lt;/strong&gt; lose enough body fat to be able to see your abdominals &lt;strong&gt;AND&lt;/strong&gt; work out less than 90 minutes/day. If you are currently 180lbs with a gut, you are most likely genetically predispositioned to carry fat around your abdomin so you'll need to hit single digits in body fat percentage. That doesn't come without serious dieting, extreme amounts of time working out, or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T15:58:14.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2011-08-08T17:31:56.380" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have your answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the amazing new science of exercising &lt;strong&gt;in a specific heartrate zone&lt;/strong&gt; - neither more nor less - for specific results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First calculate your MHR (max heart rate) as described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, buy the cheapest heartrate monitor you can buy - order it now. (They only cost a few dollars.  They are all exactly the same, so it is utterly pointless buying an expensive one.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, you should exercise &lt;strong&gt;at 70% of your MHR&lt;/strong&gt;.  Allow plus or minus say 3 or 4 each way.  (So for me, it's 120.  So, I have to keep it between 116 and 124, for example.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, get yourself up to one hour a day &lt;strong&gt;but only at exactly that 70% heartrate - no faster (or slower) heartrate.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find your improvement is incredibly fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I was only able to jog 30 minutes a day AND I had to break that up in to three groups of ten with a rest between.  Again, &lt;strong&gt;very strictly&lt;/strong&gt; keeping to my 70% rate at all times.  (Do not do less than 10 minutes &quot;sections&quot; - force yourself to keep it up for 10 mins.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as little as an incredible two months later, I can very easily jog/run at that 70% level, for two HOURS with no problem, at any time, almost any day.  (I run for an hour basically everyday currently.) Plus I'm an old fart. If you carefully and aggressively stick to the 70% level (resist the temptation to go harder) your improvement will be astounding. And you must do at least 30 minutes a day, starting today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip: if presently you find it hard to reach that 70% heartrate, while jogging: try this: find a hill and just &quot;walk quickly&quot; up the hill.  (If it's a steep hill, just climb slowly up the hill.)  Watch your heartrate monitor carefully and get your heartrate at exactly that magic 70% level.  Of course you could I guess use any of the popular machines, treadmills, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only learned about this 70% business here on this web site, with thanks to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/1054/backinshapebuddy&quot;&gt;BackInShapeBuddy&lt;/a&gt; and the rest.  So I hope it helps other readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further thinking: your diet has to be critical.  Have you read &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0446678678&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Protein Power Lifeplan&lt;/a&gt; by the Drs Eades.  It could change your life - of course, every diet science has people who do and don't &quot;believe&quot; in it.  However it's dead easy to try or say 3 weeks, and the change in your running energy for very many people is astounding.  It's by no means a &quot;painful&quot; dietary regime, you eat as much as you can stuff in your face, so it's painless to try and if it works for you, you have a new lease on life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T17:31:56.380" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3195" CreationDate="2011-08-08T19:32:06.290" Score="1" ViewCount="2346" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question says it all: How can I increase the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_biogenesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mitochondrial biogenesis&lt;/a&gt;? (The creation of new mitochondria)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All sources I found say, that it is increased if there's &lt;em&gt;enough demand&lt;/em&gt;. So what kind of exercise maximizes the demand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This topic is related to this forum due to the impact on mitochondria on overall fitness performance.  Mitochondria are the active mechanism in cell's production of ATP - or raw energy.  The more mitochondria present in one's system, the more overall energy can be recognized.  In fact, some studies indicate mitochondria has a profound and direct association with lifespan (ie, the more mitochondria, the longer the lifespan).  This thought is supported by such products as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/mito-caps.mc.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hammer Nutrition's Mito Caps&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question assumes that mitochondria are required for energy and asks how can one foster the creation of more mitochondria via mitochondrial biogenesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2011-08-12T15:48:23.150" LastActivityDate="2012-05-12T14:58:44.823" Title="How to maximize mitochondrial biogenesis?" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3155" CreationDate="2011-08-08T20:50:57.000" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes splits are possible, but it's a question of how comfortable you are whilst doing the exercises.  Sumo wrestlers in Japan (and across the world) can usually do the splits, as it's predominantly the underlying muscle that needs stretched for splits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most useful link I ever found was &lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20120404180058/http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_5.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and I've used it successfully through martial arts training.  The main thing to be aware of is when you're stretching for splits you're also stretching joints, ligaments, skin, tendons, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend doing splits on your knees, similar to Taekwondo practitioners, to avoid [major] joint problems later in life.  Whilst not a complete deterrent to joint problems, the weight distribution will not be on your knee and ankle joints, and mostly focussed on the parts that need stretched (initially).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some final points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always&lt;/strong&gt; warm up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not&lt;/strong&gt; push through the pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will also need to strengthen and increase flexibility in your supporting muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use breathing to relax, by breathing out whilst 'applying' the stretch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On point 2: Initially your muscles need to learn to relax before the stretch (I believe this is referred to as the stretch-reflex in the link where the body tightens prior to stress/impact).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; pains or problems other than a bit of stiffness in your stretched muscles, check with your doctor.  People that are considered 'fit' have done more damage to themselves by ignoring what their body tells them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1623" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-04-14T12:28:19.670" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T12:28:19.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3211" CreationDate="2011-08-09T11:13:53.423" Score="10" ViewCount="2652" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Who am I&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running about two months ago. Before that I occasionally played football/soccer so one can say that I was out of shape but not to a very high degree. As a teenager though I played football at least three times a week. My weight is 87kg/190lbs and I am 1.88m/6.1feet tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The stitch&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During my running sessions I continuously get side stitches approximately after 4km/2.5miles and I recall, that I also used to get side stitches all the time in my youth.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sometimes the side stitch is so painful, that it is not possible even to walk quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What I do against the stitch&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing through the nose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exhaling on the left/right foot, whichever is opposite to the stitch (this really helps, I did believe it at first)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowing down when the side stitch sets in&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The question&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there exercises that explicitly help to prevent side stitches to occur?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it get better, when I continue working out?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it advisable to go to a doctor to check it out?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1150" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:47.187" Title="What to do against side stitch?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;stitch&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3192" CreationDate="2011-08-09T12:09:21.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experienced quite bad stitch when I first started running, and after some casual research discovered my problem was coming from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running too soon after eating/drinking &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running too fast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A beer gut!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the easiest way to immediately stop the stitch is to leave 1.5 - 2 hours after eating before running, and slow down to a speed where you don't get stitch. Usually it was the former though, and reducing how much I ate also helped (switching to a single pita, baked potato or cereal bar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to relieve it while running, bending over forward with your hands towards the floor helps to relieve it, although you do look a bit stupid running down the road doing this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple breathing technique can help - breath in and hold your breath for 5 seconds, then as you exhale breath in as you're exhaling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It definitely gets easier if the two reasons I gave are the cause of the stitch. If the eating timing doesn't make any difference then a trip to the doctor or physio would be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T12:09:21.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-09T12:26:08.070" Score="3" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a climber (currently doing mostly bouldering - short, powerful and very dynamic climbs) and I recently have issues with sore back muscles - I can barely move the next day after exercises and the following few days. What can I do about it other than making sure I warm up properly and stretch? Should I try any vitamins or other supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1632" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-13T13:10:45.527" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T13:10:45.527" Title="What can I do to reduce the soreness after an excercise?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3189" CreationDate="2011-08-09T13:51:41.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise is highly specific, and will only affect the muscles you exercise--not all cells in the body.  That said, there are two types of hypertrophy involved in building muscle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Myofibrillar hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; which builds more protein pairs and makes each muscle cell stronger.  This is built using short rep schemes (1-5 reps) with high weight.  This improves the power production that the muscle is capable of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; which builds more mitochondrial and support infrastructure in each muscle cell.  This is built using longer rep schemes (10-15 reps) with low-medium weight, and is typically the type of hypertrophy that body builders are concerned with.  Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy also improves the amount of stored glycogen in the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How this translates to exercise other than weight lifting, I'm not sure.  The information came from the &quot;Practical Programming&quot; by Rippetoe and Dr. Kilgore book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence you want to invoke sarcoplasmic hypertrophy in order to increase the mitochondrial content of the muscle cells.  You will have to read up on some advanced biology if you want to increase mitochondrial biogenesis throughout the body (i.e. more than just your muscle cells).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T13:51:41.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3192" CreationDate="2011-08-09T14:08:06.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If changing your breathing pattern helped, there is no reason to go to the doctor, as stitches from diaphragm compression are entirely normal. The reason you got these cramps less when playing sports is probably because you frequently stopped and started, which naturally gave you rest, and also broke up your breathing pattern. Your organs will get used to the constant rhythm of jogging over time, and varying your breathing as you describe will become more natural as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can do to increase the effectiveness of the breathing change is to belly breathe, as this extends your diaphragm down and reduces some of the bounce in your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T14:08:06.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2011-08-09T14:10:05.963" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two key concepts to understand when trying to get stronger:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overload&lt;/strong&gt;.  The disruption of homeostasis, where the body must adapt and hypercompensate in order to handle that demand in the future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery&lt;/strong&gt;.  The rest, nutrients, and calories your body needs to support hypercompensation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, you do need to continue to increase weight in order to disrupt homeostasis and cause your muscles to adapt (get stronger).  Low rep, high weight is a very efficient means to do that--particularly for beginners who adapt very easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that is only half of the problem.  If you are stalling it can be due to lack of rest (both at night, or between sets).  It can be due to a lack of calories and nutrients (insufficient protein, vitamins/minerals, water, etc.) to build the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also understand that as you progress, your rate of adaptation will slow down--particularly as you get closer to your genetic potential.  The standards understood by weight lifting coaches are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Untrained: adaptation in 24 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Novice: adaptation in 48-72 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intermediate: adaptation in 1 week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Advanced: adaptation in 1 month&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elite: adaptation in 1 year&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you are still a beginner (either untrained or novice level), you might look at the variables that affect recovery before assuming you've gone intermediate already.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes you get stuck, even when doing everything right.  There are a few ways of dealing with that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't progress until you hit your set/reps you are expecting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the rest between sets if you stall.  For example add 30 seconds more rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't progress after three days, deload.  Either take 15-20 lbs off the bar or due fewer sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you still can't get past that load, you might be getting close to the intermediate level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is the recovery, and doing more work will cause more fatigue.  By reducing the amount of work, you can help your body recover quicker.  The next time you work up to the weight you stalled on before there is a good chance you will get past it now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to get &lt;em&gt;stronger&lt;/em&gt;, I recommend higher weights with relatively low reps.  For example 3 sets of 5 reps is a good set/rep scheme for a beginner.  The work will be intense enough to disrupt homeostasis, but short enough not to over-fatigue you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T14:10:05.963" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3199" CreationDate="2011-08-09T15:18:35.250" Score="1" ViewCount="2077" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to buy a barbell/dumbbell set to start doing P90X again. I came across the Bowflex and the Powerblock adjustable sets, but they just seem so freaking expensive ($300 to start for each).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any that exist that are just as good for a lot cheaper? Or do any of you guys have any gripes about using the adjustable ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1594" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-13T12:26:12.820" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T12:26:12.820" Title="What are good dumbbells or barbells for P90X?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3198" CreationDate="2011-08-09T15:36:45.990" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would stay away from the Bowflex or similar 'adjustable' dumbbells, they're basically an overpriced gimmick that would drive you away from using them with their rattling sound and difficulty in setting the weight you want.  WHAT I would recommend, especially for P90x or similar routines where you're using light weights, are rubber coated hex dumbbells, take a look at these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002OEW3EQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hex Dumbbell&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V9RTF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or if you really want easy to change, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000ASB66E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;adjustable dumbbells&lt;/a&gt;, take a look at these handles:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/usldE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003EUVHRI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;assoc. plates:&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rjcJv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-13T12:21:04.217" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T12:21:04.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3169" CreationDate="2011-08-09T15:52:20.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will likely have to make adjustments to your diet to see the types of results you want to see.  Higher protein, lower carb, and moderate fat.  In essence if you split your calories in a day evenly between those macro nutrients you'll probably be doing much better in that department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you said you didn't like Strong Lifts 5x5, but did you look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/101-basic-structure-of-the-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;?  Here's the benefits of a strength based program (either SL5x5 or SS) as far as your goals are concerned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is three times per week, up to an hour per session.  It won't rule your life.  In fact, rest is a very important part of the program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will build muscle which in turn burns more calories at rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You start small and build from there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Results are measurable, and continued for a long time.  This builds confidence and enjoyment of the program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't have to be quite as concerned about what you eat, as long as you get the protein you need, and enough energy (fat and carbs) to recover your body will do the rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you don't have a squat &lt;em&gt;rack&lt;/em&gt; (not a machine), you can always use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qls96q4Phs4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Steinborn lift&lt;/a&gt; to get the bar on your back.  It's a great core workout in its own right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, here's the thing.  You have some trade-offs to consider.  Weight training is probably the only way to get your conflicting goals close to satisfied.  Anything else that will allow you to eat the way you want will take over your life.  In short you will have to generate a lot of work to burn a lot of Calories.  If you can be good with 3x a week and spending between 30 minutes to 1 hour on your exercise (it will progressively get longer as you rest longer between sets), weight training is the answer.  Otherwise you will have to make major changes to your diet or do lots of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T15:52:20.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3202" CreationDate="2011-08-09T17:50:54.850" Score="4" ViewCount="1842" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used an elliptical machine at high intensity (not crazy high) for around 20 – 25 minutes, the elliptical machine workout said that I burned 600 calories where as the heart rate monitor said that I burned 330 calories.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I did specify my weight in the elliptical machine but entered a lot more info (age, height, weight, normal heart rate etc..) on the heart rate monitor.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which one would be more accurate?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it possible that the elliptical machine also takes into account the workout after-burn and that is why it is higher?  The heart rate monitor calorie counter keeps going up (faster than normal) even after I finish the workout, so eventually it might end up more or less the same as the elliptical machine calore counter (i.e. when the heart rate returns to normal)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1634" LastEditorUserId="1634" LastEditDate="2011-08-10T17:42:29.387" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T21:07:15.153" Title="Calorie Counter from heart rate monitor Vs. Elliptical machine" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3201" CreationDate="2011-08-09T18:27:46.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart rate monitors are almost always more accurate than the readings on cardio machines. Even cardio machines that can pick-up your heart rate don't usually have enough information (e.g. resting heart rate) to do the proper calculations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T18:27:46.290" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3192" CreationDate="2011-08-09T18:31:45.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To ease/relief the stitch, I usually take the hand opposite of the stitch and press gently into the side while continuing to run (a little slower, of course) and focus on deep breathing. Helps every time within a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1162" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T18:31:45.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3167" CreationDate="2011-08-09T18:41:19.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of articles on that topic usually in the Men's Health. No sugar, no carbs, but fiber, protein and fat: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/high-protein-diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;High Protein Diet - The Perfect Day of Eating&lt;/a&gt;. But there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;known side-effects&lt;/a&gt; for this diet, and especially &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3113/do-protein-supplements-have-any-side-effects&quot;&gt;protein supplements&lt;/a&gt;. Protein during or right after the training is best for muscle regeneration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the basic idea of this diet and a lot of hydration, I gained muscles and got fit within 4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1162" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T18:41:19.540" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3198" CreationDate="2011-08-09T18:49:00.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight sets are expensive. There's no getting around the fact that it takes lots of material to make 300lbs of stuff and then make it so it can be lifted and put down roughly without breaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The positive is that traditional weight components don't go out of style so once you have them, you're set for decades. Buy good stuff and enjoy it forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T18:49:00.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3167" CreationDate="2011-08-10T02:15:17.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's best to split your meals up throughout the day, about 5-6 meals a day, the main reason is to produce less of an insulin spike so your body can keep burning fat. A fast acting protein such as whey is important post workout and a slow acting protein such as casein (found in milk products) is best before bed. If you want some reading, I would recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-protein-book&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="839" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T02:15:17.043" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2011-08-10T02:23:36.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine is the simple earphones, the ones which you put inside the ear hole. My problem with that was during running the earphones are falling off my ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what i came up with is to have the cord tied around my each ear haha, and now it doesn't fall off! It might look weird/odd though but it suits me as I have hair covering it anyways. It does save me from buying new ones or even buying a headset which definitely will not fall off. I also put the cord inside my shirt to prevent it from swaying back and forth on a run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T02:23:36.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3167" CreationDate="2011-08-10T02:40:08.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told before by a trainer, though i can't say how reputable or credible his statements are, that at any given time, our body can only consume a fixed amount, I think it was 30g. For example during a meal if you consume 50g of protein only 30g of actually used by the body while the 20g is wasted. With that in mind, you would wait for a few hours (not sure how long maybe 2-3 hours, enough time for metabolism) before your body can take in another 30g without wasting it. The fixed amount is probably variable to each person, as bigger people can probably take in more. But I guess what I'm trying to say is don't take too much protein in one go and have it spread out the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone else heard about this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T02:40:08.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3192" CreationDate="2011-08-10T03:24:30.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running since high school, and still get stitches if I do not follow my coach's advice (and a few tips from running friends over the years):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathe 3 breaths out for every one breath in. As soon as I try to inhale deep, I always cramp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathe in through nose, out through mouth (still working on this one, but it helps, so I keep trying)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Like Chris S answered, run on an empty stomach, although eating 1/2 Powerbar an hour before has never hurt me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Form - keep your arms pumping up and down, always maintaining a space the width of your torso between hands (do not cross those arms inwards - straight lines), chest lifted. If you fail on this, you will cramp.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the stitch does hit, slow down and exhale with much strength, and only inhale as little as needed, the fully exhale again. Keep arms moving, chest lifted, even if it hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1638" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T03:24:30.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3215" CreationDate="2011-08-10T04:06:31.100" Score="6" ViewCount="1707" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware that swinging weights does not optimally activate the targeted muscle, but I do not understand why everybody says you can get hurt swinging a weight. Athletes in other sports have been swinging weights many times more violently than weightlifters without hurting themselves. Take baseball batting and shot put for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VkZGO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;shot put&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheat reps, which require swinging, can help push a muscle to failure. But if swinging is dangerous, why are cheat reps suggested for advanced bodybuilders? There's a contradiction here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2019-03-09T05:23:19.797" Title="Why is it dangerous to swing a weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3192" CreationDate="2011-08-10T09:24:19.660" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Still no sure explanation has been found - it's a difficult field and &quot;whys&quot; are often only guesses or &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuries/a/aa053100a.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;results from ones own experience&lt;/a&gt; that is been passed on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summery of the linked article:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quote&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While there is still no definitive explanation for the cause of a side&#xA;  stitch, there are several very convincing theories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quote&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most important factor in developing ETAP [aka side stitch] seems to be the timing of&#xA;  the pre-event meal. One study reported that consuming reconstituted&#xA;  fruit juices and beverages high in carbohydrate and osmolality (a&#xA;  measure of concentration), either just before or during exercise&#xA;  triggered the onset of a stitch[...]. The symptoms didn't seem to be related to the amount of&#xA;  food eaten (gastric volume).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this might explane how some breathing control methods might help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A more complicated explanation [...] is that a&#xA;  side stitch is caused by stretching the ligaments that extend from the&#xA;  diaphragm to the internal organs, particularly the liver.&#xA;  [...]&#xA;  Exhaling when the right foot hits the ground causes greater forces on&#xA;  the liver [...]. So&#xA;  just as the liver is dropping down the diaphragm raises for the&#xA;  exhalation. It is believed this repeated stretching leads to spasms in&#xA;  the diaphragm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The stretched ligament theory would argue that shallow breathing tends&#xA;  to increase the risk of a stitch because the diaphragm is always&#xA;  slightly raised and never lowers far enough to allow the ligaments to&#xA;  relax. When this happens the diaphragm becomes stressed and a spasm or&#xA;  &quot;stitch&quot; is more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from this there are many good sources to read further on in the bottom of this article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T11:43:47.187" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:47.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3192" CreationDate="2011-08-10T10:14:08.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To try answering the specific question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Are there exercises that explicitly help to prevent side stitches to occur?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deep and controlled breathing in on the right foot and out on the left foot is suggested to help. You have to be concentrated on this and train this while exercising to breath the right way without concentrating to much on this while performing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the internal organs being tossed around, stretched and hammered or what else happens: Remember to always warm up properly and effectively before performing AND before exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strengthening the muscles in that area like the diaphragm as well as the core muscles like the lower back, the abdominals and the obliques is of course a direct treatment. Especially the core muscles improve your static and &quot;bearing&quot; parts, roughly spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you gradually increase exercise intensity the body will &quot;warm up&quot; while at it and will stretch out what hasn't already been.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Remember this during warm up, that you have to let the body experience the amount of pressure, you intend to put on it while performing, as well as getting your pulse as high, as you expect to get it - just over shorter periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/side-stitch.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Does it get better, when I continue working out?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is usually said just to continue will make it disappear. Especially by the coach. But as long as no real threat has been proven or documented (by some accident or injury actually happening) you might just keep up the good mood and use pure willpower to overcome the hard times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It works for me to think about breathing with my belly instead of just the upper chest. It might touch some right places, but nevertheless it will activate the side stitch area and is worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is it advisable to go to a doctor to check it out?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well no, as there are no proven treatments and no proven actual danger. As far as to this days medical science, just continue running and exercising. It might disappear some day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/injury-pain/side-stitch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another article&lt;/a&gt; with mere to read. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T11:43:37.093" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T11:43:37.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2378" CreationDate="2011-08-10T12:46:17.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;30 minutes is a long time for someone in good physical condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better the pcysical condition, the lower the recovery time and the faster you will be able to work on again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But everything depends...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you make a short 100 metres sprint or a max-pulse cycling uphill over a long period of time, there is quite a difference. You must take in account the oxygen dept, and if you over a long period don't give your body the oxygen it strives for, you will of course feel it for just as long afterwards.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The oxygen dept will be lowered as you gain in physical condition and train your lung capacity and heart size and strengh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve your recovery effect in your body, I will suggest running and a lot of interval training - short intervals with high intensity and almost max-pulse and many repetitions with very small pauses in between, so you never catch your breath fully and never has time to get your pulse down.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is proven that this kind of running that is anaerobic exercise, where you use the muscles explosive power with high intensity for short sprinting periodes, effectively increase your aerobic activity performance, because the pulse is held almost at max all the time and then tried to be pushed over the limit. And it might increase it much more effectively than similar ordinary aerobic training.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You will train heart, lungs and muscles - a good way of training to get better, though it might not always be pleasent (especially not to begin with).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect you are talking about getting your recovery time after aerobic exercises decreased, and then this would be my suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T12:46:17.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3194" CreationDate="2011-08-10T12:47:36.660" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple sources of pain, particularly for the lower back.  These are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or injury--can be very small injury or a very bad injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOMS is characterized by a dull soreness that can range from a general feeling of being &quot;used&quot; to a more intense feeling of soreness inside the muscle.  Usually, after the same type of stress repeated regularly (such as every other day), the body gets used to the stress and returns to a state of normal rather quickly.  Eventually the pain can even disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injuries on the other hand can range from very small tears (a normal part of getting stronger) which can cause pain for a couple days.  The more severe the injury the more severe the pain.  Injuries can be caused by a lack of flexibility, a lack of core strength (in the case of the back), and poor technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically, the long term solution is essentially the same in both cases.  The only difference is that you have to let an injury heal first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pay attention to your technique.  Your back likes to be supported by your abs and back muscles (core) so that the lumbar position is straight.  Excessive rounding or arching is causing flexion on the spine that it is not designed for.  Get in close and keep the back straight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve your flexibility.  You'll have to find some stretches to do after the workout.  These stretches perform two functions: they improve your range of motion so you can have better technique, and they provide a nice cool down so that the muscles will be less sore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve your core strength.  The key here is to incorporate some assistance exercises during the week that will help you when you do your bouldering.  You'll probably need some grip exercises in addition, but kettlebell routines, deadlifts, and squats will all help strengthen your core.  You have core muscles in your abs, your back and your sides, and they all contribute to the bouldering.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a foam roller to work your soft tissue.  You don't foam roll your lower back or neck, but you do every part of your legs (top, bottom, inside, outside), the upper back, and your sides.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After your bouldering exercises, I recommend a cool-down period.  In this cool-down you'll do the stretching you need to improve your range of motion, but don't over-stretch (meaning don't push past the pain).  The very next day when you can barely move, try to get your blood flowing with a simple warmup.  You'll probably have to go slowly, but it is worth it.  Then foam roll and do more stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence you can stretch daily, and the more you limber up, and foam roll the soft tissues, the better you will feel and the quicker you will recover.  If your bouldering activities are all on the weekend, you should have a couple days for building core strength in between during the week.  Even if you don't have access to barbells, kettle bells, or anything like that, good body weight exercises will help you improve your core strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T12:47:36.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2011-08-10T13:13:10.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;With every action, there is a proper and correct technique to do it safely.  This applies to every action from throwing a baseball, shot put, discus, to swinging a bat or manipulating melee weapons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The danger lies in failure to do the technique properly.  This is why each of these activities are typically taught by an instructor and with little or no load.  The consequences of swinging a 5 lb bat with bad form is going to be much less than the consequence of swinging a 95lb weight with bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper form in each of these typically keeps the thoracic portion of the torso rigid, or in the correct orientation so that the load is absorbed top to bottom as opposed from side to side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The number one danger of swinging weights in any form is the &lt;strong&gt;shearing&lt;/strong&gt; forces that pull on the spinal column.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that kettlebell routines are designed around swinging a weight.  The key is proper technique.  That is why the &quot;cheat reps&quot; are not recommended for beginners.  It takes time to strengthen the core to what it needs to do those reps, as well as develop the technique to do it safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T13:13:10.340" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2011-08-10T13:25:12.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there are some nerves running over the foot and down to the toes. They are likely to be affected, because they are not protected that well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some weeks ago I went for a march in The Netherlands - around 40 km. every day for 4 days. After a while my two second toes (or whatever they are called - the same as you describe) turned completely numb, like they were &quot;sleeping&quot; - like when you have slept on your arm and it is numb the next morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor at the field hospital told that my boots were too tight. They were apparently adding pressure to my feet and the nerves just stopped functioning or got paralized. And the nerves are very exposed during high activity.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This does though only affect this toe and maybe also the inside of the big toe. Therefore this was the first I thought of when I saw your picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might have done something with your foot; hit it, twisted it, landed on it or something. And then cold sand just makes it more visible maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a doctor, but this is what I was told. You might go see one though to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To calm you down again I can add that it might last very long (from hours to months) before it is in normal state again, but it is not a problem at all and will not have any other effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets hear, what the doctor says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T13:25:12.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3167" CreationDate="2011-08-10T13:51:20.747" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to split it into even doses throughout the day.  Your body will make good use of it.  Now, if you have some before bed, it won't hurt.  Essentially, at night when you sleep, two types of adaptations will happen (assuming you have disrupted homeostasis):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting when you hit REM sleep, your testosterone levels will peak and remain at that level until you wake up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting when you hit deep sleep, and ending about 1 hour later your growth hormone will be at it's peak.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone and growth hormone are both known to cause muscle growth and make good use of the amino acids and proteins you have in your body at the time.  Note that these are normal hormones produced and managed by your body, not steroids added to cause you to artificially take in more protein. (along with their side effects)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The studies I have read have conflicting things to say about timing the protein, and the best I can surmise is that the usefulness of the protein depends on your level of training/adaptation and the population that the studies used.  There are many variables that can affect protein absorption and unfortunately, no-one has a clear understanding of how they all interrelate which compromises the usefulness of the studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By splitting your protein intake throughout the day, you are spreading the odds that you will be at a peak protein consuming time.  Not to mention that some of the protein absorption depends on your natural circadian rhythms.  In short you will have some times of the year where you make better use of it than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you overthink this, you'll drive yourself nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, hydration assists the body in processing protein.  2 L a day is an absolute &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt;, better 3+ L a day.  In the interest of full disclosure, all water content hydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T13:51:20.747" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3198" CreationDate="2011-08-10T14:13:18.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is a complement to Meade Rhubenstein's which covered the dumbbell very well.  Your question also included the barbell.  There are two main types of barbells:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Standard&quot; barbells, the diameter is about 1&quot; on average, but there is no guarantee that the weights from one manufacturer will fit the bar made by another.  In short, they are not really standard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic barbells, the bar itself is about 28-29mm diameter and the sleeves for the weights are roughly 2&quot; (the actual measurement is metric).  These are designed to true specifications, and you stand a better chance of being able to mix and match bars and weights from different manufacturers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The average weight for a standard barbell is about 10-15lb, and won't be able to hold a lot of weight.  This is both due to the fact that the sleeve for the weights is too narrow, and the fact that the bar will bend if it is overloaded.  They are cheaper, and the sleeves (area for the weights) do not rotate at all.  They are acceptable as a starter set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Olympic Bars&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olympic bars come in three standard sizes depending on the category they are designed for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Juniors: 10kg (~25lb) designed for youth weightlifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Womons: 15kg (~35lb) designed for women's weightlifting competitions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mens: 20kg (~45lb) designed for adult men's competitions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The grips range in size, but men's bars tend to be around 28mm-29.5mm depending on if the bar is designed for Olympic lifts (more spring) or power lifts (more rigid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more inexpensive bars do not have rotating sleeves, and really can only be used for slow lifts.  Rotating sleeves helps prevent lateral torque while you are doing squats or any more dynamic lift.  The inexpensive bars have all the dimensions of a competition bar, but can't bear as much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within the bars that have rotating sleeves, there are two main types:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bushing bars.  The sleeves rotate on bushings which is more than enough for slower lifts (power lifts and most body building lifts).  The bushings don't wear out and they don't require much maintenance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bearing bars.  The sleeves rotate on needle bearings which provide quick, free flowing rotation necessary for the more dynamic Olympic style lifts.  They require more care and maintenance, but reward you with better performance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With either type of bar, once you get into the training and competition bars, the bar strength is measured in PSI.  The higher the PSI rating, the more weight the bar can handle as it moves through the air.  A minimum rating for a quality barbell will be about 155K.  Best for Olympic lifts would be 195K or higher.  These bars will be able to hold more than 1000lbs &lt;em&gt;while being used&lt;/em&gt;.  The bars that don't publish PSI ratings and claim over 1000lbs load only measure that load with the bar in the rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line, if you are just starting out, you can get a decent starter kit of an Olympic style bar with 300lb of weights for roughly $300 USD (check Amazon).  If you scour Craig's List, you might be able to find a really good deal.  If you really get into barbell weight lifting, you can invest in a good bar when you are ready for it.  Until then, you just need to by a pair of weight plates if you max out your 300lb starter kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T14:13:18.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2675" CreationDate="2011-08-10T17:56:18.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find Camelbak (http://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/Packs.aspx) very simple and elegant, and from my own experience after using Camelbak in military activity for a couple of years now I can absolutely recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example for your requirements: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/Packs/2011-Classic-3L-Intl-Only.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/Packs/2011-Classic-3L-Intl-Only.aspx&lt;/a&gt; even though it is for 3 litres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know Deuter from your link and can't say what's best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T17:56:18.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2764" CreationDate="2011-08-10T18:08:37.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The number of calories in a food is a measure of how much potential&#xA;  energy that food has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to find out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A particular food item will be ignited, the [...] calorimeter will&#xA;  trap the heat of the burning food, and the water above will absorb the&#xA;  heat, and cause the temperature (T) of the water to increase. By&#xA;  measuring the change in temperature (ΔT) of a known volume of water,&#xA;  students will be able to calculate the amount of energy in the food&#xA;  tested because the heat gained by the water will equal the heat lost&#xA;  by the food item.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first assumption was correct:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they sum all the energy in every molecule? By for example, by burning the stuff up and calculating the energy output.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, they BURN it when finding laboratory measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seplessons.org/node/349&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.seplessons.org/node/349&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastEditorUserId="1640" LastEditDate="2011-08-10T19:32:47.647" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T19:32:47.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-10T20:47:40.953" Score="3" ViewCount="1262" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has a safety squat bar, like this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/01EIA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've been sticking with the normal bar, &lt;strong&gt;but was wondering if there are reasons to should switch over.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not currently experiencing any pain (other than occasional soreness), but someone suggested it to me the other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1642" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-13T12:33:22.280" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T12:33:22.280" Title="Should I use safety squat bars?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3222" CreationDate="2011-08-11T01:10:55.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, the purpose of the safety squat bar is just to vary the position of the squat a little bit. Variety increases the speed of improvement. I certainly don't think the padding on the bar makes it more comfortable than a normal bar. The padding is just necessary because of the shape of the bar, and where it shifts the weight. In fact, I personally find the safety squat bar to be far more uncomfortable to use than a standard bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T01:10:55.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3225" CreationDate="2011-08-11T02:29:43.503" Score="4" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a novice Olympic and power lifter.  I learned the lifts through CrossFit.  I will soon start a new job, and will travel Monday through Thursday, mainly staying at hotels.  The hotels will have dumbbells, and some sort of cable machine, at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I continue to work on my squats, dead lifts, snatches, cleans, jerks, and presses without plates or an Olympic bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1647" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-11T21:29:26.300" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T02:44:08.263" Title="How can I work on Olympic and Power Lifting without access to plates or an Olympic bar?" Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3224" CreationDate="2011-08-11T02:40:52.390" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;With that schedule, I would suggest doing hard workouts over the weekend and using the week for recovery. Relax, eat well, and sleep well (admittedly also hard when traveling on business).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do feel like you want to work on strength during the week, you could look at bodyweight strength exercise routines, such as the one recommended in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045555&quot;&gt;The Naked Warrior&lt;/a&gt;. This routine focuses on short sets of single-leg squats and one-armed pushups. The author suggests visualizing them not as a workout, but as a &quot;strength practice&quot;, doing only a few at a time with complete body tension to develop neural patterns. This would work well during a recovery period and requires no equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T02:40:52.390" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3232" CreationDate="2011-08-11T03:11:40.377" Score="4" ViewCount="1027" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering buying a good set of dumbbell weights (pro tip: get them on craigslist) and a bench so that I can work out at home. However, I'm a big fan of the squat, but I don't want to have to also buy an olympic weight bar and plates. Are there any exercises that can be performed with dumbbells that are mostly equivalent to the squat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T12:17:00.807" Title="Are there any dumbbell exercises equivalent to the basic squat?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3251" CreationDate="2011-08-11T09:13:16.710" Score="13" ViewCount="4418" Body="&lt;p&gt;When biking I find it natural to maintain my posture by keeping my arms straight and loading my weight on the handles. This has worked okay for me, until I need to get a hand off the handles to (e.g.) signal a change in direction. I find I have to sit upstraight relieving my weight on the saddle instead before I can safely do that, or I risk losing balance to the simple fact I'm pushing against the handlebar with one hand but not with the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests me I'm &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; doing it right, and I should try to sit straight instead, even if it does feel &quot;wrong&quot; to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a horrible, misleading drawing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/50KBd.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; title=&quot;I totally should&amp;#39;ve taken arts classes instead.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the correct posture while biking? Where should I relieve my weight? How can I improve it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1650" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-14T17:11:10.730" LastActivityDate="2019-06-24T23:15:24.193" Title="What is the correct posture to support my weight with my arms while biking?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3226" CreationDate="2011-08-11T11:58:44.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many one-legged squats and many require use of a bench. I like using dumbbells with a split-squat while having the rear leg on a bench. Very challenging and can be done when you don't have heavy weights available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T11:58:44.083" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-11T12:08:02.510" Score="2" ViewCount="5284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started using a make-shift standing desk at work since. &#xA;Everyday, I am told by a random person that I'll cause long term injuries to my knees and/or feet by standing for several hours at a stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has there been any research conducted to prove that standing for longer hours is bad/unhealthy and the contrary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1652" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-11T21:29:32.117" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T21:29:32.117" Title="Is standing for long hours harmful to your knees and feet?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2011-08-13T11:56:52.697" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3226" CreationDate="2011-08-11T12:24:19.127" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B7iwg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tNUMN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to a video and info for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a standard dumbbell squat:&lt;/a&gt;, you probably want to also look into front squats and overhead squats utilizing dumbbells.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-13T12:17:00.807" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T12:17:00.807" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3222" CreationDate="2011-08-11T12:54:52.680" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the squat, the position of the bar on your back dictates the angle of your back.  If you squat high bar, the back is more vertical and if you squat low bar the back is more angled.  The idea being that the weight of the bar should be over mid-sole of your foot for proper balance and to keep the bar moving in a vertical path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;safety squat bar&quot; lowers the center of gravity similar to what you get with a low bar squat; however, the bar is sitting on the traps (high bar) which keeps the load on the spinal column more vertical.  A lower center of gravity will help you put more weight on the bar, and a more vertical spine is a happier spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having squatted both high bar and low bar, I can definitely attest to the fact that you can lift more low bar.  You do have to be aware of your knee position and the bar position when you are in the hole, because it is easier to cause the bar to come forward which will force your body into a &quot;good morning&quot; exercise.  That's a lot of stress on the back for a simple mistake.  I recently switched to high bar (within the past couple weeks) primarily because it has more carryover to the Olympic lifts.  It's harder to get back up, but my back remains in a more upright position and I can hit parallel a little easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal recommendation is to stick with a proper bar.  It's actually more comfortable than the &quot;safety&quot; bar, particularly with higher weights.  Even with the padding, the way the safety bar cuts into your traps on either side of your neck makes them unhappy.  Having the load go in the same direction as your traps allows you to handle more weight and is more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T12:54:52.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3228" CreationDate="2011-08-11T12:58:28.193" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You definitely do NOT want to be supporting your weight with your arms on the bike for normal riding.  One exception would be while on a time trial or triathlon bike, where it is best to support your weight with your upper body/arm skeleton structure to save your legs for running off the bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During non-TT riding, your weight should be primarily on the saddle with your core doing a lot of the supporting work.  Otherwise, your upper back and arms can become extremely fatigued over longer distances.  Not to mention, as you've found the safety issues with supporting your weight primarily with your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One drill/exercise you can practice to get the correct balance of weight is to keep your hands one inch off the handle bars.  You should be able to maintain this position for a period of time; say 60 seconds to start.  Of course, I only recommend attempting this while in a bike trainer or for the more advance cyclist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you may have an ill-fitting bike or a bike that needs to be adjusted more to you.  Check with a local bike shop (LBS).  Many offer various bike-fit analysis options.  Some options may be quite expensive (up to $300 USD), but most are much more affordable.  And, if you are going to be riding your bike frequently and/or for long periods of time, you'll greatly benefit from a proper fitting bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T12:58:28.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3231" CreationDate="2011-08-11T13:08:57.040" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's&lt;/a&gt; an interesting article from the New York Times about standing while working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last 2-3 months, this topic as been showing up quite frequently in fitness magazines, blogs, and tweets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study, with reference I can not find at this time, showed that a large percentage of people who suffer and or died from obesity related illnesses sat at a desk to work (as opposed to stood or were mobile).  Be careful not to read this as people who sit all day long are more prone to death than others as this is not the result of the study; albeit a very close resemblance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, to note, the offices at Stack Exchange are equipped with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/06/06.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;height adjustable desks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently tried standing while working for about a week.  It was a nice change in posture, but I don't recommend doing it all day, every day.  The first day, I stood for about 6 hours.  By the end of the day, I could feel the fatigue in my legs and joints.  The next day it was better.  Currently, I have the option of sitting or standing and will switch to standing when I feel my sitting posture is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T13:08:57.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3240" CreationDate="2011-08-11T13:15:55.847" Score="5" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started cycling some long rides lately, and am feeling knee pain.  It doesn't seem serious, but it's insistent enough that I've mostly avoided riding for a few days.  When I do cycle, I do so at a high cadence, for short distances, and don't push myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain has been in various locations around the kneecap and also a bit at the back of the knee.  Sometimes it feels like bubbles inside the knee, which sometimes pop (crack), other times just soreness around the knee in areas that don't seem to be muscles.   The pain doesn't seem to have subsided significantly since I curtailed my riding activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have a couple of questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much pain is an indicator that something serious is going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the specific location of knee pain indicate what's wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-11T21:29:41.727" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T21:29:41.727" Title="Are amount and location of knee pain good indicators of what is wrong?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-11T13:17:04.240" Score="15" ViewCount="879" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started cycling some long rides lately, and am feeling some knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know exactly what's wrong; I'm getting minor complaints from all over my knees.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3236/diagnosing-knee-pain&quot;&gt;my last question&lt;/a&gt; for more detail.  So I'm wondering if there is a general course of exercise I can follow to help improve the overall health of my knees, and to avoid straining them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sorts of activities can worsen knee pain?  I usually spend a lot of time standing at the computer (in order to avoid back problems) but am worried that this may exacerbate knee problems.  I've also taken to bending at the knees in order to get at low things, like for example when doing the dishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to help improve the health of my knees?  Are there stretches or exercises I can do?  I've found a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1747/injury-to-knee-need-advice&quot;&gt;couple&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/946/knee-ligament-stretches&quot;&gt;questions&lt;/a&gt; which discuss exercises to help treat specific knee injuries, but I'm unsure whether to try some of these or to avoid them in case they make the situation worse given my specific problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T13:25:34.340" Title="Are there stretches or exercises that promote knee strength and prevent injury?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3247" CreationDate="2011-08-11T13:23:47.020" Score="8" ViewCount="2413" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 2 years ago I've been eating only fruit and vegetables for 6 months. After that I have chosen to return to regular, diverse food - meat and everything else included. Since I started to eat normal food again I have felt some difficulties with my health:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After eating fatty food I feel like my &lt;strong&gt;blood vessels are being blocked&lt;/strong&gt;, and my arms feel tense.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I often &lt;strong&gt;get tired very soon&lt;/strong&gt;, only after 2 or 3 hours of working (whether on computer, or outside) - BIGGEST PROBLEM!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;have talked to my doctor&lt;/strong&gt; about the problem, but didn't receive any beneficial advice about my nutrition. I'm also a running-junkie, and while I'm running I feel fine, but soon after I finish, I feel like I'm very very low on energy. Now I'm trying to eat more carbohydrates, like rice etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tu sum it up: after almost 2 years of being on normal diet again, I have feeling that I have quit being veggie just a few days ago, considering the problems that do bug me. Did anyone else have similar experiences? Any advice on nutrition or about whom should I consider talking to (I feel that professional health care workers don't know too much about these kind of problems)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 1.:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Trying to clarify problem a bit. (I think that) I'm mainly having issues with food fried in oil or grease, because &lt;em&gt;whenever&lt;/em&gt; I do eat that kind of food, if I don't go to walk or run outside in few hours after that I feel like my blood vessels are &lt;em&gt;blocked&lt;/em&gt; (strange, uncomfortable feeling in chest, neck or hands). I asked about tiredness also because it seemed to me that it might be connected to this, but now I'm not so sure --- maybe it's about better balance of nutrients... Would be most grateful if someone made the same transition I did and if there were some of the problems I described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1653" LastEditorDisplayName="user1653" LastEditDate="2011-08-11T19:44:34.223" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T19:03:07.753" Title="What should I eat to recover from eating only `raw' fruits and vegetables for 6 months?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2021-01-11T14:41:16.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3224" CreationDate="2011-08-11T13:27:56.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the exercises you listed can be performed with dumbbells instead of a barbell. Although the weight might be different, there will be less stability with the dumbbells, which will help work your stabilization muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of low-weight deadlift, you could do good mornings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T13:27:56.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3236" CreationDate="2011-08-11T15:55:03.767" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be any number of causes for pain in and near the joints.  There is a lot of connective tissue (tendons and ligaments) in major joints, as well as the cartilage and synovial fluid that lubricates the joints.  These general rules of thumb will help you diagnose what's going on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/joint-cracking-osteoarthritis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;No pain, but the sound of &quot;cracking&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  This is usually a harmless sensation that occurs before the joint is prepared for intense use.  Once the gas in the synovial fluid escapes (the popping noise), the joint is usually primed and ready to go.  Safe to ignore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dull pain in the muscles&lt;/a&gt;.  This is caused by asking more of your muscles than they are currently prepared to give.  It's a temporary situation until the body can adapt and take care of the lactic acid buildup.  Safe to ignore and push through.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C136795.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pain in and around the knee with a &quot;looseness&quot; of the joint&lt;/a&gt;.  This can be accompanied by swelling.  Essentially the ligaments (bone to bone connections) and tendons (bone to muscle connections) are not meant to be stretched.  When that happens they can't perform their normal duties and more serious injury could result.  Apply the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/glossary/RICEprotocol.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RICE protocol&lt;/a&gt; as first aid and get it checked out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/knee-ligament-injuries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sharp pain with the sound of &quot;cracking&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  Particularly if this is accompanied by swelling, is possibly a torn ligament.  Definitely get it checked out as further stress will only make the injury worse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further information about knee injury and diagnosis, please check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emedicinehealth.com/knee_injury/article_em.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless the problem is the first two bullet points, rest is imperative.  That rest should be accompanied by letting a doctor look at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T15:55:03.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3238" CreationDate="2011-08-11T18:10:06.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it would help to describe what your current diet is like on average.  Fruits and veggies have certain benefits that you need to make sure you are continuing to get, although they also have some disadvantages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start at the beginning with nutrition.  You need something representative of each macronutrient:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein.  Fruits and veggies have them too, but it's easier to come by in animal meat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates.  Again, plenty of slow and complex carbs in fruits and vegetables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fats.  Yes, fat is important.  It's also something that is in minimal supply with fruits and vegetables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with the macronutrients, you need micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals.  Some of the vitamins are water-soluble (like Vitamin C) and others are fat soluble (like Vitamin D).  It is possible that you are not getting enough of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very healthy spread for macro nutrients would be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.formulazone.com/followingdiet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;40/30/30 split&lt;/a&gt;.  That's 40% carbohydrates and 30% each for protein and fats. For some easy math, an example would be 120g of carbs, 90g of protein, and 90g of fat.  So let's say you need to eat 2000 Calories to maintain weight.  With a bit of math, we find this would split into roughly 144g carbs, 108g protein, and 108g fat.  (Divide the total number of Calories you need by 550 to get the number of grams to multiply by the percentages).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this does is make sure you are getting a workable number of the macro nutrients you need.  However, this doesn't address the micronutrients that you may or may not have.  Raw food has better access to the micronutrients which are easily broken down by processing.  You may need to use a multivitamin supplement if you can't get everything you need from your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when eating regular food again, it's pretty tempting to just go nuts and eat burgers and fries all the time.  That will definitely leave you feeling like you described.  Even having too many carbs can do that to you--particularly if they are absorbed by the body quickly.  That kind of harsh cycling will give you a lot of energy for a short burst followed by a crash that leaves you feeling worse than before you had the carbs.  It's best to stick to slow burning carbs (i.e. lower glycemic impact).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at your diet to determine if any one of the macro nutrients are vastly out of balance.  For example, if you are eating food laden with fat and carbohydrates but very little protein, you will have energy problems.  Same if you have any one of the macro nutrients way out of balance with the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T18:10:06.063" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2011-08-11T19:23:09.537" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a a similar problem. I have a terrible time keeping earbuds in my ear while running/exercising. I tried using an attachment on the earbuds that come with iPods, which allow you to hook them on your ears, but the perspiration would make one or the other stop working before my run ended. I now use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001GSZAF0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sennheiser MX85 Sport Series II Twist to Fit Earbuds&lt;/a&gt;. They have a design that stays in your ear and they are immune (at least for me) from the perspiration. They also come with a clip for your collar that helps keep the cord from getting in the way. I have used them on fairly long runs (12-15 miles) without hurting my ears and in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1655" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T19:23:09.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2629" CreationDate="2011-08-11T19:38:33.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many runners will tell you they started at the same point you are now. Building a habit for running is, in my opinion, as important as the running itself. Every day you run a little farther. You will find many little victories along the way. The first day I ran for an hour was pretty amazing and when I started running I couldn't get to the end of the street. (Certainly the many programs online are a great tool)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1655" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T19:38:33.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2629" CreationDate="2011-08-11T20:28:50.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise you to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;watching some videos&lt;/strong&gt; (plenty of them on youtube) about the proper techniques to run; doing little exercises beside plain running would provide you with more natural, more energy efficient and cleaner movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;buying yourself proper shoes&lt;/strong&gt;. Pair of good shoes make huge difference (at least for me), because you get less impact on your feet from surface and proper running shoes should last longer also. Shoes similar to ones like these below would be great; be careful when picking, because lots of 'tennis' or even 'basketball' shoes look similar and those are not optimized for pure running in strait motion (nice scientific answer about shoes &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/113/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-running-shoe&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MfERe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Nike Pegasus&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;eating at least certain time before running or don't eat before running at all&lt;/strong&gt;. Find out what fits for you; maybe 45-90 mins before if you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;taking something for drink&lt;/strong&gt; (preferably not just water). I prefer using those multi-mineral &amp;amp; multi-vitamin(&lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt;) water dissolvable pills. Couldn't do without them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;finding yourself proper place to run&lt;/strong&gt; - preferably, you don't ever want to run on &lt;em&gt;too hard surface&lt;/em&gt; and if you could get to run on athletic stadium it would be perfect, because surface there would be good to your legs (try and see!) Check nearby parks or woods (if near) for some &lt;em&gt;flat&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;softer&lt;/em&gt; walking paths; regular earth with low grass for example (other flat and soft surfaces would also be good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1653" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-11T20:28:50.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2011-08-12T00:49:37.953" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I teach juggling for fitness and always cringe when people ask about juggling with weighted balls. &#xA;Yikes! Juggling is a cardio and endurance activity, just like walking or running, and medical experts recommend against using ankle or wrist weights for those activities. It places unnecessary stress on the joints. Juggling with weighted balls would be like doing biceps curls continuously, just pumping the weights up and down really fast. This could cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you will probably notice your arms get tired just from juggling balls of regular weight. Keep it safe and reserve strength and resistance work for slower more controlled moves rather than integrating them into cardio exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote a blog post about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jugglefit.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/juggling-with-weighted-balls-bad-idea/&quot;&gt;http://jugglefit.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/juggling-with-weighted-balls-bad-idea/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastEditorUserId="1659" LastEditDate="2011-08-17T15:14:17.363" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T15:14:17.363" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3237" CreationDate="2011-08-12T10:53:28.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bending your legs while even slighty twisting your knee as well as overstreching for a long time (if you have that tendensy while standing and working) can cause some knee problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid or get rid of knee pain you've got to stenghten your mucles around the knee and those affecting the knee at motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can watch this website for some very throughout videos of the exercises that will help:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weight-lifting-complete.com/knee-strengthening-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.weight-lifting-complete.com/knee-strengthening-exercises.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've got to work hard and intense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good idea for you could be to rutinely warm up before doing the action that gave the knee pain. If it is cycling as well as just standing and working for long hours, always warm up your knee regions and have them warm and almost burning after the warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add more info take a look at the following websites:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bigkneepain.com/knee-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bigkneepain.com/knee-exercises.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8119350/knee-strengthening-exercises-knee-rehabilitation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8119350/knee-strengthening-exercises-knee-rehabilitation.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastEditorUserId="1640" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T12:09:28.133" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T12:09:28.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3238" CreationDate="2011-08-12T11:16:42.487" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Amazing you can run a lot on just fruits and veg!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding that particularly sort of &lt;strong&gt;odd tingly problem&lt;/strong&gt; you describe.  I've got a feeling it might be a problem relating to &lt;em&gt;hypoglycemia&lt;/em&gt; - a difficult and sometimes misunderstood condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can lead to issues like migraines if (in short) you have problems with the dynamics of your bloody sugar levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I encourage you to buy this book: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0658001701&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;by Dr Wolfgang Lutz&lt;/a&gt; and turn to page 42 for details. Notice the graphs on page 43 - that seemingly tiny difference is a huge difference in your body operations.  Since I guess you've lived on just sugar for a few years (most fruit and veg is just sugar), your body chemistry, anything could be happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you turn back to the comparative graph on page 39 you will see exactly why fat people get fat, if their insulin response is stuffed-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway the section on hypoglycemia (and indeed the whole book) may answer the questions you have. Alternately if you speak german consider that &quot;point-diet&quot; book that is popular in austria, etc. at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short you will (IMO) have to carefully manage your protein and fat balance (and also any carbs you eat) perhaps for some time (a year?) until your body chemistry - basically the &quot;decay time&quot; of that insulin function - returns to some sort of normality.  I bet that the problem you describe is some variety of hypoglycemia-like problem caused by your bloody sugar levels going crazy in one direction or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Berin explains, you should really carefully choose &quot;slow&quot; carbohydrates (G.I.) if you must eat carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HQKvl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;sugar curves&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the caption says the dotted curve shows what hypoglycemia looks like (it can cause migraines and similar problems not unlike AnAnt describes), and the solid line shows a healthy person.  Conceivably eating just right for a year or so could bring you to the &quot;normal&quot; situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T08:06:12.403" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T08:06:12.403" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3189" CreationDate="2011-08-12T12:08:32.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an &lt;a href=&quot;http://biketechreview.com/performance/supply/48-mitochondria-the-aerobic-engines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interesting article&lt;/a&gt; about the internals of mitochondrial biogenesis. As it is quite long and technical, I'd like to summarize the key points in case someone is interested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not 100% clear what exactly triggers the creation of new mitochondria. However two important factors for triggering the necessary genes are known:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Increased calcium levels in the muscle cells&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Research suggests that simply an increase in the concentration of calcium within the cells of skeletal muscle, something which happens with each muscle contraction, is capable of inducing mitochondrial protein synthesis.  This increase in calcium is suggested to activate an enzyme called calcium-calmodulin kinase (CAMK) which then plays a role in the expression of mitochondrial biogenesis associated proteins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;ATP consumption outpaces ATP production&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The other apparently essential and dominant signal necessary to incur mitochondrial biogenesis appears to be a reduction in cellular concentrations of high energy phosphates such as ATP and phosphocreatine. [...] The current knowledge regarding the genetic signaling necessary for overall mitochondrial up-regulation suggests that it may be necessary for mitochondrial uncoupling to occur, or when ATP consumption outpaces ATP production during intense exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Concrete exercise advice:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, it appears that in order to push mitochondrial densities to their maximum when building one’s aerobic engine, it would be wise to regularly include intensities which approach VO2max or harder [...] on a regular basis within an overall training program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps someone besides me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1038" LastEditDate="2012-05-12T14:58:44.823" LastActivityDate="2012-05-12T14:58:44.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2011-08-12T12:21:49.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay - now I'm ready.  You work out 3 times a week, your current focus is mostly on your upper body (by looking at your routine) and looking at the exercises/sets/reps, it looks like you workout about 30-40 minutes....one of the issues you're facing is that you 'lack strength' to lift more weight and your goal is to build mass.  Let's get to the basics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reduce the reps and increase the weight so that you can perform 5 sets/5 reps of each exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lets work from your legs up each week (seems legs/glute are missing from your current routine all together)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any other day (outside of the 3 planned days) you can focus on cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;for each exercise, that is new - give yourself 3-5 days to focus on the technique prior to max'ing the weight to get you to 5 x 5 sets/reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a routine I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1: Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (switch from standard to box squats from week to week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2: Arms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kickbacks (Triceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curls (mix it up from week to week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3: Back/Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shoulder Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good Mornings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start light and every 2-3 weeks increase the weight with the goal of being able to complete all 5 x 5 sets/reps and if needed the last set downloading to a lighter weight to complete.  You might want to change up the exercises from week to week, but each of the days keep the focus on those areas listed (you can add some arms to your legs day to break up 3 leg exercises in a row - but keep the focus where it should be).  The 5 x 5 program allows more focus on strength/size than a 3 x 10 (set x reps) program that is more aerobic.  Good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-12T12:21:49.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3228" CreationDate="2011-08-12T18:44:50.447" Score="19" Body="&lt;h1&gt;No, don't support your weight on your arms&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your hands simply aren't really made for supporting all that weight.  If you ride for long like that, you'll see white or red areas on your hands where pressure has affected blood flow.  It's also likely to exacerbate repetitive injuries from keyboarding. Gloves can only help a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's ok to be sitting very upright with your weight on your saddle, at least for short distances.  This is common on &quot;cruiser&quot; or &quot;comfort&quot; type bikes.  A posture with a straight vertical back is bad for your spine when dealing with any kind of bumps, so you probably don't want that kind of positioning on long rides or rough rides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's circumstances where you briefly support a good portion of your weight on your hands, but it shouldn't be your default posture on the bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal is to &lt;strong&gt;bend at the pelvis&lt;/strong&gt;, keeping your &lt;strong&gt;back straight&lt;/strong&gt; (or arched forward).  Elbows slightly bent. &lt;strong&gt;Weight on the saddle and/or pedals&lt;/strong&gt;.  Almost &lt;strong&gt;no weight on the handlebars&lt;/strong&gt;. Keeping your back straight makes it easier for your core muscles to engage and keep your torso straight. This is also much easier on your neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Meh (comfort bike):&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MqLkN.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bad (owie):&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z6S0c.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Note that with the curved spine it's hard to keep weight off your hands, and since the top of your back is fairly level you have to crane your neck up to see forward comfortably. This is bad for your lower back, bad for your neck, and bad for your hands. Riding like this for long hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Good:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qDidg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;With a straight back, your neck isn't bending back awkwardly, and it's easier to keep weight off of your hands. With your elbows bent it's also easier to keep control of the bars and to deal with rough patches. Your hamstring (and other) flexibility limits how low you can ride with a good posture, and so do the strength of the muscles in your core. You should be able to easily take either hand off the bars without it affecting your steering. You want to be able to push &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; pull on the bars with either hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Awesome (pedaling hard):&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ElSW1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;If you take the good posture and pedal harder, you actually take your weight almost entirely off of the seat and use your hands to pull yourself &lt;strong&gt;down&lt;/strong&gt; (by pulling up on the handlebars) to provide greater force against the pedals. If your butt starts to get a little tired, shifting your weight to your feet for a little while can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Very brief sprint:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were racing competitively, you might bend your spine for a brief while to get extra low and aerodynamic, but you'd be likely to still be pulling up on the handlebars instead of leaning down on them. It's ok to do the curved spine thing now and then, just not for long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rough ground:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's rough ground ahead, with the pedals horizontal, you get off the saddle entirely, crouch on the pedals and bend your arms. This position does put a lot of your weight on your hands, but you only do it for a few seconds at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Braking:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to stop quickly, push your butt backwards off the back of the saddle while keeping your butt low, push yourself back with your hands and push forward extra hard while you pull the brake levers.  The combination of bracing against the handlebars and shifting your weight back a little will keep you from going over the handlebars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Practice:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might try keeping your fingers around the bars, pushing your spine forward and taking all of your weight off your hands. Unless you're a really experienced rider I wouldn't suggest taking your hands entirely off of the bars.  Practicing like this a little every time you ride can help you get more into the right posture on a regular basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastEditorUserId="195" LastEditDate="2011-08-13T16:46:48.397" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T16:46:48.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-12T19:52:26.363" Score="2" ViewCount="89741" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't seem to get sore knees unless i stand still for extended periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My knees are fine when I skateboard or do exercise though so it made me curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I skateboard for more than 4 hours and am fine afterwords. I only get the pain when I stand still in one spot. For example, if I stand at the computer for 4 hours in the same position then my knees will be sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1450" LastEditorUserId="1450" LastEditDate="2011-09-27T23:33:18.900" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T20:28:58.610" Title="Why does standing for too long make knees sore?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1267" CreationDate="2011-08-12T22:29:29.100" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue is nutrients. Simply reducing calories for an inactive person may reduce weight, but an active person is burning more calories through different processes and will require more nutrients. So if you remain active but don't ingest enough calories, the weight you lose will not be safe. In fact, your body will start breaking down muscle tissue to get the nutrients that you're not eating. So would you rather be lighter and flabby or lighter and more energetic with nice healthy muscles? Simply put.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1661" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-12T23:02:42.437" LastActivityDate="2011-08-12T23:02:42.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2011-08-13T17:23:15.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding &quot;...you can only build more muscle-mass (get stronger)...&quot;, building muscle-mass (hypertrophy) and getting stronger are not perfectly tied, and you can train differently depending on which is your primary goal; read &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&lt;/a&gt; for more about this and prescriptions for training programs towards either goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1669" LastActivityDate="2011-08-13T17:23:15.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2925" CreationDate="2011-08-13T22:29:35.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hip thrusts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Best for glutes and some hamstring involvement, this movement works on a horizontal plane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cable standing leg raise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Great r.o.m. for hip flexors, can also be done with ankle weights, rubber band or rubber tubing this also works on a horizontal plane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two exercises are a great start to strengthening key muscles for the 100/200 meter sprint, if you can make it to a gym &lt;strong&gt;G.H.R, back extensions, deadlifts and olympic style squats&lt;/strong&gt; are a must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quads are for acceleration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstrings and glutes are for top speed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hip flexors help in both stages.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final words: There are two ends of the performance spectrum, strength and speed. If your fast work strength, staying in the low reps - high set area always progressively loading your exercises. Stay fast my friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T20:07:34.480" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:07:34.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3224" CreationDate="2011-08-14T00:30:09.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are Olympic coaches having their athletes do hip thrusts, so you can do hip thrusts with your bed and chair. When you can do a lot of them, start on single leg hip thrusts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Single leg squats are a good idea, and you can use a chair to help you stabilize or take weight off until you can work up. Deep jump squats with dumbbells on shoulders can help power a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, good mornings and RDLs with dumbbells to build core and hamstrings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An isometric overhead press at different levels may help. Use a doorway and change the level of height with crap in the room if you can. First, height hands around your nose, then second height shoulders and elbows level, third height elbows lined up with your eyes, as if you're about to finish locking out a press. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One-handed power snatches and kettle bell swings or pull-through with dumbbells might also be of use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-04-20T02:44:08.263" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T02:44:08.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3169" CreationDate="2011-08-14T02:02:59.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;monday and friday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deadlift 3x5  two warm up sets 25% and 45% of 1rm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;benchpress 3x5 two warm up sets 25% and 45% of 1rm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell bentover row or barbell bentover row. 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell curl 1x15 go all out on one set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ab wheel or sit ups 2x20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wednesday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;goodmorning or RDL 3x8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;shoulder press 3x5 two warm up sets 25% and 45% of 1rm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dumbbell lateral raise 3x8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;hip thrust 3x8 (girl friend will thank you ;) two warm up sets 25% and 45% of 1rm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;barbell curl 1x15 go all out on one set&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do 15-25 minutes of cardio on tuesday, thursday and saturday if you want to, dont be a buster and walk for cardio. Also try to skip on potatoes, breads, candy, pasta, soft drinks, fried foods and to much alcohol they will spike your insulin and be stored as fat. Dont be afraid to pack down every thing else its ok to eat up to 3400 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A little about myself i'am 23 yrs old 6'3&amp;quot; and 230 lbs it sounds heavy but iam pretty lean, i eat atleast 4500 calories a day and lift something like the template above more squats though. This template should work for you if you dont like it you should try HST which basically is periodization of sets and reps two weeks 1x15, two weeks 2x10, two weeks 3x5, one week break. You apply that set and rep scheme to your 6 chosen exercises and keep cycling through that. I have trained a few ppl and they have had great results with there goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;remember to progressively load with all your exercises add five pounds to all exercises every work out and 10 pounds to deadlift monday and friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing go to youtube and look up the correct way to do deadlifts, they are perfectly fine for your back if done correctly!! mark rippetoe has a good video on youtube about deadlifting correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-14T02:02:59.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2011-08-14T04:50:39.100" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, I am spitting out the law right now so listen up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Homeostasis&lt;/strong&gt;: your bodies base level of fitness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disruption of homeostasis&lt;/strong&gt;: a stimulus of the fitness base level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supercompensation&lt;/strong&gt;: Adjustment to a higher level of fitness in anticipation of the next training session.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few reasons why our muscles refuse to supercompensate after a bout of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of change in intensity, volume or frequency&lt;/strong&gt;: Muscles get used to your set and rep scheme with in 6 workouts if not changed or progressively loaded will not super compensate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of intensity, volume or frequency&lt;/strong&gt;: Muscles that are underworked do not cause supercompensation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of recovery from intensity or volume&lt;/strong&gt;: Muscles are overworked with too much intensity frequently which causes little to no supercompensation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of calories&lt;/strong&gt;: Muscles turn catabolic which causes no supercompensation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of or too much progressive loading&lt;/strong&gt;: 5 pounds for upper body and 10 pounds for lower body at every workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example for Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say a musclehead is doing a starting strength program 3x5 for all his exercises three times a week and makes decent strength gains for a while. He progressively loads all exercises with 5 pounds for every upper body workout and 10 pounds for every lower body workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the umpteenth day, he stalls. What should he do? First he should lightening his loads by 10%, lowering his lower body progressive load to 5 pounds per workout. He should keep going until he stalls again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After he stalls for the second time, the musclehead's muscles will have finished supercompensating with this amount of volume and intensity per workout. Basically he plateaus from lack of stimuli. Logically we should up intensity or volume and increase recovery time so musclehead moves on to the &lt;em&gt;Texas Method&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x5 at 85% intensity on Monday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 at 62.5% intensity on Wednesday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x5 personal best on Friday, 5 pounds heavier than Monday's workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Monday he will receive enough volume and intensity to make his muscles break homeostasis. Wednesday adds to the recovery process while Friday tests our super compensation without disrupting recovery. When Monday comes again, the musclehead adds 5 pounds to his 5x5 lifts and continues the process. The Texas Method will carry the musclehead's strength gains for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example for Building Mass&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say the musclehead is doing 3x8-12 on all his exercises working a body part twice a week and stalls. What should the musclehead do? Hee looks at his frequency twice a week for each body part. It is enough, but did he plateau?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles adapt quickly within 6 workouts we can start seeing diminishing results. To change things up, lets's start with the frequency. &lt;strong&gt;Each body part needs to be hit three times a week&lt;/strong&gt; with enough intensity. The repetition scheme also has to change ever two weeks or six workouts to prevent adaptation while building mass. Lastly, in order to eat all this frequency we need to lower the volume. So what does musclehead do now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x15 for each exercise for two weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x10 for each exercise for two weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 for each exercises for two week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One week of unloading, only light weight and rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the musclehead does all his exercises every workout three times a week: Monday Wednesday, and Friday; or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This will work for some time if you progressively load 5 pounds for all exercises every workout. For the naysayers, 1x15 and 2x10 will work. They are enough volume if performed three times a week for each exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a 10-15 repetition range is best for building mass, the lower repetition range needs to be hit for strength. Muscles mass can be stalled with a lack of strength and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie consumption - muscles need more calories than you think!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If lifting is yang, enough calories would be yin. - muscle proverb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle catabolism&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fail to ingest enough protein, your body will break down its own muscle tissue to get the protein it needs for survival. This mechanism is convenient when you face starvation, but highly detrimental to building mass and strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest eating every 2.5-3 hours to get your metabolism spiked and keep it there, you will never go catabolic when you do this and use the proper amount of proteins about 35 to 40 grams per meal, you should eat even at bedtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="1670" LastEditDate="2011-08-16T01:25:10.390" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T01:25:10.390" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3282" CreationDate="2011-08-14T06:56:12.187" Score="5" ViewCount="36433" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are so many articles about the benefits of doing deadlifts for the back. &#xA;But I am curious if there are alternatives to the deadlifts which still gives the same benefits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T15:02:55.320" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T13:47:45.230" Title="Are there any alternatives to deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3284" CreationDate="2011-08-14T20:34:20.807" Score="5" ViewCount="1585" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently do running, but it just isn't that fun for me anymore, and I'd like to turn my enjoyment of biking into fitness routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need a certain style of bike to attain a more productive work out? My current bike is very old and broken, so I'm purchasing a new one anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kinds of work outs can I do using a bicycle? I am looking for something I can do on a daily basis within 30 minutes, that will help me to have better respiratory breathing, and burn off a few calories. What results can riding a bicycle yield on the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1517" LastEditorUserId="1517" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T15:58:31.863" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:00:30.963" Title="What kind of workouts can I get on a bicycle? " Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-14T22:36:18.430" Score="14" ViewCount="3440" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I do as many as possible to failure? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do I stick to a weekly plan or multiple sets with low reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T18:01:15.080" Title="How can I increase my pull-ups reps?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3262" CreationDate="2011-08-14T23:12:13.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back exercises&lt;/strong&gt; to fill in for deadlifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45 degree hyperextentsion- works erector spinae, glutes and hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;good mornings-works erector spinae, glutes and hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg exercises&lt;/strong&gt; to fill in for deadlifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;power lifter squat or low bar squat- works quads, glutes, erector spinae and hamstrings just like the deadlift carries over well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian deadlift or RDL- provides eccentric stretch for all the following muscles building deadlifting strength while not as taxing on your cns, works erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings, lats, traps and grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theres no substitute for deadlifts but if i had to choose two exercise to carry over to your &lt;strong&gt;posterior chain&lt;/strong&gt; aka lower back, glutes, hamstrings it would be 45 degree hyperextentsion and RDL's. Dont forget core strength it carries over to your lower back when under a load.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="1670" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T15:16:38.620" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T15:16:38.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3268" CreationDate="2011-08-14T23:44:05.540" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well the best way to increase reps would be to increase absolute strength than cycle back to strength endurance which would carry over to more repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example of this method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;NFL combine test&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the tests they have the potential players do is bench press 225 pounds for as many reps as possible to see how much strength they have. So how do those guys manage to do up to 50 repetitions with 225 pounds? First they build absolute strength which is maximum force an athlete can generate. They have to build there one rep maximum so 225 pounds is considered light than 2-3 weeks from the combine test they work on carrying it over to strength endurance which is maximum repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to increase reps you need to increase absolute strength on the pull-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 3 sets of 5 repetitions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always progressively load. Attach 5 pounds to your body 'every' work out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your muscles will get used to lifting 5 pounds more each work out resulting in a 15 pound increase in absolute strength every week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you can pull up 45 pounds attached to you 5 times, spend two weeks on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and do one set of body weight pull-ups trying to do as many as possible. With each workout, increase your repetitions by a few more and at the end of the two weeks you will be able to do many more of repetition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycle back to weighted pull-ups to keep increasing absolute strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T13:10:44.997" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T13:10:44.997" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3278" CreationDate="2011-08-15T04:57:31.600" Score="0" ViewCount="492" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen some studies that indicate MK4, a chemical from certain types of Vitamin K, is capable of preventing and reducing bone fractures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe kale is the food with the most Vitamin K; however, I am unsure whether the vitamin K from it gives MK4 or MK7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a link, that'd be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1288" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T13:11:59.463" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T18:43:17.083" Title="Is kale's Vitamin K content a source of MK4?" Tags="&lt;vitamins&gt;&lt;fractures&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3328" CreationDate="2011-08-15T07:11:15.493" Score="20" ViewCount="1448" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard conflicting advice about whether to eat before running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some have advised that it's better to do the cardio in a fasted state. This usually involves running in the morning without eating anything before the run. It is said to burn more fat this way. &#xA;See this NYT article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/&quot;&gt;The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I have read that it's better to eat something light before the run, otherwise you will tend to lose some muscle. &#xA;See this NYT article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/does-exercising-on-an-empty-stomach-burn-more-fat/&quot;&gt;The Claim: Exercising on an Empty Stomach Burns More Fat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm confused.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T11:32:47.563" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T11:32:47.563" Title="Should I eat before my run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3274" CreationDate="2011-08-15T10:02:44.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the answer would depend on your goals you try to achieve with your running.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you primarily want to burn fat, I think you should not eat before running. This will reduce the amount of available energy of carbohydrates and make your body take more energy from fat reserves. However, make sure you don't feel dizzy or get an upset stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are after a good time in a race you should eat a little before running. This will fill up the carbohydrates and make the energy available during the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself try not to eat or drink too much before running to reduce the &quot;risk&quot; of side stitches, which are said to show up if you have eaten something before the run. (See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/3192/1150&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; question)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware that I am not a very experienced runner or a doctor. Maybe someone else of this community can back my posting up / or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1150" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T10:02:44.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-15T10:39:06.053" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like running longer runs (e.g. half marathons), but after 15-17 km I ofter need some sort of energizer apart from the water you get along the route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is then what exactly to take, as there seems to several different sorts of energizers available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know about gels and energy drinks, but unfortunately these often requires that your drink a lot of water at the same time. I have heard about some fruit gums (e.g. from Squeezy), but haven't tried these yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But what is the best source of renewed energy on these longer runs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T13:10:34.670" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T20:51:54.713" Title="What is the best source of renewed energy on longer runs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;&lt;gel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3273" CreationDate="2011-08-15T11:10:50.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I remember correctly, both MK4 and MK7 are types of Vitamin K2, whereas Kale would only contain K1, being a plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as sources go, I believe plants contain K1, animal products (meat, eggs, dairy, grass-fed butter!) contain MK4 and bacteria produce MK7, which is therefor found in fermented food (Sauerkraut, Natto! Yoghurt... ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastEditorUserId="1230" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T18:43:17.083" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T18:43:17.083" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3268" CreationDate="2011-08-15T13:16:32.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intense-workout.com/pull_ups.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; is pretty good. It makes four basic points, including increased frequency, negatives, and assisted pull-ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason people are unable to do more pull ups and chin ups is because their body weight is too heavy for them. If this was the problem with any other exercise, you could just take some weight off the bar or use lighter dumbbells. Unfortunately, you can’t take off your legs to lighten your own body weight. However, there are ways of creating the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assisted Pull Up Machine&lt;/strong&gt;. This is probably the easiest way to do it assuming your gym actually has one of these. If so, what this machine basically does is it takes away a portion of your body’s weight by balancing it out with weight from the machine (like how a see-saw works). You set how much of your weight you want to pull, and it provides the counter weight to balance it off. Your goal here would be to gradually increase the amount of your own weight your are using until you get to the point where you can pull 100% of your own weight. At that point, you can do actual pull ups.&#xA;Bands. You know those elastic workout bands that people use for 100 different things? Well, if you hook the top of the band around the pull up bar, and then rest your knees in the bottom part, you create what is called a band-assisted pull up.&#xA;Get A Spotter. Similar to the band method mentioned above, you could just as easily have a friend supply the “assistance” by putting their hands under your feet/ankles/knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, keep doing them - try different hand positions, add weight and make it a game, such as doing a set prior to every meal and when you wake up or when you pass by the pull up bar (get one in your house on a door frame).  There are some basic body weight exercises that you can (and should) do when you can: pull ups, push ups, sit ups......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:03:33.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3274" CreationDate="2011-08-15T13:31:14.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I look at my fellow runners, I can find just as many opinions as runners. Each of them have their own recipe and stick to it somewhat religiously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I usually try not to eat too much on the day before a longer run (18 km or longer) with the possible exception of a banana or like 30-45 minutes before the start and water right up the start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For shorter runs, I usually just try to avoid eating 1-2 hours before start. Especially anything heavy like meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often go for a short run in the morning (before the rest of the family gets up when it is quite and peaceful) and then I usually just eat a banana and drink a glas of water before I start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T13:31:14.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3262" CreationDate="2011-08-15T13:34:38.687" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are alternatives to deadlifts.  However, let's take some time to understand what deadlifts do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A compound exercise designed to work your body in the proportions it was designed for&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Works the complete posterior chain: calves, hamstrings, glutes, core, lats, neck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excellent core workout: the core muscles are only used to keep the spine in a neutral position.  This includes all the thoracic muscles, the abs, and the neck muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your replacement would have to fill these roles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Now, squats are an excellent tool, and they hit many of the same areas, but they also get the quads, shins, and even a bit of the upper ab muscles.  A good strength routine will have both squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back extensions&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Weighted and unweighted, back extensions will get your glutes and hams as well as your core.  The stresses are different in that you are leaning forward, and the weight of the upper body is pulling down in a different way than deadlifts work.  In short, your back will be part of performing the lift as well as keeping the thoracic portion in a neutral position.  That said, they are still a good assistance exercise.  These do not get your lats at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pullups&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Pullups will exercise the lats, as well as the neck muscles.  They get a few more muscle groups as well, but they play a part in what deadlifts do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Essentially you would need to include all three of these exercises to get the same benefit of deadlifts.  The unfortunate truth of the matter is that deadlifts let you do one exercise at very high weights in comparison to the other three, so there is just no full replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T13:34:38.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2011-08-15T18:44:41.177" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm more into cycling for fun (allowing the benefits of the exercise to be somewhat accidental) rather than short, intense rides aimed specifically at calorie burning like you seem interested in. Hopefully somebody more into your specific goals will give a better answer than I can. You might also have good luck asking more specific cycling questions on &lt;a href=&quot;https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Bicycles.SE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One comment: 30 minutes is a very short ride by cycling standards, so my answer tries to focus on a short intense ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's on-road cycling and off-road cycling (and lots of variations in both). &lt;strong&gt;You can burn calories and breath heavy by pedaling hard and fast in just about any kind of cycling on any kind of bike.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people that are interested in burning calories fairly fast would go for a &lt;strong&gt;road bike&lt;/strong&gt; (lightweight, drop handlebars). Off-road cycling is more likely to have more &quot;technical&quot; bits where you're worrying more about maneuvering than speed or power and often harder to find good places to do it. A road bike will tend to be more fun when you're pushing hard just because you'll go faster and find the handling of the bike works better when going fast like that. There's various sub-types of road bike, and again, &lt;strong&gt;you can get a decent workout on any bike&lt;/strong&gt;. The road-bike geometry with a &lt;strong&gt;relatively vertical seat tube&lt;/strong&gt; that places your &lt;strong&gt;center of gravity over the pedals&lt;/strong&gt; and gives you plenty of &lt;strong&gt;handlebar leverage&lt;/strong&gt; to pull down is probably best for maximizing how much effort you can put out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure the bike fits you well.&lt;/strong&gt;  Maybe even pay a bike shop extra to do a precise fitting. Be prepared to go through a seat or two before you find one that works well for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can either keep a moderate cadence against moderate resistance, or a high cadence against light resistance. If you plan to go with a high cadence you may find that the best solution is special &quot;clipless&quot; pedals and special shoes with cleats that click into the pedals. If you go that route, make sure you have a really good fit (or pedals that give you a bit more &quot;float&quot;), since a poor setup with your feet locked to the pedals can cause knee problems. If you're not sure you could try more traditional toe clips and straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For relatively short rides like you seem interested in, one bottle cage and one water bottle should be fine. If you work your way up to rides over an hour or two you may want to get a second bottle cage and bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people find it easier to maximize things if they have some numbers to track. Basic cyclometers just have a wheel sensor (to give you speed, distance, time, max speed, avg speed, etc), but you can also get ones with a crank (pedal) sensor to tell you cadence (how fast you pedal), and some can also connect with a heart monitor which will give you the best idea how many calories you're burning. I use a basic cyclometer, but I believe if you go with the ANT+ wireless type setup you could have that heart rate sensor working with an on-bike cyclometer display or an on-wrist watch type display (useful for non-bike exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can warm up and cool down on the bike, just take it a little easier at the start end end of the ride. Plan your routes so that the hardest parts are in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as specific exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get on the bike and ride&lt;/strong&gt; -- any kind of riding will burn some calories, make you breath harder and make you sweat. Clear your mind and pay attention to cycling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick a route and try to do it as fast as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick a round-trip route and try to get as far in 15 minutes as you can (then turn around and keep the same speed on the way back).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sprints&lt;/strong&gt; -- try to go really fast for a brief while. Maybe try to ride with friends and race each other to a town limit sign or something like that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hill climbing&lt;/strong&gt; -- climbing is good cardio. If you go too slow up a hill the bike is hard to control, so there's some extra motivation to push yourself hard up the hill. I always find my heart pounding hard at the top of a good-sized hill. The steeper and taller the hill the more work it is to get up. Don't be afraid to use your lowest gear, as long as you keep spinning the cranks, and you might have to get off and walk the bike up some hills when you're starting out. If the climb feels easy, do it faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intervals&lt;/strong&gt; -- push yourself really hard for 30 seconds, ride easier for a few minutes then another push. (rolling hills or repeated sprints are good ways to get this) I believe runners do similar interval training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bike to work&lt;/strong&gt; -- I assume your 30 minutes is because of time limitations, if you ride your bike to and from work so that your commute becomes exercise you can turn what used to be sitting-in-a-car time into exercise-on-a-bike time and increase your total exercise time. Bring a change of clothes and use a couple moist towelettes to clean yourself up quickly in a restroom stall when you get to work, and save the more intense workout for the ride home where it's okay to show up super-sweaty. I get 6-7 hours of cycling in a week just getting to and from work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most areas have cycling clubs where you can do social riding with other people, but those are usually for multi-hour rides, not 30-minute rides. Finding a group you can go on a long weekend ride with now and then would be good, especially if they're the more competitive sorts that will help push you to work harder with races to signs and things like that. Races to signs with friends will get you intervals without thinking about the exercise part. From what I've seen, these kinds of cycling clubs usually post the intended pace (or friendliness vs competitiveness) and terrain for all the planned rides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General results you see from cycling are mostly what you'd get from any kind of cardio.  You'll likely get more leg strength and muscle definition, especially in your quads; moreso if you push hard now and then. If you keep good form (flat back, weight off hands) you'll get a light amount of static core exercise, especially along your back (sorta like a plank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bicycling.com/print/7094&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fry Fat With Intervals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;An article on intervals that includes some estimates of calories burned depending on cycling speed. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-rules/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Velominati - The Rules&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some (humorous) inspirational rules to help you learn to be a hardcore fast cyclist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:32:41.563" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T20:00:30.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3288" CreationDate="2011-08-15T19:52:30.600" Score="2" ViewCount="7385" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a recommendation I grabbed a tub of Jack3d which is basically lemonaid with a ton of caffeine, but it also contains creatine. After drinking just one dose with 8oz water, I am bloated the next day in my midsection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken creatine mono and creatine hydro individually before and didn't notice any bloating. I did try another mix last year (bascially kool-aid and creatine, no caffeine) and there was some bloating but I was able to get it down with diuretics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diuretics don't seem to be helping in this case. What's the deal? How can I reduce bloating while taking creatine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water in take is probably ~64oz avg on normal days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T23:59:29.383" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T13:13:37.633" Title="How can I reduce bloating while taking creatine?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-10-31T02:25:04.680" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3287" CreationDate="2011-08-15T22:26:20.307" Score="1" ViewCount="2140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just about to start a fitness/nutrition regimen but I am not sure exactly where to start. I will be able to do 5 days a week but thought it might be best to start with 3 days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) for the first two or three weeks. I have a membership at Bally's. How can I get the most out of a 60 minute workout at the gym? I am programmer working what equates to two jobs and spend all of my time sitting. When not working, my time is occupied by two young kids and my wife. Being very busy has led to the sorry state my body/health is in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to be working out before work (at around 6am) and my time is limited, so I want to spend the time wisely. What machines should I use, how much weight should I start with, and what can I do to maximize my results in the most efficient way possible with the 60 minute restraint? As far as goals I want to be about 20 - 30 pound lighter but this is really just secondary - my priority is being healthy. I want to make sure I am around a long time, feeling good, and enjoying life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically what machines should I use, how much of the 60 minutes should be cardio, stretching, or lifting? Any advice or tips would be very helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1681" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T15:00:32.900" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T15:00:32.900" Title="What is the best way to break down a 60 minute gym workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3286" CreationDate="2011-08-15T23:48:37.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is basically a starting strength program from Mark Rippetoe, it is a great program to build all your base strength. you will do 3 sets of 5 repetitions for each exercise except on the hyperextentions 3 sets and 8 repetitions. Here are the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squat-start with 100 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench press- start with 80 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell bentover row- start with 35 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hyperextentsion- body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squat-do 105 pounds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overhead press- do 60 pounds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chin up- body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squat-do 110 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;benchpress- 85 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell bentover row- do 40 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hyperextentsion- 5 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calorie Intake&lt;/strong&gt; 16 x your body weight= total calories a day. 50% should be protein 40% carbs and 10% fat. Stay away from wheat, potatoes, beer, sugar and fried foods. reduce calories to 2,500 when not exercising that week or only going once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressively Load&lt;/strong&gt; your exercises every workout adding 5 pounds to every exercise every workout. You can sorta see that in the monday and friday workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest Between Sets&lt;/strong&gt;- 4-5 minutes between sets, rest this long or your hurting strength gains translating over to less calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic exercises&lt;/strong&gt; you should get in 15 to 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week. walking then working your way up to jogging. Its up to you when you want to work that in but not before you strength train do it on a different day or after you lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T23:48:37.817" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3285" CreationDate="2011-08-16T00:12:10.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that this may be coincidence and the bloating isn't related to the creatine. My reasoning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are basing this observation on one data point, and have observed no such effect when taking creatine in the past. What else did you eat or drink that day? Have you tried Jack3d again and noticed a similar effect?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The caffeine in the Jack3d &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN01661&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a diuretic&lt;/a&gt;, so even without taking extra diuretics you should be getting some of that effect with the mix itself. This could explain why taking an extra diuretic didn't seem to matter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine shouldn't cause you to retain water in your midsection; the extra water should be evenly distributed in muscle tissue throughout your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Counterpoints that could support your theory about &lt;em&gt;Jack3d&lt;/em&gt; causing the bloating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many drink mixes like this contain a large amount of sodium; the extra sodium could cause you to retain water. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jack3d contains a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usplabsdirect.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=111&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lot of ingredients&lt;/a&gt; besides creatine and caffeine. These are other variables that could be having some effect on your body. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-16T13:13:37.633" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T13:13:37.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-16T02:26:02.367" Score="1" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3168/is-increasing-resistance-the-only-possibility-to-build-more-muscle-mass&quot;&gt;Is increasing resistance the only possibility to build more muscle mass?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'm 23 male, running 3km 1-2 times a week, and lifting weights 2-3 times a week. I'm 175cm tall and weigh 80kg. Ive been doing this for 7 months, and I have not seen any results at all. I had my measurements taken at the begining and again 3 days ago. I have seen a slight stamina increase but no visible growth. I need some HELP! I am willing to change my workouts to whatever! Can someone hit me up with a good workout or let me know where to find one to build upper body mass incorporating some abs and back. I have access to a full gym, and my diet can be changed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1682" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T13:04:10.650" Title="Full Muscle Mass Increase Work out" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2011-08-16T13:35:18.117" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3289" CreationDate="2011-08-16T03:13:45.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example for Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say a musclehead is doing a starting strength program 3x5 for all his exercises three times a week and makes decent strength gains for a while. He progressively loads all exercises with 5 pounds for every upper body workout and 10 pounds for every lower body workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the umpteenth day, he stalls. What should he do? First he should lighten his loads by 10%, lowering his lower body progressive load to 5 pounds per workout. He should keep going until he stalls again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After he stalls for the second time, the musclehead's muscles will have finished supercompensating with this amount of volume and intensity per workout. Basically he plateaus from lack of stimuli. Logically we should up intensity or volume and increase recovery time so musclehead moves on to the Texas Method:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;5x5 at 85% intensity on Monday&#xA;3x5 at 62.5% intensity on Wednesday&#xA;1x5 personal best on Friday, 5 pounds heavier than Monday's workout&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Monday he will receive enough volume and intensity to make his muscles break homeostasis. Wednesday adds to the recovery process while Friday tests our super compensation without disrupting recovery. When Monday comes again, the musclehead adds 5 pounds to his 5x5 lifts and continues the process. The Texas Method will carry the musclehead's strength gains for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example for Building Mass&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say the musclehead is doing 3x8-12 on all his exercises working a body part twice a week and stalls. What should the musclehead do? Hee looks at his frequency twice a week for each body part. It is enough, but did he plateau?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles adapt quickly within 6 workouts we can start seeing diminishing results. To change things up, lets's start with the frequency. Each body part needs to be hit three times a week with enough intensity. The repetition scheme also has to change ever two weeks or six workouts to prevent adaptation while building mass. Lastly, in order to eat all this frequency we need to lower the volume. So what does musclehead do now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1x15 for each exercise for two weeks&#xA;2x10 for each exercise for two weeks&#xA;3x5 for each exercises for two week&#xA;One week of unloading, only light weight and rest&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the musclehead does all his exercises every workout three times a week: Monday Wednesday, and Friday; or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This will work for some time if you progressively load 5 pounds for all exercises every workout. For the naysayers, 1x15 and 2x10 will work. They are enough volume if performed three times a week for each exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a 10-15 repetition range is best for building mass, the lower repetition range needs to be hit for strength. Muscles mass can be stalled with a lack of strength and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie consumption - muscles need more calories than you think!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If lifting is yang, enough calories would be yin. - muscle proverb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle catabolism&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fail to ingest enough protein, your body will break down its own muscle tissue to get the protein it needs for survival. This mechanism is convenient when you face starvation, but highly detrimental to building mass and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest eating every 2.5-3 hours to get your metabolism spiked and keep it there, you will never go catabolic when you do this and use the proper amount of proteins about 35 to 40 grams per meal, you should eat even at bedtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basic strength program&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is basically a starting strength program from Mark Rippetoe, it is a great program to build all your base strength. you will do 3 sets of 5 repetitions for each exercise except on the hyperextentions 3 sets and 8 repetitions. Here are the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;squat&#xA;bench press&#xA;dumbbell bent over row&#xA;hyperextentsion&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;squat&#xA;overhead press&#xA;chin up&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;squat&#xA;benchpress&#xA;dumbbell bent over row&#xA;hyperextentsions&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie Intake 18 x your body weight= total calories a day. 50% should be protein 40% carbs and 10% fat. Stay away from wheat, potatoes, beer, sugar and fried foods. reduce calories to 2,500 when not exercising that week or only going once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progressively Load your exercises every workout adding 5 pounds to every exercise every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest Between Sets- 4-5 minutes between sets, rest this long or your hurting strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OR a HST program&lt;/strong&gt; more for mass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1x15&lt;/strong&gt; for two weeks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2x10&lt;/strong&gt; for two weeks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3x5&lt;/strong&gt; for two weeks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;deload&lt;/strong&gt; with light weights for one week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick 5-8 exercises and do them 3x a week mon,wed,fri or tues,thurs,sat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A few select exercises&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullover/skull crusher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hip thrust&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over lateral raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;calf raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chin ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell bent over row &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ab wheel &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hanging leg raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T03:13:45.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3402" CreationDate="2011-08-16T07:16:26.050" Score="12" ViewCount="3686" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, is losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time possible? If it is possible, what is the general nutrition and exercise plan to do it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, is losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time not efficient for bodybuilding? Most bodybuilders have a heavier off-season weight than contest weight, which implies that they go through a bulking phase a distinct cutting phase. Here are examples of pro bodybuilder's phases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Cutler_%28bodybuilder%29&quot;&gt;Jay Cutler&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contest: 274 lb (124 kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Off season: 310 lb (140 kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Coleman&quot;&gt;Ronnie Coleman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contest: 297 pounds (135 kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Off season: 330 pounds (150 kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-08-16T07:27:20.743" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T21:47:50.107" Title="How to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-16T07:36:48.507" Score="5" ViewCount="899" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inflammation is an essential part of healing. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammation#Exercise-induced_acute_inflammation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been further theorized that the acute localized inflammatory responses to muscular contraction during exercise [...] are a necessary precursor to muscle growth. As a response to muscular contractions, the acute inflammatory response initiates the breakdown and removal of damaged muscle tissue. Muscles can synthesize cytokines in response to contractions [...] These acute increases in cytokines, as a response to muscle contractions, help initiate the process of muscle repair and growth by activating satellite cells within the inflamed muscle. Satellite cells are crucial for skeletal muscle adaption to exercise. They contribute to hypertrophy by providing new myonuclei and repair damaged segments of mature myofibers for successful regeneration following injury- or exercise-induced muscle damage; high-level powerlifters can have up to 100% more satellite cells than untrained controls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, why is icing your tendons and muscles after strenuous exercise beneficial? It certainly relieves pain, but does one lose some hypertrophy gains by not letting inflammation take its course, or does icing not actually reduce the immune response?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1671" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T02:01:07.260" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T02:01:07.260" Title="Why do we ice after strenuous exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3335" CreationDate="2011-08-16T16:48:50.440" Score="10" ViewCount="8360" Body="&lt;p&gt;Balance is important: studies have shown it helps prevent injury (for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rsscan.com/files/literatuur/abstracts/Presentation%20Kim%20Verhaeghe%20.pdf&quot;&gt;this study (in Spanish)&lt;/a&gt;), it's useful when transitioning to barefoot/minimalist running (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://christopherickes.com/running-blog/when-to-use-vibram-five-fingers-for-running/&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://uvaendurosport.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/proprio-what-a-deeper-look-at-balance-and-stability/&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;) and proprioception training is a staple of post-injury rehabilitation programs (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1317754/pdf/jathtrain00025-0017.pdf&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; has references to other studies to back these claims; it's itself concerned with upper-body proprioception). As I feel I am lacking in this area of fitness, I have decided to work on it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to measure my progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard of something called a Flamingo test - standing on one leg with eyes closed and measuring how long you can keep it up. Here I assumed swaying around is not acceptable, but what about the small muscles in my foot? I feel them working and my making &quot;microcorrections&quot; (which is what I'm trying after all), but am I supposed to only measure time I am standing perfectly still, or is feeling movement/twitching in my foot alright for the Flamingo test? Also, are there any other tests to measure my balance, especially once I've progressed past the Flamingo test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current routine is basically the flamingo test, repeated 10-20 times per day, barefoot on hard surfaces. It is my understanding that once this is effortless (defined, I suppose, by not feeling any twitching in my foot) I can progress to turning my head (so as to further constrict the inner ear fluid effects on balance and &lt;a href=&quot;http://uvaendurosport.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/proprio-what-a-deeper-look-at-balance-and-stability/&quot;&gt;focus solely on somatosensory input&lt;/a&gt;). I assume that by this point the flamingo test will be too easy and a different test will be needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-16T16:52:27.953" LastActivityDate="2015-09-12T16:23:57.810" Title="How to measure balance?" Tags="&lt;stability&gt;&lt;balance&gt;&lt;proprioception&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3291" CreationDate="2011-08-16T17:12:50.883" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes they do have a bulking period and then dieting down period. i have heard from a few bodybuilding coach's that they will have there clients gain around 15% body fat which helps gain muscle quicker than lower body fat percentages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When its close to there contest they slowly cut calories while doing low heart rate cardio in the morning before breakfast. They will also drink a amino acid fluid when walking in the morning to target fat break down and keep most of there bulking phase gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most bodybuilbers 'cutting' down to 4-5% body fat takes off more than fat. Some muscle comes off when dieting and doing large amounts of cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The professional bodybuilders you mentioned stay pretty lean in the 10-15% range thru out the year but they supplement like crazy. Plus 'hormones' help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i know personally that building strength and mass is to hard when you're trying to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can either do what the bodybuilders do. Or strength train doing minimal cardio three times a week around 30-40 minutes, eat clean meaning skip on sugar, fried foods, potatoes, wheat and beer. It's difficult to judge what someone needs to do cause every ones body type is different. Its hard to judge when you dont know what the person looks like what kind of training they have been doing. man or woman? weight? age? current diet? injuries? A general answer would be a starting strength program and 30-40 minutes of cardio three times a week with a clean diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T17:12:50.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3301" CreationDate="2011-08-16T18:08:44.947" Score="0" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is so much bogus information on &quot;how&quot; to eat that its overwhelming. So i have a couple questions. What would the perfect diet look like (not carrying about actual type of food just its make up)? For instance would it be 50% protein, 30% carbs ... you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the percentages would you want to adjust these throughout the day? More protein say early am and less at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are eggs good or bad? I am really sick of this one. I love eggs and in one study they are perfectly fine to eat even everyday and in others you should limit them. In another just the whites, and yet again in another it doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting ready to start a new workout routine and diet. Quit smoking after 20 years and finally feel like trying to get in shape but i am trying to weed through all the information and its proving more overwhelming then I could have anticipated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &#xA;How do these things change when planning a meal for a workout and does the workout meal take place before the workout or after. Lastly how long before/after should the meal take place? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1681" LastEditorUserId="1681" LastEditDate="2011-08-16T18:19:22.703" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T22:31:06.837" Title="How to make a well balanced diet?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3302" CreationDate="2011-08-16T18:36:48.570" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting a 3 day a week exercises routine and I am wondering what supplements I should be taking. If you have been following my posts you can see I have posted several time already today. I am really serious about getting healthy and I am trying to avoid the beginning mistakes and really trying to maximize the benefits from the new life style right out of the gate. So this boils down to knowing how/when to eat, how to exercise and how often, and what supplements should be taken to round everything out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1681" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T20:17:46.043" Title="Supplements taken with a healthy diet and exercise regimine" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2918" CreationDate="2011-08-16T19:07:50.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Cycle Harder, Pedal Faster, Go Faster, Ride More, Try Intervals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I think your best options are to enjoy your bike riding, and simply to do it as consistently as possible. Sell all motorized vehicles and rely on bicycles for all your transportation. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the math connected to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/fry-fat-intervals?page=0,1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt; your expected calorie burn rate should be about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;380 kCals/hour at or under 16 km/h (leisurely)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;570 kCals/hour between 16 km/h and 19 km/h (typical speed for a bicycle commuter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;760 kCals/hour between 19 km/h and 23 kmh (moderate effort, very doable with practice)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;950 kCals/hour between 23 km/h and 26 km/h (vigorous)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1140 kCals/hour between 26 km/h and 31 km/h (very fast)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1530 kCals/hour over 31 km/h (racing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be extremely skeptical about such estimates, since the effort to go 20 km/h into a 10 km/h headwind is nearly ten times as much as going 20 km/h with a 10 km/h tailwind. In addition to wind resistance, hills make a ton of difference. It's nearly 0 effort to go down a steep hill and quite a bit of effort to go up it, and you can easily notice a significant difference in effort with slopes you wouldn't even notice as sloping when walking or driving a car. And acceleration is more effort than cruising at a set speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rolling resistance of a bicycle is quite low and doesn't really change as you go faster. The air resistance for going a given distance increases by the square of your speed.  So, &lt;strong&gt;yes, if you go the same distance and do it faster, you should burn more calories doing it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note though that the difference in the calorie burn between that 16 km/h and 19 km/h speed for two hours (380 kCals) is roughly &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-baked-products-ic1800&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one bagel&lt;/a&gt; with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-butter-i1145&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;single pat of butter&lt;/a&gt;. There's a lot to be said for adjusting your nutrition to reduce your calorie intake, like Ryan and Ivo suggest in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bike computer that measures your speed wouldn't hurt; it would give you something to try to increase. One that measures your cadence (pedaling speed) as well as ground-speed would be better. Best would be a heart rate monitor (which some bike computers support talking to) since that's the most practical way to tell how many calories you're burning. (bike computers that actually measure your power output are prohibitively expensive, however).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For calorie burning, it's usually recommended to do &lt;strong&gt;intervals&lt;/strong&gt;.  Basically, after you've warmed up: pedal as hard and fast as you can until your legs burn (30-45 seconds), take it easy for a couple minutes, then push hard again. Making a point of sprinting from the stops is a good way to get some of that kind of push in. This will get your heart rate up and generally burn more calories, but will also help increase your leg strength so that you can do better burning more calories as you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an avid cyclist, I find it hard to figure out how I would do intervals on a singlespeed. When I want to push myself to go faster, I spin up a bit faster, then shift into a higher gear so that I'm still pushing against a decent amount of resistance. Without shifting I'd just spin out and be unable to push myself harder.  Rolling hills on a singlespeed would be very similar to intervals, but it sounds like you don't really have those on your route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T19:07:50.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3299" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3334" CreationDate="2011-08-16T19:10:52.110" Score="8" ViewCount="2306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been seeing this term pop up lately in like in this question about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3294/how-to-measure-balance&quot;&gt;measuring balance&lt;/a&gt;, but I'm not familiar with what it means. There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proprioception&quot;&gt;tag&lt;/a&gt; for it which has no wiki summary. What does this term mean, and what is its relation to exercise? Why would I care about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T04:04:53.807" Title="What is proprioception?" Tags="&lt;proprioception&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3316" CreationDate="2011-08-16T19:21:25.743" Score="13" ViewCount="11886" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kinds of information should be kept in my workout journal? Should it just be a matrix of stats (exercise name, weight, reps, and date) or is there other important information that should be recorded on normal basis? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I record in my journal and what have others found to be useful journals while bouncing around a gym (paper, phone app, nothing and just record it later)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1681" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-17T20:07:20.113" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T00:01:42.723" Title="What should be recorded in my workout journal" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3296" CreationDate="2011-08-16T19:44:33.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you tend to carry your weight only around your midsection, you may lose weight more effectively by cutting back somewhat on carbohydrates, especially the highly processed or sugary carbohydrates. If you tend to carry your extra weight more uniformly, cutting back on overall calories is the best approach, and reducing fat intake is the easiest way to cut calories.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive been reading a few recent studies, one of them show that when a majority of calories are consumed in the p.m. that there test subjects lost more bodyfat than the a.m. test group. They also tested exercises with the test group in the pm and am, the second part of the results show it's better to work out in the p.m. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This other study showed eating all your carbs before 12pm had a big impact on body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaking up your meals to 5 times a day is also important, it boosts your metabolism and it helps burn calories through thermogenesis &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i suggest eating 5 times a day. 50% protein(lean cuts and eggs) 40% carbs (vegetables) and 10% fat. No wheat, potatoes, beer, fried foods or sugar. eating most of your carbs in the morning time. You also need to reduce carbs if most of your weight is in your mid section or lower calories if your body fat is mostly evenly spread through out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories should be around 15x body weight if your trying to loss weight and your on a strength workout program like i wrote or it should be around 13-14x body weight if your body fat is spread evenly through out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly it really doesnt matter much when you time your meals around your workouts as long as your eating 5 times a day. I never worry about timing around workouts and i gain muscle and strength fine cause your always moving food thru your gut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leave me a comment if this is'nt what your looking for.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="1670" LastEditDate="2011-08-17T22:31:06.837" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T22:31:06.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3297" CreationDate="2011-08-16T20:17:46.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;None really if your eating 5 times a day and getting enough protein. &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HERE is a list of great supplements that help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dymatize micronized creatine monohydrate 1000 grams $19.99&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dymatize micronized glutamine 300 grams $15.99&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SciFit Beta Alanine 2000 Powder, 500 Grams $19.97&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can find all these on bodybuilding.com under the store tab. They are great supplements, dont let anyone tell you, 'you need super 9000 creatine or nitro monster beast supplement'. The supplements i posted have been tested by consumer labs for purity and effectiveness. Plus they will last for a looooong time theres so many servings and cheap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to use the supplements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine&lt;/strong&gt;-take 5 grams 3 times through out the day for 3 days then 3 days off. Try and take one of those doses 30 minutes before your workout and spread the doses out with 4 hours in between. Mix with 10-16 oz of water or chosen drink, do not mix with acidic drinks or cola and dont leave your dose in liquid for more than one hour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glutamine&lt;/strong&gt;-take 2.5 grams in the morning than 2.5 grams before you go to bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beta-Alanine&lt;/strong&gt;-20 minutes before your work out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine&lt;/strong&gt;- will make you gain 10 pounds in water weight real quick but its effect on strength during work outs is really helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glutamine&lt;/strong&gt;- helps with so much! recovery and immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beta Alanine&lt;/strong&gt;- its great for giving extra endurance and strength during workouts helping push mass and strength gains.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T20:17:46.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3299" CreationDate="2011-08-16T20:29:44.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think its when your aware of all your body parts like when you close your eyes and your able to touch your nose with out looking. I heard you increase proprioception thru strength training and power exercises. It has to do with your nerves being trained.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="1670" LastEditDate="2011-08-16T21:01:11.290" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T21:01:11.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3299" CreationDate="2011-08-16T21:18:45.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially this means you know where each part of your body is without having to see it - so if you close your eyes, you're able to touch your nose even though you can't see either your hand or your nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't come across anything relating to proprioception in fitness - it's an innate sense (like touch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastActivityDate="2011-08-16T21:18:45.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3305" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3350" CreationDate="2011-08-17T00:04:11.740" Score="5" ViewCount="1929" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like I have been stuck at a certain weight and reps for a while. &#xA;What is the best way to break through this plateau? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard of supersets, negative sets and reverse pyramid. There seems to be many advice out there but I want to know what is the most effective method. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T17:33:45.063" Title="How do you break through a weightlifting plateau?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1808" CreationDate="2011-08-17T02:23:22.527" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have this problem with doing pull ups too but I realised that I straining my neck during the last few reps when you are trying to get your head over the bar. The neck strain can also happen if you jerk your body, or even grit your teeth in the struggle to get the chin past the bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the best prevention is to have better pull-up form. One thing that helped me is to always pack your shoulders into your torso. What this means is when start the pull-up from a dead hang position, pull your shoulders down toward the body and pack them into your torso.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or try this: extend your arms toward the ceiling, your shoulders will beside your ears. Without flexing your elbows, try to bring down your shoulders. Your arms will still point toward the ceiling but your shoulders will be ‘down’ and ‘packed’ into your torso. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T02:23:22.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2011-08-17T03:27:20.317" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clap push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this exercise you assume the push-up position, then performs a&#xA;push-up in an explosive manner, launching your upper body off the ground to&#xA;a height where the participant has time to clap their hands together then place&#xA;their hands back on the ground in the original start position. In this exercise&#xA;the participant continues to perform repetitions until there is a loss in&#xA;technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power push-ups from a kneeling position&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this exercise the participant kneels on the ground with their body vertical and&#xA;their spine in the neutral position, the participant then falls forwards (keeping the&#xA;spine in the neutral position) placing their hands on the ground in the push-up&#xA;position, then explosively performs a push-up, pushing their body back to the&#xA;original start position.In this exercise the participant keeps performing repetitions until the participant can no longer push themselves back to the start position or until&#xA;there is a loss in technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench-Press throw&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this exercise the participant sets up a Smith-Machine as if to do a regular&#xA;Bench-Press, the participant then unlocks the bar and lowers the bar to the&#xA;chest at a rapid pace then explosively pushes the bar into the air (and out of&#xA;the hands), attempting to achieve as much height with the bar as possible,&#xA;then catching the bar. Increasing the weight of the bar will result in a loss of speed and height, each time you increase the weight of the bar, your 2 main objectives will be to work on the speed component and work towards achieving the same height&#xA;reached with the previous lighter weight. If the weight is too heavy there will&#xA;be a noticeable loss in speed, height and technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Horizontal push-press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this exercise the participant holds a BB at chest height while standing in a&#xA;shoulder-width stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The participant then explosively drives the BB horizontally while at the&#xA;same time driving the left foot forwards and the right foot backwards into a&#xA;fighting stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The participant then explosively pulls the bar back into the chest while at&#xA;the same time explosively returning the feet to a shoulder-width stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) The participant again explosively drives the bar horizontally this time the&#xA;right foot is driven forwards and the left foot is driven backwards into a&#xA;fighting stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) This sequence is repeated again and again&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this exercise the participant either works for maximal reps (power endurance),&#xA;stopping when there is a loss in technique, or works towards a set rep range.&#xA;Increasing the weight of the BB will result in a loss in speed, the participant will&#xA;also find it harder to be able to continually keep the bar at chest height as gravity&#xA;is constantly pulling the bar in a downwards direction. Each time you increase the&#xA;weight of the BB your objective will be to work on the speed component while&#xA;keeping immaculate technique, if the additional weight is too heavy, there will be a&#xA;noticeable loss in speed and technique&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Measuring your power out put&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throwing a shot put in the same&#xA;manner in which you would throw a punch is a great means to measure your&#xA;punching power, if the distance that you are throwing the shot put is increasing&#xA;and you are still able to hold good form, then your punching power must also&#xA;be increasing. Throwing a shot put in the same manner in which you would&#xA;throw a punch is also a great exercise to develop your maximal power in the&#xA;same manner you would use a 1RM in the gym for strength training.&#xA;In this exercise the participant adopts an orthodox-fighting stance and holds&#xA;the shot put in their right hand, resting the shot put against their cheek. The&#xA;participant then explosively throws the shot put as if they were throwing a right&#xA;cross from a standing position, rotating their upper body anti-clockwise,&#xA;throwing their right shoulder forwards while pulling their left shoulder&#xA;backwards. It is important that the technique used to throw the shot put is the&#xA;same as the technique used to throw a right cross. To keep the exercise&#xA;simplistic and effective, keep your feet stationary and don’t use any&#xA;unnecessary momentum to assist you in throwing the shot put. The same&#xA;exercise is then repeated off the opposite side of the body, using the left hand&#xA;to throw the shot put as if throwing a left cross from a southpaw fighting&#xA;stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shot puts come in a range of sizes going from 2kg to 8kg in 1kg increments.&#xA;Start with a 2kg shot put which is approximately six times the weight of a 12-&#xA;oz boxing glove, as the 2kg shot put is considerably heavier than a 12oz&#xA;boxing glove, there will be a considerable loss of speed at which the shot put&#xA;is thrown compared to the speed at which a right cross is thrown with a 12oz&#xA;boxing glove on. Initially your objective is to work on the speed component&#xA;while keeping immaculate technique, if the speed at which you throw the shot&#xA;put increases then your throwing distance will increase which inturn means&#xA;that your power output has also increased. Each time you go onto a heavier&#xA;shot put, your training goal will be to work towards achieving the same&#xA;distance thrown with the previous lighter shot put, if the shot put is too heavy&#xA;there will be a noticeable loss in technique and speed and distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T03:27:20.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T06:32:10.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use software like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.workrave.org/&quot;&gt;WorkRave&lt;/a&gt; to get nagged with different exercises proposals every now and then. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;It's a application that was designed to prevent RSI. It nags computer user to take breaks and do different excercises while sitting behind the desk. It wont be a good workout, but will make working with computer less health damaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1693" LastEditorUserId="1693" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T10:53:17.713" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T10:53:17.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T07:23:54.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been programming for nearly 30 years, almost every day, and used to have serious pains in my wrists. Starting about 8 years or so ago, I began using a little wrist exercise tool called a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerballs.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Powerball&lt;/a&gt;&quot; to help with wrist strain. It's a spinning ball/gyro device which is fun to use and helps build strength and flexibility. I do about 10-15 minutes a day and I have not had problems since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1700" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T07:23:54.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T07:35:10.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a programmer, after spending roughly the last 5 years without doing exercise. I got the feeling that I really need to start working out. Especially when I tried to put on one of my suits ( which get worn very rarely ) and it didn't fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my teens I used to be quite healthy, I would exercise everyday at home or the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite knowing I need to do something about it I never did. I wanted to start swimming, but felt reluctant to spend £30 - £50 per month on a gym membership just to go for a swim. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was not till yesterday that I broke the trend and it was not by my own accord. My flat mate recently started going to the gym and is quite an active person in general. After a few drinks he trapped me into suggesting I could beat him at a game of squash ( after a game of table tennis down the local pub ). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He called me from work yesterday to tell me he booked a squash court for that evening. Being quite competitive I couldn't wimp out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By far the best thing I could have done. It's amazing how instantly good you feel even after a short burst of exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point though is this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to motivate yourself to go to the gym after so long without exercise. It's even harder to keep pushing yourself when your there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sport however is different, you can't wimp out on other people without spoiling their fun. And you can't wimp out, because you won't let yourself be the wimp. The same goes while playing our natural affliction for being competitive will keep you pushing yourself without you even thinking about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found squash to be a great sport for easing myself back into exercise. It only has two palyers, so you don't feel like not playing for fear of poor performance among a group of piers. It gives an intense exercise but in a different way than jumping on a treadmill. Your using lots of small bursts of energy so you don't feel as fatigued after 10 mins. As said the competitive nature keeps you going. But its also fun, once your playing it doesn't feel like its something your forcing yourself to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem isn't finding a good exercise to do while sat at your desk, its finding the motivation to go out and exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So find a a fellow programmer or friend and go book yourself a squash or tennis court. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1701" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T07:35:10.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3311" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3318" CreationDate="2011-08-17T07:44:41.257" Score="7" ViewCount="5356" Body="&lt;p&gt;After using my gloves for a while, they begin to stink. I don't try to launder them too much as it's wrecking them. I have had those for 2 years already, and they're still usable. I don't want to waste them by throwing them away. It's not an option to replace, as I'm trying to save as much as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T10:22:06.283" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T10:22:06.283" Title="How to prevent gym gloves stench?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;gloves&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T08:18:16.610" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a programmer who hasn't exercised in a long while, I would recommend something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot;&gt;Couch-to-5K&lt;/a&gt; running plan, or any similar running plan which gets you running 5 kilometers (3 miles) in two months. As Ivo Flipse pointed out, with running you burn a lot of calories and use a lot of muscles, but you don't want to overdo it as a beginner. Running is something you can do everywhere, all you need is a scheme and good pair of shoes to not injure yourself (the wrong shoes are an important factor in running injuries). Go to a running shop where they can analyse your running style (with a camera) and advise which shoes you need based on that.&#xA;Personally I find it very motivating to have a running plan on my ipod: some music and a coach saying when to run or walk alternatingly. I have these only in Dutch but maybe there are also English ones to find on the web.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1711" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T08:18:16.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T08:18:59.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Run! It's good for your body and great for your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physorg.com/news183199377.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;brain&lt;/a&gt;. On top of that it also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_exercise#Effects_on_brain_function&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reduces the risk of developing dementia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“The best advice I can give to keep your brain healthy and young is&#xA;  aerobic exercise,” &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rd.com/health/7-anti-aging-tips-to-keep-your-brain-young/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says Donald Stuss&lt;/a&gt;, PhD, a neuropsychologist and&#xA;  director of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre for&#xA;  Geriatric Care in Toronto.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1712" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T08:18:59.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T09:15:07.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From personal experience sitting down all day affects the back, neck and shoulders quite a lot. In addition I tend to get wrist problems as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried a couple of different things that I can recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga and stretching&lt;/strong&gt; exercises work well for me if I am feeling tense, I suggest taking a class to learn the basics, and then doing a couple of exercises when you feel you need it. Meditation also makes a nice addition to yoga if you're up for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently started &lt;strong&gt;kayaking&lt;/strong&gt; and I can already feel the effect it's having on my lower back and stomach muscles. I am convinced kayaking will help prevent back problems, and give you a more healthy posture when spending all those hours at the desk. I imitate the kayak motion at work using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.norskdesign.no/moebeldesign/backup-stol-for-trening-av-ryggmuskulaturen-article2335-289.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a chair that requires me to move around to stay balanced&lt;/a&gt; ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, as mentioned in other posts, just getting out walking, running or bicycling, getting some fresh air and some exercise will do wonders :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1717" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T09:15:07.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T10:44:44.880" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Swim:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sitting in an office chair for 10 (11? 12? More?) hours each day, swimming is the best thing you can do to your body. Some of the benefits are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Excellent cardio workout.&lt;/strong&gt; Swimming develops cardio-vascular muscles, improves your endurance, strength, oxygen consumption ratio and flexibility, just to name a few.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No stress on your joints.&lt;/strong&gt; The weightless environment contributes to reduced pressure on your knees, spine, back and everything else you typically use to carry yourself around in day-to-day life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthen muscles you typically don't use.&lt;/strong&gt; Core, arms, shoulders, legs - you name it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improve your posture.&lt;/strong&gt; Unlike cycling or running, swimming forces you to stretch out and activate all the skeletal muscles that are normally hunched over when you work, walk, sit, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enjoy some quiet time.&lt;/strong&gt; This is a personal favorite - here's a chance to filter out some of the noise we have to live with and just have some time to relax, listen to your inner voice (or a waterproof music player) and just chill or get some thinking done.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1723" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T10:50:44.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2011-08-17T13:01:09.983" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to an excel template that contains the basic format/info you would want to capture: &lt;a href=&quot;http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT010144099.aspx?tl=2#pg:4%7Cai%3aTC030000110%7C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT010144099.aspx?tl=2#pg:4|ai:TC030000110|&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to set up your routine prior to the workout and track progress.  My approach is a little simpler, I keep a small book, write down the exercises, check mark for each set and record the max weight.....I also put in how the workout was and how I felt.  A journal could be used for many things, such as: tracking progress, sharing with a trainer, providing hints for changes, etc...but to me, the most important aspect is motivation - its good to see what progress you're making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T13:01:09.983" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T15:02:41.920" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Surprised there has been no mention of &lt;a href=&quot;http://jugglefit.com&quot;&gt;juggling for fitness&lt;/a&gt; yet! Many programmers I have worked with or met already know how to do it, and it's really easy to learn with scarves first. There are also tons of videos on YouTube or other sites to show you how. People don't generally think of it as exercise, but it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's an aerobic activity that burns 280 calories an hour just like walking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's easy to do in the office&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tones arms and engages core muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The motion of throwing balls up counteracts the repetitive downward position of the hands while on the computer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's been shown to grow gray matter in the brain, making it a brain-body exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I created a fitness product called &lt;a href=&quot;http://cardioinabox.com&quot;&gt;Cardio in a Box&lt;/a&gt; designed for the office desk. It's loosely based on juggling, and there are easy moves you can do even when on the phone that work the core muscles and arms and give you energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even just standing up during phone calls or meetings will give you more energy and burn extra calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastEditorUserId="1659" LastEditDate="2011-08-17T15:22:05.040" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T15:22:05.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3311" CreationDate="2011-08-17T15:12:28.577" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a zip lock bag and 4 tablespoons of baking soda. Put gloves into bag after workout and shake it like a paint mixer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well bacteria thrives off of your sweat so baking soda will absorb the moisture and stop the stink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and i forgot but another way is to throw your gloves into the &lt;strong&gt;freezer&lt;/strong&gt; it will kill the bacteria that causes the stink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="1670" LastEditDate="2011-08-17T17:48:40.020" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T17:48:40.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T15:41:18.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exercisesatwork.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; (disclaimer: I'm the developer) emails you a daily common sense exercise that can be done at or near your desk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, today's is lunges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in addition to the great exercises listed here that you can do outside of your work day (swimming, etc.), these exercises can be done at work to alleviate some of the strains that the body experiences while sitting continuously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of receiving an exercise by email is that the email will remind you to exercise. Also, there's no need to install additional software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1757" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-01T14:22:38.350" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:22:38.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3327" CreationDate="2011-08-17T17:42:13.580" Score="15" ViewCount="76568" Body="&lt;p&gt;EDIT: 12/2019 &#xA;Since this question still occasionally gets hits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the years since I asked this question I found out that I have sleep apnea.  I also learned about the effects of mouth breathing which significantly increases your risk for a variety of problems, such as this one.  I've been doing myo-functional therapy exercises (&lt;a href=&quot;https://myfaceology.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;with this therapist&lt;/a&gt;), learning to &lt;a href=&quot;https://didgeproject.com/product/didge-sleep-introductory-package-a-complete-didgeridoo-sleep-apnea-therapy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;play the Didgeridoo&lt;/a&gt;, and reading and practicing the exercises from the book &quot;The Oxygen Advantage&quot;.  I also now sleep with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.buteykobreathinghealth.com/store/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mouth tape&lt;/a&gt;.  I've still got a ways to go, but my journey in learning to breath better has improved this quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a bit of an odd question, whenever I do cardio workouts that get my heart rate up and breathing hard I get phlegm buildup in my throat and my nose starts running.  It's not a huge amount but it's enough that I wind up spitting and wiping my nose frequently during workouts (the snot sometimes comes out greenish but mostly clear).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been happening pretty consistently for as long as I can remember.  I regularly run, bike, swim, and do pilates (typically 2 - 3 times a week for each though I've been falling off lately with pilates).  Pilates is the only exercise that doesn't cause this because it's a slower pace more focused on core strength and flexibility so my heart rate doesn't get very high and I'm never pushed to breathing heavily.  It's also not effected by workout frequency, the times in my life where I've been working out less/not at all have not decreased this when I start up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what would cause this and what I could do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1765" LastEditorUserId="1765" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T20:33:12.830" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T20:33:12.830" Title="Lots of phlegm while doing cardio workouts" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2011-08-17T17:44:15.020" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might be useful: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trulyhuge.com/TrainingJournal.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.trulyhuge.com/TrainingJournal.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link I have provided may be used as a starting point for those interested in weight training.I have been training for a while and I find writing down my routine on paper really useful, motivating, convenient and less tedious than using apps or none. The pdf highlights the importance of training journal, tips on how to keep a good journal, advice on Build Muscle and Lose Fat, Gain Muscle While Staying Lean, Gain Weight and Size. For me if I have a journal with me at the gym I am more focused as opposed to being all over the place and doing the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DSimH.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1766" LastEditorUserId="1766" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T20:14:05.980" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T20:14:05.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3311" CreationDate="2011-08-17T17:53:06.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I leave mine in the sun (on my dash) afterwards.  They get a little faded, but they never stink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1767" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T17:53:06.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3311" CreationDate="2011-08-17T19:13:03.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting a dryer sheet in each glove will help them dry faster and stink less. I use them in my vibrams too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T19:13:03.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T19:36:51.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, sitting is still really bad for you even if you exercise later. Honestly, the best way is to look into a standing desk. They're expensive to buy but cheap to transform some supplies into a standing desk. My boss at work does it. He said the first 2 weeks are hard but you get used to it plus you feel more energetic throughout the day. Lastly, you still keep a chair to relax in every now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1772" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T19:36:51.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-17T19:55:55.797" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to play EA Sports Active 2 Kinect version. If you want, you can download the kinect SDK and make your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The game includes a heart rate monitor so you can watch your heart rate while 'playing'. For starters, it has a 3 week cardio kick start program, which consists of different kinds of exersice and mini games: boxing, dodgeball (my favorate）， soccer keeper, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a fitness game such as EA Sports Active 2 is great for programmers, because:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Programmers like automation: the game auto arranges the exercise for you, every day, so you don't have to worry about what to do, how many cycles need to do, etc..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Programmers like numbers: it has heart rate monitor so you know how many calories you've burned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Programmers like achievements: you can actually unlock achievements in the game. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Programmers like tech: kinect is cool, isn't it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1775" LastEditorUserId="1775" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T06:19:44.090" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T06:19:44.090" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3320" CreationDate="2011-08-17T20:35:54.123" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have a new enemy and its name is CHEESE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Believe it or not, this is some what common.  It frustrated me for quite some time before I found the cause.  DAIRY.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to have a cup of greek yogurt every day as well as some quantity of milk and ice cream throughout the week. Every single time I would get in the pool, I would be annoyed with phlegm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try cutting out or reducing dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.) for a few days and see if it gets better.  It certainly did with me.  I still have eggs or egg substitutes almost daily and that does not seem to bother me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/341823-foods-that-cause-mucus-buildup/&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a supporting article from livestrong.com that supports dairy as a cause and accelerator of phlegm is some people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it may be a intolerance to lectin (which is a component of dairy).  But, it may not be dairy that causes your excess mucus.  Other sources of lectin are legumes, glutens, and potatoes.  More on lectin intolerance can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T00:18:59.863" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T00:18:59.863" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3274" CreationDate="2011-08-17T20:45:01.383" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer is no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For short runs of less than an hour, you certainly do not need to fuel.  On longer runs - even ultra marathons - you do not want to eat immediately before running. Instead, on longer runs it is best to fuel on the run either through liquid calories (preferred) or small portions of solid calories.  Depending on body size and effort you should consume about ~240 calories per hour during workouts longer than one hour.  Your body can sustain itself in this for hours on end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to eat before you run, let it be at least 2-3 hours before hand.  If you feel like you absolutely need to eat something before a short run, try drinking a glass of water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the run fueling options are plentiful.  I recommend sticking to products containing natural ingredients (skip high fructose corn syrup products).  Some recommended vendors and products are Hammer Nutrition's HEED, PowerBar Perform, Infinit Nutrition, ClifShots, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I would absolutely recommend fueling with 20 minutes AFTER running.  This is the time that your body will be best at absorbing fuel to help you recover and rebuild your glycogen stores.  A recovery meal/shake/drink should be somewhere around 200-300 calories depending on body size and duration of exercise with about 20g of protein.  The vendor's I mentioned above also have some quite good products for recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T20:45:01.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3277" CreationDate="2011-08-17T20:51:54.713" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, Sustained Energy and Perpetuem from Hammer Nutrition can be concentrated into a paste.  With this, you don't really need to drink a ton of water.  But, if you are running for a few hours, you'll definitely want to consume 20-24 oz of water in addition to your fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another great company is Infinit Nutrition.  They have some very good products specific for running and cycling and can be custom formulated for your individual needs and preferences.  And, these custom formulas are just about the same cost as Hammer products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would stay away from the items listed in other answers here especially if you have a sensitive stomach or experience GI issues often.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a big market for endurance fueling products and lots of vendors.  It's not just hype.  I can't imagine getting through a half ironman on snickers, flat soda and jelly beans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T20:51:54.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="232" CreationDate="2011-08-17T20:52:34.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly: creatine and other supplements are only necessary after you have the fundamentals of your lifting program and diet straightened out. Don't worry about them for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, the most efficient way to get bigger is to A) tell your body to get bigger by lifting barbells and B) feed your body a lot of food so it has the material to get bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squatting and deadlifting are the foundation of any lifting program. Bench press, overhead press, or pull-ups/chin-ups should be included as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The basic workout plan is to lift three times a week, doing 3 heavy sets of 5 reps after warming up and working up to the weight. (Chin-ups and pull-ups should be done as 3 sets of as many as you can do.) Each time you work out, add a small amount of weight to the bar. For further detail I recommend Mark Rippetoe's book, Starting Strength. It explains the exercises and workout planning in the kind of detail one would need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the food front, you'll want to eat lots of vegetables, lots of meat, milk, eggs, and not too much sugar or carbs. Once you start lifting heavy you need to eat tremendous amounts of food (especially protein, especially animal protein). For further detail I recommend Rob Wolf and the Paleo template.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-10T15:25:41.997" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T15:25:41.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3332" CreationDate="2011-08-17T22:34:31.847" Score="5" ViewCount="17442" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am lifting weights, I noticed that there are calluses that form at the base of the fingers. I am fine with them but sometimes the start to dry up and peel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to remove them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I surmised that wearing gloves while lifting weights will minimise the calluses but is there another way to prevent them without wearing gloves? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T10:24:06.093" LastActivityDate="2013-02-15T18:53:54.303" Title="How do I remove and prevent calluses from weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;callus&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3331" CreationDate="2011-08-17T23:01:46.427" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well technically you're not gripping the bar right, but who does?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The top layers of calluses will eventually peel off, becoming a little smoother, but this cycle just keeps going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are three ways to prevent calluses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop all pulling exercises – not a good option &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear gloves – not for me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or grip the bar slightly above your calluses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I said you grip wrong. Open your palm and put your finger across the bottom of your calluses, your finger represents the bar. Now in a pulling exercise the bar or (finger) will push that skin towards your fingers; do this with your finger and you will see what I mean.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now put your finger right above your calluses and curl your fingers over slightly and then slide your finger up. You're not pinching your skin between the bar and fingers now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Basically grip the bar slightly above your calluses so your skin doesn't get pinched. We have a tendency to do this because it makes the bar thicker in our hand, giving a better grip but causing calluses.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last note: when you can deadlift 600 pounds you do not want to pinch the skin in your grip it will tear your calluses away from hand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better strengthen your grip and practice better technique before you start pulling heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T10:17:34.557" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T10:17:34.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3331" CreationDate="2011-08-17T23:59:25.393" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting heavy, chalk can help by preventing the bar from slipping in your grip, which pulls on the skin. Most commercial gyms won't allow this, but you can do it in a home gym or a powerlifting-friendly gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to remove existing calluses, a pumice stone will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-08-17T23:59:25.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3299" CreationDate="2011-08-18T00:43:41.367" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proprioception = Position Sense.&lt;/strong&gt;  It is the internal awareness of the body’s position and posture.   Receptors in the body, such as proprioceptors in the muscle spindles or tendons as well as the ear’s labyrinth, receive information about joint position, pressure or stretch and provide feedback.  This sense allows you to close your eyes and still know where your body parts are in space.  Without this kinesthetic sense, you would not be able to maintain your balance with your eyes closed, or tell if your knee is bent or straight unless you look at it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is proprioception important to fitness and exercise?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The better your proprioceptive sense, the better your joints can adapt to changes in position, such as running on uneven surfaces.  Proprioception is not an all or nothing sense.  Instead there are degrees of sensitivity and accuracy.  Proprioceptive senses can lessen with aging or injury and can improve with neuromuscular training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why should you care about proprioception?&lt;/strong&gt;  Good proprioception is important in balance, agility, athletic performance and injury prevention.  If you have sprained an ankle for example, your ankle joint’s proprioceptive sense is reduced (unless you have specifically rehabilitated to regain that awareness).  This makes your ankle, and the muscles surrounding your ankle, less efficient and more prone to re-injury.  To improve your proprioceptive sense try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/proprioceptive-training.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; such as one legged standing balance with and without movement, with eyes open and closed, toe or heel walking and balance on a wobble board or BOSU.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T04:04:53.807" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T04:04:53.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3294" CreationDate="2011-08-18T01:44:30.783" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Timed one foot (leg) standing balance assessments are often used to measure static balance.    The criteria to stop timing is the loss of position of the:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•    arms (crossed in front of your chest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•    trunk (greater than 45 degrees off center) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•    movement of  the stationary leg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•    lowering your raised foot to touch the floor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Micro-corrections as you describe would not end the test.  The test can be done initially with the eyes opened and then with the eyes closed.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/balance-flamingo.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flamingo Test&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/balance-stork.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stork Test&lt;/a&gt; are types of timed one foot standing balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dynamic balance involves balance with movement.  Tandem walking (walking heel to toe without deviating from a straight line) would measure dynamic balance.  Doing a one legged standing balance test while moving the raised leg forward, to the side and back would also test dynamic balance. Example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdypNR9Hx9Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Y Test&lt;/a&gt;  To do this test without the kit, place tape on the ground and measure the distance reached with your toe on each portion of the Y.  Additional balance tests can test basic &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/M_RU5m1BxdU?t=1m7s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forward, backward and lateral&lt;/a&gt; stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your routine, here are some good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/proprioceptive-training.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proprioceptive exercises&lt;/a&gt; for the lower extremities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2015-09-12T16:23:57.810" LastActivityDate="2015-09-12T16:23:57.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4582" CreationDate="2011-08-18T03:01:26.957" Score="7" ViewCount="2271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently heard &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t32xJspx50o&quot;&gt;about having a tight Iliotibial Band&lt;/a&gt; and how its important to stretch it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However since I've been stretching it (gentle 30 second stretches, a variety of them in succession), &lt;em&gt;it seems to be getting tighter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know why this is or what I'm doing wrong, &lt;strong&gt;so I would like to know how to properly stretch my Iliotibial Band?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-21T10:05:58.237" LastActivityDate="2011-11-12T16:51:26.137" Title="How to properly stretch your Iliotibial Band?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-18T03:49:48.517" Score="12" ViewCount="2073" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these formulas close to every ones one rep max on varies exercises? and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how accurate this is for everyone and if you have anything better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Formulas to find your one rep max&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;1rm&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2 reps- 1.06 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;3 reps- 1.09 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;4 reps- 1.12 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;5 reps- 1.15 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;6 reps- 1.18 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;7 reps- 1.21 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;8 reps- 1.24 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;9 reps- 1.27 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;10 reps- 1.302 x weight lifted= 1rm&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example on how to use&lt;/strong&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to the gym today and benched 300 pounds for 5 repetitions so i apply the formula &lt;strong&gt;5 reps&lt;/strong&gt;- 1.15 x 300 pounds = 345 pounds for my one rep maximum&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T17:00:22.877" Title="How to find your one repetition maximum?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3338" CreationDate="2011-08-18T04:39:39.270" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is one formula that will make a good estimate, but it's important to remember that it is just an estimate and individual milage will vary. The only way to know for sure is to try it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These formulae are generally targeted towards experienced strength athletes; novices are unlikely to be able to lift the predicted 1RM because they haven't trained their nervous system to sufficiently stimulate their muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805413&quot;&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/a&gt;, women can generally lift an intensity close to their 1RM more times than men can, so e.g. their 5RM is much close to their 1RM than a man's would typically be. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/1rm-calculator.aspx&quot;&gt;This online 1RM calculator&lt;/a&gt; lists a number of alternate formulae:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brzycki: 1RM = W x (36 / (37 - R))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Epley: 1RM = W x (1 + 0.0333 x R)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lander: 1RM = (100 x W) / (101.3 - 2.67123 x R)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lombardi: 1RM = W x R0.1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mayhew et al.: 1RM = (100 x W) / (52.2 + (41.9 x e-0.055 x R))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;O'Conner et al.: 1RM = W x (1 + 0.025 x R)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wathan: 1RM = (100 x W) / (48.8 + (53.8 x e-0.075 x R))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T04:39:39.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3337" CreationDate="2011-08-18T12:59:34.717" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Exercise Prescription (ExRx.net) site, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Kinesiology/Inflexibilities.html&quot;&gt;a few exercises and stretches&lt;/a&gt; you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Testing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Testing/FlexFunction/ObersTest.html&quot;&gt;Ober's Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Affected Exercises:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBLunge.html&quot;&gt;Barbell Lunges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBStepUp.html&quot;&gt;Barbell Stepup&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Corrective Exercises and Stretches:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/HipAbductors/StandingIliotibial.html&quot;&gt;Standing Iliotibial Stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/GluteusMaximus/Lying.html&quot;&gt;Lying Glute Stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipAbductor/LVSeatedHipAbduction.html&quot;&gt;Lever Seated Hip Abduction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T12:59:34.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3342" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3349" CreationDate="2011-08-18T13:21:32.327" Score="13" ViewCount="33700" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out on Tuesday and today is my second workout. I did squats on Tuesday and today my legs are still so sore I have trouble going from standing to sitting, sitting to standing, and stairs are just mean and nasty. Should I still do squats today or skip them? I am not injured, its not that kind of pain, but I am VERY sore. To add to my question what causes this kind of soreness and is there anything that can be done to minimize it or shorten the recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1681" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T13:27:01.580" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T16:25:52.620" Title="Should you work through soreness?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2640" CreationDate="2011-08-18T13:22:23.520" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;A theory of abstaining from sexual activity postulates that sexual frustration increases aggression since testosterone would still be in the body instead of expelled due to ejaculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;&quot;Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine&quot;&lt;/em&gt; article by Samanatha McGlone and Ian McShrier, titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Fulltext/2000/10000/Does_Sex_the_Night_Before_Competition_Decrease.1.aspx&quot;&gt;Does Sex the Night Before Competition Decrease Performance?&lt;/a&gt; and published in 2000, suggests that sex the night before has no effect on performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example the authors cite from three &lt;em&gt;physiological&lt;/em&gt; studies involved 14 married males to test their grip strength after at least six days of abstinence. This study suggests that sex had no effect on the men's strength or endurance in the test. Another similar study tested &quot;grip strength, balance, lateral movement, reaction time, and aerobic power&quot; on 10 fit and married men with the similar results. The last study cited, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8775649&quot;&gt;Effects of sexual intercourse on maximal aerobic power, oxygen pulse, and double product in male sedentary subjects&lt;/a&gt;, also produced similar conclusions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is a &lt;em&gt;physiological&lt;/em&gt; study, performance would degrade if the sexual activity lead to complete exhaustion. At most 250 calories are burned an hour during (aggressive) sex according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://drmirkin.com/archive/6750.html&quot;&gt;Dr. Gabe Mirkin&lt;/a&gt;. A study of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6476990&quot;&gt;heart rate, rate-pressure product, and oxygen uptake during four sexual activities&lt;/a&gt; shows that the maximum peak of exercise occurs during orgasm but quickly subsides to baseline levels thereafter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that is not to say these studies are absolute. The authors suggest that the effects of aggression on non-physiological variables such as attitude and motivation should have been measured. In addition, there are a number of factors like time of day, stress, fatigue, frequency and duration of sex, diet, sexual partner, and individual sexual responses that are difficult to control in a study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article isn't conclusive, but it also doesn't dive into mentality at all. In general, sex doesn't seem to have any significant physiological effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-09-11T23:17:51.327" LastActivityDate="2011-09-11T23:17:51.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3338" CreationDate="2011-08-18T13:28:00.310" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering the many formulas available for predicting your 1RM (one rep max), the best way to know which is closer &lt;em&gt;for you&lt;/em&gt; is to test it at least once.  Many intermediate strength programs have a day to test your 1RM built in as part of the program, and you'll be testing it once or twice per program cycle (roughly 12 weeks on average).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get to the point you want to know for sure what your current 1RM is, you'll need to test it safely.  Even if you have three spotters, a dropped barbell can happen so fast that they may not be able to catch it in time.  So, proper equipment is necessary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power rack&lt;/strong&gt;: this is a cage with safety rails.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safety rails&lt;/strong&gt;: the safety rails should be put low enough so that it won't interfere with the barbell while you are lifting, but high enough not to cause injury if you drop the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flat bench&lt;/strong&gt;: If you are testing a bench press, you need a flat bench that can fit in the cage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the rest is about testing the actual 1RM.  You will want to have multiple 1 rep sets slowly ramping up in weight.  My suggestion, and feel free to customize for the way you want to work, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with the highest weight you've lifted so far.  If it's your 5RM, that's the starting weight.  (You want one good lift)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the lowest calculated 1RM from the equations above. (Brzycki formula: 337.5 in your case)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the highest calculated 1RM from the equations above. (Epley formula: 350 in your case)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using your past experience of how you feel, add sets increasing what you think you can above that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, you'll have a minimum of 3 sets.  You may decide after your second set that you might want another set or so in between.  For example, if you feel like 337.5 is pushing yourself to your limits, you might try a small increase of 2.5lb and see if you can do 340.  The bottom line is you keep going until you just can't anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T13:28:00.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3305" CreationDate="2011-08-18T13:46:24.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best answer is that it depends on the program you're on: what exercises, sets and reps you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possible answer is that it sounds like you're using bodybuilding techniques (pyramids, negatives) on what's ostensibly a weightlifting question. You might want to look into a simple deload. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deloading is simply backing off the weight without changing the number of reps or sets. So if you're doing 3 sets of 5 reps at a weight of 135 and you're not able to increase the weight, a deload is in order. Your want to decrease the weight by 10% or 20%, so your next workout would be 3 sets of 5 reps at a weight of 120 or 105. You'd then resume adding weight by 2.5, 5, or 10 pounds at a time on each consecutive workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By backing off on the weight--but continuing the same exercise--you're allowing your body to recover while still sending it the signal to grow in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T13:46:24.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3342" CreationDate="2011-08-18T14:47:50.490" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/1346.html&quot;&gt;Muscle soreness is caused by damage to your muscles from your workout.&lt;/a&gt; This is a good thing, as it tells your muscles to adapt. As long as you are differentiating between soreness and injury, you can work out while sore. In fact, working out the same muscles will probably reduce the soreness you are feeling. Once you warm up, you might find the majority of your pain has dissipated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can do on your off days &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/activerecovery.htm&quot;&gt;to reduce soreness is active recovery&lt;/a&gt;. This involves light exercise that increases blood flow. Just walking or cycling slowly are examples that would help with your leg soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you can use ice to reduce inflammation, reduce pain, and speed up the recovery process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T18:05:52.053" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T18:05:52.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3305" CreationDate="2011-08-18T14:54:52.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One tenet of crossfit [crossfit.com], which I have found to be very effective in preventing plateaus, is &quot;constant variation&quot;. Variation is also endorsed by the very effective Westside barebell program [www.westside-barbell.com]. In your case, this can mean changing your workout slightly to avoid adaptation by your body. For example, if you are stuck with bench press (or before you get stuck), you could try several of the following:&#xA;Change grip width for each set.&#xA;Do more sets at a lighter weight&#xA;Attach chains or bands to the bar.&#xA;Work on related lifts, like shoulder press and push-ups.&#xA;Try the negative sets or pyramids you mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These small variations to the same exercise are usually enough to get your body out of a rut. The most effective change is not to some magical method, but change itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T14:54:52.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-08-18T15:10:54.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my technique to force myself to take regular breaks at the office (and at home): drink a lot of water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow one of the medically recommended intakes that apply to you (there are several figures): 8x8 (eight eight-ounce glasses), 2 liters, or up even to 3 liters - but don't exceed yourself. The point is, drink plenty of water. Then every hour or so my bladder forces me to take a restroom break. I try to walk to the restroom farthest from my desk. Watch out: never hold your bladder - it's bad for you. It has to work as an alarm, you must get up and leave on the first call. On the way back, I stop by the fountain and drink some more water, or get a refill when I have a bottle with me. I stretch a little, I look out the window, I breathe and relax myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is not a real exercise, but it really helps me stretch my knees and relax my eyes and my mind every 50-70 minutes. I also noticed I don't get sleepy anymore thanks to water maintaining electrolyte levels balanced in my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ps: and don't replace water with soft drinks, coffee, tea or anything else! Just plain fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T15:10:54.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3342" CreationDate="2011-08-18T17:13:28.140" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt; continue your normally scheduled workout session.  The soreness will be greatly lessened over time as you get used to using your muscles regularly.  It is better to have a light day and keep exercising than it is to skip altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, severe DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), as it sounds like you are experiencing, is a symptom of asking your unadapted body to do a lot more work than it was ready for.  The problem is not &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;fatigue&lt;/em&gt; and recovery.  Your body isn't used to bouncing back from doing hard work yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation for you is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deload about 20% (reduce the weight on the bar), and concentrate on form.  You want to go to at least parallel to get the most from the exercise.  If you can't do the exercise with proper form, keep taking weight off until you can.  Bad technique is what causes injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use that new lower weight as your current work weight and progressively load from there (add 5 lbs or 2.5kg per session).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a foam roller and stretch after you exercise.  This will help aid in recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say for example, you jumped in your first session with 135lb squats and you are not accustomed to that type of exercise.  You would deload to 105lb and work up from there.  Now, let's say when you did the 135lb squats you only went halfway down.  The weight was too heavy for you then and it's too heavy for you now.  You might have to go all the way down to 65lb or even the empty bar to get the technique right.  When you are starting out, technique is more important than the weight on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting stronger is not a sprint.  You get there slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T17:13:28.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3305" CreationDate="2011-08-18T17:33:45.063" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of modern exercise theory is based off of a study &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthnewsnet.com/gap.html&quot;&gt;done in the 1930s by Selye&lt;/a&gt;.  People have since expanded on the basic theory, and has two main factors that govern the body's ability to adapt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress.  The body needs enough stress to disrupt homeostasis (forcing a supercompensation) that you desire.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery.  The body needs enough rest and resources to perform the supercompensation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the body becomes more adapted to doing a certain kind of work, it is normal for progress to slow down.  A beginner can make adapt every session, but after about 3-9 months (depending on prior training, genetics, and size) recovery starts taking longer.  The typical 3 day a week work sets is too much work to compensate in time for.  The trainee is then intermediate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, for intermediate trainees there needs to be some variation in intensity and in work volume to facilitate active recovery and continue progress.  Additionally, the more advanced a trainee becomes, the more prone to over-training they can get because they are becoming much closer to their genetic potential.  A common strategy that is used by intermediate lifters is now know as the &quot;Texas Method&quot;.  The work looks similar to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday is a heavy day.  5x5 at your current 5RM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday is a light day.  3x5 or 3x3 at 70-80% of Monday's weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday you go for a personal record.  For lifts like squats you go for 5lbs more than Monday's lift.  For lifts like a bench press you alternate between 1RM (RM= rep max), 2RM, or 3RM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This provides enough variation for many intermediate lifters to keep maintaining progress.  If your goal is hypertrophy, you will still apply the same principles, but you will be using different rep ranges for your sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend getting the book &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; by Rippetoe and Kilgore, as it goes into much more detail than I have room for here.  It's a very balanced look at weight training, and does not presuppose you are only doing power lifting or any one specific focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T17:33:45.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3367" CreationDate="2011-08-18T18:15:04.987" Score="49" ViewCount="4142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope this question is on-topic for this site. It seems to me that sleep is a pretty big ingredient in fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pretty much never get enough sleep. It's not for lack of trying though. I just can't seem to do it. I find it very difficult to fall asleep. And also very difficult to get out of bed in the morning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large part of my problem is that I'm a night person by nature. Even if I'm tired all day long, I often feel wide awake after the sun sets. However to get to work on time during the week, I must get up by 7:30am at the absolute latest. That means that in order to get 8 hours of sleep, I would need to fall asleep by 11:30pm every night. At 11:30pm I am generally not inclined to sleep. Even when I turn all the lights out and go to bed, I find myself staring at the ceiling for a couple hours before finally drifting off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not just a night-time problem though. There have been times where I've been extremely tired and I've tried to nap during the day. Sometimes I can do it, but often I just can't fall asleep, despite being tired. I seem to have an all-around insomnia problem. But it is usually easier to sleep during the day than at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've already talked to 2 doctors about this, and neither of them was very helpful. They gave me some suggestions, which I've tried my best to follow, but it didn't make much of a difference. They did not seem to think that there was a medical cause for my condition. They didn't offer to prescribe me any medication, and I didn't ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly one thing I've been bad about is getting up and going to bed at the same time every day. I make an effort to do so, and I must be at work at the same time every day Monday-Friday, so you would think it would be easy. But if I don't fall asleep until 2:00am or even 3:00am some week nights, then by the time the weekend comes around I may really be exhausted and I may give in to the temptation to sleep past noon, which feels great but probably prolongs my problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think that the problem is probably largely psychological, because I often find it easier to sleep in hotels and in strange places than I do in my own home. No idea why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things I've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Avoiding caffeine after 12:00pm&lt;/b&gt;. This was something my doctor recommended. I actually have tried to quit caffeine altogether a few times, but I always keep coming back to my morning coffee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Over-the-counter medication&lt;/b&gt; - Sleep aids like diphenhydramine often (but not always) make me drowsy. Still, I've found that even when they make me drowsy, that doesn't necessarily mean I can fall asleep. It's like my brain fights a loss of consciousness down to the last. I tried a number of over-the-counter solutions for 1-2 weeks each, then stopped using them because they didn't seem to help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Eating a heavy meal shortly before bed&lt;/b&gt; - Same as above. It may make me more drowsy, but doesn't seem to actually cause sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Keeping non-sleep activities out of the bedroom&lt;/b&gt; - I'm haven't been 100% faithful, but I moved my computer and my desk out of my bedroom, and I try to keep my portable gadgets out of there, at least when I remember.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Staying away from screens before bed&lt;/b&gt; - I listed this here because I have &lt;em&gt;attempted&lt;/em&gt; it, but honestly I didn't really succeed. My life is pretty much run by computer and as long as I'm awake I'm probably near a screen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Exercise&lt;/b&gt; - Exercising within 3 hours or so of going to bed completely destroys my ability to sleep. I become &quot;wired&quot; and full of energy. Exercising earlier in the day seems to increase my need for sleep (it's harder to get out of bed the day after I do strenuous exercise), but doesn't seem to increase my drowsiness or ability to fall asleep at night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really at my wits end trying to solve this problem. I feel like it's affecting my health and my quality of life, and it's &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; affecting my fitness routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;How can I learn to fall asleep, and keep good sleep habits?&lt;/b&gt; Does anyone have any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T12:34:54.790" Title="How can I make myself get enough sleep?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="39" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3353" CreationDate="2011-08-18T18:27:18.200" Score="2" ViewCount="436" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a few different sites and blogs, there's a lot of mention of military presses being bad for the shoulder.  Are they any worse than any other exercise? and if so, what would be an alternative method to get the same results?&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYTL4.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T18:52:58.833" Title="Are military presses any worse than any other exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3352" CreationDate="2011-08-18T18:52:58.833" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've read, the problem isn't the motion as much as the bar position.  In short, with the bar behind the neck, it is very easy to injure yourself, and in people who lack the proper shoulder flexibility to cause rotator cuff injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/lbswrStK8cs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;press&lt;/a&gt;&quot; in its general definition of a standing lift with the bar in front of the head is a very safe lift and does not come with the extra stress on the tendons and ligaments.  It's also very beneficial at addressing all the muscle groups referenced in your diagram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T18:52:58.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3354" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3372" CreationDate="2011-08-18T19:52:32.463" Score="16" ViewCount="4050" Body="&lt;p&gt;In response to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1240/crunches-before-or-after-sit-ups/1242#1242&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, I was curious what exercises specifically target the abdominal muscles. Answers given so far include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Works abs directly:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/WtVerticalStraightLegRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;leg raises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWKneelingWheelRollout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rollout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Indirectly:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is two-fold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's wrong with the age-old &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtCrunch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crunch&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other good abdominal exercises are there?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2019-01-15T18:49:01.693" Title="Optimal exercises for an abdominal workout" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="21" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3351" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:31:50.583" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you have two goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fall asleep faster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fall asleep earlier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I'd suggest you learn about your own sleep patterns. &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/5828581/how-i-achieved-better-sleep-with-the-help-of-technology&quot;&gt;Lifehacker&lt;/a&gt; had a nice article on technology that can be helpful. By keeping closer track of the experiments you've done that are mentioned above you might notice things like, you need two days of consistency to make staying away from screens to be effective or some such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Irregular sleep patterns (sleeping in until noon on the weekend) will definitely sabotage your goals. You're not doing yourself any favors by sleeping in excessively on the weekend. 30 minutes is one thing, but more than that and it is no wonder you don't feel tired at a normal time that evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've listed the normal suggestions for falling asleep faster and you may be one of the people who simply can't fall asleep quickly. I was that way for +30 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What really cured my insomnia was my son's birth. Sounds weird given the typical new parent up all night stories, but the truth was that it fixed my attitude. Knowing that there was no way to get a solid 8 hours of sleep and I had to take it when I could get it trained me to go to bed after finishing my evening work. 9:30pm and I was in bed! Get a few hours of sleep before my 2am calling. In a matter of weeks I went from staring at the ceiling for hours to falling asleep within minutes of lying down. All because there was no option to sleep in late or make it up another time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T20:31:50.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3356" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:36:02.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength is the ability of the body to exert force. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training involves conditioning the body to move in space against progressively significant resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T20:40:14.923" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T20:40:14.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3357" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:36:02.893" Score="0" Body="Strength is the ability of the body to exert force. Questions are about training methods for improving strength." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:59:17.363" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:59:17.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3359" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:42:21.280" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T20:42:21.280" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T20:42:21.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3360" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:42:21.280" Score="0" Body="Plans, guidelines and schedules for training and eating." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T21:00:21.093" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T21:00:21.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3361" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:51:32.340" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-18T20:51:32.340" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T20:51:32.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3362" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:51:32.340" Score="0" Body="Resistance training with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells and other weights. Questions involving how to lift and maximizing lifting performance. Includes powerlifting, bodybuilding and Olympic lifting." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:59:41.190" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:59:41.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2011-08-18T20:55:48.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The single most important stat you should record is your pulse when you wake up. The lower it is, the better your condition is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you can do more reps and lift more weight, but your heartbeat stays the same, it means your doing something very wrong - the single the most important muscle, heart, is not following your arms, legs, abdomen or whatever you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1375" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T20:55:48.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="193" CreationDate="2011-08-18T21:03:31.523" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Bad Metrics&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is vitally important that you not base your workout on BMI. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2223095/&quot;&gt;Slate's excellent discussion of how BMI came to be used to poorly&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439&amp;amp;sc=fb&amp;amp;cc=fp&quot;&gt;NPR's 10 Reasons&lt;/a&gt; why BMI should never, ever, really-don't-do-it, never be used for one's self-image or exercise goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI is not a valid way to measure your fitness or body. It is not useful for that purpose. Using it to measure how much weight you should lose, or how many calories to burn, is a surefire way to disappoint yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examine.com has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-valid-is-bmi-as-a-measure-of-health-and-obesity.html&quot;&gt;good overview on the validity (and lack thereof) of BMI&lt;/a&gt;, which can be summarized thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are normal weight or overweight according to BMI (18.5-29.9) there is still a chance you are actually obese, and thus is primarily due to low levels of lean mass (muscle, water, and glycogen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Outliers to this dataset, those who have enough lean mass to be classified as obese by BMI but not by body fat percentage, are far and few in society. These persons would normally be highly active athletes or dedicated 'weekend warriors', and it is unlikely sedentary persons or those with infrequent exercise habits would be these outliers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Good Metrics&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Instead, measure what you want to improve.&lt;/strong&gt; Want to look better? Get a camera and a tape measure and track how you look (with consistent clothing, pose and lighting) and measurements of your arms, legs, hips, and waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be more productive to &lt;strong&gt;set a performance goal&lt;/strong&gt;. Good goals can be based around time (&quot;run a mile in less than 7 minutes&quot;), weight (&quot;squat with a barbell as heavy as I am&quot;), or simple completion (&quot;finish a 5k&quot;). This will shape your training in a way that makes you more fit, while also restructuring your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you absolutely must have a science-y number to track, the &lt;strong&gt;Body Shape Index&lt;/strong&gt;, which uses BMI but isn't directly correlated to it, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2012/07/25/the-body-shape-index/&quot;&gt;seems to be a better predictor of one's risk of death&lt;/a&gt;. Keep in mind that while it takes belly fat into account, it still does not keep track of muscle or actual markers of physical health, like mobility, strength, inflammation, diabetic state, or cardiovascular disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Body Shape Index= Waist Circumference/[(BMI^(2/3))*(height^(1/2))]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T16:14:23.327" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T16:14:23.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3351" CreationDate="2011-08-18T21:55:00.860" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really can't get away from screens, take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://stereopsis.com/flux/&quot;&gt;f.lux&lt;/a&gt;, which changes the brightness and colors of your screen according to the time of day where you are. It won't fix the problem of screen-time near bed-time, but I've found that it mitigates it. It can be switched off quickly and easily if you have color-sensitive work to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-18T21:55:00.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3354" CreationDate="2011-08-19T00:26:48.793" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with crunches is that they aren't very effective for the purposes that most people choose them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are doing crunches because you want to show off a &quot;six-pack&quot; then you'll never get there, as this is mostly about getting to low body fat rather than building larger ab muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are trying to increase core strength, then crunches are equivalent to doing a very high-rep low-weight exercise, which does not build strength. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T00:26:48.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3351" CreationDate="2011-08-19T01:07:16.403" Score="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; eat a large meal just before sleep. This will trigger your digestion system and will affect your sleep.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;See this answer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2288/heavy-meal-at-night-effects-on-sleep-and-more/3221#3221&quot;&gt;Heavy meal at night effects on sleep and more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'm surprised that you find exercising before bed beneficial. That contradicts everything I've ever heard. But compared to everything else you describe, changing this might not make the biggest difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you try to concentrate on meeting every single one of the following bullets with tricks and advice for a better and deeper sleep. I have been researching this material in order to write a short article about it (sources below). I have done my best in translating into English, so please bear with me. And as always no promises on the effectiveness of my suggestions, but give it a try.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of this comes from documented experinces as well as from actual scientific research - but that is always the case when talking about psycologically based fields. So read it as suggestions and not proof, but be also aware that it will take time for you to see results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last 4 hours before sleep have an enormous significance in the sleep quality and the ability to fall asleep, but what you do during the day also matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;To do list for a good sleep:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid energizers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;drinks and food containing caffeine (like coffee, soda, black tee and cocoa); smoking, TV watching, brainteasers and similar activities that activate your brain&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a dark and slightly chilled bedroom - &lt;em&gt;16-18 C would likely be optimal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be neither hungry nor satiated when going to bed&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;If you're hungry or thirsty, then have a piece of fruit or a glass of milk or juice. Digestion after a large meal will interfere with your sleep&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't drink alcohol.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;The sleep quality if you do fall asleep is significantly impaired; it is compared with artificial anesthesia, which is a &quot;false sleep&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Air out the bedroom beforehand&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get out of bed at night when you can't sleep instead of staring at the ceiling for hours. Walk around a little, have a glass of warm milk, and go to bed again after 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't go to bed if you aren't tired - even if you are getting up early.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dim the light in your bedroom for at least an hour before sleep.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;The body is said to adjust into a sleep mode and slowly gear down - we are built to sleep when the sun goes down after all&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get up at the same time every day - including weekends and holidays!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Let it vary only +/- 1 hour even if you fell asleep late. The body must get used to a fixed rythm in sleeping&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be physically active during the daytime to add a natural sleepiness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; sleep during the day, even if you can't sleep at night&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Naps during the day will just perpetuate the cycle of not being able to sleep at night. A nap in the afternoon should last no longer than 20 minutes if necessary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Naps are not all bad though - they are a great method for people who can't get a full nights sleep, like athlete sailors. If these people take 1-hour or 2-hour naps when possible several times a day it will be much helpfull and give them much more energy than avoiding naps and only getting e.g. 3 hours of sleep once a day.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not watch the clock when you wake up at night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry while in bed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Avoid bringing any thoughts from your work or activities of the day with you into the bedroom. And don't work or sit by the computer till late; always give yourself a few hours to cool down before sleep. You must let your mind rest in order to fully rest your body.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a &quot;concern hour&quot; or &quot;problem hour&quot; every day in the afternoon after work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Use it to think through every concern and problem, write down what you must remember for tomorrow, so you can stop thinking about it, and convince yourself that it &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; wait. And then find a good book to end the day with instead of the TV.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a hot bath before bedtime.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;But wait an hour before going to bed after the bath to let the body temperature adjust beforehand.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Always keep the same eveningly / nightly routines so the body knows what bedtime means.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use earplugs and a mask for the eyes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Only use the bedroom for sleeping - not working or TV-watching&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clean up - &lt;em&gt;A messy bedroom stresses you, while order is calming&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you have a good bed&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Good quality, right type of mattress fitting you, a good pillow and soft duvet&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch out with sleep medication&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Long term use of sleeping pills etc. will eventually result in even worsened sleep&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep pen and paper by the bed&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;To write down thoughts and concerns causing nightly wake ups. Then convince yourself to let it wait till the morning&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid bright light when you are up at night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid intense psysical activity before sleep&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Exercise raises pulse and blood pressure, and the body produces stress hormones and glukose to provide energy. Adrenaline are eventually sent to every muscle to be ready for performing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep a sleep diary - &lt;em&gt;try mapping everything that goes on to get an overview of what happened when you had a good and a bad sleep&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these sources (all Danish):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sundhed.dk/Artikel.aspx?id=12095.1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.sundhed.dk/Artikel.aspx?id=12095.1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.regionh.dk/NR/rdonlyres/58A54878-BC62-4C9B-B556-F4CB6C0070C/0/Afrivningsblok.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.regionh.dk/NR/rdonlyres/58A54878-BC62-4C9B-B556-F4CB6C0070C/0/Afrivningsblok.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sovbedre.nu/gode_r%C3%A5d.asp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.sovbedre.nu/gode_r%C3%A5d.asp&lt;/a&gt;    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netdoktor.dk/tema/soevn/gode_raad.htmhttp://www.isleep.dk/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=5&amp;amp;Itemid=8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.netdoktor.dk/tema/soevn/gode_raad.htmhttp://www.isleep.dk/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=5&amp;amp;Itemid=8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.xn--bedresvn-b5a.dk/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.xn--bedresvn-b5a.dk/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, do not count the hours that you are going to sleep. It is sleep quality not quantity that matters. I have heard a lot about people who are training their bodies to need less sleep and to use short intense sleeps instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note on insomnia&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I saw a Danish documentary about what to do about insomnia. They said the most important thing was to make a tight schedule for when to use the bedroom. E.g. make a rule saying that you may only be in your bedroom for 8 hours in total - nomatter if you sleep or not. And keep it the same 8 hours each day, so you get up at the same time every day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;supposedly this will force the body to realize that the bedroom is for sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastEditorUserId="1640" LastEditDate="2017-05-30T12:34:54.790" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T12:34:54.790" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3370" CreationDate="2011-08-19T02:36:16.047" Score="9" ViewCount="14951" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits of taking shorter rest times in between sets?  If I am capable of doing an extra rep or two if I rest for 1 minutes instead of resting for 30 seconds, which is more beneficial?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1614" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T17:35:01.880" Title="Importance of short rest times between sets" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3082" CreationDate="2011-08-19T04:02:00.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lats are quite involved with pull-ups.  Also the biceps and a number of muscles of the upper body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went from be able to do exactly 0 pull-ups to doing 11 in one set and ~33 throughout a 90 min training session (among other exercises) in about a year, and that includes some holiday breaks and injuries that slowed me down considerably.  I got the sense from reading about it and my own experience that there is NO exercise better for developing the strength to do pull-ups...than pull-ups themselves!  (That said, any arm/shoulder/back strengthening will probably help some, and you should be doing that anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did was first to just strain there at the halfway point for a while.  Then I would do sort of &quot;mini pull-ups&quot; where I just pulled myself up a few inches and then back down for as many as I could do.  Eventually I was able to do one.  Then kept with that, and then eventually 2 and so on... I think patience is very needed for this project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T04:02:00.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3368" CreationDate="2011-08-19T05:15:21.523" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an excellent excerpt regarding rest from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0684857219&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt; written by the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wjqnX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to pace yourself properly through a workout. If you&#xA;try to train too fast, you risk cardiovascular failure before you have&#xA;worked the muscles enough. Also, you may have tendency to get sloppy&#xA;and start throwing the weights around instead of executing each&#xA;movement correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, training too slowly is also bad. If you take 5 minutes&#xA;between each set, your heart rate slows down, you lose your pump, the&#xA;muscles get cold, and your level of intensity drops down to nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to keep your rest periods between sets down to a minute or less.&#xA;In the first minute after a weight-training exercise you recover 72&#xA;percent of your strength, and by 3 minutes you have recovered all you&#xA;are going to recover without extended rest. But remember that the&#xA;point of this training is to stimulate and fatigue the maximum amount&#xA;of muscle fiber possible, and this happens only when the body is&#xA;forced to recruit additional muscle fiber to replace what is already&#xA;fatigued. So you don't want to allow your muscles to recover too much&#xA;between sets - just enough to be able to continue your workout and to&#xA;keep forcing the body to recruit more and more muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one other factor to consider: Physiologists have long noted&#xA;the link between maximal muscle strength and muscular endurance. The&#xA;stronger you are, the more times you can lift a submaximal amount of&#xA;weight.; This means that the more you push yourself to develop&#xA;muscular (as opposed to cardiovascular) endurance, the stronger you&#xA;become. So maintaining a regular pace in your training actually leads&#xA;to an increase in overall strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Summary&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sweet spot for promoting size, endurance, and strength is 1 minute. Taking only a few seconds of rest would only promote endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Longer Rest Periods for Strength&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another part of the book, Arnold talks about the occasional days which you should train heavy. By heavy, we mean going to failure in 6 reps or less. Arnold believed that bodybuilders should occasionally train heavy like power-lifters to get a hard dense look. In these days, he suggests longer rest periods, perhaps up to 3 minutes. This longer rest period would prevent cardiovascular failure from short-circuiting muscular failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Powerlifters, or people training for strength (as opposed to bodybuilders, who train for muscle size), may have occasional need for longer rest periods between heavy sets. Five or ten minutes between sets is not unreasonable for very heavy sets of squats, or chin-ups to failure, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research and weight room experience shows that longer rest periods produce more strength and power, whereas shorter rest periods produce more hypertrophy and muscle mass:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training for muscular strength, the magnitude of the load lifted is a key determinant of the rest interval prescribed between sets. For loads less than 90% of 1 repetition maximum, 3-5 minutes rest between sets allows for greater strength increases through the maintenance of training intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training for muscular power, a &lt;strong&gt;minimum&lt;/strong&gt; of 3 minutes rest should be prescribed between sets of repeated maximal effort movements (e.g., plyometric jumps). When training for muscular hypertrophy, consecutive sets should be performed prior to when full recovery has taken place. Shorter rest intervals of 30-60 seconds between sets have been associated with higher acute increases in growth hormone, which may contribute to the hypertrophic effect. When training for muscular endurance, an ideal strategy might be to perform resistance exercises in a circuit, with shorter rest intervals (e.g., 30 seconds) between exercises that involve dissimilar muscle groups, and longer rest intervals (e.g., 3 minutes) between exercises that involve similar muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/factors-affecting-the-length-of-the-rest-interval-between-resistance-exercise-sets-research-review.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T21:18:12.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3354" CreationDate="2011-08-19T06:08:39.343" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the biggest problem with the age old crunch is that it is not functional.   The crunch flexes the trunk and primarily targets the rectus abdominis, not the transversus abdominis or the obliques.  If you want a flexed trunk when you stand up then doing lots of crunches will give it to you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you want an elongated mid section with strong abdominal muscles creating a solid core and support for your abdomen then you want to use postural exercises such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot;&gt;the plank&lt;/a&gt;, progressing the length of time you are able to maintain the hold, which translates into functionally controlling the torso.  Also, by drawing your navel in towards the spine with these types of exercises you target the transversus abdominis which flattens the abdominal wall more than other ab muscles.  The transversus is especially important in lifting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to have 6 pack abs then you need a low percentage of body fat which is generally achieved  with diet, HIIT and strength training to burn calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions of other good abdominal exercises that carry over into improved posture and function are: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html#Stabilization_Exercise_Video&quot;&gt;The plank, side plank, bird dog&lt;/a&gt;,  progressing to dynamic control with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsqCDbiflsg&quot;&gt;dying bug&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y03dkaK1O0&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;knee tucks on a swiss ball&lt;/a&gt;  or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixWEAcZf58M&amp;amp;feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsqCDbiflsg&quot;&gt;swiss ball roll outs&lt;/a&gt;.  Using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XRe6HA7DVo&quot;&gt;resistance bands helps to target the obliques&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T06:08:39.343" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3354" CreationDate="2011-08-19T07:22:54.147" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the more advanced versions of leg raises are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0naOASvxJX8&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;windmill&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lixlXHY3zi4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;inclined leg raises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr4-McBOJCg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;hanging leg jacknife&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when you get strong enough, you can do weighted versions of these. You can use a dumbbell in between your feet for the weighted version, just be careful though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T07:22:54.147" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="87" CreationDate="2011-08-19T09:23:58.923" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; possible to train the human body into needing much less sleep. It is sleep quality and not amount that counts.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have heard about people from military elite educations, who make their body used to no more than 4 hours of sleep at night. And they are still fit and surprisingly energized the next day ready to continue their rough training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://studenttavern.com/2008/04/live-on-2-hours-of-sleep-a-night-sleep-method/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://studenttavern.com/2008/04/live-on-2-hours-of-sleep-a-night-sleep-method/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physorg.com/news76867739.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.physorg.com/news76867739.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all it all depends on ones own body. Some need more, some need less sleep to reach the same level of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it also depends on your sleep quality. You've got to fall a sleep fast and immediately go to the deep and good sleep, and get quickly past the REM sleep (Rapid eye movement sleep) which is the more superficial dream sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then your body also has to be able to recover fast. This follows your psysical condition level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, remember to eat healthy and have the right amounts of protein etc. after training for the body to have perfect conditions for recovering fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body ever shows signs on burnout you should react. This could be simply having sore muscles the day after the exercise, if you do this exercise of these muscle groups regularly but with no soreness. If you find yourself loosing focus and concentration and feeling tired then of course you need sleep.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the end, without training to need less sleep, some people just appears to need less anyway without any effort. It varies from approx. 7-9 hours in average. If you are the 6-hours kind of guy this could be just you, and you should find out by about this. Give it ago and keep focus on soreness and pain in the very early stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T09:23:58.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-19T12:47:27.200" Score="4" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;While running in the morning, I find that I regularly generate a large number of ideas and solve problems.  It seems that exercise would increase oxygen to the brain, causing increased activity.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to encourage a friend to exercise.  He values his work more than his health.  I would like to show him evidence of exercise improving work performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1791" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T07:57:29.470" Title="Exercise increases creativity?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;brain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3380" CreationDate="2011-08-19T15:19:27.620" Score="28" ViewCount="63278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronglifts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; program since February of this year, so I've been at it about 6 months. I had tried the program before, but I had been away from it for some time, so I started back at the beginning. I started with just 42 lbs on all my lifts, and added 5 pounds every week for as long as I could, removing 10% of the weight on the next workout if I failed a few times in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Stronglifts program uses 5 main lifts - squats, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, bent over rows. I've often heard that squatting 1.5 times your bodyweight is a good milestone to aim for, and that more-or-less coincides with &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/strength-training-goals-stronglifts-5x5-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the strength goals that the Stronglifts creator suggests&lt;/a&gt;, so I adopted those goals as my own. My target lift weights are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: 270 lbs (5x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 360 lbs (1x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press: 200 lbs (5x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Row: 180 lbs (5x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press: 120 lbs (5x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started with 42 lbs on all exercises back in February. Here's where I am now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: 257 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 242 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press: 117 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Row: 92 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press: 92 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The reason my lift weights all end in 2 or 7 is because my bar weighs 32 lbs instead of the standard 45 lbs. It's an olympic-style bar, 7' long, 2&quot; collars that rotate. Just the weight is off. I didn't know this when I bought it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, my squats have progressed nicely. I'll be doing 262 lbs next workout, and my initial goal of 270 lbs is very nearly in reach. My overhead press isn't too bad either, I feel it's progressed at a similar pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case anyone is curious about why my deadlift weight is less than my squats, it's due to grip strength. I tried to deadlift 252 lbs and I dropped the bar. It just slipped right out of my hands. Even when using mixed grip. But that's a question for another time....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What concerns me right now is that my bench press and barbell row weights seem to be progressing much much slower than my other lifts. Even though I'm squatting 95% of my target weight, my bench press is less than 60% of the weight I'm aiming for. And it seems like I plateau constantly. I feel similar about my bent-over rows. I've definitely made &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; progress, but the progress seems extremely slow compared to my squats and overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what the cause of this could be. I've tried many times to check my form against videos I've seen posted online, and I've made some adjustments (wider grip on the bar during bench press, etc), but although adjusting my form did seem to help a bit, the difference was not dramatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Stronglifts program prescribes lifting 3 times per week alternating between a squats/overhead press/deadlift workout and a squats/bench press/rows workout. I admit my follow-through hasn't been 100%, but I have been working out at least twice per week most weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first started, I rested 1 minute between sets. Currently I'm resting about 5 minutes between sets for squats, and 3 minutes for all other lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, can you tell me please, &lt;b&gt;why is my progress at the bench press and barbell row lifts so much slower than my progress with squats/overhead press?&lt;/b&gt; Is this normal? You might need more info from me to answer this question, but I don't know what else to offer off the top of my head. I will try to be proactive about answering any questions in the comments. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional Info requested by StupidOne:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Warm ups&lt;/b&gt;: I do warm up sets before I do all exercises. Typically I start with about 50 pounds, do one 5-rep set of the exercise. Then I add between 20 and 50 pounds and repeat, until I've got the full weight and I'm doing my first &quot;official&quot; set. For example, the last time I did bench presses, I did 1x5 at 52 lbs, then 1x5 at 82 lbs, then 1x5 at 102 lbs, then 5x5 at 117 lbs (my work weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Stretching Exercises&lt;/b&gt;: None, really. My research has left me unconvinced that they do much good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Diet:&lt;/b&gt; I aim to eat about 200 grams of protein per day, although I sometimes fall short. I often start the day with 2 greek yogurts, and I eat a lot of chicken. Based on historical data, I burn about 3100 calories per day on average. I aim to eat slightly less than that so that I'll lose body fat, but I often fail. The other day I actually had 4900 calories in one day! Well, I don't ignore my hunger.... I'd say my average caloric consumption is probably about 3200 calories. I always eat something high protein (greek yogurt, cottage cheese, grilled chicken breast, protein shake, etc) immediately after weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet could definitely use some improvement though, as I still eat out way too much and I know that's hampering my efforts to lose weight (and save money)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I currently weigh about 218 lbs, which is about 10 lbs more than I did when I started Stronglifts in February. My goal is to get down to between 180-190 lbs. I've got a belly that needs to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Rest between sets:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, I rest up to 5 minutes between sets for squats, and about 3 minutes for other exercises. This is based on advice I've read on a number of internet sites, such as this question in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program#How_long_should_I_rest_between_sets.2C_exercises.2C_and_during_warmups.3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength Wiki FAQ&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;At first you can probably get by with no more than 2-3 minutes between sets. However, once the weights start getting heavier, you may take upward of 5 minutes between sets. Near the end of your training cycle, especially when you are setting PRs (personal records) in the squat, deadlift, and power clean you could be resting upward of 7 minutes&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, Starting Strength is a 3x5 program, and I'm doing a 5x5 program. I don't know for sure if this is good advice, but I think I've read similar things other places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update 2 - August 20, 2011&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As promised, here's a graph of my workout weights so far. The weights are expressed as a percentage of my goals. Note that my previous statement that my overhead press got to 102 lbs was apparently incorrect. According to my records, the heaviest press I've done was 92 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nvWqF.png&quot; alt=&quot;Weight graph - click for full size&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full size picture at &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nvWqF.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nvWqF.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nvWqF.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-01-06T06:37:37.563" LastActivityDate="2019-01-06T06:37:37.563" Title="Stronglifts - Why is my bench press/row progress lagging behind?" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;progress&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3377" CreationDate="2011-08-19T15:36:23.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm hardly an expert on this subject, but here's a few articles/resources you might find useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/how-exercise-can-keep-the-brain-fit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York Times Blog - July 27, 2011&lt;/a&gt; - Mostly focuses on how exercise staves off mental degradation in the elderly. A quote from the article: &lt;blockquote&gt;But even so, the effects of this modest activity on the brain were remarkable, Dr. Middleton said. While the wholly sedentary volunteers, and there were many of these, scored significantly worse over the years on tests of cognitive function, the most active group showed little decline.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.the-aps.org/press/releases/11/22.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The American Physiological Society - Exercise Has Numerous Beneficial Effects on Brain Health and Cognition&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;blockquote&gt;The reviewed studies suggest that both aerobic exercise and strength training can have significant positive effects on brain health and function, but more research is needed to better elucidate these effects.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316113506&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain&lt;/a&gt; - This is a book, and thus it costs money. I have not read it. But it is rated highly by reviewers and promises to discuss the many links between brain function and exercise. This is a quote from the second user review listed on that link:&lt;blockquote&gt;Our doctors always say to get more exercise. We always yawn and say of course; we've heard it all before. And then we are mediocre in our follow up. After reading Spark my entire viewpoint has changed. Exercise is a master key to brain functioning. Cholesterol and other system problems caused by lack of exercise are a bit ambiguous since we often can't directly feel them until we manifest some disease. Brain functioning is something else entirely. We can feel an almost immediate change after aerobic exercise. After reading Spark I definitely have become a six day a week exerciser. I need my brain functioning as well as possible, and the data in this book has made a believer out out of me.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T15:36:23.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2011-08-19T18:26:43.867" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the additional information you've posted, it sounds like you are simply hitting a wall. Those are good numbers on the squats and deadlifts, so it's possible that you're not recovering (perhaps from too little sleep?), but it doesn't sound like that's the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would see if switching to 3x5 instead of 5x5 allows you to progress. When I started with 5x5, the heavy squat sets would totally obliterate the rest of my workout. Removing the last two sets immediately gave me more energy for the upper-body lifts. My deadlift progress was unaffected. (Perhaps the upper body is more susceptible to fatigue caused earlier in the workout?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing the additional volume in a 5x5 program is necessary when at lower weights. As the weight increases, 3x5 is plenty of volume. You sound like you hit a solid plateau consistently though a few deloads, and you're probably eating enough. Backing off to 3x5 (along with a small deload in the presses and rows) should give you more energy, both during the workout and during recovery days. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T18:26:43.867" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3381" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-19T18:49:50.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull-ups use the opposite grip from chin-ups. The basic version is the dead-hang pull-up, which starts at full rest and extension at the bottom and finishes with the chin above the grip, with the arms in full contraction, moving across the entire range of motion and using no kicking or swinging to create momentum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Variants include kipping pull-ups (kicking or swinging the body), assisted pull-ups (using a band, having another person push, or using an assistance machine), one-arm pull-ups, and partial range-of-motion pull-ups. Changing the grip also creates many variants. Fat-grip, towel-grip, and &lt;em&gt;gi&lt;/em&gt;-grip (for martial arts like judo or jiu-jitsu) pull-ups are all useful for focusing on grip strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T18:56:33.747" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T18:56:33.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3382" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-19T18:49:50.723" Score="0" Body="Exercise to lift the body using the arms with a supinated grip (palms facing away)." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T18:56:35.730" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T18:56:35.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3383" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-19T18:57:57.500" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T18:57:57.500" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T18:57:57.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3384" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-19T18:57:57.500" Score="0" Body="What you eat, when and why." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T18:58:43.480" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T18:58:43.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3415" CreationDate="2011-08-19T19:39:16.500" Score="9" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been &quot;training&quot; by going barefoot (+ vibrams) for over 2-3 months now. I feel great, there are no big injuries (although I've not really pushed my self).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: Is it wise to train for 4 months or so for a half marathon by using barefoot/minimal foot techniques, and then on race day sprint off with something with a lot of heel support?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend indicated that he received a huge boost when he switched back to his ASICS gel pro. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1488" LastEditorUserId="1488" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T19:51:43.097" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T03:41:02.733" Title="Barefoot training, but racing with technology?" Tags="&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3393" CreationDate="2011-08-19T20:09:39.130" Score="3" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing weight-lifting 3 times a week, 2-3 hours for each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I got a gift of arm weight adders (basically, a sand bag wrapped around forearm, each bag weights 1kg). I'm considering wearing them at home, during my everyday activities, to give my arms some extra training (seems the biceps will get the biggest impact).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will that improve my training results or will it simply lead to overtraining?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="132" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T22:07:49.330" Title="Is wearing weight adders on arms beneficial?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3390" CreationDate="2011-08-19T20:29:49.100" Score="6" ViewCount="48238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently on the Abs diet, and am also trying to gain lean muscle for the start of my basketball season. I have basketball practice from 9pm - 10pm, and at the moment we're just playing a full game so it's a pretty intense workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that on the Abs diet they suggest that you have a protein shake or some cold cuts (turkey/chicken), but I feel like this isn't enough to re-fuel my body after such a hard workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also feel like I can't take in enough water before going to bed (I'm asleep at 11.30pm), and wake up with a really dry mouth (this is another issue though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, my question is what is the best thing to eat after my workout given that it's so close to going to sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2016-12-12T00:05:41.400" Title="What to eat after a late night workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3082" CreationDate="2011-08-19T20:33:14.023" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start out doing negatives. (basically start with your chin at the bar and slowly lower yourself)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1792" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T20:33:14.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3388" CreationDate="2011-08-19T21:10:20.857" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What to eat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of calories, mostly from protein and carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;View this source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1082&amp;amp;page=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1082&amp;amp;page=3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calories&lt;/strong&gt;. Ideally, try to eat enough calories to equal 50% of the calories you burned during your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt;. Roughly 60% of the calories you eat at this time should come from carbohydrates. Contrary to popular belief, your body needs more carbohydrates than protein after a workout, to replace the muscle fuel (glycogen) you used up and to prepare for your next exercise session. Moderate exercisers need about 30-40 grams of carbohydrates after an hour of exercise, but high-intensity exercisers need more—around 50-60 grams for each hour they exercised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have some favorite high-carb foods that are lacking in the whole grains and fiber that are often recommended as part of a healthy diet, this is a good time to have them! Your body can digest refined carbohydrates faster during your &amp;quot;refueling window,&amp;quot; but if you’re a whole foods foodie, don’t force yourself to eat processed foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;. While carbs are essential, it’s also important to include some high-quality protein in your post-workout meal or snack. This protein will stop your body from breaking down muscle tissue for energy and initiate the process of rebuilding and repairing your muscles. About 25% of the calories you eat after a workout should come from protein—that's about 10-15 grams for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat&lt;/strong&gt;. [...] Only 15% (or less) of your post-workout calories should come from fat—that's less than 10 grams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chicken is a very good protein provider, and if you do not get enough from this... Maybe you should just have a bigger cut. Get a big salad, but remember to have the calories filled in. Fruit like bananas are very good too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;When to eat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should eat and fill up the depots shortly after the exercise. The studies have different opinions though. Between 20 min and 60 min after the exercise is told here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://getfitguy.quickanddirtytips.com/what-to-eat-before-and-after-exercising.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://getfitguy.quickanddirtytips.com/what-to-eat-before-and-after-exercising.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Within the first 15 min. after exercise is told here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/tips-for-eating-right-after-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/tips-for-eating-right-after-exercise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard others say between ½ hour and 2 hours after. A rule I have always lived by is to eat a small amount withing the first ½ hour afterwards - just some fruit like an apple and a banana. This is easy enough to handle and comply with. Then the bigger meal can wait a little longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a good idea to eat a heavy meal just before going to sleep, but I would in your case prioritize filling up the depots first. That your training is that late is just a shame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;About the drinking problem:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experince:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The body either desperately needs and strives for water in wild thirst! Or it seems dry but still won't feel thirsty and you are not able to drink that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution that always works for me is to &amp;quot;force&amp;quot; water inside the unwilling body. That is take a drink of water (a quater of a litre if possible or maybe just two, three big mouthfulls) every 10 min. after the game. Have a bottle with you anywhere and do this to fill up and compensate for the water loss strechted out over the next hour. You can always take a mouthful of water, thirsty or not, so when you, as now, know that you need the water, but aren't thirsty, then you just have to drink less but more frequently to avoid it being uncomfortable to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning if you still fell the dryness in the mouth and maybe a lack of energy, then do the same. When the alarm wakes you up, then the two first things you should do is: 1) Stop the alarm and 2) take a drink of water. Then continue to take a drink in small portions. If the mornings are stressful or whatever, just remind yourself to drink whenever you go by a sink or faucet.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The water drinking might give you some extra toilet visits but is something you can feel the effect of just a few hours later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the water consumption, remember to eat &lt;em&gt;salt&lt;/em&gt; as well. Salt is hugely important as it &amp;quot;holds on to&amp;quot; the water in the body. The salts in the body are slowly flush out while drinking a lot, and I've heard of marathon runners and soldiers on long marches who become critically &lt;em&gt;dehydrated&lt;/em&gt; from a lack of &lt;em&gt;salt&lt;/em&gt;. So, remember salt on the lunch, and you should be hopefully be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-12T00:05:41.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="968" CreationDate="2011-08-19T21:42:08.653" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question has two answers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) If everything really is equal, then resistance is precisely the same as weight. Force is force, whether it comes from mass being affected by gravity or from tension on a spring or from hydraulic pumps or from a ray gun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) What Yevgeniy's answer gets at is that it's ridiculous, within the context of strength training (or lifting of any kind, even bodybuilding) to suppose that &quot;all else is equal&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The resistance of a machine exercise is force in a certain plane. In the case of Bowflex-type machines, the force may change along the path of the exercise. With free weights (barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells) the only things involved are the weight, gravity and how your body is structured (your &lt;em&gt;anthropometry&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's use your example in the comments of a &quot;thighmaster for the chest&quot; versus free weights. As I understand it: The resistance of the spring would be least in the &quot;open&quot; position and greatest as you get near the &quot;closed&quot; position. If you used dumbbells (say, from a position on your back), the force (from gravity) would be equal throughout, but your body would be applying force in different directions across the movement (always &quot;upward&quot;, but using different muscles since the weight moves across different angles in relation to your body), in addition to stabilizing the weight in three planes during the entire exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're asking about when to use one versus the other, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1711/should-one-generally-avoid-machines-in-favor-of-free-weights&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T00:44:07.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1515" CreationDate="2011-08-19T22:01:59.033" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're absolutely correct that swinging can make pull-ups easier. (It can also make it harder to hold on to the bar. Both of these are not good.) I use two methods to avoid swinging during pull-ups and chin-ups: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bend my knees at a right angle, without crossing my ankles. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Extend my legs in front of myself, as high as they go. You can do it like the picture, but you don't necessarily need to keep them as high if you're just looking to stop swinging.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mCL61.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;L-sit pull-up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is somewhat harder. That might be a good thing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In addition&lt;/strong&gt;, coming to a complete stop and pause at the bottom helps me minimize swinging, as does pulling myself up slower (which makes them harder, which might be good or bad depending on circumstance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T01:08:32.000" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T01:08:32.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3387" CreationDate="2011-08-19T22:07:49.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are light enough not to cause over-training, unless you are an advanced lifter.  However, they provide stresses on your joints that are not natural.  Depending on what you are doing and how forcefully you are moving, they can cause damage  to your elbow and shoulder joints or force a stretch you aren't ready for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a Sensei who trained with those things on hands and feet against his Sensei's advice.  After many years of the added stress on his joints (punching and kicking), he had to have both his hips replaced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all you are doing is making coffee in the morning with those things, you'll probably be OK.  Just be careful if you get the bright idea to do anything that requires force or quick movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T22:07:49.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3394" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-19T22:13:26.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength is a novice barbell program by Mark Rippetoe. It is a linear progression program involving the three basic power lifts (the squat, the deadlift, and the bench press) as well as the (overhead) press and the power clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program is based around squatting three times a week. Since it is designed for beginners, the idea is to add five or ten pounds to all the lifts every time you do them for as long as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program is described in Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore's book of the same name. There are variants of the program in his Practical Programming book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T22:19:40.577" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T22:19:40.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3395" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-19T22:13:26.590" Score="0" Body="A beginner strength program by Mark Rippetoe." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-19T22:19:31.547" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T22:19:31.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2011-08-20T01:10:31.500" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Journal article on effect of addition of 4x 4 rep max half squat sets 3 days a week on distance running performance and economy (2008) &lt;a href=&quot;http://bit.ly/qVK6Z2&quot;&gt;http://bit.ly/qVK6Z2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Conclusion: Maximal strength training for 8 wk improved running economy and increased time to exhaustion at maximal aerobic speed among welltrained, long-distance runners, without change in maximal oxygen uptake or body weight&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1793" LastActivityDate="2011-08-20T01:10:31.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3386" CreationDate="2011-08-20T08:21:08.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't haven't done any serious barefoot running, so it is a not a first hand answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the mechanics of running barefoot versus with ordinary running shoes are very different - e.g you run more on the forefoot when doing barefoot running than with ordinary shoes. Thus, I would think that your body is &quot;ready&quot; for ordinary shoes after 4 months and you would be more likely to run into injuries if you switch for on the competition day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, would you switch to a different set of shoes on running day after 4 months of training with another set of shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2011-08-20T08:21:08.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2011-08-20T12:08:02.537" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that the bench and rows are using smaller muscles than the squats and deads.    However for the rows to be that far behind the bench tells me you started the bench higher than the program would otherwise specify.  In truth your rows should be another 20lbs heavier than your bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are usually two reasons why you can't make a lift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The last workout wasn't strong enough to induce any change&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have too much fatigue to get the lift up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, StrongLifts is a beginner program, and you are still in your beginner gains.  What that means is that just about any exercise will cause you to adapt.  The SL program has more than enough volume to get you to rebuild your muscles stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's start looking at recovery and fatigue.  I have my theory on what is going on, but I'm going to throw this out there just in case: you need 8 hours of sleep a night.  Much of the body's muscle growing happens while you are sleeping.  Natural testosterone peaks at REM sleep and remains at that level until you wake up.  Natural human growth hormone peaks at deep sleep and remains at that level for about 1 hour.  So let's look at the other possible culprits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't have enough rest between sets.  Your presses are usually the first ones to need extra rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your warmups are sapping energy from your main lifts.  In short they are not warmups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;StrongLifts recommends a very certain way of warming up, and Starting Strength is not too different either.  I'm going to present the commonalities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with the empty bar.  2 sets of 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase in even increments up to 5 times to your work weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taper off the last two sets, second to last set would be a set of 3 reps, and last set would be 2 reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, bench press at 117 is really too small to need a whole 5 sets of warmup.  In this case the warmup would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;empty bar 2x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;57lbs 1x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;82lbs 1x2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;117lbs 5x5 (or 3x5 if you are on that for this lift)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can play with the numbers and adjust them a bit, but understand that you start with an empty bar, and taper off at the end.  If you don't taper off, you are taking energy you need for your lifts and using it on your warmups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also may need to adjust the time between sets a bit longer on your presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, a good tip with bench press and rows is to do the lifts explosively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your back should be tight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your butt in contact with the bench, but a bit of an arch between the shoulders and the butt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the bar down controlled (safely) to your chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Explode it up all the way.  This minimizes fatigue, and sends the right signals to your muscles that you want as many of them involved in the lift as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also considering where your squats are, it can be that the squats are robbing your energy for the bench press.  Switching to 3x5 even though you didn't stall will make it a whole lot easier to make more progress on your bench press and rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-20T12:08:02.537" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-20T13:47:58.180" Score="3" ViewCount="369" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of online advice on developing the abs starts by correcting the misperception that the abs are separate muscles, instead, they are a single wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it's not clear what should I conclude from it. My problem is that my upper abdomen is shaping up pretty nice and flat as I work on it, but the lower part still has a little bulge and its pretty stubborn. Some people advise that since its one wall, you can't target a particular part of it and you have to continue doing overall ab exercises to reduce it. Others say that you can tone the lower part specifically by increasing the number and intensity of lower ab workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would like some advice on which side to believe, either from personal experiences or any studies that might have been done, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1795" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T17:47:54.410" Title="What are the true implications of the abdominals being actually just one muscle?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3467" CreationDate="2011-08-20T14:36:36.140" Score="14" ViewCount="13515" Body="&lt;p&gt;I drink a lot of water through a normal day, even when passive - about 7-9 liters.  On days when I work out, I likely drink about 1-3 extra liters.  Is there a rule of thumb for taking in extra electrolytes after drinking a certain amount of water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 liter = 0.25 gallons&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1614" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-16T13:01:36.573" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T07:03:57.827" Title="When are electrolyte/sports drinks necessary?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;&lt;dehydration&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3401" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3422" CreationDate="2011-08-20T19:02:42.870" Score="11" ViewCount="24814" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious about the affects of &quot;range of motion&quot; when doing push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are the pros/cons to doing push-ups using high reps, small range of motion vs low reps, full range of motion?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is how I define the differences between range of motion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full range - arms extended straight at the top, at the bottom the nose is touching the ground with hands near ears, push-up bars giving more range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small range - arms still slightly bent at the top, arms more bent at bottom, but nose not touching the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption: I've always thought doing push-ups with the full range of motion, even though you can't do as many reps, was better for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1797" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T20:02:25.460" Title="Push-ups - small range of motion vs full range of motion?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3291" CreationDate="2011-08-20T19:13:43.587" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The full answer is beyond my scope of understanding; however, there is only one time in a trainer's life where they can build muscle and lose fat at the same time.  That's when they are a beginner and are currently obese.  Based off of information from Dr. Kilgore in &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; we have a couple variables for building muscle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing enough work to disrupt homeostasis, and force an adaptation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting enough rest and food for recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A beginner is so far removed from their genetic potential, they have much more leeway to play with their nutrition than someone who is an intermediate or higher lifter.  Intermediate refers to the length of time recovery takes, not how much the person actually lifts.  Essentially, the beginner can lift with a calorie deficit, assuming they are getting the protein and other nutrients they need.  Essentially the body needs the following for recovery:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest (sleep and time without work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein (used to build more protein pairs in the muscle fibers to make you stronger)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamins and minerals  (necessary part of metabolism, and a lifter needs more of these than a sedentary person)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Energy (can be in the form of fat or carbs, the body doesn't care)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key aspect here is the last bullet point.  With the calorie deficit, the body will pull from the fat stores to push energy into the muscles.  Energy in this sense is the glycogen stores.  A pound of muscle can store 600 Calories of glycogen, and a pound of fat stores 3500 Calories of glycogen.  So the exchange will never be 1-to-1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few &quot;anabolic&quot; diets out there, some more questionable than others.  A similarity among most that work is a reduction in the amount of carbs you eat, or a controlling of the glycemic load on the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The unfortunate truth is that as you progress in your lifting and are getting closer to your genetic potential, the difference between disrupting homeostasis and overtraining gets to be razor thin.  When you aren't recovering like you should, you have to look at the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a primary reason why most professional bodybuilders have bulking and cutting stages.  The bulking stage is focused on building the muscle up, by any means necessary.  That means more food, and probably higher fat than they would normally like.  The cutting stage doesn't build more muscle, or make you stronger.  It's designed to preserve your muscle while you burn fat.  Essentially the work you are doing is not disrupting homeostasis, so it isn't going to force any adaptations.  That means it's like an active recovery for a bit.  Trying to cut Calories while building muscle can mean the difference between successful recovery for the next increase or overtraining because of insufficient recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-20T19:13:43.587" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3399" CreationDate="2011-08-20T19:30:28.303" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The truth is that anatomically, the abs are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscle-fitness-tips.net/abdominal-muscles.html&quot;&gt;collection of interrelated muscles&lt;/a&gt;.  The primary function of your abdominal muscles, along with the obliques and back muscles is to keep the spine in an anatomically correct position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is specific, in the sense that the stress you apply forces an adaptation only to the muscles that were stressed.  When you perform different ab related exercises, you may feel the bulk of the burn on the top, bottom, or sides of the abs.  That said, working the abs as one large unit provides the most beneficial effect from the perspective of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you see a bulge surrounding the lower abs, there are a couple possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adipose tissue:&lt;/strong&gt; fat is very stubborn in the abdominal region--particularly for men.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/lowback/lordosis.htm&quot;&gt;Hyperlordosis&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; an over-curved spine usually as the result of sitting in a chair for hours on end--typically caused by muscle imbalance and/or inflexibility.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the problem is not adipose tissue (you would also have deposits on your sides [love handles]), then I would put the blame on hyperlordosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The corrective procedures for hyperlordosis is two-fold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching: when the glutes and hamstrings are too tight, they can pull the spine back where the muscles are connected.  This is one of the causes of the spinal curvature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abdominal work: planks (iso-prones), weighted situps, etc. will strengthen the abdominals to pull from the other side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, don't worry about upper/lower/left/right.  Just worry about exercising the abs as if they were one muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-20T19:30:28.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3337" CreationDate="2011-08-20T19:50:30.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are using the foam roller technique you may be overdoing it and causing irritation, which is why you feel you are counterproductive.  You may want to try just lying on your side, placing a tennis ball or softer &quot;miracle ball&quot;  under the tight spot and gently letting the weight of your leg and gravity release the tightness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This video shows the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAuv9BUq_yY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ball release technique for the ITB and quads&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This video shows standing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI1uUQv7u1k&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stretches for the ITB/TFL&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYM3KWwrGY&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; shows a stretch that also includes the hip rotators.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-08-20T19:50:30.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3399" CreationDate="2011-08-21T06:06:17.790" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is not really about the structure of the abdominal muscle. Your question is about the &quot;lower part [that] still has a little bulge&quot;. You seem to be subscribing to the Spot Reduction Myth. Belief in spot reduction means that you think exercising your arms/abs/thighs/butt will specifically reduce the amount of fat on that area of your body. This is a misunderstanding. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt; describes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Contrary to what the infomercials suggest there is no such thing as spot reduction. Fat is lost throughout the body in a pattern dependent upon genetics, sex (hormones), and age. Overall body fat must be reduced to lose fat in any particular area. Although fat is lost or gained throughout the body it seems the first area to get fat, or the last area to become lean, is the midsection (in men and some women, especially after menopause) and hips and thighs (in women and few men). Sit-ups, crunches, leg-hip raises, leg raises, hip adduction, hip abduction, etc. will only exercise the muscles under the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, you can't &quot;tone&quot; your little bulge. &lt;strong&gt;You need to exercise your whole body and eat less or eat better.&lt;/strong&gt; This will improve your whole body, which will include your little bulge. I don't know your diet, lifestyle, or current workout regimen so I can't advise on how you should specifically proceed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-21T06:06:17.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3407" CreationDate="2011-08-21T07:31:22.860" Score="12" ViewCount="9483" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do elite judo players, Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters, and wrestlers develop their strength? I am interested in their conditioning as well--running and the like--but primarily in resistance work. I am using this question as &lt;em&gt;research&lt;/em&gt; for my own training goals, so my progress and training needs are not relevant. (In other words, I am not asking how I as a judo player should develop strength.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will answer my own question, but I know my answer is incomplete. What other lifting programs have national- or world-class grapplers used? (Details such as the development, history, scheduling and success of the programs would be helpful in understanding them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in commentary about the efficacy of these workouts &lt;em&gt;only relating to their performance in competition or first-hand experience&lt;/em&gt;. So if a wrestling team was doing OK, then started training kettlebells and won the Olympics, that's good to know. If a judoka won the World Championships then started training Olympic lifts and gassed at their next tournament, that's good to know. If the athlete, coach, or member of the athlete's team says something in an interview about how effective they found CrossFit for their grappling, that's relevant. Opinions about workout techniques or programs in general are less relevant to this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T06:15:05.790" Title="What strength programs have been used by elite grapplers?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3406" CreationDate="2011-08-21T07:35:00.453" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard of the One Lift a Day method, described &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&amp;amp;t=965&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; by bodyweight/movement/gymnastics expert Ido Portal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;after their technical judo workout, the coach will name one exercise and one exercise only, and the trainees will go on to perform 7-12 sets of this exercise. One day it will be squat (5 rep range is optimal here), the next pull ups hanging from their Gi (Kimono - for added grip benefit) and the next will be deadlifts, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any further detail on that program (who used it, specific implementation) would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard of judo athletes on the national level A) doing no resistance work at all, B) doing a fairly diverse set of low-rep, high-weight barbell exercises that varied week-to-week, and C) doing high-rep sets of various barbell exercises that did not change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also come across elite BJJ players who use A) Olympic-lifting-based programs:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-GEoJL-AsY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-GEoJL-AsY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and B) very diverse, CrossFit-plus-personal-trainer style workouts that involve wearing a snorkel:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmb6oowDStg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmb6oowDStg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I have also seen this training clip of Soviet Greco-Roman wrestlers, which involves Olympic lifting as well as kettlebells and basic gymnastics (I hear they also squatted like maniacs):&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbC6X_JyE1s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbC6X_JyE1s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My examples only scratch the surface--they have almost no detail about the specific programs, why they're designed a certain way, and so on. I'm still very interested in more answers! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update - the Brits&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a &lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20120528090621/http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/technical/documents/StuartYule.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt; that details the British judo team's strength &amp;amp; conditioning approach for Beijing. The key components are on one slide:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press-ups, dips, handstand pushups for warmup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts and squats for strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted pull-ups, various barbell rows and presses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic lifts and jump squats (eek) for power, as well as box jumps, drop jumps (I've heard these can be injury-prone), and medicine ball throws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rotational work called &amp;quot;Gunthers&amp;quot; and other ways of moving a plate around the body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get-ups (I assume Turkish) and farmer's walks for grip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell rotations (these seem to be popular as a &lt;strong&gt;grappling-specific&lt;/strong&gt; exercise in MMA, BJJ and judo)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update - Research by John Amtmann, EdD, and Adam Cotton (Montana Tech of the University of Montana)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amtmann  and Cotton have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Abstract/2005/04000/Strength_and_Conditioning_for_Judo.5.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;published paper&lt;/a&gt; about how judo players should build strength. Mr. Amtmann &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mtech.edu/mines/shih/john.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;has a B.S. in Health/Biology Education, M.S. in Cardiac Rehabilitation/ Exercise Science, and a doctorate in education with a major in educational leadership&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises that enhance the strength of all major muscle groups combined with lifts done in a ballistic manner. These lifts include the Olympic lifts and their supplements (power clean, power snatch, hang clean, hang snatch, and high pulls) and other lifts using an explosive phase, such as medicine ball throws, weighted squat jumps, and weighted split jumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neck training should be a special consideration for all grappling athletes. Judo athletes are encouraged to throw their opponents onto their backs with high force. Because of the nature of grappling and combat sports, the judo athletes are sometimes at risk for cervical&#xA;injury because body positions of the athletes can become quite contorted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paper also recommends pretty much every grip strength exercise you've ever heard of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update - Iranian wrestlers&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqw3r8qwd98&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; to see the Iranian Olympic wrestling team work through a variation of hang cleans/barbell rows, plus plyometrics. I'm sure their routine involves more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2021-02-15T06:15:05.790" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T06:15:05.790" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3419" CreationDate="2011-08-21T11:55:10.507" Score="1" ViewCount="7314" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am after a good rowing machine.  My budget is about £200.  I understand that it might be impossible to get a &quot;good&quot; rowing machine with my budget.  So, what is the best rowing machine I can get with my budget?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-21T19:54:57.320" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T08:25:34.083" Title="Good budget rowing machine" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-10-17T22:24:50.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3401" CreationDate="2011-08-21T16:26:17.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1LnS8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I couldn't find any direct information about what the difference between short/full motion pushups, but what I did find (&lt;a href=&quot;http://transformetrics.com/content/pushups-full-extension-or-limited-range&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://transformetrics.com/content/pushups-full-extension-or-limited-range&lt;/a&gt;) ties directly with what you state, the shorter the range, the more you can do, OR, to give the major difference, the short the motion the more you NEED to do to achieve the same affect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In doing short-top (just the finishing top portion), short-bottom and full range myself, I found that the top-finishing motion utilizes more of the delts and chest muscles, the short-starting (bottom) utilizes the tricep and lats more....so, by doing short range top motion alone seems to reduce which muscle groups are being worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-21T16:26:17.880" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-08-21T18:19:08.900" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know Ivo or Greg but they are so far off base that I would ignore them.  Vibram Five fingers are made to run on ANY surface. It has nothing to do with running style, cement, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It forces you to change the way you run to a more natural manner.  If you are a heel striker...you will soon quit that.  The Bikala is just fine for distance running.  Some folks can't adjust to running barefoot.  However, a pediatrist friend of mine who runs in half and full marathons cut a section of Dr. Scholls gel pad and glued it in the shoe for the forefoot when he developed a blister and swears by it.  Once your feet toughen up, the cement won't be an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took me about a month.  I'm a Clydsdale distance runner and wouldn't switch to a regular shoe for anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1802" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-21T18:28:12.237" LastActivityDate="2011-08-21T18:28:12.237" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-08-21T18:19:08.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3460" CreationDate="2011-08-21T18:48:19.013" Score="4" ViewCount="12048" Body="&lt;p&gt;During long runs - usually everything 17 km and longer - the forepart of the sole of my feet very often gets a burning sensation. This makes it almost impossible to run and it really bother me as I love these long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is part of the history that I have metatarsal prolapse (was prolapse forefoot) - i.e. two of the middle bones in the forefoot has &quot;fallen&quot; a bit -, and use special insoles to correct for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there anything you can do about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe I have tried the obvious things already:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my shoes (Asics Kayano 17) have been tested and ok'ed my a running specialist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have tried to tie my shoes to a number of different ways in case it is a circulation problem, but to no avail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T15:29:39.817" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T19:26:53.357" Title="What to do against a burning sensation in my feet during long runs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3411" CreationDate="2011-08-21T19:22:13.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the very same issue. In my case it was the shoes. After switching to a very much thicker sole the problem disappeared and never came back. (Now a lot of other things hurt on longer runs^^)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So even if you checked your shoes, you might want to give other shoes (friends/family) a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1150" LastActivityDate="2011-08-21T19:22:13.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3406" CreationDate="2011-08-22T00:59:13.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A nice barbell circuit on top of a powerlifting and GPP (General Physical Preparedness)  routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is Randy Couture talking and demonstrating his barbell circuit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRpPHlDUC0Y&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;youtube randy couture barbell circuit&lt;/a&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paraphrased from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/showpost.php?p=110706&amp;amp;postcount=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFitter's recollection&lt;/a&gt; of a Randy Couture seminar where they discussed his strength &amp;amp; conditioning routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Little to no road work (running long distances)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plyometrics&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;olympic lifting&lt;/strong&gt; are the mainstay of his routine - usually 2 of each per week&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(Plyometrics) &quot;Explosion push ups&quot; - starting in down position with a partner or box to your right, pushing up and over the object and coming down on the other side - repeating back and forth. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(Plyometrics) Lots of box hops. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He's a huge fan of jumping rope (as he'll confess, when he wrestled in the army he had cement feet from wrestling so much Greco and had to adjust when he went to collegiate style.) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was a big pull up advocate. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Typically, 2-3 days of rest each week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He keeps most of S&amp;amp;C workouts to under 30 minutes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 minutes a day doing active visualization and meditation. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Powerlifting routine&lt;/strong&gt; much like westside method, starting stength or texas method.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GPP routine&lt;/strong&gt; farmer walk , sand bag thrusters, prowler or sled dragging.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell circuit&lt;/strong&gt; like Randy Couture's.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is power training plus working all energy systems to round it out (in addition to grappling and striking practice). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1788" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-27T18:12:32.940" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T18:12:32.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3411" CreationDate="2011-08-22T01:08:28.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had simiar issues until I discovered towel toe curls. Simply take off your shoes and socks and stand over a towel. Place the toes of your right foot on the towel and keep your heel on the floor. Use your toes to &quot;curl&quot; the towel back towards your body. It is like you are pulling the towel towards you using your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do 50 reps to the right foot. Do 50 reps to the left foot. Do every day for 2 weeks and then every other as maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T01:08:28.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3386" CreationDate="2011-08-22T01:14:30.863" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise to train as you are going to race. If you are running a trail race, do most of your training on trails. Similarly, if you plan on racing in supportive trainers, practice mostly in supportive trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is great to use vibrams / minimalist shoes as they (positively) change your stride, cadence and foot strike BUT I would try to take a long, long time of easing into them before attempting a marathon. You indicated you are easing into them over the last 4 months but that is still a relatively small amount of time given a lifetime of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe try 3/4 days a week in Vibrams and 3/4 days in trainers and then racing in the trainers. Both shoes will provide benefits as you continue transitioning to 100% minimalist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the minimalist work and good luck with the marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T01:14:30.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3564" CreationDate="2011-08-22T01:46:40.993" Score="5" ViewCount="1527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the concept of &amp;quot;genetic potential&amp;quot; thrown around when referring to bodybuilding. They say that people are hardwired to reach certain size. I have the following questions regarding this elusive concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Scientific validity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have scientists singled out the gene that determines the genetic potential a person's muscles? Or is the concept purely based off observation from the bodybuilding community?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Plateau&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you differentiate between hitting a plateau and hitting your genetic potential? Should a person who's been unsuccessfully trying to break a plateau for over a year give up because it's not really a plateau but rather a genetic brick wall?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hard Limit?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the limit a hard limit? For example, the gene says one person's upper arm circumference will not exceed 26 inches no matter what. Or is it a ballpark limit? That is, a person will struggle to get past the suggested limit, but will have an exponentially harder time going past that limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T19:48:11.517" Title="What is the genetic potential for muscular development?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3408" CreationDate="2011-08-22T10:42:31.600" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have your answer!  You want what is called a STRIALE SR 907:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8339506/art/striale/sr-907-magnetic-rowing-ma.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8339506/art/striale/sr-907-magnetic-rowing-ma.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.fr/STRIALE-rameur-RAMEUR-SR-907/dp/B004OCYKQ0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.fr/STRIALE-rameur-RAMEUR-SR-907/dp/B004OCYKQ0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE&lt;/strong&gt;: This rowing machine is sold with &lt;strong&gt;MANY DIFFERENT brand names&lt;/strong&gt; and numbers.  IN FACT most rowing machines are sold with many different brand names and numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very many rowing machines are in fact made by a large little-known asian company called &quot;CARE&quot;, and then they all have various brand names attached.  Brand-names like &quot;York&quot; and many others are literally nothing more than a sticker that says &quot;York&quot; or whatever stuck on top of the machine.  If you are interested in Asian manufacturing, you can see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.carefitness.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CAREFitness's  website&lt;/a&gt;. If you probe around you will get a clue to the many many brand names they stick on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;SR 907&quot; is exactly what you want because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any machine CHEAPER than this one is total crap. Don't buy it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any machine MORE EXPENSIVE than this one is a waste of money unless you get to the professional level machines over €1000.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If money is no object then buy an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oartec.com/slider_introduction.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Oartec Slider&lt;/a&gt; or possibly a Rowperfect or a Concept2-Dynamic. The &quot;traditional&quot; professional rowing machine is the Concept2, but the new &quot;slider&quot; machines are even better. Concept2's slider product is called the Concept2-Dynamic.  Personally I prefer the Oartec-Slider. Anyway this is all irrelevant unless you want to spend at least 1500.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again as in point &lt;strong&gt;(2)&lt;/strong&gt;, unless you go all the way to an Oartec or Concept2 (say $1500), you are better off to get the SR907. Anything in between is really a waste of money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else to consider: even if you decide to buy an expensive Oartec or Concept2, go ahead and buy a SR907 first, and use it for a few months. Only then will you know exactly what you want from an expensive rower, if that's what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again to repeat point &lt;strong&gt;(1)&lt;/strong&gt;, anything cheaper than the SR907 is junk, so unfortunately that is your cheapest choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some facts about the SR907:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should have no problems regarding height. I am 6' even and it is perfect. I'd say it would be no problem up to about 6'6&quot;. Some of the cheap machines can only really be used by children. So if is big enough - check.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is a STRAP type rather than a CHAIN type. Personally I think the STRAP type is much better. Quite simply the chain ones are ridiculously noisy. For example, try a Concept2 which has a chain. Some say the chain flexes less, but it's just silly - the futuristic materials used for the webbing in the strap these days do not stretch. After all, the NEW Concept2 model (the dynamic) has a strap rather than a chain, so you eliminate the ridiculous noise.  &lt;strong&gt;This machine is perfectly quiet.&lt;/strong&gt; So, the SR907 has a strap which is what you want -- good.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The engine is magnetic, not air-type.  In a word the air-type resistance wheels are crap.  Sure, the very best ones work well, but generally the air-type resistance wheels are simply crap.  Don't buy an air-type machine unless it is €1000+.  You also have the &quot;water resistance&quot; type. Personally, I think they are crap. The magnetique type are just so much more convenient.  And of course you can &lt;strong&gt;easily adjust the resistance&lt;/strong&gt; by turning a knob.  Note that the magnetic resistance engine is just the same simple mechanism that exists in billions of inexpensive exercise bikes worldwide; it is a very reliable, problem-free part that have been made millions of times. So the SR907 has a correct magnetic type resistance engine, which you want -- check.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The SR907 is reasonably sturdy. You will have no problems. It is not as strong as the 1000+ machines but it is completely solid. The cheaper machines are a joke.  So, check.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The electronics are &lt;strong&gt;SIMPLE&lt;/strong&gt; which is what you want. Thank goodness. Dismiss any machine with idiotic complicated displays, etc.  Note that, like every machine made, this machine has a hilarious &quot;calories burned&quot; display. Of course, as everyone knows, these are utterly idiotic and mean nothing. It's just one of those weird things that you find on every rowing machine, even though utterly and totally useless and stupid. So - simple electronics - check.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The seat slides easily and quietly and is comfortable and strong enough. Check x3.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Downsides:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You do have to assemble the machine. Unfortunately this is the case with every machine, other than the very most expensive 1000+ machines. It is packed very well with the bolts on a plastic wrapper, with &lt;strong&gt;every bolt numbered correctly&lt;/strong&gt;.  Take your time and carefully assemble it (15 minutes) following the instructions &lt;strong&gt;exactly&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't pull that &quot;plastic guide&quot; through until it tells you to! You have to use it to pull through a wire! Heh! Again, only the truly posh machines come already assembled, so the Ikea-stage is unavoidable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The foot stands are generally good. However, they do allow twisting forwards. In other words you can if you want to push your foot forwards, similar to pressing the accelerator in a car. I really don't know if this is a good thing or not; we'd need a professional rower to tell us. That's just life I guess. This machine is much, much better than all the other inexpensive machines, so that's just how it is I guess. You could easily mod the foot stands with a piece of wood or bolt to fix them in place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The only other real alternative is consider buying a used Concept2. However it will probably be about 600+.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you live in the USA, Concept2 is currently trying to desperately get rid of their old models. You can buy one quite cheap &quot;with the older screen&quot; (I think about 900-1000 rather than 1500). However - don't forget they are CHAIN drive machines and hence, no matter how solidly made and reliable, they are very very noisy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion it is pointless buying a second-hand cheaper machine: they will be ruined.  You can certainly buy a secondhand Oartec or Concept2. You can sometimes find them for sale for example from colleges, schools, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the SR907, I row it for one full hour (that is hard :-/) many times a week. I am a big guy (although getting smaller!) and it is completely tough enough to take that.  Note that the magnetic engine gets quite hot after an hour but no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a tough machine that will let you do all the rowing you want, for many years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an engineer and extensively investigated all the machines available, because I was too cheap to just buy an Oartec!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you enjoy rowing, it is incredibly difficult (I mean, utterly exhausting).  It is absolutely essential that you &lt;strong&gt;get the correct form&lt;/strong&gt; - look at all the videos online, ask experts etc etc.  It is completely pointless rowing, unless your form is perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is really really exhausting. The weird thing is at first (say 10 mins) you have the feeling you could go all day.  But wait a few more minutes ...  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8KwKU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The SR907, made by a large Asian company and sold under many brand names. It is the only &quot;moderate price&quot; rameur worth buying.  Be careful not to buy machines that &lt;strong&gt;look similar&lt;/strong&gt;, but are crap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T13:17:58.437" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T13:17:58.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3431" CreationDate="2011-08-22T13:38:26.290" Score="6" ViewCount="617" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working on improving my overall fitness for the past few months. My strategy has been to try and integrate a bit more physical activity into my lifestyle gradually, with the thinking being that if I introduce it this way I should be more able to keep it going and less at risk of burning myself out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, the results have been positive, I feel better and seem to have a bit more strength / endurance then before. I'm not in too bad shape at the moment (based on BMI I am at ideal weight, but more of it is likely fat than should be, as I do have a bit of a potbelly). My goals are rather modest, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lose the potbelly &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve core muscle strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve general stamina.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to get started on tracking progress, to see how I'm doing and to see if my current level of exercise will be sufficient. Currently just tracking weight and waist measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what other measurements (preferably easy to take) would be worth tracking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1810" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T19:57:57.230" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T19:57:57.230" Title="Useful measurements / tracking approach for a fitness strategy" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3401" CreationDate="2011-08-22T14:03:22.357" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For strength training, you should always do full-range of motion (ROM) push-ups. Partial ROM exercises are appropriate only for intermediate or advanced lifters who need to fix a problem area in a weighted exercise where recovering from doing the full ROM would be problematic. (For instance, deadlifting an enormous amount of weight can take a week to recover from, so an elite deadlifter might do rack pulls one day and halting deadlifts another.) Since push-ups are not a weighted exercise, the recovery is not going to be an issue, and so there's no reason not to train the full ROM. If one is so weak as to be unable to do a single push-up, bench pressing a broomstick or light bar across the whole range of motion would be superior to doing partial ROM push-ups, since the muscle will then get stronger across the full ROM. Training the partial ROM will not get one strong enough to do the full ROM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be other reasons to train partial-ROM push-ups, such as mass/hypertrophy or conditioning. It seems that for both of these goals there are superior methods: running, a Prowler or boxer's speed bag for endurance, and various presses for hypertrophy. It does not seem that partial-ROM push-ups are particularly useful except when one does not have access to more suitable equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T14:03:22.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3421" CreationDate="2011-08-22T14:05:11.973" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The challenge of measuring &quot;fitness&quot; is that is a vague concept. If you want to take specific measurements, you need specific goals. As an example of vague to specific:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to get in shape.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to lose weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to lose 20 lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to lose 20 lbs. by my 25th high school reunion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to lose 20 lbs and fit into 30&quot; waist pants by my 25th high school reunion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the progression from vague to measurable, it becomes very clear what you would measure and what success and failure look like at different points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the first step is to define what it means to be fit for you. Weight is common, but, as you've noted, being an ideal weight while still having too much fat isn't great fun. Measuring body fat with either quality calipers or an electronic tool is more complicated, but can still be done quickly. You can quickly find age and gender appropriate body fat percentages to shoot for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also include strength and endurance in my fitness goals. For that I just look at my exercise log. I have four exercises with specific weight and rep goals that mark fit or unfit. When you try and set your goals, take a baseline of what you can do today and try to raise it by 20% in three months (six if you've been working out hard for awhile). Shooting for that will give you an idea of your potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I include hours of sleep per week in my assessment. Many of us don't exercise just for the fun of it, the goal is to be healthy. Getting proper rest is key to that and many people foresake proper sleep the same way they ignore the expanding waist line. Shoot for 56 hours per week (8 per night) and see how close you can get. It is actually very hard, but will go a long way towards helping what ever other goals you set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T14:05:11.973" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3421" CreationDate="2011-08-22T14:21:13.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all comes down to your goals, but I'm a fan of moving the numbers away from the subjective world of yourself (pounds, waistband inches) and into the objective world of achievement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time - finishing a 5k, or running a mile in less than 8 minutes, or 6.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight - deadlifting your bodyweight, or squatting 150 or 300 pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility - touching your toes, or doing a side split.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Challenge - entering a competition, like a 5k or Olympic lifting or a judo tournament.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really wild about health and science you could look into tracking your VO2 Max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a comment, you mentioned that you're concerned with tracking body composition, and specifically, how well you're doing at replacing fat with muscle. That goes directly to strength measurements: your biceps might fluctuate as they go from fat to muscle, and your waist might be stubborn for weeks, but if you can lift 200 pounds when you used to only be able to lift 100 pounds, or if you can do three times as many chin-ups as before, you're stronger. Period. If your weight stays mostly the same during that same period, you're stronger in relation to your body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start keeping a training journal with sets, reps, and weights. So, yesterday I did 3 sets of 5 squats with 160 pounds. Next week I'll do 3 sets of 5 at 165. If this trend continues I will be objectively and provably stronger, and my progress will be well-documented. See the accepted answer in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/what-should-be-recorded-in-my-workout-journal&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T22:37:20.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3411" CreationDate="2011-08-22T15:06:53.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried to &quot;tape&quot; your foot? Try using some bandage or tensoplast etc. for both softening the surface under the foot as well as keeping the skin under your foot &quot;in place&quot; preventing it from been slightly ripped and pulled and eventually hurting like a blister.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T15:06:53.300" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3427" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-22T18:33:05.353" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T18:33:05.353" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T18:33:05.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3428" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-22T18:33:05.353" Score="0" Body="Working out for aesthetic purposes: building muscle mass, cutting weight (especially fat), creating desired body proportions." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T18:38:06.233" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T18:38:06.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3429" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-22T18:38:51.853" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T18:38:51.853" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T18:38:51.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3430" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-22T18:38:51.853" Score="0" Body="Minimalist shoe company. Maker of the FiveFingers toe shoes." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T18:41:12.953" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T18:41:12.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3421" CreationDate="2011-08-22T20:24:30.190" Score="5" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tracking your &lt;strong&gt;waist measurements&lt;/strong&gt; will give you some of the most important information about your health gains as you get back in shape.  Your goal is for your waist to measure about one half of your height.  Central obesity is a big factor in many health problems so your waist measurement and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot;&gt;waist ratios&lt;/a&gt; are a key measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tracking your &lt;strong&gt;body fat percentage&lt;/strong&gt; will give you feedback as to whether or not your diet and exercise program is improving your body composition.  Many people diet poorly resulting in loss of muscle rather than fat.  The easiest way to track body fat % is with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html#Skin-Caliper-Method&quot;&gt;Accumeasure skin caliper&lt;/a&gt; - cheap and easy.  You just take one suprailiac measurement that you can do yourself.  While taking just one measurement may not be the most accurate, it is highly reproducible with practice, meaning that you can become consistent and see the progression which is what you want to track.  Alternatively, here are other options for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;measuring your body fat percentage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; such as the Bod Pod, circumference formula methods and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis monitors (BIA)  with the pros and cons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tracking your &lt;strong&gt;Heart Rate&lt;/strong&gt; - Also, since you are looking to improve stamina you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html&quot;&gt;monitor your heart rate&lt;/a&gt; to assure that you are exercising in your target zone.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tracking your &lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; -  Keeping track of what you eat and drink for a week will give you an idea if you have any glaring daily bad habits that need to be modified, like sodas, junk, unconscious eating etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tracking your core strength can be as easy as timing how long you can hold a plank or side plank position.  Or you can track how much weight you can lift.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you are right to graduallly increase your physical activity and create a healthy lifestyle as these will be ongoing changes which are more successful than attempting quick fixes.  Sounds like you are off to a good start.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T20:24:30.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3351" CreationDate="2011-08-22T21:08:19.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0471149047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;great book&lt;/a&gt; on the subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1502" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T21:52:17.190" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T21:52:17.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3434" CreationDate="2011-08-23T01:14:11.040" Score="5" ViewCount="697" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend mentioned maxing out pushups as a challenge for ten days in a row.  To me, this does not sound particularly healthy since it all but guarantees torn up muscles and they need time to rest.  His response?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Actually certain forms of exercise are fine to do everyday bc its&#xA;  functional movement. Push ups are such a movement as well as pull ups,&#xA;  squats, and lunges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would imagine exercises--functional or not--are okay everyday &lt;em&gt;to an extent&lt;/em&gt; (certainly not maxing out.)  However, since that's just me talking, I was hoping for something more concrete.  I was also wondering how much his examples truly do classify as &quot;functional movements&quot; since the terminology is new do me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help set things straight for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1813" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T23:39:56.807" Title="Are functional movement exercises healthy to do everyday?" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3433" CreationDate="2011-08-23T02:44:03.750" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Short Answer About Your Friend's Advice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A movement being functional (whatever that means) does not disqualify it from causing an overuse injury or overtraining. Either your friend is wrong or we are not understanding your friend's argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is a Functional Movement Anyway?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Classifying a movement as &quot;functional&quot; is a fuzzy endeavor. He might be using the CrossFit definition, which isn't quite science (as far as I know) but it's popular and it's not unreasonable. Here's the criteria:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Functional movements are universal motor recruitment patterns; they are performed in a wave of contraction from core to extremity; and they are compound movements—i.e., they are multi-joint.  They are natural, effective, and efficient locomotors of body and external objects.  But no aspect of functional movements is more important than their capacity to move large loads over long distances, and to do so quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: Greg Glassman, &lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/56-07_Understanding_CF.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Understanding CrossFit&lt;/a&gt;. See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=56550&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit forum post&lt;/a&gt; also).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sounds like a fine set of guiding principles to me. Unfortunately the definition lends itself very quickly to degradation into &quot;whatever sounds like fun&quot;. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitwest.com/?p=1037&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this CrossFit gym&lt;/a&gt; uses functional as a broad term to justify the movements they already do. (Notice that they use multiple definitions, and apply their criteria haphazardly.) And where do these criteria come from, anyway? I'd welcome any evidence that Glassman didn't just create them from thin air. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other definitions of functional might include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relating to your goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maximum-efficiency movements &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maximum-inefficiency movements (which, by being harder, create more muscle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full range-of-motion movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercises that mimic prehistoric human hunting patterns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on. Bottom line, &quot;functional&quot; is a fuzzy term, and using it doesn't make the exercise magically not follow the laws of mammalian adaption to stress. Maxing out on push-ups (or squats, or lunges) every day for ten days (particularly if one is untrained) might work, but is probably not the safest or most productive way to work out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-08-23T13:14:46.877" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T13:14:46.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3435" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-23T03:22:08.600" Score="4" ViewCount="2557" Body="&lt;p&gt;After intense training sessions, I sometimes have the following symptoms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My mind races. I can still be functional and productive, but getting it to hold still long enough to make a simple decision is harder than it should be. In my journal I've used the word &quot;scattered&quot; to describe this feeling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have trouble going to sleep, both at night and for naps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read this sort of thing described as &quot;overtraining&quot;, or &quot;CNS fatigue&quot;, which I put in quotes because they seem to be controversial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f15/nutrition-cns-775154/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This forum post&lt;/a&gt; seems to be describing the same thing, except it has a focus on nutrition and supplements to combat these conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know, in terms of what's going on in the body, what these conditions are. Please include citations (preferably academic) in your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1669" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T21:47:39.960" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T14:06:12.287" Title="What is &quot;overtraining&quot; a.k.a. &quot;CNS fatigue&quot;?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3386" CreationDate="2011-08-23T03:41:02.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;i trained in VFFs for 3 months prior to my second marathon. i switched back to Asics for the marathon. they felt heavy. i didn't feel any &quot;boost&quot;. i do believe that i finished faster overall than i would have in VFFs because i pushed myself hard to hit a time goal, and my form deteriorated, resulting in me just throwing one foot in front of the other and nailing my heels each time; that would have been torture in VFFs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so if you want to push yourself beyond the point of good form, you should revert to your cushioned shoes for the race. i'm trying not to inject opinion here because i was very happy with hitting that goal, and think it was worthwhile (no injuries, thankfully). if you don't have such a goal, stick with the VFFs. while transitioning, i noticed no significant speed difference in the VFFs vs. Asics before the point of form breakdown, and though i've gotten faster over time, i attribute that completely to training, not to gear&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1669" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T03:41:02.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1248" CreationDate="2011-08-23T04:03:08.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recovery is influenced primarily by your sleep, the food you eat, and how active you are. Going for sprints will hurt your recovery from lifting (and vice versa). Not getting enough quality sleep will hurt your recovery. And not eating enough will definitely hurt your recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training requires fuel. You need fats and proteins (preferably animal proteins, like milks, eggs, or, yes, meat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a side note, BMI is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2223095/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;terrible&lt;/a&gt; metric and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;should be banished from the earth&lt;/a&gt; so &lt;a href=&quot;http://scienceblogs.com/obesitypanacea/2010/03/body_mass_index_bmi_as_a_measu.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;please don't use it&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T04:03:08.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="297" CreationDate="2011-08-23T04:13:06.463" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there's a place to do pull-ups, that would be better than nearly anything with those light weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do a few chin-ups, wrap a towel around the bar to make it thicker. Or, hang a sturdy towel over the bar and grip the towel directly. These are both well-known grip strength workouts that have the added benefit of working the rest of your body as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T04:13:06.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3439" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-23T04:20:44.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Originating in France, parkour is the art getting from one place to another in the most efficient manner possible. In theory, parkour is about learning to navigate obstacles quickly in an emergency situation. Parkour trainings allow people to negotiate obstacles on an individual basis and decide on the best method for getting passed them, based on the type of obstacle, the physical abilities of the traceur, and the situation. There is an emphasis on fluid, limber movements, and training sometimes includes instruction in the martial arts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="3243" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T15:09:09.223" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T15:09:09.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3440" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-23T04:20:44.503" Score="0" Body="Parkour is the act of moving from point “a” to point “b” using the obstacles in your path to increase your efficiency." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="3243" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T13:46:28.840" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T13:46:28.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3165" CreationDate="2011-08-23T04:22:34.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/performance-enhancing-drugs/HQ01105&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mayo Clinic article&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; has some in-depth info of the side effects of performance enhancing drugs.  They point out that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Risks&lt;/strong&gt; -&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Many athletes take anabolic steroids at doses that are much higher than those prescribed for medical reasons, and most of what is known about the drugs' effects on athletes comes from observing users. It is impossible for researchers to design studies that would accurately test the effects of large doses of steroids on athletes, because giving participants such high doses would be unethical. This means that the effects of taking anabolic steroids at very high doses haven't been well studied. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article covers steroids, designer steroids and other performance enhancers.  If you are considering taking any, check out the article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T04:22:34.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-08-23T04:58:58.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're considering the Bikilas, go with Bikila LS instead&amp;nbsp;— the new lacing system is dramatically better and won't chafe like the old strap sometimes did. I don't have experience with the other two types you listed, but I've run on plenty of cement in the Bikila LS. I've found that landing evenly in the middle of my foot minimizes pain from running on cement; you might just need to tweak your form rather than get new shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1669" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T15:40:53.037" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T15:40:53.037" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-08-23T04:58:58.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2011-08-23T09:37:08.887" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to share with you my experience. I recently discovered that I had high BP and was put on medicine. Before you start doing exercise with weights you need to double check with the Doctor + you need to ensure that you DON’T stop your breath while lifting weights. There is a danger of BP shooting up if you hold your breath for long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to start with what has worked for me: &#xA;Start with aerobic exercises first. Make sure that you do Aerobic exercise for 30 mintutes and light weights for around 10 minutes. Slowly increase the time that you spend doing weights. You can reduce your aerobic time to minimum 15 minutes but never give up aerobic exercises. IMO you get best results when you do both forms of exercises. If you follow your exercises regime for 2 months you will be a much fitter person and blood pressure should be closer to normal. It has worked amazingly for me . Since you are young you might as well fix this problem for ever. Also remember to cool down post work out. This is of paramount importance. Once you are done, lie down on a mat and rest for 5-10 minutes concentrating on your breath and breathing deeply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO if you don’t have any physical condition like Unbalanced Thyroid or Cholestrol, BP might purely be a lifestyle disease for you. You can do wonders by losing weight/controlling stress and reducing salt intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T09:37:08.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="297" CreationDate="2011-08-23T14:01:01.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristFlexors/BBWristCurl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell wrist curl&lt;/a&gt; and/or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristFlexors/DBWristCurl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbbell wrist curl&lt;/a&gt; can greatly improve your grip. Personally, I find the barbell wrist curl to be easier to execute correctly, but both will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T14:01:01.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3445" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-23T14:06:36.903" Score="1" ViewCount="1110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people notice a skin-tingling effect after consuming &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-Alanine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beta alanine&lt;/a&gt;, but I found no explanation on &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; the skin is tingling and why the effect starts at the head first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps someone can shed some light on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditDate="2011-08-29T18:04:43.290" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T18:33:35.377" Title="Why does the skin tingle after consuming beta alanine?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-09-04T14:58:05.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3446" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3455" CreationDate="2011-08-23T15:32:39.713" Score="2" ViewCount="504" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Ultimate and other disc sports, the forehand &quot;flick&quot; throw is one of the most common movements. Like a forehand in tennis, the movement starts with the arm to the side and slightly behind the player. The arm is then whipped foreward in the horizontal plane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've anecdotally seen a number of shoulder and elbow injuries that seem to be caused by this movement. A player throws hard and throws often and finds that the movement produces pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not particularly interested in &lt;em&gt;specific&lt;/em&gt; diagnoses and treatments. What I'd like to know is how we can prevent injury by using prehab exercises that strengthen and mobilize the arm for the forehand disc throw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that getting the arm stronger and more mobile in general will help, but what are the specific needs of this movement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T18:51:34.327" Title="What prehab work can minimize risk of injury for throwing a disc forehand?" Tags="&lt;ultimate-frisbee&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3447" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-23T15:44:05.853" Score="14" ViewCount="18822" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can one get bigger at home &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; weights such as bench press, dumbbells or anything else. I don't have any weight equiment at home but I workout everyday such as push-ups, sit-ups and dips but dont see any results. I don't know what the problem is. I just want some suggestions on how to get bigger and stronger at home. Any one have ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1820" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-23T16:33:30.427" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T21:11:02.303" Title="How to Get Bigger And Stronger with no gym or weights" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;body-weight-lift&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28344" CreationDate="2011-08-23T16:03:48.690" Score="10" ViewCount="5890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing Stronglifts 5x5, and I've read a lot of material about strength training. Everything I've read so far indicates that sufficient rest is essential to making progress and building strength. All the reputable lifting routines prescribe &quot;rest days&quot;. Stronglifts and Starting Strength both say not to work out more than 3 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theory as I understand it, is that your muscles break down and weaken after you use them strenuously, and then &quot;bounce back&quot; over time. If you time your workouts right, you can train during a period where your muscles are overcompensating for the damage you've done, and you'll get a boost to your next workout. But if you train too soon, your muscles won't have recovered from the damage done, and you'll just be tearing them down again, preventing progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, sounds reasonable. But here's where I get confused. I've been looking into ways to train myself to do pull-ups and chin-ups. At present, I can not do even one rep. One method that gets mentioned a lot is &quot;greasing the groove&quot; or &quot;greasing the bar&quot;. Some people advocate putting a pull-up bar in a doorway in a frequently-used part of your house, and doing one rep every time you pass it. Other people suggest doing a certain amount of reps (or attempts) every single day, or at least every workout, until one is able to do a few pull-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the anecdotal evidence I've seen, &quot;greasing the groove&quot; sounds like it works. But how could that be? If I'm straining my muscles doing negative pull-ups or negative chin-ups, and I'm doing a rep here-and-there throughout the day, every day, when would my muscles have time to recover? Wouldn't it be the same as if I were doing squats or bench pressing every single day - overtraining and preventing progress? &lt;b&gt;How is it possible that rest days are important for some exercises, but constant every-day effort would work for chin-ups/pull-ups?&lt;/b&gt; Can these two lines of thought be reconciled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2011-09-04T14:59:24.497" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T22:07:41.720" Title="How can I reconcile the need for rest with &quot;greasing the groove&quot; on pull ups?" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2011-08-23T16:12:09.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot expect to see muscle mass or strength gains if you repeatedly do the same exercises with the same weight (in your case, bodyweight). At best you'll see a change in the ratio of slow-twitch to fast-twitch fibers for an improvement in endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Guidelines.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACSM guidelines&lt;/a&gt;, in order to see gains you'll need exercises that can take you to exhaustion in 6-12 repetitions. That is unlikely to be normal push-ups or dips. If weights are completely out of the picture, I'd recommend a backback loaded with books or other heavy items. Whatever it takes to hit exhaustion before that 12th rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cut your workouts down from daily to 2-3 times per week per muscle group to give time for recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T16:12:09.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2011-08-23T16:29:31.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to gain mass, look at your calorie intake. You're probably not eating enough. An increase of about 500 calories/day is the number I hear most often, but you'll want to figure out what you're currently taking in vs burning each day and go from there. Also, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added benefit: Increased caloric intake translates to increased weight, which increases resistance on bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend checking out &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345528581&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Lauren. It covers increasing difficulty/intensity of bodyweight exercises, diet, intervals, and pretty much everything else to help you push past your current plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="703" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T16:29:31.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3451" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3458" CreationDate="2011-08-23T16:42:56.680" Score="4" ViewCount="1365" Body="&lt;p&gt;When diving/&quot;laying out&quot;/&quot;bidding&quot; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_%28sport%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ultimate&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;should you land on your &lt;em&gt;chest&lt;/em&gt; or on your &lt;em&gt;side&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ultitraining.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/learning-to-layout-practice-progressions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This awesome set of progressions for learning to bid in Ultimate&lt;/a&gt; uses the WikiHow recommendation of landing on the chest. This seems strange for several reasons: our lady players might run into trouble with it, our more rotund recreational players might run into trouble with it, and landing on your chest knocks the wind out of you. Not to mention, landing on your chest with your arm(s) extended doesn't give you any option to roll that I can see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gamedev.net/topic/415049-ultimate-frisbee---laying-out/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This totally anecdotal account&lt;/a&gt; emphasizes landing on your side. This jives with everything I've learned about falling in grappling sports, as well as my personal experience in Ultimate: landing on your side allows you to roll, doesn't know the wind out of you, and gives you a hair more reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest-landing and side-landing are both obviously in use, but which one is best along the criteria of A) most effective and B) safest?&lt;/strong&gt; Are there other tactical considerations I am missing? (Opinions from Ultimate players are valued, opinions from elite players are super-valued.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-23T21:37:09.760" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T16:27:46.633" Title="How should one land when diving in Ultimate?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;ultimate-frisbee&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1085" CreationDate="2011-08-23T17:03:00.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What worked for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts and squats. (Pullups wouldn't hurt.) Getting beastly strong in your back and shoulders will A) make keeping proper posture easier, since it'll take a smaller amount of effort from bigger, stronger muscles and B) give you awesome practice, since deadlifts and squats require a strongly locked-in shoulders-back position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conscious decision to always keep good posture. Imagine a thread connected to the crown of your head pulling you as tall as can be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand-up desk to practice at work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm in front of a laptop 9 hours a day. I was Quasimodo until I did this. Stretching, yoga and lightweight &quot;core&quot; exercises did nothing, because my back was not &lt;em&gt;strong&lt;/em&gt;. Once you are strong the yoga, stretching and accessory exercises can be added back in, and will be very productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-07-05T12:45:05.020" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T12:45:05.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2011-08-23T17:23:28.567" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/393840-how-often-should-you-do-pullups/&quot;&gt;Training Dimensions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Greasing the Groove is a technique used to practice any strength movement at a high volume without requiring a long period of recovery. If you are new to pullups, greasing the groove allows you to practice pullups often, teaching your central nervous system to perform the movement more efficiently. In greasing the groove, you perform as few as one pullup at a time, several times throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the volume is high over a longer period of time. It is also recommended for beginners who are not necessarily on another program. In that scenario, the trainee can probably only do a few pull-ups, which means that only doing them 3x/week won't provide enough volume to drive adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see the same note struck in &lt;a href=&quot;http://trainingdimensions.net/SOS/SOS%202007/Grease%20the%20Groove%20for%20Strength.pdf&quot;&gt;Pavel's PDF on the subject&lt;/a&gt;. By doing only a few, &lt;em&gt;manageable&lt;/em&gt; reps at a time, the recovery of greasing the groove is less, so the frequency can be jacked up. Pavel does include a few examples of powerlifters greasing the groove, but as he notes, these are sub-maximal loads (60%-80%) and done for six reps or less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T17:23:28.567" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2011-08-23T17:31:46.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had success using a combination of Garmin Forerunner 405 (with a heart rate monitor) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SportTrack 3&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The watch have all the usual capabilities as well as the ability to &quot;execute&quot; advanced goal-oriented workouts. Unfortunately the battery is only good for 6-8 hours of active use, which can limit for some types of exercises and races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SportTracks comes with a large number of plug-ins can do just about everything from keeping track of the use of your equipment, your weight/body far, the weather during runs, your current CTL/ATL, training plans, VO2max, your records, etc, etc.... After 3 years with SportTracks, I have a rather comprehensive diary of all my cardia exercises - apart from swimming :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T17:31:46.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3446" CreationDate="2011-08-23T18:51:34.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe injuries from the flick are caused by improper form; most people aren't very good at it and torque their arm to make up for their form problems. One way to improve form, and to avoid injury, is to practice the flick by throwing very short distances at low speed. This focuses the movement on getting a level throw and some spin on the disk while reducing the impact of the movement. Without speed, there is no way to compensate for poor throwing motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T18:51:34.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3451" CreationDate="2011-08-23T19:02:09.003" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your top competitive players are going to get the disk in any way they can and will risk injury to do it. If you aren't interested in pain, the dive should end in a slide more than a hard landing. If the disk is going to be at waist level, it's not time to dive yet. Diving to catch a disk should happen very near the ground, allowing the dive to be much more horizontal than vertical. I would think of diving onto a slip and slide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For progressions, you can use one or both hands (chest or side). Get low to the ground by bending the knees, and place the ball or blade of your hand on the ground and start to slide. As you get lower, move to the forearm and finally to the chest or side. This can start from standing before moving to walking and running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-23T19:02:09.003" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3451" CreationDate="2011-08-24T00:50:16.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I see players land on their chest for a lay-out, they often pull the &quot;scorpion&quot; move -- legs extending over their back, chin scraping the ground. I've never had any injury other than a scraped hip from landing on my hip, chest, and shoulder simultaneously.&#xA;Here's a quick drawing of what I mean by hip, chest, and shoulder simultaneously:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/QlJ8a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://imgur.com/QlJ8a&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, here is a video of the kind of layout I'm talking about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAJLFE_zDdw&amp;amp;feature=player_detailpage#t=165s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAJLFE_zDdw&amp;amp;feature=player_detailpage#t=165s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch how Zip lands not directly on his chest, but on his hip, side and shoulder. It maximizes your contact with the ground, displacing the force of the impact over a greater surface area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1823" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T00:50:16.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3411" CreationDate="2011-08-24T14:26:43.053" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;After some discussions with Ivo, I'm pretty sure my problem is Mortons Neuroma. All the descriptions I have found so far match my symptoms exactly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what can you do about it? Well, there seem to be a couple of possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can get special custom made insoles that will push up the forefoot. I already have a pair of these, and they actually work: instead of 7-8 km, I can run 17-18 km before my feet burn...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can tape up your forefoot as suggested by Steeven, which basically should do the same as the insoles. I haven't tried a longer run yet while taping up my feet, so I cannot tell whether it will work for me or not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can get special &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/Forum11/HTML/009813.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alcohol injections&lt;/a&gt;, which seem to work for quite a few out there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Surgery is an option, though there is a 20% chance it will not work and you will be left with an uncomfortable numbness in the feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-24T19:00:18.290" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T19:00:18.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3633" CreationDate="2011-08-24T15:24:37.533" Score="7" ViewCount="1105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I practice &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_dance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lion dance&lt;/a&gt; as part of the tradition and culture of my martial arts system. It is a dance in which two performers mimic a lion's movements inside a costume. As part of some lion dance routines (in general), various tricks can be performed with two people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one particular trick where I lift a person (the one holding the lion head) up by the waist and onto my head. Lifting the person up with the lion head is not particularly difficult for me. Maintaining the weight after setting the person down on my head tends to put stress on my neck and shoulders, and more so when I walk around, as I try to keep my posture and not collapse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture that resembles what I'm talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/smswigart/5465809843/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5291/5465809843_981acb1218.jpg&quot; width=&quot;286&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;lion dance - full stack&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;lion dance - full stack&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Photo by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/smswigart/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scott Swigart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am mentally comfortable with bearing the weight on my head (from practicing over and over), but physically I feel like I still there is a limit to how long I can hold the weight. Doing it too many times also leads to much soreness. I am curious to know whether there are exercises and stretches that would allow me to build up strength in my neck and shoulders so that I could perform this move longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUyYIRvuBt8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one example&lt;/a&gt; of me and my partner doing a dance (we are in the gold lion). If you want see some really cool and impressive stuff though, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lion+dance+competitions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lion dance competition videos on YouTube&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;I added the &quot;cheerleading&quot; tag since it is probably the most analogous type of physical workout. Hopefully it will attract people from that area who understand what I'm describing and could provide some insight.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.527" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T20:10:17.523" Title="Strengthening neck and shoulders to hold weight on my head" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3451" CreationDate="2011-08-24T15:58:51.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In response to michael's question about injuries from diving: I have seen collarbone injuries, heard of shoulder injuries, and seen people need to take the rest of a point off due to improper bids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1479041/pdf/brjsmed00028-0063.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information&lt;/a&gt; is better than anecdotes. P. Marfleet has this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Laying-out (diving) is a skill that requires not only courage and determination, but also technique. A lay-out is usually performed at speed - a dive at the end of a run. The legs should be flung out straight keeping the knees together, while the arms are fully extended, reaching out to catch the disc (i.e. the whole body horizontal and parallel to the ground&#xA;(Figure 7)). &lt;em&gt;As the disc is caught, the whole body rolls in a twisting motion as it hits the ground. Thus impact is taken on the &lt;strong&gt;extensor surface of the forearm, posterior aspect of the upper arm and shoulder, lateral aspect of chest wall to posterior-lateral aspect of the buttock and thigh&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; The full force of the impact is thus dissipated. A poor lay-out&#xA;usually finds one knee low and partly flexed and/or one or both elbows partly flexed. The player therefore lands directly on to the knee or elbow and sustains a friction burn or develops bursitis. Poor technique may also result in landing too violently on the hand,&#xA;invariably landing directly on to the ulnar aspect, Figure 6. 'Skying' for a disc - ultimate is a non-contact sport but there is ample opportunity for accidental collision&#xA;thus injuring the fifth metacarpal, phalanges, metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal  joints - instead of rolling on impact with the ground (Figure 8)&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r0rPt.png&quot; alt=&quot;Proper lay-out technique&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VQ2FG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can simultaneously be cognizant of proper technique when bidding and landing  &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; be willing to compromise proper technique in order to get the disc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, Ultimate injury-prevention website &lt;a href=&quot;http://injurytimeout.org/layout_safety.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;injurytimeout.com&lt;/a&gt; recommends chest/abdomen landing, though technically one could interpret that to include both side and front landings. (Personally I think they mean chest not side.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Layouts are a common way to get injured. You can minimize this risk by teaching proper layout technique and decision-making early in the season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by teaching proper upper body and arm technique. &lt;strong&gt;The key is to land with most body weight on the chest and abdomen rather than the arms.&lt;/strong&gt; The arm catching or D-ing the disc should be extended to prevent landing with a lot of body weight on the wrist, arm, or elbow. The other arm can be extended or bent in such a way that the athlete will not land with a lot of weight on it. To allow the disc to slide easily on the ground make sure players flip their wrist so that the disc is upside down. This prevents jamming injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kristen H Reynolds, MD and Sarah E. Halsmer, Bs &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/_WMS/publications/wmj/issues/wmj_v105n6/Reynolds.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;noted in the Wisconsin Medical Journal&lt;/a&gt; a greater number of shoulder injuries in male Ultimate players than female:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimate frisbee also entails some unique maneuvers, such as a layout for the disc. This could account for a high rate of shoulder injuries. Though not specifically addressed in this study, it is of the author's personal experience and opinion that men tend to be more aggressive than women in this regard, which could account for the greater number of shoulder injuries in men. Proper technique for laying out has been described in the literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Reynolds and Halsmer are referencing my above quote from Marfleet.) It seems to me that &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; that greater number of shoulder injuries is from more laying out, then they could be from either side or back landings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I did not find definitive answers in my mini-literature review, but yes, injuries do occur from laying out, and proper technique can help prevent those injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T16:27:46.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3869" CreationDate="2011-08-24T16:20:17.083" Score="8" ViewCount="1561" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, there are three mechanisms by which ATP is replenished:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For intense 10-12 second efforts, ADP is directly converted back to ATP using creatine phosphate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For efforts up to a couple minutes, ATP is produced by glycolytic metabolism&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For longer efforts (several minutes or many hours), ATP is produced by oxidation of fatty acids and glycolytic products&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source is nearly verbatim from Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore's Practical Programming for Strength Training, 2nd edition, page 57)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a particular sport engages two different metabolic methods, A) how does that interaction work, and B) how does one condition for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, many running-centric team sports like soccer are clearly in the third category (running for twenty minutes to maintain positional control of the field). Those same sports occasionally require intense spurts that would clearly fall in the first category (sprinting on a breakaway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is sport-specific training (e.g. scrimmaging) best for training this interaction between the two pathways? Is training each pathway individually (e.g. sled drags in one workout,  distance running in another)  sufficient? Does conditioning have to be combined in the same  specific manner that mimics lower-intensity work interspersed with bursts of hard effort (e.g. Indian runs)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; to be clear, I am looking for an explanation of the physical or physiological phenomena going on here. I am not looking for advice on a training regimen, unless it specifically explains why and how it is most effective, using either science or competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T21:20:28.110" Title="How does one train for sports when the three metabolic pathways interact?" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3461" CreationDate="2011-08-24T17:29:37.577" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be concerned with the strength and load-bearing abilities of your neck, back, and to a lesser extent your legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I'd make sure you can deadlift at least 1.5x your bodyweight for reps without form breakdown. That would provide you with the base from which to safely focus on neck-specific work. Heavy lifting will also improve bone density in a way that few other activities can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alongside your deadlift progress I would recommend neck-specific work. You want to make sure you're ready to sustain pressure along your spine. Two come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck bridges (like in wrestling) (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=64254&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt; from the Crossfit boards -- there are some great Feats of Neck Strength as well as excellent progressions in the links)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Headstand work (like in yoga)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It couldn't hurt to do some squats for general strength purposes. Essentially they would buttress the deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-10-27T20:10:17.523" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T20:10:17.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3469" CreationDate="2011-08-24T17:32:12.380" Score="6" ViewCount="2912" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm getting a set of gymnastics rings soon, and will be modifying my current strength workouts to use them. I'm not at the stage where I should be doing ring dips yet, but from looking at ring push-ups, it seems that the two exercises overlap quite a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I'm capable of doing ring dips, is there any point in doing ring push-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T16:12:42.537" Title="Do ring dips and ring push-ups overlap?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;rings&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2011-08-24T17:52:16.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should add Pullups/chinups into your routine as well as one-leg squats to balance your workouts to hit each body part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are ways to add resistance to you workout without weights. You could try adding intentional resistance by contracting the muscles (squeeze the contractions at the weak points), or by using resistance bands, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1829" LastEditorUserId="1829" LastEditDate="2011-08-24T19:32:59.320" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T19:32:59.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3400" CreationDate="2011-08-24T17:59:30.980" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3400/when-are-electrolyte-sports-drinks-necessary&quot;&gt;When are electrolyte/sports drinks necessary?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that you're basically asking 2 questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Under what circumstances do most people need to drink sports drinks to recharge their electrolytes?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When drinking large amount of water (it sounds like you drink up to 3 gallons per day), does a person need to make a special effort to replenish electrolytes?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll do my best to address both these questions based on the research I've done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, it's important to understand what &quot;electrolytes&quot; are. Essentially, &lt;b&gt;an electrolyte is a charged mineral or salt&lt;/b&gt;. Electrolytes used by the human body include sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, and some others. Sodium and potassium are the electrolytes of which we generally lose the most when exercising (largely through our sweat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body requires a certain amount of these substances to function. However most people consume more than enough of these electrolytes every day. Sodium in particular is something that most Americans get in much larger quantities than their bodies need. Although you lose sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes, sports drinks contain more than just electrolytes. They also contain sugar, and of course water. The general advice I've read is that if you're doing exercise for less than 1 hour, you probably don't need to worry about replenishing your electrolytes. You'll still have plenty left. If you're exercising to lose weight, drinking a sports drink after your work out may hinder your progress. You need to consume less calories than you burn, and the extra calories from the sugar in the sports drink may negate the extra calories you burned during your workout, resulting in little net benefit from your exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you're going to be running a long-distance race, or doing some other lengthy endurance exercise, you should be concerned about replenishing your electrolytes and rehydrating properly. You'll also need carbohydrates to keep you fueled. In this case, sports drinks may indeed be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those running a marathon or long distance race, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/335830-electrolyte-replacement-for-marathon-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Livestrong makes the following recommendation&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Replacement Options&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;When running a marathon, you must create an electrolyte replacement strategy. A variety of electrolyte replacement options is available. Examples include sports drinks, which contain both electrolytes and water to prevent dehydration. Gels also are available in small pouches and contain a concentrated amount of electrolytes. Jelly beans known as sports beans also can be used for electrolyte replacement. You can eat nutrition bars and sodium-containing foods such as pretzels, bananas and animal crackers. When choosing the best electrolyte replacement for you, consider portability and what will be easiest for you to carry with you on race day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Frequency&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;Marathon runners and training coaches Gary and Ellen Bloome recommend drinking one cup of an electrolyte-containing drink every 30 minutes during competition. Train with your electrolyte replacement drink of choice in order to ensure it will be sufficient to replace your losses. If you utilize electrolyte or carbohydrate-containing gel packs, the Bloomes suggest consuming one every four to six miles. If you utilize food or bars to replace electrolytes, break these into small pieces and consume some every 20 to 30 minutes.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Furthermore, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wms.org/news/fluid.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wilderness Medical Society&lt;/a&gt; says this about endurance exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;The American College of Sports Medicine in its position statement, currently recommends a fluid intake during exercise of 600-1200 mls/hr. The fluid intake of most of the reported cases of exercise associated hyponatremia has been at the middle or upper end of this range challenging this as an appropriate fluid intake. A more realistic intake is likely to be 500-750mls/hr. Whether this fluid should contain salt as well remains unproven. Intuitively, it seems prudent to use a proprietary sports drink containing 20-30mmol/l of sodium if this is available, rather than just water.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As regards the water drinking question. &lt;a href=&quot;http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;About.com has this to say about water intoxication and electrolytes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;The kidneys of a healthy adult can process fifteen liters of water a day! You are unlikely to suffer from water intoxication, even if you drink a lot of water, as long as you drink over time as opposed to intaking an enormous volume at one time. As a general guideline, most adults need about three quarts of fluid each day. Much of that water comes from food, so 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a common recommended intake. You may need more water if the weather is very warm or very dry, if you are exercising, or if you are taking certain medications. The bottom line is this: it's possible to drink too much water, but unless you are running a marathon or an infant, water intoxication is a very uncommon condition.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enotes.com/nursing-encyclopedia/fluid-balance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Encyclopedia of Nursing &amp;amp; Allied Health&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Overhydration is an excess of body water that results when water intake exceeds output. Drinking large amounts of water does not typically lead to overhydration if the kidneys, heart, and pituitary gland are functioning properly. An adult would have to drink more than 2 US gallons per day (7.6 L per day) to exceed the body's ability to excrete water.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It sounds like you're drinking up to 12 liters, which is more than what the encyclopedia above seems to consider safe. So you might want to cut back. Also, it seems that &lt;a href=&quot;http://askville.amazon.com/drink-lot-water/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=554597&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;drinking more than 1.5 liters in a short time (less than an hour) may also be dangerous&lt;/a&gt;, and you should be more conservative if you're on a low-sodium diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are drinking too much water, and your electrolyte balance is poor, some early symptoms may include nausea and vomiting, headache, fatigue, muscle cramps, spasms, and bloating. If you start to experience these things, stop exercising or doing things that would make you sweat, and try to improve your electrolyte balance. Eating a banana might be good, if you want to avoid taking in more liquid. Please note that the symptoms of dehydration are similar, however. Also cramps experienced during exercise are not necessarily caused by hydration or electrolyte problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I am not a doctor, dietician, or scientist. The above should not be taken as medical advice. If you're feeling like you might have an electrolyte imbalance, do not ignore your symptoms because of anything you read here. If you have further questions or concerns talking to your doctor and/or doing further research would be prudent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/information/question565.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What are electrolytes?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/Electrolytes_101.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Electrolytes 101&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Water Intoxication &amp; Hyponatremia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/31537-exercise-symptoms-electrolyte-imbalance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercise &amp; Symptoms of Electrolyte Imbalance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://askville.amazon.com/drink-lot-water/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=554597&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is it bad if you drink a lot of water?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enotes.com/nursing-encyclopedia/fluid-balance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fluid Balance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/335830-electrolyte-replacement-for-marathon-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Electrolyte Replacement for Marathon Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wms.org/news/fluid.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fluid and Electrolyte Balance and Endurance Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T09:20:56.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3400" CreationDate="2011-08-24T19:51:06.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sciencebasedrunning.com/2011/08/whats-the-ideal-running-drink-noakes-weighs-in/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This recent post&lt;/a&gt; on Science Based Running is relevant. The above answer is exhaustive, but the article covers some of the same ground with information from Tim Noake's &lt;em&gt;The Art of Running&lt;/em&gt;. The author of the post also provides a brief analysis of some popular sport drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1830" LastEditorUserId="1830" LastEditDate="2011-08-25T21:10:29.273" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T21:10:29.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3465" CreationDate="2011-08-24T21:01:42.693" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ring dips and ring push-ups definitely overlap; however, it will be beneficial to continue the push-ups after you able to do dips for a couple of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips work your triceps more, while push-ups work the chest more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will continue to be able to do more push-ups even when you can do dips, so you can start with dips and finish your work-out with push-ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Variety produces adaptation. Doing both will give you more gains than only doing one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;According to Ring Training for Elite Fitness (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ringtraining.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tyler Hass&lt;/a&gt;), though the two exercises are both &quot;pushes&quot;, it is useful to alternate between them. This is because they operate in different planes: vertical (ring dips) and horizontal (ring push-ups). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A progression between the push-up and the dip would be to be vertical and use your legs a little bit for assistance (or get a rubber band to support some of your weight). Also, a similar exercise, which uses your shoulders more and is a progression for ring handstand push-ups, would be raising your legs a little bit above the rings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-02T16:12:42.537" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T16:12:42.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2011-08-24T22:26:12.830" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to build overall strength and gain muscle, you need to train the LEGS. Why? They are your biggest and strongest muscles, and many exercises involving the legs will recruit a variety of secondary muscles as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want intense/heavy compound exercises that will increase your testosterone levels, which is, in the simplest of terms, your body's &quot;build muscle&quot; on/off switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have absolutely no access to weights, sprints (i.e. MAXIMUM pace you can put out) with full recovery in between will help, along with whatever bodyweight exercises you choose. (Squats, pushups, pull-ups, etc.) Sprints are probably the closest you'll get to max effort exercises without weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, though, if you really are serious about gaining strength, you need to find a gym where you can train heavy, or if that's not possible, build a home gym. Building strength with hackish or halfway-solutions will NEVER compare to being able to lift truly heavy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T22:26:12.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3237" CreationDate="2011-08-24T23:41:03.317" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heavy barbell squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people are very wary of squats, thinking that they will damage their knees. The truth is, &lt;em&gt;properly performed&lt;/em&gt; squats do the opposite - they strengthen the muscles around the knee, providing more strength and stability. Bonus: proper heavy squatting will help you build muscle all over your body, even your arms!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dangerous thing is that a LOT of people who have had bad experiences with &quot;squats&quot; were doing it wrong - and if you do squats wrong, it can be EXTREMELY bad for the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll post some good articles on proper squatting when I get home, but the basic idea is this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper form will put take all the force of the exercise and distribute it to the glutes and hamstrings - two of the body's strongest and largest muscles. It will also teach you what it feels like to take impact and force with your muscles, not your joints. AND, it will build flexibility of your entire lower body, which is really important for preventing knee injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improper form will put all the force on the knee joint itself (half squats), or force your body into unnatural movement patterns (smith machine squats). You WILL get injured this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said, I'm at work and I can't post sources right now, but I'll get to it when I'm home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T23:41:03.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3475" CreationDate="2011-08-24T23:59:33.990" Score="11" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I go on vacation, the dilemma in my head is, should I try to work out there? Or just take a break from everything and resume when I get back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worry is that a break would cause some backward progress in strength, depending on how long the break is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do know that I have hit PR's on first days back at the gym after about 2 weeks of no lifting, which is awesome. But if I had waited longer, would it have been different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there is a scientifically found time period that the body can generally maintain strength levels for, after which there is a performance hit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mainly talking about this in a strength/powerlifting context, but I guess any info on the same idea with regard to general fitness (i.e. endurance/stamina, coordination) would be nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T00:35:31.590" Title="What's the time threshold for a drop in performance when taking a break from training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="200" CreationDate="2011-08-25T00:04:16.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might be tough to hear, but you should also consider the fact that not everyone is gifted with a body that can handle pro-athlete levels of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your legs are constantly tired/heavy, and you see no improvement (and ESPECIALLY if you see backwards progress), I would say your body is telling you it's not ready for that level of activity (at least not yet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back it off a bit, let your legs recover, and try easing into things. I'm not saying you shouldn't push yourself, but at the same time, there is such thing as overtraining, and at that point all the time you put into your training is counterproductive and wasted. Stubbornness can be the enemy of progress sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T00:04:16.897" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3400" CreationDate="2011-08-25T00:16:37.870" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joshua Carmody's answer is pretty good but I'd like to add an ultrarunner's perspective. Proper hydration and nutrition are one of the keys to completing a race, and completing one fast, so we're fairly knowledgeable about what works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount that Haphazard is drinking appears to be enormous to my eyes. However, as long as they are drinking for thirst then it is likely to be safe. The evidence we have is that, in normal circumstances, the thirst reflex is very accurate. I would also recommend using an electrolyte drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When performing an endurance activity then getting the water, electrolytes and sugar right is a primary concern. Opinions vary on whether you should exactly replace the water lost during exercise or whether it is actually possible to replace. The amount of water you can drink is limited by the rate your stomach can empty the water into your small intestine (the gastric emptying rate). This varies per person but is somewhere between 750mL to 1.5L.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next problem is how much carbohydrate (sugar) to put in. What you drink needs to be between 6%-8% concentration. If the concentration is too high then the body will scavenge water from your bloodstream in  order to make it between 6% and 8% and then pass it along to the small intestine. That scavenging process is not good because it will dehydrate your blood until the intestine returns the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The result is that you can only get about 200-300 calories per hour into the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next problem is electrolytes. There are 4 that you need: sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. An electrolyte drink or an electrolyte/carbohydrate drink will have these in roughly the right concentration.  The manufacturers compete on the science as to exactly what that concentration is but they're all roughly right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing ultra-distance your body will start breaking down muscle in order to feed its calorie needs. Therefore, for distances longer than 50km most experts recommend that 1% of the concentration be protein in order to slow down this process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for exercises past a couple of hours you often need to supplement the electrolyte intake from your drink with salt pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preventing dehydration and hyponatremia/hypervolemia (too little sodium/too much water) is a challenge. They have very similar symptoms and both can be fatal. This table from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.succeedscaps.com/Ninebox.html&quot;&gt;Karl King of Succeed!&lt;/a&gt; is the best guide I know of (I include it in my info for my race crew).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For exercise up to 90 minutes, a well-trained athlete will not need extra water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Past that point, an electrolyte and sugar drink should be used.  - but mostly drunk for thirst.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For exercise past 4-5 hours, the drink should have slightly less carbohydrate and about 1% protein. For this distance, salt pills are probably required . This varies based on the athlete and the amount of water being lost. (A hot day requires more salt.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When exercising, watch your urine output. If you don't urinate or if the urine is a dark iced-tea colour then you are probably dehydrated and need more water. If you start cramping then you need more salt. If your fingers or toes start getting puffy then you are retaining water and need more salt. In fact, in that case you should take some salt and sit down for 30 mins until you can urinate out the water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T00:16:37.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2011-08-25T00:35:31.590" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength performance will follow a supercompensation curve with an amplitude and period that corresponds to your level of advancement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canmorenordic.com/main.php?p=216&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Canmore Ski club&lt;/a&gt; (I liked their graphic):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HkFmE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's unlikely that your two-week vacation made you stronger, but time off (even time off that makes you weaker!) is sometimes called for in order to heal nagging injuries. Perhaps there was an overuse injury getting in the way of your PR previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most strength programs, novices have a very quick recovery/supercompensation period--one to two days. Intermediate strength programming is generally designed around one week supercompensation periods. Advanced trainees (as I understand it) are those for whom weekly recovery is not enough, and so use programs designed for gains in a given area over a month or longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am less familiar with the numbers for strength loss after supercompensation (the gentle downward slope at the far right of the graphic). I do know that the loss of new strength is faster than the loss of long-held strength. Example: If you deadlift around 300 for a couple years, then stop lifting for a week or two, the loss will be less than if you just achieved a 300-pound deadlift for the first time ever, then immediately take a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two sources I am not very familiar with, &lt;a href=&quot;http://anabolicminds.com/forum/exercise-science/57601-how-long-break.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anabolic minds&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.building-muscle101.com/strength-loss-rest-weight-training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Building Muscle 101&lt;/a&gt; both put forth anecdotal evidence that strength loss is noticeable after as short as a week, and significant setbacks after three or four. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T00:35:31.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3476" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-25T00:43:15.850" Score="2" ViewCount="1160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have varicose veins on one of my legs (lower left leg). I have been told, more than once, that I should avoid running (or other high-impact exercises) as that might make them worse. I heard this not only from &quot;lay persons&quot; but also from fitness instructors. I also heard the opposite - that it would improve musculature and circulation on my legs and might help make the veins smaller (or at least stop them from growing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any seemingly reliable reference to this online, though - the closest I got was a WebMD article saying that running &quot;might be uncomfortable&quot; for people with the condition. I'm ok with uncomfortable, as long as I'm not actually hurting myself. Does anyone have any experience or some good source of information on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T08:07:55.890" Title="I have varicose veins - should I be running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;circulation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-04-16T08:25:12.680" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3479" CreationDate="2011-08-25T01:30:57.367" Score="11" ViewCount="2055" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get my splits; I'm well on my way, but I still have a long way to go.  How often should I stretch to improve my flexibility at an optimal pace (and not injure myself)?  Is flexibility like strength, in that I need rest days for my body to recover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1432" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T01:58:13.263" Title="How often should I stretch to improve my flexibility?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3478" CreationDate="2011-08-25T01:58:13.263" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;My source for flexibility is Stretching Scientifically, by Thomas Kurz:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VTq6B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kurz has this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Isometric stretches, to increase flexibility, should be done at least twice a week, but it all depends on your recovery. If your muscles are sore then no isometric stretching should be done as long as soreness is felt. Wallin et al. (1985) recommends isometric or contract-relax stretching from three to five times a week for increasing flexibility, and for maintaining it only once per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kurz does not talk about the maximum number of times one can do relaxed stretching, but I imagine that it could be more frequent, though his warning about soreness would probably still apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physiologically speaking, as I understand it, one can think of flexibility similarly to strength: the muscle needs to grow, and to grow it needs stimulus, fuel and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T01:58:13.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3482" CreationDate="2011-08-25T04:02:48.190" Score="1" ViewCount="1265" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will we hurt our body if we eat lunch/dinner after a workout (3-5 minutes after a workout to be exact)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it will, how long must we wait before we can start having lunch/dinner after a workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T17:33:20.253" Title="Will we hurt our body if we eat lunch/dinner after a workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-25T06:11:03.723" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just finished reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1932100660&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The China Study&lt;/a&gt;, which piqued my interest in veganism for the first time, after years of thinking vegetarians were usually a little silly, and vegans were especially silly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone (especially experienced vegans or vegetarians) point me to books or online resources to help me as I start this journey?  There is a plethora of vegan and vegetarian cook books on Amazon.  I'm interested in something a bit more than that.  Of course I recognize that having at least one vegan cook book will be essential, but I feel like I want more information about this lifestyle first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the types of questions I would like to have answered are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I quit meat/dairy/eggs cold-turkey (cold-tofurkey?)? Or is it easier to &quot;ease&quot; my way into my new diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am I likely to experience physical symptoms when I change my diet? Feelings of hunger? Weakness? Stomach pains? Cravings? Anything else?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I consult a doctor before/during/after the change of diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any gotchas I need to be aware of when grocery shopping or dining out, to be sure I'm ordering things on (or at least a close as possible to) my new diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do I need to take into account to ensure that I am eating a complete diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once I'm on my new diet, will I suffer physically if I break the diet occasionally, and eat meat/cheese/etc if that's all I have available?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And of course, recipes will be helpful. But again, I think this will be the easy part to answer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1837" LastEditorUserId="1837" LastEditDate="2011-08-25T20:19:54.363" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T20:45:51.607" Title="What books or online resources are available for someone wanting to move to a vegan diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-07-08T03:37:27.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3480" CreationDate="2011-08-25T11:57:34.210" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out the last paragraph to my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3274/should-i-eat-before-my-run/3328#3328&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And I would absolutely recommend fueling with 20 minutes AFTER running. This is the time that your body will be best at absorbing fuel to help you recover and rebuild your glycogen stores. A recovery meal/shake/drink should be somewhere around 200-300 calories depending on body size and duration of exercise with about 20g of protein. The vendor's I mentioned above also have some quite good products for recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You SHOULD be eating immediately after a workout.  The first 20 minutes after a work out are crucial in recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T17:33:20.253" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3496" CreationDate="2011-08-25T14:34:51.473" Score="2" ViewCount="696" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose one would only eat fruits and vegetables. What fruit and vegetable combinations provide all essential amino acids?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1711" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T03:16:21.137" Title="What fruit and vegetable combinations provide all essential amino acids?" Tags="&lt;fruit&gt;&lt;vegetables&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-25T15:08:13.437" Score="5" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been 'stuck' at 240 lbs in my bench press.  My biggest issue seems to be in the lift off from the chest.  From what I've been reading, this could be due to the lack of speed/initial explosive power.  What exercises would you recommend to improve this part of the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T14:04:07.767" Title="Improve benching through adding speed to the lift...how?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-25T17:35:07.317" Score="4" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have done some fairly long events (Ironman several times and all the training it takes to get there) and I have found that hyponatremia is a key issue for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am always interested in easy to handle ways to get salt in during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pretty much just carry salt packets with me, and eat one per hour, and have found that works pretty well, but have been wondering if there are better alternates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and just to be difficult, whatever it is, needs to be kosher.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="1841" LastEditDate="2011-08-25T18:50:56.863" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T18:50:56.863" Title="Looking for good alternate to salt pills during exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3485" CreationDate="2011-08-25T18:17:19.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several commercial products available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the most common are Endurolytes from Hammer Nutrition.&#xA;You could also check out SaltStick.com.&#xA;And for a &quot;it's in there&quot; approach to fueling, INFINIT Nutrition has custom blends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T18:17:19.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3485" CreationDate="2011-08-25T18:33:50.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.succeedscaps.com/main_scaps_notice.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Succeed! S-Caps&lt;/a&gt; and have used Hammer Endurolytes. Both work well because they are a gel capsule and they have more than just sodium. You need potassium as well as calcium and magnesium in much smaller amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that S-Caps has much more in it. You need to decide if you want to talk multiple Endurolytes or one S-Cap. Flexibility vs convenience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, make sure you take these with lots of water. They are concentrated enough that if they don't dissolve then you have a highly concentrated bolus in your stomach which may cause you to vomit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T18:33:50.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2011-08-25T18:41:53.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The level of intensity cycling you are doing is the absolute key if you are aiming for fat loss.  It would make sense that the harder you push yourself the more fat you will burn.  However, it’s not true.  The key to burning fat is to keep a constant rate of intensity throughout your ride which should be no less than 1 hour.  If you’re aiming for fat loss your intensity should be about 50%-70% of what you’re capable of putting out.  When you increase effort beyond that range you effectively begin pulling almost 100% of your energy demands from your liver in the form glycogen.  Glycogen is basically energy on demand.  It’s not fat that needs to be converted, it’s just sugar stored in your liver for immediate energy needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself am I mountain biker and I’ve wondered in the  past why can ride 4-5 times per week for over an hour on the trail and achieve almost no weight loss.  As for mountain biking, it’s a very high intensity type of cycling.  While going up and down hills on a trail and powering through obstacles it’s easy be around 100% of what my capacity for output is.  Therefore most of the calories I’m burning come from my liver in the form of Glycogen.  Since the intensity is so high my body has no time to convert fat stores to energy and therefore it avoids using fatty enzymes.  Consequently very little fat is burned during my mountain bike rides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely- I also ride on paved roads for training.  During these sessions I’m typically on smooth pavement over flat distances that don’t require huge spikes in effort.  Therefore I’m consistently riding for about 60-90 minutes at about 70% capacity of output.  I’ve noticed that these rides tend to burn a lot of fat off my body.  It’s because when riding at consistent rate of about 70% capacity of total output my body has time to convert fat stores to energy and use fat as fuel.  Therefore the mixture of energy my body is burning is coming from both the energy stores in my liver and also from my fat stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To effectively burn significant amounts of fat you should be doing a cardio exercise for no less than 35-40 minutes.  More time is always better.&#xA;If the intensity is too low it won’t be enough to trigger the release of fat stores.  However, if the intensity is too high all you energy needs will be supplied by stored sugar in the liver.  Therefore the intensity level of whatever cardio exercise is being performed should be somewhere between 50%-70% of total capacity for output.  If you’re below or above this range you will not be burning too much fat unless you’re on a starvation diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this is helpful to anyone who cares to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1843" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T18:41:53.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3481" CreationDate="2011-08-25T20:45:51.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In response to your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I quit meat/dairy/eggs cold-turkey (cold-tofurkey?)? Or is it easier to &quot;ease&quot; my way into my new diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't really be hard to quit cold-turkey because you are not quitting a habitual practice.  With that said, you could, if you wanted start with going vegan one day a week to get a taste of food prep, options, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I changed to a vegetarian, I did so for a whole week to try it.  Others will try it for 30 days or so.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get an idea of how you might feel (long term) on a vegan diet, you'll want to try it for a long(er) term, like 30 days.  I doubt you will feel any different from doing a vegan-Monday type of routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you do go vegan for any period of time, and decide it isn't for you, that's when I would &quot;ease&quot; BACK into a regular omnivore diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I likely to experience physical symptoms when I change my diet? Feelings of hunger? Weakness? Stomach pains? Cravings? Anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you are getting enough nutrients, which should not be a problem, you should only experience positive side effects if anything.  You may, on occasion when you get very hungry, have a craving for meat or cheese or some food you have not had in a while.  But, rest assured, once you start eating something, those cravings will go away.  And over time, you will not crave what is not in your vegan diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I consult a doctor before/during/after the change of diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a tough call.  I think in general it is a good idea to consult a doctor before dramatically changing diet or exercise routines.  But, be prepared to not really be supported in your vegan efforts by most doctors.  Doctor's will give advice based on medical research and their advice may be based on research that does not support vegan diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any gotchas I need to be aware of when grocery shopping or dining out, to be sure I'm ordering things on (or at least a close as possible to) my new diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think depends on your reason for going vegan.  If you are just doing it for a lifestyle/nutrition change, if you get a soup made from chicken stock as opposed to vegetable stock, you probably won't know or care.  But, however, if you are changing due to your beliefs against animal cruelty and the like, you may care.  Soup stocks are probably the biggest gotchas as most chain restaurants use chicken stock.  You can also tell your waiter that you are vegan before ordering so they may alert you to vegan options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do I need to take into account to ensure that I am eating a complete diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you eat the same vegetables and meal every day, it's almost impossible not to get complete nutrition from a vegan diet.  And believe me, you'll want to find different recipes as salad every day gets old very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once I'm on my new diet, will I suffer physically if I break the diet occasionally, and eat meat/cheese/etc if that's all I have available?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This depends on each individual's body. If you go vegan for a year (for instance), and then one nice have a 24oz porterhouse steak, I think your body will definitely not like it.  Trial and error and small portions is probably the best you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And of course, recipes will be helpful. But again, I think this will be the easy part to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several places to find vegan cookbooks. I definitely recommend getting (at least) one to start.  You'll find there are ingredients that you may never have heard of before.  It's a learning experience.  Just be mindful that some (many) vegan recipes require long preparation.  So maybe look for &quot;easy vegan&quot; or something along those lines. Many vegan recipes suggest soaking beans overnight.  That is OK, but you don't need to do that.  Canned beans are fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-08-25T20:45:51.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3491" CreationDate="2011-08-26T01:34:10.297" Score="8" ViewCount="56419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been planning to enroll in some sort of combat training, specifically boxing, however due to financial constraints I haven't had a chance (my yearly gym subscription already consumed by budget). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I want to learn self-defense skills hence my desire for combat training or martial arts. Is it possible to self-learn any kind, and if yes, which combat or martial art would that be? Although, I doubt if you can self-learn to a point where you can actually use it in real world scenario, since I assume sparring plays a very crucial role....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T20:50:52.577" Title="Is it possible to self learn any hand combat skills or martial arts?" Tags="&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3490" CreationDate="2011-08-26T01:59:59.573" Score="15" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Why it won't work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Martial arts are highly skill-oriented and require significant feedback from an instructor, as well as copious amounts of sparring (either with striking, such as boxing and Muay Thai, or with wrestling, such as judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu or wrestling). &quot;Learning&quot; a martial art without those two key components is almost always a fruitless endeavor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are scenarios where people already skilled in one combat sport are able to successfully learn techniques from another, similar art. A commonly used example is mixed martial arts fighter &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Tanner&quot;&gt;Evan Tanner&lt;/a&gt;, who taught himself Brazilian jiu-jitsu submissions from the tapes produced by Rorion Gracie. Tanner succeeded in large part because he had a background in wrestling and he was able to practice the moves with resisting partners at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to learn techniques at home, without an instructor, without sparring partners, and with training material of unknown quality, is a tough path even for people with some amount of training under their belts. It's unlikely that you'll be very productive starting as an untrained person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to do instead&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It would be better to spend your time becoming strong, fast and fit.&lt;/strong&gt; Lifting, improving mobility, running and doing metabolic conditioning like hill sprints or pushing a Prowler are all very effective ways to improve your physicality while you raise the cash necessary to join a boxing gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look into some sort of work-study program at the local training centers. &lt;strong&gt;Some gyms will let you train for reduced prices or even free if you spend a couple hours cleaning up the practice space after class.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T01:59:59.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="144" CreationDate="2011-08-26T02:14:02.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have research that &lt;em&gt;specifically&lt;/em&gt; addresses static passive flexibility, but I have this from Thomas Kurz' Stretching Scientifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaty, scientific evidence comes on page 27:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Past maturity both flexibility and strength decline, partly due to aging and partly due to inactivity. (Bassey et al. 1989, Gersten 1991; James and Parker 1989). Strength and flexibility training can decrease the age-related loss of strength and maintain or restore flexibility (American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand 1998; Buckwalter 1997). Strength training alone, without any stretching--with resistance permitting maximally 6-10 repetitions without straining, at a full range of motion--can increase flexibility of the elderly (Barbosa et al. 2002).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even elderly men and women over seventy years old can increase their flexibility (Brown et al. 2000; Lazowski et al. 1999). With strength training the elderly, even in their 90s, can increase their strength and muscle mass--not as fast and as much as young people, but they can (Fiatarone et al 1990; Lexell et al. 1995)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on page 126, he addresses a question from someone in their 30s asking just about the same question you're asking. Here's Kurz's response:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as your muscles are responsive to strength training (you feel they are getting stronger), they are also responsive to stretching. We have plenty of testimonials from people past their 30s saying and showing that they just achieved a side split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So go forth and get that split.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T02:14:02.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3490" CreationDate="2011-08-26T02:56:38.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been taking dance lessons for 3 years and there are a number of key things that I'm still learning through a teacher.  All those things involve learning how to use your body, specifically: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;proper weight transfer. making sure your weight is on the proper foot to perform whatever maneuver&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;proper stance and posture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being able to use your core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also there are all these little things that you probably won't notice unless you have been taught to look for them.  The proper way to strike someone so you don't hurt yourself.  Being able to recover from a bad move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my experience as a dancer and from this I've ben able to figure out how fighting works, but still, being able to fight and use complex moves without thinking takes a lot of practice and discipline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2011-08-26T03:10:14.733" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T03:10:14.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="200" CreationDate="2011-08-26T02:59:26.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot depends on what you mean by &quot;intense&quot; leg-based cardio, and what the rest of your fitness support is like.  Consider the following options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you stretch carefully before and after?  And warm up your legs before and cool down after?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce your per-workout intensity by 20-40% and see if that helps.  Over time, ramp up.  Using a treadmill's display is key for this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you eating a good diet to support recovery?  Protein, vitamins, replacing glucose and electrolytes, drinking enough water, a varied diet, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you getting enough sleep and rest to support recovery?  (say 7-8 hrs/night)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you tried massage on your legs, significantly elevating your legs while resting, hot or cold water therapy (in shower or bath).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long have you been training?  Sometimes the first few months things are quite clunky and after training one feels pretty low energy, either in body parts or all over.  Maybe you are just not there yet, but will be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T02:59:26.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2011-08-26T03:12:03.583" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think, simply put, the answer is that in the &quot;Greasing the groove&quot; technique &lt;em&gt;as a beginner&lt;/em&gt;, you are doing such a small amount of effort at a time that you don't need as much recovery time.  Chances are, even with the bar being in one's interior doorway, a person is just not going to really attempt a pull-up every time they pass it, so they realistically might attempt 4-5 throughout each day, with each attempt being 60% strain and 40% awkwardly being unable to command the muscles appropriately to execute the lift.  (I'm just pulling those numbers out of thin air to make the point).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's quite different from someone who is advanced with pull-ups doing 20 with a weighted belt and then repeating more sets for a total of 60 in one hour.  &lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; requires rest, whereas greasing the groove sounds like far lower intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also wondered if rest is, in some cases, a little overgeneralized to all situations.  There are clearly manual laborers who &quot;work out&quot;, the same muscle groups, 8+ hrs a day, 5 days a week, for years without much more than a weekend's rest, and they are not scrawny.  Maybe the body has a kind of meta-adaptation that allows for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T03:12:03.583" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3483" CreationDate="2011-08-26T03:16:21.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition Data&lt;/a&gt;, it's a site that gives you all the details you need to do your own research on fruits and vegetables.  It provides information on fat, protein and carbohydrates, what amino acids the food provides, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T03:16:21.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2011-08-26T03:39:42.553" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, the best non-aesthetic benefit to running outside is &lt;strong&gt;far better sweat evaporation&lt;/strong&gt; (if weather cooperates), and therefore a cooler body temperature throughout my run.  My gym is air conditioned and the vent is close to my favorite treadmill--but not close enough to make a dent in my insane sweating. Whereas when I run outside, even at a somewhat higher temperature, the moving air due to my body traveling through it, plus the breeze, makes an enormous difference in how sweaty I get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treadmill:  My t-shirt is almost 90% soaking wet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outside:  My t-shirt is 25% rather wet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for that reason, outdoor running is actually, for me, the &quot;lazier&quot; thing to do, in that the experience is much more enjoyable since I am not overheating so much.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the benefit of the quantifiability of my pace (since I don't own a GPS watch) on the treadmill is a great advantage, and it is much easier to train toward certain pacing goals on the treadmill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T03:39:42.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3500" CreationDate="2011-08-26T05:17:01.877" Score="10" ViewCount="8989" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started using deadlifts for lower body work a few months ago and, despite having read a lot of descriptions and watched all the videos I can find, I think I am doing something wrong.  When I deadlift, I find that the bar keeps kitting my shins and knees, both on the way up and on the way down.  This occurs even when I use very light (warm-up) weights.  I am trying to keep my spine straight, proper bar position, and pushing through my heels, but this seems to cause the bar to want to go through my shins on the way up, and to &quot;clip&quot; my kneecaps on the way down.  (The result is a lot of bruising, and chunks of missing shin skin.)  This forces me to lean forward somewhat to allow the bar to clear my knees, which means I end up using my lower back when the bar is quite near the ground, rather than at the top half of the lift.  I am hoping that this is a sufficiently common problem that someone might be able to discern what I am doing wrong from this description and point out my error.  So my question is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is wrong with my deadlift technique that might be causing me to bruise my shins and knees like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1835" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2011-08-30T20:20:13.780" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T00:42:25.600" Title="Help with deadlift technique - bruised shins and knees" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3498" CreationDate="2011-08-26T07:40:26.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well it is hard to tell what's wrong without seeing you doing deadlifts, but the first thing that came to my mind (because I've seen it elsewhere), is that you probably straighten your knees too late while lifting and bend them too late while lowering the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it would be best to ask a trainer. If you can't do that you should probably watch one or two of your videos again and focus on when these guys straighten and bend their knees, then really focus on that while you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-08-26T14:25:04.910" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T14:25:04.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3498" CreationDate="2011-08-26T07:48:23.067" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bruised shins and knees are probably more of a sign of good technique than bad technique.  For most deadlifters, scraping is the big nuissance, and it's when you start altering your form to avoid the scraping that you start getting into problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perfect form could lead to a bit of bruising, but the bruising shouldn't be too severe, because you shouldn't be knocking the bar into your legs, but rather, be sliding the bar against your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This site offers &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/deadlifts-shin-scraping-scar-tips-eliminate/&quot;&gt;5 Ways to Eliminate Shin Scraping on Deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Check Your Technique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wear Long Pants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wear Long Socks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Use Athletic Tape.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Shin Guards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a very comprehensive discussion of deadlift technique from a powerlifting perspective, I recommend taking a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://powerliftingacademy.com/the-deadlift-exercise-guide/&quot;&gt;The Deadlift Exercise Form and Technique Guide&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the videos at the above link, you will see several lifters using the ideal solution to the scraping problem: &lt;strong&gt;talcum powder (baby powder)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not looking for it, you might not notice, but you should be able to see that the fronts of their legs are white, covered in talcum powder.  Notice, this is not the same lifting powder that is on their hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reducing the scraping on the legs while deadlifting, the name of the game is to &quot;&lt;strong&gt;reduce friction&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;  If you can reduce the friction to the point where the bar is sliding against your legs rather than scraping, you won't get nicked up nearly as badly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unfortunately&lt;/em&gt;, using talcum powder is not a practical solution for most workouts.  It makes a big mess, most gyms don't allow it, and you probably need somebody else to apply it on your legs for you.  (If you get it on your hands, it will affect your grip on the bar.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the more practical solutions are on the list above, and I'll add one more little tip:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Choose a bar with smooth knurling.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knurling&quot;&gt;Knurling&lt;/a&gt; is the roughed up pattern on the bar that helps you get a better grip.  Especially if you're using lifting straps, you can sacrifice knurling to save your shins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work out at a gym that has lots of bars to choose from, invariably some of the bars have smoother grips than others.  If you're really lucky, you can find a bar that has knurling that doesn't line up with your legs when deadlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1537" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T07:48:23.067" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3490" CreationDate="2011-08-26T12:41:45.047" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been in the martial arts (Isshinyu Karate) for 25+ years and I have to agree, depending on what if any martial arts training you have, the best and most effective way is learning with a skilled instructor.  HOWEVER - there are many things you can do while saving up to prepare yourself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get a heavy bag - nothing teaches you how to punch hard like a heavy bag, 70lbs min. - watch some videos - &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/jKpUF1qfrS0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a great video by Don Familton&lt;/a&gt; - do a search on YouTube for Don Familton - the guy really knows his stuff.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;basic conditioning - there's nothing like focusing on conditioning, either pure body weight or the basic weight routines (deadlift, bench press and squat) - anything that gives you an advantage is a plus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;run/jog - if you have sneakers you can run, sprint, interval training, hill running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jump rope - or learn how.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;read - either via the web or buy a book, here's a great one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1581601239&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Savage Science Of Streetfighting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: there's always something you can do.  You can always think about what you can do if you had the time or money OR you can do what you can with what you have.  Some of the toughest fighters out there (Tyson) learned on their own before 'officially' being trained.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a great site&lt;/a&gt; from someone who's incredibly strong and has made most of his own equipment himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T18:58:01.680" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T18:58:01.680" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3498" CreationDate="2011-08-26T12:49:32.927" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Derek's answer sounds spot-on, but I've personally found the following hierarchy in fixing my lifting technique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using words to describe the issue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using video to have people critique my form (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forum.php&quot;&gt;Rippetoe's forum&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6&quot;&gt;CrossFit forums&lt;/a&gt;, for two)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting an in-person form check from someone who lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting in-person coaching from a qualified, active coach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I've found that the last two are nearly equivalent in helpfulness, whereas the difference between 1 and 2, and again between 2 and 3, is enormous. Getting in-person help is an order of magnitude more relevant than any internet answer, video or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T12:49:32.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3484" CreationDate="2011-08-26T14:04:07.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly you're at the point where you have to focus on technique, and doing so will not only help you push past plateaus but also avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following technique list is taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/b51/?gclid=CJ2zooON7aoCFQ865Qodn2bZMQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Power to the People Professional&lt;/a&gt;, and all adds up to an explosive push. Notice the focus on deriving power through your feet and directing that through your body! The bench press is just as much a full-body exercise as the deadlift or squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Choose the grip width the places your forearms parallel to each&#xA;  other when the bar touches the chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Place your feet firmly on the platform, pinch your shoulder blades&#xA;  together, press your shoulders towards your feet (the opposite of a&#xA;  shrug) and raise your chest to set a moderate arch. &lt;em&gt;[My comment: Here, think of trying to put your shoulder blades into your back pocket.]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Unrack the bar and use your lats to carry it over your sternum.&#xA;  Keep as much weight as possible on your feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Take a deep breath and hold it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Loosely lower the bar to your sternum. Meet it half way with your&#xA;  chest; force your chest up on descent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don't flare your elbows, keep them at an approximately 45 degree&#xA;  angle. Keep your elbows straight under the bar; focus on lowering the&#xA;  elbows rather than the bar. Keep your wrists straight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When the bar has touched your chest relax your arms and let the bar&#xA;  sink into your chest. Don't let your ribcage collapse though and don't&#xA;  lose your air. Pause motionless for a second.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Explosively drive your feet, from toe to heel, into the platform&#xA;  and send a shock wave through your body. &lt;em&gt;[My comment: if you're not a competitive powerlifter, it's ok to let your butt come off the bench a little.]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Immediately crush grip the bar and press with a maximum explosion.&#xA;  The shock wave from your legs should pass through your lats. Then the&#xA;  delts, the triceps, and finally the pecs will fire.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Press straight up. Keep your elbows in, your chest up, and your&#xA;  shoulders down. Forcefully exhale as you lock out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T14:04:07.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-26T14:48:27.603" Score="5" ViewCount="2438" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately i am having trouble focusing on my weight exercises. &#xA;I don't really know how to explain it, but i have the feeling that the exercises i do are not having their effect, because i am not focused.&#xA;In the gym there is always music, people coming and going... sometimes i feel disturbed and cant really concentrate on my training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you like to share with me some of the techniques you use to concentrate or focus, when you are at the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you manage to clear your mind and do things correctly with no hurry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1741" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T18:00:01.553" Title="How to focus at the gym?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3506" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-26T15:56:27.487" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-26T15:56:27.487" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T15:56:27.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3507" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-26T15:56:27.487" Score="0" Body="Deadlifts are one of the three power lifts. Using a barbell, the trainee lifts the loaded bar from a &quot;dead&quot; stop on the ground, letting the arms hang down while opening the knee and hip angles until standing upright." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-26T16:16:37.563" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T16:16:37.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3505" CreationDate="2011-08-26T16:27:55.393" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question might be a little vague for this forum I'm not sure, in any case it's an interesting topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find the following considerations useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Before the activity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some prior thought about the movement/exercise in the hours preceding the doing of it. I find just thinking about an ideal execution of the movement and its components a few hours before has a sort of 'priming' effect on the subconcious, particularly with more complex or composite movements like those of gymnastics. I usually take some time to recall pointers I've been given and mistakes I've made in the past, then largely forget about it all until I come to actually do it, but it seems to help me recommence where I left off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cup of coffee before the exercise (not immediately before). Nothing surprising here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a prescribed and relatively tight window of time in which to complete the exercise. Tasks expand to take the time available and all that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a prescribed plan and pattern for the exercise ahead of time; the distance, repetitions, intervals and so on. Ideally with some flexibility for 'failure' by devising some viable substitutions. A lighter weight or switching to push-ups on knees, for example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a record of the same work outs over time and bear in mind what constitutes progression; I am more motivated to try for 11 reps if I know I got 10 on the same round last time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;During the activity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get warm and hydrated before the exercise. You should be sweaty after a good warm-up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Listen to music. I find music appropriate to the effort and good isolating headphones  really help me zone out of my surroundings and in to the exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a timer. Set reasonable recovery and interval times and try to stick to them; the external authority of a ticking clock is less sympathetic than one's gasping, exhausted, mid-exercise self when determining how long to rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vary the effort. A small amount of variety can help overcome the plateaus of training adaptation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T16:27:55.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3505" CreationDate="2011-08-26T16:35:37.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that intensity helps me focus. If you are struggling a little bit because of muscle fatigue or endurance, it is hard to be distracted by other things. One way to achieve that intensity is to try to do your sets quickly. Instead of just doing 5 sets of 5, you could try to do 5 sets of as many reps as you can in 10 seconds, with 10 seconds rest between. This also lets you have a number to beat next time you workout, by doing more reps in the same amount of time, or the same number with higher weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T16:35:37.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3465" CreationDate="2011-08-26T16:37:05.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd be inclined to do both, since the upper body positioning for ring push-ups is similar to that in planche push-ups, which are a nice trick. In any case the more internally rotated elbows-in push-ups that are useful on the rings feel quite dip-like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T16:37:05.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2011-08-26T17:31:58.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There does seem to be some gradation of training schemes that effective at low numbers of repetitions (say less than 10) and those that are effective at reaching higher numbers. From my experience variations of 'volume training' (or sub-maximal training) seem to work well in the relatively low range of repetitions. The common theme in these schemes is that they separate sets of manageable repetitions by adequate recovery periods so that complete muscular failure is not reached as early as you otherwise might. This approach allows you to complete more repetitions in a time period than than if you attempted sets of maximal repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also urge you to chase form and try to rise quickly and try to get your nipples to the bar and descended slowly to a fully extended hang (with an active shoulder, beware of dislocation!). I found that I could do far fewer pull-ups with this standard than I had previously thought, but I think it was beneficial in the long run, particularly for the muscle-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had success in the &amp;lt;10 reps maximal range with the scheme suggested here &lt;a href=&quot;http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/02/volume-training-for-goats.tpl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/02/volume-training-for-goats.tpl&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let n be approximately 1/3 of your maximum reps, with a continuously running clock perform a set of pull-ups every minute on the minute for 20 minutes. Start by performing sets of n repetitions. You may reduce the number of repetitions in each set but no set may contain less than n - 2 repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Record the repetitions for each minute and try to add pull-ups distributed across the sets on subsequent attempts. The rule is that no two sets are allowed to differ in repetitions by more than 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that the increase to my maximal sets tailed off as I reached 10-15 maximal reps. Since then I have found the scheme proposed on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.50pullups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.50pullups.com/&lt;/a&gt;, which uses fewer sets with more repetitions, to increase the number I can perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scheme itself is a bit arbitrary, but those above seem to work. With regards to recovery, I found I could see an increase with the 20 minute volume training repeating 5 days a week, but I need to leave 1-2 days between attempting the larger set volume training set. When I reach 20 pull-ups I intend to increase the difficulty of the effort with weight or by performing pull-ups with a more open elbow (think smooth muscle-ups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T17:31:58.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2011-08-26T18:07:13.720" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to disagree with Christopher Bibbs assertion that you are limited to the same weight by performing bodyweight only exercises. It is not how much weight in total that you have at your disposal but rather how much force you are able exert on particularly groups of muscles that will determine how close to maximal a loading you can apply to them. There are many bodyweight exercises that through leverage and isolation of particular muscle groups will bring you to exhaustion after a very low numbers of repetitions. Here are some suggestions with some progressions that would allow you to exert increasingly larger forces relative to the muscle groups involved (i.e. that would push you to muscular exhaustion in few repetitions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups &gt; elbows-in push-ups &gt; inclined (legs on a bench/ladder) push-up &gt; handstand push-up against a wall &gt; free-standing handstand push &gt; planche (no legs) push-up &gt; ring handstand push-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit-up &gt; crunch &gt; v-up (http://gymnasticswod.com/content/v) &gt; candle sticks &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/candle-stick-lever&quot;&gt;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/candle-stick-lever&lt;/a&gt; &gt; toes to bar (http://gymnasticswod.com/content/toes-bar) &gt; toes to bar against a wall (no chest no shoulder, &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; harder) &gt; hollow push-ups (something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTvkVbTvOHM&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTvkVbTvOHM&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Air squat &gt; one-legged squats &gt; one-legged jumping squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups &gt; muscle-ups &gt; one-arm pull-ups &gt; back levers (with rings ideally) &gt; front levers &gt; iron cross&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could go on. Many on this list would require significant training for 1 repetition. Bodyweight exercises also potentially have some broader spectrum benefits for general strength and balance with the coordination they require.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not say that Olympic lifts and the like do not, and I cannot think of a way to replicate the the kind of effort involved in a very heavy dead-lift or bench-press (the latter doesn't interest me much though), and the development from bodyweight exercises surely diverges from that of lifting at the advanced level, but it is fallacious or at least misleading to say that you have 'one weight' to work with in callisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A compelling summation that I read was that through bodyweight training you will develop mastery of internal loads, with all the stability that involves, and also a good level of mastery of external ones. With lifting alone the converse is not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T18:07:13.720" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3463" CreationDate="2011-08-26T18:24:46.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say do all of what you mentioned!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your sport is soccer, do sprints AND endurance training. Not on the same day, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sprint workout will tax your muscles' explosive capabilities and especially your nervous system. You want to stay away from fatigue, as the goal is to teach your body and brain how to move at the highest speed possible. Sprint practice on sluggish legs doesn't do this. You want full recovery in between sprints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, a long running workout should be focused on building your endurance at a pace that is sustainable for long enough that you actually do reach your endurance limits. If you're running too fast, you won't reach that limit. I like to think about endurance as running at a pace where you can get &quot;in the zone,&quot; where you can go for a loooong time (think a 90 minute soccer match).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sport specific training, then, would be where it all comes together. Doing all the springs and 5-mile runs in the world won't help if you can't dribble or pass the ball! But, they will help you elevate your game to a new level as your sport-specific skills progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to do all of the things you talked about. But, make sure that each training session has a goal in mind - if you're doing a sprint workout, the goal is speed! So don't tire out your legs. And if you're going for distance, the goal is endurance - so run at a pace that you can sustain to reach true endurance limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T18:24:46.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3463" CreationDate="2011-08-26T21:00:33.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question.  Progressive loading is the best strategy.  In other words, start easy and increase load (difficulty, stress) as you gain strength.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it is best to train each pathway independently when possible, at least at first.  Part of this reason is that lactate (anaerobic conditioning) interferes with the production of the aerobic enzyme.  Would recommend aerobic to be the base of everything you do with anaerobic load to gradually increase.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in week 1 of training, perhaps only do 10-15% anaerobic work such as hill sprints or suicides.  As you get closer to key competitions, gradually build the anaerobic portion up to maybe 50% of total work.  The aerobic conditioning will always be the key though.  As the season progresses, mixing the two and game scrimmages will allow for better development.  It is crucial that hard days are followed by easy days as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Creatine Phosphate system can be developed at all times of the season.  The key to ATP-CP development is the work (7-10 seconds max) and rest periods (3-5 minutes).    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 great ways to develop ATP-CP?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1)  60m accelerations to top speed. Turn around, walk back, wait 3 minutes before doing another.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2)  Short hill sprints up a steep incline lasting no more than 7-10 seconds.  Jog back, rest 3 minutes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3)  Deadlifts at 85% max with 2-3 reps.  KEY TO NOT GAINING MASS is to rest 5 minutes between sets and no more than 2 or 3 sets.  This exercise does wonders to also gain speed endurance.  EVERY athlete can benefit from this regardless of sport and it can be performed 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T21:00:33.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-26T21:04:12.597" Score="4" ViewCount="1677" Body="&lt;p&gt;What recommendations (fact-based, if possible) do you have for pre-race to ensure optimal performance? Warm up is a given so no need to mention that. But what about nutrition, hydration, rest, etc. Assume a 10 am race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, consume 12-18oz of water 2 hours before a 5k to ensure hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2013-02-17T20:43:00.307" Title="What to do before a 5k? Race day advice" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;5k&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3516" CreationDate="2011-08-27T00:48:15.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would eat and drink normally the day before the race and the day of the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do exactly what you've done during training. If you need to stop eating a certain time before training then stop eating at the same time before the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 5km is not going to dehydrate you. It's basically just a really long sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T00:48:15.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2787" CreationDate="2011-08-27T02:48:39.777" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Burn sugars, replace sugars.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majority of the fuel you will be burning for your resistance workout will be glycogen (=stored sugar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle glycogen (glucose = dextrose) will be a large chunk of that (say 100 g from an intense session), while liver glycogen (fructose) will comprise maybe 1/5 of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An ideal PWO meal should be easily digested/ broken down and ready to get where it needs to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means no fiber. no fats. Whey protein is best here. And simple sugars - mainly dextrose ( next best thing: starches) and a little fructose (banana).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good recommendation here is 2:1 sugars to protein. So say 50 g dextrose/fructose, 25 whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without going into too much science here, your body is primed to replace what you have spent after a workout. Cells are very permeable/sensitive and it will only take a little insulin to usher the aminos and sugars into them. After a workout is the absolutely hardest time &quot;to get fat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to forgo post-wo carbs - you will 1) be sore for a longer period of time (depleted glycogen doesn't feel too good) and 2) Your next workout will be hurt (because fuel stores will be way down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1852" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T02:48:39.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3520" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-27T09:24:37.403" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-27T09:24:37.403" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T09:24:37.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3521" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-27T09:24:37.403" Score="0" Body="Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance fitness program combining party-like atmosphere with calorie-burning workouts." OwnerUserId="1811" LastEditorUserId="1811" LastEditDate="2011-08-27T11:13:06.147" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T11:13:06.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-27T09:43:51.693" Score="6" ViewCount="809" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a mid-level runner (7m - 7m30s per mile over distance) with a couple of marathons under their belt, what's the best way to improve their running?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should they simply be doing more running or would some sort of gym/strength work be more beneficial or maybe even a yoga class?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1807" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-26T18:39:41.340" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T20:50:09.330" Title="What's the best way for an intermediate-level runner to improve?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2011-08-27T12:38:57.967" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can recommend one exercise which doesn't need much space and will work out all your muscles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia - Burpee (exercise)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The burpee will burn the most calories in a short time, since you have to move your center of body mass from the ground up to the maximum high you can reach by jumping. &#xA;Try to do 10 in a row and you will feel this is a tough exercise. Try to do 100 and you will also feel this is a great cardio exercise which will make you sweat in no time. &#xA;If that is still not enough for you do burpees with a weight vest. I've never made an exercise at home that was more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1855" LastEditorUserId="149" LastEditDate="2011-08-27T14:05:36.580" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T14:05:36.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1304" CreationDate="2011-08-27T13:02:23.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever seen a fat physicist or mathematician? Go to some university and look for a string physicist who is actually overweight. You won't find many!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does this prove that the thinking uses a lot of calories? No!&#xA;But from my experience as a graduate student in astrophysics I can say that thinking hard about a fascinating topic distracts you from eating and drinking. You will simply forget about it. And I believe that is the reason why you might loose weight from thinking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So thinking doesn't use a lot of calories. But it prevents you from eating to much calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1855" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T13:02:23.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3516" CreationDate="2011-08-27T13:29:47.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For everything less than 15 km, you really don't need any special preparations compared to a normal training run of the same length. Neither for the day before, the hours just before the run nor during the run itself. If the run is in the morning, I usually try to avoid anything excessive spicy or greasy the evening before - this is just to make sure I don't feel bloated during the race...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training wise, I usually don't run the day before a 5km race, two days before a 10 km race and 3-4 days before 15 km. Just to make sure I'm fully rested...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will hopefully run a bit faster than during the training passes, so you will probably want to drink some water and eat some fruit and salty nuts after the run. This will help you recover from the run quite a bit faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;EDIT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For HM and longer, I have a different pre-race approach by necessity. I cannot run that long as fast as I want without proper preparations - not that I will not complete the race, but afterwards I will hurt for a couple of days if I just take the 15 km approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The HM preparations mean more carbs (pasta and white bread) and absolutely no alcohol the last two days and relatively little protein and fat the last 12-18 hours. And of cause plenty of to drink the last week... On race day, I have less cerials in the morning than usual and some apple juice instead. During the race, I drink a couple of cups of Powerade and nothing else. After the race I try to make up for the lost calories with chocolade, fruit and beer :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2013-02-17T20:43:00.307" LastActivityDate="2013-02-17T20:43:00.307" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3522" CreationDate="2011-08-27T13:50:19.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you by &quot;&lt;em&gt;improving their running&lt;/em&gt;&quot; mean run faster, then I would concentrate on interval training based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coacheseducation.com/endur/jack-daniels-june-00.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jack Daniels&lt;/a&gt; work (also on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Daniels_(coach)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a page that will help you with all the relevant numbers &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. E.g. if you run &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp?dist=1&amp;amp;units=miles&amp;amp;time=715&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;7:15 per mile&lt;/a&gt;, then you should consider training intervals where you run 400m in 1:55 then jog 1 minutes and repeat this 4-6 times. That should improve your running speed pretty drastically over 4-6 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2011-08-27T13:50:19.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3754" CreationDate="2011-08-27T21:20:19.557" Score="4" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_oscillations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insulin oscillations&lt;/a&gt; with period of 3 - 6 minutes are believed to&#xA;  be important for insulin sensitivity by preventing downregulation of&#xA;  insulin receptors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading this I was wondering, if the body is using oscillations on small time scale to prevent downregulation, maybe this tells us also something about how to organize our diet on bigger time scale, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was thinking that maybe eating regularly always the same amounts of food is unnatural to our body and ultimately leads to downregulation of our metabolism. I think it could make sense, because in ancient times people couldn't eat regularly. Instead they had days when they had a whole mammut as food source and a lot of other days in a week where they had only a few berries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So our bodies might be better adapted to cyclic eating, e.g. eating every second day 3000 kcal instead of eating 1500 kcal every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any studies out there that could support such a line of thinking? Should we better try to eat our food or even supplements/drugs in huge amounts on a single day and then wait for one or several days until we get the next portion to prevent our body from downregulating important receptors and decreasing the metabolism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1855" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T13:49:21.407" Title="Could cyclic eating help us to keep our metabolism up?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3566" CreationDate="2011-08-27T22:50:18.760" Score="7" ViewCount="3822" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say a bodybuilder has been lifting heavy in the 8-12 rep range, eating a high protein diet, and so has attained substantial muscle mass. Now the bodybuilder would like to just maintain the same muscle mass. How should the exercises and diet change from the previous bulking mode to this new maintenance mode?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does lifting weights in the 16+ rep range maintain muscle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does intense cardio, like sprinting, help maintain leg muscle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know protein is important in building muscle, but what role does it play in maintaining muscle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T20:34:10.757" Title="What is the protocol for muscle maintenence (stay the same mass)?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-28T03:47:37.603" Score="3" ViewCount="12742" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I decided to invest in some Skins as I've been doing a bit of exercise. I plan to use them for things like running, cycling and maybe soccer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the packet I'm right on the verge of being a S or M. I decided to buy the S citing the shop assistant's advice that they should be tight to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just gave them a try on a bike ride - at first they felt really tight and weird, but after I got used to it, I think they felt okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only problem was when I got home and it was a real struggle trying to take them off. Is that normal? I eventually somehow violently got them off - I'm scared though that if I have to do that every time, I may end up ripping them or stretching them out of shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They came off okay in the shop but maybe as they were a bit damp from my sweat, it was a little harder. Is that normal? Should I just wait till after I've cooled down a bit to take the skins off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1144" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T00:05:13.823" Title="How do I know if my skins compression clothing are too tight or not tight enough?" Tags="&lt;compression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3615" CreationDate="2011-08-28T20:33:16.937" Score="4" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally try to run at around an 8 minute mile.  Today I kayaked for about 2.2 miles and it took 40 minutes, so I thought of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How difficult would it be to look at training records and say &quot;I am better at X than I am at Y&quot;?  If you considered running, swimming, biking, and boating, what would the ratios of the speed or pace be for each activity for a &quot;normal&quot; athlete and what are the problems with looking at it this way?  What would being better at one (after training equally or less) activity over another say about someone's physical shape or body type?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1866" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T20:55:47.730" Title="What are normal pace ratios for different activities?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-28T22:19:23.560" Score="9" ViewCount="950" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current exercise/fitness plan involves just healthier eating and running at least 3 days a week. However, I want to try to include some exercises that I can do on my off-days from running in order to help lose weight and get in shape. I'm mostly looking for a full-body routine that hits the key muscle groups that doesn't require things that I won't have in my apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does such a routine exist, and what would a good one be? Detailed descriptions of the exercises (including pictures and/or videos, so I know if I'm doing them right) would be much appreciated as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T19:03:52.703" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T09:44:29.460" Title="What kind of exercises can I do at home with no equipment?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3541" CreationDate="2011-08-28T22:57:37.707" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should check out the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0971407614&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author of the book, a former Special Forces instructor, came up with a punishing array of pushups, squats, and things I don't really know how to describe. Most of the exercises rely on using only your own body, and no other equipment, to provide resistance. You can enhance some of the exercises with simple equipment, like books in backpacks, if you want, but it's not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1868" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T20:17:36.970" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T20:17:36.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3534" CreationDate="2011-08-29T07:31:54.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct answer should be &quot;Only you can judge yourself&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO, it is a very difficult feat to achieve constant in Bodybuilding. You are either gaining strength or losing it. What you can do is, set up a diet plan and work out plan and see where it takes you in a month or so. If it takes you to some place which you like, you can stick to it else you will have to alter diet/workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I lose strength and mass very quickly if I am not trying to increase it :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2011-08-29T07:31:54.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3541" CreationDate="2011-08-29T11:02:00.953" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two different approaches I would suggest, each good and you can switch up the two as you get 'bored'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is using &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitdeck.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FitDeck&lt;/a&gt;, basically playing cards with exercises on them, you mix them up, toss them down and do the exercise - about a card a minute.  No two routines will be the same.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The other approach is Tabata, here's a link to a previous article about it: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2666/what-is-tabata-how-effective-is-it&quot;&gt;What is tabata? How effective is it?&lt;/a&gt;. For Tabata all you need is a timer, get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymboss.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GymBoss&lt;/a&gt; or iPhone app.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I tell a lot of people - you can always do something, got time, do some pushups and situps, walk, planks. Don't let equipment or lack of equipment be an excuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T20:16:20.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3516" CreationDate="2011-08-29T13:12:33.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you have a good nights sleep, take in plenty of water and avoid overly spicy foods the day before. You don't need carb loading, energy gels, beetroot juice or anything special for this distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-08-29T13:12:33.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3416" CreationDate="2011-08-29T20:31:16.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll answer point by point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scientific Validity&lt;/strong&gt; - I doubt there's any single gene that controls one's maximum physical ability. When people use the term, they are referring to the fact that if someone worked out the ideal amount, with an ideal schedule, ideal nutrition, and everything else perfect, their genetic makeup would still cause them to experience diminishing returns in terms of performance and hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plateau&lt;/strong&gt; - unless you're an elite athlete or national-level bodybuilder, you have not reached or come near your genetic potential. If you are, then it's still the case that you'll experience diminishing returns instead of a brick wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hard Limit&lt;/strong&gt; - as you might surmise, it's my understanding that while there are physical limits due to physics and the human form, people are referring to a rather amorphous thing here. Your &quot;exponentially harder&quot; theory seems correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-08-29T20:31:16.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3537" CreationDate="2011-08-30T00:05:13.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you'll be fine. The compression clothing is designed to be tight, and if you can fit into it, you should be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as taking it off... I agree it can be a little weird, depending on what piece of clothing it is. I like to kind of peel it off, as opposed to the normal shrugging off I would do with normal clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly there's no way I can prove to you that you won't damage your clothes by taking them off, but if they're well made they should be pretty durable. And my guess is you'll develop some interesting dance moves to get them off over time :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a few pairs of compression shorts and compression tops, and none of them have ripped or deformed in spite of my sometimes hilarious means of removing myself from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T00:05:13.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3556" CreationDate="2011-08-30T00:28:59.073" Score="1" ViewCount="2582" Body="&lt;p&gt;I borrowed the picture from someone else's foot problem that, when I read further, didn't seem to be what I'm going through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: (&gt;_&amp;lt;) Scratch the picture, because I'm a new user I can't use them. Here's a link to the picture, but you'll have to disregard the OP's &quot;It hurt's right in there somewhere.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1407/pain-in-the-top-of-my-foot&quot;&gt;Pain in the top of my foot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little background to paint the picture: I'm in the Corps and I LOVE to run... after about 2 months of uncomfortable pain in my right upper leg, near my femoral artery I went to medical. The day before, I'd gone on quite a long run. The following day it was nearly impossible for me to use my right leg... had to lift it into my car just to get in. Medical initially thought it was a hernia, whatever that is... but with some preeeeetty extensive examination of my down stairs mix-up they diagnosed me with a groin strain and pulled muscle near the artery. They put me on light duty for 2 weeks and told me not to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; ran during that time :( but I did do some sloooow jogs after a week in... which brings me to my current problem. I think, because of my leg I was putting too much strain on my opposite foot and after today's jog that I did, now that I'm off of light duty... the pain in my left foot is excruciating. It looks slightly darkened around the area and hurts like a &lt;strong&gt;BLAM&lt;/strong&gt; when I press down on it. Trying to figure out what it was on the internet, I had mistakenly rolled my fingers over the extensor digitorum longus tendons outlined in the picture to see if that was where the pain was. I'm pretty sure it's something to do with them... or the bone below it. IDK for certain... that's why I'm throwing this massive explanation out there to you guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh yes, and it also hurts during the run, when I bend my toes upward to press off from the ground... mainly on the inside, if I force my foot to land on the outside edge it takes away some of the pain. I can't NOT bend my foot to run, because I do the whole &quot;natural&quot; running scene thing, i.e. Vibram Five Fingers, Huarache sandals, etc. Except of course when I have to run in my combat boots. Landing on the heel is so bad for you. :-/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you had time to read on this, and thanks very much to anyone who responds. -Semper Fi!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1872" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T06:37:24.467" Title="Having sharp, pulsating stinging pain in upper left foot." Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2011-08-30T20:52:17.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3565" CreationDate="2011-08-30T01:04:40.967" Score="14" ViewCount="79113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently saw a question here about using compression clothing while exercising.  I do not have any compression clothing.  But if it they are a valid exercise tool to enhance a workout I would like to know so I can consider buying one or not.  And if it is just hype then I would like to know so I do not waste time thinking about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros and cons of using compression garments while exercising?  And if one is used on the belly should exercises like crunches be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1407" LastActivityDate="2016-08-28T15:24:19.900" Title="Is using compression clothing during a work out a good or bad idea?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;compression&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3549" CreationDate="2011-08-30T01:27:17.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For this one, consult a doctor. Why would you trust the opinion of some random person on the internet vs a medical professional who can physically examine your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We see this on the Ultra list (a mailing list filled with ultra runners) all the time. The general response is go find a good doctor who has a clue about running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are you sure you just haven't pulled your laces too tight?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You have probably returned to running too early and have been favouring the injury leading to problems elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T01:27:17.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3541" CreationDate="2011-08-30T02:05:42.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like doing Crossfit workouts.  When I am traveling and need a workout that doesn't use gym equipment, I go to &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitdeep.com/travel-wods/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit Deep Ellum&lt;/a&gt;.  A lot do have running in them, but when you add in other exercises, they are quite fun.  Ones like &quot;Invisible Fran&quot; I have done in my apartment or hotel room and have worked up a good sweat.  Hope you can find what you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T20:13:36.633" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T20:13:36.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3292" CreationDate="2011-08-30T02:22:56.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;After strenuous exercise, ice is used to vasoconstrict the blood vessels that are leading to the area that is inflamed.  This helps to slow the inflammatory response and will protect the area from further injury/inflammation.  Ice only works for the first 24 hours, and it only needs to be used in a 20 minutes on and then 20 minutes off.  After that, heat needs to be applied to vasodilate the vessels which will support the flow of oxygen rich blood to the area to help with healing of the strained area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T02:22:56.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-30T04:25:29.080" Score="8" ViewCount="7997" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be able to do about 50 push ups at a time with no problem when I worked out semi-regularly. I stopped when suddenly while doing push ups, as I'd be getting near the end and straining to get those last few, the muscles in my neck (just under my chin) start to feel like they're really pulling/strained. If I stop doing them, I don't really have any neck pain or problems afterward but it's kinda scary while it's happening. I'm just wondering why might this be happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1874" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-08-30T20:44:18.197" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T20:39:40.790" Title="Why does my neck feel strained when doing push-ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3549" CreationDate="2011-08-30T06:37:24.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Sarge says, this is for a doctor to diagnose properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had something similar - or rather with the same symtoms as I understand you - 3-4 years ago as I first started to run for races: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stressfracturefoot.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stress fracture foot&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, this is very small stress induced fractures in the bones of the foot - though it can be in any bone in the body in theory. Very often a result of too much running :-) Only you doc can tell you for sure with an MR scanning or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ohh, and the bad news is that the only real solution is to stop running for an extended period. In my case 4-5 months after which I could start again... slowly, ever so slowly...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T06:37:24.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3555" CreationDate="2011-08-30T11:13:59.087" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like as you push yourself to complete the 50 push ups your body is getting out of proper form.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2011/02/23/how-to-proper-push-up-form/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's an article with a video&lt;/a&gt; on push up form: the first part of his speech is a person's tendency to push their head forward as they get tired - doing this myself, I can feel the tension increase on my neck and cause the strain you're describing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of pushing yourself to complete 50, push yourself to complete 35 or 40 with great form. Just like weight lifting, we tend to get caught up in numbers (bench x amount, etc.) instead of focusing on proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T20:39:40.790" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T20:39:40.790" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3560" CreationDate="2011-08-30T15:48:36.380" Score="5" ViewCount="5158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking for a daily workout routine to do for me and my wife. We both are quite busy people and have three young kids, so I was looking for something easy to do at home, but enough to keep some kind of fitness.&#xA;I stumbled upon the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5BX&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;5BX&lt;/a&gt; and the similar XBX routines, but they are quite back in the past and may have some missing points/improvements. I am also afraid that they may be dangerous, which I'd rather not test at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you suggest? Keep to that, or do something alternative? I already replaced the traditional sit-ups with the variation with bent legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1875" LastActivityDate="2013-02-15T05:15:23.227" Title="5BX XBX or alternative daily &quot;busy people&quot; workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3559" CreationDate="2011-08-30T16:59:17.010" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the pros of the 5BX/XBX style workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching improves flexibility.  Flexibility improves your &quot;fitness age&quot; and helps prevent injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The calisthenics are compound movements recruiting large groups of muscles together.  This helps improve (initially) or maintain (ultimately) your muscular structure in a balanced and meaningful way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The aerobic activity helps burn fat and optimize the aerobic metabolic pathways.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cons of this type of workout are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is not improvement on your muscular structure beyond your own body weight.  In short you will only get so strong with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The aerobic activity kind of works against the calisthenics as far as optimizing the types of metabolic pathways that support strength training (anaerobic/calisthenics) vs endurance training (aerobic activity).  Since you aren't really pushing your strength in this plan it's not that bad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said it all depends on what you want to get out of your exercise.  The 5BX/XBX style of workout provides an overall fairly balanced approach to getting and remaining fit.  It's not the type of workout that will help you excel in sports, but it will help you maintain a modest amount of fitness that will prevent injury and help you live a healthier life.  If that's all you want out of your routine it's a good plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing is that you have a plan you can follow and stick with for the long term.  If it's not that type of plan, then you can start playing by substituting other exercises that perform the same type of work just for a bit of variation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T16:59:17.010" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3561" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-30T18:03:10.150" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-30T18:03:10.150" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T18:03:10.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3562" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-30T18:03:10.150" Score="0" Body="How to lower one's overall mass. Questions are about diets and training programs that improve body composition." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T13:34:48.790" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T13:34:48.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3416" CreationDate="2011-08-30T19:48:11.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on what I've read, we do have a genetic potential, but what exactly that is for any person is nearly impossible to determine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scientific Validity&lt;/strong&gt; - Dr. Casey Butt did a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightrainer.net/potential.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;study based on the top bodybuilder athletes&lt;/a&gt; that provided some formulas to &lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt; your genetic potential.  Now, as he describes in the article, the study was based on observing the body building community, and the numbers are not hard limits.  However, you would have to train harder than the people he used in the study.  The formulas are fairly accurate when applied back on the complete population that the formulas were generated from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plateau&lt;/strong&gt; - Plateaus are an indication that either the type of stress you are applying is not enough to cause adaptation, or that you do not have enough recovery to allow adaptation to complete.  As you become more and more of an advanced athlete, you will have to vary the types of stress (endurance rep ranges, strength rep ranges, and changing assistance exercises) to stimulate the type of adaptation you want.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522703&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; by Dr. Kilgore and Rippetoe have a lot to say about that--whether you are interested in strength or physique the same principles apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hard Limit&lt;/strong&gt; - Using the same reference in the last bullet point (Practical Programming), there are some graphs that help illustrate what you suspect.  Essentially, the graph of results over effort is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;logarithmic&lt;/a&gt;.  In short as a beginner, your adaptation is quick and you can make incredible gains very quickly.  The closer you get to your genetic potential (the &lt;em&gt;limit&lt;/em&gt; in calculus terms), the more work you have to put in and the more carefully you have to manipulate all the variables to help you progress.  An elite lifter will only be able to make an increase once or twice a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sarcopenia&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/Masters.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Getting old sucks&lt;/a&gt;, and one of the reasons for people who use weights is Sarcopenia.  Essentially the older you get the more muscle mass you lose.  For sedentary people it can be up to 15% per decade after 30-35.  For weightlifters (and by extension bodybuilders) will slow the loss down to 5% per decade (per Practical Programming).  Theoretically, if you hit your genetic peak before turning 30, the capacity of what you can do will diminish as you get older.  Lifting weights is one way of slowing down those changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T19:48:11.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2011-08-30T20:25:56.600" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typical compression clothing, in my experience, won't give you much direct performance benefit (running faster, lifting heavier etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I wear compression shirts/shorts are mainly for comfort and temperature control.&#xA;If it's really cold out, compression heat clothes can help you stay warm and limber. And if it's really hot, long-sleeve compression cold gear actually helps your sweat evaporate, cooling you off (remember to drink a lot of water in this case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, compression shorts are nice and tight, meaning they won't ride up and cause chafing on runs or long bike rides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also just kind of feels cool to wear them, you feel a bit like a pro athlete wearing super cool gear :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, unless you're going to be playing in extreme weather, or if you have some underwear problems, I would say compression clothes are unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T20:25:56.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3534" CreationDate="2011-08-30T20:34:10.757" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The process of building muscle (either strength or size) requires disrupting homeostasis.  Since you have put your body under a certain amount of stress to achieve this level of adaptation, changing that stress will cause your body to make other adaptations.  For example, the 16+ rep range has to do with anaerobic endurance more than sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (8-12 rep range) which you used to achieve this level of homeostasis.  That said, the adaptations you are doing may be beneficial in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The take away is that you are trying to maintain homeostasis.  That means the current levels of stress should not fundamentally change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the role of protein, understand that your muscles are living tissue.  As living tissue, old muscle wears out and is replaced by new muscle.  You still need protein to maintain, but perhaps not as much as you needed to build.  The number I was told was that for maintenance (of sedentary people) you need 1g protein per kg of lean mass (or roughly .5g protein per pound of lean mass).  If you have 190 lbs of lean mass that would be 85g of protein.  What that would be for non-sedentary people I'm not sure.  Perhaps start by splitting the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond a certain age (around 30-35), you will deal with sarcopenia, or the deterioration of muscle mass.  For people who lift weights, that should be about 5% decrease per decade as opposed to 15% decrease per decade.  What this means is that you will need to compensate your work by at least 5% per decade (and increase the protein to help with the adaptations) to continue to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is of course theoretical based on Seyle's theory of adaptation syndrome (the core theory that all other exercise theories are based on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running/Sprinting&lt;/strong&gt; - Sprinting is an anaerobic exercise like weightlifting, as such it won't cause the body to change the metabolic pathways it built up.  However distance running is an aerobic activity, so it will change the way your body is getting its energy.  Running in general has a very limited range of motion compared to squats, lunges, leg presses, etc.  What this means is that only the muscle used in running will be maintained, and the muscle not used will begin to atrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle Memory&lt;/strong&gt; - Your muscles will remember how to get strong if you completely lapse for an extended period of time.  What that means is that you will get back to your current peak shape faster than the first time you worked to get there.  You'll have to push yourself eventually, so this works to your advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T20:34:10.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3568" CreationDate="2011-08-31T02:41:55.080" Score="6" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been on an introductory fitness routine for several months to slim down.  I've managed to lose 30lb (down to 180 from 210, I'm 6' 1&quot; so this puts me to the upper limit of my BMI), and I've developed some muscle. I'd now like to start researching supplements to build mass (not a lot, just enough to fill out my shirts better), and find out the best time to ingest nutrients to optimize the availability of them during my workout.  Is it better to take my shakes before or after exercising ? One hour apart ? 2 ? 3 ? Please forgive my ignorance, this is all really new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="592" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T13:52:16.847" Title="Best timing for consuming supplements relative to excercise" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3567" CreationDate="2011-08-31T07:20:15.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best time to take protein shakes is within half an hour after exercise. I actually take it right after my last set even before I take my shower. Also taking a shake during the day is recommended because your body needs a lot of protein when working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link with a study about when it's best to eat protein (immediately after your work out):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/how-protein-supplements-athletes-work-new-research&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/how-protein-supplements-athletes-work-new-research&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're taking creatine it's normally advised to take it 30-45 minutes before training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, supplement labels have an advisory on when to take them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T13:52:16.847" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T13:52:16.847" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3571" CreationDate="2011-08-31T11:05:39.800" Score="2" ViewCount="1431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this problem always especially after forearm training. Depending on how intense the training was my arms go to sleep 1-5 times per night. After a few days without training it doesn't happen anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1879" LastEditorUserId="1811" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T12:38:21.150" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T10:19:34.443" Title="Why do my arms go to sleep at night after strenuous workout?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3570" CreationDate="2011-08-31T11:22:53.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different reasons for your limbs (in your case arms) go to sleep, as you can read here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drlamb.com/paresthesia.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.drlamb.com/paresthesia.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case I guess it's because of pressure. Is it possible that you sleep on your arms? That happened to me a lot since then I try not to put my head on my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An other possibility is a vitamin deficiency. While you train YOU HAVE TO EAT HEALTHY! I just don't get people who work out 4 times a week and don't give a sh.. about what they eat. Eating is half your work out people!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you'll find out what it is exactly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T11:22:53.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-08-31T15:16:15.700" Score="4" ViewCount="1197" Body="&lt;p&gt;So in the P90X meal plan, it says you can substitute 1/3 cup of protein powder for a protein serving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the serving size of most (if not all) whey proteins is 28.5 g - or one scoop. Basically, one of those scoops, just by thinking about it, wouldn't even fill up like 1/4 cup all the way, would it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grams to cups isn't a direct comparison so I'm kind of confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going by what I'm thinking, it would take like 2 scoops of whey protein to fill 1/3 cup, which is one serving, and I wanted to replace two servings, which would be like 4 scoops of whey protein in a shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this even like...healthy? (I'd be replacing probably 2 protein servings each day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1594" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T17:56:11.753" Title="P90X Protein Portions" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3573" CreationDate="2011-08-31T17:50:12.587" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grams to cups make little &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefitness.com/bodybuilding/bodybuilding-chat/07-2000/001735.html&quot;&gt;sense without knowing the density&lt;/a&gt; of the substance being measured.  Since you know a scoop holds 1 serving (~28.5g), you'll have find out the volume of that scoop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill the empty scoop with water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pour the water into a measuring cup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat until you reach 1/3 cup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of times required to get to that mark is the amount of protein powder you would need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal view:&lt;/strong&gt; I much prefer my protein in the form of chicken, fish, beef, or lamb.  With several of those options you can have more protein with fewer calories than the protein powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Word of Caution:&lt;/strong&gt; Not all protein supplements are the same.  Some add sugar and other additives for taste which add more calories per volume.  The lower quality protein supplements also have relatively high amounts of heavy metals, while the higher quality protein has more quality controls in place.  Many protein supplements are designed for the guy who is &lt;em&gt;bulking&lt;/em&gt;, which means they don't care about the extra Calories and in fact would rather have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it healthy?&lt;/strong&gt; Yes, as long as you are getting all your vitamins and minerals (micro-nutrients) that you need.  Assuming you have a good quality protein supplement (see the word of caution), it will be more readily absorbed by the body than the whole protein sources I prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trade-offs are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased food bill (protein supplements are expensive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taste (very few protein supplements taste good in comparison to whole protein sources)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T17:56:11.753" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T17:56:11.753" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3575" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:00:59.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally supplements should be taken &lt;em&gt;in addition to&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;instead of&lt;/em&gt; one's normal food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:59:49.800" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:59:49.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3576" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:00:59.100" Score="0" Body="Whey, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), creatine, psyllium husks, caffeine and other non-food items that athletes add to their diet to improve training and recovery. Questions are about which supplements are appropriate in which circumstances, and the details of using them." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:11.590" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:11.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3577" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:01:58.393" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:01:58.393" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:01:58.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3578" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:01:58.393" Score="0" Body="A training regimen or program. Usually a routine consists of a schedule, a set of exercises, and a set/rep scheme." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:04:26.490" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:04:26.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3579" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:02:34.743" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:02:34.743" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:02:34.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3580" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:02:34.743" Score="0" Body="The absolute range of movement in a joint or series of joints, and length in muscles that cross the joints. " OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:15.647" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:15.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3581" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:05:34.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soreness is felt most strongly 24 to 72 hours after the exercise. It is thought to be caused by eccentric (lengthening) exercise, which causes microtrauma to the muscle fibers. After such exercise, the muscle adapts rapidly to prevent muscle damage, and thereby soreness, if the exercise is repeated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Delayed onset muscle soreness is one symptom of exercise-induced muscle damage. The other is acute muscle soreness, which appears during and immediately after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Prevention&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Delayed onset muscle soreness can be reduced or prevented by gradually increasing the intensity of a new exercise program, thereby taking advantage of the repeated-bout effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Treatment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soreness usually disappears within about 72 hours after appearing. If treatment is desired, any measure that increases blood flow to the muscle, such as low-intensity activity, massage, hot baths, or a sauna visit may help somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Resources:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Costello, Joseph T.; Baker, Philip Ra; Minett, Geoffrey M.; Bieuzen, Francois; Stewart, Ian B.; Bleakley, Chris (2015-09-18). &quot;Whole-body cryotherapy (extreme cold air exposure) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise in adults&quot;. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 9: CD010789&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nosaka, Ken (2008). &quot;Muscle Soreness and Damage and the Repeated-Bout Effect&quot;. In Tiidus, Peter M. Skeletal muscle damage and repair. Human Kinetics. pp. 59–76. ISBN 978-0-7360-5867-4.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kokkinos, Peter (2009). Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. Jones &amp;amp; Bartlett Learning. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-0-7637-5612-3.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-25T18:21:11.700" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T18:21:11.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3582" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:05:34.507" Score="0" Body="Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:06:39.827" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:06:39.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3583" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:07:35.533" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:07:35.533" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:07:35.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3584" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:07:35.533" Score="0" Body="Carbonated sugar water made from syrup. Also known as &quot;liquid candy&quot; for its nutritional profile." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:09.817" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:09.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3585" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:12:18.520" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:12:18.520" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:12:18.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3586" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:12:18.520" Score="0" Body="Knowing the location and movement of one's body in space, and of one's body parts in relation to each other. " OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:05.947" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:05.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3587" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:14:15.903" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:14:15.903" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:14:15.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3588" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:14:15.903" Score="0" Body="Animal protein, usually dead, often cooked, best eaten." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:01.220" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:01.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3589" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:14:52.480" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:14:52.480" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:14:52.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3590" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:14:52.480" Score="0" Body="Working out with a purpose, in pursuit of a goal." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:05.120" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:05.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3591" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:16:17.423" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:16:17.423" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:16:17.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3592" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:16:17.423" Score="0" Body="Instruments of resistance that exploit the combination of gravity and mass. Includes barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, and found objects." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:04.247" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:04.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3593" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:19:24.360" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:19:24.360" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:19:24.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3594" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:19:24.360" Score="0" Body="Someone who has a difficult time adding mass or muscle." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:10.627" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:10.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3595" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:20:44.977" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:20:44.977" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:20:44.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3596" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:20:44.977" Score="0" Body="Milk, cheese, yogurt, keffir and any other food that comes from a cow and isn't meat." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:24.323" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:24.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3597" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:21:17.770" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:21:17.770" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:21:17.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3598" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:21:17.770" Score="0" Body="The state of being well, without disease or dysfunction." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:14.573" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:14.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3599" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:23:44.243" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:23:44.243" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:23:44.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3600" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:23:44.243" Score="0" Body="The body rebuilding itself after injury or training stimulus." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:12.280" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:12.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3601" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:25:28.950" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:25:28.950" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:25:28.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3602" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:25:28.950" Score="0" Body="Making one's body work. Includes walking, jogging, running, lifting weights, playing sports, cycling and any active play. The opposite of watching TV." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:25.883" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:25.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3603" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:26:47.640" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:26:47.640" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:26:47.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3604" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:26:47.640" Score="0" Body="The proper way to perform a specific workout movement." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:20.203" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:20.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3605" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:45:35.113" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:45:35.113" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:45:35.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3606" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:45:35.113" Score="0" Body="Mixed martial arts. A rule-set that includes striking, wrestling, grappling, chokes and joint locks. " OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:22.107" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:22.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3607" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:57:13.953" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T18:57:13.953" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T18:57:13.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3608" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T18:57:13.953" Score="0" Body="Proper technique, variations and programs for improving your push-ups." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T19:00:18.177" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T19:00:18.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3609" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T20:05:43.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In strength training, the squat is a compound, full body exercise that trains primarily the muscles of the thighs, hips and buttocks, quads (vastus lateralus medialis and intermedius), hamstrings, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source: wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forms include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell squats, like the low-bar back squat, high-back back squat, front squat, Zercher squat, overhead squat, or jumping squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight-only versions, like air squats or pistols (single-legged squats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other methods, like dumbbell squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-24T02:05:28.087" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T02:05:28.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3610" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T20:05:43.123" Score="0" Body="Barbell squats are one of the three lifts in powerlifting. Questions are about effective technique, variations, and programs for squatting with or without resistance. " OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-24T02:05:58.060" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T02:05:58.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3611" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-08-31T20:06:45.697" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T20:06:45.697" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T20:06:45.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3612" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-08-31T20:06:45.697" Score="0" Body="How to safely and effectively build muscle, whether for looks or for strength. Also, how muscles work physiologically." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-08-31T20:25:18.473" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T20:25:18.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4067" CreationDate="2011-08-31T20:20:56.127" Score="22" ViewCount="7141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I enjoy going for long -- I mean, ten mile -- walks. Part of this is because I was training for the Susan B. Komen 3-Day Walk about a year ago, and I got into the habit of taking very long walks because of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, some of my friends insist that I should start running, now that I've been walking on and off for a year. I hear all sorts of conflicting information about walking vs. running, so I figured I'd just ask here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming distance is constant (that is, that I'd walk or run, say, five or ten miles, regardless) and that time is not a factor (if it takes me two hours or four doesn't really matter to me), how do walking and running compare? That is, what are the pros and cons, health-and-fitness-wise, of walking vs. running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1677" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T07:02:28.893" Title="What are the pros and cons of running versus walking?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3533" CreationDate="2011-08-31T20:43:09.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some proponents of this type of thinking such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.warriordiet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Warrior Diet&lt;/a&gt; and intermittent fasting (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatstopeat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eat Stop Eat&lt;/a&gt;).  The premise is essentially the same as what you outlined, and many people have had success with this approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the dangerous thought process is to lump everyone into the same Calorie requirements.  A weightlifter will need many more Calories than someone who is comparatively sedentary.  Your 3000 kcal every other day number would send me into starvation mode--and that's before I started an exercise regimen.  My BMR back in April was about 2000 kcal/day and is currently much more than that (estimated at around 2400 kcal/day or more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, your activity level and amount of lean mass can have a greater affect on metabolism than the timing of eating your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are also a number of people who do well with several small meals throughout the day.  In some ways that's the only way to get their Calorie requirements in for their level of activity and their Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).  There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but a number of principles we can use to make educated adjustments to our diet.  You've outlined one such principle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T20:43:09.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3540" CreationDate="2011-08-31T20:55:47.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that something like that can be normalized, and here's why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise is specific--the type of training you do dictates the response your body has&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Absolute genetic potential of any person is not currently able to be quantified, and if it could, it would be very difficult with our current knowledge to apply those quantities to any activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most athletes operate at far below their genetic potential (the top 2% in any field would be the exception).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you are good at what you put effort into.  There are people who seem to be natural athletes, who excel without effort.  These athletes tend to be lazy because they are so much better than the average people &lt;em&gt;in the beginning&lt;/em&gt;.  A few have good work ethic, but after the average person puts in more work, they will be able to outperform the gifted athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, a gifted athlete seems to be gifted in one type of activity.  If your question is about finding what the gifted activity is for you, I still don't have any good answers for you.  It very well may be you are one of the many normal people who have to work for what they want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sports and organizations have established &lt;strong&gt;standards&lt;/strong&gt;.  A standard is different from a &quot;norm&quot;.  In essence, depending on the experience an individual has, they will be able to &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; be able to perform the standard.  There most likely isn't enough data to establish what a &lt;em&gt;norm&lt;/em&gt; would be for someone of the same experience.  Many things can come to play such as gender, physiology, stature, coordination, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T20:55:47.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2011-08-31T21:11:02.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic building blocks of all successful exercise regimens will require a decent understanding of Selye's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthnewsnet.com/gap.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;General Adaptation Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.  The initial theory has been expanded to include a two-factor conceptual model of adaptation syndrome:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need &lt;em&gt;stress&lt;/em&gt; sufficient to disrupt homeostasis (the current level of adaptation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need &lt;em&gt;rest&lt;/em&gt; sufficient to allow the body to hyper-compensate (i.e. adapt to handle more than the stress you last gave it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially you will see good gains no matter what you do.  However, the trick is to increase the stress enough to require adaptation.  Weight lifters and body builders do that by increasing the weight on the bar, and manipulating the sets and reps that they use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are restricting yourself to strictly body weight exercise, then you have to adjust other variables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leverage: more inefficient leverage will cause more stress on some muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume: when you multiply the sets times the reps, you get the volume of exercise.  You will need to increase this volume to continue to improve.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unconventional weights: use common household items to add more weight to your body while exercising.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time between sets: by not fully allowing your body to recover between sets you can accumulate load.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &quot;Practical Programming for Weight Training&quot; book we have some common rep ranges that cause different adaptations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-3 reps builds strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-12 reps builds size&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16+ reps builds anaerobic endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many programs use sets of 5, as a good compromise between building strength and size.  This information is important to figure out how to organize your sets to get the adaptations you want.  To increase the volume of work done (the stress required to disrupt homeostasis), add more sets of the same number of reps.  If you were doing 3 sets of 12, increase to 4 sets of 12, or 5 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can carry these variations for a good while and make some progress.  Eventually, you will run out of time in the day to progress any further on body weight exercises.  At this point you really need to look at purchasing a weight set if you can't/won't go to a gym.  Even a used set would help you get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T21:11:02.303" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2011-08-31T21:26:39.373" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running is harder on your body that walking. This is a pro. It can also, if not addressed correctly, turn into a con.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running will push your muscles, tendons, joints, lungs and heart more than walking will. When you run, your feet will hit the ground harder, your muscles will contract faster and with more force, your lungs will need to supply more air, and your heart will need to distribute blood faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, your entire body will be working harder - which is a good thing! It will force your body to adapt and improve to meet the new challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you've never run before, or haven't run in a long time, there is a danger of overdoing things, especially if you 'jump in the deep end.' Start off slow - maybe 1 mile at a time at an easy pace, and see how it feels. Don't just try to run 3 miles a day during the first week - your body won't be ready for such a drastic change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you have good shoes, make sure your technique is decent. Otherwise overuse injuries will inevitably happen. If you ever have pain that is not normal soreness, take a break. Don't try to fight an injury - this is counterproductive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I would say running is a great and logical next step after walking. Like I mentioned before, it will improve the fitness of all the parts of your body, more than walking will. BUT, remember to be smart about it, and listen to your body. Ease into it, and you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-08-31T21:26:39.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3620" CreationDate="2011-09-01T00:05:06.293" Score="27" ViewCount="81742" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I weight myself often, I realize that I fluctuate a couple pounds here and there. I can never seem to get an accurate reading that I can compare to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a time of day which you are at your &quot;most real&quot; weight? Would you suggest I simply weight myself around the same time each day (morning or right before bed?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1885" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T21:10:34.907" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T16:49:52.633" Title="When is the best time of day to accurately weigh yourself?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2011-09-01T01:52:25.277" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you weigh yourself after relieving your bowels, your weight will be slightly more accurate as far as what YOU weigh, without as much of what you ate. Weighing yourself at the same time every day is probably best. During a typical day, most people follow a pretty well set routine. We eat at about the same time every day, drink about the same amount of liquids at about the same times. So, as long as you're weighing in at about the same time every day, fluctuations in your weight will be more accurately depicted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal preference is to weigh myself at night before going to bed, but many people prefer to weight themselves in the morning. In my personal experience (having weighed myself at night and then the following morning) the difference in weight between night and 8 hours of sleep and a bathroom break later is rarely more than a pound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, your weight fluctuates up to around 5 pounds a day anyway, due to all kinds of reasons. A person should only consider their weight over a longer period of time, such as a week or even a month to make a truthful analysis of whether they are losing or gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2011-09-01T14:20:47.547" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T14:20:47.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3627" CreationDate="2011-09-01T01:54:40.203" Score="9" ViewCount="7936" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my observations, when I do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmkKqMDupLU&quot;&gt;Bulgarian split squats&lt;/a&gt;, they hit the glutes really nicely. In fact, even if I do the Bulgarian squat without doing regular squats, my glutes are very sore the next day. My regular squats are deep (butt to the ground), but if I do regular squats alone in a workout, the next day my glutes aren't sore. I use the same weight for both type, except for the Bulgarian split squats I use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPWXdq7idrI&quot;&gt;smith machine&lt;/a&gt; (so that my shoulders doesn't fatigue as quickly) while for the normal squats I use a barbell in a squat rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this make it a better choice if a person wants to build the glutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-11-18T18:51:29.880" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T04:20:13.453" Title="Does the Bulgarian split squat target the glutes better than normal squats?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2011-09-01T02:16:14.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that compression clothing does serve a purpose, especially over longer distances and more strenuous activities. Runners many times will wear compression calf covers or compression forearm covers. This can &lt;strong&gt;help to prevent swelling in the muscles&lt;/strong&gt;, keep you cooler or warmer depending on the conditions and material, and also protects your skin from elements and environmental dangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous poster outlined some other benefits, such as keeping your manhood in place, feeling cool like an athlete, and the benefits of high tech sweat removal. These are all secondary to the true benefit which is the prevention of swelling.  Talk to any serious distance runner- ultra marathoner would be a good place to start, and they can immediately describe the benefits that I've outlined to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as in your specific situation, unless you are turning into a more rigorous athlete, it doesn't sound like you should need these. The benefits, while meaningful, are very minor for most us &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1883" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T02:16:14.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3658" CreationDate="2011-09-01T02:18:59.760" Score="3" ViewCount="656" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm on a diet aimed at reducing the amount of fat in my body. Reducing fat is my first priority, actually losing weight second. How will drinking hard alcohol (let's say vodka or rum) affect my diet? How bad is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1885" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-02T21:24:53.530" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T11:43:17.460" Title="Does alcohol affect a diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3628" CreationDate="2011-09-01T04:28:55.163" Score="30" ViewCount="5504" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started using apps like MyFitnessPal to calculate the amount of energy and nutrients I consume and do some simple number crunching for me. However, all these apps seem to be focused on calorie intake and not much more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does fat, sodium, sugar, carbs effect my weight loss diet? Are calories proportional to the amount of fat (etc.) and is therefore an accurate representation? Will simply managing calories be an accurate method of weight control?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1885" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T18:08:22.287" Title="Are calories the only important aspect of a diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3624" CreationDate="2011-09-01T07:59:41.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Max, you hit on the nature of the debate between the &quot;low-fat&quot; theory (proposed by some departments of the USA government for 20 years or so) and the &quot;low-carbohydrate&quot; theory which was normal science for 200 years and is now promoted by basically all popular books on eating and diet (Carpender, Lutz, Heller, Mackarness, Taubes, Atkins, Eades, etc etc etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, with myself, I eat only a very modest amount of carbohydrates each day.  I simply don't eat &quot;new&quot; foods like potatoes, white bread, sugar.  I eat an enormous amount of meat, cream, fats, eggs, and green vegetables.  (I mean ENORMOUS - for example I eat at least six eggs a day, just for starters.)  My caloric intake would be some huge number if I bothered to measure it.  But again, ALMOST NONE of the calories come from carbohydrates (sugars). &lt;strong&gt;The calories come only from fat and protein. In my case, the weight is just falling off me (easily one KG per week).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you ask &quot;Will simply managing calories be an accurate method of weight control?&quot;  In fact no, &lt;strong&gt;calories have no connection to weight control&lt;/strong&gt;.  You have to &lt;strong&gt;slash or indeed eliminate carbohydrate intake&lt;/strong&gt; to see the weight come off you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then again, &lt;strong&gt;many people disagree with &quot;pro-fat&quot; (ie, low-carb) thinking, they believe in the USA Government concept of &quot;anti-fat&quot; thinking.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So before the question can be answered, you have to decide which camp you are in.  the two camps have &lt;strong&gt;absolutely opposite beliefs&lt;/strong&gt; so it's a difficult question to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider reading the book &quot;Why we get fat&quot; by Gary Taubes.  (To get &quot;one side&quot; of the situation.)  Hope it helps in some way!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2011-09-02T08:45:25.067" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T08:45:25.067" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3461" CreationDate="2011-09-01T11:36:04.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing that comes to my mind is working with a head harness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1sIzt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Here's a link explaining it along with some other related neck exercises: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/neck.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/neck.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Addition to that I would think adding Shrugs would be beneficial:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/75iE9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-shrug&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-shrug&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of these should be done exclusive to all other exercises, but part of an overall program - with the focus on your core and next areas.  The problem with focusing on a specific 'body part' is that the supporting muscles (to that part) also need to be developed otherwise they could become overloaded.  Post use soreness (you mentioned that you were sore afterwards) is a sign that you are straining parts of your body, normal, but also a sign that you need to gain strength to reduce risk of injury - especially to the next/back areas.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds like what you're doing is a lot of fun - if you get a chance, please post a video!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T11:36:04.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3621" CreationDate="2011-09-01T12:07:15.953" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to exrx.net the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBSingleLegSplitSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell split squat&lt;/a&gt; primarily targets the glutes and utilizes other hip and leg muscles as synergists. They show that the common form of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back squat&lt;/a&gt;, using a high-bar placement, targets the quads primarily, using the glutes as synergists. However, using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;powerlifting-style low-bar just-past-parallel back squat&lt;/a&gt; targets the glutes. Mark Rippetoe espouses this version of the technique in his &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; lifting program because it allows the lifter to put more weight on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you say you're going &quot;butt to the ground&quot; in your squat, so it's possible that you are using a variation of an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/FrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Olympic-style squat&lt;/a&gt; (you could also be doing this with a high-bar back-squat variation with the same effect) and thereby avoiding some of the glute activation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for the exercise that most efficiently works the glutes, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html#anchor169231&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; and consider the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVlQhlKf-5Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Hip Thrust&lt;/a&gt; (aka Barbell Hip Heist).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, I also must recommend reading about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/SmithSquat1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;drawbacks and potential pitfalls of using the Smith machine&lt;/a&gt; instead of free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T20:29:16.937" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T20:29:16.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3624" CreationDate="2011-09-01T12:47:42.053" Score="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely not.  Our metabolism is a complex system of organs working together that dictate how food is used, disposed of, etc.  Not to mention, based on your goals and body type, different manipulations to your diet are indeed necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1014296&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;NIH-funded study&lt;/a&gt; tried to suss out the associations between specific foods, lifestyle factors, and weight gain. Its conclusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specific dietary and lifestyle factors are independently associated with long-term weight gain, with a substantial aggregate effect and implications for strategies to prevent obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other studies are finding similar results (for &lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1199154&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;instance&lt;/a&gt;). Our metabolism is too complex to follow the adage, &amp;quot;a calorie is a calorie&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, calories are not the only important aspect of diet. Total caloric intake has an effect, but the foods you're eating and activities you're partaking of will affect your health and weight gain. Perhaps more importantly, the foods you choose to eat will affect how many calories you feel like eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/potatoes-bad-nuts-good-for-staying-slim-harvard-study-finds/2011/06/17/AGRWmIgH_story.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Washington Post&lt;/a&gt; summarizes more of the ramifications of this study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[There are] striking differences in how various foods and drinks — as well as exercise, sleep patterns and other lifestyle choices — affect whether people gradually get fatter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...[G]etting heavier is not just a matter of “calories in, calories out,&amp;quot; and...the mantra: “Eat less and exercise more” is far too simplistic. Although calories remain crucial, some foods clearly cause people to put on more weight than others, perhaps because of their chemical makeup and how our bodies process them. This understanding may help explain the dizzying, often seemingly contradictory nutritional advice from one dietary study to the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with focusing solely on Calories is the foods people tend to keep versus cut when they start restricting them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you look at Jenny Craig and Weight Watcher's practitioners, the first thing to go is the protein source because they are &amp;quot;high in points&amp;quot; or take up a significant portion of the volume of food the people can eat.  This is bad on many points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein keeps you satiated longer, so you don't need as much volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein is necessary to protect existing muscle mass, or build more muscle mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excess protein (more than what your body will use) takes a lot of energy to process, in essence raising your metabolism a bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbs:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another problem we have is the overemphasis of carbohydrates in western diets.  I'll go on a limb and say that carbs are necessary, but definitely not in the quantities most people eat them.  For active people (and we are designed to be active), carbs are an important part of recovery and a source of energy.  However, they have some negative impacts, and worse if your sedentary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs have the most glycemic impact, and the more processed the carb, the sharper that insulin response is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insulin prepares your body's cells to accept glycogen, which for active people helps put energy in the muscles.  However, in sedentary people, or in great quantities, when the body's cells become saturated, the carbs can only be stored as fat.  When this condition exists for extended periods the person becomes insulin resistant, and ultimately diabetic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We are designed to process carbs, but think more in terms of peppers, green vegetables, and fruits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fats:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our bodies need energy, and it really doesn't matter whether that energy comes from fat or from carbs.  The USDA gave fats a bad name, and then later the scientific community had to come back to the defense of certain fats.  Most unnatural fats have &amp;quot;trans-fats&amp;quot; which are harmful to the body.  However, mono-unsaturated fats like olive oil and fish oil have many good properties that are helpful to the body.  Not to mention that certain vitamins we need are fat soluble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calories:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories are important, but not as important as a proper balance of the macro-nutrients.  Greatly exceeding the number of calories your body burns in a day (through normal metabolism and through activity) forces your body to do something with the excess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excess protein will get converted to glycogen through a very slow process, but that excess glycogen can cause an insulin spike and ultimately convert it to fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs are broken down to glycogen immediately, and take a bit less energy to process than protein--but it is most readily turned into body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dietary fat packs the most calories per gram, and takes the least amount of energy to process.  However, dietary fat does not necessarily translate to body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is that the more active you are, the higher your metabolism gets, and the more Calories you need.  Part of this is due to the increased muscle mass that accompanies activity, and part of that is due to how quickly you go through your energy reserves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body Type:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different body types have different challenges, and treating everyone the same is a recipe for disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mesomorph: the stereotypical genetically blessed individual.  Hourglass shape for women, perfect V for men.  These folks tend to be sensitive to fats, but they can usually work it off pretty quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ectomorph: the pencil shaped body.  These folks seem to be able to eat what they want without gaining a pound.  A common complaint from these folks is that they can't gain wait.  The only way to fix that is to eat copious amounts of food and protein and work hard to turn it into muscle.  They just can't seem to hold on to fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endomorph: the round bodied person.  These folks can't seem to get weight off.  They sniff a brownie and gain a pound.  Carbs are the endomorph's enemy--especially those highly processed and delicious dessert carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T21:53:53.083" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3634" CreationDate="2011-09-01T13:43:47.547" Score="1" ViewCount="472" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportgrips.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SportGrips SideWinder wrist exerciser&lt;/a&gt; (Sportster model) that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/139/bringing-chaos-to-fitness-nutrition&quot;&gt;Lauren from the CHAOS team&lt;/a&gt; was kind enough to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/141/what-fitness-supplies-would-you-like-to-try-out-and-ask-about-on-this-site&quot;&gt;send out to me&lt;/a&gt;. I started using it a few days ago and am following this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportgrips.com/workout.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;workout routine&lt;/a&gt; outlined on their website which consists of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1:&lt;/strong&gt; 20 repetitions using light resistance, then resting for 1 day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2:&lt;/strong&gt; Same as Day 1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3:&lt;/strong&gt; 10 to 20 repetitions using heavy resistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine then says to change up the order in order to prevent a plateau. I have only done exercises using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportgrips.com/usingyoursidewinder.htm#horizontalgrip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;horizontal grip&lt;/a&gt; so far, and I can feel my muscles being worked when I use the SideWinder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel though that once I progress, my muscles in my wrist and forearms will tighten up too much. What stretches can I do to maintain or increase my wrist flexibility while I strengthen my wrists? Would stretching before or after using the device make a difference? What I also want to know is what relationship there is between the degree of stretching and the amount of strength I need to twist the wrist exerciser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T15:47:03.267" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T16:51:37.890" Title="Maintaining wrist flexibility while working on wrist strength" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3719" CreationDate="2011-09-01T15:21:43.373" Score="6" ViewCount="2891" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just received a set of EXF gymnastics rings (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/141/what-fitness-supplies-would-you-like-to-try-out-and-ask-about-on-this-site&quot;&gt;thanks, Team Chaos!&lt;/a&gt;) and I have a smorgasbord of individual exercises that I'd like to try. However, I don't want to do just a collection of random exercises or individual progressions. I'm looking for guidance on programming a strength routine using rings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently evaluating books, DVDs and in-depth websites (specifically &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; just individual YouTube tutorials) that have information on putting together a complete ring training regimen. So far I've found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/store/library/building-the-gymnastic-body.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/a&gt;, which doesn't focus on programming but &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&amp;amp;t=1026&amp;amp;start=30&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;does include it&lt;/a&gt;. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=39459&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Review here&lt;/a&gt;.) Is this what I need? Is there a similar book/DVD that is closer to my needs? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rmaxi.com/forum/showthread.php?22357-GMB-Rings-One-Program-Review&amp;amp;p=173631#post173631&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GMB Rings One program&lt;/a&gt;, the promotion of which gives me a yucky infomercial feeling. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Various online guides, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitlondonuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/CFLUK_RingGuide.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one from CrossFit London (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2008/01/ring-training-getting-started/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this survey of beginner techniques&lt;/a&gt;. The ones I've found are heavy on &quot;try this! and this! and this!&quot; but light on describing how to arrange a workout, training schedule, or the reasoning behind the exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snippets of truth, like Coach Sommer noting that beginners would do best to spend their time solely on &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&amp;amp;t=1724&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;support holds, front levers, and back levers&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. The biggest issue I have is that there's no clear time to move on from that (unless one has a coach). This is also just not substantial enough for me to design a training schedule around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are the best resources I should consult (and buy) regarding how to &lt;em&gt;structure&lt;/em&gt; my ring training?&lt;/strong&gt; The best answers will be those that involve references and personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T15:47:03.267" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T16:10:23.013" Title="Which resources should I go to for programming ring training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;rings&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3639" CreationDate="2011-09-01T15:57:58.637" Score="1" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to try to regulate my core body temperature in order to be able to sustain longer workouts at higher intesities. I have been exercising more and am realizing that core body heat might be becoming an issue (last night after a 20-mile ride my messenger bag was soaked with sweat, whereas the prior day it was not after 30-miles). I am well aware that a lack of water may have caused the difference, but I had consumed approximately equal amounts day over day, and had eaten basically the same foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one difference between the days is that before the 30-mile ride I ate two slices of bread and four eggs with bhut jolokia hot sauce all over them; before the 20-mile I had a double-stacked peanut butter and butter sandwich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It seems more like an anomaly, but what effect could high intake of capsaicin have before a workout (aside from indigestion)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can one engineer a regimen around capsaicin to regulate temp and sweating?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am familiar with the impact it has on olfactory sweating, and how it ramps up the metabolism for digestion, and am wondering if it can be used to either regulate body temp on its own, or if it is just more assistive in digesting food before exercise, thus lending a hand to core temp regulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1888" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T02:30:15.730" Title="Is there an effective body core temperature regimen that includes capsaicin?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3461" CreationDate="2011-09-01T16:13:00.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to stick with body weight exercises, then I would suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/52578-reverse-push-up/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reverse pushups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-do-pull-ups-and-chin-ups-with-proper-technique/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pullups/Chinups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/WtBackExtension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Back extensions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reverse pushups will help strengthen your back.  If you set your feet on a raised platform (like a chair), it will provide more work for your back to do.  The goal is to use your back muscles and not your arms to do the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extra back work and the pullups/chinups will also help your neck muscles get stronger as you naturally tense it when lifting heavy things.  More importantly; however, you will be able to use both your abs and your back a bit better.  The idea is to spread the load amongst most of the muscles in your core.  When the load is vertical like the position you showed in your picture, when the core is unable to make the minor adjustments to maintain balance, your neck and shoulders come in to play to help out--but they are smaller muscles and get tired much more easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T16:13:00.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3630" CreationDate="2011-09-01T16:51:37.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, when it comes to stretching, you only want to stretch warm muscles.  If you attempt to stretch cold muscles they will become injured and when they repair will become smaller/tighter.  In short: &lt;strong&gt;Stretch afterwards&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next question is how much range of motion do you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; in your wrists?  If your exercise has you going through the full range of motion that you need, there is little reason to try to increase that.  However, doing wrist movements you don't normally do every day can help prevent repetitive stress injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ergocise.com/wrists.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There are several wrist stretches and a full routine you can do&lt;/a&gt;.  You may not want to do all of them for reasons of time or they don't address a problem you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T16:51:37.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3653" CreationDate="2011-09-01T20:10:29.930" Score="1" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I decided I want to lose some fat recently and get a bit healthier. To give myself goals to go for each day I'm using a calorie monitoring app which recommends I have 1750 calories a day. At the moment I pretty much do little to no exercise apart from the occasional day where I go swimming or I am traveling to visit my girlfriend, I do notice that on those days I tend to eat more as I feel more hungry and usually hit around the 1750 mark, varying around 200 calories either way. Although on a usual day I have about 400 calories less averaging around 1200 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;stats&#xA;Male&#xA;age: 21&#xA;height: 5,7&quot;&#xA;starting Aug 18th 185lb&#xA;now(Sep 1st)      178.5lb&#xA;(stopped drinking fizzys, eating out less and avoiding comfort foods)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a day where I might go out for a meal I have sometimes gone over up to about 2000 calories, but this is quite rare. What I wanted to ask is, is the inverse acceptable? i.e. today I have only had 800 calories, although I don't feel hungry or anything, but it does seem very little to me. Could this be bad for my health? If I eat so few calories, will I burn off muscle or get ill easily from lack of nutrients?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the negative side affects from having a very low-calorie day once in awhile?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1137" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-02T15:40:59.297" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T15:40:59.297" Title="An odd day of little calories" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3635" CreationDate="2011-09-01T20:33:20.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arguments about low-carb vs. low-calorie diets aside, going much below your recommended daily calorie intake will send your body into starvation mode. This is bad and counter productive to your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-09-01T20:33:20.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3644" CreationDate="2011-09-01T23:01:42.650" Score="7" ViewCount="29799" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that hitting a heavy bag is taxing enough that it is easy to overtrain using it, especially for beginners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much rest should the average person (i.e. NOT a boxer who grew up hitting things) take in between intense heavy bag sessions to let the muscles, joints, tendons etc. recover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a similar note, what caution signs should someone look for to avoid injury/overtraining on the heavy bag? I know wrist pain is something to look for. Anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T12:13:01.780" Title="How frequently can I hit the heavy bag?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3637" CreationDate="2011-09-02T00:24:42.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm not an expert in bag work or boxing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of rest you can take between sessions is entirely dependent on the intensity of your bag work, your recovery, and your conditioning. There's no overarching answer other than to start the first few sessions light and short before gradually building up to hard 20-minute workouts. The first few times you should stop &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; you feel wiped out and &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; you tweak something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since bag work can be tough on a new person's joints in addition to the cardio aspect, be careful and don't try to hit the bag as hard as you can your first few times. Work technique and later, over several workouts, add power. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'm on the lookout for joint pain across the entire upper body chain--wrist, elbow, shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T00:24:42.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3632" CreationDate="2011-09-02T02:30:15.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I don't have any knowledge of the concept of regulating your body temperature, and am also equally unsure of any affects of capsaisin acid (spicy stuff) on your core temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am familiar with the concept of some foods being more &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thermogenic&lt;/a&gt; than others.  Essentially some foods require more energy to digest than others.  In decreasing order thermogenesis is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein (requires the most energy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat (requires the least energy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many anabolic diets bank on the thermogenic properties of protein to help burn body fat while building muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess, when looking at the two meals you ate, the better body core temperature was more because of the higher amount of protein (4 eggs vs. the peanut butter) than it did with the capsaisin content of the hot sauce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to make a few more passes at alternating these two meals to be positive--at least for your body.  Try the following experiments at least 3 times each to make sure it was related to your diet to begin with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the 4 egg meal with the sauce&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the peanut butter meal with the sauce (it's science, not a recipe)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the 4 egg meal without the sauce&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the peanut butter meal without the sauce.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without more samples to prove or disprove your theory, you will just never know.  One of four things will happen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No consistent patterns will emerge.  This means that both our theories are wrong and the food has no bearing on your core temperature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The sauce will consistently provide a better result with either meal.  This means that something in the sauce (might be the capsaisin, and might not be) is helping your core temperature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The higher protein meal will consistently provide a better result, with or without the sauce.  This means that my theory is right, higher thermogenic foods will regulate your core temperature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The higher protein meal will consistently provide a better result, but combined with the sauce will provide an even better result than just the protein.  This means both our theories are correct, and you can maximize your results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun experimenting!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T02:30:15.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3650" CreationDate="2011-09-02T08:52:38.680" Score="9" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a senior in college studying computer engineering, so I spend a lot of time sitting in class and/or in front of a computer. I want to commit to a fitness routine before my sedentary lifestyle starts affecting my health. Now is a good time to start since I have free access to my institution's gyms and a fairly flexible schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is I have no idea where to begin. Googling &quot;workout routines&quot; or &quot;fitness programs&quot; hasn't been helpful, since many of the results are geared toward rapid weight loss or &quot;5 minute abs&quot; garbage. I'm looking for a general fitness routine with some emphasis on hypertrophy, preferably one that is backed by research or success stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm 5'11 and ~150lbs (~68kg) so I'm a bit on the underweight side. My bench, squat, etc. aren't too impressive, nor is my cardio/endurance. I have worked out sporadically in the past, and I tried working with trainers on a couple occasions, but I never stuck with it after using up my sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goals now are...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gain muscle mass and reach 170lbs (~77kg) (hypertrophy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthen my core (it's pretty weak now, so it reduces my stability/balance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase my flexibility (can't quite touch my toes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve my cardio/endurance (I can run a mile... but just barely)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enhance my diet (which is too microwave-dependant)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find or create a concrete, easy-to-follow routine to facilitate these goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, I want to be able to walk into the gym with a checklist of things I can knock out one by one. Motivation isn't as big of an issue when I know exactly what I've got to get done. Things to do outside of the gym are important as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I hope I'm not being too vague or general here. Don't craft me a routine yourself, but rather point me to some good resources (websites, books, etc.) where I can find routines that meet my needs or at least shed some light on creating one of my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1892" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T19:57:04.780" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T19:57:04.780" Title="Where do I start when finding/creating a fitness program for myself?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3641" CreationDate="2011-09-02T10:48:29.873" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crossfit is an good place to start.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.crossfit.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gone to a box and done the exercises with trainers, but if you know how to do the movements already (and if not, they have step by step instruction videos), you don't have to go to a box unless you like someone yelling at you to keep you motivated.  The workouts change every day, which means that you will never get bored.  Also, they are a big supporter of the Paleo diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T10:48:29.873" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3637" CreationDate="2011-09-02T12:22:59.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like any other exercise - it's dependent on the person and everyone needs to find their own level through gradual structured increases in intensity.  Personally, I have 1 or 2 heavy bag sessions a week consisting of 12 x 2 minute rounds with 30 seconds rest.  Boxing rounds are 3 minutes and MMA 5 minutes.  Depending on your focus, you can adjust as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all exercise, the order of progression should be: technique, speed, power and then duration.  The obvious impact areas of the body are the one's to watch and protect: hands, wrists and feet (if kicking is involved).  Use wrist wraps and GOOD gloves.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.protectivestrategies.com/heavybag.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rossboxing.com/thegym/thegym24.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another&lt;/a&gt; article on using heavy bags and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/8CqHJIqpQvE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;great training video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T11:43:08.333" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T11:43:08.333" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-02T12:29:17.020" Score="2" ViewCount="487" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been a runner for nearly 20 years now.  In high school, I suffered the occasional IT (ilio-tibial) band injury where it got so tight that even if I tried to run through the pain my speed was severely restricted.  And I had a coach which encouraged running through pain :(  As time has gone on, such injuries have become more and more frequent and require at least a month of down time to heal.  Even with rest, it seems these days my body really is not recovering from it and my IT band is having a hard time loosening up at all.  It seems leg-length difference (5/8&quot;) has played a big role in this condition.  2 years ago I got a new pair of 1/2&quot; custom orthodics at a sports doctor I was seeing, but those do not keep me completely injury free.  Am I doomed for a lifetime of problems or is there something else that can be done to regain that springiness and flexibility in my IT band?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1893" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-02T14:00:50.083" LastActivityDate="2011-09-03T17:36:37.290" Title="Is it possible to ever recover from Chronic IT (iliotibial) Band Problems?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3969" CreationDate="2011-09-02T12:35:47.897" Score="2" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had low testosterone for a time.  About 2 weeks ago, my doctor prescribed androgel for me because my levels had gotten low enough that this seemed like a necessary step.  Assuming I stay free from injury (I am prone to suffering it band syndrome), what implications does this mean for athletic competitions.  In particular, I am interested in road races.  If I as a Master's runner were to win a race, what are the implications?  Would I / could I be DQed for the prescription testosterone.  If someone gives examples from related sports like triathlons or cycling that would be helpful too if you cannot give an answer for road races. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1893" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T21:22:56.597" Title="Testosterone and (Running) Competition" Tags="&lt;racing&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2011-09-02T12:35:51.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with parkker007, but would like to add that when running you should ideally try to run on grass/ soft ground rather than concrete because otherwise (long term) it messes up your knees and hips etc. (To my knowledge, walking on concrete is fine, so if you live somewhere with no grass.. walk to grass and then run?!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, go for an easy five-minute-odd jog before you start stretching, then do some dynamic stretches BEFORE you go on your &quot;run&quot;, and then afterwards, go on a five-minute-odd warm-down jog and stretch again (this time, static stretching is OK--see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch12.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thomas Kurz&lt;/a&gt;), and if your legs still really hurt afterwards, run some very cold water in the bath and sit in it for five minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the pace steady to build up fitness or do fartlek training  ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/training-centre/training-advice/fartlek-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/training-centre/training-advice/fartlek-training/&lt;/a&gt; ) to build up stamina. Drink lots of water afterwards, and taking a bottle of orange squash or something with you (with a pinch of salt- sounds disgusting but you can't taste it) is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above-linked-to London Marathon site is tres very useful, if you're curious about anything else :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also may I say good for you going on such long walks/ considering running :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1894" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-02T14:00:56.840" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T14:00:56.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-09-02T12:40:39.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was an elite runner in my area back about 10 years ago who went barefoot and he was awesome.  However, he grew up running in that manner and had grown accustomed to it.  Indeed, if it does not feel to weird you can do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my 20 years as a runner I have never done it for (very real) fear of glass, nails and other nasties.  Taking a light jog on a track feels quite refreshing and I would recommend it.  I just don't think my suburban/urban streets and sidewalks really allow for it too often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1893" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T12:40:39.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3641" CreationDate="2011-09-02T12:50:48.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from the already mentioned Crossfit, I'd recommend reading up with my personal favorite &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1579546579&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Home Workout Bible&lt;/a&gt;. It has good exercises and routines for a variety of goals and differing available equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cooking as a student is hard. You might want to look at something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1890926027&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zonya's&lt;/a&gt; which focuses on healthy, quick to prepare meals. Most are scaled for four people, but you can get some down to one or two portions. She also includes useful nutrional information so you can use it to make plans about what you should be eating, not just what sounds good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T12:50:48.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3641" CreationDate="2011-09-02T12:51:30.573" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me recommend a couple books to you, as they can help you a long way towards your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=312&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot;&gt;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=328&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot;&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these are by Dr. Kilgore and Mark Rippetoe.  Practical programming gives you a good foundation of understanding what you need to do to customize your training program.  Starting Strength has an excellent foundation on the mechanics of the lifts, along with extensive troubleshooting sections.  It's also a very good program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my own journey, and the things I've learned while doing it, I would amend your goals a bit--particularly since one of them will cause some conflict with your other goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I recommend gaining all your beginner strength gains before aiming for hypertrophy.  It takes about 3-9 months of concerted effort (depending on many variables).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For your diet, in order to gain weight, I recommend a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/88-gomad-gallon-of-milk-a-day/&quot;&gt;Gallon of Milk a Day (GOMAD)&lt;/a&gt;--and that's whole milk.  This combined with the first bullet will help you put on the weight you are looking for.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust your cardio goals.  Strength training (whether for aesthetics or strength) is an anaerobic activity.  If you keep your running in the anaerobic range (sprints and short distance runs), you won't be undoing in your cardio what you were doing with the weight training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Starting Strength program is very simple, and easy to follow.  You will gain a lot of strength, which will have an effect on your muscle mass and weight goals.  Combine that with a month or two of GOMAD and you are right on target.  Once you hit intermediate levels, you can start specializing in physique or continue with strength.  I find the easy to measure and concrete goals of strength training to be more to my liking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T12:51:30.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2011-09-02T14:54:24.177" Score="19" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Old Science: &amp;quot;Walking Is Enough&amp;quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's frame the health question with some data from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/107/1/e2.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Heart Association&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sedentary lifestyle is one of the 5 major risk factors (along with high blood pressure, abnormal values for blood lipids, smoking, and obesity) for cardiovascular disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The American Heart Association used to say (and the&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/chapter4.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;government agreed&lt;/a&gt;) that virtually anything would satisfy the bare minimum for avoiding that &amp;quot;sedentary lifestyle&amp;quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[The benefits of exercise] will generally occur by engaging in at least 30 minutes of modest activity on most, preferably all, days of the week. Modest activity is defined as any activity that is similar in intensity to brisk walking at a rate of about 3 to 4 miles per hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That 30 minutes was even considered cumulative across the day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been shown that repeated intermittent or shorter bouts of activity (such as 10 minutes) that include occupational and recreational activity or the tasks of daily living have similar cardiovascular and other health benefits if performed at the moderate intensity level with an accumulated duration of at least 30 minutes per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's relevant to note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who already meet these standards will receive &lt;strong&gt;additional benefits&lt;/strong&gt; from more vigorous activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CDC breaks down&lt;/a&gt; the &amp;quot;more vigorous activity&amp;quot; required to achieve those &amp;quot;additional benefits&amp;quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) each week of vigrous-intensity aerobic activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Corrected Science: &amp;quot;Walking Is Almost Never Enough&amp;quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommendation above &amp;quot;has been revised by the scientists who first developed&amp;quot; it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The old advice was adopted by the World Health Organization and the US and UK governments. Now it appears that while it was &lt;em&gt;technically&lt;/em&gt; correct, it failed as policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until now, government recommendations have suggested that people can achieve a minimum level of fitness through their normal daily routines. But amid fears that the lightest of activities such as dusting and the stroll to the car are being counted as exercise, a new study by the public health experts behind the formula concludes &lt;strong&gt;adults need to add jogging and twice-weekly weight training sessions if they want to cut their risk of heart disease and obesity.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/aug/17/health.topstories3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Guardian&lt;/a&gt;, specifically Polly Curtis, health correspondent, on 17 August 2007.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did it fail as policy? Because, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7035557.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the BBC shows&lt;/a&gt;, people thought that what they were doing was plenty exercise. Surprise! It wasn't:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a survey of nearly 1,200 people, around half of men and three quarters of women thought moderate exercise conferred the greatest health benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;It's extremely worrying that British adults now believe that a brief stroll and a bit of gardening is enough to make them fit and healthy,&amp;quot; said Dr Gary O'Donovan, lead author.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Brisk walking offers some health benefits, but jogging, running and other vigorous activities offer maximal protection from disease.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion: Walking OK - Running and Lifting Awesome&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking at a moderate or slow pace are better than nothing, but almost never count as moderate exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking briskly for a good while every day will provide the &lt;em&gt;bare minimum&lt;/em&gt; of recommended activity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing more will get the good stuff. Jogging, playing sports, and lifting heavy things will provide the health benefits we're after: increased mood and energy, avoiding heart disease and osteoporosis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason we misunderstand scientists is that we only listen to half of what they say. The studies show that &lt;em&gt;brisk&lt;/em&gt; walking provides the &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt; necessary exercise if done for &lt;em&gt;150 minutes a week&lt;/em&gt;, and again, that is &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt; time. Interpreting that to say that moderate walking 2 or 3 times a week for 20 minutes is enough is &lt;strong&gt;factually incorrect&lt;/strong&gt;. We misunderstand scientists because they are using very particular language, and people normally use vague language. In this case, the scientists are trying to be more clear: the bare minimum is the bare minimum, and for any real health benefits, we'd all better get to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2020-09-02T07:02:28.893" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T07:02:28.893" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3631" CreationDate="2011-09-02T15:08:18.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am also evaluating TRX, but many of the exercises are geared to the beginner. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cyberpt.com/documents/CORE%20EXERCISES.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this PDF&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T15:08:18.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3635" CreationDate="2011-09-02T15:12:57.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The important aspect is that your &lt;strong&gt;average&lt;/strong&gt; daily intake is about where your recommended calories are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important aspect is where your calories are coming from.  If you have very little protein, your body will rob Peter to pay Paul.  As your muscles and organs shrink to repair worn out cells, you will eventually run into health implications.  This of course reduces your metabolism (fewer overall cells to take care of), which will increase your proportion of fat to muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you keep at least 1g of protein per kilogram of lean body weight, you will avoid that situation (calorie counts for the day aside).  This is independent of whether you do high/low carbs, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T15:12:57.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3631" CreationDate="2011-09-02T15:37:39.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got EXF rings, and so am considering the Ring Training For Elite Fitness (by Tyler Hass) guidebook that comes with the rings. Any commentary on RTfEF (or TRX, or the other resources mentioned) would be welcomed as its own answer or as an edit to this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T15:37:39.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3623" CreationDate="2011-09-02T16:19:30.717" Score="5" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat&lt;/strong&gt;: 1 gram = 9 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alcohol&lt;/strong&gt;: 1 gram = 7 calories &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;: 1 gram = 4 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt;: 1 gram = 4 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alcohol is almost as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/nutrition/calories.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calorie dense&lt;/a&gt; as fat. You will have to exercise harder to burn those calories when drinking alcohol than when eating the same amount of protein or carbs. But it's nearly impossible to exercise after drinking because alcohol impairs motor skills. So undeniably, alcohol will be stored as body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most alcoholic drinks are just empty calories. They lack any substantial vitamins and minerals. Take a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beverages/4011/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nutritional facts for hard alcohol&lt;/a&gt;. It's zeroes across the board. So drinks have no beneficial side effects for your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is alcohol will not help you lose fat. It will only get you fatter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T16:19:30.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2011-09-02T16:34:50.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's look at this from a sustainability standpoint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think we can assume you really like walking if you are walking 10 miles. There are not many people who enjoy running ten miles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Runners get injured a lot. (1992 Nov;14(5):320-35.Running injuries. A review of the epidemiological literature.) Walkers don't.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running requires a more extensive wardrobe than walking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Although increasing speed increases cardiovascular endurance, speed does not affect improvements in blood lipid profile (JAMA. 1991;266(23):3295-3299. doi: 10.1001/jama.1991.03470230053030). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you run 10 miles, you will probably find it hard to do anything else for the rest of the day. Walking 10 miles will leave you with more energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it isn't broken, why fix it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="10430" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T20:22:43.220" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T20:22:43.220" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3659" CreationDate="2011-09-02T16:42:35.270" Score="3" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;After two years of layoff I recently started powerlifting again.&#xA;Although I restrained myself to ridiculously low weights, the first sessions gave me significant soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that athletes who come back from a long layoff run the risk of starting with to much greed, and the resulting soreness could cause serious muscle damages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the risks of such extreme soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1811" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T19:09:58.653" Title="Risks of extreme soreness" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3623" CreationDate="2011-09-02T17:21:52.330" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The calorific density of alcohol is almost as high as fat, but it is metabolized quite differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body is able to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_metabolism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metabolize alcohol&lt;/a&gt; in a variety of ways. The enzymes involved in these pathways are found in their highest concentrations in the liver. The liver is able to convert alcohol into fat through at least two metabolic pathways, the process is sometimes referred to as lipogensis. This fat could then be stored in the body's tissues. Fatty liver disease is a result of storage of excessive amounts of fat in the liver itself. However the vast majority of alcohol converted by the liver does not end up as fat but rather as acetate. There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/70/5/928.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a study&lt;/a&gt;, where they examined the metabolic fate of ethanol using spectroscopy. In particular, in their conclusion they remark:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, conversion to fatty acids in the liver was not the primary fate of ingested ethanol. The maximum amount of newly synthesized fatty acids released into the circulation was 0.8 g, representing &amp;lt;5% of the ingested ethanol load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The primary fate (70–80%) of ethanol is conversion to acetate by the liver, release into the circulation, and oxidation by tissues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So alcohol is not predominantly converted into fat. However acetate seems to be prioritized as a metabolite when present in the body and therefore is likely to suppress the metabolizing of other energy compounds, such as fat, and lead to an increase in body fat over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also worth noting that alcohol does raise the metabolic rate somewhat mitigating its calorific content as do certain incidental social factors that may co-inside with your alcohol consumption; dancing all night long for example. That said sleep deprivation can also have a negative effect on body composition...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also disagree that it is impossible to exercise after consuming alcohol. I have personally found the psychological effects of mild intoxication to have their advantages in exercise, although motor skills are impaired for a significant time period (compared to almost all other intoxicants). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.delmillers.com/Alcohol.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Testosterone and nutrient absorption&lt;/a&gt; are also affected by heavy drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is probably also an argument to be made for alcohol as a muscle relaxant, but probably not a very strong one, and with respect to low doses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T11:43:17.460" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T11:43:17.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3657" CreationDate="2011-09-02T17:32:58.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soreness is a symptom, rather than the risk itself. One possible consequence of going too hard before your body is prepared is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001505/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rhabdomyolysis&lt;/a&gt;, where damaged muscle enters the blood stream. Although it is rare, it can be life threatening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preventing it includes lowering weight, as you have done, lowering volume, and reducing intensity to start. You probably aren't experiencing rhabdo, but you should probably slow down and reduce volume until you understand the current condition of your body better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T17:32:58.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3662" CreationDate="2011-09-02T17:40:56.557" Score="25" ViewCount="141212" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the last 2 months or so of doing heavy squats (200 lbs - 262 lbs) I've frequently had pain in my knees. During the last 2 weeks, it's been especially persistent and seems to be mostly in my left knee. I'm normally sore after working out, especially in my legs and lower back, but the knee pain seems to persist long after the other pains go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it feel like? Well, it's on the front side of the leg, centered just below the knee cap. By &quot;below&quot; I mean &quot;in the direction of my foot&quot;, not &quot;closer to the bone&quot;. It's hard to describe the sensation exactly. It's kind of a pulling/burning feeling. It feels somewhat different than muscle soreness elsewhere, but I don't feel like anything's grinding or scraping or popping. It's not a &quot;sharp&quot; pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as intensity goes, it's not excruciating. Actually it's mild enough that I feel that I could ignore it when doing my squats and continue performing my workouts as planned. I'm just not sure that's a good idea. It is bad enough though that running for more than a minutes or so is a very unpleasant idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not feel any pain when standing, sitting, or walking. I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; feel it whenever I ascend/descend at all. Getting up from a chair, walking up or down a flight of stairs, and of course when doing squats. I also feel it when running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried skipping a couple workouts, and although the pain seems to gradually get better with time, 5-6 days is not enough to get rid of it, and it comes right back when I resume my workouts. I had been more or less ignoring it for the last month or so, but since it's now preventing me from running, I'm getting more concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also tried using a foam roller on the muscles surrounding my knee (but avoiding the knee itself). This seemed to help with some other pains/soreness I'd had, but not with the knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 95% sure the pain is caused by my squatting. It always gets worse during/after I squat. I squat just below parallel, with a shoulder-width stance and my feet pointing outwards about 15 degrees. I try to keep my knees following that 15 degree direction, pointing in the direction of my feet, when I descend. Historically I've done 5 sets of 5 reps, but more recently I've been doing 3 sets of 5. I rest about 5 minutes in between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;So, should I be concerned about this, if so how should I handle it?&lt;/b&gt; Is it likely that I'm doing something wrong? Should I take a couple weeks off from squatting and running? Ignore it and keep going? Deload significantly and work back up so my body adapts more? See a doctor? I know you are (probably) not a doctor and not qualified to give medical advice. I'm just hoping to find out if this (1) ignorable, (2) a concern, but something that can be solved with a period of rest and/or dealoading or (3) a big problem I'll need professional help with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Update 2011-09-09&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I saw an osteopathic doctor yesterday. He told me my tendons and ligaments were fine. In fact he said &quot;your ligaments look like they're built to take a lot of punishment!&quot;. He diagnosed &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patellofemoral_pain_syndrome&quot;&gt;patellofemoral pain syndrome&lt;/a&gt; AKA &quot;runners knee&quot;. He told me the inside of my knee cap had become rough. He prescribed R.I.C.E (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) as well as a twice-daily stretching regimen, and weighted leg extensions 3 times a week. He also suggested I take ibuprofin, especially if I'm doing anything to aggravate my knees. He told me recovery could take 6 weeks or more, but call him if I didn't see a significant difference by the end of the month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So at this point I'm going to follow the routine the doctor gave me for the next 6 weeks or so, and avoid squats, deadlifts, and running. I will continue doing the other exercises I'd been doing (bench press, overhead press, rows, and pull-ups). I may also try swimming if I feel like doing cardio (but I'm a terrible swimmer). After I feel I've recovered I'll start squats with about 50% of the weight I was last doing (262 lbs was my peak work weight) and I'll work my way back up. I'll have someone check my form then too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the answers. They helped me to realize that this wasn't something I should ignore, and that my squat form was likely at fault. I'm marking Dave's answer as &quot;most helpful&quot; for the strong suggestion to see a doctor, which I did. But I also really appreciate Berin Loritsch's answer for the form tips and the TUBOW suggestion especially. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="323" LastEditDate="2011-09-09T21:42:59.400" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T10:04:06.307" Title="Persistent mild knee pain due to squats - push through or stop?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3637" CreationDate="2011-09-02T17:50:24.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like the others said, its like any other exercise.  You start off slow and work your way up as you get better stamina and skill.  Hitting a bag can be pretty taxing starting off, but you should aim for timed intervals.  Maybe starting off at 1-2min rounds, then 1min break for 3-4 rounds would be good.  Then as you get comfortable increase the time in the rounds.  If you want you can also start to lower your rest time but never go below 30sec rest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be careful when punching and that you have your fist tight, thumb on the outside and your wrist flat.  Your wrist flat means the back of your hand should be in a straight line with your forearm.  If its not you risk injuring your wrist.  Gloves are a good idea. Unless you are training for some bare knuckle boxing, there is no reason to tear up your knuckles.  And remember keep your hands up and that its all in the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1896" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T17:50:24.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3660" CreationDate="2011-09-02T18:26:48.863" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds like a ligament or tendon issue, which could be serious. I would worry about your squat form: perhaps your knees are tracking forward, or your stance is too narrow, or you're coming off your heels, or perhaps something else is going on that no one can figure out through the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whichever one it is, it doesn't sound like a muscle problem. &lt;strong&gt;It sounds like a joint problem that you need to get looked at by a coach/physical trainer, or doctor. Or both.&lt;/strong&gt; (The doctor is there to diagnose the issue, but don't let them convince you to stop squatting or lifting for the rest of your life.) If I were you, I would:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop squatting for a couple weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to a coach who knows the squat inside and out, and have them do an extensive form check. (This would entail a significant deload.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe Mark Rippetoe &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Wit_and_Wisdom_of_Mark_Rippetoe&quot;&gt;sums it up aptly&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;[If] you squat wrong it fucks things up. If you squat correctly, those same fucked-up things will unfuck themselves.&quot; It's kind of important that you find someone who can tell you what's wrong and how to do it right so that the corrective process can begin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-02T18:45:57.870" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T18:45:57.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3657" CreationDate="2011-09-02T19:09:58.653" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Intense pain is an indication of injury.  The biggest risks for people who come back after an extended layoff is usually (in order of decreasing likelihood):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery systems are not ready for the work yet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tearing due to too much load&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rhabdomyolysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a long layoff your recovery and strength has gone down.  In many ways you are back to a beginner again--although due to your muscle memory you can get to where you left off much sooner than the first time it took you to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you haven't injured yourself, I would repeat the initial workout sessions until the soreness between sessions subsides.  Once the soreness gets to manageable levels, you can start increasing again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T19:09:58.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3660" CreationDate="2011-09-02T19:50:50.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a hard bump there that hurts when you press on it? If so, it could be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osgood%E2%80%93Schlatter_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Osgood Schlatter's&lt;/a&gt;. Actually, even if there isn't a bump yet, it could still be this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if the pain is in the tendon attached to the kneecap, it could be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/indexjumpersknee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jumper's Knee&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, as Dave said, make sure your squat form is perfect, BEFORE you go heavy. If you're squatting right, there will be no joint pain, only possible muscle soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had Osgood Schlatters a while ago; it seemed it was because I wasn't sitting back in my squat enough. If you don't sit back on your heels and take the force of the squat in your glutes and hamstrings, all the force goes into your quads and knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be taking barely any weight on your quads at the bottom of a squat; your core should be tight, and your glutes and hams should be TIGHT, taking the weight. Concentrate on feeling that tension in your glutes, ready to explode the weight upward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you read the Stronglifts &quot;how to squat&quot; article I think he explains it pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2011-09-02T19:50:50.720" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-02T23:01:26.180" Score="2" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About me:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 36 years old, male, 173cm, 74 kg. Did lots of intense sports during High-School (Basketball, Running, Fitness, Cycling, and &quot;fun sports&quot; like skateboarding). After High-School, stopped completely. I work at the computer the whole day, sitting, only time I move is when going by bicycle 15 mins to work. Now I really want to start to do exercise again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My goals:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.) General, overall fitness. This is clearly my main goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.) Some weight reduction, I want to weigh below 68 kg, but I think this will come as a side effect anyway so I am not necessarily interested in a weight-loss program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.) Slight overall muscle increase. Again, I think this will come as a side effect of 1.) anyway and I am not interested in a &quot;six-pack&quot;, &quot;being ripped&quot; or crap like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background of my question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really want to train at home with a DVD-based program. A fitness club is absolutely not an option, I am simply not interested in going there. I would like to do jogging, but it is very problematic because of the area where I live. So I tried different things, and finally decided that maybe the best and most hassle-free way for me to exercise again would be at home! And I think a DVD-based program could help much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a look at a couple of products: Power 90 with David Horton looks very good, this is kind of what I am looking for but there is very little variety (basically one out of four possible videos every day), and the exercises are simply too long (40 mins every day)! I would like to start with ~25 mins per day, or 40 mins every two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also had a look at P90X and Insanity. These program are way too advanced for me. But what I really like is that they have so many different exercises. Is there anything with as much variety as P90X/Insanity, but which can also be done by people like me who are too unfit yet for this level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also tried the Kinetic and Kinetic Combat products for the PS2. These are just fantastic, I would love to do them, but I could never get them to work properly with the video camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's basically all the products I know, interesting stuff but still not exactly what I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any DVD-based program you can recommend for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I would also be interested what you think in general about training at home with DVDs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1899" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-01T20:12:45.507" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T20:12:45.507" Title="What is a good DVD based fitness video program for me?" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3666" CreationDate="2011-09-03T00:46:30.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question.  For my money Insanity is the best overall DVD workout available right now.  Mostly because you don't need much space or any extra equipment to do the workouts. Just pop in the DVD and go to work.  It is very intense but you don't have to do everything that you see on the video.  Find the exercises on there that you enjoy doing and do those at an intensity level that you feel comfortable. When you're too tired to go on take a break. Set a timer for 30 minutes and when it goes off end the workout.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For the most part all DVD workout programs get you moving which is great.  But they cost money(sometimes a lot) and really NO ONE should spend any money on getting in shape.  You can get in the best shape of your life just by eating better and finding new uses for old junk around your house. Unless you're planning on competing, working out a home can be just as effective as going to the gym. If you need some exercises check out YouTube and  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scooby's Workshop&lt;/a&gt; or ask your doctor to recommend a few.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly have fun. Take your time and experiment with different workouts. You will find workouts you like to do and can maintain over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1900" LastActivityDate="2011-09-03T00:46:30.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3666" CreationDate="2011-09-03T03:35:44.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;P90X worked very well for me, for the following reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Tony Horton is awesome.  He feels like your personal trainer and lets you know it's okay if  you can't do what they're doing, and that it's far better to do your best every time, and then forget the rest.  Eventually you'll get to the rest, and you will see results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Like you said, there are a lot of exercises to choose from.  The biggest benefit I've gained from P90X is having actually learned a BUNCH of different exercises that I would not have learned on my own, and I can do them all correctly, which is key.  Having learned these, I can do some quick 15 minute workouts during breaks at work without the DVDs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) It not only emphasizes exercise, but also proper (a somewhat relative term here, everyone is different) eating habits, and Tony won't let you forget it.  He will frequently taunt you about drinking Coke :)  Granted, they do an excellent job of shoving Beachbody products in your face the entire time, but there are plenty of alternatives to whatever they're selling you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Variety.  Kind of ties into my second point.  There's a variety of different programs you can choose from the P90X handbook that comes with the DVD package.  Some will appeal to you more than others.  Try them out, see what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helped a bit.  Good luck :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1689" LastActivityDate="2011-09-03T03:35:44.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2456" CreationDate="2011-09-03T08:48:55.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following on from the excellent answer given above, I'll try to flesh out my current understanding on BCAAs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BCAAs are among the nine essential amino acids for humans, accounting for 35% of the essential amino acids in muscle proteins and 40% of the preformed amino acids &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/134/6/1583S.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;required by mammals&lt;/a&gt;. BCAAs are among the proteinogenic amino acids, of which there are three:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;leucine,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;isoleucine, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;valine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The journal article below provides a nice overview of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/63861650/BCAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BCAAs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated above BCAAs stimulate muscle growth in particular I’ve highlighted &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/1/264S.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;leucine&lt;/a&gt; as being particularly important as it is responsible for most of the anabolic effects of a meal and current research suggests that 3g (~0.05g/kg bodyweight) of leucine is required to muscle protein synthesis. However, the body quickly adapts and you need to consume multiple meals per day containing 3g (or supplement) to induce this (refer to the journal article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/63862929/Optimal-Protein-Intake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Optimal Protein Intake&lt;/a&gt;). Interestingly, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bioscholar.com/2011/08/leucine-can-help-climbers-burn-fat-while-keeping-muscle-tissue-intact.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; leucine  helped to burn fat during periods of food restriction, such as climbing at high altitudes, while keeping their muscle tissue intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Should you supplement?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to get BCAA's from supplements, they occur naturally in protein-containing foods:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/twLiq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;protein in foods&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8RuS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;amino acids table&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I find supplementation to be convenient and the best solution for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How much to take?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I aim for around 0.05g/kg bodyweight of leucine for muscle protein synthesis a few times during the day. But factoring in the data from the Tipton and Wolfe study below, use the following as a guide:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Inactive Adult -.6 – .8g x bw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Strength Athlete – 1.0 -1.2g x bw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Endurance Athlete – .8 – 1.0g x bw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Bodybuilder – 1.2-1.4g x bw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/63862932/Protein-and-Amino-Acids-for-Athletes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Protein and Amino Acids for Athletes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How I take them&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me the best way to use BCAAs is both pre and post workout to keep muscle mass, especially on a calorie restricted or low-carb diet. I take 10g of BCAA (I add a dash of extra leucine) with either green tea or coffee on and empty stomach before my morning workout (if I recall correctly, Arthur De Vany in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitchutney.com/use-your-mind/book-review-paleo-diet-lose-weight-healthy-oldest-diet-world/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The New Evolution Diet&lt;/a&gt; suggests taking 15g). Immediately after my workout I then take a slug of protein, i.e. 25 grams (as recommended &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21795443&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;by this study&lt;/a&gt; to build muscle) and then I take some more BCAAs couple of hours after that again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to wake-up before your morning workout you could try Robb Wolf's suggestion of 400-600mg acetyl l-carnitine and 200-400mg alpha lipoic acid together on an empty stomach. Zing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in summary, for me taking BCAAs as I’ve descibed above seems to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;reduce the overall hunger/carb-cravings (likely due to gluconeogenesis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;provide a little more energy for the workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;results in less DOMS (soreness)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditDate="2011-09-04T09:23:11.623" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T09:23:11.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4009" CreationDate="2011-09-03T16:27:09.300" Score="9" ViewCount="1438" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never consumed any protein shakes before but I am considering it now because I want to cut back on my meat intake. I am currently 30 years old and weight 145 lbs, hit the gym once or twice a week for about 2 or 3 hours. In addition I play flag-football twice a week for 2 hours. Taking all my other activities into consideration, I do sports about 4 to 5 times a week on average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat a lot of meat lately - chicken almost daily and tuna about 2 times a week. To cut back on meat intake I consider adding protein shakes to my diet plan. What do I have to look out for to find the right product for me? My goal is to stay healthy, build muscles and keep my current fat level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T20:23:19.513" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T20:23:19.513" Title="How to choose the right protein shake?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3645" CreationDate="2011-09-03T17:36:37.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know a lot of people who have had some really severe and longlasting IT band issues and have done the work and then successfully come back to running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For severe issues, which yours appear to be, I would suggest getting good advice from the appropriate specialist. In this case, I would find a good physiotherapist with good knowledge of running. I would expect them to put you on a program of rest, following by a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that you will have a blister on your IT band where it crosses the tightest point, right beside your knee. You need to get that blister to heel properly, then get your IT band to remain loose while slowly building up the volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do this too fast then you will re-blister the IT band and have to start again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot speak to the leg length or orthotics issue. Personally, I remain unconvinced of the effectiveness of orthotics. Your experience may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-09-03T17:36:37.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3660" CreationDate="2011-09-03T22:09:08.990" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very likely it might be a form of tendinitis caused by some form problems.  Someone I know recently had similar symptoms, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/207-chronic-quad-soreness/&quot;&gt;posted about their journey here&lt;/a&gt;.  The thing causing most of his issues was a slight slide forward at the bottom of the squat.  He isn't the only &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=18182&quot;&gt;one who experienced this problem&lt;/a&gt;, and it is common enough for &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/active_hip_2_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;Rippetoe to write about it&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is twofold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a TUBOW (Terribly Useful Block Of Wood) in front of your shoes.  You should touch your knee to it in the first third of the squat, but do not move the wood while going down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deload to a weight you can do with the TOBOW in place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually your squats will look like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQlI_ztFk1g&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQlI_ztFk1g&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The happy ending to the rehab work that this guy did is that the knee soreness is gone and he's lifting heavier than before.  I recommend fixing the form issue before going any further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-03T22:09:08.990" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3708" CreationDate="2011-09-04T01:00:13.757" Score="4" ViewCount="47270" Body="&lt;p&gt;All other things equal, is melted cheese less healthy than &quot;raw&quot; cheese of the same kind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, is there difference between a slice of toasted bread, with cheese on top that's been melted in the microwave, and the same bread, untoasted, with the cheese unmelted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's seems as if it's less healthy, but maybe that's just because it's greasy, and tastier (to me at least), and is usually served with less healthy options that normal cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, maybe the ratio of saturated to un-saturated fat changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="663" LastEditorUserId="663" LastEditDate="2018-10-29T13:38:14.727" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T13:38:14.727" Title="Is melted cheese less healthy than unmelted cheese?" Tags="&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-06-05T00:18:44.923" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3679" CreationDate="2011-09-04T09:59:41.263" Score="9" ViewCount="2080" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 10 years back, when I went to my first gym, the trainers told me to do 3 or 4 sets with about 8 to 15 repetitions on 3 different machines for each group of muscles, depending on the goals I want to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I wonder if this rule is true for every muscle group, because the muscles are so different. The small biceps gets exhausted pretty quickly while I can do a lot more repetitions when I train my stomach muscles. It feels like different muscles need a different amount or type of training. Is this correct and are there some guides I can use for orientation? Or am I over thinking this and my standard approach of 3 sets with 12 repetitions on 3 machines works well for everything? I am most concerned about stomach training and training my leg muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;Adding more information as requested. I am currently trying to do the first exercise without a machine (barbells for example) and the other two with a machine. I am currently targeting my upper body (breast, shoulders, upper and lower back, stomach) to gain some muscle and stability and also train my legs to gain more elasticity for sprinting, because I play flag football and need to be fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My usual workout consists of 3 groups of muscles. Yesterday I started with shoulders (3 exercises, 3 sets, 12 reps), proceeded to upper back (3 exercises, 3 sets, 12 reps) and finally stomach (3 exercises, 3 sets, 15 reps). Warm-up consists of about 10 to 15 minutes on the cardio bike and cool-down is the same, with additional stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastEditorUserId="1902" LastEditDate="2011-09-04T14:22:11.317" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T15:42:29.780" Title="Good amount of sets and repetitions for different muscle groups" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3685" CreationDate="2011-09-04T10:04:59.387" Score="4" ViewCount="786" Body="&lt;p&gt;My target heart rate for endurance training based on my age is about 135 beats per minute. Do I have to take into account, that I have a low resting heart rate or is that irrelevant. My resting heart rate is only 45 beats per minutes. Does this also lower my target heart rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T19:39:58.783" Title="How does my resting heart rate influence my target heart rate?" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2301" CreationDate="2011-09-04T10:14:46.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't consider 45 heart resting rate as too slow. My heart beats about the same speed as yours and I never had a problem. I am also not a top athlete, I just do regular sports without high ambitions. My doctors never complained about it, just the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me it is very likely genetic. My father, who is even less an athlete, has the same slow heart rate. You should check in your family if there are other people with the same &quot;issues&quot;. Consulting a doctor is never a bad idea, but I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T10:14:46.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3676" CreationDate="2011-09-04T15:42:29.780" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your goals determine the number of sets. (Your goals also may require you to change the exercises you do.) It's possible that the goals of the trainers at your gym are not the same as your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible Goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training for &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;power&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;endurance&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/print/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;all require a different number of sets and reps&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength (how much your muscle can move) is best developed with 5 or less reps. The weight must be heavy enough to make more than 5 sets very difficult. 3x5 or 5x5 are the two most common set/rep schemes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power (how much your muscle can move &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt;) is roughly similar to strength. You'll use slightly less weight so that you can move it faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurance (how long your muscle can keep doing its job) requires many, many more reps: at least 15. You'll have to use a lot less weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy (how big your muscles are) is best developed with a moderate amount of weight, done for 6-12 reps. You should be able to get 5 or so sets in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is well explained by a chart in the article I linked to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/m908W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next crucial step (which you didn't ask about) is making sure that the exercises you do are in line with your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For strength, you'll want to do compound exercises across entire ranges of motion. So: squats, deadlifts, overhead presses. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For power, you'll want to get a baseline level of strength, then work the Olympic lifts: clean, snatch, jerk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurance is activity-specific, so you should do exercises that mimic whatever you want to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For hypertrophy, you'll want to get a baseline level of mass by doing strength training (as above), then work specific muscle groups using both machines and free weights. &lt;strong&gt;Using machines prematurely will make it harder to gain substantial muscle.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T15:42:29.780" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2300" CreationDate="2011-09-04T17:39:02.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from doing exercises, i am taking omega 3 fish oil ultimate supplement to supercharge and strengthen my muscle. According to our PT in our basketball team it is helpful that you will take supplements and eat proteins a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1906" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T17:39:02.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-09-04T18:08:44.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert, but I've been running in VFF - KSO and Bikila Treksports for a year. I use the KSO for the beach and shorter distances and the Treksports for longer distances. The farthest I have run in them is 6-miles, but working on farther. Also, I run in the Treksports on all terrains - rocky trails, cement, treadmills, sand. I did have a problem with the forefoot because I have a blisters there from my job, but that wasn't due to the VFFs. In my opinion, the blisters would have complicated any running I did in any shoe. As a result, I bought Dr. Scholl's ball of the foot gel pads, and the problem went away. I thoroughly enjoy running in my Five-Fingers and won't go back to regular shoes. I also have a pair of Jaya LRs for everyday walking around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1907" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T18:08:44.860" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-09-04T18:08:44.860" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3677" CreationDate="2011-09-04T19:39:58.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Karvonen-Formula&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Karvonen Formula&lt;/a&gt; shows you how to calculate your target heart rate taking into consideration your resting heart rate and your heart rate reserve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Karvonen Formula: (MHR - RHR) x &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;% + RHR = THR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Maximum-Heart-Rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MHR&lt;/a&gt; is your maximum heart rate and is calculated by: &#xA;MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age)    (This a newer formula than the old 220 - age).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RHR is your resting heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THR is your target heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T19:39:58.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-04T21:06:11.680" Score="8" ViewCount="10929" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.american-gymnast.com/catalog/resources/products/66large-1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;L-sit&lt;/a&gt;:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wDZ5C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;L-sit&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;overlap with the plank: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uwYNn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or do these two exercises complement each other well?  Is there any benefit to holding planks that can't be obtained by holding L-sits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1432" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-05T15:53:36.317" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T17:43:48.907" Title="Core training - planks vs. L-sits?" Tags="&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3675" CreationDate="2011-09-04T22:29:57.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fantastically unlikely that there are any appreciable differences between the two. Regardless, I'm sure someone will find some minor dissimilarities to quibble about. When they do, remember that these are almost certainly insignificant. If the difference &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; significant, it's unlikely that you'll be able to get a hard-and-fast assurance as to which one is &lt;em&gt;better&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to conceive of a scenario in which choosing between melted and unmelted cheese--even if you made the decision and stuck to it for a century--would make the slightest smidge of difference in terms of your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-04T22:29:57.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3688" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3707" CreationDate="2011-09-05T05:59:15.937" Score="1" ViewCount="880" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weightlifting creates micro-tears in the muscles. When these micro-tears repair, the muscle grows back bigger. Does this same principle apply to tears caused by other means? For example, if you create micro-tears from overstretching cold muscles, does that also stimulate hypertrophy? If not, please explain biologically how muscles discriminate against the type of micro-tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T17:49:54.863" Title="Do muscles discriminate against the type of micro-tear?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3926" CreationDate="2011-09-05T08:59:10.060" Score="3" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mainly play on small courts, so there's a lot of short sprinting, changing direction rapidly etc. So while my first thought to build up stamina is simply to run long distance, I'm wondering if there is a more time-efficient way dependent on the sport?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in terms of energy input before games, what are some good recommendations? I generally just throw sugar at myself within 30-60minutes pregame, chocolate bar + lucozade / pocari sweat. I'm sure these make some difference as I definitely feel more lethargic much sooner without any pre-game sugar, however I'd like to try and refine this as well, in terms of timing, amount, type etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T18:24:40.807" Title="What would be the most time efficient exercise regime and pre-game energy intake in order to increase stamina for soccer?" Tags="&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3160" CreationDate="2011-09-05T15:01:02.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you'll find this article by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/protein_supplements.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tom Venuto&lt;/a&gt; interesting esp. since you want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time which is basically what his book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is about. It is a long article that discusses proteins, and food vs supplements. In general, he writes that: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aside from convenience, the truth about protein supplements is that they offer few advantages over protein foods. There is no scientific evidence that you can't meet all of your protein needs for muscle growth through food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(as long as you are getting your complete proteins with every meal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also has an &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.holygrailbodytransformation.com/?p=146&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article about milk&lt;/a&gt; (and chocolate milk) as part of your body recomposition program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Surprisingly to many people, dairy proteins keep coming up winners. In fact, numerous studies have suggested that good old milk is excellent for both post workout protein as well as re-hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are on the right track with your low fat milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T15:01:02.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3686" CreationDate="2011-09-05T17:43:48.907" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both exercises have some overlap in terms of the muscles used, particularly internal abdominal muscles (if you maintain good posture in the plank), but I would say that they are significantly different exercises and both worth practising in their own right. In fact, beyond being static positions and involving abdominal contraction they are rather dissimilar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consider the L-sit to be a harder exercise than the plank. Certainly most people can hold a plank for much longer (with a little practice) than an L-sit. For example, I have held a plank for just over 8 minutes, but would struggle to hold an proper L-sit for more than 15-20 seconds. That said maintaining a really good hollow bodied plank, with tight glutes and lower abdominals is challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some key differences between the two exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They both involve an antagonistic contraction of muscles of the back and abdomen to maintain good posture, but in the plank the effort is distributed more widely across the abdomen and lower back, whereas the L-sit is heavily lower abdominal with perhaps broader involvement of the back (to 'push the bum back').&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the L-sit the quadriceps and hip flexors are strongly engaged to keep the legs straight, furthermore hip flexor and hamstring flexibility are quite important to avoid rounding of the lower back around the sacrum and maintaining straight legs, respectively. Their involvement, particularly of the leg muscles, is much less in the plank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The shoulder and triceps support needed for the L-sit can be quite challenging to maintain balance, whereas with properly positioned elbows the arms are less likely to fatigue first in the plank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to work progressions of the plank such as: &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/v-out&quot;&gt;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/v-out&lt;/a&gt; (very hard, I find). The L-sit should help with leg position in somersaults, and the plank or rather a self-supporting hollow body position is very fundamental throughout gymnastics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T17:43:48.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3739" CreationDate="2011-09-05T18:33:47.557" Score="2" ViewCount="1209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inspired by Nathan Wheeler's &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2011/08/10/if-i-can-run-so-can-you/&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;If I can run, so can you!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, I started the C25K program today. Things went well, but I realized one thing: the first workouts of the C25K program consist of much more running than the first workouts of the C10K. In his post, Nathan shows a screenshot of the very first workout of the C10K program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5-minute warmup, then run 30 seconds and walk 4:30 seven times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first workout of the C25K goes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5-minute warmup, then alternate 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes (8 times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's 4.5 more minutes of running, in half the time (40 vs 20 minutes)! Why is that, considering the fact that the goal running time/distance is double in C10K than in C25K?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastEditorUserId="19308" LastEditDate="2016-02-04T07:26:02.657" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T07:26:02.657" Title="Why are the first workouts of C25K are much harder than those in C10K?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="74" CreationDate="2011-09-05T18:36:02.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The information is sort of correct, except it's supposed to be roughly a 2 hour window of increased metabolic rate after doing exercise that is primarily anaerobic. However, this doesn't mean you can eat anything you want, in fact almost the opposite - the benefit comes from eating a small snack during this period and enjoying the 'free' increased calorie burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T18:36:02.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2011-09-05T19:54:34.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using an app like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/a&gt; (or just a post it note) helped me a lot, and you see the fluctuations as it gives you a graph of the week. I did it twice a day and realised sometimes the morning would differ by 2-3 g depending on whether I'd eaten and the other smellier factor mentioned. Personally I find morning the best time to do it, after any bathroom visit and before getting dressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T19:54:34.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2011-09-05T20:56:56.920" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consistency, consistency, consistency.  It probably doesn't matter what time of day you weigh yourself as long as you weigh yourself the same time every day to track progress.  You may find that you weigh the least first thing in the morning after relieving yourself.  But, to get an accurate trend, over time, make sure to weigh yourself the same time every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T20:56:56.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3698" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3701" CreationDate="2011-09-05T23:14:17.883" Score="8" ViewCount="34713" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read somewhere ( &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2017/why-is-muscle-size-not-proportional-to-strength/2018#2018&quot;&gt;Why is muscle size not proportional to strength?&lt;/a&gt;) that under normal circumstances, even when we try our hardest, we can use only 20-30% of our strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under what circumstances can we use a higher percentage of our strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My question is targeted at pull-ups and chin-ups but of course I believe the concept applies everywhere.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T17:47:44.580" Title="How is it possible to use a higher percentage of our theoretical strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3698" CreationDate="2011-09-06T03:06:48.013" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main factor holding one back is the fear response. Our bodies are trying to keep us safe so we should listen. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=extreme-fear-superhuman&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; describes the effect you speak of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Under acute stress, the body's sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for sustained, vigorous action. The adrenal gland dumps cortisol and adrenaline into the blood stream. Blood pressure surges and the heart races, delivering oxygen and energy to the muscles. It's the biological equivalent of opening the throttle of an engine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vladimir Zatsiorsky, a professor of kinesiology at Penn State who has extensively studied the biomechanics of weightlifting, draws the distinction between the force that our muscles are able to theoretically apply, which he calls &quot;absolute strength,&quot; and the maximum force that they can generate through the conscious exertion of will, which he calls &quot;maximal strength.&quot; An ordinary person, he has found, can only summon about 65 percent of their absolute power in a training session, while a trained weightlifter can exceed 80 percent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Under conditions of competition a trained athlete can improve as much as 12 percent above that figure. Zatsiorsky calls this higher level of performance &quot;competitive maximum strength.&quot; This parameter is not a fixed number—the more intense the competition, the higher it can go, as the brain's fear centers progressively remove any restraint against performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about people who get massive adrenaline dumps in extreme emergencies,  these folk are able to push past their fear response but will likely damage themselves in the process. But as the article notes, our body can recognize high-importance events (competitions and emergencies) and can operate at much closer levels to its theoretical maximum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1614" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-06T03:45:12.767" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T03:45:12.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3698" CreationDate="2011-09-06T14:16:20.077" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few reasons why that is, but some of the quick ones are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adrenaline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neurological recruitment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We've never demanded more than 20-30% from our muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adrenaline will help us temporarily boost the amount of strength we are using at any given time.  The adrenaline response is engaged every time we lift weights, but also in fight or flight situations.  It gives us that edge we need to go above our current abilities.  Without the adrenaline response our muscle recruitment is very limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One aspect that strength oriented weight lifters key in on is neurological recruitment.  As you keep increasing weights when you work out, you are requiring that your body recruit more of the muscle into the lift as possible.  By continuing to push that envelope, a strength trainer will exceed that 20-30% limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, because you've never demanded more than 20-30% of your strength from your muscles, your body has adapted itself to the lower level of muscle recruitment.  You have to do work that requires more from your muscles in order to recruit more of them at a time.  Someone who can squat 1000 lbs is using pretty near 100% of their strength--even when they are lifting geared (with squat suits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T14:16:20.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3710" CreationDate="2011-09-06T14:45:14.047" Score="5" ViewCount="2661" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started running again, all last week and again today. I start off slow, then increase the speed gradually. Very shortly into it my calves start to hurt incredibly. It starts after about 2 minutes and by 10 minutes I have to stop because its too bad (I am running slow too, only about a half mile in the 10 minutes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to be in the Army and we ran everyday. I was never a strong runner but it was always I would run out of breath or get abdominal cramps, but I never had any pain in my legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got out of the Army over 5 years ago and haven't done much exercise since. So I am guessing the pain is from the muscles no longer being used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is the case, what is the best way to break them in? Should I just keep running and they will eventually get better or is there other exercises I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1067" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-06T14:58:20.073" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T17:49:37.810" Title="How do I minimize calf muscle pain as I get back into running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3703" CreationDate="2011-09-06T15:01:37.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you start running after almost no physical exercise for years, there is no telling what part of your body will start hurting. Just one thing is for sure: Something will hurt! In your case, the calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think that there is anything wrong, just remember the speed and time your calves start hurting and then in the future think back and look at what you have achieved with your runs! ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1150" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T15:01:37.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3698" CreationDate="2011-09-06T15:36:59.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a sustained contraction and even in the low tension contraction the muscles continuously undergo to maintain muscle tone some fibres rest whilst others contract. See for further explanation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.neurophysiology.ws/motorunit.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.neurophysiology.ws/motorunit.htm&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is probably not desirable for an animal to be able to exhaust the majority of its fast twitch muscle fibres in a single exertion, which seems like a plausible explanation for why muscles do not typically operate at maximal tension apart from when the nervous system is persuaded it is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course all the muscle fibres will get used, but they work shifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T15:36:59.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3463" CreationDate="2011-09-06T16:19:52.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a large number of different catabolic pathways that the body uses, of which the the aerobic/anaerobic dichotomy you present is a useful characterisation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These processes are not mutually exclusive of each other, but instead occur continuously regulated by enzymes in the various tissues which themselves respond to the concentration of chemicals in the body as indicators of the type of load the body is under. See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.ufp.pt/~pedros/bq/integration.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www2.ufp.pt/~pedros/bq/integration.htm&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscles use glucose, fatty acids, ketone bodies and aminoacids as energy source. It also contains a reserve of creatine-phosphate, a compound with a high phosphate-transfer potential that is able to phosphorilate ADP to ATP, thereby producing energy without using glucose. The amount of creatine in the muscle is enough to sustain about 3-4 s of exertion. After this period, the muscle uses glycolysis, first anaerobically (since it is much faster than the citric acid cycle), and later (when the increased acidity slows phosphofrutokinase enough for the citric acid cycle to become non-rate-limiting) in aerobic conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The oxidative pathways run fairly continuously to maintain life and replenish tissues that have made use of anaerobic energy conversion. Some of the intermediate products of cycles will up-regulate other cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a practical level, there seems to be good evidence that high intensity interval training has strong effect on medium term endurance at the same time as improving short term sprinting abilities and strength, unlike lower intensity 'steady state' activity that relies mostly on oxidative pathways which only really develops the former. See for example Tabata et al: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&lt;/a&gt; (often trotted out), and more recent publications that cite it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?db=pubmed&amp;amp;cmd=link&amp;amp;linkname=pubmed_pubmed_citedin&amp;amp;uid=8897392&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?db=pubmed&amp;amp;cmd=link&amp;amp;linkname=pubmed_pubmed_citedin&amp;amp;uid=8897392&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For hardcore endurance like marathon running and long distance cycling and swimming, my understanding is that you would need to train differently to get the training adaptations that might want to help with fuelling and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-06T16:57:44.157" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T16:57:44.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3688" CreationDate="2011-09-06T17:49:54.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of stretching the biggest risk isn't the muscle, but the connective tissue (ligaments and tendons).  Overstretching that hurts the tendons will produce tendinitis, same as lifting heavy weights with improper form.  However, you are correct in that some forms of stretching will affect muscle size and adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certain forms of dynamic stretching, such as the Sumo wrestler's stomp movement while help strengthen and improve your adductor muscles among others in your legs.  I wouldn't expect large improvements in size though.  The goal of stretching is to improve your range of motion.  The most bang for your buck is when you work your muscles hard, and they get bigger during recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process of warming up your muscles also warms up the connective tissue so that it is less prone to injury.  When connective tissue is overstretched, you have an appreciable amount of pain.  Additionally, the joints become loose, and easily injured or hyper-extended.  The net result is absolutely not what you want because it will force you to stop lifting until you fully recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T17:49:54.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3675" CreationDate="2011-09-06T18:06:39.013" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be no blanket answer to this question as there is quite a difference among available cheeses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheap American cheese (the processed kind) are not made with any kind of milk, and are a based instead on oil.  When the cheese melts, it separates and becomes greasy.  When it returns to a solid, the texture of the &quot;cheese&quot; is more like plastic than anything good.  However this class of cheese also does not have any redeeming value--it's high in sodium, no calcium, and essentially no protein either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cheeses do not fundamentally change when heated past its melting point, such as a good goat/chevre style cheese.  These cheeses usually have a fairly low melting point, and retain their properties when they return to solid form.  There will be little difference between melted and solid forms of this cheese.  Plenty of protein, based on milk, has calcium, as well as the fats.  Some cheeses have carb content (sugar), but most don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cheeses have high melting points, such as a Parmesan cheese.  These tend to retain their form very well and have very little change due to heat--even less change than the softer, lower melting point cheeses.  These cheeses have plenty of protein and not quite as much fat as the softer cheeses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even these guidelines are broad sweeping generalities.  You'll find cheeses that live somewhere in between the general classes I listed here.  If the starting cheese is bad for you (processed cheese &lt;em&gt;product&lt;/em&gt;) the melted variation isn't going to be any better.  Heat can be a destructive force, but even cooking eggs doesn't significantly change the protein content of the egg.  The same principle applies to cheeses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically in cooking, the structure of the proteins will change somewhat.  This is why cooked chicken is white and firm instead of pink and spongy.  Due to the relatively high fat content of most cheeses, the protein isn't in high enough concentration to really have a substantial change in configuration.  It's unclear to me whether the cooking destroys some proteins or simply reconfigures it at the molecular level.  All I know is that there is a change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T18:06:39.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3703" CreationDate="2011-09-06T19:59:16.920" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your history I would suggest that you think of yourself as a non-runner who is starting running. Your body has lost a number of running-specific adaptations and you need to rebuild them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are good learn-to-run programmes on the web which take you from walking for 30 mins to alternating walking and running to actually running for 30 mins. For example this 8-week beginner program from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-520--9397-2-1X5-2,00.html&quot;&gt;Runner's World&lt;/a&gt;. &#xA;Walking is the best way to start because it gets the body started on the adaptations without the impact and cardio-vascular stress of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your calf muscles are feeling that painful then you are doing too much too soon. Back off and take it slowly to allow your body to adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2011-09-07T04:32:32.523" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T04:32:32.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-06T21:01:48.993" Score="11" ViewCount="3693" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any idea of what might be taken to be the &lt;i&gt;bible of bodyweight exercises&lt;/i&gt;?  Many years ago, Bill Pearl put out a book that pretty much shows you any weight lifting exercise you might want to see, I wonder if there is such a thing as far as bodyweight exercies go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1924" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-22T22:51:15.073" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T05:53:42.160" Title="Bodyweight Exercise Resources" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3736" CreationDate="2011-09-06T21:19:03.740" Score="3" ViewCount="5453" Body="&lt;p&gt;For many years I have suffered from patellofemoral syndrome.  My understanding is that, in my case, the cause is the relatively under developed VMO on both legs.  I do a great deal of split squats and they help a lot, but I would like to identify some more exercises.  Can anyone offer any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1924" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T03:00:26.320" Title="Patellofemoral Syndrome Exercises" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3735" CreationDate="2011-09-06T23:26:32.020" Score="18" ViewCount="37328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a dad and we just had a newborn so I am not getting much sleep these days.  I want to avoid getting out of shape and gaining weight as it easy to be lazy and slack off on health (eating, exercise) when you are very tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that the lack of sleep probably won't change for a while, I wanted to see if there were any issues with going to the gym and doing either cardio or weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its obviously not ideal to workout without a good night of rest, but given no other choice is there any real downside or concern I should have here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-09-13T12:59:58.500" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T08:13:00.690" Title="Is it bad to workout when you aren't sleeping a lot?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4011" CreationDate="2011-09-07T01:05:16.087" Score="16" ViewCount="1587" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are so many kinds of protein available in the market that it does your head in . I have done my homework but still not sure as to when to use which one.&lt;br&gt; Following is what I have understood so far&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two primary forms in layman (which I am)terms we can call them &lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fast Release proteins&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;and&lt;br&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Slow Release Proteins&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fast Release protiens&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are derived from Whey protein.Whey protein itself is also a form of it and Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate being semi digested with enzymes and is the quickest but most expensive one in the market.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Fast proteins are ideal for Post or Pre-workout and are usually digested in 30 minutes by the body. So after workout peaked metabolism gives the best possible window for this usage.These are best taken with water as milk can slow them down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slow Release Proteins&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually have Casein in them . Which is a substance which becomes a gel in the intestines and slows down the digestion process thus making these proteins slow release.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question are below&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- Why does it matter how long protein digestion takes? is it because we do not want it to be released faster than body can absorb or needs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- I see super fit people at work taking Whey proteins around mid morning or lunch or mid afternoon. I know for the fact these people do not work out at these times. I also do not believe that these people would have less knowledge than myself. But if I am right having a Whey protein shake for lunch when I know they have not worked out in past 6 hours and can not go for run or workout in an other 6 hours is total waste or is it? What am I missing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- I am actually looking for weight loss I am thinking of getting a slow 4hour release shake around 9.00Am  and an other after lunch time (replacing the lunch) is that right way to go for me . I work out 7.30 AM Monday to Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1925" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T20:23:28.153" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T17:21:02.820" Title="What is the right kind of protein for that job?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3631" CreationDate="2011-09-07T01:36:34.943" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a former gymnast, I recommend that you try a gymnastics gym. This is really the only place you will find true experts on the rings. Although you may worry that the focus of gymnasts might extend beyond just strength, it takes uncommon strength to do even the simplest movements. For example, the ring muscle up is one of most advanced body weight movements in a sport like crossfit, but in gymnastics, it is considered so easy that it doesn't even get scored. Gymnastics coaches will know the correct progressions, and have the correct equipment, to get you to the really difficult movements like the iron cross and beyond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned that a gymnastics gym won't be interested in helping you develop strength without acrobatics, don't be. It is their job to help you meet your goals. You are the boss. Not everyone has the goal of competing, and they know that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T01:36:34.943" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3717" CreationDate="2011-09-07T01:50:09.147" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anecdotal answer: I am also a new father not getting much sleep. I made it a point to continue working out 3 times week to keep in good health and to get out of the house a little bit. I definitely notice that my performance is not as good on the days when I have not slept well. However, I also feel better, and sleep better (and go to sleep faster) on days I make it to the gym. I haven't noticed any downside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They get bigger fast, so you need to train to lift that extra weight!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T01:50:09.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3732" CreationDate="2011-09-07T03:55:17.787" Score="3" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that muscles need to rest 48-72 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However sometimes even 80 hours after a workout, (the muscles aren't aching, that's for sure, but) I can still feel it, you know feel the strain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this type of strain &quot;ok&quot; in the sense that I can still continue working out and it wouldn't harm the body, or is it that I should rest till all signs of strain is gone before continuing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-09-08T15:02:52.827" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T22:21:37.277" Title="Is it ok to exercise when I feel a strain in my muscles, if it's more than 3 days after a previous workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-09-07T04:39:31.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;VFF's used to be a bit of a fad in the ultra community. We do see people show up with them at the start line. Unfortunately, we rarely see them at the finish line because they drop early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that if you find VFF's painful for long distances then you consider slowing down your training and building endurance adaptations in your feet before trying again. After all, it's those adaptations that you wanted in the first place. By slowing down your training I mean running to the distance you can before your feet hurt but do that distance more often that week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, if you're not prepared to do the training required then a more comfortable VFF for long distance is called a shoe. Spend more time training on distances that don't hurt or give up and go for a shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2011-09-07T15:26:22.423" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T15:26:22.423" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-09-07T04:39:31.597" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3714" CreationDate="2011-09-07T06:43:25.423" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you asked for the &quot;bible of bodyweight exercises&quot;, check out Mark Lauren's &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/0345528581&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt;: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises.  The book has over 100 bodyweight exercises.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T06:43:25.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3714" CreationDate="2011-09-07T06:59:40.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out &quot;Convict Conditioning&quot; by Paul Wade. Walks you through six master exercises with 10 steps each for complete conditioning. The book goes in depth into the &quot;why&quot; as well as the &quot;how&quot; of body weight exercises and I am sold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I like about the book is a progressive approach to building conditioning. Starting with push-ups against the wall all the way through to incline push-ups up to one-handed push-ups. This way you can progress all the way from beginner to a master level without having to switch to weights/equipment at any stage. Paul does use props like a basketball, pull-up bar etc when needed, but no equipment and no weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1926" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T06:59:40.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3717" CreationDate="2011-09-07T07:29:14.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the only downside from this is you're are not giving your body enough time to recover which significantly happens during sleep. However, if this positively affects your mood and other areas in your life, then by all means continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T07:29:14.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-07T07:41:29.883" Score="6" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a personal trainer which I hit up once a week - love it. We do all our stuff outside with bascially nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get a bit more stuff to do mid week which is only around 15-20 mins long. maybe once or twice a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to work my thighs and work get some nice abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fully understand that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10-15 mins 2x a week is way not enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nutrition, nutrition, nutrition...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.. but with those aside, does anyone have some suggestions for a mid 30's guy, looking to do some extra stuff outside without having to buy any equipment and just using 'whats around'. A good example will be to assume i have access to a standard park next door to my house : some steps, few bolders and lots of grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1927" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-03T21:13:48.987" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T10:20:42.183" Title="Looking for short, home routine for thighs and abs" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3717" CreationDate="2011-09-07T12:29:47.850" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your recovery will suffer some in the short term.  Most of your muscle strengthening and adaptations happen while you are asleep.  However, babies do learn to sleep through the night fairly quickly.  At most you are looking at a month of the kind of sleep patterns that would cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the short answer is &quot;yes&quot; you can go to the gym, lift weights, etc.  The longer answer is that you will have to keep an eye on your progress.  If you can't get weight up you normally would (loss of performance due to overtraining, which in turn is due to insufficient rest), you'll probably need to deload a bit more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best approach, if you can't muster enough rest to make any gains, is to maintain.  Basically your workout sessions won't be going up in weight while your sleep is suffering, but you won't be going completely sedentary either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re-adding content:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your child isn't going to keep you up at night forever.  There are things you can do as a parent to help you get as much sleep as you can.  In the first month, the baby won't be able to make it all night without waking up and crying.  It's usually because of being hungry, needing to be changed, or they are uncomfortable.  If you control the child's schedule instead of allowing the child to control yours, you can work the child's natural sleep pattern to mirror yours.  Don't respond to simple cries for attention when it's time to sleep, but do respond to the big three issues (hungry/diaper change/hurt/sickness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is we do need sleep, so new parents need to learn the difference between something that requires attention and something that can slide.  All too often, new parents jump at the slightest sound from the bassinet.  The child hasn't even started crying yet and they are running to its side.  The child's cries will be different, and you'll learn which ones need attention and which ones don't.  Until then, when the baby cries, check all the important stuff, reassure the child &lt;em&gt;without picking them up&lt;/em&gt; and go back to bed.  Get &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; sleep.  They will learn, and so will you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-09-07T20:53:00.230" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T20:53:00.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3721" CreationDate="2011-09-07T12:37:32.977" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend reading &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; by Dr. Kilgore and Mark Rippetoe.  The first few chapters will help you better understand what happens in your body as you exercise.  The part that applies to this answer is that the 48-72 hours of rest applies to &lt;em&gt;beginners&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;novices&lt;/em&gt;, not to &lt;em&gt;intermediate&lt;/em&gt; or higher athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A program designed for each class of athlete has a certain amount of stress applied to cause you to adapt and be better at your exercise.  Between each period of adaptation inducing stress is a period of &lt;em&gt;recovery&lt;/em&gt;.  For beginners and novices, recovery happens in the form of rest.  For intermediates and higher, recovery is composed both of rest and &quot;active recovery&quot;--a lighter stress workout to keep the volume up, but not overtax the recovery process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beginners need 24-48 hours to rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Novices need 48-72 hours to rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intermediates need up to a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Advanced athletes need up to a month&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elites need several months or years&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are no longer a novice at your sport (or with your training), you may be on your way to becoming an intermediate.  If so, you'll have to make some modifications to your training program to help you keep improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-09-07T14:16:00.473" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T14:16:00.473" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3733" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-07T14:06:27.680" Score="1" ViewCount="3376" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise is a great stress buster and relieves you of it during running or weight-lifting (my favorite doing heavy squats, somewhat symbolic of pushing all that stress with all your might!). However, this is not viable in the office during work, when stress starts creeping in and you're looking at a gazillion tasks to complete (so no, I can't just step out of the office, jog and then comeback). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, when I'm under stress my forehead feels &quot;full&quot; or contracts uncontrollably even if I try to consciously relax it. Is there some sort of exercise that will prevent this or allow you to control this? I'm referring to the point when this is happening not the aftermath (since exercise deals with the aftermath just fine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastEditorUserId="1555" LastEditDate="2011-09-07T14:11:30.103" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T09:09:36.497" Title="Is it possible to prevent forehead muscles from contracting during very stressful times in the office?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3721" CreationDate="2011-09-07T15:02:33.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/training/weightlifting.htm.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This summary article&lt;/a&gt; gives a good review of the mechanics of recovery and some plausible guidelines on training frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prevailing wisdom seems to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initial strength gains of a muscle group can be characterized as predominantly 'neurological', relating to recruitment and coordination changes based on changes in the brain and nervous system, providing an increase in strength with a faster recovery time than those arising from muscular hypertrophy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With practice these strength gains tail off and gains from muscle growth dominate. The same exertion that stimulates growth causes damage that recovers over a longer time scale, around a week to a month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At a certain level of strength and development low volume training or 'active recovery' can be a superior replacement for complete rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T22:21:37.277" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T22:21:37.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3717" CreationDate="2011-09-07T16:28:19.730" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among other things, sleep deprevation will effect metabolism, glucose response, and hormone production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have severely reduced sleep (less than 4 hours per night) your hormones will be insufficient to recover from stressful weight training and your stored glucose levels will be too low for significant endurance training (&gt;60 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can train under these conditions, but you will need to seriously restrict your activities to avoid doing more harm than good. Aim for maintenance rather than improvement in body composition and keep sessions short (30 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work with first time fathers through the hospital and exercise is the third thing that drops off after baby comes (sex is first, night out with the guys is the second). I usually recommend that both parents find a social sport they can participate in once or twice a week (tennis, basketball, softball) as a way of retaining some balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't present on infant sleep or parenting technique so I'll keep my opinions to myself there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T16:28:19.730" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3716" CreationDate="2011-09-07T19:39:22.300" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PFPS (patello-femoral pain syndrome)&lt;/strong&gt; is usually caused by the knee cap tracking off to the lateral side instead of keeping centered in the femoral groove.  The causes can be from muscle weakness (the VMO as you mentioned but also the glutes), tightness (muscle and fascia) esp. laterally, and/or faulty lower extremity alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't already consulted with a sports physical therapist or doctor, that would be a good place to start esp. if you haven't tried the McConnell taping mentioned below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To strengthen the VMO, first release any lateral muscle or hamstring tightness, and then make sure that you have good alignment while doing the exercises.  Avoid pain as this will cause an inhibition of the VMO and negate your attempts to strengthen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   &lt;strong&gt;Muscle Weakness&lt;/strong&gt; - The problem of VMO weakness as compared to the VL (vastus lateralis) is that it is not just a matter of weakness, but also of sequencing or timing of the muscle contraction.  You want the VMO to kick in before the larger VL muscle contracts.  If the VMO is delayed, the VL over-powers the smaller, weaker VMO causing the patella to track off to the lateral side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One  training technique involves taping to control the tracking of the knee cap. &#xA;     (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VDr0wsM994&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;McConnell taping&lt;/a&gt;.)  Then you can practice eccentrics ie step downs within a pain-free range.   Pain needs to be controlled when attempting to strengthen the VMO because pain inhibits the muscle contraction. &#xA;    Strengthening of the VMO usually occurs in the latter degrees of knee extension, so you don't need to go into full flexion which places a greater strain on the patella. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   &lt;strong&gt;Alignment&lt;/strong&gt; - When doing VMO exercises, you need to look at the entire leg alignment including the foot and ankle.  For instance, a foot that pronates (flattening the arch) causes a shift in the knee and patellar alignment.  Foot orthotics may help relieve PFPS by improving foot alignment and controlling pronation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On8tOtWBFvw&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; gives a good explanation about how to align your foot and tibia, and focus on the recruitment of the VMO and glutes in weight bearing or closed kinetic exercise such as your split squats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle tightness may also contribute to poor knee and patellar alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   &lt;strong&gt;Tightness&lt;/strong&gt; - Gently test the mobility of your knee cap.  If it glides easily, especially medially (toward the inner thigh) then you are in good shape.  However, often with PFPS the knee cap movement is restricted.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tight hamstrings and gastroc muscles behind the knee can cause a slight flexion at the knee which increases pressure on the patella and inhibits the function of the VMO.  Self-massage to release  the hamstrings, esp. the biceps femoris on the lateral side, can improve the function on of the VMO, so release tight muscles before strengthening the VMO.  Lateral muscles that may need releasing are the lateral quads, TFL/IT band and glutes to allow for neutral alignment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following exercises use a a foam roller to massage or release:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcLrl4hqPOk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calves and Hamstrings&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i74TQ1ltjrw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lateral quads&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9aJtO0VCqw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IT band/TFL&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   &lt;strong&gt;VMO Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; - Start with simple quad sets, placing your hand on your VMO for feedback.  Tapping on the muscle can also help to facilitate a better muscle contraction.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progress to closed kinetic chain (weight bearing) exercises like split squats,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqmkmVG6q2E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Terminal knee extensions&lt;/a&gt; with a resistance band or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrUOEwTDbqA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cable&lt;/a&gt; focusing on isolating the the VMO and contracting the VMO before the VL kicks in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkllf8DghkQ&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ball wall squats&lt;/a&gt; while squeezing a ball between the knees or with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3sQaKOjCl0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resistance bands&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2016-04-16T03:00:26.320" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T03:00:26.320" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3714" CreationDate="2011-09-07T19:57:11.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've read Pavel's book, you might also be interested in books by &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ross Enamait&lt;/a&gt;. He has a somewhat similar writing style and mentality; he also focuses a lot on conditioning (which goes hand-in-hand with bodyweight exercises). I've read two of his books, but he has at least one more, Infinite Intensity, which apparently has stuff on free weights too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000FK641E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Underground Guide To Warrior Fitness&lt;/a&gt;. He talks a bit about his exercise philosophy and stuff that you probably know about but then he starts listing all sorts of exercises for all body parts. There are also chapters on conditioning (good one!) and nutrition. Finally, he offers a few sample routines, though most focus on conditioning and/or are incomplete. I didn't count but I'm guessing there's at least 50 exercises there (not counting obvious variations).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002KDOLK0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Never Gymless&lt;/a&gt; seems to be a update of the previous book; it came out 3 years later and focuses mostly on the same stuff. Generally, it has a more &quot;mature&quot; writing style and less philosophy, though the content is similar. Fewer exercises are listed but they are explained better. Also, some of the exercises listed are no longer boddyweight but rely on some &quot;low-tech&quot; equipment. It also offers a chapter on conditioning (though there's a bit less focus this time) and nutrition. There's also a chapter on &quot;Program Design&quot; with a bunch of sample routines. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure which of the books is better. I think I managed to grab more useful information from the first, but the second is better written and should probably be your first choice. Now, neither of the two is an &quot;exercise bible&quot;, but they do provide more than enough information to train yourself without weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T19:57:11.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3748" CreationDate="2011-09-07T20:22:51.220" Score="16" ViewCount="55926" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have a fairly flat stomach but I had a baby 4 months ago by c-section and my lower abdomen is quite saggy. What can I do to lose the extra weight there and get it taut? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1934" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-09-13T12:58:49.950" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T20:32:43.747" Title="What is the most effective way to improve a saggy belly?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3693" CreationDate="2011-09-07T21:49:36.397" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The authors of the popular C25K program have written the &quot;Bridge to 10k&quot; program which is intended for people who have successfully completed C25K and starts with &quot;Run 10 min/walk 1 min Repeat x 4&quot; and there is a program &quot;Ease into 10K&quot; by the same authors which starts with &quot;Run 3 min/walk 1 min Repeat x 5&quot;. The latter program is intended for somebody who already has some level of fitness and now really wants to get into running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Programs called C10K are probably from different authors. A quick search on the net resulted in several different programs called C10K all with different run/walk ratios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5653" LastActivityDate="2011-09-07T21:49:36.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-07T23:26:20.420" Score="6" ViewCount="9366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed flexbility is a big issue for me in squatting as well as snatching (I cannot snatch at all currently).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I squat with no weight, I cannot complete a squat with my arms pointing to the ceiling.  However, with my arms by my side I can go very deep past parallel comfortably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my weighted barbell squats I have found widening my grip on the barbell allows me to squat more comfortably because of the flexbility explained in the paragraph above.  But how can I increase the flexibility of my shoulders so I don't have to do this?  Exercises? Stretches? Is it impossible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope the question makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T11:39:59.983" Title="How can I increase shoulder flexibiity for squats &amp; snatches?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3741" CreationDate="2011-09-08T00:57:31.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you check out Kelly Starrett's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mobility&lt;/a&gt; website. He has a doctorate in physical therapy and focuses on the type of issue you are complaining of. He has posted a bunch of videos on how to improve flexibility of various joints. Besides stretching in various ways, he suggests rotating elbows inwards to stack the bones and muscles properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T00:57:31.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3741" CreationDate="2011-09-08T11:39:59.983" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few stretches you can do to help your shoulder flexibility:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot;&gt;shoulder dislocations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-shoulder-flexibility-how-to/&quot;&gt;pec stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-posture-flexibility-how-to/&quot;&gt;foam rolling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/are_you_ready_to_overhead_press&quot;&gt;prepping for the overhead press&lt;/a&gt; also has some good mobility/stretching exercises that will help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, there's a lot you can do, and flexibility is important to having good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a note on hand position on the bar for squats: you want them wide enough not to put stress on your arms/elbows, but narrow enough to keep a tight upper back.  There is some leeway on proper hand position.  I suggest finding a spot that is comfortable yet keeps your back tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one stretch that will help improve the flexibility you need for snatches the most will be the shoulder dislocations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T11:39:59.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3727" CreationDate="2011-09-08T13:50:54.023" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freeworkoutguides.com/workoutguides/p90x-ab-ripper-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ab Ripper X&lt;/a&gt; is a 15 minute ab workout that's part of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/p90x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;P90X&lt;/a&gt; series. It consists of 11 moves, 25 reps each. You don't need any equipment for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://legbutthipthighexercises.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Joey Atlas's leg/thigh routine&lt;/a&gt; takes about an hour, but can be broken up into three sections of 20 minutes each (standing routine and 2 floor routines). I think it's designed for women, so it might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it's pretty challenging and you really only need stairs or a chair and a towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T13:50:54.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3727" CreationDate="2011-09-08T13:53:11.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as abs and thighs go, my favorite workout video is the Hip Hop Abs series featuring Shaun T. (He leads the Insanity workouts as well.) The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx6qUyYEnLo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hips, Buns, and Thighs&lt;/a&gt; video is a great, short workout that really does a good job targeting the areas as well as being fun. Shaun T is also a really great motivator, and the vids are just &lt;em&gt;fun&lt;/em&gt;, which is so rare in a workout vid. I really recommend the whole HHA series, but this vid is most specific to your request. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1677" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T13:53:11.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3727" CreationDate="2011-09-08T14:20:10.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For  thighs you can do normal body weight squats, takes a few minutes, alternatively the kettle bell swing is a good exercise, and will work both thighs and abs, add some reverse crunches or rows and you're done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any exercise is better than none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T14:20:10.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="200" CreationDate="2011-09-08T20:45:45.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As most people are saying, you need to make sure you warm up, stretch before, and stretch after. There are also a few other things you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is cardio the only type of exercise you get? I'm a runner, and it's very important to also do some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-266-11273-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;leg strengthening exercises&lt;/a&gt; to build muscle (e.g. squats, lunges, etc). If you're not doing these, give it a try on your off days. If you are doing it - how often? Perhaps the reason why you can't handle cardio every other day is because you're also doing other types of exercises that work your legs on the days you're not doing cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to normal stretching, have you tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.athletestreatingathletes.com/self-muscle-massage-series/self-muscle-massage-pt-6-quads/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tennis ball stretching&lt;/a&gt;? (Scroll down for the video demo) This is especially important for your quads. Lay on the floor face down, put the tennis ball under your quad, and bend and straighten your knee. It gives you a deeper stretch, kind of like you're ironing the muscle. You can also get foam rollers or noodles (the kind that are used as floats in pools) and roll back and forth on those (this is really good for your IT band). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're eating good recovery foods too - in my opinion low-fat chocolate milk is the best recovery drink to have after a hard workout, but you need to make sure you're eating a balanced diet as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T20:45:45.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3738" CreationDate="2011-09-08T22:26:27.817" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medical Clearance to Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A C-section requires that you get medical clearance before you begin postpartum exercises.  Assuming that you have clearance (and 4 months post would seem likely that you have) here are some considerations in getting your postpartum belly back in shape:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight Loss vs Laxity and Weakness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are actually 2 concerns in fighting the saggy belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Excess body weight &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Laxity of muscle, connective tissue and skin from being stretched out.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight after pregnancy does involve nutrition and exercise just as with any weight loss program (as @Robert has pointed out).  However, there are several postpartum specific exercise concerns such as weakness, ligament laxity and postural alignment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PostPartum  Exercise Concerns&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some ordinary exercises may not be appropriate for you and, in fact, can be counterproductive.  For example, routine abdominal exercises like &lt;strong&gt;crunches, which target the rectus abdominus&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;may make the postpartum belly bulge more&lt;/strong&gt;, not less, &lt;em&gt;especially if they are attempted before restoring the transversus abdominis.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another exercise consideration is continued &lt;strong&gt;hormonal ligament laxity&lt;/strong&gt; (looseness) which can last 6 months post delivery requiring you  to be protective of your joints during impact type exercises, stretching or resistance training.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Restoring Abdominal Muscle Control&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, you’ll want to assess if you have a separation (called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsTR4i9yZxM&amp;amp;NR=1&quot;&gt;diastasis recti&lt;/a&gt;) centrally, between the 2 rectus abdominus muscles.   This is important because if your separation remains greater than 2 or 2 ½ finger’s width, you need to be more careful to avoid making the separation and your belly bulge worse.  You would need to avoid exercises that cause you to strain, twist as with obliques or triangle pose, or stretch the abdomen as with curl ups over a stability ball, otherwise you will just prolong the weakness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next,  focus your efforts on the pelvic floor muscles (Kegel’s exercise) and on the transversus abdominis muscle (TvA), which is the deepest layer of abs (the girdle muscle), before you begin with other obliques or rectus abdominal exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The transverse abdominus (TvA) is the muscle you use when draw your belly button towards your spine, flattening your stomach, while exhaling.  For an in-depth explanation and demo, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.befitmom.com/abdominal_separation.html&quot;&gt;Helene Byrne’s &lt;strong&gt;videos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. (She also has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/0977091716&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; with a nice sequence for getting back in shape after pregnancy.) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then engage your transversus abdominus and begin with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKQ94vq_S8g&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;gentle leg slides&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; while maintaining that core control.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once you can maintain good control of your core with the transverse abdominus while moving your legs lying down, progress towards working your TvA against gravity by pulling your belly button in while on your hands and knees.  This video has a nice &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/mutusystem#p/u/13/V75YtVzNMbw&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;progression of exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and includes stabilizing your core with bridging, planks and ball rollouts etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addressing Fat Loss after Pregnancy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have already been directed to the info that Robert cited so I will just add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat loss&lt;/strong&gt; is more important than weight loss, so &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot;&gt;calculate your body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt;.  (It is easier than you think.)  Then track your body fat percentage and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot;&gt;waist circumference&lt;/a&gt; progress rather than just your weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; is a big factor:  Track what you eat (and drink).  Take the time to eat sitting down with your attention on your food or snack.  Choose smaller portions/smaller plates.  Eat well-balanced nutritious meals.  Eat less packaged foods and less empty calories foods like sodas.  Consume less sugars.  Hydrate well.  Remember that it takes a 3500 calorie deficit to = 1 pound of weight loss. Walking a mile burns ~ 100 calories.  It takes a lot more effort to burn off 3500 calories than it does to consume that amount so eat wisely.  Think of creating a healthy lifestyle for you and your family rather than a quick fix diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise:&lt;/strong&gt; Start with simple daily walking and core exercises.  Once you have built up some endurance (at least 30 minutes/day) and core control, begin to increase the difficulty of your workouts.  Hold off on high impact exercises like running and jumping while your ligaments bounce back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Efficient workouts are key when you are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/For-Busy-Moms.html&quot;&gt;busy mom&lt;/a&gt;.  Compound muscle or whole body, strength training circuit exercises with high intensity intervals will give you effective fat burning workouts in the least amount of time.  You can use bodyweight (like squats, planks, push ups etc), resistance bands, free weights or weight machines for resistance training.        &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Karvonen-Formula&quot;&gt;target heart rate&lt;/a&gt; to guide your intensity.  If you can join a postpartum exercise class.  It is good for the exercise and support.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt; - Easier said than done with a new baby, but sleep is also an important factor in losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saggy Skin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get your abs working properly and burn off the excess fat, you should see the results you want over time.  However, some women do have a problem with overly stretched skin and collagen that just doesn’t return to normal.  For them, surgery is a corrective option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any problems with your scar or with trying to reconnect with your muscles, you may want to consult with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apta.org/apta/findapt/index.aspx?navID=10737422525&quot;&gt;women’s health physical therapy specialist&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Full disclosure of references:  We carry Helene Byrne’s book in our amazon store.  Our site does affiliate with Holly Rigsby’s Fit Yummy Mummy, despite the name, because it is a good program and we like her membership site.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps you get the flat, taut stomach that you want.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-08T22:26:27.817" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3750" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-09T06:15:27.893" Score="1" ViewCount="8447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved over to a much colder part of the country. It was around 6 months ago. I started my work outs almost 4 months ago. The problem is that I suffer from muscle soreness all the time. I have reduced my work out intensity to almost half and I am not lifting any heavy weights. I also do proper warm ups and cool downs but still the soreness happens. Doesn't look like an injury because even the smaller muscles like biceps and triceps get sore within 24 hours of working out and continue to stay like that for 2-3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have reduced my Protein intake as well. Can that cause the soreness ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T18:26:40.753" Title="Muscle pain because of cold weather?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3733" CreationDate="2011-09-09T09:09:36.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress reduction techniques&lt;/strong&gt; practiced when not under stress will help you be able to put those skills to use when you need them while under stress.  Techniques often include relaxed breathing, visualization/guided imagery, or progressive relaxation where you sequentially tense muscles and then release them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Practice &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Breathing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diaphragmatic breathing&lt;/a&gt; - Then when feeling stressed do 1 or 2 relaxed breaths with the diaphragm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Progressive Relaxation - Learn the feel of how to release tightened muscles, by contracting each muscle group beginning with the feet, hold the contraction a few seconds, and then relax the contraction feeling the circulation return to the area.  Progress up the legs, trunk, shoulders, arms and face (including your forehead by raising your eyebrows).  Then when feel stressed, contract your shoulders/upper traps/face and release them as you exhale.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reducing stress is a big factor in keeping fit so it is good that you have recognized it as something you need to deal with.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/1572245492&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Relaxation and Stress Relief Workbook&lt;/a&gt; is very good in helping you identify your stress and then learning to manage it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thought.  My Tai Chi instructor describes the need to make sure that your blood is circulating and draining out of the head.  He describes that feeling of “fullness” that you mention as the congestion of blood that comes about when you focus on mental concentration, (much as you increase circulation to a muscle when you exercise).  I don’t know if that is an accurate scientific explanation, but it is amazing how you can get the sensation of tension draining out of your head when you focus on allowing your chi and blood to circulate.  I learned that from one of Bruce Frantzis' instructors in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.energyarts.com/taoist-breathing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Taoist Longevity Breathing Class&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you are right that exercise is a great stress buster.  Hope those ideas help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T09:09:36.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3727" CreationDate="2011-09-09T10:47:22.890" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll throw in my recommendation of Tabata again: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2666/what-is-tabata-how-effective-is-it&quot;&gt;What is tabata? How effective is it?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tabata is basically High Impact Intense Training - a series of 4 exercises done with a timer (20 seconds active then 10 seconds rest for each exercise 8 times).  You can focus on abs and legs with exercises like: burpees, body weight squats, lunges, etc.  The exercises are limitless and can includes light weights, sandbag, medicine ball, etc.  Here's a good site for a look into the type of exercises you can perform (and she seems to focus on the abs and butt a lot): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrock.tv/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T10:47:22.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3761" CreationDate="2011-09-09T10:57:08.287" Score="5" ViewCount="923" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do NOT have any backache problems, nor any pain in the joints.&#xA;Recommendations please, keeping these points in view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T11:18:16.120" Title="What kind of indoor exercises are recommended for getting rid of stress and depression?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3533" CreationDate="2011-09-09T13:49:21.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finally I found one study about the effects of cyclic eating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/85/4/981.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stote et al. (2007) : A controlled trial of reduced meal frequency without caloric restriction in healthy, normal-weight, middle-aged adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quotations from the paper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Design:The study was a randomized crossover design with two 8-wk treatment periods. During the treatment periods, subjects consumed all of the calories needed for weight maintenance in either 3 meals/d or 1 meal/d.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Results: Subjects who completed the study maintained their body weight within 2 kg of their initial weight throughout the 6-mo period. There were no significant effects of meal frequency on heart rate, body temperature, or most of the blood variables measured. However, when consuming 1 meal/d, subjects had a significant increase in hunger; a significant modification of body composition, including reductions in fat mass; significant increases in blood pressure and in total, LDL-, and HDL-cholesterol concentrations; and a significant decrease in concentrations of cortisol.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Subjects' weight and body fat mass were lowered (1.4 and 2.1 kg, respectively) after consumption of the 1 meal/d diet but not after consumption of the 3 meals/d diet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite a general perception among the public at large that it is important to eat ≥3 meals/d, no controlled studies have directly compared the effects of different meal frequencies on human health. This knowledge gap has been identified by the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report as a future research direction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the effect of different meal frequencies on the human body is still an open question in science, but there seems to be some evidence that lower frequencies could reduce body fat and weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1855" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T13:49:21.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3753" CreationDate="2011-09-09T14:05:42.190" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any kind of exercise can help relieve stress, depression, and anxiety by releasing endorphins and providing a distraction, among &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/MH00043&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other things&lt;/a&gt;. I'd imagine that yoga would be particularly good, since it concentrates on breathing and mental relaxation as well as physical exercise. It's also good because it doesn't require any equipment, and you can do it anywhere, including in your own home. You might try some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyweight_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body weight exercises&lt;/a&gt; too, if you really want to stay inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it may actually be more beneficial to exercise outdoors than indoors. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110204130607.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;compared with exercising indoors, exercising in natural environments&#xA;  was associated with greater feelings of revitalisation, increased&#xA;  energy and positive engagement, together with decreases in tension,&#xA;  confusion, anger and depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to mention the fact that you'll get more social interaction if you go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T14:05:42.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3703" CreationDate="2011-09-09T14:12:45.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Sarge says, it's best to ease into running when you first start out; but it seems like you are doing that already. I'd say the most important thing to do is stretch out really well and cross train. Many runners neglect leg strengthening exercises, thinking that running alone will do it. Running certainly will make your legs stronger, but it's really beneficial to do things like squats, lunges, etc. Check out these &lt;a href=&quot;http://ncrunnerdude.blogspot.com/2010/07/calf-strengthening-workout-for-runners.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calf exercises&lt;/a&gt;, and these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-266-11273-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;leg exercises&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T14:12:45.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3750" CreationDate="2011-09-09T14:57:16.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5754331_can-air-cause-muscle-aches_.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;lower air temperature causes the air to constrict and result in lower&#xA;  pressure. The lower air pressure can cause the soft tissue around your&#xA;  joints to expand in response and it infringes on the joints, which can&#xA;  cause pain that radiates into the muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cold weather might also cause muscle soreness indirectly. First of all, you're more likely to get sick. With sickness comes fever, and with fever comes inflammation.  When it's cold out, you're also less active, and inactivity itself may also cause your muscles to be stiff. You said you've reduced your exercise intensity to about half... are you still exercising 3+ times a week? If not, maybe the lack of exercise is what's causing it. And if your muscles are stiff, they're more likely to be sore when you do exercise (even if you do warm up). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T14:57:16.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3750" CreationDate="2011-09-09T19:54:02.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't and exact match for your question about protein, but post-workout protein appears to reduce muscle soreness: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/96/3/951.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Postexercise protein supplementation improves health and muscle soreness during basic military training in marine recruits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may follow that a general reduction in protein could be the cause of your symptoms. It would be easier to test than moving to a warmer climate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-09-09T19:54:02.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3753" CreationDate="2011-09-10T04:03:30.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see others recommended getting outside, I'll stay with your specifics of indoor stress and depression focus exercises.  I would recommend that you get a heavy bag, some good bag gloves and tack out what you need to on the bag.  There's a lot to be said for contact reducing stress (aka beating the heck out of something)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-10T04:03:30.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3753" CreationDate="2011-09-10T20:13:20.000" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have some good answers already so I will just add to the list and give you some other points to consider:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regularity&lt;/strong&gt; - Increasingly studies are showing that Regular Exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;can improve mood in people with mild to moderate depression. It also may play a supporting role in treating severe depression.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is being regular.  Convenience, positive feedback and doing something you enjoy will help you keep more regular with your exercises.  Also, having a partner or exercise buddy can help you keep going when you don’t want to exercise.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Convenience  -  Since you want to stay indoors, consider a home piece of exercise equipment if you have the room, like a treadmill, bicycle ergometer or an elliptical trainer for a good cardio workout.  &lt;em&gt;It is best if you do not have to  set up or disassemble equipment&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Positive Feedback - Charting or logging your workouts will give you positive feedback, keep you to your schedule and motivate you to continue.   Keep track of your frequency and length of sessions, amount of weight used, reps and sets, heart rate and make any comments you feel are relevant. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercises you Enjoy - Try out different types of exercise at home to see what your what you like and what your body enjoys.  Exercise dvds from Netflix, Blockbusters or a video download site is an inexpensive way to try out a lot of different types of exercise.  You can try everything from Aerobics to Boxing, Salsa Dance, Tai Chi, Yoga, Weight Lifting or Zumba right in front of your TV.   (I tried a Qi Gong dvd and was surprised to find that my body loved it!)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don’t overlook the fun factor of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/An-Exercise-Ball.html&quot;&gt;exercise balls&lt;/a&gt;, Bosus and bands, games like Nintendo’s &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B002BSA3EM&quot;&gt;Wii Fit Plus&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B002I0H9WM&quot;&gt;Kinect&lt;/a&gt; for the Xbox 360.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise Intensity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swmed.edu/utsw/cda/dept353744/files/651304.html&quot;&gt;The UT Southwestern study&lt;/a&gt; found that different levels of exercise intensity are effective for different people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Moderate exercise was more effective for women with a family history of mental illness, whereas intense exercise was more effective with women whose families did not have a history of the disease. For men, the higher rate of exercise was more effective regardless of other characteristics.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you an idea of an effective schedule of intensity and frequency, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Exercise-and-Depression-report-excerpt.htm&quot;&gt;a study in 2005&lt;/a&gt; found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“ walking fast for about 35 minutes a day five times a week or 60 minutes a day three times a week had a significant influence on mild to moderate depression symptoms. Walking fast for only 15 minutes a day five times a week or doing stretching exercises three times a week did not help as much. (These exercise lengths were calculated for someone who weighs about 150 pounds. If you weigh more, longer exercise times apply, while the opposite is true if you weigh less than 150 pounds.)”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html&quot;&gt;heart rate monitor&lt;/a&gt; will help you determine the level of your exercise intensity and your exercise target heart rate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For Stress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breathing exercises, relaxation and meditation exercises are also helpful to reduce stress.  As Lauren pointed out, yoga is an excellent choice as it encorporates all of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2011-09-22T21:56:51.797" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T21:56:51.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3753" CreationDate="2011-09-10T21:40:30.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, a hard, aerobic workout is by far best. You can do this on a stationary bike, treadmill, stair or elliptical trainer, etc. I realize this may not be the norm, but it's something to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-10T21:40:30.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3717" CreationDate="2011-09-10T21:45:10.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working out is good, even with insufficient sleep. However, keep in mind that your reactions and situational awareness will be sub-par. This can be important if you're doing something a little dangerous, such as bike riding or rock climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-09-13T13:00:50.463" LastActivityDate="2011-09-13T13:00:50.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2011-09-10T21:52:12.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the morning and before eating gives a pretty consistent weight. Keep in mind that water retention from salt (as in some Mexican dinners), or dehydration from sweating can last through the night and affect your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-10T21:52:12.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-10T22:58:55.567" Score="8" ViewCount="2699" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you first start out doing a particular exercise, obviously it's harder than if you've been doing it for a while and your body is used to it. Does that mean it takes more energy, and that you therefore burn more calories doing an exercise when it's new to you, compared to when you're &quot;in shape&quot; for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T02:28:13.650" Title="Do you burn more calories doing an exercise when it's new to you?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3766" CreationDate="2011-09-11T04:16:18.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Short Answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, experienced athletes burn the same number of calories as novices when performing the same action over the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Long Answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will use physics to answer this question. In particular, the forumla for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_energy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;potential energy&lt;/a&gt; will be of use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;U = mass * gravity * height&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's take the simple example of lifting a 20 kg dumbbell from the ground to 1 meter high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;U = m * g * h&#xA;U = 20 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 * 1 m&#xA;U = 196 joules&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes 196 joules of energy to increase the potential energy of that dumbbell. Where does this energy come from? It must come from somewhere to satisfy the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;law of conservation of energy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It states that the total amount of energy in a system remains constant&#xA;  over time (is said to be conserved over time)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The energy comes from the body burning calories. It must burn 196 joules to comply with the law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 cal = 4.2 joules&#xA;1 kcal = 42000 joules&#xA;196 joules / (42000 joules/kcal) = 0.00467 kcal&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You burn 0.00467 kcal to move that dumbbell up. (Food items are always labeled plainly with calories, but technically they mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kilocalories&lt;/a&gt;). No where in these equations does experience or ease of effort factor in. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime will burn 0.00467 kcal and a scrawny kid will also burn 0.00467 kcal to move a 20 kilogram dumbbell up 1 meter. Yes, Arnold will have a easier time because trained muscles store more glycogen and stronger muscle fibers contract. But he cannot defy the laws of physics by burning less calories than the scrawny kid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Real World&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above assumes that the experienced athlete uses the same technique as the novice. In the real world, this is not always the case. In nearly every sport except bodybuilding, athletes use special techniques to more efficiently use their energy. These techniques channel more energy towards there goals and lets less energy dissipate for other means. For example, I recall in the 2008 Olympics, the announcers said Usain Bolt took on average less steps than his competitors. This allowed him to more efficiently channel his energy towards running fast. His competitors were generating less speed for the same amount of calories burned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2011-09-11T05:14:14.220" LastActivityDate="2011-09-11T05:14:14.220" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3766" CreationDate="2011-09-11T05:17:16.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Movement efficiency can be improved though training. How much of an effect this has depends on the form of exercises but generally isn't that big. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the situation is a lot more complex. Let's say you go running. Over time you might loose some weight, which means you use less energy to run the same distance at the same pace. On the other hand as you get better at running you might run the same distance in shorter time, which uses more energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5653" LastActivityDate="2011-09-11T05:17:16.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2378" CreationDate="2011-09-11T13:11:36.620" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you've conditioned your body by following the same routine for a long time '...despite exercising fairly regularly...' - as Einstein said: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to recover faster after a 1/2 intense workout - then you need to workout longer to condition your body to that and then the shorter workout will not tax your body as much reducing the recovery period.  I'm not sure if that's what your intent is - is your goal to reduce recovery so you can work out more? or is it to maintain your current level but be able to get on with the rest of your day quicker? Either way, it will require varying your routine, including more intense workouts (Tabata/HIIT), and ensuring your have proper nutrition and hydration to provide your body with the fuel to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-11T13:11:36.620" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3771" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3783" CreationDate="2011-09-11T13:20:56.593" Score="2" ViewCount="2349" Body="&lt;p&gt;We all know you shouldn't &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/462832-should-you-stretch-cold-muscles/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stretch cold&lt;/a&gt;, but for how long after a moderate workout does your warm-up last?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you have good stretches more than a few hours after exercise (without having to warm up to do the stretches again?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T14:10:26.210" Title="How long does &quot;warm-up&quot; last?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3782" CreationDate="2011-09-11T17:17:33.023" Score="0" ViewCount="914" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just joined a local gym near my home. My body details are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 5'8&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 56 Kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My target is to gain strength, shape, and muscle. I am 24 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After joining a gym, I found that I can do only 10-7-4 push-ups. Before, while I was exercising, I could do 10-12-10. I am eating a &quot;juvo raw meal&quot; as suggested by my trainer along with other meals as usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I in the right way? I have planned to visit the gym four times a week. If I am doing something wrong, can you figure it out and suggest solutions for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user861" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-09-12T13:14:28.180" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T18:01:34.433" Title="First week at gym, am I doing right?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3771" CreationDate="2011-09-12T01:34:07.717" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/462832-should-you-stretch-cold-muscles/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; you just posted has the answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before you begin stretching your muscles, perform light aerobic&#xA;  activity for five to &lt;strong&gt;10 minutes&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T01:34:07.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3778" CreationDate="2011-09-12T02:43:58.307" Score="4" ViewCount="5328" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a good or bad idea to take Ibuprofen (or other NSAID) before exercise to help prevent things like knee or shoulder pain? I have heard that (a) you should not, because it will mask the pain that indicates damage, and (b) it's OK because it reduces inflammation which can reduce the damage to the joint or tendon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T13:46:03.477" Title="Ibuprofen before exercise?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3775" CreationDate="2011-09-12T11:58:22.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking Ibuprofen longterm is a very bad idea as it can lead to some big gastrointestinal issues like stomach bleeding. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343%2809%2900795-5/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It can even increase the risk of hearing loss&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5653" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T11:58:22.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3780" CreationDate="2011-09-12T11:59:21.337" Score="6" ViewCount="4513" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much gap should there be between weight training and cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I work out 5 days a week in the morning and sometimes do cardio and some days do weights, but I have been thinking about going for a run during lunch and lifting weights every morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question really is: Will my running cancel out the benefits of my weightlifting or burn muscle instead of fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1925" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-09-13T13:28:38.990" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T20:29:13.330" Title="Will running affect my weight training and burn muscle instead of fat?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3775" CreationDate="2011-09-12T13:46:03.477" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Taking ibuprofen or other NSAIDs&lt;/strong&gt; (anti-inflammatories that reduce pain and swelling) before for exercise can mask pain.  Pain can be a warning sign to stop an exercise to prevent joint or soft tissue damage.   Therefore, if you take it before exercise, you risk aggravating a problem.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you have painful joints that prevent you from exercising, an anti-inflammatory medication taken before exercise may allow you to tolerate gentle exercise and gain the benefits of exercise. This would be a case for discussing its use with your doctor.  Long term or regular use of ibuprofen has side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Side Effects and Warnings&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682159.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Medline Plus&lt;/a&gt; side effects include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;“People who take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (other than aspirin) such as ibuprofen may have a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke than people who do not take these medications.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;NSAIDs such as ibuprofen may cause ulcers, bleeding, or holes in the stomach or intestine.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medline also gives a long list of things that you should discuss with your doctor &amp;amp;/or pharmacist before using ibuprofen or NSAIDs.  (medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, herbal products, age, health conditions etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Also, you didn’t mention what type of exercise.  There have been problems with athletes taking  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16679974&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ibuprofen before Endurance Events&lt;/a&gt;.  This includes reduced levels of sodium in the blood (hyponatremia) and altered renal (kidney) function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportscoach.netmx.co.uk/index.php?name=News&amp;amp;file=article&amp;amp;sid=1448&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ibuprofen-NSAIDs and Endurance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; describes several studies and found mixed results, including&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... it did NOT prevent muscle cell injury&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...may hinder markers for muscle soreness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...runners who consumed NSAIDs before the marathon were diagnosed with altered renal function&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...NSAID use appears to be a contributing factor in developing clinically diagnosed hyponatremia based on blood sampling post-race&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...study concluded that ibuprofen use compared to nonuse by athletes did not alter muscle damage or soreness and was related to elevated indicators of inflammation-the exact opposite reason that athletes take NSAIDs in the first place!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, although a lot of athletes are currently taking NSAIDs, there is a definite down side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T13:46:03.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-09-12T15:51:03.287" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about cardio, there are a few reasons to do it first thing in the morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you haven't eaten for several hours, so your body will turn to fat for energy instead of food you've eaten. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sixpacknow.com/fatlosstips.html&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you wake up in the morning with depleted glycogen and lower blood&#xA;  sugar - the optimum environment for burning fat instead of&#xA;  carbohydrate. How much more fat you'll burn is uncertain, but some&#xA;  studies have suggested that up to 300% more fat is burned when cardio&#xA;  is done in a fasted, glycogen-depleted state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, exercising in the morning gives your body the most amount of time to take advantage of the &quot;after burn&quot; effect. Your metabolism increases after you work out, and while this is true no matter what time you work out, it's also true that your metabolism slows when you go to sleep. So, if you exercise closer to bed, you won't get as much of this particular benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T15:51:03.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3777" CreationDate="2011-09-12T17:20:50.723" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let's understand that running is a form of &lt;em&gt;conditioning&lt;/em&gt;, which can be done either aerobically or anaerobically.  There are several ways to condition, and some are compatible with weightlifting and some do work against it.  The first point I want to make is that you do have a mistaken supposition: that running will burn muscle.  The two articles referenced in &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/224-conditioning/&quot;&gt;IronStrong's Conditioning forum&lt;/a&gt; will help shed some important light on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Metabolic Conditioning Energy Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscles pull from Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) for all their energy needs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When demand is low (aerobic), energy is sustained by oxidative pathways such as burning fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When demand is high (anaerobic), energy comes from glycolysis such as burning sugars.  This happens without oxygen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The aerobic pathways are &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; engaged when the glycolitic pathways are engaged (i.e. you are still getting aerobic work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Longer period aerobic work (jogging) processes the lactate buildup of the anaerobic pathways through the aerobic work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short your choices are burning sugar and fat.  It's not an either/or proposition, when you are doing anaerobic work you are also burning fat just as you would with your aerobic work.  The differences then are in the adaptations on where your muscles look for its main source of energy.  Purely aerobic work will cause your muscles to adapt towards being more efficient at being aerobic--which is the opposite of what you need for weightlifting.  Purely anaerobic work still incorporates the necessary amount of aerobic activity to support the higher demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, when it comes to conditioning you want to condition for the types of stress you would normally encounter, or at least would need to be prepared for.  A 40 yard sprinter would need a different conditioning plan than a relay racer.  A martial artist would have different needs than a football lineman.  In short the conditioning should support the work you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/death_by_prowler_reynolds.pdf&quot;&gt;&quot;Death by Prowler&quot; article by Matt Reynolds&lt;/a&gt; is very informative, and provides a few tips and approaches to customize your conditioning program for your ultimate goals.  While he focuses on the prowler as the tool of choice, there is no reason it won't work for sprints, sledgehammer conditioning, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="2180" LastEditDate="2011-11-01T20:29:13.330" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T20:29:13.330" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-12T17:24:30.920" Score="4" ViewCount="481" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to financial issues (who knew a 7-month-old would be so expensive :)), I'm going to be cancelling my gym membership in the next few weeks.  I do not have weights at home, and I'm hesitant to buy used ones.  Instead, I'm looking to go back to Harry Wong's Dynamic Strength exercises that I was doing about 6 years ago.  They were great, but I want to integrate a good jump-rope workout with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advice on routines for either portion of the workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW - I will also be doing cardio training (non-jump-rope-related) to train for some 5k races coming up (that's the easy part)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T17:15:00.967" Title="Dynamic Strength/Jump Rope workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3772" CreationDate="2011-09-12T18:01:34.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best answer for you really depends on what your overall goals are, whether you are attempting to be in shape for any type of sport, etc.  As a result, the advice in this answer is more generic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic approach for &quot;doing it right&quot; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decide on your goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Develop a plan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Execute it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your results against your goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned &quot;gaining strength&quot;, and one of the primary ways of doing that is lifting weights.  Along with that activity is gaining muscle.  &quot;Shape&quot; is a little more nebulous, and depending on who it's coming from can either refer to conditioning or aesthetics.  I'm assuming you mean conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if lifting weights appeals to you, there are a couple great resources out there for beginners.  I recommend reading this &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Intro to Strength Training&quot;&lt;/a&gt; to help you get started.  It will refer to a couple beginner programs for strength training, and provide some generic information to help you decide between them.  The programs are your first plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to goals, you want to choose goals that are easily measured:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 more pounds on the bar than last time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to bench press my body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to be able to do 12 pullups at one time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part of the goal is that you know when you've achieved it, and it's something you honestly believe you can do.  Don't set out to deadlift 600 lbs right off the bat.  Start with a more modest goal that's above what you can do now.  When you get that goal, increase it and push for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a log of what you did, and how you felt, or if you think you didn't do something quite right.  Review the log with your trainer, or just review it yourself.  It will help you figure out why you might not be hitting the goals you've set for yourself, or let you know when you are really close.  Once you've filled up the log book, start a new one.  The old log book will only be important for a little bit.  You can use pen and paper, or an app on your smart phone, but just keep track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you will have to change your plan/program.  Those changes are required either because of your advancement as an athlete, or because of changes in your more immediate goals.  If you start out with an interest in soccer, but then develop a love for cricket, the style of training will need to be adapted for your new sport of choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T18:01:34.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3771" CreationDate="2011-09-12T20:27:26.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's best to stretch immediately after exercise. When you work out, your muscles are contracting and shortening. Stretching will help lengthen your muscles again, and your muscles will be warmest immediately after your workout. If you wait, your muscles may become stiff. Waiting a couple of minutes (while you cool down for example) is fine, but if you wait a few hours you'll need to warm up again, and you probably still won't get as deep a stretch as you would have after a full workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T20:27:26.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3798" CreationDate="2011-09-13T05:41:49.063" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a little background:  I'm a 5'9&quot; ish 22 years old student and I believe I'm somewhere around 5-10 pounds over the weight I'd like to maintain.  I used to do a lot of sports, especially long distance (marathon scale) running and well be generally a lot healthier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, due to a string of accidents leaving my right knee and left wrist in no shape to be used thoroughly.  I also started spending a lot more time sitting in front of the computer mainly because that's what I'm studying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to the fun part: My wrist has been feeling a lot better and I just got the OK from my doctor to start running again as my knee is in way better shape.  I'm really motivated in getting my shape back up to where it was but I'm lacking the proper organization (my good shape used to come naturally as I was running a lot and practicing martial arts and swimming).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I'm looking for a tool (maybe web/computer/iOS based or just a methodology) that would help me plan my diet and my exercise program.  A couple key things are standing out for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It needs to be able to &lt;strong&gt;tell&lt;/strong&gt; me as precisely as possible what I should cook and eat.  This is the most important part for me as I have no experience in the kitchen whatsoever and it's the area of my health I'm sure I need the most help with.  I can not stress this enough (even if I find it a little sad), I'm sure once I'm started, I'll be able to maintain a healthy diet for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'd like it if it was able to compare my calorie intake/calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1954" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T03:15:22.977" Title="Is there a tool that could help me precisely plan my diet and exercise?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;diet-tools&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-13T05:50:34.133" Score="2" ViewCount="745" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have fat around my Belly, and whenever I try to do Abdomen crunch, I get severe (or massive) muscle cramp in my belly which prevents me from doing anything for next 30 minutes due to intense pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I need to overcome this in order to continue doing it - Is there anything like a warm up can help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6262" LastActivityDate="2011-09-13T08:39:08.290" Title="Severe Muscle cramp during abdomen crunch" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3787" CreationDate="2011-09-13T08:39:08.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on many thing and &lt;strong&gt;I would recommend consulting a doctor before continuing on.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;Having said that crunches are meant to do this &lt;br&gt;&lt;code&gt;Remember what superman said no pain no gain&lt;/code&gt; :)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure not to drink too much water or eat too much food before exercise. I am not asking to dehydrate yourself at all but stay away from excess water during exercise and just have enough food as to not collapse due to lack of energy but you do not need a full stomach either.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Other than that you should be happy and enjoy this because this is the fruit of your hardwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1925" LastActivityDate="2011-09-13T08:39:08.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3766" CreationDate="2011-09-13T12:33:13.497" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, you are burning &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; calories than when you are experienced--particularly if you are increasing load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longer answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/118-using-a-heart-rate-monitor/&quot;&gt;own experimentation with my Polar heart rate monitor&lt;/a&gt; I have found that the calories burned is a &lt;em&gt;function of the amount of work being done&lt;/em&gt;.  The more experienced you become, the more adapted your body becomes to the type of work you give it.  Your range of motion improves, the amount of additional load (weight) you can handle also increases, and the amount of work you are doing increases.  As you get stronger, you either increase your muscle mass or become more efficient using them.  This in turn improves your metabolism, which will burn more calories even while sitting still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason a new exercise is hard at first is because your muscles are not used to working that way yet.  You can't use all the potential energy you have until you acquire both the skill (muscle coordination) and strength to do it properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more you work the more you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-13T12:33:13.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3792" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3794" CreationDate="2011-09-13T12:46:41.707" Score="1" ViewCount="1593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interesed in getting prepared for a 10km race, and also increase the muscles size of my shoulders and arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this, I am working at home with weights to work shoulders and triceps one day, rest next day, biceps and pectoral third day, and rest one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the weights, I am running about 6 km (33 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: is this the best way to increase the muscles size? should I rather run the days in which I am resting now instead of the same day in which I do weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1953" LastEditorUserId="1953" LastEditDate="2011-09-13T13:11:05.537" LastActivityDate="2011-09-13T14:15:23.800" Title="Running the same day as lifting weights?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3786" CreationDate="2011-09-13T12:58:40.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you're looking for a personal dietitian. There are few tools that can replace that kind of skill and education. There are some incredibly strict diets that do dictate every meal, but most people fail with them because they quickly find portions they don't like and it falls apart from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really need the structure of a planned diet and you don't want to hire a personal consultant, you could pick-up an old Weight Watchers or other national diet plan and flip to the maintenance section. They often have example meals that you could take as your plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for using a calories in/out calculator, those are just guides and it would be better to monitor your body to see if you need an over all increase or decrease. Trying to plan out by individual day activity isn't practical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-09-13T12:58:40.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3792" CreationDate="2011-09-13T14:15:23.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are goals that are somewhat in conflict with each other; however, the basic answer to your question has to do with rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to build bigger and/or stronger muscles, you need to manage both the stress that causes change to happen and the rest that allows the change to happen.  Lifting weights is the stress that tells your body that it needs to adapt (get bigger, get stronger, etc.).  Rest is just as important.  It's during periods of rest that your body is able to hypercompensate and build up the muscle.  (Practical Programming for Strength Training, Dr. Kilgore and Mark Rippetoe)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that basic understanding, it is best to do both your heavy conditioning work and your weight lifting work on the same day.  The only time you may consider changing that is very low impact &lt;em&gt;active recovery&lt;/em&gt; work.  Essentially if you walked your 10k (heart rate in the active recovery zone) on the in-between day, it would help you deplete the lactic acid buildup from your heavy work day.  It wouldn't build any speed, but it helps your body recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's always important to order the exercises in your program in order of importance.  In short if the conditioning for running is more important than your strength, the order of work should reflect that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, why I said your goals are somewhat in conflict with each other is due to the metabolic pathways needed for the different type of work.  Long distance running requires a more aerobic (or mildly anaerobic) metabolic conditioning, whereas weightlifting is primarily anaerobic.  Your body will make the best choices it can to balance the demands you are putting on it, but you will not be a great runner or a great lifter.  At some point in the future (and it may be years) you will hit a wall and will have to choose which you want to specialize in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-13T14:15:23.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3802" CreationDate="2011-09-13T17:12:56.737" Score="1" ViewCount="533" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got into triathlon about 2 years ago and developed ITBS last year. It was severely debilitating. After seeing a specialist, taking the specialists advice, which consisted of: a 6-8 month break, a start back into running/cycling with shorter distances and longer stretch periods prior and after exercise, myofascial release with a foam roller. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty clear things have gotten a lot better. Having said that, while my right leg is all but recovered, the outer part of my left patella (outer knee) still exhibits pain from time to time after I run. Any advise? I stretch and use the foam foller daily as preventive self-maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1959" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T17:44:40.403" Title="ITBS recovery methods, techniques, advice" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3799" CreationDate="2011-09-14T00:38:42.100" Score="6" ViewCount="2070" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exercise frequently: running, cycling, football at least 5 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have a sizable gut. This is due to a few factors: I sit all day at work, high calorie intake from soft drink and other junk food (usually on the weekends for lunch, not every day), Aussie love of beer. I think I only need to lose about 5 - 8 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past week or so I have cut out the soft drink, beer and cut out junk food on weekends. However, from day one that I stopped drinking soft drink and my daily beer with my evening meal I noticed that I am voraciously hungry. I have been eating almost two evening meals because I am so hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may be way off the mark, but my assumption is the body is trying to compensate for the calories it is loosing from me dropping the soft drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm confused as to what I should be doing. It seems counterproductive for me to eat more food while I am trying to lose weight, but I'm just so damn hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a typical before and after of what I have removed and what I have added to give you some indication of what I am eating to compensate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Equivalent of 2 cans of coke per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 beer per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added 1x spoonfull of sugar to my breakfast cereal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 extra pieces of fruit (banana, orange, pear, apple etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra medium serve of rice with boiled vegetables approx. 1 hour after my evening meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra slice of bread &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; plain biscuits &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; handful of nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is otherwise pretty healthy: plenty of fruit, veg and water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems I have just replaced calorie for calorie with better options, but am I going to lose weight in this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that can be described as high energy low calorie food that I would be better eating instead? I prefer something non-processed (no shakes, energy bars etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-09-14T01:27:41.963" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T10:53:52.653" Title="How to lose weight while being hungry after exercising heavily?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3786" CreationDate="2011-09-14T01:26:38.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;On my iPhone I have RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run Keeper is great because it tracks via GPS where you have run, elevation, time and also provides an estimate on the calories burned. It also helps track a variety of different activities e.g. cycling, running, walking etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Preamble: I do not work for or benefit from MyFitnessPal, it's a free app on the iTunes store and so far has a 5 star rating and hundreds of positive reviews. I just like it a lot.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MyFitnessPal is awesome, I can't say enough good things about it. It revolves around a daily diary which reflects your calorie target for the day at the top. You enter what you eat and the number of calories is adjusted accordingly. It also allows you to enter exercise records which you can bring across from RunKeeper (manually). Calories from exercise are also reflected in the daily total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other great thing about MyFitnessPal is you can scan barcodes of products that you are eating, it has thousands of products in the database and it is all free. So if I am eating yoghurt I just scan the barcode, enter the serving size and the calories are automically included as the item is added to the daily diary. The diary is also split into different meal times, snacks etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't tell you exactly what to eat, however, you can easily search the database of meals, pick out something that is tasty and meets your calorie target and cook that. I eat a lot of traditional Chinese meals and the database has so far had everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also save a particular group of foods e.g. your breakfast and re-use it later without having to enter the items over again or copy from one date to another. This is particularly useful for myself who eats almost the same meal every day for breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only just discovered MyFitnessPal, but it's so easy to use and works well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2011-09-14T03:15:22.977" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T03:15:22.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3797" CreationDate="2011-09-14T02:26:22.553" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have replaced sugar with other carbohydrate rich foods, which still raise your blood sugar and make you hungry, but don't have quite as many calories. Try satiating foods that do not contain many carbohydrate such as cheese, meat, or eggs. You can match the same number of calories, but you will feel less hungry if you use fat and protein rich foods instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I was also trying to be less hungry between breakfast and lunch, so I exchanged my oatmeal breakfast with the same number of calories of scrambled eggs (2 eggs, 1 ounce of cheese, a little butter). As I hoped, I do not get hungry before lunch any more. An unintended consequence was that I lost 10 pounds in 2 months when I was not trying to lose weight. Your mileage may vary regarding weight loss, but I would place a bet that you will be less hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T02:26:22.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3805" CreationDate="2011-09-14T02:44:13.400" Score="0" ViewCount="10330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently over heard a discussion about how mixing ice in your protein shake will make it much harder to burn off the fat in your body.  Something about the fact that ice freezes the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just a myth or true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would imagine that the more ice and cold water you consume the more calories you burn and more fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="328" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T10:36:24.243" Title="Ice in protein shake" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;&lt;food-preparation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2675" CreationDate="2011-09-14T05:18:48.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ended up going with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ospreypacks.com/en/product/mens_1_1/viper_4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Viper 4 by Osprey&lt;/a&gt;, which is quite small (only enough extra room for keys/phone, and to attach helmet on the outside). It comes with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ospreypacks.com/en/product/mens_1_1/hydraform_reservoir_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;best bladder/hose/bite valve system&lt;/a&gt; I've seen. Got it on special at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paddypallin.com.au/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paddy Pallin&lt;/a&gt; in Melbourne for $70.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1343" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T05:18:48.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3796" CreationDate="2011-09-14T17:44:40.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you have already had treatment and are doing regular stretching and foam rolling these would be my suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I’d definitely try the &lt;strong&gt;kinesiotape&lt;/strong&gt; that I mentioned in the comments, esp. since ITBFS  (iliotibial band friction syndrome) has an inflammatory component and the tape helps improve circulation and lymphatic flow to reduce inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look at your &lt;strong&gt;running surfaces&lt;/strong&gt;: &#xA;Level surfaces cause less strain so try to avoid running hills.&#xA;Run on alternate sides of the road to avoid one leg always being on the outer slope. &#xA;Try a shorter stride.  Increase your runs very gradually.&#xA;For &lt;strong&gt;cycling&lt;/strong&gt;: Check that your seat is not too high or that your bike cleats rotate your legs in too much.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that you are hydrating well.  Icing after your run may help to reduce inflammation. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If those don't help, check back with your practitioner to see if this is still part of your ITBFS  or something new.  For instance, you said the pain is on the side of the patella (not actually over the femoral condyle).  If the pain is patellar pain, that may be a different cause.  Check for myofascial trigger points in the quads, hamstrings and glutes that may be referring pain to the lateral knee.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your &lt;strong&gt;muscle strength&lt;/strong&gt;: Weakness anywhere along the chain can throw off your biomechanics and put more stress on your TFL (tensor fascia lata) and ITB.  Check your:&#xA;Abdominals, back and core.  Hip strength - hip abductors (specifically the &lt;strong&gt;gluteus medius&lt;/strong&gt;), adductors and rotators, as well as the gluteus maximus. &#xA;Knee strength - quads and hamstrings.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ask them about shoe recommendations and any &lt;strong&gt;alignment problems&lt;/strong&gt;: esp. leg length difference,  foot/ankle - like excessive pronation and whether or not &lt;strong&gt;orthotics&lt;/strong&gt; would help.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check for any residual &lt;strong&gt;muscle tightness&lt;/strong&gt;:  - Glutes, &lt;strong&gt;Piriformis&lt;/strong&gt;, TFL/ITB. -  Hip flexors: iliopsoas and rectus femoris. -  Quads and Hamstrings.  - Calf and heel cords (gastroc and soleus)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take your video camera with you so that you can video the correct form of any stretching or strengthening exercises you are given.  Also, you can video your running biomechanics on the treadmill to look for any functional alignment problems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a nice article on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_4249.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ITB and cycling&lt;/a&gt; that includes the &lt;strong&gt;piriformis stretch&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;gluteus medius strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; exercises (in addition to the ITB stretches).  Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T17:44:40.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3797" CreationDate="2011-09-14T18:48:30.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Xiao, in my opinion you need to remodel your insulin response curves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice this answer for some info:  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3238/what-should-i-eat-to-recover-from-eating-only-raw-fruits-and-vegetables-for-6-m/3247#3247&quot;&gt;What should I eat to recover from eating only `raw&amp;#39; fruits and vegetables for 6 months?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the short story is: hugely reduce the amount of carbs you eat.  And do so for some months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There is no difference between bread, fruit, pasta, pure white sugar, bread, potatoes, etc. It's all just CHO molecules.  There's no difference.  You might as well just eat pure white sugar if you're going to eat carbs.  If you eat long-chain CHO molecules, your body simply separates them into ordinary CHO molecules almost instantly - no difference at all.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AND increase the amount of pure fat you eat. Try lots of wonderful full cream, cheese, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take I would say TWO MONTHS for your body to normalize. (Note the graph reproduced above.)  Then you will have tremendous energy all the time.  For example, I can easily eat no food for a day or two, with no hunger at all, even if running for an hour or two. (Plus I am very old, and was very fat!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it helps you! I urge you to read as much as possible on the topic, eg., Dr Lutz book &quot;Leben Ohne Brot&quot; as the info may help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again the point is it will take you A COUPLE OF MONTHS to reshape your glucose response curves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T18:48:30.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3717" CreationDate="2011-09-14T21:01:07.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an inforgraphic that explains the relationship between sleep and exercise very well:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/arT2x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1964" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-21T01:58:26.487" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T01:58:26.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3800" CreationDate="2011-09-14T23:43:03.563" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding ice to a protein shake could temporarily change the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_matter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;state&lt;/a&gt; of certain fats (i.e. from liquid to solid), but this &lt;strong&gt;does not change how hard it is to burn off the fat&lt;/strong&gt; once it's in your body. Firstly, by the time fats get absorbed into the body from the digestive tract, they have likely been heated to body temperature. Secondly, regardless of the state of fat (solid, liquid, etc.), the energy required to burn it off is 9 kcal/gram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As VPeric mentioned above, the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3709/is-consuming-cold-water-in-the-morning-linked-to-weight-loss&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; provides evidence against the idea that consuming cold water significantly increases caloric expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one problem I could see with drinking an ice cold protein shake is that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1433604/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hot and cold drinks delay gastric emptying&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (slow your stomach's emptying into the intestines), which could cause problems; for example, if you drink a protein shake before working out, having it sit around in your stomach for longer could cause discomfort and the nutrients would not be available to your muscles as quickly as with a more neutral-temperature drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-14T23:43:03.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3817" CreationDate="2011-09-15T03:23:13.920" Score="6" ViewCount="1925" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a beginning runner and have only done a 5K, but I probably run about 3-4 times per week.  I'm have pretty seriously flat feet and wear orthopedics in my shoes that were fitted by a foot doc.  I started wearing them after a lengthy backpacking trip that resulted in my not being able to walk.  We had to cut the trip short due to knee pain.  It turns out the doc said something to the effect of my tendons were not tracking properly over my knees and I developed tendinitis in both knees.  Also, I could rarely stand barefoot for any length of time without heel pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this said, I've read here about the Five Fingers shoes and the benefits of running barefoot, or nearly barefoot.  Is this something that I should attempt?  Some have said that despite flat feet they saw huge improvement in foot strength which led to less feet problems.  I read another that said running in FF's with flat feet caused some terrible ankle pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I determine what is right for me prior to investing in new shoes?  Also, I'm not even sure what it means to run with the &quot;proper&quot; form since I find it strange that we're now supposed to be running on the balls of our feet?  As a kid I was always told that was bad form.  Interesting.  I only know that I can currently run without any pain but the idea of strengthening appeals to me since that would mean less reliance on the shoe inserts.&#xA;Thanks much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1965" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T11:54:14.207" Title="Flat feet running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-15T03:42:44.410" Score="4" ViewCount="4892" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kinetic-gps/id369324269?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kinetic&lt;/a&gt; to measure my regular excercise routine (walking). It calculates / estimates the amount of calories burned during that period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering how accurate (generally speaking) these sort of calculations are? Are calories easy to calculate with tasks such as walking and I should trust it fairly well? Or are they usually bad enough that I should allow for about 50% allowance each way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1967" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:10.523" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:10.523" Title="how accurate are the calorie counters on iPhone apps?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-09-15T07:01:03.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are like most people you probably take long strides while running. If you take really short strides you have less up-down movement of your body and the backpack doesn't bounce as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1970" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T07:01:03.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-09-15T08:46:47.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to run with a camelbak ... it wasn't a very small one either. If you don't clip the straps together across your chest it will go all over the place, but if you do clip the straps together it stays in place very well. This was with about 2l of water, my phone and wallet in the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1967" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T08:46:47.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-09-15T12:47:15.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem to you where I wanted to run to football (soccer) with my boots in a bag and have room for various other items (money, drink etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution I found was to look for a trail running bag. I don't do trail running but I found they were the best bags to get as they are designed to stay close to your body without jumping up and down and to carry enough equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a bit of research, I found the company inov-8 and their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inov-8.com/Products-Detail.asp?PG=PG2&amp;amp;L=26&amp;amp;P=5050973245&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bags&lt;/a&gt;. They aren't super cheap but they fit a surprising amount of equipment in them and they cling to my body very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T12:47:15.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-09-15T14:06:04.080" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can deal with looking like a total nutter, then you might consider a load bearing vest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aFxvs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They distribute the weight, and some people use them to load weight (good for weighted pull-ups if you put rocks/baking sundries in the pockets). They hold quite a lot, but aren't great for paper or books. Some have lots of straps, so I could imagine rigging a laptop sleeve to the back of one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will look like some sort of militant survival fantasist though. You can get a black one if you're feeling tactical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-10-13T11:59:40.010" LastActivityDate="2011-10-13T11:59:40.010" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3771" CreationDate="2011-09-15T14:10:26.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I aim to be sweating significantly after my warm up. You can do this in 5 minutes with somewhat high intensity movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T14:10:26.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3807" CreationDate="2011-09-15T18:05:46.900" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before investing in new shoes, I would ask your foot  doctor whether or not your foot condition will be able to tolerate barefoot running.  Also, ask about ways to strengthen the arch and foot muscles, in a less demanding way than with barefoot running.  The following exercises are examples of how to strengthen the foot and arch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nlpWluWrtM&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;Foot push ups and arch curls&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEqqyyCRHbA&quot;&gt;Pilates based video&lt;/a&gt; includes tennis ball massage for the arch, towel pleats and scrunches, toe raises and a lot of instruction :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/7vZVq3ov914?t=24s&quot;&gt;Toe Raises&lt;/a&gt; with emphasis of the posterior tibialis   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance exercises on a wobble board&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for proper running form (in shoes), there are different thoughts.  If you land on your heel, you are probably landing with your leg too far out in front of you.  This can cause a variety of injuries. &#xA;Toe running is usually seen with sprinting, not longer distance running because the up and down motion will fatigue the calf muscles over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than landing on the toe or heel, you can land on your mid-foot, the ball of the foot or between the heel and mid-foot.  This video describes the &lt;a href=&quot;http://video.about.com/running/Proper-Running-Form.htm&quot;&gt;proper form&lt;/a&gt; as landing mid-foot with your foot directly beneath you.   Generally, you land on the outside edge of your foot behind your little toe, and roll in to push off with your big toe (pronate).   In your case, your orthotics control the amount of pronation so that you don’t roll in too far.  This controls the alignment of your ankle, knee and hip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are new to running and are pain-free with your orthotics, you may want to stay with the orthotics until you build up your running endurance.  Then you can try some short distance barefoot walking to see how your joints respond. If and/or when you do try barefoot running, work up very gradually.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T18:05:46.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1904" CreationDate="2011-09-15T20:08:53.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One food that you may want to consider adding or increasing the amount you have in your diet are &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-avocados-i9037&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Avocados&lt;/a&gt;. They are very nutrient dense and would most likely assist you in gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1977" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T20:08:53.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3807" CreationDate="2011-09-15T21:05:49.920" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barefoot running puts a lot more stress on your feet and knees than running with good running shoes. Shoes that fit properly and with good cushioning are much better on your feet and knees. If you go to a store that specializes in running shoes, you can get someone to see what kind of shoe is good for your particular foot and running style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.podiatry-arena.com/podiatry-forum/showthread.php?t=48566&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anecdotal evidence&lt;/a&gt; that barefoot running can cause metatarsal stress fractures and plantar fasciitis. &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2010/05/features/the-barefoot-running-injury-epidemic_10118/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There has been an increase in injuries from barefoot running recently, but there has also been an increase in barefoot runners.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsonesource.com/news/fbu/fbu_article.asp?section=8&amp;amp;Prod=5&amp;amp;id=42190&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vibram has been sued&lt;/a&gt; in a class action lawsuit over health claims pertaining to its FiveFingers running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastEditorUserId="1895" LastEditDate="2012-04-06T02:37:13.487" LastActivityDate="2012-04-06T02:37:13.487" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3808" CreationDate="2011-09-15T22:14:00.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;All devices that display a &quot;calories burned&quot; number are showing &lt;em&gt;estimates&lt;/em&gt; based on mathematical formulas. The formulas have been calibrated by gathering data from real people, but there are a lot of variables that affect how many calories you burn, and it's impossible to take them all into account. However, the more variables your program measures, the more likely it is to be accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One very important variable is your weight. Does the device or app you're using ask you to input your weight? If not, it is likely highly inaccurate, since the calorie cost of exercise will vary significantly depending on a person's size. Does it count your steps? That will improve its accuracy. Does it take speed/distance into account, possibly using GPS? That will improve its accuracy. Does it know (again possibly using GPS data) if you're going up/down hill? That will improve its accuracy. Are you wearing a heart rate monitor, and is the device getting data from that? that will improve its accuracy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more variables the device has available to it, the better it can guess. The more unknowns there are, the more the numbers may skew toward some &quot;average&quot; or &quot;typical&quot; person's numbers, which may be very different from yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in the best circumstances, the estimates will likely be off. For example, in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/exercise-calorie-counters-work/story?id=9966500&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article from Good Morning America/ABC News&lt;/a&gt;, a study conducted by The University of California is discussed where 4 different exercise machines calorie claims were compared with VO2 tests (a measure of calories burned by examining the amount of oxygen being consumed by a person's breathing). These are the results they found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;On average, the machines overestimated by 19 percent and the watches overestimated by 28 percent.&#xA;&#xA;Here's the breakdown:&#xA;&#xA;Treadmill: Overestimated calories burnt by 13 percent.&#xA;Stationary Bike: Overestimated calories burnt by 7 percent.&#xA;Stair Climber: Overestimated calories burnt by 12 percent.&#xA;Elliptical: overestimated calories burnt by 42 percent.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/treadmillrunning/f/treadmillcaloriecounter.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;About.com article&lt;/a&gt; talks a bit more about the difficulty of estimating calories on a treadmill, and suggests that machines tend to overestimate. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/heart/9909/07/cardiomachine.accuracy/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another article from CNN&lt;/a&gt;. I don't know how similar &lt;i&gt;Kinetic&lt;/i&gt; is to any of these machines, but it seems to me to be most like the &quot;fitness watch&quot; class of device. I searched for a study on the calorie-counting accuracy of pedometers, but didn't find anything authoritative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, the calorie numbers given by machines are estimates that be can off, especially if the machine isn't tracking many variables. If the device or app is taking into account distance, weight, incline, heart rate, and other variables, then it's probably as good of an estimate as you can reasonably get. But still, &lt;b&gt;you should recognize that it would not be unusual for your device to be off by 20% or so&lt;/b&gt;, depending on the circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T22:14:00.063" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-16T00:13:53.520" Score="5" ViewCount="3047" Body="&lt;p&gt;2-4x/wk, I exercise from about 5:30--7pm (1 hr of weights + 4mi treadmill at 7:30-8:00 pace).  I'd say I work out from a 5 to 8 on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being highest intensity. I then shower, dine...and afterwards typically feel rather tired and low-energy until bedtime, such that I am fairly ineffective for much beyond just kind of taking it easy.  Sometimes this occurs a day or so after a workout.  I'd much prefer to have more energy, but also wish to have reasonable fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing I've found that is most consistently correlated with retaining energy post-workout is my fitness level, unsurprisingly.  If I haven't been working out in months and try this, it is like a truck hit me.  If I am in good shape, it's not as severe.  I do try to do what I can in terms of eating, drinking, and sleeping properly.  My diet is largely vegetarian, fairly health conscious, and I drink sufficient water.  I could probably sleep better, and am working on that (that might be a big component).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:  Do I simply have to accept that I'll have this sort of energy drop, or is there a way to mitigate it significantly? If so, how?  How much should one's age matter?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T13:59:59.923" Title="What to expect in terms of post-exercise fatigue and what to do about it" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5103" CreationDate="2011-09-16T01:38:12.487" Score="0" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that doing 30 minutes of cardio consumes several energy, and doing more than 30 minutes burns fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many reps of cardio activity do you suggest to make my abdomen hard?&#xA;Also how many minutes of cardio do you recommend. I have these measurements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Eaist:  92.9  cm&#xA;Hip:    103.5 cm&#xA;Weight:  79.5 kg&#xA;Height: 1.77  m &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1968" LastEditorUserId="2716" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T19:30:57.507" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T15:45:54.237" Title="How many reps are necessary to make a good abdomen?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3833" CreationDate="2011-09-16T05:10:35.430" Score="7" ViewCount="547" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an incredibly wet climate so there is absolutely no way for me to go on a run (or outside for that matter) without getting my running shoes soaked (and generally myself as well). Despite being very diligent with cleaning my shoes after a run, pulling the insoles and drying them out (by placing them next to an oil monitor and using in-shoe &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0000TSILY&quot;&gt;boot dryers&lt;/a&gt;) they &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt; reek. I mean, I can smell them across the room... it's like being back on the fishing boat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried baking soda, Febreeze, freezing them... everything short of running them through the washer with a little bleach (I think that's next).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you keep your running shoes from smelling horrible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastEditorDisplayName="user1978" LastEditDate="2011-09-16T19:16:26.373" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T23:25:32.500" Title="Get rid of running shoe stank?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-16T10:39:35.043" Score="6" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an 11 year old kid on the football team that I coach that has a slip from his doctor that states that he is unable to run laps.  He is permitted to do everything else, and can even run as many sprints as we want.  I am very uncomfortable with these instructions.  I can run the kid 6 x 100 yard sprints, but I can't have him run a 400 yard lap?  What happens to me when he drops on the 5th 100 yard sprint?  My philosophy as a coach has always been your are physically able to do 100% or you don't participate.  I understand that if a kid has a sprained wrist he can run but he can't do push-ups.  However, I want him released 100%.  I'm not going to have him reinjure something and me be held responsible.  The doctor needs to release him to do everything at practice.  Has anybody heard of such a medical condition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1979" LastEditorUserId="1837" LastEditDate="2011-09-24T20:36:07.417" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T16:30:30.333" Title="Is there a medical condition that prevents running laps but allows all other exercise?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2011-09-16T11:10:50.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meade Rubenstein's and timanzo's answers are great but what they didn't mention and I think is important is the tempo you push/pull weights. For a faster muscle growth it's recommended to vary your tempo every (two) week(s), so one week you push/pull the weight very slow and the other you push/pull it fast. Writing it down gives you an overview of how you vary your training and sometimes your able to push/pull more weight when doing the excersice fast or slow that's why you should also add this information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastActivityDate="2011-09-16T11:10:50.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3823" CreationDate="2011-09-16T11:31:24.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same issue about 2 years ago, some of it is as you stated - fitness level.  I would recommend adding vita-water mix in while working out - I found drinking vitawater (I use the powder form) added significantly to the reduction of post workout fatigue. Another suggestion would be to ramp up when you've been away from a steady exercise routine instead of jumping in the deep end and pushing a one hour workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-16T11:31:24.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3858" CreationDate="2011-09-16T15:03:28.543" Score="1" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that there are spike shoes (for running) with permanent spikes. But often most that I've seen are rubber spikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically I was wondering is there such a thing as non-rubber permanent spike shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="1473" LastEditDate="2011-09-19T16:25:45.557" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T16:25:45.557" Title="Are there permanent spikes that are not rubber?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-09-16T15:44:55.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a Nathan trail running pack. I've used Nathan, Camelbak and some other designs. The Nathan is more comfortable than the Camelbak because it hugs you more and therefore distributes the weight around your core better - and in a more balanced fashion. Certainly, around here nearly every runner I know uses Nathan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The larger packs can carry quite a lot of stuff. After all, they're designed to carry 2L of fluid, clothing and some safety gear for up to 30km at a time. I'd suggest that getting anything bigger is going to slow your running down too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-09-16T15:44:55.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3825" CreationDate="2011-09-17T03:45:38.127" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fungicide will usually fix this, such as Desenex spray or something similar. Bleach is kind of hard on running shoes -- use it sparingly if at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-17T03:45:38.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3854" CreationDate="2011-09-17T05:54:56.247" Score="2" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/focus/nutrition/facts/lifestylemanagement/carbohydrates.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article about carbohydrates&lt;/a&gt; and was wondering which I should consume before starting an exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple carbohydrates or the complex ones? And does it really matter or anything goes? Does it depend on which are fastest to get digested?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T14:37:04.070" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T14:37:04.070" Title="Which carbohydrates should be consumed before starting an exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3829" CreationDate="2011-09-17T12:36:22.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen golf shoes with metal spikes, but those aren't for running. I can't say that I've seen any running shoes with spikes/cleats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="126" LastActivityDate="2011-09-17T12:36:22.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3825" CreationDate="2011-09-17T21:04:23.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running them through the washer usually results in shoe disintegration. Dry them, bag them and leave them in the freezer for a day. Use fungicidal talcum powder before and after the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1985" LastActivityDate="2011-09-17T21:04:23.280" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3835" CreationDate="2011-09-17T22:01:32.610" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say go for the complex ones (like e.g. rice as opposed to candy or soda), because you don't want your bloodsugar to spike and crash too early in your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="718" LastActivityDate="2011-09-17T22:01:32.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3781" CreationDate="2011-09-17T22:15:01.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found Pavel Tsatsouline's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045555&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Naked Warrior&lt;/a&gt; to be a good source of bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1985" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-09-18T11:08:23.477" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T11:08:23.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3842" CreationDate="2011-09-18T00:41:12.273" Score="9" ViewCount="812" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a college runner with a 14 month injury that doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I decided I may as well take up weight-training instead.  I absolutely hate lifting weights, but, uh, apparently girls don't find 135 lb runners with a 15:20 5k attractive.  Who knew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to come up with a weight workout routine, but honestly I have no idea where to begin.  My only goal is to get a &quot;normal&quot; or slightly above normal amount of strength as quickly as possible, so I don't look like a stick (my arms are thinner than most girls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that for running, twice a day and 100 miles a week gets you good pretty quickly, but I've heard some people say that's its not good to lift weights every day.  Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And do I want to do low reps, high weight, or high reps, low weight, or somewhere in between?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't even know what sorts of things to do.  Machines or free weights?  How long of a workout -- 30 minutes, an hour and half?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1288" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T05:16:32.623" Title="How to get stronger (mostly upper body)?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3840" CreationDate="2011-09-18T04:07:42.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you hate lifting weights, you could try other means of building the upper body. Gymnastics exercises for example are great for building upper body strength. Working on the rings is an especially good way to work upper body strength. One good resource for gymnastics strength training is &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticbodies.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gymnasticbodies.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1986" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T04:07:42.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3840" CreationDate="2011-09-18T04:09:34.560" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need to lift weights every day.  Your muscles need recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do want to lift every day, you'd rotate so that you're exercising different muscle groups on different days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should let any specific muscle group recover for 2-3 days after working it.  If you're exercising your whole body at each workout (which is more normal for beginners), then you would exercise 2-3 days a week, with at 1-2 days of rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can mix machines and free weights.  In the long run, free weights are &quot;better&quot;, but it's easier to get started with machines, and then mix in free-weight exercises as your strength improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding reps/weight:  start with a weight where you can do between 6 and 15 reps, and do 2-4 sets.  When a weight gets easy and you get to the higher range, then increase the weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while, this will get awfully boring, and your body will get used to it.  Then it's time to mix it up - do high weight/low reps for a while, and then switch to low weight/high reps.  It'll make it more interesting, and your body will have to work harder to deal with the change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to stretch.  Also, if your injuries permit, try to keep some kind of cardio exercise in the mix -- maybe on the days you're not lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1987" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T04:09:34.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3825" CreationDate="2011-09-18T11:44:44.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had been told that instead of a washing machine, consider a dish washer.  But I imagine it is not too easy on the shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you could cook some salmon at the same time in there if you wanted too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I too suffer from stinky shoe syndrome.  I leave mine outside on the porch to annoy the dogs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T11:44:44.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-18T12:41:02.813" Score="1" ViewCount="807" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running high-school cross-country for about a month now, and I'm just starting to have pain on the side of my left foot. When I put pressure on my left mid-foot, then there is a sharp pain on the left side of my left foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be a reptitive stress fracture? Or just a muscle strain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1988" LastActivityDate="2012-01-17T23:43:56.230" Title="Post-Running Foot Pain" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-18T14:46:12.373" Score="2" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness&quot;&gt;Daily stretch routine to increase flexibilty and overall fitness?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run to keep fit, but a combination of poor warm up/down routines and hours at a desk every day have lead to very stiff muscles - I can barely touch my knees let alone my toes. Are there any good resources for a daily stretching routine, ideally no more than 20-30 mins, that can help me regain flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1989" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T21:59:39.273" Title="Where can I get instructions for a daily stretching routine?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2011-09-19T19:40:40.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3844" CreationDate="2011-09-18T15:06:46.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a fracture, but more likely just tendons and joints. You can get an x-ray to see. Try a different pair of running shoes, if you have them, and make sure they're not laced too tight. Also, elastic shoestrings can cause this sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T15:06:46.623" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3850" CreationDate="2011-09-18T18:52:40.977" Score="7" ViewCount="1679" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a run (cross country, mixed terrain, ~4 miles) I sometimes get knee pain. The pain is located beneath the knee cap. It goes away after a while, but sometimes resurfaces if I'm walking. I've tried wearing a tubigrip around the joint when running, but it doesn't seem to help. Is this serious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1989" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T13:29:40.543" Title="Knee pain when running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3845" CreationDate="2011-09-18T21:59:39.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness/2941#2941&quot;&gt;Daily stretch routine to increase flexibilty and overall fitness?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then since you are a runner, you most likely need stretches for your lower extremities, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heel cords - gastroc and soleus &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quads&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hip flexors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hip abductors and lateral thigh&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hip adductors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hip rotators - internal and external&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, given your prolonged sitting you will want to make sure that you stretch your spine and trunk muscles.  I like Joseph Weisberg’s 3 Minute overall stretch.    Ming Chew also has a nice set of stretches for the spine and fascia.  Then they each also have good stretches for individual muscles where you need emphasis.  For more detail on these two &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stretching.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;books&lt;/a&gt;.  20 - 30 minutes is plenty of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The foam roller is a nice method for massaging and releasing tight muscles by yourself.   For example, here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9aJtO0VCqw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video using a foam roller&lt;/a&gt; to release the TFL/ITBand.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A stretching strap helps esp. with hamstring and hip flexor/quad stretches.   This video shows how to combine a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxu5lzpxX0Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stretch out strap with a PNF contract - relax&lt;/a&gt; method.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T21:59:39.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3875" CreationDate="2011-09-19T02:28:34.553" Score="6" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the dangers of open water swimming in winter? What do you do to avoid them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T21:18:07.200" Title="Open water swimming in winter" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3847" CreationDate="2011-09-19T03:32:35.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain beneath the knee cap can have many causes. Most often, it's caused by your biomechanics being a bit off so your knee cap is tracking badly as your leg moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be referred pain from some other problem in the area. (Referred pain: the nerves are shared so pain in one spot can feel like it's coming from somewhere else).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to see a physiotherapist and ask their opinion. I would expect some strengthening exercises, some co-ordination excercises and possibly some stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T03:32:35.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3857" CreationDate="2011-09-19T10:37:59.930" Score="3" ViewCount="999" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had decided to bike a longer route than I usually do and ended up getting caught in the rain and biked back to my car with some extreme leg cramps. It was extremely painful, but I didn't want to get caught past dark in the rain and the trip back was a little less than 2 hours. I had barely made it back before my legs completely locked up, but the cramps gradually let up and I was able to walk normally again with just some minor muscle soreness. I understand that the situation that I put myself in was preventable, but I was curious if &lt;strong&gt;there is any permanent damage done when pushing through cramps when exercising.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1977" LastEditorUserId="1977" LastEditDate="2011-09-19T10:53:05.313" LastActivityDate="2017-06-15T21:07:10.603" Title="Is there permanent damage done when exercising through cramps?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3847" CreationDate="2011-09-19T10:43:42.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of possibilities from my own experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the left/right shoe or both shoes worn out?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you running on hard surfaces (e.g. stone or rough ground)? This is for street running so it may not apply, but I've found running on pavements, combined with old worn out shoes caused the exact same part of my left knee to hurt. New shoes and running on the smoother tarmac of the road helped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another possibility: do you pronate on the other foot?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it still doesn't get better, there's always the flat bouncy treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T10:43:42.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3835" CreationDate="2011-09-19T10:48:59.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What type of exercise? If it's short burst exercise such as the anaerobic exercise of body building, then simple carbohydrates are better: baked potato with cheese. For long aerobic exercise such as marathon running, slow burning complex carbohydrates work best - pitta breads, pasta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1408105381&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This book&lt;/a&gt; goes into a lot more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whether to eat high GI or low GI foods pre-exercise has long been a&#xA;  controversial area. Many experts recommend a low GI meal based on the&#xA;  idea that such a meal would supply sustained energy during exercise.&#xA;  Indeed, a number of well-designed studies carried out at the&#xA;  University of Sydney have supported this recommendation. For example,&#xA;  the researchers found that when a group of cyclists ate a low GI&#xA;  pre-exercise meal of lentils (GI = 29) 1 hour before exercise, they&#xA;  managed to keep going 20 minutes longer than when they consumed high&#xA;  GI foods (glucose drinks, GI = 100; or baked potatoes, GI = 85)&#xA;  (Thomas et al., 1991)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] This isn't necessarily rule of thumb as other studies have found&#xA;  that the GI of the pre-exercise meal has little effect on performance,&#xA;  with cyclists managing to keep going for the same duration whether&#xA;  they ate lentils or potatoes (Febbraio &amp;amp; Stewart, 1996).    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A UK study confirmed that athletes burn more fat during exercise following a low&#xA;  GI meal of bran cereal, fruit and milk compared with a high GI meal of&#xA;  cornflakes, white break, jam and sports drink (Wu et al., 2003). The&#xA;  benefits kick in early during exercise, the difference in fat&#xA;  oxidation is apparent even after 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you're not a professional athlete (I'm guessing), or even if you were, it's really whatever works best for your body based on the sport and the food which takes a few months of trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2011-09-20T20:29:48.760" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T20:29:48.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3835" CreationDate="2011-09-19T12:21:13.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When looking at the type of exercises you are planning, you don't have as high a demand for carbohydrates as someone who is long distance running or weightlifting.  The type of carbs really has to depend on when you intend to ingest them.  I've been weightlifting for a while, and I really don't need the spike that Chris S's answer suggests.  In fact, for my purposes all I need is energy which can come from carbs or fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, a slow burning carb is better for exercise.  Slow burning carbs take up to 12 hours to properly digest, so it should be eaten well in advance of your exercise.  This is why runners tend to carbo-load the night before they run and run in the morning.  That morning they will have something that is higher in protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that both walking and yoga is in no danger of depleting your normal energy stores unless you've been fasting all day before you exercise.  You can walk for hours on end without needing additional carbohydrates.  Jogging is a little more demanding, but still you would be OK with replenishing the carbohydrates &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; you work out rather than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it is safe to say that the highly processed carbs that you find in candy and sugar sodas (not diet) are too easily absorbed by the body.  While they can grant you a quick energy boost for a few minutes, when your body is done with this unnaturally high level of nervous energy it crashes and leaves you with less energy than before you ate them.  In short your insulin processed too much sugar and temporarily left you a little hypoglycemic.  No carbs should be simpler than whole fruit (not dried) or potatoes.  Your body is able to deal with these carbs and not overcompensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T12:21:13.147" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3851" CreationDate="2011-09-19T12:41:49.220" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly doubt it.  In general, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/what-are-cramps.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cramps are caused by electrolyte imbalances and make your muscles contract uncontrollably for a period of time&lt;/a&gt;.  The long term damage would be no more than what would happen if you contracted your muscles for the same amount of time.  Now, you will need to fix the electrolyte imbalances with proper rest and hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the article that I linked to, the only time you should be concerned is if you chronically get the cramping in the same set of muscles without causing the cramp by your exercise.  It's an indication of nerve root disease.  However, that doesn't apply to the situation you described here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best prevention for cramps is a good hydration routine.  When you are doing long distance biking or running, you should probably keep some Gatorade or other sports drink on you so you can remain hydrated throughout your ride.  The sports drinks help maintain the proper electrolyte imbalances so you don't experience the severe pain that you did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T12:41:49.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3829" CreationDate="2011-09-19T12:47:05.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are referring to Track and Field shoes, also known as Running Spikes.  This will help in your searches online for the shoes.  The running spikes are commonly made with metal spikes, as opposed to soccer shoes (or football as the rest of the world calls it) which tend to be rubber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running spikes are intended for short distance running, particularly sprinting on the type of surface you would have in track and field events.  One (expensive) example would be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?cp=usns_CSE_081109_NexTag&amp;amp;l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-400369/pgid-122889&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nike Zoom Ja Track and Field&lt;/a&gt; shoes.  You can also find many other examples at this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nextag.com/running-spikes/products-html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Nextag&quot; link&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_7291490_type-track-uniforms-fastest_.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; the spikes are replaceable so the manufacturer can sell one shoe and you can use the proper spike for your event.  According to the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprinters prefer shorter, lightweight spikes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Longer distance running requires longer spikes for a more solid toe off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-09-19T16:07:54.857" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T16:07:54.857" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2780" CreationDate="2011-09-19T13:36:33.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many marathon programmes will have such a run as a recovery run as many people finds it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For ultra-runners, you'll often find that they do back-to-back long runs. Big long run on one day, big long run the next day. This helps get used to running on tired legs and increases the endurance without having to do one &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; long run. (Trust me, doing a 35km followed by a 45km makes you &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; tired).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My coach would say that the recovery run is optional - it's about recovery so you have to see how your legs feel and listen to your body to decide to do it. Certainly, the more you run, without injury, the faster you'll be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, lactic acid. Yes, most people blame muscle soreness on lactic acid. As far as we know, lactic acid has nothing to do with it. Muscle soreness is because there are tiny micro-tears to the muscle fibres. Your body will come back and repair those tears but make them a little stronger - this is what makes you better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T13:36:33.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3943" CreationDate="2011-09-19T16:25:27.570" Score="1" ViewCount="2474" Body="&lt;p&gt;Initially, I'd thought that all types of spikes will fit on all types of spike shoes, but after reading this article&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are buying track shoes with spikes, check the size of the&#xA;  spikes. Spikes that are too long will stick in the rubberized surface&#xA;  of the track more than smaller spikes, which can slow down your time.&#xA;  If the spikes are longer than what you need, ask the store clerk &lt;strong&gt;if&#xA;  the shoes come with a smaller spike size.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-choose-right-track-running-shoes.html%3a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(Source)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now confused about that matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that there are different types of spikes (for short-d / mid-d / long-d), and I'm also sure that there are different types of spikes (for short-d / mid-d / long-d),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so basically I was wondering does all types of spikes (short-d / mid-d / long-d) fit on all types of running spike shoes (short-d / mid-d / long-d)? If I have a spike shoe, I can be sure that any individual spikes that I will buy will be able to fit in that shoe right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;==&lt;br&gt;PS: I'm talking about metal spikes here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:11:39.463" Title="Isn't it true that all types of spikes will fit on all types of running spike shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-19T17:39:12.360" Score="7" ViewCount="1605" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve been reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0713683481&quot;&gt;The Complete Guide to Stretching&lt;/a&gt; recently in an effort to help find some solutions to muscle aching problems I have. The hypothesis I’ve been operating under is that I have &lt;em&gt;muscle imbalances&lt;/em&gt;. And I’ve been generally trying to improve my fitness for a while now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book says that to correct muscle imbalances you should find and &lt;em&gt;stretch&lt;/em&gt; the muscles with poor flexibility but adequate strength from continued mid-range use. And find and &lt;em&gt;strengthen&lt;/em&gt; the the lax muscles with good flexibility and low strength from continued outer-range use by exercising them within the mid-range. So I want to do is devise a program for myself where I do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book has a number of flexibility tests that I’ve done and graded—and yes, I do indeed have some muscles with poor flexibility and some with very good flexibility—but I’m struggling to interpret exactly what the results of these tests mean, in terms of what exercises I should be doing and for how long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what would be useful is to have the tests unified with the exercises in some way. In other words: I would just like to have a bunch of flexibility exercises to do where I’m told “when you can do X” you have achieved a good-level of flexibility and you don’t need to push beyond this. So just doing the exercise also acts as the test, telling me when I no longer need to continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Even better would be if I’m told that based on a few personal criteria like my height or the length of my limbs etc. which I think you need to take into account to give that information accurately.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anywhere you can get that information? It seems like quite a basic thing to want, to me (just to know where one should stop when doing stretching exercises for optimal normal overall body flexibility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: When I ask how far I should go I don’t mean &quot;how much force should I be using&quot;. I know not to go beyond what I’m capable of. So what I‘m asking is: when is what I’m already capable of sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2003" LastEditorUserId="2003" LastEditDate="2011-09-21T01:01:24.990" LastActivityDate="2011-09-24T01:46:28.103" Title="Where can I find stretching exercise information where it tells you how far you need to go?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;goals&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3847" CreationDate="2011-09-19T17:58:26.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knee and hip conditions are one of the main reasons why people turn to minimalist footwear. The theory there is that if you are wearing a normal shoe with a reasonable amount of padding and sole thickness than the cushioning and changed elevation causes you to strike with your heel transferring a lot of force to your knees and hips that eventually becomes painful and damaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Minimalist footwear helps with this problem by allowing you to adopt a fore-foot strike that uses the natural design of your foot and leg to absorb a lesser-impact more effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it could be other things. Maybe you just need to strengthen the knee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also note that transitioning to minimalist footwear takes a while and you have to ease into it slowly. People can injure themselves doing it because you begin to need to develop all kinds of little muscles in the foot as well as your calves, the effort of which an ordinary shoe would mitigate. So when you suddenly start to need them, they don’t have the strength or endurance to take on that work—at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2003" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T17:58:26.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-19T18:43:40.110" Score="6" ViewCount="1291" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always used &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/home&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RunKeeper&lt;/a&gt; to track my runs, but recently I came across an app called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worksmartlabs.com/cardiotrainer/about.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cardio Trainer&lt;/a&gt; (from WorkSmart Labs), and it seems like it does pretty much the same thing. Both apps use GPS to track your outdoor activities, both allow you to share your workouts with your Facebook/Twitter followers and with other users, both integrate with your playlists, etc. Are there any pros/cons to using one over the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:45.670" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:45.670" Title="What are the differences between RunKeeper and Cardio Trainer?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3884" CreationDate="2011-09-19T19:02:54.280" Score="2" ViewCount="38986" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love grapefruit and have eaten it on and off for several years depending on seasons.&#xA;Recently I have come across several different claims that grapefruit help you burn fat and things like &amp;quot;If you eat one grapefruit per day for a whole month you will lose 3kg.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What are the pros and cons of eating 1-3 grapefruits every day, and where is the resource to your claim?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2004" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T15:14:07.780" Title="What are the pros and cons of eating 1-3 grapefruits every day?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:42:04.857" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="647" CreationDate="2011-09-19T19:04:43.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the case where you want to stretch in order to prepare for exercise, you should do a warm up first, yes. Additionally you should avoid any static stretches in favor of dynamic ones. I think there’s quite a bit out there about this if you look up importance of warming up etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I haven’t been able to find any evidence for why stretching from cold to improve flexibility in the long term is bad. I read one book that just wrote the blanket statement “never stretch from cold” but I think that’s rubbish. Nothing I’ve read has explained why stretching from cold is damaging in of itself, and, given how it feels, it’s probably perfectly good for improving long-term flexibility. It’s just most people are asking if stretching from cold is bad in the context of whether it prepares them for exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I left this answer because I think it’s an important distinction and I don’t think we should be going around saying “stretching from cold is bad!”. It’s not. It’s just not what you want right before you exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2003" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T19:04:43.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3463" CreationDate="2011-09-19T21:20:28.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://judostrengthconditioning.blogspot.com/2011/09/36floors-of-hell-and-metabolic-pathways.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;JudoFitness&lt;/a&gt; asserts that the three pathways smoothly shift gears when training hard for extended periods of time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0G1Cj.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Metabolic pathways&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the significant overlap as one pathway depletes itself and the next takes its place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author uses the example of a long stair climb, performed explosively for as long as the phosphagenic pathway can sustain, then less explosively but still hard for as long as the glycolytic pathway can sustain, then relying on the oxidative pathway for the remainder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, the author suggests doing pathway-specific training in addition to sport-specific sessions. I suspect that this is because a multi-pathway training session would lend itself heavily towards the glycolytic or oxidative, leaving the phosphogenic pathway undertrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-19T21:20:28.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3870" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3882" CreationDate="2011-09-19T21:26:57.310" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;While most of the trainers train all of their body muscles, it is possible to skip a few muscles and focus on the rest. The best example is all of the guys who don't care about the legs and  can end up looking like chickens. What I'm looking for is more example for this unevenness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would a guy that only does chest-press but never chest-fly look like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would a guy that only does back exercises but not shoulders look like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would a guy that only does triceps exercises but not biceps look like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anywhere photos of such cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I'm curious about the subject in general, specifically I'm a bit more interested in the first example (chest-press without chest-flies) because that's my current workout due to itching shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="367" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T14:22:13.310" Title="What are the outcomes of training unevenly on various body muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3885" CreationDate="2011-09-20T01:54:41.193" Score="13" ViewCount="13066" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two related questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the best time to eat before working out and what is the best thing to eat to get a good workout?  Same question for post workout (should I eat immediately or wait a little while).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I often get hungry right before I am going to the gym and I am trying to figure out the best thing to eat at that time to avoid messing up my workout but still satisfying my hunger.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know I should probably eat an hour or two before but sometimes it just doesn't happen. I am asking this as a separate question compared to #1 as my assumption is that I might get a different answer given it's so close to the actual workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T20:49:12.203" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T16:50:24.150" Title="what is the best thing to eat right before a workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3872" CreationDate="2011-09-20T02:59:42.610" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre-Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I use to have a protein shake ahead of time, now I just have some caffeine to help with the intensity of my workout. I also have some ibuprofen or some other anti-inflammatory for my joints. I talk more about pre-workout nutrition below, and some of the &lt;em&gt;Useful links&lt;/em&gt; discuss this also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post-Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;You should eat as soon as you can after working out. There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/windowofopportunity.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;window of opportunity&lt;/a&gt; that we have after working out, the reason behind this is summarized in that document. They also have a link to post workout nutrition and to other documents in the pdf. This is also the only time I make sure to have a bit of sugar because the &quot;increased quantity of insulin in the blood will drive much needed glucose and amino acids through the receptor sites in the muscle cell at an increased rate.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are just my suggestions, out of everyone I have talked to and exercised with everyone was a bit different when it came to pre-workout nutrition, it is just hard for me to exercise on a full stomach so I eat little 2 hours before I workout. I also believe it is bad to eat too much before working out. I would just make sure to have some sort of carb(energy bars or drinks) for your energy levels for your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Useful Links:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportsnutrition/a/EatForExercise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What to Eat Before Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/eatexercise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Should I Eat Before I Exercise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1977" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T20:47:00.227" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T20:47:00.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3863" CreationDate="2011-09-20T05:09:39.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should stretch gently, and regularly. When you are flexible enough, you can keep stretching gently but you won't gain much, if any, more flexibility. Everybody is different, and even your own body will change over time in overall flexibility. So there's no standard that says, &quot;In a hamstring stretch, move your leg 'this' far.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you push too hard when you stretch, you can end up with overstretching injuries. Be gentle when you stretch, and push when you exercise. You should keep stretching, though, to keep the flexibility you've gained. Like strength, flexibility will leave you if you don't work on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T05:09:39.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3849" CreationDate="2011-09-20T05:13:15.783" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can wear a wet suit or a dry suit. When you first try it, have a boat go along with you, or swim &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; near the shore. You will likely want a hood, gloves, and boots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you swim unprotected in cold water, you can get hypothermia, you muscles can essentially stop working, and you can drown. It's not possible to generate enough body heat to maintain your body temperature when swimming in very cold water without protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastEditorUserId="1895" LastEditDate="2011-09-20T14:23:47.853" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T14:23:47.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3866" CreationDate="2011-09-20T09:56:39.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can refer this WHFoods &lt;a href=&quot;http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&amp;amp;dbid=25&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page&lt;/a&gt; about grapefruit, it is very detailed about the benefit of eating grapefruit. Check about the result of overdose nutrients &lt;a href=&quot;http://whfoods.org/nutrientstoc.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. And please don't consume drug with grapefruit, it is very dangerous, please refer to the page about grapefruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, &lt;a href=&quot;http://whfoods.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Healthiest Foods&lt;/a&gt; is a very good site about healthy food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastEditorUserId="872" LastEditDate="2011-09-20T10:05:50.640" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T10:05:50.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3870" CreationDate="2011-09-20T14:22:13.310" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest outcome you should be worried about is the potential for injury.  Someone with overdeveloped quadriceps and underdeveloped hamstrings will constantly pull their hamstrings when they play sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a rather extreme case of this, I'll recount the story of one of my classmates on the basketball team.  He started doing bench presses, and it seemed like that's all he did.  Big solid chest, but looking at him from behind you would never know he worked out.  In teenage logic, it seemed like all was well.  One day, when he went to throw the ball in, he collapsed in pain.  Apparently the doctor told him that because the back was underdeveloped, his chest separated his sternum.  Had his back been stronger, it would have kept his ribcage together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there are several types of back exercises you can do.  My personal routine involves the big four compound lifts: squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlifts.  I also have power cleans.  Of those, the overhead press will help get more of your back muscles than the bench, and the deadlifts and power cleans complete the work that I need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what &quot;itching shoulders&quot; are, or why that would prevent you from working your back, but I would &lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt; advise you to at least keep the muscles you are working balanced as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T14:22:13.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3872" CreationDate="2011-09-20T14:47:36.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just take a small bag of nuts/raisins/other dried fruit with you. That way, you won't be hungry and won't feel stuffed. Also, no problem with forgetting them in the gym bag for a week :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1985" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T14:47:36.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3866" CreationDate="2011-09-20T15:14:07.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;If you eat one grapefruit per day for a whole month you will lose 3kg.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not exactly.  However, below are 2 studies looking at grapefruit consumed prior to meals.  They look at weight loss, as well as health factors like cholesterol and insulin resistance. (Note: these are not what is typically thought of as the &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-grapefruit-diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;grapefruit diet&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A 12 week &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3039556/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;study from Vanderbilt&lt;/a&gt; compares weight loss in obese subjects consuming either grapefruit (GF),  grapefruit juice (GFJ), or  water 20 minutes prior to their reduced calorie meals.  Also, the subjects were instructed to wear pedometers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study found that it didn't matter whether the grapefruit was in the form of fruit or  juice, (&lt;em&gt;even water achieved the same weight loss&lt;/em&gt;) as long as they were &amp;quot;pre-loaded&amp;quot; meaning consumed before the meal.  With the preloading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rate of weight loss increased significantly by 13.3% (p &amp;lt; .0001) during the caloric restriction + preload phase for an additional loss of 5.8 ±± 3.9, 5.9 ±± 3.6 and &lt;strong&gt;6.7 ±± 3.1 kg&lt;/strong&gt; (GF, GFJ and &lt;strong&gt;water&lt;/strong&gt;, respectively).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subjects experienced 7.1% weight loss overall, with significant decreases in percentage body, trunk, android and gynoid fat, as well as waist circumferences (-4.5 cm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one health benefit that the &lt;strong&gt;GF and GFJ&lt;/strong&gt; did show over the water preload was the &lt;strong&gt;improvement in HDL&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is striking that HDL-C levels increased up to 8.2% from baseline in GF and GFJ groups, a significant change compared to decreased HDL-C in the water preload group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a mean increase in HDL-C from baseline by 6.2% in the GF group and 8.2% in the GFJ group - which differed significantly from the mean decrease of 3.7% in the water group (p = 0.003 and 0.009, respectively).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with this study, it was the preloading, whether with water, juice or fruit, that increased the weight loss of people on a calorie reduced diet (who were also wearing a pedometer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are interested in improving your HDL levels, adding grapefruit or grapefruit juice prior to meals will help according to this study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16579728&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another study&lt;/a&gt; looking at the effects of grapefruit on weight and insulin resistance: relationship to the metabolic syndrome concluded:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 12 weeks, the fresh grapefruit group had lost &lt;strong&gt;1.6 kg&lt;/strong&gt;, the grapefruit juice group had lost 1.5 kg, the grapefruit capsule group had lost 1.1 kg, and the placebo group had lost 0.3 kg. The fresh grapefruit group lost significantly more weight than the placebo group (P &amp;lt; .05).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Half of a fresh grapefruit eaten before meals was associated with significant weight loss. In metabolic syndrome patients the effect was also seen with grapefruit products. Insulin resistance was improved with fresh grapefruit. Although the mechanism of this weight loss is unknown it would appear reasonable to include grapefruit in a weight reduction diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only have access to the abstract which does not compare half of a fresh grapefruit with any other fruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cons:&lt;/strong&gt; Grapefruit does have the potential to interact with drugs.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-946-GRAPEFRUIT.aspx?activeIngredientId=946&amp;amp;activeIngredientName=GRAPEFRUIT&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt; cautions pregnant women, postmenopausal women, or women with breast cancer about drinking excessive amounts of grapefruit juice or taking grapefruit supplements. I don't know of any studies with eating more than one and a half grapefruits per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T15:14:07.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3872" CreationDate="2011-09-20T15:51:12.650" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Right before your workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Like you said, it's best not to exercise on a full stomach, so you should avoid large meals for about 1.5-2 hours beforehand. This will obviously vary depending on how long it takes you to digest. However, it's also really difficult to work out if you're hungry, so if you need a snack right before you exercise you should choose something gives you energy without filling you up. My personal favorite is a slice of whole grain toast with peanut butter and honey. The honey gives you the boost you need to get started, and then the peanut butter and toast provide a gradual release of energy. The best part about this snack is it packs a lot of energy into not a lot of volume. It does have a considerable amount of calories though, so if you're just doing a light workout it might be best to push through without it, or drop the honey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food that will help you get a good workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This will largely depend on what kind of exercise you're doing, but in general you should have a healthy mix of complex carbohydrates, protein, fruits, and vegetables. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.madetorun.com/running-diet-and-nutrition/what-to-eat-before-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a useful link&lt;/a&gt; that gives tips about what to eat in general for fuel, and what to eat during a race (it's targeted towards runners, but could be useful for anyone doing a lot of aerobic exercise). If you scroll down to the bottom you'll see a list of recommended foods, which includes things like nuts, eggs, lean protein (turkey and salmon), whole grains, oranges, and mixed greens. The proportions will vary depending on what kind of exercise you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After your workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/74/is-it-true-that-you-can-eat-anything-you-want-within-15-minutes-of-working-out-wi&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for a debate on the &quot;window of opportunity&quot; after you work out. It's definitely true that you need replenishing energy sources in order to build muscle and recover - which means a good mix of protein, carbs, and good fats. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ivillage.com/5-best-post-workout-foods/4-a-142434&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; recommends meals like chicken/brown rice/mixed vegetables, omelets with avocados, or protein shakes if you're on the go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T15:51:12.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2011-09-20T15:51:23.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jeremy says 0.8 grams of protein is OK for body builders. That would be 185 grams for 231 pounds. That is higher than anything I have ever seen for body builders. Am I reading it incorrectly? There is certainly nothing wrong with timing your carbs for energy and your protein after your workout. Just don't starve yourself of protein at any time, or you will catabolize your own muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein powder, purchased at a good price, is competitive with other foods and has less fat than most sources. Lentils and other beans or combination foods, eggs etc. are also inexpensive. Peanut butter and whole wheat bread with a glass of low fat milk is about as good as you can get. Beans and rice form a perfect protein. Brown rice is whole grain and has more fiber and nutrients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2009" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T15:51:23.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3890" CreationDate="2011-09-20T16:55:05.693" Score="4" ViewCount="7532" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting consistently for over a month and have noticed that i'm gaining weight (unfortunately) but you wouldn't know by the way my clothes are fitting.  I would think that the extra weight would be causing my clothes to be tighter.  I've heard muscle weights more than fat but the doesn't seem logical...a pound of muscle and a pound of fat still weigh a pound.  It seems a contradiction to gain weight and clothes to fit better, what is the reason behind this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="576" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T22:26:57.057" Title="Started lifting again and am gaining weight but my clothes seem to fit better. What is the cause?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3888" CreationDate="2011-09-20T17:22:12.023" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right that a pound of fat and a pound of muscle both weigh a pound, but a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. So, if you have the same volume of muscle and fat, the muscle will weigh more. If you're working out a lot, you may be toning up and getting smaller but still gaining weight - this is because you're converting fat to muscle, which takes up less space. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; puts it pretty clearly: &quot;muscle weighs more &lt;em&gt;by volume&lt;/em&gt; than fat.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T17:22:12.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3888" CreationDate="2011-09-20T17:42:14.137" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is important to note that in and of itself lifting weights will not cause you to gain weight. You gain weight by eating more than you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise will change your body composition (fat-&gt;muscle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have both going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T17:42:14.137" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3897" CreationDate="2011-09-20T18:12:35.983" Score="10" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any exercises I can do to help me gain some balance?  That is, when I stand on one leg with the other lifted off the floor, it is only a few seconds before I have to put the other one down on the floor or put my hand on something so I don't &quot;tip over&quot;, so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it means anything, but throughout my life I have had a number of knee surgeries and broken ankles, and I wonder if I have lost some musculature that is causing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might say that my legs are quite strong, but I just have to hold on to something while standing on one foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1924" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T21:17:25.537" Title="Balance Problems" Tags="&lt;balance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3807" CreationDate="2011-09-20T18:28:13.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one thing you can be absolutely sure of when you go to a store that sells expensive running shoes is that they will recommend expensive running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly, that's not to say that that might not be the right thing for you. But I've found high-end running stores have a hard time with minimalist shoes. When you only have a hammer, after all, everthing starts to look like a nail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience in nearly 50 years of running is that VFFs and barefoot running have made the last 2 and a half years incredible. You learn so much about proper form -- it hurts if you don't do it right. But it does take some time to get used to minimalist running. Think months, rather than days. In my case, I think I'm only now beginning to reap the full benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For right now, though, if you're running without pain, I'd be careful about changing anything. If you want to try something, find a nice grassy park or infield and experiment with 5-10 minutes of barefoot running. See how that feels. That's how I started and I knew immediately it was for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2011" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T18:28:13.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2547" CreationDate="2011-09-20T19:15:13.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/p90x.do?t=p90xoba1&amp;amp;code=SEMB_GOOGLE_P90X&amp;amp;extcmp=eab3488ad6afc4fb&amp;amp;ef_id=vYZOODGFljkAAIvm:20110920190727:s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;P90x&lt;/a&gt; Cardio, Cardio Kickboxing, Plyometrics, and Interval Workouts. I've linked to this in a lot of answers about home workouts (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3727/looking-for-short-home-routine-for-thighs-and-abs/3744#3744&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;), and that's because it's such a great workout and you don't really need any equipment, so it's great for travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good program to try is SparkPeople. A lot of their videos are on YouTube, and they tend to be shorter than the P90x routines. There's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M38HDCGmhm4&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10-minute jump start cardio&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlX_Gy4HP2E&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 minute cardio kickboxing&lt;/a&gt;, and there's a Cardio Series as well (here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XFBkv2xjbU&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Day 1&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These programs all incorporate a lot of jumping, some kickboxing, lunges, step-ups, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://health-fitness-solutions.blogspot.com/2007/05/prison-workout-total-body-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;prison-cell moves&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T19:15:13.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3252" CreationDate="2011-09-20T19:23:35.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be that you're standing with bad posture. That is, if you're standing for long periods of time, you may become tired and let your weight sag inward on your knees. When you're exercising, you're obviously moving around so the weight isn't constantly on your knees. Even if you do certain exercises that put pressure on them (like running), you're still shifting your weight while you move. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are standing with bad posture, and you are constantly supporting your weight with your knees rather than with your leg muscles, you might be damaging the cartilage. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drbookspan.com/KneePainArticle.html&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for details on how to correct that problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T19:23:35.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2547" CreationDate="2011-09-20T21:03:23.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too have an issue with my knees.  Not sure if jumping rope is too much impact on your knees but I find it works for me.  Also, it's lightweight and fits nicely in a bag.  It's the type of aerobic exercise that would allow you to take in a spectacular view as you get in a great workout.  Jumping rope is also a rehabilitative exercise.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/benefits-of-jumping-rope-during-injury-rehabilitation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rehabilitative Benefits of Jumping Rope&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="576" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T21:03:23.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3892" CreationDate="2011-09-20T21:17:25.537" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are lots of good balance exercises.  Lower extremity injuries and surgeries that aren’t fully rehabilitated can leave you with a poor sense of joint position and therefore, reduced balance.  Balance is more than just muscle strength, although that is part of the answer. It also takes neurological control, feedback and coordinated adjustments for good balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this question/answer on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3299/what-is-proprioception/3334#3334&quot;&gt;proprioception (position sense)&lt;/a&gt; for a more complete explanation.  Also, this question addresses how to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3294/how-to-measure-balance/3335#3335&quot;&gt;test balance&lt;/a&gt;, both static and dynamic.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/proprioceptive-training.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercises&lt;/a&gt; that improve your proprioceptive sense will help improve your balance.&#xA;Here are some basic balance exercise videos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6O0PjZzGEo&amp;amp;feature=mfu_in_order&amp;amp;list=UL&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;One foot standing balance&lt;/a&gt;, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKIjR8r8_Ec&amp;amp;feature=bf_prev&amp;amp;list=PL6E0D91D7643C484E&amp;amp;lf=results_video&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mini squats and toe raises&lt;/a&gt;, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7NVWvLC0Vo&amp;amp;feature=results_video&amp;amp;playnext=1&amp;amp;list=PL160B89F25C3477E7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;floor touch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWuKEt96Jjs&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dynamic Balance Progressions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/04m4yxxvgsY?t=17s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wobble board standing&lt;/a&gt; - forward back, side to side and circles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/AwWnisIFYOI?t=30s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wobble board squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure that you have the ok from your doctor given your history.  And to be cautious, have something sturdy to hold onto should you need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in getting any balance exercise supplies, I'd appreciate it if you would use our site's amazon link for supplies like &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;node=128&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;balance boards or discs&lt;/a&gt;.   Thanks and good luck with your balance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-09-20T21:17:25.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3902" CreationDate="2011-09-21T15:48:33.680" Score="13" ViewCount="61237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started going to a personal trainer and he noticed that my feet turn out to the sides when I run. He said that I should try to correct this, but I'm not sure how to do it. Is it bad that I run this way? If so, are there exercises or running drills I can do to try to keep my feet straight? I've tried to be aware of it when running but forcing my feet to stay straight just feels uncomfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's only a slight turn, but definitely noticeable. I've been running for several years so I imagine that it will be hard to change my form, but figured I'd ask. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T23:50:02.370" Title="Is it bad that my feet turn outward when I run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3900" CreationDate="2011-09-21T16:30:21.100" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend getting your form down perfect. Because it's so repetitive, running is tailor-made to produce long-term, slow-to-appear, tough-to-diagnose pain and injury. Incorrect form might be fine for now, but over time it could cause trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I can't vouch for these sources.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://michaelhyatt.com/a-runners-guide-to-knee-pain.html&quot;&gt;Danny Dreyer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If your feet turn out to the side as you run, it torques your knee with every foot strike. Your leg isn’t designed to work this way. This action overworks the ligaments and tendons in the knee and eventually leads to pain. He says that the key to fixing this problem is to imagine you’re running on a tightrope, with your feet hitting along a line stretched out on the road directly in front of you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.zeroinginonhealth.com/showthread.php?tid=37&amp;amp;pid=257510&quot;&gt;This guy on a running forum&lt;/a&gt; points out that foot turn-out is not just inefficient--it caused him groin pain. It's of course anecdotal and a prime suspect for the placebo effect, but his solution worked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So was it hard to fix this, you ask? No, not at all. I just remained conscious of it today and didn't allow it to turn. When I ran fast or went up hills, I made sure to keep my toe pointing straight ahead and sure enough, no more groin pain. So during my entire run, I felt great and fresh. I was always accelerating and never had one of those moments where I'm shuffling about. My stride remained long and relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trainer &lt;a href=&quot;http://momentumtraining.net/2010/08/30/monday-muscle-3/&quot;&gt;Blake Robinson&lt;/a&gt; says to check for glute tightness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[I]f your Gluteus Maximus is too tight your feet will turn out to the side as you run causing you to run on the outside of your shoe, also known as duck feet, which in turn increases the strain on the inside of your knees.  To check how far your feet turn out as you run find a treadmill that faces a mirror and watch your feet just as the push-off and leave the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that your gait is fine, but it definitely can't hurt to do some diagnostics. I would find a subject matter expert (i.e., a personal trainer who specializes in runners and whose trainees you want to emulate) and take a session with him or her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T16:30:21.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3781" CreationDate="2011-09-21T17:15:00.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spark People has a 10-minute jump rope cardio routine that you can check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1056&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. I've never done this one myself but I've done other Spark People cardio routines (see my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2547/what-can-i-do-for-cardio-while-i-am-on-vacation-with-no-equipment/3894#3894&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for specifics) and they are pretty good workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the other portion of your workout, if you don't want to buy weights you might try some body weight exercises. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/86/what-are-some-short-30-minute-body-weight-lift-routines-for-travel&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; has a bunch of good recommendations, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://marklauren.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitflagstaff.com/CrossFitBodyweightWorkoutResourcev2.0.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CrossFit&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T17:15:00.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3919" CreationDate="2011-09-21T17:51:08.460" Score="0" ViewCount="1857" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello all. I've got two questions regarding the way runners run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, what I've always thought is that stopping immediately after completing the run (1k / 2k / 3k / 5k) is bad and we should like carry on at a slow pace for some distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But why is it that the runners in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8atqt-o5-Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; stop immediately after they've completed the run? Isn't it bad for their bodies? (Once  my friend even told me that they would get &quot;rectum pus&quot; whatever that is.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, what I've always thought is that we should open our mouth &quot;bigger&quot; to allow for more intake of oxygen during the run. What I've seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8atqt-o5-Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the same video&lt;/a&gt; is that they do not do so. Does anyone know why is it so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-09-22T17:40:33.793" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T17:40:33.793" Title="Why do runners immediately stop after a run? Does opening your mouth more while running affect oxygen intake?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3916" CreationDate="2011-09-21T18:45:01.190" Score="8" ViewCount="28267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am almost 24 and I have to confess that I have been overweight for past 24 years :( I never did any serious sport and never had regular workouts either. I spent most of my life behind a PC or game consoles and also sitting in class!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me give you a bit of my history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My peak weight was ~120kg when I was 17...that year I went crazy and I ate almost nothing in during that summer (Well I can't recall what did I do exactly...) by end of that summer I was about 90 kilos and I managed to keep myself at that weight until a year ago when I graduated and started to work as an electrical engineer (Just to tell you I sit in lab or behind a PC about 8 hours a day). This caused me to go up again to 102kg, I decided to lose weight again but this time I followed a better diet. I forbid a lot of things like any drinks, pizza, fast food, rice and stuff like that...so I mainly went for vegetables and meat (mostly chicken fillet, beef and fish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also started jogging and for the past 80 days I almost did about 2 or 3km, 5 times a week and I started to use my bike and also my feet to go around (shopping, work and ...) instead of my car or public transport. Also I never went to GYM :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I am 1.83cm tall and 88 kilos. My problem is that I lost most of my fat from around my chest and specially my face...I used to look quite good (hehe chicks always liked my face but never my fatso body :P) and now I can feel my skull under my skin!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From belly and love handles and bottom!! almost I feel I did not lose anything...well of course I did but I feel that I just scaled down a bit and still have the same proportions like before :( I only lost 2 size of jeans...I wear 36/36 now but I went from XL and XXL to L for T shirts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is my problem? I jogged for about 3 months and I did not drink/eat any food that you could consider fattening.... What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know if you need more info about me. Hope to get some nice answers from you guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1549" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-21T21:53:53.890" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T23:14:32.517" Title="Why I am losing fat mostly on my upper body and face?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3904" CreationDate="2011-09-21T18:52:57.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a race, you may not be &lt;em&gt;able&lt;/em&gt; to jog for a while afterward, especially if you put everything into a sprint in at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The size of the mouth is not normally the limiting factor for air intake, so you don't need to open it any wider. Incidentally, CO2 output is as important as oxygen intake.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T18:52:57.563" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3906" CreationDate="2011-09-21T19:57:20.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It just looks like you are only losing it on the upper body. You are actually losing it all over. As you continue you will see it everywhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to exercise the upper body to build it up, if you want to look muscular. That is not helped much by jogging. It is a separate issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2017" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T19:57:20.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3906" CreationDate="2011-09-21T19:59:30.130" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-fat-deposit-on-t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in males belly is where most of the fat is located&lt;/a&gt; . As Ron said, jogging is not enough. You need to go to the gym or you can start swimming if there's a pool nearby&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1985" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T19:59:30.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3906" CreationDate="2011-09-21T20:06:43.077" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately you can't target where your body loses fat from.  All you can do is keep losing fat until you are comfortable with your weight.  I found that for every 9-10kg lost I had to buy a new pair of jeans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is you've lost a lot of weight (32kg or about 70 lbs).  After having lost over 85 lbs (38kg) I still deal with a little more roundness in the midsection than I like.  However, it's flatter now than when I first began.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I highly recommend going back to a before picture, and comparing it to a picture of you now.  You will see how much you have lost overall--not just in the face.  The fact that you had to buy new clothes because the others were too big proves you've lost weight all over your body.  Relish the new you, I can say with all certainty that you will be pleasantly surprised at how good you look now and horrified at how big you were before you lost weight.  At least that was my reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, keep at it.  Jogging is good and all, but fat is controlled most in the kitchen.  Keep the protein up in your diet, and don't go crazy with everything else.  Lastly, you may want to consider types of exercise that require more energy from you.  In about 1-1.5 hours of lifting I burn somewhere around 1000 Calories.  If my metabolic rate is 2400 Calories a day, that averages out to 100 Calories an hour--so my net effort is an additional 900 Calories in one hour.  If lifting doesn't appeal to you, consider swimming, cross-fit, basketball, etc.  Something that requires a high demand, and helps you get stronger will give you more muscle which in turn burns more Calories even when you are resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T20:06:43.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3900" CreationDate="2011-09-21T20:13:36.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to a store that specializes in running. They will have the equipment and expertise to diagnose your stride and suggest improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people overlook the importance of having a running coach, thinking running is &quot;natural&quot; so they must be doing it correctly. The truth is, many people have less than ideal stride and need to practice foot placement if not use corrective shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-09-21T20:13:36.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3906" CreationDate="2011-09-22T05:08:27.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's terrible to 'eat almost nothing' and can do a lot to mess up your metabolism. It is confusing to your body after you start eating nothing and it goes into starvation mode, your body becomes more efficient at using energy and burns lean tissue and muscle so it can conserve fat reserves. To correct this, I would focus, as you have been, on eating healthy foods (lean meats, veggies, etc.) but in small meals interspersed throughout the day. That way you can keep your energy levels up, and you can start to train your body back to a regular metabolic state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercise, jogging is great, but I would try some interval training where you mix high bursts of exercise with moderate intensity recovery periods. It has incredible advantages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T05:08:27.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2547" CreationDate="2011-09-22T05:11:50.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodyrock&lt;/a&gt; workouts? Many require no equipment, are cardio intensive and all fairly short and efficient (perfect for while you're on the road). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T05:11:50.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3906" CreationDate="2011-09-22T07:17:24.947" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sean, it's important to keep exercising, add muscle building to your routine, etc., but is there a specific answer to your question?  &lt;strong&gt;Why there?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Berin mentions, &quot;you&quot; can't target where your body loses fat from. Indeed, &quot;you&quot; can't control your heart beat, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But ... something in your body controls your heart beat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, &lt;strong&gt;something&lt;/strong&gt; in your body controls where the fat is going on or off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is that &quot;something&quot;? &lt;strong&gt;It is your hormones&lt;/strong&gt;, and I'm going to guess specifically &lt;strong&gt;your sex hormones.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an engineer you'll be pleased to know the problem is rational, solvable, and you can do something about it, but first you'll need to gather a lot of information and have a lot of theory on your side before you have practice on your side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in short, it seems that the trio of your&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sex hormones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;growth hormones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;insulin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;must remain in balance. Note that your sex hormones do much more than erect your penis, and your growth or &quot;repair&quot; hormones do much more than allow young people to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if your &lt;strong&gt;insulin level is too high, in fact your sex hormone level must be too low&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If insulin goes up, your sex hormones (and/or growth hormones) must go down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I direct you to &lt;em&gt;Leben Ohne Brot&lt;/em&gt; or in English &lt;em&gt;Life Without Bread&lt;/em&gt; by Dr Wolfgang Lutz. As soon as the book arrives from Amazon, turn to page 22 and study the chapter on hormone balance, and then the following chapter on insulin resistance curves (interestingly enough some of the charts therein are time series ECG charts, which you will appreciate given your profession!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w4dXr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;anabolic hormone balance&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image from page 25 of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/Life-Without-Bread-Low-Carbohydrate-Diet/dp/0658001701&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a dramatic example of the issue of &quot;where&quot; fat deposits happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This woman injected two spots on her upper legs with insulin for many years. Two unusual fat deposits grew at exactly the sites of injection!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PEnWJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;unusual fat deposits&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt; which you should also check out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once again, &lt;strong&gt;something in your body controls where the fat is going on and off&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is that something? &lt;strong&gt;Your hormonal balance.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess, your sex hormones. Your sex hormones, growth hormones, and insulin, must stay together, so if one is too high (whether generally throughout the day, or, perhaps at critical moments during the process of eating and digestion) the other is too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are an engineer, I also particularly recommend chapter 5 of &lt;em&gt;Life Without Bread&lt;/em&gt; which will explain exactly in detail the energy processes in your body, both anaerobic and aerobic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also strongly recommend Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore which is a fantastic book. (Which Berin pointed out on this forum, it is a great book thanks Berin!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I recommend &quot;Chemicals for Life and Living&quot; by Eiichiro Ochiai.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those four books are a great start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But definitely &lt;em&gt;Life Without Bread&lt;/em&gt; by Lutz for a great exposition of catabolic and anabolic hormones in your body - how your body works and &quot;makes decisions&quot;!  Otherwise you're just plugging in resistors and capacitors with no idea what those do. I hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS for future readers, regarding Sean's excellent idea (below) to get actual lab work done. Beginning &lt;strong&gt;page 57 of Life Without Bread, Lutz&lt;/strong&gt;, an explanation in great detail of exactly the three clinical tests, which are available, which investigate your sugar response curve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To repeat myself, Schole/Sallmann/Harish of &quot;metabolism&quot; - in other words, the ongoing balance and/or war between &lt;strong&gt;catabolic&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;anabolic&lt;/strong&gt; processes in your body.  once again, chapter 3 of Lutz is the best explanation I have found of the topic (having read about 10 related books).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2011-09-22T12:06:40.407" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T12:06:40.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3904" CreationDate="2011-09-22T15:05:07.500" Score="6" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You're right that it's very important to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.24hrfitness.co.uk/fitness%20tips/cooling-down-after-exercise.html&quot;&gt;cool down&lt;/a&gt; after&#xA;exercising. Cool down should consist of three phases: gentle&#xA;exercise (to gradually lower the heart rate and prevent dizziness),&#xA;stretching (to reduce muscle stiffness), and refueling. Here's&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pfitzinger.com/labreports/cooldown.shtml&quot;&gt;another useful article&lt;/a&gt; on cooling down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, as xpda points out, a lot of runners neglect the cool&#xA;down because they're so exhausted at the end of a race (I know I'm&#xA;guilty of this from time to time). A cool down is designed to&#xA;restore your body to pre-exercise conditions, but it still takes&#xA;effort. Stretching can be somewhat painful if you've really&#xA;worked your muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the video you linked to, however, the runner was immediately&#xA;swept into celebration following the race, so he didn't exactly have&#xA;the opportunity to cool down. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://daveelger.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/improve-your-running-with-proper-breathing-45455.html&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; - it's best to breathe through both&#xA;the nose and the mouth while running. So perhaps it's unnecessary to&#xA;open the mouth very wide if you're also breathing through your nose.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T15:05:07.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3923" CreationDate="2011-09-22T15:22:28.873" Score="5" ViewCount="41403" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 22 years old and 325 lbs (mostly fat) I rather desperately want (and need) to lose weight. However, I'm not a big fan of running. I do some biking, but I've been reading up more about weight lifting to lose weight, and have decided to start the Stronglifts 5x5 program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I was wondering is, is that enough on its own? Should I go for longer bike rides on my off days? Are there other weight lifting exercises I should include as part of my routine, or would that be too much with the stronglifts? I have access to a local gym that does have the equipment required, as well as other free weights and machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is my key goal, but I would like to get stronger, which is another reason I desire to lift weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for information, I am attempting to eat a healthier diet as well (less junk food, more vegetables etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1962" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T15:59:07.610" Title="Losing weight with Stronglifts 5x5?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3920" CreationDate="2011-09-22T15:35:42.183" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I follow a version of the 5x5 program and have found it VERY helpful in developing strength with a side benefit of additional calorie burn (during/post workout).  If your real focus is on weight loss - and I'll assume it body fat (BF%) loss you're looking for - you should really focus on your diet.   A complete exercise program + diet is key to any weight loss (bf%) goal.  The type of exercise is less important than the fact that you are including exercise in your bf% loss program.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T15:35:42.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3920" CreationDate="2011-09-22T15:40:28.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts starts out very light, but once you reach significant weights, you will need every precious hour of rest and recovery you can get. Heavy squats done 3 times a week (plus deadlifts and all the rest) are demanding enough on the body that &lt;strong&gt;doing extra biking or running will ruin your lifting progress and leave you feeling lethargic and weak&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat carefully, Stronglifts and similar lifting programs alone should help you lose weight. Lifting is commonly associated with gaining weight or bulking up, but if you eat carefully, you should be able to get stronger as you lose fat mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Stronglifts is too easy in the beginning (or if it becomes too hard later) you can also look into Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. The difference is that SS starts heavier, uses 3x5 instead of 5x5, and while squats and deadlifts are used in both, some other lifts are different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, the key is to keep to your schedule, keep an eye on what you eat, and learn the lifts well. If you do that, your weight should figure itself out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T15:40:28.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3920" CreationDate="2011-09-22T15:59:07.610" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a beginner is about the only time you can lose fat and build muscle at the same time.  So, my suggestions for getting started:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your diet in check.  Nutrition helps you lose the weight while still getting enough energy to get your work done.  1g protein per pound of body weight.  Stay light on the carbs, only post workout if you can do that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pay attention to the program.  It's 1x5 on deadlifts, taper your warmups (two of the most common mistakes I see on people following this program).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make your conditioning work for you, not against you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning, the weight will feel light.  Really light.  During this time focus on form, in about a month's time you'll start to feel the weight getting heavy.  You are building anaerobic strength, you don't want to do aerobic conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when you do your conditioning, do it &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; you lift and on the same day.  Focus on high intensity intervals.  It's better to use a crosstrainer, a rowing machine, or an elliptical machine because they get the upper and lower bodies involved.  Go hard for a minute then go easy for a minute, and keep the cycle until you can't go any more or 20 minutes are up--whichever comes first.  &lt;strong&gt;This is important:&lt;/strong&gt; when you are having trouble doing the SL workout, you'll have to back off the conditioning.  Also, &lt;strong&gt;rest on your rest days!&lt;/strong&gt;  You will only hurt yourself and start stalling sooner if you don't give your body time to rest and build the muscle you are asking it to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be hungry after the session.  If you limit your carbs only to after you work out, you will be doing good.  Protein will be more your friend while you are trying to lose weight and get stronger.  Anything your body doesn't use to build stronger muscles will be used for energy later.  It helps you feel full longer, and keeps you from overeating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T15:59:07.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-22T18:05:45.580" Score="1" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to train for longer distance races (first a 10k, then a half-marathon), and I was wondering about the detrimental effects of eating at irregular intervals during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having just started a graduate program, I find it increasingly difficult to eat regular meals.&#xA;In the last weeks or so I get most of my food in the evening (after 8pm), constantly skipping breakfast and/or lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question therefore is, how important is the timing of your meals during the day ? (assuming that the total food intake per day is healthy and adequate).&#xA;Also, given an irregular eating schedule, what food groups work best (to salvage the situation) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2025" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T19:33:30.767" Title="Impact of irregular eating schedule on running training" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3689" CreationDate="2011-09-22T18:24:40.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long distance running will build up stamina for continuous movement,  but as you said in soccer you're doing a lot of sprinting and stopping right? If you want to practice that kind of movement you could try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mytreadmilltrainer.com/interval-running.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;interval running&lt;/a&gt;. Interval running is beneficial because it mixes all out sprints with recovery, so you end up running at your max for longer total periods of time than if you just did sprints. For you, it will also simulate the kind of work you're doing in a game more closely. Check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tabataprotocol.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tabata Protocol&lt;/a&gt; for more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of fueling for the game - in general sugar will give you a boost of energy but will wear off quickly, leaving you to crash. You should also try to incorporate something that will give you a slow release of energy. You could eat a meal of lean protein and complex carbs a few hours before. If you need to eat right before the game, I'd suggest something with sugar and complex carbs, like a slice of toast with peanut butter and honey. Check out my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3872/what-is-the-best-thing-to-eat-right-before-a-workout/3885#3885&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, as it's roughly the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T18:24:40.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3929" CreationDate="2011-09-22T18:41:27.720" Score="4" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;The efficiency of the human body, like any other machine, depends on the surrounding temperature. We get exhausted quicker if we run on a hot summer afternoon than we would in the cooler evening. But how does the temperature influence our calorie burn rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a cold environment the body will need to burn calories to produce additional heat, in a hot environment the body needs energy to cool the system. But is this significant during sport? Does it make sense to train in a hot or cold environment to increase the calorie burn rate or is it better to train in a more or less ideal environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T06:07:18.600" Title="Does the temperature of the training environment influence the calorie burn rate significantly?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4035" CreationDate="2011-09-22T18:54:17.207" Score="4" ViewCount="13481" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been swimming for the last couple years and currently swim 4 times a week. Two of those days I swim in the morning, the other two are in the evening. Whenever I swim in the evening and swim a set using swim fins my feet and toes tend to cramp up the next swim set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ilwKW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried lots of things, potassium and water because I read they help with cramps as well as  stretching before and after the swim fin set. So far, neither has worked. My only other thought was perhaps the fins are the source of the problem. Swimming in the evening without using the fins doesn't bother me, so its not just because I swim in the evening. At the same time, if I use the fins in the morning, I don't cramp up either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was just hoping someone here might have a suggestion and/or solution as to what may be causing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2026" LastEditorUserId="2026" LastEditDate="2011-09-23T13:12:15.317" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T04:01:54.123" Title="What can explain my feet cramping while using swim fins when I swim in the afternoon/evening?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3927" CreationDate="2011-09-22T18:59:18.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not significantly. It takes a little extra energy to keep your body warm in the cold (and to carry extra clothing, if applicable), and it takes a little extra energy to generate sweat and run the related body cooling system. The large majority of energy during exercise is spent on the exercise itself, whether it's hot or cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T18:59:18.660" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3925" CreationDate="2011-09-22T19:33:30.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It partially depends on when you're going to run. If you're doing the majority of your training in the morning, then you might have enough fuel in your system from dinner to get through it. However, if you then don't eat until dinner, you won't be giving your body anything to recover with. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/nutritionandhydration/f/postruneating.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After running, especially a long run, you want to replenish energy as&#xA;  quickly as possible. Studies have shown that muscles are most&#xA;  receptive to rebuilding glycogen (stored glucose) stores within the&#xA;  first 30 minutes after exercise. If you eat soon after your workout,&#xA;  you can minimize muscle stiffness and soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, if you're putting in the kind of mileage that you'll need to train for a half marathon, you'll be burning a lot of extra calories a day. You might not be able to make up for that deficit with just one meal, so you might end up feeling really weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your second question, I can't speak as to what you should eat in order to make up for irregular meals, but in general you should have a good mix of lean protein, complex carbs, and fruits and veggies. Here's a good link that gives information on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.madetorun.com/running-diet-and-nutrition/what-to-eat-before-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;what to eat as a runner&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T19:33:30.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1299" CreationDate="2011-09-22T19:36:20.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot target specific body parts for fat reduction - you can target certain areas for muscle growth - but this is usually not recommended.  Depending on your genetic make up, gender and age you will have different locations on your body where fat cells are more prevalent.  You will need to reduce overall body fat (bf%) in order to see a reduction in those areas you're interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T19:36:20.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1299" CreationDate="2011-09-22T19:49:15.663" Score="12" Body="&lt;h1&gt;No&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot target specific areas of your body to lose fat*. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1299/how-to-lose-fat-only-in-your-thigh/1301#1301&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to a similar question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Why&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's called the Spot Reduction Myth. I explained it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3399/what-are-the-true-implications-of-the-abdominals-being-actually-just-one-muscle/3405#3405&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Belief in spot reduction means that you think exercising your arms/abs/thighs/butt will specifically reduce the amount of fat on that area of your body. This is a misunderstanding. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt; describes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to what the infomercials suggest there is no such thing as spot reduction. Fat is lost throughout the body in a pattern dependent upon genetics, sex (hormones), and age. Overall body fat must be reduced to lose fat in any particular area. Although fat is lost or gained throughout the body it seems the first area to get fat, or the last area to become lean, is the midsection (in men and some women, especially after menopause) and hips and thighs (in women and few men). Sit-ups, crunches, leg-hip raises, leg raises, hip adduction, hip abduction, etc. will only exercise the muscles under the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, you can't &amp;quot;tone&amp;quot; your little bulge. You need to exercise your whole body and eat less or eat better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body determines where it will remove fat. You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;, however, tell your body where to &lt;em&gt;build muscle&lt;/em&gt;, which is totally more awesome anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(* Technically, there is some research &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1299/how-to-lose-fat-only-in-your-thigh/1315#1315&quot;&gt;popularized by Tim Ferriss&lt;/a&gt; that suggests that there might be a way to target fat reduction through the mechanism of more blood flow, but the science is nascent. Even if true, it still wouldn't be the most productive way to lose fat. I beg you to ignore it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-09-22T19:49:15.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="576" CreationDate="2011-09-22T22:30:56.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hamstrings are also tight from sitting too much at work and in the car. They are slowly getting better, but I can't say that I'm an expert. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Seems to Help My Hamstrings&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stadion.com/column.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thomas Kurz&lt;/a&gt;'s method from Stretching Scientifically and a giant-rubber-band method from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq4vjqiwNT0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this crazy-awesome old guy's video&lt;/a&gt;. I do Kurz's morning workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joint rotations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 minutes of running or jump rope or whatever to get your heart rate up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg swings to the front, side and back, 3 sets of 10 swings on each direction. Don't bend your lower back. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then do the band stretching per the video. I generally do a set of Yoga &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/474&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;up-dog&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/491&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;down-dogs&lt;/a&gt; and some round-backed Good Mornings with a very low weight (this helps my back as well as my hamstrings). Consistency is key: I notice when I skip a day (I get tighter), and I notice when I stretch twice in one day (I make faster progress). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYZjHErxMqQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Romanian Deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; three times a week as part of my lifting workout. It's important to consider that strengthening the muscle is just as important as stretching it, both to avoid injury and to make the hamstring longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Seems to Shorten and Tighten My Hamstrings&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found some specific hamstring pitfalls: long car rides, sitting down immediately after running or lifting, sitting instead of using a standing desk at work, sitting with my legs underneath the chair.... Avoiding those has been key for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: cycling is often found to &lt;em&gt;shorten&lt;/em&gt; your hamstrings (making them tighter), instead of improving the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-23T13:10:50.373" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T13:10:50.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-23T13:50:32.430" Score="12" ViewCount="1708" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 27 and I'm in pretty good shape. I'm getting in even better shape, having signed up for a gym membership a couple months ago for the first time in my life. I've been hitting some free weights, pec press machines (or whatever you call them), the pull-up bar and the treadmill (I run 4.5 miles in about 32 minutes). But I do no leg weights - I'm on my feet all the time - I'm a human! - and these machines seem like a waste of time to me. Still, next month I'm running my first 10K. And I find that often while running, my legs start to ache before I'm exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can lower body exercises help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they worth my time? (I'd rather not spend much more time in the gym than I already do)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, which exercises should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1786" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-23T14:44:50.680" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T22:15:03.857" Title="I'm a casual runner &amp; active human. Do I need to work out my legs + lower body?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3938" CreationDate="2011-09-23T14:44:35.487" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&quot;Lower Body Exercises&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's define our terms. In lifting, squats and deadlifts are considered the primary &quot;lower body exercises&quot;, but in truth they develop strength in the entire body. You could focus on &quot;legs&quot; specifically by using machines (leg press, leg curl), but that would be wildly inefficient and unproductive. Heavy barbell squats and deadlifts will get you much, much stronger over your whole body, including your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.secondnaturefitness.org/index.php?option=com_k2&amp;amp;view=item&amp;amp;id=13%3awcs-strength-conditioning-for-combat-sports-vol-9-nuts-and-bolts-the-deadlift&amp;amp;Itemid=53&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Second Nature Fitness&lt;/a&gt; puts it, &quot;Due to its difficulty and impact on the body, the deadlift is an essential part of everyone's program - regardless of goals.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A functional human being should be able to squat and deadlift a significant amount of weight in order to maintain strength and mobility. This makes you less disposed to injury and able to do more things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strength For Running&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's common knowledge, and stands to reason, that being stronger will help you run faster. Deadlifting in particular is recommended for running. It strengthens your hamstrings and back, both of which are essential in running. Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/hlbook/strt-deadlifting-for-whole-body-strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Healthline&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deadlifting is important for athletes because it requires several large muscle groups to work in a coordinated fashion. Athletes also use this versatile lift to develop explosive strength through the legs, hips, and back. Performing deadlifts will benefit you in any sport that requires jumping, &lt;strong&gt;running&lt;/strong&gt;, lifting an opponent or object, or moving quickly from a stationary spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Your Situation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might not make sense to start lifting for the first time a month before a race. Your legs may be very sore for several days when you first start, since your body is not used to that kind of work. Therefore, it would probably be wise to begin lifting weights after your first 10k is over, not before. Also, having more muscle may or may not help with the ache you feel in your muscles when running. It will probably make you faster and less injury-prone, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are able to start, lifting will definitely get you stronger (and therefore healthier) and faster. One of the best resources for getting started is Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=312&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt;). You could either take a few months off from running and do a novice progression, or you could simply add a squat/deadlift workout a few times a week to your current regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical novice progression (cribbed from Starting Strength) is essentially:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift heavy three times a week with a barbell, doing a few sets of not more than six reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In each lifting workout you will do: squats, bench press/overhead press, and deadlifts/chin-ups. (Slashes mean you alternate the exercise each workout.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At each workout, you lift a little more in each exercise than you did in the previous workout. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other novice progressions (like GreySkull LP) focus more on the upper body, but that wouldn't make sense for someone interested in running. The specifics aren't terribly important; the core idea is a small number of full-range-of-motion compound barbell exercises done heavy for a few reps, increasing in weight each workout for as long as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-29T22:15:03.857" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T22:15:03.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="576" CreationDate="2011-09-23T15:40:39.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hamstrings are a two joint muscle, meaning that they cross the hip joint as well as the knee joint.  So it helps to do different stretches to isolate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the upper part of the hamstrings (nearest the ischial tuberosity or buttocks insertion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the lower part (closest to the knee joint)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the hamstrings are made up of 3 different muscles, basically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the mid-thigh portion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the medial hamstrings (inner posterior thigh)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the lateral hamstrings (outer posterior thigh)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvLSoHeSDBY&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; targets stretching each of the above.  Notice that he engages his abs to control the spine.  He uses his breath, rhythmic, dynamic stretches.  Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HBrENbM9vk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;another variation&lt;/a&gt; with dynamic movements in standing using different planes of motion.  See if these help, especially isolating and stretching the upper hamstring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are the prolonged static stretches as well.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2izuYXRJqk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This static stretch may be easier&lt;/a&gt; for you to isolate your hamstrings from your back than the one in your link. Warm up the muscles first with exercise or heat because you get a better stretch with a warm muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you are so restricted that you can only lift your leg 2' you probably have a neural component to the tightness, meaning that it is not just that the muscle is physically shortened, but that the nerves are also “tense” causing the muscle to “hold” that tight pattern.  If that is the case, using PNF - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqdob05B_SQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;contract relax&lt;/a&gt; and/or rhythmic stretches may help you release better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also some physical therapy techniques that you could learn.  One is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theprrt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PRRT&lt;/a&gt; that releases reflexes and can be very effective.  (Sorry there are no youtube videos.  You’ll need to take a partner with you and ask your therapist.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your description you may also want to stretch your glutes and hip rotators.&#xA;In addition to stretching, you can use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B000AS4BPC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;foam roller&lt;/a&gt; to self-massage and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09jSqY-ie-k&amp;amp;NR=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;release the hamstrings&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For additional information on stretching see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness&quot;&gt;Daily stretch routine to increase flexibilty and overall fitness?&lt;/a&gt;  The main thing is to find the stretches that are most effective for you and get a regular routine.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T15:40:39.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3944" CreationDate="2011-09-23T16:17:54.560" Score="4" ViewCount="14505" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine told me that the worst thing to do when trying to lose weight is to eat right before bed as it sits in your stomach and it will make you gain weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this accurate?  If so, what time should I stop eating  . .1 hour before, 2 hours before.  Is there certain foods that are better to eat late at night if i get stuck in a situation where i am really hungry but have to go to bed soon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T17:41:48.763" Title="what time should i stop eating at night" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:23:56.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3862" CreationDate="2011-09-23T17:37:02.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, all spikes fit all track shoes (assume you are using track spikes), but the question isn't if they all fit, the question you should be asking is &amp;quot;what kind of spikes should I use in my track shoes?&amp;quot;.  If you are running distance, or even middle distance, you want short spikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual size will vary, depending on your shoe.  Some shoes have a recessed socket for the spikes, others have one that extrude from the bottom of the shoe.  If the socket is recessed, you may want a pike that is 1/8&amp;quot; longer.  Typically a D or MD shoe should only have a 1/8&amp;quot; - 1/4&amp;quot; spike.  You're not running as fast, and though you are on your toes, it's not quite the same as a sprinter.  Still, as a sprinter you don't want long spikes.  Longer spikes can cause you to catch your toe and send you head over heals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Javelin and Cross Country typically mandate longer spikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you have to worry about spikes from a compatibility standpoint is the way you install the spikes.  There are two different types of spike keys based on the types of spikes.  Some are hex and others are a simple wedge.  If you have both types of spike keys you do not have to worry about this.  However the threads of the spikes will all be the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2032" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T20:11:39.463" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:11:39.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3941" CreationDate="2011-09-23T17:41:48.763" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, as far as science has been able to tell, this is not accurate. That is to say, eating at a certain time of day does not cause your body to somehow get more or less energy from the food you eat or store more or less of it as fat. Or if it does, the difference is not significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-truth-myth-eating-night-causes-weight-gain&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Weight Control Information Network web site, “it does not matter what time of day you eat. It is what and how much you eat and how much physical activity you do during the whole day that determines whether you gain, lose, or maintain your weight.”&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/weight-loss/busting-10-diet-myths-10000001700385/index.html&quot;&gt;RealSimple.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;The theory: You burn up the food you eat earlier in the day, while late-night calories sit in your system and turn into fat.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;The reality: Calories can't tell time. &quot;Your body digests and uses calories the same way morning, noon, and night,&quot; says Mary Flynn, Ph.D., a research dietitian at the Miriam Hospital, in Providence.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/womenshealth/features/dietmyths.htm&quot;&gt;NetDoctor.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Myth&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Food eaten late at night is more fattening.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&#xA;Fact&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Many diets tell you not to eat after a certain time in the evening. They say the body will store more fat because it is not burned off with any activity.&#xA;A study at the Dunn Nutrition Centre in Cambridge suggests otherwise.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The results revealed the large meal eaten late at night did not make the body store more fat.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3263249.stm&quot;&gt;BBC News&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Scientists at Oregon Health &amp; Science University in the United States carried out tests on 47 female monkeys.&#xA;&#xA;They found no link between when the animals ate and whether or not they put on weight.&#xA;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&quot;The bottom line is a calorie is a calorie whenever you eat it,&quot; he told BBC News Online.&#xA;&#xA;&quot;Your body doesn't really recognise what time of day it is. It is a little bit of a myth.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Conclusion: What matters is what you eat, and how much, not when you eat it.&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, that's not to say that there's no benefit at all to getting calories earlier in the day. What you eat early in the day can affect your blood sugar levels, and therefore your hunger sensations for the rest of the day. If you eat a hearty breakfast with protein and slow-burning carbs, you're likely to feel less hungry during the day, and you may eat less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, if you eat badly throughout the day, letting your hunger build and perhaps going through insulin shocks because of junk food and simple carbs, you may have strong cravings at night and be more inclined to binge eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, people may tend to eat more &quot;snack&quot; foods at night that they wouldn't have eaten earlier in the day. For example, the first link I posted says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;People eat at night for a variety of reasons that often have little to do with hunger, from satisfying cravings to coping with boredom or stress. And after-dinner snacks tend not to be controlled. They often consist of large portions of high-calorie foods (like chips, cookies, candy), eaten while sitting in front of the television or computer. In this situation, it’s all too easy to consume the entire bag, carton, or container before you realize it. Besides those unnecessary extra calories, eating too close to bedtime can cause indigestion and sleeping problems.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the sense that your eating &lt;em&gt;behavior&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;choices&lt;/em&gt; may be different late at night than they would be during the day, it may be wise for you to get your meals in earlier if it means eating healthier food or having less hunger pangs. However, if you were to plan all your meals for the day in advance, and set them aside in separate lunch boxes, and you didn't eat anything else but what you packed, at the end of the day it wouldn't really matter when you chose to eat the contents of those lunch boxes. If you had your evening meal at 5pm, or if you had it at 11pm, as long as you ate the same foods in the same amounts it wouldn't have a noticeable affect on your weight gain or loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T17:41:48.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3938" CreationDate="2011-09-23T19:21:28.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lower body exercises would probably help you build speed and prevent injury (by building muscle around your knee, for example, you'll be less likely to tear something). Runner's World has a great article called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-266-11273-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Faster in Five&lt;/a&gt; that outlines 5 different lower body exercises you can do, mostly just with your own body weight and dumbbells. These include single leg squats, balance run (also try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzZg3FBBg_s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;running man&lt;/a&gt; variation), heel raises, hamstring push-up (one-legged bridges on an exercise ball or chair), and plank lift. Regular squats, lunges, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtP910C-cE8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;high step ups&lt;/a&gt; are good too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T19:21:28.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3928" CreationDate="2011-09-23T20:48:49.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swim-city.com/library.php3?id=119&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Swim-City&lt;/a&gt;, your foot can cramp up if you deliberately point your toes when you swim. That's because in order to do so, you have to contract the muscles that run up the back of your leg, including your foot arch. This can be exacerbated by a variety of things, one of which is wearing fins:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wearing fins and kicking fast – for some reason the body insists on&#xA;  trying to control any swimming-aid attached to the foot (especially&#xA;  with short fins because the foot has to bend instead of the flexible&#xA;  blade on long fins doing the work). These unnecessary muscle&#xA;  contractions eventually lead to cramp unless you have the ability to&#xA;  be and stay relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T20:48:49.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3888" CreationDate="2011-09-23T22:21:49.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First converting fat into muscle is a myth, it's physiologically impossible. Fat is made out of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipocyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adipocyte&lt;/a&gt; while muscle is made out of mostly proteins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can improve your body composition by increasing your muscle mass while decreasing your body fat but the two are happening independent of each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another myth is toning. Again very similar to muscle -&gt; fat. It's possible to achieve a 'toned' look but I prefer not to use that terms since its misleading. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the reason why you are gaining weight from strength training. It comes down to several factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inflammation and water retention: lifting causes trauma to the muscle and skeletal systems which causes an inflammatory response in order to repair the damage. This leads to hypertrophy and anabolism if you eat and rest sufficiently. More specifically this causes water retention which increases your bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increased glycogen storage: any type of anaerobic lifting uses the immediate energy supply found in the muscle which is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycogen&lt;/a&gt;. Lifting encourages the body to store more glycogen so it's better prepared for future activity. This again increases your overall bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased lean mass: lifting will cause you to gain more lean body mass. This isn't simply increased muscle mass but also increase in the systems that support the muscle like connective tissue. For someone on a caloric deficit you would be lucky to gain .25lbs per week, most likely less. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there you have it, those are all the factors which impact your weight in relation to training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="2034" LastEditDate="2011-09-23T22:26:57.057" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T22:26:57.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-23T22:45:04.453" Score="7" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training for a January marathon but I've just moved across country for graduate school.  My immediate neighborhood is not exactly set up for long distance runs (a luxury I left back home, it seems).  Does anyone have a favorite way to find new routes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2037" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-26T18:39:02.023" LastActivityDate="2011-10-31T22:56:53.453" Title="How do I find new long-distance running routes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-27T12:28:49.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3938" CreationDate="2011-09-23T23:00:51.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can lower body exercises help me? Absolutely&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they worth my time? Yes, and I've included ones that will get you out of the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, which exercises should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with lower body and core resistance training.  Then move on to plyometrics. These will help with your running performance, reduce the chance of injuries and balance out your total body.  Choose from some of the exercises below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Types of Strengthening Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For running, &lt;strong&gt;plyometric&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;explosive strength training&lt;/strong&gt; can improve your  neuro-muscular control,  increasing both your strength and power.  This improves your economy of motion, or &quot;running economy&quot;, and therefore allows you to run more smoothly, &lt;strong&gt;with less effort&lt;/strong&gt; and probably less aches.  Plyometric training can even cut into your running endurance training time and still &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18460997&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;improve your running results&lt;/a&gt;.  However, before you try plyometric training, you need to have a solid strength base.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Design your lower body and core muscle strengthening to give you a stronger toe push off, forward drive and better cushioning on landing as your muscles absorb the shock.   Think in terms of functional movements, multiple muscle groups and specificity of training for running.  Some suggestions:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For a strong toe push off - toe or &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/SMStandingCalfRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calf raises&lt;/a&gt; with or without weights or machines,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For a strong forward knee motion - &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/CBStandingLegRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cable hip flexors&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For good shock absorbing and eccentric control include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dorsi-flexors of the foot and ankle - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UWRekYDp0Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heel walking&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXOlZuXUTHY&amp;amp;feature=results_main&amp;amp;playnext=1&amp;amp;list=PL0EEB791CE3088FF7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cable dorsi-flexion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;quads with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XASgNRkm0y4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;partial step downs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;glutes with &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/NreRUR0qMqo?t=1m&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;step ups&lt;/a&gt; or squats and lunges&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For core muscle control: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;planks, bridges, bird-dogs&lt;/a&gt; progressions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have good basic strength, you can begin with &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/Bhu2SnkimwI?t=1m8s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plyometric exercises&lt;/a&gt; like squats with a medicine ball toss, box jumps, bounding, one and two legged hops (forward and lateral) and vertical or long jumps.       &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add some wobble board training to work on balance and agility, and keep flexible with a stretching routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T23:00:51.517" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3863" CreationDate="2011-09-23T23:18:54.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be misunderstanding your question, but it seems that what you are asking for, would depend greatly on your goals and many other factors.  “Optimal normal overall body flexibility” varies depending on age, gender, health, body type/size, level of activity and functional needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many variables.  For example, flexibility goals for the hamstrings would differ greatly for the needs of a karate kick, a hurdler or a ballerina’s split compared to the needs of a golfer’s swing, a runner or a person trying to ease back or knee pain.  Another example of variables would be hip flexion range of motion that would depend on the girth of the thigh.  (A greater thigh girth, from either fat or muscle, would result in less hip flexion due to approximation of soft tissue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know of any resource that allows you to plug in your body dimensions and your outcome goals to obtain a recommended range.  Maybe in the future  a sufficient database will be created and you will have your answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However for now, although not what you are hoping for, there are charts with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.archive.org/stream/MeasureOfJointRomsGuideToGoniometry/msrment_of_jt_motn_guid_to_gonio#page/n379/mode/2up/search/375&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;normative goniometric  joint range of motion ranges&lt;/a&gt;, which may be helpful to you.  If you have a sport specific need, tennis muscle imbalances for example, you can find specific info which is beyond the scope of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As much as science has improved and quantified much of our understanding of the body, it is no replacement for one’s own body awareness.  Becoming aware of your body kinesthetically will help you know when you’ve achieved sufficient or optimal range for your body and just need to maintain.   If you have no sense of this, a professional such as a physical therapist or trainer could guide you.   It is good that you recognize that there is a point beyond which pushing further  is counterproductive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T23:18:54.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3863" CreationDate="2011-09-24T01:46:28.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/special_subjects/rehabilitation/physical_therapy_pt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Merck Manual&lt;/a&gt; has a table of normal ranges of motion for each joint. (If someone could help me get the table into this answer that would be great--I don't see a simple method.) I haven't gone through every one, but for some movements that I require for lifting, running or sport, I have compared myself to what can be reasonably expected of a functional human being. It is immensely interesting to find out the mobility problems and weaknesses that driving and desk jobs can do to our bodies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Indian Journal of Palliative Care, in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jpalliativecare.com/article.asp?issn=0973-1075;year=2011;volume=17;issue=2;spage=159;epage=161;aulast=Tendas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; about hematomas and graft-versus-host disease, has a table that includes normal range of motion. Ignore the T-sub-zero, T-sub-one and delta-percent columns; they refer to the disease treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I prefer &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Lists/Articulations.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt; to figure out what each one means. In other words, I'll use it to look up &quot;shoulder flexion&quot; to make sure I know which direction that means. They also have a set of &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Lists/Tests.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;assessment tests&lt;/a&gt; that unfortunately appear not to have normal ROM values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/53ZnS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-24T01:46:28.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3949" CreationDate="2011-09-24T02:09:03.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I travel a fair bit and always want to run in the places I visit, so I have the same problem. I usually try the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Google for runs using the search terms &quot;running in &amp;lt;your location&amp;gt;&quot; - that will very, very often come up with a site or two for official running clubs in your area. And they usually have a number of suggestions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the US, I have successfully used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningintheusa.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Running in the USA&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On a more global scale, I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/?&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MapMyRUN&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endomondo.com/routes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endomondo (you must log-in first)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2011-09-24T02:09:03.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3660" CreationDate="2011-09-24T03:31:50.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an ACL reconstruction on one of my knees 12 years ago.  I started a workout routine with squats and deadlifts earlier this year.  After about 4 weeks I had similar pain in my ACL knee.  I figured out I wasn't warming up enough.  I started doing 5 min of bike when I first walked into the gym and the knee pain disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2038" LastActivityDate="2011-09-24T03:31:50.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3960" CreationDate="2011-09-24T08:24:07.140" Score="3" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fellow runners,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am starting to enter the business end of my marathon training.&#xA;My long runs are around 20-22 miles and they are starting to take their toll on my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a particularly angry looking blister on my little toe that is causing me quite a lot of distress - annoying really as this is the first serious blister I've had since I started my training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned that this may interrupt my training schedule (it really does look quite evil).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something I should deal with or let it go down naturally?&#xA;If I should deal with it - what is the best way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T14:03:10.100" Title="Should I &quot;deal&quot; with my blisters?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3949" CreationDate="2011-09-25T05:59:35.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes - what about a Garmin Foretrex &lt;strong&gt;401&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the old-fashioned &quot;military&quot; Garmin you wear on your wrist - boxy looking.  It includes a map-chart screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H1eOb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the more modern, trendy wristgps are smaller, but have only data numbers, no map display.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(By &quot;map&quot; I mean not a carte, but a white screen with a black line showing your own trail, and also waypoints, lapmarkers etc you save.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I guess, you could go running with a garmin &lt;strong&gt;Dakota&lt;/strong&gt;, which you hang around your neck (or just shove in your pocket I guess) and that has actual map maps. But it's not as good as a 401!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW ..... other than the chart, another HUGE advantage of the old-fashioned 401 over the newer models, is that, you can click to an display of your heartrate (or indeed distance, time, speed, or whatever) that is shown in ENORMOUS, HUGE digits.  The digits are much, much, much bigger than on any other wrist-instrument. Perfect for glancing at when pounding along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T05:59:35.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3955" CreationDate="2011-09-25T14:03:10.100" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put something on the blister while running. Options include Dr. Scholl's moleskin, molefoam, or some other type of blister-specific band-aid. The gel cushion ones should work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to let it go down naturally, but don't let the blister pop. If it gets bigger, drain it by dipping a needle in peroxide or rubbing alcohol, then puncturing the base and pressing the blister to drain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent blisters, try different shoes or socks. I had blisters between my toes until I got toe socks. I love my Injinji socks. If that doesn't work, try putting moleskin on the parts of your feet where blisters tend to occur. Put moleskin on red, sore spots (hot spots) that are precursors to blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="126" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T14:03:10.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3963" CreationDate="2011-09-25T15:26:22.837" Score="11" ViewCount="2243" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2011/07/weightlifting-101/&quot;&gt;weightlifting-101 blog post&lt;/a&gt; on the stackexchange blog and posts on fitness.SE has helped me learn more about strength training and body building. My goal is body building (to bulk up) in short term to get a proper structure (size &amp;amp; shape) and then move onto strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my current workout routine (in order, 3 sets each of 12-10-08 reps with increasing weights (same weights in some cases)):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mon - Bi's &amp;amp; Tri's &amp;amp; Forearms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Preacher Curl&#xA;Dumbbell Alternate Biceps Curl&#xA;&#xA;Lying Triceps Extension&#xA;Barbell Close Grip Bench Press&#xA;Barbell Reverse Curl&#xA;&#xA;Close Grip Push Up&#xA;&#xA;Dumbbell Triceps Extension&#xA;Weighted Bench Dip&#xA;&#xA;Cable Push Down(with V-bar)&#xA;Cable Push Down(with rope attachment)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tues - Legs &amp;amp; Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Seated Leg Press&#xA;Lever Leg Extension&#xA;Leg Extension(Reverse lie down, couldn't find a name)&#xA;Two more machine related ones( couldn't find a name)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wed - Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Seated Dumbbell Press&#xA;Side Lateral Rise&#xA;Front two Dumbbell Press&#xA;Machine Shoulder Press&#xA;&#xA;Lever Lateral Rise&#xA;Upright Barbell Row&#xA;Shrug&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thu - Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Running &amp;amp; Cycling&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fri - Back &amp;amp; Chest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Barbell Bench Press&#xA;Decline Barbell Bench Press&#xA;Push Ups&#xA;&#xA;Lever Alternating Narrow Grip Seated Row&#xA;Machine pull down seated(couldn't find a name)&#xA;&#xA;Cable Standing Fly&#xA;&#xA;Cable Wide Grip Seated Row&#xA;Lever Underhand Seated Row&#xA;&#xA;Assisted Pull Up&#xA;&#xA;Lever Chest Press&#xA;Lever Seated Fly&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been training for 2 years now and have increased my weight few months back from 63-70kg and mostly due to following the above workout schedule for the past year. My goal is to increase my weight to around 70-85kg and get into proper shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this workout schedule right for my goals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this cover opposing muscles as explained in the blog post?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this cover large before small muscle group exercises as explained in the blog post?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan onto get &lt;em&gt;Practical Programming on Strength training&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Life without bread&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Chemicals for life &amp;amp; living&lt;/em&gt; to enhance my knowledge further in this field. If someone can help in the meantime with my questions, I would appreciate your inputs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2046" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-04T07:15:18.903" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T07:15:18.903" Title="Are these Workout Routines right for Body Building" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3962" CreationDate="2011-09-25T16:09:02.737" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are already strong, this is the wrong plan. Putting bodybuilding before strength training does not make any sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Strength Then Bodybuilding&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Virtually everyone in the strength and bodybuilding community agrees: one becomes a bodybuilder by developing a base of strength and mass first, then targeting specific muscles and body-composition work. This means that at first you should use a program that will get you stronger and bigger as fast as possible. When the gains from that program have been exhausted, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; you switch to a bodybuilding routine such as described above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Arnold's Beginner Program&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://muscleandbrawn.com/the-real-arnold-schwarzenegger-beginner-programs/&quot;&gt;Muscle &amp;amp; Brawn&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you’re a beginner and you want to train like Arnold Schwarzenegger, then you have to train like Arnold Schwarzenegger trained as a beginner. When Arnold first began training he trained 3 days a week, so you’ll train three days a week. When Arnold first began training he followed a Reg Parks routine, so you’ll follow a Reg Parks routine. When Arnold first began training, he focused on the big heavy compound lifts, so you’ll focus on the big heavy compound lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key phrase in that quote is how Arnold trained &lt;em&gt;&quot;as a beginner&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. His later programming was for bodybuilding after he had developed his base. His beginner programming was essential for getting him big and strong enough to bodybuild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reg Park's program includes a lot of compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, dips, bench and overhead presses), but also a good deal of bodybuilding-oriented accessory work (calves, wrists). &lt;strong&gt;Per your specific questions&lt;/strong&gt;: (1) it will get you bigger, (2) it does work opposing muscle groups (notice the pushes and pulls), and (3) it does do smaller exercises after bigger ones (notice the wrists and calves are after the squats, deadlifts, pulls and presses).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Workout A&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Back Squats 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chin-Ups or Pull-Ups 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dips or Bench Press 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wrist Work (Grip Work)  2×10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Calves 2×15-20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Workout B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Front Squats 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Rows 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Standing Press 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Deadlifts 3×5 (2 warm-up sets and 1 “stabilizer set”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wrist Work 2×10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Calves 2×15-20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Week 1: A, B, A &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Week 2: B, A, B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More details are available in the link above. Once you've followed this program for a few months, it would be appropriate to move on to what's called an intermediate lifting program. Your intermediate program would include strength work but focus more on bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Building Mass &amp;amp; Strength Quickly&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary problem with a bodybuilding routine such as you describe is that it is inefficient for putting on mass (and getting stronger). Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Machines&lt;/strong&gt; isolate muscles instead of working multiple muscle groups. The body responds much better when resistance is applied across the entire body, moving across multiple joints. The program you describe uses a lot of machine exercises and isolation exercises, which are great for bodybuilding but sub-optimal for getting bigger and stronger as fast as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compound movements&lt;/strong&gt; like squats, deadlifts, presses, pull-ups, and dips are the best way to tell your body to get bigger and stronger. Doing these full-range-of-motion exercises with heavy weight multiple times a week stimulates growth. Squat- and deadlift-oriented programs in particular are known to produce growth at a rate unmatched by programs that focus on shrugs and curls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Other Options&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that I misunderstand your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to &lt;strong&gt;look strong&lt;/strong&gt;, then the plan above is fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to &lt;strong&gt;be strong&lt;/strong&gt;, then there's no need to bodybuild at all. For that, you should look into a strength-oriented beginner program like Rippetoe's &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to &lt;strong&gt;be powerful&lt;/strong&gt; (in other words, lifting heavy things quickly, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K837AwoIpFI&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;), then you should probably look into Olympic weightlifting. That would involve a beginner strength program with an emphasis on power development, eventually switching to a program oriented entirely on the &quot;fast lifts&quot; (snatch, clean, jerk).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What I Recommend&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your comments, it sounds like you want to get big and strong. I recommend buying Rippetoe's &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt; and following his program. Essentially, it involves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three lifting workouts a week, with no other exercise. This means no running on the off-days. The idea is to focus on getting bigger as fast as possible, with the knowledge that one can cut weight later by eating less and running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In each workout you will squat, press and pull. The presses alternate between bench and overhead. The pull alternates between deadlifts and power cleans. If you don't know how to power clean, 3 sets of chin-ups to failure will do. The deadlifts are 1x5 (1 set of 5 reps, after warming up), power cleans are 5x3, and all the rest are 3x5. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You add 5 pounds to every lift in every workout. So if you start with 3 sets of 5 squats at 135 pounds, your next workout would be 3 sets of 5 squats at 140 pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're looking to get bigger, you eat &lt;strong&gt;enormous quantities of food&lt;/strong&gt;, particularly protein, particularly meat, eggs and milk. One popular technique is called GOMAD: you drink a Gallon Of Milk A Day in addition to 3 BIG meals. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I followed the program poorly for four months--I skipped workouts (including a week-long vacation) and didn't eat or sleep enough. Despite not following the program well, I gained about 12 kilos. This is not out of the ordinary: most people gain 10-20 kilos by following the program for about six months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you do the program for several months, you can decide what you want to do: cut weight and get lean, switch to a bodybuilding program, or move to an intermediate strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-25T16:56:30.977" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T16:56:30.977" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-25T16:57:48.603" Score="4" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have trained for my initial one year alone and did not see much gain.&#xA;But had the opportunity to train with a friend for few months. In these few months I learned to lift heavier weights with good form and push myself further like never before. This helped me gain weight and also some shape in short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am back training alone for the past few months, I do push myself now and then. But not frequently as much as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you provide some suggestions/tips to help me motivate myself to keep pushing myself at every rep in every set in every session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good upbeat music seems to help. I am unable to find a partner at the moment. Any suggestions would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2046" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T18:27:46.120" Title="Weightlifting alone" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3964" CreationDate="2011-09-25T18:27:46.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The internet is full of training partners for you.  You may not be able to train with them but posting results to a public place and creating some form of competition will probably be of great help to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one of the things that has help crossfit become so popular, every workout is a competition and you can post your workouts to the main page comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also site like fitocracy.com, dailyburn.com, myfitnesspal.com that will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I follow the work out of the day (WOD) from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitfootball.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.crossfitfootball.com/&lt;/a&gt;.  Those workouts all have a benchmark to measure, either time, # or reps or weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2049" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T18:27:46.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3962" CreationDate="2011-09-25T18:31:30.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sources that I would recommend are &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Rippetoe and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt; 5x5 program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you focus on getting stronger, size will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2049" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-25T19:06:36.540" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T19:06:36.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3970" CreationDate="2011-09-25T19:45:15.930" Score="9" ViewCount="7830" Body="&lt;p&gt;@DaveLiepmann recommended drinking one gallon of milk a day for gaining quick mass. It does look like a good idea &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as it is discussed on stronglifts as well&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But another article suggested &lt;a href=&quot;http://jcdfitness.com/2010/04/gomad-gallon-of-milk-per-day-is-it-for-everyone/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it is not for everyone&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All ingredients in 1 gallon of milk &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+gallon+milk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;can be found using wolframalpha&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That’s quite a lot of fat (as they recommend whole milk rather than skimmed milk), sugar, and other things others like vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, etc. &lt;strong&gt;Is drinking that much milk good for the body?&lt;/strong&gt; From what I understand, this is only short term until you reach your desired weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is the weight gained primarily of fat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it true the weight gained using this strategy will be lost after you stop drinking 1 gallon of milk?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I currently consume 500 ml of milk a day, can look at taking another 500 ml given the situation above with fat, sugar &amp;amp; other excessive contents but will mean stop taking any other sugar foods. &lt;strong&gt;Will this make a difference in terms of weight gain (as this is not close to 1 gallon)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not trying to open a discussion rather looking for answers specific to my questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2046" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-10T13:29:29.140" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T23:09:07.343" Title="Weight gained using GOMAD strategy" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;milk&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3646" CreationDate="2011-09-25T21:22:56.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you would be DQ'd if you were to use it.  Looking at this thread, though they don't mention Androgel specifically, it looks like this is a standing problem:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://masterstrack.com/2010/07/14233/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://masterstrack.com/2010/07/14233/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The USATF rules on doping can be found here:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=3&amp;amp;ved=0CCsQFjAC&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatf.org%2Fabout%2Frules%2F2008%2F2008USATFRules_Article2.pdf&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=usatf%20drug%20rules%20testosterone&amp;amp;ei=45d_TvLuC-a1sQKgpfgO&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNFdaNcCSrmM-wHNC1pst2PRUaKE1A&amp;amp;sig2=Kj91Y7RLaSMnK56y1K3ZFA&amp;amp;cad=rja&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=3&amp;amp;ved=0CCsQFjAC&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatf.org%2Fabout%2Frules%2F2008%2F2008USATFRules_Article2.pdf&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=usatf%20drug%20rules%20testosterone&amp;amp;ei=45d_TvLuC-a1sQKgpfgO&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNFdaNcCSrmM-wHNC1pst2PRUaKE1A&amp;amp;sig2=Kj91Y7RLaSMnK56y1K3ZFA&amp;amp;cad=rja&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T21:22:56.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3967" CreationDate="2011-09-25T21:38:07.147" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;While on a heavy lifting program, those who are underweight and want to get bigger need to eat a large amount of food. One of the best ways to make sure that one gets enough calories each day is to drink a gallon of milk in addition to three large meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your questions individually: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is all that good for you?&lt;/em&gt; Milk is awesome for the body. From the second article you linked to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Milk, as a whole food source, is hard to beat in terms of macro and micro nutrients.&#xA;  Also, to be clear, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12566139&quot;&gt;dietary fat does not equal body fat&lt;/a&gt;. The fat in milk just means it's calorically dense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is it all fat?&lt;/em&gt; If you lift heavy three times a week and do GOMAD, a little less than half of the weight you gain will be fat. Mark Rippetoe, author of Starting Strength and proponent of GOMAD, says this in &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/clarification_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;an article clarifying his views on diet for the novice&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After the first three or four months, a change will be necessary for most guys that started off skinny. If you have done the program correctly, you will have gained quite a bit of weight, about &lt;strong&gt;60% of it being lean body mass – muscle, tendon, and bone&lt;/strong&gt;. This means that your bodyfat may have also gone from ~10% to 18-19%. This is fine; it was necessary to produce the LBM [Lean Body Mass] increase. But now it’s time to modify the diet to reflect your body’s approach to its limit of fast LBM growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will one lose the weight if one stops drinking GOMAD?&lt;/em&gt; Yes and no. People who trade lifting 3x/week and GOMAD for 20 hours of TV a week and eating bags of potato chips will keep the weight and lose the muscle. If you keep lifting but stop the GOMAD, you'll either keep the weight or lose some of the fat. If you stop lifting and take up sprinting, you'll drop the weight really fast.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining 60% lean mass and 40% fat, for someone who wants to be strong, is not the worst thing. It can be easily corrected through diet and exercise, particularly since the body has only recently put the weight on and is not accustomed to maintaining it. If you're concerned with looking pretty all the time, GOMAD is not for you. I've heard &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html&quot;&gt;LeanGains&lt;/a&gt; might be effective, but it certainly doesn't mix well with Starting Strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, 20 of the 25 pounds I gained from SS+GOMAD went away when I stopped GOMAD and started eating normally. I kept lifting, but with much less weight. I started running 1 or 2 times a week. It took between two weeks and a month to lose the weight. The 5 pounds that stayed was muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand your 4th question, but the gist of GOMAD is this: if you squat HEAVY three times a week, you need to eat a lot of food. 5000 calories or more is recommended. Meat, eggs, vegetables and milk are all great. Candy and soda are not ideal. One of the easiest, simplest, most straightforward ways to make sure you get enough food (including protein) is to eat three big meals and supplement it with a gallon of milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like what it does to your digestive system, how it makes you look, or how it tastes, just stop and lose the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-25T21:38:07.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3972" CreationDate="2011-09-26T03:19:41.033" Score="3" ViewCount="14249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in decent physical condition, but I have not been running for 2-3 months. I have signed up for a 5K in ten days. What training can I do in this short time for the best performance in the 5K?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How far should I run? Should I speed train (fast 400m's) or is it too late for that? Should I practice running 5K or something shorter? How many rest days do I need before the race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that I should have been training sooner, but unfortunately I haven't. Next time I intend to. I hope this question will be treated seriously because there are a lot of people who have and a lot who will run 5K's with only a few training days available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T14:29:02.830" Title="10 days to a 5K run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3971" CreationDate="2011-09-26T05:51:04.617" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of running did you do before your 2-3 hiatus?  Did you ever do speed training before?  10 days prior to the race doesn't leave you with any options really.  Your plan of attack REALLY depends on the kind of running you have done in the past.  If you were a runner before the break, you should try to run almost every day leading up to the run.  I'd do one long run 7 days out (5 miles - little longer if you used to run over 50 miles a week) and one speed session 2 days later. But this speed session should be light.  Do a 1 mile cutdown on a track.  Start slow and gradually get faster, going about 90% for the last 200m.  Take a 800 jog, then 3-4 200's that start slow, get fast in the middle, then slow down at the end.  Don't look at the times.  The key is to turn your legs over before the race so you don't get hurt during the race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were not much of a runner, try to run 50-75% of the days.  Try to run 3 miles once or twice and maybe pick up the last mile on 1-2 of your runs.  Maybe do one 5 mile run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were not a runner at all I'd reco running 3-4 times before the race.  Start small (1-2 miles with walking breaks if need be) and maybe get to 3 miles.  Listen to your body.  Rushing into this can cause you problems down the road....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T05:51:04.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3967" CreationDate="2011-09-26T13:14:21.623" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend reading an &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/88-gomad-gallon-of-milk-a-day/&quot;&gt;account of someone who actually did the protocol&lt;/a&gt; for the good, bad, and the ugly.  The article you cited really talked about the emotional side of things and didn't really go into any true negative side effects from a health perspective.  The key components of GOMAD are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are lifting weights to build strength.  This helps your body make the most of all those extra calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to gain weight.  This can be a problem for ectomorphs who are hitting plateaus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are squatting heavy 3 times per week.  That means you are following StrongLifts, or Starting Strength programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yes it's a lot of fat, sugars, and calories.  It's also a lot of protein.  You need the protein and the calories to build more muscle.  For people &lt;em&gt;who have a problem gaining weight&lt;/em&gt;, this is a very effective way to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to the account I linked to above, if you do the work needed, you will gain muscle.  You'll also have a bit of water retention and a little bit of fat.  The water retention will correct itself when you switch to a gallon of water a day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you continue the work needed to build stronger muscles, you will not magically lose all the weight you gained.  If you are an ectomorph, the body type that most commonly has problems gaining weight, the only weight that will remain is the new muscle you built.  You might lose some of the fat and water weight, but that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Understand how GOMAD is supposed to work.  The benefit of the whole milk is not just the sugars and fat.  It is the protein that comes with it as well.  You have an additional 128g of protein in your diet, that along with the calories provide your body the tools it needs to build muscle.  If you give your body the work it needs to tell it to build muscle--that's what you will get.  25lb in a month won't be &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; muscle, but a good portion of it will be.  Substituting with random sugar will not give you the same results.  You need the protein as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe also promotes this approach for people who have a hard time gaining weight.  It works.  It helps build muscle--if you are working on building strength while you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T13:14:21.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-26T13:58:32.680" Score="1" ViewCount="14747" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am trying to reduce my weight. People suggested me to take oats instead of rice. Which is the right time to take oats for a good effect. Breakfast or lunch or dinner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2057" LastEditorUserId="1895" LastEditDate="2011-09-27T04:55:51.663" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T23:54:31.317" Title="At what time are oats effective?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3971" CreationDate="2011-09-26T14:29:02.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't want to beat your body up too much right before a race. Generally, the advice is to taper your training 1-2 weeks before. However, if you were a runner before your 2-3 month break, then a 5k might not be too much for your body to handle, and you could just train up to a few days before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your training should depend partially on your goals (speed? just finishing?), and partially on what you can do now. How far are you able to run now without stopping? If you could do a 5k before your 2-3 months off, you might still be able to do it with a little bit of a struggle. If not, you could try something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like:&#xA;Day 1: Run 1 mile&#xA;Day 2: Run 3 miles&#xA;Day 4: Run 2 miles&#xA;Day 5: Run 3 miles&#xA;Day 7: Run 2 miles&#xA;Day 8: Run 3 miles&#xA;Day 10: 5k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That will give you a feel for what a 5k is like, since you'll have done 3 miles a few times. But you also won't be pushing it too much before the race. Another approach you could take is to go out on Day 1 and just try to run a 5k to see if you can do it already. If you can, then you could just run 3 miles every other day up until Day 7 or so, and incorporate some interval training to increase speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if you can already do the 5k you could concentrate more on your time. If not, you need to build up to where you can complete the distance but not worry about the speed so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T14:29:02.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3979" CreationDate="2011-09-26T14:42:43.240" Score="3" ViewCount="375" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have zero experience in running for fitness. I used to be in good shape simply from having a more active lifestyle and doing regular manual labor, but since moving to a different country, I've adopted a more sedentary lifestyle as a result of being jobless and lacking a social circle coupled with depression problems (and uh, being an avid &lt;a href=&quot;https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/160/fallenangeleyes&quot;&gt;gamer&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to get started with the Couch to 5k running program. However, I do not own a pair of running shoes. I've read conflicting things about getting started as a runner. Some say that while you're just in the beginning of the program, it's okay to just use your regular everyday shoes until you decide you want to upgrade as the program intensifies. Others say you definitely need running shoes if you want to do any kind of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what the best advice is. I have no experience I can draw on to make a sound judgement of what I should do. Can I safely use my regular, daily use shoes for starting out doing low-intensity daily exercise or should I try to purchase proper running shoes first? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: My current shoes are a pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skechers.com/style/50408/energy-3-punisher/blk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Men's Energy-3 Punisher&lt;/a&gt; shoes I purchased last December in the US (though I'm female, I usually purchase men's shoes for regular wear. I don't know if this makes a difference in running shoes). I've mostly used them for daily use and regular speed walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2008" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:10:06.427" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T15:15:55.050" Title="Is it dangerous to use the same shoes for walking as for running as a beginner?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3974" CreationDate="2011-09-26T15:07:05.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason oatmeal is good for promoting weight loss is because it is high in fiber and low in fat. The high fiber content helps keep you full for a long time, reducing the desire to eat soon afterwards. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.viruz.com/how-instant-oatmeal-can-help-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the fiber in oats forms gels to fill up. And it is these gels that&#xA;  delay the emptying of your stomach so that you don’t feel hungry&#xA;  quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that this should be true at any point during the day. I've done a little research and found a few sites that recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.suite101.com/content/oatmeal-for-breakfast-promotes-weight-loss-a210597&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eating oatmeal for breakfast&lt;/a&gt;, but I haven't seen any reason why the benefits you get at breakfast wouldn't extend to other meals. Perhaps it's because breakfast is the first meal you eat, and so oatmeal helps reduce hunger early which lasts throughout the day. But given that you will eat more than once, it might be beneficial to eat oatmeal for breakfast and then as part of your other meals as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T15:07:05.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3976" CreationDate="2011-09-26T15:10:49.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start the Couch to 5k program with the shoes you have now. After a week or two, you'll be familiar enough with the shoes to evaluate whether you need new ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be fine just using these for the entire program, but there's a concern that you'll dislike using the same shoes for running as for normal use. They'll get smelly. But for now, just wear what you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T15:10:49.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3976" CreationDate="2011-09-26T15:15:55.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like the shoes you have would be fine for running, but it depends on how long you've had them and how worn out they are. You don't want to be running in something that gives you no support, and if you literally wear them every day that might be the case with them. On the other hand, the Couch to 5k program has you running three times a week, and you don't want to get blisters from using new shoes without breaking them in gradually. If you want to get serious about running, I'd recommend getting a new pair of shoes (maybe going to a running store where they can recommend what to buy) and then alternating your old shoes and new shoes for first couple of weeks. That way you break in the new shoes gradually while starting off with something you're comfortable in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T15:15:55.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3826" CreationDate="2011-09-26T16:30:30.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can generate hip problems from running in circles excessively.  Many runners have leg-length issues, and many times it is the left leg that is 1/4&quot; - 1/2&quot; shorter than the right.  If you constantly turn/pivot one the left this happens.  This is usually a result of the pelvis becoming rotated over time, though knee cartilage can compress as well.  I've been running on a track since I was 14 and my legs are different lengths as a result, though most of my issues are from a rotated pelvis - which according to my chiropractor is not rare among runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen many coaches instruct runners to run some workouts in the opposite direction on a track to prevent injury.  Stress fractures in the lower leg are possible as well from constant turns in one direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the kid already has a bad leg length issues or hip rotation issues this could be a cause.  However this is speculation...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2032" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T16:30:30.333" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3522" CreationDate="2011-09-26T18:19:39.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To race fast you have to run fast.  Incorporate 3 things into your workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Track sessions&#xA;Tempo/Threshold Runs&#xA;Long runs - some of these should be HARD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to buildup leg turnover.  Getting on the track 3-4 times a month (maybe more if your body can handle it) will increase leg turnover.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tempos/Threshold - Do a variety of things here.  Paced runs, runs where you cutdown from 7:00 to your goal marathon race pace for the last 3 miles, etc. will help callous your legs for the hard work in races.&#xA;Do at least one hard run a month.  If you run 7:00-7:30, try to build up to 16 miles where you average 6:30 pace or faster for the entire thing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another key, vary the season.  Maybe in the spring run shorter workouts but faster times.  A few onths before the marathon season back off the intensity but do longer intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack Daniels is a valid system, but not the only one.  You can use the old Oregon system as well.  Key is to figure out what works best for you but the basic structure above should work best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2032" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T18:19:39.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3522" CreationDate="2011-09-26T18:41:53.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength work, particularly deadlifts, is very beneficial for sprinters and middle-distance runners. It may help for marathon work as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take care with too much stretching work: mobility/flexibility of some kinds is inversely correlated with some sports performance. For instance, a short, tight Achilles tendon makes for better running economy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-26T18:41:53.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-26T19:45:22.230" Score="3" ViewCount="72266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an active and fit person, but whenever I go for a run, afterwards I typically get bad stomach cramps.  Anything over 20 minutes or more than 3 miles long is my threshold where I'll get a stomach ache.  My pace tends to be 8-9 minute miles, so it's not like I'm sprinting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, yesterday I ran 5.5mi in an hour outside, and ate over 3 hours beforehand.  Afterwards I was in a lot of pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess it's caused by something in my diet, but I don't have problems with any other types of physical activities, such as indoor/outdoor soccer, Crossfit, or weight lifting.  But then again, those activities are higher intensity and lower duration than my distance runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I am &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; talking about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1258/what-causes-side-stitches&quot;&gt;side stitches&lt;/a&gt;, which I rarely get and is something different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2060" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T13:53:33.240" Title="How to avoid stomach cramps after running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3986" CreationDate="2011-09-26T20:34:46.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/98352-causes-stomach-pain-after-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LIVESTRONG article&lt;/a&gt; for some reasons why running might cause you to experience stomach pain. Given that you're running 3-5 miles at a relatively relaxed pace, here are some reasons that might apply to you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration/sodium depletion - even though you're not running that far or fast, if&#xA;you don't hydrate properly that could be causing it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduced blood flow to your intestines - while you run, more blood is&#xA;flowing to your muscles and less is flowing to your intestines and&#xA;stomach, which can cause GI problems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &quot;up and down&quot; of running - the motion of running is kind of&#xA;jarring, given that you're constantly jumping up and down and&#xA;hitting the pavement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously to correct for #1 you could drink more water (for dehydration) or intake more sodium (for sodium depletion). I'm not sure what to do about 2 and 3, as they are both givens with running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-09-27T18:44:40.070" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T18:44:40.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4015" CreationDate="2011-09-27T01:20:46.430" Score="4" ViewCount="1285" Body="&lt;p&gt;After (or during) an hour or three of hard, sweaty running and/or biking, how much salt do I need beyond my normal diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T02:24:22.430" Title="How much sodium after hard exercise?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4003" CreationDate="2011-09-27T03:46:33.493" Score="17" ViewCount="5814" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently do cardio and weight training, but my friend is trying to get me to take yoga.  The biggest benefit seems to be flexibility. Are there any other big benefits to yoga versus these other forms of exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2013-09-24T16:11:44.907" LastActivityDate="2018-09-23T07:39:19.927" Title="What are the best benefits of yoga (versus cardio and weight training)?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4001" CreationDate="2011-09-27T05:17:39.427" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a week of extensive exercising involving cycling, running, swimming and soccer I woke up Sunday morning with a sharp pain in what I think is my soleus muscle. Definitely not an achilles, but lower than the calf and on the outer-side of my leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't remember a point during exercising when I noticed it happened, I just woke up that way. I can put pressure on the foot, I can also walk on it and did some very light jogging on it yesterday as my 4 year old was hassling me to play soccer with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain is sharp and goes from mid way behind the shin up to the bottom of the calf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of my situation I think this info would be useful for others, so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I know if I have a sprain or a strain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between a sprain or a strain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in how each of these should be treated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do later to prevent the injury from returning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T11:59:47.703" Title="Sprain or strain - what's the difference and how to treat?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;treatment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-11-20T20:04:57.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2011-09-27T07:13:11.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is as you say the clearest physical benefit - but not the only one.  Try a few sessions and you should quickly see for yourself that just being cardio and strength fit doesn't mean that Yoga is going to be easy.  What do you have to lose by trying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, the benefits of yoga extend beyond just the physical.  It is a great form of meditation and really helps with stress and mental clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2062" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T07:13:11.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-27T07:32:23.867" Score="20" ViewCount="16206" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is bench press with dumbbells less effective than bench press with barbell, if so why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2063" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2011-09-30T08:20:22.247" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T22:25:03.317" Title="Is bench press with dumbbells less effective?" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2011-09-27T09:43:52.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a different exercise. Quoting Mark Rippetoe (&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1Ida776&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, p.68): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... the dumbbell version ... is probably a better exercise for most&#xA;  purposes other than powerlifting competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also says that getting into position, and getting up with the dumbbells after the set &quot;is a large part of the fun&quot;, and that they require more conscious control and are harder to do compared to the barbell version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see why it should be less effective, except in regard to the bench press as competitive lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1811" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T22:25:03.317" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T22:25:03.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2011-09-27T09:46:05.390" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805421&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, a well-known book on barbell training, Mark Rippetoe says (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In fact, the dumbbell version of the exercise, which actually predates the barbell version&#xA;  due to its less specialized equipment requirements, &lt;strong&gt;is probably a better exercise for most purposes&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  other than training for a powerlifting competition. This is especially true if the weights used are&#xA;  sufficiently heavy to challenge your ability to actually finish the set. Most trainees use them as a&#xA;  light assistance movement, and never appreciate how hard they are or how useful they can be.&#xA;  They are performed on a simple flat bench, and taking the dumbbells out of the rack or off the&#xA;  floor, getting into position on the flat bench, and getting up with them after the set is finished is a&#xA;  large part of the exercise. &lt;strong&gt;Dumbbells&lt;/strong&gt; — being not tied together between the hands as with a&#xA;  barbell - &lt;strong&gt;require more active, conscious control, are harder to do, and are therefore less&#xA;  commonly done&lt;/strong&gt;. There is a one-handed version, in which only one dumbbell is used, that requires&#xA;  a tremendous amount of core strength to just stay on the bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes on to recommend doing the barbell version (&quot;as the weight of history and precedent demands&quot;), though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T09:46:05.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2011-09-27T09:46:27.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience when Bench pressing with a good spotter will be 10 times more effective. it tends to use more of your core and also if done correctly you will see a vast improvement when training to your tri's too. You center of gravity is also better when barbell pressing and ensures a good press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would only dumbbell press if if the bench press equipment is not capable of spotting you with a lift your self and you believe that you could be putting your self in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2064" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T09:46:27.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3992" CreationDate="2011-09-27T11:59:47.703" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strain:&lt;/strong&gt; injury that affects muscles or tendons that attach muscles and bones.  These occur after a quick tear, twist, or pull.  You can get these after overstretching or an over contraction.  With a strain, you can experience pain, weakness, and muscle spasms.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sprains:&lt;/strong&gt; injury that affects ligaments, which is the cartilage that attaches bone to bone.  You get a sprain when you stretch or tear the ligament.  Usually occurs after trauma (fall or something that will displace the joint from the normal alignment).  Can be mild tear or complete.  You will usually experience bruising, swelling, instability, and painful movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what you have, the treatment is the same.  &lt;strong&gt;RICE:&lt;/strong&gt;  Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.  Obviously, rest the injured area. Ice for the first 24-48 hours to prevent further swelling and damage.  (Only apply for 20 minutes at a time).  Compression, which is in the form ace wrap or splints.  And then Elevation.  Elevate the injury extremity above the level of the heart.  This helps if your foot is swollen.  This will help mobilize the swelling from the foot and pull it back up your leg.  This takes the pressure off of your foot and helps reduce the pain.  Also, if you are continuing to have pain, you can take NSAIDS (Non Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs.  These are over the counter, such as Advil or ibuprofen.)   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tips to avoid getting this injuries:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Avoid exercising or playing sports when tired or in pain.&#xA;Eat a well-balanced diet to keep muscles strong.&#xA;    Maintain a healthy weight.&#xA;    Try to avoid falling (for example, put sand or salt on icy spots on your front steps or sidewalks).&#xA;    Wear shoes that fit well.&#xA;    Get new shoes if the heel wears down on one side.&#xA;    Exercise every day.&#xA;    Be in proper physical condition to play a sport.&#xA;    Warm up and stretch before playing a sport.&#xA;    Wear protective equipment when playing.&#xA;    Run on flat surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These injuries usually heal after a week or two depending on how bad the strain/sprain is.  If these is a complete tear, that would require surgery and you would need to be seen by an orthopedic doctor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to answering your first question, I am not completely comfortable diagnosing whether you have a strain or a sprain over the internet without doing my own physical exam on you.  But, since haven't mentioned any instability, I would think that you would have a strain.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T11:59:47.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2011-09-27T13:49:50.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right that flexibility is one of the major benefits - this is because yoga helps you stretch your muscles in a safe way and increase the range of motion in your joints. Stretching helps release the lactic acid that builds up in your muscles, which can relieve stiffness and fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, holding many of the poses requires you to engage your core and build core strength, which helps improve balance and posture. You also build strength in your upper body by doing poses like plank and downward dog. The standing poses work your hamstrings and quads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/balance/the-health-benefits-of-yoga&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T13:49:50.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2011-09-27T14:17:11.137" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary benefits yoga boasts over weight training and cardio work are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flexibility of the muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility of the joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength across entire ranges of motion - for instance, the shoulder is taken through its entire ROM during an up-dog/down-dog series&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some people find it to be a path for spiritual development. I find that heavy squats can fill that niche as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It provides specific practice for balance and breath control.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for core strength, barbell and gymnastic exercises are far superior. Holding a plank is one thing to ask of your spinal erectors and abs, but squatting or deadlifting a barbell heavier than you are is quite another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/health/26real.html&quot;&gt;evidence&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21735398&quot;&gt;is&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1250267/&quot;&gt;clear&lt;/a&gt; that stretching before or after exercise does not reduce muscle soreness or injury incidence, I have found anecdotally (and without objective measurement) that a little yoga in the morning reduces muscle soreness from heavy workouts done a night or two before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T14:17:11.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-27T15:59:21.663" Score="8" ViewCount="4205" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the optimal bulking / cutting rotation schedule for maximum muscle gain and fat loss? By bulking, I mean eating tons and lifting heavy. By cutting, I mean eating less and doing more cardio. Examples of schedules include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At the high frequency extreme:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Week 1: bulk&#xA;Week 2: cut&#xA;Week 3: bulk&#xA;Week 4: cut&#xA;and so on...&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At the low frequency extreme:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;9 months: bulk&#xA;3 months: cut&#xA;repeat year after year ...&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do the results differ in each extreme? Or would they be similar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T09:33:57.167" Title="What is the optimal bulking / cutting rotation schedule?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3900" CreationDate="2011-09-27T19:40:54.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having your feet turn out while running is normally caused by over-pronation. During your running motion your arch will naturally collapse at the start and then rebound to its normal arch shape as you toe off. That process is called pronation. When you over-pronate you do that too much - which leads to splayed feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoe stores will sell you motion control shoes to help correct it. However, there is no evidence that this actually helps. Nor are there any scientifically evaluated strengthening methods to help that I know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run quite splay-footed and I know, from experience, that I need a fairly stiff shoe or I start getting injuries (tendinitis in the front of the shin in my case). However, take it from me, you can run 100km with splayed feet just fine. I'm not fast but I can still get the job done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T19:40:54.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3671" CreationDate="2011-09-27T21:31:13.180" Score="5" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Shake it Good&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your shake should have a lot of protein and include animal protein and BCAAs. Why? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bluebonnetnutrition.com/products/aminos_proteins&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bluebonnet&lt;/a&gt;, which has some nice un-sweetened whey, tells us:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, although both animal and plant foods contain protein, the quality of the protein is what differs. High-quality (complete) protein provides an ample amount of all nine essential amino acids. Animal foods, such as meats, poultry, eggs and milk, are considered high-quality (complete) protein sources versus vegetables, which contain no or low levels of some of the essential amino acids with the exception of soybeans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend milk, banana, berries, yogurt, and a scoop of whey powder, and if you like, peanut butter or another nut butter. Most whey powders are combined with BCAAs, so you don't need to get them separately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Proper Use&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink the shake right after working out. Don't replace meat wholesale with whey shakes. Whey is meant to be used as a supplement of convenience, not as a primary protein source like milk, eggs, or meat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to replace meat in general for ethical-sustainability reasons, and not just after workouts, increase your milk and egg intake and look into local, grass-fed, grass-finished, free range meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T21:31:13.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3671" CreationDate="2011-09-27T21:31:29.847" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For protein powder there are several things you need to be concerned about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein quality/type:&lt;/strong&gt; There are many kinds of protein powders but most common is whey. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whey_protein#Major_forms&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Most common whey powders&lt;/a&gt; are whey concentrate, whey isolate and whey blend (mix of isolate/concentrate and possibly other protein powders). Concentrate is cheaper but is less 'pure' so it tends to have a bit of sugars and fats left over. Whey isolate is more expensive but is almost entirely protein. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fast vs slow digesting:&lt;/strong&gt; If you want a post workout shake then its best to go with a fast digesting protein powder such as whey isolate. For slower digesting protein powder you can look at blends, probably the most popular is casein. Mixing your shake with fat/fibre/carbs will also slow down the absorption rate making it better as a meal replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mixability/taste:&lt;/strong&gt; Obviously you won't be sipping your shakes but you are going to be drinking them frequently so taste is important. Not all protein powders taste the same so do some research and find brands that taste good. Also some shakes blend better than others, I do recommend using a blender so that shouldn't be a huge deal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additives/allergens:&lt;/strong&gt; Some protein powders contain lactose -whey concentrate for example- which will cause issues even for someone who is mildly lactose-intolerant. If you have any issues with milk/cheese products I definitely recommend going with a high quality whey isolate. Same with other additives like sweeteners. Big culprits would be sugar alcohols which again cause digestive issues to some people. I personally prefer Splenda as a sweetener. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that most protein powders are very similar and getting something generic like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000QSNYGI&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;optimum nutrition&lt;/a&gt; works fine for most people. If you want something very specific and high quality then I would recommend ordering from a site like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trueprotein.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;TrueProtein.com&lt;/a&gt; (use &lt;strong&gt;THESWOLE&lt;/strong&gt; for 5-10% discount at checkout) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trueprotein.com/Product_Details.aspx?cid=31&amp;amp;pid=536&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;getting a whey isolate.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T21:31:29.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4004" CreationDate="2011-09-27T21:37:06.707" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as week to week cycles of cutting bulk. It doesn't really work that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only individuals that should be doing bulking/cutting cycles are advanced bodybuilders. The same way powerlifters utilize periodization in order to peak for a competition. For someone who isn't an advanced bodybuilder a composition shift diet to gain muscle/lose is ideal since you will look your best all the time. So you can do high calorie/low calorie days based on your activity level. No one would call that a bulking/cutting cycle though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In theory you should be always 'bulking/maintaing' until you decide you want to get leaner/better bodyfat and that's when you would 'cut'. But even then, I would never significantly sacrifice bodyfat to get into 'gain' mode. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T21:37:06.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3718" CreationDate="2011-09-27T21:45:53.767" Score="13" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1- Why does it matter how long protein digestion takes? is it because&#xA;  we do not want it to be released faster than body can absorb or needs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really doesn't. You really should only be drinking protein powder post workout and getting most of your protein from actual food -meat, fish, eggs, dairy products etc. I only recommend protein powder outside of that if it's just not possible to eat normal food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But if I am right having a Whey protein shake for lunch when I know&#xA;  they have not worked out in past 6 hours and can not go for run or&#xA;  workout in an other 6 hours is total waste or is it? What am I&#xA;  missing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because you see 'super fit' people do something doesn't mean its actually effective or useful. They probably drink their shake as a meal replacement since it's easy, convenient and they think it healthy. Just eat proper meals and you won't have to drink shakes during the day. Also your body is in a constant state of repair/maintenance and in fact anabolism happens way outside of the gym -most during sleep for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am actually looking for weight loss I am thinking of getting a slow&#xA;  4hour release shake around 9.00Am and an other after lunch time&#xA;  (replacing the lunch) is that right way to go for me . I work out 7.30&#xA;  AM Monday to Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No need to have a 4hour release gimmick shake. Just eat a proper breakfast and that will be much better 'timed release' plus it will actually be nutritious and filling. The 3 fundamentals of nutrition is calorie, quality and balance. So focus on eating balanced meals at a caloric deficit and you will lose fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T21:45:53.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3974" CreationDate="2011-09-27T23:54:31.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oats aren't medicine. They are a food and such a source of calorie, more specifically mostly carbs. Oats won't magically make you lose fat, in fact if you eat too many calories -from any food- you will get fatter. Focus on your overall calories and eating balanced meals while staying in a deficit and you will lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should eat both rice and oats, no need to choose or substitute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index#Limitations_and_criticisms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Also GI is irrelevant by itself, so you should never judge a food simply based on its GI index.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The GI of foods is determined under experimental conditions after an&#xA;  overnight fast, and might not apply to foods consumed later during the&#xA;  day because glycemic response is strongly influenced by the&#xA;  composition of the previous meal, particularly when meals are consumed&#xA;  within an interval of few hours. Indeed, it has been shown that a&#xA;  high-GI breakfast cereal (GI = 124) elicited a lower increase in blood&#xA;  glucose concentrations at lunch than at breakfast. Also, the&#xA;  difference in glycemic responses induced by the low- and the high-GI&#xA;  breakfast cereals at lunch were lower than that predicted by the large&#xA;  difference in their GI, which was determined at breakfast&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-27T23:54:31.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3522" CreationDate="2011-09-28T00:09:54.900" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get to the next level of running you can:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve your technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve your conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve your muscle strength and neuro-muscular control &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these will help you improve your running economy and performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trifuel.com/training/run/methods-of-improving-running-economy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods of Improving Running Economy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Coach Brett, has a nice discussion of different ways to improve performance including the following summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strength Training, Core Strength Training and  Plyometric Training&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running Analysis and Biomechanics Modification&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One study that he references used: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;a &lt;strong&gt;combination of heavy weight training&lt;/strong&gt; (hamstring curl, leg press, parallel squat, leg extension, and heel raise) &lt;strong&gt;and endurance training&lt;/strong&gt; (running) &lt;em&gt;led to an improvement in running economy&lt;/em&gt; compared to endurance training alone in well trained triathletes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another study used &lt;strong&gt;Plyometric Training&lt;/strong&gt; and found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“After 9 weeks, running economy at 18 km/hour improved in the group that performed plyometric training, but remained unchanged in the control group.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And another &lt;strong&gt;Core Strength Training&lt;/strong&gt; study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.. &quot;a program consisting of 4 core-training sessions per week for 6 weeks led to improved 5K run performance in marathon runners&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a biomechanical standpoint:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;faster runners tend to have less ground contact time and exhibit a mid-foot strike&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if your technique is reasonable, and you already include HIIT, consider adding Strength Training.  Once you have a good strength base, then you can add Plyometric Training.  (I included links to some lower extremity strengthening and plyometric exercises for running in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3938/im-a-casual-runner-active-human-do-i-need-to-work-out-my-legs-lower-body/3950#3950&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.)    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T00:09:54.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3988" CreationDate="2011-09-28T00:16:42.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends but you need other electrolytes beyond just sodium, more specifically potassium and magnesium. A serving or two of a electrolytes beverage like Ultima replenisher should be sufficient. Of course this greatly depends on the specific workout session so use your own judgement and definitely do more specific research. You also may need to supplement your exercise with carbs so that you replenish your glycogen levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/hw-popup/rehydration-drinks?navbar=hw86827&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a recipe for a home made electrolytes beverage:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measure all ingredients precisely. Small variations can make the drink less effective or even harmful. Mix the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 quart (950 mL) water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;½ teaspoon (2.5 g) baking soda&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;½ teaspoon (2.5 g) table salt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;¼ teaspoon (1.25 g) salt substitute (potassium-based), such as Lite Salt or Morton Salt &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Substitute :2 tablespoons (30 g) sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably want to add more sugar if you are doing long intense exercise, unless you already use something else to replenish your glycogen levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T00:16:42.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3967" CreationDate="2011-09-28T00:40:58.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the only way you can eat calories at a surplus is by drinking a gallon of milk a day then you should contemplate getting a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.childrensmemorial.org/depts/pediatricsurgery/images/gastrotube_stomach.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;g-tube.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOMAD is a bad idea. Milk is extremely insulinogenic not to mention our bodies have limited ability to break down lactose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to mention 1 gallon of milk has &lt;strong&gt;208g of sugar which is 832 calories.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spare yourself the diarrhea and diabetes and just eat a normal diet. Milk has its place but advocating to haphazardly add &lt;strong&gt;2336 calories to your diet is beyond absurd&lt;/strong&gt;. Just because something worked for a few individuals doesn't mean is a good idea. Search &quot;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_ (insert random word from dictionary) diet works&quot; and you will find tons of success stories!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Some math to show why the average trainee doesn't need 5000 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets take Jim. A skinny guy who wants to be buff! Perfect candidate for GOMAD!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 5'10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 140lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 21&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR: ~1700&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jim, as most people are, is pretty sedentary but lets assume he's pretty active and give him a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;~1.5&lt;/a&gt; calorie multiplier. Which means he needs 2550 calories to maintain his weight. But Jim wants to GO-MAD! So he adds a &lt;strong&gt;~2450 daily calorie surplus&lt;/strong&gt; to his diet because hell he wants to get results quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So lets assume to add 1lb of muscle you need 2500 calories. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/general-philosophies-of-muscle-mass-gain.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lets also assume you can gain 1lb of muscle per week.&lt;/a&gt; Both 'estimates' are extremely optimistic. So in order to gain 1lb of muscle per week Jim has to eat a weekly surplus of 2500 calories, which translates into 357 calories per day or ~2900 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead Jim is doing 5000, which means he's eating an extra 2000 calories on top of what he needs to gain 1lb of muscle a week! Or an &lt;strong&gt;extra ~14000 calories per week&lt;/strong&gt;. Which translates into a nice 4lbs of fat per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Comparing this against the hypothesis &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;GOMAD, gain 25lbs in 25 days&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, Jim falls short by only gaining 17.5lbs in 25 days. Lets add some bloating, water retention and increased glycogen levels due to the absurd surplus and sugar and you can easily see how its possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the experiment Jim gained:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.5 lbs of muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;14 lbs of fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7.5 lbs in bloating, water retention and increased glycogen storage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will GOMAD increase your strength? Yes. Will drinking 3 liters of soda also increase your strength? Yes. Should you do either? No. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="2034" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T01:05:22.273" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T01:05:22.273" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3435" CreationDate="2011-09-28T02:09:59.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is a chronic problem. The best indicator for overtraining is your progress in the gym. It's not possible to be overtrained while making good progress. The first symptom you describe is perfectly normal after an intense workout. Just make sure to hydrate, drink a post-workout shake (Protein + Carbs), rest and you should feel fine within an hour or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your second symptom doesn't seem connected to training. A lot of people have trouble sleeping for a variety of reasons. Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean it's a direct symptom of overtraining. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining isn't a specific medical condition, instead it's an umbrella term that describes various symptoms related to exercising too much -in relation to other factors like calorie, protein, sleep, stress levels etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T02:09:59.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3988" CreationDate="2011-09-28T02:24:22.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ultracycling.com/nutrition/electrolytes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is an excellent article&lt;/a&gt; on electrolytes and bicycling. If you sweat a liter per hour, a reasonable amount, a typical loss per hour is 1,300g for sodium (3.25g of table salt), and 230g for potassium. This is in the neighborhood of Mike's recipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an estimate on how much you sweat, you can subtract your post-exercise weight from your pre-exercise weight and add the amount of liquids you drank in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, everybody is different and &quot;your performance may vary.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T02:24:22.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3522" CreationDate="2011-09-28T02:54:45.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to my earlier answer I think one key is consistency.  If you run every day (or 5-6 days a week, every week for a long time), incorporate workouts and do a little extra in your life (weight routine 2 times a week TOPS, low weight, high rep OR diet change OR good sleep) you can get A LOT better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weldon Johnson (Co-Founder of www.letsrun.com) wrote &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.letsrun.com/2006/collegesuck.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an awesome article&lt;/a&gt; about how he went from an average college runner to an Olympic Class runner.  Consistency is one of his key topics he talks about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to answer in short I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be consistent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do long runs AND workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a workout system that works for you. Some swear by Jack Daniels.  I did that in college with little to no avail.  I graduated college and changed systems to the Oregon system.  I dropped A LOT of time off of my PR's within 6 months of doing so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treat your body well.  Sleep, diet well and do some strengthening.  Don't go overboard on strength exercises - you're training to run, not be a body builder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have goals.  Have a few races (2-3) a year that are large goals.  Taper for these races but not the rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a 1-month mental break a year where you run but not as much and decrease intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out www.letsrun.com as well.  It's a decent message board about training styles.  A lot of people shooting from the hip but you will get some good ideas there from time to time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T20:50:09.330" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T20:50:09.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4021" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4028" CreationDate="2011-09-28T08:23:04.080" Score="11" ViewCount="9176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually do sports only in the afternoon or in the evening, because my body needs several hours to work properly after I get up in the morning. I can perform mental tasks very well in the morning and I am productive at work, but physical workout in the gym is entirely different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main problem is that my joints are aching. My normal warm-up routine does not really help. I also do not know how I should handle eating. I usually eat about 2 hours before exercising. That's not possible if I want to start the training really early. An empty stomach does not work for me, because I lack motivation and I feel less energetic. This means I have to eat right before the training, which doesn't feel right either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy way out - just workout in the evening. Unfortunately I decided again to try exercising in the morning before work, because this would help my schedule a lot. How should I prepare for that? Which meals are good to consume right before training in the morning and how should I handle my aching joints? More warm-up? Less weight on the machines and barbells? Your help is appreciated - all my attempts to exercise before work have failed so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T19:30:09.200" Title="How to prepare the body for workout in the early morning?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-28T09:55:29.027" Score="3" ViewCount="935" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am setting a goal to gain ~8kg in 3 months. I have an average body build.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know that to gain weight I need to increase daily Calorie intake and do exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to hire a personal trainer or join a gym. Somehow, these things are not able to motivate me enough. What I am planning is to have a healthy daily diet, do some running and resistance training on my own. Am I thinking in the right direction or do I need to join a gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2076" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T21:08:59.667" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T22:42:03.190" Title="Can I gain weight using diet, running and resistance training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4022" CreationDate="2011-09-28T13:03:06.647" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you will be disappointed by your results with running.  In order to understand why, you'll need to know where the weight would need to come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The number one class of people who have problems gaining weight are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ectomorphs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ectomorphs burn fat quickly and easily, so the only way to gain weight is to build muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is a specific thing, what you work on will be what gets stronger.  More importantly, whether you specialize in endurance vs. power output also affects how your body adapts.  For example, endurance would be running a marathon and power output would be sprinting in the context of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to build muscle is to give it work that is more than it is used to.  Your body will respond to prepare itself for that level of work.  This is why, especially in the beginning, you will need to keep increasing the amount of work your body needs to do.  This is a fundamental principle in strength based exercises, whether you lift weights or perform body weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with running is that it is very good at burning fat, and most people who run specialize in endurance.  That means you won't be getting significantly stronger, and your upper body won't be getting much work at all.  In short, the amount of muscle build will be in your legs and won't amount to the 8kg body weight you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance training is where you will get the most bang for your buck so to speak.  If you have a weight set at home, then I highly recommend getting the book &quot;Starting Strength&quot; by Mark Rippetoe and Dr. Kilgore.  It covers proper technique (no need for a trainer), as well as how the exercises work the muscles in your body.  The routine outlined in that book will make you strong, which in turn will help you gain the weight you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do any type of running (a form of conditioning), then I highly recommend specializing in sprints or interval training as it complements the type of energy use that your body is working for with resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T13:03:06.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4022" CreationDate="2011-09-28T13:24:27.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Short Answer: It Depends&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What I am planning is to have a healthy daily diet, do some running and resistance training on my own. Am I thinking in the right direction or am I being too stubborn to join a gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends on the resistance training and how much running you'll do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, running will make you lose mass. You'll get stronger, particularly if you do sprints, but running will not help you gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Define &quot;Resistance&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance training is a broad term. It could mean weight machines, dumbbells, barbells, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you will find it difficult and slow to build mass using isolation exercises like tricep kickbacks and leg curl machines. Bodyweight exercises (push-ups, gymnastics), done properly, will get you somewhat stronger but won't add that much mass. (Part of their appeal is that since the resistance is generally so slight, one must do many repetitions, turning most bodyweight exercises into part cardio, part endurance, and only a small part strength training.) Kettlebell work will get you stronger and a little bigger. But barbells--oh, barbells--will get you big and strong quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Efficient Resistance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squatting and deadlifting lots of weight, along with a sufficient diet, will help you most efficiently achieve your goal of weight gain. I gained about 12 Kgs in 4 months on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; heavy lifting program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T22:42:03.190" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T22:42:03.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4021" CreationDate="2011-09-28T13:51:57.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thomas Kurz, author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0940149109&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Science of Sport Training&lt;/a&gt;, recommends something very similar to your warm-up. The order is different, which might make a significant difference despite being a small tweak:L&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joint rotations first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only 5 minutes cardio next, making sure to do trunk twists and air squats along the way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arm and leg swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sport-specific warm-up. In your case, this is exactly what you're doing: light weight at first, then heavier for the work sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're consistently aching, consider the idea that you might be overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The eating part is a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T13:51:57.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3928" CreationDate="2011-09-28T16:08:02.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The selected answer doesn't mean that you shouldn't use them, and is not the only reason for cramping.  Sizing is the biggest factor in my swimmers.  You may also acclimate by using them only a little bit on the first day and working up slowly to build foot and calf strength.  Personally, I had foot cramping problems until I switched to tyrs a half size over my shoe size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T16:08:02.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3320" CreationDate="2011-09-28T16:18:04.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This (phlegm) happens to me from allergies.  Allergies can be exacerbated or become more noticeable during exercise.  Examples from my case: When my allergies are less controlled overall, it will effect every form of working out, but there are also specific triggers.  When jogging in the fall or after rain, there is more mold and mildew.  When swimming, my already sensitive sinuses are exposed to chlorine and rapid pressure changes.  Since you suspect dairy as well, consider visiting an immunologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T16:18:04.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4021" CreationDate="2011-09-28T17:36:00.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couple of things really&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleep will effect how good your morning workout will go -or during any time really- depends largely on how good your sleep is. If you are getting poor sleep you will especially feel tired and lethargic in the morning. So get a minimum of 8 hours and make sure most of that is in the night time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take a hot shower right as you wake up. This will help get you waked up and also I feel helps warm up the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drink a lot of water to hydrate. I also recommend some black tea for the extra caffeine boost.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot you can do for pre-workout nutrition. Either a small snack or a protein shake or even some BCAAs with carbs in them. Experiment with different things.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Foam roll, static stretch and do active stretching (mobility)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do a short cardio 4-7 minutes starting with very light intensity building up to ~75%-80% intensity at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;..and you should be ready to go!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend working out the moment you wake up, instead wait about 40 minutes or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T17:36:00.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4021" CreationDate="2011-09-28T19:30:09.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others are saying, it's good to start out with 5 minutes of cardio as a warm up and then stretching. Also make sure you activate the muscles you plan to work out. For example, if you're going to be working your lower body with squats, etc it's good to do some &lt;a href=&quot;http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesmat/ht/SideLegLifts.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;leg lifts&lt;/a&gt; beforehand to activate your glutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what meals to consume right before your morning workout, check out the answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3872/what-is-the-best-thing-to-eat-right-before-a-workout/3885#3885&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;. It asks what to eat right before a workout in general to give you that extra boost, which is certainly applicable here. It's best not to exercise on a full stomach, so I generally do a piece of whole grain toast, peanut butter, and honey. This doesn't weigh you down, but does give you a mixture of complex carbs, a bit of protein, and sugar. The sugar gives you a quick burst of energy, and the complex carbs break down gradually to give you energy throughout your workout. Also, this may be obvious, but be sure to hydrate. It's good to drink one glass of water because it doesn't fill you up too much, but gets some hydration into your system and also helps wake you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T19:30:09.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-09-28T20:15:04.930" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My response is strictly personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never been a runner. I was a swimmer with awful knees and every time I tried to begin a running program I would purchase the best shoes I could at the local running store and start on a walk-run program. Inevitably the knees would prevent me from progressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One year ago this summer I bought my first pair of VFFs (sprint). I spent an entire year walking in them daily - forgoing traditional shoes of any kind unless necessary (more than a couple inches of snow, event that required appropriate dress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beginning 3 months ago, I started a run-walk program with the VFFs on a soft gravel track around my local park. After the initial ankle adjustment (about 3 weeks) there was no discomfort and I have been able to run two 5Ks since, with two more on tap this fall. I can now run on asphalt and concrete as well. I also notice I am more comfortable running with a  forefoot strike as opposed to midfoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No knee pain, and I feel stronger with every run. I will never go back to traditional running shoes. For the winter I plan to purchase the 'Flow' model for increased warmth and wear toe socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2078" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T20:15:04.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-28T20:27:51.083" Score="4" ViewCount="9783" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently get a sense of tightness in my lower legs  most often about a mile into a run, sometimes in one foot other times in both.  I've spoken to a doctor about it and my achilles is fine.  The problem is that the swelling in the achilles area makes it painful to run and sometimes slows the flow of blood to the feet and my foot begins to tingle and go numb.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this were the case every time I wouldn't be a runner.  However, it doesn't always happen and most of the time when it does happen, with some massage and walking, it goes away, usually after about 3 miles.  What is puzzling is why it doesn't happen every time. I've tried stretching and massage, with limited results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think is happening and how can I prevent it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2079" LastActivityDate="2012-08-01T22:07:44.177" Title="Achilles issues and foot numbness" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;numbness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4032" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4039" CreationDate="2011-09-29T03:33:37.857" Score="2" ViewCount="938" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to a gym for last three weeks (3-4 times in a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the first two weeks, I have done some cardio, push-ups, chest exercises, pull overs, and push-up dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now my instructor gave me a detailed routine for three days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 - chest and triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 - biceps and back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 - legs and lower body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can not do a proper chin-up right now. I am a bit confused. Am I ready for these weight trainings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without chin-ups, I can do most of the weight training in three sets (7-10 reps). I have heard chin-up is the &quot;meter&quot; to measure how fit a person is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight is 56kg, height is 5'8&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is cardio necessary for me? I am eating larger meals and milk, eggs, etc., and also having a nutrition food named &quot;JUVO&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a bit confused about the current process because my aim is to gain some weight, muscle, and solid strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully your suggestion can help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user861" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T14:22:51.550" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T08:59:34.280" Title="Weight training starter,can not do chin up." Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2011-09-29T03:45:12.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend asking your instructor about pull-ups, deadlifts, and squats. Perhaps the instructor can help you lift heavy weights and do pull-ups instead of using machines and doing push-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the &quot;pull-over&quot; but dips are very good. They are like the other side of pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NKLCT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T03:45:12.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3928" CreationDate="2011-09-29T12:02:45.077" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are various reasons for using fins. Don't give up on them as they can be an excellent training tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a swim coach, I do not take a 'one-fin-fits-all' approach, especially with training adults. Yes, foot size does matter and if the fin is ill-fitted (too small OR too big) the foot and ankle and foot will have to flex/tense more to use the fin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, the level of resistance the fin provides will also influence cramping. If you have never used fins before or your ankles are weak (in respect to this exercise), a larger blade on the fin will increase the chances of fatigue and/or cramping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting off with a split fin or, even better, a cut or short fin, will help you begin to increase ankle/calf strength. You can progress to a larger or firmer blade from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple of fins I like for starting off:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/1647.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/1647.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/1267.htm?color=206&quot;&gt;http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/1267.htm?color=206&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally taken my long fins and cut them to the size I want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you know, I have no allegiance to any one particular brand, just know what I've found works best during training (for myself and my swimmers)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, wearing socks to make the fin 'snug' helps - can eliminate blisters, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2078" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T12:02:45.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4042" CreationDate="2011-09-29T14:42:10.207" Score="2" ViewCount="16944" Body="&lt;p&gt;It certainly feels good, but does it help at all with muscle relaxation and recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or there any dangers with over heating a worked muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T05:47:04.990" Title="Is there any benefit to having a sauna after weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4037" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-29T15:03:22.280" Score="4" ViewCount="2750" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a herniated disc...I went to doctor and told me that I could still lift weights as long as I don't do squats because of all the pressure that compress at the disc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a another alternative for squats, deadlifts, clean hangs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2085" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T15:53:10.687" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T10:55:19.837" Title="Herniated disc prohibits squats. What are alternative exercises?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;hernia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4036" CreationDate="2011-09-29T17:22:40.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the most dangerous things about saunas are dehydration and dizziness/fainting. I've &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_4568255_dangers-sitting-sauna.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;read&lt;/a&gt; that saunas can cause an increase in blood pressure and coughing (because it loosens phlegm). So, if you are prone to dizziness, have high blood pressure/other cardiovascular issues, or asthma it's probably best to avoid saunas. I'm sure there are other dangers too that I'm not aware of so don't take this as an exhaustive list. But in my experience as long as I hydrate well, don't get up too quickly, and step out after 15-20 minutes I'm usually fine. I've never heard of a sauna being bad for your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for benefits, it's obviously relaxing. According to the site I linked to, saunas &quot;enhance the oxygen and nutrient supply to muscles and deep tissue, relieving tired, achy muscles.&quot; It's kind of the same idea as using a heating pad to treat a pulled muscle. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/health/03real.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NY Times&lt;/a&gt; quotes some research suggesting that saunas may relieve cold and flu symptoms by promoting drainage as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-09-30T03:01:19.977" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T03:01:19.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2011-09-29T18:33:19.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;gain some weight, muscle, and solid strength&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - then the  3 day program you have above (as generic as it's stated) seems to be correct.  It's a matter of pushing yourself during each exercise program - dedication and determination.  Your trainer should be able to give you an est. of how long it should take before you see results - typically it could be 3-4 weeks, but it's all based on how hard you push yourself.  Your other question about chin ups being a measure of fitness...? I've heard the same said about bench pressing, deadlifts, squats, etc.  The # of chinups you do will measure just that - and be reflective of your upper back and arm strength - based on your stated program, you should start to be able to do chin ups once you're near being able to deadlift your own weight - it all takes time.  VPeric provided a link to some good exercises to improve your chinups - follow the link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T18:33:19.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2011-09-29T20:45:33.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I ready for these weight trainings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost everybody is 'ready' for weight training. What kind and what level will vary based on your ability. It seems like you are a beginner who has extremely low muscle mass. My advice is to follow your &quot;instructor's&quot; workout and ask him about substitutions for movements that you cannot do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend to stick to mainly big, &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/strengthtraining/a/compound_ex.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;compound movements&lt;/a&gt; -but with some isolation thrown into the mix- such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either barbell or dumbbell:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Variations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Machine or cable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull downs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rowing variations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assisted Pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More advanced lifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This by no means a complete list but general movements that will help you put on the most amount of muscle mass while increasing your strength.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure to increase your caloric intake. Eating somewhere around ~2500 calories with a split of 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat -it's pretty flexible though- will also help a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some resources to increase your knowledge:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx.net&lt;/a&gt; general exercise info, has a good exercise database.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtube.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Youtube&lt;/a&gt;, obviously not a specific exercise resource but you can find great video tutorials such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/johnnymnemonic2#g/c/C03D688F10C4DE1F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Squat Rx series&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUcjOIZc80c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to improve your bench&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/smittydiesel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Diesel Crew&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boxbOSGwD4U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bent over Row tutorial&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/GymJunkies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gym Junkies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottHermanFitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scott Herman Fitness&lt;/a&gt; has a ton of videos which are generally ok&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And obviously &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;fitness.stackxchange&lt;/a&gt;!&#xA;One thing I encourage you to do is to learn as much as you can and don't rely on a single source. Also just stick with it, the most important thing for lifting is consistency. If you stick to a bad program for a year, you will get better results than sticking to a good program for a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T20:45:33.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4036" CreationDate="2011-09-29T21:21:11.760" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There definitely is a danger of overheating but that's really inherit with saunas in general. You can avoid that by waiting some time between your workout and going into the sauna. In between you can take a cold shower/bath to cool off further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for muscle recovery, there are a lot of methods different people employ. Most of it has to do with cold rather than heat such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_shower&quot;&gt;Contrast showers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_bath&quot;&gt;Ice baths&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the wikipedia article sauna followed by cold exposure produced the best results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall I think there isn't clear science specifically dealing with the sauna and muscle recovery. At the end of the day, if it makes you feel better you will probably enjoy your training more and get better results in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T21:21:11.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4037" CreationDate="2011-09-29T22:00:22.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PldcPTOACm4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;belt squats.&lt;/a&gt; But really you won't find exact alternatives to those movements since a lot of them are meant to load the spine and train your back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are movements you can do which train those body parts but most of these are isolation movements such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg extensions/curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glute ham raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step ups (might be able to load with dip belt)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single leg squats/Split squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single leg dumbbell deadlifts. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also find the goblet squat much easier on the back than the back squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try doing the leg press although you have to be very careful since it is possible to load the spine if you go too deep or your hips start to come off the bench. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall I recommend getting physical therapy and getting specific advice from a sports medicine doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T22:00:22.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-29T22:30:24.103" Score="4" ViewCount="965" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently following the strengthening routine suggested by @DaveLiepmann 3 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extracts from this thread - &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3962/are-these-workout-routines-right-for-body-building&quot;&gt;Are these Workout Routines right for Body Building&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.In each workout you will squat, press and pull. The presses alternate between bench and overhead. The pull alternates between deadlifts and power cleans. If you don't know how to power clean, 3 sets of chin-ups to failure will do. The deadlifts are 1x5 (1 set of 5 reps, after warming up), power cleans are 5x3, and all the rest are 3x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.You add 5 pounds to every lift in every workout. So if you start with 3 sets of 5 squats at 135 pounds, your next workout would be 3 sets of 5 squats at 140 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;reason&lt;/strong&gt; for me &lt;strong&gt;training 5 days&lt;/strong&gt; a week is that my work is very stressful and I find it training at the Gym helps &lt;strong&gt;relieve the stress&lt;/strong&gt; and also progress faster towards my &lt;strong&gt;goal&lt;/strong&gt; in terms of &lt;strong&gt;shaping my body with size&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is can I train 5 days including the above like this,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1 - Squat, Press, Pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2 - Bi's &amp;amp; Tri's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3 - Squat, Press, Pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4 - Shoulders &amp;amp; Back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 5 - Squat, Press, Pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2046" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T19:11:28.150" Title="Working out 5 days a week when following strengthening routines" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4044" CreationDate="2011-09-30T01:40:46.737" Score="6" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Short Answer: Sure!&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do any schedule you want. The technical term for such a program would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=16670&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;YNDTP&lt;/a&gt;: You're Not Doing The (Starting Strength) Program. There's nothing stopping you from working out 5 times a week, but &lt;strong&gt;your progress will be harder and slower&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Why It's Problematic&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you add extra workouts, you'll find yourself unable to add weight to your lifts fairly quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that it's impossible to recover sufficiently from heavy lifting with workouts on recovery days. A walk or gentle bikeride into town would be fine (it's called &quot;active rest&quot;), but anything more strenuous doesn't work. There's an old adage: &lt;em&gt;it's not lifting weights that makes you strong--it's resting after lifting weights.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forum.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SS&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit&lt;/a&gt; forums are chock-full of people who try to do the program but get derailed because they insist on long bikerides/running/CrossFitting on days that are set aside for rest and recovery. These people find themselves stalled, unable to add weight, not getting stronger, their diet thrown out of whack in one direction or another. The advice is always the same: do the program without additional exercise, get enough food, get your sleep, and do the lifts correctly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T01:40:46.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4063" CreationDate="2011-09-30T01:44:52.733" Score="1" ViewCount="1314" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the players in my favourite sporting team the (Go the All Blacks!) does this interesting rotating exercise. My question; I'm wondering what the exercise is called, what benefits would you gain from the exercise/ the muscles it affects and how to preform the right technique. From the clip it almost looks like some kind of strengthening for the core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please view &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaiJeKArIj8&amp;amp;feature=share#start=1:50;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rotating and lifting heavy plates&lt;/a&gt; the exercise is at index 1.50 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T11:27:59.140" Title="What exercise is this (rotating upper body holding a 20kg plate)?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2011-09-30T08:59:34.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;my aim is to gain some weight, muscle, and solid strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start some basic strength program (5/3/1 or Starting Strength), eat like a horse, sleep eight quality hours, be consistent and have some patience. In 6 months you will not believe that you were unable to do a chin up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T08:59:34.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4044" CreationDate="2011-09-30T09:13:29.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reason for me training 5 days a week is that my work is very stressful and I find it training at the Gym helps relieve the stress and also progress faster towards my goal in terms of shaping my body with size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Way too much. Even at 28, this schedule will get you over trained more sooner than later. I would suggest sticking to Starting Strength or 5/3/1 3 times per week. Focus in basic movements and add some minimal accessory work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A long easy walk will relieve your stress. You can even add some conditioning work once per week (hill sprinting, prowler push).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.. and you need patience. You goals will come, but it takes time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T09:13:29.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4022" CreationDate="2011-09-30T09:20:01.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am setting a goal to gain weight of ~8 Kgs in 3 months. I have average body build. With some Googling, by now I know that to gain weight I need to increase daily Calorie intake and do excercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have previous training experience and you are under 25, 8kg in 3 months isn´t difficult. Just start some basic strength program - google &quot;Rippetoe´s starting strength&quot; or &quot;Wendler´s 5/3/1&quot;-, add GOMAD (Gallon of Milk a Day), sleep 8 hours and be consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T09:20:01.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2011-09-30T09:24:30.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Main difference is that it is not a core lift. I use it as an accessory exercise at higher volumes (10-12 rep range) to improve my bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T09:24:30.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4004" CreationDate="2011-09-30T09:33:57.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is somehow superseded the newer research and you should not schedule your workout/dieting like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for training, any strength program in the 5 rep range plus some accessory work at higher volume will do the trick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for dieting, some nutrient timing strategy (google Martin Berckham or John Kiefer) will work better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And please, ditch the cardio and add some hill sprinting, prowler push or just walk 30 minutes every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T09:33:57.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2011-09-30T09:50:39.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I've had the same thing. If i'm right it's a kind of inflammation at the insertion of the achilles resulting in an constipation of lime, making it harder for blood to run through te muscle.&#xA;It's not easy to diagnose because most high tech scanners don't see it, but a good old simple echography certainnly does and it's much cheaper...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is your problem you can heal it by long resting and avoiding shoques and high impact sports like sprinting, jumping and running. But if the proces is already in a further stage resting will not be enough. If resting is not working go to a specialist and ask the options of an ESWT treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you get better quickly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T09:50:39.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4065" CreationDate="2011-09-30T10:11:55.730" Score="4" ViewCount="5285" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cardio machines nowadays show an estimate of how many calories you have burned during your training. There are also a lot of different lists available, which activity burns how many calories over a defined period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if those values include the resting burn rate. Lets assume for simplicity reasons my basal metabolic rate allows me to burn 2400 calories each day or 100 calories each hour. If I sit on my bike for one hour and it shows that I burned 600 calories, are the 100 I would have burned anyway included? Did I burn 3000 or 2900 calories that day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an important question, especially for easy training, lets take walking as example. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-burned-walking-a507&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this calculator&lt;/a&gt;, one hour of walking burns 245 calories. Lets say I walk a little more than 2 hours, I have burned 500 calories. I might think I should/can eat 500 calories more that day, while I only might have burned 300 more than I would have without walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make a long question short - is the resting burn rate usually included when the calories burned during training are calculated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T15:33:28.350" Title="Is the resting burn rate included when the calories burned during training are calculated?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4066" CreationDate="2011-09-30T10:21:39.123" Score="6" ViewCount="5181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to consume protein shakes (about 25g with milk and water) after hitting the gym to help me gain muscles. I also play flag football two times a week, where the training is more focused on endurance and agility. Does it make sense to consume protein shakes after the flag football training (which is basically cardio) as well or is it enough to consume extra protein after lifting weights (bodybuilding)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T15:39:53.923" Title="Should I consume protein shakes after team sport (cardio)?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3800" CreationDate="2011-09-30T10:36:24.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just broscience... you know: &quot;If you do not take your whey right after training, you are going straight catabolic&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just eat whole foods, train hard, sleep well and take your protein shake, with ice or otherwise, to complement your calorie intake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T10:36:24.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3797" CreationDate="2011-09-30T10:53:52.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not see much protein in your meals. To lose weight, it is essential to eat enough protein:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein is very satiating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein has a high &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermic_effect_of_food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TEF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two factors will help you lose weight by reducing your appetite and spontaneously reducing your net calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also add weight training and reduce aerobics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T10:53:52.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4037" CreationDate="2011-09-30T10:55:19.837" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your physical therapist should be able to give you specific precautions and instructions given your diagnosis and/or symptoms. Working with your therapist will give you a clear understanding of what is safe, and what is not safe for you to do as far as weight lifting and other exercise. If your therapist doesn't take you into the gym themselves, they can recommend a qualified trainer who is experienced with training people with back problems. Squats &amp;amp; deadlifts work multiple muscle groups. You may need to target isolated muscle groups for better control at first. Get help from a pro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T10:55:19.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4046" CreationDate="2011-09-30T11:27:59.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around the head plate drill......I've heard it call the plate crown also.  Here's a link to the Men's Health version of it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/workout-center/e/around-the-head-plate-drill/27532&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.menshealth.com/workout-center/e/around-the-head-plate-drill/27532&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PX9g2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T11:27:59.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4055" CreationDate="2011-09-30T13:35:29.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those lists typically calculate total calories expended during the activity. Those lists are better used as a guide for what types of activities you should be doing, but for any detailed daily tracking, you would need individual monitoring tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the same token, using the calorie listing from a package of food only tells you what an average item offers up and doesn't address the complexities that cause the body to retain or pass nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T13:35:29.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4055" CreationDate="2011-09-30T14:10:37.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;runner's world article&lt;/a&gt;. The main subject is whether you burn the same number of calories walking versus running the same distance, but there is also a discussion about total calories burned (TCB) during an activity versus net calories burned (NCB). In general, people talk about TCB because it's a higher number so it seems like you did more work, but in order to get the actual number of calories burned &lt;em&gt;because of the exercise&lt;/em&gt; you have to subtract the &quot;resting metabolic calories your body would have burned, during the time of the workout, even if you had never gotten off the sofa.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't tell you whether the cardio machines give you TCB or NCB, but if you go by their calculation guidelines, I personally should have a NCB of .63 x 130lb = 82 calories per mile. However, when I run 3 miles on a treadmill, it tells me I burn around 350 calories, or 116 calories per mile. So, if their guidelines are correct, it looks like the treadmill I'm using is giving me TCB, which includes the resting calories. They do say that these guidelines are for up to 4 mph, and I run around 6mph, so maybe that accounts for some of the difference, but I don't think it accounts for all of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T14:10:37.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4058" CreationDate="2011-09-30T14:13:51.313" Score="12" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Once And For All Time: Protein Shakes Are Not Magical&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We get a lot of protein shake questions. &lt;em&gt;What should I put in it?&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;when should I drink it?&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will my spleen explode if there's ice in it?&lt;/em&gt; The mysteries of protein shakes are many, and the science is weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Protein Shakes Are Just Protein...In Shake Form&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the deal: don't overcomplicate protein shakes. It's just protein. In a shake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put another way, it's just liquid protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might say that it's just a form of protein that doesn't require a knife and fork or de-shelling an egg. Because it's liquid. If you don't need your protein in liquid form, just &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ergo-log.com/portion-of-meat-post-workout-stimulates-muscle-growth.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eat some meat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Complex Part, Which Isn't Really Important&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes can be &lt;em&gt;optimized&lt;/em&gt; (made as useful as possible) by making sure they hit a couple milestones. (But to be clear: it's just protein that you drink. It's not that special.) Here's what I keep in mind for myself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The best protein comes from animals. Animal proteins are &lt;em&gt;easily digestible&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;complete&lt;/em&gt;. There's good science behind that, but the take-home message is just this: milk, eggs, meat. Whey powder is animal protein and is great.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's good to have protein right after a workout. If you have to wait twenty or forty minutes, that might be a couple percent less efficient. It barely matters, and some people think it's good to fast after workouts anyway. Shakes are nice because it's easier to drink protein right after a workout than to eat a steak. For instance, my gym doesn't have a stove.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein shakes are a supplement. That just means that you should eat normal food if possible, and drink the shake only when a full meal is inconvenient or impossible. Like, say, right after a workout. But still eat a meal later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It doesn't really matter what kind of workout it was.&lt;/strong&gt; Because it's just protein. Protein in a shake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1452/how-and-when-to-consume-a-protein-shake-properly&quot;&gt;How and When to Shake&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3671/how-to-choose-the-right-protein-shake&quot;&gt;The Right Protein Shake&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2/whats-the-difference-between-whey-isolate-and-whey-concentrate-in-shakes&quot;&gt;Whey Isolate vs Whey Concentrate&lt;/a&gt;, and remember that there are &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3113/do-protein-supplements-have-any-side-effects&quot;&gt;crappy whey powders that have bad stuff in them&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T15:39:53.923" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2011-09-30T14:18:07.160" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; today on calories burned when walking versus running the same distance. The important points are that you burn 5 calories for every liter of oxygen you consume while exercising, and running requires you to take in more oxygen because it increases your heart rate more. That is, although you're moving the same amount of weight over the same distance whether you walk or run, when you run you &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;actually jump from one foot to the other. Each jump raises our center&#xA;  of gravity when we take off, and lowers it when we land, since we bend&#xA;  the knee to absorb the shock. This continual rise and fall of our&#xA;  weight requires a tremendous amount of Newtonian force (fighting&#xA;  gravity) on both takeoff and landing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, running generally burns more calories than walking. However, the author also did an experiment to see whether this holds true at higher speeds, and found that (at least for her personally) at speeds faster than 12 minutes a mile, walking actually burned &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; calories than running. I'm not quite sure why that is, but the explanation she gives is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;walking at very fast speeds forces your body to move in ways it wasn't&#xA;  designed to move. This creates a great deal of internal &quot;friction&quot; and&#xA;  inefficiency, which boosts heart rate, oxygen consumption, and calorie&#xA;  burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T14:18:07.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4069" CreationDate="2011-09-30T14:34:59.030" Score="7" ViewCount="2104" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does one work the bicep to it's max?  Admittedly, I know I'm guilty of lack of symmetry because I do a lot of exercise that build my triceps.  Therefore, I think my biceps have suffered and I would like to fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="576" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T11:17:49.973" Title="What are key points to focus on when trying to increase the size and definition of the bicep?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4068" CreationDate="2011-09-30T15:50:07.903" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5Ek10.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Proportion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arnold Schwarzenegger believed that the tricep should consist of 2/3rd the mass of the upper arm and the bicep consist of the remaining 1/3rd. Other bodybuilders may propose other proportions to achieve different aesthetics, but Arnold's record number of Mr. Olympia wins back in the days when mass was not the only name of the game has elevated him to be the authority on bodybuilding aesthetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Peak&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The peak of the bicep is how high the bicep protrudes. It is targeted by focusing on the end of the concentric contraction (when the forearm is close to the upper arm). If one has poor peak, one can just do the upper half of the rep or squeeze at the top of the rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Length&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The length of the bicep is how well the bicep connects at the extremities, that is, the elbow and shoulder. The length of the bicep is targeted by focusing on the starting position of the rep, when the arm is fully extended. Many novices do not have good bicep length because they don't fully extend the arm on each rep. They crank out reps too fast and use inertia to help them at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Outer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The outer (or long) head of the bicep is the part of bicep away from the rest of the body. It is targeted with a narrow grip on the bar when doing barbell curls or curling towards the opposite chest when doing dumbbell curls. Most beginners have a smaller outer bicep than their inner bicep. Just look straight down at your bicep now and flex. You may noticed that your bicep is lopsided and is more massive near your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IYFmG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;close grip barbell curl&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Inner&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The inner (or short) head of the bicep is the part of the bicep closer to the rest of the body. It is targeted with a wide grip on a barbell or curling the dumbbell far from the chest. This head of the bicep is, by far, overdeveloped in beginners because a wide curl is easy in that the dumbbell doesn't rub onto the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8w7O5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;wide bicep curl&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source for all the above properties: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0684857219&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt; by Arnold Schwarzenegger.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Width&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The width of the bicep is how wide the bicep looks when someone stares at you from the front. According to fitness model Rob Riches, the width can be developed by curling with a long bar, such as an Olympic barbell. The long length of the bar exacerbates any imbalances you have between your two arms and cranks the stabilizer muscles into overdrive. The extra torque on weaker arm adds width to the bicep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olympic Bar Curls. Biceps have always been a favorite muscle group of&#xA;mine to train, but since I’ve started using the Olympic bar to curl&#xA;with, I’m noticing my arms start to thicken out, where as before they&#xA;had good size from the side view, but when viewed from straight on, I&#xA;felt as though they lacked the width I should have in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/wbff-profitness-modelbodybuilder-rob-riches-talks-with-simplyshredded-com.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rob Riches interview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T16:57:43.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4068" CreationDate="2011-09-30T16:04:16.457" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a bodybuilder and I don't know what your goals are, but let me throw this out there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gymnasts are wildly strong in the upper body. Their bicep development is particularly beastly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X4rkH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot find the particular quote, but I recall that Coach Sommer, author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/store/library/building-the-gymnastic-body.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gymnastic Bodies&lt;/a&gt;, has stated that gymnasts' extraordinary bicep development is due not just to the obscene amounts of chin-ups and pull-ups that they do on rings, but rather to the quantity of &lt;strong&gt;straight arm work&lt;/strong&gt; that they do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take an iron cross. The weight of the body must be suspended by the arms. The biceps, which do much of the work, are at their &lt;strong&gt;most mechanically disadvantageous position&lt;/strong&gt;: totally straight. It takes a tremendous amount of force to maintain that position due to the leverage being exerted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-09-30T20:55:57.717" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T20:55:57.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2752" CreationDate="2011-09-30T17:25:11.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you will not like this answer, but here it goes anyway:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need direct ab work to have a six-pack. Focus on core lifts and watch your diet. You will not believe what some squats and deadlifts can do for your 6-pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-11T00:37:15.073" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T00:37:15.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2752" CreationDate="2011-09-30T18:21:29.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As most people are saying, it's really important to watch your diet and exercise more generally than just your abs, but if you want a hard ab workout try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freeworkoutguides.com/workoutguides/p90x-ab-ripper-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;P90X Ab Ripper X&lt;/a&gt;. There are 11 moves and you do 25 reps each - and there is a good mix of moves for upper abs, lower abs, and obliques. That first link has the first half of the 15 minute video along with a description of the moves. Here's the link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1464945638519938565&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Part 1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=97404099147633519&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Part 2&lt;/a&gt; on Youtube. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3727/looking-for-short-home-routine-for-thighs-and-abs/3744#3744&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for more ab workout options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T18:21:29.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-09-30T18:33:01.460" Score="4" ViewCount="29504" Body="&lt;p&gt;I jammed my ring finger playing keeper in a soccer game last night and it's pretty swollen and discolored. It hurts but I'm pretty sure it's not broken. What is the best way to treat it? Having done this before, I've heard varying recommendations over the years, including &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tape it to the next finger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wear a splint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ice it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have someone &quot;pull&quot; it out (which scares me to no end!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T23:59:16.740" Title="What is the best way to treat a jammed finger?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2011-10-01T09:08:47.130" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4044" CreationDate="2011-09-30T19:11:28.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the answers so far have made it loud and clear that &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/strengthtraining/a/overtrainweight_3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overtraining&lt;/a&gt; will not help you with your goal to get stronger, shape your body with size or reduce your stress.  @Dave and @coxnegative&#xA;have hit the relevant points, so I'll just add some suggestions on how to reduce stress on your rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_relief_meditation_yoga_relaxation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This stress relief article&lt;/a&gt; describes several relaxation techniques to help you find one that best deals with the way you experience stress. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3733/is-it-possible-to-prevent-forehead-muscles-from-contracting-during-very-stressful&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; also addresses stress reduction.  If relaxation techniques like relaxed breathing, meditation or visualization are not your thing, maybe Tai Chi would be a good way to still exercise, but not interfere with your weight training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T19:11:28.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4074" CreationDate="2011-09-30T19:22:55.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When in doubt: ICE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I - Ice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C - Compression - wrapping (lightly) helps reduce swelling&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E - Elevation - in this case restriction of movement (taping to the next strongest finger - middle)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(some people refer to it as RICE - where R stands for rest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't ignore the injury and don't over tighten the wrap.  The real answer depends on the severity of the injury, when in doubt see a Dr.  DON'T pull the finger - this has a good potential of doing more damage.  So, it's some combination of what you have above.  For a female (yes, this is sexist) and especially for a woman's ring finger - see a Dr. if the swelling, bruising does not get better in a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to some more info:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sports-injury-info.com/jammed-finger.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sports-injury-info.com/jammed-finger.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="1225" LastEditDate="2011-09-30T20:44:25.993" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T20:44:25.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4074" CreationDate="2011-09-30T23:59:16.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listen to @MEade, don't pull it. I had someone pull on my jammed finger because it was crooked. It turned out to be a bad fracture.  Hope that isn't your case. I don't know if the pulling on it caused it to heal with a rotational deformity or if it was from the initial jam.  However,  despite ultimately having surgery,  my finger is crooked when I make a fist.  See a &lt;strong&gt;hand&lt;/strong&gt; doctor if you need to see a doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, yes follow RICE.   &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0006GWR5E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coban&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; works nicely for a finger wrap because it sticks to itself and it is easy to wrap and re-wrap. I would first wrap the finger individually for the swelling and then wrap it to the adjacent finger for protection. (Not too tight - allow for swelling.  Check the temp, sensation and color of your finger tip to make sure it is not too tight.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as splinting, I found that it was more trouble than helpful, as it would bump things and cause more pain.  Elevate your hand higher than your heart to stop the throbbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a fracture you can start some gently motion as the swelling goes down.  A contrast bath (alternating cold and warm water) is a nice way to do this.  Good luck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-09-30T23:59:16.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3872" CreationDate="2011-10-01T12:58:35.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre-workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine 200-400 mg + Whey protein 25-40 g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine will not only activate your sympathetic nervous system and get you ready to lift some heavy weight, but it will calm your appetite as well.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The protein is added to get the protein synthesis ball rolling (gets you ready for recovery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post-workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within 60-120 minutes, try to get a 2:1 ratio of simple carbs (like white bread, potatoes, pure dextrose, etc) and protein (whey protein, lean chicken breast, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much you actually consume depends on how much you used up for your workout. If you do complex lifts (like deadlift, squats, and presses) and don't rest as much, you will be burning up more glycogen than if you were to solely do isolation arm exercises while taking your sweet time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good amount to shoot for:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;50 g carbs, 25 g protein.  And limit the fat (there is no role for this post workout).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more info:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://leviclampitt.com/2011/09/15/the-ultimate-workout-nutrition-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Ultimate Workout Nutrition Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2100" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T21:48:01.037" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T21:48:01.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4097" CreationDate="2011-10-01T20:58:56.493" Score="10" ViewCount="651" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for tools and procedures to keep track of changes in sizes of muscles.&#xA;(or groups of muscles like upper arms and chest). (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How feasible is this? (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are more subjective measures like photos better (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can it be done without considering fatness? (4)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to measure fat in multiple locations with a caliper, and calculate total body composition at the same time.  Ideally I would like to combine the numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2011-10-02T19:06:53.427" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T01:47:24.543" Title="Keeping track of muscle dimensions" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4104" CreationDate="2011-10-02T22:32:14.590" Score="4" ViewCount="452" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work about 40 to 45 hours a week at my office, sitting most of the time. My company allows me to adjust my time table and I can arrange my working hours as I like, as long as the job gets done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to increase my productivity during working hours, so I analyzed my daily productivity curve. Morning is perfect for me, I achieve a lot from 9am until lunch break, which I usually take around 1pm. Afterwards I often feel drowsy and my motivation starts to lack, especially after eating too much. Sometimes this condition lasts for several hours, affecting my productivity more than I like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two changes I want to make to improve this situation is sleeping more during the night and changing my diet to lighter meals for lunch. I am also considering hitting the gym after lunch (it is in the same building as my office) to get fresh energy. Now I need to find out, which kind of training will help me to regain my mental fitness for my work in the afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which exercises would be good and how long should I work out? Including a quick shower I do not want to spend more than an hour, but I guess more wouldn't help my cause anyway. Should I start my workout right after I ate or is it better to wait a little? Or is this a bad idea all together and it wouldn't help me to achieve my goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2011-10-04T16:16:04.930" Title="Does working out after lunch help to avoid feeling drowsy in the afternoon? Which work out routine is best?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4091" CreationDate="2011-10-03T02:16:25.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't tried working out in the middle of the workday, but I did find that just changing two things about my lunch helped a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I went from Lots of Meat &amp;amp; Cheese &amp;amp; Carbs (think meatball parm sub, cheesesteaks...) to A Medium Amount of Meat and Veggies (steak &amp;amp; salad, chili, chicken with broccoli) helped a ton.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating food from home &gt; going out for lunch. Either I make double portions for dinner the night before, or on Sunday night I make a huge batch of soup or wraps or whatever that'll last the whole week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try that for a week and see if you still feel the need for the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck on the mid-day exercise part of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-03T02:16:25.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="335" CreationDate="2011-10-03T06:24:20.810" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only one way you could increase the count just try to add one count more everyday. Means if you do 10 push up then next day try to do 11 and just like increase every alternate day and in after few weeks you will see now you are counting double in your push up count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2074" LastActivityDate="2011-10-03T06:24:20.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-03T18:49:33.837" Score="5" ViewCount="9843" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're running up a slope, you're running slower. Down the hill you may run faster, if your knees allow it. But how much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In German, there is the notion of &lt;a href=&quot;http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leistungskilometer&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Leistungskilometer&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, which is translated to &quot;effective kilometers&quot;, &quot;technical kilometers&quot;, &quot;power kilometers&quot; or &quot;energy expenditure kilometers&quot;, depending on the source. The definition is that 100m difference in elevation are equivalent to 1 flat kilometer, at least for calculating hiking times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that for running this is not true. Using a factor of 10 for the difference in elevation gives me virtual flat paces that are way beyond my abilities. Say you're running 6 km up a 500m hill in 45 minutes. This is a pace of 7:30; with a factor 10 the flat equivalent would 6 + 10x0.5 = 11 kilometers, giving a pace of 4:05.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a pace of 5:18 (which is using a factor of 5) would be more realistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there common conventions how to account for slopes when running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-03T19:07:30.570" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T21:30:23.510" Title="How to convert difference in elevation into distance?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-03T19:51:13.807" Score="1" ViewCount="2759" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm into week 7 of couch25k program. For a while now (years) I have what appears to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapping_hip_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Snapping Hip Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;. My hip is fine 90% of the time, but there's always an exact motion I can make to make it pop quite loud. That's ok with me, but after a run, it hurts a bit and it can be uncomfortable to sit and walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to make it any better other than rest? Do some stretches, cool it with an ice pack or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1960" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T22:27:03.637" Title="Snapping hip syndrome and running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4087" CreationDate="2011-10-03T20:19:53.767" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are established ways for externally measuring virtually every muscle group in the body, most of which require little more than a &lt;a href=&quot;http://static3.depositphotos.com/1002941/264/i/950/depositphotos_2643259-Tailor-measuring-tape.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flexible tape measure&lt;/a&gt;. Based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bigmusclesbuilding.com/musclesize.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neck&lt;/strong&gt; - Measure at the thinnest part, usually just under the chin, above the Adam's Apple.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest&lt;/strong&gt; - three measurements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chest contracted (made as small as you can by completely exhaling)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chest inflated (simply by inhaling all the air you can)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chest expanded (by which you lift your thorax, widen your shoulders and bring the back muscles to a full state of expansion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The measurement should be taken with the tape across the nipples at the front and level elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Waist&lt;/strong&gt; - at the level of the navel, when standing normally upright with the chest normally lifted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hips&lt;/strong&gt; - across the centre of the buttocks, with buttocks contracted (i.e., gluteus muscles flexed).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper arm&lt;/strong&gt; - Two measurements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Straight: around the thickest part while the arm is outstretched at shoulder level, muscles relaxed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Flexed: arm at shoulder level and bent at the elbow with biceps fully contracted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forearm&lt;/strong&gt; - taken with the arm outstretched, fist clenched, at the thickest part.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calf&lt;/strong&gt; -taken at its thickest part with the muscles contracted, usually by pointing the toes or by lifting one foot off the ground and then pointing the toes, thus contracting the calf muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:&lt;/em&gt; All the measurements should be taken before you start exercising. By doing so you get what in body building language are called cold measurements. If you take them during or immediately after a training session, when the muscles are engorged with blood, considerable variations will occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2011-12-27T01:47:24.543" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T01:47:24.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4091" CreationDate="2011-10-03T21:11:47.060" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience, hitting the gym in the middle of the day may not be what you're looking for. After a good workout, which I try to get every time I go to the gym, I'm tired, sweaty, and on an adrenaline buzz, none of which are conducive to being productive in an office setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started doing small in-office workouts; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt;, jumping jacks, jump rope, or even just walking around the office or outside (I have a large circular hallway around my building, I'll just walk around that). I personally find these short, invigorating physical activities more useful than a full-blown workout, which I do at the end of my day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-10-03T21:11:47.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2011-10-03T21:17:16.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Planks&lt;/a&gt; are an excellent way to build up your &quot;six-pack&quot;, as well as numerous other muscle groups. Follow the link to see an image of what it looks like. It's ridiculously easy to do, and can be done anywhere, at any time. I do it both as part of my workout routine and as a short pick-me-up while in the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two points to remember about the plank:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your back and legs straight. Continually check yourself to make sure you haven't sagged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep breathing normally. Don't hold your breath.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have it down, try holding the position for longer and longer. There are also many variants that you can find by searching online; ways to make it easier (rest on knees), ways to make it harder (put toes on a balance ball or against the wall), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/BWSidePlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other stuff&lt;/a&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-10-03T21:17:16.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4091" CreationDate="2011-10-04T16:16:04.930" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many times that tiredness you feel in the afternoon is more related to what you eat more than anything else.  In studying for music recording, one of the instructors made the comment that if you want to kill a recording session quickly order pizza for lunch.  He then went on to suggest deli sandwiches as a better alternative.  Now, we can all agree that a music recording instructor is not a nutritionist.  However, that observation is based on experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: heavy, greasy foods that cause your digestion system to work hard are going to sap your energy in the afternoon.  Your body is moving its most precious resource (blood) to the stomach and digestive tract to process all that heavy food.  Something that is lighter in the middle of the day, but still filling is much better.  A deli sandwich has protein in the meats and cheese on the sandwich, yet without being too heavy (unless it is monster sized).  It gives you the energy to go a few more hours and that's all you want out of lunch anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you do choose to get your blood pumping to boost your alertness in the afternoon, you still don't want a heavy greasy meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, you will do quite well if your lunch meal has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good source of protein (fish or chicken about the size of an open hand, or even steak about the size of a closed fist)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good source of green vegetables (spinach, green beans, asparagus, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: a source of fat (like cheese or sour cream, in small doses).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I specifically left out carbs and starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn.  The reason is you will be getting more than your share of these at either breakfast or dinner.  Additionally if you overdo quickly processed carbs (like pizza crust, french fries, or corn pudding), you might be overcompensating with your insulin levels and be left a little hypoglycemic.  The goal here is to provide energy without overloading the digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-10-04T16:16:04.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4095" CreationDate="2011-10-04T18:49:51.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best equivalent I know of is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naismith%27s_Rule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Naismith's rule&lt;/a&gt;. &#xA;&quot;Allow 1 hour for every 3 miles (5 km) forward, plus 1 hour for every 2000 feet (600 metres) of ascent.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, when it comes to run it will come down to how good you personally are at running up hills. You may need to calculate the factor yourself.&#xA;Remember that Garmin devices display sea-level distance, not slope distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-10-04T18:49:51.870" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-05T01:55:07.313" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of debate about the efficacy of most herbal supplements, but that's not my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to know if there is a reliable/standard source of verification for the active ingredient &lt;em&gt;purity&lt;/em&gt; of particular branded/packaged herbal supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, if I buy Brand X Gingko Biloba tablets, how much Gingko Biloba is in each tablet, and how much is inert fillers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard of organizations that audit the manufacturing sites of herbal supplement makers, including USP and NSF, but it appears that they do not actually test the contents of the supplements themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-05T23:18:33.457" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T23:18:33.457" Title="Purity of Herbal Supplements" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3949" CreationDate="2011-10-05T11:21:22.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised that nobody mentioned this, but if you have some sense of orientation, you can just give yourself a time limit, which will give you approximate distance to run and then just go out and run!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually do this when I want to go for a midnight run in the city. Just pick a landmark within a reasonable distance and run towards it. Don't set out a specific path, try to figure it out. That way you can get to places you would never get into otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T11:21:22.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4114" CreationDate="2011-10-05T13:27:15.200" Score="2" ViewCount="2035" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, first of all folks, I know there are already some questions about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=gain%20weight&quot;&gt;gaining weight&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question in this case and the main difference with the others is on the conditions to achieve the same goal: Gain weight, lean mass to be specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train kickboxing 2 times a week 2 hours each time, and it is a pretty intense and conditioning exercise. I swim two times a week as well. I have been trying to gain weight for a long time by taking protein supplements and increasing my calorie intake (eating 6 meals a day that are very protein rich). I am rather reluctant to do weight training because I have heard that you lose flexibility and that is essential in martial arts (I guess that is for another question). I am pretty ignorant on these subjects and would like some reference to texts about how to achieve lean muscle weight gain. I have read about the irregular &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fasting diet&lt;/a&gt;, but I am rather skeptical about it because I am mostly afraid of losing weight further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like suggestions and if possible personal experiences in a situation like this one, maybe a healthy nutrition program (not drinking a gallon of milk and blah blah). I will go to my physician soon and ask him as well, but I thought maybe I would get some opinions here about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I am 21 years old (almost 22), weigh 63-65 kg. (depends on the day, always fluctuating), and ~6ft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2111" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T13:41:14.110" Title="Gain weight while doing sports involving conditioning" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4121" CreationDate="2011-10-05T13:30:25.587" Score="44" ViewCount="22580" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally I get to the gym Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and try to lift a little bit more weight than I did the time before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today everything has gone wrong and I am not going to be able to make it to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biologically speaking what is happening to me now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my muscles shrinking rapidly and my skeleton imploding completely trashing any hopes I have of lifting again? Or is it fairly harmless and my muscles will stay the same and may even benefit from the extra rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many times would I have to miss working out before it starting to seriously set my progress back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastEditorUserId="939" LastEditDate="2011-10-05T17:34:47.893" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T07:52:00.193" Title="What happens when you miss a workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4111" CreationDate="2011-10-05T13:49:03.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that you start to lose strength gains from missing a couple of weeks.  This is from personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having about 5 days off occasionally is good for me at least.  It's good to give your body a complete rest occasionally.  I often find that rest can benefit big compound exercises like squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastEditorUserId="939" LastEditDate="2011-10-05T17:21:25.023" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T17:21:25.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4110" CreationDate="2011-10-05T13:57:21.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Properly executed weight training will increase, not decrease, your flexibility and mobility. Use full-range-of-motion exercises such as dead-hang pull-ups, below-parallel barbell squats, and deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting heavy and eating a lot of food will cause you to gain weight. Swimming and kickboxing will make that progress slower. How you structure your workouts--more kickboxing, less lifting, or vice versa--is an indicator of your goals. It sounds like you want to gain mass, but only lean mass. If that's your requirement, keep in mind that your progress will be even slower and even more difficult than a program designed for increasing strength and mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you're eating 6 meals a day, but how big are they? How many calories are you getting in? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T13:57:21.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4110" CreationDate="2011-10-05T14:53:06.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have two main questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gaining weight&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to gain (or lose) weight is a matter of intake to output - simple, right? The output (burn) consists of your activity level including how your metabolism actually works.  Each person's metabolism is different and can change based on age, genetics, etc.  By eating 6 times a day, you are probably kicking your metabolism into high gear (people looking to lose weight can actually lose by eating more often).  I would recommend a weight program along with even more healthy food - protein in itself may not be enough, make sure you have a balanced diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Weight training and the martial arts&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been in the martial arts for over 25 years, have done a lot of reading and have some level of experience with incorporating weight training.  A well targeted (for the martial arts) weight training program will enhance your speed, flexibility and explosive power.  I tend to stick with the power lifting routines (deadlift, squats, rows and bench press) and have found them to be very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T15:03:55.380" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4107" CreationDate="2011-10-05T16:16:40.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US, herbal supplements aren't regulated so the short answer is no. There is no independent verification so you must trust the source or caveat emptor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T16:16:40.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4111" CreationDate="2011-10-05T16:26:02.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact is that nothing remains constant in the body. After any training period your muscles will go through a recovery phase, followed by a supercompensation phase. If you train or seriously exert yourself again towards the end of the supercompensation phase, those phases will repeat. If you do nothing, muscle atrophy will begin. The rate will be slow even if completely bedridden, but it will occur nonetheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big question then is how long is the supercompensation phase. And like all big questions, the answer is complicated. It depends on what type and intensity of training you've been going through, how long the macro cycle of training has been occuring, and how close to your body's potential you are currently performing at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For practical purposes, most people can easily take a week off without suffering significant setbacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T16:26:02.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4110" CreationDate="2011-10-05T17:29:33.837" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people who are trying to gain weight have no issue with fat.  That's a good thing, because the only thing that will help you gain is to &lt;em&gt;eat a lot of food&lt;/em&gt;.  To keep the weight on, you need to turn that food into muscle, which requires the right type of work to build that muscle.  In short, the quickest way to build muscle is to lift heavy things.  Those heavy things can be barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, you, truck tires, sledge hammers, etc.  Check out an &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intro to Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; I wrote a while back to help you choose what will work best for you.  If you are a beginner in the weight room, then I would recommend a simple routine that has the four big barbell compound lifts: squats, bench press, deadlifts, and overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, not all conditioning is the same.  In order to choose the conditioning that is going to help you keep increasing strength and mass you have to have a better understanding of how the body produces energy to feed the muscles.  Since you mentioned martial arts, most sparring matches are limited to 2 minutes of activity followed by a lot of relative rest.  That means your conditioning should be tuned to give you continuous output of strength for 2 minutes at a time.  Running long distance is a different type of conditioning.  The two best resources I've found to help understand conditioning are these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/appropriate_conditioning_sheaffer.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Appropriate Conditioning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/death_by_prowler_reynolds.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Death by Prowler&lt;/a&gt; (excellent discussion of energy systems here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If kickboxing is your true passion, then I might suggest dropping the swimming and add the weight training.  That will help make the most of the food you are eating, and turn it into muscle--all while helping you get stronger in your sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T17:29:33.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4111" CreationDate="2011-10-05T17:33:49.970" Score="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;NASA has done muscle atrophy testing by requiring bed rest in a water-bed like matress for up to six weeks to see the affects of low gravity and inactivity. A study followed up on the NASA (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/282/2/R578.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Neural factors account for strength decrements observed after short-term muscle unloading&lt;/a&gt;) tests by testing muscle fibers and blood work after 2 weeks of inactivity. The result was &quot;The 14-day intervention failed to alter the size or fiber type distribution of muscle samples. However, resting plasma cortisol levels were significantly increased after muscle unloading, suggesting an endocrine environment favorable to muscle atrophy.&quot; There was some reduced muscle function, which they chalked up to neural degeneration, since muscle remained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;strong&gt;after two weeks of complete inactivity, you do not lose muscle, but&lt;/strong&gt; your blood has markers that suggest &lt;strong&gt;muscle atrophy is on its way&lt;/strong&gt;. However, there is neural degradation, so some strength is lost. After one day, or just a few, it appears more likely that recovery is happening without any loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="20063" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T07:52:00.193" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T07:52:00.193" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4128" CreationDate="2011-10-05T20:55:04.463" Score="10" ViewCount="20657" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently came across a blog post called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://tweakfit.com/top-rated-pre-workout-supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Top 10 Rated Pre Workout Supplements of 2011&lt;/a&gt;, which compares a bunch of concoctions made of &quot;stimulants, nitric oxide, creatine, and amino acids.&quot; There are several questions floating around Fitness &amp;amp; Nutrition about the best things to eat &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3872/what-is-the-best-thing-to-eat-right-before-a-workout/3885#3885&quot;&gt;before a workout&lt;/a&gt; and even &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2834/what-should-i-eat-or-drink-before-jogging&quot;&gt;before jogging&lt;/a&gt;, but they don't really address pre-workout supplements. Is that because supplements aren't effective? If they are, which one is most effective for fueling a long run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T00:28:32.273" Title="What is the best pre-workout supplement for long distance running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4122" CreationDate="2011-10-05T22:40:24.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whatever food you feel comfortable eating before your workout. It should be mostly simple carbohydrates and a bit of protein is useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you sleep blood flows away from your stomach. If you wake early enough then your stomach will not be ready to process the food and you will find it difficult to eat solid food. Because, on race day, you should do exactly what you do during training you should prepare for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, when I wake up before a morning long run I will drink two complete nutrition supplement drinks. That gets me 700 calories in an easy to digest form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want some carbs that are easy enough to digest because you're going to spend the first 90 minutes running on the carbs in your bloodstream and stored in your liver. You may as well stack in as much as you can beforehand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to drink normally. Not too little, not too much. Drink for thirst as your body will figure out the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-10-05T22:40:24.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-06T01:35:00.483" Score="14" ViewCount="27926" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been getting back into working out (both running and weights) and its going pretty well as i am getting back into it and being pretty consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one issue is that i have started to get a cracking in various joints.  Most notably my knees, ankles and shoulders.   I am assuming that the knees and ankles are from running and the shoulders from weights, but I wanted to see if this was normal while you are getting back in shape or if this is sign that i am pushing too hard or doing something wrong&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can recreate these &quot;cracks&quot; when i stretch (like doing ankles circles or shoulder circles) or just walk around (in case of ankles)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be great.  Also, are there any vitamins or other things that can help with joint pain or cracking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="751" LastEditDate="2011-10-07T12:58:11.010" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T20:11:46.427" Title="Having joint pain and &quot;cracking&quot; after getting back to working out with weights" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3949" CreationDate="2011-10-06T12:11:38.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.walkjogrun.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WalkJogRun.net&lt;/a&gt; is a great resource for finding new routes. The site lets you search for routes by city. Then you can filter the results by distance. You can see each of the routes from your search overlayed on google maps so that you can scroll to the area where you are or want to run to find the route you want to try. Also, each route can be exported to GPX which can be used on a Garmin Forerunner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2123" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T12:11:38.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2011-10-06T12:17:51.847" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;These maybe a little closer to barefoot than you are looking for, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://lunasandals.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Luna sandals&lt;/a&gt; are a good option. Odd size feet are no problem because you measure your foot, send them the measurements, and they custom cut the sandals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3fvso.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2123" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-10-06T12:39:54.243" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T12:39:54.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4122" CreationDate="2011-10-06T13:49:15.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that it should probably be something you experiment with. What works for you may be different than what works for others. Some suggestions I've heard experienced marathoners mention are full fat Greek yogurt with some granola and berries mixed in or some coconut milk. These provide a good combination of fat that your body can use for energy as well as complex carbohydrates while not being so heavy that you feel it sloshing around in your stomach during your run. For a little energy boost one of the most natural sources is actually a cup of coffee. Most importantly find what works for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2115" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T13:49:15.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4122" CreationDate="2011-10-06T14:04:12.687" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Question Your Desire for Supplements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a long-distance runner, but the question that I immediately turn to is just this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What problem would the supplement be solving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your nutrition overall is good, and your runs are going well, I would be very hesitant to add any supplements just for the hell of it. The ones you listed are not really fuel, and it's not clear why you'd need them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a specific reason for a specific supplement, I would question their necessity entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Specifically...&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit strange to me that the supplement review you linked to is almost entirely about the &quot;feeling&quot; of the &quot;rush&quot; each pre-workout witch's brew gives. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The supplement gave me an insane psycho energy rush. I really felt like I was a crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That falls below my criteria for scientific rigor. I'd much rather look at the constituent ingredients and examine the science and reasoning behind each. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine and other stimulants should be self-explanatory. They can increase athletic performance, but are also usually diuretic and don't provide any nutrition. I'm not particularly familiar with the specific pre-workout purpose of the others (nitric oxide, creatine, amino acids) but only BCAAs sound relevant to running. Highly digestible whole proteins might be useful nutrition before a long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, I would look to actual food for a pre-workout supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-06T14:31:23.910" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T14:31:23.910" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-06T18:26:28.800" Score="13" ViewCount="8803" Body="&lt;p&gt;About one month ago I started running every couple of days after being completely sedentary for ... well, essentially my entire life. I'm 23 years old, 5'11&quot;, 155 lbs, never done regular physical activity of any kind before that (except gym class, lifting a few weights every now and then, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 100% healthy, but I have noticed that my heart rate seems to be a bit unusual. My resting heart rate is fairly low at 55 bpm, and when I run I can stay between 180 and 190 bpm for a fairly long time (at least 45 min). Today, after a 30 min run at 185 bpm, I tried sprinting for the first time (for like 5 sec), and my heart rate went up to 210 bpm. Somewhere between 195 and 205 must've been where my body crossed the lactate threshold. I then slowed down and went another 15 minutes at 190 bpm, all without any uncomfortable physical symptoms (like nausea, dizziness, or something).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please assume my heart rate monitor is correct, if only for the sake of argument, since I've tested several and they all give identical results. Also, my heart rate doesn't seem to fluctuate abnormally, so irregular heart beats or PVCs are probably not the reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all that, I'm definitely not some sort of super athlete: The speed at which I'm running with this heart rate is not high at all (about 10 km/h at 190 bpm) and my performance overall is not great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what this means in terms of my physical fitness, if it means anything. I'm not asking a medical question here, my heart is completely fine, which has been confirmed by doctors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean that (a) I'm unusually fit, (b) I'm unusually unfit or (c) it doesn't mean anything and only performance counts? If it's (c), and it doesn't mean anything, I'd still be curious why my heart rate might be so unusual. I know that noone here can give me a definitive answer without further details, but maybe someone wants to venture a guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T10:45:20.433" Title="Unusual heart rates and fitness" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4133" CreationDate="2011-10-06T18:42:28.550" Score="5" ViewCount="2425" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those off you that know about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twohundredsitups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;200 sit up&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;100 push ups&lt;/a&gt; program, would it be a good idea to combine the two programs in one? The program works by dividing the workout into 3 times a week, with a day of rest between each. I'm thinking of doing the following:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Monday, Wed, Fri: Push ups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tues, Thurs, Sat: Sit ups  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;going by their plan, I should be able to finish both programs in about 6 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this efficient? Or will one of the program hinder the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T10:02:08.913" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T10:02:08.913" Title="200 situps in combination with 100 pushups 6 week program?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4131" CreationDate="2011-10-06T19:03:30.500" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're totally un- or de-trained, you might run into trouble recovering between sessions. That might happen anyway, particularly if you don't sleep or eat enough. But I bet it'll work fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These programs, however, are not well-regarded due to their focus on strengthening one movement while ignoring its opposite. You do a lot of pushing and a lot of ab strengthening, so where is the pulling and back strengthening? Creating muscle imbalances is not generally the best idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T19:03:30.500" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4130" CreationDate="2011-10-06T19:03:56.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;No worries&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a resting heart rate around 55 bpm is not unusual.  Frequently experiencing a heart rate over 200 bpm is not unusual.  And neither are really an indication of overall fitness.  And neither at this point should cause alarm.  If there &lt;em&gt;IS&lt;/em&gt; anything unusual about the numbers you provided is the range between your resting heart rate and the higher end of your heart rate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, if you have lower resting heart rate, your max heart rate will typically also be lower than normal.  In contrast, if you have higher max heart rate than &quot;normal&quot;, you'll also have a higher than normal resting heart rate.  This observation, is strictly based on my experience and not on research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My resting heart can be as low as ~34 bpm, but my max heart rate is around 180 with a lactic threshold around ~160 depending on the exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend not comparing your heart rate to others as it can drive you quite nuts and really make you question things like effort, overall fitness, health, etc.  I would also recommend using your own heart rate to determine training zones as well as measuring performance and improvement over time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T19:03:56.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4138" CreationDate="2011-10-06T19:15:46.387" Score="7" ViewCount="18510" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be common knowledge that you should consume your protein shake right after a training session for best effect. The sooner the better. I wonder why you shouldn't consume your shake right before the training or during training? It takes some time for the body to process the protein anyway, therefore it seems to make more sense to consume it sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would the body use the expensive protein as simple energy source and waste it or is the answer more complex?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2013-08-01T08:59:05.580" Title="Why shouldn't you drink your protein shakes before or during a training session?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4087" CreationDate="2011-10-06T19:16:51.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;A picture is worth a thousand words.&quot; Seriously!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T19:16:51.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4135" CreationDate="2011-10-06T19:42:34.740" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't get into the science of timing my shakes, but I drink them right after training for two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I wanted protein before my workout, I'd just eat a steak, because hell, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4058/should-i-consume-protein-shakes-after-team-sport-cardio/4066#4066&quot;&gt;protein shakes are just protein in shake form&lt;/a&gt;. I use whey powder + milk + fruit after training because I can consume it ASAP after my workout, without utensils or cooking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't eat while working out. First, there's no opportunity to do so. Second, I feel like my body is spending energy on digesting instead of working out (this is another reason not to eat or have a shake before working out). Third, I don't do ultra-distance running or other super-long-duration training. Workout time is for exertion and a quick mouthful of water, not eating. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If good science came out that my body would become like Hercules by getting protein during my workout, I might chew beef jerky between squat sets. Until then I'm fine eating afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T19:42:34.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4135" CreationDate="2011-10-06T20:20:33.630" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with consuming protein before or during your workout. Some studies suggest that this may lead to enhanced results. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16631431&quot;&gt;Here's one example&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other studies, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18535123&quot;&gt;such as this one&lt;/a&gt;, claim that this is not the case, though, and that while your body responds differently to exercise when you load up on proteins before the workout, this difference does not ultimately lead to increased muscle protein synthesis. It doesn't seem to have negative effects either, though, so do whatever you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/em&gt; It probably makes no big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What probably makes sense though is to load up on carbs before the workout. Doing so will make sure you have enough energy to perform well and avoid a stress response (cortisol increase) during your workout. If you don't have enough carbs in your system during your workout, you will experience increased stress, while if you do your body will actually calm down. Your body is more likely to build muscle in a calm state than in a stressed state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the stress response won't last for very long, so it may not make such a huge difference if you wait until after the workout. On the other hand, insufficient energy may affect your workout performance, which in turn may affect how well you can work your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12580676&quot;&gt;Here's a scientific review&lt;/a&gt; which discusses carbs before, during or after workouts. The general consensus seems to be that loading up on carbs &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; a workout &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; be a good idea, and loading up on carbs &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; the workout is practically indispensable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-10-06T20:41:22.130" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T20:41:22.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-07T09:51:02.363" Score="2" ViewCount="3728" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I prevent injuries in my toes while kickboxing? Specially the big toe and the small one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard about taping but is there a strengthening exercise to prevent injury or such? If you suggest taping I'd like to know specifically how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2111" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-05T14:10:06.237" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T04:05:22.543" Title="How to avoid toe injury in martial arts?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4209" CreationDate="2011-10-07T13:56:57.187" Score="5" ViewCount="4029" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some different breakfast items that have more protein so I can stay full longer until closer to lunchtime. My typical breakfast includes some kind of cereal (a whole grain type, not a sugary kind) plus almond milk (regular milk upsets my stomach, and I dislike American soy milk). I'm not a huge fan of baked goods (as delicious as they are) like bagels, muffins, and croissants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately though, I have not had a lot of free time to the grocery store so I have been eating some kind of breakfast sandwich (some combination of sausage, egg, cheese, and a bagel/croissant/English muffin) from my office complex's cafeteria or nearby restaurant. The cost and lack of variety associated with this are also things I would like to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, I'd like meat but I do not want to spend the time in the morning in my kitchen to prepare and cook things. I prefer to leave early in the morning to get to work to avoid the traffic. In terms of equipment I have a stove, microwave, and toaster at home. At work I have access to a toaster, a hot plate with a small pot, microwave, and hot filtered water (from the coffee machine). There are some markets close to work that open just as I get in to work so I am not opposed to driving the extra distance in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are suggestions of foods I can buy or minimally prepare that will keep me full for a longer time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T00:35:09.107" Title="What can I eat to get more protein at breakfast time?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-03-03T22:05:22.133" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4147" CreationDate="2011-10-07T14:13:33.407" Score="6" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add powdered protein (whey, soy, whatever your preference) to your drink (almond milk is fine).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crack a few eggs in a pan and scramble them (takes &amp;lt;5 mins total).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High protein cereal. Several types exist including one by Kashi&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More whole grains- Oatmeal works well for example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't add sugar to your meal or drink as sugar is an appetite stimulant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2031" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T14:13:33.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4142" CreationDate="2011-10-07T14:28:19.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tape the big toe to the adjacent toe. Put some type of gauze or soft material in between the two toes and tape them firmly together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the same thing for the fifth toe. Tape it firmly to the fourth toe with soft material in between.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the point is bracing the toes on the occasions of heavy martial arts, the support and lack of mobility will be protective against breaks. Over long periods of time this will weaken the muscles around the toes however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2031" LastEditorUserId="2031" LastEditDate="2011-10-07T17:38:52.090" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T17:38:52.090" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4147" CreationDate="2011-10-07T15:12:55.500" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tinned tuna, mackeral and sardines.  Not typically seen as a breakfast dish, but they are healthy and filling. Have protein and omega oils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very convenient, just open and go. Depending where you are they often come with a range of different sauces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not eat at your desk at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T15:12:55.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4147" CreationDate="2011-10-07T15:20:01.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A search for &quot;crockpot breakfast&quot; or &quot;slow cooker breakfast&quot; will turn up wonder results. You can do the prep at night, start the cooker, and have to do nothing in the morning but eat. The only downside is many of the recipes can't be scaled down below two servings. So you'll need to find a friend to eat the other half. On the plus side, even if you waste half the meal, they're still cheaper than the cost of most fast food breakfasts and healthier too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T15:20:01.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4142" CreationDate="2011-10-07T15:44:37.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could be &lt;em&gt;wildly&lt;/em&gt; wrong, but I don't think there's much to do. I would be wary of taping them unless (and even if) an instructor had a specific method. Your best course of action is boring:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use proper technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't kick people with your toes, particularly in their elbow, shin or knee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve your toe flexibility, particularly in extension (that's where the toes reach towards the top of the foot)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accept the fact that toes get injured in kickboxing, and that it's generally not too bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's been my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T15:44:37.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4142" CreationDate="2011-10-07T16:00:45.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without the use of foot padding (like boxing gloves), there's no way to build muscle around the toes to prevent bone-to-bone injury - either causing jams, breaks, sprains, etc. This includes the many bones on top of the foot.  You can tape the toes together to build support from prior injuries - but that's it.  There are some systems that emphasis using the ball of the foot instead of the top or toes, but even the practitioners of those systems have the same (but reduced) injuries.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend starting slow and light with the contact and working your way up over time to build timing needed to reduce the bone-to-bone contact (any part of the body) and mental conditioning when it does occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T16:00:45.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4124" CreationDate="2011-10-07T19:43:26.020" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the exact cause of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracking_joints&quot;&gt;cracking joints&lt;/a&gt; and as that page indicates professional opinion is also inconclusive, but I've always thought it was the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavitation&quot;&gt;cavitation&lt;/a&gt; of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synovial_fluid&quot;&gt;synovial fluid&lt;/a&gt; which is again confirmed there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hopkinsortho.org/joint_cracking.html&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From Johns Hopkins' Orthopedic page:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cracking and popping of joints is usually normal and most of the time&#xA;  is nothing to be concerned about. Strangely enough the exact reason&#xA;  joints pop and snap is not totally understood. One theory is that the&#xA;  ligaments (tethers that hold the bones together) make these noises as&#xA;  they get tight rapidly when the joint is moving. In some instances,&#xA;  popping may be due to a tendon snapping over or around the joint.&#xA;  Another theory is that nitrogen bubbles in the fluid inside the joint&#xA;  are rapidly brought into or out of solution when the joint is&#xA;  manipulated, such as cracking the knuckles in the hand. These noises&#xA;  with movement of a joint, particularly the knee, may sound like&#xA;  folding stiff paper, and are called &quot;crepitus&quot;. These noises are&#xA;  increased frequently after surgery on a joint, although the exact&#xA;  reason is not clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From personal experience&lt;/strong&gt; I found that the crackling and popping is most intense when I have a lot of muscle tightness and I haven't stretched in a long time. I also notice being sedentary or immobile for long periods of times aggravates it further. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal approach to reducing joint pain and crackling sounds is by foam rolling, stretching and doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_stretching&quot;&gt;dynamic stretching&lt;/a&gt; (mobility). I would spend a lot of time improving my flexibility and make sure the joints are fully warmed up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To improve range of motion you can do:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKg2iQkp8Rk&quot;&gt;Scapula wall slides&lt;/a&gt; for your shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKg2iQkp8Rk&quot;&gt;IT Bands&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpJab7LcbxE&quot;&gt;Hamstring&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DhpJgVsoo&quot;&gt;Psoas&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWuVcqvoEFo&quot;&gt;Quad&lt;/a&gt; (Be slow with this one if you have any kind of knee problems) stretches for your knees&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VRbjVanTZc&quot;&gt;Various ankle stretches&lt;/a&gt; for your ankle&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, even though stretching/foam rolling etc can be helpful, if done incorrectly or too aggressively it can be injuries. So make sure to take your time and ramp up slowly. If you feel like you have chronic or acute symptoms then you should definitely see a sports doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Here's another source from &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-cracking-joints-knees-healthy/&quot;&gt;StrongLifts.com&lt;/a&gt; echoing what I said about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_release&quot;&gt;soft tissue work.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One thing that seems to diminish the cracking is soft tissue work.&#xA;  Some say the cracking/popping joints is evidence of trigger points&#xA;  causing joint stress. You can eliminate those trigger points yourself&#xA;  with a foam roller. For cracking knees I recommend foam rolling your&#xA;  calves, but also your IT band etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://theswole.com/concept/ultimate-warm-reducing-injury-getting-swole/&quot;&gt;a warm up guide&lt;/a&gt; I wrote a while ago, which includes foam rolling, static and dynamic stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="2034" LastEditDate="2011-10-13T16:36:09.850" LastActivityDate="2011-10-13T16:36:09.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2011-10-07T21:58:20.757" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more flexible you are doesnt always mean you are less likely to injure yourself... sometimes being too flexible is a detriment and your strength is lacking.  If you are extremely flexible but lack the strength to maintain certain exercises you are equally as prone to injury as someone who is inflexible.  The key is determining where your body lacks flexibility and use stretches to help increase that, while at the same time determine where your body is weak and strengthening those muscles.  Finding the balance between flexibility and strength is the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to touch your toes is one action that is a part of a big picture in your flexibility and addresses specific muscles that are tight which are limiting your range of motion. I would suggest having a trainer assess where you are tight (hamstrings, quads, hips etc.) and use specific stretches to attack those muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The majority of strong healthy people dont stretch enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everyone has the potential to touch their toes, you have to actively work on stetching and strengtheing the specific mucles to allow them to do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1990" LastActivityDate="2011-10-07T21:58:20.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4174" CreationDate="2011-10-08T09:03:09.703" Score="3" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you can do maximum 10 pushups. Supposedly you should go close to failure to have a good training effect. But the point is to break your muscles down down, to rebuild them stronger.  Is there a big difference between 9 or 10 reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-07-01T13:29:15.440" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T22:38:31.457" Title="What is the difference betweeen doing to failure and stopping before fail?" Tags="&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4183" CreationDate="2011-10-08T10:55:02.167" Score="4" ViewCount="519" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my aims is to gain muscle mass to increase fat-burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a good way to achieve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be natural to concentrate on big muscles, but from what I understand legs for example are not so easy to increase, as we use them a lot (While it is easy to increase the arms muscles, but it won't contribute a lot to the total mass).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How important are &quot;core muscles&quot; in terms of body mass?  (I have been thinking that Pilates might be good because it gives a relatively small increase in a large mass of muscles?).  Upper body in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there specific exercises that will increase mass quickly because the muscles are used differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aim is to have a quite moderate program, mostly at home, to be just a bit stronger / more musculus than I would otherwise be.  I am looking at high gain/pain, preferably with only one set pr exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;add 1: relatively quick return&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2011-10-08T15:02:07.853" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T11:25:31.580" Title="Gain muscle mass for fat loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="960" CreationDate="2011-10-08T11:56:05.907" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;AFAIK there are differences between different kinds of exercise.  Runners tend to be stiff, Zumba, Salsa etc is good for the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I think warm stretching can be more efficient than (normal cold) Yoga.  Martial Arts like Ta-know-Do with stretching should be very efficient.  There is also fitness &quot;Yoga&quot; like Bikram and Asthanga where the body is warm.  (Real Yoga is IMHO better in the long term)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2011-10-08T11:56:05.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2176" CreationDate="2011-10-08T12:59:57.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Asthanga Yoga it is calleed &quot;A vinyasa&quot; (There are a few different versions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2011-10-08T12:59:57.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="494" CreationDate="2011-10-08T19:39:48.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vast majority of your power in a cycling stroke comes from your hip and knee extensors (gluteus maximus and quadriceps pushing your leg/foot down). The amount of power you can get from ankle/foot muscles relative to that is tiny; when cycling those muscles mostly just keep your foot stiff, not provide primary power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The position of your foot on the pedal should be optimized for comfort.&lt;/strong&gt; Don't worry about efficiency/power from your foot position relative to the pedal spindle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a &quot;normal&quot; shoe having the center of the pedal near the ball of your foot is likely the most comfortable. Your toes can't really handle the forces involved well, and pushing a pedal up into your arch is likely to be uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With special cycling shoes that click onto the pedal and have very stiff soles you can potentially move that contact point towards the arch or towards the toes more. Changing your foot's contact point will also require adjusting the seat and possibly the handlebars. I think that kind of millimeter level fine-tuning is something best done with the help of an experienced bike fitter, since it's easy to get it wrong in ways that can cause knee injury, saddlesores or other problems. What foot position on the cranks will get you the most power/efficiency will depend on the strength of your calves and is probably best done in a bike shop fitting setup with a power meter hooked up to your bike. But those tiny adjustments of foot position are only necessary if you really care about shaving a few seconds off the time of a multi-hour ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any attempts to get angles and lengths just right for leverage are silly on a typical road bike, the cranks are only one of 4 levers and 2 of those levers can be changed in a fraction of a second while riding to fine-tune your overall ratio just right for current conditions (slope, wind, what you're trying to do, how you're feeling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you're concerned about efficiency, worry more about your cadence and stroke.&lt;/strong&gt;  People talk about &quot;pedaling in circles&quot; or &quot;squares&quot;, but the most essential part of that is to lift your foot up on the back part of the stroke to minimize how much you're resisting the pedaling force from the other foot. Finding the right cadence is important, pushing hard in a lower cadence can wear your muscles out faster than getting the same speed/power from pushing faster in a slightly lower gear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastActivityDate="2011-10-08T19:39:48.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-08T19:50:42.300" Score="-2" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I just to a little bit of exercise (enough to have some gain), what would be the supplements I should take to maximize gain and minimize pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think Creatine, Glutamine and ALC - Acetyl L-Carnitine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about fish oil?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2011-10-09T06:10:11.863" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T09:34:30.493" Title="supplements for building muscle with low level training" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;l-glutamine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4176" CreationDate="2011-10-08T23:40:20.147" Score="1" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a wrestler (I know, you probably think I'm starving myself right now).  Truth be told, I need to lose a couple of pounds (4 or 5) to make the weight class I want.  I'm not sure how feasible this is though.  Contrary to what some wrestlers believe, not eating food to lose weight also reduces your energy - effectively making you a bad wrestler with eating problems.  I'm a pretty light guy.  I'm about 142 pounds.  I'm trying to make it to 138 or less.  As far as my body goes, I'm pretty slim.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How this should my thighs be (sounds random right?-)?  Over all I'm really skinny, I've always thought though, that I have slightly larger thighs.  They aren't overly large though and nobody can really tell.  Is this normal?  How thick should my thighs be assuming I'm a slim guy at 142 pounds.  If they are too big, what exercise can I do to best replace that with muscle and hopefully slim down a bit in that area? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, I'm only asking this because I don't know and I feel awkward asking people that I know about thigh size (The internetz, on the other hand, is another story).  I could be normal for all I know.  If I'm normal, I'll accept being 142 and bulk up a bit to compensated for the upper weight class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it means anything:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm 5 foot 11 inches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I weigh 142 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm a male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2135" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T13:30:21.730" Title="Where (and how) can I drop weight safely?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4170" CreationDate="2011-10-09T02:19:58.283" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you want does not exist.  If you understand the basics of nutrition, you need a certain amount of protein, carbs and fat in your diet.  Beyond that, vitamins and minerals.  That's just for living, so how about building muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt; if you want to build muscle you have to work hard and lift heavy things.  Your body will adapt to the stresses you put on it (exercise), and in its recovery it will supercompensate to handle what you told it to do plus a little spare capacity.  If you want to build muscle you have to repeatedly increase what you ask of your muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take protein supplements, creatine, l-glutamine, etc. without putting in the work that causes your body to build muscle, they will be going to waste.  Anything your body does not need is excess, and all excess is either discarded (as waste product) or stored as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, no pain, no gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information about the specific supplements you listed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine:&lt;/strong&gt; specifically creatine monohydrate is a very well studied and tested supplement that helps your body recover more quickly.  Recommended dose for adults is roughly 5g per day, no studies or recommendations for children.  Muscles use ATP for energy, which when consumed yields ADP and lactate.  Creatine helps convert ADP back to ATP more quickly.  If you have a high amount of red meat or fish in your diet, you may not see any benefit due to the high amounts of creatine in those food sources.  However if you are vegetarian, you will see a big improvement.  Creatine does cause some water retention, and proper hydration is even more important when you supplement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fish Oil:&lt;/strong&gt; specifically EPA and DHA Omega 3s are also very well studied and tested supplement that helps minimize inflammation.  If you eat all organic, natural diet sourced foods, you might not need supplementation.  However, most farming practices (including fish farming) include unnatural diets (usually grains) and other stressors to the animals which makes those food sources more inflammatory.  Inflammation is a normal part of exercise, and is a predecessor to bigger and stronger muscles.  However, too much systemic inflammation causes problems for your immune system and may make you more prone to inflammation type injuries such as tendinitis and bursitis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glutamine&lt;/strong&gt;: is a non-essential amino acid, meaning the body can manufacture what it needs.  In catabolic states such as injury and illness, taking it as a supplement can improve your immune system and ability to recover.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acetyl L-Carnatine&lt;/strong&gt;: is another non-essential amino acid, again meaning the body can manufacture what it needs.  It helps the body produce energy, and purportedly also helps the brain to function better.  ALC is used in some treatments for Alzheimer's disease.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your training stimulus is mild, the inflammation induced by the training is well within the body's normal means of recovery.  Additionally, if you have a healthy diet you'll receive all the Creatine, Omega 3s, Glutamine, and ALC your body needs to function properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are pushing yourself as an athlete training for their sport does your needs for these items can outpace your ability to eat the food that contains them.  By this I mean you are exercising several times a week at high intensities for the purpose of getting better, stronger, and faster at your chosen sport.  I am not talking about Zumba or Yoga classes (while they are challenging disciplines, they don't have the same recovery requirements as someone training as part of a basketball team).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-08-12T16:38:55.413" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T16:38:55.413" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4162" CreationDate="2011-10-09T02:40:04.927" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indulge me by letting me give you a little back story.  I lost a lot of weight, most of it fat.  I wasn't too happy with the end result so I worked on getting back some of the muscle I lost.  I started out with a program called StrongLifts 5x5.  I'm not providing a link because it's creator has done some very controversial things lately and wouldn't encourage anyone to use that program anymore.  I then started the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ%3aIntroduction&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; program.  I've gotten to a place where I am pretty strong, and added a fair amount of muscle.  In the process I've also gained some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part of my story that I want to convey, and the part that relates to your question is this: it wasn't until I could squat 295lb and deadlift 335lb for 5 reps each that I started burning more fat.  While bigger muscles do in fact burn more calories at rest, you have to get pretty strong before it starts doing what you are talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things like running, pilates, zumba, etc. are also very different types of exercising.  What you get with them is a very modest amount of strength, but a whole lot of conditioning.  You will be able to burn a lot of calories with them, but the muscle you gain doing these types of activities will only be enough to sustain the activity (plus a little extra).  You won't need any supplements with that class of exercise, and it seems more in line with your fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-10-09T02:40:04.927" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4160" CreationDate="2011-10-09T10:14:54.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's recommended not to go to failure because it's demanding on the central nervous system. If you just do some pushups from time to time you can go for failure no problem, but if you have a routine with lots of exercises and sets per exercises it can get too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5653" LastActivityDate="2011-10-09T10:14:54.007" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4160" CreationDate="2011-10-09T13:12:25.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is 1 rep - not a big difference.  What I would recommend instead of adding volume is to add change or resistance to push yourself physically and mentally.  Simple variations, such as: single hand, clapping pushups, hands wide, hands narrow add variation and ensures that your body will not 'adapt' to your workout and that your using muscles in different ways.  You can also change from 3 (or 5) sets of 10 to 1 set of 50.....the idea is to push yourself and improve with each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-10-09T13:12:25.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4171" CreationDate="2011-10-09T14:11:08.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;strong&gt;absolutely impossible&lt;/strong&gt; to target fat loss to any particular part of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once again, it is &lt;strong&gt;absolutely impossible&lt;/strong&gt; to target where fat will come off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is at least one piece of fairly well established science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;{As a footnote, other than, arguably, the notion of your sex hormone balance - which can affect your overall body shape - women and men have different fat patterns - but that is completely irrelevant to something like &quot;fat on my thighs&quot;.}&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you can do is smash your intake of carbohydrates, and the FAT on your body will go away, week by week.  But it is absolutely impossible to target WHERE adipose tissue is reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea if you are (A) starting to put on weight, and that is happening in your thighs or (B) you just happen to have really large manly thighs (like some people are tall, some people have a big nose, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IF the situation is (A), simply smash your carbohydrate intake and exercise more and you will lose the fat from your body, eventually including this fat on the thighs, (To repeat that's only if it IS THE CASE of (A). If it's (B) there is utterly nothing you can do, other than genetic time travel.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I also have enormous, rather unsightly, thighs!  Heh!  they look great in a kilt (if you happen to be scottish) but that's about the only advantage.  Or, I could easily play say a speed skater in a movie  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastActivityDate="2011-10-09T14:11:08.503" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-09T21:16:45.367" Score="0" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1022/which-personal-trainer-certifications-are-most-respected&quot;&gt;Which personal trainer certifications are most respected?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone please me some information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2138" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-10-10T15:44:32.763" Title="What is the official personal trainer certification and how to get a certification?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2011-10-11T17:35:45.177" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4160" CreationDate="2011-10-10T08:50:52.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally the point of an exercise is to push your body to adapt to stress placed on it. You want each workout to push your body a little bit more than last time so your body gradually adapts towards where you want it to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How you push it is down to your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be able to do lots of push ups, you will want to always try to do more push ups than the last time. That is the difference between 9 and 10 pushups. If you did 9 pushups last time, this time you want to do 10. Next time do 11.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is huge! Mentally you are pushing your self and motivating your body to push itself. Physically you are pushing your self and your body to adapt to doing more pushups. If you always do the same number of pushups every time you will just get stuck in a rut and go nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter if you go to failure or not. You just need to do a bit more than last time. Sometimes this will take you to failure, sometimes not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2011-10-10T08:50:52.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-10T11:19:03.377" Score="6" ViewCount="7102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing kettlebell workouts recently and I started having pain at the bottom of my forearm (right above my elbow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a common injury that indicates I am pushing too hard or doing something wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any specific way to recover from this pain besides just resting my arm workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-10-14T05:59:35.563" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T01:24:01.857" Title="Having elbow and forearm pain after kettlebell workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4179" CreationDate="2011-10-10T15:42:25.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that your getting a tennis elbow. You get this by loading your elbow too hard too long. In short it means inflammation of the elbow and the surrounding muscles...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion you should let your elbow rest and keep it cool as much as you can. Also you should consider taking a light anti-inflammation medicin. You should really feel a difference after about a week or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps you out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greetz&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-10-10T15:42:25.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4177" CreationDate="2011-10-10T15:44:32.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion you should follow the PTaGlobal courses. These are VERY good courses and are internationally known in the fitness industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ptaglobal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ptaglobal.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-10-10T15:44:32.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4171" CreationDate="2011-10-10T16:00:52.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really advise you to take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Sisson&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/2011/08/11/big-fat-blog-post-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Robb Wolf's&lt;/a&gt; websites. This is a very effective and healthy way to lose weight. Also train muscle groups instead of individual muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cross Fit is an effective way to do this, but make sure to start at a level that suits you and don't overtrain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also take a look at the lowest link that I posted. These are simple workouts that you can do at home that don't take longer than 30 minutes. Also they focus on muscle groups and movement patterns instead of hypertrophy. That way your basal metabolism goes up and you use more energy at rest and during nighttime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you stay away from sugar, wheat, vegetable oils, trans fats, and high fructose corn syrup, and you should lose weight like a train!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-10T13:30:21.730" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T13:30:21.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4162" CreationDate="2011-10-10T16:10:52.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If fat loss is your main goal. Then you have to enlarge your basal metabolism to burn more fat during rest.&#xA; Try to focus on the bigger muscle groups such as legs, chest, back and shoulders by doing high intensity basic exersices like squat, bench press, lat pull and death lift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try looking at the cross fit program for more examples of exersices...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off course you should train each muscle in moderation. Focus on movement patterns, not muscle groups. Your muscles are but tools. Movement competency is the finality...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-10-10T16:10:52.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-10T16:11:20.900" Score="4" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started doing the overhead press as per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startingstrength.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am getting a pain when I get close to the full extension of the press. It &lt;em&gt;feels&lt;/em&gt; like a tendon pain as it is in a very small area at the top of the shoulder joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain only occurs if I press more than about 30kg or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing that pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if its not that easy to tell over the internet what is causing the pain, what steps should I go through to try to locate and fix the cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T02:33:20.320" Title="Pain with the Overhead Press" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4147" CreationDate="2011-10-10T16:25:00.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're eating too much grains and sugar. The carbs from the wheat and almond milk you eat make you crave early. They cause an early sugar boost that doesn't take long to be absorbes by your body. This leads to a sugar crash. This is when you why you get hungry again before luchtime...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try adding more healthy fats and protein to your meals. For example:&#xA;- eggs, nuts, avocado&#xA;- For meat you could prepare some meatballs in the evening so you can microwave them in the &#xA;  morning...&#xA;- Add some full fat cream in your coffee&#xA;- Add some vegetables to your breakfast&#xA;- Drink some morning soup with your breakfast that you prepared the evening before&#xA;- loose the grains, wheat and sugar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this and you won't be hungry before lunchtime. Trust me.&#xA;For healthy recipes take a look at these wonderful sites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fastpaleo.com/all-recipes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fastpaleo.com/all-recipes/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nuttykitchen.com/category/paleo/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nuttykitchen.com/category/paleo/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://purelyprimal.com/category/recipes/breakfast/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://purelyprimal.com/category/recipes/breakfast/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a great breakfast!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-10-10T16:25:00.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5143" CreationDate="2011-10-10T18:00:45.100" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that genetics plays a significant role in sprint speed.  Fortunately, I have always been a fast sprinter and enjoy sprinting over any kind of long distance running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume that this genetic effect also applies to the other muscles of my body (I have a long  throw, for example) so I was wondering how I could capitalise on this - are there any particular exercises that would make the most of my muscle composition?  Or would any high intensity exercise be doing that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2139" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T23:36:41.680" Title="Applications of fast muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4022" CreationDate="2011-10-10T18:59:25.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diet, exercise and rest definately go together, but really you  need to figure out how many calories your burning compared to how many your  eating. I have found some good free calculators for BMI, BMR, LBM, and Calories  Burned at  &lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogainweight123.com/calculators&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://howtogainweight123.com/calculators&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2140" LastActivityDate="2011-10-10T18:59:25.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-10T23:23:04.160" Score="5" ViewCount="2812" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks back I strained my soleus and have gradually started building up my exercise levels again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed after a few days back on full exercise that the muscles in my lower leg (calf and particularly soleus) are pulled very tight which I think puts me at risk of reinjury again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did quite a few stretches before riding to work this morning, but I'm still worried about further injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sort of exercises should I be doing pre and post exercise to 'loosen-up' or reduce risk of injury in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of sport that puts pressure on this area (cycling, soccer and running). I also think the injury happened last time doing squats (without weights) when my calf muscles were already super tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-03T22:00:57.927" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T07:21:08.817" Title="Reducing tightness in calf and soleus" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4179" CreationDate="2011-10-11T02:27:05.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;See a doctor, physical therapist, physician's assistant or kettlebell instructor. (Or all of the above, preferably.) Get your specific medical issue addressed. Fix whatever form issues you have, whether related to the pain or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without attempting to diagnose you over the internet via &lt;strong&gt;a one-sentence description of your problem&lt;/strong&gt;, I'd bet that you have some form of overuse injury or tendon inflammation. It's also possible that you have gangrene or elbow gnomes. I'm not a doctor and diagnosis over the internet is inexact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See a medical professional, see a fitness professional, get better, fix your form, get back into the workouts slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T02:27:05.957" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4184" CreationDate="2011-10-11T02:33:20.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoulders are not to be f'd with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a lifting coach and have them take a look at your form. You could find them at a local Olympic or powerlifting gym, CrossFit box, or a well-recommended personal trainer. Make sure they know Starting Strength and how to overhead press &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; you let them tell you how to do it. Pay them for a private lesson if necessary. Your shoulder health is well worth the fifty bucks or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to look into your shoulder mobility generally. You can try to self-diagnose by searching places like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kelly Starrett's site&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gymnastics forums&lt;/a&gt;, but in-person evaluations are again king. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T02:33:20.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4122" CreationDate="2011-10-11T09:00:13.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you have seen, most of the reviews online are about best pre workout supplements for weight lifting and short-medium training period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for your need you can opt in for a intra/pre workout supplement. For example, NOW Foods - Electro Endurance, is a supplement for those that train for long period of time (swimming, football, athletes), and it contains: electrolytes, hydrolized protein, carbs and few amino-acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one option. There are also, the so called 'carbs gel' supplements, used by athletes that need energy during a contest or a long training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of supplements for your objective on bodybuilding.com and other supplements stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2146" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T09:00:13.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-11T10:09:05.980" Score="12" ViewCount="23721" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am targeting a marathon in 6 months. I have limited time to train and have recently found it easier to drop the number of runs I do a week from 3 or 4 down to 2 - one long and one short/fast. The long is currently around 16km (~10m) and the short is around 10km (~6m). When doing 3 or 4 runs per week it seemed hard to increase the distances, but on 2 runs per week I have increased by about 1km per fortnight over the last 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, will I be able to continue this cycle of two runs per week with gradual increasing distances over the next 6 months, or will I start hitting limits to what can be sustained on just 2 runs per week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For info, I am 39 years old and am reasonably fit, having been running or cycling on &amp;amp; off for the last few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1909" LastActivityDate="2019-05-07T04:53:43.723" Title="Can I train for a marathon with just two runs per week?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4179" CreationDate="2011-10-11T10:49:31.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your description is rather vague, I can't even tell if the pain points to a problem with a muscle or with connective tissue (like the mentioned tennis elbow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I do remember Pavel emphasize is that when you catch the kettlebell in a ballistic movement (like the lowest point of swings, cleans or snatches), you should do it with the arm fully extended (triceps flexed), or you might hurt your elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually have slight elbow-pain* when I take a long break from kettlebells and then start again. I then take it a little easy (especially with snatches), and it goes away. Something seems to need time to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*haha, I'm just as vague&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T10:49:31.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4162" CreationDate="2011-10-11T11:19:17.970" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compound exercises are the most important.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If fat loss is your goal, then diet is 50-70% of everything.   What you eat, when, frequency, do I eat before bed?  etc...&#xA;Cardio is the other 30-50%.  (But you need to do this)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If building muscle is your goal, then then diet is 50-70% of everything.  (see above)&#xA;Extreme workouts is the other 30-50%.  (But you need to do this)&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Don't neglect the importance of food.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Compound exercises are the most important.  Don't waste your time on isolation of smaller muscles.  (I.e. biceps, abs, etc..) unless you are already doing larger compound movements.  (Bench press, squat, shoulder press, pull up/pull down, deadlift) These exercises are the most important for building mass.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to add, you say you are doing 1 intense set per exercise.  If so don't forget to warm up extensively.  (Perhaps by the same sets at a low weight) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2098" LastEditorUserId="2098" LastEditDate="2011-10-11T11:25:31.580" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T11:25:31.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4110" CreationDate="2011-10-11T11:29:11.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen guys that are still very flexable while lifting weights. The thing to do is keep doing the kickboxing and flexability type exercises along with the weightlifting.&#xA;Diet, exercise and rest definately go together, but really you  need to figure out how many calories your burning compared to how many your  eating. I have found some good free calculators for BMI, BMR, LBM, and Calories  Burned at  &lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogainweight123.com/calculators&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://howtogainweight123.com/calculators&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;So, Calculate how many calories you have burned during the day and adjust your food intake to be less calories to lose weight or more calories to gain weight. Sounds simple, but actually doing it is the hard part :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2140" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T11:29:11.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2011-10-11T11:36:33.433" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a pretty deep base, you can manage this.  However you will probably not have the best marathon experience.  You can get to the finish line this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do additional cardio workouts, like biking, etc that can help substitute for missed runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How high to plan to take your long run?  You probably want to get to 30-35K mark this way, and stay in the 30K range for four weeks or so, before tapering for the marathon if you can time it right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T11:36:33.433" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4147" CreationDate="2011-10-11T16:51:41.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can recommend a few cheap &amp;amp; low prep meals for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 bean burritos &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://eatwholly.com/products/wholly-guacamole/snack-pack.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;100 calorie guacamole packs&lt;/a&gt; (18g protein) - The guac changes these from a $1 meal into a $3 meal. You could also add cheese or salsa to really pep it up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jimmydean.com/products/DLights/DLights-Sandwiches/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jimmy Deans D-Lites&lt;/a&gt; (18g protein) - Since you're already into sandwiches, these should be better for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hard-boiled eggs (13g protein) - Try them with Tabasco Sauce!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chobani.com/products/c/nonfat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;0% Fat Greek Yogurt&lt;/a&gt; (16g protein) - I know you said milk upset your stomach, but usually people eat yogurt to help an &quot;upset&quot; digestive system, so I put it on there for a try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this stuff can be made with just a microwave.  If you want to feel &quot;full&quot; eat one of the things on the above list and also eat either a banana or oatmeal.  Either of those two should help make you feel really &quot;full&quot; and keep you well past lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2151" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T16:51:41.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4122" CreationDate="2011-10-11T19:57:43.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to eating anything before and under running, I agree with @baldys answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2834/what-should-i-eat-or-drink-before-jogging/2845#2845&quot;&gt;What should I eat or drink before jogging?&lt;/a&gt; that nothing special is needed for anything less than 1-1.5 hours of running (@baldy actually writes 2.5 hours, but I personally need something when running for that long). If we are talking anything less than half-marathon (HM), I usually just eat a banana 15-20 minutes before start and drink some water just before I leave for the run... And nothing special under the run apart from a little water every 5 km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes bring a little money, so I can buy a banana or two en route if I feel I need that... which is more often in the evening after a long day at the office than in the morning when I'm fresh and ready for the world... but it is the exception rather than the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we by &lt;em&gt;long distance running&lt;/em&gt; mean HM or longer, then I think it is more important what you eat the days just &lt;em&gt;before and after&lt;/em&gt; the run than what you eat during the run. This is described pretty well &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportsnutrition/a/EatForExercise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The major source of fuel for active muscles is carbohydrate which gets stored in the muscles as glycogen in the days before exercise. It takes time to completely fill glycogen stores, and what you eat after exercise can help or hinder this process. Eating the right foods at the right time after a workout is essential for recovery and being ready for the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So lots of pasta and white bread before the run... all the stuff we usually try to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for any of the supplements listed in the articles... I really haven't tried any of them, as I really don't see what they can provide that is not already in various fruit - especially carbs and potassium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-10-11T19:57:43.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4147" CreationDate="2011-10-12T00:35:09.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not just protein that will keep you full for longer but also fat and fibre (vegetables/whole grains). Which is why the best breakfast I find has some combination of eggs and veggies. I would strongly recommend against eating some kind of breakfast sandwich from a restaurant/cafeteria although a homemade sandwich is great. I also recommend staying away from cereals since they aren't satiating and offer a poor macro split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some balanced breakfast ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eggs and veggies: Can be scrambled, boiled, omelette, sunny side up or however you prefer. The veggies can be raw or just cooked with the eggs. Obviously this will involve cooking in the morning -unless you eat precook boiled eggs the night before. Eggs are very nutritious and filling, while at the same time offering a &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/111/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good balance of fat/protein.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deli Meat: Not only it's convenient and quick it's very versatile. You can make sandwiches/wrap with it. Introduce it in a salad. Or simply add it to your egg dish to &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sausages-and-luncheon-meats/1493/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;increase the protein ratio&lt;/a&gt;. Most deli meats are fine but I prefer fresh cuts from the deli counter such as pastrami/turkey or chicken breast. You can also make your own seasoning and roasting a turkey breast or cut of beef and slicing it to make sandwiches. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fageusa.com/products/fage-total-2-percent/#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plain Greek yogurt&lt;/a&gt;: Very high in protein and requires no cooking. You can make savory or sweet dishes with it. One option is to use it in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strained_yogurt#Middle_East&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;labneh style&lt;/a&gt; sandwich with olive oil and tomatoes (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Za%27atar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zaata'r&lt;/a&gt; optional). You can also eat it with oatmeal and eggs. For a sweeter dish you add chopped fruit like bananas, apples, pears or berries. It also goes great with fruits and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muesli&lt;/a&gt;. You can also eat nuts/nut butters to increase the fat content. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end you really aren't going to find the perfect breakfast, that is nutritionally balanced and effort free. It's going to take some sacrifices by getting up earlier/cooking or just managing your time better. But that's the price you pay for having a healthier life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T00:35:09.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-12T05:44:33.423" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not as if you should stretch your muscles at every possible location. There are definitely some stretching exercises that can exacerbate the situation. Even excessive slouching, after all, is a form of stretching, as is excessive hunching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And many of the stretching exercise guides seem to just give out a bunch of random advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I have issues with both neck pain and lower back pain, I'm particularly interested in exercises like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_2209360_do-ergonomic-back-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ehow.com/how_2209360_do-ergonomic-back-exercises.html&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/117455-neck-exercises-computer-users/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/117455-neck-exercises-computer-users/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2155" OwnerDisplayName="InquilineKea" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T11:58:52.560" Title="How do I know whether or not a stretching exercise could actually hurt my body?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3351" CreationDate="2011-10-12T10:32:45.520" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try taking some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin&quot;&gt;melatonin&lt;/a&gt; before bed. Melatonin tends to be hit-or-miss in my experience, people I know who have tried it have had either great results or none at all. You can pick it up in any drug store, so it's worth a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned being tired during the day, does this happen even when you are getting enough sleep? You could have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea&quot;&gt;sleep apnea&lt;/a&gt;, a condition which causes you to stop breathing in your sleep. Sleep apnea constantly goes undiagnosed because sufferers don't realize that &lt;strong&gt;it is not normal to be tired during the day.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started treatment for sleep apnea earlier this year and I cam say with no exaggeration that it has been life changing. No more falling asleep behind the wheel, no more afternoon fatigue, etc. I don't know if this is common, but I've also had an easier time falling asleep since starting treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be overweight to have sleep apnea, although it could be a sign. Sleep apnea tends to cause weight gain just as much as weight gain will cause sleep apnea. If you have a history of depression, snore, or if you are a mouth breather, these are also strong indicators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a significant other ask them to pay attention to your breathing patterns, if not ask your doctor to do a sleep study. They're usually conducted in hotels, it's easy, comfortable, and won't interrupt your schedule (you'd be in bed either way). When I did mine it was right next to the office, so I got to avoid the morning traffic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2157" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T10:32:45.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4220" CreationDate="2011-10-12T10:50:34.320" Score="6" ViewCount="472" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never thought I'd be saying this...but I need to be eating more. I recently switched to a new medication which has been suppressing my appetite to the point that I can go all day without eating. I have to force myself just to get 700 calories a day, and even that is difficult. I've lost 15lbs in two months as a result, which is great but not necessarily healthy. I am 5'7&quot; and weighed in at 185lbs this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been purposely eating junk food to try to raise my calorie intake and taking a multi-vitamin, but I need to find some healthier foods. So what can I eat that's healthy but still has a high enough calorie density to keep my body out of 'starvation mode'? I want to keep losing weight, but I'm worried my body is going to start burning muscle instead of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, is there something I can do to stimulate my appetite to an appropriate level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus question: It's easier for me to eat early in the morning or late at night. I know that the conventional wisdom is to eat small frequent meals, but how bad is it to get most of my calories at the beginning/end of the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2157" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T19:44:09.173" Title="Getting enough calories with a suppressed appetite" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4212" CreationDate="2011-10-12T11:58:52.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two aspects of being healthy that play off of each other: strength and flexibility.  The problem with slouching and hunching is usually a lack of back or posterior chain strength.  You can gain sufficient strength to maintain good posture with any amount of regular exercise--from running to weightlifting.  Both slouching and hunching are the results of sitting in a chair all day and looking at things that are not ergonomically placed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching that helps is in the form of increasing your range of motion to be able to complete an exercise that you would not normally be able to do.  However, it is possible to be too flexible.  Essentially, if your flexibility exceeds your strength you will be prone to certain types of injury that someone who is less flexible with the same strength will not be susceptible to.  For example, hyperextension related injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you approach stretching like a treatment to an ailment, things will fall into place.  Not everyone is required to be able to do the splits.  If your body is preventing you from doing something you want to do because it lacks the range of motion, then find stretches that increase that particular range of motion.  But do it on a basic foundation of exercise.  The more active you are, the more you will be able to sit and stand with good posture, and the less likely you will hyperextend your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T11:58:52.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4214" CreationDate="2011-10-12T14:04:00.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for nutritious foods that have a lot of calories, try things like nuts and peanut butter or almond butter. They're a good source of fat, protein, and carbs, and they also have a lot of calories (peanut and almond butters have about 200 calories per every two tablespoons). Avocados are also a good source of healthy fats and calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, it is better to eat smaller meals more frequently, but if you're only going to eat in the morning or at night, in my experience it's better to eat in the morning. There is a lot of evidence that people &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose-weight-eat-breakfast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;who eat breakfast&lt;/a&gt; are healthier and have a better metabolism. Of course, if you're trying to pack on the calories that may be the opposite of what you're trying to do. I can't really speak to that unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-10-12T19:44:09.173" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T19:44:09.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4219" CreationDate="2011-10-12T15:49:28.767" Score="7" ViewCount="12046" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I pick up a new type of intense sport or when I train significantly more than usually during the course of a week, my body reacts with insatiable hunger. I usually consume about 2000 to 2500 calories per day, mostly protein and carbs. During those hunger periods I could easily eat 4 big meals during the day (3500 to 4000 calories) and still be hungry when I go to bed. That is definitely more than I burn, even with increased activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I handle that? Should I simply listen to my body and eat until the hunger is gone or is my body overreacting to the challenge and I should stop eating after a certain point? I do not want to lose or gain weight, my goal is to stay fit and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T19:44:36.930" Title="How to handle increased appetite after intense training days?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;hunger&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4217" CreationDate="2011-10-12T16:18:01.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Don't be a Masochist&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is responding to increased demands by trying to make itself stronger. It needs food to do so. Don't waste your opportunity by starving yourself. Eat. Eat food. Eat milk and meat and eggs and butter and potatoes. Stop worrying about calories and feed your starving body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;Mostly protein and carbs&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that you remain hungry because you're not eating enough fats. Fats are satiating; many sources of carbs are not. Cover a salad in olive oil, don't be afraid of a marbled steak, put some butter on it, and stop with the 2% milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more detailed description of your diet would be helpful. Have you tried keeping a food diary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T16:18:01.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4217" CreationDate="2011-10-12T17:16:17.773" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Intense training, particularly training that increases your strength (and consequently your muscles) not only burns a lot of calories, but your body requires more just to recover.  When I train I use a heart rate monitor, and while it isn't perfect it does give me a good indication of the number of calories I burned during the training session.  On average I burn about 1000-1200 Calories during the training session.  If I cut out the assistance exercises and conditioning I'm still burning over 600 Calories.  That's just the deficit I racked up during the training time.  Assuming my BMR is 2400 Calories/day for the easy math, my body is only burning 100 Calories at rest.  That's 500 more Calories on a &lt;em&gt;light&lt;/em&gt; training day than I normally would burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein is an essential part of recovery, as it helps your muscles rebuild and make themselves bigger/stronger.  However, it is also very thermogenic--which means it requires more energy to digest.  Don't forget that your muscles still need energy.  Energy can come from both fat and carbs.  Mix it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's say your intense training session has you burning 1500 Calories and takes you 90 minutes.  Let's also say you are burning 2400 Calories a day, partly because the math is easier, and partly because there isn't a big difference in hourly Calorie consumption with a slightly smaller number.  In an hour and a half your body will have burned 150 Calories at rest.  However, in the same amount of time you burned another 1350 Calories you otherwise wouldn't have.  That makes your total Calorie expenditure for the day 3750 Calories (the net from exercise + the BMR).  We haven't even factored in your normal activity level to adjust the BMR to what your body would need to maintain it's current weight.  Nor have we factored in what your body needs to recover from that training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, eat up on training days.  As long as you have your required amount of protein in the day, fill in the remaining Calories you need with what you like.  The body will be remarkably tolerant of Carbs and fats after intense training sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T17:16:17.773" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4214" CreationDate="2011-10-12T19:29:31.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really shouldn't be a problem eating quite a bit more than 700 calories, even with a suppressed appetite. The key is proper planning and management of your diet so you know what and when to eat and make sure the food availble is there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention your appetite is best early in the morning/late at night so it sounds like you take your medication in the morning and its effects last all day. In that case you can have a big breakfast and dinner. Even though it's somewhat better to eat more meals during the day a lot of successful diets -warrior diet, lean gains, IF- are centered around only 1 or 2 big meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your medication is split up into separate doses you can time your meals so you eat right before you take your next dose. That way you can have 3 or 4 meals a day which is completely sufficient. If your medication isn't split up you can still do 2 meals and just rely on smaller snacks/meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For food choices you want to stay with calorie dense and appetizing foods. Fats in general are very calorie dense, so foods like nuts, nut butters, heavy cream, eggs, butter, avocado, cheese, fatty meat/fish etc make it extremely easy to hit your calorie goals. An example breakfast could be eggs + meat (sausage/salmon/steak/bacon)/and or cheese, with a piece of toast/fruit and some veggies. That easily can get up to a thousand calories by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs also are a good choice because they can increase your appetite and generally are easy to eat. Things like bagels/flour tortillas pack a lot of calories. Fruit also is high in carbs and make for a great snack -such as oranges/bananas. Its best to stick to whole grains but more processed carbs like sugars/white flour will be easier to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Liquid calories can be used as a last resort if you just cannot get the calories up via solid foods. You can make a meal replacement shake by mixing milk, protein powder, fruits, and peanut butter for example. A modest shake can easily pack ~500+ calories and would be very easy to put down. If you have a sensitive stomach/lactose intolerance look into pure whey isolate/lactose free milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is to figure out how many calories you should be eating to achieve your goal -sounds like you want to lose fat, so probably around 1500 calories if you are sedentary. Then figure out how many meals you can realistically eat and split up your caloric intake over those meals. Try to make the meals as balanced and healthy as possible -natural/whole foods, no processed foods, vegetables, balanced macro split. And you will be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing to consider is that if you just started on a new medication its possible your appetite will improve soon as you develop tolerance and the side effects are lessened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T19:29:31.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4217" CreationDate="2011-10-12T19:47:32.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body is over-reacting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reaction is in the right direction in that you DO need more calories. But going on a binge because your body feels like it isn't the right answer. You should be eating more since probably 2000-2500 calories isn't sufficient for someone trying to maintain their weight and exercises vigorously. Your maintenance is probably more around 2800-3200 (depending on your height/weight/activity level). So you should be eating more in that range if you want to maintain your weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure to actually weigh out and measure your food so you actually hit 2-2500. A lot of people think they are eating a certain amount of calories but either over or underestimate by a significant margin. If you eat around 3k and still have significant hunger problems then you either do need even more calories or the food you are eating isn't very satiating. I definitely would echo eating more fat, although you really won't need more than 30% of your total calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also essential not to over-eat since a big surplus can result in an increase in bodyfat. What's most likely happening with you is a pattern of undereating for several days then having a unintentional 'refeed' day where you eat a big surplus. That holds you over for a couple more days before you get really hungry again. So just increasing your calorie intake overall will get you out of this pattern. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-12T19:47:32.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-13T16:52:01.947" Score="9" ViewCount="1760" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to acquire a V-sit and V-hang (from a neutral vertical hang; without chest or shoulder assistance). I can hold a passable L-sit for 5-10 seconds on parallettes, but not from a hang (although I can hold one better at the top of a pull-up). I may be missing some technical points when executing the L-hang given how it lags behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a fairly clear idea of progressions to develop the L-sit (such as shown in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc0-uVMGCSM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;), but what I'm less clear on is what pattern of training to apply; rounds, repetitions, days, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also welcome suggestions for exercises. My current plan was to focus on holding a tuck and then partially extend the legs as possible. With a view to Vs I wonder how I should attempt to train that range of motion, since my legs never go past the horizontal at the moment I wonder whether I will actually progress towards the V without some elastic bands or a partner to support the legs, even if I improve my Ls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sort of answer I'm looking for is of the form: &quot;X seconds every Y days of L-sit/tuck/lifts.&quot; I'd like to push this fairly hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T20:20:41.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:20:41.740" Title="What training pattern should I use to develop V-sit and V-hang?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4179" CreationDate="2011-10-13T17:31:22.140" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a very similar pain after doing an intense dumbbell circuit that heavily taxed my forearms. Towards the end of the workout I got a sharp pain while doing barbell front raises -the stress is very similar on your grip/forearm as a kettlebell swing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So most likely this is an overuse injury which causes the tendon to get inflamed. From personal experience the best cure is ice and rest. You can take OTC anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen but I never bothered myself. It takes anywhere from 3-5 days to 2 weeks or so to recover. Another thing that seems to help is massaging/doing soft-tissue work on your forearm muscles. You can just use your hand or a tennis/golf ball and go back and forth on the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent injuries like this in the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work on improving your form&lt;/strong&gt;. As @Waquo pointed out, the way you catch the KB makes a big difference. If you are just starting out it's likely your form needs work. Spend a lot of time &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVEReOq5Jgs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;watching form videos&lt;/a&gt;, reading and practicing with light weights. You really shouldn't feel stress in your joints when you do lift. If you do, you are likely doing it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm up and stretch properly&lt;/strong&gt;. Tight muscles and joints that aren't warmed up are more susceptible to injuries. Even if your whole body is warm a specific joint group might not be if you didn't specifically target it. For this reason always start your exercises with light weights and ramp up slowly. This will give you the added benefit of practicing and perfecting your form. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid doing repetitive movements&lt;/strong&gt; or taxing the same joint group over and over. This is especially true if you have any kind of injury/inflammation. Increasing your rest time, alternating antagonist movements, switching up heavy and more volume sets all will decrease the chance of injury and allow the system to recover better. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthen supporting muscles&lt;/strong&gt; so they take over some of the work. As you can see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_table#Forearm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forearm is made up out of complex muscle groups&lt;/a&gt;, which often acts synergistically to balance and support the weight. Having a muscular imbalance can lead to specific muscle systems getting over taxed. There are a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ForeArmWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forearm movements you can do to supplement your workout&lt;/a&gt;. You don't have to do all of them, just experiment and see if you find that you have any weaknesses or imbalances that need to be addressed. &lt;strong&gt;Start extremely light and don't over do it&lt;/strong&gt;, since you can potentially replicate the same problem. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, &lt;strong&gt;be patient&lt;/strong&gt;. Training is hard and stresses the body. Sometimes you can be overzealous and end up with a minor injury. Take a step back, recover and go back slowly. Always make sure to always stop lifting if you feel any sharp pain and remember training is more about overall consistency not about pushing yourself to the limit for a few workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="2034" LastEditDate="2011-10-13T17:44:55.657" LastActivityDate="2011-10-13T17:44:55.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2011-10-13T21:19:25.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They will both help you. The results vary from person to person. Some people will see a slight increase while others see huge gains. To put it in a term that anyone can understand, would be efficiency. *If you are running and say your legs produce, at maximal, 500 N of force, and every step you take while running produces 100 N of force, you are using 20% of your maximal effort. Now say through squatting you increase your maximal effort to 750 N. If you do not improve your running efficiency at all, you are now pushing with 150 N per step, which is still just 20%. That means more distance covered per step. Now you would still want to work in muscular endurance workouts, and workouts designed for managing your lactic acid threshold, but you can see the results. Deadlifts will also improve core strength. Your abs, back, lats will all see improvement and resistance to fatigue. There is even a trend going on of moving away from long, slow distance training in some groups. This is one man's story of how he trained for big events. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gotrimax.com/TriMaxBmac.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.gotrimax.com/TriMaxBmac.htm&lt;/a&gt; . Take from this what you will. I am not recommending changing your routine in any way, I am just showing you that success can be found in a variety of ways. What works for him might not work for you. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*The math on this is not realistic. Please don't judge me for this. It is slightly more complicated than what I posted, but what is up there is just a general idea of how it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2164" LastEditorUserId="2164" LastEditDate="2011-10-13T21:35:53.023" LastActivityDate="2011-10-13T21:35:53.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2184" CreationDate="2011-10-14T16:21:13.237" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fear seems to be a pretty ubiquitous experience in gymnastics. I have heard advanced gymnasts refer to it, that momentary hesitation, before performing even relatively simple routines well within their capability. The reason seems clear from an evolutionary perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As essentially forward moving upright animals it seems to be moving backwards and being upside down that illicit the strongest &quot;Are you really sure you want to do that?&quot; response. There are obviously some abstract mind tools you can employ to manage fear, most of which centre around not thinking too much: focus on the end result, just do it, etc. More practically, certain drills and practise can train the mind to better recognise certain key moments in a movement, and do so very rapidly. The more you can off-load competencies to the unconscious the more confidence you are likely to have in performing a movement, not least because it happens in that space before thinking, probably where the fear lives too. Some concrete examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Backward and forward rolls train the brain to recognise what the floor looks like at high speed, that is transferable to unfurling in somersaults or hitting rebound jumps and back flicks at the right time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foam rolls and inclined blocks allow you you to break a movement down. For example just hitting the backward lean and arch of a back flick by jumping on a roll and getting the shoulder before bum impact on an inclined block helps with the take-off angle. When you come to do the full movement your brain recognises the position and the conditioned response takes over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bridge-overs can simulate the the horizon inverting which is so disconcerting when moving backwards; bridge up with your feet near a wall, walk up the wall and kick over and kick back. Pick fixed points on the wall and opposite, see how fast you can switch from focussing on the point in front to the point behind. This should help train you to reacquire the horizon early after you flip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think building more 'safe places' in a movement with these sorts of methods can help reduce fear, but I'm not sure you'll ever convince a certain part of you that throwing yourself backwards upside down into the unknown is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-10-14T16:21:13.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2011-10-15T20:23:43.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, consider to have a good belt, i.e. wide one, too which lowers your mass point by having something bind there such as by Condor stuff. Think then again about your need of the backpack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastActivityDate="2011-10-15T20:23:43.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4238" CreationDate="2011-10-15T22:35:01.040" Score="5" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear from time to time that people consider it valuable to perform conditioning training until you cannot go on any longer. Some people I have talked to are proud that they have trained until they broke down or had to throw up. This does not sound really healthy to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does such intense training make sense or is this just useless and maybe even harmful torture for your body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2011-10-16T04:44:35.840" Title="Should you perform conditioning training until you cannot go on any longer?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4236" CreationDate="2011-10-16T04:44:35.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consistently training to failure (which is what you're talking about) is a relatively controversial training technique. Some people advocate it as a way to push through plateau periods while others (myself included) consider it overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the only really beneficial thing about training &quot;until they broke down or had to throw up&quot; is that it will tell you &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; how far you can go before your body gives up. This is valuable information to know if you're a serious endurance athlete or someone like Lance Armstrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a fan of training to failure mostly because it is a safety issue for me (that and I don't feel like it is necessary). I weight lift by myself (no spotter) and I trail run by myself (I don't want to get exhausted five miles up a valley with the sun going down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, training to failure shouldn't be confused with high-intensity interval training which has some well documented advantages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastActivityDate="2011-10-16T04:44:35.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4245" CreationDate="2011-10-16T11:20:32.140" Score="6" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some exercises in my training routine that I cannot perform without my whole upper body trembling like crazy. Pushing dumbbells to train breast or shoulder muscles is one example. I use dumbbells that I can push 3x12 times. I can perform the motions slow and exact - I am sure the weight of the dumbbells I use fits the exercise well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless my whole upper body trembles during this exercise right from the start until the end. People spotting me for the first time think that I am already at my limit and that I am about to fail, when in reality I am perfectly comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can cause that trembling and what can I do about it? Should I ignore it or might there be a problem with the exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T01:25:12.080" Title="How can I reduce trembling during training?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4243" CreationDate="2011-10-16T15:29:32.683" Score="8" ViewCount="16979" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running for the past month and a half and watching what I eat for the past three weeks. I started out at 77,1kg and have been stuck around 75,5kg for the past week or longer. &#xA;I've completely cut candies and anything junk food related from my diet (so no chocolates, sugar in coffee or chips for me). Usually I have an oatmeal cooked in a cup of milk with a banana for breakfast, then i.e. chicken curry with lowfat yogurt for lunch and fruit or eggs for dinner. During the day I also eat fruit, I'll usually have a banana if I'm in for a run, and loads of tangerines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go for a run (well, it should probably be called a jog) three times a week, lasting about half an hour, about 4km in length.  I should probably note that this was a part of the Couch25k plan, so I haven't started out with these times or lengths. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, I feel stuck at my weight for some time now. It could be that I'm not drinking enough water, especially at weekends. Is there anything I could try and change? Add some other form of workout? Run more? Eat something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1960" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T21:06:20.483" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T21:06:20.483" Title="Running, eating less but not losing weight?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4241" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-16T15:49:59.070" Score="11" ViewCount="55288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see all types of claims for every supplement and vitamin under the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the basic vitamins that one should take when actively working out (cardio and weights) to help stay healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;multivitamin?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin C ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other ??&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2013-03-29T18:38:41.643" Title="What are the best vitamins to take when working out" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-04-01T11:01:53.513" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4240" CreationDate="2011-10-16T17:05:21.053" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give it time and don't concentrate on weight - you could be gaining muscle mass or your body could still be adjusting to the new routine - 2-3 months of a consistent change could be required before you start to see some benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-10-16T17:05:21.053" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4240" CreationDate="2011-10-16T19:09:02.943" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running (exercise) and eating less (reducing caloric intake) won't necessarily cause weight loss. There is a high probability you will lose fat but without controlling the different variables (calorie in, calorie out, etc) you can't guarantee the desired outcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to preface, you've lost 1.6kgs in ~3 weeks which translates to 0.53kg per week. It's not a fast weight loss but so far your weekly average is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest factor in fatloss is calorie intake, not exercise. So the first thing is to figure out how many calories you burn everyday. Lets assume on average its 2500 calories -&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot;&gt;you can do the actually math yourself here.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in order to lose 0.7kgs per week you have to burn:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5400 calories per week &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;771 calories per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we reduce 771 calories from your 2500 maintenance and end up with 1728 calories, which would be how much you would eat in order to achieve your target fat loss. This number isn't specific to you but shows how to go about determining your goal calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also increase your caloric burn by exercising more or being more active during the day. A great way to supplement the couch25k is by doing daily walks or picking up a gym routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important you eat a balanced diet of proteins/carbs/fat/veggies. Right now it seems the majority of your diet is carbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water intake can effect water retention levels so hydrating more can help you retain less water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theswole.com/concept/water-scale-weight-fluctuations/&quot;&gt;Here's an article I wrote about how the scale (or weight) is a poor indicator of progress&lt;/a&gt;. So don't worry too much about the scale, keep learning about exercise and nutrition, stick to following sensible diet/exercise plans, and the results are guaranteed to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-16T19:09:02.943" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4241" CreationDate="2011-10-16T19:22:07.050" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you eat a balanced diet rich with fruits and vegetables you probably don't even need a multivitamin or other supplements. Recently there even has been controversy on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/8201683-423/vitamin-safety-worries-not-as-harmless-as-we-thought.html&quot;&gt;the safety of multivitamins in general.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally take a multi-vitamin, 2-3 mgs of fish oil a day, and 3000-5000iu vitamin D. I occasionally supplement with an electrolytes drink that contains vitamin C such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emergenc.com/index.php/products/original/super-orange&quot;&gt;Emergen-C.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, it will really vary from person to person. I don't get a lot of sun exposure which is why I take such a high dose of vitamin D, on the other hand, someone who works all day in the sun probably wouldn't even need to supplement it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end, supplements will never replace real food. A lot of them don't really do anything, some have a minor effect, but at the end what matters a lot more is your actual lifestyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-16T19:22:07.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4239" CreationDate="2011-10-16T23:08:22.880" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be willing to bet that the synergistic muscles for these movements are having a difficult time &quot;keeping up&quot; with the target muscles, especially since you say you can complete the movement with good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the huge benefits of using free weights is that they engage a whole bunch of muscles other than just the target muscle or the target muscle group. If you think about when you are using a machine, the machine does all the stabilizing and balancing of the weight throughout the movement for you. When you are using free weights such as dumbbells your body needs to do this. Just the act of holding the weights in the air requires the coordination of muscle groups working together to keep them there (to prevent them from rocking forward or backwards, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's look at a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBShoulderPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shoulder press&lt;/a&gt; for an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Target&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deltoid, Anterior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synergists&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deltoid, Lateral&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supraspinatus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps Brachii&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trapezius, Middle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trapezius, Lower&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Serratus Anterior, Inferior Digitations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectoralis Major, Clavicular&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dynamic Stabilizers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps, Long Head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps Brachii&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stabilizers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trapezius, Upper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Levator Scapulae&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are new to training its likely that these &quot;accessory muscles&quot; have yet to catch up in terms of strength with the target muscles for these movements. Additionally there is a certain neurological component (I think this technically called &quot;neuromuscular coordination&quot;, but I've always just referred to it as &quot;muscle memory&quot;) of training your body to do a new movement&amp;mdash;that is you need to teach your body how to actually perform the movement, a large part of which has to do with the act of engaging and coordinating synergistic muscles groups and balancing the weight through the whole movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are exercising in a safe manner and performing the movements with good form and appropriate weight I think this is completely normal, especially when just starting training or trying to learn a new exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See Yevgenity's answer here for related &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/968/weight-vs-resistance/972#972&quot;&gt;information&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T01:25:12.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4463" CreationDate="2011-10-17T04:47:36.200" Score="1" ViewCount="1655" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is outdoor exercise in good conditions (ie. not raining, not super hot, no snow) better for you than exercising indoors? Many people exercise outside for fresh air, but does it only feel good or is it also good for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="271" LastEditorUserId="271" LastEditDate="2011-10-17T21:11:22.667" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T07:49:43.307" Title="Is outdoor exercise in good conditions better than indoor exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-17T09:02:09.720" Score="3" ViewCount="2493" Body="&lt;p&gt;The guards are either too high or too low. When I put them too low the bar still touches my neck if I was to bail out of a lift. When they are 1 hole up the bar doesn't touch my chest (even when I arch my back a bit and inhale, I just started lifting again). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2171" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-17T13:50:27.770" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T18:37:51.543" Title="Power rack safety bars are either too high or too low" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4247" CreationDate="2011-10-17T10:10:05.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the too-low position is right - just touching your neck. I'm assuming that in that spot you can still slide out if you needed to. (In other words, that just touching is not the same as crushing.) With so many different body sizes you're not going to find a 'perfect' fit - as long as the bar doesn't 'crush' your neck you're fine. (And keep the bar over your chest - not neck - when lifting.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-17T13:51:09.923" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T13:51:09.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4240" CreationDate="2011-10-17T10:57:16.290" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pffft, calculating calorie intake? I really don't think that's the way to go for a successful fat loss journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not just calories in calories out that matters. It's the quality of the calories and where they come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My advice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About your food:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike is right. Your daily intake of carbs is too high. You have to cut back on them by eating more veggies, proteins, and healthy fats. This means eating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lot of veggies (but no legumes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lot of fatty fish and lean meat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Healthy oils like virgin coconut oil and olive oil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you cut back on the unhealthy highly processed vegetable omega 6 oils like corn oil, rapeseed oil, canola, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't start counting calories because that doesn't work, and it won't take long before you get bored of it. Just eat as much as you want when you want, but eat the right things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want good advice and guidance on how to change your diet, read Mark Sisson's &lt;em&gt;Primal Blueprint&lt;/em&gt; and check out these wonderful Paleo sites with info and recipes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/2011/08/11/big-fat-blog-post-2/&quot;&gt;http://robbwolf.com/2011/08/11/big-fat-blog-post-2/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nuttykitchen.com/category/paleo/&quot;&gt;http://nuttykitchen.com/category/paleo/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fastpaleo.com/&quot;&gt;http://fastpaleo.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About your exercise:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. Cardio&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running half an hour at the same intensity, in your case kind of slow (4km/30min), is not the way to go. This chronic cardio will not get you lean quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to train more in intervals. This means that instead of running at the same speed for a long time, you frequently switch your running intensity. Start at a lower heart rate (60%) for like 5 minutes. After that, sprint for 20 seconds at your maximum speed. Then go back to the 60% hart rate and do the whole thing again for 15-20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They call this method Tabata training after the Japanese scientist who invented it. It's much more efficient than working out 30 minutes at continously low intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can compare it with riding a car on the motorway for 30 minutes at a constant speed of 120km/h. Now take that same car and put it in the centre of a big city for half an hour where it has to stop and go continuously. The 'city car' will use up a lot more fuel than the car on the motorway. It's actually pretty logical. Don't overdo your body with exercise. 3 times a week should be enough. Other ways your cortisol levels will rise, and getting lean will be more difficult in that kind of hormonal state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TIP:&lt;/strong&gt; Try doing your cardio workout on following moments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;before breakfast (when your insulin levels are low)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After dinner (when your insulin levels are higher so you go to sleep with lowered insulin levels)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here on this site you will find info about Tabata training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.squidoo.com/tabatatraining&quot;&gt;http://www.squidoo.com/tabatatraining&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. Strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not only be doing cardio when you want to get leaner. Try a little strength training every few days. Concentrate at the bigger muscle groups by doing high intensity exercises like squat, pull ups, deadlifts, benchpress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try using functional gear like the Vipr and the Kettlebell to train your body and stay away from machinery as much as you can. Focus on movement effeciency rather than on muscles. That means a lot of multi-compound exercise, and getting load and movement in the same exercise.&#xA;Again Vipr is an ideal insturment for doing this but there are other possibilities as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have much experience with strength training than check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html&quot;&gt;CrossFit&lt;/a&gt;, and please make sure that you seek some guidance before you get started. I would not want you to hurt yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this and you WILL lose weight rapidly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-10-18T14:09:49.197" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T14:09:49.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4252" CreationDate="2011-10-17T15:39:36.270" Score="4" ViewCount="9098" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was weight gaining/lifting about 5 years ago on a diet consisting of a lot of chicken, beef and tuna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I stopped, and have since then stopped eating factory farmed meats, and now have a diet similar to a Pescetarian (Vegetarian + Fish)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to get back into weight gaining/lifting with my new diet, but could do with some tips/links on a good diet routine to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently taking whey protein shakes (2 table scoops in one shake) per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm not finding my mass increasing, and I'm struggling to find a advice on a decent balanced diet for my requirements. I'm looking to intake 3500 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any good tips/links on what I should be eating to achieve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2020" LastEditorUserId="2020" LastEditDate="2011-10-17T16:07:43.510" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T17:01:40.223" Title="Weight gain diet for a Pescetarian?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4251" CreationDate="2011-10-17T15:59:53.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The Short Answer&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vast quantities of fish, vast quantities of veggies. Vast quantities of milk if your pescetarianism allows dairy. Vast quantities of eggs if your pescetarianism allows eggs. Plenty of olive oil on the salads (and the eggs, and the veggies). Be careful of too much mercury in the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The Longer Answer&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Non-Factory Beef&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If avoiding factory-farmed meat is your primary reason for eating veggies and fish, I suggest grass-fed, free-range beef. For one, grass-fed cows are practically a different animal from corn-fed cows, and the grass-fed nutritional profile of their meat and milk is much better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very partial to meat shares for getting humane, non-factory meat. I get a quarter of a cow (enough to half-fill its own freezer), including ground beef and a wide variety of cuts (sirloin and kidneys and flank steaks and roasts...), all for a reasonable per-pound price. Split it with a friend or two if the up-front cost is too great, or if you don't have the freezer space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Non-Factory Milk&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can find it, milk from non-factory/grass-fed cows is an awesome part of a mass-building diet. Milk is nutritionally dense and complete, and so adding a half-gallon to your three big meals is a simple way to add healthful calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Maybe It's Not The Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your issue might be diet, but it might also be that the exercises you do aren't ideal for adding mass. Compound exercises are usually better for adding mass than bodybuilding in many circumstances (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3962/are-these-workout-routines-right-for-body-building/3963&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;). Your question is specific to pescetarianism, but you would find good general advice &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1631/how-can-i-gain-a-lot-of-weight-in-one-month&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Don't forget to read up on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3967/weight-gained-using-gomad-strategy&quot;&gt;conflicting opinions of GOMAD&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, you're drinking your protein shake right after working out, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4058/should-i-consume-protein-shakes-after-team-sport-cardio/4066&quot;&gt;right&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T17:01:40.223" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-17T18:07:43.270" Score="11" ViewCount="11431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running for about 10 months now, started in January, when it was about -15 °C outside. Over the time, I managed to lose about 15kg and improved my running a lot, but I always come across the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes tend to run too hard. For example, there are a lot of uphills on my track, some of them are really steep. Sometimes I try to run up as fast as I can until I get completely exhausted. But I'm not just exhausted, I can feel my heart pumping so hard, I can feel it on my chest, in my ears, just everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a heart rate monitor, but I've been practicing with measuring it on the neck, and I can on average say if it's 1.5, 2 or 3 beats per second, which gives me a rough idea of my BPM. The problem is, that when I stop, I sometimes feel like it's 3 beats per second, or even more, which seems dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there any limit where I should stop pushing myself to prevent some serious injury?&lt;/strong&gt; I've never been diagnosed with any heart problem, or anything else (I'm 22).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that many people recommend running at a pace when I can somewhat sustain a conversation. But I also read, that it's good to practice sprinting once in a while. So I'm trying to mix the usual 5K and 10K with some faster paced &lt;em&gt;uphill sprinting&lt;/em&gt; (I know it's not really sprinting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel any heart pain when I stop, at least not like I'm gonna pass out, only a little bit. But I can feel the blood pumping really hard and can barely catch a breath. I usually try to run past the point where I want to stop, and just put on the music a little louder and run until the point where I have to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When I add current weather conditions (it's about 5 °C out right now), is training like this good idea to improve my overall endurance, or should I stop immediately to prevent some serious injury?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T04:02:45.243" Title="Can I hurt myself or my heart by running too hard or in bad weather conditions?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4257" CreationDate="2011-10-17T18:24:57.857" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body will make you stop long before you do serious permanent damage.  As long as you're sure that your muscles are sufficiently warmed up before doing these hard sessions, you won't hurt yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you an idea, I do train with a heart-rate monitor.  My resting rate is 45, I can sustain up to 178 for around an hour, and push to about 188 for a few minutes.  I'm 35, the younger you are the higher your max rate would be, so at a rate of 3 beats per second, or 180 per minute, you would be well below your max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the weather, the coldest I train at is around 0°C, and haven't seen any major differences on the heart rates at different levels, it just takes longer to warm up the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read up about interval training, you'll see that it is exactly what you are supposed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastEditorUserId="1378" LastEditDate="2011-10-17T18:36:10.740" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T18:36:10.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2011-10-17T20:30:43.997" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is another 'strange' person for you. I have been slender all of my life and I still am. However, I have never really been able to touch my toes, and one gym teacher in middle school gave me an &quot;F&quot; in gym one semester because I couldn't - even after lots of stretching exercises, the best I could do was BARELY touch the floor with my middle fingers. However, I do think this is sometimes hereditary; my parents both lived to be up in their 90's, but different body builds. My dad never could touch his toes and he was in basketball in his high school years. My mother was much more limber, and even in her early 90's could easily do it, and could always put the complete palms of her hands on the floor! She could never understand why we couldn't, and we could never understand how she could. So don't worry about if you can't; it has nothing to do with health or longevity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T20:30:43.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4246" CreationDate="2011-10-18T04:22:40.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's certainly more interesting running outside. Treadmill running (or wind training cycling) is very boring and takes a lot of mental toughness to complete. Running outside with friends is far more interesting. Certainly, I find that running on trails is something that makes me happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a very personal answer which doesn't answer your specific questions. If you enjoy your exercise then you're more likely to do more of it; that's your benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T04:22:40.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4268" CreationDate="2011-10-18T08:05:36.957" Score="5" ViewCount="2509" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been practicing martial art for a number of years, usually about 3 times a week. Recently I've come to conclusion that my fitness level (which is rather low) impedes my progress and MA training I am doing is not enough to increase my fitness, so I joined a Crossfit gym. So far I like it, but my question is how to combine Crossfit with my martial art training for best results. I have about 4 to 5 days a week that I could exercise (depending on work, family circumstances, etc.), about 1-1.5hr a day, and I would like to do at least 2 days of each MA and CF if possible. What would be the best regimen? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MA training is 1 hour (sometimes 1.5 hr) usually involves some cardio exercise which depends on the practice, partners, etc. could be from pretty easy to quite challenging, but does not require too much strength usually. The CF workouts are usually within 1 hour too and depend on WOD. &#xA;So far I feel I am making some progress fitness-wise, but I am concerned that doing fitness training only 2 times a week may be too little to make good progress. Is it true and if yes, what would you advise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's relevant, I'm 37 y.o. male, not very fit but healthy, somewhat overweight (BMI=27).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: the aspects I want to improve is primarily endurance and secondarily strength, i.e. I want to be able to do more pushups, more pullups, etc. I don't want to be a powerlifter or competing athlete, just to improve the fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="277" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-18T17:45:54.260" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T17:45:54.260" Title="How should I integrate CrossFit with Martial Arts training for endurance and strength gains?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4257" CreationDate="2011-10-18T14:45:22.537" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have run and bicycled at -30C on occasion, and more often in -10C to -20C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is cold, but not an issue.  A beard helps protect your face.  Proper clothes for the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sweat is very useful on your face as it freezes (my beard looks white from all the ice) as there is a high energy cost to get water to move from 0C to -4C, so the heat input from your face is enough to prevent that transition.  Thus when it is -30C out, and the ice on your face is -4C that is 'warm' and you won't get frostbite from -4C, but will from -30C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Layer your clothes, make sure the other layer is windproof and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People are concerned about freezing their lungs, but not in any weather we get on earth.  Maybe at -80C where liquid nitrogen starts to fall out of the air, but not even at -40C and having personally experienced -35C as the coldest your lungs should be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a friend in the Northwest Territories of Canada who rides and runs all winter long in -30C to -45C weather.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T14:45:22.537" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4323" CreationDate="2011-10-16T19:28:51.063" Score="7" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are a family of skiers and snowboarders. In discussing which sport to teach our children first we keeping coming up with merits for both. Our intention is to eventually teach both sports and let the kids decide which they like best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an advantage to teaching one or the other first?  Would an experienced skier have an easier time learning snowboarding, or vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this possibly vary by age, particularly for young children (starting as young as is practical)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2179" OwnerDisplayName="ahsteele" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T11:55:00.907" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T11:55:00.907" Title="Is there a logical progression between snowboarding and skiing for those who want to learn both?" Tags="&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4265" CreationDate="2011-10-17T04:33:03.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around here kids had to be 8 before snowboarding. I have no specific arguments as to why but from experience, learning to snowboard hurts a bit more. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We put our 6 year old in skis and did snowboarding at 8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="DA01" LastActivityDate="2011-10-17T04:33:03.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4267" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-18T17:45:05.583" Score="2" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I happened to run on a uneven terrain (about a half a mile), from then on I am experiencing some pain in the back of my left knee when &lt;strong&gt;raised to my chest folded&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone please suggest some stretching exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1172" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-18T17:53:25.657" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T21:32:24.117" Title="Pain at the back of the left Knee" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4262" CreationDate="2011-10-18T17:45:10.673" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're going to experience novice gains almost no matter what you do, so expect that the first six weeks or so will be great. If the CrossFit gym is properly run, you'll get stronger and better at not getting tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CrossFit varies greatly from gym to gym (&quot;box&quot; to &quot;box&quot;), but the basic formula is generally constant: basic gymnastics, power- and Olympic lifting, and metabolic conditioning (in the form of running, pull-ups, kettlebells, and all manner of other exercises). All of these involve a degree of strength and &quot;endurance&quot; work, so you'll probably see the improvements you're looking for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably do fine just splitting up the workouts: CrossFit/martial arts/CrossFit/martial arts. It won't much matter if you mess up the rhythm until you've been at it several months and your progress starts to level off. At that point, you'll probably want to develop or find some structured strength programming. (Most CrossFit gyms can help you with that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T17:45:10.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4269" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-18T18:03:28.997" Score="6" ViewCount="6852" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have trouble maintaining proper form while performing below-parallel squats: I can't bring my knees forward enough without lifting my heels from the ground. My trainer claims that this is caused by my Achilles tendons being too short because I run a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I was under the impression that tendon length doesn't adapt to the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could short Achilles tendons be the problem here?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to fix it as quickly as possible (without surgery)? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T07:03:08.320" Title="Do short Achilles tendons disturb my squatting?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4269" CreationDate="2011-10-18T18:25:05.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the underlying physiology of the issue, but I had the same problem: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Inflexibilities.html#anchor13355148&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ankle dorsiflexion inflexibility&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What worked for me was more squatting: heavy barbell squats 3 times a week, frequent squatting (heels as close to the ground as possible) throughout the day for common tasks, and working on improving the amount of time I could spend in my &quot;third world squat&quot;. The issue was resolved in a month or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get surgery out of your head until you've been working on the issue every day for a year. That's crazy talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T18:25:05.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4247" CreationDate="2011-10-18T18:28:26.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCOo3RtKu1E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a video illustrating benching in the power cage&lt;/a&gt;. He has a pretty high arch but that's the only alternative if the lower safety is indeed too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to do the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTQNABC8tYU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pin press&lt;/a&gt;. It's not a full range movement or a substitute for regular bench press, but it is a nice supplemental exercise which you can rotate with regular bench. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, dumbbell bench press is comparable to barbell and is a lot safer when training by yourself. Also as @MaedeRubenstein mentioned, make sure to keep the bar/dumbbells over your chest. Even when you start failing, just let it come down to your chest. Attempting to throw it back into the hooks might cause you to miss and end up with the bar crushing your neck. If it lands on your chest one technique is just to roll it down to your thighs, and just sit up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T18:28:26.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4247" CreationDate="2011-10-18T18:37:51.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try putting a towel or other padding underneath you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T18:37:51.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4267" CreationDate="2011-10-18T21:32:24.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should go to a doctor for a good diagnose. Internet is not realy the way to go here...&#xA;But when I read your symptoms I would guess it could be a little fracture in the back of your knee jointcapsle. This injury happens quickly when you run on rough terrain.&#xA;If that is the case then you should be resting because stretching will not help.... SEE A DOCTOR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-10-18T21:32:24.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4269" CreationDate="2011-10-19T02:45:06.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm by all means no expert in squatting, however I've read a tone of stuff out there and in regards to your question, most experts reckon No, the Achilles tendons, isn't a limiting factor in squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This great website showing how the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.athleticdesign.se/athletics/squat_article_1_english.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deep squat works&lt;/a&gt;, tells why&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Limited mobility of the ankle (sometimes blamed on “short Achilles tendons”) is often pointed out as a limiting factor, but that is actually very rare. In fact most people can learn to reach a deep position with almost vertically aligned lower legs (tibias) and therefore hardly need to mobilize the ankle at all. The difficulty is rather due to inexperience and an incorrect technique that can be quickly corrected. To better understand how the squat movement is restricted in purely geometrical terms, the interactive application below is very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2011-10-19T02:45:06.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4241" CreationDate="2011-10-19T05:41:01.830" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take vitamin b-complex to help me out during weightlifting and running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I started taking this, whenever I go to the gym in a lazy mode, I really lack the energy to complete my sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After starting taking this vitamin b-complex, even when I in a lazy mode, when I start lifting, there is a surge of energy where I pull from, its even hard to deplete all of the energy as it would require me to work hard for me to feel tired. I really observed the big difference. In my opinion, this is better than taking coffee, as drinking it in the evening (I work out at 7pm) wouldn't let me sleep and sometimes gives me palpitations. I also take this when I am REALLY stressed out at work and it relieves me. Lastly, from what I understand since this is water-soluble, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/nutrition/dietary_vitwater.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it is not as harmful&lt;/a&gt; compared to fat-based vitamins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/vitamin-b.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; gives you some idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2011-10-19T05:41:01.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4269" CreationDate="2011-10-19T12:56:02.853" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few things that can affect the ability to do squats correctly, and it is a surprisingly hard lift to do.  Take heart, all the issues are correctable.  They range from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flexibility issues--hip, hamstrings, glutes, and calf muscles can all limit range of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skeletal structure issues--if your stance is too wide you will be fighting your skeleton to get deep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body position and technique issues--using guides can help you fix these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be hesitant to believe that your Achilles tendons are to blame.  The only kid I know to truly have that problem was constantly on his tip-toes before his surgery.  Even now he has a hard time changing how he walks and runs because he's been like that so long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, flexibility can be an issue.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/301-squat-rehab-help-with-program-choices/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article explains roughly what I did&lt;/a&gt; to perform some squat rehab myself.  In preparation to fix your squats, I recommend getting a couple pieces of training equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get yourself a TUBOW (Terribly Useful Block Of Wood)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a platform or a box that can support your weight that is at the depth you want to get to.  NOTE: proper depth really has to be measured while under tension.  I found out that below parallel when I'm relaxed isn't the same when my legs are tense.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a little hand held video recorder to see your form for yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can work on your stretching right away, but when you go to your squats you'll have to do some set up work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a depth you feel like you can get to to on the box using the empty bar as you sit back on to it.  You may have to stack some weights on it to get a little higher than parallel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit on the box and set up the TUBOW so that it is touching your foot and your knee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For each warmup set and your current work set align your foot to the TUBOW, and squat down to the platform.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll be repeating this exercise, removing a layer of weights until you can get to the proper depth.  During this time, resist the temptation to add weights.  Every inch of depth adds a lot more work that you have to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, on the note of structural issues, if you feel pain in your hips and it doesn't feel like a stretch, you might have too wide of a stance for your body.  I found that I need to keep my feet no more than shoulder width apart, and &lt;strong&gt;push my knees out&lt;/strong&gt; as I go in and out of the hole to do the squat properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was able to fix my issues in about four sessions, but that was because I already put in a lot of work with stretching.  You can see my progress here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHl2mroZZyc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;First attempt&lt;/a&gt;: still not deep enough, but better than I was doing with another 60lb on the bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cemh8y4pWwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Second attempt&lt;/a&gt;: got really close, but that extra weight on the platform was just above parallel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Third attempt: no video, this is where I discovered my skeletal structure issues and the pain from this attempt caused me to stall.  I was so disgusted I burned the video and didn't even want to get feedback on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tOAKCVBTEM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fourth attempt&lt;/a&gt;: finally hit below parallel, and felt really good doing it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While some people do better with the raised heel of a proper weightlifting shoe, you don't necessarily need it to fix your problems.  Now if your range of motion is limited by inflexibilities, it can take between 4-6 weeks to build the range of motion you need.  It is possible, but be smart about how you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2011-10-19T14:36:31.003" LastActivityDate="2011-10-19T14:36:31.003" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3714" CreationDate="2011-10-20T04:29:38.757" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade is the best bodyweight progression out there for starting from a normal, or even deconditioned, level and reaching a high level of conditioning. It's a lot like Starting Strength - a limited number of exercises are described, but they are described very well and are the ones you need to do. The progressions are really where this book shines; progressive resistance in bodyweight training is very different than progressive resistance in weights training and you need to understand how it is different in order to effectively employ it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two things to keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &quot;prison&quot; backstory is laid on pretty thick, and it may be completely fabricated. This doesn't affect the core content at all, just something to keep in mind. I can't read this book without rolling my eyes a lot, but there is GREAT info in there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The book is very anti-weight training. This is common among Dragon Door (the publisher's) titles and is just part of their &quot;differentiation strategy&quot;; pay it no mind. The program can be combined with weight training just fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you need to consider stretching. I'd make a new question for stretching since it's a separate but related area, and the books to seek out are completely different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More advanced than what you are probably looking for right now, but here's another one that hasn't been mentioned yet: &quot;Building The Gymnastic Body&quot; by Charles Somner. One of the best guides to advanced gymnastic training (which is almost all bodyweight based) out there. It is a more advanced book - you need to be able to do moves such as planche pushups before it will be of much use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2184" LastActivityDate="2011-10-20T04:29:38.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3714" CreationDate="2011-10-20T05:26:20.620" Score="7" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Bodyweight movement variations&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/htkqC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bodyweight movement variations&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/zw13Y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Click for link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-10-20T05:26:20.620" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-20T11:41:39.420" Score="5" ViewCount="2854" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not obese, nor overweight but I still have fat accumulated around the waistline(giving me those ugly love handles). Other than that, I don't have much fat on me. I have tried long cardio sessions(cutting out on weights) just to notice that I get uniformly &quot;thinner&quot; and the waist is still protruding. Then, OTOH, stressing on weights to get &quot;big&quot; actually neglects the abdominal region.&#xA;Is there a way to get &quot;big&quot; (with muscle, of course) and simultaneously get rid of that fat? I mean the kind of diet I'd be on during muscle building - does it necessarily have to inhibit fat loss at the waist? I read a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3291/how-to-lose-fat-and-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time&quot;&gt;similar question&lt;/a&gt; but that is not exactly what I'm talking about, besides being overly technical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2185" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T22:58:08.380" Title="How to grow muscle while burning fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4293" CreationDate="2011-10-20T13:20:31.453" Score="3" ViewCount="1510" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've injured my knee a bit and it has taken me off my bike for a little while.  Someone suggested using a hand cycle at the gym to keep up cardio and calorie burning.  How good is a hand cycle for that?  Is there something that is better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2186" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T03:25:05.830" Title="How Good is a Hand Cycle" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4289" CreationDate="2011-10-19T12:11:25.723" Score="6" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I banged up my knee in an accident and I won't be able to bicycle for a few months.  I'd like to keep up my cardio and calorie burning as much as possible during my time off.  What kinds of things can I do at the gym or home to try to replicate what biking gives me?  I will of course need things to do that don't involve my knee too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can swim, but don't have access to a pool now. I can use my knee a bit. I have even gone biking. But, even a small ride (about twenty miles) will result in knee pain and weakness for days, up to a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3325" OwnerDisplayName="Joe Johnson 126" LastActivityDate="2011-10-20T16:50:59.787" Title="What are good non-bicycling exercises with a knee injury?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4285" CreationDate="2011-10-19T16:22:12.300" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming won't give you a 1:1 to biking (obviously) but it works out your whole body implicitly and is a great overall cardio workout and a &lt;strong&gt;great&lt;/strong&gt; place to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise I would take a look at spinning, low resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Chad Moran" LastActivityDate="2011-10-19T16:22:12.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-20T16:00:36.500" Score="3" ViewCount="5273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed after giving up using weights a few months ago that juggling has become harder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can still do it but my arms get tired after 10 - 15 minuets. This reminds me a lot of weight training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was wondering if I could compare juggling to working out? Which muscles would it train, What could I equate reps and sets to and what would be good durations and rest days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bit of a strange question but I find keeping healthy very boring an keep giving up after a few months of what ever I try but I like juggling so this may be able to keep my interest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1089" LastActivityDate="2011-11-26T07:07:47.960" Title="Health value of juggling" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4285" CreationDate="2011-10-20T16:50:59.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Since I know nothing about the knee injury, I am considering your lower body out of the picture for working out.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take this as an opportunity to work the hell out of your upper body. Do pull-ups, chin-ups, push-ups, Hindu push-ups, bench presses, overhead presses, handstands, handstand push-ups, dips. Buy or make a sandbag and practice throwing and heaving it around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you specifically want &quot;cardio&quot;, try making a circuit routine out of a few of these (for instance, alternating between a pushing and pulling exercises) and do a set number of rounds or a set amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-20T16:50:59.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4343" CreationDate="2011-10-20T19:12:38.683" Score="2" ViewCount="585" Body="&lt;p&gt;Introduction: I run a 1.8 mile loop around my neighborhood every morning before class or work.  A few years ago, I got sciatica and missed the entire school soccer season.  The pain was on my right side lower back, and shot down my left leg.  Occasionally the pain would reach the base of my skull.  Physical therapy sessions and stretches relieved my pain.  Ever since then I feel that I am running improperly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem:  First of my problems is, while running, my right leg gets tired before my left.  The calf and quad muscles don't ache, but that feeling of getting a good workout.  While my left leg I feel no sensation of being tired at all.  I feel like one side of my body is being worked out better than the other.  Could this be cause my bad posture while running? (i.e Leaning to one side, slouching, or having my torso twisted in one direction)  Or, would having one leg longer than the other cause this?  Because I get the feeling my legs are two different lengths during specific activities.&#xA;Secondly, when my right leg hits the ground, it hits hard.  It's not as smooth and as low impact as the left leg.  I have tried running on my toes, but it's the same.  And my calf on my right leg still feels the workout first.  I have tried slowing down and running heal-to-toe.  Same issue.  Could this be caused by any of the issues listed above?&#xA;Also, in the car, I can not get comfortable.  When I look down, my nose does not light up with my bellybutton.  It is always lined up just to the left of it.  During long car rides, slowly pain starts to creep from my right buttock to my right lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:  Can anyone at least identify with this?  What kind of running shoe insoles should I get to correct these issues?  Or do I have to have a doctor check me out for skeletal problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2187" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-21T19:59:28.607" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T02:58:11.933" Title="How can I diagnose my running and postural issues?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-20T19:14:03.670" Score="5" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.divinecaroline.com/22178/46361-coffee-makes-dehydrated-say-what&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; on DivineCaronline.com (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even more encouraging for habitual coffee consumers is the finding&#xA;  that those with caffeine tolerance have &lt;strong&gt;reduced likelihood that a&#xA;  fluid electrolyte imbalance will occur&lt;/strong&gt;. The more regular your caffeine&#xA;  habit, the more fluid your body is conditioned to retain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is - &lt;strong&gt;is fluid retention in this context (conditioned as a result of caffeine consumption) a good thing?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="381" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T00:15:13.590" Title="Is water retention a good thing?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4284" CreationDate="2011-10-20T20:03:24.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to AskTheTrainer.com, on their review of cardio machines, they say... &quot;Hand ergometers can actually get your heart rate up faster than leg cardio machines because your arms are closer to your heart than your legs.&quot;  They also say it's not common because it is boring.  That is the only downfall they mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askthetrainer.com/best-cardio-machines.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.askthetrainer.com/best-cardio-machines.html&lt;/a&gt; -  Almost at bottom of the page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2187" LastActivityDate="2011-10-20T20:03:24.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4292" CreationDate="2011-10-21T00:15:13.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This was a study of 18 individuals so not really large enough to draw too many conclusions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This was under moderate use of caffeine so it doesn't say anything about the ability to tolerate large amounts of fluid retention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is, worryingly, not mentioned is the risk of hyponatremia from fluid retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I'm not sure you can conclude that you would have a reduced risk of a fluid electrolyte imbalance from &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; sources; merely a reduced risk from the known diuretic impact of caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T00:15:13.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4296" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-21T00:53:50.047" Score="3" ViewCount="4354" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a very fit triathlete one month away from my first Ironman.  I'm strictly following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/be-iron-fit-don-fink/1100714850&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Don Fink's training plan&lt;/a&gt;, which includes &quot;interval training&quot; in HR zone 5, or 90%+ max HR.  (Fink actually calls it &quot;zone 4&quot; for some reason.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workouts used to involve more traditional intervals: bring your HR up to 90% for a few minutes, then rest, then repeat.  But at this point in his plan - at the peak of the &quot;peak phase&quot; - he's asking me to do &lt;em&gt;12 minutes straight&lt;/em&gt; in zone 5 on the run, and &lt;em&gt;30 minutes straight&lt;/em&gt; in zone 5 on the bike!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having a great deal of trouble with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long should I be able to stay in zone 5?  Am I simply not pushing myself hard enough, or did I just fall behind at some point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; on Fink's zone definitions, he writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Zone 4: 90-95% of maximum heart rate (primarily anaerobic training)&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Zone 3: 86-89% of maximum heart rate (middle zone)&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Zone 2: 75-85% of maximum heart rate (higher-end aerobic training)&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Zone 1: 65-74% of maximum heart rate (lower-end aerobic training)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His example puts a 35-year old at 166-175 bpm.  The vast majority of his plan is in &quot;zone 2.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastEditorUserId="2178" LastEditDate="2011-10-25T15:38:28.897" LastActivityDate="2011-10-25T15:38:28.897" Title="How long should I be able to stay in HR zone 5?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-21T02:26:53.890" Score="2" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;After training off and on (mostly on) for about a year, I recently took a break from the gym and didn't exercise at all aside from gentle walking for close to 3 weeks.  When I returned, it seems I lost a fair bit of fitness and strength.  I dropped down on bench press reps at the previous weight, pull up reps, and really dropped on running endurance and sustained speed (from 40 min at avg 8min/mi to 16 min at 8:30 and I had to stop!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty disheartening, as it feels I have taken nearly six months step backward after just three weeks.  (But I admit, I have not tracked things carefully enough to really quantify it.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;strong&gt;What (evidence based) &quot;rules&quot; can one rely on to reasonably predict fitness losses after a break of x amount of days?&lt;/strong&gt;  This should take into account things like age, sex, type and intensity of training, break duration, and whatever else is applicable.  I want to know because I want to know if this recent loss is in the normal range, as well as how I need to plan ahead in terms of future vacations in which I am away from my gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-03T21:16:19.870" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T21:16:19.870" Title="What to expect for fitness and strength losses given x amount of days of rest?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4297" CreationDate="2011-10-21T03:09:31.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805413&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/a&gt; (p. 148) the continuum of adaption persistence (from most persistent to least persistent) is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscular Endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardiovascular Endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Significant loss of VO2 max (cardiovascular endurance) can occur in a&#xA;  matter of days, whereas the significant decay of added muscle mass&#xA;  (hypertrophy) may take many weeks or months following the cessation of&#xA;  training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T03:09:31.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4284" CreationDate="2011-10-21T03:25:05.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can maintain flexibility/motion in your knee with your injury, I suggest water running and/or swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hand cycles may keep your cardio in check, but will do nothing for leg muscle memory and the like.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T03:25:05.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4283" CreationDate="2011-10-21T06:07:18.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not advised to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. I messaged professional bodybuilder Fabiola Boulanger the same question and this was her response:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Fabiola, is it possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same&#xA;  time? Why do bodybuilders have distinct bulking and cutting phases? Is&#xA;  it more efficient to do them separately? What if you’re crunched for&#xA;  time and need to do both at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answer:&lt;/strong&gt; Each of these goals have to start with an eating plan. And your&#xA;  eating plan will be completely different either you want to lose&#xA;  bodyfat or gain mass. Before starting to cut, you need to build your&#xA;  mass up or there won’t be anything left after the diet. If you want to&#xA;  do both, the results will be so so and you’ll need a vera large amount&#xA;  of supplement to achieve faster results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what Fabiola looks like. You don't need any more proof of her authoritative knowledge on fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KAQNK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is advised to have a distinct bulking phase and cutting phase. Don't try to do both at the same time. I've asked on other bodybuilding forums such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.simplyshredded.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;simplyshredded.com&lt;/a&gt; and everyone agrees on this principle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time is to walk the fine line near your caloric equilibrium. This fine line is where the calories burned from fat is equal to the calories from protein needed to supply muscle growth. Since humans don't have a calorie meter like a water pump, it's extremely difficult to maintain equilibrium. It would be much easier to eat a lot and go well above the equilibrium in a bulking phase or eat less and go well below the equilibrium in a cutting phase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T06:07:18.747" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4307" CreationDate="2011-10-21T08:19:07.627" Score="2" ViewCount="9959" Body="&lt;p&gt;With my diet, I'm trying to gain weight, and I'm using the following Calorie Counter app to track this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fatsecret.com/connected/android&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fatsecret.com/connected/android&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the app is all based on losing weight, and therefore my targets are all in reverse, and the receipes available are all to do with low calorie diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any Android apps available which are targeted for people trying to gain weight/muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2020" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:33.223" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T12:06:12.280" Title="Android Calorie Counter App for Weight Gain?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-04T17:39:46.700" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-10-21T15:34:23.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a direct answer to your question, but if you're trying to lose weight, cardio will work for the first 6-8 weeks, and after that, it may actually have the reverse effect. I've seen it time and time again with my clients (I'm a personal trainer) who've been doing cardio for a long time, but inevitably weight collects around the belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what do you do? You really should do weightlifting to lose weight. You don't have to worry about gaining weight as a result of weightlifting if you're in a caloric deficit. To gain weight, you need a caloric surplus, and since your calories are going to be low enough to lose weight, weightlifting will only have the effect of toning and speeding up the metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises like squats (which can be seen here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp4zZmVc2nQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp4zZmVc2nQ&lt;/a&gt;), lat pulldowns, pushups, overhead presses, and other will help you with your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2190" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T15:34:23.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4303" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4306" CreationDate="2011-10-21T16:35:28.380" Score="7" ViewCount="5149" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know &lt;strong&gt;carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt; are used for immediate and stored energy (glycogen) before being converted to body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also know &lt;strong&gt;protein&lt;/strong&gt; is used to repair tissue, mainly muscle for bodybuilders, before being converted to body fat. Conversion of protein into fat is 20 times less efficient than converting carbs into fat, so the body doesn't readily jump-start this conversion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is dietary &lt;strong&gt;fat&lt;/strong&gt; used for before turning into body fat? How readily does the body do this conversion compared to carbs and protein, and at what relative rate does it do it at? I ask this question because the word &quot;fat&quot; may be as misleading as &quot;cholesterol&quot;. I learned from a previous question here that dietary cholesterol doesn't necessary increase cholesterol in the bloodstream. Maybe the same principle applies to fat...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T17:31:22.577" Title="What is dietary fat used for before being converted to adipose tissue?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4305" CreationDate="2011-10-21T16:44:43.760" Score="2" ViewCount="879" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out if there's more than just tradition to the advice to eat three meals a day. Is the advice valid? Does it come from reliable sources?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1278" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T17:31:20.423" Title="Where did the idea that we should eat three times a day come from? Under what authority do most people follow this advice?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-11-19T18:51:22.477" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4304" CreationDate="2011-10-21T17:37:59.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;It's a conspiracy.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people eat how they eat because of culture: it's how they were raised, or it's how their peer group acts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are good reasons to eat three times a day, and studies, but these are either &lt;strong&gt;exploratory&lt;/strong&gt; (admitting that the ideal number, size, and composition of meals is unknown, and attempting to obtain data to lessen our collective ignorance) or &lt;strong&gt;ex post facto&lt;/strong&gt; (taking what we already do, and attempting to prove that it's swell).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are good reasons to eat three times a day, but they're not scientific studies. I'd bet that most people who eat three times a day do so for &lt;em&gt;practical or social reasons&lt;/em&gt;: that's when they get a break from work, that's when it's socially acceptable, that's when it's expected, and...it's convenient to eat a few large meals, and I get hungry if I eat fewer than three meals in a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T17:37:59.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4303" CreationDate="2011-10-21T17:51:28.213" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really not as simple as carbs are either used for energy or they turn into fat. Lyle McDonald has a great article that talks about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/nutrient-intake-nutrient-storage-and-nutrient-oxidation.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrient Storage and Oxidation.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Nutrient Storage&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates can be stored as liver or muscle glycogen, under rare&#xA;circumstances they are converted to and stored as fat.  Dietary fat is&#xA;stored either in fat cells or can be stored within muscle as&#xA;intra-muscular triglyceride (IMTG).  Under certain pathological&#xA;conditions, fat gets stored in places it’s not supposed to go, a&#xA;situation called ectopic fat storage.  In a very real sense there’s no&#xA;true store of dietary protein although amino acids from protein&#xA;digestion are used to make various proteins and hormones in the body.&#xA;Skeletal muscle is, in essence, a ‘store’ of protein in the body.&#xA;There is no store of alcohol in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Fat Oxidation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the most part, ingested dietary fat has little impact on fat&#xA;burning in the body; that is, when you eat dietary fat, your body&#xA;doesn’t increase fat oxidation.  One exception is if an absolutely&#xA;massive amount of fat (like 80 g) is consumed all at once but even&#xA;then the effect is fairly mild.  Some specific fats, notably medium&#xA;chain triglycerides, are somewhat of an exception to this; they are&#xA;oxidized in the liver directly.  Rather, the primary controller of&#xA;dietary fat oxidation in the body is how many carbohydrates you’re&#xA;eating, which I’ll explain momentarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Carb Oxidation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Since the body only has around ~500 grams of carb stores it]is&#xA;extremely good at modulating carbohydrate oxidation to carbohydrate&#xA;intake.  Eat more carbs and you burn more carbs (you also store more&#xA;glycogen); eat less carbs and you burn less carbs (and glycogen levels&#xA;drop).  This occurs for a variety of reasons including changing&#xA;insulin levels (fructose, for example, since it doesn’t raise insulin,&#xA;doesn’t increase carbohydrate oxidation) and simple substrate&#xA;availability.  And, as it turns out, fat oxidation is basically&#xA;inversely related to carbohydrate oxidation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Protein Oxidation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned above, an under-appreciated fact is that about half of&#xA;all ingested dietary protein is metabolized in the liver (details on&#xA;this can be found in The Protein Book).  Some of it is oxidized for&#xA;energy while others are converted into other things (including glucose&#xA;and ketones) for use elsewhere.  But, protein oxidation rates do&#xA;change in response to intake.  So, when protein intake goes up,&#xA;oxidation will increase; when protein intake goes down, oxidation&#xA;rates decrease.  This change isn’t immediate (as it more or less is&#xA;for carbohydrates) and takes 3-9 days to occur but mis-understanding&#xA;of this process has led to some goofy ideas such as protein cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having gotten that out of the way, we can start to understand the role of fat from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/a-primer-on-nutrition-part-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A Primer on Nutrition pt 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, a primary role of dietary fats in the body is to be used&#xA;for energy and it was assumed for many years that this was the only&#xA;real role of fat, to provide energy storage.  This was especially true&#xA;of stored body fat which was thought for decades to provide only a&#xA;passive storage depot of energy; rather it turns out that fat cells do&#xA;much more in the body, producing hormones and such that affect myriad&#xA;processes elsewhere in the body (a topic I’ve discussed at length on&#xA;the site and in my books).. Fats are also found in the cell membranes&#xA;of various tissues (and the type of fat stored there can affect&#xA;various cellular processes).  As well, fats can be used to make&#xA;eicosanoids, chemical messengers made from specific fatty acids that&#xA;affect numerous biological processes.  Specific dietary fats can also&#xA;affect gene expression in certain cells, impacting on things like fat&#xA;storage and oxidation and many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is dietary fat used for before turning into body fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat is mainly an energy source and the body's favorite one to store. It also has a host of other known and unknown functions in the body as per the quote above. Fat is also the only source of essential fatty acids, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat#Importance_for_living_organisms&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fat soluble vitamins, and other nutrients.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learned from a previous question here that dietary cholesterol&#xA;doesn't necessary increase cholesterol in the bloodstream. Maybe the&#xA;same principle applies to fat...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, the primary determinant of whether stored fat stays stored or gets used for energy is overall caloric balance.  If you eat caloric excess, you will store fat.  From carbs and proteins, this will occur once lean storage depots are full or inaccessible.  Although fats are stored very efficiently, those stores will be tapped for energy (for example during sleep) unless you remain in an overall caloric surplus for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T17:51:28.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4301" CreationDate="2011-10-21T18:39:49.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I, too, have an Andriod phone.  After searching quite extensively, I could not find any apps that are aimed for gaining muscle weight.  But...&#xA;Calories are not the biggest factor in gaining muscle mass, although, it plays a slight part.  Most lower and middle class households eat more than enough calories as it is.  In order to gain muscle weight, it is good to remember these few things...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) High weight, low reps. -  Few, Fast, controlled reps with high weight is going to tense you muscles more than high reps with low weight.  If you can do more than 20 reps, you need more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Eat often. - Have food that is high in calories and protein at least every three hours.  Protein is often overlooked. Meals, smacks, shakes, what ever.  This will increase your metabolism, and increase muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Stretching. - Stretching not only helps you recover after a workout, but further tears the muscle.  As you probably know, muscle grows when there is trauma to the fibers.  The muscle is then regrown, stronger than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Limit yourself. - It is easy to get sucked in to working out when you are bored.  But you need to give your muscles time to repair themselves.  Working out with muscles that still have trauma to them and are not fully repaired, can lead to serious injuries. Train no more than four times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Sleep. - Sleep not only makes you feel better, but it's your body's time to recover.  Many bodily functions shut down when you are sleeping.  Leaving more resources to recovering the body mentally and physically. This is when most of your muscle regrowth will happen.  So make sure you get plenty of sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2187" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T18:39:49.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4283" CreationDate="2011-10-21T19:10:29.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is completely possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, let us be clear. You aren't mainly talking about gaining muscle; Instead you are talking about looking better. Probably having a muscular and defined look. It's important to distinguish that because often the biggest obstacle in achieving the look you want is &lt;strong&gt;bodyfat, not muscle mass&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To illustrate the point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A powerlifter at &lt;strong&gt;~320lbs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T3ZZW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same powerlifter at &lt;strong&gt;~260lbs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rce5p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does he look more muscular and 'bigger'? Clearly in the latter picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example is Frank Zane who competed at around &lt;strong&gt;185lbs:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dlpDL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So its clear: in order to achieve a 'muscular' look, bodyfat is actually more important than muscle mass. I say this to shift the discussion from that muscle mass is either as important or more than bodyfat. Because with that assertion a 'bulking' diet is more superior because its the fastest way to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now back to your question.. is it possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience -and excuse the small bit of self promotion- &lt;a href=&quot;http://swolepersonaltraining.com/testimonials/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;yes&lt;/a&gt;. Is it as fast as if you tried to do one or the other? No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, &lt;strong&gt;different circumstances require different approach:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyone above 20-25% bodyfat, and is concerned with how they look, should focus first on cutting bodyfat until they hit the low teens. That means a deficit diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyone who is sigifnantly underweight should focus on bulking/gaining until hitting a good weight. That means a gaining diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyone who has a bodyfat in the mid/low teens, have low/moderate muscle mass should do a composition shift or gain muscle/lose fat diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for you, the best way to solve your problems is by addressing your diet, since nutrition is #1 when it comes to reducing bodyfat. Considering you have visible love handles you should aim to do a cutting diet where you eat at a caloric deficit until you reach the desired bodyfat level. You won't gain a lot of muscle if any during that phase, but that will get you looking the best possible in the shortest amount of time. From there you can transition to a composition shift diet where you either eat at maintenance or at a slight deficit or surplus depending if you want to focus more on the fat loss or muscle gain side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;On bodybuilders&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advanced bodybuilder's methods do not apply or translate to intermedia lifter since bodybuilders are working with an already large amount of muscle mass, not to mention the large amount of exogenous hormones and drugs that they take -it is impossible for Fabiola to look the way she does without exogenous testosterone for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also bodybuilders are focused on how they 'peak'. So a gaining and cutting cycle makes perfect sense. But the average person isn't going to sacrifice 6 months of the year looking bloated and fat in order to look good for 3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one of my latest clients demonstrating how being leaner makes you look so much bigger even if you are 40lbs lighter overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qwPNj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T20:02:35.310" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4283" CreationDate="2011-10-21T20:29:43.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure why you think that lifting weights neglects your belly fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compound lifting exercises&lt;/strong&gt; (barbell squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, dips, overhead presses) and &lt;strong&gt;eating reasonably&lt;/strong&gt; will build muscle and get you to a weight that makes sense. Whether you get bigger or smaller depends on how much excess body fat you have, and how much you eat. Whether you are a stick figure with a gut or simply overweight and fat, you will slowly lose the gut while growing stronger in the places that matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; would be a fine place to start. You haven't given much detail about your situation, so it doesn't get much more specific than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T20:29:43.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4313" CreationDate="2011-10-21T21:25:40.013" Score="8" ViewCount="1173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I increase my daily protein intake by drinking lots of milk? A friend drinks 2-3 liters a day and highly recommends it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1278" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T03:52:44.340" Title="Is drinking extra milk a viable method for increasing my daily protein intake?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4310" CreationDate="2011-10-21T21:45:27.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1631/how-can-i-gain-a-lot-of-weight-in-one-month&quot;&gt;Yes&lt;/a&gt;. It's called &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3967/weight-gained-using-gomad-strategy&quot;&gt;GOMAD&lt;/a&gt; if it's a full gallon a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milk is calorically dense, nutritionally awesome, has gobs of protein, and is simple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use whole milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-10-21T21:45:27.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4314" CreationDate="2011-10-21T23:47:49.420" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a pretty bad cold and one of my friends gave me some Herbalife FloraFibre and told me that it would help. Is it likely to make a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="271" LastActivityDate="2011-10-22T01:03:10.917" Title="Does FloraFibre help with colds?" Tags="&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-06-17T02:44:04.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4310" CreationDate="2011-10-22T00:41:44.883" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Milk &lt;strong&gt;doesn't&lt;/strong&gt; have a lot of protein. For example, whole milk &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/69/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is &lt;em&gt;49% fat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;30% carbs&lt;/em&gt; (sugar), and a measly &lt;em&gt;21% protein&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/a&gt; If you want to increase the protein intake then you want to eat protein rich foods such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lean meats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein powder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Egg whites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish/Seafood&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greek yogurt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://commonsensehealth.com/Diet-and-Nutrition/List_of_High_Protein_Foods.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here are some protein sources&lt;/a&gt;; note not all of them are high protein but they do show you the calorie/carbs/fat breakdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason a lot of people like to add milk is because it requires no cooking or preparation and it's easy to take in liquid calories. It can be part of a healthy diet but I wouldn't recommend drinking large quantities for reasons &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3967/weight-gained-using-gomad-strategy/4016#4016&quot;&gt;outlined in this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note, if you are trying to gain weight then protein isn't that relevant. Instead you should focus on increasing your calorie intake. Part of that increase WILL be protein, but keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More Protein != More Muscle&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why milk isn't a high protein food&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;em&gt;Taken from discussion below&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~12.6 cups of whole milk have &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/69/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1839 calories, 100 grams of fat, 163 grams of sugar, and 100g&lt;/a&gt; protein. On the other hand, 380 grams of Tuna has &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4208/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;440 calories, 1g fat, 0g carbs, and 100 grams of protein&lt;/a&gt;. So yes, if you want to increase your protein intake, then you should eat a high protein food. I mean any food can become 'high protein' if you eat enough of it. Fun fact, &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/baked-products/4876/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;whole wheat bread&lt;/a&gt; has the same protein % by weight, ergo whole wheat bread has gobs of protein. I know Mark Ripptoe is a cool guy and all but at one point math wins over dogma&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-10-22T19:23:08.530" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4312" CreationDate="2011-10-22T01:03:10.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_gastrointestinal_tract#Immune_function&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Considering your digestive tract makes up a huge portion of your immune system&lt;/a&gt;, it might since active cultures help promote better intestinal health. The problem with this supplement is that it provides a tiny amount of active cultures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Amazon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each tablet provides millions of lactobacillus acidophilus cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Home made kefir or yogurt products can contain &lt;a href=&quot;http://pecanbread.com/healingcrow/ferfun/conspiracy/conspiracy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;trillions of cfu (colony forming units) per cup.&lt;/a&gt; Here's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://kefir.ilbello.com/articoli/k5.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;actual paper on the topic.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So bottom line: even if active cultures do help improve immune system function then those tablets are pretty much 'homeopathic' in their dosing -a million to 1 compared to fresh kefir. So save your money and eat some fresh fermented diary products instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-22T01:03:10.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4283" CreationDate="2011-10-22T23:57:30.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're just starting your weight training routine, it's common to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you've been doing it awhile and you reach those plateaus in your training where your progress slows, then it becomes increasingly difficult to pull this off.  These two goals, gaining muscle and losing fat, are somewhat at odds with eachother.  And this is why many seasoned weight lifters, body builders, etc will focus on one at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the trick is to minimize fat gain while adding muscle, and minimize muscle loss while losing fat.  The best advice I can give is to count calories, weigh yourself, and measure your body fat weekly.  Being scientific about it will allow you to adjust your diet and exercise regimen accordingly.  If you happen to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time as a result of this, then you're doing excellent work and you should be proud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, there are different ways to measure body fat.  Some are more accurate than others.  But the most important thing when tracking your progress is repeatability.  And for that I prefer a set of simple &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002VAPHXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body fat calipers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2011-10-23T17:49:25.430" LastActivityDate="2011-10-23T17:49:25.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-24T00:48:52.860" Score="6" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to help a (male) friend who suffered back injury in a serious automobile accident several years ago.  He cannot walk or stand for more than a few minutes at a time.  He is a former US Army servicemember and is used to being much more active than his injuries allow.  He has managed to keep in excellent shape, but has been unable to find any way to work his abs.  Are there such exercises or any equipment that would facilitate this?  He is 48 years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2204" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T15:59:02.320" Title="Ab exercises following permanent back injury" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4265" CreationDate="2011-10-24T08:30:19.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start with skiing at around 3 or 4 years, let them choose what they want to do from 8 on. This has several reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't know of any skiing/snowboarding schools that take kids younger than 3 for skiing lessons or younger than 8 for snowboarding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kids younger than 8 generally don't have the necessary sense of balance needed for snowboarding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skiing can be taught as a natural progression from walking. Young kids just walk short bits on awkward shoes and slide when the hill gets steeper. This lets them get used to the higher speed of skiing (vs walking) very naturally. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other than a general sense of how snow feels under a board/ski I don't see a specific benefit from either sport for the other, so I don't think there is a logical ordering for the two (other than the age based one).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2206" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T08:30:19.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4336" CreationDate="2011-10-24T08:56:02.777" Score="16" ViewCount="6491" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was diagnosed for &quot;Muscle Spasm&quot; a while ago for my lower back pain. The pain went away for about a year and then came back again. I had a blood test taken and found out that I am deficient in Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D3. I am taking medicine for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this 1 year I have gained weight, and now am 12-16 kg overweight. I have been trying to go to gym and controlling my diet, but whenever I run (on a treadmill) my back starts feeling sore. The soreness goes away in a day or two if I don't exercise. I am doing some stretching exercises, but I need to lose weight which is why I run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a software engineer by profession so sitting long hours is a part of my job. Any suggestions on what I could improve my weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2207" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-10-24T14:17:50.477" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T18:32:01.870" Title="How can I strengthen my lower back" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4291" CreationDate="2011-10-24T14:33:31.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you have your gait studied by an expert. In most large cities you can find either a running coach or a specialist running store that can place you on a treadmill and record your stride on video. They can then offer tips that range from better footplacement, proper arm technique, to corrective shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many amateur runners discount the importance of being coached or trained in running thinking that it is &quot;natural&quot;. Swimming is too, but no one seems to question professional expertise there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T14:33:31.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4324" CreationDate="2011-10-24T14:57:47.203" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to shorten your running distance, but increase your speed.  Long jogging sessions can cause wear &amp;amp; tear on the body.  And especially if you're not giving your body enough rest in between this could be making your back worse.  I used to run 3 miles every day, and although my endurance was great, I was living with pain every day.  Much later I shifted my focus to weight training, high-intensity interval training, sprinting, etc and I felt better overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for strengthening the lower back, there are a couple exercises I'd suggest.  The key thing to remember is to ease your way into this since your back may be suspect.  So start very light.  In fact, you may want to give your back a rest and wait until it's feeling better before even beginning these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqoJ9jNjM8E&quot;&gt;Stiff legged dead lifts&lt;/a&gt; - This exercise is a little simpler to master than the conventional dead lift and focuses primarily on the back and hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLgPJVwemtU&quot;&gt;Hack squats&lt;/a&gt; - Hack squats are a little more awkward to get the hang of.  But they'll target the legs and the back.  And unlike any over the shoulder squat, you don't need a squat rack to do them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They use a barbell in both of these videos, but they could just as easily be done with dumbbells.  There are actually a lot of muscles being worked between these two exercises.  Even your shoulders and upper back will get a bit of a workout.  They are great lifts to do.  But again, start light, and &lt;em&gt;gradually&lt;/em&gt; increase weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, it's always a good idea to work the opposing muscles.  So you should be doing situps or crunches as well.  In fact, I've found that strengthening the abdominal muscles is just as important as the back muscles to prevent back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2011-10-24T20:42:54.030" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T20:42:54.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4324" CreationDate="2011-10-24T16:42:03.580" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple exercises helped me with lower back weakness. In my warm-ups and morning workouts, I did these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat-cows from yoga, to get blood flowing in the lower back and to get used to firing those muscles. I did a set of 10 immediately after my warm-up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBStraightLegDeadlift.html&quot;&gt;Round-backed deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; with very, very low weight, performed slowly with a distinct pause at the top and the bottom. I did sets of 25 or 50 in the morning after the cat-cows. I used an 8-pound dumbbell at first. Make sure you get the full range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up-dog/down-dog series from yoga, to alternately stretch and use the lower back muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hindu push-ups (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZgKSSDISSo&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt;), for the same reason as the up-dog/down-dog series&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my strength workouts, using a barbell, I did these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/RomanianDeadlift.html&quot;&gt;Romanian deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; done for 3 sets of 10 twice a week, increasing weight by 5 pounds each time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Twice-weekly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBSquat.html&quot;&gt;low-bar back squats&lt;/a&gt;. These are more of a general strength exercise, but they worked as a good diagnostic and strengthening exercise for my lower back: when my back was weak, my squats were weak. When my back got stronger, my squats felt a lot better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T16:42:03.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-24T17:32:08.387" Score="11" ViewCount="5727" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really all in the title... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for ways to incorporate a bit more exercise into a desk-worker's life, and I recently stumbled over the idea of building a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.treadmill-desk.com/2007/06/inspiration_02.html&quot;&gt;treadmill desk&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadmill_Desk&quot;&gt;Wikipedia:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Treadmill Desk is a working desk built around a treadmill. A person using the treadmill desk walks slowly on the treadmill while continuing to perform office tasks at the desk.&#xA;  [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The aim of a treadmill desk is to integrate movement and gentle exercise into the working day of an otherwise sedentary office worker. Rather than sitting all day in a chair, a treadmill desk allows desk-based workers to stand and take a slow walk while working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A treadmill desk is not typically used for a cardio workout, as most users find walking at a speed of 1.0 - 2.0 mph the ideal range. At slower walking speeds, most able-bodied people can undertake desk-based tasks such as typing or talking on the telephone. However, even at these slower speeds, a person may burn 100 - 150 calories per hour, which may result in increased fitness and weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to walk for a substancial portion of one's workday sounds promising, but I'm wondering if there are any downsides with the use of treadmill desks in general, or maybe things to look out for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2208" LastActivityDate="2018-08-17T16:01:30.600" Title="Treadmill desks - do they work when trying to lose weight, and what are potential problems to look out for?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2011-10-24T19:41:40.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently sitting two cubicles away from a co-worker who uses a treadmill desk. He says that it gives him a lot more energy throughout the day.  He has tripped a few times though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1513" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T19:41:40.270" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2011-10-24T19:45:13.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A treadmill desk may be a large investment that will get bored fast.  A few months ago I got caught up in the standing desk hype so I built one - it wasn't hard, just required separating my Ikea Galant desk and using some spare legs I had.  So this gave me a standing desk and a sitting desk each with a 24&quot; monitor.  Anyways, it didn't last.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a high-end gym quality treadmill near by that just happens to hold my 15&quot; MacBook Pro at the perfect height, at least for my arms.  I often set it at around 3.5km/hour and walk for a few hours while doing lighter work loads and then will go back to my proper desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this much better than a standing desk, and it breaks up the day a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking into some sort of stand where I can use a spare 24&quot; display I have here while at the treadmill, but its not very high on my priority list - the work I save for treadmill time is usually fine on the smaller monitor and I don't find my neck angle to be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2213" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T19:45:13.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2011-10-24T19:45:57.767" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been using a treadmill desk for over two months now. It's been a terrific experience, and I can already say that I recommend it highly. I walk at 1.5mph and looking at the display right now I've crossed 700 calories burned today. I've lost about 10lbs, and I don't see that changing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;http://aaron.vegh.ca/2011/09/sit-stand-walk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wrote a blog post&lt;/a&gt; about my setup and the benefits I see from it. I'm a believer! Just be sure to take the occasional break, and start slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2216" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T19:45:57.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2011-10-24T19:52:17.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All other things being equal&lt;/em&gt; you'll burn more calories walking than sitting (assuming average sitting behavior...?), so you'll lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware falling down--if you get too engrossed and forget you're moving you'll get thrown off the back end: wear your kill-switch to avoid entertaining tread burn as you lay crumpled in a heap at the end of the track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look at it as the physical manifestation of white noise. Your co-workers will think it's the noise manifestation of white noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also get a nicely-programmable one (preferably that you can hook up to the network) and run programs that vary incline and speed in subtle ways. If your co-workers are adept at hackery, keep it &lt;em&gt;off&lt;/em&gt; the network, or risk random bursts of 12mph/10% which will almost certainly ruin your day (but greatly enhance theirs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2018-08-17T16:01:30.600" LastActivityDate="2018-08-17T16:01:30.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2011-10-24T20:04:08.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Author Trevor Corson has an office setup that incorporates a treadmill. You can see a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaPKjtzewsw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video of it in action here&lt;/a&gt;. I think it's kind of the ultimate solution because it incorporates a variety of positions to work from. Standing or walking all day will be just as bad for you (though perhaps for different reasons) as sitting all day will. The key is to change it up throughout the day. Also, I have to say, the chair Trevor is using in that video is kind of insanely great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2220" LastActivityDate="2011-10-24T20:04:08.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4288" CreationDate="2011-10-24T20:08:56.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you use relatively heavy props there will be &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; benefit, but IMO not really comparable to dedicated strength training. You'll build muscular endurance at low weight, probably increase vascularity to some degree, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which muscles will benefit will depend on the props, the moves, and the grips. Heavy, fat-handled clubs are good for forearms and biceps, and if you're doing &quot;interesting&quot; stuff like going behind-the-back you'll get a bit of shoulder-support benefits too. Doing under-leg work will bring some additional core and cardio benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using balls, try heavier, shot-filled balls. Switch your grip (normal underhand and overhand). Kick it up a notch with floppy sand/shot bags to get a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; more forearm work in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2011-10-25T10:01:43.757" LastActivityDate="2011-10-25T10:01:43.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4324" CreationDate="2011-10-25T05:17:10.060" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to just strengthen your lower back. You are having lower back spasms and difficulties but it's not because your lower back is weak. It's because of systemic issue directly related to your sedentary lifestyle.  As such no 'band-aid' solution will help, instead you need a comprehensive overhaul.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What you probably suffer from&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle imbalances:&lt;/strong&gt; being sedentary means you to use a limited amount of muscles, as such a wide range of muscles atrophy and become weak. This causes pain/injury due to incorrect mechanics, for example lifting with your knees or rounded back due to weak hips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle tightness:&lt;/strong&gt; muscles need to be stretched and used otherwise they become shorter and tighter. This leads to bad posture, pain, and incorrect mechanics when moving or lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle weakness:&lt;/strong&gt; similar to imbalances but just overall muscle weakness. This causes various problems since the muscles can't support the skeletal systems properly and you end up with pain/spasms. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;To Address them&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An activity a day&lt;/strong&gt;. Everyday you must do some kind of activity. Whether it's walking, or lifting, or cardio. Anything that involves moving for at least 20-30 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifting&lt;/strong&gt;, although not necessary, is the best way to strengthen muscles and correct muscle imbalances -with a proper workout. It also is a great way to get exercise and burn calories. I recommend a routine that is focused on compound (Big) movements. Spend a lot of time learning form because lifting incorrectly can lead to further injury and problems down the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to start with machines or easier variations of compound lifts to get your feet wet. &#xA;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKmrXTx6jZs&quot;&gt;Goblet squats&lt;/a&gt; instead of barbell back squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_T20JIvshU&quot;&gt;Dumbbell romanian deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; instead of regular barbell deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYcpY20QaE8&quot;&gt;Dumbbell rows&lt;/a&gt;/dumbbell presses (chest/shoulder) instead of their barbell equivalent. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eventually you want to include proper compound lifts.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;, which doesn't have to be intense. Just some kind of movement at a higher intensity than a fast walk. A workout like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot;&gt;couch25k&lt;/a&gt; works well to ramp you up slowly and give you structure. You can also simply work on an elliptical or exercise bike or just do swimming 2-3 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching -static &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; dynamic-&lt;/strong&gt; is extremely important. Improve your flexibility; especially in your hips and hamstrings. A lot of back problems are related directly to lack of hip mobility/glute activation. In my &lt;a href=&quot;http://theswole.com/concept/ultimate-warm-reducing-injury-getting-swole/&quot;&gt;Ultimate Warm Up&lt;/a&gt; article I discuss &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/ALSAuthor.do?p=Mi%20Boyle&quot;&gt;Mike Boyle&lt;/a&gt;'s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/a_jointbyjoint_approach_to_training&amp;amp;cr=&quot;&gt;Joint By Joint approach&lt;/a&gt; and give some general stretches to do, this would be a good starting point. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&amp;amp;catalogId=10751&amp;amp;languageId=-1&amp;amp;pagename=225&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Foam rolling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which is mentioned in my article, is also crucial. The short of it is: muscles get damaged, muscles get repaired, scar tissue forms up. This is especially true for anyone who is sedentary. Scar tissue causes tightness in certain parts of the muscles, which leads to uneven distribution of forces. This leads to pain, reduced flexibility and increased chance of injury. I personally recommend any 6&quot; x 36&quot; round high density roller &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026I2SBS/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=httpswolecom-20&amp;amp;camp=0&amp;amp;creative=0&amp;amp;linkCode=as4&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B0026I2SBS&amp;amp;adid=1RD1WWXTH2D932BR16MQ&amp;amp;&quot;&gt;(Amazon link).&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Better diet&lt;/strong&gt; both for reducing your bodyweight and improving your general health:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink A LOT of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat whole natural foods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay within a sensible calorie deficit -between 750 and 500 calories a day. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/caloriedeficitcalculator.php&quot;&gt;Here's a simple calculator&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat veggies with every meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat fruits regularly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay away from sugar, processed foods, frozen dinners, junk food etc.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet is the most important thing for fat loss, not exercise. You can't out-train a bad diet.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep earlier and more&lt;/strong&gt;. Get at least 8 hours of sleep before 11pm if possible. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stereopsis.com/flux/&quot;&gt;Install f.lux&lt;/a&gt;. This helps immensely with recovery, mood, energy levels and motivation during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, &lt;strong&gt;be proactive&lt;/strong&gt; about your health. Stop letting your body waste in a chair and start moving. This is an early warning sign of worse things to come if you don't act. Use this to take the first step in what will be a massive improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="2034" LastEditDate="2011-10-25T17:25:01.607" LastActivityDate="2011-10-25T17:25:01.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4296" CreationDate="2011-10-25T08:28:46.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should not be able to last more than a couple of minutes in Zone 5. Maybe the problem is that he is talking about Zone 4, and you are thinking he means Zone 5. What is Fink's definition of Zone 5? Here is a detailed decriptions of the zones &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.3-fitness.com/tarticles/zones.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.3-fitness.com/tarticles/zones.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2145" LastActivityDate="2011-10-25T08:28:46.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4288" CreationDate="2011-10-25T12:42:50.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean purely &lt;em&gt;muscular&lt;/em&gt; fitness, I doubt it's much. But juggling &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; seem to help the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016114055.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Juggling Enhances Connections in the Brain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have demonstrated that there are changes in the white matter of the&#xA;brain – the bundles of nerve fibres that connect different parts of&#xA;the brain – as a result of learning an entirely new skill,’ explains&#xA;Dr Johansen-Berg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they said, it may be any new skill, not just juggling - but juggling does also improve hand-eye coordination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://magic.about.com/od/Juggling/a/Health-Benefits-Of-Juggling-learn-how.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Health Benefits of Juggling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second benefit of juggling is physical. The practice of juggling&#xA;improves the body’s timing and rhythm, as well as peripheral vision,&#xA;hand-eye coordination and visual reaction time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1898" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-10-25T12:42:50.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4310" CreationDate="2011-10-25T17:55:12.600" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer depends on what your overall goals are, and what you are doing with your training.  So, let's look at a couple of different people with different goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack is a marathon runner.  He runs for miles on end, and is into &lt;em&gt;endurance&lt;/em&gt;.  Jack needs to keep his electrolytes up, make sure he has carbs for energy.  He still needs protein, but his muscles only need to be so strong, so his primary concern is &lt;em&gt;energy&lt;/em&gt;.   On the surface it sounds like Jack would benefit from a whole lot of milk, but he really only needs enough protein to maintain the muscle he has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joe on the other hand is a power lifter.  Joe is taxing his muscles pretty hard, and constantly increasing weights.  Joe needs both a lot of protein and a lot of Calories because the process of building muscle burns more Calories than maintaining it.  Additionally, those muscles need the energy to lift the heavy weights.  There is also a very strong correlation between lifting heavier weights and more body weight.  This is why things like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilks_Coefficient&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wilks Coefficient&lt;/a&gt; exist, because a 140lb guy lifting 140lbs requires more effort than a 200lb guy lifting the same 140lb.  That and the process of lifting weights burns a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of Calories in a relatively short time.  Joe is the guy who needs to be drinking lots of milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, please understand that when Mark Rippetoe or any other weightlifter is recommending GOMAD (Gallon of Milk a Day), they are not recommending it for more than a month or two at a time.  Drinking that much milk only works when you put in the effort at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For long term sources of protein, as a weightlifter, look at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any kind of meat (red, white, fish, pork, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greek yogurts (high in protein, low in fat/carbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein supplements (which refine the proteins found in milk and get rid of the lactose and other things people have problems with in milk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soy (fairly complete protein profile, but acts like estrogen in high quantities)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is be intelligent about what you eat and why.  Don't simply take someone's word for it, but find out the purpose behind the recommendation, the side effects, the time frame recommended, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Milk is not evil&lt;/strong&gt;, but it is not the end all and be all either.  When you are trying to gain weight, GOMAD (or the 2-3L a day) can be an effective means to do so--particularly if you have a hard time gaining weight.  It won't be all muscle, but it will be more muscle than fat if you are putting in work at the gym.  There will also be a fair amount of water retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you don't have problems gaining weight&lt;/strong&gt;, then no GOMAD is not what you want.  You want to control the rate of gaining weight so that it is mostly muscle.  Stick with regular food for your protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-10-25T17:55:12.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-25T23:44:38.963" Score="0" ViewCount="2770" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot take Calcium as it forms Kidney Stones, I have been told by my doctor that I have early signs of Osteoporosis.   I was told that I could take Magnesium, the bottle states 3 tablets a day with meals.  Can I take all 3 after Dinner or should I spread them out over the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2233" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T04:20:17.473" Title="Can I take all 3 tablets of Magnesium at one time or should I take 1 tablet after each meal" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T19:32:22.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4291" CreationDate="2011-10-26T02:58:11.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couple of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you running on a sidewalk, path or along the side of a road?  Is the surface EVEN or slanted to one side?  If it is the road it might be slightly slanted.  If you run that same loop in the same direction and it is slanted, it can, over time, cause problems.  Your hips and gait should be running on even surfaces.  If the surface is slanted try to mix up how you run so that you run half of your time with the road slanted in one direction and the other half slanted in the other direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone above mentioned getting fitted for shoes.  VERY important.  Buy your running shoes at a running store.  You MIGHT end up paying $5 more for a pair of shoes but good running stores fit the TYPE of shoe to the TYPE of runner you are.  There are (generally) 3 types of runners out there: neutral, over-pronators and supronators.  A good running store will watch you run, classify what type of runner you are and recommend a shoe that fits your body and style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if none of these remedies help see a chiropractor and/or a doctor.  You might have something deeper going on.  I'd try the above, ensure you are stretching well and then proceed with more drastic measures if nothing gets better.  It could easily take a couple of weeks to see results from changing shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T02:58:11.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-26T08:11:37.777" Score="6" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a fitness site which would motivate me by letting me enter my workouts, and then reward me with progress in some kind of game. Is there such a site out there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitocracy does not qualify since you only get points and there's no actual game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2235" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T22:12:09.953" Title="Is there a combined Fitness/RPG site?" Tags="&lt;websites&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4351" CreationDate="2011-10-26T09:29:17.480" Score="6" ViewCount="352" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a programmer and I spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer typing, and this seems to be too much strain for my back and upper hand muscles. &#xA;All the orthopedists I talked to said these were muscle pains and that I should just start exercising (so this is not some injury, but rather poor fitness). However, I didn't think of asking them what kind of training that should be. Should I concentrate more on developing strength, or developing endurance? What are the pros and cons? Can I combine the two, and if so- what is the appropriate way to do that in a 3 times per week exercise schedule? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2236" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T07:17:56.637" Title="Should I use weights training for endurance or for strength to deal with aching back?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4356" CreationDate="2011-10-26T10:05:14.593" Score="7" ViewCount="2110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to have pain in the elbow, from lifting, and everything points to tennis or golf elbow.  What are some good exercises to help with the pain and recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-10-29T13:29:39.870" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T15:10:12.377" Title="What's a good exercise to help with Tennis or Golf Elbow?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4347" CreationDate="2011-10-26T10:27:52.740" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience I would say none. A tennis elbow is an inflammotory injury of your tendon that needs to rest. Keep it could and make shure you rest enough. You could also take a five day cure of an inflammation blocker while you are resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you will not rest with this injury, it will only become worse...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T10:27:52.740" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2011-10-26T10:42:54.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're a programmer that means you're sitting most of the time. This implicates that the muscles of your backline are overstretched constantly and the muscles of your front line are over tensed. This outs in an aching pain in the lower part of your back. Your orthopedists are right. You can fix this with exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; And this is a great but. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fixing this kind of problem is not easy. You should really talk to a good personal trainer. Conventional fitness exercises just don't cut it and can make your injury even worse. If you do the wrong exercises the situation of imbalanced tension between your frontal and back muscle chains will even get worse. &#xA;I strongly recommend you NOT to do any conventional abs exercises like set-up, cruch, ... . This is an advice given by people who follow convenional wisdom. This will make your injury even worse! You should not do any intensive sports before your problem is fixed. If you really want to sport before your problem is fixed then I advice you to go for a swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should do exercises that stretch/open your frontal muscle chains and relax your back muscle chains. That way the tension in your back will dissapear.  It's hard to do this with conventional exercise so forget training on endurance, with weights, ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; personal trainer should know how to handle your problem. Once you start training you should already see improvement after a few trainings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastEditorUserId="2070" LastEditDate="2011-10-26T15:28:49.953" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T15:28:49.953" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2011-10-26T13:37:24.327" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The short answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are completely untrained, your first priority is developing strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Endurance is Bupkus Until You Are Strong&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the absence of developed strength, strength training always improves work capacity by reducing the relative intensity of repetitive tasks.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=25190&amp;amp;p=291395#post291395&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Mark Rippetoe, Starting Strength forums)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the muscle is weak, developing endurance is close to useless. That's because every effort for a weak muscle is a significant task. A stronger muscle barely notices those efforts because they are so minimal, and so endurance in relation to the task is much greater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Develop a Baseline Level of Strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people have success with Mark Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;https://startingstrength.com/get-started&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; program, because it is information-dense and builds whole-body strength rapidly. The program is essentially 3 days a week of lifting: barbell squats, deadlifts, overhead and bench press, plus chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the totally un-athletic, the exercises in Starting Strength may be a bit much. If that's the case, take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4324/how-can-i-strengthen-my-lower-back/4336#4336&quot;&gt;this great answer from Mike&lt;/a&gt;, particularly the part about lifting. Goblet squats and dumbbell deadlifts three times a week are a great recommendation for the totally untrained. (In your situation, I would add dumbbell overhead presses and assisted chin-ups.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;When to Move On&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have developed a reasonable amount of strength, it would be a good idea to work on endurance. The problem is developing proper strength goals for your situation. For instance, my pull-up goal (&quot;15 in a row&quot;) is very different from my girlfriend's (&quot;1 un-assisted&quot;). You need to find some attainable medium-term strength goals that you can work on for a few months, so that you can then switch to a strength &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; endurance program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you, a good goal might be &quot;able to squat with a barbell on your back that's as heavy as you are&quot;. It might be &quot;five pull-ups&quot;. Once you reach it, you can think about developing a program that includes an endurance-specific component. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2020-02-04T07:17:56.637" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T07:17:56.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4347" CreationDate="2011-10-26T18:16:07.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have successfully rehabilitated from this injury and it can be quite a lot of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest is of course very important and depending on the severity of the injury, you may want to ice the area after working out.  I would also recommend that you refrain from activity that causes the pain until you have completely rehabbed the arm.  i.e. If there are certain lifts you feel might be the culprit, take those out of your workout until you are pain free.  For me, it was upright rows and front raises.  Hammer curls may also cause problems for some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems this injury is actually caused by weakened forearm/grip muscles and aggravation of muscle fascia due to inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I experienced success by doing the following:  On those days where I knew I was aggravating the injury (for me it was shoulder day), I began to incorporate a 10 minute forearm warmup.  This involved forearm curls, reverse forearm curls and wrist rolls.  I did this in place of the exercises where I felt the most pain.  My session was once per week, but I'm sure you could do it more often if desired.  After a few weeks of this rehab, I began to try the previously painful exercises using very light weight and experienced no pain.  Soon, I was able to increase weight and eventually get my strength back to where it previously was and still be pain free.  I would say all of this took about 6-8 months total.  As I said, icing may help speed this process and help with soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now continue this regimen on my shoulder days as a warmup and I haven't had tennis elbow pain in a couple of years despite doing numerous types of upright rows and front raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the above doesn't work for you, I would recommend going to a clinic that specializes in fascia repair to have a consultation.  This was great for me when I tore my hip flexor and had difficulty making a comeback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1434" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T18:16:07.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4354" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4355" CreationDate="2011-10-26T18:17:02.397" Score="7" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently moved to a foreign country and find myself with a lack of things to do. As such, I've decided to finally follow a weightlifting program; I choose Starting Strength. It has just five lifts (only one of which is very technical) and very detailed explanations of all of them. Unfortunately, I don't know any of the lifts and I'm worried about learning them with improper form: while the book is very detailed, even discussing common mistakes and ways to correct them, this all relies on having a training partner/trainer to check your form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, as mentioned above, I'm in a foreign country: I don't know the language, so can't ask random people for help (well, I can communicate, but explaining the nuances of the lift is beyond me); I can't afford a personal trainer of any sort (not that I'm confident a random trainer would know them well enough) and the few friends I have here are not interested in going with me so I'm stuck with going at it alone. My question is: &lt;strong&gt;How can I ensure I'm doing them with proper form, if there isn't anyone to check it for me?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T18:38:55.983" Title="How to ensure you use the right technique when learning from a book?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4354" CreationDate="2011-10-26T18:38:55.983" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Film yourself&lt;/strong&gt;. Review the tape yourself and fix everything you can. Post it to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=155&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SS technique forum&lt;/a&gt; (for best results, follow their &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=16744&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guidelines&lt;/a&gt;). Post it here and ask what you're doing wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre-emptively use a TUBOW (Terribly Useful Block Of Wood) to make sure your knees are correct in the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do chin-ups instead of power cleans, per Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ%3aThe_Program#Practical_Programming_Novice_Program%3a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slightly different Practical Programming novice program&lt;/a&gt;, to reduce the number of lifts you need to perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every time you find a significant form issue, reset (&quot;deload&quot;) the weight on that exercise by 10% or 20%. This makes re-learning the &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; version of the lift much easier, and gives previously unused supporting and stabilizing muscles opportunity to grow into their new role.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Recognize that the squat (not just the power clean) is also a highly technical lift. Even the presses and deadlift can easily be done incorrectly in subtle ways that will slowly cause trouble. Recognize that you'll probably do some (or all) the lifts incorrectly for several months. Continually refine your technique.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't give up looking for a powerlifting or Olympic lifting gym, CrossFit box, or knowledgable coach. Even an occasional form check-up can help tremendously.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T18:38:55.983" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4347" CreationDate="2011-10-26T19:59:35.580" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tennis elbow is usually caused by the tearing of tendons during eccentric contraction of muscles around the elbow. Last year, I got tennis elbow from using a kettle bell that was too heavy for me. The solution involves lengthening and strengthening the tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Theraband Flexbar is a grippy rubber bar which allows you to do the exact exercise you need to help this problem. I became very depressed reading about how some people &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; recover from tennis elbow, but after 1 day of using this tool, I started to feel relief. Complete recovery took about 2 months for me. I first read about it in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/phys-ed-an-easy-fix-for-tennis-elbow/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York Times&lt;/a&gt;. I urge you to try this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you know if you have tennis elbow or golf elbow first. These are injuries to different parts of your arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also two stretches that can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold out your injured arm straight, with the palm facing down. With your other hand, pull your fingers down so your palm faces you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold out your injured arm with your palm up. With your other hand, pull your fingers down and towards your body so that the palm faces away from you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These stretches felt good to me, and helped, but the exercise was the most important part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and please report back on success or failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="939" LastEditDate="2016-03-15T15:10:12.377" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T15:10:12.377" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2011-10-26T22:48:37.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been using a treadmill desk for the past 6+ months. As Jesse pointed out above, I do have more energy during the day than when I was in &quot;Thinker&quot; position all day. And yes, I have tripped once or twice, but in those cases I prolly would have even without the mill; I &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; the living incarnation of Jack Tripper. Some notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My goal was not to lose weight but to alleviate posture issues and repetitive motion injuries from sitting at a desk all day. An additional goal was just to get moving a little, since hip and knee problems had sidelined me from all of my regular sports activities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;So, no weight loss, since I up'ed my intake along with the additional output.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I had tried a standing desk, but that failed in no time. I could not stand and work for that long. I found that the walking actually made it easier to be upright than just standing. I had no problems with the treadmill, and today I can walk &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; stand all day with no issues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Biggest difficulty with my setup is that I leave my desk frequently to talk with others =&gt; constantly starting and reprogramming the mill is annoying; I tend not to walk as much (just stand on it) due to that. I have a controller circuit designed to deal with that, but haven't gotten around to building it...(it didn't give me &lt;em&gt;infinite&lt;/em&gt; energy).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second biggest issue for me is the reduced usable desk space. You can have a lot of desk but while walking, you are limited to using ~ the forward 90-degree arc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Writing/drawing is a little more than I can manage while walking, so I tend to go to the break room whenever I need to do more than a little of that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, the setup is a clear win. The reduced pain and extra energy easily make up for the inconveniences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this information is useful to someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2240" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T22:48:37.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-27T01:43:56.627" Score="9" ViewCount="182645" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in good aerobic shape but never did strength training.  Yesterday, I did some basic strength work, using both dumbbells and machines.  Nothing too crazy - I started light and built my way up.  I feel fine today, with a moderate soreness.  &lt;em&gt;But&lt;/em&gt;, the one heavy pain I have is that I can't straighten my arms.  I felt this immediately after working out, and it's only gotten worse.  I feel pain on the inside of my arm (opposite my elbow), even if my arm is relaxed, and if I try to straighten it, it gets very intense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I warmed up and cooled down aerobically, but didn't do any real stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes this? Does it have to do with machines versus dums? What should I do to avoid this next time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T12:53:12.650" Title="Sore after work out - can't straighten arm" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-27T01:51:40.970" Score="12" ViewCount="1425" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on this site's recommendation, I got a hold of Starting Strength.  It's clearly a spectacular book.  But, as a beginner, I find it hard to make practical.  It has lots of deep knowledge about what's going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm looking for something directly applicable.  (I know the book was originally written for coaches, not people working out on their own.)  I'd like a basic program, with clear instructions on what to do and how to do it.  And I'd like to know the basics as well of warming up, cooling down, programming, resting.  I don't need all the theory yet - just a basic program, based on Starting Strength's principles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T17:18:39.957" Title="Starting Strength: a practical program?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2011-10-27T02:28:52.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just reviewed Tim Noakes, &lt;em&gt;Lore of Running&lt;/em&gt;, 4th ed (2001) - specifically the section on Base Training (pp303-317). This book is very well regarded as the authority on the science of running. I can find nothing in that section which refers to a peer-reviewed study. All the advice is the collated advice from some very well regarded coaches - e.g. Arthur Lydiard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will note that Lydiard had his athletes running long but fairly fast and on a hilly course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want Dr Noakes does respond to email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T02:28:52.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4359" CreationDate="2011-10-27T02:30:23.837" Score="14" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Ways To Get Less Information&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first edition of the book is much more coach-focused than the second. Perhaps you have the wrong edition for your situation? (The rest of my answer assumes that you have the second edition.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for less information as you get started, you could try &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; instead, or look through the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot;&gt;Starting Strength wiki&lt;/a&gt; and distill the important parts. The basics of the program are in the wiki. The basics of the techniques are on the wiki. That's probably your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Inherent Problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But whether we like it or not, there's simply a lot to learn. You'll need to read the book at least twice, and re-read specific sections as you find necessary. The only shortcut would be a coach, training partner or gym that is well-versed in the program. Even then, you'll be doing a lot of learning. That is the essence of barbell strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;In This Part I Try to Answer Your Specific Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For warm-up, I rotate all my joints from fingers to toes (with particular attention to all the articulations of the trunk), then do five minutes of moving around (running, skipping, air squats, knee raises) to get my heart rate up. Then I start squatting with the empty bar. I think that's pretty close to what Rip recommends, but I got the specifics from Tom Kurz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't remember any particular cool-down for the program. I advise against sitting down immediately, lest you get tight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting means not doing anything strenuous. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forum.php&quot;&gt;His forums&lt;/a&gt; are a fine place to learn exactly what that means, but essentially: if you play other sports, run, do extra lifting, don't eat enough, (or eat &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; too much and you're already overweight), go on long bikerides or hikes, &lt;strong&gt;you are not resting properly&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program is pretty simple. (It's only complex if you want to pick a variant, and there's a minimum level of complexity necessary for it to be informative.) Work out three times a week. Start with squats, then presses, then pulls. Squats are squats. Presses alternate between bench and overhead. Pulls alternate between power cleans and deadlifts. For each exercise, do five reps with the empty bar, then add fifty pounds (or so) and do four, and so on with more weight and fewer reps until you get to your working weight, where you do three sets of five for squats and presses, one set of five for deadlifts, and five sets of three for power cleans. Keep track of how much you lift in each exercise. Each exercise gets five  (presses, cleans) or ten (squats, deadlifts) pounds heavier in each workout for as long as possible. When adding ten pounds isn't possible, add five. When adding five isn't possible, add 2.5 if available, or de-load the bar 20% in your next workout and resume adding weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need any more information than that, &lt;strong&gt;then you should be reading the book.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-28T17:30:51.137" LastActivityDate="2011-10-28T17:30:51.137" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4358" CreationDate="2011-10-27T07:47:11.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is most likely &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; which is normal. Just ice it, do very light stretching, massage the muscles gently and rest. Symptoms should get better and you should be feeling fine in a day or so. I've had the same thing and occasionally get a client who gets really bad DOMS that they can't fully extend their arms. It sucks but it never ever even comes close to being that bad again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all of that, there is a tiny chance this isn't DOMS so if your condition gets worse or you start getting severe sharp pain then you might want to consult a health professional. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T07:47:11.837" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4301" CreationDate="2011-10-27T10:02:15.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm glad to see that you focused on diet and exercise as a coordinated effort. It would also be beneficial to monitor RMR,BMI, and calories burned. Online calculators for these are available  to make these calculations easy and are available at &lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogainweight123.com/rmr-calculation-bmr/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://howtogainweight123.com/rmr-calculation-bmr/&lt;/a&gt; Typically, just enter age, weight, height and activities you have done during the day. The calculator's will do the rest and tell you how many calories you use for the whole day and when at rest. This could help you to know how to adjust your diet to either gain weight or lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2243" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T10:02:15.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4371" CreationDate="2011-10-27T15:57:54.700" Score="4" ViewCount="9424" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read somewhere that if you eat the right combination of fruits and veggies you can actually gain weight. So will eating 2,000 calories worth of fruits and vegetables make you gain weight as if you ate 2,000 calories of beef, chicken, or pork? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If yes, I have a follow-up question: I am aware that 2,000 calories of fruits and veggies are harder to consume in large quantities so if your purpose is to gain weight, what's better: juicing it or eating it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If no, then what do you suggest is the optimal way to gain weight without relying much on meat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2245" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T21:04:06.027" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T21:51:57.293" Title="Is it possible to gain weight eating only fruits and vegetables?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2018-02-06T00:44:25.843" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4368" CreationDate="2011-10-27T19:03:47.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You forgot major protein sources...nuts and grains. With them added you certainly gain weight, but also build good muscle if you work out good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2246" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T19:03:47.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4368" CreationDate="2011-10-27T21:18:16.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I can't back any of this up with science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating a lot of fruit and vegetables, particularly juiced, and then not working out (as noted in your comment) &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; gain you some weight. (I bet it will be fat.) Foods are not fungible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight without eating meat, take a look at questions on the topics of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/320/how-to-get-enough-protein-as-a-vegetarian&quot;&gt;getting enough protein as a vegetarian&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1904/high-calorie-diet-for-vegan&quot;&gt;high calorie vegan diets&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4251/weight-gain-diet-for-a-pescetarian&quot;&gt;pescetarian/ethical-eater weight gain&lt;/a&gt;. (Hint: in order to gain weight that's not all fat, you'll need to work out.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T21:18:16.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4345" CreationDate="2011-10-27T22:32:10.077" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be interested in checking out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sixtostart/zombies-run-a-running-game-and-audio-adventure-for&quot;&gt;&quot;ZOMBIES, RUN!&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are a Kickstarter project that combines GPS run tracking with an RPG-like soundtrack for while you run. It is already funded (they got $72,627 of their $12,500 goal) so you will have to wait for awhile. But, you can get more details, pre-order, and watch a concept video on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zombiesrungame.com/&quot;&gt;their site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="175" LastActivityDate="2011-10-27T22:32:10.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-28T10:40:21.413" Score="13" ViewCount="7871" Body="&lt;p&gt;My max deadlift is 350 (still gaining), but I can deadlift 300 twice. Is it better to focus on my 2 lift max or my single lift max to build overall strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-10-28T15:33:39.847" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T19:36:38.927" Title="Are multiple lighter deadlifts better than single heavier maxes?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4374" CreationDate="2011-10-28T13:40:50.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's a big difference between doing 2x and 1x. Both are focusing on the extreme of strength. I personally prefer to do 1x just because the higher weight (compared to 2) boosts my ego, and removes any ambiguity when I want to calculate set weights based on my 1  rep max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you'll probably do better to apply stimulus in something more like the 4 rep range, and just use 1 or 2 rep sets to test your progress. For example, my current weekly (well, I use an 8 day week to get 2 days of rest between each cycle) workout (based on the Texas workout described in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522703&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/a&gt;) is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: 6 sets of 4 at 80% 1RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Lighter supplemental exercises, no deadlift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: 3 sets of 4 at 65% 1RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: 1RM at 100% (try for a personal record every week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a schedule like this, you can alternate 1RM or 2RM on the last day. A reccommendion in practical programming was to alternate 1 and 2 every other week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-10-28T13:40:50.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4374" CreationDate="2011-10-28T14:16:51.130" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would stick with novice programming on this lift for now. A 5/3/1 might work, but I think it would be more efficient just to focus on making linear progression work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your max deadlift is 350, it doesn't make a lot of sense to worry about your 1 rep max (1RM) or 2RM. At that stage it's more productive to focus on your 4RM or 5RM. You want to focus on &lt;em&gt;building&lt;/em&gt; your strength and power with heavy sets of 4-6 reps, not &lt;em&gt;demonstrating&lt;/em&gt; it in a max single. This is also much less likely to cause injury, and easier to recovery from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 300 pound 2RM deadlift is still well within the range of linear progression. Weekly or twice-weekly sets of 5, adding 2.5 or 5 pounds each session or every other session, should be feasible if you're getting enough rest and eating enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Research&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be double-checking pages 79-82 in Practical Programming later to make sure this makes sense (per &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=20450&quot;&gt;Starting Strength forums&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-28T14:16:51.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4368" CreationDate="2011-10-28T18:08:18.593" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know about the cases with nuts.&#xA;The idea is the same as for usual methods of getting weight: protein and carbohydrate windows after physical exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But anyway if you only start to be vegetarian you will loss weight at the beginning. But it is not an issue because you will lose &quot;low-quality&quot; weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And again it is about nuts, not only vegi and fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2251" LastActivityDate="2011-10-28T18:08:18.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-28T18:28:56.757" Score="6" ViewCount="7556" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently sprained my left wrist slightly. Since then, I've noticed my grip in my left hand has been significantly reduced. I'd like to regain the grip strength I had in this hand, as I used it primary to grip and open difficult things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I do to recover my left hand's grip strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1677" LastEditorUserId="1677" LastEditDate="2011-10-29T14:28:02.577" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T14:42:47.573" Title="What exercises can I do to recover my left hand's grip strength?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-28T20:05:43.027" Score="16" ViewCount="1396" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those of you who aren't Harry Potter fans, Quidditch is a wizard sport played on broomstick that has been modified for us non-flying people and is now pretty popular (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.internationalquidditch.org/worldcup/&quot;&gt;Quidditch World Cup&lt;/a&gt; is coming up on November 12th-13th in NYC). In Harry Potter, a Quidditch Game ends when the &lt;a href=&quot;http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Seeker&quot;&gt;Seeker&lt;/a&gt; catches the flying &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quidditch#The_Golden_Snitch&quot;&gt;Snitch&lt;/a&gt;. In the modified muggle version, the Snitch is played by a person who isn't a part of either team, and his/her goal is basically to run away from the Seekers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/blogs/fitstop/2011/07/15/fitness/harry-potter-and-the-wizardly-workout/&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; about training tips for Quidditch positions, but all it says about training to be a Snitch is to try cardio kickboxing, and that cross country runners are ideal candidates. How else could I train to build up my speed so that I can run away from the Seekers for a sustained period of time? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T15:49:58.690" Title="What is a good training program for a Quidditch Snitch?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4379" CreationDate="2011-10-28T23:35:56.623" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watched a few matches, and those things you mentioned are great starts to help keep the seekers away.  If you are building up your running speed and endurance, run 400s around a track (just once around).  Get around the track in a set time, then take a break for a set time limit, and then go again.  For instance, 3 minutes to get around followed by a 2 minute break.  If you get around in 2 minutes, then you get a 3 minute break.  If you get around in 4 minutes, you only get a 1 minute break.  Stick with the times and push yourself.  Every time you do this, you can drop either the break time or the lap time.  Remember to warm up and cool down with atleast 5-10 minutes of jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also important, speed can be increased by doing sprints and leg workouts (squats, leg press, leg extensions, calf raises, leg curls).  Put some size on and train sprints by running shuttles or dashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with the position!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-10-28T23:35:56.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4368" CreationDate="2011-10-29T16:05:44.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Juicing it is better, However,  It would also be beneficial to monitor RMR,BMI, and calories burned. Then you would have some accuracy in determining and adjusting your diet for weight gain or loss.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogainweight123.com/rmr-calculation-bmr/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online calculators&lt;/a&gt; are available for RMR, BMI &amp;amp; Calories Burned. Enter your age, weight, height and activities you have done during the day. The calculator will do the rest and tell you how many calories you use for the whole day and when at rest. This could help you to know how to adjust your diet to either gain weight or lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2243" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T21:01:08.457" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T21:01:08.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4379" CreationDate="2011-10-29T16:10:57.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing usually neglected in training is explosive starting speed, which a good snitch would need. There are some great solo exercises for this, although partner drills work better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a quick list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sled/tire pulls and/or chute runs (also improves stride length)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skips (aiming for either vertical or horizontal max)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Falling starts (lean forward until you lose your balance, catch yourself by accelerating full-speed for 20-30 yards... I love this one for some reason)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Gears&quot; drills (see lame ASCII art below), these are &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; for games like this. Or soccer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partner-resisted starts, tubing acceleration drills, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gears are cool, and can be done with directional changes as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  ^-- 2nd gear --^-- 3nd gear --^-- 1st gear --^-- 4th gear --^&#xA;  |&#xA;  \- that's a cone&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to change accelerations is important, plus being able to do so throws off an opponent's ability to predict where you're going to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical ladder drills aren't so much for endurance but for the ability to turn and develop proprioception (&quot;where am I in space, and how do I make this maneuver without tripping myself&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2015-06-04T15:49:58.690" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T15:49:58.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4374" CreationDate="2011-10-29T16:32:19.787" Score="15" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Practical Programming's Answer: 1-3RM For Strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From page 79:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength, a basic objective of training and an important component of power performance, is gained using lower repetitions (1 to 3) with heavier weights (90 to 100% of 1RM). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that in this context, Rippetoe is using a narrow definition of strength that does not include power, hypertrophy or endurance. Doing fewer reps and only one or two sets makes for a drastically lower volume and average load at the limit of your ability (I'm paraphrasing from the second paragraph on page 82 there). For these reasons (and the increased danger of injury), I would recommend against using 1RM or 2RM as regular training stimulus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though the original on page 60 of PP is better (the gradations from range to range are less stark) this chart from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/k93un/rippetoes_rep_range_chart/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;reddit&lt;/a&gt; does an excellent job explaining the effects of different rep schemes:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/phAAx.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rippetoe's Reasoning For 5RM Instead of 1-3RM&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key line for you is from page 102, emphasis mine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Absolute strength is gained by using very low reps (1-3) per set, mass is increased with higher reps (10 to 12), and local muscular and systemic endurance is developed with even higher reps (20+). &lt;strong&gt;For the novice&lt;/strong&gt;, a repetition scheme that is right in the anaerobic middle works best: sets of 5 reps. Fives are close enough to the strength end of the continuum to provide tremendous increases in strength, the primary goal of the novice. &lt;strong&gt;Fives are also enough reps to develop a tolerance for elevated work levels, and provide for a good amount of hypertrophy so that muscular weight gain occurs too.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fives are optimal for the novice; they effectively stimulate strength gains and other forms of progress without producing sufficient muscular or neuromuscular exhaustion to cause technique deterioration at the end of the set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very possible that you still fall within the novice range of your potential. If that's the case, deadlifting sets of 5 instead of 1 or 2 would be optimal for overall development. If you've found that you cannot progress with daily increases, or that the 5RM is too taxing despite eating and resting sufficiently, working with sets of 2 or 3 in the deadlift could be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-10-29T16:32:19.787" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4440" CreationDate="2011-10-29T23:04:59.477" Score="6" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for procedures/experiences regarding using a camera to keep track of improvements/changes over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be fat/muscle, posture, general appearance.  (Pilates, for example is supposed to make people look better without gaining muscle of loosing fat, I would like to track changes like that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A side-project could be to use the photos to give me an idea about where I am (I guess there are webs-sites where you can compare yourself to others, or be rated)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2011-10-29T23:27:21.010" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T11:36:44.930" Title="Photos for observing Progress and changes" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4388" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-30T00:23:30.113" Score="0" ViewCount="3753" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have unusually shaped pecs - they are round, nearly pointed.  In my youth, I used to do a lot of pushups.  Now, I am doing weight training and do presses, inclined presses and flys but my pecs are still rounded and oddly shaped.  Are there exercises that can build and square off the outside of my pecs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 28 year old male in decent shape with low body-fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2257" LastActivityDate="2017-11-14T20:45:53.917" Title="How do I shape my pecs?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4388" CreationDate="2011-10-30T04:21:54.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle shape is determined by genetics. Not quite sure where/what you want squared off, but wider-grip stuff seems to target the &quot;outside&quot; edge (for me, could be because I'm weak, too :) so possibly incline/decline work with a wide grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-10-30T04:21:54.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4387" CreationDate="2011-10-30T04:24:36.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feedback is critical, regardless of what you're doing--photos/videos are an awesome learning tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;procedure&quot; is to take pictures :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front, back, sides (both, preferably). There's no point in taking them too often; once a week is probably fine, unless you want to make one of those morphing photo montages with really nice granularity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-10-30T04:24:36.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4406" CreationDate="2011-10-30T09:00:09.340" Score="5" ViewCount="19226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't used to run much, but recently I started working out and it includes running also. I noticed that after I run about 400-500 m, my legs (both) start to hurt in the area of soleus muscle, on the internal side of the lower leg, about midway from the foot to the knee, pretty localized close to the bone. If I continue running or jumping, it becomes worse until it's quite intense so I can't run anymore. If I leave it alone, it passes in a couple of days and never reappears unless I run again or do a lot of jumping. &#xA;Any ideas why it's happening, is it because I'm doing something wrong (wrong shoes? wrong movements? weak muscles?) and if anything can be done to improve it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="277" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T18:31:15.887" Title="Leg pain after running &amp; jumping" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-06T13:29:29.600" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-30T17:37:44.377" Score="2" ViewCount="1394" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, &#xA;first of all I know there is a similar question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/481/is-it-necessary-to-have-a-rest-week&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;, but it is more related to muscle workout (if it's a duplicate please close that without problem)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started run seriously in april, before that I trained myself in a bad bad way (few days and few kms), then the competition came and I barerly finished it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that I decided to be coached by a personal trainer, and from april to now I have done a lot of improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In april 55' to run 10km now only 40'20&quot;, I'm very satisfied...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a very tough practice until these months even in the summer with 35° C, I did training 5 times a week, and during lastest week I was a little tired..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I finished a &quot;period&quot; of training and PT told me to rest for an entire week without a single run...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion is too much time, but probably I'm wrong and I think that only because I don't want to lose some of the improvements that I got until now...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I spoke with my PT yesterday and he told me that I'll have two week for resting, first, as I said, completly without run, the second week only 3 workout&#xA;1) slow run 7km&#xA;2) medium run 6km&#xA;3) slow run 1km + fast run 4km&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I'll die... :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2258" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T15:26:03.220" Title="Is it really necessary take one entire week to rest from running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-30T17:39:08.043" Score="1" ViewCount="930" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 23 years old, my height is 5'8&quot; and weight is 56kg. I have been going to the gym for the last two months. my target is to gain muscle and weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After doing some initial routine (without weight) for 15 days, my instructor gave me a weight training schedule that covers 3 days of training (covering major parts of the body). I have been maintaining that for the last 1.5 months. I added milk, eggs and JUVO (raw meal) to my diet. I'm also trying to get more food during my regular meal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I go to gym 4 days a week at morning, my stomach is empty at that time. After workout I eat breakfast milk, egg etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I found that my weight didn't increase as I expected. It increased only around 5-1.5 kg. I can feel that my strength has increased (discovered it while taking weight), but I think that the shape of my figure is like before except that my biceps size increased a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do 10-15 reps per set every exercise and also try to push myself to lift more weight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While reading some of the suggestions for gaining muscle found that 8 reps per set is best and 10-12 reps/set for people who want to gain strength rather than muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my routine and eating habits enough to shape myself and to gain some real muscle and weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user861" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:56:38.647" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:56:38.647" Title="Started weight training, but cannot see progress" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4394" CreationDate="2011-10-30T19:38:37.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing caloric intake, output, etc. it's difficult to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain weight, you must consume more than you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realistically, you're likely to gain anywhere from .5-1.5lb/month (~.25-.75kg/month) depending on a huge number of factors--I'd say you're right in that range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes time, patience, and consistency--hang in there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-10-30T19:38:37.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4393" CreationDate="2011-10-30T19:41:24.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Resting a week won't cause any &lt;em&gt;significant&lt;/em&gt; losses in fitness gains, and it's critical to let the body recharge. The nature of those 5x/week sessions determines what kind of rest/recovery would be needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't &lt;em&gt;bear&lt;/em&gt; to be inactive for a week (I can't), do &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; low-intensity trots, or just walk briskly--your body will thank you, and you might be surprised at how you feel when you start up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-10-30T19:41:24.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4405" CreationDate="2011-10-30T19:42:39.353" Score="6" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many eggs is acceptable to be eaten for a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I have a little bit of extra cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2259" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-10-31T13:43:23.780" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T08:18:55.840" Title="How many eggs is acceptable to be eaten for a day?" Tags="&lt;cholesterol&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T17:52:48.040" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-10-30T21:39:35.923" Score="2" ViewCount="4632" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the long story put short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to be (2 years ago) really big (13 stones at the age of 15) but now I've like completely lost it all (weigh 11 stone at 17). The thing is, I didn't lose it the right way, i starved myself instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still look really fat (undressed) and I think it's because I'm not toned. I still have love handles and man boobs. My arms are really skinny, but thats because they get allot of exercise (LOL). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still not eating much but according to my doctor, it's a healthy amount (over 1200 cals/day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I think I'm still in starvation mode because i try to exercise so hard but i never see any results. I bike for 3 hours in the morning everyday, do 400 situps, and lots of planks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My body is still the same, with some excess skin (I had loads of excess skin before but most of its gone now) but i still have man boobs, love handles and girls upper legs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is it even possible to tone up in starvation mode? has starvation mode got anything to do with this issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2260" LastEditorDisplayName="user2260" LastEditDate="2012-02-20T14:29:47.087" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T14:29:47.087" Title="is it possible to tone up even in starvation mode?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4399" CreationDate="2011-10-31T00:56:48.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a real chance you're over-training, and you're not doing mass-specific exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider starting a low-key lifting program, 3-4 days a week and reducing the amount of biking you're doing (&lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; if you're seriously doing it every day). If you're cycling with any effort, (12-14mph/7-9kph) you're already burning a &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt; chunk of that 1200 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your doctor can run some fairly simple tests to see if you're in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ketosis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-10-31T00:56:48.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4398" CreationDate="2011-10-31T13:12:16.347" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can eat as many eggs as you want, as long as you eat other kinds of food as well to balance out your diet. Here's why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eggs contain a substantial amount of cholesterol. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unisci.com/stories/20014/1029013.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;as you can read here&lt;/a&gt;, a substance called lecithin in the eggs inhibits the absorption of cholesterol, so most of the cholesterol in the egg will not be taken up by your body. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Actually, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18575296&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;eating eggs will increase only &quot;good&quot; HDL cholesterol, and has no effect on &quot;bad&quot; LDL cholesterol&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17092383&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; explicitly states that people who eat lots of eggs are less likely to have elevated cholesterol. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20598142&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's yet another study&lt;/a&gt; which says that eating eggs will not increase cholesterol or risk for heart disease. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11023007&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;And here's another one.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15640512&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a review&lt;/a&gt; which comes to the same conclusion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could give you more studies, but I think you get the point. The notion that eggs are bad for your cholesterol is &lt;strong&gt;simply false&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion: Eat all the eggs you want!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-10-31T13:22:01.140" LastActivityDate="2011-10-31T13:22:01.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4391" CreationDate="2011-10-31T14:42:28.217" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain in the lower leg muscles and tendons is very common among beginners who start to run. The reason is that your muscles are not yet adapted to running, meaning there are specific muscles which are either too short or too weak in relation to the others. This imbalance causes excess tension on these muscles and can result in injury if you keep running anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my own experience (I've had the same problems), these issues will disappear completely if you keep trying to run until you feel the pain, rest for a couple of days, try again, and so on. After a few weeks the pain will disappear for good. Your muscles will adapt to the motions automatically. Just make sure you don't injure them, do not ignore the pain, and don't wait until it becomes literally impossible to continue. Once the pain can be felt clearly, you have given your muscles more than enough of an impulse to adapt while you rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to speed up the process, there are lots of strengthening and stretching exercises you could do to build muscles selectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20200109214516/http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_5/196.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Cool Running | Lower Leg Pain&quot;&gt;Here's a good overview&lt;/a&gt; of different kinds of leg pain from running, including yours, and what you can do about them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="35276" LastEditDate="2021-05-05T18:31:15.887" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T18:31:15.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4378" CreationDate="2011-10-31T15:02:01.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If weight training is an option for you, there are lots of exercises, for example pullups, deadlifts, and barbell rows which involve gripping a long barbell and are an appropriate challenge for your hand muscles. The advantage to this is that you train your overall strength at the same time as your grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like weight training, you could simply get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grippers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gripper&lt;/a&gt; and use it regularly to train your left hand in isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there are hundreds of other exercises for grip strength, but those two approaches are the ones I would recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-10-31T15:02:01.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4399" CreationDate="2011-10-31T15:23:53.033" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;8 stone (50 kg) at age 17 is extremely skinny. You should make sure to put on weight immediately. Also, 1200 calories per day is not healthy for a 17 year old male. At that age I ate 3000 calories per day, and I didn't do any exercise. I was still skinny (60 kg).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get &quot;out of starvation mode&quot; and gain muscles, you obviously have to eat more. Gaining muscle is impossible if you don't eat more. If you're really eating 1200 kcal/day, you can easily eat double of what you're eating now, at the very least. Make sure your diet is balanced however.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You have clearly fallen into the cardio trap where you think that insane amounts of cardio are the best way to reduce fat. The truth is &lt;strong&gt;short&lt;/strong&gt; bouts of high-intensity exercise (&lt;strong&gt;high-intensity interval training&lt;/strong&gt;) are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/&quot;&gt;more effective way of reducing fat&lt;/a&gt;, even though they burn less calories. It's also a more healthy form of exercise. Increase intensity, not duration. Read up on it, it may change your life.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Countless hours of cardio every day will only wear out your body, with no positive effects whatsoever. Go biking if you like to, but unless it's high-intensity (meaning you push yourself to the limit) consider it leisure time, not the path towards better health.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start training with heavy weights. Strength training (few reps, lots of weight) will change your hormone levels and metabolism and will make you gain muscles. 400 situps per day will not, it's a complete waste of time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-10-31T15:23:53.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4378" CreationDate="2011-10-31T15:26:05.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull-ups and chin-ups&lt;/strong&gt; are simple, hard to mess up, and good for grip strength. If you can't do one pull-up but have access to an assisted pull-up machine, use that. Or as VPeric suggests below, just hang from the bar--this will train your grip. You can make the grip harder by doing pull-ups from a towel or a towel-wrapped bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt; take more effort to learn, but are good for grip as well as overall strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Berin's answer reminded me that &lt;strong&gt;farmer's walks&lt;/strong&gt; are very productive: you take a heavy weight in each hand and see how far you can walk before you have to put it down. If you walk too far, the weight should be heavier. (Doing it with just one hand is called a suitcase walk.) The next time, you try to walk further, or use a heavier weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;squeeze-ball&lt;/strong&gt; would be fine to do remedial work on that hand, but I would recommend moving up to more complete exercises (e.g. pull-ups, deadlifts) as soon as possible. I would take care to restore full range of motion in the wrist as well, but that's better left to medical or physical-therapy experts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-11T17:06:10.830" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T17:06:10.830" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4394" CreationDate="2011-10-31T16:16:52.403" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know your situation very well. I'm 24 yrs old, height 5'11&quot;, and 2 months ago my weight was 63kg. Today it's 72kg, with zero fat gain. So I gained about 1kg of muscle per week. Before that I've tried gaining muscle many times, and failed just like you. People told me to simply be patient, but they were wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to the gym &lt;strong&gt;2 times&lt;/strong&gt; a week, for &lt;strong&gt;30-45 minutes&lt;/strong&gt; at a time. I'm still skinny, but not quite as much. So what did I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've learned that &quot;trying to eat more&quot; is simply not enough. It seems tiresome, but you actually have to calculate how many calories you get, and perhaps even how much protein, carbs and fat, and then start to tune it. Personally, I had to eat &lt;strong&gt;double&lt;/strong&gt; what I'd normally eat to start gaining. If you notice you're gaining fat, do some HIIT (high-intensity interval training) in addition to the lifting. Don't do cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you simply don't have enough appetite to eat what you should eat, you're probably not working out intensely enough. Working out will stimulate your appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The best thing I've ever done in terms of nutrition is get a weight gainer. Specifically, I recommend Weider Mega Mass 4000, one or two portions per day for the likes of us. That way, I'm consuming a total of 3500 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is more controversial, but I've experienced that fewer reps lead to higher gains. Even as few as 4-6 reps per set, but with very heavy weight obviously. Make sure that you actually work your muscles to exhaustion, do not just stimulate but overstimulate them. Also, slower movements lead to more gains than faster movements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In any case, your muscles should be sore the next day. Not necessarily burning like hell, but still sore. If you don't feel anything, you're doing it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Track your weight every morning (before breakfast) in an Excel sheet so you know whether or not you're on the right track.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I recommend exercises that work out large muscle groups, such as pullups, squats, deadlifts, bench presses, as opposed to exercises which focus on individual muscles. You simply get more bang for your buck that way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-10-31T16:32:29.180" LastActivityDate="2011-10-31T16:32:29.180" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4417" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4422" CreationDate="2011-11-01T00:48:06.980" Score="-2" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while back I used to take a pill called Stacker 2 a herbal supplement with ephedra. I found it gave me a lot of energy and helped me lose a significant amount of weight. There was a while  after a football player who abused Epedra  died of a heart attack and there a knee jerk response to this players irresponsibility it became illegal. Then a year later it became legal again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering is there an equivalent Herbal supplementation available with ephedra on the market currently or did Stacker 2 reintroduce ephedra back into the formula again after removing with the change of the law, or does anyone have any other supplementation that does the same trick that some one could provide with info with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:47:02.130" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:47:02.130" Title="Ephedra diet pill availability" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-01-18T20:39:55.187" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-01T01:47:47.063" Score="2" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 77 kg guy. I used to be a scrawny 52 kg guy before I began 5x5 workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the weight gain process, I didn't care much about the associated fat gain. I was getting stronger and looking better so I wasn't concerned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, now I would like to lose some of that fat but also continue to gain or at least maintain the muscle/strength I have. I want to stay at 75. I am looking at the calories and I am confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose I am about 10% fat and supposing I maintain my workout intensity, please tell me which of the diet plans to adopt and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet A. Consume calories for 75 kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet B. Consume calories for 65 kg ( rounding off lean body mass) , and recover the lost ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2267" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-11-01T14:30:59.413" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T20:07:51.547" Title="Calorie consumption dilemma: strength vs fat loss" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4418" CreationDate="2011-11-01T12:09:20.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dilemma is that it's very hard to gain muscle and reduce fat at the same time. Most people choose to improve their body in cycles, gaining weight for a while, then cutting fat for a while, then starting over, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I have found that &lt;strong&gt;high-intensity interval training&lt;/strong&gt; is a great way to reduce fat while gaining muscle at the same time. It has been &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proven to be more effective&lt;/a&gt; for fat loss than moderate-intensity exercise (cardio), even though it burns fewer calories. There is no general consensus as to why this is the case, but it has been confirmed over and over. The difference in fat loss between cardio and HIIT is so dramatic that it makes you wonder how many people are wasting their time on treadmills at this very moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, if I were you, I'd try to continue eating as you did before (assuming your nutrition is well balanced), and start doing some HIIT between your workout sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-01T12:15:16.400" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T12:15:16.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4417" CreationDate="2011-11-01T12:19:27.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quote from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;On August 17, 2006, the Appeals Court upheld the FDA's ban of ephedra, finding that the 133,000 page administrative record compiled by the FDA supported the agency's finding that ephedra posed an unreasonable risk to consumers. Nutraceutical Corp. filed a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking a rehearing on the ban of ephedra; however, on May 14, 2007 the United States Supreme Court declined to hear this petition. &lt;strong&gt;The sale of ephedra-containing dietary supplements remains illegal in the United States.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry bro. The effective ingredient of ephedra, ephedrine, is available in pharmacies on prescription, but if you go there you might as well get amphetamines or Ritalin...I suggest you let it go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T12:19:27.427" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4342" CreationDate="2011-11-01T13:53:32.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should spread them out over the whole day. Too much magnesium at one time may result in diarrhea, and if you distribute it over the day your body will take up more of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind though that magnesium comes in many different forms, and there are differences between those forms. Generally the organic compounds, such as magnesium citrate, are much more effective than the inorganic forms, such as magnesium oxide. The magnesium you can buy at the supermarket is often in oxide form, and won't help you much. If nothing is specified on the package, it's probably oxide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the newer forms of magnesium is the time-released form, such as the one offered by Jigsaw Health. The advantage to this is that your body will take up a much greater share of it, and you have a lesser risk of diarrhea. It's also more expensive though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final remark, I recommend having your magnesium levels tested, both serum levels and RBC levels, to check what your magnesium status is. If there is zero evidence of deficiency, it's quite pointless to take magnesium supplements in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T13:53:32.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-11-01T14:52:09.567" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll write about barefoot training and my college career.  I'm a few years out of college now and planning on getting back into shape, but my college training makes a nice, compact case study.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The barefoot/shod dichotomy is mixed up with hard/soft surfaces one in my training history.  I once ran just two miles barefoot on the roads.  Shortly after that I learned I had a metatarsal stress fracture.  I don't know for sure that that one run caused it, but it scared me enough that I refused to run barefoot on anything harder than dirt.  I would run barefoot whenever I was running on something soft, then put on shoes when I ran on something hard.  Because of this, I can't say that barefoot is the key factor in what I'm about to describe, as compared to simply soft surfaces in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First a short back story, then barefoot vs. shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran in DIII, so I was a competitive runner, but not at a high level.  I mostly trained around 60 - 70 miles per week when things were going well.  I improved consistently; my 5000m times were&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frosh: DNR (4:32 1500m) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soph: ~16:20 or so &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Junior: 15:46 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Senior: 15:28 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5th year: 15:21&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I improved, but I was also consistently injured.  I had to take between two weeks and three months off over and over again.  I'd cross train in the swimming pool or on the bike, then return to training and competition when I was mostly-healed.  I spent at least a third of my time injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching for a possible cure, I started running barefoot in the summer after my freshman year, motivated by reading online message boards (this was well before &lt;em&gt;Born to Run&lt;/em&gt;) and talking with my running mentor.  I began with short barefoot jogs on grass at a nearby park.  The main thing I noticed at first was that my calves were consistently sore after barefoot runs.  However, each week I could run a little further, and within three months I could do full, ten-mile runs barefoot without any soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that point on, I alternated between barefoot and shod running.  I preferred barefoot running because I liked the feel of the contact with the ground and the lightness of my feet.  I also came to believe that it was better for me in terms of injuries, so I tried to run barefoot when I could.  Since my school was very small and much more academically-focused than athletically-focused, our team was fairly loosely-organized, and the coaches gave me a lot of liberty to train the way I wanted.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, my teammates and friends only occasionally wanted to run laps around the field with me, and I did not want to run barefoot any other way.   So, in order to run with my friends and train with my team, I would eventually decide that running in shoes was fine, then lace them up and go off running on the roads.  Then I would get hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A litany of my injuries includes achilles tendinitis, groin strain, ITB syndrome, metatarsal stress fracture, tibial stress fracture, unexplained foot pain, and maybe some minor ones I'm forgetting.  It was actually a pretty consistent pattern - each major injury I suffered came after a period where I started doing more running on roads in shoes.  I came to associate all hard surfaces with imminent danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I say it was a consistent pattern, it would be more accurate to phrase it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believed strongly that running on soft surfaces was much better for&#xA;  me.  This belief was mostly built on personal anecdote, personal&#xA;  observation, and considerable bias based on the prevailing attitude&#xA;  among my running friends and reading articles and message boards&#xA;  online.  Because of this belief, I have a strong bias when examining&#xA;  my own training logs.  Yes, I can see a pattern when I look at my&#xA;  training logs.  And yes, despite acknowledging my own bias, I still&#xA;  believe I am correct - running on roads and other hard surfaces is&#xA;  much worse for me than running on trails or grass fields.  But since I&#xA;  mixed both forms of running day in and day out, and because injuries&#xA;  form over long periods of time, I cannot unambiguously extricate the&#xA;  two forms' separate influence on me.  I do not &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; that running barefoot on&#xA;  soft surfaces is better, but nonetheless I will swear it.  While I&#xA;  acknowledge the irrationality of this position, it is simply how I feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made no attempt to run slowly while going barefoot.  I ran lots of barefoot striders across the fields, sometimes sprinting all out.  In fact it is a common practice among high school and college cross country runners to run their normal daily run in shoes, then finish with barefoot striders across a field; I've seen people doing it all across the country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was my fittest, in my fifth year, I would run most days barefoot, going at a comfortable speed, then wrapping up the pace to something fast in the last couple miles of the run as long as I felt good.  I would run up to about 90 minutes this way.  To be specific, &quot;a comfortable speed&quot; back then meant about 7:00/mi on the slow side and 6:20/mi on the fast side.  &quot;Wrapping up the pace&quot; over the last bit meant I might run that last two miles in 11:00 or 10:30 for a long run.  So I had no qualms about running fairly fast while barefoot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then one or two days a week I would run harder workouts in shoes on the track or on a 1.5 mile trail nearby.  That, with a little gym work, was the entirety of my training.  There were no hills, no plyos, etc.  I don't deny those things are useful training tools, but with just barefoot aerobic running and some straightforward speedwork, I got very fit compared to the rest of my college career, in which I employed more diverse training.  (Despite this fitness, I raced only a few seconds faster that year than I did when still on the team, which is part of why I want to get back into that kind of shape and hit some good times again.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the difference was that I stayed healthy for about eight straight months that fifth year, which was rare for me.  Consistent training beats intense training, and I came to believe that running the majority of my miles barefoot on the grass protected me from the pounding my body would otherwise have taken on the roads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, several years later, I am working on getting back into shape.  I run on soft surfaces, sometimes in light shoes and sometimes barefoot depending on the venue.  So there's my barefoot story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have two more anecdotes, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First:&#xA;Two years ago I was living in Berkeley, so I went to see a big track meet the school was hosting.  Afterwards, I went to the baseball field behind the track to do some barefoot jogging.  A guy came out and started setting up hurdles for drills.  When I got close, I realized it was Olympian Bolota Asmerom.  I helped him set up the hurdles to have a chance to talk to him for a couple minutes.  He commented on me running barefoot and said, &quot;Hey, have you checked out those new shoes?  The Vibrams?  They're pretty sweet.&quot;  So there's one endorsement for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second:&#xA;While I was an undergrad, there were two grad students who would occasionally come run with us.  They were brothers and both good athletes.  One had been a highly-successful prep runner and gone on to compete in DI as a collegian.  The other converted to running from college baseball after graduation.  They were hardcore into barefoot running, and would happily run barefoot anywhere.  One year on Thanksgiving they ran a 30-some mile route to the beach barefoot through the streets and sidewalks of Los Angeles.  They were both big guys, too, maybe 180 pounds each.  They told me that if you just look where you're going you probably won't step on much glass.  I guess some people can pull off any sort of barefoot.  They never converted me to barefoot running on the roads, even though they frequently offered to take me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They started marathon training sometime around the beginning of my senior year.  These guys were both pretty big jokers, a bit on the crazy side, although perhaps not as extreme as the young couple in &lt;em&gt;Born to Run&lt;/em&gt;. (One of them did go on about the barefoot chapter in that book for half an hour during a barefoot run around the infield of the track.)  I didn't think they were taking their marathon training too seriously; they were both grad students and therefore had little free time.  Neither of them were on teams any more.  They were just a couple of laid-back guys who loved being a bit eccentric and enjoying life.  Sure, when I saw them run, they were still running real workouts and all, but I figured they probably weren't putting in the same time and energy they used to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, having not run into them for a few weeks, someone linked me to a news story online.  It was from the local paper where their marathon was.  It featured a picture of the older brother, six-foot-two with a giant golden afro, hammering down main street through this town.  Both barefoot, they had gone 1-2 in the marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="904" LastEditorUserId="904" LastEditDate="2011-11-01T14:59:02.100" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T14:59:02.100" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4393" CreationDate="2011-11-01T15:26:03.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different plans and different trainers will make a rest week mean different things. Plus they also can mean different things based on what you just accomplished. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rest week during training for me is dropping my mileage by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/107.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10-20%&lt;/a&gt; and running at a slower pace. I might end up taking longer walks with the dog/family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rest week after a long race [marathon/ultra] is to not run, but normally walk. Hal Higdon has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/postmarathon/zeroweek0.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plan&lt;/a&gt; for that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest week is basically time for your body to recover, you put your muscles through a lot and they need time to rebuild. Some freaks can run without rests, look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/107.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mike Wardian&lt;/a&gt; who ran a 50 miler [5h 33min] two weeks ago and just finished 2nd at a marathon on Sunday [2h 23min].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T15:26:03.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4418" CreationDate="2011-11-01T20:07:51.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Step 1: make sure you are still eating 1g protein per pound body weight.  Without this, you won't be able to rebuild your muscles after lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 2: take what you are currently doing and reduce the calories 10%.  If you get no change after a week or two, reduce another 10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This focuses strictly on your diet, maintaining the protein you need and limiting the other macro nutrients as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people do well with intermittent fasting, which doesn't necessarily change the overall Calorie intake; but does change the feeding window.  If you consume all your Calories in an 8 hour window, and fast for 16 hours, you will tend to burn more fat than spreading those calories throughout the day.  Combined with a 10% reduction in Calories can also work wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to focus on small changes to get the results you want.  The same approach can be used to find the maintenance Calories you need, or bulking Calories.  Simply make your adjustments to your diet in 10-15% increments, all the time maintaining your Protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-01T20:07:51.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-02T05:55:53.083" Score="-1" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions for Herbal supplementation for weight loss that they have found to work for you personally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T22:47:26.013" Title="Suggestions for Supplementation for weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-03-31T04:58:57.850" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4437" CreationDate="2011-11-02T08:08:19.573" Score="9" ViewCount="37326" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know is it worth doing both Yoga and Bodybuilding on the same day regularly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastEditorUserId="2272" LastEditDate="2011-11-02T17:58:50.873" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T04:55:43.513" Title="Can both Yoga and Bodybuilding be done on same day?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4436" CreationDate="2011-11-02T08:14:42.000" Score="3" ViewCount="5306" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please tell me whether is it necessary to eat supplements for a bodybuilder. Abs and Muscles etc, can it build as fast as when supplements are taken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-11-02T08:55:23.793" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T10:07:51.933" Title="Is it necessary to eat supplements for Bodybuilding?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4435" CreationDate="2011-11-02T13:16:48.003" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a very specific question, it's basically like asking whether it's necessary to wear running shoes to run a marathon.. the answer is no, but it's a lot harder with leather boots, and even harder without shoes. Unless you can't afford the running shoes, or you made some sort of silly bet, there's really no point in going barefoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, understand that bodybuilding supplements a not one generic product; &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt; is a very broad term that includes many different substances, all of which have unique features. Some supplements are effective, some of them are a waste of money, but talking about &lt;em&gt;supplements&lt;/em&gt; in general does not make a lot of sense. It's like asking whether food needs spices. Well, no, not necessarily, but so what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question though, it's definitely possible to build muscle as a bodybuilder without any supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, if you take supplements to mean &lt;strong&gt;steroids&lt;/strong&gt; and such, these are definitely not necessary, and are in fact dangerous. The notion that all or most bodybuilders take steroids is a myth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, if you take supplements to mean &lt;strong&gt;protein shakes&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;weight gainers&lt;/strong&gt;, and so on, the reason these are useful is they allow you to consume a lot of nutrients very efficiently. They save you time since you have to prepare less food, and it takes less time to consume them. They also enable you to eat more than your appetite would allow. They contain the same nutrients as actual food, only in concentrated and properly balanced form. There is nothing inferior about them compared to actual food; eating &quot;natural food&quot; is not invariably better for your body, although many people falsely think so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to gain muscle without protein shakes, weight gainers, and all the other stuff that falls into the category of &quot;food replacement&quot;? Well, yes, of course. But you'll have to stand in the kitchen all the time (or have someone do it for you), prepare truckloads of food, and spend a lot of time eating every day. Often it will be hard to get all that food inside you, especially at the beginning. Instead of quickly gulping down a vanilla-flavored drink, you'll have a big heap of chicken and rice in front of you. But no, it's not impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, if you take &lt;em&gt;supplements&lt;/em&gt; to mean creatine monohydrate, L-carnitine, fatty acid supplements and all those other fancy products, they are by no means necessary. All these do is give you a slight edge, if that. They are as necessary as the runner's sweatband, or the garlic in your food. Some swear by them, but everyone agrees you can live without them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T13:16:48.003" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2011-11-02T13:33:02.827" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, yoga and bodybuilding can be done on the same day. Yoga is a specific form of low-intensity exercise and its benefits are thought to arise from the exercise component as well as stress reduction. Unless your bodybuilding session is so intense that you can barely move, I don't see why you shouldn't do Yoga. Since Yoga exercises are generally of low intensity, it won't have too much of an effect on your muscles or metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T13:33:02.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4378" CreationDate="2011-11-02T14:01:28.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hulsestrength.com/hex-dumbbell-hold-grip-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A simple grip exercise&lt;/a&gt; is to grab a dumbbell or a weight plate and hold it until you can't any more.  The setup is important, as you need to use a pinch grip rather than wrapping your fingers around the edges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hex dumbbell:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OK5kp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;20lb hex dumbbell&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you would grab it by one of the weighted ends, but don't let your thumb or fingers use the lettering as a grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can hold the weight for 2 minutes straight, increase the weight.  If not, keep at that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T14:01:28.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4443" CreationDate="2011-11-02T15:25:09.677" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;My better half has struggled her whole life with weight... She was almost 300 pounds at one point and busted her arse to get down to 240, and now due to some health issues her Mom is having, she's creeping back up. Also, she currently she works 50+ hours a week, and for atleast a couple months more she will be taking care of Mom leading up to (and after) kidney replacement surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After watching shows like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aetv.com/heavy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Heavy&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Biggest Loser&lt;/a&gt; I'm left wondering if their are any services like that for &quot;normal&quot; people or how one would go about signing up for a show like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm more interested in a show like Heavy, where the person is put into a controlled environment for a month or more while they get trained on new eating and exercising habits. I would love to get her out of her work environment and into a &quot;retreat&quot; type situation, with trainers and diet... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being on Heavy (or similar) would be awesome, but I know odds are against getting on a show like that, so I'm looking for something more realistic and hopefully affordable. I'm looking to consider anything from hiring a trainer for a couple hours a week up to a full fledged experience like Heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in southern Delaware. Once we are 100% out of debt and her mom is healthy (early next yearish), I want to know what options would be available for something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="956" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T21:41:21.027" Title="&quot;Heavy&quot; type Services and Programs" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4387" CreationDate="2011-11-02T17:41:37.507" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tracking your progress is one of the best ways to motivate change. Photos are great for showing long term changes (try some of the short term suggestions below as well). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.teambeachbody.com/home/-/dl_get_file/64608566-0952-4f84-8d92-3dcf82a31d23&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are the photo suggestions/guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“BEFORE” AND “AFTER” PHOTOS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear a swimsuit, underwear, or something comparable so you can see where you need the work, and where you’re making progress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a plain background if possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a few front shots (hands on hips, “biceps flex” muscle pose), a few side shots (hands &#xA;at sides), and a few back shots (hands on hips, “biceps flex” muscle pose).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don’t suck it in or push it out. You want a true reflection of your body’s appearance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat this process every 2-3 months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest tracking your exercise progress regardless of what your routine is. For example, if you are strength training keep track of weight/rep/exercise during each workout. You could also do this with Pilates by tracking each exercise and times along with notes on how difficult it was for you. The less subjective you can be the better. This is the best way to realize gains from week to week and can serve as a great motivator. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, track your FAT loss by using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/body-fat-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body fat calculator&lt;/a&gt;. All you need is a scale and a cheap skinfold caliper. This is the best way to determine your body composition which is what you are most interested in. During your progress you may actually gain weight but remember that muscle is denser than fat and you may have still lost fat while gaining muscle improving your overall appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2274" LastEditorUserId="2274" LastEditDate="2011-11-07T17:35:01.123" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T17:35:01.123" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4442" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4464" CreationDate="2011-11-02T18:17:51.287" Score="2" ViewCount="1010" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read somewhere and heard from so many friends and people that if we leave bodybuilding after certain years it might bulge or body and etc. Is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-03T21:15:17.597" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T21:15:17.597" Title="Leaving Bodybuilding after some years may cause bulging of the body?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4439" CreationDate="2011-11-02T18:47:40.637" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are definitely services like the one you described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There are 2 issues though:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1.They are extremely expensive and ridiculously &lt;em&gt;overpriced&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example one of the ones I found is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hhhealth.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hilton Head Health which&lt;/a&gt; was used on the show Heavy costs $350 for one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Their 28 day program costs $12,000.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a disclaimer from the mentioned resort:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: Those featured on A&amp;amp;E's HEAVY docudrama resided at H3 for 6&#xA;consecutive months.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which would cost you &lt;strong&gt;$81,600&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what you would be paying for specifically&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Individual Consultation with Wellness Counselor (every other week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small Group Support and Fitness Sessions (2‐3 per week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90 minute Initial Coaching Session&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week goals discussion with a coach (Every week -starts 3rd week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Introduction to Online Food and Exercise Journaling (Seems like a&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;group class&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hands‐On Cooking Session with Chef (2 ½ Hour session) &lt;strong&gt;(Group class)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So a 6 week program would include:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 consultations with counselor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12-18 group classes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 x 90 minute training personal training session&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weekly goal discussions with a couch (I estimate like 20 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 Group class about exercise and diet logging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2.5 hour cooking class&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Total: $20,000&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;====================&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What you can get for &lt;strong&gt;$20,000&lt;/strong&gt; on your own:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 hours of cooking classes at $25/hour ($2500)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 hours of personal training (&lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; group sessions) at $30/hour ($3000)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50 hours of psych sessions at $100/hour ($5000)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 years of Gym membership for group classes/equipment at $50/month ($3000)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 year of healthy groceries $500/month ($6000)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Total: $19500&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope now you can see how you are paying like 100000% just because it's a 'resort'. You will get infinitely more value if you bought the services yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2.Their effectiveness is extremely questionable&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only watched several episodes of Heavy but I do remember seeing contestants relapse and go back to their habits the moment they go back home. Gaining dozens of pounds back.&#xA;This isn't surprising since:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Being fat is not the problem, it's a symptom of a problem.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physorg.com/news94906931.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;One study of dieting obese patients followed them for varying lengths&#xA;of time. Among those who were followed for fewer than two years, 23&#xA;percent gained back more weight than they had lost, while of those who&#xA;were followed for at least two years, 83 percent gained back more&#xA;weight than they had lost&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing fat isn't the solution. People lose fat all the time, it's akin to the Mark Twain quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thinkexist.com/quotation/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds/348623.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Its easy to [lose fat], I've done it hundreds of times -- &lt;strong&gt;Mark Twain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to lose fat in a sustainable way is to change your habits and behavior. Diet isn't the answer because it's temporary. What do you do after you finished your Atkins regiment? Go back to how you used to eat and gain all the weight back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this means you have to address your immediate environment and behavior in everyday life. Not be in an artificial and alien environment where you don't have stress, food is catered to you, and your entire day is structured and restricted. Sure you learn how to do better in a fat loss resort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But you do not live in a fatloss resort.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Forgot the fantasy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Television is television. It's not real. Make your own retreat. Have your SO take a 12 week break from work and start structuring her lifestyle so that she can lose fat. If she can't do it at home, she can't do it anywhere. Only then you won't be further &lt;strong&gt;$40,000 in debt.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Here's how you can actually help&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop spending your money and start spending your time. People love to buy products and try to just throw their credit cards at their problems. &lt;strong&gt;That doesn't work&lt;/strong&gt;. Spend time with your SO and help her establish better habits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you both have good sleeping habits. 8 hours a night minimum -sleep before 11pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walk with your SO every day. Doesn't matter how long, just go and walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cook and prepare your own meals. Find 20-30 minutes everyday to prepare meals for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do NOT buy any junk or processed food. Yeah it's easy but it's also robbing years from you and your SO's lifespan and life quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Motivate your SO to stay on track and positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get her a gym membership AND go with her. Set a schedule and go exercise. Take exercise classes, do yoga, go on the elliptical just do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stop wasting time. There is 168 hours in a week. Lets say 50 hours of work and 56 hours of sleep (8 hours/day). That leaves you with 62 hours - 8.8 hours a day! You are wasting a lot of time that can be spent exercising/cooking/improving your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T18:47:40.637" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4450" CreationDate="2011-11-02T18:52:47.077" Score="8" ViewCount="1516" Body="&lt;p&gt;Six to eight hours per day is the average amount of sleep a person needs. That's about one-third of a lifetime! As a population, we sleep about 1 to 1.5 hours less than we did 100 years ago. Scientists say that sleeping 7 – 8 hours a day is normal. If you sleep less, your health can suffer. Sleep requirements vary from person to person and some people are naturally short or long sleepers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of reasons to sleep and there are many people who sleep/slept less than 4 hours a day. Is this a myth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can happen if a person tries to develop a habit of sleeping less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-11-03T00:42:27.707" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T00:42:27.707" Title="Sleeping less than 4 hours a day?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4433" CreationDate="2011-11-02T19:00:02.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;STOP&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do not search for any supplements to lose weight. Alter your diet and exercise. Taking supplements to lose weight is taking the easy way out, and it's &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; the solution for your problem. It will only cost you a lot of money and &lt;em&gt;won't work in the long term&lt;/em&gt;. Most of the time these supplements are unhealthy because they contain a lot of caffeine or ephedrine. These herbal supplements cost a lot of money, and the only goal is to sell them on a short term. You will not lose weight over a long period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;START&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Instead of looking for supplementation to lose weight, start looking for real food.&#xA;I'm a big fan of the Paleo approach. In this approch you lose weight by doing very little exercise (compared to conventional methods) and eating natural, real food. I would strongly advise you to give it a try. A lot of my clients lost tons of weight eating and exercising Paleo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCFZoqmKf5M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;introductory Paleo video&lt;/a&gt; on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more info about this approach please check out these websites and books:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thepaleodiet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thepaleodiet.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dietdoctor.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dietdoctor.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/2011/08/11/big-fat-blog-post-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://robbwolf.com/2011/08/11/big-fat-blog-post-2/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-11-03T03:52:20.347" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T03:52:20.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4458" CreationDate="2011-11-02T19:04:54.963" Score="5" ViewCount="994" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you determine when you move from beginner to intermediate to advanced levels in strength training?  What are some indicators?  I'm assuming it's not how much weight is lifted, since that changes per person or overall length of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-11-03T04:11:32.727" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T14:23:13.380" Title="How do you know your overall strength/lifting level?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4444" CreationDate="2011-11-02T19:09:32.073" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quora.com/Sleep/Why-do-we-sleep&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is a very good answer on the effects and theories on the purpose of sleep.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some interesting tidbits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evidence is accumulating that complex nervous systems, and especially&#xA;the brain, perform and benefit from internal maintenance activities.&#xA;Some of these maintenance activities, such as &amp;quot;synaptic network&#xA;stabilization&amp;quot; occur at the cellular level. Others, such as memory&#xA;consolidation or the proposed memory transfer between brain areas,&#xA;occur at the whole brain level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Theorized uses of sleep&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restoring neurons biochemically&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rescaling the connection strengths of&#xA;synapses in the brain's neural networks to facilitate easier learning&#xA;the next day. This might include rewiring activity (growing synapses).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consolidating (reorganizing and restructuring) memories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transferring memories from the memory-specialized fast-learning brain&#xA;area (the hippocampus) to the higher-capacity more cognitively&#xA;powerful area (the cerebral cortex)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=9650707576612863128&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;At the whole animal behavioural level, the functions of sleep seem&#xA;clear: energy is saved, performance is restored and (in humans) affect&#xA;becomes more positive. Such findings have led to the universal&#xA;acknowledgement that sleep restores brain function.&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience sleep is essential for focus, productivity, muscular and skeletal system recovery, memory, energy levels, mood and a lot others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of different sleep methods from just reducing sleep time to doing sleep intervals (Taking 30 minute naps every 2-3 hours I think). I haven't seen any supporting claims that these methods do work for a significant part of the population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to start with the accepted approach: Sleeping ~8 hours at night time. I personally recommend not sleeping later than 11pm. Evaluate how you respond to that schedule and then start making modifications and see how you react to it. That way you can objectively determine what sleep pattern works the best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to make small adjustments, giving your body enough time to adjust to the new sleep schedule, and record as objective data as possible such as mood/energy levels/focus etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T19:09:32.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4399" CreationDate="2011-11-02T20:09:12.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Toning up doesn't exist. Also starvation mode doesn't exist. They are both mainstream concepts that vary in definition and include a wide range of different ideas. Your metabolism is crawling right now though because you are severely under-eating and things will only get worse if you don't make sensible changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are trying to do is improve your body composition i.e &lt;strong&gt;Gain muscle; Lose fat&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't know how severely underweight you are since I don't know your height, but what is clear is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You are underweight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let that sink in a bit. So having established that it's clear you DO NOT need to lose weight. Instead you want to develop a physique, such as the gentleman below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/34Z2K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Toned look&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This guy looks like he's 5'7 and around 140-145lbs. So set that a goal similar to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the reason why you think you look &lt;em&gt;fat&lt;/em&gt; is because your muscle mass is so low. The picture below shows a male who is probably around 120lbs or less yet you can't see any Abdominal definition or definition in the rest of his body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mrlXV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Skinny guy&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here's the thing:&lt;/strong&gt; The &lt;em&gt;toned&lt;/em&gt; look is a combination of having high muscle mass AND low bodyfat. If you have low bodyfat AND low muscle mass you end up looking like a starved person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start increasing your caloric intake which will lead to your metabolism revving up. This will lead to better hormone production (Which means more fatloss/muscle gain), muscle gain, and muscle size increase (Your muscles will be filled with glycogen -fuel- which makes them bigger).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend slowly ramping up your calories. Start by ramping up to &lt;strong&gt;maintenance&lt;/strong&gt;. Keep that for 1-2 weeks and then you can add calories on top of that if you want to gain muscle faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how you figure out your &lt;strong&gt;caloric maintenance level&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Calculate your BMR&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Multiply your BMR by an activity multiplier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a caloric surplus (500-700 calories for example) to speed up muscle gain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;A note about weight and increase calories&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start eating at maintenance your body WILL gain weight. That's purely water weight, glycogen, and food in your stomach. It's temporary and essential. Think of it as your body putting up scaffolding to do some repairs. The water levels WILL go down within a week or two and you will end up looking significantly better. For a detailed explanation on this see my &lt;a href=&quot;http://theswole.com/concept/water-scale-weight-fluctuations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Water &amp;amp; Scale weight article&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;Make sure to keep exercising and look into resistance training as that's the best way to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T20:09:12.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4439" CreationDate="2011-11-02T21:00:54.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mike has clearly laid out great reasons why an external solution is probably not a good idea unless you are rich. I would add that there has never been clinical proof that following any diet will result in long-term weight loss, so anything you do will likely be a waste of money. However, it makes sense, and I have seen anecdotally, that sustained weight loss is possible with permanent lifestyle change. The great difficulty, is that permanent change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what your exact circumstances are, but most people are too busy to make the kind of changes that are necessary. Sleep, exercise, and cooking take a great deal of time. Exercising for one hour often involves travel time + a shower + rest. (I give 2.5 hours to my 1 hour crossfit work out). Cooking healthy food that you enjoy involves going to the store, planning, and cooking (I have cooked professionally, and still spend at least 1 hour a day cooking 3 fast meals. If I want something interesting, that easily goes up to 2 hours). Now you throw in caring for a sick family member, and finding time to do the things you need to do starts to look out of reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to bootcamp, or even taking some time off of work does not solve this problem. I believe you have to set up your entire life to make that time available. This may mean moving closer to work, changing to a job that does not require as much time, and giving up hobbies and other responsibilities. If you are rushed during a usual day, you do not have a sustainable lifestyle, and you will eventually start to trade simplicity (boxed meals or fast food) for health. Creating a life where you have time to take care of yourself is, in my opinion, the first step in the situation where a lifestyle change is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="939" LastEditDate="2011-11-02T21:41:21.027" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T21:41:21.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4447" CreationDate="2011-11-03T00:46:52.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The different levels, as defined by Rippetoe et. al., are defined by how close you are to your genetic potential. You're right that the amount of weight lifted is only a rough indicator of level because of individual differences. My understanding is that recovery time is a better predictor of level. For example, if you're an intermediate then you can fully recover in a week. A novice takes a day or two and is then back to full strength, even if he's moving serious iron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T00:46:52.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2657" CreationDate="2011-11-03T01:24:46.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I finally found the source of this soreness. It's actually linked to vitamin D deficiency. This vitamin is normally synthesized when you expose yourself to sunlight. You can get some capsules as a Chemist's and it should be possible to spot the issue with a GP. In Western society the deficiency can still appear though and can affect calcium intake (possible explanation for early osteoporosis). Additional symptoms can include also sorness at the joints and hips. Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/4836.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;informative link&lt;/a&gt; on the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="747" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T01:24:46.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4447" CreationDate="2011-11-03T04:11:11.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt;&quot; charts (such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one for the squat&lt;/a&gt;) that one can use to get an idea of the rough weights that this usually occurs at, but Rippetoe and others have deprecated them as misleading. (They were never meant to guide individual progress or programming changes.) You are right to focus on factors other than the weight being lifted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Demarcating The Novice/Intermediate Line&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greg hit the nail squarely on the head in terms of the bare-bones, technical definition. That's the one you should use. Phrased another way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the training overload of a single workout and the recovery period allowed for by the 48- to 72- hour schedule does not induce a performance improvement, the novice trainee needs a change of program. &lt;strong&gt;A single training stress constitutes an overload event for a novice...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Page 113, Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore's Practical Programming)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, if you can get stronger by &lt;em&gt;properly recovering&lt;/em&gt; from a single workout, you're a novice. If not, you're on to intermediate programming. Note that this shift may occur for an individual lift instead of all lifts at once, and should be preceded by a series of deloads as well as a rigorous review of one's nutrition and sleep in order to ensure that linear gains are indeed exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Demarcating the Intermediate/Advanced Line&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's unlikely that many of us will have to worry about this in our own lifting, but the shift from intermediate to advanced programming is marked by the diminishing returns of a properly implemented weekly progression program. In these cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[A]n overload event and subsequent recovery from it may take a month or more.... Because of the interplay between stress and adaptation of different physical skills at different times, the advanced trainee is almost always in the process of trying to rest some particular physical quality while working to develop a different one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Ibid, page 137)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-11-04T14:23:13.380" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T14:23:13.380" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4342" CreationDate="2011-11-03T04:20:17.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have been told by your doctor that you have early signs of osteoporosis you should discuss with your doctor exactly what and how you should take your supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nof.org/newlydiagnosed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;site about osteoporosis&lt;/a&gt; that will give you more information so that you can be informed when you talk to your doctor.  The site mentions &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nof.org/aboutosteoporosis/prevention/calcium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;food sources of calcium&lt;/a&gt; and discusses &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nof.org/aboutosteoporosis/prevention/vitamind&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vitamin D&lt;/a&gt; but does not mention magnesium other than to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin K are also important for bone health, but are usually obtained by eating a well-balanced diet. Most experts recommend that people take multivitamins or supplements only when they are not able to get enough nutrients from foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also want to ask your doctor or healthcare provider about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nof.org/aboutosteoporosis/prevention/exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;types of exercises&lt;/a&gt; that are appropriate for you at your stage of osteoporosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T04:20:17.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4378" CreationDate="2011-11-03T05:23:57.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out the answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2820/how-to-strenghten-my-wrists/2826#2826&quot;&gt;How to Strengthen MY Wrist?&lt;/a&gt; as you need a stable/strong wrist and strong wrist extensors to have a strong grip.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then work on your grip directly with squeezing exercises: a ball, a  &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B00217F974&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gripper&lt;/a&gt; or putty.  The strength in your grip comes mostly from the 4th and 5th digits, so &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B000MRLYSI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;theraputty&lt;/a&gt; is particularly effective as it resists each finger as you squeeze. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full disclosure:  the gripper and putty photos come from our site's amazon store.  I did try to load just the image but it didn't take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T05:23:57.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-03T12:01:22.997" Score="2" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Krebs cycle&lt;/a&gt; is a series of chemical reactions, which is used by living organisms to generate energy through the oxidization of acetate derived from carbohydrates, fats and proteins into carbon dioxide and water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's not go into the details about how the Krebs cycle works. I once read somewhere (do not recall where) that waiting at least 2 hours after the workout will have some advantages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a stupid thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Krebs cycle works on aerobic state. Because it needs oxygen, during a running workout, it works (I think) only running at a low intensity, because if I run faster and the intensity grew, there will be others chemical reactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's assume I have just finished a low intensity running workout and my goal is fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will I have some advantages by waiting a certain amount of time before I eat, or will I not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, on the other hand, my goal is muscle gain, do I need to have the same behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2258" LastEditorUserId="2322" LastEditDate="2011-12-05T11:46:04.683" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T09:32:37.003" Title="Is it a myth to wait before eating, after workout, due to Krebs Cycle?" Tags="&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4246" CreationDate="2011-11-03T12:08:26.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One meaningful difference between exercising indoors and outdoors is the oxygen content of the air around you. Oxygen content tends to be lower indoors, simply because of the buildup of CO2 and other gases which compete with oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How strong the difference in oxygen content really is depends on the ventilation system of your indoors environment. If you have great ventilation, there is virtually no difference between indoors and outdoors, and the exercise will be the same for your body. If the ventilation is poor, exercising indoors will have a similar effect to exercising at a higher altitude level, which will lower your endurance. The oxygen difference might decrease your performance to some degree, but it shouldn't have negative consequences for the desired training effect, whether it's conditioning or fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there are other differences when you compare the specific type of exercise you're doing, e.g. running on a treadmill is different from running in the woods. Running in the woods requires you to change directions, run at different angles, avoid obstacles, etc. which will involve different muscles than running on a treadmill. On the other hand, running on a treadmill might carry a smaller risk of injury. So in addition to the oxygen issue, you have to consider exercise-specific differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-03T12:21:13.347" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T12:21:13.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4442" CreationDate="2011-11-03T12:19:40.043" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what you may be referring to is that when you build extremely large muscles, and then fail to maintain them (so they shrink back to normal), the skin around them may appear stretched. The same happens for pregnant women, or obese people who lose a lot of fat. Obviously the skin will appear stretched afterwards, and may never become as tight as it once was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you only have to worry about this phenomenon if you plan to grow your muscles to positively gigantic proportions. If you simply build your body to look strong and masculine, but not exactly like the Hulk, you won't have anything to worry about. If you do want to look like the Hulk, I fear you'll have to live with some sagging if you ever abandon your training completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T12:19:40.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-03T15:09:30.157" Score="3" ViewCount="3066" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I consume equal amounts of (say) mango, one in frozen chunks, the other at room temperature, will I digest them at different speeds? That is, will they have a different impact on my blood sugar levels, thereby having weight-control implications or being readily available for energy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following from the same, will heating beverages affect absorption rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2283" LastEditorUserId="33195" LastEditDate="2020-06-14T12:54:38.327" LastActivityDate="2020-06-14T12:54:38.327" Title="Does food temperature affect absorption time and efficiency?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4466" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4551" CreationDate="2011-11-03T16:25:16.537" Score="3" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could someone suggest me a strength training that I could do for four days a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old, I weight 77kg and have 176cm. I can do about 50 - 60 pushups in a row and I have done 5 weeks of general training in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to do something traditional with deadlift, squats, bench presses and maybe also using my own body weight like chin ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to also do HIIT (Tabata protocol exactly) as a warmup (if it makes sense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T18:42:23.337" Title="Four day training for strength" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4442" CreationDate="2011-11-03T18:00:26.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If by &quot;bulging&quot; you mean &quot;getting fat&quot;, I think it only happens if you stop bodybuilding and neglect to adjust your diet to your new lifestyle. In this case you end up eating far too much for what your body really needs, so you can get fat because of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But muscles cannot &quot;transform&quot; to fat. They are totally different types of cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1496" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T18:00:26.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4479" CreationDate="2011-11-03T18:21:17.997" Score="2" ViewCount="1027" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to regulate my sleep but I don't like to drink pills or supplements. I was wondering if there are certain foods that help induce sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2245" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T04:41:40.880" Title="Foods that increase Melatonin (induce sleep)" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2012-11-11T21:56:00.793" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4470" CreationDate="2011-11-03T21:34:45.117" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been a runner/cyclist for the past six years.  To help fuel my body I've been maintaining a high protein, high carb diet, gotten almost entirely from fruits, vegetables, and seafood.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to an injury, I won't be able to bike or run much for the next six months.  Following a suggestion, I've decided to work on my upper body to pass the time.  What I'm wondering is how should I alter my diet to help this new routine?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine I should cut down on carbs and up the protein a little (fat as well?).  I suppose I should also cut calories since I won't be burning as much.  Is this accurate?  I'm not looking to gain lots of mass, just build some long lean upper body muscle to help out when I get back to cycling and not gain fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2186" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-11-04T07:52:25.647" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T07:52:25.647" Title="How should I change my diet when switching between exercises?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4469" CreationDate="2011-11-03T22:39:47.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're approaching this the wrong way. Your questions are valid but you need to start from the bottom up, not vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Daily Calorie Needs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing is determining your daily caloric needs. I wrote a quick &lt;a href=&quot;http://swolepersonaltraining.com/diet/how-many-calories-should-you-eat-to-lose-fat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; about this yesterday detailing what variables are involved and how to calculate your calorie needs. The short of it is: calculate your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BMR&lt;/a&gt;, then use an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;activity multiplier&lt;/a&gt; to determine your Daily Caloric Expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your calorie expenditure will vary day to day so it's a good idea to increase your caloric intake on training days and decrease it on rest days. This is also true if you do any type of unusual vigorous activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Calorie Goal&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you know how many calories you need to maintain your weight, you have to decide whether you want to gain, maintain or lose weight. So if you want to gain weight and your maintenance is 2200, you can do a 500 calorie surplus and aim for 2700.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is pretty good at regulating calories and will send you signals to tell you if you're undereating/overeating etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to do +500 calories on training days and -500 on off days. This is a &lt;em&gt;composition shift diet&lt;/em&gt;, which means your weight stays about the same but your composition (Muscle/Fat ratio) improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Macro Split&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the macro-split. A high carb diet is great if you are really active. But if you are just doing light/moderate lifting you can keep your carbs at around 30-40% of your total intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So your macro-split can be something like 40% carbs, 35% protein, 25% fat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Meal Frequency&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some differing opinions on the subject but from all the research I've done there is no significant  relationship between meal frequency and your metabolism or calorie allocation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I prefer to eat 4 meals a day since I eat every ~4 hours.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T02:01:50.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4465" CreationDate="2011-11-04T03:53:34.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot answer all but I will do what I can...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking hot beverages doesn't aid in the digestion, but it increases your metabolism.  I drink hot water in the AM to help 'induce' a 'flushing' of my excess before big races.&#xA;Drinking water near room temperature allows the water and fluid to be absorbed into your body quicker and easier.   Thus room temp. beverages would be ideal for racing/running and hot beverages would be better pre-workouts when you might want to increase your metabolism.&#xA;Unsure about food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the first two from high school.  My XC coach used to read up on this topic and share with the team quite frequently.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T03:53:34.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-04T13:00:53.470" Score="12" ViewCount="76525" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a &quot;morbidly obese&quot; guy who recently went from a work-from-home position to a commuting job.  Part of my commute includes a half mile walk from the train station to the office building where I am employed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been experiencing a burning sensation that starts at my ankles and works its way up into both lower calf muscle groups as I do this walk.  At first I thought it was my body not being acclimated to the change in activity, but it's been going on for four work-weeks of doing this walk back-and-forth, so it's approximately a mile walk every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious to know if any fitness experts here have some ideas as to what the cause might be and some suggestions to prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I'm overweight and I probably should get some new shoes, but wondering about other potential causes and maybe some ideas as to how to prevent it through certain warm-ups (preferably able to be done on a packed subway car.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2291" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:30:20.587" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T18:33:49.393" Title="How can I stop a burning sensation in the legs during/after walking?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4473" CreationDate="2011-11-04T14:45:28.940" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're getting enough &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&amp;amp;dbid=90&quot;&gt;potassium&lt;/a&gt;.  Sodium and potassium are both critical to fuel your muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The typical diet is rarely deficient in sodium.  But it is common to have low potassium levels.  In fact, an increase in physical activity will increase your body's demand for potassium.  That could explain the prolonged soreness you're experiencing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2011-11-04T14:52:55.047" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T14:52:55.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4473" CreationDate="2011-11-04T14:47:27.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me this sounds like an inflammation of the Achilles tendon, which is very common for people who pick up running after being inactive for a while. It usually does not occur with regular walking, but due to the obesity it may well be the case for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the key to overcoming a sore Achilles tendon is simply to rest for a few days, then try again, rest again, and so on, until the muscles adapt to the increased tension. In your case, this may be difficult as it sounds like you simply have to do this walk every day. Nevertheless, if you do not get enough rest, the pain may not go away as your muscles won't have a chance to repair. If your budget allows it, I would recommend taking a cab for two days, then trying to walk again and see if it's better. Rinse and repeat until the pain is gone. Also, make sure you don't walk much on the weekend, so your tendons have time to heal then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercises to prevent the strain, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/126.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall pushups and hamstring stretches&lt;/a&gt; are generally recommended to prevent strain on the Achilles tendon. They shouldn't be done too ferociously when the tendon already hurts though, so this is more of a prevention technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting new shoes is a good idea as well; a decent pair of running shoes will definitely alleviate some of the tension during your walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to state the obvious though: Your obesity is the main reason why a simple walk leads to symptoms most people would only experience after an intense run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T14:47:27.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4478" CreationDate="2011-11-04T17:11:34.630" Score="4" ViewCount="4111" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title kind of says it.  If I plan to left weights in the morning should I eat a high protein meal the night before or the night after?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2186" LastActivityDate="2012-10-21T00:13:05.907" Title="Should I Eat Before or After Lifting" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4476" CreationDate="2011-11-04T17:44:16.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you should have a healthy amount of carbs &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; your workout so that your body has enough energy for your lifting and doesn't have to ramp up its cortisol. A large glass of juice would do, for instance, as would a bowl of cereal or any regular breakfast. Don't lift weights on an empty stomach. It's no big deal if there are a few hours between the meal and your workout though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the high protein meal, you should have this &lt;strong&gt;immediately after&lt;/strong&gt; your workout. Your muscles start regenerating immediately after they are exhausted so you need to provide sufficient protein as fast as possible. In addition, you should get in some carbs after the workout to make up for the energy loss. A glass of juice, energy drink, etc. is usually the easiest option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein before your workout would work as well, but the digestion might take a bit of energy away from your workout, and there's no sizable benefit. In any case, waiting until the night after is not an option. That said, you should &lt;strong&gt;also&lt;/strong&gt; have a high-protein meal the night after your workout since a lot of muscle growth takes place while you sleep. But this is in addition to the one after your workout, not as a replacement. Also, since muscle growth will continue for a few days, you should have a high-protein meal &lt;strong&gt;every night&lt;/strong&gt;, not just the night after your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question: High protein meal every night, and after every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-04T17:49:32.953" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T17:49:32.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4468" CreationDate="2011-11-04T18:23:26.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's see here... melatonin is synthesized like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tryptophan (Trp) --&gt; 5-HTP --&gt; Serotonin (5-HT) --&gt; N-Acetylserotonin (NAS) --&gt; Melatonin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, any food which contains tryptophan is a good candidate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan#Dietary_sources&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foods containing Trp&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; Egg, Spirulina and Cod are good sources of tryptophan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it happens, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-Hydroxytryptophan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5-HTP&lt;/a&gt; is also a good candidate, since you can buy it as a dietary supplement. Keep in mind though that whether you're boosting Trp or 5-HTP, you're facing a lot of rate-limiting enzymes so there's no telling how strong the effect is really going to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you can just take melatonin directly, since it's available as a dietary supplement. If you need anything more powerful than that, go seek your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1786" LastEditDate="2014-01-18T04:41:40.880" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T04:41:40.880" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-04T21:18:47.727" Score="28" ViewCount="98008" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between open-palm and knuckle push-up forms in terms of benefits, risks, and muscle development?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Open-palm:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uffs1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Open-palm&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knuckle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z3M7H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Knuckle&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="381" LastEditorUserId="381" LastEditDate="2011-11-04T21:48:45.363" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T23:53:44.713" Title="Knuckle vs. palm pushups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2011-11-04T22:24:48.077" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two benefits of doing push ups off your knuckles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can extend your range of motion, which in turn puts even more focus on the chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You avoid unnecessary strain on the wrists.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For these reasons I prefer doing push ups this way.  Although extending your range of motion is not always a good thing.  If you have shoulder problems, for example, then you could be doing more harm than good.  So I'd do what feels right for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to keep in mind is the distance between your hands.  Keeping your hands far apart will put more demand on your chest and shoulders while keeping your hands close together will be harder on the triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2011-11-04T22:30:04.387" LastActivityDate="2011-11-04T22:30:04.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4473" CreationDate="2011-11-05T00:30:49.480" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Peter, there are several possible causes.  Because you are morbidly obese and may have medical conditions to consider, this is something to check out with your doctor.  You know that often repeated phrase, &quot;before beginning an exercise program, check with your doctor or healthcare practitioner.&quot;  Walking one mile a day has significantly increased your exercise level. (Hopefully, your new job comes with health benefits.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the possibilities already suggested, your condition may involve circulation, nerves or other musculoskeletal problems.  Your doctor will be the best one to help you eliminate or manage the problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the problem is musculoskeletal, meaning either joint, muscle, tendon or other soft-tissue, a pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nordic Walking Poles&lt;/a&gt; may help by shifting some of your weight off of your legs onto your arms.  Using the poles can be very effective for a number of reasons, but in your case, they would function in a support role.  Because you would be walking in an urban setting, you would use the rubber walking tips to cover the pointed tip.  If you have muscle tightness or weakness, a therapist could give you some calf stretches (gastroc and soleus) and/or some strengthening exercises such as toe raises, or whatever is appropriate for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the problem is circulatory, your doctor or therapist can give you a set of exercises for the lower leg to increase circulation such as simple feet and ankle range of motion exercises that you could do sitting in your seat. For example, point your toes up and down, or write out the alphabet in the air as if your big toe is a pen. March in place while sitting by raising one knee and then the other toward your chest as this also helps to increase circulation to the legs. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, do consider a good pair of supportive shoes and maybe even support socks.  Also, if possible break up your walk with short sitting rest periods and do a few ankle circles.  The good thing is that you have started a walking program that can add to your health and fitness.  The bad thing is that you need to take care of the burning sensation before it gets worse and inhibits your progress.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="10154" LastEditDate="2018-06-15T18:33:49.393" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T18:33:49.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4487" CreationDate="2011-11-05T07:38:37.413" Score="6" ViewCount="1311" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;History&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am an absolute beginner to the world of fitness and nutrition. I'm a classical geek that spends most of the time in front of the computer writing code, fixing stuff.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've purchased a set of 15KG hand dumbbells and a Z bar 120 cm in size. This looked like the ideal beginner set to weight lifting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm paying attention to what I eat, but in form of &quot;let's don't eat that much, eat only 3/4 of it&quot; so there is really no calorie or carb. measurement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I want to improve my overall shape, build some muscles on my arms and my chest.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They should definitely build up a little bit and I have to get rid of my belly fat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now for the very very beginner, which exact exercises should I do?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What practical technique for food can I apply?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I avoid some food in general, like mayonnaise and eggs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="97" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-08T15:53:14.873" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T15:53:14.873" Title="Absolute Beginner in Weight Training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4483" CreationDate="2011-11-05T13:03:46.813" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can do a lot with your dumbbells and zbar, but by far not everything. Some muscle groups will be difficult to work on with only that equipment, which is why most people join a gym. This has nothing to do with beginner vs. advanced; even as a beginner you'll want to work out all major muscles, not just some of them. I &lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt; recommend joining a gym. As for the exercises you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do, here's a good directory: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition for strength training is a complex topic, so I can't get into the details. You should know, however, that generally you have to eat &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than usual to gain muscle, not less, so your approach is flawed. Also keep in mind that most people choose to gain muscle and cut fat in separate cycles, meaning you first gain weight (both muscle and fat) and then cut some of the fat, then repeat. People with high testosterone can easily do both at the same time, but most people find that difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with eggs; especially egg whites are a great source of protein. There's nothing wrong per se with mayonnaise either, but in general you have to watch how many calories, carbs, protein, etc. you consume.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you're basically asking questions here which each have entire fields of study as an answer. Your first question is what every strength training book is concerned with, and the second is basically what the entire field of nutrition deals with. Asking what you should eat for muscle gain and fat loss is like asking &quot;So how do I make a website?&quot; or &quot;Can somebody tell me how to write code?&quot;. These questions are simply not specific enough; what you need is to get into the topic and study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-05T13:03:46.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2011-11-05T22:51:36.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried google'ing which muscles are used with the two pushup variations mentioned, but, besides the obvious focus on the knuckle and wrist for the knuckle pushup, I think there's more focus on the forearms and lats, where the palm seems more focus on the chest and shoulders. This is based on the hand position (similar to pull ups - from a full palm out pull up to a neutral hand position).  Even doing pushups with your hands in the two positions you can easily feel the difference.  There's about 12 pushup variations, including how wide you have your hands, so, for the best results try them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to some of the variations: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscle-workouts.com/pushups.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscle-workouts.com/pushups.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-11-05T22:51:36.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2011-11-06T03:25:57.773" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's an aspect not covered yet.  Knuckle pushups place more stress on the bones of the hand compared to the open palm pushup.  Martial artists take advantage of that fact as a way to toughen the bones in the hand so that when they punch something hard, the hand doesn't break.  Essentially, the body responds by increasing calcium deposits at the knuckle and along the phalanges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the muscles involved, there isn't much of a difference between them.  The forearms will be more engaged with the knuckles because it is needed for balance.  A similar effect can be had by fingertip pushups.  This variation strengthens the muscles in the fingers as well, which is useful to prevent them from getting jammed when playing basketball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two risks with improper use of the knuckle pushup over the open hand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your wrists are weak, you run the risk of losing your balance and spraining your wrist as you fall.  It is best not to attempt knuckle pushups if you cannot do open hand pushups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you use knuckle pushups excessively for many years, the calcium deposits will accumulate to a point where the knuckles are quite pronounced.  In extreme cases you won't be able to open your hand all the way, or develop arthritis due to the added stress at the knuckle joint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, there is no way to declare one of them as superior.  Knuckle pushups have their use, as do open hand pushups.  There is no reason not to do them both.  Just don't do knuckle pushups every day of your life for the next decade or so.  Also explore fingertip pushups as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-06T03:25:57.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4483" CreationDate="2011-11-06T03:45:19.700" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an absolute beginner, I highly recommend reading Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength book.  It outlines 5 basic lifts that will exercise just about every muscle in your body.  Those exercises will make you very strong.  The book itself breaks down the lift step by step, and also provides some troubleshooting to help you get it right.  I've written an &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot;&gt;intro to strength training&lt;/a&gt; a couple months ago that will at least help you decide what you want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially as a beginner, your are at an ideal position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will be able to gain strength every time you work out for the next few months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will be able to burn fat and get strong at the same time (assuming you are careful with what you eat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course as a beginner you also have some challenges:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may not know how to do the exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will have to be OK with not having a large number of plates on the bar (most people I see in the gym don't)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may not be able to discern when advice someone is giving applies to you and your goals or not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't know the importance of recovery yet (what you do outside the gym)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the &quot;Intro&quot; I wrote, which will help you decide how to get started.  The first step is finding a program that works with your goals.  Since you are brand new, following someone else's beginner program is going to be more beneficial than randomly picking up weights and doing stuff.  The beginners programs will usually have the big three: squats, bench press, and deadlifts.  Also very common is the overhead press.  A little more devided would be the opinions on whether beginners should start with power cleans (a very good, but very technical lift) or simply do barbell rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basics of nutrition for a weightlifter is this: 1g protein per pound body weight, and the rest of the Calories as you see fit.  Your muscles don't know or care whether the energy from the food comes from carbs or fat.  Some things are clear, such as if you eat more Calories than you burn regularly you will gain weight.  Some things are less clear, such as what impact carbs has on your body, and when you should have them.  In some ways the more active you become, the less critical it becomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-06T03:45:19.700" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4489" CreationDate="2011-11-06T07:13:53.450" Score="9" ViewCount="1640" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle contractions are powered by ATP losing a phosphate and becoming ADP. Creatine can give away one phosphate to convert ADP back to ATP. With more ATP, muscles are more powerful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is any of this related to the purported claim that creatine can not only increase power, but also increase muscle size? To my understanding power is not the same as size, although they overlap at some region. Just look at the huge difference in size of Olympic powerlifters versus Mr. Olympia bodybuilders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-12-10T16:37:57.587" Title="Conceptually, why does creatine increase muscle size?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4488" CreationDate="2011-11-06T14:54:15.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will increase it indirectly. Creatine draws more water and nutrients to muscle, so if your nutrition is good, more protein will come to muscle and build into it. Also creatine gives more power and improves recovery time, so again, it indirectly helps our muscle grow by helping us with our gym training without witch there is no muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1085" LastActivityDate="2011-11-06T14:54:15.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4492" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4499" CreationDate="2011-11-07T10:41:57.797" Score="0" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am NOT fat. I have started exercising only for mental freshness and general fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually I tried 300 jogs today and could complete them in mere 5-7 minutes, and was tired after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is is preferred to do:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. A brisk walk (which is less tiring, and more time consuming) for about 15 minutes?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;OR&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2. Keep on jogging until you get tired (which results in less time consumption, but is more tiring)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, a brisk walk for 15 minutes will be equally tiresome as 300-400 non stop jogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, I am NOT short on time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I just wish to know the pros and cons of the above, and which one should be preferred and why?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does it make any difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T19:39:48.550" Title="What is preferred: 300 non stop jogs or a brisk walk for 15 minutes?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4493" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4510" CreationDate="2011-11-07T13:31:36.687" Score="2" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently joined a local gym to try and supplement my martial arts training, and as a result I have been getting a lot more exercise recently (I'm still in the over-enthusiastic early phase where I need to watch out for over-training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 193cm, 88kg. Body fat is currently at 26%. I used to be one of those people who could eat anything and not get fat, but in recent years the combination of stress, age and a sedentary lifestyle have lead to me developing a modest potbelly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recent upswing in exercise seems to have kicked my metabolism back into high gear, my appetite has increased dramatically and so have my energy levels. I'm finding myself regularly hungry, even after eating a decent lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my primary aim is to try and correct my body composition (increase muscle, reduce fat) to bring my body fat down to at least 18% (quite possibly further depending on results). From what I can see, my primary concern at this stage would be to gain the muscle, with losing the fat being a lesser concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see two strategies I can go with here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep my diet the same and simply let my body go to the fat reserves if it needs to. This would certainly help me come down to target, but may make it harder to gain the lean mass I'm trying to replace it with.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give my body all the carbs / protein it wants and let it build up the lean mass now, not worrying about fat until after I've made the gains in muscle mass that I want. My increased metabolism should help make this process easier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently leaning towards option 2, does this seem like a sensible approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1810" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T03:06:15.630" Title="Good fitness strategies for an ectomorph" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-07T13:33:33.290" Score="1" ViewCount="2492" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any long term benefits to using single/two ply powerlifting suits? Or are they just used to allow more weight to be lifted during competitions?  For belts, I've noticed better form and stronger core after wearing them - is there any similar benefit to wearing the suits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T03:10:53.097" Title="What are the Single or Two ply powerlifting suit benefits?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4494" CreationDate="2011-11-07T14:03:58.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suits provide some compression, and more of a spring loading when you change from the eccentric to the concentric portion of the lift (bench press and squats).  As a result, it will help you get out of the hole much quicker and more strongly.  This in turn helps you lift heavier weights than you normally would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The unexpected side to lifting with the suits is that most people who stall or fail a lift do it at the lockout.  The reason is fairly simple: without the suit the most difficult part of the lift is getting the bar off the chest (bench) our out of the hole (squats) which means if you have the strength to do that, locking out is easy.  With the suit, you have help getting out of the hole and the effect of the spring action becomes less as you reach lockout, so lockout strength now becomes the most difficult part.  (Observation from David Tate's &lt;em&gt;The Vault&lt;/em&gt; e-book at &lt;a href=&quot;http://elitefts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://elitefts.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, David Tate does advocate doing most of your lifting without the suit, and only start incorporating it when you get closer to competition.  The suits help people perform incredible feats like 800lb bench presses and over 1000lb squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't necessarily provide the same benefits as a belt does.  A belt operates by helping you provide a more stable core, and with a more stable core you can lift heavier.  The suits operate by providing more spring action to get out of the hole, so you simply have to provide the finishing strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T14:03:58.307" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4492" CreationDate="2011-11-07T14:44:18.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a different style of training.  Shorter, higher intensity work will raise your heart rate more, and cause your muscles to work harder.  Now if you want to know the relative calorie expenditure of walking 5 minutes or jogging 300 steps (I assume that's what you mean by 300 non stop jogs), that's a little harder to measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic problem is that you will be expending more energy the first time you push your body harder than you have in the past.  Let's face it, walking is not very taxing, but it is better than sitting in front of a computer screen all day.  Your body will respond by getting a bit stronger so that it can support that kind of work.  The next time you do it, you won't be expending as much energy as before.  It will become easier, so the heart rate doesn't get up quite as high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you'll add a little more work each time.  That builds up your heart strength and optimizes your muscles to respond the way you train them.  In general, the more you improve your cardiovascular strength, the healthier you will be in the long run.  The jogging helps that much better than walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T14:44:18.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4493" CreationDate="2011-11-07T16:35:48.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Option 2 seems more in line with your goals.  However, I would provide a word of caution about allowing your feelings to dictate how many Calories you get.  You might get too many or you might not get enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.threecoaching.com/2010/08/free-macronutrient-ratios-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Three Coach Macro-nutrients Calculator&lt;/a&gt; to customize the distribution of macro-nutrients to best address your specific goals.  The distribution of protein, carbs, and fat (yes fat is important) can affect how much you gain/lose and the nature of what you are gaining and losing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T16:35:48.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4492" CreationDate="2011-11-07T18:46:03.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low-intensity&lt;/strong&gt; exercise is more effective in the short run. Since you can keep going much longer, you can (potentially) burn more calories, which (in the short run) is better for fat loss. In the long run, however, low-intensity exercise has only limited adaptive effects. That is, it doesn't make you that much fitter, it doesn't change how your metabolism works very much, but it mostly induces a one-time calorie deficit every time you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High-intensity&lt;/strong&gt; exercise is more effective in the long run. Although you (usually) burn less calories, especially as a beginner with low stamina, high-intensity training is a challenge to your body which, over time, leads to an adaptive response. The exact details are not well understood, but the idea is that your body &quot;learns&quot; that it has to face periods of extreme stress, and thus tries to adapt to that stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like your biceps will grow when you do lots of biceps curls, your aerobic exercise capacity (and also stress capacity) will grow when challenged. Low-intensity exercise is like doing biceps curls with an empty soda bottle: It may be enough to prevent muscle loss, but it's not enough of a challenge to induce an adaptive response. If you truly want to improve, you need to get out the heavy weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the adaptation takes a while, however, you will feel worse for a few hours or even days after an intense workout, while you'd feel better after a less intense workout. Similarly, your biceps will become weaker shortly after exhausting it with heavy weights, but that's the only way to make it stronger in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt; Low-intensity if all you want is to work off the turkey after Thanksgiving. High-intensity if you have patience and want to induce fundamental adaptations which make you stronger, leaner, faster, more stress-resistant, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-07T18:56:56.353" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T18:56:56.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4492" CreationDate="2011-11-07T19:39:48.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Walking Is Only Barely Exercise&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3613/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-running-versus-walking/3651#3651&quot;&gt;another answer&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;walking is simply not enough for general fitness&lt;/strong&gt;. See that answer for the details, science and references, but the short version is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From a health perspective, walking at a moderate or slow pace is really only useful as a stepping stone to more intense exercise. If that's all you can do, great! Do that and work towards more strenuous exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking &lt;em&gt;briskly&lt;/em&gt; for a significant amount of time &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt; will provide the bare minimum of recommended activity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running, playing sports, and lifting heavy weights will provide the health and fitness benefits we're after. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Run and Lift Frequently&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Key point: you want &lt;em&gt;vigorous&lt;/em&gt; exercise &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt;, plus resistance training (lifting weights) twice a week or more to get real health benefits. No, most of us don't do that much. Yes, most of us will feel the ill effects of ignoring our bodies' needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T19:39:48.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4502" CreationDate="2011-11-07T20:30:22.293" Score="0" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;This evening I did a low intensity run (10km - 46'), a very easy workout based on my standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomorrow morning (about 12-13h after the run) I should do the blood test..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the possibilities to get an altered result due to this workout few hour before the withdrawal or not? &#xA;If yes, should I wait until the day after tomorrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will do these exams:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complete Hematocrit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hemoglobin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cholesterol LDL &amp;amp; HDL&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triglycerides &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cortisol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Folate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin B12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ferritin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Serum iron&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transferrin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sodium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;potassium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;copper blood test&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;magnesium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thyroid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote that list because maybe there is the possiblity that the workout has an effect only on some tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not english nor american, so I am not really sure about the translation accuracy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2258" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T22:13:57.340" Title="Blood test and running training" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4501" CreationDate="2011-11-07T22:07:20.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's low-intensity, the workout won't have any relevant effects on the blood test. Even if it was a high-intensity workout, the test results might be influenced by it, but probably not to the extent that you'd get a false positive of any abnormal indication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are countless other factors which influence these tests, such as time of day, amount of sleep, nutrition, temperature, altitude, immune status, and even psychological stress, which is why blood levels are given as a range, not a fixed point. There's no point trying to balance out all these influences – it's impossible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's also the reason why blood tests are only be relevant if their result is pathological, that is, far outside the normal range. Where exactly the result is within the normal bounds is important to analyze for research purposes, but generally not something your doctor will be interested in. Your doctor can only tell you whether there's something seriously wrong with your blood – he can't distinguish between a &quot;barely healthy&quot; person and a &quot;perfectly healthy&quot; person, as both will be within the normal bounds. HDL/LDL cholesterol might be one exception to this, since few people are in the optimal range, but nevertheless it holds true by and large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-07T22:13:57.340" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T22:13:57.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4505" CreationDate="2011-11-07T23:39:11.817" Score="5" ViewCount="7016" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that jogging/running may lead to injuries, permanent joint pains etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I wish to know (in detail) which all precautions are to be kept in mind while jogging/running daily (in order to avoid injuries)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T17:30:46.470" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T19:56:52.293" Title="What are the precautions to be kept in mind while jogging/running daily?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4504" CreationDate="2011-11-07T23:58:36.487" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay hydrated, but don't over hydrate.  Staying hydrated will reduce muscle tightness (a little), which will help reduce the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;STRETCH.  You don't have to go crazy and different methods work for different people.  Some people get away with no stretching but I've never seen anyone from getting hurt as a result of stretching (provided it was done correctly).  You can get hurt by not stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Old coach saying - you can increase intensity or volume, but not both at the same time.  If you decide you want to run faster, don't add too much mileage to your weekly total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't increase your weekly mileage more than 10%.  Obviously there is a grace period for starting up, otherwise to start at a mile would take forever to get anywhere!  Let's say you end up running 20 miles a week.  Don't take large steps in total weekly mileage - like to 30, unless you have already run that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soft surfaces help but not required.  Lose gravel (on dirt roads) can actually cause problems so be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a pair of running shoes that 'fit'.  These need to fit differently than your regular shoes.  You need a pair that fits your running gait ad stride, not just the size of your foot.  Find a local running store that does a gait analysis.  I believe all stores do this for free these days, I've yet to see one that charges.  One of the things they train their staff on is how to identify the right shoe for the runner in question.  Let them tell you what models you are safest in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T23:58:36.487" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4528" CreationDate="2011-11-08T01:51:43.647" Score="3" ViewCount="6600" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked up this thread which says that jumping rope is good for overall bodily health:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2265/what-is-a-jump-rope-good-for&quot;&gt;What is a jump rope good for?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have seen and heard about the benefits of jogging/running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am NOT fat.  I intend to do exercise for:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. Mental alertness.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2. Faster reaction time to the surroundings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3. Combating depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is more suitable, jogging/running OR rope skipping? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T12:08:58.180" Title="Benefits of jogging/running versus rope skipping" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;jump-rope&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4507" CreationDate="2011-11-08T02:26:34.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in reactive training, neither is particularly appropriate--do specific agility drills. There are a ton of them on the net, or get something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/073604681X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Functional Training for Sports&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0736058737&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Training for Speed, Agility, and Quickness&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training is better overall for jacking up the metabolism, although longer-distance running is more meditative. Both are valuable for dealing with depression issues (something I'm far too familiar with :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T02:26:34.873" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4493" CreationDate="2011-11-08T03:06:15.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you said you are an ectomorph, I say exercise and eat.  Exercising and then not eating will increase your cortisol.  Just eat healthy.  (I find exercise makes me hungrier but crave healthier foods.)  Eat lots of protein with carbs after your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, focus on big complex moves to increase your muscularity, especially squats and deadlifts.  (Deadlifts tend to be easier for ectomorphs).  But remember that good form is very important on such big moves that handle lots of weight.  A rep range of five reps probably serves your purposes, but everyone is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2308" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T03:06:15.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4494" CreationDate="2011-11-08T03:10:53.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main reason is for competitions, but there are benefits.  In fact, the great bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman wears a squat suit.  A suit helps acclimate you to heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also benching in suit protects your shoulders.  I'd say modern bench shirts are dangerous because they increase your bench to a weight you can barely control.  But using a less aggressive bench shirt for your low rep is probably a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2308" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T03:10:53.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4483" CreationDate="2011-11-08T03:45:03.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to believe that if you just want bigger arms and a bigger chest, you just need to work those groups.  This is a common misconception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to grow muscles you have to do big complex moves like the power-lifts to change your bodies hormonal environment.  This is the most efficient way to put on muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2308" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T03:45:03.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4310" CreationDate="2011-11-08T03:52:44.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  The strength training classic &quot;Super Squats&quot; recommends a gallon a day.  Milk is a great way to get protein and calories.  A couple caveats: A lot of milk might not agree with you.  (Might make you fart like crazy!)  It can also have a lot of sugar and calories so if you are really obese, I wouldn't recommend a lot of milk, but you can of course just drink skim.  Also, you might want to consider protein powders with milk instead of so much milk.  The gallon of milk idea kind of went away with the invention of protein powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2308" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T03:52:44.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4523" CreationDate="2011-11-08T11:53:58.577" Score="10" ViewCount="7939" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best position for your arms and hands when doing push-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering the angle of your arms, both forward (towards your head) and sideways (how wide to open arms). Also, should the hands be pointing straight forward? Fingers stretched open or close together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed these all factor in terms of how many push-ups I can accomplish and the movement of shoulders and elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1018" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T12:36:47.487" Title="Ideal angle/position for arms and hands during pushups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4516" CreationDate="2011-11-08T12:24:17.863" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question - and the answer is that there is NO perfect position for your hands/arms, varying positions work/focus on various muscles.  Here's a link to an article on some of them: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baseops.net/basictraining/pushups.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.baseops.net/basictraining/pushups.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is not how many you can do, it's how many you can do that focus on the muscles you want to focus on. Very basic push is starting chest on the floor, hands on either side of your chest with fingers close and pointing forward (replicates a barbell press).&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a30QX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T12:24:17.863" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4516" CreationDate="2011-11-08T18:54:26.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of push up variations you can do and they all stress different muscle systems. Doing pushups with the elbows flared out isn't a good idea since it will put a lot of stress on your rotator cuffs. You also won't activate your chest fully that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Elbows too flared&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/krTUB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead you want your elbows to at more of a neutral angle, not too flared but also not too tucked in. If your elbows are really tucked in you will shift the focus more on your triceps. The fingers aren't that important, what's more important is your wrist. You want that to be as straight as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Videos:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VukKlqpWVds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Long Explanation on overall push up form.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_1BDnOVKso&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Quick push up form demonstration.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-08T18:54:26.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-08T21:47:24.537" Score="0" ViewCount="752" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on a regimen of 2500mg daily of Depakote ER, a Valproic Acid (VPA) derivative, and on a vegan diet. Previously I attempted to put the two together with the resulting fatigue and nausea (likely resulting from hyperammonemia) associated with secondary carnitine deficiency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mechanism&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I have been able to put together (please correct me if I am wrong);&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VPA binds to and otherwise renders ineffective large stores of&#xA;carnitine in the body and reduces the body's ability to synthesize&#xA;it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-Carnitine is responsible for evacuation of NH3 from cells, and a deficiency leads to ammonia poisoning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vegans consume significantly less L-Carnitine in their diet, and, when coupled with VPA treatment, can facilitate hyperammonemia.`&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I am already consulting with my neurologist with respect to maintaining the efficacy of my medication, however I would like to find out more about improving my absorption and body stores of carnitine and staving off secondary carnitine deficiency due to the shift to a vegan diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Intake, Dosing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such I have a few questions related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9258962&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;carnitine supplementation to ensure a healthy mitochondrial transfer process&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What approximate intake (mg/150 lb adult) is necessary to prevent hyperammonemia in a non-valproate treated adult (if any, considering it can be synthesized by the body as necessary)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What intake (mg/150 lb adult) is necessary for someone being treated with VPA? (i.e. what is the ratio of milligrams L-Carnitine displaced per milligram of VPA in a 150 lb adult)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bioavailability&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since supplements are absorbed at a rate of about 14-18%, and ingested L-Carnitine is much higher, how can absorption be improved? According &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2007906?dopt=AbstractPlus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to one  study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[B]ioavailability of L-carnitine in individuals adapted to low-carnitine diets (i.e., vegetarians) is higher than those adapted to high-carnitine diets (i.e., regular red meat eaters; 66%-86% versus 54%-72%) [&lt;a href=&quot;http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/othernuts/carnitine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LPI&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What complementary foods or supplements boost bioavailability of, specificially, L-Carnitine in the body?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does Alpha Lipoic Acid (as found in spinach) boost bioavailbility of L-Carnitine as it does Acetyl L-Carnitine?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;L-Carnitine vs. Acetyl L-Carnitine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ods.od.nih.gov/news/carnitine_conference_summary.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More than one resource&lt;/a&gt; promotes the combination of Alpha Lipoic Acid with the chemically similar Acetyl L-Carnitine in its efficacy related to mitochondrial health; the sum of the two is reportedly greater than the parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this a dead end or distraction with respect to treating secondary carnitine deficiency related to VPA treatment?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is substituting Acetyl L-Carnitine effective for L-Carnitine supplementation since the two can be converted back and forth? ALC is typically more expensive than LC, so it would be especially helpful to know if it would be more effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Per the concern regarding answering this question related to its specificty and scope:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to encourage that information is put forward. The criteria for usefulness (up-voting) would be any researched answer to any one or more of the above questions. Usefulness need not be &lt;em&gt;comprehensive&lt;/em&gt;, just &lt;em&gt;informative&lt;/em&gt; regarding the admittedly specialized questions below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1888" LastEditorUserId="1888" LastEditDate="2011-11-09T14:40:06.123" LastActivityDate="2012-04-01T23:34:44.703" Title="How do I avoid secondary carnitine deficiency related to Valproate Acid treatment?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-04-02T02:07:07.940" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4754" CreationDate="2011-11-09T02:58:36.447" Score="9" ViewCount="1716" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's a big question but i'm a guy who tend to sit all day long on a chair, sometimes without a great posture, arching my back and not sitting straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if there's a key exercise to regain a good posture. Also what are exercises to gain flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've look on the internet but there is so much information everywhere don't know where to start. Maybe if you have exercise that target the back at first, that would be a great for a beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-26T11:59:09.557" LastActivityDate="2013-06-23T11:05:09.197" Title="What are exercises for better posture and flexibility?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4507" CreationDate="2011-11-09T04:00:27.757" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your exercise goals are to improve mental alertness, reaction time and fight depression, skipping rope may have some advantages over jogging and running, because navigating the rope gives you added mental focus, body awareness and coordination. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in my comment, you do not need to choose one over the other.   To the contrary alternating one day of running with one day of skipping rope will give you the advantages of cross training.   Or you could combine a workout of jogging, with intervals of skipping rope. (Generally, you can’t continuously skip rope as long as you would be able to jog or run because it can be more intense as an exercise.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most important exercise criteria for depression is that it is something you and your body enjoys doing regularly.  Cross training keeps you from getting bored with your exercise program and is more stimulating mentally.  It also reduces the chance of overuse injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have included video links to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quoyW7FZqdI&amp;amp;feature=mfu_in_order&amp;amp;list=UL&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;beginning jump roping video&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy90G6g7fCo&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;more advanced&lt;/a&gt; one as you progress, as well as a video for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIyBX03oU7A&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;leg strengthening&lt;/a&gt; to prevent injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my suggestion is to try both jogging and skipping rope.  Either one and/or both can help you with your goals.  See what you like about each and how your body and mind respond.   Trying out each exercise will give you your best answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T04:00:27.757" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4586" CreationDate="2011-11-09T06:34:24.883" Score="2" ViewCount="1387" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I ran (slowly) on &lt;strong&gt;toes&lt;/strong&gt; (300 small steps). I got tired very soon.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I heard that skipping rope gives better results if done on toes (calf exercises)!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the same true with running too?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I stop when the toes get tired (even when the body doesn't)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="1405" LastEditDate="2011-11-14T15:23:36.240" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T15:23:36.240" Title="Is it preferrable to run on toes?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4533" CreationDate="2011-11-09T07:15:55.563" Score="2" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found some formulas based on height only (like Devine, Robinson, Miller), but I want to calculate the ideal weight based on gender, age and height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible? &#xA;If so, which formulas are there and how do I use them? Or are there other ways of determining the ideal weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2317" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:42:38.753" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T19:44:24.593" Title="How to calculate the Ideal Weight?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-04T21:03:40.593" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4532" CreationDate="2011-11-09T08:10:46.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no one ideal weight because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Each person will give you a different formula. Even within one sport, there exist many different proposed formulas for ideal body weight. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightrainer.net/potential.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; shows the many different forumulas proposed by scientists and athletes within the sport of professional bodybuilding. The famous old-school bodybuilder Steve Reeves gives this formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bodybuilding legend Steve Reeves presented simple formulas for&#xA;  calculating what he considered to be ideal muscular weight. He&#xA;  suggested &lt;strong&gt;starting with a base of 160 pounds and adding 5 pounds for&#xA;  every inch of height above 5'5&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. For people above 6'0&quot;, he suggested&#xA;  starting with 200 pounds and adding 10 pounds per inch. Using these&#xA;  formulae, a person 5'9&quot; would have an ideal muscular weight of 180&#xA;  pounds. A person 6'1&quot; would weigh 210 pounds. The problem with these&#xA;  predictions is that they do not consider bone structure size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bodybuilders of today would give a different formula than Steve Reeves. They would lean towards a much heavier ideal weight because that's the current trend. The best thing you can do is to look at who you want to look like and follow their formula. Maybe it's Steve Reeves, maybe it's not. And if they don't have a published forumula, look at their current weight and height, then make estimated adjustments for your height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T08:10:46.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-09T09:24:52.207" Score="5" ViewCount="606" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing Starting Strength for a month now and am still progressing fine. However, I'd have time to lift every weekday, and really want to. Is there a similar, well-tested program that I could switch to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose trying to make my own would just end in disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2318" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T14:19:47.247" Title="Is there a Mon-Fri lifting program for beginners, similar to Starting Strength?" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-09T10:03:37.827" Score="6" ViewCount="943" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does being fit or muscular help to stay in better shape as people age? I have to ask as intuition would say yes but there don't seem to be serious studies on the subject. Also, some athletes are said to end up with a bit of wear and tear early in life. There could be a point beyond which exercise and build could be detrimental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="747" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:39:24.257" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T10:38:35.170" Title="Do fit or muscular people age better?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2011-11-09T10:28:56.327" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rest is as important to your progress as the exercising itself (if not more). If you added in any extra workouts you'll just compromise your progress. This is even emphasized by Rippetoe in the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T10:28:56.327" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-09T13:18:37.163" Score="4" ViewCount="874" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working on my upper body and have singled out chest, flys, biceps, triceps, back, and shoulder.  If I wanted to exercise two groups each time I go to the gym, which pairings are best?  I have two thoughts.  One, it might be best to group muscles that have the most overlap, so chest/flys, biceps/triceps, back/shoulder.  Then they would get rest and get worked out hard each time.  But, I'm not sure if this would exhaust them too much or be at risk for injury.  Two, I would group them with very little overlap, for example chest/bicep, flys/shoulder, tricep/back.  Then I would be working separate muscles each time.  But, they may not get the rest they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2186" LastActivityDate="2011-11-10T14:18:12.847" Title="Which Muscle Groups to Work Out Together" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2011-11-09T13:27:08.820" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter how much time you can invest, there's simply no point to it. Your body grows muscles while you're resting, as long as there's a sufficient impulse. Maintaining that impulse does not require a lot of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason many strength programs are not 5-day programs is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; because most people don't have enough time, but because it can actually be &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; effective to train &lt;strong&gt;less&lt;/strong&gt;. And I do not mean more effective per time investment (that would be more &lt;em&gt;efficient&lt;/em&gt;), but more &lt;em&gt;effective&lt;/em&gt; overall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you train what you do is you strain your muscles to the extent that your body needs to repair them (just like a small wound). This repair process overcompensates so that your muscles are larger and stronger than before. The &lt;strong&gt;repair process&lt;/strong&gt; is what grows your muscles, and it takes &lt;strong&gt;several days&lt;/strong&gt;. Now of course you don't have to wait for the repair to finish completely (otherwise you couldn't train more than once a week or so), but you need to wait long enough to make sure that muscle growth is maximized. If you continue to damage your muscles too early during the repair, you risk losing strength instead of gaining it, and your risk of injury increases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T13:27:08.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2011-11-09T14:26:38.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Lift to get strong, don't lift for the sake of lifting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you don't &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4044/working-out-5-days-a-week-when-following-strengthening-routines&quot;&gt;add lifting workouts&lt;/a&gt; just to &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; like you're staying busy. The point is to actually make progress, not to do busy work. Investing more time in strength training will take time &lt;strong&gt;away&lt;/strong&gt; from the real thing giving you progress: rest. You don't get strong by working out, you get strong by recovering after working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment, a month into the program, I bet you're feeling underworked. That will change drastically if you follow the program and keep adding weight to the bar every workout. That's when you'll understand why it has three weekly workouts and not five.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Off-day gym workouts&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, a three-day-a-week lifting program can easily be made into a better version of itself by going to the gym on one or more rest days. Those additional gym visits should be spent on active rest and mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you're doing Starting Strength on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you could definitely hit the gym on Tuesday and Thursday with something like this plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Double-length warm-up (e.g. 10 minute run instead of 5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full-body joint prep, rolling out each joint from the toes to the neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga or other stretching for half an hour to an hour, focusing on your most immobile areas. This probably means a lot of attention to your hamstrings, hips, shoulders, and back. Impeccable posture and flexibility is the goal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A brisk or incline walk for a short while. If your goal is pure strength then your off days should be more restful, but if you have broad goals then a short-to-medium metabolic workout would be fine here. That could be a mile run, a set of bodyweight calisthenics, or something more challenging like AMRAP kettlebell clean-and-presses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T13:56:45.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2011-11-09T14:34:07.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're a novice, I recommend my other answer, to wit: keep doing orthodox Starting Strength. But there is an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally used only in Olympic lifting programs (snatch and clean &amp;amp; jerk), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theironsamurai.com/2010/05/23/the-secret-to-bulgarian-training-in-olympic-weightlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bulgarian&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.owresource.com/training/bulgarian.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;programming&lt;/a&gt; is designed for working out every day, usually multiple times a day. They work only with very heavy weights and use very few exercises. It requires a lot of dedication and I don't think it's normally recommended for novices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T14:34:07.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4535" CreationDate="2011-11-09T14:47:43.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on what you mean by &quot;aging better&quot;. Aging has a lot of different aspects, for example the loss of health (e.g. increased cardiovascular risk), loss of physical fitness, and deterioration of physical appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no question at all that exercise prevents age-related health problems, and there are countless studies on that subject. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18795587&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a study showing that exercise reduces cardiovascular risk.&lt;/a&gt; The same is true for physical fitness: Obviously exercise helps you stay fit as you age, since that's the main purpose of exercise in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you are more interested in the age-related effects on appearance, i.e. does exercise help us look young as we age? This is a more complex topic, since appearance is fairly hard to measure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One part of it is wrinkles, and I would argue that staying muscular is definitely a great way to prevent body wrinkles, by keeping the skin tight. In addition, skin hydration is a big factor in preventing wrinkles and exercise keeps you and your skin hydrated by strengthening your heart and improving your blood circulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another part is how &quot;healthy&quot; you appear in terms of your skin &lt;em&gt;tone&lt;/em&gt;, which is also affected by cardiovascular strength (blood circulation) and as such definitely associated with exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet other parts are your stress-resistance, energy levels and emotional stability (sort of your &quot;behavioral appearance&quot;), all of which may decrease with age, and all of which are significantly improved with physical exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there's no doubt that exercise slows almost every aspect of aging. Is exercise also associated with increased risk of injury? Yes, but injury is something you can control and prevent to some extent if you're smart, while the creeping effects of age-related decline are not (unless you exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;wear and tear&quot; kind of injury is mostly associated with excessive exercise, such as running the length of one or two marathons every week of your life. It's entirely preventable by moving from low- or moderate-intensity exercise to high-intensity exercise of shorter duration. But that's a different topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-09T15:01:14.303" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T15:01:14.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4530" CreationDate="2011-11-09T15:09:50.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running on your toes may be a good idea if you want to improve your ability to run on toes, or perhaps other activities (jumping rope) which involve similar movements and muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is running on toes better no matter what, and better than regular running to improve your (regular) running speed, endurance, health, and so on? No, obviously not. Running on toes is an unnatural kind of movement and less efficient than regular running, so it only makes sense if you specifically want to train yourself for that kind of movement in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before asking whether something is &quot;better&quot; it's important to explain what your goal is. If your goal is to get strong calf muscles, and not superior fitness, endurance, running speed, cardiovascular health, running economy, and so on, then the answer may be &quot;yes&quot;, but this would be a highly specific goal as not many activities would benefit from disproportionately strong calf muscles..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-13T15:27:52.617" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T15:27:52.617" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4525" CreationDate="2011-11-09T15:45:04.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice: Work empirically. Since you only suspect that your fatigue and nausea are related to hyperammonemia, order blood tests for both ammonia and carnitine levels. If they are abnormal, start taking regular L-Carnitine supplements, standard dosage. Retest every 2 weeks to check for improvement. If you're better, be happy. If not, try increasing the dosage or mixing in Acetyl L-Carnitine, or whatever else makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is that this is a highly specific field of interest, and not that much is known about it. There are many aspects that are extremely hard to figure out just by searching the net and reading all kinds of studies. Sometimes it's way more efficient to experiment, especially since there's no substantial risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T15:45:04.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4560" CreationDate="2011-11-09T17:25:54.103" Score="6" ViewCount="3534" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6-year old daughter wants to accompany me on my ~3-times-per-week leisurely jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not talking Marathon training here &amp;mdash; It's a social run-walk of a kilometer (0.6 miles) in about 15 minutes, but we've been talking about ramping it up towards 5K (leisurely) over time. She is active, no health problems, she'll get proper shoes and instruction, and we'll do the doctor visit yada-yada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question, specifically, is about the &lt;strong&gt;repetitive&lt;/strong&gt; nature of cardiovascular, middle-distance road running; &lt;strong&gt;Is it developmentally stage-appropriate for a child&lt;/strong&gt;: Muscular-skeletal, balance, repetitive stress, etc? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a concern about someone of such a young age getting into running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastEditorUserId="5" LastEditDate="2011-11-09T18:39:11.937" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T19:49:40.780" Title="Any fitness issues of child taking up jogging?" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4548" CreationDate="2011-11-09T17:51:21.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no issues with taking your child with you on your run. We're talking about a leisurely jog at a very slow pace across a very short distance here; it certainly doesn't sound like you want your daughter to try out for the next Ironman. When did our society start questioning whether it's okay for children to move around a bit? &lt;strong&gt;Of course it's fine.&lt;/strong&gt; In fact, it would be more harmful if you &lt;strong&gt;didn't&lt;/strong&gt; allow your daughter to participate in such activities. Being active early on can prevent childhood obesity and other health concerns in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722975/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a study&lt;/a&gt; suggesting what kinds of activity are appropriate for different ages. As you can see, physical activity benefits children of &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; ages and running is fine even for a 3 year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the intensity has to be adjusted to her age, but as long as you don't make your daughter huff and puff until she literally turns blue, there is no risk whatsoever. If the exercise is too much, there will be very obvious signs, such as muscle pain, nausea, dizziness, and so on. If your daughter complains of any such symptoms, acknowledge it, tell her to rest and don't force her to run. Other than that, it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-11T12:53:43.030" LastActivityDate="2011-11-11T12:53:43.030" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1232" CreationDate="2011-11-09T18:29:03.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have scientific studies to support this; however, Dave Tate (power lifter) has observed that you get a big bench with strong lats.  His reasoning is that you need both a stable platform, and to engage your lats during the lift.  This helps lift heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When carrying this over to some of the theory that I've read from body builders about how to build bigger muscle, you need to be able to do more work (volume, time under test, etc.).  The take away is that lack of strength in your lats will limit the amount of work you can do on your chest speaking in &lt;em&gt;practical&lt;/em&gt; terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seile's Thesis on General Adaptation Syndrom (GAS) basically states that a living organism responds to stress by adapting to that stress to resist it better the next time it is introduced.  Essentially, in order to cause the adaptations that build larger muscles, you need to invoke the types of stress that cause that to happen.  If you are limited because of muscle imbalances, you can't induce the necessary stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another major concern has to do with the risk of injury.  Severe muscle imbalances put the lifter at a greater risk of injury.  If you injure yourself so you can't lift for an extended period of time, you will never be able to get the bigger chest you desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T18:29:03.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4466" CreationDate="2011-11-09T18:42:23.337" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw in your comment what you plan to do (and are doing now).  That is a very reasonable course of action to get started with.  Eventually, you will run into a problem with recovery.  It's a fact of lifting for strength.  I've recently had to make the transition from Starting Strength to an intermediate program which only provides gains once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the Starting Strength, I do recommend you get the book &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; by Mark Rippetoe and Dr. Kilgore.  This will really help you make the appropriate decisions on how to tailor what you are doing to keep your linear gains working as long as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some general observations I've learned as I went down the same path:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do the extra day of work for only so long.  Eventually you will need that extra rest day.  When that happens, you can stack the conditioning work after your lifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make your conditioning work with your lifting.  High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a good method to do that.  You just want to keep your heart rate up within the Zone 4 range (anaerobic zone) to lower zone 5 (power performance) and take rest breaks as needed to reset to the bottom of zone 4.  We're talking sprints, hill runs, sled drags, sledgehammer work, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pay attention to the amount of sleep you get and the food you eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As your squat gets close to the 300lb mark (I got as far as 310, others I know didn't break 300), you will have exhausted all you can do with Starting Strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other programs such as Madcow (intermediate-weekly gains, or advanced-monthly gains), and Wendler 5/3/1 (advanced monthly or 3 week gains).  Wendler 5/3/1 has you lifting four days a week, and you'll be able to stay with that program (or variation of it) for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be smart and listen to what your body is telling you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T18:42:23.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4535" CreationDate="2011-11-09T19:01:53.593" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several aspects to aging, and depending on what you do will affect how you age.  It's not as simple as &quot;just be fit and you'll stay healthier&quot;.  Apparently &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Store/HK/BendingAgingCurve.html&quot;&gt;there is a book on the subject&lt;/a&gt; that will provide a much rounder picture than I can provide here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcopenia&quot;&gt;Sarcopenia&lt;/a&gt; is the sad fact that you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; lose muscle as you age.  However, depending on the exercise you do, you can slow the rate of loss.  If you do nothing (remain sedentary), you will lose 15% of your muscle mass per decade after you turn 30.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/Masters.html&quot;&gt;Dr. Kilgore mentioned in an article&lt;/a&gt; that resistance training can reduce the muscle loss from sarcopenia to only 5% per decade.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoporosis&quot;&gt;Osteoporosis&lt;/a&gt; is another age related ailment that resistance training can either prevent or at least slow (see the Dr. Kilgore article above).  Essentially the bones become less dense and more porous.  Resistance training puts additional stress on the bones which forces the adaptation for your body to deposit more calcium on them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulatory_system&quot;&gt;Cardiovascular health&lt;/a&gt; is influenced by conditioning (not resistance training).  Proper conditioning will build your heart and lungs to support the other activities you are involved in.  If you keep doing them as you age, your cardiovascular system will be much healthier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No special name, but your tendons and connective tissue tends to get more brittle with age.  Exercise and stretching help keep them from being injured as easily.  Of course, exercise can also cause them to be injured in the first place.  Best course of action is a little more at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of these major quality of life and health concerns, proper diet and hydration affects your skin tone, fat content, blood sugar levels, etc.  The sad truth is that there are no guarantees that will give you a high quality of life until you die.  However, there are things you can do to increase your odds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T19:01:53.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4388" CreationDate="2011-11-09T20:09:06.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Gynecomastia&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Round pecs that are nearly pointed&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; sounds like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynecomastia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gynecomastia&lt;/a&gt;. Unfortunately if that's the case surgery is the only reliable treatment. You can talk with a doctor, specifically an Endocrinologist, and see if they would recommend some type of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynecomastia#Treatment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hormonal treatment&lt;/a&gt;. Losing bodyfat might help but if there is significant gland development that won't go down with bodyfat reduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R2xXl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Other causes&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have Gynecomastia then reducing your bodyfat and developing your pecs will change their shape. Don't get me wrong, you can't change how the actual muscle looks beyond making it bigger/smaller but the combination of muscle development/bodyfat does give it a different appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-09T20:09:06.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4563" CreationDate="2011-11-10T02:43:44.063" Score="8" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm swimming twice a week. My biggest issue is breathing and stamina, so I asked the teacher if running on the weekends would help. She told me that they are different kind of aerobic exercises, that a person may be able to swim one hour straight but not able to run a block, and vice-versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe she exaggerated, but I found her answer interesting. Is that so? Let's say, if I were a runner, would doing 1 hour spinning (a different aerobic exercise) not help me as much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T21:47:02.927" Title="Doing different aerobic exercises" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4555" CreationDate="2011-11-10T08:25:09.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that running could help, but sincerly it really depends on how much time you spend swimming....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run about 300km/month and when I go to swim (once every 2/3 months) I barerly finish 4 lap straight (25mt), a big improvement I noticed from the run is that I recover very very fast my breath and stamina...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2258" LastActivityDate="2011-11-10T08:25:09.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4537" CreationDate="2011-11-10T11:53:22.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A thousand mindless repetitions of an inefficient movement pattern is both a sign of absolute commitment and ignorance.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your question. My answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't&lt;/strong&gt; focus your training on inefficient movement patterns by using dumbles and barbells to train each muscle separately. You will lose your ability to move efficiently, and you will create a body that is weak and ragged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rather&lt;/strong&gt; focus on quality movement patterns and try to create a link between LOAD and MOVEMENT. Try to always move in all 3 dimensions. Try to make your training as fun and provocative as possible and avoid a boring routine of 2D exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to explore this kind of exercise and training I strongly advice you to take a look at these websites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.viprfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.viprfit.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://movnat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://movnat.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-fitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-fitness/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-11-10T14:18:12.847" LastActivityDate="2011-11-10T14:18:12.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4548" CreationDate="2011-11-10T14:18:08.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking&lt;/strong&gt; is the most natural movement a human can do. Therefore it's no problem to walk for long distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt; however, is different. Although we can do it for long distances (+10km), it is not the best thing to do for serveral reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cardio vascular system does NOT benefit. Aspecially your heart gets the subject of icreased pressure which can dammage the cells on the heart wall. More info about this in &lt;a href=&quot;http://vimeo.com/27933586&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this lecture by cardiologist James O'Keefe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repetitive movement always is detrimentel for your body. Habit becomes anatomy. Try to avoid repetitive motion as much as you can by taking obstacles during a run or try to put a little play into a running session by balancing on some obstacles or crawling under one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt; it's a good thing that your kid wants to go for a run so embrace it. Just do it in reasonable amounts...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastEditorUserId="2070" LastEditDate="2011-11-10T14:28:56.360" LastActivityDate="2011-11-10T14:28:56.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4555" CreationDate="2011-11-10T14:28:54.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are only swimming twice a week, cross training by running can help because it can improve your general fitness and aerobic capability.  I highly recommend it.  I only swim 1-2 times per week and my breaststroke sprint speed and distance freestyle endurance are improving month to month because of my cross-training (running, pushups, weights).  She is correct that the specific muscles and how they are used is quite different between the two exercises.  I am more tuned to swim, and it took me 8 weeks to train up to a relatively comfortable 4.4 mile swim last spring, and 14 weeks to train up to a rough 3.1 mile five-fingers run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While improving your general fitness will help, your issues of breathing and stamina suggest to me that you should – like all swimmers – be working quite a bit on your balance.  Leaning forward hard will prevent your legs from dragging and make it easier to rotate to breathe, but while the concept is simple it is a difficult skill to master.  I often recommend the popular book &lt;em&gt;Total Immersion Swimming&lt;/em&gt; for working on this and other skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2011-11-10T14:28:54.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4555" CreationDate="2011-11-10T14:34:06.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your teacher is correct: aerobic conditioning is specific and practice running will make you a better runner, but won't necessarily do much for your swimming. For one thing, running doesn't help you adapt more efficiently to the movements required by swimming. Furthermore, cardiovascular fitness is specific at the cellular level; it's not a systemic thing per conventional wisdom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/&quot;&gt;Body By Science&lt;/a&gt; (p. 40) reports on one salient study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An elegant study was performed in 1976 in which the experimenters&#xA;  recruited thirteen subjects and trained them on a stationary bike.&#xA;  However, they had them train only one leg; the other leg wasn't&#xA;  trained at all. The trained leg employed a sprint and/or an endurance&#xA;  (steady-state) protocol. The subjects performed four or five such&#xA;  workouts per week for four weeks. After the study, when the&#xA;  researchers tested the subjects' VO2 max by having them exercise with&#xA;  the trained limb, they noted an increase in VO2 max of 23 percent.&#xA;  This low-intensity, steady-state exercise was supposed to produce a&#xA;  central cardiovascular adaptation, but when the experimenters tested&#xA;  the subjects' untrained legs, they discovered that the untrained limbs&#xA;  showed no improvement in VO2 max at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Study: B. Saltin, et al., &quot;The Nature of the Training Response: Peripheral and Central Adaptations of One-Legged Exercise,&quot; &lt;em&gt;Acta Physiologica Scandinavica&lt;/em&gt; 96, no. 3 (March 1976): 289-305.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This also speaks to the fact that if you choose running as your&#xA;  exercise, any improvement in your VO2 max will be restricted to your&#xA;  legs for the activity of running. It's not having a central&#xA;  adaptation, as the muscles in your trunk and arms will be largely&#xA;  unaffected, and the effect will not be transferable to any other&#xA;  exercise modality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice to you: if you want to build endurance swimming, then swim more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-11-10T14:39:31.043" LastActivityDate="2011-11-10T14:39:31.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4555" CreationDate="2011-11-10T15:58:04.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend including some weight training, stronger and more effective muscles help reduce the overall aerobic drain during your activity. &lt;a href=&quot;http://swimming.about.com/cs/drylandexercise/a/swim_weight.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a link&lt;/a&gt; to a good article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend the big 4 exercises: squats, deadlifts, bench press and overhead/military press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T21:47:02.927" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T21:47:02.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4572" CreationDate="2011-11-10T19:27:06.330" Score="4" ViewCount="6840" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out by running around the neighborhood lately, and I've been tracking my runs on &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailymile.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;running&lt;/a&gt; sites, as well as keeping track of the calories on &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;.  However, I've been confuzzled lately about the calories that I should be tracking on my calorie tracking.  For example, for a recent 46-minute heavy interval run, I get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/user/jamuraa/activity/59318264&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;881 calories burned&lt;/a&gt; from RunKeeper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymile.com/people/jamuraa/entries/10892859&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1242 calories burned&lt;/a&gt; from Dailymile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;765 calories burned from MyFitnessPal (entered as 46 minutes Jog @ 6mph)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These numbers are wildly different, and I don't want to over or under-eat calories based on my diet.  I would think that RunKeeper, which actually keeps track of my pace using the GPS and elevation would be better because of more data.  Lately I have been trying to under-estimate by using the lowest of the three that come up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which number should I be trusting?  Are any of these numbers worth anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1846" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T15:35:02.287" Title="Which calorie count for exercise should I trust?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4569" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-10T20:52:35.477" Score="5" ViewCount="1967" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the Starting Strength chapter on the over-head press, Rippletoe writes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The press starts at the rack with the empty bar. After a good shoulder warm-up, approach&#xA;  the bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose this means that doing reps with an empty bar does not constitute the shoulder warm-up. What kind of exercise should I do before pressing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T21:42:46.913" Title="How to warm-up for the over-head press?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4569" CreationDate="2011-11-10T21:06:00.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I do a thorough set of joint rotations and arm swings in all directions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goals are to raise the temperature of our body (particularly our shoulder girdle and trunk), get synovial fluid flowing in the joints, detect any joint or muscle issues before we get started with an external load, and do a little bit of mobility improvement (perhaps &quot;ungluing&quot; some tissue, as Kelly Starrett says) so that we are sure to safely hit our entire range of motion. Joint rotations, maybe some jumping or running around, and arm swings hit all those goals for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting these points out of the way allows us to safely do our &lt;em&gt;activity-specific&lt;/em&gt; warm-up, which is to say, pressing weights that are very light for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T21:42:46.913" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T21:42:46.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4569" CreationDate="2011-11-11T01:31:34.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;+1 for the joint rotations/etc, but I'd also just do overhead presses with nothing--just move your arms up and down, with your hands at varying widths, keeping your elbows in the same plane as the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do a vertically-oriented breast stroke while rotating my wrists through a full range of motion; it's one of my favorite &quot;just move&quot; uh... moves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Not related, but senior citizens seem to really like it too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-11-11T01:31:34.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4568" CreationDate="2011-11-11T01:38:06.677" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're worth a teeny bit :) It's a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; rough estimate, and depends on all sorts of things, even the weather. (Perhaps not the phase of the moon.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the lower number is closer to what I'd expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-11-11T01:38:06.677" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4568" CreationDate="2011-11-11T02:19:36.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sites obviously have different ways to calculate the final count. Check and see if they accept inputs like Effort required (which does not have any unit of measure), Your weight etc. If the measurable quantities are identical in all, then the formulas are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take the average :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1494" LastActivityDate="2011-11-11T02:19:36.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-11T16:24:56.023" Score="8" ViewCount="551" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2011/11/interview-with-nutrition-diva&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;, Nutrition Diva's answer for question #10 &quot;Any good suggestions for getting enough protein as a vegetarian?&quot; includes soy. While the rest of her answers appear to be on track with the latest studies (vs. what a lot of doctors/&quot;experts&quot; recommend), this one in particular worries me. (I blame @codinghorror for tweeting this post in the first place :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read, phytoestrogens (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean#Phytoestrogen&quot;&gt;which non-fermented soy is extremely high in&lt;/a&gt;) have been shown to contribute to many problems for males, specifically with cancer and fertility issues. I believe there are also cancer-related issues for females but haven't read as much on the subject. Unfortunately, neither books (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1582437025&quot;&gt;Slow Death by Rubber Duck&lt;/a&gt;), nor video (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/disappearingmale/&quot;&gt;The Disappearing Male&lt;/a&gt;) are easily linkable and I hesitate to take random sources procured from searches since they don't tend to be based on actual peer-reviewed, unbiased (i.e. non-sponsored) studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a (linkable) affirmative source that has the same information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="2332" LastEditDate="2011-11-11T16:59:05.683" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T07:10:54.103" Title="Why do nutritionists continue to advocate soy as a good source of protein? (especially for males)" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;soy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4575" CreationDate="2011-11-11T17:12:27.030" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can't speak for every nutritionist, but I endorse soy (in moderation and minimally processed) as a protein source because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's protein rich (33% of cals from protein)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contains all the essential amino acids (i.e., is a &quot;complete&quot; protein)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is inexpensive, versatile, and appropriate for vegans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Large, independent studies show that moderate amounts of soy protein have beneficial effects on heart disease risk factors and may even help protect against prostate cancer.  However, I do recommend limiting it to 2-3 servings a day, which--based on the evidence I've reviewed--poses no danger to endocrine balance or function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some citations that might help reassure you: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18444130&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18444130&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17585029&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17585029&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524224&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524224&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11497534&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11497534&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15351581&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15351581&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11303585&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11303585&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2334" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-11-11T19:06:06.600" LastActivityDate="2011-11-11T19:06:06.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4594" CreationDate="2011-11-12T07:29:09.237" Score="13" ViewCount="7084" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22 and have tried two gyms, but I always fall back to burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for more exercises that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;are fun to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;require only bodyweight (and minimal equipment).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;are intensive and have even more intensive variants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;target a wide variety of muscles (including the core muscles).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;can be done indoors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other exercises exist that have similar advantages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only recall these from my monotonous workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myvitfit.com/ref.php?ex=1&amp;amp;id=27&quot;&gt;Burpees&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1130&quot;&gt;Russian Twists&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2338" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T02:04:38.913" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T13:57:14.120" Title="What are the top intensive bodyweight exercises?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-11-12T12:27:15.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experienced using a kso trek. It is not good for a long road marathon, i feel painful especially on my toes and heels which is because of the deep spikes. But i recommend it in any trail run marathon, it is not painful. I also have a pair of a KSO's and you may medicate the painful knee problem by having a correct heel strike. I'm a mid arch striker that's why i feel comfortable using the KSO's on road, and the KSO trek on trail running. For the best advise, visit a running clinic to know your heel strike and ask the correct pair of running shoes to the running clinic doctor. Visit also vibramfivefingers.com so you can read advises there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2342" LastActivityDate="2011-11-12T12:27:15.377" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-11-12T12:27:15.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-11-12T13:04:07.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In my opinion&lt;/strong&gt; 100% barefoot is still the way to go. It's the most natural way as well. The only good reason to run with Vibrams is temperature. Running 100% barefoot is better for your running posture. You start using your hips to absorbe shoques. This implicates that you will not constantely burden your achilles tendon by running on your front foot like you do when you weir the Vibrams or any other minimalistic shoe. The Idea is good but the protection from the rubber sole makes your foot unroll different and that influences your running posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I use the Vibrams too&lt;/strong&gt;. A lot. But I try not to run with them and go as much 100% barefoot as I can. I use the Vibram mostely during PT sessions. If I had to choose from the ones you showed I would take the Bikila's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-11-12T13:04:07.140" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-11-12T13:04:07.140" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3337" CreationDate="2011-11-12T16:51:26.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one's going to know this, but no amount of stretching helped.  The area was inflamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest, Tylenol, and sticking with bikes/rowers, &lt;strong&gt;and avoiding overstretching the hip muscle&lt;/strong&gt; seem to have fixed the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2011-11-12T16:51:26.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4504" CreationDate="2011-11-12T16:54:10.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with most of the accepted answer, but keep in mind that there is some debate about whether being fitted at a running store is the best way to find the right shoe. See this &lt;em&gt;New York Times&lt;/em&gt; article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/magazine/running-christopher-mcdougall.html?_r=1&amp;amp;pagewanted=all&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Once and Future Way to Run&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2343" LastActivityDate="2011-11-12T16:54:10.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4578" CreationDate="2011-11-12T17:01:06.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have an iPod or iPhone, I recommend the free &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nike.com/nikewomen/features/ntc?locale=en_US&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nike Training Club&lt;/a&gt; application, which contains a lot of bodyweight or minimal equipment exercises. Some of them include sit-ups, push-ups, jumping rope, planks, tricep dips, squats, and lunges. For some reason, the app is targeted at women, but the exercises seem gender neutral to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2343" LastActivityDate="2011-11-12T17:01:06.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4607" CreationDate="2011-11-12T21:53:08.890" Score="13" ViewCount="50223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard this a million times: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you want to get massive, you have to do compound exercises, not&#xA;  isolation exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A specific example is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdQZ-KGup-E&amp;amp;feature=feedu&quot;&gt;Hodge twins suggesting to do chin-ups rather than barbell curls&lt;/a&gt; to get bigger arms. What's the scientific explanation for this? In a chin-up, the weight is distributed across your biceps, latissimus dorsi, and some other back muscles. On a barbell curl, the weight is mostly concentrated on the bicep. It appears to me that the bicep is doing more work in the barbell curl than the chin-up (if you adjust the weight properly for a fair comparison). So how is it possible that the compound exercise is going to get you bigger arms than the isolation exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T19:12:13.173" Title="Why do compound exercises build more mass than isolation exercises?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4530" CreationDate="2011-11-13T00:36:18.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forefoot striking (running on toes) is the way we evolved to run. In areas where people do not wear shoes, this is how everyone runs, as heel striking without padding is painful. There is some evidence that forefoot striking reduces injuries &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harvard research site&lt;/a&gt;. Top running coaches often integrate barefoot running into training to encourage runners to regain some of this natural movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since most people have worn shoes for their entire lives, they have learned to heel strike, and the muscles needed for a more natural stride are weak. So, if you start running this way, you need to work up to it slowly by running very short distances, and you can expect soreness in your calves and achilles tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the work and pain to change form is worthwhile. I run much more easily since I switched about 2 years ago. A minimalist shoe will help you with the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T00:36:18.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-13T01:29:36.890" Score="2" ViewCount="693" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started to change my diet and attempt to become more healthy with the goals of being in much better shape, becoming healthier, and feeling better overall.  With this in mind, I have done my best to either eliminate all together or massively minimize my soda consumption, drink large amounts of water, restrict carbs, lower significantly the amount of calories in my meals, etc.  My typical meal plan now looks like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High protein shake for breakfast - mixed with water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handful of peanuts mid-morning for snack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch is usually a flax and low card tortilla with fresh spinach and sliced deli meat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handful of peanuts mid-afternoon for snack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supper is either another wrap like lunch or something with high protein content, sometimes it is just another shake like for breakfast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to drink nothing but water or tea during the day but usually water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trouble that I have started having is a reduce amount of energy or feeling of fatigue.  I am wanting to start something like P90/P90X but do not think that I could complete it right now due to sluggishness and general malaise.  Is there something that I should be doing differently to help with this?  How can I continue to be healthy and increase my energy levels? Note that I would still like to keep carbs and/or calories low to help loose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2316" LastEditorUserId="2316" LastEditDate="2011-11-13T01:35:14.323" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T18:18:13.247" Title="How to keep energy up while on diet" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;&lt;male&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-13T05:05:16.720" Score="7" ViewCount="32912" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do push-ups, I notice pronounced &lt;strong&gt;pressure increases in my head, eyes, ears.&lt;/strong&gt;  I do 20, with what I hope is top form:  slow (about up and down in 2 sec), chest and forehead touch floor each time, raised all the way up.  I just did 20 and my ears feel sort of ringing.  Note that I don't find doing 20 terribly hard--I feel I could push myself to do perhaps 25 or maybe 30 if I really strained.  But even after about 15, I begin to feel that pressure.  I do breathe in and out throughout the movements, though not in any particularly careful way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; get this when I do bench press or any other weight lifting (preacher bench curls, pull ups, tricep press downs), even to near failure with high reps (15, 12, 10, 8), nor with jogging/running.  Just push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that at least &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2960677-0/fulltext&quot;&gt;one person&lt;/a&gt; has had eye capillaries rupture due to push ups, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/290/21/2803.3.full&quot;&gt;2 people&lt;/a&gt; have had aortic aneurysm dissections following push ups (or, of course, other intense weight lifts), this has me concerned.  (Sure, of course, &lt;em&gt;millions&lt;/em&gt; haven't had such things happen, too...just erring on the side of caution).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push ups strike me as a simple and good exercise I can do at home easily, and a good measure of muscular endurance, but &lt;strong&gt;I am rather put off them every time I feel this unpleasant pressure.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How common is this?  Is there a way to avoid it and do the push ups more safely?  Or perhaps are push ups just not for all people (as if there are some systemic differences that happen during push ups in only some people)?  I am willing to try altering my approach, but if I can't get around the &quot;pressure problem&quot;, push ups are out of my repertoire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2016-12-23T02:33:59.223" Title="Push ups and (blood?) pressure?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4569" CreationDate="2011-11-13T09:22:32.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In additional to joint rotations I like to start any compound movement with a set of 5-8 repetitions at 50% of whatever my target weight for that exercise is at. Using the lighter weight sometimes feels strange but focus on a controlled movement and good form. Resist the temptation to just blow through your warm up with speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally if this is an exercise where I have plateau-ed I keep the &quot;warm-up&quot; weights nearby, so I can do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_set&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;drop set&lt;/a&gt; if can't complete the last set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T09:22:32.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4516" CreationDate="2011-11-13T12:36:47.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several different pushup variations out there and most of them provide a unique advantage. Different forms of the pushup can affect different areas of the body, so the proper technique all depends on what results you are looking for. If you are working on your chest which is why most people start doing pushups in the first place then the standard pushup is fine for that. But for a more intense chest workout elevate your feet on a stable surface, and do the pushups as slowly as possible. For different pushups variations check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.propushups.com/different-types-of-pushups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.propushups.com/different-types-of-pushups&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2347" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T12:36:47.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4585" CreationDate="2011-11-13T17:13:06.297" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we need to distinguish between different goals here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;strong&gt;muscle mass&lt;/strong&gt; in general is what you want to maximize, compound exercises help you work as many muscles as possible with a single exercise. This is why they are recommended: Most people want to build &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; their muscles, not just one or two in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;strong&gt;biceps mass&lt;/strong&gt; is what you want, and you are not interested in anything else, then I'd agree that you may as well do barbell curls, or other isolated biceps exercises, and those may be more effective for your particular goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's credible to suggest that compound exercises are better if you simply want a huge biceps; it's just that most people want more than that. Some people (perhaps the guys in the video) may think that compound exercises are better no matter what, but that's not true. When experts recommend compound exercises, there's an implicit assumption that huge arms are not your only goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, most would argue that compound exercises are not necessarily more &lt;em&gt;effective&lt;/em&gt;, they are more &lt;em&gt;efficient&lt;/em&gt;. They allow you to work out lots of muscles in a fairly short amount of time, while isolated exercises will take a lot more time for a similar effect (to have all muscles covered). Of course this is irrelevant if you only want to work one particular muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other benefits of compound exercises include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They place greater demands on your cardiovascular system, improving your aerobic strength, heart muscle function, and blood circulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They train things like coordination, reaction time, balance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They enable your muscles to grow in the right relative proportions; with isolated exercises you run the risk of neglecting certain muscles that are important for real-world activities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-13T17:18:21.250" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T17:18:21.250" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4587" CreationDate="2011-11-13T18:18:13.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your calorie reduction is too drastic to support increased activity. Try figuring out how many calories you are consuming, and comparing that number to the calories you need to maintain your weight (you can find tools online to help with this). To lose a pound a week, you would need a deficit of 500 calories a day. If your calorie deficit is too large, you may not have enough energy. It is a balancing act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, make sure you are getting enough sleep. The general recommendation is eight hours, but it varies by person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2343" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T18:18:13.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4633" CreationDate="2011-11-13T19:13:13.307" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many fitness clubs and centers in my city area. &#xA;How to choose the most appropriate option for me ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point I don't really know what is the most important to ask for regarding fitness clubs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for all your comments. Let me reformulate my question then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What questions should I ask myself before I can decide on the right fitness class  ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1973" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T18:23:53.490" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T11:29:59.410" Title="How to find the right fitness class?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4578" CreationDate="2011-11-13T20:38:07.523" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;NerdFitness's &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Beginning Body Weight Routine&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/17/advanced-body-weight-workout-warning-this-will-kick-your-ass/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Advanced Body Weight Routine&lt;/a&gt; are great places to start for planning an intensive body weight only circuit Some of these require some weight for resistance but just find something heavy around the house to lift and adjust your repetitions per set accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally consider a pull-up bar minimal equipment and if it is at all possible I &lt;em&gt;highly&lt;/em&gt; recommend you purchase one. It's pretty hard to beat the pull-up in terms of an intensive compound body weight exercise. Consider a pull-up &quot;program&quot; like &lt;a href=&quot;http://twentypullups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Twenty Pull-up Challenge&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomarineofficer.com/Downloads/PT/thearmstrongworkout.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Armstrong Pull-up Program&lt;/a&gt;. When you start getting bored do things like alternative your grip (hands facing towards you or away), wide grip, narrow grip, negatives and or tie something heavy around waist for extra fun.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for intensity, try doing your sets as fast as possible (while still maintaining good form) with no rest in between. Treat it like a circuit. If that's not enough for you try picking three or four exercises and performing them in a pyramid circuit - again trying to complete the sets as fast as possible and without wasting time between switching exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beginning Body Weight Routine:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 body weight squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;10 push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 walking lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;10 dumbbell rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;15 second plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;30 Jumping Jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced Body Weight Routine:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;10 one legged squats – each side [warning super-difficult, only attempt if you in good enough shape]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 body weight squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 walking lunges (10 each leg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 jump step-ups (10 each leg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;10 pull ups [or inverted body weight rows using your kitchen table]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;10 dips – bar stools&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;10 chin ups [or inverted body weight rows with underhand grip]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;10 push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;30 second plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That pretty much covers my favorites but here are a few extras:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side-planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Star Jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diamond Push ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least pull-ups, pull-ups, pull-ups all the time. Enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T02:35:52.653" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T02:35:52.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4588" CreationDate="2011-11-13T21:41:00.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought would be that you are holding your breath.  Since you say that is not the case, it would be best to check with your doctor because as you point out you may have an increase in blood pressure that causes symptoms when doing push ups.  So, it would be best to check it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try making the push up a little easier and see if you still get the symptoms.  For instance, stop short of the floor by a couple of inches to see if that lessens the strain.  Hope that helps and good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-11-13T21:41:00.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2011-11-14T00:45:36.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can touch my toes.  I can put the palm of my hands on the floor even with my knees straight if I want to.  I guess it's simply how you're built, because I haven't stretched in months and I can do it.  I have long legs, but I s'pose my arms must be long too haha!  You also have to give me the fact that I'm young- around 16- and female.  Women are often more flexible than men.  I do not believe that your flexibility will effect you that much in life.  It may help loosen up your muscles and stop them from being damaged while exercising.  I'm actually not very &quot;fit&quot; at all, if you're talking weight.  I'm 5'7&quot; and weigh around 180 pounds (see, not in shape)  But my heart rate is pretty good- around 65-70 bpm, and I'm very strong/ flexible.  I just got lucky I guess!  That is, minus my chubbiness ;) People who have long arms and short legs are often more flexible. Usually most fit people can touch their toes, but that's because they practice it.  You're probably built differently.  I wouldn't worry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2349" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T00:45:36.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-14T05:29:41.247" Score="0" ViewCount="2523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am starting an exercise regimen in combination of counting calories to get back to my ideal weight.  I am focusing more on cardiovascular exercises to shed the weight.  It basically consists of taking in 1500 net calories, in which I run/exercise off the additional calories I consume in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that eating cottage cheese and almonds (or other nuts) within 1 hour of going to bed gives you the right amount of protein/monounsaturated fats so your body does not go into 'fasting mode' while you sleep.  However I'm wondering if this would be beneficial to someone who is doing mostly cardio without much weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these 400 some calories before bedtime going to work against me?  Are there benefits of eating this before bedtime, other than making sure you don't consume the muscle protein while you sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2351" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T02:02:16.137" Title="Cottage cheese and almonds before bedtime for cardio regemin" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4619" CreationDate="2011-11-14T08:37:38.357" Score="2" ViewCount="6379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that working out helps the body out during stressful times. I've experienced myself this, after being stressed at work, hitting the gym 'releases' the tensions, specifically in my forehead (that area hurts and feels like there's pressure in it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that this seems to work only when my stress is caused by frustration (ex. arguing, unforeseen issues, mistakes due carelessness). However, lately, causes of stress has dwindled down to too much work, or perhaps overwork (like there's so much to do, after completing one development task, another is waiting) and no so much frustration. I tried to go to the gym but it seems it doesn't improve my condition so much, it just feels like I'm really tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question then, is that the second cause of stress I mentioned above, getting some rest rather than hitting the gym maybe a better idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T05:18:11.100" Title="Working out when stressed" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4578" CreationDate="2011-11-14T08:54:54.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/quick-full-body-workout/body-weight-squat.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squats are the best overall body exercise&lt;/a&gt;; though body weight squats probably won't be as body intensive as you don't have a barbell weight across your back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a fun fact (you're 22, you can probably relate to this unless you're not a gamer), in Final Fantasy Crisis Core, Zack has a mini game where he competes with other soldiers on &lt;a href=&quot;http://otakufitness.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/zack-fair-does-squats-and-so-should-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;who can do the most squat thrust in a given time&lt;/a&gt;. Trust me, try doing above 50 squats in one go, without stopping, you'll be sweating and your heart's racing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T02:05:09.897" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T02:05:09.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4601" CreationDate="2011-11-14T10:09:54.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, these are two different types of stress...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are stressed from negative emotions they have to be released somewhere. The gym or boxing, or any kind of sport will do. But when you are overtired, then you need to rest... It is simple, you cannot cure tireness with work(pushing weigths is also work), you need to have a good meal and a good sleep... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this was helpful... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1152" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T10:09:54.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4601" CreationDate="2011-11-14T10:40:11.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Tsvetan says, you can't cure tireness. &lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; you can cure the stress you get from work type stuff...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My advice to you&lt;/strong&gt; is to put some &lt;strong&gt;PLAY&lt;/strong&gt; in your training. Make it fun. Don't just do boring routine repetitive movements, but try to add some game characterestics to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Winning&lt;/strong&gt; should not be your main goal here. &lt;strong&gt;PLAY itself&lt;/strong&gt; is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It brings your &lt;strong&gt;MIND &amp;amp; BODY&lt;/strong&gt; in the here and now. This relieves your body from the stress you bring home from work. After a training of play you will feel a lot different and more relaxed. I do this kind of training when my clients are to stressed out for a normal personal training session and it works very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more info on how to put more play in your usual training methods take a look at these names on the web:&#xA;-Frank Forencich&#xA;-Mark Sisson&#xA;-Erwan Le Corre&#xA;-Ian O'Dwyer&#xA;-PTaGlobal Play&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another option&lt;/strong&gt; is running a 3km run barefoot. This also takes your mind completely of work for some time because you have to be 100% alert for sharp rocks and stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also improves your running technique so that's two for the price of one if you ask me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T10:40:11.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4601" CreationDate="2011-11-14T13:24:38.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different ways that the body deals with stress: tension and reduced energy are two, as you mentioned.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sometimes it requires that you address the cause instead of focusing on a short-term cure.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It seems this time it's a matter of overwork - if it's more than a short term issue - see what you can do to address it and if your answer is nothing then you haven't really looked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="2180" LastEditDate="2011-11-14T15:23:26.570" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T15:23:26.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4585" CreationDate="2011-11-14T14:28:52.033" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a big difference in lifting for aesthetics and lifting for strength.  While I don't think anyone will argue that lifting with the purpose of becoming stronger is better served by compound movements, people lifting for aesthetic purposes don't necessarily agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think we can all agree that you need an aspect of strength to perform bodybuilding style work.  If you can't increase the amount of work you are doing, you can't cause adaptations that will require the body to build more muscle.  The compound exercises help build that base of strength, but they are not going to shape the muscles the way you want.  This is why bodybuilders make heavy use of isolation exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compound exercises in the 8-12 rep range will help increase mass--particularly if you are increasing weight regularly.  The amount and distribution of mass will vary from person to person depending on technique, genetics, and physiology.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compound exercises build up general strength so your limbs can support more weight, in ways that your body is designed to work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation exercises allow you to control (to a certain extent) the amount of stress on your muscles to improve their size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to think about it in body sculpting terms, is that compound exercises allow you to rough in the body, while the isolation exercises allow you to provide the finishing touches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, it's not an either/or proposition.  Build a base with the compounds, and dial it in with the isolations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T14:28:52.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2318" CreationDate="2011-11-14T15:18:13.717" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are able to carry you bikes with you, one option is take a portable trainer with you (several makers and models are avaialble). You can unfold it in your Hotel room, balcony or any other suitable location, and ride on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For running - you only need your running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's most important, that while on a business trip, since it's not your regular schedule, it's easier to get injured, so better be extra cautious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HF&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T15:18:13.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2318" CreationDate="2011-11-14T21:04:25.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always rented a bike when I am in business trips over the US I go often to the bay area and I rent from blazzing-saddles which has some pretty descend triathlon bikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once put an ad in craiglist to rent a bicycle for a week (or the time of my business trip) and the guy let me use it for free and train with him... In Europe (where I live) I ask to travel by train and pack my own bike even if it mean to take a overnight train...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For swimming I try to look for swimming pool around but not too much since this is nomy strongest  and running that can be done everywhere (yeah I did even run once on the side of a freeway getting lost)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="288" LastActivityDate="2011-11-14T21:04:25.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4599" CreationDate="2011-11-15T02:02:16.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the benefit, although it's primarily the casein (a slowly-digested protein) that's beneficial. IMO any nut would do if you were interested in the additional calories or a small amount of fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're eating enough food during the day you're not likely to become overly-catabolic during the night. The type of training doesn't have a huge impact on your body's nighttime caloric needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;400 calories worth? That's almost a quarter of your daily calories, which already seems low. Assuming you weigh 150-175, you'd need 1500-2000 calories just to maintain weight, assuming low activity levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know your specifics, but 1500 cals/day plus an amount of cardio sounds like a bit much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T02:02:16.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4601" CreationDate="2011-11-15T03:36:37.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of the &lt;strong&gt;flight or fight response&lt;/strong&gt;, stress leads to the build-up of &lt;em&gt;costisol&lt;/em&gt;, a hormone that is released to help perform at an elevated state.  While this may seem great, it does lead to diminished abilities to recover, higher blood pressure, greater fat storage, and with a chronic load of &lt;em&gt;cortisol&lt;/em&gt; levels; can lead to serious health complications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise is a great way to get through stress.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel better during/after your workout, the exercise is beneficial&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find the exercise itself to be stressful and causing anxiety, it may be time to re-assess your exercise program.  It might be time for less structure and more play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're finding yourself too fatigued when you show up and just generally dragged down, it might be time to identify the problem head on.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2356" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T03:36:37.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4578" CreationDate="2011-11-15T04:19:21.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burpees are great as you've already mentioned.  I was doing them a couple times a week to complement my weight training routine.  My goal was to be able to do 100 burpees in 10 minutes, but I never quite reached that level.  Because they demand a lot of your muscles and your cardio, it's a good exercise to incorporate into an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt; routine.  Alternating between burpees and something like sprinting would be a killer workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you can make burpees even more challenging for yourself by incorporating a pull up.  At this point they're nearly a full body workout, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCPUS5hYGc4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;and it's insanely tough&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T02:05:39.523" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T02:05:39.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2011-11-15T04:30:20.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein is made up of seven different aminos, some of which (just as j.rightly correctly pointed out) can knock you out of ketosis because they are broken down into glucose in your blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;j.rightly is corrct. Do some research and it will confirm that protein can knock you out of keto. Anyone who says it can't doesn't understand the science behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is why you are meant to eat about 65% of your diet from fats, 30% protein and no more than about 5% carbs (which will be incidental from your fat &amp;amp; protein based meals) to be sure you stay in ketosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2357" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T04:30:20.303" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4601" CreationDate="2011-11-15T05:18:11.100" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though stress can have a lot of negative effects on your mood and energy levels, a lot of these effects aren't directly caused by stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Instead it's the actions that stress causes which have the bulk of the negative effects.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A common pattern:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bad Effect (i.e stress) -&gt; Bad Action (i.e. poor sleep) -&gt; Bad Result.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to distinguish this because you aren't just trying to reduce stress, but also learning how to cope and control its impact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Actions caused by stress:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Diet and Nutrition&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meal infrequency&lt;/strong&gt;: a lot of people stop eating regularly when they are stressed. This usually means eating 1-2 meals a day which results in erratic blood sugar levels - especially when coupled with poor nutrition and low food quality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Poor food quality&lt;/strong&gt;: a common complaint for someone who is stressed is that they don't have a lot of time, which means they will rely on fast food/take out/vending machine snacks etc. Again low food quality causes low satiety, energy levels, blood sugar crashes, digestive issues and general unwellness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not enough calories&lt;/strong&gt;: some people shut down under stress and barely eat anything. This is at the same time when your body is pumping stress hormones which sets you up for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crash later&lt;/a&gt;. The result is feeling cranky, irritable, negative, depleted, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dehydration&lt;/strong&gt;: stressed people tend to be occupied with what's causing their stress and neglect healthy habits like proper hydration. This again can have a host of problems, especially mood, energy levels, and physical performance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Activity and Lifestyle&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inactivity and Sedentariness&lt;/strong&gt;: since you are working a lot, you are probably sitting a lot. This leads to poor circulation, muscle tightness/imbalances, and general mood/energy level disturbances. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Imbalanced Activities&lt;/strong&gt;: similar to not moving enough, but more like spending an excessive amount of time on certain activities and neglecting others. This can be things like being in front of your computer all day or even just neglecting hygiene or relaxing/leisure activities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of exercise&lt;/strong&gt;: might be attributed to lack of time or energy but lack of exercise itself can cause low energy/mood. It also makes it harder to get back to training since you haven't been training in a couple of days or more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Sleep (most important)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quantity&lt;/strong&gt;: stressed = no time = sacrifice sleep. This is actually really bad because your entire system gets drained when you are stressed and requires MORE sleep to properly recover. But instead you cut back on sleep which means you are even less recovered to handle future stress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quality&lt;/strong&gt;: obviously stress causes negative feelings/worrying which can impact sleep. Add to that a deteriorating lifestyle, poor diet, lack of exercise and probably a lot of stimulants (caffeine or otherwise) and you end up with really poor sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Solutions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing is to develop a structure or a plan and stick with it. This can be things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep&lt;/strong&gt;: set a cut-off time from your work/computer, at least an hour or two before bed. Spend the last half an hour in bed reading in low light. If you have a hard time sleeping you can look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin#Circadian_rhythm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;melatonin&lt;/a&gt; which you can take ~1.5-3mg of an hour or two before bed. Install &lt;a href=&quot;http://stereopsis.com/flux/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;f.lux&lt;/a&gt;. Do calming and low light activities in the evening. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4444/sleeping-less-than-4-hours-a-day/4450#4450&quot;&gt;Here's my other answer on sleep.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;: give yourself a calorie goal and stick with it. Decide how many meals you are able to realistically make/have in a day and setup exact times for them. So if 11 oclock rolls by, you drop everything and just go eat. Make sure to address any kind of food quality issue as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For maximum hydration keep a filled water bottle with you at all times. Avoid diuretics like coffee and alcohol.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Activity&lt;/strong&gt;: start balancing things out. Doing the same task for hours on end makes anyone feel miserable and your performance goes down the toilet. Take frequent breaks and do something else. Go for a walk, take a shower, cook something, talk to someone, etc. Even 2-3 short breaks can make a huge difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also find out what you really want to do during your day and find a way to do it. You have 16 hours of waking time in a day and no you can't work that much.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;: don't set high expectations for yourself. You are stressed, you are tired, you are doing a lot. So that means you won't be able to perform at your best, that's fine. Do a light workout, warm up a lot, just do the best you can, exercise shouldn't be another source of stress. Also don't expect exercise to get rid of all your stress, it's not a morphine shot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress management&lt;/strong&gt; : Find what's bothering you and control it. Stop letting stress push you around and instead you push it around. Find problems and solve them, make to-do lists, put together a plan, write stuff down. If you just go muddling through a stressful situation you'll just drown. But if you structure and plan it and succeed it can become &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eustress&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T05:18:11.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4578" CreationDate="2011-11-15T05:58:09.007" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I want to agree with what other people have said: &lt;strong&gt;Pull ups&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;chin ups&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;dips&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;squats&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;planks&lt;/strong&gt; are all extremely good bodyweight exercises. &#xA;I'm going to suggest a few different ones on top of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, I decided to incorporate some gymnastics moves and exercises into my home workouts. Since some of these moves are extremely difficult, they can be broken down into a set of progressions (and supplementary exercises), which increase in difficulty. I'll include some resources about the specific exercises at the end of my answer. Anyway, these are the exercises that I'm working on right now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Planche Progressions&lt;/strong&gt; (a series of exercises that work you up to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-fghjEe5Tk&quot;&gt;full planche&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Front Lever Progressions&lt;/strong&gt; (a series of exercises that work you up to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtRV_DymdJk&quot;&gt;front lever&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMI0z4xT9fU&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;L-sit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though my knowledge of gymnastics is very limited, it seems like a recurring concept in gymnastics is that movements can be made much more difficult by decreasing leverage. For example, let's say you're doing a normal push up, so your hands are below your shoulders. Now, scoot forward with your feet (while not moving your arms) so your hands are now in line with your ribs. Try doing the push up again now--it'll be more difficult because you've decreased the &quot;lever arm&quot; of your movement. Try scooting forward so your hands are near your waist and try again...this should be much harder. (This variation of the push up is sometimes referred to as a &quot;pseudo planche push up&quot; and can help strengthen the muscles used in the planche).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in essence, if you do exercises where you can vary the leverage (like these ones), you have a sequence of exercises of varying intensity. These exercises are also all quite intense to begin with and only get harder. Furthermore, they all will workout your core quite a lot, especially in an isometric manner (i.e. in a static manner like a plank and not a dynamic motion like a sit up), as well as lots of other muscle groups (with the front lever and the planche you have pushing and pulling movements). As a result, these exercises seem to fit your requirements. Also, because of their novelty, I've found them to be really fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some Comments/Tips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The front lever will require a pull up bar (hope this is obvious after watching the video), so as other people have mentioned, you should definitely get one if you don't already have one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you can't hold the first front lever progression (see resources below), work on lifting your knees to your shoulders (while hanging on a pull up bar).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parallettes (the low parallel bars) are good to have but I haven't needed to use them yet (I'm not very far on these progressions). Using the seat of two chairs for working L-sits can work. Also, you can build your own set of parallettes using PVC for quite cheap (see &quot;Drills and Skills&quot; in resources), which is what I'm planning to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're new to these exercises be EXTREMELY CAREFUL. Some of these exercises put a lot of load on your wrists and shoulders, so always make sure to properly warm them up beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once again, I'm not a professional gymnast, and this is information that I've gathered myself by researching online. If there gymnasts reading this, maybe they can add some additional tips, pointers, and resources.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Links and Resources&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, you should read &lt;a href=&quot;http://dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-through-bodyweight-conditioning/&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, which inspired me to use these exercises in the first place. This article details the basic progressions that you should work on for both the planche and the front lever while providing a much more thorough motivation of why these are good exercises to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Youtube Videos: Here are some videos that I've found to be helpful, especially the front lever tutorial, which is very thorough.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6j924947eI&quot;&gt;Front lever tutorial&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PDWa9Wo6pA&quot;&gt;L-sit tutorial&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drillsandskills.com/&quot;&gt;Drills and Skills&lt;/a&gt; - A website about general gymnastics information that's really useful, including how to build your own parallettes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="553" LastEditorUserId="553" LastEditDate="2011-11-15T06:06:08.783" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T06:06:08.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4651" CreationDate="2011-11-15T06:34:51.827" Score="7" ViewCount="434" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a type of yoga that would be do able for an obese male with the limitations of obesity and gender (if there are) considered?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T23:19:48.707" Title="Yoga for obese male" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4628" CreationDate="2011-11-15T06:44:33.460" Score="4" ViewCount="829" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking into a wide variety of workouts to keep  from getting boredom. There is a term that seems to be thrown around here: &lt;strong&gt;core training&lt;/strong&gt;. My question is what is it and who should be doing it? Is it advanced and hence only for the very athletic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T13:10:37.123" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T06:20:33.827" Title="What is core training and who should be doing it?" Tags="&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-15T06:52:04.613" Score="5" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is specific to an obese individual. For weight loss - is it better to first focus on cardio, and &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; move on to weights, or is the combination a better approach? And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:43:48.453" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:43:48.453" Title="Weights versus cardio, or weights with cardio" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4623" CreationDate="2011-11-15T08:30:24.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it is difficult to loose weight only with cardio. If you want to get fit and make progress you got to hit the weights and run a lot. And by running I mean sprints because they make your body burn fat and your hearth working. Also, the veloargometer won't do anthing good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pushing weights makes your body tight. Only cardio will cause you to loose mass but be with very flabby skin and muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1152" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T08:30:24.413" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2011-11-15T13:09:58.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gang, I've been juggling 1 pound balls for a few years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 58 years old and I can tell you, juggling a pound is no strain at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Now, I can also tell you that this changes when you move up to 1.6 or heavier balls.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're tossing the balls 5 feet in the air, the extra weight of kinetic energy is not significant -- it's simply a gentle, flowing exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So fear not -- start with the lightest heavy balls (I like the much smaller ones -- the DX Power Ball from Serious Juggling -- , the Dube ones I bought are 3&quot; and that's pretty darn big). They're great for walking &amp;amp; juggling -- will fit in your pocket (ok, barely) when you get to a store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- Ken  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2359" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T13:09:58.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4623" CreationDate="2011-11-15T13:51:46.563" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first: get your diet in order.  If you are not eating the right things to help you lose fat (fat, not just weight), no amount of gym work will overcome those calories.  Once you get your diet working, then look at what you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting is a powerful way to burn a lot of Calories, particularly if you focus on strength.  Conditioning is another way to burn Calories.  However, I would caution you that as important as exercise is, going with the goal to simply lose weight is going to leave you aimless and cause you to get bored with the regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you do the following while you are getting your diet in order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Come up with your general fitness goals.&lt;/strong&gt;  Do you want to run a marathon?  Compete in power lifting?  Take up a sport (there are several indoor soccer, basketball, volleyball, and baseball leagues)?  Or simply be as strong as you can be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Find out how to get in shape for that activity.&lt;/strong&gt;  I guarantee you that both resistance training and conditioning will come to play--even cheerleaders have a solid regimen of both those activities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assess your current level of fitness.&lt;/strong&gt;  If you can't do all the exercises in the program you want to follow (the point above), you have to strengthen your weak points until you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Put yourself to work.&lt;/strong&gt;  No amount of planning will magically turn you into a beast, you eventually have to do what the plan says.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, &lt;strong&gt;fat loss is done in the kitchen.&lt;/strong&gt;  Muscle building and conditioning is done in the gym--and it's best done with real and tangible goals in mind.  Keep your first goals reasonable.  When you hit that goal, increase them a little more.  It's that process of beating goals that makes the gym fun.  If you go in without any real goals, or goals that are too far in the distance, it demotivates you and you lose interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T13:51:46.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4622" CreationDate="2011-11-15T14:56:42.273" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your core is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_%28anatomy%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;neck, abdominal, back and hip muscles&lt;/a&gt; which are used for stability.  In a very real sense, your strength can be limited by your core.  In fact, a large part of your power production comes from your core strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core training is strengthening your abdominal and back muscles to provide more stability for the rest of your work.  It's a critical part of training, and everyone should have some core training in their regimen. Anyone who exercises should keep their core strong because working extremities without using core muscles leads to excessive strain on your extremities. An imbalance of core and extremity work can cause core (back) and extremity pain or injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the specifics, it depends on the rest of your training.  Someone who is working toward a 400lb squat and 500lb deadlift will need more core strength than someone who is focusing on body weight exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="4706" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T04:51:56.980" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T04:51:56.980" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3823" CreationDate="2011-11-15T16:17:46.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try exercising more frequently but at lower intensity. For example, try to work out 4-5 times a week alternating weight lifting and cardio instead of doing both on the same day. You said 2-4 times a week... if you're only doing 2 days I'd go up to 4 days and alternate the type of workout; if you're doing 4 days of this kind of workout I'd just back off the intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T16:17:46.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-15T16:22:00.210" Score="6" ViewCount="7096" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using Runkeeper for Android for about a month, and really love the ability to create custom workouts. I'm doing the couch to 5k training program, and Runkeeper lets me create a set of intervals (i.e. first interval 90 seconds at steady pace, second interval 60 seconds at slow pace, repeat 8 times) and get voice prompts. This part works fantastically, and is one of only two features I really require.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second feature is GPS/mileage tracking. Unfortunately this doesn't work so well. I've heard that two versions ago everything worked perfectly, and then they made some changes that completely screwed up the GPS. The version I started using took 10-15 minutes to pick up a GPS signal, even when other apps picked it up right away. This wasn't an occasional occurrence; it was every single time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 10 days ago, they released an update which seems to have fixed that, but ever since, the mileage tracking has been wonky. The GPS does show my correct route on the map, but not the correct mileage. For example, yesterday I did a route that I've been walking for years; I know for a fact it's 2.5 miles exactly. Runkeeper showed my route correctly on the map, but claims that it was actually 4.9 miles. Again, this isn't a one-time thing; it happens pretty consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are a ton of apps out that there will let you track your mileage, but not many (any) that I've found that will let me create custom interval workouts the way Runkeeper does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of any Android apps that will do these two things reliably? I don't need social features, calorie tracking, photos, or anything like that. (I do need to be able to listen to my music in the background, but it doesn't need to be integrated into the app, as long as it will continue to play the standard Android music app while the running app is going.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2293" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:42.797" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:42.797" Title="Looking for an Android app other than Runkeeper which lets me create custom interval training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4588" CreationDate="2011-11-15T17:27:39.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time you exert yourself using strength, your heart will respond by pushing blood with more force.  This is a bit different than aerobic activity where the heart responds by becoming larger and pushing more blood with each beat.  The net result is increased blood pressure &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; exercise.  This action is intensified if you use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Valsalva Maneuver&lt;/a&gt;, which is the body's natural response to pushing heavy things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People with normal blood pressure have nothing to worry about, as the blood pressure does return to normal fairly quickly after you exert yourself.  However, if you have a history of high blood pressure, you should get that under control before doing anything that requires exertion (like pushups, lifting weights, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With weights that are not near your maximums, you can learn to breath properly under pressure.  The key is to breath using your abdomen and not your chest (something that singers learn to do).  However, when attempting maximum effort work, the Valsalva maneuver is the best approach to making it happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T17:27:39.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4593" CreationDate="2011-11-15T17:49:47.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an article on that subject on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46413&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.medicinenet.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46413&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The article&lt;/a&gt; suggests 10 questions one should ask in order to decide on the right class:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the instructor's qualifications and training? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where and&#xA;when is the class held? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What type of exercise activity interests you&#xA;the most? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it possible to attend a variety of classes? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How crowded&#xA;is the class? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you observe a class or take a trial class for free&#xA;before you commit? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How does the instructor interact with&#xA;participants? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the costs of the class? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the&#xA;facilities like? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the class fun?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other ideas ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1973" LastActivityDate="2011-11-15T17:49:47.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4639" CreationDate="2011-11-15T23:51:18.040" Score="3" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the Pilates? &#xA;What kind of training/equipment does it involve?&#xA;Can beginners do Pilates?&#xA;Are there any good resources in terms of book/websites on Pilates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-01-18T03:25:00.957" LastActivityDate="2013-05-29T01:53:59.193" Title="What is Pilates and what are some good resources on it?" Tags="&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4637" CreationDate="2011-11-16T04:33:24.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pilates are full body exercises that focus on strengthening your bodies inner core.  The Pilates exercises that I have done before require no additional equipment.  You don't need any special training, however they can be rather challenging! All you need is a good video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of which, try this one, which is so appropriately named &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCg_gh_fppI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;POP Pilates for Beginners - Total Body Workout&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2351" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T04:33:24.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4646" CreationDate="2011-11-16T04:55:18.493" Score="15" ViewCount="24527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I appear skinny but anyone who's seen me without a shirt knows the truth!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My chest, arms, and legs all look healthy (as far as I'm concerned) but my stomach is this fatty mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not that I don't try. I run 8km every morning. I do burpees until I can burpee no more after each run. I love the simplicity of burpees. No doubt there are better workouts made up of several different isolating exercises, but burpees feel like they cover a lot and I tend not to get bored doing them and feel great afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing this for years, occasionally dropping one or the other or both for a short time, but always eating well. I walk a lot too. So the problem I believe is I have a weak core and none of these exercises are doing much to strengthen it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering my current workout, what is the best and simplest exercise I should try to add in to start hardening up my core. I've incorporated standard situps/crunches in the past without much luck at all. I think it may be my sides (obliques?) that are in the worst shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to keep it simple and introduce only one, or maybe two, new exercises. At least to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on how to move forward would be much appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender: male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 32&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 6'1&quot; (185cm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 165 lbs (75kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist/Hip ratio: 0.875 (35W/40H)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMI: 22&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have calipers but one online calculator that compares waist/hip ratio to wrist/forearm ratio said 21.5% body fat. Another formula from Wikipedia that uses age, BMI and gender said 17.5%. I have a feeling it is probably over 20% though. The skin near my pecs I can barely pull away from the muscle. The fat on my stomach, and butt for that matter, I can grab and fill my hand :/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caloric intake is around ~2000-2500 per day made up of vegetables, rice, beans, lentils, sometimes pasta, sometimes tofu, sometimes other things, toast, cereal. I am vegan and do not eat meat, eggs or dairy. I do drink soy milk. I do not drink soda or high-fructose corn syrups or refined sugars, etc. and generally pay attention to everything I eat. I think I balance carbs, protein and good fats pretty well. I drink a lot of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2362" LastEditorUserId="2362" LastEditDate="2011-11-16T22:51:41.827" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T15:57:37.057" Title="Skinny but flabby, what to do?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4643" CreationDate="2011-11-16T06:43:18.647" Score="4" ViewCount="2210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at the nutrition facts label on my protein shake bottle and it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein 42g - 84% DV&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin C - 100% DV&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin A - 40% DV&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitiman D - 50% DV&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the 84% daily value for 42g of protein an overestimation for bodybuilders. Most reputable sources say protein intake should be proportional to your target body weight (2g protein per kg of body weight) and how much you work out. 42g of protein yielding 84% DV would only be sufficient for puny 5 year olds that lift weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now lets move from talking about macronutrients and start talking about vitamins. Would the amount of vitamin C in this example protein shake be 100% DV for &lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt;, or do bodybuilders require more or less? I would like to know how to calculate any vitamin daily requirement based off of physical fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T09:36:30.343" Title="How do you calculate daily vitamin requirements?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4644" CreationDate="2011-11-16T09:22:22.353" Score="6" ViewCount="37900" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my doctor I am having lower back disc problems. I feel pain there almost all the times when I stand or bend my body backward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I am gaining fat and don't know how I can lose it as I can't do heavy exercises. What is an effective way to lose weight considering my lower back problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2363" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-08T15:52:07.043" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T16:35:00.770" Title="How to lose weight if I have lower vertebrae problems?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4641" CreationDate="2011-11-16T13:03:53.847" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look closely, you will notice that at the bottom of the label it says &quot;Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.&quot; So that clarifies the DV value for protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for micronutrients, the DV is based on the RDI (recommended daily intake) value, which represents the &quot;average daily nutrient intake level that meets the requirements of 97-98% of healthy individuals in every demographic in the United States&quot;. So even for most bodybuilders, the micronutrient DVs should be sufficient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, however, that these RDI values are not based on the current RDA (recommended daily allowance) values, but the older RDA values from 1968. As such, they are not very accurate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The newer RDA values are not printed on food labels, &lt;a href=&quot;http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&amp;amp;tax_level=3&amp;amp;tax_subject=256&amp;amp;topic_id=1342&amp;amp;level3_id=5140&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;but can be found online&lt;/a&gt;, and they are listed separately based on age and gender, but not weight or activity. The RDA is based on the &quot;requirements of 97-98% of healthy individuals in each life-stage and gender group&quot;. Differences between RDI and RDA are substantial, e.g. the RDI recommends 60mg of Vitamin C per day, while the RDA for males ages 19-30 recommends 90mg per day. The &quot;97-98%&quot; are not arbitrary, by the way: it captures people up to 2 standard deviations above the average, assuming adequate intake is normally distributed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for the confusion is that the RDI values (on food labels) are regulated by the FDA, while the (more accurate) RDA values are regulated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and these two don't always agree. Generally speaking, and this is purely subjective, the FDA is much more influenced by political pressure and corporate interests, while the IOM is considered to have higher scientific credibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there are studies claiming that certain micronutrients have an added value &lt;em&gt;beyond&lt;/em&gt; both the RDI and RDA, but the evidence for these claims has generally not been considered strong enough to increase either value. Whether it makes sense to take a certain micronutrient at a dose above the RDA should be carefully considered on an individual basis, based on current research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe that scientists have an exact model describing how factors such as physical activity, weight, muscle mass, etc. affect the recommended intakes of any micronutrient, I have to disappoint you. In most cases, these relationships are simply unknown, and you have to make do with the RDA values. For many micronutrients, not even an RDA is known, but only an AI (adequate intake), which is not much more than an educated guess how much people should take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-16T13:57:26.813" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T13:57:26.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4642" CreationDate="2011-11-16T14:19:55.300" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had several friends who have lost significant (75 pounds) by doing the paleo diet alone and didn't exercise due to medical conditions. &lt;a href=&quot;http://paleodietlifestyle.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paleo Diet Lifestyle&lt;/a&gt; is a good website to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercising, what exactly is your disc problem? I am not a physical therapist, but as a nurse, I would recommend doing whatever kind of exercise you can tolerate and not overdo it. A lot of disc problems need rest, and some even need surgical fixture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-08T14:59:29.250" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T14:59:29.250" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4640" CreationDate="2011-11-16T14:36:49.433" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;You are probably weak. Strength training is the solution.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best option would be to learn to lift weights. Starting Strength, a 3-times-a-week barbell program, is a good option. StrongLifts 5x5 is also commonly recommended. (See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2731/what-are-some-good-5x5-programs-i-can-follow&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't get access to a gym or barbell, you could look into bodyweight strength training instead. These &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3714/bodyweight-exercise-resources&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4578/what-are-the-top-intensive-bodyweight-exercises&quot;&gt;questions&lt;/a&gt; have some good resources on that front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;With More Information, You Get More Advice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you gave us your diet and dimension info, I now more firmly suggest strength training, and would add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/193/how-many-calories-to-burn-daily-to-see-a-change-in-weight-within-a-month/3364#3364&quot;&gt;BMI is not a valid metric for individuals&lt;/a&gt;. Please don't misuse it, or allow others to misuse it, by applying it to people instead of populations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do you want core exercises? I hope you have not fallen prey to the distressingly common virus called &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1299/how-to-lose-fat-only-in-your-thigh/3933#3933&quot;&gt;Believing in Spot Reduction&lt;/a&gt;! You can't get rid of belly fat with crunches or any other targeted exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am not convinced that you have a weak core, since you haven't stated any reasons for believing so. You might be weak generally, but as bodybuilders say, &lt;em&gt;everywhere&lt;/em&gt; is a weak point if you don't lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-11-17T04:23:52.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4640" CreationDate="2011-11-16T14:41:34.900" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adopt a combination of HIIT and strength training. Don't run 8km every day, it's completely useless and simply wears out your body for no good reason. You need to get your testosterone up to build muscle and reduce fat. I don't know if you're male or female, but it doesn't matter. The only way to do that is with exercise of very high intensity. Avoid moderate or low intensity exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By strength training I mean heavy weights and such. Burpees and situps will not do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you have too much fat is not because you're not doing enough: it's because what you're doing is completely wrong and not at all consistent with your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By running long distances, you are conditioning your body for endurance, not strength. You're also conditioning your body to hold some fat reserves, since fat reserves are needed for long-distance running. If you want to be strong and skinny, you need to condition yourself to be a fighter, and fighters have no reason to run around for miles every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T14:41:34.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4642" CreationDate="2011-11-16T18:14:42.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find some exercises you can do, such a swimming, water aerobics, or upper body weight lifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch your back. Over time, this will allow you to do a LOT more. Do a Google search for lower back stretches and find some that work for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat less. The more you weigh, the harder it is on your back. It's hard to cut back on food at first, but if you are strict about it you'll get used to eating smaller portions. Count your calories. In order to lose weight, you must eat less than you use. It's the law. (of physics).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T18:14:42.367" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4642" CreationDate="2011-11-16T19:43:42.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your back problem&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Your back hurts because &lt;em&gt;the myofascial lines on your back are overstretched&lt;/em&gt;. This is caused by your daily movement pattern. I guess you do a profession with a lot of sitting or light standing work? The one thing you should &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; do is stretch them even more or doing some abs exercises like sit-ups or crunches. &lt;em&gt;This will make the pain in your back even worse!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Instead&lt;/strong&gt;, you should do exercises that &lt;em&gt;open your frontal muscle chains&lt;/em&gt; so that your back muscle chains can relax. A good movement to do this is [the crawl][1]. There are a lot of variations to do this movement. But my advice would be to start to do it against a wall. This way the impact of the force (gravity) on your body is less than when you would start on the ground. Take a look at these crawl based exercises I do with my clients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vIuH2wwf54&amp;amp;feature=feedf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crawl against wall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBV15J9-k5c&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crawl against Rack&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These movements will improve your back problem. &lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; your problem is a long term thing. Don't expect it to go away quickly. You should give it some time and do a lot of these exercises. You should feel improvement and less pain after a few trainings.Leave those weights where they are. Gravity is more than weight enough. Listen to your body. Start at the wall and take it from there. If you feel that your movement is fluent you can choose to go closer to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your weight problem&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;AtlasRN is right. &lt;em&gt;Paleo is definitely the way to go!&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;Here are a few tips that should get you started for a successful weight loss journey:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go easy on the sugar.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sugar makes you fat. That's how it is. Try to avoid it as much as possible. It's a poison. Look at [this lecture from Dr. Rober Lustig for more concrete info][1].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't eat processed foods.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They are packed with poisonous substances such as colourings, preservatives, etc. Also they are packed with salts and heavy refined wheat and sugar. Make your own food and &lt;em&gt;EAT REAL FOOD&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stick with good and healthy fats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This means: lots of omega 3 fishy oils and good saturated fats from grass fed beef.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat lots of vegetables.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;and I really mean &lt;em&gt;A LOT&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water, tea or coffee.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Skip juices and skip soda's.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check out these info sources:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark's Daily Apple&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thepaleodiet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Paleo Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Robb Wolf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vimeo.com/ancestralhealthsymposium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ancestral Health (Vimeo Channel)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://garytaubes.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gary Taubes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://freetheanimal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Free The Animal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.latestinpaleo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Latest in Paleo (Podcast)&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this info and you'll be on your way. Success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-08T15:53:39.240" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T15:53:39.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4642" CreationDate="2011-11-16T19:48:50.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All disc problems are not alike.  Some are bulging discs.  Some are ruptured discs. The best way you will know what exercises are safe for your back is to have physical therapy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your therapist will evaluate your back and symptoms.  They will correct muscle imbalances, soft-tissue and joint restrictions, and teach you corrective exercises as well as self treatment techniques including self mobilization and/or traction, or heat/ice to control symptoms.  Once you have some control over your symptoms, they will help you establish a safe exercise program which may include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking&lt;/strong&gt; (with or without &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nordic walking poles&lt;/a&gt;, or walking/exercising in water)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cycling&lt;/strong&gt; - If you can't tolerate walking, cycling or using a recumbent cycle can allow you to burn calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; - Safe ways to include strength training such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/An-Exercise-Ball.html#Learn-How-To-Squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ball wall squat&lt;/a&gt; with the ball giving the back support, using resistance bands, or other ways to support your back when lifting weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching&lt;/strong&gt; - Tight muscles in the hips and legs can increase the strain on your back, so your therapist can give you appropriate stretches with the proper modifications.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking for a therapist, ask questions to make sure that you are getting one who specializes&#xA;in backs and who will help you establish a good long term exercise program.  I think you will find that you will get the best results with professional help.  Otherwise you will have a lot of trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to reduce weight be sure to adjust your intake to your activity levels.  Good luck.  Hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T19:48:50.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4621" CreationDate="2011-11-16T20:06:18.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say you could start with some balance poses to help your body adjust to supporting your body weight while in different positions. You could also try Hatha yoga which is generally a slower paced yoga which can help you to adjust to the poses and get comfortable with them before moving on to faster paced yoga routines like power yoga, vinyasa or ashtanga. But only do what your comfortable with, nothing wrong with going slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2228" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T20:06:18.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4653" CreationDate="2011-11-16T20:26:24.540" Score="5" ViewCount="3060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard both holding your breath for all reps and exhaling on the way up - what is the best approach and/or differences in approach? and are there other breathing patterns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T21:44:36.273" Title="What is the best way to breath while benching heavy?" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4652" CreationDate="2011-11-16T21:41:00.423" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;For &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; breathing under load, the best approach is to use the same technique singers, cheerleaders, and martial artists use: breath from the gut.  Look at yourself in a mirror, and if your shoulders are rising and falling when you breath you are breathing from your chest.  Your stomach should be moving in and out, almost as if your diaphragm is being moved by your lower abdominal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &quot;The Vault&quot; by Dave Tate, &quot;Starting Strength&quot; by Mark Rippetoe and Dr. Lon Kilgore, and a few other sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the Valsalva Maneuver for as many reps as you can (at least the first 2-3).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't go any further, take a quick breath when the bar is at the top and hold it until you get the bar back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That held breath provides a stable platform, and as soon as you move your ribcage (breathing through your chest), you will lose precious tightness.  Losing tightness will affect your ability to finish the reps in your set.  Your breath should only come from your abs moving, and just enough to keep you going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T21:41:00.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4652" CreationDate="2011-11-16T21:44:36.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it would be possible to hold your breath through a set, so I'll assume you mean whether or not to hold your breath throughout one complete rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping your lungs full of air helps create intra-abdominal pressure, which stabilizes your core and adds support for a weight above you. I find this to be most crucial when doing squats, but certainly that extra stabilization can help with bench press. Any reduction in this pressure means a reduction in tension. Take the excerpt below from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/the_evil_russian_speaks_part_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pavel Tsatsouline interview&lt;/a&gt;, in the context of intra-abdominal pressure for strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I started arm wrestling, I was told by a professional in the&#xA;  sport, &quot;Don't let me hear you breathe.&quot; This is because the moment you&#xA;  exhale, you'll get beat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you have to balance with comfort, as you don't need distractions to your focus. I find myself exhaling a little during the upwards part of heavy lifts. I never exhale all the way, because I want to maintain that pressure for safety (and for the next rep, if there is one). Certainly, you only want to inhale (quickly) between reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if you have heart or blood pressure problems then breath-holding may carry some additional risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T21:44:36.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4687" CreationDate="2011-11-16T21:47:54.393" Score="37" ViewCount="6286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to be traveling to Chicago, IL in early December and I'm training for a marathon.  What kind of preparation and equipment do I need to continue training while I am there?  I have run several marathons and I have run through the winter in the Southern US.  I am prepared to run in weather down to about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, with minimal wind, rain, or snow.  During the week I will be in Chicago, I plan to run at least 5-7 miles most days, with a long run of 15-20 miles one day.  Historical weather shows that the average temperature in Chicago in December is 20 degrees.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I expect to be running on ice, and if so, do I need special shoes?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is icy or snowy outside, do people just go to the gym and&#xA;completely avoid running outside?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I am running in ice or snow, is there a special method of layering that helps the most?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have been planning to do my long run on the lake.  If it is 20 degrees outside and windy,&#xA;is that feasible or will it be far too cold?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2071" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:15:26.630" Title="How Do I Prepare For Running In Very Cold Wind, Rain, or Snow?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-11-16T23:48:52.417" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running under 40 degrees can be tough, but many enjoy it, and it can be a great kind of training, especially if you're looking for a challenge. Some facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running in cold weather puts additional strain on your cardiovascular system: Your heart has to work harder for you to get the same performance as in warm weather. Therefore, your heart rate will be higher (or you'll be slower if you already train at aerobic maximum). In terms of the training effect, running in cold weather is like running at a higher intensity, at least in cardiovascular terms. Do not feel bad if you feel less fit than usual, it's normal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Protect your extremities first and foremost, especially ears and hands. A hat or headband, gloves and thick socks are important. As for the rest, Nike has this &quot;Hyperwarm&quot; line which I think is pretty good.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you use a heart rate monitor that wraps around your chest, make it much tighter than usual, since your body tissues will be more contracted in the cold. It sounds strange, but it's true.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want to run on ice, it's possible, you could get either &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-323--12421-0,00.html&quot;&gt;ice cleats&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.icespike.net/index.html&quot;&gt;Icespike products&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most people don't go running outside in such cold weather, but there are always a few hardcore guys out there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anything above 20 degrees is definitely feasible if you're prepared. Running under 20 degrees is generally not recommended for most people, although it's also possible with special gear and good conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-11-16T23:54:47.997" LastActivityDate="2011-11-16T23:54:47.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4640" CreationDate="2011-11-17T02:50:47.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard for me to believe after running daily and doing a bunch of burpees, that your core is actually weak. And at 6'1&quot; and 165 lbs, you are also not at all overweight. My guess is that at best you need to stand up straight and all of your belly fat problems will be solved. At worst, you are expressing negative body image issues that don't reflect your real body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think veganism is the optimal diet for creating muscle definition, but it's just hard to imagine that's the issue from what you have posted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-11-17T02:50:47.063" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4686" CreationDate="2011-11-17T02:51:25.757" Score="8" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of workout or stretches can I do to increase my range of motion? I want to be able to do a split (I am quite close).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of stretch should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-11-19T04:09:59.083" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T02:12:22.333" Title="What are workouts or stretches to increase flexibility for the splits?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4640" CreationDate="2011-11-17T03:09:01.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly agree with the strength training responses. I'll also add here that strength training (squats, overhead press, pull ups, etc.) also works out your core a lot, since you need to engage your core to stabilize your body during many of the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also mention that you run 8k every morning and do burpees afterward. I think you should read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://marksdailyapple.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Sisson&lt;/a&gt; about why doing too much cardio could actually be &lt;strong&gt;bad&lt;/strong&gt; for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other extremely important thing is your diet. I know you mentioned that you eat well, but recently, I've discovered that the typical person's perception of &quot;eating well&quot; may not actually be as healthy as he or she thinks it is. In particular, you might be consuming too many carbs to fuel your cardio. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4609/what-books-sites-journals-and-research-can-you-recommend-for-nutrition&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt; for more detailed information about nutrition (I've posted a response there listing what I think is good &quot;further reading&quot; material). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Just saw your update about your diet. I'm currently following a primal/paleo lifestyle where grains and lentils are not eaten because of their antinutrients and insulin-raising (respectively) effects on the body, which could be part of the answer to your question as well. However, since your vegan, I'm not really sure what other food choices there are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is: try the strength training first. If that doesn't solve your problem, you may want to think about changing your diet in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="553" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-11-17T03:29:02.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-17T04:32:59.867" Score="2" ViewCount="4713" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that if the abdominal muscles are flexed deliberately (kind of forcibly) throughout the day, it increases metabolism and helps reduce weight. I have a few questions regarding this as I am trying to reduce weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it true? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If yes, how safe is it? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long should I do it (e.g. the whole day or a few minutes each day)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2363" LastEditorUserId="486" LastEditDate="2011-11-17T22:04:01.943" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T08:19:10.333" Title="Does keeping your abdominal muscles flexed increase metabolism and reduce weight?" Tags="&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4690" CreationDate="2011-11-17T04:55:22.863" Score="2" ViewCount="475" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the optimal training time for a combined weight training cardio workout and what is the optimal order it should be done in first weight or cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastEditorUserId="2031" LastEditDate="2011-11-19T02:24:06.690" LastActivityDate="2011-11-20T15:16:13.960" Title="What is the optimal training time for a combined weight training and cardio workout?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-17T11:02:42.377" Score="4" ViewCount="10863" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always wonder to know what should be the time gap between meal and specifically stretching exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After how many hours of meal I should not do stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And after how many hours of stretching exercise I should not take anything in?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2363" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T18:35:51.187" Title="Time gap between meal and stretching exercise?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4664" CreationDate="2011-11-17T15:26:41.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've read if you are going to exercise but you have just eaten a meal, wait at least 2 hours. If you had something lighter, a snack perhaps, less of a wait is fine. As far as exercising before you eat, in my experience you can eat right after you exercise. I am not usually hungry until about 30 minutes after I eat, but it's probably because I like to drink a couple glasses of water after an intense workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just doing stretching exercises that don't work up a sweat, I'd say do your exercises whenever you want. If you aren't doing something that is going to dramatically increase your heart rate, eating before or after isn't really going to hurt anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastActivityDate="2011-11-17T15:26:41.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4667" CreationDate="2011-11-17T16:53:45.657" Score="14" ViewCount="2519" Body="&lt;p&gt;When training for powerlifting, olympic lifting, strongman events, etc., the majority of training cycles in an overall program would be focused on strength (myofibular hypertrophy) and perhaps power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any benefit to adding in a cycle focusing on mass (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy)? My first inclination is that it would just add bodyweight and bump me up to a higher weight class, but perhaps there are structural benefits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T07:35:14.163" Title="Does muscle mass help or hurt for powerlifting and other strength sports?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4666" CreationDate="2011-11-17T18:04:46.613" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many lifters, particularly novices, need to focus at least some of their attention on hypertrophy and mass gain in order to have a sufficient muscle mass to make strong. I'm not sure if it's appropriate for intermediates and beyond. I'm also not sure if this would call for a sarcoplasmic hypertrophy phase (in which I imagine one would focus on 10-12 rep sets), or simply doing sets of 5-6 reps instead of 1-3 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cross-Sectional Area&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are specific structural benefits of having bigger muscles. For one, they provide more space for muscles to operate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cross-sectional area of a muscle (rather than volume or length) determines the amount of force it can generate by defining the number of sarcomeres which can operate in parallel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Muscle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength wiki&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Leverage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many competitive powerlifters espouse a minimum bodyweight necessary to &amp;quot;look like you lift weights&amp;quot; as well as to have the correct body proportions to perform the powerlifting lifts optimally. Several EliteFTS lifters weigh in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/documents/body_weight_leverage.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this Myles Kantor interview of Mike Robertson&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jim Williams wrote in 1973 regarding physique and squatting, “...the majority of your squat record holders for their size, no matter what class, have big hips. Big hips play a major role in doing heavy or maximum squat movements.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave Tate has similarly remarked, “There’s always a height to weight ratio when it comes to strength. Regardless of what anyone says, if you're 6’2” and weigh 165 lbs, you might pull okay, but you’re not going to squat worth a shit. You don’t have the thickness or the torso. I’m not saying you have to have a fat torso, but a light lifter like that won’t have the torso support for leverage.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the 6’2”, 165 lb aspiring powerlifter as an example, what’s the least he should weigh to avoid chasing his tail in the squat and the sport in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MR: If you’re 6’2” and want to be successful in powerlifting, the minimum weight class you should compete in is the 308 lb class. However, you’d probably do better by moving all the way up to the super heavies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that what’s good for your powerlifting total isn’t necessarily good for your body. I would think that a 6’2” guy who weighs in the 220–230 lb range would be able to squat fairly efficiently if he worked hard on mobility and proper technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll try to relate a picture from Starting Strength 2nd Edition, to illustrate my point. Envision an underdeveloped thigh from the side. Since it is relatively thin, the forces applied by the quadriceps and the hamstrings are not far apart. Now envision a well-developed thigh. Its mass widens the space between the two forces, making a longer and more efficient lever arm. Think of trying to close a door by pushing it close to the hinges, as opposed to pushing it near the handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's on page 83 of SS2E:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bigger chest - whether from training or genetics - improves bench press efficiency. The increased steepness of the angle of attack of upper fibers of the pec/delt on the humerus increases the efficiency of the pull against the bone. This characteristic of third-class levers is the primary source of the advantages to be obtained by increased bodyweight, and is what is meant by the term &amp;quot;leverage.&amp;quot; It applies throughout the barbell exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are diagrams comparing efficiency with a small chest versus a big chest for bench, and a small thigh versus a big thigh for the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One has more leverage with a bigger muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Proof&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider: the lighter weight classes consistently lift less than the heavier weight classes. If you are training for strength and power with no regard for anything else, you'll want to gain tremendous amounts of size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible to get very, very, very strong and powerful without gaining much size, or even any size, or doing any hypertrophy-specific work. But being bigger allows you to lift more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T07:35:14.163" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4852" CreationDate="2011-11-17T19:06:56.943" Score="7" ViewCount="1183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to convert the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28physics%29&quot;&gt;power&lt;/a&gt; required to do one exercise, specifically running down then up four flights of stairs, into terms of a run of distance &lt;strong&gt;x&lt;/strong&gt; in time &lt;strong&gt;y&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found several work and power calculators online, but none of them include stair runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the variables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mass&lt;/strong&gt;: 205 pounds (93 kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Height&lt;/strong&gt; (4 flights): 40 feet (12.2 m)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Angle of descent/ascent&lt;/strong&gt;: 30°&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Based on the height and angle this equates to 80 feet of total distance traveled each way (the hypotenuse), and 69.28 feet of purely horizontal distance traveled each way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time&lt;/strong&gt;: 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you roughly translate this into the following format?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I ran &lt;strong&gt;x&lt;/strong&gt; distance in &lt;strong&gt;y&lt;/strong&gt; seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd appreciate either a general or specific solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="486" LastActivityDate="2011-12-11T15:09:10.297" Title="How do you equate a &quot;stair run&quot; to traditional running in terms of Power?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-17T19:27:02.840" Score="10" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched through the site and couldn't find a good answer to this. Does stretching (to improve flexibility) interact or slow the muscle building and strength increasing benefits of weight training? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, directly related, does increased flexibility increase proneness to injury during high intensity resistance training? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referring to respected sources in your answer would be preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2031" LastActivityDate="2011-11-18T02:03:10.133" Title="Does stretching interfere at all with strength gain or injury susceptibility in resistance training?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4265" CreationDate="2011-11-17T19:29:17.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im studying it. Ill do some experiments this winter with my university group. As both discipline instructor i've seen that usually people that snowboard before they learn skiing easily than the opposite. Really fast. With children it's different, if they're less than 8 years old, they sould to learn skiing before if they're not really motivated, first for biomechaniclas reasons and then because snowboarding starts learning waking up and skiing you can start like walking :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2374" LastActivityDate="2011-11-17T19:29:17.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4661" CreationDate="2011-11-17T21:13:26.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pulling your stomach muscles in will help keep them active. It doesn't necessarily increase metabolism and help reduce weight, but it does help your muscles get a tiny workout. Keeping the muscles in your abs active will make it easier to use them when you do workouts like crunches, sit ups, and anything else involving your abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter how long you do it, it's perfectly safe because you are just working on your muscles. It doesn't hurt if you do it all day long or for 2 minutes 3 times a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to remember to use this technique when I am doing something rather sedentary, like doing dishes or driving in my car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastEditorUserId="2372" LastEditDate="2011-11-18T18:58:14.013" LastActivityDate="2011-11-18T18:58:14.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4669" CreationDate="2011-11-18T02:03:10.133" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A full answer does require some feedback on what your goals are with lifting.  However, regardless of your goals, proper technique for any lift is very important.  What many people fail to realize is that many lifts require a fair amount of flexibility to perform correctly.  If you cannot perform a lift correctly, your chance of injury goes up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start at the basics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need the ability to &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Safety.html&quot;&gt;perform the full range of motion&lt;/a&gt; (ROM) for the lifts in question.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Kinesiology/Squats.html&quot;&gt;Squats&lt;/a&gt; require that your hips break parallel to strengthen the posterior chain and protect your knees.  Several other lifts require full ROM to protect yourself from injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/ExInfo/Stretching.html&quot;&gt;Proper stretching&lt;/a&gt; helps you perform better with resistance training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with the basics taken care of we can address the issue of being &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a stable platform, or base to perform many lifts such as pressing movements (bench press, military press, etc.).  Any movement outside of what you are doing with the bar will affect your ability to perform the lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Someone who is so flexible that they are prone to hyper-extending their joints will cause excess stress on those joints--particularly with heavy loads.  Being strong helps, but you need to be extra careful when you push yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people are afraid that stretching lengthens the muscles (which it does), and their goal is to look big.  This is a short-sighted approach to lifting weights, even if aesthetics is your goal (i.e. bodybuilding).  It's also a myth that seems to perpetuate in high-school gyms.  Bottom line is you need the full range of motion to perform the lift properly and safely.  Once you can perform the techniques correctly, you can push yourself harder to more than compensate for that little extra bulging that &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; come from tight muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is yet one more therapeutic aspect to stretching after you lift: it helps blood flow through the muscles better to repair them.  Foam rolling is a godsend for lifter's aching muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-18T02:03:10.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2362" CreationDate="2011-11-18T17:12:28.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently saw my physio and she said my knee pain is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/fat-pad-impingement.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fat Pad Impingement&lt;/a&gt; which is caused by an excessively tight quad muscle. She told me to get a foam roller because it will be useful for deep tissue massage of tight muscles and will help with the overall state of muscles utilised in exercise (in my case, long distance running). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-11-18T17:12:28.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4678" CreationDate="2011-11-18T17:32:11.703" Score="4" ViewCount="3071" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently bought some spinlock dumbbells and a spinlock bar so that I can perform my weights routine at home. My workout involves increasing the weight between sets of the same exercise and I'm finding that the amount of time it takes to change weights using the spinlock bar discourages me from completing my exercises. Can anyone give me some advice on how I can hack my equipment so that I can change weights quicker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2324" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T10:10:47.387" Title="How can I change weights quicker on spinlock bars" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;tips&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1170" CreationDate="2011-11-18T19:44:10.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The P90X program definitely works. Ab ripper X works. It is very intense and there were a couple of exercises I still couldn't quite do as well as others after I had been on the program for a month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a fit test in the P90X program that will determine whether or not you will be able to do the exercises so do that first. The Ab-Ripper X video is about 10-20 minutes long, (I can't really remember) but it is really intense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a diet plan that you are supposed to follow, including buying pills and protein shakes from the Beachbody company, but I didn't do that. I think that the videos are enough, but you probably won't get the results that you want from just the ab ripper video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You aren't supposed to do the workout everyday, and Tony Horton says that in the video as well. You are really supposed to be working on a different set of muscles everyday. I think in my program I did ab ripper x three times a week after my normal workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastActivityDate="2011-11-18T19:44:10.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4676" CreationDate="2011-11-18T20:36:56.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, spinlocks are what they are.  When you don't change the weights on the dumbbells often, they are a great choice.  However, when you change between sets or for different exercises it becomes a pain.  That reason alone is why most gyms have a large selection of fixed weight dumbbells (also to get more people using the gym by helping you be quicker about your workout).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have some choices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some more spinlock bars so that once you are set up for your session, you just change the set of dumbbells you are using.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get those fancy dumbbells that let you dial in the weight you want.  I've heard mixed reviews about these things, and they are expensive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a dumbbell set like gyms have.  It's more equipment, but you'll never have to do another spinlock again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some loadable dumbbells where you have a compression collar to keep the weights in place.  However, this doesn't necessarily make things better because it is trading one problem for another.  In order to keep the collars small, they have a screw that you tighten to keep the collar in place.  Believe it or not, spinlocks are an improvement and a quicker change than those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any compression collars with a quick release like you can find on Olympic barbells that are small enough to work with most dumbbells.  Part of the challenge is the threads on the spinlock dumbbell reduce the friction that the quick release collars depend on.  If you know a machinist, they might be able to create something for you, but most people don't have that kind of resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-18T20:36:56.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4662" CreationDate="2011-11-19T00:04:15.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Optimal length of a workout is totally dependent on your goals and what type of training you are doing. Your exercises will determine the length of your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are combining weight training and cardio into the same workout, it doesn't matter which you do first. If you are doing one workout and then the other you should run before you lift. If you lift before you run you put yourself at a higher risk of injury due to fatigued muscles and the plyometric explosiveness of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update in response to another answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few objections to the response you gave to my answer: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A) you should &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; (I repeat &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; : I really cannot stress this enough) be lifting heavy weights on your back if there is even the slightest chance you won't be able to control how the weights fall. &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; do lifts like squats in a rack with arms that will catch the weight if you have to drop it. So I repeat: you should &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; be in a situation that will cause you to injure your back when squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B) If you don't have a spotter(which would be the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; situation where you would have to lift 200 pounds off your chest by yourself in an emergency situation.) you don't put pins on the side of your barbell. This way if the weight has to come down, you take the weights off by bringing one arm down first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C) Consider for a moment the difference between correct lifting precautions and the instability that is present when you are running. Weakened tendons around the knee can make it more difficult to control which way your knee bends. This is a given no matter what. Now consider that if your knee starts to give when lifting, you can just drop the weight (given proper lifting precautions) resulting in no injury. In comparison imagine your knee decides to give way when running. The most likely position for your knee to give way is in the explosive motion (remember running &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a plyometric activity) that occurs when landing, loading and pushing off again. If your knee gives way at any point in this process, your full body weight, plus the energy that you created from forward momentum, will come down on your knee. It may happen that your knee folds correctly and you fall with little injury other than some scrapes and bruises, but more likely is that the weakened tendons around your knee give way and it collapses backwards, hyperextending your knee or worse, snapping your leg at the knee.&#xA;and finally a side comment to B): When is your leg ever unloaded on the floor when running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contradiction to the bottom line of &quot;Bottom line is that the heavier the weights, the more potential that you can have problems due to fatigue.&quot; Heavier weights don't cause more problems, they cause the same problems with higher consequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience is with division 1 volleyball at the collegiate level. I was squatting 525 pounds last year on my last set of 5 reps and to squat like that before a practice (3 hours of running and jumping) is a terrible idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do however, agree wholeheartedly, that recovery time is important. It is perhaps even more important than the time that you spend lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="2380" LastEditDate="2011-11-20T15:16:13.960" LastActivityDate="2011-11-20T15:16:13.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4666" CreationDate="2011-11-19T00:27:29.637" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bigger muscle does not necessarily mean a stronger muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two concepts centered around hypertropy. Training for hypertrophy(sarcoplasmic), and the hypertrophy that naturally happens when you lift. Sarcoplasmic and Myofibrillar hypertrophy are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; mutually exclusive. When you train for power you will have a little Sacroplasmic and when you train for hypertrophy you will have some Myofibrillar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training for power (olympic lifting, explosive events) there is no reason to train for hypertrophy(Sarcoplasmic). As evidence you can look at the neuromuscular adaptations of the olympic powerlifters compared to bodybuilders. Even the heavyweight class of Olympic powerlifters(snatch, power clean) has compact muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now Strength and Power are two different concepts in themselves. You need a base of strength (squat, deadlift) to be able to train Power (snatch, power clean) but once you have that base there is little reason to train for strength (note that this means lifts like a slow squat as opposed to an explosive squat) as it will negatively affect the plyometric neuro responses that are so heavily trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to train for hypertrophy unless you want to have bigger muscles(not necessarily stronger)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastActivityDate="2011-11-19T00:27:29.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4689" CreationDate="2011-11-19T01:20:56.380" Score="16" ViewCount="75376" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am lifting three times a week, can I have a 24h or 48h fast on the weekend (say, eat last meal on Friday evening and then next have on Saturday or Sunday evening)? Am I going to lose muscle mass because of this or am I safe and I can use this method to reduce my weakly calories intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T07:33:35.440" Title="How long can I fast without losing muscles?" Tags="&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4668" CreationDate="2011-11-19T15:56:02.397" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short Answer: you don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long Answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a physics formula to calculate the amount of work done on each step and compare it to the amount of work done on a run. This will be inaccurate for what you are trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem: Running stairs is plyometrically intense when compared to running. This means that you are training power as opposed to endurance. (think vertical jump vs distance run). &#xA;Running stairs will help a short-distance run(100m) more than it will help a long distance run(5k).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Solution: Find a flatter area to run in if you want to calculate distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastActivityDate="2011-11-19T15:56:02.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4659" CreationDate="2011-11-19T16:08:48.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to stretch your hip-flexors, hamstrings and quadriceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a multitude of resources on how to stretch these areas on sites such as Youtube. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVq9nL_tLbo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a video&lt;/a&gt; I found that includes a bunch of good stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also do fire-hydrants (and variations), scorpions and iron crosses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T02:12:22.333" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T02:12:22.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-11-19T19:02:42.883" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running in the cold is perfectly fine, and I've run all the days of this season, including when it was down to 15&amp;#x00b0;F so far, with not a ton of extra equipment.  I don't know how recommended it is if you are going to be travelling from the southern weather winter to a northern weather winter suddenly might be a shock to the system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Protect your extremities more than you think you should.  In 30&amp;#x00b0;F weather, for example, I am running in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, but I also wear a hat and gloves.  If it's windy, I also wear a windbreaker over my top. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it's really cold, think in Layers.  A Compression top is great to wear under your normal running tee, it will block a lot of the wind and also provide some insulation while wicking away the sweat and keeping you dry.  The same goes for the bottoms - get a set of running tights, which will normally work fine down to about 0&amp;#x00b0;-10&amp;#x00b0;F, and then add some shorts on top of them to block wind, and if it's really cold and you want to protect your man-parts, get some thermal boxer shorts too, that block the wind even more.  It's pretty easy to take layers off if you get too hot when you're running, but frostbite is a serious concern when it gets below 20&amp;#x00b0;F.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't&lt;/em&gt; run in only cotton or another non-wicking material when it's cold, it is &lt;strong&gt;dangerous&lt;/strong&gt;.  Your sweat will freeze and you can get Hypothermia.  Wool is better, and even then I use polyester wicking fabrics as the base layer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running on ice is tricky, go slower than you expect, and only do it in the daylight.  I have never trusted any light to keep a path lit enough for making sure that you have sure footing when there is a lot of ice.  You can get some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yaktrax.com/pro&quot;&gt;Yaktrax&lt;/a&gt; to go over your normal running shoes, or if you have an old pair of shoes that you are willing to sacrifice, there is nothing better than putting some &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.runtowin.com/2010/02/25/ice-spikes-review.html&quot;&gt;Sheet Metal Screws directly into the shoe&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of light, it gets very dark &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; early in the northern states in the winter.  Here in Minnesota, sunset is before 5pm already (mid-november) and I expect it to be almost 4pm later this year.  If there isn't ice outside, you will need some lights and/or reflective strips so that you are visible to cars and other runners while you run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't expect to fall back on the treadmill option unless it's seriously snowy outside, or my streets and trails have more than a foot of snow on them and haven't been plowed.  I don't usually worry about rain in the summer, and just run outside unless it is really coming down and I can't see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wind can be a problem, especially if you are running around a lake where the wind can pick up considerably over the sheet of ice that will form in December.  Outer layers that are of a wind-breaking material like Goretex or just a standard wind-blocking nylon can make all the difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1846" LastActivityDate="2011-11-19T19:02:42.883" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4630" CreationDate="2011-11-19T19:21:09.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may not be the answer that you're looking for, but it is the solution to the problem that I have which is similar.  I also love the custom intervals on the RunKeeper, and am frustrated with it's inaccuracy sometimes with the GPS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, some tips for making RunKeeper work better: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't mind a strap, get an arm band and run with the phone in that instead of in your pocket.  It will increase the accuracy of the GPS by a lot because the signal will not be blocked by your body.  The days where I am running with the GPS on my arm have significantly better tracking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure that you aren't running a lot of other apps while you are tracking with RunKeeper.  I won't mess with my phone when I'm exercising, and I only have the music app up and running when I am tracking.  The accuracy of the GPS increases a bit with that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can, you can try running in a different area.  When I changed my running route to one that had less forests, the accuracy went up a lot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My solution is rather not ideal, but works great.  I use RunKeeper for the run and to get the GPS track of the run, and remember where I was.  Then I go over to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymile.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DailyMile&lt;/a&gt; and put in the route manually while I look at the RunKeeper's GPS tracking on the other site.  That way I have accurate distances because I'm putting in exactly where I ran manually, and getting an accurate pace from that.  I've measured the RunKeeper's timing using a separate stopwatch a few times, and even when it is inaccurate on the GPS track (sometimes completely losing the track) it is accurate on the timing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to think about is that it may not be RunKeeper that is the problem but if there was an update to your phone software recently, then the GPS can be messed up by that.  I had for example on my old phone, a software update which basically made it impossible to get a GPS lock in the first 15 minutes.  You should check your phone with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://market.android.com/details?id=com.chartcross.gpstest&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GPS Test App&lt;/a&gt; to see if it's RunKeeper that is the problem, or if your phone is just having trouble with getting a GPS lock at all. If the phone can't get a lock, then there isn't going to be any app which will help your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1846" LastActivityDate="2011-11-19T19:21:09.120" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4681" CreationDate="2011-11-20T01:56:46.433" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 24 hour fast is not going to hurt you or magically cause you to lose muscle.  In fact, there are several &lt;em&gt;intermittent fasting&lt;/em&gt; (IF) approaches that talk about how to balance food, fasting, and lifting.  The short list of these are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lean Gains&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatstopeat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eat Stop Eat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.warriordiet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Warrior Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these have slightly different approaches to fasting, eating, and exercise, but the basic principles are the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a period of no food (water is OK).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a window of time where you get all your caloric and dietary needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You do your exercise at a time when you can eat afterwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to successfully pulling this off is to manage your recovery--the rules of which don't change whether you intend to fast or not.  For about 48 hours after you lift, your muscles are sensitive to insulin.  This is a good thing, because it takes the carbohydrates you eat post workout and feeds that energy to your muscles first.  Of course you still need your protein, fat, etc. to rebuild your muscles while you are resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind the approach is that you continue to gain muscle while burning fat more effectively.  The idea is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to give yourself a Caloric deficit.  It's to give you the Calories you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt;, in a way that helps you stay leaner in the process.  There are some people in the lifting forum I use who swear by IF, but I have yet to attempt it myself.  The only thing I can say is that these guys lift very respectable weights, so that tells me you can incorporate fasting and weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest difference between the above dietary approaches is how long the fast is, and how long the feeding window is.  Eat Stop Eat is closer to what you are discribing in your question where you fast on rest days, but feast on workout days.  Lean Gains is where you have an 8 hour feeding window, and the other 16 hours are fasted.  Bottom line is that it is possible to lift and fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="16679" LastEditDate="2015-08-14T08:28:29.347" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T08:28:29.347" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4662" CreationDate="2011-11-20T02:15:19.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way you set up your programming is dependent on what is most important to you.  If you want to be strong and conditioned, typically you perform your weight training first.  If you want to be an endurance runner with some strength, you put your running first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The periods of time that you apply to lifting vs. conditioning really depends on what you want to do.  Personally, my lifting program takes me between 60-90 minutes to complete.  On the shorter days I will tack on 20-30 minutes of conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can draw your own conclusions, but I want to bring up some points that will contradict another answer to your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's more dangerous: getting pinned to the floor with a barbell and heavy weights on your back, or falling with just your body weight?  (both of these are fatigue related)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's easier to do: lift 200lb off your chest, or pick an unloaded leg off the floor?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is that the heavier the weights, the more potential that you can have problems due to fatigue.  Now, if you learn how to fail properly you can lift in a fatigued state and when you fail you fail.  However, the cost of not failing correctly goes up with the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do both conditioning and lifting in the same day, you really do need to manage your recovery.  Rest is important.  On days when I have 60 minutes of conditioning followed by heavy lifting, I separate those sessions by at least 1.5 hours and get a meal in between.  On those days where I tack 20-30 minutes of conditioning on to the end of the lifting, I keep the intensity up (heart rate) but allow enough rest between intervals so that my muscles don't become rubber.  I've found that with a sufficient base of strength, conditioning after lifting with no more than a 5 minute rest in between is perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, prioritize your training by what is most important that day.  If the conditioning is more important, do that first.  If strength is more important, do that first.  If you have a long session ahead of you for both, separate them by time and eat in between.  You'll need the extra energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-20T02:15:19.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4698" CreationDate="2011-11-20T10:00:56.847" Score="4" ViewCount="2413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22, 5'10'', weigh 90 kilograms (198 pounds) and I am constrained to exercise before 9:00 and after 20:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I therefore exercise twice a day indoors (geek's life) . And it's mostly squats (with variations), pushups, russian twists (that exercises obliques as well as the abs) and burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to &lt;strong&gt;limit the reps&lt;/strong&gt; of the squats and burpees as the lower back aches shortly after starting the squats. I cant exert much before the ache kicks in. And no, my back never bothers me when I am not exercising, and I am flexible enough to touch my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What factors are putting the strain on my back? I tried taking these apart individually, but I cant pinpoint anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inadequate warm up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;going to the shower just minutes after the burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bad form with the burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exercising twice a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2338" LastActivityDate="2011-11-22T04:53:41.357" Title="What did I do wrong to get exercise-induced lower back pain?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2011-11-20T10:33:00.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run about 32 miles a week on cement, twice a week I run 12 miles to work in my VFF sprint. Your legs soon gets used to the cement. The main difference between the VFF and normal trainers in the recovery time is much quicker using the VFF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2387" LastActivityDate="2011-11-20T10:33:00.823" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-11-20T10:33:00.823" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4693" CreationDate="2011-11-20T13:45:56.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak lower back?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poor form?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre-existing condition?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over-use?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twisting exercises (like Russian twists) can aggravate lower back conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't say what order you're doing things in, so it's hard to tell if a previous exercise is involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how taking a shower would cause the issue since you say the pain starts after doing the squats. You also don't say if you're doing the same routine twice a day, or if they're bodyweight squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Impossible to say much more, but I'd suspect form first, followed by a PEC, then fatigue, then weakness. There are likely other possible reasons, or other &quot;priorities&quot; of these and other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-11-20T13:45:56.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4693" CreationDate="2011-11-20T14:45:37.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems obvious that it's related to the squats, since the pain starts after that and the only non-body weight exercise you're doing are squats.  I would have someone check your form either in person or via video (you can post a link here).  Look at doing some body weight or goblet squats (light weight) to help with your form, here's a link to goblet squats: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/hPc0xLsPcAs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/hPc0xLsPcAs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Einstein: Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#ixzz1eFzmZoK5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#ixzz1eFzmZoK5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-11-20T14:45:37.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4697" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-20T22:51:12.520" Score="4" ViewCount="1889" Body="&lt;p&gt;RunKeeper is great for tracking running outside, with the GPS and coaching. More recently, I've started using the ability to track workouts on ellipticals and treadmills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I haven't found a suitable app to track other workouts - number of pushups or situps, or weight and reps on weight machines. I just want to track the date of the workout, the type of exercise done or machine used, the weight lifted (if appropriate - it wouldn't be for tracking pushups, situps, etc.), and the number of sets and reps performed. I then want to have access to historical data and trends so I can track performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an app like this? I would prefer something that uses a cloud service for storing data, as opposed to storing in a local database. The service should also show trends and historical data about workouts. Sharing of data is optional, but would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:01.130" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:01.130" Title="Are there any Android apps similar to RunKeeper, but for things other than running or cardio workouts?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4693" CreationDate="2011-11-20T23:29:26.900" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Probably this:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;russian twists (that exercises obliques as well as the abs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twisting your lower back is one of the most dangerous things you can do to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/a_jointbyjoint_approach_to_training&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mike Boyle&lt;/a&gt;'s article:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how I feel about rotational stretches for the low back.&#xA;They're like scratching a scab. I believe that most if not all of the&#xA;many rotary exercises done for the lumbar spine were misdirected. Both&#xA;Sahrmann (Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes)&#xA;and Porterfield and DeRosa (Mechanical Low Back Pain: Perspectives in&#xA;Functional Anatomy) indicate that attempting to increase lumbar spine&#xA;ROM isn't recommended and potentially dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengthcoach.com/public/1107.cfm?sd=51&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; where he cites those sources. I can't help but personally agree as rotational movements have always caused me back pain even if they do relieve it in the short run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other causes of exercise induced back pain:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle density issues:&lt;/strong&gt; mainly muscle tightness/trigger points forming. Forming rolling is what I find helps the most. Do before/after training and whenever you feel tightness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscular soreness:&lt;/strong&gt; just as any other muscle gets sore your back gets sore. That's normal, although if it's chronic severe then its probably something else. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; would come within 24-48 hours of training and last couple of days at most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of proper warm up:&lt;/strong&gt; you need a solid warm up protocol that includes foam rolling, static and dynamic stretching. I go into detail in my &lt;a href=&quot;http://theswole.com/concept/ultimate-warm-reducing-injury-getting-swole/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ultimate Warm Up article&lt;/a&gt; which also builds on Mike Boyle's principles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insufficient Recovery:&lt;/strong&gt; I don't recommend training twice a day, at least to start. Stick to 3-4 times a week to allow your body enough time to recover. As your recovery ability improves you can increase your volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably a bunch of other stuff like poor form and poor flexibility/mobility. It sounds like you just started exercising so I recommend developing a slow and steady pace. Fitness is more like a marathon, it happens over many weeks, months and years. Push yourself but within reason and vary up your training, sounds like you are doing very repetitive movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-21T00:07:19.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4697" CreationDate="2011-11-21T15:53:52.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions that may fit your needs. I pulled specific ones out of this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/209/creating-a-compendium-of-fitness-and-nutrition-apps&quot;&gt;fitness app list on meta&lt;/a&gt; we're trying to put together. The bullet points all come directly from their respective websites and some quick poking around. I can't personally speak about any experiences I've had with these apps, and that is really subject to what you really like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;JEFIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Online and iPhone and Android apps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meant more for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodybuilding routines&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tracks some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/exercises/bodypart.php?id=10&amp;amp;exercises=Cardio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cardio exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://tracker.dailyburn.com/v&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DailyBurn Tracker&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio tracking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training tracking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Android app&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt; might be worth looking into, but I can't get in because I don't have an invite code for it. If you want to track weightlifting routines in addition to cardiovascular exercises, JEFIT or DailyBurn will probably suit your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T15:47:03.267" LastActivityDate="2011-11-21T18:35:02.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-11-21T16:59:55.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to add to M. Cypher's excellent answer. I run a lot in Vancouver, BC which has similar temperatures. I also used to run in Wellington, New Zealand which is about as windy and cold as Chicago, Il:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Layering: When you start you will probably feel cold but you should expect to warm up quickly. In those conditions I run with a merino top from Icebreaker. It has a zip-up turtleneck collar and thumb hooks on the sleeves so I can vary the temperature as I need. If it's windy or raining then I wear a shell on top. I used that on a very cold race with rain, wind and elevation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gloves: Get ones that fit - if the material isn't close then they don't work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-11-21T16:59:55.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-11-21T19:51:31.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cold weather running essentials:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) First and foremost, I bought &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kuttingweight.com/Kutting-Weight-Suit-p/kwsuit.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this neoprene suit&lt;/a&gt; I used to dread running in the cold. Now I'm more comfortable than in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0018BGFW2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This balaclava&lt;/a&gt; keeps my head, ears, and nose warm. It also helps with excessively cold air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Finally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004A9QMPE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these gloves&lt;/a&gt; keep my hands warm and my playlist changing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1992" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T20:15:26.630" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:15:26.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-11-22T08:55:24.500" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an Alaskan I have a few things to add. (General temperature before windchill in the winter around these parts is 5-15 F... which is mild by Alaskan and most standards).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear wool. The old timers wore wool because it worked. Synthetics are great in warmer climates because they're light weight and dry fast, but they are not insulting the way wool is. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypropylene&quot;&gt;Polypropylene&lt;/a&gt; (the most common synthetic base layer) primarily functions by wicking moisture away from your skin. It is not in of itself a insulating layer. If you find wool hard to wear, I suggest some quality marino wool (I'm partial to Smartwool or Icebreaker myself)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear gloves and a hat. This is way more important than you think it is. I'm also a huge fan of the neckie (sometimes called a neck gaitor)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not neglect a layer that can break the wind. This should be light, non-insulating (otherwise you'll overheat) and preferably have pit-zips or some other method of venting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use layering and venting (i.e., pit zips) to prevent sweating as much as possible. The saying in the Arctic goes, &quot;to sweat is to die&quot;... here's why...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be prepared for a &lt;strong&gt;huge&lt;/strong&gt; drop in body temperature as soon as your exertion level drops. It's pretty common for me when I'm hiking or snow-shoeing somewhere in the winter to be stripped down to base layer up top with my full length vents open on my snow pants and still be comfortable while I'm exerting myself. As soon as I stop moving, I immediately pile on everything I'm carrying and I'm still cold for at least 15 minutes. Just be prepared for this, you'll be uncomfortable at the very least if you don't.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch the ice. Seriously. (I just destroyed my ankle this morning)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch the cars, trees, and moose. (Wear lights! And invest in a good headlamp that's comfortable to run with.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is &lt;strong&gt;SUPER IMPORTANT&lt;/strong&gt;. Tell someone where you are going, when you expect to be back and then stick to your &quot;flight plan&quot;. Better yet go with a buddy. I know Alaska is far cry from Chicago (Hell, I know I couldn't survive there); but this is just cold weather basics. People up here routinely die because no one knows where to look for them when they don't come back for dinner. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastEditorDisplayName="user1978" LastEditDate="2011-11-22T09:03:28.650" LastActivityDate="2011-11-22T09:03:28.650" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4707" CreationDate="2011-11-22T12:11:19.847" Score="5" ViewCount="7811" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not generally a fit person, but I started riding a bike to work two years ago when a colleague of mine sold me an slightly used one really cheap. Now in winter I can't (safely) do that so I bought myself a boxing bag to at least have a way of training inside (and because I thought it would be a good way to &quot;externalize daily frustration&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my problem is (winter approaching) that even while wearing padded boxing gloves, I get bleeding knuckles within &lt;em&gt;15 minutes&lt;/em&gt; of training. And since it takes over a week for them to heal, I can't see how I could train regularly without having to wear bandages on my hands permanently (which looks stupid and attract unwanted attention).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes saw real boxers on TV wearing bandages before they put their gloves on. Are those meant to prevent bleeding, or just prevent that the blood gets in the gloves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2398" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-11-22T13:56:27.747" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T10:52:52.193" Title="Can one prevent bleeding knuckles while boxing?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;skin&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4706" CreationDate="2011-11-22T15:02:59.163" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;bandages&quot; that &quot;real boxers&quot; wear (whether on TV or not) are called &lt;strong&gt;handwraps&lt;/strong&gt;, and are worn underneath the glove to add stability to the bones of the hand and wrist, as well as to prevent chafing with the inside of the glove. (They are not for soaking up blood inside the gloves, though I guess they do that job too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add three things to your punching bag workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handwraps, properly wrapped. You'll have to get someone to show you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boxing instruction, since you might be doing something egregiously wrong that we can't diagnose over the internet. A little training goes a long way when it comes to preventing self-injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A shorter time period. 15 minutes of bag work for someone new to it is a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt;. You need to give your body time to build up to that amount of work--tougher skin, denser bones. Otherwise you might tear up your untrained hands or sprain a weak wrist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-11-22T15:02:59.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4706" CreationDate="2011-11-22T17:26:41.180" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Dave about hand wraps, workout time, etc… but I feel you should be able to hit the bag a bit without prior instruction. For your bleeding knuckles, instead of hand wraps - which require a bit of expertise - you can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.everlast.com/everlast/evergel-leather-handwraps-3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boxing wraps&lt;/a&gt;, they are easier to use and provide good protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/6m7neRe3Z2A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Knuckle push ups&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a timer (either iPhone or Gymboss) to pace yourself - 2 or 3 minute rounds with a 45 sec or 1 minute rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at YouTube for some basic heavy bag workouts - hitting is nice, hitting with reason is better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it hurts, stop! Don't continue with anything that is starting to cause undo pain or injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Include jump rope: one round of heavy bag followed by a round of jump rope. This will give your hands a break and provide great aerobics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't give up…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T02:05:27.057" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T02:05:27.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-24T12:59:28.937" Score="11" ViewCount="59422" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not months of lay off but no more than 10 days takes my muscles, especially of my arms, from looking big and feeling hard to something that doesn't make me look like I lift serious weight. It stays in good shape and feel for up to a week of not working out but anything more than that and this happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't lose strength though. I consume enough protein as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just my body type or is there any solution for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2412" LastActivityDate="2018-02-09T14:44:28.260" Title="I seem to lose muscle size quickly if not working out for some time. Why?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4715" CreationDate="2011-11-24T14:41:49.320" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body is adapting itself to the lower demands you are placing on it.  There are two basic types of adaptation that your body can go through when lifting weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Myofibrillar hypertrophy&lt;/em&gt;--this increases the number of protein pairs per muscle cell.  In very basic terms, the more protein pairs the more work that muscle cell can do.  More myofibrillar hypertrophy translates to increased strength--but not necessarily bulk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy&lt;/em&gt;--this increased the amount of energy support within each muscle cell.  In very basic terms, it allows you to lift for longer periods of time.  The energy support systems take up more room than protein pairs, and is responsible for the bulk that bodybuilders seek.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your body is detraining itself due to inactivity for longer periods of time, the first systems to unadapt themselves are the support systems.  It holds on to the strength part just in case it is still needed, but the body assumes that the need for that strength will be fewer and farther between.  This is why it is always a good idea to either repeat your last training cycle after an extended rest or take a small deload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, the sarcoplasmic hypertrophy that you attained while working out is starting to become unadapted (less sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cells).  The myofibrillar hypertrophy takes longer to unadapt (or adapt to lower levels).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt; the longer you go without training, the more you will lose endurance/size (first) and strength (second).  However, because your body knows how it needs to adapt when you start training it again, you will get back to your trained state quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-07T07:23:13.147" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T07:23:13.147" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3807" CreationDate="2011-11-25T03:25:08.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just my two cents, but I have &quot;flat feet&quot; also and would not dare attempt running without good solid, supportive running shoes.  I have naturally very high arches that tend to &quot;fall&quot; (I am an over-pronator) and I notice that if I run too many days in a row without recovery or if my shoes are starting to become worn-out I start experiencing severe pain in the arch and medial leg.  It gets worse if I don't take a break from running for a day or two &amp;amp; wear good, solid supportive footwear.  Currently I use Asics Duomax with the green superfeet sole support inserts and wouldn't dare running without something at least that supportive.  I tried running in cheap shoes (i.e. less supportive) in my younger years and really hurt myself.  Never again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2417" LastActivityDate="2011-11-25T03:25:08.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-25T04:48:25.550" Score="3" ViewCount="380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of starting a regime, where I hit my local gym 3 hours a day 6 days a week. I  am 5'7&quot; with a moderate build and I weigh 65kg. I'm wanting to build muscle and lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first 1hr involves weight training, (working a different body part every day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2nd hr a conditioning circuit of callisthenic exercises, battling ropes, kettle bell swings, bulgarian bags, deadlift clean and press squats etc (30 seconds on each 15 seconds rest between sets, 2mins rest between circuits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3rd hour is my mixed martial arts class focusing on wrestling and padwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the right diet, would this make me hit my goals? Or is this overwork and could result in my muscles cannibalising themselves? I really enjoy the mma and circuit work which is why I want to include them in my training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ade+&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2418" LastActivityDate="2011-11-25T08:16:07.007" Title="Weights + Conditioning circuit + Mixed martial arts" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4719" CreationDate="2011-11-25T08:16:07.007" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Sure...?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could work if you have phenomenal recovery. If you've been doing an hour or two 6 days a week for a while and feel OK, feel free to add a third hour. If you're starting from zero, or from just MMA, or from four days a week training, I doubt your plan will work unless you build up to it very, very gradually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Some Concerns About Your Plan&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You put deadlifts, cleans, presses and squats into &quot;conditioning&quot;. Do you do CrossFit, or is this just a mistake? These are strength exercises that belong in the lifting category.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a reason you're splitting your lifting into body parts? Are you doing a bodybuilding routine (arms, chest, back, legs) or a strength program (3x5, 5x5, singles, doubles)? Answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3962/are-these-workout-routines-right-for-body-building/3963&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; talk about the distinction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's your current routine? Because 3 hours a day, six days a week, is a daunting workload for anyone. If you haven't ramped up to it, I would say you're headed for overtraining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you planning on these three hours being consecutive? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why is your conditioning an hour long? Glenn Pendlay (a well-respected Olympic lifting coach) recommends a lot, lot less for those training MMA--on the order of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?t=2516&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 minutes&lt;/a&gt;. Even CrossFitters, well-known for taking conditioning to an obscene, often unsustainable level, don't do an hour of conditioning a day unless they're a top-level Games contender.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-11-25T08:16:07.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4727" CreationDate="2011-11-25T12:14:13.710" Score="19" ViewCount="143631" Body="&lt;p&gt;After (or during) heavy excercise (jogging, working out, etc.) I always start to get very thick, heavy saliva building up in my mouth which I really feel like spitting out.  Why does this type of saliva build up, and is it best to spit it out or swallow it (is it kind of waste that your body wants you to spit out, or will spitting it out just dehydrate you more)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2420" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T03:16:27.510" Title="Why does thick saliva form in your mouth after heavy exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4723" CreationDate="2011-11-25T12:26:48.637" Score="16" ViewCount="2525" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am always curious about this, not sure if its appropriate question, but I imagine others wonder the same thing.  I usually don't care when it is simple exercises like biceps,  but sometimes I see people squatting, deadlifts or the jerk and clean in very dangerous ways.   (I.e. going up on tippy toes using calfs instead of using quads for the jerk and clean.  You can kill your lower back by doing this)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I tell them, or just ignore it and let them possibly hurt themselves badly?  I am not a personal training, so I don't feel it is my place to tell them what to do.  But I know horrible and dangerous form when I see it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2098" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T22:28:11.567" Title="What do I do when I see people at the gym doing exercises wrong" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4722" CreationDate="2011-11-25T13:19:07.743" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately this is a landmine... You never know how the other person is going to take it, and more often than not it is not well received.  I know of people lifting much longer than I, and when they mentioned something to someone else about technique, the recipient of the constructive criticism got very angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the problem: you are not affiliated with the gym in any way other than being a member.  It's not your responsibility to correct them, and if you ever mention something to them it is unlikely that the well intentioned comment will be received.  If you &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; a personal trainer affiliated with that gym, it might be better received.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I know this is a remote possibility, but you may be wrong in what you are telling the person.  Even if the problem you are trying to correct is the right problem, the wrong cues can get the person to be even more unsafe.  It takes working with someone over time to find out which cues work with them and which ones don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt; hold your peace and hope for the best.  However, if they ask &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, then answer their questions honestly and truthfully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-25T13:19:07.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4725" CreationDate="2011-11-25T15:49:00.313" Score="7" ViewCount="936" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a handball trainer and coach for a couple of teams in our club. All the teams have two training's, each a hour long at minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for simple exercise which can be done without using any weights since we don't have any materials available. The purpose of the exercises should be to increase the speed and strength for the players.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I give them a strength or speed circuit for an half hour or so. A speed circuit will contain a lot of small sprints to focus on a quick start of a sprint. Also a lot of small jumps and quick steps are used. Focus here is that they use the forefoot instead of the whole foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strength circuit will contain lunges, sit-ups, squats or just exercises against each other with intense defense practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully some of you will have some extra ideas I can use in those circuits. I love variety so the teams keeps motivated and will perform the exercises for 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2422" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:38:04.820" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T03:38:04.820" Title="Training exercises to increase speed and strength" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4724" CreationDate="2011-11-25T21:20:24.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This is lifted from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/4382/2217&quot;&gt;another answer I gave&lt;/a&gt;, so it may get flagged; I'm okay with that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a quick list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sled/tire pulls and/or chute runs (also improves stride length). If you don't have equipment, have a partner apply resistance throughout the run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skips (aiming for either vertical or horizontal max)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Falling starts (lean forward until you lose your balance, catch yourself by accelerating full-speed for 20-30 yards... I love this one for some reason)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Gears&quot; drills (see lame ASCII art below), these are &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; for games like this. Or soccer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gears are cool, and can be done with directional changes as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  ^-- 2nd gear --^-- 3nd gear --^-- 1st gear --^-- 4th gear --^&#xA;  |&#xA;  \- that's a cone&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of the typical ladder drills aren't so much for endurance, but for the ability to turn, and proprioception (&quot;where am I in space, and how do I make this maneuver without tripping myself&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2011-11-25T21:20:24.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4721" CreationDate="2011-11-26T02:39:36.743" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is because your body is being responsible with the water it has.  Saliva is comprised mostly of water and your body uses (loses) a lot of water during exercise.  Since you only have so much water available, your body is smart enough to divert water from non-essential functions to handle the functions it is performing.  So your body takes water from the digestive system (saliva) to help fuel things like sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2151" LastActivityDate="2011-11-26T02:39:36.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-26T06:18:38.700" Score="4" ViewCount="2186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought some &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002DYIZEO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Optimum Nutrition creatine&lt;/a&gt; (Creapure blend of creatine monohydrate)  and it does not dissolve in liquids. When I stir the creatine into a sugary drink or even plain water, the crystals get stuck on the side of the glass. To not waste the creatine, I am thinking of taking the creatine without liquids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Directly from the spoon to the mouth. Would this make it too concentrated and thus dangerous?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprinkling it on cooked food. Will the heat destroy creatine?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprinkling it on cold foods. Is this the safest way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-12-10T15:05:35.803" Title="Are there adverse side-effects when creatine is not taken with liquids?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4288" CreationDate="2011-11-26T06:50:09.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an ACE-certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor who teaches juggling for fitness (JuggleFit). Juggling is certainly a workout and can burn up to 280 calories an hour. I would recommend doing it for cardio for 30-45 minutes 4-5 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend against using weighted balls as that can be bad for your wrists and cause injury. Reps with dumbbells are okay because the weight is not falling into and impacting your hand/wrist - it's a slow, smooth and controlled movement. But since juggling is an endurance activity, and constant, the repetitive stress is dangerous. Many have warned against using hand and ankle weights while walking for similar reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Juggling will give you some muscle tone in your arms, but if you want something more, I suggest creating a circuit workout based around juggling. Set a juggling goal, whether it's 5 minutes of continuous juggling, or juggling in a new pattern until you drop. Then do 10-15 reps of lunges, squats, pushups, etc. Then back to juggling. Create a 30-45 minute circuit of juggling with upper and lower body moves as mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing that is great - if you juggle 3 well - hold a lunge for 15-30 seconds while juggling. This really fires off your leg muscles and engages your core. You will feel it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://jugglefit.com/jf_benefits.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Benefits of Juggling&lt;/a&gt; for many ways juggling can benefit your body and brain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastEditorUserId="1659" LastEditDate="2011-11-26T07:07:47.960" LastActivityDate="2011-11-26T07:07:47.960" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4724" CreationDate="2011-11-26T10:41:03.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would really recommend you these DVD's. I bought them myself and they are very usefull. You can get a lot of new Ideas from them and they are prety cheap so...&#xA;Watch these trailer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sports-drills.com/demo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://sports-drills.com/demo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sports-drills.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://sports-drills.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-11-26T10:41:03.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2011-11-26T20:52:26.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually when you put on weight, if you're exercising - particularly lifting - and eating a balanced diet (maybe even restricting your carb intake and increasing your protein and healthy fats) you'll get a ratio of 1lb = 70% muscle and 30% fat. After reaching your goal of say 10lbs bulk, 7 lbs will be muscle and 3 lbs will be fat. At that point, you want to cut your calorie intake by 750 untill you lose the 3 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-11-27T01:04:42.637" LastActivityDate="2011-11-27T01:04:42.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5374" CreationDate="2011-11-27T03:36:17.947" Score="1" ViewCount="4590" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short version: My knees point in when my feet point straight. This makes it hurt when I run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently 16. In 9th grade, I switched out of my public school to an independent study one. It's like home schooling, but I meet with a teacher once a week for assignments and do everything myself. It was half way through the year that I switched. I had been running in PE that year and never had any problems. I had finished PE, so it wasn't until a while later when I started running for my own health and not for school. I stretched properly and started off small, but my knees hurt when I stopped running. For a month or two I built up to three miles of slow jogging, but my knees would still hurt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started looking online and read something about crows feet, or a similarly named condition. Basically, my feet and knees aren't aligned properly. If my feet point forward, my knees point inward and will touch if I bend them. If my knees point forward, my feet point out. I hadn't noticed this before, but I wasn't looking either, so I don't know how long my legs have been like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I talked briefly with a friend of the family who also happens to be a personal trainer. He said that my thighs were a bit weak and showed me an exercise where I sit against a wall and have to strain my muscles to keep myself up. He also said to ice my knees, as there's probably swelling. I did both for two months and saw no change, so I switched to squats. I did those for a while and still didn't notice anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know anything about this? What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2429" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T18:08:23.793" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T18:08:23.793" Title="My knees hurt after I run and my feet point out or knees point in" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4722" CreationDate="2011-11-27T13:29:27.990" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/4723/1898&quot;&gt;Berin&lt;/a&gt; brought up the gym's personal trainers, which presumably you are not - but if there &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; trainers around, why don't you casually ask &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; if the person is doing something wrong? Maybe they'll tell you it's correct (in which case you either learn something - or decide the trainers aren't very well trained :) Or maybe they'll agree that it's wrong, and the trainer has an &lt;em&gt;opportunity&lt;/em&gt; to offer corrections to one of their customers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1898" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-11-27T13:29:27.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-27T14:29:01.267" Score="2" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 49 year old. I have reduced 6 Kgs and maintaining it for last 2 years nicely. Due to busy shedule I don't get time to exercise regularly. But I walk for half hour daily. My diet includes 0.8 gm/kg body wt proteins. I am little overweight but in good health. Only thing is whenever I go for BCA my muscle never increases. I know there is a decrease in muscle mass due to age. But what other things should I do to increase muscle mass? &#xA;BCA machine shows my muscle mass- 20.5 - 21.5 %&#xA;Fat mass- 39 - 40 %&#xA;Weight - 60 Kg&#xA;Height - 154 Cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="878" LastActivityDate="2011-11-27T16:37:14.507" Title="How to increase muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4738" CreationDate="2011-11-27T16:37:14.507" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength exercises, tending towards lower reps and higher weight, is (more or less) the only thing that will &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt; muscle mass, or at least maintain it (within limits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd consider 40% bodyfat past the point of being healthy, IIRC in the US 25-30%+ is considered obese*. If it were me, I'd focus quite a bit more on reducing that, rather than trying (specifically) to increase muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the plus side, bringing up muscle mass will increase resting metabolism, which will help bring the body fat levels down. For me, short circuits of body-mass exercises hit the sweet spots between muscle mass, metabolism, effectiveness, and likelihood I'll actually exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the bodyweight and equipment circuits of pehlwani/kushti (पहलवानी/कुश्ती); I find them incredibly effective (if not a bit painful if I &quot;misplace the mace&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Noting that there's some debate about what a &quot;healthy&quot; body fat percentage is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-11-27T16:37:14.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-27T17:32:20.497" Score="4" ViewCount="8105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in New England, have a lot of weights, and am short on space to store them. (Getting rid of them is, of course, unthinkable :) I'm looking for cheap ways to store them outside but protect them from snow damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the warm weather, I simply leave them out, with a rain cover for my weight tree, but I don't think this is going to work for a foot or more of snow. Also I don't want to have to run around moving my weights whenever the snow starts falling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2432" LastActivityDate="2011-11-28T13:48:23.200" Title="Storing weights outside" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4742" CreationDate="2011-11-27T18:01:48.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think that if they're safe from rain, they're safe from snow. The important thing is to keep them dry so they don't rust. If your rain cover can accomplish this already, I can't see what damage snow could do; certainly they aren't sensitive to temperature or the weight of snow on top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-11-27T18:01:48.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4742" CreationDate="2011-11-27T18:23:29.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They'll rust, cover or not, unless they're kept painted/oiled/whatever. In CO it wasn't much of an issue because it's dry, in NH I got surface rust sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That may not be a concern, although if the hole rusts it can be a pain getting them on or off the bar. A small lean-to/a-frame is the easiest, with a flap for the opening. If they're near a building, a small, low awning that will either shed, or support, snow weight is enough, again with a flap and tiedowns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I don't know if I just dropped more weights when it was cold, but I cracked a few plates in the winter--I'm not sure if cold makes cast iron more brittle, or makes Dave clumsy. Also snapped a kettlebell handle, but I suspect that would have happened in the summer as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-11-27T18:23:29.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4722" CreationDate="2011-11-27T23:53:27.740" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about presentation really. Before I officially became a personal trainer I started out randomly helping people at the gym. Out of the hundreds I've given advice to only a handful took it negatively and even then we just didn't see eye to eye and life goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing is to weigh how helpful your advice against the fact that you are going to interrupt their workout/take their time. I would only say something if it's something major or the person involved clearly is a novice and is struggling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Here's how I do it:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't just barge in and tell them they are doing something wrong. Open with a question like &amp;quot;have you ever had knee/wrist pain&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;are you trying to improve your squat form&amp;quot;. This will show that your intention is to help them, not be a judgmental asshole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After you learn more about their situation and if they are having problems connect it with your own personal experience. For example, &amp;quot;I developed knee pain after doing squats and it only went away after focusing on sitting back more&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That way you can slowly deliver your advice and get a feel for how the person would respond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, people like advice but they don't like to be belittled or insulted. Make sure your intentions are clear and don't make complete assertions -like you should never do X or Y even if its true. Stick to phrasing like &amp;quot;its better to&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;that works a lot better&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-11-27T23:53:27.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-28T04:20:44.670" Score="1" ViewCount="887" Body="&lt;p&gt;My schedule consists of me working out in the morning, around 7 am, eating 2 eggs before that cooked. after my workout I take my protein/creatine in the same bottle. Should I take it around supper too? I workout during the weekdays.  I need to know what I should be doing also to go from 160 to 180 in 4 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also should I be switching my diet going from drinking pop and stuff to lean meats and protein foods with carbs? I heard from many people but they all have different strategies and it doesn't help.  Is there anything else I should take?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2437" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-11-28T23:58:11.987" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:16:31.717" Title="I'm kind of new to this creatine protein stuff, and need help" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-11-28T05:07:21.817" Score="6" ViewCount="787" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/792/protein-how-much-is-too-much&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, the accepted answer for daily protein needs cites, &quot;0.8g/lb ... (body-building)&quot;, meaning that if one is body building, one needs 0.8 g of protein per day per lb of body weight. I'm not trying to be a &quot;body builder&quot; in the sense of competitions, but I am trying to build my muscles, strength, and endurance, and so I used this figure.  (Perhaps that is inappropriate?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The problem&lt;/strong&gt;:  I am largely vegetarian (much of which is vegan), 170 lbs, and find that getting 0.8 * 170 = &lt;em&gt;136 grams of protein&lt;/em&gt;, each day, into my diet seems very tough--particularly since I am trying to lose fat while gaining muscle, and so am trying to keep calories low enough to lose fat.  I generally don't eat breakfast and my lunch is about 20 g of protein, so this leaves a 116 g at dinner....nearly impossible for me based on my typical diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I've been lifting weights on and off for about a year and a half, I'm sure I've rarely if ever hit that 136 gram amount.  I have clearly made some gains over that time (going from 0 pull-ups to 11), but generally am dissatisfied with my strength and endurance progress.  Part of that is clearly an insufficient training regimen, which I can work on, but I've wondered if I am working at a sizable disadvantage by not consistently hitting this 136 grams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RELATED QUESTIONS: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So, first, to be clear:  is that &lt;em&gt;full&lt;/em&gt; body weight or only lean body mass?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As someone who wants to do a modest-medium transformation (lose 20 lbs of fat, gain maybe 10 lbs of muscle?...within 6-10 mos?), is the 0.8 g/lb of body weight the right value?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To what degree could &quot;under-proteinizing&quot; my diet be holding back progress?   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2011-11-28T13:45:04.653" Title="How much am I undercutting gains if I slack on protein?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4748" CreationDate="2011-11-28T11:19:12.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein intake is the most important factor in muscle recovery and building, if you skimp on protein intake, and cut calories, your body will start breaking down muscle to get the needed protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can cut down on starchy carbs all you want, but try to make up the daily protein as far as possible, I don't think you need the body building level, but I would go with about half a gram per lb of total body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I noticed in your question is that you generally don't eat breakfast, and that your main aim is to lose weight.  You will need to make breakfast a daily habit for optimal weight loss, if you really want to skip a meal, or cut down, rather skip dinner then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2011-11-28T11:19:12.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4748" CreationDate="2011-11-28T13:45:04.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's start from the bare minimum requirements, which based on different places I've seen is around 1g per kg &lt;em&gt;lean&lt;/em&gt; body weight.  That's roughly 0.5g per pound lean body weight.  This number is the amount of protein required to &lt;em&gt;maintain&lt;/em&gt; muscle mass in &lt;em&gt;sedentary&lt;/em&gt; people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you lift weights, your body has an increased demand for protein.  Whether you are increasing your sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (support systems and fluid in the muscle cells), or you are aiming to increase your myophibrillar hypertrophy (protein pairs to build strength in the muscle cells), your body needs more protein than a sedentary person.  The worn out bits of your muscles get replaced with new bits, and your body has to have more to supercompensate (handle more weight than before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To tell the truth, .8g per pound of body weight is the &lt;em&gt;lowest&lt;/em&gt; number I've seen for weightlifters anywhere.  Normally it's about 1g or 1.5g protein per pound body weight.  Note, protein content this high in your diet will also help you stay satiated longer, and be a bit more thermogenic (i.e. burn more Calories just processing it).  While this may be a little more than your body can use, most proteins don't have a 100% metabolism efficiency.  What that means is that you don't get all the protein you eat, even when you don't eat enough.  Weightlifters have to consume more protein to get the maximum amount the body can use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's true that vegetarians are at a disadvantage here.  Depending on &quot;how vegetarian&quot; you are, there are things you can do to help yourself out.  For example, if you don't have any issues with dairy protein (a cow does not have to die to give that to you), you may consider supplementing with whey protein.  Soy protein also has a fairly complete amino profile, but has the disadvantage of being a phyto-estrogen component in your body (acts like the estrogen hormone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt; weightlifting, whether for aesthetics or strength (or both), demands more protein to continue building muscle than the average sedentary person.  You will likely have to turn to supplementation to get the extra protein you need.  If you have a higher proportion of protein in your diet (amongst all the Calories you eat), it will help you burn more fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Side comment:&lt;/strong&gt; The industry that pushes the need for breakfast is the cereal industry.  Studies advocating intermittent fasting put less emphasis on what time of day you eat, and more on getting the right nutrient profile when you eat.  Whether you have breakfast or not isn't going to affect your gains, as long as you get the Calories your body needs, and the proper macronutrient proportions to support muscle growth and recovery (carbs are useful for recovery, but not too many).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-28T13:45:04.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4742" CreationDate="2011-11-28T13:48:23.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep them off the ground with some wooden shipping crates or strips of wood and cover them with a tarp.  If you're not going to use them for an extended period, spray them down with oil (WD-40).  Keep the bars inside......when then weather gets better, iron brush the plates down and clean them up with rustoleum. Snow will cover the outer layer of the tarp and not creep up underneath if you have it tied down or tucked under (to stop the wind blowing it up).  Don't pack them away to good or you won't use them if the effort to unpack/pack them is to much - nothing like a crisp winter day to lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-11-28T13:48:23.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4757" CreationDate="2011-11-29T05:46:42.710" Score="6" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live on the second floor and while I like running it'd be nice to not have to go out in the cold sometimes. I'm afraid using a treadmill wouldn't sit well with the downstairs neighbors. Does anyone have experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2440" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-10T00:42:35.327" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T00:42:35.327" Title="Is it feasible to use a treadmill and maintain the sanity of your downstairs neighbors?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4527" CreationDate="2011-11-29T13:47:30.673" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at this article on the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot;&gt;Third World Squat&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  It will help you identify what the problem areas are from sitting all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem we see is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of strength in the posterior chain.  You aren't using these muscles while sitting in a chair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of flexibility in the hip flexors, calves, hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too much flexibility in the glutius maximus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to stick with body weight exercises, which would be enough to correct this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_extension&quot;&gt;back extensions&lt;/a&gt; (also known as &quot;hypers&quot; or hyperextensions).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Next you'll need to start stretching out the problem areas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this point you have a couple paths you could go down to maintain good posture and the additional strength you've accumulated to support it.  You could either go down the strength training route, or you can go down the pilates route.  Pilates provides a combination of body weight exercises designed to improve both flexibility and strength.  Strength training provides the ability to strengthen your muscles to the point where slouching is just not possible.  It really depends on what suits you best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-29T13:47:30.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4759" CreationDate="2011-11-29T14:49:55.310" Score="10" ViewCount="743" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will weight training stagnate growth in a teenager?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a myth or fact? If it does, how does it stagnate a youth's growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:32:48.960" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:32:48.960" Title="Will weight training stagnate growth in a teenager?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4753" CreationDate="2011-11-29T14:53:27.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to some good advice: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/323630-how-to-use-a-treadmill-on-the-second-floor/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Use a Treadmill on the Second Floor&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think 90% of the noise/vibration issue will be based on the construction of the house/apt.  Without thick, well insulated floors, you'll need to add foam mats until you reach the level of 'quiet' acceptable to everyone and hopefully not to many mats to take away from the use of the treadmill.  Lift weights, unless you drop them, there's little noise and you'll get a better workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-09T09:37:06.810" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T09:37:06.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4763" CreationDate="2011-11-29T15:00:41.970" Score="15" ViewCount="10181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I followed the Couch-to-5K training program several months ago in preparation for a 5K race but have not run at all since then.  I'd like to get back into it by doing Couch-to-5K again.  I'm doing StrongLifts 5x5 now, though, and wasn't doing any kind of strength training the last time I trained for a 5K (nor for a few years before that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been on StrongLifts for about 8 weeks now with no stalling yet and would like to follow both programs concurrently without one causing problems for the other (or at least minimizing the impact).  Both are 3-day-per-week programs, so I'm unsure of how to best schedule them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I better off doing StrongLifts in the mornings and Couch-to-5K in the evenings on the same days, or alternating days between StrongLifts and Couch-to-5K?  Is there another another arrangement that might be better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T16:02:20.813" Title="How can I train for a 5K while strength training with StrongLifts 5x5 and minimizing detrimental effects on either?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4756" CreationDate="2011-11-29T15:53:32.400" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The concern regarding stunting the growth of teenagers is related to injuring growth plates. It turns out that weight training does not increase the incidence of growth plate injury and &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Abstract/2006/11000/Weight_Training_in_Youth_Growth,_Maturation,_and.5.aspx&quot;&gt;does not stunt growth&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, injury prevention requires correct form and the avoidance of overloading. It is especially important to supervise their training and teach form first. &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitkids.com&quot;&gt;Crossfit Kids&lt;/a&gt;, for example, emphasizes form with very low weight (PVC only) until the student shows the emotional and physical maturity to use real weight. You can rely on an adult to make good decisions about their own limits, but the instructor should be making those decisions for a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2011-11-29T15:53:32.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4756" CreationDate="2011-11-29T16:27:00.207" Score="13" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Sure...&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training improperly or with poor form will cause all sorts of injuries both acute and degenerative, whether one is a child, teenager or adult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;...but not really&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the argument that lifting heavy things is itself somehow detrimental to growth is susceptible to a simple counterexample: children growing up on farms do all sorts of heavy lifting and their growth seems to be benefited, not stunted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/weight-training-weight-lifting/trenches-part-two-mark-rippetoe-glenn-pendlay-647923.html&quot;&gt;This Rippetoe and Pendlay interview&lt;/a&gt; has a layman's answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pendlay:  I personally don’t see any physical problems. We don’t hesitate to put kids in soccer or gymnastics at 4-5 years of age, either of which are way more stressful on the body than weight training, and either of which are way more likely to cause injury. So I think the whole safety thing is a non-issue.&#xA;  ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rippetoe: I would just like for somebody to explain to me why it would stunt a kid’s growth. Do they actually think it smashes them down shorter, or shuts off the supply of growth hormone due to pressure in the skull, or that it destroys all the growth plates, or that it [scares] off the Tooth Fairy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Starting Strength book has detailed statistics comparing youth lifting to other sports in terms of injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wfac-gym.com/files/ssyc.pdf&quot;&gt;This article by Lon Kilgore&lt;/a&gt; goes more in-depth from a scientific perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-11-29T16:27:00.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-11-29T18:55:56.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to factor in wind, a good wind(wind chill) can drop the temp 20 to 30 degrees so wear something that can block wind but doesn't get clammy while you sweat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you may want to consider something to cover your neck such as a neck gaiter or even something over your mouth when the weather dips well below 0.  You can burn your throat by breathing in to much cold air to fast in addition to increased mucus production it can make it difficult to breathe while standing still.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Winter running is fun, no on else is usually out so you'll have alot of peace and quiet.  If you run on trails you'll often be breaking in the trails yourself so be prepared slow down while running through fresh powder, you'll often be trying to run while lifting your legs out of the snow.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2444" LastActivityDate="2011-11-29T18:55:56.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4758" CreationDate="2011-11-29T20:42:18.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couch-to-5k isn't a super strenuous program so you should be fine doing them same day if you like.  Most seem to recommend doing weight training first before cardio though if you have the option.  Alternate days would probably be the best since the running/walking would help work out some of the soreness from squats.  Just be sure to account for the cardio in your calories to make sure you are eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="246" LastActivityDate="2011-11-29T20:42:18.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4758" CreationDate="2011-11-29T21:03:03.993" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are on StrongLifts 5x5, a beginner program, then the problems associated with endurance training and max effort training won't be severe enough to worry about.  First, a 5K takes less than an hour to complete.  Second, you haven't gotten to the place in your training where you really have to choose which way you need to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to keep your 5K training more in line with weightlifting in general, focus on interval training between running and jogging.  But you should be fine right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the Couch-2-5K training &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; lifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Manage your recovery, and if necessary get a quick carb to replenish energy before switching gears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-11-29T21:03:03.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4747" CreationDate="2011-11-29T22:19:03.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your training program looks good, ideally if you want to gain mass then you should focus on compound exercises (never compromise on form however) and as anyone will be able to tell you 80% of you gains will depend on your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/weight_gain_calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this calculator&lt;/a&gt; to figure out how many calories you need to intake per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the actual diet, definitely cut the soda. Focus on lean meat and a high protein diet. You will have to ask a nutritionist to make you a diet depending upon your tastes and schedule. What worked for me was a lot of sausages, potatoes, pasta and burgers along with the obvious lean chicken, but then I didn't care about gaining fat as I was pretty skinny :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question though, creatine gives you a strength boost and one serving a day is enough, you could consider adding a serving of mass gainer before you hit the sack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2445" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T20:16:31.717" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:16:31.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4767" CreationDate="2011-11-29T23:54:20.803" Score="13" ViewCount="14331" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to build my shoulder and chest muscle mass so I've been just doing wide pushups. The problem I'm dealing with right now is how I should do these pushups. Should I push up fast, fall down slowly or just do as much pushups as fast as I can? The latter easily doubles my pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so the question is, quality over quantity? or vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastEditorUserId="2119" LastEditDate="2011-11-30T01:08:29.627" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T00:51:40.803" Title="Pushups for muscle mass, fast or slow?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4766" CreationDate="2011-11-30T02:22:07.023" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Varying up the positive/negative tempo and time under tension will target &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_striated_muscle#Muscle_fibers&quot;&gt;slightly different muscle fibres&lt;/a&gt; and other supplementary muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would recommend aiming to improve different metrics, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total reps as fast as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total reps with 3-4 second negative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push up variations such diamond push ups or feet elevated push ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Negatives are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentric_Training&quot;&gt;eccentric part&lt;/a&gt; of the movement, lowering yourself down in the push up.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2011-11-30T02:22:07.023" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4766" CreationDate="2011-11-30T08:30:17.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing slow pushups may help depending how much you weigh actually. But one more important thing is you protein intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't hit the numbers at the end of the day, by means of protein/carb intake, it won't matter if you do thousand pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-11-30T08:30:17.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4527" CreationDate="2011-11-30T14:26:43.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a software developer and also sit all day.  I've seen some improvement of my posture doing kettle-bell swings 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2011-11-30T14:26:43.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4734" CreationDate="2011-11-30T14:31:51.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before seeing a doctor, self diagnosing always makes things look worse than they may be.  I would suggest you go to a specialist running store, with trained staff.  Ask the running clubs in your area for a recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I experienced problems with my feet whenever running longer than 5km.  The staff at the running store looked at my gait running on their short track and recommended a different set of shoes.  First run out with the new shoes I did 12km without any pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Properly trained staff would also suggest you visit a doctor should things look wrong to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2011-11-30T14:31:51.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4776" CreationDate="2011-11-30T21:33:42.070" Score="7" ViewCount="798" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to do two strength workouts in the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. With this goal in mind, what strategies can I employ throughout the day so that I'm as fresh as possible for the afternoon workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These workouts do not consist of the same exercises, but are all compound movements so isolating muscle groups is not viable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I'd like to keep answers focused on recovery techniques within the parameters of two workouts in the same day, and not address the motivation for doing this workout plan. I'll provide my personal motivation for choosing this schedule, but I don't think the answers should be specific to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing a weekly Texas cycle, and my &quot;work day&quot; is long (and intense), including 6-8 work sets each of squat, deadlift, bench press, and press (a new addition). Splitting this up is easier on my energy and intensity level, my focus and my schedule. A split day seems to be common among &quot;pros&quot; but isn't usually recommended for the rest of us, since we don't have the luxury of spending the whole day at the gym. I happen to work at home with flexible hours and have a home gym, so I can actually do this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Morning: Squat, Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Afternoon: Deadlift, Bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T09:19:21.970" Title="How can I best recover for a second strength workout on the same day?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4766" CreationDate="2011-12-01T00:51:40.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go with hands approximately doulbe shoulder width apart and slow and controlled down and up movements.  Also, raise your feet higher than your shoulders, so you're pushing more weight.  You'll build more mass by more closely approximate the weight and movement used on a bench press, where heavier weights between 6-12 reps are going to be more beneficial than sets of 30-40 reps, where muscle mass gain is your objective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2452" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T00:51:40.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4772" CreationDate="2011-12-01T00:56:44.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the number one strategy you can employ during the day to ensure you're at your most fresh for your evening working is to avoid all activity that will require use of the body parts you're going to work out at night.  Also make sure you get enough food in to fuel that workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not going to recover from the morning workout but that doesn't matter so much, as you'll be working different body parts.  In my experience I've found that tired legs effect my upperbody workouts more than the other way around, because I'm using my legs to carry weights heavy dumbbells from the rack to my bench/seat and also legs to play a small part providing a stable base.  If possible, I suggest doing your upper body workout in the mornings and lower body in the evenings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2452" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T00:56:44.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4747" CreationDate="2011-12-01T01:03:26.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need to eat does also depend on your body type (and age).  Definitely you'll need protein, the basic building blocks of muscle.   You'll want more than one serve per day.  Go for at least another in the evening, as well as more lean meats.  Try to eat protein with every meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't ignore carbs.  You need carbs for energy to fuel your workouts and also to ensure that the protein you intake is not being used for fuel and remains for muscle building.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the type of creatine/workout booster your taking, I expect you'll get more benefit taking that prior to your workout, rather than immediately after. Creatine aids in energy transfer &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; anaerobic activity, such as a weight training. It's not a supplement for directly building muscle, as protein is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Importantly, lift hard and go to failure and beyond with every set (once your form is good).  Your body only grows in response to stimulus and that stimulus is making it work harder than it is used to working.  Even if that means increase the weight by only a 1lb each workout, or doing one more rep to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2452" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T01:03:26.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4772" CreationDate="2011-12-01T01:29:41.317" Score="6" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Diet, Diet, Diet&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Disclaimer: I'm no expert, this is just what I would do in your shoes.) I would bet that other than making 100% sure you're getting enough sleep, the biggest factor will be your diet between the two workouts. I'd focus on nailing my first post-workout meal and making sure I have enough energy for the second workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Immediately After the First Workout&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd make sure that I got a good amount of protein and carbs immediately after the morning workout. Eggs and potatoes, or a fruit/whey smoothie, or a couple glasses of milk would be on my list. Or all three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Between the Two Workouts&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I lift heavy, I feel a lot better if I eat a good amount of carbs and fats. I would make sure to eat a big meal for lunch, and try to fit in a second lunch or early dinner. I'd try to eat a meal or snack about two hours before the second workout. All of these meals would involve carbs to replenish muscle glycogen (like sweet potatoes), and delicious fats (like avocado or olive oil). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I felt particularly low-energy immediately before the second workout I would eat some peanut butter with honey or drink some juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had a chance, I'd sneak in a 10 or 20 minute nap during the day or immediately prior to the workout. If I keep it short, these can energize me for workouts later in the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T01:29:41.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4728" CreationDate="2011-12-01T04:45:29.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like the best way to get this into your system 'optimally' consume it with something like grape juice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.everything-creatine.com/Creatine_FAQ.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.everything-creatine.com/Creatine_FAQ.html&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ways to Take Creatine.&#xA;You will find many different recommendations on how to take creatine. Studies have shown that you get a 60% greater cell uptake of creatine if you combine it with a simple sugar base, such as grape juice ( naturally rich in glucose ). A big insulin spike will push the creatine into the muscle. Do not ever take creatine with orange juice! Very simply it negates the positive effects due to it's acidity. This is presently a matter for open debate, but possibly the best way to take CM is with warm water; you can add simple carbohydrates if required. Cranberry juice is recommended if you are prone to upset stomachs, it can help alleviate the upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus it doesn't appear you are doing anything dangerous but not taking it without liquids (though you can cramp if you take little to no water/liquids) but you are short-changing the effects of Creatine if you do not consume it in an optimal way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T04:45:29.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-12-01T04:55:09.843" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tip for the wind:  If you are doing an out-and-back, check the direction of the wind.  The second half of your run is likely to entail some level of fatigue.  Better to go out INTO the wind and come home with the wind.  If you fatigue yourself, only to return into a stiff wind you run the risk hypothermia or increased fatigue trying to stay warm/comfortable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other tips here, including the wind tip: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Winter-Running-Tips.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Winter Running Tips&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T20:13:08.133" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:13:08.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4772" CreationDate="2011-12-01T08:13:56.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First in the morning make strategy abut which activity you want to do in a day and after that divide the activity in morning and evening.&#xA; this is the best way for daily work out for keep your self fit and healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2455" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T08:13:56.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3865" CreationDate="2011-12-01T12:09:00.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;RunKeeper makes tracking your workouts fun, social, and easy to understand so that you can improve the quality of your fitness.&#xA;CardioTrainer is a free application for Android smartphones that lets you track and record all of your fitness activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2455" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T12:09:00.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2011-12-01T17:03:33.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm personally not convinced that stopping DOMS is a good idea. The processes behind super-compensation (which is what makes your muscles stronger) are not completely understood and there is some initial evidence that DOMS is part of this process. This implies that reducing DOMS will reduce the weight-building effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say that, from my personal experience, more training reduces DOMS. Specifically, as an ultra runner, as I start doing back-to-back long distance (two days of long runs) then my DOMS starts reducing - to the point where I've done 80km in a weekend and had no DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, if you're going to use a NSAID (like aspirin or ibuprofen) then make sure you are normally hydrated. There is increasing evidence that they can harm your liver or kidneys when associated with dehydration or alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T17:03:33.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4789" CreationDate="2011-12-02T07:44:05.773" Score="7" ViewCount="2955" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a beginner when it comes to running and I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitocracy.com&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt; to be a great way to motivate myself. I'm wondering - what Achievements and Quests are there available on the site to provide goals for a beginner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;achievement: &lt;strong&gt;I Seem To Be Lost&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 20 miles (32.2 km) in your lifetime)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;Go For A Jog...&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 1 mile (1.61 km) in under 12 minutes) +50 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;Someone's Chasing Me!&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 1 mile (1.61 km) in under 10 minutes) +100 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;They're Getting Closer...&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 1 mile (1.61 km) in under 9 minutes) +200 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;Starting To Pull Away!&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 1 mile (1.61 km) in under 8 minutes) +300 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;The Pack Is Behind You!&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 1 mile (1.61 km) in under 7 minutes) +400 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;Finally 5k&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 5 km (3.11 miles) in one session) +100 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can also see two &quot;follow-up&quot; quests:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;Veteran Runner Right Here!&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 1 mile (1.61 km) in under 6 minutes) +600 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quest: &lt;strong&gt;Trying 10k&lt;/strong&gt; (Run 10 km (6.22 miles) in one session) +200 pts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2450" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T01:46:33.930" Title="What running quests and achievements are available on Fitocracy?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;&lt;websites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4802" CreationDate="2011-12-02T12:09:48.137" Score="4" ViewCount="3036" Body="&lt;p&gt;The label of one protein supplement suggests to have a shake before the workout and one after. I understand having a couple of protein shakes during the day after the workout, but is there any actual benefit from taking it right before you start? Is this a marketing trick to finish your protein quicker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are is the ingredients on my current protein:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4pAbE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1944" LastEditorUserId="1944" LastEditDate="2011-12-04T21:16:28.580" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T16:26:15.223" Title="Taking protein right before the workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4787" CreationDate="2011-12-02T12:41:43.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure this question really counts as fitness-related, but hey, here you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitocracy seems to have a pretty obvious programming flaw which allows you to see the names and descriptions of all quests even if you aren't supposed to see them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Log into Fitocracy, then open another browser tab and request this URL:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com/get_quest/3/&quot;&gt;http://www.fitocracy.com/get_quest/3/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you replace &quot;3&quot; with other numbers, one after the other, you get the HTML snippet with the quest, and it doesn't check whether you have access. So that way you can see all quests in the system. If you're really passionate you could write a robot which does this, parses the HTML and puts the info into a CSV or database or whatever. But there aren't that many quests anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Achievements are all visible to anyone, apparently, so no point repeating them here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure the Fitocracy people will see this post, so I hope they'll see it as a favor to them and fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source:&lt;/em&gt; Competitive intelligence work for startup companies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-12-02T12:51:31.737" LastActivityDate="2011-12-02T12:51:31.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4788" CreationDate="2011-12-02T18:17:52.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It could be&lt;/strong&gt; an anti-catabolic cassein protein that is combined with other stimulating ingredients like creatine, caffein, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt; I would not advice you to eat right before a workout. It's not natural and your digestive system takes away a lot of your energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As long&lt;/strong&gt; as you don't post the full ingredient list I can not give you a full and correct explenation for your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2070" LastActivityDate="2011-12-02T18:17:52.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-02T19:21:26.640" Score="5" ViewCount="10952" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a calorie calculator to see how many calories I should consume in a day. I'm getting between 1,300-1,500 in a day. So, on days I work out, like today, I burned around 500-600 calories. Should I cut that off of my 1300 calories and consume more food on those days? Or should I just stay at 1300 without taking off the extra calories I burned this morning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2463" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:43:26.887" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T03:43:26.887" Title="Calories to consume on workout days" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4791" CreationDate="2011-12-02T21:08:10.693" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;That really depends on what your goals are. If you're trying to lose weight, then a calorie deficit is a good thing. But if you're trying to put on muscle, you actually want to be gaining weight (albeit muscle mass), so you want to be consuming more calories than you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said you're trying to lose weight, so I'll elaborate a little more. From what I've read, yes you can consume more calories on days you work out and still lose weight. The reason behind that is the benefits of exercising don't stop at just the calories you burn during the workout. Muscles burn more calories at rest than fat, so if you're doing exercises that build muscle, you can and will need to eat more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also get an &quot;after burn&quot; after some exercises. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/epocarticle.html&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The exercise after-burn, or the calories expended (above resting&#xA;  values) after an exercise bout, is referred to as ‘excess&#xA;  post-exercise oxygen consumption’ or EPOC. This represents the oxygen&#xA;  consumption above resting level that the body is utilizing to return&#xA;  itself to its pre-exercise state... The intensity in an aerobic exercise bout has the &#xA;  greatest impact on EPOC. As exercise intensity increases, the&#xA;  magnitude and duration of EPOC increases. Therefore, the higher the&#xA;  intensity, the greater the EPOC and the greater the caloric&#xA;  expenditure after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not to say that you should use exercise as an excuse to eat more than you need to. As you read above, after burn depends on the type and intensity of the exercise you're doing. However, in my experience, calorie restriction is not very sustainable (that is, whatever weight you lose while restricting, you'll gain back if you ever return to eating your normal amount). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2011-12-06T02:36:18.357" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T02:36:18.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-02T22:52:02.897" Score="1" ViewCount="1060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fractured my third metatarsal 4 weeks ago and am looking for alternatives to spinning and swimming for cardio work until I can sensibly re-start a running schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would using an elliptical trainer be helpful and not too stressing on the recent fracture?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2465" LastEditorUserId="2051" LastEditDate="2011-12-06T21:33:50.223" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T21:33:50.223" Title="Is an elliptical trainer good for rehab after metatarsal fracture?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;fractures&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-04T01:11:48.453" Score="4" ViewCount="5849" Body="&lt;p&gt;40 yr old male, been working out for a few years, generally decent fitness level. Not looking to get big, just looking to stay fit and have enough energy to chase my 2 year old around. I exercise about 4-5 times a week alternating between cardio and lifting, so I lift either 2 or 3 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is it better to target just one muscle group per day? So for example do maybe 4 sets of chest on Lift Day 1, 4 sets of arms on Lift Day 2, etc. Or, would it be better for the 4 sets to target different muscle groups, so Lift Day 1 maybe 1 set chest, 1 set back, 1 set arms, 1 set legs, etc. Then do the same on Lift Day 2 maybe vary the actual exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2470" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T16:48:12.763" Title="Should each day's lifting target one muscle group or multiple muscle groups?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4796" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-04T17:59:35.660" Score="8" ViewCount="13626" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running uphill is obviously more challenging than running on a flat surface, but on a hilly course, there is also an equal amount of downhill. If my goal is to have the hardest workout, burn the most calories, etc - does the downhill cancel out the uphill? Do I burn fewer calories running downhill than on a flat surface? Does that cancel out the extra calories I burn running uphill? If so, are there other benefits of running on a hilly course, besides added caloric burn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T14:25:09.703" Title="Does the ease of downhill running cancel out the extra work of uphill running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4796" CreationDate="2011-12-04T19:28:48.453" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, running downhill does not cancel out running uphill any more than driving in reverse removes miles off the odometer.  Will you burn fewer calories expending less effort?  Sure.  But you are still burning more calories than you would sitting in a chair or walking somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing to watch out for when running downhill is uneven terrain and the added stress on your knees.  When you are running uphill, you make contact with the ground faster.  That provides more resistance to your quadriceps, which means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are building more strength than you would running on a level course, which translates to more Calories burned even at rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is less stress on your knees because there is less distance for your weight to accelerate toward the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running downhill in a controlled manner can provide more resistance to your hamstrings--provided you aren't trying to go too fast.  However, each and every step is going down a greater distance, which compounds the stress to the knee.  In order to get the most work out of the hill, and to protect yourself from injury:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorten your stride as much as you can.  This requires more steps to be taken in the same distance, but cancels out some of the bad aspects of downhill running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go controlled.  Faster is not better here.  If you are in essence slowing yourself down by the leg in contact with the ground, you will feel it in your hamstrings, and you will be able to deal with small ankle-wrenching dents in the terrain without hurting yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By applying that strategy you will be building some strength on both sides of the leg, protect yourself as much as possible during the run, and get some serious conditioning in.  Strength (more muscle mass) will burn more calories while you are resting than pure cardio endurance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-04T19:28:48.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-05T07:05:51.757" Score="6" ViewCount="1046" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an IT engineer and most of my time I spend near my PC. I noticed after a few months that I've gained a lot of weight and now it's at 100kg. Sounds too much to me. I have no medical conditions, but am aware that I need to reduce soon for a few reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I may end up having some diseases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It looks pretty odd when I look at myself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is kinda depressing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a height of 5'7&quot; and would like to reduce. Please give me some advice and do let me know few sites where I can get proper instructions. If you can suggest something that would be good enough. I am asking because I am aware that I am not doing good due to my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2473" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-05-06T09:50:17.097" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T09:50:17.097" Title="I am overweight and need to reduce?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-05T11:32:42.653" Score="3" ViewCount="2835" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am feeling pretty battered and reckon I really need to take a week off from lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some things I should take into consideration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I adjust my diet? Eat less? Eat less protein? More vegetables?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is doing some light cardio going to get in the way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T21:37:19.063" Title="What to do during a week off?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4796" CreationDate="2011-12-05T14:06:03.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Additionally often people will think a downhill marathon is easier, but in fact, is often harder than an uphill marathon.  Or conversely, both kind of suck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to wonder about that, and not entirely believe it, until I did the Salt Lake City marathon which starts on top of Big Mountain, and drops 5000 some odd feet vertically, a good 3000 of it in the first 8 miles.  It really wacks out your quads, as Berin Loritsch in his answer noted you have to catch yourself on every downhill foot plant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Did not help that the race starts at 5:30AM, at 55F, and by the time you finish it can be closer to 110F in the city, in July).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T14:06:03.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4795" CreationDate="2011-12-05T16:20:08.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From everything I read, the question to ask yourself regarding doing a full body routine or split (focusing on various muscles during any one day's workout) is: Can I fully push/tax my various muscles in order to gain strength, size, etc. (dependent on your goals) at the same time OR do I need to focus on one major muscle group (chest, back, glutes/legs) at a time to get my results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you're happy with your progress with a full body routine, stay with it.  If you've maxed out your time/effort in a single workout and not seeing progress, either change what you're doing by adding weight or exercise or FOCUS (split).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T16:20:08.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4788" CreationDate="2011-12-05T16:26:15.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The theory that many body builders believe is that the body will absorb more of the protein if consumed within one hour of training.  Having the shake before will also add to the queue of protein the body can absorb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that the body absorbs protein at different rates depending on the type of protein and whether you eat a regular meal close to when you take the protein.  When you train, it does set many things in motion regarding your hormone balances.  For instance your muscles are more sensitive to insulin, which having carbs after training helps recovery and minimizes the risk of turning those carbs into fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the studies in relation to protein timing are fairly inconclusive.  As long as you have the protein you need throughout the day, you will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a better alternative to a protein shake would be a dose of Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) before and/or during training.  These don't tax your body as much to digest because they are pretty much broken down already.  However, they do help your recovery and energy levels while you lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T16:26:15.223" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4795" CreationDate="2011-12-05T16:48:12.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question has to do with your personal goals.  Do you want to focus on strength or aesthetics?  There is a difference, both in programming and in the approach to training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out an &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intro on Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; I did a while back.  It provides some information what that entails.  The quick info as applies to your question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on compound lifts such as squats, bench press, deadlift, and overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower reps per set improve the top weight you can lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Programs are full body training of varying weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on Aesthetics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be your bodybuilders.  The &quot;ideal&quot; body has your muscles in certain ratios to each other so that you achieve a balanced physique.  There's a couple distinctions between building muscle for strength and looks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on isolation exercises to build mass where you want it, and not where you don't&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher reps per set improve sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (size)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Programs tend to be split routines focusing on one muscle group at a time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim Wendler's Twist&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler was once a power lifter, and has devised a program (5/3/1) that can really be tailored to your end goals.  His program is designed for advanced lifters, meaning someone who can only make strength increases once a month.  However, there are some underlying philosophies that can be very useful depending on your current set of goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every successful program should have a strength component, a hypertrophy component (size), and a conditioning component.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You simply vary the proportions of each to address your current goals; similar to the way you balance work, family, and play.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training sessions should be limited to about an hour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus your training on what you want to do.  For me, I am concerned more with strength and conditioning, but I still need that hypertrophy component to help the support systems in my muscles to sustain the heavier lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T16:48:12.763" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4359" CreationDate="2011-12-05T17:18:39.957" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To call out exactly what the program is, because it wasn't immediately obvious with the 2nd edition book, check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/101-basic-structure-of-the-program/&quot;&gt;Basic Structure of the Program&lt;/a&gt;.  Some of this information I had to extract from the &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; book, where this is covered in the &quot;Beginner Programs&quot; section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, for the first 2-4 weeks you are focusing on just the squat, bench, overhead press, and deadlift.  Once you have that working well, you can incorporate the power cleans.  After another bit, you can choose to switch to the Onus Wunsler variation of starting strength which incorporates some other assistance lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bulk of the information in that book provides the technical details of how to perform each lift, and troubleshoot it if you are having problems.  As such, it makes a very good reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learned that the Starting Strength 3rd edition will be hitting the bookshelves if it hasn't already, which purportedly makes things a bit more clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T17:18:39.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2011-12-05T17:38:12.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me the only reasonable answer is: to enable to a runner to continue with the activity. Otherwise, he would just stop, feeling exhausted. From evolutionary point of view, there must be a reason for a long run/activity and ones who had ability to force themselves to perform longer, had better chances to survive.&#xA;Feeling better was not the aim just for itself, like it is now, in modern times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1891" LastEditorUserId="1891" LastEditDate="2012-01-21T17:25:26.277" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T17:25:26.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2011-12-05T21:22:19.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For recovery I would say still eat plenty of protein that will help your muscles to repair/recover. In regards to adjusting your diet, unless you have specific goals to either bulk or cut, you should be fine eating as you were before. I would suggest since your not working out you do some stretching or light cardio as you suggested, it might help from getting any sort of stiffness during your break, just my suggestions though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2228" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T21:22:19.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4808" CreationDate="2011-12-05T22:11:32.383" Score="12" ViewCount="1128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to become fit in my upper body without having to go to the gyms. Right now I'm working on my pushups. I can do 30 normal pushups in one go, if pumping as fast as I can. I'm 6ft and 160lbs. I've switched to wide pushups and now do a combo of wide+feet elevated pushup. I can maybe get 15 in one go with this setup. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to work on my pushups 3 times a week, each time I do 5 sets each in the teens range. My goal is to get my strength trained enough so that I can do one hand pushups, which I can't seem to do yet. I hope that by adding additional difficulty to my current pushups I can develop the strength to do one hand pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I become strong enough at one hand pushups I plan to start training with those instead since I essentially double the load on my arm and chest used. Eventually, after getting good at one hand pushups, I can hopefully handle working with handstand pushups. I know that core strength is required as well, but I can start off handstanding next to a wall, so my core wouldn't be overwhelmed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does all this sound like a good plan for reaching handstand level strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T16:11:08.097" LastActivityDate="2017-03-04T10:33:51.927" Title="What is the correct plan to transition from normal to handstand push-ups?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4807" CreationDate="2011-12-05T22:30:24.987" Score="12" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Handstand work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see a particular reason to wait before starting handstand work. Get upside down now, and work on your handstand progression in parallel with your one-arm pushup goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My handstand work involves handstand holds, &quot;running&quot; (alternating hands), and handstand pushups as deep as I can go (which is not far). I do barbell overhead presses for raw pressing strength across the full range of motion. At the moment all my handstand work is using a wall, but getting good at freestanding work is another progression to think about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bet that doing handstand holds and short-range-of-motion handstand pushups will help you work up to a full handstand pushup better than regular pushups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Gymless workouts in general&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend searching around for bodyweight-only strength programs to inform your training choices. I hear good things about Convict Conditioning as well as Ross Enamait's work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-12-05T22:45:25.090" LastActivityDate="2011-12-05T22:45:25.090" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2011-12-06T06:06:49.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are feeling battered, something is wrong.  I would overeat slightly, focusing on quality food at 10am and 3pm.  Avoid the usual: trans fats and refined sugars.  Make sure you have enough salt (yup, salt), magnesium and healthy fatty acids in your diet.  Also make sure you are getting enough sleep.  Forego all steady-state aerobic work, though you may want to do a lighter version of your normal lifting routine during your week off.  If your significant other or boss are giving you a hard time, I would do my best to avoid them too during your recovery time.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T06:06:49.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4798" CreationDate="2011-12-06T06:23:17.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For lifting:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1764218&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Training for Newbies, part 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1765943&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Training for Newbies, part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Running:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-520--9397-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8 Week Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an IT guy too.  It does not take much, just avoid the junk food, and go take a long walk sometime during the day.  Figure out how many calories you can take in, then track them using something like:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fit Day&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T06:23:17.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2011-12-06T07:40:09.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend doing a search on Endurance Plantet's itunes page for podcasts on Recovery, over training etc. From what I've gathered: &#xA;you should reduce your calorie intake (not too much) because you aren't exercising as much. Particularly restricting Carbohydrates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoiding stimulants found in things like coffee that would cause inflammation. Your main goal should be to reduce inflammation, so eat plenty of good fats: fatty fish, nuts etc. because good fats contain hormones that need to be replaced when you've overreached/overtrained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active recovery sessions (up to 45 minutes at a fat burning heart rate) on an elliptical, in the pool etc. are supposed to flush lactic acid from your system. Foam rolling/massages would also be a great option. These practices should be done in the first few days while the lactic acid is still there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I would recommend Endurance Planet and posts from Ben Greenfield fitness about recovery for even more tips!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T07:40:09.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4798" CreationDate="2011-12-06T11:45:36.023" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is somewhat vague, but I think typical of someone looking to lose some weight and feel better about themselves health wise.  There's a few steps to take prior to the hard work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start a log of everything you eat for two weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start a log of any exercising you are currently doing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;write down some specific goals - both long and short term: lose 20 lbs, fit into a size x pants, run around the track without stopping once, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will give you a map of where you are and where you want to go.  The best approach is to find a good fitness/nutritional coach, if you can't afford one - start reading, there's a lot of good advice here, t-nation.com, livestrong.com, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to determine what your new diet will look like, what your exercise program will look like and how you'll keep yourself motivated (some people need to workout in groups, some alone, some need to publish their goals, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and come back once you have the top part complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T11:45:36.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2011-12-06T14:27:51.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once in a while it's actually take a week off between training programs, in case you train hard like 5 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do during a week off is to eat clean. You may want to cut down little bit of carbs since you won't train.. but in order to maintain muscle mass watch out for your daily protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your daily protein intake should be like 1.5 grams per pound of lean body mass rougly. There are some simple calculators on the web aswell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T14:27:51.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4835" CreationDate="2011-12-06T17:10:45.287" Score="4" ViewCount="1446" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started regular swimming with the main goal of weight loss. Im curious as to whether protein shakes would help me lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increased muscle growth burns calories but then the shakes would add them to my diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: in response to the comments; By lose weight I really mean &quot;Become less fat&quot;. I'm more than happy for some of the fat to turn into muscle Building muscle isn't my primary goal though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I swim for 30 min 5 times a week with reasonable intensity (I'm tired afterwards)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T20:23:22.480" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T20:23:22.480" Title="Protein shakes for weight loss" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4791" CreationDate="2011-12-06T20:33:55.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, you can eat calories to replace the calories you burned in exercise and still lose weight&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are on a calorie restricted diet, the most important thing during the day is the &lt;strong&gt;net calories&lt;/strong&gt; that you eat during that day, which can be defined as &lt;em&gt;calories you consume&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;calories you burn&lt;/em&gt;.  (This is a naive approach, but it works for most people &lt;em&gt;if they can stick to it&lt;/em&gt;).  When you are losing weight, you want the number to be negative.  Based on your current calorie goal, you are probably already on the negative side of that equation just by using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate calculator&lt;/a&gt; - which will have an assumption based on your activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any calories beyond what you do normally for living are added to the &lt;em&gt;calories you burn&lt;/em&gt; so you can keep the &lt;strong&gt;net calories&lt;/strong&gt; the same by eating extra during those days.  As Lauren said, you might also have other benefits such as a &quot;after burn&quot; effect, but usually I don't count those, or assume the equipment / calculators that I use to calculate the calorie burn include them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible to exercise too much and enter a starvation state, but that usually only happens over many days of very low net caloric intake, less than 1000 calories net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1846" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T20:33:55.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4793" CreationDate="2011-12-06T21:33:21.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aqua-jogging can be a great alternative to running if you are hurt.  Yes it's still in the pool but it utilizes many of the same muscles and movements.  This article here:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/alex-hutchinson/the-future-of-fitness-may-be-in-the-pool/article1930179/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/alex-hutchinson/the-future-of-fitness-may-be-in-the-pool/article1930179/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;discusses some of the differences between running and aqua-jogging.  It also has a good workout that I (and Olympic Athletes as pointed out in the article) have used in the past to stay in shape when you are hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say how the elliptical will impact your recovery.  I tend to play it say and stay ff of stress fractures for a good 8 weeks to ensure I am healthy.  Rushing back 2-4 weeks early buys you nothing if you have to go into another 10-12 week waiting period as you heal again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2011-12-06T21:33:21.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4814" CreationDate="2011-12-07T13:11:08.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, sipping protein shake does not increase muscle growth by itself. Muscle growth is more about lifting weights and daily protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, yes protein shakes may help fat loss. But remember it's just a supplement and can not replace whole foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein has a complex structure which causes thermogenic effect on body and leads to more calory burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consuming right amount of protein on a daily basis will help you to maintain your muscle mass and lose fat instead of losing muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a little reminder; fat loss and weight loss are completely different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T13:11:08.133" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4796" CreationDate="2011-12-07T14:25:09.703" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running downhill is the BEST way to strengthen your quad muscles.  Often we build muscle imbalances by continually running uphill which does great for glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors.  Downhill pounds the quads but strengthens them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to downhill run effectively&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1)  Focus on being tall and relaxed&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2)  Slight forward lean&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3)  Use the &quot;big muscles&quot; to cushion the landing as opposed to pounding your shins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the work by Arthur Lydiard I recommend short downhill strides coupled with uphill &quot;sprints&quot; to fully maximize your running strength (which does wonders for endurance, coincidentally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample Beginner Workout&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 1 - Short hills 10 seconds up a steep hill at 90-95% effort (almost all out).  Walk back down.  (Walking backwards down the hill can eccentrically stress the hamstring meaning more strength).  Rest 2 minutes.  Repeat 2 times total.  Can do this AFTER an easy run.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 2 - Long hills 30 seconds up a gradual hill at a medium hard to hard pace (not all out), walk back down halfway, gently run the last hall focusing on using the big muscles for cushion.  Rest 2 minutes.  Repeat 4 times total.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 3 - Short Hills 4 times&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 4 - Long Hills 6 times&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 5 - Short Hills 6 times&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 6 - Long Hills 8 times  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, add a half mile to a mile of a gradual hill to your long run each week to help with aerobic power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally with hills, recommend no more than 2-3 times per week and always try to keep a minimum of one or 2 days between hill sessions.  You will be sore, especially in the early going but by focusing on form and using your glutes, hips, hamstrings and quads, you will get stronger quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T14:25:09.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2011-12-07T19:05:15.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 29 years old, battled being overweight for a number of years. Paleo nutrition and weighlifting got it under control for me in a big way, but running even as a child was terrible for me. Winded in seconds, shin splints so painful I'd fall down after a few hundred feet. For years no matter what shoe of any shape or size I tried I would get terrible shin splints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year I picked up vibrams KSO's not for running but for lounging about, little did I know that some time later I'd end up running my ass off in them. Fast forward some time later, I can now run a few miles at a time with very little effort and have not had even the slightest bit of pain whether I'm barefoot or in the vibrams. Its worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T19:05:15.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4814" CreationDate="2011-12-07T19:07:18.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience has been that protein shakes can be good meal replacements, but unless you've got the diet dialed in with real foods you're better off focusing your efforts there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there are two approaches: Either use them to replace a meal, in which case you need to make sure it's nutritionally superior to the meal it replaced, or if you're using it to supplement your existing intake it won't get you anywhere if the rest of your food is crap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel you're eating well and just need additional protein, its probably not a bad way to go. Hope that helps, but its just my perspective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-12-08T12:46:34.183" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T12:46:34.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4223" CreationDate="2011-12-07T21:17:32.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't focus on precisely those exercises, but you might want to check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/a&gt;, which has exercise progressions that incorporate both the V-sit and the V-hang.  The emphasis is a little different, but the exercise progressions may still get you what you need.  The book isn't as detailed as what you want in terms of &quot;X number of seconds,&quot; but there is plenty of room in there to push yourself to keep trying for the next level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the book, the V-hang is used as part of an obliques exercise on the way to doing side-lever pulls. For the V-sit  the book has progressions for increasingly difficult V-ups, manna, and leg lifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2485" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T21:17:32.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4836" CreationDate="2011-12-08T09:26:27.117" Score="5" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started working out several month ago at home. I'm building my own training routines and using mostly Super-sets. (as for the equipment I use dumbbells, exercise bands and body weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly I use 5-6 sets of 2 exercies (a super set). I perform each set twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The objective is full-body exercise while building the core and muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is I don't know if I workout too much or too little... How would one know that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I can't finish a routine and sometimes it's too easy. Sometimes if I don't eat much carbs before the routine - I break in the middle (feel deep fatigue and can't move).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideas? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I've been asked to elaborate more on my goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to beef up a little and shape up. I've got a pretty average body structure - 1.81 m / 90kg (little over weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the goal is to lose some weight (fat) and gain more muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to get a great core (health, posture, muscle) and more strength with toning (arms, chest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2492" LastEditorUserId="2492" LastEditDate="2011-12-08T18:00:13.093" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T19:49:10.393" Title="How do you know what intensity you should go with?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4837" CreationDate="2011-12-08T12:43:03.623" Score="7" ViewCount="1919" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it there is a general recommendation towards wearing weight lifting shoes when lifting heavy weights for three main reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less compression in a weight lifting shoe's than in a normal training shoe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A more favourable angle for a more 'upright' position(surely just a more hips forward position)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General support of the foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my goals through lifting (I am referring to barbell Olympic-style lifts) is to strengthen the musculature and connective tissues of the hands and wrists. As such I opt to not wear wraps or gloves when lifting, which I imagine will at some point limit the amount I can safely lift (but not for some time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By extension I wonder if there is development of the muscles of the foot, ankle, and shins to be gained from unsupported feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone experimented with this? Are there compelling reasons not to embark on shoeless weight lifting? It seems that the first feature of a weight lifting shoe would be provided by a raw heel, and the third seems subject to the same caveats as bare-foot running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm particularly interested to hear from experienced lifters who would be willing to experiment with lifting without shoes and give their thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2011-12-09T13:53:08.583" Title="Are there any compelling reasons to not engage in bare-foot weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4825" CreationDate="2011-12-08T14:40:11.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the more successful heavy lifters at my Crossfit Box swear by firm shoes with elevated heels, but only when doing some very heavy loads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this approach makes a lost of sense. If you're trying to exercise a muscle by performing a movement that is unnatural or really difficult, something like this may put your posture into a form more suitable to handle the load safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if like me you're typically only lifting to maintain decent health and strength then it may be a bit overkill to use special shoes. I can tell you from personal experience that after months of lifting barefoot or in vibrams/minimalist shoes I happened to try and do back squats in tennis shoes and found it extremely difficult to control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my perspective, I tend to go minimalist with everything and only make modifications when safeguarding against injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T14:40:11.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5059" CreationDate="2011-12-08T15:39:48.067" Score="1" ViewCount="1521" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a few months, I will need to score as high as I can on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-stage_fitness_test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Multi-stage fitness test&lt;/a&gt;, or &quot;beep test&quot;. I'm a 20 year old male weighting 165 pounds and measuring 6 feet 3 inches. I've never really been in shape or much of a sports guy for my whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running a few weeks ago and that was okay but now winter is fully here and I have trouble running outdoors. I'd like to start going to the gym to train for this, but I have a hard time deciding what to do. I used to do the Couch to 5K thing (didn't get very far though) but I find that hard to reproduce on a threadmill, and I'm not sure if it would be the bset form of training for the beep test. I also tried the threadmill's &quot;cardio&quot; training and found it boring (it maxes at 4.5 mph, maybe I just need to do it longer?). I can easily get my hands on the MP3 file for the beep test but that's not much of help if I don't have the room (20 meters no less) to run it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend suggested spinning, but I'm not sure if that'd help. I'd like to work on the leg muscles for running as well as my cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What indoors training (in a gym) can I do to help me on this test?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2495" LastEditorUserId="2495" LastEditDate="2011-12-08T16:12:33.050" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T16:48:59.220" Title="Multi stage fitness test indoors training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-08T15:49:21.833" Score="5" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been consistently doing Rippetoe's Starting Strength program every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for two months. Today (Thursday), I've got an appointment with an instructor to go through some technique, which will probably involve a lot of reps with moderate weights in all of the base lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I do Friday's workout on Saturday instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-12-08T22:01:45.670" LastActivityDate="2011-12-09T10:19:01.510" Title="I'm doing Starting Strength M/W/F but have a PT appointment on Thursday; how to adapt?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3490" CreationDate="2011-12-08T16:09:34.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a possibility to do so, but you will end up learning something else. If you have the basics, you can train those technique and master them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I practised taekwondo for several years, and a little bit of boxing. I used unconventional training (traditional Muay style; I live near Thailand). Have strong conviction brother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2496" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-06T12:03:34.447" LastActivityDate="2012-11-06T12:03:34.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4827" CreationDate="2011-12-08T16:10:33.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to score well on this test, then the best way to prepare is to practice this exact exercise. Adaptation (including VO2Max) is very specific, and building up your VO2Max at some other exercise (like distance running or spinning) is going to be less efficient and less targeted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest regular training sessions doing the exact &quot;beep test&quot; (a shuttle run, I gather). This test is typically done indoors anyway, so no issue with winter weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T16:10:33.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4828" CreationDate="2011-12-08T16:12:43.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just see how you feel on Friday. If you ended up doing some work on Thursday and feel tired, then wait until Saturday. If you're feeling great, then just go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also start the workout on Friday and judge by your warmups &amp;amp; first work set. If they go off without a hitch, continue the workout. If you're dragging through them &amp;amp; they are harder then they should be, then just stop and wait a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, when in doubt err on the side of an extra day of rest. Just don't use a little tiredness as an excuse to regularly postpone workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T16:12:43.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4828" CreationDate="2011-12-08T16:30:27.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably preemptively move my Friday workout to Saturday, but I agree with Greg on the overall approach to moving workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T16:30:27.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4828" CreationDate="2011-12-08T17:05:00.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on how heavy you go.  If you are keeping the weights light, and just working on form, you should be OK for Friday.  That's particularly true if you &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; started with Starting Strength.  There's a short period of time, where you could recover and be ready every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's my decision criteria:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy workout? I need at least a full day of rest.  Move it out one day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light workout? If I still feel like it was a light day when I'm done, I'll do my regularly scheduled time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unsure? give myself a full day of rest and move it out one day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, make sure you get some good sleep and eat enough for recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T17:05:00.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4844" CreationDate="2011-12-08T17:27:09.560" Score="2" ViewCount="68556" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you differentiate between Yoga and Power-Yoga? What are the key differences between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should one maintain intake of food before or after doing yoga? Can both types be done on the same day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where on the internet (or from any other offline source) can I learn Power Yoga on my own? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastEditorUserId="1479" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T21:06:47.700" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T10:37:11.377" Title="What is difference between Yoga and Power Yoga?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4814" CreationDate="2011-12-08T17:41:31.327" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's take a step back and understand some basics about nutrition as it relates to exercise.  I'll cover the popular memes and then try to apply them to your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More muscle mass burns more calories.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is true, but it is only part of the picture.  I'll expound on this a little more later on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein is more thermogenic.&lt;/strong&gt;  Thermogenic means it requires more Calories to process.  And yes, protein has a higher Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) than either carbs or fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can't lose weight if you don't eat less.&lt;/strong&gt;  Basic principle is that if you consume fewer calories than you burn you will loose weight.  Where that weight comes from is a function of diet and exercise.  And keep in mind the adjustments have to be within reason here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, before I go any further, I do want to call out that there are two major classes of protein shake mixes: mass gainers and simple protein.  Mass gainers have a higher carb content and more calories, and are designed to make you gain weight.  Whey protein and creatine supplements only contain enough extra to provide some palatable flavoring, but are largely protein.  So when you are trying to lose fat, go for the simple proteins.  Everything from this point forward simply has to do with the macronutrients.  Whether you get them from protein shakes, food, or injection; it does not matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do we get more muscle mass?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our bodies respond to stress by making physiological changes so that it can handle that stress better the next time.  That's how the flu shot and other inoculations work.  The same goes for building muscle mass.  You have to provide stress in the form of exercise to tell the body that it needs to get ready for heavier work.  You then need to provide the body the nutrients it needs to build the muscle and help with recovery.  It's a two step process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great that you are swimming 30m a day 5 days a week.  The problem is your body will only adapt to the point it needs to handle the stress you are putting it under.  &lt;em&gt;Unless you do something to intensify the work you are doing, the body will simply maintain.&lt;/em&gt;  Weightlifters do this easily by adding more weight on the bar, or doing more volume.  As a swimmer you have a few options: try to get more laps in the same amount of time (increase intensity), or increase the amount of time you are working (increase effort).  It takes bigger muscles to be able to sprint effectively, so shaving off seconds from your lap time will help in this situation.  If you hit a speed wall, supplement the swimming with some strength training to build up weak points, or overall strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other part is you need enough protein to sustain your muscle plus extra so that your body can use that to build bigger/stronger muscles.  For sedentary people, about .5g protein per pound &lt;em&gt;lean body mass&lt;/em&gt; is sufficient to maintain the amount of muscle they have.  Which means if you want to build muscle mass you need more than that.  How much more will be in the next section.  On top of that your muscles need energy for recovery.  Fortunately they don't care whether that energy comes from carbs or fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein: little do good, heap do plenty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, if you have renal (kidney) problems, you have to limit the amount of protein you eat.  The kidneys do the bulk of the protein processing, and if they are not healthy you can overtax them if you are not careful.  Healthy people don't have this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a couple of strategies for protein intake if you are not trying to do the bare minimum to maintain the mass you have.  Go for 1g protein per pound &lt;em&gt;total body weight&lt;/em&gt; which will be more than enough to increase muscle mass, &lt;em&gt;provided you are increasing the intensity of your exercise&lt;/em&gt;.  Or you can go for the higher TEF of protein itself, and aim for 30% of your Calories coming from protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The macronutrients have the following amount of Calories per gram:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: 4 Cal/g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates: 4 Cal/g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: 9 Cal/g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can divide up the remaining Calories how you like.  Any more than this, and you are reaching the law of diminishing returns.  Now, if you take in very little carbohydrates, you can induce ketosis.  With the elevated protein intake, your muscles will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last parting shot: when you have a higher protein intake, the excess protein can start leeching calcium from your bones.  You may need to supplement your Calcium while on a high protein diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat fewer Calories&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, you will need to eat fewer Calories than your burn to lose weight.  If you want that weight to be predominately fat, keep your protein intake higher.  However, don't overdo the calorie deficit, as that can backfire in a big way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best approach is to adjust your Calorie intake by 10-20% until the scale is moving in the direction you want.  As long as your exercise is spot on, you are eating good food, and have the proper nutritional balance, the fat will come off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T17:41:31.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4824" CreationDate="2011-12-08T19:49:10.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure there's no 'science' to determine intensity - you need to do that by results: both positive and negative.  You'll know in 3-6 weeks if your routine is good if it's starting to provide the results you want - on the flip side, if you're getting injured, sick, etc. you know it's a bad routine....and if there are no positive changes - not a good routine (so, you have good, not good and bad).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you based your routine on one of the hundreds used by trainers, that are available in either books or web (many for free) - they you can be assured that (depending on the author/trainer) that it's well rounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your description of 5-6 sets x 2 reps x 2 exercises - seems like the reps a light UNLESS you're going heavy on the weights (which is something you probably shouldn't consistently do).  The 'typical' set/rep pattern is 3 sets of 8 reps (even if you superset) for size/endurance and 5 sets of 5 reps for strength....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The statement that 'sometime I can finish easily sometimes I can't' seems to indicate that your supersets and/or daily routine is not well balanced or focused.  Think about what supersets are for: either to allow extra rest on the focus area while working auxiliary muscles (ex: the focus is on chest so you're doing bench presses, the second exercise could be calf raises or lunges)....OR to add more strain to the focus area (ex: focus on chest so you're doing bench presses, the second exercise could be over head press).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T19:49:10.393" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4825" CreationDate="2011-12-09T01:40:56.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most weightlifting shoes were designed for OLYMPIC weightlifting - the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch. You can read all about it on the web including the history and evolution of the shoes. Basically you absolutely need the heel to perform Olympic lifts with any real weight on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I do not believe in wearing shoes for power lifting - no shoe really helps you squat better, or deadlift more weight. You should be able to get your body into the correct position without the help of a shoe, which is the argument that people use for why you should wear a shoe for heavy power lifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take the minimalist approach here as well - chances are if I need to move some heavy weight one day, I won't have a pair of shoes designed especially for it lying around anywhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if you are still interested in shoes I highly recommend you check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://wlshoes.com&quot;&gt;WLShoes.com&lt;/a&gt;. They maintain a database of all weightlifting and training shoes and people post reviews and comments on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2500" LastActivityDate="2011-12-09T01:40:56.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-09T04:54:41.410" Score="11" ViewCount="638" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently moved to a new city where I've been told the temperature usually settles around -20 deg C in the mid-winter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I either run in Merrell Pace gloves or VFFs, and I've found that when the temperature gets to 0 deg that my toes start to go numb. Even with socks (with the Merrells, haven't tried injinji socks yet) my feet get pretty cold and uncomfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone here have recommendations for a minimalist shoe that will help to keep my toes from freezing off, or tips to help keep the feet warm while running outdoors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2502" LastActivityDate="2018-10-18T18:10:20.500" Title="Barefoot running in cold weather" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4828" CreationDate="2011-12-09T10:19:01.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going over technique with a coach the sooner you try out what you have learnt, the more information will stick in your mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would stick with the Friday work out. Don't try to get any personal bests with your weights - but still move up so it feels fairly heavy and focus on the technique you've learnt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is something that occurs over a period of time. One day isn't going to wipe you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2011-12-09T10:19:01.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-09T11:58:18.957" Score="6" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt; about 60% - 75% of the calories burned are non-exercise related. It seems each person's metabolism adjusts to ensure proper support of the body with the focus on efficient energy burn and seems to be geared towards burning less (back to our ancestors surviving on minimal food) as opposed to burning more. So, my question, how do we get our metabolism boosted and keep it elevated for those people looking to loose weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-25T09:09:28.060" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T09:09:28.060" Title="Advice for improving metabolism burn: how do we keep it in high gear?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4825" CreationDate="2011-12-09T13:53:08.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;All weightlifting shoes have one thing in common: an incompressible sole.  The more inexpensive shoes use a hard plastic, and the more expensive shoes use wood.  At one point in time there were power lifting shoes that had a flat sole.  I haven't been able to find any of these lately, and almost all have a heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether a heel helps or not depends on the lift, as well as how much of a heel.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts are best performed with no heel.  Pulling with a heel increases the distance you have to pull, and puts you at a slight disadvantage leverage-wise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats work best with a heel, particularly front squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press can use a heel to improve leg drive, but it's not necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any fast pull like cleans &amp;amp; jerks, snatches, etc. are best done with a heel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, it really can be a personal preference.  I know of many people who take their shoes off for deadlifts.  As long as you are on a solid surface, you will have the best leverages this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need a heel, use weightlifting shoes.  If not, go barefoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt; Do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; use your weightlifting shoes to do plyometrics and box jumps.  The soles are not supposed to be flexible and they are not designed for that type of work.  Take the weightlifting shoes off and either do it barefoot or with a different set of shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-09T13:53:08.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4840" CreationDate="2011-12-09T14:29:20.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way is build more muscle.  At rest, muscle burns more calories than fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing exercise, try and stay in the 60%-80% of max HR range.  This is a fat burning range, and when you get beyond that you move into glycogen metabolism.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get a higher Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) by building more muscle, then sleeping burns more calories than before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So lots of aerobic activity, at reasonable intensity should help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a heart rate monitor there are two easy tricks to find 60% and 80%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;60% is easily identifiable as when you notice the sound of your breathing.  Try, its pretty neat.  Go for a jog, and at some point you start to hear your breathing, that is a good indicator you are at or over 60%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;80% is the point at which you will have a hard time talking to someone next to you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay in that range, it builds muscles, builds aerobic fitness, and should help increase BMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="2491" LastEditDate="2011-12-10T00:18:00.980" LastActivityDate="2011-12-10T00:18:00.980" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4865" CreationDate="2011-12-09T14:53:45.680" Score="3" ViewCount="3784" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a pair of athletic shoes that I can wear for various sports. Despite martial arts being my main regular form of exercise, once in a while my friends will get together for an impromptu game of basketball, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, or tennis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For martial arts, we have our own flat-soled shoes with minimal cushioning. Outside of that, I have not owned any athletic sneakers since I started practicing kung fu. I have seen other questions on the site asking whether one shoe for one particular activity is also good for another. Some answers say that it's okay to use the same shoes, and others say there is a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a shoe that would be suited for the activities I listed? More specifically, is there any type of shoe that is suited for asphalt surface (the typical outdoor surface I play on)? Does one type of shoe make a difference over another for these activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-12-12T16:08:01.763" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T20:20:45.423" Title="Is there a general purpose sneaker for casual sports activities?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4834" CreationDate="2011-12-09T22:03:20.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Power Yoga moves more quickly than regular Yoga, and as such gives more cardio output. In regular Yoga, the focus is on holding the post, but the focus in Power Yoga is on the movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/typesofyoga/a/yogatypes.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; gives a brief summary of the differences between various types of yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a good online source to learn Power Yoga, check out the series by Bryan Jones. Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWhTRSUkxbY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the first video&lt;/a&gt; on YouTube - you can find links to the related videos there, and he tells you which video to go to next at the end of each one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for food intake, I don't know specifically about what's good for yoga, but there are several other questions here about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3872/what-is-the-best-thing-to-eat-right-before-a-workout/3885#3885&quot;&gt;fueling for your workout&lt;/a&gt; that might be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2011-12-09T22:03:20.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-12-09T22:34:38.510" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend checking out &lt;a href=&quot;http://birthdayshoes.com/the-definitive-guide-to-cleaning-vibram-five-fingers-a-k-a-how-to-get-the-smell-out-of-your-vibrams&quot;&gt;&quot;The Definitive Guide to Cleaning Vibram Five Fingers&quot;&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href=&quot;http://birthdayshoes.com&quot;&gt;birthdayshoes.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can personally attest to the success of daily wiping of the feet with tea tree oil, and soaking the shoes in a basin with a few antibacterial denture tablets (2 in each shoe for a small basin, more for something larger). For really nasty stank, an overnight soak may be warranted. Rinse well, then make sure that the shoes dry completely before wearing them again. Stuffing them with paper towel to wick moisture and then putting them in front of the vents at the bottom of the refrigerator works well to dry in less than a day. I don't know if regular denture tablets work the same, but generic antibacterial tablets seem to do the trick. Plus they leave your shoes smelling minty fresh. I'm sure they'd also taste minty if you were so keen to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience comes mostly from washing Merrell Barefoots, but I've tried denture tablets on VFFs and it seems to work equally well. By rotating between 2 pairs of shoes and following a tea tree oil regimen, the shoes tend to stay within an acceptable odor spectrum for 3 to 4 weeks before needing to be soaked again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2502" LastEditorUserId="458" LastEditDate="2011-12-14T18:36:46.037" LastActivityDate="2011-12-14T18:36:46.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2011-12-09T22:40:25.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aqua socks (aka Water Shoes or Beach Shoes) are a very cheap alternative, though you are paying for what you get. They don't last for very long before they start to fall apart (a few months perhaps). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fit tends to vary greatly depending where you get them, but if you can find something that's snug enough to run in, then they will do the trick to protect your feet from nasty pointy things on the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At around $5 for a pair, it's a good place to start if you're interested in trying out minimalist running without having to make a large investment in specially made shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2502" LastActivityDate="2011-12-09T22:40:25.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4728" CreationDate="2011-12-10T15:05:35.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only side-effect which can occur due to supplementating creatine without a liquid is gastrointestinal distress, probably due to osmotic load, as reported in Res Sports Med. 2008;16(1):15-22. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprinkling on warm food is most likely no problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The creatine being stuck on the glass with plain water is most likely due to a 'bad' creatine brand. Micronized sorts usually don't stick to the glass with plain water, and if you're worrying about this, supplement a little more to compensate with the creatine left over in the glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning taking creatine with sugars, just taking a glass of a beverage with glucose (estimated around 30 gr of glucose) won't do much. The increased uptake of creatine comes from the insulin response caused by the glucose. Only high and supraphysiological concentrations of insulin will significantly increase uptake of creatine into the muscle. As reported in Am J Physiol. 1998 Dec;275(6 Pt 1):E974-9. This pretty much means you'll need to take 100+ gr of glucose. Not really beneficial if you ask me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2507" LastActivityDate="2011-12-10T15:05:35.803" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4488" CreationDate="2011-12-10T15:15:00.200" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creatine increases the high energy phosphate diffusion between the mitochondria and myosine heads. Furthermore it works as a buffer for pH changes, which can improve cellulair homeostasis. And a decreased PCr level stimulates phosphofructokinase, an enzyme which limits glycolysis, and thus replenishment of this will lead to an improved glycolysis which also leads to a faster ATP reproduction. The following reviews explore this in more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sports Med. 1999 Jul;28(1):49-60. Review.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sports Med. 2002;32(14):903-44. Review.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physiol Rev. 2000 Jul;80(3):1107-213. Review.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;As a reaction on Ivo I'll try to provide a more basic explanation of how creatine works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the execution of a physical effort, your body uses energy. This energy comes from ATP (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate). ATP is the primary energy source. When ATP is used, ADP (Adenosine Di-Phosphate) arises and a phosphate ion. The energy which comes free with this reaction, is used by your body to execute the effort. Unfortunately the muscle cells only contain a small pool of ATP. This pool is only enough to supply energy for a few seconds of intense physical effort (1). But fortunately your body does everything it can to regenerate the ATP. Your body uses another pool (creatine phosphate, PCr), to regenerate the ATP. And this is where creatine supplementation gets interesting. After intake of creatine it gets absorbed by the intestine-wall and the Creatine Transporter (CT) pulls creatine into the muscle cell. When there is enough ATP (during rest), the enzym Creatine Kinase (CK) extracts the phosphate ion from the ATP, and binds it to the creatine, forming PCr. When you exercise after, and you utilise your ATP, ADP arises and this reaction works the other way around, CK binds PCr to ADP and generates ATP. The main goal of creatine supplementation is to raise PCr and Cr levels within the muscle cell, so ATP regenerates faster. And this is exactly what happens when you supplement creatine. (I don't think I need to provide any sources for this, there are numerous of publications reporting an increase of PCr and Cr levels during creatine supplementation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biochem J. 1992 Jan 1;281 ( Pt 1):21-40.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2507" LastEditorUserId="2507" LastEditDate="2011-12-10T16:37:57.587" LastActivityDate="2011-12-10T16:37:57.587" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-12-10T20:58:52.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use deodorant on your feet before you wear them. Prevents them from stinking in the first place. My boyfriend has 2 pairs and they stunk so bad and then the guy at REI suggested that and they have never stunk again. They smell because your feet sweat, so stop your feet from sweating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2509" LastActivityDate="2011-12-10T20:58:52.887" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4798" CreationDate="2011-12-11T00:59:43.540" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a typical Indian diet like I used to (though I don't want to typecast or stereotype here), it's probably very carbohydrate-heavy. This means a lot of wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar. (Ignore everything below if this is not the case)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on personal experience (lost 8 kilos in the last 6 months), but absolutely no other qualification whatsoever, you can achieve good progress by reducing carbohydrates from those sources that I mentioned above. Increase the proportion of fruits, vegetables and pulses in your diet. Cut down wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar to as little as possible (this can mean just one &lt;em&gt;chapati&lt;/em&gt; per meal and no rice, or about two tablespoons of rice), and fill up with fruits, vegetables (which does not mean potatoes) and pulses. If you do eat grains, try to eat whole grains; no refined wheat flour or &lt;em&gt;maida&lt;/em&gt;, or white rice (brown, unpolished rice is preferable). Dairy products are also great: yogurt, milk, buttermilk, &lt;em&gt;paneer&lt;/em&gt;, butter and cheese (in moderation, because of cholesterol). Lean meats (if you are non-vegetarian) such as chicken and turkey (and not red meats such as mutton), eggs (no more than one egg yellow/day because of cholesterol), soy etc. are also good things to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of snacks popular in India also consist of fried grains and potatoes (chips, &lt;em&gt;sev&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;farsan&lt;/em&gt;, any &lt;em&gt;chaat&lt;/em&gt; item such as &lt;em&gt;bhel&lt;/em&gt; , &lt;em&gt;wadas&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;samosas&lt;/em&gt; etc.). From personal experience, it's impossible to completely stop eating these, so restrict it to a maximum of once per week (and just one normal serving, it defeats the purpose if you eat 8 &lt;em&gt;samosas&lt;/em&gt; at a time, once a week). Try and get some sprouts and pulses on your &lt;em&gt;bhel&lt;/em&gt; to make it at least slightly healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are exercising regularly (3 times a week, 45 minutes each time should be enough), and watching what you eat, you should see steady (but not dramatic) weight loss (based on my experience, about 1.1 kilo/month, starting from 89 kilos, so maybe a faster initial rate for you since you weigh more now)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2510" LastEditorUserId="2510" LastEditDate="2011-12-11T01:15:50.350" LastActivityDate="2011-12-11T01:15:50.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4668" CreationDate="2011-12-11T14:39:44.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer this question I'll have to make some simplifications and assumptions, because the real kinematics are rather sophisticated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We'll calculate the Potential Energy, which is the amount of energy required to move a mass up a certain height against the gravitational pull:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-potential (in Joule) = mass (kg) * gravitational acceleration (m/s2) * height(m)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which equates to: 93 * 9.8 * 12.2 = 11,119.08 Joule. While this seems a lot, 1 kcal = 4186 Joule, so you'll this would only cost 2.6 kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power (Watt) = Energy (Joule) / Time (seconds)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So taking the 12,000 J / 30 seconds = &lt;strong&gt;370 Watt&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other points to take into consideration: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the equation calculates the energy and power needed to elevate your mass 12.2 meter, to do so obviously means you'll have to move your body. Given the efficiency of your body is probably between 20-30%, you'll actually have to burn up to 5 times the amount of required energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when running you sway your legs forward, lifting them up in order to swing them efficiently. If you're running upstairs, the required forces around the joints of your leg will be higher, because you're swinging them up against the gravity and lifting them higher than during regular running. These forces are ignored in the equation, but the faster you run the higher the required forces will be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swinging your arms help accelerate your body, but obviously that comes at a cost. Like swinging your legs, swinging your arms requires additional energy, which are ignored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be wondering, doesn't it matter how fast I'm running up the stairs? Well given the energy to elevate your body stays constant, so we have to at least use that amount of energy. For this we would calculate the Kinetic Energy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-kinetic (in Joule) = 0.5 * mass (kg) * velocity (m/s) * velocity (m/s)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;given that we know the required energy we can estimate the velocity in meter per second. We take the total amount of energy (11,119) and divide it by 30 seconds to get the amount of potential energy / second = ~370 J. Then we take the square root of the energy per second divided by 0.5 * mass, which gives us &lt;strong&gt;2.82 meter per second&lt;/strong&gt;. This equates to ~10 km/h, which is quite the pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off course you could run up the stairs faster, but this is just a calculation based on how much energy would be required to go up. You'd also need to take into account that moving horizontally for a given distance costs you energy. But as I said, I've been making a lot of simplifications and only calculate the required speed and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though as you can see, running up a flight of stairs equates to about 370 Watt, which is a very respectable workout. But obviously, this is only maintained for 30 seconds and I doubt you'd be able to keep it up for long stretches of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-12-11T15:09:10.297" LastActivityDate="2011-12-11T15:09:10.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4838" CreationDate="2011-12-11T23:18:29.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you checked out the Flow by VFF?  They are supposed to work like a wet suit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2011-12-11T23:18:29.850" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4854" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-12T03:52:58.927" Score="3" ViewCount="1170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I weight 242 lbs (110kg) with 5' 9&quot; (182cm). I want to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout the last month was to walk an hour every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now walk doesn't make me feel tired, so I run. But I can only run a litle until I feel tired, not more than 10'-12'. My cooper test is 1500m, given I am 29 my score is &quot;bad&quot; accordign to wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I watched videos of bodyrock.tv and sixpackshortcut.com and they talk about doing afterburn workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say that if you workout intensily for a short period of time, you boost your metabolism and burn a lot of calories in the rest of the day rather when you are working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This workouts last very few minutes, something like 5 to 20 at the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a workout that last 7' &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/12/07/the-one-that-got-away-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/12/07/the-one-that-got-away-workout/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this is the Workout Breakdown of that routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 rounds of 20'' work + 10'' rest doing: MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS and SPLIT LUNGES&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50'' PLANK BUTT SQUEEZE&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50'' PLANK&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50'' REPTILE PUSHUPS&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a litle skeptical about doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, most of the exercises are very difficult to me, since my weight and current strenght are not the best right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, it sounds too strange that if you only workout for 20' every other day you are going to loose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is: Is this kind of workout right for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2427" LastEditorUserId="2427" LastEditDate="2011-12-12T12:50:58.230" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T10:58:23.330" Title="is the so called &quot;afterburn workout&quot; good for someone with overweight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4854" CreationDate="2011-12-12T13:31:28.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to agree that at this stage, from what you describe, moving from a 1 hr walk every other day to High Intensity Interval Training plan is probably not right FOR YOU at THIS TIME.  The best way to lose weight is through diet, start with logging what you eat daily for 2 weeks (no cheating/excluding anything) - take a look, add the calories up and work out where you need to be.  Here's a link to a daily intake calculator to help determine where you should be: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is to increase your endurance and strength.  Your approach of adding sprints to your walk is right on.  I would suggest 5 day a week workout - 3 of walking and start to add some simple body weight exercises such as push ups, situps, squats - all body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-12-12T13:31:28.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2011-12-12T15:41:42.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.softstarshoes.com/running-moccasins/runamoc.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RunAmocs&lt;/a&gt; from Soft Star Shoes are nice.  I have a pair which I've reviewed &lt;a href=&quot;http://swortham.blogspot.com/2010/08/soft-star-shoes-runamocs-day-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  Actually my review talks more about the transition to minimalist shoe running than the shoes themselves, but you can get the idea.  They are very lightweight shoes with a Vibram 2mm rubber sole.  When I first put them on they didn't seem to fit very snug like I'm used to.  But because they are so extremely light and flexible, they actually stay on the feet very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reasons for getting these instead of the Vibram Five Fingers are twofold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I too have oddly shaped big toes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wanted the option to wear socks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2012-05-26T16:46:13.603" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T16:46:13.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2011-12-13T04:57:00.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simplest way to kill the odor causing bacteria is located in your kitchen. Just put your shoes in the freezer. The bacteria can't survive the sub-zero temperatures. This really applies to any shoe that has an odor issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2481" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T04:57:00.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4860" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-13T09:06:01.583" Score="7" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long time ago I used to run in the mornings, workout in the gym 2 days a week, and some martial arts. I was not a gym freak at all but I had some nice definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now 8 years later (and 30 years old), lots of stress and looking at that part where I sit everyday... I am convinced I must do something again. I move around by bike and I &quot;occasionally&quot; run, but that have not prevented a small beer belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am taking a 2/3 months work break. No traveling, I just to bring some sense into my own body again, however I am not sure how I should make best use of my time. I was really into HIT style training but right now it does not seem the best solution because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a LOT of free time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A beginner body is much more &quot;plastic&quot; than a trained one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My body is not used to exercise and it will take 1/2 months for my body to adapt before I can make best use of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to join a gym because of the variety, bad winter weather and because I want to add some sauna/massages to my own body makeup months&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is the best way for training if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Want to enjoy frequent exercise since the very beginning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could never do with a busy lifestyle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides best results in short term&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Makes a good use of my previous experience with good form/shape strength training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was considering 4/5 days gym in the mornings and yoga in the evenings. Not sure if adding one or two fasting weekends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later I will replace it with my old 2 intensive workout week/training plan, just to mantain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2516" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T18:03:23.873" Title="Intensive training after 8 years" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4860" CreationDate="2011-12-13T10:28:57.970" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to disappoint you, but having lots of time is not necessary at all for getting your body in top shape, and it won't contribute to your gains. For better or worse, the program I recommend (based on current scientific research) simply doesn't take very long:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strength training with standard compound exercises, which are bench press, squat, deadlift and overhead press... maybe add some pull-ups or bent-over rows, plus abdominal work (weighted sit-ups or similar). 6-8 repetitions per set, 4 sets for each exercise, 3 times per week with 1 recovery day in between...each session should last about 45 minutes tops.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;High-intensity interval training (HIIT) for cardiovascular performance, 20 minutes per session, 3 times a week. HIIT has been proven to be equal or superior to any other form of cardiovascular exercise, so there's no point investing more time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should alternate strength training and HIIT, better not do them on the same day. In total you'll spend about 3-4 hours working on your body per week, and that's all it takes to build incredible strength and great endurance, reduce your body fat and stress levels, all at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you spend more time, e.g. go on a moderately paced 2-hour run instead of doing the crazy-intense 20 minute HIIT? Well, yes, but it won't be more effective. If this seems strange to you, think about the lions on Discovery Channel. They sit on their ass almost the entire day, but every once in a while they use all their physical capacity (very similar to HIIT) to chase after some antelope. It works for lions to stay fit, and it works for us. &lt;strong&gt;Short bursts of very intense activity are all you need to improve yourself.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you do, do not fast. Eat better, not less. HIIT and strength training combined, if done right, will consume so much energy that you won't gain fat (assuming a sensible nutrition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Rippetoe, best strength training book out there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17414804&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aerobic high-intensity intervals improve VO2max more than moderate training.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise and Fat Loss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://Effects%20of%205%20weeks%20of%20high-intensity%20interval%20training%20vs.%20volume%20training%20in%2014-year-old%20soccer%20players.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effects of 5 weeks of high-intensity interval training vs. volume training in 14-year-old soccer players.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20683609&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High-intensity interval training improves VO(2peak), maximal lactate accumulation, time trial and competition performance in 9-11-year-old swimmers.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastEditorUserId="1993" LastEditDate="2011-12-13T18:03:23.873" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T18:03:23.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4860" CreationDate="2011-12-13T17:20:11.740" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like a tall order.  Before you begin, understand that you are bound for a world of pain as your body reacts to a sudden increase in activity with DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).  If you are pretty much detrained, then you have a short window of time where you can make increases every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/101-basic-structure-of-the-program/&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, now in it's 3rd edition, is a very good beginner program.  For the first week you can probably do the full body workouts every day.  As soon as you stall for the first time, go back to the normal training schedule of 3x per week.  Your body needs rest to rebuild muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to have conditioning &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; you do your strength training.  You don't want to fail a squat and be pinned by the bar because you just exhausted yourself.  All you need is about 20 minutes of good conditioning.  HIIT, running intervals, tire flipping, sledgehammer work, hill sprints, etc.  The idea is to get your heart rate up to the top end of the anaerobic zone, and then let it rest down to the top of the aerobic zone.  Try to get more and more work done as your heart rate increases, but start slowly and build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching/Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both Yoga and Pilates are very good at helping your flexibility, as well as supplementing your core strength.  The extra benefit they provide is that it will help your muscles release the buildup that causes more severe DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, use foam rolling and a good stretching routine.  You don't really need the strength aspects of Yoga or Pilates, but the stretching will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to get the nutrition dialed in, but be smart about it.  There is nothing wrong with intermittent fasting, as long as you get your dietary needs taken care of.  Understand the following about the macro-nutrients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body needs protein to rebuild muscle.  Since you are trying to get strength training in, you need more protein than is required for simple maintenance.  Protein has an added benefit that it burns more Calories just to process it.  Try to get 1g protein/pound total body weight every day (or equivalent averaged over a week if you incorporate fasting days).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your muscles need energy.  Carbs post workout are the quickest and easiest way to replenish lost energy and aid recovery.  However, your body can get energy equally from fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat fills in the rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps a more sane approach&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been reading up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.jimwendler.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=5312edebook&quot;&gt;Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program&lt;/a&gt;, and there is a lot to like about it.  With a couple adjustments for a beginner, it can be a killer (meaning good) program for you.  NOTE: if you want to buy the eBook, use the lower set of &quot;Add to Cart&quot; buttons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler's philosophy is that every truly successful training program needs the following elements: strength training, conditioning, and mobility work.  There are several different variations he covers in his eBook to help with scheduling.  One of them is 2 days a week strength training with 3 days of conditioning/skill work/mobility work.  The normal approach is 4 days/week strength training, and then you tack the other stuff on to the training day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only modification that a beginner would need to make is to make your increases every session.  Increase your squat and deadlift by 10 lbs and your press and bench by 5 lbs every time you do them.  The first time you stall on a lift, slow down and do it the way Wendler outlines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Managing Recovery&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing to watch out for is being able to recover from your last training session to be ready for the next.  Starting Strength is a very good beginner program, but it is designed around having a full day of rest in between because you are doing a full body workout each time.  Wendler's 5/3/1 is a more advanced program, but you are focusing on one lift plus assistance for that lift each session.  You have a day devoted to bench, which you can follow by a day devoted to squat.  Etc.  This allows your upper body to recuperate while you train your lower body, and vice-versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important aspect is to &lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt;.  Eat enough to recover, but not so much you gain weight.  I guarantee you even if you increase your food on training days by 20% and cut your food by 20% on rest days you will still have a net deficit after you factor in all the work you are doing.  In fact, that's the intermittent fasting protocol for &quot;recomposition&quot; (gaining strength while losing fat).  To be fully compliant, all you would need to do is limit the window of time where you are eating to 8 hours or less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T17:20:11.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3399" CreationDate="2011-12-13T17:38:36.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 'abs' as most know them is one single muscle (rectus abdominis), although there are other abdominal muscles that lie beneath these. That shouldn't bother you, though the purpose of the 6-pack (actually 8-pack due to the last portion being near the pubic region) is to move the chest and pelvis towards each other (i.e. bend forward).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twisting does not exercise the visible abs, but any exercise will help develop at least one of the groups of abdominal muscles, visible or otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The twisting motion, and many other functions of the spine, is controlled by the back muscles rather than those at the front of the body. However, there is nothing to be lost whatever muscle groups you believe you are exercising:  they all need it, and you can only do good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To develop your '6-pack' abs, some form of bending from chest towards pelvis will work, such as sit-ups with a weight on your chest. That must be done in conjunction with a good diet containing carbohydrates to provide energy, or alternatively proteins if you want to build up your muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your metabolism will use the carbohydrate portion of the protein for energy (&gt;glucose&gt;ATP energy) and the amino acid portion to generate new protein and muscle tissue where the blood flows most - your abs that you are exercising.  A simplistic explanation, but reasonably accurate nevertheless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pete&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2526" LastEditorUserId="2526" LastEditDate="2011-12-13T17:47:54.410" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T17:47:54.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4854" CreationDate="2011-12-13T18:57:24.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the folks above: probably too much for you to jump into right now.  I second the point about starting with nutrition and logging calories and exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work on improving your diet: More protein, less carbs, more fiber, less refined sugar.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to hit about 500 calorie deficit each day (eat 500 less than you burn),  there are all kinds of websites out there to help you track this.  One I use is called Fitclick.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you are right to be skeptical about the afterburn effect.  It exists, but as this study shows, you can expect less than an extra 200 calorie burn after 45 minutes of fairly intense (73% of VO2 max) exercise: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21311363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21311363&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep at it...slow and steady wins in the flab fight!  Stay away from &quot;Diets&quot; and routines that promise big results (for your $$).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2482" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T18:57:24.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4843" CreationDate="2011-12-13T20:20:45.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually Cross Trainer Shoes are overall best, except for Jogging, since they are designed with enough support and cushion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is not a difficult task to buy training shoes, but finding the best&#xA;  cross training shoes is a challenge. These shoes are versatile,&#xA;  comfortable, cushioning and provide the basic support, stability and&#xA;  durability required for many games and sport activities. These shoes&#xA;  are not recommended for regular runners as they do not give the kind&#xA;  of cushioning and flexibility required by sprint training shoes. These&#xA;  cross training shoes are also heavier than running shoes.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three special features of cross training shoes which meets the need&#xA;  for many sporting activities.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Multi-Purpose Outsoles&lt;/strong&gt;  The wide and stable outsoles give lateral support and stability. If your foot tends&#xA;  to turn or roll inwards, these shoes may help reduce this tendency.&#xA;  These shoes have durable outsoles that can be worn on the street, gym&#xA;  or tennis courts. They are made from durable carbon rubber. A&#xA;  combination of carbon rubber and softer, lighter, flexible material&#xA;  known as blown rubber is used for making long-lasting outsoles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low&#xA;  Profile Midsoles&lt;/strong&gt;  Cross training shoes offer moderate cushioning at&#xA;  the heel and forefoot of the shoe, which is durable and dense. This&#xA;  enhances the overall stability of the shoe. The two main materials&#xA;  used for cushioning these shoes are ethylene vinyl acetate and&#xA;  polyurethane. Ethylene vinyl acetate is lightweight but does not offer&#xA;  stability and durability. Polyurethane, on the other hand helps make a&#xA;  dense and durable cushioning material. It adds stability and weight to&#xA;  the shoe.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Uppers&lt;/strong&gt;  Cross training shoes have leather uppers which are&#xA;  designed to give better ankle support. Leather uppers are combined&#xA;  with a synthetic mesh that makes the shoe breathable and lightweight.&#xA;  One should opt for secure lacing system as it helps in stabilizing and&#xA;  securing the foot during lateral movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/best-cross-training-shoes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/best-cross-training-shoes.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2443" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T20:20:45.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4867" CreationDate="2011-12-13T22:02:32.683" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently lost a lot of weight (from 107kg to 90kg) using a combination of a lot of bike riding and some nutrition changes, but I don't see any difference in my body size - my gut seems the same size and so are the circumference of arms and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this normal and healthy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I have to train the specific area I want to lose weight in?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2529" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T23:14:10.043" Title="Losing weight without losing body size?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4866" CreationDate="2011-12-13T22:48:32.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't really spot reduce.  In other words, you don't have any control of where you'll lose fat.  Chances are you have lost some fat all over, even if you haven't noticed visible changes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, it's not a bad idea to make weekly measurements for this exact reason.  You can actually measure your bodyfat pretty easily with a simple set of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002VAPHXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodyfat calipers&lt;/a&gt; (instructions come with the calipers) along with a bathroom scale.  Not only is it encouraging to know you're making progress, but you can even adjust your diet and exercise regimen accordingly if you determine that you're losing muscle, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in changing your body composition, building muscle, and losing fat then I'd look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;high-intensity interval training&lt;/a&gt; (HIIT) as demonstrated &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuaKLtqL_D8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  Some exercises done with HIIT may be more anaerobic than others and you can pick and choose your routine based on your goals.  But whatever you do, be smart and track your progress with bodyfat measurements.  It literally takes 2 minutes and you only have to do it once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2011-12-13T23:14:10.043" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T23:14:10.043" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="140" CreationDate="2011-12-14T02:05:46.597" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it's not outdated to be sure. I'm an Exercise Science major at Ball State U and I hear that you should not sit down immediately after intense exercise. I'm not exactly sure of the mechanism but if I remember right, it is because of the way venous blood returns to the heart. Muscle contraction is a large mover of blood back to the heart by pushing blood past one-way valves located throughout your veins (not arteries). For example, when you finish working out your legs, if you sit down you won't be using your leg muscles so you won't be pumping as much blood from your veins back to the heart. If not enough blood gets back to the heart, voila: your blood pressure drops and you can pass out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ever feel like you are about to pass out from anything, cross your legs and squeeze your thighs and butt muscles. It quickly returns blood to your heart, allowing you to maintain blood pressure to the brain. I promise, it works!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-07-03T02:41:01.413" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T02:41:01.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="140" CreationDate="2011-12-14T04:15:57.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know about blood pooling or all that jibber-jabber. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do know that &lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; I sit down right after sprints, barbell squats, deadlifts, kettlebell work, or judo, &lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt; my back and hamstrings will (without fail) get tight, lose flexibility, and possibly cramp up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know the method, but I can vouch for the phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-14T04:15:57.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4897" CreationDate="2011-12-15T18:16:39.590" Score="7" ViewCount="22959" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I first started practicing kung fu, I went from zero activity to doing moderate to intense exercises three times a week. Often times, I would feel pressure in my ears when breathing really hard. After a few months, I didn't feel this pressure anymore. Recently though I experienced it again, but I was practicing when my body was in an overworked state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The feeling of it is something like that moment before you pop your ears due to changes in air pressure (like when riding airplanes or elevators).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a normal phenomenon? What can I do to make it subside or prevent it from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-12-19T15:54:46.677" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T23:38:31.823" Title="Why do I feel pressure in my ears while breathing hard?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4875" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4884" CreationDate="2011-12-15T23:33:03.643" Score="15" ViewCount="7358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got interested in Parkour and like to start to train for it. I used to do weight lifting and running short distances, but it's more than ten years now and I'm out of shape. So getting in shape again is definitely a good idea. I'm also overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm no runner and I definitely will not run long distances but I like the idea of running with gymnastics. I don't expect to become great, some basic moves will be good for me, just for fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how should I start training? I would like to start with the &quot;moves&quot; as soon as possible, as I expect them to be fun, so the positive feedback keeps me in the loop. Probably I need some basic running training in advance, maybe stretching, balancing, I don't know. That's the question. Any clues to get started fast are appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2541" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T23:32:47.467" Title="How to train for Parkour as middle aged beginner" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3823" CreationDate="2011-12-16T03:52:58.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've reached the tipping point, and are possibly overtraining at times.  Long training sessions will cause a rise in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/86687-exercise-cortisol-levels/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cortisol levels&lt;/a&gt;, putting your body into a catabolic state.  This will make you feel tired and can even stunt muscle growth.  Cortisol levels rise when the body is put under stress.  Of course inconsistency plays a big part as well.  Any inconsistency in your training will wreak havoc on your energy levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink a post-workout recovery drink immediately after your workout.  There are a lot to choose from but I typically buy Accelerade because the price is reasonable and it tastes pretty good too.  Although, technically Endurox should be more effective because it has a better protein/carb ratio.  Anyway, the idea with these drinks is that they'll &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spma.net/recoverydrinksfin.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;halt the rise in cortisol levels and help promote protein synthesis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As Lauren already suggested, you could try splitting up your routine.  Perhaps 2 or 3 days per week of weight training, alternating with a couple days of cardio.  Each training session would be a little shorter in effect, and just might allow you to recover more easily from day to day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try analyzing your diet for a few days, and determine how much protein, carbs, and fat you're taking in each day.  With a routine like yours you might want to shoot for something around 30% protein / 40% carbs / 30% fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find the right mix of diet, exercise, rest (and post-workout nutrition) you should actually start seeing improvements in your work capacity as well as your energy levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As asked in the comments, &quot;how do I know that I've overtrained&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some indicators of this, such as a rise in your resting heart rate.  But perhaps the most reliable thing would be to pay close attention to how you feel on the day of any given workout.  If, for example,  you still feel sore and fatigued from the previous workout, and you decide to workout anyway then make a note of your work capacity for the day.  If you're not able to lift as much weight, or simply run out of steam faster then there's a good chance that's due to overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2012-07-09T13:59:59.923" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T13:59:59.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4893" CreationDate="2011-12-16T09:47:52.467" Score="7" ViewCount="2256" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last 3-4 times I have run half-marathon or similar distances, I have experienced the preliminary symptoms of cramps around the 19 km mark. It comes as a suddenly &quot;bite&quot; in the upper part of my calfs - it doesn't hurt all that much, but there are no doubt that is will if ignored... When the &quot;bite&quot; comes, I have to run more on my heels the rest of the race to avoid the &quot;bite&quot; develops into full-blown cramps - kind a like &quot;running calf stretch&quot; and not very comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;bite&quot; is usually first in the left leg, but after an additional 2-300 m, the &quot;bite&quot; is also present in the right leg. The faster the pace - e.g. during races - the earlier it will happen... If I stretch and walk for a few minutes when it happens and then start running again, the &quot;bite&quot; is sure to reappear again after 8-900 m...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for the night after one of these longer runs, I usually don't have cramps at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The accepted answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/1627/1664&quot;&gt;Why do I get cramps all the time?&lt;/a&gt; sugests that it is a electrolyte imbalance and the problem is lack of salts like potassium, sodium, calcium, and/or magnesium. Lots of other articles - e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/what-are-cramps.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What are Cramps? How to prevent Cramps&lt;/a&gt; to mention one - sugest the same, so I can easily accept that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But... what can I do about it? I really want to run these longer distances...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there anything specific I can eat or drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually eat lots of bananes (which contains potassium AFAIK), and have also consumed large amount of &quot;Tonic Water&quot; (which contains quinine), but neither of these seem to be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any specific gels (or whatever) that could help during the runs? Eating lots of bananes during a race, does not seem to help at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; A little more background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My average milage is 30-40 km/week - less in the Winter (now) and more in the Summer. I have run HM races 5 times in the last year and 17-24 km training passes 6-8 times in the same period. So, I should expect my general fitness as well as my LSR training to be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last training pass (a rather fast 18.8km yesterday) actually went pretty well - no bites - using a &quot;MAXIM GEL Drink&quot; at 8 km and plenty of Powerade at 5 km and 13 km. The training is part of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.copenhagenmarathon.dk/traningsplan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sparta Marathon Training&lt;/a&gt; leading up to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.copenhagenmarathon.dk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Copenhagen Marathon&lt;/a&gt; in May. The training is a little short to be conclusive!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;2012-01-28&lt;/em&gt;): I have begun to run longer during the week and - when that is not possible - use my bike to and from work. That has helped: I have not experienced any cramps since mid December. Thanks...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T06:15:58.357" Title="What can I do to prevent cramps after 19 km?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-16T12:06:58.563" Score="8" ViewCount="726" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing Starting Strength program and I am going to my hometown for Christmas. I won't be able to access a gym there. What can I do instead? I don't like the idea of not doing anything for a week, especially that I will probably eat a lot there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can always do pushups, squats, situps. Do you have some other ideas of how I can substitute regular training for a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T16:37:09.027" Title="Week without a gym, what instead?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4875" CreationDate="2011-12-16T15:11:34.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were to seriously train for parkour, I'd combine sport-specific strength work, sprinting, gymnastics, full-length parkour course runs, and parkour drill work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For strength and conditioning, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2010/08/26/strength-training-for-parkour/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these &quot;before and after&quot; videos&lt;/a&gt;. If you're significantly de-trained, consider doing a general strength program first or in parallel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My running work would involve a warm-up jog and then some sprints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd take classes at a gymnastics gym, focusing on parkour-applicable skills instead of, for instance, ring work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd lay out a full-length route and make a course to free run. I'd do the full run frequently, but also break it up into individual segments (run across this quad, jump over the ledge, flip over that bench, swing from the tree, rest, repeat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-16T15:11:34.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4880" CreationDate="2011-12-16T15:27:55.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can find anything long and stretchy (failed bicycle inner tube, long bungee, surgical tubing) there are dozens of great exercises you can do with one or two lengths jambed into a closed door hinge. Slow &quot;punches&quot; with one arm (holding the free end in one hand) gives your core, biceps, and pecs a workout all at once. Kicks and &quot;lawn mower pull&quot; motions work well. I'm sure you'll dream up some good balance and control challenges during the strength rep breaks. And while you're daydreaming, think about where the rubber would fly if it pulled free or snapped--make sure your face isn't nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastActivityDate="2011-12-16T15:27:55.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4880" CreationDate="2011-12-16T16:03:00.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of body weight exercises that could keep you going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find pushups too easy (ie. you can do more than 5 easily) make it harder by doing inclined pushups, or try one armed pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If squats are too hard - can you do one-legged squats (pistols)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good book to work through during the week would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045555&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Naked Warrior&lt;/a&gt;. Pavel goes in intricate detail about mastering the one armed pushup and the pistol. What you learn from going through this book will be useful for your Starting Strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, pullups and chinups will give you a good upper body workout - if they are too easy, try them one-handed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2011-12-16T16:03:00.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4875" CreationDate="2011-12-16T16:36:09.267" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the things I worked on when I tried to get into parkour in college. These are some foundations that you can start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Roll on the ground.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a move that will help carry you forward and get you back on your feet. It also helps to absorb and lessen the impact on your body (and risk of injury) when hitting the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start from a kneeling position with one foot forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push off your legs and feet and tuck your head in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn slightly to the side, and roll on more your shoulder/upper back. Don't land on your head or neck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your legs tucked in as you roll. Don't stick them out otherwise you'll end up flat on your back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your momentum going forward and end up back in a crouching/kneeling position. This will prime you for the next move (basically to get and run forward).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you practice this move, take it slowly. When you reach a comfortable level, try it from a running position and increase your speed over time as you get used to it. You'll end up doing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/ortkYgEBTmk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dive roll&lt;/a&gt; which, once you feel comfortable with that, you can try to perform this move from an elevated structure. Start with something low in height, and be careful not to hit your head on anything. You should focus on going forward and learning how to absorb the impact and disperse the shock that would impact your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn to do a (lazy) vault&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vault is basically a sideways jump over some object (like a wall or fence). This move involves not just your legs to jump over but also relies on your core to maintain your airtime and forward momentum. You don't want to land with your tailbone on whatever it is your jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start a step away from the object you want to jump.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move in and turn your body to the side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift one leg up, move it forwards, and jump off your back leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place your hand down on the object for stability as you bring your body/core up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring your other leg up sideways as you carry yourself forward and land on the other side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can practice this move going back and forth on each side of the object. Your focus should be moving your entire body and not solely relying on your arms or legs. Don't put a lot of weight on your stabilizing arm as you vault over. You do not need a whole lot of running room to perform this, and as you get better you can try from a running start and then up your speed. Once you become more comfortable, there are variations of the vault you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Underbar&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a move where people fly under a bar, grab it, and swing themselves forward. Look for some kind of railing of some sort, preferably one with a single bar that has enough room under it to practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start a step away from the bar and move towards it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a small leap forward and lean back. (Yes, it's scary without support. Take this one SLOWLY).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reach up and out with your hands and grab the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your core and weight moving forward while using the bar to help swing yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let go of the bar, and move your upper body up and forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is another one you can practice back and forth on one bar. When you go under, your body will arch back when your lower body moves forwards. As you come out and let go, you will have to move your upper body forwards to compensate for the shift in weight and not fall on your back. Do this one slowly too and work your way up to a faster movement once you develop the body strength from it. The important thing here is to work out your core rather than rely purely on arm strength to swing yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wall Hop&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a wall hop is something that is mean to propel you upwards a wall. You don't need a tall wall when beginning. A small height one is enough to learn how to move upwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run towards a wall. You don't need a huge amount of speed at first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump at the wall placing your foot at a 45-degree angle. You want to land with the balls of your feet on the wall.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push off your foot while bringing your knees in and core upwards as you move forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To break it down, do this move slowly and get comfortable with how to place your foot and push off the wall. You can reach up with your arms to give you an idea of what the move will eventually be like. My suggestion is to try that later once you're comfortable otherwise you might just end up running &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; the wall after you jump (not fun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Find people who train and do parkour.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this was &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; introduction to parkour from someone more experienced than me, trying to learn on your own can result in some bad injuries since the activity is high-risk especially if you do not know what you are doing or where to start. Do not attempt any advanced moves until you are physically capable of doing so. Training other people will provide you with the support and advice you need. Some places or groups may offer classes too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try searching the following sites to connect with people in your local area:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanparkour.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Parkour&lt;/a&gt; (check the Community sections)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.meetup.com/find/?keywords=parkour&amp;amp;op=search&amp;amp;show=results&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Meetup&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://betterfly.com/category/freerunning-parkour&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Betterfly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/directory/ubf_directory.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Freeflow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing it with other people, especially beginners, can help motivate and provide you the positive feedback when learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch and do some strength training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely do some stretching. You don't want to be super stiff when trying parkour again otherwise you might hurt yourself even more. Being more limber and flexible will help in moving your body in ways you haven't before. Developing that will also take time. Strength training will help too, but you needn't focus so much on this since you're a beginner just starting out. I would say do some bodyweight training, but parkour itself will naturally train your body in this regard. Running itself will help you though as that's a large component of parkour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Online resources&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More tutorials are also available at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanparkour.com/academy/tutorials&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Parkour&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCC74F8706C960EBB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Freeflow's YouTube channel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnmoreparkour.com/how-to-parkour.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Learn More Parkour&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learn how to maintain your momentum as you go forward. Gaining fluidity will come with time and practice. Don't worry so much about doing crazy gymnastics at the moment yet. Some people actually think &quot;tricking&quot; (flips and stuff) doesn't belong in pure free running. You can decide if that's for you or not later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-04-15T21:19:40.690" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T21:19:40.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4840" CreationDate="2011-12-16T16:42:27.807" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), and it's sibling, Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) refer to the amount of Calories your body will burn without any work done.  They are similar, and for convenience sake most people are referring to RMR when they talk about daily Calorie requirements.  Several things do affect those values, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proportion of lean body weight to fat.  Given two people at the same total body weight, the one with more lean mass will have a higher RMR.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total body weight.  More cells in the body require more energy to service them.  That's not a reason to go and binge, but given two people with the same body fat percentage, the one with a higher total weight will have a higher RMR.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thermic Effect of Food (TEF).  Some foods require more energy to process than others.  In terms of processing macro-nutrients: protein requires the most energy, carbs a distant second, and fat requires the least amount to process.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Normal activity level.  Someone with an active job like a construction worker will naturally burn more Calories than someone with a desk job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the take-away from this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase muscle mass. (note, a reduction in body fat is probably a good idea for other reasons)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a high protein diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be active a larger percent of the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I have had training sessions where I burn up to 1400 Calories in the 90 minutes of training.  Compared to my RMR of about 2400 Calories, that's 25% of the day's energy expenditure (2400 + 1400 - 150 [the 150 is correcting for the Calories I would have burned anyway] for the day).  That fits in quite well with the Mayo clinic's report.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are some advocates of intermittent fasting, such as Lean Gains, that put forth the body does a more efficient job burning Calories when you have a smaller number of larger meals.  For example, if I ate 2400 Calories in 3 meals, each about 800 Calories, I would be more full and have a nice long time between the last meal of the day and the first meal of the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-16T16:42:27.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4890" CreationDate="2011-12-16T19:28:21.003" Score="4" ViewCount="23881" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to gym and doing weight lift and other exercise for last three months,my target is to gain weight and muscle.Unfortunately I didnt gain weight and my muscle didnt increase(bicep and tricep is getting shape and muscles are getting harder).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat sufficient amount of food daily with meat and vegetables.Also taking Soy Protein for weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any specific advice to gain muscle and weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I take protein shake now,I am assuming I am not getting enough protein for body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people says gym beginner can not take protein shake,is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user861" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T18:28:09.320" Title="Foods for gaining muscle for a new gym guy" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-02-26T20:12:14.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4886" CreationDate="2011-12-16T20:01:49.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing's first -- you mentioned that you haven't gained any weight.  As simple as it sounds, you need more calories.  Once you're eating enough calories you will gain weight.  As for whether it's fat or muscle depends on a lot of things.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked about protein shakes.  I'll just say that there's nothing wrong with drinking them.  Their biggest advantage is the convenience.  That, and whey protein is a high quality protein.  Then again, so are eggs.  But if you're having trouble getting enough protein with regular food then a protein drink/shake is a good convenient way to supplement your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few more tips...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat 6 times a day, with protein in every meal&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;By eating smaller meals more frequently this will allow you to absorb more nutrients from your food.  More than that, as you get used to it, this may even allow you to eat more calories throughout the day because each meal doesn't have to be so big.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aim for a 30% protein / 40% carbohydrate / 30% fat split with your diet.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is actually a lot of protein, but your body needs lots of protein when you're weight training.  I'd suggest using this simple &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm&quot;&gt;calorie calculator&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lift weights 3 days a week.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;It doesn't sound like much.  And in fact modern bodybuilders will workout more often than this.  But then again they also take steroids which reduces recovery time.  Before the days of steroids, Steve Reeves was one of the more impressive bodybuilders around.  He wrote a book called, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1885096100&quot;&gt;Building the Classic Physique&lt;/a&gt;,&quot; and in the book even he suggested a 3 day-a-week routine.  In fact, the book is a good training guide even today.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is a huge part of this, of course.  When I first started my weight training routine and 6 meal-per-day diet in 2005 I was 6'5&quot; and 140 pounds @ 7% bodyfat.  Yeah, pretty skinny.  I was a real gym rat for years before this but had very limited success.  I simply hadn't figured out my diet, and I was working out way too much and not allowing sufficient recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So anyway in 2005 I began my new approach.  Now, I have a ridiculously fast metabolism.  This I know.  But I hadn't really counted calories to determine what it would actually take to gain weight.  Well I found that I needed around 3,500 to 4,000 calories a day to gain weight while working out 3 days a week.  So as it turned out, a big part of my training was simply building my appetite to handle that much food.  I was consistent and managed to put on 20 pounds of muscle and 10 pounds of fat in the first 10 months.  I gained a bit more fat than I would've liked since I ate a little too much fast food, but nevertheless those results were by far the best I ever had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2011-12-16T23:01:10.753" LastActivityDate="2011-12-16T23:01:10.753" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4889" CreationDate="2011-12-17T02:52:52.997" Score="5" ViewCount="430" Body="&lt;p&gt;For someone who is skinny, has an athletic build, and is trying to put on weight through strength training, how much cardio should they include in their workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, my workout routine is something along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: chest and back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: kendo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: shoulders, biceps, triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: pylometrics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: legs and back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday / Sunday: either yoga, pylometrics or rest (usually rest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is, with the intense hour long kendo and pylometrics workouts, I am burning away too much of my weight, and my strength training isn't growing as much as it could because of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a realistic concern? Should I reduce the amount of cardio I do each week, or is cardio important in strength training even for skinny people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T23:12:02.920" Title="How much cardio for someone with an athletic build?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4888" CreationDate="2011-12-17T12:23:28.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The main benefits of cardio (aerobic exercise) are to strengthen your cardiovascular system, to increase fat burn, and to burn calories. Aerobic exercise does not help you build muscles, at least not at a level comparable to strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A strong cardiovascular system is important for general well-being and the ability to master everyday situations, whether in strength training or working at a computer...fit people with a strong heart are happier, more motivated, more energetic, more productive. For that reason I recommend cardio, but it does not have anything to do with muscle growth (besides heart muscle).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A positive energy (calorie) balance is important for muscle growth, and any type of cardio will induce an energy (calorie) deficit. Obviously you need to balance out that deficit by eating more, especially carbohydrates. For a workout of moderate intensity, a small meal or carb-rich drink directly after the workout is often sufficient to get back the calories you've burned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my answer is you should not reduce your cardio, but you should significantly increase your food intake to make sure your body has enough energy available for muscle growth. Also, cardio is not important for strength training, but it is important for general health and well-being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-12-17T12:23:28.357" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4886" CreationDate="2011-12-17T12:51:27.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll share my personal experience with you, since I've been in a very similar situation. When I was around 18, I weighed 130 pounds and went to the gym 3 times a week, not gaining any weight for years, no matter what. I took protein powder, had 6 meals a day, the whole deal. It didn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I've figured some stuff out, and I've gained 30 pounds since then (the majority of which took me a few months only). My insights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For people who have trouble gaining weight, protein powder should be replaced by weight gainer supplements (e.g. Weider Mega Mass 4000 or BSN True Mass). The difference is that weight gainer supplements contain a lot more carbohydrates than protein supplements, and in my experience carbs are what keep skinny people from gaining weight, not protein. Weight gainers have a ton of calories, and you don't need a big appetite to get them down, so literally anyone can gain weight with those.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whether you eat 3 or 4 or 6 times a day might make a difference, but &lt;em&gt;it's not critical&lt;/em&gt;. I only eat 3 times a day now, and I still managed to gain weight very quickly. Eating 5 or 6 times a day might be necessary if you want to compete as a bodybuilder (not sure), but if you're a skinny guy trying to put on some weight, it's not worth the effort in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, you say you get a &quot;sufficient amount of food&quot;, but that is purely subjective. Learn about nutrition and try to figure out exactly how much food (in terms of calories, carbs, protein, etc.) is actually sufficient for you to gain weight. It might be more than you think (it was for me).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My theory (speculative) is that the main reason people like us stay skinny and don't manage to put on weight is that we expend too much energy in our daily lives. For instance, I noticed that my heart rate would go up much more steeply than normal in situations like getting up from my chair, or walking around a bit. Cardiovascular conditioning (aerobic exercise) is what I recommend to reverse this situation, if it's the same for you. It may seem counterintuitive that aerobic exercise would actually help you &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt; weight, but it's true over the long term for people with very weak cardiovascular systems / very low endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1993" LastActivityDate="2011-12-17T12:51:27.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-18T18:19:12.573" Score="4" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 2 weeks ago I started having really annoying pain in the neck, shoulders and to lesser extent back. I think the immediate cause could have been sleeping in draught under inadequate cover and clothing. I went to an osteopath, but it made things worse :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do about exercises in this case? They seem to help immediately after (probably when the muscles are warm), but its seems to be worse afterwards (e.g. next morning). Should I train nevertheless? Or just do light stuff, e.g. strolls? Or try to move as little as possible? (I am still waiting for my doctor's appointment) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also are there any creams or supplements that could help? Does massage or hot bath help (to get rid of it - it does bring some immediate relief)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My overall fitness level is low at the moment, I was just trying to get back in shape :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1632" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-12-19T12:12:43.497" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T13:30:34.453" Title="What kind of exercise can I do while having neck, shoulder and back pain?" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4878" CreationDate="2011-12-19T07:59:50.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of reasons why you could be experiencing cramps at that distance, most likely is under-training, meaning that the body is not used to doing that amount of exercise and is trying to warn you of this.  Solving this would involve you doing the race distance a few times as part of your training, at a more relaxed pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another could be an electrolyte imbalance or lactic acid build-up, for the electrolyte imbalance you can take a good sports-drink, and I've found that antacid tablets work quite well for the lactic acid build-up, just suck a few of these during the event, no need to overdose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I've experienced &quot;bites&quot; during a race recently because my body was tensed up, happened around the 60km mark of a 200km race (cycling), after concentrating to relax, and staying at the back of the train for a while, the bites went away, and I finished the race without any more problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T07:59:50.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4878" CreationDate="2011-12-19T11:47:41.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;40 km per week sounds like enough training miles to do a 1/2 marathon comfortably, but 30km doesn't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could this just be a case of not doing enough miles of training before the main event? Or alternatively you're running too many miles the week before? The general advice is to reduce the mileage to the short-run amount during the final week, and skip your final training session, replacing it as rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.copenhagenmarathon.dk/traningsplan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.copenhagenmarathon.dk/traningsplan/&lt;/a&gt; is showing a week between each training session. Is this correct? If so that is not the recommended* way of training for long distances. It should be atleast 3 sessions per week (short, medium, long), or 4 if you're going for PBs. The long run should eventually be around 11-12 miles in the final week before the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;* Recommended being Runnersworld.com and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Non-Runners-Marathon-Trainer-David-Whitsett/dp/1570281823/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1324295191&amp;amp;sr=8-2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T11:47:41.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4892" CreationDate="2011-12-19T13:30:34.453" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your current fitness/strength level is low, then my suspicion is that you are experiencing muscle cramps due to increased demands.  There are a few things I would suggest for rehab:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, deal with the cramping.&lt;/strong&gt;  Yes, massage works, and many massage therapists have special oils that really help the muscles to relax.  If you can't afford the massage therapist, a low cost solution is to get a Lacrosse ball or something like that, roll it on the area until you find the spot with the most pain.  Keep the ball there until the cramp dissipates.  Then find the next one.  It's painful, but feels so much better when you are done.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second, evaluate what you are doing.&lt;/strong&gt;  Cramping can be caused by muscle imbalance, poor technique, or too much resistance too soon.  It can also be caused by trying to do work without enough energy, or simply an electrolyte imbalance.  If nothing stands out at first (very possible if you are just beginning), start with making sure you have something to eat before training and you keep hydrated throughout your training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do any type of resistance training (machines, free weights [barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells], body-weight exercise) you have to approach your programming in these ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Technique&lt;/strong&gt;.  Make sure you are applying correct technique.  More than likely, your torso is moving a lot more than it should.  For example, a common way to cheat on something like lat pulldowns is to lean the body back to get the weight moving.  &lt;em&gt;Back off the weight until you can perform the technique properly.&lt;/em&gt;  That last statement bears repeating: back off the weight until you can perform the technique properly.  The single biggest mistake I see newbies do (and did myself) is to try to do more than you are able.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Symmetry&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you work the chest, also work the back.  If you work the front of the legs (quads), work the back (hamstrings).  A good selection of 4-5 compound barbell exercises can address this pretty well (bench press, overhead press, squats, deadlift).  There are equivalents with other forms of resistance as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Core&lt;/strong&gt;.  You should be strengthening your core almost every time you exercise.  The abs and back work to provide stability to your body.  The more they can bear, the less your other muscles have to get overworked.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive Increase&lt;/strong&gt;.  You won't get stronger if you don't increase resistance, or challenge yourself more.  The best way to do that is to have small increases scheduled over time.  It's not going to do you any good in the long term to increase your weights 20lb at a time.  Increasing only 5lb or 2.5lb at a time will help you get stronger for a longer period of time because you will be getting stronger at a pace you can handle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T13:30:34.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4900" CreationDate="2011-12-19T14:45:59.177" Score="4" ViewCount="1474" Body="&lt;p&gt;Various manufacturers of Olympic and weightlifting plates use different standards for accuracy.  Is there a good resource for comparing price versus accuracy?  Can anyone suggest some manufacturers and supply some reasonably trustworthy data as to their plates' accuracy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2411" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T14:14:06.540" Title="Accurately Calibrated Plates" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4874" CreationDate="2011-12-19T15:37:18.137" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have something called the Eustachian tube inside your head:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SONBe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Eustachian tube&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tube is connecting your middle ear to your nose and throat. When you fly, and the pressure inside your midlle ear is different from the pressure around you, you can feel this difference in pressure as... well... pressure in your ear - either under- or over-pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This pressure is leveled out through the Eustachian tube, which is clogged under normal circumstances. This way, the Eustachian tube becomes a pressure valve, allowing small amounts of air to pass in or out, in order to align pressure in your middle ear to the air pressure around you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my theory:&#xA;When you exercise hard you breathe hard, and when you breathe hard you build up an under-pressure inside you nose, thus sucking a tiny amount of air out from your middle ear through the Eustachian tube. Since you now have an under-pressure in your middle ear, it will feel like landing after a flight; the low pressure in your ear will cause the surrounding air pressure to push harder on your ear drum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be the other way around, ie you build up over-pressure in your ear when you breathe heavily - it depends on how you breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you suck in air through your nose, you make an under-pressure.&#xA;If you blow out air through your nose, you make an over-pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution could be to partly breathe in or out through your mouth also - this could help since your mouth passage is bigger, has a higher capacity, and thus doesn't build up such high and low local air pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T15:37:18.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4899" CreationDate="2011-12-19T16:42:29.630" Score="5" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my summary reading around the internet, there seems to be a preference for meats as a protein source (e.g., see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3574/98&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; SO answer). My question is, is there a difference—with respect to bodybuilding—between the protein from meat/fish/poultry, that from milk/cheese/yogurt, and that from peanut butter/nuts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T17:57:18.837" Title="Equality of different protein sources" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4898" CreationDate="2011-12-19T17:28:00.987" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;To best understand the answer to this, you have to understand that our bodies need &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid&quot;&gt;Essential Amino Acids&lt;/a&gt;.  In short any nutrient that is essential is one that your body cannot create on its own.  There are a number of vitamins and minerals that fall in this category, but that is a topic for another question.  Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary reason that meats are the most preferred source of protein is because it's essential amino acid profile is the most complete.  If you eat 50g of beef or chicken, you don't need to eat 50g of another source of protein to fill in the missing amino acids the same way you do for plant sourced proteins.  Milk also has a fairly complete amino profile, better than peanuts, but not as complete as meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plant born protein, whether from legumes, beans, etc. has a very limited protein profile.  In order to get all your essential amino acids, you would have to pair one source of protein with a complementary source that provided the missing set of nutrients.  This is why vegetarians may struggle to get the protein they need--particularly if they are active.  The one plant born source of protein that has the most complete amino acid profile would be soy.  Problem is that soy is a phyto-estrogen, or essentially it behaves like the estrogen hormone in your body.  Too much can throw off your normal hormone balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T17:28:00.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4896" CreationDate="2011-12-19T17:45:16.607" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless a manufacturer specifies the accuracy that they test their plates with, the weight can be off by a few percentage points from the nominal weight.  Of course, if the plates are IWF certified, they go through an independent review process to make sure they are within specification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://muscledriverusa.com&quot;&gt;MuscleDriverUSA&lt;/a&gt; has a good reputation for shipping plates at the same weight they are advertised.  They have &quot;econ&quot; plates that ship at +/- 10g which is a variance within the range of &quot;don't care&quot;.  They also have reduced price failed color plates that are +/- 25g which again is insignificant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://roguefitness.com&quot;&gt;Rogue Fitness&lt;/a&gt; has a mix of plates, and if they don't specify accuracy, the plates will have a significant variance.  They do advertise some colored plates that are +/- 10g.  They also have some higher bounce plates (hi-temp) that can be off by a few pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only know this because I read an independent review which I can't find the link to right now, where the guy went through and weighed all the plates he had.  The hi-temps were useful for outdoor lifting, but had a significant variance, and on the heavier plates were as much as a couple pounds.  This was in contrast to both the higher priced competition rogue plates and the Pendlay plates from muscle driver which he also had in his possession.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some brands are legendary such as Eleiko, but you do get what you pay for.  High price, great construction, and within very tight tolerances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to get them IWF certified (which adds cost due to independent testing), but do look for the tolerance spec when reviewing the advertised plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T17:45:16.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4898" CreationDate="2011-12-19T17:57:18.837" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The real answer to your question is probably that the supposed superiority (for bodybuilding) of these types of protein sources has been determined by generations of bodybuilders using trial and error. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, as the rest of this answer is intended to illustrate, that the number of variables in evaluating all differences between even a few different protein sources requires context and complexity beyond the scope of an answer here. However, I'll try to enumerate some of the factors that you can use to try to delve deeper into a comparison between some very specific (and by specific, I mean to include cut of meat, method of preparation, and method of raising the animal) protein sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pragmatic differences between these protein sources (and others as well, including powders and vegetable proteins) can be broken down into two major categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The amino acid profile (i.e. what type of protein)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The extra &quot;stuff&quot; you are getting with your protein. Think about fats, fiber, vitamins, etc., not to mention various fillers in commercial powders. Sometimes you want some of this &quot;stuff&quot; and sometimes you don't. You have to balance with the rest of your diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Amino Acid Profile&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different types of protein are absorbed and used in different ways. Animal sources are generally recommended firstly because they tend to have amino acids in a proportion closer to what the body needs than e.g. plant sources. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, different protein types are absorbed by the body at different rates. Right after a hard workout, it may be beneficial to get protein into use quickly. However, for anti-catabolic purposes, such as while sleeping, (more about this later) it's useful to keep an elevated blood amino acid level for a longer period. For example, whey protein (the second-most abundant protein in milk) has a blood amino acid peak time of about 1 hour, with a return to pre-meal levels in 3-4 hours. Casein (the most abundant protein in milk) has a blood level peak about 1-2 hours after consumption, but the blood level remains elevated for up to 7 hours. &lt;a href=&quot;http://speedendurance.com/2007/07/06/comparing-whey-soy-casein-protein-vs-real-fish-beef-milk-chicken-and-eggs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, different proteins can have different beneficial effects with regard to bodybuilding needs. Again comparing whey with casein, we see that whey has a greater anabolic (building muscle) effect, but casein is superior as an anti-catabolic (preventing muscle loss). [&lt;em&gt;Boirie Y et al. Slow and fast dietary proteins differently modulate postprandial protein accretion. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1997 94:14930-14935.&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, different proteins contain different amounts of the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are strongly anabolic. I'll refer you to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/2456/22&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for more on these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adjunct Substances&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing, really, as just eating protein. Whether you eat a steak, fish, tofu, or whey powder, you are getting something else besides pure protein. Animal sources will always contain at least some amount of fat (and of course, not all fat is equal either). Plant sources and powders generally also have at least some trace carbohydrate (and powders can contain all sorts of fillers). In general, natural &quot;whole&quot; food proteins will contain more micronutrients (vitamins, etc.), which may aid absorption (not to mention general health). So the choice of protein source has to account for these extras that come with the protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting as well that there is no such thing as just e.g. &quot;chicken&quot;. The profile is altered per the part of the chicken - breast, thigh, etc., as well as whether the skin is eaten, and possibly even how the chicken was raised. If you'll allow me to include the egg as part of the chicken for the sake of a clear example, it's generally accepted that free-range chicken eggs (because of the bugs that are included in their diet) have a higher omega-3 content than conventional eggs. Conventional beef tends to carry antibiotics, hormones, and extra omega-6 (hence the recent movement in many health communities towards grass-fed beef).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These adjuncts can have effects beyond the protein source in isolation. For example, adjusting carbohydrates (whether part of the protein source or from the rest of the diet) can affect the rate of weight (both fat and lean) gain or loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T17:57:18.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4655" CreationDate="2011-12-19T20:39:36.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another tip is to use the cheap chemical handwarmers when it gets cold.  I wear a pair of fingered running gloves with a wind proof mitten shell over them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handwarmer packets, which are available for less than $1 a pair here, are light enough not to notice and work great for keeping fingers warm and easily last for several hours&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1745" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-12-20T03:23:33.390" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T03:23:33.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4575" CreationDate="2011-12-20T04:48:43.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought that &lt;a href=&quot;http://huntgatherlove.com/content/soylovers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; (with more pubmed links) had an interesting perspective as well. The primary point is that the current science is inconclusive, but that the large quantities of phyto-oestrogens &lt;em&gt;during infancy&lt;/em&gt; is probably a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.zocdoc.com/does-soy-feminize-men-fact-vs-myth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This overview of high-soy-intake cases&lt;/a&gt; highlights the problems with phytoestrogens as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One study reported that a 19-year-old male developed decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, and low testosterone after consuming very large quantities of soy as part of a vegan diet. The researchers did not, however, report the presence of gynecomastia (a.k.a male breasts). It should also be noted that the patient had type 1 diabetes, indicating some level of metabolic dysfunction, and relied on soy as his primary protein source. The symptoms disappeared one year after discontinuing his vegan diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another study reported that one 60-year-old man developed breasts, as well as sexual dysfunction, after consuming three quarts of soy milk daily for six months. Again, the symptoms faded after discontinuation of the soy intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extreme case studies aside, soy intake appears to be safe at normal to moderately high levels, even those above the relatively high consumption level of Asian men. Problems only seem to arise when soy is consumed at levels 9 – 10 times the norm for several months at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extremely high intake seems to be problematic, but as the article notes, &amp;quot;it’s the dose that makes the poison.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T21:09:36.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2011-12-20T14:23:01.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read about this on-line in medical forums and had several doctors tell me this.  I tried it myself as have several relatives and it works. As &quot;J. Winchester&quot;  commented above: the stomach needs acid to digest foods properly. When water is presented to your system during a meal, it fools the system into thinking that the liquid is acid and therefore shuts off production thereof. Yes, you will have wet food going down and it will eventually digest but not as efficiently as the the body's natural way. Consider that if the body still produced acid during the meal, The water would dilute the acid and make it less effective. Therefore, no liquid during food intake works for me and mine very well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T14:23:01.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4880" CreationDate="2011-12-20T15:05:13.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just been given a body weight program by my PT to keep me going for 3 weeks where I will be without a gym. It's 8 exercises done tabata-style i.e. 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, repeated 8 times, with a 1 minute break between each exercise, giving a total of 40 mins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the 8 exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bear crawls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternating lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bouncing bears (same starting position as bear crawls, except feet slightly further back and you move sideways - right hand and right foot together, then left hand and left foot) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse oblique twists (windshield wipers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight leg drops &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of these are much harder than others! So you could substitute in harder things if you wanted to have more of a workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2145" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2011-12-20T16:37:09.027" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T16:37:09.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4880" CreationDate="2011-12-20T15:36:36.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I'd try to find a gym near my hometown that I could visit. CrossFit or a generic gym will probably allow a drop-in or short-term pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's really the case that there are no gyms around, I would consider two options: a rest/deload week, or a substitute-exercise week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I were pretty far along the program, the weights were getting heavy, and I was probably under-recovered even while making progress, I would lean towards a rest week. I would focus on recovery--good sleep, good eats, nothing more strenuous than a few walks or moderate hikes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I were less far into the program and the weights were not yet super-challenging, I would lean towards finding substitutes. I'd find the heaviest things I could pick up, and pick them up repeatedly. I'd get in a ton of pull-ups. I wouldn't worry too much about push-ups, crunches, or other relatively easy unweighted exercises. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: you will lose substantial progress. You will get weaker. You will lose hard-earned strength. When you get back to the program, &lt;strong&gt;take 10 to 20% off your numbers&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T15:36:36.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4321" CreationDate="2011-12-20T15:59:02.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The abs and the back are two sides of the same coin.  Anything you do to one will affect the other.  And any imbalances between them will be a potential for injury.  In short: &lt;strong&gt;you cannot work your abs without working your back&lt;/strong&gt;.  All the exercises that strengthen abs also strengthen the back, and vice-versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I don't know enough about your friend's condition.  I'm assuming by the context of the question that the reason your friend can't stand or walk for more than a few minutes time is because of pain.  Since you mentioned the back injury was permanent, my guess is that he suffered some form of spinal disk injury or worse fused some parts of the spine together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The function of the core is to provide stability to the spine.&lt;/strong&gt;  In many regards the best, and possibly only, choice your friend has is to work his core &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;isometrically&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.  In other words, his spine should not be in any sort of flexion during the exercise, but he would be tightening the abs as he works with the resistance.  The family of exercises that would allow him to do that are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_real_core_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Landmine Twists&lt;/a&gt; (do not twist the core)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises_10.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Planks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-build-confidence-fear-of-squats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squat Walkouts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that each of these has in common is that the core remains stationary, and you can increase the load as you can handle it.  If you can find more core exercises that share the same features, all the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the most important bit of advice for your friend is this: it will probably hurt, so start with nothing on the bar and see how that does you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would probably start with landmine twists since you can do them seated.  You will have more leverage from a seated position, so the load of an empty bar from this position might be bearable.  I would suggest starting with the bar in the top position and slowly lowering it left and then right as far as the pain will allow.  Try increasing the range of motion each time until he can do all the way down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T15:59:02.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4878" CreationDate="2011-12-20T19:08:48.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be uncomfortable with drinking both lots of tonic water and taking tablets. I don't see the point of worrying about quinine and I would be worried that you are diluting your system too much - and therefore don't have enough salt concentration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with the cramp happening at 19km or so I would be suspected undertraining more than electrolyte imbalance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do longer runs more often and do them closer to your race pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase your weekly mileage to more like 50km/week (30-40km is too low for half marathoning successfully)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T19:08:48.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-20T21:03:48.250" Score="17" ViewCount="62871" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tore my left knee ACL 6 months playing soccer. After the incident I was able to go to a Dr and he told me I need to let the inflammation come down and then get surgery. He said I don't need to do the surgery to live a healthy life but if I want to play sports with twists and turns (like soccer, basketball, etc) I will need the surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Dr told me I could run, jog, swim, and do many other things with a missing ACL. And I am doing all those right now. He said before the surgery I should strengthen my leg muscles because it will improve recovery post-surgery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do plan on getting the surgery (sometime in the future) but I just want to know if squats and deadlifts are one of those things that its okay to do with a torn ACL? Technically your moving up and down in those exercises, no twists or turns, but is the weight and pressure at all harmful on this part of the leg/locomotion system given a missing ACL?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just started lifting since the incident and I just want to know. I recently relocated and will be seeing a Dr soon about this but until then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2561" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:32:18.150" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T14:50:35.020" Title="Squat /Deadlift with torn ACL?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4918" CreationDate="2011-12-21T02:05:28.003" Score="4" ViewCount="5876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been out of shape for several years, but finally starting to get back into exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing pretty heavy aerobic exercises for the past two months. For the most part, I'm doing ok - not in tip-top shape yet, but definitely doing a lot better than I have in years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that still gets me - whenever I try to do push-ups (or anything else where I'm facing the floor), I seem to have a lot of trouble. It's hard to describe, but it just seems like I'm not able to breathe right, and I lose energy fast. I can run, jump, do all kinds of things standing up, but as soon as I hit the floor I'm only good for a few seconds before I crash or have to stand up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this common, or indicative of any problem? Or do you think it's just something I need to work through and gradually learn how to overcome?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2562" LastActivityDate="2019-06-16T14:50:47.360" Title="Difficulty breathing in push-up position" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4922" CreationDate="2011-12-21T05:46:58.833" Score="0" ViewCount="707" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing this on behalf of my gym instructor who unfortunately doesn't have Internet access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last fortnight he suffered a slight tear in his left bicep while moving some heavy equipment. He has now somewhat recovered and is wondering what kind of exercise/warm-up/weight-lifting will help re-build the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you guys suggest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2564" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-12-21T21:24:36.637" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T14:18:25.793" Title="How to Rehab a Bicep Tear" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4878" CreationDate="2011-12-21T14:28:34.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with you that your cramps are likely due to an electrolyte imbalance. Personally, I drink coconut water during long runs. It contains electrolytes, and is completely natural. You could also drink Gatorade, Powerade, or similar sports drink. I have never heard of tonic water being beneficial for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For runs longer than an hour, you may want to incorporate gels. I have heard good things about Honey Stinger gels, but have not used them myself. They have a toll-free number on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.honeystinger.com/index-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;their info page&lt;/a&gt;, which you can call to ask questions about product use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps. Good luck with your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2343" LastActivityDate="2011-12-21T14:28:34.143" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-21T14:53:20.890" Score="4" ViewCount="2656" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-520--9397-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a program to run 30' after 8 weeks&lt;/a&gt;. I am in week 2. I am overweight in 20 kilograms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem that I have is a pain in my lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is not shortly after the training, I feel the pain when I sit for too long (I am a programmer). Then I feel the pain as I get up I start to walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, What I am doing wrong? Should I see a doctor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2427" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T04:23:16.903" Title="lower back pain after running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4914" CreationDate="2011-12-21T14:54:37.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be that you're getting your lower body in shape, with the focus on aerobic, but not your upper body - the difference between doing jumps/running and pushups is that you're using your upper body chest, arms, back.  Sounds like you need a full body workout plan and one that includes more weight training to increase strength as well as your endurance levels.  Include all the basics: squats, deadlifts, bench and overhead presses.  Start light and work your way up.  Make a goal of doing x pushups by a given date.  Don't give up and good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2011-12-21T14:54:37.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4921" CreationDate="2011-12-21T19:15:07.343" Score="7" ViewCount="728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two goals: improve speed and vertical, and improve at my sport (ultimate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems from my relatively untrained state, the biggest gains in speed and vertical will come from strength training, so I plan to do power lifting, and the Starting Strength programming schedule looks like a good starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I also want to improve at my sport and expect practices to happen twice a week, with occasional weekend tournaments. I also will need to develop my cardiovascular endurance. These additional goals seem to conflict with the basic Starting Strength programming schedule, so I suspect I'll need to sacrifice the fastest possible strength gains for a more well-rounded program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interleave lifting with practice and cardio&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dropping to 2 lifting days per week (vs the 3 prescribed in Starting Strength)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scheduling lifting days on non-practice days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding a mid-length interval training run once per week on a non-running/non-lifting day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add practice and cardio to my lifting days&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just making sure my lifting days happen on the same days as my practices... do lifting before practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On my third lifting day, do that mid-length interval training after the lifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Option 1 spaces things out more, but option 2 leaves days of full rest between exercise. Not sure what is more important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Does anyone have other ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Background: I'm 150 lbs, can only squat my body weight, 45 minute 10k.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2011-12-22T23:10:00.253" LastActivityDate="2011-12-22T23:10:00.253" Title="How can I best modify starting strength to fit with a team practice schedule and cardiovascular conditioning?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4920" CreationDate="2011-12-21T20:40:32.833" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tweaking the program to fit your goals is something everyone will need to do at some point.  When tweaking the Starting Strength program, don't adjust the lifts that are in the A/B sessions; but doing it 2x/week instead of three is perfectly acceptable.  I wouldn't go any lower than that for the program to do you any good.  Of the two options you presented, &lt;strong&gt;option 1 seems more inline with your goals&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest challenge to your programming is managing recovery.  I do recommend adjusting your schedule so that you have one day of rest before the lifting day.  That means you can have 3 skill/conditioning days and 2 lift days with 2 days off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience with fitting in conditioning and starting strength had me doing my conditioning directly after lifting.  I also had class 1 day a week for skill work, and it was on one of my rest days.  As long as I had a full rest day before lifting I did OK with Starting Strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I've graduated from Starting Strength, and due to the obnoxious schedule of the fall/winter events I have to combine my lifting day and my class on the same day.  This arrangement has me missing lifts because I'm exhausted by the end of my session.  The next day I am fairly useless.  I'm looking at some similar changes to my programming once I satisfy some initial goals I've set out for myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example schedule that can work, and you can adjust to fit your reality is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: Starting Strength session A&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: Practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: Starting Strength session B&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is to drop lifting the week of your tournaments.  This way you will have more energy to compete, and the strength you've built so far isn't going to leave you after one week.  Slower gains is not bad--particularly if you aren't aiming to be a power lifter or an Olympic weightlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-21T20:40:32.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4915" CreationDate="2011-12-21T20:55:52.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, has he seen a doctor?  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/21577-healing-torn-bicep-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LiveStrong's article on healing a torn biceps muscle&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a doctor to diagnose how bad it is&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evaluate if surgery is necessary (it is for major tears)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice your arm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consult your doctor for proper physical therapy exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eliminate any activity that causes the biceps pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ssoc.co.za/biceps-rupture.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sports Science Orthopedics Clinic's article&lt;/a&gt; echoes many of the same sentiments.  This isn't a self-diagnosis and repair type of issue.  The SSOC article does list some stretches that can help--but the physical therapy really needs to be overseen by someone with the correct background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-21T20:55:52.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4917" CreationDate="2011-12-21T21:26:15.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a job that keeps you sitting for long periods of time, you could have tight hamstrings. They could be especially tight after starting a running program without appropriate stretching. Tight hamstrings tend to contribute to lower back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest taking a week off from your running schedule and doing simple static hamstring stretches 3x a day (and continue this when you start running again). There are four easy ones here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/flexibilityexercises/a/hamstingstretch.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/flexibilityexercises/a/hamstingstretch.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a way to massage your lower back to release any tight muscles there, that could also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get back into running as soon as you start feeling better during day-to-day activities. Shouldn't take too long. If it takes longer than a week or two, I'd say see a doctor. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastActivityDate="2011-12-21T21:26:15.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4917" CreationDate="2011-12-22T09:56:29.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from the advice from @friz also consider changing your &quot;sitting&quot; habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. get a table that allows you to stand up for a couple of hours each day, and use a Energetics Stability Ball (or similar) for the rest of the day. For the first couple of weeks, you will likely be very tired in your back, but it will very likely help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And never use you laptop in the sofa or anywhere else where you're not able to sit up strait! That is a death sin and one of the major reasons even very young people are beginning to get back trouble...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2011-12-22T09:56:29.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4917" CreationDate="2011-12-22T10:22:29.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your back pain didn't start until you began the running program then it is likely that your back and spine cannot handle the compressive forces of running with your extra weight.  You may need to begin with something less jarring like walking, biking, running in water, using an elliptical trainer or walking with nordic walking poles.  Also, you may need a strengthening program to include your large shock absorbing muscles such as your quads, glutes, abs and back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, given that you have symptoms that may require professional help you would be wise to see your doctor &amp;amp;/or physical (physio) therapist.  A therapist could evaluate your muscle imbalances (like tight hamstrings and hip flexors as well as muscle weaknesses), and give you specific corrective exercises. They will also keep you from doing inappropriate exercises that may make your condition worse. They could also evaluate your running form and make recommendations as to how to proceed so that you can safely exercise to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest mistake would be to continue to aggravate your back condition and slow your progress all together.  Trying to do exercises that are not appropriate for your specific back condition can lead to a chronic problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for prolonged sitting, the key is to get up and move every half hour or so (easier said than done).  A towel or sweater rolled in the small of your back may help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't overlook your diet which is key to losing weight.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2011-12-22T10:22:29.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4950" CreationDate="2011-12-22T16:18:18.380" Score="0" ViewCount="2127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased protein shake powder a few months ago. I've been storing it at room temperature in my kitchen, temporarily also in the fridge. Produced in 08/2010, expriation date 02/2012.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of preservatives does this powder contain, and are they any way problematic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Come on, there must be powerful preservatives inside this stuff,  because it has high nutritional value, has very low grain size, is very sweet and, thus, should be a really good breeding ground for microorganisms. But until now, nothing seems to have changed inside the plastic containers. The coconut taste sometime is a bit murky, but this can be by design or maybe the concentration was too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3074/protein-mix-how-long-can-it-sit&quot;&gt;Protein mix - How long can it sit?&lt;/a&gt; refers to the max duration a shake can be stored after water has been added and the shake is ready to drink (2 hours). I'm referring to the powder form here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit - Ingredients: Calcium caseinate, milk protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate, protein enriched whey powder, Egg albumin, flavouring, glucose syrup, banana powder, Mg carbonate, Vegetable oil, sweeteners: Aspartame and acesulfame-k, vitamin c; niacin, Beta carotin, pantothenic acid, Vitamin B6, vitamin B1, riboflavine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T16:34:17.097" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T16:34:17.097" Title="Preservatives in protein-shake powder?" Tags="&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2011-12-22T16:50:08.403" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt;?  Its a website that seeks to incoporate &quot;Gaming&quot; elements into fitness, by awarding you points for your workouts and tracking your &quot;experience&quot; and level as you gain it, as well as providing &quot;quests&quot; for you to complete.  Its still in beta, but there are ways to get invites.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="399" LastActivityDate="2011-12-22T16:50:08.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5804" CreationDate="2011-12-23T01:25:14.847" Score="4" ViewCount="433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that people who have been over-weight for a while have 'permanently' stretched their skin, and for that reason weight loss will only result in loose skin (appearance wise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doesn't age have something to do with this (if your still young, it tightens up, right?)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please set me straight about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2260" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T08:33:26.133" Title="is it true that weight loss for people who have been quite over-weight for a long time will only result in loose skin?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="97" CreationDate="2011-12-23T06:07:15.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 41.  I was doing regular workouts 2 times a week, and am now doing Jui Jitsu 1 time a week.  This feels about right.  I'm 8 weeks in now, and am recovering within 2-3 days (where it took the full week after the first session).  While it is much more abusive than my regular workouts, it is becoming easier as my body adapts to it (and I learn not to 'muscle' it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2575" LastActivityDate="2011-12-23T06:07:15.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5052" CreationDate="2011-12-23T07:30:50.493" Score="9" ViewCount="4395" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks ago I got myself a pair of tights to keep me warm while running during winter. And since I've been running in them, my right knee is hurting, to the point where even simple walking down stairs is causing a significant amount of pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing all kinds of sports ever since I was little (volleyball, jujitsu, badminton) and since a year or 2 I started running. I've ran over a 1000 kilometers between September 2010 and September 2011, including 2 marathons. And all of this without any hint of an knee injury or even a sign of pain in my knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run about 4 days/week, a couple of short (7-10k) runs and 1 longer run (between 15-25k).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my background being computers and programming, I tend to approach this as a function with a set of variables. The variables include: weather, temperature, time of day, socks, shoes, clothing, how much sleep I got the night before, ....insert those into the &quot;running&quot; function and you'll get a good or a bad run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since the pain only started after I started wearing tights on my runs, I'm sort of putting those under suspicion. Has anyone experienced this or know that this is possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(PS: Yes, I am seeing a specialized doctor about this, just waiting for my appointment and wanted to get the question out there.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastEditorUserId="18220" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T00:38:05.870" LastActivityDate="2018-11-29T18:52:17.070" Title="Can wearing tights while running cause pain in my knees?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4937" CreationDate="2011-12-23T15:13:24.527" Score="5" ViewCount="1032" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got Zumba Fitness 2 for the Nintendo Wii, and prior to receiving it I knew almost nothing about Zumba. I understand Zumba is a fitness routine based on Latin dance, but when playing the game I'm surprised at how simple some of the steps/routine are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The game appears to have only 4 different &quot;steps&quot; for each dance style, and maybe 5-7 different dance styles. Most of the steps seem pretty uncomplicated. Things like taking one step back and then one step forward. Or facing left and then facing forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the main point of Zumba is fitness and not dance, but I honestly expected something more complicated. So I'm wondering, are the simple steps in this game really all there is to Zumba routines? Or is this a sort of &quot;dumbed down&quot; version? In short, &lt;b&gt;how accurate is the depiction of Zumba in &lt;i&gt;Zumba Fitness 2&lt;/i&gt;?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T20:05:11.720" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T20:05:11.720" Title="Is Zumba Fitness 2 (Wii) an accurate representation of Zumba?" Tags="&lt;zumba&gt;&lt;video-games&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4936" CreationDate="2011-12-23T15:39:31.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I quizzed my resident Zumba expert, who has much experience with the class and has also played the game)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The class depends heavily on the instructor - if you have a low-key instructor, it'll be a low key class.  However, the game's instructor is probably at the low end of the impact scale.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of the moves in a real Zumba class has different &quot;difficulty&quot; levels, and you can scale the move depending on how much experience you have with it, and how hard you want to work out.  The game doesn't seem to have this level of variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The game gives limited instruction about each move, and this is similar to the way the class works.  Most instructors will just demonstrate and expect you to follow along as best you can.  There might be some &quot;tutorial&quot; time if it's the first time the move has ever been done for the class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as dance styles and steps, the class is far more broad and open-ended.  A class may consist of 8 songs with 20 moves each, and these songs may change from class to class or from instructor to instructor.  The variety in the game is not at all representative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastActivityDate="2011-12-23T15:39:31.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4930" CreationDate="2011-12-23T17:54:54.587" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://getfitguy.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-tighten-loose-skin-after-weight-loss.aspx&quot;&gt;Skin is living tissue&lt;/a&gt;, and the speed at which it shrinks to it's new level of needed tightness depends on how fast you can make new skin.  In short, the older you are the longer it takes for your skin to tighten up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There does seem to be some evidence that the types of food you eat can speed up the results a bit, such as collagen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-23T17:54:54.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-23T19:13:13.623" Score="1" ViewCount="734" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've learned that eating carb makes body release Insulin which in turn converts into body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm confused whether eating fat adds to our body fat or eating high carb foods like bread, rice, sugar etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2546" LastActivityDate="2011-12-26T15:04:22.140" Title="Which one adds to our body fat - carb or fatty foods?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2011-12-23T19:26:37.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a fan of Dr. Thomas Levy. I've read his books. In short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your last food has digested then you may drink as much water as you can, even a second before next meals. Non-veg food takes around 3 hours to digest and vegetarian ones 1-2 hrs, fruits 30-40 minutes etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't drink when food is in your stomach as it dilutes the enzymes. Take least amount of water during this time. However sometimes some water is required when you eat dry items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2546" LastActivityDate="2011-12-23T19:26:37.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4940" CreationDate="2011-12-23T20:13:17.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any excess calories will add to body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most straightforward path is what you described: Blood glucose levels are largely determined by carb intake, and high blood glucose does make the body release insulin, which signals for the body to take up glucose into its glycogen stores, and lipids into fat storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proteins will also get converted into glucose if they are not used for protein stuff (muscle maintenance, etc.) or if your body just really needs extra energy (although in this case, you're probably going to use it, rather than store it). The excess will be stored as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dietary fat is a slightly different story. It's usually broken down into fatty acids and used for energy in that form (and it's a lot of energy compared to what carbs or proteins provide). That means less of your glucose is needed (and you'll have a bunch in your system, assuming you're not just eating 100% dietary fat), and the excess will be stored as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorDisplayName="user2567" LastEditDate="2011-12-23T23:17:28.227" LastActivityDate="2011-12-23T23:17:28.227" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4948" CreationDate="2011-12-24T09:16:19.213" Score="2" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is best to do stretching exercises in order to help building up muscle? Any times one should avoid or concentrate on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastActivityDate="2014-10-25T15:47:34.907" Title="when to stretch to help building muscle?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4943" CreationDate="2011-12-24T11:42:13.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, AFAIK stretching exercises are best to be done after you have done your workout. Tiny rips are made in the muscle(which are not painful, nor dangerous) and the body needs to heal them. The muscle grows because it needs to strengthen the muscle fibers in order to prevent other tiny rips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1152" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-25T15:47:34.907" LastActivityDate="2014-10-25T15:47:34.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-24T20:26:59.990" Score="3" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it good to stretch the muscles one is exercising between weight lifting series?&#xA;For example, if I am doing bench presses, should I stretch my chest and arms muscles in between one series and the next?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2011-12-24T22:42:21.820" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T04:30:17.777" Title="Should I be stretching between weight lifting series?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4927" CreationDate="2011-12-25T05:25:23.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doesn't look like any preservatives in there to me. Just because it's sweet doesn't mean it'll breed microorganisms. Think about powdered sugar. It's super-fine, and lasts forever. I think the dryness of the protein powder is what keeps it lasting a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastActivityDate="2011-12-25T05:25:23.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4955" CreationDate="2011-12-25T08:15:35.237" Score="6" ViewCount="765" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that it is impossible for anyone to give me a complete answer on how I can lead a healthy, productive life without writing a book, but what I wish to ask is how can someone who possesses no knowledge of meal preparation, exercise or any forms of self care learn to take care of herself? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know anything at all about even the rudimentary aspects of this and this is having a severe impact on my life. From what I understand, I'm not the only person with this problem, and the degree to which a person is unhealthy seems to be correlated with gaps in their self care knowledge and abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please help me to understand how I can start learning the skills I need to lead a healthy, productive life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2588" LastEditorUserId="2588" LastEditDate="2011-12-25T10:26:55.883" LastActivityDate="2012-01-01T18:00:52.370" Title="How can I learn essential self care?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-25T10:01:56.580" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to gym for a few months now. I was told that doing low reps with heavy weights builds strength and I've followed this low rep heavy training religiously and seen my strength improve. Now I'm finding that I'm able to lift heavy weights for a few reps 4~5 , but lighter weights also in the same 4~5 reps range. I'm stuck in the 4~5 rep range for 60% ~ 85% of my max. Should I change my training method and start with even lighter weights and go for higher reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:07:36.957" Title="Increase number of reps" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4952" CreationDate="2011-12-25T10:34:10.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, strength is not for reps but for pushing your body to the limit. If you want power you have to concentrate on the low-rep series for 85% + of your max. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is normal not to make so many reps if you are building strength. It is the key to success as I said earlier in this post. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for example: before a year or so I wanted to increase the number of my push-ups reps. I was doing strength that time. So, I started doing 50 push ups after my training for a week. And what happened? My PB dropped with 5 kg. That is 5kg just for a week! Imagine if you continue doing this for a month...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, consider your goals and decide if you want to lift/pull that two times heavier than you weight or stick to high reps and low power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1152" LastActivityDate="2011-12-25T10:34:10.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4952" CreationDate="2011-12-25T18:43:33.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It makes sense that at 85% of your 1 rep maximum that you'd only be able to do 5 reps. That is close to what a lot of the formulas for predicting your 1 rep maximum based on your 5 rep maximum would say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you can do 5 repetitions of 175lbs, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-repetition_maximum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;formulas on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; predict a 1 rep maximum between 197 and 206 (average 202).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;175 / 202 = 86%.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it looks like you're just about right. 60% seems a bit low, though. Does it differ based on the lift? Maybe that says something about your form on particular lifts, or perhaps you're 'cheating' a bit when you check your 1 rep maximums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditorDisplayName="user2567" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T20:07:36.957" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:07:36.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4951" CreationDate="2011-12-25T18:44:57.057" Score="7" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Books&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0982207786&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Primal Blueprint&lt;/a&gt; - covers diet/nutrition, exercise/play/stress management, and other keys to being healthy, in an easy-to-read format. Note - it is loosely based on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Paleo Diet&lt;/a&gt;, which many people disagree with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0982207778&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Primal Blueprint 21-Day Transformation&lt;/a&gt; - based on the previous book, but with more specific recommendations, for both diet, exercise, and life in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/feeds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Primal Blueprint Fitness&lt;/a&gt; - free ebook when you sign up for MDA's mailing list. Covers general concepts of how to exercise. There's also a couple of free cookbooks, one of which involves &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHFXG3r_0B8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;coconuts&lt;/a&gt;. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/1596913428&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Real Food - What to Eat, and Why&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0615228380&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Deep Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/014311638X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Food Rules&lt;/a&gt; - short, simple (one rule per page), easy to read. Michael Pollan's other books are also worth reading, but they are less about specifics, and more about the problems with our (US) industrial food industry. &lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; - I may have to qualify this book recommendation. I just ran across a blog post called &lt;a href=&quot;http://sparkofreason.blogspot.com/2009/02/children-of-wheat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Children of the Wheat&lt;/a&gt; (and the entire blog is also worth reading), and halfway down the post, he gives a critical analysis of Pollan's book, &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0143114964&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In Defense of Food&lt;/a&gt;, which I presume has similar recommendations to Food Rules. I admit I only skimmed the book, I'd say &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; of it is fairly reasonable, but some of the rules &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; questionable. One example is  &amp;quot;Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.&amp;quot; As the blog points out, this allows margerine - which has been around for over a hundred years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Websites&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark's Daily Apple&lt;/a&gt; - covers most (or all) of the issues mentioned in his books, so you don't have to buy them. Although personally I like having a printed book to hold. Plus, the website now has hundreds of pages - having a book, makes it easier to find things, and get an overview of the whole Primal system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfoodsos.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Raw Food SOS&lt;/a&gt;. Although &lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfoodsos.com/about/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the author Denise Minger&lt;/a&gt;, is not &lt;em&gt;strictly&lt;/em&gt; a vegetarian, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/01/20/my-current-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;her current diet&lt;/a&gt; is close, with only some eggs, dairy, fish, and rarely, meat (as opposed to meat cooked rarely :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Whole Health Source - Ancestral Nutrition&lt;/a&gt; - highly recommended, not just for the science analysis, but for the list of links on right sidebar. There's a lot more sites I &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; link, but they're all in that list. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Articles&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-metabolic-paradigm-shift-fat-carbs-human-body-metabolism/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Dietary Fat is Good&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guide to Fats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/grass-fed-meat-options/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cheap Meat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/top-ten-protein-sources/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 Protein Sources (some meat)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/vegetarian-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vegetarian Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-primal-supplementation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Should I Use Supplements?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/04/us-omega-6-and-omega-3-fat-consumption.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Omega-3's Matter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/04/fructose-vs-glucose-showdown.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fructose versus Glucose&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A Case &lt;strong&gt;against&lt;/strong&gt; Cardio Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.westonaprice.org/vegetarianism-and-plant-foods/vegetarianism-and-nutrient-deficiencies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrition Deficiences in Vegetarians&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Wheat Articles/Sites&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sparkofreason.blogspot.com/2009/02/children-of-wheat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Children of the Wheat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Grains are Unhealthy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/01/eating-wheat-causes-symptoms-in-some.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wheat Gluten Symptoms in non-Celiac Patients&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-dangerous-grains.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Book Review: Dangerous Grains&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/09/02/the-china-study-wheat-and-heart-disease-oh-my/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The China Study, Wheat, and Heart Disease&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://chriskresser.com/the-gluten-thyroid-connection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gluten and Thyroid Problems&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wheat Belly&lt;/a&gt; - both a blog, and a book by the same name.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/wheaty-indiscretions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wheat Indiscretions&lt;/a&gt; - not really about problems with wheat &lt;em&gt;itself&lt;/em&gt;, so much as how it's treated (chemicals, processing, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mention below, the evidence against wheat consumption is definitely &lt;em&gt;controversial&lt;/em&gt;. There's certainly plenty of vegetarian sites that will tell you it's wonderful, as are other grains. Here's one article in favor:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/278227-the-benefits-of-wheat-grass-for-the-body/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wheat Grass (juice) and Cancer Patients in India.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Suggestions&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked for a &lt;em&gt;canonical&lt;/em&gt; source of information for overall health. Unfortunately - &lt;strong&gt;there is no consensus&lt;/strong&gt; on issues of diet, exercise, and health in general. You will find a million sources (books, websites, published science papers), all of which make a claim to being the &amp;quot;correct&amp;quot; answer to how to eat/live, covering the range from vegan, vegetarian, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitarian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fruitarian&lt;/a&gt;, carnivore, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.archevore.com/get-started/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;archevore&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;paleo&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locavore#Locavore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;locavore&lt;/a&gt;, organic - did I miss anyone? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt; - I am &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a nutritionist, this is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; medical advice, you are responsible for your own life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, there are a few areas where there is &lt;em&gt;strong&lt;/em&gt; agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid sugar in all forms (there's at least 50 ways to rename sugar, like dextrose, maltose, and the industry uses them all). Definitely avoid HFCS - High-Fructose Corn Sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid refined grains (white flour, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid industrial pollutants (pesticides, hormones/antibiotics in meat, mercury in fish, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid highly-processed foods in general, things that have been extensively altered or strange things added. Avoid trans-fats, and partially-hydrogenated anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slightly more controversial, but I think the evidence is fairly strong - make your own decisions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid all modern grains (&lt;strong&gt;wheat in any form&lt;/strong&gt;, including gluten in many products, corn in any form - it's in lots of things). Avoid most legumes (beans). Avoid &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; forms of soy (fermented types are safer).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limit fruits (see link above about hazards of excessive fructose). Obviously a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitarian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fruitarian&lt;/a&gt; would disagree with this. :) Avoid fruit &lt;em&gt;juices&lt;/em&gt; completely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limit &lt;em&gt;polyunsatured fats&lt;/em&gt;. There's fairly good evidence that the Omega 3-Omega 6 fatty acid &lt;em&gt;ratio&lt;/em&gt; is important (the closer to 1:1, the better). &lt;em&gt;Do&lt;/em&gt; eat saturated fats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Avoid chronic cardio exercise&lt;/a&gt;. MDA recommends doing both slow, low-intensity types of exercise (like walking), with occasional high-intensity bursts (sprints, some weight-lifting).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to get &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; high-quality protein, when possible. If not meat, maybe fish (mercury-free)? Eggs are great, if available (and there's very strong evidence that the fat/cholesterol has &lt;em&gt;zero&lt;/em&gt; effect on heart disease). What about insects? Yes, I'm serious. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider supplements (as per link above), if affordable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleep, Stress, etc. - try for &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; sleep, and &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; stress. :) See MDA's books/site for more information, although there's a ton of sites about stress management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feedback/Self-study. Think about keeping a &lt;strong&gt;food journal&lt;/strong&gt;/health journal - over time, you may be able to see trends (either good or bad), and adjust your life acordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Evaluate what the local population is eating - are they healthy? Then they must be doing &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; right, and it might be worth emulating them. If they're &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; healthy, well, back to the drawing board. As &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4999/1898&quot;&gt;Dave&lt;/a&gt; said, the situation is just sub-optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the bright side, people throughout the history of the world, have found ways to eat and be healthy - it's mainly our industrial world that has messed things up, in the name of &amp;quot;efficiency&amp;quot;. You will have to do some work, granted (just reading the sites/books listed is a full-time job), and make decisions based on what's available to you, but finding a healthy path should be possible. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1898" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-01-01T18:00:52.370" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4940" CreationDate="2011-12-26T04:27:15.693" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To basically complete was someone else is saying, its not just a matter of macro-nutrients (carbs, proteins, fats) as not all of these when broken down into their components have equal effects on the body and simply adjusting their ratios is not good enough either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to say its just a matter of calories in vs. calories out I'd LOVE for someone to accurately measure how much energy one is expending and PROVE that calories in is equal to calories absorbed. The content of what you eat can produce multiple hormonal signals and kick off other chemical balancing processes in the body. (like another was saying about blood glucose). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates are an easy target for fat reduction, because in today's world many people consume WAY, WAY too much of them and typically from poor sources (soda, sugar products). Often simply eliminating soda from a diet is enough to normalize some people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of this the food industry has provided us easy access to many high carb foods made from wheat, barley, and rye which contain gluten and lectin which are a defense a plant uses to try and poison the animal consuming it. Some people have a severe allergy to them (celiacs) and some people barely tolerate it (slow weight gain over time), and others seem to be able to handle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary: Eating saturated fat found in animal fat and oils, does not make you fat. Eating too much food from shitty sources makes you fat. Try and get your carbohydrates from good sources not containing gluten and lectin. Examples of these would be almost any vegetable, and some tubers like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and white rice (brown rice still has the germ on it containing either gluten or lectin, cannot remember). If you have a lot of weight to lose it can be somewhat beneficial to go easy on carbs for a while, but removing them completely can be hard on your body (but your body CAN make them from fats and proteins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The most DIRECT answer to your question is that BOTH carbs and fatty foods can contribute to weight gain. Conditions at the time in which they are consumed and the composition of them will vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastEditorUserId="2489" LastEditDate="2011-12-26T15:04:22.140" LastActivityDate="2011-12-26T15:04:22.140" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2011-12-26T10:30:30.250" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow - way too much carbohydrate, especially in the early stages. If you are stuffing away tons of green veggies etc they are just as bad as bread, pasta etc. Cut out the veggies, fruit etc. Go low fat pure protein for a week, then alternate the pure protein days with protein plus just a few veggie days. Drink lots of cold water. Also, don't overdo the fat, remember it's always calories in vs calories out, just that low carb helps you achieve this by eating less. People who eat great slabs of meat meal after meal will not, repeat not, lose weight, it is physically impossible. Therefore: count calories,carbs and stick to low at. And do some exercise. Nothing else works and anyone who tells you different is lying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2011-12-26T10:30:30.250" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4958" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4968" CreationDate="2011-12-26T12:12:45.450" Score="1" ViewCount="33252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to gym for past 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I warm up my  biceps? Please give me some suggestion.&#xA;I dont know the rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the steps for improve my biceps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether work out in low weight is improve our Musles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="2593" LastEditDate="2011-12-27T05:08:17.530" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T15:13:19.113" Title="How do I warm up my biceps?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4358" CreationDate="2011-12-26T12:28:05.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I think could have happened is a light pulling of some tendons in the elbow, due to incorrect form of exercising. Had the exact same thing happen to me about 3 weeks ago while doing some shoulder exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back started hurting right after the workout, got home, slept, woke up, stretched and couldn't move at all. Then while moving - real intense pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im betting the same thing happened to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solution - rest. Only thing that can help you right now is resting, maybe some ointment to ease the pain, but that is not going to help it heal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO, just rest for a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-12-26T12:28:05.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2011-12-26T16:00:27.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Low glucose I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try adding small amounts of glucose to your meal and reduce the dose gradually as you feel less hungry immediately after eating.  Worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2011-12-26T16:00:27.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4966" CreationDate="2011-12-27T05:42:59.820" Score="2" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be good at football next year so I'm lifting anywhere from 4 to 6 times a week. I'm a defensive lineman so I want to gain weight (in muscle of course). How should I lift (weight, reps, frequency) and eat (to help with the weight lifting) to gain weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2597" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T22:56:15.660" Title="How should I Lift and eat so I can Gain Weight?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4949" CreationDate="2011-12-27T08:14:16.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you are doing strength workout don't stretch between the series. Only after you have done the whole workout. That is done in order to keep your muscles tight and in that way you get a little more strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are doing mass it's very good to stretch. I have answered this kind of question here: [question] &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4943/when-to-stretch-to-help-building-muscle&quot;&gt;when to stretch to help building muscle?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1152" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T08:14:16.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4962" CreationDate="2011-12-27T11:56:07.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question to that is how much experience lifting do you have?  If you are brand new to lifting, then I would suggest doing the Starting Strength program to get your strength up as quickly as you can.  That calls for no more than 3 full body workouts per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I suggest &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; over other alternatives for you would be for the power cleans.  Power cleans have a lot of carryover to get that explosive start off the line.  You can see the general outline of the program laid out pretty well &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/101-basic-structure-of-the-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating to gain weight is fairly easy.  You just need to eat big.  If you eat another 1000 Calories on lifting days over maintenance, you will get bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've been lifting for a while and are making gains weekly or monthly I would suggest structuring your program around &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2011/12/531-2nd-edition-ebook-now-for-sale/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wendler's 5-3-1&lt;/a&gt; program.  That is the best and most flexible program to be able to structure your lifting and your skill work and conditioning which will be very important for your sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T11:56:07.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4958" CreationDate="2011-12-27T13:23:10.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you're being kind of vague here, I can only give you a vague answer. If your biceps are not improving, then you are not providing them enough of a stimulus to produce an adaptive response (growth) from them. I can do almost all the bicep training I need with chin-ups or weighted chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are your goals? Health? Longevity? Performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T13:23:10.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4958" CreationDate="2011-12-27T17:30:46.963" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, warming up your muscles only requires performing the movement with lower weights.  It's fine to use sets of 5 and then taper off the closer you get to your work weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are having pain in your hand, I would check your form.  Is that pain shooting up from the elbow?  If so, it's possible that you are putting too much strain on that joint and have developed a bit of tendinitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you are exercising the muscles you think you are.  For example, if you body is swaying just to get the bar up while doing barbell curls, you need to strengthen your core before you can improve your biceps--which in general is not a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T17:30:46.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4978" CreationDate="2011-12-27T20:11:43.740" Score="10" ViewCount="2681" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength prescribes two daily lifting schedules (A and B), to be performed alternately on 3 non-consecutive days per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;         S M T W T F S&#xA;         -------------&#xA;week 1     A   B   A&#xA;week 2     B   A   B&#xA;week 3     A   B   A&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will leave a 2-day break at some point each week (this is the case in any arrangement of 3 non-consecutive days per week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a novice, I doubt I'm strong enough yet to lift enough weight to require the extra rest each week. &lt;strong&gt;Is there a benefit to the 2-day break other than recovery? If I recover sufficiently, can I skip that 2-day break? What's wrong with just lifting every second day for the first little while?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;         S M T W T F S&#xA;         -------------&#xA;week 1     A   B   A&#xA;week 2   B   A   B   A&#xA;week 3     B   A   B&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can only last so long anyway, since I'll be adding in some team practices relatively soon and will drop to two days a week of lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorDisplayName="user2567" LastEditDate="2011-12-28T18:27:35.973" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T17:45:56.297" Title="What's the point of the weekly 2-day break in Starting Strength's programming? Can a novice just skip that?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3825" CreationDate="2011-12-27T23:25:32.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that vinegar works for my clothing, which can't be washed at high temp. It neutralises the bacteria. Try a dilute spray on your shoes when you get back as part of the clean/dry process and see if that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2465" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T23:25:32.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4986" CreationDate="2011-12-27T23:56:01.443" Score="2" ViewCount="3002" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zumba Fitness 2 keeps track of how many calories are burned in a session. However, there isn't any indication of what it uses to determine the amount burned. I have to take the number of face value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming it works based on the activity level and how well you do. The game also makes you enter your height, weight, and birthdate too. I'm not sure if those would account for anything. Does anyone have any idea how the game calculates how calories are burned and how accurate is the number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T20:05:49.253" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T20:05:49.253" Title="How does Zumba Fitness 2 calculate the calories burned?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;zumba&gt;&lt;video-games&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-28T02:49:31.730" Score="3" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Medical term:&lt;/strong&gt;  Patello-femoral Pain Syndrome (aka runner knee).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find more scientific description about the syndrome, not just pain but what is it actually? How can a doctor see it from an image or images?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to my doctor, my knee looks ok in x-tray images but having now 3 week rest -- I can still feel such chronic &quot;runner pain&quot;. According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_5431527_runner-knee-pain.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;, runner knee can be diagnosed in a number of ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After a physical exam, a doctor can diagnose runner's knee via an&#xA;  X-ray, MRI, or CT (computed tomography) scan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what is the difference between the methods and is there a reason to get MRI or CT? I am now going to meet ortologist but I am unsure of this, this is quite generalized issue in itself! Is there any objective way to say whether person X has runner knee or not? Even I am  unsure of this, I initially thought that it is more my right knee but I am getting similar pain in the left knee now while right resting. I have been very proactive with this because I do not want it to get any worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestion about the medical scans appreciated, anyone with similar situation? My friend had similar case and he insisted on some &quot;deep scan&quot; (x-tray did not work but the deep scan identified the runner knee), now I have no idea what this &quot;deep scan&quot; actually is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some medical experts such as ortologists around to identify runner knee with different methods? Some objectivity to this issue would be highly appreciated. The term &lt;code&gt;pain&lt;/code&gt; is a bit vague and subjective, possible to identify with scans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3134/how-to-recognize-a-runners-knee&quot;&gt;How to recognize a Runner&amp;#39;s Knee?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/657/treating-a-runners-knee-apply-heat-or-cold&quot;&gt;Treating a Runner&amp;#39;s Knee - Apply Heat or Cold?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Research&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Quite popular paper about something called &lt;code&gt;&quot;bone scan&quot;&lt;/code&gt;, more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerlink.com/content/t4252152311203u6/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Paper about diagnosing the syndrome, stressing the importance of personalized historical picture &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/30/3/447.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Patellofemoral Instability: Evaluation and Management (1997), article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jaaos.org/content/5/1/47.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2598" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2598" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T04:25:33.150" Title="Patello-femoral Pain Syndrome in methods such as X-ray, MRI or CT?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicine&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4975" CreationDate="2011-12-28T03:13:26.643" Score="4" ViewCount="1534" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a hammer curl and a regular curl? I understand the form differences. I'm looking for an anatomical answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, what differences in muscle groups (in the bicep) does a hammer curl and a regular curl workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there specific benefits between executing a hammer curl and a regular curl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T10:41:56.843" Title="Differences between hammer curl and a regular curl" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-28T03:29:59.450" Score="6" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/166/2598&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; mention that &lt;code&gt;&quot;neutral shoes&quot;&lt;/code&gt; are better for long distance running. I have used Adidas Supernova for a very long time with inversion support (ofc changed them every year or so, tried other but always gone back to them -- the name may have changed but they have the inversion -support thing and wide thing in the front of the shoes, basically the reason I like them). Now I have tried longer distance running lasting hours and I feel that the Supernovas are not good for them, they make my outer part of the foot hurting -- to the unacceptable level of pain. So I am now looking for some &lt;code&gt;neutral shoes&lt;/code&gt;. It is surely harder to test &lt;code&gt;&quot;neutral shoes&quot;&lt;/code&gt; for long distance running because one should buy them all to trial with them! Some generic hints or instructions? I run on tarmac.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;neutral shoes&quot;&lt;/code&gt;? Perhaps, this is an area of research, interesting what people will come up with &lt;code&gt;&quot;neutral shoes&quot;&lt;/code&gt;. Are they &lt;code&gt;no-inversion-supported shoes&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;vibram-style barefoot shoes&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;Nike Free shoes&lt;/code&gt; or something else? At least, this trend is now even in cheaper shops like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dealextreme.com/p/unique-stylish-outdoor-shoes-black-size-42-pair-52941?r=36798618&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, will update when I know more about the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2598" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T17:52:26.747" Title="How to choose &quot;Neutral shoes&quot; for long distance endurance running?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4973" CreationDate="2011-12-28T04:16:28.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hammer curls are supposed to target the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachioradialis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;brachioradialis&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachialis_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;brachialis&lt;/a&gt; muscle more directly than a standard curl due to pronation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2011-12-28T04:16:28.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-28T15:58:24.643" Score="4" ViewCount="2778" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have started doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insanity&lt;/a&gt; exercises. After a workout I obviously get drenched in sweat. After 5 or so minutes of cooling down, I really begin to feel the chills. I have to wear a sweater to compensate for the cold even when I am in a normal room temperature. Is this normal or am I just getting too anxious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T20:09:17.133" Title="Why do I feel so cold after workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4969" CreationDate="2011-12-28T19:06:43.493" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a couple points to it, and while it has to do with recovery, it also has to do with consistency.  The chief problem that causes people to fail endeavors is a lack of consistency.  While you may be able to keep track of whether or not you are on a lifting day or a rest day, your friends and family won't unless its always the same days and same times.  That leads to double-booking, forces you to change gym times, etc.  But let's also look at recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are completely detrained, and have no hard physical activity (i.e. no sports) then technically you could lift &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt;.  The problem is that you will only be able to keep that up for about a week or two before the weights get heavy enough that you need a day of rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Novices will need a day of rest to recover.  This includes sufficient food/protein/rest/etc.  So while you will be able to sustain the every other day schedule for longer than the daily schedule, there will come a time where you need slightly longer than that 48 hour cycle.  That means with the typical Starting Strength schedule two of the workouts will be at less than full capacity.  That 72 hour break (two days off) will allow you to fully recover at the beginning of the next week.  It's that transition period where your body is getting closer to intermediate (requiring weekly gains instead of session to session gains), but still mostly novice where that extra day of rest comes in handy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this translates to is that you will be able to continue making linear gains from session to session for much longer than if you were to simply go every other day.  As it is, you will only be able to pull of the Starting Strength program with linear gains for roughly 3-9 months (depending on different factors).  After that, you need to transition to an intermediate program (weekly gains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistency&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of having to change the frequency of lifting every couple weeks to couple of months, it is best to have a schedule you can plan on.  If you know every Monday you are going to the gym and you are going to lift a known weight for 3 sets of 5 reps it takes a lot of guesswork and &quot;feelings&quot; out of the equation.  That translates to more successful beginners becoming intermediate lifters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, success is what we are after.  So while it would technically be a slightly slower pace than the body could handle from a completely detrained state, the difference really isn't enough to be worried about.  It's better to have some patience and follow the plan as prescribed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-28T19:06:43.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4949" CreationDate="2011-12-29T04:30:17.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting heavy, stretching between sets could set you up for injury. Static stretching weakens the muscle and reduces muscular control for a short period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T04:30:17.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4973" CreationDate="2011-12-29T10:41:56.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My perception is that the hammercurl builds the width off the bicep as supposed to the regular curl. i do them infront of my chest and never higher than a 90 degree angle. if you go higher you target different muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2607" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T10:41:56.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4971" CreationDate="2011-12-29T13:13:17.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than likely the game has scores (values) for how intense the different moves are, and it knows how long you are doing them.  If not, it is simply based on how long you are exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That score and time is used as part of the calculation.  Your age (birthdate), height, and weight are all factors.  For example, the taller you are, the more energy you burn as your limbs will have to move further than someone who is shorter.  Also the weight becomes a factor because it requires more energy to move more mass (i.e. the heavier you are the more you burn).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is this: it's all based on calculations, and isn't going to be any more accurate than the equations used by the treadmills and elliptical machines at the gym.  Using a heart rate monitor will be more accurate, as it factors in your heart rate into the calculation as well--but these are all approximations.  They may be accurate enough for regular folk, but if you are very lean or very obese, they may under or over estimate the calories burned (respectively).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T13:13:17.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4977" CreationDate="2011-12-29T22:37:59.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an absolute possibility your experiencing dehydration.  I would consider increasing water intake pre-workout significantly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2610" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T22:37:59.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4962" CreationDate="2011-12-29T22:56:15.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some general rules of thumb, eat 1.5 grams of protein for each lb of bodyweight.  If you weigh 200 lbs, you need 300 grams of protein, each day, to provide enough fuel for new growth.  Also think about eating at least 15-20 calories per lb of bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you're 200 lbs and want to gain weight, you need to aim for 300 grams of protein and minimum of 3000 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler's 5/3/1 is a great strength program, as is the Juggernaut method or the traditional Westside 5x5 method, all easy to find and research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat big, lift big, get big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2610" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T22:56:15.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4972" CreationDate="2011-12-29T23:33:03.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You better consult a specialized doctor to answer your question. I am not a doctor. However, I also have PFPS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can read German, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicalsportsnetwork.de/dwldmag/zb5fFgTn/MSN-2-2011.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;read this recent article. p 18-22.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;One of the closing sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Ein umfassendes physiotherapeutisches Therapiekonzept setzt eine&#xA;  sorgfältige muskuläre Funktionsanalyse voraus.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translation: &quot;For a comprehensive physiotherapeutic concept for a therapy, a careful muscular functional analysis is required.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treatment/therapy will focus on the muscular causes, in a highly individual way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that imaging will not help that much unless you have more severe damages inside your knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorUserId="422" LastEditDate="2011-12-29T23:46:30.510" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T23:46:30.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-30T02:43:03.863" Score="4" ViewCount="2297" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I train to run/jog/march while carrying 50 to 100 pounds? Such as training to do the Fan Dance (SAS March) &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_dance_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fan Dance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On my first attempt to train, I put two 10 pounds ankle weights and some heavy books in a backpack (totaling about 25 pounds), when running I had pain in the rhomboideus major area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day I ran without the backpack and I felt light as feather, but the back pain worried me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I increase weight without harming my back? The backpack does not bounce and I always make sure to stretch, is there any secret in the army to running/jogging with heavy weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weather where I train is uneven, cold and snowy. I use a 5.11 Rush 24 backpack and Blackhawk boots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The catalog containing some info about the boots &lt;a href=&quot;http://opsgear.net/catalogs/2011-01/OPSGEAR-Spring-Catalog-2011.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, apparently neutral (no inversion support) shoes (good thing) and mobile (light-weight etc).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some catalog info about the backpack (investigating)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2611" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditorDisplayName="user2598" LastEditDate="2015-10-15T15:07:52.767" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T18:09:39.087" Title="Army Run - Train for long and heavy run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-30T06:21:40.297" Score="4" ViewCount="380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that NSAIDs can worsen the healing process of certain tissues in body such as bones. It is the irony of the history that they are now so popular (they do have side-effects). I think this is psychologically quite hard topic in itself because a large portion of units such as recruits &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379700001148&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; damage themselves (the reason not clear and the connection to NSAIDs hard to make). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I use perhaps once in year NSAIDs, so very rarely -- and when I do, I do not trust my feelings at all (and I do try to avoid all kind of activity when I use them). I do have close-experience with people who have got strokes etc after not healing themselves properly before intensive trainings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the adverse personal effects of using NSAIDs during training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4990/army-run-train-for-long-and-heavy-run&quot;&gt;Army Run - Train for long and heavy run&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4979/first-aid-kit-for-long-distance-running&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4979/first-aid-kit-for-long-distance-running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2598" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-08-31T21:50:19.287" Title="Adverse effects of NSAIDs during training?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2011-12-30T08:53:31.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to get a similar feeling. I have noticed, however, that it gets better with proper warmup before starting to run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some jumps, short jogs, and other activities to get the heart rate up a bit before setting off is what I do, and it helps quite a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you do any pre-run warm-up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T08:53:31.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4997" CreationDate="2011-12-30T10:07:21.940" Score="12" ViewCount="6559" Body="&lt;p&gt;Newbie here. I work long hours behind my computer and I do my best to keep an eye on ergonomics: paying attention to my posture, taking short breaks at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.workrave.org/&quot;&gt;regular intervals&lt;/a&gt;, that kinda thing. Recently I started experiencing occasional strain on my right arm and my doctor advised me to get more exercise. The only exercise I get are 5km bike rides to my university whenever I have classes there and I go out for 20 minute walks twice a week, but he said it wasn't enough. Exercise aside, I'm rather healthy: I eat responsibly, don't drink and don't smoke. My BMI is 20.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer exercises that I can do anywhere and don't require too much special equipment. I don't want to go to a gym because I don't like working out, I'd lose time on transport, it costs more money and I don't want to exercise with other people around. I was &lt;a href=&quot;http://rhainur.freehostia.com/programpicker/&quot;&gt;linked&lt;/a&gt; to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplefit.org/bodyweight-exercises.html&quot;&gt;SimpleFit&lt;/a&gt; website that sets out a bodyweight exercise plan to build up strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I assume that you could potentially harm yourself if you're doing it wrong. What are the dangers of doing push-ups, pull-ups and squats incorrectly? Would you advise against trying this out without supervision?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T16:16:28.487" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T16:53:42.923" Title="What are the dangers of doing push-ups incorrectly?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4993" CreationDate="2011-12-30T11:21:44.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Push-ups and pull-ups are among the safest ways to pass your time and you have to work hard to do them «incorrectly».  The only injuries I can think of are strained fingers if you do push-ups on your fingers (as opposed to palms or fists).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T11:21:44.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4991" CreationDate="2011-12-30T13:33:57.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Advil (aka Ibuprofin) has been known to affect kidney function, (admittedly in high dosages) which can be contraindicated when you are dehydrated.  That is when you are most interested in properly functioning kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T13:33:57.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5009" CreationDate="2011-12-30T15:28:24.027" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I have a heavy moutain biking weekend coming up at the end of January. I have not been on the bike reguarly for the past 3 months and so my fitness has suffered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wondered what best I could do to train for it? (we're talking 30 miles a day with a lot of ascending). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2615" LastActivityDate="2011-12-31T11:27:39.197" Title="Advice needed in training for heavy mountain biking weekend" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4993" CreationDate="2011-12-30T15:50:44.203" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest risk of injury comes from overuse, particularly if you are getting older.  Body weight exercises are very safe, and the biggest real risk of not doing them correctly is wasting time because you won't get the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to pushups is keeping your body straight as a board.  If your body is sagging in the middle, it's likely because your abs are too weak.  If you do some situps to help strengthen the abs, you should be able to get to the point of doing a proper pushup soon.  Another approach is to do your pushups from your knees until you can do those with proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullups are great, and even if you do kipping pullups or jumping up to get started, you will get stronger.  Eventually, you will want to do them with strict form, but it takes time to be able to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing body weight squats with bad form also won't put you at risk of injury.  You just won't be getting the benefit from them that you desire.  If you work on breaking from the hips, and going as deep as you can, you will get more benefit from them.  Eventually you can work up to squat-jumps where you squat down, and jump up from that position as high as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other body weight exercises that are quite useful such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chair dips.  Not everyone has two rails near each other where they can do proper dips (shoulders going just below the elbows, but not too much more than that).  But everyone has a chair.  Put your hands on the edge of the chair, and put your legs out in front.  Now lower yourself until your bottom hits the floor and back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse pushups.  If you have a bar, or a solid ledge you can grab hold of, lay on your back underneath it, and pull your body up to the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situps.  An oldy but a goody.  Ab strength is important.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks.  Put your weight on your elbows and lift your body so that you are straight as a board.  Hold that as long as you can.  Even better than situps--but harder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back raises.  Basically you will need something to brace your feet as your body hangs over the edge of a table or something like that.  Keep your hands behind your head.  Lower your body, keeping your lower back straight, and then raise it as high as you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a rhyme and a reason for the variety.  The idea is that if you exercise one side of the body, you should balance it by exercising the other.  For example, pushups work your arms, chest, and core.  Things that balance it are reverse pushups and back raises.&#xA;The balance to planks would be back raises.  The balance to pullups would be dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't do it with strict form just yet, don't worry too much about it.  Just try to get more and more strict with form as you can.  That will help you get stronger and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T15:50:44.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5005" CreationDate="2011-12-30T16:27:44.900" Score="7" ViewCount="4216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been lifting for 6 years (non professionally) yet never seriously tried the Deadlift exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this exercise necessary for intermediate\advanced bodybuilders in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2616" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-12-30T16:49:16.753" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T23:20:33.103" Title="Is the deadlift necessary for an intermediate bodybuilder?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4951" CreationDate="2011-12-30T16:33:28.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Recommendations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution, I liked Vickery &amp;amp; Fries' Take Care of Yourself, which is more about medical care and general health than nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are large quantities of jerky a possibility in the field?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're familiar with Paleo but can't eat meat, it's still likely that you could get a good deal of benefit from reading up on the reasoning behind Paleo. As noted by John C above, a lot of Paleo still applies even if you're forced into vegetarianism. Perhaps ex-vegan websites like rawfoodsos.com could point you in the right direction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mitigating Factors&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not having a freezer and not being able to eat meat cause unavoidable issues in eating right. There is only so much that can be done in such a situation to improve the food and sleep options. It sounds like your situation is inherently sub-optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds from your comments like you'd also benefit from attention to exercise in addition to diet, but that's another question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T16:33:28.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-12-30T16:42:34.173" Score="10" ViewCount="3301" Body="&lt;p&gt;The deadlift seems to put a lot of pressure on the spinal vertebrae. Is it safe to deadlift without a belt or does correct form completely eliminate the need for one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2616" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-06T20:29:19.903" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T03:10:22.923" Title="Deadlift - belt or no belt?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5003" CreationDate="2011-12-30T16:48:48.310" Score="6" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;With so much misinformation all over the internet, how do I learn the Deadlift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2616" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T02:52:50.040" Title="Beginning the deadlift exercise" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5002" CreationDate="2011-12-30T16:51:47.560" Score="7" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength book and/or DVD to best learn the deadlift. As a preview, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Deadlift_Videos&quot;&gt;this collection of coaching videos&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4952486&quot;&gt;this T-Nation deadlift overview&lt;/a&gt;, and/or &lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/51-2006_AnalysisofDeadlift.pdf&quot;&gt;this CrossFit Journal article (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then, get a coach or friend who knows the deadlift well review your form. A powerlifting, Olympic lifting, or CrossFit gym would be a good place to look for coaching. This might cost money&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Video yourself deadlifting and post it on Rip's forum or this site for a form check.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2011-12-30T17:09:34.473" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T17:09:34.473" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5000" CreationDate="2011-12-30T16:55:46.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, belts are used in powerlifting to provide something for the abs to push against, which increases intra-abdominal pressure and locks the trunk in place during the lift. This helps prevent movement of the lumbar spine during the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a beginner lifter (300# deadlift), I do not find it necessary. Some people consider it helpful when lifting heavy. Others consider it to be a crutch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1235/when-do-you-recommend-using-a-belt-for-deadlifts&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; is similar but not quite the same, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T16:55:46.587" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4998" CreationDate="2011-12-30T17:02:28.633" Score="10" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The deadlift is awesome&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find deadlifts very productive. Since they're a multi-joint, multi-muscle exercise, they promote growth across the entire back and legs. Done heavy, I've found them very efficient at adding muscle. This is partially because I am a novice. It might be different for your situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know of many exercises that could be said to fully replace the deadlift. Squats? Romanian deadlifts? Barbell hip thrusts? They're all close, but not quite it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You should deadlift&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the deadlift is easy to learn, safe if done correctly, and simple to do heavy, I think you would love deadlifting. Start light and add weight frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T17:02:28.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1250" CreationDate="2011-12-30T22:08:09.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to have your muscle type determined. You can do it by genetic testing.&#xA;You can have a CC, CT, or TT genotype on marker rs1815739 (Humans have two instances of each chromosome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CC&lt;/strong&gt;  Two working copies of alpha-actinin-3 in fast-twitch muscle fiber. Many world-class sprinters and some endurance athletes have this genotype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CT&lt;/strong&gt;  One working copy of alpha-actinin-3 in fast-twitch muscle fiber. Many world-class sprinters and some endurance athletes have this genotype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TT&lt;/strong&gt;  No working copies of alpha-actinin-3 in fast-twitch muscle fiber. Few world-class sprinters have this genotype, but many world-class endurance athletes do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you got your result, it might not be that helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lastly, muscle fiber only contributes a small part to your overall&#xA;  athletic performance. Other physical characteristics, such as lung&#xA;  capacity, and behaviors, such as regular exercise, also make important&#xA;  contributions to your prowess in sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One study looked at a group of Greek teenagers who had been tested for&#xA;  a variety of fitness measures related to power and endurance sports.&#xA;  In this group, ACTN3 genotype had no effect on the girls, but boys&#xA;  with the TT genotype were significantly slower in a 40 m sprint.&#xA;  Interestingly, running was the only power event that the different&#xA;  versions of ACTN3 seemed to affect. For activities like throwing a&#xA;  basketball or jumping into the air, performance was unaffected by&#xA;  genotype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[One theory to explain this claims: ACTN3-genotype muscles get repaired faster]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Running involves repeated use of the muscles, while jumping only uses&#xA;  muscles once: damage is not an issue.&#xA;  [...]&#xA;  Alpha-actinin-3 may also affect athletic performance by virtue of its&#xA;  effects on oxygen usage in muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are quotes from a web page on the ACTN3 gene, from a genome typisation company. (This content is behind a paywall, so I cannot link to it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are fitness goals you try to achieve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2011-12-30T22:08:09.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4747" CreationDate="2011-12-31T05:32:53.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides your protein intake, you need to cut &quot;empty calories&quot; (ie sugars) as much as possible if you want to build lean mass, and not gain fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A can of pop has about 140 calories.  Sure you need calories to live, but the reason it's called &quot;empty&quot; is because &lt;em&gt;besides fuel your body for the day&lt;/em&gt;, that &quot;food&quot; (Coke) doesn't do anything else for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better have 140 calories of &lt;em&gt;some food&lt;/em&gt; (any food!) that has at least some kind of vitamin/mineral content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2011-12-31T05:32:53.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4996" CreationDate="2011-12-31T11:27:39.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, if you are worrying about the distance with only 4 weeks to go then you have left it too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of factors to think about before a any descent advice could be given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Current fitness level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type of terrain that you will be riding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Amount of time available to train before hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really this leaves you with 3 weeks to train so that you have a week (or the best part of a week) to recover fully for the ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can only get out for 3 or so times a week then I would say try and push the distance you can manage a bit (not too much, you do not want to burn out).  Keep it consistent and don't increase the amount you do in a week by more than 10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do 5-6 days I would suggest short training sessions with some interval training and one longer ride a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery is just (if not more) important than the exercise, (but have to exercise to recover!).  If you push too hard or do too much you will take too long to recover and not gain much (or could loss) some fitness by the time of your ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is with only 4 (3 really) weeks left to your ride it is hard.  If you do not know your body and your limits now it is possible you will either under train (to avoid burning out), or over train and burn out leaving the long weekend a dream, or a very painful event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps a bit, and good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2336" LastActivityDate="2011-12-31T11:27:39.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5011" CreationDate="2011-12-31T11:48:45.153" Score="2" ViewCount="823" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious to know what kind or what forms of exercises increases stamina.Is it Running,Body building,swimming or else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastActivityDate="2012-01-01T06:36:53.963" Title="What are the exercises that increases Stamina and Endurance of the body?" Tags="&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5010" CreationDate="2011-12-31T20:53:01.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Aerobic&lt;/a&gt; exercise will increase your endurance. (I'm assuming you mean the same thing by stamina and endurance.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aerobic exercise would include exercises like distance running, swimming, and biking. Some guidelines for the target heart rate for aerobic exercise are in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exercise_zones.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FOtXG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorUserId="1147" LastEditDate="2012-01-01T06:36:53.963" LastActivityDate="2012-01-01T06:36:53.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2012-01-01T20:15:44.730" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have done marathons with 2 runs per week. And with my longest run being only about 15 miles, but I was working out nearly every day doing other things such as elliptical, indoor cycling, exercise dvds to strength train, etc. Be sure to add in yoga and pilates or stretches. I finished in 4:20:11. But I was also battling a pretty bad case of ITBS.  Work on running form and not just miles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2626" LastActivityDate="2012-01-01T20:15:44.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4666" CreationDate="2012-01-02T04:52:16.733" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Myofibrillar and Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy do not lend themselves to being a black and white &quot;it's either one or the other&quot; result.  Depending on your initial muscle mass levels, you may put on mass which will be sustained simply because it's muscle you should have had to begin with.  In that case, putting on mass would not mean it's sarcoplasmic.  Nor does it have to be 100% Myofibril density increase.  It can be a combo which favors one or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the benefit of mass goes, let me first correct the previous poster on his nomenclature;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as an 'Olympic Powerlifter'.  It's either Olympic &lt;em&gt;Weightlifter&lt;/em&gt; OR Powerlifter.  Powerlifting is not an olympic event, nor are the two disciplines the same in the execution of their respective lifts.  A powerlifter squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, competing in one of many federations at state, regional, national, or world level. An olympic weightlifter snatches (not a power snatch - a full snatch) and clean and jerks (not a power clean - a full clean and jerk), competing under ONE ruling body (the International Weightlifting Federation) and ultimately the goal is to compete in the olympics (if your lifting weights to be a weightlifter and not a just a fitness enthusiast).  Strongman Competition I'm not as clear on in terms of ruling bodies.  They were under 'Worlds Strongest Man&quot; but that may have changed, and there may be more than one now.  Anyway, strongmen compete in a whole variety of odd object lifting, truck pulling, and grip / carrying feats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enough on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a competitive powerlifter in the American Powerlifting Federation in the 242 lb weight class.  My opinion is that training for hypertrophy is NOT critical when you are trying to improve your power lifts. It would stand to reason that this is true of olympic weightlifting also.  The main reason why is that these are weight class sports.  Thus, the stronger you are, while being as light as you can be will be to your benefit.  Let me use an example;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight class below me is 220 lbs.  I lift in the 242 lb class because I actually weigh 233 lbs.  So let's say another lifter weighs 239 lbs.  Both of us compete at 242 and we achieve the same three lift total of 1,500 lbs.  I will win because I am actually lighter even though we are both in the 242 class.  Excess fat is obviously the worst.  But excessive hypertrophy can be bad too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of examples of people who are super strong in powerlifting and very light relative to what they lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob Peoples deadlifted 725 at 180 lbs of bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lamar Gant deadlifted 688 at 132 lbs of bodyweight, squatted 595 and benched 352.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Fred Hatfield has a whole list of his accomplishments at various body weights here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://samson-power.com/ASL/hatfield.html&quot;&gt;http://samson-power.com/ASL/hatfield.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rock Lewis benched 600 lbs raw in July 2007 at 241 lbs of bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brian Cass has all three of his lifts over 700 lbs at a bodyweight in the 220's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes on and on... John Inzer, Eric Cressey, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting bigger DOES NOT necessarily mean getting stronger.  And training for hypertrophy specifically is a waste of time in my opinion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be careful when you research this because their are guys 275 lbs and over who squat and deadlift in the 900 lbs and some over 1000, as well as some ultra heavy bench presses.  You have to pay attention to whether they are using gear or not - by that I mean squat suits and deadlift suits and bench shirts.  The geared (or equipped) bench is over a grand already.  The raw world record is 715 lbs.  So make sure you know what you're reading before you make conclusions.  All the lifts above, with the exception of some of Hatfields lifts, are all raw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2631" LastActivityDate="2012-01-02T04:52:16.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-02T11:50:33.250" Score="3" ViewCount="448" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for some weight lifting exercises for the area under the pectoralis muscles, namely the serratus and oblique. I heard this is beneficial for people who play basketball, volleyball and tennis...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T14:43:16.080" Title="exercises for serratus and oblique muscles?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5017" CreationDate="2012-01-03T04:57:12.777" Score="6" ViewCount="1200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do circuit training at least 5 days a week (30 minutes).  It is without equipment combining, running, mountain climbing, burpees, jumping jacks, pushups, squats, ab exercises, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also walk for 45 minutes in the evening.  It is fast walk, covering 2km.  Typically carrying  my 2 year old son.  We walk to a park 1km away.  He plays for 15 mins. Then we walk back.  This I do all weekdays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that my life is mostly sedentary except for chasing after my son :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Am I overdoing it on the exercise part?  I prefer not to change my walking schedule.  Do you think I should cut back on circuit training?  What is the optimal number of times I can do circuit training in a week?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is circuit training without equipment an effective strength training routine?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last week I couldn't go for the walk and followed only the circuit training routine.  I gained back almost a kg.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to reduce my post-pregnancy weight gain.  I have been moderately successful in that I have lost 10 kg.  But I still have a long way to go, at least another 10 kg.  I mostly eat only healthy food.  But there are times when I have extra portions and also once or twice a week, we eat out.  Do you have any suggestions for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sharmila&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2636" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-01-03T14:43:44.840" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T21:45:53.180" Title="circuit training and walking schedule" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4990" CreationDate="2012-01-03T06:17:16.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe if you want to train with more weight from a backpack you should do things like doing sit ups and then grab something heavy and do a sit up if you get comfortable and don't have anymore back pain then you could probably add a backpack and start out with a comfortable weight. Or you could wear the backpack everywhere you go by add a few pounds each day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T06:17:16.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5015" CreationDate="2012-01-03T13:10:47.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good luck in your weight loss goals.  Here are a few thoughts...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Circuit training without weights is an effective way to gain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weight gain or loss should not be measured day to day but rather week over week. Look for consistent momentum in the desired direction.  1 kg is such a small number that can be attributed to water retention, stool retention, etc.  Also, muscle will weigh more than fat so consider body fat percentage as an alternative measure of fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Doing the same thing over and over without changing a stimulus will make the body stale and gains will stop.  I suggest making the following changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 - 45 min walk, weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 - 60 min walk a little slower than normal, no weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 - 45 min walk, start slow for 10 minutes and slowly increase your pace; weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 4 - 60 min walk alternating 10 mins easy and 10 mins faster; no weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 5 - 45 min walk, weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you can change your weight training by adjusting the number of reps, the number of sets, the amount of rest and/or the intensity.  To lose weight, try higher reps and less intensity.  Ideally work at 75-85% intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it is important to continue to eat but also try to eat healthy.  The body needs fuel to create muscle and heal.  Try to avoid processed food and increase vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats (nuts, avocado, etc).  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2012-01-03T21:45:53.180" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T21:45:53.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5014" CreationDate="2012-01-03T14:43:16.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the best tool for the job is the ab wheel.  It's a $10 piece of equipment you can get from Walmart, but you will need to work up to being able to use it.  However, getting to using it in it's truly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/37&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beast skill&lt;/a&gt; way is very difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://davidlasnier.com/tag/ab-wheel-rollout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;David Lasnier has some progression&lt;/a&gt; to get your abs ready for the wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T14:43:16.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5015" CreationDate="2012-01-03T16:15:25.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick answer--&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The walking isn't too much. Five days a week of half an hour high-intensity circuit training might be too much, but if it's working for you, it's working. If you feel lethargic, aren't sleeping, or see other signs of overtraining, it might be a good idea to see if cutting back helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Circuit training is great. It will get you stronger and dramatically increase your work capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For optimal strength gains, you'd want to add weights or a gymnastics progression so that you're increasing your load over time. Doing more air squats is just not the same as adding weights to your squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For situations like yours, I am reminded of the routine in Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution. He recommends a program very similar to yours to start out, but adds dumbbells and pull-ups when you're able. That way you remain challenged with regards to strength development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T16:15:25.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5020" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5021" CreationDate="2012-01-03T16:57:51.890" Score="4" ViewCount="4251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a set of dumbbells that I would like to use in the new year. Is there a handy list somewhere (preferably with pictures) of beginner exercises I can do with my dumbbells? I do not have a weight bench, so I'll need something bare-bones. I'd preferably like something very easy to start out with; I'm more likely to stick with something easy, so that's a good starting point for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for any tips!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastEditorUserId="2639" LastEditDate="2012-11-26T22:17:13.447" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T11:23:02.760" Title="List of Beginner Dumbbell Exercises?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5020" CreationDate="2012-01-03T19:50:18.460" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can supplement some bodyweight exercises with dumbbells:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell calf raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell step ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a more complete &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dumbbell-exercises.com/exercises/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of other dumbbell exercises&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginner, I'd suggest finding exercises that use a large number of muscles at the same time, so that you only need to learn a few exercises and do them well. Squats, overhead press, rows, these will be better than focussing on little things like calves, biceps, forearms, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-27T21:53:26.340" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T21:53:26.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-03T20:54:17.570" Score="5" ViewCount="2353" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently running to lose weight and build some fitness. I run 12 km run in about 1h20m and keep my heart rate between 140~150bpm. I &lt;em&gt;try&lt;/em&gt; to do 3 runs a week. The run itself does not seem very stressful but should I be eating extra protein to repair damage. Diet-wise, I am a pesco-veg who eats a few eggs and a couple of portions of fish a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extra details requested: I'm 43 yo, 184cm, 90kgs and about 18% BF. I've have been running for a few months now. Years ago, my heart rate used to hit up to 180bpm while running so I would consider 150bpm to be a lot more healthy. My polar watch has this as my best weight loss zone though I'm trying to up it a bit just so I can get the run done faster. I have a lot of dairy as it is (2 or 3 300ml lattes a day, cheese and yoghurt). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main question is: does a light(ish) exercise regime like this warrant extra protein. When I was weight lifting 20 years ago, I'd ensure I had extra protein to ensure maximum bulk. Now, I just want to lose the gut. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1546" LastEditorUserId="1546" LastEditDate="2012-01-05T10:11:39.567" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T23:45:28.570" Title="Do I need to eat extra protein after a run?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5020" CreationDate="2012-01-03T21:19:11.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert, but if I were stuck with dumbbells as my only strength and power training equipment, the following exercises would be my first choices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges with maximal weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/DBHangClean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Power cleans&lt;/a&gt;, and power snatches with heavy but submaximal weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Presses and Push Presses with maximal weight (NB: these combine well with the power cleans)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turkish get-ups with submaximal weight, for stability in the shoulder girdle and trunk rather than maximal strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One-arm rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Farmer's walks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;goblet squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swings, as with a kettlebell, for conditioning and posterior chain development&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With maximal weights, sets of 5 are good. With sub-maximal weights, sets of 8 or more are better for most purposes. I'd shoot for &quot;heavier&quot; rather than &quot;more reps&quot; as a general rule, particularly since you'll eventually run out of heavy enough dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might do something roughly like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A:&lt;/strong&gt; warm-up, 3 sets of 10 weighted lunges, 3 sets of 3 snatches, 3 sets of 5 clean-and-press (power cleaning the dumbbell once for each press), two sets of one-arm rows on each side, heavy farmer's walks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B:&lt;/strong&gt; warm-up, five Turkish get-ups each side with moderate weight, 3 sets of 20 squats, 3 sets of 5 hang cleans, 3 sets of 10 push presses (power cleaning once for each set), a set of 20 swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you use the full range of motion in each exercise, keep your back straight for everything, learn good form, and lift heavy. If you need more conditioning work, run, using both sprints and distances up to 5k. I'd do some bodyweight work (read: dips and pull-ups) to round out the training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-09T21:20:18.400" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T21:20:18.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5022" CreationDate="2012-01-03T21:48:42.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein always helps with recovery. Recommend carb / protein mix within first 20 minutes to maximize nutrient uptake.  Also ensure you are getting enough calcium to prevent bone injuries.  Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T21:48:42.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-03T23:46:36.647" Score="7" ViewCount="640" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 25-yr-old, healthy male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past 7 years or so I've been running every day (except 1-4 times / year when health or other things got in the way)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I don't run on a certain day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I feel really cranky and depressed, everything has a negative edge to it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have trouble sleeping that night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My legs feel worked up, like I want to use them (If I got aerobic exercise other ways I think my legs would still feel worked up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now I run every morning - just for 20-25 minutes, at around 6.5 - 7mph.  Usually on a treadmill, sometimes outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's nice to burn the calories and boost my metabolism, but it's annoying to have to run every day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way for me to stop running, or just run &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;, but not experience the bad symptoms I described above?  Maybe a drug I can take? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2641" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:45:56.260" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T18:11:19.373" Title="Need to run every day - best way to stop?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5025" CreationDate="2012-01-04T00:22:45.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try heavy lifting. I used to be addicted to playing running sports (e. g. Ultimate frisbee) five days a week. Lifting heavy definitely took the edge off, even days between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="2841" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T20:17:07.583" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T20:17:07.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-04T09:43:40.793" Score="3" ViewCount="1288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to monitor my heartrate throughout the day, and do some analysis/visualisation of the data myself. As such, I'm hoping to find something that meets the following requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Must-have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not the &quot;contact&quot; version where you have to manually touch the watch to take a reading&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stores data and exports data to a text format, or a third party API that can do this&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nice-to-have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strapless&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rechargable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else had experience with solutions for this sort of experiment?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="663" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-29T15:42:20.123" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T20:49:43.183" Title="Continuous heart rate monitor" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-12-17T08:22:46.093" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5032" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5038" CreationDate="2012-01-04T19:36:04.573" Score="34" ViewCount="237973" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is going to sound like a stupid question. I apologize. But I've had it on my mind for a while and it needed to be asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;b&gt;how do you use the shower at the locker room at the gym?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I told you it was stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really, I've had gym memberships for a total of about 5 years during my life (not consecutive). I've gone frequently and worked out, but I've never used the showers there. Why not? Honestly, I've just been too nervous about it. It's not so much public nudity itself that makes me nervous. It does make me feel weird and a little self conscious to take my clothes off in a room with other people in it, but I don't think other people really care that much. What &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; worry me though is the possibility of committing some kind of social faux pas or perhaps even exposing myself to some kind of safety hazard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things that have run through my mind as I contemplate taking a shower at the gym: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where do I keep my clothes? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If in a locker, should I wear a towel between the shower and the locker?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where do I keep the &lt;em&gt;towel&lt;/em&gt; while I'm in the shower? Not every place I've been to has somewhere to hang it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there are no private showers, is it normal to shower in a bathing suit or similar attire? My current gym has private shower stalls with curtains, but I've been to gyms where the showers were more community style.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where do I keep my cell phone/wallet/keys? I can't really bring them with me into the shower, so I suppose I'd have to keep them in the locker. But is that safe? If someone broke into my locker while I was in the shower, I'd lose everything valuable &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; I'd have no clothes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I use a shower that strangers have used, are there any possible health repercussions? Do I need to wear sandals to protect against athlete's foot, for example?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it normal/OK to perform other grooming functions, such as shaving, or brushing your teeth, in a gym locker room?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, in summary, &lt;b&gt;what is the safest and most socially acceptable way to use a locker room at the gym?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does surprise me how anxious I feel about this, considering I'm usually pretty laid back about most things. I have been to the hot springs and even bath houses in Japan, when I was there visiting friends. But I felt less anxious about that because I was accompanying people who knew what they were doing, and I just did my best to imitate them. When I go to the gym locker room by myself I feel completely out-of-sorts. I feel like everybody else in the world has read some secret manual about how to deal with this and nobody ever handed me a copy. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's some cultural ambiguity about social customs, please assume for the purposes of this question that we're talking about the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T09:25:42.923" Title="What is the proper procedure for showering in a gym locker room?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5030" CreationDate="2012-01-04T20:42:40.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/e-pulse.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Epulse 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strapless, rechargeable, continuous heart rate monitor. Don't know if it stores the data for you though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2610" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T20:42:25.340" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T20:42:25.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4933" CreationDate="2012-01-04T21:23:08.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not - unless they're restrictively tight and are cutting blood circulation. You haven't described what the pain is so it's hard to tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would point out that 1000km a year isn't all that much. You might have some form of overuse injury from upping your training or changing your motion because of snow or ice conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-04T21:23:08.067" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5051" CreationDate="2012-01-05T11:42:11.483" Score="6" ViewCount="2616" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 years old. For the past years, I've been running every day. I dont like running. I like swimming. Which one is good for maintaining your body and reducing your belly? What is the main difference between swimming and running? Can anyone give suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-14T11:44:22.670" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T11:44:22.670" Title="What is the difference between swimming and running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5037" CreationDate="2012-01-05T11:59:05.200" Score="4" ViewCount="9646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear this term quite a lot - &quot;if you exercise it will boost your metabolism&quot;. The implication generally being that if you do some exercise not only will the exercise burn some calories, but you will also continue to burn more calories throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't make much sense to me. We store calories so that we have some reserves to draw on when needed. If we burn a load of calories, the body wouldn't just think &quot;oh ok, I'll just off load some more for the hell of it&quot;. I'm sure it would be the opposite, it would see you exerting yourself and think it would need to hold on to the calories to be used when you exert yourself again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what does boosting your metabolism actually mean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T02:58:00.093" Title="What does it mean to &quot;boost your metabolism&quot;?" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5036" CreationDate="2012-01-05T15:45:14.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are (at least) two different ways to look at this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding muscle mass =&gt; higher basal metabolism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post-workout metabolic effects&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one being that the more muscle you have, the more energy your body will demand to maintain itself. You can probably find a basal metabolism rate calculator, and input different values of your weight to see how much difference this would do if you for example were to gain/lose 5 kgs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second is another story. Some people hype the post-exercise &quot;burn&quot; coming from for example high intensity interval training. After these types of training, there is a slight elevation in metabolism for a while after the workout. However, this is a lot less than the amount of energy spent in training, thus the post-exersize effect can be considered negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastActivityDate="2012-01-05T15:45:14.867" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2012-01-05T19:32:49.357" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer is this: when in doubt, ask management.  A longer answer includes some general principles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use your locker to store clothes, and anything you don't want in the shower with you.  Lock your locker and take the key with you (if it's not a combination lock).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear a towel around your waist going from the locker to the shower.  While no-one is likely checking you out, you don't want to advertise either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang your towel on the shower stall door or on top of the shower head if there isn't a towel hook.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as community style showers go, it really depends on your comfort level.  More than likely in a gym most people in the shower area with you don't really want to see you.  As long as you aren't looking all around and focusing on getting clean, you won't cause any breach of etiquette.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as clothing in the shower goes, what is the purpose of the shower area in your gym?  If it is simply to rinse before and after going to the pool, use a bathing suit.  If it is to clean off the sweat from intense training, being in the buff is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as health risks are concerned, evaluate the cleanliness of the shower area.  Gyms that routinely disinfect the shower areas will be about as safe as your home shower would be.  However, if you see evidence of less than stellar upkeep, keep some flip flops on.  Use soap and warm water.  Anything more falls under safety concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, but not least, if showering at home suits you best, do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-05T19:32:49.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-05T20:10:47.070" Score="3" ViewCount="930" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there stretches that can help with stiff neck and shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2658" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T23:06:20.407" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T23:06:20.407" Title="Stretches that are good for stiff neck and shoulders?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5022" CreationDate="2012-01-06T02:18:57.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jein!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;yes certain type of protein according to dairy industry like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dairycouncilofca.org/pdfs/whey_monograph.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (marketing whey for all kind of things such as weight loss, surely-better-than-soft-drinks -style argumenting, feels a bit strawman) but if you get enough things already from your nutrition, probably not. Be on the safe side though some extra protein such as whey straight after running is surely not bad, some fuzzy question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/21/effect-of-protein-intake-on-muscle-recovery&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;0. Calculations and Profile analysis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With 90kg, it is apparently around 135g:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1.5*90&#xA;[1] 135&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but but -- is this over-estimate in your situation? Researching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think that two fitness-spoons is about 30g so some protein probably not bad, depending ofc on your diet and intensity of your exercise (HF does not tell everything, EPOC  more, there are services such as Movecount to monitor this kind of things). Now other type of proteins such as egg and soy. Egg weights about 50g and has about 12% protein, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_%28food%29#Nutritional_value&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;. In soy about 52% of content. In whey about 76% or even more of content. And also take into account your other intake during day, can you get protein already from your nutrition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Focus on general picture not on one type of thing such as protein or vitamin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only one type of thing such as protein or calcium is not necessary. It is necessary that you get the all necessary ingredients to get long chain reactions in your body working. The reason why the next study focuses on both Ca and D2 is that absorption requires them, not just one. The quote from this study about the elderly women &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199212033272305#t=article+Results&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Combined calcium and vitamin D2 supplementation increases cortical bone density.&quot;.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also other things such as C that may affect things -- so at that age just take some easy to get multivitamin without confusing your head too much with technical details or rationing, even the term &lt;code&gt;&quot;vitamin&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is a pain of history!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Eat good quality of protein with variety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answer with the generalization &lt;code&gt;&quot;Protein always helps with recovery.&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is wrong and misleading. The sentence is satisfied even with gelatin, not including all necessary amino acids. Again the key is &lt;code&gt;&quot;variety&quot;&lt;/code&gt;. If somethnig feels bad, stop. Mix between egg, soy, whey and milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...anyway keep things fun -- but not too fun to lose discipline :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps Interesting Things to Readers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/8332/cheap-sources-of-protein?answertab=votes#tab-top&quot;&gt;https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/8332/cheap-sources-of-protein?answertab=votes#tab-top&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/21/effect-of-protein-intake-on-muscle-recovery&quot;&gt;Effect of protein intake on muscle recovery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2598" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2598" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-01-06T02:58:40.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-06T08:09:12.113" Score="1" ViewCount="7637" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had this issue for over a year now... after running about a mile, I feel an ache in the &quot;back&quot; of my right knee (the side away from my knee cap).  It seems to get worse whenever I take a step, but the ache goes away as soon as I slow to a walk.  I've tried both changing my footwear (I even tried barefoot running) and changing the way I run, but nothing helps.  I would really appreciate any insights or suggestions; it's frustrating not to be able to run long distances because of this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: It's slightly above the joint line, more towards the outside, and fairly diffuse, but I'll try to clarify more the next time I go running. Thanks again for the help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2662" LastEditorUserId="2662" LastEditDate="2012-01-07T19:02:38.430" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T23:02:45.767" Title="Pain at back of knee when running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29" CreationDate="2012-01-06T10:42:53.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start light with the weights whilst you get back into lifting. Use that time as an opportunity to lose fat (maybe 5% body fat) and then when you're ready to lift heavy you should aim for a bulk then. It makes a lot more sense to bulk up when in the 10-15% body fat zone, because your hormones are more conducive to putting on lean muscle rather than a mix of muscle and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2665" LastActivityDate="2012-01-06T10:42:53.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5035" CreationDate="2012-01-06T13:16:43.737" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming, if done for speed/efficiency is actually more of an upper body workout than lower body. In fact, much of the focus of swimming improvement is in efficiency, which of course reduces calorie burn but results in the ability to swim longer and faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also because you are floating, a lot of the work of carrying your own weight is skipped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is probably better for general calorie burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If however you like swimming, then something is better than what you do not like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-01-06T13:16:43.737" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5047" CreationDate="2012-01-06T14:26:11.220" Score="9" ViewCount="16330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been slowly adopting a Paleo diet over the past few by &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4209/241&quot;&gt;changing what I eat for breakfast&lt;/a&gt; and incorporating more protein and vegetables. In addition, I have also been making changes in what I eat for dinner as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm eating more meat and vegetables and less grains, it struck me that this sounds much like the Atkins Diet which eliminates carbs. I am okay with the diet no matter what you call it, but the terminology confuses me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the main differences between a Paleo diet and an Atkins one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-01-08T21:54:59.393" Title="What are the differences between Paleo and Atkins diets?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;&lt;atkins&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5046" CreationDate="2012-01-06T18:20:19.143" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main differences between the two is the philosophies behind it, and how they are designed to work.  First and foremost, it is important to realize that Paleo does allow carbs, just not grains and legumes (or anything that grows underground).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Atkins&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is a ketogenic diet.  It puts your body in a safe version of a fasting state so that your body turns fat into ketone bodies.  Ketone bodies cannot be reassimilated to fat so unused ketone bodies are urinated out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasis is on both protein and fats.  Protein is there to help protect your muscle mass, and fat is used to provide some additional energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is designed as a temporary diet to help you lose weight, it is not intended for prolonged use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Paleo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is based on what scientists believe the average paleolithic man ate.  This includes berries and easily accessible fruit/vegetables as well as meat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasis is on avoiding processed foods and foods that are likely to cause digestion problems.  This includes grains (like wheat), tubers (like potatoes), and legumes (like beans).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is designed as a way of life diet, or in other words a sustainable diet you can use for the long term.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some commonalities between the two approaches, such as the emphasis on meat as a protein source.  However, Paleo tends towards whole foods and grass/natural diet fed meat and Atkins makes no distinction.  While Atkins does not allow carbs which would take someone out of ketosis, Paleo does allow carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone who exercises regularly will need the following for a healthy diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About 1g protein / lb lean body mass.  This is both for the better thermic effect of food (i.e. it burns more calories digesting it), and for restoring muscles that have been torn down by exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs on workout day.  This is a minimum, as it helps restore your glycogen levels to help you recover more quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A combination of saturated and mono-unsaturated fats.  Fat is used for energy, but it also carries with it essential fat-born vitamins.  NOTE: I did not include poly-unsaturated fats which are man-made and cause health issues over the long term.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How you proportion those depends on your daily caloric needs, but it is safe to split the remaining calories after you have your protein evenly between the carbs and fat.  This is very possible on the Paleo diet, but due to the way Atkins is designed it is not possible on that diet.  You will likely need to alter how you exercise on Atkins to ensure you do not burn muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-06T18:20:19.143" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5043" CreationDate="2012-01-06T18:53:31.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Patellofemoral pain syndrome could possibly be your issue. I came across this when doing some research on the tracking of the kneecap after having my MPFL (Medial Patellofemoral Ligament) replaced. Another name for PFPS is &quot;runners knee&quot;. Many runners seem to notice similar pain to yours due to mistracking of the kneecap. Ligaments begin to wear down due to the continuous impact when running and may be causing your pain to last only until you begin walking again. Some research may be good so that you can identify any possible remedies for your pain. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2666" LastActivityDate="2012-01-06T18:53:31.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5043" CreationDate="2012-01-06T20:31:24.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have full range of motion? No obvious swelling? No instability? You're still able to run on it, so it seems not too serious at the moment, although definitely something you would want to correct sooner rather than later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best diagnosis will come from a visit to a doctor, or a physiotherapist. They'd be able to assess you for muscle imbalances, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To best prepare for an appointment, or even to be able to ask better questions on this website, you can take a look at this page from Mayo Clinic: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/knee-pain/DS00555/DSECTION=preparing-for-your-appointment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/knee-pain/DS00555/DSECTION=preparing-for-your-appointment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastActivityDate="2012-01-06T20:31:24.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5035" CreationDate="2012-01-07T02:48:46.987" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO swimming is a better all-around exercise for health; it can be tweaked to focus on upper- or lower-body, and is substantially less abusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, for absolute fat loss, it may not be optimal because of the heat loss encountered when in water. (Body: &quot;This environment is costing me heat; I shall retain body fat.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say do what you enjoy--you're more likely to do it, it's less damaging, and it's great exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T02:48:46.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4933" CreationDate="2012-01-07T02:56:12.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;normal&quot; pair of tights cannot be injurious; no way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now the only differentiating factor is the weather: cold. Under 2mi/day is nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you mention ITB issues, I'm far more likely to attribute the issues to cold/lack of warmup/inherent tension. Your specialist should have given you a number of stretches; I suffer (still) from ITB issues and if I don't do a few stretches I notice it within days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T02:56:12.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4241" CreationDate="2012-01-07T02:57:47.443" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Zinc&lt;/strong&gt; - 30mg a day for testosterone replenishing. Zinc is diminished easily through a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt; -  bodyweight in pounds x 1gram. ex if you weigh 150lbs take 150 grams protein per day. naturally or in supplement form. EVERYDAY, EVEN ON YOUR OFF DAYS.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Omega 3&lt;/strong&gt; - Cardiovascular health &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B Complex Vitamin&lt;/strong&gt; - Metabolizing fats proteins and carbs&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Magnesium&lt;/strong&gt; - 400mg for muscle and bone. When combined with B complex (b6) and zinc, it creates ZMA or a natural testosterone booster.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin E&lt;/strong&gt; - 200iu per day for antioxidant health.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2669" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-01-09T02:01:59.813" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T02:01:59.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5036" CreationDate="2012-01-07T02:58:00.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;High reps isn't the primary metabolic booster--increased muscle mass is. Increased muscle mass comes from lifting heavy and increasing base strength. HIIT increases mass, ergo resting metabolism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, HIIT isn't the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; way to increase base metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T02:58:00.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2012-01-07T03:08:46.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wear a wrap to the shower and back, wear sandals, that's about it. If it's too much, don't bother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your clothes/etc. in your locker, use either your own towel (my preference) or the gym's for a towel, if the towel is big enough you can wrap with it, otherwise bring something meant specifically to wrap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't make a mountain out of a molehill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T03:08:46.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5020" CreationDate="2012-01-07T03:12:51.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm with Dave on &quot;renegade rows&quot;, one of the best exercises ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, when it comes to dumbbells, I'm more of a &quot;oh, my muscles can make things move this way&quot; kind of person. There aren't a lot of options, ultimately--curls, hammer curls, forearm curls, wrist rolls for the biceps and forearms. Skull crushers and kickbacks for the tris. Front, side, and rear lateral raises, presses at various angles for the shoulders. Shrugs. Rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use DBs for things like deadlifts, wood choppers, olympic lifts, etc. as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T03:12:51.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5097" CreationDate="2012-01-07T14:15:02.370" Score="6" ViewCount="4088" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for almost 2 years now, after pretty much never running before in my life.  I have had the usual injuries (shin splints, sprained ankle, etc.), but nothing serious.  I've always thought I was doing everything right, until I saw this video about the day after the marathon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-hCuYjvw2I&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-hCuYjvw2I&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, my thighs have never - not once - hurt after a run!  My calves have hurt, as well as my feet, hips, etc.  So what am I doing wrong? Or am I doing anything wrong at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sites suggest this could be because I have weak thighs, and the rest of my legs are picking up the slack.  But I can comfortably leg press about 3 times my body weight, so I don't think that's the problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something to be concerned about? Or is it just marathon specific: I mean, I've never run more than a 10K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2471" LastActivityDate="2012-01-11T04:39:15.940" Title="Why don't my thighs hurt?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4827" CreationDate="2012-01-07T17:09:21.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treadmills are kind of awesome for interval training. You can find various programs online for this, but the basic idea is a minute or so of higher speed running so that you're pretty beat by the end of that minute, followed by 15-30 seconds of lower speed running to recover, and repeat. That should help get your VO2Max up, and also help your body adapt to faster leg speeds. I like treadmills for this because I can't cheat. If I'm intending to run at 10 mph for 1 minute, I know that I've exactly done that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some example programs (adjust the speeds upward or downward depending on your level):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/treadmillrunning/a/fartlekworkout.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://running.about.com/od/treadmillrunning/a/fartlekworkout.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymprofessor.com/fartlek-treadmill-workout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.gymprofessor.com/fartlek-treadmill-workout.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/148711-treadmill-speed-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/148711-treadmill-speed-workouts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/15964-cardio-interval-training-treadmill/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/15964-cardio-interval-training-treadmill/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorDisplayName="user2567" LastEditDate="2012-01-09T16:48:59.220" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T16:48:59.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4241" CreationDate="2012-01-07T23:15:03.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are very few evidence based benefits for taking vitamin supplements other than for diagnosed deficiencies. The one with probable benefits is vitamin D depending on how much you spend time in the sun. I live in Scandinavia so I take 400-800iu per day. In general moderately balanced diet should be enough to get pretty much all the required vitamins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T23:15:03.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5046" CreationDate="2012-01-07T23:32:31.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin Loritsch is mistaken in that Atkins would be meant only for weight loss. It is meant for prolonged use as well as any reasonable diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Atkins you drop the carbohydrate intake to max of 20 grams per day for two weeks. After that you start gradually adding carbohydrates to your diet until you reach the point where you stop losing weight. Then you dial the carb intake back until you have reached desired weight. After that you can raise the carb intake a bit to a point where you don't lose or gain weight. The most probable mechanism for losing weight with Atkins is lessened hunger due to eating less carbs and more importantly more protein. This leads to less energy intake, leading to weight loss when the energy intake drops below energy expenditure. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.atkinsdietfreeplan.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More detailed description about different phases of Atkins&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paleo diet is basically based on some anthropology-based ideas on what some people ate during the paleolithic era. The basic idea is that this would be the diet we evolved to eat, so based on that it should be good. The problem is that people living in paleolithic era ate extremely varied diets based on where they lived. The diet itself is basically various meats and vegetables. Depending on whose paleo ideas you follow dairy and grains are allowed/disallowed. Generally on paleo diet you eat less carbs than is common these days. There are lot of sites about paleo around. Most prominent gurus are propably Dr. Cordain, Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf among others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither is really much evidence based (unsurprisingly little about any diet is). My advice would be that if you feel fine on one of these, then go ahead. You should take any health claims made on behalf of either approach with grain of salt. Though restricting bad carbs is good, there is lot of hype based on little evidence about either one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastActivityDate="2012-01-07T23:32:31.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5067" CreationDate="2012-01-08T17:29:47.990" Score="14" ViewCount="2605" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 15 year old teenager, I am terribly underweighted due tot he fact when I was smaller I had nutrition issues (Skipping breakfast on most days, not eating consistent food, eating junk food, etc). Since last year I've started to recover and I've tried to regain good nutrition habbits. I've started eating breakfast each day at specific hours (This applies to dinner, lunch too) and eating snacks between them sometimes. I eat very consistently. For example one of my days menu is like this: 2 slices of toast with butter on it and a mug of milk, a few nuts an hour later, a plate of fried potatoes with steak for lunch, corn-meal with  cottage cheese for dinner, and always eating something on bread after dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also love riding bikes, I have a bike which I ride every day during summer mornings for about 30 minutes or an hour. I do push-ups in the morning after I wake up, however all this isn't helping by much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current weight is pretty drastical, I admit, it's actually terrible: 50 kgs on 1.84m height at 15 years. Yes, it's a terrible weight, and I'm supposed to have about 65-73 kgs at this height and age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However with all this workout, school, push-ups, eating proper meals at proper times every day has only helped me gain 3 kgs. I started at 46-47 kgs and now I have 50. It feels terrible to be this skinny and everyone is telling me to &quot;bundle up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what advices can you give me? Am I doing something wrong? My aim is 60 kgs. 70 kgs would be ideal. What should I do? Should I eat more? Should I exercise less? Should I eat more consistently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please share your advices as to how I could gain weight and how I could gain some muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2675" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-14T14:33:33.947" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T02:08:56.183" Title="How can I gain weight and muscle weight?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5046" CreationDate="2012-01-08T21:54:59.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many differences between the two diets but I think one of most defining is the kind of animal foods you are  encouraged to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Paleo Diet emphasizes lean game meat. You're not going to be eating a marbled steak or bacon on the Paleo Diet. You're going to be eating things like salmon, halibut, venison, bison, organic free range beef, pork, etc. These foods differ from traditional western animal foods because they are much lower in fat and have a higher amount of Omega-3 fats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real goal of the Paleo Diet is adjust your diet to closer match those of our non-agrarian ancestors - the idea being that biologically our bodies have not had time to adjust to rapid change in our diet since the Agricultural Revolution.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastActivityDate="2012-01-08T21:54:59.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5065" CreationDate="2012-01-08T22:24:17.863" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could do what I did and work a season commercial fishing. I shipped out at 135lbs (61kg) and finished the season at 165lbs (74kg). A steady diet of King Salmon and lots of hard work did me wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm much shorter (1.7m) but I've always been &quot;wiry&quot;. If you're a slow-gainer like me you need to realize (and make peace with the fact) that you are going to gain muscle mass slowly and that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophy&quot;&gt;hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt; (i.e., &quot;bulking out&quot;) won't happen as dramatically for you as your peers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a number of suggestions for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're 15 and (presumably) going through adolescence. Things could self adjust and in a year or two you might find yourself naturally gaining more mass as your hormone ratios change. Basically what I'm saying is you are still growing... give yourself some time to grow and don't worry about silly things like how much muscle mass you have. Go ride bikes before adulthood catches up with you!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider seeing a physician (for the above reasons). It is possible (but highly unlikely) that you could have some underlying hormonal or glandular condition. I think it's much more likely that nothing is &quot;wrong&quot; and your body will self-adjust as you get older, but it is something to consider later on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80% of exercise is diet. And your diet sucks. Yes, you're eating regularly (this is good) and not eating junk food (also good), but toast? potatoes? cottage-cheese? Where are the veggies? Where's the fruit? Where's the lean protein (an rough estimate is at least 1g for every lbs of body weight... you should be consuming 100-120grams of protein a day). Take a look at the Paleo Diet. Eat your fruit and veggies and make sure you get good &lt;em&gt;lean&lt;/em&gt; protein. I would take a look here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/&quot;&gt;Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise the right way and exercise for what you want. Cycling will make you a better cyclist (with the associated walnut-crushing calves and thighs). If you want upper-body mass you need to do activities that engage and exercise those muscle groups. I would start at NerdFitness' &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot;&gt;Beginner Body Weight Routine&lt;/a&gt; and here's a secret: Pull-ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since this sounds like a pretty drastic life style change - the recommendation that you see a physician before adopting a significantly new or different diet or exercise regime is warranted. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The right diet and right exercise made the difference for me. It took me the better part of a year but I was slowly able to put on muscle mass (After I got done fishing I went to university where I lost all muscle by replacing food and exercise with coffee and stress... its taken me over a year of hard work at the gym and in the kitchen to get it back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a feeling this &quot;problem&quot; will sort itself out as your get older, but a better diet and more exercise will certainly not hurt. (And really do give youself some paitence... I'm just old enough to remember being the skinny kid)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastActivityDate="2012-01-08T22:24:17.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5065" CreationDate="2012-01-09T02:29:24.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's great that you're taking an interest in your health and nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question simply: eat more, eat consistently, keep exercising, begin weightlifting, and get enough sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, some more detailed advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take some time to learn about how the calories you consume affect your weight gain, and try counting how many calories you consume for a couple of days. No need to go crazy tracking things every single day, but you may be surprised at the amount of food you need to eat to get the amount of calories you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learn about the importance and sources of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, so that you can get the right balance of these in the foods you're eating. Think about eating as fueling your body for the work you want it to do. In kce's answer, he suggests the Paleo Diet, but there are other options, and people disagree about what is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep doing what you're doing. Bike. Have fun. If you're eating enough food, biking isn't going to make you lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain mass and get stronger, you'll need to add in some weightlifting. Biking will make only your biking muscles strong. Not your lifting muscles, not your running muscles, not your jumping muscles. Pushups are a good start, and you've already added 3kg. Imagine how much you'd add if you gained that much over an entire year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're pretty small, doing any lifting at all will cause you to get stronger and put on muscle. Focus on lifts or movements that use a lot of muscles at the same time. Don't do calf raises, or hamstring curls, or leg extensions. Instead, do squats (using just your bodyweight, dumbbells, or even barbell if you have access to that equipment and a mentor). Don't do tricep extensions, instead, do push-ups or bench press. Those are just a couple of examples. But, you don't need to worry about the details here too much right now, unless you're interested in getting the quickest gains possible. At your level, anything you do is going to make you bigger and stronger if you're eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start getting impatient about how quickly/slowly you're gaining muscle, or want to start tracking your strength gains, you'll need to switch to a more organized program with proper equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T02:29:24.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5070" CreationDate="2012-01-09T02:45:26.907" Score="6" ViewCount="2172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will keeping my belly &quot;tucked in&quot; or taut help strengthen my abdominal muscles? Are there any negative sides to doing this? I used to do this in high school but gave up doing it when I started working and the sedentary life kicked in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T20:40:33.557" Title="Keeping belly area taut a good practice?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5069" CreationDate="2012-01-09T02:53:26.617" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. A muscle won't get stronger unless you make it do work: crunches, or keeping a tight core during a lift, for example. I suppose your abs do a &lt;em&gt;bit&lt;/em&gt; of work if you just keep them tight, but they'll adapt to that really quickly and you won't see any extra strength or size come from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the context of lifting (squats, deadlifts, pressing, cleaning), your abs will be doing a significant amount of stabilization work, and that will make them stronger. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a really good article&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Rippetoe on the subject of abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the tag of bellyfat suggests a link between the strength of your abdominal muscles and the amount of fat around your belly. There isn't any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditorDisplayName="user2567" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T20:09:18.403" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T20:09:18.403" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4974" CreationDate="2012-01-09T08:19:40.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running long distance doesn't mean you have to automatically go with neutral (pronation) shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, find out what kind of pronation you have and by how much THEN select your shoe type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.therunningadvisor.com/running_shoes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; to a guide to choosing your running shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T08:19:40.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4461" CreationDate="2012-01-09T09:32:37.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that it is actually a disadvantage to hold off eating especially after a high intensity run. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=MsgDAAAAMBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA50&amp;amp;lpg=PA50&amp;amp;dq=runners%20world%2015%20minute%20recovery%20meal&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=wBuVPmSTGB&amp;amp;sig=tm6LycT98QJb1nxlDjjv0CrEI8w&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=LLMKT6rTKtKjiQfsyYmbCQ&amp;amp;ved=0CGAQ6AEwCQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google books link&lt;/a&gt; that features the sept 08 issue of Runners World with an article about post run recovery. (page 50)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T09:32:37.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2012-01-09T09:44:51.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter what time you eat your meals. So long as you don't exceed your body's recommended calorie intake per day, you won't gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T09:44:51.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5079" CreationDate="2012-01-09T10:09:28.357" Score="18" ViewCount="6929" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally when lifting weights if you do a low number of reps it will increase your strength, and a higher number of reps will increase your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However when it comes to the number of sets to do, I'm a little more confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mehdi of &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;Strong lifts&lt;/a&gt; recommends doing 5 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rippetoe of &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; recommends 3 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pavel in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-People-Strength-Training-American/dp/0938045199&quot;&gt;Power to the People&lt;/a&gt; recommends just 2 sets - with only one of those being at the higher weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently working with 5 sets. As I get into higher weights and have to rest longer between sets, it is pushing on my lunch hour and the boss is starting to frown. So if there isn't much difference between 5 and 3, I'll drop down to 3 sets to keep the job.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T15:56:47.920" Title="What difference do the number of sets make?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5086" CreationDate="2012-01-09T11:50:59.377" Score="3" ViewCount="7221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very simple question: Can you replace vegetables with fruits in your diet? As in, eat no vegetables instead eat lots of fruit? I dislike vegetables, my body literally rejects them for some reason, not to mention I have very few types of vegetables available in the country I live in, but instead we have fruit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you have a perfectly healthy diet with no vegetables but with fruits instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2675" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T20:04:50.093" Title="Can fruits replace vegetables?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T16:06:36.677" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5075" CreationDate="2012-01-09T12:18:01.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any exact numbers (as these differ wildly depending on who you listen to) but over time I've gotten the impression that it depends a lot on how easy or hard it is for you to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommendation I keep hearing is that for those who have a hard time gaining muscle mass the focus should be on many reps and many sets while those who easily gain muscle mass should limit the amount of reps and sets they do to avoid overexerting their muscles. And most people would of course not be in either extreme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, most bodybuilders/weightlifters seem to go for 3-4 sets. I've also met a couple of guys who like to first do 3-4 sets at a weight where they can't do any more sets at that weight and then lower the weight, do another set, lower the weight and so on until they're down to 60-70% of the original weight. Haven't really tried that myself though so I have no idea if it's a good approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2681" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T12:18:01.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5075" CreationDate="2012-01-09T15:13:45.007" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number of sets has to do with the amount of training volume.  Training volume is one of the variables you have to manipulate to induce adaptation, while avoiding over-training.  There are different approaches to sets/reps which provide the training stress you need.  The more you progress as a lifter the more you have to increase the total volume of training to adapt, but still allow for varied loads throughout a training cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sets across:&lt;/strong&gt;  all work sets at the same weight.  This is the approach that Stronglifts 5x5, Starting Strength, and Madcow Advanced volume phase use.  5 sets of 5 is a lot of volume, and while it is excessive to cause adaptation for beginners, it does allow for more practice.  NOTE: SL 5x5 becomes 3x5 and then 1x5 as the weight gets heavier, which reduced the training volume to keep it in a range that helps you get stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ramped sets:&lt;/strong&gt;  work sets increase in weight.  Madcow 5x5 intermediate uses this approach.  You really only have one heavy set of 5, but it is more volume than if you simply warmed up for a single set of 5.  Madcow Advanced uses this approach in the intensity phase.  Wendler 5/3/1 also uses this approach, with only 3 work sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beginners&lt;/strong&gt; can adapt with only three sets of work.  The true purpose of the extra 2 sets on Strong Lifts is more practice while the weight is very light.  SL promotes starting much lighter than you can lift.  If you've never lifted before, you start at just the bar.  If you have lifted before, you cut your current work weights in half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermediate Lifters&lt;/strong&gt; can adapt weekly.  However, the work volume needs to be varied throughout the week to enable new personal records (PRs).  For example, Madcow Intermediate uses the first session as a volume phase doing 5x5 ramped sets.  The second session has 4x5 ramped sets (on squats it's sets across for the top two sets) which allow for more recovery.  On the last session of the week, you have 4x5 ramped sets, a top set of 3, and a backoff set of 8 for each of the main lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced Lifters&lt;/strong&gt; can adapt monthly.  The work is usually varied throughout the weeks so that you have a volume phase, a transition phase, and an intensity phase.  The volume phase primes the pump and really forces the adaptation.  The transition phase is a bit of reduced volume to allow mid-cycle recovery.  Finally, the intensity phase is where you set new PRs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closer you get to your genetic potential (i.e. the more advanced you become), the finer the line is between training volume to induce change and the volume that induces over-training.  That's why you have to pay attention to the overall training volume, other life stressors, and your mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T15:13:45.007" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5075" CreationDate="2012-01-09T15:56:47.920" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the research, it appears that performing extra sets give quickly declining returns on investment.  A very thorough research guide can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/LowVolumeTraining.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx.net - Low Volume Training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some interesting quotes from that guide:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By performing an additional set (50% to 100% more sets) only 0 to 5% more progress will be observed. Each additional set yields even less progress to a point of diminishing return.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hass et. al. (2000) compared the effects of one set verses three sets in experienced recreational weightlifters. Both groups significantly improved muscular fitness and body composition during the 13 week study. Interestingly, no significant differences were found between groups for any of the test variables, including muscular strength, muscular endurance, and body composition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since time seems to be a factor for your workouts, I'd suggest you switch to doing 2 sets. Do a warm-up set (50% of workout weight) followed by your workout set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T15:56:47.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5065" CreationDate="2012-01-09T17:05:41.760" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Push-ups are insufficient to stimulate large-scale growth, since they simply don't provide enough resistance. Your diet is insufficient to sustain large-scale growth, by dint of the fact that you remain undersized. Fixing these two issues should resolve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. Stimulate Growth&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either buy a barbell and a power rack, or join a gym that has one. Get a copy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and start lifting heavy. You don't have to completely give up biking, but it will be counterproductive for your goal of getting bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises stimulate growth. Squats, chin-ups, and deadlifts will tell your body that it needs to get bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. Provide Fuel for Growth&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat a ton of food. Real food is far superior to processed crap, but you'll need to eat a lot. Your best bets are high-animal-protein items like meat, eggs, milk, and fish. You'll also do well to take in a large amount of vegetables and good oils like coconut and olive. Eating a lot of food will provide the raw materials your body needs to make you bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone else cooks for you, you have a choice: 1) man up and learn to cook, 2) try to explain and convince that person to change their cooking for you, or 3) remain undersized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T17:05:41.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-09T17:35:58.777" Score="3" ViewCount="6543" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would kickboxing be an effective strategy for gaining muscle and losing weight? How many calories per hour would it burn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am considering three times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2685" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-08-27T19:03:35.967" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T18:17:11.183" Title="Kickboxing as a fitness plan?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5082" CreationDate="2012-01-09T17:58:37.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are completely detrained (in other words, you currently do no exercise at all), then any exercise will help you build muscle.  At the very least, a good kick boxing class will have you do some body weight exercises to build up strength.  Kick boxing also has a very intense conditioning requirement.  These can only help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of Calories you will burn in an hour are highly dependent on several factors such as how much lean mass you currently have, your height/limb length, and how much movement you do.  Not all activities in a typical class will burn at the same rate, and some will be more energy intensive than others.  In general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more mass you have, the more energy it takes to move&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more lean mass you have, the more energy it takes to maintain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The longer your limbs, taller you are, the more energy it takes to move&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be burning several hundred Calories per hour, and depending on the factors listed above, potentially over 1,000 for an intense class.  However, the only way to know for sure is to measure it.  Working out with a heart rate monitor can give you the ballpark figures--although they are not practical when it comes to sparring work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as your diet makes sense for the new activity you want to do, you will satisfy your goals.  However, if you exercise regularly, you won't necessarily add more muscle unless you find ways of increasing the load on your body.  This can be done with changing the leverages on body-weight exercises or supplementing your training with weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T17:58:37.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5076" CreationDate="2012-01-09T20:04:50.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the evidence I've seen - high-fruit diets are generally &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; healthy. Fructose is becoming more obvious as &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; being a &quot;healthy&quot; form of sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://paleodietlifestyle.com/10-reasons-why-fructose-is-bad/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 Reasons why Fructose is Bad&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/11/fructose-index-is-new-glycemic-index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Fructose Index is the new Glycemic Index&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/04/fructose-vs-glucose-showdown.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fructose versus Glucose&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that those articles are generally talking about fructose added to other foods - fruit is slightly better, given that it has vitamins, fiber, and is absorbed slower than, say, a soft drink. Still, eating excessive amounts of fruit will give you lots of fructose, which isn't recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the books/articles at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4955/1898&quot;&gt;another answer of mine&lt;/a&gt; for some recommendations for good food plans. They generally include both meat and vegetables (and fish, and eggs...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: As you will find on &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; question of diet/nutrition (or exercise, or politics, or...) - &lt;strong&gt;there is no consensus&lt;/strong&gt;, no &quot;right&quot; answer. (Nor am I a doctor or nutritionist, this post not to be taken internally). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an opposing view of how great fruit is - see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.30bananasaday.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;30 Bananas a Day&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1898" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T20:04:50.093" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5022" CreationDate="2012-01-09T23:45:28.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The evidence for post-workout protein shakes increasing your performance for running isn't conclusive, so this is somewhat anecdotal advice. I've been running for about 4 years regularly and in the past 6 months tried protein shakes after the long and mid runs. I've increased my speed from 8.1mph to 9mph in that time, and up to 9.5-10mph for 5k runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also lost weight in that period from the eating less via the protein shakes, A 500ml serving keeps you sated for an hour or so later until a main meal, and is about 120 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protein powder I used is by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio-synergy.co.uk/whey-better-750g.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bio-synergy&lt;/a&gt;, which is whey powder (basically dried milk). The cheaper stuff you get at a discount seems to be missing not only taste, but some amino acids and bulked out with soya. The one chose is also targeted at lean muscle growth rather than body building/bulking up, which helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an easy and fairly cheap experiment to try, just be sure to stick with a good brand that is carb free, and avoid the soya shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2012-01-09T23:45:28.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5093" CreationDate="2012-01-10T10:22:30.910" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the list of exercises on exrx.net, I see a good deal of them recommending exercises to target muscles that most fitness sites seem to completely overlook. For example, there are pages with exercises for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/BackWt.html#anchor1676042&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Subscapularis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ForeArmWt.html#anchor1936761&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wrist flexors, extenders, pronators, supinators&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ShouldWt.html#anchor786678&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supraspinatus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/NeckWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neck&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the exception of neck exercises, I haven't seen the others on any recommended fitness routines. Should these muscles be exercised as part of a non-rehabilitation regime for preventive purposes? Or would they be adequately worked out by other compound exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2039" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-01-10T15:29:22.357" LastActivityDate="2012-01-10T15:29:22.357" Title="Should standard, non-rehabilitation exercise routines target smaller individual muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5091" CreationDate="2012-01-10T13:14:11.197" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many of the exercises for smaller muscles are &lt;em&gt;assistance&lt;/em&gt; exercises.  By assistance, I mean that they are &lt;em&gt;supplementary&lt;/em&gt; to the main compound lifts to either fix weaknesses or perform some rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Particularly when you are a beginner, if you focus on the four main lifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be strengthening most of those muscles.  That combined with common assistance exercises like rows, back extensions, planks, and other core work will be the majority of what is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not common for such small muscles to be limiting factors for beginners, and even many intermediate lifters.  As such, focusing on the main lifts will help you get all your muscles stronger.  Additionally, it is unlikely you will ever need to directly strengthen your neck unless you intend on ramming your head into someone like a football player.  The main lifts will strengthen it as the body maintains rigidity throughout the lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-10T13:14:11.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5105" CreationDate="2012-01-10T15:36:13.760" Score="8" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How good is swimming for burning fat?&lt;/strong&gt; There seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions on the matter (not backed up with fact). A few places seem to say its the best exercise because its a whole body workout and some others say its not great because the water keeps your body cool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T03:19:52.997" Title="Swimming for Fat burn" Tags="&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5096" CreationDate="2012-01-10T15:52:01.170" Score="0" ViewCount="763" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to choose a sport among with a diet to start losing fat again. I want to know which sport is better to start with e.g. basketball, swimming, badminton, volleyball, gym, skate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T19:31:40.080" Title="Which sport is much better as in burning fat faster without making muscles?" Tags="&lt;fat-loss&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5095" CreationDate="2012-01-10T16:04:32.043" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a list of sports and the average calories lost whilst taking part in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running, skiing, diving and cycling seem to lost the highest calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the best sport is probably one that you will do. The more you enjoy it, the more likely you will keep at it. Which ones do you enjoy the most?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-01-10T16:04:32.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5058" CreationDate="2012-01-10T19:12:05.393" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;With running, generally you get muscle pain from Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). The currently accepted theory is that this comes from stressing the muscle beyond what is is currently capable of. The DOMS is a symptom of the remodelling processing which yields a stronger muscle for that work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case it appears you've experienced DOMS in other leg muscles. This suggests that your quads and hamstrings are adequate for the current load you demand from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really wanted to stress your thigh muscles then I would recommend hill running. Both running up a hill and running down it will stress those muscles. If you're in marathon shape or similar then two hours would work (modify to suit your current level of training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-10T19:12:05.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5058" CreationDate="2012-01-10T22:02:59.483" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrOgDCZ4GUo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forefoot striking&lt;/a&gt;?  Forefoot striking places more load on your calves than a heel strike would, and could explain the soreness in your calves.  And forefoot striking is a good thing as it tends to prevent more serious injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, one might think that eventually your calf muscles would catch up.  But this depends on the distance you're running and of course nutrition.  It'd be easier to build muscle in the areas that are lagging behind with shorter/faster running sessions.  This is apparent when you look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitoakland.com/archives/2009/06/marathon_runner.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;long distance runners vs sprinters&lt;/a&gt;.  The sport shapes the athlete, so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember when I first started sprinting a few times a week.  I was amazed at how every single muscle in my legs were sore the day after.  And all I did was sprint about 100 meters three times with a little rest in between.  Running hills as Sarge suggested would be another high intensity workout which would be great for the thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2012-01-11T04:39:15.940" LastActivityDate="2012-01-11T04:39:15.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5095" CreationDate="2012-01-11T00:42:00.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any sport where you are working hard will burn calories and fat. The more muscle you have the faster you will lose fat. The more you sweat, the faster you will burn calories and fat. Sprinting and lifting heavy weights are good for burning fat. You are not going become huge and muscular without trying really hard if that's what you are worried about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T19:31:40.080" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T19:31:40.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2012-01-11T00:52:07.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a good overview from Tim Ferriss on his blog. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-shoes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-shoes/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main benefits are the more natural and less injury-prone style of running that shoes like it promote and the increased workout for you feet while running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastActivityDate="2012-01-11T00:52:07.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3824" CreationDate="2012-01-11T00:56:56.210" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 parts to having good abs. First you need the muscle there, so that means core exercises like sit-ups, crunches, planks and medicine ball work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you need to remove the fat. The more muscle you have the more fat it will burn but you'll want to look closely at your diet and how many calories you taking in versus what you are burning. You need to burn more than you take in to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing, doing ab exercises doing ab exercises doesn't burn fat from your abs. All working out burns fat from everywhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastActivityDate="2012-01-11T00:56:56.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5041" CreationDate="2012-01-11T01:15:36.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are several exercises specifically for stiff neck:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chinese-holistic-health-exercises.com/stiff-neck-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chinese Holistic Exercises&lt;/a&gt; - Stiff neck exercises and tips for relief using acupuncture (consult with your health professional first before trying these, though.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/231&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yoga Exercises for neck and shoulder pain&lt;/a&gt; - Six excerises you can do at your desk to relieve tension in your wrists, back, and shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_2101279_stiff-neck-stretching-sternocleidomastoid-muscle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stiff neck relief from eHow&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sternocleidomastoid_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sternocleidomastoid&lt;/a&gt; muscle stretching for stiff neck and neck mobility enchancement .&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastEditorUserId="2678" LastEditDate="2012-01-11T04:55:17.227" LastActivityDate="2012-01-11T04:55:17.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5094" CreationDate="2012-01-11T01:34:26.163" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter if your body gets cooled down during swimming. What matters is the number of Calories you burn during any exercise. Fat loss happens when you expend more Calories than you take in. Simple as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is actually a very good Calorie burner. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist3.htm&quot;&gt;NutriStrategy&lt;/a&gt;, swimming at a leisurely pace for one hour can burn 354 to 558 Calories depending on your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-11T01:34:26.163" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5094" CreationDate="2012-01-11T14:19:05.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keeping your body warm uses up quite a lot of calories because your body has to burn something to generate heat, and water drains heat quickly because it's a good heat conductor.  Swimming (the movement) by itself is not very energy demanding, but doing it in cool water is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-07-09T03:19:52.997" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T03:19:52.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5041" CreationDate="2012-01-11T23:23:08.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to Ron's link to Yoga Exercises for neck and shoulder pain, the routine in this video for &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.yoganearme.com/86/yoga-at-your-computer-loosen-upper-back/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yoga at Your Computer to Loosen Tight Upper Back Muscles&lt;/a&gt; I've found very helpful.  Based on the comments, other people have found it useful too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2700" LastActivityDate="2012-01-11T23:23:08.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4188" CreationDate="2012-01-12T01:49:08.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you what you're looking for is how to improve your fast twitch muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson33.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fast-twitch fibers allow one to generate a relatively high amount of&#xA;  force in a short period. The take-off motion in a sprint and long jump&#xA;  (when the foot is in contact with the ground for a millisecond) are&#xA;  perfect examples of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as opposed to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Slow-twitch fibers, on the other hand, come into play during the pure&#xA;  endurance aspect of these events. Fatigue resistance, at the expense&#xA;  of fast rate force production, is the hallmark of these fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You had the right idea with high-intensity exercises, they develop the fast twitch fibers while low-intensity endurance exercises develop the slow twitch fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips from an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_4431308_build-fast-twitch-muscle-fibers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eHow article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perform sets of short sprints twice a week in addition to your&#xA;regular workout routine. Maximum effort sprints over distances&#xA;between 20 and 50 meters give your fast twitch muscle fibers a&#xA;fantastic workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add one or two session of longer sprints to your weekly workout.&#xA;Going all-out for more than 50 meters is extremely tiring, so run&#xA;these sprints at around 85 percent effort for the best results.&#xA;Focus on quickness and fluidity of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make time for weight training. Research studies show a direct link&#xA;between maximum strength and overall speed, so using heavy weights&#xA;to make yourself stronger will beef up your fast twitch fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.athleticquickness.com/page.asp?page_id=15&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;isometric muscle training&lt;/a&gt;, defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Isometrics, as it pertains to muscle training, involves tensing&#xA;  muscles against other muscles or against an immovable object while the&#xA;  length of the muscle remains unchanged. For isometric training to be&#xA;  effective, this muscular tension must be maintained over a certain&#xA;  period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T01:49:08.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4838" CreationDate="2012-01-12T02:17:59.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;An article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/5-Minimalist-Winter-Running-Tips.htm?cmp=17-1-1874&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5 Minimalist Winter Running Tips&lt;/a&gt; popped up on my Facebook feed, and seems quite relevant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the article suggests your feet are quite capable of surviving cold temperatures, and when the article says people can run in -20, it means -20 Fahrenheit, not Celsius, so... that's &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; cold!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose I can add my personal experience thus far. I've run with barefoot shoes in -15, with light socks just to be safe, and I couldn't even tell it was cold. Definitely layered up my upper body though, base layer, light top, and a warm top on top of those. Gloves and a hat are a must too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2501" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T20:49:54.777" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T20:49:54.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5113" CreationDate="2012-01-12T07:02:09.827" Score="1" ViewCount="422" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have decided to become a pescitarian, and I'm wondering if by only eating fish I will need to supplement any nutrients that might be missing from my diet without the other types of meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1082" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T15:27:14.910" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T15:27:14.910" Title="Are there any nutrients that I should supplement as a pescitarian?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T19:34:39.697" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2012-01-12T07:05:41.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnOw9hkXdmQ&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is a short, useful video&lt;/a&gt; that gives some tips on squats. Would still be good to hear all your comments on whether the full range of squat motion is advised or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the most important tips from the video:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bring your elbows BELOW the bar (or even slightly ahead)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Become more flexible at your shoulders so you can stretch it to the maximum to achieve tip #1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Initiate the movement by bending the knees, &lt;strong&gt;go all the way down and all the way back up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go for full range of motion&lt;/strong&gt; which helps train the full leg and the glutes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drive up with your legs. Do not lean forward as the hip goes up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-12T13:59:04.587" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T13:59:04.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5111" CreationDate="2012-01-12T13:15:40.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does depend on the fish and the cut of land meat you are comparing it to.  If you were to compare &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/9244/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tilapia&lt;/a&gt; with &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/3477/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beef&lt;/a&gt; you'll find the macro-nutrients being very compatible.  Fish is lower in cholesterol, and some types of fatty fish have a good amount of Omega-3s.  Grass fed beef also has a good amount of Omega-3s in comparison to the Omega-6s, as opposed to corn/grain fed beef.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the place where you are going to see the most difference is in the micro-nutrients.  Both types of meat have complete amino acid profiles, so that isn't a concern.  The vitamins and nutrients you'll get will be a bit different, but the biggest thing you want to keep an eye on is iron.  However, different fish have different profiles.  Tilapia is probably one of the cheapest and lowest quality fish, and a different kind will have more iron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you typically supplement with a multi-vitamin, you will be fine.  As to pork and chicken, both of those are typically more sensitive to the way they are fed as to their nutritional profile.  The problem is all the difference is in the fat, and both of those types of meat can had high fat to meat content (referring to dark meat chicken here).  Typically, animals fed a more natural diet have better nutritional profile.  This is a primary reason why fish is mostly better for you than land animals--unless it is farmed (like many salmon) the fish are caught after eating naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T13:15:40.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-12T16:17:31.720" Score="5" ViewCount="885" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't want to pay to become strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, can I become strong without going to a gym for weight training? Without equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastEditorUserId="2698" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T19:29:41.950" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T07:19:20.803" Title="Become strong without spending money" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5118" CreationDate="2012-01-12T16:36:55.907" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;After several years of exercise in my gym I consider hiring a fitness coach to improve my training. The main problem is that I am not really sure what I can expect from a fitness coach? What are the services I should request? I am not aiming to become a top athlete, I still see going to the gym as a hobby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is paying for a fitness coach a good idea in this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:44:10.163" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T03:44:10.163" Title="What can a fitness coach do for a hobby athlete?" Tags="&lt;coaching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5114" CreationDate="2012-01-12T16:45:30.443" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There is always a price to becoming stronger.&lt;/em&gt;  It's a question of how badly do you want to be strong, and what kind of price you are willing to pay.  The biggest price you pay has nothing to do with money.  The basic principles to getting stronger are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive overload.&lt;/strong&gt;  If you aren't increasing resistance in some way, you aren't getting stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery.&lt;/strong&gt;  You need to give your body the nutrients and rest it needs to recover from progressive overload and build more muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do that in several ways.  The quickest and most direct way is to use weights for resistance.  This involves barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, rocks, or anything that weighs a lot--including people.  Since you don't want to pay gym fees or buy equipment, you will be using either body weight or unconventional weights for most of your exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another avenue is to increase resistance.  While weights are a direct way to increase resistance, there is also isometric exercises and pushing against something that pushes back--like gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is to find something you can increase in difficulty.  For example, if you are doing body weight dips and pull ups, you might look in to developing the strength to do muscle ups (starting with a pull up and transitioning to a dip all in the same movement).  Then do it strict, and then slow.  You might find some inspiration from Strongman activities as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you will get to a place where body weight alone is not sufficient.  You'll have to break down and start collecting heavy things to lift.  This usually involves money, but hopefully by that time you will have an income that will pay your bills and have enough left over to buy the heavy things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T16:45:30.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5116" CreationDate="2012-01-12T16:52:07.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you need to define what it is that you see as lacking in your current training.  This will help you evaluate if the coach's training philosophy is compatible with the way you train, and if they will be a good match for you.  The more nebulous your goals are, the more difficult it will be for the both of you to come up with a proper training plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you have a concrete idea of what you want to accomplish, paying for any coach is a bad idea.  A good time to pay for a coach is when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have specific techniques you want to learn, and the coach is proficient at teaching them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a specific training problem, and you need help addressing it.  I.e. finding the right mobility work or conditioning that is compatible with your other training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can define what it is that needs improving, you won't need to ask what services you should request, because you'll already know.  You'll also know if the coach is the right one or not.  For example, if your diet is messed up, you would go to a nutritionist, not an Olympic lifting coach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T16:52:07.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-12T19:11:48.510" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Calorie Counter app I downloaded onto my iPad measures intake as Calories and energy burned as &lt;code&gt;kcal&lt;/code&gt;. So, if the calorie counter says that the total calories burned is &lt;code&gt;2451 kcal&lt;/code&gt; is it the same as &lt;code&gt;2451&lt;/code&gt; Calories burned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T13:13:40.937" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T13:13:40.937" Title="iPad Calorie Counter App" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5119" CreationDate="2012-01-12T21:08:33.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of nutrition (food Calories), &lt;code&gt;1 Calorie = 1 Kcal = 1000 calories&lt;/code&gt;. So &lt;em&gt;assuming&lt;/em&gt; your iPad app is correct in reporting &lt;code&gt;2451 kcal&lt;/code&gt;, then &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt;, you burned &lt;code&gt;2451&lt;/code&gt; Calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2698" LastEditorUserId="2698" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T21:21:14.260" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T21:21:14.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5121" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5135" CreationDate="2012-01-12T22:02:04.990" Score="1" ViewCount="5160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mrm-usa.com/v2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&amp;amp;flypage=shop.flypage&amp;amp;product_id=102&amp;amp;category_id=16&amp;amp;manufacturer_id=0&amp;amp;option=com_virtuemart&amp;amp;Itemid=26&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MRM All Naturall Gainer&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://images.iherb.com/l/MRM-73006-1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;image of ingredients&lt;/a&gt;) at noon and L-Glutamine 500% DV. in the morning as a supplement for my workout and am experiencing insomnia. I am not sure though if it is due to the supplements or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will try cutting back on those supplements and see what happens, but generally speaking, can certain supplements, such as L-Glutamine, cause insomnia?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2709" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-01-13T19:31:21.973" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T21:04:31.760" Title="Insomnia caused by Glutamine or other Supplements?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;l-glutamine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5043" CreationDate="2012-01-12T23:02:45.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sound a bit like what I had, which was diagnosed as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bursitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bursitis&lt;/a&gt; - might be worth a bit of googling to familiarise yourself with it in case it helps. Be aware it is inflammation, not swelling. It was some time ago but I seem to recall there was a lot of ice involved, I also seem to recall having acupuncture to help. Mine was also almost exclusively during running. It is recoverable though, so good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2710" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T23:02:45.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5114" CreationDate="2012-01-13T00:21:09.887" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Really, the only equipment you need to gain strength is some floor space and something to hang on. And even the &quot;something to hang on&quot; is, in some people's opinion, optional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't afford, or don't want to, spend the money on typical gym equipment, then look into the various bodyweight exercises and plans. Convict Conditioning, Never Gymless, You Are Your Own Gym, and Yoga are but some of the things you can do to build strength with nothing but bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Berin Loritsch says that you will eventually get to a place where bodyweight alone is insufficient. While he may be technically right, there's a catch - that point comes when you could (if you were doing so) do things like deadlift 2x your bodyweight or more. At which point, you've exhausted such things as muscle-ups, handstand pushups, jumping pistol squats, planches, shrimp squats, l-sits, and back bridges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, personally, prefer Yoga, in part because it naturally incorporates things like handstands and planks, so I'm not constantly doing mindless repetitions of things, but rather flowing through things and doing isometrics. &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/&quot;&gt;About.com&lt;/a&gt; has an awesome Yoga section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and if you think Yoga is only for women or isn't challenging enough to be of use, I challenge you to try such poses as &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/firefly.htm&quot;&gt;Firefly&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kNtJGtZzniM/S34lZBSzJcI/AAAAAAAAAWs/1HQtbZgXlGE/s400/tokyo-based-yoga-instructor-ayako-ishikawa-practicing-cobra-pose-bhujangasana.jpg&quot;&gt;King Cobra&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.am/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/yoga_poses_nui11-300x275.jpg&quot;&gt;this advanced version of downward-facing dog&lt;/a&gt; (and point out that plank, forearm plank, side plank, and several head and handstands come from Yoga).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditDate="2012-01-13T13:25:23.423" LastActivityDate="2012-01-13T13:25:23.423" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5146" CreationDate="2012-01-13T17:18:12.923" Score="6" ViewCount="2195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on doing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.warriordash.com/&quot;&gt;Warrior Dash&lt;/a&gt; later this year. It is a 3.2 mile (5K) race course through mountainous terrain, mud, and water. In addition, there will also be obstacles along the way such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barricades&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbed wire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scrap yard wreckage (an image shows tires and cars)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wooden structures (giant see-saws, walls)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I haven't worn a &quot;normal&quot; pair of athletic sneakers in over four years, I plan on getting something that is similar to what I wear for martial arts. My kung fu shoes are flat-soled and have little cushioning. My style is also a Northern (China) one which has many acrobatic and leg techniques. My body is comfortable handling the impact on my feet and legs. Given my constant training schedule and how accustomed I am to wearing my current type of shoe, a barefoot shoe seems like a natural transition that I think would be good for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been looking at various barefoot shoes which are separated into specific fitness activities like running, water, and trekking. Since this event is mostly running, I'm tempted to buy barefoot running shoes over ones that are meant for hiking or trails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are barefoot shoes good for these type of courses? If so, are there traits of one model of shoe that are advantageous over another? If barefoot shoes wouldn't be good for this type of activity, why would it not be suitable for muddy obstacle courses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-01-13T17:36:28.040" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T19:27:15.570" Title="Are barefoot shoes suitable for multi-terrain obstacle courses?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5126" CreationDate="2012-01-13T18:25:49.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The website says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep in mind you will need to affix your chip timer to your foot (they&#xA;  work best attached to shoes, but zip ties will also be available at&#xA;  packet pick-up.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We highly recommend good, solid running shoes too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, from what I see from their video, you go &lt;em&gt;under&lt;/em&gt; the barbwire, so it's not an issue, and you jump &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; the fire, so it's also not an issue. It should all be do-able in barefoot shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some feedback from people who've ran the Warrior Dash in minimal shoes: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/community/forums/runner-communities/barefoot-running/warrior-dash-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/community/forums/runner-communities/barefoot-running/warrior-dash-1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastActivityDate="2012-01-13T18:25:49.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5121" CreationDate="2012-01-13T19:47:29.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people &lt;em&gt;recommend&lt;/em&gt; L-Glutamine for insomnia. Others say the opposite. It used to be recommended as a brain enhancer (mid-80's... bear in mind they used to wear leg warmers, too) but I don't think anybody says that any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, if you're taking it in the morning, I'd be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; surprised to find it was causing sleep issues. Nothing else in the ingredient label jumps out, even a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing what else you're taking/eating/drinking/etc. it's impossible to know. It could also be environmental, emotional, dietary, who knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-01-13T19:47:29.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5129" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5131" CreationDate="2012-01-13T21:49:39.977" Score="1" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order for the body to have a balanced look I believe in doing exercises in pairs.  For leg extensions I will also go leg curls.  For arm curls I'll do cable tricep pushdowns, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what is the best back exercise to balance out chest workouts for proper symmetry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2012-01-15T17:33:41.777" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T17:33:41.777" Title="What's the best back exercise to balance out the dumbbell press from the profile?" Tags="&lt;balance&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="504" CreationDate="2012-01-13T21:55:22.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just adding to the mix here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I go as deep as possible with my lighter weights as I am warming up. I start with the bar only, then add a 45 on each side. I squat until my butt hits my ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I get to 225 or greater (2 45s on each side), then I only go down roughly parallel to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use your better judgement on this. If you feel like you are about to blow out a knee or break something by going down further - DON'T!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-13T21:55:22.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5129" CreationDate="2012-01-13T22:29:16.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say Cable Rows, Bent Over Rows, or Pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-13T22:29:16.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4913" CreationDate="2012-01-13T22:53:11.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think Squats and Dead Lifts are the type of exercises your doctor had in mind when he suggested you strengthen your leg muscles before your surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps light leg extensions or leg press would be better suited to someone with an injury. I'd suggest light weight and high (20+) reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats and Dead Lifts could be done with light weights, but unless you really know what you are doing with those exercises (that is, you have been doing those exercises for years), I would not advise starting them in your current physical state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-13T22:53:11.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-14T04:36:53.857" Score="5" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading an article about whey vs casein, which said casein is digested very slowly. I remember reading casein peptides in the blood stream are used by the body in a much slower way. I've a confusion between the terms digestion and blood absorption, when we say something is digested does it mean that the food is completely broken down and taken into blood or the process still continues in the blood stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is protein from different sources (meat/whey/casein...) when entering the blood stream after digestion in the intestines are essentially in the same form or each one absorbed into the blood stream is in a different form which is further broken down in the blood stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-01-16T15:08:09.290" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T01:17:51.510" Title="Digestion vs Absoption of different protein sources" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4913" CreationDate="2012-01-14T06:48:53.903" Score="17" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Squats can be done safely with an injured ACL.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11528346&quot;&gt;Effects of technique variations on knee biomechanics during the squat and leg press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (also available &lt;a href=&quot;http://mlmixrunning.com.br/artigos/Effects_of_technique_variations_on_knee.pdf&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for free), the authors found that &quot;no ACL forces were produced for any exercise variation&quot; of the squat or leg press, and that &quot;the lack of ACL forces implies that all exercises [squats and leg presses] may be effective during ACL rehabilitation&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/2001/01000/Knee_biomechanics_of_the_dynamic_squat_exercise.20.aspx&quot;&gt;Knee biomechanics of the dynamic squat exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, the authors conclude:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The squat was shown to be an effective exercise to employ during&#xA;  cruciate ligament or patellofemoral rehabilitation. For athletes with&#xA;  healthy knees, performing the parallel squat is recommended over the&#xA;  deep squat, because injury potential to the menisci and cruciate and&#xA;  collateral ligaments may increase with the deep squat. The squat does&#xA;  not compromise knee stability, and can enhance stability if performed&#xA;  correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(By parallel, this means tops of the thighs parallel to the ground.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The deadlift also.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;From &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/2000/07000/A_three_dimensional_biomechanical_analysis_of_sumo.13.aspx&quot;&gt;A three-dimensional biomechanical analysis of sumo and conventional style deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because the deadlift is considered a closed kinetic chain exercise&#xA;  (23), it can also be employed in knee rehabilitation programs, such as&#xA;  after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Numerous&#xA;  studies have already shown that the squat is an effective exercise&#xA;  during ACL rehabilitation (11,15,20,22,25,26,29). Because the deadlift&#xA;  is performed in a similar manner as the squat, it is hypothesized that&#xA;  the deadlift may provide similar benefits during ACL rehabilitation.&#xA;  The moderate to high hamstring activity that has been reported during&#xA;  the deadlift (28) may help protect the ACL during knee rehabilitation.&#xA;  However, which deadlift style would be most effective in knee&#xA;  rehabilitation has not yet been established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Leg extensions are not recommended for an injured or recently reconstructed ACL.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;(You didn't ask about leg extensions, but jp2code suggested them, so I'm correcting that here.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many studies (for example, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1317886/&quot;&gt;Electromyographic Evaluation of Closed and Open Kinetic Chain Knee Rehabilitation Exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;) have shown that open kinetic chain exercises (leg extensions) produce significantly higher shear force at the knee joint. These shear forces result from increased quad tension and can direct too much force through an injured or reconstructed ACL. The authors cite 10 other authors that warn against open kinetic chain exercises after ACL reconstruction. &quot;Because [...] shear forces are are increased during leg extensions, it seems prudent to select alternate exercises to strengthen the quadriceps after ACL reconstruction.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding closed kinetic chain exercises (that includes squats), they say &quot;weight bearing, closed kinetic chain exercises cause less elongation of the ACL than non-weight bearing, open kinetic chain exercises&quot;, and &quot;closed kinetic chain exercises have been found beneficial in ACL rehabilitation programs&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One doctor's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.palomarortho.com/protocols/antcruciateligament.pdf&quot;&gt;ACL rehabilitation program&lt;/a&gt; goes so far as to say &quot;the leg extension machine should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; be used because it will significantly aggravate your PF pain and can cause &lt;strong&gt;severe ligament injury&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (emphasis theirs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later on in recovery, inclusion of leg extensions can assist in regaining quadricep strength and an earlier return to sport (from &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerlink.com/content/2b47hxd7fugn25dl/&quot;&gt;Closed kinetic chain alone compared to combined open and closed kinetic chain exercises for quadriceps strengthening after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with respect to return to sports: a prospective matched follow-up study&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;), but the authors of that study agree that unrestricted open kinetic chain exercises could put too much strain on the ACL and suggest a wait until 6 weeks and only include them under controlled conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Other references&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a less scholarly reference that gives a good summary of the forces on the ACL during squatting and leg extensions:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/articles/archive/1003article.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/articles/archive/1003article.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditorDisplayName="user2567" LastEditDate="2012-09-18T15:53:48.280" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T15:53:48.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5121" CreationDate="2012-01-14T09:11:41.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Query Google for &quot;glutamine rats sleep&quot; to get a whole bunch of links to medical studies. Try to comprehend them. From reading the teaser texts, I think there seems to be something but maybe cause and effect are the other way around: Sleep deprivation of rats causes enrichment of glutamine in the nervous system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a paper mentioned &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtobefit.com/cortisol-stress-body-fat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (Ref. 29): Rowbottom, et al., “The emerging role of glutamine as an indicator of exercise stress and overtraining,” Sports Med 21.2 1996: 80-97 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't read this paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a Hypothesis: So if you train too much, and still take in an overdose of glutamine, indeed stress symptoms might get worse. Are yiou training too hard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T09:11:41.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5094" CreationDate="2012-01-14T12:00:20.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For extremely obese persons who start with completely untrained bodies, swimming and, in particular, aquafitness are preferable over many other activities such as, say, jogging. I read so in a book about aquafitness by Mimi Rodriguez-Adami (2003, first edition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this book, obese persons should:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;never go over the personal limit &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;check heart rate &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drink a lot before, during and after the aquafitness workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;switch between deep-water and flat-water exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;train sequences of movements that are as diverse as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start with simple movements/exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorUserId="422" LastEditDate="2013-07-08T08:16:56.287" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T08:16:56.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5095" CreationDate="2012-01-14T16:54:24.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An hour of cardio will burn more calories than an hour of weightlifting. However, the muscle built from an hour of weightlifting will allow your basal metabolic rate to increase which is the amount of calories you burn at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any exercise will make muscles.  That's a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2716" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T16:54:24.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4661" CreationDate="2012-01-14T17:08:27.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doesn't do much.  I have tried for the past 6 mos and i still have a little gut.  Probably time to get serious and do more ab workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2716" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T17:08:27.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3476" CreationDate="2012-01-14T17:17:42.917" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most appropriate answer is to consult a physician before starting any workout program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But some tight compression tights could help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2716" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T17:17:42.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3476" CreationDate="2012-01-14T19:38:45.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say high impact workouts like running might make them worse. Try for a low impact exercise like swimming. However, don't listen to me (or anyone else on the internet). &lt;strong&gt;Talk to a trained medical professional.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T19:38:45.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5126" CreationDate="2012-01-14T20:52:20.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey I did 5 tough mudders in 2011 and one warrior dash and wore vibram 5 fingers in all of them. Its the only way to do it.  They don't hold a lot of water and make you feel like a ninja. Mint&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T20:52:20.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5145" CreationDate="2012-01-14T21:38:02.230" Score="3" ViewCount="818" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, reading in my newspaper I discovered an interview with a professional boxer (at the end of his career). He said preparing for an upcoming fight has been really hard... getting body weight down and all that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What caused my surprise was another remark from the boxer. When he is well-trained, low weight, he has a really low body fat values of, say, 5%, but he does not really like this. He said that during this time, he is easily irritated, exhibits uncontrolled anger and tends to be a more unloveable person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is this an individual trait or can this be generalized? So getting low body fat could have undesirable effects on the temper or mental state of the athlete? Is there a medical explanation for this? How would a sports-psychologist comment on that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T09:01:46.723" Title="Increased irritability with ultra-low body fat?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4188" CreationDate="2012-01-14T21:45:55.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;See the answers on my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1001/should-a-white-muscle-fiber-guy-do-the-same-type-of-workout-as-a-red-fibre-muscl&quot;&gt;similar question from March 2011&lt;/a&gt;. Both guys who answered said that the type of muscle fiber has presumably no influence on the agenda of the workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:45:55.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4188" CreationDate="2012-01-14T23:36:41.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fast twitch fibers are used for explosive strength and maximum strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olympic lifts make great use of fast twitch muscle fibers (explosive strength).  Powerlifting does too, but not as much as Olympic lifting  (maximum strength).  Actually most sports benefit more from faster twitch fibers than slow twitch fibers.  Basketball benefits a great deal from explosive strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2308" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T23:36:41.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5142" CreationDate="2012-01-14T23:42:04.480" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  Undereating, especially not eating after vigorous exercise will drive up your cortisol levels and put you in a bad mood.  Without enough carbs your body will have trouble producing serotonin (the well-being neurotransmitter) and you will not feel energetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5% is about the minimum you should have, it is unhealthy to go that low.  Do you think you would feel good if you forced your body fat percentage to it's minimum?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2308" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T23:42:04.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5126" CreationDate="2012-01-15T19:27:15.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can tell you the Spartan Sprint race absolutely DESTROYED my original Vibram KSO's that were 2 years old. Punctures, tears, just not worth it in my opinion. I would get some cheapo light soled sneakers if it's multi-terrain. If it's just mud and water, they'll probably survive ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T19:27:15.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5147" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-15T21:08:13.923" Score="5" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a week, I run down a small mountain (3 km, 450 m denivelation). 1/3 is asphalt, but 2/3 of it is a trail consisting of rocks and roots poking through mud, covered with dead leaves and the occasional loose stone. The surface is also wet or frosted depending on the weather. I don't jog slowly, I alternate sprinting and quick walking (for when I am out of breath). My gait doesn't help: I tend to land hard on the heel, which is cumbersome downhill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I try doing it in running shoes, I'll soon break an ankle. So I'm doing it in hiking boots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the hiking boots bear weight well and don't slip, they are still not optimal for running. Is there a way to make it easier on my feet? Maybe some kind of inlays? Something to correct for my overpronation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1365" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-01-16T14:46:30.527" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T21:48:18.977" Title="Running in boots comfortably down mountain trails" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-16T00:56:51.253" Score="4" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since skinny people, like myself, need to track their progress while building muscle mass and staying feet; what should I be looking at?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I'm measuring muscle, weight, and body fat but is body fat (percentage) actually a helpful tool for measuring muscle mass in skinny people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2723" LastEditorUserId="2558" LastEditDate="2012-01-16T13:21:11.837" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T17:54:57.553" Title="What should skinny people do to track progress?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5166" CreationDate="2012-01-16T01:03:02.523" Score="7" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it explained before but I still don't understand why there is such an emphasis on consuming lots of protein. My trainers say I should consume 1 gram of protein per body weight (and then some) but they really never told me why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then what are the differences between the various proteins out there, like whey and beef isolates? Also, why aren't protein shakes enough to consume the required protein?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2723" LastEditorUserId="2698" LastEditDate="2012-01-16T18:24:50.697" LastActivityDate="2012-01-17T23:13:17.163" Title="Why is there an emphasis on consuming protein for muscle repair and gain?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-16T01:14:47.810" Score="3" ViewCount="2372" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what the best practices are for workout attire, what kind of clothes should one use? Loose fitting clothing, moisture wicking etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not asking for discussion but what is commonly accepted by most trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2723" LastEditorUserId="2723" LastEditDate="2012-01-16T01:47:14.993" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T13:19:55.560" Title="What is good workout attire for weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5517" CreationDate="2012-01-16T01:22:29.340" Score="1" ViewCount="9205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know how to calculate how much muscle mass one has as opposed actually body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2723" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-01-18T16:16:21.050" LastActivityDate="2012-02-19T06:43:45.493" Title="How to accurately measure muscle mass versus body fat?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5150" CreationDate="2012-01-16T02:01:39.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to go is to wear whatever feels comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But these are what I generally see at the gym:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper: t-shirts or tank tops&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower: shorts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moisture wicking gear is a big plus especially if you sweat a lot, but not a requirement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoes: comfortable sneakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T02:01:39.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5148" CreationDate="2012-01-16T03:39:05.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually measuring tape and a weighing scale is enough to take your progress measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body fat percentage measurements would be more useful for someone overweight trying to slim down. If you're asking for a guide on how much body fat percentage you should maintain, here is a table of typical body fat amounts table from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T03:39:05.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5148" CreationDate="2012-01-16T04:30:50.353" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're skinny and want to get bigger, the first step is just getting stronger. At first you really only need to track how much weight you lift each time, and how much you eat (calories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're eating enough, and resting one day between lifting sessions, you should see your lifting numbers go up, every time, for a month or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you've gotten stronger and gained some weight (some of which will be body fat), then you can turn your attention to things like body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add, you need to choose the right lifts if you want to be able to see continuous, incremental progress. Big lifts that use lots of muscles (squats, deadlifts, bench, overhead press) will give you that. You can't expect your bicep to be able to lift 5 more lbs every time you hit the gym, but you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; expect large groups of muscles to work together to be able to lift 5 more lbs each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastEditorDisplayName="user2567" LastEditDate="2012-01-17T01:17:10.327" LastActivityDate="2012-01-17T01:17:10.327" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5150" CreationDate="2012-01-16T10:30:24.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;i Think loose fitting is better than tight fitting as body get pumped up and bulged up after doing workouts and if u wear tight fitting then it will cause you uncomfortable. so prefer go with loose fitting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2725" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T10:30:24.400" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7155" CreationDate="2012-01-16T13:03:05.797" Score="4" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;What, in addition to an Android device with GPS, would I need to track fitness effort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of perhaps something like a Fitbit, or can the Android do the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also probably a hearth rate monitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had a Polar monitors in the past, but I think the way it worked didn't really fit my purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to track is to a great extent daily activities like walking and biking, and fitness activities like Pilates or dancing, which are not primarily aerobic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One activity is longer walks/hikes, it is also a goal to to even harder ones well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:35:26.367" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T15:35:14.640" Title="What would I need to track fitness effort?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5150" CreationDate="2012-01-16T13:19:55.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;clean, simple and comfortable.  Don't wear anything that is to tight to restrict movement or to loose that may get in the way. Many weightlifters use Converse Chucks (canvas and a strip of rubber for the sole) and would probably prefer being barefoot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T13:19:55.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5157" CreationDate="2012-01-16T13:21:37.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of instrumentation, I would recommend taking a weekly photo to show your progress.  Unless you're a top athlete, monitors and tracking tools are more of a distraction than a help and any time spent on them instead of the workout is not helpful UNLESS you're an intermediate or top level athlete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T13:21:37.507" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5157" CreationDate="2012-01-16T17:31:53.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you specifically looking for software to run on an Android?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, the handy-dandy notebook never fails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of spending all your time filling out data, though, I'd suggest picking one day a week to dedicate to making data entries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are too many fluctuations from day-to-day for daily measurements. Also, I've found that taking daily measurements causes me, personally, to strive for daily improvements - something that really is not healthy for your body. Dropping 1-lb of weight per day, every day, or running 1-minute faster every day is just asking for something to break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T17:31:53.617" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5147" CreationDate="2012-01-16T18:37:26.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shorten your stride, increase leg turnover, land mid-foot.  That's about it. Any chance you could run UP the hill instead of DOWN it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-01-16T18:37:26.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5149" CreationDate="2012-01-17T03:41:30.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein is the building block of muscle tissue.  You want to gain muscle eat protein, much like consuming calcium for your bones.  This is all bodybuilding 101.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2012-01-17T03:41:30.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5174" CreationDate="2012-01-17T22:04:04.880" Score="3" ViewCount="925" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen 3 type of sport earphones so far, there are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neckband&lt;/strong&gt; styles that wrap around the back of your head (such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sennheiserusa.com/iPhone-iPod-sport-earbuds-earphones-running-fitness-jogging-sennheiser-adidas_504604&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sennheiser PMX 680i&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Earclip styles&lt;/strong&gt; that hang over your ear (like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sennheiserusa.com/sport-earbuds-iPhone-iPod-earphones-running-fitness-jogging-sennheiser-adidas_504607&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sennheiser OMX 680i&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;Earbud styles *&lt;/em&gt; that you stick directly in your ear canal (like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sennheiserusa.com/sport-headphones-sennheiser-adidas_504034&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sennheiser CX 680&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What style should I consider in terms of comfort and ensuring the earphones stay on while for running or jogging?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-25T14:25:59.083" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T14:25:59.083" Title="What style earphone is most appropriate for jogging and running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5149" CreationDate="2012-01-17T23:13:17.163" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bottomline, to form muscle your body needs amino acids, both branched chain and simple. The foods that are highest in those nutrients are protein.  1 gram per lb is a minimum to maintain.  Building will require even more.  Muscle growth is triggered by two things.  Hypertrophy and then having the appropriate macro-nutrients available for the body to repair and grow from the hypertrophy workout.  Simply put, you work out to tear down the muscle, so that it'll rebuild itself stronger and thicker to be better prepared the next time.  As soon as you're done tearing down (working out) you need to repair.  Real food is the best source of protein, shakes are supplements.  Whey is extremely fast absorbing, making it the perfect post workout shake type.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2610" LastActivityDate="2012-01-17T23:13:17.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5133" CreationDate="2012-01-17T23:28:22.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Digestion is the body's process of breaking down food that we've partially digested in our mouths into macro nutrients it can properly absorb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absorbtion is the bodies utilization into the blood stream of those macro nutrients broken down through digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey is the smallest and easiest protein for th ebody to absorb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soy is in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Casien has the longest absorption rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All proteins are nothing more than a different blend of amino acids.  They way they are grouped determines their absorption rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer to your question:  Yes, proteins from different sources will be absorbed into the blood stream at different rates, because at a macro level, their branched chain amino acid groupings will be different.  Many of the same parts, but put together differently, so absorbed differently.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Article:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://library.thinkquest.org/11226/main/c14txt.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://library.thinkquest.org/11226/main/c14txt.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2610" LastActivityDate="2012-01-17T23:28:22.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3844" CreationDate="2012-01-17T23:43:56.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you have read, you cannot get an accurate diagnosis on the internet.  School trainers have more information than you do, but they have limited diagnostic knowledge and are not health experts when it comes to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be able to run competitively, long term without aggravating your condition, check with an orthopedist or a podiatrist (foot doctor) who specializes in running or sports medicine.  A new stress fracture will not necessarily show up on xray as it can be too small to show until some healing or callous formation develops.  Your doctor will know if you need further workup. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a sports doctor would be able to evaluate your foot to see if your have a structural or functional problem with your foot as it relates to your running.  Or they may refer you to a sports physical therapist or recommend orthotics (shoe inserts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You describe mid-foot pain, not heel pain.  As to plantar fascitis, the pain is usually noted at the heel on the bottom of your foot where the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PF-PlantarDesign.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fascia&lt;/a&gt; attaches.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, pain resolves with &lt;a href=&quot;http://video.about.com/running/Proper-Running-Form.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;corrected technique&lt;/a&gt; and/or more appropriate shoes.  Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/113/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-running-shoe&quot;&gt;What should I look for in a running shoe?&lt;/a&gt; to help you in choosing the right shoe.  And check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips&quot;&gt;these answers&lt;/a&gt; to help you understand other possible causes and solutions to prevent pain when running.  Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-01-17T23:43:56.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5157" CreationDate="2012-01-18T00:15:37.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it useful to track things I want to improve.&#xA;So, when I want to do the workouts my coach set me in a programme then I track that.&#xA;If I want to get my body fat or mass down then I track that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no point tracking something just to track it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, figure out what you want to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T00:15:37.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5165" CreationDate="2012-01-18T12:08:54.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have struggled for a couple of years with iPhone headphones (that keep falling out due to some weird configuration of my ears). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also had a pair of early Senheiser earclips similar to the ones below. Again due to my ear shape they didn't fit perfectly and I had to turn the sound way up to be able to hear it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a0byf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sennheiser earclips&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now have a pair of &lt;strong&gt;Etymotic hf2&lt;/strong&gt; and they are friggin brilliant. I've been hesitant to get ear canal earphones for a while but my fears about them being uncomfortable were unjustified. They fit well and seal off the outside noise just right to be able to listen to podcasts and not miss anything. I regularly run past an eight lane highway and I don;t even have to adjust the volume to be able to hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://static.phonesreview.co.uk/wp-content/phoneimages/2008/08/hf2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Etymotic hf2 http://static.phonesreview.co.uk/wp-content/phoneimages/2008/08/hf2.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T12:08:54.567" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5171" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-18T12:38:39.463" Score="19" ViewCount="5619" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started getting into freestyle swimming after doing a moderate amount of running for a long time (~50 km a month).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing three 1000m sessions a week and have improved to the point of enjoying the workout quite a lot more. I've been keeping an eye out for my times and it seems that at maximum effort I can only sustain between 2:20 to 2:40 per lap(2 x 50m lengths).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have done some research (mainly swimsmooth website) and I think I got breathing and stroke under control. Not sure about kick at this stage, kicking from the hip takes a lot of concentration from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not worried about my speed per se, but more about the fact that I am doing something very wrong to cause such pathetic times. It seems like there are lots of different programs I can do but I just don't know where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should be my next steps in trying to assess and develop my swimming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T18:14:06.583" Title="Improving freestyle swimming pace" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5172" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-18T13:20:19.450" Score="-1" ViewCount="12918" Body="&lt;p&gt;i am here to ask how can i increase my weight, and shape up my body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat following stuff daily: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning Breakfast at 6:00 am - Milk, Mix fruit Museli, tea &#xA;Morning Breakfast at 10:00 am - fried egg and 3 chapatis  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afternoon lunch at 1:10 PM - vegetable and chapati - around 6 medium size chapatis &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;evening snacks at around 6:00 PM like sandwiches, biscuits and coffee &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dinner at around 8:30 PM - rice, meat or any vegetable, sweet with dinner every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i m 5.6' ft and my weight is only 52 KGS after following the above diet with proper timings from March 2011 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i want to increase weight and make my personality, look wise bold in group on 10 people..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest some tips  to me.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; : I am a male aged 26yrs lives in India, and chapatis are made up from wheat flour. i have no ideal of my calories intake, how can i calculate that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2737" LastEditorUserId="2737" LastEditDate="2012-01-19T04:37:54.450" LastActivityDate="2013-04-13T11:30:41.293" Title="I need some tips in increasing my weight and body sturcture" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-05-21T03:57:37.707" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5172" CreationDate="2012-01-18T15:41:42.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really know what a chapati is, but I am guessing your overall calorie count is low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many calories are you eating a day? Are you a man or a woman?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase your size, a man should take in more than 2500 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you exercise? If you exercise, you should add to that twice the amount of calories you burn during your exercise. So, if you burn 300 calories on the treadmill, add 500 calories to your daily caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T15:41:42.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5165" CreationDate="2012-01-18T15:49:35.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Earclip&lt;/strong&gt; is likely to be your best bet. These, I have found, hang on pretty good, even though they can shake around a bit on your ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neckband&lt;/strong&gt; will flop around on the back of your neck, especially if you have short hair. Also, the neckband is heavier, so it will naturally be more irritating. If you ever workout inside the gym, a neckband is also distracting when you try to do any exercise laying on the bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Earbuds&lt;/strong&gt; are very nice and would be perfect unless you jog along the side of a road. Earbuds often cause you to hear your own body's noises (think of chewing something with your fingers in your ears), and this will prevent you from hearing traffic approaching you from behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T15:49:35.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5151" CreationDate="2012-01-18T16:00:16.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A low dollar scale on Amazon is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000FYZMYK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Omron HBF-306C&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't work for Amazon, so if you can find it somewhere else I will not be hurt. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tG0qs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Omron HBF-306C&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T16:00:16.193" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5165" CreationDate="2012-01-18T16:12:01.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently been using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jaybirdgear.com/jf3/bluetooth-headphones-features.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jaybird Freedom&lt;/a&gt; earbuds.  They have bluetooth so I am not dealing with wires.  There are 3 different custom fit buds along with 4 other adjustments.  They stay put, fit well, are comfortable and the sound is very decent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T16:12:01.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5151" CreationDate="2012-01-18T16:42:32.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Body fat measurement scales work well enough for your purposes. I've used one for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I suggest you set yourself up a protocol so that you are consistently measuring. I do it every week, on a Tuesday to allow a day after my last long run on a Sunday. I do it in the morning, before breakfast but after I've used the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I write the results down in a little notebook and use it to tell me where I am in terms of muscle and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T16:42:32.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-01-18T18:22:54.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Freestyle is a lot about streaming. I will look up drills about freestyle and pay attention to body position, arm movement and so on. Also kicking is important, you need a strong kick.&#xA;The kicks are supposed to have a small amplitude and quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2740" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T18:22:54.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-18T19:04:41.227" Score="2" ViewCount="4621" Body="&lt;p&gt;About me: &#xA;29 years old&#xA;170 lbs&#xA;Active (mountain biking, skiing, basketball)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last year or so I've started to develop symptoms of what I think is Jumper's Knee (pain right beneath the kneecap that gets worse with more activity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know rest is probably the most logical &quot;treatment&quot;, but the pain isn't bad enough to completely stop me from staying active. And also, I have gone through rest periods only to have the issue resurface rather quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I have been doing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(a) taking a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement &#xA;(b) massaging the area just below the kneecap before physical activity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else I should/could be doing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2742" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T03:06:31.717" Title="How Can I Heal/Prevent Jumper's (Patellar Tendinitis) Knee?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5114" CreationDate="2012-01-18T19:20:09.737" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone posted a link to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-through-bodyweight-conditioning/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dragon Door article on bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt; a while ago to a similar question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How strong is it possible to become with bodyweight exercises? Amazingly strong. In fact I&#xA;  would go so far as to say, done correctly, far stronger than someone who had trained for&#xA;  the same amount of time with free weights. Want some concrete examples? One of my former &gt;students, JJ Gregory (1993 Junior National Champion on the Still Rings) developed such a&#xA;  high degree of strength from my bodyweight conditioning program that on his first day in &gt;his high school weightlifting class he deadlifted 400lbs., and this at the scale breaking&#xA;  weight of 135 lbs. and a height of 5'3&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After this I was curious and wanted to measure JJ's one rep max on weighted pull-ups. We&#xA;  started fairly light with 10 lbs. or so. I continued adding more weight while JJ performed&#xA;  single rep after single rep. Unfortunately I didn't know about chinning belts and chains at &#xA;  that time and the cheap leather belt we were using broke at 75 lbs. Once again, I repeat,&#xA;  at 75 lbs. and JJ had never performed a weighted pull-up in his life. But he had performed&#xA;  years of my specialized bodyweight conditioning exercises. How much could JJ have chinned&#xA;  that day? We will never know for sure, but I will tell you that at 75 lbs. JJ was laughing&#xA;  and joking with me and did not appear to be noticeably bothered by the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And JJ, while the strongest, is not an isolated case. ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working through this progression for about a month, and while I am still on the first step of the progression, I have already noticed that my core and upper body are quite a bit stronger and am noticing more definition in my arms and chest.  I imagine that lower body strength will follow once I move to the next step and my legs are no longer resting on my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2366" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T19:50:23.067" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T19:50:23.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5114" CreationDate="2012-01-18T19:33:01.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These exercises are free:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping Jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chopping wood&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoveling snow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paying money to a fitness center just means you prefer a clean and convenient way to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T19:33:01.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5151" CreationDate="2012-01-18T20:14:25.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer is that you can't. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;You can calculate body fat%&lt;/a&gt;, unfortunately the amount of mass that is not fat is composed of things that do vary such as water weight, amount of undigested food, etc.  Considering even the difficulty in just measuring body fat, you will do good just to keep track of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you keep your diet consistent, you can keep track of weekly changes in lean mass to get an idea of which way things are changing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A less sophisticated way is to take flexible tape measurements of all your major muscles that you want to track.  When things are growing in the right proportions, you are doing well.  If not, you'll either need to change your training or your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T20:14:25.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-01-18T22:24:11.807" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is much more about technique than fitness or body type. I'm a fan of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.totalimmersion.net/home&quot;&gt;Total Immersion&lt;/a&gt;. I used Triathlon Swimming Made Easy to re-learn how to swim in order to swim much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This system makes you think about what you're doing and gives you fantastic tips on how to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second idea is to join a masters swim club in your area. That will get you lots of swimming, against friendly competition and you may get coaching as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-18T22:24:11.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-19T02:27:05.440" Score="6" ViewCount="1722" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am moving from strength training to power training in order to improve athletic performance. Specifically, I am adding the clean and jerk (no snatch for now) to my program. I am not looking to compete in Olympic weightlifting. Rather, I am using the Olympic lifts to improve my power output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I therefore need instruction on the Olympic lifts beyond Rippetoe's (excellent) overview of the power clean in Starting Strength. I train at home, so in addition to in-person coaching, I'd like to have a book or DVD available as reference on the clean, jerk, and perhaps the snatch in the future. Which sources should I look to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-01-27T16:58:49.137" LastActivityDate="2012-02-04T16:13:14.880" Title="What is the best Olympic weightlifting instructional?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;books&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-19T19:39:34.597" Score="7" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a set of adjustable dumbbells in the basement that I haven't used in awhile and every time I start an exercise regiment, it never lasts. I would like to start using them again, minimally. But, if I'm just using them minimally, is it even worth my time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I were to use the dumbbells to do a variety of upper and lower body exercises three times a week, 20 minutes per session, is that going to do anything at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking to get bigger, just general fitness. I sit behind a desk all day and just want to get some use out of muscles that don't normally get used during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2703" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:32:41.190" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T03:32:41.190" Title="Are small workouts worth the time?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5188" CreationDate="2012-01-19T20:46:02.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Combine your 3x20min a week workout with a short walk every day and a healthy diet and you'll be amazed where you'll be 3 months from now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-01-19T20:46:02.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5188" CreationDate="2012-01-19T21:03:27.637" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's start at this point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some exercise&lt;/strong&gt; &gt; no exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if you are doing something, &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt;, you will make positive steps toward fitness.  The problem with stopping there, is that usually the &lt;strong&gt;something&lt;/strong&gt; people choose, doesn't maintain their interest.  This can be a result of not perceiving any benefit, or shear boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goals are stated in this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; looking to get bigger (anti-goal, a limiter of things you are willing to do)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I just want general fitness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the 5 million dollar question is: &lt;em&gt;what is general fitness&lt;/em&gt;?  The secondary question that is equally important, is &lt;em&gt;how do I make it interesting&lt;/em&gt;?  To answer the first question, the best way to define general fitness is to break it down into its main parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;, the stronger you are, the better your quality of life as you can pick up heavy things, and resist injury better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;, the more conditioned you are, the better you can keep blood flowing through your body and you can have the energy you need to do what you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mobility&lt;/strong&gt;, the more mobility you have, the more range of motion you have without pain.  This also affects your quality of life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coordination&lt;/strong&gt;, the more control over your body that you have, the better you can get it to do what you want without thinking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Healthy range of body fat&lt;/strong&gt;, too much or too little body fat will adversely affect your health.  If you can keep the body fat within the range of a six pack to a flat stomach, you are in a healthy range (approximately 10-15% for men and 12-25% for women).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you play basketball, run marathons, swim, or left weights, all of the above points help you achieve general fitness.  The activities that go into becoming fit include exercise, stretching, skill work (drills, playing, practicing technique), and good nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question isn't so much what you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; want to do, but what you are &lt;em&gt;willing&lt;/em&gt; to do.  You have some equipment--the adjustable dumbbells--at your disposal.  You can use those to help build strength and conditioning.  I'm going to assume you are a complete beginner, so anything will help.  Here's an example program you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaQPfi8f27E&quot;&gt;Goblet Squats&lt;/a&gt;, 3x5 (3 sets of 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGrpvGlu-R8&quot;&gt;Overhead dumbbell press&lt;/a&gt;, 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nodRjSSg4L0&quot;&gt;Farmer's Walks&lt;/a&gt;, 10 minutes (take 20 second breaks as you need to)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout B&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet Squats, 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-bench-press&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Bench Press&lt;/a&gt;, 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gOYkpfT9Hc&quot;&gt;Krok Rows&lt;/a&gt;, 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply do these exercises 3 times per week, alternating between them each time.  Make sure you have a day of rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, why sets of 5?  Because you stated you are not looking to get big.  Sets of five help work on strength in the range that a beginner should be focusing on.  In reality, anything in the 4-6 rep range will work for your purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goal should be to start out at the lowest setting on the dumbbells, and keep increasing the weight every time you do one of the exercises.  With the farmer's walks, you may need to start with a lower amount of time and slowly increase until you get to 10 minutes.  When you get to the max that your dumbbells can afford you, you have a choice: go and buy more dumbbells, stay at the maximum and maintain (can get boring), find a pickup sport you can play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, be sure to stretch after you exercise.  A nice slow walk afterwards can also help you cool down and get blood through your sore muscles.  This is just a simple program to get you started.  The question then becomes, is this something that can keep you interested?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-19T21:03:27.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2012-01-20T02:00:24.303" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat a can of tuna.  White albicore. Each can has 2 servings and each serving has 14 grams of protein. Put some ranch dressing in there and your good to go! 28 grams is close enough for me but 1 tbsp of peanut butter would put you over the top ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2751" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T02:00:24.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5194" CreationDate="2012-01-20T06:45:05.557" Score="9" ViewCount="3778" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'6 and 176 lbs with a high body fat %. I am overweight (with man boobs and big belly with love handles) and just started the StrongLifts 5x5 program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While reading the starter pdf included, Mehdi mentions that I need to eat and maintain about 3000 Calories to keep up with the program and gain weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, do I need to eat 3000 Calories or more a day even if I'm overweight? And if I don't meet the 3000 Calorie mark, will it affect my StrongLifts performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastEditorUserId="2678" LastEditDate="2012-01-20T07:13:52.780" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T13:29:24.347" Title="Do I need to gain weight if I'm overweight? (Starting StrongLifts program)" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5179" CreationDate="2012-01-20T06:53:44.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For relief during exercise, you can get a knee band:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rehband.com/7757-knee-strap-rehband.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rehband Knee Strap&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;For actually treating the symptoms get a foam roller and roll your IT band.  Foam roll, stretch, ice and take an anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen and omega-3s).  These things combined should help you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T06:53:44.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5192" CreationDate="2012-01-20T13:29:24.347" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Medhi has different articles to cater to different populations with SL 5x5 being the perfect fit no matter where you are...  Want to gain weight and look like an Adonis?  Want to lose weight and get stronger at the same time? Etc.  The important thing is that you open your sights to other sources of information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The facts are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any weightlifting program designed around big compound lifts using sets in the 4-6 rep range will help any beginner get stronger.  This is from sources like Bill Starr, Jim Wendler, Mark Rippetoe, Dr. Kilgore, Glenn Pendlay, and yes, even Medhi.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you get stronger you will have more lean mass.  This means you will get heavier, even if your body composition doesn't change (i.e. same absolute amount of body fat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only as a beginner can you gain strength and lose weight at the same time.  This is per Mark Rippetoe and Dr. Kilgore.  Essentially, as you progress as a lifter, eating to lose weight will affect your max lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take it your goal is similar to what mine was when I started lifting weights: &lt;strong&gt;get stronger and lose fat&lt;/strong&gt;.  In fact, I'm still working on that process now and making decent headway.  In order to pull off this feat, do the lifting program as laid out.  Both Starting Strength and Strong Lifts are good beginner programs--particularly for guys in their 20s.  It's still doable if you are older, you just might have to switch programs sooner than a younger guy.  The other part is to &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/980-cutting-tools-of-the-trade/&quot;&gt;eat to lose weight&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few short tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a minimum of 1g protein per pound lean mass (i.e. how much you way without fat).  A reasonable target is still 1g protein per pound total body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat fewer calories than is required to maintain your weight.  You'll probably be surprised by how much that is.  I would cut by 20% averaged throughout the week, and adjust accordingly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body will use your body fat to make up the difference.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add some conditioning after your lifting.  Jog for 2 miles, run sprints, hit a tire with a sledgehammer, jump rope, anything that gets your heart rate up will help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article I linked to has a few tools of the trade that have been proven to work.  You can even mix and match the tools together to help speed things along.  The protein is non-negotiable for people who lift weights.  Your body needs to repair your muscles and build them back up stronger after exercise.  It needs protein to do that.  However, try to get your protein from whole food sources like chicken, fish, and beef.  This is better, and less expensive than protein supplements.  Don't worry about timing the protein, but just try to get the daily requirement in.  The only macronutrient that seems to respond better if you time it to post workout is carbohydrates.  Carbs provide energy for your muscles, so they help with recovery.  Post workout, your muscles will be hungry, so to speak, so having a meal higher in carbs at that time will help them recover better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T13:29:24.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5179" CreationDate="2012-01-20T15:55:08.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely go to a sports doctor esp. since it's better to catch this while you're young and regenerate faster than when you're older. I had this piercing pain on my left knee when it wasn't moving. It usually happened while I was driving; I guess the certain angle I had it at in the car aggravated it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to a sports doc who did an X-ray and I was diagnosed with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthritis-treatment-and-relief.com/chondromalacia-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chondromalacia&lt;/a&gt; (which has the same symptoms as jumper's knee, runner's knee, tennis knee, hiker's knee --- basically overuse of a repetitive motion). I played volleyball and had terrible form then. I would jump on the one knee to spike rather than both legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Chondromalacia is caused by the disproportionate development of muscles around the knee. The muscles then pull the knee cap in an abnormal direction (ref: above link)&quot; So you want to focus on strengthening the muscle that is weaker which is why I suggest going to a doctor to find out the real underlying issue and if it's chondromalacia, to see which muscle is weaker (you can tell because your knee cap will be angled and you need to &quot;get&quot; it straight). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T15:55:08.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5196" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5197" CreationDate="2012-01-20T16:52:09.057" Score="6" ViewCount="7138" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems a lot of form problems with the squats are caused by inadequate flexibility - I think mainly in the hamstrings and also the shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some good stretches that can be used to enhance the squat form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T09:19:12.283" Title="What are some good stretches to help with squatting?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5196" CreationDate="2012-01-20T17:42:37.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For shoulders, shoulder dislocations: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33P5AI27eiU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33P5AI27eiU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For hamstrings, here are two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit on the ground, place your legs straight out in front of you in contact with the floor for their entire length, reach forward as far as you can and hold (as this is a static stretch, best to do on off-days)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand up next to a railing that you can hold onto with your left hand (or not; it just helps with balance). Swing your right leg back and forth. On the forward, upswing, try to keep both your planted (left) leg and swinging (right) leg straight. (This is a dynamic stretch that you can do in preparation for the squat after you've done some warm-up on the bike machine.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tight hamstrings can make it difficult to keep the lower back in extension, and make it difficult to get to proper depth. Shoulder flexibility issues will prevent you from using an optimal grip on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T17:42:37.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5196" CreationDate="2012-01-20T18:13:15.593" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mobility in the hips is often just as much a problem as tight shoulders and hamstrings. Squatting early and often helped me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;General practices&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I improved my squat by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...sitting in the bottom of a squat for a few minutes, moving around gently, every morning after a brief warm-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...squatting heavy with a barbell three times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...popping into a squat for a few seconds a dozen times a day, grabbing onto something for balance if I had to&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...using a giant rubber band to &quot;floss&quot; my hip joints (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRmT1mja4uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video from Kelly Starrett's excellent Mobility Project&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...incorporating leg swings (pretty much like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRom9tGnxI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt;) into all my warm-ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Squat-specific movements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More recently, my squat form has been tremendously improved through the use of a variety of mobility exercises and stretches, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pigeon prep pose, from yoga, mostly for the glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a lunge with arms overhead (much like one of yoga's warrior poses), for the front hip flexors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cossack squats, as a diagnostic for the ankles, hips, and hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;air squats facing a wall, as a diagnostic for the back, hips, glutes, ankles, and everything else, and also as a good preparation movement to get upright posture engaged&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/article/127/Catalyst-Athletics-Our-Warm-up-is-a-Warm-up/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Catalyst Athletics calls&lt;/a&gt; the &quot;spiderman lunge&quot;, also seen in yoga, for the hip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overhead squats with a light dowel, for posture and back (these are like an &quot;overwarmup&quot;, that is, punching past the target to make sure all the requirements for the regular squat are beyond met)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-02-10T09:19:12.283" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T09:19:12.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-20T20:10:03.607" Score="3" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I went to the gym for the first time to get the program from my trainer. I warned him I have protuding disks in my lumbar and neck areas (lumbar L4-L5 and neck C4-C5). I am going through physiotherapy and I got relevant improvements in the last two weeks, after years of pain and difficulty in moving and occasionally walking. I am around 70 kg, 180 cm. Completely out of training, generally fragile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program mostly involves cardio (bike) for heating up (10 min)-cooling down (20 min), and machines to strengthen various muscles. I am a complete ignorant on this regard, but I went through 7 machines, one for the lower back, one for the abdominal (both involved bending my back forward) two for the legs, one for the arms, biceps and so on. I am sure you know which machines I used, but this is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymmachinesguide.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sample of some of them&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I worked with 15 kg in most machines, doing 15 repetitions of the movement every time. I did the full round of the seven machines only once, but I am supposed to do two rounds each time, twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is that after this exercise, now my back hurts as it used to before starting physiotherapy. I don't know if it's expected, nor I know if I can actually bend my back in those machines considering my situation. Do you think the work plan is appropriate, or should I skip those machines ? Alternatively, what can I do to improve my situation ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2755" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T19:20:43.873" Title="Is this appropriate training for a person with lumbar L4-L5 and neck C4-C5 protuding disks?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-21T02:18:06.927" Score="1" ViewCount="2010" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a pain in my right foot that has grown over the past few days. I first noticed it 2 days ok. Yesterday, I had to stop and rest every ~5 minutes of walking, as the pain became too great. Today was the same, only slightly worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain is concentrated along the blade of my foot, particularly the area of the blade right in front of my heel. It hurts most at the &quot;end&quot; of a step, as my ankle is most flexed.&#xA;I also have soreness throughout my calf, but this appeared later, and I think is a result of the strange movements I've been using while walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to walk at least 1-2 hours a day to go about my daily life, so I have not been able to rest the foot. I don't know if resting is something I should do in this situation, or if that would just make it stiffer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any idea what is going on? I haven't done anything obvious that might have damaged the foot, aside from walking a bit more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2758" LastActivityDate="2012-04-26T00:16:52.763" Title="I've had a growing pain in my foot over the last few days. How can I reduce it/prevent further injury?" Tags="&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5199" CreationDate="2012-01-21T02:53:44.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You body will naturally be sore especially in the first few days of your training. My condition is similar to yours; I have about 45-50 degree scoliosis in my lower back and and a few degrees off in my neck area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is that you scrap whatever program your trainer gave you, find the barbells and plates in your gym and switch to beginner strength programs like &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. The exercises in those are focused on free weight lifts like the deadlift, bench press, and most importantly, the squats. Unlike the machines in a gym, free weights will also strengthen your core muscles because you are forced to balance the weights instead of the machines doing it for you and may alleviate the pain in your back after a few weeks (works for me anyway). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of course, if you experience more than average back pains after a week of training, consult with your doctor or physiotherapist to determine if you should continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T02:53:44.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5200" CreationDate="2012-01-21T04:11:31.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of shoes are you wearing?  Do you have any inserts?  If your gait or bio-mechanics are not correct you can be stressing the muscles and tendons that stabilize your lower leg as you progress through the natural walking motion.  Sounds like you are on your feet a lot if you walk 1-2 hours a day.  You need to ensure you either 1) have the supporting cast of muscles/tendons strengthened or 2) have proper support in your shoes.  It sounds like it could be plantar fasciitis but I'm not exactly sure where you say it hurts. Can you elaborate by what you mean by the 'blade' of your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T04:11:31.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5213" CreationDate="2012-01-21T09:12:15.413" Score="2" ViewCount="380" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people like models or actors have to look their best for certain occasions like a shooting. They have special training programs and diets that allow them to improve their looks within several weeks to an impressive degree what I have heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are they doing to achieve these results? I am not talking about long lasting or healthy measures to get in shape, I know enough about those. I wonder what one can do to boost his looks within a few weeks, aiming to look the best at a specific time, no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2012-01-22T02:00:01.153" Title="How to build muscles and lose fat quickly within weeks?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5211" CreationDate="2012-01-21T14:40:36.673" Score="0" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend somewhere where I can get or buy fitness programs for body building?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to change my program every 6 weeks or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was using a personal trainer but he has moved to a different gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone re&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2760" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T18:07:11.907" Title="Advanced Fitness Program" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4838" CreationDate="2012-01-21T16:15:24.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made a soft moccasin and put them over my shoes.  I got the pattern on the internet and i used sweatshirt material.  Not good in snow or rain but worked on a dry surface.  If not up to making your own just put a pair of heavy duty socks over shoes.  My feet stayed warm like a pair of mittens on your feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T16:15:24.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-21T17:28:52.080" Score="3" ViewCount="1609" Body="&lt;p&gt;After I do Zumba, I wait 'til I quit sweating (I sweat more than anyone in class, always have sweated profusely when exercising or in the summer heat), theni I shower and dress.  Later, anywhere from a half hour to two hours, I get chilled.  My hands and feet get numb.  What can I do to prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2762" LastEditorUserId="94" LastEditDate="2012-01-21T18:00:38.067" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T17:55:28.293" Title="Profuse sweating during exercise, then chills" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;zumba&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4096" CreationDate="2012-01-21T17:45:40.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had the same problem for 4 years now. So far no solutions though I've seen many doctors and chiropractors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I found this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://evolutionaryathletics.com/blogs/demarco/2011/11/03/how-to-cure-snapping-hip-syndrome/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://evolutionaryathletics.com/blogs/demarco/2011/11/03/how-to-cure-snapping-hip-syndrome/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to try...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2763" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-20T03:07:35.320" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T03:07:35.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5208" CreationDate="2012-01-21T18:02:11.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, this should should never be happening under normal circumstances. Therefore I suggest you go, see a doctor about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my 18 years of hard-as-hell dancing I have never experienced something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T18:02:11.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5206" CreationDate="2012-01-21T18:07:11.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only thing I can reccommend from experience is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;. Did the Gething 12 week transformation myself, dropped about 50 pounds in 12 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T18:07:11.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5203" CreationDate="2012-01-21T20:04:14.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well they have personal trainers who work them out for hours a day and personal chefs that make all their food. Their bodies are a huge aspect of their job, so they have the time and money to spend all day making it the way it needs to be. Generally not possible for people who don't have access to that stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want a quick way to lose weight maybe try a ketogenic diet or hcg or something. You said you didnt care about whether or not it was healthy or if it lasted long so do some research. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2509" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T20:04:14.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5203" CreationDate="2012-01-21T22:30:58.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, You asked for it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at this from the theory standpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fat loss&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loosing fat in a matter of weeks is possible. That much is certain and, as Natasha mentioned, a kethogenic or hgc diet &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; do it (with a &lt;strong&gt;BIG&lt;/strong&gt; emphasis on &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscle gain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now here we get to the part where it gets complicated. A drastic fat cut means leaving out some nutrients nutrients and/or doing excessive amounts of cardio activities. Doing anyone of those means, that there is either less material for the muscles to work with, or the musscles are more fatigued to begin with, and the muscle gain, while not out of the question, will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; be drastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in resume:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BOTH&lt;/strong&gt; cutting fat drastically &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; building muscle at the same time is not viable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way movie stars and such do it, is by gaining muscle first, and then drastically cutting, usually by means of extensive cardio, carb depletion and the sort, which is all fine and dandy in the short run, but not healthy at all in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T22:30:58.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5203" CreationDate="2012-01-22T02:00:01.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out Tim Ferriss's posts: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2766" LastActivityDate="2012-01-22T02:00:01.153" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5208" CreationDate="2012-01-22T08:21:32.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Janis about consulting your doctor.  Numbness and tingling after exercise is something your doctor should diagnose.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Livestrong.com has a couple of articles summarizing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/188448-causes-of-hand-foot-numbness-during-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;possible causes of numbness&lt;/a&gt; and/or tingling after exercise.  In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/15787-causes-numb-hands-feet-after/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; about hand and foot numbness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to reports in Medical News Today, many people exercise without replenishing the body of necessary electrolytes that carry potassium and sodium and that serve to regulate the nerves and muscles. The loss of potassium and sodium that results from sweating during exercise can cause numbness and tingling in the extremities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you sweat profusely, that is a likely cause of your numbness.  Good sources of potassium are bananas and vegetables.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&amp;amp;dbid=90&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The World's Healthiest Foods&lt;/a&gt; has a complete list.  Sodium is salt. So your answer may be as simple as replenishing your electrolytes with food or drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why you sweat excessively, there are lots of causes of profuse sweating.  Some causes are perfectly normal and may be genetic.  Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/symptoms/profuse_sweating/causes.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;long list&lt;/a&gt; of some possible causes that are associated with medical conditions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-01-22T08:21:32.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5196" CreationDate="2012-01-22T09:35:26.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right about lack of flexibility causing problems with your form with squats.  In addition to your hamstrings, shoulders and chest, also consider the flexibility of your:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heel cords&lt;/strong&gt; made up of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gastroc&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Soleus/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;soleus&lt;/a&gt; to give you sufficient ankle range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/LungingHipFlexor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip Flexors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to allow proper position of your low back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/335607-stretches-for-the-buttocks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gluteals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; made up of the maximus, medius and minimus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find restrictions in these muscles you can stretch them specifically.  Core strength is also important to good form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-01-22T09:35:26.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-22T12:13:05.160" Score="5" ViewCount="2115" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is about how quiet an elliptical trainer is in use in a home setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I jog irregularly but really enjoy it when we do get out.  We find it tough in the winter in the UK because we both work full time and there are only around 8 hours of sunlight in the UK at this time of year!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're considering buying an elliptical trainer to complement our irregular jogging.  We've been thinking of the best time to fit in some regular cardio exercise and before work at around &lt;strong&gt;6am&lt;/strong&gt; and after work at around &lt;strong&gt;9 pm&lt;/strong&gt; are the times we have free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concerns are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waking up the wife if I exercise at 6am&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Annoying the neighbours if we exercise at 9pm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Proposed location&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in a semi-detached house and the room I'm considering putting it in is on the ground floor.  There are solid brick/concrete walls between our house and the next.  Ours and the neighbours bedroom are on the first and second floor so are a reasonable distance away from where the trainer would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Proposed equipment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering a Vision Fitness X6100 HR Folding Elliptical.  According to their website &quot;Additionally, they may work out in the early morning or late evening and do not want to disturb others. Vision Fitness is aware of this and, therefore, developed our Quiet-Glide™ drive technology, which utilizes a multi-ribbed supersilent Poly-V belt, to ensure an extra-quiet workout.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://home.visionfitness.com/elliptical-trainers/#quiet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vision Fitness elliptical trainers - Quiet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above sounds great, but I'm not one to believe the marketing claims without some real-world recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary of the question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How realistic is it that I can work out on the ground floor in the morning whilst my wife stays soundly asleep on the second?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will our neighbours hate us if we use the trainer at 9pm or will it be no worse from a noise point of view than say watching TV in the next room?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on this matter would be welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2769" LastActivityDate="2012-01-23T13:29:49.667" Title="Elliptical trainer for home use: Concerns about noise" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5219" CreationDate="2012-01-23T13:29:49.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best approach is find a place that either has these or sells them.  Test it out.  When talking about an expensive piece of equipment like this, you really want to have your hands on it before paying.  That will allow you to determine if it is quiet enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the more solid the frame, the quieter it will be.  So while the traditional frames will be quieter, it will be more difficult to store.  All in all, most elliptical trainers I've used are more than quiet enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest question is, how soundly does your wife sleep?  Making noise for your neighbors will be the least of your worries unless you have neighbors below you.  Then you want something solid that won't lift up if you push yourself on the elliptical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of pointers to make the area as quiet as possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Test the floor to see if it squeaks.  If so, get a hammer and renail the floor to the joists.  If you have wood flooring get a 2x4 to protect the wood finish while you hammer the nails back down.  As houses age, the floor board warps, and pulls nails loose in the floor joists.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use blankets or other heavy material to absorb sound--particularly around the door.  You probably won't need to go this far, though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-23T13:29:49.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-24T03:47:33.403" Score="1" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is better for health, 2 weekly sessions of 1 hour of cardio or 4 weekly sessions of 30 minutes of cardio? Both at 65-85% of my max heartrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2776" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:31:42.097" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T03:31:42.097" Title="2 weekly 1 hour cardio sessions vs 4 weekly sessions of 30 min" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-24T04:33:38.930" Score="6" ViewCount="2143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping to get some insight on the vitamins and supplements I'm taking. I'm afraid I'm taking too many or taking them incorrectly. Am I doing myself good or harming my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I am 21, about 5'9, 140 lbs, low body fat, and athletic. I work out almost everyday now trying to prepare myself for USAF basic training. I'm trying to build muscle as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as for vitamins and supplements, I am taking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a Mega Man sport multivitamin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a childrens vitamin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calcium/magnesium tab&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flax seed oil (1 or 2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mercury free fish oil (2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitric oxide (2, only before workouts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bromelian (pineapple enzyme)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-2 Whey protein shakes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also just started DHEA tonight and bought L-Arginine as well, which I haven't tried yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take these 6 days a week, plenty of fluids, and eat decently. I must admit I feel great and energized, good moods, etc. since starting this. I feel better than I have in a long time. There are no signs of harm, no urine symptoms, no bowel symptoms or anything. I've compared the ingredients of each label to each other too so I realize that the nitric oxide and arginine are similar as well as vitamin similarities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I benefiting as much as I think I am, or am I causing unknown damage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2779" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-27T15:10:50.503" LastActivityDate="2012-07-08T06:41:25.953" Title="Am I taking too many vitamins and supplements?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5225" CreationDate="2012-01-24T09:26:53.080" Score="5" ViewCount="5675" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do my lifting at home and don't have a suitable bench. I'm currently using two ordinary monoblock chairs as my &quot;bench&quot; and I don't think I'm doing my bench presses right because my arms are supported by the chairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: can the overhead press replace the bench press in the Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength program? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T08:49:47.913" Title="Overhead press alternative to bench press?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5223" CreationDate="2012-01-24T09:42:56.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they can not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, they work different muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the overhead press is a part of Stronglifts already, and adding another session of it could prove detrimental to your recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try to find a better bench, and in the meantime work with weighted pushups or similar motions, which corresponds more closely to what the bench press does. Dips can also partly work the chest, if you have anywhere to do those (not between chairs, you need to be able to lean a bit forward to get the chest involved)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastActivityDate="2012-01-24T09:42:56.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5223" CreationDate="2012-01-24T12:26:13.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bench press focuses on the pecs primarily (depending on the elbow position) and secondarily on the triceps and delts.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ojl8V.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The over head press focuses on the delts and secondarily on the upper traps.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5nGRQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - both exercises should be done - but probably not on the same day (depending on your specific program).  To overcome the lack of a bench, you can do a floor press, as described here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/floorbarbellpress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/floorbarbellpress.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yDxYD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;either using dumbbells or a barbell.  One issue with the floor press is that your arms do not go down far enough to work the bottom part of the press (off the chest) - but this may be a bit safer than trying to balance on chairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-01-24T12:26:13.550" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-24T12:31:04.283" Score="2" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;I joined a gym at new year with a friend an we were going twice a week be he is becoming les interested with every visit and I found my self alone the other night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now while I quite enjoy the experience of the gym I found two hours of silence broken only by the sound of machines rather boring and feel the may lead to my giving up :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were lots of other people but they seemed content with the silence. So I was wondering is there rules about how to talk to others at the gym.&#xA;I mean I don't want to interrupt anyone else's workout but id like to strike up a conversation  is possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1089" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T20:37:45.530" Title="talking to others at a gym" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-03-12T17:43:37.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5226" CreationDate="2012-01-24T16:20:46.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone is different, but typically people go to the gym to work out, so - starting a conversation with someone while they are working out probably isn't a good approach.  You may want to 'initiate' a conversation with people after their workout or if you gym has group workout sessions (zumba for example or spinning classes) there...once again either just prior or post the workout.  I would suggest getting a music player of some sort to keep yourself entertained during your workout.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-01-24T16:20:46.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-24T15:57:39.557" Score="3" ViewCount="1682" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the opportunity to live in Antigua for 2.5 months and I got here about 2.5 weeks ago. I decided to ride my bike back and forth to work everyday to shed some pounds while I am here. I am a 5'3&quot;, 140 lbs, and in good, general health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The path I take is a dirt road with some small elevations throughout (enough to have me consider walking every time I go up them. :) The path is about 1.5 miles and it takes me about 12 min to get to work and 16 min to come back as it is uphill. I don't coast when going downhill, I pedal down. I have a well-balanced diet with all food groups but I try not to go over 1200-1300 calories a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think this  is enough to lose some weight or should I be adding something to my routine like strength training, or more cardio, or more bike rides? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Also, I have been doing this for 2.5 weeks and the ride is not getting any easier... is this normal? I thought it would be a breeze by now, and I don't know if I have lost any weight yet because I don't have a scale here but I assume I lost a few pounds because my legs and belly look tighter...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Sarah" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:54:36.073" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:54:36.073" Title="Wanting to lose weight cycling is this enough?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5241" CreationDate="2012-01-25T01:57:44.603" Score="2" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plainly put: I like eating. However, my eating habits lead to me being overweight and adds possibility of health complications later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there are any healthy foods (low cal, low fat, low carb, low sugar, etc) that I would get full on and not make a significant dent in my recommended daily limit. What sort of raw veggies would be good? Anything that isn't a veggie/fruit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1885" LastActivityDate="2012-01-28T03:06:01.167" Title="Foods I can eat a lot of and still be healthy" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;fat-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5223" CreationDate="2012-01-25T01:59:31.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doubling up on the overhead press doesn't sound like a good modification to StrongLifts to me. I'd opt for dips (if you have two chairs, or rings, or parallel bars) done with three sets of max reps like chin-ups, or one high-rep set of Hindu pushups. I would focus on maintaining a non-bench-press, non-overhead-press pushing movement. Personally I would not go for the floor press because it's a limited-range-of-motion movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; go for doubling up overhead press, I'd make the &quot;overhead press as alternative to bench press&quot; days into light overhead presses (70% or 80%) instead of full weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T01:59:31.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5240" CreationDate="2012-01-25T02:51:20.323" Score="1" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently began to watch closely what I eat. I follow the following guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-no refined carbs, eat whole grain organic carbs. I eat brown rice and whole wheat pasta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-lots of vegetables. I'm single and don't want to spend too much time cooking so I buy many bags of frozen cut vegetables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-limited meat, I eat around 1/3 lb of meat or less of meat per day. I usually eat ground beef, frozen meat/fish balls, or on occasion chicken breasts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-for snacks I eat almonds and fruits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-no sugary drinks or dairy products(I'm not a big fan). Instead consume soy products like tofu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-lots of eggs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;how healthy is this diet? My goal is to lose excess body fat and at the same time gain more muscles. I have a fairly moderate workout schedule consisting of pushups and pullups on alternate days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T02:50:48.523" Title="How healthy is my diet? For maintaining health, and become more fit" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5237" CreationDate="2012-01-25T03:20:49.493" Score="8" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;I forgot that in the StrongLifts program you only had to deadlift 1x5 and accidentally did 5x5, will this hurt my recovery? Should I skip my next deadlift during my next workout B?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-01-30T15:57:53.423" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T15:57:53.423" Title="How should I recover if I accidentally deadlifted 5x5 instead of 1x5?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5236" CreationDate="2012-01-25T03:44:22.640" Score="9" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Stay the course.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your deadlifts are not heavy enough to worry. Add however much weight is called for by the program and do deadlifts 1x5 as scheduled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T03:44:22.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5229" CreationDate="2012-01-25T05:16:03.340" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well done for getting on a bike. It's the best way I know to loose weight, as it has the added benefit of being awesome fun. Assuming all other variables have remained constant you almost certainly will have lost some weight already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the difficulty - you should find over time the same ascents will become easier. 2.5 weeks is still early days. Your muscle mass will build up and generally your body will adjust to the workload. Although it's funny, some days you'll struggle over bumps that are usually easy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2786" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T05:16:03.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5229" CreationDate="2012-01-25T15:38:12.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The path is about 1.5 miles and it takes me about 12 min to get to work and 16 min to come back as it is uphill. I don't coast when going downhill, I pedal down). I have a well balanced diet with all food groups but I try not to go over 1200-1300 calories a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 6' and 165 lb (bigger, male, older).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My exercise is 2 hours/day (36 km through city on paved roads).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An online calorie counter estimates: based on the time (for me, 2 hours), multiplied by the power (effort per time). The effort or power required to cycle (on paved roads), is a complicated function: of the rider (body weight), speed (wind resistance), and bicycle (rolling resistance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I input my numbers, it suggested I was burning an extra 1000 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to maintain my weight, adding that exercise, I need to increase my daily calories by about 1000: i.e.. to maybe 3000 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;12 or 16 minutes isn't long exercise; I wouldn't expect it to affect my diet. When I go for an hour-long ride, it takes me the first 20 minutes just to warm up. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A nice thing about cycling, specifically, is that: it's low-impact, and high-cardio; and you can mix aerobic (sustained) and anaerobic (sprinting) exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1200-1300 calories a day doesn't seem like a lot to me, but what do I know.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you don't eat (self-fuel) and warm up (get started/going/pumped) then you can't do sustained work (like cycling a lot): isn't that true?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cyclists instead revel in an all-they-want diet: if you cycle like an hour or more a day, and get hot and perspiring while you're doing it (but there's always a nice breeze on a bicycle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2790" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T15:38:12.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5235" CreationDate="2012-01-25T17:47:35.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider this article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-rice-unhealthy/#axzz1kUZtLdKB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;why white rice would actually be better for you than brown&lt;/a&gt;.  One of the USRDA &quot;My Plate&quot; and food pyramid biggest fallacies is the over-reliance on grain.  However, if you are going to have grain, have a grain that isn't going to hurt you as bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as eating for health, look at your macro-nutrients first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein:&lt;/strong&gt;  Unless you have renal problems, protein should be one of the higher proportions of food in your diet.  Minimum is 1g per kg of &lt;em&gt;lean&lt;/em&gt; weight if you do no exercise.  If you do exercise, you will be better served by 1g per pound of lean weight or more.  NOTE: 4 Calories per gram of protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat:&lt;/strong&gt; There are several fat soluble vitamins you need--not the least of which is Vitamin D.  If you stay with monounsaturated and saturated fats you will do well.  You just want to make sure you balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fats are favorable.  NOTE: 9 Calories per gram of fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrates:&lt;/strong&gt; Way to over-emphasized in modern diets, but still very necessary.  These usually contain the water-soluble vitamins we need.  NOTE: 4 Calories per gram of carbohydrates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A diet that consists of an even split 33% of Calories from each macronutrient is actually a pretty well balanced diet.  Another good split is 30/30/40 (protein/fat/carbs).  As far as carbohydrates go, the more you de-emphasize grains and emphasize green vegetables the better your diet will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meat is not bad.  Fish is probably one of the best choices, usually anti-inflammatory (which reduces blood cholesterol), but prefer a filet over fish balls.  Fruits are also good in moderation.  Eggs are also good.  To put things in perspective, most sources of meat include about 20g of protein per 4oz (closed fist portion) of meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as meat selection goes, if you favor grass-fed (or natural diet) sources of meat, the fats will have a more favorable balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fats.  This will improve your health overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing I see in your diet, is it seems to emphasize carb sources over protein sources, and possibly not enough fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your exercise, you will need to do something more than just upper body if your goal is to lose fat and gain muscle.  You want to stimulate your whole body.  You can do that with body-weight exercises.  Burpees, squat-stands, etc. engage your lower half, and can help improve on the work you are doing with the upper half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T17:47:35.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5233" CreationDate="2012-01-25T17:50:26.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest non-food food is lettuce.  In particular Iceburg lettuce will take up space in your stomach, but not have any appreciable impact on your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, and I speak from experience, protein keeps you satiated longer than other sources of food.  Some people who emphasize protein in their diets, actually have a hard time eating all their recommended Calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T17:50:26.310" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5233" CreationDate="2012-01-25T20:18:37.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Food that is high in fiber might help. (Since almost by definition, fiber is not well-digestible and just takes up room in your stomach.) &#xA;Oatmeal comes to mind: 360kcal/100g (approx. 2/3rd that of chocolate), 12.5% protein, which is pretty ok for non-meat (about the level of soy beans), approx. 10% fiber, almost no simple sugar carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unsweetened porridge with just a few raisins or so in it has a favourable glycaemic index, which means it gives you a long steady even blood sugar level (no sugar rush or hypoglycemia), so you'll not get hungry again quickly, and it'll soak up more liquid in your stomach, filling you more. Depending on your taste and how many raisins you put in, you might also not want to eat too much of it in the first place. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2231" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T20:18:37.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5221" CreationDate="2012-01-26T00:21:27.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would work out 2 weekly sessions of 1 hour. You're working your muscles just long enough for a good workout and 30 minutes will do some for your health, but I'd say it's a waste of time and would be easier with your first alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T00:21:27.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4943" CreationDate="2012-01-26T00:25:32.957" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My soccer coach has always taught to do dynamic stretches before workouts and static stretching afterward. If you do static stretching before you work out you actually are at risk in straining your muscles too much, but if you do it afterward it helps work out the lactic acid in your muscles so they become stronger and if you leave the lactic acid in you it can slow you down in the long run, ( for example: If you're in a season and you don't get all the lactic acid worked out your next training/game will not be your best performance) My team stretches about 10 minutes dynamically before hand and 30 minutes after, static stretching afterward also helps with flexibility&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastEditorUserId="2793" LastEditDate="2012-01-26T21:57:12.417" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T21:57:12.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2012-01-26T14:00:15.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now, after more than 6 months I can share the results and the way I have managed to regain endurance so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is the table of monthly stats for the past months:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;month, total distance, avg. pace (min/km)&#xA;jan 12, 61.6 km,    5:38&#xA;dec 11, 86.5 km,    5:45&#xA;nov 11, 43.6 km,    5:47&#xA;oct 11, 50.7 km,    5:45&#xA;sep 11, 29.4 km,    5:10&#xA;aug 11, 10.0 km,    6:00&#xA;jul 11, 35.9 km,    6:11&#xA;jun 11, 78.0 km,    6:40&#xA;may 11, 35.5 km,    7:34&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beside running I've played tennis in the summertime, that's why the distances for july, september, and august are much shorter. Anyway while running I have kept the pulse between 165 and 175. When it went above 175 I slowed down and walked until it got to 165 and then started to run again. At the beginning there were many walking periods whereas now I can run whole training without walking periods in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how I trained and how I improved. Don't know whether it was the best way but nevertheless I am satisfied with the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="270" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T14:00:15.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5221" CreationDate="2012-01-26T14:41:04.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would follow the anecdotal rule of thumb that greater training regularity with sufficient intervening recovery produces a greater adaptive effect for most types of exercise. I am fairly sure you could find confirmation of this rule in particular cases, asking particular questions about types of adaptation, but a hand-waving argument would be that training signals to the body a need for some extra capacity (greater vascularisation, greater heart volume, etc), but the processes that bring about this increase of capacity don't tend to respond that strongly to volume, that is they tend to saturate (possibly literally in their chemical component) after they are triggered, even if they are triggered 'more'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This diminishing returns from volume is certainly seen in resistance training. I suspect the picture is a bit more complicated for cardiovascular training, particularly endurance training, but for the periods of time you're talking about I think 4 30 minute session would be preferable. It is certainly my experience that I have seen better results from more regular running over shorter distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing to mention is that if you were willing to exploit the fact that your session is shorter to maintain or spike at a higher intensity then the case for the superiority of 4 sessions is much clearer. High intensity training has all sorts of benefits including those of longer steady state sessions (lots of answers on this site bang on about this if you care to search)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T14:41:04.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5251" CreationDate="2012-01-26T21:15:53.637" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have my first college tryout coming up and I'm very nervous, I'm a center midfielder and I play soccer, What can I do to boost my explosiveness in my running and how can I make my touch better (please don't just suggest juggling, i can hit 400-700 consistently)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T04:08:17.893" Title="Big Tryout On the Way" Tags="&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5255" CreationDate="2012-01-27T01:59:11.130" Score="3" ViewCount="3005" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there are programs similar to the StrongLifts program for women? Or the StrongLifts tailored for women? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T07:27:11.403" Title="StrongLifts suggestions for women" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5249" CreationDate="2012-01-27T04:08:17.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am speaking from experience, as someone who tried out for their college team, and who knows many college players from multiple universities. The one thing that will separate this tryout from anything you have done before is the volume of running. The tryout will have running to start, running in the middle, and running to finish. Not jogging; running and sprinting. Someone who can juggle hundreds of times probably has plenty of touch, but do you have the fitness to retain that touch at the end of the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, work on your fitness. Do shuttle runs; 40 yard sprints with the ball. Then do them again. And again. And again. Then go play in a scrimage, and finish that off with more running. Also, be prepared for multiple mile distances. Run mostly in you cleats on the grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your shoes are broken in. I think more people dropped out of my tryout because of blisters than anything else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, I didn't make my team, even though I am convinced that I had the skill for it. But by the end of a week of 2 a days, I was crushed by the running load. Learn from my mistake, good luck, and let us know how you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T04:08:17.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-27T05:32:32.203" Score="10" ViewCount="21567" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was working out with some friends today and during one of the exercises (jump squats) I jokingly said to my buddy (who is 5'4&quot; with a normal proportioned frame, I have a lean build) when he was cheating on the exercise a bit, &quot;Hey man, these are harder for me because I'm taller and weigh more, so no excuses!&quot; and laughed. I said it in jest, but then this girl scoffs at me with an attitude and says, &quot;That's BULL*&lt;em&gt;*&lt;/em&gt;! Obviously height and weight don't make a difference! Read a science book!&quot; (lol?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that she missed that I was clearly joking notwithstanding (it's called pep talk, lady), after thinking about it some more in the locker room with my buddy I actually wasn't even sure what the answer to the question was. That is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What are the (intrinsic*) factors which influence how challenging a particular exercise is?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*intrinsic to the nature of the body as opposed to how one uses it&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Definitions:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to think that I have a very solid foundational understanding of biology, but this goes beyond the basics into ATP expenditure, muscle fiber theory, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What is &quot;challenging&quot;?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, we have to define what it means for an exercise to be &quot;challenging&quot;. While there is certainly a psychological aspect to this, I would prefer to avoid that and stick with the pure biological definitions. Perhaps, &lt;strong&gt;an exercise is more challenging for person A than it is for person B if person A has to expend more energy proportional to their size than person B.&lt;/strong&gt; I'm not sure this is the best way of looking at it but I obviously can't use something like &quot;If person B expends more energy&quot; because a bigger person will always use more energy than a smaller person quite naturally. The question is whether the bigger person's naturally bigger muscles 100% make up for the additional weight they have to lift to counter their own body...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Intrinsic factors vs non-intrinsic factors&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking for factors which affect how challenging an exercise is which are not innate to the biological system itself. Stuff like whether I had enough sleep the night before or are eating a proper diet — these factors are not relevant here. I'm assuming all these factors (which are relatively controllable) are otherwise equal in all comparisons of performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My current thoughts:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Height&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height—on the face of it—doesn't seem like it would too significantly affect an athletes performance, but I'm not totally sure. Yes, the oxygen is thinner up there, but that's insignificant, but my heart has to pump blood further to reach distant parts of my body. Is this somewhat of a factor? Unless heart strength scales proportionally with height (does it?), this seems viable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Number of muscle fibers&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It wasn't entirely clear to me reading basic skeletal muscle articles whether people vary significantly in the number of muscle fibers they have, and whether this has something to do with height or build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Type of muscle fibers&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do taller people have, on average, a particular type of muscle fiber more than another (fast twitch vs slow twitch)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Cardiac muscle strength vs body size&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not clear to me whether the heart muscles increase in strength proportionally with body size. In fact, that so many large individuals (not simply fat, but big tall and otherwise healthy individuals) tend to have cardiac issues seems to attest to the fact that larger people put more strain on their hearts than smaller individuals (on average).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Other factors I'm missing&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are other factors involved. If I think of others off the top of my head I'll add them to the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all I got. Help me out here. Thanks :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2807" OwnerDisplayName="stoicfury" LastEditorUserId="2807" LastEditDate="2012-01-27T18:36:33.577" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T05:54:23.240" Title="Working out - do taller people have it harder?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5252" CreationDate="2012-01-27T13:38:14.077" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physiology does in fact have a lot to do with how hard or how easy an exercise is to learn.  Even more so when weightlifting is involved.  While height is a factor, the real determiner is the length of your limbs in proportion to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats favor people with shorter femurs.  In general, shorter people have short femurs and taller people have longer femurs.  However, that's not always the case.  We've all seen people with shorter torsos and the legs make up the difference in height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, to reach parallel, the crease in the hip has to go below the top of the patella.  The longer the femur, the further down you have to go to accomplish that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts favor people with longer arms.  In general, shorter people have shorter arms and taller people have longer arms.  The key here is that the longer arms help you get your back in a stronger, more favorable position, and you don't have to lift the bar as high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench press favors people with shorter arms and larger chests.  In general, this applies to shorter people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence, a larger chest minimizes the distance down the bar has to go to reach the bottom of the movement.  The shorter arms minimize the distance the bar has to go up to achieve full range of motion and lock out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's Easier Doesn't Mean Stronger&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple physics demonstrate that just because an exercise is easier doesn't mean you are doing more work.  The idea behind weight lifting is to generate more force to move heavier weights.  In the world of Olympic lifts, the goal is to generate more power to move heavier weights in shorter amounts of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Joe is 5'4&quot;, and at full lock out on a deadlift the bar is about 20&quot; off the ground.&#xA;Fred is 6'4&quot;, and at full lock out on a deadlift the bar is about 27&quot; off the ground.&#xA;If they both lift 250lb, who has to generate more force? (answer is in foot-pounds)&#xA;&#xA;20&quot; = 1-2/3 feet&#xA;27&quot; = 2-1/4 feet&#xA;&#xA;Force = Distance * Mass (simplified to weight in this case)&#xA;&#xA;Joe's Force = 416 ft-lbs&#xA;Fred's Force = 562.5 ft-lbs&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physical dimensions of both of these lifters is the only thing that changed.  They both deadlifted 250lbs, but Fred had to generate more force to do that because lockout was 7&quot; taller than Joe's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of science, physiology does in fact play a big role as to what is hard or not.  However, lifting is as mental as it is a physical endeavor.  The shear force of will needed to push heavier and heavier weight is what leads to recruiting more and more of your muscle to do work (central nervous system).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for your female compatriot, her comment about science is wrong, but the spirit of what she was telling you to do (stop making excuses and get your mind in the game) was right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T13:38:14.077" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5252" CreationDate="2012-01-27T13:43:26.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is a good question to ponder after a good workout.  Does height/weight differences affect the person's ability to perform an exercise - definitely yes, depending on the exercise.  I think squats are easier for shorter people, deadlifts for taller people, benching for people with shorter arms...but a tall person could out squat a shorter person based on MANY factors: genetics playing a significant role here in regards to muscles, stamina, muscle fiber distribution/type, energy processing, etc.......I think if you look only at height/weight your looking at a small set of potential differences impacting performance.  OVERALL - I think each person is different in many ways BUT similar enough to be able to perform the same as anyone else if enough dedication/determination is applied.  I've seen to many 'challenged' (missing limbs, post-cancer, etc.) people out-perform genetically gifted people to realize, like most things, it's 90% mental. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T13:43:26.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5250" CreationDate="2012-01-27T14:51:08.210" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts works quite well for women, as long as some adjustments are made. Do note that these tips may not be applicable to all, but certainly to those rather new to lifing weights (Stronglifts is a beginners programme, after all)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lower the starting weights. This can be tricky, if your gym doesn't have any bars which allow you to go lower than 20kg. If there are lighter bars with fixed weights, use them for e.g. presses, where it is most likely that there are insufficiencies in strength. If not, there are usually lighter dumbells to use until the strength is enough for a bar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Because of (1), elevate the bar from the floor when doing deadlifts and rows. Otherwise the technical training (which Stronglifts puts a lot of emphasis on) will be suffering.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there is too much problem with increasing the weight between workouts, consider finding in-between weights so that you can up the load in finer increments. There are smaller discs (small enough to carry them in your gym bag), and some locks can be used to get somewhere in-between the 2,5 kg interval.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T14:51:08.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5256" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5279" CreationDate="2012-01-27T16:18:08.913" Score="9" ViewCount="4622" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm working out in the evening (an hour of cardio at, say, 8pm-9pm), should I have dinner before or afterwards? What effects will it have on a) my workout if I eat beforehand and b) my recovery if I eat afterwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If I were to eat before the workout, then I'd top up afterwards with a recovery drink of some sort – usually skimmed milk, yoghurt, blended banana, and Nesquick.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="247" LastEditorUserId="247" LastEditDate="2012-01-27T16:27:57.137" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T14:05:50.357" Title="Eating before/after an evening workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5256" CreationDate="2012-01-27T21:50:07.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The day before you workout you should eat some kind of long chain carbohydrate (such as pasta) for energy and right before you workout I'd suggest something like a cliff bar or power-bar and then afterward I would &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; drink chocolate milk, with the healthiest milk in it that you can stand, that is proven to replace electrolytes even better than gatorade!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T21:50:07.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-28T14:54:22.773" Score="11" ViewCount="1236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a scatterplot matrix of elapsed times for the overall, swim, bike, and run legs of the 2009 Ironman Championship in Kona. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UuEL5.png&quot; alt=&quot;Ironman Championship 2009, Kona&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, while the correlation is imperfect, it is still relatively strong (r(swim, bike) and r(bike, run) are both around .75, while r(swim, run) ~ .5), so if you're a fast cyclist you tend to be a fast runner and a fast swimmer. Fast people are fast, no surprise. The thing that mostly determines bike time on the Ironman Kona course is power to aerodynamic drag (since the course is pretty flat and usually pretty windy). On the other hand, the thing that mostly determines run time is power to weight. The commonality is power: power while biking is related to power while running. Likewise, power while biking or running must be related to power while swimming. However, this is for a selected group of athletes: those who qualified for the Ironman Championships and finished all three legs in one day. I am more interested in &quot;stand alone&quot; events. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have bicycle power meters that tell us power output while cycling, and a rule of thumb that tells us that on firm flat ground runners expend around 1 kcal/kg/km. Although there is a fair amount of variation in running economy, that latter rule of thumb combined with an estimated gross efficiency of .239 can give us a new rule of thumb that relates running speed to power: running speed in meters/sec is roughly equivalent to watts/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: is there an equivalent rule of thumb that would give an estimate of power while swimming? I understand that there is much more room for variation in swimming economy than in running economy -- I'm just looking for a rule of thumb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; McArdle, Katch, and Katch (2005, &quot;Essentials of exercise physiology&quot;, 3rd ed.) claim that there is a fair amount of variation in energy expenditure among swimmers, and that it depends on skill level, sex, and type of stroke (breaststroke requires the most energy expenditure while the crawl requires the least). They claim that sex matters because females tend to be more buoyant than males and their mass distribution is different so they tend to swim &quot;flatter&quot; in the water and thus have less hydrodynamic drag. Even with all these caveats, they claim &quot;it takes about four times more energy to swim than to run the same distance. In contrast to running, a swimmer must expend considerable energy to maintain buoyancy and overcome the various drag forces that impede movement.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, Barbosa et al. (2006, &quot;Evaluation of energy expenditure in competitive swimming strokes&quot;, Intl J Sports Med 27:894-899) show a couple of regressions that show the relationship between swimming speed and energy expenditure for a group of elite &quot;international level&quot; swimmers. I am looking for the relationship between power and swimming speed (or a similar metric) for not-quite-so-elite swimmers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2813" LastEditorUserId="2813" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T03:54:14.967" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T22:15:34.920" Title="Power while swimming?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-28T20:10:29.337" Score="4" ViewCount="5310" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to defence forces 4 months ago and have had intense training and stuff without no good physical base before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Had to carry a 60 pound bag for miles on my back etc and now having lower back pain when doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/flexibilityexercises/a/hamstingstretch_3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stretches for hamstring&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that joints do not hurt, and only lower back muscles. I googled around a little bit, and it seems like muscle imbalance? Like lower back muscles are not strong enough or something. I am not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please help me with this problem? What could be wrong with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2816" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-23T13:23:30.243" LastActivityDate="2012-12-23T14:38:22.240" Title="Lower back pain when stretching hamstrings" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5184" CreationDate="2012-01-28T22:41:51.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On t-nation there is a nice video section of exercises that instruct the proper form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/strength-training-search/video/exercise-videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/strength-training-search/video/exercise-videos&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jim Wendler has a pretty cool program called the 531 for strength programing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in no way affiliated.  Just started the 531 and thought I would see if that fit what you needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worth looking into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2716" LastEditorUserId="2716" LastEditDate="2012-02-04T16:13:14.880" LastActivityDate="2012-02-04T16:13:14.880" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5355" CreationDate="2012-01-29T02:31:45.813" Score="12" ViewCount="30281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 38 year-old male beginner runner with a history of sport in my earlier years (but hated running by itself), I started the C25K program in mid-december to try to get some fitness back in after having 2 kids.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back story:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got to Week 7 with no issues, and tried to find a comfortable pace that isn't pushing too hard (at least I thought) but without being too shuffle-along either.  I felt comfortable, tried to follow the info I'd read about keeping at a pace that could still talk (though I wouldn't be giving long winded discussions probably).  I'm not trying to kill myself, just find a rhythm that is comfortable. Certainly a challenge, but I never felt exhausted, always feeling like I could have kept going a bit more than the current program phase.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My resting heart rate measured first thing in the morning dropped from 62 at the start of the program to 49-50, blood pressure's gone down from 130/80 to 122/74 so that's good. Generally feeling really good about everything, I run 3 times per week and ensure I'm giving myself good rests between runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 38, 6'8&quot; but probably still 10kg over my ideal weight.  My Max heart rate is ~182 according to the usual calculation methods.  a 70-80% is 142-156.  I didn't have a HR monitor earlier on so just tried to listen to my body and not stress it out but keep on running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Week 7 Run 2 I got my Wahoo Heart Rate Monitor (sort of as a present to myself).  Week 7 is running starting 25 minutes non-stop, so it was my second non-stop run.    During the initial warm up fast-walk, my HR was 130.  Just After I started running my usual pace the HR monitor reported 164bpm.  It remained steady near this until I went up a hill and went up to 170.  This is in the 80-90% range. The peak for the entire run was 174 on the steepest spot.      Average HR for the entire run, including a 5 minute warm up walk, and cool down is 158.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate recovery after 2 minutes was 150, and reduces steadily.  Within the 2 minutes I'm breathing totally normally again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought with this HR I was might be running too fast (not that I thought I was), so the next run, a 28 minute one, I tried to go as slow as I could.  Practically no change in HR measurements.  By the end of the run I was certainly a bit fresher than I had been and could easily pickup the pace near the end but no change in HR.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously as a beginner runner, my body is going to have to adjust, and it's naturally going to be under some stress as the program develops, indeed it's the little bits of stress that is going to encourage it to improve.  I don't know how to slow down much more than I'm going without just resorting to walking phases.  My body feels totally fine, I'm enjoying the running, it's a good challenge without being crazy I feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my HR too high here?  What can I do different?  A friend of mine who does some long run's and has done a marathon just cautioned me not to run too hard, because it can train the heart 'the wrong way'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With only 2 runs to go to complete the C25K I'm ready to keep going and go through the bridge program to 10k.  I'm not after speed, just good exercise and some fresh air and some endurance building.  I'm feeling good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my Runkeeper activity summary pic: &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/u36qf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://imgur.com/u36qf&lt;/a&gt; (shown below) to show this last run in pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a regular running route which is a nice series of left turns around the block which avoids crossing at traffic lights.  It has some hills though, maybe the hills are where the major HR issue is, if I can find a flatter spot I'm pretty sure I could stay in the 164-169 range easily (though that is still 80-90%).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zrVAg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;screenshot&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2650" LastEditorUserId="2713" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T19:22:47.120" LastActivityDate="2019-06-24T07:12:38.443" Title="Is this heart rate too high for a beginner runner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5269" CreationDate="2012-01-29T12:15:27.040" Score="0" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a younger brother (I'm 17, he's 13) and for a while I had no idea just how unhealthy he eats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before addressing the question I should probably tell you more about his health condition. He's generally very healthy, he's pretty skinny but not in an excessive way. The problem with his alimentation is the fact he doesn't eat vegetables &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt;. I know what you're thinking, but he's very picky with food, his diet consists of meat, fruits during summer and grains. I've never actually talked with him about this, but I've recently asked him why he doesn't eat vegetables, and he repplied telling me that he wishes he could eat them, but when he starts eating them he feels the urge to puke them. He's never actually eaten a salad or a vegetable besides pickles or carrots and potatoes, nor did he ever eat mushrooms. Basically it's like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He eats&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish (Ocasionally);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruits;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meat;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grains;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foods from certain vegetables (Potatoes, carrots, pickles, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sweets;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From his diet, vegetables are the #1 missing thing. He always says he feels the urge to vomit when he tries to eat vegetables, and I've actually seen him try to eat a salad last summer but then rejecting it, which makes me think he has will to do it, but something else could be the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knowing how healthy and beneficial veggies are, I want to help him add vegetables to his diet, but I don't know what I can do about it. How can I help him start eating vegetables? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2675" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T02:06:28.310" Title="Getting my younger brother to eat healthier" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetables&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2012-01-29T14:39:03.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try high protein cookies. Titan makes one with 20g of protein in one pack of cookies. I have heard the 30g too and wonder if your size matters. I am only 115 lbs so my daily protein intake is a lot lower than most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastEditorUserId="2678" LastEditDate="2012-01-30T02:04:34.037" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T02:04:34.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5263" CreationDate="2012-01-29T20:26:29.840" Score="16" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My Max heart rate is ~182 according to the usual calculation methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the risk of not actually answering the question: have you considered the possibility that this estimate of your maximum may be quite different from your actual maximum? You mentioned that your age is 38, and I noticed that your supposed max of 182 conveniently fits with the questionable&lt;sup&gt;1,2&lt;/sup&gt; &quot;HR&lt;sub&gt;max&lt;/sub&gt; = 220 - age&quot; formula, which may be pretty close for some statistically significant percentage of the population, but can be quite a bit higher or lower than your actual maximum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point being: &lt;b&gt;if your starting assumption about HR&lt;sub&gt;max&lt;/sub&gt; is wrong, zone/percentage calculations following from it will also be wrong.&lt;/b&gt; So you have to make sure that's properly accounted for before anything else based on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of ways&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; to determine your HR&lt;sub&gt;max&lt;/sub&gt; or at least get you very close to it. This generally involves some physical (not mathematical) exercise while monitoring your pulse. If you have any medical conditions, you may want to consult with a doctor first, or even have a doctor help you determine your actual, not estimated HR&lt;sub&gt;max&lt;/sub&gt; (via cardiac stress test).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Kolata: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/24/health/maximum-heart-rate-theory-is-challenged.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;src=pm&quot;&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/24/health/maximum-heart-rate-theory-is-challenged.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;src=pm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; Personal anecdote: when I was 38 I had a stress test performed (on a stationary bicycle), and hit a &lt;em&gt;measured&lt;/em&gt; pulse of 188 BPM, 6 over my &quot;max&quot; of 182. I'm now 42 and have recently 185 during a recent ride; 7 over my &quot;max&quot; of 178.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; Edwards: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-rate.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-rate.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2822" LastActivityDate="2012-01-29T20:26:29.840" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5200" CreationDate="2012-01-30T01:44:02.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Please, visit a doctor, soon&lt;/b&gt; and ask him or her this question. Pain, particularly increasing pain, is your body's way of signaling you that something is wrong. This could be a very serious condition...or not. Internet diagnoses are sketchy at best, even on StackExchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2822" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T01:44:02.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4787" CreationDate="2012-01-30T01:46:33.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After &quot;veteran runner right here&quot;, comes &quot;Mile record here I come!&quot; ( Run  a mile in under 5 minutes)&#xA;After trying 10k comes &quot;heroic half marathon&quot; and then theres &quot;MAster of MArathons&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2824" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T01:46:33.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5264" CreationDate="2012-01-30T02:06:28.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I help him start eating vegetables?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great that you're interested in your brother's health. Just keep in mind: you may not be able to actually help. This could be &quot;just a phase he's going through&quot;, or it could be a longer-term neurosis. In the former case, it's no big deal; fortunately our young bodies are resilient and able to withstand even years of sub-optimal eating habits. In the latter case, medical and/or psychological intervention may be necessary. Or maybe it's something in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could start with providing him with some educational material describing the health benefits of eating more vegetables and perhaps discussing the topic, at least get the ball rolling. Perhaps share some of the veggie recipes or dishes you particularly like, and encourage him to try them at least. Ensure him that you've never puked or become ill as a result of eating them! It may help, but it may not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it seems like it's a longer-term thing, you may need to consult with your parents and urge a doctor visit for further attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2822" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T02:06:28.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5263" CreationDate="2012-01-30T11:00:43.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Max heart rate cannot be calculated, you can only try to reach max rate and measure it. I'm also 38 and my max rate was 204 last year. That was measured by a doctor during a test, I went to the doctor because everyone told me I probably had a problem because of my high rate, the doctor reassured my and explained the 220-age thing is just an average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One interesting thing the doctor told me is to watch how fast your heart rate goes back to a normal value after an effort, if it your rate stays fast even when you slow down you probably exercise too much...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2652" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T11:00:43.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5184" CreationDate="2012-01-30T15:27:16.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a book, but Glenn Pendlay's intro to performing the clean is a good start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://californiastrength.com/videos/viewvideo/44/clean/clean-how-to-video-part-one&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://californiastrength.com/videos/viewvideo/44/clean/clean-how-to-video-part-one&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a couple drills to help you get used to the hip movement required for the second pull (the actual clean part):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlay.com/Dirty-Dancing_df_71.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dirty Dancing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlay.com/The-Rock-and-Roll-Drill-_df_70.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rock and Roll&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to check out other links from this page: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/11-the-clean/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/11-the-clean/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know of any books, but if you look for instructional videos from Glenn Pendlay and Mike Burgener, you can get what you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-01-30T15:56:22.147" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T15:56:22.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4991" CreationDate="2012-01-30T18:56:55.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50398&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pros and cons&lt;/a&gt;.  Using them incorrectly will cause problems for you.  Some injuries, such as tendinitis are inflammatory in nature, so NSAIDS are actually the right tool for the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the cons list (for this answer):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can cause digestive issues.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overuse can cause kidney damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They thin blood, so they are incompatible with other blood thinning medications&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general; however, the biggest risks &lt;em&gt;with pain killers of any type&lt;/em&gt; and training is that they dull your sensitivity to pain.  While you are training without pain killers, you can tell the difference between just the dull pain of pushing yourself and an actual injury requiring more attention.  With pain killers, the difference in pain is not as obvious.  As a result, the person training causes more damage to themselves than they would otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pain is an indication that you did something wrong.  The only pain that can be safely ignored is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).  Typically, all that's needed is to get the blood flowing again and it goes away.  Find out what it is that you are doing wrong and fix it--don't rely on pain killers to keep training.  It can be as simple as your shoes being too big (blisters), or developing other issues.  Unless you change your habits, you will make things worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T18:56:55.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-01-31T06:42:45.080" Score="2" ViewCount="1797" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got excited about the idea of running a marathon on an elliptical machine after reading this post on livestrong.org:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Colonel Mastrianna, the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Manpower, Personnel, and Services deputy director, completed 37.5 miles in five hours on an elliptical machine.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123215029&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123215029&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to ask how should I prepare to run a 26.21 mile marathon on an elliptical machine. So far I have done up to 2/3 in 3 hours, not feeling any knee/ankle pain, which is the reason why I am doing this in the elliptical machine and not a road marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What clothing should I wear or avoid?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What/when is best to eat beforehand?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is best to drink during?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T19:07:58.227" LastActivityDate="2015-04-05T19:56:51.300" Title="How should I prepare for a marathon on an elliptical machine?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;food-preparation&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5256" CreationDate="2012-01-31T15:48:59.187" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of overall &lt;b&gt;nutrition&lt;/b&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://justthescience.com/archives/681&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;when you eat is not nearly as important as how much you eat (and what you eat)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in practical terms, it may make a big difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;as mentioned in the article I linked to, if you skip meals/wait until you're very hungry, it may make you more likely to overeat later. That's more a problem of psychology than nutrition, though.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;this varies a lot per person, but for myself I have a very difficult time working out soon after eating, with all of that stuff sloshing around in my stomach and full feeling. I prefer to eat very soon after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/sports/playmagazine/601physed.html?_r=1&amp;amp;pagewanted=1&amp;amp;ref=health&amp;amp;oref=slogin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some indications&lt;/a&gt; that the body may be &quot;primed&quot; to more readily absorb carbohydrates post-workout and consequently help prevent delayed-onset muscle soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that your workout is fairly late in the evening. If you were to wait to eat until after that workout, that's likely a very long stretch between lunch and dinnertime. You could either shift your lunch a little later, or perhaps have a light snack around 4-5 p.m. just so you have a little fuel for your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2822" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T15:48:59.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5277" CreationDate="2012-01-31T19:30:00.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your questions suggest to me that you have not done major distance on an elliptical machine (or the road) before. Therefore, I &lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt; recommend that you treat this like a road marathon and follow all the normal advice for that e.g. if you can do 10km now then a 4 month programme will have you in shape to complete this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clothing, nutrition and hydration: As part of your training you will be doing long workouts. Trial a range of options and find what works for you. The standard marathon advice will apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, what don't you just do a road marathon? Much easier to train for than being in the same room for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T19:30:00.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5263" CreationDate="2012-01-31T19:34:19.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have concerns about your heart rate then I would see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I wouldn't be concerned about the numbers you present above. I've run half-marathons with my heart rate sitting on 170bpm (at age 25 and I was 5'6 and 140 pounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must temper that statement by saying that you're taller and heavier than most runners but not by enough for those results to be concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T19:34:19.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2012-01-31T20:56:40.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be a runner then leg exercises in the gym aren't going to help you much. You will get better running specific strength adaptations by doing hill repeats. However, your goal may be to build leg muscle for other reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some coaches believe that running lightly the day after a long run helps recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're really going for distance then a normal training technique is to do back to back long runs. This means learning to run when your legs are tired but definitely prepares you for ultras.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The science is that when your legs are sore it's because you've damaged some of the muscle fibers slightly. They'll grow back bigger and stronger but take a bit of time to do that. If you've done a really solid workout then trying to do any other really solid workout the next day isn't as effective as waiting a day or 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T20:56:40.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2012-01-31T21:04:45.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never walk barefoot. Never. My Dr. made me purchase some padded sandals on day 1. I brought my shoes to my 2nd visit and was told to get rid of the cheap ones... your foot and arch need support (ECCO, New Balance, Ryders, etc). Replace them anually and replece the orthotic inserts quarterly. Stretch before getting out of bed (mornings or night runs to the b-room, etc). Taping helped me a lot, too. &#xA;For cardio exercise, I am using a stationary bike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2834" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T21:04:45.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5295" CreationDate="2012-01-31T21:13:00.343" Score="4" ViewCount="1885" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been making myself a very basic exercise routing that consists of biking and push-ups, sometimes running. I know it's very little but keep in mind I'm trying to gain weight but gain arm strength and muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is pretty straightforward. How can I improvise some weights for lifting without purchasing expensive materials or going to the gym? Keep in mind that there's a reason I can't go to the gym or buying expensive materials, and I think the reason is pretty fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also probably mention I can lift about 7-9 kilograms in one hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2675" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T14:28:56.437" Title="Improvising some weights for lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5304" CreationDate="2012-01-31T22:07:45.207" Score="11" ViewCount="2062" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the smooth ground and no wind resistance make it easier. But does the ground being pulled beneath you make it easier too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2320" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-07T13:58:14.967" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T22:32:26.523" Title="Is running on treadmills easier than running outdoors because the ground is pulled beneath the runner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-01T00:53:20.227" Score="2" ViewCount="18890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've managed to do something I never thought possible for myself, and lost about 5kg in one month. I'm aiming to continue this trend until I'm back below 100kg. I've managed this by walking most nights and eating a lot less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, with the weight loss, I'm noticing loose skin in places (mostly about the stomach), and I know that I need to start thinking about crunches and situps. One person I spoke to suggested that I'd need to balance those with some work on my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - what home-based (not gyms) exercises are good for toning up? I have dumbbells and barbells at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2835" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T14:06:39.050" Title="What exercises help toning and firming up after losing weight" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5290" CreationDate="2012-02-01T02:27:27.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of all those things you did in P.E. back in school, and revisit those:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump rope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, feel free to throw in some cycling and a little sports. Make it fun! That walking might be doing the trick, but most people don't keep that up year after year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start looking for a hobby that lets you stay active, so that the weight never returns. The key is to use more calories than you take in. If you put in too many calories, your body starts storing what it can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T02:27:27.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4990" CreationDate="2012-02-01T04:07:55.443" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you training to join the military? If so, you should be coordinating your training efforts with your recruiter or selection officer. You're going to feel &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; stupid if you blow out back one week prior to your ship date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not training to join the military I would advise you against this kind of exercise. Sure you might feel like a bad*&lt;em&gt;*&lt;/em&gt;* running around carrying a backpack full of rocks, but there's a reason this kind of training is only seen in the military or in professions like smoke jumping. It's because they &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to be physically capable of these things and thus they must train for them. That does not at all mean it is healthy or safe - for example the number two disqualifying injury for USMC OCS candidates are stress fractures due to running. Anyone I've talked to who has spent a tour in the infantry has earned a great deal of lingering minor injuries due to their time spent in military.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T04:07:55.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2012-02-01T05:35:47.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps your plantar fasciitis is caused by over training. The suffix &quot;-itis&quot; means inflammation and inflammation is the result of too much stress. Large bouts of cardio may be the cause for your plantar fascitis. Our body is not designed to do cardio for hours on end, 5 days a week unless your an endurance athlete with genetic gifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in mind you may benefit from a period of rest to reduce inflammation in your feet and then begin a cardio routine that achieves a high VO2 (I.e 100-125% of your VO2 max) for short durations. Interval training such as this allows us to accomplish the same, if not greater fitness levels, while reducing our overuse of joints and muscles from tedious, submaximal exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2726" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T05:35:47.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5290" CreationDate="2012-02-01T06:03:54.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although we me see some immediate results from reducing our caloric intake, the main reason for the weight reduction is our reduction or carbohydrates or sugars (since we reduce all forms of nutrition). Carbohydrate intake causes our body to release insulin, an anabolic hormone released from the pancreas, that tells our body to store the excess sugars in our cells. Unfortunately our body has a limited amount of storage for these sugars and once that target is reached we store the remaining energy (calories) as triglycerides or adipose tissue. Therefore the reason our body puts on excess body weight is not due directly to an increase in caloric intake, but rather an over consumption of sugar that causes our body to be in a chronic state of anabolism (storing fat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in mind we must then look at how we can use this to lose weight. When reducing our caloric intake on a diet, we typically eat healthier begin removing excess junk food (i.e chips, pop, candy). Since these all contain excess sugar that boosts our insulin levels, when we remove them we see this immediate loss of weight. However, we now go into a chronic state of low nutrition, which causes our body to want to keep what energy is left. This results in low blood sugar, which in turn tells our body we need to eat. To loss weight we must lower our carbohydrate and use foods that allow our bodies to have access to our stored excess energy. When eating a low carbohydrate meal, our body is now in a state of catabaolism, which allows us to access our adipose tissue as useable energy, rather than allows having access to simple sugars (a steady high level of insulin). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although your workout may have caused some of the weight loss it is mainly attributed to the lower carbohydrate in tack caused by the lower overall intake. Your diet should be the main focus when attempting to lose weight, with less emphasis on which muscles are being used. A healthy active lifestyle normally correlates with a positive figure, but our diet is most import.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you should look into a lower-carbohydrate lifestyle consisting of healthy animal products and vegetables, while limiting our grain consumption and excess sugar, as well as processed vegetable oils. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2726" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T06:03:54.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5287" CreationDate="2012-02-01T09:38:34.073" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have a pull-up bar or access to one (ie. in a park or a playground; you can hang off most things)? If not, you can invest in one of those doorframe pull-up bars - they cost about 20-30 dollars usually, which is not prohibitively expensive. If you do decide to head out to a playground, look for a place where you can do dips (you'll need two parallel bars at shoulder width and hip-height, approximately). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I suggest these is that you need to do these &quot;hard&quot;, compound exercises if you want to gain muscle; push-ups will only get you so far (and that's not very far indeed). It is also relatively easy to progressively load them further if required - you can use a backpack and fill it with weight. These two exercises will work most of your upper-body and require minimal equipment. If you are concerned your abs aren't getting worked out, you can also invest in an ab-wheel, which costs about 10-20 bucks usually and is also a very good tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bodyweight exercises in general, the way to make the exercise more challenging is to decrease the leverage you have - eg. for pushups you can raise your legs on something, which'll stress your shoulders some more (and in general, you'll be lifting a higher weight) or you can try to push your arms more forward (ie. don't keep them bellow your shoulders but further up towards - or even beyond - your head), this will work your abs and lower back muscles more and is harder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, &lt;strong&gt;to answer your actual question&lt;/strong&gt;, if you are determined to &quot;make&quot; your own weights, the best solution is probably bags filled with sand. Take some of those small bags which you use to pack stuff in the fridge, fill them with eg. 1 kg of sand (don't forget to double or triple wrap them, they can break and sand everywhere is not comfortable). You can then put as many as you need in a backpack or a bigger bag/container and easily calibrate the weight you need. Note that it's actually non-trivial to figure out how to add weight to bodyweight exercises (and doing something intended for dumbbells with homemade weights, you'll outgrow fairly quickly). If at all possible, I would try to assure access to at least a pull-up bar and exercise with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T09:38:34.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5287" CreationDate="2012-02-01T14:28:56.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.notyouraveragefitnesstips.com/best-workout-routines/prison-workout-routine-bodyweight-exercises-for-strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prison workouts&lt;/a&gt;; basically, workouts which can be done without any equipment at all. This includes exercises like burpees, planks, chest lifts, all sorts of wanky situps &amp;amp; pushups, and others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a big sack of rice (flour also works, but its a lot messier) and haul it around. If you put straps on it you can treat it like a poor man's kettlebell.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As @vperic said, invest in a chin-up bar. Consider also other inexpensive equipment, like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B005J4WYX8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;roller wheel&lt;/a&gt;, a jump rope, resistance bands, etc. Learn how to use them well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T14:28:56.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5299" CreationDate="2012-02-01T16:23:20.447" Score="1" ViewCount="2906" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is biltong healthy for me.  I am trying to gain lean muscle but am starving all the time from all the training and I don't like protein shakes as it upsets my stomach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T18:38:57.473" Title="Is biltong healthy for a lean muscle weight trainer?" Tags="&lt;snacks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5298" CreationDate="2012-02-01T18:38:57.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you'll be able to get a &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no&quot; answer to your question. The best we can do is point out what we think is healthy or unhealthy about biltong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good: Fat and protein that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; can actually keep down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad: So much salt. If you are sensitive to sodium, this could be raising your blood pressure and having other side-effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2567" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T18:38:57.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5288" CreationDate="2012-02-01T18:54:35.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Edit: See the other answers for why I have changed my position. disregard the following. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I disagree with the other answer. The belt pulls your foot from the moment of impact until you lift your foot again, reducing the work that your hamstrings do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One recommendation is to adjust the incline on the treadmill to 4% to adjust for the disparity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastEditorUserId="2841" LastEditDate="2012-03-07T19:51:42.610" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T19:51:42.610" CommentCount="16" CommunityOwnedDate="2012-03-07T19:51:42.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5288" CreationDate="2012-02-01T19:03:49.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treadmills are easier, but it won't be a big difference (unless it is raining, freezing, or very hot outside), which is probably what friz meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone on a treadmill could easily cheat by cranking the speed way up and hanging onto the rails, letting the motor pull their legs. But then that is cheating. You can't really cheat when you are walking on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are not physically moving the mass of your body, but the motion of moving your legs and arms are still going to cause your heart rate to increase and calories to burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking &quot;in the wild&quot; (i.e. on the ground) can burn more calories because of the extra work required to move the mass ...but it should be negligible in the grand scheme of things given that treadmills are so versatile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T19:03:49.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5303" CreationDate="2012-02-01T20:19:58.453" Score="5" ViewCount="876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working through Ripptoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=413&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=328&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/a&gt; books and training schedule, mostly aiming for basic fitness and building muscle mass. My current workout is mostly squats, deadlifts, bench &amp;amp; standing presses, and a few variations on the plank. True to the full title of starting strength, both of these books focus almost exclusively on barbell training. I've found that I was able to incorporate dumbbells into my workout as necessary (particularly for the standing press). I've recently begun simply playing with the kettlebell - not really using it as part of my workout, just getting to know the basic exercises and motions. So far it seems to me that barbells are typically used for increasing core strength, and dumbbells are typically used for targeted muscle group workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are twofold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a &quot;typical use&quot; for kettlebells?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Given my goals (fitness &amp;amp; muscle mass increase), are there any kettlebell exercises that would better suit me than &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-02T15:23:49.773" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T15:23:49.773" Title="Incorporating kettlebell exercises into an existing workout plan" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5302" CreationDate="2012-02-01T20:43:55.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kettlebells can be great assistance work in the world of strength training, so they should be placed after the main lifts in your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use them for mobility: halos and windmills.  For the windmills, you are looking for light weights to help strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use them for conditioning: swings, cleans, and snatches are good conditioning (not to mention hit your hamstrings pretty well, too).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use them for grip training: farmer's walks, wrist strengthening, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing about kettlebells that is somewhat unique is the fact that the weight hangs below the grip.  They are deceptively hard, and will induce some delayed muscle soreness the first few times using them.  The hanging weight is great for forcing your body to compensate.  Just holding the kettlebell overhead with your wrist straight will help your bench press grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be careful not to overdo it, which is quite easy to do.  Any time you do assistance work, you want to limit it to about 2-3 extra exercises in any give training day.  With Starting Strength you have three main exercises.  Probably best to limit yourself to no more than 5 exercises per session to prevent from burning out too soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T20:43:55.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5288" CreationDate="2012-02-01T21:03:28.717" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;The science seems divided, though I am inclined to see value in the arguments that differences persist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update the first&lt;/strong&gt;: Though the physics &amp;quot;frame of reference&amp;quot; solution has merit, I am for the moment convinced by the idea that the addition of energy from the belt-rotating mechanism changes the system significantly enough for treadmill running to differ from overground running kinematically, bio-mechanically, proprioceptively, and in terms of inertial reference frames. When I'm running overground, my foot lands on a surface that is moving in reference to my body, but it will not continue to move at that speed unless I impart force to it. This is not true on a treadmill. We are adding outside forces and momentums with the addition of a belt instead of a massive earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Moving Through Space Versus Swinging The Leg&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/treadmill-running-easier/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This RunnersWorld article&lt;/a&gt; has a high-level review of some literature on differences between overland and treadmill biomechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bryan Chung of Evidence-Based Fitness made &lt;a href=&quot;http://evidencebasedfitness.blogspot.com/2010/05/get-off-never-ending-path-to-nowhere.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a nice argument against the idea that treadmill running is similar to ground traversal running&lt;/a&gt;. Unfortunately, as I recall, there were some clarifying points in the comments that are no longer visible since his switch to Facebook comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you walk overground, your heel strikes the ground and you move your weight over your foot. Your body passes over your foot and then as you strike with your other foot in front of you, the foot behind you pushes off. The biggest difference between treadmill running/walking and overground running/walking is the relative position of your body to your foot while it's on the ground. On a treadmill, your heel strikes the belt, and your foot moves under your body behind you. As your foot is assisted off the ground behind you, you strike the treadmill belt with your other foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds almost identical, doesn't it? However, in overground walking, you are moving the weight of your body over your foot. In treadmill walking, the belt does all the moving for you. You're not propelling your weight; the belt is propelling your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Research Survey&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also, as Chung indicates, a good deal of biomechanical analysis of the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18048582&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lee and Hidler&lt;/a&gt; argue that the treadmill is fine for therapeutic uses, but found muscular differences. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1859329/pdf/brjsmed00282-0012.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Elliot, Pyke, Roberts, and Morton (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;, contrary to Chung's argument, found no differences in gait. However, they did not make any analysis regarding energy expenditure and are careful to note that their research was solely on sub-maximal running mechanics. &lt;a href=&quot;http://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/5099&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parvataneni and Krishnaji&lt;/a&gt; found that the elderly (including stroke patients) had a &lt;em&gt;greater&lt;/em&gt; energy expenditure when on a treadmill. They also found, as others have, that overground walking involves much more stabilization work necessary to combat asymmetry. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268003398000126&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alton, Baldey, Caplan, Morrissey&lt;/a&gt; found significant differences in gait attributes. (Their research was restricted to walking.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would expect that the disagreements over whether differences exist is due to different definitions of gait mechanics, and/or the subjects used. I am therefore very tentative in any conclusions I draw from these studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update the second&lt;/strong&gt;: Doctor Chung has kindly updated his post with a set of studies from the old comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://iospress.metapress.com/content/d7433566337071gj/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Baur1, Hirschmüller, Müller, Gollhofer, Mayer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Differences in muscle activity between T and O running must thus be taken into consideration in studies of neuromuscular control of movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I particularly appreciated the methodology (alas, gleaned from the abstract alone) in this study by &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/1983/15060/An_analysis_of_overground_and_treadmill_sprinting.7.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Frishberg&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Five college-varsity sprinters volunteered to run 100-yd sprints in both overground and treadmill running conditions. After a minimum of 10 training sessions on the treadmill, the subjects were filmed...sprinting 100 yd and expired respiratory gases were collected during an 18-mm recovery period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The oxygen debt of the overground condition...was 36% greater than the treadmill running condition.... Regardless of individual running style, the major bio-mechanical differences between treadmill and overground running conditions occurred during the support phase and were observed in the supporting leg. During treadmill running, the leg of the supporting lower extremity was less erect at contact...and moved through a greater range of motion...with a faster overall angular velocity.... The thigh of the supporting lower extremity was more erect at contact...and moved with a slower overall angular velocity.... Data suggest that the moving treadmill belt reduces the energy requirements of the runner by bringing the supporting leg back under the body during the support phase of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also immediately struck by the inherent problem in comparing overground sprints, where maximal speed is determined by the runner, with treadmill sprints, where speed is dictated by the machine controlling the belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/1985/08000/Aerobic_requirements_of_overground_versus.13.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study by Bassett, David R. Jr., Giese, Nagle, Ward, Raab, and Balke&lt;/a&gt; tried to study the same thing, and I think its methodology is deeply flawed. There's also this study on walking, which shows exactly what one would expect if people were allowing the belt to move their feet for them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although the patterns of the vertical reaction forces for the two forms of locomotion were nearly identical, small but significant differences in selected force magnitudes were evident. The interpretation of locomotion data collected on a treadmill should consider that forces during mid- and late-stance may be different than if the subject walked overground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sounds to me (though I could be wrong) like late in each step, the foot is allowed to come up instead of continuing to push against the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The MovNat-Style Perspective&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the heck are you doing inside paying money to look at an LCD readout when you could be outside--for free!--seeing beautiful places and climbing rocks and getting tired the way humans have gotten themselves tired for millennia! Gah! &amp;quot;Don't take a perfectly good activity like walking and make it suck by doing it on a treadmill.&amp;quot; (quoted from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD9v1kWBWF0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Your Workout Sucks on YouTube&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have a specific reason to use a treadmill--you're recovering from an injury, you live in Antarctica, you're training for the Inside Olympics--the kinematics and biomechanics are probably insignificant compared to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/40/is-there-any-benefit-of-real-running-outdoors-vs-running-on-a-treadmill-in-gym&quot;&gt;the benefits of running outside&lt;/a&gt;. More importantly, you should find it aesthetically offensive. For example, strength and conditioning coach Keegan Smith has this response to someone with a similar question. It loses nothing by substituting &amp;quot;treadmill&amp;quot; for &amp;quot;elliptical&amp;quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you kidding me? [An] elliptical!? You’ve been blessed with a machine much more advanced than the greatest sports car. We’re are the top of the chain in the animal kingdom for movement dexterity and you want to spend time on elliptical! Re-gain your youth! Have some fun and learn new skills during your movement time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T13:11:31.447" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4834" CreationDate="2012-02-01T21:04:55.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Terminology might depend on where you are. There isn't really any such thing as &quot;regular yoga&quot;. I do know that in the US, many people associate &quot;yoga&quot; with hatha yoga, which usually means that the focus is on the building blocks of poses and on stretching-type poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Power yoga, on the other hand, is a vinyasa- or ashtanga-style, flow yoga; power yogis move quickly between poses, but the poses often focus on building strength rather than flexibility. (Any type of yoga will improve your flexibility; I'm speaking in relative terms here.) &quot;Power yoga&quot;, while inspired by Ashtanga, does not follow a strict routine of poses. There's freedom for the poses to vary from one session to the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual recommendation regarding food is to wait at least 3-4 hours after eating a meal to practice any type of yoga, or 1-2 hours after a light snack. If you really need to eat right before doing yoga, have something light like a piece of fruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend trying to learn yoga on your own if you've never done any type of yoga before. There is no replacement for having a teacher be able to show you poses up close and from different angles, and to come around and correct your poses as your practice. It is very possible to injure yourself by doing poses incorrectly, especially repeatedly (I'm assuming you won't do yoga just once and then quit). That being said, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0000A2ZQE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rodney Yee's Power Yoga&lt;/a&gt; DVDs are good for practicing at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as doing both on the same day; if you have no injuries that prevent you from being active, you can do as much yoga as you want in one day. I know people who do 1-2 hours of yoga every day, all the way up to people who practice four or five hours per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1479" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T21:04:55.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5302" CreationDate="2012-02-01T21:25:24.713" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1) Is there a &quot;typical use&quot; for kettlebells?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.  Kettlebells are most commonly used to mimic olympic style lifts.  There are some unique movements and many advanced athletes use kettlebells for conditioning drills.  If you are really interested in this than you can look around your area for Kettlebell training classes or seminars.  Obviously you may not be able to access those so...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a wealth of variations through searching Google.  Dragondoor has a fun book.  Look it up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite creative training blog is rosstraining.  Look it up.  Loads of fun variations.  Lots of DIY tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not in any way affiliated with Ross.  He's just a boss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)  Given my goals (fitness &amp;amp; muscle mass increase), are there any kettlebell exercises that would better suit me than&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Than Starting Strength?  You should read this - &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/clarification_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/clarification_rippetoe.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR - The answer is no.  If you strictly want more fitness AND size... than eat more, rest better, and follow the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2844" LastEditorUserId="2844" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T21:32:06.257" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T21:32:06.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5333" CreationDate="2012-02-01T22:45:04.543" Score="6" ViewCount="2791" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2999/how-many-days-in-a-week-should-i-work-out&quot;&gt;working consecutive days without rest isn't ideal&lt;/a&gt; because it doesn't give your muscles enough time to repair themselves, but what if your daily workouts isolate particular muscles? Shown below is the workout routine I am currently using:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: &lt;strong&gt;chest and back&lt;/strong&gt; (mostly push-up and pull-ups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: &lt;strong&gt;biceps&lt;/strong&gt; (isolated bicep curls)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: &lt;strong&gt;chest, shoulders and triceps&lt;/strong&gt; (lots of compound shoulder/tri/chest exercises)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: &lt;strong&gt;legs and back&lt;/strong&gt; (mostly squats/lunges/raises)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: &lt;strong&gt;biceps and triceps&lt;/strong&gt; (mix of isolated and compound bi/tri exercises)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This workout gives me room to improve the areas that are underdeveloped (chest/arms) and simultaneously improves the supporting muscles (back/shoulders). My legs are already at their ideal level, so once a week of maintenance / small growth is all I need for them.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that each muscle group would have a day (or more) of rest before their next workout, but I am no expert so I may be overlooking something. &lt;strong&gt;Would this routine be counterproductive due to my muscles not getting enough rest between workouts?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I am considering this routine because I don't have much time in my daily schedule to fit in three large workouts each week, so instead I want to do 5 smaller (15-20 minute) workouts that I can do at work while on break.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T15:02:20.870" Title="Workout routine for 5 days a week" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5310" CreationDate="2012-02-02T00:13:17.960" Score="5" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 2-3 hours after eating lunch I crash at work. My hands shake, I can't concentrate and I generally believe this has to do with low blood sugar. I've never been diagnosed with diabetes. My mom has it, so it does run in my family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like, in many ways this would be the best time for me to exercise, but instead I'm trapped at a desk until 6. The best remedy I've found are the low-carb slim fast shakes. I've tried nuts, and granola bars, all unsuccessfully. Without eating another meal, nothing else has worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wondered if anyone had any tips regarding natural sources for managing mid-afternoon blood sugar levels and keeping my energy levels up at work (without getting up and moving).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2845" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-10T16:21:08.687" LastActivityDate="2015-03-29T05:37:52.373" Title="What foods can I eat to keep my energy up in an office job in the afternoon?" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-03-30T16:45:24.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5309" CreationDate="2012-02-02T01:41:49.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snack on food with a low Glycemic index (most fruits and vegetables, legumes/pulses, whole grains, nuts, fructose) instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_Index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A lower glycemic index suggests slower rates of digestion and&#xA;  absorption of the foods' carbohydrates and may also indicate greater&#xA;  extraction from the liver and periphery of the products of&#xA;  carbohydrate digestion. A lower glycemic response usually equates to a&#xA;  lower insulin demand but not always, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;may improve long-term blood&#xA;  glucose control&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and blood lipids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastEditorUserId="2678" LastEditDate="2012-02-03T01:49:59.450" LastActivityDate="2012-02-03T01:49:59.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5311" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5319" CreationDate="2012-02-02T06:30:10.530" Score="4" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a standard or guideline to this? For instance, is there a prototypical person with an average weight they design dosage parameters for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2846" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T20:22:07.283" Title="How do nutritional supplement companies come up with the recommended dosage?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5317" CreationDate="2012-02-02T14:55:30.400" Score="3" ViewCount="36680" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a computer nerd. I spent every waking moment of my life sitting perfectly motionless in front of a computer screen. (Hell, &lt;em&gt;I'm doing it right now!&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...except that once a week I spend an hour leaping around a dance floor like a crazy person. And you know what? It turns out I am &lt;em&gt;absurdly&lt;/em&gt; unfit. Shocking, I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, there are 168 hours in a week. Doing a piffling 1 hour of extreme exercise and then spending 167 hours utterly motionless just doesn't cut it. I need to do more. Somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is: How do I increase my stamina?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obvious answer would seem to be &quot;do something tiring, and do as much of it as possible&quot;. But do I want the highest possible intensity, or the longest duration? Do I want one continuous block of exercise, or lots of short bursts with rest in between? I'm not really sure where to start with this...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little background, in case it helps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;By &quot;dancing&quot;, I do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; mean a casual waltz. (Although if you do it properly, a waltz actually uses far more energy than you might imagine, just so you know.) I'm talking about jumping up and down, kicking your legs above your head, waving your arms in the air, at devestatingly high speed. Sometimes I even get to lift my dance partner clean off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; all of this - just not for very long. So it's not that I need more strength or flexibility or coordination. The &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; thing I am missing is stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have been dancing for over 3 years now. When I say &quot;I'm not getting fitter&quot;, I'm not saying that after just two sessions. I'm saying that after years of effort. After all that, there are people &lt;em&gt;twice my age&lt;/em&gt; dancing rings around me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In case I was whaffling too much&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question basically boils down to &quot;do I want a small burst of intense activity, or a large burst of moderate activity?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2848" LastEditorUserId="2848" LastEditDate="2012-02-02T15:58:50.230" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T12:35:43.980" Title="How do I increase my stamina for dancing?" Tags="&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5312" CreationDate="2012-02-02T15:36:58.253" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you trying to get better at dancing? Or are you trying to be more fit? Your &quot;increased stamina&quot; could fall into either category. Or both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Better at Dancing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get good at a thing, you need to do the thing a lot. So: dance more. Practice solo at home, preferably in doses similar in intensity and duration to the group class. Practicing longer or harder will make you better able to handle the shorter or easier demands of the one-hour class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a certain point, you will get diminishing returns from this approach. If you're a really efficient dancer, it may be hard to expend enough energy to get tired quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Better at Fitness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you're plenty strong, flexible and coordinated. I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just saying you could be mistaken. (I used to believe the same thing about myself in my sport, and I was mistaken.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Being stronger makes everything easier.&lt;/strong&gt; If you're able to lift a partner off the ground, great. But after three or four lifts, you're tired. What would happen if you were twice as strong? Lifting your partner wouldn't be such a big deal, would it? You'd probably be able to lift them twice as many times or more, since the difficulty of doing so is much less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might benefit from getting stronger, which is most efficiently done by lifting weights. Squats, deadlifts, and chin-ups make you stronger very, very quickly. My recommendation is to get strong enough so that you can safely pick up a barbell weighting 1.5 times as much as yourself, and squat with a barbell weighing as much as yourself on your back, and do five or ten dead-hang no-kip full-range-of-motion pull-ups. You'll then be in a good position to decide whether being stronger is helping or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also might benefit from improving your metabolic capacity. Short, all-out bursts of effort like sprints, shorter CrossFit metcons, or kettlebell swings will make you very tired in short order. By making you more capable at handling very hard exertion, they will improve your ability to exert yourself on longer, slower activities like dancing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side benefit: heavy lifting and sprint-type activities are also highly recommended for overall health and fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recommendation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get as strong as my totally-made-up minimum strength standards above by lifting two or three times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do sprints or similar all-out effort once or twice a week to get my wind in order&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a solo or at-home dancing workout that's just a little longer and a little harder than the dancing classes, once or twice a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting stronger would make each individual movement dramatically easier. Improving my short-term metabolic capacity would make every song-length dance dramatically easier. Improving my long-term activity-specific endurance would help me survive the class. All three together would form like Voltron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guiding principle here should be &quot;fix your weakness&quot;. All three approaches will help, but fixing the area you're worst at will provide outsize benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-02-02T15:55:05.173" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T15:55:05.173" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5025" CreationDate="2012-02-02T15:59:13.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 26 and male.  I too get bored doing the same workout all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for new personal goals to achieve then sit down and set some specific goals.  Ones you can measure and achieve.  Maybe it's weight lifting.  Perhaps look into an adventure race which incorporates crosstraining?  Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder registration season is now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe variation for you doesn't involve fitness at all.  In 25-30 mins a day you can plow through a Pimsleur language lesson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are happy running but unhappy with the grind try making running more social and varied.  In Washington DC there are Hash House Harrier runs every night.  Not sure if there are similar social running clubs in your local area.  But that could add an element of variation to your workout and keep things fresh.  You definitely sound like you have the fitness to hang with the FRB's.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OnOn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2844" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T15:59:13.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5312" CreationDate="2012-02-02T16:20:28.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For increased strength / endurance the internet will point you at a program like Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.  If you follow such a program you won't lose flexibility or the ability to dance.  You may need to do hip flexibility / other assistance work if you run into issues.  You may not be able to dance as much when you first start out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently working on SS and have done similar programs in the past.  Love it.  It is how I have fun after a stressful day.  It is also a very limited time spent in gym.  But not helpful if you don't have the time or money resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My younger sister did jive/swing/lindy competitively in college.  She crosstrained successfully with more power focused versions of yoga.  She still does both.  Although more yoga than dancing now. This doesn't help you if you aren't interested in yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOW TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION... Diet has more to do with fitness gains as an adult than anything else.  Look at what you are eating and how you are resting before you start taking crap loads of advice from random internet bros.  I'd cite sources... is there an FAQ on this website? Or do I need to point at something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness&lt;/a&gt; and say read all the &quot;Diet&quot; stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2844" LastEditorUserId="2844" LastEditDate="2012-02-02T16:45:59.340" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T16:45:59.340" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5312" CreationDate="2012-02-02T17:33:53.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to a previous and similar question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3178/whats-the-most-effective-way-to-improve-cardio-endurance&quot;&gt;What&amp;#39;s the most effective way to improve cardio endurance?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tabata (aka High Intense Interval Training) provides great endurance improvement over a minimal amount of time - roughly 15 to 30 minutes 3-5 times a week.  I would recommend including some weight training/strength training (aka free weights) so you can look good as you dance...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T17:33:53.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5312" CreationDate="2012-02-02T18:32:20.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's take 3 different people, give them a 10lb dumbbell and tell them to lift it over their head until they are too tired to keep doing it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a 10 year old girl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a marathon runner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a strength trainer who can overhead press 200lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what order do you think they would fail to be able to continue lifting the dumbbell?  Unless the 10 year old girl was herself a power lifter, more than likely they would fail in the order I listed them.  The difference is in their strength, not their endurance.  10 lbs is a mere fraction of 200lbs, so the lifter has an advantage.  He can do much more &lt;em&gt;of that kind&lt;/em&gt; of work than the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The stronger you are, the longer you can do work that is less effort than you are used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you spend 15 minutes each day laying out in the sun, how dark do you think you will be after a month?  The sad truth is, assuming the same amount of sun rays each day, you will be no darker than you were after a week.  The reason is that you never asked your body to adapt to longer periods of sun radiation, so it never had to get darker.  There is a direct application of that to your situation.  You have only been doing dance class for an hour a week.  As such, you have never increased the demands on your body past the the initial adaptations your body did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend this article by Matt Reynolds on conditioning called &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/death_by_prowler_reynolds.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Death by Prowler&lt;/a&gt;.  Pay special attention to the information on energy systems and the logic behind programming the prowler.  The point isn't to go out, buy a prowler and start puking your guts out.  It's the fact that unless your conditioning matches the type of effort you want to be able to do on demand, you will always be disappointed with your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suggestions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get stronger, this will help you in every area--including resisting injury.  You don't have to squat 400lbs in a year, but get stronger than you are now.  Wendler 5/3/1 with the 2 day a week program is very flexible, allows for proper recovery and slow improvements.  It also requires the next point below.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do conditioning and mobility work.  Get outside and run sprints.  Dance like a fool.  If you can work on technique and conditioning at the same time, more power to you.  But maintain some flexibility while you do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing 1 hour a week of any type of exercise will only cause you to adapt to one hour a week of exercise.  It's not going to get any better until you start doing &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-02-02T18:53:27.820" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T18:53:27.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5311" CreationDate="2012-02-02T20:22:07.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It varies; however in general it is based on a healthy individual ages 4 - 50 consuming 2,000 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/85706-recommended-daily-intake-vitamins/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LiveStrong web site&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The daily dose of vitamins health officials recommend varies by life&#xA;  stage. These groups are defined by people's gender, age and, in the&#xA;  case of females, whether they are pregnant or lactating. To maintain&#xA;  body metabolism, everyone needs the essential vitamins A, C, D, E and&#xA;  K and the eight vitamins in the B family. The recommended daily value&#xA;  printed on vitamin supplement labels is based on a 2,000-calorie diet&#xA;  and represents the average vitamin intake adequate for those age 4 to&#xA;  50. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommendations are higher, however, and represent optimum doses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There reference to the USDA allows us to get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Nutrition/SummaryDRIs/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Nutrition/DRIs/5_Summary%20Table%20Tables%201-4.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;much more granular view&lt;/a&gt; and covers the varying life stage groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take a life stage group and what the average weight is for that given group, that would define your prototypical person within that category that they base their figures on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T20:22:07.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5354" CreationDate="2012-02-02T21:39:28.253" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a very good diet due to my work schedule, but I would like to eat something everyday that is as good for me as possible to hopefully offset some of the negatives of my normal diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What food or combination of foods would be best to consume daily in order to reap the most benefit? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was considering a juicer and something like blueberries, carrots, apples, spinach, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't care about the flavor, necessarily, only about the nutrition/vitamin density.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like the overall cost of ingredients, per serving, to be $3 or less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2853" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T20:20:57.933" Title="Best nutrition-rich supplement for daily living" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-09-21T15:41:32.340" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-02T22:08:00.230" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to packages on frozen berries (e.g. raspberry, blueberry and others), 10g out of 100g consists of sugar, 1g of other carbohydrates, and 0-1g of protein. What about the rest? Is it just water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2854" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T22:36:13.140" Title="10% sugar in berries -- what's the rest?" Tags="&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-03-18T00:19:43.010" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-02T22:30:56.017" Score="6" ViewCount="3873" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently using the Slow Carb Diet to lose some weight. I find that it works well, but I plateau often. I'm trying (and succeeding but ever so slowly) to get under 15% body fat. Been doing it a while and it's fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that if I'm dropping weight I get light-headed. Well, it's not really the same feeling as &quot;must eat now&quot; so I'll call it '&lt;strong&gt;fuzz-headed&lt;/strong&gt;'. For instance, on cheat day (Sat), I'll feel fine. Likewise Sunday. But by Thursday (today) I feel sorta light headed / spacy / fuzzy. I'd say it is similar to being half hung over, half low blood sugar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important note&lt;/strong&gt;: I doubt it's blood sugar. I've tested my blood sugar (with a strip kit) about 8 times when I've had this feeling and it's always been in the 95-130 range. My appetite doesn't seem to have anything to do with it -- my hunger levels are usually pretty low when I'm experiencing this fuzz-head feeling. Also, I don't think it's hydration, judging by urine color. I drink about 48oz of water (coffee, tea) between 7AM and 5PM and never feel thirsty. I have talked to a Dr about this and he tested my blood... something... levels. Slightly elevated creatinine (sp?) but all else normal. He thought the creatinine wasn't anything to be concerned about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical day looks like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7AM: protein shake, 45g protein, 16 oz water, flax seed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after 7AM: 2 cups coffee, black&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9:30AM: fuzzy headed feeling starts about her&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10AM: breakfast: 4-6 oz pork or chicken, 1/2c lentils, 1/2c spinach, 2 eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2PM: lunch: 1.5c slow carb chili (kidney beans, beef, vegetables)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5PM: fuzzy headed feeling has been with me from 9:30 until now. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried attacking this issue with vitamins (Vit D or a multivitamin), no effect. I do find it will go away if I get a solid half hour of aerobic activity like hill-walking or swimming. Large doses of caffeine will clear it up as well (20 oz coffee). I want to avoid caffeine because it disrupts my sleep. Getting an hour in at the gym in the morning is difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions: could this be related to the weight loss? Like as I'm shedding fat there's some sort of byproduct that gets stuck in my blood and my kidneys aren't filtering it out well? Could this be a specific nutrient that I'm not getting enough of (esp. something that  a typical multi wouldn't take care of)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've asked about this on the SCD forums in the past but really didn't get a good answer. Hopefully the SE network will give me better results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2624" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-04T03:58:57.950" LastActivityDate="2013-12-14T14:30:07.843" Title="Could a specific nutrient deficiency cause lightheadedness when losing weight?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5321" CreationDate="2012-02-02T22:36:13.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say water and fiber. Look at a dried blueberry vs. a fresh one... there's practically nothing left after you dry it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2624" LastActivityDate="2012-02-02T22:36:13.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1347" CreationDate="2012-02-02T22:43:28.997" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that &lt;strong&gt;appetite matters&lt;/strong&gt;, especially when trying to lose weight. In my experience, carb heavy foods are very bad at appetite suppression. Case in point the &quot;hungry an hour later&quot; effect of Chinese food. That is one of the chief reasons that low carb diets work. I could easily eat 800 calories of bread and still be a a little hungry. 800 calories of chicken? Forget it, I want nothing to do with food for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a diet that is easy and works, I'd suggest the Ketogenic diet. It's easy to stick with and does the job. Very healthy too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, regarding rice and pasta not being unhealthy, I think you should re-think that. A study recently found that &lt;strong&gt;potatoes are the most fattening food&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/WBL02253/Potatoes-The-Most-Fattening-Food.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/WBL02253/Potatoes-The-Most-Fattening-Food.html&lt;/a&gt; (I think he links the study in that article). In terms of Glycemic Index, rice and pasta are right next to potatoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should learn more about Glycemic Index and leptin levels, that will help you lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2624" LastEditorUserId="2624" LastEditDate="2012-04-24T20:02:53.617" LastActivityDate="2012-04-24T20:02:53.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5025" CreationDate="2012-02-03T03:06:28.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're running and you're consumed with the running but do you have any goals?  Many high-caliber athletes suffer from obsessive-compulsive like orders (http://commons.pacificu.edu/pa/30/) and personal experience, though it's not always a bad thing but that what helps push through bad periods of training.  Someone above mentioned social running.  That might help but you could also try racing.  You have the motivation, ability and drive but you're doing something without reaping any benefits in return.  Thus my answer is an alternative, find a goal for the running you are doing.  Otherwise you might feel like the time is wasted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-02-03T03:06:28.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5327" CreationDate="2012-02-03T14:17:49.317" Score="3" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startingstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; workout and reading Ripptoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/clarification_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Clarification&quot; follow-up article&lt;/a&gt;, I'm realizing that nutrition is a very crucial component to weightlifting. However, the Starting Strength book dedicates only a single page to this topic, where he recommends that kids drink one gallon of milk a day. As an adult, I can barely drink two cups of milk without destroying my stomach; his treatment of the topic is hardly a good resource for most adult amateur weightlifters. I've seen sporadic postings across the internet on how to properly eat for bodybuilding, but nothing particularly comprehensive. In my mind, a &quot;comprehensive&quot; discussion would entail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The role of various dietary components in strength training - proteins, vitamins, carbs, oils, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Distinctions between dietary requirements for different age groups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Differences between different nutrition sources (e.g., for protein, meat vs fish vs egg vs protein shakes), if any&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a resource which would provide at least most of the above, specific to weightlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2012-02-03T15:42:08.440" LastActivityDate="2012-02-04T04:45:01.823" Title="Any authoritative references for strength training nutrition requirements?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5326" CreationDate="2012-02-03T16:00:18.280" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You get a lot more dietary information in the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Practical%20Programming%20for%20Strength%20Training&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;prmd=imvnsb&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&amp;amp;biw=1181&amp;amp;bih=905&amp;amp;um=1&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;cid=12451796213958205604&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=9QEsT-7TCqeq2QWe6oSSDw&amp;amp;ved=0CFkQ8wIwAA&quot;&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; by Dr. Kilgore and Rippetoe.  However, you don't ever have a diet prescribed for you.  The bottom line is that so many different approaches to diet and training produce good results that it's a matter of finding what works for you.  There are some commonalities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat plenty of protein--ranges listed are anywhere between .8g per pound to 2.5g per pound lean body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat carbs post workout to restore glycogen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill the rest of your dietary requirements with fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement your vitamins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, between the training and the food you eat, you are attempting to manipulate your hormones.  While I'm not a bodybuilder, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hale2.htm&quot;&gt;this reference&lt;/a&gt; provides a nice overview of the hormones that play a predominant role in strength training.  Those same hormones are also covered in the Practical Programming book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are trying to bulk cleanly (i.e. not gain a lot of extra fat), then there are several anabolic diets to choose from, including LeanGains, several on bodybuilding web sites, etc.  They all have plenty of protein, an emphasis on less starchy vegetables on rest day, and more starchy vegetables and fruit on training day (bulk of it post training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-03T16:00:18.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5322" CreationDate="2012-02-03T20:33:19.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the two coffees prior to breakfast could be the reason or your lightheadedness. On diets where carbs are limited we rely on ketones made from adipose tissue to fuel our bodies. However I remember reading several articles stating that the coffee can inhibit the rate at which our body uses fat as fuel. Therefore, causing a lower blood sugar after breakfast when our body should be releasing a steady stream of ketones in the blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would attempt to remove the coffee for a week or two and see if there is a noticeable difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2726" LastActivityDate="2012-02-03T20:33:19.410" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5387" CreationDate="2012-02-03T23:58:17.207" Score="9" ViewCount="13627" Body="&lt;p&gt;After drastically increasing my fiber intake for nearly a month at the suggestion of family members via breads, fruits, vegetables, and juices, I ran into constipation so severe that I was unable to have a bowel movement for two weeks because of impacted stool. As it got worse, I began consuming even more fiber at the recommendation of my doctors. No amount of laxatives or suppositories could initiate a bowel movement, and my abdomen was becoming so bloated that I could not even move at all for several days without excruciating pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This led me to do some research about just how healthy fiber really is. After having the stool de-impacted by the doctor, I returned to my previous diet which consists mainly of white rice, meat, and vegetables (I am lactose intolerant and take vitamin supplements) and the stool is coming out so easily I barely even notice it. But this low-fiber diet is causing my family members grief as they think I am going to drop dead unless I return to eating copious amounts of fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran across this book while doing some research: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.ca/Fiber-Menace-Constipation-Hemorrhoids-Ulcerative/dp/0970679645&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fiber Menace&lt;/a&gt; by Konstantin Monastyrsky and was surprised. Every suggestion he had in his book and on his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gutsense.org/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; were contrary to what the doctors and people in general were telling me constantly - eat more and more fiber, more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and juices, and consume huge amounts of water, otherwise you are going to die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it's obvious from my little near-death experience now that having &lt;em&gt;too much fiber&lt;/em&gt; is bad, &lt;strong&gt;but does anyone have any clue as to the scientific validity of Mr. Monastyrsky's book and website&lt;/strong&gt;? After searching the web for hours I could not find even a single piece of information that even attempted to criticize or argue against his claims other than one three-star customer review on Amazon.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I remain skeptical of his extreme &quot;absolutely no fiber diet&quot;, following his suggestions and reducing fiber intake to only a few spoonfuls of vegetables per meal have definitely returned my bowel movements, health, and happiness back to normal. I want to find out if there's any truth to his claims or if it's just pseudoscience, especially since it seems to contradict general ideas about fiber and doctor recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1053" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T16:04:42.813" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T16:04:42.813" Title="Fiber Menace - How scientific is this book?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;books&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-02-24T14:16:49.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5308" CreationDate="2012-02-04T04:37:33.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working out on consecutive days is fine if you isolate muscle groups. In fact, a lot of routines are designed this way, since it would take too long to perform a one-sitting workout for all muscle groups. I spend 1.5 hours at a time at the gym, and that's with isolating muscle groups and alternating workout routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2862" LastActivityDate="2012-02-04T04:37:33.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5326" CreationDate="2012-02-04T04:45:01.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Weightlifting&quot; just caught my eye. Simply put:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plenty of protein, at least 1g per pound of body mass: red meat, fish, eggs, poultry (chicken), farmer cheese(!) --&gt; especially after workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;complex carbohydrates: grains such as rice, buckwheat (which might be exotic, but is insanely amazing, at about 12 grams of protein and 60+ grams of carbs per 100g of product), starchy foods (potatoes); carbs are for energy throughout the day, but make sure you stock up on them after workouts. The same goes for protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fats are usually kept to a minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall breakdown: 60% carbs, 30% protein. And plenty of water, about a glass every hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2862" LastActivityDate="2012-02-04T04:45:01.823" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5308" CreationDate="2012-02-04T20:41:11.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. This way of exercise is very common for top-athletes. By isolating muscle groups you can, as you describe, theoretically train and work on your muscle building continuously. It is very effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is though a tough way of exersicing, and it requires a lot of self discipline, planing and routine. It is very difficult to totally isolate specific muscle groups 100 %. Usually you can almost never stop unintended muscles to &quot;help&quot; other parts of the body, during high pressure and hard work. See link below. You must work on the planing, so you keep exhausted muscle groups at a &quot;distance&quot; from those, you work on next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.readysetgofitness.com/newsletter/17_Isolating_muscles.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.readysetgofitness.com/newsletter/17_Isolating_muscles.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, you may wish to be very strict with your diet and overall health. When keeping a constant and never-ending high pressure on your body through constant muscle work, you must be aware of your immune system and always be sure to get plenty of high-protein food etc. Be sure your body has optimal conditions for super-compensation, which I believe is what you are seeking to improve effectivily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, giving a specific muscle group just one day to compensate and regenerate is not much. It requires a good physical condition beforehand - or else you will need several days for the muscles to repair themselves and super-compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link is an article about a scientific research on different animals on how well they supercompensate (looking at specific brain functions and chemicals) and how their supercompensation is improved over time.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jp.physoc.org/content/early/2011/11/07/jphysiol.2011.217919.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jp.physoc.org/content/early/2011/11/07/jphysiol.2011.217919.abstract&lt;/a&gt; . It is not easy to find an article with exact information about how long one needs to rest between exercise. It's a very individual matter and depends both on physical condition in the moment and basically on how one is build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all depends on the level of training severity you are experiencing. You mention a 15-20 minutes of exercise at a time several times a day, but exactly how hard you are training I can't know. You must fit the advice for your needs. And have fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2012-02-04T20:41:11.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-05T00:12:58.963" Score="4" ViewCount="1340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started weightlifting three months ago, aiming to bulk up. So far I've just been monitoring my weight to make sure that I'm putting on weight, but this is of course a poor statistic. I'm also monitoring which weights I lift, but that just shows I'm getting stronger -- not looking better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've decided that progress pictures would be a good idea, but I realise my looks vary a lot depending on time of day, lightning, pose, muscles flexed, et c. What would be some good guidelines for making sure my progress pictures are consistent and useful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose weekly photos would be sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2865" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T14:01:59.983" Title="Guidelines for taking useful progress pictures" Tags="&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-05T01:20:44.570" Score="7" ViewCount="30287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read up a little bit on the digestion of foods and understood that even the simpler foods (such as bananas that are very popular in sport nutrition) can take up to an hour to digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is why is it that it is said that bananas give you immediate energy? Doesn't it still take an hour? Or is it that the simple fact that you eat food increases the release of some form of energy your body can use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone explain me in simple terms how a banana is converted in energy and how quickly that energy is made available to the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-02-05T19:14:00.863" Title="How quickly is a banana assimilated?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T18:19:33.013" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5336" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-05T04:23:14.213" Score="5" ViewCount="631" Body="&lt;p&gt;And if so, is regression more powerful if I build up my muscles from, say, the 90th percentile to the 99th percentile as compared to from the 30th percentile to the 50th percentile? As in, is the &quot;regression&quot; faster for higher levels of buildup?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2155" OwnerDisplayName="InquilineKea" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-13T14:06:08.010" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T14:06:08.010" Title="If I build up my muscles and then don't use them for a while, then will the &quot;build-up&quot; regress after a while?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5335" CreationDate="2012-02-05T19:14:00.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe there are lots of different stuff in a banana as well as in all other food. That it takes an hour to digest a banana might mean the time needed for the banana to be fully disintegrated 100 %. Or maybe just until some important substances within it are disintegrated. That depends on, how that &quot;one hour&quot; was calculated.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some substances within it - like sugar and similar - will be digested and absorbed by the body quicker than other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point with the banana is that it contains many of the vitamins - vitamin A, E, C og B (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fugleforum.dk/forum/index.php?autocom=ibwiki&amp;amp;cmd=article&amp;amp;id=87&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;) - minerals and 'healthy' energy sources that a sports athlete seeks like carbohydrates and natural sugar.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Nutritional_content_of_banana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Nutritional_content_of_banana&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To eat something like a banana to be ready just before performing might be the same as eating a chocolate bar. It provides lots of sugar right away, which is very easy for the body to absorb. Bananas are just a more natural and healthy source of this energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A biochemist should be the right person to ask, if you seek the deep detailed explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2012-02-05T19:14:00.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-06T01:43:15.447" Score="0" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, do carbs make people sleepy? My wife and I started eating a little-to-no carb paleo diet about a week ago (lots of vegetables, fruits, meat), and we feel like we've already seen a change in our mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, earlier today we decided to bake some sweet potatoes (lightly breaded in corn starch) because we &lt;strong&gt;love&lt;/strong&gt; them, and they have more nutrients than your typical starchy food. A couple hours after eating them, my wife's stomach kept making noises (like a loud gurgle every couple minutes for a half hour), and she's feeling out of it and tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious, &lt;strong&gt;is this a typical reaction to carbs or starchy foods?&lt;/strong&gt; We're definitely not planning on eating too many of them, but it was alarming to see her sudden change in mood and constant stomach noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2012" LastEditorUserId="2012" LastEditDate="2012-02-06T01:51:20.673" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T04:09:41.463" Title="Do carbs make people sleepy?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-01-12T14:24:31.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-06T03:51:54.030" Score="1" ViewCount="645" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Insanity exercises for over a month now and couple with a strict, clean diet I have really seen improvements in my body. I have lost 7+ kgs of weight, my stomach has reduced and overall I feel fit. But the only thing which has not reduced is my double chin. They just seem to hang in there no matter how hard I workout!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any exercises targeting double chin reduction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-06T04:53:10.613" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T15:34:55.233" Title="How to reduce facial fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-09-13T01:30:19.733" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5339" CreationDate="2012-02-06T04:09:41.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be the specific choice that didn't agree with your wife.  Essentially, there are a couple principles to be concerned with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs with a high glycemic impact will cause a higher than needed insulin spike, resulting in an inevitable crash due to low blood sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not every carb agrees with every person.  It can be an allergic reaction, or some other food sensitivity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the description, it sounds like it could have been the second option, but perhaps with a bit of the first.  It's common to accompany potatoes with a fat, like butter or sour cream, and that helps to diminish the effect of the insulin spike.  The fat acts as a binder to make the carbs release slower in the system.  However, if the potatoes, or more likely the corn starch didn't sit well in your wife's stomach--particularly if you haven't been eating that way for a while--it's probably got a more basic reaction to the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T04:09:41.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5336" CreationDate="2012-02-06T14:25:29.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nearly all parts of our body will atrophy if we do not use them: muscles, ligaments, neurons. If you train to be able to deadlift 300 pounds then stop lifting, you will very quickly be unable to deadlift 300 pounds. You will eventually be unable to deadlift 250 pounds. A great while later, you might be unable to deadlift 200 pounds. Unless you are totally inactive--say, from paralysis or a coma--your atrophy will stabilize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;And Yes.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train hard enough to set a world record in, say, the clean &amp;amp; jerk, then stop training, your strength and power will rapidly fall from that peak. The regression to the mean will be rapid at first, since the last few percentile points of performance are the hardest to attain and maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other factors&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One major factor to consider is that long-held physical attributes are more resistant to atrophy than briefly-held ones. If you are able to lift 300 pounds (but no more) for several years, that ability will stay longer than if you were able to lift 300 pounds only after a period of training, then stopped as soon as you got there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4111/what-happens-when-you-miss-a-workout&quot;&gt;this question about missing workouts&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4715/i-seem-to-lose-muscle-size-quickly-if-not-working-out-for-some-time-why&quot;&gt;this one on losing muscle mass&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T15:08:08.903" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5340" CreationDate="2012-02-06T15:34:55.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it sounds crummy but what your are asking about is something called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_reduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spot reduction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has long been regarded as a myth but as the linked article states there is &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; evidence to the contrary. Only time will tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A month really isn't enough time to dramatically change your body fat in the way you want as the human body is remarkably good at adapting to environmental pressures placed upon it.&#xA;I assure you though, over time you will lose the excess fat if you keep up the exercise and maintain a healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2423" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T15:34:55.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5334" CreationDate="2012-02-06T15:41:25.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would rely on the good old fashioned tape measure rather than weekly photos. As you said there are too many significant factors that could influence the outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tape measure, however cannot lie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set yourself small targets. An inch more on your arms and calves, chest and thighs. An inch or two less on your waist and you know you will be looking better &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;  you'll be able to chart your progress quite easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2423" LastEditorUserId="2423" LastEditDate="2012-02-06T16:21:50.260" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T16:21:50.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5349" CreationDate="2012-02-06T16:07:44.767" Score="0" ViewCount="627" Body="&lt;p&gt;A gym had a machine which allowed the user to sit on its chair and push the pedals back with his feat, the pedals had variable weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this was attached to a very big equipment with many other exercise, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know the name of the equipment which would offer such exercise so a purchase could be made for local store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2874" LastActivityDate="2019-01-07T09:22:01.243" Title="Searching for the name of the gym equipment which allows foot press" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5308" CreationDate="2012-02-06T16:21:00.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I wouldn't use a workout like that at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that the areas you are working on each day are not complementary. You're also over-working your arms and under-working your legs. A common exercise failing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about it like this. Each of your major muscle groups has a complementary group.&#xA;Your chest has your back, biceps have triceps, quads have hamstrings etc. When you work these muscles together you actually stretch the complementary group, which is a good thing, and you also ensure that you not creating an imbalance within these groups which can lead to injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Aaron was correct when he talked about doing compound exercises. Just keep it simple. You don't need ten different exercises for your arms unless you are training for Mr. Olympia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you &lt;em&gt;sure&lt;/em&gt; you cannot devote more than 15 - 20 minutes each day for your workout? You certainly wouldn't be able to do anything particularly taxing in that time especially if you are training for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;strong&gt;ideal&lt;/strong&gt; workout would be something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday - Chest and Back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday - Shoulders, biceps, triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday - Legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would also work your abs and calves on each day. Don't worry about over-training them as the muscle fibres are specifically designed to withstand a lot of punishment. Note how the larger muscle groups (chest, back) are trained before your arms. You really don't have to work your arms all that much to make them grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really can't devote a little bit of extra time then maybe something like this would be better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday - Chest and back &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday - Shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday - Legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday - Biceps and triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again calves and abs on every day (They really don't take long). This workout would give you three days to fully recover afterwards with a weeks gap between each isolated group so you should feel fresh still as each group repeats. You also have the benefit of developing a balanced physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Steeven noted also, it's very important to ensure that you are eating properly. You can't train if you don't provide your body with the necessary fuel and not doing so can be very detrimental to your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2423" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-06T18:24:28.063" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T18:24:28.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5346" CreationDate="2012-02-06T16:30:44.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take it you are talking about something like one of these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ed546.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;multigym&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would be something called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#sclient=psy-ab&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;site=webhp&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;q=multigym&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;oq=multigym&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=g-s3g1&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;gs_sm=e&amp;amp;gs_upl=1796l1796l0l2799l1l1l0l0l0l0l119l119l0.1l1l0&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&amp;amp;fp=1e0e72d07edee1f3&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=965&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;multigym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2423" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-01-07T09:22:01.243" LastActivityDate="2019-01-07T09:22:01.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5346" CreationDate="2012-02-06T18:07:34.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like what you are describing might be a leg press. As for being attached to other weightlifting apparatuses, I don't have any idea which one it could be. This particular image though is from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilderfitness.com/pro933651.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Powerline Home Gym&lt;/a&gt;. From what I can gather from Body-Solid (the company that manufacturers this equipment), there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodysolid.com/commercial/Item.cfm?ID=376&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;leg press attachment&lt;/a&gt; that is sold separately from their home gyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZRfdE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Powerline P1X Home Gym - Leg Press&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T18:07:34.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5147" CreationDate="2012-02-06T18:21:52.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are my three recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to avoid the heelstrike. You get less traction than using your whole foot and are likely to fall on your bum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow down and use shorter strides to maintain control.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find some hybrid hiking/running shoes, such as the hi-top lines available from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inov-8.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Inov-8&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T21:48:18.977" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T21:48:18.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-06T19:14:03.133" Score="0" ViewCount="539" Body="&lt;p&gt;We made it all the way through Rushfit advanced calendar. Now where do we go? &#xA;We would like to stay with the same workouts that are on the calendar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we start over at the last 2 months, 1 month? Create a whole new calendar based on the last month? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What have all of you done after completing it? We just want to stay at the same or a little higher intensity that the calendar gave us, and stay in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="2876" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T16:25:39.967" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T01:07:22.630" Title="What should your calendar be AFTER you get done with Rushfit?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4257" CreationDate="2012-02-06T19:22:38.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreed with the above responses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Layers, layers, layers. I really like Under Armour cold gear or heat gear if you have something on top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You'll pass out or start to faint before you do any real damage to your heart or organs. Just keep track of what you're doing well, and you'll see that you don't have these same &quot;panic-like&quot; moments once you get in even better shape than you are now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep enough water in you that you don't dehydrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've run and been with people who run in South Dakota and Minnesota at 0F, not 0C.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, in order: Make sure you have lots of water in your body, warm up a few &quot;laps&quot; and stretch before and after exercise, if you start to black out-stop or slow down, and keep enough clothes on that you don't freeze your skin. You should be good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T19:22:38.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4838" CreationDate="2012-02-06T20:14:46.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;really love&lt;/em&gt; the New Balance MO10 (W010 for the women's model).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're super warm--Almost too warm for anything over 10°C--and water-repellent. I don't know how they would do in -20°, but I've run in them in -3°C with no trouble at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're almost like the world's perfect shoe, and I recommend them without hesitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T20:48:31.377" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T20:48:31.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5320" CreationDate="2012-02-06T20:20:57.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty broad still, but my best suggestion is to chose what you want from these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skim milk shake/smoothie of: protein powder, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, banana, apple(s). Optional acai and pomegranate (or POM wonderful). That gives you your fruit and protein for almost the whole day (depending on size) and won't taste awful. Almost all are anti-oxidant if you're into that thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shake/blend of: spinach, carrots, brocoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, asparagus, bell peppers. Those are the &quot;best&quot; for health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For healthy food in general, look up something like &quot;What to eat after a heart attack&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things include, fish oils, certain nuts and legumes, skim milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T20:20:57.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5263" CreationDate="2012-02-07T01:10:32.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went through a similar situation with my C25K back in 2009.  I was 45.  According to a Garmin monitor, my HR hit 191 during one of my earlier runs while practicing a fast cadence.  As with your question, I was a bit scared by that number and did not do that again.  Even at my very slow, shuffle running pace, my HR would often be in the 165-170 range.  A four mile one hour run a week after completing C25K resulted in an average HR of 165 for the last mile.  Not long after this, I took a look at how I was training.  I have done this periodically since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many schools of thought on HR training.  Here are a few of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Timothy Noakes discusses heart rates for training in his book, Lore of Running.  On page 281 is this text: &quot;One popular training dogma is that maximum benefit is achieved by training at between 60% and 90% of maximum heart rate.  Ideally, heart rates should fall between these values for most of the training time.&quot;  Table 5.3 shows Maximum heart rates and target range for different ages.  Your age of 38 would fall into this category:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age: 30-39&#xA;Maximum HR: 190&#xA;Target HR: 114-168&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem to be mostly within that target range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On page 283 is Table 5.4, Exercise prescription according to five training heart rate zones.  The methods of Sally Edwards and Edmund Burke.  The middle or Aerobic zone has a target heart rate of 70-80% of maximum heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coach Joe Friel recommends using your lactate threshold heart rate as a basis for determining your training zones.  Information on calculating that yourself is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/quick-guide-to-setting-zones.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  Zone 2 would be used for building endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a more conservative level is Dr. Phil Maffetone.  He advocates doing an aerobic base building phase using a maximum aerobic function (MAF) HR calculated by 180-age +/- for some factors.  There is more on that &lt;a href=&quot;http://content.bandzoogle.com/users/cippianhotmail/files/Want_Speed_Slow_Down_2007.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  There is a forum specifically devoted to this low HR type training on the Running Ahead web site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, there are a variety of thoughts on how heart rate should be used to guide your training.  You can plug your numbers into the formulas mentioned to see how they apply to you specifically.  In the two years or so since completing my C25K, I have tried several methods.  Which you follow may depend partly on your goals, losing weight, gaining speed for shorter events, or building endurance for longer events.  And, as already mentioned, if you have concerns, check with your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2877" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T01:10:32.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5147" CreationDate="2012-02-07T01:29:20.353" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh good lord - don't try it in boots - you definitely will break an ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@alord1689's answer is pretty good. I would expand on it and say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some trail shoes. These have several benefits over road shoes or hiking boots: The heel is lower than a road shoe so the risk of tipping over and spraining an ankle or breaking a bone is less. They have a stone shield which protects against the pain of sharp stones. Lastly, the tread is much better for trails - bigger ruts for mud and the rubber is stickier on rocks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build up your ankle strength and prioception. Prioception is your body's sense of where it is in space. The best way to do this is to stand on one leg for as long as you can and build up to a few minutes. Then do it with your eyes shut. Then open your eyes and do it while waggling all 3 other limbs around. Then do &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; with your eyes shut (it will take a fair few weeks to get to this point). For ankle strength get some elastic bands (e.g. Theraband) and do some exercises with those. The result is that you can learn to trust your feet to almost sprain but flick back to normal without you thinking about or getting any damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Land on your ball or mid foot. Landing on your heel hurts (don't you notice the shock going up your body) and you have very little control. When you land on the front of your foot you have five little toes to help balance and control you. Then the rest of your foot works to absorb the shock a little before it works up the shock absorbing mechanism of your legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A shorter stride helps a lot. You may find that you have to take little half steps or shorter steps in order to get the foot you want ready to go in the spot you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remember to look up every few seconds to pick the medium term path. It gives you time to pick a nicer route or to make sure you don't miss a turn in the trail.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn how to run down hill slowly. As you build up experience you will get faster. Then you will learn the joy of working of a nice technical downhill and how it makes you feel. It's very similar to ski-ing in that you dance with the mountain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love running downhill. It's my favourite part of trail running and where I pass people the most (then they pass me back on the uphills - c'est la view). Using boots would be a tragedy unless you are fast-packing or hiking (the extra load requires greater support in your lower legs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T01:29:20.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4838" CreationDate="2012-02-07T03:24:51.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot yet make it down quite that low in temperature while barefoot.  When it gets even colder, I resort to minimalist shoes and wool socks.  My current shoes include the NB MT110, Inov-8 F-Lite 195, and Inov-8 Bare-X Lite 150 depending on available traction, temperature, and moisture levels.  One option I have heard recommended is to combine boiled wool tabi socks with huarache sandals.  I do not have boiled wool tabi socks yet, but I have used Injinji toe socks and fleece tabi socks with my Luna ATS sandals.  As Alex's linked article mentioned, keeping your core warm is a very big factor in determining how much additional temperature protection your feet will need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2877" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T03:24:51.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5288" CreationDate="2012-02-07T03:43:27.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is another factor to consider about the ease of use of running on a treadmill versus running outside, how it affects you mentally.  I find it much more difficult to run on a treadmill because I find it incredibly monotonous compared with the variety of sensory input experienced while running outside.  The MovNat reference that was mentioned extends that even further.  Keep in mind, too, that even slight terrain variations within a city can help provide a bit more physical variation (texture, slope, camber, etc. and the resulting slight muscular compensatory differences) compared with the exact same motion on each step on a treadmill.  There is an additional physical difference in your ability to change motion as you feel the need to without needing to manipulate an external control first.  Unless the weather makes running outside treacherous, I would much rather do that than run on a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2877" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T03:43:27.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4257" CreationDate="2012-02-07T04:02:45.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running too hard too often can lead to problems, though there are always exceptions like Emil Zatopek.  &lt;em&gt;Hurt&lt;/em&gt; can refer to different things.  At one extreme, some people have died in marathons, though that is rare.  At another level, are you building the muscles of the you that you want to become.  Training aerobically versus anaerobically creates different changes within the body.  If you wish to build endurance, variety is good, but that variety should not be limited to just fast and then faster and harder still.  Easier is beneficial also, especially if you wish to build endurance.  The famous New Zealand coach, Arthur Lydiard, regularly had his runners doing lots of long, slow(er) distance (LSD) running even though they may have competed in the 5K and 10K events.  That training built a high level of core endurance during the aerobic phase.  But, even during the aerobic phase, there are a variety of workouts, just not at a very high effort level yet.  Later phases added training for specific events at higher effort levels.  Repeating those cycles of phases built very competitive runners.  The combination provided the speed to compete well along with the ability to endure at the end when the competition began to fade.  To determine whether you are hurting/hindering your development, first determine what your goals are.  Then, you can address how best to reach them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2877" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T04:02:45.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4917" CreationDate="2012-02-07T04:23:16.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wearing raised heel shoes and running with a form that lands on the heel first can aggravate your back.  I am a software developer also (for 30+ years) and, in 2009, was 85 pounds overweight and walked with a cane due to a hyper mobile lumbar disc.  An &lt;a href=&quot;http://nwfootankle.com/files/rossiWhyShoesMakeNormalGaitImpossible.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article by Dr. Rossi&lt;/a&gt; led me to suspect my footwear was a contributor to my problem.  I switched to Vibram FiveFingers, became mobile, and put away the cane.  Shortly thereafter, I started the Couch to 5K training plan.  At my weight and with the switch to zero-drop footwear stretching my achilles a little, it took a little longer than planned.  But, I was able to successfully complete the training plan.  For the running part of this, the form that is used is important.  Landing on your heels increases the forces transmitted up your body when you land.  A &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;study done by Dr. Daniel Lieberman&lt;/a&gt; explains the forces further.  It is much easier on the back to have the knees bent when you land and to land on the mid-foot/forefoot area of the foot.  This allows the springs of your feet and legs to absorb the impact of the landing.  The heavier you are, the more important this is.  Running form and footwear choice are factors worth considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2877" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T04:23:16.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-07T03:11:23.577" Score="9" ViewCount="1553" Body="&lt;p&gt;While on the go, it's hard to maintain the same routines you have back at home.  Similarly, you're unlikely to find a gym while you travel in some more out of the way places, and  you're sick, stuck on a bus, etc etc.  You're eating strange foods and drink, and often partying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chickybus.com/2011/01/chicken-bus-workout/&quot;&gt;tongue-in-cheek backpacker workouts&lt;/a&gt;, how can you keep fit / work-out while doing long-term travel?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally find I lose weight when on big trips, because I have a sedentary lifestyle when working, but that's just weight loss, not working out, per se. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2888" OwnerDisplayName="Mark Mayo" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-07T13:48:20.970" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T06:23:59.990" Title="How to keep fit while travelling long-term?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5334" CreationDate="2012-02-07T14:01:59.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also advocate using a tape measure for weekly measurements.  However, monthly progress pictures are useful.  The key is to be consistent with the progress pictures to help really determine if you are improving or your picture taking is improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a consistent place where you take the progress pictures.  It should have a plain background without any visual distractions.  It helps if the background contrasts with your skin tone.  If you are dark skinned, choose a lighter background, and vice versa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use consistent lighting.  Higher contrast lighting like you get from your flash is good when you want to see the definition in your muscle.  However, it's best to have the flash hit you at an angle if you can swing it.  Head on and the light fills in the places where there should be shadow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a picture without flexing.  This is the baseline you that everyone sees every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a picture or three while flexing.  This is will show the work you've put in more readily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good idea to plan ahead.  You might want to have closeups of arms, legs, abs, and back in addition to a full body view.  The baseline no-flex picture should be a simple full body view.  It's also a good idea to get someone else to take the picture for you.  It's hard to flex and take a picture at the same time.  Either that, or invest in a remote for your camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T14:01:59.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5121" CreationDate="2012-02-07T16:11:04.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you modified your workout routine at all, specifically in the duration or intensity?  Overtraining can lead to insomnia:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/toomuchexercise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/toomuchexercise.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;knb asked the same question as well.  As the verdict on Glutamine seems to still be out, I'd also look in other areas that are potential causes of insomnia, such as overtraining or lack of recovery.  I've experienced this many times when I trained too hard or spiked my training quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-07T16:40:00.040" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T16:40:00.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5362" CreationDate="2012-02-07T16:36:37.860" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ivo Flipse blogged about &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2011/08/how-to-stay-fit-on-your-vacation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;staying fit while traveling&lt;/a&gt; so I'll enumerate some of the points from his post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jump ropes are small, portable, and don't require much space. Leg exercises such as lunges and squats will work out the biggest muscles in your body and will more calories than working a different part of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a smartphone or iPad, you can use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://workout-of-the-day.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Workout of the Day&lt;/a&gt; app which sends you a different workout each day. The workouts require no gym and focus on using your own body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jogging is another activity you can, but it is largely dependent on where you will be and whether you want to carry running clothes and shoes. You run the risk of getting lost or ending up in a less than desirable location unless you plan your route carefully. Outside of running, walking in itself is perfectly fine. If you want to track your walking distance, there are pedometers you can use to do so. If your locale features tall structures, climbing to top also provides a workout in addition to some spectacular views.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burpees are excellent to perform in small spaces as well. The steps to do them are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Begin in a standing position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Kick your feet back while lowering yourself with a pushup.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Return your feet to the squat position while straightening your arms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Leap up as high as possible from the squat position with your arms overhead (you may clap your hands above your head at the peak of your&#xA;  jump)&#xA;  &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KTMgl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;How to do a burpee - image from LookLikeAnAthlete.com&quot;&gt; &lt;sub&gt;Image&#xA;  from Look Like an Athlete.com&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see the following questions for more workout ideas, which Ivo referenced in his blog post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2547/what-can-i-do-for-cardio-while-i-am-on-vacation-with-no-equipment&quot;&gt;What can I do for cardio while I am on vacation with no equipment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/271/what-kind-of-cardio-exercises-can-be-performed-without-a-gym-or-fitness-equipmen&quot;&gt;What kind of cardio exercises can be performed without a gym or fitness equpiment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T16:36:37.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5386" CreationDate="2012-02-07T18:03:09.237" Score="6" ViewCount="679" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been off the horse for a few months now, but I'm ready to climb back on and in trying to make a schedule I'm remembering something that I've been confused about for a while. There are three &quot;regimens&quot; that I'm aiming to balance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I ride a bike (for commuting)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight circuit routines (based heavily on &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Freeweights (the exercises listed &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/15/how-to-build-your-own-workout-routine/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, under &quot;What Exercises Should I Do?&quot; and the first bullet points under &quot;How Many Repetitions Should I Do?&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming would be nice to fit in on occasion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My primary concern is over-training. I'm sure you're looking at that list and saying to yourself &quot;Just do fewer things, stupid&quot; - and that may be the way it has to be - but if there's a way to structure my workouts such that I can eat my cake and have it, too (and then actually eat cake later, obviously), that'd be killer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Ah, yes, my workout goals. First, I'm a 5'1&quot;, asthmatic male in his late 20's who is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to stay somewhere between 118 and 123 pounds (I'm slightly above that after a few months off, but we'll go ahead and label this &quot;weight maintenance.&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Looking to improve strength, endurance, and overall health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not especially concerned with becoming &quot;ripped&quot; or &quot;bulking up&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2883" LastEditorUserId="2883" LastEditDate="2012-02-07T19:37:40.640" LastActivityDate="2016-01-27T22:18:19.050" Title="Help me balance my cardio, circuit-training, and weight lifting workouts" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2012-02-07T20:12:08.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The signs and symptoms of dehydration and the signs and symptoms of hyponatremia are very similar. However, they can both be fatal if not treated and the treatment is &lt;strong&gt;very different&lt;/strong&gt; for both. In fact, the treatment for one can cause death if the problem is the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This whole topic is how to keep water and salt balanced in the body. Putting one or both out of balance causes various problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration is lower than normal amounts of water in the body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyponatremia is lower than normal amounts of sodium in the body (and is normally associated with hypervolemia (too much water in the body) because the athlete has been over-drinking).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultra-runners know of these dangers and carefully monitor the fluid they take and supplement with salt tablets. For example, @Sparafusile said, &quot;Cramps would be a dead giveway&quot;. I would disagree. If I see cramps then I would be wondering if the salt balance was high enough (because the body uses sodium and potassium as part of the signalling pathway for muscle contractions - along with calcium and magnesium in lower concentrations).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to learn how to manage these issues is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.succeedscaps.com/Ninebox.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nine-way hydration/salt-balance table from the scientist Karl King&lt;/a&gt;. This table shows the interaction between hydration being low, ok or high and electrolytes being low, ok or high (hence nine-way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In determining dehydration vs hyponatremia I would be looking at weight changes and puffiness in fingers. If in doubt, I would transport the athlete to hospital and make sure the serum sodium levels were taken before the medical staff assume dehydration (often they treat for dehydration instead of hyponatremia and the patient dies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scientist Lulu Weschler posts on the Ultra mailing list quite a lot and was a co-author on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Fulltext/2008/03000/Statement_of_the_Second_International.2.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2008 consensus statement on Exercise Associated Hyponatremia&lt;/a&gt;. I will list some of her papers here from her email to that list on Dec 14, 2008. That email is available in the password-protected but free &lt;a href=&quot;http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=ULTRA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ultra mailing list archive&lt;/a&gt;. In that email she gives a nice summary but I won't breach her copyright by repeating it here without her permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hew-Butler T, Jordaan E, Stuempfle KJ, Speedy DB, Siegel AJ, Noakes TD,&#xA;Soldin SJ, and Verbalis JG. Osmotic and Non-Osmotic Regulation of Arginine&#xA;Vasopressin during Prolonged Endurance Exercise. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2008.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hew-Butler T, Noakes TD, and Siegel AJ. Practical management of&#xA;exercise-associated hyponatremic encephalopathy: the sodium paradox of&#xA;non-osmotic vasopressin secretion. Clin J Sport Med 18: 350-354, 2008.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rae DE, Knobel GJ, Mann T, Swart J, Tucker R, and Noakes TD. Heatstroke&#xA;during Endurance Exercise: Is There Evidence for Excessive Endothermy? Med&#xA;Sci Sports Exerc 40: 1193-1204, 2008.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hew-Butler T, Ayus JC, Kipps C, Maughan RJ, Mettler S, Meeuwisse WH, Page&#xA;AJ, Reid SA, Rehrer NJ, Roberts WO, Rogers IR, Rosner MH, Siegel AJ, Speedy&#xA;DB, Stuempfle KJ, Verbalis JG, Weschler LB, and Wharam P. Statement of the&#xA;Second International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development&#xA;Conference, New Zealand, 2007. Clin J Sport Med 18: 111-121, 2008.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weschler LB. Sweat electrolyte concentrations obtained from within occlusive&#xA;coverings are falsely high because sweat itself leaches skin electrolytes. J&#xA;Appl Physiol 105: 1376-1377, 2008.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hew-Butler T, Noakes TD, Soldin SJ, and Verbalis JG. Acute changes in&#xA;endocrine and fluid balance markers during high-intensity, steady-state, and&#xA;prolonged endurance running: unexpected increases in oxytocin and brain&#xA;natriuretic peptide during exercise. European journal of endocrinology /&#xA;European Federation of Endocrine Societies 159: 729-737, 2008.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-07T20:12:08.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5372" CreationDate="2012-02-07T22:18:34.280" Score="3" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past couple of months, I've found some exercises that I need in my routine to supplement the compound lifts. I'd like to split them into groups A and B, and then I'd do group A my first session, B the second, A the third, and so on. Training would be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I think about when splitting the exercises? I suppose overtraining won't be a problem, as there's 48 hours between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just FYI, here is the split I sketched up. It contains all the exercises that I want. Two warm-up sets are included (so there's just one deadlift set at max weight), and I add weight as soon as I can manage all repetitions in all sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell squats 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chin-ups 3x7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips 3x7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell deadlifts 3×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pendlay rows 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups 3x7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell over-head press 5×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell bench 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weighted sit-ups (machine) 5x7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2889" LastEditorUserId="2889" LastEditDate="2012-02-07T23:08:16.310" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T14:12:25.303" Title="What to think about when splitting exercises into different days?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5371" CreationDate="2012-02-07T22:40:12.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I split my workouts, I try to classify the exercises so that I don't over-do any one thing in the same session. For instance, doing both overhead and bench press is an enormous amount of pressing work and should probably be separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exercise Classifications&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength, gymnastics, power, endurance, whatever. These don't apply since you're doing essentially all strength movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushes versus pulls. (Squats can be considered a type of &quot;push&quot; or their own third category).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Without getting into bodybuilding-style specificity, upper versus lower body work can be divided.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planes of motion, such as horizontal pushes (bench, push-ups), overhead pushes (overhead press, handstands), downward pushes (dips), or multi-plane pushes (like Hindu push-ups).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Primary and supplementary exercises. Heavy, low-rep exercises that use large amounts of muscle are different than unweighted, higher-rep exercises that may use smaller muscles. For instance, high-rep unweighted dips are more supplementary than heavy triples of overhead press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Ways to Separate Similar Exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your split, I see problems with the Pendlay rows and the pull-ups being together, as well as the two presses I mentioned before. Since you have chin-ups, pull-ups and Pendlay rows, I'd say you need to either lose one of the exercises, add a C workout, or alternate within the A or B workout, like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: chin-ups/pull-ups&#xA;B: Pendlay rows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start overworking a movement type, doing volume work instead of heavy regular sets can also be helpful. For instance, many intermediate weekly templates recommend a 70% or 80% squat day in the middle of two heavy squat days. This allows you to still work the movement and drive adaptation without hosing your recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My Plan&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also split the two biggest exercises, the squats and deadlifts. I would organize your exercises like so, using standard nomenclature that leaves out any warm-up sets (which could be more than 2):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell squats 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell over-head press 3×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chin-ups, 3 sets to max (adding weight if necessary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips, 3 sets to max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout B&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell deadlifts 1×5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell bench 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups, 3 sets to max (adding weight if necessary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weighted sit-ups (machine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This schedule separates the two big heavy lower-body-dominant exercises (squats and deadlifts) as well as the two dumbbell presses. You're still doing two pressing movements (dips and overhead press) on the same day, which is not ideal but should be fine. (Dips could be considered accessory work in contrast to the heavy overhead presses.) In this schedule, you're doing one Big Heavy exercise, one Heavy Press, one Upper-Body Pull, and one Supplemental exercise (dips and sit-ups). Note that I dropped the Pendlay rows, since you're already doing pull-ups out the wazoo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Further Research&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practical Programming by Rippetoe and Kilgore has an intermediate split program, and discusses the relevant principles in detail. I'd buy a copy if I were you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T14:12:25.303" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T14:12:25.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-08T01:15:36.600" Score="3" ViewCount="907" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that stretching after a session of weight lifting can help with recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this true? It seems counter-intuitive to me as any real weight lifting session will result in micro-tears in the muscle fibers. I can see how things like ice baths or contrast showers can help reduce inflammation, prevent or reduce DOMS and thus decrease the recovery time but I cannot see how stretching already damaged muscles will help. I would be very interested if someone could explain the underlying physiological mechanism here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a stretching post workout is beneficial what are some recommended stretches and methods? Should they be executed any differently to emphasize recovery for weight lifting versus recovery from running or just general flexibility? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference I have (what I think is) a pretty standard twice a week two day split routine with about five minutes of fast walking for warm-up and cool-down. I warm up for the compound exercises (the presses, squats, and deadlifts by doing a set at 50% of my target weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Body:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flys &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upright Row &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent-Over Row &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lower Body:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Leg Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side-Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1978" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T21:29:17.507" Title="Stretches to help recovery after weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4734" CreationDate="2012-02-08T04:40:20.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the exact same condition. When I was really young I always &quot;knelt&quot; with my bum on the floor and my legs out to the sides (rather than underneath me). Over the years this contorted my legs and knees.  A doctor told my mother I might not be able to run at all. Ever since, when my knees are parallel pointing forward, my feet angle outwards at probably 35 degrees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wear down my shoes unevenly, due to this angle in my feet. I always hating running (especially on hard surfaces) due to the knee pain and shin splints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I heard about &quot;barefoot/minimal&quot; running and decided to try it. Taking away the cushy and impact-deadening sneakers forced me to listen to my body and my legs and feet did what came naturally. I have &lt;em&gt;no more pain&lt;/em&gt; in my knees or shins even when I run more than 5K. My feet still point outwards, but I've developed a more natural gait that fits my body, as a result of listening to my body. I run all the time in my vibrams, and actually enjoy running on asphalt now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2891" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T04:40:20.540" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-08T12:15:28.013" Score="4" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Czech Republic and the doctor here (for other matters I won't get into) suggested that I start drinking a specific mineral water with the following composition in milligram per liter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Na       5,06&#xA;K        2,58&#xA;Ca       35,3&#xA;Mg        179&#xA;Fe      &amp;lt;0,10&#xA;Cl-      3,40&#xA;SO42-    14,0&#xA;HCO3-    1048&#xA;Residual at 180°C 782 mg/l.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where I come from we only drink mineral water as tap water is generally considered polluted and we've always been told to drink water with low mineral content &amp;lt; 100 mg/l because water high in minerals can build up stones in your kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This water in particular is very rich in Magnesium and from what I know it's good for sport activities (I run 7km every other day) but I'm afraid that drinking this water could actually do me more harm than good (although in the short term it might help get rid of the problem the doctor prescribed it to me for).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T10:21:29.860" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T10:21:29.860" Title="Mineral water for sport and living" Tags="&lt;water&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4378" CreationDate="2012-02-08T15:21:11.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportgrips.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SportGrips SideWinder&lt;/a&gt;. It's a simple tool that is very solid and durable. Twist the knob at the top to adjust the resistance, hold the SideWinder in your hands, and twist the handles forwards or backwards. You can hold it out in front of you horizontally, vertically, or behind the back. Start with a light resistance and once you're comfortable with that, you can increase the resistance as necessary. The SideWinder website has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportgrips.com/workout.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;workout routine&lt;/a&gt; you can follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H5fmW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;SportGrips SideWinder Sportster&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T15:21:11.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5383" CreationDate="2012-02-08T18:01:52.523" Score="0" ViewCount="3767" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing weight lifting and body weight training for 1.5 years. I had to stop for a whole month (last month) due to overload of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though exercising feels good when you do it, and releases the good hormones and raises adrenaline, I noticed that during the month when I stopped I became calmer when confronted with external irritation (like a fight or anything that triggers adrenaline).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I restarted training a week ago (like 6 days a week) and doing a balanced yet strict diet, and I feel over-energetic to the point where if something triggers my self defense system, I would quickly and more easily irritated than when I had stopped training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it because of the levels of testosterone that increase when training? Do you get more aggressive when you train constantly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T18:15:47.397" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T13:58:06.140" Title="weight/bodyweight training and some of its &quot;negative&quot; side effects" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-weight-lift&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5375" CreationDate="2012-02-08T18:47:29.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water's water. As long as it is water and does not contain known poisons like pathogens or heavy metals then you'll be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need much Mg for proper function. The well respected authority on the sceince of running, Dr Tim Noakes, is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ultrunr.com/noakes.html%5d&quot;&gt;quoted as saying&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Magnesium is another intracellular ion that, like potassium, is lost in sweat and urine during exercise. But the losses are trivial. There is no published evidence showing that magnesium deficiency is either common amongst the physically active, or that magnesium supplementation can either increase the intracellular magnesium stores, or enhance performance (15). The balance of evidence indicates that although body iron stores may be marginally reduced in some athletes, especially long distance runners, the incidence of true iron deficiency requiring treatment is no higher in the physically-active than in the sedentary population (16,17). Furthermore, the causes of iron deficiency anaemia in the physically active are not different from the causes of the condition present in sedentary persons. There is no indication for the indiscriminate use of iron supplementation by the physically active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running 7km every other day is a fairly normal kind of exercise so I would be surprised if such an effort required Mg supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T21:37:26.327" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T21:37:26.327" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4936" CreationDate="2012-02-08T20:04:14.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Zumba 2 has a lot of variety and compared to Zumba 1 it actually works you hard, but then again, only you can effectively work yourself hard. The more energy you use, the harder you work yourself, the longer you do it. Its about commitment and effort. I couldn't say about actual Zumba classes as I've never been, but I really like the wii games. I get really into them, it works up a sweat and Zumba 2 has left me with some pains that Zumba 1 hadn't (as in working different areas harder)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2896" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T20:04:14.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5373" CreationDate="2012-02-08T21:18:02.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the totality of research does not indicate any benefit of pre- or post-exercise stretching to recovery time or injury reduction. That is not to say stretching is totally worthless, because it can enhance mobility and range of motion, just to say that it doesn't matter when you do it in relation to your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not aware of research to support this, but there is a theory that stretching before weightlifting can impact your results, if you &quot;loosen&quot; the muscles you will be loading, and temporarily decrease your maximum strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The majority of studies that I have seen focus on pre-exercise stretching to &quot;loosen up,&quot; and its impact on injury rates. This type of research does not address the question of soreness and recovery time. However, I have found a review study that showed no impact of stretching (before or after exercise) on post-exercise DOMS (soreness) -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD004577/stretching-to-prevent-or-reduce-muscle-soreness-after-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Herbert et al 2011&lt;/a&gt;. More links are welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="362" LastEditDate="2012-02-09T21:29:17.507" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T21:29:17.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2012-02-09T04:17:38.543" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two answers to that question, possibly three.  The answer depends on 1) how much you run in a week/month and 2) how hard you run.  Conventional wisdom says you should replace your shoes every 400-500 miles.  However, if you are only running 10 miles a week, that will mean your shoes will last a year.  The foam itself starts to break down and lose its firmness over time.  A year should be OK, but if you run say, 100 miles a year, I would not wait 5 years until you replace the shoe.  I would, at a minimum, replace a pair of shoes every two years if the mileage is very low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or the liberal side if you run very fast you can have have unusual wear patterns.  I've seen many people having to replace shoes after 300 miles if the weekly mileage is around 100 miles a week.  This is probably unlikely for most people but still something to consider.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, good rule of thumb is 400-500 miles or 2 years, which ever comes first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="2051" LastEditDate="2012-02-13T22:29:53.397" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T22:29:53.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5377" CreationDate="2012-02-09T13:58:06.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your recovery is suffering.  I highly recommend reading Practical Programming for Strength Training by Dr. Kilgore and Mark Rippetoe.  The information on energy systems, stress and recovery is very useful to help understand what is going on.  So first some high points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A calorie deficit alone (diet) is enough to cause many people to be irritable.  Combined with a heavy work load, it's a sure fire way to get people not to like you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can get a lot of mileage out of 3 full body workouts a week with adequate rest in between.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With heavy stress and inadequate recovery, cortisone levels rise, which is released from the adrenal glands (fight or flight).  This may be a big contributor to what is going on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also am a software developer, and with proper planning you can alleviate some of the stress on the job.  The trick is to get out of firefighter mode (always putting out fires), and be more proactive.  If you aren't the one in charge of the schedule and negotiating with the client, that can be more difficult but not impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone is an anabolic hormone, which means it is responsible for building up your system.  It triggers growth hormone and insulin like growth hormone 1, which both are necessary to construct and rebuild muscle tissue.  Cortisone is catabolic, which means it is responsible for tearing down dead tissue and making room for the anabolic processes to do their job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem comes when the catabolic hormones are in higher proportion to the anabolic hormones.  This can be due to over-training, inadequate recovery, or just general stress (cortisone is the stress hormone).  When your body is in a state of predominant catabolism you can lose strength, become more irritable, and eventually have the symptoms of clinical depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correcting a state of over-training is relatively simple.  Essentially, you stop doing the activities that are pushing you over the edge.  If you are facing motivation issues getting into the gym, take a break for a bit.  If not, do some lower intensity work, and rehab related work.  Focus on more recovery and less stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going too strict on a diet with a high work load is counter-productive.  Find the right balance to help you lose weight, but still give you enough energy.  Perhaps time your meals so you have the energy when you need it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the work load.  I highly recommend at least looking at Wendler's 5-3-1 program for ideas.  That's a 4 day a week program (but flexible enough to make it a 2-day or 3-day a week program) where you focus on a primary lift and add some assistance work, conditioning, and mobility.  You can customize it to emphasize hypertrophy, strength, conditioning, or mobility--but all four components are still there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to keep your training sessions under 1.5 hours, with the ideal threshold less than 1 hour.  When you use compound lifts like the overhead press, deadlift, bench press, and squat, you have the biggest testosterone response and helps the body remain more anabolic than catabolic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T13:58:06.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2012-02-09T15:12:12.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've run shoes for 1000km before replacement and I'm an ultrarunner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are ultra runners I know that don't start to like a pair of shoes &lt;strong&gt;until&lt;/strong&gt; they've done 100km in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal advice is by distance. I've never seen any actual evidence to back it up - except that the shoe manufacturers would rather you replace your shoes often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you listen to your body and figure it out from there. You will notice when your lower legs start to complain - you'll get shin pain, calf pain or similar. That's a good guide for when your shoes need replacements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T15:12:12.007" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2012-02-09T19:16:58.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how good your bio-mechanics are. If you're running with perfect form and can run in a minimalist shoe or a neutral shoe with little support you can run on them until they have holes in the soles. If your shoes are helping support your arches, keep you from over-pronating, etc. then you need to replace them when they start to break down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the later situation: When they break down is strongly dependent on the combination of how poor your mechanics are, and how well the shoe is built. Personally, before I worked on my own form I would get 300-400 miles out of a pair of Brooks. After improving my form I can easily get 800-900 miles on a pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the short answer is it varies. However, if you start to develop knee, foot, hip or ankle pain then the first thing you should do is change your shoes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2895" LastEditorUserId="2895" LastEditDate="2012-02-11T02:21:04.453" LastActivityDate="2012-02-11T02:21:04.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5369" CreationDate="2012-02-09T23:30:17.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I noticed when reading your post was these two sentences: &lt;code&gt;I've been off the horse for a few months now&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;My primary concern is over-training.&lt;/code&gt; Given the fact you haven't exercised in a while, I definitely recommend an &quot;ease-in&quot; approach to your workout schedule. There are two reasons I recommend easing-in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you train too hard or too quickly you are likely to develop &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Post Onset Muscles Soreness&lt;/a&gt; and be forced to prematurely break your routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going full-throttle into a heavy workout schedule can often result in stress, burnout, or frustration leading to abandonment of the workout altogether.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, based off of the fact you didn't mention food in your question, I'm going to make the assumption that you are already on a good and balanced diet, and that you will be scaling your diet accordingly to account for the various exercies/workouts/activites that you will be doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, let's take a look at some possible schedules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mon: free-weight circuit workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tue: stretch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed: cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thu: body-weight circuit workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fri: cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sat: rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sun: rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I kept the weight training to two days/week max because both are full-body workouts and you'll want to take it slow when starting out. I added a stretch workout to your weekly schedule, because flexibility and balance are very important for both strength training and general fitness. The stretching could be standard stretches, a yoga routine, or something similar. The two cardio workouts could be swimming, biking, pylometrics, whatever floats your boat. Once your body/muscles get accustomed to the workouts you can either increase the intensity of the workouts, increase the duration of the workouts, or you add more workouts to your weekly schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more advanced schedule would be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mon: free-weight circuit workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tue: cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed: body-weight circuit workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thu: cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fri: free-weight circuit workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sat: stretch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sun: rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you might find that three full-body workouts with two cardio routines in-between doesn't give your muscles enough time to rest/repair. If that's the case you might consider focusing on particular muscle groups (M: legs/back, W: chest/shoulders/abs, F: biceps/triceps) and doing really intense workouts (since they have a week to repair).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T23:30:17.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5330" CreationDate="2012-02-10T05:58:48.977" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right, the reaction to this book from the scientific community has been a complete silence. I would not call it pseudoscience though; there were scientific studies showing negative effects of high fiber diets for people with pancreatic insufficiency and certain metabolism deficiencies. Too much fiber could increase malabsorption, impair the absorption of wheat starch in healthy people too. But really depends on the type of fiber - soluble, insoluble, fermentable, resistant starch type 4, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got interesting preliminary results with Aurametrix, but for now I am only citing a few older studies published in peer reviewed literature:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inhibition of Starch Absorption by Dietary Fibre: A Comparative Study of Wheat Bran, Sugar-Beet Fibre, and Pea Fibre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/41/3/517.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dietary fiber in pancreatic disease: effect of high fiber diet on fat malabsorption in pancreatic insufficiency and in vitro study of the interaction of dietary fiber with pancreatic enzymes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/2843615&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effect of dietary fiber on the metabolizable energy of human diets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2905" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-10T12:03:16.200" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T12:03:16.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5395" CreationDate="2012-02-10T10:52:16.440" Score="2" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone has made the decision to start losing weight today. The person should choose a diet program and a sport maybe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to choose the best diet program for ourselves?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there other things one should consider?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" LastActivityDate="2013-06-16T23:20:52.810" Title="I want to lose weight, what now?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5432" CreationDate="2012-02-10T11:26:22.187" Score="1" ViewCount="28636" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a cereal claiming to help me lose weight if I eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NpL7E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Nestle Fitness Cereal&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tryingtobefahad.com/2010/11/product-review-nestle-fitness-cereal/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This blog post is all about this production&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;A short summary of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nestle Fitness Cereal Health Claims:&#xA;  - Contains Fiber&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Less than 1.5% Saturated Fat&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Source of Vitamins&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Contains Whole Grain&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Delicious&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each Nestle Fitness Box contains 375g of [supposedly] whole-grain goodness. Here’s the breakdown of those 375g:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calories:&lt;/strong&gt; 1,395&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrates:&lt;/strong&gt; 294 grams&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sugars:&lt;/strong&gt; 64.5 grams (22% sugar from total carbohydrate amount)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fiber:&lt;/strong&gt; 22.125 grams (0.075% from total carbohydrate amount)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat:&lt;/strong&gt; 5.25 grams&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein:&lt;/strong&gt; 31.5 grams&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ingredients:&lt;/strong&gt; Whole Grain Wheat, Rice, Sugar, Partially Inverted Brown Sugar, Sugar Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Salt, Glucose Syrup, Vitamins &amp;amp; Minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the body require any other nutritional needs (such as from fruit) if someone is eating this cereal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-10T14:03:56.703" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:28:32.523" Title="Does eating Nestle Fitness Cereal for weight loss require other nutrition?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-03-19T22:38:47.040" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-10T14:24:17.063" Score="4" ViewCount="5652" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to find the Pendlay row on exrx.net. Is it the same as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell bent-over row&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2889" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T15:14:41.647" Title="Is the Pendlay row the same as a bent-over barbell row?" Tags="&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5309" CreationDate="2012-02-10T15:25:18.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely go to a doctor and get it checked if there's any history in the family at all and it's as extreme as you say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For general energy, something like almonds, beef jerky, and protein shakes are good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T15:25:18.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5389" CreationDate="2012-02-10T15:50:50.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating anything will help you lose weight if you don't eat much of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to eat nothing but that cereal, given the most conservative estimate of 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day required to maintain muscle - a 150lb human would require 75 grams of protein. To get that from the cereal you would need to eat 892 grams of the cereal - almost 2 1/2 packets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would also give you 700 grams of carbohydrates, 153 grams of sugar and 3321 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what is required for a sedentary person - an active person would need more protein so would have to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would get fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T15:50:50.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2012-02-10T17:50:09.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only real difference is that the Pendlay row is a stricter version of the bent-over row.  &lt;strong&gt;Important:&lt;/strong&gt; the assumption is that you are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; doing what's referred to a &quot;Yate's Row&quot; where you body is at an angle to the ground instead of parallel with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Main distinction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bar returns to the floor every rep.  (lifting from a dead stop)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T17:50:09.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5388" CreationDate="2012-02-10T19:40:33.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I decided to loose weight about 3 months ago as I had put on about 8 kgs over the past three years. In that period, I started working from home and was very time poor and highly stressed, the results of which was that I started snacking a lot and doing no exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My strategy was simply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to minimise the snacks &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reduce junk food to a minimum required to keep my sanity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reduce alcohol consumption&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose running as an exercise as I am still very time poor and it seems to offer the best bang for buck. I can now do a 12K run in about 1:15 and burn about 1100 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started with short runs (6Ks) and have built up to longer runs. I now try to run between 30 and 40 Ks a week, usually three 12K runs though sometimes a mix in shorter or longer runs to build speed or endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before each run, I record my weight in an Excel spreadsheet so that I can track my progress. In the past two months, I have dropped 4 kgs at a fairly consistent rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife also started trying to lose weight at the same time. She uses a similar strategy but also tracks her calorie intake, attempting to limit herself to 1200 calories a day. If she does the same run as me at the same speed, she burns about 60% of the calories so she has to compensate by running further. She uses a Ipod+Nike thing to track her progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not be bothered counting calories but I do take notice of which foods seem unusably high. Croissants, for example, are way high in calories so I tend to avoid them now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did not really change our diet much, but I think we had a fairly healthy diet anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this rate, I should be able to attain my weight loss gains by the end of summer, then drop down the runs over winter to maintain the same weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1546" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T19:40:33.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5309" CreationDate="2012-02-10T22:18:12.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people are used to lots of sugar input to the bloodstream, via carb-heavy meals and snacks throughout the day. This can lead to a spike-and-crash cycle that leaves you tired, especially in mid-afternoon. Changing to a low carbohydrate diet and skipping breakfast can help condition your cells to maintain steady energy levels without glucose input from digestive sources. For me, intense exercise after a half day or longer fast also helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T22:18:12.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-11T11:13:00.117" Score="4" ViewCount="2301" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not much of a runner currently, but can probably run 10 km in 55 min. I weight-lift three days a week and don't want to cut it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I design my running schedule so as to optimise my goal time in a half-marathon in three months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2889" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T01:23:30.920" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T01:23:30.920" Title="How to practice for a half-marathon in three months while weight-lifting?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5400" CreationDate="2012-02-11T19:59:55.283" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting 3 days, that leaves 4 days for running. I'm current training for a half and running every other day. You'll do just fine on a plan like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Search for programs Online. Runkeeper has som e paid training classes which may work well for you if there's one that matches the amount of time you have. Runner's World has a cool iPhone app that lets you customize a training program based on your goals and how long you have to reach them. It's also cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: the last week before the race, go easy with all training, including lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastEditorUserId="2875" LastEditDate="2012-02-11T22:33:35.230" LastActivityDate="2012-02-11T22:33:35.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5362" CreationDate="2012-02-12T06:23:59.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Juggling is great for portable cardio, and can be done inside or out. It burns up to 280 calories an hour. I'd suggest combining learning/practicing juggling with things like push ups, crunches, squats, lunges, etc. You can design your own circuit. An example might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice juggling for 5 minutes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 15 squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice juggling for 5 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 15 lunges.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's still important to get vigorous cardio a couple of times a week, but juggling is perfect for rainy days, when the gym is closed, or when you want to change up your routine. And no matter how packed your luggage is, you can usually fit a set of juggling balls in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instructions below but also plenty of how-to juggling videos on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to Juggle with Balls&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a ball in your right hand, arms at your side and elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. Using a scooping underhand motion, throw the ball from one hand to the other at about forehead level. Repeat until your throws from one hand to the other are smooth and comfortable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold one ball in each hand. Using the underhand motion, throw the ball in your right hand to your left. When that ball reaches its highest point, throw the ball from your left hand under the first ball and over to your right hand. The second throw should be at the same height as your first throw. Repeat, this time starting with your left hand instead of your right. Practice until this is smooth. Pause for a few seconds between every two throws.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold two balls in your right hand and one ball in the left. Throw the ball in the front of your right hand over to the left. When that ball reaches its highest point, throw the ball from your left hand under the first ball (just like in Step 2). When that ball peaks, throw the other ball from your right hand under the second ball and over to your left. Keep doing this so that every time a ball peaks, you throw a ball under it and over to your other hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T06:23:59.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5428" CreationDate="2012-02-12T11:44:29.540" Score="2" ViewCount="901" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way of doing planks for abdominals training? How many should one do in one session of training? Should one try to hold the longest possible every time or a set time for as many repetitions possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T01:09:26.087" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T01:09:26.087" Title="doing planks for abdominals training" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5400" CreationDate="2012-02-12T16:04:21.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of things you need to ask yourself before you can get a solid answer.  How much time do you want to/do you have to commit to the running training?  If you only have 4 days, I'd suggest running on the days that you do not lift as mentioned above.  If you want some overlap (to provide you with a recovery day) my philosophy has always been to lift after running.  If you run fresh you may have different form if you just recently completed exercise of a different fashion.  Running tired or fatigued (especially if you lift with your legs) can cause tightness, which can alter form or gait.  If you want to train its best to keep good form for injury and muscle memory reasons.  IF you have to lift first thing in the day, I'd reco waiting until the late day to run if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again if you believe you are not prone to injury and do not want to sacrifice lifting form from possible fatigue from running feel free to switch.  If, however, you decide to do hard running workouts (tempo runs, track workouts, I'd really reco you lift afterwards)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T16:04:21.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5030" CreationDate="2012-02-12T16:08:11.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my eye on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://mybasis.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Basis B1&lt;/a&gt; for a while, and they seem to be ready to launch in spring 2012.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="663" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T16:08:11.317" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5412" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-02-12T20:24:07.357" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-02-12T20:24:07.357" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T20:24:07.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5413" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-02-12T20:24:07.357" Score="0" Body="Questions specific to racing a half marathon (21.1km/13.1mi)." OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-12T21:10:43.523" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T21:10:43.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5400" CreationDate="2012-02-12T20:33:42.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you're primarily a lifter but want to compete in a half-marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're control but here's what I would suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find time each week for a long, slow distance run on a day when you're not lifting. This is the key to any long distance training and you will have a very difficult time if you don't do this. This is where the running-specific adaptations are built up. You should start at about 10km and build it up by 10% or so every week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to do both lifting and running means that you won't be really good at both. Be prepared to not increase your lifting as much as before. Be prepared to not run as fast as you might.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build in a rest day where you neither lift nor run. Adaptations come from the rest &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; training so give your body that time to rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would take one of your mid-week non-lifting days and make it a running speedwork day. I would start by doing some hill work (such as warming up for 2km, running up a hill quite hard before cruising down the other side, repeat that for 30 mins, then cool down for 2km or so). Do that for 6 weeks then progress into doing a tempo run (warm up for 2km, run at half-marathon goal pace for 6km, warm down for 2km).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would then try and fit in another run in on a lifting day (specially if it's a non-leg day if you do that). The purpose of that run is just to get more time on the legs so I'd do a relaxed 8-10km or so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-12T20:33:42.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3185" CreationDate="2012-02-13T04:23:29.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use figure skates and I lift up my skate and put it back down with the tip of my skate dragging on the ground. You will eventully come to a stop. It may feel like you are going to fall the first couple times but after you get the hang of it it is really easy. You should try this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2919" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T04:23:29.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5462" CreationDate="2012-02-13T07:19:19.323" Score="17" ViewCount="15389" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a big fan of yoga. I am looking to start practicing at least 3 times a week. My issue is I do not have time for a trainer as my job is time consuming. I have tried watching videos but I get annoyed with the spiritual aspects. Does anyone know of any video series or books that teach Yoga primarily focused on the physical exercise rather than the spiritual guidance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry, I also wanted to say I am not looking to offend anyone. That is just not what I am looking for in an exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2920" LastActivityDate="2018-07-06T16:29:09.463" Title="Yoga without the spiritualism" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5417" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5419" CreationDate="2012-02-13T07:53:46.693" Score="3" ViewCount="1539" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 26 year old male. I weigh about 80 kilograms (180 pounds) and stand at 183cm tall (slightly over 6 feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to have a very fast metabolism based on my lack of exercise and high fat/sugar diet and no weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking to build a lot of muscle, I just want to have more than I do now...just some basic definition and a decent level of strength. I was considering buying a shake weight, although I have been told it would be better to just buy dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the cheapest way to go about accomplishing my goal and how soon would I see results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-13T14:14:52.320" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T17:19:02.987" Title="What is the cheapest, quickest way to gain some basic muscle?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2012-02-13T12:43:56.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Video lessons contains poses and and can fast-forward video lessons directly to poses and concentrate on the exercise perfromance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But note that yoga is a spiritual practice. Probably you don't need yoga, but some fitness program to achieve your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T12:43:56.110" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5417" CreationDate="2012-02-13T13:29:52.637" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cheapest way is to build muscle is to do bodyweight exercises.  These include venerable techniques like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I will echo your advisers that the shake weight is crap for building muscle.  The only thing the shake weight can do for you, other than make you look ridiculous, is to provide nervous energy to burn fat.  However, there are much more effective and respectable ways to do that as well.  The short list of problems are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very limited range of motion--this means you will only gain strength for that limited range of motion which does not translate to usable strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added stress on joints--elbows are notoriously bad at absorbing stress, and you are repeatedly stressing the ligaments surrounding the elbow several times a second.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limited application--you have to hold the shake weight, and there is no way to strengthen your legs using it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbells, Kettlebells, and Barbells all have many more advantages over something like the shake weight.  They also help produce usable strength.  Body weight exercises also do the same, and you simply manipulate leverages to produce more strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T13:29:52.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5417" CreationDate="2012-02-13T16:17:21.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Totally agree with above, would add that you need to eat right to have ANY progress on ANY health-related goal. I've heard some say up to 90% of your fitness is related to diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For muscle, high protein foods, LOTS of food, and if you feel the need, protein supplement. (powder)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shake weight is useless, get a set of 15lb or 20lb dumbells and do various lifting activities.&#xA;Pushups, pullups, dumbbell curls, rows, and various presses and shoulder raises will get you the &quot;beach&quot; muscles you are probably interested in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T16:17:21.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5425" CreationDate="2012-02-13T17:07:44.550" Score="9" ViewCount="573" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be running a half-marathon in two and a half months. This will be the third half marathon I've run. I hope to run it in under two hours; my previous best is just under 2:08. My resting heart rate is 52.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of winter street and trail conditions where I live, my training for this half marathon has all been on a treadmill. I do distance, speed, and incline work. A friend suggested that I should cross-train. Lift weights, swim, or something other than simply running five days a week on a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any &lt;em&gt;scientific evidence&lt;/em&gt; that cross-training will help my half-marathon performance? More specifically, is there any evidence that spending half an hour on swimming, lifting weights, or some such, would be more beneficial than spending that half hour on a treadmill? I accept that cross-training may help my overall fitness, but I am only asking about half-marathon performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2926" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:29:18.417" LastActivityDate="2012-02-25T15:22:13.170" Title="Worthwhile to cross-train while preparing for half-marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5421" CreationDate="2012-02-13T17:29:21.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength training will make you faster and less prone to injury. I imagine that these two improvements could help your marathon performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3522/whats-the-best-way-for-an-intermediate-level-runner-to-improve/3984&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; to a similar question is relevant, and has scientific references. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3939/1771&quot;&gt;My answer here&lt;/a&gt; makes some recommendations more specific to your situation. I think that the relevant mindset is &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Wit_and_Wisdom_of_Mark_Rippetoe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;best summed up by Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At some point, all serious athletes go outside their sport-specific work to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you already possess elite levels of strength for someone your size, I think getting stronger will improve your athletic performance. I wonder if agility and mobility work could help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T17:29:21.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5421" CreationDate="2012-02-13T17:44:43.430" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is scientific evidence to support the opposite...  Essentially Hans Selye put forth a basic theory around 1925 that governs our understanding of stress and adaptation called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://generaladaptationsyndrome.com/&quot;&gt;General Adaptation Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.  This theory has provided the foundations of both vaccinations and all exercise theory.  In essence, when your body is put under some form of stress, it needs to adapt to that stress to better handle it the next time.  This is why injecting a weaker poison in your system can improve your immune response to a similar strong poison.  It's also why we get stronger when we lift heavy objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've refined this basic underlying theory with a better understanding of our bodies, which is nicely summed up in the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522703&quot;&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; by Dr. Kilgore and Mark Rippetoe.  The important bits are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise is specific.  Working your arms doesn't make your thighs get stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/the-three-metabolic-energy-systems&quot;&gt;several metabolic pathways&lt;/a&gt; to get energy to your muscles.  Not all exercise causes those energy systems to adapt the same way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a difference between strength and endurance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as Rippetoe is fond of pointing out, more strength will only help you in all areas.  However, there is a marked difference in the type of strength necessary to run for 4 hours straight and the much shorter intense exertion necessary in weight lifting.  In fact, most endurance efforts require &lt;em&gt;aerobic&lt;/em&gt; conditioning.  This is in sharp contrast to the anaerobic pathways needed for sprinting (in contrast to your marathon run).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because exercise is specific, and you need to optimize your aerobic metabolic pathways, you need to select exercises that are compatible with the type of training you need for long distance running.  Compatible endurance oriented exercise includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running (long distance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling (long distance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming (long distance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look familiar?  That's right, the three most common compatible exercises are what makes up the triathlon.  Weightlifting would actually work against you because it is an anaerobic activity.  Cycling and swimming can help you in that they can provide more resistance, causing you to work harder.  That in turn will help your legs get stronger while still using the same metabolic pathways, causing you to put forth less effort with each stride.  The same will be the case if you keep increasing the incline on your treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T17:44:43.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-13T20:34:17.923" Score="3" ViewCount="4486" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some good methods of tightening bolts on dumbbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not directly related to fitness or nutrition, but most people here have likely encountered loose weights at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dumbbells take Allen cap screws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When tightening the screws on one side of the dumbell, the screw on the other side will typically turn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used Allen wrenches on both sides; however, the ratio of distance between the two screws makes it difficult to get much leverage when tightening the screws. The problem is compounded by the fact that Allen wrenches are typically shorter than the radius of the plates used on the dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am just interested to know what other techniques people that work at gyms use to keep their dumbells tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastEditorUserId="2713" LastEditDate="2012-02-19T16:52:28.787" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T19:01:23.867" Title="Tightening Dumbbells" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5226" CreationDate="2012-02-13T20:37:45.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found a great conversation starter (and way to make friends at the gym) is asking someone for a spot or offering to give someone else a spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T20:37:45.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5408" CreationDate="2012-02-13T21:04:51.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't try to hold a plank for the &quot;longest time possible,&quot; but instead hold a plank for as you can maintain good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I end my abdominals workout with three planks (left-side, right-side, then standard). Normally I do planks for two minutes, but because the exercises are at the end of my workout when I am fatigued, I reduce the duration of each plank to one minute. If I were to go any longer, I probably wouldn't be able to maintain good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of that being said, I don't believe there is any &quot;magic number&quot; of repetitions for planks. The amount of reps you'll want to do depend on what the intensity level of your workout is. In my example earlier I do three minutes of planks because I do a pretty intense ab/core workout, however it is perfectly fine for someone to only do 30-45 seconds worth of planks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T21:04:51.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5441" CreationDate="2012-02-13T21:30:48.267" Score="3" ViewCount="7665" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5417/what-is-the-cheapest-quickest-way-to-gain-some-basic-muscle&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; about how to build some basic muscle. Based on the answers I think I will buy some dumbbells, but I am not sure what weight to buy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My height is 184cm(just over 6 feet) and weight is 80kg(180 pounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I go just by feel and see what is a challenge for me to lift, or is there a way to calculate what I should start with based on my weight and height?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T13:54:41.280" Title="What weight dumbbells should I buy?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="685" CreationDate="2012-02-13T21:49:53.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advice they give you at runner shops: 6 months (I wonder why?!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously it depends on how many miles you run per week, but you will notice the difference if you change them at least once a year if you do a lot of treadmill running, which is like rubbing them down on sandpaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T21:49:53.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5330" CreationDate="2012-02-13T22:01:06.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fiber is, by definition, indigestible carbohydrate. It either gets processed by the bacteria in your colon or it goes on to the exit. If your gut flora uses it, the &quot;good&quot; bacteria will produce some vitamins and short-chain fatty acids from it (which you metabolize and are good for you) plus some toxins, and the &quot;bad&quot; bacteria will just create toxins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insoluble fiber (e.g. grains) will scratch the insides of your gut. Personally, I avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cows are mammals that are masters at handling fiber. Their natural diet gives them, after fermentation, almost 70% from energy as short-chain fats. Gorillas have a really big hindgut and also get most of their energy through fermentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We humans lack the three stomachs and/or very long gut and therefore can't handle as much fiber. Furthermore there are several examples of populations that eat no fiber at all and nevertheless are healthy (like the Masai and Inuit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in conclusion, fiber gives bulk to your stool as well as giving you some extra energy as fat and if you're eating too much of it, inflammation. It is not something to avoid, and not something to seek out. Bloating and gas probably means that your gut flora is having a field day at your expense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1882" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T22:01:06.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5389" CreationDate="2012-02-13T22:22:21.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is still poorly understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's certain is that if you starve yourself, you will lose weight, and if you massively overeat for a sustained period of time, you will gain weight. Everything in between is less predictable. Our body isn't stupid, if it detects an imbalance it will correct it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating only this cereal might make you thin, or it might make you fat. It might also make you deficient in whatever this cereal doesn't provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the ideas gaining popularity is that human beings aren't broken by default, and that something about our diet causes our body to get overweight (and eventually sick). Exactly what causes it is unknown, but large doses of wheat, fructose and Omega-6 poly-unsaturated fats as well as highly processed foods have been fingered as the culprits. Paleo dieters avoid these things (and call them &lt;em&gt;Neolithic Agents of Disease&lt;/em&gt; :-) ) and the body returns to a more natural equilibrium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I first lost weight and then gained muscle and energy avoiding these NADs, without counting calories so I'm convinced that my regular diet was not healthy. I ate mostly a standard american diet with an extra helping of sweets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cereal doesn't look too highly processed, but personally I wouldn't eat it because of the wheat content and because there are so many other foods that are much yummier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1882" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T22:22:21.757" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2012-02-13T22:28:54.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a physical exercise program is what you want: what about &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4637/what-is-pilates-and-what-are-some-good-resources-on-it&quot;&gt;Pilates&lt;/a&gt;&quot;? (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCg_gh_fppI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DVD Sample&lt;/a&gt; I haven't tried it myself)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you also want develop mindfulness but without any far-eastern &quot;religiousness&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you want to get rid even of the &quot;breathing part&quot; of yoga? Then be warned: Breathing also seems to play a large role in Pilates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T21:52:33.197" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-13T23:06:03.397" Score="1" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started regular exercising a few months back (after years of being not so active). I have now been regularly spending 1h on the treadmill every other day and started losing weight. I am of course controlling my diet generally speaking eating oatmeal and milk, lean meat, fruit and as fat only olive oil and eating almost zero sugars (I think oatmeal and bananas help keep refined sugar away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that sometimes, although I am not really strict (eating too much parmesan or too much white bread) on my eating habits I still lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the logic at work here? My body was almost asleep and now that my basic metabolism has started I am forgiven for some little mistakes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastEditorUserId="385" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T20:21:28.070" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T20:21:28.070" Title="Eating more and still losing weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5496" CreationDate="2012-02-14T00:30:33.157" Score="3" ViewCount="38498" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I do exercises with dumbbells each day, will that be sufficient to build strength and tone muscle? I don't care to large biceps, I am just after some strength and definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing other exercises would probably be better, would using dumbbells alone be sufficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T01:08:08.693" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T15:25:39.313" Title="Are dumbbells alone enough to build strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-14T00:52:35.377" Score="2" ViewCount="2414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I drink a lot of soda, on average a liter per day. I seem to have a very fast metabolism and as I don't gain weight easily, have not been too concerned about health risks, partly because I think a lot of the claims are overblown and exaggerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that soda is basically sugar water, with the only bad thing being excess sugar consumption, which isn't a problem unique to soda. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the problems seem to be related to weight gain and as this doesn't seem to effect me I wonder if I have any reason to cut it out of my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I start to exercise, will my consumption of soda hold me back? If so, why? Please back up answers with links to reliable sources or studies where possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T01:07:28.320" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T21:11:54.747" Title="Will soda negate any effects from exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5434" CreationDate="2012-02-14T06:49:36.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to your own version of the paleo diet, whereby your body isn't being damaged by the foods you eat. Personally I like to eat a lot more fat and veggies but if you're happy, stick to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to popular opinion, your body is not a battery, it does not always store excess energy. Your body is an exquisite self-regulating machine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body is healthy and well-nourished it will regulate your hunger so that you only eat what you need. It will also remove excess fat and even store some fats and protein as muscle. In other words, the body will look like its genetic blueprint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing though, it looks as if your diet may be deficient in omega-3 fats. Consider adding fatty cold ocean fish like salmon to your diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1882" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T06:49:36.473" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5435" CreationDate="2012-02-14T11:39:56.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nice thing about dumbbells is that you can add them to many bodyweight exercises easily.  Many body builders use dumbbells to help ensure that their routine/results are symmetric, each side of the body needs to lift the same amount - where barbells allow a person to 'cheat' and shift some of the load to one side of the body.  If you put a good routine together, hitting each part of the body you should see good results from a dumbbell program in about 3 months (depending on your current state and intensity you go with). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T11:39:56.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5429" CreationDate="2012-02-14T11:44:53.290" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i5Vga.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Height and weight are one factor another is your current strength level.  I would recommend simple and cheap dumbbells that you can add weight to - DO NOT get sucked into the adjustable ones (bowflex, etc.) where you can dial the weight you want - they will cost you 20 times more and are difficult to adjust and clanky to use.  I would recommend enough weight where you can put 30lbs on each dumbbell in increments of 5lbs each, 10lbs each, 20lbs each up to 30lbs each.  Those combinations should last you some time and not cost much to get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T11:44:53.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5440" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5455" CreationDate="2012-02-14T13:38:21.203" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to run more and more and think It's time to invest in good running trousers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think you should consider the outside temperature and weather conditions ( If you run outside of course )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what are other factors you should consider? I'm thinking support, tightness, sweat transport, shorts or long...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would buying them online be a good options or should you go to a running store to get some better advise ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in short: what are general rules you should follow selecting running trousers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2934" LastEditorUserId="2934" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T17:11:55.830" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T22:08:54.083" Title="When selecting running trousers what should be considered?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5429" CreationDate="2012-02-14T13:54:41.280" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, start light and work up to heavy.  As far as particular types of dumbbells to get, the simpler to use the better.  As Meade Rubenstein pointed out, the adjustable dumbbells (dial-a-weight style) really aren't that easy to use--and the moving parts only add to the complicated nature of those weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question then is fixed or adjustable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fixed weights are the simplest, easiest to use dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fixed weights will cost more overall because you have to buy several pair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjustable weights are slightly more complicated, particularly if you have to swap weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjustable weights are less costly because you can simply buy more weights for them instead of whole dumbbells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to go for adjustable weights (like what Meade illustrated above), I do recommend getting more than one pair of handles.  That will let you have all the weights you need for your training session already set up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the more compound you can make your movements, the more you will stimulate your body to build mass.  The more isolated you make your movements, the more you will shape the mass you have.  For example, goblet squats will stimulate more of your body than curls.  Same with dumbbell deadlifts and standing overhead press.  You can do the movements unilaterally, meaning alternating sides, which will strengthen your core and stabilizing muscles at the same time you are working on other muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to start really light, so you can focus on technique.  Do plan on regularly increasing the weights on a schedule.  It takes the mystery out of &quot;do I go up or not?&quot;, and it prevents stagnating progress because your body is used to the weight.  If you can't get all your desired reps at the heavier weight, or the reps are really ugly, repeat the weight for the next cycle.  The goal is to get stronger and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T13:54:41.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5435" CreationDate="2012-02-14T14:01:25.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell training is deceptively harder in many respects than barbell training.  You can go a long way with just dumbbells, and you can get monstrously strong with them.  The key is about programming (structuring your routine) to allow you to go heavy and increase weights regularly.  However, you should use a variety of tools to help you in your efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbells--hard to control, but can hit certain muscles better than anything else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbells--easiest free weight to control, allows loading more weight than with anything else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kettlebells--hardest to control, but the hanging loading helps strengthen the forearms better than wrist curls and they are also great tools for conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the long run, you'll probably want to include all three in your training.  For now, you can get started with dumbbells or barbells and make great strides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T14:01:25.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5444" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-14T15:29:58.977" Score="7" ViewCount="3441" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm doing a strength training program (Starting Strength) wherein each time I exercise, I increase the weight lifted by a small increment.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The other day, I was working out and I &lt;em&gt;'hit a wall'&lt;/em&gt;, wherein I was halfway through a set and suddenly felt like I couldn't lift the bar anymore.  I feel that this was probably related to the fact that I hadn't eaten yet that day, but that made me wonder something else:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Given that you need to eat a certain amount in order to support muscle development, what are the signs that you can watch for that you are eating enough/too little/too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard stories of professional strength trainers having to &lt;em&gt;'struggle'&lt;/em&gt; to eat enough, which seems to imply that the quantities required can be quite large....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="399" LastEditorUserId="2180" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T19:42:26.820" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T21:10:12.860" Title="How can you tell that you are eating enough to build your muscles?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5446" CreationDate="2012-02-14T16:12:42.093" Score="8" ViewCount="7700" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the best way to gain muscle is heavy weightlifting. I've done that before using a routine based mainly off of the Stronglifts program and I saw good results. However, until recently I was under the impression that heavy resistance/weight training was the only effective way to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm now wondering if more aerobic exercise can't also result in a certain amount of muscle growth. Yesterday I spent a half-hour on the eliptical machine during my lunch break at work. I wasn't trying to get a heavy workout in, just energize myself a bit and relieve some stiffness before I went back to the office. However, today my I'm definitely feeling DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) in my thighs. Does that mean that this activity has the potential to increase muscle strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen workouts like the Tabata method, or &quot;Burpee&quot;-centric workouts that favor lower weights and resistance with a faster pace and intensity. These seem to be more for fat-burning and cardiovascular health, but also claim to build muscle as well. Granted, most cardio/aerobic workouts aren't as intense as that. Still, it seems like a relevant data point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is - &lt;b&gt;can a person build muscle using cardio, aerobic, or other lower-intensity training methods?&lt;/b&gt; Or do you only build significant muscle when pushing yourself close to your max load?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pleas note that I am not asking whether aerobic exercises are &lt;em&gt;as effective&lt;/em&gt; as building muscle as training with heavy weights is. I assume that they are not. I'm just wondering if they produce any significant results at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T17:07:40.143" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T17:07:40.143" Title="Is it possible to gain muscle with cardio/aerobics?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5445" CreationDate="2012-02-14T16:53:20.753" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting out of bed is a muscle-building exercise for someone recovering from a coma. Tabatas and other High Intensity Interval Training, or jogging, or walking, or &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; can build muscle, if the person doing it is unadapted to the activity. So yes, &quot;cardio&quot; exercise is an effective muscle builder, for a limited amount of time, in some circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/novice_effect_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;The Novice Effect&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When an untrained person starts an exercise program, they get stronger. They always do, no matter what the program is. This is because anything they do that is physically harder than what they’ve been doing constitutes a stress to which adaptation will occur. I’ve said before that for this rank a novice trainee, riding a bicycle will make his bench press increase – for a short time. This, of course, does not mean that cycling is a good program for the bench press for anybody. It just means that for an utterly unadapted person, the cycling served as an adaptive stimulus. A novice responds to each exposure to a stress the same way – he adapts. So each workout for a novice can be an adaptive stimulus. The problem with cycling for a novice bench-presser is that cycling rapidly loses its ability to act as an efficient-enough systemic stress that it would continue to drive improvement on the bench, since it does not produce a stress specific to the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're new to the elliptical. It's different enough from your other training that it caused an adaptation, which may (or may not) involve muscle growth. That doesn't mean it will continue to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myosynthesis.com/articles/doms-muscle-soreness&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There’s no link between muscle soreness and protein synthesis; no link between muscle soreness and long-term growth; and no link between muscle soreness and muscle fiber damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness happens when you create enough total damage to aggravate the connective tissues. This will sometimes correlate with a muscle-stimulating, growth-inducing workout. But just as often, it has nothing to do with muscle stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just because you’re not sore doesn’t mean your muscles aren’t inflamed and growing. Likewise, sore muscles don’t mean you had a good workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOMs can be used as a rough gauge of how well you're adapting to an exercise, but it's inexact and not particularly useful for gauging the long-term efficacy of a given exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The write-up linked in the heading is good. &lt;a href=&quot;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/214/4/674.long&quot;&gt;Flann, LaStayo, McClain, Hazel and Lindstedt&lt;/a&gt; got similar results in an experiment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Subjects were divided into two experimental populations: pre-trained (PT) and naive (NA). Demonstrable muscle damage was avoided in the PT group by a three-week gradual ‘ramp-up’ protocol. By contrast, the NA group was subjected to an initial damaging bout of exercise. Both groups participated in an eight-week high-force eccentric-cycle ergometry program (20 min, three times per week) designed to equate the total work done during training between the groups. The NA group experienced signs of damage, absent in the PT group, as indicated by greater than five times higher levels of plasma creatine kinase (CK) and self-reporting of initial perceived soreness and exertion, yet muscle size and strength gains were not different for the two groups. RT-PCR analysis revealed similar increases in levels of the growth factor IGF-1Ea mRNA in both groups. Likewise, the significant (P&amp;lt;0.01) increases in mean cross-sectional area (and total muscle volume) were equal in both groups. Finally, strength increases were identical for both groups (PT=25% and NA=26% improvement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T16:53:20.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5447" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-14T17:01:22.540" Score="0" ViewCount="570" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what is the best way to tone up my buttocks? I am approaching thirty and am worried about everything getting saggy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2938" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-06-12T15:08:25.117" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T15:08:25.117" Title="What can I do to tone up my bottom?" Tags="&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5447" CreationDate="2012-02-14T17:47:14.257" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barbell squats and barbell deadlifts are both excellent movements for your glutes/lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJZdo9p5x_E&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJZdo9p5x_E&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciycL-Pt1M&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciycL-Pt1M&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; - It has been requested that I elaborate on how to perform these movements, which is a bit daunting considering there have been entire books devoted to how to squat and deadlift, but I'll try to give a concise rundown:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grip/Positioning - Starting with the barbell in the rack, place your hands on the bar somewhere close to the knurls (varies person to person). Step under the barbell with your knees bent sligtly so that it the bar rests either on your traps (olympic or high bar position) or where your traps meet your delts (power position). Pull your shoulder blades down and together and flex your lats. This creates a nice &quot;meat shelf&quot; for the barbell to rest on. Once the bar is in a comfortable place on your meat shelf, stand up fully, removing the bar from the rack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preparing for the lift - Take a step back from the rack and place your feet a little wider than shoulder width with your toes pointed slightly out. Keeping your shoulder blades pulled together and lats flexed, arch your back: imagine the front of your pelvis moving slightly toward the floor, while the rear moves slightly toward the ceiling. At this point the flexing of your lats, shoulder blades, and lower back have put you in a &quot;proud&quot; looking posture, which is what you will want to maintain through the squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Descend - With your weight on your heels and maintaining the proud posture mentioned previously, begin to squat down. Try to focus on sitting back, as opposed to sitting down, as this will lead to more glute recruitment (which is the point of all of this, after all). Descend at least until your quads are parallel with the ground, all the while keeping your back arched.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ascent - Squeeze with your glutes and drive your hips forward to come back into a standing position. Don't let your knees cave inward: a cue I like to think of is that I am spreading the ground beneath me outward with my feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grip/Positioning - Place your feet under the bar about shoulder width apart. Get into the proud posture described above (shoulder blades down and together, lats flexed, lower back arched, hips tipped foward). Maintaining this posture, bend at the knees and hips to grab the bar either with a double overhand grip, or alternating grip (one overhand, one underhand) somewhere near the knurls of the bar (varies person to person). The bar should be very close to your shins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ascend - Keeping your back arched, use your glutes and hips to drive through your heels and stand up with the bar. Simultaneously straighten your knees and bring your back upright. The bar should trace your shins and quads on its way up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Descend - Reverse the motion above, tracing the bar down the front of your legs. And here's one last reminder to keep your back arched, lats engaged, and shoulder blades down and together while doing it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the cues I think about to keep my form as good as possible while doing these movements. Please comment if you have other helpful cues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2939" LastEditorUserId="2939" LastEditDate="2012-02-16T20:25:09.763" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T20:25:09.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5449" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-02-14T19:12:52.043" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T19:12:52.043" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T19:12:52.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5450" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-02-14T19:12:52.043" Score="0" Body="Questions specific to training for or running a marathon (42.2km/26.2mi)." OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T19:15:14.783" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T19:15:14.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5444" CreationDate="2012-02-14T20:25:29.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed the quantities to promote continuous muscle growth can be quite large.  I was consistently eating around 4,000 calories a day for about a year when I was weight training and trying to gain mass.  But then, I'm 6'5&quot; and have an extremely fast metabolism so my body demanded those calories.  It worked though, as I was able to gain 20 pounds of muscle that year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to figure it out for yourself is to measure and track your progress and make adjustments accordingly.  You can do this with a simple set of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002VAPHXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body fat calipers&lt;/a&gt; and a bathroom scale.  If you can get in the habit of measuring your weight and body fat weekly, then you can extract from that gains or losses in LBM (lean body mass).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say for example you manage to lose 1 pound each week, for 3 weeks in a row and half of that is fat / half is LBM.  Well, if your goal is to gain muscle you should absolutely eat more calories in this case.  Ideally you should be making small gains in LBM every week while minimizing fat gain.  And it's just a matter of finding the diet that'll do that for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the reason it's better to measure weekly is that you can drive yourself crazy measuring daily due to small fluctuations and inaccuracies.  In fact, as a rule of thumb it's usually wise to gather 3 weeks of measurements before making any major changes to your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastEditorUserId="2195" LastEditDate="2012-02-14T20:47:25.227" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T20:47:25.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5447" CreationDate="2012-02-14T21:08:56.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with BenWillkommen's suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two more which don't require a gym with a squat rack...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges - After these become too easy, start carrying a couple dumbbells while doing them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprinting - Sprint 100 meters, walk back to the starting line and repeat.  Doing this a few times is an awesome workout and hits every single muscle in your legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T21:08:56.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5444" CreationDate="2012-02-14T21:10:12.860" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's best to understand the the concept of stress and recovery.  Stress includes activities such as training (Starting Strength in your case) as well as emotional and pressure related sources.  Recovery is the process of adapting to deal with that stress.  It includes both rest and nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can't maintain linear growth forever.  The Starting Strength book acknowledges that, and gives you instructions for what to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of food can cause insufficient recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So can lack of sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As well as insufficient rest between sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to understand who Starting Strength is addressed to: beginners.  A beginner is at the one time stage in their training career where they can make improvements just about every time they step in the gym.  It's a wonderful time.  Eventually, as the weights get heavier, the stress from training becomes so much that it takes you a week to recover and adapt.  That's when you've hit intermediate stages, and you need to look for a program that supports weekly growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common lift to struggle with first is the overhead press (AKA standing military press, or simply the press).  It's using the weakest muscles most of us have, but it's an absolutely great exercise to help build a strong shoulder girdle and prevent rotator cuff injuries on bench press.  According to the SS book, you simply repeat the weight next time.  If you stall three times, then you deload 10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to look at when you hit the wall:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Did I sleep well?&lt;/strong&gt;  Most muscle growth occurs while you are sleeping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much rest between sets did I have?&lt;/strong&gt;  You may have to increase the time to compensate for the volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much did I eat?&lt;/strong&gt;  The basic principle is simple, but there is a bit more to it than just that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people can lift in a fasted state, and their body is used to it.  They compensate later on in the day to get their required nutrition.  Rip's dietary advice to beginners is simple: eat big, eat lots of protein, and don't worry about your stinkin' abs.  If you are predisposed to gain weight, that may not work for you.  If you've always been a skinny guy, that's definitely the advice you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very common recommendations for the food you need is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1g protein per pound lean body weight minimum, most commonly suggested is 1g per pound total body weight.  (Lean is without fat, total is what the scale says)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remainder of calories from both carbs and fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintenance calories are roughly 15 Calories per pound total body weight.  (Note: this is a ballpark figure that will always need adjustment).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, to stay the same weight eat the maintenance calories.  To gain weight, eat 20% more than maintenance.  To lose weight, eat 20% less than maintenance.  Even if you keep the maintenance calories, and you currently have a lot of fat, the act of training will help build muscle and the body will compensate by keeping less fat around.  It's not 1-to-1, but you get the general idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T21:10:12.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5436" CreationDate="2012-02-14T21:11:54.747" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems to me that soda is basically sugar water, with the only bad thing being excess sugar consumption, which isn't a problem unique to soda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, soda can contain aspartame, HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup), phosphoric acid, caffeine, and/or empty calories, all of which are a lot more dangerous than generic sugar water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most of the problems seem to be related to weight gain and as this doesn't seem to effect me I wonder if I have any reason to cut it out of my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight gain is only one of the many negative results from soda consumption. Sodas can increase insulin levels causing obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Additionally, if the soda contains high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) it is not processed in the same way traditional sugar is processed because HFCS affects (or rather bypasses) the reptin receptors in your brain which regulate satiety. Other negative effects include depleted calcium making bones weaker, hyperactivity, and caffeine dependence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I start to exercise, will my consumption of soda hold me back? If so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phosphoric acid in sodas leech calcium from your body and thus weaken your bones. Having weakened bones substantially increases your risk of injury as your level of exercise scales in intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeinated sodas act as a diuretic, which in conjunction with exercise can cause dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, sodas are empty calories (calories with no nutritional value), which is generally something you want to stay away from to maintain a healthy lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are numerous studies confirming everything I've said which can be found in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Journal of Clinical Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;, and here are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/343856-high-fructose-corn-syrups-effect-on-the-brain/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/546998-what-is-the-effect-of-exercise-after-drinking-soda/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;articles&lt;/a&gt; from LiveStrong.com which go into more detail about everything I've covered (and more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T21:11:54.747" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5440" CreationDate="2012-02-14T22:08:54.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm running for 25 minutes in 'cold' conditions -4 to 4C at the moment...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The climate is perhaps the most important factor to consider in buying your workout gear, so make sure to consider all possible weather conditions. You said the weather is cold, but is there rain or wind? Thick cotton sweatpants may keep you warm in cold weather, but in the rain you'll find its performance awful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But what are other factors you should consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like climate, the fit of trousers is incredibly important; after all, you don't want to be uncomfortable when running. If your clothing is too loose you'll constantly be pulling your pants up, and if it's too tight it is constricting and hard to run in. Since you cannot wear belts with running trousers, there are two typical ways to address this issue: elastic bands and drawstrings (and sometimes both). Ultimately this decision comes down to personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you'll want to consider how breathable the fabric is. Many people like very breathable fabric while others might prefer to sweat when exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would buying them online be a good options or should you go to a running store to get some better advise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not do both? You can go to a specialized store to try on various trousers and see which ones feel best, then you check them online to see if they're sold at a discount. Also, many online shopping sites (for instance, Zappos) have incredible return/exchange policies, so don't let the fear of choosing the wrong trouser be a barrier to ecommerce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-02-14T22:08:54.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5541" CreationDate="2012-02-14T23:19:33.650" Score="2" ViewCount="17877" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose lbs and I was told that if I eat rice I will feel fuller faster. So is this true? Is it healthy to eat rice everyday? Are some kinds or rice really better than others? Are there a lot of calories or carbs in rice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I and using a rice cooker. Does this matter too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2941" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T22:31:53.020" Title="Is eating rice everyday healthy?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-03-31T05:03:27.517" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-15T04:23:20.903" Score="3" ViewCount="476" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend and I take 5-15 minute breaks every hour while studying.  We like to be productive during these breaks.  Most of the days, we do push-ups during these breaks.  However, on  days when our upper body muscles are sore from push-ups, we'd like to do some sort of quick/easy leg workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a suggestion for a &quot;push-up like&quot; leg workout that we could do during 5-15 minute breaks without any equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2945" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:31:21.880" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T12:18:46.970" Title="Quick leg workout without equipment" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5457" CreationDate="2012-02-15T05:06:46.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;use mark lauren's (a special ops trainer) pistol squat, check this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHyOk0TuXcc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of mark lauren's trainings are &quot;short&quot; timed (max 7 mins) and highly efficient. And From personal experience ( i have been training continuous for 2 years), i never feel my body got &quot;used&quot; to this exercise ie everytime i do the pistol squat, i feel loads of energy, higher adrenaline, my leg muscles keep on growing and I actually feel the pain no matter how many times you have done it before and how many years u have been training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its the best short termed/highly efficient leg work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2012-02-18T14:37:30.150" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T14:37:30.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5466" CreationDate="2012-02-15T12:35:48.887" Score="1" ViewCount="568" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been weight lifting for almost 12 years already I was very fit and very lean but with loads of muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with time I started getting lazy, around 3 years ago, and not care about my eating habits that much. So I went from 74Kg to 81Kg, I am 1.73m, until last December when I decided to start losing weight even though it could mean losing muscles too. So I went down from 81 to 74 and I am maintaining it for 2 weeks now but I still have a little bit of fat over the belly. I would like to reach 71Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to gain muscle without fat but also being able to ditch the meal plan during weekends and perhaps once a week as well. I gotta live sometimes right? ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday/Thursday&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Gym training for 45 minutes + 45 minutes of Spinning= +-1000 calories burnt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday/Friday&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Gym training for 45 minutes + 20 minutes of boxing + 20 minutes of rowing = +-1000 calories burnt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Gym training for 20 minutes + 45 minutes of Spinning= +-800 calories burnt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So on a week I burn around 5000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my meal plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-1% Meal+400ml 1% milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;27.3g Carbs&#xA;5.7g Fat&#xA;40.4g Protein&#xA;322.1 Calories &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-300g of chicken breast+100g of cottage cheese+1 egg+200ml 1%of Milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;18.7g Carbs&#xA;19.5g Fat&#xA;130.4g Protein&#xA;771.9 Calories &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-1% Meal+400ml 1% milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;30.8g Carbs&#xA;15.6g Fat&#xA;48.6g Protein&#xA;458 Calories &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also sleep about 8 hours a day, by the book. During the weekend I tend to hibernate a bit over than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to have tips and improvements thrown at me and also some criticism of what I am doing and why you think so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T18:37:39.700" Title="Fine tuning meal and exercise plan to improve muscle growth and fat loss" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5465" CreationDate="2012-02-15T13:36:57.063" Score="3" ViewCount="614" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard a lot of people saying that you can help muscle growth of all your body by training your leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all why ? I know it's because the leg muscle are the biggest muscle in the body but what's the link ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And second question : Should I train my leg in every training to gain muscle or once a week is enough to give the boost for muscle growth ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T15:39:46.660" Title="Training the legs and Muscle growth" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2012-02-15T13:41:14.217" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for the p90x yoga, ok it's a big package with everything (kenpo, abs, weight training) but the yoga dvd is really nice; no spiritualism: only poses (and hard one)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit pricy but it's a good buy &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other solution would be to look poses on the internet and time yourself for every poses, no need of a dvd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T13:41:14.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2012-02-15T15:27:23.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't give you a great answer, but I agree with you that the &quot;other&quot; things can be distracting sometimes. I've looked into this as well and found that if you look for &quot;workout&quot; videos with Yoga in then VS &quot;yoga&quot; videos that have workouts in them, you can find a few that are close. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My best suggestion would be Jillian's Yoga Meltdown.&lt;/strong&gt; It's cheap, it's filmed in an actual gym, and it's more about fitness than &quot;wholeness&quot; and all that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0031XYLWG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amazon link to Yoga Meltdown&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="2876" LastEditDate="2012-02-15T21:23:46.773" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T21:23:46.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5457" CreationDate="2012-02-15T15:35:46.253" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitdaily.com/ExerciseDetail/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Air squats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/94/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forward&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/50/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;side lunges&lt;/a&gt;, sprawl, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveawesome.com/public/365.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall chair&lt;/a&gt;, and lots and lots of jump rope. (if possible)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vary it between lots of fast reps and holding in place for 30+ seconds or however long you can stand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do them correctly and &lt;strong&gt;form first&lt;/strong&gt;, reps second. You'll majorly mess up knees and back if you do them with bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T23:44:49.293" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T23:44:49.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5461" CreationDate="2012-02-15T15:39:46.660" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You help muscle growth all over your body by using heavy compound lifts.  The two exercises that provide the biggest bang for your buck are full depth squats (to parallel) and deadlifts.  These exercises target:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadriceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gluteous&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper and lower back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adductors and abductors (squats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;forearms (grip on the deadlifts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;biceps (supporting bar on squats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you are getting work across your entire body.  If you add to that a pair of compound pressing movements: the bench press (everyone's favorite), and the standing overhead press, you will have hit just about every muscle group in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The big reason why:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats and deadlifts provide the highest testosterone response.  Testosterone in turn triggers growth hormone and insulin like growth factor 1 which are major muscle builders for the body.  Every muscle that needs to improve will get the hormonal response to trigger growth.  Assuming you have the protein reserves necessary to build up the muscle, that's what will happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combine heavy training with proper rest, and you have a recipe for getting bigger and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How often to train:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a beginner--meaning you can recover completely every session--there's no reason not to squat every time you get in the gym.  In fact two of the best beginner lifting programs have you squat every session, and alternate between bench press and overhead press.  The only difference between the two as far as exercise selection goes is one alternates between deadlift and power cleans (Starting Strength), and the other alternates between deadlift and barbell rows (Strong Lifts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More advanced trainees might be better served to limit squatting and deadlifts to once per week.  The reason for that is because it takes longer to fully recover from the effort.  Wendler 5-3-1 program has you split your main compound lifts (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press) so that you are focusing on one per session.  The assistance work you do in each session is selected based on your desired goals--such as getting strong, building mass, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T15:39:46.660" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5460" CreationDate="2012-02-15T16:20:43.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing your gender, starting weight and goal weight, it's hard to know if this is reasonable or not.  However, there are a couple warning flags that I see here.  You want to preserve muscle, and possibly build more if that's OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the proposed diet, you have roughly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1550 Calories/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;219g Protein/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;77g Carbs/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;41g Fat/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a woman, that might be reasonable.  However, when I see that coupled with 1000 Cal/day exercise during the week that might not be enough even for a woman.  If you are a man, it's entirely too much of a deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider carb and calorie cycling.  Essentially, what that means is you have a higher amount of carbs on training days, and a lower amount of carbs on rest days.  Similarly you do the same with Calories.  This helps rebuild the glycogen reserves your muscles need and aids recovery so you can do it all again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what &quot;gym training&quot; involves, but it appears that your training regimen is at odds with your stated goals.  Just repeating your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gain muscle, not fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lose the belly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enjoy food on the weekends&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is you have a lot of steady state cardio work.  That helps build endurance, but not muscle.  If &quot;gym training&quot; is using the machines, doing body weight exercise, or even lifting weights, the two activities are fighting each other.  Your body will do its best to make a reasonable compromise, but endurance doesn't build muscle.  It burns fat, but doesn't improve your muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to improve muscle, you need to focus on activities that force your muscles to work.  And then keep increasing the effort your muscles have to exert so they do get stronger.  The only thing in your conditioning you listed that doesn't conflict with that is boxing.  You would do better with &lt;a href=&quot;http://tabatatraining.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tabata training&lt;/a&gt; than cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lift free weights, and routinely spend at least 1000 Calories per session doing it.  The key is to go heavy and improve on that.  However, to go heavy you need rest days so you can recover.  Your current routine is 5 straight days of work with no rest.  That's not good because it will cause you to have elevated levels of Cortisone.  That in turn burns muscle, and since you aren't giving your muscles a chance to fully recover and rebuild you will be burning more muscle than you build.  Muscles increase during rest, after you put them through heavy work.  I would reduce your training days so that you have no more than 2 days in a row.  I would also look at more efficient use of conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary and Recommendations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long story made short is that it looks like you are eating too few calories and exercising too much.  This is a recipe for losing muscle.  That combined with elevated Cortisone levels will keep more fat around your belly that you are trying to get rid of.  Even if you do an epic refeed over the weekend, the combination is likely to force you to overcompensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be more moderate with your exercise.  At least 3 times a week, but no more than 4.  Focus on resistance training and High Intensity Interval Training for conditioning.  That will help build muscles and improve conditioning in a way that helps resistance training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn the importance of rest.  Muscles cannot grow when they are constantly torn down.  A good training session will elevate Testosterone levels and associated growth hormones naturally.  Rest allows them to do their job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try a different tact with your diet.  The basic principles are there, but it needs some fine tuning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to experiment with intermittent fasting.  If you fast one day a week (a rest day), then you'll set up your diet so that on any given day you are at a 500 Calorie deficit.  The day before the fast, you double up the food.  You are eating two day's worth of food in one day, and nothing on the next day (aside from green tea and vitamin supplements).  This allows you to have a free day a week and still lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you can increase calories and carbs on training days (carbs should be at about 1g/pound body weight on training days), and reduce on rest days.  At the end of the week you should have a calorie deficit.  20% up on training days and 20% down on rest days.  If you need to adjust the amount of protein you have to make that work, do it.  However, there are no free days with this approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T16:20:43.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5483" CreationDate="2012-02-15T16:52:43.607" Score="3" ViewCount="2061" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was given the book &lt;em&gt;Wheat Belly&lt;/em&gt; last night which claims that much of the US's obesity is caused by eating wheat - specifically the highly-hybridized wheat we grow these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does anybody know of any studies relevant to these claims?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does anybody have any personal experience relevant to these claims?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;Dr Tim Noakes, of &lt;em&gt;Lore of Running&lt;/em&gt; fame, appears to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2012/02/05/sorry-but-carbo-is-really-a-no-no&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;partially agree&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T16:05:14.263" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T16:05:14.263" Title="Is the book &quot;Wheat Belly&quot; credible?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2012-02-24T14:12:16.497" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5470" CreationDate="2012-02-15T17:36:50.473" Score="4" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read several places you should try to at least get &lt;code&gt;.5&lt;/code&gt; g of protein per pound of weight. Note that I don't know my lean weight. Now I'm a &lt;code&gt;186 cm(~6 feet)&lt;/code&gt; tall male weighing &lt;code&gt;111.8 kg(~246 lbs)&lt;/code&gt;, which means I should be eating &lt;code&gt;246 / 2 = 123 g&lt;/code&gt; of protein per day. However, currently my average protein intake is around &lt;code&gt;70 - 80 g&lt;/code&gt; per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean mean I should try to get more protein in my diet, and is there a chance my muscles are/could be taking damage? I'm a naturally strong person, and haven't felt any problems so far, however, I just recently started eating healthier, and I want to avoid any ill effects of doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2942" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T19:10:10.340" Title="Should I add more protein to my diet to avoid muscle loss?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5469" CreationDate="2012-02-15T19:19:01.317" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;.5g protein per pound weight is for sedentary individuals to maintain muscle mass.  Losing muscle mass is not necessarily a fast process, but there are ill effects over time.  If you are exercising, you will need more protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would increase your protein intake.  It has a double advantage of being more satiating (allowing less room for junk food) and having a higher thermic effect--i.e. it burns more calories to process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T19:19:01.317" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5447" CreationDate="2012-02-15T21:31:17.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Legs=any part of legs really. Cardio helps because it trims fat and tightens everything, so I would suggest that as well. Specific to quick easy leg exercises that aren't mentioned above, I would do any of these things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Air squats, forward and side lunges, sprawl, wall chair, and lots and lots of jump rope. (if possible)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vary it between lots of fast reps and holding in place for 30+ seconds or however long you can stand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitdaily.com/ExerciseDetail/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.fitdaily.com/ExerciseDetail/2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/94/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/94/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/50/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/50/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveawesome.com/public/365.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.liveawesome.com/public/365.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DO them CORRECTLY and form first, reps second. You'll majorly mess up knees and back if you do them with bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone asked a similar question here that I answered: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5457/quick-leg-workout-without-equipment/5464#5464&quot;&gt;Quick leg workout without equipment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T21:31:17.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5488" CreationDate="2012-02-15T22:00:57.837" Score="2" ViewCount="719" Body="&lt;p&gt;What chest exercises are available for people who don't have access to a pull-up bar or a bench/barbell? Are there any specific exercises that stand out as extremely good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-10-05T13:19:54.697" Title="Chest workouts without pull-ups or bench-presses" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-15T23:12:04.730" Score="8" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder what you recommend as a post-running meal. I've read that you're supposed to eat something right after the training to prevent your body storing your next big meal's calories as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use to workout with weights and when I did I really needed a post-workout snack. Then I switched to running and found I don't feel the need of a post-training meal. Am I mistaking? Should I at least eat a banana, a shake or something else? I stay away from protein shakes as they have some nasty side-effect on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T13:57:29.967" Title="Post running meal" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5474" CreationDate="2012-02-15T23:59:46.403" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some good evidence that the body wants to get some carbs and protein in in the first hour after the completion of exercise. Many people recommend chocolate milk for this; it's a good combination of protein and carbs - and is very tasty!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, I try to do a nutritious shake and something solid. The shake contains a lot of good nutrition (protein, vitamins, minerals, healthy oils) and I find I need something solid to give me a feeling of fullness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to go to the local shake shop and get a protein/berry shake and a chicken wrap. That got me in very good shape for a 100km race. Sadly, that franchise has closed down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-15T23:59:46.403" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5474" CreationDate="2012-02-16T00:23:40.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chocolate milk as mentioned above is great.  If you have just completed a very hard or very long run, try &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?tbm=shop&amp;amp;q=endurox&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;aq=f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endurox&lt;/a&gt;.  It helps recover the body as well and is aimed at endurance athletes.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the body is looking to efficiently burn calories the first 30-60 minutes after a run, so refuel fast.  This includes hydration as well.  Chocolate milk is good, but eat something with some nutrients as well.  Something simple will help ensure your stomach will not give you issues.  My favorite post-long run meal is 2 over-easy eggs, rice (whole grain), and a salad or some fruit.  It may be hard to do this after each run if you run during the week.  For those short days chocolate milk and some fruit will suffice if you are in a pinch.  But I reco getting a good meal after anything that is very strenuous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-16T03:40:10.900" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T03:40:10.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5447" CreationDate="2012-02-16T11:28:25.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just something different, I think you will like these 2 exercises, &lt;strong&gt;frog jumps&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;platypus&lt;/strong&gt; *&lt;em&gt;walk&lt;/em&gt;* from celebrity trainer &lt;strong&gt;David Kirsch&lt;/strong&gt;. See this video of &lt;strong&gt;Victoria Secret&lt;/strong&gt; models tryout/contest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJbXh7Hj19E&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJbXh7Hj19E&amp;amp;feature=related&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;platypus walk&lt;/strong&gt; at 1:30 until 1:35 of the video &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. Grasp a medicine ball with both hands and extend your arms overhead. Squat in a sitting position with your knees aligned with your toes and your butt sticking back as far as you can get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. Keep your core tight as you walk forward, pushing off through each heel. If you perform the move correctly, your butt and inner thighs will be on fire. Walk across the room in one direction and then reverse and walk backward. If your room is small, repeat crossing the room one time before moving on to jumping lunges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theultimatenewyorkbodyplan.com/fitness/exercise.php?iid=20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theultimatenewyorkbodyplan.com/fitness/exercise.php?iid=20&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;frog jump&lt;/strong&gt; at 1:55 until 2:03 of the video&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. Squat down while sticking your butt out. Keep your knees just above not in front of your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. Spring up while thrusting your arms overhead. Land on your heels, rolling forward onto your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theultimatenewyorkbodyplan.com/view_standard.php?iid=120&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theultimatenewyorkbodyplan.com/view_standard.php?iid=120&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of butt toning workout from David, as he's clients are mostly women, I think you'll like his exercises. Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastEditorUserId="1555" LastEditDate="2012-02-17T11:28:46.653" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T11:28:46.653" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5481" CreationDate="2012-02-16T11:47:07.007" Score="2" ViewCount="603" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any pain if I walk for an hour or so. I walk to work every day (2 x 20 mins). I take long walks on weekends, but no knee pain after that. I started running. Small distances at first (2.5 - 3 km), then longer ones (5 - 6km). After third day of running long distance I felt pain in outer area of my knees. I wanted to know if this is temporary and if I should see a doctor because of this? Should I stop running or just shorten the distances I run and start lengthening them once my legs are more used to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T12:57:34.923" Title="Knees hurt after running a few days in a row. Injury possible?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5480" CreationDate="2012-02-16T12:57:34.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is definitely not a good idea for you to continue without consulting a doctor or a physiotherapist.  Based on my personal experience, I think you should starr by consulting a physiotherapist. They will look at your joints, spine, muscles, etc. They will give you corrective measures and exercises to do. My physiotherapist also took the time to analyze my running and told me how to adjust because I was not running properly. Overall, I do not struggle with sore knees anymore thanks to my physiotherapist!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2958" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T12:57:34.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5482" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5486" CreationDate="2012-02-16T13:33:18.077" Score="5" ViewCount="2901" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I get up in the morning I have no appetite for food until I've been up and mobile for at least a couple of hours. The problem is that when I go to do an hour workout in the morning I find myself feeling light headed and queasy as if my body is running on empty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried forcing myself to eat something when I get up but that leaves feeling sick and feeling full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question; what can I eat when I get up in the morning that is a small quantity but enough to keep me fuelled for an hour workout session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2959" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-02-16T16:26:27.573" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T16:31:18.413" Title="What can I eat first thing in the morning before a workout when I have no appetite?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5467" CreationDate="2012-02-16T13:49:08.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/2011/10/wheat-belly-toll-of-hubris-on-human.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a thorough review of the science in the book&lt;/a&gt;, by a credible Nutritional Sciences PhD student (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/about-cholesterol-and-health.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chris Masterjohn&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite disagreeing with some of the points in Wheat Belly, I think Dr. Davis is essentially correct that modern wheat products are representatives of the type of hubris that is destroying the health of modern humans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I do agree that the processed junk Dr. Davis calls &amp;quot;wheat&amp;quot; should be purged from the diet, that the development of dwarf wheat has taken its toll on us, and that we should steer clear of the packaged foods and meet Dr. Davis for a pow wow in the produce aisle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, I had fatigue issues that were partially cleared up by eliminating wheat, but it wasn't until going fully Paleo (&lt;a href=&quot;http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?page_id=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;my favorite variant&lt;/a&gt;) that my health really improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1882" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T13:49:08.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5482" CreationDate="2012-02-16T16:18:55.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't find yourself up to eating something filling like oatmeal, eggs, or toast, I would suggest a fruit/protein smoothie. For instance you could quickly blend together something along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1/2 cup of assorted berries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tablespoon of honey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 tablespoons of oats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some protein powder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk / water / ice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this is normally my post-workout shake, I have used it before for when I didn't have time to eat a full breakfast. This recipe might not be to your liking (it tastes good, but not amazing) so feel free to change it; the general idea is that you just blend together something of substance to serve as a placeholder until you're ready to eat breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T16:18:55.867" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5482" CreationDate="2012-02-16T16:21:19.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I would recommend drinking 16oz (.5L) of water soon after waking. This is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a fun experience, and it might take a minute or two to get it all down, but it will grant you (at least) two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improved workout &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased metabolism/hunger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastEditorUserId="2841" LastEditDate="2012-02-16T16:31:18.413" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T16:31:18.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5482" CreationDate="2012-02-16T16:27:53.890" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that, on waking, there is very little blood in your stomach or digestive system until the body realizes that it needs to get some blood there ready to do some digestion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the same effect as running on a hot day and getting a bit dehydrated. In that case, much of your blood is in your muscles and skin (to keep your muscles moving and lose heat) and not much in your digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The result is that trying to eat is difficult and your body reacts by discouraging you from eating with nausea or vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fix is, much as suggested by @Moses and @TheChaz, to use liquid nutrition. I use an off the shelf meal replacement product. One bottle is 350 calories which is enough for about 2 hours for me. If I'm doing longer then I'll take two. Water can also work because it gets the body to realize there might be more food coming into the stomach so it had better get ready. It can take 15+ minutes for this though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The liquid works because it takes less effort for the body to process and your stomach doesn't have time to balk at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your description of being light-headed and quesy I would agree that you need to get something down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T16:27:53.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5473" CreationDate="2012-02-16T16:35:17.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wide Push-Ups; one of the best compound exercises available yet will isolate the width of the chest more so than a Close Push-Up. Combine both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/321226-wide-push-ups-vs-close-push-ups/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wide/Close&lt;/a&gt; to target the majority of your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T16:35:17.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5473" CreationDate="2012-02-16T16:58:16.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;By request...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips (which can be done with various arrangements of common household furniture, or on a counter-top)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pushups, of which there are MANY kinds/varieties/ranges of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fly exercises with your (improvised) dumbbells. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T16:58:16.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5473" CreationDate="2012-02-16T17:25:23.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at this : &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/chest-exercises/#pushups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://scoobysworkshop.com/chest-exercises/#pushups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of good chest exercise in their, only requirement is dumbell ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T17:25:23.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5557" CreationDate="2012-02-16T17:32:41.483" Score="0" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can heard a little snap in my shoulder every time I do a jumping jack.&#xA;Can hear it sometimes when i do military press to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not hurting on the moment, but afterward I have a little soreness where the snap seems to come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Samething in my leg (knee) when i do squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to get a good streching before working out, someone have a solution/explanation for this ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T13:42:49.417" Title="joint problem during workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5491" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-16T18:03:29.730" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3-4 day a week weight workout plan, each day focuses on squats, bench press or deadlifts as the primary and some auxiliary exercises (overhead press, crunches, etc.).  I've recently added very light exercises at the end of the main workout to help stretch out muscles, etc. with the hope of doing an active cool down and prep'ing for the next workout.  For example, if today is bench press day and tomorrow deadlift, I might do some very light deadlifts or good mornings.  I think this is helping in that the next workout I'm able to lift a bit heavier.  The question: Is this post workout, light workout actually helping because it's stretching the next target muscle group OR is it mostly a psychological thing where my mind is focusing on the next workout sooner? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T23:03:53.827" Title="Post workout - workout, is it really helping?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5492" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5493" CreationDate="2012-02-16T18:34:46.037" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a way to get some indicator that X time has passed and have it keep repeating.  For example, maybe an iPhone app that plays a particular sounds every X seconds where X can be configured.  Maybe even a watch that I can configure so that every X seconds it vibrates (would not want it to make a sound since I will be using this is a gym) where X can be configured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want something like this because I am trying to build my own workout routines where I will do one thing for 1 minute, then another thing for another minute, then another thing for another minute, then rest for 30 seconds, and then repeat with different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One things to note is that if there a an iPhone app suggestion, I would want it to work with playing music.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2962" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T18:48:28.020" Title="Interval Timing Indicators" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5492" CreationDate="2012-02-16T19:53:51.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.secondsapp.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.secondsapp.com/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TVgot.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;There's many iPhone timers out there - here's one I would recommend.  You can assign specific playlist and have it ring or vibrate.  An alternative is GymBoss&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z49aR.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;The nice thing about Gymboss is that it's cheap, does not interfere with any music player, you can attach it to your pants/shirt for ease of hearing/vibrating round and you don't have to worry about dropping it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="295" LastEditDate="2012-02-17T12:54:30.200" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T12:54:30.200" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-16T20:02:05.813" Score="3" ViewCount="799" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing bear crawls as part of my exercises, but I'm getting conflicting interpretations about how exactly they are done. Do you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend your knees as you crawl across the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep them straight, just shifting them upwards toward your hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a correct way to do them, or does it just depend on what you want out of the exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2964" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-06-04T16:18:02.183" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T16:18:02.183" Title="Bear crawls - Correct motions" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2694" CreationDate="2012-02-16T20:46:14.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, excess fat in the abdominal region can force the lifter to bend over more at the start of the deadlift, which decreases the amount of weight that can be lifted. Observe the world record Squats and Deadlifts and you will notice n the lower weight classes, the record deadlift exceeds the record squat, while in the higher weight classes, the Squat records tend to be higher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2965" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T20:46:14.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5435" CreationDate="2012-02-16T23:13:41.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build strength, you need to progressively overload your muscles during a workout. Overloading the muscles causes muscle growth. If you start out with 20lb dumbbells and progress to 40lb dumbbells over a month or so; it means you got stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter whether you use dumbbells, barbells, or weight training machines. If you're progressively increasing the resistance, you're getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="203" LastActivityDate="2012-02-16T23:13:41.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5447" CreationDate="2012-02-17T04:28:15.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Ben's answer as far as squats, deadlifts and lunges being good glute exercises.  Additionally, you may want to check into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Callanetics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Callanetics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  It is based on short, repetitive movements at the end of the range.  This approach specifically targets the deep gluteal and hip muscles that help to contract and lift the buttocks. I'm sorry I can't find a link to a picture that shows the progression of the buttock line lifting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another similar program using these small isometric type contractions is &lt;a href=&quot;http://purebarre.com/p-story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pure Barre&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your goal of tightening up and lifting the buttocks, I think you will be happy with these types of exercises.  Just realize that these exercises only deal with shrinking the space you occupy.  If you need to lose weight as well, follow good diet principles and appropriate calorie burning exercises like &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2666/what-is-tabata-how-effective-is-it&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T04:28:15.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-17T07:57:09.477" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the past year I've consumed a great deal of information about health and fitness.&#xA;While some changes to diet and exercise will give visibible results on the outside, I am curious about what's going on on the inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I could frequently see a doctor and ask him to take blood tests, I would like to be able to gather (and analyse, to the limited extent I can) data myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of equipement I'm looking for would probably be somewhat similar to a glucose meter, perhaps even a continuous glucose monitoring system, but more advanced in that it registers more data, say Glucocorticoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that the question says &quot;measuring&quot;. If equipment is only available that measures but does not on it's own store or display data, that's acceptable as long as I can interface with the device myself. I could both build the hardware and software to pull data out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T13:46:38.570" Title="What equipment is available to a layman for measuring blood values?" Tags="&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5500" CreationDate="2012-02-17T11:41:00.260" Score="5" ViewCount="2422" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm signed up for a 26 mile sponsored walk in September 2012.  I enjoy walking but don't have experience of walking for longer distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning on taking progressively longer walks. Is there any other training that I can do in a gym or at home which helps to build stamina for longer walking distances? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T12:38:37.287" Title="How can I improve walking stamina without walking?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5499" CreationDate="2012-02-17T16:56:21.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing is going to prepare you for being on your feet for long periods of time like &lt;em&gt;being on your feet for long periods of time!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that might sound like something out of a National Lampoon movie, but it's true. There are many things that can improve your strength, flexibility, endurance, cardiovascular health, etc, but if you are going to be walking, I'd start &lt;em&gt;walking&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you could spend some time swimming or biking, or doing various leg exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T16:56:21.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5499" CreationDate="2012-02-17T17:11:03.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In training for marathon walks (I have done 2 on purpose, and several others inadvertently)  I did 32K walks in preparation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can get a smidgen boring, so I suggest bringing a friend to keep you company and chat.  If they are not interested in a 30K walk, perhaps ask three friends, in 10K chunks to join you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walked a 5:09 marathon as a race and as slow as a 9:24 in 2011 NYC, guiding a disabled athlete.   (Alas my other marathons still include far too much walking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T17:11:03.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-17T21:33:17.300" Score="0" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone eats more calories than they burn, then they will put on weight, as I understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what if a person eats a lot of calories but zero fat? Or zero saturated fats and trans fats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would the person then put on weight or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That question is based on the idea - and I don't know if this is true or not - that people put on fat by eating too many calories because the body burns other stuff that it extracts from food before burning the fat from food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So question 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that that is the reason the body accumulates fat - because the body uses other things as energy before using fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That first question is also based on the idea - and again, I don't know if this is true or not - that the body cannot convert something that is not fat, into fat. Something that is not fat cannot be changed into fat in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that the body cannot convert something that is not fat into fat? Rather, the body simply accumulates fat while burning other things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And question 4:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a diet consisting only of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, honey, eggs, and fish be effective for a person to lose weight even if the person eats a lot of food - so long as they only eat those things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2969" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T15:14:56.780" Title="The chemical make-up of food: can non-fat be converted to fat?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5502" CreationDate="2012-02-17T22:56:49.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body takes in energy from carbohydrates, proteins, fats and alcohol. Any energy it does not use will then be turned into fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus for your question 4 the answer is no. If there were such a diet with 0 fat it would be very dangerous - the body needs a certain amount of fat to function. (Eating too much protein without fat is know as &quot;rabbit starvation&quot;. The Inuit (who ate a diet very high in protein and fat) experienced this during Spring when the only thing they could find (often) were very lean rabbits. &lt;a href=&quot;http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox/article_print&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vilhjalmur Stefansson&lt;/a&gt; experienced this when demonstrating the diet, under controlled conditions, at Bellevue Hospital&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 3: false&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 2: false&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 1: false&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T22:56:49.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5474" CreationDate="2012-02-18T00:04:19.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I find that I'm not hungry per say after a run, but I do have a snack. My choice of poison is a chocolate milk (yea I know its been mentioned) and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. In college when I had classes after my workouts, that meal would keep me going until I got home for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T00:04:19.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5508" CreationDate="2012-02-18T00:33:30.340" Score="6" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently hear the buzzword, &quot;crossfit&quot; from several of my coworkers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is crossfit?. Is it a type of workout or philosophy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it loosely consist of? What are the goals of crossfit training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cheap google brings up a crossfit &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfit.com/&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; and some type of gym or website. Further research shows a pretty &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/start-how.html&quot;&gt;high-level description of crossfit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T07:13:41.200" Title="What is crossfit?" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5474" CreationDate="2012-02-18T05:15:43.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 cents...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When lifting weights, the most important thing for recovery is protein.  Getting 50 grams in as quickly as possible (and repeating every 4 hours) helps you rebuild the muscles, to get over the soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After running, you need both - the carbs reload the muscles, and the protein helps rebuild.  I've seen many &lt;a href=&quot;http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=17803&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;places&lt;/a&gt; that suggest 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 carb to protein ratio.  Chocolate milk has it, and can also be a reward for hard work.  :-)  I find many yogurts have a similar ratio.  Having a banana with a lower carb yogurt also works for me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybody is different, but I find that drinking lots of water as quickly as possible, and then eating something with both carbs and protein very quickly is the best for recovery.  Some places say 30 or 60 minutes, but I find I respond better more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most important - listen to your body.  If protein shakes (or nuts, or milk, or anything) doesn't feel right, don't force it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T05:15:43.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5499" CreationDate="2012-02-18T05:18:33.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMHO - You can cheat some, but not too much.  You'll have to put in lots of time.  Everyone I've talked to who has done marathons (walking or running) says they wish they did more distance, because their legs gave out.  Doing lots of reps of low weight leg lifts can help with the endurance, but not replace the long walks entirely.  Don't forget your hamstrings and calves - lots of people go crazy on squats, but the hamstrings and calves are vital for walking too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T05:18:33.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5505" CreationDate="2012-02-18T07:06:32.690" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crossfit is high intensity cross training to develop unspecialized fitness. The most important goal of a crossfit training program is to improve &quot;work capacity across broad time and modal domains.&quot; Work capacity is the ability to do work in the sense of physics, that is to exert moving force. Time domains refer to the duration and intensity of the work, and modal domains refers to the body movement(s) that is being performed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, successful crossfit training prepares an athlete to perform well in unpredictable situations, and for this reason is often inappropriate for specialized athletes. When you know what actions your body will be required to perform on game day, you can train in a very specialized manner (e.g., run 100m, row 50km, deadlift 500kg, swing a golf club). For people who do not know what actions will be required, crossfit helps to develop general, unspecialized fitness. For this reason it is popular among military and firefighting communities, since they face a variety of physical challenges that are often unpredictable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greg Glassman, one of the developers of crossfit, offers the following advice: &quot;Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&amp;amp;J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information on the philosophy and practices of crossfit:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_WIFTrial_Feb2012.pdf&quot;&gt;What is fitness?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/what_is_crossfit.pdf&quot;&gt;What is crossfit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="362" LastEditDate="2012-02-18T07:13:41.200" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T07:13:41.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5529" CreationDate="2012-02-18T11:34:12.197" Score="1" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to build strength. I'm not concerned with size or bigger muscles so much as strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I eat a lot of meat and carbs. For most meals I tend to eat things like donor kebabs, burgers, chicken, pizza, subway subs etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot might be considered junk food, although a lot is freshly made from decent restaurants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand protein is what is important for strength building. Is a high meat diet good for this? Does it matter if the meat comes from junk food sources, e.g. a quarter pounder from McDonalds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T17:35:59.607" Title="Is my current diet good for strength building?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5548" CreationDate="2012-02-18T11:41:45.913" Score="4" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to eat one small meal/snack and one very large meal each day, as opposed to the typical breaskfast, lunch and dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always feel that I eat enough and my body seems well suited to this routine. Is this in anyway detrimental to exercise? Would I gain anything by switching to a  breakfast lunch and dinner routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am mainly interested in strength building although I am interested if there can be an impact in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T04:22:54.957" Title="Can meal frequency have a significant impact on exercise?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-18T11:50:38.030" Score="0" ViewCount="776" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seem to have a very fast metabolism, ever since I was a teenager.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance I easily consume 500 calories from non-diet sugar based soda a day and then may typically consumer anywhere from 1500 to 2500 calories based on the food I eat, a lot of which is junk food or per-prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to get very little exercise aside from walking where I need to go. This has been the case for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not overweight at all, if anything I am slightly underweight as I am just over 6 feet tall and 175 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to have a decent stamina being able to keep up with most people  in say a random running race or similar spontaneous physical activity. I don't feel tired or anything similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my body is burning off all these calories with no exercise, is this a good thing? What other health effects should I worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastActivityDate="2012-06-17T16:35:51.113" Title="What should I be concerened about healthwise with a fast metabolism?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5511" CreationDate="2012-02-18T14:48:41.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a fast metabolism doesn't mean you should lead a lifestyle of &lt;b&gt;no&lt;/b&gt; exercise and eating junk food.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Fast metabolism is helping you not gain fat on your body, however not everything is about looks... ie, being slim doesn't imply being healthy, as healthiness is measured in blood vessels and how much fat you have stuck in your blood vessels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should consider eating healthier food and exercise so that you lower the risks of health problems when you get older. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;In addition, exercising and eating &lt;b&gt;Quality food&lt;/b&gt; will &lt;b&gt;drastically&lt;/b&gt; change your life:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it will enhance your mood&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;boost your energy and focus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;higher self esteem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it will fight any case of depression that might occur. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the majority of people don't understand is that the &lt;b&gt;&quot;quality&quot;&lt;/b&gt; of food is the main cause of &lt;b&gt;bad health, mood swings , restlessness and depression&lt;/b&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Junk food, ie food with high levels of &lt;b&gt;sat/trans fat&lt;/b&gt; and &lt;b&gt;processed&lt;/b&gt; nutrients, will lower oxygen flow in your blood and thus affect your brain , which requires oxygen to perform .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2012-02-18T14:59:17.757" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T14:59:17.757" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5502" CreationDate="2012-02-18T15:14:56.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Question 1,2,3&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting on weight is a matter of calories needed by the body and if you are having &lt;b&gt;calorie deficit or eating more calories than needed by the body&lt;/b&gt;. Your body at rest has a number of calories needed, say &lt;b&gt;X&lt;/b&gt;. if you eat per day &lt;b&gt;X - 500&lt;/b&gt; calories, this means a deficit of 500 calories per day and deficit of 3500 calories per week ie you should loose 1 pound of fat per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat &lt;b&gt;IS GOOD&lt;/b&gt; for your body, but it is &lt;b&gt;not the trans-fat&lt;/b&gt; but the &lt;b&gt; mono unsaturated, poly unsaturated and even a bit of saturated&lt;/b&gt;. Eating a lot of calories (more than &lt;b&gt; X&lt;/b&gt;) with zero fat &lt;b&gt; will &lt;/b&gt; make you gain weight (except if you have crazy genetics and never gain weight whatsoever) since when you overpass the limit &lt;b&gt;X&lt;/b&gt; whatever you are eating will be turned to sugar then to fat and stored in your body as a reserve. You should eat a healthy balanced diet which contains enough proteins, carbs (complex carbs more than simple carbs), fat (the good fat and a bit of saturated) and mineral and vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Question 4&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned before , losing weight is based on calorie deficit. Calorie deficit can be done by eating less, and/or by exercising. For example if you eat 200 less calories per day and burn 400 calories by exercising --&gt; you have a deficit of &lt;b&gt; X - 200 - 400 &lt;/b&gt;.&#xA;It is recommended to have max of 700 calories deficit per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not go by food types &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;a diet consisting only of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, honey, eggs, and fish&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; only. Even though these are very healthy options, and are quality foods still if you overeat from these and pass your accepted limit you will gain weight (unless as stated before your genetics allow you to eat as much as you want without gaining fat.. But still that doesn't mean you are healthy, coz fat is dangerous when it accumulates in blood vessels).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T15:14:56.780" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-19T00:23:27.110" Score="1" ViewCount="418" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week, I was trying to do some exercise lifting weight up. Suddenly I got a strain in my neck. I can move my neck but feel pain when doing so. I didn't do any exercises after that day, and I'm still getting the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me. How can I resolve this problem? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2974" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T03:30:49.757" LastActivityDate="2018-07-12T03:01:34.407" Title="Strained my neck and feeling pain" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-07-12T13:22:59.973" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-19T04:20:08.787" Score="1" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a workout routine between 4-6 days per week to get generally stronger.  I've seen a bunch of questions here and webpages with routines, but the schedules seem all contrived.  Is there any research into effective strength weight training routines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2806" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T05:06:12.520" Title="Strength training weightlifting workout routine" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5151" CreationDate="2012-02-19T04:48:44.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2011/11/interview-with-get-fit-guy/&quot;&gt;interview Get Fit Guy, Ben Greenfield&lt;/a&gt; for the blog, he mentioned a an ultrasound device which he describes more in his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2011/11/episode-170-is-aerobic-training-bad-for-you-how-to-easily-measure-your-body-fat-with-laser-accuracy-and-much-more/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;podcast&lt;/a&gt; (around the 45-minute mark) with the creator of the BodyMetrix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intelamterix makes a product called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intelametrix.com/update/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BodyMetrix&lt;/a&gt; that can accurately scan your body fat percentage and track your fat loss and muscle gain. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intelametrix.com/update/HowItWorks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The way the BodyMetrix works&lt;/a&gt; is by using ultrasound waves to penetrate the tissue and detect the reflections that occur at different tissues boundaries (such as between fat and bone and bone and muscle). Taking measurements at multiple points of the body can give you and accurate percentage of body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intelametrix.com/update/CompareMethods.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Compared to other methods&lt;/a&gt;, the BodyMetrix:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does not require a trained specialist or certified technician to operate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measures consistently regardless of caffeine, alcohol, or hydration levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is more comfortable than pinching (with calipers), being fully submerged underwater (underwater weighing), or being sealed in a small chamber (air displacement)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The product's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intelametrix.com/update/FAQs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;faq&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assessments can take 2-10 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training materials are provided (user's guides, videos, or live web training for Pro users)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More accurate than skin fold calipers or bio-electrical impedance devices&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Results are comparable to underwater weighing and air displacements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Non-invasive and portable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Safe for children (but not intended for use on children under 6 years)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two versions of the BodyMetrix, Personal and Pro. It is quite costly ($495 for the Personal version) and even more so for the Pro version ($1895).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intelametrix.com/update/ProSoftware.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;software&lt;/a&gt; itself tracks measurements and can generate reports. Screenshots of measurements and trend from the software (taken from IntelaMetrix's website):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1JPL8.png&quot; alt=&quot;Bodyview 2D body fat measurement screenshot&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J9q4w.png&quot; alt=&quot;Bodyview 2D weight and body fat % trends&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-19T06:43:45.493" LastActivityDate="2012-02-19T06:43:45.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2012-02-19T09:29:00.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. It is three days a week, but the rest time is just as important as the lifting days. I am not sure what you mean by &quot;contrived&quot; but it seems to me that unless you are hunting zebras and climbing trees, any workout routine created by humans in the modern world is contrived. The developer of this program has extensive experience but I am not aware of any research in the clinical sense. There is nothing I can add that has not already been discussed on this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-02-19T09:29:00.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5509" CreationDate="2012-02-20T11:49:36.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the sole goal is gaining strength, the source doesn't matter so much.  If you're getting 50 grams of all the essential amino acids (most meat covers this) then you're fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The caveat is fast food has a lot of bad side effects.  Your cardio will improve when you drop the McDonalds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T11:49:36.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2012-02-20T14:33:03.433" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight training has been going on for well over 100 years using basic tools like barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells (originally cannonballs with handles attached).  The reason you don't see much active research on the matter is a combination of the following factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What works has been handed down from coach to student over the years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Research is only performed when funded, and the government isn't so keen on what makes optimum athletes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Access to elite athletes is very difficult--particularly if experimental training is involved.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basics of what we know, and what can help you decide on the best approach to gaining strength is found in the book &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; by Mark Rippetoe and Dr. Lon Kilgore.  The bulk of experimental training and fomalized programs are based on Russian programs, because that government &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; interested in what makes an optimum athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making the long story short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on these compound lifts: overhead press, deadlift, squat, and bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add assistance exercises as necessary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper amounts of rest are necessary for building muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any program that takes these factors into account will help you get stronger.  As you get stronger, it will take you longer and longer to adapt.  That's why there are so many different programs.  Below is a list of lifting maturity based on time of adaptation and an example program that is a good fit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beginner: adaptation in 48-72 hours--Starting Strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intermediate: adaptation in about 1 week--Texas Method&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Advanced: adaptation 3-4 weeks--Wendler 5-3-1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything above this, and you have to take the principles you've learned and manufacture your own program based around the way you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other factors as well that determine what your program will ultimately look like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your schedule: can you lift 4+ times a week, or only 2?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your goals: lifting to supplement a sport, or as a sport?  Looking to be big?  Conditioning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your skills: what can you do?  What do you need to learn?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T14:33:03.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5426" CreationDate="2012-02-20T14:53:34.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not operate a gym, but I've been involved in mechanical engineering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would do is to get hold of some threadlocking substance (I've personally only ever used Loctite's products. There might be others available).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on if you would ever want to loosen them again (repair?), there are different strenghts (medium is possible to take apart, the strong stuff is not meant to be removed, ever)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, partner up with someone. It'll make the tightening procedure much easier. It's fairly quick, and if you use threadlocking, you won't have to do it very often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T14:53:34.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5426" CreationDate="2012-02-20T15:09:20.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until I find someone to hold the other side for me (as Markus suggested), I have been using a small 14-inch pipe wrench on the grip area of the dumbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only negative aspect to this is that the teeth on the pipe wrench tends to cut into the dumbell grip, leaving minor sharp edges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I could find a way to soften the bite on the pipe wrench without sacrificing its effective grip, I would be done!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7QCvx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Aluminum 14-inch pipe wrench by Ridgid&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T15:09:20.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5509" CreationDate="2012-02-20T17:35:59.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your only goal is strength, and you are getting at least 1g protein per pound body weight, then all the extra calories will be used for energy.  Whether you use fat or carbs, your body still uses those macronutrients for energy.  This sounds quite compatible with Mark Rippetoe's view on dietary requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think in many ways Rip's recommendations are overstated, because if you eat a lot more than you need, you will gain a good amount of fat along with your new muscle.  That in turn makes it hard to move, and use your strength.  To help keep things in balance, make sure your exercise has the following components:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength (low rep, high weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy (high rep, low-to-medium weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt; (cannot be overstated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever it is you are focused on, you simply prioritize that component in your programming over the others.  However, you should have all of the components to be truly successful.  The conditioning and mobility will improve your ability to perform and use your strength on demand--as well as learn new techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep your strength portion focused around the four main compound exercises--overhead press, deadlift, squat, and bench press--and your assistance exercises in the hypertrophy range, you will do really well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if you gain weight too fast, you will need to adjust the way you eat.  Gaining too fast means you are gaining more fat than muscle.  One way to do that is to have a protein shake before each meal.  It keeps your protein up, and helps fill you up before you start diving in to the fast food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T17:35:59.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5514" CreationDate="2012-02-20T18:16:35.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be a number of things which would cause such a response:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too much load too fast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insufficient food/potassium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insufficient hydration (not enough water)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all common causes of muscle spasms.  If you are new to exercise, the muscle spasms can be more frequent than you may like.  Here are some ways to help prevent it from happening in the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have someone who is experienced make sure you are performing the exercise correctly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only increase weights 5-10 lbs at a time (2.5-5 kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you aren't exercising on an empty stomach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you get plenty of water during the day--and while you are exercising&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T18:16:35.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4096" CreationDate="2012-02-20T21:04:50.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had something similar, not sure if exactly what you have. I could snap just by pushing a little forward with the hip. I don't have this anymore and solved it keeping my legs stretched (hamstring, calfs), working a little on the abs and with back hyperextensions (cobra position). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cannot pinpoint which of these worked better but the basic principle is that you are probably inadvertently compensating some defect of your back by keeping some muscles more contracted. I'm not a physician so just double check this with an expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching is now part of my daily routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T21:04:50.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2012-02-20T22:47:43.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many of programs you can find on the Internet, much for free. When you say research, this is where YOU come in. Everyone and everyone's body is different. Our bodies react different to different routines and weights. This goes just as well for diet. No one knows your body best than you. I'd say, find a program that fits your desires from scheduling to results. Take it slow, but staying consistent. There are plenty of plans (weight training and diet) at Bodybuilding.com to use as guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2984" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T22:47:43.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5510" CreationDate="2012-02-20T22:57:37.610" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When asked how much you should eat when trying to build strength and size, you'll hear many say 6 meals a day. Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack. Which is typically every 2 to 3 hours. This is to keep your feeding your body the nutrients it needs. However, this isn't always needed. You're eating a single large meal and a snack a day. If you're trying to lose weight this would be a problem because it slows down your metabolism and causes your body to store more fat as reserves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you eat multiple meals a day, your body learns and is on a schedule knowing it will be receiving the nutrients it needs for energy and such, therefore it doesn't hold onto the bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your questions, it is best for weight purpose and exercise, since you keep your body fueled throughout the day for energy and nutrients, if you consume multiple meals a day rather than one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2984" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T22:57:37.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5491" CreationDate="2012-02-20T23:03:53.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say a little bit of both. When you do those &quot;Warm-ups&quot;, you're still working out those muscles. You go home and sleep, where you recover (build strength). Then, you go back to the gym go heavier. I say both because it's one of those things, if you believe it works it will. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2984" LastActivityDate="2012-02-20T23:03:53.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5535" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5539" CreationDate="2012-02-21T01:06:55.263" Score="4" ViewCount="784" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/41nXK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Starting position&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After performing squats I often feel elbow soreness (or perhaps extreme fatigue). I'd like to see if anyone can offer form corrections that might help reduce the strain, or if my form looks OK, then perhaps some supplemental exercise recommendations to help strengthen the elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a false grip, and I feel like I am pushing the bar almost straight forward into my shoulders in order to keep it stable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T18:53:58.743" Title="Form Check on Squats: Elbow Tension" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5535" CreationDate="2012-02-21T03:11:03.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm the opposite of an expert--I'm still wrestling with these selfsame issues, and recently switched to high-bar squats in order to avoid them--but you could be holding the bar too low, even for a Rippetoe-style low-bar back squat. The other primary causes of elbow pain, I'm told, are not holding the elbows high enough and not keeping the shoulder blades packed tightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend studying &lt;a href=&quot;https://vimeo.com/30763907&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; deeply. I would not recommend avoiding the issue, nor supplemental elbow exercises. Happy hunting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T03:11:03.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2012-02-21T15:49:22.733" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreed with above. Your body will get rid of extra stuff UNLESS you have some kind of kidney problem. I would ask a doctor, but in general it's ok. Also, any doctor will tell you to first get a good healthy diet, then SUPPLEMENT it with SUPPLEMENTs. :)  No need for flax, probably. Fish oil takes care of anything flax would. Probably no need for an additional children's vitamin. Neither addition will harm much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely check with real professionals if you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T15:49:22.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5535" CreationDate="2012-02-21T18:02:39.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I echo Dave Liepmann's video recommendation.  It's very informative.  As far as what I can see here, we've got a couple things going on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The upper back isn't as tight is it should be&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The wrist (particularly the left one) looks as if the palm is supporting the weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that there are more than one school of thought about squat form.  The consistent requirements are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At or below parallel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep tightness throughout the body, esp. the upper back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Rippetoe's camp, you maintain upper body tightness by keeping the elbows back and the wrists as far in as you can comfortably do it.  It appears the bar is about the right place for low bar squats from this camera position.  My own observation from applying Rip's principles is that if you pull your wrists in too far, it produces tension in your elbows.  Simply the act of pulling the elbows back helps provide a shelf for the bar so you don't need as much tension to hold it in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Dave Tate's camp, you keep your elbows parallel with the bar.  Upper back tightness is what keeps the bar where it needs to be, and the arms are only used to guide the bar.  The Tate camp has a wider grip to keep the weight off the elbows.  He has a very good YouTube video series called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkF9QD7oCIA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;So you think you can squat?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tate comes from a geared lifting background, so much of his form recommendations are based on the assumption that you'll be wearing a squat suit.  Rip is more of a raw lifter.  However, the bottom line is that you find the combination of cues that work for you individually.  While the two have differences of opinion on how to do it, they both agree on the fact you need tension in your upper back to support the weight of the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T18:02:39.120" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5456" CreationDate="2012-02-21T19:13:51.407" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really hard to answer your question because it depends what rice is replacing in your diet. I wouldn't necessary say it's the healthiest possible choice to eat rice every day. It's &lt;em&gt;healthier&lt;/em&gt; than eating french fries every day, but probably not as healthy as eating steamed broccoli every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; going to eat rice every day, I don't think brown rice has much if any health advantage over white--it may even be worse as some of the commenters have mentioned. In general, rice is a high-carb food. Compared with other high-carb foods, it may not be the healthiest choice. I would rate sweet potatoes or even white potatoes healthier, as long as they are boiled or steamed, because they are less likely to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm&quot;&gt;spike your blood sugar&lt;/a&gt; and they &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mendosa.com/satiety.htm&quot;&gt;fill you up more&lt;/a&gt;. They also have more vitamins and minerals per calorie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general, it's better to think of your diet as a whole rather than specific foods. For example, my potato theory goes out the window if you melt a half stick of butter on it or fry it. If you want a healthy diet, start by eating lots of vegetables. If some of them are raw, or at least not fried in oil, all the better. Other healthy foods include legumes (lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans), fruit, nuts and seeds (especially hazelnuts and almonds), fish (especially wild salmon or tilapia) and lean poultry, and extra virgin olive oil. If you are eating a good amount of these other foods, there is certainly room for some higher-carb foods (potatoes, rice, etc.), but I wouldn't make them the base of your food pyramid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2987" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T19:13:51.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-21T19:20:25.260" Score="4" ViewCount="553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm double-jointed in a lot of places, one of which is my shoulders. Every time I raise my arms straight over my head my shoulders dislocate. It's not really painful, just uncomfortable. It also makes doing yoga poses like Warrior 1 and Chair Pose difficult. Is there a way to keep this from happening, or a way to modify the pose so it doesn't happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along the same lines, whenever I do Side Plank I'm placing a lot of weight on my wrists. They are also double-jointed, and it actually is quite painful to place weight on them. How can I modify this pose to alleviate the pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastActivityDate="2020-10-21T05:52:31.687" Title="How can I keep my shoulders and wrists from dislocating when doing yoga?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5544" CreationDate="2012-02-21T19:36:01.433" Score="2" ViewCount="1139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently road running and swimming and I'd like to start strength training using free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have access to a set of dumbbells and would like to make use of them, but searching for starter programmes via the web seems like a difficult task due to the high amount of spam and 'amazing gains in 4 weeks' type sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking to become huge - but I'd like to end up toned, stronger and fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a good programme to follow for someone who's just starting out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2989" LastEditorUserId="2989" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T12:15:22.947" LastActivityDate="2014-02-08T09:12:39.977" Title="Dumbbell / Free Weights Training Programme" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5543" CreationDate="2012-02-21T21:30:38.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to know when creating a strength training program is that you need to work out all of the muscle groups to prevent injury or an awkwardly proportioned body &lt;em&gt;(you don't want to look like the Hulk up top when you look like a stick figure down below)&lt;/em&gt;. This being the case, there are two ways you can approach building a workout routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do full body routines each workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on specific muscle groups each workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think the &quot;full body&quot; approach is better for people new to strength training. There is a very good article on the Nerd Fitness website that talks about &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/15/how-to-build-your-own-workout-routine/&quot;&gt;building your own full body routine&lt;/a&gt;. An important excerpt from the article is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Quads – squats, lunges, one legged squats, box jumps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Butt and Hamstrings – hip raises, deadlifts, straight leg deadlifts, good mornings, step ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Push (chest, shoulders, and triceps) - overhead press, bench press, incline dumbbell press, push ups, dips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pull (back, biceps, and forearms) – chin ups, pull ups, inverse body weight rows, dumbbell rows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Core (abs and lower back) – planks, side planks, exercise ball crunches, mountain climbers, jumping knee tucks, hanging leg raises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pick one exercise from each category above for a workout, and you’ll work almost every single muscle in your body. These are just a few examples for what you can do, but you really don’t need to make things more complicated than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting off, you'll want to only do 2-3 full body workouts every week, depending on your desired intensity level. You'll also want to put a day or two of rest in between each workout so your muscles have time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T21:30:38.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5556" CreationDate="2012-02-21T22:11:36.263" Score="8" ViewCount="1851" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once I've made the decision to get new running, is it okay to use my old running shoes as walking shoes (to and from the workplace / around the neighbourhood) or is the only appropriate place for old running shoes the donation bin or the trash?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess this slightly depends on wear as well. When would be the ideal time so you could get the maximum amount of usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2900" LastActivityDate="2012-02-26T02:54:10.910" Title="Can old running shoes be used as walking shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5546" CreationDate="2012-02-21T22:18:51.940" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they're not causing injuries then they're absolutely fine. If all you're doing is walking a few kms (and the distance is much less than what you're running) then they're perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they start wearing so much that they change your walking style or you start getting symptoms of injuries (such as shin pain) then I would chuck them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T22:18:51.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5510" CreationDate="2012-02-21T23:59:25.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First let's look at the energy aspect:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body has three energy stores: glycogen, fat and muscle. Free glucose is not an energy store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glycogen is refilled with carbohydrates and you can store 200-400g of it in your liver and muscle. It gets used for quick energy bursts (anaerobic), for regular energy and for keeping your blood glucose level up (mostly needed for the brain). You can deplete the entire store quite easily within a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(some people (including me) take this as a sign that carbs should not be a major part of your diet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our fat stores, even when lean, hold tens to hundreds of thousands of kcal, literally a month or more of energy. It provides energy at a slower rate than glycogen does for the same oxygen intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I list muscle for completeness. The body will break down muscle for energy and/or for the protein so if you like your muscles make sure to eat at least 20g protein/day (IIRC).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you only eat one meal a day your metabolism will be very fat-dominant, which is perfectly fine. If you are very active, you may deplete your glycogen stores before you refill them at meal time. Your maximum power will be a little less and you won't be able to be as bursty. Your liver will start to make glucose from protein. If there is no protein available, muscle breakdown will occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now let's look at the health aspect:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you fast for more than 12-16 hours, your cells start doing housekeeping. This is a good thing with many health benefits. See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel fine, keep doing it. After heavy exercise, consider a banana to refill glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1882" LastActivityDate="2012-02-21T23:59:25.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5550" CreationDate="2012-02-22T00:26:46.143" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I went down in my soccer game and I was told by the ER that I strained my upper superior ligament, or something of the sort.  It's been a week and two days, and today was my first day even remotely being able to walk..What should I do to increase my strength in my ankle and get back to playing as fast as possible? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T03:29:51.990" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T03:29:51.990" Title="Ankle Injury From Soccer" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5549" CreationDate="2012-02-22T00:48:35.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ligament strain in your ankle? You're now past a week so most of the swelling should have gone away. My advice is to go see a physiotherapist. They will help you out by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;giving you good advice about when you can start exercise and how much&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;using an ultrasound machine to gently heat the tissue to speed healing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;taping you just enough to replace the support of the sprained ligament but reducing the taping over time to encourage the ligament and surrounding tissue to come back stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;giving you exercises to help strengthen things up (I would expect some Theraband exercises and some standing on one foot - progressing to doing that with your eyes shut and waggling all other arms and leg.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The typical healing time for a sprain is 3 weeks - you're not even half way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to let it heal properly or it will either be too loose (and sprain again) or too tight and cause you flexibility and pain problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've got a whole lifetime to enjoy your ankle. Getting back to your sport a week or two earlier pales in comparison with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T00:48:35.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5510" CreationDate="2012-02-22T04:22:54.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple thoughts specific to your situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Strength training requires protein.  Our bodies can't store more than 50g at a time.  Hence, 3 50g protein meals are better than getting 150g all at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) You will perform better with some carbs in your system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) You will recover better with a combo of carbs and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean 6 meals a day waking up at 2am for protein shakes?  No.  It does mean timing the meals and spreading out your protein matters.  Working out us the hard part.  Might as well eat healthy to get the benefit.  But if you feel good, don't go too nuts with the changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T04:22:54.957" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5457" CreationDate="2012-02-22T04:27:04.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rotate through square, lunges and calf raises doing each until you feel a little burn.  If you want, add isometrics.  Sit halfway down in the squat, or make yourself a chair pushing against the wall.  5-15 mins of this repeated over a few hours of studying will do wonders.  Don't forget to stretch too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T04:27:04.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2012-02-22T04:40:17.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to build strength, do &lt;b&gt;body weight training&lt;/b&gt;. &lt;br&gt;I've been doing weight lifting for almost 3 years, and when i shifted to body weight training i can tell you this is what really makes you have more &lt;b&gt;endurance, flexibility, stronger muscle fiber, and even good shape!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;weight lifting alone of course build strength, but its more designed and focused at shape and pump (looks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Body weight training &lt;/b&gt;will give you advanced strength and energy boost, also &lt;b&gt;mix it with some HIIT like skip rope and kettle bell&lt;/b&gt; from time to time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I recommend using &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345528581&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mark lauren's&lt;/a&gt; book. He has more than 100 variations of body weight exercises, and has complete workout routines, one for each level: beginner, advanced, elite...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;His workouts are max 30 minutes, but believe me even the beginner level is hard enough.&#xA;check it out, its pretty efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T04:40:17.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-22T07:44:44.017" Score="2" ViewCount="652" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I started my new job about 1,5months ago, I've been conveniently located near the water cooler. This means, that I get plenty of water. Waaay more than 8 glasses per day. And now here's my question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Should I be drinking hot or cold water?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kris Gethin suggested drinking cold water, since that makes your body spend more energy on heating the water up, thus creating a bit more of a calorie deficiency while dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I've read a couple of articles online, that suggest, that drinking hot water somehow helps purify the body, and helps one to stay awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these should I drink and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T07:44:44.017" Title="Drinking cold vs hot water" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-02-22T15:48:36.230" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5456" CreationDate="2012-02-22T10:49:08.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just from personal experience. I get that &quot;full feeling&quot;, from fat and proteins. If I eat a high-fat breakfast, I stay full 5-6 hours. Otherwise, that time is about half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T10:49:08.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5546" CreationDate="2012-02-22T13:03:43.163" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sarge has a point that if they aren't causing injuries, then it might be fine to wear them. &#xA;But while the forces when walking compared to running are much lower, you typically wear the shoes much longer (10-14 hours/day vs 0.5-1 hour/day). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you replace running shoes is often because the midsole (and probably outersole) are permanently damaged. The damage in this cause means the little air bubbles in the material are ruptured and they loose their stability. Worse, the damage might be asymmetrical, because the material wasn't 100% uniform to begin with (they might look the same, but they probably aren't). This means that during every step you take on damaged shoes, means you subject yourself potential asymmetrical loads, which can lead to injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also goes for your regular shoes, though these tend to be made from different (hopefully tougher) materials. Though with the trend of people wearing running shoes as their regular shoes means they probably wear them for much longer than conventional wisdom would advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your choice is: &lt;strong&gt;do you want to risk getting starting symptoms of injuries so you can wear these shoes a bit longer?&lt;/strong&gt; To answer that question, its a good idea to look back and see if you're susceptible for injuries and if so, what helped prevent them. If you're walking pattern is very symmetrical and you hardly ever have injuries, go for it, chances are you won't get injured. If you're like me and get injured every year, don't risk it, because its not worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T13:03:43.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5490" CreationDate="2012-02-22T13:42:49.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually during and after exercise varieties of sounds comes out from joints no need to worry about that so much if u are not feeling pain. Soreness usually happens if the person is not usually habituated to the exercise. I means to say that if u r doing 10 reps of military press a day with other exercises and u suddenly increase it to 25 or 30 then this type of soreness happens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bruce lee said it best that u should do reps slowly and in many courses of such reps with rest (of at least 10 seconds) between each courses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;relaxation is as much important as exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if u r increasing these things try slowly day by day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also eat good and sleep well :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2992" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T13:42:49.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-22T14:09:21.317" Score="6" ViewCount="17540" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training for a half marathon in October and have started my training two weeks ago. I used to run as part of my boxing training but gave it up 7 years ago as I broke my arm. I never ran far either, usually 2/3 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I first start to run both knees feel really sore. I carry on though and rather 10 minutes the pain eases a lot or goes away completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am worried that I am doing severe damage to my knees because of this pain. I am a big guy (6ft 3, 18st) but I have the proper trainers for my running style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have I hurt something or is there a warm up I could do to ease/solve this pain? I am taking Glucosamine in liquid form and doing various stretches at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2993" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T16:53:01.850" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T21:20:56.327" Title="Knees are sore when running for the first 10 minutes but fine after?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5558" CreationDate="2012-02-22T14:53:17.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you feel any form of discomfort when you start running, then it is a good idea to extend your warm up a bit to properly warm the affected joints or muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exactly which type of warm up you should use, depends on many different factors, and the easiest way is simply to google for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/webhp?q=warm+up+before+running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;warm up before running&lt;/a&gt;. As a rule of thumb use dynamic rather than static exercises! &lt;em&gt;EDIT: This &lt;a href=&quot;http://shine.yahoo.com/green/should-you-stretch-before-or-after-working-out-2499574.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; pretty much sums up my opinion on dynamic vs static stretches in warm-up...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually use a couple of minutes to exercise all my joints to make sure they are all properly lubricated before I start. That often match the time it takes before my watch have found the current location... For races, interval training and other high intensity runs, it is a completely different story... Then I usually make sure all the core muscles are properly warmed up as well - e.g. by jogging slowly for 20 minutes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T19:34:23.607" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T19:34:23.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5494" CreationDate="2012-02-22T17:39:48.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We do these a lot as part of our jiu jitsu warmup and the way that I've always seen them done and been coached is to bend the legs but have only the toes touch the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1792" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T17:39:48.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5558" CreationDate="2012-02-22T20:31:41.597" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreed, warm up longer. Also, be sure to stretch EVERYTHING. Not just the legs, but your back and shoulders may make your legs tighter than they need to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to do a semi &quot;intense&quot; warm up. Walking around the block is not a warm up. Make sure your whole body actually feels WARM, and it should be a tiny bit tiring to the point of raising your heart rate. I usually get to the point of breaking a sweat when doing a warm up for something like football, so running should be similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T20:31:41.597" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5558" CreationDate="2012-02-22T22:10:49.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/community/showthread.php?8358-help-me-help-him&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nerdfitness.com&lt;/a&gt; forums a lot of members state that doing proper squats (no machines) have helped eliminate their knee pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The logic is that the squats help strenghten the muscles around your knee, helping stabalize it and preventing it from moving in inappropriate ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-02-22T22:25:29.310" LastActivityDate="2012-02-22T22:25:29.310" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5351" CreationDate="2012-02-23T01:07:22.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would blend it with another program, although Rushfit is my personal favorite.   I'd workout my own well-thought out blend w/p90x, p90x2 and RushFit, and/or other programs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I got &lt;a href=&quot;http://gsprushfit-mmareview.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;RushFit Review&quot;&gt;RushFit here&lt;/a&gt;, and looks like they offer some &lt;a href=&quot;http://gsprushfit-mmareview.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;GSP Rushfit specials&quot;&gt;extra bonus's&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2996" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T01:07:22.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5542" CreationDate="2012-02-23T10:13:08.703" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Side Plank - To save your wrists you can brace yourself on your elbow and forearm, rather than on your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga - Given your lax or &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00529&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unstable&lt;/a&gt; joints, I would take a private lesson from a good yoga instructor to get modifications and to improve your alignments. Ask for postures or asanas that emphasize stability of the shoulder blade and strengthen the shoulders rather than emphasising flexibility.  An instructor who teaches restorative yoga will probably be your best choice.  If you have enough control with the overhead arm positions you could stop short of the position that causes your joints to dislocate or sublux. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one thing you don't want to do is increase your joint instablility by continuing to repeat activities that cause them to dislocate.  This will just stress your ligaments and tendons.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T10:13:08.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-23T14:09:30.467" Score="0" ViewCount="1064" Body="&lt;p&gt;After you had an excess of sugar what is the best way to burn it to avoid accumulating it as fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T14:17:29.443" Title="Best way to quickly burn sugar" Tags="&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-23T17:52:18.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5570" CreationDate="2012-02-23T14:17:29.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same as any other way to burn energy - work out in the way that makes you happiest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T14:17:29.443" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5573" CreationDate="2012-02-23T15:20:14.630" Score="6" ViewCount="4711" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been told that squats would be a good way of building up muscles in my knees as they aren't great at the moment. I have been doing squats and either use no weights at all or I do them while holding a 5Kg medicine ball. Is this safe to do or is it not recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2993" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-03T21:51:24.837" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T21:51:24.837" Title="Doing squats with a medicine ball - Is it a good thing?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5572" CreationDate="2012-02-23T17:15:10.277" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are holding the medicine ball in front of you, what you are doing is a form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaQPfi8f27E&quot;&gt;goblet squat&lt;/a&gt;.  A goblet squat is very good for your body, and provides a good core component to the squat as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important components of any squat are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the crease of your hip goes below the patella (knee cap).  This is going below parallel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure that your core (back, abs, upper back) is tight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of going below parallel is to strengthen the posterior chain.  It gets your hamstrings and calf muscles involved, preventing strength imbalances between the front and back of your legs.  This of course, is what strengthens the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid of increasing the weight you do beyond 5kg.  You can use kettlebells or dumbbells to get heavier weights on the goblet squat.  Eventually, you can graduate to back squats or front squats for even stronger knees and core.  Just make sure your increases are around 5-10lbs (2.5-5kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T17:15:10.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5157" CreationDate="2012-02-23T20:29:08.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&lt;/a&gt; has some great tools. Your diet is probably as important as anything, so start there. It also has tracking of exercises by calories burned, and you can save your measurements and update them daily/weekly. Like, how many inches around your neck or waist is. I can link to mine if you want to check it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitbit would only really track your steps, but if you wanted to know that it would be a good (if not overly fancy) tool for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HR monitors will tell you what it is, but more importantly, how fast you recover. Save that data and try for better (faster) recovery to lower heart rates. Some, like Polar, include online heart rate data upload and tracking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T20:29:08.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5572" CreationDate="2012-02-23T20:46:52.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, make sure you keep you weight on your heels during the entire squat movement, and you initiate both the up &amp;amp; down movements with your hips first, not your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fun variant is to extend your arms forward at the bottom of the squat, holding the medball or weight away from you at shoulder height with straight arms. Then you can bring it back in to your chest when you stand or keep it away from you as you stand. This is a great way to add more challenge without needing a lot of extra weight for lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3005" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T20:46:52.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5579" CreationDate="2012-02-24T07:19:40.963" Score="1" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a wannabe fitness freak... Right now I am an overweight, almost obese, completely lazy, low self esteemed low-life with a dream of &quot;magically&quot; transforming myself into a fitness fanatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foolishly enough, I got involved in a bet that requires me to lose around 20 kilos in a year!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bet is the least of my concerns and I understand I have multiple issues that need sorting at various levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is exactly what motivated me to accept the bet in the first place. I am sure that losing weight would be the first step of my transformation (I realize that we do not live in a fairyland and working on my issues is the only solution).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old, 6' 2&quot; tall and weigh around 105 kilos currently. I am a smoker (a pack a day) and a drinker (2-3 times a week). I lead a complete sedentary lifestyle, with absolutely zero stamina, endurance, energy and focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dream is to be a fit and healthy (mentally and physically) person with completely toned body (as complete as having 12 pack abs) and mind. I am looking forward to have a completely conditioned body that can survive in any tough, rough, difficult-to-live conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, my first target is to achieve a weight loss of 20 kilos in a year. If my dream can somehow fit into this, I would be more than happy. Otherwise, I am planning to chase my dream after the weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there is a wrold of difference in where I dream to be and where I stand currently. But I am a born dreamer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need help with nutrition, exercises, fitness plans, scheduling (and personality development?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-03T21:17:24.083" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T21:17:24.083" Title="Calling out for help from all quarters for a near-magical transformation" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-02-24T14:11:36.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5577" CreationDate="2012-02-24T11:55:43.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dedication and determination.......as long as you have those, everything else become tough, but do-able.  I'm not sure of your financial resources, but would recommend joining a local gym, finding a personal trainer to start you on a program and getting involved in some local self-help groups for smoking and drinking (even though it doesn't sound like you drink excessively).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find out what will motivate you over the long term and keep you active. It could be a sport you want to participate in, camping, cycling, etc....but something that really interests you that will make the steps you're taking with exercising, etc. more meaningful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T11:55:43.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5577" CreationDate="2012-02-24T12:37:19.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If all you want to do is lose weight, all you really need is a weekly amphetamine binge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goals are the wrong way round. Concentrate on being healthy first. The weight loss will naturally occur. Weight loss generally doesn't occur in a straight line. It fluctuates. It is hard to stay focused on a goal that is all over the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work on health, 20 kilos in a year should be achievable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is achieved through a combination of two elements - diet and exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is by far the most important factor. First of all work out what you are putting in to yourself. For a week write down everything you ingest. How much of it is junk and how much is whole foods? By junk I mean processed - white bread, sugar, basically all the convenience foods. This voyage of discovery will help you become aware of the challenges that lie ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to cut out all the junk. Eat only whole foods. &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/11/10/healthy-eating/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Booze won't help as that is largely empty calories. If you cut out completely though, you are less likely to succeed in your goal. Just be aware every time you drink of what you are doing to yourself and drink less. As you get healthier your natural desire to get wasted does reduce, so just leave it up to nature...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise (cardiovascular) for losing weight is overrated. You have to sit on a rowing machine for 20 minutes just to work off a pint of beer. Don't have any preconceptions that you can just run for 15 minutes a day to work off that massive pile of fast food you are about to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, exercise for health and happiness is vital. The more you exercise the better you feel about yourself and the more likely you are to stick to a whole food diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first goal will be to just get yourself moving. I would recommend a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch to 5K program&lt;/a&gt;. This will get you running 5 kilometres in 9 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are a fair way into the running program and are less sedentary you are ready to turn to the iron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately you set the bet to lose weight rather than just body fat. The best exercise for losing body fat is weight lifting. As you build up muscle your body needs more energy to maintain itself and burns off yer fat. Unfortunately as you build up muscle you get heavier. However, it is still well worth doing. You will just have to lose more fat than you gain muscle. As a beginner this is certainly doable - advanced bodybuilders struggle here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can join a gym, I recommend looking into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt; program. It is designed for beginners and won't take up much of your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to do this have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Convict-Conditioning-Weakness-Survival-Strength/dp/0938045768/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1330086718&amp;amp;sr=8-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/a&gt;. It is a strength training program using minimal equipment taking you from beginner to advanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you do, don't let anyone tell you to do loads of sit ups. They do not work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T12:37:19.857" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5025" CreationDate="2012-02-24T18:11:19.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider running faster and harder (that is with a greater incline or over more challenging terrain), possibly for a shorter period. High intensity exercise has various advantages as compared to lower intensity health-wise, such as increased tendency towards visceral fat burning and encouraging strength as well as cardio-vascular adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find that the overloading you receive will not only make you a better runner but will leave you sufficiently sore/depleted that you do not feel a restless energy the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I use 800m 'sprints' (bit long for a true sprint perhaps) alternated with 400m recovery jogs. Currently I sprint at around 17.5 km/h (about 11 mph). The whole exercise lasts for around 10 minutes. I'm not particularly focussed on running, but I find the effect of this type of training quite pleasing and complementary to other things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T18:11:19.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-24T18:15:30.617" Score="4" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to understand how a muscle such as the bicep grows step-by-step. For example (but not limited to):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How nutrients line up?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which are essentials?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What exactly do they do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to make sense of the &lt;strong&gt;process&lt;/strong&gt; when potein, bcaas, glutamine, amino acids, complexe carbs, simple carbs, con-cret creatine, mono creatine, calories, weight gainer, pre, intra, post workout supplements all seem to &lt;em&gt;promote lean muscle&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a &lt;strong&gt;physiological&lt;/strong&gt; answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3008" LastEditorUserId="3008" LastEditDate="2012-02-26T19:33:19.540" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T07:40:51.903" Title="How does a muscle grow step-by-step?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5494" CreationDate="2012-02-24T18:30:24.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you interested in the leg dragging kind or ones where the legs are involved in propulsion? In gymnastics I have seen straight legs with fully extended angles and toes. A bit like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/slide-hollow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/slide-hollow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only rather than moving backwards by sliding to the floor you maintain the hollow shape and walk on the hands a bit like: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC3M9SdpdYU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC3M9SdpdYU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may be indoctrinated but I have come to think anything invovling hollow body position = good, so personally I would go for some form of sliding hollow walk (straight legs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T18:30:24.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5572" CreationDate="2012-02-24T18:40:32.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weighttraining.com/exercises/medicine-ball-goblet-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;goblet squats with a medicine ball&lt;/a&gt; (you can also use a dumbbell or kettlebell) then I would highly recommend using goblet squats to help you perfect your squat technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great resource on goblet squats: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, it's much harder to have bad form doing a goblet squat than a &quot;regular&quot; squat because the positioning of the medicine ball/kettlebell/dumbbell forces you to brace your core, keep upright, hinge from the hips, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why this is important is that it's not uncommon to see people in the gym attempting &quot;regular&quot; barbell squats but with outrageously bad form. Some of the most common ways that people butcher squats include the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not going down low enough (not going to parallel or breaking parallel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bending forward too far at the waist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Letting the knees splay out too far (knees should not go past toes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not keeping head up, shoulders back, chest proud&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not &quot;unlocking&quot; the hips for a hip dominant hinge movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of these common errors mentioned above can be remedied by practicing proper squat form with goblet medicine ball squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3009" LastEditorUserId="3009" LastEditDate="2012-02-25T05:20:08.233" LastActivityDate="2012-02-25T05:20:08.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5543" CreationDate="2012-02-24T18:47:19.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can certainly do well by doing a full body workout 3x a week and that can be an OK strategy for a beginner. You can also have good results if you set out to design your own workout plan but as you mention already, you are a beginner so chances are a plan designed by someone else with more experience would be a better fit for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are two very good free beginner workout programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weighttraining.com/workout-plans/mens-beginner-workout-plan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Men's Beginner Workout Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weighttraining.com/workout-plans/womens-beginner-workout-plan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Women's Beginner Workout Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3009" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T18:47:19.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5535" CreationDate="2012-02-24T18:53:58.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may have some issues with upper back mobility and shoulder mobility. I have had some of the same issues and doing some light upper back/shoulder mobility work with bands or a broomstick has helped me a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever tried shoulder dislocations (or even &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weighttraining.com/exercises/resistance-band-shoulder-dislocation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resistance band shoulder dislocations&lt;/a&gt; which I really like)? (They sound awful but they really aren't that bad lol)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great primer from StrongLifts.com on using shoulder dislocations to improve squat flexibility: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3009" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T18:53:58.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5558" CreationDate="2012-02-24T21:20:56.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another thing to look at is your footware.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/11/04/barefoot-running-the-great-debate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nerd Fitness&lt;/a&gt; has  a pretty interesting article on running barefoot or using shoes like the Vigram Five-Finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that, as a species, we developed for thousands of years to run barefoot, or mostly barefoot.  The advent of shoes, and sneakers, has supposedly helped increase injuries when running.  The idea being that we're now running more on our heels than the balls of our feet and putting pressure where it's not supposed to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running barefoot, or mostly barefoot, with shoes like the vibrams, are supposed to allow your body to act the way it wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-02-24T21:20:56.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5588" CreationDate="2012-02-25T00:32:57.983" Score="3" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I have started running, I have also been trying to loose weight. My issue being that I am 18st and running on the pavement for 3 miles isn't good for my knee!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been controlling my diet. I have cut out normal Coke completely along with beer, gone without chocolate and sweet things, and reduced the size of my meals. So far I have managed to loose 1st doing this while running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I would also like to improve my upper body strength and to tone up (get bigger arms etc as mine are a bit skinny for my size). I have read on this site people recommend eating more on the day of a workout as this builds muscle. This concerns me, as I am prone to weight gain. It made me think that maybe the muscles in my legs aren't recovering well because of the calorie controlled diet, and doing weight training would be a waste of time as there could be no improvement while on this diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I being paranoid? For the record I try to eat fish and chicken everyday when possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2993" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-02-25T06:04:09.490" LastActivityDate="2012-02-25T06:04:09.490" Title="Building and gaining muscle while losing weight" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5587" CreationDate="2012-02-25T06:02:42.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're a beginner, you may be able to lose some weight and gain some muscle at the same time if you eat and exercise correctly. However, once past the novice stage you'll find that it becomes very difficult to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously and you end up having to choose one or the other. Bodybuilders call these cycles &quot;cutting&quot; and &quot;bulking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest first working on gaining muscle, which will help you to burn fat over the long run, and then switching to a cut/diet after you've made some progress with muscle gain. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; (read the book as your primary resource, then peruse the forums) is an excellent program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2012-02-25T06:02:42.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5599" CreationDate="2012-02-25T08:45:50.380" Score="0" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in India and I don't think Zumba is spread up in our culture and we have other form of classical and contemporary Indian dance which are very famous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-First of all I am interested to ask this question here because I know the benefits of &quot;Zumbaing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you guys have any tips on how to self learn zumba by watching videos etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastActivityDate="2012-02-26T14:23:40.883" Title="How to self learn Zumba dance?" Tags="&lt;zumba&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5494" CreationDate="2012-02-25T14:00:09.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the bear crawl is supposed to be a full-body exercise, it's best to bend the knees as you pull them forward to allow you to engage both your quads and calves. This way you really make sure you get the most out the exercise by being able to create power by driving with the legs. However, you don't want to pull your legs up straight up underneath you, but rather keep them slightly out to the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the correct form being used as agility training here:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8-zBUSOjrw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8-zBUSOjrw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3011" LastActivityDate="2012-02-25T14:00:09.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5421" CreationDate="2012-02-25T15:22:13.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The National Strength and Conditioning Association has a bit of research in this area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nsca-lift.org/publications/journals/AMPubDetail.asp?artId=89&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a sample NSCA article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is that you &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt; your training as opposed to &lt;em&gt;replacing&lt;/em&gt; one of your workouts.  If you are forced to choose between one or the other, I would definitely choose your endurance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3014" LastActivityDate="2012-02-25T15:22:13.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5598" CreationDate="2012-02-26T00:47:01.793" Score="3" ViewCount="4794" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if it's at all possible to try a keto diet with not too much money. For various reasons, I don't have the money to keep to a good diet. Usually, my diet consists of pasta, rice, and coleslaw, since the grocery store near me sells those for very cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to change this, and am wondering if it's possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2039" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T22:30:59.687" Title="Want to try keto diet but have no money" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5546" CreationDate="2012-02-26T02:54:10.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they do not smell to bad and are in okay shape I do it. They make perfect dog walking shoes or working in the yard shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2012-02-26T02:54:10.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-26T04:12:52.223" Score="1" ViewCount="688" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can  I maximize its utility? When should I drink protein powder, in the morning or at night, before meal or after meal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1155" LastActivityDate="2012-02-26T04:28:46.243" Title="When should I drink protein powder, in the morning or at night, before meal or after meal?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5595" CreationDate="2012-02-26T04:28:46.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein powder is a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4066/1771&quot;&gt;supplement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; meant to be used when eating a protein-rich meal is not feasible. Generally the best time for protein supplementation is immediately after a workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-02-26T04:28:46.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-26T07:21:21.473" Score="3" ViewCount="934" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a TRX suspension class at my gym three days a week that lasts for only 25 min, although they work us pretty hard. I don't really feel like lifting weights after I finish. I usually have the energy for more cardiovascular exercise. What should I do afterward?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can use the stationary bicycle, elliptical cross-trainer, simply walk, stretch, do a yoga routine, or just go to work (on the other side of a big hill) and eat sooner. My priorities are avoiding and preventing injury, gaining muscle, cardiovascular health, and fat loss, in that order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been getting on the bike for 10 min and then the cross-trainer for 10 min, and that seems to work fine, but I wonder if something else would be a better idea. I have little experience with the cross-trainer too, so I'm not sure how I should set the resistance and what pace I should aim for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3018" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T15:00:55.187" Title="How to follow up TRX suspension training workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5593" CreationDate="2012-02-26T07:54:37.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm worried this is almost too simple to be an answer, but I'll add more detail if you have specific questions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a ketogenic diet I assume you would need to reduce the daily grams of carbohydrate to the low double digits, or &amp;lt;10% of total calories. Pasta and rice are obviously low-cost calorie sources and you want something that provides a similar amount of calories, without the carbohydrates and without spending more money. While cabbage is usually one of the cheapest vegetable options and is not heavy in carbs, I would watch the premade coleslaw as it usually has a lot of sugar added along with the cabbage and oil. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can swap out the pasta and rice for things like canned fish, fatty meat, eggs, cheese, cream, butter, coconut milk. Because of the high caloric density of fat and the current trend against high-fat foods, I think you will find these things will meet your caloric needs pretty cost-effectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutritional balance is a different matter, but you can't go much worse than pasta and rice. If you are really into optimizing low cost and planning to meet certain nutrient targets, you could try this excel sheet: &lt;a href=&quot;http://excelcalculations.blogspot.com/2011/05/diet-problem-linear-programming.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://excelcalculations.blogspot.com/2011/05/diet-problem-linear-programming.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-02-26T07:54:37.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5590" CreationDate="2012-02-26T14:23:40.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there aren't classes for Zumba available in your region, the best you can do is follow along with Zumba DVDs or Zumba video games. If you have a specific question about particular Zumba moves, it's best to ask those as separate questions rather than in one large question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zumba Fitness Exhilarate is a DVD set that's available from the official Zumba website and on Amazon and is probably available in other e-commerce websites depending on where you look. I'm guessing it might be physically available in stores too. This particular DVD set is a newer version of the previous one (at least that's what Amazon says), Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation System. Its may or may not be available depending where you look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also Zumba Fitness video games for the Wii, PlayStation 3 (using the Move controller), and XBox 360 (using the Kinect peripheral). &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2011/12/introduction-to-zumba-fitness-2/&quot;&gt;I've tried Zumba Fitness 2&lt;/a&gt; on the Wii, and didn't feel it was particularly instructional. There is a tutorial section that breaks down the moves slowly, but a lot of it just you imitating what's on-screen. It takes practice to get used to some of those moves if you are unfamiliar with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2012-02-26T14:23:40.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5603" CreationDate="2012-02-26T21:42:18.757" Score="8" ViewCount="1294" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I start towards exercising to gain strength, I want to avoid gaining a lot of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how accurate it is, but I have heard that muscle size is not related to strength, i.e. the more muscles you have does not mean relate to the stronger you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a slim build that I would like to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I avoid getting physically bigger yet gain strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-26T23:59:32.907" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T20:57:57.577" Title="How can I avoid building a lot of muscle while gaining strength" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5604" CreationDate="2012-02-26T21:49:03.990" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm mainly concerned about my diet as it relates to strength building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not concerned about other factors because I have a fast metabolism and don't seem to gain weight and am active enough that I feel that other concerns do not apply to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I have been eating a lot of recently is chicekn strips from the supermarket. They are a good price and I like them. Each strip has 3g of protein, 5g of fat and 6 g of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I eat say 15, that is 45g of protein which can be used towards my strength building. Will the 75g of fat negate that? Especially since I don't seem to gain weight at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-26T23:58:58.960" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T04:48:19.470" Title="Does fat negate protein?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5600" CreationDate="2012-02-27T00:58:50.890" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have heard that muscle size is not related to strength&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When lifting increase the speed and number of repetitions. Do not add weight; instead focus on muscle confusion (&lt;a href=&quot;http://lmgtfy.com/?q=muscle%20confusion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see p90x&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look up, interval training and cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But before anything else speak with your doctor. See what he/she recommends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3021" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T00:58:50.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5600" CreationDate="2012-02-27T01:19:06.863" Score="10" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, presses and chin-ups are better than isolation or machine exercises like curls or leg extensions for building useful strength. You might also have success with gymnastic strength training, like Coach Sommer's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/store/homepage/building-the-gymnastic-body.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If using weights, lift heavy with fewer repetitions will build the most strength while avoiding hypertrophic (mass-building) effects. One to three repetitions of a maximal or near-maximal weight are commonly recommended. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4383/1771&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; is relevant. (If you go with gymnastics instead, ignore this paragraph; it's a different story.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T01:19:06.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5601" CreationDate="2012-02-27T04:48:19.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein provides two benefits to the body: calories and amino acids, and eating fat does not negate either of these uses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories from fat and calories from protein both provide fuel for movement; assuming complete digestion, the total energy available to your body is the sum of the fat calories and the protein calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amino acids from protein may -- when needed -- be used for building and repairing muscle and other tissue, and consuming fat does not prevent or hinder this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T04:48:19.470" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-27T05:56:06.860" Score="5" ViewCount="14718" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently only able to exercise right before heading to sleep. I'm a bit short on my protein intake, and I've been thinking about mixing in some protein supplements in the smoothies I'm making myself. However, protein, to my understanding should be consumed after exercising, not before. But I've also read that you should stop eating at least two hours before you go to sleep. This leaves me with the choice of eating right before heading to bed, or not eating, and missing the protein that would help me post-exercise. I could possibly push it, so I'll wait 30 minutes before sleeping, but I can't make it 2 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, question is which is worse, eating right as I'm about to sleep, or not getting the protein post-exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2942" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T16:30:44.103" Title="Eating before sleeping vs not eating after exercising" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5260" CreationDate="2012-02-27T06:06:57.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Youh may want to look at &lt;em&gt;Swimming Faster&lt;/em&gt; by Ernest W. Maglischo written back between 1980 and 1983.  It has an entire chapter and if I remember right three or four pages of reference related to energy metabolism as it relates to swimming.  There is a much better book less scientific more geared to increasing swim efficiency, it is called &lt;em&gt;Total Immersion,&lt;/em&gt; I forget the author.  It is based heavily on coach Bill Boomer's ideas about buoyancy.  He started coaching small DIII teams in New York and ended up as a Olympic coach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mistake that is made when comparing swimming to sports which you have to carry all your weight like the rest of a triathlon is it is buoyancy and streamlining (like in cycling) that make the difference.  If you can float and &quot;press the T&quot; a short guy like me can float right on top of the water and streamline like a crew shell, betting out anyone trying to swim more vertically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said there should be a rule of them about an individuals buoyancy/streamline.  4 times as much energy is probably not that bad. For shorter distances I've always have heard 3 to as little as 1.5 times as much energy need to swim the same distance as run, again depending on efficency.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3022" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T06:06:57.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2012-02-27T06:15:16.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to cut out the calcium supplement.  Recommendations for young healthy men is 1000-2500mg daily.  There is some evidence that too much can cause cardio problems.  Between the multi vitamins and your food you are likely getting plenty calcium.  Best case you are paying for expensive urine, worst case you are starting damage that could curtail your airmen career.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3022" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T06:15:16.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5611" CreationDate="2012-02-27T06:58:31.200" Score="5" ViewCount="10967" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to buy a set of dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am choosing between &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/4/FitnessWellness/WeightsAccessories/PRDOVR~0840762P/Alex%AE+Spinlock+Dumbbells.jsp?locale=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spinlock dumbbells&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o9VlC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/4/FitnessWellness/WeightsAccessories/PRDOVR~0840857P/Rubberized+Hex+Dumbbell.jsp?locale=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rubberized Hex Dumbbells&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9UQvP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;A href=&quot;http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/4/FitnessWellness/WeightsAccessories/PRDOVR~0840760P/Cap+Barbell+Dumbbell+Set%2C+40+lb.jsp?locale=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cap Barbell Dumbbells&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/du6hq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell if there are advantages or disadvantages to each type outside of the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone give a summary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="2921" LastEditDate="2012-03-05T02:51:09.960" LastActivityDate="2012-03-05T02:51:09.960" Title="What are the pros and cons of these 3 types of dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5630" CreationDate="2012-02-27T08:55:37.357" Score="2" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that after depletion of glycogen body starts to use fat for fuel. If I continue working an hour or more in this state, does my body start to use proteins for energy after a while? I have some belly fat so I don't think I am losing proteins from my muscles? Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3023" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-01T03:46:39.770" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T03:46:39.770" Title="Fat and protein breakdown" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2012-02-27T09:08:54.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to add to the first in the list:&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You are one muscle, with many fibers, learn to use them, move around with them, focus them, strengthen that focus then find out about switching foci. After that, speed comes with knowing that your body learns by doing.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Disclaimer:&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But build up your workouts to that point first, don't just jump into the speed part of martial arts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3024" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T09:08:54.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5608" CreationDate="2012-02-27T13:01:18.137" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pros and cons are pretty obvious, but I'd like to point out that both the York spinlocks and Cap spinlocks you linked to are essentially the same type of dumbbell.  You've got two classes of dumbbells:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjustable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Non-adjustable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pros and cons of non-adjustable dumbbells like the hex dumbbells you linked to are going to be the same whether the weight is rubberized, circular, hex, etc.  However, with adjustable dumbbells you have three basic types: spinlocks, tool adjustable, and &quot;dial-a-weight&quot;.  The pros and cons are more varied between these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First the pros and cons of adjustable vs. non-adjustable weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adjustable weights are more easily stored&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;non-adjustable weights are easier to use when you change weights within your workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;non-adjustable weights are more robust/solidly built&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;non-adjustable weights are cheaper per pound when comparing one dumbbell to one dumbbell, but you have to buy more of them, so a whole set will be more expensive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hex vs. round weighted ends: the only difference is that hex won't roll on you, but for the majority of dumbbell exercises that really isn't much of a concern.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if economy is what you need--either space or overall cost--adjustable dumbbells may be the way to go.  They are more cumbersome to use when you have to change weights during your routine, but that can be offset by getting enough handles/weights to support that.  However, non-adjustable dumbbells are the most solidly built and the easiest to use.  There's no moving parts.  They just take up a lot of space, and a whole set will be very expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between the adjustable dumbbells, the pros and cons are more varied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;dial-a-weight&quot; dumbbells (including bowflex, the &quot;powerblock&quot; and other similar products) are the most expensive per pound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;dial-a-weight&quot; dumbbells are the most complexly built dumbbells--which means they will break easier, and in ways you can't really fix.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;dial-a-weight&quot; dumbbells are easier to use when switching weights in the middle of your routine--but that can be offset by having more than one set of handles with the other adjustables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spinlock dumbbells are the happy medium between dial-a-weight and tool adjusted.  The spinlock is easy to remove and put back on, and doesn't equire any tools, but you have to spin the lock all the way off the handle which is long.  They are more solidly built than dial-a-weight, but not as strong as tool adjusted dumbbells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tool adjusted dumbbells can be every bit as strong as and well built as non-adjustable dumbbells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tool adjusted dumbbells are the least convenient to change in the middle of a workout because it requires using a tool--which can be easily lost.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are not likely to find new tool adjusted dumbbells due to the success of the spinlocks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T13:01:18.137" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5605" CreationDate="2012-02-27T13:27:27.827" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, most recommendations about frequency of eating and timing of eating don't have any appreciable real benefit.  Whether you get all your daily nutrition in 3 meals or 6 only matters in what helps you stick to your nutrition plan.  If you do better eating small meals throughout the day, do it.  If you do better with multiple larger meals, go for it.  Long story short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any recommendation of not eating at least N hours before bed is suspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only place I've seen something different is when we are talking about a good insulin spike.  It takes about 7 hours for your body to switch from burning carbs to burning fat.  If you are concerned with burning as much fat as possible, be concerned if your last meal contains carbs.  Since you are talking about having a protein shake before bed, the insulin response is not enough to cause your body to completely switch over where it's pulling it's energy.  If you are happy with your body composition, there is nothing to worry about at all--except that you have to keep in mind that protein shakes also have calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies showing the efficacy of protein have mixed results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means in lay terms is that it doesn't matter as much &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; you consume the protein as the amount you consume.  While it has been proven that your body can only process protein so fast, and exercise prepares your muscles to use the protein in your diet, it hasn't been proven you have to consume the protein just after you eat.  If you have your protein before exercise, it still takes time to process, and it will be present when your body is ready for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long story short:&lt;/strong&gt; it doesn't matter which you choose.  If your stomach gets upset consuming it post workout, try it pre-workout.  Either way it will still do what it needs to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T13:27:27.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-27T16:46:01.903" Score="4" ViewCount="9075" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweaty hands are plaguing my rock climbing and pull up exercises, as well as being annoying at other times. I've read a few (unsourced) ideas that nutrition can be a big factor in sweaty hands. Can I do to stop sweaty palms by changing my diet? If so, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1070" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-02-27T19:48:31.993" LastActivityDate="2013-01-15T01:03:52.183" Title="How can I stop sweaty hands?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5388" CreationDate="2012-02-27T18:16:49.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd need two things more than others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/diet&quot;&gt;Diet&lt;/a&gt; : Choose a diet which meets your needs the most. I found an interesting article on &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/NU00616&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Choosing a diet that's right for you&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, here's a summary of it:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;[...]Think about these factors:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Past diets&lt;/strong&gt;. Think about diets you may have tried before. What did you like or dislike about them? Were you able to follow the diet? What worked or didn't work for you on this diet? How did you feel physically and emotionally while on the diet?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Personality&lt;/strong&gt;. Do you prefer to diet on your own, or do you like getting support from a group? If you like group support, do you prefer online support or in-person meetings?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Budget&lt;/strong&gt;. Some weight-loss programs require you to buy supplements or meals, or to visit weight-loss clinics or attend support meetings. Does the cost of such programs fit your budget?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Special needs&lt;/strong&gt;. Do you have a health condition, such as diabetes, heart disease or allergies? Do you have specific cultural or ethnic requirements or preferences when it comes to food? These are important factors that should help determine which diet you choose.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For a safe and effective weight-loss approach, look for these features:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;. Look for a plan that doesn't forbid certain foods or food groups but instead includes a variety of foods from all the major food groups. A healthy diet includes vegetables and fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, lean protein sources, and nuts and seeds — and even an occasional sweet indulgence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Balanced nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;. A weight-loss plan should include proper amounts of nutrients and calories for your individual situation. Diets that direct you to eat large quantities of certain foods, such as grapefruit or meat, that drastically cut calories, or that eliminate entire food groups, such as carbohydrates, may result in nutritional problems, even if you take vitamins or supplements.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Enjoyment&lt;/strong&gt;. A diet should include foods you like and that you would enjoy eating for the rest of your life — not just for several weeks or months. If you don't like the diet, if it's overly restrictive or if it becomes boring, you're probably not going to stick to it.&#xA;  Availability. If a diet plan doesn't feature foods that you can easily find in your local grocery store, it may be harder to follow.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Physical activity&lt;/strong&gt;. Every weight-loss program should include recommendations to increase physical activity. Exercise plus calorie restriction can help give you the weight-loss edge. Exercise also offers numerous health benefits, including boosting your mood, strengthening your cardiovascular system and reducing your blood pressure. And exercise is the most important factor in maintaining weight loss. Studies show that people who maintain their weight loss over the long term get regular physical activity.&#xA;  Steady pace. A slow and steady approach is easier to maintain and usually beats out fast weight loss for the long term. A weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week is the typical recommendation. In some situations, faster weight loss can be safe if it's done the right way — such as a very low calorie diet with medical supervision, or during a brief quick-start phase of a healthy-eating plan that offers lots of healthy and safe strategies at once.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a list of latest diets: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/evaluate-latest-diets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The latest diets and diet plan reviews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Daily &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/exercise&quot;&gt;exercise&lt;/a&gt;: Adding 15 minutes of moderate exercise, say walking one mile, to your daily schedule, for example. &lt;sup&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitness.gov/exerciseweight.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercise and weight control&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it. The thing is, you need to make the decision. And keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A weight loss plan only works if you stay with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T21:36:13.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5277" CreationDate="2012-02-28T01:59:00.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations!  I am doing the same thing although I am starting with a half marathon.  I am new to running for long periods of time.  I made sure I had a good base running of 30 minutes four days per week before I started the training for the half.  I then picked a half 12 week training program for a half marathon that slowly increases by distance each Sunday.  I have two rest days per week.  I am entering week four so now the real work begins.  Best of luck to you and I am so happy to see there are others who want to run on the elliptical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3033" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T01:59:00.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5620" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5621" CreationDate="2012-02-28T12:40:37.747" Score="2" ViewCount="1320" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched on the internet for some women fitness plans for my girlfriend, a but lot of them are to lose weight. But she is slim, and I wanted some training for weight gain, and to strengthen her body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you thing that I should look for some specific plans for the beginner (as she is)? Is it enough to start with any beginner plan for women? Or should I recommend an aerobic plan instead of the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-03T21:13:11.980" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T21:13:11.980" Title="Women's fitness plan for weight (muscle?) gain" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5620" CreationDate="2012-02-28T13:02:03.017" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she is trying to gain muscle, the most tried and true way is with lifting weights.  There are some things that &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/forum/25-strength-training-for-women/&quot;&gt;women do need to take into account&lt;/a&gt; to set their expectations realistically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting weights doesn't mean you start looking like a man--that's a unique set of bodybuilders, some of whom use steroids, and not what I'm talking about.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women don't progress as quickly as men do.  It's a physiological difference in the amount of testosterone--not anything you can do about that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing strength will increase your muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You do need the support of other women who lift to work through your sticking points.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The same plan that works for men can work for women&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The community in the link I provided has a decent number of women lifters, and the group is &#xA;very respectful.  Worth checking out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good starting program would be Starting Strength, or this newer spin on a beginner program also looks promissing: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/1157-the-average-fn-program-a-simple-and-efficient-training-template/&quot;&gt;The Average F'n Program&lt;/a&gt;.  Despite the name, it has a few good points to it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have one lower body and one upper body lift each day: squat and overhead press, or deadlift and bench press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's designed to keep your time in the gym no more than an hour long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's something that you can progress with for a good while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T13:02:03.017" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5600" CreationDate="2012-02-28T13:16:01.073" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you could exchange the gym for some martial art... maybe you already have a good amount of physical strength and you need some psychical (inner) stregth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;I am not proffesional of martial arts yet, its just my opinion..&#xA;I now realized that if you wanted to improve only your strength on the bench (and to maintain the weight category on the competition), than maybe my answer is not the right one for you. It was just my first thought as you write to get strength without big muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that martial art can prepare you in a little bit other way to use your strength than weightlifting.. it improves your reflexes, concetration, speed, discipline and makes your body to use to the fighting moves automaticaly without first think of the move and to the pain from the punching and kicking (i know its not all about punches..). Maybe the weightlifter can have his punch as strong as muay thai fighter, but by this punch (if he even manages to punch as he is slow) he can broke his fingers or palm if he is not used to it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Maybe you should look for myofibrillar hypertrophy from &lt;a href=&quot;http://criticalmas.com/2009/10/the-two-types-of-muscle-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditDate="2012-02-29T07:43:03.007" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T07:43:03.007" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5645" CreationDate="2012-02-28T14:48:01.007" Score="2" ViewCount="2452" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past few months, I've managed to trim down to about 11% bodyfat but unfortunately not without sacrificing a several pounds of muscle in the process. I'd like to regain and build beyond that lost size.  If I could gradually reduce my bodyfat further as well, that'd be great, but muscle gain &lt;em&gt;without increasing fat&lt;/em&gt; is my goal right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Everyone's body is different&quot; notwithstanding, how would I go about calculating a good guideline for daily caloric intake and macronutrient split that would best facilitate gaining of muscle without increase of fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T16:13:11.160" Title="What's the &quot;optimal&quot; macronutrient split and daily caloric intake to increase lean body weight while reducing fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5624" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-28T15:24:41.987" Score="4" ViewCount="23553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 24 year old software engineer that basically sits at a desk all day. Obviously, this isn't a healthy lifestyle, so I decided to start running in order to get in shape. I'm not an athlete by any means, but I'm not fat...yet (I'm 5' 11&quot; and weigh about 190).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm a noob when it comes to exercising, I decided to look online for some advice. I found the &lt;a href=&quot;http://zenhabits.net/beginners-guide-to-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Beginner's Guide to Running&lt;/a&gt; and decided to take its advice. I hope that was wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three weeks ago, I started running 3 days a week, for 30 minutes each of those days. For the first 10 minutes of each running session, I warmed up by walking. On the first week, I jogged for 1 minute and walked for 1 minute. I repeated this pattern for 10 minutes (I felt like an idiot in the gym, but I did it nonetheless), and then walked for 10 minutes to cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next week, I increased the jogging/walking intervals to 2 minutes, like the article mentioned. I felt like I was making pretty good progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the end of the first day of the next/third week, my knees were hurting fairly bad. And, since they were still hurting throughout the rest of the week, I decided to rest for the remainder of that week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now on the fourth week of &quot;running.&quot; Since my knees were feeling much better (probably not 100% healed), I decided to go run yesterday. This week, I wanted to increase my interval time to 2:30m jogging / 2m walking. However, after my first interval jogging, the knee pain came back with a vengeance. Also, my shin muscles hurt very bad and were very tight by the end of the session (they usually do get sore, but not this bad, this quick). So, instead of continuing the jogging intervals, I simply walked the remainder of the 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need some advice on actions to take from here. I want to get in better shape, but my shins/knees seem like they just can't keep up right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there specific/better steps that I need to take in order to work up to what I'm wanting to do? Or, do I just need to grow some bigger balls and power through it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I figure my knees will heal with time (I hope), but my shin muscles being sore (not just tired, but they get very tight and sore) seems to be a more consistent issue. Is this due to me simply being out of shape, or do I need treatment in other ways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3037" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T03:12:25.630" Title="How do I overcome this muscle / knee pain?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5624" CreationDate="2012-02-28T16:09:05.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of running shoes are you wearing? Having the wrong pair of shoes on for any run can be tough on your joints!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having that much pain with starting out, you may want to start with some foundational strength training first, particularly bodyweight exercises (squats, lunges, burpees, etc). This will give you a great base to start from, as your legs are not accustomed to exercise just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise itself is not supposed to be that painful! It's one thing to push through the usual strain, but extra pain is not a good sign. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what WebMD says for Shin Splints:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/shin-splints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/shin-splints&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;When I had problems with them, I walked on my heels for a few minutes every day, and they went away in just a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3011" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T16:09:05.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5624" CreationDate="2012-02-28T16:37:49.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor and this is not a diagnosis; I recommend you consult a physical therapist if the knee pain continues. However, from what I can tell these are very common cases with runners, especially with beginning runners who have just started developing their leg muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regard to the knee pain, it is most likely either Runners Knee or Iliotibial Band Syndrome as these are the two most common injuries (&lt;a href=&quot;http://community.active.com/thread/53306?start=0&amp;amp;tstart=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see active.com article for more info&lt;/a&gt;). There are several ways you can gradually rehabilitate your knee over time to remove the current pain and prevent future pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your shoes offer proper support for your feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Properly stretch your legs before running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you use proper form when running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure there isn't an imbalance in your leg muscles by equally training them all (running does a lot for the hamstring, but not a lot for the quads).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce your mileage to prevent &quot;overuse.&quot; Runner's Knee can come as a result of increasing your mileage too quickly; try going back to your 1-2 minute run 1-2 minute walk because your body might not be ready for much more than that (yet).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice your knee and take anti-inflammatory drugs (ex. ibuprofen) whenever you exerpience knee pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regard to the shin pain, this is almost certainly shin splints (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_splints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;). The shin splints most likely came about because you increased your mileage too quickly, and as a result your muscles weren't strong enough to absorb the stress from running while fatigued. The same remedies for Runners Knee apply here, so make sure you stretch, workout the whole leg, have proper footware, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T16:37:49.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5624" CreationDate="2012-02-28T16:40:27.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're approaching this very wisely. As long as there's no underlying physical problem (which it doesn't sound like there is) it sounds like your body is a little slow to adjust to the new workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would carefully listen to your body and only give it the workload it can handle + 10%. If you need to rest a bit to come back then do so. I would expect the progression to more running, etc to be a bit slower than the advice you're following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shin pain when starting a run-walk programme is pretty common in my experience. I personally don't believe it's shin splints. I find that new runners call any pain in their shin shin splints but you're not going to get a fracture after 3 weeks of very light work. Instead, my theory is that it's just the leg muscles getting used to the new workload and complaining a bit while they do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitor your body carefully, build the workload slowly. At some point you'll be comfortably running 30 mins a day and then things should be normal like other runners and you can pick other goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T16:40:27.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5609" CreationDate="2012-02-28T16:54:03.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about it, proteins start getting consumed only after prolonged periods of starvation when adipose tissues are depleted.  (Unless you are on a very low calorie diet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T16:54:03.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5640" CreationDate="2012-02-28T17:28:38.263" Score="0" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just talking with a nutritionist who told me that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when you mechanically blend a fruit you make the fiber become more&#xA;  digestible to your body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence you lose a little bit of the benefit of just eating the whole fruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is this true?&#xA;please provide a source that backs your opinion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3038" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T23:12:20.993" Title="Does juicing make fiber digestible?" Tags="&lt;fruit&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;&lt;juice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-03-01T03:25:59.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5609" CreationDate="2012-02-28T17:29:33.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;On average, a person has more than 80,000 calories in fat storage.  You'd need to burn through this first before your body targets protein for fat storage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T17:29:33.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5634" CreationDate="2012-02-28T19:56:07.833" Score="2" ViewCount="322" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I feel I have overtrain I rest, say for 3-5 days, and when I start training again I regress in perfermonance, and have to start builduing up again. It is as if I have been stuck in the same place for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can one train, say for 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week, without injuring or overtraining? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking this because, I am curious how proffesional MMA fighter (who some train 6-8 hours a day) or soldiers who spend alot of time in rigourous physical activitiy without overtraining. (Of course I am sure there are some that overtrain but I am asking about those that overcome it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2611" LastActivityDate="2019-05-15T10:37:08.137" Title="Training on the border of overtraining" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5593" CreationDate="2012-02-28T19:56:30.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great source of ketones is coconut oil. It's not that cheap but it's not that expensive either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By just adding a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil you'll get a whole bunch of short-chain fats which are readily transformed into ketones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite breakfast is 4 eggs scrambled in 2 tbsp coconut oil. The yolk emulsifies the oil so it's part of the egg. Just heat the oil a little until it melts (I live in the north :-) ) and pour in the eggs, whisk until mixed and then stir every once in a while until everything is cooked but not dry. Cheap, fast and filling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coconut oil will give you ketones even when you have some carbs in the diet, which is a good thing because going very low/zero carb can have &lt;a href=&quot;http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?cat=105&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;annoying consequences&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1882" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T19:56:30.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5631" CreationDate="2012-02-28T20:02:39.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;My guess&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They work up to it gradually over time. They don't go from not working out, or working out moderately hard three times a week, to five hours a day six days a week. Or if they did, it was probably when they were teenagers, at the peak of their recovery abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T20:02:39.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5631" CreationDate="2012-02-28T20:59:02.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of it has to do with your programming.  If you are training for 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week, you have a great potential to do too much.  Here's the deal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overtraining is accompanied by a loss of performance, and in more serious cases can be accompanied by symptoms that look like clinical depression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MMA fighters and military are not training anywhere near their genetic potentials.  They are focused primarily on conditioning and skill training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The closer you get to your genetic potential, the easier it is to go from the training stimulus needed to overtraining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a weightlifter, then the response to overtraining should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce volume of work for a while (about 2x as long as it took to get into the overtraining state)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In serious cases, take a layoff for a couple weeks before slowly coming back on line.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at your programming really hard.  You have to manage training stress, life stress, and recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be worth splitting your 3-4 hours up into a couple sessions.  Even when you have that amount of workload, you should have cycles of intensity, effort, and rest.  For example, after a high intensity or a high effort session, you should probably do a lower effort session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a better description of what you are doing, it might help in troubleshooting the programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T20:59:02.010" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5624" CreationDate="2012-02-28T22:04:14.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's sound advice to use &quot;good form running&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shorten your stride&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lean slightly forward&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Land on the midfoot&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a very light stride&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe take some collagen supplement for joints&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T22:04:14.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5605" CreationDate="2012-02-28T22:31:02.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember sitting in a class where the sports nutrition guy (from the University of Birmingham) said it was important to eat after exercise, but within 30 minutes of this. The idea is that you take on carbohydrates more effectively and this, in turn, keeps your energy levels up. He said if you didn't do this then you would suffer muscle fatigue quicker when exercising, and you would suffer from lower muscle performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always thought that eating before going to bed was bad for you because the food will just lay in your stomach and isn't digested properly. It is said that it takes four hours to be digested. With this in mind, I always wait the four hours after eating before going to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you allow time for your food to digest properly then you shouldn't experience any issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2993" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T22:31:02.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5624" CreationDate="2012-02-28T22:57:52.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally have expeirneced this when I go on a very hard run and not having done so for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got the knee pain so bad that I couldn't bend my right knee to walk up stairs, or atleast not without wincing. The doctor gave me anti-inflammatory medicine, and it cleared it right up. I think you should try taking some over the counter stuff yourself to see if that helps the knee pain. If it does, I would suggest (although I am not a doctor, this is just a theory of mine) taking a dose of over the counter anti-inflammatory medice before you run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the knee pain most probably comes from either or both of the following two things. The first is bad form and the second is bad shoes. Typical running shoes promote landing on the heel, while naturally, you should be landing on the balls of your feet. Landing on the heel creates more stress on your knee. Thus when you run, try to be concious about how you are landing to decrease the impact on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had tight shins before from running too. It could be shin splints but probably its just your muscles being shocked from exercise. In my case, it has always gone away within a few days. I always just do some streching to loosen it up. Whichever side is feeling tight, point your toe as much as possible and make circles with your ankles. Normally loosens them up a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So thats my 2 cents :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T22:57:52.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5605" CreationDate="2012-02-28T23:05:34.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, it's not even a question. Definitely get your protein in. Your body needs to recover after a workout and you need protein to do so efficiently. In fact, you should look into buying Casien protein powder instead of the regular type. It is suggested that Casien protein is slower to break down and helps you maintain anabolic state when you are sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casein#Protein_supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casein#Protein_supplements&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="6218" LastEditDate="2017-10-31T16:30:44.103" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T16:30:44.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2012-02-28T23:05:45.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoghurt? Whey protein shakes? HIGH PROTEIN COOKIES??&lt;br&gt;&#xA;None of this is what &lt;em&gt;Tim Ferriss&lt;/em&gt; was talking about I'm afraid. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;He means &lt;em&gt;high quality&lt;/em&gt; protein, i.e. animal protein. If you're a vegetarian, then I guess you've got to do &lt;br&gt;the best you can with a restrictive system of eating. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have a similar issue, in that I find it difficult to eat so much in the morning (which is how I landed here, looking for tips!) So, why do I have an issue with the above foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(1) Yoghurt&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Fine if you can tolerate it, but dairy is a problem for most humans because of the milk&lt;br&gt; proteins which cause all manner of issues. We're not kids. We no longer need milk. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Exceptions to the rule seem to be hard cheeses, ghee etc. (grass-fed if you can get it). Cottage cheese has a lot of protein and is low carb, so if you're wanting to lose weight &#xA;and MUST consume dairy, it's not the worst thing you could eat. (and it's yum).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(2) Whey Protein Shakes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Most are just clever ways of sucking money out of chumps. Why not just eat 'food'?&#xA;If you &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to use them, then go for whey protein &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;isolate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, which is far superior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(3) High Protein Cookies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Dumbest. Idea. &lt;em&gt;Ever&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;You &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; get your 30gm of protein for a handful of these stupid things, but it'll come&#xA;bundled with massive amounts of carbs and gluten. Not only totally undoing your weight-loss efforts, but you'll GAIN weight. Again, if you're following Ferriss' protocol and you want to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;lose&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; weight, you need to avoid grains (inc. fake grains such as quinoa), sugars (inc. fruit initially) and most dairy. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Robb Wolf would suggest steering clear of legumes too. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, best of luck and keep going. I've done the Slow-Carb thing for 3mths and lost 20kg - and I did it in the most haphazard way possible (mainly because I couldn't afford all the food I had to eat - esp. the grass-fed stuff) and with no other exercise than walking (quickly) for an hour most days.&#xA;Cheers,&#xA;m@&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3040" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T23:05:45.873" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5629" CreationDate="2012-02-28T23:12:20.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accourding to the following, blending has no effect on fiber content per say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oprah.com/health/Does-Blending-Fruit-Reduce-Its-Fiber-Content&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.oprah.com/health/Does-Blending-Fruit-Reduce-Its-Fiber-Content&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like the article says, the main issue, is that you digest a liquid faster than you do a solid. This is probably what your nutritionist means when she says the fiber becomes &quot;more digestable&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is still the same amount of fiber in your smoothie as there is in a whole fruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T23:12:20.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5623" CreationDate="2012-02-28T23:58:31.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everybody's different is, unfortunately, the answer. And as you probably know, adding muscle and not fat is easiest in untrained folks, so it's not a sure thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that said, I can tell you what's worked for me. During a gain, I'll eat 35% carbs, 40% pro, 25% fat, at about 200 cal over my maintenance number after adding exercise calories back in. Maintenance for me is around 2200, and say I burn about 300 during my workouts. I'd shoot for about 2700 cal with the split mentioned above. It's a slower gain than eating over 3000 calories, but you didn't say anything about needing it to be fast, so maybe it'll help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T23:58:31.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5581" CreationDate="2012-02-29T07:40:51.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a relatively deep article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/muscle-growth-part-1-the-science-behind-why-and-how-does-a-muscle-grow-and-get-stronger.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it can help you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T07:40:51.903" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2012-02-29T10:05:51.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. A negative one. You will destroy your knees and hips if you wear ankle weights all day long. Your body was not made to handle excess weight at your extremities for that length of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T10:05:51.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5623" CreationDate="2012-02-29T16:13:11.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my own experience ( i lost around 60 pounds 3 years ago but not one inch of muscle lost), you have to focus on two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to do body weight training &lt;b&gt;OR&lt;/b&gt; weight lifting: &lt;b&gt;HOWEVER&lt;/b&gt; , do &lt;b&gt;NOT&lt;/b&gt; overtrain! overtraining in your case (while eating low calories) will make your body protect itself and hold to every single piece of fat it has. Train moderately , for like max 40 mins per session, maximum 4 times a week. This will help you build muscle and not hold to your fat, since your deficit won't be extreme! however, to build proper muscles nutrition is essential and so we go to the next point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep your calories level low (same calories you are eating to loose weight): &lt;b&gt;HOWEVER&lt;/b&gt;, do not do the common mistake of cutting carbs and/or fat! a lot of talks online goes around protein, and that you need &lt;b&gt;X grams&lt;/b&gt; of protein to grow muscles...while protein is needed, as it is the building block of muscles, &lt;b&gt; good&lt;/b&gt; carbs are what stores energy and glycogen in your muscle and help it recover, ie good recovery makes the muscles grows more. By good carbs i mean &lt;b&gt; complex carbs&lt;/b&gt;. On a side note, something which still intrigues me till nowadays, and that is FAT ( the good fat ie monounsaturated,polyunsaturated and even a bit of saturated,never trans fat) will help you loose the remaining fat if you eat a balanced diet with a bit of fat in it. Why? i don't claim to be a doctor, but it did help me and i &lt;b&gt;assume&lt;/b&gt; that when u have a bit of that healthy fat , your body monitor system will feel safe that with this low calories and weight lifting routine , it is still getting enough fat that it needs to regulates all bodily hormones. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When i first started the fat burn/muscle gain routine, i used to think of carbs as the devil and that i should train 4 hours a day. This is all wrong, you need to understand what you are doing cannot be accomplished in 1 week, and that you have to constantly challenge your muscles without overtraining (as mentionned above). Overtraining made me gain fat even with low calories level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in a summary: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderate muscle training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a balanced diet containing all sort of nutrients ( never do the &quot;I only eat protein&quot; diet): my personal choice is: 50% complex carbs, 20-30% protein, 20-30% fat (however this percentage might be different for different genetics, but the point is having a rich balanced diet so that your hormones function properly and u reach what you are trying to do)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T16:13:11.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="980" CreationDate="2012-02-29T16:41:04.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep your eyes on the ceiling and concentrate on bringing your shoulders up to the sky, not your knees. That's one tip that really helps execute proper sit ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if bigger muscles are you goal, sit ups a poor choice. I'd suggest trying &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSC_MXb3SCw&amp;amp;noredirect=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ab roll outs&lt;/a&gt; for better results with less risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as always, any discussion of abs needs to include the adage &quot;Abs are made in the kitchen.&quot; If you want killer abs, you have to cut body fat, and that's primarily done with diet/nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3045" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T16:41:04.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5649" CreationDate="2012-02-29T17:04:41.783" Score="0" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;For Lent I am doing a juice/liquid fast from sun up, to sun down. I can eat one meal at sun set, and snack before bed.  The thing is I was told I could “brake” my metabolism so that after my fast I would never lose lbs. Is this true? I know, “ask your doctor”, but I can’t afford one.  I know lots of other people that have done this kind of thing, and they all say to take in the calories I need and I’ll be fine. So what a safe way to do this? Should I stop my normal exorcize and Zumba until after the fast? Or should I just go about my life? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2941" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T17:25:08.187" Title="What is a safe juice or liquid fast?" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;juice&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5650" CreationDate="2012-02-29T17:15:28.493" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;My little girl hates eating veggies, but loves the juice (like 100% carrot juice, “Superfood”, or V8). She is only 9, and I was the same way until I was around 20. So is there anything wrong with letting her have the juice rather than fight with about eating them? I still put them on her plate, and I still remind her that it’s the same stuff (this may be why she told me the juice was the same so it must be ok. Lol). So is the juice the same? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that I am not asking about my parenting, I am asking about the juice being healthy for her.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2941" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T17:42:36.387" Title="Is juice as healthy as the veggies it comes from?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;children&gt;&lt;juice&gt;&lt;vegetables&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-03-01T03:41:07.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5647" CreationDate="2012-02-29T17:25:08.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;never lose&quot;&lt;/b&gt; is an extremely wrong statement. The body is very flexible and adaptable. The fasting system you are following will reduce your metabolism because your body will be receiving less calories with very low frequency, so the body clock will regulates itself to hold on to the calories you eat and slows down the fat burn process. &lt;b&gt;However&lt;/b&gt; this is only true during the period of fasting ,and as soon as you stop fasting and start eating again regular meal, your body will re-adapt to it and raise the metabolic speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, Christian-wise, lent fasting is a sacrifice you make with a specific intention. In my personal opinion, you do not need to go extreme fasting during the lent period, and unless you have a specific reason to eat &quot;this&quot; few, you can make a sacrifice to stop &lt;b&gt;one&lt;/b&gt; thing you like during the 40 days. For example, let's say, if you love eating potato chips, you can stop that for 40 days. You do not have to stop &quot;eating&quot; in general, and even more, fasting in Christianity is not mandatory, it is a personal sacrifice you do by choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, i'd suggest, just choose one or two things you like and do not eat of them during this period. This way, you stay healthy, can still work and do daily tasks, and do not harm yourself by extreme low calories and nutrients intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T17:25:08.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5648" CreationDate="2012-02-29T17:42:36.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It &lt;b&gt;IS&lt;/b&gt; healthy &lt;b&gt;IF&lt;/b&gt; the juice is made of real, natural veggies and not commercial products in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you blend the veggie yourself, while keeping the &lt;b&gt;veggie skin&lt;/b&gt;(since it contains most of vitamins,nutritents and fibre) then the juice will have the same effect as eating the raw veggies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T17:42:36.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5613" CreationDate="2012-02-29T18:00:09.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweating is generally either: genetics, or high level of stress (or both).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have been dealing with sweaty palms for a while, and do not have high levels of stress, it might be genetics. (Some food might make you feel hot like spices and stuff, but i personally do not believe that they cause constant sweating..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a doctor, but myself I have a very high metabolism and energy levels (genetics) and this makes me get overheated and sweat more than the average person on my forehead and sometimes my underarms.&#xA;And during periods of stress it gets worse of course. &#xA;The only Solution that kinda fixed the underarms sweat (&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;and am not scaming you or selling you a product, i do not work for this company and I do not live in france&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;) is a European (french) product called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etiaxil.fr/index.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etiaxil&lt;/a&gt;. They say you can apply it on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etiaxil.fr/questions-reponses.php?id=14#question14&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hands&lt;/a&gt;( if you need help in translating let me know). &#xA;&lt;br&gt;What i did, i used etiaxil at first 3 times a week following their instructions. And after only one month of usage, i did not have that problem for underarms anymore, even when i am on vacation in a 38 degrees celsius temperature.(too bad they don't have a product that can be used on forehead).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check it out, and most important , do no be bothered by having sweaty palms because in reality the bodies that sweat more last longer because such bodies keep on cleaning themselves from toxins with sweat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T18:00:09.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5652" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-02-29T18:06:07.960" Score="0" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it true that taking too much of weight on the leg-press machine can affect a woman's body.If so what could be an alternative to the same ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3046" LastActivityDate="2017-09-09T11:01:44.610" Title="Leg-press for women" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5652" CreationDate="2012-02-29T18:25:29.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;By &quot;affect&quot; do you mean make you look like a male bodybuilder? if yes, then the answer is &quot;surely no&quot;. There is a misconception about women and weight lifting, a lot of women think that if they do some weight training they will grow huge muscles like male bodybuilders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While increasing weight will make you build a bit more muscles of course, but there is a big difference in the physiology of men vs women, of which : Men have more muscles, have more testosterone (which helps build muscles),etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal recommendation if you want to &quot;tone&quot; your body, all you need to do is &quot;body-weight&quot; training. It will make you build the necessary nice looking muscles, strength, endurance, and will give you a much better looking shape than machines and body building. body weight training might not be suitable for someone joining a body building competition, but it is the BEST for someone who want to tone their body and have good shape. (I assume that's what you are aiming at)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-02-29T18:25:29.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5797" CreationDate="2012-03-01T02:28:15.593" Score="3" ViewCount="3505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using a cheap set of cement weights to do benches and curls.  This has been working well in concert with trips to the gym every few days to do other exercises.  I've maxed out the barbell for benching — the barbell is just about full with 10 of the heaviest (10lb) weights on it.  So it is time for an upgrade.  In addition to needing larger weights, I'm considering getting a new bench, as the one I've got is more than a little sketchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prices for a decent weight set with bench seem close enough to prices for an entry-level Bowflex that I'm considering the latter.  Getting a power cage —enabling me to do squats safely— would up the price to that of a mid-range Bowflex systems.  What are the pros and cons of these different styles of equipment?  I don't really feel like I need to be able to do a full range of exercises, since I do end up going to the gym a couple times a week on average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditDate="2012-03-01T02:34:28.347" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T16:11:09.670" Title="Bowflex and similar systems versus free weights" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5664" CreationDate="2012-03-01T10:08:54.073" Score="11" ViewCount="4112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember that I have always, even back in primary school, avoided anything similar to squats as my knees would do an audible 'click' every time I got low enough. It's not painful, or even unpleasant, it's just - annoying, and a bit scary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've picked up regular exercises a bit over a year ago and I have been running at least once a week (3 times per week since January) for half a year. I wanted to add squats to my training schedule but I'm a bit worried about the clicking sound - although I noticed that, since I started running, it's much quieter, and does not happen always (it used to click on every deeper move).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I worry about it, or just work my way up gradually and it will pass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2450" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T18:34:59.687" Title="My knee is clicking when I do squats - should I worry?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1546" CreationDate="2012-03-01T13:29:12.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, extra training can cause overtraining. But I don't think it'll be because you're overworking your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Squats are Not &quot;Leg Exercises&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats and deadlifts are only leg exercises if you're concerned with bodybuilding. They may be &lt;em&gt;primarily&lt;/em&gt; leg-oriented, but they are full-body exercises. Your back and trunk, for instance, do a large amount of work in both squats and deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recovery is a Whole-Body Affair&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might overwork your legs. But it's much more likely that you'd overwork &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt;. The problem, if overtraining arises, would not be that you're overworking your leg muscles. It would be that you're taxing your recovery ability generally. Interval training and lifting both take a lot to recover from. Your sleep and nutrition have to be spot-on to do both in a 5-6 day workout regimen without risking burnout in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't mean that you necessarily will run into overtraining issues. My point is just that if you do, it won't necessarily be because of your legs. Your current workout plan sounds pretty great. If it's working, it's working. If you start feeling burnt out or lethargic, dial it back, eat more, and sleep more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T13:29:12.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5660" CreationDate="2012-03-01T16:43:20.470" Score="7" ViewCount="791" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you get yourself out of the trap wherein you start using tiredness as a reason (not an excuse) to skip your workouts ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do feel great after a workout and usually use this as motivation but is it right to be pushing yourself when you're genuinely tired ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3046" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T04:52:26.247" Title="Working out when tired" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5654" CreationDate="2012-03-01T16:56:14.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the old argument between free weights and machines, here's a good article on it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/strengthening/a/aa050702a.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/strengthening/a/aa050702a.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very high level summary: machines are good for safe exercises and free weights provide overall quicker results and more realistic exercising.  Your choice will depend on what your goals are and how much you want to spend.  I always recommend free weights - they provide gains not only in strength, but also in balance and coordination of muscles groups working together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T16:56:14.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5658" CreationDate="2012-03-01T17:27:08.543" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The trick I've seen best results with is to tell yourself, &quot;I'll just do a short workout. I won't do A, B, C and D like I'm scheduled to. I'll just do A and B today, because I'm tired.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I'm thoroughly warmed up and have some fun with A and B, I usually am in the right mindset to finish the whole workout, including C and D. If not, I have to make the decision whether to push through or cut and run. That decision is best left to a coach or workout partner, but if you have to make the call yourself, then that's how the cookie crumbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This trick doesn't work in some instances, like during the last weeks a very difficult novice barbell progression. In those cases, you just need to harden up and &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T17:27:08.543" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4991" CreationDate="2012-03-01T19:56:36.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The current view in ultra-running circles is that NSAID and the slight dehydration often present in long runs make the risk of rhabdomyolysis too high - hence they are normally not taken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It used to be the ibuprofen was so commonly taken that it was called Vitamin I. Aid stations would have bowls full of them for runners to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an email to the ultra list, Jennifer Jurynec said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem, as I understand it, with NSAID use is not one of directly causing&#xA;  rhabdomyolysis.  Rhabdomyolysis in runners is a consequence of insufficient&#xA;  energy to meet excessive demands with resultant muscle damage that causes a leak&#xA;  of myoglobin ( in addition to other intracellular components) into the blood.&#xA;  Myoglobin, in particular, can have multiple deleterious effects on the kidneys&#xA;  and lead to renal failure if profound enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The issue with NSAID's is that they inhibit both cox1 and cox2 pathyways. These&#xA;  pathyways, among other things, are involved with making prostaglandins.&#xA;  Prostaglandins are important for preserving renal artery blood flow.&#xA;  Prostaglandins, under normal conditions, are present in low amounts and are&#xA;  therefore, not the primary thing regulating kidney perfusion. Where they become&#xA;  more important is when either disease is present or the normal kidney milieu is&#xA;  disputed by transient factors. These factors can be DEHYDRATION and electrolyte&#xA;  balance among others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My opinion is that there are multiple insults to kidneys that fail following an&#xA;  ultrarace. They probably include, rhabdomyolysis, decreased renal perfusion from&#xA;  nsaid use AND dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. I think they all combine&#xA;  to form an unfavorable situation resulting in renal failure.  NSAID's in&#xA;  isolation would not cause renal problems unless you have underlying kidney&#xA;  disease or some physical state that results in decreased renal perfusion (such&#xA;  as heart failure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are examples of athletes getting rhabdomyolysis such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090829/SPORTS/908290318&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Erik Skaggs&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/kidney.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Don Davis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are some studies that show that NSAIDs may be protective of the kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201171406.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Science Daily&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An international research team led by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that acetaminophen prevented oxidative damage and kidney failure after muscle injury in a rat model. The findings support further investigation of the drug's effects in patients with severe muscle injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21181186&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;European Journal of Applied Physiology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our purpose is to determine whether rhabdomyolysis with myoglobinemia exists during a 48+ h adventure race and if there is a correlation with NSAID use, race time and perceived pain or exertion. Blood samples for analyses of myoglobin (Mb) were collected, and perception of exertion and pain was registered on the Borg-RPE and CR scales, from 20 subjects (3 female, 17 male) Pre-, Mid- and Post-race. Subjects were asked about NSAID use at each sampling and within 12 h pre-race. The result observed was a significant rise in Mb throughout the race, with the NSAID group (n = 6) having significantly lower Mb-Post than the no-NSAID group (n = 14). High Mb-Pre and Post correlated to shorter race time and high Mb-Pre to lower Pain-post. Race time also correlated to NSAID use, with the NSAID group having significantly longer race time than the no-NSAID group. Rhabdomyolysis with myoglobinemia, which might be reduced with NSAID use, exists during a 48+ h adventure race. Indications that high Mb-levels correlate with shorter race time and less pain, and the reasons for the NSAID groups longer race time, warrants further investigation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T19:56:36.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2012-03-01T23:26:10.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides sugar make sure you're drinking enough which means that depending on your bodyweight and excercise intensity you should be close to 3 liters to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to be very tired during the day and in need for an afternoon nap. Now I never do, here are my tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat 60gr oatmeal and milk for breakfast (no sugar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have a coffee every now and then (but beware it dehydrates you, as black tea does)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you start feeling tired eat a banana for quick sugars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at the main meals keep away from junk food or too much proteins or fried stuff&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;forget soft-drinks, life is so much better without (hate seeing young kinds being raised drinking water with added syrups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stay away from processed foods: if it doesn't look like it came from an animal or a plant don't eat it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;provided you drank enough during the day stop drinking 2 hours before you go to bed, your kidneys need rest too&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stop eating 3 hours before you go to bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't eat steak for dinner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you want to relax after training have a sauna or a jacuzzi. I personally don't sleep very well the days I train&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I follow these rules I don't feel I'm giving up anything: I still get to eat junk food when I really want to but usually don't because it makes me feel so much more physically better if I stick to these simple rules&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-03-01T23:26:10.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5655" CreationDate="2012-03-02T17:20:16.973" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The very first thing to do is to make sure your form is correct.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/07/08/why-you-need-squats-in-your-workout-and-how-to-do-them-right/&quot;&gt;Nerd Fitness&lt;/a&gt; has a very excellent article on doing squats that you should check out. Here's a short summary, but I definitely recommend reading his full post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Squat down until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Try not to extend your knees past your toes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don't arch your back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, and point your toes slightly outward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90dbFDXfL3Q&quot;&gt;He also links to a video about the two most common squatting errors&lt;/a&gt; and how you can correct them, which I recommend you watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the option, have a trianer or someone that really knows their squats watch you to ensure proper form. If after trying out his tips the problem still continues, then I suggest you have a medical professional have a look at your knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-03-03T07:12:08.630" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T07:12:08.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2012-03-02T20:13:16.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you work seated during much of the day, make sure to get up and move around at least once per hour. Standing while on phone calls or webinars is a great way to fit that in. I've noticed that doing so really increases my energy and I feel much better at the end of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see the sugar factor has been mentioned. If it's difficult for you to go without sweets (it is for me), look for healthier substitutes. One of my favorites is what I call a &quot;peanut butter flat&quot; (instead of cup!): Spread a teaspoon or two of peanut or almond butter on one square of dark chocolate. Choose the dark chocolate with the lowest sugar content you can handle - the one I use has 90% cocoa content and less than 1 gram of sugar per square! You'll get a boost from the protein in the nut butter and feel like you are indulging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly, if you do happen to eat a large meal, make sure to take at least a 15 minute walk afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastActivityDate="2012-03-02T20:13:16.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2012-03-03T06:38:49.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think first and foremost is doing it when it's convenient and repeatable.  If you can hit the gym at lunch every day, noon is best.  If you're a night owl, after work.  If you are an early bird, before work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time I've seen being really bad is right before bed.  Sometimes you just get too amped up to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T06:38:49.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4192" CreationDate="2012-03-03T23:59:04.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer the standing Gastroc and Soleus Stretches. Both stretches have you standing facing a wall in essentially the same position, with the only difference being the soleus stretch has the back leg bent whereas the gastroc stretch has the back leg straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For each stretch I recommend doing two or three reps of 30 seconds for each leg (2x30sec for left, 2x30sec for right).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were looking for something more intense I recommend a standing unilateral heel raise; it is essentially a calf / heel raise while you balance on one foot (you will definitely feel it in your calves). I'd do one or two sets per leg at 25 reps each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJEIq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Soleus Stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7pPzs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Gastroc Stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T23:59:04.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2795" CreationDate="2012-03-04T00:25:18.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to sleep for 12 hours regularly for my entire life. After discovering that I am allergic to wheat, and have completely quit eating it, I sleep less. &#xA;Get a blood test to look into whether you may have a food allergy (celiac for example). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionaly, the airflow through my nose is obstructed, causing me to wake up with a really dry mouth.  A couple years ago I started using breath-rite nasal strips to open up my nose so that my breathing through it is unobstructed.  Now, if I forget to use a breath-rite overnight I wake up absolutely exhausted due to the lack of airflow. &#xA;It is possible that I have sleep apnea when I don't use the nasal strip, but when I have the strip opening up my nose for greatly increased flow I reduce or eliminate the effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look into your diet. Check for allergies. 38% of the people with celiac disease (allergic to wheat gluten) have NO symptoms. I personally get absolutely exhausted after eating wheat- especially waffles or even worse- Panda Express, which has wheat and also soy (which has wheat in it)- plus all the sugar.  I would do a blood test for iron because celiac can cause anemia, due to the fact that it kills all the villi in your intestines so that you no longer absorb nutrients and have an allergic reaction to almost everything you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand that the food that you buy in a box is man-made from chemicals- garbage God never intended us to eat. If you can't pronounce the words in the ingredient list you should not be putting it into your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat fruits and vegetables and exercise. Another cause of excess sleeping is depression, but 30 hours of sleep is such a crazy amount of sleep you must have something more serious going on.  Maybe anemia?  Maybe anemia caused by celiac disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to a naturopath because they actually look into your whole lifestyle and diet and try to fix you. Medical doctors are only trained to cut things out and prescribe poison pharmaceutical drugs that cause your body ph to become acidic so you get cancer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An M.D. might give you the celiac blood test if you could convince them that you want it bad enough- then if you have it they'll tell you, &quot;You have celiac, don't at wheat. Also you have IBS. Good luck.&quot;   Completely worthless.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to a naturopath- they cure causes (lifestyle and diet). MDs cover symptoms with toxic drugs and cut things out. It is not their fault- they only know what they are trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3061" LastActivityDate="2012-03-04T00:25:18.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-04T15:09:33.597" Score="8" ViewCount="2488" Body="&lt;p&gt;Studies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Show the &quot;bicycle&quot; was the most effective exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorter weighted ab exercises are greater than longer repetitive ab workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Need to know: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it helpful that a certain percent of food consumption that should be protein?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the most effective plan to get abs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3063" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-05T17:04:14.783" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T12:33:18.230" Title="What is the most effective plan to get abs?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5670" CreationDate="2012-03-04T21:08:27.133" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a common saying that abs are made in the kitchen. Having a strong core and abdominal muscles is not enough to get &quot;six-pack&quot; or &quot;washboard&quot; abs, because there will likely be a large layer of fat over the abdominal region. In fact, you aren't able to really see six-pack abs until you are in the 8-15% range of Body Fat Percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the difficulty of getting six-pack abs is compounded by the fact that there is no way to target specific areas for weight loss, and the abs are the hardest place to remove your excess fat storage. This makes getting abs very difficult and also difficult to maintain as it requires a lot of diligence in keeping your diet and cardio routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, the best plan for getting six-pack abs is a three-pronged approach of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dieting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab/Core Workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your primary goal should be to cut your BF% significantly so that your abs can actually be seen without having to constantly suck in your gut XD. I personally use the Navy method for calculating my BF%, which is explained &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1660/how-accurate-is-the-navy-body-fat-calculator&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Naturally, the best way to cut your BF% is through proper dieting and cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dieting you'll want to remove overly fatty foods and eat healthy, but also make sure you are taking in enough protein/carbs/fat to support your current level of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardio you can do runs, swimming, pylometrics, martial arts... whatever interests you and keeps you engaged in the activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For ab/core workouts you'll want to do three a week. Abs are muscles too, and you need to make sure to give them a day of rest to rebuild, especially after rigorous workouts. A good thing to keep in mind when building your ab routine is to work the lower abs at the start of the workout when you are feeling good, because those are usually the most out of shape and hardest to workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a sample ab/core workout that I am currently doing, some of which is borrowed from the P90X/Ab Ripper X routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycle - 25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse bicycle - 25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In / outs - 25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg raises - 25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse sit-ups - 25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternating wide leg sit-ups - 26 (each move counts as 1)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fifer scissors - 25 (4 seconds each)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roll-up/v-up combo - 26 (each move counts as 1)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oblique v-up - 25 (do both sides)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mason twist - 50 (drops reps and add medicine ball if possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank - 90 sec&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side plank - 60 sec (each side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bird dog - 60 sec (each side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be noted that my two favorite ab workouts aren't even on this list: squats and deadlifts. If you plan on doing strength training outside of sculpting abs, I recommend you work both squats and deadlifts into your regimen as they are two of the best compound workouts, period (IMHO).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-03-04T21:18:16.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4465" CreationDate="2012-03-04T21:32:01.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every food we eat are digested by specific enzymes that are highly sensitive to temperature. For example, proteins and fruits are digested differently - different enzymes, timing and parts of the digestive canal. Beside all these, fruits as well as other raw foods have their own natural enzymes to ease digestion. Now the truth is that cold or hot foods and beverages are not good for our body. Raw Fruits and vegetables are good at room temperature, but every other cooked or processed foods are best at warm temperature. A food sample at different temperature will not have a different impact on your blood sugar level, though a natural and processed food will impact your insuline differently. For example, your body knows the difference between a ripe raw plantain and a plantain chips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastActivityDate="2012-03-04T21:32:01.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5675" CreationDate="2012-03-04T22:02:44.253" Score="3" ViewCount="953" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year I slightly tore a ligament and damaged the cartiledge in my left knee. I have since recovered and began sprinting again but recently hurt the LCL in both knees during a training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can still run but I am several in pain afterwards. I am wondering whether I can use aqua sprinting in place of my usual sessions for a few weeks to allow my knees to recover and not loose any of my speed/fitness for the period (I set 2 new pb's just this afternoon, first race of the season so i'm in good shape and dont want to loose it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice or thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="420" LastEditorUserId="2051" LastEditDate="2012-04-21T23:26:46.297" LastActivityDate="2012-04-21T23:26:46.297" Title="Is aqua sprinting a good replacement for track sessions whilst injured?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5677" CreationDate="2012-03-04T23:00:03.953" Score="4" ViewCount="1730" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently gone from working out at home to working out at the gym. I weigh about 145lbs and I'm 6ft, so I'm aiming to pack on another 10-14lbs before the end of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I do a full body workout mixed with interval training for cardio, and I do this 3 times a week in the gym (Monday, Thursday, Saturday). I've recently read that I should be giving my muscles about 5-7 days rest time before working them again, so if this is true that would mean I would only be having 1 workout per week (plus cardio in another couple of gym sessions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This strikes me as not being enough to meet my goal, is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you recommend moving to an isolated training regimen, where I focus on one muscle group in each session? I've always wondered how you can rest isolated muscle groups whilst working others, for example... if I work my arms on Monday, then Wednesday I would need to work my shoulders without hitting my arms, but I don't see how this is possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2012-03-05T02:36:01.913" Title="Full body workouts and rest periods" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5673" CreationDate="2012-03-05T00:09:25.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;YES, pool running is great if you are hurt.  Kevin Sullivan (Canadian Olympic Miler) is proof that you can come out of the pool and make the Olympic team a matter of weeks later if you stick to a good plan (keep in mind he was already in great shape going into the pool).  A good read (with better reads through the links on the page) can be found here:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://sweatscience.com/the-physiology-of-aquafit-and-pool-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://sweatscience.com/the-physiology-of-aquafit-and-pool-running/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Linking to this page:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/alex-hutchinson/the-future-of-fitness-may-be-in-the-pool/article1930179/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/alex-hutchinson/the-future-of-fitness-may-be-in-the-pool/article1930179/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shows the workout he used at the time.  To summarize for those who don't want to read the entire article the workout is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HARD/EASY&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 minutes/2.5 minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 minutes/2 minutes (times 2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 minutes/1.5 minutes (times 3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 minutes/1 minute (times 4)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 minute/30 seconds (times 5)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;30 seconds/15 seconds (times 6)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15 seconds/10 seconds (times 7)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually used to use that workout when I was hurt for a 2-month period once.  My ramp-up time to running strong was much shorter than previous injury periods where I spent no time in the pool doing aqua-jogging.  Just remember, it is hard to gauge effort so you are your own gauge of how hard you want to go.  If you think you are maxed out, go harder.  However, if you are in pain with the aqua-jogging, it might not be a good idea to pursue this. Still, routine aqua-jogging can be a good replacement workout if you are hurt.  I would reco you do hard workouts according the schedule you would normally do your hard running workouts on land.  For example, if you run hard 3 times a week I'd do pool-sprinting 3 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-03-05T00:09:25.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5261" CreationDate="2012-03-05T00:41:33.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your hamstrings attach near your lower back. It could merely be that you are feeling the hamstring stretch near where they attach - thus if it's only a mild pain I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-03-05T00:41:33.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5674" CreationDate="2012-03-05T02:36:01.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You only need to rest your muscles that long if you're doing a split isolation routine. If you're doing whole-body workouts, your schedule is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the most successful and effective novice lifting programs (Starting Strength, StrongLifts, Madcow, Bill Starr) use a 3-day-a-week schedule, hitting all the muscle groups in every workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice you got is specific to intermediate-level bodybuilding programs, or split routines where the legs are only worked out once a week. It is not necessary to follow such a program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-05T02:36:01.913" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5714" CreationDate="2012-03-05T02:54:07.473" Score="1" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just started taking calcium supplements, 1 tablet each day with each tablet containing 650mg of calcium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is to try and negate the effects soda can have on on making it hard for bones to absorb calcium. Also because I realize there was almost no calcium in my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just as I have started exercising with dumbbells each day to try and gain more strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will taking a supplement of something I was deficient in, in this case calcium, have any noticeable influence on my exercise results? Will I notice any effect that would be attributed to eliminating a deficiency suddenly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-07T03:27:44.257" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T09:35:50.873" Title="Will calcium supplements affect my strength gain?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;calcium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5322" CreationDate="2012-03-05T13:49:47.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've experienced that feeling before, when I was a student in college.  It was related to not having enough to eat (for monetary reasons).  Unfortunately, there is quite a number of causes of those symptoms that can range from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body needs adjusting to lower carbs (quite likely)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insufficient food (low blood sugar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Normal byproducts/waste built up in your fat stores that get released at once&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a drastic change from the way you have been eating, then there is a period of adjustment your body has to go through to work with the type of food it is getting.  If this is a serious caloric deficit (like 1000 Calories), your body may never get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-05T13:49:47.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5680" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-05T15:04:37.377" Score="4" ViewCount="1740" Body="&lt;p&gt;If  I know that I am going to have a big night of eating and or drinking,  but don't want to gain any weight, am I best counteracting the excess calories by exercising earlier in the same day, or is it more effective to have a big work out the following morning? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3067" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2012-03-07T15:58:20.607" LastActivityDate="2012-06-01T15:06:44.067" Title="When should I exercise to compensate for excess calories?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5681" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-05T16:53:12.203" Score="0" ViewCount="1723" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of Five Fingers, so this is not an alternative to that. I'm wondering if there are shoes out there for general fitness (including lifting) similar to Nike Free. I really wanted them, but they don't fit my foot right, so they're out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I specifically want something that has a bit of a sole so that I can use them in the winter on sharp ice/rocks, or on REAL hiking/trail runs. VFFs and true &quot;minimal&quot; shoes are just too minimal. I've tried it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not looking for an opinion on shoes, just if there are alternatives to Nike Free shoes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="2876" LastEditDate="2012-03-05T17:10:29.437" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T17:30:14.963" Title="Looking for alternatives to Nike Free for general fitness - not specifically running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-05T20:28:04.350" Score="1" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;After I work out (6-7pm), I eat a post workout meal which will largely consist of low GI carbs (like wholewheat pasta or sweet potato), veg (onions, peppers, tomatoes and spinach usually) and a protein (chicken/tuna/beef). On top of this I'll have a protein shake and an hour after that I'll probably have some cottage cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Around 9.30 I always get hungry again, and because its starting to drift towards bed time I don't like taking in another load of carbs. I'm pretty certain a big bowl of pasta is enough carbs for after a workout, but my body seems to be constantly hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth mentioning that by the time I'm working out I've already eaten 4 small meals, so my post workout meal and cottage cheese are my 5th and 6th meal of the day, well into 3000 calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just listen to my body and eat when it's hungry, or should I stop when I've hit my calorie allowance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 6ft 1, 140lbs ish... so I'm not what you'd consider to be a big guy by any means but my goal is add lean muscle for basketball. In the gym I do 20 minutes cardio interval training and 30 minutes full body workout with free weights and cables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T20:52:55.800" Title="Beating hunger and managing calories" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5681" CreationDate="2012-03-06T03:42:17.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might like Altras. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.altrazerodrop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_-1_15151_18952_69005_176939&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.altrazerodrop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_-1_15151_18952_69005_176939&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, they're made on a completely different, more foot-shaped last. So your toes have plenty of room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, while they're &quot;zero-drop&quot;, meaning there is no lift at the heel, they do have a comfortable amount of cushioning, and they're quite flexible and very light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally prefer Merrell Trail Gloves, myself, but since you specifically mentioned the Free, the Altras were my first thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastEditorUserId="363" LastEditDate="2012-03-08T17:30:14.963" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T17:30:14.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2012-03-06T07:04:41.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is how I clean my five fingers, it's my little secret and it does not smell afterwards.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After each wear of five fingers, I always blow at it with a fan.  It will help dry up the sweat much more quickly and will slow down the bacteria build up.  Once it start to stink or have odor.  Usually 1-2 months of wear.  I do the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I put dish washing soap on the bottom to clean off the oil, dirt, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I put hot water into 5 finger then use Martha Stewart Clean Detergent to clean the inside.  I like to keep things as organic as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I boil hot water and pour it into my five finger and let it sit until all the water in the shoe drain.  The hot water will kill any bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I let it sit to air dry at an angle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This had help me keep my smelling like new again and does not damage my shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3071" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T07:04:41.940" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5689" CreationDate="2012-03-06T11:50:48.570" Score="1" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;If calories are a measure of energy, and protein contains more calories per gram than carbohydrates then how does Atkins work? What is the difference between the energy provided by the 'carbs' and the 'calorie' energy that is in all food? Why does eating no carbohydrates make your body go into 'fat burning' mode for energy if everything contains calories? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3072" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-03-06T13:43:12.260" LastActivityDate="2020-04-21T11:39:21.273" Title="Question about calories, protein and energy?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5687" CreationDate="2012-03-06T13:28:54.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an advocate for Atkins but the theory is that carbohydrates, proteins and fat are all metabolised by the body in different ways before it becomes the direct food that our cells use. Low carbs advocates suggest that digesting carbohydrates increases the level of the hormone insulin in our blood leading to cells accepting that energy and storing it as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, eating low levels of carbs does not raise insulin and thus that storage mechanism is not invoked. The body also has to switch processes to metabolise the fat and protein you're eating - which is pretty much the same mechanism it uses to burn body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, there's some evidence that it's the protein in food that makes us feel full and stop eating. There's certainly evidence that Atkins is simply a low-calorie diet. Theories are that this is because it's rather hard to find food that is low carb and because of the satiation I just mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T13:28:54.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5687" CreationDate="2012-03-06T14:04:27.010" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your premise is a bit off.  Protein and Carbohydrates have essentially the same number of Calories.  It's fat that has more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: 4 Cal/g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates: 4 Cal/g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: 9 Cal/g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to understand how Atkins and other ketogenic diets work, you need to understand a bit about energy systems and a very important pair of hormones.  Oversimplifying things quite a bit, we can get to a layman's understanding of what's going on.  Essentially, there are three sources of energy the body can pull from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glycogen (blood sugar, stored energy in muscle tissue)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle/organs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat stores&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under normal operations, your body will use up the glycogen before it attempts to use any other source of energy.  The problem is when we have depleted the glycogen, the body tends to consume both the muscle/organs and fat stores at the same time--unless we do something different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the average person, your body will hold about 3 days of glycogen energy.  Glycogen is replenished by carbohydrates.  In a ketogenic diet, you are not eating carbohydrates and are intentionally burning through your glycogen stores to force your body into a state where it creates ketone bodies using the available energy.  The ketone bodies cannot be re-assimilated as fat, and have to be urinated out.  This is a good thing.  However, remember how we said the body will pull from both the muscles/organs and fat stores if there is no glycogen?  Here's what the body gets from those sources of energy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 lb of muscle tissue broken down yields 600 Calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 lb of fat tissue broken down yields 3500 Calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a Caloric deficit of 1200 Calories a week, and the body is pulling half from fat and half from muscle tissue, you will burn a pound of muscle while only burning less than a quarter of a pound of fat.  This isn't good.  Again, this is also grossly oversimplified.  Bottom line is that we have to do something to protect the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where the high protein content of your diet comes to play.  The body doesn't really care if the protein it is consuming is dietary or from your existing muscles/organs.  It's just going to create ketone bodies using both the protein and the fat.  Sufficiently high protein, and you can actually gain &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; muscle mass.  An additional benefit of protein is that it is very thermogenic, or in other words it takes a lot of energy to process.  You burn more Calories digesting protein than you do carbohydrates and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: part of the process of digesting protein requires calcium.  If you don't have enough dietary or supplementary calcium, you may end up leaching that calcium from your bones.  This is particularly troublesome for women as they have a greater risk of osteoporosis anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big influence on the way your body processes energy has to do with a pair of hormones: insulin and glucagon.  Insulin is anabolic, which means it's job is to build up.  It operates by taking elevated blood sugar and pushing it to the muscles and organs.  However, if both the muscles and organs are full, the only place left is fat cells.  Glucagon has the opposite responsibility, and is catabolic, meaning it's job is to tear down.  It operates to restore blood sugar to normal levels by taking energy out of the muscles, organs, and fat cells.  The energy in muscles and organs is glycogen.  The energy in fat cells is fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a ketogenic diet, you are depleting the glycogen stores so that the only place left to pull energy is the fat stores.  There are a few areas of concern here, which affect active people more than sedentary people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vigorous exercise will require more energy than fat stores can keep up with.  Too much without replenishing your glycogen will cause you to lose muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to remain in ketosis for an extended period of time and still exercise, stick to low impact aerobic activity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to lift weights with ketosis, you will have to replenish your glycogen stores once a week.  That's an epic refeed day for 24 hours with twice your normal calories and a lot of carbs.  Then back to business as usual.  Due to the fasted state and the demand your muscles have for glycogen, most of that extra energy will go into your muscles and not your fat cells.  Stick to high intensity, low volume sessions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T14:04:27.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5692" CreationDate="2012-03-06T14:27:04.237" Score="3" ViewCount="862" Body="&lt;p&gt;Milk has a considerable amount of fat. So while in a weight-loss regiment, should milk be avoided completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2057" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T08:19:07.390" Title="Should milk be completely avoided during weight-loss work-outs?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;milk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5705" CreationDate="2012-03-06T14:34:41.870" Score="2" ViewCount="4609" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between 'Burning Fat' and 'Burning Calories'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel I am over-weighted. To reduce my weight, how to know whether I need to burn calories or fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2057" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T03:54:04.090" Title="What is the difference between 'Burning Fat' and 'Burning Calories'?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5690" CreationDate="2012-03-06T16:30:14.630" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Eating Fat Does Not Make You Fat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excess fat on the body is &lt;em&gt;an entirely different thing&lt;/em&gt; from the fat that you eat. Science and experience agree on this: here's a study entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12566139&quot;&gt;Dietary fat is not a major determinant of body fat&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;src=pm&quot;&gt;here's Gary Taubes' overview on the subject&lt;/a&gt;, appropriate for the layperson. It's a common misconception that eating fat somehow turns into adipose tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milk might be bad for weight-loss (or it might not), but it wouldn't be because it has a significant proportion of fat. In fact, since fat is satiating--it makes you feel full--I am of the opinion that if one's goal is losing body fat, then fat (like whole-fat milk, or even cream) should be one of the things you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-03-06T19:25:03.803" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T19:25:03.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5696" CreationDate="2012-03-06T17:16:26.537" Score="8" ViewCount="3597" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend is starting to work out with me. Normally we would deadlift, squat, and do upper-body pushes and pulls. However, my friend seems to lack the requisite flexibility for a full range of motion deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're using standard-diameter bumper plates on a 45-pound Olympic bar. Gripping the bar causes either a rounded lumbar spine or a deadlift-grip squat, where the bar makes an S-curve around the knee. Neither of these are ideal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercise can we substitute that will progress to a regular deadlift? We're looking for an increase in flexibility and heavy loading (akin to a deadlift) in the meantime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-28T13:04:33.903" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T12:36:19.400" Title="What alternatives should a novice use when they're not flexible enough to do regular deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-06T17:22:48.277" Score="3" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;During weekends I'm doing a lot of sports, e.g. snowshoeing in the winter and biking and hiking during summer. I personally think, my condition is slightly above average, but the problem is, I now reached a point where I want to make tours that are beyond my condition limit. That means, the tours that are now getting interesting for me have too many kilometers and especially altitude difference. (To get a feeling: 1000m (climbing) while biking and maybe 2000m while walking is okay for me but not considerably more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have approximately 1 hour per workday of free time which I spent for work out, mostly running. I would like to use this hour a little bit more focused on strengthening my condition, but I'm not sure what to do. So are there any recommendations how I can use 1 hour per day to strengthen my condition especially for hiking and biking? Is running a good option?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3073" LastEditorUserId="195" LastEditDate="2012-03-07T16:19:12.187" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T16:19:12.187" Title="What workout should I do if I want to prepare my condition?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-06T19:00:48.867" Score="5" ViewCount="951" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently beginning with HIIT and so can't take to its full intensity. &#xA;I was wondering can ( rather, should ) I do it multiple times in a day, say 2 to 3 (perhaps even more) times in a day or should I stick to just once a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I am following an cardio HIIT where I do exercise for 1 minute, then rest for 30 secs. and then go for 1 more minute. After that, I am completely exhausted as I am a complete beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3075" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-07T03:29:08.047" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T07:09:51.857" Title="How often can I perform high intensity interval training per day?" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5693" CreationDate="2012-03-06T19:02:07.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could start your deadlifts with the bar elevated higher off the ground - either on the lowest rack setting, or with the barbell-loaded plates resting on a stack of horizontal plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pavel Tsatsouline advocates this approach in Power to the People, saying that it used to be called the &quot;health lift&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that squatting under heavy weights quickly increased my hamstring flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-20T05:19:14.967" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T05:19:14.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5693" CreationDate="2012-03-06T19:27:31.257" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not everyone is built for conventional deadlifts.  Whether it's due to flexibility issues, or simply the geometry of how they are built, crouching down into a conventional deadlift start position is just not working.  A common group of people that fall into this category are folks with long legs.  Another common group would be folks with short arms.  Put them together, and you have a big problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best alternative I've seen is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBSumoDeadlift.html&quot;&gt;Sumo Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with your feet spread wide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reach down between your legs to grab the bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see another article about it &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/powerlifting-articles/sumo-deadlifting/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T19:27:31.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5695" CreationDate="2012-03-06T19:37:05.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to improve your work capacity.  The following work pretty well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with longer rest times, and shorten them each time.  For example 1m work, 2m rest for one session.  Then 1m work, 1.5m rest the next session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple times a day.  Essentially this is a variation of the previous point where some of the rest is much longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the intervals the same, but try to get a bit more work done each time.  You may be totally gassed and only able to get 1-2 reps of whatever you are doing, but the next time it gets easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key point is to get all the work in.  You can improve over time, and probably the best bet is to keep shortening the rest times until you can get through everything.  If you have to take a longer break, like 5-10m between cycles of work, that's fine when you are getting started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, one of the aspects of &quot;insanity&quot; and P90X brands of HIIT is that you attempt to improve your work capacity with the intervals.  No matter what you are doing: burpees, tire flipping, sledge hammer work, snatches, etc.--as you get stronger, and your body gets used to the conditioning aspect of the HIIT, it will become easier.  Your heart rate will come down to normal more quickly, and your body won't get tired as easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T19:37:05.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5693" CreationDate="2012-03-06T19:53:06.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've considered Romanian deadlifts. Since they start at the top and only go down as far as the hamstrings allow, the height issue is avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While they don't allow for heavy loads like the sumo deadlift or raised-platform deadlifts, I have found that they rapidly improve hamstring flexibility (and strength, too). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T19:53:06.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5682" CreationDate="2012-03-06T19:56:57.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're not afraid of gaining weight, then eat and see what happens. If you start to gain unwanted pounds, then adjust (yeah I know it's not that easy, but wait there's more). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try to change when you eat your post workout meals. Maybe just a small bowl of pasta and a little protein right after the workout and the rest of your list: remainder of the pasta, protein, cottage cheese, veg closer to bed time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment. Break them into chunks, eat them all at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;btw, you don't mention how many times a week you're doing your 50 minutes, 20 Cardio/30 Resistance, but if it's more than three then you'll need plenty of carbs to sustain that volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2702" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T19:56:57.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5682" CreationDate="2012-03-06T20:52:55.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 6' and 140lbs, you are very thin, so you likely &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to eat more in order to gain muscle, but if you want to control your hunger, you need to stop it with the pasta (and maybe the sweet potato). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you eat a high carbohydrate meal, your blood glucose level raises. In order to bring this back to baseline, your body releases insulin. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spinalhealth.net/insulin.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;insulin clears from your bloodstream slower than the glucose&lt;/a&gt;, so at around 2 hours there is raised insulin in your blood stream while your glucose level is back to normal (or possibly lower). This state causes hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to avoid this hunger response, you need to avoid the insulin response. Whole wheat or not, pasta is going to &lt;a href=&quot;http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/dreamfields-president-mike-crowley-we-stand-behind-the-nutritional-claims-of-our-product/10785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;send your blood glucose levels up&lt;/a&gt;. If you eat again at 9pm, make it a low carb meal so you don't get hungry again in the middle of the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T20:52:55.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5694" CreationDate="2012-03-06T21:31:40.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the duration of your workout can't be changed, your other option is to change the intensity .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to improve your biking, the best way to do that is... by biking. But if you can only run during your workday break, you can try, for instance to incorporate hill-work or inclines into your runs (either with real hills, or on a treadmill that inclines).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try adding some resistance exercise to your workouts if you just want to build strength. Squats, and lunges for the legs, mainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3076" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T21:31:40.807" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-06T22:57:06.747" Score="1" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I obtained an almost Olympic sized bar -- all my plates fit on but none of my collars do (I have the spring kind). Where or how can I get collars to fit it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3077" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T22:57:06.747" Title="Almost Olympic bar -- collars don't fit" Tags="&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5706" CreationDate="2012-03-07T02:47:32.370" Score="24" ViewCount="64097" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it often that the size of muscles, for example biceps, is not related to how strong someone is. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See for example this image of Gu Yanli who won the strongest man championship twice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S0NUm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a muscular guy, doesn't seem to compare in size to say, Ronnie Coleman, body building champion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eenVQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have asked other questions about building strength while not getting too big physically with an answer saying it is possible. So, what is the link between muscle size and strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2014-06-02T05:55:25.053" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T19:34:30.867" Title="How does muscle size relate to strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5691" CreationDate="2012-03-07T03:54:04.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calories are energy factors, and you burn them in several ways:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;At rest&lt;/b&gt;, your body burns calories as energy (that it gets either from food and nutrients Or from your body fat) to keep glands,hormones, and organs working normally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;when you exercises&lt;/b&gt;, you stress your body and thus require more oxygen and energy for your muscles, bodily hormones and organs to stay alive and recuperate. Your body regulates these by burning calories as energy source (as said above, that it gets either from food and nutrients Or from your body fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you start &lt;b&gt;burning fat&lt;/b&gt; when actually the calories that you &lt;b&gt;consume&lt;/b&gt; are &lt;b&gt;less&lt;/b&gt; than the energy you expand during the day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It means, that for example if your body at &lt;b&gt;Rest&lt;/b&gt; requires let's say 2000 calories per day , and u do the following (an example):&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you eat 1800 calories on this day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you exercise and burn say 100 calories as energy&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;--&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Thus, you have a deficit of calories : &#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;2000-1800= 200 added to 100 calories from exercise ==&gt; 300 calories deficit per day.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how you start &lt;b&gt;using fat&lt;/b&gt; from ur body to compensate, and to loose &lt;b&gt;1 pound of fat per week&lt;/b&gt; u need a &lt;b&gt;deficit of 3500 calories per week&lt;/b&gt; ( which is 500 calories deficit per day. it is not recommended to have more than &lt;b&gt;700 cal&lt;/b&gt; deficit &lt;b&gt;per day&lt;/b&gt; for health purpose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T03:54:04.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5704" CreationDate="2012-03-07T04:01:51.990" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;While muscle strength and muscle mass do not have a direct one to one relationship, there is definitely a connection between the two. To understand exactly what that connection is, and how big a role it plays, it helps to have a little background on the fundamentals of muscle physiology...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscles&lt;/strong&gt; are composed of connected bundles of &lt;strong&gt;muscle fibers&lt;/strong&gt;, of which there are two kinds: slow-twitch and fast-twitch. &lt;strong&gt;Slow-twitch fibers&lt;/strong&gt; are considered the endurance fibers, because they are very resistant to fatigue but cannot contract as quickly or as strong as their counterpart. &lt;strong&gt;Fast-twitch fibers&lt;/strong&gt; are considered the strength or power fibers because they fatigue quickly but have explosive speed and power. Most muscles are a mix of both slow and fast-twitch fibers (which in turn are made up of protein bundles called &lt;strong&gt;myofibrils&lt;/strong&gt;). The exact mixture of slow/fast is for the most part fixed at birth and varies depending on numerous factors including the muscle type and genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training will increase the size and quantity of myofibrils, and subsequently increase the size of the respective muscle fibers; this process is called &lt;strong&gt;hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt;, and it results in larger and stronger muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all of that physiology out of the way, let's return our focus back to your original questions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've heard it often that the size of muscles, for example biceps, is not related to how strong someone is. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes and no. As you noted, body builders tend to have much larger muscle mass while (for the most part) remaining considerably weaker than powerlifters; this has a lot to do with the types of exercises being performed, the way you define strength, and genetics. However, I wish to emphasize that a focus on building mass does not mean you are neglecting strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the link between muscle size and strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle size and strength both come as a result of strength training through the process of hypertrophy. With any type of strength training exercise you will see increases in both size and strength, though to varying degrees depending on the muscle worked and the type of exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can a person gain muscle strength without gaining muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once again, the answer is yes and no. Strictly speaking, no you cannot because the very act of strength training causes hypertrophy which increases both the size and quantity of the myofibrils which in effect increases the size and strength of your muscle. Additionally, this once again depends on how you define strength, because in muscles there is a marked difference between strength and endurance, though both are equally valid metrics for measuring strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, there are ways you can largely focus on one versus the other, and it brings me back to issue of slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training for strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;There are two schools of thought for building muscle strength without mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first school of thought, which I recommended earlier, focuses on doing endurance exercises which are low intensity with high repetition. You stick to the 13-20 rep range, as opposed to the 6-12 rep range which is most common in strength training. Doing this will increase both strength and mass, but with a focus on endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second school of thought revolves around doing very low volume of 1-5 reps such that you are toning and firming the muscle (via generating actin and myosin cross filaments), but you don't stress the muscles so much that you trigger hypertrophy. &lt;em&gt;I haven't seen any studies on this and it directly contradicts what I've held as popular belief, so hopefully someone with more knowledge might be able to shed some light here&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*One final note: it is important that you consider the distinction between body mass and muscle mass. For instance, you could conceivably build muscle strength and muscle mass in your arms, all while reducing your arms overall mass by reducing excess fat. Just something to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-03-07T22:16:01.843" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T22:16:01.843" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5704" CreationDate="2012-03-07T04:22:46.050" Score="15" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Hypertrophy is not the same as strength.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can train differently to attain different results. Some forms of training build mass, others add strength, others improve endurance. A larger muscle is, all other things being equal, stronger than a smaller one. However, a smaller muscle can be more neurologically efficient and/or dense, and therefore be stronger than a larger muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rep Ranges&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing fewer repetitions with heavier weights builds strength most effectively. Doing more repetitions (circa 4 to 12), with weight that is still challenging, builds mass most efficiently. Doing more than 12 repetitions in a single set is generally best for endurance as opposed to strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0FrDv.png&quot; alt=&quot;Starting Strength rep range chart&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4374/are-multiple-lighter-deadlifts-better-than-single-heavier-maxes&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; is probably the best resource to review.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;See also&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4666/does-muscle-mass-help-or-hurt-for-powerlifting-and-other-strength-sports&quot;&gt;Does muscle mass help or hurt for powerlifting and other strength sports?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2017/why-is-muscle-size-not-proportional-to-strength&quot;&gt;Why is muscle size not proportional to strength?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T22:35:06.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4192" CreationDate="2012-03-07T07:21:08.817" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing a fitness and nutrition course and at the same time teaching myself on massage therapy.&#xA;The problem you are describing sounds like you are producing too much lactic acid which causes pain in the calf and soleus. &#xA;Try taking a bath now and then and massage those areas as much as you can or go to a massage palor and get it done. This helps release the acid out of your system and speeds up recovery.&#xA;Dont strain yourself on the bike.Eat less salt and drink about half your weights worth of water, the water should flush out the lactic acid through urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3079" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T07:21:08.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5680" CreationDate="2012-03-07T07:36:27.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One big night of eating and drinking wont have such a big effect on your body but it can trigger unwanted desires like me and ice cream. The best is to eat healthy or eat small amounts like finger foods on a spaced out time limit and drink a low calorie wine, like red or dry white, keep out the sugars in sodas.&#xA;The best is to work out in the morning which will kick start your day and flush out all the junk throughout the day from last nights eating and drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3079" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T07:36:27.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5597" CreationDate="2012-03-07T08:07:44.543" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to admit, 25 min 3 days a week is only going to improve you as far as it can since you using your own weight as a tool to strengthen up.&#xA;You need to dedicate yourself more time if you want to tone up. Try 30 min workout on other days of the week and just do weights. Im not sure what muscles you want to tone up.Lets guess arms. Try getting yourself some wrist and ankle weights (weights you can strap to the ankle or wrist, they come between 1kg - 2kg a strap and you can strap more on as you go) and do your arm curls while walking the tredmill and cycling. If you dont have time to train at the gym, use a bag of rice as a weight and do a few shoulder raises, tricep kickback, tricep press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3079" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T08:07:44.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5690" CreationDate="2012-03-07T08:19:07.390" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating too much fat can derail your dieting efforts. Calorie is a energy and fat is fat. carbs will be burnd durning your workout and through the day and whats left will go as a fat store. &#xA;Fat is FAT is goes straight as a fat store. Use low fat milk instead of full fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3079" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T08:19:07.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5722" CreationDate="2012-03-07T12:38:58.437" Score="5" ViewCount="82634" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the questions says, I was wondering as I want to prepare a whey shake (with milk) and take it with me to drink later. Does it lose effectiveness and it is important to drink it right after mixing it or does it not matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3080" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-08-30T17:17:40.527" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T17:17:40.527" Title="Will it change the nutritional value of a protein shake if I mix it hours before consumption?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-10-06T11:55:54.897" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5678" CreationDate="2012-03-07T16:26:11.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't notice it immediately.  However, if you have a higher protein diet, the extra calcium will help your body digest that protein better.  One of the side effects of higher protein content in your meals is that your body can start leeching calcium from your bones.  Don't go above the recommended dosages though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T16:26:11.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5716" CreationDate="2012-03-07T16:39:55.903" Score="6" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across an article that said &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'If you don't finish your workout in around an hour it's probably not that intense'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How far is this true ? (Workout here refers to just the strength training not cardio)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also does that mean I should be so sore/tired by the end of one hour that I shouldn't be able to do anything beyond that.?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the answer to both the above questions is no is there any relation between the intensity and duration of a workout routine ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3046" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T17:32:03.823" Title="Workout Intensity vs. duration" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5715" CreationDate="2012-03-07T17:32:03.823" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taken out of context, it sounds like typical &quot;bro&quot; logic (when people blindly accept what others have said just because they happen to be stronger).  However, you'll find intensity defined differently depending on who you are speaking with.  It can mean anything from simply &quot;really hard&quot; to the more precise meaning given in a strength training setting.  However, with no link to the article, I can't speak directly to what the author was referring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With strength training we have a few concepts with programming:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intensity: the heaviest weight lifted.  Understood best in terms of your 1 Rep Max (1RM), is how close to your max did you lift?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume: reps x weight.  Basically, how much tonnage did you lift?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effort: Similar to volume, but expressed as a calculated 1RM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, there is an inverse relationship between intensity and volume.  In short, the heavier the weight, the fewer reps you will be able to lift with it.  It does take less time to lift shorter sets (i.e. fewer reps per set).  At the same time, your body does need a certain amount of volume to force it to adapt and get stronger.  So managing the variables between rest and exercise is critical to getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that the groundwork for terminology is laid, &lt;strong&gt;is there anything special about the 1 hour mark?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only in that the longer your workout takes the more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hale2.htm&quot;&gt;cortisol your body produces&lt;/a&gt;.  That 1 hour threshold seems to be the optimum window to get your testosterone levels up without significantly increasing the cortisol levels.  However it's still acceptable to have an hour and a half long workout.  Much longer than that and it becomes counterproductive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working with heavy singles and doubles (sets that are 1 rep or 2 reps respectively), you can get your workout done more quickly.  It may take a bit to recover from the training, but you got in, got it done, and went home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler style training has you focus on one major lift with assistance each training day.  This lets you get the appropriate amount of volume and intensity, and keep the training to about 1 hour per day.  The top set on the main lift is done for as many reps as possible.  You compare your effort using the 1RM calculation so that you can track whether you are improving week to week or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switching contexts for a minute here, when you are referring to conditioning work, intensity takes on a slightly different meaning.  Essentially, it's how hard you are working.  High Intensity Interval Training has periods of time where you are doing your max effort, with short periods of relative rest.  The key to intensity is that max effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can become much more efficient with your conditioning, and can cram 1 hour of steady state cardio into 12-20 minutes of HIIT with similar benefits.  The trade off being long term endurance, vs. amount of Calories burned.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://tabatatraining.org/&quot;&gt;Tabata training&lt;/a&gt; is one example of an HIIT protocol that lasts 4 very intense minutes, but yields a lot of good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One factor that many people training forget to think about is the amount of rest between exercises and between sets.  The longer you wait, the more rested you get (to a point), but the longer you training takes.  The less you rest, the more the fatigue builds up.  That extra fatigue adds to the &lt;em&gt;feeling&lt;/em&gt; of intensity.  One way of looking at it is the more fatigue builds up, the less your 1RM is for that level of fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again there does need to be a balance.  Training in a fatigued state can cause you to lose tightness, focus, and can increase chances of injury.  Never let yourself go so far as to affect your ability to perform the exercise with proper technique.  However, playing with that rest timer is an effective way to increase the training stress and volume your muscles need to adapt and get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T17:32:03.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5713" CreationDate="2012-03-07T18:52:19.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there may be some slight degradation of the protein molecules I wouldn't expect enough to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest risk is that the mix will go off. What's food for you is also food for bacteria and fungi. I would recommend keeping it in the fridge or somewhere cold before you drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, a whey protein shake is just milk with extra bits of milk added to it so store it as you would milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T18:52:19.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5288" CreationDate="2012-03-07T19:29:15.633" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. The belt &quot;being pulled beneath the runner&quot; is not a factor. As stated in previous answers and comments, there is no privileged frame of reference, so it is just as valid to analyze the treadmill system based on a coordinate system that moves with the belt as it is to analyze the overground running based on a coordinate system that is fixed to the Earth. These two systems are mechanically equivalent (if the ground happened to be the same material as the treadmill). This was established early on (1980) in the literature, and hasn't been challenged since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/7421475&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some fundamental aspects of the biomechanics of overground versus treadmill locomotion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As long as the beltspeed is constant [...] no mechanical difference exists in comparison with overground&#xA;  locomotion with respect to a fixed coordinate system&lt;/strong&gt;. All differences&#xA;  found in locomotion patterns must therefore originate from other than&#xA;  mechanical causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T19:29:15.633" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5724" CreationDate="2012-03-07T19:38:30.693" Score="3" ViewCount="3020" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm at the gym 2-3 times per week and run a standard set of machines (full body work out) to stay healthy and (hopefully) tune my body a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the machines for training the legs always causes my calf muscles to strain and cramp up. When I started working out a couple of months ago my instructor told me to use the cross trainer machine for 10 minutes as warm up. I like it, get warm and probably burn some fat but It doesn't seem to warm up my calf muscles enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any exercises for warming up the calf muscles I can add to the cross trainer to avoid the strain/cramp when using the leg machines? I stretch my calf muscles after the work out session and I can really feel them strain. I can usually hold the stretch for 60 seconds without feeling any sense of relief in the calf, so I guess they are pretty strained. Is it OK to stretch muscles when not warmed up? (same exercises as after work out, but before?) Mostly my left calf cramp up, almost never the right one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also occassionally wake up when sleeping because of sudden strain/cramp in my calves, though I do believe this has gotten a little bit better since I started working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the machine/exercise, but I am lying straight on the bench, not angled:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C3ZVd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;work out machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: If I lower the weight one step I can perform the exercise without cramping. But then I manage 15-20 reps and I feel that is too light weight, so I increase the weight one step and cramp up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progress, at last. This evening I managed eight reps and stopped only because I was exhausted, not because of cramp!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't point to a single thing that helped - probably a combination of the preparations I made during the day and warm up (mostly suggestions from you guys):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've been drinking &lt;em&gt;alot&lt;/em&gt; of water today (maybe a bit too much).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warming up before exercise I ran 10 minutes on treadmill instead of crosstrainer, at 4% incline. This, I think, made a big difference. As early as 2-3 minutes into it I could feel the calves stretching out and smoothen up. Crosstrainer is great, but running warms up the calves better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I also did some &quot;toe pushups&quot;, 1 minute or so on each foot, to further warm up the calves before the hamstring curl machine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully It'll work next time as well. Thanks for all great suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3084" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-01-08T21:39:47.120" LastActivityDate="2019-01-09T05:12:28.187" Title="Warming up calf muscles for general work out session" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5713" CreationDate="2012-03-07T19:46:06.427" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the most part this is speculation based on what I learned as from my college bio classes (which I took recently as a I just graduate as a bioengineer). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, there are circumstances in which mixing your protein into a shake may cause it to lose effectiveness. For instance, a shake with high bacterial content, such as if you put yogurt or something in it, might cause more rapid protein breakdown. Also, the presence of protein digesting enzymes in your shake would cause it to lose some potencty. How these enzymes would get into your shake, I'm not sure, but they could be present in something you else you mix into your shake. Also, keep in mind that protein powder is already in state where it is quick to degrade. So the degradation time of the protein in the shake is much lower than that of other protein sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accourding to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caringhandsoutreach.org/whey-protein-vs-casein/304.html&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, the half-life of whey is 3-4 hours after intake and casien is 6-8 hours. So depending on what type of protein you are using, half of it has degraded in 3-4 hours or 6-8 hours WHEN IT IS IN A DIGESTIVE ENVIRONMENT. I don't know what the half life of your shake would be, but I imagine it would be a lot more than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the protein will definitely degrade, but to what extent, depends on what is in your shake. So avoid the preceding things that could cause loss of potency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I think that you won't lose a lot of potency if you mix in the powder and keep it in the fridge for a few hours. Think of premade shakes... how long do those sit on grocery store shelves? And they are still &quot;effective&quot; are they not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T19:46:06.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5681" CreationDate="2012-03-07T20:54:17.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife really likes the New Balance Minimus cross-trainer. The men's model would be the MX10. It would be really good for the gym. But if you want to use the same shoes in the gym as on the trail, you should definitely get one of the Inov-8 F-lite 230, which is designed for trail running but is also hailed as the ideal Crossfit shoe. Inov-8 makes a great shoe, and they were minimalist before it was cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T20:54:17.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2012-03-08T00:02:33.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jump rope!  Maybe do one-legged in sets of paradiddles (left - right - left - left - right - left - right - right).  I find when you do one legged jump roping it naturally keeps you on your toes (which will work your calfs more) and helps to ensure you aren't favoring one side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your only goal is to warm up the calf muscle, you shouldn't need to do that much.  Maybe a few sets at 30-60 seconds.  You'll likely trip if you don't jump rope often, but just keep going.  You'll get the hang of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastEditorUserId="2059" LastEditDate="2012-03-09T20:39:45.430" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T20:39:45.430" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5726" CreationDate="2012-03-08T00:17:55.980" Score="3" ViewCount="3114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently working out where I alternate between cardio and weightlifting, and on my weightlifting days I alternate the body parts I target.  Doing this I work out everyday, the idea being since I'm working out different body parts on different days I'm giving each area the rest it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing this because I find a habbit is easier to keep if its something that is manageable and done daily as opposed to weird rules (ie rest every 3rd day, or on weekends, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any problem with this?  It seems like the reasons for taking a day off is to give the muscles time to heal, but if I'm working different muscles each day is it ok to work out each day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-03-28T16:35:06.203" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:23:05.420" Title="Should I take days off from working out - regardless of what my workout schedule is?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5725" CreationDate="2012-03-08T00:41:17.347" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your body needs to devote resources to both doing new work and rebuilding from previous work, your rest is going to be less effective. Full rest days are better than partial rest (ie. resting legs while working on upper body). Your strength gains will suffer if you are doing cardio on days that could otherwise be rest days. It would be better to do cardio on the same day as you lift, leaving a full day off from any activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's very tricky to properly schedule a split routine like you're trying to do. From Mark Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805413&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A common way to organize training among recreational lifters and&#xA;  bodybuilders is a &quot;split&quot; routine, where one body part or &quot;muscle&#xA;  group&quot; is worked each day, until the entire body has accumulated a&#xA;  workout. If &quot;chest&quot; is only trained once a week, even though training&#xA;  may occur several days per week, &quot;chest&quot; will not receive enough work&#xA;  to constitute overload, and optimal adaptation cannot occur. By the&#xA;  same token, &quot;chest&quot; will usually include triceps, since the bench&#xA;  press is the favorite chest exercise; if &quot;shoulders&quot; involves&#xA;  pressing, &quot;arms&quot; get their own day too, and &quot;back&quot; really means lats&#xA;  and therefore lat pulldowns or chins, it is possible to expose the&#xA;  triceps to four or more workouts in a week. This is an example of poor&#xA;  training organization producing a schedule that includes both&#xA;  inadequate and excessive exercise frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, unless you are an advanced trainee, there's no need for complicated scheduling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-03-08T02:02:14.110" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T02:02:14.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-08T03:59:15.960" Score="4" ViewCount="6365" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym for the last four months, previously I went three times a wekk but right now I am going 1/2 of the days in a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am not gaining muscle but I can lift more weight than in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that I have to take some supplements. Can you guys mention some of the names of GNC or other protein supplements name? How to eat them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My target is to gain mass. I am now 24, 5'8&quot; and 59KG weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to buy it from Amazon (my country doesn't have any GNC store) and ship it to me. How much vat is generally added on supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user861" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-03-08T05:34:47.787" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T22:37:16.237" Title="Which protein shake I should take as a beginner?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5727" CreationDate="2012-03-08T04:24:44.707" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Food Not Supplements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't look for supplements to gain weight. Fix your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein and mass-gainer shakes are overpriced, overprocessed and overmarketed. They are not the solution. The solution is for you to &lt;em&gt;triple the amount of &lt;strong&gt;food&lt;/strong&gt; that you eat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Eat More Food&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to the farmer's market. Buy large quantities of fish, meat, eggs and vegetables. Make sure you get some sweet potatoes. Go to the supermarket. Buy butter, milk, and olive oil. Better quality is better. (Organic, grass-fed, free-range, omega-3 are all great but not necessary.) Cook the food into a meal twice the size of the meals you've been eating previously. Cover it in olive oil and eat it. Now drink two glasses of milk. Now have another couple of eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lift More&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting once a week is not sufficient stimulus to grow. Lift two or three times a week. It's also possible that switching to full-body workouts could be more productive. For instance, squatting three times a week would be a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Eat and Lift More&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating large quantities of food, then lifting heavy things, is the ideal way to get bigger and stronger. Supplements are sub-optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-03-08T20:01:57.203" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T20:01:57.203" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2012-03-08T05:14:35.677" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally your left leg is weaker than your right. The pain and cramping you are experiencing is too much lactic acid build up. Try doing some ankle circles at home or whenever you seated, at work, just to get your calves to get rid of the acid, drink lots of water to flush out the acid in your urine and then at the gym try using the Barbell seated calf raise machine to warm up the muscle, give yourself a stretch before workout and after, take a bath where you can and massage your calves 5 min each calf. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3079" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T05:14:35.677" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5731" CreationDate="2012-03-08T11:02:51.127" Score="6" ViewCount="2354" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in gaining more definition in my stomach and chest area. I suppose I would like to work towards having a well defined sixpack, although that is not as important to me as gaining some more definition in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm generally considered skinny at just over 6 feet (183cm) in height and 175 lbs(~70kg) give or take. I'm not overweight at all, yet I also don't seem to have any definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I start doing each day to improve this and for how long? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what amount of time would I start to see results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-03-31T14:18:07.727" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T18:01:45.770" Title="What exercise routine can I do at home to get a sixpack?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5730" CreationDate="2012-03-08T13:10:39.463" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to start out with the bottom line, then fill in the missing pieces:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A 6-pack has everything to do with the amount of body fat you have.  Whether that 6-pack is impressive or not has to do with muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The magic threshold you want to get to is under 10% body fat.  The best, most tried and true method to deal with body fat is to get your diet in order.  However, there are some caveats if you want to put on muscle mass as well.  I recommend checking out Lean Gains, The Warrior Diet, or something of that approach to help you balance the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in order to get muscle mass on your body you have to do some strength training.  The best bang for your buck is going to be linear progression (increasing the weight you lift every time you go to the gym), until you max out the gains from that.  I've written up a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot;&gt;primer on strength training&lt;/a&gt; that summarizes a lot of the info I learned when I was just starting out.  In that primer is a link to three pretty solid beginner strength training programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the three, the one that would be most compatible with fat loss would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/1157-the-average-fn-program-a-simple-and-efficient-training-template/&quot;&gt;The Average F'n Program&lt;/a&gt;.  Despite the name, it's got a couple features that will help you as you gain strength (and muscle) while trying to cut fat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only two main lifts per session and one accessory exercise.  Keeps the training session short and within the optimal time to increase testosterone without increasing cortisol.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower session volume helps with recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With both the AFP and Starting Strength protocols, it's best to find your 5 rep max (the heaviest you can lift 5 times).  Now, for a beginner the definition of a 5 rep max is when form breaks down.  If that means you can only lift the bar for overhead press, so be it.  Check the ego at the door, because in a very short time you will be surpassing your current abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T13:10:39.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2012-03-08T15:33:45.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise just before lunch, or just before your dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recognise the benefits of morning workout (before breakfast). But it involves for most people waking up early which can be a challenge and a reason for skipping workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out just before the two other meals conserve some of the benefits of the morning workout. Admitting that you have reduced your calories intake, you should be almost hungry at that time. So, you are likely to burn more fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another benefit, if you are are not too sedentary, is that your muscles are already awake and you will not need to warm up a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your job involves a lot of mental activity, you cannot do your work properly just after a workout session. However, you can jump to a meal just after a workout. So putting the meal between the workout and your work will save you time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was easy for me to stick to this schedule. I just don't allow myself to eat my lunch before finishing enough exercise. I sometimes bring my lunch in the gym, and I look at it as I exercise. So it's like a reward after the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3051" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T15:33:45.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-08T16:05:13.643" Score="7" ViewCount="1711" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've lost a fair amount of weight over the past few years.  During this experience, I've always kept anorexia/bulimia in the back of my mind to avoid falling into any dangerous habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, is there an empirically accepted minimum on when cutting caloric intake crosses over from &quot;cutting calories&quot; to anorexia?  I am around 220 right now and I'd like to make it down to 180/190 (I'm 5 11 male and usually work out 4 times/week even though I could work out up to 7 days depending on my routine).  I've been on all sorts of diets and have adjusted to what works best over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the last weight is so much harder to burn off, I'm resorting to cutting calories.  I remember reading an article few years ago (maybe a wikipedia page or something) that 1200-1400 calories for a guy like me was considered extreme.  Now I'm finding things like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/tac_1200.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/tac_1200.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I realize I could be taking this out of context, it is still by the US Dept of Health and Human Services (so while it may not be the best source on the planet, I assume at least some medical professional has vetted this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now that all of that context is there, I can ask my question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is empirically considered &quot;dangerous low caloric intake&quot; these days?  At what level of caloric intake would a doctor say &quot;This is dangerous, you MUST eat more regardless of your weight loss situation&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in, when would I cross the line from losing weight to anorexia.  Is it even possible to be considered anorexic if I'm still overweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastEditorUserId="2059" LastEditDate="2012-03-08T17:27:58.353" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T20:18:08.717" Title="What is empirically considered &quot;dangerous low caloric intake&quot; these days?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5745" CreationDate="2012-03-08T20:41:32.580" Score="0" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll start this question with a small story so you all know how to answer this question right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was a kid I was extremely picky, I refused to eat alot of things for very vague reasons, such as meat and veggies. My whole metabolism revolved around junk food in general. I was always underweighted (Terribly underweighted) and I still am. In that time I was eating randomly, I mostly didn't eat breakfast, and the other meals I would eat at random times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since last year I've taken serious attitude towards this and I've started by adding proper meals at proper times: Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm not as picky now, I eat lots more things despite there are things I still don't like. I am underweight, and from a previous question, I mentioned I'm 50 kgs at 1.85m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This whole recovery plan has worked out terribly slow for the last year, I've gained 2 kilos in the past 3 years, and as I gain a kilo I drop it the next day. I should mention I'm a student and my calory burn is extremely high. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real question here is how do I recover properly from such strong damage on the metabolism? I am eating like a normal person now, and I have all my meals set up properly now, however I am seeing little no to result. Every step forward comes with 2 steps back. Would it be possible for a faster recovery, or will I have to wait years just to get on the right track?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2675" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T10:26:40.773" Title="How can you recover from a very terrible metabolism damage from the past?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-08T20:56:31.733" Score="6" ViewCount="475" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Testosterone release&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand, when one works out, it provokes a testosterone release that promotes the repair of microtears in the muscles involved in the workout. But testosterone also promotes a systemic anabolism, making virtually all tissues grow, including the intestines. Hell, even some bones, like the jaw, grow under the influence of testosterone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Increased food intake&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One key factor for muscle growth is the availability of protein in the organism. Bodybuilders often eat a lot more than the general population, so they are sure all energy requirements for the workout are met, and all protein and amino acid requirements for the muscle repair are also met. I would guess that eating a lot could have the same effect on the intestines as a workout on a skeletal muscle, making them grow to handle more work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when my weight increases, is that in part due to the size of my guts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I recently read about &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nattyornot.com/growth-hormone-guts-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GH gut&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which would be a side-effect of GH abuse. This question is not about it, nor is it about any other substance abuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2899" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-18T12:41:05.870" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T12:41:05.870" Title="When I work out, do my guts grow too?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5865" CreationDate="2012-03-08T22:15:09.047" Score="7" ViewCount="1874" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the title may be a bit misleading, so let me explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been using a pre and post workout drink for the past 6 months or so with great result. I had been using BCAA before that, but the post wortkout drink seemed to provide the same result, so I dropped the BCAA pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week, for what ever reason I was out of it, exhausted, overworked at the gym, not really sure.  So I bought some BCAAs again (same brand as before GNC Mega BCAA) and I've been feeling better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for the last week I've been taking 4 BCAA pills in the morning and 4 in the afternoon everyday and it's helping me to stay alert and energized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I abusing the stuff or using it for the wrong reason and should be consuming something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 42 years old and work out heavily 2-3 times a week, but dance lessons twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The BCAA pills contain - per four pills:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-leucine: 1600 mg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-isoleucine 800 mg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-valine 800 mg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D-pinitol 60mg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="1973" LastEditDate="2012-03-21T01:34:25.437" LastActivityDate="2012-03-21T15:25:31.103" Title="Should I consume BCAA pills to stay alert or not?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5742" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5743" CreationDate="2012-03-08T22:39:27.863" Score="0" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What actual physical stores carry them?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anywhere online that I could buy then return without problems if they didn't fit my foot? I have heard Zappos is good about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="2876" LastEditDate="2012-03-09T14:47:22.127" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T14:23:41.253" Title="Where can I try minimalist running shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-04-11T18:45:50.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5742" CreationDate="2012-03-09T05:38:33.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;REI has Vibram Five Fingers and the Merrell Barefoot/Bareform series, if you live in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd imagine MEC has them if you live in Canada, but I haven't been north of the border for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elsewhere in the world I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T05:38:33.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5739" CreationDate="2012-03-09T07:21:04.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat more. There's no way you won't gain weight once you're eating enough. If you think you're eating enough, but you're not gaining weight, then you're wrong... eat more. You shouldn't be eating like a normal person, you should be eating like a person who has a super high metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T07:21:04.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5739" CreationDate="2012-03-09T10:26:40.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Sancho says, you need to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is often a surprise to skinny people how little they actually eat. What feels like a huge meal to you is probably not very much at all. I suggest that for the next few weeks to take a record of every thing you eat. Note down absolutely everything that goes in your mouth. Weigh out all the portions. Then look up the foods and note down the total calorie count as well as how many of those calories come from protein, carbs and fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you know how many calories you are eating, increase them. It is the only way to put on (healthy) weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to look carefully at your protein / carb / fat ratio. There are many different guidelines about what these should be. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-the-primal-eating-plan/#axzz1oc2jNt6a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a good primal guideline. Some people think you need more carbs than that.... You need to experiment and find out what works best for you - you can only do this if you are properly informed (which is why it is so important to keep track of what you are eating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you eat real food - nothing that's been through a factory. Fake food can mess with your hormones which confuses your body about what its supposed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if all you do is eat more, you will just get fat. You probably don't want this, you want a lot of your weight gain to be muscle. To tell your body to make muscle rather than fat, you need to lift heavy weights. Join a gym or buy some weights and start on a good &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2736/281&quot;&gt;5x5&lt;/a&gt; program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take it steady. Make slow calculated changes to fine tune the process. Read and educate yourself as much as possible. Keep at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T10:26:40.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5747" CreationDate="2012-03-09T10:59:05.197" Score="6" ViewCount="3915" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for about 2 and half years. Though I have seen improvements in my body, it seems to have plateaued for a long time. I work in the IT industry and my work schedule is not consistent. Though despite all of this I try to sleep at least 7 hours a day. I have been taking supplements for a while but it does not seem to be doing any good. I am thinking about not taking them anymore, especially since they are sold double the price in my part of world than in USA or else where. Having said this I seem to be suffering a few specific problems in the past 4-5 months:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I get tired easily at the gym. I have reduced work out to 4 days a week (one body part a day) but unable to maintain that as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tiredness continues in office as well. I feel sleepy almost the entire day, and every morning I have to push myself to go to office.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have been taking BSN True Mass after visits to the gym, and it makes me more drowsy. I am thinking about eliminating food supplements completely. I was not any better with other products I tried in the past like Muscle Mass from Cyro Sport. I am not blaming any supplement but I think they don't blend well with my body&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of this I blame on my daily work routine and part on my food habits. I am used to eating out and there has hardly been home made food for me in the last 7-8 years. Are there any suggestions for how to increase my energy levels and overall health without supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="734" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-03-09T20:26:59.363" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T12:32:02.297" Title="Gymming without supplements" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5746" CreationDate="2012-03-09T12:29:38.560" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supplements are not a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have got everything else in order - diet / exercise / sleep, then supplements can be used to fine tune the process. That is all they can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The supplements you have tried make you more tired. So stop using them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the sounds of it you are leading a fairly stressful life. You have an inconsistent work schedule, you work out too much and you don't sleep enough (most people need at least 8 hours). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This causes your body to produce &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol&quot;&gt;Cortisol&lt;/a&gt;. Cortisol is produced by stress and is useful if you need to save your life in some emergency situation. However, what it does is it boosts your blood sugar levels and impairs your insulin sensitivity. This will make you fat and prevent your muscles from growing. It will also destroy your energy levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fix this, sleep more. You should be able to wake up each morning without the aid of an alarm clock. Work out less. Three times a week, for no more than an hour at a time is adequate. Some light cardio can take up the rest of the time if you need more...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T12:29:38.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-09T16:13:02.223" Score="2" ViewCount="595" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read many, many articles recently about how great fish oil is for you.  Awesome.  I'm in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hard part - which fish oil should I take?  There are so many of them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What attributes make a fish oil &quot;high quality&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3096" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T00:35:43.647" Title="How to determine the highest quality fish oil?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-06-08T02:07:03.300" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5748" CreationDate="2012-03-09T16:19:06.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/health/05patient.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article from the New York Times&lt;/a&gt; cites a consumerlabs.com report (can't link directly to report because you have to sign up) which says that large chains like Walmart/Costco store brands are typically high quality:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In any case, ConsumerLab.com says it has found a few patterns that consumers may find helpful. Products sold by vitamin chains tend to be more reliable than drugstore brands, and Wal-Mart and Costco’s vitamin lines are usually worth considering. In a recent test of multivitamins, ConsumerLab.com found that Equate-Mature Multivitamin 50+ sold by Wal-Mart was just as good as the name brand Centrum Silver, but at less than a nickel a day is half the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note that even though the study was for multi-vitamins&lt;/strong&gt;, I'm assuming that the same standards for manufacturing the pills are carried over into different vitamins/supplements.  The only way to not have to make this assumption would be to point to an equivalent study for fish oil and I don't know of one (feel free to upvote/accept someone else if they happen to find one).  This does make sense though because whoever produces the highest volume will likely discover the most problems and be more apt to roll out fixes to the manufacturing process.  Pills aren't like food/beer/whiskey/wine where quality tends to go up when made in smaller batches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm sure if you just picked up the &lt;strong&gt;walmart store brand&lt;/strong&gt; you'll be fine.  Keep in mind that &quot;quality vitamin&quot; just means that the contents of the bottle match what the nutrition facts say they do.  In terms of amounts and how much you should be taking you should look into research on amounts used in fish oil studies and I know from experience that fish oil pills do vary in amount of oil per pill, so you should definetly pay attention to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastEditorUserId="2059" LastEditDate="2012-03-09T23:07:39.110" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T23:07:39.110" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2711" CreationDate="2012-03-09T16:29:54.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have experienced knee problems using the squat machine at the top of the page when I do a full squat. No problems with the leg press machine. I used to squat 300lbs from a squat rack back in 1994, however, in 2012 I can only leg press basically 300 lbs. I do free squats in the squat cage with the Dave Draper top squat, but can only do about 115 lbs. i sometimes load up about 200 lbs on the squat machine and do quarter squats that are fun. Every apparatus in the gym helps. Still hope to at least squat 200 lbs again. I am 55 years old but still young for that age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3097" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T16:29:54.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5748" CreationDate="2012-03-09T20:46:55.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My source for information on this topic is &lt;a href=&quot;http://whole9life.com/fish-oil-faq/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Whole9&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your fish oil should be free of soy (including lecithin), dairy, wheat, rice, sweeteners or other artificial ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What fish oil brands does Whole9 recommend?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: The brand we take personally is Stronger Faster Healthier’s OmegaMaine.  We’ve tried lots of other brands, and like quite a few (including Carlson’s and Nordic Naturals), but we choose OmegaMaine for three reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;First, the ingredients are squeaky clean – no soy, dairy, wheat, sweeteners or other artificial ingredients.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Second, it has more EPA and DHA per teaspoon (1.8 grams!) than other high quality brands, and taking in a bunch of fragile PUFAs besides EPA and DHA isn’t a great idea. Prioritize the EPA and DHA, and minimize your PUFA intake in general.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Third, it comes in five palatable flavors (lemon, tangerine, mint, chocolate and vanilla), and all taste pretty darn good… for fish oil.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have a lot more, including brand recommendations and frequently asked questions. Their &lt;a href=&quot;http://whole9life.com/2010/08/whole9-supplement-evaluation-checklist/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;general supplement checklist&lt;/a&gt; is good stuff too. Some excerpts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Is the product designed to replace real, high quality, fresh food in your diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are the product’s claims too good to be true?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;...is it cost-prohibitive to eating better quality food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T20:46:55.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2012-03-09T22:58:57.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might not need to warm up your calves more. You might just be dehydrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try reducing caffeine consumption, increasing water consumption, monitor your salt intake (if you're eating a ton of processed food, do that less, if you're eating all whole foods, make sure you get enough salt). I've heard potassium could help, but I've also heard it's a myth, so eat a banana during the day anyway because they're delicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't do static stretches before your workout. It will weaken the muscle and make it more prone to injury. Instead, do a warm-up with dynamic stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T22:58:57.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-09T23:01:14.227" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm going out in the shade/sun for an hour, is it better to not wear any protection? Related, is the sun in small amounts / small intensities good for the skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, is a little exposure a good thing that can quickly become a bad thing or should I minimize any and all exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A directly related question, should I ever wear spf 15 or should I just put the max spf on everywhere I go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: My current thoughts (very unscientific) are that wearing SPF 15 for most places provides a good balance between burning too fast and getting natural exposure to the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the healthiest solution is to use the rub in tanner once per week and use SPF 70 for outings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3099" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T23:01:14.227" Title="Is it better to avoid sunscreen if I know i'm not going to get burned?" Tags="&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-03-10T03:16:52.890" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-10T13:33:08.317" Score="3" ViewCount="616" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the best free materials to start studying about good posture and spinal cord anatomy ?&#xA;The overall muscle and tissue physiology books will also do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background:&#xA;I'm doing different exercises (mostly tai-chi and qìgōng based) to correct my posture and compensate the extensive time spend working on laptop, but I'm not sure how to achive maximum results from these exercises. I want to build my own knowledge base regarding posture/spinal cord/muscles and analyze exercises from scientific point of view. I release, that it would take a lot of time just to build a ground for the knowledge, but I'm actually ready for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ultimate goal is to compile and apply my own (very specific for me) exercise set, work schedule, nutrition program to have healthy spine and good posture being actively involved into SW-development industry (which in my case 10-12h a day on laptop).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T11:33:50.637" Title="Free materials and books about good posture / spinal cord anatomy" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5758" CreationDate="2012-03-10T14:27:35.597" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;When stretching and flexing muscles, How much should I push my muscles and for how long before I take a few seconds break?&#xA;I usualy push as far as I can, and for as much as time as I can, and only if it really hurts I stop.&#xA;It can hurt even few hours later, so it's a little hint I'm doing it wrong, so I hope you could explain, how should I stretch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3102" LastActivityDate="2012-03-10T17:26:06.013" Title="How do you know how much effort to do and for how long?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5762" CreationDate="2012-03-10T16:33:11.090" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife has chosen to be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;functional trainer&lt;/a&gt; and is studying at the moment to have such a career. I my country (Ukraine) that kind of training is not a trendy profession. I doubt that she will be called-for enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I wonder, is it popular in USA and Europe? Is it a good choice of prefession? Is it trendy enough in other countries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3104" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-01-14T21:16:04.683" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T21:16:04.683" Title="Functional trainer - is it worth to be one?" Tags="&lt;untagged&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-03-11T00:46:03.547" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5756" CreationDate="2012-03-10T17:26:06.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends what kind of stretching you're doing, and what kind of stretching program you're on. I recommend buying Stretching Scientifically by Tom Kurz and reading about the topic in detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-10T17:26:06.013" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5746" CreationDate="2012-03-10T19:42:10.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat well.  Lots of fruits and vegetables, less sugar. If you lift weights, eat a lot of protein.  Experiment with the timing of your workouts.  Be VERY careful eating out.  Most restaurants only have a few healthy things on the menu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I think you know about sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No need to go nuts on supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-03-10T19:42:10.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2223" CreationDate="2012-03-10T19:48:54.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife is a Zumba instructor and she says it all comes down to how hard the individual practices. Most dances in Zumba are designed so you can go through the moves at mild levels or really push yourself, so those who are well motivated to do that will see an effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason she became a Zumba instructor was that a year of going to Zumba classes helped her drop 3 dress sizes and increase her fitness immensely - as compared to trying various other aerobics, dance and fitness classes over the years which didn't have anywhere near as good an effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ymmv&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" LastActivityDate="2012-03-10T19:48:54.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5757" CreationDate="2012-03-10T22:00:51.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Functional&quot; is a word without a strict definition, according to the accepted answer for the Question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3433/are-functional-movement-exercises-healthy-to-do-everyday&quot;&gt;&quot;Are functional movement exercises healthy to do everyday?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. It's a great answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over here in Germany, it's just one of many buzzwords created by the fitness industry. The word's usage a bit like &quot;holistic&quot; - anything can be &quot;holistic&quot; these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from that, beware overpriced training materials and certification programs, I'd say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-03-10T22:00:51.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5765" CreationDate="2012-03-11T05:43:37.940" Score="2" ViewCount="2349" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few bullets on my life and weight history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I weighed as much as about 265 pounds after college.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over the past few years, I have been between 220 and 240 bouncing around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within the last 6 months I have gotten my weight down to 200 lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My diet consists of the following:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whole wheat bread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cheese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sliced deli meet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;olives&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;raisins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dark chocolate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My workout consists of running 1-2 miles and doing pushups and stups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can run a 7 minute mile and can do 40 pushups with good form, and I'm getting better at the situps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to lose some fat and get healthier. I am not happy with my current physical shape. I am looking for recommendations for my diet and exercise to help me achieve this goal. I am willing to work hard and change my diet if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my diet works fairly well for me because I don't mind eating boring diets which are fairly nutritious, though I do cheat and go out to eat once in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2976" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-03-16T21:22:04.330" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T00:23:32.957" Title="Fat loss, I am stalling at 200lbs" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5763" CreationDate="2012-03-11T21:13:15.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may not have actually stalled... your weight loss may have just slowed down. You can usually easily drop a bunch of excess fat, but at some point, it will become more difficult to lose weight. As you lose weight, your body uses less energy to do things you do (walking around, running, etc.), so you will either need to work harder to burn more calories, or eat less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start doing more exercise, it will probably demand you eat better (a more well-rounded, complete diet) than you are right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until now, you've managed to drop weight by simply reducing the fuel you give to your body by controlling your calorie intake. Congrats for that self control, but you're probably entering a phase where you have to return to thinking about food as fuel for your activities.. just make sure you do a good amount of activity. You may stop losing weight at times as your body burns away fat and builds muscle (if you're eating a better diet), but that will be awesome for you in the long run. Your weight loss will be slower going forward, but even if you only lose 1lb per week, that's 50lbs over the entire year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-03-11T21:13:15.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5746" CreationDate="2012-03-11T22:37:13.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't eat sugar at all. I was craving sweets all the time before I realized how tired they made me. I still eat them every now and then but most of the time I'm happy to avoid them because the short pleasure they give me is outweighed by the sense of tiredness I get after 30 min from eating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to start eating oatmeal and eat only unprocessed food, then sleep more, you already know what's your ideal sleeping hours try to stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-03-11T22:37:13.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5742" CreationDate="2012-03-11T22:38:45.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find a specialized shop. Online is great and all, but not for this kind of stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also at some shops you'll be able to test the shoes on a treadmill at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-03-11T22:38:45.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5776" CreationDate="2012-03-12T08:43:45.140" Score="5" ViewCount="59746" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 20 years old and don't have much room or time for much equipment or a gym membership. When I was in highschool about 10kg ago I had my 6 pack everything but since working I've put on that 10kg sitting at a desk all day. I used to be very active while at school (boxing, weights, treadmill and always up and walking) but now I just can't get it all in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been frustrating me for a while so I went and bought a heavy bag to start training after work. I've slowly built up my stamina again (first day I got it I got worn out in 30 seconds - up to about 45 minutes to an hour now). I've also started doing some weights (I'm only small at 65kg so I'm using 6kg dumbbells) and a lot of core work (different types of crunches).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is for me primarily is to lose the fat around my waist/gut/lower back that I've built up.. I've stopped drinking alcohol now which has probably done most of the contributing. I don't own a treadmill and I'm not much of a runner (I was never able to build up the stamina for running longer than 15-20 minutes). I've tried skipping but that also seems to wear me out way too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to get my abs back (and good) with mainly (probably only) the below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As long as I can on the heavy bag (until I literally can't swing another punch).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches / bicycle crunches / reverse crunches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some high-rep free weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is boxing not a very good fat-burning exercise when compared to running on the treadmill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using the bag for about an hour every night with another 30-40 minutes on weights and core work for about 2 weeks now and there seems to be a visible difference around my gut - just wondering if there's something way better than boxing and if this is ridiculously inferior to other stuff I could be doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love smashing into the heavy bag every day after work so if there are ways I can be doing this and achieving really good weight loss / ab work then let me know! Any workouts with free weights or my own body (pushups / crunches) that can maximize the effictiveness of a boxing-bag-centric workout would also be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really appreciate any feedback or advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T19:17:12.767" Title="Will a boxing bag as my primary workout be okay for my cardio and weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2012-03-12T09:11:37.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends completely on how your using the bag. I've seen lots of people use the bag constantly for 5 minutes and then walk away from it tired. But that isn't doing them any favours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get yourself a bell (or an app for your phone) that will allow you to time boxing rounds. So, set it to ring every 2 or 3 minutes with 1 minute intervals. During the 2/3 minute intervals use the bag constantly, but then rest in the minute break. This is the most effective way to use the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, using a bag will raise your heart rate and work your chest and arm muscles as well as your legs. Just because you have never ran for longer than 15-20 minutes doesn't mean you can't run that distance. I was the same as you, I also did boxing and never ran any longer than 20 minutes. Now though I'm training for a half marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you push yourself to run even 2 minutes more each time, you will improve your fitness. Remember, there is no such thing as can't. That motto will get you through your running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If however you're adamant you won't run, then I would suggest swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2993" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2016-09-29T12:39:36.493" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T12:39:36.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-12T10:54:17.777" Score="5" ViewCount="1080" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out what the optimum heart rate should be for cardio exercise to burn fat. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this website&lt;/a&gt; apparently between 60% and 70% is best for fat burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-23T12:35:15.170" LastActivityDate="2012-12-23T12:35:15.170" Title="Optimum heart rate for fat loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5770" CreationDate="2012-03-12T11:45:10.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know optimals, since I keep hearing different theories and numbers changing over the years.  The good news is that detecting 65% or higher is pretty simple.  When you can start hearing yourself breathe, your heart rate is over 65%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can no longer hold a conversation with someone you are above 85%, so basically stay in a range where you are breathing hard, but can talk, and you are pretty close to being within that fat burning range, and no HRM or widgets required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-03-12T11:45:10.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5770" CreationDate="2012-03-12T15:18:26.857" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is partially true.  Zone training is a common way of improving fitness.  However, the zones adapt to your level of fitness, so the percentages you see are SWAGs (Seriously, Wild-A## Guesses).  A better measurement is the breath/talk test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery zone, you can talk normally but your body temp is slightly elevated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic zone, you can talk in complete sentences, but you are breathing more heavily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anaerobic zone, you can get a few words out at a time, and breathing is much heavier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Red line zone, you can only gasp out a word or two at a time.  Breathing is about all you can do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, studies have shown that the lower your heart rate, the larger portion &lt;em&gt;of the energy you expend&lt;/em&gt; is from fat.  The higher your heart rate, the larger portion comes from glycogen stores--or stored sugar.  However, what people forget about percentages is that it is in relation to the total energy burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body doesn't simply switch over from burning fat to burning sugar.  It's merely that the amount of glycogen your body burns is much larger compared to the amount of fat it is burning.  The truth of the matter is that your body is burning just as much fat in the red-line zone as it is in the aerobic zone.  The difference is in the &quot;after burn&quot; effect.  When your body has to replenish its glycogen stores, that energy has to come from somewhere.  It will come from a portion of dietary carbohydrates, and pulling the stored energy out of your fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is precisely why shorter HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) has better fat burning effects than long same-intensity sessions of cardio.  However, there is a trade-off.  If you are aiming to run a marathon you would be better off training for that marathon.  If all you care about is fat, HIIT is effective, as is resistance training (lifting weights).  Combine the two, and you can increase your muscle mass, which in turn burns more calories throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="3014" LastEditDate="2012-03-12T23:50:13.487" LastActivityDate="2012-03-12T23:50:13.487" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5774" CreationDate="2012-03-12T19:34:43.300" Score="21" ViewCount="48128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently looking through the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5 workout&lt;/a&gt;, and I was wondering about its effectiveness. The program has some lofty claims (most do), has a ton of anecdotal evidence supporting it, and appears to be quite successful given their &quot;15 million visitors and 23 thousand members.&quot; That being said, the nerd in me really wants to understand &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; something works, and the site didn't really communicate that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I spend 12 weeks on what could be just another &quot;fad routine,&quot; I was wondering if anyone knew of any research or studies done on the Stronglift routine, and whether or not the program's effectiveness can be scientifically proven or refuted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-24T17:40:30.040" LastActivityDate="2013-09-27T08:44:16.497" Title="Stronglifts 5x5: an effective program?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5773" CreationDate="2012-03-12T19:54:43.627" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts and Starting Strength are both based on fairly solid scientific evidence, however, neither program as a whole has been properly scientifically evaluated. You can summarize each like this: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Take advantage of the novice effect and large compound lifts to allow incremental increases every workout for months.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The novice effect has been demonstrated in the literature: untrained individuals gain strength more quickly than any other group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usefulness of compound lifts in developing functional strength and allowing incremental increases is also fairly established. For example, squats have been shown to be well correlated with sprint times and vertical jump height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out in the 5-rep regime (both programs advocate 5-rep sets) has also been shown to correlate with strength gains rather than hypertrophy (size) or endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you're a novice lifter (meaning that you can recover from your lifting your 5-rep max in about 2 days), and your goal is getting strong, both Stronglifts and Starting Strength should work for you. They're supported by research, and tons of empirical results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are two articles that explain the reasoning behind these programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/novice_effect_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;Starting Strength: Novice Effect&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/incremental_increases_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;Starting Strength: Incremental Increases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There is less scientific evidence for choosing Stronglifts over Starting Strength, or choosing Starting Strength over Stronglifts.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The differences are basically small details. Stronglifts uses 5 sets at the work weight, while Starting Strength uses 3 sets at the work weight. Starting Strength incorporates power cleans, but Stronglifts doesn't. Stronglifts says add at most 5lbs per lifting session. Starting Strength says add up 10-20lbs per session for the bigger lifts like deadlifts, at least at the start, when you're able to make quick gains in technique and strength. Starting Strength (the books) seems to have a more complete description of the program and techniques behind all of the lifts than Stronglifts provides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-11-24T17:36:55.910" LastActivityDate="2012-11-24T17:36:55.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5773" CreationDate="2012-03-12T20:35:04.617" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;We get a lot of this type of question: &amp;quot;we know X, but can we &lt;em&gt;scientifically prove&lt;/em&gt; X?&amp;quot; The answer, almost invariably in the field of strength training, is no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Science is dead; long live science&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an enormous number of variables in strength training: nutrition, hormones, time of year, mood, prior training, genetics, exercise selection, proper form, proper coaching, degree of coaching, rest, program interruptions, mobility...the list goes on. I have yet to see more than a handful of studies that control adequately for even a few of these. (To get an idea of some of these problems, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/2011_science_sullivan.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2011 in Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; (PDF), a strength-science literature review by someone affiliated with Mark Rippetoe, who authored &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, which is very similar to StrongLifts.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another massive problem with any scientific evidence regarding strength training is the problem of the novice effect. To wit: if someone's been sitting on a couch for ten years, getting them to do &lt;em&gt;any exercise at all&lt;/em&gt; will produce immediate and dramatic changes. From this fact springs a million advertising claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a dozen untrained grandmothers can improve their eyebrow-muscle endurance by using a calf raise machine eight times a day while eating nothing but graham crackers. Great. But what would have happened if they had done squats, deadlifts and chin-ups? Or marathon training? Or if they did squats, did they do them correctly? According to which standard? (And why do we care about eyebrow-muscle endurance, anyway?) This kind of science, where variables are controlled and compared in a useful manner, is apparently hard to produce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Science&amp;quot; in sports, bodybuilding, fitness, and strength training is almost always of the N=1 variety. That is to say, people experiment on themselves. (Or the people they coach, making N&amp;gt;1, but N is still too heterogeneous to make it peer reviewable.) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.silverhydra.com/2012/03/empiricism-and-science-with-special-consideration-to-swole/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kurtis Frank&lt;/a&gt; has an excellent observation on this point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Empiricism is one of the foundations from which science is built.] That is what most coaches and athletes who get results are doing. They run a trial, find a result (good or bad) and design future trials to try and isolate the variable. A temporal relation always exists in these trials, there is usually some modicum of control placed on the subjects (don’t do cardio on this powerlifting regimen, I want to see if it works without cardio fucking up your gains), and people are ‘on to something’ when their results are compared and contrasted against other person’s results at athletic conferences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its not indexed in medline, they don’t use nice laboratory methods or questionnaires, and they don’t write everything they do up and submit it for peer review. That being said though, it is empirical evidence gained by the scientific method (or some very similar beast) that is tested and retested to try and find ‘what’ works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;But...what now?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want science about a lifting or fitness program? Ask somebody who did it personally. Ask a coach who had fifty high school football players do it. Do it yourself. Read up on basic science, paeans to the program, and critiques of the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;StrongLifts is a lot like Starting Strength, and both of them are a lot like any other 3x5 or 5x5 novice barbell program. You squat, then next time you squat more weight. It works. Barbell lifting is not based on made-up mysticism like &amp;quot;muscle confusion&amp;quot; and it isn't an infomercial trying to get you to buy some overpriced coat hanger with a treadmill attachment. Lifting weights (like fixing your diet, running, and playing sports) is one of those things that works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And once you're squatting, deadlifting and pressing heavy barbells, &lt;strong&gt;your adherence to the program--eating enough, resting enough, lifting the weight correctly--is way, way more important than the program you choose.&lt;/strong&gt; It's not science, but it's true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;*&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, the scientific principle that the program is based on is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;supercompensation&lt;/a&gt;. That's why programs like StrongLifts and Starting Strength work. You lift, your body is stimulated to grow, you lift heavier. Repeat until it doesn't work anymore, at which point you're much stronger. For further reading, Rippetoe and Kilgore's book Practical Programming is a fine choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-09-27T08:44:16.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2012-03-12T21:06:23.677" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Boxing is great for conditioning, and is probably even better than steady-state cardio (running at the same pace for a set period of time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like running for duration, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot;&gt;try intervals&lt;/a&gt;. Run hard for 60 seconds, walk for 60 second, repeat 10 times (or more, depending on your ability). Interval training has been shown to be more productive at burning fat, and you can get a killer workout in less time than if you went out to run for miles/hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also recommend switching up your core training to include more anti-rotational exercises. Crunches reinforce bad posture, can lead to back injury, and are less effective at building core strength than things like planks and rollouts that force you to hold your core tight and in line. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best exercise for burning belly fat, though, is the push-away. As in &quot;push away from the table.&quot; Strong abs are pretty easy to get. Visible abs are a different story, and they're all about nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastActivityDate="2012-03-12T21:06:23.677" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-12T21:18:27.033" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing the Insanity Beachbody series of workouts, and, near the end of week three, had to take a 5 day downtime due to a severe flu. I spent most of the 5 days in bed, and got little movement, never mind exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I am back on my feet, I'm not sure what's best to do. Should I continue the workouts from where I left off, should I skip the 5 days in the routine and do the next one up, or, should I just start the whole regime over from the start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm looking to make sure I get the best long term effects for my health and fitness - I'm not worried about sticking to the program or any other issues with commitment to it, I normally complete programs I follow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1278" LastActivityDate="2012-03-12T21:44:17.280" Title="When following a fitness program, and missing a few days due to sickness, what's the best course of action?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5777" CreationDate="2012-03-12T21:44:17.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people don't realize that you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/health/nutrition/25best.html&quot;&gt;exercise&lt;/a&gt; just fine through a lot of minor illnesses. However, given that you had severe flu, you body is probably in worse condition than it was the day before you got sick. The actual physical causes could be not only recovery issues from the flu -- such as dehydration -- but also loss of muscle capacity from five days of lying in bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not familiar with the exercise program you mentioned, but if you are working on a schedule of progressively harder workouts, you should probably go back to the previous week rather than skip ahead to the next week. The schedule of workouts is designed to get increasingly harder as your fitness increases; you haven't kept up with the schedule, and if anything your body is probably behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-03-12T21:44:17.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5740" CreationDate="2012-03-12T22:05:26.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As your weight increases, the weight of your small intestine increases too, about 1-2% per every pound of gained weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digestive system is energetically expensive to maintain. Therefore, the growth of guts should be balanced by maximizing the capacity to extract nutrients and energy from the diet, and minimizing the energetic cost of maintaining longer guts. The more food, and the more difficult it is to digest, the longer the guts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2905" LastEditorUserId="2905" LastEditDate="2012-03-14T03:07:04.717" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T03:07:04.717" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5652" CreationDate="2012-03-13T02:42:02.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the leg press will affect your body. It will help make you stronger, and look more fit. A barbell squat is often advocated as a better alternative to the leg press machine. It activates more muscles during the exercise, specifically your core (back and abs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T02:42:02.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2012-03-13T02:53:07.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRrIsoDpKg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's Glenn Pendlay&lt;/a&gt; explaining the difference between an unspecified &quot;barbell row&quot; and a stricter form barbell row or &quot;Pendlay row&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Torso must be parellel to the ground to call it a Pendlay row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar must return to the floor after every rep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-23T12:33:40.053" LastActivityDate="2012-12-23T12:33:40.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2012-03-13T09:15:01.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we are right handed we automatically use the right side more without thinking about it.Like reaching for something on the top shelf, we stretch using only the right leg, or play any sport, we lung with the right leg first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you had any serious injuries in the past like in your gastrocnemius and the soleus (calf)?&#xA;This could be causing your cramp. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try doing some lunges and I would suggest you only use the left side - step forward with the left leg, lower the right knee so it drops towards the ground at a right angle and push back with the left leg keeping all the weight on the heel not the ball of the foot.&#xA;Another good way to try is 'knees to standing' - start kneeling on the floor and stand up using the left leg first. Reverse to kneeling using the left left. Try 15-20 of these each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you come right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3079" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T09:15:01.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5790" CreationDate="2012-03-13T09:24:06.103" Score="0" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to lose weight from my thighs and legs, but i have no time at all for exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I achieve that using nutrition only? is it possible? &#xA;I read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-dunev/three-weeks-to-thinner-th_b_181045.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;, is this diet efficient, or a little bit over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to use chemicals, medicines, or creams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3090" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T19:34:26.210" Title="Get thinner thighs" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5754" CreationDate="2012-03-13T10:30:47.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tai Chi&lt;/strong&gt; is an excellent exercise for your posture.  While not free, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.energyarts.com/store/products/books/opening-energy-gates-your-body-book&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bruce Frantzis' book&lt;/a&gt;, Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body, gives a very nice explanation of standing and sitting alignments as it relates to Tai Chi, as well as the flow of Chi. (It costs less on &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001TL0E4Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;amazon&lt;/a&gt; if you can find it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are concerned about prolonged sitting with all its negative effects, you want to think about  &lt;strong&gt;corrective exercises&lt;/strong&gt; to stretch out tightness and strengthen weaknesses that develop over time, as well as &lt;strong&gt;prevention&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prolonged sitting affects your posture negatively by tightening muscles that are in the shortened position when you sit (such as hamstrings, hip flexors, pecs etc.) and lengthens muscles that are in the rounded position (such as across your upper back like mid-traps and rhomboids).  A muscle that is too short or too long is no longer at it’s optimal length, which causes it to weaken and lessens its postural support. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises for Tightness vrs. Weakness:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;To compensate for the prolonged sitting position at your laptop, think about the positions your joints and muscles are held in while you sit and design your exercise program to “undo” those positions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch&lt;/strong&gt; flexors that tighten such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_flexors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hip flexors&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RpyQMeXgFU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pecs&lt;/a&gt;, and hamstrings.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthyexerciseworld.com/images/free-yoga-exercises-cobra.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cobra&lt;/a&gt; and lying backward over a ball help to stretch out your front side. (This question/answer gives some more information about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness&quot;&gt;stretching&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthen&lt;/strong&gt; back extensors, mid and lower traps, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiYSahiNXzA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rhomboids&lt;/a&gt;, lats and core muscles.   Something as simple as using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGF9TxKGARA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;resistance bands at your desk&lt;/a&gt; can help you strengthen some of these muscles.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/CBStraightBackSeatedRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;seated rows&lt;/a&gt; using cables, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bent-over rows&lt;/a&gt; using weights are good for strengthening the upper back.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Plank and bird-dog&lt;/a&gt; work your core and back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prevention&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Using good posture while you sit helps to prevent multiple problems. Our site has some free info on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Sitting-Posture-Awareness-Exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sitting&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Standing-Posture.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standing posture&lt;/a&gt;.  Additionally, you may want to check into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alexandertechnique.com/at.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alexander Technique&lt;/a&gt;, a posture and movement method, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilates&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pilates&lt;/a&gt; or yoga.  Use a good ergonomic chair. Some people find that using an exercise ball intermittently as a desk chair or a balance disc in your chair helps improve sitting posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spinal cord anatomy&lt;/strong&gt;: Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://apparelyzed.com/spinalcord.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spinal cord overview&lt;/a&gt; and diagram of the different vertebral levels, cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral vertebrae along with the nerve root levels.  If you sit with a posture that compresses at certain points of the spine, you can irratate both joints and nerves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that gives you a good start.  Also take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx's posture page&lt;/a&gt; for other corrective exercises. As you said it will take some time to get your own program set up, but to get started, try taking short breaks to do a cobra stretch (assuming you don't have a back problem), some bird-dogs, a few rhomboid contractions against gravity or with a resistance band, and a quick plank exercise.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T10:30:47.563" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-13T10:58:43.933" Score="1" ViewCount="1313" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the advantages and disadvantages of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wobble%20chair&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;prmd=imvns&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;ei=tSZfT_L-EqTG0QWkw-SMBw&amp;amp;ved=0CFMQsAQ&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=1019&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wobble chair&lt;/a&gt; over exercise ball used as alternative (supplementary) chair for prolonged sitting at the office desk? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Tip: with exercise ball you will get your pants dirty.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="514" LastActivityDate="2012-03-24T02:38:07.737" Title="Wobble chair or exercise ball for prolonged sitting at the office desk?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2012-03-13T11:26:14.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Dave's answer.  Also, the exercise you show is a hamstring curl.  However, your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/226747/gastrocnemius-muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gastrocnemius&lt;/a&gt; (calf muscle) also crosses the knee joint, so you may be overworking the gastroc when you do this exercise.  Try lowering the amount of weight (until you can do it without cramping) to see if this eases the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for muscle cramps at night, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/night-leg-cramps/MY00410/DSECTION=causes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic reference&lt;/a&gt; says that the cause is usually unknown, and although generally harmless, there are some conditions that may be associated with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T11:26:14.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5754" CreationDate="2012-03-13T11:33:50.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_9?url=search-alias=aps&amp;amp;field-keywords=alexander%20technique&amp;amp;x=0&amp;amp;y=0&amp;amp;sprefix=compostab,aps,203&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Alexander Technique&lt;/a&gt; may be something to look into, it's used (at least by the NHS in the UK) for rehabilitation of spinal injury victims. However, it does concentrate on posture rather than muscle building exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T11:33:50.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5785" CreationDate="2012-03-13T15:53:21.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like a pretty good &quot;standard&quot; healthy diet. There's no real way to &quot;target&quot; areas for JUST fat loss.  Exercising will definitely do it the fastest, but that diet will cut fat off your whole body, and therefore your thighs as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T15:53:21.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5795" CreationDate="2012-03-13T16:17:42.797" Score="2" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that the weight gain was based on diet and exercise, but there is no change in exercise -- is there any way to project the rate of weight loss based on diet alone? Meaning the level of exercise/activity would remain the same for the duration of the weight realignment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3122" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-03-13T18:56:05.357" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T20:22:40.100" Title="Is there anyway to project the rate of weight loss based on diet alone?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5791" CreationDate="2012-03-13T18:50:53.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen several references say that 3500 calories is about equal to 1 pound of body weight (here's one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calories/WT00011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calories/WT00011&lt;/a&gt;). So, you could just note your rate of weight change at your current calorie intake (that will account for your activity level and metabolism), and then you can predict how that rate of weight change would be affected by changing your calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you're currently holding a steady weight and you cut 500 calories per day (3500 calories per week) from your diet and don't change your activity level, you should end up losing approximately 1lb of body weight per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as you progress, the same level of activity might burn less calories, or you may put on more muscle, making you more efficient your activity, so that changes things, but this is all approximate anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-03-13T19:45:37.620" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T19:45:37.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-13T19:30:25.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch TV.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to read a book or scroll through an iPhone on a treadmill or stationary bike. It is not difficult to train your eyes on a television screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I like to watch sports, because I'm kinda jocky, yes, but also because a game doesn't require sound. You can keep your earbuds in and your music pumping through a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But maybe you're not into sports, and that's fine. If you belong to a gym, don't be shy. Ask the staff to change the channel or take the initiative to access the cable box yourself and change the channel. Find something you like to watch -- say Mythbusters or Desperate Housewives. Then tell yourself you won't step off your exercise machine until the second commercial break or halftime or any scene where Teri Hatcher makes out with a delivery guy. By that time, you'll forget how long you've been going. And isn't that what beating boredom's all about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1786" LastEditorUserId="1786" LastEditDate="2012-03-16T15:51:59.577" LastActivityDate="2012-03-16T15:51:59.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5791" CreationDate="2012-03-13T20:22:40.100" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is currently no way to accurately estimate weight loss based on caloric intake. The 3500 calorie deficit = 1 lbs of weight loss idea is appealing, but it is a myth. It does not take into account that foods have different satiety and hormonal responses. Beyond that, the body releases hormones to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all&quot;&gt;try to keep you near your current weight&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/297/9/969.full&quot;&gt;ATOZ study&lt;/a&gt; compared 4 very popular diets. As is very common with diets, weight loss began well, but plateaued at around 6 months before rebounding. As weight-loss stalled, people actually &lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/297/9/969/T2.expansion.html&quot;&gt;reduced calories further&lt;/a&gt; in order to try to start losing weight again to no avail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A back of the envelope calculation for these people shows that they were in a minimum calorie deficit of 500/kcal/day (which increased over time) for an entire year. That would suggest weight loss of 52 lbs per person over the year. Actual weight loss was more like 10 lbs for atkins and 7 lbs for the other diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The national weight loss registry data shows that those that have lost a significant amount of weight, and have kept it off, have reduced calories further than those who have always been thin (see the nytimes article linked above). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it's not simple, and the truth is, no one has it figured out. If someone tells you they can predict your weight loss based on your diet, ask them for a study that shows it. So far, it does not exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-03-13T20:22:40.100" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-13T20:30:28.640" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turn fitness into a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the advice to find something you like doing and vary your workouts, but there are also some apps out there that are specifically designed to help make working out fun. &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/home&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runkeeper&lt;/a&gt; is a great smartphone app if you're into running or biking because it helps you track your distances, speed, and calories burned. It also has music integration, so you can hook up a playlist and get updates on your progress without the music stopping (the volume just turns down). Additionally, you can integrate your RunKeeper account with your Twitter and Facebook accounts, so you can post updates for your social network to see. I use this when I'm training for a race and doing a lot of long runs - it's kind of fun to brag to your friends about how far you ran, and it also keeps you accountable (I don't want to share a really slow run, for example). RunKeeper also has a feature called &lt;a href=&quot;https://runkeeper.com/elite?utm_source=pChannelBecomeElite&amp;amp;pchannel=web.header.become&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RunKeeper Elite&lt;/a&gt;, which allows your friends and family to track you live during a workout and cheer you on via comments. So, it's really helpful if you're the kind of person who likes to set a goal and try to beat it, or if you want the support and accountability that goes along with having your family and friends watching you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.noom.com/cardiotrainer/about.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cardio Trainer&lt;/a&gt; is very similar to RunKeeper in that it uses GPS tracking and has voice notifications and music integration. It also has a few additional features, such as a Pedometer and Move Your Bot. Move Your Bot is pretty cool because it gives you points for your workouts and allows you to compete with your friends on games inside the app. In that way, it makes the app even more social. However, I don't believe Cardio Trainer has a live-tracking feature like RunKeeper has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: As Scott just informed me in a comment below, both RunKeeper and Cardio Trainer have Autopause (the app automatically pauses the workout when you have to stop at traffic lights, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt; is another great product that is designed to help you track different kinds of workouts. You get points for all your activities, so you can focus on beating the number of reps you did last time, and also on beating your friends. It's more versatile than RunKeeper or Cardio Trainer because you can you can log strength training, swimming, yoga, and a lot of other things in addition to just running and biking, but it requires that you manually enter a lot of workouts. It does have RunKeeper integration so you can automatically import your runs/bike rides, but you do have you manually enter weight lifting, swims, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, you have to find exercise enjoyable in order to stick with it, but these might help make it more interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1499" LastEditorUserId="1499" LastEditDate="2012-03-19T13:35:35.523" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T13:35:35.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5654" CreationDate="2012-03-14T16:11:09.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal preference would be to invest in a proper barbell and weights, complete with the power rack and bench.  The main reason to choose barbells over Bowflex has to do with versatility and expansion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowflex has limited set of resistances, once you max your system out, what's next?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowflex only supports a limited set of exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free weights allow many types of exercises ranging from the big four (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press) to Olympic lifting and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.70sbig.com/blog/2011/09/barbell-complexes-2/&quot;&gt;barbell complexes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you max out the set of free weights you have, you can always buy more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only downside to free weights is the amount of space they take up.  That can be a real concern for people living in a one bedroom efficiency or densely populated areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, Bowflex does have some advantages over regular machines, but they also have their disadvantages.  First, the resistance is adaptive.  The more you make the bows flex, the more resistance they give.  While this helps the lockout strength, it doesn't help with getting the bar off the chest--which means there isn't as much carryover to the real lifts.  If the bars are tethered by a cable, it's a machine.  If the cable is tethered in the middle, it will allow more stabilizer muscles to get involved than if it had guides on either side.  However, cables are not as robust as welded metal.  Then again, a bowflex is designed for personal use, and not the rigors of people (ab)using the machines in a commercial gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T16:11:09.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-14T18:24:50.073" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Variety is something I consider to be important to keep things fresh in order to prevent stagnation (whether physically or mentally). I have been practicing martial arts for a few years now, and it never feels like it is getting old. I am continuously learning new things, refining my techniques, and applying those details to material I learned in the past. In our classes, we tend drill different things that physically affect different parts of our bodies. Practicing martial arts does get easier with time, but I am still finding myself faltering when I learn unfamiliar physical movements. It throws both my mind and body off, and forces me to adapt to what I'm doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Setting small goals (while keeping the overall big picture goal in mind) helps keeps things realistically attainable. By breaking things up into little steps, I find myself applying little tweaks to fine-tune my performance so that I can reach the next level of where I want to be. All those small performance jumps contribute to the type of person I want to be at a later point in time. Having a time frame to reach your goal prompts me to work more, but even if I don't complete what I want in that span, the effort I have put in will not have gone to waste. Asking myself who I want to be in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, or whatever also motivates me to do more. I never want to be stuck on making any progress; the thought of being the same person in the future as now screams, &quot;LOSER!&quot; to me, something I do not want to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking up to other people has also motivated to become a better performer. I have only been practicing martial arts for a few years, but there are many others who have been practicing far longer than I have. Watching older martial artists serves as an inspiration for me to be better and to challenge and push myself beyond what I can currently do. That itself can manifest in various ways, but it also feeds into the mental effort I put in for tweaking my performance and setting goals for myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all very intrinsic factors that make exercise personally interesting to me. Conversely, one extrinsic thing that has helped to keep things interesting is to have someone else or a group of people to join you in exercise. They can be friends, random workout people, group classes, teachers, mentors, or whomever. Find people who will push you or train you harder. I like to be around more experienced people who can help provide guidance and insight to how I can strive for excellence in what I'm doing. Without that type of support system and the kind of person I am, I wouldn't be in the state I am today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After years of martial arts training, I am also finding myself to be very capable in other physical activities. Going back to variety, I am starting to experiment with other things like running (for the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5126/are-barefoot-shoes-suitable-for-multi-terrain-obstacle-courses&quot;&gt;Warrior Dash&lt;/a&gt;) and rowing (particularly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_boat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dragon Boat&lt;/a&gt;) and have an interest in pursuing climbing and snowboarding. The physical development I have gained is making me more aware and conscious of what my body is doing, and I am eager to try new things and test myself out in different capacities. You can get a feel of what you would like to do from the ample amount of opportunities available to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from that, when I used to &quot;run&quot; many years ago (being terribly out of shape and not knowing what I was doing), I would pretend to chase people around the track and then run away from them when I passed them. Sometimes I would count in my head to see what pace I was keeping; other times I just liked to make imaginary stories up about other people at the gym. As an very introverted person, it put away any self-conscious issues I had regarding exercising in public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T18:24:50.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5785" CreationDate="2012-03-14T19:34:26.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above, spot reductions are generally not possible. Healthy diet and an exercise regimen can help in an overall weight and fat loss and toned body. You can try elliptical, running, lunges and squats for toning of legs. There are certain Yoga poses and exercises you could try too. There is one Yogasana where you flutter your legs like a butterfly in a sitting pose ( I am not sure of the name of the Asana) but it helps tone the inner thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2811" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T19:34:26.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5763" CreationDate="2012-03-14T19:43:37.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you have hit a plateau. You can come out of the plateau phase by altering your exercise regimen. You can add new ones or increase the intensity of the present ones. You can add some strength training exercises targeting different muscle groups. Also bringing a variety in food helps, making sure you are adding only the healthy stuff. If the body gets too used to the food and exercise, body-changes slow down. So keep changing your exercise whenever you feel you are not losing anymore weight. Also keep a  track of body measurements and body fat percentage as they are better indicators of your weight loss than just counting pounds. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2811" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T19:43:37.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5787" CreationDate="2012-03-14T21:19:51.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The link you included showed armrests, which would probably help reduce shoulder and even neck strain, as ergonomically speaking, you'd want your arms supported if you're typing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wobble chairs I have experience with have some ways to adjust them, which means you can fit them to your stature. This is a good thing - an exercise ball might not put you at the right height for reaching your desk or viewing a computer monitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disadvantage of a wobble chair would be price - they're definitely spendier than a simple Swiss ball. And because they offer more support, you don't engage as much muscle to maintain good posture. But since most people have horrible posture, they need the extra help, so while it may seem like a con, frankly I think this is a pro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, I'd say a wobble chair is a better bet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T21:19:51.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4930" CreationDate="2012-03-14T21:28:32.780" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's true that significant fat loss will result in some loose skin, most (or all) of which should tighten up over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But only people who see you naked will see the loose skin. Everyone else will see a thinner person. So the answer is no - weight loss will NOT &quot;only&quot; result in loose skin appearance wise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lost 70+ pounds at age 32. I have fully visible abs and am at about 10% body fat. When I do pushups, I have a tiny bit of loose skin that hangs down off my belly that I'm pretty sure wouldn't be there had I never been so heavy, and that I'm fairly certain will never go away. But if you saw me shirtless at the pool, you'd never know it was there. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7158/6507668403_920ae25597.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a pic of me from a few months ago&lt;/a&gt; - you tell me: did my fat loss &quot;only&quot; result in loose skin? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T08:33:26.133" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T08:33:26.133" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5746" CreationDate="2012-03-14T22:55:38.317" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supplements are not likely to cause the effect. It's the wrong training process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to rest and decrease the number of training sessions. Your body is exhausted. Reduce to 2 trainings per week max . Every next training must be conducted in the supercompensation phase, while you are training in catabolic regime now (body still recovers from last training and you start next one). Also, as pointed in another answer, stress makes your body produce more cortisol -- and it forces catabolic process even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So:&#xA;1) Do a break. Rest for 2 weeks. Then start from the small cycle: start with 30-40% of your usual weight and increase it during 2-3 weeks to normal values.&#xA;2) During this small cycle do no more than 2-3 trainings per week. The idea to split training for different days for each body part is good for pro-athletes, not for usual person. Make sure your rest at least 48 hours between training. &#xA;3) During the break do the recreational activities: walk (not very more though), sleep for 10 hours, drink more water, cut off the alcohol (at least for a while) and reduce the fat food and refined sugar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main idea how to build the training process: your body should want to train. If it resign, listen to yourself. If you are tired: rest until you feel like training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastActivityDate="2012-03-14T22:55:38.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5832" CreationDate="2012-03-15T10:17:58.877" Score="3" ViewCount="4138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried for a couple of months now and I just can't seem to build on my obliques.. I have minimal trouble getting and keeping my 6 pack, but I just can't get those darn obliques. It looks really awkward having a decent set of abs and then nothing to wrap them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I work on these in the same sessions as my abs.. I figured this was ok as they're all part of my core. Maybe this is the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I generally run my core workout like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standard crunches - 3x20.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Floor oblique crunches - 5x20 each side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse crunches - 2x60.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oblique dumbbell side lifts - 3x20 (20kg).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycle crunches - 3x10.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do specifically to place more emphasis on my obliques and build them up? Should I break up my ab workout and my oblique workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-15T12:40:55.067" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T22:09:33.333" Title="How do I build my obliques?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5812" CreationDate="2012-03-15T14:18:22.727" Score="4" ViewCount="4843" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do Supersets make it any easier for you to go through with your workout ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since you train different body parts when doing a superset is the intermediate rest period accounted for at least partially? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3046" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T20:12:32.510" Title="Is there any benefit to doing supersets over taking the traditional one-exercise-at-a-time approach" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5807" CreationDate="2012-03-15T15:43:12.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do Supersets make it any easier for you to go through with your&#xA;  workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supersets are an advanced strength training technique that allow you to increase the intensity of your workout while decreasing the time spent working out. Incorporating supersets will make your workout more difficult, but also more efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And since you train different body parts when doing a superset is the intermediate rest period accounted for at least partially?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supersetting, at its most basic, is a training method where you do two exercises with no rest in between. Training different body parts with each exercise is only one of several types of supersetting you can do. My favorite type of supersetting is pre-exhaustion where you do an isolation exercise followed by a compound exercise. This is great because in the compound exercise, there is usually one muscle working much harder than the rest, but if you warm up one of the supporting muscles in the isolation, now you have two muscles working to failure in your compound exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good list on &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightlifting/a/supersets.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the types of supersets you can do&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any benefit to doing supersets over taking the traditional one-exercise-at-a-time approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are several:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overloading muscles makes them work much harder and gives you better results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding supersets can save several minutes of time otherwise spent resting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not resting between exercises adds to the intensity of your workout, regardless of what type of supersetting you choose to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporating supersets in your workout is a great way to break through plateaus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Variety and muscle confusion are good things. Like humans, the body gets bored of doing the same thing over and over. Doing supersets adds variety to your workout which makes it a little more interesting, for both you and your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-03-15T15:43:12.547" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5806" CreationDate="2012-03-15T17:43:37.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three exercises in my ab routine that target the obliques:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oblique v-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mason twist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The oblique v-up is a lot like the floor oblique crunches, except you raise your legs in the air at the same time you do the oblique crunch. The mason twist is a great all-around ab exercise, especially if you incorporate a kettle/medicine ball into it. However, you may want to avoid the mason twist because it may place too much stress on your spine. Finally, there are the side planks, which you will really feel if you hold it long enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like @VPeric said, squats are another good way to build the obliques, and I've personally noticed a big difference in my abs after adding in several squat routines into my workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-03-15T17:43:37.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="784" CreationDate="2012-03-15T18:54:27.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite my background in science, I'm going to suggest that you use a little trial and error here to see what works best for your digestion and satiety.  We can hypothesize and rationalize for weeks, but this is one circumstance where you can run the experiment for yourself several times over a few days.  Just do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3132" LastActivityDate="2012-03-15T18:54:27.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5807" CreationDate="2012-03-15T19:55:41.563" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with all training options, there are tradeoffs depending on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do Supersets make it any easier for you to go through with your workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not really the best way to think about it.  Will the time go quicker?  Yes.  Will it be easier? Definitely not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A key aspect to supersets is dealing with fatigue.  Because fatigue is now part of the training, you have to mentally push yourself harder.  Accumulating fatigue can be an effective way of intensifying the training stimulus, as it never really lets you come to a full rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And since you train different body parts when doing a superset is the intermediate rest period accounted for at least partially?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no rest between one exercise and the next when you superset.  You only rest when the superset is fully complete.  The length of time that you rest between one superset and the next depends on your training goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why Superset?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supersetting gives you some metabolic conditioning.  A more extreme example of this is called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.70sbig.com/blog/2011/09/barbell-complexes-2/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbell complex&lt;/a&gt; where you string between 4 and 8 exercises together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supersetting trains your ability to function when fatigued.  This can help you grind out new personal records when you don't give up because the bar is moving a glacial speeds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can keep exercise from being boring.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why Not Superset?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focusing on one main compound lift without the extra fatigue will give you a better chance to make the required sets and reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The layout of the gym may not support supersetting.  You need all the equipment in a relatively small space.  If someone comes along and starts using the equipment you need while you are in the middle of your superset, it will break your rhythm.  The chances of that happening go up considerably when you have to run from one end of the gym to the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are focusing on technique, or employing other methods to break through plateaus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supersetting won't let you use weights that are closer to your maximum abilities.  This is due to the fatigue built into supersets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to Decide&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Programming is the discipline of looking at your goals and developing a plan to meet them.  There is as much art as there is science when making these choices.  The best bet is to make a plan, test it out for a month or so, and make adjustments as you learn how &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; body responds to that type of training.  It's also important to realize what works today may need adjustments later on due to your body's adaptation to the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are several program templates out there to help meet your goals, you still need to understand the pros and cons to decide if that is what you want to do.  The choice to superset, or when to superset is entirely up to you.  It's important to keep in mind that you don't have to always do one method or another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can have some days be traditional programming, and other days use supersets or complexes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can have a main lift done traditionally, and your assistance lifts supersetted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do all the lifts traditionally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do all the lifts supersetted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may favor supersetting when doing bodybuilding style workouts because you are pushing your muscles to failure much more quickly.  While this has a profound affect on releasing Testosterone and building muscle size, it takes a long time to fully recover.  You will also be using sub-maximal weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may favor all traditional exercise by exercise when doing powerlifting style workouts to cause your body to adapt to higher maximum weights.  Even this requires varying the intensity and volume to continue getting the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I favor the traditional approach for main strength training days, but barbell complexes work wonders for a high intensity metabolic conditioning session.  So I will mix them together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-15T19:55:41.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-15T21:17:31.063" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find a treadmill or stationary bike next to an attractive person of the opposite sex. If the person is famous (join Equinox), all the better. You will work out harder than you ever have before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1786" LastActivityDate="2012-03-15T21:17:31.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-15T22:01:07.170" Score="0" ViewCount="671" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing the 8 min ab exercises from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44mgUselcDU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;passion4profession&lt;/a&gt;, and would like to do something similar for my arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises in the video are all done without any equipment, they work their way up from very easy to very hard, and everything seems very professional. I'm having trouble finding any similar routines for the upper-body. I only have a chin up bar and a couple weights, so anything beyond that I wouldn't be able to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a similar program for arms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: Also, I'm aware of the p90x, but I definitely won't be doing that. I'm not looking to &quot;get into the best shape of my life,&quot; I just want to incorporate some fitness into my otherwise sedentary lifestyle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2429" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:58:37.203" LastActivityDate="2013-03-14T02:02:18.357" Title="Arm workout similar to P4P's ab series?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1063" CreationDate="2012-03-16T03:13:59.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If by &quot;routine&quot; you mean exercises, some exercises will almost always be applicable to your routine.  Small modifications (as suggested by Rhea) can help ensure you target all muscles and maximize your Range Of Motion (ROM). Overall, however, power exercises like the bench press, squat, and deadlift can remain a vital piece of any routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If by &quot;routine&quot; you mean weight, sets, and reps, look into the concept of &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=09mT_sJ6KxoC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Periodization&lt;/a&gt;. Furthermore, the &quot;Super-compensation effect&quot;.  This is the key piece of information exercise physiologist use to ensure no &quot;plateau&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you want to alter your resistance every day, month, and year (microcycles, mesocycles, and macrocycles respectively); however, only &lt;strong&gt;slight&lt;/strong&gt; changes should be made.  It is important, for the sake of completeness, to further read on periodization before implementing it in your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3014" LastActivityDate="2012-03-16T03:13:59.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-16T18:35:38.513" Score="0" ViewCount="2600" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm good athlete, I don't know if I'm really a good athlete, but at least I try. I swim, run, play soccer, and I do a regular workout in gym. I'm almost defined, not muscular, but every zone is tonic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is the stomach! There's a little amount of fat on it but the problem is that it is inflated when my abs are relaxed. If my abs are in tension, the stomach looks coherent with the rest of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like there's an air problem inside my stomach rather than fat problem. I think it is because my stomach sometimes makes noises and sometimes I need to throw out that air. How can I avoid it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3137" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-19T13:38:37.457" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T13:01:46.120" Title="Inflated abs when my abs are relaxed?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-16T20:06:37.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a geek - a developer, programmer and all round nerd. I hated the thought of exercise and gyms and all that involved it, but the doctor told me it was vital. I started a blog to document how I get on. It began rather self-deprecating, stabbing fun at myself on how little time I can jog for or how quick it was before I started getting shin splints. But then I started improving and I was managing to transform it in to something a bit geeky and self-indulgent. I guess the real answer here is try to adapt your exercise in to something you enjoy. I now find myself encoding videos on to my iPhone and watching them while I work out. Finally, my bluetooth headphones are a godsend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3139" LastActivityDate="2012-03-16T20:06:37.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5819" CreationDate="2012-03-16T22:28:17.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might have what i think is called &lt;b&gt;&quot;irritable bowel syndrome&quot;&lt;/b&gt; which means you get easily bloated and whatever you eat gets heavily fermented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, when i cut down calories and eat &lt;b&gt;&quot;less quantities&quot;&lt;/b&gt; for several days , this problem disappears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to burn whatever fat is remaining and eat &lt;b&gt;smaller portions&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink no &lt;b&gt;soda/coke&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do &lt;b&gt;abs&lt;/b&gt; workout, do not use weights just your body weight (weight will make your muscle stomach bigger and in your case it will look double the size)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also stress increases fermentation, try to relax as often as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And see what happens.  It should get better by then. And even if it doesn't, its not a big deal just focus on burning the remaining fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-03-16T22:28:17.627" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3476" CreationDate="2012-03-17T07:47:48.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Varicose veins are caused by the valve in the vessel in your leg not properly working. Sometimes this causes blood to pool down there and makes it look ugly and very uncomfortable (you say you want the veins &quot;smaller&quot;, that's just the blood pooling. Compression tights will help circulate blood by pushing it through. Try low-impact sports such as swimming or biking. Its important to stay active no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any advice someone gives you on the internet take it with a massive grain of salt and talk to someone trustworthy (like... a doctor). Just be weary of them trying to sell a surgery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3144" LastActivityDate="2012-03-17T07:47:48.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5828" CreationDate="2012-03-17T15:36:50.573" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know if there is a comprehensive, public and up-to-date database containing nutritional information for food products (both general and brand-specific)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3145" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T13:26:00.590" Title="National Nutrition Database" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-03-20T23:39:06.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5819" CreationDate="2012-03-18T02:27:31.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This response assumes you are concerned with the volume in your abdomen rather than surface fat given your complaint of an inflated feel and your are male (not subject to hormonal cycles affecting fluid retention). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The inflated (bloating) feeling may be due to either air (gas) or fluid.  Gas may be caused by diet, such as a food allergy or an intolerance.  Age and race are important considerations, as lactose (a sugar in milk) digestibility can diminish with age and some ethnicities are less tolerant than others.  Reducing dairy consumption or supplementing with an enzyme such as lactaid may help determine whether your bloating is due to minor lactose intolerance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fluid retention in the abdomen usually hints at more serious issues for males, and you should see a doctor if you feel this is the case.  Electrolyte imbalances, kidney disease or infection, and liver problems can lead to fluid retention (beer belly or ascites).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are seeing bloating elsewhere, like swollen legs or feet, see a doctor.  Onset of diabeties&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2012-03-18T02:27:31.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4640" CreationDate="2012-03-18T02:57:00.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are getting older and need to augment your muscle mass to compensate for a slowing metabolism and/or extra weight carried from your youth.  The body will adapt too well to any routine, and you've already hit a plateau with your cardio burpee routine. Focus on building some lean mass, which means you need some strength training (lift weights).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abdominal exercises are not going to yield results on their own -- best for highlighting definition once already lean. Cardio burns off extra weight better, but the body finds a balance, so convince it needs feed more muscle to support the extra work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your body is convinced it needs to support the extra muscle mass, cardio will burn off your flab.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2012-03-18T02:57:00.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5827" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-18T11:55:35.227" Score="5" ViewCount="2544" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious how to figure out how much extra work I'm doing pushing a jogging stroller while running? I have a 20 lb baby sitting in an otherwise empty Bob Evolution stroller. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-10-30T14:23:00.963" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T02:03:17.567" Title="How many extra calories do I burn when running with a jogging stroller?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5824" CreationDate="2012-03-18T14:11:04.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Below are 3 links - I'm not sure what your intent is, if it's to track your daily intake you might be better off using a foodtracker, such as at LiveStrong.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-35-45-00&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-35-45-00&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&amp;amp;tax_level=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&amp;amp;tax_level=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-19T13:26:00.590" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T13:26:00.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5830" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5844" CreationDate="2012-03-18T23:51:18.007" Score="3" ViewCount="3641" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought these watermelon flavored ices from the supermarket because they have 100 calories per cup and 0g of fat and saturated fat. But they do have 24g of sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will eating these be against my weight loss intentions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3150" LastEditorUserId="3150" LastEditDate="2012-03-19T01:05:47.057" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T21:35:15.647" Title="Is something with 100 calories but 24g of sugar okay to eat when on a diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5830" CreationDate="2012-03-19T02:41:48.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to answer outside the context of your whole program.  Sounds like empty calories, which are never good, but there are worse things for occasional splurges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T02:41:48.337" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5806" CreationDate="2012-03-19T12:39:07.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try the &lt;strong&gt;hanging windshield wipers&lt;/strong&gt; exercise. It targets include the obliques. Steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start with hanging on a pullup bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;raise you legs to your arms, keeping legs straight, so that you will look like a U&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;then keeping your legs together, move them side to side like in a &quot;wiping&quot; motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instructional videos can be found on Youtube:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0naOASvxJX8&amp;amp;list=FLUg7lIwUTfL5oP9gxvYO0RQ&amp;amp;index=50&amp;amp;feature=plpp_video&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leg raises with windshield wipers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or some variation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arDUVmCzyhc&amp;amp;feature=fvwrel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How To: Hanging Windshield Wiper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have no place to hang on, you can also do &lt;strong&gt;floor wipers&lt;/strong&gt;. Steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lie flat on your back with your legs extended straight out. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fan out your arms to use as support, and lift your legs up without bending your knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep your legs together and move them side to side in a &quot;wiping&quot; motion. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a slow, controlled motion and vary the height of your legs to target the abs from different angles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got the above steps from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/426717-are-floor-wiper-exercises-good-for-abs/#ixzz1pZ8B4JVB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Are Floor Wiper Exercises Good for Abs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The article also presents a variation of the floor wipers the actors of the movie &quot;300&quot; used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T22:09:33.333" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T22:09:33.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-19T14:51:57.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting interested in exercising has been a life-long struggle for me as well. I had a breakthrough last summer though that might work for others too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really enjoy documenting things. I enjoy hiking, but it's difficult to motivate myself to go. I had some time to kill while I was waiting for someone and I decided to walk on a trail by a lake nearby where I was waiting. I later decided to document some innformation about this trail using the GPS on my phone. There were more trails in the area, so I decided to map them. Then I later entered that information on Google Maps for others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what I discovered was that I didn't hate activity, I just needed to turn it into a learning experience and a creative experience. Now I enjoy documenting information about hiking trails in my area and documenting that information online for others to benefit from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this may get you to start thinking about physical activity in a different way. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3155" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T14:51:57.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5830" CreationDate="2012-03-19T16:16:34.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like nothing but sugar to me.  Most highly processed foods work against fat loss, and this sugar shot is no different.  At the very least, it is empty calories--calories that perform no function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing to be concerned with is what other affects those empty calories can have on your body.  It might be just enough to kick start your metabolism, and cause your brain to signal the &quot;I'm hungry, feed me&quot; response.  If that happens, the net effect is it incites you to overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, any calorie not doing anything for you while you are attempting to lose fat will at the very least slow your progress down.  It's easy to justify &lt;em&gt;little cheats&lt;/em&gt;, and tell yourself that &quot;it's not that bad&quot;.  Until you bring yourself into discipline, you should not give yourself little treats.  You should be finding out how to make the food you should be eating more tasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T16:16:34.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-19T18:14:51.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this same problem years ago, and what worked for me was to give up the gym and take up martial arts instead. It's still a great workout—some strength training, some flexibility, lots and lots of cardio—but the best part is that you're constantly learning new techniques, or learning refinements to the techniques you already know. It's exercise for the mind as well as the body, and that helps to keep me interested more than the gym ever could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3156" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T18:14:51.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="661" CreationDate="2012-03-19T19:06:49.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running in Vibram Fivefingers for about 4 years, first in a pair of KSOs then in a pair of Bikilas.  My typical run is 4 - 6 miles.  I agree with Mike but wanted to add my experience to this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I switched from KSOs to Bikilas the pad over the Achilles tendon on the Bikila irritated my skin.  The upper of the Bikila has a good deal more &quot;structure&quot; to it and this made the rubbing even worse.  Even after my skin toughened up it would still be irritated after a run.  For this reason I prefer the KSO, though I am still running in Bikilas.  I wanted to get the Bikila LS but they are designed for wide feet and mine are narrow so I had to pull the two sides completely together to get a snug fit.  My next pair will probably be a brown pair of KSO Treks because they will look better when I feel like wearing them with jeans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learning how to run like a human is key to running in minimalist shoes.  You can find some really good information from &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Harvard's Skeletal Biology Lab&quot;&gt;Harvard's Skeletal Biology Lab&quot;&lt;/a&gt; barefoot running page.  There is also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;great video summarizing this work on YouTube&lt;/a&gt;.  I used to run a mile or two barefooted each time I ran just to improve my form but I quite doing that last year.  My feet never seemed to toughen up enough for regular 4 to 6 mile runs on concrete and asphalt, though I could run the occasional 5K barefooted without issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2012-03-20T16:52:55.320" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T16:52:55.320" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2012-03-19T19:06:49.460" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6077" CreationDate="2012-03-19T20:54:55.580" Score="5" ViewCount="556" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started swimming regularly about a month ago, and I can currently swim freestyle less than 75m before I have to stop and recover for a short time.  I have a simple goal of being able to cover 500m without completely exhausting myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming I have a fixed amount of time at the gym each week, should I be spending as much as possible in the water to work on my technique until I stop seeing improvement, or does it make sense to spend any of that time on weight training instead?  If so, what should I focus on?  Are there specific exercises that would help with my form and endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To provide some more detail, here are the main problems I continue to run into with the freestyle stroke, even as my form improves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My arms, shoulders, and upper back tire quickly, and when they do, my need for air increases and my form suffers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowing my kicking and/or stroke rate affects my body position, which negatively affects my form and efficiency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no sustainable pace.  I can swim separate 50 yard laps almost endlessly, but only with short rests between to catch my breath and let my arms recover.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like the overall problem is a lack of strength and endurance in my upper body, which could possibly be addressed more directly by weight training than swimming alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3138" LastEditorUserId="3138" LastEditDate="2012-03-26T20:40:21.663" LastActivityDate="2019-05-06T12:54:03.600" Title="What type or amount of weight training is beneficial for a beginning swimmer?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5843" CreationDate="2012-03-19T16:49:04.160" Score="8" ViewCount="9411" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running about 3 weeks ago (3 x a week) in an effort to get in better shape and lose weight. I have noticed my stamina improving but my joints still hurt (knees &amp;amp; ankles) after I run. I am running about 4 miles each time I go out. I currently mix in some walking with the running too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any particular technique or way to run (like heel-toe or on the balls of your feet, knees bent more/less?) that would lessen the impact on these joins or do I just need to tough it out until I've lost enough weight to where the joint pain isn't as great? Currently I can run about a mile and a half before the pain around my knees is enough to make me want to stop and walk for about a quarter-mile before starting to run again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3158" OwnerDisplayName="jamauss" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T05:49:58.650" Title="Is there a recommended running technique if you're overweight?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2012-03-19T17:54:28.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running is bad on the joints for runners of all shapes and weight. I would lose the weight &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; starting a running program. Because running is in general bad for the joints, I would suggest biking, roller-blading etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Ok so after doing more a recent study of the impacts of running, it appears that perhaps running is now considered less harmful on the joints as previously thought. However, don't over-do it, listen to your body, be aware of any pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3169" OwnerDisplayName="Jim Norton" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-03-20T16:26:36.643" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T16:26:36.643" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2012-03-19T20:31:33.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Jim says, running is very hard on all your joints as well as your back... And it doesn't really matter whether you're 20kg overweight or 10kg underweight. The rule of thumb is that the pressure on all joints is 3 times as great when you're running as when you're walking (Assuming an average 5km/hour pace).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting with some swimming or biking - or maybe just doing this beside the running - is a very good idea. That will help you built the fitness side of running while still protecting joints and back along the way while you can deal with the weight-loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; run, then I would recommend you stop and walk &lt;em&gt;every time&lt;/em&gt; your joints begin to hurt. After all pain is the body's way to make you notice when things are not quite right...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic idea of running all the many kilometers is to make the body learn the motions... So I cannot recommend, you use an alternative &quot;style&quot; of running now. This can be very difficult to un-learn later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" OwnerDisplayName="Tonny Madsen" LastEditorUserId="2841" LastEditDate="2012-03-19T21:49:46.250" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T21:49:46.250" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2012-03-19T21:28:45.553" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many options to try out.  Please don't stop - you're on the right track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before each run session, prepare your body a little bit through some &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthrunning.com/2011/07/the-standard-warm-up-video-demonstration/&quot;&gt;dynamic stretching&lt;/a&gt; to prime your muscles and joints for the effort.  This should be part of every session.  If you are pressed for time, cut back on your actual running time (and mileage) to fit in a routine similar to this link video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are out running, focus on good form more than speed or distance.  Without seeing you run, or knowing how you run, here are a few pointers on good form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run tall, don't slump over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your feet are landing under you - not in front of you.  Shorten your stride if you need to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on landing soft and quiet. Yes, running is a high(er) impact sport, but you can still minimize impact regardless of size or weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more in depth information on good form, here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSIDRHUWlVo&amp;amp;feature=share&quot;&gt;great resource&lt;/a&gt;.  Please be aware that there is more than one way to run, but this might work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll add as well, that running is not necessarily the answer to losing weight.  If, from working out, your appetite increases and you eat more, you may not actually lose weight.  So keep that in mind.  Weight lose can be attained through BOTH exercise and nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T21:28:45.553" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5830" CreationDate="2012-03-19T21:35:15.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may think that this drink is only 100 calories.  And that may be so.  But, what it doesn't tell you is that the significant sugar (24g) will spike your blood sugar causing your body to produce more insulin.  When your body produces insulin, it immediately goes into fat storage mode.  So instead of burning some fat (in addition to carbohydrates), it burns 0 fat and continues to store energy reserves as fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rule of thumb that I use (works for me, may not for you), is if sugar is listed as the first or second ingredient and/or is more than 8g, I don't eat or drink it.  This includes 0-calorie &quot;sugars&quot; like aspartame.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your blood sugar in check, and you won't need to be on a &quot;diet&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T21:35:15.647" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2012-03-19T22:04:07.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having read the other answers, I would suggest a couple of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with biking, even on a stationary.  Get used to the movements of your legs.  This helps build muscles and strengthens your knees, before you start taking the pounding on them for real.  If riding a real bike work on seated climbs.  (Same on a spinning bike I suppose, but more fun outdoors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you start running, listen to your body, as others have suggested, but also try working on a Run:Walk program.  There are many approaches to this. This can be a run 10 minutes walk 1, once you get better at it.  But start with run 1 minute, walk 1 minute, and repeat for all the time you have set aside for your run.  Then as that gets more comfortable, switch to two minutes running, one minute walking.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are worried about your joints, consider starting out on a running track, since they make it out of much softer, bouncy material instead of pavement or concrete. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-03-19T22:04:07.903" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5909" CreationDate="2012-03-19T22:06:53.937" Score="0" ViewCount="1146" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding on diet and what foods I should be eating to maintain a low body fat percentage is very amateur. All this time I have just been looking at the calories in the nutritional facts label and if it's low I think it's fine to eat and if it's high I avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm beginning to see there is a whole lot more to it than that. For example I have always eaten lots of white rice (it's my staple food) but now I see this type of carb is bad for weight loss. Not sure why though, something to do with being high in the gyclemeic index I hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what role does sugar and blood sugar levels play in weight and metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I want to lose body fat I need to keep my metabolism high correct? So fat burns quicker rather than being stored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to speed up metabolism diet wise? Is it by avoiding sugars or always keeping blood sugar levels high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it matter where the sugar is coming from, for example fruits vs raw sugar from a bag?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any explanations are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3159" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T16:57:11.603" Title="What role does sugar and blood sugar levels play on diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5849" CreationDate="2012-03-19T23:21:33.450" Score="14" ViewCount="6982" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe in balancing the amount of exercise that I give to each muscle group, but recently it occurred to me that my leg muscles might be imbalanced. More than anything, squats are the number one leg workout I do; they are in almost all of my routines. Given that, I was worried that I might be potentially overtraining certain muscles by having such a large focus on squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If squats are my primary leg exercise, what leg muscles do I need to focus on to in order to avoid muscle imbalances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I do medicine ball squats (squat down to 90 degree angle with hands extended holding a medicine ball). I would prefer to do barbell squats, but do not have a barbell rack...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-03-20T03:07:00.523" LastActivityDate="2012-03-25T13:16:15.527" Title="Leg exercises that complement squats?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5847" CreationDate="2012-03-20T02:15:02.413" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_kinetic_chain_exercises&quot;&gt;closed kinetic chain exercise&lt;/a&gt;, training the entire &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_chain&quot;&gt;posterior chain&lt;/a&gt; (calves, hamstrings, glutes, adductors, spinal erectors), in co-contraction with your quadriceps, abductors, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;abs&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;If you're doing proper, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/squat_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;below parallel, knees-out squats&lt;/a&gt;, you won't be developing any muscle imbalances in your legs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Starting Strength training program and Stronglifts 5x5 both advocate squats being part of every lifting session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of those programs also include deadlifts, not really to address muscle imbalances, but to engage a lot of the same muscles worked by the squat with much heavier loads, and some extra emphasis on the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength also includes Power Cleans, also not to address imbalances, but to develop power from the legs and hips (instead of just strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mention these programs because they are widely considered to be complete strength training programs, and they focus almost solely on the squat for strength training of the legs. Variants of the Starting Strength program even have deadlifts placed only every 5th workout (see Chapter 8 of the 3rd edition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you want additional exercises to &lt;em&gt;assist&lt;/em&gt; you in your squats&lt;/strong&gt;, Starting Strength suggests &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBGluteHamRaise.html&quot;&gt;glute/ham raises&lt;/a&gt;, but only in as much as it will assist the main lift, and these are not suggested until your squat has developed quite a bit on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Noticing that you're starting using medicine ball squats rather than a barbell, the only difficulty will be progressively loading the exercise to make it more difficult each workout. You can try heavier medicine balls, switch to dumbbells or kettlebells for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&quot;&gt;goblet squat&lt;/a&gt;, do them more explosively (jump squats, for example), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBSingleLegSquat.html&quot;&gt;dumbbell single-leg squats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-03-20T04:23:39.557" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T04:23:39.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2012-03-20T02:16:29.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not getting enough sleep before midnight or limited sleep in general can lower the metabolism and also lead to increased urge for snacking to increase energy and stamina During the day due to fatigue.  Suggested reading material: Counsel on diets and foods by Ellen G. White.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3162" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T02:16:29.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5847" CreationDate="2012-03-20T03:46:02.070" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Properly performed full squats are not unbalanced.&lt;/strong&gt; (Also, I doubt that a medicine ball is heavy enough to produce any muscular imbalance anyway.) I worry somewhat that the 90 degree angle you describe is not deep enough, so I advise you to read &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/squat_klein_suggs.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this history of squat depth recommendations&lt;/a&gt;. Squat deep, with the crease of the hip getting lower than the top of the knee (or even lower), and you will avoid the muscle imbalances and knee injuries that result from shallow squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The squat doesn't overtrain a particular articulation of any joints. For instance, too much bench pressing is known to cause shoulder issues, since only one side of the shoulder's musculature is developed. (Pulling exercises such as rows and chin-ups are advised in that case.) In contrast, the squat develops the abs and back in tandem, as well as the quads, glutes and hamstrings, and all the other myriad leg muscles. There's no one-sidedness to squatting that I know of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a well-designed long-term program should involve many things. I find it more productive to divide up the exercises by types of movement instead of muscle groups, unless there's a problem with a specific muscle. Dan John lays out &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://danjohn.net/2011/06/even-easier-strength-perform-better-notes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;five fundamental human movements&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_metabolic_swing&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hinge&lt;/a&gt; - like a deadlift or kettlebell swing  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_secret_of_loaded_carries&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;loaded carry&lt;/a&gt; - like sled drags, Prowler pushes, suitcase carries, waiter's walks, etc.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/get_your_push_back&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;press&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/reawaken_your_rhomboids&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're hitting all five of those, you'll either discover or fix any imbalances you might have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1898" LastEditDate="2012-03-25T13:16:15.527" LastActivityDate="2012-03-25T13:16:15.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5853" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-20T16:29:41.647" Score="5" ViewCount="1468" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am male, 48, 6'2&quot; and 230 lbs.  I workout 4 to 5 days per week, doing a wide variety of sports (running, cross training, TRX, skiing, lifting weights etc).  I was assessed last year and my cardiovascular health is top quartile for my age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For years I have eaten a healthy diet averaging 2000 calories per day.  According to the metabolic rate calculators, my average daily burn should be about 3400 calories per day.  Therefore I have theoretically been running a deficit of 1400 calories per day for a very long time, yet my weight has been unchanged for years.  This implies a very low basal metabolic rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife is much smaller than me and eats more.  She says I am in starvation mode and my body wont give up my fat. That seems implausible as I am rarely hungry. Basically I eat til I am full.  Regular meals, very little junk. She believes I need to eat more to rev up my body and lose weight but I feel that if I do that the opposite will occur.  Plus I would have to gorge myself and feel uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that the problem may be related to my very low heart rate.  My resting heart rate is 42 bpm and has been at this low level for at least the last 25 years.  Wen I exercise I can get it up to 160 but I quickly recover. The two factors that seem to be most able to affect bmr are heart rate and muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3170" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:48:42.497" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:52:42.300" Title="Am I in &quot;starvation mode&quot;?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5853" CreationDate="2012-03-20T16:49:39.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are both wrong. If you're really eating 2000 calories per day, and not changing weight, then you're only burning 2000 calories per day, not 3400. Either you're wrong about your daily burn, or you're wrong about how many calories you're consuming. The only thing you can really check is your calorie consumption, so double check that 2000 is accurate (I suspect that it is not). No way should you be in &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_response&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;starvation mode&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (is that what you're talking about?) at 6'2&quot; and 230lbs with regular meals. You may not notice weight loss if you're putting on muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-03-20T16:56:44.453" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T16:56:44.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5853" CreationDate="2012-03-20T17:55:24.137" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a very real sense, you may be reading more into these numbers than is there.  First and foremost, our bodies are designed to be efficient at maintaining its operation.  That includes the amount of body fat you have, how much energy it expends, etc.  Your body has adapted to the approximately 2000 Calories you are consuming.  At your activity level, height and weight, I wouldn't venture much below that at all, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few important nutritional guidelines to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturalchampion.net/articles/article/2410291/51175.htm&quot;&gt;Not all Calories are the same.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  Calories from protein sources and vegetables take more energy to absorb, and don't cause extremes in your body's responses.  Calories from cakes and sugary snacks do cause extremes in your body's response, and are counterproductive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.burnthefat.com/build-lean-muscle.html&quot;&gt;Calories are needed to build muscle.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  In addition to a generous supply of protein, your body needs energy to build muscle.  Some of this can be pulled from your body fat, and the rest from your diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/465970-can-eating-too-many-carbs-be-bad/&quot;&gt;Balance carbohydrate needs with supply.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  Excess carbs when your body doesn't need them will cause you to store that energy as fat.  However, after exercise, your body does need carbs to replenish the glycogen stores.  The trick is to find the right balance of what you need vs. what you eat.  Too much and you pack on fat, too little and you go into starvation mode.  NOTE: ketosis based diets balance very low carbs with high protein intake to protect your existing muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lewrockwell.com/mercola/mercola177.html&quot;&gt;Fat doesn't make you fat.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  This counter-intuitive bit of info might leave your head reeling.  Basically, the only danger in high fat content is that it fills up your caloric needs faster than either carbs or protein (9 Cal/g instead of 4 Cal/g).  As long as you get your protein requirements, the rest is up to how you want to spend it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So based on the description of where you are, my guess is that you are in solid maintenance.  You won't lose fat or gain it assuming all things remain the same.  For things to change, you will have to make adjustments.  You are probably consuming at the bottom end of whats needed for your body.  Increasing a little may not hurt you.  Just be careful what you increase your Calories with.  It's not a license for adding donuts to your daily diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T17:55:24.137" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2012-03-20T18:34:30.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would consider trying to land on your fore- or mid- foot and not your heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is good evidence to suggest that this &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reduces the sudden, large impact transient forces of heel-striking&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote from that Harvard study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our research asked how and why humans can and did run comfortably&#xA;  without modern running shoes. We tested and confirmed what many people&#xA;  knew already: that most experienced, habitually barefoot runners tend&#xA;  to avoid landing on the heel and instead land with a forefoot or&#xA;  midfoot strike. The bulk of our published research explores the&#xA;  collisional mechanics of different kinds of foot strikes. We show that&#xA;  most forefoot and some midfoot strikes (shod or barefoot) do not&#xA;  generate the sudden, large impact transients that occur when you heel&#xA;  strike (shod or barefoot). Consequently, runners who forefoot or&#xA;  midfoot strike do not need shoes with elevated cushioned heels to cope&#xA;  with these sudden, high transient forces that occur when you land on&#xA;  the ground. Therefore, barefoot and minimally shod people can run&#xA;  easily on the hardest surfaces in the world without discomfort from&#xA;  landing. If impact transient forces contribute to some forms of&#xA;  injury, then this style of running (shod or barefoot) might have some&#xA;  benefits, but that hypothesis remains to be tested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say &lt;em&gt;consider&lt;/em&gt; because you have enough to worry about just getting this program underway. @RyanMiller's answer is very good. Running quietly with your feet under you is another way of saying fore-foot running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep it up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T18:34:30.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2012-03-20T19:35:58.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try incorporating social media, e.g. log your workouts to dailymile.com.  This provides some sort of real life (yet still somewhat anonymous) accountability.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was in the middle of marathon training, having to post my progress forced me into some workouts that I would have otherwise skipped.  It can also be inspiring to see how your friends are doing in their exercise programs too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3173" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T19:35:58.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5859" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-20T20:46:05.170" Score="3" ViewCount="2883" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 270 pound male that would like to lose weight and body fat. I am doing cardio every day twice a day for 45 minutes each session. I am also using weight lifting machines three times a week. Am I doing too much cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3174" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:44:43.457" LastActivityDate="2013-02-02T00:53:05.083" Title="Am I doing too much cardio for losing weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5880" CreationDate="2012-03-20T21:09:14.767" Score="3" ViewCount="3657" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimmingcalculator.com/swim_calories_calculator.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;swimming calculator&lt;/a&gt; site tells you how many calories are burned during swimming based on a formula by the University of Wisconsin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our swim calorie burned calculation is an estimate using on distance, pace, time, weight and stroke. The calorie formula is based on a study by University of Wisconsin and our own internal research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the University of Wisconsin formula and is it published on a peer-review paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T17:00:19.863" Title="Formula to count calories burned during swimming" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5938" CreationDate="2012-03-20T21:26:57.027" Score="4" ViewCount="1081" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to work on how quick my feet are. I know a handful of exercises but I am looking for something new that I haven't tried before. I am looking for both in gym exercisers, to incorporate into my existing routine, and also would like some exercises that I can do with the ball at my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I haven't played very competitively in a while so my feet have gotten &quot;slower&quot; (how disheartening to admit). Any suggestions would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I don't know any gym/lifting excercises.&#xA;I know many different variations of skip touches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="3029" LastEditDate="2012-03-21T18:22:47.607" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T19:25:08.100" Title="How can I make my feet &quot;quicker&quot;?" Tags="&lt;soccer&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5827" CreationDate="2012-03-20T23:53:04.513" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;While drawing diagrams to calculate it would be fun, have you considered comparing your heart rate with and without the stroller?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would be a much more reliable than trying to estimate the increased energy requirements. Here's why: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We would need to calculate the friction the stroller has with the ground, which depends both on its weight (with or without a baby) and the amount of contact surface with the ground. The latter may vary if you have 3 or 4 wheels, high profile wheels or not etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We would need to calculate the increase in your frontal surface, so we can estimate the air resistance. While most models are quite aerodynamic, so the baby would be dry, I can't even make ballpark estimations about what your total change in air resistance will be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The energy transfer of you pushing and the stroller rolling forward. Ideally you would be pushing straight ahead, so all your energy is converted into a forward rolling motion (assuming there are no moments that require you to push under an angle). Either way, remember you're running, you have better things to do than pushing under some weird angle and making sure the baby is safe! So we have no idea what the energy loss is going to be here, perhaps you lean too much on the stroller (increasing the friction) or you're slightly lifting it (making your own steps heavier).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of all my points, what value does the answer have? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to burn more calories, you can also run longer or faster, no need to push a stroller. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Need to take baby out for a ride and worried of all the extra work, simply run slower so you'll burn the same net amount of calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you're still convinced you need to push a stroller and run at the same time? Like I said, simply compare your rate heart with or without on several runs (science requires multiple samples!) and see how the compare. To make sure you're not cheating, track your speed using GPS or an accelerometer and you get an idea of what the influence of the stroller is. Estimating it however, surely &lt;strong&gt;is not the way to go&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2012-03-20T23:53:04.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2012-03-21T00:31:35.717" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a right leg above knee amputee. I lost it 8 years ago and went from 135 to 242 pounds. Finally I told myself I could do anything with one leg. A year later and I am down to 142 pounds. I never had a chance to go swimming even though that would be the best for my joints. All I did and still do is weight lift and cardio. As for the cardio, all I do is pick 5 random exercises. I change them up everyday so I don't ever get too sore so I can still hit the weights. I do 10-25 reps of each exercise, rest 30 to 90 secs and I repeat 5 times. The whole point is to get my heart-rate pumping real fast then give it time to slow down a little but not all the way then get it pumping supper fast again. That's how the fat cells break down. Amino acids, green tea, and caffeine is what I take for my fat burning helpers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising helps my phantom pain go away and stay away so sometimes I do this twice a day with 5 different exercises. I do all exercises 1 legged never with artificial leg. Once or twice a week I like to run on my crutches for a mile or so then walk fast back home. I do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scissors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leg lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bicycles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bend and reach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;left over right (sitting down)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and jumping jacks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I do random exercises at the gym with the bar. Curls, pullovers, good mornings, brain busters... you get the point -- anything and everything that keeps the heart rate up without wearing my muscles out. I went from super fat to very lean muscle. I hope this helps a little. Good luck on slimming up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3178" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-21T02:12:53.657" LastActivityDate="2012-03-21T02:12:53.657" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5741" CreationDate="2012-03-21T01:53:25.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;10g of BCAAs is perfectly normal and fine to use regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those that don't know what BCAAs are and why they may be beneficial, BCAAs are Branched Chain Amino Acids.  Because they are straight amino acids that are used by the muscle systems, the body doesn't need to work hard to break them out of a full protein chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you lift heavy things, and in general exert your muscles to exhaustion, BCAAs help repair the muscles quicker than by consuming protein.  Indirectly this improves your energy because the body spends less of the energy repairing itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They are not a replacement for protein, however.&lt;/strong&gt;  Our bodies have 11 essential and another 11 non-essential amino acids which it gets from protein.  The non-essential proteins can be manufactured--of course it takes some energy to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most BCAAs (powder or pill form) include the three main essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.  Some have a fourth.  The D-pinitol is a form of Vitamin B which also mimics an insulin response.  Insulin is an anabolic hormone which has the responsibility to channel energy into your muscles and organs.  That helps replenish the glycogen stores more quickly (assuming you have the carbohydrate reserve for that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-21T01:53:25.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5882" CreationDate="2012-03-21T09:53:55.330" Score="2" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercises are recommended during day (each hour), if I work on the PC whole day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sitting for a complete hour my left leg starts hurting me (from top to down), and i couldn't bend it any more, are there some easy exercises to do it during day from time to time to let my leg relax?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3090" LastActivityDate="2012-03-22T16:56:40.680" Title="What exercises are recommended during day to relax my legs?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5867" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5883" CreationDate="2012-03-21T10:26:09.733" Score="0" ViewCount="12111" Body="&lt;p&gt;After triggering a long term calf-muscle injuring in my leg during a recent run, I went to my local pharmacy to get some deep heat to apply to it whilst waiting for the doctors to squeeze me in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boots.com/en/Deep-Heat-Spray-150ml_2131/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deep-&lt;strong&gt;heat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boots.com/en/Deep-Freeze-Cold-Spray-150ml-1-Can_867815/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deep-&lt;strong&gt;freeze&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; were available for purchase; both offering seemingly the same promise of &lt;em&gt;easing muscle soreness&lt;/em&gt; and I wasn't sure which one was best to apply in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good rule of thumb as to whether to apply a &lt;em&gt;freeze&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;heat&lt;/em&gt; solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I.e. is it the case that &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt; solutions should be applied to injuries and &lt;em&gt;heat&lt;/em&gt; solutions are merely there to relax sore/ aching (but un-injured) muscles (or something similar?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1055" LastEditorUserId="1055" LastEditDate="2012-03-21T15:03:40.743" LastActivityDate="2012-03-22T23:35:20.870" Title="To deep-heat or to deep-freeze, that is the question" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5869" CreationDate="2012-03-21T14:26:04.993" Score="6" ViewCount="643" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently gotten into olympic lifting and am really enjoying it. Unfortunately, I am repeatedly told by the coaches that my shoulders are rounding forward and my back is not straight when I clean, deadlift or snatch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try and focus on it each lift, but I don't seem to be able to keep it straight. My standing posture is okay, and I can stay upright just fine doing squats, but when I am in the initial bent-over position, I fold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have suggestions for exercises or training techniques that can help improve my ability to keep my back straight during these lifts? Perhaps strengthening my upper and lower back while improving flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3182" LastActivityDate="2012-03-21T15:40:30.710" Title="Exercises/training techniques to improve back posture during deadlifts, cleans, etc" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5868" CreationDate="2012-03-21T14:48:39.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe you need to slow down? Or lighten the load?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Video yourself so you can &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; what you're doing wrong. A coach touching the erroneous area &lt;em&gt;as it happens&lt;/em&gt; can help too. My proprioception goes through the roof with a little visual or tactile feedback. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps your shoulder strength is poor, in which case Pendlay rows and pull-ups would be called for.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greg Everett's book turned me on to segmented pulls. You pull as if cleaning or snatching, but stop at 1 inch off the floor, the knees, mid-thigh, and at the top you either perform a high-pull or you pause there as well. It reinforces proper positioning throughout the pull.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you bending over and straightening your back from the top down (Rippetoe-style), or squatting butt-to-calves and straightening your back as you stand up (Burgener-style)? You might have success trying whichever one you're not doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-21T14:48:39.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5741" CreationDate="2012-03-21T15:25:31.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;BCAA is mainly about recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand &quot;staying alert&quot; is about stimulants. The most popular source is caffeine. I'd say yohimbine is another common one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your caffeine tolerance you may have a double espresso, americano 30 minutes before your workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Little bit more advanced stuff is pre-workout supplements. They contain higher amounts of caffeine, usually 200 mg per scoop or serving. That's why usually recommended use part says 1-3 scoops/servings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again depending on your tolerance your body will get use to it, so it's a good idea to cut stimulants for 1-2 week(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally i do not recommend carbonated rtd energy drinks since they will make you burp through your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2012-03-21T15:25:31.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5868" CreationDate="2012-03-21T15:40:30.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing you could try is improving your ability to stay in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1856085&amp;amp;cr&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Third-World Squat&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have any experience in how this helps with the specific movements that you are looking to improve.  However, I think, many of the muscles and flexibility issues that this type of squat address will certainly address some (many?) of the physiological imbalances that you might be experiencing - which are common for many western people due to lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's quite simple to work on a third world squat.  You can start at any time and do it just about anywhere.  I started a few weeks ago doing it a couple times a day both at home and at the office.  I have seen improvements in my flexibility and mobility and balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-03-21T15:40:30.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5859" CreationDate="2012-03-22T02:34:09.730" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are doing your cardio in such a way to be burning fat, you're probably not giving your body enough time to recover from each session. I don't know that this will prevent fat loss, but it's certainly not good for your physical fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it seems like you may be putting too much focus on the cardio and not enough on the more important component of health &amp;amp; fitness with regards to fat loss: your diet. If you cut out your second 45 minute cardio session each day and dedicate your extra 45 minutes to educating yourself on proper nutrition, you'll be much better off in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastActivityDate="2012-03-22T02:34:09.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-22T02:43:20.403" Score="8" ViewCount="3933" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know a good bodyweight exercise for traps and neck?&#xA;I have tried the inverted shoulder press but would appreciate &#xA;other suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fzM05.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;inverted shoulder press&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1238" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T16:15:04.340" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T22:07:41.143" Title="Bodyweight exercise for traps" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5875" CreationDate="2012-03-22T03:25:15.453" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to grab a pull up bar and drop one hand hang at full extension then switch to the other hand.  As you switch you trap will be engaged to lift you up to switch hands. The longer you can sustain the state between hanging on one hand and grasping it with your other the more completely you will utilize the trap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2012-03-22T03:25:15.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-22T07:03:15.563" Score="9" ViewCount="5668" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always lose track of laps while swimming more than 1km freestyle in a pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any gadget or technique which helps counting laps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3186" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T20:44:08.217" Title="How to count laps while swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="13" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2012-03-22T11:06:46.593" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Count Yards/Meters, not Laps&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suffered from losing count so many times.  Then, I started counting yards (or meters).  I typically swim in a 25 yard pool so I'll use yards to describe.  But if you swim in meters, just substitute - its the same concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I simply count yards instead of laps.  I start in the shallow end and swim towards the deep end and then back continuously.  I know that going towards the deep end, I have to be on either a 25 or a 75 (ie, 25yds, 125yds, 225yds, 325yds or 75yds, 175yds, etc).  And, if I am coming down towards the shallow end, I am either on a 50 or a 100 interval (ie, 50yds, 100yds, 150yds, 200yds, 250yds, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This really worked for me. When I was counting laps, my mind would wonder and then I couldn't remember if I was lap 14 or 15.  But counting in increments of 25 or 50 really helps me.  Sometimes I still lose focus. But, I remember about where I was.  For instance, let's say that I'm coming back towards the shallow end and the number that pops in my head was 175.  Well, I am probably working towards 200 yards because coming back towards the wall (in a 25 yd pool) will be a multiple of 50 (50, 100, 150, 200, etc).  And I'm guessing I had 175 in my head because that's what I was on when I was last going towards the deep end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, as Ivo mentioned, you can always use time to help confirm your yardage.  For instance, if you can swim 100 yds in 100 seconds (1:40 pace) then, 600 yards is 6000 seconds or 10 minutes even.  So if you are swimming 1200 yards, and you think you lost track, when you are done, you should be at 20:00.  If you swam 50 yards short, you'll be around 19:10 or if you swam 50 long you would be at 20:50. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Abacus&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On really long sets or sets longer than my attention span, I will set up a layman's abacus on the pool deck.  Our pool deck is made up of ~2&quot; square tiles.  My water bottle covers two tiles.  So, for instance, if I have to do 1200 yards and my attention span is about 200 yards, I will use my flip-flops as end points between 12 total tiles.  I'll use my water bottle as a counter (bead on an abacus).  Every 200 yards I stopped just briefly enough to move my water bottle to next set of tiles.  And then I restart my count at 0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2012-03-23T16:53:10.090" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T16:53:10.090" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5860" CreationDate="2012-03-22T13:08:01.213" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I couldn't find the publication where the calculation was based on, &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/3899002#3899002&quot;&gt;you managed to find a formula on which its likely based:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A mixed model was used to derive the following equation for predicting&#xA;  physical activity energy expenditure (EE): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;EE = -59.3954 + gender x (-36.3781 + 0.271 x age + 0.394 x weight +&#xA;  0.404 V[O.sub.2max] + 0.634x heart rate) + (1 - gender) x (0.274 x age + 0.103x weight + 0.380x V[O.sub.2max] + 0.450 x heart rate) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;where gender = 1 for males and 0 for females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formula reformatted for easier comparison:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;EE(male)   = 0.271*age + 0.394*weight + 0.404*V[O.sub.2max] + 0.634*hr - 95.7735&#xA;EE(female) = 0.274*age + 0.103*weight + 0.380*V[O.sub.2max] + 0.450*hr - 59.3954&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This formula looks plausible, but it also helps point out the problems I have with these calculators. Lets pick it apart piece by piece:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gender differences, while there are certainly differences between the physique of males and females, I'd be surprised if there would be some magical constant for converting their values.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;age, again not everybody at the same age is created equally, so its doubtful there's a constant factor that expresses this reliably.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VO2, while I think VO2 is a very important measure (combined with heart rate) for your energy expenditure, the changes are very likely that you have no idea what these values are. So the one value that would give us an estimation of how much CO2 you ventilate (which is strongly related to burning energy) is not accessible to most who use the calculator! Clearly, trained individuals, all else being equal can expect to get much different values from the calculation than a couch potato.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heart rate, while I'm a big fan of tracking your heart rate, there's clearly a large variation in the heart rate between individuals given the same energy requirement. The explanation is simple: your heart rate depends on the combination of your heart, lungs and muscles (simplified), so unless those are all equal, don't expect exactly the same heart rates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it all boils down to: we're not all made equal! Some are more trained, have a better technique, more experience, not to mention the conditions under which we swim (temperature or flow). On top of that, the calculation ignores the speed at which we swim, probably to assume its defined by the heart rate. So clearly, its likely to be wildly inaccurate and that's to be expected, given that its based on the power of averages. Take a whole bunch of people and fit a model that fits them and you end up with a model that predicts accurately for nobody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what can you do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well we need to ask ourselves, why are we measuring calories to begin with? If its meant to calculate how many cookies you can eat to compensate for the energy you burned, I probably have to disappoint you, I believe its nearly impossible to accurately calculate it and expect it to translate equally to other people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more useful goal would be to get an idea of how intensive we worked out, so how do we do this? Well there are several variables which we can easily track over time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How does your &lt;strong&gt;weight&lt;/strong&gt; change over time? If you have a fairly stable/balanced diet, you can expect to consume a similar amount of calories every day/week. Keeping track of your diet and weight will help you to explain variations over time (e.g. the bad effect of a birthday party)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep track of your &lt;strong&gt;workouts&lt;/strong&gt;, how long and how many laps did you swim? This gives you a ballpark idea of average speed, depending on your goal, perhaps you want to swim more laps in the same time or be able to swim longer. If you have kept the diet the same, then improvements in this area should have effects in other areas. You may not necessarily loose weight (because fat got replaced by muscles), but you will notice 'a difference'&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Track your &lt;strong&gt;performance&lt;/strong&gt; by measuring your heart rate, while this gives the same kind of values as the speed information, its good to have a validation of those assumptions. So you don't even have to measure it every workout, but just regularly to 'see' whether the speed changes are due to you swimming harder (higher heart rate) or you swimming more efficient (lower heart rate at same pace).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combining all these variables gives you a much better view of what effect exercise has on &lt;strong&gt;your body&lt;/strong&gt; and gives you actionable information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your weight going up, while you work out just the same? Perhaps you need to change your diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your weight staying the same, but you don't seem to improve your pace? Change your training program, perhaps its not well balanced and you're either not training hard enough or not getting enough rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your heart rate lower than usual? Perhaps you weren't as motivated or concentrated enough and need to try and push a bit harder next time (or take more rest).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So go forth and measure!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="195" LastEditDate="2012-03-23T17:00:19.863" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T17:00:19.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5866" CreationDate="2012-03-22T15:31:45.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually try and get up every 1-2 hours, for 1-5 minutes.  If you drink water at work then that's a good reason to get up and move and it helps stretch your legs out and promote blood circulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-03-22T15:31:45.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5866" CreationDate="2012-03-22T16:56:40.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From both a comfort and productivity standpoint, it's always a good idea to leave the computer and walk around regularly.  Not only does this let you stretch, but also reduces eye strain by giving you time to focus on more distant objects than your screen.  Climbing up and down a few flights of stairs is an option if the leg motion makes you feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to recommend anything else too specific without knowing what it is about sitting at the desk that causes your leg to hurt, and why only the left leg (ask a doctor).  If the pain is caused by circulation or posture issues, just changing to a different type of chair or adjusting the angle or amount of cushion on the seat may help.  There are also the more exotic options such as sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair, or using a raised desk that allows you to work while standing.  Both of these also make it easier to move and stretch your legs while working, if you find that helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3138" LastActivityDate="2012-03-22T16:56:40.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5867" CreationDate="2012-03-22T23:35:20.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that both heat and freeze have anti-inflammatory effect but heat will increase circulation and freeze decrease.  Therefore the day of the injury is probably better to use freeze to limit damage/bruising etc.  After that can use heat to help healing process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I prefer freeze treatments and find them usually more effective than traditional painkillers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3187" LastActivityDate="2012-03-22T23:35:20.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5887" CreationDate="2012-03-23T00:33:45.787" Score="1" ViewCount="1678" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I do squats I am so intent on making a straight back I feel like I am over-exaggerating my posture. The end result is, instead of a slouched back I feel like my back is arching to far in the other direction. Is this something I should be worried about or fix? If this is something that needs to be fixed, what is the best technique for making sure my back is straight and not curved (in either direction).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T02:33:44.867" Title="Over-exaggerated posture during squats?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2012-03-23T01:50:29.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I count in smaller increments - 4 or 8 or 10.  Of course you can't lose count of your count.  (Was that my 4th set of 8, or my 5th?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T01:50:29.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5859" CreationDate="2012-03-23T01:52:27.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much weight are you losing?  How sore are you getting?  If you are losing weight, and not too sore, you're not overtraining, and &quot;Total time&quot; is what's important for your goal.  (2 x 45 minutes is the same as 90 minutes)  If you're getting fatigued, you could be overtraining for your fitness level, and cutting back to an hour total per day spanning all activities should be enough to support weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T01:52:27.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5884" CreationDate="2012-03-23T02:33:44.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't overextend the back while squatting&lt;/strong&gt; (or deadlifting, or any other heavy lifting*). I used to hyperextend my back by over-firing my spinal erectors, which caused overarching in my lumbar spine. I of course could not maintain this position at the bottom of the squat, causing me to go from hyperextended to flat while under load, which is Not A Good Idea and caused pain and soreness. Don't do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl2uJ_Ps_sc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kelly Starrett's &lt;em&gt;One Joint Rule&lt;/em&gt; applies here&lt;/a&gt;. I recommend studying the concept deeply. My pre-squat cues, gleaned from Starrett's Mobility Workout of the Day video, consist of the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squeeze the glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lock the abs and back simultaneously&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squeeze the shoulderblades back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gave me a flat back instead of a hyperextended one. The back should stay &lt;strong&gt;locked&lt;/strong&gt; in this neutral position for the entirety of the squat. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TIP8eNJmMg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another one of his other MWOD videos&lt;/a&gt; goes into extreme detail on this process and I highly recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NB: This is not universally true. As discussed very reasonably on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/DangerousExercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Questions/StiffLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;also&lt;/a&gt;), it's entirely possible and even advisable to do round-backed deadlifts and other weighted exercises with lumbar flexion. As long as the weight is approached humbly and increased only gradually, there's nothing inherently injurious about lifting with a rounded back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T02:33:44.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2012-03-23T13:16:26.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal technique, which is a way to make it &lt;b&gt;easier&lt;/b&gt; , was to remember which side of the pool did i start at (&lt;b&gt;left or right side&lt;/b&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, let's say u start at the &lt;b&gt;right&lt;/b&gt; side, so whenever u reach back this &lt;b&gt;right&lt;/b&gt; side you are surely at an &lt;b&gt;&quot;even&quot;&lt;/b&gt; number of laps (either 2,4,6,...).&#xA;&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what you still have to do now is to count &lt;b&gt;each 2 laps&lt;/b&gt; (ie swimming to the other side, then coming back to the &quot;even&quot; side) as &lt;b&gt;ONE&lt;/b&gt; lap. When you are done, you multiply these laps by &lt;b&gt;two(since &quot;even&quot;)&lt;/b&gt; and you get the &lt;b&gt; real &lt;/b&gt; nb of laps.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The advantage of this technique is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are sure at least that you have done an &quot;even&quot; nb of laps (each time you are back at the &lt;b&gt;&quot;starting&quot;&lt;/b&gt; side of the pool)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;counting &lt;b&gt;2 laps as one&lt;/b&gt;, will diminish your need to count laps by &lt;b&gt;2&lt;/b&gt; , which makes it a bit easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T13:16:26.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5892" CreationDate="2012-03-23T20:07:57.930" Score="1" ViewCount="6294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly young (about 30), and I ride my bike almost every day (commuting) and try to push myself, so I'm in decent shape. I also like to do longer rides, which involve riding steep roads up a nearby mountain. Even in my granny gear, the roads are steep and long enough to get my heart rate very high. I don't know exactly how high because I don't have a heart rate monitor, but it's high enough that I absolutely have to stop along the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned about overexertion? If so, are there any signs in particular I should look out for? I just want to make sure to avoid dangerous activity. If you're in good shape, is it safe to exert yourself as much as you're able to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3126" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T23:44:33.873" Title="How worried should I be about overexertion?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5891" CreationDate="2012-03-23T22:18:30.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your description, the only thing you should really worry about is dehydration (headache, dizziness, cramping), or heat related illnesses (heat stroke, heat cramps, hyperthermia). Your body will generally stop you from exerting yourself more than it is capable of. If your push right up to your limit, you may experience lightheadedness, greying vision, and nausea. Those symptoms are not related directly to your heart rate, but rather, to your body's inability to get oxygen to your brain and eyes (because it's being used elsewhere). If you're healthy, you can push yourself, but rest if you get some particularly strong signs to stop, unless you are okay &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_induced_nausea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;puking at the side of the road&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strain_%28injury%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle strains&lt;/a&gt; are also a possibility when overexerting yourself, but a different kind of overexertion than you've described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rare condition that would begin to present itself 12-24 hours after very strenuous exercise with inadequate hydration is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhabdomyolysis&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/cc2978.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another description&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T22:18:30.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5891" CreationDate="2012-03-23T23:44:33.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you experience signs of dizziness, headaches, muscle aches, etc, then it is definitely a good time to take a break and let your body rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you need to make sure you are receiving proper nutrition/hydration, eat something light before you exercise, as well as after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3190" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T23:44:33.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5787" CreationDate="2012-03-24T00:05:35.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working at a high tech software company, I am constantly on the computer writing code, so anyways. One of my colleagues brought in an exercise ball, after sitting on a wobble chair for a while. I borrowed it the other day and sat on it throughout the whole workday. It is definitely a good way to keep your &quot;core&quot; stomach/abs muscles constantly in check/activated, because you constantly in balance and in good posture (or else you fall).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wobble chairs vs Exercise ball, I'd vote for Exercise ball ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3190" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-24T02:38:07.737" LastActivityDate="2012-03-24T02:38:07.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5900" CreationDate="2012-03-24T04:29:53.133" Score="2" ViewCount="2953" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to leave on a bus tour of Europe soon. I figure that all this time on a bus isn't going to be good for me, so I was wondering if there is any exercise I could do on the bus. For example, I've heard you can buy these things you can squeeze that will improve your grip strength (don't know what their proper name is). I'm curious if there is anything else that would work well in the confined space of a bus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;: I changed the title back to &quot;What are exercises you can do on a bus?&quot; as I think buses are a special case of space confinement and need to be treated separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="271" LastEditorUserId="271" LastEditDate="2012-03-25T10:24:20.437" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T01:50:23.903" Title="What are exercises you can do on a bus?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5898" CreationDate="2012-03-24T06:21:46.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isometrics on neck, arms, legs, abs and lower back.  You can also go tense then release.  And the grips you suggested work too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-03-24T06:21:46.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5898" CreationDate="2012-03-24T16:46:02.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's site with the focus of sitting exercises: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sittingexercises.net/sitting-exercises-at-work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sittingexercises.net/sitting-exercises-at-work&lt;/a&gt;.  I'm assuming that you won't have much room or usage of the isle...but if you did you may want to try FitDeck (&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitdeck.com/fitness-bodyweight-only/bodyweight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fitdeck.com/fitness-bodyweight-only/bodyweight/&lt;/a&gt;), a set of bodyweight exercises for confined spaces (this product was developed by a navy seal for use in confined spaces like submarines).  I would recommend doing some exercising on the bus, but focusing on the trip and between bus ride workouts...and wait until you get back for the real exercising.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-03-24T16:46:02.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4394" CreationDate="2012-03-25T12:40:23.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot has been said here.  I wll add just a few thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) You should be getting 100 grams of protein spread out during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Your last rep of each exercise should push the muscle to failure.  If you can do another rep, do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Think long term.  If you wind up adding 1 kg per month for a year, you will have done a tremendous body transformation.  Think long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-03-25T12:40:23.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-26T06:22:15.203" Score="2" ViewCount="2433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 20-year-old male, and it's been a while since I've done anything physical, so I'm trying to build some muscle. However, I'm a full time student and I work 20 hours a week, which doesn't leave me with much time to hit the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this coming term I have lots of short breaks between my classes, around 30-45 minutes each. I could potentially take about 20-30 minutes of every break to hit the gym. My question is: &lt;strong&gt;Are multiple shorter workouts every day more or less effective than one long workout?&lt;/strong&gt; What are the practical implications of doing this? I realize 20-30 minutes isn't a lot of time, but I'd be doing this around 3 times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I apologize if this question is too vague; I can specify anything as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3194" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T15:43:48.823" Title="Multiple short workouts vs one long session" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5907" CreationDate="2012-03-26T08:17:01.050" Score="2" ViewCount="2688" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why I even think it could have any effect: maybe when the body has deficit of the oxygen, the burning reaction modifies to burn more sugar/fat/whatever (i.e. instead of burning each molecule completely it is burning them just up to a certain point and go over to the next)? (have heard something like that but would like to have some solid facts :)&#xA;If there is any difference, how much is it, is it worth to think about during workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1036" LastEditorUserId="1036" LastEditDate="2012-03-26T08:23:57.547" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T15:42:48.583" Title="Does the amount of breathing (holding breath/breathing fast) affect the calories burned during a workout (not heavylifting)?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5903" CreationDate="2012-03-26T12:45:08.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a lot depends on what your goals are.  You can easily do some interval training or some weight training in those short breaks - if you don't mind sweating or being tired during class.  Building muscle &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; mean: bulking or strength gain......but if you can get a good 20 minutes 3 times a day you could focus on the big three exercises: squats, dead lifts and bench pressing.  I would recommend: setting your goals (including nutrition), building up slowly to ensure your body is ready and trying various combinations to see how you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T12:45:08.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5903" CreationDate="2012-03-26T15:43:48.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In any case, splitting up workouts will be a less effective use of your time, if only due to needing to warm up three times instead of only once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do strength training, 20-30 minutes per session will likely not be enough time for long-term development (but probably okay in the short term). For example, to do a set of heavy squats, you will do a general warm-up for 2-5 minutes (stationary bike), then wait for the squat rack to be free, then do a set of 5 reps with the empty bar, a few sets of 1-5 reps with increasing weight as you approach your target weight for the day, then 3 sets of 5 reps each at a heavy weight, requiring 3-7 minutes rest between each set to properly recover for the next set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're a novice, I'm sure you'll be able to make some initial strength gains in 20-30 minute blocks (since you won't need as many warm-up sets, and rests between sets will be short), but you won't be able to continue that progress for very long. As you gain ability to lift heavier weights, your body will need proper warm-up sets and longer rests between sets, and trying to make that fit into 20-30 minutes just won't work. Maybe your classes will have ended by the time you progress to this stage, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do cario, you can easily make a lot out of 20-30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up for about 5 minutes, and then do hard interval sessions, 3 minutes at about 80% of your fastest speed, and then take 3 minutes at a recovery pace (but still jogging), and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just straight jog for 30 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 5k.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use 20-30 minutes to do stretching or foam rolling to assist in your muscle recovery and help prevent injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T15:43:48.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5904" CreationDate="2012-03-26T17:29:26.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite simply, no.  In order to understand why, you have to understand the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/death_by_prowler_reynolds.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metabolic pathways&lt;/a&gt; used in exercise.  If there are slight differences in the amount of calories burned, it is due merely to the difference in energy needed to move the lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, your muscles use Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) to perform their work.  The different &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/death_by_prowler_reynolds.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metabolic pathways&lt;/a&gt; all result in generating ATP.  The three major pathways are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oxidative: The result of aerobic activity.  Fatty acids are converted to ATP with lactic acid as a byproduct in the presence of oxygen.  This can last for minutes to hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glycolytic: The result of anaerobic activity.  Glycogen and lactic acid combine to create ATP in the absence of oxygen.  This can last for seconds to minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phosphagen: The result of very high intensity activity.  ATP and Creatine Phosphate (CP) are quickly depleted to handle sudden high intensity activity.  This can only last for seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only one of those pathways uses oxygen.  It should be noted that the metabolic pathways are listed in order of the amount of Calories burned for that type of activity.  While aerobic activity burns a higher percentage of fat during activity, the energy demands are fairly low and there is no &quot;afterburn&quot; associated with that activity.  It should also be noted that the metabolic pathways are cumulative.  You are still operating oxidatively even when you are predominantly operating in the glycolytic manner.  The anaerobic pathways, while they burn more carbs immediately, they also require more Calories.  When you finally come to rest, the body has to replenish the energy from somewhere.  In the absence of food, this means the body has to burn fat to create glycogen--which is what the &quot;afterburn&quot; of high intensity interval training comes from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T17:29:26.547" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-26T18:17:39.193" Score="1" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;The P90X chest and back workout consists of a set of exercises which are done in two sets... do each exercise (pushups, pullups, rows, etc) for X seconds (varies for each exercise), and then repeat the whole thing again. It takes about an hour to complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a full hour to devote to the program, but I will be able to do just the &quot;first half&quot; each night. I remember reading that 80% of the muscle mass gain is acquired from the first set, and that repeated sets are mostly done to improve tone. So, my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this true?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Based on the answer to the first question, is it worth it to complete only half the prescribed regimen?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T21:40:11.707" Title="Side effects of doing half of a &quot;doubled&quot; workout" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5846" CreationDate="2012-03-26T19:27:19.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, this question is really, really broad, which is why you haven't gotten any answers. Second, when you do find answers, they will likely be conflicting. Also, I am not a doctor, I'm just a person that has been dealing with weight/weight loss for a while, has a family history of Diabetes, and love to learn about as much as I can. Some may disagree, some more knowledgeable folks may correct me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some basics, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, what is sugar?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to this might seem obvious, but there are actually several different kinds of sugar, and they don't all affect the body the same way. The three you'll most commonly find are Sucrose, Fructose, and Glucose. Additionally, if you consume a lot of dairy products, you'll see a lot of Lactose (&quot;milk sugar&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sucrose is your typical &quot;table (white) sugar.&quot; It's a disaccharide compound of Glucose and Fructose. For more information on all the details, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia is a good start&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fructose is the sugar found in fruits and is a monosaccharide. Again, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's more info&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glucose is the sugar that our bodies actually use. Like Fructose, it's a monosaccharide. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's the wiki&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is important because each one has an effect on our bodies. Sucrose gets broken down into its components. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there (or if you just consume Fructose), the Fructose gets shipped to your liver for processing and the Glucose heads to your blood stream for the muscles to absorb and use for energy. The important part to note here is that &lt;strong&gt;fructose does not affect blood sugar levels.&lt;/strong&gt; That doesn't necessarily mean that your body isn't doing anything with it (the liver is doing stuff with it), it just means that you won't get the same insulin response as you do with Glucose. Why is this important? Because Glucose and Insulin play a role in determining whether or not you're hungry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short: yes, it does matter where your sugar comes from, but probably not for the reasons you're thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A note about High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)&lt;/em&gt; - In the United States, HFCS is a common compound used to sweeten processed foods. Nearly everything has it. It's controversial as to its effects and whether it's better or worse than other forms of sugar, but very often if will come up when looking for anything on Fructose or sugar in general. I won't go into that debate here, but I do want to point out the big difference between HFCS in the diet and getting Fructose from whole foods/fruit - the fiber content. Fruit contains a lot of fiber and very often, the sweeter the fruit, the more fiber it contains. When eating fruit, it's the fiber that helps you feel full. HFCS is devoid of that fiber, which is why &quot;junk foods&quot; made with it are often referred to as &quot;empty calories&quot; - they pack on the calories without making you feel full, because they're devoid of the nutrients that trigger the &quot;full&quot; response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where do carbs fit in?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex carbohydrates (or &quot;carbs&quot;) are what you find in things like bread, pasta, and even vegetables. They are considered complex because they are compound molecules (a lot like Sucrose, but with more components). Ultimately, they get broken down into simple sugars, including Glucose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where it starts getting hairy when it comes to carbs. Because it takes time to break down the carbs into their simple sugar components, you get a prolonged Insulin response as the body tries to keep the blood sugar levels in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blood Sugar and Weight/Metabolism&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there isn't an easy answer to your question on this. If there was, we wouldn't have both low-carb diets like Atkins and moderate-high carb diets (nor would Atkins start advertising that they start introducing &quot;good carbs&quot; after the initial couple of weeks), and you likely wouldn't be asking this question to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, as well, that dysfunctional blood sugar and/or Insulin levels may lead to Insulin Resistance and even Diabetes. There is some speculation as to whether weight causes Insulin Resistance or Insulin Resistance causes weight gain (though, in my experience, Insulin Resistance is a precursor to Diabetes and can be reversed with proper diet and exercise), but it is something to keep in mind, especially if you're already at risk for Diabetes. (The New York Times ran a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;src=pm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fascinating article&lt;/a&gt; a few years ago on carbs that is worth reading. In it, it explains the whole Insulin Resistance-weight gain-Diabetes spiral quite well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Eat food, not too much, mostly plants&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Michael Pollan wrote that&lt;/a&gt;. I think it's a good rule of thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to basic weight loss, it ultimately boils down to Calories in versus Calories out. If you want to lose weight, eat less than what you burn. (&quot;...not too much...&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quality, of course, matters. That's where the &quot;eat food&quot; part comes in. Eat &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; food. Toss out the Pringles, the Pepsi, and the Little Debbies, and stock up on the apples, strawberries, and carrots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this one, my interpretation of it is to make sure you're not just eating a meal of steak, or a hamburger with nothing on it. Include a salad with your meal, add tomatoes and lettuce to your sandwiches, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Macros - Protein, Fat, Carbs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part, a diet with all three of the &quot;macronutrients&quot; or &quot;macros&quot; works best and is the most sustainable. Remember - dietary nutrients do not directly translate into the same-named physical attributes (for example, eggs have a lot of cholesterol, but the idea that they contribute to your body cholesterol levels (LDL/HDL) have been debunked). They each have their place in a healthy diet and none should be vilified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What those percentages actually are will vary from person to person, though. Most recommendations I've seen say to start with a fairly even split - ~30% carbs, fat, and protein, give or take a couple of percentages. You can then tweak it from there based on what makes you feel the best and helps you achieve your goals. Some people thrive on a higher carb/protein and low fat diet, while others do better on a higher protein/fat and lower carb diet, and still others do best on an even split. It depends largely on your personal nutritional needs, which only you (and possibly your doctor) can determine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's best for weight loss? Eat less and move more. Get out and exercise, do strength training, and eat fewer calories than you burn throughout the day. For the most part, it really can be that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditDate="2012-03-30T16:57:11.603" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T16:57:11.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-26T22:16:04.413" Score="3" ViewCount="489" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to closely monitor my body  fat % but I'm not sure which scale/device is best for doing so. Are the scales with built in boy fat % calculators or the handle measuring devices accurate and to what percentage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T18:28:51.343" Title="Body Fat % Measuring Device" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5910" CreationDate="2012-03-26T22:28:41.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accurate? Against an objective measure like the water test? No?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Against itself? If you do it the same way every time then probably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use the same protocol each time. For me, it's early morning just after my shower. That way I'm getting consistent results and can then see the trend over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most purposes that's just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-03-26T22:28:41.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5912" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5913" CreationDate="2012-03-26T23:05:43.853" Score="1" ViewCount="51207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just started a HIIT training routine and after two workouts my arms (triceps &amp;amp; biceps) grew 1/4 inch.  I went to the gym this morning and after I got home 12 hours later measured my arms and they'd shrunk by 1/8th of an inch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that muscles grow when I rest and sleep.  But will the gain return in the morning?  And is the shrinkage a sign of possible over training?  I haven't trained to failure in any of my muscle groups in the last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T00:01:30.897" Title="Is it possible for muscles to shrink after a workout?" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5912" CreationDate="2012-03-27T03:30:11.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several things can affect the size and makeup of your muscles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What you eat.  Eating carbs post workout can help increase the size of the muscles for a time.  Also, more fat in your muscle tissue adds to the bulk.  If you burn that fat, the muscle appears to shrink even though the strength is unaffected.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How you train.  Long endurance work makes muscles that are smaller in size.  Even differences in how you do weight lifting can affect the size and strength of the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress.  Stress is catabolic, and too much stress over a prolonged period of time will induce overtraining and loss of muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of training.  Muscles can atrophy if they aren't used.  However, this takes weeks and months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, you will have some variance in muscle size due to the fact that they are living tissue, and the fact that there is always a margin of error in measurement.  I've noticed that my calves and thighs can vary fairly widely (.5 inch) from week to week.  I'm mostly interested in strength, so for me this is simply anecdotal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-27T03:30:11.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5923" CreationDate="2012-03-27T04:47:10.497" Score="8" ViewCount="534" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that there are good and bad fats. I'm talking about the good ones, the fat that comes from avocado, flax seed oil, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am obese at the moment and wish to lose body fat quickly. I am eating a diet that is giving me a caloric deficit, it's composed of low glycemic complex carbs, proteins and dairy and no fat. Should I add a fat source to my diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that eventually a healthy diet must have a fat source but given my situation as an obese person looking to lose weight quickly, should I add a good fat to my diet now or wait a while until I lose some weight first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger question is, do good fats actually get stored as fat in the body (if one's lifestyle isn't very active) or do they serve some other purpose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3201" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T21:52:24.773" Title="Does fat make you fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5919" CreationDate="2012-03-27T10:28:38.743" Score="7" ViewCount="3528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:Introduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; program for a few weeks now, on and off. Unfortunately, I haven't been as regular as I'd like (lets chalk it up to student life), but I feel I'm making progress and am committed to sticking with the program. I've been increasing my weight somewhat conservatively, because I keep missing workouts and because &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4354/how-to-ensure-you-use-the-right-technique-when-learning-from-a-book&quot;&gt;I don't have anyone to teach me the lifts&lt;/a&gt;, so I've been trying to perfect the technique as much as I can before going up. So, ATM, squat 75, deadlift 70 (yes, I'm afraid of my back), press 35, bench press 50. Because I don't feel very comfortable doing deadlifts, I've opted for the &quot;Practical Programming Novice workout&quot; which has chins/pulls twice a week and deadlifts just once; power cleans are out of the question, both because I don't have anyone to teach me and because my gym isn't exactly setup for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I also want to start rock climbing, perhaps once a week. I had a session last weekend (and went to the gym the next day without major problems), but I'll probably start going regularly in about two weeks or so. My question is, &lt;strong&gt;where should I put the rock climbing session in my week?&lt;/strong&gt; My first thought was to put it at the &quot;end&quot; of the week, when I have two rest days. Please also take into account that my workout week is erratic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus question, is there anything I should do in the intervening two weeks to help me with my rock climbing later? I could conceivably do more deadlifts (to help with my grip and pull) and then later back them down to 1x a week; would that be useful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T01:31:29.770" Title="Combining weight-lifting (starting strength) with rockclimbing?" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-27T11:06:38.183" Score="0" ViewCount="729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to gym almost all days. For every workout I use to weight train one muscular zone and run  about 50 minutes (at low rates, about 130/140 bpm). My target is to burn as most fat as I can (I'm male, so my fat is particularly on belly). Sometimes if I haven't time, I prefear running session (always at low rates, and always about 50 minutes) to the weight train. I'm 28 and my body is athletic, and I always do some sports in my life. The question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I eat before the workout? What should I eat if i'm going to just run? What should I eat if i'm going to make both weight train and running session? How much time before the workout?&#xA;Is weight train on empty stomach unuseful or at worse bad for muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best Regards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3137" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T13:42:45.750" Title="What should I eat before/after a workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5917" CreationDate="2012-03-27T12:20:55.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To eat or not before working out really is a matter of what you can handle.  Even the timing of how soon before exercise you eat, and what you eat, is a matter of what your body can handle.  Some people do quite well with fasted training.  If they have anything its merely some Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) to assist with recovery.  Other people need something to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of running you are talking about has fairly low energy requirements.  If your goal is to lose fat, eating before hand may be counter to your goals.  The weight training, if done with heavy weights and high intensity, may require something to give you energy throughout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listen to your body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are exhausted before the training session is over, you need something before you train.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you feel sick during training, you either need to not have something before hand or change what/how much you eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you work out, you should have a good meal with both protein and carbohydrates.  The protein helps rebuild the muscles that were used during training, and the carbohydrates replenish their energy.  NOTE: the best time to have carbs is &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; training.  If your goal is to lose weight, minimize carbs at other meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-27T12:20:55.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5916" CreationDate="2012-03-27T12:46:49.973" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of questions, and hopefully I can help you piece things together.  When combining weight training with any kind of a sport, you do have to keep in mind recovery.  To that end, you have a couple options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tack it at the end of the week.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is a pretty sound idea.  You still have a day of recovery between then and the next session.  I used this approach with incorporating martial arts.  This works very well when the activity you want to do is also high intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tack it at the end of weight training.&lt;/strong&gt;  This also works while the weights are relatively low (if squats are below body weight that qualifies as relatively low).  When your squats get closer to 1.5x body weight, the two training sessions will affect each other.  I also tried this when scheduling forced me to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use both of these approaches depending on your schedule.  I do not recommend trying to sandwich rock climbing on the rest day between weight training sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;is there anything I should do in the intervening two weeks to help me with my rock climbing later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two things that help with rock climbing are core strength and grip.  Two of the biggest things gained with deadlifts are core strength and grip.  They are a match made in heaven.  In fact, getting better at one will help you get better at the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your concern with deadlifts, I used to have a bad back myself.  The key to deadlifts is to keep your lower lumbar region rigid.  Do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; round your back at all.  Also, it is worth trying both &lt;a href=&quot;http://primallifter.com/comparing-sumo-and-conventional-deadlifts/&quot;&gt;sumo and conventional deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;.  You'll find yourself feeling stronger with one or the other.  Whichever one is stronger, use that every time you deadlift.  Whichever you choose, the principles are the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Setup: bar over mid foot (about 1&quot; in front of the shin).  Grab the bar, straighten your back, and pull the slack out.  NOTE: you should raise your shoulders to pull the slack out, not your hips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brace: tighten your core and your grip, shift your weight on your heels, and start the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver&quot;&gt;Valsalva maneuver&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull: your back angle should remain the same throughout the lift.  Push your heels through the floor, and activate your glutes and hamstrings to help you stand erect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lockout: tighten the muscles between the shoulder blades, and body should be fully erect.  Do not overcompensate and push your hips forward giving you a backwards lean.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drop: it's best to have a controlled drop rather than trying to set the weights down like they are made of glass.  The deadlift is all about the concentric phase (the pull), and really does not have an eccentric component.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option to help your grip even more is on the last rep, hold the lockout for as long as you can.  You can breath during this time, and in fact this is one of the better ways to teach yourself to breath while exerting yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: during the entire lift, the only job your back muscles have is to keep your back straight.  You change the angle of your back with your glutes and hamstrings.  This will protect your back from injury.  I'm pulling over 405lb on deadlifts now.  Occasionally I have a back pump, which while uncomfortable is not the same as a back injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 2: Farmers Walks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farmers walks have a heavy weight in each hand, and you carry that weight over distance.  Your body needs to be erect, and try to prevent your shoulders from dropping forward.  These do well for conditioning as well as building your grip strength.  While they do improve your core, it is not to the same degree as the deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-27T12:46:49.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5838" CreationDate="2012-03-27T13:05:31.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are talking about endurance, and not sprinting, the problem is lasting until the end.  The big question is how do you increase your endurance, particularly when the smaller muscles are the ones getting exhausted.  There are several ways of attacking this, but you have to understand that the type of conditioning you need is more of the oxidative metabolic path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your pace is probably too quick to maintain for the distance.  Your body can only provide short bursts of energy for so long.  From the description of your problem it sounds like you have some technique gaps to deal with before looking anywhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The form will be &lt;em&gt;different&lt;/em&gt; at a slower pace, but if you are going to cover distance, you have to find that medium ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to find that sustainable pace.  A marathon is won by finding a pace you can maintain for long distances.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you cover those technique gaps, you can start training for the longer distances.  You can do HIIT (high intensity interval training) by doing one leg of a lap at full speed (50m), and the next at a slower speed, and keep repeating until you get to the full 500m.  Change the intervals so that you have more and more high speed etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I knew what has the most carryover to swimming.  You'll need both shoulder strength and stability.  Perhaps overhead presses might help, as would snatches.  Bench press would not have as much carryover to what you need.  Beyond that, I would be at a loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do recommend working on slower pace swimming first.  Make each stroke powerful, and count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-27T13:05:31.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5921" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5922" CreationDate="2012-03-27T14:38:18.587" Score="7" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training for a 10k with my girlfriend: the goal is to complete the race without stopping rather than any specific time. However, I'm a foot taller than she is so when we do runs, I shorten my stride quite a bit so we maintain the same tempo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that running 5km @ 6 minutes/km by myself vs. 7 minutes/km with her still feels like the same amount of effort by the end. Shorter strides + longer time vs. Longer strides + shorter time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I imagining things? Should one of these scenarios be more work/effort, or do they equal out in the end?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T22:06:31.047" LastActivityDate="2017-02-16T00:25:08.687" Title="Does shortening stride length (and running for a longer time) require the same effort as a longer stride (for a shorter time)?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5921" CreationDate="2012-03-27T15:12:52.190" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a speed/stride-length/form combination (or maybe a few) that is optimally efficient for a given person, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/2012/01/02/walking-or-running-efficiently-your-locomotor-muscles-might-not-agree/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;any variation from that will be less efficient&lt;/a&gt;. For example, competitive distance runners have settled in on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/increase-your-stride-rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;about 180 strides per minute&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your efficiency was the same at all speeds, then the amount of work would be dependent only on the distance you run. However, your efficiency does change as you change speeds (and form, and stride length), so these two scenarios that you give will not necessarily result in the same amount of energy used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As well, your &lt;a href=&quot;http://run-fit.com/runningeconomy.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;running economy&lt;/a&gt; (this is a really good read) changes as you change speed. Runners tend to be most economic at the speeds that they most often run at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your two scenarios could just also happen to be equally efficient and economic, resulting in the same amount of effort for you, but it is in no way guaranteed or probable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="24837" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2017-02-16T00:25:08.687" LastActivityDate="2017-02-16T00:25:08.687" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5914" CreationDate="2012-03-27T16:29:26.577" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excess calories are stored as fat. &quot;Good&quot; fats aren't any more likely to be stored as fat than protein, bad fats, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body NEEDS fats, both for energy and delivery of essential nutrients. So switching to healthier fats, like those from fish, nuts, avocado, olive oil or coconut oil, flax, etc., will benefit your overall health. If you're eating at a calorie deficit, you shouldn't worry about the fat you eat turning into fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; more calorie dense than protein and carbs, however, so make sure you are accurately tracking your intake. It's easier to overeat fatty foods than protein, for instance. So if you're going to have a healthy snack of almonds, let's say, it's important to be careful with how many you eat. Eating 600 calories (and 51g of fat) worth of almonds is just as bad as eating 600 calories and 37g of fat worth of Fritos, in terms of fat storage. But for your general health - you'd be better off with almonds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-03-27T19:04:51.340" LastActivityDate="2012-03-27T19:04:51.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5935" CreationDate="2012-03-28T06:52:35.187" Score="4" ViewCount="2876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sporting moderately for about half of a year, dropped lots of weight and got some muscle. The only problem there is, is with pushup repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Previous summer I was doing 10-15 normal pushup reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Next, I strarted doing them with &quot;handles&quot; (or whatever they are called, for deeper pushups). And I still could do only 10-15 of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then I trained myself enough to do 10-15 diamond pushups in one set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything seems pretty nice, right? However, when I now try doing &quot;basic&quot; pushups, they seem to be horribly easy for me at first, but I still can't do more than 15 of them! My arms do not hurt, my chest does not hurt, I just feel horribly tired after doing 15 of them and just collapse on the ground trying to do 16-th. It's like my hands can't handle more than 15 reps &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of my friends told me that I need to drink more water. Well, last month I've been drinking 4-5 litres per day. The other one told me to try Creatine - with same result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can be the problem? I don't think that is linked with lungs and oxygen consumption, as I can run 8km at 10 km/h with no breathing problems. Maybe I need some special training program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Information about my training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following one of training programs described in book Convict Conditioning. Basically I'm training every day with Sunday as an off-day. Program targets different muscle group every day, 2 times a week. So basically I'm doing pushups 2 times a week (tuesdays and thursdays). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usual pushup session looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 sets (15 reps) wide hands with handles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 sets (10-15 reps) diamond pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 sets (5-10 reps each arm) of 1 arm + 1 arm with handle (training with aim for one-armed pushups).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole program goes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mondays: Pullups, Situps, Grip Work (hanging)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesdays: Pushups, Leg-raises, Calf Work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Hand-stands, Bridges, Neck-work (bridge-like)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See Mondays.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See Tuesdays.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See Wednesday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day off + some light stretching over the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I think it's worth mentioning that I get 8 hours of sleep, and 100-150g of protein per day (+multivitamins +potassium +magnesium +fish-oil). Moreover, no smoking, no alcohol and healthy food only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3206" LastEditorUserId="3206" LastEditDate="2012-03-28T08:34:15.403" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T21:48:22.293" Title="Failure to do 16 pushups" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;performance&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5926" CreationDate="2012-03-28T12:31:33.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the problem is muscular endurance.  Because you haven't trained for muscular endurance (20 or more reps), your body hasn't adapted itself to do that.  There are two approaches to improving your ability to do more reps when you can't hit that 20 rep goal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase weight (add a weight on your shoulders, or wear a weight vest), and then do a back off set of just body weight.  Keep increasing weight.  Eventually, your base of strength will help power the longer sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just increase by 1 rep no matter how ugly it is.  This forces you to develop the mental fortitude necessary to get past that sticking point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how true to the spirit of Convict Conditioning you want to be, you may choose to try one or both options.  It's definitely true that if you can lift a higher max weight, lighter weights are easier to deal with and you can do more of them.  It's also true that the biggest hurdle to going past the point of fatigue is mental.  You will feel like throwing in the towel, but you can't give yourself that luxury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T12:31:33.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4915" CreationDate="2012-03-28T14:18:25.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey I tore my bicep doing barbell shoulder shrugs in late december I had to have surgery to reattach it. It can get worse if not properly treated. Deffinately go see a doctor. I had surgery and just finished with a couple months of rehab. It is slow progress getting strength back but start with simple range of motion and stretching exercises then move onto light weights. It can take 6-9 months to get full strength back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3211" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T14:18:25.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5931" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-28T16:20:53.437" Score="3" ViewCount="10553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a new tunturi R25 rowing machine to replace one I had for years of the same make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new one is a magnetic rower, while the old one is a piston. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?rlz=1C1CHFX_en-gbGB473GB473&amp;amp;q=tunturi%20rower&amp;amp;um=1&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;cid=13503077795083744172&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=KjhzT46nBamp0QX2w_AT&amp;amp;ved=0CJ8BEPMCMAI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is the new one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got it and put it all together and I have three problems with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One - it may be thinner than my old one, but it's much chunkier. I used to stand the old one up and hide it behind a cupboard. This one does fold, but it's still quite big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two - I can't come as far forward on the new one as I could on the old one, on the old one I used to hunch up all the way to the front, this one I have to limit my motion a bit, although it's fine going back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three - The old one allowed you to set the clamp on the piston arms so that the resistance made it almost impossible to row. On the new one I'm already on the highest resistance setting and it's not very hard. It's OK, but no room for improvement. One thing I liked about the old rower was that as well as being good cardio, all these muscles started appearing on my back, so I kept turning up the resistance which was good until it broke...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these problems worth sending the thing back for? Or do they not matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and if they are legit problems, what's the alternative? All the piston ones are really cheap and people say they break, but the alternatives are huge! i don't want a giant piece of equipment in my house!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastEditorUserId="3213" LastEditDate="2012-03-29T09:15:17.853" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T15:41:46.630" Title="Pros and Cons of the Tunturi R25 Magnetic Rowing Machine" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-28T17:07:24.643" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title could be enough. But since this question is so simple that it looks a bit absurd or obvious...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike many questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1721/daily-health-routine-and-gaining-weight-suggestion&quot;&gt;out there in this site&lt;/a&gt;, I'm looking for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_fitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fitness (rest included)&lt;/a&gt; in the health sense, in opposition to aesthetics or body improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not talking crazy here in listing these examples, which I believe are world wide common sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat at least 3 meals daily: &lt;em&gt;breakfast&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;lunch&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;dinner&lt;/em&gt;. I'd bet most languages even have those 3 separated words to describe each of those meals. If not, they certainly do have this concept.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have around 8 hours of sleep, every day, despite recent studies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Brush and floss - rinse doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wash your hands (notice &lt;em&gt;bath&lt;/em&gt; isn't required daily - not world wide at least).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question here is: what else is there? Sunscreen, maybe? I'd like to know what is, today, considered &lt;strong&gt;consolidated&lt;/strong&gt; things that every single human being should do &lt;strong&gt;daily&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;maintain&lt;/strong&gt; good health - including nutrition and even, eventually, exercises. For any age or size, if that wasn't clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3214" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T17:43:51.243" Title="What are the most up to date consolidated daily health maintenance measures?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="14" ClosedDate="2012-03-28T17:50:39.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5932" CreationDate="2012-03-28T17:43:51.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;There is no common sense.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is so little consensus on most issues that I doubt we'll have many answers outside of the medical field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't contaminate your wounds or food with harmful bacteria. &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/07/05/scientists-discover-that-antimicrobial-wipes-and-soaps-may-be-making-you-and-society-sick/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;But if you're antiseptic, that causes problems too&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat food. That's about as much as everybody can agree on. Number, timing, content, and even definition of food is hotly contested by reasonable people. For kicks, compare government recommendations, the Paleo diet, and vegans. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't smoke. (There are a huge number of other &quot;don'ts&quot; that I will omit for brevity.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Floss and brush your teeth. I don't think this is disputed, but I wouldn't be surprised.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid a sedentary lifestyle. What that means in terms of quantity and types of activity is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3651/1771&quot;&gt;hotly contested&lt;/a&gt; by reasonable people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunscreen is hotly contested by reasonable people. (There are benefits of direct sunlight, and sunscreen may prevent those while allowing cancer-causing rays. Or we might just use the stuff poorly.) We don't understand our need for sleep, and some people can get highly varying amounts while retaining normal function. There is no scientific agreement on which supplements help or harm, and how much, and for whom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a situation where we would like the science to be much clearer and in more agreement than it actually is. (Several of the points regarding the difficulty of science regarding health &amp;amp; fitness can be extrapolated from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5775/1771&quot;&gt;this answer regarding strength training&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/2012/03/14/red-meat-part-healthy-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this critique of the recent Red Meat Is Satan scare&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T17:43:51.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5926" CreationDate="2012-03-28T21:48:22.293" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First - I'd recommend just forgetting training for one-arm pushups and probably even nix the diamond pushups. You need to work on the primary movement first, then expand to variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, if you really want to increase the number of consecutive pushups you can do, I'd suggest doing them more frequently - maybe every other day. A few extra sets of pushups shouldn't interfere with your other training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, try a version of cluster training. Chose a total number of pushups to achieve (say 64, since that would be one more per set if you did 4 sets of 15), and take as many sets as you need do that many. Don't push all the way to complete failure, and rest for up to 2 minutes between sets. You might end up doing something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;13, &#xA;13,&#xA;12,&#xA;10,&#xA;7,&#xA;6,&#xA;5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll finish with more pushups than you would have even if you were able to max out at 15 for four sets. Each workout try to bang out one extra rep for your last two or three sets. Do this for a few weeks, then retest your max and see if there's improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T21:48:22.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5861" CreationDate="2012-03-28T21:55:49.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One simple thing that you can do is start jumping rope. It's good for overall conditioning, and you have to get your feet moving quickly and rhythmically to do it well. There are tons of variations, too, so if you get good at straight skipping, you can do double jumps, cross overs, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastActivityDate="2012-03-28T21:55:49.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5861" CreationDate="2012-03-28T22:05:56.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.speedladder.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speed ladder&lt;/a&gt;. You can even &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironmakeover.blogspot.ca/2010/04/duck-tape-agility-ladder.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;make one out of duct tape&lt;/a&gt;. There are a bunch of footwork exercises you can do on a speed ladder. They're really hard to describe in text, so &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYJX0Wt6OdM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a video&lt;/a&gt; with some intro ladder drills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-03-29T19:25:08.100" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T19:25:08.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-29T13:08:58.030" Score="9" ViewCount="618" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, we ask people to come play football, basketball, run, or even something easy like just throwing the frisbee around and no one can ever make it. They either don't respond at all, or have really really weak excuses. Like &quot;3 loads of laundry to do&quot; or &quot;it's a little warm out today&quot; when it's 72 and no wind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all people who are in their early 20s and in relatively good health. Some married, some not. Most are computer nerds who spend the majority of their free time gaming(any kind) and typing on places like Stack Exchange. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips or tricks to get them to come outside and do something? Or should I just give up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, maybe more on topic, any exercises that you'd recommend to get them active without it being too hard on &quot;beginners&quot;? Sports or general fitness is ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-03-29T17:44:06.550" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T10:56:31.550" Title="How do I get non-sports people to get exercise or do an activity?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;sports&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5939" CreationDate="2012-03-29T14:10:25.743" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've got your work cut out for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here's What You are Competing With&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a concept called &quot;gamification&quot; which is really what social oriented sites use to keep people addicted.  This site uses the concept:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a reputation score&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That rep is improved or detracted by the voting process (up or down)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can get badges for extraordinary events (the bronze, silver, and gold badges)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The reputation scores and badges help encourage the type of behavior you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a big component to why games hold the attention of these computer nerds, as well as sites like stack exchange.  Since people like to protect and improve their reputation, this works well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to Use that to Your Advantage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some computer nerds who had the bright idea to apply the concept of &quot;gamification&quot; to fitness.  A couple of sites that come to mind are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com/&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://weightxreps.net/&quot;&gt;WeightXReps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reward system on Fitocracy is much richer and more engaging for your typical computer nerd.  Fitocracy also lets you run or participate in challenges.  That is your &quot;in&quot;.  Throw them a challenge on Facebook or wherever they spend their time, and join them.  As they log what they did, their Fitocracy rep increases.  That can be the start of gaining an interest in different forms of fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WeightXReps is really geared more towards weight lifters, and people who already have a bit of discipline.  It has some useful tools like volume calculators, and intensity/effort tracking.  However, it's not going to get someone who is sitting on their bum out of their chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T14:10:25.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5949" CreationDate="2012-03-29T17:51:16.940" Score="2" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the factors to consider while choosing a gym membership?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to reduce my weight by 20Kg in 3 months and so need a gym. I have never been to a gym in my life and would like to know what is offered there and want to be able to judge a gym when I am given a tour and shown the agreement, etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3222" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:50:25.187" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T16:50:25.187" Title="how to choose a gym membership for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5939" CreationDate="2012-03-29T17:59:20.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution here is easier than you think, i do not want to sound &lt;b&gt;poetic&lt;/b&gt; but let me explain some important things: &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;re-check the way you wrote your question &lt;b&gt;title&lt;/b&gt; and details : &lt;i&gt;&quot;non-sports people (computer nerds specifically)&quot;&lt;/i&gt;.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You just stereotyped computer lovers to lazy non sporty people. The problem and danger of stereotyping is that &lt;b&gt; extremely few&lt;/b&gt; people on earth rebel against it. Most people accept what they are given and tag themselves into it. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Explaining further, ever since computers were created and you had the image of the &lt;b&gt;nerdy, big glasses,lazy anti social &lt;/b&gt; person given to people who like/work with computers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;for example if you consider &lt;b&gt; software developers&lt;/b&gt; , what happened is that most of these guys just &lt;b&gt; accepted&lt;/b&gt; that label and this indoctrination was stored deeply in their mind , and many of them now have an &quot;inferiority complex&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Berin Loristsch mentioned about the reputation thing, and it is so true since the inferiority complex makes them search to be superior in a &lt;b&gt;virtual world.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myself, am a software engineer, and am very far from being a &lt;b&gt;nerd&lt;/b&gt;, i also workout daily (heavy training). This requires lots of efforts and discipline but can be done by anybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Thus,&lt;/b&gt; you have to &lt;b&gt;start&lt;/b&gt; by not &lt;b&gt;labeling&lt;/b&gt; them anymore &lt;b&gt;and&lt;/b&gt; not showing them they are different. This is a &lt;b&gt; small&lt;/b&gt; step but with &lt;b&gt; huge impact&lt;/b&gt; and change:&lt;br&gt; &#xA;&lt;b&gt;once they feel equal to you, they will start listening to what you say and get interested in what interests you (outside the virtual world).&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T17:59:20.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5914" CreationDate="2012-03-29T19:09:51.887" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question is no, eating fat does not cause you to store more fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens to a given food when your body digests it is actually very complex. See for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.ufp.pt/~pedros/bq/integration.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_pathways#Major_metabolic_pathways&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;. So it is hard to say things &quot;eating X causes Y&quot; or &quot;not eating X causes Y&quot;. Furthermore, there is a lot of variation among individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news, however, is that to a good approximation there are two major things you can do to burn excess fat: 1) eat at a caloric deficit 2) eat less carbs. Beyond that, what you eat won't matter too much for the purposes of weight control. (You should probably worry about getting micronutrients and some other things but that's a separate discussion.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What constitutes a caloric deficit varies by individual, but it is relatively easy to figure out. First you need to know what your Basal Metabolic Rate is. For example by using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this calculator&lt;/a&gt;. That's how many calories your body needs to function -- it does not take into account any activities you do.  Depending on your level of activity people say to multiply the BMR by 1.2 (not very active) to 1.5 (very active). To be at a caloric deficit you need to eat less calories than that number, BMR*activity-multiplier, each day.  600 calories less per day translates approximately to 1lb of fat per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing, eating less carbs, is very simple. Track the food that you eat for a few days and try to have less than 100g of carbohydrates each day. After a few days of this your body's glycogen stores start running low and your body switches to burning fat instead. This is the principle behind all the low-carb diets (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;keto&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;atkins&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://gizmodo.com/5709913/4+hour-body-+-the-slow+carb-diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slow-carb&lt;/a&gt;, ...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment with yourself to find out what works. There is significant variability between individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="752" LastEditorUserId="752" LastEditDate="2012-03-29T23:55:43.750" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T23:55:43.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5942" CreationDate="2012-03-29T19:14:41.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is more about diet than it is about working out. That said ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people (male and female), the most effective type of working out is lifting heavy weights using compound lifts. So you need a gym where you can squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press. Namely, one that has a good squat rack, barbells, and heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google &quot;Starting Strength&quot; or &quot;Strong Lifts 5x5&quot; for good programs/routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="752" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T19:14:41.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5942" CreationDate="2012-03-29T19:18:57.780" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number 1 factor is to choose a gym you'll actually go to. Pick the closest one to where you live. Pick one that's open for as many hours in a day as possible. The fewer excuses you can give yourself for not going, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decide if you want to do a strength-focussed program or a cardio-focussed program (both can lead to weight loss if accompanied with the correct diet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If strength-focussed, count how many proper squat racks are in the gym (not smith machines). Ask if the gym allows the use of chalk. A bonus (they're super rare.. might only find this on a university campus), the gym should have an olympic weight-lifting platform with bumper plates and allow dropping of loaded bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If cardio-focussed, look for a gym with the largest number of stationary bikes and treadmills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the agreement, month-to-month plans are better than yearly contracts. Even if you have the option of a month-to-month plan or a cheaper yearly contract from the same place, pick the month-to-month plan in case you realize you would prefer another gym after a couple of months. The freedom to change is worth the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When taking a tour, go at the time that you're most likely to be going to the gym yourself. See how busy it is. Is the equipment you want to use actually available?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As an aside, I believe your goal of losing 20kg in three months is really ambitious. That's 3.3 pounds per week. If you're going from no activity to an activity level that's going to result in 3.3 pounds of weight loss per week, you'll be toeing a fine line between eating enough to support your body's recovery from exercise and eating a small enough number of calories to allow weight loss. I'd suggest focusing more on eating properly to support recovery and muscle development (even if you're not doing strength training, the cardio will develop muscles), and don't be disappointed with a slower weight loss. Think long term. Injury or exhaustion caused from inadequate recovery and nutrition will set you back much more than losing only 1 pound per week.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-03-29T23:09:41.460" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T23:09:41.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5735" CreationDate="2012-03-29T19:20:59.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you aren't severally over weight, the rule of thumb is that you should not be running more than a 3500cal/week deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for day-to-day, I don't think it matters too much, so long your weekly deficit is in the above range. In fact, not being able to fast for 24 hours without problems (getting drowsy, hypoglycemic, ...) is a symptom of inadequate diet.  There are well-designed diets, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/ultimate-diet-20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UD2.0&lt;/a&gt; that call for days with 1000+ deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="752" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T19:20:59.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5942" CreationDate="2012-03-29T19:28:49.040" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first step is to identify what you expect from the gym.  Different gyms provide different services, and can help you achieve your goals in various ways.  So without further ado, you have to ask your self the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's near me?  If the best gym is too far away to go regularly, it's not really the best gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What services do I want?  If there are more than one gym to choose from, do you need nutrition coaching?  Personal training? Just a barbell and weights?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other goals do I have?  That might help choose one gym over another.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in order to achieve any goal you need to be consistent.  Choosing a gym near you will help with that.  It sounds like you will need some nutrition counseling.  Not too many gyms have an on staff nutritionist, but some do.  Ask around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a couple refinements to your goals that will help you in the long run:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't focus on weight loss.  Focus instead on fat loss or getting in to a particular size clothes.  It's a subtle distinction, but you don't want to stress out if you gain muscle as long as you are losing inches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find something you will enjoy doing.  Standing on a treadmill for an hour is some of the most mind-numbing hamster wheeling activity you can do.  Fitness can be fun, and that's when you have lasting change.  Check into the different activities at your local gym and find out what they are.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T19:28:49.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5942" CreationDate="2012-03-29T20:04:49.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the above people in that a gym is not a means to loose weight, it's a place to go fulfill your goals and objectives.  It sounds like weight loose is your goal, as stated above this is more about nutrition/diet than about exercise...however the key to obtaining your goal is incentives to keep you motivated....those incentives could include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a workout partner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an environment that motivates you to achieve your goals (this could be a gym where you 'expose' your progress)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a reward for achieving the goal OR steps to your goal, such as a new outfit, vacation, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the above, here are some key factors in picking out a gym:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;location - if it isn't convenient to get to, you won't go&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;price - you need to be able to afford the gym - long term&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cleanliness - a clean safe environment is essential (at least safe)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;friends - the more people you know there the more likely you'll keep going&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;available nutritionist and/or trainer - to get you started &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T20:04:49.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5931" CreationDate="2012-03-29T20:56:39.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After doing very extensive research it seems the right product just does not exist. Better rowers cost much more than the r25. A model that I'd be more than happy to get is the kettler kadett - it may not be quite as good as the r25 but it's smaller and well, I don't need a top if the range rower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh wait, it's actually more expensive than the r25, but not as good - so that's out of the question. And all of the other small piston rowers don't provide enough resistance and aren't of a good enough build quality for someone that rows as much as I do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept rower is the best but way too expensive. The only other option is the tunturi r60, but honestly I was really hoping to 'upgrade' to a more compact model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I'll send the r25 back and fix the giant piece of iron I've used for years until something comes out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very disappointing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastActivityDate="2012-03-29T20:56:39.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2154" CreationDate="2012-03-29T23:25:20.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same issues of heat on the knee also. I have x-rays taken of my knees, and I have the knees of a 25 y/o even though I am 56. However, after having my lower back looked at there were signs of a pinched nerve that might be the reason for knee issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently seeing a physical therapist a couple of days a week, and knots were found above the lower tailbone area. After having that area massaged, minor workout pain levels went from 6 to 2 (on a scale of 1 being no pain to 10 being the highest pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking that lower back exercises and minor knee exercises could help the issue. I hope this info could also help you to locate your problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3225" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-03-30T04:54:48.643" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T04:54:48.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5954" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5955" CreationDate="2012-03-30T04:07:25.473" Score="1" ViewCount="3090" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious... Some people say &lt;code&gt;8 glasses of water&lt;/code&gt; but some say that is too much and can result in overhydration. How many liters of water should a 16-years-old teenager (boy) drink a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3226" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T11:05:26.057" Title="How many liters of water a day [for teenager] keep the doctor away?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-03-30T12:41:57.920" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5954" CreationDate="2012-03-30T11:05:26.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me start by saying that no amount of water will keep the doctor away. There're still many things that can go wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 8 glasses of water is not backed up by any meaningful scientific evidence, it's just a rule of thumb. But it includes water from all sources including food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Making genral recommendations about things like fluid intake is bad idea as it depends on many factors including but not limited to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Climate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The hotter it is the more water your body loses with perspiration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body Build&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Someone who weights 45Kg, has less water to maintain than a 150Kg one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical activity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;During a marathon you need more water than laying in bed. Same is true after a PE class.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water content of food eaten&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you eat a lot of soup for example than that counts towards your fluid intake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There're two different things that are referred to as dehydration. Acute and Cronic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acute&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is what happens if your body is deprived from water for a few days. May result in death.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cronic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It means that your body is constantly getting less water than it needs. Symptoms include headaches, dry skin and low energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked about overhydration. It's not the total volume/day that can cause problems but the volume/hour. Healthy kidneys can deal with about a liter of water in an hour. The bottom line is that your body can easily deal with processing 6 liters of water if spread throughout the day but could struggle with 2 liters of consumed in an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be a good idea to monitor salt intake. You see the body requires only 3 to 5 grams of salt a day to stay healthy, but most people gobble up 12 to 15 grams of the stuff daily. To rid itself of the overload, the body requires copious amounts of liquid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you drink when you're thirsty, don't consume too much salt, and your skin is not as dry as sandpaper than you'll be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyhighway.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/8-common-myths-about-dehydration/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;8 Common Myths About Dehydration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/760/how-much-water-is-too-much&quot;&gt;How much water is too much?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Water Intoxication&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3229" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T11:05:26.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5613" CreationDate="2012-03-30T19:20:58.477" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweaty hands is a common ailment for weight lifters and rock climbers, with equally detrimental effects.  The solution really isn't nutrition related.  It's simply &lt;strong&gt;chalk&lt;/strong&gt;.  Chalk dries the hands, and improves your grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel that chalk would be detrimental to the environment, you can go for an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/eco_ball.html&quot;&gt;&quot;Eco Ball&quot; by Metolius&lt;/a&gt;.  Same effects, although I might argue that it is not quite as effective as good old fashioned chalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading the comments, you also may want to look at this article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prlog.org/10224407-hyperhidrosis-diet-tips-to-stop-excessive-sweating.html&quot;&gt;diet and hyperhidrosis&lt;/a&gt;.  The thing is, you do need to rule out whether you have hyperhidrosis or not.  Take a look on at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabled-world.com/health/dermatology/skin/hyperhidrosis.php&quot;&gt;this article that describes what hyperhidrosis actually is&lt;/a&gt;.  It also has tips on food to avoid in addition to other tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also do remember that rock climbing is an activity that causes an adrenaline rush, and is therefore stressful.  Not necessarily in a bad way, but it is a factor to consider in trying to understand the sweaty hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2012-03-30T19:28:40.590" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T19:28:40.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1005" CreationDate="2012-03-30T19:20:59.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A chiropractor can do nothing for you other than pop it back in. I have this problem. You need to go to physical therapy and they can do different exercises for you which will help in time. My hip causes my lower back to hurt really bad and my leg on the side of my affected hip to have a throbbing pain. It hurts all the time and hurts more when I run or do any physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also may have snapping hip syndrome which I was told I had. It causes you a lot of pain too and has similar pains but its where your tendons and muscles are too tight or too loose and your hip clicks over the group of muscles that run across your hip. I have been told that my hip pops in and out and wont stay in by physical therapists, but the DOC doctor said it was snapping hip syndrome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So therefore, I do not know. I'm still getting physical therapy to find out what exactly is wrong and how to fix it. Either way it is hard to sleep and move and have a lot of back pain that comes with it. Check out snapping hip syndrome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3232" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-03T02:22:36.217" LastActivityDate="2012-11-03T02:22:36.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5914" CreationDate="2012-03-30T21:40:29.430" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try reducing your water intake and you will see dramatic results in first 2-4 weeks in your weight and volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy kidneys can comfortably work with 6 cups of liquid a day. They can work more, but with greater effort which eventually weakens them. You should therefore intake less than 6 cups of liquid. &#xA;This counts for water, alcohol, juice, fruit, even salad :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: Dr. Stephen T. Chang &quot;Tao of Balanced Diet: Secrets of a thin and healthy body&quot;&#xA;you can find it on thegreattao.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing it for less than a month and it does miracles ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also if you want empirical evidence: measure how much liquid you output and see what is the maximum you're &quot;allowed&quot; to intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3234" LastEditorUserId="3234" LastEditDate="2012-03-30T21:52:24.773" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T21:52:24.773" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5388" CreationDate="2012-03-30T22:35:56.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With my full heart I recommend the &quot;Tao of balanced diet, secrets of a thin and healthy body&quot; by Dr. Stephen T. Chang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This book not only shows you how to prepare simple and yet well balanced, nutritious and tasty dishes (treats, actually) but it revelas an entirely new look on nutritionism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also exercises in the book that are not usual weight-loss exercises. Rather, they strengthen the body's function to balance itself (being fat is one way of being imbalanced).&#xA;These exercises are deceptively easy, and yet so effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've lost 7.3kg in 3 weeks. I don't know how. I never lacked good food or had a drop of sweat fall :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my top recommendation! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can check it out on thegreattao.com, and also read some interesting articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3234" LastActivityDate="2012-03-30T22:35:56.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5763" CreationDate="2012-03-31T11:01:02.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your exercise is not bad. Not ideal, but usually good enough  Your choice of food is definitely not optimal. I strongly suggest that you meet with a nutritionist asap! They will review your specific needs, check what type of food you like and come up with a plan that's good for you and based on your personal food preferences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2958" LastActivityDate="2012-03-31T11:01:02.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5973" CreationDate="2012-03-31T11:10:15.107" Score="1" ViewCount="7225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been maintaining a 500-1000 calorie deficit for a while but I've recently caught a cold. I naturally feel like crap and want to recover ASAP. I'm wondering if suspending the diet will help me recover faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence that being on a diet can make it harder to recover from a cold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3237" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T05:11:00.843" Title="Does a calorie deficit affect how my body fights a cold?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5969" CreationDate="2012-03-31T17:35:01.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like more sleep is recommended for a cold, so is a proper diet.  You should eat a plentiful amount of everything (try and hit all the food groups) but focus specifically on vitamins too.  I think Orange juice helped me a lot when I was sick.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, food is the fuel for your immune system so eat up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3238" LastActivityDate="2012-03-31T17:35:01.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-03-31T20:40:28.617" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Football can require quite a lot of running. Sometimes after exceptionally intense moments I find myself briefly unable to satiate the need for breathing, at which point I wonder if I’m doing something that’s potentially unsafe for myself. My heart rate can stay above 200 during such episodes (though I’ve only measured it a couple of times), which is above the &quot;standard&quot; maximum effort for my age (28), but I feel fine apart from being rather out of breath – which is surely to be expected from lots of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I know when it’s time to slow down? Can I &quot;run till I drop&quot;, figuratively speaking, for as long as I feel OK? I am not aware of any medical issues that might subject me to extra risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="797" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-02T01:54:54.100" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T01:54:54.100" Title="How do I know how much running in football is safe for me?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5969" CreationDate="2012-03-31T23:43:03.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.essenceofstressrelief.com/general-adaptation-syndrome.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS Theory) from Hans Selye&lt;/a&gt; tells us that as our body is stressed in some way, it adapts to handle that stress.  The basic principle works for getting stronger and for other stressors like getting sick.  The process of adaptation requires energy in some form--and this includes immune system response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you have more than 20% body fat, your body will probably be OK pulling the reserves from your fat.  People with less than 15% body fat will likely need to supplement with food.  That only speaks toward energy.  NOTE: if you want your body to pull from your fat stores minimize the amount of carbohydrates you have.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnessblackbook.com/dieting_for_fat_loss/insulin-and-fat-loss-a-simple-explanation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carbs cause an insulin response&lt;/a&gt;, which suppresses your body's ability to burn fat until the blood sugar is back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, your body needs other things than just food.  You may need to increase your micronutrients to provide the raw materials for your body to construct the antidote for your particular sickness.  This is where extra Vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, etc. help fight off sickness.  Typically this is done with vitamin supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, most of your recovery processes happen when you are asleep or at the very least in a state of relative rest.  Two of the most important things you can do in recovering from sickness is stay hydrated and sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-03-31T23:43:03.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2012-04-01T00:04:20.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One more thing to think about...   For general heart rate conditioning (trying to get resting rate below 50 beats per minute for example) it's total time that matters.  If it's easier to do two sixty minute workouts than one 90 minute workout, so be it.  The same is true for improving a specific workout.  If you want to do 100 pistils, doing dozens of smaller set throughout the day can beat one or two large sets.  (This is referred to as greasing the groove)  That said - for other sport specific activities, it can be better to group the workouts.  A lot also depends on your recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-04-01T00:04:20.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="933" CreationDate="2012-04-01T12:17:47.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get a flat chest carry out the various push ups.  For example doing press ups with the hands on the floor as wide as possible works differently to hands close together. Second lots of skipping, sometimes hard to get into but practice and I promise it does get easier.  Finally running long and short distances.  Finally once a flat chest is being achieved over the next 12 months, do weights with just a small resistance and repeat high volume.  Take up martial arts training and do lots of stretching. After all this your metabolism will change and you will never have man boobs again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3245" LastActivityDate="2012-04-01T12:17:47.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-01T18:59:34.713" Score="1" ViewCount="619" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to lose weight. I have noticed that I gained more than 20 kilos in the last 2 years. I want really to lose these as soon as possible. What is your advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note I don't like running and exercises, the only thing that I can do maybe walking (I don't know why maybe I am lazy and don't like to feel tired).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="574" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-02T02:02:03.420" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T17:16:33.497" Title="How do I start a diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-18T05:47:24.937" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5972" CreationDate="2012-04-01T20:12:22.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Taken almost exactly from my answer here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5891/how-worried-should-i-be-about-overexertion&quot;&gt;How worried should I be about overexertion?&lt;/a&gt;, but I can edit if you give additional details in your question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your description, the only thing you should really worry about is dehydration (headache, dizziness, cramping), or heat related illnesses (heat stroke, heat cramps, hyperthermia). Your body will generally stop you from exerting yourself more than it is capable of. If your push right up to your limit, you may experience lightheadedness, greying vision, and nausea. Those symptoms are not related directly to your heart rate, but rather, to your body's inability to get oxygen to your brain and eyes (because it's being used elsewhere). If you're healthy, you can push yourself, but rest if you get some particularly strong signs to stop, unless you are okay &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_induced_nausea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;puking at the side of the field&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strain_%28injury%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscle strains&lt;/a&gt; are also a possibility when overexerting yourself, but a different kind of overexertion than you've described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rare condition that would begin to present itself 12-24 hours after very strenuous exercise with inadequate hydration is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rhabdomyolysis&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/cc2978.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;another description&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-04-01T20:22:22.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5977" CreationDate="2012-04-01T20:53:44.167" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main challenge will be to change your diet. Don't think about &quot;starting a diet&quot;, think about &quot;changing your diet&quot;. If you think about starting a diet, then you have an end in mind, and that's not the right way to think about it. For long-term improvement in health and sustainable weight loss, you need to change your lifestyle, not just &quot;start a diet&quot; and quit it when you've reached some goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've gained 20kg in 2 years, that's about 0.2kg per week, so on average, you're consuming approximately 200 calories too much per day. (Based on the assumption that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/307948-calories-per-kg-for-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3500 excess calories results in 1 pound weight gain&lt;/a&gt;.) If you want to lose weight as quickly as you gained it (20kg in 2 years), you would need to reduce your daily intake by approximately 400 calories. This is all approximate, and that number will change as you lose weight, and it will change if you start doing exercise, and it will be different if you want to lose weight quicker, but removing 400 calories per day from your diet seems to be the minimum change you'd need to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't focus so much on losing weight as soon as possible. Focus more on a lifestyle of nutrition and activity that moves you in the correct direction, even if it happens more slowly. The things you would need to do to lose a lot of weight in a small amount of time are likely not the things that a person will be able to continue long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you don't like running and exercises does not change the fact that you will need to do some. If you don't like running and exercise, perhaps you can find a sport. Badminton? Swimming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe barbell strength training is more your thing (you can definitely lose weight while doing weight lifting... it takes a lot of calories, so you might not want to remove as much calories from your diet in this case). You could get quite strong while losing fat, and might find it less tiring than running. And, once you're stronger and leaner, you might find running more appealing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-04-02T06:17:29.123" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T06:17:29.123" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4525" CreationDate="2012-04-01T23:34:44.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes I am vegan and take Valporic Acid. My carnitine levels are half of normal levels and I am very sick with new heart problems and fatigue. So talk to your doctor and get your levels tested. See too if any deficiency is a genetic metabolic disorder and not diet or drug related&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3249" LastActivityDate="2012-04-01T23:34:44.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5763" CreationDate="2012-04-01T23:35:06.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this seems like a typical case of a plateau. There are 2 things that need to be done when someone hits a plateau, well really its one thing split up into 2 parts. The idea is to shock the body. That means that your body has become comfortable with the activity level and calorie intake and there for is not letting go of the weight. This is essentially what a plateau is, so the 2 things to change in order to break through the plateau are, changing up the calorie intake and also to change up the workout. Allow me to explain. Changing up the calorie intake, contrary to popular belief means to increase the amount you eat over the course of the week. It does not mean to cut even more calories because that can be simply dangerous. The way to it is like this. If say your goal calorie intake for the day is 2000 calories, so what you would do is start the week out eating a little less, like maybe 1800 calories on Sunday then work your way up to 2000 calories on Monday by Tuesday you should be eating say maybe 2200 and on Wednesday again 2200 and then by the end of the week start coming back down to your usual 2000 calorie limit. This is known as the zig zag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your activity level, you need to up the intensity of your workouts. For instance if you do 5 sets of pushups with 1 minute rest between sets then try doing the same 5 sets with only a half of minute rest between sets. Another thing you can change is the order of your workout, say you start your day with pushups and then do situps, what you can do is  swap it around once in a while and do situps and then pushups, and then swap back always keeping your body off guard. One more thing i feel should be mentioned, is that you made no note of weather or not you give your body a chance to rest between workouts which you should and you probably do. However, on the off chance you don't you really should start because that alone can help you start losing weight again. Because if your muscles don't get the rest they require then your body holds on to more calories to heal them. Now im not saying not to workout on the rest days im simply saying to work on different muscle groups so that yesterday's muscles can heal while the other ones are getting a beating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this was helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="3250" LastEditDate="2012-04-02T00:23:32.957" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T00:23:32.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5977" CreationDate="2012-04-01T23:36:49.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Loosing weight can be summed up quite easily. It all comes down to an energy balance. If you take in more energy than you need you gain weight and if you take in less you loose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end it does not matter what diet concept you follow, because they all have the same goal: Make you eat less than your daily requirement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an average male adult this is about 2500kcal and for a female around 2000kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The flaw of many diets in e.g. magazines is, that those may let you loose some weight fast, but once finished you gain weight again. Why? Simple, because you return to your old eating habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way is a change of your habits and the way you eat and prepare your food. What works for many people is eating food with a relative low energy density. This gives you the feeling of eating a lot while not consuming an enormous amount of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, just to make it clear, I recently came across a study where one test-group only ate fast-food (high energy density) for 4 weeks. This group ate a controlled amount of calories per day and none of them gained weight and all their vitamin/boold levels remained perfectly fine, but they said that they felt hungry all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better approach is to stick with what is generally called Mediterranean cuisine incl. low fat meats (e.g. chicken), reduced fat milk, little oil and butter, some pasta (wholegrain), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally think that any special products in supermarkets (powders, shakes and what not) only decrease your account balance and don't do anything good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sticking to what I wrote above, it is allowed to sin a little. Eating a fattier meal one evening a week or sweets it is ok to do so if you balance your overall energy intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional exercise is unavoidable if you want to speed up your weight loss. Try to find a sport that you like. A gym or running are not the only sports around! Try a few things, most places offer free taster sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to give running a go, try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;c25k&lt;/a&gt; (couch to 5km) program. It is normal that you can not run for a very long time at the beginning. You did not mention you weight. In case you are very heavy do not hesitate to consult your doctor before picking up an exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="405" LastActivityDate="2012-04-01T23:36:49.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5859" CreationDate="2012-04-02T00:22:56.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that what im about to say was already said before in one of the other answers, but i think there is room for clarification. When you asked if you are doing to much you were basically asking if you are over training, which can lead to hindered weight loss, so then to answer your question we simply need to know if you are over training. In order to determine if you are doing to much you simply need to listen to your body. In some cases you may feel theat your performance is slowing down as in you may not be able to keep up your usual tempo, or with the weightlifting you may find it hard to lift the same 25 pounds you lifted last time. This can happen even if the source of the over training is from the cardio and not the strength training. Another symptom can be your mood. You may find yourself being more irritable. My best suggestion for you is to Google symptoms of over training because you will find several articles that will list almost 10 symptoms that your body is telling you that it's tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this was helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T00:22:56.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5987" CreationDate="2012-04-02T00:48:19.637" Score="2" ViewCount="1635" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that in order to get results out of a workout one must invoke progress overload into the workout. One way of doing this is to have less rest time, and another way is to increase the amount of weight being lifted. My question is though, if say i do 2 sets of bicep curls with 25 lbs dumbbells for seven reps is there any benefit of doing another set or is it simply better to go up in weight or cut my rest time? Some things i feel i should point out to help you answer. Firstly my barometer to know when its time to go up in weight is when i can do 7 reps on my last set (i know some of you may do more reps per set before increasing weight, but i am currently trying to get stronger hence the low rep range). Another thing i should point out is that i do not only do 2 sets of bicep curls i also do 2 sets of hammer curls for a total of 4 sets. With that in mind is there any benefit to adding another set?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T01:15:20.513" Title="Does adding an extra set constitute as progressive overload?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5985" CreationDate="2012-04-02T01:15:20.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your goal is strength, then definitely up the weight as frequently as possible, keeping the reps in the 3-5 rep range (7 is a little high). Rest time should be whatever is needed in order to do the next set properly. If you cut rest time, you're training muscular endurance rather than strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding a set will provide extra stress, potentially triggering more adaptation of the muscle, but would also require more recovery time. When you find that 4 sets of 7 reps is insufficient to stimulate the strength gains you want, then you can consider adding additional sets, but add 2, rather than 1, so it's actually a significant difference, keep them in the low rep range, and rest sufficiently between sets so that you're actually able to do them. However, if you add extra sets, you may not be able to lift as frequently as you are right now, or the workout following your extra-set day should be a lighter day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This guidance is based on material from Mark Rippetoe's &lt;em&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/em&gt;, specifically, Chapter 4 (The Physiology of Adaptation), and Chapter 7 (The Intermediate), where he talks about sets, reps, and the Texas Method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be easier for you to make smaller, more easily predicted increases in weight by switching to barbell curls as your main bicep lift. That will allow weight increases as small as 5lbs (or even 2.5lbs if you buy some 1.25lb microplates). Distributing that weight increase across two arms is much more doable than constraining yourself to the increments available in the dumbbell rack, especially since those are single-arm exercises. One arm getting stronger by 5lbs takes much longer, and causes a much greater change in number of reps when you make the jump than your two arms getting stronger together by 2.5lbs. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/incremental_increases_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for more motivation behind maintaining incremental weight increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, pretend your arms are individually strong enough to bicep curl 20lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing dumbbell curls, and wait until you can do 7 reps with 20lbs, when you jump to 25lbs dumbbells (a 25% increase in weight), you may have to drop down to doing 3 reps, because that's a huge jump for such a targeted exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're doing barbell curls, and you are doing 5 reps with 40lbs, jumping up to 45lbs (a 12.5% increase in weight) is half as difficult a jump that would have happened with the dumbbells, and your reps might drop to 4 or 3, but you'd be back to up 5 reps pretty quickly. If you find microplates, you can increase the loading even more gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T01:15:20.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6021" CreationDate="2012-04-02T02:14:11.600" Score="1" ViewCount="582" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm about 6 feet tall (183 cm) and weigh about 180lbs (75kgs). I'm looking to get a more toned stomach and gain more strength in my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want huge muscles, I just want to get to a more basic level of strength as I realized I am a lot weaker than my peers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After asking other questions about how best to gain strength without gaining a lot of mass, I have started doing a workout each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning I do 10 situps. This is just to try and get my stomach/abdomen in a better shape and remove the ever so slight flab I have developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later on I do 3 sets of lifting a dumbbell 10 times, weighing 15lbs for each arm. I have about a 20 minute break between each set of lifting 10 times(is each set a rep?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good starting point towards my goals? Should I be incorporating further exercises? Should I do more or less reps? Or is it OK for the moment while I am starting out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="2921" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T09:10:24.507" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T18:47:25.197" Title="Is my current strength building workout good to start off with?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6190" CreationDate="2012-04-02T02:18:21.153" Score="3" ViewCount="2096" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5714/2921&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; about calcium supplements and strength-building mentions calcium helping the body to absorb protein, a claim I have also heard several times before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone offer a deeper explanation for how/why this works, or any reliable sources?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-04-23T15:01:01.493" Title="How does calcium help protein to be absorbed" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;calcium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5993" CreationDate="2012-04-02T11:37:00.213" Score="2" ViewCount="1078" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a college student. I was playing football until a few months ago. When I was playing football my body was fit and fine. Also I had good stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day I saw a football accident clip on the internet. Since then I have been afraid of playing football. It has been more than 6 months now, and my body has lost its shape and I am losing my stamina. Honestly I dont want to walk away from football as I love this game and also it helps me to be in shape and fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I resume football? Is there any other option to stay fit and in shape? Please dont tell me to go to a gym. We dont have a gym facility in our college, and I cant afford an outside gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3228" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-04-02T16:57:22.433" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T08:27:12.673" Title="How do I get over my fear of sport after experiencing (witnessing) an injury?" Tags="&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5995" CreationDate="2012-04-02T14:10:04.540" Score="17" ViewCount="95284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, if I were to use the same amount of weight with dumbbells as I would with a barbell while doing a squat, will I get the same benefits as I would using a barbell? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I understand that one of the obvious benefits with barbells, is the fact that I can use massive weight, weight that would be extremely difficult to use with dumbbells - but that is why I am asking about the case where I am using the &lt;em&gt;same&lt;/em&gt; amount of weight. In other words is there a difference as to whether I have the weight by my side with the dumbbells, or across my shoulders with the barbell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T13:10:25.787" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T05:12:49.367" Title="Are squats with dumbbells as effective as squats with barbells?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5991" CreationDate="2012-04-02T14:21:04.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any type of physical activity carries some degree of injury, and that's a risk you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; consciously be aware of when engaging in any kind of team or individual sport. The clip you saw is probably an extreme case or an outlier. If the clip was of a more common injury, then I think you probably need to address some mental barriers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're engaged in team sports, perhaps what you need is to switch to friendlier or more casual games if your current sportsmates are more competitive or agressive. You should be participating with people who are aware of what the rules are and have good sportsmanship. If the environment of your football activity is not a healthy one, I suggest finding a different group of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of going straight back to football, what you might want to try are low-impact exercises. Low-impact exercises put less stress on your body than other strenuous activities. They are not something only for the elderly who may have problems with joints or muscles. Low-impact exercises are good for cardiovascular health without putting stress on injured body parts. While low-impact exercises are not completely free of any risk of injury, the likelihood of it is less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some low-impact exercises include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swimming:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It works out every muscle in the body and has very low impact on your joints due to being in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is the simplest and easiest thing you can do. You can increase your pace and go for longer walks to get a better workout, and it's a good way to travel.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nordic walking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is an exercise that is essentially walking with specially designed poles. Nordic walking involves applying force to the poles and using your upper body to propel yourself forward. Its impact is no different than plain walking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Improving your balance, strength, and flexibility can be done via yoga. Note that you don't want to push yourself too much if any of the postures or exercises are beyond your physical capabilities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tai Chi&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Although it does not have a huge cardiovascular component, it certainly helps with posture and strength. It looks slow, but I can say from personal experience that it does work out your muscles when balancing and going through the movements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dancing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can get pretty active doing various dances, and it's a good workout for your muscles and core. Zumba is pretty popular right now which is a Latin-inspired dance program for fitness. You can check out some of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=zumba&quot;&gt;Zumba&lt;/a&gt; questions on this site.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to work on strength but don't have access to a gym or set of weight, you can train using &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=bodyweight&quot;&gt;bodyweight exercises&lt;/a&gt;. Bodyweight exercises uses your own weight as resistance for the movement. Some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyweight_exercise#List_of_exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodyweight exercises&lt;/a&gt; include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're trying to ease back into football after six months of inactivity, it would be a good idea to start out small and slow. Once your body adapts and becomes more familiar with what you're doing, you can then slowly increase your intensity by extending your workout sessions or loading more resistance. After some time, you should be able to reach whatever level you were at before and continue improving and growing in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T14:21:04.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2012-04-02T14:43:45.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;i have the weight by my side with the dumbbells, or across my shoulders with the barbell?&quot; You answered your own question, there is a physiological difference in the origin of the weight and therefore a difference in where the force / work is applied to move that weight, specifically the posterior chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3253" LastEditorUserId="3253" LastEditDate="2012-05-19T04:31:28.457" LastActivityDate="2012-05-19T04:31:28.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2012-04-02T15:52:35.250" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference, in that you are changing the load on your core.  Squats are not &quot;just a leg exercise&quot; as many people assume that it is.  There are several variations of squats, and they each have their place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to do dumbbell squats, I highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&quot;&gt;Goblet Squats&lt;/a&gt;.  Instead of the weight at your sides, it is in front of you.  This accomplishes two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Helps improve your squat form and depth--complete with better carryover to back squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Helps increase the core component of the dumbbell squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to &quot;clean&quot; the dumbbell to your shoulders.  That is, use your hip to launch the dumbbell up to your shoulders.  That will help keep your core involved as well.  This approach has more carryover to front squats (where the bar is across the front of your deltoids in front of your neck).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T15:52:35.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5991" CreationDate="2012-04-02T16:52:05.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert in this area specifically, but I've been trained as a flight instructor with students having to overcome fear of failure or accident. I've had students that were absolutely terrified, to the point of crying, and I've helped them through it to their success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this to be a good podcast: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peaksports.com/sports_psychology_blog/?p=1336&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.peaksports.com/sports_psychology_blog/?p=1336&lt;/a&gt; My answer is based on personal experience and material from this podcast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After an injury (or witnessing one, in your case) overcoming fear of re-injury is a big hurdle. When you play with this fear, you will play tentatively, you will hesitate, and you will play tight, perhaps even increasing likelihood of injury. The worry about the particular previous injury causes you to focus on all the wrong things, and opens you up to other injuries and poor performance than if you removed the concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer you spend away from your sport, rebuilding confidence is also a huge factor. Confidence is hard to maintain even without the reminder of injury. You have to somehow get rid of the anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To break out of this cycle of thinking, you need to find a way to refocus your attention when you play. Be competitive, get in the game. Think about the play developing, running hard, beating your defender. You might need to redevelop this focus in practice before returning to a competitive game. (For example, a few weeks ago, I started practicing some plyometric jumps outside of my sport, and the next time I went to play, I just jumped instinctively for a block I wouldn't have gone for before... the reaction from my training just took over.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you may surprise yourself at how easily your competitive spirit can take over once you start playing and help you forget all about the injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-04-02T17:05:42.903" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T17:05:42.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-02T17:55:19.150" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1131/is-working-out-a-healthy-alternative-to-combat-rsi-repetitive-stress-injuries&quot;&gt;Is working out a healthy alternative to combat RSI (Repetitive Stress Injuries)&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long hours in front of my laptop have weakened my hands and wrists and caused me to have a repetitive strain injury. I used to play football and work in construction. Weight-lifting was a part of my daily routine. Back then, my joints were strong and resilient and able to withstand trauma associated with sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had a problem with my wrists until I started programming. I'm sure that my best bet is to try to strengthen my wrists and fingers by lifting weights as a type of physical therapy. My fear is that I will do weight exercises that will exacerbate the problem rather than get rid of it, and I'm wondering if anyone has had luck with any specific exercises. My back and shoulders are fine but my hands are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="pepperdreamteam" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-04-02T18:18:49.787" Title="Will weight exercises help mitigate wrist pain?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-04-02T18:24:50.043" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6001" CreationDate="2012-04-03T03:33:57.537" Score="1" ViewCount="1604" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I've worked out when my allergies got a lot worse.. its when I started going to the gym which was also when I started taking whey protein. Has anyone experienced a correlation and or know of scientific evidence supporting such a hypothesis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-04-03T13:33:07.617" Title="Can the proteins in Whey protein contribute to nasal allergies?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6000" CreationDate="2012-04-03T13:33:07.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whey comes from milk.  It's part of the byproducts of processing milk and is one of the components made into cheese.  The reason I point this out is that some people are allergic to milk.  While the whey protein powder processing &lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt; removes the disagreeable parts for those who are lactose intolerant, it is still whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If dairy in general (cheese, milk, etc.) causes nasal allergies, then there is no reason why whey protein which comes from milk will not cause the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, it comes down to your own allergies.  If you have no allergies, then you can expect no detrimental affects.  If you do have allergies, then you can expect those allergies to behave the same way they always do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-03T13:33:07.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5988" CreationDate="2012-04-03T15:51:01.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is great that you are starting with your abs, most people don't realize but working out your abs also works out your core which you must do if you want to progress on to heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, doing an isolation exercise for your biceps is rather pointless unless all that you are going for is vanity. I would highly recommend starting with some compound exercises with some &lt;em&gt;REALLY LIGHT&lt;/em&gt; weights: bench-press, bent-over barbell row and squats for starters. Combine this with some dumbell exercises for your shoulders and some simple leg exercises to give your body an excellent base for stepping up and kick starting your metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TIP: Don't waste time doing arms. Compound exercises like pull-ups, deadlifts will give you so much more increased strength than you would ever get by isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2445" LastEditorUserId="2445" LastEditDate="2012-04-17T18:47:25.197" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T18:47:25.197" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5988" CreationDate="2012-04-03T16:52:53.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's start off with some basic principles regarding strength training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The size you gain is a function of how you train and what you eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The strength you gain is a function of how you train&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Imbalanced training leads to imbalanced strength, which in turn leads to injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest is as important as training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your title suggests you want to train for strength, and not necessarily to be big.  That leads me to believe that you are less interested in bodybuilding (lifting for aesthetics) and more of a functional training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that end, I recommend centering your program around the big four compound lifts: squats, bench press, deadlifts, and overhead press.  If you work in dips and chin/pull-ups you will have just about all your bases covered.  If using barbells doesn't appeal to you, then I recommend doing body weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To emphasize strength over size, keep your rep ranges low--in the 3-5 rep range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To ensure you have enough volume to force adaptation, use anywhere between 3-5 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't eat big, you won't get big.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example beginner program could be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/1157-the-average-fn-program-a-simple-and-efficient-training-template/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Average F'n Program&lt;/a&gt;, which has the advantage of not taking a long time, and helping you get strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are currently doing is better than nothing, but it's usefulness is limited.  Biceps are used when you are trying to keep your body close to an object (like rock climbing) or carrying something in front of you.  However, if you never train the rest of your body even that will be limited by your posterior chain strength (back, glutes, hamstrings, calves).  Same with grip strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get large muscles, instead of focusing on strength, you have to work very hard for those, and emphasize training till failure, and increasing your time under tension.  That usually means working in the 10-15 rep range, or just going for an all out AMRAP set (As Many Reps As Possible).  Along with that type of training you also have to make your diet as anabolic as possible which involves timing the carb intake to post workout, etc.  The programming surrounding this is very different from what I described above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T15:51:47.913" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T15:51:47.913" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6024" CreationDate="2012-04-03T17:18:03.193" Score="3" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I play games (3-4 hours) like Cricket or Basketball, my Gluteal muscles ache a lot. I've heard that swimming can help them stretch, but I can't swim (though I plan to learn)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other exercises can help stretch and strengthen Gluteal muscles in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1172" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-03T20:49:07.090" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T20:30:25.253" Title="Best stretching and strengthening exercise for Gluteal muscle" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6007" CreationDate="2012-04-03T21:56:43.917" Score="5" ViewCount="22344" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dont have access to a barbell, yet i still want to try and do deadlifts, so i was wondering if anybody knows how to explain to me the proper technique, or maybe even refer me to an article or video that may help. I have spent almost all day trying to get some info on this, but for the most part they all explain the right technique in regard to a barbell not a dumbbell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T17:46:18.853" Title="How to do deadlifts with dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6006" CreationDate="2012-04-03T22:12:34.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest following the instructional technique for barbell deadlifts and just transfer that exact form to the dumbbell deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can practice the technique with a broomstick so that you can get the correct starting position (you won't be able to put it on the ground, you'll have to imagine the lift bottoms out with the broomstick approximately 8 inches from the ground, against your shins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To learn the mechanics, here are two good articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/pulling_mechanics_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/pulling_mechanics_rippetoe.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (see the upper row of figure 4-19)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/pulling_mechanics2_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/pulling_mechanics2_rippetoe.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand with feet slightly narrower than shoulder width apart, in a position you would jump from. Place the bar about 8 inches off the ground, directly above your midfoot (not middle of your forefoot, but middle of the entire foot). Move your shins so that they're against the bar in that position. Without moving the bar or your shins, bring your chest up, shoulders back, and back into extension. This is the starting position. Stand up by extending the knees until the bar passes them; then continue to stand up straight by extending at the hip, keeping the bar as close to your legs as possible the entire time. Return to the starting position by bending at the hip until the bar passes the knees, then at the knees until the bar is at the bottom, against your shins, directly over your midfoot. The bar should never move away from directly over your midfoot at any point during the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will take a bit of imagination to do with a broomstick, but it will help you learn what the form should feel like. That will let you transfer that feeling to the dumbbell version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, you can try to replicate that with dumbbells. It will take even more imagination and control to do with the same form as with a barbell, but it can be the exact same motion. You can use some small boxes to make sure the starting position of the dumbbells matches the starting position that you'd get with a proper barbell with bumper plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using dumbbells also allows an alternate form because your knees won't get in the way when you stand up. This would change the exercise to focus more on quads and less on the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T17:52:18.917" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T17:52:18.917" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4378" CreationDate="2012-04-03T22:56:49.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My following suggestions are additive to those mentioned already, not exclusive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mini-cinder (1/2 cinder block) block holds&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to Home Depot, find a small cinder block, buy it, go home, grab it from the top (the part with the ridge in it) and hold on as long as you can. Initially, you might need to hold on with both hands at the same time, and take care not to drop it on your feet. A 12+ rock climbing buddy of mine recommended this to me and I now swear by it. The following link is a good example of what type of cinder/concrete block you should use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materials-Concrete-Cement-Masonry-Concrete-Blocks-Bricks-Lintels/h_d1/N-5yc1vZboge/R-100350198/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&amp;amp;langId=-1&amp;amp;storeId=10051&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oldcastle 8 in. x 8 in. x 8 in. Concrete Block&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rock Climbing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you live near an indoor rock climbing gym, check it out. If you can afford and have a place to put up a hanging board, go for it. The most enjoyable way I have found for increasing my grip and forearm strength is rock climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="913" LastActivityDate="2012-04-03T22:56:49.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6011" CreationDate="2012-04-03T23:29:38.230" Score="1" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that this diet is potentially dangerous and I wanted some feedback before I continue.  I read that it is dangerous due to the super low calorie intake and the types of foods involved; basically amounting to you starving yourself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?  I don't know much about nutritional safety or diets- probably why I'm overweight and need to diet : )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://community.babycenter.com/journal/alwaysrushin/1668825/cardiac_diet_-_lose_15lbsweek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is the diet.  The basic idea is that you eat only fruit, vegetables and a specific soup that contains vegetables, beef broth and seasonings.  Its very regimented (eat only soup and fruit on monday, eat soup and veggies on tuesday, etc) and it also has a few extras throughout the week (you can have one baked potato with butter on tuesday, you can have steak on thursday, etc.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet says anytime that you are hungry to eat the soup.  You can have as much soup and either veggies or fruit, depending on the day, as you want.  If this diet is unhealthy, why is it unhealthy?  What is it about these combination of foods that don't nourish the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3257" LastEditorUserId="3257" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T17:53:43.077" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T17:53:43.077" Title="Is this &quot;Cardiac diet&quot; a healthy way to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2012-04-03T23:41:35.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never had more success than training like a powerlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train no more than 4 times (I train 3) a week (hit a muscle once a week - but very hard)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work out how much food you need and eat it (don't under-eat!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every workout should aim to beat previous all-time bests (either more reps or more weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regularly measure body composition (fat/lean mass) to you can track progress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength = Size = Strength!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first month after adjusting my program to follow the above principles I put on 2.5 kilograms of pure muscle &amp;amp; I put 40kg on my deadlift, 10kg on my bench, and 20kg on my squat. I also lost nearly a kilogram of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Planning your reps and weight &amp;amp; beating previous 1RM's every week (or attempting to) means that there are no more wishy-washy workouts that you 'hope' resulted in muscle growth. If you can lift more weights in a months time (by setting weekly goals) then you have more muscle tissue! Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-04-03T23:41:35.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6009" CreationDate="2012-04-03T23:58:28.553" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stephen, just reading the title &amp;quot;15 pounds/week&amp;quot;  tells u immediately its pure &lt;b&gt;&amp;quot;scam&amp;quot;&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This given diet is &amp;quot;indirectly&amp;quot; saying: &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;stop eating, starve yourself and if you do not die, faint or become a social aggressor from grumpiness, you would have lost weight.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally speaking you can never lose 15 lbs/week (which is a very unhealthy thing to start with and can cause serious damage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With such diets, you will lose a lot of &lt;b&gt; muscle&lt;/b&gt; (while the fat remains), your metabolism will become very slow, so your body will hold to each calorie you eat, and you will lose all healthy nutrients/minerals from your body, and your health will be affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you want to lose weight, you have to understand 3 main facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extremely starving yourself will make you lose muscle, while fat remains. So, as soon as you stop your &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; diet, you will eat twice what you used to eat before, and add new layers of fat on top of the ones you had = &amp;quot;you will gain fat&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Losing fat is a process that &lt;b&gt;requires&lt;/b&gt; time, all &lt;b&gt; lose fat in a very short time &lt;/b&gt; diets are bogus and fake. In order to lose fat, you have first to adapt your mind to the fact that it is a process requiring time and effort (but can be done for sure), and healthy eating habits which you &lt;b&gt; must&lt;/b&gt; make it a &lt;b&gt; lifestyle&lt;/b&gt;. If you just think you can lose weight and then go back to bad quality food eating habits, you will re-start from zero and even more you will gain more weight and you will lose hope.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to combine healthy eating (good quality foods with a variety to get all nutrient your body needs, and low calories) with exercise. You put yourself into a calorie deficit through these, but while giving your body all the nutrients it needs to stay alive and be able to spend your day full of energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several formulas to calculate your daily caloric needs (like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;harris benedict equation&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use this formula, eat &lt;b&gt;good quality&lt;/b&gt; foods (whole wheat, oats, protein, fish oil, omega 3,etc.. do some research about them) and do some strength training along with some cardio (3-4 times a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, let's say the formula gave you: 3000 calories per day. This is the amount of calories your body needs at rest (remember it might not be 100% accurate for you, you might need a bit less / more, you will see that through your progress). In order to lose 1 pound of fat per week, you need to have a deficit of &lt;b&gt;3500 calories&lt;/b&gt; per week =&amp;gt; 500 calories deficit per day. So, you can have this deficit either by eating less than 3000 or by burning calories from exercise, or BOTH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, say you eat 2900 calories per day =&amp;gt; deficit 100 calories.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then you burn 400 calories from exercise per day =&amp;gt; deficit 400 calories&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You now have a deficit of 500 calories per day , i.e. 3500 per week, so 1 pound of fat lost.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is in general how it works. You will adjust your exercise level / eating habits through your progress to adapt to your accurate body genetics and requirements.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never believe a notice that will tell you you will get ripped in a week, all weight loss routines require time, but at the end not only you would have lost weight but also you have now a habit of staying healthy, eating healthy and exercising to boost your energy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T09:05:36.230" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6012" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6013" CreationDate="2012-04-04T00:28:03.573" Score="0" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;The accepted theory (I think) is that quick-twich (white) muscle is responsible for sprinting and weight lifting and slow-switch (red) muscle is for endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that too much endurance exercise results in muscle loss. Are big muscles always piles of the quick-twitch muscle or should we somehow work out that other muscle type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T04:40:19.670" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T04:40:19.670" Title="different muscle fiber types relation to size/strength" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6012" CreationDate="2012-04-04T00:46:00.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually we have some fairly massive muscles such as our abs, traps, and calves which are made up mostly of slow twitch fibers. Now with that established i think i can answer your question. You asked if big muscles are always piles of fast twitch fibers. Well most muscles are, but like i mentioned those 3 muscle groups are not. Now the way that we train these muscles is by doing a lot more reps. For instance the abs and calves are muscles which are usually trained to failure, the reason being is that in order to make them bigger or stronger we must go after the slow twitch fibers which require more reps. The traps too are muscles which require more reps, meaning if say somebody usually does only 1 to 5 reps per set, like in a case where he is training for strength, he will still do somewhere close to 15 reps for his traps. So what im saying is, yes we do workout those muscles differently, we do more reps. By doing this we will not lose muscle as you pointed out in your question because that only happens if your endurance training, but if the muscles is made up mostly of slow twitch fibers then doing more reps is not endurance training .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T00:46:00.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6006" CreationDate="2012-04-04T01:11:16.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barbell deadlifts require different form than dumbbell deadlifts, because the bar has to pass in front of your knees as it rises. Dumbbell deadlifts allow the knees to stay farther forward, allowing the use of more leg muscle and less back muscle than the barbell. The dynamics are similar to lifting with a hex bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell handles are usually closer to the ground than a barbell (~4&quot; vs ~8&quot;). This means that you would have to squat down farther for your hands to reach them. Unless you have very high hamstring flexibility, this will cause your pelvis to tilt forward at the bottom and curve the lower back. If the load is heavy (near or above your body weight) you should probably elevate them by placing on a stack of books or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that lifting dumbbells is simpler than lifting a barbell. Position your feet about shoulder width apart, place the dumbbells at the outsides of your feet (and possibly elevated 4&quot; above ground level), squat down with your arms straight, grip the bars, stick out your butt and lift chest(and try to keep that lower back curve throughout the lift). Take and hold a deep breath to tense the core, and as the weights come off the ground the weight will hang from your arms and shoulders causing a tendency to hunch forward; you resist this -- keeping the chest up -- to avoid injury to the lower back. Stand up to full extension, pause, and reverse the motion till the weights are on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="362" LastEditDate="2012-04-04T17:24:32.807" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T17:24:32.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6022" CreationDate="2012-04-04T09:12:32.727" Score="9" ViewCount="18002" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware of the other question on feeling the burn, but that question seems to be about feeling the burn after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, should I feel the burn &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt;  the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment when I do my reps, I feel..almost nothing. I'm lifting a 15 pound dumbbell and it's heavy, but I don't feel any sort of burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an indication I should try a heavier weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T22:31:31.567" Title="Should I &quot;feel the burn&quot; during a workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-04T10:55:16.973" Score="6" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking at different types of conditioning to boost my long-distance running speed and I've heard about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_Bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bulgarian Bag&lt;/a&gt; which aims to increase cardiovascular and muscular endurance while also adding to general conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone ever used one of these bags for a prolonged length of time and if so, would they recommend using them for conditioning work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-27T14:42:43.723" LastActivityDate="2012-04-27T15:13:38.847" Title="Would a Bulgarian Bag help my conditioning or long-distance running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6019" CreationDate="2012-04-04T15:25:56.043" Score="10" ViewCount="3510" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I see instructional videos on standard deadlifts, the lifter is using either mixed grip or overhand grip; however they never go on to differentiate why they are using that particular grip or the pros/cons that come with each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the primary difference in mixed grip vs overhand? Are there pros/cons to each grip? Is one particularly better than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="20490" LastEditDate="2020-06-13T16:28:15.320" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T16:28:15.320" Title="What is the primary difference between mixed grip and overhand grip for deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6017" CreationDate="2012-04-04T15:41:35.417" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A mixed grip is stronger and allows for heavier weight to be held. This is generally the &quot;default&quot; grip for deadlifts and prevents grip from being the limiting factor in terms of how much weight can be lifted. (Note that it is a good idea to switch the mixed grip for even development.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An overhand grip is weaker overall, but can be used to strengthen your grip assembly and for similar &quot;tuning&quot; work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T15:41:35.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6017" CreationDate="2012-04-04T15:58:20.997" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Double OverHand (DOH) grip is most commonly taught to beginners for a couple reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It feels more natural&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It avoids the feeling of twisting inherent in mixed grip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's more important to start deadlifting that listening to complaints about how weird it feels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there is a limit to how much you can hold that way.  You can improve your grip using plate holds, or even simply holding your last rep for 30s at the end.  But there will still come a time when you can't use DOH any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that end, you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_grip&quot;&gt;hook grip&lt;/a&gt; and mixed grip as options to move to.  Hook grip is stronger than DOH, and it retains the benefits of DOH symmetry.  The downsides are you are squeezing your thumb hard, and if you have small hands and a thick bar you just may not be able to do it.  Some people are able to deadlift 800lbs with hook grip, but they are exceptions to the rule.  Hook grip is most commonly used in Olympic style weightlifting (snatches and the clean &amp;amp; jerk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mixed grip is the strongest grip we have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As the bar rolls down one hand, it rolls up the other--meaning you can lift heavier things more easily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It does cause the feeling of twisting, and to some extent it does cause that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not flex your arms at all during the deadlift.  This is even more important on the suppinated hand (hand facing away from you).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You do need to switch which hand is suppinated to ensure even training, unlike the other options.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not so much a question of either/or, as much as it is when you graduate from one to the other.  Many lifters agree that using DOH as long as you possibly can is best.  However, when you can't get the bar to budge at all, simply switching to a stronger grip may be all you need to get the bar off the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T15:58:20.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6015" CreationDate="2012-04-04T16:02:35.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you get used to exercise, your body gets adapted to that level of work.  For that reason, &quot;feeling the burn&quot; is a remarkably inaccurate way of deciding when to increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is getting strong--increase when you can handle the weight.  Add 5 lbs every time until you can't make all your reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is getting larger--increase the reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T16:02:35.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5988" CreationDate="2012-04-04T16:17:08.270" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I support both of the other answers given so far, but given your clarifications, I'll add an answer of my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the question &quot;Is your current strength building workout good to start off with&quot;, the answer is no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say that your goal is strength training and to not get huge muscles. Luckily, you can do this. The rep range that you need to work out in to get strong is 3-5 reps at relatively high weight. The rep range that you need to work out in to get big muscles is in the 10-15 rep range. Your current workout plan will give you big muscles and not much strength, especially since you're only working out your biceps, a relatively unimportant muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done a program for three months (much like the one Berin suggests) focusing on squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead press. In those three months, I've gained 15-20lbs of weight, increased my strength in these lifts 25-80%, depending on the lift. And, my muscles are not noticeably larger at all. People wouldn't notice that I've been lifting. I am a lot stronger, though. You can do the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if all you have is dumbbells, at least focus on the lifts that matter for strength. Overhead press. Bench press. Squats (look at the goblet version). A deadlift-like thing. I'd also suggest investing in a chin-up bar. They're super cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press will strengthen your entire shoulder musculature and triceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press will strengthen your chest, shoulders, and triceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats will strengthen your lower back, abs, glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts will do the same as squats, but you can do them with heavier weight, and they focus more on the back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups will strengthen your upper back and biceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what functional strength training is about. It's not about size. It's not about biceps (although they'll get stronger). It's about multi-joint, multi-muscle movements that allow you to move a lot of weight, and move more weight the next time. Doing a full body routine like this will also reduce your body fat, eventually showing off your abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've mentioned arm wrestling a few times... I guarantee you if you just do your current workout, you will not be winning arm wrestles. You will need chest strength. You will need shoulder strength. You will need upper back strength. To avoid injury, you will need strong supporting musculature in the shoulders, and strong ligaments and tendons. You will need a strong lower back and abs so that your core can be a stable base for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be true for almost anything that you need strength for. It will not come down to a single muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T16:17:08.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6015" CreationDate="2012-04-04T16:38:34.157" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Feeling a burn&quot; during a workout just means that you're working endurance instead of strength or power. From my layman's understanding, which may be wrong, it's because &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm&quot;&gt;you're no longer producing force anaerobically&lt;/a&gt;. Notice that you'll rarely experience that sensation on the first few reps, which is when (if you're using a challenging weight) you're doing the work of stimulating strength gains. So focus on lifting heavier weights only a few times, instead of lifting lighter weights enough times to feel a burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is strength, then gauge the effectiveness of your workouts by measuring strength, not by how much &quot;burn&quot; you feel. Can you lift a heavier weight this workout than last workout? Great, you're stronger, forget the burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T16:38:34.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6015" CreationDate="2012-04-04T19:40:10.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burn sensation in muscles is general indicator, that you've been working our beyond your Anaerobic Threshold for some time. It means, that your body can't eliminate the exertion of lactic acid. It usually happens with runners, cyclist, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The anaerobic threshold (AT), the point at which lactic acid starts to&#xA;  accumulates in the muscles, is considered to be somewhere between 85%&#xA;  and 90% of your maximum heart rate. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But why pain or burn is felt ? It's because of the acidity of lactic acid, which is made of (non-acidic) lactate and (acidic) hydrogen ions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The breakdown of glucose or glycogen produces lactate and hydrogen&#xA;  ions (H+) - for each lactate molecule, one hydrogen ion is formed. The&#xA;  presence of hydrogen ions, not lactate, makes the muscle acidic that&#xA;  will eventually halt muscle function. As hydrogen ion concentrations&#xA;  increase the blood and muscle become acidic. This acidic environment&#xA;  will slow down enzyme activity and ultimately the breakdown of glucose&#xA;  itself. Acidic muscles will aggravate associated nerve endings causing&#xA;  pain and increase irritation of the central nervous system. The&#xA;  athlete may become disorientated and feel nauseous &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/lactic.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very high levels of H+ can damage cells, so, long term training beyond the anaerobic threshold is not an good idea :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burn sensation can be used as indicator in endurance trainings or during high performance interval training -- but anyway, it means that you've reached you limit and you need to lower the intensity to 40-50% to eliminate the extra acid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't specified your goal, but I assume that it's strength or common fitness. So, lower the intensity when you feel that your muscles are burning and do not use it as indicator in strength training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastEditorUserId="3272" LastEditDate="2012-04-06T12:49:08.217" LastActivityDate="2012-04-06T12:49:08.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6004" CreationDate="2012-04-04T20:30:25.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/14/bird-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;bird dogs&quot;&gt;bird-dogs&lt;/a&gt; without lifting your arms.  From the quadruped position, lift one leg straight back so it is parallel to the floor.  Lower it back to the ground.  Repeat with the other leg.  For maximum results, place a dowel rod on across your lower back and do the exercises without the dowel falling off.  Focuses on activating glutes without rotating hips.  Can do 100 of these a day as this is neuromuscular (activating) and produces best results with maximum volume.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=8&amp;amp;ved=0CFwQtwIwBw&amp;amp;url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVPvkKWhsPY&amp;amp;ei=1658T5u5IYSugQfwk_SPDA&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNELE-WnviCQLQDMnRjROr9xovxD8Q&amp;amp;sig2=V7-0WAnVV2EvgepVKAcJfQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;single legged bridges&quot;&gt;1 legged bridges&lt;/a&gt; but with your knee held to your chest.  Lay on your back in a situp position.  Pull one knee to your chest and hold it tightly in place.  Squeeze your glutes (not hamstrings) and lift up into a bridge position so shoulder to knee is a straight line.  Hold for 3 seconds. Lower.  Repeat.  This is a strengthening and activating exercise but it can cause strain on the lower back and hamstrings if not done correctly.  Start with 1 set of 5 to each side.  Increase up to 3 sets a day once you are ready.  Once you can handle 3 sets a day, increase the reps by 5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For stretches, do the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CCwQtwIwAA&amp;amp;url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6mJ0VjK7Y&amp;amp;ei=hq98T57cL8nY2QX4xMjMDA&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNFzughnA28B5MrikU2x2kddhwRseg&amp;amp;sig2=qLulli8Gi_00lAqzmBNiTQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;newspaper stretch&lt;/a&gt;.  Hold for 3 minutes per side in order to lengthen the muscles.  30 seconds will make you feel better but more time is needed to actually lengthen the tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-04-04T20:30:25.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6352" CreationDate="2012-04-05T17:19:54.117" Score="0" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training 4 days a week to gain weight; some mass. But i'm also running 3 days a week to prepare for a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will I be able to gain some weight while running. I eat a lot of calories, carbs ... well everything that's good to put on some mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T17:44:29.740" Title="Is it possible to gain weight while training for marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="297" CreationDate="2012-04-05T17:32:01.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as important as grip strength is wrist strength. In the real world, weights move and shift and flop around. You've got the equipment to do a great wrist exercise. Hold a weight plate (probably 10lb) with four fingers extended underneath and thumb on top. Sit down with elbow on knee, let the plate hang down to vertical, then flex your wrist to lift it to horizontal. Repeat etc. When that's too easy, duct tape the 5lb onto it, or buy bigger weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gripfaq.com/Wrist_Strength_Exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.gripfaq.com/Wrist_Strength_Exercises/&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grapplearts.com/Grip-Strength-Training.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.grapplearts.com/Grip-Strength-Training.php&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-04-05T17:32:01.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6032" CreationDate="2012-04-05T20:02:31.113" Score="3" ViewCount="5160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started doing HIIT with weights and with that have done lots of reading and research.  One thing I've read of course is with HIIT you need to increase intensity.  When lifting weights should I be heading into the Anaerobic Zone which is 80%-90% your max heart rate and should I attempt to keep my heart rate within that zone for the duration of the work-out.   I'm aware that 15-20 minutes is the maximum amount of time I can stay in the zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if I do take a rest, do I wait for my heart to reach a lower zone before going back in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't really much much information on this and need some kind of guide for intensity to measure against.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/szSJg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2012-04-05T20:08:20.373" LastActivityDate="2013-02-19T17:43:25.550" Title="Max Heart Rate for HIIT with weights" Tags="&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2611" CreationDate="2012-04-05T20:13:14.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried to take the supplement earlier, maybe I wasn't taking it at least 30 minutes before the workout. Started having gas before going to the gym. Had a wicked workout, and then after, nothing. So that may have solved the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2012-04-05T20:13:14.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6029" CreationDate="2012-04-06T00:09:11.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe there are other ways to do it, but when I do high intensity workouts, I work as hard as I can. I don't think there is any point to worrying about heart rate or being in some particular &quot;zone.&quot; As for rest, only if you are so tired that you can't complete the next rep, take a very short rest (e.g., 2-3 breaths) and get back after it. If you rest longer, you lose the intensity and are doing a different kind of workout -- try lower weights or easier exercises if you can't complete the workout without resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-04-06T00:09:11.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6029" CreationDate="2012-04-06T05:13:01.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HIIT&lt;/strong&gt; stands for &lt;strong&gt;High Intensity Interval Training&lt;/strong&gt;.  The &quot;interval&quot; portion suggests short duration intervals followed by rest intervals.  The &quot;High Intensity&quot; portion does suggest that you give a maximal effort during that short interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for this technique to be effective you must include the short rest intervals to allow for recovery so that you can put forth a maximal effort during the next high intensity interval.  Generally your heart rate would increase to 80% to 85% or more during the intense phase and drop down to 60% to 70% during the recovery phase although this can vary.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A HIIT example is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Interval-Exercise-Training.html#Tabata-Protocol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tabata Protocol&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; where your exercise maximally for 20 seconds followed by a 10 second rest.  You repeat this cycle 7-8 times.  There are other protocols such as 60 seconds of intensity with 30 seconds of rest or 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.  You can workout which fits into your routine or which you feel gives you the best workout.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/TT-Interval-Training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Craig Ballantyne&lt;/a&gt; gives some interval training options. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to include a good warm up and cool down when doing HIIT.  Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2012-04-06T10:22:03.807" LastActivityDate="2012-04-06T10:22:03.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6006" CreationDate="2012-04-06T15:00:53.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try the Suitcase Deadlift. It is performed like a normal deadlift except you are holding only one dumbbell at your side. This exercise gives you the added benefit of training core anti-rotation. Holding only one dumbbell forces you to brace your core so your upper body won't tip and rotate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instructional link and video: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/exercises-you-should-be-doing-suitcase-deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/exercises-you-should-be-doing-suitcase-deadlift/&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3274" LastActivityDate="2012-04-06T15:00:53.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6114" CreationDate="2012-04-06T17:06:35.473" Score="17" ViewCount="8248" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to breathe while running long-distance? One can breathe in through the nose only, the mouth only, or both nose and mouth. The same applies to breathing out. Are there studies comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3276" LastActivityDate="2014-09-26T10:19:56.563" Title="Best way to breathe for long-distance running" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2012-04-07T03:15:11.370" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/howtorun/f/breathing.htm&quot;&gt;breathe in through both your nose and mouth and out through your mouth&lt;/a&gt;. you cannot get enough of the needed oxygen only using your nose or mouth by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should allow air to enter through both your mouth and nose when&#xA;  you're running. Your muscles need oxygen to keep moving and your nose&#xA;  simply can't deliver enough. Make sure you're breathing more from your&#xA;  diaphragm, or belly, not from your chest -- that's too shallow. Deep&#xA;  belly breathing allows you to take in more air, which can also help&#xA;  prevent side stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should exhale through your mouth and try to focus on exhaling&#xA;  fully, which will remove more carbon dioxide and also help you inhale&#xA;  more deeply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2012-04-07T03:15:11.370" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-07T15:02:42.557" Score="2" ViewCount="534" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a magnetic exercise bike to try and get extra training in around the family (normally do mountain biking using android app and mapmyride.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a bit confused as to how I can accurately log the workouts.  The bike has various programs on it, which all work well.  My issue is that whether you have it set to the easiest level or hardest it doesn't change the distance covered.  Let me explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can set it to manual for 5 minutes, at the easiest level.  I would pedal at 90rpm steadily, it would give me the watts generated (around 25 I believe from memory).  It would tell me I have gone 2.2KM (for instance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can then do the same but at a much harder level, i.e. 90rpm for 5 minutes.  It would tell me I am doing round 90-100 watts around 4x as much, but the distance would be the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure how to record these training sessions so I can track my progress accurately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2336" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T00:00:05.597" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T00:03:48.003" Title="How should I track workouts on a magnetic exercise bike?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-07T16:55:07.187" Score="7" ViewCount="2167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been struggling with bench recently and have discovered that if my spotter supports the right side of the bar, I'm able to complete the set with considerably greater ease than if I did it on my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads me to believe that my bench progress is being hampered by a difference in strength or muscle development between my left and right sides, possibly caused by an old injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not exactly sure which muscle is the weaker. I've noticed mild pain in my right shoulder but it doesn't seem to be enough to hamper my bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What sorts of exercises can I do to better equalize the strength between my left and right sides?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="381" LastEditorUserId="381" LastEditDate="2012-04-07T17:04:21.090" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T22:43:54.880" Title="What exercises can I do to equalize differences in upper-body strength?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6040" CreationDate="2012-04-07T19:16:21.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instead of a &lt;b&gt;bar&lt;/b&gt;, use &lt;b&gt;dumbbells&lt;/b&gt; which will enforce each side of your body to push on its own (using a bar, the stronger muscles will be helping you and will be pushing more) and helps in isolating muscles &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Introduce body weight exercises to your routine, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt;, pullups,pushups . These exercises develop overall muscle fibers and strength and will add more strength to your body than regular weight lifting&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For your shoulder pain, always warm up : personally i do 3-4 minutes of jump rope since not only its warms the body, it exercise all body muscles and specially the shoulders if done right ( it will warmup the shoulder and minimize the pain)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-04-07T19:16:21.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6044" CreationDate="2012-04-07T19:42:22.143" Score="4" ViewCount="1437" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please rate and tell me if im doing something wrong or not efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a full time job and a child so my time is VERY limited. I also have next to no money to buy weights or gym membership. I also like the idea of doing bodyweight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only things I own are a chin up bar, a 8kg kettlebell and a 16kg kettlebell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I was going to do was a full body work out before work every morning on Monday, Wednesday &amp;amp; Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pre workout snack would be a glass of water and a banana with peanut butter on wholegrain toast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout will consist of building up to 6 sets of 8 chin ups, press ups, sit ups and squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I can finish 6 full sets of these excercises I will add my 8kg weight to each excercises and build up to that again then add my 16kg and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know what you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3280" LastActivityDate="2012-04-08T22:46:02.477" Title="Will doing this workout make me ripped?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6040" CreationDate="2012-04-07T21:32:11.397" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spotters shouldn't be used to help you complete sets or fix form. They should be used to help you rack the bar once you can't push it up anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter the cause of the apparent strength difference (previous injury, increasing weight too eagerly, too much help from spotters), the solution is probably the same... a small deload to fix your strength imbalance/form and then move back up as your strength gains allow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find the highest weight at which you can do the bench press with proper form (ie. full range of motion down to the chest, even bar, no spotter support) for 3 sets of 5. Start at that weight for one workout. Increase by 5lbs for the next workout. If you can't maintain form, stay at that weight until you sort things out. Move up only when you can push 3 sets of 5 reps with good form. You've probably just jumped ahead a bit too quickly, thus highlighting strength differences that would have gotten sorted out if you had moved up more slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do that and still find that you're stalling, assistance exercises that can improve shoulder strength and the bench press are the overhead press, chin-ups, pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-07T21:32:11.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6042" CreationDate="2012-04-07T21:46:21.600" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your time constraints and available equipment, this looks like a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're interested in full-body workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You've scheduled a rest day between each workout, with 2 at the end of the week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're including nutrition in your plan (although what you eat right before the workout is much less important than how you eat throughout the day and on your rest days... your muscles grow when they're resting, not when you're working out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some points for improvement...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in strength gains, work in the 3 sets of 5 reps range. However that will be hard to do with the kettlebells available to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chins, just do 3 sets, each until failure. So, one workout might look like: 5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps. The next workout, you will hopefully be able to do more: 6 reps, 4 reps, 4 reps... etc. This is a good progression until you are doing more than 15 reps. Then you should find a way to do weighted chin-ups. This advice is based on material from Mark Rippetoe's &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt; program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how to best use kettlebells for a good full-body workout, I'll leave that to somebody else to answer, but you'll likely want do something similar to the squat, overhead press, and bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-07T21:46:21.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6049" CreationDate="2012-04-08T06:03:27.197" Score="4" ViewCount="7554" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &quot;any exercise is better than no exercise&quot; perspective, I'd imagine that playing drums at high tempo would be considered effective - it certainly can work up a sweat and obviously must burn more calories than just sitting on the couch, but it's hard to say how effective it actually is without hard numbers. Are there any reliable sources which can provide MET or actual calorie burn data by which we could compare drumming with other exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, while it's obviously physically taxing beyond a certain level of skill, does drumming actually raise the heart rate enough to really count as cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3282" LastActivityDate="2019-10-29T18:25:30.663" Title="Is vigorous drumming an effective exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6047" CreationDate="2012-04-08T08:36:17.550" Score="4" ViewCount="11521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hardly have any time at all, so I'm considering doing push ups, pull ups, sit ups and interval training every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Then once I can do a certain amount of each I will either add weight to the exercise or try a harder variation.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this routine effective to reach my goal of a getting ripped?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3280" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T16:51:52.363" LastActivityDate="2013-04-01T19:54:10.663" Title="Will push ups, pull ups, sit ups and interval training get me ripped?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6046" CreationDate="2012-04-08T12:45:09.427" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: Yes, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/plp_the_60day_challenge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The 60-Day Challenge&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will get you to a base level of strength, and help burn fat – assuming you don't overcompensate with the amount of food you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would look into body weight exercises to help the rest of your body.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistols&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glute-ham raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get strong enough you can combine the pullups and dips into a &lt;a href=&quot;http://beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/53&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle up&lt;/a&gt;. (which can also be performed with a straight bar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body weight exercises are compound exercises, which means they exercise a group of related muscles together.  That helps build strength.  Having started incorporating more body weight exercises I'm gaining even more respect for them.  However, you do want to keep major muscle groups involved:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core (abs and back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs (both front and back: pistols)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back (pullups and muscleups, reverse rows, back extensions)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front (pushups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your arms will get more than enough attention from all of these exercises, so you really don't have to do anything special for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T16:54:33.277" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T16:54:33.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-08T13:41:06.767" Score="5" ViewCount="2249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have allergies towards egg whites and meat. I cannot eat chicken, beef, or pork. Others meats though like quail, fish are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What products can I substitute for eggs and meat? I would like to get my body toned and muscular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2832" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-12T16:59:56.150" LastActivityDate="2012-04-12T16:59:56.150" Title="Obtaining protein from alternative non-meat sources for bodybuilding " Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2012-04-08T17:23:13.933" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Upon further research I stumbled upon &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this gem&lt;/a&gt; from Arizona State University, which catalogs the MET values of various activities. Under the &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/music-playing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Music Playing&lt;/a&gt; category, they list &quot;drums, sitting&quot; as 3.8 METs and &quot;drumming (e.g., bongo, conga, benbe), moderate, sitting&quot; as 3.0 METs, so it seems like the that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156914&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forum post&lt;/a&gt; claiming ~498 kcal/hr for a 250lb male isn't too far off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I'd still love to see data from a heart rate monitor during play. The above establishes that drumming (even on plastic toy drums) is definitely exercise, but is it a viable form of cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7518888.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this BBC article&lt;/a&gt; in which professional drummer Clem Burke was hooked up to equipment to measure heart rate, oxygen uptake and lactic acid production. It was found that during a performance his heart rate averaged 140-150 BPM with peaks up to 190 BPM, comparable to top athletes. Not only does this show that expert-level drumming can be effective cardio, but there's even a dedicated &quot;drumming laboratory&quot; being built at the University of Glouchestershire to continue the study.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3282" LastEditorUserId="3282" LastEditDate="2012-04-09T20:25:01.960" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T20:25:01.960" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6072" CreationDate="2012-04-08T18:31:51.517" Score="5" ViewCount="2831" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for about two years now, on and off, and recently I have had a mild - but annoying - pain behind my right knee.  I went to an orthopedist, who gave me a cortizone shot, but told me it was most likely a tendonitis.  Since then, I've determined that the tendon which runs behind my leg - on the outside - is unbelievably tight on the right leg (I determined this by comparing with my left leg).  When I say &quot;unbelievably tight&quot;, I mean to the point that a nurse thought it was initially a bone.  Now I am still able to run, but that nagging pain is always there, whether I run or not.  What can I do to loosen this tendon? I mean in terms of stretches, exercises, even medicinal treatments.  Do I need to see a doctor, or is this mild enough to take care of on my own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any help.  Also, I don't know the exact name of the tendon, but from various pictures on Google, I would guess it's the hamstring tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2471" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T01:34:09.810" Title="Tightness in tendon - what can I do to fix it?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6051" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-08T18:45:42.840" Score="2" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few years ago I joined a gym to lose weight. As a result I lost 1 and a half stones, but it is now coming back to haunt me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to get back into shape all over physically. Before using weights, cross trainer or a workout DVD, I do the same stretches they showed me for 25-30 seconds after I have worked out and warm up for 5 mins beforehand, yet I still have aching muscles for days. Why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3284" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-09T14:20:34.707" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T23:44:44.967" Title="Why do I have sore achy Muscles for Days?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6053" CreationDate="2012-04-08T21:31:26.487" Score="15" ViewCount="815" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since muscles grow when they are resting, has anyone got any tips, supplements or anything at all that will help my muscles grow more effectively during resting period?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3280" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-01T01:59:38.883" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T13:22:23.227" Title="Any way to help muscles grow during rest, besides food (protein etc.)?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6052" CreationDate="2012-04-08T21:40:13.877" Score="12" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Overview&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your supplements are called &lt;strong&gt;copious sleep&lt;/strong&gt;, hydration (with &lt;strong&gt;milk&lt;/strong&gt; if it's part of your diet, &lt;strong&gt;water&lt;/strong&gt; if not), and food. You know--&lt;strong&gt;eggs, vegetables, olive oil, meat, butter, greens, starches&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olympic lifting coach Greg Everett recommends walking, massage, self-myofascial release, and hot baths on rest days as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond those, supplements are good primarily to make your wallet lighter, and thus easier to carry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Details&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleeping over 10 hours a night improved athletic performance. To quote &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3119836/?tool=pubmed&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mah, Mah, Kezirian and Dement&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Optimal sleep is likely beneficial in reaching peak athletic performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a very light workout is useful during a recovery day, but one's capacity for active rest intensity varies person-to-person, again according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Greg Everett&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ultimately, you'll have to experiment to some degree to see what you can and can't tolerate. You may be able to get away with more than someone else, but most people need to keep their rest days super low intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-03T15:39:41.787" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T15:39:41.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6042" CreationDate="2012-04-08T22:46:02.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a kettlebell. &lt;strong&gt;For god's sake, swing it!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people call the kettlebell swing the king of exercises, and not without reason. When it comes to packing a good training for almost your whole posterior chain (interested in a strong back and buttocks of steel?) and some high-intensity cardio into a short time-frame, the kettlebell swing is without equal. Since your current workout kind of neglects your posterior chain, swings would make an excellent addition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word of caution: The kettlbell swing, as most free weight exercises, requires proper form to be safe. Specifically, you need to keep your back straight. You can't strengthen the back without, well, without using it. While incorrectly performed swings could hurt your back, the benefits of proper swings for the back far outweigh the risks. Also, with just 16Kg you have some margin for error. You're not deadlifting 400 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instructions are abundant on youtube.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kettlebell+swing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kettlebell+swing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other points:&#xA;Other kettlebell exercises for the minimalist who is short on time are the clean&amp;amp;press, snatches and turkish get-ups. This combination was introduced by Pavel in his book Enter the Kettlebell (ETK). Particularly the clean&amp;amp;press is an excellent full body workout. Snatches and get-ups require a little more time to learn, but are well worth it if you want to make good use of your kettlebells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you combine press-ups and overhead presses in the same workout, you will have to reduce intensity, as there is quite a bit of overlap in the muscles they use. You could do them on different days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for getting ripped, that requires you to get your body-fat pretty low, and that is mostly down to nutrition. Your pre-workout snack isn't really a great start, although you might get away with it if you have good genes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need that much muscle to be ripped, if you push yourself a little (but not too much) the described workout should easily cover that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you compress rest periods between exercises, you can some pretty intense cardio out of a workout like this. The other technique is to first do everything else, and then finish a workout with a few minutes kettlebell-swings (or snatches), as these are done at a relatively hign number of repetitions and are really good cardio on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2012-04-08T22:46:02.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6057" CreationDate="2012-04-09T02:24:49.173" Score="3" ViewCount="1550" Body="&lt;p&gt;The topic of strength training and nutrition (with respect to fitness) is undeniably complex. As a result of the topic's complexity, there have been many bad books and resources produced over the years. This problem is further compounded by the fact that strength training and fitness is a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; potential market, and subsequently is littered with all sorts of 'get-fit-quick' type scams and misinformation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a newcomer to the field of strength training, it has been quite difficult for me to assimilate all of the information out there, and even more difficult for me to weed through all of the bad and contradictory information that is out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the definitive books and resources on strength-training / nutrition that a person should read if they want to gain a more fundamental understanding of the subject?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T04:16:32.393" Title="Books for learning about strength training and nutrition?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6055" CreationDate="2012-04-09T02:38:11.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;100% true ! there is a lot of contradicting info and as u said 'get-fit-quick' type scams and misinformation. I could help you out with the BEST nutrition book:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;nutrition's&lt;/b&gt; &lt;b&gt;best&lt;/b&gt; book  that has scientific information, is written by actual doctors and that is NOT trying to sell you stuff or make you consume more is &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1578261074&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The navy seal nutrition guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;.&#xA;Read this book from A to Z and u'll learn the &lt;b&gt;real stuff&lt;/b&gt; (It actually makes sense that this book is professional and accurate, since it was written in the 1990's and it targeted military special forces, it wasn't aiming at reaching the consumer market)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for strength training, i am not sure what level of strength training your aiming at, &lt;b&gt;but&lt;/b&gt; i recommend mark lauren's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marklauren.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You are your own gym&lt;/a&gt; as a bodyweight strength training bible, it is very well written , has lot of good info, and has around 101 variation of bodyweight training. I heard good feedback about a book called  &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805413&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; but i didn't personally read it, but you might check it out and see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2012-04-09T02:43:35.873" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T02:43:35.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6055" CreationDate="2012-04-09T02:38:28.527" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Books about Strength Training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training (3rd Edition). Mark Rippetoe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training (2nd Edition). Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Books about nutrition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T02:38:28.527" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2012-04-09T02:38:28.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6070" CreationDate="2012-04-09T03:43:54.410" Score="11" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out with a mixture of strength training and cardiovascular exercise (and some stretching), and wanted &lt;strong&gt;to better assess to what degree the strength training is worth the time and effort.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My exercise goals goals, in order of importance (1 is most important):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To live long and with a high quality of life (includes cognitive benefits, ability to use my body effectively long term, avoiding medical problems, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To feel healthy and have better energy, mood, thinking, body comfort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To be able to eat closer to the amount I enjoy without gaining excess fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To have a reasonably good male physique. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say that (1) is more than 50% of my motivation--so I clearly want to the cardiovascular component.  Given these priorities, is strength training (pull ups, bench press, preacher curls, tricep push-downs, mostly) really worth the extra time and effort, since they might mostly contribute a little to (3) and mostly to (4)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or would people state that strength training is important for (1) and (2) as well, and therefore are worth the extra perhaps 30-40 min in each gym session?  Or, would they say that they mainly target (3) and (4), but really, it's not that much time for the benefits to (3) and (4) and therefore it really is worth it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T07:21:02.460" Title="The value of strength training vs. the time/effort it takes" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6060" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7457" CreationDate="2012-04-09T11:19:19.860" Score="2" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to train high intensity interval in running and would like to buy a pulsometer that can export later pulse recording to the computer (preferably in mac os x), do you know any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3287" LastActivityDate="2012-07-27T13:05:08.043" Title="Pulsometer that can export pulse vs time information" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6060" CreationDate="2012-04-09T11:30:06.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would check out the Polar line of Heart Rate monitors.  They have been in the business for longer than most.  There are several higher end models with computer interfaces that can download data. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing that, many of the new running watches that have GPS allow computer connections to download and some of them now come with HRM straps, so I imagine it should be possible.  (Like the Garmin Forerunner series).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some really cool watch technology out there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T11:30:06.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2012-04-09T12:20:02.060" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to improve your quality of life along with keeping the time for training down, then you want to focus on &lt;em&gt;compound&lt;/em&gt; movements rather than &lt;em&gt;isolation&lt;/em&gt; movements.  Compound movements work entire muscle groups together in the proportions that they are meant to work.  They are more effective to build strength.  Isolation movements are more for bodybuilding or rehab.  Yes, there is a reason to do isolation outside of trying to shape your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good program will have the following components:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength (low rep/high weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy (high rep/low weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, all of that can be done training 3-4 days a week for about an hour a day.  The key is to have a base of strength built around the following four compound exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You only need to add about 2 extra assistance exercises to that for your hypertrophy portion, and then work in your conditioning and mobility work.  The lifting portion can be completed in 30-45 minutes.  If you use some form of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), the conditioning portion will take no more than 15 minutes.  The rest is stretching and mobility work.  You may want to check out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&quot;&gt;Wendler 531&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or same program &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2011/09/531-for-a-beginner/&quot;&gt;adapted for beginners&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several other programs that will help you get strong.  However, this is the best one I've seen for long term health and improvement.  Your leanness has everything to do with how you eat.  I can say after a year of lifting you can tell a difference.  That applies in both performance and in physique, even though I never trained for physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T12:20:02.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-09T13:32:27.810" Score="1" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running a lot for 2 months, about 42 mins per session, 5 days per week. Recently, I have been feeling pain in my left knee sometimes. I probably should stop running now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advices about how to rehab/recover my knee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2103" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-08T17:09:03.247" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T21:03:05.923" Title="What can I do to rehabilitate my knee pain from running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6071" CreationDate="2012-04-09T14:33:00.827" Score="0" ViewCount="4498" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play golf from time to time and I've found recently that I get some pain in my fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm right handed and the pain normally starts in the joints in the fingers of my left hand and eventually spread to my right hand as well. This was more noticeable to me today as I was hitting balls at a driving range and so hitting balls more frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can do to avoid this pain? Am I gripping to hard - I do have a fairly fast swing? Or is this possibly just early signs or arthritis? I am in my twenties, but have a history of this in my family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3165" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T20:50:07.820" Title="Pain in fingers when playing golf" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6069" CreationDate="2012-04-09T16:02:09.633" Score="0" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;In one of there podcasts they said to stay away from olive oil which has a lot of poly and mono saturates and have saturated fats in its place? Please can someone explain because it's gone against everything I've heard before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3280" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T18:02:21.897" Title="I thought saturated fat was bad, workoutmaster.com says otherwise?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6051" CreationDate="2012-04-09T16:11:59.200" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are likely experiencing is &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;delayed onset muscles soreness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (DOMS). If the muscles are sore when you push on them with your fingers, or when you stretch them out, then all the more likely this is DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOMS is caused by the damage to the muscle during &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Eccentric_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eccentric contraction&lt;/a&gt;. (Don't worry, the body recovers from this damage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worse after the first few workouts after having not worked out in a while. Even a 2 week break can lead to DOMS after the first workout when you return. The pain from DOMS can last for approximately one week. Your muscles will adapt so that DOMS is much less of an issue after subsequent workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article mentions that exercise while experiencing DOMS can help alleviate the pain, and I can support this. When my muscles are sore from lifting, the soreness goes away when I play ultimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as your range of motion and flexibility isn't compromised, and it's really DOMS that you're experiencing and not a muscle strain, it should be fine to do your workout activity as scheduled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T23:44:44.967" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T23:44:44.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6066" CreationDate="2012-04-09T16:39:42.587" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bottom line with many of these recommendations is that they are based on &lt;em&gt;observational&lt;/em&gt; studies.  Observational studies are the precursors to performing a clinical study.  A clinical study is what is used to determine the difference between &lt;em&gt;causation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;correlation&lt;/em&gt;.  Causation is when one action directly causes a result.  Correlation is merely when people are observed doing one thing, the result is also present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a heart attack can &lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; death.  People who eat red meat &lt;em&gt;correlate&lt;/em&gt; to having heart attacks.  That does not mean that eating red meat causes heart attacks.  There very well may be other factors at work such as the fact that the red meat eaters are smokers (which the link between smoking and heart attacks has been proven in a clinical study).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is that you are going to have to make judgement calls based on the available information.  Our bodies need fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stress-fat-heart-solutions-for-boomers.com/saturated-fat-benefits.html&quot;&gt;Saturated fats&lt;/a&gt;--provide stroke prevention, bone health, and other benefits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bodyecology.com/articles/6_benefits_monosaturated_fats.php&quot;&gt;Monounsaturated fats&lt;/a&gt;--provide weight loss, reduces risk of breast cancer, and other benefits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/omega-3-000316.htm&quot;&gt;Omega 3s&lt;/a&gt;--an essential fatty acid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.becomehealthynow.com/ebookprint.php?id=1112&quot;&gt;Lipid Theory&lt;/a&gt; is the basis for most people's perception of saturated fats.  The bottom line is that it is founded on bad science.  In short it's like the observational study was converted to law without ever going through clinical trials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking &quot;this is good, that is bad&quot; style articles, look deeper into what about the item in question is bad.  For example, not all &quot;Extra Virgin&quot; Olive Oils pass the bar for the &quot;Extra Virgin&quot; label.  If that's what the concern is, I can understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only advice I can give that is fairly sensible is to stay away from engineered fats like vegetable oil, particularly if they happen to be high in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat&quot;&gt;trans fats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T16:39:42.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6066" CreationDate="2012-04-09T18:02:21.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The whole saturated=bad thing appears to be old junk science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears now that monounsaturated fats are good, saturated fats are good when they come from high quality sources (most don't: grass-fed vs. grain-fed, hormones, antibiotics...), and that polyunsaturated fats are only healthy in small amounts. They tend to oxidize and go rancid. The short shelf-life is kind of a tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, with polyunsaturated fats, there seems to be an imbalance: A Modern diet contains way too much Omega-6 and too little Omega-3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for Olive Oil, these workoutmasters are probably wrong, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats, and while it does contain Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, it is relatively low in them. This makes it the good kind of vegetable oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen anything pointing to monounsaturated fats being bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking beyond the macro, good olive oil contains some mighty beneficial micronutrients like polyphenols.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/defending-olive-oils-reputation/#axzz1rZ9cXL7v&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/defending-olive-oils-reputation/#axzz1rZ9cXL7v&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1230" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T18:02:21.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2012-04-09T20:32:50.867" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.To live long and with a high quality of life (includes cognitive benefits, ability to use my body effectively long term, avoiding medical problems, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extra time for strength training is definitely worth it for all of your goals, but esp. for #1. As we age we lose muscle unless we work at it.  Take a look at the amount of effort it takes for an older person getting up out of a chair, going up stairs or getting up and down off of the floor compared to your ease of movement.  The difference is muscle strength, neuromuscular control, balance and flexibility. Muscle strength provides better function and protection of joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Berin suggests, compound movements can help with the efficiency and functional benefits of your strength training.  You can also combine resistance exercises with HIIT by doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/TT-Fat-Burning-Bodyweight-Circuit-Exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodyweight circuit training&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't overlook the flexibility or balance aspect of your overall training program.  Joseph Weisberg P.T., Ph.D. has a quick 3 minute daily routine that addresses overall flexibility.  You would still need specific stretches for specific problems, but it is a nice routine of compound stretches (ie child's pose, cobra etc.).  And maintaining good &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3892/balance-problems/3897#3897&quot;&gt;balance&lt;/a&gt; is very important to a long, high quality life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T20:32:50.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6065" CreationDate="2012-04-09T20:50:07.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swinging anything repeatedly will force blood toward your hands and cause some amount of swelling.  If your grip is causing any irritation to your finger joints, or you have joint inflammation caused by another condition like arthritis, this could certainly increase the irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't give you any specific advice on your golf grip since I'm a terrible golfer, but when playing racquetball or going to the batting cages, I always find it helpful to use the lightest possible grip when I'm not in the process of swinging, and to take regular breaks to stretch my arms above my head and unclench my hands to reduce the pressure.  And like most sports, it might help to try lowering the intensity and increasing the frequency.  If you haven't played for a few months, resist the urge to go to the driving range and spend an hour hitting the ball as hard as you can (something will hurt).  Buy a smaller basket, lighten up on the swing, and come back later in the week to hit some more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it always hurts no matter what you do, get some real advice on your grip, talk to a doctor, and see if an anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen does anything for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3138" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T20:50:07.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2012-04-09T21:46:28.560" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I would sugget an evaluation by a physical therapist.  They can take a look at your alignment and do a running analysis to see why you have such a muscle imbalance.  Sometimes stretching a tight muscle can help, but sometimes it takes looking at the alignment of the foot, ankle, knee, hip, pelvis and low back to strengthen weak muscles and stretch tight ones.  Here are some links you may find helpful:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For specifics of stretching or releasing a tight hamstring muscle (including foam roller massage, check out this q/a about how to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/576/how-can-i-stretch-hamstrings-in-isolation/3940#3940&quot;&gt;stretch hamstrings&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This q/a has some excellent information about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips&quot;&gt;running without pain&lt;/a&gt;, such as footwear, running surfaces, frequency, form, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm also including a link to the question about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3716/patellofemoral-syndrome-exercises/3736#3736&quot;&gt;patello-femoral pain&lt;/a&gt;.  While this isn't your problem, it includes additonal exercises balance out muscles at the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hip flexors and rotators may also needed to be addressed, so a visit with a therapist should be well worth your time to get exercises that specifically address the cause of your problem.  Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-04-09T21:46:28.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2012-04-10T02:32:38.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not good to generalize on the heart rate of others.  Some people run at 155 bpm, others at 105.  Monitor your own heart rate'when drumming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it works. Drumming certainly seems more fun than a treadmill!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T02:32:38.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2012-04-10T03:07:35.563" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a fallacy that health is best obtained solely through long, slow cardiovascular exercise. Jogging does not hold a patent on health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training gives you health by way of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength, which is useful in all areas of life, including fitness for all manner of tasks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improved bone density, which is particularly important as we age&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improved protective strength in the muscle, ligaments, tendons and other tissue surrounding our joints, which allows us to more safely engage in sports&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An independent and inverse association &quot;with death from all causes and cancer in men, even after adjusting for cardiorespiratory fitness and other potential confounders&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a439.full&quot;&gt;BMJ&lt;/a&gt;; similar study with near-identical conclusions in &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.humankinetics.com/jpah-back-issues/JPAHVolume1Issue1January/MuscularFitnessandAllCauseMortalityProspectiveObservations&quot;&gt;JPAH&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I don't know why you'd fool around preacher curls and tricep push-downs. Get a heavy barbell on your back and &lt;strong&gt;squat&lt;/strong&gt;. Strength training is not bodybuilding. Strength training is not bodybuilding. Strength training is not bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience has been that strength training, due to its straightforwardly productive and measurable nature, has been the most fruitful method of non-martial physical activity in my life. Strength training leads inevitably to mobility, high-intensity metabolic conditioning, and all the other myriad aspects of healthful fitness training. Running just lead me to running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T03:07:35.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6078" CreationDate="2012-04-10T04:31:10.907" Score="2" ViewCount="2473" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without an image to accompany it, I don't really know how to perform this psoas stretch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stand up straight, and move one foot about 10 inches behind the other. Bend both your front and back knees, evenly distributing your weight between your two feet. Make sure your knees do not extend past your feet, and keep your hips reaching forward. Hold for 20 seconds, and switch feet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to Stretch the Psoas Muscle | eHow.com &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_2067121_stretch-psoas-muscle.html#ixzz1rbnJfSA8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ehow.com/how_2067121_stretch-psoas-muscle.html#ixzz1rbnJfSA8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="757" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T09:30:01.570" Title="Could someone explain this psoas stretch?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5838" CreationDate="2012-04-10T05:54:41.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specificity of exercise suggests that if you want to swim better, practice swimming.  Working to streamline your form should help reduce your energy expenditure and improve your stroke efficiency.  Better breathing helps you swim longer.  Conditioning helps your cardio-vascular system perform better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Form:&lt;/strong&gt; This question/answer addresses how to improve your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5171/improving-freestyle-swimming-pace&quot;&gt;freestyle swimming pace&lt;/a&gt;.  Spend some time with a good swim coach to maximize the efficiency of your stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breathing:&lt;/strong&gt;  Breathing is also very important to being able to swim distances well.  This &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2911/bloating-after-swimming&quot;&gt;q/a addresses how to practice breathing correctly&lt;/a&gt;, exhaling while your face is in the water so that you are ready to inhale as soon as you turn your head. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance Training:&lt;/strong&gt;  Resistance tubing is an effective way to concentrically &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.byrn.org/gtips/swimcords.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strengthen the muscles you need for your stroke&lt;/a&gt;, esp. your chest, upper back and rotator cuff.  You can use the bands as you perform your power stroke on &lt;strong&gt;dry land&lt;/strong&gt; against the resistance of the bands or cable resistance as in these videos &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/AVUBIXi5JM0?t=2m30s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video 1 &lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZP5fIAndMY&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video 2&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the pool&lt;/strong&gt;, you can use a resistance cord attached to your body in the pool to &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0018Z7SQU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;add resistance as you swim&lt;/a&gt;.  If you don't have a shoulder or rotator cuff problem, &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B00074VON6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;swim gloves&lt;/a&gt; can add resistance to your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a total gym or &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/YlheFogZwJM?t=15s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vasa trainer&lt;/a&gt;, you can lie down on it on your stomach and perform your stroke against the resistance of your body weight, (the higher the angle, the more the resistance).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind the idea of specificity of exercise.  Static weight lifting exercises do not translate as well into the needs of your swim stroke as these types of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY5tgC0MSzY&amp;amp;feature=relmfu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dynamic gym circuit or interval exercises&lt;/a&gt; will.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-05-06T12:54:03.600" LastActivityDate="2019-05-06T12:54:03.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6076" CreationDate="2012-04-10T09:30:01.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Psoas Stretch Options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing&lt;/strong&gt; - Here is a video of a basic &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/n3rFlQqbZVs?t=6s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standing psoas stretch&lt;/a&gt;.  The description you gave of one foot 10&quot; behind the other seems too narrow. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kneeling&lt;/strong&gt; - Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&amp;amp;v=GVL74_zAaK4&amp;amp;feature=endscreen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1/2 kneel position stretch of the psoas&lt;/a&gt; that hits the important points of positioning of the thigh, pelvis, spine and arms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lying on Your Back&lt;/strong&gt; - With the basic psoas stretch lying on your back you pull one knee to your chest and the other thigh should easily touch the floor.  If this is too easy, you can advance this stretch by letting your thigh drop &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcg4shTS0Sc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;off the edge of the bed or exercise mat&lt;/a&gt; (Thomas test position).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T09:30:01.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2012-04-10T19:03:25.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never found it possible to consciously breathe in through my mouth and nose at the same time. I recommend just opening your mouth and breathing. The deeper down you take the breath the better off you'll be but I wouldn't be artificial about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the things that will naturally develop for you as you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I would note that sometimes the stitch is caused by a different pattern of foot strides to breaths - e.g. because you're running up or down hill. Often, the stitch can be fixed by consciously changing your striding pattern to something different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T19:03:25.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6040" CreationDate="2012-04-10T22:43:54.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unilateral Weakness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you find a left/right discrepancy in muscle strength, the weaker side will strengthen better if you exercise that side independently of the stronger side.  Doing bilateral exercises allows the stronger side to take over.  So @ shadesco's suggestion to use dumbbells instead of a barbell so that you can strengthen the right side with the right amount of weight is a good idea.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pain&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain not only means that something is wrong, but pain also inhibits the muscles from working correctly.  This is important because the shoulder complex needs to function together with the scapula (shoulder blade) stabilizing so that the shoulder and rotator cuff muscles have a secure base to function correctly to aviod impingement and pain.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Corrective Measures&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most direct way to get an appropriate exercise program for your weak, painfull shoulder is to see a physical therapist.  Their evaluation checks for the stabilization and positioning of the scapula and shoulder joint.  Muscle imbalances are addressed with stretching and strengthening of the involved muscles.  Very often the painful shoulder rolls forward, placing more strain on the rotator cuff, tightening the pecs, and weakening the upper back and scapular muscles.  Below are some suggested exercises, but a personlized program is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scapular Stabilization:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One arm bent over &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/CBOneArmBentoverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;row with cable&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbbells&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBFrontPulldown.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lat pulldowns&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Serratus Anterior with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbell bench press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rotator Cuff Strengthening and Stretching:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00mRajqLPZc&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tubing&lt;/a&gt; for internal and external rotators &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luoiGpT4PJ8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rotator cuff stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/ChestGeneral/Doorway.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pec Stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T22:43:54.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2012-04-10T23:44:06.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no disagreement with Berin and Backinshapebuddy, but since you mention adding 30-40 minutes to every workout and you refer to the cost/benefit with respect to certain goals, this post is an answer with a slightly different emphasis. You list exercises (&quot;pull ups, bench press, preacher curls, tricep push-downs&quot;) that focus on small isolated muscle groups - the &quot;beach muscles.&quot; As other answers noted, the benefits would be much greater if you were to perform functional movements using the large muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'd like to add that, compared with someone who does zero strength training, adding these exercises at even a low dose will still get you fairly steep benefits to your goals (1) and (2). A strength workout of large muscles can be done in less than an hour. I would recommend one functional movement each for squat (back or front or overhead), press (pushup or bench or overhead), and pull (pullup or deadlift or clean). Three sets of five works well for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a maintenance workout routine that I always come back to even when I'm busy and not in top shape for other things. Lifting heavy things even just a few times a month gives your body a hormonal reminder that it's a good idea to keep maintaining those muscle fibers and dense bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-04-10T23:44:06.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6103" CreationDate="2012-04-11T02:26:38.087" Score="3" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyday, I walk at a minimum 4-5 miles (because I don't drive). With this much walking, I feel there is a significant potential to injure my legs if I don't use proper support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my current walking shoes are beyond repair and need to be replaced, I've been shopping around. However, everywhere I go has either limited or no selection for walking shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just settle for a good pair of running shoes, or is the difference between the two (in terms of support) significant enough that I should keep looking for wanking shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T08:22:21.483" Title="Walking vs. Running Shoes" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6084" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-04-11T03:54:11.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Methods of organizing one's training. Patterns. Systems. Schedules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-11T03:54:11.303" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T03:54:11.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6085" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-04-11T03:54:11.303" Score="0" Body="Methods of organizing one's training." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-11T03:54:11.303" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T03:54:11.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6086" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-04-11T03:54:54.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="28134" LastEditDate="2019-07-29T07:39:25.493" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T07:39:25.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6087" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-04-11T03:54:54.157" Score="0" Body="Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T18:35:58.113" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T18:35:58.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6126" CreationDate="2012-04-11T08:43:32.100" Score="1" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;At night I do sit-ups and push-ups. It started as something to knock me out, if I needed to sleep but wasn't tired, a few of each would tire me out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As time passes I am able to do more before I get tired, and I don't find them a chore so much. Now I'm wandering what other exercises I can do at night just in my bedroom that don't require any equipment like sit-ups and push-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two are obvious ones that we all know, but what other exercises can I do? I don't have any specific goal like weight loss, or body building, just something that's good for me I can do at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3299" LastActivityDate="2012-04-15T14:00:37.700" Title="Suggestions for bedroom exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6048" CreationDate="2012-04-11T09:14:12.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your allergies, low-fat dairy can be a good source of protein such as milk, cheese (choose less processed cheese like goat cheese, or mozzerella), and yogurt.   Other animal protein sources include, wild salmon, tuna, other fish, turkey etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have allergies to several animal sources, consider plant sources of protein including whole grains (brown rice, quinoa etc.), legumes, beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/protein-amounts-in-food/#axzz1riZsFDcm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark's Daily Apple&lt;/a&gt; gives a list of the amount of protein found in meats, dairy, beans, legumes and nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/protein_supplements.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tom Venuto&lt;/a&gt;, the bodybuilder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the purposes of developing muscle, the only guidelines for protein&#xA;  that you must follow are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(1) consume a source of complete protein with every meal,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(2) eat at frequent intervals approximately three hours apart (about six times per day) and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(3) consume a minimum of .8 grams to 1 gram per pound of body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T09:14:12.653" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2012-04-11T09:15:28.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try squats, very good for balance and a good all-over leg exercise.  Look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; and go to the plyometric/bodyweight section for some variations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T09:15:28.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6413" CreationDate="2012-04-11T13:45:17.650" Score="6" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every year, I participate in a martial arts tournament that takes place in an air-conditioned grand ballroom of a hotel. The way the tournament works is that people are split into several divisions (by age, skill level, style, sex, etc.) which are held throughout the day. There number of people in a division can vary, and the scheduling (though continuous) can be fragmented for an individual participant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What my problem is that when I participate in these competitions, I am usually not warmed up enough to the point where I am most physically capable (something I feel in terms of flexibility). The number of participants in the divisions I participate in can reach upwards of 20 people (at least) while the actual martial demonstration might span anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the enormous amounts of waiting involved in this tournament and the cooling air temperature in the hotel, my body is terribly stiff for every performance I do and not as good as it could be. Though I can warm up my body before starting the competition, it is not so easy to simply walk away in the middle of a division (unless you're doing multiple divisions that conflict and are running back and forth). Everyone typically stays in place until it is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the fragmentation of the physical expenditures and the air temperature around me, are there exercises that will help me in this situation? What effect will the intensity and duration of such exercises have on keeping my core temperature warm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, what I wear is &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BQz7G.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a silk suit&lt;/a&gt; which is not the most breathable fabric. It's very thin and light. In addition to warm-ups, will athletic clothing help in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T03:10:35.143" Title="How do I keep my body warm between intermittent workouts?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5742" CreationDate="2012-04-11T14:23:41.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you go to a physical store to try them on before you buy. You'll end up trying on several sizes. I know for the Virbram's that you have to have an extremely precise fit or else it will rub against your foot when you where them. You want them to feel snug but not tight; if it is loose at all, try on a smaller pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in the southeast part of the US, Abbadabbas carries them. I got mine from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T14:23:41.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-11T15:50:13.543" Score="2" ViewCount="375" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some time ago I injured my lower back, I believe at the time the physiotherapist I saw referred to it as a &quot;l4/l5 disc bulge&quot; and also seems to have caused a bit of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciatica&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sciatica&lt;/a&gt;.  The injury slowly cleared hence I stopped seeing the physiotherapist, but it has recently recurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to help strengthen my body in general and help my back in the long term as the physio recommended exercise and slowly strengthening the lower back to relieve the pain I have taken up going to the gym.  At the moment my regime mainly involves the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fast walk/Jog (6kp/h) for ~20 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recumbent exercise bike, ~20-30 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder Press Machine (upper body only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also been doing some work using an exercise ball to flex my lower back without putting too much stress on it.  So far I have managed to avoid making the pain any worse and in fact the pain has lessened a good deal.  Keeping it loose and mobile seems to be of benefit for my particular injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want is to increase my running stamina so that I can run/jog for longer periods without causing undue stress on my lower back.  I would like to be able to get up to ~10 miles run/jog within 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any other (preferrably gym based) methods for increasing my stamina and overall body strength without causing problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a back brace or similar help at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2511" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T20:42:22.123" Title="General regime to increase running stamina and avoid aggravating back injury" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6048" CreationDate="2012-04-11T16:20:18.377" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a vegetarian and strength training. My primary sources of protein and fat are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yogurt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whey protein powder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lentils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;almonds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chickpeas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been choosing high fat milk and yogurt to make sure my calorie intake is high enough to support my activity level, but you could eat lower fat stuff and just eat more of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T16:20:18.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6091" CreationDate="2012-04-11T17:25:48.953" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend wearing spandex top/bottom combo (that blends in with the gi) to keep warm, I remember reading somewhere that spandex also helps keeping blood flowing through compression.  Ideally you are training as you are competing - so, your training (as you near the competition) simulates the fighting/competition environment in regards to floor (hard/rubber), temp and even wait times.  This way you are conditioning yourself mentally and physically to the same conditions you are competing under.  Don't over stretch prior to your match/time, just move around and stay relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T17:25:48.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6121" CreationDate="2012-04-11T18:27:42.410" Score="1" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the relationship of calories burned (e.g. through exercise) and appetite level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say there are two hypothetical situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A) Over the course of one day my body burns 2300 calories but I only eat 1800 calories worth of food. Some of the calorie burn is from a mild amount of cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B) I try to be more active and burn 2800 calories throughout the day but I eat 2300 calories worth of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the same balance of protein/carbs/fats/etc between both diets, do I feel more hungry in scenario A than B?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps another question in itself: will I lose the same amount of body fat in both scenarios?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3237" LastActivityDate="2012-04-14T05:41:09.357" Title="How does calorie burn affect appetite?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;hunger&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6098" CreationDate="2012-04-11T19:14:58.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming the balance of protein/carbs/fats are the same, the only thing left is the net between calories burned and calories consumed.  But in your example they are the same.  In &lt;em&gt;theory&lt;/em&gt; the amount of fat loss and hunger levels will be the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, there are so many variables that someone can't just give a blanket answer.  For example, there is a minimum amount of Calories you need before the body goes into starvation mode.  In starvation mode, the body tries desperately to hold on to the fat while it gladly sacrifices your muscles.  Another example is someone who has trouble absorbing nutrients from certain foods.  Even if the macro ratios are the same, that person may have diminishing returns on the food they eat--meaning that they have fewer usable calories in the second scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is perform sane dietary experiments on yourself to see if it plays out for you.  I would be able to give an answer for my body, but my experience may not apply to you and your circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-11T19:14:58.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6048" CreationDate="2012-04-11T19:18:52.223" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Build yourself a healthy diet similar to what they used to eat in Mediterranean villages in the old days : before electricity, when the meat had to be eaten fresh there, so they used to eat less meat and more full of protein grains/ veggies.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before giving you a list, &lt;b&gt;some&lt;/b&gt; of the foods in the list contain &lt;b&gt;a good amout of carbs&lt;/b&gt; but not the type of carbs that make you fat, because of the following:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs are two main kind: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;Complex carbs&quot;&lt;/b&gt;: must first be broken down into simple sugars and then those simple sugars have to be converted to glucose before they can be absorbed into the blood.(slow absorption)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;Simple carbs&quot;&lt;/b&gt;: are found in foods such as fruit (fructose), dairy products (lactose), and table sugar (sucrose).(fast absorption)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;In general&lt;/b&gt;,a fast absorption into the bloodstream produces a strong release of insulin which makes your body to store fat..&#xA;&lt;b&gt;BUT&lt;/b&gt; some simple carbs absorb at a much slower rate than many complex carbs because they contain fiber that slows down the digestion process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So Here is a list of &lt;b&gt;some&lt;/b&gt; foods:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;Beans&quot;&lt;/b&gt;: they are &lt;b&gt;Loaded&lt;/b&gt; of protein, in addition a lot of fiber and vitamins/mineral.(Good carbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;Nuts&quot;&lt;/b&gt;: contains the good poly/mono unsaturated fat and good amounts of protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;raw spinach&quot;&lt;/b&gt;: this is a very underrated yet amazing food. Spinach has uric acid which gets transformed into protein (amino acids) in the body, and helps you build muscles. In addition it has lots of iron and vitamins. You have to eat a good amount, and to do so i recommended cooking a large qtity of spinach, add to it black peppers, chopped onions, chopped cilantro and crushed garlic (and some spicy herbs if you like). When the spinach get smooth and cooked, turn off the heat and add 1-2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice. Stir and wait for it to get a bit colder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;cottage cheese&quot;&lt;/b&gt;: (not a traditional Mediterranean but worth mentioning): &lt;b&gt;125g&lt;/b&gt; of cottage cheese has &lt;b&gt;15g of protein&lt;/b&gt;, a lot of calcium and minerals. By itself it doesn't taste good, but mix it with one chopped banana, some blueberries and 1 or 2 Tbsp honey and it'll taste really awesome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2012-04-12T13:06:45.517" LastActivityDate="2012-04-12T13:06:45.517" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6101" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-11T19:28:42.117" Score="3" ViewCount="13271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm heading to a concert at the end of this week and my back is usually in pretty bad pain at the end of a concert day. What are some tips I can use to avoid/prevent back pain when I know I'm going to be on my feet all day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, Kevin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3303" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T18:52:34.237" Title="How to prevent back pain after a long day of standing" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-11-16T21:10:41.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6083" CreationDate="2012-04-12T02:01:18.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming from my own personal experience and research on running and walking I would suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're only going to walk, traditional running shoes are fine. They promote landing on your heel and push through to your forefoot which is good walking form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your are going to run, I suggest getting a minimalist style running shoe. This promotes correct running form which is &amp;quot;forefoot running&amp;quot;. These shoes promote landing on your forefoot instead of your heel. Landing on your heel actually detracts from running by stopping your momentum and also causes unnecessary strain on your knees. I had a minor knee injury a couple years ago which I attribute to using traditional running shoes when running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact you could probably just get minimalist shoes for both running and walking since when you walk you naturally tend to go from your heel to your forefoot without the influence of the shoe. However, shoes have a larger influence on running form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20120601/barefoot-running-can-be-great-tread-carefully?src=RSS_PUBLIC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20120601/barefoot-running-can-be-great-tread-carefully?src=RSS_PUBLIC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/leisure/outdoor/the-first-scientific-support-for-minimalist-running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.mensfitness.com/leisure/outdoor/the-first-scientific-support-for-minimalist-running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="33822" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T08:22:21.483" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T08:22:21.483" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-12T09:19:59.153" Score="8" ViewCount="3658" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a long reach and was wondering what the optimal position is for my grip during bench press.  From finger-tip to fingertip I measure 6'6&quot;.  I currently bench with my ring finger lined up on the band.  Wondering if that is too wide or if I can safely get away with a wider grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3307" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2012-04-12T11:06:37.833" LastActivityDate="2015-10-31T10:06:42.530" Title="Bench press grip width?" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6105" CreationDate="2012-04-12T09:41:54.290" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0976805421&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, a well-known book on barbell training, Mark Rippetoe says (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grip width, within a certain range, is largely a matter of individual preference. Since you are trying to&#xA;  develop general upper-body strength, your form should be generalized, without too much emphasis on any one&#xA;  muscle group and with a lot of work for all of them. &lt;strong&gt;The greatest range of motion is obtained with a grip that&#xA;  places the forearms in a vertical position when the bar is on the chest.&lt;/strong&gt; With a wider grip, the bar doesn’t move as&#xA;  far and locks out before the triceps have done much work, so the pecs and delts end up doing more of what work&#xA;  gets done. &lt;strong&gt;But as long as the grip falls somewhere between 22 and 28 inches between index fingers, the purpose&#xA;  is served.&lt;/strong&gt; This range allows enough leeway for people of all shoulder widths to find a grip they feel strongest&#xA;  with, while preserving the longer range of motion. Too much narrower a grip will, for most people, take pounds&#xA;  off the work set by placing the responsibility for most of the lockout on the comparatively smaller triceps,although&#xA;  most lifters can close-grip a fairly high percentage of their standard-grip bench press. &lt;strong&gt;A wider grip shortens the&#xA;  range of motion excessively&lt;/strong&gt; and takes out too much tricep, as well as producing a longer moment arm between&#xA;  the hand and the shoulder joint. Heavier weights can be benched with a wide grip since the bar doesn’t have to&#xA;  move as far (the legal width for powerlifting competition is 32 inches between index fingers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, your spotter should tell you if your forearms are in a correct position when down; if that is not possible, then use whatever feels comfortable to you (but between 22 and 28 inches). Don't use a too wide grip if your goal is strength: the shortened range of motion is sub-optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-04-12T09:41:54.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6107" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6155" CreationDate="2012-04-12T12:09:15.567" Score="2" ViewCount="833" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working on strength/cardio for 4 months now and I'm getting pretty fit.&#xA;Due to a bad hand injury I was avoiding running and instead used the stationary bike and eliptical for cardio.  The injury is now passing so I gave running ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first run on Friday I did 5km in 39 minutes, then Sunday I did 5km in 32 mins - after both runs my knees hurt (in fairly specific places).  Today (thursday) I ran 1.6km in 9 minutes and my right knee started to hurt again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its not a severe pain and does pass when resting - my question is: has this happened because I've done too much too soon and if so would resting till 'better' then slowly increasing time/distance prevent it happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3308" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2012-04-17T15:37:19.360" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T15:43:33.777" Title="Will building up running reduce knee pain" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2012-04-12T15:29:52.753" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch it.&lt;/strong&gt; Toe touches and forward bends are a great way to stretch the back out. There are also a ton of Yoga poses that can help you stretch your back in various ways (I recommend checking out &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/&quot;&gt;yoga.about.com&lt;/a&gt;, which has a ton of poses that you can filter by anatomy). You can do these before, during, and after the concert to help your back feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch your posture.&lt;/strong&gt; A lot of people have a tendency to over arch or flatten their back out too much, messing with their spinal alignment. Every so often, check in and make sure to correct your posture. If you have lower back pain, make sure you're not tilting your hips to extremes one way or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do hip tilts.&lt;/strong&gt; Assuming here that it's lower back pain, work your back every so often by doing hip tilts. That is, tilt your hips forward or back to lengthen and compress your lower back. Working it will increase the bloodflow to it and forces you to change its position for a little big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the long term, strengthen your back.&lt;/strong&gt; Most back pain is caused or exacerbated by weak back muscles. Even when people work out, they think of the &quot;core&quot; as the abs, but your core is all of the muscles that help you hold yourself upright (and there's a lot of them!). Very often, the back gets neglected, which leads to pain. To help prevent it, strengthen the muscles so they can provide good support for your spine, ribs, and entire upper body, and ultimately, reduce or eliminate pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2012-04-12T15:29:52.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-12T19:24:08.667" Score="3" ViewCount="801" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never sprinted before, so I have never done any warm ups or know of proper form for sprinting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking for advice as I want to minimise the possibility of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3280" LastEditorUserId="8264" LastEditDate="2014-07-22T11:13:42.147" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T11:13:42.147" Title="How to warm up for sprinting" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5680" CreationDate="2012-04-12T19:44:09.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise more the day after...you'll have more food/calories in your system, which will give you more energy to continue working out (kind of like carb-loading before a marathon).  This way, your metabolism will stay higher longer thus allowing you to at least burn a little more than if you exercised pre-party day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2012-04-12T19:44:09.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6110" CreationDate="2012-04-12T20:04:02.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some light jogging for a few minutes and a few stretches should be fine.  But don't overdo the sprinting in the first few training sessions.  Rather go half speed and shorter distances for the first 2 weeks and the gradually increase both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2012-04-12T20:04:02.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6110" CreationDate="2012-04-12T20:12:21.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should include a general warmup, then some dynamic stretching, followed by some form drills that also will continue to warm you up, plyometrics for readying your CNS pathways, and some warm-up sprints. Here's an example warm-up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a general body warm-up (light jog for 800-1600m).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do some dynamic stretches (leg swings, dynamic lunges)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some ABC drills. These focus on the three basic elements of sprinting form. A is high knees. B is exaggerated leg extensions. C is butt kicks. These can be done slow at first, then fast for a second set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light plyometrics (double leg jumps for height, double leg jumps for distance, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprints at 80% effort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've never ran before, some other advice to help minimize the chance of injury is to ramp-up slowly into this activity. Don't do too much at the start, and only increase your running load by about 10% each week. Also, include stretches after your workout, specifically some that target your IT band and hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-12T20:12:21.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2012-04-13T02:15:55.787" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run only as fast as I can breath through my nose. Our respiratory system is designed such that for any level of aerobic activity in which we regularly participate we can obtain sufficient oxygen by breathing through our nose. I don't know what kind of pace you want to run at, or how long you mean by long distance, so there's considerable room for interpretation here, but in the long run most people are better off breathing through their nose as much as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upsides: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our sinuses and nasal passages are designed to clean, humidify, and heat or cool the air we breath to provide optimal oxygen uptake in the lungs. Our mouths provide no such service. Dust and particulates flow quite freely through the mouth and throat. (I'm not saying our noses can filter out everything, but any filtering is better than none).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running at a pace that allows for breathing through the nose will encourage you to slow down enough to build your aerobic base, enhancing your bodies ability to burn fat and use the oxygen you breath. As time progresses, this pace will increase, and eventually you will be able to run as fast as you previously were while breathing through your mouth. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing through your nose helps your body stay relaxed, and helps keep your heart rate lower for a given rate of exercise. Translated to running, this means you don't feel like you're working as hard as you do when you breath through your mouth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Downsides:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing only through your nose will force you to run slower until your body adapts. There is a major emphasis on speed training, intervals, etc in the running community, and most people are unable to function without gulping down huge mouthfuls of air. When you take a way that air volume, you have to slow down for a while while your body builds its natural aerobic efficiency back up. Many people have a hard time being patient during this retraining period.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It feels a little stressful if your nose starts feeling like its getting clogged, or runny. This is your body telling you to slow down a little bit. Again, many people don't want to slow down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I've seen great benefits from breathing only through my nose as often as possible, not just when running. Living in a dry climate, I often ended up with a semi-permanent sore throat when running or cycling a lot. Switching to nose-only breathing initially slowed me down significantly, but in a couple of months I was right back where I started, but feeling much more relaxed when I run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclosure: My fitness has degraded significantly in the last 6 months, as I quit my job to go back to being a full-time student to finish my degree, then moved to a different state and started another job. Before that, I was able to run several miles (~10) at a comfortable 9:30 minute per mile pace while only breathing through my nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a summary of some of the research done by Dr. Lieberman at Harvard &lt;a href=&quot;http://naturallyengineered.com/blog/nose-or-mouth-breathing-while-running-exercising/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-04-13T02:15:55.787" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6116" CreationDate="2012-04-13T14:11:53.653" Score="8" ViewCount="9270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking at this program and it seems that deadlifting only 1 set of 5 repetitions each working day is too little to achieve the goal of adding weight each time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or have I misunderstood it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-13T19:29:52.187" LastActivityDate="2012-04-13T19:30:09.987" Title="Stronglifts 5x5 Deadlifts: Am I supposed to increase weight with only 1x5 each time?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2012-04-13T14:31:09.200" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you only do 1x5 with deadlifts is because you already are doing 5x5 squats, making the deadlift an almost redundant exercise. As Mehdi says, since they target a lot of the same areas, by the time you get to your deadlifts you will be GLAD that you only have 1x5 to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning when the weights are very light, you will certainly feel like you can do more. Personally, I choose to do 5x5 deadlifts in the beginning when the weights were light; I knew I could handle it and it helped me practice my form. &lt;strong&gt;However as the program  progresses, you will find that your body simply cannot maintain 5x5 deadlifts and won't recover fast enough.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the point of adding weight, it's not really that difficult. Unlike the overhead press or the barbell rows, the deadlift is a full body compound exercise and as a result you can go much further before hitting a plateau with the deadlift. Also, even though you only deadlift 1x5 every other workout, you are still building the necessary strength from your other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-04-13T14:31:09.200" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6117" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6118" CreationDate="2012-04-13T14:40:20.740" Score="7" ViewCount="5811" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear the phrase &lt;strong&gt;engage your core&lt;/strong&gt; all the time, and honestly, I've never really understood what people saying it are trying to get me to do, and the answers to the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/868/how-to-engage-your-core&quot;&gt;How to 'engage your core'?&lt;/a&gt; don't communicate enough detail for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/871/2842&quot;&gt;Nathan Wheeler's answer&lt;/a&gt; describes stability and smooth motion as the goals, but I can achieve both stability and smooth motion without doing anything that feels like I'm using or &quot;engaging&quot; my core. So I'm still left with questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a long time I've interpreted it to mean &lt;strong&gt;contract your abs&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;suck in your stomach&lt;/strong&gt;, but these don't feel right to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contract your abs.&lt;/strong&gt; When I simply contract my abs, it tends to pull my body into a slight arc, with my chest dropping, my shoulders coming forward, and my back rolling ever so slightly. My intuition tells me this is not an athletic posture because it makes it more difficult to move with control and agility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suck in your stomach.&lt;/strong&gt; When I try sucking in my stomach, it has a tendency to inhibit my ability to breathe freely and deeply. My intuition says this isn't right either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what does it really mean to &lt;strong&gt;engage your core&lt;/strong&gt;? An article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.expandinglight.org/free/yoga-teacher/articles/gyandev/engage-your-core.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;engaging your core from a yoga perspective&lt;/a&gt; suggests that it's really about posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When all the muscles of the trunk work together harmoniously, we have&#xA;  good posture while static (meditating) or moving (everyday activities&#xA;  as well as asana practice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this I came up with my own interpretation: to maintain good posture in an exercise, keeping a long torso with the lower abs and lower back slightly taut—you might even say engaged ;). In more detail, to me this means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping the chin raised and gaze high, rolling the shoulders back slightly, and lifting your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Further elongating your torso and pulling in your lower abs slightly, but opposing that by also activating your lower back muscles for stability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this is all about elongating your torso, keeping it stable, and being contracted enough to take a light punch to the abs. (Not because taking a punch is particularly important, but because that helps me think about which muscles I should be activating.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What still bothers me about my latest interpretation is that the particular sequence of words &quot;engage your core&quot; fails to imply anything about posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, do I have it right? Is engaging your core really about posture?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2842" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T09:40:09.123" Title="Is engaging your core really about posture?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6117" CreationDate="2012-04-13T15:25:32.720" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_%28anatomy%29&quot;&gt;core&lt;/a&gt;, is a group of muscles that include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pelvic Floor muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transversus Abdomoninis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multifidus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Internal and External Obliques&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rectus Abdomonis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Erector Spinae&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Longissimus Thoracis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diaphragm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, engaging your core is to engage all of these muscles.  Only engaging the abdominals will pull you forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably a better way to think about it is to &quot;brace yourself&quot;.  Take a deep breath, and tighten up your sides, back, and ab muscles while holding that breath.  You'll feel a lot more stable.  Now, try to tighten up everything while you still breath.  You'll still have the majority of that stability even though you aren't including your diaphragm in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not so much about posture--even though your posture is affected--as it is about keeping all the muscles grouped together in the core contracted and tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-13T15:25:32.720" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2012-04-13T19:03:07.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are only 1x5 because you should be moving a vastly heavier weight with them than with anything else. The deadlift is the most efficient of the lifts and allows the most load. That's great, except that doing sets across is generally not necessary with a novice's sets of five, and doing additional sets with any real weight makes for a brutal recovery, as well as a higher possibility of injury due to improper form from fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone I know who does StrongLifts, Starting Strength, or other 5x5/3x5 programs has no problem adding weight with deadlifts at 1x5 for quite a long time. I'm zeroing in on a double bodyweight deadlift with only one work set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-13T19:30:09.987" LastActivityDate="2012-04-13T19:30:09.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6098" CreationDate="2012-04-13T20:32:12.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, I am not a dietician, so add 0.2 kcal for a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there's at least tow different kinds of hungry in my experience: one is the feeling of a physically pretty empty stomach, the other is a low level in the energy supply (blood sugar). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former will decrease if you eat more (by volume, salad, water, and those puffed rice crackers are your friend here), regardless of calorie deficit. It should also be decreased by working on your abs, because they physically constrain the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter is decreased by getting more energy into your system, either by eating more, or by exercising your body to a point where it goes for the fat depots, which is easier if you are more active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, I think your deficit might be easier to do with more activity and more intake, both by volume and caloric value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2231" LastActivityDate="2012-04-13T20:32:12.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6098" CreationDate="2012-04-14T05:41:09.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Taubes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gary Taubes&lt;/a&gt; argues in his very highly acclaimed &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307272702&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It&lt;/a&gt; that exercise does not help weight loss, because you get hungrier proportionally to the intensity of the work out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if there are enough of studies on the topic, but Taubes works are heavily referenced, so I am inclined to trust this conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that for weight loss, the diet is many times more important than working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastActivityDate="2012-04-14T05:41:09.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6143" CreationDate="2012-04-14T05:45:34.530" Score="5" ViewCount="4429" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please suggest few books on the topic of muscle building, that are heavily backed by scientific research. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer them to be light on concrete training programs, but heavy on facts and research based advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that most books on the topic are based more on anecdotal evidence and common knowledge that is not always true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a seminal book on the topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:44:13.010" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T16:44:13.010" Title="What are good books on muscle building heavily based on science?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2012-04-15T14:00:37.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diamond press ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats and Squat thrusts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups (If you have something to pull up on)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretches to improve flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look up plyometric or bodyweight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say however it will interrupt your sleep pattern training just before bed. Sometimes I feel I can tire myself out and it will help me sleep better but it never seems to work like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2012-04-15T14:00:37.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5322" CreationDate="2012-04-15T16:09:09.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A possible answer is that you are not getting enough sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personal experience is all I really have to support it.  When I've experienced this type of feeling, it is primarily when I'm coming off of a not-so-good period of eating and my body is adjusting again to not having a lot of sugar/other carbs. But I do find that it is more often if I'm not getting enough sleep, a good &quot;catch-up&quot; night or two of more sleep than I usually get seems to help my body adjust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3324" LastActivityDate="2012-04-15T16:09:09.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6129" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6142" CreationDate="2012-04-15T17:48:00.397" Score="-5" ViewCount="1737" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if anyone can tell me the difference between &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dotfit.com/Iced_Peanut_Butter_Delight-pid-1400.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DotFit&lt;/a&gt; bars and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerbar.ca/products/209/powerbar-triple-threat-bar.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PowerBars&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gym I go to sell these bars but in supermarkets I see powerbars and not sure if they have different purposes or are the same thing but just different brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My trainer has recommend that in between meals that I eat a &quot;dotfit bar&quot; between meals but as I said the gym I work out only sells &quot;dotfit bars&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3326" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-14T11:46:35.163" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T21:11:52.707" Title="What is the differences between DotFit bars and PowerBars?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6131" CreationDate="2012-04-15T19:53:27.650" Score="7" ViewCount="4643" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found out that when I go swimming in the evening (from 5:30 - 6:30), that my running (from 8:30 - 9:30) seems to go a lot better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Eg. I'm less tired, I have less need for stretching - I stretch to suppress the soreness in my legs ;) because I haven't been running for long).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how is this possible? I thought my body would be more tired after swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2730" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-20T14:51:05.180" LastActivityDate="2018-08-10T18:47:25.823" Title="I can run better after swimming, how come?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6130" CreationDate="2012-04-15T20:37:28.850" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several factors are involved:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body warmed up enough --&gt; thus less need for stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming actually regulates your breathing system, it is like some sort of &quot;heavy&quot; yoga breathing session, specially if you &quot;crawl&quot; or do &quot;Butterfly Stroke&quot; which both require some time below water and thus deep breathing when above water to recuperate. Thus you breath much better and sharper after a swimming session ---&gt; breathing is needed while running, so you already got the boost from swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are &lt;b&gt;either&lt;/b&gt; having a balanced diet &lt;b&gt;| or&lt;/b&gt; enough calories for energy  &lt;b&gt;| or&lt;/b&gt; in case you have fat reserves that will be fueling your energy for running  after swimming (After one hour of swimming, if you did not load yourself during the day with calories, your body must be already getting energy from fat reserves and it continues to do that when u go run).&#xA;In each of these cases , you already have some energy left to burn for running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 3 factors mentioned put you in a &quot;good&quot; state for running. &lt;b&gt;PS:&lt;/b&gt; make sure you dry well after swimming before running specially if you live on the beach, night sea winds are fresh and if you didn't dry well you might get sore muscles the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-04-15T20:37:28.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6134" CreationDate="2012-04-15T20:54:53.540" Score="2" ViewCount="10546" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been on a meat sabbatical recently over lent and I've gone forty days without meat.  Before my break I was a pretty keen carnivore, and now that I've started eating meat again I've been having slight stomach pains.  They might just be the kind you normally get, but can reintroducing something like meat into your diet upset your innards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3165" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T03:40:53.290" Title="Can re-introducing meat cause stomach pain?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;&lt;meat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-04-16T08:25:41.867" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6132" CreationDate="2012-04-15T21:06:41.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on what you mentioned:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;..over &lt;b&gt;lent&lt;/b&gt; and I've gone &lt;b&gt;forty days without meat&lt;/b&gt;&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;..&lt;b&gt;Before&lt;/b&gt; my break I was a pretty keen &lt;b&gt;carnivore&lt;/b&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;b&gt;assume&lt;/b&gt; by saying carnivore it means that &lt;b&gt;most&lt;/b&gt; of your food intake came from meat. Going with this assumption, i do &lt;b&gt;not&lt;/b&gt; believe your stomach pain is caused by meat.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What probably happened is that during lent, as you stopped eating meat (and maybe other food types), you actually decreased your overall food intake ,which in its majority consisted of meat. &lt;b&gt;So,&lt;/b&gt; this means you were eating much &lt;b&gt;less&lt;/b&gt; quantities of food , and the stomach is an elastic organ : the more you eat, the more it gets dilated , and vice versa. So your stomach actually shrink during lent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus after &lt;b&gt; 40 days&lt;/b&gt; of eating less, your stomach got used to small quantities, and that's why now that you are having meat again , &lt;b&gt;ie&lt;/b&gt; eating more quantity , your stomach is getting dilated again beyond the limit it reached during lent, and thus you feel the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-04-15T21:06:41.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6132" CreationDate="2012-04-15T23:52:12.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen this a lot in my friends who've gone periods of being vegetarians, and also experienced this first hand as someone who's been a vegetarian for a full year before going back to being an omnivore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stomach distress you're feeling is quite normal, and may be just as much psychological as it is physiological. While the psychological response depends largely on what your mindset is towards meat and why you chose to reject it for four weeks, it can be just as tangible as the physiological response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the psychological perspective, being a vegetarian trains you to dislike meat (YMMV), and when you start eating meat again you will have to overcome that mental roadblock that meat === bad. Even having a placebo that you believe to be meat can result in your body rejecting it with stomach aches or even vomiting. Even the taste or texture of meat can be enough to trigger a psychological response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the physiological perspective, being a vegetarian for a prolonged period of time will result in your body not being accustomed to the process of digesting meats. It's not like you lost the ability to digest meats, you just have to give your body time to re-acclimate to the whole process. I'm not quite sure how long of a period it takes for someone's body to &quot;forget&quot; how to digest meat, but I've seen it happen to people in as few as two to three weeks of being vegetarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to gradually re-introduce quality meats back into your diet so your body has time to re-adjust to that whole animal fat digesting thing. What do I mean by quality? Well, anything that is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; fast-food, since most fast-food burgers can barely qualify as meat in the first. Stomach distress is normal for people in your situation, and as long as you don't overdo it (save the hot-dog eating competition for later, okay?), you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-04-15T23:52:12.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-16T03:37:10.363" Score="1" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I show all the signs of low testosterone even though I am just 23. What type of specialist do I need to see to get tested for low testosterone levels and get treated if needed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3201" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T03:37:10.363" Title="What type of doctor does hormone replacement therapy?" Tags="&lt;medicine&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-04-16T08:09:22.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6146" CreationDate="2012-04-16T05:44:15.423" Score="1" ViewCount="2849" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started doing pull-ups about two weeks ago on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001EJMS6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull-up bar&lt;/a&gt; (the one that fits on a doorframe - &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001EJMS6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;similar to this&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A day after I started, I got muscle pains all over my shoulder and upper arm. I stopped doing pull-ups for two days, until the muscle pains were gone.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I continued doing pull-ups daily afterwards, but two days earlier, I felt pain in my right shoulder joint when I am lowering my body. It also gets painful when I raise my right arm up. The pain is bearable and is not that intense. It only gets painful when I am lowering my body from a pull-up position and when raising my right arm up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to stop pull-ups for one day - the pain stopped too, even when raising my right arm. I continued doing pull-ups today but I again felt pain in my right shoulder joint when lowering my body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I recover from the pain? Also, how do I prevent or avoid the pain from occurring again when doing pull-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2012-10-13T06:01:24.630" Title="Pull-ups: Pain on shoulder joint when lowering body - how to recover from, and prevent or avoid?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-16T10:21:56.860" Score="5" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a middle-distance endurance runner (58kg BM) and I'm a fan of physiology books such as Lore Of Running by Tim Noakes and De Castella on Running. Can anybody suggest books related to building lean muscle and muscle endurance (ie. increased strength with minimal mass increase.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3331" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2012-04-17T15:50:02.013" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T15:50:02.013" Title="Strength Training for Running Books - Strength without Mass" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;books&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6129" CreationDate="2012-04-16T12:34:51.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When looking at what the bars contain, there are (as in all food) three main sources of energy: fat, carbohydrates and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two bars linked have similar composition when it comes to this, so unless you are really measuring your other intake during the day, the difference is negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If looking at bars more in general, there are a few differences to look for, depending on why you want to eat the bar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Energy bar&quot;: Usually quite rich in carbohydrates, advertised for eating before/during workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Recovery bar&quot;: These have a bit more protein in them, usually good post-workout (especially as a quick source of protein after strength training)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Fitness bar&quot;: More or less meant to make you less hungry in as few calories as possible. More for weight-loss than actual fitness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T12:34:51.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6123" CreationDate="2012-04-16T13:51:35.597" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;So far, of the books I've read, &lt;em&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/em&gt; by Dr. Kilgore and Mark Rippetoe seems to be the closest to what you are asking.  The biggest challenge you will find, and it's called out by Dr. Kilgore in the first chapters, is that most exercise and fitness research is spent on beginners and basic levels of fitness.  There is little or no money spent in most countries on how to build the best athletes.  The one country that did spend money on that would be Russia, but the exercise research isn't the best documented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Practical Programming book, Dr. Kilgore breaks out a lot of basic foundational information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Selye's theory on General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More modern adaptations of that theory in strength training (includes bodybuilding, power lifting, Olympic lifting, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigue, rest, hormonal responses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second part of the book that has programming tips for people at different levels of training is written by Rippetoe.  To be honest, the first foundational part with Dr. Kilgore was more than worth the price of the book, but the second part you could easily find out by looking at different programs targeted for that level of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's quite a few more titles over at &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/&quot;&gt;http://exrx.net/&lt;/a&gt; that would also bear looking into.  Just understand that in the world of strength training, there is more than one valid way to see the types of increases you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T13:51:35.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-16T17:46:53.260" Score="3" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a serious recreational lifter. I enjoy doing the power and Olympic lifts but find the over-head squat portion  of the full snatch to be difficult. I can easily do the squat-clean and press with 185 but I find the full snatch difficult with even 115 lbs. I would like to know some good exercises and drills for helping me improve the full snatch. I appreciate any advice you can offer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:26:07.620" Title="Assistance Exercises for Full Snatch" Tags="&lt;olympic&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6139" CreationDate="2012-04-16T19:37:45.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering you just started doing pull-ups and your first episode of muscle soreness came a day after your first exercise, what you're experiencing is most likely &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)&lt;/a&gt;. DOMS typically comes about after you do a particularly strenuous activity or an activity that your muscles are not yet accustomed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people react just as you did when they get DOMS: they stop doing the exercise that caused the soreness. However that is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; what you should do, because--as you experienced--that soreness will happen again when you finally decide to exercise again. Instead, to recover from DOMS you need to do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue exercising. It may be initially painful exercising through the soreness, but in the long-run your muscles will heal faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gradually increase intensity (i.e. start with 3 pull-ups, next workout do 5 pull-ups, next workout do 7, etc.). The 3 -&gt; 5 -&gt; 7 was just an example, and you should adjust that as necessary for your own abilities. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get REST. You mentioned that you do daily pull-ups... this is actually a bad thing. Whenever you do strength training you'll want to give your muscles at least one day of recovery before you workout that muscle again. For instance, you can do pull-ups Mon-Wed-Fri, with the other days acting as rest periods. If you really want to squeeze in more workouts, you can do Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun/Tue-Thu-Sat, which will give you one extra workout every two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above three instructions apply just as much to recovery as they do towards prevention. If you always make sure to give your muscles proper rest between workout days and to gradually build your workout weight (even if it means doing ridiculously easy weights/reps at the start), then you shouldn't have a problem in the future with DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T19:37:45.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6117" CreationDate="2012-04-16T20:24:53.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase means different things to different people. We're never going to get consensus between Olympic weightlifting coaches, yoga instructors, physical therapists, and gym rats on what the phrase means. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, however, &quot;engaging the core&quot; means squeezing both your abs &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; your back simultaneously. Other muscles may be involved, depending on the context. I would agree that most people saying it mean that you should &lt;strong&gt;&quot;lock in&quot; your posture&lt;/strong&gt; according to the dictates of the activity you're doing. (Those dictates will differ somewhat between gymnasts, yogis, lifters, et cetera, as well as between coaches.) I do know that it doesn't mean squeezing the abs without also squeezing the back, and that it means the &lt;em&gt;opposite&lt;/em&gt; of sucking in the stomach in most cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many contexts--a plank, barbell squats, snatches--I would not say that the activation of those muscles should be &quot;slightly taut&quot;. I imagine they should be engaged hard, even near-maximally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T20:24:53.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6093" CreationDate="2012-04-16T20:42:22.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per Ivos advice I have begun looking into some of the C-2-10K (Couch to 10km) plans and I have been having good results so far.  The plans are relatively &quot;light&quot; and as I have plenty of time to work up to the distance they suit my requirements quite well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My back injury also appears to benefit from the exercise and has almost entirely gone, presumably because I am keeping it mobile and helping to build strength in the back around the problem area while I am moving and exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may not be completely &quot;sticking to the plan&quot; but I believe I am following the main points, which are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To push my body a little bit more each time I exercise.  Conversely;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being aware of my body and its limitations, running too hard and too long can potentially set me back as it is a gradual building of strength that is required rather than doing it all in one go.  One fast stumble and clumsy landing could be all I need to cause myself a worse injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be the emphasis behind the C-2-10K plans, a slow but sure improvement over time, and I quite enjoy the rest-run-rest-run style as you can see a gradual but definite improvement over sessions.  Each time it starts to feel easy, which is roughly once a week, sees you moving on and working that bit harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2511" LastActivityDate="2012-04-16T20:42:22.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6151" CreationDate="2012-04-17T03:04:07.140" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing an exercise with the goal in mind of doing 5 sets per exercise, are those 5 sets for the muscle or for the exercise? Meaning as follows; if i want to do both flat and incline bench presses do I have to divide them so that they equal to 5 sets, or can I do 5 sets per EXERCISE which would result in 10 sets for the muscle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T18:15:29.870" Title="Is it sets per muscle or sets per exercise?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6150" CreationDate="2012-04-17T04:13:09.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll assume your goal is to gain strength, and that each set is 5 reps (a reasonable number of reps when focusing on strength gains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do 5 sets of 5 reps each on the bench press at a weight that lets you do another 5 sets of 5 reps each on the incline bench press, you're not lifting heavy enough to stimulate the quickest strength gains. You'd get more out of your time at the gym, and make quicker strength gains by lifting with heavier weights, such that you can just barely finish 5 sets of 5 reps of the bench press, and that's it. (Some programs say lift even heavier so that you can only do 3 sets of 5 reps, and leave it at that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3-5 sets of 5 reps on bench press is sufficient stress to stimulate adaptation so that when you do it again approximately 4 days later, you will be able to lift a few more pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When people talk about sets, they're talking about sets per exercise. But, when you set up your program, that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be synonymous with sets per muscle group, but don't split those sets between two exercises that are so close to each other as the bench and incline bench. Rather, pick the bench as your main chest lift, make sure you also include overhead press in your programming for your shoulders (on workouts alternating with your bench press workouts), and only do the incline bench press if it's really necessary as an occasional light assistance exercise (since all the muscles worked by the incline bench press are worked sufficiently by the bench press and overhead press).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-04-17T18:15:29.870" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T18:15:29.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6150" CreationDate="2012-04-17T12:42:09.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When describing exercise routines, people are referring to sets per exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But flat and incline bench have enormous amounts of overlap, so doing sets of five for both will mean that you are almost certainly shorting one or both of them with regards to maximal weight, meaning you will build bigger muscles but get strong less quickly. Picking one or the other--and perhaps alternating it with overhead press--would be superior for the goal of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T12:42:09.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6141" CreationDate="2012-04-17T15:09:55.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 MUST HAVES as far as gaining strength with minimal muscle mass increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1411657357&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Underground Secrets to Faster Running&lt;/a&gt; by Barry Ross focuses on his success with Allison Felix but is directly applicable to all distance runners.  Used in great programs including &lt;a href=&quot;http://espn.go.com/high-school/track-and-xc/video/clip?id=7321575&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bill Aris's Fayettville-Manlius&lt;/a&gt; 6 time NXN Champions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.coachrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coach Running DVDs&lt;/a&gt; which touch on EVERYTHING a distance runner needs to be successful.  Steve Magness talks in depth on how to structure weight sessions and aerobic training in order to gain strength without mass.  Jay Dicharry also provides TONS of strength training information.  These are the best DVDs I've watched on running and recommend them highly.  The cover it all and is applicable to all levels and all distances above 400m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best lessons I can share... monitor the rest and lift heavy with few sets .  Yes this is counterintuitive to the high reps, low weight programs often suggested. It works! The 2 resources above will provide you with tons more support and information as to why that is correct.  Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2012-04-17T15:22:49.770" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T15:22:49.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6110" CreationDate="2012-04-17T15:20:51.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just starting out?  Stay off the flat, stay off the track.  Hill work is the best way to stay injury free.  Hills also recruit more muscle fibers due to increased gravitational demands.  Here's the best way...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cIh22iYGOM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Warm up dynamically.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Find a hill that isn't too steep - use your judgment.&#xA;After each rep, jog or walk back down &amp;amp; rest for 3 minutes.&#xA;Use this progression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 1 - 4 reps, 15 seconds, 85% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 2 - 6 reps, 15 seconds, 85% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 3 - 8 reps, 15 seconds, 85% effort, last 1 all out&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 4 - 6 reps, 10 seconds, 95% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 5 - 8 reps, 10 seconds, 95% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 6 - 4 reps, 15 seconds, 95% effort; 2 reps on flat, 10 seconds, 95% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 7 - 2 reps, 20 seconds, 95% effort; 3 reps on flat, 15 seconds, 95% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Week 8 - all flat; 2 reps 10 seconds, 95% effort, 2 reps 20 seconds, 95% effort, 2 reps 10 seconds, 95% effort  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-17T18:03:51.840" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T18:03:51.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2012-04-17T15:36:43.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a similar answer, check this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1764/how-to-avoid-damaging-my-knee-when-training-for-and-running-a-marathon/1867#1867&quot;&gt;running knee pain&lt;/a&gt; thread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knee pain does not just go away as it is caused by weakness.  As a result, you need to strengthen the affected area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 reasons that usually cause knee pain while running&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1)  Weak Hips&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2)  Weak Thighs (Quads)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3)  Tight Hamstrings&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4)  Tight IT Band  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link shows a routine to address the 4 areas above and &lt;a href=&quot;http://christopherickes.com/running-blog/why-do-my-knees-hurt-from-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reduce Knee Pain from Running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T15:36:43.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2012-04-17T15:43:33.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @ChristopherIckes' answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add that I think you're running too far too soon. I would do a beginner's running program for 4 months to get to running 5km safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also advise seeing a physio. Your symptoms sound like a knee cap tracking problem which is often caused by weak muscles which a physio can help you with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T15:43:33.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5600" CreationDate="2012-04-17T20:57:57.577" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barring some kind of genetic abnormality, you will find almost no examples of a person accidentally gaining too much muscle.  In fact, the vast majority of people who &lt;em&gt;want to&lt;/em&gt; gain a lot of muscle still find it very difficult to do, because it requires not only an extended dedication to working out, but also a diet consisting of the right types of food -- often more of those foods than they would normally prefer to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it simply, avoiding muscle growth is not something that requires any special effort.  If your current diet allows you to maintain a &quot;slim&quot; build, simply maintain that diet while following whatever strength training routine you choose, optionally adding a healthy snack to offset the energy you're burning during exercise.  The biggest threat to your appearance is probably increased appetite and how you choose to respond to it.  If you're not eating specifically to gain, you will most likely gain very little, and what you do gain will come gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some fine advice here already on exercises, but make sure you don't ignore the role food plays when it comes to any fitness goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3138" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T20:57:57.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2012-04-17T21:05:11.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/02/i-am-a-90-year-old-bodybuilder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Guardian&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked at myself in the mirror one day, and saw an old man. I was overweight, my posture was terrible and there was skin hanging off me where muscle used to be. I looked like a wreck. I started to consider the fact that I was probably going to die soon. I knew I was supposed to slow down, but I'm vain. I missed my old body and wanted to be able to strut across the beach, turning heads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was already rowing six times a week, and there didn't seem any harm in pushing myself a bit harder to rebuild my muscles. So in my late-80s I joined a bodybuilding club.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything I learned was tailored to help my body cope with old age. I took up judo to teach me how to fall properly. My circulation and posture improved, and I was told that there was a chance more muscle mass could protect my brain from Alzheimer's. I stopped thinking about dying. As I approached 90, my focus was on getting my body back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[At] last year's event in Germany, I triumphed, scoring higher than any contestant in any age category for my 57 dips, 61 chin-ups, 50 push-ups and 48 abdominal crunches, each in 45 seconds. As I'm over 70, they did make allowances – I could do the push-ups on my knees, for example – but I proved I wasn't past it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had an athletic past, but as mentioned elsewhere, the science shows that any physical activity, particularly balance, strength, and mobility training, is of particular benefit for geezers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-04-17T21:05:11.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6185" CreationDate="2012-04-17T21:29:43.637" Score="3" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've started getting headaches mainly after leg-pressing on the machine.&#xA;They used to be pretty short and only last a few minutes, but they got worse and now they last for the full work-out + a few hours after I leave the gym.&#xA;Has anyone experienced this before? Is there anything I can do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3340" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T19:45:56.463" Title="Headache when working out" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6161" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6186" CreationDate="2012-04-17T23:42:55.490" Score="11" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm getting into a better routine of training regularly and I know I'm getting more fit. I can go for longer at the same rate of exertion that used to blow me out after a couple of minutes. I haven't tested myself recently, but I know that my HR at AT (implied by HR at VT) is higher than it was when I started training a year ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(AT is the Anaerobic Threshold - more modernly termed the Lactate Threshold - the point at which lactate starts to build up in the blood; VT is the Ventilatory Threshold - the point at which you start breathing &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; faster than you were at only a slightly lower level of exertion. VT is much more easily measured than AT or LT, and it serves as a proxy measure for them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my question - what is different in my body from a year ago? Do I have more mitochondria? Are they more efficient? Is the chemical balance in my body different? I know the &lt;em&gt;effects&lt;/em&gt; of training - I want to know what is actually changing as I get more fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3341" LastEditorUserId="3341" LastEditDate="2012-04-18T01:32:05.307" LastActivityDate="2012-04-22T09:21:15.807" Title="What is changing in my body as I become more fit (i.e., raising my HR @ VT)" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6165" CreationDate="2012-04-18T04:24:15.430" Score="4" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a  20 years old male who's always been fit. I love sport, and I always practice them such as football, rock climbing, skateboardind... and more. But I want to have a toned body. We never see my abs on my belly. So my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to get rid of my belly fat? It seems all the sport I did during my life did not diminish my belly fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3343" LastActivityDate="2012-04-18T16:06:53.707" Title="How to lose fat even if &quot;fit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6164" CreationDate="2012-04-18T09:01:48.997" Score="1" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is this gym legend going around where I train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My intake is 1g in the morning and 1g at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current training habit is:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight lifting:&lt;/strong&gt; (1 hour/5 days a week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio:&lt;/strong&gt; (1 hour of spinning OR walking OR boxing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-18T10:59:48.977" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T04:33:08.533" Title="Does Vitamin C help with recovery?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6163" CreationDate="2012-04-18T10:04:35.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does not help with recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It actually seems like recovery gets a bit worse with excessive intake of vitamin C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our opinion, antioxidant supplements are, at the least, useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antioxidant supplements in exercise: worse than useless? Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab February 15, 2012 302:E476-E477.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Results: The administration of vitamin C significantly (P = 0.014) hampered endurance capacity. The adverse effects of vitamin C may result from its capacity to reduce the exercise-induced expression of key transcription factors involved in mitochondrial biogenesis. These factors are peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor co-activator 1, nuclear respiratory factor 1, and mitochondrial transcription factor A. Vitamin C also prevented the exercise-induced expression of cytochrome C (a marker of mitochondrial content) and of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: Vitamin C supplementation decreases training efficiency because it prevents some cellular adaptations to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gomez-Cabrera MC, Domenech E, Romagnoli M, Arduini A, Borras C, Pallardo FV, Sastre J, Vina J. Oral administration of vitamin C decreases muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and hampers training-induced adaptations in endurance performance. Am J Clin Nutr 87: 142–149, 2008.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-04-18T10:04:35.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6162" CreationDate="2012-04-18T16:06:53.707" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short and pithy answer to your question is &quot;the same way you lose fat even if you aren't fit&quot;.  What this boils down to getting your food and exercise on a plan that will work for you.  There's a couple ways to approach it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High protein diet:&lt;/strong&gt; While &lt;a href=&quot;http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot;&gt;some reports&lt;/a&gt; state you don't need more than .82g protein per lb body weight (for body builders), protein does keep you satiated longer and requires more calories to process than any other macro nutrient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase conditioning:&lt;/strong&gt; Conditioning is anything that gets your heart rate up and improves your cardiovascular system.  This includes stuff like hitting a tire with a sledgehammer, running hill sprints, barbell complexes.  I find those more fun than running on a treadmill for what feels like hours on end.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase work:&lt;/strong&gt; Whether &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/plp_the_60day_challenge&quot;&gt;body weight work&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolov_Squat_Routine&quot;&gt;Smolov squat programming&lt;/a&gt;, several people have experienced their fat trimming down even though they haven't changed their eating habits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chad Waterbury's article on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/plp_the_60day_challenge&quot;&gt;Pullup/Lunge/Pushup 60 day challenge&lt;/a&gt; sheds some more light on the last bullet point.  In short, it all started out when a guy Chad was coaching said that the more pushups he does, the leaner he gets.  Essentially, High Frequency Training (HFT) is very effective for body transformations.  The PLP challenge is designed to maintain decent shoulder health and overall body work.  The way it works is you start out with a set of 1 or 10 (depending on how many pullups you can do at once).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1: starting number of reps: pullups, reverse lunges (each leg), pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2: add one to the number of reps: pullups, reverse lunges, pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;.... keep adding one each day until&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 60&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have to split the work up into sets do it.  You just have to get the total number of reps in that day.  You start low, and keep building.  By the end of the challenge, you will be doing 60 or 69 reps on day 60 (depending on your starting point).  Another important part of the challenge is not to do more than the prescribed reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-18T16:06:53.707" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6196" CreationDate="2012-04-18T19:42:17.470" Score="5" ViewCount="28883" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it true that using a blender with protein powder, like whey, is bad because the blender can break up the amino acids?  This sounds crazy to me, but I've heard it more than once, so I thought I'd ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best I could find was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/diet-bodybuilding/mixing-protein-shakes-blender-155924.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this forum&lt;/a&gt;.  This post&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mechanical agitation will have no effect on the chemical bonds of the protein. It's like saying that a blender will break up water into hydrogen and oxygen. Last time I checked that didn't happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you don't throw the shake into the microwave you are fine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;seemed compelling, but it didn't exactly cite anything to back it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3348" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T12:40:16.677" Title="Is it bad to use a blender with protein powder" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6174" CreationDate="2012-04-18T22:31:48.977" Score="12" ViewCount="22661" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that, while running, humans aren't designed to land heel-first, and should, instead, land on the balls of their feet. I've tried this while walking, but it is much more difficult to do, and I'm not sure it even helps anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to heel-strike while walking? Is it advisable one way or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T07:26:51.900" Title="Is it ok to heel-strike while walking?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6168" CreationDate="2012-04-18T23:01:13.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a key indicator is &quot;Does it hurt when I do this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you heel strike while running barefoot, it hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heel striking while walking barefoot, however, in most cases or terrain types doesn't hurt, and is much more comfortable than trying to forefoot strike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if you're wearing shoes, it takes some effort to land forefoot first while walking, since our center of gravity is generally well back from where our feet hit the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea is to watch babies/young children walking. Instinctively or mechanically, when they take their first steps they tend to land forefoot first (or mid foot) as they are quite tentative and keep their center of balance over where their foot hits the ground. But as they grow accustomed to walking and learn to take longer strides they transition to more of a heel strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is much research on foot strike while walking, since there is significantly less force involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-04-18T23:01:13.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6171" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-19T05:49:48.177" Score="2" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5988/is-my-current-strength-building-workout-good-to-start-off-with/6002#comment8687_6002&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, I have made modifications to my workout and would like input if it is now good or if it can still be improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My revised routine is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;10 pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;10 situp&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Short Break&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets of 5 reps of dumbbell bicep curls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets of 5 reps of dumbbell deadlifts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets of 5 reps of dumbbell squats&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Short Break&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets of 5 reps of dumbbell overhead press&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets of 5 reps of dumbbell bench press&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problems with my previous routine that I was really only working the bicep, which was not ideal for gaining strength in general. I've addressed that by incorporating these additional exercises (I hope).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming this workout is OK, is 3 sets of 5 reps with a heavy weight OK? Should it be less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I strive to do this every day, or every few days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-04-23T03:19:09.640" Title="Revised strength building workout - Is this decent? Can it be improved?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6172" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-19T05:51:51.337" Score="7" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;How important is it to have a consistent workout time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I workout one day at 6am, the next day at 8pm and then the next day at 3pm for example, will this have a negative impact or a negligible impact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking in general, although the types of exercises I am doing are pushups, situps and various dumbbell exercises for strength building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-20T22:06:09.223" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T11:46:56.407" Title="Does my workout time have to be consistent?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-19T06:25:35.073" Score="7" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often go for a long ride on Saturday mornings, typically riding about 55km before breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do the ride before eating anything in the morning. Another friend does the same ride but needs to eat breakfast before we go. He's much fitter and leaner than I am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it because I've got more body fat stored that I can ride without eating? Or some other conditioning thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3353" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-19T13:31:25.690" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T07:17:43.317" Title="Using energy stored in the body vs eating beforehand" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6168" CreationDate="2012-04-19T07:19:33.563" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;When walking, it is recommended that you gently place your foot on the ground heel first with your knee just slightly bent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have actually devoted time to observing the form and posture of individuals from cultures where traditional, natural posture and movement are still intact.  Individuals from these cultures very rarely experience back or joint pain.  If you are interested in learning how to stand, sit, lie down, bend over, or walk properly I highly recommend the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0979303605&quot;&gt;8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, and Foot&lt;/a&gt; (you can learn how to sit and stand correctly from the author herself in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yYJ4hEYudE&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a quick summary of how to take a step correctly (see the book for more information and diagrams/pictures):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Stand correctly (weight on heels, knees slightly bent, pelvis anteverted, back straight and not curved, except curving back slightly&#xA;  toward the bottom to let your buttocks stick out a little)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Shift your weight onto left leg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Simultaneously: a. Bend right knee, hinge at hip, let right leg relax b. Begin to straighten left leg, tighten left buttock, press&#xA;  heel into ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Extend right leg forward; increasingly straighten left leg and tighten left buttock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Push off strongly with left foot; further straighten left leg, tighten left buttock, press left heel into the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Gently place right foot on the ground, heel first, knee slightly bent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Relax left leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly, that can be hard to understand without pictures... you should end up having your buttock muscles doing most of the work; your quads should be hardly involved at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book also notes that it is correct to walk in a line... that is if you are walking on a line in the sidewalk the inner edge of your heels should be touching the line.  Your feet should point just the slightest bit outward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastEditorUserId="3354" LastEditDate="2012-04-19T07:26:51.900" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T07:26:51.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6171" CreationDate="2012-04-19T15:52:52.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest picking up the book &quot;Fit&quot; by Jason Lasceck and Lon Kilgore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, what do you consider a heavy weight? 3 sets of 5 reps is good for building strength, provided you are stressing the body and allowing time for recovery (and eating right plus getting good sleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T15:52:52.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6173" CreationDate="2012-04-19T15:55:39.343" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way of looking at aerobic function is as the bodies ability to burn fat for fuel at a given pace or speed. Anaerobic function then is the bodies ability to burn sugar for fuel when we move beyond the pace at which we can burn primarily fat. Heart rate is often a good indicator of which mode we're in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intervals and speed training, then, burn mostly sugar for fuel. Weight loss when engaged in this type of activity comes from the elevation of the metabolic process extending long after the workout, and is the net result of how elevated the metabolic rate is and for how long, and the caloric intake necessary to provide sugar to fuel this type of workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training at a slightly lower intensity, where we burn primarily fat for fuel, can do two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train our body to burn fat more efficiently. Fat is actually a much richer energy source than sugar, so the body will happily burn fat unless we provide it with extraordinary amounts of sugar or train frequently at a rate where it's impossible to burn fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the pace at which we can train while still in the aerobic metabolic range. For example: I use a heart rate monitor to avoid entering the anaerobic while training. At first, I had to run maddeningly slow to do so, somewhere around 14 minutes per mile. Six months later I was happily running 9-minute-miles at the same heart rate, for the same length of time. This is referred to in pro cycling as the &quot;base-building&quot; training phase, where they ride hours and hours of long, &quot;easy&quot; miles in the winter early spring to prepare for the summer racing season.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the difference between you and your friend is that you burn more fat than he does at a given pace, which while it would seem strange given your statement that he is more &quot;lean and fit&quot; than you, is at least a hypothesis that shouldn't be rejected outright. If you ride lots of slightly slower miles, your aerobic function can indeed be better than your friend, resulting in your ability to burn fat on your Saturday morning rides, while your friend relies primarily on sugar/carbs for fuel and therefore has to replenish them after the ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: much of what I've said is based on Phil Maffetone's studies of aerobic function and fitness (&lt;a href=&quot;http://philmaffetone.com/the159marathonpart2.cfm&quot;&gt;example here&lt;/a&gt;). Phil takes a somewhat eccentric approach to life, training, and medicine, but the aerobic fitness training works for me, so why throw the baby out with the bath water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T15:55:39.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6167" CreationDate="2012-04-19T15:55:46.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It won't hurt the protein powder. Many people use a shaker or a blender. Blender is popular when mixing with fruit to make a smoothie type of product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T15:55:46.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6171" CreationDate="2012-04-19T16:29:18.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Perspective&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout programs can always be improved. Don't worry if this isn't perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks like a good plan to get acquainted. A standard approach would be to pick an off-the-rack program such as Starting Strength, Building the Gymnastic Body, Power to the People or similar, but if all you have is dumbbells then this is a good start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three sets of five is fine if you're going heavy. If 3x5 is too easy because the dumbbells are too light, either get heavier weights (perhaps a barbell) or do more reps per set. Pavel Tsatsouline's Enter the Kettlebell has some good methods for improving strength without changing the weight: ladders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pick a kettlebell you can clean and press--a clean before each press, that is--roughly five to eight times. C&amp;amp;P it once with your weaker arm, switch hands and put it up with your stronger arm. Rest. Two reps. Another short break. Three reps. Then start over at one. Do three ladders, for a total of 18 repetitions, the first week; add a ladder the next week and a ladder the week after. Five ladders, total 30 reps.... The fourth week keep the number of ladders at five, but now try to work up to 4 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &quot;ladder&quot; approach may help if you have a dumbbell that is challenging but not impossible for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But all of this doesn't matter. Training hard, training consistently, and eating well are what matter. If your workout is a doable challenge, in the grand scheme of things you're fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tweaks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally you'd start with a brief whole-body workout, like a jog, dynamic stretching, or joint rotations. The pushups and situps should be easy enough to count as warm-up. Over time, try to eliminate the break after them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is tacking a quick 5- or 10-minute all-out conditioning session at the end. Or you could do sprints, either in a separate workout or interspersed with the lifting. (Dan John, Robb Wolf and Greg Glassman are big on lift-plus-sprint couplet workouts.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Long-term issues&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary problem with this plan is that the weight will very quickly stop being &quot;heavy&quot; to you. With even a couple weeks of training, most humans get very good at squatting and deadlifting much heavier weights than they can curl or press. It's likely that you'll stop challenging yourself on the lower-body exercises fairly quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that point, you'll probably want to research Pavel's material as noted above, or look into pistols (one-leg squats), jump squats, single-leg deadlifts, Romanian dumbbell deadlifts, and other ways of continuing to challenge your squat and &quot;hinge&quot; (deadlift) strength. Maybe you'll move to barbell, kettlebell, Olympic, or gymnastic work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-23T03:19:09.640" LastActivityDate="2012-04-23T03:19:09.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6171" CreationDate="2012-04-19T17:07:24.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I support all of what's in Dave's answer, but I'll add a bit extra... maybe we can merge the two together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely an improvement over your first routine. I have some more points for improvement, but as a novice, you can do almost any routine and see strength gains. Like Dave said in his answer, as long as you're training consistently, challenging yourself, and eating right, you'll get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my points for improvement, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exercise choice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably don't need to include push-ups, since you're doing bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chin-ups would be a better exercise than bicep curls, but maybe that's not available to you. Chin-ups are a more functional exercise, and also work your back at the same time as biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Scheduling&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting heavy enough such that 3 sets of 5 reps is just barely do-able (which would be a very good way to stimulate the quickest strength gains), you won't be able to do bench press &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; overhead press in the same workout, at least not optimally. This is because they each use a small amount of muscles and both need your triceps quite a bit. Better would be to alternate between those two. One workout, you do bench press. The next workout, you do overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do squats and deadlifts in the same workout, but you shouldn't put them one after the other. Put your bench press or overhead press in between squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need a rest-day to allow for muscle recovery, adaptation, and strength gains. Do this workout every second day, and you'll notice more reliable and steady progress than if you did this every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Progression&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to find a way to progressively increase the load each workout. Dave talks a lot about this in his answer, but for example, &quot;10 situps&quot; will not be difficult for you after a couple of workouts. Better would be to plan to do &quot;3 sets to failure&quot;, and you should always be doing more each workout. Your 3x5's for the weighted exercises look like a good start, but you'll need to get creative to progressively load these if you're limited to dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T17:07:24.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6172" CreationDate="2012-04-20T21:58:04.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you are allowing time for recovery, it shouldn't matter for general fitness. Make sure you are eating right and your sleep is good and you should be all set&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T21:58:04.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6172" CreationDate="2012-04-21T18:14:09.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something to consider for others who might read this post:  If you are a runner and training to run a long race (marathon or the sort) and you know the race will be in the morning, it might make sense to do a lot of runs in the morning.  Ideally you run about the same time you race for two reasons:  1) Getting used to running that time of day can be important.  It'll be good to get your body/mind used to running hard in the AM if you are not used to it.  2) Bathroom habits can be training/learned.  If you get up and run each day at the same time you can eventually 'learn' to go to the bathroom before your run.  Could save you a few minutes race day if you have already taken a 'pit stop' before the race is underway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can also be applied to multi-day running.  If you will race through the night, it will be wise to train your body (and know what it feels like) to run at 'weird hours'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise I agree with the above, as long as you have good time for recovery, anytime will suffice for training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-04-21T18:14:09.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6160" CreationDate="2012-04-22T08:07:13.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like squats, leg press is one of those exercises where you may see stars if your blood circulation is bad, you are dehydrated, or you are not breathing correctly. If it is none of that, it could just be benign &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.headaches.org/education/Headache_Topic_Sheets/Exertional_Headaches&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exertion headaches&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever it is, I would see a doctor immediately. Not to scare you, but if you have an underlying condition then doing leg presses is just asking for an aneurysm. Better to get an MRI then be sorry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3366" LastActivityDate="2012-04-22T08:07:13.570" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6161" CreationDate="2012-04-22T09:21:15.807" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question,  “What is different in my body from a year ago?&quot; Just about everything!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More mitochondria? - Yes, esp. if your training includes aerobic or endurance exercise. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0129.htm&quot;&gt;Dudley's research&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;an increase in the intensity of training brings about the greatest adaptive response in the mitochondria.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are they more efficient? - Yes.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2715293/&quot;&gt;this reference&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Endurance exercise enhances mitochondrial function across the life span.”&#xA;  “Eight weeks of treadmill training (80% peak O2 uptake, 5 d/wk) augmented mitochondrial function, maximal rate of ATP synthesis in isolated mitochondria,  and whole-body maximal O2 uptake.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chemical Balance different? - Yes, AceFitness has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/2227/the-link-between-the-endocrine-system-and-exercise/?CMP=EMC-CertifiedNews_0112&quot;&gt;nice summary&lt;/a&gt; of some of the changes exercise causes in the glands of the endocrine system and hormone secreations affecting bone and muscle growth, blood pressure, insulin levels, and mood elevation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise affects: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nel.edu/26-2005_6_pdf/NEL260605A14_Ciloglu.pdf&quot;&gt;thyroid hormones&lt;/a&gt; that regulate &quot;general metabolism, growth,&#xA;and tissue differentiation as well as gene expression&quot; and fatty acid oxidation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The results of this study show that exercise performed at the anaerobic&#xA;  threshold (70% of maximum heart rate, lactate level 4.59 ± 1.75 mmol/l) caused&#xA;  the most prominent changes in the amount of any hormone values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increases in concentrations of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/cholesterolNEW.html&quot;&gt;HDL&lt;/a&gt; (High-density lipoprotein cholesterol)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;strong&gt;cardio-vascular system&lt;/strong&gt; adapts and two important changes include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase in stroke volume - how much blood the heart pumps with each contraction making it more efficient with each heart beat.  The heart muscle increases to meet that need.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lower resting heart rate so it beats less frequently. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a start to some of the changes taking place, but the full answer includes changes in muscle fibers, respiration, blood vessel elasticity, body composition etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-04-22T09:21:15.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6888" CreationDate="2012-04-22T13:02:17.760" Score="4" ViewCount="11200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 22-year-old &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovo_vegetarianism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eggetarian&lt;/a&gt; guy. I hate all non-vegetarian food, so changing my diet is not an option for me. I eat milk shakes, milk products, and eggs every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried all protein milk, shakes, tofu, going to the gym, etc., but nothing has helped me gain weight. One year ago my weight increased from 52.7 kg. to 60 kg. After that my increase in weight stopped. I want to bring my weight up to 70-75 kilograms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to achieve more weight with natural methods and without going non-vegetarian? I am in a sitting job in software, no field work. I weight 60kg with a height of 5 feet and 9 inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T21:25:59.500" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T21:20:42.880" Title="How to gain weight without supplements and non veg" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2012-04-22T21:15:42.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body needs stimulus to grow. Then it needs food to fuel that growth. Working out without increasing food intake will cause you to get leaner and somewhat more fit. Increasing food intake without working out will make you bigger only by making you more fat. Neither of those are a good idea for your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/6836#6836&quot;&gt;Here's what I'd do&lt;/a&gt;. I'd &lt;strong&gt;eat a lot more food&lt;/strong&gt; than you currently do: at least three big meals a day, each with significant portions of animal protein. Shoot for at least a dozen eggs and half a gallon of milk a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But your body isn't going to be hungry, and isn't going to do anything &lt;em&gt;useful&lt;/em&gt; with the extra food, if you don't tell it what to do. I'd start &lt;strong&gt;lifting heavy&lt;/strong&gt; three times a week: barbell squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, overhead presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T21:30:08.493" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5989" CreationDate="2012-04-23T15:01:01.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you eat excess protein, your body leaches calcium from other sources in order to process the unnecessary protein. This means it will take calcium from your bones, if needed. The calcium loss can result in many health problems, including osteoporosis. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msu.edu/~corcora5/food/vegan/calcium+protein.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article from Michigan State University&lt;/a&gt;, the average Western diet includes double the protein needed for the body. The article also states, &lt;code&gt;&quot;Several studies show that extra calcium beyond the minimum requirement of 400 mg does little or nothing to stave off osteoporosis.&quot;&lt;/code&gt;, claiming the repeated studies have shown that bone loss is not related to calcium intake, but calcium losses due to above-RDA protein intakes. Studies have shown that doubling your protein intake causes a 50% higher rate of calcium loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to try digging more deeply into the real science behind all of the interactions between protein and calcium, &lt;a href=&quot;http://jpkc.scu.edu.cn/ywwy/zbsw(E)/edetail6.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article from The American Society for Nutritional Sciences&lt;/a&gt; has some less cryptic information about the calcium-protein interactions in the body, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://jpkc.scu.edu.cn/ywwy/zbsw(E)/edetail6.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; has lots of diagrams of various chemical reactions in the body. The last mentioned page ends with the sentence, &lt;code&gt;&quot;In actual fact, signaling pathways in the cell are much more complex.&quot;&lt;/code&gt;, and the following image:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lOQX5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;In actual fact, signaling pathways in the cell are much more complex.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2012-04-23T15:01:01.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2012-04-23T15:51:11.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Machine wash as normal  and air dry but put baking soda in them and shake and let air dry. the smell has never come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3374" LastActivityDate="2012-04-23T15:51:11.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6202" CreationDate="2012-04-24T01:57:08.883" Score="11" ViewCount="12038" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'6, weigh 137, male  and close to be 24 soon. I am not happy with my height. I love sports, basketball, soccer, and others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being this short have some influence on sport activities I participated especially, on basketball. Because of that reason and some other personal reasons (like my girl friend is taller than me for e.g ..lol) I wanted to increase my height as much and as soon as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried one exercise (Grow taller 4 idiots) and I had some back pain after trying it for 3 weeks and then I stopped it. Now, its been a year after I stopped the exercise. But, I am still hopeful that there is a away for me to grow up at least 1-3 inchs. And if I get the right exercise I will take my time and do it even for half year. This much is my eager to be taller because, I saw the effects many times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are those advertisements that we see on the web and tv are gimmicks? Is there any other not natural way to increase height without a side effect? Since I also wanted to be physically fit (as you can see i am 136 pound), I want to make sure working dumb bells won't have any effect on increasing height. Should both exercises go together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI: if it has an effect, genetically both my dad and mom are short as well . but I have other relatives like my cousins and uncles who are 6'2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3378" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T11:34:21.390" Title="How to Increase height naturally? Are those ads gimmicks?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6197" CreationDate="2012-04-24T07:43:03.200" Score="4" ViewCount="2083" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested to know what is the recommended speed for each repetition on weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that doing 4 seconds (2-up 2-down) makes my muscles very big but the amount of weight I can lift goes down considerably (of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a recommended speed for each repetition in order to improve muscle growth and avoid injuries because of too much weight?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some information:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Each muscle has 4 different exercises and in between reps I give 1 minute of rest:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1st/3rd&lt;/strong&gt; exercise: 1 set of 10 reps, 1 set of 8 reps, 1 set of 6 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2nd/4th&lt;/strong&gt; exercise: 3 sets of 8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastActivityDate="2012-04-24T15:16:53.790" Title="Recommended repetition speed on weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6350" CreationDate="2012-04-24T07:51:07.683" Score="11" ViewCount="5012" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard at my gym of some guys having a small snack consisting of carbs (a fruit or cereal bar) before the protein shake and their reasoning is that the carbs will be &quot;burned&quot; by the system first letting the protein to recover the muscles later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is even some sort of timing for this: 1 cereal bar right after work out and protein shake 30-60 minutes after workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does any study/article backs this kind of rationale?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T02:14:37.590" Title="Does eating carbs after workout improve absorption of protein shake?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;snacks&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6167" CreationDate="2012-04-24T08:10:30.780" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mechanical agitation can denature proteins, so that the proteins will no longer function correctly in their original state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, it's likely the proteins are already denatured as a consequence of manufacturing. And, your digestive system will break down the proteins into amino acids anyway, in order to rebuild them into new proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mechanical agitation (by a blender) cannot break up amino acid components, which are molecular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I cannot imagine that blending the protein will make any difference to the nutritional value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3380" LastEditorUserId="3380" LastEditDate="2012-04-24T08:16:50.927" LastActivityDate="2012-04-24T08:16:50.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6194" CreationDate="2012-04-24T15:08:34.410" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To summarize from a study published in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20351575&quot;&gt;nlm.nih&lt;/a&gt;, lifting at a moderate tempo will allow you to lift more than you can at a slower tempo. This is very intuitive, as the slower you lift the more strength you exert and the sooner you will reach exhaustion. The study also concluded that there is no discernible difference in hormonal response for slow/fast tempos; however, this is not to say that your metabolic response will also be the same when lifting slow/fast. The information I've seen has been largely divided this point, with most stating that the difference between slow and moderate is negligible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as recommended speed, that depends on you. It's important to realize that each technique has its own pros and cons, and you will have to weigh those pros and cons against your fitness goals and current situation to evaluate what will work best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slow-pace:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy to get stuck mid-rep because you don't have tempo helping you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improves control and stabilization.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow = lower weight, &lt;em&gt;potentially&lt;/em&gt; lower strength gains. Most likely equivalent with moderate. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great for home gyms that don't have much, because it allows you to do more with less weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Moderate-pace:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy to get stuck mid rep since you are lifting heavier weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher weights = higher strength gains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderate pace allows for you to concentrate on proper form, not speed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Requires access to an extensive weight set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fast-pace:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Highest risk of using improper form if using high weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowest strength gains because you don't spend enough time in the concentric/eccentric movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Typically associated with low-weight and high-rep, which gives low strength gains but high endurance and conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally, some of these rules will not apply in all scenarios (doing 5 second pushups doesn't require an extensive weight set, just a fit body), and some of these rules you won't care about at all (maybe you're a member of a gym). You'll have to come to these conclusions on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus: there is actually more to tempo than just going slow/medium/fast; for example, you might go slow on the concentric part of the lift, and moderate on the eccentric part. &lt;a href=&quot;http://theswole.com/general/fast-vs-slow/&quot;&gt;Here is a good article&lt;/a&gt; on the types of variations of tempo can you do, and what their benefits are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-04-24T15:16:53.790" LastActivityDate="2012-04-24T15:16:53.790" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-24T18:51:29.017" Score="4" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm do a mixed workout intended to have both muscle-building and general fitness boosting and want to understand &lt;em&gt;how meal size prior to it&lt;/em&gt; affects value of that workout.  Here are the relevant facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;  hi reps bench press, pull ups, curls, tri push-downs, capoeira, treadmill running.  Fairly intense, 2 hrs, ~3x/week.  Burn ~1,000 calories, estimated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meal timing:&lt;/strong&gt;  Normally my workout is from ~5:40pm--7:40pm.  I eat no breakfast other than a coffee w/ soymilk (9am) and then have a 500 calorie lunch (noon) and a 200-400 calorie snack later (3pm).  My diet is a little low in protein due to being partially vegetarian, so I powder supplement though not strictly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New datapoint:&lt;/strong&gt; However, yesterday, despite having lunch, I attended an afternoon event and rather pigged out on free chicken strips, fruit with cream topping, cheese and crackers, and a macaroon!  I felt somewhat full by 4:30pm and expected my workout to lag due to it.  &lt;strong&gt;But, my workout then went &lt;em&gt;very well&lt;/em&gt;--I lifted and ran something like personal bests for this time period.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;  is there any evidence or conventional wisdom that a well-timed large meal can boost in-gym performance and/or the gains that result from it?  What's known about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2012-07-27T14:16:08.220" Title="Good effect of meal size/timing on later mixed workout performance?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6201" CreationDate="2012-04-24T20:18:53.447" Score="4" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently tried to squat using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/leg_machines/bodysolid_leverage_squat_calf_raise_machine_grey/7132_p.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;squat calf machine&lt;/a&gt; and I found it very practical and efficient for when you are training alone without a spotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MJqU3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have few questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the main differences between the &quot;squat calf machine&quot; and &quot;free weights squats&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which creates less &quot;probability&quot; for knee injury while squatting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, does the &lt;b&gt;Inclination&lt;/b&gt; of the feet stand in the &quot;squat calf machine&quot; serve for sthg? or is it just a matter of shape/design?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-24T20:57:03.430" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T11:30:06.613" Title="Squat calf machine v/s free weights Squats: Efficiency and knee safety" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;machine&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6200" CreationDate="2012-04-24T20:44:39.203" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Probability of injury&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; low probability of knee injury while squatting if you keep your knees tracking parallel to your feet, and descend to a depth that places the top of your thighs slightly lower than parallel to the ground. The same is true for leg presses (and I will assume also for the machine you're asking about).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two references that demonstrate the lack of ACL force during a squat or leg press are listed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5134/3085&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Differences between your machine and a barbell squat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a machine, the path of the weight is defined by the mechanics of the machine. You are not responsible for controlling the path the weight takes, only for pushing the weight along that path. This makes the machine exercise an easier exercise than the barbell lift. It is also less functional. You will need to use your back and abs &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; when you do the lift with a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The path that the machine defines may not be optimal for your particular limb dimensions. When you lift a barbell, you can move it in a way that is optimal for you. (For a squat, this means keeping the bar directly over your midfoot, you'll be sitting back, with your knees not extending too far past your toes.) When you let the machine define the path, that path may vary from the optimal path for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T11:30:06.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6193" CreationDate="2012-04-24T20:58:06.957" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't increase your height. But, you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; increase your vertical, especially if your goal is only a 3-4 inch increase. If you're just playing amateur level sports, and make it your goal to have a massive vertical jump, you'll more than make up for your lack of height. Very few people will put in the time needed to get a huge vertical at the amateur level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Suggestions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power cleans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyometrics (once your barbell squat is up to about 1.5x your bodyweight... because until then, you'll get better vertical gains by simply increasing your strength)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read the &lt;a href=&quot;http://msuathletics.ru/books/bible/vert_jump_bible.pdf&quot;&gt;Vertical Jump Bible&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-04-24T20:58:06.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3847" CreationDate="2012-04-24T21:54:02.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my own experience, I used to do trail running, and I tended to have knee pain after the 10k mark (6.2mi). My (partial) solution was to exercise the quadriceps in static weight machines before training on the treadmill or outdoors. This approach significantly reduced my knee pain (and calf pain) after training or after a race. I think that the impact is transferred more to the muscle than to the knee. Anyway, I recommend you see a physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3383" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-05-16T13:29:40.543" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T13:29:40.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-25T07:02:28.707" Score="0" ViewCount="1173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am computer science student. To do programming homework, I have left fat stomach and breast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to get rid of fat stomach, I have started to do sit-ups. However, How can I get rid of fat breast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I am male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3384" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-25T19:12:51.003" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T19:12:51.003" Title="How can I get rid of fat breast" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6205" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6206" CreationDate="2012-04-25T09:12:44.240" Score="6" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had few back and shoulder injuries over the years which left me terrified of those happening again. The recovery was slow and I lost much of the ground I've gained since I had to go with lower weights and better posture, almost in a physiotherapy way. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard from an instructor that heavy lifter tend to injury since they &lt;em&gt;tend to concentrate on only a smaller set of muscles and some of the more &quot;difficult&quot; muscles to target are not exercised properly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So recently on those chit-chats on the gym someone mentioned that I should start doing &quot;foundation&quot; exercises in between sets, during the rest period. &lt;strong&gt;Those exercises would be with barely or no weight at all, slow speed and higher repetition and they should not be focusing on the muscle being worked&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of biceps curl, during the rest, execute 15 reps of forearm&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of bench press -&gt; alternating deltoid raise&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I would like to know what are the pros/cons for this approach?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If anyone here thinks it is okay to start with this regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T13:17:40.330" Title="Low weight exercises in between sets" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6205" CreationDate="2012-04-25T12:23:47.803" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do have the right basic concept that low weight exercises can help build smaller muscles.  However, it does require a better understanding of kinesiology (exercise science) to know which small muscles need help, how often, and when.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, lifters who focus on bench press and rows will have the major muscle groups exercised.  However, the rotator cuff can go unused because all the surrounding muscles are compensating.  The more you keep lifting heavy, the worse the problem gets.  Eventually you can get a rotator cuff injury which will keep you off the bench for a while.  The guys over at DeiselCrew.com &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/A0ONHZmsFec&quot;&gt;have a great video&lt;/a&gt; for a week of shoulder rehab you can do to strengthen the smaller muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are other complementary main exercises a lifter can do to keep healthy rotator cuffs, and other stabilizer muscles.  For example, the standing overhead press does a good job of maintaining shoulder health.  You can't do it for as much weight as the bench, and it exercises the shoulders on a different plane of loading that is more ideal for the way our body is built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some small exercises are superfluous when combined with other compound lifts.  For example, forearm curls make no sense when you do heavy deadlifts and/or pullups/chinups.  The reason being that your forearms get more than enough stimulus holding on to the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the bottom line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very low weight resistance isolation exercises are great for rehab/prehab of smaller supporting muscle groups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compound lifts do exercise the majority of small muscles, with some notable exceptions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just as problematic as underuse (atrophy) is overuse injuries.  The most common form of overuse injury is tendinitis--an inflammation of the tendons in the joint being overused.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't neglect mobility.  Mobility exercises can prevent a different sort of injury due to not having the flexibility to do your main exercises with proper form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better approach would be to diagnose and resolve problems.  If the problems are common enough, you can plan regular maintenance.  For example, once a month you can run the shoulder rehab protocol to maintain healthy shoulders.  You'll want to see what existing rehab/prehab routines there are, and then plan to incorporate them at different times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T12:23:47.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6204" CreationDate="2012-04-25T12:35:16.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The breast is adipose tissue, or fat.  It's common in teenage males, those who take anabolic steroids, and older men.  You do need to attack it on two fronts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get leaner.  You may have a flat stomach, but you still have some extra fat.  This is done with your diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get stronger.  This will help you burn more calories over the long run, and build the muscle that is underneath the adipose tissue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be amazed at what you can do with just body weight exercise.  Try this challenge for 60 days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only let yourself have junk food for one 3 hour block during a calendar week.  Make sure you have a serving of protein with every meal (best is animal protein like beef or chicken).  Junk food is anything fried, found in the snack aisle, or classified as a dessert (this includes donuts).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each day add one more of each.  You can split the work up into multiple sets if you need to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See what happens after 60 days.  This is not a fully balanced workout, as you aren't doing much for your back.  However, it's a start.  Feel free to do other exercises during the day if you want, but this is your baseline activity.  Don't jump ahead, build up one rep a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T12:35:16.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6205" CreationDate="2012-04-25T13:17:40.330" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not always necessary to focus so diligently on &quot;out-of-the-way&quot; muscles, but for many athletes with prior injuries or non-athletes it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More important than exercises like this is programming a lifting regimen that is well-balanced. Pushes like the bench press should be balanced with pulls like rows or pull-ups, squats should be complemented with deadlifts, curls (if you must) should be balanced with extension work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also more fundamental than getting the &quot;small muscles&quot; is working on mobility generally. Getting your hip, shoulder and other joints operating freely is a major project for most people and is highly productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a well-balanced strength and mobility program, it's awesome to start collecting a variety of low-weight exercises meant to target injury-prone areas for prehabilitation. I've been told that these from an excellent Men's Journal article called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/print/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie&lt;/a&gt; are reasonable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/54kmR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also enjoyed Hindu pushups, Cuban presses, kettlebell halos, and dynamic stretches like arm and leg swings per Tom Kurz. When I do those regularly, my body feels more solid and less creaky when I play sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T13:17:40.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-25T15:15:28.960" Score="2" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;What can I eat the night before I go to bed to help me get up in the morning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My issue is not waking up, or being lazy, nor is it my body being sore. But there are times when my body will refuse to move in the morning and it will sometimes take me anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes before I can gather enough energy to push myself into a sitting position.  Once sitting I'm a bit better and once I get something into my stomach everything is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From everything I'm reading, pretty much anything I eat before I go to bed will get used by as energy, to rebuild muscle or get stored as fat.  Currently, I'm taking a casein shake before going to bed which hasn't had any negative effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone have a clue.  Should I just have a jar or raisins on the night stand as quick energy in the morning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: Well, I do not know if this is fitness related or not, that's the issue. I do go to the gym three times a week and workout fairly intensely. I have also started counting calories in the last couple of weeks to stay within 1800 calories daily and adding more based on whatever activity I'm doing.  And have been slowly burning off fat, hopefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My caloric intake is 50/50 carbohydrate/protein (hovering at 200 grams each), fat will vary from 10 to 40 grams day to day.  But as I said I'm keeping caloric intake to around 1800 calories, so on days when I consume more fats, I'll usually intake less carbohydrates and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the gym I usually burn about 600 calories on weights alone and the scale seems to confirm that.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that's enough information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2012-04-26T01:43:06.127" LastActivityDate="2012-04-26T01:43:06.127" Title="What can I eat the night before to help me get up in the morning?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-04-25T19:20:58.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-25T17:39:18.843" Score="0" ViewCount="535" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have any recommendations on good places to shop to get paleo diet meals/ingredients?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My status as of today: I don't shop much, and I barely cook. Premade meals are neat, and so are stores where I don't have to worry about reading every single label. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3387" LastEditorUserId="3387" LastEditDate="2012-04-25T20:27:39.117" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T20:27:39.117" Title="Good places to shop for paleo diet?" Tags="&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2012-04-25T19:11:54.890" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6211" CreationDate="2012-04-25T17:55:54.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the most effective strategy for the average person is to shop for their lean meats and veggies on a day that you have off work and prepare a large number of meals upfront and freeze some. To meet the minimum requirement for Paleo you can buy good ingredients at your local supermarket. If you want to go a little more down the proverbial rabbit hole you can buy grass-fed beef and bison as well as free-range chicken and wild caught fish. Check the web for local farmers' markets as well. It is unlikely that we will ever find convenient pre-made meals in our supermarkets that are Paleo as the higher degree of processing required would take such meals out of line with the dietary philosophy. For small snacks you can combine dried fruits (no added sugar), unsalted nuts, and jerky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said their are services out there that you can find. It might take some searching on Google or networking. My wife, for example, prepares Paleo meals for a few people I work with. We do lunch-hour crossfit sessions and many of the participants are Paleo eaters. So you might find someone like that who could shop and prepare the meals for you. She charges $5.00 per meal (but it's just for the people I work with, sorry!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some links for you that might help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paleobrands.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.paleobrands.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paleoplan.com/resources/sampler-menu-meal-plan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.paleoplan.com/resources/sampler-menu-meal-plan/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/2011/01/16/pre-cooking-paleo-diet-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://robbwolf.com/2011/01/16/pre-cooking-paleo-diet-food/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T17:55:54.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6209" CreationDate="2012-04-25T18:49:15.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you explain what you mean a little bit more? You say that it isn't being lazy and that leads me to believe it isn't just a casual &quot;I'm tired and don't &lt;strong&gt;want&lt;/strong&gt; to get out of bed&quot; sort of feeling. If you are seriously facing a situation where despite your best effort you are suffering from some sort of near paralysis you might need to see a doctor. If it is just a casual feeling of lethargy try placing your alarm on the other side of the room and cranking it up loud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strategy I have used is taking melatonin at night. When I take it and have a good night's sleep I wake up feeling very rested and just plain content. It's quite easy to get out of bed when I feel that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T18:49:15.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2012-04-25T21:08:24.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is a foolish idea to try and start eating more before you start at the gym. Resistance exercise should increase your appetite and muscle mass. You will likely need to consume around 2200 calories &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;or more&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to achieve your goal weight. I am assuming you are around 5' 10&quot; (around 177 CM). I would also suggest about 240 grams of protein per day. You are going to need to take a supplement. Whey protein &lt;strong&gt;isolate&lt;/strong&gt; is low in fat and does not contain lactose. It should be ok for you to take considering your digestive issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a second point, if you are not against eating meat for ethical reasons, I would suggest that you consider trying the Paleo Diet as Dave Liepmann suggested. I cannot offer you factual scientific evidence to support this as no studies have been done, but I have known several people who discovered that their digestive issues were in fact linked to gluten sensitivity and not to eating heavy or fatty foods. They tried Paleo Diet for 30 days and it completely changed them. I would be interested in knowing if Dave has anything concrete, rather than anecdote, he can add to this as I certainly do not...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone your age, I think it might be worth trying as it seems to be a good way to build some lean muscle in conjunction with a resistance training program. Otherwise you are just going to have to increase your protein intake to around 240 grams and ensure your are eating over 2200 calories per day in conjunction with a resistance training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding your edits:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain the weight, you need to eat the calories. My estimate was within the proper range for your height and weight. Ensure that you are consuming at least 2200 calories per day (and of that 240 grams of protein) and that you are doing so relatively evenly through the day. You may need to eat more and you may need to increase that as you get closer to your goal. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You need to practice a resistance routine in conjunction with this or the weight you gain will be mostly fat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; It is a biological fact regardless of how you feel or your previous experience. If your body does not have a need to store the additional weight as metabolically expensive muscle, it will not do so. The only other alternative is fat. If you want to start going to the gym as a &quot;skinny fat&quot; individual rather than just a skinny individual, that is your choice. Notice I am not saying weights, I am saying resistance. it could be a combination of pushups at different angles and hand positions, pullups, dips, and unweighted squats and lunges. But again, if your body has no need to store it as muscle due to your activity, you will just get fat. QED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastEditorUserId="3333" LastEditDate="2012-04-26T12:12:52.650" LastActivityDate="2012-04-26T12:12:52.650" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6218" CreationDate="2012-04-25T21:28:05.860" Score="0" ViewCount="1235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure it's all in the question. Let's assume I'm talking about the standard kind of beer, you know, the kind I can buy in a pub (as you can tell, I don't know much about beer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3387" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T21:48:39.190" Title="Can I drink beer on the paleo diet?" Tags="&lt;paleo-diet&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-04-26T08:52:32.340" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6217" CreationDate="2012-04-25T21:48:39.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Paleo framework starts from the perspective that most people will find that grains, legumes, dairy, being anti-social, getting no sunlight or exercise, and eating too many carbs for their exercise level will be problematic, for genetic and epigenetic reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, here's the Paleo test at its most bare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; Does it cause you gastrointestinal distress? Are you sure?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's really it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try abstaining from grains (like beer), legumes and dairy for thirty days. Then re-introduce these items one by one, and gauge your response. People are different. Some people can handle these items better than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T21:48:39.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6220" CreationDate="2012-04-25T22:12:59.860" Score="4" ViewCount="362" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to workout regularly (long time ago, by going to the gym), but it's about 9 years, I have had no workout or any such activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have put on some weight specially my belly and buttocks. I want to start working out again, and burn the fat. Now I don't know where to begin. Does anyone know a good tutorial/guide where to start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I'd better consult some expert in this field, but here I can find no one! My only hope of finding a guide is internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3388" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T23:46:36.547" Title="How to begin workout after 9 years of no workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6219" CreationDate="2012-04-25T22:28:37.363" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2044/how-can-an-overweight-engineer-get-back-in-shape/2058#2058&quot;&gt;question/answer&lt;/a&gt;, although not specific to you, gives a good outline for the different aspects of getting back in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For resistance training check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;StrongLifts.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For aeobic conditioning, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/podcasts.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch to 5K&lt;/a&gt; has podcasts you can download for a weekly progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is also a main concern which I'm sure someone will address.  Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T22:28:37.363" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6219" CreationDate="2012-04-25T23:41:29.143" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that your primary concern is your weight (specifically belly and buttocks). Now, there is no such thing as targeted weight reduction, so in order to lose weight there you will have to burn it through a regimen of strength training, cardio, and dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Strength Training&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After nine years of relative inactivity, it is fair to say that just about any strength routine is going to give you great results thanks to the novice effect, which states that inactive individuals get in the first few months of training the largest strength gains and results than any other group. In other words, you will see great results simply by picking any routine and sticking to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are some routines that are far better than others and will give you better long-term results, especially with regard to your goals. Among those routines are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt; programs, both of which are very highly regarded. &lt;strong&gt;Bonus&lt;/strong&gt;: doing squats is awesome for your butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Cardio&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardio, this is really up to you. As @BackInShapeBuddy said, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; is a popular program for people new to running. If running isn't your thing (I personally hate it) you can swim, bike, hike, play sports, do pylometrics, tae-bo, jazzercise, chase squirrels in the park; really anything works, so be creative and have fun with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Dieting&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there is dieting. While the initial instinct might be to cut down on calories and overall food consumed, that isn't the right approach. You're going to be burning way more energy than you ever have in the last nine years, so eating a lot is important to keep your body fueled. What you need to do is cut out all of the &quot;bad food.&quot; Specifically, you need to cut back (better yet, eliminate) empty carbs, highly processed foods, and sugary drinks from your diet. In other words, eat healthy, and make sure you are consuming enough protein to fuel your muscle growth from working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-04-25T23:46:36.547" LastActivityDate="2012-04-25T23:46:36.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6226" CreationDate="2012-04-26T05:46:59.670" Score="3" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try hit the gym about 3-5 times a week (using a 3 day split program), and take something similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.supplementworld.co.za/supplements-sa-ganic-f-insane.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supplements SA Ganic-F Insane&#xA;&lt;/a&gt; as pre-workout, and I've got protein shake that i use as a snack replacement/additive to me cereal in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never been a big guy, but in the same breathnever had things like decent muscle shape and a 6 pack. It has been my goal to achieve this since last year this time. My initial idea was I need to gain some mass, otherwise there wont be anything to tone/build off of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically my question is, in my case...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is supplementation counter productive when your goal is getting a six pack/lean mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3379" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-19T00:08:26.137" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T00:08:26.137" Title="Is supplementation counter productive when your goal is getting a six pack/lean mass?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6271" CreationDate="2012-04-26T07:38:31.683" Score="8" ViewCount="3181" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last 1/2 of 2011 I was going to my gym and working out 5-6 times per week. It was amazing! I preferred running on the treadmill as it was predictable with less impact. I also was able to switch it up and hop on an elliptical to diversify. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm no longer able to afford a gym or treadmill, and I'm trying to stick with some ad-hoc routines at home and running outside. But when I run outside consistently, I have a lot of pain. Feet, ankles, calves, knees and hips. This never happened when running on the treadmill, so it seems to be due to the impact of running outside, on steep hills and on pavement. Once I stop running and stretch, the pain is gone as quick as 10 minutes after my run is complete. I am definitely stretching both before and after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I cope? I'd love not to be able to be eating ibuprofen all day and I really want to continue running, it keeps me sane!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT With More Information:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading some of these responses and thinking about it some more, I have some additional information that I think would be helpful. This run is the same every time and it includes some pretty steep hills down in the beginning. I can imagine that the impact of downhill running on steep hills just makes the impact much worse? This could set the stage for pain throughout my run if running on this hill downward and landing heavily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My shoes are great, never had an issue before, but that was on a treadmill. I would bet that I am conditioned to run on a treadmill, but since that is not an option and there are very little other choices where I live, can I train my body to run better on hard surfaces?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always been intrigued by the Vibram Five-Finger shoes, but I've heard mixed results. I am sure it would take a while to train myself to run differently, as I don't run this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ONE LAST EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried my runs recently by skipping the hill, which I know is very tough on my body. The effort it takes to just make sure I don't go rolling down the hill is one thing, let alone the impact of my weight + momentum all landing on my feet and move throughout my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last few days while running the trail I tried to get on real ground when I can (1/3 of the time) as well as skipping the extremely steep hills - it was not any better or less painful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EVERYONE had great feedback and worthwhile points, but I'm inclined to think that it's about getting used to it. I do think that I'll try learning to run with less impact as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3392" LastEditorUserId="3392" LastEditDate="2012-05-02T03:49:08.623" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T20:05:25.180" Title="How do I cope with extreme pain from running on hard surfaces?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1470" CreationDate="2012-04-26T15:07:21.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase that comes to mind is &quot;earn your carbs&quot;. If you're training for a marathon you're certainly earning 'em. I'd add &lt;strong&gt;yams, potatoes, or fruit&lt;/strong&gt; to every single meal you listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure why you're relying on another protein shake before bed. Real food would be superior for the simple reason that supplements are meant to be, well, supplementary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-04-26T15:07:21.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6223" CreationDate="2012-04-26T17:14:42.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on the supplementation. The stuff you linked to probably isn't hurting your goal, probably not helping much either. Exercising and eating right, with plenty of rest and keeping stress low will help out in your goal more then the majority of supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meth addicts can be super skinny and have 6 pack abs. I was single digit body fat and working out and never had 6 pack abs. Some people get them, some don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go by how you look, feel, and perform is the best way to do things IMO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-04-26T17:14:42.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6227" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6228" CreationDate="2012-04-26T20:06:55.690" Score="8" ViewCount="1497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always hear people say to use an amount of weight so you can meet your goal amount of reps in good form. On the other hand however, all the videos that I've been watching on YouTube show people taking big, massive weights and curling them with a slight swing of the arm or bending at the back a bit to use their feet and lower back to help lift the weight up. Yet they slow down during the negative to the point that they have almost full control over the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now one more point I feel I should point out before I conclude my question, according to Jeff Cavaliere of AthLEAN-X, the part of an exercise that is mostly responsible for fiber tears is the negative. He gives an example to explain this and says to think about our fibers like rubber bands. Not much happens when contracting a rubber band; however, stretching it out will eventually tear it. In essence what is happening during the negative portion of an exercise which then allows our fibers to grow back stronger than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all that being said, I'm wondering if it is okay to waver from the correct form on the positives so long as there is full control on the negatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-27T16:11:40.817" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T19:52:17.643" Title="Good form with little weight or bad form with a lot of weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6227" CreationDate="2012-04-26T20:28:56.420" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good form is for safety. Deviating from good form means that you think that the situation is so high-stakes that it warrants risking your safety. So armed with knowledge, you can choose your own adventure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be careful with taking cues from YouTube. It's possible that the people you watch have different goals than you, like hypertrophy rather than strength, or bragging rights about the weight they curl instead of actually improving their curl. There's also an inherent bias in what you see: most people upload the lifts that make them look good, not the injuries that stem from poor form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If&lt;/strong&gt; training for hypertrophy, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; you have a solid base of whole-body strength to draw from, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; you know how to protect yourself while doing so, I could see a little bit of benefit from using a weight too heavy for you to curl, where you hang clean-curl it up and used a controlled, slow negative. Please note all the qualifiers in that statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-04-27T17:20:19.813" LastActivityDate="2012-04-27T17:20:19.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-24T01:37:37.990" Score="8" ViewCount="1234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=490160&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; while searching for workout tips, with the main claim being:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This training method is so simple, yet so incredibly difficult, that athletes tend to try it once, acknowledge its greatness, and then vow to never speak its name again. What is it? It's simple: take one exercise and perform it in the following manner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) For twenty seconds, do as many repetitions as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) Rest for ten seconds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3) Repeat seven more times!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's it! You're done in four minutes! Oh, and that thing you're trying to brush off your face? That would be the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I looked for the original claims, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/1996/10000/Effects_of_moderate_intensity_endurance_and.18.aspx&quot;&gt;this paper by Tabata et al&lt;/a&gt;, with the abstract claiming:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...this study showed that moderate-intensity aerobic training that improves the maximal aerobic power does not change anaerobic capacity and that adequate high-intensity intermittent training may improve both anaerobic and aerobic energy supplying systems significantly, probably through imposing intensive stimuli on both systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the number of subjects for the study were 7.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/1997/03000/Metabolic_profile_of_high_intensity_intermittent.15.aspx&quot;&gt;A later study published in 1997&lt;/a&gt; by the same group showed the 20s/10s protocol was effective, but now with N=9:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IE1 consisted of one set of 6-7 bouts of 20-s exercise at an intensity of approximately 170% of the subject's maximal oxygen uptake (˙VO2max) with a 10-s rest between each bout. ... this study showed that intermittent exercise defined by the IE1 protocol may tax both the anaerobic and aerobic energy releasing systems almost maximally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a generally effective exercising technique?  Have there been studies where N is at least greater than 10 showing it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="mmr" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T19:01:01.093" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T19:01:01.093" Title="Is the Tabata exercise method more effective than other forms of exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6229" CreationDate="2012-04-26T22:02:32.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a great article with some good studies referenced about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)&lt;/a&gt;. Tabata is a form of HIIT. It's very close in method to &quot;Fight Gone Bad&quot;, which has a high popularity among several UFC fighters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the Wikipedia article, HIIT burns fat more effectively than long aerobic workouts. It also cites studies showing that 2.5 hours of sprint interval training have similar benefits in endurance and bio-mechanical muscle changes as 10.5 hours of endurance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2012-04-26T22:02:32.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3406" CreationDate="2012-04-27T03:51:56.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Judo technique + judo conditioning + lifting + circuits&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kayla Harrison, training for the Olympics in judo, does the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Five days a week are spent doing judo: about an hour and a half to two hours in the morning and an hour and a half at night. Usually mornings are devoted to technical work, while nights are exclusively randori, as Harrison puts it, “go-go-go, from start to finish.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays all have daytime workouts with her strength and conditioning coach, which includes everything from lifting to circuit training. As the Olympics near, circuit training will evolve into 10-12 different exercises, among them rope climbs, suicides and sled pushing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: gobs of drilling and technique work, plus greater gobs of hard sparring, plus dedicated strength and conditioning work that tapers into nearly all conditioning work as game day approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Via &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-blogs/judo/kayla-harrison-and-the-mindset-of-a-champion.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NBC's London 2012 coverage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of scheduling, it looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training became her full-time job. “We do judo twice a day, five days a week,” she says. “I lift five days a week and we run three days a week. So I train three times a day, five days a week, and I also lift on Saturdays.” That’s six days of training per week, with Sunday as her day for recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sample strength/conditioning circuit is as follows, repeated 3 times with 90 second rests between full rounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex: Power Clean 1x1, Front Squat 1x2, Push Jerk — 1x6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rope Climb — 1x20 feet with 5 Pull-Ups at the top&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sled Push — 150 pounds; 1x50 feet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sled Pull — 150 pounds with rope; 1x50 feet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Med Ball Push-Up — 1x15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;V-Ups — 1x15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Med Ball V-Sit Twists — 1x20 (Harrison uses 20-lb. ball) Performed like Russian Twists, but with legs straight in V-Up starting position&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Band Uchikomi — 1x50&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Via &lt;a href=&quot;http://4w.stack.com/2012/03/05/kayla-harrison/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stack 4W&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T12:08:07.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6016" CreationDate="2012-04-27T08:13:26.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using them for a while now. I am really into functional fitness and use ketlebells, clubs, bodyweight exercises, etc. I bought a leather bulgarian bag from Escape Fitness for around £260. It is 22kg and was far too heavy for a first time user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also picked up a 12kg one from Dorset Kettlebells which is far better to use in terms of weight and cost, about £130 delivered. It is cheaper because it isn't leather but it makes no difference to be honest. Also try Wolverson for vinyl ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises are fun and varied. I feel a real difference in my core strength and they give a fantastic conditioning workout. See YouTube for videos on how to use them. It is nice to have a bit of a change in your routine, and they create brutal explosive power and endurance in the legs which should translate well into your running. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3394" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-27T15:13:38.847" LastActivityDate="2012-04-27T15:13:38.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6224" CreationDate="2012-04-27T14:38:09.080" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would guess that by running exclusively on a tread mill you developed a stride that relied on the forgiving surface.  I run exclusively in minimalist shoes (Vibram Fivefingers) on pavement with no complaints now but I ran in traditional running shoes for over a decade and had occasional knee or plantar fascia problems.  I also spent about five years running almost exclusively on gravel and during that time I had pretty severe knee pain any time I ran on pavement.  It is clear to me now that my old stride included very hard heel strikes while the stride that I learned running in minimalist shoes does not.  I can take off my shoes and run the same way barefooted with no discomfort (until the abrasion gets to the soles of my feet :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learning to run in minimalist shoes would probably require more of a commitment than you would want to take on, but I recommend visiting &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Harvard web site on the biomechanics of foot strikes&lt;/a&gt; to get an idea of how to run with a forefoot strike, then practicing that with the shoes you wear now.  If you can modify your stride you will likely relieve much of your pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: I just noticed the additional info you added.  Running down steep hills definitely generates the hardest impacts so you should avoid them as long as you are experiencing pain.  You could also consider walking down steep hills.  Also, take plenty of time to recover between runs, perhaps several days.  If you do not want to skip exercise for that length of time substitute walking between your runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE 2:  I should have linked to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; originally.  It gives you a nice overview of the information you will find at the Harvard Barefoot Running website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2012-09-06T20:05:25.180" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T20:05:25.180" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6241" CreationDate="2012-04-27T17:50:04.743" Score="5" ViewCount="1133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apples, celery, cabbage, and etc. are considered &quot;negative&quot; calorie foods. While I understand that the &quot;negative&quot; portion of that statement is largely mythical in nature, as they are actually just lower calorie, high fiber foods[&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/81929-validity-negative-calorie-foods/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;], I'm wondering if they're a good source to renew energy or stave off that gnawing hungry feeling during or after a workout, such as a long run, and if they are a better, more &quot;natural&quot; alternative for energy as opposed to something along the lines of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clifbar.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clif bar&lt;/a&gt;, energy packets like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hammernutrition.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hammer Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;, or something similar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9chWT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Granny Smith apple&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical Granny Smith apple has 80 calories in it, with 17g of sugars, and 5g of fiber[&lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-apples-i69444&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;]. Approximately 10% of that should be burned off by the digestive process, leaving about 70 calories[&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/81929-validity-negative-calorie-foods/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]. Eating one of these will give you a fairly satisfying &quot;full&quot; feeling, but doesn't contribute much to your daily caloric intake. The sugar contained in the apple is all raw fructose and glucose[&lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Type_of_sugar_in_apple&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;], and is combined with enough fiber to take car of the negative effects of eating the carbohydrates as far as a nutritional/dietary standpoint is concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-04-27T19:25:39.250" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T14:51:32.763" Title="&quot;Negative&quot; Calorie Foods to Renew Energy" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6907" CreationDate="2012-04-27T19:04:31.057" Score="10" ViewCount="1154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already have a basic strength and conditioning program, and I play combat sports. So let's assume that the fundamentals of squatting, deadlifting, chinning, pressing, running, and sport-specific conditioning are dealt with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm convinced now that rotational strength is a fundamental component of strength, particularly for sport. &lt;strong&gt;So what exercise should I add to my routine to handle rotational strength?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considerations: I need to ease into it, but I want to train heavy. I don't have a lot of room in my programming, so it has to pack a good bang for the buck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Candidates currently include, but should certainly not be limited to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Russian twists (says &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/hardcore.html&quot;&gt;Ross Enamait&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cross chops (says &lt;a href=&quot;http://westcoastsc.com/2011/08/the-kettlebell-cross-chop/&quot;&gt;West Coast S&amp;amp;C&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead squats, lunge-and-twists, Saxon side bends, and a bunch of other light-weight stuff (says Mike Rutherford in CrossFit Journal (&lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/59_07_Dumbbell_Condtng.pdf&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T12:17:39.347" Title="What rotational-strength exercise should I incorporate into my training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6227" CreationDate="2012-04-27T19:08:38.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a weightlifter, but I &quot;tried&quot; doing it years ago. From personal experience, you do not want to overbear yourself with large and heavy weights that are beyond your current ability level. One reason is to avoid injury that you might cause to yourself (especially if you work out alone). You don't want to overstrain your muscles or joints nor accidentally &quot;give in&quot; and drop something. If someone is close by, there's also a chance that your poor form and execution could be a hazard to that person too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should practice good form with little weight and improve your technique. As you adjust to the weight and form over time, then you can begin increasing your load little by little to your level of comfort or ability. Practicing a bad form will only encourage a bad habit that becomes harder to unlearn once your body and mind have adapted to the specific movements. The effectiveness of a bad form will not be as beneficial of doing something properly. This is also something that I would say is true of whatever activity you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regard to the YouTube videos, there are probably good ones on that site and there are probably bad ones too. As a beginner or someone who is lacking experience, evaluating those videos can be difficult or confusing. Once you do properly employ the right technique and improve over time, you can then decide what videos are good and distinguish &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; it is better than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2012-04-27T19:08:38.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1662" CreationDate="2012-04-27T19:32:12.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often it's not just the hips that are the problem, but merely the symptom. If other muscles have shortened (usually due to prolonged sitting), they will cause pulling on your hips and pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga is great for ensuring that all your muscle groups are regularly stretched. You can do these stretches in sequence morning and night and it will quickly eliminate hip pain. Google the poses below - instructions are quite easy to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Baddha Konasana (Cobbler's Pose)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paripurna Navasana (Full Boat Pose)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sucirandhrasana (Eye of Needle Pose)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trikonasana (Triangle Pose)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Natarajasana (Dancer's Pose)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one, which I suspect is yoga but am not sure, is to lie on your back with your hips less than one foot from the wall, and your legs pointed straight up, resting on the wall. Slowly and controlled, spread your legs open while letting gravity pull your legs down.  Don't overdo the angle, repeat the exercise frequently, and progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3397" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-04-27T19:39:09.640" LastActivityDate="2012-04-27T19:39:09.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6270" CreationDate="2012-04-27T21:17:57.580" Score="1" ViewCount="1056" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a pair of Injinji toe socks recently to try them out. To date, I haven't noticed a huge difference in the way I perform my physical activities (mostly kung fu and an occasional run). If there is a difference, I'm not physically perceiving it at all. I have noticed that the material does &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/473/do-athletic-socks-make-a-difference-to-performance&quot;&gt;make a difference in reducing moisture&lt;/a&gt;, but the sock's primary design and function eludes me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the purpose of the toe sock's design, and what effect does separating the toes in a sock have on the bio-mechanical performance of the foot when doing various sports-related activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T20:07:03.533" Title="What are the performance benefits and drawbacks of toe socks over normal socks?" Tags="&lt;performance&gt;&lt;socks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6236" CreationDate="2012-04-27T23:42:26.527" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that one granny smith apple will affect your energy, although it might make you feel better, which might in turn improve performance. I don't think that it will be significant in terms of the bad effects associated with overconsumption of sugar. There are a number of implied sub-questions in your post so the answer is complicated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will eating an apple help athletic performance by providing calories?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Probably not&lt;/em&gt;. During intense exercise, such a small amount of calories would be expended very quickly, so it's not likely to contribute much to fueling movement. In fact, eating during exercise can be counterproductive, as digestion diverts blood supply to the stomach instead of to the muscles. Generally commercial &quot;athletic fuel&quot; formulations are designed for quick digestion, made of liquid or gel with simple molecules like glucose and amino acids, and (I think) the more solid or fibrous the meal, the harder it is to digest. I believe these kind of fuels are only shown to be effective in long endurance events lasting multiple hours (e.g. longer than a half-marathon), where the body's glycogen is significantly reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will eating an apple help athletic performance by sating hunger?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;I doubt it&lt;/em&gt;. It's true that your feeling of hunger may be relieved by eating something, but in my experience that can be ignored while exercising and has no impact on athletic performance. I would much rather feel hungry while training than feel like food is sitting in my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there any way eating during exercise can improve athletic performance?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Possibly&lt;/em&gt;. In spite of the above, there may be a psychological or morale benefit to eating something like this. If an athlete is in the habit of never allowing a feeling of hunger to exist without immediately eating, or if the athlete is convinced that lack of food is degrading performance (even if it's not true physiologically), it could be possible that eating even a few bites would enhance the ability to perform. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is an apple more natural than commercial products?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Yes!&lt;/em&gt; &quot;Natural&quot; is a vague term, but my impression from looking at the cliff bar label is that it's made out of a long list of seeds, sugar and chemicals just like most any candy bar. The apple is definitely more natural than anything in a package (of course that doesn't mean it's better for you - tobacco is natural too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there anything I can consume that is natural and fills the stomach, which provides a feeling of energy without making me slow down?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Yes.&lt;/em&gt; Water, tea, coffee are obvious ones. Pickle juice is one that is not so well-known but has lab research behind it (&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/phys-ed-can-pickle-juice-stop-muscle-cramps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phys Ed: Can Pickle Juice Stop Muscle Cramps? - NYTimes.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T14:51:32.763" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T14:51:32.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6237" CreationDate="2012-04-28T16:14:53.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been advised to supplement my Turkish get-ups, waiter's walks, and suitcase carries with &lt;em&gt;bent-over dumbbell rows&lt;/em&gt;. I will also be increasing the proportion of kettlebell overhead squats in my squat routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turkish get-ups are considered by Gray Cook (prolific and well-respected strength/conditioning/mobility coach, proponent of the Functional Movement Screen) to be the foundation of trunk stability. Eric Cressey, a major exponent of the necessity for trunk cross-strength, puts them among the top rank of exercises for that purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bent-over dumbbell rows are great because they have a short range of motion and can therefore be loaded very heavy and done for low reps. They require (and develop) a great deal of strength locking the trunk against rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These are all &lt;strong&gt;unilateral exercises&lt;/strong&gt;, which require cross-trunk stability. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They also incorporate both &lt;strong&gt;pulls&lt;/strong&gt; (rows, suitcase carries) and &lt;strong&gt;pushes&lt;/strong&gt; (get-ups, waiter's walks).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This combination of exercises also covers both the &lt;strong&gt;horizontal&lt;/strong&gt; plane (rows, bottom part of the get-ups) and the &lt;strong&gt;vertical&lt;/strong&gt; plane (everything else). This plus the pushes and pulls covers all the cardinal movements (though not corner-to-corner movements).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By combining the Turkish get-ups and the waiter's walks into one set (stand up, walk around, get back down on the floor, repeat), I save a lot of time. I get another boost in efficiency by using pre-existing pull-up time for bent-over dumbbell rows, and similarly using pre-existing squat time for kettlebell overhead squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-19T02:37:57.597" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T02:37:57.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6244" CreationDate="2012-04-28T22:16:59.213" Score="6" ViewCount="88293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a guy who haven't been working out(exercising) throughout my life. I live a very sedentary live, mostly at my desk reading books or using my computer. The nature of my field of work requires me to only sit at my desk. As opposed to what many people would think of me, I am not obese but neither am I fit. I am very thin and look somewhat scrawny. I am thinking that this is perhaps too unhealthy for a life. I've read a few of the answers on this site and it seems that most of the answers are suited for people who haven't worked out for years and have started to gather fats and would want to burn it. For me, I am too skinny for any visible fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking how I should begin to start gaining weight and look less skinny, albeit in a correct and healthy manner; I reckon that an abrupt and incorrect way of starting out this goal will end up more harmful than helpful. So, I'm seeking for some advice on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 26 year old male and weigh 45kg. I feel like I'm very thing. What is a good way to improve my health? Is it a good idea to use power plank exercise machines for someone like myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3400" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T22:02:24.013" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T22:02:24.013" Title="How to gain weight for a naturally thin person?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6243" CreationDate="2012-04-29T02:28:20.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to increase your caloric intake and start a resistance training program. The type of program is up to you. There are so many to choose from today. I think a good place to begin might just be with a basic weight lifting split. For beginners I usually suggest a two week rotating split where you workout Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Week one you will do upper body, lower body, upper body and week two you will do lower body upper body, lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will ensure that your increased calories are not all stored as fat. My general suggestion for people are new to exercise is to start with aiming for balance of their intake of carbs and protein. Eat good, whole foods such as lean meats and whole grains. Avoid junk food while you are attempting to gain weight. You can give yourself a cheat meal once a week if you are strict in all of your other meals. If you post your current age, weight, and height I can give you more specific advice. If your would like suggestions for exercises you may want to open a new question, but check the FAQ. All of this boils down to 3 thing: eating more calories (healthfully) and stimulating your body so that it will add a healthy amount of muscle (a little fat will likely be unavoidable), and being consistent over time in this. How many calories depends a lot on your weight/height/age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2012-04-29T02:28:20.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6245" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-29T09:44:46.113" Score="1" ViewCount="648" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am searching for information regarding the effects of caffeine and found this website for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last 3 weeks I´ve been trying to decrease my caffeine consumption, after having heard from a friend that it interferes with weight loss. The fact is that, though I´m not overweight (I´m 170cm = 5'7' and 62 Kg = 138 Lb. ?) I am trying to get rid of some fat pockets by working out more regularly. That seemed to be working without cutting my caffeine consumption, which by the end of last year reached about 5 cups a day. But I noticed some stretch marks appearing in the lower back, and little muscle gain. I haven´t been very successful on cutting on regular coffee, so I´m almost fully replacing it with green tea (which in the end also contains caffeine) and decaf coffee, drinking only one or two cups of coffee per day now preferably in the afternoons. I still get some headaches when not getting coffee in the morning, but it´s gotten much better; sometimes I just feel the need of drinking something hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can caffeine hinder weight loss and muscle gain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the fact that caffeine increases the production of cortisol increase the likehood that people develop stretch marks when losing weight?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight loss hasn´t been radical, at least not during the last few months, it could have also been that I did not notice the strecht marks last time I lost a few pounds. I try to eat healthy, do intervals for cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-01T17:54:00.103" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T18:18:10.753" Title="Caffeine, weight loss, muscle gain &amp; stretch marks" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-06-20T11:58:50.980" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2012-04-29T10:04:59.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably a bit late for this, but if you lie back on a bed with your head hanging off the edge and move it forward/backward, twist left to right and touch each ear to your shoulder it can be a pretty effective exercise.  other than that, neck bridging is the only one i've heard of, but it's a bit high level (good chance of injury if you're not strong enough)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3402" LastActivityDate="2012-04-29T10:04:59.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2012-04-29T12:48:37.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the comments you added regarding the price of gym memberships in your area and the reasons why you don't want to buy a set o weights, I strongly suggest that you get a pair of adjustable dumbbells such a the bowflex or nautilus ones. They will cost you a few hundred dollars but will last you for a lifetime. Very compact and convenient for extremely small apartments!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are definitely one of the best purchase I've ever made! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2958" LastActivityDate="2012-04-29T12:48:37.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-29T14:10:52.940" Score="1" ViewCount="15233" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I put raw rolled oats in my morning protein shake (I was just thinking: oats, milk and a scoop) for my breakfast meal, would they just pass though my body without being absorbed? Or would they actually get broken down and used? Is there much difference in cooking the oats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, has anyone actually tried this; if so, how does it taste?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3072" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T11:08:45.130" Title="Putting raw rolled oats in a protein shake?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-06-19T09:33:09.293" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6251" CreationDate="2012-04-29T14:37:58.417" Score="16" ViewCount="1238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just curious if there is a general pattern of where fat is taken when it is spent during exercise. Is it taken more or less equally from all fat in the body, are some areas used more than others, is one area &quot;depleted&quot; before moving to the next?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is it consistent with where fat is built up when stored? So if I gain x amount of fat and then burn x amount of fat, will my body &quot;look the same&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I know it is probably a lot more complicated, but just looking for some general surface lines of what's going on out of curiosity)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T13:15:27.410" Title="When fat is burnt, where is it taken from?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6248" CreationDate="2012-04-29T15:31:21.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They will be absorbed for sure. How much will be absorbed depends on how much your body needs at that time.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I sometimes have a similar breakfast (without the protein powder) but what you have to do is to mix them overnight and put them in the fridge. This way the oat will get soaked by the milk and it will be smooth the next day and tastes really good!&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, you can add to the mixture banana and almonds too, it will be a perfect energetic and tasty meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2012-04-30T02:10:27.440" LastActivityDate="2012-04-30T02:10:27.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6249" CreationDate="2012-04-29T15:34:09.963" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to understand two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lot of people think fat &quot;spot&quot; reduction can be done, which is &lt;b&gt; false&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The places where you &lt;b&gt;Start&lt;/b&gt; &quot;adding/removing&quot; fat from first are genetically defined. Each person is different, some people start with their abdominal, other with their thighs...etc... so the place you &quot;put&quot; fat &lt;b&gt;first&lt;/b&gt; is the &lt;b&gt; last&lt;/b&gt; place from where fat will be removed. And fat is removed from the whole body, just as we said, where it starts/goes to,  is genetically defined.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;b&gt;UPDATE (6/20/2012)&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on requests on this site, to add scientific evidence, there is an article about this topic:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yalescientific.org/2011/04/targeted-fat-loss-myth-or-reality/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yale scientific magazine:Targeted Fat Loss: Myth or Reality?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article mentions that &lt;b&gt;Targeted fat loss&lt;/b&gt; is a myth and that fat is lost from overall body as i mentioned above. The magazine talks about two researches made by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uconn.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;University of Connecticut&lt;/a&gt; one in 1971 with tennis players and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17596787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One in 2007&lt;/a&gt; with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;104 participants completing a twelve-week supervised resistance-training program in which their non-dominant arm was selectively exercised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning the 1971 study, the scientific magazine states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Targeted fat loss, also known as “spot reduction,” is a popular idea partly because it appeals to our intuition. After all, it seems perfectly reasonable to assume that the fat you burn while exercising comes from the area around the muscles you are using. Yet a 1971 study conducted by the University of California, Irvine on tennis players found that &lt;b&gt;this is not actually the case&lt;/b&gt;. Tennis players constitute a population whose right and left arms have been consistently subjected to very different amounts of exercise over several years. &lt;b&gt;Consequently, if spot reduction were a valid concept, one would expect the players’ dominant arms to have thinner layers of subcutaneous fat compared to their non-dominant arms. When the researchers measured the thickness of subcutaneous fat at specific points along the players’ arms, however, they found no statistically significant difference between right and left arms.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning the 2007 study, the scientific magazine states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More recently, in a 2007 study led by the University of Connecticut, 104 participants completed a &lt;b&gt;twelve-week supervised resistance-training program in which their non-dominant arm was selectively exercised. MRI assessments of subcutaneous fat before and after the program revealed that fat loss tended to be generalized, rather than only occurring in the trained arm. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important paragrah explaining fat loss:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fat contained in fat cells exists in a form known as triglycerides. Muscle cells, however, cannot directly use triglycerides as fuel; it would be analogous to trying to run a car on crude oil. Instead, the fat must be broken down into glycerol and free fatty acids, which then enter the bloodstream. As a result, the fat broken down to be used as fuel during prolonged exercise &lt;b&gt;can come from anywhere in your body, not just the part that is being worked the most. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17596787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2007 research's official publication&lt;/a&gt; (which yale's scientific magazine mentioned) mentions in their abstract's conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;CONCLUSION&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Skinfold findings indicate that spot reduction occurred in men but not in women. &lt;b&gt;In contrast, MRI found a generalized subcutaneous fat loss independent of gender, supporting the notion that spot reduction does not occur as a result of resistance training.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which means, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MRI&lt;/a&gt;, a very accurate technique, found that fat loss is overall from the body and not targeted (spots).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;PERSONAL experience&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Beside scientific researches, it is always good to share personal experience about a topic (&lt;b&gt;sometimes&lt;/b&gt; it is more efficient than a research).&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;6 years ago i gained huge amounts of fat and then i went back to gym and diet to lose them.&#xA;I had to lose around 60 pounds to get back in shape. Most of the fat i had was belly fat.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While my dieting and gym techniques were very efficient, i noticed that i was loosing fat from everywhere except my belly (very little from the belly). &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At some phases i had very skiny legs, fat upper body. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then skiny legs and arms but fat back and abs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then only fat abs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until two summers ago where i got rid of 90% of my belly fat and now am back in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, fat loss is genetically defined, but as i am not a doctor i cannot claim this is a general rule. But however the scientific researches i mentioned approve what i am saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2016-07-09T13:15:27.410" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T13:15:27.410" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6243" CreationDate="2012-04-29T22:47:00.727" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat more (healthily -- lean meat and vegetables). Then do &lt;strong&gt;multi-joint barbell exercises&lt;/strong&gt; such as squat, deadlift and overhead press. To learn how to perform these exercises with good form, join a gym and take lessons, or at least read Mark Rippetoe's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. Then follow a program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;, which is simple to learn and follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multi-joint exercises are good because they engage the big muscles and they engage many muscles. Performed with proper form, plenty of rest and under increasing load, this stimulates your body to compensate by increasing the muscle-mass. From there you can either chose to focus on programs and lifts that favor strength, size (body building) or explosive power (olympic lifts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For additional motivation and inspiration, consider joining a community like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt;, where you can track your progress and exchange notes with fellow lifters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user240" LastEditorDisplayName="user240" LastEditDate="2012-04-29T22:53:14.120" LastActivityDate="2012-04-29T22:53:14.120" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-04-30T12:55:33.400" Score="1" ViewCount="360" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently on the Dukan diet, so protein-only for the next week then protein and salad only.  The basis of Dukan, like atkins, is to push your body into a state of Ketosis where it starts to burn fat for energy rather than sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process can only begin when the Glycogen reserves in the liver have depleted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I supplement with Glucagon to accelerate this process?  Are there any risks associated with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB I am not diabetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3407" LastActivityDate="2012-04-30T12:55:33.400" Title="Glucagon Supplementation for weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;atkins&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-04-30T21:11:06.303" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6160" CreationDate="2012-04-30T15:09:00.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;in addition to what was said already, try drinking more water. not freezing cold ice water, but cool or room temperature. dehydration is what starts the headaches, and hydrating should make it feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3410" LastActivityDate="2012-04-30T15:09:00.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6243" CreationDate="2012-04-30T19:12:28.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't think you have to gain lots of weight to &quot;look less skinny&quot;. While there's nothing wrong with building muscle and bulking up, joining a gym and lifting weights is something you have to commit to for long-term, otherwise (as in if you start and build some muscle mass, then stop) the muscles you grow will go slack and you won't look a lot better than you do know. You don't have to put on lots of weight or grow big muscles to look better. Getting fit in general and toning up will improve your appearance (and make you feel a lot better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative would be calisthenics (such as pushups, crunches, free squats, etc) and other exercises you can do anywhere with minimal equipment. I wrestled and ran the 400m dash in high school, in addition to doing farm and construction work during the summer, but when I went to Basic Training for the Army, I actually got a little thicker in the shoulders just from all the different kinds of pushups we did, and from the drill sergeants' best friend, the Overhead Arm Clap (looks just like it sounds). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd suggest 3 or 4 variations of pushups for your chest and shoulders, some crunches, planks and leg lifts for your core strength, free squats for your legs, and running/cycling for aerobic fitness. These can be done in about 20-30 minutes per day. I'd personally recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;100 pushup challenge&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twohundredsitups.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;200 sit-ups  challenge&lt;/a&gt; (I just do crunches), and something like Couch-to-5k (never tried but have heard good things about it) to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any form of exercise needs to be committed to and continued long term to be of worth; calisthenics and running just require less equipment and expense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, you also don't have to grow lots of muscle mass to be strong. The guy in our platoon that hit me the hardest of anyone else in pugil sticks was skinny as a rail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://bp1.blogger.com/_piP1qIQO6Cw/Rqgq1BynaZI/AAAAAAAAAKg/Q4W-6sD7ubU/s1600-h/me_wrestling.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Me in high school&lt;/a&gt; vs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_piP1qIQO6Cw/SMC-_mzB8LI/AAAAAAAAArI/9wKRrzFI2FQ/s1600-h/jumping_jayden.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;me now&lt;/a&gt; The major difference (besides 15 years): not being able to spend 4-6 hours every day working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastEditorUserId="363" LastEditDate="2012-05-01T00:25:32.327" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T00:25:32.327" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6243" CreationDate="2012-05-01T08:21:44.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How old are you if I may ask?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming from one skinny person to another:  get a trainer if you can.  I spent the better part of 10 years trying to gain muscle mass and I only started seeing results after I got a trainer 3 times a week.  I was training but I wasn't training to get the most benefits.  You need to exhaust your muscles which is very difficult training alone and I find a gym buddy doesn't do it for me either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a huge expensive I know, but its best use of money you could ever make.  As soon as your body starts growing your confidence levels will soar and the cost will motivate you to really get the most out of your PT sessions.  I wish I could go back to being 20 and I would immediately hire a PT.  I find that I have motivation to go to the gym, but when I am in the gym I slack off, however with a PT he pushes you to your limit every single session regardless of how you are feeling mentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to training I have found that 60% of my results come from diet.  You need to figure out what works best for you.  If you are able to cook daily then I would suggest preparing fish, turkey, sweet potato, lean steak, eggs, fruit, pasta, rice etc every day and eating 6 meals a day.  If you find this is too much time, then you need to replace a meal with protein shakes.  I am a fan of just eating a huge amount of good food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T08:21:44.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6160" CreationDate="2012-05-01T08:23:47.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you taking protein shakes before you start training?  You might be allergic to whey (milk) which causes headaches for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise its likely that you are simply dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T08:23:47.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2012-05-01T08:25:47.207" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For weight loss, you don't need ANY carbs before a run.  The body has enough glycogen in the liver for a 20 mile run - an evolutionary survival mechanism that has allowed us to escape predators during times of Hunger for Millions of Years.  Only when this supply of glycogen is depleted or reduced does the body turn to fat to replenish it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common delusion that makes certain people struggle to lose weight is that they &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; carbohydrates just to move and that its impossible to function without them.  We've managed to survive for millions of years without a delicious &quot;baked potato and cheese&quot; before running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen#Glycogen_depletion_and_endurance_exercise&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen#Glycogen_depletion_and_endurance_exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3407" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T08:25:47.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6245" CreationDate="2012-05-01T08:28:32.927" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard of coffee hindering weight loss however if you are having any form of sugar or sweetener in your coffee that will most definitely affect the pace at which you lose weight because your body will turn that sugar into fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you drink coffee I would suggest you drink black coffee with no sugar and no sweeteners.  The best time would be just before training because it will numb your muscles slightly and allow you to push yourself harder at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stretch marks are likely just due to your weight loss.  You could try doing pilates, yoga and loads of cardio like running outside to tighten up.  This is a good sign as you are loosing weight then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T08:28:32.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6266" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-05-01T17:36:43.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A heavy ball with a handle, used for strength training. Similar to a dumbbell. Generally between 15 and 70 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-01T17:36:43.750" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T17:36:43.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6267" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-05-01T17:36:43.750" Score="0" Body="A heavy ball with a handle, used for strength training." OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-01T17:36:43.750" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T17:36:43.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-01T19:11:14.847" Score="3" ViewCount="3084" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out five or six days a week, I'm in pretty good shape. I'm not overweight either. However I sweat profusely whenever I exercise, within a few minutes of starting, and the sweat just pours off my body. This has been going on for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the information on hyperhidrosis I can find focuses on localized sweating in the armpits, not full body sweating like I experience. The only thing I can think of is that since I was born I can't breathe through my nose at all due to an anatomical issue. Could this be the cause of my sweating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3418" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T15:09:44.723" Title="I can't breathe through my nose, does this cause excessive sweating during exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6268" CreationDate="2012-05-01T19:29:04.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it's highly unlikely. Sweating has a lot to do with your natural physiology, internal temperature and the climate. You should still be able to get sufficient oxygen just by breathing through your mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, you could work on opening up your nose by cleaning it regularly. Doing so in a hot shower helps since the heat will cause vasodilation and your sinus will open up more. More specifically you can do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7108546&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nasal irrigation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, capsicum and other spices cause vasodilatation and can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course none of this will help if your nose is completely blocked but you can get improvement if you have something like deviated septum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T19:29:04.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6240" CreationDate="2012-05-01T20:07:03.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some runners, especially some ultra-runners, get blisters in between the toes. Injinjis stop that process by being toe-socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do the same thing by taping each toe individually with special athletic tape or duct tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T20:07:03.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6224" CreationDate="2012-05-01T21:22:35.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that you're conditioned to run on a treadmill and are transitioning to a road down-hill too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your heart and lungs are prepared but your legs aren't; so you need to train them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do something a little like a beginner's training plan. You'll need to start by walking and then walk-running before you can actually run. Yes, it will be very frustrating because your heart and lungs can run the distance. At the moment, your legs can't and that's why you're getting pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@JimClark's comment about forefoot/minimalist running is useful. While I'm unconvinced by Vibrams per se learning to run on your forefoot is definitely an advantage. &#xA;(I think most people who move to Vibrams don't take the time to adapt to them properly and get problems.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T21:22:35.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6274" CreationDate="2012-05-01T21:42:34.193" Score="7" ViewCount="16403" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way my workout is split is as follows: I do legs on Sundays which includes squats followed by deadlifts and then leg presses. On Mondays I do bi's and back. I do lat pulldowns, seated cable rows, and then I move on to doing curls. On which one of these days should i do the deadlifts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T14:28:18.020" Title="Should I do my deadlifts on leg day or on back day?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6272" CreationDate="2012-05-01T22:50:39.520" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your program varies from a lot of standard programs in that you are including both squats &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; leg presses. In the most popular strength training programs, squats are done every workout, and deadlifts are done every second workout, alternating with power cleans or rows. No leg presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there's nothing wrong with doing squats and deadlifts in the same workout, but perhaps not with the leg presses. You could also put some upper body work in between your squats and deadlifts to give your legs some recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout A could be squats, overhead press, deadlift. These work the posterior chain, spinal erectors, shoulders, upper pecs, and triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout B could be your bis and upper back day. You could also do squats on this day if you had a rest day between Workout A and Workout B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T22:50:39.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6272" CreationDate="2012-05-01T23:21:07.097" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were to do a split, I'd do the deadlifts on my &quot;back&quot; day, not the &quot;legs&quot; day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's why: both squats and deadlifts are compound movements that are best done heavy. They both do a good job stimulating whole-body growth. In contrast, curls, lat pull-downs and cable rows are exercises that target less overall muscle, which is fine as supplementary movements but not as your main one. They also are generally done with lower weight and more reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separating the squats and deadlifts ensures that you target the most muscle systems while allowing proper recovery for each one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But regardless, it's generally best for beginners and intermediate lifters to follow a proper training plan such as Starting Strength or 5x5 rather than coming up their own random splits. It also sounds like you're only lifting on Sunday and Monday--if this is correct, you might get more mileage from spreading out your lifting days or simply lifting three times a week, spaced out, instead of two days back-to-back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-01T14:28:18.020" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T14:28:18.020" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6276" CreationDate="2012-05-02T01:02:13.213" Score="2" ViewCount="28904" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the middle of a running program that periodically requires the use of a standard track.  I have a high school nearby with a track, but I'm not sure what my &quot;rights&quot; are with regard to it.  I'm sure in nine out of ten cases it won't matter, but I don't want to feel like I'm crowding the legitimate/permissible users; I want to &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; a legitimate/permissible user!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any steps I should take to feel comfortable on the track, or should I just stop worrying and go for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T16:21:36.690" Title="Do I need to obtain permission to use a high school track?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-05-02T16:31:32.760" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6275" CreationDate="2012-05-02T01:35:03.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the USA, if it's a public high school, the track will typically be open to the public after normal school hours (with maybe a buffer of a few hours for after-school sports practices), since the track is paid for with taxpayer money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a private school this will not be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best bet, regardless, would be to check with the local school district or the principal of the school in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T01:35:03.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-02T07:19:36.710" Score="0" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;which must contain  weight,height,age,gender,level of activity and amount to loss weight. The weight and height in both cm and inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3419" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T19:11:07.993" Title="what is the weight loss calculator Formula?" Tags="&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-10-30T20:49:03.573" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-02T09:22:04.623" Score="8" ViewCount="1307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to add running to my daily schedule but I'm having problem deciding how often and how long is enough to make progress toward losing weight. I've heard if you run a lot at first then you give up and reduce the amount, you might gain weight instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to run for an hour everyday for about two weeks but now I run on odd days in the week or I run one day then I don't run two days and again!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I need to know is, how often, at minimum, do I have to run in a week to get an &quot;optimal&quot; weight-loss effect?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" LastEditorUserId="1789" LastEditDate="2012-05-03T00:17:12.687" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T23:25:28.380" Title="Running often enough to lose weight" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6278" CreationDate="2012-05-02T10:10:21.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Foreword&lt;/strong&gt;: I've no professional running or coaching skills, this is merely experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Length&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Set yourself a distance that means your completely tired by the end, and try and complete it at a constant pace depending on if you want to improve speed or distance. For distance I usually just run as far as possible while breathing at a rate I can still talk at, and gradually increase the distance over time, keeping at my limits of distance as they improve. For training your speed, do the same thing, just increase the pace at which you run to keep at your limits. I usually just aim for a slightly higher min/mile each time I run a regular route. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regularity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If your non-professional it's not going to matter about hitting that exact sweet spot of off time and muscle repair. Just run often enough that you ache the day after and it was difficult but make sure you take a break. I try and stick to day off, day on, day off, day on, but not too worried if I miss one due to busy weekend / work day. Just pick it up again as soon as possible, and don't try and push hard to &quot;make up for it&quot; it usually ends in you missing more runs through injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Importantly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Enjoy it. If your not enjoying it your going to be wanting to give up. Run too often and your going to be hurting too much, not enjoyable. Run too little and you won't be improving, not enjoyable. Vary the places you run wherever possible, though I like to keep some regular routes as a measurement of my progress. If your not enjoying it, the only thing keeping you going out again is a desire to reach your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More Importantly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Set your goals. Even if it's just a short term, run at &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt; pace for &lt;code&gt;y&lt;/code&gt; miles or a long term , &quot;Run a marathon in 12 months&quot; you're going to need something to head towards. So when it's snowing, freezing, you ache, have lots to do, and it becomes difficult to enjoy you'll be able to push through chasing your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also depending on your disposition, recording your runs via GPS and keeping a long term log can be a big motivator. It can also be a de-motivator if you don't get along with technology or data logging though :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Result&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You will be generally fitter after this, it's almost impossible not to be. And yes you may actually put weight on (depending on your build and how muscular you are now). But it will be entirely different weight, you will put weight on by building muscle in your legs, but will be burning fat from all over your body. So I wouldn't worry about it, aim for fitness not absolute weight loss, and you will generally come out much lighter if your on the big side now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you want to train professionally then most of that is probably bull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3420" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2012-05-02T16:52:07.143" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T16:52:07.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6281" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-02T12:40:13.633" Score="6" ViewCount="1917" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I squat in athletics my right knee hurts on the inside and sometimes when we max out or something my knee will hurt all day. If weight and load are needed, I weigh 105 lbs and squat 185 lbs. I ask my coaches but they say I'm fine, but I think they think I can just work through it. Could it be from my max jump from 155 - 185? By max jump I mean I was at 155 and within two weeks I was at 185 I'll have more info in the next 2-3 Hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3421" LastEditorUserId="3421" LastEditDate="2012-05-02T18:43:39.990" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T19:06:46.267" Title="Right knee hurts on squat" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6281" CreationDate="2012-05-02T15:30:50.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without more info this is difficult to say. But I used to experience this same sort of pain and it was due to a muscle imbalance. Though I am right handed I am left leg dominant and my vastus medialis on my right leg was much smaller than on my left. My vastus lateralis on both legs, however, were pretty well developed (my squat stance is wide so my hips are strong). This caused the tendon on my knee to pull a little to the right giving me pain that was the equivalent to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00382&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runners Knee&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. I corrected this by performing additional leg exercises to strengthen my right leg with emphasis on the vastus medialis. The first two things I would suspect are form and muscle imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T15:30:50.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6275" CreationDate="2012-05-02T16:21:36.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's a public school, I tend to assume that it's fine to use unless: 1) there is some kind of organized activity clearly under way, or 2) there is a sign that says &quot;no walk-ons&quot; or some such.  Another good bet is if your see other non-school kids using it for walking or running.  I've used this approach for 30 years at different tracks and never had a problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3423" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T16:21:36.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-02T16:28:07.617" Score="5" ViewCount="485" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started doing some running intervals/speedwork and notice that my hamstrings get pretty sore afterwards.  I do some off-day stretching, although I probably could do more.  Should I push ahead and deal with soreness, focus more on stretching or should I so some hamstring strengthening exercises?  What would be a good regimen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3423" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-02T17:02:16.923" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T23:28:44.877" Title="Hamstrings and running intervals" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6281" CreationDate="2012-05-02T16:31:35.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's quite a lot that could be going slightly awry, I'd highly recommend working through:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/05/episode-253365-knee-pain-case-study.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/05/episode-253365-knee-pain-case-study.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/09/episode-318365-knee-pain-on-stairs-or-hills.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/09/episode-318365-knee-pain-on-stairs-or-hills.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect you'll be able to self-diagnose using these posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T16:31:35.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6286" CreationDate="2012-05-02T17:38:29.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So they're just sore?&#xA;Intervals hurt - that's the point - you want to be a bit sore because that's your body getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching's probably not going to help much. The intervals are doing a small amount of damage to your body so that it can then repair itself and a bit more and become stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to rest and eat sufficient protein to help the process along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This advice does not apply if you get a sharp pain - which might be a hamstring tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T17:38:29.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6278" CreationDate="2012-05-02T17:44:41.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;(not a sports professional either, going from experience as a yo-yo'ing runner/weight-loser)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an excellent answer above, I'll just add three things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining - running every day can lead to overtraining. Fatigue and higher than normal higher resting pulse rates as good indicators of this. Overtraining mess up you metabolism and cause you to gain fat. So just like a beginner, 3 or 4 runs a week with a rest day in between should be your maximum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjust your diet - exercise alone isn't going to help you shift weight. you need to make diet changes and run regularly. Good thing is as you are running regularly you shouldn't have to make drastic changes in order to make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Variety - don't stick to the same training pattern. When you stick with a particular pattern for a while the body adapts and becomes more efficient at it. Try different patterns; shorter runs with diferent paces, different terrain, routes including more times, interval training section and farlek. The more you keep your body guessing the more effective your training will be and the less likely you are to plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3425" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T17:44:41.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-02T17:45:09.330" Score="8" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for some stretches that I can do before runs and ones after runs that can ward off shin splints. I am pretty susceptible to getting them while training for a 10K or 10 miler. I have supportive shoes and inserts to support my high arches, but I really need to gain strength and/or perform stretches consistently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-02T18:51:29.920" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T01:19:06.097" Title="Stretches to prevent shin splints" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6281" CreationDate="2012-05-02T19:06:46.267" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You most likely have poor hip mobility and activation. Inside knee pain can be associated more with adductor tightness/hip external rotation, you should be stretching those anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Here are the steps to directly improve symptoms when training&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop doing movements that cause pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do dynamic and static stretching before every workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a light cardio warm up before hand to increase internal temperature, increase circulation and warm up joint synovial fluid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do plenty of warm up reps with little to no weight and slowly ramp up (155 -&gt; 185lbs is 20% increase, too much for hitting a max, try something like 155, 175, 185)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do box squats instead of free squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do slow negatives (Come down slowly, 2 second count is fine on squats) and don't bounce. When you drop quickly the tendons, ligaments and other tissue have to use more force to decelerate and reverse the weight. Imagine a car collision at 10mph vs 80mph. So control the weight down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;For overall the knee health, I recently wrote an article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://swolept.com/posts/the-end-of-knee-pain&quot;&gt;dealing with knee pain&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some main points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Daily low intensity activity is essential.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regular foam rolling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase flexibility by stretching common tight areas such as the adductors, IT band, hip flexors (Psoas, Iliacus), and hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPa9-fpqnUE&quot;&gt;Improve ankle mobility and flexibility&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure knee is in line with your feet and doesn't bow inwards. Usually has to do with adductor length.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do more single leg movements! Start with in place lunges, master those and move on to more advanced movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve glute and hip activation by doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viyoVBR_J5c&quot;&gt;glute bridges&lt;/a&gt;, just make sure to use your glutes and not your lower back on those.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That should help a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T19:06:46.267" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6277" CreationDate="2012-05-02T19:11:07.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Likely what you are asking for is the formula to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate. Here is the Harris-Benedict equation for BMR:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm )&#xA;  - ( 4.7 x age in years ) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your actual caloric needs are fairly subjective. A good way to get an estimate is via the activity level score. Your activity level score is based on how you work (sit in a chair all day? Sedentarty, walking around a warehouse? Light activity. Lifting and moving things around a warehouse? Moderate activity. Two serious workouts a day? High physical activity.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sedentary Physical Activity Level = 1.1 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light Physical Activity Level&#xA;= 1.2 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderate Physical Activity Level = 1.3 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Physical Activity Level = 1.4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have your BMR multiply it by your activity level score and this will give you your AMR (Active Metabolic Rate or some say Actual Metabolic Rate). Use that as a starting point. Track your calories and weight for a few weeks and see if they stay level. If so start by cutting around 500 to 700 calories from your daily intake. 500 calories per day is theoretically going to lead to weight loss of one pound in a week. You may be different so this might take some experimentation. You will eventually hit a plateau and you can then cut another 500 to 700 calories (or more if required). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T19:11:07.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6297" CreationDate="2012-05-02T19:51:09.380" Score="7" ViewCount="67569" Body="&lt;p&gt;For whom doesn't know, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_muscle_stimulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EMS definition:&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Electrical Muscle Stimulation, also known as neuromuscular electrical&#xA;  stimulation (NMES) or electromyostimulation, is the elicitation of&#xA;  muscle contraction using electric impulses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I bought one belly EMS belt(like &lt;a href=&quot;http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/auc-spot/item/10000077/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;) that works very well(it really contracts my abdomen muscles with shocks). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main objective is to lose weight and reduce my waist circumference. On internet refferences it is kind of obscure(some people says it works and some don't). So, does anyone have a experience about it? Does this EMS's equipments really works for what it intended to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1870" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2019-06-04T07:44:13.027" LastActivityDate="2019-06-04T07:44:13.027" Title="Do Electric Muscle Stimulators really work for losing weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6293" CreationDate="2012-05-02T20:00:57.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is a simple formula calories consumes &amp;lt; calories used. I would seriously doubt that these things could generate sufficient muscular contraction to assist in actual weight loss. I've used these before and I can honestly say that they may assist creating &quot;muscle tone&quot; in the same way dynamic tension type exercises do, but none of those compare to the calorie burning provided by a combination of both cardiovascular and resistance exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consider the amount of force produced by running on a tread mill for one hour (burning only about 200 calories) and the amount of contraction these devices generate you can clearly deduce that they will not be able to significantly help you in losing weight and losing weight is certainly 80% of having a firm, defined abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T20:00:57.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6293" CreationDate="2012-05-02T22:31:17.733" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;NEMS work to stimulate muscles that are weak and that are not able to attain a full contraction without additional stimulus.  Once you can achieve a full active muscle contracttion, as @Ivo says, you want to actively exercise the muscle and add resistance to achieve further strengthening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NEMS does produce a muscle contraction, so in that respect, your abdominal muscles are &quot;working&quot; when you wear a unit.  If you actively contract along with it, you will get a better contraction.  It can remind you to contract your abs.  But according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/HomeHealthandConsumer/ConsumerProducts/ucm142478.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FDA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While an EMS device may be able to temporarily strengthen, tone or firm a muscle, no EMS devices have been cleared at this time for weight loss, girth reduction, or for obtaining &quot;rock hard&quot; abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, electrical stimulation units can also be contraindicated for people with pacemakers, metal implants or medical conditions such as cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your primary goal is to lose weight and reduce your waist circumference, focus on your diet, exercise (cardio with HIIT and resistance training), and avoid prolonged sitting -  get up and move frequently.  Track your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;percentage of body fat&lt;/a&gt; in addition to your waist circumference to assess your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following q/a's should help you with your goals to start losing weight and reducing your waist circumference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/best-exercise-to-lose-belly-fat-fast&quot;&gt;What exercises should I perform to reduce fat on a specific area of my body?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2044/how-can-an-overweight-engineer-get-back-in-shape&quot;&gt;How can an overweight engineer get back in shape?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;Optimal exercises for an abdominal workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-05-02T22:31:17.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6303" CreationDate="2012-05-02T23:58:22.240" Score="9" ViewCount="3297" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does regular movement keep joints lubricated, or does regular movement dry out joints in time leading to wear? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a good 20 years of jogging on and off, I've stopped that now because I could start to feel shin splints and hip pain and I'm all too aware that my father and his brother have both had hip replacements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now walk anywhere from 8-15 miles daily, albeit slowly. No problems with hips or shins, but I just wonder if the body wears out like a machine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T19:00:45.647" Title="Do joints wear out from exercise?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6309" CreationDate="2012-05-03T01:06:20.770" Score="2" ViewCount="1705" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my wife goes on a long bike ride she finds that her right oblique hurts, while her left does not. Does anyone know a possible cause of this, like improper form or saddle fit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3325" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T19:48:12.260" Title="Reason for Oblique Pain" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6290" CreationDate="2012-05-03T01:19:06.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shin splints are commonly caused by imbalances in muscles and supporting tissue.  Try these for strengthening and mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Alphabet with your feet focusing on rotating your ankles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) Towel toe curls or picking up change with your toes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3)  Heel raises.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4)  Calf raises.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More detail about the above can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://christopherickes.com/running-blog/how-to-cure-shin-splints-from-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercises to Prevent Shin Splints&lt;/a&gt;.  For stretching, use these &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=calf%20stretches&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;prmd=imvns&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=ptyhT4OvJ4Ok8gSZgL3dCA&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CEwQsAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=600&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calf Stretches&lt;/a&gt;.  Do following a run for 3 minutes to a side in order to lengthen the calf muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T01:19:06.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6298" CreationDate="2012-05-03T01:39:10.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tough question to answer and requires a lot more information about body mechanics than I have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as for my experience, it's the &lt;em&gt;impact&lt;/em&gt; that destroys joints, not merely the motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why low-impact trainers such as elliptical, rowers, and exercise bikes are so popular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are having hip pain consider sleeping with a pillow between your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T01:39:10.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6298" CreationDate="2012-05-03T04:51:42.220" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Movement is actually an essential part of maintenance and recovery. Many regenerative processes depend upon impact and activity to repair and build themselves. An example of this is synovial joints. From my &lt;a href=&quot;http://swolept.com/posts/the-end-of-knee-pain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;knee pain article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Great, [synovial] fluid seems to do everything. Maintains your joints, lubricates them and even helps with shock absorption. So where's the problem? Synovial fluid depends on the movement of the joint in order to circulate and perform its function. Imagine the cartilage in your knee is like a dirty sponge sitting in a container of water (synovial fluid). The sponge just sitting there isn't going to get cleaner but if you keep squeezing and releasing, the water circulates and the sponge gets a lot cleaner. The same thing happens in your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, a lot of joint problems come from muscle weakness or imbalance and improper movement mechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are having joint problems then you want to make sure to address any flexibility or mobility issues in the joints. Improve muscle strength and balance. Reduce sedentariness and avoid any painful activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For shin splints, improving ankle mobility, calf flexibility and hip activation (Specifically the hip rotators like glute medius) should help. Make sure you aren't ramping up your training load too quickly - tendons, same as muscles improve their capacity over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;From the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/K5AfFv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human Anatomy&lt;/a&gt; on exercise and cartilage&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bCqbK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="2034" LastEditDate="2012-05-03T19:00:45.647" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T19:00:45.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-03T08:21:19.883" Score="2" ViewCount="1295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried to understand why walking downstair hurts while walking upstair is good.&#xA;All I found in the internet were website while keep saying the pointless fact &quot;It's runner's knee&quot; and didn't try hard to explain why except telling you may have a feet in bad shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the knowing of the kind of muscle/joint/ligament involved during walking upstair/downstair might help understanding the cause of the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, I trained my quadriceps by squating and my pain goes away temporarily. If I let my quadriceps relax for 2-3 weeks and try to run, my pain comes back. So I think it must related to the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="872" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T16:37:52.673" Title="What kind of muscle/joint/ligament do walking upstair/downstair involve?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6298" CreationDate="2012-05-03T09:04:20.267" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, yes, they can.  Long answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Joint movement&lt;/strong&gt; is essential to the joint's health as the synovial fluid bathes the cartilage and nourishes it.  Think of the synovial fluid as &quot;oiling the joint&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High impact&lt;/strong&gt; can be detrimental to the joint surfaces because of the pounding and compressive forces on the cartilage.  Running over many years, esp. if you have any alignment problems, or muscle imbalances (weakness or tightness) can lead to degenerative changes as one side of the joint gets more compression than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low Impact&lt;/strong&gt; - Exercise that lubricates the joints with little to no impact such as cycling, elliptical trainers, running in water, aquatic exercise or swimming can improve the health of your joints by increasing synovial production and lubrication.  (The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/ElliptiGO.html&quot;&gt;ElliptiGO&lt;/a&gt; is a low impact outdoor elliptical trainer that is more fun than walking.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Corrective Measures&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you describe shin splints and hip problems, a physical therapist's evaluation of your alignment and lower body muscle strength and tightnesses could help.  They can give you an appropriate exercise (strengthening, range of motion and stretching), and a self massage program (tennis balls and/or foam roller) to address your individual problems.  They can also test your hips and advise you whether or not you should see an orthopedist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't overlook good shoes and joint supplements.  You may also like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot;&gt;Nordic Walking Poles&lt;/a&gt; to give you a better walking workout.  They add trunk and upper body muscles exercise at the same time giving some protection to your lower body joints. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T09:04:20.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-03T12:54:57.327" Score="4" ViewCount="1980" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to run and do an hypertrophy training at the same time and don't lose weight? I am currently training for 20km: 3 times a week, but since I started, I lost weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3431" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T23:12:06.093" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T23:12:06.093" Title="Running and hypertrophy at the same time: is it possible?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6306" CreationDate="2012-05-03T17:13:55.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely.  First, why WON'T it happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aerobic activity following Strength training impedes the mTor pathway.  What the heck does that mean?  It means if you lift and then run, the hormones responsible for hypertrophy will be inhibited and prevent mass gain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When strength training, rest periods greater than 3 minutes allow the ADP-CP system to refill which also can prevent hypertrophy (ok, that is oversimplified but the idea is long rest prevents hypertrophy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to achieve hypertrophy while also running...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1)  Run first and then lift&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2)  Lift more reps with less rest between sets.  Limit rest between sets to less than 2 minutes and usually a lot less.  Try working 3 by 10 with 45 - 60 seconds between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And be sure to keep your calorie intake up but focus on nutrient dense food sources (skip the junk food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T17:13:55.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6249" CreationDate="2012-05-03T17:14:48.863" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a more detailed and scientific explanation, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/t3b91/do_muscles_use_the_fat_nearest_them_for_fuel/c4j6n08&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;OzmandiasReborn's post on reddit&lt;/a&gt; is valuable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you eat, your body detects the raised levels of glucose and fatty acids in your blood (having been absorbed through your intestine), and your pancreas releases insulin. Insulin essentially signals to your various tissues &amp;quot;WE ARE IN FED STATE, GUYS! EAT UP.&amp;quot; This means that your liver stops making glucose on its own (gluconeogenesis drops), since this would be wasteful. Your liver starts breaking down the glucose (glycolysis: breaks down glucose to pyruvate, Krebs Cycle: Oxidizes acetyl-CoA (made from pyruvate), essentially stripping off electrons, oxidative phosphorylation: Takes those electrons and makes energy (ATP) out of it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simultaneously, your liver is replenishing stores of glycogen (a storage form of glucose). Your fat cells are taking up the extra fat in the blood, and turning those fatty acids (which are toxic) into a safe, neutral form: Triacylglycerides (TG or TAG). Your muscles are taking up glucose and fatty acids from the blood, and breaking them down the same way as in the liver: glycolysis--&amp;gt; krebs cycle --&amp;gt; oxidative phosphorylation, or for fat straight into beta oxidation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOW, on the other hand, if you haven't eaten in a while, your body needs to start using up its stored forms of energy, as well as make its own. This is signalled by glucagon (or in the case of stress, adrenaline/epinephrine). Your liver needs to break down the glycogen into its substituent glucose, and send this out to the body. Since your brain requires glucose (and at later stages can use ketone bodies), and can't deal with fatty acids, your liver needs to constantly be making glucose for your brain. The fat tissue (white adipose) is signaled to release its stores of trigylcerides into the blood, which are taken up my muscle (same process as before) and liver. The muscle can only break down the fatty acids into energy, but the liver can actually use energy from breaking down fatty acids and make new glucose, which it can then export into the blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So proximity doesn't really matter in the way you think it does. Imagine I live in an apartment building where a pipe loops around passing water through every apartment. Every apartment has a different type of filter that pulls different things out of the water. Every apartment also dumps their own special things into the water. This water is then chock full of all kinds of things related to the normal functioning/signalling of every apartment: the guy in 2B wants to give the woman in 10A something, while the woman in 6B wants to say to the landlord in the basement that he's hungry and needs a delivery of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if I dump something in this pipe, it automatically becomes communal. If somebody is filtering stuff out right next door to me, then sure, they have a greater probability of picking up the actual fat molecule I delivered. But I don't know how useful it would be to think of it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, fat is distributed either subcutaneously or viscerally. The former is fat deposits under the skin (e.g. thighs, buttocks, belly, etc.), while the latter is fat deposits on your organs (i.e. liver, heart, etc.). The latter is more typical of men than women, and is also a much stronger indicator of potential metabolic disorders like diabetes and insulin resistance. After menopause, fat redistribution to visceral is common in women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T17:14:48.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6300" CreationDate="2012-05-03T19:48:12.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Asymmetric pain usually means either some sort trauma-based injury (e.g. banging your knee) or muscle imbalance.  Without more detail on your wife's habits it's difficult to say which, but I can give you a general idea of how to isolate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a trauma-based injury, the pain will typically be localized to a specific area (for example, the dorsal plane of the oblique), and will be mostly triggered by a specific motions (such as biking).  A persistent trauma-based injury usually requires specific attention.  Deep tissue massage (such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.activerelease.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;A.R.T&quot;&gt;A.R.T.&lt;/a&gt;) will break up inflexible scar tissue and allow gentle rehabilitating exercises to build it back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a muscle imbalance, the pain will be more generalized (the sufferer is more likely to say 'my hip hurts' as opposed to 'it hurts right here'), and will mostly be triggered by generalized stress.  Fatigue, a variety of exertion activities, etc.  Muscle imbalances are extremely common and the solution is basically to strengthen the weaker muscle, usually by doing some sort of focused strengthening exercise that will work out both instances of the muscle.  One side will feel pretty exerted and the other will feel fairly fresh, but that's how eliminating imbalances works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2012-05-03T19:48:12.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-04T10:23:04.240" Score="6" ViewCount="3928" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a long time I was consuming 4000 calories a day. This was between soda and various &quot;junk foods&quot;. I was surprised to find my protein, carb and fat levels were pretty close to what they should have been however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per of eating healthier and trying to reduce some fat, I have completely changed my diet, eating a lot more veggies, no more soda etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to various online calculators based on my height (6ft) and weight (180lbs) my body burns around 2000 calories just to function. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to other calculators my weight on my previous diet should have been around 210lbs. However, this is obviously not the case, which makes me think my body consumed far more than 2000 calories just to function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given my rather sedentary lifestyle and the fact I didn't really gain weight (the weight I am trying to lose is from a few years ago where I spent a year eating a lot of deep fried foods), I wonder if my body didn't burn a lot more than 2000 calories just to function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my new diet I aim to eat 1500 calories a day, with the goal of burning 500 calories a day. I've managed to stay pretty close to this, at least never going above 2000/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can such a drastic drop in daily calorie intake affect the speed of my metabolism (which I don't want to change) or have some other negative consequence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-04T19:21:06.737" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T20:50:14.450" Title="Is a drastic calorie reduction harmful?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-04-25T21:59:57.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-04T10:28:39.773" Score="2" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on a low calorie diet while doing strength building exercises every 2 days. I have been doing this for a few weeks, and in about 2 weeks will go on a vacation for a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While on vacation I won't have access to weights, and will be traveling around backpacker style so won't have access to a gym. Diet will also be a problem just because healthy foods will not be widely available and I won't necessarily have time/facilities to prepare such foods myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will abandoning my diet and workout regime for a week undo a lot of my progress? How bad will the damage be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T10:55:50.197" Title="Will a brief break from my exercise have a negative effect?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-04T10:53:31.723" Score="4" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically when I am doing dumbbell deadlifts and dumbbell squats, I have a feeling that I may not be doing the exercises correctly or may even be doing them in a harmful manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've watched youtube videos to get instruction, but am still somewhat unsure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example when doing my dumbbell deadlifts, I keep my legs straight but feel that perhaps my back and/or legs bend more than they should, when I should probably be keeping my back straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise when trying to do dumbbell squats I think my arms flex more than they perhaps should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make sure I am doing the exercises in a way that I am getting a benefit and not harming myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T23:32:18.710" Title="How can I make sure I am doing my exercises right?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6311" CreationDate="2012-05-04T10:55:50.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah, you will lose progress. You'll gain a bit of weight, you'll lose a bit of strength, and you'll probably feel &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt; again for a workout or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A one week break isn't a big deal in the long-term, though. If you're serious about your long-term progress, this one week will just be a little bump in the road. But, here are things you can do to minimize the &quot;damage&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't make excuses for your diet. If you start doing that on your trip, you'll start doing that at home. We can always find a excuse. Research ahead of time about some healthy places or foods you'd like to try eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; do some bodyweight exercises while you're away on vacation (squats, push-ups, dips, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you return, get back into it as soon as possible. Schedule your first trip to the gym right now. Reset your weights down by about 1/2 a week. So, aim to lift the amount of weight you lifted on your 2nd last workout before you left and start building back up from there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T10:55:50.197" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6312" CreationDate="2012-05-04T11:03:25.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can take a video of yourself and link to it in an internet forum (here, even) or have a friend watch your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to do your lifts in front of a mirror to check your form. Just having the mirror there will affect your form. You'll end up looking up or sideways when you otherwise wouldn't be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T11:03:25.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6223" CreationDate="2012-05-04T13:15:37.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the goals you state, I recommend focusing on reducing your body fat.  Most reasonable healthy people have a nice six pack but it is hidden under body fat.  Adding mass will not do much to make those abs more visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By far the most effective tool for doing this is your diet.  I recommend a high protein, low carbohydrate diet - basically a variety of meats and vegetables, avoiding starchy vegetables like potatoes.  A good diet might be Tim Ferris's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Slow Carb Diet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you should continue working out, but I think diet will be a much more effective tool for your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2012-05-07T12:35:37.427" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T12:35:37.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6310" CreationDate="2012-05-04T14:31:38.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt; Yes, a drastic calorie reduction can be very harmful, but in your case I don't think you're cutting as many calories as you might think you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer:&lt;/strong&gt; Those calculators are referring to your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR).  Your real metabolic rate can be very different from that.  Consuming under your Resting Metabolic Rate is &lt;em&gt;dangerous&lt;/em&gt; because you will trigger starvation measures from your body.  I doubt you were actually consuming 4000 calories a day if your macronutrients (protein, carb, fat) were where they 'should be'.  We ONLY get real calories from these three macronutrients.  Anything else are trace nutrients that we might need for various processes but don't provide any real calories.  This is reinforced by the information that consuming deep-fried foods DID cause you to gain weight.  Deep fried foods are poison, but they do have a lot of real macronutrients in them.  Even when a substance (like soda) doesn't have a lot of real calories, though, they can still poison your metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This poisoning can turn into a failure to absorb major nutrients, which will mean a failure to gain weight even when eating more than we 'should'.  This is the crux of being a 'hard gainer'.  This will cause a lot of excess junk in your blood stream and possibly bad elimination (urination and defecation) habits, and it will eventually lead to chronic disease (hypertension, cholesterol problems, diabetes).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mainly say this to let you know that you're not a freak, this stuff is absolutely known, explained, and normal, it's just that you didn't go stereotypically obese so the stereotypical online calculator isn't going to take your situation into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep doing what you're doing with getting rid of the non-foods, and eat more clean protein and fats from chicken, greek yogurt, and whole milk.  These will be very satisfying, especially if you are on a resistance regimen, and you will not be driven to eat as many carbs, which generally don't satisfy as well, gram per gram.  Fewer eaten grams means fewer calories taken in, which means more weight that comes off!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as always: If you can afford to find a personal trainer or nutritionist (or both) to meet even just once a month on your progress, that is one of the best investments you can make.  They will help you understand what's going on so you can make this change permanent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to the comment below, here are a few links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodproductdesign.com/news/2010/07/trans-fat-formation-in-frying-oils.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;trans fat formation in frying food&quot;&gt;Trans fat formation in fried foods&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jamiesonhealthcenter.com/Jamieson%20Health%20Center%20Newsletter%20August%2010.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;trans fats as poison&quot;&gt;Precedent for using the word &quot;poison&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastEditorUserId="1040" LastEditDate="2012-05-06T00:33:36.850" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T00:33:36.850" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6317" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-04T16:50:28.953" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most foods that contain fat you'll see Total Fat content and Saturated, Trans Fat, Polyunsaturated, and Monounsaturated fats listed below that.  Sometimes the amounts don't always add up.  Total Fat could be 12g, Saturated Fat at 7g, and Trans Fat at 0g so there's 5g of fat unaccounted for.  Can one assume the remaining fat is some kind of unsaturated fat?  Are there &quot;neutral&quot; fats that aren't exactly saturated or unsaturated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3436" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T16:59:16.457" Title="Understanding Fat Content on Nutrition Labels" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-05-04T19:13:34.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6317" CreationDate="2012-05-04T16:59:16.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other two kinds of fats are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/FatsAndOils/Fats101/Polyunsaturated-Fats_UCM_301461_Article.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;polyunsaturated fat&quot;&gt;polyunsaturated fats&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/FatsAndOils/Fats101/Monounsaturated-Fats_UCM_301460_Article.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;monounsaturated fat&quot;&gt;monounsaturated fats&lt;/a&gt;.  They are widely agreed to be the 'good' fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a slight misnomer because you definitely need a decent amount of saturated fat (it makes up every nerve ending in your body), but you get the idea!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T16:59:16.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="736" CreationDate="2012-05-04T18:58:31.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing good controlled pushups from the knees is definitely a great way to start, because the use of muscles in the arm, shoulder, chest and core are almost identical to those used in real pushups. However, I would deviate from the other comments by adding that, as soon as you can do even one real pushup, start with that, then complete your set on the knees. If you keep up a good program doing this 2-3 times a week, soon you will be doing multiple strict pushups and you can build from there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't agree with JoaquinG that you need to start adding weight once you can do 12 reps -- for me the benefit of pushups is that they are a very simple no-equipment bodyweight exercise that can be done anywhere, anytime, and building up to 20, 40, 60 reps is fine and continues to pay off in both endurance and appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T18:58:31.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6312" CreationDate="2012-05-04T23:32:18.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some Help&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally just take a few pic's before hand, then up date them every few weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make a planer or a training table with your weights and body body measurements and when working out you should feel it, if you don't feel anything then your not doing it right, like they say, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No Pain No Gain!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/em&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3437" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T23:32:18.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-05T00:11:58.713" Score="3" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a workout plan based on the use of traditional equipment, than includes both of these exercises. TRX is, I guess, the most known brand of straps suspended from the ceiling or wall. Pull-ups, for example, I have two handles hanging down from the ceiling, about 2' apart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like adapt it to the use of a TRX as much as possible and wanted to understand how these two exercises differ in what they target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T22:55:47.723" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T22:55:47.723" Title="Difference between wide-grip lat pull-downs and wide-grip pull-ups" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6310" CreationDate="2012-05-05T01:00:54.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can such a drastic drop in daily calorie intake affect the speed of my&#xA;  metabolism (which I don't want to change) or have some other negative&#xA;  consequence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you calculate your BMR you need to multiply it by an activity multiplier to get your actual calorie burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So lets say your BMR is around 2000 and you are somewhat active. You can multiply it by 1.35 (There are some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;multipliers here&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 2000 x 1.35 = 2700 calories burned/day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to achieve a 500 calorie deficit you would want to eat around 2200 calories a day. If you eat 1500 calories that's closer to a 1200 calorie deficit. I'd recommend aiming for ~750-800 calories so you'd eat around 2k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Starvation mode?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't exist. Your body does take protective measures any time you cut calories, such as slowing down your metabolism, and those measures increase as you increase the deficit. It's not like a switch that happens at a certain amount of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, if you ate 500 calories a day you will lose a lot of weight. A lot of it will be muscle and you will feel awful and it's a terrible idea but you won't magically retain fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just aim for a reasonable deficit, eat whole, balanced and satiating meals, increase your activity and you should be able to lose fat without issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T20:50:14.450" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T20:50:14.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6321" CreationDate="2012-05-05T02:29:59.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually just read an article that talked about wide-grip pull-ups  but it said that pull ups recruit a large amount of muscle fibers from many different muscle groups, more than alot of other workouts. I can't find the article atm, but if I can find the article, I will post it. I think this is a big difference between the exercises, although in the article they didn't explicitly say which exercises the pull-ups beat out in terms of muscle fiber recruitment. In other words pulls-ups = ultimate back shredders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2012-05-05T02:29:59.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7183" CreationDate="2012-05-05T11:50:04.197" Score="9" ViewCount="22127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started a &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot;&gt;pushup routine&lt;/a&gt; and I'm finding that my lower abs are very sore, much more so than my chest and arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I proceed? Should I add some excercises to strengthen my abs, such as sit-ups or leg lifts? Should I take a break from my schedule (3 days a week) to allow for my stomach muscles to heal? Or should I proceed as scheduled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm about 40, I'm thin but out-of-shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T16:40:14.960" Title="Sore stomach muscles from push-ups" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6324" CreationDate="2012-05-06T00:49:33.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Push-ups shouldn't be engaging your abdominals enough to cause a lot of fatigue unless you are pausing for a particularly long time between repetitions, in which case you might be performing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises_10.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;plank&quot;&gt;plank&lt;/a&gt; unintentionally.  I'd be more suspicious that your form is off.  If possible, get a friend to watch your form after reviewing ideal form from models and have him/her call you on it if you start cheating your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the unlikely event that your abdominals are truly just too weak to support you during a pushup/chest workout, you should probably just switch up one of your chest workouts with an abdominal workout.  I'm a fan of the above-linked planks, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfaShSmlWuc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;medball axe chop&quot;&gt;medicine ball axe chops&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aviRfr_y4N4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;v-ups&quot;&gt;V-ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T00:49:33.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6343" CreationDate="2012-05-06T08:50:38.603" Score="3" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I like a lot about the Starting Strength program is its focus on squats.  Why? Because I could practice and practice them, getting my form right, without weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I can squat well, I'd like to do the other exercises.  Is there a good way to practice them without weights, to get my form right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Why practice without weights? 1) It lets me practice at home, a big plus 2) It's much easier to get the form right)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; I also have a set of very light dumbbells - could I use those to practice the form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3439" LastEditDate="2012-05-06T09:16:51.050" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:27:58.577" Title="Learning form without weights" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-06T08:57:04.757" Score="2" ViewCount="653" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a set of stretches I generally do; not sure where I got them from, but they seem to work for me.  (I use them for general stretching, not strength training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I'm starting weight training, using Starting Strength, is there a specific stretch program I should do? Or should I just do my regular routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T23:43:53.907" Title="Best stretches before weight training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6333" CreationDate="2012-05-06T09:02:53.080" Score="6" ViewCount="587" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to follow the Starting Strength program, and need some help with the exercises.  The trainers at the gym want you to do a fancy circuit, using some freeweights but mainly machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just listen to the trainers?   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ignore them and just use the book?   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell the trainers I want to follow &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; program (Squat, Press, etc.), no circuit, no machine, but ask them to help me with my form and spot?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-06T12:46:20.487" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T16:41:01.180" Title="Should I follow the gym's program or just stick to Starting Strength?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6332" CreationDate="2012-05-06T09:07:58.910" Score="9" ViewCount="1496" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new to strength training, and, for the time being, can do it only 1 once a week (or maybe every other week).  I do aerobic several times a week, and, currently, can't give it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I follow Starting Strength and just space it out? Or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:46:44.223" Title="Doing Starting Strength once a week" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6330" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-06T10:33:17.267" Score="2" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I regularly go running with my dog around the park. He's a chocolate lab, 42 kg (all muscle) and we regularly do ~4 km in about 25-30 mins (he always stops to sniff). (For reference, I'm 81 kg.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run with a GPS watch that gives me my calories burnt, but wondered if it's possible to calculate how much my dog burned in the equivalent period? I don't know if it would be a simple reduction i.e. he's body weight as a percentage of mine, or if it's different because of four-legs etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this isn't the exactly a standard fitness question, but if anyone knows I'd be really grateful. Searches so far have only turned up calculators for the dog walker and not the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3440" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T10:33:17.267" Title="How many colories does a *dog* burn when running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-05-07T16:35:36.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6331" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-06T10:38:53.063" Score="0" ViewCount="558" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 19 years old, 5&quot;7 tall and weight 45kg.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What should I do to gain at least 10kg within 1 month without supplements? And is my height normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3441" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:42:28.297" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:42:28.297" Title="About gaining weight" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-04-26T11:33:41.697" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6329" CreationDate="2012-05-06T16:16:37.813" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength is an AB alternating workout, so if you were to do it once every week (or every other week) then you'd have almost a full month before you did the same workout again. This is definitely not optimal. However, since Starting Strength is such a balanced routine, it won't be the end of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, some strength training will always be better than none, so it is good that you are at least doing this; however it does beg the question, &quot;why can't you fit more into your schedule?&quot; You would  be surprised how easy it is to fit working out into even busy schedules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training doesn't have to be time consuming. Going back to the principle of something being better than nothing, even if you can only do 5-15 minutes your time would be well spent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest trying to add a 5-10 minute routine MWF on top of everything you're doing now and seeing if that works for you. It doesn't have to be complex or equipment heavy either, you can just focus on compound body weight workouts that you can do anywhere and anytime. Possible exercises include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (wall, pistol, standard, romanian)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lunges (forward or backward)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups (standard, wide, military, decline)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups (chin, standard, wide)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;planks (standard, side, bird dog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T16:16:37.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6328" CreationDate="2012-05-06T17:00:15.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading the Starting Strength book, you're probably more educated at programming for strength training than the trainers at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fancy free-weight/machine program will have you &quot;feel&quot; like you've done a lot of work at the end of the session. Your muscles will be sore from high-rep exhaustion, and you'll have done a bunch of different exercises (rather than the focused few that Starting Strength prescribes), but you know better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To let them know your goals, you can mention the program (they probably have heard of it), or tell them you're interested in powerlifting lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T17:00:15.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6331" CreationDate="2012-05-06T19:31:40.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;10kg weight gain in 1 month is likely to be mostly fat, and I don't think it's a realistic goal. Why do you want to gain 10kg in one month?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight really quickly, just increase your calorie intake. Eat a lot of food. Drink a lot of milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight in a way that will be good for you, you'll need to include a well-rounded strength training program such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or Stronglifts so that you turn those extra calories into muscle, rather than fat. Even on these programs, 10kg in one month is not realistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your height is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T19:31:40.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4977" CreationDate="2012-05-06T20:09:17.133" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have an answer , just a description of what happens to me during exercise! I run quite a bit, it's my exercise of choice , and I sweat and get quite warm when I do this . Obviously I feel thirsty to some degree and rehydrate. Now! When I do resistance training, or (weightlifting) at the gym, I get perhaps a little warm during the workout with what I would consider a small degree of sweat. That being said, my thirst is twice as much during my weightlifting low sweat workouts AND between my sets as I catch my breath , I notice my skin in some areas mostly lips turning slightly blue! I don't understand much of this at all. It all just seems to contradict itself .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3442" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T20:09:17.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6338" CreationDate="2012-05-06T20:19:11.317" Score="6" ViewCount="7590" Body="&lt;p&gt;When bench pressing, at max extension, should I lock my elbows or keep them loose?&#xA;What about my knees when squatting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Here are some links from the Mayo Clinic warning against locking joints while lifting:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-training/SM00041&amp;amp;slide=6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-training/SM00041&amp;amp;slide=6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-training/sm00041&amp;amp;slide=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-training/sm00041&amp;amp;slide=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2nd UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Also, must admit, a major concern of mine is that in military, always told us &quot;Don't lock your knees, you'll pass out&quot;.  This is when standing at inspection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3439" LastEditDate="2012-05-09T08:17:01.047" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T13:10:00.130" Title="Should I really lock my elbows and knees when lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-06T20:27:49.637" Score="12" ViewCount="3249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard many different things about how to breathe when lifting? What are some clear, simple, common sense, generally accepted ways to breathe when lifting? (Squatting or pressing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following Starting Strength, but am hesitant to follow his advice about holding your breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mayo Clinic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-training/SM00028/NSECTIONGROUP=2&quot;&gt;advises against holding your breath&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breathe.&lt;/strong&gt; You might be tempted to hold your breath while you're lifting weights. Don't. Holding your breath can lead to dangerous increases in blood pressure. Instead, breathe out as you lift the weight and breathe in as you lower the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T12:54:00.517" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T12:54:00.517" Title="How should I breathe when lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6336" CreationDate="2012-05-06T20:43:09.907" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should lock your elbows at full extension for each completion of a bench press repetition and also the knees at the top of the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is supported by text from Starting Strength, 3rd Edition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the bench: &quot;...push up on the bar, locking out your elbows.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;At the top [of the squat], all the skeletal components that support the bar - the knees, hips, and spine - will be locked in extension so that the muscular components have to exert only enough force to maintain this position.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will speculate as to some reasons for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allows you to release your valsalva maneuver and take a breath of air while the weight is supported by skeletal components&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allows you to train through the full range of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-09T18:11:50.260" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T18:11:50.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6337" CreationDate="2012-05-06T20:49:22.783" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the valsalva maneuver. When you're relatively at rest between reps (the bottom of the deadlift, top of the squat, top of the bench press with locked elbows), exhale, then inhale and trap that air in your lungs. Do the next rep holding that air in your lungs by exerting pressure against your closed glottis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're only holding your breath for as long as one rep at a time - definitely not long enough to starve your body of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-06T20:57:42.930" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T20:57:42.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6345" CreationDate="2012-05-06T21:27:12.777" Score="2" ViewCount="1475" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some books recommend a gentle bounce when bench pressing or squatting.  This feels wrong to me.  It feels safer and more controlled to come to a complete stop, then start up again.  What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T23:59:46.977" Title="Is bouncing when lifting dangerous?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6340" CreationDate="2012-05-06T22:43:01.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bouncing put of the bottom of the bench press isn't dangerous (you're not going to be suddenly lifting heavy enough to drop a chest-crushing weight onto yourself), but it's cheating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bouncing out of the bottom of the squat is making use of the stretch that is applied to your hamstrings at the bottom position and is recommended, at least by Starting Strength. At heavy weights, there's no way this will actually be an observable bounce, but you should think of it as such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-06T22:43:01.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6336" CreationDate="2012-05-07T00:32:42.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only reason not to do the full range of motion is if you're cheating in order to get more reps or use more weight than you could with proper form. Repetitively shorting weightlifting movements can cause joint problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Move your body through the whole movement. There's no good reason not to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, what happens if you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; extend your joints fully? Use it or lose it--your body will stop being &lt;em&gt;capable&lt;/em&gt; of going to full extension. Then you'll have to start shorting the movement more and more over time, until you are decrepit and immobile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-09T19:16:30.153" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T19:16:30.153" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6326" CreationDate="2012-05-07T00:34:43.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squatting without weight is totally different than squatting with weight. Your center of balance is changed dramatically, as is your posture. (Air squats are &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/archive/index.php/t-62932.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sometimes considered&lt;/a&gt; more similar to front squats.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squatting with dumbbells helps build strength, but is not the same form as a barbell squat, and so will not substantially help you learn. You'll be ingraining the wrong movement pattern: back angle, hip drive, and the upper thorax will all probably be allowed to (or forced to) take different positions from that of a true barbell back squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean they're counterproductive or bad, just that air and dumbbell squats are better for mobility and accessory work than ingraining the correct form for a different exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-07T16:03:52.673" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T16:03:52.673" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6328" CreationDate="2012-05-07T00:41:15.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a circuit is good enough, then follow their program. But it seems pretty clear to most people that a barbell program similar to Starting Strength, while perhaps not perfectly ideal, is vastly superior to a circuit of machines. If you believe that, and the trainers can't help you with that, why listen to the trainers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's entirely possible that they'll tell you to half-squat, deadlift with a rounded back, press with a knee push, or do power cleans with a donkey kick. Listening to that kind of advice would be dumb. You need to trust that their form is correct before you listen to their advice about the exercises from the book. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: 2, or if you're confident that they know their stuff, 3. If they balk at 3, screw them and do 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T00:41:15.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6340" CreationDate="2012-05-07T00:46:29.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should follow the advice in the book that describes the program you're doing. Unless you find a reputable source that describes specifically why bouncing is dangerous, don't worry about bouncing out of the bottom of squats or bench presses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;cheating&quot; a little to bounce in the bench, so for optimal strength gains you would avoid that. For the squat it's totally normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bouncing in the bottom of a squat, done properly, is an effective way to maximize muscular output, as described in Starting Strength on page 138:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...a key feature of efficient squatting is the use of the controlled &quot;bounce&quot;, which takes advantage of the stretch reflex that occurs at the transition between an eccentric and a concentric contraction. Any muscular contraction is more powerful if it is immediately preceded by a stretch, as always occurs when you jump. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to bounce because you don't know how, squatting with no bounce at the bottom is significantly harder, but a reasonable option. You won't be able to lift as much, so you won't get as strong, but it's still squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-09T23:59:46.977" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T23:59:46.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6329" CreationDate="2012-05-07T00:48:56.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Starting-Strength-&lt;em&gt;style&lt;/em&gt; workout would be fine once a week. But Starting Strength the program will not work for very long with once-weekly workouts interspersed with aerobics. You won't be able to advance far in adding weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have to, lift once a week. But understand that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7666/1771&quot;&gt;modifying the program will make it less effective&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:46:44.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6329" CreationDate="2012-05-07T12:31:44.660" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will be severely limiting your strength gains.  Note that I am talking about the amount of strength you will be able to gain, not just the rate of gaining strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to understand why, you have to understand a bit about General Adaptation Syndrome.  Essentially, to disrupt homeostasis (the body's current happy place) to build strength you need to induce a certain amount of stress.  That stress is in the style of strength training like Starting Strength.  After that stress, you need to recover and during that time your body will super-compensate--making you stronger... Yay!  Unfortunately, if you don't keep the regular frequency of the training, you won't be causing enough stress to force adaptation.  Furthermore, the adaptation you are putting your body through with aerobics is working against the strength training (which is anaerobic).  Essentially, what you do more of will win out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start seriously considering the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do I want to do Starting Strength (SS)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why don't I want to lower the amount of aerobics I'm doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do I want from my training time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What trade-offs am I willing to make?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider the fact you can continue gaining strength doing the SS protocol while you are doing aerobics.  Of course, you will get to a point where the aerobics may cause you to stall a bit quicker because you don't have enough rest.  A valid way to do balance the two is to add 20 minutes of aerobics after your SS workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's time to get honest with your goals and what you want to do.  If aerobics is meeting all your needs, why do you even want to do SS?  Essentially, all your training is a balancing act of priorities.  At different times in your training one thing may have a higher priority than others, but that doesn't mean that they get completely cut out.  If you want to emphasize strength, you'll probably have to de-emphasize aerobics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T12:31:44.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6340" CreationDate="2012-05-07T13:13:38.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For bench press, you get more benefit with touch and go (not a bounce off the chest).  If you ever plan to do competitions, you will also have to train paused reps (1s pause on the chest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The squat has a stretch reflex built in, and a &lt;em&gt;controlled&lt;/em&gt; bounce helps complete the rep.  The important word here is controlled.  You don't want to loose tightness because of the bounce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if you bounce the bar at all, do not lose tension.  Once you do, you have minimized the strength you can apply, or worse made yourself prone to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T13:13:38.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6349" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-07T15:05:02.640" Score="35" ViewCount="113717" Body="&lt;p&gt;When exercising, our bodies take energy from our blood sugar, then uses glycogen as a source for energy, and finally burns fat or muscle when the glycogen is used up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A nutritionist told me that whether your body will start burning muscles or fat depends on the timing in which the two sources before (blood sugar and glycogen) were burnt. If this process take the proper time, then it will burn fat as desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how to make sure we will burn fat when working out instead of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3444" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-07T15:14:07.147" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T18:24:53.057" Title="Ensuring the body burns fat instead of muscle?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6195" CreationDate="2012-05-07T17:18:52.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an article from the National Strength and Conditioning Association that addresses a similar question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nsca-lift.org/perform/article.asp?ArticleID=134&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Recovery Nutrition for Athletes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't discuss a carb-first, protein-later strategy, but does talk about a carb+protein post-workout drink. (Studies have shown protein is absorbed more readily in liquid form.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a definite benefit to having a carb+protein supplement immediately after a workout as compared to taking the supplement 1 hour after workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their recommendation is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Athletes who are serious about their performance should consume a&#xA;  high carbohydrate-moderate protein meal (with fluid) or recovery drink&#xA;  after every workout, practice, and competition. It is also best&#xA;  advised to consume carbohydrate and protein with fluid during exercise&#xA;  and/or immediately post exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also says that both the carbs and proteins are useful to your body immediately after (even during) workout, so I see no reason to delay protein consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-07T20:32:14.833" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T20:32:14.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6027" CreationDate="2012-05-07T17:23:18.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no trick, just eat more. A lot of people who have trouble gaining weight choose milk as an easy extra source of calories. Milk has a high amount of fat and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T17:23:18.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6027" CreationDate="2012-05-07T17:44:29.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would pick one. Either gain weight and stop running so much, or keep running and give up trying to gain weight. If you eat gobs and gobs of food you might be able to sustain a slow rate of gain--a pound a month sounds fine--but why would you expect significant mass gains if you're undermining them three times a week? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might even back off to three days of weight training instead of four. Many mass gain protocols involve a lot less activity (just short, intense, heavy lifting) and a lot more rest and eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T17:44:29.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6353" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-07T20:07:20.757" Score="8" ViewCount="631" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm following a 3x5 weight lifting program based off of the Stronglifts and Starting Strength programs. I've been starting with warm-up sets of gradually increasing weight, as suggested by Stronglifts and Starting Strength. For example Starting Strength recommends the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program#How_do_I_warm_up_properly_for_my_training_sessions.3F&quot;&gt;warm-up for a 225 lbs work set of squats&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 reps at 45 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 reps at 45 lbs (again)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 reps at 95 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 reps at 135 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 reps at 185 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After warming up as above, a lifter would then do his 3 sets of 225 lbs x 5 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been warming up in this style, but I find it really tedious and time consuming. Adding/removing plates after every set, and then double-checking to make sure I haven't made a mistake like putting more weight on one side than the other (I've done this more times than I care to admit)... it just really sucks my enthusiasm out of my workout. I'd like to get my 3-exercise workout (Squat/Bench Press/Barbell Row, or Squat/Overhead Press/Deadlift) down to a half hour or less, whereas with all the warm up sets it usually takes me more than an hour at present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, &lt;b&gt;is there an alternative way I could be warming up that's faster and less tedious&lt;/b&gt;? I don't want to increase my risk of injury by insufficiently warming up. But if there's a way to reduce the amount of patience needed for my workouts it'd be great. Just one idea I had - what if I just did like 15 fast reps with 1/3-1/2 of the work weight and then did my work sets? (That might be a terrible idea for all I know. I'm just speculating at what might work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T20:40:21.977" Title="Is there an alternative way to warm up for lifts that is less tedious than gradually increasing the set weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6195" CreationDate="2012-05-07T20:33:46.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is no. Take a protein shake first and wait until it leaves stomach (at least 1 hour). This way your protein will be absorbed within the &quot;window of opportunity&quot;, which means it will be absorbed quicker and less % will go to waste/fat. If you eat snack before that, it will be in your stomach for at least 2 hours and it will reduce the absorption rate of your protein shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: if you are in the fat loss category, running in the morning on the empty stomach, wait for an hour and then have light breakfast - is the best way to lose weight. I lost 25kg last year that way (plus weight lifting during the day and heavy diet moderation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link might interest you:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/glycogen-replenishment-after-exhaustive-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/glycogen-replenishment-after-exhaustive-exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3446" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T20:33:46.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6353" CreationDate="2012-05-07T20:40:21.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I nix the second set at 45 pounds, but do full sets of five for all my warm-ups. With deadlifts I take bigger jumps: 145x5, 215x5, 285x5, then my work set at 340x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building up gradually is a great way to avoid injury. There's a limit to how much you can omit before you start rolling the dice. I'm not a big believer in the lasting efficacy of a half-hour Starting Strength workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T20:40:21.977" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6337" CreationDate="2012-05-08T02:04:58.280" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Holding your breath is common, standard, well-accepted powerlifting practice. Hold your breath throughout each rep of squatting, deadlifting, and pressing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding your breath helps keep your chest locked. Breathing during the rep encourages you to move your chest, meaning you lose the tightness in your abs, upper and lower back. This invites injury. For instance, I was blasting through a good set of deadlifts, but pulled a muscle in my back when I let myself breath out on the way up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like you need to let your breath out in the middle of a rep, sometimes you have to dump the bar and lose the rep. (Other times you can grind it out.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Mayo Clinic is wrong.&lt;/strong&gt; I assume, since they do not give reasons or evidence for their claim that holding one's breath is dangerous, that they think that holding one's breath while lifting could cause some sort of stroke or aneurysm. See pages 50-54 in Starting Strength 2nd edition for a discussion of why this is incorrect, where, among other things, it is noted that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are no data for the rates of CVA [cerebrovascular accidents] in the weight room, because they occur so infrequently as to be statistically unmeasurable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Mayo Clinic is speaking to a broad audience, and so gives watered-down lifting advice. Since they're working with people who are decrepit, disabled, detrained, and have no in-person coaching, it makes sense for them to recommend lifting light weights for high reps while breathing. It's just not good advice for anyone who's engaging in actual training, instead of exercise-cum-physical-therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-15T15:05:57.990" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T15:05:57.990" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-08T07:19:04.553" Score="-2" ViewCount="667" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been training for 9 months and am now able to do a human flag pole. I intend to go more into Checo-style training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises mostly require the pull up bar; the human flag pole is one representative example. There are several types of pull up that I am aware of (although I don't know the styles by name). One example is, after pulling up, pushing one's self upward into a deep position. Another example is hanging one's self from the pull up bar and slowly pushing the whole body parallel to the ground, while keeping the hands straight (holding the pull up bar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on how to make progress with this style training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-05-09T04:40:54.913" LastActivityDate="2013-02-15T06:20:54.627" Title="How should I start Checo-style training?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;checo&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6328" CreationDate="2012-05-08T18:36:12.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they know what they're doing - and not giving obviously bad advice - go with 3, otherwise you can always go with 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do go with 2, and if your gym allows it, it might be helpful to record your lifts via your phone so that you can make certain you're not doing something wrong. This is far safer than trying to look in a mirror while, for example, dead lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3449" LastActivityDate="2012-05-08T18:36:12.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-08T23:48:06.947" Score="6" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aside from&lt;/em&gt; the obvious safety concerns of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat prostration, etc., what is known about the detriments or benefits of exercising at higher-than-comfortable temperature/humidity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it concretely, the gym I currently use has a room temperature these days of perhaps 75 F, with fairly muggy humidity.  I find that much higher than I'd prefer to exercise in, particularly for running on a treadmill (at a 7:30--8:30/min pace).  I would ideally enjoy 66 F with low humidity,  At the current temperature/humidity I sweat profusely and have been backing off of my previous exertion on the treadmill out of basic caution, though it strongly feels I could continue at a higher exertion without any risk of &lt;em&gt;serious&lt;/em&gt; harm.  (I am well hydrated and have never felt close to dizzy or anything like that--just tired.  And &lt;em&gt;hot&lt;/em&gt;.)  But I am concerned about less obvious harm...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so, what I want to know is:  is there evidence to show that sustained hard exercise at higher temperatures/humidity has any &lt;strong&gt;subtler systemic harm&lt;/strong&gt; (that is, subtler than the obvious ones listed above)?  I mean, is it &quot;bad for your brain&quot;  Or other organs?  Does it put too much stress on your system?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Or&lt;/strong&gt; is training in conditions in which sweating is profuse and sustained actually &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; training in some sense?  Such as training your system to be more efficient or other benefits?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2013-10-01T08:10:47.827" Title="Exercising at higher temperatures" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6403" CreationDate="2012-05-09T08:51:19.030" Score="4" ViewCount="1796" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I had some neck and shoulder pain and my physiotherapist said it is because my monkey-like posture developed from using laptop for too long. Among other things he recommended some exercises to strengthen the lower part of my trapezius muscle. The problem with his exercise is that it is horribly boring (consists of lying on the floor on my front and lifting my arms in a specific way). I have to do gzillion series to actually feel the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am looking for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A better exercise I could do in the gym for the lower trapezius (I read somewhere that rowing would be good - is it correct?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A general set of exercises to tackle the monkey posture issue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current fitness level is rather low because of very young children not leaving me time for training. I am planning to get back to it though!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1632" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T15:30:59.430" Title="Training lower trapezius" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-09T11:35:47.207" Score="14" ViewCount="3101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming I workout on a regular basis and I'm in constant need for protein for recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastActivityDate="2013-02-22T09:32:54.253" Title="Is there a maximum amount of protein the human body can absorb a day?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6359" CreationDate="2012-05-09T12:14:18.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;People have been doing physical exertion for millenia without air conditioning.  This includes training in the cold as well.  Each extreme has its own challenges, there won't be any lasting systemic damage if you take care of the issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training in Heat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydration is most important.  You will sweat more--and sweating is a good thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your performance will be diminished.  It takes time to get adapted to higher heat, so don't push yourself too hard too fast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you stop sweating, or start feeling dizzy--stop exercising, cool and rehydrate yourself.  Something not normal is happening, and you'll probably need medical attention (due to the issues you listed in the opening statement).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training in Cold&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will sweat, so keep downtime to a minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Metal will be really cold to the touch, so if you lift weights you'll have to be mentally prepared for an ice cold bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In more extreme cold temperatures, you'll probably need a space heater to keep the bar from freezing your hand to the bar with your sweat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydration is still an issue--you get dehydrated quicker the further from room temperature (goes for heat and cold)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Same warning as for heat about stopping sweating, feeling dizzy, and acclimating yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is that you will need to adapt yourself to training in that environment.  Since we aren't talking about the extremes that you would find even in a garage (90 degrees F in the summer, 10 degrees F in the winter), the only real concern is hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T12:14:18.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6362" CreationDate="2012-05-09T12:24:09.463" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently stumbled on a great article that talks about protein consumption for the purposes of building muscle (recovery included).  It's &lt;a href=&quot;http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot;&gt;&quot;The Myth of 1g/lb: Optimal Protein Intake for Bodybuilders&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  To make a long story short, there was a clinical study to determine how much protein was necessary to build muscle.  It is still based on body weight, but the end number they came up with which even supported the highest demands in the study was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;0.82g/lb is the upper limit at which protein intake benefits body composition (Phillips &amp;amp; Van Loon, 2011)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this number is for people who are trying to build muscle.  There are other benefits to having protein intake higher than this amount, but they are not related to recovery or building muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't lifting heavy weights regularly, your protein demands will be lower.  If you have no renal issues (no kidney problems), you can safely consume 2g/lb protein.  The extra will be converted to energy through a Calorie intensive process or will be defecated out.  In short, there is no harm in consuming more protein than your body can absorb, but the benefits aren't related to recovery or building muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T12:24:09.463" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6362" CreationDate="2012-05-09T14:35:14.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;FWIW, I've been reading the book &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920015475.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitness for Geeks&lt;/a&gt;&quot; recently, and it says on page 61:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;The ability of the body to properly metabolize protein foods &lt;strong&gt;diminishes at an&#xA;intake of about 35 percent of calories&lt;/strong&gt;, which is why you are not advised to go&#xA;crazy on protein intake and try to get the majority of your calories from it.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis theirs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book cites &lt;i&gt;Shabne, Bilsborough and Neil Mann, “A Review of Issues of Dietary Protein&#xA;Intake in Humans,” International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise&#xA;Metabolism, 2006, pp. 1, 129&lt;/i&gt; as the source of that statistic. A Google search for that article led me &lt;a href=&quot;http://home.exetel.com.au/surreality/health/A%20Review%20of%20Issues%20of%20Dietary%20Protein%20Intake%20in%20Humans.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein is about 4 calories per gram, so on a 2000 calorie diet (which would be low for most strength trainers) getting 35% of your calories from protein would mean 2000 / 4 * 0.35 = 175 grams of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="323" LastEditDate="2012-05-09T14:40:57.613" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T14:40:57.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7119" CreationDate="2012-05-09T14:50:11.700" Score="2" ViewCount="1233" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a base BMR of about 2200 calories without the activity multiplier using this formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;66 + (6.23*240) + (12.7 * 70) - (6.88*31)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I supervise an automotive shop and generally consider walking, sitting, and standing as my daily activities (about 1500 calories burned using weight times METS). In the context of weight loss and calorie intake and calories burned, would my said daily activities be the multiplier (1.2) or is that multiplier added in regardless of what daily activity is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because 2200 x 1.2 would be 2640 calories burned + work = 4140 which seems high. Without the multiplier 2200 + 1500 = 3700 still seems high. If I'm deducting 500 per day, 3200 calories seems really high. I'm 240lbs with a 5'10&quot; frame and this doesn't really make sense to me. Am I missing something? Is my estimation on calories burned for my daily activities way off? I consume anywhere from 2000 to 3000 calories per day on average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3453" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-09T16:57:08.943" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T04:49:48.893" Title="The relationship between basal metabolic rate, calories, and activity level" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6336" CreationDate="2012-05-09T15:36:02.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is an issue with locking our elbows(at a safe speed obviously) but in lifting, locking the knees is usually a no-no, especially with things like power (olympic) lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T15:36:02.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11520" CreationDate="2012-05-09T16:40:38.543" Score="6" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a two-parter at cross purposes:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in converting some gym equipment I have lying around to act as input devices for my computer, and I'm looking for interesting applications.  While I can easily generate keystrokes to control any game (walking in World of Warcraft is a popular example), I'm surprised that I'm having a hard time finding more directly applicable games.  For example, I'd love to find a cool bicycling simulation program where the brake levers are analog controls.  I know a lot of hardcore racing sims have robust APIs to let you add your own custom physical dashboards and controllers to the game; what other interesting examples have you seen?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This one is different.  What &lt;em&gt;exercise equipment&lt;/em&gt; out there has an open API to let send commands / control various settings programmatically.  Example: an exercise bike with programmatically settable resistance through a USB or serial interface.  I ask because I have some pretty specific interval programs I'd like to be able to do, but every computerized elliptical/exercise bike/treadmill I have access to at the gym have shortcomings in their built-in programs that don't match exactly what I want to do, and I started fantasizing about making my own controller.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3456" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T06:24:26.493" Title="What interesting simulations/games exist with open APIs for integrating with exercise equipment?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6328" CreationDate="2012-05-09T16:41:01.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should go with 3. Make sure to explain to the trainers why you want to follow that program. If they are dead-set against your using it, find out why they feel that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the trainer refuses to spot you and help correct your form, find another trainer. If none of the trainers at the gym are willing to do it, then find another gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T16:41:01.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6426" CreationDate="2012-05-09T17:47:45.717" Score="30" ViewCount="19826" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a very overweight man at 400lbs (181 kg). I've been told by several doctors that I need to lose weight or else my health will get worse and worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises are safe for a large person? For weight training I'm wary of doing squats since every time I've tried I end up with sore knees and have problems walking. I've also found that most cardio programs have the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For losing weight should I be concentrating on cardio or weight training? Is it better to exercise or should I just change my eating habits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some good websites for teaching myself proper nutritional information? I've heard the old adage &quot;eat less&quot;, but considering that most of my meals are from fast food restaurants, I have no idea of what kinds or proportions of foods I should be eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:38:57.837" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T14:01:37.427" Title="How to lose weight when morbidly obese" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-09T20:22:55.447" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight training best effect comes from the training of large muscle groups using a high range of motion. (Moving a weight over a distance = doing &quot;work&quot;). Ideally you wat to do as much work as possible in smaller amounts of time do that you expend energy without building up tons of fatigue. For example. Shoulder-shrugging 110-lb dumbbells is HARD, but the dumbbells only move a few inches up and down. In contrast doing arm raises from flat at your side to perpendicular involves a greater distance, and if you used appropriate weight, you'd do more WORK than with he other exercise within a few sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, from what you described, you should look for exercise that would be ok for someone with patellar-tendinitis to do. Why? Because you'd like to go easy on the knee impact. One thing you may consider to being with is plain old walking. If you have an pulse/hear-rate monitoring instrument (like a watch) take you resting heart-rate and then walk for even 200 meters and take your rate again. The difference will be significant. So walking 1 mile a day would help. I suggest a REAL mile, not an elliptical machine mile, as it requires much more energy to walk on the ground than on machines designed for lower knee impact, and more weight support (handles). Until your knees become stronger, walking and body squats are your limit. You can ice your knees after each session to keep inflammation away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cardio&quot; is somewhat overplayed. Everything is cardio, and your heart-rate should fluctuate with interval style workouts rather than even-keel stuff like jogging. They do not run treadmills all-day on Biggest-Loser. You should download the show, or buy it on DVD and do your best to incorporate what they do in your own fashion.There is a website for Biggest Loser also, with a community for people at home who also wish to change the the shape they are in. It has diet/eating information and recipes also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are in touch with your doctor, you can run every exercise you wish to do by him/her - but remember his/her job is to err on the side of caution, and if everything you want to do it &quot;too much&quot; you will never do anything and stay as is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start preparing immediately, but also set a date in the future say 3 weeks when you will be ready to cal it your first day prepared. Cold turkey diet change it hard. Setting a routine to exercise everyday is harder. So start today &quot;trying&quot; to change so that in 3 weeks you have had a chance to implement different things more easily. Then you'll be good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T20:22:55.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-09T21:00:17.943" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; change your diet. Eating fast food all the time is bad for you in multiple ways, including your pocketbook.  Switch to unprocessed food as much as possible.  Regular oatmeal in the morning as opposed to quick oatmeal or cold cereal is much better for you and doesn't take more than a few minutes to prepare.  Add some cinnamon, nutmeg and some raisins.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, drink lots of water.  Not only will it reduce cravings, it will help in step three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, no elevators, take the stairs.  And, if you work in a multi-story building, do not use the bathroom on the floor you work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, change is hard.  Don't beat yourself up when you slip up.  Try to find a friend or coworker that is also trying to make a change so you can support each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastEditorUserId="766" LastEditDate="2017-01-06T14:01:37.427" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T14:01:37.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-09T21:24:21.197" Score="18" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; - Unless you get your diet under control, exercise alone will not make enough of a difference on its own. Craig Ballantyne does a great &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQbuzsY_34Q&quot;&gt;diet versus exercise video&lt;/a&gt; that will stick in your mind when you are considering calories going in and just how hard it is to work them off with exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best resource for a specific diet for you is to meet with a registered dietician that specializes in obesity.  This will save you a lot of wasted time trying to learn how to eat well, with proper portion sizes and with specific calorie amounts so that you have a viable eating and weight loss plan.  Your doctor will be happy to set you up with a good dietician.  With morbid obesity, you need a pro helping you handle your diet.  And you will need to get away from fast foods as they generally have poor nutritive values and a lot sodium and artery clogging fats. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keeping Track&lt;/strong&gt; - Discuss with your doctor the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Personal-Measurements.html&quot;&gt;measurements&lt;/a&gt; that are most important for you to keep track of to measure your progress:  Waist Circumference, BMI, Body Fat Percentage etc. Ask your doctor for advice on using a Heart Rate monitor and what your safe target heart rate is during exercise.  Keep a chart or graph of your diet, exercise and progress to help motivate you when the going gets tough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt; - Finding the right exercise(s) for you is key to exercising successfully.  Low or no impact exercises are easiest on the joints.  Water aerobics, swimming, running in water, water resistance exercises etc. will allow you to get a good workout without as much strain.  Stationary cycles, elliptical trainers and Nordic walking poles are also good options for delicate knees.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Join a gym and set up a regular schedule that works for you.  Meet with their trainer and have them set up a routine for you that includes resistance training as well as cardio and stretching.  Then have them upgrade it periodically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask for a program that includes resistance training for large muscle groups.  They can show you alternatives to the squat that are easier on your knees.  You may need to use a machine and/or limit your range.  For example, you can target your glutes with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/LVLyingHipExtensionH.html&quot;&gt;hip extension machine&lt;/a&gt; and this won't affect your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get Support&lt;/strong&gt; -  Losing the amount of weight that you want to lose involves a lifestyly change - increasing your overall activity and decreasing your sedentary time. Find a sport or physical activity that you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need support along the way.  Enlist as many friends, family, trainers, work out buddies etc. as you can to help you stick with the program.  You can also get &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002839/&quot;&gt;support online&lt;/a&gt;.  However, given just how important losing weight safely is to your health, it is wise to set up your plan with your own health professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T21:24:21.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-09T22:05:31.840" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the &quot;Fit in Six&quot; fitness game on the PlayStation 3 and similar games for the Wii, and I would like to know if it is recommended to follow those routines. In particular, I am concerned about the potential for injury, and any age-dependent considerations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3458" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-05-10T02:01:36.617" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T21:37:58.700" Title="Are &quot;Fit in Six&quot; PlayStation routines safe and appropriate for any age?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;age&gt;&lt;video-games&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6378" CreationDate="2012-05-09T22:10:55.110" Score="6" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much daily time is appropriate for a child of 7 years to do the routines in the game &quot;Fit in Six&quot; on the PlayStation 3?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My son is thin, but is very active and likes these routines. However, I do not know to what extent such exercises are safe and healthy; I do not permit it every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3458" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-10T03:06:17.153" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T03:06:17.153" Title="How much time is appropriate 7-year-old to play &quot;Fit in Six&quot; on the PS3?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;children&gt;&lt;video-games&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2012-05-09T22:31:55.147" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about the same thing a while ago and I read this article that explained this issue in a very detailed way, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/13020/1/How-Bodybuilding-Works--The-Science-of-Bodybuilding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/13020/1/How-Bodybuilding-Works--The-Science-of-Bodybuilding.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will start burning muscles only under extreme conditions when you're pushing your self in training so much  burning fats is not fast enough to keep you going. According to the article, there are different forms of energy the body use during a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first form is ATP short for Andenosine Triphosphate, a power source that only lasts for 3 seconds of expanding and contracting then the body look for a source of energy elsewhere.&#xA;However using creatine can help recombining the already used ATP and using it again which basically make it 13 seconds of ATP based energy instead of only 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the body moves on to a new source of energy which carbs which is a little slower form energy than ATP, the body first have break it down to ATP than use but this process creates lactic acid  which causes burning sensation you feel in your muscles when we push yourself in running or in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to lose fat you'll need to push yourself beyond the first 2 energy forms and cause your body to start looking for fat as a source of energy however and according to the article there is not specific timing or order on which when your body will switch from carbs to fat, its genetically determined by your body’s physiology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And eventually after you train for too long you run out of carbs and your body fat is not producing enough power to keep you going, your body starts to burn muscles for energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-23T19:09:08.380" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T19:09:08.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6376" CreationDate="2012-05-09T22:32:19.547" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was six or seven, I played outside, running and climbing trees and fences until I  &quot;needed&quot; to go home because it was getting dark or my parentally-imposed time-limit for fun had arrived. As long as you're child isn't getting drenched in his clothing - he should be ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about him being exposed to an extreme amount of exercise, note that there are leagues/clubs all over the US for youths his age to do just about every event in Track &amp;amp; Field. www.USATF.org will likely have information on it. I doubt the PS3 trumps that level of exertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-09T22:32:19.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2012-05-09T23:23:09.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second camara's answer. This part of the reason why eating sweets is generally not good if your are dieting, because sugars are first in the &quot;burning order&quot; of things. Carbs are generally second, fat is third, and protein is last since protein really isn't an energy source but used for repair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs and sugar are very close to the same but sugar is considered a simple-carb, it burns/is broken down faster and eaiser thus sought after first bu the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read this it's excellent: &lt;a href=&quot;http://idealfitnessofct.com/idealfitnessofct.com/Protein,_Carbs_&amp;amp;_Fat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://idealfitnessofct.com/idealfitnessofct.com/Protein,&lt;em&gt;Carbs&lt;/em&gt;%26_Fat.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is good too: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Long-Does-it-Take-to-Burn-Off-Carbs-Before-Burning-Fat?&amp;amp;id=2142117&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Long-Does-it-Take-to-Burn-Off-Carbs-Before-Burning-Fat?&amp;amp;id=2142117&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;* Sugars are simple molecules of carbohydrates, so it's just carbs (galactose, fructose, glucose), Protein (Amino acid, oligosaccaride, monosaccaride), Fats (free fatty acid, monoglyceride), not &quot;Sugar and carbs&quot; **&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body burns carbohydrates and fat together, and efficiently. Oncethe body's glycogen runs out, the body will start burning fat and protein to keep up with its requirement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-11-10T04:22:23.120" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T04:22:23.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7056" CreationDate="2012-05-10T02:41:56.267" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love doing back weight exersises, especially the Seated Cable Rows with a narrow grip with the stack set at my body weight of 210lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On two occasions I've performed 3 sets of 10 reps and I feel great afterwards. But then I'll be out of commission for a week while my body recovers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do I change this workout?  Decrease the number of reps, sets or less weight?  I'm afraid of doing less weight to failure and ending up worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:11:48.470" Title="Best way to work the back without putting myself out of commission?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-10T09:27:47.410" Score="0" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently joined a gym, and I wanted to build both the abdomen (6-8 packs) and upper body (chest and shoulders). I have used a gym two years back. I have the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How I distribute my exercises both daily or alternatively?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it necessary for me to run before doing this? I am jogging 3&#xA;kms on a treadmill. Is this too little or too much?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am not fat but have gained some flab over time. I am 27 and&#xA;weigh 72 kg (158.7 lbs).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing patterns for each of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Few good exercises for each of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it okay to drink soda-aerated water/lemonade after the exercise?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3460" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-10T12:47:14.643" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T15:23:30.410" Title="Reducing flab and Building the Upper Body simultaneously - Guidance?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-05-11T01:45:27.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6383" CreationDate="2012-05-10T10:14:36.277" Score="3" ViewCount="2305" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might seem like an obvious question, but I'm currently exercising a lot and losing a lot of weight (through diet), and I'm afraid that shedding this much weight that I'm putting myself in a catabolic state (i.e., shedding muscle as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is will you counter the catabolic effect if you're ingesting under 1200 calories (for example) but taking a lot of protein?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-10T12:43:44.390" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T12:43:44.390" Title="Does high intake of protein while in catabolic mode prevent muscle loss?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6382" CreationDate="2012-05-10T12:03:31.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you take a look at my answer to a question on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6362/is-there-a-maximum-amount-of-protein-the-human-body-can-absorb-a-day/&quot;&gt;max amount of protein the body can absorb&lt;/a&gt;, and use the ballpark number there, you will have sufficient protein to prevent your muscles from being catabolized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming the diet is very low carb or ketogenic?  Essentially, when your dietary carbohydrate intake is lower than what the brain demands for food (roughly 125g/day), your body releases a few hormones to compensate.  One of them is glucagon, which releases stored fat for energy as well as any stored glycogen in your muscles.  After the glycogen stores are depleted (roughly 3 days) the body goes into ketosis, where the liver converts fat into ketone bodies--while at the same time starting gluconeogenisis which converts protein into energy. This is the catabolic state to be wary of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that the gluconeogenisis is happy to convert dietary protein into energy, which saves your muscles and organs.  This is also precisely why all ketogenic diets are medium to high protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do be aware that intense exercise including heavy lifting, sprinting, or anything that gets your heart rate up high will increase your body's demand for energy.  It can easily get to the point where gluconeogenisis will outpace a moderate protein intake.  If you are intent on performing exercise like this, it is highly recommended to periodically do a carb refeed.  Periodically is either once a week, or directly after your training.  The purpose is to replenish your glycogen stores and help your muscles recover from the effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T12:03:31.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6380" CreationDate="2012-05-10T14:37:32.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exact solution is going to depend on several factors, including your other exercises and the type of pain you're getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you getting DOMS? If you are, then you're probably fine and just need to rest a day and suck it up in the later days. Stretch more, get plenty of water and protein, and get back out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are your muscles spasming/cramping? If so, then you probably want to make sure you stretch more after your workouts and on off days, maybe do some more dynamic stretching, or more warming up, beforehand. You may also want to &quot;deload&quot; and do lower weight for the same number of reps and sets and work back up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it not muscle pain? When you're &quot;out of commission,&quot; do you get sharp pain down one of your legs? What does the pain feel like? Where is the source of the pain located? If it falls under the &quot;not muscle pain/DOMS&quot;, then you probably want to see a doctor. Lower back pain and sharp pain down a leg is a sign of Sciatica, where the Sciatic nerve gets pinched. Even if it's not Sciatica, if it's not muscle pain, you don't want to injure yourself further. Get checked out and make sure everything is okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any of these, and everyday activities, make sure your posture and form are correct. When standing straight, your spine should make a gentle S-shaped curve. Your skull should sit comfortably on top, your hips in a neutral position at the bottom, your shoulders back some, and your ribcage up and out of your hips. Your shoulders and hips should be parallel to each other and the ground, and your weight distributed evenly between your feet. When working out, make sure your back is as straight as the exercise allows (ie - when doing things like squats or deadlifts, the back shouldn't be rounded - the form should come from bends at the waist/hips, knees, and the other joints involved).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, make sure you don't overwork your back. Just like you take rest days between the other muscle groups you work, your back needs rest. Remember, too, that if you're doing compound lifts, you may be working your back, already, so make sure to count them, as well, when determining how much you've done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T14:37:32.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6381" CreationDate="2012-05-10T15:15:22.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting muscle definition (including the coveted 6-pack) requires reducing your body fat percentage. How that's done is generally two things - eating right and strength training (generally either lifting heavy or doing advanced bodyweight exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most sources I've found say that you do not need to run to achieve this. However, 3km isn't much, so it probably serves as a decent warm-up/cool-down (additionally, cardio is good for the heart). Whether you drop it or not will be up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of programs out there that you can do to build strength. Pick one that appeals to you and that you can stick with (&quot;the best program is the one you can stick to&quot;). Here are some resources/options to get you started:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;New Rules of Lifting (weight lifting, book)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strength (weight lifting, book)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;StrongLifts 5x5 (powerlifting, website; I, personally, like and recommend this one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You Are Your Own Gym (bodyweight strength training, book)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Convict Conditioning (bodyweight strength training, book)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beast Skills (bodyweight strength training, website)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never Gymless (bodyweight strength training, book)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crossfit (as I understand it, High-Intensity Interval Training, with some weights; group program)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of these programs will have either a 3x/week plan (ie - full body, three days a week, with 1-2 rest days in between), or a rotating 5-6x/week (ie - upper body M-W-F, lower body T-Th-S, day off completely on Sunday). Rest days are important! You're &quot;breaking down&quot; your muscles when you work out, and building them bigger and stronger when resting (the act of lifting creates microtears, resting rebuilds those and makes those parts stronger).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, too, that getting the 6-pack is considered &quot;80% diet.&quot; That is, what you eat matters, especially once you're body fat percentage gets down close to and into the single digits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be careful of things like lemonade, as they tend to have a lot of sugar in them. The same goes with Gatorade and whatnot. If you're working out to the point where you need electrolyte replacement, consider making your own.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat clean. The more whole foods you eat, the more nutrients you'll get. If you can do things like get your animal products from free-range, grass fed animals, even better (beef from grass fed cows has more Omega-3s and nutrients all around).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Experiment with your diet. Some people can't tolerate gluten (wheat/cereal products), and gluten intolerance can lead to stomach bloat, even if not other symptoms occur. It might be worth cutting out grain-based carbs to see how you react, especially if your BF% is low and you're not getting definition. The Paleo diet can be a good guide for this, even if you don't follow it completely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat lots of protein. I've seen it vary somewhat depending on source, but the consensus I've seen is 1g per pound of body weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't be afraid of fats. Dietary fat does not directly make you fat. Eating more calories than you burn is what makes you fat. The macronutrient numbers I've seen are generally around a 30/30/30 split of carbs, fats, and protein, which adjustments generally being in favor of fats and proteins, depending on individual needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't get hung up on the scale. Use it to help determine your body fat percentage, if necessary, but ignore the scale otherwise. Strength training usually results in gaining weight, but lowering BF%, so BF% is what matters. Body fat percentage measurements can be hit or miss, in general, but according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56830&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, a cheap and easy way is to measure yourself. I personally use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this calculator&lt;/a&gt; to get an estimate and keep track. Like the scale, though, don't get hung up on the individual numbers. Monitor the trend to make sure you're going in the right direction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track your food. There is often a big difference between what you think you're eating and what you're actually eating, both in amount and in nutrition content. Sign up at a tracker like MyFitnessPal or Livestrong's Daily Plate to make sure you're on track.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T15:23:30.410" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T15:23:30.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6380" CreationDate="2012-05-10T16:20:32.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure what you mean by &quot;work the back&quot;  if that means every muclse from bottom of the waist up to the bottom of the neck, or if you mean &quot;back&quot; as in just the lower back muscles - which are the ones that get really sore or hurt for those who have bad backs, pull their backs, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to get the lower back muscles into shape, you don't need 210lbs of cable rows. There are inclined set-ups for &lt;em&gt;back-extensions&lt;/em&gt; in most gyms that you can use to  work thos elowrr back muscles. Also, if you just lay on the floor with your stomach down, and flex you back (an exercise called supermans) you'll find that even without weight(or a medball carried in the hands) a few good sets of these will seriously activate and work those lower back muscles, to the extent that when you stand up, you'll feel the tightness and be standing straighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back extensions on the floor: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9YuQTTc58&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9YuQTTc58&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back extensions on the platform: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph3pddpKzzw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph3pddpKzzw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T16:20:32.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6380" CreationDate="2012-05-10T16:40:37.843" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to answer in a general sense, as the same advice works when you are doing squats, deadlifts, and other exercises.  There comes a time where you just can't keep hitting the same exercise and expect to increase the next time you do it.  Essentially, you need to vary the weight intensity and volume over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weekly Progression&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both Texas Method (TM) and Madcow have a &quot;volume&quot; day and an &quot;intensity&quot; day.  The volume day is where you do the hard work, and intensity day is where you put it to use.  You would be doing the exercise twice a week. The sets and reps are written in &quot;sets x reps&quot; notation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume day: 5x5 TM is sets across (all the same weight), Madcow is ramping sets (increase 12.5% each set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intensity day: work up to a heavy set of 1-3 at 5-10lbs more than last max, and add a backoff set of 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, on intensity day you are increasing the max you can do.  With Madcow, intensity day is always 5-10lbs more than volume day, and your next volume day you do at the weight you used for your last intensity day.  With TM, you change the weight on volume day when you feel you need to, but always increase from intensity day to intensity day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This variation works well when you need a week to get stronger and do more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monthly Variation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of templates that work here, but the one I like best is the Wendler progression.  All percentages are your training max for the cycle.  Reps x Percentage notation used.  Note: the '+' sign is used for As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP), saving a rep in the tank when you are done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warmup across all weeks is 5x40%, 5x50%, and 3x60%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week one: 5x65%, 5x75%, 5+x85%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week two: 3x70%, 3x80%, 3+x90%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week three: 5x75%, 3x85%, 1+x95%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As assistance you would do 5x10 at one of your warmup weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works for just about any exercise, but it was written primarily for large compound movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to Look At&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, the more advanced you get, the more complicated your training will become.  Managing recovery will be important, but you really can't go all week without doing anything.  While the overall volume of your training will increase, your muscles will have more relative rest than just going at it 3x10 every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there are times where you have to do other exercises to increase the one you want.  For example, for deadlifts you may have to do deficit deadlifts to improve your strength off the floor or romanian deadlifts to help your lockout strength.  Technically speaking, the cable rows are themselves an assistance lift that balances your bench press nicely.  They can also be done as Pendlay rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T16:40:37.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="232" CreationDate="2012-05-10T16:41:56.903" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should look at your BMI and then note how many pounds are required to get you into the good range. From what you reported 5-7 110 gives a BMI of 17.2. The healthy BMI (body mass index) begins at 18.5 and goes up to 24.9 I would say a BMI of 20 is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you that means being 5-7 and 128lbs. To be in the exact middle of the range (BMI 21.7) you need to be 5-7 and 138.5lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see from those number you should only be looking to gain a max of 28.5 pounds. Gaining weight is dangerous, and yo udon't want to create poor eating habits and take silly supplements (like Creatine) just to put on some pounds. Your main goal is likely a physique. SO do not focus on WEIGHT or you could put yourself in a bad place. Creatine is higly unnecessary unless you are already working out and lifting to an extremem level in which you would NEED creatine to allow you to lift more (for longer periods). Don't start scarfing down food and taking creatine and have it all get stored as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight you will need to build some muscle endurance first, and learn proper techniques for various styles of weight lifting. Most people can NEVER lift heavy because they hit a wall where their technique does not allow them to withstand using more weight. They unfortunately do not realize that there technique sucks. So, start with lower weight and higher rep stuff, learn good technique (videos or a decent college-athlete friend can help you with this) then you should move to higher weights (lower reps e.g. 5), and try to increase the amount you lift every three weeks or so, but keep the reps the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight gain is a side-effect of becoming strong and powerful. DO NOT try to gain weight. Learn how to become stronger. If you just want to LOOK ripped, again gaining weight is not the place to focus your attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many articles about muscle building. In general, AFTER you've lifted and made tears to your muscles, you need to provide them with proper building materials to repair themselves. the window for &quot;after&quot; is as small as 45 minutes, and for building materials you should eat protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T16:41:56.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6381" CreationDate="2012-05-10T17:01:58.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abs + Upperbody simultaneously.&#xA;That sounds like a job for &quot;body-wieght&quot; exercises.&#xA;Bod-wieght exercises are exactly what they sound like. They use your body, for weight, instead of other external weights. To acheive the abs+upper at the same time, many of these exercises are done while hanging via a pull-up bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body-weight exercises are very tough, and you may actually have to do some other things for a while before you can manage to do body-weight efficiently. But here are some example exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;variation: Hanging. You need tons of endurance to hand from a pull up bar for the other exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hanging Leg Raises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;variation: Knees up then kick&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;variation: Legs straight, and bring to 90 degrees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Hanging) Body Curls&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is like back in elementary school where you would &quot;flip&quot; by passing your feet through your arms. Instead of flipping, you STOP at the top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Hanging) Body V's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnMO_VNVfEE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnMO_VNVfEE&lt;/a&gt; (but more controlled)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Windshield wipers &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5iLz4uEj8o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5iLz4uEj8o&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZeOqM7zt3U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZeOqM7zt3U&lt;/a&gt; (see 4:34)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Skyscrapers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;getting into windshield wiper position, and the push your feet and but up vertically, then in a controlled manner come back down to windshield wiper position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T17:01:58.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-10T17:51:14.360" Score="2" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of products in the market which targets individuals who want to be more aware/in control of their training. The most common and classic of such instruments are pulse sensors, either as watches or devices that are strapped on the chest (while running for instance). I stumbled upon two new devices which I think will take the concept one step further; Jawbone UP and Nike Fuel Band. Since I have no intentions of advertise for any product I'll leave it to the interested reader to get more information about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What I am wondering is what variables are used in these kind of&#xA;products? Or rather what constitutes as a good measure of training&#xA;effectivity/intensity? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The pulse and blood pressure are the obvious answers, and the&#xA;majority of the newer stuff use 3D accelerometers for motion sensing.&#xA;There are concerns about the accuracy of these sensors in training,&#xA;however, due to the localization issue (i.e. if the device is on your&#xA;arm, all training not involving your arm goes more or less&#xA;unregistered)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have heard about the &quot;blood oxygenation&quot; (dunno even know if it's a&#xA;proper word) to  be an interesting/important parameter, but it's&#xA;supposedly not yet possible to measure it with non-invasive&#xA;equipment. Can anyone confirm or deny this?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" OwnerDisplayName="posdef" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-11T01:41:56.980" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T20:35:47.713" Title="Which variables are used in modern training equipment in order to calculate training intensity/effectivity?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6404" CreationDate="2012-05-10T18:54:15.340" Score="8" ViewCount="9972" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that running with weights is a bad idea. Most of what I've read online (for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/community/forums/injury-prevention/stretching-cross-training/benefits-of-running-weights-hands&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;) seems to suggest unequivocally that weights on your legs are a serious health risk, but there seems to be a little less consensus about weights held in your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption was that it would be good for toning my shoulders and arms.&#xA;I had been running with 450 gm weights for a few years- holding them in my hand, not around my wrist, usually between 7 and 15 km (at about a 5 min/km pace). But after reading about it online I decided to stop temporarily, even though I hadn't experienced any negative side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd appreciate links/evidence one way or the other, preferably not just anecdotal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" OwnerDisplayName="Eyal" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T11:36:36.133" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T09:01:25.990" Title="Is running with hand weights a bad idea?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6392" CreationDate="2012-05-10T19:28:03.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that while running with weights held in the hand probably doesn't share the same detrimental joint effects as running with ankle weights, it is a less than ideal way to build upper-body muscle. I'd do chin-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, and/or overhead barbell presses instead, either before or after or in the middle of the run, or in a separate workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2017-05-24T09:01:25.990" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T09:01:25.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-10T19:44:00.323" Score="1" ViewCount="840" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of product design how large a weight could people in the 95th Percentile (Men &amp;amp; Women) lift in KG, per hand, without overly exerting themselves? This is in regards to anthropometrics, and the data would be used with 95th percentile hand sizes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for defining overly exerting themselves, I'd say in terms of being able to hold an object for a prolonged period of time, without showing any noticeable signs in terms of biology that they were doing this, e.g. Sweating, Feeling Uncomfortable. For example, a phone is below this lift, a normal television is above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3463" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:35:41.857" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:35:41.857" Title="How much can the 95th Percentile lift without overly exerting themselves?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-07-10T09:18:13.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2012-05-10T20:15:25.960" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Energy metabolism is not a very well understood system in the sense that while the biochemical reactions are well known, their dynamics is highly variable depending on the individual. I find it disturbing that so many people have their own understanding of how their body work, without any sound reasoning behind it. Below I'll try to give some background information to the chemistry of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biochemistry behind it is essentially very complicated and is often over-simplified. The truth is, different parts of the body use different sources for energy. A common example is the brain, which can ONLY use glucose as the energy source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To argue against @camara90100's post, ATP is NOT an energy source but instead an energy carrier. ATP molecule is carries three phosphate groups as its name suggests. By breaking the these bonds (i.e. ATP -&gt; ADP + P) energy is released which is used in some other reaction in the body. When the body &quot;burns&quot; sugars, or anything else, it uses the energy to synthesize more ATP molecules, or to reverse the original reaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not lactic acid is produced from breaking sugars is dependent on the oxygen supply to the surrounding tissue, if you cannot supply the tissue with enough oxygen a less than optimal reaction will take place where one of the byproducts is lactic acid. Lactic acid build-up in the tissue will ultimately lead to &quot;cramps&quot; as your body is telling you stop what you are doing since your metabolism cannot keep up with the physical activity you put yourself through. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further more, there is an interplay between simple sugars and complex ones (carbs), as well as between carbs and fat. Excess blood sugar is processed in the liver to produce glycogen which is a long-term-storage of sugars. However glycogen is not the only way to store fuel, evolutionarily we are developed to &quot;store energy&quot; in case food becomes scarce. In that sense it's important to understand that fat is not a undesired trash molecule, but a perfectly healthy part of the metabolism. I recall reading some article on a critical limit on body fat index and normal brain function, where the authors have discussed individuals with extremely low body fat percentage were performing less than average on intellectual tasks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I don't believe that you can &quot;guarantee&quot; that you're burning only fat and no proteins during some training, especially considering that all these reactions I've described (and many more) have different rates on different individuals. Individuals with higher metabolic rates will end up breaking down muscle tissue through physical training instead of building muscle mass if they cannot keep up with the food intake. So I suggest you look over your diet so that you do not consume excess amounts of fat or carbs, and plan your training so that it matches with your own metabolic rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps people get a better grasp of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2012-05-11T06:10:28.187" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T06:10:28.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6394" CreationDate="2012-05-10T21:35:56.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like this question. If you're trying to create metrics for this, you should look up records - records of feats that measure the parameters you're looking for. For example if you found the record for bench press, you could consultant a physicist to see how much force,power, etc is required to complete the lift, and then figure out where you want your 95% percentile to be if that record is the 100% level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the records fr wieght lifting&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_Olympic_weightlifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_Olympic_weightlifting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for this 95% cuttoff. Maybe you shoudl base it on the worlds population. As in, it's the amount that no LESS than 5% of the worlds population could lift without the fatigue aspects you mentioned before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T21:35:56.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6361" CreationDate="2012-05-10T21:44:02.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you added some hand weights to the floor exercise he suggested that would change the difficulty quickly. Trap muscle are weird, in that may times you have to try to squeeze them intentionally. Some gyms have little pictures on the machinery to indicate which muscles group should be activated by using that machine. That's a start if you really want to be out of your home when doing these exercises. (Workout at home are so tough to do consistently).&#xA;In the process of strengthening the traps you will also help your posture I think, because I can't think of 1 exercises that uses the traps where you do not need to properly sit and arch your back (versus hunch). As for the laptop thing, maybe a USB mouse to keep you from needing to hunch towards the trackpad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Silly me, started thinking about LATS, not TRAPS. I'll leave my previous post intact, but as a revision, go to this site for targeted exercises with pictures for tons of muscles and muscle groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/11/muscle/traps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It even has filters!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastEditorUserId="3455" LastEditDate="2012-05-14T15:30:59.430" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T15:30:59.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6392" CreationDate="2012-05-10T21:49:00.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;By running do you mean jogging or sprinting? If you jog, you rarely need to use a full motion swing of the arms, and really you're not supposed to fully open your arms (extended elbow) at any time. Your elbow is most bent, opening a small number of degrees. This is part of why the effect is less detrimental, because you are not putting an abnormal force at the end of a lever that usually is not there. Theoretically speaking, wrist weight are better than hand weights because they are closer to the vertex of your elbow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T21:49:00.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6417" CreationDate="2012-05-10T22:04:19.853" Score="3" ViewCount="7821" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working on setting up a routine workout schedule for myself and I'm in need of some input on whether this would work well. Basically I bike 8 miles a day and I want to just alternate pushups, situps and pullups with rest one day a week. I'm looking to get buffer and get a six pack. Right now I can do 25 pushups without stopping and I'm 160lb, so that gives you a sense of my current muscle mass. Does the above plan sound fine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T21:26:29.757" Title="My workout schedule to get buff w/o gym: pushups, situps, pullups, biking" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6321" CreationDate="2012-05-10T22:20:46.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a wide grip pull-up is superior to a lat pull-down because you are not seated (better back posture) and there is not shakiness due to the cable-line moving to the whims of your untrained muscles. When you do a pull-up, everything is upright and your body has ot conform. With a lat-pull down... you're seated, the thing that goes over your legs helps you pull more wieght (you use your hipflexors or leg muscles), back posture is questionable, the cable allows the bar to move as you do, even your alignment left-to-right can be off. I have no idea what TRX is, if it's closer to a wide-grip pull than a lat-pull down, that's better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T22:20:46.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6400" CreationDate="2012-05-10T22:27:26.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would replace the 8 mile biking with real-deal sprinting. Biking while allowing you to take on more resistance will be akin to distance running. Distance running is the enemy of getting buff. Sprinting on the other hand builds muscles in the legs. Things like the 100meter and 200 meter dash. You'll need to warm up and stretch though if you're going to sprint. 2x a week would be enough, and for the amount about 1/2 mile to 2miles of sprinting, obviously broken down into components no longer than 400 meters. Note 4x400meters=1mile. When you're strong enough and body-weight exercises done on the pull-up bar, it will add variation to pull-ups and work your abs at the same time. Stuff like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZeOqM7zt3U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZeOqM7zt3U&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T22:27:26.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6361" CreationDate="2012-05-10T22:32:06.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will preface my answer with a disclaimer that I don't know if my suggestions will be appropriate for your neck and shoulder condition, so I'd recommend that you clear them with your therapist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specificity&lt;/strong&gt; - The exercise your therapist gave you may be boring, but it speciically targets the lower trapezius in a shortenend range.  Your rounded &quot;monkey&quot; posture protracts the scapula (shoulder blades) pulling them up and out, farther away from the spine which lengthens and therefore weakens the lower traps.  When you lie prone and raise your arm overhead, having a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusLower.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;picture&lt;/a&gt; in your mind of the lower trapezius pulling the tip of the shoulder blade down and back in toward the spine will give you a better muscle contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Postural Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; - If you aren't fatiquing the muscle then you are probably ready to add light weights to the exercise(s).  There are several exercises that strengthen the upper back and improve posture, such as rows, lat pulldowns and reverse flys (but they will not necessarily isolate the lower trap). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance bands are a good way to strengthen your postural muscles. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/CBStraightBackInclineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rows&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidPosterior/CBSeatedRearDeltPull.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reverse flys&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Infraspinatus/CBUprightExternalRotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shoulder rotations&lt;/a&gt; can be done sitting at your desk with a band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to address your back extensors and core or &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;abdominal muscles&lt;/a&gt; to give you good postural muscle support. Yoga is also a good exercise regime for improving your overall posture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching&lt;/strong&gt; - In addition to strengthening the back and scapular muscles, you want to stretch your shortened muscles in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuqSP6TIeyo&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;amp;t=31s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;front of your body&lt;/a&gt; (pecs, abs and hip flexors).  There are a couple of ways to specifically stretch the different fibers of the pecs using a  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bQH4fQwMSo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;doorway&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD4Ho5d_utA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lying on a foam roller&lt;/a&gt; that opens the chest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breathing&lt;/strong&gt; - With a &quot;monkey posture&quot; the lower rib cage tends to get depressed.  Using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Breathing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;diaphragmatic breathing&lt;/a&gt; allows your lower rib cage to lift and expand which can help to release that downward pull.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your alignments improve, you'll have less strain on the neck and shoulders.  Just remember my disclaimer to clear any resistance training with your physio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-05-10T22:32:06.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6392" CreationDate="2012-05-11T03:16:46.687" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100266894&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; has links to actual studies showing no significant benefit to doing cardio with hand or ankle weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...if you are walking at a 3.5 mph pace and burning 5 calories per minute--adding a hand or ankle weight may make it feel harder, but you aren't actually burning more calories. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11832877&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2002 study in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness&lt;/a&gt; found no added benefit from wearing  both ankle weights and holding hand weights at the same time! They compared 32 women who wore 1.5-pound ankle weights and held 3-pound hand weights while doing 50 minutes of step aerobics three times a week, with women who stepped using no weights. All the women improved their body composition, decreasing body fat and increasing lean body mass slightly. But the weights didn’t enhance the effect even though the workout felt harder!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well known exercise physiologist, Len Kravitz, PhD, at the University of New Mexico conducted &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1997/08000/Does_Step_Exercise_With_Handweights_Enhance.11.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a study published in 1997 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research&lt;/a&gt;. He compared the long term effects of women who did step aerobics while holding hand weights that started at around 2 pounds and worked up to 4 pounds over a 12 week period. The women did a 30-minute step workout three days a week. At the end of the training period the women in both groups improved their fitness levels and decreased their body fat percentage. But the women who stepped while lifting weights did not get better results, suggesting that it was the step workout--not the hand weights--that produced the improved fitness effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd steer clear of running with the hand weights since the wrists are delicate and prone to repetitive stress injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T03:34:16.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-11T03:45:51.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if you don't plan on counting calories consistently, just doing it for a week or so will increase your awareness of how many calories foods contain. For example, one whole walnut contains 28 calories - so eating a handful results in quite a calorie intake! I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/&quot;&gt;FitDay&lt;/a&gt; for counting calories - it's free and easy to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good alternative to fast food is to carry a cooler with you in your car and/or to work. Stock it with healthy but satisfying foods and ice packs. Light cheese, whole grain crackers, tomato juice, veggies and hummus, etc. I also do this with leftover meals - another incentive not to clean my plate at dinner - I'll have 'free' lunch tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you drink soda, just cutting that out alone will probably result in some weight loss within a few weeks. Make the switch to water or unsweetened iced tea and your body will be very happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you have food cravings, seek out healthy substitutes. I love chocolate ice cream, but luckily I discovered mixing cocoa powder with 0% Greek yogurt and a small amount of maple syrup satisfies my craving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go in small steps and don't deprive yourself of all the foods you love. Just reduce the amounts and savor them as you eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercise, juggling is great no-impact cardio activity and perfect for people just getting started with exercise. You can even do it while sitting down in an armless chair. For a detailed how-to, check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2012/03/juggling-for-fitness/&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; I did on the Fitness Stack Exchange Blog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T03:45:51.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6400" CreationDate="2012-05-11T07:25:22.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not try high interval running in which you sprint for 200m, rest for 30 seconds, and then sprint for another 200m. Do this about 6 times which will help pump your leg. You can do some bridging and leg raises to help build your six pack. A mixture of different pull-ups (wide pull-up, normal pull-up, and close grip pull-ups) of 10 repetitions for 4 sets will also help. After this you may want to pump your chest by doing push-ups (wide push-ups and normal push-ups) for 4 sets where you will push yourself to the maximum rep for every set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-11T17:32:26.417" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T17:32:26.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6394" CreationDate="2012-05-11T07:49:09.687" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Through what i see from those gym i normally go, 20-30 kg dumbell are most commonly use by those weight lifter who want to have nice body. Those intense body builder will be pushing much more heavier example i once saw a guy pushng 50kg dumbell for his dumbell press.&#xA;that is for dumbell press as i do not what type of exercise u are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T07:49:09.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6411" CreationDate="2012-05-11T08:33:53.430" Score="1" ViewCount="730" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 21 years old 1.75m and like 64.5kg. and started doing kickboxing 3 days a week for 4 months now. Kickboxing contains endurance and strength training nearly for the whole body. I didn't do anything for a long time before that, except for playing football(soccer) for a half year (during the 4 years where I didn't do anything except that...) Since I started kickboxing I noticed a big change in my body. My shoulders are getting wider and my arms don't look that weak anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I still have one Problem. I have a fat around my belly it isn't extremely much. But it sucks. I want to get an ABS until August, so I can show off my body without getting uncertain and losing confidence about my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One and a half weeks ago, I started doing situps daily. 40 Situps, then 20 pushups and after that 40 situps again. But is this really usefull for burning fat there? Or what can I do for burning fat? I thought of going jogging on the days I dont do kickboxing, but I don't want to lose weight, just burn fat. How can I achieve that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I don't know if it's important but the workout schedule looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Kickboxing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: Situps-Pushups (I want to add jogging)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendsday: Kickboxing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: Situps-Pushups (I want to add jogging)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Kickboxing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday: Situp-Pushups (not every saturday, only when i am motivated :P )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday same as Saturday except I want to add jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastEditorUserId="766" LastEditDate="2012-05-11T13:59:37.237" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T18:59:09.737" Title="How can i burn fat without losing weight?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-11T09:31:58.823" Score="3" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently fractured my fifth metatarsal while playing football (soccer) and so my usual weekly exercise of running, weightlifting, and football will have to be put on hold for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am quite concerned that my sudden drop in physical activity will cause me to lose my current  fitness and put on weight, so I'd like to do some exercise to try and counteract the muscle loss and weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have some exercises I could do until I can get back to running and weight training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-11T17:22:46.600" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T08:36:06.230" Title="What plyometric exercises can a person on crutches do?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;&lt;plyometrics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-11T14:05:52.663" Score="0" ViewCount="595" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have mild &lt;em&gt;congenital pulmonary stenosis&lt;/em&gt;, which Wikipedia defines as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;outflow of blood from the right ventricle of the heart is obstructed&#xA;  at the level of the pulmonic valve. This results in the reduction of&#xA;  flow of blood to the lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't affect me at all in my daily life. Recently I thought I should start regular exercises, so I try to jog from time to time. What I want to ask are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to tell if I am just using that as an excuse or am I really at my limit? My jogging habits are always run a little, walk a little, run a little, walk a little. I guess I switch when I am slightly out of breath.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand these are more medical related, but none of the doctors I have visited can tell me anything in depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there a particular type of exercises that are good for people like me?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Would weight training be related to this at all?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3109" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T10:17:36.990" Title="Exercise with pulmonary stenosis" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6408" CreationDate="2012-05-11T14:35:38.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, but you cannot do so optimally. People who first start a diet and workout programs are typical examples of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your focus is on a lean midsection, you need to get your diet sorted out. You can workout until you are blue in the face and still not achieve this goal. I suggest you take a look at the diet recommendations of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=Nate%20Miyaki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nate Miyaki&lt;/a&gt;. He is active on the web and wrote  the Samurai Diet (Amazon). You might also see these threads on Fitness SE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/139/how-can-i-get-a-flat-stomach&quot;&gt;How can I get a flat stomach?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5670/what-is-the-most-effective-plan-to-get-abs&quot;&gt;What is the most effective plan to get abs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T14:35:38.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6091" CreationDate="2012-05-11T18:29:47.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The methods that have worked for me are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A thorough morning warm-up just after I wake up the day of the tournament. This consists of rotating all my joints about 10 times, followed by a 5 minute jog or similar, and finishing with 3 sets of 10 leg swings in each direction (forward, backward, sideward) and arm swings similarly (forward and backward). This is straight Tom Kurz material, designed to maximize your flexibility throughout the day regardless of warm-up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeating that exercise as close to immediately before my first match as possible. Timing this is irreducibly hard. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wearing a hoodie and socks over or under my &lt;em&gt;gi&lt;/em&gt; while waiting, just to keep my body temperature up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting my heart rate back up before each match. This has the same timing issues as before. This is much less thorough: a minute of jumping, jogging in place, and shadowboxing is plenty. In a well-run tournament, the &quot;on deck&quot; warning is the perfect amount of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T18:29:47.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6408" CreationDate="2012-05-11T18:59:09.737" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I think diet is the key since you're already active.  I found that tracking my calorie intake helped as it enabled me to know when I should eat more or less food during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T18:59:09.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-11T20:43:02.923" Score="-1" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to reduce my abdominal fat so that I can see my abs :) currently my BMI is around 22, which is a normal weight, I do Running and weight training every alternate day, and to reduce weight seems to be easy, but problem is as I reduce weight further I see more effect on my face than abdomen, I feel abdomen is within reach (about 1 inch fat) but I am scared to reduce weight lest my face will look too skinny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there any way to reduce fat from abdomen without loosing fat from face?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3472" LastEditorUserId="2888" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T02:47:57.023" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T02:47:57.023" Title="Flat abdomen without losing fat from face" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6415" CreationDate="2012-05-11T21:02:27.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. You can't target your fat loss to a particular region. See these answers for more details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1299/how-to-lose-fat-only-in-your-thigh/1301#1301&quot;&gt;How to lose fat only in your thigh?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3399/what-are-the-true-implications-of-the-abdominals-being-actually-just-one-muscle/3405#3405&quot;&gt;What are the true implications of the abdominals being actually just one muscle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T21:02:27.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6400" CreationDate="2012-05-11T21:17:00.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If by gym you mean weights, then yes you do &lt;b&gt;Not&lt;/b&gt; need weights to get Buffer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;All kinds of body-weight exercises will give you tone, strength and more muscle mass if done properly with proper nutrition.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 6 packs, you need both abs exercises with good nutrition (to lower body fat percentage)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups are amazing for chest, triceps and even core. You need to do &lt;b&gt;variations&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups will give you the V-SHAPE and more muscle on your back. Also, You need to do &lt;b&gt;variations&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now i recommend that in addition you :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHyOk0TuXcc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SQUAT&lt;/a&gt;(no need for one legged, but u got the point)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Burpees&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Squatting&lt;/b&gt; not only tones and builds legs muscles, but it empowers ur core, helps you build 6 pack muscles and produce much more growth hormones and thus help u add muscle mass. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same for &lt;b&gt;burpees&lt;/b&gt;, it is what i call &amp;quot;explosion&amp;quot; workout. Once you do it u will understand, you will get sore muscles even places where u never knew muscles existed.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt; However,&lt;/b&gt; please do these two exercises step by step, with good posture because if you don't take care you might injure urself. &lt;br&gt;(i injured my knees because i overdid burpees and i was kinda jumping diagonally not straight..&#xA;I got what is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eorthopod.com/content/plica-syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Plica Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; and my doctor said i have to rest from leg exercises for 6 weeks. However if you do it properly you 'll see its probably the best bodyweight exericse for power, tone, fat burning and muscle mass increase).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;b&gt; variations&lt;/b&gt; i highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marklauren.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mark Lauren's book&lt;/a&gt;, it has around 111 bodyweight exercises variations &lt;b&gt; with full routines&lt;/b&gt; for different levels (beginner,intermediate,...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T21:26:29.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-11T22:55:41.970" Score="6" ViewCount="15732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about 6ft high and weigh 175 pound, age 26.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last few years, I have lived a fairly sedentary lifestyle, easily consuming about 4000 calories per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to know is why if I don't burn off more calories then I take in, I don't seem to gain weight? The only time in my life I gained weight was a period where after moving to a new place I ate a lot of deep fried food for a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to various online calculators I need about ~2000 calories for my body just to function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should the additional 2000 calories I have been taking in contribute to weight gain? Why do they not seem to? Estimates say on my diet I should weigh over 200lbs, yet I weigh 175.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I calculated my daily calory intake based on the myfitnesspal.com website&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AZMMe.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would I not be gaining weight in the typical manner, especially with less exercise or physical activity than is typical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-12T02:11:09.687" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T05:55:48.493" Title="Why did I not gain weight when having 4000 calories a day?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6418" CreationDate="2012-05-11T23:16:33.100" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;What I would like to know is why if I don't burn off more calories then I take in, I don't seem to gain weight? ... Should the additional 2000 calories I have been taking in contribute to weight gain?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are not gaining weight, you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; burning off as many calories as you take in and you are not taking in an additional 2000 calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why would I not be gaining weight in the typical manner, especially with less exercise or physical activity than is typical?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of your assumptions is wrong. Either you are burning 4000 calories per day, or you're not consuming 4000 calories per day. You said you know for a fact that you're consuming 4000 calories per day, so the website you used under-estimated your daily burn.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-11T23:31:15.283" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T23:31:15.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6418" CreationDate="2012-05-13T00:32:07.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look up and study on &lt;strong&gt;cellular thermogenesis&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could be one plausible explanation why you can stuff yourself with more calories without gaining weight. The idea that calories in has to equal calories out is not strictly true (in the sense that you have to physically exercise your body in order to &quot;consume&quot; your calories) when you factor in cellular thermogenesis. Your body or cells has the ability to burn of excess calories all by themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3481" LastActivityDate="2012-05-13T00:32:07.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6091" CreationDate="2012-05-14T03:10:35.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had similar issues, and it's a struggle to balance on the line between competing cold and getting exhausted from training warm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's worked for me is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Warm up once when I arrive, hitting an anaerobic threshold.  I want to feel burning in all my key muscle areas, and be winded.  Then I stop immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I try to time getting &quot;re-warmed&quot; 10 minutes before the match.  Here I don't want to go too crazy, just warm and slightly sweating.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As soon as the match is over, I lie down to get my heart rate back down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck - it's very tough to balance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T03:10:35.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-14T05:19:59.293" Score="0" ViewCount="482" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the wiggling of treadmill belt alright i.e it moves like snake from left to right continuously?&#xA;I am trying to buy a treadmill replacing the old one, but i have noticed that belts have slight movement&#xA;in them that they shift there position from left to right and Vice versa &#xA;if you look closely. Sometimes movement is very slight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that belt should move in straight line&#xA;otherwise on high speeds it might hurt the knee &#xA;because when foot is in the air and then it lands on the belt it might jerk &#xA;towards the movement of the belt and there by hurt the knee in due course. &#xA;I asked this question to the machine vendors they said although massive &#xA;movement of this kind can be curtailed but slight to very slight wiggle will still remain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very skeptic about this. would some expert technician on treadmills please clarify&#xA;my doubt as i am not satisfied by the answers I am getting. I would like to point out that &#xA;I am aware of the belt movement towards only left or only towards right &#xA;that can be set right by adjusting the belt from behind sockets with wrench key. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am not talking of that movement. I am asking about the movement of the belt&#xA;that it moves from one side to another continuously giving it an effect as that of a &#xA;wave/snake/tyre bubbling just to name a few if I am making my point clear.&#xA;I have checked videos on youtube but there are not many which focus on the&#xA;movement of the belt. in some that there are I can notice very slight movement &#xA;of this kind if not much still. I am very confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3485" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-05-14T05:31:44.347" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T19:00:11.140" Title="Is it safe for the treadmill belt to wiggle?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-14T07:19:32.430" Score="0" ViewCount="1014" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5065/how-can-i-gain-weight-and-muscle-weight&quot;&gt;How can I gain weight and muscle weight?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 23 years old. My height is 182cm and my weight is 65kg. My friends and relatives say that I am looking thin and need to put on some weight. Do I really need to put on weight? If yes then how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3486" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T14:31:03.140" Title="What can I do to gain weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-05-14T14:35:45.333" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6423" CreationDate="2012-05-14T09:36:49.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to your height and weight, your BMI (Body Mass Index) is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_BMI/metric_bmi_calculator/results_normal.html?kg=65&amp;amp;meters=1.82&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;19.6&lt;/a&gt; which in the Normal Range.  BMI is a good indicator of weight ranges, although not as accurate for very muscular people or for people with muscle wasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other parameters you may want to check are your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Body-Fat-Percentage-Chart.html#Women&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;waist measurments&lt;/a&gt; (waist circumference - ~ 88.9 cm to 101.6 cm or less, waist to height ratio - 0.55 or less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the numbers place you in a normal range, then you don't need to gain weight from a health standpoint.  If you do want to gain, add lean muscle mass, not fat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T09:36:49.783" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6423" CreationDate="2012-05-14T14:30:06.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are underweight, for which you and your doctor are the only people who can judge, you need to lift heavy and eat big:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. Stimulate Growth&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either buy a barbell and a power rack, or join a gym that has one. Get a copy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and start lifting heavy. Compound exercises stimulate growth. Squats, chin-ups, deadlifts and presses will tell your body that it needs to get bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. Provide Fuel for Growth&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat a ton of food. Real food is far superior to processed crap, but you'll need to eat a lot. Your best bets are high-animal-protein items like meat, eggs, milk, and fish. You'll also do well to take in a large amount of vegetables and good fats like coconut and olive oil, and avocado. Eating a lot of food will provide the raw materials your body needs to make you bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone else cooks for you, you have a choice: 1) man up and learn to cook, 2) try to convince that person to change their cooking for you, or 3) remain undersized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T14:30:06.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-14T18:15:36.917" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok... for your situation, unless you're good at doing things cold turkey, read on...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forget weight training (and definitely squats) for the moment. At 400lbs, your body weight is doing plenty for your legs and body as you move around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing is changing what you eat.  It's easy to say eat veggies, oatmeal, etc., but that's a difficult change for someone eating fast food most of the time.  You have to start adjusting gradually.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do you eat fast food? Taste? No time to cook? Can't bring lunch?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like hamburgers/cheesesteaks? Buy whole wheat bread, turkey/chicken burgers, and low-fat cheese with a little mayo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like fried chicken? Buy rotisserie chicken at the market, make mashed potatoes at home (with low-fat milk and smart balance butter).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like sodas? Mix ginger ale with sparkling water or unsweetened tea with agave.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow those lines of slowly shifting out of fast food and slowly into homemade meals, by mimicking what you eat out with making it at home. It doesn't always save money, but saves calories and adds nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have to eat out, find places like Chipotle (chicken w/ brown rice, beans, lots of veggies), Pot Belly's (turkey or roast beef on whole grain), Kebab joints (grilled meats on rice, hold the butter). Go light on mayo/dressing/cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second thing is movement. Start slowly, with walking, no stairs yet. Do you have a treadmill or a park? Either way, start at a nice walking pace. Do 5 minutes first day, even if you could do 10. Add 30 seconds each day. It will add up faster than you'd think. Once you get up to 60 minutes at that pace, stay at 60 and up your pace (.1 on a treadmill) each week. If you don't have time for 60 minutes, at least max out at 30.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a month or two, you can adjust your meals to be more healthy and add a little weight training to your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slow and steady is key to maintaining a major change in lifestyle both physically and mentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-14T20:00:50.500" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T20:00:50.500" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6391" CreationDate="2012-05-14T20:07:37.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't read on oxygenation, but have heard the term. I actually bought a heart-rate/pulse monitor watch about a week ago. It does NOT include the chestband thing, just wrist only taking over your heart-rate. Using it during a basic workout I notice more calories registering as burned, vs if someone calculated calories burned from the exercises I did. This is to be expected as calculating calories burned from the exercises you do can only take into account the the &quot;work&quot; (force/distance) you do or energy (power/time) expended by by using power (work/time). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to test the efficiency of these heart-rate monitors is to just get someone to measure it. I'm not sure if machines like the blood-pressure measurer at Walmart also give you your pulse rate, but that would be one way to measure. You could also compare by using the heart-rate indicators on a PreCor (elliptical) machine at a gym. Those machines take your age and weight as a way to approximate measurements, and they have handles to hold to check the rate. Start walking, check the rate on the PreCor, then the Watch. Speed up and get a second reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The accuracy or Calories burned as measured by heart-rate on the watches is based on the number of times you &quot;check in&quot; with your heart-rate. Meaning if you check-in before the start of your workout with a 78, then it assumes you to be at 78 until you enter another reading. Thus, in a hour, even if you ran a  mile, it won't show you burning a lot of calories. I'm not sure of the chestband types have constant monitoring, but if they do (again) a comparison with a PreCor measurement of calories burned would let you know if you have the accuracy of a more expensive machine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-14T20:07:37.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6436" CreationDate="2012-05-15T03:04:07.743" Score="0" ViewCount="7869" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6193/how-to-increase-height-naturally-are-those-ads-gimmicks&quot;&gt;How to Increase height naturally? Are those ads gimmicks?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 22 years old. And I am just 5feet 2inches tall. I wanna become taller. I have heard that there is an injection for this. is it true? What foods should I prefer for this? vegetarian, of-course. What physical exercises should I do? please tell me the best I can do to push my chances of becoming taller at this age? I am planning on tablets like calcium sandoz. what do you think? Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3488" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T07:23:14.583" Title="I am 22 years old &amp; 5feet 2inches tall. I wanna become taller. what do I do?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-05-15T13:21:40.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6432" CreationDate="2012-05-15T03:30:35.903" Score="5" ViewCount="1422" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the effects, positive and negative of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming for 30-60 min immed. after weight training&lt;br&gt;&#xA;and/or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking briskly a few miles the day after weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following Starting Strength, but don't want to give up my aerobic program.  I'm especially confused about the nature of recovery: I know you need to recover, yet, at the same time, SS says &quot;don't worry about training while sore&quot;.  If my muscles are tired from the weights when I swim or walk, is that good, bad, or neither?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T04:22:40.190" Title="Effects of aerobic exercise after weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6433" CreationDate="2012-05-15T03:37:22.977" Score="3" ViewCount="1556" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm ready to learn the overhead barbell press, but am very confused about the head, neck, and torso motion. When do you tilt in, when do you tilt out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone clarify this? The arms are clear but not the neck, head, or torso.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; What's confusing me? Some sources talk about moving your head out of the way, and then bringing it back again once the bar passes.  That's simple enough: move the bar up as far as you can till your head blocks it, move your head back, and, once the bar passes it, return your head.  But SS describes something totally different: not that your head is in the way, but simply you need to get the bar overhead, so you move your torso? This is confusing: If I push the bar straight up, and so never come into the path of my head, what exactly am I doing with my torso? I'm supposed to lean &lt;em&gt;forward&lt;/em&gt;, to place my head under the bar? I'm not sure I'm understanding that correctly, but, if I am, that's a confusing thing to do.  Why do I need to stick my head out under the bar.  Unless something else is meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3439" LastEditDate="2012-05-15T18:54:58.383" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T19:54:17.770" Title="What's proper head/torso motion for overhead barbell press?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6434" CreationDate="2012-05-15T03:44:02.000" Score="4" ViewCount="3157" Body="&lt;p&gt;When lifting weights (squat, bench press, deadlift, whatever) is it better to do the motions as slowly as possible or fast and explosive? I've heard both opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please support your answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Or, the answer may be: do X fast and Y slow&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T12:35:04.833" Title="Should I lift weights fast or slow?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6429" CreationDate="2012-05-15T04:22:40.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When SS says &quot;don't worry about training while sore&quot;, they mean &quot;sore from two days ago when you were squatting and &lt;em&gt;oh man it was heavy&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. They don't mean &quot;go screw with your strength gains by doing something else&quot;. That said, if you're OK with sub-optimal strength gains, go ahead and do other stuff. That's your choice. For many people optimal strength gain does not trump all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;No swim&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely consider that much swimming immediately after lifting to probably interfere with a lifting program. You should be &lt;em&gt;tired&lt;/em&gt; after those squats. Tired enough to not want to go swimming. Tired enough for the swimming to take a bite out of your recovery from said squats. If you want to swim, do it on the off-days after lifting, and recognize that it will throw a wrench in your linear progression fairly quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Yes walk&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider walking on the off-days a &lt;strong&gt;great&lt;/strong&gt; idea. It's recommended to keep active at a low level on rest days, and this is perfect. You get your joints lubed up, your blood pumping gently, but it's not timed or draining enough to conflict with recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T04:22:40.190" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6430" CreationDate="2012-05-15T04:35:18.477" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/learning_press_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an excerpt from Mark Rippetoe's Starting Stength&lt;/a&gt; (3rd Edition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lean back slightly by pushing your hips forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drive the bar up straight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as the bar crosses your forehead, get under the bar. &quot;Move your body under the bar and drive it to lockout. Don't move the bar back - slam yourself forward under the bar. When you do &#xA;this correctly, you will find that the forward torso &#xA;movement contributes to lockout at the top: as the &#xA;shoulder drives forward, the contracting deltoid and &#xA;tricep bring the upper arm and the forearm into &#xA;alignment, thus driving up the bar.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The motion back and forth is all driven through the hips. The torso, neck, and head all lean backward and slam forward together as one. Figure 3-18 in the above article shows a good picture of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional response to your edited question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If I push the bar straight up, and so never come into the path of my head, what exactly am I doing with my torso?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you push the bar straight up from the starting position, it will hit your chin or nose, unless you've moved your head back, or if your torso is inclined because you've pushed your hips forward. Which one should you do? SS prescribes the whole-torso leanback, rather than just tucking your head out of the way. I suspect this is for three reasons.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, it allows for a vertical bar path. The bar travels from the starting position on your deltoids to the finish position directly above your midfoot. This path is not vertical if you simply tuck your head out of the way. It is vertical if you incorporate the whole-torso leanback. (See Figure 3-16.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Second, movement of the head independent from the torso would cause significant changes in chest and upper back tightness. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Third, your hips and core can contribute to the lift towards lockout as you slam your body forward underneath the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I refer you to Figures 3-16 and 3-18 in the article I link to above. They give the best pictures I've been able to find on this topic. If you understand this, but are having troubles putting into action when lifting, another way to think about this is pushing your hips forward at the bottom of the lift, and then pulling them back under the bar as you push it up towards lockout. This gets you focusing solely on your hips. It's the same movement, just a different thing to attend to, which helps some people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-15T19:30:39.607" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T19:30:39.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6431" CreationDate="2012-05-15T04:42:40.900" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting heavy enough to be doing sets of 5 (as per Starting Strength), the bar speed is not going to be very fast. You should try to move the bar as fast as possible while maintaining good form and control, but once you actually start approaching your 5-rep maximums (after a few SS workouts), the bar will not be moving very quickly. Your final reps will likely be quite slow, but not by choice. Moving weights more slowly than you are able to just for the sake of moving them slowly is training muscular endurance, rather than strength and power, and would be wasting energy better spent on the next rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The descent needs to be a managed a little more carefully. Rippetoe says, &quot;&lt;em&gt;Bar speed is too slow when the descent produces fatigue. Bar speed is too fast when it actually adds momentum to the load on the bar on the way down, so you must decelerate against both the weight on the bar and the effect of its excessive velocity.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; That should apply to the bench press, press, and squat. For deadlifts, he says &quot;&lt;em&gt;setting the bar down fast is actually okay... setting the bar down slowly uses up too much gas that could be better used in picking up your next rep&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is developing power (increasing the rate of force development, not just the magnitude of force development), then it's even more important to move the bar quickly. This is discussed in Mark Rippetoe's &lt;em&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/em&gt;. At the intermediate stage, some lifters choose to focus on power, incorporating speed sets at lighter weights (to ensure they can move the weight quickly for the entire set).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-15T05:50:41.317" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T05:50:41.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6428" CreationDate="2012-05-15T04:46:01.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't gain height, but if your reason for gaining height is to play better at sports, you can increase your vertical jump height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I answered a similar question here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6193/how-to-increase-height-naturally-are-those-ads-gimmicks&quot;&gt;How to Increase height naturally? Are those ads gimmicks?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T04:46:01.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6428" CreationDate="2012-05-15T07:05:52.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have poor posture as many gen Y's do from forever tapping on phones, video games and websurfing, correcting it will make the most of what you were given. Keep your joints well hydrated by keeping yourself well hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although height is mostly genetic, children can have their growth stunted by lack of sleep, poor diet, drugs or alcohol. At your age you have now stopped growing so anything other than leg implants will do nothing (or close to nothing) to your height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: just a little story&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a cooking class many years ago and I was paired with this guy, about 6'2, good looking, good build but you could just see he had no confidence. I was shocked when he said to me, &quot;It sucks to be going bald, doesn't it?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-05-15T07:23:14.583" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T07:23:14.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6431" CreationDate="2012-05-15T10:02:02.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depend on what you are aiming aim for when weightlifting. You can be aiming for power training in which you have to push the weight quickly. This training is better to do with lighter weight. Your body won't grow big that much but you will develop stamina and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting slowly will help you get buff and grow muscle mass. In this way of exercising, you need to carry heavier weight to stress your muscle so it will be able to grow which will increase your strength but decrease your speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are pros and cons for lifting weights fast or slow. It depends on what your goal is for the training. For me, I do a mixture of them as my muscle shapes are more uneven so I do not want to get that buff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-15T12:35:04.833" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T12:35:04.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6439" CreationDate="2012-05-15T13:56:51.363" Score="3" ViewCount="4945" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just did a CrossFit baseline workout yesterday for the first time, and it was slightly different then most of what I see on YouTube/Google searches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That said, is there an official baseline workout, or is it always slightly varied?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did yesterday was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500 meter row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 air squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 Crossfit sit-ups laying with legs indian style, touch ground&#xA;behind head and touch ground in front of feet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 hands-up push ups (lay on ground, push up, come back to down to&#xA;lay on ground, lift hands up off of ground, then back up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 box jumps (24&quot; for men)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have seen online is only 20 sit ups, regular pushups, and pull-ups instead of box jumps, which make a considerable difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3490" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-15T15:16:06.037" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T00:36:30.443" Title="What is the official &quot;baseline&quot; workout of CrossFit?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6438" CreationDate="2012-05-15T14:28:26.307" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Constant variation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire idea of Crossfit is &lt;strong&gt;constantly varied workouts&lt;/strong&gt;. (The efficacy of this as a method of improvement is disputed, but I digress.) The workout of the day (&quot;WOD&quot;) varies from day to day, as the name implies, and there are many, many, many organizations putting out WODs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CrossFit HQ puts out the so-called &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfit.com/&quot;&gt;mainsite WODs&lt;/a&gt;, which many recognize as &quot;official&quot; CrossFit. (Other Crossfitters dispute the centrality of these workouts, which calls into question the very definition of Crossfit, which is not settled.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many individual Crossfit gyms (&quot;boxes&quot;) publish their daily workouts. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://gunxcrossfit.typepad.com/gunxcrossfit/&quot;&gt;Crossfit website local to me&lt;/a&gt;. Notice they have distinct strength, skill and conditioning portions in most of their workouts. This is common but by no means universal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Benchmark WODs and standard warm-ups&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crossfit HQ and individual boxes might have standard-issue warm-ups or workout formats, but there is no universal baseline Crossfit workout. Further, there are named workouts like Diane, Isabel, Murph and many more that are considered &quot;benchmark&quot; workouts. These are not quite the same as a baseline workout, since they are meant to measure progress (vis-a-vis Crossfit ability) over the long term. The benchmark WODs are not meant to be used daily or as a workout format generally, particularly since many of them are &quot;chippers&quot; or otherwise considered more brutal than most WODs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T14:28:26.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-15T18:59:17.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my personal experience, but I'm sure you can find many other people who have experienced similar results.  I have a massive appetite and consume the same amount of food as I did when I was 13 years old and playing basketball everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adopt a whole-foods plant-based diet like that suggested by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_hot_obesity.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. McDougall&lt;/a&gt;.  I used to be morbidly obese  - topping in at around 300lbs.  It was a real struggle to lose any weight - though I suffered and struggled my way down to about 200lbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then discovered the vegan diet and adopted a whole-food vegan diet - I now weigh 150lbs and no longer have to deprive myself of food - I just eat whole-vegan foods as much as possible to maintain my weight. To clarify, &lt;strong&gt;I used to weigh 2x as much as I do now&lt;/strong&gt; and now I don't have to deprive myself to get reasonable results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, your results may vary, but you're highly likely to make significant headway.  One of the great things that happened to me is that after losing the weight, I started to WANT to exercise because I had energy again!  This will further help you on your health and fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really feel for you - I didn't realize how miserable and crappy I felt when I was at 300lbs until I lost the weight and regained my health.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be fast food or food delivery services in your area that have vegan options that are primarily whole-foods based - this will help you transition away from fast-food and give you the initial success you need to stay motivated to carry out some of the suggestions in the other answers here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2700" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-08-21T14:50:06.310" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T14:50:06.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6430" CreationDate="2012-05-15T19:54:17.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lean back while the bar is at the bottom.&lt;/strong&gt; Squeeze your whole trunk, particularly the glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push the bar straight up. &lt;strong&gt;As soon as possible, lean forward and get your head under the bar.&lt;/strong&gt; At the top, you lock it out slightly &lt;em&gt;behind&lt;/em&gt; your head. This image from the book makes everything clear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pmOcW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;overhead press in four stages&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bar travels in a straight, vertical line. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly recommend buying the book and reading it thoroughly at least twice. This method should be sufficient to alleviate any confusion about his method. If you are questioning his method, that's entirely valid, but a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-15T19:54:17.770" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6446" CreationDate="2012-05-16T01:29:15.510" Score="2" ViewCount="7366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an uneven six-pack and have been pushing it hard, hoping it will grow evenly. I've been training for 8 months, and there isn't any difference yet. My abs are still uneven. A trainer told me that is genetic, but I really hope there is some way to save it, as looking at my uneven abs is making me feel upset. All the sizes of my abs are different, with some big and some small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="1479" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T15:04:04.727" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T04:53:24.083" Title="Can I do anything about an uneven six-pack?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6445" CreationDate="2012-05-16T01:46:36.823" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general consensus is that its genetic. Don't be worried though - a lot of fitness models have uneven 6 packs and they still look great because they are shredded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T01:46:36.823" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6409" CreationDate="2012-05-16T03:05:11.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Juggling is a great cardio exercise anytime but especially when recovering from a lower body injury. It will also improve your coordination which is great since you play sports. Try it sitting in an armless chair. Detailed instructions and photos are in my &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.blogoverflow.com/2012/03/juggling-for-fitness/&quot;&gt;Juggling for Fitness post&lt;/a&gt; on this site's blog. Have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T03:05:11.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6450" CreationDate="2012-05-16T05:00:50.150" Score="3" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm a fit 21 y/o. I have good cardio ability (I can run 10K, swim 2.5k and cycle 150K)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started going to the gym 1.5 months ago, my body fat % was measured at &lt;strong&gt;11%&lt;/strong&gt; before I began and just like the trainer said it would, it increased to &lt;strong&gt;13%&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a regular ab workout on my cardio days (along with squats, deadlifts, chin-ups and lunges on weight days)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My abs have a little definition but their not fully ripped. (I have a slight pinchable bulge at the naval)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I on the wrong road here? Will my abs be a no-show since my body-fat is increasing? Should I better my diet to stabilize or decrease it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1470" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T05:10:56.470" Title="will ripped abs be a no-show if my body fat % is increasing?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6449" CreationDate="2012-05-16T05:10:56.470" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is ok for that increase in fat percentage for the start. I have been through that too. Now my body fat have drop to 7% after 8 month of training. You just have go through this stage and u will find your abs start forming. Anyway is better to control ur diet. Get tips from some body builder on what type of food that will be better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T05:10:56.470" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6193" CreationDate="2012-05-16T07:23:24.857" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;At an age of 24 your physical growth is more or less settled by now, so &quot;no&quot; there are no easy ways of getting taller, I'm afraid. I have heard of stories where people get operated on their bones to get them to break and heal, break and heal... gaining maybe half a centimeter each time. I don't know the truth of it, but I can only imagine that it's not common, it'll not be covered by any health insurance and that it's probably painful to an extreme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming back to &quot;normal&quot; growth, growth in height occurs around the cartilage ends of the longer bones that make up the skeleton (e.g. &lt;em&gt;femur&lt;/em&gt;). Cartilage tissue slowly builds up calcium and eventually turns to bone a process called &quot;osteogenesis&quot; (note that this description of the process is oversimplified). This happens usually from childhood to teen years, and is occasionally associated with joint pains in children. By the time you're 18-20 any major changes that were to occur has already happened in the height department, and the body starts to &quot;fill in&quot; the bones and build in the thickness instead of the length (again oversimplified). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several things that are rumored to invoke or facilitate growth in height, one such example is fish oils. I have not used them myself, as they were pretty expensive but I knew some people who did back when we were smaller (~14-15 years). Admittedly some have gotten significantly taller, but yet again you never know if it is due to the fish oils, or whatever else pills they were taking, or that their natural growth kicked in a higher gear. A twin study would be interesting to read, where genetic factors can be assumed be equal among the subjects. I have unfortunately never come across such an article. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, diet is important as well of course. Consumption of milk products are linked to growth in children and teens, however it's likely that the relationship is more of a substrate than an active component. In other words, milk might not cause you to get taller than what you ought to be (based on your genes) but consumed in good quantities it will likely help you reach your growth potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T06:47:12.023" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T06:47:12.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2012-05-16T07:52:00.763" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is still confusing, because both terms (with and without the kilo- prefix) covers the same amount, and it is only a capital letter that differentiates beween 1 and 1000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be equal to having Gram (with a capital letter) and kilogram being the same, and gram being 1/1000 of that. I hopy everyone can see how stupid that would be, and this is exactly how stupid the Calorie term is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should only be calories and kilocalories. Calories (with a capital letter) does not fit in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, most food products list the energy contents at kcal and not Cal, which give the same short numbers. You never need to see 70000 instead of 70 even if Calories are dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3496" LastEditorUserId="3496" LastEditDate="2012-05-16T07:57:13.597" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T07:57:13.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6456" CreationDate="2012-05-16T09:58:10.973" Score="1" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;After my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6408/how-can-i-burn-fat-without-losing-weight&quot;&gt;first question about losing weight&lt;/a&gt; and my training, I was told that my diet should be the next step in burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to watch out for what I am eating and how much. I used to drink a lot of drinks like Coke, iced tea, and Red Bull everyday. So my first step was reducing the consumption of these kind of drinks. I went from drinking from 3 Red Bulls and 0.5l Coke/iced tea per day down to 2 Redbulls and only water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step was my eating habits. Before my diet, I would eat two croissants in the morning. For lunch I woudl have a random meal (curry rice, pasta, or something like this) with a dessert (e.g. bread with vanilla in it). In the evening, I would eat whatever my mother was cooking, but I didn't eat much back then either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am eating one croissant in the morning. For lunch, my meals still vary, but I try to eat salad at last once a week, and I don't eat desserts anymore. In the evening, I try to eat salad and bread only and after workout I also eat meat after this. During the day I also have one apple or a fruit mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stomach is rumbling very often now. Is what I'm doing healthy or not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T15:14:58.913" Title="Is my calorie restriction diet having an adverse effect on my weight loss?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6453" CreationDate="2012-05-16T17:26:11.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Usual disclaimer: I am not a professional dietician; listen to your body.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your stomach feels empty physically and you think your blood sugar levels are ok, your diet might be on the &quot;energy-dense&quot; side. Unbuttered and unsugared popcorn (and those puffed rice wafers that look like styrofoam),  low-fat yoghurt, apples etc. will help physically fill your stomach without too many extra calories. (I'd guess a bowl of proper cereal, e.g. oats, grated apple, raisins, low-fat milk, that has the same calories as your breakfast croissant will have twice the physical volume, so your stomach will feel less empty. In general aim for protein and fiber.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the &quot;external&quot; side, training your abs will constrict your stomach, so it should feel fuller also. (Or maybe that is the placebo effect in action.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2231" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T17:26:11.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6453" CreationDate="2012-05-16T17:38:45.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be eating to support your activity level. At 1.75m, 64.5kg, you're not overweight at all and you have a very full training schedule (kickboxing and jogging). You've got to feed your body so that it can adapt to this stress and build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given what you've said about what you eat, and how you feel, I'd say you should perhaps eat a bit more, but eat better. Best would be to learn about sports nutrition for yourself, but here are some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No red bulls. If you're feeling low on energy, just try sleeping a bit more, or eating better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydration is really important. Carry around a water bottle with you and just sip it throughout the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a better breakfast: oatmeal or a cereal, milk or yogurt, a banana or other fruit (eating a croissant is like eating cake).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch sounds alright, but maybe replace dessert with fruits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner, probably can't go too wrong with what your mom cooks. It's free :) But, if it's not quite matching what you'd like to be eating, you could let her know your motivation for eating differently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add little bits of nutritious snacks throughout the day (dried fruit, almonds or other nuts). You can just carry around a little bag of this stuff.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weight may actually go up with all your exercise and feeding yourself properly, but that will be due to muscle gain. Muscle is more dense than fat. Your body fat percentage could still be dropping even though your weight is increasing, and this will be the route to looking fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-16T19:03:54.287" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T19:03:54.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6457" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6459" CreationDate="2012-05-16T21:35:41.230" Score="5" ViewCount="17780" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started training with a friend of mine, and on the days that we do push force exercises he keeps telling that he doesn't feel satisfied from the workout. Now this was very strange to me because I saw him struggle to get those 5 reps on the dumbbell chest press and on the overhead press. One time time during one of our workouts, I decided to do some chest presses and shoulder presses using the machines. During that workout I noticed that my friend's right hand is way stronger than his left. I had him press 100 lbs on machine chest press (pin loading) and after 3 reps he simply could not go on. He told me the reason he stopped was only because of his left hand with his right hand he could have gone for a few more. Not believing him I asked him to try to do a couple of presses using only his right hand. Sure enough he was able to do 7 reps with 100lbs with his right hand only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was when I understood why he wasn't feeling satisfied with the workouts. We were working well below the weight required to give his right hand a struggle. With all that being said, I wonder: what I can tell him to do so that he will start feeling satisfied from his push workouts like he does from pull and leg days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T14:31:37.660" LastActivityDate="2019-04-17T02:37:23.447" Title="Having a stronger right hand than left hand" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6488" CreationDate="2012-05-17T01:05:42.757" Score="2" ViewCount="8077" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually when I run intervals on the treadmill I warm up for a few minutes and then set the machine to my desired speed and begin training. Between intervals I stop completely jumping off to the sides to rest while the machine is still running and then after my desired rest period I jump back on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other week while I was doing this, someone in the gym came over to tell me that what I was doing is very dangerous, because making sudden stop while your heart rate is up is unhealthy. Now I understand that what he is saying is mostly true as I know that at the end of a cardio workout, cooling down is advisable in order to bring the heart rate down slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why doesn't the same rule apply to football players? They only run for a few seconds at a time at full intensity bringing their heart rates very high only to come to a sudden stop at the end of the play. That was my logic when I was stopping suddenly for a few seconds to catch my breath in preparation for my next sprint. Is what I'm doing really dangerous or is it ok for me to continue running intervals in this manner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T14:08:32.667" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T13:26:27.337" Title="Is its safe to stop between intervals on the treadmill?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6457" CreationDate="2012-05-17T01:38:00.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should ask him to continue pushing the weight he pushes for his right hand. Since you said you will be training with him, you can help support his left hand. As time passes, you will see his left hand catching up with his right. Never give out when his left hand feels hurt as his left hand will have to use a lot more force than his right to push it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning my left hand is a lot weaker and smaller than my right. With a few of my friends pushing and supporting me, my left hand has started to catch up with my right. Pushing the same weight as my right is still a struggle for my left. I am able to push it without support now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T14:32:51.793" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T14:32:51.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6458" CreationDate="2012-05-17T01:43:04.637" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you stop suddenly it will be dangerous for your body. Instead you should try walking around instead which will help your heart rate more than stopping suddenly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Football players run for a few seconds to bring their heart rate way up and will come to a sudden stop? If you notice most of them will be walking around and not stopping at a spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T14:12:13.690" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T14:12:13.690" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6193" CreationDate="2012-05-17T08:26:10.743" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some things you could do to &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; taller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most important is your posture. Especially with sitting work and/or worries, it's too easy to become slightly slumped instead of standing up your full length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When standing, try imagining as if you're hanging from a hook on the top of your head.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put your shoulders up by starting a circle with your shoulders from front to back and stopping when they have reached the peak.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After sitting down, first bow slightly forward, then use your arms to push down and stretch you back while leaning back (you can watch &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yYJ4hEYudE#t=6m49s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; to see how this and the shoulder adjustment is done).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have used Wii Fit to get an idea and adjust how my body is balanced. When I started, it very much biased backwards without me ever noticing; walking around with body curved from center also wastes height.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, clothing can help. Vertical stripes will show you thinner and taller. There are special shoes with higher soles designed to look like regular shoes (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tallmenshoes.com/dexhe.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;examples here&lt;/a&gt;, no affiliation). I have a friend who regularly wears such shoes adding him 2 inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tricks that could be used for looking taller in photos have been discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/7700/how-can-i-make-short-people-look-taller-in-photographs&quot;&gt;a related Photo SE question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3342" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:44:07.283" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T08:26:10.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6463" CreationDate="2012-05-17T09:00:41.513" Score="6" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/53&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscles-ups are an exercise&lt;/a&gt; where by we start of with a pull up and follow by a dip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to do that for the previous few months but am still unable to do it. I am able to do the pull-up but every time I want to change to dip I get stuck. Is there a way to train so that I can do that exercise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which muscle group is being use in doing muscle up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-17T13:39:41.923" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T13:39:41.923" Title="How do I perform a muscle-up?" Tags="&lt;checo&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6462" CreationDate="2012-05-17T12:31:45.747" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may also want to check out this article on T-Nation about muscle ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/muscleups_the_ultimate_upper_body_exercise&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/muscleups_the_ultimate_upper_body_exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscle up involves just about every muscle in the upper body.  Your entire back, your abs, every muscle in your arms, etc.  The video embedded in that article has a good approach to the progression needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the keys to being able to switch smoothly from pullup to dip is the false grip mentioned in the T-Nation article.  However, the following is a progression that can work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train pull-ups and dips separately on a straight bar--using the false grip for both.  Be strict (no kipping).  Get to 15 at once on both.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train your pull-ups to get your chest touching the bar, and your dips down to touching your chest to the bar. Get to 15 at once on both.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use kipping to help with the transition from pull up to dip. Mental cue: &quot;roll the bar&quot;. The bar won't move, but if you roll the bar toward your chest, it will help get your body into the dip position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase out the kipping and do them strict.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T12:31:45.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-17T13:04:24.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many would suggest that your energy is better spent focusing on your diet than focusing on exercise. An essential aspect is simply eating less. Sure, eating better foods is better, but the most important thing is to eat less. You have to find techniques that work for you, but here are some ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try using a plate that is smaller than normal and filling it only once.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give yourself a half hour before going back for more. You might not be hungry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop when you are satisfied, not full. There's a difference. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A serving is roughly the size of one fist. Think about that when you portion out meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat as many green vegetables as you want. Everything else in moderation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2842" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T13:04:24.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2012-05-17T14:08:41.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adam Nuttall added a comment to this question linking to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/182/what-are-the-downsides-of-minimalist-running-shoes/387#387&quot;&gt;my answer&lt;/a&gt; to another question and I just updated that answer based on recent experience so thought I would post an answer here that included my update.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past I have suggested spraying a low-fragrance disinfectant spray like Oust into your shoes after each run and adding a small amount of bleach when washing Fivefingers to reduce odor, but now I would like to add another suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran in VFFs for years and I would take them off during each run and run 1 to 3 miles barefooted to work on my form, then put them back on and finish my run.  Several months ago I purchased a few pairs of Injinji socks and started wearing my Vibrams with socks like I would any other shoe.  I decided to give up barefoot running so that I would not have to take off the shoes AND the socks AND put them back on in the middle of my run.  I had been running exclusively in VFFs for over two years so I didn't really need to work on my form any more.  Since then my Vibrams have not had any odor problem in excess of what I would expect from any other shoe, so I suggest buying some toe socks to go with your Fivefingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T14:08:41.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6453" CreationDate="2012-05-17T15:14:58.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't sound like you're getting enough protein. To get more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try adding eggs (or egg whites) to your breakfast, or yogurt as @Sancho suggested.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have pasta or a salad for lunch, throw in 1/2 cup chickpeas, black beans (or any bean).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-fat cheese is a great 'protein snack' - Babybel light is my favorite (50 calories &amp;amp; 6g protein).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carrying a cooler to work and/or in the car makes it easy to fuel your body with healthy foods throughout day. And you'll have more options for what to bring since you can keep food cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, experiment with different foods to find options that are satisfying and don't have too many calories. Different things work for different people, but something with protein is usually a safe bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastActivityDate="2012-05-17T15:14:58.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6475" CreationDate="2012-05-17T17:15:14.590" Score="5" ViewCount="1327" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a certain watch that can be linked to a heart rate monitor. It then will give me the amount of calories based on the premise that I am running. However, obviously the watch can be used also for monitoring my heart rate during other activities, such as biking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given this setup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;does the calorie consumption only depend on the heart rate or also on the mode of movement?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;assuming it depends on the mode of movement, can I &quot;convert&quot; my calories that were calculated based on the assumption that I was running into those for biking? A rough estimate is sufficient as we're talking hundreds of kcal, so I can subtract a bit more to make a conservative estimate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;can you please give the sources for your answers?!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is or isn't a difference between running at 160 bpm for 10 minutes and biking at 160 bpm for 10 minutes? If there is, how to estimate from one mode of movement for another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1360" LastEditorUserId="1360" LastEditDate="2012-05-18T16:31:46.337" LastActivityDate="2012-05-18T16:31:46.337" Title="Estimating burnt kcal from one type of activity when measured by heart rate and measurement assumes different activity?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6537" CreationDate="2012-05-17T21:58:38.957" Score="6" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a major metropolitan area and I've started running home instead of taking the bus.  That being said, sometimes I need to take my work laptop home with me and - if possible - I would like to not have this be an excuse to not run home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, are there any good running back packs which will help keep a laptop snug and safe from sweat/water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T14:09:05.323" Title="Good running bag for laptop" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-07-24T11:57:25.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6471" CreationDate="2012-05-18T01:26:21.747" Score="4" ViewCount="1231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing barbell squats as described in Starting Strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I get to a certain depth, I feel my thigh bone (femur?) pinching up against the inside of my pelvis, and feel like I can't go any deeper.  Is my form wrong? Do I stop there? Or do I somehow go deeper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I didn't feel these before, and was going very deep.  But observers told me (correctly I believe) that my knees would go forward too much, or that my hips were going up and down, not back and out.  Fixing that (now my squat looks like right) has caused this pinch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-05-18T03:06:38.263" Title="My leg pinches in to my hip when squatting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2012-05-18T03:06:38.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Push your knees out. Without a proper video form check it's impossible to really diagnose what's going on, but it may be that your knees are collapsing in and thereby impinging your hip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to go as deep as the book describes, which is defined objectively and specifically as when the crease of your hip is lower than the top of your knee, as in the left-side figure here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GP77r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-18T03:06:38.263" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2012-05-18T07:55:37.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, WEAR SOCKS if you can. (Personally I can't wear the socks while running because they wedge painfully between my toes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two unorthodox yet natural cleaners of my VFF's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The ocean. Wear your VFF's surfing or otherwise have them in the ocean for some 30 minutes, and they'll be clean as a whistle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Playa dust at Burning Man (a.k.a. alkaline silt). This dust gets EVERYWHERE, and you feel certain it can do nothing but ruin your VFF. On the contrary; after being in the dust for a week, followed by a regular machine wash, a beat-up old pair which I was on the verge of trashing was suddenly as clean as the first day I bought them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3509" LastActivityDate="2012-05-18T07:55:37.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-18T08:40:27.260" Score="2" ViewCount="1917" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before reading further, I want to make the following disclaimer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My casual experience of losing weight documented below is strictly&#xA;  not for everyone and should not be treated as an advice until at least&#xA;  commented by experts and claimed to not represent health risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a casual success story to tell you about how I lost weight unplanned and ask you if it was a correct way to do it. Why casual you ask? It's because I wasn't consciously planning to lose weight which seems to be controversial to what most people preach - &lt;em&gt;&quot;People that have a goal will get there someday.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; What about people who don't have goals but reach them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me clarify that until age of 18, I was eating an unhealthy diet. I was eating mostly sandwiches and didn't like stewed food such as vegetables and I didn't eat soups at all. The bad thing was that I mostly was distracted by staring into computer during meal consumption, the activity known for being bad for digestion which caused acid reflux in me. Mostly after every meal I didn't feel it was enough and wanted something else, something different and more tasty which was snacks like chips, candies or chocolates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Success Story&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months until then I quit eating snacks like chips, quit eating sugar stuff like chocolate and chocolate waffles, changed what i ate late evening to reduced amounts of fruits and vegetables, quit drinking very sweet apple juices,quit drinking poisonous and addictive substances like &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_4797582_coca-cola-remove-oil-stains.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coca Cola&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rewdbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Generic/Brand-Protection--and-what-everyone-should-know-021243021727391?CategoryName=RedBull.com&amp;amp;p=1242745950125&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Red Bull alike copycat products&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all started 2 weeks before New Year and I subconsciously made myself a goal to clean/square away my flat so it will shine before New Year starts. Every day I was feeling energized getting up early and working my sweat/butt off until 3AM-5AM the next day often feeling exhausted and consuming &lt;strong&gt;maximum of one meal during whole day&lt;/strong&gt; and sometimes not eating at all, but not forgetting to drink of course. I was feeling sometimes nauseous which was mostly reason I wasn't eating more than one meal or any at all. Let me add as well that I also did morning exercises including sit-ups, push-ups, raising/lowering legs while lying on bed, exercises with dumbbells and runs of a couple of miles on a non-flat elevated/lowered distance which I think put more strain on heart. Something was driving me and keeping me energized to do everything meticulously and perfectly. Finally all was brushed, cleaned, squared away in such a way that rented flat seemed in such condition that I just moved in i.e like a new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two years ago my weight was &lt;strong&gt;253.5 lbs&lt;/strong&gt; and I was diagnosed with fatty liver, had hypertension - in short I was under risk of several medical conditions and I had to do something about it. A year later my weight saw small improvement to &lt;strong&gt;242.5 lbs&lt;/strong&gt; as I started stabilizing my diet and in last year alone I went from &lt;strong&gt;242.5 lbs&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;205 lbs&lt;/strong&gt; which &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to BMI index&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; was still above my healthy BMI of 85kg = &lt;strong&gt;187.39 lbs&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today my weight is ... drumroll please ... Within my healthy BMI - &lt;strong&gt;82kg which is 180.77 lbs&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's right ladies and gents, I did it! But I couldn't do it without changing my mindset and the following 5 character traits which some I was born with and some nurtured in myself in the course of my lifetime which are:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goal Orientation &lt;em&gt;(born with and nurtured further)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discipline &lt;em&gt;(nurtured)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Willpower &lt;em&gt;(nurtured)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Motivation &lt;em&gt;(nurtured)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Patience &lt;em&gt;(born with and nurtured further)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a saying about once you start doing something, you become better at it. Same is true for fitness, because when I started, it was tough to perform exercises as easy as I perform them today. I couldn't do more than 1 full push-up compared to 13 full push-ups I do today. I coudn't walk and run 4 miles as easy as I walk and run them today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I feel today? More energized, happier, optimistic and most importantly healthier than before ready to burn remainder of fat and get in optimal shape. Cholesterol levels reduced by twice, risks of medical conditions are eliminated, I think more clearly and there is a little memory improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing is sure - losing weight is easier compared to maintaining weight when you need to maintain balance to stay within limits and be concerned of food you consume trying to not go &quot;offroad.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to ask fitness coaches, bodybuilders and nutritionists:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Was the way I lost weight safe? What mistakes I made? What I should have done differently and what should I improve?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appreciate your opinions and suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE July 20th, 2014:&lt;/strong&gt; Hello people! In this world, nothing is exempt from cause and effect so let me update you on my fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over 2 and half years ago I started doing runs once or twice per day while weighing 253.5 lbs. I have been running in low quality running shoes and while it still had its sole in normal condition, I slowly felt as it gets more compressed over time until it became thin. The effect of this is that I have developed pain in my right knee running in low quality running shoes which were not absorbing shocks well. These days I no longer run because I am quite busy and after almost every long run I have aching knee. Sometimes short run can cause mild ache. I have learned lesson the hard way and I hope I will be able to improve my knee's condition. I would appreciate your input regarding this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight is more or less 175 lbs which is within healthy range because in my opinion I have stabilized my metabolism. Did I just coin this &quot;metabolism stabilization&quot; thing? I think my body became less bearable for sugar consumption because the amount of sugar I could eat when was overweight, eating same amount now would make me feel nauseous and even throw up. For example I drank tea and coffee with 2 teaspoons but today only 0.5 teaspoon is enough. Today drinking morning coffee could make me satiated until noon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is Sugar Threshold For Headache Real?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not long ago, my acquaintance from internet mentioned something about sugar consumption thershold and sugar withdrawal effects. So what have I learned about this and what happens if I overconsume sugar? First it starts with brainfog and then ends with headache lasting in the range of 1-3 days rarely turning into migraine where I lie suffering. I think this brings me to possible answer to question of why I was having many headaches in teenage years (some were due to impaired eyesight in a period when I didn't have glasses). Now that I think of my diet back then, it's crazy. I would not eat soups but sandwiches and after sandwiches would ear chocolate and chips after which I often drank Coca-Cola or sugar-stuffed juices. In fact, it was the only beverage I drank instead of mineral water because I hated it and was addicted to that poison. Food that looks good on the outside may be poison on the inside. Lesson learned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time I drink tea, coffee and when summer comes, I buy juices but I never drink them as they are. Even if I tried, due to sugar (intolerance? / resistance?) my body developed I would feel nauseaus and probably develop headache. I always water juices down with mineral water and though I still drink mineral water, I don't drink daily recommended amount per day. People, what those bastards who are behind juice manufacturing doing is unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why Sometimes I Feel Tired And Lethargic?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still have those moments when I feel slow, lazy and drowsy (&quot;energy crash&quot;?). At work, this really hits my productivity. You can even Google about this and find out that many people experience this. I think this has to do with amount of food I consume and it is recommended to eat 3/4 of meal since you will feel satiated after quarter and hour. In the morning though I wake up before 6AM and only drink coffee which lasts me until noon which is where I eat launch and then get drowsy and sleepy. Not good feeling and I will need to find out the solution though I think high-quality morning coffee with coconut oil could be the answer. Eating more frequently in small amounts could be the way too as I am not sure about coffee similar to &quot;bulletproof coffee&quot; that I drank. You can Google this if you are interested to learn more but the coffee I drank was past expiry date (yeah I know...) Arabica wholebeans coffee with added amount of grass-fed butter. After a while it caused hearburns so I stopped drinking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I have food cravings and get to eat more until feeling &quot;energy crash&quot;. I start from vegetables and end up with full stomach which is where I feel it is harder to move and want a nap. What is the reason people overeat? Those who are less busy and stay home more often than people who work their butt, get to overeat and ad weight. Usually this is when watching TV and feeling bored when commercial hits in. You go to grab a snack to to make it in time when show is back on. Similar with computer being bored when surfing internet or waiting videogame level to load. All of this leads to uncontrolled food consumption and obesity. Personally I try to not eat when watching TV or using computer because I get to lose focus and enjoy food leading me to compensate later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to keep yourself busy&lt;/strong&gt; in order to forget about snacks and start eating healthy and in time. When you are hungry, you will eat everything and forget about snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How I Maintained Shape When I Worked at The Office&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was working at the office full-time in last 6 months and I had to stay productive. I did not quite understand why people working at the office complained about their job because I assumed physical work is the the one to complain about but now I do. In my case sitting chained to computer for 9 hours in my case was not as I thought it to be, especially sitting through a few hours after lunch break. I was fighting myself to not falling asleep and I was lethargic and drowsy. Eventually I have found how to stay in optimal shape, retaining mental clarity and creativity (my job requred that) in the morning and more or less after lunch time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning I was waking up  15 minutes earlier and doing simple excercises and excercises with dumbbells if I had time. I drank a glass of lemon citric acid, small bottle of probiotic yogurt and black arabica grinded coffee for the road. I didn't eat until 1PM and felt good. Sometimes I was forgetting about lunch for a couple of hours more until I felt I could no longer think and had feeling of fainting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were days where I came to work and drank instant coffee with milk and half teaspoon of sugar and was satiated until 5PM without anything else whatsoever! I guess instant coffee (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bulletproofexec.com/why-bad-coffee-makes-you-weak/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;with its toxins&lt;/a&gt;) works well for me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lunch break while it wasn't good solution, I reduced home meal from full portion to 3/4 and sometimes 1/2. After that I haven't eaten until 7PM-8PM and that's when I came home. I tried to eat salads as often as I could and then gone to sleep around 10PM but still I was still tempted sometimes to eat carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nightly Meals Should Be Eaten At Least 2 Hours Before Bed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still eat late but not quite as often as before. I have noticed that when I eat something easy as salad and drink tea, I end up waking up with better mood and feel easy and eneretic. I also wake up hungry and eat healthy breakfast. Whereas eating sandwich, meat, chocolate even 2 hours before bed makes me feel sleepy in the morning, reluctant to eat with impaired energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I want to eat 10 minutes before bed I ask myself - &quot;Why would I eat now if I am going to sleep just to enjoy food and feeling not good in the morning?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes this works but if it is not, I eat vegetables like carrots and fruits like apple and orange as this works okay for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I have Noticed Happens when &quot;Coming off of Tracks&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here I refer to excessive carbs and sugar consumption which sometimes happens to me and results in bigger layer of visceral fat on belly which I am able to observe a day after when doing morning push-ups. I was actually see more of belly's fat hanging the day after &quot;abusing carbs and sugar&quot; and almost flat belly when not consuming carbs and sugar for several days. Can some of you relate to this or I am imagining things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How I Am Able to Supress My Appetite for Half Day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Coffee - like mentioned above, if I drink instant coffee with milk and at least 1 teaspoon of sugar, I can stay satiated until evening. What really boosts the effects is added teaspoon of cocont oil and thinking of food would make me feel nauseus. I don't do this frequently because this method while works, can probably be unhealthy for those with stomach problems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Working out - I don't want to eat for many hours after intensive 1 hour workout. If at some point I get tempted to eat carbs and sugar, I would do intensive workout again but it doesn't have to be 1 hour long anyway. I guess when body actively catabolizes and later afterburns, food is the least I can think about?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I was on my weight loss path, I think slow conditioning of subconscience played a big part. Do one thing dozen of times until you forget about it and your subconscience starts doing it or you could just end up being OCD about it. If latter is the case, let's hope it is something healthy for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all from me now. I hope you enjoyed reading it and if you have anything to add, feel free to do so. Let's talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3508" LastEditorUserId="3508" LastEditDate="2014-07-20T09:11:23.060" LastActivityDate="2014-07-20T09:11:23.060" Title="Unplanned Achievement - Lost ~72.8 lbs (33 kg) But Was It The Correct Way Of Doing It? Not Exactly But Lessons Learned!" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6473" CreationDate="2012-05-18T12:40:25.330" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, congratulations on your transformation.  No matter how it is done, it is always an accomplishment.  First, the obvious things you did &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Got rid of sugary drinks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used the momentum of one good change begetting another (cleaning the flat, etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have enough information to determine if the food was right, so instead I'll list some principles that are important.  I do want to say that there are several intermittent fasting based diets, and they work amazingly well.  They range from simply occasionally skipping a meal to fasting one day a week, to fasting for a certain number of hours and eating within a certain number of hours.  For example, the Warrior diet is a 20/4 diet meaning 20 hours of fasting and 4 hours where you can eat.  Even within this framework, you do need to maintain decent nutrition.  Without further ado, as long as these are OK on a weekly average, you did it right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories: as long as you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: if sedentary, 1g/kg of protein is sufficient (that's roughly 0.5g/lb).  The more active you are, the more protein you need.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The body won't use more than 1.8g/kg (0.82g/lb) in a day&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: there are several fat born vitamins your body needs.  Both mono-unsaturated fats and saturated fats (from naturally fed animals) are good sources of fats.  Important is making sure the Omega-3/Omega-6 balance is good.  Vegetable oil based fats tend to be heavy in omega-6 fats, which makes the body inflammatory and more prone to disease.  Increasing Omega-3s helps bring that in balance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates: while some view them as the only non-essential macro nutrient, they help you gain energy.  They also include some of the water soluble vitamins that we need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as your Calorie intake is sufficient to provide you with the energy you need (which it sounds like it did), and you have enough protein to maintain your muscle mass plus a little extra to increase your muscle mass, the exact balance of carbs to fats is much less important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last remaining thought I'd leave you with is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMI&lt;/a&gt; was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/356846-the-origin-of-bmi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;originally devised as a statistical aid&lt;/a&gt;.  In short, it's &quot;good enough&quot; when applied to a large population to determine what proportion of people are overweight or not, it was never intended to be applied individually.  The problems that can occur is that if your body fat percentage applied to your height and weight is outside the norm assumed for the BMI calculation it will give you a false impression.  You can have less muscle mass than the norm (common in elderly people), and the BMI will under-report your body fat.  You can have more muscle mass than the norm (common in athletes), the the BMI will over-report your body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2012-05-18T18:35:58.257" LastActivityDate="2012-05-18T18:35:58.257" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6468" CreationDate="2012-05-18T15:41:26.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heartrate, along with other factors (size, gender, age), will give you a close approximation of calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/171652-how-to-determine-calories-burned-during-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/171652-how-to-determine-calories-burned-during-exercise/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-05-18T15:41:26.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-19T08:49:12.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's strange, but no one focused on the most important &quot;exercise&quot; -- walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A) Set clear goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk 30 minutes every day in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk 30 minutes every morning and evening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk 30 minutes every morning and 1 hour every evening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk 1 hour every morning and 1 hour every evening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B) Buy a cardio monitor&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to keep HR at 120-130 for non-stop for 30-60 minutes. Not less, not more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;C) Buy tracking device (or pedometer) and forget about logging your activities&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check FitBit or use any similar solution. It doesn't really matter. Choose based on price and easy to use functions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;D) Increase difficulty of walking every month&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Select routes with elevations like hills, sand, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E) Use poles&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will decrease pressure on your ankles and gives additional upper body training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;F) Walk sometimes in company or with a dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good mood will really help you to achieve results! Explore new places, routes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;G) Don't stop during walking session.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always keep moving! Think about having a good route in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;H) Walk EVERY day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really stress it. Enjoy your walk. On weekends walk with your family or friends. Park your car far away from your destination (when you don't required to carry something heavy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some diet points: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not eat &quot;quick&quot; carbohydrates before and after walking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink more especially when walking for longer than 30 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, walking is the most valuable activity! You can combine it with any other ones, as gym, swimming, diet. Especially, diet. This is simple and very, very effective. Do not expect quick results, they will be slow, but stable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-19T12:05:00.293" LastActivityDate="2012-05-19T12:05:00.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-19T13:52:40.247" Score="4" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've been trying to tone my body for almost a year now. Through most of the year, I've been going very intensive with my workouts and although I was seeing results, they weren't as good as I expected them to be. Because of that, I just gave up and didn't bother with it anymore. A few months later, I got at it again, doing workouts at 25-50 reps each. Its only been a month and I'm seeing much better results. I'm on the exact same diet i was on before. Nothing changed apart from the workout reps...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought the more extensive your workouts are the &lt;strong&gt;quicker&lt;/strong&gt; you see &lt;strong&gt;better&lt;/strong&gt; results, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So am I wrong - Is it actually better to take it slowly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2260" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T22:31:45.117" Title="Why do I see better results when taking it easy?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6477" CreationDate="2012-05-19T17:09:01.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you perform an exercise in high reps, you're preparing your body for enduring long-time load. The body will adjust towards its most efficient way of sustainably performing under these circumstances, which is by having small muscles - they burn less energy. That's how &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=marathon+winner&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;prmd=imvns&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;ei=s8W9T6CWBczR4QT3w-1I&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=mode_link&amp;amp;ct=mode&amp;amp;cd=2&amp;amp;ved=0CEgQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1539&amp;amp;bih=839&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Google Images search 'marathon winner'&quot;&gt;best marathon runners&lt;/a&gt; tend to look like - quite lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &quot;toning&quot;, you very likely want to be more like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=marathon+winner&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;prmd=imvns&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;ei=s8W9T6CWBczR4QT3w-1I&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=mode_link&amp;amp;ct=mode&amp;amp;cd=2&amp;amp;ved=0CEgQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1539&amp;amp;bih=839#hl=en&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=1&amp;amp;q=sprinter+athlete&amp;amp;oq=sprinter&amp;amp;aq=2&amp;amp;aqi=g10&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;gs_l=img.3.2.0l10.9472.10976.18.13806.8.8.0.0.0.0.692.2094.0j2j1j1j1j1.6.0...0.0.PCSm5wxr3OE&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&amp;amp;fp=4c8c95c42fd89a66&amp;amp;biw=1539&amp;amp;bih=839&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Google Images search 'sprinter athlete'&quot;&gt;sprinter&lt;/a&gt; - having big muscles that can endure short-term higher load. Building your training regime around shorter bursts of more intense workout will tell your body to adjust that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3342" LastEditorUserId="3342" LastEditDate="2012-05-24T05:30:43.370" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T05:30:43.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-20T02:23:17.017" Score="3" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm following the Starting Strength program, and I find that I'm fine the next day, as long as I warm up each lift as he recommends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;But&lt;/em&gt;, I find that immediately after lifting, even though I'm not in pain, simple daily lifts, like picking up a child or reaching in to buckle a car seat, can be very painful.  And, if I do it anyway, I really do get hurt.  (It's mainly lifts that involve turning.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This vulnerability goes away after a number of hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone else experience this? What causes it? How should I prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T04:34:59.320" Title="Are you prone to injury directly after weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6483" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-20T02:25:40.650" Score="3" ViewCount="1127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading the Starting Strength book, he throws around a lot of anatomical terms.  Yet, surprisingly, there's no diagram or chart or glossary explaining what all these are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to learn the basic of anatomy, the names of bones and muscles and what they do and how they work together? Not as a study in its own right - just enough so I can lift properly, and understand what I'm reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/em&gt; I need to make clear: I'm looking for an explanation of &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt;, not just a vocabulary list.  Although I'd like something brief, I need to understand &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3439" LastEditDate="2012-05-20T02:36:13.107" LastActivityDate="2012-05-20T16:10:42.040" Title="Basic anatomy for weight lifting and starting strength?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;skeleton&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6483" CreationDate="2012-05-20T09:38:33.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exrx.net&lt;/a&gt; gives some nice help in understanding anatomy and kinesiology as it relates to exercise and weightlifting. In addition to their basic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise and muscle directory&lt;/a&gt;, they have several pages that help you understand joint movements, proper alignments, specific muscle weaknesses, and the physics of the movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Articulations.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Articulations&lt;/a&gt; directory links you to each joint and their movements (flexion, extension, abduction etc). For example, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Shoulder.html#anchor102874&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shoulder articulation&lt;/a&gt; page shows each movement along with an exercise that accomplishes the movement, and then lists the different muscles that participate in the movement with links to the anatomy of the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The posture page gives &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;postural deviations&lt;/a&gt; and how to improve your alignments.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The page that describes common &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Weaknesses.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle weaknesses&lt;/a&gt; gives some good information as to the risks of the imbalance, what exercises will be affected and what exercises will help.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And you can get into more detail of the actual mechanics with angles of pull and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/AnglePull.html#anchor998955&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vector diagrams&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That should give you a good start.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-05-20T09:38:33.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6483" CreationDate="2012-05-20T16:10:42.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend you check the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.ca/Strength-Training-Anatomy-2nd-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736063684&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strength Training Anatomy.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;It has images and details for each exercise and the muscles involved and their names. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can &quot;click to look inside&quot; to get a feel of what it is about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-05-20T16:10:42.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-20T17:26:35.350" Score="1" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an 18 year old male, who, although not unhealthy weight (originally 182 lbs) saw that too much of was in fat. Also for the past two years or so I have been doing crunches fairly regularly, and thought that reducing my overall fat might result in a nice six pack or something like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now, jump to about a week ago, I got serious about this and started to increase my running (from a few miles a couple days a week to daily at 4 miles) and increase my ab workout slightly. Most radically though, I restructured my diet a lot. Before I would eats lots of relatively healthy food (pasta, yogurt, salmon, whole grain bread), and eat it till I was stuffed. Now I just eat a sorta predetermined small increment of food (usually based around salmon, yogurt, or eggs with some carbs/veggies) at each meal time, and outside of that I snack on vegetables and some fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with this strategy for about a week, it seems I have lost 7 pounds, with a fairly constant rate of about one pound each day (weighing myself each morning). I don't have a particular weight goal, just an overall reduction in body fat (which I don't have a direct way of measuring except looking down at my stomach :P) I don't think much of it is water weight (I always pee clear!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I suppose my primary question is how unhealthy is that sort of weight loss? It seems looking around most sources quote around 5 pounds a month as healthy...&#xA;My primary worry is that loosing too much means that more of the loss is coming from muscle mass. I don't want to sacrifice all the work I've put in on my abs! Or will the fact that much of my diet is protein (~50%) protect my muscles somewhat? Other than that, so far, I feel great and have more energy than I have had in a while!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3519" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T13:16:37.077" Title="Unhealthy Weight Loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6458" CreationDate="2012-05-20T17:28:31.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HIIT&lt;/strong&gt; (High Intensity Interval Training) as you describe is a very acceptable, if not a prefered method of training.  According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tabata study&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.. adequate high-intensity intermittent training may improve both anaerobic and aerobic energy supplying systems significantly, probably through imposing intensive stimuli on both systems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can HIIT be dangerous?  Yes, it is a more advanced exercise technique in that it is not for the beginner who is in poor shape.  Nor is it for someone with heart problems without proper supervision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can intervals be safe? Yes, provided that you exercise within your tolerance.&#xA;HIIT requires that you exercise intensely for short intervals followed by short rest intervals as you described.  You must rest during the rest periods so that you can muster the ability to hit another intense interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The rest period&lt;/strong&gt; can be &lt;strong&gt;active or passive&lt;/strong&gt;.  In an active rest period you would continue a low intensity exercise like walking.  In a passive rest period you would just try to recuperate and reduce your heart rate.   (Personally, an active rest interval works best for me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have access to the original Tabata study, but in the abstract it simply mentions &quot;rest&quot; periods without specifying whether it was active or passive.  If you have any concerns, just walk during the rest period.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Other studies&lt;/a&gt; show that active rests are superior to passive rest intervals in that they provide a  better quality of work interval and produce lower lactate levels.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal for safety and effectiveness when doing interval training is to wear a heart rate monitor and exercise into your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;target range&lt;/a&gt; during your exercise interval (but avoid exceeding your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Maximum-Heart-Rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;maximum heart rate&lt;/a&gt;), and then reduce your heart rate to your target recovery range during your rest period.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cool Down&lt;/strong&gt; - As you stated, the reason that a cool down period is recommended after exercise is so that the fast beating heart and respiratory systems can gradually return to normal as you cool down.  The gradual cool down keeps blood circulating, rather than pooling in the muscles. Cool down after HIIT just as you would any other exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2012-05-21T12:29:51.140" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T12:29:51.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2012-05-20T17:45:50.373" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to add a summary of my personal experience with open-palm and knuckle push-ups. I have done at least 100 push-ups a day since 1983, even when travelling (in airports and hotels). In 1999 I developed wrist pain and changed to knuckle push-ups, first on hard surfaces (until 2003) and subsequently on a towel or on carpet as a preventive measure for possible knuckle or wrist injuries. Switching from open-palm to knuckle push-ups completely eliminated the wrist pain within about two weeks. Between 2001 and 2006 I did, on average, 155 push-ups a day (alternating daily between 130 and 180, in two sets). I resumed the 100 push-up routine when I developed pain in the both shoulders in 2006. The reduction to 100 a day and keeping my left shoulder (where I had broken the rotator cuff ten year earlier) close to my torso liminated that pain. The knuckle push-ups have not significantly impaired the flexibility of my hands or wrists (as indicated by my work on the computer) and built up significant amounts of callus on the central knuckle of each hand and smaller amounts on the index finger knuckles. Doing push-ups on soft surfaces has reduced the amount of callus during the last few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, I am glad I switched from open-palm to knuckle push-ups because this permitted me to continue this exercise without pain. I recommend that knuckle push-ups be done on carpets or other soft surfaces rather than on hard surfaces. I would like to hear the experiences of other long-term 'push-uppers'. I am now 72 years old and started doing daily push-ups at 44 but had done them periodically (a few times a month or less) since about agout 16. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3520" LastEditorUserId="3520" LastEditDate="2012-05-20T17:54:36.087" LastActivityDate="2012-05-20T17:54:36.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6491" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8235" CreationDate="2012-05-21T03:16:04.737" Score="9" ViewCount="19868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I talked with a female friend about how to lose her small fat tummy. I suggested to her that she do sit-ups every day. She read in a book that doing sit-ups is harmful to women, because they may have some bad effect on the uterus and possibly cause infertility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any scientific basis for what she claims about sit-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3523" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-21T13:52:11.387" LastActivityDate="2017-08-31T22:01:25.900" Title="Are sit-ups harmful to female anatomy?" Tags="&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6491" CreationDate="2012-05-21T12:51:48.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/314100-can-strenuous-exercise-initiate-menopause-early/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise inducing amenorrhea&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...exercise-induced amenorrhea is a temporary condition that occurs when the energy demands of strenuous exercise cause your body to go into &quot;starvation mode&quot; and shut down unnecessary functions, including ovulation, to keep your basic life functions going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foundhealth.com/infertility/infertility-and-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resource&lt;/a&gt; suggests that exercise in otherwise sedentary people will increase your fertility, as long as it isn't taken too far.  Too far is defined when you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sleep disturbances&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prolonged soreness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chronic muscle soreness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;missed menstrual cycles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an elevated resting heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet another resource suggests that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.babymed.com/daily-living/sit-ups-and-abdominal-crunches-during-pregnancy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sit-ups are safe into early pregnancy&lt;/a&gt;, but due to blood vessel constriction not in the second or third trimesters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact the only resource I could find that would support your friend's concern was someone who was asking a similar question due to information from their acupuncturist.  In other words, the association is from holistic sources, and not from traditional medical sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is important, and can improve fertility in both men and women.  There are several types of exercise, and the frequency and intensity of your exercise has more influence on your fertility than any single exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your friend is not currently trying to have a child, any potential mal-effect of sit ups would only be temporary and gone in a couple days from ceasing that activity.  If your friend is currently trying, but not successfully, take a look at a host of things, not just sit-ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Level of stress (including stressing about not conceiving)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet--the same thing that causes exercise induced emennorrhea will affect if your friend has too low a body fat percentage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Level of exercise--too much or too little.  Getting those endorphins going will help with stress levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything more than that, and your friend might need to see a fertility specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T12:51:48.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6487" CreationDate="2012-05-21T13:16:37.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unhealthy weight loss is where:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You lose muscle mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't provide enough nutrition to recover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You intentionally lose as much of your water weight at once.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By your description of your diet, it looks as if it is made up of the right stuff.  The only question is if it is enough.  As long as you have enough protein, it would be sufficient to protect you from the first bullet point.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article suggests&lt;/a&gt; that you won't use more than 0.65g of protein per pound body weight--or if you are genetically gifted, .82g of protein per pound body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as point 2 is concerned, as long as your performance is not regressing, you have enough Calories to support your level of activity.  Many weight lifters will experience a drop in the max they can lift while dieting, but I'm talking about either a sudden drop in performance or each time you exercise you continually drop performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the last point, this is where people don't have sufficient water, where sweats while exercising, sit in the sauna to sweat out the water that they have, etc.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/documents/cut_max_weight_for_comp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Linked is an article&lt;/a&gt; that goes into more depth with this sort of thing.  However, the more you lose the more it affects your performance in your match/competition.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://uscombatsports.com/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&amp;amp;view=items&amp;amp;cid=233&amp;amp;id=8722&amp;amp;Itemid=402&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; suggests that the max you should ever try to lose with this approach is 5% of your body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what's going on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say, but any time you change your eating habits, the first weight to come off is water weight.  It's not unhealthy levels of water weight, but if you've significantly reduced your sodium intake and the amount of inflammatory foods you eat, your body will let go of the excess water that it no longer needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are having fewer than 125g of carbs a day, the next source of weight loss will likely be the glycogen stores.  Depending on your body weight, this can be as much as 5lbs worth of weight.  This is the reserve energy your muscles have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, as your body breaks down fat and burns it, the byproducts are urinated out.  This will continue for a good while until your body finds a new equilibrium known as homeostasis.  In order to keep losing weight, you will have to cycle through different approaches to keep it from reaching that equilibrium before you hit your goal weight.  Also, at 185lb, you may consider increasing your muscle mass rather than just focusing on fat loss.  This can happen rather rapidly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T13:16:37.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6496" CreationDate="2012-05-21T14:03:05.577" Score="0" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started training to do muscle up yesterday. It is understandable if my shoudle or wrist get pain when i training to do it. But my elbow pain too. Is it ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my dips i could go all the way below my chest. But for my pull up i have difficulty doing it with the false grip. So i use my leg to kick myself up as being told on the website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/53&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/53&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using my leg to kick myself up i am able to get my chest over the pull up bar. But when i tried changing my position from my pull up position to the dips position, i can feel a sharp pain in my elbow. Is it okay to have that sharp pain? Because of that sharp pain i failed all my attempt in trying to get a muscle up done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-21T14:46:53.877" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T16:33:29.497" Title="Am i on the right track for muscle up?" Tags="&lt;checo&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6495" CreationDate="2012-05-21T16:33:29.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sharp pain in your elbows sounds like a common overuse injury called &lt;em&gt;Tendinitis&lt;/em&gt;.  Tendinitis is an inflammation of the tendons at your joints.  It will only get worse if you don't deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop any activity that makes the pain worse.  Both pull ups and dips can cause this pain--which means you'll have to stop working on the muscle up for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice the elbows.  Ice helps reduce the inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use NSAIDs (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-steroidal_anti-inflammatory_drug&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug&lt;/a&gt;) initially, also to help with the inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When pain has ceased, re-introduce activity with light weights and high reps.  This helps to get blood flowing through the area further removing the remaining inflammation.  A good exercise for this stage is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4863755&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Unilateral Dumbbell Floor Press&lt;/a&gt;.  Do not bend the elbow past 90 degrees during rehabilitation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take as long as 6 weeks to get back to normal.  You can train around this overuse injury, meaning you will have to stick to exercises that don't make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T16:33:29.497" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-21T16:43:12.137" Score="1" ViewCount="708" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is healthier on a sub sandwich? Mayo, Honey Mustard or Oil + Vinegar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3525" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T16:43:12.137" Title="Which is healthier: Mayo, Honey Mustard or Oil + Vinegar?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-05-21T16:55:54.133" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2012-05-21T17:40:06.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple fact of the matter is that after eating your body diverts blood flow to your stomach and intestines to digest and soak up the goodies in your food. If you try to exercise too soon then your body won't be able to cope with the increased requirement of blood to the muscles as well. Not to mention that the increased internal pressure on the abdomen may cause you to chunder (puke). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long you should wait is really a subjective question just as with weight loss - where the individual's biovariables determine the rate at which exercise will have an effect. But about an hour is a typical duration to wait, preferably 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3526" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-21T17:55:33.547" LastActivityDate="2012-05-21T17:55:33.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6491" CreationDate="2012-05-21T23:43:00.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently sit-ups (and other exercises that create pressure in the lower body) &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; cause problems with the pelvic floor, including promoting pelvic floor weakening, with the most extreme form of that being &lt;strong&gt;uterus prolapse&lt;/strong&gt;, where the uterus is pushed down into the vagina.  &lt;strong&gt;However, from what I've found, &lt;em&gt;this is not a concern for all women,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; but specifically for women who already have a weak pelvic floor due to either recent pregnancy, a genetic predisposition, or other factors such as certain childbirth events.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/dangerous-downside-of-sit-ups-embarrassing-side-effects/story-e6frg8y6-1225872288782&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one article&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;lifting a heavy weight increases pressure inside the abdomen, which&#xA;  in turn pushes down on to the pelvic floor. &lt;strong&gt;Sit-ups,&lt;/strong&gt; curl-ups and&#xA;  double leg lifts, traditionally recommended as abdominal strengthening&#xA;  exercises, also raise internal abdominal pressure....If the pelvic&#xA;  floor isn't strong and co-ordinated enough to quickly lift and hold to&#xA;  counter this internal pressure during exercise, then pelvic organ&#xA;  prolapse, or misalignment, is promoted.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article also describes some pelvic floor &lt;em&gt;strengthening&lt;/em&gt; exercises to help counteract this issue, which is important to note, since it seems to provide a way to do sit-ups more safely if you are doing these compensatory exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://projects.registerguard.com/turin/2010/nov/09/exercise-yes-sit-ups-no/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another article&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;specifically in the case of a 60 year old woman with a uterine prolapse&lt;/em&gt;,  mentioned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Things that contribute to uterine prolapse — a dropping down of the&#xA;  uterus into the vagina — are aging, time-related weakening of the&#xA;  ligaments holding the uterus up; having had vaginal deliveries; and a&#xA;  drop-off in estrogen production...Activities that increase&#xA;  intra-abdominal pressure can make the uterus fall farther. &lt;strong&gt;Sit-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  increase intra-abdominal pressure, as does straining to eliminate&#xA;  stool. You can do other exercises for weight loss: walking, jogging,&#xA;  biking, swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, perhaps the take-home here is that, sit-ups are not necessarily harmful provided they are done properly and the appropriate pelvic floor strengthening exercises are done along with them.  If one has a particular condition such as mentioned above, one might want to consult one's physician about it before undertaking a regimen with sit-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastEditorUserId="1789" LastEditDate="2012-09-28T21:55:28.250" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T21:55:28.250" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-21T23:52:21.967" Score="7" ViewCount="7793" Body="&lt;p&gt;We moved into a new apartment and were planning to buy a treadmill. But the apartment management denied permission to have treadmill as it may cause disturbance to other tenants and also the apartments are newly constructed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other alternatives would you suggest to work at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2104" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-22T13:42:44.833" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T16:43:57.737" Title="Alternatives for a treadmill in an apartment complex?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6503" CreationDate="2012-05-21T23:54:22.350" Score="3" ViewCount="380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a vegetarian, and I don't eat eggs. I want to start body building and I am wondering how I can continue without eating eggs. In any case I will not eat eggs I want to solely continue a vegetarian diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was stunned to see regular diet of body building professionals at least have half a dozen eggs a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2272" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-22T13:42:12.933" LastActivityDate="2012-05-22T14:54:11.367" Title="Will a vegan diet affect my bodybuilding progress?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2012-05-22T02:41:25.563" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is running outside an option? Probably not what you were thinking of, but it is cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a machine, an elliptical might be an option. I would assume the disturbance they're concerned about would come from the footfalls from running on the treadmill, so it might be a more acceptable option to management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, have you checked if the apartment has a gym? Some of the apartments I've been have had a common room with some weights and machines for residents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3058" LastEditorUserId="3058" LastEditDate="2012-05-22T03:38:40.247" LastActivityDate="2012-05-22T03:38:40.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6501" CreationDate="2012-05-22T14:54:11.367" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For dealing with the protein requirements check out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should have at least &lt;a href=&quot;http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;0.65g protein / pound body weight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And probably another 10% (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/320/how-to-get-enough-protein-as-a-vegetarian&quot;&gt;see top answer here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say that it will be &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; difficult to remain truly vegetarian and hit the optimal macro-nutrient break down required by most anabolic diets.  Due to the plant sources of nutrition you will have a harder time getting the needed fat and fat born vitamins.  Your diet will tend towards too many carbs if you aren't careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a common practice with anabolic diets is to remain low carb (no more than 125g a day) on your rest day, and then spike it after you work out.  This gets the energy from the carbs going into the muscles to help feed recouperation.  The diet on rest days is higher in fat and lower in carbs, and vice versa on training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The few vegetarian lifters out there either eat eggs and fish, or gained most of their strength before switching to a vegetarian diet.  There are a few resources worth looking at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The IronStrong forum does have &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/883-vegetarian-diet-for-strength-trainers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a topic for the vegetarian lifters&lt;/a&gt; on that site.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bill Pearl discusses &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weis18.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lifting while a vegetarian&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veganfitness.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vegan Fitness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general consensus is that body building while a vegetarian &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; affect your progress.  Usually it only means that it will take longer to get the same gains as your meat eating or even egg/fish eating compatriots.  However, you will make those gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-05-22T14:54:11.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6507" CreationDate="2012-05-22T17:32:29.773" Score="8" ViewCount="7129" Body="&lt;p&gt;In videos, I see people dropping the weights after power cleans.  I tried it at the gym.  It was horribly loud and the cap of the barbell popped off.  I hear I should be using bumper plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I use bumper plates (assuming I had them)?&lt;/strong&gt;  Do I mix them in with the hard steel plates, or do I completely replace the hard steel with bumpers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3528" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T18:22:52.680" Title="How do I use bumper plates?" Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6505" CreationDate="2012-05-22T17:42:24.410" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Completely replace the iron plates with bumpers for the majority of the weight on the bar. You can add smaller iron plates (5s, 10s, etc.) to fine-tune the weight on the bar, but the only stuff to touch the ground should be bumpers if you intend to drop the weight. You should have much more bumper than iron on the bar so that you don't lessen the lifetime of the bumper plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you could just put the weight down: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vimeo.com/25531302&quot;&gt;http://vimeo.com/25531302&lt;/a&gt; Don't waste a lot of energy lowering it slowly, though. Like in this video, drop it to your thighs, and then just put it back on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-22T17:54:07.767" LastActivityDate="2012-05-22T17:54:07.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6505" CreationDate="2012-05-22T20:01:14.540" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're going to drop the weights, the only weights that touch should be bumpers, and you should be on an Olympic lifting platform of some kind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bumper plates of different weights have a consistent diameter, to maximize surface area. Additional iron plates can be used if they are of a smaller diameter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're using a quality bar. Ivanko, a quality manufacturers of bars, has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ivankobarbell.com/press/how_to_break_an_olympic_bar.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;  with some gory stories about poorly made bars snapping in half in the middle of a lift or on a bounce. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should try to minimize the amount of bar-dropping that you do, but sometimes you can't avoid it. If you're training the Olympic lifts seriously, you risk a missed or dropped lift. That's the reality of lifting close to your limit. But for most warm-ups you should be controlling the bar for most or all of its downward path. (This is more true for cleans than snatches.) Many people ignore this advice and drop every attempt in the attempt to minimize the eccentric, soreness-producing phase of the lift. In some gyms this is considered rude and destructive. Either change gyms or change your behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-07T18:22:52.680" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T18:22:52.680" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6582" CreationDate="2012-05-22T20:16:52.940" Score="4" ViewCount="18740" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an exercise that could get your heart rate up to around 90% of max in 1-2 minutes? Or if not, or if that's not safe... what's the fastest most efficient safe way to get your heart pumping near the top of its range?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, just running in place won't do it. Jumping jacks won't do it. Both those will only get the heart rate up some, but not up high quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3530" LastEditorUserId="3530" LastEditDate="2012-05-23T01:50:15.253" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T04:59:56.117" Title="What exercise would get heart pumping fast very quickly?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2014-08-03T21:01:13.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6509" CreationDate="2012-05-22T21:49:29.313" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kettlebell swings are good for getting your heart rate up quickly, however, you really need to study the form and perform them correctly or you could hurt your back.  If you are interested, look for certified Russian Kettlebell trainers in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jumping rope is excellent cardio - and as long as you warm up with some jumping jacks, they are very safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another excellent cardio exercise that is very efficient and works the entire body are &lt;strong&gt;burpees&lt;/strong&gt;:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like burpees - they are safe and really effective for cardio, and build strength in your thighs and upper body (if you do them with the pushups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, if you are not currently exercising you should take it easy at first - maybe even get a checkup to make sure what you plan to do is safe for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3532" LastActivityDate="2012-05-22T21:49:29.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6513" CreationDate="2012-05-23T01:40:11.907" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in an office that has no room for a bed to take a nap. But I feel real sleepy after lunch and feel tired in the afternoon, is there any good way of resting for the noon in an typical office without bed ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3534" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T04:29:30.047" Title="What is the best way of resting for the noon in office?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-05-23T11:08:36.707" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6512" CreationDate="2012-05-23T03:36:18.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it really depends on your office environment.  For example, do you have your own office where no one can see you or are you in a cubicle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your office culture is ok with you taking a nap, then simply put your head down on your desk.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/5897352/a-quick-nap-can-boost-your-cognitive-ability-but-only-when-timed-just-right&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to research&lt;/a&gt;, the nap should only be 15-20 mins between 1-3pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If naps are frowned upon, then you can take a nap in your car.  You may have to drive a bit and park your car where you won't be seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative is to use other methods to re-energize yourself.  Taking a walk or drinking water may help.  More tricks can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20567286,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T03:36:18.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2012-05-23T03:45:10.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are tons of equipment geared for the home.  The answer will depend on your specific program and what your goals are.  For example, you can get a pull-up bar, exercise ball, or resistance bands.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're set on doing pure cardio, then something like a stationary bike may do the trick. Otherwise, you can look into exercise programs that don't need any equipment at all.  The &quot;Insanity&quot; program is a good one that I've done (no equipment needed but you do a lot of jumping which your downstairs neighbor may not appreciate).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T03:45:10.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2012-05-23T03:50:59.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cardio-based (as opposed to strength-based) alternatives that you can do inside your apartment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump rope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elliptical machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running in place&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wii Fitness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dance Dance Revolution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just plain dancing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shadow boxing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move to an apartment on the ground level, and then get the treadmill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3528" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T03:50:59.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6512" CreationDate="2012-05-23T04:29:30.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take a nap at work several days a week. Usually I lie on the floor, sometimes just rest my head on the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T04:29:30.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2012-05-23T04:30:33.603" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most apartment buildings have stairs. I exercise on 22 floors of stairs at my building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T04:30:33.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6457" CreationDate="2012-05-23T08:20:55.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, my gym instructor also suggested the same thing. I'm also suffering from this problem. He advised me to do equal number of reps with both the hands, even if the weight used is less. This way you will be strengthening your left hand muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, I faced some pain in my left hand. But slowly and steadily and doing the weight training as advised, I regained the strength back and am now able to do it properly and without any fatigue either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3494" LastActivityDate="2012-05-23T08:20:55.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2012-05-23T09:46:59.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about a rowing machine. Doesn't have the disturbance characteristics of a treadmill.  If you are tight on space there are some that can be either folded or stood on end. It's a good cardio option and works a lot of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastEditorUserId="26631" LastEditDate="2018-01-17T16:43:57.737" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T16:43:57.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6526" CreationDate="2012-05-23T16:52:07.737" Score="1" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started working out on the tredmill at 12km/hr for 30 minutes almost every day. For the last 3 minutes I kick it up to 14-15km/hr. Is this a good workout or am I better to run on an incline but slower?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3539" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-05-30T15:55:40.260" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T15:55:40.260" Title="running on an incline vs running faster on a flat plane" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6832" CreationDate="2012-05-23T19:38:56.683" Score="13" ViewCount="7119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Texas and with the summer coming up, my lunch time runs are becoming less enjoyable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have goal races that will occur in September (Olympic Triathlon) and November (Marathon) where the temperatures will be somewhat cooler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering moving my workout times to the mornings. If I kept them at lunch is there any benefit to running in the heat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1687" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-07-02T11:37:15.867" LastActivityDate="2019-04-21T23:54:05.150" Title="Are there any benefits to running in the heat?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6521" CreationDate="2012-05-24T01:00:26.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running flat will tend to train your stamina while running on an incline will help to increase your leg endurance and strength. So the answer depends on your running goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2012-05-30T15:43:15.453" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T15:43:15.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-24T07:38:22.913" Score="1" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;When aiming to change how your body looks, for instance less fat on arms and legs, should you focus on monitoring how much weight you lose or train hard and keep going until you have the body you desire, not worrying so much about your weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is related to females rather than males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3545" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T14:03:57.590" Title="Should one focus on just losing weight or changing physical appearance?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6527" CreationDate="2012-05-24T08:11:57.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it greatly depends on &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; one wants to look like and change in their looks. Excess fat is going to be excess no matter what, even if one builds a muscular frame the fat will not go away. Long-term(doesn't mean &quot;slow results&quot;!) aerobic training with weigh-loss in mind is the way to go. Mere hard excercise isn't going to put the fat away, and on the other hand even if it would build some muscle, it won't look good under fat anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend using weight as &lt;em&gt;an absolute&lt;/em&gt; reference of progress alone; looking good isn't inversely proportional to weight. Less isn't necessarily better, it all depends on what kind of excersice one does, how much, how often and nutrition for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To change physical appearance one needs to get rid of the fat anyway, so starting with losing some weight is te way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3546" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T08:11:57.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6527" CreationDate="2012-05-24T08:32:09.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To some extent it depends on where you are starting from. For somebody who is obese, it is probably best to concentrate on losing weight. If you are pretty fit but want to tone up then working out is the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you can't really lose weight from particular places, arms and legs for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tweaking your diet is always worthwhile. NB I dislike the idea of &quot;dieting&quot;, it doesn't work. We each have a diet, adjust it to change your body in the way you want to, but consider it a semi-permanent change.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T08:32:09.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6527" CreationDate="2012-05-24T11:19:20.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is largely personal.  However, there are a couple things you may want to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How strong am I?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How thin do I want to be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do I want to feel?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; with visual references for body fat percentages.  Keep scrolling down for the women.  What you want to look like is a personal matter, but those give you a visual reference so you can see when it happens to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I do want to drive home one point.  Look at the image below (I know it's a man):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jOvK8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same body fat percentage will look differently once you've hit it based on what's underneath the fat.  That's where the muscle comes in.  I'm not saying you have to lift weights, even though it brings a smile to my face every time I see another woman lifting seriously in the gym.  The point is, without some form of exercise, you may look like the poster child for anorexia where your knees are wider than your thighs due to the lack of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that you can work on both at the same time.  It will probably be faster to do what you want at the same time, but if you slowly melt off the fat onto a fit frame, you'll probably be a lot more motivated to get to your end goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T11:19:20.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6882" CreationDate="2012-05-24T11:32:12.070" Score="3" ViewCount="3883" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my research it seems properly made meal replacement shakes with fresh fruits and vegtables and balanced for proper nutrition are healthy as a possible replacement for one or two meals a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However from my perception there seems to be some consensus that consuming them all them time is not ideal and consuming them for every meal is bad. &lt;strong&gt;However, I am having trouble finding information on why.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't a shake have almost all necessary nutrition? Is there something inherently bad with non-solid diets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it because of the lack of nutrients that are usually only maintained from non-mixed ingredients like meats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it healthy to continually consume meal replacement shakes over the course of the day vs. getting the recommended 6 meals a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="813" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T15:24:19.000" Title="Meal Replacement Shakes - Why aren't they healthy to consume for all nutrition?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-15T12:32:00.800" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6531" CreationDate="2012-05-24T13:41:17.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd hazard a guess that it is to do with the healthy functioning of the colon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.helpwithcooking.com/nutrition-information/dietary-fibre.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.helpwithcooking.com/nutrition-information/dietary-fibre.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T13:41:17.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6531" CreationDate="2012-05-24T14:01:07.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason is similar to why ready-cooked meals are not good for you - because they are processed and contain ingredients which are used to keep everything together for long periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g.  if you cooked a lovely salmon steak, vegies and rice and put it in the fridge and then you bought the same ready-cooked meal and placed it in the fridge. Your home made meal would last far less time because the bought one contains special substances to keep it fresh which may and may not be good or necessary for you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also imagine you placed your home-cooked meal in it a blender and made it into a liquid food and then drank it you would not give your body enough time to process it and absorb the nutrients as it would flow through you system much faster.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you placed that processed meal in the fridge you could only leave it there a few days - meal replacement drinks are in power form and can last months because they have ingredients to keep it from going bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T14:01:07.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6527" CreationDate="2012-05-24T14:03:57.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should focus on your appearance because as your appearance improves so will your motivation at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I see my trainer he asks me every now and then what my focus area is, and then we work on that area until it looks better then switch to other area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. at the moment my chest is looking good so we are focusing more on shoulders to get them out more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T14:03:57.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6509" CreationDate="2012-05-24T14:05:55.170" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do maximum you can handle leg weight training.  Massively heavy leg presses, single leg squats etc - basically a high intensity leg workout with the heaviest weights you can handle until fail (have a friend help)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T14:05:55.170" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6469" CreationDate="2012-05-24T14:09:05.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.apple.com/uk/product/H5014ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA2Ng&amp;amp;p=4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Incase Compact Backpack&lt;/a&gt; should be perfect for you needs.  It hugs one's back very well and I do believe it is water resistant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T14:09:05.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6331" CreationDate="2012-05-24T14:19:02.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to gain weight that fast, however you will be able to gain weight if you increase your calorie intake massively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't care how you look you can read up about how Matt Damon and other actors put on weight by eating junk food all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But hopefully you want to be healthy and be in shape, so you need to do massive compound exercises such as leg press, shoulder press and bench press with free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to eat every 2 hours mostly protein and carbs.  Minimum 6 meals a day.  I am talking 3 steaks, 4 chicken breasts, fruit, wholegrain pasta, cheese, 6 glasses of milk, 6 eggs - you literally have to be constantly feeding yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to organise your supplements - protein shakes 3 times a day etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T14:19:02.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-24T17:50:49.863" Score="6" ViewCount="34132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 19 year old male and trying to lose some fat (got a bit of love handles). I'm gonna guess I'm around 18-20% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing stronglifts for 2 months ish to get stronger, I'm at 255 squats etc (I weigh 205).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been eating the amount of food that I need to stay the same weight, around 2500 calories a day. Once in a while I eat mcdonalds or all you can eat sushi, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I cut my calories to 1800-2000 a day while continuing stronglifts, will I be able to lose some fat? How will it affect my lifting progress? If I wanted to lose weight fast (I hate dieting) - will it be a good idea to eat even less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3548" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T15:29:33.600" Title="Toning/Cutting while doing Stronglifts(5x5)" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6540" CreationDate="2012-05-24T19:05:20.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's good that you know about how many calories are necessary to maintain your weight.  StrongLifts and Starting Strength have the same basic principles behind the program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get strong as fast as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train whole body with major compound lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimal assistance exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest days are required between training sessions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are hard on your body.  In order to keep increasing the amount you can lift, your body will need to use increasing amounts of energy.  A common suggestion with these programs is to eat to support the program.  Meaning try to out-eat a stall.  That only works for so long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use the pictures in Leigh Peele's blog for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;visually estimating body fat&lt;/a&gt;.  Above 30% body fat, it's pretty useless to guess by site.  Visual estimation is about as accurate as most other common forms of BF testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The bottom line&lt;/strong&gt; is that the more you cut, the more your body will have problems trying to adapt and get stronger.  1800 Calories is the absolute minimum I would recommend you trying to eat in a day, and that only on rest days.  I would recommend 2000 or 2100 on training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try to get most of your Calories in protein form, you will do better trying to lose fat.  Do have carbs after you train, but don't overdo them and keep them low on rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consider adding HIIT&lt;/strong&gt; to help speed up fat loss.  High Intensity Interval Training such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://tabatatraining.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tabata&lt;/a&gt; style sprints, or other body weight exercise will also help.  Just don't try to over achieve.  Too much of this will affect your lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal Experience&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gained weight, but lost fat while doing StrongLifts and Starting Strength (consecutively).  This lasted for a good while, but 5x5 was a bit much on squats when I got to where you are now.  I switched to Starting Strength (which is 3x5, and swaps power cleans for barbell rows) about that time.  This helped me push myself for another couple months.  I managed to get to 310 lb squats before I had to switch to a weekly progression program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suggestions above coincide with what I did at that time.  Resist the urge to do a deep cut--particularly while lifting heavy.  Only cut enough calories till you see the results you are after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-24T19:05:20.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6564" CreationDate="2012-05-24T23:34:10.903" Score="1" ViewCount="462" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know how antioxidants affects the metabolism and which ones are essential for metabolism processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T11:58:07.817" Title="How Antioxidants affects Metabolism?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-09-18T15:51:06.300" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6547" CreationDate="2012-05-25T03:31:12.487" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard of stretching your hip flexors and shoulders. Simply googling is leaving me with a bad taste on explanation on which stretching exercises to do, and especially on detail information on how to do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a good source for such information? I am as young as I would like to be, hence me needing more stretching prior to practicing my bad swing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3551" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T18:20:43.397" Title="What are some stretching exercises for golf?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6546" CreationDate="2012-05-25T03:53:23.193" Score="2" ViewCount="4992" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started running a week back. I am following a program that starts slowly and increases run interval week by week (c25k). I was fine in the first week but on the first day of week two, which requires running 1.5 minutes at a stretch, with 2 min breaks, 6 times, I felt extreme pain in my lower part of my legs, both on the front and the back side of the legs. This pain started from my first run itself and by 6th I was struggling to walk also.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I should go to a doctor soon, but I just want to know if anyone has been through this kind of pain when they started running. Does it sound too abnormal? I am worried. I have been bicycling very frequently till now and can do a decent distance without even a slight problem but I never ran in last 7 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across some youtube videos showing some stretches and I did the one which uses a tennis ball placed on the ground and you have to put your foot on it, at different points. I also see some sites suggesting ice massage immediately after running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions or experiences are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3552" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T11:32:33.667" Title="legs pain during and after running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6545" CreationDate="2012-05-25T07:57:50.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most running programs miss out on the most important foundation - strengthening - and assume that the runner already has a strong lower body and core, and can just go on increasing mileage. This is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you include these in your training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthening exercises specific to legs. Do general exercises at first, then if something is painful after running, focus on that. Some areas off the top of my head would be - ITB strengthening, hamstrings, abductor/adductor muscles, shins, quads, weighted leg raises (front, side), toe raises and squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core strengthening exercises - abs, back, shoulders, hips, glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching - you're already doing it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick search on www.runnersworld.com will lead you to many exercises for the areas I mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't ignore this aspect of running. It'll go a long way in preventing injuries and is what will make running a source of joy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1494" LastEditorUserId="1494" LastEditDate="2012-05-28T07:59:21.027" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T07:59:21.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6544" CreationDate="2012-05-25T09:22:45.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very good write up on stretching in general&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise&quot;&gt;Should I stretch after exercise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than stretching prior to playing, you would probably be better off with a warm up. You could base a warm up around swing a club, twists and bends for five or ten minutes until you feel your body has wormed / loosend up. You can stretch after playing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A source of stretching exercises:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good stretch lasts ten to twenty seconds and shouldn't be painful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-05-25T09:22:45.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6545" CreationDate="2012-05-25T13:09:15.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of squats and come out of the Gym with dead legs muscles. I use a supplement called &quot;Glutamine&quot;. It's 100% safe and naturally occurring in the body but in limited amounts. I just take a capsule before and after workouts and I noticed a faster recovery rate (felt like i took rest for 2 days). I would suggest few minutes of stretching (Important)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try taking some for a week or two and if that doesn't help seek medical help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-25T13:09:15.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5977" CreationDate="2012-05-25T14:53:48.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Website&lt;/a&gt; lately and I think this is great for Beginners. It's easy to control your Calorie intake. You have to spend more Calories per Day than you take in. Don't just believe in the fact, that just working or doing the work you do everyday is enough to loose weight. I would recommend swimming, because you use a lot of muscles in your body. That means you get in shape, while burning Calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastActivityDate="2012-05-25T14:53:48.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5082" CreationDate="2012-05-25T15:10:38.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can tell you my own experience with kickboxing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started 4 Months ago. I can really feel my body changing and I feel really uncomfortable when I don't workout. Even if the weight loss/fat burning - process on my Body isn't going as fast as I want to, I know that it's the right way to start. The person who started kickboxing with me was a chubby person but in this 4 Months he lost weight incredibly fast. (He didn't wanted to weigh himself so I can't say you any numbers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kickbox training extends very different kind of exercises: Strength- Endurance and Technical Training. It's a very nice mix of everything you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And like Berin said: in a session of 1,5 hours of training you lose over 1000 calories. To compare: if you want to lose 1000 Calories with jogging you have to run like 2 hours (additionally you'll have aching muscles on the next few days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2017-06-28T18:17:11.183" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T18:17:11.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6587" CreationDate="2012-05-25T15:37:55.417" Score="6" ViewCount="1871" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to start working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since a teenager I've been slightly overweight (10-15lbs, nothing crazy) but quite active usually doing Wrestling, Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, multiple times a week and always biking to work. For a few years I also did caloric restriction which got me trim and generally feeling awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last few years career, personal life, and other hobbies have overwhelmed me and I've dropped all my good habits and am now overweight by a good 25lbs. Now I'm about to turn 30 and I want health to be my next project. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard lots of good things about the p90x system. Because of my background I'm not afraid of sweating and soreness and of course it would be nice to see quick results. I also know that a structureless workout would not work for me, every time I go to the gym I just drift between machines aimlessly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I AM however concerned that launching into p90x might not be a good move as I'm &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in shape and having to take a break every 10 minutes would be stupid, discouraging, and counter-productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a system you would recommend for people like me who are not afraid of exertion but might not be in the physical shape where something like p90x is optimum? I'm not afraid of expending effort or even a little money, my biggest limitation is time-per-week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other recommendations are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3555" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T06:21:12.417" Title="Need to get back into shape. Is there a slightly lighter p90x type-thing?" Tags="&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2012-05-25T15:48:05.217" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train VERY extensively, I went from 270 to my current 165 and 6% body fat&#xA;I am also a bit of a pot head, but an informed one. I have spent the last 10 years doing extensive research on the subject. Now of course smoke on the lungs is never good, but the anti inflammatory properties of marijuana reduces it impact on the lunges and marijuana has been shown to have anti-carcinogenic  effects, ti the point of noticeably shrinking tumors. furthermore it has been shown to improve long term brain function ( tho it does impare short term Cognitive abilities , duh, ) and has also been shown to help with alztimers .    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do smoke a small amount pre work before my protiens shake on my Olympic lift and power lift days, it seems to add another level of focus for me personally, then take a hot shower and smoke again with my post workout supps. I seem to be less sore and have a much easier time stomaching my supplements.  On crossfit and arobics I only smoke after because of a noticeable diferance in energy level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have smoked and workout long term ( and have gone long periods of working and not smoking) my vo2 max is excellent, I have good overal muscle size and tone, and watch my diet. With the exception of the munchies, I feel that marijuana has help my over all workout &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3556" LastEditorUserId="3556" LastEditDate="2012-05-25T16:01:14.703" LastActivityDate="2012-05-25T16:01:14.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6553" CreationDate="2012-05-25T16:31:56.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get your diet inline, cut out the crap, and start with walking and body weight exercises (air squats, pushups, etc.) Make sure you are doing full range of motion movements and getting some stretching time in too. Just get your body use to moving then start the program. If you need to stop during the routine, do so, no need to kill yourself during a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-05-25T16:31:56.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6567" CreationDate="2012-05-25T21:02:33.647" Score="7" ViewCount="1310" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought some push-up bars to give my wrists a break and was interested to see that the leaflet in it was keen to advise me that &quot;it is very important to breathe normally whilst exercising - do not hold your breath&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Apart from the obvious&lt;/strong&gt;, why is this good advice?  Does it affect the gain in muscle you get or is it just so you don't pass out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T18:35:23.430" Title="Why is it important to breathe whilst exercising?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6556" CreationDate="2012-05-25T23:33:14.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;By breathing properly you ensure good oxygen intake which means that your muscles can do more work since they aren't exhausted due to lack of oxygen. In short, you aren't going to fall short on oxygen and thus can excercise more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3546" LastActivityDate="2012-05-25T23:33:14.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-26T01:27:07.830" Score="9" ViewCount="15523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to get back in shape and started running.  After a few runs (treadmill at the gym) both my knees are really hurting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this due to a lack of stretching?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this overcompensating for weakness in other muscles ? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would i be doing that would make my knees hurt.  I have run in the past and never had this specific pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is there any recommendation to heal from this.  I have stopped running for 3 days and my knees still hurt even when walking or going up stairs, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is weakness in other leg muscles I would appreciate any exercise suggestions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="751" LastEditDate="2012-05-26T11:43:53.373" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T15:09:18.043" Title="Why are my knees hurting after a treadmill run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2012-05-26T01:59:26.807" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will do my best to address this question in a practical manner.  Namely, I think the best way to burn fat and spare muscle while training is to construct a hypocaloric diet and workout plan with muscle preservation in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steps I would take:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ensure diet is hypocaloric so that you actually lose weight over time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Continue weight training while dieting.  Based on the use it or lose it principle, frequent weight training will help spare existing muscle tissue since it is needed to do work. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consume adequate protein. Many bodybuilding references will suggest &gt;= 1 gram protein/lb lean body mass. Others will suggest more or less but you get the point. Nice to make sure that if proteins are needed, they are available via diet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A moderate caloric deficit will give you a better chance at sparing muscle tissue than a drastic deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a general note, if you are well above your bodyfat setpoint, expect to have better success burning more fat than muscle while training.  As you move to lower and lower bodyfat levels, expect to experience more trouble maintaining muscle mass on a diet. A takehome message from this point might be to bulk and cut around your bodyfat setpoint to help avoid muscle loss.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a good workout routine, adequate protein intake and hypocaloric diet, I would simply measure results over time.  Adjust if you find you are losing muscle tissue instead of fat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may seem as though I didn't address question directly.  However, based on my experience, for a given training day, the factors above largely determine whether I will experience muscle loss or fat loss.  I am not sure I see a good reason to complicate a simple process any further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3562" LastEditorUserId="6463" LastEditDate="2013-09-06T14:05:44.553" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T14:05:44.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6588" CreationDate="2012-05-26T06:02:00.350" Score="5" ViewCount="3737" Body="&lt;p&gt;I m 25 years old and have been going to the gym for the past 3 years. Recently, I took 10 days off due to illness and noticed that I lost muscle. This happens whenever I take a break from the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did this happen? How can I avoid this muscle loss during breaks in training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-29T06:26:41.473" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T01:52:06.483" Title="How to maintain muscle during breaks from training?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6560" CreationDate="2012-05-26T06:27:19.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is common to lost your body shape if you stop training for like one week. So if u can try to do some simple exercise on each muscle group to keep ur muscle warm up unless u are sick or injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to Taiwan for a week and to keep my body shape i am doing push up, using my luggage as weight to do squad and deadlift. It isnt as heavy as the weight i carry for my gym training but it is enough to at least keep my muscle warm up at all time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T06:27:19.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6558" CreationDate="2012-05-26T11:45:01.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exactly what i felt like 2 years ago. When i used to do cardio workouts, noticed that my knees do hurt after just 10-15 mins of running. So, i started taking some calcium supplements with drinking protein shake with milk and also included some light-heavy leg workouts like squats. I never felt a pain on my knees after just a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our knees are week to handle the pressure. All we need to do is to strength it. You'll be fine unless you have had some kind of knee surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T11:45:01.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6556" CreationDate="2012-05-26T11:49:43.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to hold my breathe while i was doing my few last reps on a pull-up bar//squat machine. I noticed that i felt a lot weaker to do the remaning exercises. I started developing a good breathe pattern - it improved my stamina overall. This goes with what the person said about &quot;getting oxygen to your muscles&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T11:49:43.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6542" CreationDate="2012-05-26T11:58:07.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Antioxidants basically neutralize free radicals in your body by providing them with the electron they are missing (remember chemistry class). Free radicals are dangerous to have in your body because they are missing an electron. They float around your body looking to steal an electron from something. If it steals it from a healthy cell, there is a chance that the cell will mutate (that can cause a number of bad things, including cancer). Antioxidants have an extra electron. When an antioxidant meets a free radical, it gladly gives its extra electron thereby rendering it harmless. I don’t know if it will boost your metabolism or not, but getting plenty of antioxidants is critical for long term helth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T11:58:07.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5417" CreationDate="2012-05-26T12:04:45.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was a super skinny guy and let me tell you. 75% of your muscle comes from your diet. Carbs and Protein should give you enough muscle to confident in just a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs = 3g-4g * your-body-weight.&#xA;Protein - 2g-3g * your-body-weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Atleast 3 days of rest and start by doing the big 3's - squats, deadlifts and barbell row/push.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-27T11:56:55.857" LastActivityDate="2012-05-27T11:56:55.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6558" CreationDate="2012-05-26T17:43:38.987" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;When your knees hurt after running, it's usually an indication that your thigh/hip muscles are not strong enough, and your knees are bearing the brunt. You have to systematically strengthen your various leg muscles. Here's what has helped me (non-exhaustive list but covers the major categories)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyresults.com/e2gluteusMedius.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;For the glutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onemillionruns.blogspot.com/2006/10/walt-reynolds-itb-special.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Walt Reynold's ITB special&lt;/a&gt; (really important - do it before it hits)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/achilles-tendonitis-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;For the Achilles tendon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/content/content.jsp?contentId=300140&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;For quads, hamstrings, shins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/strengtheningexercises/p/Toeraises.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;For calves&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted legs raises (side and straight up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toe raises and dips (standing on steps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And specifically for knees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-285--13106-0,00.html?cm_mmc=training-_-2009_04_21-_-training-_-INJURY%20PREVENTION:%20What%20Knees%20Need&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some Yoga poses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1494" LastEditorUserId="1494" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T06:54:37.763" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T06:54:37.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6556" CreationDate="2012-05-26T18:35:23.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to breath while exercising so that you don't pass out. However, the blanket advice to breath normally and to never hold your breath does not universally apply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6339/3085&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6339/3085&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6356/3085&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6356/3085&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your goals, using a technique like the valsalva maneuver may be necessary in order to make safe, optimal progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of push-ups, where you're only moving your body weight, the valsalva maneuver is likely not needed, so the advice that the manufacturer gives against holding breath just ensures that a novice exerciser won't accidentally pass out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-05-26T18:35:23.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6046" CreationDate="2012-05-27T08:14:14.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 3 main things you have to concentrate on when trying to get ripped. The most important thing are diet, cardio, and weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not prepared to change your diet then don't try to become ripped. Less carbs and more protein and taking less than 2500 calories a day for men. For women, 1800 calories will lead you on the right track to getting the body you always wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio is just as important as diet! You might already have a six pack but your fat will be covering it. Cardio reveals your lean body. You want to try to get about 40 minutes of cardio in a day. Skipping is my most highly rated cardio activity and is one of the fastest fat burning exercises. 10 minutes of high intensity skipping is the same as 30 minutes of jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training is also important because your muscles will get bigger than more you train. They will also show more after doing lost of cardio so hiting the gym will make sure you gain and not lose muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3566" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-27T12:05:55.690" LastActivityDate="2012-05-27T12:05:55.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6046" CreationDate="2012-05-27T14:11:24.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get real ripped improve your diet. More protein and cut all the bad stuff (you know what they are..). 75% of your muscles come from the kitchen :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talking from experience. Have Fun!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-27T14:11:24.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2012-05-27T14:14:54.590" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most simple answer: Never make your stomach ask you to feed it(don't make it growl). Feed it with small meals (6-7 meals every 2-3 hours). You'll stay lean and pack muscles with a decent workout plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-27T14:14:54.590" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6572" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-27T19:20:47.953" Score="1" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;What constitutes a low carb diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to limit daily intake of of carbohydrates in my diet to under 100g. Would limiting it even lower improve results in terms of weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, how many grams of carbohydrates does a normal male and female take as recommended by USDA guidelines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-28T12:48:03.287" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T14:14:50.973" Title="What constitutes a low carb diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-02-04T14:12:56.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-27T22:46:50.190" Score="2" ViewCount="6767" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was researching the ketogenic diet and as I understand it, it's basically the same as Atkins except that it allows for a high fat intake. Also, under a ketogenic diet you have days where you 'carb up' to replenish your system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it bad to be on a ketogenic diet when you're not going to the gym? Does the high fat intake of this diet have a bad effect if you're not working your muscles? Is it better to be on an Atkins diet if you have a sedentary lifestyle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3072" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-28T12:58:00.357" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T06:39:02.777" Title="Can one be on a ketogenic diet and not go to the gym?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;atkins&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-28T03:25:27.400" Score="4" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running in Vibrams now for quite a while (up to 8 miles at a time, at a 8:20 pace). It is almost completely painless when I don't run on roads. However, when I do, my feet hurt as though I have been standing all day or walking all day. Will this go away? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3569" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-06-16T19:46:05.610" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T08:04:32.623" Title="Will the pain from running in Vibrams on roads go away?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-28T05:36:20.267" Score="4" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm standing I can have my hands flat on the floor and not feel much of a stretch in my hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I've been lying on my back, and with one leg straight out in front, pull the other leg over my head. This works but I'm curious if there are other techniques?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Amy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3571" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T02:36:18.897" Title="I'm rather flexible, how should I stretch my hamstrings?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6580" CreationDate="2012-05-28T06:47:56.027" Score="5" ViewCount="4051" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been learning to do muscle up for past few week and still could not do one. &#xA;For the past few weeks I have been using my legs to try and kick myself up, but still could not do a muscle up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that my false grip is weak and could not do a proper pull-up using false grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I continue to train using my leg or should I train on my false grip first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I strengthen my false grip? Will hanging on the pull up bar using false grip help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-28T12:49:49.150" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T18:09:24.420" Title="How do I strengthen my false grip to do a muscle-up?" Tags="&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6545" CreationDate="2012-05-28T11:32:33.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you sure that your running shoes fit well? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started running a couple years ago, I would get very strong pain after 5-10 minutes running, in particular on the front side of my legs. So I went to a running shoe store where they took a slow-motion video of my running on a thread mill. The conclusion was that I needed a shoe with more support on the inner side of the sole. Moreover I realized that I have a fairly wide foot. Previously I have been buying shoes based on the length measurement. I was surprised that some manufacturers have multiple shoe widths available. Changing the shoes helped and I have since ran many thousands kilometers without pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3573" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T11:32:33.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6577" CreationDate="2012-05-28T13:57:54.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After month of training in gym and week of sweat at the pull up bar i manage to do my first muscle up.&#xA;before i do my muscle up i went to the gym to warm up my shoulder and do some false grip pull up using the pull up bar there with some support from machine for around 30min. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once i finish my warm up i went to the pull up bar and try stretching and hanging there using false grip for a min. Before i try pulling myself up to do a muscle up. first attempt i failed. Remembering what a cross fit instructor told me that my elbow is too wide. So i tried again forcing my elbow close to me and i went smoothly i done a muscle up without difficulty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i feel muscle up is more about the tactic of doing it rather then how strong we are how many pull up we can do. The tactic of kicking and the false grip is the key to doing a muscle up for beginner so is better to do both at a time. I dont a muscle up although my false grip is still weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;still need help in some tip for strengthening my false grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T13:57:54.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6572" CreationDate="2012-05-28T14:27:22.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on which low-carb diet you ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Practices_and_theories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Practices_and_theories&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normal guidelines aim for 45-65% of calories from carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/364372-what-is-the-usda-total-intake-for-carbohydrates-per-day/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/364372-what-is-the-usda-total-intake-for-carbohydrates-per-day/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think you should just measure and see what works specifically for you--by definition, diet is really personal, and what works for any number of other people may not work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also leery of weight loss being a specific, absolute goal, but that's a separate issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T14:27:22.040" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6509" CreationDate="2012-05-28T19:08:41.990" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sprinting.&lt;/strong&gt; Even better: sprinting &lt;em&gt;uphill&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do this on a treadmill or outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On my treadmill, I'll set it to the highest grade (15%) and the highest speed (10 mph). At these settings, I can barely do more than a couple 30 sec intervals. You will definitely reach 90% of your max in under 1 min. In fact, I don't even know anyone who can go for a full minute at these settings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it takes a few times to learn how to appropriately mount and dismount the already moving treadmill, so practice/learn at slower speeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1992" LastEditorUserId="1992" LastEditDate="2012-05-29T04:23:56.487" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T04:23:56.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6509" CreationDate="2012-05-28T20:26:01.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find one of the best ways to get my heart rate up quickly is running up and down the stairs as fast as possible. It's a cardio work out that doesn't require a gym or expensive equipment - stairs are everywhere!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3577" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T20:26:01.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-28T21:18:48.267" Score="1" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was curious as to what the difference was regarding the diet and workout regimes of underwear models compared to say marathon runners and fitness enthusiasts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surely they both monitor nutrition to maximise fat loss etc, but what part of their diet and regime causes the difference in body shape? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which would be best to obtain an 'underwear'-type body as opposed to an athletic runner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3578" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:39:50.877" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T16:39:50.877" Title="What is the difference between the diet and workout regimes of lingerie/underwear models and fitness enthusiasts/marathon runners?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6584" CreationDate="2012-05-28T21:24:25.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't run so much; massive mileage tends to reduce muscle mass. Sprinters, OTOH, tend towards highly-developed musculature, also not a typical &quot;model look&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marathon runners (of the professional variety) tend to carry far less bodyfat than a typical model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also makes a &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt; difference what &quot;model look&quot; you're after; a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of models are &quot;skinny fat&quot; and not remotely fit. But in general, the diet/exercise regime of models is less intense than that of an athlete, because they're not athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-05-28T21:24:25.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4473" CreationDate="2012-05-29T05:47:43.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have the symptoms and risk factors for Peripheral artery disease (PAD). You should get checked out by a doctor, as this is a disease that can get worse over time. You can get &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/peripheral-arterial-disease/DS00537&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more information about PAD from Mayoclinic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and keep up the walking!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3579" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-21T23:54:26.993" LastActivityDate="2012-10-21T23:54:26.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6553" CreationDate="2012-05-29T06:21:12.417" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a general barbell strength training program such as Mark Rippetoe's &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt; (an alternative is &lt;em&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/em&gt;, but its workouts are slightly longer, and you've expressed a desire for short workouts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt; is built around 5 basic barbell lifts: the squat, bench press, overhead press, deadlift, and power clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend it for three reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is a very simple program, with clear structure. Your time is important, and a program like Starting Strength is probably the most efficient use of your time in the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will see strength gains between every workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full body strength training using barbells is one of the best ways to change your body composition, lower your body fat, and add muscle that matters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time you go to the gym, you will know exactly what exercises you will be doing, how much weight to put on the barbell, and how many reps you'll be doing. No more aimless drifting. No more wasted time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the resources that will help you start this program. I really encourage you to take the time to understand the program before jumping into it. You can't just take bits and pieces from it and expect results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The website: &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com&lt;/a&gt; (Forums, articles, videos)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The wiki: &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The book: &lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=413&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot;&gt;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=413&amp;amp;action=show_detail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T06:21:12.417" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6560" CreationDate="2012-05-29T06:32:29.003" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to avoid muscle loss if you take signficant breaks from training. This is called &lt;em&gt;deconditioning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Illness will cause more loss than a simple break from training though, because your body may start to break down your muscle for energy. To avoid this, you need to try really hard to feed yourself well while you are sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaks are sometimes unavoidable, but in the long-run you should be still getting stronger, so don't worry too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some ideas for how to avoid deconditioning during breaks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if the break is due to injury, try crosstraining with a different activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;focus on nutrition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-29T15:27:27.570" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T15:27:27.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6604" CreationDate="2012-05-29T10:23:51.710" Score="10" ViewCount="33999" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a lot lately that if I want to build a lot of strength and start thinking seriously about putting on some size that I should use squats as a core workout. I'm only 65kg (143 pounds) and have never really done any weight training. I do however use my boxing bag every night for about half an hour and do a handful of exercises using my own body weight such as pushups / handstands / plenty of core work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've given squats a go but I am having two problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance - this is probably due to point two, but maybe worth its own mention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It seems as though my ankles don't bend forward enough to squat down as far as I need to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help with the balance issue I have been using dumbbells in each hand (I find this significantly easier than a barbell on my shoulders). As for the latter issue though, I'm not sure if this is quite common and I should try stretching my ankles a few times a day until they bend forward further or if I'm doing something completely wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did anyone else have this problem when starting out? How should I take care of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T22:52:08.527" Title="Is it normal when starting squats to not have flexible enough ankles?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6599" CreationDate="2012-05-29T11:01:04.810" Score="3" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to take cod liver oil or something similar to boost my vitamin D levels (which are low). I want something totally natural. Is there any way to take cod liver oil without feeling the reported awful taste of it ? If not, what other alternatives are there ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T17:32:00.200" Title="What is the most natural form of Vitamin D supplementation?" Tags="&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-10-30T20:39:46.243" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6590" CreationDate="2012-05-29T11:34:05.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/10-foods-containing-vitamin-d/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/10-foods-containing-vitamin-d/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T11:34:05.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2012-05-29T11:38:08.403" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, start with lighter weights and go as deep (a little bit below your knee level). Improve that form and start with heavier weights. You going to be ripped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T11:38:08.403" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6560" CreationDate="2012-05-29T11:40:33.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're maintaining your muscle while resting after workouts. The resting period is when you're growing your muscle. NEVER overdo anything - i used to do it like that and wasn't worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you rest - take in protein rich foods or maybe some natural supplements and vitamins for speedy muscle growth and recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T11:40:33.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-29T13:14:29.623" Score="13" ViewCount="77658" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard a lot about benefits of HIIT; however, nobody seems to address when is the best time for such activities. I got this question when watching &quot;The secret life of your body clock&quot; (BBC Horizon 2009). I intend to do HIIT in the early morning to kick start my metabolism and also to have a boost of endorphins for my day. However, the BBC documentary suggests that the best time for exercise in general is afternoon and it might not be safe to exercise heavily in the morning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know of any scientific study addressing this issue? If not, what is your personal opinion (i.e. would you do HIIT in the morning)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3581" LastActivityDate="2018-03-21T06:11:06.670" Title="What is the best time of the day for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6573" CreationDate="2012-05-29T13:58:55.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Cyclic Ketogenic Diet involves carb loading (usually measured precisely so you do not carb overload) in order to allow you to perform in the gym. This is an intrinsic part of the diet, and if you don't carb up and go to the gym, you won't be doing CKD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's certainly possible (whether it is recommended is another thing) to be on a diet that induces ketosis, which can be any low carb diet. If you don't eat much (lets say in the order of 50g a day) carbs, then after 3 or 4 days you'll probably be in ketosis. (There are other things to avoid, such as citric acid, but let's not go into details here.) Going to the gym can speed that along, but eventually you'll be in ketosis and even, once you're over the hump, it won't be all that bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the reality check: You will find it hard to lose weight and keep it off without a lifestyle change that involves finding an exercise you enjoy. And if you do, it probably wont be healthy. Sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3582" LastEditorUserId="3582" LastEditDate="2012-05-31T13:40:29.507" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T13:40:29.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-29T14:59:13.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Changing your eating habits is the most important&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following may seem like common sense to some people, but I thought it should be said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat one bowl (under 2 cups) of yogurt mixed with granola for breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you eat fast-food (it happens) don't order a combo-just the sandwitch/burger (and only one of them per meal). Try to eat at subway; be sure to load up on the vegetables and get wheat bread. A foot long with vegetables is better for you than a 6 inch combo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't eat or buy candy, ice-cream, chips, or French fries... ever! The same goes for fruit juices and soft drinks. 2 cups of milk per week is fine but drink water almost exclusively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least 3-4 times per week buy frozen vegetables (cheap!), boil them, and find a spice/salt mix that tastes good without butter or oil on them. Don't eat vegetables exclusively but make them replace things like French fries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are dying for a snack occasionally eat a handful (and only a handful) of nuts such as peanuts, cashews, almonds, or macadamia nuts. They are high in fat content, but they can prevent larger snacking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat lots of watermelon! It is packed with fiber and water, which bloats the stomach and makes you feel full. Also it tastes delicious when refrigerated. Skinny people occasionally win food-eating contests if they have stretched their stomaches with watermelon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recognize that it is OK to feel hungry-especially at bed time. I time it so that I eat 4-5 hours before I go to bed, which is important since if the time is any longer I get hungry and want to eat right before bed (bad!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is important but I think others have covered that topic well enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If dieting and exercise fails, consider gastric bypass surgery- my aunt got it and she lost weight so fast!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1064" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T14:59:13.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6573" CreationDate="2012-05-29T15:52:09.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Atkins &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a ketogenic diet. I've never heard of anyone taking days to &quot;carb up&quot; on a ketogenic diet, but I haven't heard of everything, and the Cyclic Ketogenic Diet apparently takes this approach. A very high intake of carbs will stop the ketosis and switch you back to carb-fueled energy, and it typically takes 3 days to switch back to ketosis. The amount of carbs generally needed to make the switch as I understand it is somewhere more than 9g of carbs in less than an hour, depending on the person and how their body processes the sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Atkins dieters usually go heavy on the protein, and there's ample research that shows that excess protein is extremely bad for you. Your body will leach calcium from your bones in order to flush the excess from your body. Your body can handle more protein without losing calcium if you are working out fairly heavy, but still not enough to cover as much as many of the people I've seen on Atkins take in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat, on the other hand, is turned into ketones for energy, and is then either burned or flushed from your body in sweat, saliva, urine, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, the higher protein intake is much worse for you than the higher fat intake if you are &lt;em&gt;NOT&lt;/em&gt; working out. Whether or not extended periods of ketosis are bad for you in general is still a matter of debate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referring to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6595/21&quot;&gt;AlexC's answer&lt;/a&gt;, losing weight and keeping it off requires a lot more than just going on a diet for a while. It requires a dedication to a lifestyle change, including exercise and long-term healthier eating habits and goals. It's well worth it, though, your moods will be better, you'll sleep better, feel better, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T15:52:09.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2012-05-29T16:25:45.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Nathan. Form is very important with squats when you're starting out, or you'll never make it to higher weights. However, if your ankle flexbility is low, it could be better to work on this directly. Your calves and shins should be worked on, and you need to get better with plyometric/ballistic movement. Being able to vertically jump high is rather dependent on ankle flexibility because that allows you to get lower (i.e. like in a squat) but in the right position to jump. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can go from standing to a crouch (hands out in front of you), without falling backwards, and without your heels ever coming off the ground, then you have gain good ankle flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3455" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T16:25:45.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6590" CreationDate="2012-05-29T17:32:00.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your best 'natural' options will probably be...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/31/health/he-eat31&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UV exposed mushrooms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...after one hour of UV light exposure right before the mushrooms were harvested, the vitamin D2 content in a serving of mushrooms rose to more than twice the FDA daily value. The effects were even more pronounced if mushrooms were exposed after harvesting: Monterey Mushrooms found increases as high as four times the FDA daily value per serving after only five minutes of UV treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exposure to sunlight with no sunscreen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sunscreen absorbs ultraviolet light and prevents it from reaching the skin. It has been reported that sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 8 based on the UVB spectrum can decrease vitamin D synthetic capacity by 95 percent, whereas sunscreen with an SPF of 15 can reduce synthetic capacity by 98 percent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more surface area that's exposed the more vitamin D is produced. The darker your skin the less you absorb. Tanning beds will also work but not nearly as well as real sunlight because they primarily output UVA light (UVB is needed for vitamin D synthesis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vitamin D3 is made in the skin when 7-dehydrocholesterol reacts with ultraviolet light of UVB type at wavelengths between 270 and 300 nm, with peak synthesis occurring between 295 and 297 nm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cod liver oil, while having a lot of vitamin D may also come with other risks. Including...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hypervitaminosis A - Overdose of vitamin A&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although hypervitaminosis A can occur when large amounts of liver (including cod liver oil and other fish oils) are regularly consumed, most cases of vitamin A toxicity result from an excess intake of vitamin A in the form of vitamin supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_liver_oil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Environmental toxins such as mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some urge caution when taking cod liver oil and other fish-based supplements since they may contain elevated levels of toxins such as mercury and PCBs found in fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you overdo it, you could be doing more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T17:32:00.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2012-05-29T19:46:58.847" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your problem seems to be directly related to tight ankles, your &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Muscles/Soleus.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;soleus muscle&lt;/a&gt; is probably tight.  The heel cord is made up of the gastroc and soleus muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stretch correctly, you need to stretch your calf muscles with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;knee straight&lt;/a&gt; (to elongate the gastrocs) and with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Soleus/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;knee bent&lt;/a&gt; (to elongate the soleus).  You'll feel the gastroc stretch higher in your calf and the soleus closer to the ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you stretch both the gastroc and the soleus, make sure that your heel is in line with your foot. For an effective stretch, avoid letting your heel roll in or your arch collapse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As previous stretching questions have addressed, passive stretching is not recommended prior to your workout as this can result in injuries.  Before working out an active (dynamic) stretch or warm-up is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other tight areas that can restrict your form and affect a balanced squat are your hip flexors and gluteals.  This q/a, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5196/what-are-some-good-stretches-to-help-with-squatting/5218#5218&quot;&gt;What are some good stretches to help with squatting?&lt;/a&gt;,&#xA;gives you some good info to address these areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T19:46:58.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5030" CreationDate="2012-05-29T20:34:46.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004M7H7O4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Timex Ironman Race Trainer Pro &lt;/a&gt;&#xA;lets you sync with your computer and is compatable with either a PC or a Mac.  I don't know if it meets your needs otherwise.  It does have a strap and I don't know if you can recharge it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-05-29T20:34:46.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6602" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-29T22:43:27.193" Score="5" ViewCount="951" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a benefit to eating excess calories while strength training? Programs like Starting Strength suggest that a novice should be eating many calories in excess of what is needed, and that in the first few months, one may actually gain some additional body fat (if one is starting slim).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the benefit to this only to avoid trying to fine-tune the calorie intake to be right on the line of what is needed for muscle growth? To make sure you're on the excess side of the calorie balance so that strength gains are not affected?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is there an additional benefit to over-fueling yourself during this initial phase of strength training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T00:21:37.990" Title="What is the benefit of eating excess calories when strength training?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6602" CreationDate="2012-05-30T00:21:37.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Eat like a horse if you're focusing on strength gains&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, &lt;strong&gt;how do you know how much is enough&lt;/strong&gt;? If you eat everything in sight, you know you're doing what you can to give your body enough fuel. If you lift heavy and eat light, you might be leaving strength gains on the table. Fine-tuning caloric intake is hard, and inevitably involves missing out on strength increases that your lifting already earned you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, having a significant surfeit of calories--enough to gain fat as well as muscle--may cause muscle growth at a higher rate than if one tries to put on all or mostly muscle. The way I understood this was that having &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than enough gives the body &lt;em&gt;carte blanche&lt;/em&gt; to really grow. (I believe this is in one of Rip's articles or forum posts, but can't find the reference.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pure strength gain versus other goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are good reasons not to do an all-out mass-and-strength gain program. Maybe you're in a weight class sport, or care more about body composition than strength gain, or you want to maintain conditioning while progressing more slowly with strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T00:21:37.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2012-05-30T00:52:45.203" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I started squatting, I had trouble with balance, hip mobility, and ankle mobility. The mobility issues plus lack of proprioception in my back caused balance issues. Squatting more helped. I did &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;third world squats&lt;/a&gt; throughout the day and kept squatting every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend warming the ankles up with lots of joint rotations (e.g. 20 in both directions) and more squatting. The squatting ankle stretch is very productive. It is performed here by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/media/photo/photo.php?photoID=1926&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catalyst Athletics&lt;/a&gt; with bodyweight, but can be assisted with a dumbbell, barbell, or other weight on the top of the thighs or knees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s2giL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;squatting ankle stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also found that warming up with walking, running, or incline walking helps. So does avoiding wearing heeled shoes in one's normal daily activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T18:47:35.803" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T18:47:35.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2012-05-30T01:53:05.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears you are flexible enough and your hamstrings don't need additional stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would focus on strengthening your hamstrings instead of stretching. Add deadlifts or other hamstring exercises you prefer to your fitness routine at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too much flexibility can be a cause of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3585" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T01:53:05.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2012-05-30T02:18:31.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you round your back when bending over and touching the ground, you're taking the hamstrings out of the equation. Try keeping a flat back and hinging forward at the waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T02:18:31.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-05-30T12:12:51.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, it is great that you have decided to do someting for your health and are asking for advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll just go through in a couple more ideas about diet, which is definitly where to start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;Diet&quot; is something you have, not something you go on. At present your diet is unhealthy and you need to transition to something healthy, don't think of a diet as a temporary thing otherwise you will end up yoyoing and will probably end up back where you are now. Progressively change to a healthy diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Motivation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping yourself motivated can be hard work. Set goals, but don't consider them as pass / fail. If you don't make a goal, how much of it did you make 10%? 50%? 90%? Then ask what it was that worked against you making the 100% and see if you can change something to remove the obstacle. Or are your goals over ambitious, it can be helpful to get advice on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember to reward yourself, if you have &quot;been good&quot; say you made your goal then give yourself a treat. Ideally I'd say non-food treats are best, but if you have saved say 3000 calories in a week, spend a couple of hundred on a favourite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be kind to yourself, you're worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T12:12:51.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6614" CreationDate="2012-05-30T12:50:08.373" Score="4" ViewCount="1536" Body="&lt;p&gt;When squatting, my back is too horizontal (forward).  The bar goes forward of my toes.  What should I do to correct this?  Is it due to not keeping my lumbar tight enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: I haven't checked this, but it feels that when the bar is &lt;em&gt;heavier&lt;/em&gt; this is &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; of a problem - as if the bar is pushing itself down where it needs to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I handle this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T16:06:54.513" Title="My back goes horizontal (forward) when squatting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-30T12:52:06.060" Score="3" ViewCount="667" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should I look for in a coach? How do I find a good one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is an occasional check up to help me with my form - price prevents regular sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering finding one of the Starting Strength coaches - the ones certified by the authors of Starting Strength. What's been your experience with them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have they helped you significantly?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Besides knowing the material, are they able to &lt;em&gt;coach&lt;/em&gt;? That is, teach and advise so you can do it too?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where do they do it? If you're not a member of their gym, can they do it in their own facility?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, has it been a worthwhile investment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3439" LastEditDate="2012-05-30T21:43:44.003" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T16:32:47.190" Title="What should I look for in a Starting Strength coach?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;coaching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6619" CreationDate="2012-05-30T12:56:20.173" Score="4" ViewCount="3008" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm getting into strength training, following the Starting Strength program, and they advise strongly to buy some weightlifting shoes.  (Currently, I'm using some tough hiking sneakers, and don't feel any problems.)  What's a good shoe for a beginner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My needs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to stay on a budget (ideally &amp;lt; $50, but, if impossible, I might pay more)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good protection, stability, and traction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm not (yet?) lifting very heavy weights (still under body weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do a warm up of treadmill, eliptical, and jumping jacks - I need to be able to do that in the same shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would be great if the shoes could be used for jogging too, but, if that's not possible, I'll forgo it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Am I better off waiting a month or two and buying a $100+ shoe, or buying a cheaper one now and sticking with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: Can I do my warm up in a standard weight lifting (not cross fit) shoe? It's only 5-10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3439" LastEditDate="2012-05-30T22:46:05.027" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T09:24:59.037" Title="Weighlifting shoes for a beginner" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6610" CreationDate="2012-05-30T13:43:40.720" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may not be lifting heavy weights just yet, but by the time you exhaust the gains from Starting Strength, you will be.  The biggest thing you have to realize about dedicated lifting shoes is that what makes a good lifting shoe is terrible for the other things you want to do.  They have opposing goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting Shoe Requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stiff, solid heel with no compression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only needs enough traction for a lifting platform (wood)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The challenge you have is the budget you've set.  The options you have available to you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.converse.com/products/collections/ChuckTaylor&quot;&gt;Chuck Taylor All Stars&lt;/a&gt;, low tops&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bare feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Old karate shoes if you have them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bare feet are probable the best option, but gyms have insurance regulations that won't let you do that in their establishments.  Karate shoes are small, flexible soles, with a minimum of cushion.  New karate shoes are going to be outside your budget (over $100 a pair).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are willing to expand your budget to what a pair of real sporting shoes would cost, you might look at the recent edition of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/crossfit-shoes.php&quot;&gt;CrossFit shoes&lt;/a&gt;.  They seem to have a good balance between the flexibility needed for your other activities while providing a solid base for lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long term, you will just have to have separate shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T13:43:40.720" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6608" CreationDate="2012-05-30T15:23:45.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some things to check:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your gaze is directed towards a point on the floor about 5-10 feet in front of you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your chest is up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your weight is on your heels for the entire descent and ascent (toes don't need to come off the ground, but they should be feel really light compared to your heels).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cues to think about during the lift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knees out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toes light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-05-30T16:06:54.513" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T16:06:54.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6608" CreationDate="2012-05-30T15:55:14.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Mobility &amp;amp; Chest UP!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a form check video--which is really the gold standard, putting this text-based feedback to shame--this sounds like a mobility issue combined with not keeping your chest up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your back and hips (and ankles, from the sound of your other question) are not flexible enough to get into a deep squat position while maintaining a chest-up position. This is worst in the first few light sets because heavier loads on the bar push your hips deeper, helping you achieve closer to maximum mobility in the hip joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep squatting, deloading if necessary, and keep your mind blazingly focused on &lt;strong&gt;CHEST UP&lt;/strong&gt;. That means squeezing the shoulderblades together, puffing out your chest like you're on Muscle Beach, and taking (and keeping) a big breath held through the whole rep. If you can't keep these up during all your sets, deload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem persists, consider switching to high-bar back squats or front squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T15:55:14.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-30T16:59:48.630" Score="4" ViewCount="2241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm after a stopwatch for interval training (running).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What features should I look for when buying one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T18:13:10.747" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T18:13:10.747" Title="Tips on choosing a Stopwatch for interval training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-01-21T20:21:10.720" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6615" CreationDate="2012-05-30T17:53:19.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love my Timex Data Link USB, because it is a 200 lap stop watch.  I can lap and lap and lap as needed, review it save it, download it to my computer as an Excel spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accuracy is as fast as you can push the button.   Alas this watch is no longer manufactured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T17:53:19.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6615" CreationDate="2012-05-30T19:52:54.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although not a stopwatch, the  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0036USWUQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gymboss &lt;/a&gt; is a nice interval timer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T19:52:54.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6610" CreationDate="2012-05-30T22:09:55.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Weightlifting shoes&quot; are not Chucks - if you read more on the SS forums and even deeper into RipToes request for you to get lifting shoes you will quickly see that you need REAL oly shoes, not shoes designed for something else that you can wear to lift weights. There is a big difference. You should check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://wlshoes.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wlshoes.com&lt;/a&gt; for a database of all the shoes on the market but it sounds like the Wei Rui warrior will be your best bet if you are trying to stay around $50.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastActivityDate="2012-05-30T22:09:55.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6623" CreationDate="2012-05-31T02:15:42.653" Score="7" ViewCount="2553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it hard to load and unload plates when the bar is on the ground for deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the bar is on the rack, it's easy to put the 45 lbs on and off.  But, when the bar is on the ground, it's very hard to hold the bar up with one hand, hold the 45 lbs plate in the other, and bend down and around and put the plate on.  Bending to the bottom seems to ruin all my leverage and ability to use my back muscles to hold the plates.  (The bars in my gym are nicked enough that the plates don't just slide - you have to work them on.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm done, getting them off is even harder, esp. as I'm already exhausted.  Today I dropped the bar on my foot trying to do this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to get the plates on and off a bar on the ground for deadlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T13:26:43.603" Title="What's good technique to load plates when deadlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6642" CreationDate="2012-05-31T02:24:19.487" Score="6" ViewCount="2964" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did my first &quot;real&quot; deadlift today, and, it's a very different feeling.  Unlike a squat or a bench, where I clearly feel myself &lt;em&gt;pushing&lt;/em&gt; against something, when I deadlifted (135 lbs, about what I'm squatting), I just kind of stood up.  When I was done, I was sweating and exhausted, but I didn't feel the push-higher-higher I do when doing other lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing it right? What is a deadlift supposed to feel like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T16:53:39.083" Title="What's a deadlift supposed to feel like?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2012-05-31T05:09:39.163" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tip won't help for getting the first plate on, but for subsequent plates you can roll the bar-with-first-plate onto another plate (even a 5 or 10 will work) that's laying flat on the ground. This will give you just enough clearance to load on more plates without having to lift the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for that first plate, you might be able to just rest the plate on the ground and hold it in place while you slide the bar into it (as opposed to sliding the plate onto the bar). You'll still have to slide the other plate onto the bar, but leverage may help a bit since the other end of the bar is no longer resting on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T05:09:39.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6624" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-31T05:27:05.400" Score="4" ViewCount="1005" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a programmer and I sit by the computer almost all day long, some days literally all day, and I heard that sitting all day is one reason why someone's butt can get bigger is that true? and if yes, what is the science behind it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-05-31T12:23:20.073" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T15:58:59.170" Title="Is sitting all day in anyway related to butt size?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6631" CreationDate="2012-05-31T08:40:02.927" Score="2" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout 4 times a week, mainly power and weight exercises.&#xA;I have a thin athletic build, but can't get rid of 2-3 pounds of fat around the abdomen that hide the 6 pack.&#xA;What is the best exercise to get rid of that annoying fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3596" LastActivityDate="2012-06-01T21:28:31.507" Title="How to best burn 2-3 pounds of abdominal fat?" Tags="&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2021" CreationDate="2012-05-31T10:49:10.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Definitely&lt;/em&gt; add interval training. In addition to training strength, it trains leg turnover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer and slower isn't going to help; you already run long and slow (and much faster than me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hills also train strength and turnover, as do fartleks (plus they're fun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering how close you are, I doubt diet/alcohol is the limiting factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt; Oh, very old question; oops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T10:49:10.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6624" CreationDate="2012-05-31T10:52:09.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see how that could be true in a &quot;specifically increases butt size&quot; way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll cause issues in several &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; significant ways, including an increased likelihood of slower metabolism, weight gain, and a wad of other health issues, which have been discussed to death in the blogosphere of late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically butt-reshaping, in a statistically-meaningful way? Doubt it. If you're particularly concerned, try a different chair style (ball, kneeling, etc.) or better yet, start alternating with a stand-up or tread-desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-06-04T15:58:59.170" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T15:58:59.170" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6622" CreationDate="2012-05-31T11:00:19.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it's &quot;supposed&quot; to feel like anything in particular, but it may take some time to develop the mind/muscle connection if you're unused to specifically activating the deadlift muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also matters which style of deadlift you're doing, for example, there are differences between stiff-legged deadlifts (erectors, hips, butt, some thighs) and &quot;traditional&quot; deadlifts (same plus a bunch more, great overall exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also want to make sure your form is pretty dead-(lift)on, you're &quot;blocking&quot; appropriately, and so on. Having someone to work with when doing an exercise like the deadlift is pretty important since the risk of a back injury is greater than with a lot of other exercises--slipping a disk is unpleasant, I'm told.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That you're ending up feeling pretty worked leads me to believe you're doing &quot;traditional&quot; deadlifts. Since it's an-almost-entire-body exercise, you won't necessarily feel the &quot;I'm working this specific muscle&quot; feeling you get from more-targeted movements like the bench or squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T11:00:19.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6248" CreationDate="2012-05-31T11:08:45.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a VitaMix, so stuff is more than fine enough to allow nutrient absorption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy to see if they're being broken down--same way you can tell if you've been chewing your corn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cooked oats are more likely to be absorbed because they don't require as much processing (chewing, digestion) as raw oats. The size of the pieces also matters; more surface area equals easier digestion--one reason we have molars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't use a &quot;huge&quot; amount (I think I was using about 1/2c uncooked?) and I noticed it added a slight &quot;dusty&quot; flavor, but it was not particularly unpleasant; I actually kind of liked it but when I use it as part of a drink now I use about 1/4c, just for a boost of some middle-of-the-road carbs and fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T11:08:45.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6626" CreationDate="2012-05-31T11:13:35.653" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same way you burn any other fat; expend more calories than you consume and increase your muscle mass--there's no such thing as spot reduction. (I also tend to avoid carbs after dinner, but it's not clear to me that doing so makes any significant difference.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is the biggest factor--don't underestimate the amount of dietary discipline in that cover shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T11:13:35.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5977" CreationDate="2012-05-31T12:55:51.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-dunev/three-weeks-to-thinner-th_b_181045.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read it, I know it is a hard one, but it sounds like a good diet to help you loose fats quickly.&#xA;As for me I couldn't follow it 100%, but I benefited from some points, and I lost some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to add some excercises too, to help you loose more weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3090" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T12:55:51.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5977" CreationDate="2012-05-31T12:56:36.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your current weight, that may be quite a high rate. A healthy average is 1% of your body weight per week. To lose that much that quickly, you would currently be well over 100Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, if you want to keep the weight off &quot;going on a diet&quot; can be rather misleading. You need to change your current diet to one which will lead to you weighing 16Kg less. In other words change your diet permanently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, there are lots of diets around here's one &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/your_weight/active_loss.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/your_weight/active_loss.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and another &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acaloriecounter.com/weight-loss.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.acaloriecounter.com/weight-loss.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T12:56:36.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6635" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-31T13:32:19.647" Score="1" ViewCount="1107" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the cyclic ketogenic diet, initially it takes roughly 2 to 4 weeks (or so I've been told) before the diet becomes easier and you start ketosis. I'm assuming that in this time the body is using up all the carbs in the system before it has to go into 'fat burning' mode. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However regarding the 'carb up' on the weekend, which is an integral part of the cyclic ketogenic diet which allows you to 'refuel' with energy before a week of gym. Why doesn't the body then take another 2 to 4 weeks to go back into ketosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume it's partly to do with the fact that the body has to burn less carbs after the weekend than initially, but surely the body doesn't store that many 'ready to use' carbs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What different is going on in the initial stage than after each 'carb up' weekend?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3072" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T15:50:23.520" Title="What different is going on in the initial stage of a cyclic ketogenic diet than after each 'carb up' weekend?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6641" CreationDate="2012-05-31T13:34:56.193" Score="3" ViewCount="1041" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about a month or two into the Stronglifts 5x5 programme and I've stalled on my bench-press. I'm stalling because I can't unrack the bar for the 5th set, the 4th set was pretty easy once I'd unracked it so I feel like the 5th set should be do-able and I should be adding 2.5kg and moving on. The problem is unracking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have bench a bit like this one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9237245.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9237245.htm&lt;/a&gt;, when I'm unracking my arms are bent and I'm not getting the power. I workout by myself in my garage and don't have anyone to lift the weight so I can start from a straight-arm position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips on getting a bit extra to unrack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3603" LastEditorUserId="3603" LastEditDate="2012-05-31T13:52:23.963" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T16:49:06.313" Title="Tips on un-racking weights for bench press" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6622" CreationDate="2012-05-31T13:51:58.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the deadlift I feel like I'm pushing against the floor more than I am pulling up on the bar. I also really feel it in my forearms, holding onto the bar is a bit of a struggle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a good deadlift guide on Stronglifts: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3603" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T13:51:58.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6622" CreationDate="2012-05-31T14:30:19.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't feel like you were pushing anything because you weren't. You're holding on to something and standing up. Most of the time a heavy deadlift feels to me like squeezing everything tight, locking it in place, and standing up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get real heavy--one and a half times bodyweight, probably, but your mileage may vary--you'll feel a &quot;higher-higher-higher-come-on-stand-up&quot; feeling. Right now you're not close enough to your maximum to get that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T14:30:19.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6635" CreationDate="2012-05-31T15:51:25.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you take out the cyclic part, and talk about ketosis by itself, it can help understand what's going on.  Ketosis happens in stages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deplete the glycogen stores (usually takes 2-3 days).  Until this happens, ketosis won't happen.  This can be sped up by exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Retool the metabolism to use ketones (usually takes 2-4 weeks, 3 on average).  Ketosis will be happening from when your glycogen stores are depleted, but the body is not efficient at it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, as long as you have glycogen, you have blood sugars that your body can use to keep your brain happy.  Glycogen is the energy stored in your muscles and organs.  When your blood sugar dips below what your brain needs (roughly 125g of blood sugar/day), your body releases glucagon.  Glucagon is a catabolic hormone used to pull energy out of your muscles, organs, and fat cells.  While your muscles and organs can burn fat directly, your brain cannot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the reserve of glycogen is gone, and there is still a lack of sugars in the blood, the body starts producing ketone bodies.  This process basically converts the fat to a substance your brain can use for energy.  At the same time it's starting the gluconeogenisis which converts protein sources to blood sugars.  This is why all ketogenic diets have a good amount of dietary protein.  The body will process the dietary protein before the muscles/organs.  Initially, the body will over-compensate and convert more fat to ketones than it needs.  This is a happy time for losing fat.  Once the fat is converted to ketones they are either used or urinated out--it won't be re-assimilated as fat.  Over a period of roughly 3 weeks (2-4 weeks), your body adjusts so it is converting the right amount of fat to support its needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing the demands for energy while in a state of ketosis may cause the gluconeogenisis to be the principle provider of energy.  This is a bad thing, as the demands can quickly get to the point where the body has to resort to cannibalizing the muscle you are trying to build.  This is why cyclic ketogenic diets were invented.  It prevents the body from getting to the point of cannibalizing itself, while still keeping the fat burning benefits of ketogenic diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you &quot;carb up&quot;, the body secretes insulin.  Insulin is an anabolic hormone which triggers storing the energy in your muscles, organs, and fat cells.  The good news is that the energy goes where it is needed most--which if you exercise will be your muscles and organs.  Over-carbing will deposit the extra energy into your fat cells.  The carb up replenishes your glycogen stores, which will help you in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T15:51:25.097" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6636" CreationDate="2012-05-31T16:33:43.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you just don't have the power at the top of your range. This means you're not ready to move on, or are attempting too large of an increase from your last successful weight. Does Stronglifts allow for smaller increments? Like instead of 2.5kg/5lbs, could you try going up by 1.25kg/2.5lbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd treat this the same way your program would treat any failure to complete the prescribed reps. (I don't know what SL says to do, but Starting Strength says to try the weight up for up to three workouts, then deload and use smaller increments on the way back up.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T16:33:43.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6636" CreationDate="2012-05-31T16:49:06.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a whole lot of immediate help for you, but the bench you linked to has a couple of design flaws that will make unracking the bar more difficult:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The deep J hook.  Can't just rip the bar forward off the hook.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Non-adjustable J hook.  Can't raise or lower the hook to be at a more optimal location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the long run, you'll want a bench that isn't so rigid.  In fact a good squat stand with 1&quot; hole spacing in the bench range is a very good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quick answer is find someone to give you a lift-off, but as you mentioned, this just isn't practical at the moment.  The way StrongLifts is set up, you deal with stalls in the following manner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat the weight up to 3 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you stall 3 times, deload.  90% of the weight, and work your way back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have to deload at the same weight 3 times, switch to 3x5.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you can always go with lower increments.  This is called micro-loading.  I had to do that for a while until I graduated to an intermediate program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T16:49:06.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6622" CreationDate="2012-05-31T16:53:39.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that you aren't deadlifting enough to really feel anything.  You can pull more weight on a deadlift than just about any other compound exercise.  The big thing to concentrate on is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep your back straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concentrate on keeping a rigid back as you lift the bar up.  Pull all the slack out of your body before initiating the pull.  And add more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T16:53:39.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5977" CreationDate="2012-05-31T18:56:23.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing weight is about expending more calories than you take in.  As such, you'll get better results if you couple the diet with an exercise program and if you track your calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of different workout programs out there that have diet components to them.  P90X (more geared towards working out at home w/ weights), Insanity (no equipment needed), and Body for Life (gives more of an overall framework rather than specific movements) all come to mind.  Different people react better to different programs but they can all produce results.  I suggest looking into them and trying out the ones which you think you'd enjoy the most, ie the one you'd stick to the longest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also a bunch of free calorie trackers out there such as the one on livestrong.com.  This specific one allows you to input your current weight/height and your goals.  It will then automatically determine how many net calories per day you can consume in order to reach your goals.  Tracking is helpful because it allows you to see if you can eat more food or if you should expend more calories in order to reach your goal on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T18:56:23.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-31T20:24:43.097" Score="0" ViewCount="988" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many minutes of cardio do you think I need to replace a 20 minutes hiit traditional session on a certain day that I suddenly want? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And I mean with the cardio of skipping rope at 70-85% of my max heartrate)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2776" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T22:16:27.563" Title="What is the equivalent of a 20 minutes hiit session in minutes of cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-05-31T21:19:24.080" Score="1" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am soon turning 27 and am in bitter realization that the years are working against me, physically speaking. I have a very compact body, at 177 cm.s I weigh around 94 kg.s even though I do not have a large gut (but instead wide shoulders and a big chest). Can't say I have ever been perfectly fit, but I've always been sportive and played any kind of ball sports I could through-out my youth up until a year ago or so...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the years I have had a couple of nasty injuries (such as shoulder dislocations) which essentially limit my options in training. The latest injury being some peculiar chronic pain in the lower back region just above the hip. The physios and chiropractors I have seen could not really find a reason for the problem, but the reality of the matter is; I work in front of a PC and the more I sit the weaker I get. I need to train to increase/recover my stamina, condition and strength however when I do my usual sports I just get serious cramps in my lower back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never managed to like pure cardio training as in spinning (indoor cardio biking), or jogging. I find it incredibly boring as nothing really happens, in comparison to a football game where you have to follow up the events, read the game and other players and act accordingly. Besides it's a very individual-based type of training, meaning that there is no team interaction like I'm used to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the majority of the people here are somehow fitness buffs, so the description I gave above might sound alien to some, but if there is anyone out there with a similar mindset or if anyone can relate to my situation, I'd really appreciate some advice on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there a kind of cardio training I could do that is more suitable for someone like me?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can I make jogging/running more fun? (Where I live it's rainy or worse the majority of the year)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can I improve my self discipline, pushing myself through the annoyance when it's needed? (I'm a very competitive-minded person so I was excited when products like Nike Fuelband and Jawbone UP came out, unfortunately the Fuelband is still not sold in Europe and the UP is retracted from the market without a word on when it will be available again)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-06-02T00:04:25.637" Title="Getting back in shape: beating the odds against sedentary work-routines and team sports mentality" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6645" CreationDate="2012-05-31T23:45:43.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Powerlifting is a sport that is very individually focussed, yet yields some of the best improvements in terms of functional strength, appearance, bodyfat %, blood pressure... there are probably more. It would also address the weaknesses and injuries you describe (shoulders, back, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're only 27! The years are not working against you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T23:45:43.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5223" CreationDate="2012-05-31T23:47:22.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would disagree with other comments on here and say YES you can; but only for a while. It is not absolutely necessary to work both pressing motions in all your training cycles. Of course you should &quot;pay your dues&quot; on both these exercises for a more balanced muscular development but there is nothing wrong at all with focusing or &quot;specializing&quot; in one of these movements for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in case you feel like you cannot do without a pump in the pecs then like others suggested dips, weighted pushups, or floor press should suffice. I should mention that you shouldn't feel discouraged from doing floor presses just because it is a partial movement. If you do floor presses with a pause at the bottom (don't bounce off your elbows), you would find that strength gains on it carries over pretty well to your regular bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3606" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T23:47:22.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5680" CreationDate="2012-06-01T15:06:44.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are gonna have a heavy night out, here are a couple of suggestions; do not work out in the morning after, especially if you are hungover. You'll end up feeling like crap and most likely mess up the recovering metabolism. In extreme scenarios you might end up fainting in a moment of intense workout (has happened to a friend of mine, he must have had a pretty bad experience as he's not had alcohol since that event).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest working out a couple of hours before you get in your party mood, you'll probably feel hungry when you start eating, but will soon get full especially if you drink a bunch of water after the training (which you probably should). I can not give a reference about whether or not it's a proven strategy, but all my friends who are into serious workout regimes skip the day after a party and continue with a heavy session the 2nd day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides as the others have mentioned, you will not gain much weight, if you do gain any at all, after a single night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-06-01T15:06:44.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6733" CreationDate="2012-06-01T19:26:34.133" Score="10" ViewCount="1306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Stride_right_and_improve_your_run.htm&quot;&gt;recently learned&lt;/a&gt; that the optimal stride rate is &lt;a href=&quot;http://shodless.com/stride-rate-180-steps-per-minute/barefoot/&quot;&gt;180 steps per minute&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than listening to a metronome while running, does anybody have any tips on what can I do to monitor my stride rate so that I know I am around 180 spm?  One way would be to find songs that are ~180 bpm and work with that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T23:48:20.043" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T12:28:42.627" Title="What are the ways to reach the optimal running cadence (180 steps per minute)?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6649" CreationDate="2012-06-01T20:17:45.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're learning what that stride feels like, songs can definitely help. Look for songs at 90 BPM (so, you'll take two steps per beat of the song). There's a lot of hip/hop, rock, etc. in this range. True 180BPM is super fast happy hardcore techno.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you'll just know what it feels like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-01T20:17:45.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6626" CreationDate="2012-06-01T21:28:31.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't spot reduce, but you'll lose weight as long as you burn more calories than you consume. So eat less and exercise more, and weight loss is guaranteed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you say you mainly do power and weight exercises. Try more cardio, such as running, which burns far more calories per hour than strength training does. (As far as I understand, the notion of &quot;after burn&quot; with strength training is a myth. Also, just intuitively, look at avid runners as a group you'll be hard pressed to find another group of people with body fat percentages as low as theirs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1431" LastActivityDate="2012-06-01T21:28:31.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6645" CreationDate="2012-06-02T00:04:25.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think off-road running is much less boring, since you have much more variety in running surface, elevation, obstacles, curves, etc. However that is often not enough for me, and when alone I will often find myself walking rather than pushing as hard as I should. Fortunately I have found two &quot;games&quot; or sport settings that make running a good workout for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hash run:&lt;/a&gt; a group of people meet and at a predetermined time take off following a trail laid by &quot;hares&quot; (usually chalk marks or piles of flour). you dont know where the trail goes and often the hares lay bad or tricky trails to keep it interesting. often beer is consumed before, during and/or after the run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orienteering&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;orienteering&lt;/a&gt;: a group of people meet, receive a map with points marked on it, then each takes off to find as many points as possible within a time limit. this one is actually recognized as an international sport.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-06-02T00:04:25.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6662" CreationDate="2012-06-02T06:01:38.757" Score="1" ViewCount="5175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm seeing conflicting information on using BCAAs before a workout. One resource says to take them before a workout with carbs to help get the BCAAs into the muscles due to the insulin boost. Another resource says to avoid carbs at least 2 hours before working out (doesnt say why).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the goal for BCAA supplimenting is for additional fat loss and lean muscle gain, which is the correct answer? Does it differ for low intensity vs high intensity workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T00:05:24.240" Title="Taking BCAAs before workouts - carbs or no carbs?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6672" CreationDate="2012-06-02T16:00:33.667" Score="6" ViewCount="29233" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seldom exercise and hardly even go for a jog. I have been living this way for over 20 years. I have high metabolism and have a body shape of an ectomorph; I am skinny. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I wanted to bulk up my body. I started off with the basics, mainly home exercises like crunches and press ups. I read from somewhere that 3 reps of 12 for both crunches and press ups would be a good start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what I do is: &lt;em&gt;12 times of crunches&lt;/em&gt;, rest 30 seconds, &lt;em&gt;another 12 times of crunches&lt;/em&gt;, rest 30 seconds again, and &lt;em&gt;the last set of 12 times of crunches&lt;/em&gt;. I do the same for press ups. Is this too much? I doubt this is even helping me to bulk up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem, however, is I feel slightly nauseous after doing these. If we spin ourselves in a circular motion for a couple of minutes, stop and wait after the giddiness has faded off, there is still a remaining nauseous feeling. The remaining nauseous feeling is close to how I feel when I am doing the workouts. The nausea turns me off to exercising. I have tried going to a gym, worked on some machines and walked out in 15mins because I gradually feel uncomfortable with the nausea. The nauseous feeling does not kill nor feel extremely unbearable but it makes me feel sick and a little giddy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still feel okay when I have done only about 1 rep of crunches and press ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any particular reasons or lack of nutritions that I am feeling this way? Is this simply how I would feel when beginning to exercise after lazing for so many years? Or have I for a start overworked? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3400" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T01:47:21.977" Title="Any reason for feeling nausea when working out?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-02T19:36:23.897" Score="0" ViewCount="1237" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is known that the human body can produce vitamin D itself when exposed to enough sunlight. But will the body downregulate this natural production of vitamin D, if I take a vitamin D supplement? And if so, will the body increase natural vitamin D production again, when I stop taking vitamin D? Or will taking vitamin D permanently harm my bodies ability to produce vitamin D itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1855" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T13:24:56.727" Title="Will taking Vitamin D supplements harm my bodies ability to produce it itself?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6655" CreationDate="2012-06-02T22:14:28.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body stops producing its own vitamin D when it has enough, whether it gets enough from supplementation/diet or sun exposure/natural means or a combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm on a nutritional therapy course now, and I've never read anything that says that is necessarily a bad thing (i.e., never read anything to suggest that supplementation will permanently shut down the body's ability to produce vitamin D for itself). That said, excess supplementation can cause problems with kidney function (&quot;Excess vitamin D can cause the body to absorb too much calcium and can lead to kidney damage&quot; - see link below), so it's not advised that supplements become the primary source of vitamin D. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2009issue2/2009_issue2_vitamin_d.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2009issue2/2009_issue2_vitamin_d.php&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastEditorDisplayName="user3495" LastEditDate="2012-06-03T06:40:28.827" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T06:40:28.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6655" CreationDate="2012-06-03T03:29:04.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a doctor, but given that vitamin D synthesis is primarily driven by the activity and availability of specific liver enzymes, I highly doubt that it would be possible to down-regulate its manufacture in the human body through supplementation. If that were the case, then one would expect to see similar phenomena occurring with other endogenously produced substances when they are supplemented, and I've never run across a study demonstrating that this happens. Only a drug capable of inhibiting production of said liver enzymes could impact endogenous vitamin D production, and even this effect would be normally reversible upon discontinuation of the drug. Furthermore, vitamin D toxicity requires dosages that are orders of magnitude above the RDA, so if you limit yourself to reasonable quantities, I wouldn't expect any problems to crop up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3609" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-03T13:24:56.727" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T13:24:56.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6661" CreationDate="2012-06-03T03:37:47.993" Score="3" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the right to squat: Focus on driving up and down, or on sticking one's backside out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what guys at the gym say, and many pictures online, you need to be sticking yourself &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt;.  Yet from Starting Strength's instructions: focusing on tightening lower back, chest up, hip drive - it seems to be more of an up down motion, without as much protrusion.  Which is correct? Does the backside need to protrude?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T05:43:14.400" Title="Squat form: out or down?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6654" CreationDate="2012-06-03T04:24:53.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I am not a doctor nor a professional trainer, so take the following with a sizable grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General advice: make sure you hydrate adequately and eat appropriately throughout the day, but avoid drinking and eating immediately prior to your workout; over-hydration right before intense exercise can easily cause nausea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises you've described performing all involve adopting either a supine or prone posture (i.e., one in which your body is aligned horizontally, parallel to the ground), so I'm wondering if it isn't actually the abrupt transition between standing and lying-down, perhaps exacerbated by the exertion itself, that's provoking the nausea. It might be worth visiting a doctor to determine if what you're experiencing is in fact a symptom of some sort of autonomic dysfunction. The regimen you've described doesn't sound overly rigorous to me, but it's also entirely possible that you're simply over-training and that beginning with a lighter routine and gradually increasing its intensity would allay your discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3609" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-03T13:25:21.233" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T13:25:21.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6659" CreationDate="2012-06-03T05:43:14.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cue to stick your butt out is intended to help bring your lower back into proper extension to maintain the &lt;em&gt;normal anatomical arch&lt;/em&gt;. That means a straight back, not an overextended back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually sticking your butt out can lead to a hyperextended position that is not desirable, but Mark Rippetoe says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;an inflexible person may need to &lt;em&gt;try&lt;/em&gt; to hyperextend just to get to&#xA;  a correct [...] position.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figure 2-37 from 3rd Edition Starting Strength shows the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you are correct, your backside does not need to protrude, but you may need to &lt;em&gt;try&lt;/em&gt; to make it do so in order to maintain the proper position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T05:43:14.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6653" CreationDate="2012-06-03T06:01:28.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether one staggers carbohydrate consumption when supplementing with BCAAs (or any other amino acids for that matter) or not is probably of negligible significance. Amino acids are zwitterionic and act as pseudo-buffers, and consequently their digestion shouldn't be affected significantly by stomach pH (which would presumably be increased slightly by carbohydrate consumption). Furthermore, if I remember correctly, proteins and amino acids are digested by a largely separate set of enzymes than carbohydrates, so they won't be competing as substrates for enzymes' active sites. Also, carbohydrates are generally metabolized much more rapidly than proteins and amino acids in any case, so even if you ingest them simultaneously, you will metabolize the carbohydrates completely before you finish metabolizing the proteins or amino acids. Finally, I suspect there's probably little benefit to BCAA supplementation to begin with, but even if there is, the process of digestion is so complex and variable, and so dependent on a wide array of factors (e.g., circadian rhythms, genetic variation, medication usage, etc.), that investing time and energy into trying to micro-optimize supplementation timing is going to yield marginal returns, if any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3609" LastEditorUserId="3609" LastEditDate="2012-06-03T06:14:10.400" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T06:14:10.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6663" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6664" CreationDate="2012-06-03T09:53:49.077" Score="1" ViewCount="1174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for 3 years and am in a good shape. My only problem is that I have extraordinary huge love handles and some belly fat that I can't seem to lose!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout in the morning 3-5 days a week. I have access to pool and I can do cardio. I've been on a diet for quite a long time, but I'm not losing the waist area fat. I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 93 kg. I'm planning to get to 87kg - 83kg, and people say I'm close to a mesomorphic body type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What diet and workouts help the most in losing fat in the waist area (belly and love handles)?  Are there any foods that I need to stop or take more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current diet, which I've been on for diets 2 months and lost 8kg, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a mid-size plate of white oats with honey and nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;banana or an whole grain bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;salad with tuna or salad with 2 chicken breasts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;apple or dates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a chicken based meal or fish based&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;around 2 beers a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout, which also includes 15-30 minutes of swimming after each session, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arms (7 workouts) + abs(2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest (5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg (6)+ abs(2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back (6)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders (4) + abs (2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I switched to strength training last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2601" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T08:09:42.837" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T08:09:42.837" Title="How to lose waist fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6663" CreationDate="2012-06-03T11:11:17.610" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spot reduction (i.e., fat loss targeted to a particular of the body) is a myth. The areas from which fat is removed through metabolism are almost exclusively a function of genetics and hormones, and the particular exercise regimen that you employ cannot significantly alter your body's distribution of adipose tissue. Just continue to exercise and maintain a healthy diet and it's almost inevitable that you will eventually begin to lose fat from those areas of the body that you're trying to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per michael's suggestion, a few sources to corroborate my assertions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17596787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17596787&lt;/a&gt; (Results are somewhat equivocal: possible upper arm sport reduction in men via skinfold measurement [not accurate in my estimation as hypertrophy and water retention can skew these results], none in women. Conclusion states: &quot;MRI found a generalized subcutaneous fat loss independent of gender, supporting the notion that spot reduction does not occur as a result of resistance training.&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/292/2/E394.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/292/2/E394.full&lt;/a&gt; (Article states that lipolysis occurs to a greater degree in adipose tissue adjacent to working muscle than resting muscle according to some observations. Authors nevertheless conclude that &quot;[m]ore calories are expended during aerobic, whole body exercise than by exercise with local muscle groups, and, accordingly, a person seeking to loose fat must be advised to perform whole body exercise.&quot; There's no reasonable way to interpret this article as supporting the notion of &quot;spot reduction&quot; as it is typically presented, i.e., the loss of fat targeted to a specific part of the body, without reference to overall whole-body fat loss and caloric demands of activity.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3609" LastEditorUserId="3609" LastEditDate="2012-06-05T00:25:13.153" LastActivityDate="2012-06-05T00:25:13.153" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6663" CreationDate="2012-06-03T14:00:12.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no spot reduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is critical, you don't provide enough details to comment on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not doing very much cardio. Swimming, while a great exercise, may not be the most efficient for explicitly losing fat. I'd consider doing HIIT for your cardio, and increasing the time/effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not clear what the numbers after the body parts are, pr how often you're doing your strength training, although the diet and/or cardio are likely what's holding you back at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T14:00:12.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3986" CreationDate="2012-06-03T18:24:38.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I will also get pretty intense lower abdominal pain after I run. It feels like menstrual cramps and nausea and lasts about 20-30 minutes with several waves of cramping. In my case, it's usually when I run too early in the day after not having had enough water so I am dehydrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3614" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T18:24:38.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6286" CreationDate="2012-06-03T23:06:34.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couple things to do that might help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure you are hydrated.  Proper hydration will reduce muscle soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take some type of recovery drink after the workout.  I've used Endurox quite a bit.  It speeds up recovery and assists with sore muscles quite well.  There are other drinks/items out there as well that might work just as well, but Endurox is my drink of choice.  If you cannot have something like this ensure to eat something fast after working out.  The first 30 minutes after a workout your body needs fuel to recover quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A weight training routine to augment the running might help as well.  Muscle tend to atrophy if you do a lot of endurance running.  Simple high-rep, low-weight exercises (leg curls, extensions, etc. might help bolster your legs a touch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, ensure you strecth as Sarge mentions above.  It's likely the soreness you feel is routine, but you need to ensure you don't tred too closely to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-06-03T23:06:34.163" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-04T00:05:00.207" Score="6" ViewCount="950" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to find a good coach for weight lifting in my area?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trainers in my gym seem to be very big &amp;amp; strong, but not experts in form, or at least not know (at all) how to teach it.  I've gotten much more from this forum and from the Starting Strength book.  But I'd really like a good coach, so I can fine tune my form while I go higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Starting Strength Coach Association didn't have anyone available in my area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't need someone for every day - just occasionally to help with my form.  What's a good way to find a coach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; I see that there are many other coach certification programs around, like ACE NCSM etc, and some of these do have people listed in my area.  So, based on certifications, is there one which I'd expect can do good barbell training in the Starting Strength method?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3439" LastEditDate="2012-06-04T00:10:00.337" LastActivityDate="2018-09-22T19:36:41.753" Title="How to find a weight lifting coach?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;&lt;coaching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6624" CreationDate="2012-06-04T04:01:35.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long periods of pressure (i.e., how your posterior feels after 9 hrs in the chair) have lately been discovered to decrease blood flow and lead to lowered metabolic activity in the individual adipose cells in the affected region. Some speculation but no conclusive evidence that reducing blood flow to the adipocytes (fat cells) decreases the rate at which their lipid stores are burned as opposed to well perfused cells. Hope that's helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3618" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T04:01:35.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6668" CreationDate="2012-06-04T14:56:04.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first step is determining if there are any gyms that specialize in the type of lifting you are after.  If there is a power lifting team that trains in that gym, or if it is a gym that is known for where competitors lift, typically they will allow coaches to train there without hiring one of the gym's personal trainers.  In my area, I would have to travel pretty far to do that.  Another option is a Crossfit gym.  While Crossfit has a reputation for sacrificing form to have what seems like a million reps of a barbell exercise, that does not mean that a local &quot;box&quot; wouldn't have qualified instructors.  They will be better than personal trainers at most commercial gyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength teaches a 100% Raw power lifting style for the big three: squat, bench, deadlift.  It adds two more main lifts to your repertoire: overhead press and power cleans.  Of these, the only one that might require the most hands on help would be the power cleans.  When looking for coaches, keep in mind what it is you are trying to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A less expensive, and still perfectly valid approach is a form check video.  Most phones have a video camera built in, and hand held video cameras are also fairly inexpensive.  They let you take a look at your form afterwards and make corrections.  If you still feel there is a need for an outside opinion, you can post a form check video to a forum that specializes in strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T14:56:04.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6654" CreationDate="2012-06-04T15:53:57.870" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons you can be experiencing nausea during or post work out.  In my own experience, most of those are not directly related to the exercise itself.  I'll start with what I think is the least likely culprit and work towards what is probably most likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre-workout nutrition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, a lack of sleep can set you up to not perform well in any activity--not just exercise.  I've found that intense exercise after a bad nights sleep can cause very severe headaches (see 'pain' below) during exercise.  However, a milder symptom can be disorientation, and dizziness.  Both of those sensations can give way to nausea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two types of pain: pain as a result of injury, and the normal &quot;pain&quot; associated with exercise.  I put the normal &quot;pain&quot; in quotes because during exercise it feels like a pump, and a couple days afterwards it's just soreness.  Both of these are merely uncomfortable sensations that go away the more used to the exercise you get.  The true pain associated with injury can be quite intense.  Intense pain can cause nausea on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hydration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger concern is dehydration, but your body needs a healthy amount of water every day.  The demands for water increase in dry climates, higher altitudes, and when you are exercising.  Sickness can also increase the demand for hydration, but since the link to sickness and nausea is well understood I don't really need to talk about it here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is that insufficient water can cause cramps and other unsettling sensations.  If you have a high sodium intake, water is even more important.  Perhaps some potassium sources would also help stabilize the electrolyte needs for your body.  But normally sedentary people tend to simply not have enough water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre-workout nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this is the most likely culprit.  You mentioned that you are naturally thin, so you have a high metabolism.  You also are increasing the demands of your body by exercising.  This means your body needs lots and lots of Calories just make up for the demands.  I have found that after intense training without sufficient food, I become so hungry I am nauseous.  Every bite of food when I'm in that state helps settle my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not just the quantity of food.  I've also found that certain foods that I eat before training can be a source of nausea by themselves.  Protein drinks in water, sardines, or other high in fat foods can sometimes cause this nausea.  I've found that I'm OK consuming a protein bar just before working out if I need some quick energy.  Most carb sources are also pretty easy on my stomach.  However, I do need about an hour after a proper meal before going to the gym.  The body needs time to do the bulk of the digestion before you put high demands on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training fasted (before you have your first meal of the day), you probably need to change that habit.  Or potentially consume 10g of BCAAs before you exercise.  BCAAs are Branched Chain Amino Acids, and your body does not need to process them to use them.  That makes it easier on your stomach, and provides a little bit of energy to get through the training.  Alternatively, a protein bar, or a meal an hour before training will make a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training with food, take a look to see what you are eating.  It could be that the type of food is causing the queasiness.  It might be that you are training too soon after eating.  Or it might simply be that you are not eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-06-04T18:25:06.677" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T18:25:06.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6675" CreationDate="2012-06-04T17:42:17.417" Score="8" ViewCount="7121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to take a two week break from my Stronglifts program, and I won't have access to the gym or any weights. On the break I will be doing occasional body weight workouts, but for the most part I am going to be inactive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When resuming the program after two weeks of inactivity can I just come back where I left off, or should I deload 10-20% from my last workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-05T20:03:29.893" Title="How to handle a break from StrongLifts?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2012-06-04T18:04:37.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you thought about 25lb plates?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As long as there's enough at your gym to go around)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're easy to put on.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They give you a good warm-up weight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They're a nice increment size for additional sets. (as well as pyramiding down)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They're smaller, so they give you a little more range of motion than a 45lb plate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T18:04:37.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6673" CreationDate="2012-06-04T18:22:26.660" Score="10" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Deload&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deload. Significantly. 10% at a minimum, more likely 20% for such a significant break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to start back where I had left off after a one-week break, and it messed up my progress significantly in the short and long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it this way: say you started with a 1RM of 135, and squatted, say, 95x5x5. By squatting increasingly heavy weights you improved your 1RM to 170, and are squatting 140x5x5. It's hard, but not at your limit. It probably isn't even your 5x5 limit. If someone held a gun to your head, you could probably make that last workout ten pounds heavier. You keep a little bit up your sleeve so that you can keep adding weight to the bar every workout for several months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After two weeks, in the best case your 1RM will drop to something like 150. Doing sets of 5 across at 135 or 140 might be possible, but it will be a dramatically different experience. Your form will suffer and you might hurt yourself. Worse, you'll then try to increase the weight five pounds in the next workout, whereas you've only improved your 1RM by two or three pounds. By working too close to your 1RM, you've shortened the amount of time you can keep linearly adding weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's much better to deload to, say, 115 or 120. Give your body the opportunity to restart the progression and you'll decrease your chance of getting hurt, and it will turn out better in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-05T20:03:29.893" LastActivityDate="2012-06-05T20:03:29.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2012-06-04T18:36:16.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I load up the first 45# plates in my squat rack and walk it over to my deadlift area. I'm not strong enough, and have enough other plates, for subsequent plates to be a large enough diameter to be troublesome to put on. But it's important to have a consistent and correct height in order to maintain correct form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Deadlift jack&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They make &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.westcarybarbell.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;amp;products_id=11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tools&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&amp;amp;cid=298&amp;amp;pid=197&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;for&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritiongeeks.com/deadlift-loader-warren-1/deadlift-loader-warren.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; situation. A rolling ldeadlift loading jack is a specially-designed lever that lifts the bar just a little bit, and balances in that lifted position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OZwyj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;deadlift loading jack&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using it is as simple as a crowbar. Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.westcarybarbell.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;amp;products_id=11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;West Cary Barbell&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just hook it under the bar and pull backon the handle. Add your plates then raise the handle to put the par back on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-08-03T13:26:43.603" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T13:26:43.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6678" CreationDate="2012-06-04T21:25:23.677" Score="10" ViewCount="6351" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/best-exercise-to-lose-belly-fat-fast&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; and it is exactly what I am asking. However, there is one issue with me I want to explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am only 137 pound. Kind of skinny for a 24 years old guy. But, its been 4-5 years since I have a small belly in my stomach and side fat around it. I tried to get rid of it since the time it starts appearing but, all the sports I tried (erobics, sit-up, 5 min walk and 2 min running (5X)) didn't work for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I read, it is impossible to do spot reduction (i.e trying to avoid a fat from specific part of your body). On the question I mentioned, one of the answers explained to reduce the fat through·out  the body, which in turn will eliminate the belly fat as well. The problem is, I am not that fat to remove fat from other part of my body and I believe if I do some kind of sport that will turn the belly fat in to 4-6 pack I would be very happy. Nutrition is also one of his recommendations. But I think my diet is not that good either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my situation, what should I do? I will be commited to do all the sacrifice to get rid of this nasty little belly, even if it takes a year or more to get the final result but, I hope I will see gradual changes once in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3378" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T09:17:38.813" Title="What should I do to remove my belly fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6677" CreationDate="2012-06-04T22:14:33.073" Score="14" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem is, I am not that fat to remove fat from other part of my body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about that. Your body knows itself better than you do, and it is very good at what it does. If it needs to burn fat for energy, it won't deprive an area of essential fats when it could go across the street to an area with an abundance of fat. That's probably a bad analogy, but regardless: don't worry about where your body will take the fat from. If you get on a proper cardio/diet routine, eventually the fat from the belly will come off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I tried to get rid of it since the time it starts appearing but, all the sports I tried (erobics, sit-up, 5 min walk and 2 min running (5X)) didn't work for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple reasons why these wouldn't work, and they all boil down to one word: &lt;strong&gt;diet&lt;/strong&gt;. To quote the linked question, &lt;code&gt;&quot; Losing weight is as simple as burning more calories than you consume. The easiest way to reduce your caloric intake is to eat healthier foods.&quot;&lt;/code&gt; Now, there is nothing in &quot;unhealthy food&quot; that magically makes you fat; that is a pure myth. &lt;strong&gt;The weight loss comes from the fact that when you eat healthier, it becomes harder for you to overeat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider a big mac and an apple. A big mac clocks in at about 600 calories, while an apple is closer to 100. After eating a big mac, I am usually still very hungry, and could easily finish a drink and fries... after which my meal has come closer to 1000 calories. But what happens if I were to eat 600 calories worth of apples? I don't think I could even eat 6 apples at once, but I'm sure if I did I would be full! Now, this is a basic example (obviously you wouldn't want to eat 6 apples as your meal) but it helps prove the point how eating healthy helps your diet: on a per-calorie basis, healthy foods are simply more fulfilling than highly processed foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, you'll need to really work out a diet and cardio plan based off your current fitness levels, your desired goals (set a target BF% or weight), and how many calories you need to eat each day (make sure to factor in the cardio!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-04T22:14:33.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6680" CreationDate="2012-06-05T06:46:41.263" Score="6" ViewCount="6048" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read lot of questions on reducing belly fat in this forum. I am also suffering from large fat around my abdomen. i have started exercise (weight training + cardio) and leading with healthy food habits as indicated in these questions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much time should i expect in reduction of substantial fat as i don't want to look at mirror everyday :) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3622" LastEditorUserId="3622" LastEditDate="2012-06-05T06:54:18.570" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T06:26:11.777" Title="How much time does it take to reduce belly fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6679" CreationDate="2012-06-05T09:12:45.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also had the same problem, the best way to lose fat is by performing intensive exercises. I prepared myself mentally to change:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bad habits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No more fast-food, hamburgers etc...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifestyle/clubbing,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep soon, wake up soon!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AFTER 3 months I saw some changes, but this depends on how much fat you have on your belly, how intensive you train, and how motivated you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will sum up some sports which could help you to achieve this very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muay Thai;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mixed Martial Arts;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NICE TO DO:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try to do a lot of sit-ups exercises, this helps a lot. And jogging in the nature, just by yourself with some nice beats on your iPod.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3623" LastEditorUserId="8107" LastEditDate="2014-03-13T01:45:37.743" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T01:45:37.743" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6710" CreationDate="2012-06-05T20:54:00.397" Score="6" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently signed up for a new gym closer to where I live. Together with the signup they were offering structuring a workout schedule with a personal trainer, which I gladly took. After talking about my goals for training and any old injuries, I was told that their general policy with overall workouts is one set and as many reps as possible though at least 10-12 reps, and increasing the weight next session once 12 reps is not tough anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to say I was quite unsure about this regime, so I asked the trainer about if they had any reason for recommending this regime and was told that the advice is based on shorter but intensive sessions and is a company policy that is recommended nationally (it's a large company that have gyms overall in the country). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if there is any physiological reason behind this regime being superior to the usual/conventional 3 set with 12-15 reps? Have you been recommended this regime at some point? If you have followed a similar regime, how does it compare to more conventional regimes? I should note that my goals for workout is recovering from weakness that some old injuries have left as well as my sedentary life style causes, as well as generally getting in better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T21:04:20.623" Title="Any solid reasoning behind the fitness regime: 1 set, as many reps as possible?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6682" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6685" CreationDate="2012-06-05T21:07:40.470" Score="5" ViewCount="984" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing team/ball sports as far as I can remember, even though I was never the star of the team. Consequently it's not very surprising that I did not end up training on pro or semi-pro level. Now I realize that after a couple of years in relatively low pace daily life, I am a second or two slower than I'd like to be in my reaction time when I'm on the field. It's like you see the dribble, you are fully aware but your body is just not as quick in acting even though your brain is shouting out orders to your arms/legs. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to work on is my agility/quickness but I'm not quite sure what exercises I could do at home or at the gym. Any advices? Photos/videos are really appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I play football mostly, but also squash, basketball and at times even badminton and beach volleyball. The reason I didn't ask for a specific sport was precisely to keep it as general as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2012-06-06T07:00:03.763" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T19:33:43.617" Title="Useful exercises to increase agility/responsiveness for team sports" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2012-06-05T21:27:59.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you strong? If you get stronger, you'll accelerate quicker, and you won't tire as easily. You should go through a beginner strength training program (about 3-6 months of work) to build a good strength base before turning to anything sport specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-05T21:27:59.027" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-05T21:47:11.583" Score="3" ViewCount="2482" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been a regular exerciser for about 3 years now. I'm a 25 year old female weighing 121 lbs at 5'5&quot; (just in case any of this will be pertinent). I typically like to run, bike, speed walk or use the elliptical for my cardio anywhere from 30-60 minutes 5 times a week. I then do about 30-45 minutes of strength training 2-3 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now here's the problem: if I wake up and do this first thing in the morning, before eating, I'm perfectly fine. However, if I do this in the afternoon or early evening I will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS get very, very nauseous. The only way to fix this is to curl into a little ball until it is gone, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. It is SO annoying and also a little worrisome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried many things to fix this, eating before, eating after, drinking water, not drinking water, eating something salty, something sweet, so on and so forth and nothing works. I know the solution is exercise in the morning but that's not always possible. I would just love some ideas on what it could be or would like to know if anyone else suffers from this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few other things, I eat very healthy (am a vegetarian, moral reasons, not health), drink lots of water and rarely eat poorly, so I don't think it's diet induced especially since it never happens in the morning, whether it's before my breakfast or after, I'm always fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So after my life story, can anyone help at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3625" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-06T03:31:40.113" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T03:19:23.910" Title="Why do I get nauseous after working out, but ONLY in the afternoon or early evening?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2012-06-05T21:57:06.693" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd just search the web for &quot;agility drills&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a ton of drills using rope/webbing ladders, direction-change drills, there-and-backs, anything that challenges your proprioception, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4379/what-is-a-good-training-program-for-a-quidditch-snitch/4382#4382&quot;&gt;Snitch training&lt;/a&gt; post; explosive directional changes are valuable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're specifically concerned about reaction time, drill reaction time: anything that starts/ends on specific cues (partner cues, randomized or constant timers, etc) will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-06-05T21:57:06.693" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-05T22:11:10.090" Score="25" ViewCount="6376" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read an &lt;a href=&quot;http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/11/victorias_secret_angel_trainer.html&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; about a guy who trains many models and actresses and he states that women shouldn't be lifting weights above 5 pounds, and not doing cardio such as spinning, because doing so will cause you to look bigger:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;None of the classes use dumbbells heavier than three to five pounds. &quot;I think that what we always try to achieve is a long, lean, toned body,&quot; Kirsch explains. &quot;Models don't want to look jacked. When they’re in a bra and panties, we want to make sure nothing jiggles.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there truth to his claims? What are the scientific facts? Is there anything correct about the idea that lifting weights heavier than 5lbs is inappropriate for women?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3578" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-01-09T16:41:39.703" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T14:04:23.837" Title="Does lifting more than 5lbs really cause females to bulk?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6681" CreationDate="2012-06-05T22:13:46.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether or not it's &quot;superior&quot; is probably an unfair question--it's &lt;em&gt;different&lt;/em&gt;, whether it's superior depends more on your goals/needs/etc. than any objective measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theory that is one set of intense work is enough to bring the muscle to sufficient exhaustion that it is forced to adapt. In order for this to be the case, you have to be very strict about your reps, disallow any help from momentum, go heavy, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For deconditioned individuals, IMO it's a bit risky unless you start fairly light and focus on very strict form and safety before going hard--it wouldn't be what I would start people with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, given your goals and history, I'd steer towards lighter weights, conventional set/rep structure, etc. until you're at a point you can go heavier without risking connective tissue injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-05T22:13:46.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2012-06-05T22:19:35.203" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt; about the effects of lifting heavy. Lifting heavy will help you build muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he's &lt;strong&gt;incorrect&lt;/strong&gt; when he says you shouldn't lift heavy, and he's incorrect calling 5lbs heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lift heavy, you'll get stronger, burn fat, build muscle, and look good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not you'll look bigger (assuming that's what you mean by &quot;bulk&quot;) depends on your starting point. If you're fat, lifting heavy will make you not fat. If you're skinny, lifting heavy will make you not skinny. In both cases, I'd call that an improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To respond to Dave's requests for examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.fitocracy.com/post/13459100149/fitocracy-member-spotlight-pamo&quot;&gt;Here's a story&lt;/a&gt; of a woman who has focused solely on powerlifting as a sport and has lost 85 pounds as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.fitocracy.com/post/6727873117/fitocracy-member-spotlight-criss&quot;&gt;Here's another&lt;/a&gt; woman who is really into lifting and speaks against the myth that lifting will make her look like a guy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, they've burned fat and gained muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-06-08T20:27:26.743" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T20:27:26.743" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6681" CreationDate="2012-06-05T22:35:12.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;12-15 reps trains for muscular endurance and hypertrophy (muscle size) rather than strength. You'll feel a burn, and you'll feel sore after these types of workouts. Bodybuilders use this type of routine. I don't know why one would recommend a single set. As a novice, you probably don't know how to work yourself hard enough for a single set to be sufficient stimulation to cause an optimal adaptation between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is strength gains (recovering from weakness, as you say), you should working out in the approximately 5-rep range with heavier weights for about 3-5 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not that you wouldn't gain strength with their recommended program... since you're untrained, almost anything will work for you. But, your time in the gym would be better spent with a routine tailored to your goals. It will be more efficient, and you'll see the results you're looking for sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The choice of exercise, reps, sets, and workout schedule should be chosen to match your goals, not based on what a particular gym has as a national policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6553/need-to-get-back-into-shape-is-there-a-slightly-lighter-p90x-type-thing/6587#6587]&quot;&gt;In another answer&lt;/a&gt;, I mention one such program that might be better suited to your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T21:04:20.623" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6788" CreationDate="2012-06-05T23:47:30.143" Score="3" ViewCount="3583" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever someone says they are looking to lose weight or burn fat, the universal answer seems to be diet+cardio. I myself am guilty of always recommending people get on a cardio program in addition to telling them to get on a proper diet. However, when it comes down to it, is there really any difference between dieting and cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that both cardio and dieting have alternative benefits (i.e. better metabolism, more balanced nutrition, etc.), but when specifically focusing on the goal of weight loss, is there any tangible difference between the two? In my mind, a calorie deficit will cause the same amount of weight loss whether it came from decreasing calorie intake (diet) or increasing calorie expenditure (cardio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So am I missing something fundamental here that would explain why combined cardio+diet is always the go to plan, when either individual plan could also produce identical results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T23:29:44.670" Title="Difference between cutting calories and cardio (with regard to fat loss)?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2012-06-06T00:02:23.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B005O0MCRU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SportCount 100&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;It is very easy to use, and can be operated by one hand. I would highly recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3626" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T00:02:23.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6692" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6694" CreationDate="2012-06-06T04:24:50.130" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training for several years, stopped for a while then started back but kept working out regularly (4-6 days a week) for the past 2 years.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lift heavy weight, do bodyweight training, skip rope, explosive workout (burpees for example) and eat quality food with a controlled diet.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However lately i just don't feel any pain, sore muscles, or any kind of challenge while working out. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you peeps do when you reach this phase, in order to keep improving (shredding more fat, adding more muscles)? I know that adding more weight usually helps and that's what i do , but what could possibly be done other than that?(change of diet, resting for few weeks, new workouts..etc..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T05:18:39.933" Title="Strength training: what to do when it becomes kind of easy, in order to keep improving" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2012-06-06T05:11:52.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a bunch of sports-specific drills out there that can be found on Google.  Without knowing your specific sport, it's hard to recommend one.  For example, tennis drills (lots of sideways movement) are different from soccer drills due to the nature of their activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I have heard of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity-next-level-asylum-workout.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insanity Asylum&lt;/a&gt; being a good workout for speed and agility.  Their site says, &quot;...from average to elite in just 30 days!&quot;  You may want to have a look at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T05:11:52.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6692" CreationDate="2012-06-06T05:18:39.933" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to choose a type of exercise that allows you to incrementally increase the load that you experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When running, you do this by increasing the distance, or adding hills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If lifting weight, you increase the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't necessarily need to feel pain or sore muscles. In fact, if you are working in the 5-rep maximum range for your lifts, you likely will not feel much soreness. It should definitely be a challenge, though. Is your last rep not difficult? If not, then you need to increase the weight so that you can barely do the intended number of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The importance of incremental increases is explained in this article by Mark Rippetoe: &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/incremental_increases_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;Incremental Increases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Some types of exercises better allow for incremental increases than others, so your training program should have been designed with this in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that you need to switch up your workout to keep making improvements is false. All you need to do is increase the loading. If you've chosen a well thought out training program that is in line with your training goals, just stick with it, keep increasing the difficulty as your body adapts, and you'll continue to get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T05:18:39.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2012-06-06T07:02:40.187" Score="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: no, that's a myth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically: it can be confusing what different people mean by 'bulk' or 'bulking up'. So the answer to 'Will women get bulky if they lift more than 5 lbs weights?' can be yes or no, depending on what their definition of 'bulk' is. But bottomline, by most definitions, and in the opinion of various top trainers and women themselves, the answer is that the notion that &amp;quot;I'll get too bulky&amp;quot; is a myth. A myth constantly and sadly pushed at women seeking fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scientific facts about building muscle on women are the same as that for men, taking into consideration the different hormone profiles, for one thing. If a person lifts heavier weights, rest and provide adequate nutrition, a woman as well as a man will get stronger, which usually means larger muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cautions against 'bulking up' for women is not an issue of science, but an issue of personal or industry-specific aesthetic tastes. What is bulky to one person's taste is merely a slight bit of muscle definition to another. The man in the article you cite trains fashion models primarily -- they have a particular aesthetic in their industry and they could lose work if they show more than a slight bit of definition. Fitness modeling is, obviously, a different part of the industry and women would certainly need to train harder to reach the aesthetic preferences of their trade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the common woman, many mainstream magazines constantly print articles that caustion against 'bulking' -- but none of them, in my experience, ever mean the same thing as far as size or shape. The great myth in women's fitness (this from lifelong personal experience, working with trainers, talking to other women, and from much reading in magazines, online and books) is that merely picking up a weight heavier than 5lbs or 3 kg will turn you into Ms Olympia overnight. It is a hard myth to defeat and it is constantly pumped into women's (and some men's) minds. But the facts are that, for women or men, to get big you must lift heavy, rest and eat right -- and that 5 lbs is not heavy. 10 lbs is not heavy. And muscle isn't built overnight and 'bulky' won't happen, despite what most women's mag articles say, just by lifting weights heavier than 5 lbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Lou Schuler writes in &lt;em&gt;The New Rules of Lifting for Women&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... it's really hard to put on muscle size, it never happens by accident, and every bit of it is a sign of success against all odds. And that's with all the hormonal advantages that nature gives to men. Meanwhile, women, naturally deprived of the amounts of testosterone that would make muscle-building a more straightforward pursuit, worry endlessly about adding so much muscle.... So this brings me to the fourth dirty word [of women's weight training]: bulky. As in 'I don't want to get too bulky.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll say this as simply as I can: Unless you're an extreme genetic outlier, you can't get too bulky.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T13:31:54.177" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6696" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6697" CreationDate="2012-06-06T07:34:13.973" Score="2" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I'm an healthy person. I eat vegetables and fruits everyday (or I try my best to). I also avoid eating meat whenever possible. I ride my bike more than 5 hours a week and I walk 15 minutes everyday to get to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is I'm spending a lot of time on computers (for work and at home because I'm a gamer) but I enjoy it as much as practicing sport, and I often feel like I'm getting fat and weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think I'm doing something wrong, or is it just my feelings that are wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3629" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-06T11:27:11.407" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T11:27:11.407" Title="Is my current lifestyle of biking, eating well, and spend lots of time at a computer.a healthy one?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6696" CreationDate="2012-06-06T08:30:13.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to answer whether your feeling &quot;fat and weak&quot; is an objective assessment or a subjective/psychological analysis. Your weekly exercise routine is certainly more fitness-inducing than some of my own clients (as a sports massage &amp;amp; nutritional therapist), but if you are eating more calories than you burn, no matter if those are healthier calorie sources than the average diet's, you will store fat. On the other hand, if you are not eating enough calories to fuel your daily and weekly expenditure/exercise, then you can certainly feel weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improper breathing is one thing that can make an otherwise fit person perceive themselves to be unfit. You might want to ask yourself if you are breathing fully and properly during your exercise (or for that matter, throughout the day) to get the most out of it and to improve health markers overall:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &quot;We breathe oxygen into the body from the atmosphere. While this oxygen does not itself contain useable energy, it is the key that unlocks the energy stored in previously-ingested food...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/breathing-during-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.answers.com/topic/breathing-during-exercise&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &quot;Learning to breathe during exercise has benefits such as preventing dizziness during activity, improving athletic performance, and increasing fat burning....&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/breathing-during-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/breathing-during-exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also, if you spend a lot of time hunched over or in otherwise awkward positions for your body while gaming or even while cycling, you may want to think about your posture and the suppleness and flexibility of your spinal muscles. Improper posture affects proper breathing (and all the concomitant issues with exercise and health noted above), and can contribute to a general daily feeling of being less than well or not at one's best:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) &quot;Bad posture is a modern day health epidemic that is much worse than most people naturally assume... One of the worst types of health problems people experience is a loss of the natural curves of their spine.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturalnews.com/030956_posture_health.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.naturalnews.com/030956_posture_health.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T08:30:13.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6696" CreationDate="2012-06-06T09:22:54.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am once a gamer too so i know what u mean by becoming weak as i feel that when i play hour of games without leaving my computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;computer screen will give out radiation that cause us to feel that way. When i am playing game in the past i will even feel like i want to vomit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emfbioshield.com/arecrt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.emfbioshield.com/arecrt.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**Should we protect ourselves from computer and TV screens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What if the CRT screen turns out to be one of the main culprits of many afflictions of modem civilisation, such as abnormal general fatigue, neuropsychological disorders, increased absenteeism, loss of productivity, declining ability to concentrate and to memorise, aggression and scholastic problems in prepubescent children, predisposition to dyslexia, and lowered spermatogenesis?**&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in this link it also say how the radiation will affect us. there are other better link which u could find how the radiation affect us. So u feeling weak is cause by the radiation from the computer and not the real thing. is better that u take a walk outside after an hour of gaming dont get urself expose to the radiation that much and it will be help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T09:22:54.923" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6702" CreationDate="2012-06-06T11:30:20.483" Score="1" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a formula to help me work out the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On average, how many calories would a 3 year old (weighing 11kg) have to consume daily to weigh 16kg by the time she is 4 years old?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question assumes average activity levels and average height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:36:44.907" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:36:44.907" Title="Is there a weight gain formula for young children?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6700" CreationDate="2012-06-06T17:25:30.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/114716-normal-weight-height-4yearold/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;normal weight for a 4-year-old&lt;/a&gt; boy or girl is from 27 to 50 lbs (or 12-22 kgs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless the child in question is deprived of average nutrition, normal growth and normal activity will get the girl (or boy) you describe to the vicinity of 16kg without any particular formula or intervention in the normally recommended diet/calories for a child that age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/children/nutrition_calorie_needs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;normally recommended calories that an average 4-year old&lt;/a&gt; needs to grow as expected (i.e., to reach the 16 kg range you are looking toward) is in the area of 1500-1700 kcals per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastEditorDisplayName="user3495" LastEditDate="2012-06-06T17:43:45.793" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T17:43:45.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5208" CreationDate="2012-06-06T17:55:28.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have suggested this may be linked to potassium levels and you would do well to discuss this with a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms you described immediately reminded me of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_5414797_signs-low-potassium.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypokalemia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or low potassium levels:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &quot;Tingling sensations in the hands and feet may also be a sign of hypokalemia and signify a weakening of the nervous system.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &quot;...excessive sweating from playing sports or exercise can lead to a drop in potassium levels and feelings of fatigue.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T17:55:28.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6707" CreationDate="2012-06-06T18:59:22.017" Score="1" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am undergoing with weight training and cardiovascular exercises  these days majorly for reducing belly fat and for strengthening muscles as well . After workout i feel hungry so i immediately takes my dinner (not so heavy). Is that right to take dinner just after workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3622" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T19:30:01.520" Title="Duration between workout and dinner" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6705" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-06T19:00:35.893" Score="2" ViewCount="1389" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a follow up to this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/4825/98&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4841/98&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt;, are there any reasons why I shouldn't perform a plyometrics workout barefoot? I've tried both, and I definitely feel more stress on my feet when barefoot, but I'm able to catch the floor better on jumps, and I imagine that over time my feet will adapt. Is the extra stress to the joints (assuming there is any) significant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T12:21:29.930" Title="Are there reasons you shouldn't do plyometrics workouts barefoot?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;plyometrics&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6705" CreationDate="2012-06-06T19:25:24.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to check exactly what &quot;plyometrics workout&quot; means - I assume you mean things like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UweKybOuivA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;box jumps&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://parkourpedia.com/technique/precision-jump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;precision jumps&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2011/09/29/jump-lunges-plyometric-leg-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jumping lunges&lt;/a&gt;, etc. I have done these both with and without shoes, but the past few years I prefer without. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you've mentioned in the question, there are reasons against doing this. You will feel more impact on your feet, and less cushioning than you would if using a typical athletic shoe. However for me, this stress (on the bones, joints, ligaments, etc.) is the main reason for going barefoot. With the proper progression, jumping this way forces you to use learn how to use your muscles to absorb shock, and you will develop a &quot;cat-like&quot; agility. I try to always land gently and quietly. If I can land safely and gently even on a hard concrete or pavement surface, I believe that is a higher level of fitness, and in my view this type of training is more likely to prevent injury than cause it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T19:25:24.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6704" CreationDate="2012-06-06T19:30:01.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's okay to eat right away. Based on the advice from this article (&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://athletics.macalester.edu/custompages/Deno_Videos/nutrition/recovery_nutrition.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Recovery Nutrition for Athletes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, from the NSCA's Performance Training Journal):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is now well established that the key to maximizing recovery is to&#xA;  consume carbohydrates and proteins immediately after exercise.&#xA;  Research indicates that the ideal recovery nutrition is a meal or&#xA;  liquid supplement containing high-glycemic carbohydrates and quality&#xA;  proteins in approximately a 4:1 ratio, that include  10 – 20% of the&#xA;  athlete’s total daily caloric intake of these two macronutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T19:30:01.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6709" CreationDate="2012-06-06T19:38:30.660" Score="3" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/bmr-formula.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMR&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harris benedict&lt;/a&gt; equations. I got a &lt;b&gt; negative &lt;/b&gt; result when i used the following information just by curiosity:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 80&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height :1feet 0 inches (ie 12 inches) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weight :22 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender: male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activity level--&gt;little or no exercise :  BMR x 1.2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then using the formulas at the mentionned links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )&#xA;  ==&amp;gt; BMR = -188.54 &#xA;  ==&amp;gt; Energy needs = BMR * activity level = -188.54 * 1.2 = -226.248&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the information are probably not common (80 years old, 1feet 0 inch, 22 pounds), but what does it mean when you get a &lt;b&gt;negative BMR&lt;/b&gt; and a &lt;b&gt;negative Energy need&lt;/b&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did not try all possible cases where u might have a &lt;b&gt;negative&lt;/b&gt; value (For negative, it is in general required: &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;left side &amp;lt; right side&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; where right side is &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;( 6.8 x age in year )&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; ) but if let's say a nutritionist is using this formula on a client and gets a negative result what do they do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T10:26:02.683" Title="BMR+Harris-benedict equation: case of negative output" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6708" CreationDate="2012-06-06T19:49:17.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means the equation isn't perfect, but just an estimation. You happen to have found one case where it fails quite a bit. Of course, it doesn't help that you didn't describe an actual human being (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shortest_people&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the shortest verified person&lt;/a&gt; is 54.6cm, that is 21.5 inches). I don't feel like doing the path, but I'm sure the formula provide &lt;em&gt;reasonable&lt;/em&gt; estimations for &lt;em&gt;reasonable&lt;/em&gt; input parameters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T19:49:17.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6681" CreationDate="2012-06-06T20:13:56.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one-size-fits all attitude at your gym sounds off-base to me, as they really needed to help you figure out a routine to meet your individual goals. But that said... I've done single set work and found it really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did it over a 1 week period (lifting 3 days that week) as an interim routine in-between ending one schedule of a conventional 10-12 reps per set and starting a new one of a different but still conventional 8-10 reps per set routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Psychologically, I enjoyed it due to the variety and challenge it added. For some exercises, like deadlifts or squats, I went heavy and close to failure at about 8-10 reps (because I did not have a workout partner, I went close to but &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to failure, as I felt that would have been dangerous). But for others that required more coordination, balance and protection of my knees, like lunges, I used light weights, strict form and went to about 20-25. In between exercises, I was recommended to rest as little as possible and to alternate between an upper body exercise and a lower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I moved fast and it was a heart-pumping, sweaty workout that felt more like interval training than a regular gym workout. &lt;strong&gt;Maybe -- on the physiological front -- that is why your gym recommends this to beginners in the lighter weights + high reps format -- as some sort of general, overall conditioning routine.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was not something that I felt was a long-term choice of working out to meet my own goals for shape as well as strength, but as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://athletics.wikia.com/wiki/Muscle_Confusion_Principle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;short-term exercise in muscle confusion and avoiding accommodation&lt;/a&gt;, it worked well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastActivityDate="2012-06-06T20:13:56.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6711" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-06T21:45:32.740" Score="2" ViewCount="7730" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common notion is that in order to gain muscle you must be a &quot;calorie surplus&quot;, and in order to burn fat/lose weight you must be a in a &quot;calorie deficit. However the cyclic-ketogenic diet claims that it allows muscle building AND fat loss? How is this possible and what is the mechanism behind it? Since surely you cannot be in a surplus and deficit at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3578" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-07T02:59:18.717" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T14:08:52.957" Title="How does the cyclic-ketogenic diet allow weight loss and muscle gain?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2012-06-07T00:58:31.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without much detail it's hard to know what your deficiencies are. But what worked for me was three things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting barbells in order to attain a basic level of &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic lifts, specifically power cleans, to convert that strength to speed-strength, called &lt;strong&gt;power&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprints and other &lt;strong&gt;conditioning&lt;/strong&gt; work (kettlebell swings or clean-and-jerks for time, burpees, 20-rep barbell squats) to keep me from getting tired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without those three basic physical qualities--strength, power, conditioning--the reaction time of the less genetically gifted will always be lacking, because they find themselves unable to apply their sport-specific skills due to weakness, slowness, or fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have those bases covered in your training regimen, sport-specific agility drills will be much more helpful and highly recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-07T14:49:13.493" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T14:49:13.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6711" CreationDate="2012-06-07T04:33:24.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's very much reliable empirical evidence available on the subject. Every mention of this diet that I've seen tends to be either hyperbolic, anecdotal, or very clearly tainted by conflict-of-interest. Wikipedia's page on the subject, for example, uses as its main reference a book which advocates said diet. It's possible that the author is a verified expert who's diligently studied the matter and scrupulously documented all his sources, but my default reaction is extreme skepticism. For what it's worth, ketogenic diets have been used in the treatment of epilepsy for decades, and the medical consensus appears to be that they're generally safe. That said, there's some evidence that ketogenic diets will, if anything, impair performance during anaerobic activities due to more rapid glycogen depletion (q.v., &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC524027/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC524027/&lt;/a&gt;), though aerobic performance should not be detrimentally impacted. Given that muscle-building gains are largely dependent on anaerobic types of exercise, and that greater intensity and increased repetition to failure are generally correlated with greater gains, I would expect negative results, if anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the hypothetical mechanism for these diets, the idea is that if the body is deprived of carbohydrates it is forced to begin to metabolize fat into fatty acids through lipolysis. Those fatty acids are then further metabolized into ketone bodies (hence, the name of the diet). Whether this actually results in improved fat loss vs. carb-containing diets while holding caloric intake constant isn't known with any certainty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3609" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T04:33:24.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6711" CreationDate="2012-06-07T12:41:57.247" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know someone who recently used the cyclic ketogenic diet to get good results.  Based on his experience, and some of the other experiences I've read who used the approach, it's important to set your expectations appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The only demographic that &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; build muscle while losing weight is an overweight beginner.  This is the same regardless of diet used.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intermediate and advanced lifters &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; lose some maximum intensity, but their volume work would be unaffected.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cyclic ketogenic diet is effective at fat loss while preserving the muscle you have acquired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketosis is itself a contentious subject with researchers on both sides of the argument having studies to back up their arguments.  Unfortunately, most studies use readily available sedentary people, and rarely any demographic that would match my own.  I will also say that ketosis is not for everyone.  I did well with it, but I have friends who didn't.  I recommend a trial run without any exercise to see how you adjust.  The principles behind ketosis are fairly simple and straightforward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The brain needs roughly 125g of energy per day--blood glucose is the primary source.  Lipids can't cross the blood-brain barrier, but glucose and ketones can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the blood glucose drops, the pancreas secretes glucagon to pull energy out of fat, muscles, and organs.  The muscles and organs store glucose in the form of glycogen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When there are no dietary sources of blood glucose for a prolonged period, the liver will start making ketone bodies which process the stored fat in a way that can pass the blood-brain barrier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ketone bodies cannot be reabsorbed back into the fat cells.  Unused ketone bodies are urinated out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About the same time that ketone bodies are created, the body also starts gluconeogenisis which is the process of converting proteins to blood glucose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All ketogenic diets share a common trait: medium to high protein intake.  The higher protein intake is necessary to provide the gluconeogenisis process a source of protein other than your muscles and organs.  Additionally, if you are lifting weights, the higher protein intake is needed to repair your muscles and supply the necessary amino acids.  Building muscle does take a lot of energy, but thankfully the body can use fat as a source of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketosis based diets will completely deplete the glycogen stores in your muscles and organs by design.  This has a negative impact on performance.  Unchecked, high intensity exercise like weight lifting can increase the demands of energy enough where ketosis alone isn't enough to supply the energy requirements.  This is a bad thing.  The cyclic ketogenic diet replenishes the glycogen stores once a week.  This gives you most of the week to burn fat, while keeping your energy up to meet the demands of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been several studies to show that there is a direct correlation between your body's maximum ability and its weight.  As you lose weight, you can expect a loss of your maximum strength.  Part of this is due to any cut causing a loss of lean mass as well as fat mass.  That doesn't mean you are losing muscle, it very well could be some of the energy support systems that feed the muscle.  However, this loss of absolute strength is relatively small compared to your fat loss.  Once you reach your goal, you can rebuild that max strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The high fat content during the week in the cyclic ketogenic diet is sufficient to fuel your training.  However, the body does do better with a periodic refeed when you are training hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T12:41:57.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6717" CreationDate="2012-06-07T16:22:05.853" Score="2" ViewCount="3731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing a slow carb diet and it says you should avoid fruit (unless its your offday).  I'm curious as to why exactly this is the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1689" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T05:01:40.337" Title="Why aren't fruits allowed on a slow carb diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6715" CreationDate="2012-06-07T16:33:36.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fructose is the main reason, just keep them under control. A banana a day isn't bad, 30 a day is not the way to go for low carb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T16:33:36.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6715" CreationDate="2012-06-07T17:17:01.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many fruits are high in carbohydrate, specifically fructose, which is not &quot;slow&quot; and has a number of effects that may be considered deleterious to one's metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T17:17:01.270" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2012-06-07T19:11:44.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have lots of good answers here, but I thought I would offer another angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, although quickness and reaction time require some strength, what is more important is &lt;em&gt;focus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;anticipation&lt;/em&gt;. Both of these skills are 100% mental. When you play, are you 100% focused on the game, or do you sometimes space out? Are you anticipating the dribble / etc &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; it occurs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can practice focus and anticipation anytime, anywhere. The best way to improve is to practice your reaction time and intensity. Here's a few examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As suggested in another post, have a friend signal you before you start an exercise, rep, set, etc. For example, start on all fours. On a cue from a friend, move to an athletic position &lt;em&gt;as fast as possible&lt;/em&gt;. Or start a sprint as quickly as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Test / train your reaction during non-athletic activities also. Put your fingers around (not gripping) a ruler and have a friend drop it. Catch it as quickly as possible. Have a friend yell and throw something at you while your back is turned; turn around and catch it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus and intensity can also be trained in the gym. It's really hard to reach muscle failure without good focus. Pick a tough exercise / weight / etc and focus on exploding the weight up. Work on building intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate plays into all of this. I find that my focus and intensity are highest when my heart rate is up, but not maxed out. Your best training / results will come when you have warmed up, but are not exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="732" LastEditorUserId="732" LastEditDate="2012-06-07T19:33:43.617" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T19:33:43.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6715" CreationDate="2012-06-08T06:05:49.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the risk of being a bit off-topic I have to say: Don't cut fruits off you diet to lower your carb intake. That's like putting sunflower oil in your engine, instead of the regular machine grade engine oil, because it's cheaper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have seriously more benefits of consuming fruits over pretty much any other source of carbs, which you DO need do function properly. Besides clumping all fruits into one category in terms of their fructose levels is severely flawed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest that you keep your fruits as a central part of your diet, no matter if you are trying to go down in weight or &quot;beef up&quot;. The reasoning behind this is that you DO need carbs, and better get them of natural sources, with all the vitamins and fibers etc that come with it, instead of using some labtech formula which might in 20 years prove to be cancerogenic or something. That's of course my two cents...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T06:05:49.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6725" CreationDate="2012-06-08T06:37:21.553" Score="2" ViewCount="1384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently stumbled upon a exercise called &quot;ninja tuck jumps&quot; as shown in this article:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shape.com/fitness/25-most-deceiving-exercises-they-tone-more-you-think?page=12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;25 Most Deceiving Exercises - Ninja Tuck Jumps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also these videos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fug09TvDC5Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ninja jump with a tuck jump&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYqkRzmLEY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zuzana Light - ZWOW # 21&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this exercise safe? How high is the risk of injury doing this exercise, how high is the risk to damage something in long term doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add that I am in very good shape and it's not a problem for me to do this, however I just have the feeling that it might be not safe. Are there any form pointers for this type of exercise to make it safer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T14:29:21.620" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T14:29:21.620" Title="Are ninja tuck jumps safe?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2012-06-08T06:39:36.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comments/answers about excess stuff easily disposed of by the body are rather inaccurate; water-soluble vitamins will wash out as you mentioned, but excess fat-soluble vitamins will remain in the adipose tissue, and will be released into the bloodstream as fat is burned, overloading kidneys and livers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Ca/K/Mg ions are the driving force of the nerve and muscular (not the least cardiac) impulses. Without going into much details, it's the potential difference caused by differential ion abundances are the battery that drives the small but essential current in the human body. Admittedly most often, one would have problems due to a lack of these ions, but I'm pretty sure you do not want to mess with that system by overloading on a particular type of ion. As an example, consider that some of the most poisonous animals on the planet use extreme amounts of these ions in their saliva/poisons (of course this is not immediately relevant in your case, but I just want to stress the delicate nature of the ion balance in the body.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend structuring your diet so that you get most of what you need from natural products, and complement it where it may lack. If you &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; to take that many supplement pills, your diet must surely be lacking something. Finally, when in doubt, ask a professional ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T06:39:36.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6724" CreationDate="2012-06-08T06:47:17.263" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be a silly question but something that have been bugging me for many years now. Pretty much all male athletes (regardless of their discipline) look pretty much like newborn babies with the exception of their facial hair. Likewise I've had friends in high school who'd get rid of their body hair, claiming that it'd help them be better athletes i.e. be stronger, jump higher or something like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it an urban myth or is there some physiological background to it? The little I know, is that hair follicles usually hold fat in them, thus it might have some effect on keeping fat in the body, but surely it can't be much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any perspective on the matter? Please do support your opinions with some sort of reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T11:52:51.223" Title="Is there a connection between general fitness/workout gain and body hair?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6722" CreationDate="2012-06-08T08:47:49.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've searched for a reference for you, online and on my bookshelf, that would clearly state for you that 'there is no direct link between physical fitness or fitness gains and amount of body hair'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But using my work experience as a reference then, as a sport massage therapist, I deal with clients who either epilate or grow their body hair for diverse reasons in relation to their sport. Entirely aside from the adjustments I make in the bodywork I do depending on amount of body hair a particular client has -- I've only found what is commonly known: that weight trainers epilate because they obviously want their musculature to be better seen. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/gear/fashion-and-trends/hairless-more&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cyclists&lt;/a&gt; say having less hair reduces irritation and wind resistance and, if they have a fall and cut their skin, being hairless is safer and allows for being able to get the wound cleaned up better. Swimmers epilate to decrease drag in the water. Women athletes of all kinds epilate because of all the above type of reasons and the general cultural expectations that women be generally hairless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in my work, I have never met anyone whose amount of hair either improved or damaged the key physical fitness markers that I look for when working with them (muscle tone, strength, flexibility, circulation, recovery, etc.) --- though a large amount of hair could affect an individual's performance depending on any perceived/psychological issues or actual/measurable issues with things like irritation and wind or water resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T08:47:49.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6722" CreationDate="2012-06-08T11:52:51.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most &quot;athletic hair removal&quot; is done to make massages easier, so bandaids come off easier and gashes are easier to clean, sunscreen is easier to apply and more reliably applied, to reduce irritation and pulling in contact sports, and for psychological reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the reason it's difficult to find a study on body hair v. strength is because it's ridiculous on the face of it, and there's just no reason to &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; such a study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, in swimming an advantage &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; conferred:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soloswims.com/shaving.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.soloswims.com/shaving.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any studies showing an advantage for cyclists, another prime suspect. Running studies are mixed but have tended towards very slight advantages to being hairless, on the order of seconds over a marathon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/269614-why-atheletes-remove-body-hair/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/269614-why-atheletes-remove-body-hair/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T11:52:51.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6720" CreationDate="2012-06-08T11:59:53.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knee problems are a contraindication for this exercise. Lower back issues could be aggravated, I suppose, especially if there are already structural imbalances. Some people can't even really do the kneeling part due to ankle inflexibility, at least if it starts from a full kneel (not shown in the video).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO a healthy person should have no issues doing this exercise from an injury standpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, I think it's a great exercise myself, although I like to vary things by landing in, or moving to, an athletic position rather than a simple squat. Following with a tuck-jump amps it up several notches. Followed by breakfalls and/or rolls is very entertaining, and amuses others at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T11:59:53.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6728" CreationDate="2012-06-08T12:54:17.557" Score="2" ViewCount="2164" Body="&lt;p&gt;Friends have told me that I should consume whey protein shake before &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; after workout. They said this would be effective for &lt;em&gt;building up muscles&lt;/em&gt;. However, I have read from a website that I should avoid taking whey protein before workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoted from the article on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ogglog.com/health/nutrition/whey-protein-dangers-side-effects-benefits-and-reviews/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can have this power drink in the morning, as a snack, in between&#xA;  meals, with meals, before going to sleep, or after a workout, &lt;strong&gt;but&#xA;  not before or during a workout&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is taking whey protein before a workout bad? What is the reason for avoiding to take whey protein before a workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3400" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T04:39:39.643" Title="Is taking whey protein before a workout bad?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2012-06-08T14:34:48.413" Score="24" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Lifting heavy isn't enough&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that lifting heavy weights &lt;em&gt;by itself&lt;/em&gt; causes bulk is a myth. Understanding &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; is more complicated. First, let's address the specific claim at issue, that women need to stick to 5-pound weights. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newellness.com/physfitn/strntrng.htm&quot;&gt;Kathleen Ekdahl points out&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;em&gt;five pounds is too light to even count as weights!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In order to avoid this gain in muscle mass, women are told to lift very light weights.  This recommendation is oftentimes interpreted to the extreme, and women perform many repetitions with 3 or 5 pound weights. Unfortunately, without sufficient load (weight), the muscle will not change, and the goal of &quot;tone&quot; and &quot;shape&quot; cannot be achieved. A change in the shape or tone of a muscle is created in the same way that size is created, with hard work and consistency!! In order to shape or tone your muscle, you must lift a weight that is heavy enough to create muscle fatigue (also known as failure). Working your muscles to fatigue means that your muscles refuse to lift/move the weight in a correct and safe fashion.  Working your muscles to fatigue will not necessarily create large, unsightly muscle mass.  Even if you work your muscles to extreme fatigue, rest assured, that the majority of  women are genetically unable to create large muscles because they lack sufficient hormones or body structure to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;really hard&lt;/em&gt; to get huge muscles and look like a professional bodybuilder. If it were easy, more guys at the gym would be sporting forty-inch biceps. Unless you're trying specifically to get bigger and bulkier, it's unlikely that it'll happen by accident. More likely, lifting heavy weights will burn fat and build size-appropriate muscle. These young women &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkz4Vfm2Yo&quot;&gt;lifting&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzL57oCxXAk&quot;&gt;heavy weights&lt;/a&gt; don't seem concerned about supposed problems with bulkiness, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Practical Programming, Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore sum up the issue well, next to a photo of one of their young female trainees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women are more likely to believe that weight training is unimportant to health and sports performance than men. There is also a social and media-driven misconception that all weight training produces big, masculine, muscle-bound physiques. This generally does not occur in women without anabolic steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;Tone&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Women are generally steered towards low-weight, high-repetition &quot;toning&quot; exercise routines. The New York Times reviewed the science and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/health/06real.html?src=sch&amp;amp;_r=0&quot;&gt;came to the conclusion that&lt;/a&gt; &quot;for better tone, try fewer reps and more challenging weights.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe and Kilgore explain the fact that the low-weight, high-rep exercise routines typically marketed to women are just ineffective hypertrophy programs. In other words, they're designed to make &lt;strong&gt;bigger muscles&lt;/strong&gt; (which is the &lt;em&gt;opposite&lt;/em&gt; of what these women want), and they don't even a good job of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The modern fitness industry's concept of &quot;toning&quot; muscles is specious--it might sound cool, but it lacks any tangible and definable meaning. The term &quot;muscle tone,&quot; or &lt;em&gt;tonus&lt;/em&gt;, describes an electrophysiological phenomenon, a measure of ionic flow across muscle cell membranes.... Lack of exercise leads to poor tone, aerobic exercise improves tone a little bit, low-intensity weight training improves tone more, and high-intensity training improves tone the fastest.... Most exercise programs that claim to improve muscle tone are actually lower-intensity hypertrophy programs and are only moderately effective for improving muscle tone. If &quot;tone&quot; is the goal, strength is the method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many women have discovered that strength training is the path to what they consider to be &quot;tone&quot;. Heavy strength training can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/10p9kv/6_mo_update_ladies_personal_proof_that_lifting/&quot;&gt;allow someone to stay the same weight while dramatically changing their body composition from fat to muscle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;More important factors&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether the barbell is loaded heavy is almost irrelevant compared to &lt;strong&gt;diet&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt;. Eating big and high-weight, high-volume programs will get you bigger in a hurry. Eating a caloric deficit, or at caloric maintenance, plus a low-volume high-weight program, will get you a great deal stronger but not add mass. Triples at 90% of 1RM with normal caloric intake is dramatically different for mass and body composition from 5 sets of 5 at 80% of 1RM with a hefty caloric surplus and a gallon of milk a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tim Kontos, David Adamson, and Sarah Walls at EliteFTS address the importance of volume, as part of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/documents/female_athletes.htm&quot;&gt;a broader attempt to dispel the myths&lt;/a&gt; that keep women away from lifting weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle bulk comes from a high volume of work. The repetition range that most women would prefer to do (8–20 reps) promotes hypertrophy (muscle growth). For example, a bodybuilding program will have three exercises per body part. For the chest, they will do flat bench for three sets of 12, incline for three sets of 12, and decline bench for three sets of 12. This adds up to 108 total repetitions. A program geared towards strength will have one exercise for the chest—flat bench for six sets of three with progressively heavier weight. This equals 18 total repetitions. High volume (108 reps) causes considerable muscle damage, which in turn, results in hypertrophy. The considerably lower volume (18 reps) will build more strength and cause minimal bulking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heavy weights will promote strength not size. This has been proven time and time again. When lifting weights over 85 percent, the primary stress imposed upon the body is placed on the nervous system, not on the muscles. Therefore, &lt;strong&gt;strength will improve by a neurological effect while not increasing the size of the muscles.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Examples&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reddit's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/&quot;&gt;/r/fitness subreddit&lt;/a&gt; is pretty dedicated to showing &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.bodylog.com/index.php/bodylog-amanda-tiano-body-transformation/&quot;&gt;before-and-after examples&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/x4r4g/this_is_what_a_10lb_muscle_gain_looks_like_on_a/&quot;&gt;women who engage in heavy-lifting strength programs&lt;/a&gt;. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/v9zva/what_5months_of_starting_strength_looks_like_on_a/&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;. Sometimes those anecdotes are of the form &quot;it worked for me&quot;, but occasionally &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/viy00/er_being_told_repeatedly_that_squats_will_not/&quot;&gt;women are unhappy with their results&lt;/a&gt;. Sometimes that's because heavy lifting didn't work, but just as often it's that the program worked as expected, but the woman simply considered the results to be negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;JCD Fitness has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://jcdfitness.com/2011/08/attention-women-heres-proof-that-lifting-heavy-weights-will-not-make-you-big-and-bulky/&quot;&gt;longer&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://jcdfitness.com/2011/06/i-dont-want-to-get-big-and-bulky-fitness-marketing-and-its-effect-on-women/&quot;&gt;takes&lt;/a&gt; on the issue that make great use of women's personal stories. One of the points brought up there, as well as on reddit, is that marketing messages have effectively brought body image issues into the problem. At bottom, everyone has a different definition of &quot;bulky&quot;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/k4y1i/man_look_how_disgusting_and_bulky_lifting_heavy/c2hlbn4&quot;&gt;sometimes women really do want to look like an undernourished model at her peak of starvation and airbrushing&lt;/a&gt;. In those cases, radical weight-loss programs really would be the best path to achieve those (possibly problematic) goals, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=ilHRhAYS5d4&quot;&gt;lifting weights and otherwise doing impressive things&lt;/a&gt; might not be the right approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-09T16:05:59.930" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T16:05:59.930" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2012-09-30T17:42:00.217" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6726" CreationDate="2012-06-08T15:46:36.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;At least part of what you quote (the advice against taking protein during a workout) is opposite from advice given by the NSCA (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is also best advised to consume &#xA;  carbohydrate and protein with fluid &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; exercise and/or&#xA;  immediately post exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://athletics.macalester.edu/custompages/Deno_Videos/nutrition/recovery_nutrition.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Recovery Nutrition for Athletes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-06-08T15:56:40.967" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T15:56:40.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2012-06-08T16:31:52.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;With all due respect for Doctors, researchers and professional trainers, and i do not claim to be more knowledgeable at all but...The thing with researches is that, in my humble opinion, there are too many of them and one contradicts the other. For instance, some researches say eating fat will make you fat while others say the complete opposite. Some researches say you should have a low carb diet to loose fat, other researches will say differently, etc..&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will answer you based on common logic and things we notice in our everyday lives, some facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women do not have as much testosterone and growth hormone as men thus they do not gain the same amount of muscle mass and as quickly as men do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you check the professional - steroid saturated - female bodybuilders, which should be the most muscled female types; even them they don't have huge upper bodies and muscle mass (even steroid has limited effect on women) as do steroid saturated male bodybuilders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women do gain strength and muscles but will never become bulky. As mentioned in the previous point comparing with steroid female bodybuilders, if they barely manage to become &quot;huge&quot; then there is no fear for the regular non steroid female bodybuilder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both males and females gain/lose muscles the same way, thus there is no need to have a different method of training (ie women can lift weights) and there is no fear of becoming bulky for the reasons mentioned above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the article you mentioned, the trainer is dealing with models and actresses, and thus it may be that he doesn't want &lt;b&gt;any smallest detail of definition&lt;/b&gt; on their bodies. But between that and bulk there is a huge difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T16:31:52.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6734" CreationDate="2012-06-08T18:26:12.150" Score="1" ViewCount="633" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always did my speed bag training with wraps and never had a problem, but they are kind of a hassle to deal with in between workouts.  I recently saw some &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.titleboxing.com/speed-bag-gloves.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speed bag gloves&lt;/a&gt; which seem like an ideal solution.  Other than the fact that they might be more expensive, is there any downside to using gloves over wraps for speed bag-only workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T10:23:49.930" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T10:23:49.930" Title="Wraps or gloves for speed bag training?" Tags="&lt;boxing&gt;&lt;gloves&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6649" CreationDate="2012-06-08T18:52:02.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're serious enough about running to worry about your cadence, you might consider getting a watch and some associated hardware to help you measure things more precisely.  That'll keep you from having to listen to the same five songs over and over, and might also help you find a more natural cadence that is close to &quot;ideal&quot; without necessarily hitting every beat.  In other words, a cadence of 93 might feel more comfortable for you, but will eventually bring you off-beat if you stick with 90 BPM music.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DC Rainmaker talks a bit about cadence in his review of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/01/garmin-ant-foot-pods-everything-you.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Garmin ANT+ foot pod&lt;/a&gt;, which is what I've personally used for the last two years without any complaints whatever.  I use it with the reasonably-priced &lt;a href=&quot;https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=142&amp;amp;pID=27483&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FR60&lt;/a&gt;, though any ANT+-compatible watch will do.  Polar also makes a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/accessories/S1_foot_pod&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;line of foot pods&lt;/a&gt;, though I can't vouch for those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T18:52:02.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6731" CreationDate="2012-06-08T20:35:49.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed bag work is non-injurious; wraps provide more wrist support, unnecessary on the speed bag. You might lose a tiny bit of mobility depending on the gloves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T20:35:49.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4507" CreationDate="2012-06-09T08:11:20.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that jumping rope is definitely the best way to go, as if done right it is actually a lower impact exercise. Mainly to correctly jump rope, jump using the ball of your foot and keep your upper arms close to your body while the lower arms are directed out from your body (though not at 90 degrees), and keep the main movement in your wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running or jogging puts a large amount of stress and negative impact (over long periods of time) on joints in comparison to jumping rope, this is due to the momentum involved in running (which magnifies the weight of the person) and the fact that the entirety of this force is taken on by one leg, instead of both (as in jumping rope).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, jumping rope increases endurance, rhythm, reaction speed, co-ordination and balance more effectively than jogging or running. The endurance is because jumping rope accesses and uses your core muscle groups (as well as others) at a much quicker and intense rate than running or jogging can. The rhythm is due to the the repetition of the exercise, this is heavily connected with reaction time. Reaction time is increased in reaction to the rhythm, the brain learns to quickly calculate the speed of the rotation, which in turn leads to anticipating the next jump, this also helps to increase brain activity in relation to memory. Co-ordination is increased due to the combination of jumping and moving of the arms, this also helps to tone the upper body much more successfully than jogging or running, as both sides of the brain are used while jumping rope it increases spacial awareness (which has a large impact on reaction time, balace and co-ordination) and body awareness (also has a large impact on reaction time, balance and co-ordination). Balance is increased as noted in the previous sentence, however it is also due to the strengthening of the core muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also jumping rope definitely combats depression, as any type of physical exercise has a positive repercussion against depression. Depression can be caused by many things, high up on the list however are: lack of physical fitness (which inhibits self-confidence, this can be combatted through any physical exercise, jumping rope is a very portable example), lack of vitamin D (which is from a lack of sunlight, this can be combatted (via jumping rope) by going outside to exercise), and lack of self-confidence (which can be improved through improving your image, however to be confident you have to be happy with yourself, a way to do this is to act as though you are watching yourself from the outside, another way is to react to situations in a way that you believe to be admirable and moral, surround yourself with quality (not necessarily quantity) people (these people should be supportive, friendly, intelligent enough to provide mental stimulus but perhaps not so intelligent to make you feel overly stupid, and honest with you. Avoid negative, abusive, aggressive, or depressing company).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helped out! also here is a site that shows 23 different types of jumping rope:   &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bloomtofit.com/23-skipping-rope-exercises-extended-video&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bloomtofit.com/23-skipping-rope-exercises-extended-video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3640" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2015-09-30T07:39:58.457" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T07:39:58.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6743" CreationDate="2012-06-09T11:38:05.337" Score="1" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I intend to gain weight and I want a muscular physique, and I'm going to work out. Will whey protein help me in weight and muscle gain? And which one should I take, Isolate or Concentrate? My weight is 63 kilograms (approx 138 pounds) and height is 5'9.5&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3589" LastActivityDate="2012-06-09T15:07:58.430" Title="Whey protein for weight gain?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-09T12:13:03.547" Score="3" ViewCount="33170" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is said that men usually have more lean than women. I would like to know what does the 'lean muscle mass' mean? is it just the muscle mass? How would you calculate it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3642" LastActivityDate="2012-06-09T14:31:28.977" Title="What's lean muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-09T13:00:31.180" Score="1" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly is a &lt;em&gt;safe&lt;/em&gt; limit for taking whey protein? Different websites recommend different amounts of protein intake. The most common one that I see is around 0.8g of protein for every kilograms of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthizen.com/health-tools/calculators-trackers/protein-calculator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online calculator&lt;/a&gt; for protein requirement and given my body specifications, the calculator recommends that I take 48grams of protein per day. I think my daily usual food can reach 48g of protein easily. In fact, I don't need whey protein to reach 48g of protein, if the calculator is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, some websites recommend up to over 100g of protein, which is more than twice the recommended protein intake from the calculator!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh about 100 pounds and stand at 5'4. I am a male and have a relatively small and thin body frame. Apart from my recent venture into the gym on some of the days to spend an hour lifting weights, my activity level is pretty sedentary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because I'm worry that I may either consume too much protein, which may &lt;em&gt;overwork&lt;/em&gt; my  liver and kidneys, or consume too little protein, which is not most effective for my training in building up muscle size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, I am taking two scoops of whey protein on days after lifting weights. On other days that I don't lift weights, I take one scoop of whey protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, again, what is a &lt;em&gt;safe gauge&lt;/em&gt; for the amount of protein intake so that my body remains &lt;em&gt;healthy&lt;/em&gt; and does not need to work extra to flush out the unnecessary proteins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3400" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T16:32:19.633" Title="What is an optimal amount for protein intake?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6738" CreationDate="2012-06-09T14:31:28.977" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider an example, a person &lt;b&gt;X&lt;/b&gt; who's weight is say :90 kg. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then consider another person &lt;b&gt;Y&lt;/b&gt; who's weight is also :90 kg.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both have same weight, BUT, X has &lt;b&gt;more&lt;/b&gt; lean mass than Y. What does that mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;it means your bodyweight is a sum of different factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body fat mass (fat percentage)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body muscle&lt;b&gt;(lean)&lt;/b&gt; mass (muscle percentage)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body water composition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lean mass is thus the pure muscle mass without the fat. Men have more lean mass than women , because their body composition and physiology has &lt;b&gt; more muscles&lt;/b&gt;, particularly in the upper body. Thus it makes the muscle's percentage higher than the one in women.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To calculate your lean mass you need first to measure your body fat percentage. You can do this using machines (some are not very accurate) or using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;caliper&lt;/a&gt;. The caliper is the fastest and cheapest tool you can have.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwNXXG6K4a4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; on how to use a caliper, and this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.linear-software.com/online.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; to enter your measured data and use the calculator to get your body fat percentage and lean mass.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you will need some help to take the measurements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This method is an estimate, always consult a doctor for the best most up to date technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastActivityDate="2012-06-09T14:31:28.977" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6739" CreationDate="2012-06-09T14:48:07.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Safe&lt;/em&gt;? I wouldn't exceed 2g protein per &lt;em&gt;pound&lt;/em&gt; of bodyweight, but it depends on what your body actually &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt;. It sounds like you're relatively sedantary--even still, 48g seems low, something more like 60-80g would be closer to ranges I've seen suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That same calculator suggested 90g of protein per day for me--I'm 185lb at 5'10&quot;, exercise 2-3 hours a day (various types), and IMO 90g while safe is substantially below what my body requires. Calculators I've tried range from 80g-160g, which basically means &quot;meh, we're making up numbers--if you really care, see a nutrutionist.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2012-06-09T15:10:49.457" LastActivityDate="2012-06-09T15:10:49.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6742" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6786" CreationDate="2012-06-09T14:51:59.137" Score="2" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read quite a lot online about bacteria you can be infected with by swimming in freshwater lakes. Anecdotally I've had friends tell me that when swimming in a lake you should keep your head over water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases, avoiding submersion isn't an option, and you're going to freestyle swim anyway. Is it common for people to use earplugs or noseplugs or anything like that? If industrial pollution isn't a particular concern where you're swimming, would you take any precautions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1866" LastActivityDate="2019-06-21T03:46:55.847" Title="Reasonable precautions for lake bacteria" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6737" CreationDate="2012-06-09T15:07:58.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein is calories; additional calories will help gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to get fast-acting proteins (whey) &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; high-glycemic-index carbs &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; soon after working out (15-30 minutes). Isolate is &quot;better&quot;, but more expensive. Is it &lt;em&gt;enough&lt;/em&gt; better that cost shouldn't be a factor? Probably not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally tends towards a mix--some fast-acting, very pure (isolates), BCAAs for specifics, concentrates, and slower-acting, to cover my post-workout bases and to make sure there's a steady stream of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Casein-only (or primarily, at least) is good for night-time since it's slow-acting. Can be a powder, or just cottage cheese (sort of our version of uncompressed paneer) because it's tasty, and I like to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-09T15:07:58.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-10T04:34:24.920" Score="3" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;When training to &lt;em&gt;build up muscle size&lt;/em&gt;, should I use lighter weight in higher reps and sets or use heavier weight in lower reps and sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3400" LastActivityDate="2012-06-16T00:19:41.343" Title="Use lighter or heavier weight in higher or lower reps for building muscle size?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6746" CreationDate="2012-06-10T06:03:12.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Optimal muscular hypertrophy is achieved by using enough weight that makes you hit failure in the 6-10 rep range. To answer your question frankly, neither. This weight range would be considered moderate. Higher weight would mainly increase strength, while lower weight would mainly increase endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek8.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek8.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2012-06-10T06:03:12.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6791" CreationDate="2012-06-10T06:34:06.783" Score="4" ViewCount="1342" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is generally accepted that the optimal rep range for muscular hypertrophy is around &lt;strong&gt;6-10 reps&lt;/strong&gt;. And it is also generally accepted that after &lt;strong&gt;3 minutes of rest&lt;/strong&gt; muscles will recuperate all the energy they can possibly get.  &lt;em&gt;(Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joe Weider)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do muscles still achieve optimal hypertrophy when they're tired and they hit that range? Let me give an example. I do 8 reps of 135 lb to failure on the bench press. I take a brief rest, about 30 seconds. To accomodate my current energy level, I must lower the weight to 95 lb to reach failure at 8 reps. Is this second set still achieving maximum hypertrophy? Or must I rest long enough to use 135 lb x 8 reps again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Schwarzenegger, in his Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, has instructed never to rest long enough to completely recuperate. His reason was to not let the muscle get cold and to feel a better &quot;pump&quot;. However, Weider refutes Schwarzenegger's advocacy of the &quot;pump&quot;. In one of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Y6XAqFrhY&amp;amp;list=FLEeklxft2cKJcBKCr42j1eA&amp;amp;index=2&amp;amp;feature=plpp_video&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Weider's videos&lt;/a&gt; (4:29), Ms. Olympia 1982 Rachel McLish says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can go for the burn all you want and you will not get results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So Weider suggests longer rest periods for more mass. Who is right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2012-06-10T06:41:29.393" LastActivityDate="2012-12-26T23:08:30.483" Title="Does the optimal hypertrophy rep range apply to tired muscles?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6751" CreationDate="2012-06-10T08:21:57.107" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm eating a pack of biscuits and on the label the following information is given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nutritional information per 100g of product&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates  -     75g&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Proteins            -      6g&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Fat -  15g&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Cholesterol  -   0mg&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Energy  -     468kcal&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Calcium             -     60mg&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Iron                -      8mg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know more about this information. What does the information in grams mean? Should I be only concerned about the calories? How can I get the calorie information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3648" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T03:56:34.567" Title="Get calories from nutritional information" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-11-11T21:49:47.317" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6749" CreationDate="2012-06-10T14:00:48.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to keep in mind the following:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 gram of fat yields 9 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 gram of carbohydrate yields 4 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 gram of protein yields 4 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so for the food you are eating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Carbohydrates - 75g  ==&amp;gt;75*4 = 300 cal&#xA;Proteins - 6g ==&amp;gt;6*4 = 24 cal&#xA;Fat - 15g ==&amp;gt;15*9 = 135 cal&#xA;&#xA;==&amp;gt;Carb+protein+fat gives total calories = 300+24+135 = 459 cal &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as for the vitamin/minerals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Cholesterol - 0mg&#xA;Calcium - 60mg&#xA;Iron - 8mg&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are not related to calories. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;In general, nutrition labels should have a &lt;b&gt;percentage daily value&lt;/b&gt; on the right side, which for these vitamins tells you how much percent of the &lt;b&gt;required&lt;/b&gt; daily value that you need, does your food contain. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vitamin/mineral daily requirements depend on  your &lt;b&gt;age and gender&lt;/b&gt; and is about how much (&lt;b&gt;grams,mg,mcg.etc..&lt;/b&gt;) of each is required per day. You can check &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index-eng.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Health CANADA's&lt;/a&gt; website, they have a lot of info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T03:56:34.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-10T19:31:33.470" Score="7" ViewCount="13306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm more comfortable weight lifting in pants than in shorts, but find they inhibit proper knee position when squatting.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any types of pants or material that will stretch well enough to be okay for squatting?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which features should good pants for weight lifting provide?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T08:58:11.903" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T18:56:07.517" Title="What type of pants are good for weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6753" CreationDate="2012-06-10T22:19:50.320" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweatpants, running tights (loose or tight fit), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, a pair of military cargo pants/BDUs have always been baggy enough for me and haven't ever inhibited range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus when ninjas come they can't see your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-10T22:19:50.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-11T10:27:38.670" Score="1" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been struggling to make progress in my swimming for quite a while now. Is it simply a need to eat more food to improve? I recently took 2months off swimming to assist my recovery. I want to achieve my goals in swimming, but I don't know if it is that simple to just eat more, becasue I feel like I'm already eating too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T18:21:54.387" Title="Eating more calories to improve performance?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2012-06-11T10:36:40.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should record: date, time, what specific exercises you did, reps and sets, what body parts you focused on, duration of workout, intensity of workout, your mood, your energy levels, how you felt during the workout, your eating plans, your goals for the next workout, your weight, heart rate and anything else you can think of! The more detail the better because it provides you with more of a complex picture when reviewing your past workouts and progress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T10:36:40.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2012-06-11T15:46:44.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may or may not, some women that lift for size to get bulkier then other women, lots of genetics at work here. In general a woman won't get as bulky as a man without outside help (i.e. steroids) since the higher the testosterone level (which females tend to lack) the greater the muscle growth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastEditorUserId="3356" LastEditDate="2012-07-10T20:04:46.300" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T20:04:46.300" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4378" CreationDate="2012-06-11T18:34:49.470" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've also got problems with my left wrist and forearm (lingering on from severe tendon damage from 2 years ago). I have wrist weakness that comes and goes and it interferes with my other training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have done deadlifts etc (as with all the great advice given here earlier on), but there are times when the wrist is too weak or 'giving out' and doing those exercises is not an option. Or rather, I can do them but only with much lighter weights/reps than I am used to, so as not to stress the wrist, or because the wrist is too weak to support the exercise. There have been days when I have had to deadlift or bench 10-15 kg less than I am capable of, just because the wrist it too weak. Therefore, those exercises that should help strengthen my wrist can't be done -- and it can be a catch 22.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, during those times, I have found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/105937-benefits-power-plate-machine/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;doing isometric exercises for the wrist and forearm on the PowerPlate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (or other brand of vibration plate equipment) is really great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have access to such a machine (either at a gym, school or physio), try kneeling in front of it, laying your forearms across the plate bed w/ palms down, then while turned on, raise palms off the bed (forearms remaining in contact) for a few reps over 30 seconds -- dynamic exercise. Then pause for few seconds. Then for the next 30 seconds raise palms off and hold for isometric contractions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The do same with back of hands/forearms down on the plate and flex your palms/fingers in towards wrist -- first dynamically, then isometrically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all vibration plate exercises, don't be tempted to overdo it. 2 mins of work does not seem like a lot, but your muscles are getting worked to the factor of 10x's, so you will feel the DOMS later on if unused to the work and you will get good strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T18:34:49.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6763" CreationDate="2012-06-11T20:54:48.197" Score="6" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally do a fair amount of barefoot running on grass, dirt, and pavement, but on a recent trip, I ended a couple of runs with several miles on sand.  It felt easier on my calves and lower legs compared to solid surfaces, but I noticed some differences in soreness afterward, mostly along the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome&quot;&gt;IT band&lt;/a&gt;, which usually gives me no problems at all.  I'm guessing this was caused by either the slope of the beach in places, or just having to stabilize my legs more while landing on a soft surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from obvious hazards like stepping on sharp objects, are there any specific strains or other injuries I should be more aware of when running longer distances on sand, due to the reduced traction or other factors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3138" LastActivityDate="2018-02-28T05:49:51.220" Title="Injury risks running on sand vs solid surfaces?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6762" CreationDate="2012-06-11T21:56:16.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an issue of depth: pushing off a surface that gives that much induces more stress on the entire chain, because everything has noticeably more work to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO the pushing-off would have a greater effect than landing, but that's more &quot;intuitive&quot; than &quot;true&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than adjusting to the additional stress, I don't think there's anything intrinsically more &quot;dangerous&quot;, you just have to be aware you're going through a larger range of motion, and the muscles/tendons/etc. will be doing more work than on a more-solid surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me the greatest difference is in my calves, but because of previous IT band issues, and current exercises for one of the martial arts I study, IT band stuff doesn't bother me as much as it used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T21:56:16.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4715" CreationDate="2012-06-11T22:03:46.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I seem to lose muscle size &lt;strong&gt;quickly&lt;/strong&gt; if not working out for some time. Why does this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take it that you feel the changes are quicker for you than in comparison with your friends or peers. You asked, &quot;Is this just my body type?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question isn't limited to general principles. If you are seeing unusual results, it could be stress or lack of good lifestyle habits. Do you get enough sleep? Are you under psychological stress? Is your schedule regular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Psychological stress (even something as common as being a student in a challenging major) can increase your levels of catabolic hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also asked, &quot;is there any solution for this?&quot; Yes. Focus on getting lots of rest, managing stress and having a regular schedule. You may see that you don't lose mass as quickly if your stress goes down and your lifestyle improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3283" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T22:03:46.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6765" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6768" CreationDate="2012-06-11T22:07:37.797" Score="6" ViewCount="6192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been adjusting to forefoot/barefoot running for a couple months now. I keep extending my distance or increasing my speed or improving my form. Consequently, my calves have been staying sore for most of the last couple months. A week ago I decided to take a break and let my calves get completely recovered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this week of rest I did light activity. For example, yesterday I went for a 4 mile walk and during the walk I practised a few running drills (what Ryan Hall calls &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82ghOr78FcU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dribbles&lt;/a&gt;&quot;) and I ran a few blocks focusing on technique a few different times during my walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But light activity can helped recovery, so I think I've done a pretty good job of backing off my training intensity for a week. I have also done some icing, compression and had two calf massages this week, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even after all that, my calves (soleus) are still slightly sore today, one more than the other. I can only notice this soreness if I flex them a certain way, so it is very slight soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: should I take another day (or two) off and let the soreness go away 100%? Or can I go ahead and resume training before the soreness is completely gone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros and cons of either approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is a generic question that could apply to resuming training of many different types. My past experience is that people generally recommend training again even if there is a small amount of soreness from a prior workout in a case where the rest period for the muscle has been appropriate and most of the soreness is gone. This may be the general answer to my question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/872/is-it-healthy-to-exercise-a-muscle-when-its-still-sore&quot;&gt;Is it healthy to exercise a muscle when it&amp;#39;s still sore?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm excited to get out and run. I feel ready to go. That psychological state means something too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does Physical Fitness Stack Exchange think about this topic in the context of transitioning to a new running technique? Does the generic answer apply?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, this running has done more for the appearance of my calf muscles than weight lifting ever did. I could never get my calves to grow before. Now I don't even care about that, but they do look better than I recall them ever looking in the past, no matter how much I worked them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3283" LastEditorUserId="3283" LastEditDate="2017-08-29T07:42:15.160" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T07:42:15.160" Title="Calf muscle recovery time when adapting to forefoot/barefoot running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6787" CreationDate="2012-06-12T02:42:13.233" Score="11" ViewCount="13248" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title pretty much sums up my question: is it more beneficial to take a hot (warm) shower after a workout or a cold one? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that I tend to feel more relaxed while taking a warmer shower and my muscles loosen up, but when you see professional athletes, they seem to quickly ice themselves down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was just wondering if one is more beneficial than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3654" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T12:33:20.810" Title="Hot or cold shower after a workout" Tags="&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6766" CreationDate="2012-06-12T04:57:33.907" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cold showers/icing help reduce swelling and inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I view it the same way as treating acute injuries: you ice the first 24-48 hrs, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OTOH, I dislike cold showers, so my view, and my actions, aren't always in alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2012-06-12T13:25:45.917" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T13:25:45.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6765" CreationDate="2012-06-12T05:41:51.930" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, kudos to you for cutting back your training enough that soreness was all you encountered. I see far too many people who say they cut back, but still overdo it and injure themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are three points and a personal anecdote to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You say yourself that your calves are looking better. What you have been doing, with somewhat constant, slight-to-moderate soreness, hasn't hurt you. However, our bodies dislike stress, and pain (even soreness) increases our stress, reducing our bodies ability to perform.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Taking it easy for a week to allow the soreness to subside also hasn't hurt you. The soreness has apparently gone down and you feel good and ready to run some more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You've (had to?) rely on icing and massage, in part at least, to get the soreness to go away.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I switched to barefoot and minimalist shoe running, I also cut back drastically on miles and time spent running, and also had a near-constant slight-to-moderate soreness. I actually would have cut back even more, but was preparing for the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay and felt I really needed to keep up my mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the race I took almost 2 weeks &quot;off&quot; with no training, just moderately more than normal-life activity and some stretching every night. The soreness went completely away, and when I returned to &quot;training&quot; (mostly just running for fun) I felt &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; better than before the race, and was able to add more distance more quickly without incurring the same amount of semi-permanent soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm obviously a very small sample size, but my experience, combined with that of others I know, would lead me to recommend a few more (2-3) days of light activity to allow the soreness to completely go away, then a slow ramp up back to your previous levels of training. Don't worry about time frame. Once your lower legs and feet are accustomed to their new roles, and you can run without soreness, there will be plenty of time to increase mileage, speed, or duration--just do it intelligently and stay healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T05:41:51.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6781" CreationDate="2012-06-12T08:54:55.617" Score="3" ViewCount="8414" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last Thursday (so, 5 days ago), I did a short leg workout, centering on finding my maximum weight for squats. I used a Smith Machine and, for the first time ever, I did not have a pad on the Olympic bar, as my gym only has one pad and someone else had it. I only had a small towel to pad the bar and no training partner that day to watch me to make sure I wasn't rolling the bar up my neck as I squatted down (a form problem I have). I don't remember the bar rolling up, but I fear it might have, because of this pain in my neck and shoulders (specific muscles feel like they are traps, the splenius muscles, rhomboid minor -- that whole area). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain itself is an achy type, not sharp or shooting. The feeling led me to ask my partner if he saw any black &amp;amp; blue marks on the area. He said no. But if he'd said yes, I'd not have been surprised, because it feels like I've been thumped around there. It's an odd achy feel that I'm not used to getting after squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a hair's breath shy of being an outright hypochondriac, so I don't feel that I have actually sustained an acute injury. If I had any thought at all that I'd seriously hurt myself, I'd have been at the doctor's in a shot. But, short of a keen injury, what could I have done? And what should I do to alleviate these aches and pains? Should I just ice/rest for a while? work through it to 'loosen it up'? Is this just DOMs -- (it's been suggested by a friend that maybe I was actually hefting the heaviest weights up with my shoulders a bit, recruiting muscles I shouldn't have)? Or something else? Should I be concerned or not fuss too much and move on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just never experienced anything like this before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastEditorDisplayName="user3495" LastEditDate="2012-06-12T09:04:56.743" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T19:17:16.960" Title="Is this pain in my neck -- after Smith Machine squats -- just DOMs or something else?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-12T09:08:44.003" Score="5" ViewCount="867" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work as a programmer. Recently I've been going to the gym downstairs and doing half an hour of pretty intensive rowing before work every day. The problem is that I feel completely wiped out afterwards. I usually have a big bowl of healthy cereal afterwards - but I don't feel like it's giving me what I need to regain my concentration back and feel unable to concentrate properly until I eat lunch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink lots of water too - what am I missing? salt? What's the right thing to eat in the morning for this? Or do I need a supplement? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T17:26:40.960" Title="Good breakfast to regain concentration and energy after a morning workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-12T10:06:21.987" Score="3" ViewCount="1194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every other day I ride a bike for 40 minutes maintaining a cadence of at least 90 and work up quite a sweat. After that I do weights for about an hour changing muscle groups every time. I usually rest about 15-20 minutes after the bike ride. Would if make a difference if I drank the protein shake after the biking and before weights or go ahead and wait till after i do weights? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3655" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-12T11:34:07.227" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T11:34:07.227" Title="Should I drink a protein shake between workouts or at the end of them?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6771" CreationDate="2012-06-12T10:45:48.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; difference, but that's a lot of aerobic activity before weight training. If anything, I'd recommend some carbs to replenish glycogen stores. There's also no reason the protein couldn't be consumed during weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on what your goals are, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2011/11/07/cardio-before-or-after-weights/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a representative article&lt;/a&gt; that might make you reconsider the order in which you do things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T10:45:48.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6770" CreationDate="2012-06-12T10:53:17.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a nutritionist but I have read lots about breakfast being a very important part of the diet, as it's supposed to be the refueling of your body after sleep, which is when your body goes into a self-maintenance phase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason that you feel completely beat after the rowing is probably that you're pushing yourself to a hard exercise when your body is low on fuel. Try moving the exercise routine to lunch time, half an hour of rowing and maybe a quick lunch with a sandwich. I have been doing lunch workouts for about two years now, and am very happy with it. If nothing it's a good way to break the routine of sitting in front of the PC, and the shower afterwards is a great way to wake up midday. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I also work as a programmer/data analyst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2012-06-12T12:54:47.513" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T12:54:47.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6770" CreationDate="2012-06-12T13:26:14.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout in the morning as well and what I've found best for myself is to eat 2 times. About 30 minutes before my workout I eat about 1 serving on yogurt. This helps me get through my workout and keeps my stomach from going crazy. Then, after I shower, I have 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and a banana. I feel that the carbs from the toast help get me through the day and the peanut butter and banana are just extra fillers until I get a chance to eat again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3654" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T13:26:14.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6770" CreationDate="2012-06-12T14:26:09.737" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, unless my breakfast has some form of protein in ample supply, the breakfast is useless to me.  You will do better with a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich on an English muffin than a bowl of cereal.  The cereal is quick energy, and is easily burned up.  Protein just sticks with you, and takes longer to process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important point, is that you probably just don't have enough food at breakfast.  A &quot;healthy bowl of cereal&quot; will likely try to keep the Calories low--even with milk.  If you are a guy, and you just exercised, anything less than a 500 Calorie breakfast is probably not enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T14:26:09.737" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6770" CreationDate="2012-06-12T14:51:08.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fairly intense, aerobically-challenging, functional workout most mornings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What ended up working best for me was waking up about 90 minutes beforehand, having a protein shake with a portion of pre-workout powder, and going back to sleep as best I could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the calories, the workout was simply too much to deal with. If I had it, say, 30 minutes before the workout, it made me a little upset to my stomach and caused digestive issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;After&lt;/em&gt; the workout I'd either have a more-substantial protein/fruit/etc. smoothie, or actual food. Either should contain a mix of fast-acting protein and carbs, and depending on your eating schedule, slower-digesting protein and carbs. I tend to eat fairly often, so the exact ratios of fast/slow aren't super-critical, but after &lt;em&gt;intense&lt;/em&gt; workouts, the fast protein/carb ratio should be somewhere around 1/2-1/4, depending on who you ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T14:51:08.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6770" CreationDate="2012-06-12T14:55:41.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a programmer too, and since your more into cereal than meat in the morning, what worked for me is one of these two meals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;250 g of cottage cheese + 1cup blue berries + 1 banana + 1 tbsp organic honey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 cup of oats + 5-6 egg whites + bluebrries + honey+cinamon ( you have to bake the mixture for like 20 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;concerning the &lt;b&gt;first&lt;/b&gt; one , the good thing about it is that :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cottage cheese has 15 g of protein in 175g of cheese , ie in 250 its 30 g, and u need protein to recover muscles and to fill u up for a longer time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Berries are very energetic fruits (their sugar and fiber) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;banana has a lot of potassium which u need after workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;honey is a simple carb (fast absorption) which spikes your insulin and energy fast. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most important also is that cottage cheese has a good amount of salt (around 500mg in 175g of cheese) thus after you have sweat a lot in the gym and lost a lot of sodium (makes u feel light headed and less concentrated) this will recover ur sodium level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;concerning the &lt;b&gt;second&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it has a lot protein too &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oats are the best kind of complex carbs, they get stored as energy in the liver , fill you up for hours, regulate your blood sugar thus make u focus better&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;blueberries as mentioned above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;honey is for a fast energy spike (and of course good taste)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i go for the first option most of the time coz its faster and that the high sodium amount really helps. But its good to try both on  seperate days.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;PS:&lt;/b&gt; I also recommend that like 30 minutes before you go to the gym, have a small cube of &lt;b&gt;dark&lt;/b&gt; chocolate. It is a good mind and energy stimulant in the morning and will help you workout better and be sharper for a while.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;UPDATE(answering your questions)&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Probably won't go for the second one as 6 egg-whites seems expensive and I hate waste (the yolks). &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know about where u live, but in Canada eggs are kind of cheap. You Can still use the yolk, a cooking technique is to put the yolk in a tupperware and freeze it. You can still use the yolk if your doing cakes or sweets or wtv.. all you have to do is to take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge the night before use. Also, i don't know if you have this option where you live, but here we have egg whites bottles, so u can buy one of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;One question though - doesn't this stuff contain a lot of calories and fat? &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the nutrition facts:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                             Calories         Fat      Protein&#xA;250 g of cottage cheese        200             2g        30g&#xA;1cup blue berries               80             0g         1g&#xA;1 banana (small)                90             0g         1g&#xA;1 tbsp organic honey            60             0g         0g&#xA;  TOTAL:                        430            2g         32g&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which means it is a very good calorie level (specially in the morning and post workout) , very low in fat and very high in protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                             Calories         Fat      Protein&#xA;1 cup of oats                 360             6g        12g&#xA;5 egg whites                   80             0g        20g&#xA;1 cup blueberries              80             0g         1g&#xA;1 tbsp organic honey           60             0g         0g&#xA;  TOTAL:                      580             6g         32g  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which also means it is a very good calorie level (specially in the morning and post workout) , very low in fat and very high in protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Note&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you need calories in the morning and specially post workout to recover and regain concentration. In case these amounts of calories above are way to much for you age/height/weight then just remove the banana or the honey from it and it'll be fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat, contrary to the common myth, does NOT make you fat. You have to understand that if your body requires X calories per day, and you eat more than X, &lt;b&gt;one of two things&lt;/b&gt; might happen: &lt;br&gt;&#xA;a) if you have crazy awesome genetics, the excess calories will be thrown out of the body&lt;br&gt;&#xA;b) if you are like me and the majority, the excess will turn to sugar inside the body and be stored as fat.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you are in the good range of calories, Fat does not make you fat at all. It gives you a lot of energy (1g of fat yield 9kcal) and help regulate your hormones for growth and recovery. However, 99% of the fat you eat should be the &lt;b&gt;good&lt;/b&gt; fat, ie the mono/poly unsaturated fat. while Saturated fat, you do need a bit , but if you eat too much your arteries get clogged with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; I'm not definitely more into cereal in the morning. in fact I'd prefer &#xA; something more savoury. Do you have any tips for some meals like that &#xA; (that aren't too fat and cal heavy)? &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As shown above, they are not calorie heavy and fat is not bad for you.Also these mentioned recipes are savory (try it)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I do have tips for other meals, i have one on my mind right now:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2eggs + 1 cup cottage cheese + green onions + spicy herbs + a bit of baby spinach&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                          Calories            Fat      Protein&#xA;2 eggs (large)               140               5g        12g&#xA;1 cup cottage cheese(125g)   100               1g        15g&#xA;green onions (28g)             7               0g         1g&#xA;1 cup of spinach               7               0g         1g&#xA;  TOTAL:                      254              6g         29g  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(you can add bacon/turkey bacon to it if you want more taste). Chop the onions and mix the ingredients (&lt;b&gt;do Not chop the spinach&lt;/b&gt; else the juice of the leaf will evaporate and ruin the taste).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now this has a good amount of protein and low calories and taste good. But, also notice the spinach, which in fact is the best food on earth probably, because it has a lot of &lt;b&gt;uric acid&lt;/b&gt; which gets transformed into amino acids (protein) in the body, thus in fact you'll be having more protein than 29g. This is an energetic meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2012-06-13T17:26:40.960" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T17:26:40.960" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6769" CreationDate="2012-06-12T15:08:02.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably aren't injured, and will never find out what happened. If it's &lt;em&gt;uncomfortable&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;painful&lt;/em&gt; when you work out, just ignore it and keep on working out normally. Keep an eye on it during warm-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, try front or back squats with a barbell and get away from the Smith machine. Barbell squats are better in general, but they also will make it harder to roll the bar onto your neck without knowing there's something seriously wrong. This should help improve your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T15:08:02.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6782" CreationDate="2012-06-12T15:38:39.997" Score="2" ViewCount="6080" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Me:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I am 191cm 71kg.  I am fairly defined except my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My training:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I currently do heavy free weight sessions 4 times a week:  chest, back/arms, legs and shoulders/arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My diet:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;High protein/medium carb diet of mainly turkey, fish, rice, potatoes and eggs.  No protein shakes (allergic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going on holiday in 2 weeks and would like my stomach to look its best and it currently does not look great due to some bad eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically I want to drop as much fat on my stomach as is possible without loosing existing muscle tissue and am willing to work for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the internet I have read interval workouts on treadmill/cross trainer and eliminating all carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas how to achieve this and fast?  Should I take a break from weight training altogether or just add interval training or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T16:45:25.463" Title="How to lose only belly fat in 2 weeks" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6779" CreationDate="2012-06-12T15:58:49.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;High intensity intervals and eliminating carbs sounds good to me. I'd pull back on the weights, staying on the high-weight, low-rep side, but not eliminate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal were mine, I'd scour Martin Berkhan's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LeanGains&lt;/a&gt; for information to see if I can tweak anything further than the basics already mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T15:58:49.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6769" CreationDate="2012-06-12T16:04:53.347" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand upon @Dave's answer, you should get away from the Smith machine and start using barbells. Here's why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smith machine is less effective at engaging muscles and building strength than barbells, because it balances the weight for you. In fact, you'll find that when you move from Smith to barbell, you'll be doing only 50-70% of the load because it is that much harder.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smith machine forces your body into an unnatural straight vertical movement. Since this movement is unnatural for your body it will end up stressing your joints and back (especially if you are doing heavy weights, which is what you were doing when you hurt your neck).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smith machine, like all other machines, balances the weight for you, and thus takes your stabilizer muscles out of the picture. The result is you have stronger muscles that cannot resist lateral/rotational forces because your stabilizers are underdeveloped. This is a recipe for throwing out your back when lifting heavy objects.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, barbell squats engage more muscle groups, allow for a natural movement, and engage your stabilizing muscles; in other words, &lt;strong&gt;barbells are both safer and more efficient at building muscle than Smith.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based off of the points above, the fact that the Smith machine forces your body into unnatural positions plus the fact you were testing what your maximum squat weight was leads me to believe &lt;strong&gt;the Smith machine is the direct result of your injury/discomfort&lt;/strong&gt;, and the problem will only get worse with continued use of the machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T16:04:53.347" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6779" CreationDate="2012-06-12T16:45:25.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not going to lose &quot;only belly fat&quot;, but maybe you meant to differentiate &quot;fat&quot; from &quot;muscle&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT and a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; strict diet will &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt; your odds of making a significant difference. Adding a thermogenic supplement may also help, but different people react to those in different ways, especially if you're already caffeine-tolerant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I differ from Dave in that I'd not worry much about muscle mass--HIIT dings mass much less than long, steady-state aerobic work. Personally, I'd stay in the mid-range of both weight and reps, if anything tending towards higher reps, and aim for &quot;ripped&quot; rather than &quot;bulky&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're basically trying to cram typical &quot;pre-contest&quot; prep into a really short period of time--it's too late for mass, now it's about presentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T16:45:25.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6790" CreationDate="2012-06-12T18:08:33.990" Score="0" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that running can be stressful for the body (the knees for instance) if done in excess, and that some people even have accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the recommended length of time for running if one wants to keep away from problems ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T06:53:33.540" Title="Maximum length for safe running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6769" CreationDate="2012-06-12T18:38:42.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first question is where is the bar?  The single most common problem I see with people squatting is placing the bar right on the back of the neck.  The neck is not designed to handle all the weight, but your back is.  In fact, it's much more comfortable to have the bar on your back without any padding or towels than it is to have it on your neck.  This common problem is many times caused by personal trainers.  I know the PT I had told me to do it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/platform_the_squat_bar_position&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe's platform on bar position&lt;/a&gt; and determine if you have the bar too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I do recommend learning to squat with free weights instead of the smith machine.  Take some time to look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Squats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx.net article on squats&lt;/a&gt; if you are nervous about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The pain itself is an achy type, not sharp or shooting.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Achy pain is usually just DOMS.  However, if the bar was set up too high, it can be the pressure of the bar on your muscles.  Without being able to check your form (in person or in video), it's really hard to say exactly what it is.  These are the two most likely explanations given your description.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T19:17:16.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6753" CreationDate="2012-06-12T18:39:02.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For squats and deadlifts I wear anything that will stretch: sweats, track suit pants, etc. Whatever I wear I prefer that it's loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll wear basketball shorts if they have a lot of stretch built-in, but when deadlifting with shorts my shins take a beating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2702" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T18:39:02.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6742" CreationDate="2012-06-12T21:00:07.223" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're swimming from a public beach or park, the first thing you should do is find out if/where water quality test results are posted.  There are generally higher E.coli readings after heavy rains or when waves churn the sediment from the bottom, and they can also be higher downwind from river and stream outlets.  Beaches just a few miles apart can have vastly different bacteria levels due to these factors, so it's good to be aware of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm probably more on the cautious side, since I always wear goggles and (usually) earplugs if I'm planning to be submerged, but it's as much for comfort as anything else.  I might consider plugging my nose if I lived in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/08/19/139781956/hold-your-nose-to-avoid-brain-eating-amoebas&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;warmer region&lt;/a&gt;, but in places similar to the deep South of the United States, you're probably in much more danger from alligators and snakes while swimming in fresh water than a 1-in-10-million deadly amoeba.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Respecting the local hazards and using any available resources to stay up-to-date on the water quality is probably much more effective than any personal precaution you could take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3138" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T21:00:07.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6766" CreationDate="2012-06-12T22:28:27.480" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As athletes after a substantial workout ice baths (54 degrees Fahrenheit / 12 degrees Celsius and below) is good for the body to halt the excessive blood flow which you have induced through stress training.  This allows for faster recovery and allows the body to recharge the nervous system for the subsequent day; in an extremely minimal fashion though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hot tubbing (or hot showers) increases blood flow and allows specifically the joints and small muscles to warm up for your upcoming level of stress which you put your body under.  The circulation welcomes more fluid distribution in your joints and acts as a cushion for the stress (say in running, jumping, Olympic lifting, etc...).  These are best done BEFORE you work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found from experience that the trick is being consistent in ice bathing after each workout and even on your off days to ice bath to speed recovery.  The less inflamed a muscle is the greater the opportunity you have to work it out again.  Hence people prescribe 48-72 hours of rest before the next same muscle group stimulation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is always the option of doing transition showers.  These are hot and cold showers which &lt;em&gt;shock&lt;/em&gt; the body.  You can time your transition showers by doing 1 minute hot and 3 minutes cold/cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly take a mildly warm shower after you workout.  The extra sweat releases the toxins your body built up for the workout.  See it as doing an extended cool down with stretching in a warm room.  The muscles relax and the toxins of stress are released from the body.  The cold shower won't make a substantial difference in your recovery unless you stand there for 20 minutes straight in freezing cold water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As George Constanza put it so eloquently &quot;Cold Showers? They're for psychotics&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastEditorUserId="3806" LastEditDate="2016-08-14T22:01:39.770" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T22:01:39.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6690" CreationDate="2012-06-12T22:50:47.220" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's keep it simple.  Losing weight is simply calories in versus calories out.  That being said obviously that fastest way to lose weight is by cutting your carbohydrate intake and increasing your net output value in cardio/circuit training/training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many things need to be considered when you try to lose weight.  The body is typically a habit machine which is why some crash dieting goes horribly wrong for many individuals.  You play around with your insulin spikes and sure enough you gorge one day after a week of dieting and gain the weight right back.  Doing this correctly requires discipline by simply slowly cutting back you carbohydrate intake and slowly increasing your aerobic capacity bit by bit.  Simply running 10 miles the first day after a delayed onset of working out will result in a heightened result of over-training and the body will be put through a serious &lt;em&gt;shock&lt;/em&gt; that will result in unneeded weight gain and injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extent to which you burn calories depends on the intensity of your workout.  A 180pd athlete squatting 315pds for 5 with a max of 355 is hitting a high percentage of his maximum and thus is rapidly burning calories.  Going on a 45 minute &quot;light&quot; jog will only give you so 'fat-burning'; all depends on your intensity.  Hence you see coaches prescribe fartleks or speed endurance workouts to athletes who need to lose weight (on top of diet, sleep, increasing work capacity, etc. etc.; it's a combination of a lot of things).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall you need a balanced lifestyle.  Sitting 15 hours staring at the computer results in a sedentary lifestyle which many regular people are doing day in and day out.  Consistency, discipline and self motivation with a basic healthy structure will result in optimal performance.  Just like your mommy told you...eat your greens.  The basic principles are still the same.  Our society is just caught up on overconsumption and trying to look for the secret answer to losing weight.  &quot;Cardio is the one answer&quot; or &quot;It's all about diet&quot; is complete and utter nonsense.  It's an accumulation of everything in your lifestyle as well (stress from work can also alter your weight loss and gain).  Balance it out, don't overconsume, eat a variety of good food, stay active.  That's all you need to know.  When you figured that out then ask what will give you an extra edge to be the top 0.000001% of athletes in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T22:50:47.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6690" CreationDate="2012-06-12T23:29:44.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because cardio (greater calories out) &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; diet (fewer calories in) is easier than one &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; would rather cut down my intake by 500 calories, and increase my output by 500 calories, than &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt; cut down my intake, or increase my output, by 1000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing both gives me the same 1000 calorie deficit without the pain of an extreme caloric reduction, and without the pain (and time) of additional aerobic work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-12T23:29:44.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6783" CreationDate="2012-06-13T01:09:36.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a commenter notes there is probably no way to really answer this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can say is that it more than just length of distance or time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example it depends on how your training has been going.  And of course your personal physiology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously going out for 26.2 Miles on your first run is stupid, and could potentially kill you.  But if you trained running shorter amounts for a couple of years, then slowly worked up to it, a marathon would probably not hurt you at all. (Though I am hearing on the news that there is some heart issues being reported by long term exercise).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there are people out there running 125 mile races (Marahon Des Sables across the Sahara desert over 7 days) or other ultra distances.  But none of those folk started with that distance on day one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there is no absolute max, it depends on so many other variables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T01:09:36.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6748" CreationDate="2012-06-13T02:00:10.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pump-style training (if one knows what they are doing) usually aims to train through fatigue and force enough blood into the muscle so that the muscle facia is stretched. I see many guys in the gym over the years that only do this kind of training. They do it month after month, year after year, because it feels good and they look good in the mirror - while at the gym. If they pump their muscles until they hurt they can leave the gym feeling like they have accomplished something. They are not getting their body composition (fat/lean ratio) checked, and so consequently they can lie to themselves that they are heading somewhere. They probably gained some size when they first started working out and so those results supply a positive reinforcement to continue the same style of training. Adding to this positive reinforcement are some big roid boys pumping away and posing in the mirror. They are huge so why not train like them? Big mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look more closely at the big guys in your gym - MOST of them are lifting big heavy weights. If they aren't, they are doing 2x or 3x the reps u are doing. What I'm getting at is our muscles will only grow if they are subjected to ever-increasing intensity over time. This intensity is a factor of the WEIGHT and REPS you are lifting. That big guy may be doing only 100kg on bench (nothing special), but he may be doing (or be capable) of 20+ reps which equates to a rep max of 150kg+. Once you have achieved that initial gain phase, if you are training in a linear fashion (training 8-10 reps until you happen to be able to go up a weight) then it is highly likely that you will not have good results. Pretty quickly you take a month or longer to go up to the next weight. Thats a lot of wasted workouts! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latest knowledge suggests that pump-style training is effective more on parts of the body that get a lot of use in normal activity - legs, arms, calves, etc. The suggested science is that the muscle sheath of these commonly used muscles is toughened and requires stretching and swelling to better enable hypertrophy. Using this knowledge combined with every increasing intensity suggests that arms respond well to drop sets (the fatigue, stretching factor). Because of this, it is especially important to ensure you achieve the full range of motion for triceps/biceps! German Volume Training (GVT) addresses this method of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, higher rep ranges 10-30 encourage better storage and utilisation of muscle fuel (hypertrophy), while lower rep ranges encourage more nervous system cooperation (strength) and hyperplasia (additional muscle cells). The first technique results in more visible size increase, but this muscle is more transient. Go on a diet and you will shrink like a prune. Strangely, people usually pick a single technique to focus on. It was ONLY when I incorporated BOTH methods (I learnt this by going to some advanced trainers), that I have had some really great gains (+4.5kg lean and -3kg fat in 10 weeks). It makes sense. If hypertrophy simply increases the size of your existing cells, you need to be creating ever more cells to include in this process (hyperplasia). I now train in 1 month cycles. At the beginning of the month I train primarily for a hypertrophy response (15-30) reps, and then I gradually increase the weight and drop the reps until I am training primarily for more contractile tissue (2-8 reps). This has the added benefit of giving your nervous system the 'heads-up' to prepare to lift heavier and heavier weights. The important thing is that your calculated rep max is always going up (ever-increasing intensity). Another thing to remember is that our bodies don't count reps. The hypertrophy/hyperplasia rep ranges are guides only. &lt;strong&gt;Repping until you reach a magic number of reps is probably the most limiting thing you can do for your results.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary my tips would be the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Familiarise yourself with the 1 rep max formula. Train hard and to&#xA;failure in a variety of rep ranges. Try starting at about 65% of your&#xA;rep max at the beginning of a month and ending at 95%. This equates&#xA;to roughly 25 reps down to 2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch and pump arms with more volume than other muscle groups (but don't forget to add more weight over time). Try 10 sets of 10. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raise the weight and drop the reps across your sets. Why? Fatigue has a lot more of an effect on volume than strength. You can usually keep your rep max across your sets fairly consistent this way, which maximises the intensity factor across your sets. I hit rep max pbs on my final set all the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mm2k.com/muscle-hyperplasia.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interesting read&lt;/a&gt; referring to a journal article that I can't find! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-12-26T23:08:30.483" LastActivityDate="2012-12-26T23:08:30.483" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6172" CreationDate="2012-06-13T04:48:19.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really think it matters, the most important aspect is that making sure you actually are able to fit in your workout which is what you seem to be doing! As the others have posted above, maybe just consider recovery between sessions. But other than that, keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-13T11:46:56.407" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T11:46:56.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5658" CreationDate="2012-06-13T04:52:26.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess it basically comes down to sucking it up and getting through it! Suffice to say, there are times where tiredness may impact on athletic performance and every now and then, it may benefit from taking the session off to rest. However, as you said, you tend to feel better after your workout so use that as incentive to get through the workout! Just tell yourself that you'll workout for 10minutes, and 90% of the time, you'll be feeling good by the time you reach the 10minutes and won't want to stop.&#xA;Also, create specific goals that you want to achieve to help motivate yourself to complete each workout!&#xA;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T04:52:26.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="912" CreationDate="2012-06-13T04:55:19.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well yes definitely - nutrition after a yoga session will differ with nutrition after a long distance running session. It all comes down to what your goals are for training?&#xA;Are your goals fat loss, muscle gain, general health/wellbeing, training for a specific event? &#xA;It also depends on the intensity of your workouts and the frequency/duration of these!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T04:55:19.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-13T05:00:23.660" Score="7" ViewCount="2052" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am at the low end of my healthy weight (Female, 22years old, 116pounds, 5'5). As a competitive swimmer, I am wondering whether putting on weight will improve my swimming performance?&#xA;Thanks! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-13T11:52:06.760" LastActivityDate="2012-11-13T12:40:20.320" Title="Will weight gain improve performance in competitive swimming?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6853" CreationDate="2012-06-13T05:21:51.337" Score="2" ViewCount="2005" Body="&lt;p&gt;I m 25 years old and I m going to gym for 3 days in a week. When I workout for biceps in heavy weight, my partner realized that my left hand is exerting more strength than my right hand. When I look in front of mirror, I also see the difference in both hands. I can also feel the difference that my left hand is more tight and my right hand is looser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to ensure that both hands' size and strength are equal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-13T12:08:10.577" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T20:35:20.833" Title="What can I do to maintain equal size and strength in both hands?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-13T08:21:16.453" Score="1" ViewCount="752" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have much large belly fat as compared to upper body. Daily i do weight training (45min to 1 hr) + cardiovascular (45 min). I want to make upper body muscles , simultaneoulsy want to reduce my large belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The questions &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 . &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/912/eating-after-working-out&quot;&gt;Do different workouts require different diets?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 . &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/543/how-long-should-i-wait-with-eating-after-an-exercise&quot;&gt;How long should I wait with eating after an exercise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 . &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6704/duration-between-workout-and-dinner&quot;&gt;Duration between workout and dinner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answers on above questions have made me confused to wheather take diet just after excercise or wait for long in order to reduce belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3622" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:50:47.347" Title="Best way of eating after exercise for reducing belly fat" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-07-21T04:55:18.043" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6992" CreationDate="2012-06-13T09:07:59.640" Score="4" ViewCount="1887" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's the regime I was advised at my gym:&#xA;12-15 reps per set - maybe less on the last set&#xA;30s - 1min break between sets, &#xA;3 sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;weights are adjusted so that this is doable, but not by much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this do in terms of training effect, is this a regime for max strength, muscle mass or what?&#xA;Inside of those parameters, what does a variation do? &#xA;I limit myself to 30 sec. break between sets, and do 15 reps each set. Suppose I adjust the weights upwards, so that 15 reps on the last set are no longer in my reach - what would that achieve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the speed with which I execute one rep do to the result?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case that is relevant to an answer, my training goal is general fitness and strength, I'm not keen on looking especially bulky or ripped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edited to add, 2.7.12:&#xA;I just want to add that after some time of sticking to that program I only noticed (small) improvements in muscles I didn't work out before. In the past I had greater success with bodyweight exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastEditorUserId="3661" LastEditDate="2012-07-02T13:56:41.287" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T13:56:41.287" Title="What's the exact effect of this training regime? (12-15 reps, 30s - 1min break, 3 sets)" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6799" CreationDate="2012-06-13T11:22:19.090" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO you should &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; eat after exercise to replenish glycogen and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Waiting (or not) will not be the gating factor in determining if you lose belly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing fat is (largely) a matter of math: expend more calories than you consume. Differences caused by specific post-working meal timing will be trivial compared to overall, long-term habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T11:22:19.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6654" CreationDate="2012-06-13T12:02:44.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well there are a few reasons for experiencing nausea during/after exercise, most commonly the following: &#xA;- Exercising on an empty stomach (may cause low blood sugar levels)&#xA;- Dehydration&#xA;- Overexertion&#xA;- Motion sickness from abdominal exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your situation sounds mostly due to the abdominal exercises you are performing. This is actually not uncommon, but in saying that, it still is not exactly great for this to be occuring on a regular basis.&#xA;Maybe try and focus on a stationary spot when doing your abdominal exercises, ensuring you have properly hydrated/eaten prior to your workout, and also not overexerting yourself too much - since you haven't exercised frequently for 20years, make sure you don't go out too hard, too early. Take it slowly, hydrate, eat well and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T12:02:44.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2679" CreationDate="2012-06-13T12:16:43.110" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overtraining truly does exist - I am proof of that. I have been a competitive swimmer my whole life (currently 22years old) and I must say overtraining is horrible and should try and be avoided at all costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend getting help as soon as you start to see issues arising, rather than continually deny you have a problem (like I did) until it's too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was forced to take months off from training, since my body was physically, mentally and socially wrecked from the daily hammerings by body received from training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I experienced the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hatred of the thought of exercising/competiting &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dreading the thought of having to work out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complete loss of interest/enjoyment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A sense of 'heaviness' or sluggishness during training (regardless of how much you stretch, you can't get rid of this feeling - overtraining forces your muscles to 'recruit' extra fluid to your muscles to aid recovery)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consistent muscle soreness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Worsening/plateauing performance &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Failing to complete your normal/average workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insomnia despite fatigue/extreme tiredness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restlessness/unable to relax/irritability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poor immune system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of concentration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduced motivation and 'drive'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feeling like your normal workout is more of an 'effort' - your movements feeling like they require more energy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2012-06-13T12:27:19.057" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T12:27:19.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2679" CreationDate="2012-06-13T12:28:27.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course over-training exists--the body takes time to heal and recover from exertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lack of recovery can also lead to &lt;em&gt;acute&lt;/em&gt; injuries beyond the normal wear-and-tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T12:28:27.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6806" CreationDate="2012-06-13T12:30:23.593" Score="1" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I follow the normal routine of my gym including stretching after the workout, I strongly feel a shortening of my lower back muscle, to the point where I have a distinct hollow back after working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the english name of the exercise for the lower back, but basically I lie on a platform inclined at roughly 45°, tilt my torso downward till the angle torso-legs is 90° or a bit smaller, and up again. &#xA;I do (as advised) 15 reps, 3 sets, that's barely doable for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I concentrate strongly on my lower back when stretching after exercise, doing stuff I've seen in yoga or pilates, but I still have a stronger hollow back after a workout (or at least it feels like that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this so? Any advices to avoid long term trouble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edited to add/clarify:&#xA;My subjective feeling is that the lower back muscles are shorter (and don't have that feeling that strongly with other muscle) and I see that it affects my posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastEditorUserId="3661" LastEditDate="2012-06-13T13:11:17.940" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T13:11:17.940" Title="Muscles shorten when working out - why do I feel this most strongly in the lower back?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6805" CreationDate="2012-06-13T12:43:07.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthstylesexercise.com/catalog/images/Powerline-PHYP200-Back-Hyperextension.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back hyperextension&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If 3x15 is &quot;barely doable&quot; then you feel it the most in the lower back (I assume you mean when compared to other muscles you've exercised) because you're stressing it near the max of what your body can tolerate. The muscle is engorged with blood (&quot;pumped&quot;), tired and stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't sound like you're injured, it doesn't sound like there's anything out-of-the-ordinary. You're feeling it because you're at your limit and sensitive to the input the muscle is giving you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also just so a sanity-check postural check to see if there's a large &lt;em&gt;phsyical&lt;/em&gt; difference, or if it just &lt;em&gt;feels&lt;/em&gt; like there's a big difference. Compare your posture before and after your workout session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd add &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise-search.com/lower-back-self-myofascial-release&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lower-back self-myofascial release&lt;/a&gt; work and possibly massage, and keep an eye on it. It doesn't &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt; like anything acute or damaging at this point, with the caveat that we can't know that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T12:43:07.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-13T12:54:39.070" Score="6" ViewCount="1435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I'm a 28 year old female, 153cm (5'), 54kg (120lb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm am trying to lose some weight and tone up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently eating around 1300 calories a day, working out on a rowing machine and cycling machine, and burning approximately 350 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be eating more even though I'm trying to lose weight?  I have been told: I'm only eating enough, my caloric intake is too little and consuming 1300 calories is dangerous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be eating 1300 calories and burning 1300?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many calories should I be eating to lose weight while on a work out program? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3663" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T01:09:03.290" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T03:33:38.547" Title="Exercising deficit and daily caloric intake" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6810" CreationDate="2012-06-13T14:07:49.447" Score="1" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started following &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/advanced-workout-plan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; weight lifting routine and have adjusted my intake of protein to suit. Should I also be eating more calories in general or do I only need to think about cardio for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T15:55:26.487" Title="Does weight lifting burn calories?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6809" CreationDate="2012-06-13T15:27:49.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting is great for building muscle. Having more muscle mass has been said as a means of increasing your basal metabolism; therefore burning calories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength training has an added benefit for weight loss in addition to&#xA;  just burning calories. It will raise your muscle metabolism during the&#xA;  exercise session and continue for a long time afterward, even days&#xA;  following high-intensity workouts..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/256854-calories-burned-through-strength-training/#ixzz1xgfFH1id&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/256854-calories-burned-through-strength-training/#ixzz1xgfFH1id&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of your other questions about calorie intake and nutritional needs. It really depends on your fitness goals. I'll go ahead and make some broad general assumptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just starting off and you're looking to lose weight there are zounds approaches and philosophies: limiting caloric/carbohydrate intake, changing the frequency and spacing of meals, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, i would recommend reviewing some threads here on this Fitness.SE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2498/cardio-vs-weight-lifting-which-one-is-better-for-losing-weight&quot;&gt;Cardio vs. Weight lifting. Which one is better for losing weight?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2954/theory-to-burn-calories-with-muscle&quot;&gt;Theory to burn Calories with muscle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4791/calories-to-consume-on-workout-days&quot;&gt;Calories to consume on workout days&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T15:33:41.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6809" CreationDate="2012-06-13T15:55:26.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting is work. Work requires calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it this way: just being &lt;em&gt;alive&lt;/em&gt; burns calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being alive &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; lifting heavy things will burn &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; calories, because you're doing &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be eating more calories depends on what you're trying to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to &lt;em&gt;maintain&lt;/em&gt; weight, and you've &lt;em&gt;increased&lt;/em&gt; your caloric expenditure, you would need to &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt; your caloric intake to keep pace. If you're trying to &lt;em&gt;lose&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt; weight, you'd need to &lt;em&gt;adjust&lt;/em&gt; your caloric intake to match your targeted loss/gain pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T15:55:26.487" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6756" CreationDate="2012-06-13T16:49:02.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your current calorie intake is low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many calories do you need per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your BMR is around 1400 (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;estimated from here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Harris-Benedict equation&lt;/a&gt;, if you did no exercise, you'd require about 1700 calories, just to maintain your current weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/547350-calories-burned-snowshoeing-vs-swimming/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;estimates from livestrong&lt;/a&gt;, swimming for two hours burns around 700 calories at your weight (taken from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6795/will-weight-gain-improve-performance-in-competitive-swimming&quot;&gt;your other question&lt;/a&gt;). For intense workouts, this is higher, around 1000 calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On workout days, the &lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt; is 2700 calories just to maintain your weight. On non-workout days, the &lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt; is 1700 calories just to maintain your weight.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should &lt;strong&gt;consume more than the minimum&lt;/strong&gt; if you want your body to adapt to your training stresses and improve from workout to workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need calories to support your activity on workout days, and you need calories to aid in recovery on  rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try eating about 3000 calories on workout days, and 2000 calories on non-workout days for a few weeks and see how that affects your recovery and performance. You may gain a bit of weight, but nothing drastic, and it may be muscle. If you find that the extra calories help your performance, you can fine-tune it from there to find exactly how much you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;What&lt;/em&gt; you eat is also important&lt;/strong&gt;. This article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://athletics.macalester.edu/custompages/Deno_Videos/nutrition/recovery_nutrition.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Recovery Nutrition for Athletes&lt;/a&gt; gives some advice about what types of food to eat immediately after workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Research indicates that the ideal recovery nutrition is a meal or&#xA;  liquid supplement containing high-glycemic carbohydrates and quality&#xA;  proteins in approximately a 4:1 ratio, that include  10 – 20% of the&#xA;  athlete’s total daily caloric intake of these two macronutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just one example, but &lt;strong&gt;choosing the &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt; calories&lt;/strong&gt; is important throughout your day, not just after workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some other resources to help you sort out your diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1546&amp;amp;Alias=Rainbow&amp;amp;Lang=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;USA Swimming's Nutrition Centre&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=1635&amp;amp;itemid=4437&amp;amp;mid=11779&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Examples of recovery snacks&lt;/a&gt; (from USA Swimming) that meet the carb/protein suggestion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=1635&amp;amp;itemid=4360&amp;amp;mid=11779&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pre-workout foods&lt;/a&gt; (from USA Swimming.. suggested for any workouts longer than 45 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T18:21:54.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5035" CreationDate="2012-06-13T17:32:46.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience I would say swimming coupled with calorie restriction is a much better choice than any of them alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was also working on burning fat first. I tried running but I could not make any significant improvement, maybe 3 pounds over the course of a month. Then i tried swimming coupled with VERY mild calorie restriction. I practice swimming an hour a day with 30 minutes of floating (practicing leg movements as you do while learning freestyle for the first time), 10 minutes of fun (like splashing water at my little brother), and 20 minutes of butterfly (just for muscles in the upper body, not for fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no restriction. In course of 5 weeks, I have lost 10 pounds (without even resisting ice cream). Moreover, my upper body is already toned so swimming might be a good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3664" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-14T11:38:59.040" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T11:38:59.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6756" CreationDate="2012-06-13T18:10:38.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You answered your problem right away when you stated you took 2 months off of swimming and have been swimming in a &quot;very high intensity&quot; state quickly stagnated.  Very strong case of early over-reaching which can lead to a very fast plateau.  Depending on your work capacity and training volume from the past was, making substantial progress will most likely take a while.  And diet is just a SMALL part of this; if anything it is your training regiment, intensity level, technical considerations.  Diet is just the icing on the cake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating extra calories will give you energy but at what cost?  You put your body through a &lt;em&gt;shock&lt;/em&gt; now that you have been going into a very high intensity training program.  Your insulin levels will most likely be ping ponging for the first few weeks and weight lose or weight gain will happen; and it probably won't be good weight.  The trick is slowly increasing your volume along with your caloric intake over the course of a few weeks.  Set yourself a goal (either an upcoming competition, summer &quot;fit&quot; look, or for your girlfriend's birthday) and increase your workouts along with your intensity at a slower rate.  It is best to undertrain than to overtrain sometimes which will help you push through plateaus better.  You can try to test your fitness every 2 to 4 weeks by doing a high intensity timed workout to see how you measure in performance (400 Meters for a Personal Best timed for e.g.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To also answer your question about caloric intake you mention you eat less on non-workout days and more on workout days.  This is termed as carb cycling (even though you mention it as calorie cycling) and does work when done right.  Instead of getting down to the bodybuilding exact numbers and percentages for carb cycling (from the looks at your post you aren't at that level yet), let's keep it simple.  On workout days eat more carbs, keep your protein and fat intake the same and on non-workout simply cut down your carbohydrate intake and slightly increase your protein intake.  Try to minimize the carbs the later it gets in the day (for dinner limit your carb intake for e.g.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning &lt;em&gt;right calories&lt;/em&gt; you need to realize that all carbs are broken down into sugars into the body.  The refined carbs (white bread, white rice, etc...) spike the insulin to a higher degree than complex carbohydrates which helps moderate your insulin spike.  If you moderate that correctly that is what will cause you to burn fat, build muscle and improve performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand though that it is an accumulation of &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt; not just diet that can stagnate performance.  Work, stress from relatives/girlfriends, environment, weather, etc. has an effect.  Understanding how to cope with those variables at the highest level is what creates a champion athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T18:10:38.450" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6816" CreationDate="2012-06-13T22:36:49.197" Score="4" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering for a while where protein to build muscle comes from? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I consume protein throughout the day and that protein is pretty much digested and processed within an hour or two of consumption. But most muscle building happens while at rest, how does the protein I consumed at 5:00pm make it to bed time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T22:11:37.060" Title="Where does protein come from if muscles are built and repaired at night?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6815" CreationDate="2012-06-13T22:55:24.700" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the protein is digested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But without enough, the body &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; feed on itself during the night. This is why athletes, bodybuilders, etc. eat slow-digesting protein (e.g., casein) at bedtime--to provide a sustained protein store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-13T22:55:24.700" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6808" CreationDate="2012-06-13T23:30:13.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without more detailed information (specifically height and weight), it is impossible to give you a personalized recommendation. If you update your question with these details I can come back and give you a more in-depth and relevant answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three very important guidelines to keep in mind regarding weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To achieve weight loss, you need to consume fewer calories than you use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you consume too few calories, bad things happen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss and strength gain are mutually exclusive programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's expand upon these points so you can see exactly what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point #1 shows us that weight loss happens when consumption is less than usage. There are three possible ways we can make that statement true: we can lower consumption (dieting), we can increase usage (exercising), or we can do both. Doing both is usually the recommended path because it is a lot easier to maintain. You are currently doing both and that is a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point #2 raises a red flag and says that you need to be careful about how much you eat. Your body burns calories constantly; even when you are sleeping/stationary! The amount of calories your body needs every day just to stay running is known as your BMR (basal metabolic rate). If you consume too few calories and get too close to your BMR, then your body goes into a sort-of &quot;crisis mode.&quot; When in crisis mode you body starts burning muscle for fuel and keeps your fat as reserves... this is the exact opposite of what you want! Too avoid this scenario, you need to make sure your final caloric intake is enough to support your body and not send it into crisis mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point #3 is actually somewhat misleading, because they aren't technically exclusive, but instead they are competing against opposite goals and as a result they detract from one another. Muscle gain requires a caloric excess to fuel growth, so your options become 1) over supply the body with calories for optimal gain but some fat gain, 2) guesstimate the target calories and maintain BF but not gain optimal muscle, 3) dont change anything, little muscle gain but some fat loss. The same applies in reverse, as when you do cardio under anything but the most perfect conditions you will be losing at least some muscle in addition to the body fat. TL;DR: you can do both at the same time, but will see sub-optimal results as opposed to just pursuing one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to remember that if you are working towards the two goals of losing weight and gaining muscle, that you'll not want to use body weight as your metric for tracking progress. Instead, you want to calculate your BF% (body fat %) because your muscle gains will directly increase your weight and make you feel like you aren't achieving your goals when you really may be!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I be eating more even though I'm trying to lose weight? I have been told:i'm only eating enough, my caloric intake is too little and consuming 1300 calories is dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I cannot answer this question without knowing your height/weight, however I can tell you that this is dangerously low for the majority of people (especially those who are trying to lose weight). When you take into account that you are also burning 350 calories from exercise, your actual daily caloric intake is less than 1000, which unless you are a 100 pound model is not a healthy intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-07-31T15:14:08.110" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T15:14:08.110" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-06-14T03:46:12.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With those new to swimming, it takes a while to build up swimming fitness, since it swimming fitness is quite different from running or any other type of sport fitness. Continue to focus on your breathing and technique, as well as ensuring you are constantly kicking.&#xA;The more you swim, the better you will get and the more you will improve. Keep it up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T03:46:12.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6808" CreationDate="2012-06-14T04:39:26.220" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately it &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; as simple as eating less calories than you burn on paper, but greatly more complicated when you delve into the energy balance equation. Anyone that claims any metabolic or energy system in the body is simple is grossly misinformed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The element of complexity lays in several factors - a few of which are explored &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but mostly it is in your BMR (basic metabolic rate). The calories your body burns to simply function as a couch potato are nearly ALWAYS the VAST majority of the energy you burn throughout the day. As an example, I'm eating 3000 calories a day, and 2100 of those calories are the minimum required to simply keep my organs functioning and to stop my 175 lb body @ 9% body fat from eating itself. So the goal is to force your body to burn more calories without doing hours of pointless, joint straining, and body wasting cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another common misconceptions are created from the over-use of weird 'nothing' words and phrases like 'tone up' and even 'lose weight'. When people want to 'lose weight', what they really want to do is build muscle (tone) and lose fat. Most people don't realise that on a starvation-style catabolic diet (which I consider to be anything under your minimum required calories), you will actually usually lose more muscle than you will fat. Over 50% of that 'weight' lost is actually valuable, attractive, and BMR-boosting functional muscle tissue. These people end up with the infamous skinny/fat physique. They are often visibly thin but still have fairly high body fat % (because of the muscle loss) and still may be in the danger of obesity-related diseases. Your body is clever - if you aren't feeding it enough food, your body will drop your BMR (along with your energy levels) and burn muscle ahead of your fat. Our bodies are adaptive machines. BUILD the body you desire with weight/interval training and your body will ADAPT and become a lean, muscular machine. Eat and Train to force your body to DEMAND more energy. Starving your body of the nutrients it needs is not only unhealthy, but your body ADAPTS to require less and less calories. Your energy levels (a good indicator of your BMR) drop, and your body is ironically tuned to HORDE fat the moment it has the chance (when your diet finishes). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21996045&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This journal article&lt;/a&gt; shows how intermittent fasting tells your body to store fat at the next opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of exercise is also important. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Research&lt;/a&gt; has shown that high intensity anaerobic training (weights, sprints) are more effective than aerobic (treadmills, jogging) for burning fat. Anerobic training uses primarily glycogen (sugar) stores in your muscles. While you technically burn more calories doing your hour long jog than during your weight training session, anaerobic exercise burns more calories in the long run. This is due to the 'after-burn' as it is called which is your body replenishing its glycogen stores for up to several hours after your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, as it explains how staving yourself is NOT the most efficient way to loose weight (contrary to popular belief).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your body fat percentage estimated (easiest way is with a pinch test)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate the minimum required calories your body needs (based on the above result)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat the food - don't skip meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try a combination of interval sprinting and/or intense weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get regular, at least every 2 weeks body composition checks (pinch tests) that will tell you how much ACTUAL fat you are loosing. Don't use scales!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-08-23T03:33:38.547" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T03:33:38.547" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6851" CreationDate="2012-06-14T10:10:11.547" Score="3" ViewCount="1188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really hate all the other lat exercises - I find them boring and unsatisfying. Are pull-ups enough to work all the back muscles or am I really missing something if I only do these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add to this also the fact that I don't really like that look of massive flaring lats that give you a V shape. - and I also do quite high resistance rowing (on a machine though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-14T11:30:34.497" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T19:34:57.517" Title="Can I get away with just doing pull-ups for lats?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6820" CreationDate="2012-06-14T10:51:28.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Get away with&quot;? From whom are you attempting to escape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lats aren't the only back muscle, of course, although normal core work will target others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately it depends 100% on your goals. There aren't any workout police you need to fool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T10:51:28.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6726" CreationDate="2012-06-14T12:17:13.517" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have an intense workout ahead of you, it is a good idea to ingest whey protein before a workout. Whey protein contains a high amount of branches amino acids which help to preserve muscle supplies of glycogen, meaning you can work out for longer at a higher intensity and also increases muscle synthesis for several hours after the workout has been completed.&#xA;Therefore, this whey protein can help speed up the recovery process and reduce high levels of muscle soreness.&#xA;If you want to consume post-workout protein as well, ensure to consume protein with a relatively high amount of carbohydrates to repair muscle damage and tissue breakdown and encourage muscle recovery and healing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T12:17:13.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-06-14T12:26:21.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd really recommend getting a coach/trainer, even if only temporarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very difficult to diagnose your own mechanics, even with video, without the experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even a few sessions could do wonders and help you decide what area(s) to focus on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T12:26:21.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-14T13:44:19.953" Score="1" ViewCount="10652" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, I know that a 45 pound bumper plates weighs the same as a 45 pound iron plate. My experience, however, is that bumpers seem to go up easier. True or myth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If true, wondering if people have explored or exploited this idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3667" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T13:21:43.127" Title="Are bumper plates &quot;lighter&quot;?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6824" CreationDate="2012-06-14T14:33:04.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't experienced bumper plates feeling any lighter than iron or iron-coated-in-rubber plates. &lt;strong&gt;Mass is mass&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Psychological tricks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most probably you're experiencing a psychosomatic aversion to the iron plates because you're envisioning the bill from your landlord about the floor if you have to dump the bar loaded with iron plates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like entrepreneurship increasing alongside universal health care, bumpers (and a proper platform) make going for tough lifts a little psychologically easier because you've got a safety net for the rare occasion when things go wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Barbell rotation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other difference I've noted is that I lift iron with my crappy old bar that doesn't rotate so well, whereas I lift bumper plates with my less-crappy, less-old bar that rotates pretty well. How smoothly the bar rotates makes for a stunning difference in the difficulty of the fast lifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, the size of the plate might also affect the difficulty of the lift, due to rotational inertia. If you're comparing 25-pound iron plates to 25-pound bumper plates, the shorter 25-pound iron would seem easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Test Your Hypothesis&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe your iron 45s are actually 50s. Maybe your bumpers that say 25 are actually 23.5. Maybe the bar you load with bumpers is 40 instead of 45--that happened to me. Take your plates and bar to the scale and be sure that they're labelled properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T13:21:43.127" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T13:21:43.127" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6824" CreationDate="2012-06-14T15:23:43.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the interests of clutching at straws: the only physical differences between plates of different density could be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The moment of inertia&lt;/strong&gt; of the plate. This has no effect unless you are rotating the bar, whence the energy required to produce the rotation goes like the angular velocity squared (wrist curls). Assuming uniform density of plates of the same thickness then the moment of inertia of when rotating would be &lt;em&gt;greater&lt;/em&gt;. Plates of the same diameter would have identical moment of inertia (where the necessarily greater volume of the plate would be accounted for by additional thickness). Not only is this totally negligible, any effect is probably contrary to what you seem to experience.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The air resistance&lt;/strong&gt; acting on the plate. A lower density weight will have a larger volume, and if it is to remain a plate must have a slightly large cross-sectional area to pull through the air. Again totally negligible and and contrary to the hypothetical effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The young's modulus&lt;/strong&gt; of the plate. It is conceivable that the elastic response of the plate could have an effect on how easy the bar is to lift. This is really stretching credibility, but in the extreme case one can imagine lifting a rigid inelastic weight through direct contact and lifting the same weight attached to elastic straps. In the latter case the force required to initiate the lift would grow gradually through the push. The energy required to lift would be same (actually it would be slightly more since the elastic would dissipate some work as heat), but it is possible to imagine that it might be physiologically favourable for the maximal force of the lift to come later in the movement. With essentially rigid plates this is also totally negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yeah, mass is mass is a pretty adequate summary. Your plates may well actually be slightly lighter. Have you weighed them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T15:23:43.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-14T16:26:16.430" Score="93" ViewCount="155055" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a man in my twenties. Although I am 5 feet 6 inches tall, I weigh only 100 pounds. I want to gain weight as soon as possible. &lt;strong&gt;How do I gain weight and muscle as fast as possible?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3668" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-04-29T21:33:52.290" LastActivityDate="2018-05-27T15:39:43.187" Title="I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="15" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="79" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6824" CreationDate="2012-06-14T16:33:56.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have weighed the bumpers and the metal plates and found them to be the same (or at least close enough), the difference is one of perception.  One way to dispel that in your mind is to hold the lockout on a deadlift as long as you can.  After a few seconds or so, those bumpers will feel just as heavy as the metal plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, some people have taken to cheating with their lifts when using bumpers.  This cheat is more effective with high-bounce bumpers than the more firm competition bumpers.  Essentially, they start off the deadlift by pushing down on the bar first to use the elastic energy from the bumpers to help them break the bar from the ground.  That is not doing anyone any favors, least of all you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the gym you go to, not all bars will weigh the same.  You may have some 35lb bars and 45lb bars.  That will definitely lead to the perception that 45lbs in bumper form is not the same as 45lbs in iron.  But at the end of the day a pound is a pound is a pound.  Even if you had a 45lb plate made from feathers (assuming you could get the density right), it's still a 45lb plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T16:33:56.693" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2012-06-14T19:50:33.507" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make this website your best friend: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a little checklist I wrote for myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BULKING: after figuring out calorie needs bump up the number 600-1,000 calories every single day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;more calories per bite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add olive oil to everything&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;big Ziploc bag fill w/ almonds, cashews, raisin, peanuts, M&amp;amp;Ms, snack throughout the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein shakes in water after every single meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shake before bed in ice and water (add whipping cream, PB, egg whites, nuts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 tbsp of Peanut Butter 2xday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat something during training session (Musclemilk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;decrease cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hypertrophy program, workouts can never last over an hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T03:00:48.517" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T03:00:48.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6649" CreationDate="2012-06-14T19:56:50.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One good option that I used to increase my cadence was to use music. You can download techno music from &lt;a href=&quot;http://podrunner.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://podrunner.com&lt;/a&gt;. Another option is to search for songs by bpm at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bpmdatabase.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bpmdatabase.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jogtunes.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jogtunes.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runningmusicmix.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://runningmusicmix.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or &lt;a href=&quot;http://runningplaylist.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://runningplaylist.net&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="175" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T19:56:50.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6523" CreationDate="2012-06-14T20:42:13.357" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are benefits to training in the heat, but there are also risks. As @Ivo pointed out, you are far more likely to overheat / heat stroke / dehydrate when exercising in hot weather. However, if you take the proper precautions, there are benefits to be gained from training in the heat. What's more, these benefits will directly impact your success in the triathlon and marathon you are currently training for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study was recently published by the University of Oregon into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://uonews.uoregon.edu/archive/news-release/2010/10/heat-acclimation-benefits-athletic-performance-hot-and-cool-conditions&quot;&gt;athletic benefits of training in hot weather conditions&lt;/a&gt;. Specifically, they found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heat acclimation improves the body’s ability to control body temperature, improves sweating and increases blood flow through the skin, and expands blood volume allowing the heart to pump more blood to muscles, organs and the skin as needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, they found that this hot-weather training had improved the performance of the test group in cold weather conditions by as much as 7% for both the cyclists and runners. Considering the fact that you are training for cold-weather triathlons/marathons, I would say training in the heat is perhaps the best thing you can do to improve your performance. Once again, I cannot stress enough how important it will be to maintain proper hydration and not overexert yourself in the heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your moving the workouts to the morning, that could work for you as well. I don't know what the temperature difference is, but I imagine you'll still be training in moderately hot weather even in the morning. So even if you move to the morning you might still be able to take advantage of the benefits of heat acclimation training. Additionally,  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837645&quot;&gt;exercising in the morning has benefits of its own&lt;/a&gt; and can allow for more efficient processing of calories / burning of fat. In the study, those who exercised in the morning and over-indulged afterwards had significantly better weight loss results than those on afternoon or sedentary plans. So if you were to switch to the morning workout, you could conceivably eat more food to fuel your exercising while still maintaining your current body weight/fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T20:42:13.357" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6815" CreationDate="2012-06-14T22:11:37.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 1% of all amino acids (which proteins are made of) in your body are in free form. For example inside the cells or in the blood. So that pool can be used for muscle building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you also should not forget that muscle building is a pretty slow process and it's not like all your muscle growth will happen at night. So the amount of protein needed for that won't be that much. Especially compared to the amount of protein needed for other purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proteins basically run the whole body. Or they are the whole body. The immune system, all enzymes, structural proteins, hormones (e.g. insulin) etc.etc. So you can safely assume that the body has a &quot;storage space&quot; for amino acids like he has for glucose and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as a normal, healthy person I wouldn't worry too much about getting a protein deficit only because you don't eat protein for half a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3644" LastActivityDate="2012-06-14T22:11:37.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2012-06-15T01:56:59.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree about the core strength. Also, I find it helpful to scissor kick up. When I try to kick both legs up at the same time there is often too much momentum for me to control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3671" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T01:56:59.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6889" CreationDate="2012-06-15T03:22:16.743" Score="1" ViewCount="1947" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to shift to a new diet : &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ketodietplan.com/cyclical-ketogenic-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read and understood in general what is it about but i have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When they say High fat intake, is it a specific type of fat: &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;saturated / trans / polyunsaturated / mononunsaturated &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, or &lt;b&gt;any&lt;/b&gt; of these in general?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The diet mentions days of &lt;b&gt;low carbs&lt;/b&gt; and days of &lt;b&gt;high carbs&lt;/b&gt;: how many grams of carbs per kg/pound of body weight is &lt;b&gt;low carbs&lt;/b&gt; ? &lt;b&gt;high carbs&lt;/b&gt; ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="2894" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T03:28:16.313" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T14:58:46.387" Title="Cyclical Ketogenic Diet : type of fats + how many grams of carbs per day" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2012-06-15T04:30:48.030" Score="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;To gain good weight, to bulk, to add muscle, you need to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stimulate growth by lifting heavy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide fuel for growth by eating a lot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prioritize your goal by getting your life in order&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most healthy people who do these things gain weight. Mostly muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. LIFT HEAVY&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tell your body that it needs to get bigger by lifting heavy.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either buy a barbell and a power rack, or join a gym that has one. Get a copy of Starting Strength (the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrengthmirror.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; is a good overview and quick-start guide; the &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; is a full description of the program, including excellent instructions on the lifts) and start lifting heavy. Compound exercises like squats, chin-ups, deadlifts, and presses will stimulate whole-body growth. Light, easy weights won't make you bigger or stronger, so while it's important to stay safe, make sure you're lifting heavy, challenging weights. Lifting three times per week is probably the best compromise between frequent exercise and ample rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. EAT BIG&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Provide your body the raw materials it needs to make you bigger.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat a ton of food. Real food is far superior to processed crap, but you'll need to eat a lot. Your best bets are high-animal-protein items like meat, eggs, milk, and fish, but you should also make sure to eat a huge amount of vegetables, greens, starches such as sweet potatoes and rice, and good fats like pastured butter, coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're ever hungry, you're not eating enough. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/ShitOrGetOffThePot2.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;When in doubt, eat more&lt;/a&gt;. Lots more. Plan your meals. Cook in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3. PRIORITIZE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are things which get in the way of growing muscle. &lt;strong&gt;Decide if getting bigger and stronger is actually your goal.&lt;/strong&gt; It's okay if it's not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things which can hamper your getting-bigger-and-stronger goal include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not sleeping enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not sticking to the heavy-lifting-and-big-eating program detailed above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurance exercise or high-intensity conditioning, which could include running, cycling, swimming, long hikes, snowboarding, metcons, sprinting, HIIT, ball sports...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being too stressed, working too much, not getting enough sun or social life&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being a picky eater&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refusing to acquire necessary equipment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest is crucial. Sleep is the primary time for your body to grow. Staying up talking with friends is what makes life enjoyable, but six hours of sleep will keep you from growing. The body also does a lot of growing on days off from lifting, so don't fill those up with other exercise. Certain types of exercise are more prone preventing muscle gain than others. Running is great--I love sprints!--but it doesn't help make me bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get bigger and stronger, but sometimes I also want to play Ultimate frisbee or go hiking. When I'm serious about getting bigger, I skip the hiking or keep it short, and I don't play Ultimate. When I'm okay with progressing slowly, I go ahead and play Ultimate and go on longer hikes, but I realize that they are counterproductive to the sole pursuit of getting bigger and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for food. I value food quality. I vastly prefer organic vegetables, local produce, and grass-fed meat and eggs for a variety of economic, ethical, and health reasons. For lunch at work, I need to choose between planning ahead and cooking beforehand, getting a factory-farm-meat sandwich from the deli, or going hungry and stymieing my growth. There are similar choices for vegetarians and people with other food restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people are short on money or space, and wonder if there are alternatives to a barbell and squat rack. The simple fact is that barbells are best for getting bigger and stronger. Other methods like dumbbells or even bodyweight exercises definitely work, but a barbell and squat rack is the simplest and fastest solution. Why? First, it can be loaded in small increments, so you can progressively challenge yourself without big jumps in weight. Second, barbells allow for &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; heavier loads than anything else. Without proper equipment, progress is slower and less effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand these choices and make them for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="25777" LastEditDate="2018-05-27T15:39:43.187" LastActivityDate="2018-05-27T15:39:43.187" CommentCount="14" CommunityOwnedDate="2014-01-20T12:36:10.063" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6482" CreationDate="2012-06-15T04:34:59.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To quote William Roberts, MD  sports medicine physician at the University of Minnesota,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Muscle fatigue takes away all your protective mechanisms and really increases your risk of all injuries.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted he was referring to specifically athletes and sports-related injuries in his quote, but I feel there is enough parallel here to apply the advice to your situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice makes sense when you think about it, when your muscles are tired you are more likely to use poor form and thus more prone to injury. Make no mistake, if you are in the Starting Strength program... your muscles &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; be fatigued after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution to this is, quite obviously, to give your muscles enough time and nutrients to properly recover before you do something overly strenuous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the problem of time, it really comes down to proper planning and scheduling of activities. Have to do manual labor in the evening? Do your workout in the morning!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For nutrition, it comes down to feeding your muscles enough so they can recover from the workout. Have a protein drink 10-60 minutes after the workout. Have a meal 1-2 hours hours after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking these steps should ensure that you are properly recovered post-workout, but if you absolutely cannot avoid hard labor whole fatigued, always remember to use proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://men.webmd.com/guide/seven-most-common-sports-injuries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://men.webmd.com/guide/seven-most-common-sports-injuries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T04:34:59.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6838" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-06-15T05:11:45.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I get huge? With the muscles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T05:11:45.140" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T05:11:45.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6839" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-06-15T05:11:45.140" Score="0" Body="How do I get huge? With the muscles? " OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T05:11:45.140" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T05:11:45.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2012-06-15T05:16:49.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good idea to spice up your plank is to spread your elbows a little with you hands facing forward (not inward). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3673" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T05:16:49.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6841" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-15T05:18:32.247" Score="6" ViewCount="2000" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my gym, there is a vibrating belt present. I haven't seen anyone using that so far in the past two months. Is it not effective in reducing tummy fat? How is this equipment used, for what duration, and what is its effectiveness? Should it be used or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3622" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T11:49:36.427" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T11:49:36.427" Title="Is a vibrating belt not effective in reducing tummy fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6841" CreationDate="2012-06-15T05:30:49.407" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vibrating belts are worthless. A crock. A sham. A hoax. A useless, insulting, silly doohickey that should be shunned by all right-thinking people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's proper use is to be smashed underfoot or with a sturdy implement such as an ax or crowbar. Destroy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, look into proper diet (such as Primal or Paleo eating) and exercise (such as barbells, sprints, and sports).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T05:30:49.407" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6849" CreationDate="2012-06-15T07:28:01.507" Score="7" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I'm free to admit that I don't know exactly where along a limb the muscle mass really is and also that I have a very simplistic view of &quot;short muscle&quot; - so if I'm conceptually wrong, please correct me or point me to some links.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was doing Muaythai, I think I had strong legs, specifically the muscle responsible for stretching the leg (quadriceps?). This muscle also seemd to be bulked on the upper end of my thigh, away from the knee. The range of movement of what I did with the leg was typically very close to a stretched position.&#xA;Since I started going to a gym (and doing presses with the leg with a higher range of movement), I notice that my body builds muscle nearer to my knees ( or there's a new fat-deposit) - a good thing in my book, because I hope for more stable knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my observation plausible? Can this be generalized for the training effect of movements with different ROMs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T11:47:58.177" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T07:21:56.563" Title="How does muscle length and range of movement correlate?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-15T12:14:15.557" Score="2" ViewCount="15750" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to gain muscle but I cant seem to consume more calories without feeling bloated. That feeling masks hunger such a way that I have to skip a meal, thus avoiding caloric excess that is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout well for my level of fitness. I know this coz I sweat a lot, I get soreness occasionaly and the weights I lift keep increasing every other week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet includes rice and bread for carbs, meat, milk and eggs for protein. I avoid fatty food and I don't eat junk food. I can't afford/dislike protein drinks but because I eat meat a lot I think thats gonna be ok. I have a slightly protein oriented diet (50% protein with 40% carbs and the rest fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an endomorphic 26 yr old male at 60 kgs looking to get to 70. I am taking this slow (this is my fifth month into the program) but don't seem to get the hang of it. I don't gorge out every meal but am nonetheless stuck at this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3674" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T15:41:24.080" Title="How can I consume more calories without feeling bloated?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-15T13:31:14.287" Score="6" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going on the big 50 soon - my typical workout week is 3 days of strength training (squat Sunday, Bench Tue and Deads on Thu) and 1-2 days of aerobic training (Tabata and heavy bag).  I've been reading a lot about changes to workouts based on age - specifically around weight training and recovery.  Right now I focus on one body area a day (but typically make it a full body workout, but keeping the focus with more routines).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had any issues with recovery, but want to know if there are good practices to follow to ensure that recovery doesn't start becoming an issue OR reduction in ability to lift what I currently do with on-going progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T16:08:01.140" Title="Age's impact on strength workouts" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6845" CreationDate="2012-06-15T14:09:11.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to be 50 next year and have been looking into this. I found this interesting article&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tkdtutor.com/TOPICS/Training/Strength/Age/Age-01.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://tkdtutor.com/TOPICS/Training/Strength/Age/Age-01.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a basic strength program on the last page&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An interesting quote from the article:&#xA;&quot;Men, who are 70 years of age who have resistance-trained since 50 years of age, had muscle cross-sectional area and strength comparable to a group of 28-year-old sedentary subjects. &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as recovery goes, I agree with Dave Newtons comment, basically see how it goes. Individuals can be so different in this regard that it is difficult to give a good answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T14:09:11.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6845" CreationDate="2012-06-15T16:08:01.140" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize it is anecdotal evidence, but when you have power lifters in there 70s and 80s still pulling heavy (like a John Bourgoin from Canada's powerlifting federation), you don't have to let age deter you.  I know of one 63 year old power lifter in New Zealand who still feels as if he's making good gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery will become more of an issue the older you get.  The big difference between a young guy in their 20s and 30s and an older guy is how soon they need to change to slower progression.  If you were to employ some of Wendler's philosophy where you have four lifts a week (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press), make increases and have a deload week once a month, you can leverage that approach for quite some time.  Essentially, on Wendler's 5-3-1 plan, you keep making increases until you start stalling.  Once you start stalling, take 90% of your current max and work your way back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know of an ex-military lifter in his 50s who when he was told he should consider taking disability due to his acute back pain, made some positive changes and is seriously quite an impressive guy.  He now favors high volume training such as the Sheiko programs.  His basic philosophy is that he's done chasing max effort numbers, and is simply seeing how many times he can hit his current maxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the guys I referred to can be found at the IronStrong.org forums, but the bottom line is that you can continue to make increases for quite some time.  All the tools to manage recovery are all there.  You won't be able to do linear progression as well, but you sound like you are past that stage anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T16:08:01.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6844" CreationDate="2012-06-15T16:13:44.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add more fat to your diet. Amazing how many calories you can get from doing shots of olive oil or eating spoonfuls of coconut oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're feeling bloated from eating, I would try cutting out any gluten-containing products to see how that helps. I would actually suggest going grain-free for 30 days, see how you feel, and try to slowly re-introduce grains if you think you need them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T12:38:24.473" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T12:38:24.473" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2012-06-15T16:43:53.873" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that you previously noticed more muscle near your upper thighs because your quadriceps were not very developed except for the &lt;em&gt;rectus femoris&lt;/em&gt; (one of the 4 quadriceps muscles), which also acts as a hip flexor that would be used to develop a lot of the power during Muay Thai kicks and knees. (This is a quirk specific to the Muay Thai style of roundhouse kicks.) It would be developed disproportionately to the other quadriceps unless you were doing strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscles you're seeing develop now are the &lt;em&gt;vastus lateralis and medialis&lt;/em&gt;. These are two other quadriceps muscles with a bulk of their visible mass closer to the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this doesn't generalize well. The idea of muscle building close to the proximal joint vs distal joint is very specific to the motions you happened to be doing and the structure of the quadriceps (because they're actually 4 different muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; generalize is that you will get strong in the range of motion that you exercise. You were previously exercising Muay Thai kicks, which demanded strong hip flexion, so your upper quadriceps got strong. Now, you're exercising strength being pushed through your legs to the ground (or leg press platform), so the rest of your quadriceps are getting strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-06-15T16:55:49.773" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T16:55:49.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-15T01:21:39.937" Score="3" ViewCount="411" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is basically whether aerobic exercise training makes one more effective at utilizing a greater proportion of FFAs (free fatty acids) as opposed to glucose under resting conditions. So this excludes any increases in resting metabolic rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you take a sedentary individual and train that person with aerobic exercise for 6 weeks, will that individual be any quicker to lipolysis in response to normal sedentary activities (e.g. walking) after being aerobically trained? If we assumed the resting metabolic rate didn't change, should he or she rely on any greater percentage of FFAs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3677" OwnerDisplayName="T. Webster" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-16T03:15:47.357" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T16:20:10.760" Title="Does aerobic exercise training change resting metabolism?" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6820" CreationDate="2012-06-15T19:34:57.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're doing deadlifts for the spinal erectors, then using pullups/chinups for your upper back work is sufficient. (I mention deadlifts, because pull-ups/chin-ups neglect the lower back.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength, a very popular full body strength training program uses pull-ups/chin-ups for exactly this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-15T19:34:57.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6850" CreationDate="2012-06-15T21:20:36.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since asking this I read chapter 2 of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0781783518&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercise Physiology Integrating Theory and Application&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which explained a lot to me. e.g. &quot;Endurance-trained individuals metabolize more triglyceride or fatty acids and less glycogen or glucose at the same absolute workload&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question could be more succinctly restated as, &quot;does aerobic exercise (endurance) training change the RQ or RER at rest?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer appears yes,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2731848/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Individual responsiveness to exercise-induced fat loss is associated with change in resting substrate utilization&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3677" LastEditorUserId="3677" LastEditDate="2012-06-16T19:59:05.797" LastActivityDate="2012-06-16T19:59:05.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6796" CreationDate="2012-06-16T00:08:22.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to cut all barbell exercises and dedicate yourself to Dumbbell work for the next 2-3 months.  Everyone always has a dominant arm or leg (throw, kick, etc with).  Work on some grip training (holds 2 25-45pd plates with your fingers for time for e.g.), dedicate yourself to DB exclusive work (curls, pullovers, flys, bench, incline, raises, tricep, etc. 2 x week or so).  To really make progress emphasize your weaknesses and don't let ego get in the way.  Go full range of motion opposed to heavy weight and don't cheat the exercise with improper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-06-16T00:08:22.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6746" CreationDate="2012-06-16T00:19:41.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two types of training; neural adaptation and hypertrophy.  Your pure focus here is hypertrophy training which focuses on the size of the muscle.  This means breaking it down, letting it heal and working it out again to repeat the cycle.  Proper food and nutrients allows the body to use the proteins/fats/carbohydrates to rebuild the tissue which was broken down.  That adds bit by bit size to muscles.  There are always tricks like supplementing with arginine causes your blood vessels to expand giving you a more full look or in the extreme case (ILLEGAL) steroids which allows you to rebuild quickly, allowing you to work out the muscle faster and longer opposed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To effectively break down the muscle you need to put in some &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;.  Start week one with 3 sets of 6-10 reps with a good amount of weight.  The following week the exercise will be 4 sets, then 5 then maybe 6.  You have to put the work in to overcome stagnation and force the body to shift in the anabolic phase.  Eat lots of dense foods to complement a program like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me put this in a very simple thought process.  When you train/workout you put your body under a certain amount of stress.  The body's muscle tissue breaks down and searches for ways to recover (food, rest, etc.).  In the recovery process the body builds a &quot;shield&quot; of muscle to become accustomed to the level of stress you put your body under.  Take a lumberjack for example (very strongly build, powerful individual)...he constantly is moving heavy pieces of lumber.  His body's reaction is to build layers of muscle/mass to cope with the stress.  That's why the more work you put into something the better the result.  That's basically what training really is.  Putting the work in and allowing your body to adapt to the stress.  That is why you constantly need to &lt;em&gt;shock&lt;/em&gt; the body to break through plateaus...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-06-16T00:19:41.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2012-06-16T15:41:19.723" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest picking up a copy of the latest edition of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and following the program to the letter till linear progression stops Eat to support your goals. If you goals are to get bigger and stronger then eat bigger and stronger. One gram of protein per pound of body weight, get your vegetables in there, and  if needed chug some milk every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-06-16T15:41:19.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6898" CreationDate="2012-06-16T19:12:14.390" Score="7" ViewCount="1523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for about 20 years, mostly 10-21 km over the past few years. This past year I've transitioned into running in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibram_FiveFingers&quot;&gt;Vibrams&lt;/a&gt; - in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/Five-Fingers-Classic-Mens.htm&quot;&gt;the simplest model I found&lt;/a&gt; - and about two month ago I stopped running in &quot;regular&quot; shoes altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;typically jog for the first few km, and then speed up for the last 5.5 km of my run, which is done on a flat, paved bike path/pedestrian walkway. I have more than a hundred times for this particular section, and since I started running it in the Vibrams, my average time has dropped dramatically. I'd say that for the past year, I've been doing it in 26-30 minutes, and in the past month from 25-27. Furthermore, in the past my times were all over the place- on a bad day I'd end up jogging it (hence 30 minutes) and on a good day it could be 26. In the Vibrams it feels like I can't really slack off and jog slowly, even on days I feel lackluster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this make sense? Do minimalist running shoes force you into better form and improve your times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-06-19T08:28:19.253" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T03:10:25.240" Title="Does running in Vibrams (or some other minimalist shoes) make you run faster?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6858" CreationDate="2012-06-16T19:20:19.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of it this way, if you have poor technique and then correct it don't you think your performance will go up? Less wasted energy, better movement, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they force you into better form? they can, but you can still run with less then optimal technique wearing any type of shoe (or going barefoot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-06-16T19:20:19.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-16T20:45:44.433" Score="11" ViewCount="2761" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that muscle fibers stay around when you lose muscle but that they only shrink (hence why people can more quickly re-add muscle after a long break than when they first put it on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this true, or during muscle loss, are muscle fibers consumed by the body?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they do shrink, is there a time period for which they stay around? For instance, Christian Bale lost a dramatic amount of weight for his role in The Mechanic after he had gained a lot of muscle for Batman. Had he stayed at his weight in the Mechanic, is there some point at which he would have to rebuild all new muscle from scratch?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Update:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I could find, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1256510/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; seems to indicate that fiber count stays the same, at least when atrophy is from lack of use (which is mainly what I was curious about) but I still wonder about the two questions above if anyone has any more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3683" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-05-07T16:51:26.737" Title="During muscle loss, are muscle fibers destroyed or do they just shrink?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6949" CreationDate="2012-06-17T03:04:01.223" Score="4" ViewCount="60761" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a nerve pinch in my right shoulder for god knows how long.  I'm unable to go through the full motion of wide grip pull ups or wide grip cable pulldowns with any moderate weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone have any ideas how to resolve this.  I've tried to some stretching of the shoulders and it seems to help, a bit.  Is stretching the way to go and will just take time to resolve?  Should I just go see a doctor?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has always been a issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T10:03:49.177" Title="How to get rid of nerve pinch in shoulder?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6862" CreationDate="2012-06-17T09:18:22.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you genuinely believe, or from past experience you know, that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pinched-nerve/ds00879/dsection=symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this is a pinched nerve&lt;/a&gt;, you cannot rely on home care for too long. You need to see a doctor or physio for specific help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Generally, there is no permanent damage if a nerve is trapped for a&#xA;  short duration. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/trapped-nerve-signs-symptoms-and-treatment-1862644.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;if the trapped nerve is untreated and the&#xA;  pressure continues&lt;/a&gt;, the result can be chronic pain and possible&#xA;  permanent nerve damage. Many people will recover from the effects of a&#xA;  pinched nerve within days or weeks with proper rest and conservative&#xA;  treatment. Stopping any activities that can cause or aggravate the&#xA;  nerve compression is essential to a full recovery. In some instances,&#xA;  it may be necessary to wear a brace or splint to immobilize the area,&#xA;  such as in carpal tunnel syndrome.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, ibuprofen and &lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.yahoo.com/pinched-nerve-foods-will-help-2866585.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some foods&lt;/a&gt; (those high in Omega 3 fatty acids, for instance) are great help in fighting inflamation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastEditorDisplayName="user3495" LastEditDate="2012-06-17T11:19:02.117" LastActivityDate="2012-06-17T11:19:02.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6861" CreationDate="2012-06-17T18:08:40.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to workout a lot about 10 years ago then due to life ended up no longer working out.  I started going back to the gym regularly about 1.5 years ago and I gained the muscle back very quickly. So quickly in fact that it took me a while to get used to the extra growth when going to bed at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I'm now adding new muscle. I haven't researched it myself, but I don't think muscle fibers disappear. They may go in a deflated state waiting to be called upon again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2012-06-17T18:08:40.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6858" CreationDate="2012-06-17T18:58:28.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your improvement makes complete sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By switching to the Vibrams, you probably changed from a heel striker to a mid-foot striker. You've also traded the stability, cushioning, and restriction provided by the shoes for strength in your feet and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are now stronger and have better form. If the shoes are the only variable you've changed and your times have improved dramatically, then it stands to reason that your shoes are the reason why. Congrats!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3688" LastActivityDate="2012-06-17T18:58:28.460" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6867" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-18T00:02:52.027" Score="3" ViewCount="2240" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will compression socks help prevent shin splints? The pain has been occurring on and off for a couple of months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3690" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T19:23:21.253" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T07:03:11.170" Title="Do compression socks help prevent shin splints?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;compression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-18T02:15:47.937" Score="0" ViewCount="532" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2959/what-is-the-key-to-avoid-injury-when-squatting-with-your-body-weight&quot;&gt;What is the key to avoid injury when squatting with your body weight?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that when you are doing squats, your knees should not go past your toes. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twohundredsquats.com/what.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;two hundred squats&lt;/a&gt;, is telling me that I should go down until my legs are parallel to the ground. I can't go parallel without my knees going past my toes. Should I stop my knees going past my toes, or should I go all the way down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="271" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T02:35:40.207" Title="Squats: Should your knees never go past your toes?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-06-18T08:48:39.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6869" CreationDate="2012-06-18T02:35:40.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advice to not let your knees track past your toes is specifically for loaded squats. In unloaded &quot;air&quot; squats, where you don't have a barbell or similar implement involved, I think it's okay to let your knees track past your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the two hundred squats and related programs are okay, but a little silly. Their instructions say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lower your body to a position where your thighs are almost parallel to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a half-squat. A program where you focus on getting two hundred half-squats lacks balance, among other things. The bodyweight resources in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3714/bodyweight-exercise-resources&quot;&gt;the answers to this question&lt;/a&gt; would probably be much more productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T02:35:40.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-18T07:44:04.673" Score="3" ViewCount="716" Body="&lt;p&gt;After years without exercise I recently started running 15 minutes each morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I started feeling a sensitivity in the calf, and today it's stronger. I don't actually feel pain but it's a quite unpleasant sensation of stiffness, I have the feeling that it's gonna break, that I'm about to have a cramp or something. I also noticed that my calf is swollen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anybody knows what's happening to me (and if possible how to treat it) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastEditorUserId="1841" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T10:12:13.140" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T20:05:59.930" Title="Stiffness in the calf after running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-18T09:43:16.967" Score="8" ViewCount="4750" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started indoor rock-climbing a few months ago, renting equipment from wherever I was climbing at. I've decided to take it a bit more seriously and invest in some equipment, and the first step are shoes. However, there's quite a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; to choose from and I'm not sure how to pick - the only difference I really notice is how they lace-up. What should I look for in a good shoe? To reiterate, I'm a beginner and I intend to climb just indoor (for the foreseeable future).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2021-01-17T06:03:05.907" Title="What should I look for in a (beginner) rock climbing shoe?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2959" CreationDate="2012-06-18T12:24:13.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advice to not let your knees track past your toes is, when I've heard it, specifically for loaded squats. In unloaded &quot;air&quot; squats, where you don't have a barbell or similar implement involved, I think it's okay to let your knees track past your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Air squats are pretty safe if you avoid moving ballistically. You can move fast, but don't throw your body; stay in control. Don't bounce off your calves at the bottom. Don't let your knees buckle inwards. Stand up as straight as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T12:24:13.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6844" CreationDate="2012-06-18T12:44:17.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat more fat.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12566139&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dietary fat is not the same as body fat&lt;/a&gt;, so don't worry about getting fat from eating butter, milk, olive oil and the like. (Dietary &lt;em&gt;carbohydrate&lt;/em&gt; and caloric surpluses play a much more significant role when it comes to storing fat on the body.) Eating enough fat is vital to proper operation of the body, especially making sure that all your hormones are being properly produced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try eating fewer meals&lt;/strong&gt;. Martin Berkhan does a good job of collecting evidence against the idea that we need to eat many small meals in order to lean out or gain muscle. A big breakfast, medium lunch, and enormous dinner works well for some people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One method that works for some people, &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; they tolerate milk and can accept a slight increase in body fat as they gain muscle and get bigger, is to make a firm goal of drinking &lt;strong&gt;one gallon of milk a day&lt;/strong&gt; in addition to their three big meals. This might not be right for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if your workouts are undercutting your weight-gain goals. Steady-state cardio (like running or biking) or high-intensity metcons (like CrossFit or intervals) will cause you to lose weight instead of gain it, and low-intensity lifting (bodybuilding-style isolation work) will do a poor job of putting on muscle compared to &lt;strong&gt;heavy compound exercises done for a handful of reps&lt;/strong&gt;. Three times a week of squatting, deadlifting, chinning and pressing as heavy as possible for sets of five is standard operating procedure for triggering muscle growth. (A full layout of weight gain fundamentals can be found in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; of mine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T13:37:50.430" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6531" CreationDate="2012-06-18T13:02:36.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a meal replacement shakes for no over 2 meals, or one meal and one snack, per day, unless you are closely supervised by your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choose meal replacements shakes that contain a minimum of two hundred calories. They ought to even have a balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats to produce adequate nutrition and reduce between-meal munchies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3695" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T13:02:36.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6844" CreationDate="2012-06-18T15:34:50.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conventional Wisdom&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just about every respected weight lifter is going to tell you that if you want to gain weight, you can't eat clean all the time.  Rippetoe, Wendler, Tate, Starr will all say the same things.  You'll get some quite colorful epithets to get you to eat junk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some truth to this.  First, junk meals tend to have a pretty high fat content.  Fat packs in 9 Calories per gram, compared to both carbs and protein which weigh in at only 4 Calories per gram.  It's good that you have a high protein diet, and that will serve you well.  Second, many junk foods are composed of things that make you hungrier.  The combinations of sugars and stimulants (like caffeine) put your body through metabolic hell, but the end result is you will be able to eat more when you consume junk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will add pounds.  It may not be 100% the type of pounds you want, but you will have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternate Approach&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different approaches.  The people I mentioned in the beginning paragraph ascribe to the bulk/cut approach or most of them simply just bulk.  Martin Burkhen from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LeanGains.com&lt;/a&gt; uses the approach of bulking by starting with your maintenance Calories.  The quick estimate would be 15x your total body weight.  He then has you &lt;a href=&quot;http://rippedbody.jp/2011/10/23/how-to-calculate-leangains-macros/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculate your macros&lt;/a&gt; for training days and rest days.  You will be eating higher than maintenance on both days, but increasing much more on training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple major aspects to this approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are fasting 16 hours and eating all your food within 8 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are eating 3 large meals rather than several small meals throughout the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The largest meal should be the one right after you train&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This allows you to actually be hungry enough to eat all your Calories.  It's also not dependent on junk food as the conventional wisdom is.  The key is you have to find something that works for you, and your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dealing with Bloating&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bloating is a common side effect of eating some types of carbs.  You will have to experiment to see what is the culprit.  Many have reported that gluten is a major culprit with bloating--particularly the bloated feeling.  High sodium content in your meals can add to bloating, although not with the same feeling as other sorts of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's because of this association that many have jumped on the Paleo bandwagon.  I'm not pro- or anti- paleo, but it may be worth looking at the types of foods that they have you avoid and experiment to see if they are the culprit for your bloated feeling.  If that works, great!  If not, try something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T15:41:24.080" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T15:41:24.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6867" CreationDate="2012-06-18T20:19:40.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just did a search on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt; (which is always a good idea in cases like this) and couldn't find anything. So it seems like it hasn't been studied (or is just considered obviously useless). So in this case I would just assume the answer at this moment has to be: No it doesn't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a reason think it could help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3644" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T20:19:40.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2012-06-18T20:45:25.553" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;first of all &lt;strong&gt;your ideal weight in KG&lt;/strong&gt; is (Height in cms - 100), hence (168 - 100) = &lt;strong&gt;68 KG&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly your goal is pretty simple: Gain weight, however in order to help you i am going to make a few assumptions and then provide a program for each, and then you may choose which way you want to go. the following (Different) assumptions can be extracted out of your post, each has a different difficulty level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) You think you are skinny and you want to gain weight to look healthy, average posture, hence gain healthy amount of fat and muscle to look normal, in return you dont really care about how you gain this weight, as long you get to look &#xA;like a average healthy person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Difficulty level: 4&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) You want to gain weight in form of lean muscle, with visible 6 pack ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Difficulty level: 9&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) You dont really care about lean muscle, as long you look big (little or no visible six packs, but average belly). &#xA;Difficulty level: 6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now steps to achieve each of those goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Start eating more often, and more than you can, try not to get the hunger feeling, eat before you get hungry and eat &lt;strong&gt;different&lt;/strong&gt; things throughout the day. Eat as soon as you wakeup, and try to eat every 2-3 hours, keep up the cardio, however keep it to minimum (20 mins twice a week). and next to this you may continue doing any other sports activities that you are already doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) You need to consume atleast 3000 calores a day, start counting them. About 70% of it from protein, rest from healthy carbs, healthy fats, eat enough fibre (vegetables), stay away from bread, drink a lot of water. Go to gym 5 times a week, do 1 muscle group once a week, train for 45 minutes max, do 12, 10, 8 reps (increase weight accordingly). Lift heavy and hard. Be strict about eating healthy, be strict about going to the gym, be strict about sleeping on time and at least 8 hours, Stay away from alcohol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Eat whatever you get your hands on, however do vary what you eat. eat often and a lot. go to gym 3 times a week, combine 2 muscle groups each day, do basic exercises. Bench, Pull-ups, Squats, DeadLifts, Clean press, Stiff leg dead-lifts, Pulldowns, Lunges, Bicep curls, SHoulder press etc, however try to use just the free weights. do 10, 8, 6, 4 reps 3 exercises per muscle, 3 to 4 sets each muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3696" LastEditorUserId="679" LastEditDate="2013-06-10T14:28:02.733" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T14:28:02.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6531" CreationDate="2012-06-18T20:48:11.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty sure that the problem is not the fact that they are shakes. You could just put everything you would eat in a mixer instead and drink the result and I would assume that the result would be the same (maybe even a bit better since the meal is really well &quot;chewed&quot; which seems to be good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem you will have with ready made shakes is, that a lot of the phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables deteriorate pretty quickly once the cells have been destroyed. (And I am not talking about vitamins since those could be added pretty easily by supplementation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dietary fiber actually isn't a problem because you can add that very easily to a shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I think that you could live quite some time only drinking such shakes without having obvious malnutrition. But you can also live pretty long without eating any vegetables or fruit without having obvious malnutrition if you take vitamin supplements which doesn't mean it's a healthy behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also consider, that making a shake that is truly nutritionally complete may just be pretty expensive and the result just might not be very tasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3644" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T20:48:11.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2012-06-19T04:18:36.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found that i needed to rest (take a break from running) for much longer than i wanted.  I would quit for about a week or two and the pain went away so i started running again.  Days later, it was back.  So....give yourself a good long break for the tendon to completely heal.  Then, after a few months, slowly start back.  Also, stretching and good shoes are essential.  I was pain free for years and then did some sprinting in bad shoes and was lazy about stretching and now I'm back to square one.  I've also had good luck with ice and orthodics.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3698" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T04:18:36.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2012-06-19T05:29:45.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Checkout a video by this company I found on youtube, LatLock Packs, by far the easiest pack to run with I've found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/po9uigsunAU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/po9uigsunAU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pack that finally does &quot;not bounce&quot; even with books, I run to class now in comfort and pretty fast too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3699" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T05:29:45.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-19T12:05:32.707" Score="0" ViewCount="7168" Body="&lt;p&gt;i injured my knee last friday :( it was during running intervals, i ran on an uneven grass area. i have googled and tried to find similar cases by description but i'm abit overwhelmed and can't pinpoint. i plan to visit the doctor but not anytime soon due to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;maybe someone else has experienced this, basically:&#xA;1. right knee, right side of the knee cap feels like knotted inside&#xA;2. if i bend it, that side inside feels like some veins are 'locking' or getting tied in a knot or getting squashed and tight&#xA;3. even when leg is straight, there is still pressure on that side&#xA;4. the knee looks normal from the outside, no visible lump or anything&#xA;5. its the bone, and the pain is only feeling of tightness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;will somebody please help me point me to more info? im abit scared seeing some knee injuries in the net, those that says no healing can help, that only surgery can resolve, ie. acl....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T14:06:03.030" Title="Knee injury, feels like there is a knot inside" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-06-19T19:49:25.877" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6885" CreationDate="2012-06-19T14:06:03.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you fall during your run? Your description at first made me think of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mdguidelines.com/crush-wounds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a crush wound&lt;/a&gt;, but that usually requires your flesh to have come in sudden contact with a hard surface, such as falling while running. The feelings of 'pressure' you mention point to inflamation, but another thing could be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_5150693_symptoms-blood-clot-knee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a DVT&lt;/a&gt; (deep vein thrombosis) of a vein in the knee, which sometimes don't have swelling, at least not right away, but you feel pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to be honest, you really shouldn't wait to see a doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T14:06:03.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2012-06-19T14:42:15.997" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As said by others, to healthily gain weight (by which I guess you mean lean weight -- muscle -- and not fat), you need resistance training and to eat more calories, particularly protein calories. Those calories do not have to come from animal sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing a course right now on vegetarian &amp;amp; vegan nutrition, and my particular focus is on atheletes and weight trainers. There are a couple of texts you should get hold of aimed at the vegetarian bodybuilder: one by &lt;strong&gt;Robert Cheeke&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;Enette Larson Meyer&lt;/strong&gt;. Both are easy to search and find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One personal recommendation for muscle/weight gain nutrition is to try adding hemp protein to your diet -- from shelled seeds or powdered for shakes. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.squidoo.com/hemp-protein-for-bodybuilding&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; is a gungho one touting hemp as the answer to all your bodybuilding woes, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://rasta1.hubpages.com/hub/Vegetarian-Body-Building-using-Hemp-Seed-Protein-Nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;more moderately phrased appraisals&lt;/a&gt; can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/321524-calories-in-hemp-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hempforbodybuilding.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; has good info as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dietivity.com/hemp-protein-contains-20-known-amino-acids/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hemp Protein for Muscle Growth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Pauline Robinson:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hemp protein contains all 20 known amino acids including the 9&#xA;essential amino acids (EAAs) our bodies cannot produce. Proteins are&#xA;considered complete when they contain all 9 essential amino acids in a&#xA;sufficient quantity and ratio to meet the body’s needs. Hemp seeds&#xA;contain an adequate supply of these high quality proteins (EAAs) for a&#xA;well balanced diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hemp protein is free of the tryspin inhibitors which block protein&#xA;absorption and free of oligosaccharides found in soy, which cause&#xA;stomach upset and gas....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When pressed and milled, the result is the&#xA;perfect &lt;strong&gt;high performance vegetarian whole food which may be used in&#xA;place of all protein sources or supplements&lt;/strong&gt;....In fact, hemp Protein is not only very high in fiber,&#xA;but is unique in the plant kingdom for its perfect balance of protein,&#xA;fiber, and carbohydrates, making it easy to substitute into any type&#xA;of diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user3495" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T15:34:49.797" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6835" CreationDate="2012-06-19T14:58:46.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For anyone who wants to follow this diet and has similar questions, here are the answers i found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Q1: When they say High fat intake, is it a specific type of fat: saturated / trans&#xA;    / polyunsaturated / mononunsaturated , or any of these in general?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Answer:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although all fats are allowed, foods with healthy fat are preferred, and will ultimately keep you feeling good as well. Foods like tuna, salmon, shellfish, bacon and other fatty meats are appropriate choices, but watch for hidden carbohydrates that might be present in sausages and hot dogs. According to Epilepsy.com, foods such as butter, heavy whipping cream and mayonnaise, and oils like canola and olive oil are also good sources of fats appropriate to the cyclical ketogenic diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;b&gt;source&lt;/b&gt; : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/227032-food-list-cyclical-ketogenic-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;).&#xA;PS: What they mean by healthy fat is &lt;b&gt;poly and mono unsaturated fat&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Q2: The diet mentions days of low carbs and days of high carbs: how many grams of carbs &#xA;    per kg/pound of body weight is low carbs ? high carbs ?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Answer:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;How Many Carbs Is Low-Carb? &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to become a 'fat-burner', you should consume around 60 grams or less of net carbohydrate per day (total carbs minus fiber). However, in order to determine just how many carbs you personally should be consuming, a little trial and error is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general rule is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat the smallest amount of carbs it takes to allow maximum output in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will vary from person to person. Please bear in mind that fat will become your main source of energy and large quantities of carbs are unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unsure, try beginning at 30 grams and adjust as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;b&gt;source&lt;/b&gt; : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/cyclical_ketogenic_diet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T14:58:46.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6867" CreationDate="2012-06-19T17:49:34.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used compression socks in the past and personally found them very pleasant. One of the claimed advantages is that it restricts the swaying of your calf muscle which should help reduce the strain on your shins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as Plankalkül indicates there isn't any literature to support its effect on preventing injuries, but I found two blog posts (albeit rather old). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2007/10/can-your-socks-make-you-faster.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The first post reviewed several studies&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;but most were focused on subjects with circulatory diseases and may not translate to athletes. He also came across one study by Ali on athletes that experienced a reduction in delayed-onset muscle soreness 24 hours after wearing compression stockings. Which would certainly indicate a speedier recovery as claimed by some of the stocking users.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/03/compression-socks-update.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The second blog post found two more articles&lt;/a&gt; which found no performance or physiological difference, but a reduction in DOMS 24 hours after exercise with compression socks. The second study tested athletes on a treadmill and found a small improvement in their performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've checked &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1937&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amateurendurance.com/injury-topics/article/compression-gear-fact-vs-fiction/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; blog posts and they all came to the same conclusion that there's a lot of controversy about them and that there's no proof that they help prevent injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you'll have to judge for yourself, I personally like them, but I haven't found any supporting evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ali A, et al. 2007. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sigvaris.com.br/prod_web/Brazil.nsf/3c42607201b8c9e4c1256954002dfaca/b33f82bfe56eb5d28525773e0060fe8c/%24FILE/GCS-Physiological%20and%20perceptual%20responses%20during%20and%20after%20exercise.PDF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Graduated compression stockings: physiological and perceptual responses during and after exercise.&lt;/a&gt; J Sports Sci 25(4): 413-419.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T17:49:34.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6871" CreationDate="2012-06-19T20:05:59.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the case of injury, consult a doctor as needed. Physical therapists may also help to prevent the injury from becoming serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't believe it to be serious, try to stretch the surrounding areas.  Jay Dicharry of the UVA Speed Clinic recommends &lt;a href=&quot;https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn%3aANd9GcT1ozi6vAXFES2255KFcKEFJ4gaY-GFegiVuvjV-n9pS5cuSrlVgA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Standing Calf Stretches&lt;/a&gt; to target the soleus and gastroc muscles of the calf.  For a better stretch, roll a towel up like a burrito and place under the big toe of the foot that is in back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calf issues, especially tightness, can also be from tight fascia in the foot (plantar fascia).  Press the area on the bottom of your foot near your arch until you find a tender spot and/or a tight spot.  Continue to apply pressure to that area and flex your toes back and forth for 3 minutes.  Repeat on the other foot.  That will help to break up any tightness in the foot and achilles, also helping the calf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, try self massage of the calf area.  Run your finger down the bone on the inside of your leg (tibia).  Find a sore spot just behind or to the side of the bone.  Again apply pressure and this time, flex your ankle back and forth for 3 minutes.  This one almost always clears up calf issues for me personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more information on Jay, check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.coachrunning.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coach Running Videos&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T20:05:59.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7706" CreationDate="2012-06-19T20:13:35.017" Score="4" ViewCount="3439" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I go for a long run or put extensive stress on my feet I end up bruising on the bottom side of my feet. The bruises are incredibly painful but only last a day. They occur near the ball of my foot or near the toes as well. I get the same sort of bruising after spending time in the pool (in areas where I can touch the bottom with my feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On my own research I found Metatarsalgia to be the closest related inflammation that matches my symptoms. My question is, what causes this bruising and what can be done to avoid it while remaining active?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: It seems like any high-impact activity can cause the bruising. I have minor bruises after playing basketball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update 2: I spoke with a foot doctor in the past and his diagnosis was that there was a higher load of stress on the bottom of the foot from activity. His remedy was stretching my legs out before activity to allow the proper support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastEditorUserId="3702" LastEditDate="2012-06-27T20:27:43.693" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T22:29:26.657" Title="Bruising on the bottom side of feet from long runs?" Tags="&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6783" CreationDate="2012-06-20T00:25:07.923" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For safe running, it's not just a matter of length.  There are other things that you need to keep in mind.  Here's a few from the top of my head:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Form.  If you have bad form, you put more stress on the body than necessary.  As you run longer and longer, it will add up and could lead to pain/injury.  Here's a video on &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/rTMzdRhsPrA&quot;&gt;Natural Running&lt;/a&gt; which exhibits proper form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Equipment.  This means your running sneakers.  There are different philosophies out there such as barefoot running, natural running, etc.  Whichever you go with, make sure that you have the proper sneakers for your own running style.  I would recommend going to a specialized running store where they will analyze your gait and propose the proper shoe type.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plan.  Don't just go out and run.  Have some kind of plan which builds up your endurance.  If you start too fast or too long, you may get injured.  You can search for various plans on the web depending on your goal.  Of course, you can also discuss with your physician.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T00:25:07.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6909" CreationDate="2012-06-20T00:26:32.293" Score="10" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the right way to pool run? Some specific questions I have are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you use a floatation device? What type?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you just use a normal running motion? If not, what changes should you make?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you be touching the bottom of the pool?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you be moving forward, or staying stationary?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case the answer depends on my goal, my goal is to use pool running as low impact HIIT training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-06-20T01:25:35.887" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T02:47:49.877" Title="What is the (a) proper way to pool run?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6894" CreationDate="2012-06-20T01:11:32.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally prefer NOT to use a flotation device, but I am kind of fluffy, and prefer to turn my hands horizontal and use them to generate lift, more than to generate forward motion.  There are many different waist or upper body styles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should mostly use the regular running motion, it cannot be identical, but the goal is to keep it the same, as best as possible.  A little more leaning forward though, as is required to make forward motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should NOT be touching the bottom of the pool.  Your goal is to avoid impact (depending on WHY you are water running) although if impact is not an issue, you can if you like.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do need to make forward progress, be it ever so painfully slow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to find a friend to do this with so you can chat.  It is mind numbingly boring, and difficult to work as hard as regular running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try sprints in the water for variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T01:11:32.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-20T01:17:18.360" Score="2" ViewCount="2650" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do around 130 push ups a day (at 5 AM) after a small routine with free weights, and I am starting to feel movements in my head. In addition, I sometimes feel a bit dizzy but not like things are moving around me. Recently, my doctor told me that I have high blood pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this common, and can it be caused by doing too many pushups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3704" LastEditorUserId="362" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T00:28:58.987" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T00:28:58.987" Title="Push ups/head movements" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6896" CreationDate="2012-06-20T02:45:42.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;AFAIK high blood pressure isn't caused by pushups per se.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising can exacerbate high blood pressure, even while helping to lower it long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &quot;feel movements in your head&quot; or simple dizziness it's a sign you should &lt;strong&gt;stop immediately&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Discuss your exercise plan(s) with your doctor and get professional medical advice, which this forum is not equipped to deliver. It may be nothing&amp;ndash;it may not be. Short of being examined and tested, nobody online can tell you anything of value other than be very careful, get a checkup, maybe do an exercise stress test under the supervision of a doctor, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T02:45:42.283" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6858" CreationDate="2012-06-20T02:57:38.063" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Minimalist running shoes are shown to increase cadence and decrease stride length.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decreased stride length - many heel strikers become forefoot strikers.  This usually allows for more efficient pace because the leg lands under the body's center of gravity.  It also means the big muscles are being used for propulsion and the small muscles aren't &quot;braking&quot; from too much overstriding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increased cadence means more foot strikes per minute.  Without getting into the speed debate (stride length &amp;amp; speed vs force generation), increased cadence usually means increased speed in inefficient runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in the end, you are probably more efficient and with a better cadence.  This can make you faster.  BUT, accumulated fitness also may be a culprit.  The more time you spend running, the better you usually become at running.  Also if you have increased total body fitness say through bouldering and you experienced better spring weather allowing for more consistent running as well as higher quality running, well those are all factors too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The minimalist shoes have probably helped you for a variety of reasons.  I caution that many studies show that minimalist shoes have a limiting factor because in time your body adjusts to cushion the landing which reduces elastic recoil which reduces running speed.  Maybe try a shoe around a 6mm heel to toe drop that is specially fit for you at a local running store.  That will let you get the best of both worlds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T02:57:38.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6900" CreationDate="2012-06-20T05:41:20.480" Score="4" ViewCount="31416" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a very skinny guy, 180cm tall, weigh 63kg. Even being as thin as I am, I had started to develop a potbelly. So I decided to do small rounds of working out about 10 days ago whenever I can, which included only two things - push-ups, and sit-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This went pretty okay for a week - I used to do them both alternately at least once a day, sometimes more, intermittently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, about since about three to four days, I'm feeling slight pain in my left palm. I'm attaching an image below to indicate specifically which part of the palm. It always happens only when I go DOWN to do the push-up, not when I push. And it sort of feels like a nerve attached at that point from inside the palm is being pulled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why this could be happening? It is extremely frustrating that I out of the blue, can't do push ups now because of this and I could just 10 days ago.I really want to stay in shape, as much as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the image: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cPlh2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://i.stack.imgur.com/LEDIZ.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3705" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-20T11:48:08.907" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T00:56:52.430" Title="Pain in left palm while doing push-ups" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2012-06-20T11:21:13.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no doctor (and this may be a case where you should see one)... so it's everyone's guess what it could be without a professional having a look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can guess based on what you describe: could be trapped nerve, could be a repetative strain (akin to carpel tunnel), could be a muscle strain (that's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abductor_digiti_minimi_muscle_of_hand&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abductor digiti minimi muscle of the hand&lt;/a&gt; you seem to be pointing to in the pic), or one of its tendons, as it seems you aren't getting the pain via the force/pushing up, but more on the flexion/stretch as you come down, putting stress on that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, if resting, icing and taking anti-inflammatories (all the usual home remedy stuff) doesn't work and it persists, you gotta see a doctor about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T11:21:13.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6910" CreationDate="2012-06-20T13:19:05.610" Score="2" ViewCount="19761" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few days ago i watched a youtube video about how to do squats properly. I followed those steps and did squats but later on i felt pain just above my knees. I was not even able to stand up properly for sometime. Is such kind of pain normal when doing squats or something was wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3708" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T09:51:36.247" Title="Pain just above knees after squats" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2012-06-20T13:44:51.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to a site with stretching/exercises for the hand: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.handhealthresources.com/Solutions%20Pages/Exercises.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.handhealthresources.com/Solutions%20Pages/Exercises.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you might have bruised a tendon or its the start of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/carpal-tunnel/carpal-tunnel-syndrome-topic-overview&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/carpal-tunnel/carpal-tunnel-syndrome-topic-overview&lt;/a&gt;).  I would recommend using dumbells or some pushup bars to hold on to OR knuckle push ups to take the pressure off the wrist/palm.  Like the old Dr. said, if it hurts, don't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T13:44:51.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2012-06-20T14:06:17.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes get this pain when I sleep with my hand curled in (it's comfy but you pay for it the next day). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you still want to do pushups, try doing knuckle pushups. That takes the strain off of your wrist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also use pushup bars to get around this pain and still do pushups. (A set from Target or Walmart is around ~$20)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastEditorUserId="3702" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T14:15:15.407" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T14:15:15.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6237" CreationDate="2012-06-20T16:44:38.280" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your involvement in 'combat sports', I would recommend an exercise that gives you the explosive power/rotational power needed to deliver devastation - the sledgehammer &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zAGkx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's links to RossTraining articles about it:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2007/02/20/good-old-sledgehammer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2007/02/20/good-old-sledgehammer/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2008/04/02/sledgehammer-training-part-ii-new-article/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2008/04/02/sledgehammer-training-part-ii-new-article/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just started myself and can already feel the difference.  When I look for a new exercise, I look for application, low cost, easy ramp up - and you have it all here.  It cost $35 for the 12lb sledge hammers, used an old tire laying around and took a few swings each day until I got use to the feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an old basic exercise (sledge hammer or ax work) used by many boxers, doesn't take a lot of time to complete (try getting to 100 swings - 50 each side...) and provides the explosive power you need for combat sport delivery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendation #2 - Heavy Bag - nothing teaches you how to punch like punching and the heavy bag provides the resistance needed to build form and provides quick feedback.  You get the rotational workout you want long with cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T16:44:38.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6577" CreationDate="2012-06-20T20:55:24.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to focus on doing some grip training.  Start by taking 2 - 10 or 25 pound plates and grip then between your fingers for time.  Or try to find thicker grip bars to use for training.  Also to improve something you generally prioritize it.  That means if you want to improve your false grip in pullups, start every workout doing a few dozen reps.  Over the course of a few weeks the body's adaptations process will become accustomed to that type of movement, thus strengthening your initial goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T20:55:24.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6237" CreationDate="2012-06-20T20:56:31.880" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I decided to come back and write a little more on rotational strength and power; specifically from a throwers background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To really develop serious trunk and rotational power we would dedicate ourselves once a week to rotational specific (sport specific) movements in the weight room which not only helped increase trunk flexibility but also really got some strength behind the movement.  Additionally we would typically throw medicine balls 3-4 times a week with a heavy emphasis of overhead, underhand and side to side throws with balls varying from 3kg to 7.27kg (shot weight).  After a few months/years of doing this I must say all this rotational power increase my overall power output in the clean, snatch, squat.  Why?  Most likely because it increased my &quot;core&quot; strength to a solid foundation to utilize all muscles in congruence with one another.  Lower body with upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MB exercises I used which helped me the most with general power and rotational power where:&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Underhand, Overhead tosses for distance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Russian Twists throws w/ varied MBs.  Feet are up in the air balancing the body, a partner throws you the ball, do a full twist and throw the ball back to the partner (or wall)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single Arm rotational throws for distance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single Arm throws for height&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For weight room specific exercises I did some of the following:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discus twists with barbell on back, increase weight and stretch each week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAUsqWIA__g&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Land Mines&lt;/a&gt;: tons of these!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking Lunge Twists with 20kg plate for distance; full rotation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking Twists with 20kg plate for distance; full rotation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Lots of reps, weight and discipline eventually lead to a huge base for generating rotational power.  See if you like some of these exercises and try to incorporate some into your training.  If you really have the intention of increasing rotational power work the flexibility portion (extremely important!) and add weight to that movement (you can do overspeed and overload rotational movements: think of doing a golf drive with an unweighted club and with a 4kg club for e.g. for ovespeed and weighted).  One more thing which I did mention; rotational flexibility is big, real big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastEditorUserId="3656" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T16:53:31.730" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T16:53:31.730" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6896" CreationDate="2012-06-20T21:08:05.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that &quot;movements in my head&quot; and dizziness are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; common responses.  Check your breathing.  Holding your breath, especially during exertion can spike your blood pressure. Making sure you continue to breathe may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Dave is correct that you should consult with your physician about your exercise program, especially if you have a medical condition such as high blood pressure.  Your doctor will give you safe guidelines.  When you go to your doctor, be prepared to explain your symptoms in response to your weightlifting and pushups.  Ask specific questions regarding your workouts and what blood pressure readings are safe for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weightlifting/AN00637&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic article&lt;/a&gt; gives some parameters for blood pressure readings and weightlifting.  For example, they suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If your blood pressure is between 140 to 170 mm Hg systolic or 90 to 109 mm Hg diastolic, check with your doctor before starting a weightlifting program to discuss any precautions or special considerations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article gives &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/hypertension-symptoms-high-blood-pressure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HBP symptoms&lt;/a&gt; that require immediate medical attention.  However, HBP is often without any noticable symptoms.  It is important that you understand your condition and how to exercise safely for better health.  Also ask your doctor about your diet.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-06-20T21:08:05.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6894" CreationDate="2012-06-20T22:34:39.630" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do aquatic HIIT intervals with different variations on running.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't use a floatation device, although you can use something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000HAQ5N4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aqua Jogger &lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't use resistance cuffs, or resistance bands, although you can.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I do make forward progress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I alter my motions to pull in various muscle groups.  The water provides resistance so I can target different muscles during each interval. For example, I may emphasize my quads or my glutes depending on my leg motion. I also alter my arm movements.  While it isn't a true running motion, I can get a good HIIT workout without impact, and a full body resistance workout at the same time. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't touch the bottom.  However, if you want to work on some impact, you can wear water shoes and run in place using &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000E1Q4K0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resistance bands&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquajogger.com/blog/?page_id=375&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AquaJogger site&lt;/a&gt; give you specifics on running form (which includes using their belt).  But it does give good information about not leaning too far forward and using more of a cycling action as if you are &quot;stomping grapes&quot;.  They also have a pdf &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquajogger.com/water-running-handbook.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;running handbook&lt;/a&gt; that covers the basics as well as using resistance devices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You still need to make sure that you warm up well.  And you can get a nice full body stretching workout in the water afterwards. One word of caution - I recommend that if you do HIIT in water, you do it in a safe area or one with lifeguards on duty.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2012-06-23T17:26:42.823" LastActivityDate="2012-06-23T17:26:42.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2012-06-21T05:41:15.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that the trainer in the video you posted does not stress the importance of coming down to parallel with your knees. He only seems to use this point as a limit for how deep you should squat. Now with that being said there is a possibility that you made no effort to actually reach parallel on every rep which I think can be cause for the knee pain, and here is why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In his video on how to squat, Mehdi describes in detail the importance of coming down do a deep squat where the crease in your hip is actually lower than your knees. He says that a major cause for knee pain when squatting is from the muscular imbalance that can occur when one does not squat deep enough. Meaning, if a person does not come down to parallel then the only muscle that gets worked is the quad, but that hamstrings which work opposite the quads don't get stimulated at all, and this causes a muscular imbalance which then can lead to injury. However, if you do come down low enough, then you will feel a nice strong stretch in the hamstrings and that should help get rid of the knee pain.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnV7vEi7Sz8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnV7vEi7Sz8&lt;/a&gt; This is the video I mentioned where Mehdi explains how to squat properly. It's a little bit long, but very clear and concise, and should totally clarify the squating concept for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T05:41:15.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2012-06-21T09:33:10.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had similar knee pain in the past (post-workout strain above the knee, achey pains at the side, and sometimes a warm hot feeling under the patella) until I learned to adjust squat techniques for my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in case Mohit is a woman (sorry, Mohit, I don't know if yours is a female or male name), or in case a woman is reading wanting to avoid the kind of knee pain Mohit speaks of, just let me add into the mix a women-specific training tip for squats that has helped me get past pains like that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From 'Free Standing Barbell Squats' in &lt;em&gt;Anatomy for Strength &amp;amp; Fitness Training for Women&lt;/em&gt; by Mark Vella&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... women are more prone to knee injury than men. This may be due to&#xA;  the wider pelvis of women and the more angled femur to the knee joint&#xA;  that renders women's knee joints less stable during exercise&#xA;  movements. Adapting the squat to suit a woman's body is therefore&#xA;  important to obtain safe and effective results.... &lt;strong&gt;place your feet&#xA;  wider than shoulder-width apart in the starting position&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while that is a woman-specific response, all male bodies are individual as well. If following otherwise good form is still not working and those kinds of knee pains persist, a man could also benefit from experimenting with a wider stance, as his individual pelvis width/angles/ratios/etc., might require him to make adjustments and do what is right for his body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3495" LastEditorDisplayName="user3495" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T09:51:36.247" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T09:51:36.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6917" CreationDate="2012-06-21T10:21:55.883" Score="-1" ViewCount="2085" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what exercises a kidney patient can do other than jogging? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3715" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T11:45:09.517" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T16:11:24.713" Title="What are exercise a kidney patient can do?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8033" CreationDate="2012-06-21T12:22:33.003" Score="1" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym 4 days a week and rest on the remaining days. Is it necessary to take a break like this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I rest today, that means that tomorrow I can work hard compared to other days. I think  this is due to taking rest. Is that true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also feel those days when I don't sleep properly that I cant take work out more. I read an article they suggested sleep and rest. Is it really necessary to rest and sleep? How many hours do I need to sleep per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T14:04:58.797" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T06:15:43.987" Title="Is sleep and rest is necessary for developing my body structure?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6914" CreationDate="2012-06-21T12:34:51.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is too many questions wrapped in to one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, rest is necessary to allow the body to recover and repair. How &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; rest depends on a large number of factors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, sleep is necessary. (?!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We don't know why your back hurts. Poor posture can certainly lead to back pain, as can may other things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It depends on the nature of the back issues; better posture, exercise, stretching etc. may all help--but you should see a doctor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop staring at something the same distance all the time. Maybe you need glasses. See an eye doctor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T12:34:51.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6913" CreationDate="2012-06-21T16:11:24.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a quick search to see what was recommended.  While I've collected a few recommendations, I don't have the reasoning for them.  The most directly useful link was &lt;a href=&quot;http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=18814.0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; summarized below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on continuous activity like swimming, jogging, aerobic exercise where you move large muscle groups continuously&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light strength training is OK (lower weights higher reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise three non-consecutive days a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discontinue exercise if you are dehydrated, very tired, have shortness of breath, have a fever, change in dialysis schedule.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kidney.org/atoz/pdf/stayfit.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kidney.org had a brochure&lt;/a&gt; with some basic information in there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three main types of exercises are beneficial: stretching, strength, and aerobic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are completely out of shape, start with stretching and basic strength until you can sustain an aerobic exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should slow down if: the exercise feels very hard, you are out of breath when you try to talk, you feel your heart racing, or you are not fully recovered an hour after exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on that information, heavy lifting and sprinting is not an option.  Probably some of the better options might include yoga or pilates.  Do keep a regular dialog with your doctor, as kidney issues are serious.  If they tell you to slow down, stop, or change what you are going, listen to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T16:11:24.713" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7009" CreationDate="2012-06-21T18:21:30.080" Score="2" ViewCount="2592" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fractured my scaphoid and had my wrist in a cast for the past 3 weeks.  Today I had the cast removed and the doctor said this sort of fracture usually heals itself well and that I would recover 100% movement of the joint.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to get back to doing sports again right away but what if anything can I do to avoid straining or causing further injury to my wrist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2268" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-25T17:11:09.193" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T08:59:53.623" Title="How can I reduce risk of injury to my recovering fractured wrist during sports?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;fractures&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6919" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6920" CreationDate="2012-06-22T05:29:27.713" Score="4" ViewCount="752" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner told me that squats are a basic exercise, that it helps to improve the lungs so you should do squats daily to lift huge weights. Is this true? Are squat exercises helpful to reduce our body weight and belly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-25T17:08:02.910" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T17:08:02.910" Title="Are squats necessary to reduce body weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6919" CreationDate="2012-06-22T06:01:11.747" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes! Squatting -- as part of a proper regimen of exercise, eating and rest -- can lead you to lift huge weights, improve lung capacity, or reduce body weight. The squat exercises the body's largest muscles and is one of the most basic functional movements. Until the invention of sitting toilets, squatting was a daily necessity for all humans even into old age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits you get will depend on how you squat. To name just a few variations, you can squat with a heavy barbell on your back, with a dumbbell held in front of you, or with just body weight; you can do a few reps slowly or many reps quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T06:01:11.747" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-22T08:16:58.100" Score="3" ViewCount="2539" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to shift a lot of fat, and I have started to up my game. I am working out 4 times a week on weights (1 hour sessions), and trying to go for 2 30-40 minute runs on top of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that I am tracking calories using Livestrong app, and have been under target for a fortnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first week I lost 5lb, great news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This week I have gains 7lb!!! What could I have missed? My calories are being tightly controlled, I am exercising much more. How can it go up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh myself on Friday mornings, after my morning 'movement'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="167" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T19:52:42.963" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T15:28:50.607" Title="What can cause an unexpected weight gain with constant workouts and calorie control?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6921" CreationDate="2012-06-22T08:29:45.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You just started training so your weight will start increasing as you will be building muscle. Muscle mass is heavier so you will be gaining weight for a while. Don't give up, carry on with your work out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing weight is just a start. Once you train longer you will see your weight starting to drop. It happened to me once and I was shocked too but now my weight has dropped back to my expectation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T19:50:53.183" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T19:50:53.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6921" CreationDate="2012-06-22T09:28:09.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of it could be water retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you weighing youself at the same time each day, after toilet, prior to work out and breakfast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you using any diet supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T09:28:09.367" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6921" CreationDate="2012-06-22T09:33:15.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that your weight varies daily based on all sorts of factors, most notably water retention (can account for a significant weight difference - we &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; mostly water after all). It is also important to weight yourself at the same time each day, preferably in the morning. Still, some variance will happen so it might be a good idea to weight yourself daily but plot the eg. 7-day average and consider that your &quot;real&quot; weight. If you are doing everything right, it should be going down, even if some days are higher than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, depending on your weight lifting program, you will start putting on muscle mass, which weights more than fat (if you consider the same volume), but depending on how much fat you need to &quot;shift&quot;, this effect can take a while to be noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T09:33:15.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6919" CreationDate="2012-06-22T12:28:01.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;There are few things graven in stone, except that you have to squat or you're a pussy.&quot; -Mark Rippetoe  So according to Coach Rip, yes you should be squatting. Squats are great for the legs, back, abdominal muscles, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for reducing your body weight and belly that is far more dependent on what you are eating rather than squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T12:28:01.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6919" CreationDate="2012-06-22T12:55:50.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three basic strength building exercises: squats, deadlifts and bench pressing.  Direct to your question: do they help the lungs and should they be done everyday? Any exercise helps lung capacity, it's a common fact that only 31% of Americans get proper exercise, which is considered 2 to 3 hours a week...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, everyday? with heavy weights? No, you need to set goals and based on those goals develop a workout program that you will follow for a long time (with on-going planned stages of change).  Lifting HEAVY everyday a specific body part will lead to injury and boredom and result in leaving you worse off than not doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation: set your goals (based on what you want and including nutrition), develop a plan (get help if you need developing a good plan) and just do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T12:55:50.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6930" CreationDate="2012-06-22T15:54:32.990" Score="3" ViewCount="560" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me: 6'5&quot;, 195 lbs, eat fairly healthy, drink on weekends, always been tall and skinny&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Desired results: increase upper body mass and definition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Current workout routine (each day is usually 45 mins to an hour)-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Tuesday:&#xA;7 minute warmup on eliptical&#xA;Superset - Assisted Pullup/Assisted Dip - 3 sets each, 8-12 reps&#xA;Superset - Standing Military Press/Barbell curl - 3 sets each, 8-12 reps&#xA;Twisting Standing Dumbell curl - 3 sets, 7-10 reps&#xA;Seated Dumbell shoulder press - 3 sets, 7-10 reps&#xA;Usually one other shoulder or bicep thrown in -3 sets, 8-12 reps&#xA;Abs - One or more of: russian twist, plank, crunches or TRX Suspended Reverse Crunches - Three sets until failure&#xA;&#xA;Thursday:&#xA;7 minute warmup on eliptical&#xA;Superset - Assisted Pullup/Assisted Dip - 3 sets each, 8-12 reps&#xA;Standing Military Press - 3 sets, 8-12 reps&#xA;Standing Tricep extension 3 sets, 8-12 reps&#xA;Skull Crushers OR Tricep rope pulldown, 8-12 reps&#xA;Abs - One or more of: russian twist, plank, crunches or TRX Suspended Reverse Crunches - Three sets until failure&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;Saturday or Sunday:&#xA;7 minute warmup on eliptical&#xA;Superset - Assisted Pullup/Assisted Dip - 3 sets each, 8-12 reps&#xA;Standing Military Press - 3 sets, 8-12 reps&#xA;Dumbbell bench press 3 sets, 8-12 reps&#xA;Hammer strength Incline bench press machine - 3 sets, 8-12 reps&#xA;Hammer strength bench press machine - 3 sets, 8-12 reps&#xA;Abs - One or more of: russian twist, plank, crunches or TRX Suspended Reverse Crunches - Three sets until failure&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other stuff-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Whey Protein after every workout&#xA;Bike commute with hills: 12-24 miles per week&#xA;Run once per week, 3 miles&#xA;Not sure if it counts, but I walk 7-8 miles per week&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if I left out any pertinent information. Based on my desired results, can anyone see anything that I'm doing wrong or that can be improved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;  Below is the starting weight and current weight for each exercise.  I started about 2 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Assisted pullup - Start: 100 lbs assist, Current: 55-70 lbs assist&#xA;Assisted Dip - Start: 70 lbs assist, Current: First set unassisted!, then 20 lbs assist&#xA;Standing press - start: 40 lbs, Current: 50-60 lbs&#xA;Barbell curl - start: 40 lbs, Current: 50 lbs&#xA;Twisting standing dumbell curl - start: 20 lbs, Current:20-25 lbs&#xA;Seated Dumbell shoulder press - start: 27 lbs, current: 27-30 lbs&#xA;Standing Tricep extensions - start: 35 lbs, current 35 lbs&#xA;Dumbell bench press - start: 30 lbs, current 35 lbs&#xA;Hammer strength incline - start: 70-90, current 70-90&#xA;Hammer strength regular - start: 70-90, current 70-90 &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On some of the larger gains I may have been underdoing it at the start&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastEditorUserId="3723" LastEditDate="2012-06-29T04:09:03.277" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:23:29.230" Title="Any suggestions on how I could improve my workout routine?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-22T16:14:45.757" Score="3" ViewCount="1600" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 years old and during the summer I've been working out with some dumbbells, and I've only been working out my arms for right now. Lately I have been feeling pain in my lower back and neck (which I do have a reversed curvature), but I would like to know if this pain is a side effects from just working my arms. Do I need to start working out other body parts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3724" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T16:30:20.773" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T06:21:52.497" Title="Are there any harmful side effects to working out just your arms?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6928" CreationDate="2012-06-22T17:06:20.263" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;With your workout, you'll see some results, but not the best results. This is because: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your program doesn't focus on the things that are important at this phase of your training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your program is inefficient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your program could be much simpler&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your program omits useful exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your program doesn't plan for predictable progression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Focus&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're skinny and weak, but your routine looks very specialized, like might be appropriate for a bodybuilder with an already well developed base of strength and mass looking to balance out particular weaknesses or highlight certain portions of their body. But, right now, you're weak all over. You should first get strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't mean weak as a pejorative. What I mean is that given your current height and weight, it's clear you have a lot of room to grow in terms of muscle and strength. This is a wonderful time for you as a lifter. If you use the right program, you will see quicker gains than any other demographic.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Efficiency&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding time-wasting, one of your workouts includes this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Standing Military Press - 3 sets, 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dumbbell bench press 3 sets, 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Hammer strength Incline bench press machine - 3 sets, 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Hammer strength bench press machine - 3 sets, 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why 3 different chest exercises, and 4 exercises working the tricep? Doing the simple barbell bench press for three sets of five, with weight heavy enough that you can't do another chest or tricep exercise in that workout would be a much better use of your time and give you a better return on investment. You'd get stronger more quickly, and while the 5-rep range is more tailored to strength gains than hypertrophy (size gain), you'll be lifting so much more weight that it would make up the difference. You can't get strong without also getting big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for when you include both overhead press, tricep extensions, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; a tricep pull-down in the same workout. The overhead press, when done with sufficient weight to exhaust your ability to do additional exercises should be all you need, and better for you, at this phase of your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Simplicity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a novice, even if the eventual goal is bodybuilding, one should stick to a very focussed, simple program, with no more than three exercises per workout, chosen from a small set of basic barbell exercises and accessory exercises (squat, bench press, overhead press, deadlift, power clean, chin-ups/pull-ups) until you have exhausted strength gains on that program. That won't take long... perhaps 3-6 months. Then, you can specialize. After a general strength program, you'll be in a much better position to sculpt your body as you wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Omissions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, by omitting heavy barbell squats and deadlifts, you are missing out on the full-body hormonal response triggered by these types of lifts. Even if you only care about how your upper body looks, there's no replacing the effect of the hormonal response (growth hormone, testosterone) triggered by heavy, full-body lifts like barbell squats and deadlifts. Add these to your routine, and you should see better progress towards your goals all-around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Planning for progression&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, in the way you describe your program, it seems you have no plan for progression. You often say &quot;3 sets, 8-12 reps&quot;, but why 8-12? Why not 8? Why not 12? Does it depend on how you feel? You really should know when you step in the gym how much weight, and for how many reps you'll be able to do an exercise, based on performance from the last workout and a predictable adaptation in your body between the two workouts. You would be better served by switching to a program that allows these type of incremental increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two very popular novice programs that adhere to these principles are Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5. I give some info about these programs in another answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6587/3085&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T19:36:43.123" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6929" CreationDate="2012-06-22T19:35:48.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a person works on one group of muscles more than another, this person develops what's known as muscle imbalance. The human body has many muscles working together in order to carry out daily physical activities. For instance walking up a flight of stairs is more than just your legs doing the work, but also your core gets engaged to to keep you balanced. By you only working on your arms you are neglecting the other muscles that would usually work together with your arms, and as a result causing a muscle imbalance. What ends up happening is that the muscles that you are working out start to pick up the slack for the muscles that are being neglected and as a result they start to work too hard, and this eventually leads to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I can't say for sure if your neck and lower back pain is a result of this (I have a strong feeling that it is, but I am not totally sure), but what I can say for sure is that you absolutely should start working on more muscles so that you prevent future injuries that can be a result of muscle imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T19:35:48.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6921" CreationDate="2012-06-22T19:39:42.557" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you also tracking your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot;&gt;body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot;&gt;waist circumference&lt;/a&gt;?  If so, was there a change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your weight goes up but your body fat percentage and waistline are decreasing then you are on the right track.  Your weight increase would then be a reflection of increased lean muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if your weight goes up and your body fat percentage and waistline are also increasing, then you need to relook at your program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long term recommendations for weight loss are 1-2 pounds per week.  Congratulations on getting started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T19:39:42.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6935" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-06-22T20:08:53.393" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T20:08:53.393" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T20:08:53.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6936" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-06-22T20:08:53.393" Score="0" Body="Healthy body composition depends on the percentage of body-fat compared to lean mass.   Questions are about how to calculate body-fat percentage, healthy body-fat ranges and body fat distribution." OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T20:09:43.053" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T20:09:43.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6937" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-23T09:24:07.863" Score="2" ViewCount="2745" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a hot and humid climate (Tel Aviv), and usually I run at night. But some days I have plans in the evening, and my only chance to get a run in is by starting at around six, six-thirty (which in summer is about an hour before sunset).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How bad is this, in terms of exposure to the sun? I don't normally apply sunscreen for such runs. By the time I finish (about an hour) the sun is almost setting (or has set).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A final detail: let's say I do this about once a month - run at six in the evening, without applying sunscreen. &lt;strong&gt;Is that below the threshold that I should be concerned about?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-06-29T04:57:24.677" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T02:43:49.873" Title="How harmful is the sun in a late afternoon to a run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-23T18:15:45.077" Score="7" ViewCount="3512" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do jogging every day in the morning. I have a river near my house with an asphalt (bitumen) road along it. I heard, that people ruin their knees and acquire hernias on such surface. Unfortunately i have no rough terrain or stadium tracks nearby. How safe is it to run daily above the asphalt covering? Should it be prohibited at all, or i can mitigate by proper techniques and certain shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the latter is true, i'm interested in the techniques and shoes in detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please provide reliable and verifiable sources, because different people tell different opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is not a duplicate of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/1376/3298&quot;&gt;Can I run barefeet on asphalt?&lt;/a&gt;, because i can't allow myself running barefoot in my environment)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3298" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T05:20:46.850" Title="Is it safe to do jogging on asphalt?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-23T18:44:34.027" Score="3" ViewCount="2428" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like swimming a lot but only have access to it during the summer months when I have more time to exercise. Because of this, I get out of condition during the rest of the year and by the beginning of the next summer I always find myself gasping for breath and barely able to complete half of what I could do last year's end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the end of the season, I can generally build up to the point that I can swim a mile and a half every weekday. Throughout the year I have mostly been cycling and doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://twentypullups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pullups and chinups&lt;/a&gt;, although, as stated, that hasn't been working too well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What dry-land exercises can I do in under an hour to condition for swimming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3727" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T12:24:52.823" Title="What set of dry-land exercises can I perform that would be equivalent to swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6937" CreationDate="2012-06-23T21:45:10.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: you should not be too worried about the sun in the later afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: there are several risk factors to consider when running in the heat, and if you properly stick to them you will remain healthy and minimize the potential health risks of sun exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Carcinogenic exposure&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scientifically speaking there is no consensus regarding which component(s) of sunlight (UVA/UVB/UVC) are carcinogenic. Since UVA/UVB/UVC proportions can change drastically based on the time of day, that means we really have no way of knowing what time of day presents the highest risk to our body as far as skin damage and cancer are concerned. Because of this, you should not consider UV exposure when deciding what time to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, whatever time you do choose to run you should make sure to take adequate precautions by applying sun screen before leaving. If the sun is out--even if it isn't very hot--you are at risk and need to use sun screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Heat stroke&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid heat stroke you want to stay properly hydrated. That means drinking water before, during, and after your exercise. Listen to your body and drink as needed. If you are doing a prolonged exercise, consider bringing a sports drink like Gatorade to help replenish the salts and minerals that your body is craving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional pointers to avoid heat stroke are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run in shade&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear light clothing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Splash water on your face&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't over-exert yourself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exhaustion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are accustomed to running in fair conditions and you transition suddenly to hot weather exercise, you will notice that it is much harder to keep up with your previous pace. Running in hot weather takes more effort from your body and as a result you cannot expect to perform at your peak the way you would in fairer conditions. Keep the heat in mind when doing exercise and make sure not to exhaust yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking all of this into account, you can see that there is nothing intrinsically dangerous about running in the heat... so long as you take the proper precautions. Therefore, whether you choose to do morning, afternoon, or evening runs, as long as you plan accordingly you will do fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-23T21:45:10.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6937" CreationDate="2012-06-24T05:29:09.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd rather do this as a comment on Moses' answer, but I don't have the necessary SE seniority to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there may not be consensus on what components of UV radiation are carcinogenic, it would be far more useful to present all the opinions so you can better draw your own conclusions. I myself am unaware of dissenting opinions to the following; UVA is carcinogenic, UVB is associated with Vitamin D development and Vitamin D is believed by some to be anti-carcinogenic. Others of course believe this to be hogwash, but since those people are either militant skeptics or associated with the pharmaceutical industry (there's not patent money in selling Vitamin D, and it's freely available to anyone who gets sunlight) their their claims I would think are worth less than those suggesting Vitamin D is very beneficial. Also, it's turned out that people working indoors but near windows have higher skin cancer rates than those who are outdoors all the time, apparently because glass blocks UVB but not UVA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some European regulatory body (I don't live in Europe so I'm not familiar with the organisations t here) has approved sun screen that only blocks UVA and lets UVB through on those grounds. So absent some very convincing information otherwise, I would lean towards believing that UVA is responsible for skin cancer and UVB helps protect against it (and other types of cancer). I have no idea about different types of UV exposure according to time of day, but I would go for some of that European UVA blocking sun screen if I were regularly exposed to a lot of sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hydration is also contested, and some argue that overhydration is just as bad as dehydration (it is, either hypernatremia or hyponatremia is bad for you). Waterlogged by Timothy Noakes (published by Human Kinetics) goes into this issue, and if you're planning on drinking a lot even if you're not thirsty, you should probably look into what the consequences of doing so would be. I would personally not go any further than keeping water with me to drink only when I'm thirsty. Your call of course based on which researchers you believe more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T05:29:09.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6939" CreationDate="2012-06-24T05:37:30.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the reading I've done on swimming addressed swimming in endless pools or with a rope tied around your waist, and suggested even that wouldn't properly train you for swimming, so I'd think some type of dry land exercise would be even less useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best advice is to do compound weight lifting exercises (deadlifts, squats, overhead presses) for strength (low reps, high weight) and endurance (high reps, lower weight). My ex-girlfriend who was a competitive swimmer, and everyone on her team lifted weights, and I think it's no coincidence that most swimming pools I've been to also have weight rooms. Weight lifting is also used as training in every sport I've looked at so far, so it's a safe bet that it'll help. Stronger muscles mean less effort in every action which means you can keep doing any given activity for longer. You can very easily keep a weight training session under 30 minutes once you get a routine going (45 minutes probably for the first few times as you figure everything out), and twice a week will give you steady strength gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T05:37:30.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6938" CreationDate="2012-06-24T06:00:03.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be done. Don't heel strike, ever, that's what's going to kill your knees, regardless of the surface you're on. Make sure you land on your forefoot or midfoot (forefoot if it's more of a run, midfoot if it's more of a jog), with your body weight over top of your feet. If it's behind your feet, your knees suffer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it easy to not heel strike, don't wear shoes with a raised heel - anything more than Nike Free 3.0s is too much, if you can get minimalist shoes that have no heel at all, and soles only a few mm thick, all the better. The reason barefoot runners don't have knee problems is the soles of the feet are very sensitive, so if you're landing with any kind of impact, your feet hurt before you're even damaging your knees. You said barefoot isn't an option for you, and I agree, I don't want to run in dog poop or on broken glass, but I still go for thin shoes that let me feel the ground very easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for reliable and verifiable studies - there aren't any. Anyone who has an attachment to the traditional running method or the minimalist running method will be able to poke holes in any study supporting the other side. Incidentally, there aren't any studies that show that traditional running shoes offer any sort of benefit (and I would suggest if there haven't been any in 40 years, they're not going to ever show up), conversely there haven't been any to satisfy doubters that minimilast or barefoot running is any safer. But if you wear shoes that make it easy for your feet to hurt, you just make sure you're running in a way that they don't hurt. If they do start hurting and you can't change your technique so it stops. Cut your run short and walk home. If you're wearing shoes that offer lots of cushioning, you'll only find out there was a problem when your knees start hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the no heel striking rule doesn't apply when walking, although you don't want to literally &quot;strike&quot;, it's more of a roll over your heel on the outside of your foot to the balls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I've heard suggested, but haven't been able to test for myself or find any studies to back up (no surprise there), is that a higher cadence and shorter stride is associated with lower injury rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T06:00:03.833" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6921" CreationDate="2012-06-24T06:11:04.663" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't rely on calories, it's a weak science - physicists and mathematicians playing nutritionist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's too many examples of people gaining weight on a calorie deficit and losing weight on a calorie surplus (as high as 5000 calories per day over!) to put any stock in the hypothesis that calories have any significant relation to weight loss or gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's far more important to look at what you're eating, and after that look at how much you're eating, and the best type of diet to go on is one that starts off with a few foods that are known to work for the majority of people and slowly add in a new item every week, tracking how you feel and what happens after you add it in. You'll discover which specific foods cause you problems, and know to avoid them in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T06:11:04.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6928" CreationDate="2012-06-24T06:53:17.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't do comments yet, so I'll have to do an answer instead. I was going to say mostly what Sancho did, but also add to take more rest days. Stronglifts 5x5 and Texas Method suggest working out 3x/week, which I'll admit is quite appealing, but I've found I have to take 2-3 rest days, really with the best results when my schedul forces me to not hit the weights for 3 days. Muscle gain comes mostly in your sleep, and otherwise when you're not doing much. Lifting weights only promotes it, but you have to let your body do it then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, reduce your workout so it fits within 30 minutes, that'll be a good constraint to address what Sancho talked about with efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T06:53:17.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4575" CreationDate="2012-06-24T07:10:54.103" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inertia, it takes a while for information to propogate. Also, soy is attached to ideology. It's the answer, particularly for vegans, on how they can get protein without animal products (while conveniently ignoring/never knowing in the first place that to grow plants you need nitrogen in the fertilizer, and guess where the nitrogen comes from?). Try to tell them soy is harmful and they'll ignore you the same way they ignore you if you tell them that some people lack the enzymes to get protein from plant sources. Try to tell a vegetarian that they shouldn't eat soy and they'll get very upset at you, because that means no tofu dogs, tofurkey, tofu burgers, tofu chicken, and every other fake meat that's made from heavily processed soy. It's more religion than science for a lot of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as vegans see soy as the magical bean, soy will keep getting recommended in the face of any research that shows it to be bad for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T07:10:54.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1750" CreationDate="2012-06-24T14:54:49.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fat can also store on the belly if you are under stress.  If you are prone to stress and anxiety the body can burn fat from the arms and legs leaving you with slim limbs but leaving a pot belly... so something to check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3730" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T14:54:49.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7658" CreationDate="2012-06-24T21:16:42.773" Score="4" ViewCount="3226" Body="&lt;p&gt;To find the perfect sleep schedule for bodybuilding, I think we should look at the top professional bodybuilders. 4 time Mr. Olympia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Cutler_%28bodybuilder%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jay Cutler&lt;/a&gt; said in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/my_liked_videos?feature=mh_lolz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a Q&amp;amp;A session&lt;/a&gt; that he gets &lt;strong&gt;8-9 hours&lt;/strong&gt; of sleep in the off-season, but only &lt;strong&gt;4 hours&lt;/strong&gt; while preparing for a contest. I have two questions about this style of bodybuilding sleep schedule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why does he change his hours of sleep depending on the season?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By sleeping 8-9 hours in the off-season, Jay Cutler is somewhere in the &quot;long sleepers&quot; range according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VMI9P.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this poster&lt;/a&gt;. Is he putting on unnecessary fat as the poster says or does the poster only apply to sedentary people?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2012-06-26T16:20:39.440" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T21:33:12.947" Title="What is the optimal sleep schedule for bodybuilding?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6862" CreationDate="2012-06-24T22:51:52.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The wide grip requires that your shoulder have full range to abduct and externally rotate.  Limitation from tight muscles or from weak scapular stabilizers can cause an impingement at the shoulder joint, so it may or may not be a pinched nerve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To find out what you actually have and to get a good exercise program to correct it, you should see your doctor (orthopedist) and/or a physical therapist (physio).  Any info here will only be general information which might help, but may not address your complete problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your main problem is poor shoulder positioning the following may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tight Muscles:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Muscles that limit this wide grip motion are tight pecs (esp. pec minor) and subscapularis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises to Stretch:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Pec stretches such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/PectoralisMinor/Doorway.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doorway stretch&lt;/a&gt; may help.  Try this stretch with the arm at various heights along the door frame to find where in the range your muscle feels tight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises to Strengthen and Stretch:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/PectoralisMinor/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The wall pec stretch&lt;/a&gt;, stretches the pecs but also contracts the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Rhomboids.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhomboid and trapezius&lt;/a&gt; scapular muscles to help improve the positioning of the shoulder blade.  The position of the shoulder blade is important because if it is out of position (as with shoulders that are rounded forward) &#xA;it can lead to impingement and pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your problem is a pinched nerve, then see your doctor/physical therapist for treatment and an exercise regime to correct the imbalances and to improve your nerve mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-06-24T22:51:52.670" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-25T01:11:45.220" Score="2" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a few days I am heading off to camp to be a counselor. My problem is that in this camp there is no gym, so that means I will be without a gym for 2 months. I am hoping that somebody can give me a few suggestions on how to really get a good workout through out the summer. I am not referring to just running, swimming and playing ball, but rather I would like something that can also stimulate my muscles at least enough so that they don't look smaller by the time the summer is over and I get back to the gym. Sandbags and a chin/pull up bar is about the extent of what I will have available to me, so any suggestion would really be very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T23:11:31.503" Title="Suggestions for a good workout when no gym is available" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2012-06-25T02:57:03.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do some muscle up and pull up daily for your upper body, sit up for your abs and some squad without weight for your leg. You actually can use your luggage as a weight for dead lift and row for your back muscle. This at least will keep your muscle warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T02:57:03.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2012-06-25T03:33:39.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest picking up a copy of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Never Gymless&lt;/a&gt;&quot; by Ross Enamait. Tons of good information on just the topic you are asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T03:33:39.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2012-06-25T05:53:16.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barstarzz.com/store/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.barstarzz.com/store/&lt;/a&gt; has a couple things that are likely what you're looking for. I have the DVD on order but haven't received it yet, based on some of the previews that are up and other instructional tidbits they have on YouTube I expect it to be pretty good. You can also check out their (and other calisthenics groups) YouTube clips to see what you think of them and if you think it's worth ordering the DVD or eBook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T05:53:16.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6862" CreationDate="2012-06-25T06:02:50.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;www.amazon.com/The-Frozen-Shoulder-Workbook-Overcoming/dp/157224447X/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/ might have the solution for you. I've had good results with the latter book (haven't got the former because it worked) in addressing neck range of motion problems as well as my left shoulder with issues that I've had for years. Not fully recovered yet on either, but it is much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, it might be something much different. It's trite to suggest seeing a qualified physician, and I'm not doing that just in a cover my ass fashion, but it's also key to get the right physician who can actually help you, not one that just suggests you no longer do weights and take some painkillers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T06:02:50.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6929" CreationDate="2012-06-25T06:21:52.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not terribly convenient doing squats with dumbbells, deadlifts I find are a bit better (but I've also got long arms, so I'm well suited to them). If you're going to focus only on your upper body, given your age I'd suggest calisthenics - since you're still growing you have progressive overload with your bodyweight built in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's quite impossible to really diagnose a problem like that over the internet (to say nothing of the fact that most of us aren't physicians), but for general purposes it would be more useful to know exactly what workout routines you're doing. Some upper body workouts could actually be quite balanced given that they're only focusing on the upper body, while others could be terribly imbalanced and could likely cause you pain even if you didn't have any pre-existing condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T06:21:52.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6919" CreationDate="2012-06-25T06:33:12.577" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the letter of the question, no, you could do deadlifts instead. But in the spirit of the question, yes, you really should do a compound lift involving your legs and back. Try to pick at least one that you can do safely and without pain (front squat, back squat, ball squat, hack squat, standard deadlift, sumo deadlift). If absolutely none of them work and you've researched how to do them properly (Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and The Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique by Stuart McRobert are both good books to look into) then you could do leg presses instead - it's generally accepted that free weights are more productive than machines, but if you get injured doing free weights but not the machines, then in that unfortunate instance, machines are better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, nobody can really agree whether the squat or deadlift is better, even Rippetoe who starts off saying the squat's the best exercise period has a diagram in the back of his book that seems to suggest the deadlift is better. That got a chuckle out of me. I happen to prefer the deadlift because I can perform it more comfortably, also just conceptually because training to lift something heavy off the ground is an incredibly practical movement to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for reducing the belly, I'm a skinny guy but was getting a bit self conscious about my belly sticking out, purely doing deadlifts, overhead presses and pulldowns I got it pulled in a bit. I couldn't really pinpoint which of the exercises was responsible, although I'd be inclined to attribute it to all of them due to the need to stabilise with my core muscles while performing those exercises. I don't have experience myself with fat burning, but I've read from numerous sources (which could be just a bunch of people referring to a single study, I'm not claiming that there's scientific consensus here) that beginners doing weight training see both fat loss and muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T06:33:12.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6783" CreationDate="2012-06-25T06:53:33.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you can run without getting bored. If you're bored, your mind starts to wander, you pay less attention and twist your ankle in a pothole or trip over a root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T06:53:33.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2012-06-25T06:58:51.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was going to guess it was that part of your palm, as I've experienced it there too (and in the left hand). Sadly I don't have a good answer for it (yet). My solution was to switch to knuckle pushups, or use a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells and grip them. I don't experience the pain either when I do wide grip pushups, so that might work for you as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'd also be worth trying headstands (and handstands if you can do them) to see if you experience the pain with that too - I'm not sure what the presence or absence of pain doing that would indicate, but more information always helps, and maybe that'll be enough for someone more knowledgeable to have an explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T06:58:51.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6867" CreationDate="2012-06-25T07:03:11.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found two things contribute to my shin splints - too tight or improperly laced shoes (also stuff like a too long or excessively stiff tongue), and a raised heel. When I wear shoes with neither (loose, flexible, minimalist shoes), I never have any shin splints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't necessarily mean compression sleeves don't help, but if I'm to re-interpret your question as &quot;How can I get rid of shin splints?&quot; my suggestion would be to look at your shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T07:03:11.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2012-06-25T07:07:27.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can raise your heart rate lifting heavy weights. For most people, their bodies are heavy weights, so bar calisthenics could be a good option - it keeps you off your feet most of the time but really works the rest of your body. I know it's not what most people think of when they say cardio, but exercise works your heart, anything you do that takes effort will be good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T07:07:27.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-25T08:19:50.450" Score="3" ViewCount="22921" Body="&lt;p&gt;In bodybuilding the benefits of long muscle bellies are fairly self evident, just look at Ronnie Coleman's out of place biceps and compare them to Sergio Oliva. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any sport requiring strength there would also be significant benefits simply due to the increased muscle mass. In the case of the legs, there seems to be a fair amount of literature showing that long achilles tendons and short calf muscle bellies are an ideal combination for runners, so there's an obvious reason why someone would have long tendons and short muscles in the lower extremeties. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can even make a hypothesis that not having a too long bicep and having a longer tendon distally would allow for better elbow ROM. However, for the forearm, I haven't been able to find any literature, nor think of any practical benefit to having a short muscle belly and long tendons, yet some people have exactly that - a large flare right below the elbow with not much of a taper to the wrist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts on this topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-07-09T14:33:06.110" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T08:32:52.720" Title="What's the benefit of a long tendon and short muscle belly in the forearm?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-25T13:05:35.220" Score="2" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a Computer professional. My job involves sitting on a pc for the whole day without much physical work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 32, male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what is the amount of calories I should consume daily via food and how much should I &quot;spend&quot; via physical exercise to keep my fit and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T21:21:01.693" Title="How many calories should I intake and how much should I &quot;spend&quot; daily?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-25T14:04:36.907" Score="3" ViewCount="640" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had ACL surgery a couple years ago and things have been great.  I've been running more and have some (very minor) discomfort in that knee.  I really have no idea if it could be the ACL or not.  Is there a stretch I can do that will specifically stress the ACL so I can see if that's the source of the pain?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="966" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T05:41:32.260" Title="Is there any stretch (or place I can apply pressure) that specifically targets the ACL?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6962" CreationDate="2012-06-25T14:31:56.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;On this site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.freedieting.com/&lt;/a&gt; you will find a calculator called daily caloric needs, it will ask you to input your height, weight, gender, age, activity level and what your goal is. your goal can either be to gain weight, lose or maintain, and accordingly it will calculate how many calories you need in order to achieve said goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T14:31:56.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6965" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-25T17:42:36.077" Score="2" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a new runner (a few weeks in) and not due to start my period for another week. I had to stop a mile in today because I got a ghost cramps out of nowhere and REALLY wanted a vicodin. (It was contemplating-getting-in-the fetal-position-in-the-middle-of-the-trail type pain) I thought I started my period. Of course, as I was about half way limping back to my car (10 mins?) it passed and I felt completely fine. I then sprinted back to my car so I could make it home before the next one came. The thing is, it was a ghost cramp. I haven't started my period. What gives? I'm always well hydrated so I know it's not that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to going to the doctor, I just want to know: &#xA;Is this normal?&#xA;Can it be avoided?&#xA;Should I start taking painkillers before I run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T19:11:19.160" Title="Does running cause menstrual-style cramps?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6965" CreationDate="2012-06-25T19:11:19.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, this is speculation as I'm not a woman, but in reading The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies I came across a bit that mentioned some trigger points on the legs can contribute to a much more painful period, and it doesn't strike me as odd that running could set that off as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nobody else can give you a useful answer, I'd suggest checking out that book, or if healthcare is affordable for you, see a gynecologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T19:11:19.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="334" CreationDate="2012-06-25T19:22:09.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way to increase you lung capacity (vo2 max) is to perform interval training and sprinting, one technique is known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fartleks&lt;/a&gt;. The more you push your lungs (and get out of breath for short periods), the greater your capacity becomes, at least up to a point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One interesting device that is a fairly cheap that claims to improve your inspiratory muscles is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/POWERbreathe-Classic-Light-Resistance-Wellness/dp/B000NJXFWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=sports&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1340651994&amp;amp;sr=1-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Powerbreathe&lt;/a&gt;. It works by you blowing into the device, and it providing resistance for both. Like push ups or press ups, you increase the amount you do each day, and also increase the resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K9DXQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;powerbreathe&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has various studies to back it up but from experience is a bit of a pain to clean - you have to buy baby milk bottle sterializer to clean them with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2013-03-03T12:55:38.437" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T12:55:38.437" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6963" CreationDate="2012-06-25T19:36:05.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something you need to consider is that injuries and surgeries can affect much more in your body than just where you had the injury. Also, pain can refer so that can confuse things as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're only feeling pain in one side while running, I would think that the issue is an asymmetrical gait. Determining how your painful side is moving compared to your not painful side would be an important first step. That would help narrow down the cause of the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, to the second half of your question about pressing somewhere to see if that causes the pain, trigger point therapy is about exactly that. I've read The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies (and recommended it to family members) and have had good results with it. If you can find it in a bookstore or library you could even flip through to the leg section, find trigger points that refer pain to where you're feeling it and see if you can palpate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as stretching goes, I haven't read it, but Trigger Point Self Care Manual by Donna Finando is apparently similar and also includes stretching. A note on stretching, as long as you stop the moment you feel some discomfort and don't push further you probably won't make things worse, but given some research has started showing that stretching can cause injury, I'm quite reluctant to recommend or suggest it at all unless you're very certain you know exactly what you're doing. Also, it's my understanding that when ligaments stretch, they don't go back to their old position and end up looser as a result, so I think targetting the ACL specifically would be a bad idea, but targetting various leg muscles might not be. Also keep in mind that if you find a muscle is tight when you stretch it, strengthening it with resistance training is a better course of action than trying to stretch it to loosen it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T19:36:05.993" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6227" CreationDate="2012-06-25T19:52:17.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't want to lift any weight I couldn't perform the concentric movement in good form with, but at the same time I've read (and I think this started with Arthur Jones and a Scandinavian research team, according to Ellington Darden's book) that the eccentric portion of the movement is more important for gaining size. Since the muscles are stronger for isometric contraction than concentric contraction, and stronger for eccentric contraction than isometric contraction, it does in some way make sense that you would add a bit of swing to get a weight you couldn't lift concentricly to fully fatigue your muscles eccentricly. I also wouldn't think that a swing is necessarily bad form if it's to get the weights into a position to perform an eccentric movement with heavy weight, but I would also think it would be better to have the weight racked to start eccentric and use the loading of the eccentric movement to help perform the concentric movement after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T19:52:17.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6973" CreationDate="2012-06-25T20:01:11.147" Score="12" ViewCount="16187" Body="&lt;p&gt;During &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; exercises (push-ups, crunshes) my whole body shakes, I feel a tremor that I cannot control. This happens even during first push-up, when I'm not tired at at all. So, my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What could be a reason for this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this tremor affect the efficiency of my workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I be trying to control it, and if yes, how?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 37, and started working out recently after a long period without any physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3558" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T01:17:31.193" Title="Why is my body shaking during certain exercises?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2012-06-25T20:04:18.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would depend on a number of factors. For instance, if you lack the shoulder ROM to position the bar properly for a back squat, the flexibility in choosing the exact position that allows symmetrical positioning of your arms for dumbbell squats could end up making them much more effective than barbell squats. That's a specific example of the general idea that any exercise you can perform safely and without pain is more effective than one you can only perform with pain. If you can perform both dumbbell squats and barbell squats perfectly fine without any pain and with good form for the respective exercises, you'd probably benefit most from alternating between them at the same weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T20:04:18.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6918" CreationDate="2012-06-25T21:47:06.780" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The doctor said ... that I would recover 100% movement of the joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of your question, this provides us with little help. The fact that you will, at some point, fully recover is not to say that you are fully recovered &lt;em&gt;as of this present moment&lt;/em&gt;. In fact, considering that your original question included the wording &quot;my wrist still feels weak&quot; leads me to believe that you are not, in fact, fully recovered from the injury. For athletes, &lt;strong&gt;the most important thing to prevent reinjury is allowing for full recovery before becoming fully active.&lt;/strong&gt; This brings me to my first recommendation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Ask a doctor&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot stress how important it is to solicit &lt;em&gt;professional&lt;/em&gt; medical advice when dealing with an injury. Go back to your doctor and ask their opinion. Additionally, I'd recommend going one step further and consult with a physical therapist who would probably be a lot more knowledgeable about both recovery and prevention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Physiotherapy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said, you should consult with a physical therapist if you wish to fully recover from this injury. This is especially important when crafting a exercise recovery plan, as some wrist exercises may be well-suited for others but not for yourself. If, for whatever reason, you cannot engage a PT to assist, here are some starting points that I'd recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taping or bracing of injured area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduced activity load on injured area (i.e. don't be doing 100kg hammer curls with your bad wrist)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gradual reintegration with sports. Take it slow, and gradually increase activity as your wrist heals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercises to improve injured area. Specifically, these include &lt;strong&gt;wrist bends&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;wrist side bends&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;squeezes&lt;/strong&gt; (tennis/stress ball work best), and &lt;strong&gt;forearm rotations&lt;/strong&gt;. You should typically do these 10-12 reps/exercise at 2-3 sets/day. If you are experiencing pain with any of these exercises, you should stop immediately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T21:47:06.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6970" CreationDate="2012-06-25T22:25:29.263" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an article from LiveStrong.com about muscle tremors: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/446452-tremors-while-exercising/&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/446452-tremors-while-exercising/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, without a proper medical examination, there is no way to tell if the cause is just lack of fitness or nutrition or something else.  SO, step one: get a complete physical, step two find a local personal trainer to make sure you have a good/proper workout routine and associate diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can 'work through' or force yourself to continue, but this could lead to further issues - so, take a step back, your body is telling you something and you need a professional medical person to help understand what it's saying.  I'm sure its nothing more than your current condition and diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T22:25:29.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6980" CreationDate="2012-06-25T22:56:01.287" Score="4" ViewCount="2592" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing barefoot running on streets (tarmac) for approximately one month now. In this time I had several blisters, scratches and pain in the ankle. Now everything works pretty fine, except my feet are swelling in the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I started barefoot running, I did not have swollen feet. Has anybody got some information about this for me?  What is in this swelling, water?  I read somewhere that - if you start running barefoot, your foot muscles develop and get &quot;bigger&quot;? How is barefoot running and swollen feet related to each other? Is there a way to prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks alot, jmort253, for your answer. It was very interesting to learn from your answer, that there are 20 muscles in the feet and only 2 are &quot;execised&quot; when you walk/run with shoes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The swelling comes with no pain at all.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yesterday I put my feet for 20 minutes into water that has around 16 degrees celcius (60 degrees fahrenheit). That was very good for my feet. And I have the impression that the swelling decreased.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I have pain in my feet (apart from some little scars), I do not run, but walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3734" LastEditorUserId="3734" LastEditDate="2012-06-26T20:37:14.733" LastActivityDate="2019-06-30T15:49:54.610" Title="Is there a way to prevent swollen feet from barefoot running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6975" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-26T00:02:52.467" Score="2" ViewCount="3343" Body="&lt;p&gt;It feels as if the tendons on the top of my hand and in my forearm (just near the wrist) are very tight and it is painful. I started noticing it in wrestling two years ago and it was very painful but went away after the season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been lifting non-stop since then, but now it is suddenly starting to hurt again (without wrestling). I started noticing a severe pain when pulling weeds at work and the tendons in my forearm were cracking and caused me a lot of pain. It also hurts during exercises such as pull-ups or shrug. Does anyone know what this could be? Also I am 17 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3735" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T20:38:34.940" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T20:38:34.940" Title="Why do my forearms and the tops of my hands hurt?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6975" CreationDate="2012-06-26T00:13:59.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your workout frequency suggests overtraining. Particularly since you'll be gripping weights for almost any kind of exercise, your forearms really aren't getting a break. If you're doing wrist curls, it'll exacerbate it that much more. Having at minimum one rest day between workouts is pretty essential, regardless of what you're doing . Unless you're using steroids, you're not going to be able to benefit much from consecutive workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T00:13:59.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6918" CreationDate="2012-06-26T00:35:26.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do controlled exercises until you can get your injured wrist back to the same, or very close to, strength and range of motion of your uninjured wrist. Do light activity that gets you back into using your injured wrist - that could be as simple as playing video games or music for 10-15 minutes, cooking food, kneading bread (if you don't make your own bread, you could always learn how). For exercises I would suggest sticking to dumbbells to start with, and start off at 5lbs with low reps just to get used to going through the motions, and steadily increase the weight until you feel you're at a point where it's a bit more difficult, then slow your rate of increase. The idea is to aim low to start and work your way up until you've figured out what your wrist can handle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid doing any sport that's unpredictable (tennis, soccer, wrestling) until you're fully or close to fully recovered doing something predictable, like lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T00:35:26.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6918" CreationDate="2012-06-26T02:24:05.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't state what activity you do as a primary one. That will have a bearing on what you can/should be doing with the wrist. Every sport is going to have it's risks while still healing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, running you could fall, swimming is obviously out, same with cycling unless you're in aero bars on a TT bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing to say that you can't get some Ace wraps and splint the wrist while exercising, unless for some reason you need that wrist to be mobile, in which case I'd recommend waiting at least until it doesn't feel weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T02:24:05.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6962" CreationDate="2012-06-26T02:32:14.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's going to be highly dependent on quite a few different factors, and the sites that have calculators are going to vary quite a bit depending on what algorithm they use on the back end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as &quot;fit and healthy&quot;, that can be as little as 30 mins of exercise (Such as moderate walking, cycling, swimming, etc.) 3-5x per week, or more if you intend on competing in any kind of athletic event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be a bit more helpful if you gave us some basic statistics (ht, wt, etc) and what your goals are (i.e. lose 30 lbs, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T02:32:14.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6974" CreationDate="2012-06-26T02:36:56.163" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a majority of your life, like many people, you've &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; worn shoes, especially when doing anything that involves physical exertion or significant use of the feet. You say you've only been barefoot running for a month. So the most likely scenario is that you've unwittingly overdone it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://naturallyengineered.com/blog/pain-and-swelling-in-foot-from-running-too-much-too-soon/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Naturally Engineered - Pain and Swelling in Foot From Running Too Much Too Soon&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obvious reason is that the bones, tendons, and muscles in your feet are not conditioned to handle running many miles without padded shoes right away. All of that tissue is severely underdeveloped from a lifetime of wearing shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 20 muscles within our foot and 12 muscles from our leg that attach to our foot. According to Dr. Michael Nirenberg and Dr. Benno Nigg, while walking in shoes, only the tibialis anterior (a shin muscle) and triceps surae (calf) muscles are needed. When you start a barefoot or minimalist training regimen, all of those parts of your feet which have stayed asleep inside of your shoes are now awakened and exercised quite rigorously. If you don’t proceed slowly you are more than likely going to encounter some pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you've &lt;em&gt;already&lt;/em&gt; encountered some pain, and pain can lead to swelling due to damage to the previously underdeveloped soft tissues in your feet. While the pain going away is a good thing, the swelling is a sign that you should still proceed with caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://goutaa.todayshealthinformation.com/swollen-foot/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Today's Health Information - Swollen Feet&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your foot is hurting and you keep barefoot running on it, your foot may swell. My advice is to avoid running on a swollen foot. It needs to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't overdo it as you are beginning barefoot running, and you take care of any pain right away by giving your feet a break, and then give them an ice bath several times a day, you should be able to avoid most instances of swollen feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things you can do to help prevent as much damage as possible is to ice your feet and ankles. This will also help reduce the swelling. Keep in mind that, according to Natually Engineered, some pain early on is common and is to be expected. Here is their advice on how to proceed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not be able to avoid all injury or pain as you are getting started; when I began barefoot running, the cartilage in my forefoot broke apart inside my foot. This may happen to you, too. But you can minimize the damage and pain you experience during this process by following the advice above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you can do to avoid or minimize injury is to put your feet in a bath of ice water immediately after barefoot running, every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, it's wise to proceed with caution. Listen to your body carefully. If you start to experience more pain, it may be a sign to take it easy, use more ice, pay attention to your form, or even take a break and give your feet time to completely heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the swelling doesn't go away on it's own or if the pain comes back, it may be wise to seek medical advice, just to be on the safe side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T02:36:56.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6894" CreationDate="2012-06-26T02:47:49.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your intention is to use it as a HIIT type training, then running in waist deep water is probably going to be one of the better options. Deep water running is more for when you need to not have any weight bearing/impact component.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deep water requires a bit of technique and practice so that you don't just sink. and if you have a lot of muscle mass and/or low body fat, you're going to sink a bit anyway. If you haven't done it before, I'd recommend a flotation system until you get used to it, then you can wean yourself off of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have alluded to, it's a different type of form than regular running. If you aren't using it as an alternative running form, there are a lot of other exercises you can do in water (Such as treading water, treading water with your hands above your head, etc.) that will provide a seriously good workout, and give you a little variety as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T02:47:49.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6962" CreationDate="2012-06-26T02:59:13.763" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't be worrying about calories at all, they're not reliable in any fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People gain weight on calorie deficits, and lose weight on calorie surpluses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T02:59:13.763" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6938" CreationDate="2012-06-26T04:57:57.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The big thing to ensure you do in this situation is to 1) ensure you are in properly fitted shoes and 2) have good bio-mechanics.  If you do these, you can run on almost any terrain (concrete if the exception.  Concrete is always a bit rough due to its density).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you an idea, I've run on asphalt roughly 75% of my miles over the past 7 years with weekly mileage totals going over 100 miles/week.  If you do the daily running maintenance, asphalt can be ok.  This includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;good shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;good form (maybe do drills once a week if need be)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stretch and keep yourself limber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hydrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above 4 are necessary in any running routine really but important if you are not running on ideal surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Included are a few links that write about good running bio-mechanics and/or the importance.  Googling the terms will provide you with a plethora of results.  While not all institutions are exactly alike, there are a lot of common themes and several common ideals they strive for.  For example, there is an ideal # of strides/minute most people say is correct (170-180).  Other things include hip positioning, knee lift, foot-path, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply being 'aware' of 'how' one's form may be incorrect/inefficient/hampering is the first step.  Each individual should decide how to modify form and mechanics accordingly and note that there is not necessarily one 'correct' form but there are many mechanical methods that are considered incorrect.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/8/8_2/running-form-biomechanics.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/8/8_2/running-form-biomechanics.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;    Good sample here includes:  &quot;Proper mechanics involve moving the body forward, with a minimum of vertical motion of the body trunk as a whole. Keep as a mental picture the way in which the top of the head of Alberto Salazar stayed parallel to the top of the wall of the Queensborough Bridge during the New York City marathon. The foot at each foot strike should be straight and in line with the direction of forward motion. If the feet are turned outwards the distance covered by each stride is reduced and more stress occurs on the lower legs and knees (Williams, 1990).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Check_your_form__Running_with_correct_biomechanics.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Check_your_form__Running_with_correct_biomechanics.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/03/the-biomechanics-of-good-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/03/the-biomechanics-of-good-running/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="2051" LastEditDate="2012-07-05T05:20:46.850" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T05:20:46.850" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6995" CreationDate="2012-06-26T05:00:23.863" Score="18" ViewCount="5140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how to reduce one's sweat rate?  Currently I lose about 3lbs of sweat an hour when I run, even on mild days where the temp. is around 60-70 degrees.  As I'm training for ultras, I'd like to reduce that rate if possible.  I believe I can take electrolyte pills, but unaware how effective they are and how they impact sweat rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  Someone mentioned that electrolyte tablets can reduce the amount of sweat you lose during exercise.  Is this true or do those only help you keep your sodium levels up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="2051" LastEditDate="2012-06-29T22:57:27.507" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T03:25:24.830" Title="Reduce sweat rate?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2012-06-26T05:52:02.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chest &amp;amp; Triceps:&#xA;- Shoulder width push ups&#xA;- Diamond pushups&#xA;- Bench dips (maybe on the side of your bed or use a chair?)&#xA;- Decline and Incline Pushups (use a hill or kitchen bench)&#xA;- Sand bag overhead extensions &#xA;- Some kind of press with the sandbag&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back &amp;amp; Biceps:&#xA;- All grip variations of pullups/muscle ups etc. &#xA;- Inverted Row &#xA;- Hammer grip with sand back curls &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core:(use sandbag for added weight)&#xA;- Crunches &#xA;- Sit ups&#xA;- Use a hill for decline sit ups&#xA;- Oblique crunches &#xA;- Plank &#xA;- Russian twist with sand bag&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs:&#xA;- Use luggage and hold a piece each side of the body with each hand. Do split squats&#xA;- Jump squats &#xA;- Box jumps&#xA;- Lunges&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3737" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T05:52:02.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="97" CreationDate="2012-06-26T06:13:03.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never thought I'd hear BJJ described as high intensity. For BJJ specifically, look around for another club that has a more relaxed and safety focused atmosphere, and you could do it at 90 years old. If you're training in a club where the meatheads think BJJ and MMA are the same thing, and consider it more of a fight club than somewhere to train, even if you're 25 you're going to get hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T06:13:03.397" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6229" CreationDate="2012-06-26T06:23:34.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we take Tabatas specifically, I'm not sure there's been anything large studied showing 20/10 to be superior to other methods of HIIT. I think the Tabata name is a red herring though, as interval training was done long before Tabata conducted his study, and if you look at the history he didn't discover anything new. So the 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off isn't a magical number or ratio, it was selected to keep the study controlled. More than half a century ago, several track and field world records were set by athletes using high intensity interval training. I'm lead to believe Lance Armstrong also does interval training. I'd think its use by some of the world's best athletes for at least the past 75 years would be more of an endorsement than a study involving even 50 or 100 people. I'm not sure about doing exclusively HIIT, but I think it's a safe bet that including it in your training regimen is better than not including it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T06:23:34.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6872" CreationDate="2012-06-26T06:28:14.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do my rockclimbing in Vibram Fivefingers - they're not specifically designed for it but they work fine. Admittedly, my grip strength and arm strength is much more of a bottleneck for me at the moment than shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you mentioned the only difference you saw is how they lace up, I'd suggest looking at shoes which have the lacing at an angle to the outside of your foot, rather than straight in line with your shin as shoes traditionally are. That keeps pressure off the top of your foot which can otherwise get very uncomfortable very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T06:28:14.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2012-06-26T06:37:06.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My solution was to buy the KSO Treks, even though I don't like the soles as much. The kangaroo leather just doesn't stink up the way the synthetic materials do. Trek LS would also work, although again, same issues with the sole bein unideal. I'm not sure why they don't make a kangaroo leather model with their traditional sole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, and I've had my pair of KSO Treks for over a year, there's no stench in them at all. My previous two pairs of VFFs ended up being useless due to the stench after 6-9 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T06:37:06.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2012-06-26T06:58:50.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?sugexp=chrome,mod=9&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=travel%20wods&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google search for Travel WODs&lt;/a&gt; has whole lots of results which you can use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition I would suggest running at least 4 days a week . If you have iPhone or Android, they both have lots to running apps that give you distance and speed etc .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do wall walks , push ups ,hand stand push ups , air squats and situps and you do not need any gym .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2830" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T23:42:14.777" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T23:42:14.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6800" CreationDate="2012-06-26T07:00:18.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about 12-15 reps as that's on the border of size and endurance training. 8-12 reps is stated to be intended for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which means as far as gaining strength an size goes, size will get preference. If you're doing 15 reps that might start being a bit counterproductive to the size goal though (depending on your load) without really benefiting your strength or endurance that much either. As far as I can tell, that workout prescription is pretty damn arbitrary. 3 sets of 10 reps is the classic one, and a lot of people haven't bothered to change it. It looks like they just increased the reps slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is fitness and strength, you want to do much lower reps, and higher weights that don't allow you to do much more. Sets of 5-6 for each exercise. I wouldn't time your rest period, although if you have to rest more than 5 minutes that's probably a clue that you're finished for the day. If you feel fine doing it with just a 30 second rest, then go ahead and only rest 30 seconds, but forcing yourself to go after just 30 seconds doesn't make much sense. 5 reps will mainly promote strength which benefits everything else, including cardio, you'll get size gains from it too - it's unavoidable once you hit really heavy weights, but nothing to the extent of what bodybuilders get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll get a variety of opinions on speed, and I'm not sure it really matters. If you're lifting heavier weights, quite clearly you're stronger. Whether you're lifting heavier weights quickly or slowly, you're still lifting heavier weights, so goal achieved. If you want to do the reps quickly, but can't due to the weight, that's probably a good indication that you're stimulating your muscles enough to promote strength gains. If you can do them all quickly, you'd probably find that you could do a few more reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also important to keep in mind is rest. You don't get stronger when you lift weights, in fact as you're doing that you're actually getting weaker. You get stronger while you sleep, and while you're awake but resting. Take at least one rest day between workouts. As you start hitting heavier weights, you'll need to be taking more - if you plateau it's probably time to add an extra rest day. Even if you're doing splits according to body parts, you still need at least that one day for your forearms to recover from holding the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T07:00:18.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6409" CreationDate="2012-06-26T08:36:06.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chinups/pullups, dips (although that might seem quite boring to someone on crutches, pushups (resting your injured foot over the achilles tendon of your good foot), situps, jackknifes, seated overhead press (that might require the help of someone else to get the weights over to you), bench press, seated shrugs, a lot of grip strength exercises should work fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T08:36:06.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6994" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7015" CreationDate="2012-06-26T11:29:26.580" Score="49" ViewCount="36570" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work 9 till 5 on my pc, then I go home, use my pc, then play a game or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is I'm always sitting in my chair and my posture is starting to get really bad! People say &quot;just sit up straight and it will sort itself out&quot; and thats impossible!&#xA;I'm a programmer, so I sit up straight and 30 seconds later I'm hunched over and don't even realise it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do? Certain stretches? Exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go swimming allot and I am in shape with a perfect BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3738" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T19:49:14.263" Title="I have extremely bad posture, what can I do?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="37" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6984" CreationDate="2012-06-26T11:30:59.893" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think you can do anything specific to control sweat rate, rather you can learn to deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having trained for Ironman, I know what you are talking about.  The logistics of the amount of water and salt on long training days gets ridiculous.  My first Ironman, I drank 18 litres on the bike, and 8 litres on the run (it was a hot day) and I still lost 9 lbs.  That is like 50+ lbs of water sweat out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The electrolytes matter as each litre of sweat can contain 1-1.5g of salt.  That is a LOT of salt to recover.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get more fit and your body accommodates to the hot weather through training in it, your sweat should get a little more dilute which helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T11:30:59.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-06-26T12:52:22.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin Loritsch posted this article a few times - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3rd World Squat&lt;/a&gt; - a position you can be in while home playing.  What I would really recommend is balancing your work and home game play with a regular exercise program.  Even if you sit up straight, being seated ALL DAY is not healthy - the impact to your hips, abs, etc. will hurt you in later years. Every 1/2 hr to 45 minutes you need to get up and walk for a few minutes.  There's no way to compensate lack of exercise by doing anything but being active and exercising.  Get out, work out and enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-09T19:49:14.263" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T19:49:14.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-26T13:12:31.810" Score="1" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a lot of drinks which seem to be protein shakes with extra carbs and probably some other bits in them specifcially designed for quick recovery after cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these actually work or is it just as good to have a bowl of soup for example? What are the pro's and cons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-26T14:56:21.353" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T19:32:30.057" Title="Are quick recovery supplements worth using?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6984" CreationDate="2012-06-26T14:15:38.663" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweat rate is sweat rate, you can't really control it. Your best bet is to experiment with different fluid and electrolyte replacement modes in training, and see what works best for you. I'm in the same boat, on a 4 hour bike ride (in Phoenix in the summer), I drink close to 80 oz an hour and still lose 4-5 lbs of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to remember, is that it's not only water, but when you work out, you are also using up glycogen stores which accounts for some of the weight loss as well. In addition to fluid replacement, you also want to think about calorie replacement. Endurance athletes such as long distance triathletes aim for anywhere from 250-400 calories per hour in various forms (Gu, Nuun, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work with it in practice and training, try to replicate what your race conditions will be, and find what works best for you. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that will apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T14:15:38.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2012-06-26T14:18:35.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best replacement drink after cardio exercise is chocolate milk. It's got the 3:1 carb to protein ratio that's been determined to be the optimum, it's cheap, and easily obtainable. (There are studies that reference this as well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio exercise, especially if you are training long distances (Such as marathoners, triathletes, etc) where you are exercising for upwards of 1 hour, it's as much about recovery as anything. Replenish fluids (Again, chocolate milk :D), and get a good solid meal of real food soon after, and you should be good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T14:18:35.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2012-06-26T17:33:34.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body is pretty good at getting what it needs from whatever you happen to eat, so as you suggest, a bowl of soup would work quite well. The Swiss Army in the 70s (most likely before that too) would drink boullion from a thermos to recover from endurance training, and it was apparently also popular for long distance competitions around that time as well. Obviously that's a matter of making use of what you have available to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as supplements specifically designed for recovery go, I would avoid them unless I know exactly what's in them, if they're doing the carb and protein balance using refined sugars and a single protein source, that's not going to be particularly healthy. It's also going to cost a lot as they'll claim they're charging for the formula. You'll get better nutrients from something complete and balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you'd have to ask why you're needing to recover so quickly after doing cardio. Any improvements you make to your body will be done while resting, and that's a rather slow process. Quick recovery would suggest you're having to do something else right after, which would likely impede any progress you're making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T17:33:34.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6006" CreationDate="2012-06-26T17:46:18.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're using hex dumbbells, in addition to the method suggested by J. Winchester, you could put a single dumbbell on end between your legs with the bar in line with the middle of your feet, wrap your fingers underneath the top part and lift up the way you would with a kettlebell. This even allows you to do a kettlebell like swing, but of course make sure you've got a good grip so the dumbbell doesn't go flying, particularly if you're in front of a mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T17:46:18.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2012-06-26T19:32:30.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://torontoems.ca/wellness/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Recovery-Nutrition-For-Athletes.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Recovery Nutrition for Athletes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (from the NSCA's Performance Training Journal):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Athletes who are serious about their performance should consume a high&#xA;  carbohydrate-moderate protein meal (with fluid) or recovery drink&#xA;  after every workout, practice, and competition. It is also best&#xA;  advised to consume  carbohydrate and protein with fluid during&#xA;  exercise and/or immediately post exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T19:32:30.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6327" CreationDate="2012-06-26T22:11:00.457" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength prescribes only a few stretches specific to particular lifts, and a stretching program is not part of SS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the four references to stretching that I could find in SS, Third Edition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sitting down into a bodyweight squat, using your elbows to push your knees out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist stretches for the power clean rack position (See Figure 6-44).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm-up sets using the empty bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't get your back into proper extension with feet on the floor for the bench press, Rippetoe mentions that stretching could be useful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T22:11:00.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6644" CreationDate="2012-06-26T22:16:27.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't effectively replace one or the other on a certain day suddenly because you feel like it. HIIT works different metabolic pathways than general cardio. You should have chosen one or the other depending on your fitness goals, and to replace one randomly because you feel like it means you're not following your training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to skip your HIIT training one day, you can do cardio in its place, but there isn't a certain number of minutes that will give you an equivalent stress or adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T22:16:27.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6123" CreationDate="2012-06-26T22:29:26.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ironmind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies by Randall J. Strossen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest part of succeeding in training, be it for bodybuilding, power lifting, or olympic lifting is the mental aspect (ignoring genetics). There are tons of different plans that deal with the physical aspects of training, and they will all tend to work, but if your mind isn't where it needs to be then you will either fail or not reach your full potential. The mind navigates the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-06-27T16:54:42.727" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T16:54:42.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6327" CreationDate="2012-06-26T23:43:53.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best stretches to do before any exercise is no stretches at all. Stretching before exercise weakens your muscles and increases risk of injury. Any stretching you do should be after the exercise as part of a cooldown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best warmup to do for weight lifting is appropriately called warmup sets. Do 3 sets of whatever lift you'll be doing with much lighter weights than your target weight for that day. So if you're going to be deadlifting 135lbs that day, you would do a warmup set with just the bar and bumper plates (~50lbs), then another set at 65lbs and a third set at 85lbs. You can adjust the weights according to however you feel. Obviously if it doesn't feel good, go lighter and throw in an extra set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing warmup sets is also a good way to figure out if something is off that day. If what you expected to just be your second warmup set feels unusually heavy, that's a good sign that you may have overtrained or haven't taken enough time to recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-26T23:43:53.907" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-06-27T06:33:58.420" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you are sitting all day, your hips are very tight as well as your scapula and chest.  Thus the best solution is to perform exercises that open up these tight areas.  I would focus a lot of pullovers, DB flys and other DB exercises (DB works a better range of motion) focusing on good posture doing the exercises; shoulders squeezed together and a big chest emphasis.  Perform a lot of wide grip pull-ups to open up the scapula and focus more on the upper back muscles with rowing; apply a strict form on these exercises to emphasis coming through with a big chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An exercise that COULD help would be deep squats.  This exercise has been shown to help with flexibility, opening up those hips.  Focus on proper technique: keep your chest up, squats through the hips and heels, squeeze your shoulder blades together, push your knees out, point your toes out very slightly, bring your elbows into the hips and look very slightly up to help keep the chest up once the weight gets heavier.  You can choose to do this or not, depending on your athletic background.  Doing ANY exercise whether it be running, swimming, hiking, etc. will open up your tight muscles from sitting on your hams all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Developing good posture will take a few dedicated months/years of doing these exercises coupled with also creating good habits.  Really forcing yourself to sit upright at work a few times throughout the day (to start) then slowly work yourself throughout the whole day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good posture shows:&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Correct balance of training (too much bench and curls, 'curls' your posture forward; if you had a choice primarily between back and chest training, perform back work...work back 2 x week and chest 1 x week to compensate the posture muscles more effectively[for e.g.])&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good energy and a display of confidence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A powerful look drooled over by your missum&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biggest thing which will help posture IMO: open up that ribcage (hence I mention flys, pullovers, etc.).  Perform yoga (absolutely awesome for posture!!) or pilates.  There's your chance to meet women AND work on your posture...50 birds with one stone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastEditorUserId="3656" LastEditDate="2012-06-27T16:43:48.430" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T16:43:48.430" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6918" CreationDate="2012-06-27T08:59:53.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are wise to ask because this is an injury that you want to heal well.  3 weeks is not very long into the healing of a fracture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most references that I looked up tell you that your therapist will direct your safe return to activity.  A PT (physical therapist) or OT (occupational therapist) who specialize in hands (hand therapist) are the best ones to advise you.  I would ask them for advice about pressure on your hand, wrist and thumb when holding on to the handlebars or braking.  I would also ask what type of splint they recommend that can give you protection during activities until fully healed.  It is well worth a visit. In most states you can go directly to the therapist and don't need your doctor to refer you.  Do take your xrays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/wrist-injury-scaphoid.html&quot;&gt;Sports Injury Bulletin&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The end point of treatment must be the same as for other fractures, ie, radiographic and clinical union, to allow full function and prevent post-traumatic arthrosis. In athletes, however, it is necessary to ensure a rapid return to participation in sports. For an undisplaced scaphoid fracture the average union rate is approximately 90% &lt;strong&gt;with a healing time of 9-12 weeks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the safest thing to do at this point is spinning.  You won't have to worry about falling off and re-injuring and you can maintain your fitness for cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00012&quot;&gt;AAOS,&lt;/a&gt; American Association of Orthopedic Surgeon's site, OrthoInfo  points out that fractures of the scaphoid at different locations require different treatments and recover differently.  They recommend that during healing you should:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•&lt;strong&gt;Avoid heavy lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, or throwing&lt;/strong&gt; with the injured arm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•&lt;strong&gt;Do not participate in contact sports&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•Do not climb ladders or trees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•&lt;strong&gt;Avoid activities with a risk of falling onto hand (for example, inline skating, jumping on a trampoline)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T08:59:53.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7020" CreationDate="2012-06-27T11:04:24.473" Score="9" ViewCount="2387" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR Version&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which muscle groups would I use when &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lifting an object from the floor with a straight back &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;holding an object at chest height for an extended period of time whilst climbing stairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and how would I best train them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a few months I'll have to do the standard lifting assessment for patient transport work in the UK.  I'm only very slight myself so I'm looking to improve my lifting capabilities in the intervening months, unfortunately I don't have access to a gym so am very limited in the equipment I have access to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The assessment is in two parts and I'd like advice as to whether I'm working the right muscle groups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Floor Lift&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Lifting a 12.5 stone (80kg) dummy on a scoop stretcher up to say waist height and walking with it.  This is done with a crew member at each end&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit concerned with this one as 80kg is 160% of my own weight, however with the equipment I'm sure it'll be manageable as even if I have the head end I should only be taking over a little over half the weight, correct?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NgFJj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of scoop transfer&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*with better manual handling technique than that!&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway for this I've been assuming that as I'm starting in a squatted position then lifting up with bent knees I'll need to work on my thigh muscles.  To this end I've been doing squats, is there anything else I could be doing?  Would I need to work on my lower legs too?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stair Carry&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;The same dummy is placed into a carry chair (essentially a chair with rear wheels and grips), we lift it up (again two person lift) then go up and down 3 flights of stairs without lowering the chair&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Jk0q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Design of a carry chair&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8yzGW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Preparing to lift from foot end going down staris&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been working on the basis that the lift for this is similar to the floor lift above (if you're at the feet end) so any advice you could give for the previous lift would probably suffice for that.  However when lifting from the head end or when in the carrying position at the feet we are advised to tuck our elbows into our sides and keep your arms in a bicep curl position.  Hopefully I can find a picture to illustrate all this more clearly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore in addition to the squats to train my thighs and my above question about the lower legs, I think I have to put some effort into my arms too in order to keep the chair up (once it's off the floor and you're climbing, all the effort is in your arms rather than your legs).  For general upper body strength I've been planning to do pushups and reading back it sounds like bicep curls could be  a good idea too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else that you think would help, or any assumptions that I've made and you can point out are completely wrong?  I'd be very grateful for any help you can give me!   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T20:57:45.663" Title="Which muscles would I need to train for ambulance work?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7010" CreationDate="2012-06-27T12:05:53.423" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like spot weight reduction, there is no such thing as spot strength building.  From what you describe, the two most beneficial exercises are deadlifts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/&lt;/a&gt;) and farmer walks (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4959113&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4959113&lt;/a&gt;).  Both will build the off-the-ground power you need, the grip strength required and endurance under stress. I would recommend an overall strength building program, utilizing natural lifting using various forms of weights (sand bags, blocks, slush pipes, etc.) to get your body use to unbalanced lifts.  Everything should be focused on core and grip strength.  You don't need a gym, and I would recommend working out in the environment that your work will be carried out in (farmer walk on steps, deadlift outside where the ground is uneven).  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T12:05:53.423" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7010" CreationDate="2012-06-27T14:38:30.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll be squatting, lifting things from the floor (akin to deadlifting), pulling on things (akin to chin-ups), and pushing on things (akin to a bench or overhead press). Sounds like you need a general strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy Starting Strength and follow its advice. It includes these exercises in an efficient program with excellent descriptions. You'll get strong all over, which just happens to be the same strength you need for the situations you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modifying the SS program to add farmer's walks or weekly conditioning work such as sprints or 20-rep squats might be a good idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T14:38:30.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7014" CreationDate="2012-06-27T16:03:06.053" Score="5" ViewCount="3921" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are static holds good for?&#xA;I don't doubt their usefulness. But what strength qualities are adressed by holding a position?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly thinkig about exercises like the plank, horse stance, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T00:11:09.750" Title="What's the specific benefit of static holds?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7013" CreationDate="2012-06-27T18:06:34.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Static exercises such as planks are isometric contractions, which basically is an exercise where the muscle length and joint angles don't change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Commonly it's believed that these kinds of exercises have some strength benefits, but also help tone and shape the muscle. I know a few coaches in various sports that use it to prefatigue muscles before workouts, so that secondary muscles are utilized more in the workouts, but I don't think there are any studies that prove those benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, it will help with muscle endurance and engagement of secondary muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T18:06:34.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-06-27T18:10:32.133" Score="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do stretches, strengthening and breathing exercises to improve your posture.&#xA;But you also have to become aware of your posture and find a way to interrupt prolonged sitting intervals with brief breaks.  A good ergonomic chair is also helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Musculo-Skeletal Effects of Poor Sitting Posture:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poor sitting posture can create muscle imbalances over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In general, your front stuctures shorten, with muscles like your hip flexors and pectorals tightening up - pulling you into a ball.  Your crunched sitting posture caves your lower ribs down towards your abdomen which prevents the diaphragm from expanding freely. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the same time the muscles of your back stretch out and weaken, especially in the range where they should be working to maintain your posture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this posture persists over time, you joints begin to lose normal range of motion as well making it more difficult to assume a good posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Correcting Slumped Sitting Posture:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tailor an exercise program to stretch tightened muscles and strengthen weakened muscles.  Additionally, you need a method to become aware of your posture and correct it while you are sitting.  This is difficult because as you say, your attention is on your work. Exercise programs like Yoga, Tai-Chi and Pilates are good because they all address and make you very aware of your posture, joint alignments, flexibility, core control and breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;strong&gt;Specific Exercises to Correct Muscle Imbalances&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back, Upper Back and Scapular muscles&lt;/strong&gt;:  Back Extensions strengthen your paraspinals.  Use different arm positions (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCMNMHBY1Dk&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;amp;t=36s&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Y, T, W, L&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) to target your lower traps, mid traps, rhomboids and scapular stabilizors.  Learn the feel of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiYSahiNXzA&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;retracting your scapulas&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;You can do these on the floor next to your desk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if you prefer not to get on the floor, use resistance bands for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38leTE2y1I8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;reverse flys&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFZPS6Eu79Q&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wide rows&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQfb_k_2ZwI&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;narrow rows&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJdDjCM8mas&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;rotations&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Away from work, you can also strengthen these muscles using weights, cables and body weight exercises like &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;inverted rows&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/LVSeatedRowNoPadPL.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cable rows&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bent over rows&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidPosterior/CBStandingReverseFly.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;reverse flys&lt;/a&gt; etc.  And squats are a good for strengthening multiple muscles important to posture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Core:&lt;/strong&gt;  Plank, Side Plank, Bird Dog and Bridge will &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;stabilize your trunk and spine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretches:&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwToKziL5A4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hip Flexors&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvLSoHeSDBY&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hamstrings&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/vuqSP6TIeyo?t=31s&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Abs&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/PectoralisMinor/Doorway.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pecs&lt;/a&gt;.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/PectoralisMinor/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wall pec stretch&lt;/a&gt; stretches the pecs but also contracts the rhomboid and trapezius scapular muscles to help improve the positioning of the shoulder and shoulder blade and is easy to do at work. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sitting Posture and Breathing Awareness&lt;/strong&gt; - This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Sitting-Posture-Awareness-Exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sitting posture exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; helps make you aware of your sitting alignment and expanding your diaphragm.  Practice a few diaphramatic breaths throughout the day along with this sitting exercise to elongate your spine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Create your ideal short exercise routine&lt;/strong&gt; that you can do during short breaks during the day. An exercise ball next to your desk can help you target these muscles in just a few minutes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lie back over the ball and stretch out your front &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lie face down over the ball and do the Y, W, T, L exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And consider using the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1762/is-it-a-good-idea-to-use-an-exercise-ball-as-a-chair&quot;&gt;ball as your desk chair&lt;/a&gt; for short periods.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remembering your Posture throughout the day:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is the hard part.  As your muscle imbalances begin to resolve and your diaphragmatic breathing improves, you’ll find that the slouched posture becomes less comfortable and you will automatically begin to sit better.  Until then, use a timed reminder or try tying your posture corrections to tasks that you do at the computer regularly.  For example, correct your posture each time you check your email or some other specific link.  Turn on your web cam for visual reminders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep at it until you feel the improvement.  You'll have less problems going forward if you improve your posture.  It either gets better - or it gets worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T18:10:32.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6123" CreationDate="2012-06-27T18:12:32.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite science-oriented books on lifting are by Tom Kurz, Mark Rippetoe, and Lon Kilgore. These include Scientific Stretching, Starting Strength, and Practical Programming, the latter of which is probably closest to what you're asking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard very good things about Kurz' book, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0940149109&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Science of Sports Training&lt;/a&gt;, as well as what I understand to be a definitive tome, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/8890403802&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supertraining&lt;/a&gt;. I have not read these, so your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend tempering your desire for science in the lifting and exercise science domain. The state of research is so poor, and the results from technically non-scientific (though &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.silverhydra.com/2012/03/empiricism-and-science-with-special-consideration-to-swole/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;still empirical&lt;/a&gt;) efforts by coaches and lifters so good, that it would be silly to rely solely on published studies. Let a scientific approach and skeptical mind guide your decisions broadly, but don't sway to and fro according to the latest results from a study of 12 untrained males using leg curl machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-06-27T18:44:34.893" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T18:44:34.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-27T19:09:06.243" Score="7" ViewCount="14189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym regularly to do weight training and start off with sit ups to warm up, however I never seem to lose my belly.&#xA;I'm not interested in a six pack I just want to know if training your stomach muscles can actually increase waist line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3749" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-06-27T21:13:38.490" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T03:35:24.870" Title="I have a strong abdomen but I still have a belly?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2012-06-27T21:05:49.073" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I answered a similar question to this and went into great detail on &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5670/what-is-the-most-effective-plan-to-get-abs/5671#5671&quot;&gt;what to do to build a six-pack&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; Now, while you said that isn't your end goal, I still recommend reading through that answer because it does a great job of explaining your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, without overlapping too much on the content from my earlier answer, let me explain exactly why you aren't seeing your desired results and what you can do going forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I go to the gym regularly to do weight training and start off with sit ups to warm up, however I never seem to lose my belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because your waistline is defined by the layer of fat on the outside, not the strength of the muscles on the inside. Doing ab exercises strengthens your abdominal muscles, but it does not burn the fat surrounding said muscles. You could conceivably have the strongest abs in the world, but if you don't have a low enough body fat percentage (BF%) then it will just look like you have a beer gut. The takeaway here is that &lt;strong&gt;ab exercises are not effective at reducing your waistline&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you do instead to reduce your waistline? Well, as Dave already said, there is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3933/1771&quot;&gt;no such thing as spot reduction&lt;/a&gt;. This means that your only solution for losing fat in a certain area is to just exercise and eat well until &lt;em&gt;your body&lt;/em&gt; decides to burn the fat from that area. Unfortunately for you and everyone else, the stomach is one of the last places the body will pull fat from, which means you have to stick to a diet/exercise routine for a while before your body will start burning away that fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not interested in a six pack I just want to know if training your stomach muscles can actually increase waist line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you now know, strengthening muscles does nothing to reduce your waistline; but can it possibly increase it? The answer is no, but also yes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I said no because an abdominal exercise does nothing in and of itself to notably increase your waistline. On the other hand, I answered yes because your waistline can increase as a result of following a proper strength training program. This is because in order to see results you need consume an excess of calories to properly fuel muscle growth. A side effect of this calorie surplus is that the excess of what you do not use for fuel will be sent to your fat reserves, thereby increasing your waistline. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the goals of strength training and fat loss are so at odds with each other, the typical approach is to go through cycles where you focus on strength training for a period, then you go through a cycle of &quot;cutting&quot; where you switch your focus to burning fat instead of building muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T21:05:49.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7010" CreationDate="2012-06-27T22:40:35.013" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have some good answers so I'll just add to keep in mind specificity of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specificity of exercise&lt;/strong&gt; means that if you want to get better at cycling, you should cycle.  If you want to be able to run fast, you should train for speed etc.  And if you want to be able to squat, lift, and carry you should &lt;strong&gt;train specifically to squat, lift, and carry&lt;/strong&gt; working your way up until you are able to lift the desired amount without strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping specificity of exercise in mind, part of your training should actually be to &lt;strong&gt;practice the floor lift and stair carry&lt;/strong&gt; with graduating weights (ideally with a stretcher, a carry chair and your lifting partner). Also look at all the different components to each task as you have described:  squatting, lifting, carrying, walking forwards and backwards, climbing up and down stairs forwards and backwards, pushing, pulling, gripping etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on building &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot;&gt;core muscle strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; with planks, side planks, bird dog, bridges etc. so that you can stabilize your spine when you lift and carry.  Work your trunk muscles in functional and diagonal patterns with exercises like &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/9XRe6HA7DVo?t=34s&quot;&gt;chops with resistance bands&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/efCrTFMKLrE?t=1m44s&quot;&gt;rotational movements&lt;/a&gt; using a staggered stance for stability with pushing and pulling movements.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that you are looking towards working in patient transport.  Given your &quot;slight&quot; frame and ever increasing patient sizes :), make sure that you develop enough strength, endurance and flexibility to handle the tasks without straining to avoid potential injuries.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T22:40:35.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-27T22:59:39.887" Score="0" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this just a starting thing? I have just started working calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3750" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T19:21:37.087" Title="When I work calves in the gym, my feet hurt after the 10th or 15th rep" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-10-30T20:45:48.207" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-06-27T23:04:21.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had/have bad posture and I am a computer programmer as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best things to do is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get a Chiropractor&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never thought of a chiropractor before but one day I was at a health expo and happened to walk one and all he does is specialize in posture. There seems to be tons of them to who do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get a Personal Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a personal trainer who knows what they are doing they will bitch at you ever-time you don't have good posture while do any exercises and will teach you some exercises and stretches to help out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both do cost a lot of money($44/ chiro session and $50+ for personal trainner session) but for me they been worth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see big improvements in my posture of the year I been doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3751" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T23:04:21.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-27T23:40:05.080" Score="3" ViewCount="424" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was once over 181 pounds and for my body type I was tipping on the scale of very fat to obese. I started to do lots of cardo and watched what I ate(but never dieted as I knew if I diet I won't be able to keep it up forever and probably gain more weight in the end).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been 6 years since I decided to lose the weight and got all the way down to 128 pounds. Yet I still have a belly(I had like 12% body fat according to the BMI) and I really did not want to lose too much weight as in my opinion I was loosing it in the wrong areas(like around my neck I looked a bit too boney)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back in Dec 2011 I decided to get a personal trainer to help me build muscle as this is something that I always had trouble with as I never could achieve it by myself as I just could not keep to a routine and would start and stop so many times. With Cardo it was different I would jump on and watch the tv or listen to music so it was no big deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 10 weeks we just did endurance and mobility to get me ready for weights. I been doing weights now for a few months now and gained 6 pounds in fat and 9 pounds in muscle(they machine at the gym somehow figures it out) and brought me up to 143 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is ok with me as I think I was a bit too skinny and alot what I gained in muscle so that is good too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the fact remains I still have a belly that I hate and don't know how to get rid of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I am not sure if I can achieve both at the same time(build muscle and lose the belly fat) but I would hope they sort of are mutual(building muscle burn fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My trainer has advices me to change my diet and I am starting to make those changes but I like to hear other ideas and second opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First my trainer does not believe I get enough protein and eat enough. He wants me to take in about 143 grams of protein a day (one gram per pound). I done lots of research and believe I found a protein powder that won't bankrupt me even if I take 3 scoops a day(75grams of protein) and will start this soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually drink my shakes with milk and a 2 teaspoons of natural peanut butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My trainer wants me to stop eating cereal in the morning and have some whole wheat toast and my protein shake(this seems best for me as I am not a morning person so I don't like having huge breakfasts, nor do I have time to make it and I don't eat eggs something he first recommended).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also suggested to switch to whole wheat pastas what I will be doing after I finish the old stuff up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my exercising is good as I do go 5 days a week to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;usually twice a week for cardo (25 mins)&#xA;then 3 times for weight training(Chest / Shoulders, Back / Biceps, Legs) for about an hour and this includes warmup on the stair master.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me another thing that I am having a hard time to get use to is that I will be gaining weight again as I build muscle. It still scares me when I step on the scale and the number is higher than before as I don't want to ever be that fat again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what other changes should I be making to achieve my goals. I am looking for stuff that is doable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3751" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-28T17:05:36.083" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T19:32:02.057" Title="What other changes should I make to my weightraining plan and diet to continue losing belly fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7023" CreationDate="2012-06-27T23:52:55.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advice from your trainer seems solid: stick with your lifting/cardio work and eat enough food to support that activity. At 12% bodyfat, and 143 pounds, you're probably not fat (I don't know your height, so I'm guessing a bit here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really have a belly (hard to believe at 12% bodyfat), it will sort itself out. Maybe it just looks like you have a belly because you don't have developed muscles elsewhere to make the rest of you look big (again, just guessing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T23:52:55.663" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7021" CreationDate="2012-06-27T23:53:12.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly, yes. Certainly if you start an exercise, after a certain number of reps you will start feeling pain. However that's not the only reason to be feeling pain, there could be some muscular dysfunction, but that's not something anyone could determine over the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest scaling back the reps for a while, if you start feeling pain after the 10th, then stop at just 8 for the next few weeks, then slowly creep back up and see if the pain comes back. If the pain starts manifesting even with lower reps, then perhaps you should see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-06-28T19:21:37.087" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T19:21:37.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2012-06-28T00:03:06.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Posture can contribute to a belly as well. If your chest muscles are over developed compared to your back muscles (which is quite possible if you're doing lots of crunches and sit-ups, and other popular core work), then your shoulders will be hunched forwards. So addressing your shoulder and upper back muscles is quite likely key, and possibly also your lower back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T00:03:06.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7013" CreationDate="2012-06-28T00:11:09.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer changes a bit depending on the exercise. The core muscles are stabilising muscles, so holding a plank position is engaging your core muscles in the fashion which they are intended to be used, and that likely would bring benefits for a number of other exercises, including heavy compound lifts and monkey bar callisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we're talking about the horse stance, I'm not sure that's actually all that useful for anything other than doing horse stance. Obviously your flexibility will be very good as deep as you go into the horse stance, and that could very well be beneficial for squats as well, but it's unlikely that you couldn't get those benefits faster by just doing squats instead. Obviously squats won't help you hold a horse stance for 5 minutes, but you're not ever going to have to hold a horse stance for 5 minutes unless you're in a martial arts class...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T00:11:09.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7010" CreationDate="2012-06-28T00:20:57.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As has been mentioned, deadlifts and farmers walks will be key. What you'd also want to focus on is grip strength. Sliding straps under someone to get them onto the stretcher would benefit from grip work, so getting yourself a gripper could help, doing towel pull ups and chin ups and doing deadlifts with sand bags would help you deal with some of the unpredictability of ambulance work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as not having access to equipment - I can't think of a scenario in which getting adjustable dumbbells wouldn't be an option, so I'd suggest getting some (I would personally go for spinlock dumbbells if I didn't have access to a gym) and some plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you are, there might be an outdoor park with monkey bars allowing you to do bodyweight exercises. If you can do chin ups with your own bodyweight, you'll quite likely be able to lift your own weight where your arms are concerned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T00:20:57.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7030" CreationDate="2012-06-28T00:34:27.890" Score="5" ViewCount="1122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will likely be getting married in one year.  I am not in shape by any means of the words, but I am not overweight (6' and 156 lbs).  I want to be able to carry my (soon-to-be) wife, who is (best guess) between 120 and 140 lbs.  In my current condition I cannot carry her longer than a few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What sort of exercises should I do (and how often) in order to increase my carrying capacity and endurance?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T05:13:56.217" Title="Increasing Carrying Capacity" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7029" CreationDate="2012-06-28T00:55:56.217" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different situation, but exactly the same prescription as &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7012/1771&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;. Lift, get bigger, then after you have a basic level of strength, train for your specific task of carrying things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take up Starting Strength or another all-around heavy compound lifting program (squats, deadlifts, presses, chin-ups) and supplement with farmer's walks and Atlas stone carries/lifts. The SS &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; gives you the bare minimum of information in order to take on the program. The 2nd or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3rd edition book&lt;/a&gt; is details the program in full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T01:10:17.217" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7021" CreationDate="2012-06-28T01:49:51.667" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say warm up properly , specially the muscles you are working on. Start with low weights and then gradually add weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3713" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T01:49:51.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2012-06-28T02:58:08.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That legal &quot;drug&quot; everyone divulges in, alcohol, is a LOT more harmful to your muscle and general health. Alcohol is a testosterone blocker, and does damage to your organs - especially in binge situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The day after I had a big night out on the liquor my performance in the gym was pitiful. As a person that pushes to the max every workout in reps or weight, I REALLY notice a HUGE difference. If I'm in there a night after a few puffs of the green - no difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been on a strict diet for 4 months (haven't had a drop of alcohol or sugar) and my body fat has dropped 4kg and I've gained 4.5 kg of lean muscle. My deadlift has gone from 160 kg to 220 kg (485 pounds) and I've smoked weed about 3 times a week the entire time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giddyup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T02:58:08.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7029" CreationDate="2012-06-28T05:13:56.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll need to do the standard lifts - deadlifts and squats, mix them up, don't just do one kind (ie only barbell deadlifts and back squats) as carrying a person will require some adaptability. Also mix in lifting sandbags and other odd shaped objects, as a person isn't perfectly symmetrical like a barbell, dumbbell or kettlebell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, to keep holding her, you're going to need to do isometric contractions. Particularly bicep curls but stopping the motion with your elbows at 90 degrees. Gradually ramp up the weight you're doing it with, and the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T05:13:56.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2012-06-28T05:39:58.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ultimately the biggest risk of marijuana is that since it's black market you don't always get pure marijuana, it can be laced with heroin or other definitely harmful drugs. So I wouldn't want to try it at all unless I know the person who grew it very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So assuming it's pure marijuana, it works as a painkiller and that could be detrimental like taking any painkiller would be. You wouldn't be able to tell if your body has recovered and if you're ready for the next workout, so big risk of overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side, if taken after a workout it could help in relaxing and it could promote better recovery, assuming that it doesn't have another side effect, but relaxation can be achieved by numerous other means that don't have potential side effects, so there's really no practical reason to use marijuana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T05:39:58.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7040" CreationDate="2012-06-28T05:53:07.133" Score="1" ViewCount="2083" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on a workout where I take a protein shake and a creatine shake (just the ingredient with a little bit of water) after my workout. It is common knowledge that while using creatine you must intake large amounts of water. Most articles say take a certain amount everyday while on it. My question is; is it important to consume water immediately after taking it, or in intervals after taking it, or does it not matter, as long as you are getting a large supply (1-2 gallons) every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: With a very high intake of water, it is equally important to increase your salt intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastEditorUserId="3702" LastEditDate="2012-06-28T14:13:34.080" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T14:29:37.530" Title="Intervals for water intake with Creatine consumption?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-28T09:03:41.587" Score="6" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to follow a specific marathon program in order prepare for a marathon which is due on October 21 but don't really know which one to follow. There are actually so many programs available but as I am a &quot;free&quot; runner, I have never been able to stick to any. This time I know I would have to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already ran 4 half-marathons and my record is 1h31m. I have done quite a lot of bicycle travelling and soccer besides my &quot;free&quot; runs and some periods of weightlifting. My goal actually is to finish and still be able to smile :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3754" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-28T11:53:42.303" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T21:43:29.997" Title="What marathon program should I use to prepare for a race in 4 months?" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7041" CreationDate="2012-06-28T10:23:30.137" Score="2" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wondering if the time of the day when you exercise affects how many calories you should consume for the day? So I am essentially wondering is, if I change my training time, does it change how many calories I should eat over the course of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example A: Breakfast, training, lunch, afternoon, tea, dinner&#xA;Example B: Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, training, dinner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I follow example A, I always end up eating less in the afternoon, because I feel like I don't need to eat as much, since I've already done my training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-28T11:52:49.200" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T22:24:48.400" Title="Does exercising at different times affect the amount of calories needed per day?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7021" CreationDate="2012-06-28T12:37:53.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think more information would be helpful, where does it hurt and what exercise(s) are you performing.  Pain is your body's way of saying 'stop' that you are proceeding to do something that will potentially cause short (or long) term damage - dependent on the level of pain, your natural pain threshold and where the pain is.  A LOT OF TIME pain is an indication that you are performing the exercise incorrectly - so, be careful and get help/advice prior to proceeding.  Ligament-strains, tendons-tears and bone-stress-factures are common for people new to exercise and could stop short any continued progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T12:37:53.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7036" CreationDate="2012-06-28T13:22:57.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't really need to follow a specific plan, make up your own. With a 1:31 HM, you've already got pretty decent speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the better &quot;programs&quot; I've seen is from a guy named BarryP on the slowtwitch forums, it's called 3:2:1. Basically, you do 3 short runs, two medium and one long. Each one is double the previous run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if your short run is 40 minutes, then your medium run is 1:20, and your long run is 2:00. Start with your longest week (which should be a couple weeks out from your marathon) and work backwards to determine how much time for each run each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple months out (So around late August) start incorporating speed work, pickups, strides, intervals, etc. Make sure you vary terrain, run hills on a regular basis, and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T13:22:57.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7035" CreationDate="2012-06-28T14:29:37.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why on earth would you want to drink two gallons of water a day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the myth of 8 glasses of water a day perpetuates, you don't need near that amount of water with or without creatine. Most of the &quot;8 glasses&quot; came about because people's diets became deficient in fruits and veggies that are mostly water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that being said, yes, making sure that you are hydrated is good with creatine supplementation, especially when you are in a loading phase, as the creatine will act to draw water with it into the cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The danger with creatine is if you aren't hydrated enough is that it can lead to renal (kidney) dysfunction. You'll see this mostly in people that deliberately try to cut weight, such as boxers, wrestlers and bodybuilders. But 1-2 gallons a day is way excessive, and could lead to other complications such as water intoxication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just drink to thirst plus a little, make sure that your urine is clear to a light yellow and you're fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T14:29:37.530" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7037" CreationDate="2012-06-28T14:33:59.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;mmm...that's a really tricky question to try and answer, as it's going to vary wildly with the individual person, type of exercise, length of exercise, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They've started proving in studies that high intensity exercise can have a lingering elevated calorie burn after the exercise period, but I don't think they've done any studies that show one way or the other the effects of different times for workouts and their effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to consider is your own personal rhythms. I don't get near as effective a workout in the early morning as I do if I work out later in the day, that's just due to the way my body works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are eating a healthy diet, and your weight is either stable or trending in the direction you want, stick with the workout timing and regimen that you feel most comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T14:33:59.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7050" CreationDate="2012-06-28T15:29:54.917" Score="1" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to buy inline skates so that I can use them to commute with work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm overweight (230lbs) and plan on skating ~8 miles a day, monday - friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried going to all the *mart stores in the area, Dicks Sporting Goods, duhnams sports...and they all have very little selection and all about the same quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions, Where do i find a store that sells more than different pairs of skates so that I can try them and choose something that meets my needs?&#xA;Also,&#xA;What should i be looking for?  I haven't skated in a decade, but when I did (this was in college) I was what I though &quot;good&quot; (jumping, quick turns, quick stops, stairs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T06:05:23.833" Title="Where is a good place to try/buy inline skates? and should i look for?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-10-11T19:36:56.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7036" CreationDate="2012-06-28T15:48:28.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For ease, you could use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51138/Marathon-Novice-2-Training-Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hal Higdon's Novice #2 program&lt;/a&gt;.  I recommend removing weeks 2 and 4 since you only have 16 weeks if you start next week.  Hal's program is straight forward but good for 1st time marathoners as it gets them ready for enduring the distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously you have good talent so if you'd rather learn some more, I'd recommend checking out the videos on &lt;a href=&quot;http://coachrunning.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CoachRunning.com&lt;/a&gt;.  I'd also recommend doing 1 run a week over rolling hills.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even better, using your midweek longer run, do the last 1/2 mile up a gradual hill (or rolling hills).  Each week make the uphill portion a 1/2 mile longer.  Week 2 would be the last 1 mile, Week 4 would be the last 2 miles, etc.  This recruits more muscle fibers stimulating muscle growth and improving confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T15:48:28.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-28T16:22:22.653" Score="5" ViewCount="18259" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a little break in running I've started again, but now I'm getting pain just below the kneecap of one leg that gets worse when running and I can still feel days later in certain positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscle feels sore when I press on it, but it doesn't seem swollen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a common injury? What's the best way to strengthen that muscle, or should I just give running a break for a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3757" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-06-28T16:54:17.797" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T21:54:52.860" Title="What can cause knee pain just below kneecap during a run, and how do I strengthen it?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7044" CreationDate="2012-06-28T16:52:16.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had issues with my knees since I tore them all up at 14 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is an injury, you need to be super careful not to make it worse. When I push myself too hard, I'll have some stiffness and pain in the joint, and the soft area directly below the kneecap becomes inflamed and feels weird to the touch. Over time, with regular exercise without overdoing it, the symptoms eventually relax to where you can push a lot further without it bothering you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles can also just remain sore for several days, and if you aren't swelling or experiencing severe pain, it may be possible that it's just muscle soreness. If it bothers you pretty bad, take a little time off running and try something with less impact on your knees, like walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also pay attention to the surfaces you run on - certain treadmills mess my knees up after about 5 minutes of running, pavement kills me after about 30. Dirt or an actual running track I can run on indefinitely without any pain or problems. You might see if changing the surface you run on has any effect on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T16:52:16.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7044" CreationDate="2012-06-28T17:28:40.067" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common condition that matches your description is patellar tendonitis.  It certainly could be other ailments as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try taking a NSAID for a few days.  I will typically take the maximum dosage of Aleve (naproxsen) for up to 4 days before reducing dosage over the next week at most.  You don't want to stay on a NSAID for an extended period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to medication, you can ice the area after runs, or take a few days of complete rest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In you current condition, the ailment should go away in a week or 2, especially with medication, rest and ice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These types of injuries are typically from overuse and in the case of running - probably too much, too soon, too quick.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T17:28:40.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7023" CreationDate="2012-06-28T19:32:02.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest a low carb &quot;paleo&quot; type of diet: Ditch the grains of all types, legumes, a and dairy products. Eat a wide variety of vegetables, especially the leafy green ones, watch the starchy ones (yams and sweet potatoes are a good choice over regular potatoes), wide variety of meats, especially lean ones, and some fruit. Use healthy fats like olive oil and coconut oil for cooking. Main issue you will find with this type of diet is trying to get enough calories if looking to build strength, eat a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T19:32:02.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-28T20:47:35.387" Score="2" ViewCount="735" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a lot of opinions stating that fruit should be eaten well before a meal, and not during or after the meal.  There are variations saying to eat fruit on an empty stomach, only in the morning, etc.  The main reason given is that meals take longer to digest, and will block the fruit, causing it to sit there and putrefy or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theory sounds reasonable, but I'm a natural skeptic, so I tried to find some credible evidence, studies, etc, and find that most of the information is from opinions, theories, or quotes from one or two authors or advocates of some special diets - very little from any type of scientific sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I found that would seem to shoot down most of the theories is something from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/basics/transit.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; that says &quot;Studies of gastrointestinal transit have clearly demonstrated two related phenomena &#xA;important to understanding this process:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Substances do not move uniformly through the digestive system. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Materials do not leave segments of the digestive tube in the same order as they arrive. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, a meal is typically a mixture of chemically and physically diverse materials, and some substances in this mixture show accelerated transit while others are retarded in their flow downstream.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also read a  quote from a Dr. Zafar A. Nomani (Professor Emeritus of Nutrition, West Virginia University):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When dietary fiber in fruit touches the inside lining of the stomach, it stimulates muscle contraction and expansion and has a churning effect. Hence the movement of the digesta. It contributes in preventing constipation, upset stomach or acidity. This has been shown in hundreds of studies. &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not been able to find much else, except the same repeated stuff from non-credible sources.  I'm hoping someone here might have something credible one way or another - preferably something that does not contain anything from Dr. Bass or &quot;sequential eating&quot;, as that is mostly what I see, but I don't really consider this to be very credible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I hope this subject is pertinent to this section; if not, I apologize; let me know and I'll delete it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3760" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T20:47:35.387" Title="Eating fruit before, during and after meals" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-06-28T20:55:38.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7044" CreationDate="2012-06-28T21:54:52.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a small point. Right below your knee is not a muscle, that is the patellar tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a couple questions that might point out a few things. You say you haven't run in a while, and now you have been running a week. How long is a while? And in that week, how much did you run, and what kind of running was it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of surface do you run on? And probably the most important, what shoes did you run in? Did you just dig some out of the closet and go run? Or did you get dedicated running shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T21:54:52.860" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7042" CreationDate="2012-06-28T21:59:04.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you're doing specialty stuff, what the big box stores have should be sufficient. I would also add REI Outdoor to your list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as fit, I always like them to fit fairly snug, almost like ski boots. Make sure that they are consistently snug, it's no good to have your ankles flopping around while your calves are being choked. (My wife has that problem, she can't find ones that fit due to small feet and large calves from Irish Dance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T21:59:04.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7037" CreationDate="2012-06-28T22:24:48.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are you trying to eat after you exercise? I know I don't like eating much, and certainly not anything solid right after exercising because the blood flow is still active in my extremeties rather than going to my internal organs to promote digestion. I don't think that would be a factor of changing how much you need to eat as much as eating a hearty meal right after exercise isn't advisable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T22:24:48.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6324" CreationDate="2012-06-29T07:50:36.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A strong core is necessary for performing a push up with good form. If your core muscles aren't strong enough and you're insisting on good form (in which case, good for you!) your muscles will naturally feel sore. If it's not excessive soreness, nothing to worry about, but in any case with muscle soreness it never hurts to take an extra rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T07:50:36.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6051" CreationDate="2012-06-29T07:53:08.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can cut back on the soreness you feel by lowering the reps you're doing per set (and of course increasing the weight). Low reps with high weights still promote strength gains without fatiguing the muscles as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T07:53:08.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5631" CreationDate="2012-06-29T08:03:57.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pro MMA fighters who are training 6-8 hours a day are most likely doing steroids. In fact, even if they're doing less, they're probably doing steroids. It's an ugly truth of the sport. As for the inevitable source question - you can't train 8 hours/day, 6 days/week without the help of PEDs. If it's not roids, it's definitely painkillers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that's the answer to how you can train 3-4 hours/day 5 days a week without injury or overtraining. Steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: I'm not suggesting anyone do steroids, in fact my suggestion is always to reduce workout time and increase rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:03:57.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6380" CreationDate="2012-06-29T08:11:48.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some muscles, particularly the larger ones, take longer to recover, and if you're doing pretty heavy weights, a week sounds about right for recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find though that the 3x10 at 10-12RM exercises are a lot harder to recover from than 5x5 at 5-7RM. Heavier weights, roughly the same overall work done, but the next few days I'll feel sore, but I won't have difficulty doing things. Squats in sets of 5 leave me perfectly able to bound up stairs 3 steps at a time, but squats in sets of 10 have me walking awkwardly up stairs 1 step at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:11:48.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7036" CreationDate="2012-06-29T08:17:35.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd look at running technique rather than a specific program for conditioning. Chi Running has worked nicely for me and has allowed me to complete a half marathon with no specific training, and no exceptional pain (like you, I did a lot of cycling though). If you're not trying to increase your timing, and just want to do it pain free, that's the path of least resistance. It sounds like it would be easier for you to stick to a technique program that allows you to run whenever you want for as long as you want than a specific schedule that a traditional running program would require you to adhere to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:17:35.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6326" CreationDate="2012-06-29T08:27:58.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find doing the motions with no weights at all is actually challenging. I usually find at a certain point there's a click where the downward force of the weight is enough to actually force me to use the right form. Now given that a bar without weights is 45lbs, it's probably more accurate to describe it as doing the form without weight plates, rather than doing the form without weights entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dumbbells specifically, you could use them to practice deadlifts as you would do them with a trap/hex/shrug bar. Naturally you'd have to place them on a box that puts them at the right height. The deadlift is the exercise I found I had the least difficulty getting with good form right off the bat using minimal weight (possibly because lifting a dead weight off the ground is something I've been doing almost all my life). Otherwise putting a broom stick, or some other stick on the boxes, getting it right against your shins could work, although you'd probably want to off centre it so the broom part doesn't unbalance the stick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The press should also work well, particularly since it is not unlike stretching your arms up above your head. Also, like the deadlift, it's a motion you've likely done quite often to put something on a high shelf. The dumbbells wouldn't work quite so well as a barbell substitute as it's pretty hard to hold them the way you should hold a barbell in front of your chest for the press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:27:58.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7089" CreationDate="2012-06-29T08:35:22.827" Score="4" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's my plan - every week, at least two of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gym, one round of upper body pushing and pulling, leg workout in the 6 reps/3 sets range (edited to add: all isolation movements) + core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;park, jogging, explosive strength (hill sprints, knee tucks, clap-hands pushups etc.), core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;park, jogging, strength endurance (pushups, squats, pullups when they are no longer a max strength thing for me), core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;park, jogging and conditioning (20-30 min high intensity stuff like intervalls, burpees etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga and/or pilates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;long bike ride&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strength endurance part and the conditioning can become a finisher after one of the other sets (preferably which one?) when I'm fitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only given a few exercises for each block, of yourse I plan to mix it up a bit. For everythin outside thy gym I plan to stick to Ross Enamaits Never Gymless for exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is overall fitness and functional strength. I'm not sure why I'd want more muscle mass. Losing weight wouldn't hurt me but is not a big concern for me now. I don't have much time or discipline, so more exercise would be hard and I need to spice things up to keep me interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2.6.12&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I need to state my goals and the state I'm in clearer:&#xA;I'm in my early thirties, work in an office and have been doing muaythai on and off for the last ten years, as well as a bit of general fitness stuff like running and bodyweight exercises, or yoga. For a few months now, I go to a gym more or less regularley (where I up to now follow their advice, doing all the exercises in 3x15 sets. So far I noticed hardly any success (only on muscles that I really never trained before))&#xA;My goals are harder to define, and very broad (No real priorities among them):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long term endurance (In the scale of a longer bike ride or hike, no half marathon)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Correcting some office-damages and generally keeping my ass in motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Functional Strength: Beeing able to pick up heavy stuff and carry it around for a while. I want to be stronger than I'm now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;improving my speed/explosive strength and agility (In case I want to do muaythai again)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To clarify my point on weight gain/muscle mass gain: It's not a goal in itself for me, but not something I would want to avoid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for is advice if my plan is generally sound for these goals. I'm quite sure there are better schemes, but having a small catalogue and sticking with &quot;at least 2 a week&quot; seems like something I can stick to for a while.&#xA;My second question is if individual blocks can or sould be changed or exchanged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this makes it easier for you to help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastEditorUserId="3661" LastEditDate="2012-07-02T08:34:53.150" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:04:31.643" Title="Is this program good to achieve functional strength and fitness?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2362" CreationDate="2012-06-29T08:36:00.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want the most scientific explanation, look up anything you can find by Dr. Janet Travell. If you're willing to settle for a more layman's explanation, The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies is likely your best bet (I get the impression foam rollers weren't widely available when it was written, but all the principles talked about using the TheraCane still apply with a foam roller).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:36:00.390" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5435" CreationDate="2012-06-29T08:47:29.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, yes. The biggest problem I see with strength gains with dumbbells though is at the top end. I've never seen any in person over 90lbs. 2x90lbs is fine for doing presses, but for deadlifts you'll probably hit that pretty quickly. If your heaviest dumbbells are 50lbs, you'll likely be starting out at the max weight and you'll be more training endurance as 5-10 reps at 100lbs is really nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course if you're aiming to do 25 reps fairly quickly, then dumbbells would provide the necessary resistance for quite a while longer, but for maximal strength gains you'll grow out of them quite quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T08:47:29.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5142" CreationDate="2012-06-29T09:01:46.723" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no reason to assume from this that it's the low body fat. Cutting weight sucks. It's miserable. You're eating stuff that tastes nasty because you only want very specific foods. You're avoiding stuff you normally love eating that everyone else around you is eating. On top of that you're nervous because of the upcoming fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone would be irritable under conditions like that, even if they're starting at 15% bodyfat and cutting down to 10% to make the weight class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T09:01:46.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5417" CreationDate="2012-06-29T09:09:32.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cheapest as has been said is bodyweight exercises. Quickest is lifting barbells at heavy weights. Depending on gym costs that could be appropriately cheap for you, or it could be quite expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be very surprised to see anyone make gains using only bodyweight as quickly as with free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T09:09:32.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-06-29T12:54:56.177" Score="4" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very overweight, at 19 stone. I am in the gym, I go 3 times a week and normally do 40 minutes cardio on the elliptical and 20-30 on the low bike with the proper seat, I find the normal bike hurts my back. Is this an okay workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to cut out snacking but it is a hard habbit too break. Any advice on beating the urge to snack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could also use advice about how to change my diet. I hear all kinds of different things from people in the gym. 4chan have a joke were they call this 'bro science'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example many people say to avoid bread and pasta as carbs are the enemy. While the NHS site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/eight-tips-healthy-eating.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; says I should base my meals on stuff like bread and pasta. BUT a member of staff at the gym told me that is wrong. It's really hard to know what to believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3763" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T07:45:09.870" Title="Want to lose weight, need advice" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7064" CreationDate="2012-06-29T13:04:00.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing weight is all (mostly) about diet/nutrition.  The first step is truthfully recording what you've eat throughout a 2 week period.  If you signup with LiveStrong you can track your calories via their tracker (they also have a mobile version): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight requires a lot of dedication, especially in the beginning, since it's a life style change.  I would recommend getting together with a nutritionist/personal trainer once you've recorded your intake to get a good diet/exercise program together.  Adhoc approaches to health result in adhoc results...take it serious&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T13:04:00.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7064" CreationDate="2012-06-29T14:34:46.047" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lose weight you need a good diet, and you need to follow it for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ignore any claims like 'Lose 10 pounds in 10 days'. In fact, losing fat (vs losing weight, consisting of fat, water and other body-contents) is relatively slow process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A reasonable goal for sustained weight loss is 1 pound per week. So if you want to lose 50 pounds, which is the minimum I would suggest for your weight, prepare for about an year of dieting (or why not just a balanced diet for life?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ignore any advice, given in the gym. It is partially correct and partially incorrect. You can't judge what parts are the true ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend this book:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307474259&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat About&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At your weight, I would reduce the cardio to 20mins, will replace all the rest with weight lifting (because you still need muscles to look and feel good, and be healthy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T14:34:46.047" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2012-06-29T15:26:20.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mart - it sounds like you have a full time program in place, the question is: What are you looking to accomplish? and are you ready for the long-haul dedication to it?  Know your goals, figure out what motivates you (and will keep you going), adjust as you need and go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure of your age, experience, etc....so, to directly answer your question: yes, it's a good program and if you follow Ross's direction, you'll get somewhere (hopefully the place you intended to get)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T15:26:20.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2012-06-29T16:04:41.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to develop functional strength, but right now, you are not doing a strength training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See my answer to here to a very similar question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6928/any-suggestions-on-how-i-could-improve-my-workout-routine/6930#6930&quot;&gt;Any suggestions on how I could improve my workout routine?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:04:31.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5417" CreationDate="2012-06-29T17:19:02.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The absolute cheapest method of gaining muscle mass would be pushups, situps, squats, and lunges in the privacy of your own home. Most jungle gyms have monkey bars that you can use to do pullups on. There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/exercises/8-exercises-to-do-on-a-pull-up-bar.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lots&lt;/a&gt; of different exercises you can do on pull-up bars to build muscles: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsFfWDgCNdI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is a video on pull-up bar ab exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T17:19:02.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6928" CreationDate="2012-06-29T17:57:24.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I'd drop three quarters of the exercises and switch to compound exercises for lower reps. Bodybuilding (hypertrophy) programming is great, but really does best after you've developed a basic level of strength and are doing some sort of heavy whole-body movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to eliminate exercises would be to pick one lift for each type of movement or muscle group, and just do that. So, instead of a sitting press, standing press, dip, and one additional exercise, you'd just do the standing press. (Dips are also a good choice.) There's just no need to blast your triceps the way you do on Thursday. Doing &lt;strong&gt;less&lt;/strong&gt; in the gym might allow you to more quickly reach your goal, by allowing you to lift heavier weights and recover better. Remember--it's not lifting that gets you bigger, it's the recovery after you lift that makes you grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, all of the advice &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;in my answer here&lt;/a&gt; applies. For you, that means lifting heavier for five or so reps, adding squats and deadlifts, doubling or tripling your food intake, and sleeping like it's your job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-06-29T17:57:24.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7064" CreationDate="2012-06-30T08:08:47.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For diet, the best kind of diet is the kind that adjusts to your needs. For instance, an anti-inflammation diet I'm going on starts you off with a bunch of foods that are known to cause no problems for almost everyone, and then it slowly introduces foods that are otherwise very good, but do cause inflammation for some people (ie, some people react badly to the histamines in bananas, others react badly to the seeds in raspberries), so you can figure out exactly which foods cause you problems. If your diet doesn't make those kinds of adjustments, you'll be gambling as to whether it happens to line up with what your body works well with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, a good generic diet to follow is the glycemic index/glycemic load diet, it's primarily for people with diabetes, but anyone can benefit from it, and unlike any of the fad diets, it's unlikely to hurt you by following it. Also, if you are not already diabetic, it lends itself very well to &quot;cheating&quot; - as long as you eat one food item with a low GI before eating one with a medium or high GI, you'll not end up with a crash. It's also quite possible that following the GI/GL diet could help you with your snacking issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise for snacks, I find the easiest methods is to just substitute the snacks out for something else. Try to make sure that you don't have any problem foods in the house anymore, and when you go shopping make sure you've eaten enough so you're not hungry. You're more likely to buy junk food if you're shopping while hungry than when you're satisfied. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as exercise goes, cardio benefits some people and is counterproductive for others. If you've been doing cardio for a while, and you've been making some progress, even if it's small, it wouldn't hurt to keep going for it. On the other hand if you've kept steady at your current weight with cardio, you'd want to switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really hard to go wrong with a strength program that's based on compund lifts of free weights. A lot of people have reported weight loss success on the Stronglifts 5x5 program. The best thing with focusing on strength is it's a win-win. Either you start losing fat (although possibly not weight due to muscle gain), or if you don't you're that much better prepared to your better base strength to work on a different weight loss exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-06-30T08:08:47.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4124" CreationDate="2012-06-30T08:41:22.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't completely eliminated cracking, but I found taking an epsom salt bath before lifting weights significantly reduced cracking I experienced while doing the lifting, and after a while the cracking I experienced throughout the day decreased as well. I'm not sure if the latter is a result of my strength improvements or directly from the epsom salt baths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is more information on the benefits of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.care2.com/greenliving/health-benefits-of-epsom-salt-baths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;epsom salt baths&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to the National Academy of Sciences, American’s magnesium deficiency helps to account for high rates of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, arthritis and joint pain, digestive maladies, stress-related illnesses, chronic fatigue and a number of other ailments. Who knew?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="160" LastEditDate="2012-07-01T08:18:59.627" LastActivityDate="2012-07-01T08:18:59.627" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7064" CreationDate="2012-06-30T22:48:39.553" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I'd like to reiterate what others have pointed out, namely that nutrition is critically important and that compensating for poor nutrition by means of additional exercise is generally very difficult and not compatible with the lifestyles of most people. For example, if you (the OP) were to consume a meal totaling 500 calories, you'd have to walk briskly for roughly an hour merely to neutralize those calories (estimates will vary within some margin of error and as a consequence of genetic factors, diet, medication use, intensity of activity, etc.). Ergo, the strategy of incorporating exercise into one's daily regimen without modifying diet is doomed to failure in the overwhelming majority of cases. Personally, I've found the following strategies useful in controlling my diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintain a daily log of everything you consume as well as all the exercise you perform. Establish a daily caloric limit such that you create a caloric deficit, and make it your aim to not exceed that limit (i.e., &lt;code&gt;calories_consumed - calories_expended &amp;lt; caloric_limit&lt;/code&gt;). To estimate the caloric content of your meals, consult &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritiondata.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nutritiondata.com/&lt;/a&gt;, and use one of the many BMR/RMR calculators (q.v., &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm&lt;/a&gt;) available online to determine your baseline daily caloric needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider practicing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intermittent fasting&lt;/a&gt; in some form, if health and lifestyle factors allow. Anecdotally, I've found this to be effective in restricting my caloric intake without causing adverse side-effects, and there's an ample body of evidence that it confers other general health benefits as well (see the footnotes on the Wikipedia page I linked, or do a search on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place an emphasis on total caloric value rather than the source of said calories (i.e., the types food you eat). It may be true that adhering to a roughly balanced diet, or a high-protein diet, or a paleolithic diet, or a ketogenic diet, or &lt;code&gt;[INSERT_FAD_DIET_OF_CHOICE_HERE]&lt;/code&gt; may yield certain benefits, but those benefits are invariably going to be marginal in significance when compared against total caloric load. If you exceed your daily caloric needs, you will gain weight. If you consistently maintain a caloric deficit, you will lose it. As long as your diet enables you to acquire sufficient minimum amounts of protein (1g/kg of body weight is often a reasonable approximation for most people) and all required vitamins and nutrients, it will be adequate. Micro-optimizing diet, particularly if it requires onerous lifestyle changes, typically offers very small returns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, in order to reduce body fat substantially, you need operate at a continuous caloric deficit. If you make this deficit very extreme, you will certainly lose fat more rapidly, but you'll also begin to lose muscle tissue and strength at an accelerated rate as well. Generally speaking, the consensus position among experts seems to be that some amount of strength loss is almost inevitable when undertaking a calorie-restricted diet plan, but that can be minimized by incorporating some weight lifting and/or resistance training into your exercise regime. Muscle tissue imposes its own additional passive caloric demands, and therefore maintaining muscle will ultimately yield weight loss benefits beyond even the calories immediately expended by the exercises themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, cultivate an attitude of extreme skepticism toward aggressive peddlers of supplements. Some supplements are legitimately helpful in weight loss, but most are either grossly overpriced relative to the gains they offer, dangerous, unsustainable in the long-term, or just entirely ineffective. Of foremost importance is caloric intake, then exercise, and then finally of least significance (and by a very wide margin) are supplements. The only one I can recommend without reservation, especially if you intend to pursue a weight-training regimen, is creatine monohydrate. There's now a fairly immense corpus of evidence that it provides numerous and multifarious benefits with respect to strength training and maintenance of body composition and muscle mass (again, consult Google or PubMed for the relevant studies). If your general health is good, it's also almost entirely benign and very cost-effective. That said, creatine use is far from essential, so don't regard regard its use (or that of any other supplements) as a high priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3609" LastEditorUserId="3609" LastEditDate="2012-06-30T22:54:34.773" LastActivityDate="2012-06-30T22:54:34.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31649" CreationDate="2012-06-30T23:36:40.153" Score="7" ViewCount="2523" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, How is recovery heart rate defined and measured?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Second, What are good to poor values for comparison? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="996" LastEditorUserId="2320" LastEditDate="2012-09-05T11:22:46.163" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T20:43:45.763" Title="How to measure Recovery Heart Rate" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;recovery-heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7076" CreationDate="2012-07-01T04:28:14.937" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Again, this is something that is subjective and going to vary from person to person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally monitor my HR a few times during the week first thing when I wake up, and occasionally when I'm just sitting around watching TV. These will give you baselines. When I finish a workout, I'll take my HR immediately, and once again in a minute or two. These are what you compare to when you are checking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are looking for is a consistent drop. If your HR stays elevated compared to your normal trend, then you may be tired, had a harder workout than usual, weather is different, you had too much caffeine that day, etc etc. HR is a metric that is highly variable depending on a lot of conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me personally, my morning resting HR is about the only one I pay attention to on a consistent basis. If it's elevated for a few days over what is normal, then I know something is off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HR is not one of my favorite training metrics to use, as there are so many different variables that can affect it day to day, or even hour to hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-01T04:28:14.937" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-02T01:39:28.330" Score="3" ViewCount="6591" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an exercise bike with a computer and it looks like 100 revolutions of the pedals is 430 meters, this seems like a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there is a good number for converting pedal revolutions to meters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figured that without gearing the average bike wheel is 26&quot; (0.66 M) and so the circumference of the wheel is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;0.66 * PI = 2.07 M&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this instance one rev is basically 2 meters. The bike's computer seems to think one rev is 4.3 meters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't know where they get these numbers from and I am trying to make more accurate measurement of my exercise but the computer on the bike shows made up distance figures, calories etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3772" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T11:19:39.893" Title="How far is one revolution on an exercise bike" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7078" CreationDate="2012-07-02T02:20:51.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what the force is that you are applying to the pedals, and the resistance that the bike is giving you. For a regular bicycle, it's a function of what gear you are in and the tire size. 4.3 meters per pedal revolution isn't in the realm of silly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing that you want to find on an exercise ergometer is one that measures in watts. Because of various inefficiencies in the human system, watts can be pretty much converted straight over to calories. To find out calories, take your average watts, multiply by time in seconds, then divide by 1000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you average 150 watts for 1 hour, you would get (150*3600) / 1000, or ~ 540 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T02:20:51.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7084" CreationDate="2012-07-02T05:53:00.780" Score="6" ViewCount="18242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing push-ups for sometime now, starting 6 or 7 years ago. I haven't been too regular, but about 3 quarters of the days in these years I used to be regular. My problem is I can't  do more than 20 push-ups at a time even after 2 months of regular push ups. Does it take longer to achieve a good rate of push ups at a time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put things in perspective, I am 24, male, a few kilos less than 100kg (around 215 pounds) and can do a total of 80 push ups a day. I have lots of fat to lose, but definitely want to exercise to lose fat and gain muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3774" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-02T15:51:36.100" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:10:21.930" Title="Why am I unable to do more than 20 push-ups at a time?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6800" CreationDate="2012-07-02T06:49:51.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to add that after some time of sticking to that program I only noticed (small) improvements in muscles I didn't work out before. In the past I had greater success with bodyweight exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T06:49:51.410" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7080" CreationDate="2012-07-02T08:06:36.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are doing a full pushup (Nose almost touching ground, back straight/hip down, arms fully extended when up)? I once found that doing them half assed actually plateued sooner, switching to full push ups helped (after, of course a sizable dip in no. I could do at first!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you may want to add more exercises. For bodyweight exercises, I found the site of Ross Enamait helpful: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.com/blog/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T08:06:36.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7080" CreationDate="2012-07-02T11:08:52.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the hundred push ups training program&lt;/a&gt;&quot; I'm at the third week and I feel I'm already able to do a lot more than at the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2652" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T11:08:52.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7080" CreationDate="2012-07-02T12:27:48.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What actually gives out after 20? Your wind? your triceps? Most likely, you've programmed yourself mentally to stop at 20 - push one more out and see what happens.  The big question is, what are you driving towards - if you hit 30 or 50, then what?  It sounds like you're a bit overweight - I would recommend putting a complete diet/workout plan together and setting up monthly measures (weight, exercise intensity, etc.) to measure your progress.  Keep pushing yourself - you can always do one more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T12:27:48.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1376" CreationDate="2012-07-02T16:12:27.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The website &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Biomechanics of Foot Strikes&#xA;&amp;amp;&#xA;Applications to Running Barefoot or in Minimal Footwear&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (yes, it's a long title) has links to research on how people ran before the modern running shoe and barefoot running. This is from their &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/6FAQ.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FAQ:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about surface hardness? Our ancestors didn’t run on pavement.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A common perception is that running on hard surfaces causes injuries, but runners typically adjust leg stiffness so they experience the similar impact forces on soft and hard surfaces. Further, forefoot and some midfoot strikers hit the ground in a way that generates almost no collision forces even on hard surfaces like steel. You can run barefoot and heel strike on a soft beach or lawn, but most natural surfaces are much harder and rougher. With proper forefoot or midfoot strike form, running on hard, rough surfaces can be comfortable and safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides this answer, I recommend their site- they have lots of diagrams and videos as well. A great resource for people considering taking up barefoot running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T16:12:27.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7133" CreationDate="2012-07-02T17:03:03.873" Score="2" ViewCount="2074" Body="&lt;p&gt;I plan on eating at least 100-200g of mixed nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds, etc.) everyday (on top of regular diet) for the purpose of gaining weight. I was wondering, can eating too much nuts cause bad health side effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2245" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T17:58:01.540" Title="Eating too many nuts for weight gain" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2012-07-02T17:03:52.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of basic outline of your programming, it looks fairly sound.  Strength is very easy to develop - although most people tend to not have the attention to work on it properly.  Strength programs should be very simple and, as a beginner, you should look to increase poundage pretty much every session.  You're correct to focus almost exclusively on compound lifts (working lots of muscles - especially those that have large direct effects on the rest of the body - squats and deadlifts).  Programs to look at are the 5x5 and 5-3-1.  Obviously make sure that you are comfortable with the technique of these lifts in particular, as done wrong (90% of the time) can result in injury, especially if you're working near to your max.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing you have to do is progressively increase the weights you're lifting - if you're trying, your body will respond and you'll get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also mention that loaded carries serve as superb finishers - in the gym, the farmers walk is the simplest way to do this: grab 2 dumbells (aim for approximately 50% of your own BW in each hand if you can) and walk.  That's it! Aim to get as far as you can in a time limit, or aim for a distance and record your time.  Check out my blog for further information - &lt;a href=&quot;http://mmastrengthandconditioning.wordpress.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mmastrengthandconditioning.wordpress.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:03:52.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7080" CreationDate="2012-07-02T17:10:21.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is to work on your maximum strength - by doing so will mean that your economy per rep when trying for your press ups is less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a gym, incorporate a session or two a week to strength - this will be fewer repetitions (anywhere from 1-5) but with a weight that really makes you struggle.  When a weight gets easier, increase the weight and continue.  Look into the 5x5 or the 5-3-1 programs as they are simple yet very efective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, when you hit your max reps press ups, you'll smash it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out my blog for further tips: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mmastrengthandconditioning.wordpress.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mmastrengthandconditioning.wordpress.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:10:21.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-07-02T17:17:20.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the other answers, plus lots of pulling in the gym - rows, pullups, deadlifts - all of these will strengthen your back.  Right now, your chest is tight and so your pecs are literally pulling your shoulders forwards.  You need to stretch your chest and strengthen your back to start pulling them back into place&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-02T17:55:15.760" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:55:15.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6928" CreationDate="2012-07-02T17:23:29.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add in lower body work - SQUAT AND EAT!!! By adding in squats and deadlifts, they have a tremendous indirect effect to the rest of your body, meaning that they help you put on size and strength everywhere!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:23:29.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6144" CreationDate="2012-07-02T17:26:07.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be due to shoulder stability - work your OH squats as much as you can, plus supplemental exercises like KB windmills and TGU will be of help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T17:26:07.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6975" CreationDate="2012-07-02T19:10:54.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can tell you from experience that if you've been lifting weights from a young age and have done heavy weight lifting that you could have seriously damaged your tendons and joints. If that sort of pain persists, you may need to decrease load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking joint and tendon supplements such as glucosamine chondroitin can help a lot. I started taking them at the advice of my pharmacist after complaining of knee pain during running (joint and tendon pain) and it helped immensely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My knees were injured due to excessive weight lifting with heavy load at too young an age. I was doing 500-600lb leg presses at ~12, and blew both knees out just falling down at ~14 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T19:10:54.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-02T19:22:27.913" Score="1" ViewCount="937" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been playing non-competitive five-a-side football with school and work colleagues for a few years, and have drifted in and out of it as people move away, the weather puts people off, people get injured, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing at stake for me in not being very good - we don't play competitively and it's purely as a hobby - but it would be more fun for me and for others to be better at it to improve the challenge. I often find that I can read the game fairly well and can see exactly where I need to be, where my feet need to go, and so on - I just can't move fast enough to make it happen. It's inevitable that muscle memory will be somewhat lacking and part of the problem is just lack of practice, but I'd still like to do what I can to be a better player.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I do to improve my footwork and speed over short distances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T01:17:08.527" Title="How can I improve my speed and precision when playing football (soccer)?" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7097" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7147" CreationDate="2012-07-02T19:25:17.673" Score="14" ViewCount="3786" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 45 and play squash once or twice a week in the evenings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an early riser, but have never been an early morning exerciser. I do enjoy early morning meditation, though. I am finding that I am stiffening up a little with age and am looking for a good early morning stretch routine that would help me maintain flexibility into old age and help me to get me up and running in the morning. I wouldn't be averse to the routine including some light cardio, like jogging on the spot, or skipping, but I am not looking for the routine to be my main source of exercise, just something to 'get me going' in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3531" LastEditorUserId="3531" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T07:07:10.967" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T07:15:02.827" Title="What is a good early morning stretch routine?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7097" CreationDate="2012-07-02T19:39:19.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try do 5-6 straight forward yoga &quot;sun salutations&quot; every morning. The purpose is to get myself started, not to be - as you said - the main source of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, this takes about 5-7 minutes. Last year (2011), of my 366 yoga trainings, this routine was counted for more than half (196 ones)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T06:49:27.990" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T06:49:27.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2012-07-02T19:48:08.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same problem, I plan to buy the &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.garmin.com/swim/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Garmin Swim watch&lt;/a&gt;, it has some good reviews: E.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/06/garmin-swim-watch-in-depth-review.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DCrainmaker&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through an accelerometer and clever software, it detects styles of swimming, measures laps, strokes, stroke rates, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finisinc.com/blog/workouts/train-more-efficiently-with-swolf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SWOLF&lt;/a&gt; and exercise time. The instrument is targeted for swimming in pools so there is no GPS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the site and the review, it seems like they have thought about the different scenarios that you have in the pool, for example, swimming laps, interval training and drills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T21:42:02.377" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T21:42:02.377" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7097" CreationDate="2012-07-02T20:14:26.680" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found success with two approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga&lt;/strong&gt;, whatever flavor or sequence you happen to like. What I did was go to classes several times a week for a month, then practice at home in the morning with intermittent ventures to group classes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tom Kurz' morning stretch and warm-up series&lt;/strong&gt;, recommended for combat sports and general health. You take a few minutes to rotate all your joints, then get your heart rate up with five minutes of anything (running in place, jogging, shadowboxing, whatever), then do arm and leg swings to get your shoulder and hip joints mobilized for the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2017-01-03T09:14:56.683" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T09:14:56.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2012-07-02T20:50:10.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a water bottle. Every 100 (4 lengths or 2 laps), move the bottle one tile over. The bigger question is, what specific purpose is served by a workout of 1km straight swimming, other than to know you can do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T20:50:10.060" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7096" CreationDate="2012-07-02T20:55:35.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shuttle runs, short wind sprints, lateral shuffle sprints are good exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For short burst speed, you need to practice short burst speed. Work into it though, simply going out one day and hammering a bunch of shuttle runs is a good way to pull muscles. The more you do it, the faster you will be. Also practice form drills, such as high knees and butt kicks. Better form will allow you to put more energy into motion rather than into controlling sloppy feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For agility, there are tons of drills. Lateral shuffles, grapevines, ladder step routines, running cones with turns at the diagonals, things of this nature. Basically what you are learning is how to control your body weight and momentum to get you going in the direction you want, rather than having to completely stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lose weight if needed. Excess weight can slow you down immensely, and make it much much harder to get up to speed, change directions, etc. The commonly accepted estimate in cross country running is that every pound lost is equivalent to 2-5 seconds per mile faster for the same effort (Depending on the persons' running efficiency, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T20:55:35.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6984" CreationDate="2012-07-02T21:25:42.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel your pain - I absolutely pour with sweat with any vigorous exercise, even in cool conditions. The conclusion I have to draw is that I'm dumping a lot of waste heat, and the profuse sweating is meant to get rid of it. I've also noticed that my sweat has an extremely strong smell of ammonia, so much so it's made me cough in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could be that people who sweat a lot are less efficient at liberating energy from their stored reserves and as a result dump more heat - and there probably isn't anything you can do about that, unless under the direction of an expert exercise physiologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T21:25:42.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3252" CreationDate="2012-07-02T21:53:26.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;patellofemoral syndrome is probably what you have! I had the same problem; not being able to sit/stand/kneel for long periods of time (5-10 minsutes tops) without my joints in my knees hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2012-07-02T21:53:26.127" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7096" CreationDate="2012-07-03T01:17:08.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The things that will help your footwork are different than the things that will help your speed. JohnP's answer addresses footwork, and some aspects of acceleration and running, and they are all good things, but his answer omits strength. If you are stronger, particularily in your hamstrings, quads, glutes, and core, you will be faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to on-the-field drills like shuttle runs and form drills, you should include barbell lift like back squats, deadlifts, and power cleans. These will make you faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T01:17:08.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7129" CreationDate="2012-07-03T06:54:09.763" Score="9" ViewCount="9326" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at any classic bodybuilding book or DVD and it will say free weights are superior to cables (and machines) for muscular hypertrophy. Joe Weider and Arnold Schwarzenegger are two famous proponents of this idea. Their claim is that humans have evolved to work against gravity and free weights provide a natural gravitational force, while cables do not. I understand how machines are inferior because they don't work stabilizer muscles, but I don't understand how this logic proves cables are suboptimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A) Evolution&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who says humans have evolved to get bigger muscles from working against gravity? If anything, technological advances have made humans work less against gravity over the centuries. We do not toil on the farm like our forefathers. We now have cars, computers, and robots to do heavy lifting for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;B) Contradiction to overload principle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't the key to hypertrophy to subject the muscles to ever-increasing unusual stress, thereby making them adapt to this new stress? Bodybuilders know that doing the same routine over and over make their muscles become complacent. Since cables provide a force that is unlike the gravity we deal with every waking moment of our lives, then wouldn't cables stress the muscles more than free weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2018-09-14T17:18:54.307" Title="What scientific evidence says cables build less muscle than free weights?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;cables&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7108" CreationDate="2012-07-03T08:03:36.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you'll find any. Mike Mentzer has talked about this - free weights, machines, cables; they all have their pros and cons. Quite clearly using all of them appropriately is superior to using only one of them. It's possible (although not likely) that a study might show that exclusively using cables is inferior to exclusively using free weights, but that scenario is pretty contrived anyway, as the only reason you'd exclusively use one or the other is due to the unavailability of any other options, in which case superiority or inferiority is a moot point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big problem you'd also run into with any such hypothetical study that may show it is how they're comparing both types of equipment. Are they looking at what cables are superior for, or are they looking at what free weights are superior for? That initial bias in testing methodology would affect the results. There's also a question of how the pulleys affect the weights - while you might be lifting the same weight with a barbell as the selectorised plates, the pulleys might make the load effectively lighter on your muscles therefore putting them under less stress to adapt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if we skip aside from looking for a scientific study, and consider the reasoning - exersices like the back squat and the deadlift engage every muscle in your body, and more muscle engagement promotes more testosterone production which is key for building mass. I see no reason though why a properly designed cable system wouldn't allow for performing a deadlift - the one in my gym doesn't allow for it as my face would run into the equipment to get into a deadlift position, but I can imagine a machine that would allow it. That would be a further confounding variable. Free weights are pretty consistent, one barbell is the same as another barbell, regardless of manufacturer. Weight machines differ from make to make and model to model. That of course makes it much more difficult to find good instruction on machine use compared to free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T08:03:36.040" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6939" CreationDate="2012-07-03T12:24:52.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Conditioning out of the pool is important and can be very beneficial for swimmers. As an competitive swimmer myself, I believe dryland conditioning should be included in any workout for a swimmer, regardless of level of ability.&#xA;As @Robin identifies, compound weight lifting exercises are great for both strength and endurance. Improving strength and/or endurance enables you to move more efficiently through the water. Swimmers do not usually practice isolated or single-joint exercises which often focus on only one major muscle group (eg bicep curls). It is much more beneificial for swimmers to incorporate functional and dynamic strengthening exercises to better mimic the actions and movements involved in swimming and to allow different muscle groups to work together, as does happen when swimming. Examples such as cleans, push-presses lat pull downs, seated row, the bench press, (weighted) tricep dips and squats are all good examples of dynamic and compound strengthening exercises that are beneficial for swimmers.&#xA;Another area of conditioning that is often considered vital for a swimmers performance is the core. A weakened core can lead to the sagging of hips while swimming and the production of more water resistance since the body is not as streamlined due to the hips sagging. The focus here shouldn't be on gaining a 'six-pack' but should be more on a strong, stable and balanced core. Exercises such as the plank, sit-ups, crunches and leg lifts can help strengthen your core. Also, the compound exercises target your core as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T12:24:52.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7114" CreationDate="2012-07-03T17:33:48.773" Score="1" ViewCount="1563" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night I wore my heart rate monitor while sleeping to determine what my resting heart rate was.  This morning I checked and the lowest my heart was beating was 48 bpm and the max was 100 bpm, the average was 65 bpm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is 48 bpm a valid resting heart rate, or does my resting heart rate have to be checked while I'm conscious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: Redid the test but after waking up and got a 54 bpm while I was awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="475" LastEditDate="2012-07-04T14:21:58.747" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T14:21:58.747" Title="Can I use a heart monitor overnight to determine my resting heart rate?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7113" CreationDate="2012-07-03T17:55:27.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure, it's a valid resting HR, but I don't think it's what you want. It is going to be different than a resting HR taken while you're awake, which is the generally accepted usable number. Other than academic interest or determining disease patterns (Generally done with a Holter monitor), I can't think of anything that uses a sleeping RHR as a base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T17:55:27.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6375" CreationDate="2012-07-03T21:37:58.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with Fit in Six, but based on what I've read about Wii Fit, there is a risk of injury, both overuse and accident based. With the balance board it re-calibrates before every activity, which means if you were shifting around during the intermission, it has suddenly mis-calibrated your weight distribution. An adult might have the discipline to stay in place, but I doubt a child would. Once it has mis-calibrated, it will start giving back inaccurate feedback, which if you follow it could lead to performing an exercise in a non-neutral position, or worst case scenario cause you to fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose it's possible for some of the programs to be designed in a much better fashion, but without knowing for sure I think it's a better idea to stay away from them. For a fitness centric video game, something like DDR or Dance Central is likely safer and more reliable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T21:37:58.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7116" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-03T23:01:40.617" Score="2" ViewCount="18129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to burn fat and gain muscle during my sports off season. I gym about 3 times a week, and take PHD diet whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one in the morning and one after going to the gym in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is the best time to take another shake on non-gym days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3786" LastEditorUserId="10583" LastEditDate="2014-08-28T19:17:51.217" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T20:22:57.097" Title="When is the best time to drink PHD Diet Whey Protein" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;diet-tools&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6963" CreationDate="2012-07-04T00:51:56.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Robin is correct on the stretching of ligaments. Ligaments are like the springs in click pens, once they get pulled out, they don't go back as tight as before. This is the reason that once you dislocate a shoulder, it's easier to dislocate again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is that there aren't really any stretches that you can apply yourself that will tell you that you have a ligament injury. There are three different common diagnostic tests, but they require the leg to be in specific positions, and a second party testing the knee. (Example: Anterior drawer test, requires the hamstrings to be completely relaxed. Since the hamstrings produce actions in two joints, both joints {knee and hip} have to be bent. Once the hamstrings are completely relaxed, the tester draws the knee forward. An excessive amount of forward motion, or lack of &quot;stop&quot; point indicates an injury. Impossible to do this test on yourself.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: These are not tests that should be done by you and a buddy. These should be done only by a trained professional, as it requires experience, training and if improperly done, could lead to or worsen injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, even if you could stretch the area, there is no way for you to specifically pinpoint the pain and say &quot;Yes, that's the ACL&quot;. My fear is that you would stretch, get no pain and decide it's ok and then have further injury occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best recommendation would be to go in and have a professional take a look, rather than trying to diagnose it yourself. It's possible that you had a very minor injury at the time of the original ACL injury that has just gotten progressively worse over time and is now starting to cause discomfort/pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to fit better with Nathan's request:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ligaments connect bone to bone. They aren't designed to stretch. The tests for the ACL are basically of the kind where you bend the leg in various ways to completely relax the surrounding muscles (To avoid false negatives), then moving the knee. If the ACL is intact, the knee will have a fairly defined &quot;stop&quot; point, and a limited range of travel. If the ACL (or any of the knee ligaments for that matter) is damaged, the range of travel will be greater and the stop point will feel rather vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-06T14:53:20.110" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T14:53:20.110" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2012-07-04T03:35:24.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym regularly, but my fitness trainer says that crunches are must even if you got a pot belly. I questioned, whether it won't effect the burning of fat layer on my belly, he answered plain no. Infact he said, crunches will assist burning of fat layer. Now I know that he was wrong, what should I do now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3494" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T03:35:24.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6366" CreationDate="2012-07-04T04:49:48.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are confusing the formulae a bit. The 1.2 is from the Harris Benedict equation IIRC, which already takes into account your activity level. If you are mostly sedentary, then you will multiply by 1.2, to get a daily need of 2640 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 5'10&quot; and 240, unless you are a seriously competitive bodybuilder, you are probably in the obese to morbidly obese range. This means that you actually need slightly less calories than the equations say, due to the difference in calorie needs to maintain lean mass versus non lean mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you are probably in the 2600-3000 calories range for daily maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think that you are way overestimating using the METS equations. I'm also 5'10&quot;, about 165 lbs. I don't need 1500 calories over my BMR on days when I have an hour run workout (at about 7:45 min/mile).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T04:49:48.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-04T07:11:37.973" Score="4" ViewCount="2555" Body="&lt;p&gt;L-Tyrosine and Beta Alanine have Will Brink's endorsement as worthwhile supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: are these really necessary with protein supplementation as Tyrosine and Alanine will ultimately be derived from the protein in whey?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2913" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T14:26:01.053" Title="Is Amino Acid Supplementation Necessary When Taking Whey Protein" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7120" CreationDate="2012-07-04T08:38:05.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not at all. Getting your nutrients from food is a lot better than getting them isolated in supplements. Whey is about as close to food as you're going to get from a supplement. If there's an amino acid that you won't get from your food or from the whey, then it would make sense to take it as a separate supplement, but doubling up is just going to end up costing you more money without a matching benefit to show for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T08:38:05.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-07-04T09:58:46.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also found a new interest in swimming and here is my take at an answer to your question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Assessment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I at my stage,  i.e. beginner/newbie, I try to focus on technique. A typical practice for me is to spend about half to 2/3 thirds of an hour in the pool working on balance, streamlining. E.g. one length drill, one length swimming. The assessment there is to strive for the perfect technique. For me - as an old basketball player - this is like all the shooting, dribbling and passing drills that you do, not only as a beginner but also on advanced levels. Typically my pulse rate here is around 110, i.e. not very high&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to get a higher pulse (150-160), I usually end the practice with interval training. The last couple of weeks, I have done 100m intervals for 20-30 minutes. The assessment here is time (currently around 1 min 40 for 100m, not fast but a huge improvement compared to my earlier attempts) and strokes per length (12-14 for 25 m pool, and 27-30 for a 50m pool)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Develop&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Key development for me was to attend a two day workshop in swimming. Not only were the instructors great but also excellent sharing of best practice among the participants - some were very good, i.e. world class in their age categories, e.g. Lennart Larsson (the first Swede that swam from Robin Island to Cape Town, no wet suit, at age 63, started w swimming at the age of 56.., see &lt;a href=&quot;http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=507&amp;amp;artikel=5162180&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=507&amp;amp;artikel=5162180&lt;/a&gt;), others beginners/newbies as myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Selecting a style of swim training seems to be important if you have to learn the basics. A close friend of mine wasted a whole semester on a traditional beginners freestyle course. I did a more thorough research and went for the Total immersion style with a much better result in any way you assess the outcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have the time, I am thinking about joining a Masters class this winter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-06T15:15:33.477" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T15:15:33.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2012-07-04T12:26:04.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started with yoga at SATS, one of the local Swedish gym chains. Their approach is focused on the physical part of yoga, they have their own branded style &quot;SATS Yoga&quot;. For me, that was a good choice. Just for experimentation, I have tried other, more spiritual forms but it was not for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put my own routine in place based on the SATS yoga and exercises I picked up from YouTube and DVD. One form developed in Sweden that I think has a more independent perspective vis a vis the spiritual (based on a workshop over a couple of evenings a few yeras ago) is Viryayoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding books, I can recommend two books: &#xA;- Cool Yoga tricks by Austin, Miriam&#xA;- Yoga as Medicine by Mccall, Timothy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-14T15:29:16.347" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T15:29:16.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7108" CreationDate="2012-07-04T12:47:42.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a good article on Bodybuilding.com - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/keats1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/keats1.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your question answers itself (which makes it a great question).  If you separate the muscle building from other physical improvements (stabilization, ligament strength, physiological), then there probably is little difference and possibly more benefits to using cable/machines.  Cable/machines help focus effort on specific muscles and that focus probably helps them build faster....the overall problem is that a big muscle in itself has little benefit (outside of looking good and if the bicep a way to attract women).  If you want a healthy, fit body, you need to develop the entire human structure and mental fortitude at the same time - and yes, I think lifting free weights has physiological benefits over cables/machines...muscle strength, stabilization, bone density, muscle-to-bone (tendon), bone-to-bone (ligament) and cardio build together better with unstable, heavy objects - free weights, sand bags, kettle bells, sledge hammers, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T12:47:42.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7108" CreationDate="2012-07-04T14:16:18.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Your question asks for scientific evidence, so I can dig up references for the points I make, if you would like.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;An example&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the back squat. For this exercise to be done properly, you need to be able to stand up from a squatted position with barbell on your posterior deltoids. If this is done with proper form, the barbell will follow a perfectly vertical path that keeps it in place directly above your midfoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the things about just this one exercise (deadlifts, too) that I don't think can be replicated in a cable exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a whole-body hormonal response that can't be triggered by smaller, single joint exercises, or exercises using a smaller number of smaller muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an ability to progressively increase the weight on the bar without limit (what happens when you reach the maximum capacity of your cable machine?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gravity always pulls the bar straight downward, to allow you to stand up with proper form (a cable system would have to be pretty complicated to always pull straight down, even in the case where you shifted forward or backward slightly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The overload principle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; give an overload that is unlike the gravity you experience in everyday life. You don't ever stand up with 250 lbs on your back in everyday life, but can do this with a barbell, thus providing the unusual stress necessary to stimulate muscle growth. And when your body gets used to 250 (probably after that one workout), do it with 255.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;From an expert&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Mark Rippetoe (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that&#xA;  produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved&#xA;  balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density&#xA;  enhancement, &lt;strong&gt;muscular stimulation and growth&lt;/strong&gt;, connective tissue stress&#xA;  and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic&#xA;  conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-04T14:31:00.950" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T14:31:00.950" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6795" CreationDate="2012-07-04T14:26:36.197" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speculating on performance in sports based on physical attributes is always difficult, there are always exceptions to whatever rule you find. My answer to your questions is split into two parts: 1) check that your weight in the the normal range for a non-athlete, this is important given your history. 2) compare your height/weight with other successful female swimmers to get an idea about their height &amp;amp; weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on part 2) it seems like your competitive advantage in swimming would increase if you gained weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Weight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your BMI, body mass index, seems to be in the normal range for women. Yours is around 19 (52.6 kg / 1.65m^2 = 19.3) which is ok. I know that there is a debate on BMI, especially for athletes but it should be there as a check. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems like you are on the right path from recovery from an eating disorder, which is great. I have close relatives that went through that hell when they were at your age. Great that you have support from your family and coach from that perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Weight and swimming&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One idea is to check the height, weight and BMI for the best female swimmers and - for example - compare your data with theirs. E.g. winners in the recent Olympics in 400 m, 200m individual medley &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_swimming_(women)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_swimming_(women)&lt;/a&gt; , (Medley since I don't know your swim style). A subset of the sample of 20 swimmers between 1996 and 2012, are {name, height in meters, weight in kg}:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stephanie Rice   2008    Medley 400m Gold    1.76    67&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kirsty Coventry  2008    Medley 400m Silver  1.79    60&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Katie Hoff           2008    Medley 400m Bronze  1.75    64&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yana Klochkova   2004    Medley 400m Gold    1.82    70&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kaitlin Sandeno  2004    Medley 400m Silver  1.7 61&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Georgina Bardach 2004    Medley 400m Bronze  1.72    63&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yasuko Tajima    2000    Medley 400m Silver  1.64    63&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beatrice Căslaru,    2000    Medley 400m Bronze  1.7 64&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Michelle Smith   1996    Medley 400m Gold    1.6 71&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allison Wagner   1996    Medley 400m Silver  1.68    53&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Krisztina Egerszeg   1996    Medley 400m Bronze  1.74    57&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like there is a negative correlation between height and BMI, i.e. the shorter you are the higher BMI, note that this is a limited amount of data, so the uncertainty is high. However, if you give me the data of a larger sample {name, height, weight}, , use this link &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AstJzCCxOXH1dDVFbnBoZmRiSXRNWTNoWmtBWTVXVGc#gid=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;data entry&lt;/a&gt; and I will recalculate it for you :-). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following the model below, your BMI should be 23, which means a weight of 60kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1b6As.png&quot; alt=&quot;Female Medley Swimmers -  BMI as a function of Height (BMI = 51.4-17.4 Height)&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Female Medley Swimmers -  BMI as a function of Height (BMI = 51.4-17.4*Height (in meters))*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of them (and most of the others I checked) do seem to be taller than you so that can be an argument against just comparing the BMI. However, the datapoint of, for example, Yasuko shows that it is possible to compete &amp;amp; win without being above average height. For you, BMI 23 means 60-61 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-13T12:40:20.320" LastActivityDate="2012-11-13T12:40:20.320" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-07-04T15:17:53.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Next steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get an instructor (Not necessarily a coach, although they can be the same individual) to look at your stroke and give you drills.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Restructure your workouts. Shorter distances at higher intensity, with a mixture between threshold work and interval work. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Threshold work is swimming at 85-95% of your top pace, with short rest intervals. These kinds of workouts are designed to increase the amount of time you can spend at your top pace. Interval workouts are faster than your top distance speed, with long rest so that you can make every interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you can sustain 2:30/100m, then a threshold workout might be something like 10x100 on 2:20, 15 seconds rest. This means 10 100m distances, each one completed in 2:20, and 15 seconds rest between each one. If you can't make every one, then you need to try it at 2:25. If you can make it easily, try the next one at 2:15.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval workouts would be something like 10x100 on 2:00, 1:00 rest. If you can make them all easily, next time make it 1:50. If you can't make them all, then either increase the time or the rest until you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T15:17:53.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7108" CreationDate="2012-07-04T15:22:21.667" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try to stay tight to your &quot;science&quot; and &quot;evidence&quot; clauses, because there's a whole lot of non-science reasons to use free weights. (Just off the top of my head, there's cost, versatility, compactness, and portability.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitetrack.com/article_files/machinesfreeweights.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This roundtable discussion (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;, with copious references, is one of my favorite sources for the machines/free-weights science. Among the points made therein:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Wathen) &quot;There is some evidence that more carryover is likely with free weights than machines when training and testing in both modes.&quot; (page 21)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Carpinelli) &quot;...there were no signiﬁcant differences (P &amp;lt; 0.05) between the [free-weights-trained or machine-trained] groups for any of the [strength] variables. It appeared that vertical jumping ability was improved to a greater extent by training with free-weights and the Universal apparatus than by training with the Nautilus device. However, the differences are relatively small, and in view of the similarity of the strength gains, the practical application of the ﬁnding is unclear” (ibid). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Carpinelli) &quot;The absence of any supporting evidence suggests that when used properly, free weights and machines produce similar results in a healthy, athletic population.&quot; (ibid) While that's true, I would argue that the very act of choosing machines produces a radically different and markedly inferior program due to choice of exercises, but I can't prove it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Wathen) &quot;Augustsson et al. (3) indicated that free-weight squat training has more impact on vertical jump performance than does a program of isokinetic knee extension and hip adduction. There are few studies in this area, and most are equivocal, but more evidence points to speciﬁcity of muscle action type and movement pattern favoring dynamic freeweight movements that closely approximate the sport movement (5,7, 15). After all, most sports performance is dynamic, multijoint, multiplanar, requires balance, and deals with both eccentric and concentric actions (3, 10). Sounds like free weights.&quot; This is a great passage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Stone) The same conclusion, stated more succinctly: &quot;The major contributing&#xA;factor to the superiority of free weights compared with machines is the ability of free weights to mimic and overload most athletic (and daily task) movements. Because of this aspect, there can be a greater transfer of training effect.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, it is a balanced discussion with tons of studies to curl up and read. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your specific questions, I do not see how the fact that most middle-class Westerners sit a lot and are weak has anything to do with how we evolved. I would venture to say that we know with fair certainty that our ancestors mostly got strong by lifting things, carrying things, and running. I fail to see the relevance of this point to whether machines are empirically superior to free weights, except to point you to the inherent joy of training and playing outside. (Erwan le Corre has more to say on this topic.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address your point about cables and machines being different enough to produce different stresses: most machines, though less so with cables, dramatically reduce the number of muscles involved in a motion. They are designed to isolate muscles instead of allow the body the act as a whole. So, yes, the leg curl machine might provide a different stressor to more strongly incite growth in the hamstring, but as noted in the references above, that stressor is highly specific and has less carryover to everyday life and sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T15:22:21.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6795" CreationDate="2012-07-04T15:31:27.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are coming back from an eating disorder, then most likely you are not at your peak muscle strength, and that is probably what they are referring to when they say that gaining weight will help your swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not focus on your weight so much as I would on eating healthy, working out hard, and doing all the exercises and dryland stuff that your coach assigns. Your weight will stabilize naturally on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, congratulations on recognizing and taking steps to combat an eating disorder. I know some people that have done that, and it can be a tough road. Best wishes for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T15:31:27.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7131" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-04T15:50:14.997" Score="0" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose weight and have cut back on all snacking but still need to sort out my dinner. I am not really able to cook at all. I see these Weight Watchers frozen meals at Sainsburys and looking at the box, I'd say the nutrition looks good. But I know a lot of foods labeled as 'healthy' actually aren't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the foods I am talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightwatchersfoods.co.uk/products/evening-meal/chilled-prepared-meals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.weightwatchersfoods.co.uk/products/evening-meal/chilled-prepared-meals.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3763" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T15:56:15.393" Title="Are these Weight Watchers brand foods healthy?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-09-21T16:56:08.487" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7131" CreationDate="2012-07-04T15:56:15.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weightwatchers foods aren't too bad, and they are one of the better alternatives as far as preprepared foods. Mostly the problem comes in with high sodium and sugars to make it palatable and extend shelf life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say you aren't able to cook, you mean you don't know how, or don't have the facilities for it? If it's the former, I would recommend just getting a recipe book, and finding some dishes that you would like to try. Figure out how to cook them, because fresh food is always going to be better than prepackaged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the tricks that I use is that I will spend an hour or two on the weekend cutting up veggies, grilling chicken, etc. That way during the week if I need a quick dinner I can take a pita, dump in chopped up chicken, chopped up veggies, and some tzatziki that I get from the store, and I have a tasty quick dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T15:56:15.393" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7088" CreationDate="2012-07-04T17:58:01.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a quick read through of the search &quot;eating nuts health risk&quot; at Google Scholar at limited the search to 2012 and later, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?as_ylo=2012&amp;amp;q=eating+nuts+health+risk&amp;amp;hl=sv&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?as_ylo=2012&amp;amp;q=eating+nuts+health+risk&amp;amp;hl=sv&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&lt;/a&gt;. It does not seem to be any health risks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A search for &quot;eating nuts gaining weight&quot; on the same source, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?q=eating+nuts+gaining+weight&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=sv&amp;amp;as_sdt=0&amp;amp;as_ylo=2012&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?q=eating+nuts+gaining+weight&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=sv&amp;amp;as_sdt=0&amp;amp;as_ylo=2012&lt;/a&gt; and a quick reading of the abstracts shows some result that seem to contradict that nuts are especially effective for weight gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10-12 years ago when I was overweight (BMI&gt;26), the main cause was a high consumption of protein shakes and too little exercise. My idea behind the shakes was to reduce stress and I read in a book about stress that high intake of proteins would reduce stress hormones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T17:58:01.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7135" CreationDate="2012-07-04T20:00:53.820" Score="15" ViewCount="42951" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a minor muscle pull in my lower back (right side). The initial pull happened Friday, but I re-aggravated it somewhat last night. I'm trying to heal this injury as quickly as possible for an upcoming tennis tournament. I've been following the advice to use mostly ice and compression during the first 48 hours, then alternating in heat thereafter. This seemed to be helping until I stressed it a bit playing tennis last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I'm wondering if I should also be taking Ibuprofen. Will it speed up healing beyond just using &quot;RICE&quot; or just help with pain management? I mostly only feel pain when I sit in certain positions or try to bend over (say, to put on socks), so pain is not really an issue most of the time. I just want to do whatever I can to heal as quickly as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2987" LastActivityDate="2017-04-01T23:17:42.160" Title="Do NSAIDS (Ibuprofen, etc.) actually speed up healing or do they just mask pain?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7134" CreationDate="2012-07-04T20:33:34.823" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. With ibuprofen in particular, the anti-inflammatory properties are beneficial. Initially inflammation is important for healing an injury, but too much inflammation is detrimental. Based on that I prefer to take ibuprofen if the inflammation persists, but not immediately after getting the injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pain killers can also indirectly contribute to healing. If the pain prevents you from getting adequate rest, your body can't repair itself as effectively, so if taking a pain killer helps you sleep better that could actually help you recover from the injury faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your specific situation, I wouldn't expect any painkiller to be particularly beneficial. If you feel pain only in certain positions rather than constant soreness that doesn't suggest inflammation, and if you can rest without feeling pain you wouldn't get any benefit from painkillers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest finding a massage therapist who specialises in trigger points/myofascial release. It's something you could do yourself, but given the short time frame you describe a skilled practitioner is more likely to get you the results you need by the time you need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that isn't an option, I would look into buying a foam roller. Lie on it with your back, find a point that hurts and steadily roll back and forth on it for no longer than a minute. You shouldn't necessarily be looking for where you feel the pain when you bend over, but for where you feel the pain from your bodyweight on the roller. Do it on both sides, and focus on your whole back. Do this several times per day. If it's not a serious injury it should get a lot better. You could even take the foam roller to the tennis tournament and do it between matches. Any time you treat muscle issues yourself they have a tendency to keep coming back for quite some time, but the temporary relief is often enough to let you do whichever activity it is you needed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T20:33:34.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2012-07-04T20:51:18.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfvd8ZgU8rw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfvd8ZgU8rw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I turned up this on a search for &quot;Yoga for Beginners&quot; on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good instruction for the sequence in &quot;Flow&quot; or &quot;Vinyasa&quot; classes. I'm not a huge fan of the spirituatl aspects (although I really do like pranayama classes), and there's nothing in there that annoyed me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some longer yoga videos on YouTube as well, not sure which of them have a spiritual focus or a physical focus, but the spiritual bent should be evident quite quickly and you can just hit back and try a different one instead. You can run them in a different tab while you're doing other things on the net to vett them for spiritual content, and then select whichever ones you prefer for when you do your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For books, both Anatomy of Yoga by Leslie Kaminoff and Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by David Coulter, unsurprisingly based on the titles have a primarily physical focus. Kaminoff has a weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-04T20:51:18.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-05T05:09:16.890" Score="5" ViewCount="10039" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a myopia and my eye glasses are usually from -3 to -4 diopters. I jog every morning on an asphalt covering (see my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6938/is-it-safe-to-do-jogging-on-asphalt&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;) and do kickboxing, and in the next year i plan to start lifting heavy weights. How dangerous is all that for my eyesight? A doctor once recommended to abstain from all traumatic sports because of danger of retinal detachment, however this would limit the quality of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Wikipedia's article about &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinal_detachment&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;retinal detachment&lt;/a&gt; it is written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trauma-related cases of retinal detachment can occur in high-impact sports (e.g. boxing, karate, kickboxing, American football) or in high speed sports (e.g. automobile racing, sledding). Although some doctors recommend avoiding activities that increase pressure in the eye, including diving and skydiving, there is little evidence to support this recommendation, especially in the general population. Nevertheless, ophthalmologists generally advise patients with high degrees of myopia to try to avoid exposure to activities that have the potential for trauma, increase pressure on or within the eye itself, or include rapid acceleration and deceleration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intraocular pressure spikes occur during any activity accompanied by the Valsalva maneuver, including weightlifting. An epidemiological study suggests that heavy manual lifting at work may be associated with increased risk of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How dangerous is to do jogging on an asphalt with myopia?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How dangerous is to do martial arts with myopia?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How dangerous is to do weight training with myopia?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can i be allowed to any of the above?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, how can i mitigate the trauma and the medical risks?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3298" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T12:55:59.527" Title="What risks from fitness are there to people with myopia?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-05T05:54:31.113" Score="1" ViewCount="546" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing cardiovascular and weight training excercise since past two months. Also, I am following strict diet habits (more protein and vegetables). &#xA;What I am observing is that my abdominal region has become soft/spongy, but its size has not reduced, rather it appears more bulgy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that right or wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that it takes long time to reduce belly size, but I want to know what the signs are in the abdominal region that appear within that time-span. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3622" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-05T15:30:31.140" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T21:38:41.460" Title="Signs in reduction of belly fat" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-05T11:54:26.577" Score="2" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently 18.6 stone. I started dieting three days ago and have massively reduced my caloric intake. For example, last night I had only 200 calories after subtracting my cardio, according to my calorie tracker (My Fitness Pal). Normally I would be over the daily guidance amount, but does this really make a difference? I read that the ONLY way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume. So even though I cut off hundreds of calories from my diet, I still won't be losing weight as a result of it? Or am I understanding this wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a related topic, Subway is advertised as having healthy options. Is it possible to eat a meal there that would support my weight-loss goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3763" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T21:53:57.523" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T21:53:57.523" Title="Trying to lose weight, two questions" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7139" CreationDate="2012-07-05T13:13:40.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight-loss is a bit more complicated than the simplistic views presented in magazines and tweaked in the ads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy meal is not necessary a diet-friendly meal. Subway sandwiches are generally good, but what is making them non preferable for dieting is the bread itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a book on the subject, I highly recommend you &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307474259&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most effective diets out there, do not rely simply on reducing calories. What you need to do is reduce your carb-intake drastically. The Paleo diet and Atkins are low-carb diets that have been proven better than the majority of others, so if you are looking for concrete advice I suggest looking into Paleo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most effective first steps are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop drinking sugar (non-diet sodas, juices, alcohol)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No bread, pasta&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your portions small/reasonable (I weight mine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do cheating days, do it with very small 'cheats' - eat half a chocolate bar, eat a quarter. Don't cheat yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a really good source of my reasoning, for what diet to follow, watch this presentation by Christopher Gardner for the Stanford School of Medicine Medcast lecture series:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZEdMAVo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Battle of the Diets: Is Anyone Winning (At Losing?)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastEditorUserId="1395" LastEditDate="2012-07-05T14:12:26.580" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T14:12:26.580" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7148" CreationDate="2012-07-05T13:34:46.487" Score="11" ViewCount="3541" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pyramid set is one following a scheme like 1 rep, 2 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps. I've seen this advised to train pull ups if you manage only very few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/week1.html&quot;&gt;hundred push ups program&lt;/a&gt;, here and in the similar programs there's a kind of pyramid set (10, 12, 10, 8, ...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen this advised with weights. Why is this advised for bodyweight exercises? Is there a scientific reasoning behind this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3661" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T13:01:44.480" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T13:01:44.480" Title="Why are pyramid sets often advised for bodyweight exercises?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7139" CreationDate="2012-07-05T14:43:20.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is going to be a lot of conflicting view, simply because we don't understand a lot of the science behind it. Your best bet is to look at long term solutions, read everything you can from both sides of the fence, and come up with a sustainable solution that works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, yes, if you take in less calories than you expend, you will eventually lose weight. It takes about 500 calories a day deficit to lose a pound a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I don't like the term &quot;diet plan&quot;, as it generally has the connotation of being a short term thing. &quot;Oh, I dieted and lost 50 lbs, now I don't have to diet anymore&quot;, which is why so many people fail to keep the weight off and even gain more back. I prefer something like &quot;eating habits&quot;, or similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally try to follow the Atkins guidelines. I know for a long time they were put down, but there are a LOT of eminent physicians, cardiologists, etc. that are starting to get behind it. You need to read the plan to understand it though, too many people think &quot;Oh, it's just eating steak every night&quot;, and it's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boris is right: read the science, not the hype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T14:43:20.800" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7137" CreationDate="2012-07-05T14:49:16.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The doctor that recommended that, did he do that specifically because you are myopic? Or is there some other underlying pathology that makes you more susceptible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have poor eyesight as well (20/300 and 20/400 left and right respectively), and I am in the negative diopters, and I've been active in sports for 40 years, including 9 years of cross country in HS and college, 20 years of martial arts, triathlons, wrestling and weightlifting to support all of the above. I've never had any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply being nearsighted shouldn't increase the risk for you more than anyone else. However, before I started jumping into all the activity, I would specifically ask your eye doc if there is something in YOUR eyes that makes you more susceptible and what to do if you are, especially if a doc did tell you that in your past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll save the writing, I'd give you the same answer for your jogging on asphalt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T14:49:16.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-07-05T15:51:43.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't sound like you have a ton of time for exercise, so it's important to stay as active as possible during your day. Start adding some active habits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stand when you can - during phone calls, webinars, meetings. When you stand, contract your abs to strengthen them and round out your lower back. This will help with your posture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider a standing setup at work or at home. Most employers can't spring for a standing desk - at my office I've used boxes, phone books, anything to create lifters for keyboard, monitor and mouse. If that's not feasible at work, at home start playing some games standing up. Or try out a few fitness games (boxing, etc.) that require standing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting for 8 hours a day and then more when you go home is harmful and will catch up with you as you age. Start with small changes that fit in with your current lifestyle, and then you'll start feeling better which will motivate you to increase your exercise/activity levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T15:51:43.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-05T17:10:29.950" Score="2" ViewCount="385" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 21, 6'4 and 19 stone (266 pounds) and my estimated BMR is 2545.58&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night I did 90 minutes walking at a slow pace. This estimates I burned between 319-440 calories. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also did 65 minutes interval training on the elliptical, by the machines estimate I burned 850 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consumed 1485 calories that day excluding the cardio figures because I have no idea how accurate they actually are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So am I burning enough calories for some weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3794" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T19:02:32.033" Title="So am I at a calorie deficit now?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7097" CreationDate="2012-07-05T18:32:47.157" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Dave Liepman and @Fredob that yoga is a great way to keep flexible and balanced. Yoga is ideal for growing older gracefully with flexibility and balance. Given that you meditate, yoga should be a nice fit for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite morning routine however, is Joseph Weisberg's 3 minute stretching routine that targets the whole body with six 30 second exercises.  These target the spine, torso, hips and legs.  Some of the exercises are yoga stretches like child's pose and cobra.  After a quick warm up as you describe, the 3 minute stretching routine is effective and short enough to keep it up consistently.  The routine is so compact that I don't have any excuses not to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After squash, be sure to do some stretches while you are still warm.  Static stretches after exercise can help with your flexibility. If you are interested in the 3 minute book, I'd appreciate it if you use our link &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/0743476476&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 Minutes&lt;/a&gt; to a pain-free life.  Thanks.  It also includes specific stretches for specific problem areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, take a look at other areas of your life where you may be stiffening up.  Prolonged sitting is often a culprit.  If that applies to you, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;this q/a&lt;/a&gt; has some exercises specifically addressing a balance of stretching and strengthening as it relates to sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T18:32:47.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7141" CreationDate="2012-07-05T22:58:35.387" Score="13" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The problem with body weight exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the world of free weights, you have something called a one-rep max (ORM) which defines the maximum amount of weight you can lift at your current level of strength. Using the ORM you can calculate the intensity of any workout with a simple formula, which if I recall correctly is &lt;code&gt;(reps * weight) / orm&lt;/code&gt;. What's noteworthy here is that if you want to adjust the intensity of your workout, you can either adjust the reps or the weights (or both). This makes tweaking and fine-tuning the intensity of a workout quite easy, and by extension it greatly reduces the need for a pyramid program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the world of body weight (BW) exercises, things are completely different. By removing ORM and weights from the equation, the only way to increase the intensity for any particular workout is to increase the number of reps. If I want to improve my strength and disrupt homeostasis, my only option is to do more reps than I did in the previous workout. At this point the problem should be transparent: you can only increase the number of reps for so long before you hit a plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why the pyramid approach exists and is so effective for BW exercises: because it makes it easier for you to increase the total number of reps per exercise and break through plateaus. The specific factors that contribute to this programs effectiveness are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Beginner friendly&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW exercises can be extremely anti-novice due to their high starting weight versus FW where you can start with as low as 1 lb weights. A beginner doing push-ups to exhaustion may only be able to do 2-3 reps per set, and as a result an increase in intensity becomes exponentially harder in the beginning stages. In the above example, simply adding 1 rep would end up being a 33-50% increase in intensity. Pyramid address this by dispersing the added reps across many sets, for example 4/1/3/2/2 instead of 4/4/exhaust and give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Increased intensity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you do 4 sets of 5 push-ups, where 5 is your exhaustion point. How do you increase intensity? You have to go to 6, but doing so would be a 20% increase in intensity, quite a large gap to jump. Perhaps this gap is so large that you can not jump it by simply staying at 4x5 to build strength. Doing 4x5 might only be enough to increase your strength by 15%, not the 20% needed, and now you're at a point where doing 4x5 is no longer enough to disrupt homeostasis and build muscle; you need to increase the intensity to do so (catch-22!). This is why the pyramid program exists, because it allows you to increase the intensity of BW exercises at a quicker but more manageable pace, and thus build strength faster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Less frustrations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are stuck on a certain rep for a long enough time, psychological barriers can come into play that convince your body not to go past that rep, regardless of whether or not you are able to. By taking intensity increases in smaller and more manageable chunks, you will hit fewer walls and be less frustrated with your progress. As a result, psychological barriers will be far less significant of a factor in your progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-07-05T22:58:35.387" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7137" CreationDate="2012-07-06T02:18:36.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting, no concern. Martial arts, if it's not full contact, no concern. If it is full contact, you might have to worry about it, but retinal detachment is a concern for anyone regardless of their eyesight. If you've already had a partial retinal detachment you should immediately cease all contact sports (weightlifting is fine, jogging might then be something you'd rather replace with cycling). If your ophthamolagist (preferably, although optometrist would be fine too) has told you your myopia is due to retinal detachment, then of course most martial arts are out of the question for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, I've taken hits to the head hard enough to give me fish legs, and have also taken strikes directly to my eyeball, but never got a partial retinal detachment. It's a pretty unusual occurence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T02:18:36.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7151" CreationDate="2012-07-06T05:05:23.097" Score="4" ViewCount="782" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many advice me to do the exercises for shoulders, lats, chests first and then do the arm specific ones (biceps, triceps) or the abdominal ones. For eg the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Workouts/Workout1ULUL.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full-body workout&lt;/a&gt; from the exrx site. Is there any reason why is it necessary to maintain this order?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3774" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T06:34:31.710" Title="Why is the order of exercise routines important?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7150" CreationDate="2012-07-06T06:34:31.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You use your biceps and triceps to do the other exercises, even though they're not the primary muscles, so if you've already fatigued them, then you won't be able to lift as much weight and won't adequately stimulate the shoulder muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first selection shows the workouts loosely in the order of largest muscles to smallest, the second looks quite arbitrary to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working larger muscles first is also important as working them stimulates the most testosterone production for later working the smaller muscles. So you should really be working the deadlift or squat first, before working any other muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T06:34:31.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6963" CreationDate="2012-07-06T07:28:37.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No you don't want to stress an ACL, esp. if you have had surgery.  If it is partially torn, stressing it will only make it worse. It is best to return to your surgeon and/or physical therapist for an evaluation and possibly a new rehab program.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the discomfort is only minor, the pain is telling you that something is wrong and the sooner you address it, the better off you will be.  Your therapist can take a look at your shoes, your running form, and test your hip and leg muscles for any imbalances (tightness or weakness).  They also might give you specific massage techniques to release any restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to take a look at some of the running questions and answers to help you identify possible causes of knee pain with running. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips&quot;&gt;How to run without damaging your feet, knees or hips. &lt;/a&gt; will give you a lot of good information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T07:28:37.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7146" CreationDate="2012-07-06T14:40:49.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was going to do this as a comment, but I need more characters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the scale. (I'm curious, how does a scale measure height by itself?) Electronic scales can be off by up to 10 lbs in either direction (or more). Mine at home weighs me 3 lbs lighter than a doctor type scale (With the bars and sliding weights). So, if your weight is off, then your BMI is off as well. Where did you plug in numbers to get your BMR, by the way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, most scales that measure body fat do so by electrical impedance (Passing very low current through your body and measuring current loss, which translates into free water, which is used to calculate body fat. (More or less, that's a simple explanation). It can be affected by wet skin, drinking less water in a day, many factors, and can be off by as much as 10% +/-. DEXA is the gold standard, or a 9 spot caliper test done by an experienced tester.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second - What Nathan is getting at, is that myfitnesspal may say &quot;Sainsbury pink cripps apple, Medium&quot; and give you a calorie count, but that may not translate to YOUR pink cripps apple. The one on MFP might be assigned a weight of 8 ounces, and your apple is actually 11 ounces. There's three extra ounces of apple, and extra calories that you aren't counting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is literally weigh and write down EVERYTHING that you eat for 3-5 days. If you nab an oreo from a friend, write it down. 8 oz of water? Write it down. Eating an apple? Cut it up, weigh the parts you are going to eat, and write it down. That's the only way you will get close to an accurate count. Also, be cautious, many labels give calorie counts per serving, but if you eat the whole package, you've actually eaten 2 or 3 servings (or more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how it adds up. Say you are in perfect balance, neither gaining nor losing. Starting tomorrow, you change nothing but you eat one serving of oreos a day. 3 cookies, 210 calories. You will gain a little over 3 lbs a year from those 3 oreos a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, find an actual, calibrated doctors type scale (Many gyms have them), and see if you can get a GOOD bodyfat measurement done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've done all that, you'll be in a much better position to estimate where you are, and what you need to do to either gain or lose weight. Right now, you're basically throwing darts blindfolded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T14:40:49.050" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5157" CreationDate="2012-07-06T14:41:53.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to track I have used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.funbeat.se/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Funbeat&quot;&gt;Funbeat&lt;/a&gt;. The site has an Android app that tracks running but not general motion in the way a Fitbit (and similar does). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not find an app that does the Fitbit stuff in the Google Play store, I searched for &quot;android app step counter&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides tracking, I think it is useful to have a planning tool. For guidance and variation on intensity, I have use the Athlete software from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/consumers/firstbeat-athlete&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Firstbeat&lt;/a&gt; since 2007, you don't need any pulse meters do use it (pulse can be entered manually for workouts). For me, the Firstbeat software was great from stopping me to train too hard (I was stuck in the &quot;no pain - no gain&quot; loop since my earlier training activities, not good when you become middle aged). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-14T15:35:14.640" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T15:35:14.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5157" CreationDate="2012-07-06T14:50:07.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally don't like basing workouts on heart rate. There are too many external factors that can artificially raise or lower your heart rate for it to be reliable enough for me to base my workout around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are entire industries based around heart rate zone training, but I've never felt comfortable either doing or assigning an entire workout based on something that might be elevated because you had two cups of coffee and are worried about an exam coming up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T14:50:07.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-07-06T15:31:50.883" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, working with a &quot;swiss ball&quot; (for example, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_ball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercise ball&lt;/a&gt;) and doing yoga has made me more aware of what happens in the core when I lose posture. I think that the awareness is more important to practice than strength since your core strength is probably good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When working at a screen, I try at all times to keep the posture good and move at least every 30-40 minutes, use a timer or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-17T14:31:58.243" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T14:31:58.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7158" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7160" CreationDate="2012-07-06T22:12:56.720" Score="4" ViewCount="10858" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Lactose Intolerant person I almost always get diarrhea when I drink milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even if my stomach spits it out the other way, is it atleast able to extract the protein from it to build muscle? If so, how much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3266" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-07-07T00:30:41.323" LastActivityDate="2012-07-07T00:30:41.323" Title="Do Lactose Intolerant people still absorb protein from milk?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;milk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7158" CreationDate="2012-07-06T23:16:50.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're getting diarrhea, your ability to absorb any nutrients from what you've eaten is severely compromised. Anything you've eaten hours earlier that isn't finished digesting will also leave you with suboptimal nutrient absorption. The irritation to your intestines will also decrease your ability to absorb nutrients from subsequent meals for some time. It's not worth drinking any milk if you're lactose intolerant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just get whey protein, that's where most of the protein in milk is anyway. Alternately you could try yogurt, as the fermentation makes it palatable for some people. Also, goat and sheep milk can also be palatable for some people who can't drink cow milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-06T23:16:50.467" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-07T12:30:55.870" Score="2" ViewCount="656" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm underweight (54 kg / 181cm) and therefore want to gain weight. I'm frequently going social Salsa dancing. On a usual night I'm around 4 hours at the Salsa club. Around 2/3 of the time I'm dancing.&#xA;While dancing my pulse is somewhere between 120 and 150. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What food/supplements should I consume to replace the burned calories? When should I eat it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="301" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T02:52:33.197" Title="Nutrition while dancing Salsa" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-07-07T12:52:52.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Learn touchtyping if you have to look at your keyboard. Looking at the keyboard while typing is bad for your posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put your monitor high enough. If I sit straight and look in front of me I'm looking at the middle of my monitor. My monitor stands on a few books that lie on my desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I would hunched over if would look under my monitor. In my personal experience having a monitor that's high enough produced a big effect for very little effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="301" LastActivityDate="2012-07-07T12:52:52.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5312" CreationDate="2012-07-07T13:33:53.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...except that once a week I spend an hour leaping around a dance floor like a crazy person. And you know what? It turns out I am absurdly unfit. Shocking, I know. [...] I have been dancing for over 3 years now. When I say &quot;I'm not getting fitter&quot;, I'm not saying that after just two sessions. I'm saying that after years of effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One hour per week is very little time. In total one hour per week for three years is something like 150 hours. Ask the other people in your dancing class about how long they are dancing and for how many hours per week. I would bet that most of them have at least double your hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is simple: Dance more than you are doing at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some social dancing in addition to your classes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take 5 minute dancings breaks during your computer work. Take some foodwork and do it as intense as possible. Afterwards you return to your computer work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="301" LastEditorUserId="301" LastEditDate="2015-01-11T16:48:19.963" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T16:48:19.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7161" CreationDate="2012-07-07T14:58:37.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, dancing for that amount of time, you will burn somewhere in the range of 600-1000 calories. There isn't really a need to specially supplement, just eat something. Doesn't have to be anything specific. I might suggest things that are not really heavy on fats, like a double burger with cheese and bacon, but unless you have a sensitive stomach it doesn't need to be as easily absorbable as what a marathon runner would be consuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, unless you are gaining weight at a rate you find acceptable, I think something you should do is evaluate your entire diet, activity level and see if it is producing the results you want. Read through a couple of the &quot;How do I lose weight&quot; threads (Such as this one : &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7146/so-am-i-at-a-calorie-deficit-now&quot;&gt;So am I at a calorie deficit now?&lt;/a&gt; ), and pretty much do it in reverse. A 500 calorie surplus per day should net you about .5 kg a week of weight gain, which is pretty healthy and sustainable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-07-07T14:58:37.090" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7161" CreationDate="2012-07-08T01:12:53.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your body type, no amount of eating will make you gain weight. You have to lift weights to stimulate muscle growth. Also, unless you're steadily losing weight, don't concern yourself with replacing calories - your body is already dealing with the nutrients as it needs to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts 5x5 is a good free resource for starting weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-08T01:12:53.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3624" CreationDate="2012-07-08T05:52:00.657" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Calorie Counts are Wrong&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/education/nutrition/logic-does-not-apply-iii-a-calorie-is-a-calorie/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;John Kiefer debunks the &amp;quot;a calorie is a calorie&amp;quot; argument thoroughly and scientifically&lt;/a&gt;, with diligent use of references:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Idea&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given two diets identical in calorie count, the two must produce the same weight loss or gain regardless of macronutrient content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Logic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the 1st law of thermodynamics that says energy is neither created or destroyed, must, somehow, say that 100 calories of carbohydrates will produce identical effects as 100 calories of fat — or protein for that matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Reality&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that a calorie is a calorie actually violates the laws of physics(1-4) and contradicts several well-controlled studies(5-14); you can manipulate macronutrients to cause weight-loss even while increasing calories(15).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Parenthetical numbers are his references.) He goes on to use the analogy of a car's engine fuel:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add ethanol to gasoline and your fuel economy goes down. Add other hydrocarbons, like anti-knocking agents, and your efficiency goes up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same happens with the human body's use of macronutrients, he argues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Atwater, the father of the 4-4-9 calorie values for carbs, protein, and fat, respectively, distinguished between &lt;em&gt;physical fuel values&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;physiological fuel values&lt;/em&gt;(16). The first, physical fuel values, is the amount of energy you can get out of food by burning it with oxygen, literally. You throw food in a fancy oven, incinerate then record the total amount of heat released—this is the physical fuel value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physiological value is the amount of energy the organism can derive from the fuel, which can be lower or higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He goes into specific detail on situations and factors that can cause fat, protein and carbohydrate to change calorie values dramatically. Since at the moment we don't have the ability to easily look beyond physical fuel values at the physiological fuel values, &lt;strong&gt;all of our calorie counts are wrong.&lt;/strong&gt; Technically, calories are still a major factor, but we must be aware that the calories counted on the nutrition label don't have a one-to-one relationship with the calories that we store in our bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other factors&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food is more than just a video-game power-up. Food is much more complex than calories. Weight control can also be dramatically affected by sleep, stress, exercise, food quality, consistency in diet, gut biota, probiotic intake, sun exposure, vitamin and micronutrient intake, and probably many more. There are no easy answers to eating and living right. The human body is not simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T02:48:26.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3986" CreationDate="2012-07-08T06:15:43.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also get some pretty severe stomach pains after running, its usually the next morning but sometimes the evening after a particularly long run.  I've seen my doctor several times for it because at first I didn't correlate the pain with running.  She ran a barrage of tests and everything was fine (other than I was anemic with low vitamin D) so I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what would cause pain and sometimes bloating after a long run.  In my case I think it is partially a hydration issue.  I drink before and during a run, but not much after and if I don't force myself to drink thats when the pain is worse.  I don't know if this matters but i've found that a sports drink (like gatorade) seems to help lessen the chance of pain afterward as well but i'm not sure why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now experimenting with the type of food I eat before and after a run.  It seems that if I eat something with a lot of carbs before or after I will be in more pain.  Nuts and yogurt seem to so far be ok to eat before or after a run.  Things like protein/granola bars seem to be a no go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if that helps at all but that is what i've been doing because I definitely am not going to stop running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3804" LastActivityDate="2012-07-08T06:15:43.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-08T10:07:50.053" Score="14" ViewCount="9583" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been struggling with weight almost entire life (I was just  lazy). I'm 176 cm tall and I currently have 79kg. A year ago I was 96 kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave up soda, chocolate and eating after 6 PM and went to gym at least 4 times per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In last two months I got lazy again(started eating after 6PM drinking soda etc. and quitting gym) so I got small tummy now, but luckily I know what to do. I started running again (5km) in 30 minutes and I'm playing sport two times per week Tuesday (basketball) and Thursday (football). I rest on Saturdays, rest of the days I'm hitting the gym to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time my goal wil be fit pack abs. I think I can do it (as from what I've read). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I sleep well enough (8+hrs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't eat in unusual hours and not so unhealthy (I think)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a pretty active life&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that I don't know how to do is get the fat level in my body to low (if that makes getting abs easier). How is that achieved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the six-pack abs, people from expirience -&gt; Any special foods I should lay off? Any special work-out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like this answer says :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2753/3805&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2753/3805&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything in particular good/bad food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional question :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your Response Boris one more thing. How does one measure body fat level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3805" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-06-19T03:45:06.427" Title="Running and six pack abs" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7168" CreationDate="2012-07-08T13:15:13.277" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, congrats on your progress. I bet you look much better than before, and your looks will continue to improve while you lose more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting abs to show though, is rather hard. In fact, surprisingly hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a comparison, I am 176cm also. I got my weight down to 68kg before all abs started showing when contracting them. In order for me (and you) to have visible abs all the time, the weight will be something like 64kg-65kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is surprisingly low, most people strongly underestimate the fat loss they need, in order to have good abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet is much more important for weight loss than exercise is. The closer you are to the goal, the more strict the diet needs to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastActivityDate="2012-07-08T13:15:13.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7184" CreationDate="2012-07-09T07:07:11.617" Score="1" ViewCount="4917" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have almost NO Rhomboid or Lower trapezius development inspite of working out my back with Pullups, Seated Rows. Barbell Rows and Standing shrugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that with these exercises I should have some middle back development probably my technique is not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any isolation exercises for this muscle group ? How do I feel this muscle group while working out ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do Kelso's Shrugs on an incline :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="1796" LastEditDate="2012-07-10T10:18:04.120" LastActivityDate="2018-05-06T22:02:23.597" Title="How to workout Rhomboids and lower Trapezius" Tags="&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7173" CreationDate="2012-07-09T08:17:35.050" Score="7" ViewCount="12833" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to take a break from working out for 2 months.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When resuming after a long break, are there any good alternative workout plans that you follow to gain back some of the lost strength and stamina before they get back to your regular workout schedules? Or do you just do the same routines with lighter weights? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T15:37:08.510" Title="Resuming workouts after 2 months. Any beginner workout suggestions?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7172" CreationDate="2012-07-09T08:55:21.757" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My own rule of thumb for strength training is to start 2 months earlier - that is, in your example, &lt;strong&gt;the break period&lt;/strong&gt; - in the workout routines and to proceed from there with a 1-2 week &lt;strong&gt;reboot period&lt;/strong&gt;. After that and only if it feels ok, I try to proceed at the levels when the break period started. So I guess I am leaning towards the second part of your question, to stay with the routines but have lighter weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience is that break periods should be part of the training cycle, it is natural to get bored and have other priorities from time to time. I see the reboot routines as opportunities to work on techniques for my favorite exercises (deadlift, squats and military press). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-14T15:21:01.740" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T15:21:01.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6324" CreationDate="2012-07-09T09:07:56.910" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did the 100 pushups last summer and I had the same experience as you describe in your question. I continued with the plan and didn't add any extra exercises for the abs. After a few weeks, the soreness disappeared. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T09:07:56.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7172" CreationDate="2012-07-09T11:36:56.813" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go very light with your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't jump in there and try to push yourself to doing the weights you used to do, even with a spotter. If you do, you're going to be sore as hell for a very long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do each body part in the same routine like you would before (chest on Monday, back on Wednesday, legs on Friday - or whatever), but go very light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second time you work that body part (next week, for example), go moderate with that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to pop blood vessels in your forehead until you are sure your body isn't going to backfire on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The older you are, the longer it takes to get back into the swing of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T11:36:56.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7172" CreationDate="2012-07-09T12:04:53.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend keeping with the same routine and reducing intensity through lighter weights or time (aerobic), put a little more time in warming up and cooling down and don't hesitate to push yourself a bit.  Typically you don't lose much strength/stamina within 2-3 months - but a lot has to do with why you took a break and how active (or not) you were during that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-07-13T22:25:30.447" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T22:25:30.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6594" CreationDate="2012-07-09T14:03:19.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a search on Google Scholar &quot;best time of day to exercise&quot;, the most relevant article seems to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerlink.com/content/2qhwxg9hgt5cn362/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Time of day and exercise&lt;/a&gt;. In short, you seem to perform a little better in the afternoon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience regarding high intensity training is that 1) it is needed in a all round training program, so sometimes you have to do it in the morning to meet all other requirements. 2) If I can choose, I try do them on the weekend afternoons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T14:03:19.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7181" CreationDate="2012-07-09T14:22:14.950" Score="1" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMWILgkFw7E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In it the man essentially makes you do 10 dumbbell squats, followed by a similar exercise where you swing your arm out forwards, followed by 10 half burpees. You then take a 15 second break and do it again for 10 minutes. I have to admit, I was exhausted! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was just wondering what the benefits of doing these kind of exercises are as opposed to say, a 30 minute run (apart from the obvious focus on different muscles). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much can you burn doing something like this? Or is the point of this something different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T19:02:55.233" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T19:02:55.233" Title="What are the effects of an intense 10 minute workout?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7179" CreationDate="2012-07-09T14:38:12.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like the exercises are a form of Tabata interval training, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=tabata&quot;&gt;Tabata questions on stackexchange&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://tabatatraining.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://tabatatraining.org/&lt;/a&gt;. The benefits this exercise versus running from my personal experience are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;that very few people can run that intensive for 30 minutes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;probably less likely to cause injuries in knees, legs and hips&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and you also work more large muscle groups than running&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a personal perspective, I have stopped running for &quot;high intensity training&quot; since I have too many problems with my knees. Instead I do variants of Tabata and swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T14:38:12.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7179" CreationDate="2012-07-09T16:24:49.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is a form of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  HIIT is an effective conditioning tool that improves markers like your VO2 max, your cardio capacity, and your fat burning potential.  I say potential because the actual fat burning depends on the exercises used, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, you burn more Calories in a shorter period of time.  In essence, in order to get the same amount of work from steady state cardio (like running on a treadmill), you will have to do that cardio a lot longer.  Depending on intensity, and how well you kept up with the HIIT, a 10m HIIT session can be the same amount of work as a 60m steady state cardio session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runners often employ HIIT style training to help improve their lung capacities and be more efficient in their training.  The main differences will be the duration and intensity of the on and off portions (relative high intensity and relative rest).  An example of this approach would be many Couch to 5K programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T16:24:49.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6739" CreationDate="2012-07-09T16:26:26.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are studies that show that intakes up to 2.8g/kg are about fine &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10722779&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some athletes have been taking way bigger amounts for decades and I'm yet to see a case of kidney damage under normal circumstances (no performance drugs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do weightlifting and you're not in a massive caloric deficit, I think you'll do great with a range between 1.8 and 2g per kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 kg = 2.2 pounds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3814" LastEditorUserId="3814" LastEditDate="2012-07-09T16:32:19.633" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T16:32:19.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6324" CreationDate="2012-07-09T16:40:14.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS for short.  This is perfectly normal if you are performing long sets of pushups with proper form.  Proper form being that your torso is board straight from your head to your feet.  DOMS is more prevalent when you drastically increase your efforts for any muscle group more than it is used to being stressed.  In any given set, your abs are engaged the whole time to help remain that straight as a board form, while your arms and chest have small breaks as they are moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that as your body adapts to the new level of work (and rate of increase), the DOMS will go away.  That said, some warning signs to watch out for are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sharp, or intense pain while exercising either in the body of a muscle or at a joint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dizziness, or near blackout feeling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sharp, intense pain is usually indicative of an injury.  The most common form of injury on a program like this is tendinitis.  Be sure to stretch and move your arms through their full range of motion when you are done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dizziness or that blackout feeling can be indicative of improper breathing or dehydration.  If your plan is to do 100 pushups or more in one set, you will have to learn how to breath during the set.  The program helps build up the reps you perform, so you will be able to figure that out.  Dehydration will be the biggest risk--particularly if you train outdoors in extreme temperatures (either hot or cold).  Be sure to drink plenty of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T16:40:14.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7171" CreationDate="2012-07-09T16:59:33.443" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;By development, I assume you mean size?  Your back muscles are very resilient, and there are a couple possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You aren't working them heavy enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You aren't working them with enough volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell rows and dumbbell rows are excellent options, but don't forget dead lifts.  The shrugs and pullups, while awesome exercises, do the least for the muscles you are wanting to hit.  If you are doing barbell rows and/or dumbbell rows, the seated rows don't add anything.  Instead, focus on volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to go as heavy as you can.  If you are more concerned with size than using a lift in competition (like deadlifts), then I recommend getting some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv_ibNvIoog&quot;&gt;weightlifting straps&lt;/a&gt;.  They will let you lift heavier without your grip limiting your back work.  To get some size it needs to be worked hard with a lot of volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be able to row at least as much as you bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be able to deadlift more than just about any other lift (save shrugs).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good high volume program to run that will definitely build size is Smolov Jr.  It's a volume based approach designed to improve your strength on just about any major exercise.  You start by knowing your 1RM (absolute heaviest weight you can lift one time) for that exercise.  Then you do your first week like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70% 6x6 (6 sets x 6 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;75% 7x5 (7 sets x 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80% 8x4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;85% 10x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70% + 10-20lbs, 6x6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;75% + 10-20lbs, 7x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80% + 10-20lbs, 8x4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;85% + 10-20lbs, 10x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70% + 15-25lbs, 6x6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;75% + 15-25lbs, 7x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80% + 15-25lbs, 8x4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;85% + 15-25lbs, 10x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, week 3 is 5 lbs heavier than week 2.  Week 2 is 10-20lbs heavier than week 1.  On Week four you rest and then test your new max on Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running this for bench and rows, and while I'm not aiming for size it is increasing.  The back can handle being hammered, and in some cases it needs it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T16:59:33.443" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7209" CreationDate="2012-07-09T18:12:53.147" Score="0" ViewCount="1325" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if there is any significant calorie burning from fidgeting (bouncing your heel, tapping your foot, moving your fingers, etc.) LiveStrong has an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/320945-the-calories-burned-shaking-a-leg/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; on this discussing Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, claiming fidget-ers burned up to 350 more calories per day. Is there any merit to this claim or benefit to fidgeting throughout the work day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T07:43:36.087" Title="Calories burnt by fidgiting?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7187" CreationDate="2012-07-09T18:17:16.167" Score="0" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that the best method for sustained metabolism and muscle gain is proportioning your day into six small meals. My question is what are the suggested/best/cheapest foods for those meals, besides some sort of protein? What is the easiest way to get these meals in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastEditorUserId="3702" LastEditDate="2012-07-09T21:25:34.743" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T21:25:34.743" Title="Muscle gain: six-meals-a-day-diet foods?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2012-07-09T18:38:18.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you want to gain weight or do you want to gain muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cheapest way to gain weight, mostly fat is by consuming lots of carbs like sugar, high-fructose syrup etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering, most (all?) people want to gain muscle, you should be more careful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rice and potatoes are cheap and are reasonable source of carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chicken, fish, eggs - cheap source of protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any non-lean meat, nuts - good source of fats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to force weight gain too much, remember you want to look good, not fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T18:38:18.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2012-07-09T19:30:35.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cheapest foods are hard to answer, as food prices vary widely from location to location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing for you to figure out what the best foods are is to keep a food journal when you try various foods and see how you feel after. Avoid the foods that make you feel fatigued/have diarrhea/unusually achy/anything unpleasant, even if someone else says it's really good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a particular health problem or tendency towards one (perhaps problems closely related family members have), starting with a selection of foods designed to help that issue is the best idea. And this is where it gets really hard to recommend - someone with IBS would be best served eating ripe bananas, but someone with blood sugar issues should avoid eating bananas, and if they do they should be under-ripe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something you can consider is pesticides, which are harmful to everyone, and should inform whether you buy certain foods organic or non-organic. A lot of pesticides aren't water soluble, so washing your food doesn't help either. Some foods you should only eat organic versions of are; peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes, pears, spinach and potatoes. Of course buying organic increases the price, but there are non-organic foods that don't have a high risk of pesticides (bananas for instance, assuming they don't cause you problems otherwise). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For meats, red meat gets a bad rap, and in some ways it's deserved, and in other ways not. Grain fed beef is one of the worst foods you could possibly eat, but grass fed beef is quite healthy and one of the best sources of protein you can get. Grass fed beef is a lot more expensive though, so unless you're lucky you might be better off following conventional advice and sticking to chicken and turkey. Both chickens and turkeys can eat pretty much anything, so the problems of feeding cows grain doesn't come up with the birds. I prefer turkey simply because it's less common, and therefore less likely to be overproduced, so the quality will be better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With fish, thanks to Fukushima, recommendations end up depending on whether you live near the Pacific or Atlantic, or if you're land locked. If you're land locked, I'd say just skip eating fish entirely and get some fish oil (it's expensive, but pretty nutrient dense, so worth getting even if you're on a tight budget), unless there's local freshwater fish you can buy. If you're near the Atlantic, stick to small fish with short life spans that are local. If you're near the Pacific, you might be best following the land locked advice as well, or research local fish farms to see what quality they produce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For carbs, wheat is often a problem for people, so it's a pretty safe bet to avoid it and go for barley or rye instead. It also is a good idea to avoid corn (maize), GMO foods have been shown to cause some pretty serious illness in animals, so it's possible that's happening with humans as well, and it's pretty much impossible to buy corn that you're certain is GMO free. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to get foods will also depend, I've seen some people who have no trouble making themselves a lunch box to eat every day, and those people would eat the same type of meal throughout the day. I find that tedious, so I prefer to go for smoothies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T19:30:35.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2012-07-09T20:33:46.057" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this is practical for you, but &lt;strong&gt;joining a gym and hiring a personal trainer may be the most effective option&lt;/strong&gt;.  That's what I did right after I graduated college, and I found it worked out very well.  I worked with a experienced trainer once a week (and lifted once a week on my own), and put on about 10lbs of muscle mass in the next year and a half.  Not much compared to a good body builder, but I was very pleased.  Best money I ever spent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd tried to lift on my own before, but I kept having subtle errors in my lifting form, and kept getting joint pain I didn't know how to deal with...  if you've never done sports before, lifting can be surprisingly complicated and technical.  I found it REALLY helped to have someone there watching me to correct my problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the advise given above is all basically good (Mark Rippeote is a great strength coach, there are youtube clips of him coaching the deadlift that are among the best I've seen).  But I'd think for a real beginner (like I was), its just better to start off with 1 on 1 supervision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, be careful about consuming too many calories when you're lifting.  Your body can only gain so muscle at a time, any calories beyond that get stored as fat.  You really only need a few hundred extra calories a day (mostly from high quality proteins, like whey supplements, skim milk, eggs, lean meats).  I've made the mistake of eating &lt;strong&gt;too&lt;/strong&gt; much, and gaining equal amounts of muscle and fat, which I then had to go and lose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3817" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T20:33:46.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7194" CreationDate="2012-07-09T22:12:41.547" Score="7" ViewCount="1451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to train my deadlift, and I'm curious to know how much weight I might gain if I increased my deadlift by, say, 50lbs.  Is there any literature out there that quantifies the relationship between strength gains and muscle mass gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an avid rock climber, so I have an incentive to keep my weight low.  Just for the heck of it, though, I want to train my deadlift.  I was wondering if it was practical to try to increase my deadlift and stay under a target weight.  Would increasing the weight I can do in a set of deadlifts by 50lbs correspond to 5lbs of muscle mass?  2lbs?  10lbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't just mean training my 1 rep max (you can tweak that with pure neurological training), I'm more curious about what woud happen if I improved, say, my 8-10 rep deadlift by 50lbs.  Maybe there isn't an answer to this question out there.  Maybe its a dumb question.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My strength training background: I'm physically active, but an almost totally untrained deadlifter. Actually, I've historically neglected my lower body, and focused on pullups, long core workouts, and some dumbbell benchpresses for the heck of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-07-10T13:23:02.227" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T13:38:50.407" Title="How much weight would I need to gain if I increased my deadlift by 50 pounds?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7190" CreationDate="2012-07-09T22:53:10.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be able to make any prediction like that you'd need to know how many muscle fibers you have per muscle, what types of fibers they are, the length of every bone in your body and the insertion and origin points for each muscle tendon, along with current insertion angle and what the angle might change to with an increase in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, we'd need to know how strong you already are and whether you're a beginner or experienced lifter. If you're a beginner you'll make noticable strength gains with hardly any mass gains, intermediate your mass gains will be more proportional to strength gains and when you're advanced they'll drop right back down again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training method would also have a factor. 8-10 reps would tend towards more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, so you would likely make more mass gains with a 50lbs increase than you would with 5-6 reps, but again to what degree would depend on all those other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T22:53:10.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2012-07-09T23:10:21.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Above all else, do deadlifts and/or squats. Add any other compound lifts that you'd like, such as overhead or bench presses, and other compound exercises using cables. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Stronglifts 5x5&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; is a good, free program to follow for this. One thing to note is that the 3 days per week routine might not be good. I've found my largest gains come with 4-5 rest days between workouts, so following the SL program but increasing the number of days off might be crucial. Remember, you don't build muscle while lifting weights, you build muscle while sleeping. It takes a while for your muscles to recover, and once they have recovered, it takes a while for them to start growing. You could be looking at 2-3 days for each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people will recommend eating a lot; that might help, or it might do nothing. I've made absolutely no size gains regardless of how much I eat (what I eat, and the quality of the food makes a difference though), but the vast majority of my gains have come from lifting heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-09T23:10:21.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7190" CreationDate="2012-07-10T00:03:15.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To condense down what Robin said: no, &lt;strong&gt;you cannot determine how much weight you will gain based  off of strength gains&lt;/strong&gt;. While you may be able to calculate it theoretically, in a practical sense it would not be worth your time or effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I would go even further and make the argument that this is not something you should even care about. More precisely, as a rock climber, a pound of muscle mass gained is a Good Thing (tm) and something that you should be actively pursuing, not trying to avoid. &lt;strong&gt;The physical and cardiovascular gains from strength training will more than make up for the increased body weight burden during rock climbing.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final note: it isn't a dumb question if you learn something from it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T00:03:15.480" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7190" CreationDate="2012-07-10T00:24:24.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;+50 pounds (deadlift) = +0 Pounds (bodyweight)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to gain any weight to add 50 pounds to your deadlift. People do it all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went from a 5RM of 265 to a 2RM of 365 while essentially remaining 180 pounds--and I was trying to gain weight. (Rather poorly--I might've started at 175 or 178, and a couple days later I was 178 again.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Novices, in particular, can easily add 100 pounds or more to their deadlift without increasing their bodyweight. They'd get stronger faster if they did, but if they're like you and have a need to keep their bodyweight low, they just progress a little slower and lose steam a little faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;General Methods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure why you care about your 8-10 rep max instead of some other rep range. I would bet that such a goal is actually among the most counterproductive if you are looking to improve your deadlift numbers without gaining mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The standard prescription is very few reps for strength, medium-few reps for power, more reps for mass gain, and obscene numbers of reps for endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would expect that you would want to stay on the ends of that spectrum and avoid the middle of it like the plague, if keeping a constant bodyweight is important. Speaking generally, instead of about the deadlift specifically, I'd do 1-3 reps for strength, maybe some lighter sets of 3 done fast to work power, and some much lighter sets done for 25 or more reps to train endurance. (I wouldn't do 25+ reps of deadlifts. Air squats or another bodyweight exercise would be a better choice.) I would avoid sets of 8-10, or even 5 to 20, as I would expect that they would be hypertrophic, so in order to avoid gaining weight, I'd have to be very hungry. That would be silly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this relies, as you note, on neurological gains. But why would you want to avoid those? If it's a purely esoteric question, then I would say that we probably don't have the answer. Separating neurological gains from muscle mass gains is very difficult and has a number of confounding factors. If this is a practical question, then it very much matters what your current bodyweight and strength numbers are, how much training you've done, how much training you'll have time to put to this, and how much other training you'll be doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Specific Methods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an untrained deadlifter, you have a lot of untapped neuromuscular gains, so adding 100 pounds to your deadlift probably wouldn't require any added mass. You might also get some benefit from working high-rep air or Hindu squats, low-rep pistols (unweighted for a couple months, then using a dumbbell or kettlebell to add weight), as well as singles or doubles of heavy barbell squats. My faint understanding of rock climbing is that one occasionally finds themselves in a compressed, squatty position, so strength in that range of motion could be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your focus on pull-ups is probably ideal for your sport. The bench pressing you do is also likely a great idea for avoiding imbalances between pulling and pushing in the shoulder girdle. I'm no expert, but I've been having a lot of success recently with straight-arm overhead work (Turkish get-ups, waiter's walks, dumbbell and kettlebell overhead presses, windmills) to strengthen the shoulder as well. It's possible that these could be of some specific use in rock climbing, for those situations where you need to brace yourself by pushing your hands against one rock and your back against another rock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-07-10T13:38:50.407" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T13:38:50.407" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-10T02:24:09.443" Score="3" ViewCount="3920" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lot of fat on the sides of my belly above my waist, and keeps increasing the more I eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; What's the best way to reduce the fat here, though I do have fat in the belly and chest areas, but the side belly fat is putting me off.. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3774" LastActivityDate="2019-11-19T20:39:37.297" Title="Best way to reduce side belly fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-11-20T13:57:39.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-10T03:10:12.583" Score="6" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;If in one gym session, I want to run (30-40 mins) and lift weights, is it better to run first or do the weights first.  I have done a bunch of googling and keep reading conflicting answers so wanted to get some thoughts from folks on this forum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2012-07-15T20:39:03.037" Title="Should i do cardio or weights first?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7197" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7198" CreationDate="2012-07-10T06:28:46.810" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now on average I am running about 8~9 minutes and then taking 5 minute rests. Is this a good pace or do I need to up the game more? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I repeat this about 6~7 times in about 1 hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="560" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T06:58:52.437" Title="8 Minute running with 5 minute rests okay?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7197" CreationDate="2012-07-10T06:58:52.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're feeling fine at the end of the session, then there's no reason not to continue doing that. Also no huge reason to change the pace, but in general it's a good idea to either increase the distance you run in a particular time, or decrease the time it takes you to run a certain distance. For sustainability, aiming for something like cutting 5 seconds off each day would be fine, or alternately maybe add 20 meters at the same timing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to really inform yourself, getting a heart rate monitor would help, that way you can rest until your heart rate gets close to your resting heart rate, and run again instead of setting the rather arbitrary 5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T06:58:52.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7195" CreationDate="2012-07-10T07:07:35.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the popular notion is that spot reduction is a myth, there are plenty of popular notions that are wrong, so it might still be worth exploring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bud Jeffries has an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strongerman.com/fat-burning-isometrics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; on using isometrics for spot reduction. I'd say it's worth a shot, as isometric exercises make a lot of sense for the core and even if it doesn't work out you end up a lot stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, unless there's a particular reason why you want to keep your belly and chest fat, you might as well go for getting rid of it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T07:07:35.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7196" CreationDate="2012-07-10T12:35:02.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is a question that can be complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one side, if you are practising for a running event, you should probably focus on the running first and do some complementary weight lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other side, if you practise for general well being and have a limited time available for training, you could start with the weights and skip the running. My own experiments with measuring training effect with pulse meters shows me that you get a good cardio effect when you lift weights, especially when you do exercises that involve large muscle groups (deadlift, squats, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-14T15:26:24.090" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T15:26:24.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7195" CreationDate="2012-07-10T12:48:50.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with others who have commented that you have to target fat loss all over.  While exercise can be somewhat helpful, fat loss is probably 90% diet so you should focus your effort there.  Many have had success with relative ease using Tim Ferriss's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/06/24/how-to-lose-100-pounds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Slow Carb Diet&lt;/a&gt; so I would recommend that you give you that a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T12:48:50.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7196" CreationDate="2012-07-10T15:34:03.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to answer that question yourself, the way to get to it is, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;what is your goal?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (this question to your question is taken from the great Dan John: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/figuring_out_your_life_and_lifting_goals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/figuring_out_your_life_and_lifting_goals&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you more focused on cardio? or strength? What are you trying to achieve?  Based on your response, you can determine which to do first - the first thing to do is what is most important to achieving your goals....where you focus your most energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T15:34:03.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5875" CreationDate="2012-07-10T16:20:33.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shrug Dips or Dip shrugs, whatever Kelso calls them are very effective.  you get in the position of doing Dips and instead of going down push yourself up, hold this position and then lower your self down. the actual movement should be no more than 6 inches. your elbows dont bend during the whole repition. Search the internet for Kelso's dip shrug and you will get more detail on how to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T16:20:33.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5875" CreationDate="2012-07-10T16:50:40.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bridging drills from wrestling, both forward and backward, are awesome for neck strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handstand &quot;shrugs&quot; were recommended to me as a drill for developing the traps as well as all the muscles that assist with scapular retraction. You get in a handstand (against a wall is fine) and simply relax the shoulders forward and &quot;down&quot; towards your hips, then squeeze them backwards and &quot;up&quot; towards your head, towards a proper full handstand position. The shrug dips described in Geek's answer sound similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T16:50:40.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2012-07-10T17:12:42.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had one for several months. It's great for my circulation and posture problems. I have not lost weight, because my appetite has increased accordingly, but I feel so much better with no leg swelling and increased oxygen to brain, skin, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3824" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T17:12:42.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-10T19:13:59.937" Score="5" ViewCount="1603" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a pretty intensive leg workout and decided to take the next day off for rest. I definitely had some lactic build-up the next day and my legs were slightly sore. However, when I woke up on the second day, my legs were even more sore then the day before. They aren't sore enough to worry me, I've had them this sore after working out, I'm just wondering if there is an explanation for why a muscle could be more sore after resting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3825" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T19:41:58.673" Title="Legs sore 1st day of rest after workout, even more sore the second day" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7207" CreationDate="2012-07-10T19:41:58.673" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common for muscles to be more sore two days after a workout, rather than the next day. The phenomenon is called DOMS: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Sometimes it manifests the next day after working out; sometimes it crops up after a day's delay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/muscle-soreness-causes-relief/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Sisson notes&lt;/a&gt;, we don't really know what causes DOMS physiologically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[D]espite its ubiquity, science still hasn’t been able to nail down the precise cause of DOMS. That hasn’t stopped several popular theories from circulating.... One is that lactic acid is to blame.... Lactic acid has nothing to do with DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another popular notion is that DOMS occurs because intense exercise breaks down your muscle fibers: you tear the muscle fibers apart with resistance training and they respond by coming back stronger than ever. The pain, then, comes with breaking down and rebuilding muscle fibers. Either that or it’s inflammation. Or it’s increased pressure on your nerves as a result of expanding muscle. There are a ton of possibilities thrown out there, and they all sound vaguely plausible, but the science is still murky. Whatever the cause, we do know that it can’t be neatly explained by a single factor. &lt;a href=&quot;http://saveyourself.ca/articles/doms.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; approaches DOMS by examining various research studies in an attempt to figure out the mystery, but the basic conclusion seems to be “DOMS simply is” (as if Descartes were a sports medicine physician).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been firmly established that a certain type of exercise – eccentric contraction – is more likely to cause DOMS. Eccentric contractions include walking downstairs, running downhill, and negative movements when weight training (lowering weights in a controlled motion, as opposed to letting gravity take over).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T19:41:58.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7185" CreationDate="2012-07-10T19:50:14.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is a little misguided, because if you read the Livestrong article carefully:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those who fidget more by shaking their leg, repositioning themselves, &lt;strong&gt;standing up and walking around&lt;/strong&gt;, and so forth can burn 350 more calories per day than their more sedentary counterparts, according to Levine at U.S. News &amp;amp; World Report.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standing up and walking isn't really considered fidgeting, so yes, the subjects consumed up to 350 kcal/day more, but not by wiggling their feet or rocking a pen (the definition of fidgeting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a comparison, let's compare how many calories I'd burn sitting down vs standing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.juststand.org/tabid/637/language/en-US/default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;using this online calculator&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If Standing while working: 1496 kcal burned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If Sitting while working: 1152 kcal burned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calorie-burn increase: &lt;strong&gt;344 kcal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just standing all day would give the desired number of calories. Imagine if I'd fidgeted while standing! Or even better, use any of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000VICRO8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000AMX3AM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;devices:&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9rWw8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D2bZC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which would seriously boost your calories compared to just sitting down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the author of the study (dr. J. Levine) about Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-01-21-fidget-activity_N.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;was interviewed by USA Today&lt;/a&gt; and they included the following picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qNtPu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-01-21-fidget-activity_N.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In the interview he gives some solid advice:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We need to move more throughout the day. The key is to find what you&#xA;  enjoy doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Simple examples include a quick walk around the block before your&#xA;  morning shower; a 30-minute walk at lunch; having a couple of&#xA;  walk-and-talk meetings during the day (research shows you'll think&#xA;  better); pacing when you're talking on the phone; taking a 15-minute&#xA;  catch-up walk after work with your partner; walking with your children&#xA;  and listening to their music with them; doing some active volunteering&#xA;  such as taking a stressed mom's children out for a walk or bringing a&#xA;  meal to an elderly person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you incorporate some of these ideas into your day, you burn an&#xA;  extra 500 to 1,000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He goes on to answer your actual question: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q: Does fidgeting promote weight loss?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: &lt;strong&gt;In terms of calorie burn or weight loss, fidgeting doesn't help&#xA;  you.&lt;/strong&gt; The research we conducted demonstrated that the secret to burning&#xA;  fat was to get up, move and walk. We found that people can increase&#xA;  their NEAT by 800 calories a day and resist gaining weight, even when&#xA;  they eat too much. At first the world's press mistook NEAT for being a&#xA;  fidgeting phenomenon, but we pointed out that you would never be able&#xA;  to fidget enough to burn 800 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fidgeting is your body's way of telling you to get up and move. Our&#xA;  body wants to move, but the environment suppresses it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So to conclude: no fidgeting is not enough.&lt;/strong&gt; If you really want to burn some calories, you need to get off your ass and get some work done. With Fitness, there's no such thing as a free lunch!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-07-11T07:43:36.087" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T07:43:36.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7216" CreationDate="2012-07-10T20:29:12.660" Score="0" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question somewhat falls under theory since every body is different, I understand that, but figured I'd ask anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say I've managed to find a diet and exercise routine that fits my everyday lifestyle and I'm happy with my body fat percentage (last time I checked years ago I was at ~12%). I've been working out for around 10 years and I'd say my body has sort of peaked as far as any major body transformation. Now let's say I wanted to add a few lbs of lean muscle mass yet retaining my bodyfat percentage. Is it as simple as increasing my calorie intake (keeping the same protein/fat/carb ratio as before), maybe lifting a few more lbs and running an extra mile or two to keep up with the extra calories? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3830" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T11:53:49.163" Title="Increasing mass and retaining bodyfat percentage" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7210" CreationDate="2012-07-10T21:11:14.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, although you won't necessarily have to add running if you're lifting is heavy enough to demand the extra calories all to itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also overshoot, eating more than necessary to make sure you hit your strength gains, and then lift to maintain that new strength while cutting back on calories to lose any &quot;excess&quot; fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T21:11:14.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7210" CreationDate="2012-07-10T21:11:16.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing with body fat percentage is it's proportional to the rest of your bodyweight, so if you're increasing your muscle mass 8lbs and gain 1lbs of fat, at 12%, your BF% would stay the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting heavy would be the way to go, that's what's necessary to stimulate muscle growth. Rather than eating more, I would suggest increasing the quality of the food you're eating, particularly proteins. Different protein foods have different biological values (BV), with the higher BV giving you better protein absorbtion. Also, especially given you've been holding steady for a while, unless you've been obsessively counting calories for the past 10 years, starting now isn't going to help. Just eat to whatever amount your hunger dictates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as running extra miles goes, I don't think that's really necessary, but if you're already running I'd suggest not increasing your time to match the distance. So if you're running an extra mile each outing, aim to keep it within the same length of time. This is the same principle as increasing the weight that you're lifting rather than increasing the reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T21:11:16.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-11T10:16:48.250" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried many different ginseng supplements for increased energy and focus and the main problem with all of them was side effects related with going to the bathroom (I will spare details here). Could you recommend some ginseng supplement with which you had in general good experiences for increased energy and focus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3287" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T10:16:48.250" Title="Ginseng supplement recommendation" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-09-13T21:21:39.347" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7210" CreationDate="2012-07-11T11:53:49.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very important to understand that it takes a tremendous amount of energy to generate new muscle.  Additionally the type of muscle you build depends on the type of training you do.  So the answer to your question is &quot;yes&quot; you need to increase your calories, and your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both by experience, and by anecdotal evidence, if you want to increase the size of your muscles, you need to increase the volume of your training.  While there is truth to the hypertrophy ranges (sets of 8-12 reps), you'll need more variation than that.  Here are some training related pointers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do intensity followed by volume like in Wendler's 5-3-1 program (after your main work sets you do 5 sets of 10 at 40-60%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can vary sets/reps like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seriouspowerlifting.com/2362/articles/smolov-jr&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Smolov Jr&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can embark on a high volume program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/sheiko/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sheiko&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing with volume related programs, you will need to eat a lot more just to keep up with them.  The good news is that the amount you have to eat will help you clean bulk.  Bump up the food by &lt;a href=&quot;http://leanmassgains.com/the-7-fundamental-questions-for-a-one-pound-muscle-mass-gain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;600 Calories&lt;/a&gt;.  It might be beneficial to load the bulk of your carbs on training days to leverage the hormone spiking impacts that can help build muscle without increasing fat to the same proportion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T11:53:49.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-11T12:24:00.473" Score="7" ViewCount="14106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm still using universal weights (one day I'll move onto Olympic) and at most 25lb plates.  This results in the bar being lower to the ground when performing dead lifts.  I know dead lifters change height of the bar (using platforms, rack mounts, etc.) when training...so my question is: what is the optimal height of the bar to get the most benefit from dead lifting and what does a lower OR higher bar benefit? I'm at about 320lbs x 5 reps max right now - 400lbs+ via a rack (actually cement blocks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WxOWw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA; my 'rack' dead lift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T20:48:16.560" Title="What is the optimal height of the bar off the ground for dead lifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7217" CreationDate="2012-07-11T12:52:24.430" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The purpose of deadlifting is to get stronger at lifting things off of the ground. Since objects may be at different distances from the ground, you benefit from lifting from different heights. Competitive deadlifters might focus on the height of the bar with olympic weights, but that distance is arbitrary otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lowering height develops the back muscles and flexibility more. You have less leverage in this position, so you may need to lower the weight. Raising height allows you to develop more strength where you have more leverage because you can use a higher weight that you usually could not lift from a lower position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A final change to consider if you ever get bumper plates: Lowering the bar works the muscles in an eccentric fashion (lengthening them while contracting). This builds strength, but can also increase soreness. So, many people drop the weight from the top when doing their heavier reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;400 lbs is a legit deadlift for anyone. You must be doing something right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T12:52:24.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7217" CreationDate="2012-07-11T13:29:09.317" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be a little anal about the issue and argue that deadlifts from lower than &quot;official&quot; or standard height are more accurately called &lt;strong&gt;deficit deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;, and deadlifts from higher than that height are closer to &lt;strong&gt;rack pulls&lt;/strong&gt;, which are a partial movement. These are both fine exercises, but they create additional complexity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A higher start means you can lift more weight, since you're pulling through a reduced range of motion. The inverse is true of a lower start, of course. An additional concern with deficit deadlifts is the increased need for mobility and flexibility, without which you'll be starting the pull from a disadvantageous and dangerous rounded-back position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't argue that any of these starting positions is &quot;optimal&quot; in a truly objective and general sense, but the standard height is to be preferred because of its universality as well as its Goldilocks-style demand for &quot;just enough&quot; from both mobility and strength. Veering too far either higher or lower makes either the mobility requirements too rigorous or the strength requirements too weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are able to keep a safe, flat, athletic spinal position while pulling off the floor, and you're making progress, I say keep on going. You're doing a little more than standard deadlifters, and thereby getting a little stronger and demanding a little more mobility than them. That's awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-07-11T20:48:16.560" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T20:48:16.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7222" CreationDate="2012-07-11T15:18:15.480" Score="2" ViewCount="1422" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a recurring knee problem for 12 years that I have been unable to get a proper diagnosis for. I would be grateful for any advice or opinions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 45 year old male. I exercise 4-5 times per week, with either a stair-climbing machine or jogging on a treadmill for 30 mins followed by a 30 mins light weights workout. I stretch for about 10 mins before and after. The symptoms begin to occur approx 14 hours after a workout - so if I workout in the morning, I get the symptoms in the late evening, and if I work out in the afternoon (which is more usual) I get the symptoms in the middle of the night (it wakes me up). I don't have any pain or other symptoms during workouts. If I stop jogging/stairs (sometimes I go through periods of swimming instead) it never occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem occurs on either one of my knees, but &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; both at the same time. It occurs approximately twice per month, and has been this way for 12 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms are slight swelling of, and pain in, the lateral collateral ligament, &lt;strong&gt;OR&lt;/strong&gt; the quadriceps tendon, but &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; both at the same time. The affected area is also hotter than the surrounding tissues. It is painful to the touch as well as during extension of the knee joint under strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that if I begin taking NSAIDs (I normally use ibuprofen 400mg every 6-7 hours acetaminophen 1000mg every 4-6 hours) when the symptoms begin, then the symptoms persist for about 18-24 hours without getting much worse, then wear off over the next 12-24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I take no medication, the symptoms get progressively worse over the next 18-24 hours and then wear off over the following 24-48 hours. At their height, the symptoms are painful to the point of making me limp when walking, or to climb stairs with just one leg (if you know what I mean), and to cause me a little difficulty sleeping. So it's annoying but not debilitating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applying an ice pack to the area has no lasting effect on the duration of the symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it takes at least 3-4 days to get a non-urgent doctors appointment where I live, I have only ever been able to &lt;em&gt;describe&lt;/em&gt; the symptoms to a doctor - the most common &quot;diagosis&quot; being tendonitis or synovitis with the advice to just take iboprofen and rest when it occurs. I cannot afford to see a specialist or physiotherapist privately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I take a half dose of ibuprofen (200mg) about an hour before my workout, then the problem does not occur - at least so far. I have been doing this for about three months on the advice of an unqualified friend. On the one hand I am happy to have &quot;solved&quot; the problem, but on the other hand I don't like the idea that it could be masking something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3834" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T00:27:18.857" Title="Recurring knee pain linked to exercise" Tags="&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7221" CreationDate="2012-07-11T16:06:14.810" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the symptoms respond to NSAIDs, the injury is likely inflammation related.  That's why tendinitis or synovitis is usually the diagnosis.  Without allowing the tendinitis to fully heal, it can reoccur frequently.  However, since I'm not a doctor I will limit my answer to the exercise related portion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stair climbing, treadmills, jogging all produce a fair amount of stress on your knee.  If I were to rate them from least stress to highest stress it would be: stair climbing, treadmill (assume walking), jogging.  If you put the treadmill on an incline, it will reduce the stress on the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Could it be stretching?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Connective tissue (tendons and ligaments) don't stretch, or aren't supposed to.  Improper stretching by pushing past pain can cause injury and inflammation to the connective tissue.  I'm assuming though that because you have been doing this for years, and the problem only happens twice a month, it's probably not stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Could it be a muscle imbalance?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your routine doesn't really give your knees a break, and it's also quadriceps dominant.  Conditioning is good, but does not have to take the form of jogging/running/or climbing.  Another potential problem is that your hamstrings are likely under-developed, meaning there is a muscle imbalance between the quadriceps and hamstrings.  The presence of a muscle imbalance like that can also cause stress to the connective tissue pulling it towards the stronger muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming by the selection of exercises you are currently doing, that weightlifting isn't something that interests you.  To that end, I'm going to suggest some body weight exercises for you to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3g4wAsu0R4&quot;&gt;Body weight squats&lt;/a&gt;. NOTE: I didn't listen to the guy all the way through, regardless of what he says, you want to go as deep as possible.  That's what activates the glutes and the hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2n58m2i4jg&quot;&gt;Lunges&lt;/a&gt;.  Focus on activating the hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slow.  If your hamstrings truly are out of balance, you will have a really bad case of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; until you get used to it.  You might want to start out on the first day just doing 1 each of those two exercises.  The next time you do them, do one more.  And one more.  Until you get to around 150 for the week (that's the equivalent of doing them 75 times a day for two days.  75 reps can be 5 sets of 15).  How you divide up the work is up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning you might start out with the squats and lunges every time you exercise.  After a while you will probably get too tired to do them every day.  That's when you can alternate your running/stairs exercise with the body weight exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T16:06:14.810" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7233" CreationDate="2012-07-11T16:22:02.347" Score="6" ViewCount="1562" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a computer programmer who spends more than 8-10 hours a day at the desk. I want to know which is the appropriate kind or design of the chair that a computer programmer must use, and what types of exercises to do, so as to avoid back and neck problems? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3835" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T11:20:54.877" LastActivityDate="2016-07-17T00:48:40.807" Title="Back and neck problems from sitting in front of a computer" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6609" CreationDate="2012-07-11T16:32:47.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finding a good coach is always a challenge.  The meaning of a certification really depends on how consistent the coaches that have that certification are.  I do know someone who failed the certification--and were told they know the material, but just couldn't coach someone else with it.  That at least tells me the certification means something.  The fact that you are looking for a Starting Strength certified coach means that they will be instructed how to do the exercises as written in the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I will say that every coach is different, and while a coach might be a good coach, they might not be the right coach for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;.  Here are some things to consider when evaluating a coach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there a personality problem?&lt;/em&gt;  If you grate under just hearing their voice, how open will you be to their instruction?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do they overwhelm you with information?&lt;/em&gt;  It's hard finding the balance with providing enough information to fix your current problems, without burying the student with everything they are doing wrong at once.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Can they do what you want to learn?&lt;/em&gt;  Demonstration is the first step in effective instruction.  The demonstration is so you can see how it needs to look, not so they can show off.  But if they can't power clean, how are you going to learn how to power clean from them?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step in coach selection is the interview.  Talk to them, about their training and coaching philosophies.  You can learn a lot just from this exchange.  If you need someone to yell at you cues while you squat, and you are talking to &lt;a href=&quot;http://pbskids.org/rogers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mr. Rogers&lt;/a&gt; you might need a different coach.  On the flip side, if you get easily intimidated, you don't want a drill sergeant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going session to session, then take it session by session.  If the coach is still providing value to your training, keep going to the same coach.  If not, find a different one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T16:32:47.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7231" CreationDate="2012-07-11T17:00:07.790" Score="12" ViewCount="1560" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to do a lot of swimming, and recently my left shoulder had been giving me some minor pain and occasional clicking noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to an orthopedic doctor and I was diagnosed with &quot;Left AC Synovitis&quot;. The doctor recommended a home rehabilitation program, specifically to strengthen my rotator cuff muscles. His diagnosis was that my rotator cuff muscles were weak, and thus I was running into shoulder instability problems&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some exercises that I should be doing following this diagnosis? I am currently doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External rotations (lying on side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arm raises while lying prone (hand dangling by my side and then raise to parallel with the floor... 90 degree angle to my torso)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other exercises should I be doing for this type of injury? Is there anything that I should be paying particular attention to e.g. doing reps slowly (currently ~5 seconds). Should I be using resistance bands or will a soda can suffice. How will I know that I'm ready to begin exercising my shoulder through swimming / pushups again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3815" LastActivityDate="2013-08-31T17:53:59.397" Title="Rotator cuff strengthening for shoulder overuse injury" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7227" CreationDate="2012-07-11T17:11:58.077" Score="0" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using a program (MyFitnessPal) to track my diet and have noticed a slightly disconcerting trend: it always says I am below 100% of my daily recommendation of iron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current diet regiment has 2 rules: 130+ g/day of protein and no more than 2k calories (even on heavy (1-2 hours) cardio days). The reason for the latter is I am in a cutting phase, aiming for a single digit body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to up my iron intake? Are pills going to be required? Do I need to start eating round steaks again? Beans... seriously, beans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="913" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T17:46:37.303" Title="Noticing a Lack of Iron In My Diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7226" CreationDate="2012-07-11T17:46:37.303" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's note that you are not, to our knowledge, experiencing a physiological iron deficiency. Your program is reporting a deficiency of iron in your diet. These are distinct issues, and the latter does not yet suggest a need for supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first and easiest steps are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase your dietary intake of animals, such as with meat and milk and eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use iron cookware&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: the latter will, I expect, not be recorded by your program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/&quot;&gt;NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements&lt;/a&gt; notes the difference between heme and nonheme iron:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heme iron is derived from hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells. Heme iron is found in animal foods that originally contained hemoglobin, such as red meats, fish, and poultry. Iron in plant foods such as lentils and beans is arranged in a chemical structure called nonheme iron [9]. This is the form of iron added to iron-enriched and iron-fortified foods. Heme iron is absorbed better than nonheme iron, but most dietary iron is nonheme iron [8]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They then present tables comparing heme and non-heme iron derived from various foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also interesting to keep in mind the amount of iron you actually use is different from the amount you ingest, due to the body's autoregulation. Per &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_iron_metabolism&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of iron absorbed compared to the amount ingested is typically low, but may range from 5% to as much as 35% depending on circumstances and type of iron. The efficiency with which iron is absorbed varies depending on the source. Generally the best-absorbed forms of iron come from animal products. Absorption of dietary iron in iron salt form (as in most supplements) varies somewhat according to the body's need for iron, and is usually between 10% and 20% of iron intake. Absorption of iron from animal products, and some plant products, is in the form of heme iron, and is more efficient, allowing absorption of from 15% to 35% of intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T17:46:37.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7217" CreationDate="2012-07-11T18:13:28.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question depends on your current goals in training.  A deadlift done for competition is always done using 450mm plates with a 50mm diameter hole in the middle of the plate.  The height of the bar is dictated by the width of the plate.  Those are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IPF&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iwf.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IWF&lt;/a&gt; standards for plate dimensions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are training for a competition, or just for a stronger deadlift, you might have problems with a sticking point.  That's the point where you have the most trouble with the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deficit deadlifts (you are standing on a platform, so the bar is lower than regulation) are designed to improve your strength off the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rack pulls (deadlifting from pins, so the bar is higher than regulation) are designed to improve your lockout strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts with bands/chains also improve lockout strength.  This is designed to progressively load the bar so that it gets heavier the more you pull it up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The optimal height for rack pulls is just below your current sticking point.  Your sticking point will change over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T18:13:28.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2012-07-11T18:21:12.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too have had to look at ways to combat the odor. First, I just ignored the problem and continued to wear my VFF's while running and working out at the local gym. It was until one day a trainer recommended OxyClean detergent. She kindly made the comment about my VFF's could be washed using this detergent. I've been washing them once a week, and it seams to work in combating the stink. Secondly, she recommend wearing injinji socks to soak up the sweat since the footbed liner is very thin on top; which is placed on top of a rubber sole. The sweat just has no place to go. I don't care for the socks myself when wearing the VFF's. It does help in keeping the feet drier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3836" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T18:21:12.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7217" CreationDate="2012-07-11T18:43:18.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I started lifting I lacked range of motion around the hips for a deadlifting motion, so I had (in my case dumbbells) raised up so I could do them with good form. However, after a few weeks I just put them on the floor as my range of motion had increased sufficiently to allow me to do it from lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start off with just a single weight plate on each side with the barbell on the floor and either have someone video you or watch you so you can see if your form is good enough with the lower height. Then work your way back up to the weight you were at before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T18:43:18.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7225" CreationDate="2012-07-11T19:16:39.607" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rotator cuff group is comprised of four muscles, commonly referred to as SITS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis. Most of these serve to rotate the arm, although the Supraspinatus is responsible for abduction (movement away from the body) of the upper arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caveats - All of the exercises listed should be done with light weights or band resistance. They are not especially strong muscles comparatively, and form is paramount. If done wrong, it would be easy to injure/worsen an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, exercises should be done slowly, 2-3 seconds when going against gravity, 3-5 seconds when returning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a list of exercises that can help strengthen the SITS group:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side lying external rotation - Creme de la creme, hits all the muscles of the group. Lie on side, upper arm along body, lower arm across abdomen. (Like if your arm was in a sling). Simply rotate arm, keeping 90 degree bend, until hand is pointing at ceiling. Return to starting position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prone abduction - Kneel on bench, upper body horizontal to floor. Palm should face in towards body, raise straight out to side. Don't raise past horizontal to floor. Return to starting position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vertical variation - Same as prone abduction, but forward (So if you were standing, your hand would be above head).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row with rotation - Same kneeling position, perform row until upper arm is parallel with floor, elbow should be at 90 degrees, lower arm still pointing at floor. Keeping upper arm parallel, rotate upper arm forward until it is also parallel with floor. Reverse entire motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all of these, no weight or a section of broom handle for a grip, and see if there is any pain. If there is pain, it is possible that you have an impingement of the muscles or something else also going on. If no weight produces no pain, move to a very light weight or easy band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, while it's good to rehab and strengthen it, unless this is a chronic type injury because you've been swimming for years (like my shoulders, they're rubbish), it is possible that your swim form is contributing to this, and I might have a good stroke coach take a look and see if you have some stroke faults that are causing this. It'd do no good to rehab it only to re-injure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-08-27T19:40:34.567" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T19:40:34.567" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7221" CreationDate="2012-07-11T19:25:12.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, this is in response to your comment, but it needs to be an answer. Comment blockquoted below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I use a stretching &quot;machine&quot; (not sure what to call it, it uses your own bodyweight) and also I stretch by crouching down, and also by standing and pulling one foot up behind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't do that. At least not before you workout. There are two main types of stretching that should be used by most people, static and dynamic. (There are others, such as PNF, ballistic and others, but these two are sufficient for most people).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dynamic is motion based, you start with motions that mimic what you are going to do, and go from small to large in amplitude. So, leg swings, knee lifts, arm swings, etc. For jogging, I'd simply walk for 5-10 minutes at an increasing pace, until at the end of that 5-10 minutes you are at your goal pace for the rest of the workout. For the stairs, leg swings and knee lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static stretching is the typical &quot;bend and pull&quot; or &quot;reach and hold&quot; kind of stuff. This should never be done as a warmup, only done afterwards on warm muscles. It's easy to strain, tear, avulse and otherwise harm muscles and tendons if you do static stretching on cold muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ballistic stretching - This is the &quot;bounce bounce bounce&quot; type of stretching people used to do all the time. Don't do this either. There are specific instances where it is useful, but these are very sports specific and should only be done under the guidance of a knowledgeable coach/trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the &quot;machine&quot;, I would have to see a picture of it and how it's constructed before I passed judgement. I've seen a ton in my time in martial arts, and many don't support the legs/knee area correctly to promote the correct stretch, plus many don't use the machines correctly. In any case, it's also nothing you should be doing beforehand. If there isn't movement involved, don't do it to start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very possible that your stretches beforehand are causing or contributing to the intermittent knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T19:25:12.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7223" CreationDate="2012-07-11T20:38:55.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming there is sufficient room in your cubicle/home office, I would suggest getting an appropriately sized Swiss ball to sit on. In general you'll be moving around slightly while on it, which will help stimulate your core stabilisation muscles. It's also quite easy to do a back bend over the ball, which would be a good idea to do throughout the day to compensate for being hunched forward (even on a ball, there will be a tendency to hunch over). Once you get the hang of it you can also try switching how you sit on the ball. I enjoyed sitting in lotus for 10-15 minutes at a time while on the computer, and kneeling on the ball could also offer up a change, although I found that to be harder to sustain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get the time to go to a weight room once per week that would also help, doing exercises like deadlifts, squats, presses, dips and pull-ups will put your body under a heavier load than it's normally used to, and should help you be less susceptible to back and neck problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T20:38:55.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6055" CreationDate="2012-07-11T20:54:28.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple books by Stuart McRobert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either Beyond Brawn and The Insider's Tell All Handbook of Weight Training Technique or Build Muscle, Lose Fat, Look Great. The third is essentially the first two in one book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could probably get away with just the technique book, as detailed instruction on lifts is pretty sparse. I've only seen Starting Strength go into that kind of detail, but unfortunately it only covers barbells, and not everyone has access to a gym with barbells. Beyond Brawn covers a lot of issues that are often ignored in other books, for instance procedures for checking weights before you lift to make sure it's safe, weighing weight plates to make sure you're actually loading the same weight on both sides rather than having a 1-2lbs different causing an imbalance that could eventually lead to injury. The technique book acknowledges that not all exercises are suitable for all people, and rather than saying squats with free weights are best, you should only do them, it actually goes into a fair bit of detail on how to best use alternate options such as leg press machines if squats aren't a safe and viable option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For definitive sources on nutrition, there isn't really one. Julie Daniluk has a great quote; &quot;7 billion diets for 7 billion people,&quot; and that really is the truth. When you consider food intolerances, allergies and heredity what could be excellent advice for one person could be terrible advice for another. That said, her book - Meals that Heal Inflammation - is quite good. One, inflammation happens with exercise, so having a diet that doesn't aggravate it is always a good idea, and two, it sets out a program for figuring out what exactly is the diet for you. It starts out with a core set of foods that generally don't cause problems for the majority of people, and then has you gradually add additional foods to your diet so you can see how your body reacts to them. Even if you choose not to follow her program, or get her book, anything you do read and follow probably should be along those lines. If the person writing the book doesn't understand that different people have different needs, they obviously don't understand the topic of nutrition well enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T20:54:28.640" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16387" CreationDate="2012-07-11T21:29:59.977" Score="10" ViewCount="3406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see training broken up as neural adaptation and hypertrophy.  One type of training allows your nervous system to fire at a maximum level while the latter allows you to build size and muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is does hypertrophy training assist for a greater eventual neural output?  Meaning if one gains muscle and gets bigger, do you believe there is a greater potential for that muscle to fire or is your neural ability entirely dependant by your genetics?  I mean you can't have a donkey win a Kentucky Derby...but could a low level genetic human being be trained correctly through hypertrophy and neural training to become a professional athlete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2019-11-10T15:52:50.987" Title="Neural Adaptation Training vs. Hypertrophy Training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7235" CreationDate="2012-07-11T22:57:06.353" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting question. Personally, I don't think that neural training would specifically help with hypertrophy training, except in a general sense, which I'll explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can train neural pathways to the point where they approach the speed of a reflex. I'd have to dig up the studies, but they tested reflex transmission time against transmission times for martial artists doing various activities. You can get very close with highly trained individuals doing repetitive tasks. But, a faster transmission speed won't really facilitate hypertrophy, as it isn't causing a higher amount of stress to the muscle tissues, they are just a nanosecond or two quicker in responding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle memory {hereafter MM} (which is a bit of a misnomer, since it's not stored in the muscle) is probably a better fit, but is somewhat independent of neural transmission as far as speed is concerned. Muscle memory is attained through many many repetitions of a task (Such as reaching for a doorknob. You can find a doorknob in the dark because almost all US doorknobs are a standard height.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where MM would facilitate hypertrophy in my opinion is in better execution of a task. A neophyte in the gym is going to wobble around, their bench press won't groove in the same &quot;track&quot; so to speak for each rep, things like that. That takes away from the quality of the work being done, and you get less out of the workout. As your muscle memory grows, you get more out of the work being done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I completely don't know is if neural improvement would lead to better recruitment in the fibers, my blind guess would be probably not, as IIRC recruitment is a function of the type of exercise, but it would be an interesting avenue to explore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-11T22:57:06.353" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7333" CreationDate="2012-07-12T02:52:38.157" Score="6" ViewCount="4777" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know I can become subjected to hyponatremia by drinking too much water and not replenishing my electrolytes.  But is the opposite possible?  Can I put too MANY electrolytes into my body (while still putting in the correct amount of fluid) during an endurance event?  I once had a Dr. tell me &quot;you can never drink too much gatorade&quot;, indicating I would not overload the electrolytes in my body to an unhealthy or dangerous level.  Is that true?  Do I not have to worry about electrolyte overdose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  I should clarify that I'm asking the question for extreme endurance events, such as 100-mile and 24-hour races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="2051" LastEditDate="2012-07-12T11:05:59.400" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T12:35:03.013" Title="Can you take in too many electrolytes during endurance events?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6055" CreationDate="2012-07-12T04:16:32.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fit by Lon Kilgore and Justin Lascek is a great book on general fitness and nutrition. Wide variety of training is covered (strength, endurance, and mobility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Rippetoe books are great for strength training if that ends up being your primary focus. Other nutrition books I suggest to people are &quot;The Paleo Solution&quot; by Robb Wolf and &quot;The Primal Blueprint&quot; by Mark Sission. These are primary &quot;eat clean, get out the processed crap &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T04:16:32.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7237" CreationDate="2012-07-12T04:50:09.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word here is you &quot;probably&quot; don't have to worry about overdosing on electrolytes if you are drinking premade sports drinks. They are of a concentration that you would probably not be able to drink any more long before the electrolytes would become an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are drinking sports drinks and supplementing with salt tabs, or some of the other tricks long distance endurance athletes use to keep electrolyte supply up, then yes, it's certainly possible to take in too many electrolytes, which can result in anything from mild nausea to cramping to heart arrhythmias. (two electrolytes, sodium and potassium are what drive the beating of the heart.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you have an underlying pathology, either known or unknown, that can have an effect on things like absorption and utilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, the key word is you &quot;probably&quot; have nothing to worry about if you stick to premade sports drinks, which for most endurance events are supplied on course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T04:50:09.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7243" CreationDate="2012-07-12T11:32:25.817" Score="-1" ViewCount="713" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past month, I noticed that I developed about a 1/2 inch size lump on my left inner wrist.  I suspected it was a cyst, but after seeing the hand surgeon I was told that I have a torn Flexor carpi radialis (FCR).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor gave two options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 weeks in splint or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 weeks in cast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am pretty active with cardio (running, plyo) and weights but I am trying to determine the best option. No matter the choice I make, I want to still work out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are my options with this type of injury?  Are there any strength training, cardio choices with this type of wrist injury?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as a side note, any thoughts on cast or splint?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3653" LastActivityDate="2012-12-17T01:48:51.433" Title="Exercises with a Torn Wrist Tendon" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2012-12-20T03:59:46.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7241" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-12T12:54:07.113" Score="5" ViewCount="3557" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aE1pQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros/cons of board bench pressing? I know it helps reduce shoulder strain, but what benefits are there based on being able to lift more weight and what cons since you don't have full ROM (range of motion)?  And if you focus on board benching with heavy weights, how do you retain for regular (non-board) post so that you don't hurt those muscles/tendons that aren't used to the heavier load?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T05:41:02.710" Title="What are the pros and cons of board bench pressing?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-12T13:18:22.340" Score="1" ViewCount="618" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to purchase some of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnpprofessional.co.uk/whey-protein-2-25kg.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this whey protein&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is fairly high protein anyway, and I plan to consume two portions of the powder on lifting days, which are roughly every other day (with the odd bonus rest/football day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that as it is a dry powder, then the 3 months I project this tub will last will be fine, but I just wanted to check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="167" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T22:11:05.917" Title="Shelf life of whey protein?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2012-07-12T14:36:33.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious, why was surgery to repair the tendon not an option?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as working out, I wouldn't worry about that too much, because that's a short term thing, unless you have a specific event (Your 'A' race for the season or something) that you are training for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 weeks is transitory, and yes, you might lose some fitness or a bit of muscle size during that time, but compared to a lifetime of activity, it's nothing. Whichever option gives you the BEST chance to get back to normal activity for the long term is the one that I would go with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as a personal example: I've been a competitive athlete since I was 4 (40ish years), and was in the middle of the current triathlon season, and ruptured my achilles in martial arts class 6 weeks ago. I had the option of either cast only, and letting it knit on it's own, or surgery to repair. The surgery was a longer rehab, more inactivity, but it gives me the best option to return to full, normal activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, figure out which option gives you the best chance to get back to normal, do that, and deal with the minor losses that you will have in 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T14:36:33.527" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7245" CreationDate="2012-07-12T18:31:06.210" Score="4" ViewCount="5260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read an article in &lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20130117233513/http://archive.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Men's Journal&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[A] guy who hasn’t trained in a long time, if ever, will get stronger faster on the simplest program of squats, dead lifts, and presses, three times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it has changed my views somewhat on what I should be doing in the gym. Basically the author claims that those 4 exercises are basically all I need to get stronger and buffer and that all the gym equipments are bad since they focus on a single muscle set. I'm resolved to follow his method, is this the right way to go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2018-06-26T17:35:18.760" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T17:35:18.760" Title="Bench pressing and deadlift on even days, squat and pull up on odd days. Is this all I need?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7244" CreationDate="2012-07-12T19:00:31.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might have additional needs to address specific imbalances or mobility issues, and I'd do a standing press instead of bench, but deadlift/squat/pull-up/press is a great basis for a minimal strength training breakfast. It's a fine approach. If you follow that program well, with good form, using near-maximal weights, and get good food and sleep, you'll get much stronger. If need be, you'll add or change exercises in a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to keep in mind the caveats he puts on this recommendation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s true that you cannot do the same workout forever; you’ll go stale, and then you’ll go crazy, and then you’ll quit. It’s also true that the stronger you get, and the closer to your genetic potential, the more you have to mix in new lifts and switch up the numbers of sets and reps you’re doing, just to make a little gain each week, or even each month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...[C]oaches like Shaul throw in the Olympic “quick lifts” — the snatch, the clean-and-jerk.... When you’re ready to add muscular endurance, it’s all about body weight: push-ups, pull-ups, chins, dips, and sit-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This simple formula is 90 percent of what you need to know&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: 90%. Not 100%. But for the vast majority of generally fit people looking to get stronger, yes, &amp;quot;squat/deadlift/press/pull-up heavy 3 days a week&amp;quot; is the shape of the best approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sidebar: I also like the minimal program of clean+press/clean+front squat/deadlift (done as one set, being forced to switch to the next exercise as one adds weight), plus pull-ups. It adds an exercise, power cleans, which help develop strength into power for the purposes of athleticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T19:07:07.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7244" CreationDate="2012-07-12T19:10:08.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fully agree with the approach of sticking with the basic strength building exercises and working out 3-4 times a week.  I would highly recommend getting the Starting Strength book by Mark Rippetoe (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&lt;/a&gt;).  He focuses on strength more than endurance or muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real answer is, what are you looking to do? what are your goals? If you're looking to get in great/general health, than yes, this is a great approach.  If you're looking to loose weight you need to also focus on nutrition.  If you have a specific sport/hobby that you perform (swimming, cycling, etc.) you probably want to modify your program with the focus on your specific interest.  Write down your goals, stay with an approach (it could take 8-12 weeks to see improvement).  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T19:10:08.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7244" CreationDate="2012-07-12T20:25:56.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on what you mean by even and odd days. If you're having it as even workout days and odd workout days, and are including enough rest days in between, then sure. But if odd means days 1/3/5 of the week and even means days 2/4/6 of the week you're not giving yourself a chance to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those 4 exercises aren't necessarily all you need, but they are a very important foundation. If you're not doing any of them and are doing other exercises instead, you're probably not getting the results you could be getting (unless you've got a particular reason for being unable to do squats, deadlifts, pullups or presses, in which case doing the next best exercises would give you the best results you could get). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the 3 workout per week schedule is popular, and is way better than the 5-6 workout per week schedule, I don't think it's necessarily that ideal. I'd suggest 2 workouts per week or even 3 workouts every 2 weeks instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T20:25:56.437" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2012-07-12T20:38:44.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say this is probably one of the few instances in which using isolation exercises on machines is good. It's not something you'd want to make a habit of, but doing a leg press instead of a squat to keep working your legs would make sense, and one of those tricep machines that lets you push against a pad with your arm instead of gripping something would also work in the mean time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cast or splint would probably depend on personal discipline. If you know you'll not do anything with your wrist, then splint is probably more convenient, but if you know you won't be able to resist activity, getting the cast is a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T20:38:44.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7241" CreationDate="2012-07-12T21:46:56.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my perspective, as someone with a small ribcage and long arms (fortunately, my humerus is longer than my radius and ulna), the bench press poses some risks. Someone with a barrel chest and short arms can perform the bench press in a safe range of motion, whereas if I were to consistently do a bench press with bar to chest, my elbows would actually be lower than my back - that would not be good for my shoulders. I generally do my presses with the inside of my elbow no lower than my back, but the bar doesn't touch my chest. I'm not entirely certain what the advantage is of using a board over other options. I would think doing the press inside a squat rack with pins at the lowest height you want the bar to go would make more sense, and would be safer. Alternately doing a floor press instead, with the boards (if necessary) under the plates would also make more sense to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T21:46:56.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7256" CreationDate="2012-07-12T22:58:10.223" Score="5" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a desk job as a programmer for the last 3.5 years and I have gotten pretty unfit.  I am not fat or overweight however I am not fit and healthy either, I struggle to run to the end of my road without getting out of breath and I cannot lift weights that are that heavy either.  So I am fairly unfit and asthmatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to change this and I am trying to find or even come up with an exercise plan that will help me achieve the following goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve my conditioning level, currently I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_expiratory_flow&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;peak flow&lt;/a&gt; which is between 300-400 which is seriously low for a 22 year old male and should definitely be a main priority in increasing this to 580-600.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to be able to lift respectable weights things like squatting 1.5 x bodyweight, deadlifting 2 x bodyweight etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I was growing up and had a much higher level of fitness I never really followed an  exercise program but I did a lot of sport and this kept me very fit.  Activities such as swimming, jujitsu, sprinting etc.  At the moment I don't really have time to get back into multiple activities to keep me fit and I think for now I would prefer to follow an exercise program which will help me to achieve the goals set above.  My problem is I do not know how to achieve these goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most exercise programs I have come across seem to focus on getting bigger or running further (some sort of specific goal), whilst both of these are things I am aiming for my main overall goal is to get fit and healthy.  My low peak flow reading is a concern for me and I need to increase this but at the same time I don't just want to do conditioning work and not get any stronger, similarly I do not want to just get strong and ignore my terrible conditioning level.  I am quite unsure how to approach this.  I did find and follow &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;CrossFit WOD&lt;/a&gt; for about 3 months (before stopping because I just fell out of the habit) but I had two problems with it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Some of the WODs require lots of equipment which can be hard to get hold of at the gym and secure for the whole WOD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) My strength level whilst following it didn't really seem to increase.  It felt as though you would maintain a current base of strength following the program but you would struggle to improve upon it by following the WOD.  I did notice that my conditioning did improve whilst following the program though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I suppose my question really is, is it possible for me to work on both of these goals at the same time, if yes then what is a good way to approach it?  I am not looking for a quick fix here and realise it will take hard work and commitment from me, but I would like to feel if possible that I am targeting both of the goals outlined above rather than just one or the other.  Currently I have not come across and effective way to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1975" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T05:03:44.560" Title="How to pick an exercise program to achieve my goals" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7250" CreationDate="2012-07-12T23:04:58.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronglifts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; is a really good place to start. A lot of people have had good results with it - I have too doing a similar variation, although very quickly I had to change up the schedule to several more rest days. The base principle of a few compound lifts with progressively increasing weights stays the same. The exercise selection and frequency might change a bit depending on the results you're getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength is pretty much a necessary foundation for everything else. Getting stronger will improve your endurance and cardiovascular performance (although obviously endurance training will improve it more). So you'll build up your strength first, maybe spending a year to hit your target of 1.5-2x your bodyweight, and then look at other workouts you might want to do (or perhaps see just how far you can work your strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try to work on both at the same time, but I'd say focus primarily on strength, as it's something you can build into a habit before you start throwing in something else. If you try to pile too much on, you'll find it much harder to make a habit of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T23:04:58.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3000" CreationDate="2012-07-12T23:40:35.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kicking off the running shoes would be a viable alternative, but I'd actually go one step further. Don't wear running shoes for the cardio portion either. Better proprioception is better proprioception. Just like the elevated heel affects your lifting technique, it also affects your running technique, and once again, not in a good way. A thick heel encourages heel striking while running. Technically you can go for a forefoot or midfoot strike with normal running shoes, but it's easier with zero drop shoes (shoes without a difference in sole thickness at the front and rear). Also, running with thin soled shoes encourages a change in running technique with less impact that is overall much better for your joints. Use VFFs for your cardio and your lifting, you have no need to change shoes and you get benefits for both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-12T23:40:35.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5498" CreationDate="2012-07-13T01:44:06.340" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there are really no available facilities to do blood tests yourself, most likely because of the nature of how they get analyzed and the specific items needed to collect the specimens, as well as being cost prohibitive and federally regulated for portions of the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, most blood tubes have some sort of additive to cause the blood to react in specific ways. A tiger top tube (red and black rubber stop) or the newer plastic version, the gold top, has a clot activator and a gel for specific serum separation. Once the blood is drawn, it is centrifuged, and then assayed in various ways, most of them involving microscopic counts and smears of various types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, there are various reagents and stains for blood tests that are necessary, most of which require some sort of facility type license (clinic, hospital, etc) to purchase. And, the last time I checked, the needles and other implements were also controlled, due to their possible use as drug paraphernalia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add to the list training, because if you are drawing different types of tubes, there are specific methods and order of draw to avoid contamination one tube with another, disposal of the body fluids and sharps after you are done, which is tightly federally regulated, with very hefty fines for improper disposal or infractions. Additionally, it is extremely awkward to draw blood on yourself, and an improper draw can result in exploded RBC's in your sample, which means you have to start all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are various home kits that you can order for different tests, however they are somewhat cost prohibitive, and are of the blood spot, send it in type of test. I am not aware of any where you draw your own tubes and send them in, but I haven't looked at them in a while, that may have changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet would be to come up with something that you want to test/prove, research the literature to see if it has been done already, and then present it to a local college that has a doctoral level kinesiology program, and see if they want to take it on as a research paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-13T13:46:38.570" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T13:46:38.570" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-13T04:26:42.363" Score="2" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;Daily i run for 15 minutues on treadmill. After 10 minutes, it started feeling of acidity in food pipe. What would you like to suggest in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3622" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T15:41:06.913" Title="I feel acidity after running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6163" CreationDate="2012-07-13T04:33:08.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found Vitamin C to help with sleep (not sure why, it's usually Cal-Mag that's recommended for sleep), which is pretty crucial to recovery. If you're getting enough sleep then it probably wouldn't help, but if you're not, then it could be worth doing for the potential sleep benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T04:33:08.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7250" CreationDate="2012-07-13T05:03:44.560" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your twin goals of &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;conditioning&lt;/strong&gt; are good ones. You might consider adding &lt;strong&gt;mobility&lt;/strong&gt; to that list at some later point, but those are the basics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strength First&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, strength training should take precedence over conditioning, since strength carries over into conditioning challenges more than conditioning carries over into strength challenges. In particular, since you haven't been working out, you have the awesome opportunity to do a novice's linear progression. That is to say, by focusing on strength above all else for a while, you can make substantial gains. Then, you can add conditioning and other goals to your programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do that--dedicate yourself entirely to strength for a time, then moderate that after a few months when the easy gains have tapered off--you should look into Starting Strength or StrongLifts. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2736/1771&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; talks about the minor differences between two.) They're both fine programs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Starting Strength &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2736/1771&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; gives you the bare minimum of information in order to take on the program. The 2nd or &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3679/1771&quot;&gt;3rd edition book&lt;/a&gt; is details the program in full. StrongLifts, as I understand it, is entirely run through e-books, emails, and Mehdi's online forums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strength Plus Conditioning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternate approach, which is just as awesome, is to add conditioning work to your strength program. You can do whatever strikes your fancy: sprint on your off-days, push a Prowler at the end of your lifting session, drop by a CrossFit gym on the weekends...the beautiful thing about conditioning is that it's &lt;em&gt;supposed&lt;/em&gt; to be varied. Circle back every few weeks to a benchmark test (e.g. &quot;how many kettlebell clean and jerks can I do in ten minutes?&quot; or &quot;can I do six 100-meter sprints without feeling like microwaved vomit?&quot;) to track your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your strength progress will be severely impacted under this approach. You'll need to add weight to your lifts less often, and you'll be unable to continue adding weight for as long. However, you'll stay lean and in shape while slowly getting stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some deeper information regarding how to structure weightlifting according to different possible goals, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3679/1771&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; may be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T05:03:44.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-13T07:50:09.007" Score="0" ViewCount="713" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5 feet 11 and I weight 189 pounds, I'm trying to lose some weight to reach 176 pounds but I'm failing to lose weight using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fatsecret.it&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Fat Secret weight diary&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;(I use the metric system and my weight is 86 Kg, I'm 1,82 meters tall)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I calculated my GDA (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gdalabel.org.uk/gda/home.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guideline Daily Amounts&lt;/a&gt;) with 2500 kcal, but although I'm not filling them entirely every day (I'm always at 40-50% of it), my weight is swinging around 86 kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I lower the percentage again or the GDA is just plain wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3843" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T16:48:05.223" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T16:48:05.223" Title="How to properly use Guideline Daily Amounts for determining my calorie consumption?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7278" CreationDate="2012-07-13T11:44:18.127" Score="3" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost all training programs or workout routines are focused on the very short term, e.g. 90 days, 12 weeks and similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is about the &quot;kernel&quot; (key elements in a wide sense) for a training program that can work throughout at least half of an expected life time for most people in the developed world. A long term training program that manages the changes in care taking situations (children, ageing parents), injuries (permanent, temporary, ..), physical capability, income, moving to different countries/regions and work situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Google Scholar, it seems like the topic &quot;lifelong physical training&quot; generates interesting results, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&amp;amp;q=lifelong%20physical%20training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;life long physical training&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. Habits seems to be important for people to maintain long training programs. See for example, &quot;Physical activity and muscle training in the elderly.&quot; a 20 year study on male &quot;orienterare&quot;. However, I know many in that sport that have changed to other sports or - in most cases - stopped training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the commercial side, there are a number of gyms in the US that promises &quot;life long fitness&quot; but their methods seem to be the same as other gyms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-29T17:31:39.593" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T17:31:39.593" Title="What is the &quot;kernel&quot; for a 4 decade training program for physical fitness?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7353" CreationDate="2012-07-13T12:03:03.583" Score="5" ViewCount="1076" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to be starting to train for either a half or full marathon.  The problem I have is I live in the desert, it's hot...all the time, even in the early mornings it is in the mid-upper 80s to low 90s.  So running outside is not ideal for me. I own a treadmill and I do most of my running on that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read articles about using a treadmill for &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of the training but not all of it. Most advise to use an incline of 1-2% to simulate wind resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any specific training plans that could be easily adjusted for treadmill training?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned that the treadmill won't get me race ready since I will not be training outside. Should I attempt to add some outside runs prior to race day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3653" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T13:36:10.660" Title="Training for Half/Full Marathon on Treadmill" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7259" CreationDate="2012-07-13T13:30:47.513" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess you can train for a marathon on a treadmill but I'm certainly not a marathon runner, so take this with a pinch of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I think powered treadmills don't work the muscles that push you forward so much as actual running, I sometimes feel that the treadmill is pushing my legs along. I'd recommend finding some exercises to work hamstrings, glutes etc Squats and dead lifts are probably good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link has some useful tips (Music and TV to avoid boredom, variety, speed work) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runbritain.com/articles/marathon-training-on-a-treadmill-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runbritain.com/articles/marathon-training-on-a-treadmill-1/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess as an &quot;extra&quot;, you can video yourself on the treadmill to check out you form and see where you are wasting energy (flailing arms, feet twisting out etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T13:30:47.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10032" CreationDate="2012-07-13T14:10:45.547" Score="12" ViewCount="44107" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be your number 1 tip to do pull ups with the Lats ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do 5-6 pull ups in a set but I don't feel my Lats. I have tried using the thumbless grip and pulling from the elbows both seem to have helped but I still don't feel my Lats do the work. After the work out, I sure feel the stretch in my Lats but I don't know how to activate them while working out. However I am able to isolate my Lats in other movements. I can feel them doing the work in Barbell rows and One Arm dumbell rows but just don't know how to use them in a pull up. Like wise on a pull down machine, I can use a lot of weight but dont know what muscles actually pull it down :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks for your suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T15:10:42.407" Title="how to pull with your Lats" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2012-07-13T15:14:05.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, congratulations.  Doing 5-6 pullups per set is no easy feat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're getting your chin over the bar without kipping, you probably are engaging your lats to some degree.  Pullups are a compound muscle exercise that will engage your lats, trapezius, rhomboids, biceps, etc.  Its possible that your lats are adequately developed for this exercise at the current weight.  If you're able to do a full range of motion, you might consider trying to increase the number of reps per set you do, or add weight with a weight belt to further stimulate your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a pretty good description of a visualization technique for exercise the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3123/visualization-techniques-for-pullups?rq=1&quot;&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt;..  But from your description, I'd say you're doing it the right way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilders will sometimes focus on &quot;wide grip pullups&quot; or &quot;wide grip pulldowns&quot; (on a cable pull) to isolate their lats.  My experience is that they DO isolate my lats, but are also cause pain in my rotator cuff.  Your experience may vary.  A link to a bodybuilding site that discusses pullup variations is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ridgely9.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T15:21:20.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7259" CreationDate="2012-07-13T15:27:19.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A treadmill won't prepare you for the impact of running for real. If the (half) marathon is in the desert and you're running through the sand then the problem you'd run into is fatigue. If (much more likely) the (half) marathon is on the road, you'll be in for a really nasty surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, unless you're planning on running somewhere quite different from where you live, you'll want to acclimatize yourself to the environment, which means getting used to running in the desert heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you insist on training only on a treadmill, don't do a full marathon. Half is the most, and even then you'll be in for a nasty experience, as the treadmill really won't prepare you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T15:27:19.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7258" CreationDate="2012-07-13T15:42:02.777" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting heavy weights. Everything else you might do depends on strength, so if you don't have that, you'll be limited. If you do have it, everything will improve for you. You'll be more flexible, have better endurance, will be less injury prone and will recover from injuries faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also very sustainable. You can do one short, high intensity lifting routine per week, not have any significant (or any at all) soreness the following days and make gains (or, once you start hitting the peak of your potential, sustain them). 5 minutes, to do one set of squats or deadlifts, one set of presses and one set of pull ups with sufficient weight to keep you under 10 reps will keep you going, and it's something you'll be able to fit in, even with a changing schedule. Not included in the one set is doing 1-2 warmup sets of 5 reps with lower weights. The best thing is, within a half an hour cooldown after the set you'll still be in shape to do any physical activity that's necessary for your life, and you won't have worn out your muscles that you couldn't move furniture for the next two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously there will be some scenarios in which a weight room just isn't available, but there really isn't anything else that could make up the core of your program that can adjust to the changes in life. There's bodyweight routines and rope skipping, but those end up taking a lot more time, which makes them a lot harder to sustain over weeks or months (unless you're doing handstand pushups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answer is walking. 30 minutes per day (or at least 3x/week). That has been shown repeatedly to significantly reduce the risk of most illnesses, compared to being completely sedentary. I have a hard time calling that a fitness routine though, it's really more of a bare minimum. I can't really think of a scenario in which 30 minutes of walking isn't possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-07-18T21:13:16.517" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T21:13:16.517" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2012-07-13T17:44:47.377" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume that you are using the grip with your palms facing forward, palms facing inward will tend to emphasize the biceps more than the lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The visualization that works for me, rather than thinking of &quot;pulling&quot; from the elbows, is thinking of &quot;squeezing&quot; the elbows to the body. Stand up, and place your hands and arms in the position that you would be in if you were about to do the press part of a clean and press. (Palms should be forward).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, squeeze your elbows into your body. As you do this, your chest will probably push out a couple inches, that's ok. That is the ending position of a pullup. Now, resisting the motion with your lats, push your hands and arms upward until they are over your head. That is the motion that you want for your pull up, and that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; give you the feeling of lat activation through the entire exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T17:44:47.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6477" CreationDate="2012-07-13T22:31:45.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; actually better to take it slowly. Recovery is the most important part of gaining strength. With most workout routines that people follow, decreasing the number of sets, decreasing the number of reps per set, decreasing the number of exercises (unless you're just doing 3-4) and increasing the number of rest days between workouts will improve results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now this doesn't mean you actually have to take it easy. An &lt;em&gt;extensive&lt;/em&gt; workout really isn't the best, but an &lt;em&gt;intensive&lt;/em&gt; one still can be very good. You increase the intensity by upping the weights. This is taken to the extreme by only doing a single set of an exercise at a weight you can do no more than 10 reps with (6 reps if you have the capacity to do small increments of weight increase, going up to 10 is sometimes necessary if the smallest jump you can make is 10lbs). Depending on the exercise and whether you have a spotter, you'll cheat on the last rep to get it up when you can't do it properly anymore (you've trained to concentric failure), hold the weight up as long as you can (you've trained to isometric failure) and then lower it as slowly as you can (you've trained to eccentric failure). With other exercises rather than cheating to get up you'll just hold the weight at your sticking point for as long as possible, and then slowly lower back down. It isn't really necessary to go for isometric and concentric failure as well, but it will give you some faster gains without having to scale anything else back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T22:31:45.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7258" CreationDate="2012-07-13T23:28:23.340" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out the book &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; by Rippetoe and Kilgore. It is aimed at the college educated professional strength coach and covers every aspect of developing training programs. While overly detailed for the likes of us, it is the basis for lifetime learning. BTW I'm over 60 and started lifting in my teens. I've always put my education, career, and personal relationships first so I've taken many lay-offs - some of them long. The key attitude is &lt;em&gt;wanting&lt;/em&gt; to lift when you have time/energy as opposed to feeling you &lt;em&gt;had better&lt;/em&gt; start lifting now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T23:28:23.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2731" CreationDate="2012-07-13T23:44:11.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You haven't specified your age or training history. I was introduced to Bill Starr's 5X5 back in the eighties by a professional strength trainer. I was in my thirties, living in Japan, and actively engaged in amateur sumo. It worked. Mark Rippetoe is the inheritor of the Starr mantel. Prior to the Starr system, I had done a lot of Weider style body building and even Nautilus. Now in my sixties I have found 5X5's on the big exercises (back squats, deadlifts...) to be too dangerous. I would recommend Starting Strength to a younger person - get the DVD and a buddy to check your form - you don't need an expert, just some one willing to watch the DVDs and read the book with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T23:44:11.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7269" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-13T23:51:30.670" Score="1" ViewCount="10562" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've determined that tightness/weakness in my teres minor is at least partially repsonsible for the clicking in my shoulder when I rotate, apparently in its function as an antagonist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have thera-bands, medicine balls, dumbbells and kettlebells I can use for the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are exercises that specifically target the teres minor? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-07-14T04:19:03.080" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T03:35:06.817" Title="Teres minor rehab isolation exercises" Tags="&lt;rehabilitation&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7172" CreationDate="2012-07-14T00:02:20.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've taken lots of breaks over the last 45 years, some of them measured in years. You didn't say why you took the break so the following might not apply now but it will.&#xA;Every work out doesn't have to be part of a scientifically programmed routine. A random trip to the gym every week or so just 'messing around (with good form)' with some favorite exercises depending on time and energy might have eliminated this question completely. No gym? Try weird single leg exercises and one arm pushups - use furniture for support or leverage. This is not a criticism, just information. The fact that you didn't quit because you fell off the wagon tells me you'll do fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T00:02:20.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2012-07-14T03:26:13.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretend that between your shoulders and elbows are wings. Try and lift with this part and not as much with your arms. Also with all exercises have that mind body connection. This is what Kai Greene recommends. Hope it helps &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3750" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T03:26:13.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2012-07-14T04:32:11.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ellington Darden in The New High-Intensity-Training has this to say about training the lats with chinups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One common mistake is using a wide grip on lat pulldowns and pullups. Bodybuilders believe that wide hand spacing provides more stretch and a greater range of movement for the lats. But the truth is the opposite: A wide grip provides &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; stretch for the lats than you'd get with a narrow grip. Furthermore, the wide grip actually prevents a greater range of movement by allowing the upper arms less rotation at the shoulder joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's look at grip. Your biceps are strongest when your hands are supinated-turned toward you. Yet most bodybuilders work their lats with their hands pronated-turned away from them-which puts them at their weakest. Since the biceps are important supporting muscles for the lats, you'll be able to work you lats harder if you use a supinated grip when you do chinups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had good results with everything else suggested by HIT exponents like Darden and Mentzer, so it's definitely worth a shot applying this as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T04:32:11.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2012-07-14T04:40:04.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A woman with long muscle bellies might find they bulk up more than they'd like doing heavy lifting as they have a greater potential for muscle size. One of my exes had a tendency to bulk up quite easily (even without weights), while her brother remained skinny as a rail. I didn't know about the effect of muscle bellies at the time, but I suspect that's probably what allowed her to bulk up like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the very few instances that a woman has long muscle bellies, lifting heavy would cause her to bulk up. As a result, there's a smidgeon of truth to the belief. That said, most women do not have long muscle bellies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also useful info for men with bodybuilding aspirations - if you have long muscle bellies, your bodybuilding potential is great. If you have short muscle bellies, you can forget about any dreams of being a champion bodybuilder - even with steroids you won't be able to come close to a natural bodybuilder with long muscle bellies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T04:40:04.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2012-07-14T07:35:12.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also highly recommend to add chin-ups as an additional exercise. This will help with the lats development needed for both bench press and barbell rows and grip strength needed for deadlifts. The original Stronglifts 5x5 had chin ups after deadlifts and dips after barbell rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T07:35:12.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2012-07-14T07:41:25.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll bet anything you have long arms and a fairly small chest. As a result, both the bench press and the row are a lot harder for you than for someone with shorter arms. Just set lower goals for those two movements, you'll never push/pull as much as a guy with T-Rex arms and a Donkey Kong chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T07:41:25.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2012-07-14T13:34:48.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Joshua - I read your question, your updates, the response (I completely agree with Dave and Berin) and kept coming back to your #'s.  It seems your out of balance between the different lifts and being 200lbs + the bench is far below where it should be - especially based on your systematic approach, focused diet, etc.  What is missing from your information is: what part of the bench press is the biggest sticking point, what accessory bench exercises are you doing (narrow grip? band/chain presses, etc.) - it sounds very much like a technical/execution issue and/or specific muscle group lacking....the interesting thing is your row is lacking also....could it be a weakness in your upper back muscle chain? Lats/Delts?  Do you do dips/pull ups? any issues there?  Here's a few articles that might help -&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Pressing Power:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/pressing_power&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/pressing_power&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to blast through your weakest link!:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/sticking_point_therapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/sticking_point_therapy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't move away from the great progression you're making, but don't get caught up in any one program.  I'm a firm believer of the 5x5 Rippitoe, but also deviate to keep things interesting and see what others do and how I can incorporate different (new to me) ideas. One of the better bench accessory exercises I do is swinging the sledge hammer...why does it help? I think it helps with the explosive power and lat work...good luck &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T13:34:48.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7303" CreationDate="2012-07-14T14:22:59.173" Score="1" ViewCount="21347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am out of shape(else why would I be here, lol), I weigh 185 pounds, 178cm height(5'9'' I guess). Lately I have been trying to work out and lift some weights for around 4 weeks, but yesterday I was playing a game(cricket) and I felt very heavy and I cannot move faster. What I thought was, If I lift some weights I will lose some calories(I do run daily, but not as fast) and will come in shape. But seems like the opposite is happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to reduce weight, need to reduce atleast 165-170 pounds. Am I moving in the wrong direction by lifting weights and doing cardio at the same time or should I do cardio only for next 3 weeks or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Diet is I eat oats/2 slices of bread in the morning(8:30 am). Afternoon(12:00 noon), I eat office food ranging from chipotle to chinese food(its free, why would I miss it), but I make sure I don't eat much. And I drink two coffees per day. Evening(7:00pm), I eat just fruits usually apple, peach, 2 bananas. Weekends I kinda cut lose not so much(not at nights though). It really sucks, because after doing all these, I did not seem to reduce any weight in 4 weeks, I was 190 pounds now 185 pounds. Just wondering, if doing weights is pulling me back a bit? Please advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually I am planning to drop dng weights for next 3 weeks and do only cardio. So, if thats the right way to do, how much calories perday, in order to bring down my weight to 170 pounds in 3 weeks(all 21 days). Thanks!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3849" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T20:12:21.357" Title="Does lifting weights pull back you weight losing process?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7258" CreationDate="2012-07-14T18:13:02.180" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, as fredob requested, this is an n=1 style of writeup, for my experiences and what I consider to be the core kernels of a lifetime fitness program. Note, this is not a design for specific competition, this is fitness in general. Obviously if you compete, you would need to tweak the physical component and nutrition components to support that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NUTRITION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the first component, and arguably the most important. You can be running 75 miles a week, throwing around heavy weights, whatever your activity might be, but shoveling big macs and fries down 4 days a week with pizza and ice cream chasers. If you don't supply your body in a healthy way, you can't expect it to perform consistently. Note I say nutrition, and not diet. In my mind, diet implies a process. The problem with a process is that it has a beginning, and an end. There is no end. You either have good nutrition planning or you don't. Doesn't mean that you can't have cheat days, fall of the wagon a bit, etc., but overall your nutrition plan is sound and based in your needs for daily existence plus your activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MENTAL ACTIVITY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the second component. Protect your mind. Play games, play an instrument, read a book, do puzzles, whatever floats your boat. Keeping your mind active and well rounded will enable you to still be sharp and on top of things well into your twilight years. The more active you can be, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PHYSICAL ACTIVITY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get out. Do SOMETHING. Walk, ride a bike, swim, play horseshoes, move around, anything. Get your heart rate up, sweat a little, make your body work. Find something you truly enjoy doing, because like a diet, &quot;getting in shape&quot; or doing something you don't like for the sake of activity is a dead end process. Ok, so you got in shape. Now what? But, if you truly enjoy what you're doing, you'll keep on doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RESISTANCE TRAINING&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More and more, studies are showing that resistance training can help preserve muscle as we age. Take a look at what you do in your physical activity, and plan your resistance training to supplement that, and keep your muscles in balance. A lot of back problems, for instance, could be alleviated if people trained their spinal muscles as much as their trophy abs. You don't necessarily have to heave around small cars, but especially as you age, resistance training can help preserve muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BALANCE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your life in balance. Make time for your sports, family, work, personal time, etc. When you start sacrificing one for the other, your life eventually starts spinning out of control. There will be times when you HAVE to sacrifice for a bit, but let those be as short as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I have been in sports for 41 years. This includes 17 years swimming, 9 years cross country (HS/College), 2 years wrestling, 4 years competitive cycling, almost 20 years in martial arts. I've competed at every level from local clubs to a handful of Nationals and a couple of Worlds. As soon as something stops being fun, I find something else. (I walked out on two years of scholarship in swimming because I was burned out. Still hate swimming.) I play D&amp;amp;D, board games, poker, chess. I have an outstanding wife and wonderful family. I recognize my capabilities, and I'm still not sure if I've found my limits or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In those 41 years, I've had one injury (Ruptured achilles 6 weeks ago) that kept me sidelined for more than a week. I attribute this to a lifetime of athletics, lucky genetics, and enough sense to monitor myself and sensibly push my limits, and staying within the above categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this is what you were looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-14T18:21:06.693" LastActivityDate="2012-07-14T18:21:06.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7283" CreationDate="2012-07-15T04:01:40.340" Score="0" ViewCount="600" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can somebody explain &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/workout-center/wp/the-no-wait-workout/27601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Men's Health workout plan&lt;/a&gt; to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand what this workout is asking me to do (along with the commenters).  More specifically, how am I supposed to know which workouts to do on a given day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-24T18:28:33.657" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T18:28:33.657" Title="Don't Understand Workout Schedule" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7308" CreationDate="2012-07-15T04:09:45.680" Score="2" ViewCount="1040" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my situation...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a bench, a barbell with 300 pounds of plates, and dumbbells up to 100 pounds (each) in a &lt;strong&gt;very small room&lt;/strong&gt;. I am 5'9&quot; tall and weigh 159 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bench is very close to a wall, I have room to do bench presses but can not (under any circumstance) extend my hand past the top of the bench.  This means exercises like skull crushers are not possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm seeking a full, weekly workout plan.  I'm within my BMI, but want to get cut.  My goal is to lose 8 - 10 pounds of fat and gain some muscle.  I am undoubtedly an mesomorph and in my early twenties.  I'm looking to gain muscle that's above average but I'm not interested in being huge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dream body?  &lt;a href=&quot;https://terrymarotta.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/marky-mark-calvin-klein.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Young Mark Wahlberg.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I truly appreciate any help or links.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:38:04.640" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T16:38:04.640" Title="Seeking a barbell/dumbbell workout for a very small room" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7277" CreationDate="2012-07-15T04:13:29.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights is great for you as long as you're using proper form and not pushing yourself too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights boosts your metabolism, even after you're done working out for the day.  People looking to lose weight should be lifting.  &lt;strong&gt;You may see some weight gain from lifting, but remember this is from gained muscle... not fat.  A good diet is essential in any weight loss plan.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, doing cardio for an extended period of time, say 20 to 25 + plus minutes, will begin to burn muscle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-15T04:13:29.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2656" CreationDate="2012-07-15T04:48:55.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/probiotic-foods/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Probiotic drinks/food&lt;/a&gt; in proper proportions may help. Drink buttermilk at regular intervals. Coconut water as mentioned in the above post, helps a lot, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you eat enough fruit. They have good proportions of fiber which helps digestion. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psyllium_seed_husks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Isapgol&lt;/a&gt; is proven to help digestion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid Laxatives. If you want to clear your stomach, you may consume a teaspoon of (edible) castor oil when you wake up in the morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3835" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T16:54:16.657" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T16:54:16.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7279" CreationDate="2012-07-15T05:38:37.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How you'd do the workouts on a particular day would look like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout 1: 1A&gt;2A&gt;3A&gt;4A&gt;5A&gt;6A&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rest Day(s)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Workout 2: 1B&gt;2B&gt;3B&gt;4B&gt;5B&gt;6B&#xA;Rest Day(s)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Workout 3: 1A&gt;2A&gt;3A&gt;4A&gt;5A&gt;6A&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rest Day(s)&#xA;etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a problem with the workout though - how much load a particular exercise will put on your body will depend on a number of things - limb length, muscle belly length, tendon insertion point and insertion angle, balanced strength between agonists, joint range of motion, muscle tightness and other things I haven't thought of at the moment. So either you're doing too light a weight with the dumbbells to get any results, or you'll be over-exerting yourself with a number of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That workout plan ignores the basic principle of progressive overload. It'll get results for someone completely new to exercise, but I'm sure anyone who does that will plateau really quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-16T00:45:41.447" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T00:45:41.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-15T18:02:43.697" Score="2" ViewCount="5250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to know how many calories one would burn if they just sat at a desk all the time on their 9-5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2260" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-16T16:43:07.730" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T16:43:07.730" Title="How many calories would a programmer (or somebody who is mostly at a desk) burn on a daily basis?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-07-16T21:01:46.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7285" CreationDate="2012-07-15T18:23:52.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A calculator can be useful in figuring this out.  Visit this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc&lt;/a&gt; to calculate calorie burn based on your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-15T18:23:52.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7196" CreationDate="2012-07-15T20:39:03.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because I'm pretty busy, I usually do weights both before and after cardio. The point of this is that the cardio functions as a rest period between sets, so I'm not just sitting around. I also feel like weights help warm me up for cardio and get to the target heart rate a bit faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3854" LastActivityDate="2012-07-15T20:39:03.037" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7279" CreationDate="2012-07-15T21:53:44.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 1A 1B stuff describes a &quot;superset&quot;. Normally one does 3 sets of curls then maybe 3 sets of Tricep pressdowns. You rest say 2 minutes between each set of curls then rest a few minutes before the tricep work. In a superset you would do a set of curls then go to the pulley and do a set of pressdowns with no real rest. &lt;em&gt;Then&lt;/em&gt; you rest one minute and repeat the superset. The idea is that the curls bring blood to the upper arm without tiring your triceps. Your biceps rest while your triceps work. Then you catch your breath. You can superset bench presses and calf stretches to save calf warm up time. You can superset pec deck flyes and bench presses to squeeze every ounce of effort from your pecs. It's like chess.&#xA;&quot;Split Routines&quot; often use letters as follows: Leg day A is heavy squatting no calf work. Leg day B is light weight easy lunges and heavy calf work. Monday is Legs A, Wednesday is deadlifting and benching, Friday is Leg day B. This is a pretty standard usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-15T21:53:44.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6970" CreationDate="2012-07-15T22:34:14.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The uber physical therapy expert Mike Reinold in his sport coach's seminars tells them they can only rule things &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; - only a doctor with the right equipment can rule something out. so I agree with @Meade while at the same time who can afford a real check-up? I don't like the sound of &quot;my whole body&quot; shaking. When I do weighted push ups with my feet elevated on a bench, my hips will shake just before failure on my heavy sets because the small synergist muscles are giving out. I know these are weak because I can't do hip airplanes very well despite my squatting strength. That doesn't sound like what's happening to you, unless all your synergists are weak. You might try backing off completely and looking for extremely wussy exercises (wall push ups) and see if that helps, but of course now we're playing doctor ruling out god knows what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-15T22:34:14.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6438" CreationDate="2012-07-16T00:36:30.443" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This answer is from an anonymous user, suggested as an edit to my post, which it is not, so here it goes. Best-case scenario would be that the anonymous author comes back and posts this as an answer. Until then, here's their input.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is an official baseline WOD. It is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500m row &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 Bodyweight (air) squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 Ab-Mat Sit-Ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 Push-Ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 Pull-Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &quot;km -- CF L1 Coach&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T00:36:30.443" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2012-07-16T02:42:07.963" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7285" CreationDate="2012-07-16T02:34:09.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To calculate the amount of calories you burn on a daily basis you can add your &lt;strong&gt;BMR&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;activity calorie expenditure&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)&lt;/strong&gt; is the amount of energy your body requires at rest just to maintain your bodily functions.  The BMR is expressed in calories.  You can roughly calculate your BMR with an online &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.discovery.com/centers/heart/basal/basal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMR calculator&lt;/a&gt; using your gender, weight, height and age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Activity Calorie Expenditure&lt;/strong&gt; - Next you can use the calorie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;activity calculator&lt;/a&gt;, entering your weight and the number of minutes &quot;studying&quot; to determine the additional calories you spend while sitting at your desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a 35 y.o., 5' 7&quot; man weighing 150#, would have a BMR of 1597 to 1611.0 calories depending on the calculator used.&#xA;Desk work for 8 hrs (or 480 minutes) adds ~ 1,008 calories for a total of 2619 calories per day (if my math is right). For metric values, here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.org/calculate-online/health-fitness/basal-metabolic-rate.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metric BMR calculator&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realize that these calculators are approximations and do not take into account your body fat percentage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T02:34:09.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7269" CreationDate="2012-07-16T03:35:06.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The teres minor muscle is part of the rotator cuff and it externally (laterally) rotates the shoulder.  It does so in combination with the infraspinatus, so I'm not certain that you can fully isolate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To Strengthen&lt;/strong&gt; the external rotators together, you can do so with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cables or resitance/thera-bands&lt;/strong&gt; in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Infraspinatus/CBStandingExternalRotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;neutral position&lt;/a&gt; or in an &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/BYPba3ms9io?t=2m&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elevated position&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Free weights&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Infraspinatus/DBLyingExternalRotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sidelying&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Levers or weight machines&lt;/strong&gt; - in &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Infraspinatus/LVExternalRotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;neutral&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Infraspinatus/LVUprightExternalRotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elevated&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you say you have shoulder symptoms, a small towel roll between your chest wall and your humerus will reduce shoulder joint stress when doing the above exercises in the neutral or sidelying position.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching&lt;/strong&gt; - When the teres minor is tight it limits shoulder internal rotation.  You can stretch the teres minor and infraspinatus with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Infraspinatus/Broomstick.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;broomstick stretch&lt;/a&gt;.  Or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luoiGpT4PJ8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; gives some nice rotator cuff stretches with different ways to target the external rotators.  You can also release the muscles using a tennis ball or theracane to massage the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't already, getting a full evaluation by a physical therapist or physio would be helpful to check for other contributing factors and stabilization of the scapula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T03:35:06.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-16T06:37:24.610" Score="0" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I still work calves but I am unable to do legs due to a forn facia in my right quad. Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3750" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T12:50:49.033" Title="Is it bad if I can't do legs in the gym?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2012-10-30T20:43:07.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7280" CreationDate="2012-07-16T12:28:20.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need is a combo nutrition and strength training program to put on some muscle and keep your BF% low to show them off...doing both at the same time is a bit tough and the Mark Wahlberg look is a combination of full time nutritionist, full time personal trainer and probably a part time plastic surgeon.  Set some realistic goals and go for what is healthy and makes you feel good.  Here's two books to get immediately, so you can begin studying and creating a good workout plan for you:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias=aps&amp;amp;field-keywords=starting%20strength&amp;amp;sprefix=starting%20s,aps,207#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_9?url=search-alias=aps&amp;amp;field-keywords=new%20rules%20of%20lifting&amp;amp;sprefix=new%20rules,aps,193&amp;amp;rh=i%3aaps,k%3anew%20rules%20of%20lifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/158333338X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New Rules of Lifting&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty tough giving you a good, long term plan without knowing you and seeing you train....take it slow, ramp up and keep in mind that every 3-4 months you'll need to modify your training to keep your body guessing (which helps with your gains and metabolism). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T12:28:20.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7294" CreationDate="2012-07-16T12:50:49.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are times in our training where you have to train around injuries.  This is not bad, just a fact of life.  Will you lose some strength and progress? Yes.  There's no way around that.  However, a small injury will become a big one one if you don't let your body heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend letting your torn facia heal.  You can focus on other things at the moment, or just rest.  Follow the instructions your doctor gave you, and when you are given the green light, ramp your training up gently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know what caused the injury to begin with, see if you can do anything to prevent it from happening again.  If it was due to bad technique, fix your technique.  If it was due to the violence of the sport (which is quite possible with rugby), see if you can refine your technique that takes that opportunity away from your opponent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T12:50:49.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7300" CreationDate="2012-07-16T12:57:10.387" Score="8" ViewCount="28082" Body="&lt;p&gt;What muscles or muscle groups are targeted by these different variations of pull-ups: 1.) &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Pull-up_%28exercise%29#List_of_some_variations&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;standard&lt;/a&gt; (overhanded), 2.) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/theogeo/2476503127/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;chin-ups&lt;/a&gt; (underhanded), and 3.) the neutral or parallel close grip pull-out (thumb is nearest the body - can done in an equipment similar to the '&lt;a href=&quot;https://startpage.com/do/search?cat=web&amp;amp;cmd=process_search&amp;amp;language=english&amp;amp;engine0=v1all&amp;amp;query=iron%20gym&amp;amp;x=0&amp;amp;y=0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Iron Gym&lt;/a&gt;')? What are the differences in the muscles these pull-up variations target?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Illustrations of the neutral or parallel close grip pull-out:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gk828.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Source: theblondeleadingtheblind.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/ironmike.jpg&quot;&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ntAcI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Source: asseenontv-wholesale.com/images/fitness/iron_gym_1.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also would specifically like to know if the modified chin-up as illustrated above, target different muscles compared to a standard pull-up or a standard chin-up? Or does it target similar muscles to one of the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Context and reason for question: I would like to know which pull-up variation targets which muscles, so I could use that variation in my workouts and try to focus on a certain muscle. E.g. If my biceps need work (which I do), then I could choose an optimal pull-up variation to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also interested in learning what muscles the neutral or parallel close grip pull-up targets (I don't get good results on either Wikipedia or Google), as it is a pull-up variation that can be done in the equipment I use (similar to the 'Iron Gym' equipment). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3313" LastEditDate="2012-07-17T03:01:12.827" LastActivityDate="2018-05-05T11:12:55.460" Title="What muscles are targeted by these different variations of pull-ups: standard, chin-ups, and the neutral or parallel close grip pull-up?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7172" CreationDate="2012-07-16T15:37:08.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My basic suggestion is listen to your body, don't overdo it at first.  Workout for a week or two to get your body back into the routine before you start hitting it hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T15:37:08.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7254" CreationDate="2012-07-16T15:41:06.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, see a doctor.  We can't diagnose you on the internet.  I would lean toward acid reflux or something similar.  There are so many things it possibly &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; be that I wouldn't take the chance.  I found a link on a forum where a group of runners discussed this problem extensively which may be of use to you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/community/forums/runner-communities/marathoners/acid-reflux-running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/community/forums/runner-communities/marathoners/acid-reflux-running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T15:41:06.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2012-07-16T16:23:55.680" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common wisdom is that the chin up (supinated grip) targets the biceps. It also appears to target the pectoralis major. The pull up targets the lower trapezius more. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mikereinold.com/2011/02/pull-up-or-chin-up-which-is-better.html&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ellington Darden also says the chin up better targets the lats because the involvement of the biceps means the arms won't give out as quickly as the pull up, allowing the back to get worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the neutral grip pull up, the best I've been able to find explaining why some people have a much easier time with it than the even chin up (despite that the chin up recruits the bicep more than the neutral grip) is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/archive/index.php/t-25782.html&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt; that it has a better mechanical advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stef points out that the main advantage is probably mechanical: a neutral grip results in a chest position during the movement much closer to the bar, i.e. a shorter moment arm between shoulder and grip. She is much smarter than I am, and possibly pays closer attention to pullup mechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, both supination and pronation of the hands involve various forearm muscles which would be held in isometric contraction while the upper arm and back muscles get to go between concentric and eccentric contraction. So depending on the isometric strength of your forearm muscles, they might reach failure before the upper arm or (much less likely) back muscles do.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction&quot;&gt;Explanation of contraction terms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-07-17T20:34:48.237" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T20:34:48.237" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7302" CreationDate="2012-07-16T16:47:20.363" Score="4" ViewCount="2324" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing the Stronglifts 5x5 workout program, and I was wanting to incorporate a stretching routine into my workout that would both:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement my lifts by stretching the used muscle groups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase my overall flexibility (sit reach, splits, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given these goals, what should my stretch routine look like? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T17:12:45.040" Title="Incorporating flexibility exercises into StrongLifts workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7301" CreationDate="2012-07-16T16:55:38.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should do it separately from or after your lifting. Stretching before lifting will decrease the force you will be able to produce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as supplementing your lifts, you only need to stretch if you can't use proper form or get full range of motion. Additional stretching will not help your lifts (won't necessarily hurt, either). Starting Strength, a program with similar lifts to Stronglifts, only gives three mentions of stretching in the entire book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your stretching routine depends on what you're looking to improve. You only mention two performance metrics in your question: sit reach and splits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For train those two aspects, do a general full body warm-up (doesn't have to be long... 5 minutes is fine), then do sit reaches, one legged sit reaches, splits, split variations, hamstring, and groin stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-16T17:12:45.040" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T17:12:45.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7277" CreationDate="2012-07-16T18:00:05.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let us start with the goal. Fifteen pounds in three weeks is five pounds per week. One pound is about 3500 calories. Therefore you would need a net deficit of 17,500 per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is not insignificant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am all in on setting strong goals, but it reaches a point where it may be too aggressive without proper supervision.  If like many reasonably active people you could do a 1000cal/hr exercise for 30 minutes you would have to do that exercise about 35 times per week, or 5 times per day every day for 3 weeks, assuming no reduction in calories consumed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd put that as not very likely, no offense. The reality is as you increase effort you will increase your appetite. Adding 2.5 hours per day of intense exercise will lead to a concomitantly large appetite increase. Reducing calorie intake in such a situation will lead to problems unless under very close medical supervision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That all said, now let us talk about strength training and weight loss. No, let us change it to fat loss. Do not go based on weight alone unless you are needing to meet specific weight barrier goals such as is found in wrestling, boxing, etc.. The reality is you should focus more on the makeup of the body, your composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, let us say for sake of discussion you decided you wanted to drop 9 pounds of fat in 3 weeks, an aggressive but obtainable goal. First you will want to measure or have measured, your current body fat percentage. Second, take measurements. Measure your waist, belly, shoulders, legs, and perhaps arms even. Third, get someone to take a picture of you in clothing that is as revealing as you can be comfortable with. Now get rid of or hide your scale, you won't want to se fit for three weeks. Do all this preferably as soon as you get up but have not had breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will serve as your baseline upon which to measure success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you'll want a regimen that mixes cardio with strength training. Strength training has been shown time and time again to be a significant factor in fat loss. It stands to reason as muscle is what burns calories, the more muscle you have the more calories your body needs and thus the more fat burning potential you have. I would recommend lifting heavier weight with fewer repetitions two to three times per week. Cardio can be light on lifting days and a bit more intense on non-lifting days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardio, don't waste your time doing long and slow. Go for Fartlek, or interval training. For example, find a treadmill and do 8 seconds as fast as you can followed by 12 seconds letting it run while your feet rest on the side. Do this for 20 minutes, or as long as you can to get to that point. At the end of the 20 minutes, you are done with it. Walk it down and call it good. Substitute this for your normal running but with less frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combine that with a sensible diet (I would recommend one which is protein rich, moderate fat, and low in carbs ) and you will shift your composition toward a more muscular and less fat one. The heavy weights with fewer reps will not make you bulky, but it will increase your strength. The interval training will help you with your speed on the field as well. Remember, people work &lt;em&gt;very hard&lt;/em&gt; to get bulky - it doesn't happen by throwing some weights around. It takes dedication and very specific hard effort to get bulky on muscle (though it is easy to do with fat ;) ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And regarding the post that cardio burns muscle, I say it depends on diet. Most people doing a lot of cardio do it &quot;light and long&quot;, and don't get enough protein. You can do cardio with an appropriate protein intake and minimize muscle atrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also do heavy cardio. Heavy cardio would be putting the treadmill at maximum incline and then doing your running. Another way is a bike machine set on high resistance. You use the same routine but by setting the resistance very high you stress the muscle much more than a light flywheel rotation routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet as you relate it appears to be very high in carbohydrates. Shift that to the protein side and you'll see better benefits. You can cut out simple carbs such as grains and switch to vegetables and minimal fruit for your carbs and see better results. Also, for breakfast try to get 20-30g of protein in by the first hour after waking and you will see better fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. It may be a bit more than the title of your question asked as I tried to answer more of what you wrote in the question itself. After all the correct and simple answer to the title is &quot;No.&quot;. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T18:00:05.947" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2012-07-16T18:12:15.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wash in a low-water front loading washing machine every few days (1-2x per week). I also use a Tea Tree Oil liquid for the soap. I use a pre-wash cycle with the tee tree oil in both times and no other detergents. Once done they come out and go right in front of a fan to dry. I've been doing this for a year with my shoes as well as my two daughters' and we wear them all the time. I mean all day to work, around the house, yard work, and running - that kind of all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When not near home to do that I'll go sit in a hot tub or swim in a pool for a while. The chlorine content will kill the bacteria off. In fact the first time I encountered the stink that is what we did as we were in a hotel in a different state. Worked beautifully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearing socks helps reduce the speed of the buildup, so if you can wear them try that in addition to cleaning them regularly. MY oldest daughter tried that and it did reduce it. She could get away with washing once a week or so. My youngest daughter and I can't stand them so we just wash twice a week. After over a year, lots of miles and washes, nary a day going by without being worn my Vibrams (Bikila LS) are still hanging strong with just some of the reflective tape peeling off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I've tried is isopropyl alcohol, 70% solution. Soak them for a few minutes in that, then let dry in front of a fan. Works well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dry in front of a fan I have found to be crucial. Times when the fan wasn't available they would pick the smell back up quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T18:12:15.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2012-07-16T18:49:42.243" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The modified version that you are asking about it known as the &quot;parallel close grip pull-up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main target of all of these is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latissimus_dorsi_muscle&quot;&gt;latissimus dorsi&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The additional muscles worked during the &lt;strong&gt;chin-up&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;parallel close grip pull-up&lt;/strong&gt; are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachialis_muscle&quot;&gt;brachialis&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachioradialis&quot;&gt;brachioradialis&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teres_major_muscle&quot;&gt;teres major&lt;/a&gt;, posterior &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltoid_muscle&quot;&gt;deltoid&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhomboid_muscles&quot;&gt;rhomboids&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levator_scapulae_muscle&quot;&gt;levator scapulae&lt;/a&gt;, lower &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezius_muscle&quot;&gt;trapezius&lt;/a&gt;, middle trapezius, &lt;em&gt;sternal &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectoralis_major_muscle&quot;&gt;pectoralis major&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectoralis_minor_muscle&quot;&gt;pectoralis minor&lt;/a&gt;, with the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biceps&quot;&gt;biceps brachii&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and the long head of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceps_brachii_muscle&quot;&gt;triceps&lt;/a&gt; as dynamic stabilizers. (References: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWUnderhandChinup.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWCloseGripChinup.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The additional muscles worked during the &lt;strong&gt;pull-up&lt;/strong&gt; are the, brachialis, brachioradialis, &lt;em&gt;biceps brachii&lt;/em&gt;, teres major, posterior deltoid, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infraspinatus_muscle&quot;&gt;infraspinatus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teres_minor_muscle&quot;&gt;teres minor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, rhomboids, levator scapulae, lower trapezius, middle trapezius, pectoralis minor, with the long head of the triceps as a dynamic stabilizer. (Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWPullup.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The differences between the exercises are italicized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-16T19:01:30.573" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T19:01:30.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7277" CreationDate="2012-07-16T20:12:21.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Real Bill touched on some very important points, but I felt the need to add some clarification and supplementary information that simply wouldn't fit in a comment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Measuring success&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want to track your body fat as it is the most effective means to measure your fat loss. I use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Body-Fat-Using-the-US-Navy-Method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Navy method&lt;/a&gt; which works best for me. With it you only need to measure your height, waist, and neck, then put those figures into a calculator (I made a spreadsheet in Google Docs to handle this). You can still measure weight and use it as a goal metric; the body fat % simply adds context to weight so you can better understand it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, a 150kg person may have 10% body fat and a massive amount of muscle, whereas another 150kg person may have 25% body fat and no muscle at all; in this example you can clearly see the futility in measuring weight alone and not having the BF% to give you context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strength training vs cardio&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Real Bill mentions that muscle burn calories, and as a result strength training is a good opportunity for weight loss. I do not agree, and believe that the purported calories muscles burn are grossly overstated. The problem is that many studies were done on this, but they measured the calories burning directly after the workout, not during a sedentary time. Because of the incorrect approach taken in measuring calorie burn, the studies ended up with exaggerated results somewhere around 40-60 cal burned per pound of muscle. The studies I've seen done that measure correctly are really closer to 4-7 cal/lb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've seen first-hand how strength training makes you larger. This is because you need to consume a large amount of calories to stimulate muscle growth, and whatever excess calories consumed goes straight to your fat cells for storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conflicting goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, strength training is at odds with weight (or rather, fat) loss. If you want to lose fat, you'll end up with sub-optimal strength gains, and if you want to gain strength, you will end up with sub-optimal fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to do periods of only strength training, then follow that up with a period of only cardio (commonly called &quot;cutting&quot;). The length of the period is up to you, but it should be something substantial, at least in the 3-6 week range. This allows you to get maximal results in each one and not have your body constantly struggling against mixed signals of what you want it to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Realistic goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most experts in the industry agree that a &lt;strong&gt;safe&lt;/strong&gt; amount of fat loss per week is in the 1-2 pound range. This means that in your 3 week period you are safe to lose 3-6 pounds of fat, which is well below the 15 pounds you were hoping to achieve. It is important to set realistic goals for yourself based off of industry standards, which exist for a reason. This is not only important because of safety, but also for your long-term success. If you set your goals unrealistically high, and you keep consistently failing them due to their unattainable nature, you are far more likely to abandon your exercise routine because you don't feel like you are succeeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This rule applies to all aspects of fitness, so make sure you have clear expectations and reasonable goals defined before you begin your fitness program. Know what your target BF% and weight are. Know how strong you want to be (200kg squat, 350kg deadlift, etc). Target goals are key, as are incremental goals to guide your progress (i.e. week one:lose 1 pound, week 10:lose 10 pounds, week 20:lose 30 pounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;In summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure your body fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do periods of strength training and periods of cutting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set realistic target and incremental goals for your weight, BF%, and strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-07-16T20:12:21.357" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7310" CreationDate="2012-07-17T00:26:36.160" Score="3" ViewCount="6158" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me begin by saying I'm completely against steroids, as everybody should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't plan to get into fitness model shape, as I know it often involves extremely strict diets and starvation prior to competition.  What I'm interested in learning is what level of muscle is possible to achieve (given the right genetics) without the use of steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guys like &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gg6Ar.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scott Dorn&lt;/a&gt; claim to be completely natural bodybuilders.  Is this even possible?  If not, what level of muscle is one able to peak at without using steroids?  I'm extremely interested in bodybuilding and would appreciate any advice as how to achieve muscle which is both aesthetic &lt;em&gt;and functional&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know many natural body builders, who appear to be stronger, in all reality are less capable of lifting than athletes.  Is there a way to get the best of both worlds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T16:04:17.497" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T19:52:37.557" Title="What type of physique is possible without use of steroids?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7280" CreationDate="2012-07-17T02:03:19.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK. I've been thinking about what can be done with that set up, I had a similar limitation in terms of only having dumbbells, but I also had access to a machine (which I mainly used for the chin up bar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your dumbbells go up to 200lbs total, you can actually get some decent mileage out of them for deadlifts and squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lack of instruction on how to do a deadlift with dumbbells, so that's something I had to put together myself with instruction from doing it with a hex/shrug bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place the dumbbells outside your feet, parallel to them (pick a stance with your legs vertical, if you go too wide you'll put a lot of strain on your shoulders), with the middle of the handles lining up with your midfoot. Bend over to grip the handles, and then bend your knees until you can get a slight arch in your back, but don't extend the arch to your neck by looking up. While focusing on keeping your trunk in that slightly arched position, drive your hips up while you pull on the dumbbells. Hold at the top for a count (or a few seconds if you like, it's not that hard), just focus on having good posture. Then lower back down, again focusing on maintaining the arch in your back and bending your knees as necessary to put them back on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning I like to let go of the dumbbells and stand up straight between every rep, it helps avoid any muscle strain, particularly in the back. Once you get more comfortable with a given weight, doing the reps without those mini breaks is easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're like most people, your deadlift will progress the fastest, and you'll run out of any sort of challenge with 200lbs. Since you're ~160lbs, at least it's more than your bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to do a back squat with dumbbells, but that's OK because you still have the deadlift. You can still do a front squat. To get the dumbbells up to shoulder height, deadlift them, then swing them back slightly with your hips, then swing forward with more force and curl them. If you can curl them without cheating, except in the very beginning of doing squats, you won't be lifting enough weight to really stimulate your legs. The angle of the handles doesn't matter too much, just pick something that's comfortable for you (letting them rest on your clavicle can be a lot more painful than you'd imagine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cool thing about front squats is you can go much deeper than with back squats, as rounding out your back at the bottom isn't a big deal as your trunk is a lot more vertical. Your stance will be a bit wider than the deadlift, with your feet out at roughly a 45 degree angle. Play with it when you're doing lighter weights until you've found a position where your knees don't track in or out, your ankle doesn't rock in and you don't come off your heels. Once you're sure about your position, then you can go for the heavy weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to squat down until my butt touches my Achilles tendon, but you'll have to make sure that doesn't cause you any pain (again, test with light weights). Go as low as you can without feeling any pain, even if it's not much. It shouldn't hurt at all in your knees. If you like, you could also squat down onto the bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, unless you have really strong arms, even swinging the dumbbells up will be too much for your arms (especially for letting them down after you've finished a set), so you're going to need to do bicep curls just to support your ability to front squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, after deadlifting the dumbbells and having them at your side, bend your elbow and smoothly turn your hand inwards so your palm faces you. If you want you could also have your hand pronated, so at the bottom the back of your hand faces forward so the supination along with the curl has a greater range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer to do both at the same time - gets me done quicker, but you could also alternate if you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the height of the ceiling, you might not be able to do standing presses. Assuming you have to sit on the bench, for the overhead press, I'd curl them up into the squat position and just sit down on the bench. If there's enough room, do it standing, it's better that way. With the overhead press your arms will come out to your side, and you'll want to at least turn the dumbbells into a neutral grip, but I find it's easy enough turning fully from a supinated to a pronated grip. As you press up you'll have to bring your chest forward, as your arms will be locked out (but not hyperextended) above your shoulders slightly behind your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the bench press, sit down, put the dumbbells on your thighs and bring your knees up while rolling back. Once the dumbbells are over your chest, put your legs back down with your feet on the ground. Don't excessively arch your back. It's your choice whether you want to rotate your arms as you press up or just press straight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the deadlift does involve a pulling motion to balance out the pushing motion of the overhead and bench presses, it's still good to have another one in there. So the single dumbbell bent over row I find is the best. It's the one you usually see with the knee and hand on the bench, I prefer to just bend over and put my hand on the bench. Maintaining the same arch you would for the deadlift, pull your arm back so the elbow goes past your back - to what extent depends on whether you can keep your trunk from twisting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd split them up something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curl&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench Press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Row&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put the row on day B because there's otherwise no pulling exercise, the curl on day A to keep it even with 3 exercises. Switch order if you feel you're having problems with progression, or if you just prefer a different order of exercises. The squat and deadlift are the most important exercises, the overhead and bench press are the next most important, and the curl and row are more assistance exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially I'd try to keep each to 5-6 reps at whatever weight you can handle. Plenty of programs suggest doing 5 sets of each, but I don't see the point unless you want to spend extra time lifting. I'd just bring the weight up high enough to be able to only do one set of 5-6, with attempting another set forcing the weight to be lowered (I wouldn't do this either, just move on to the next exercise). Once you start maxing out your weights, might as well see if you can do 20 reps at 200lbs (work to it gradually), just to keep your program going a bit longer, and it's nice being able to say you can do 20 reps of any weight greater than your bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, working out 3x per week will work fine, but as you start hitting heavier weights, you'll need more rest days. It'll go down to 5x per 2 weeks, then 2x per week, then 3x per 2 weeks, then 1x week (maybe not that low if you're maxing out at 200lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-09-10T15:05:27.223" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T15:05:27.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7309" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-17T02:57:36.770" Score="17" ViewCount="54501" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just getting into doing cardio and there is one question where I see a lot of conflicting information on the internet. What is better for losing fat and general health (more endurance, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 25 minutes 6 days a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 50 minutes 3 days a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get hung up on the actual minutes as I am hoping to build that up higher but the general question still stands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know with weights its important to take days off to rest and recover and allow your muscles to grow but wanted to see if there is similar factor here with cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a clear answer on a better way to do cardio training for best results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-17T21:22:30.023" LastActivityDate="2020-12-18T21:41:54.177" Title="Should I run everyday or alternate days and run longer?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7307" CreationDate="2012-07-17T05:16:06.473" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question as asked seems to be &quot;can I trust a bodybuilder based on their appearance?&quot; I would have to say no - too many athletes have been caught in lies over the decades. This includes unknown amateurs who lied to researchers to get gym time, physicals, etc. It's a serious problem for sport science. That said, you might be pleasantly surprised at what you will accomplish when you try. Remember, you don't really know your genetic potential, or your innate talent for effort. Finally, don't worry about suddenly waking up looking like the Hulk - worry about waking up one day and suddenly realizing that you're 50 pounds overweight with a bad back. The latter seems to be what's happening to most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T05:16:06.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2012-07-17T11:59:13.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go with 3 x 50 minutes. In addition to what Mischa said in the comment, you also need to allow your body to recover and grow some new muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="344" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T11:59:13.977" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2012-07-17T14:42:07.087" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;For general fitness and endurance, 25 minutes, six days a week would be better. The best advice I've ever seen for running is: Run. Run lots. Mostly slow, sometimes fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best programs I've seen for running comes from a triathlon and cross country coach that I've talked with a few times, and it's 3:2:1. Say your longest run is 30 minutes. You should have 3 runs of 10 minutes, 2 runs of 20 minutes and one run of 30 minutes, with one rest day. The generally accepted way is short, medium, short, medium, short, long, rest day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gives you a very solid aerobic base, doesn't overstress you and allows time for recovery. You can work up in time, although unless you are planning on competing, I wouldn't see much need to progress past the 20:40:60 minute range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nice thing about general cardio fitness is that it's as simple as getting out there and getting the work in. Almost any plan (such as your 6x25 or 3x50) can work, I usually recommend 3:2:1 as it is simple and extremely effective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also works if you are planning a weightlifting regimen, as you can couple the majority of your lifting days with the 3 short runs without being too time compromised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited for ivo's comment below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On this plan, you would still have to work up to hour runs, if you aren't capable of it currently. So if your long run capability is currently 45 minutes, then you would have 3 runs of 15 minutes, 2 runs of 30 minutes and 1 run of 45. Do that for a couple of weeks, then increase your base time by a few minutes, so you'd be doing 17, 34 51 minute runs, and so on until you reach your goal long run time. You take your current long run time, and work backwards for the medium and short runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-17T15:57:52.703" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T15:57:52.703" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2012-07-17T15:36:29.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One variation of cardio traning - to the fixed or variable sets of distance and time- is &quot;fartlek&quot; (speed play), see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiki entry on Fartlek&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, it is a mix of low and high speed training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training form was developed in the 1930s in Sweden. In the Wikipedia entry, there is an example of a typical training session, its historical background and an example of where it has been used in the US. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example of a futuristic &quot;speed play&quot; training session, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oceanobservations.com/category/our-thinking/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fartlek w &quot;google glasses&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Speed play&quot; can be appropriate for you when your goal is to lose weight since part of the concept is to run at full speed for part of the session. This will help you to get closer to high intensity training which seems to be better for losing weight than prolonged low intensity training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I did this training in school in Sweden, in the military service and part of the physical training when playing basketball. Now, when I am older and have more problems with my knees - which stops me from running any longer distances - I like the &quot;speed play&quot; concept since it makes me more conscious of how I feel and not focused on the distance or time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T15:36:29.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6850" CreationDate="2012-07-17T16:20:10.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to answer your question, it's best to review how the body's energy systems work.  An article called &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/death_by_prowler_reynolds.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Death by Prowler&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by Matt Reynolds has a good overview.  It's an educational read, but I'll summarize a couple high points here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic activity burns more fat in proportion to sugars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic metabolism does not shut off when you push into higher demand energy systems (i.e. anaerobic activity).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Katch McCardle&lt;/a&gt; algorithm, resting metabolic rate is most affected by the lean mass you have.  I.e. more lean mass, more calories burned at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the bottom line is this: you will burn more calories per given amount of time when you exercise at an anaerobic level.  The major caveat is that you won't be able to keep up the anaerobic exercise as long as you can aerobic exercise.  Even though the majority of the calories burned &lt;em&gt;during exercise&lt;/em&gt; will come from blood sugars/glycogen in an anaerobic state, the body will have to free energy from your fat stores to make up the energy demands.  This is what is commonly referred to as the &quot;after burn&quot; effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With aerobic exercise, your body is able to keep supplying energy at the rate it uses it.  While this is sustainable, once you stop exercising, you no longer have any demand for more energy.  Thus, there is no increase in resting metabolic rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T16:20:10.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2012-07-17T16:57:46.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;60 minutes is the magic number when glycogen stores are usually depleted (depends on conditioning) and MORE fat is burned as an energy source. That should be the goal, but let's step back first and look at four ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Variety is important&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Running the same time every day of the week is a recipe for injury. You need to vary time/distance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery is important&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In order for muscles to grow, you need easier days. In weightlighting, these are usually off days. In runnng, at first these are off days but eventually they become easy days. For what it is worth, never run under 20 minutes as this really doesn't help your body but that is a post in itself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Speed isn't important&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At first, just worry about being in  motion. Don't worry about your time per mile/km. Just get your body used to being in motion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Speed is important&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Short speed is very important for a) teaching proper form, b) recovering, and c) gaining running specific strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting this all together, here is a short 4-week progression. I will use a 3-day-a-week base with 1 short, 1 medium, and 1 long run. The idea is to progressively build for slow but long term adaptation. This would be for an in-shape person with limited to medium running experience. Adjust duration to your fitness but understand the principles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 1 - get used to being in motion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1 - Short - 20 mins easy&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2 - off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 - Medium - 30 mins easy&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4 - off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 - Long - 40 mins easy  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 2 - increase duration, add some speed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1 - Short - 20 mins easy with last 10 seconds fast&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2 - off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 - Medium - 35 mins easy with last 5 minutes medium, never over 85% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4 - off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 - Long - 45 mins easy  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 3 - increase duration, add another day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1 - Short - 20 mins easy.  Rest.  2 reps of 10 seconds fast preferably uphill (to prevent injury) with 3 minutes rest between.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2 - Recovery - 20 mins easy&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 - Medium - 40 mins easy with last 5 minutes medium, never over 85% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4 - off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 - Long - 50 mins easy  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 4 - increase duration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1 - Short - 20 mins easy.  Rest.  4 reps of 10 seconds fast preferably uphill with 3 minutes rest between&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2 - Recovery - 20 mins easy&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 - Medium - 45 mins easy with last 5 minutes medium, never over 85% effort&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4 - off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 - Long - 55 mins easy    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the next weeks, continue to build the long run by 5 minutes a day until you get to 90 minutes. Once you get to 90 minutes, try to run faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medium days&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Build to 60 minutes and then try to increase the amount of medium to 20 minutes.  85% effort is the aerobic threshold that will help with weight loss.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Easy days&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Add up 10 reps total of short speed and focus on good form, possibly even barefoot. Can add 10-20 minutes of easy cool down running afterwards as you really progress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can add as many recovery days as you like but recommend keeping easy and at 20 minutes until all the other runs are progressed to their recommended maxes above.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. All of the above was learned from articles and DVDs at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://coachrunning.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coach Running&lt;/a&gt; website and a few other running science websites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:  1st sentence was edited to be more correct following the discussion below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastEditorUserId="915" LastEditDate="2012-07-17T21:34:50.680" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T21:34:50.680" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2012-07-17T19:35:09.130" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leora,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will always be conflicting information with any aspect of exercise.  You are correct  when stating that you should only lift weights every other day.  When you lift &quot;micro tears&quot; form in the affected muscles.  When those muscle groups heal, they build a little bigger and a little stronger and need the 48 hours of rest to repair.  However, it is acceptable to lift consecutive days provided you are using varying hemispheres of your body (upper Monday, lower Tuesday).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To preface this next statement that I think sums up all of the other points made here.&#xA;ATP = adenosine triphosphate (bodies energy currency)&#xA;Glucose (blood sugar) and Glycogen (muscle sugar) is easier for the body to use and will try to use these stores first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fat Metabolism&#xA;So to recap, the oxidative system can produce ATP through either fat (fatty acids) or carbohydrate (glucose). The key difference is that complete combustion of a fatty acid molecule produces significantly more acetyl coenzyme A and hydrogen (and hence ATP) compared to a glucose molecule. However, because fatty acids consist of more carbon atoms than glucose, they require more oxygen for their combustion (2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your body is to use fat for fuel it must have sufficient oxygen supply to meet the demands of exercise. If exercise is intense and the cardiovascular system is unable to supply cells with oxygen quickly enough, carbohydrate must be used to produce ATP. Put another way, if you run out of carbohydrate stores (as in long duration events), exercise intensity must reduce as the body switches to fat as its primary source of fuel.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/energysystems.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source link for this information&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize... I agree with everyone's statements.  The point is, the more you put into exercise the more you get out of exercise.   Olympic swimmers don't train for the 1500m freestyle by only swimming 1000m well.  If you are able to run at 80% of your VO2 max for an hour that is wonderful.  If you are just starting and you are able to walk at 60-70% of your VO2 max, that too is wonderful. You need to build up to your goals.  The longer you walk at 60-70% of your VO2, the easier it will be and the more you need to increase the intensity of your workout.  Know your limitations, and remember it is &quot;exercise science&quot; not &quot;exercise absolutes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you eat properly and give your body the fuel it needs for harder workouts.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't plan exercise around your life, plan life around your exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grohlier&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T19:35:09.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2012-07-17T20:50:13.093" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would pick 3 days per week, as it's more sustainable. You get 2 sets of 1 rest day, and 1 set of 2 rest days. So you can aim to run every second day, and if something comes up preventing it, you can easily just run the next day, and that became your 2 day rest. If you have to take 2 days of on a 6 day per week program, you've suddenly knocked yourself down to 5 runs that week, and that can actually get discouraging pretty fast. Being unable to stick to a program as it's set out often means quitting workouts entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the importance of days off, if you're talking just 20-30 minutes of running, if you're just getting started you might need to take rest days just for that, but once you get into it, it's nothing. It's harder to notice with running than cycling, but that's really just the time you'd spend to get from point A to point B. You're not putting any new stresses on your body by running half an hour a day (unless your running technique is bad and causing joint damage, in which case you need to change your technique, as rest days will do diddly). Between 6 days/week and 3 days/week, I wouldn't say one is particularly better than the other, but if you can maintain one for 6 months straight and the other starts breaking apart after 3 months, clearly the one you could maintain is better because you're continuing to work the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T20:50:13.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7319" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9398" CreationDate="2012-07-17T21:36:01.257" Score="6" ViewCount="1484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running in vibrams for around a year, gradually increasing speed and distance (to about 12 km)(a longer description of how I moved into vibrams is in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6858/does-running-in-vibrams-or-some-other-minimalist-shoes-make-you-run-faster&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;). A few days ago I felt a sharp pain develop in what I think are my shins- the back of my leg, between the ankle and heel. I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/shin-splints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that shin splints are in the front of one's legs, and after reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://birthdayshoes.com/fivefingers-and-flat-feet-shin-splints-slippery-surfaces&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; I thought maybe my Achilles tendon is to blame. When I tried running two or four days after this, the pain came back relatively quickly- before I had gone a single km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though that episode is behind me, it feels like my calves are super-sensitive now that I'm &quot;barefoot&quot; running. When running in regular shoes, if I started running fast (shortening my warm-up) I didn't feel like I was taking a crazy risk- but with vibrams it feels like if I skimp on the warm-up my calves are particularly likely to get pulled with disastrous results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone else feel like the calves become unusually sensitive after switching to barefoot running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T01:32:17.547" Title="Do the calves/achilles muscles become especially sensitive when barefoot running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7319" CreationDate="2012-07-17T21:58:12.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not &quot;shin splints&quot;. Your shin is at the front of your leg. Another more descriptive term for shin splints is &lt;em&gt;medial Tibial stress syndrome&lt;/em&gt;. The tibia is in the front of your leg, not the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what you're feeling is likely a calf or Achilles issue, possibly an impingement. Whatever is hurting, it may be pulled, torn, inflamed (tendinitis), bruised... lots of possibilities; we can't diagnose you here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T21:58:12.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-17T22:01:03.940" Score="3" ViewCount="2803" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hurt my lower back doing a failed deadlift attempt.  Nothing terrible, but I feel a mild pain there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When can I go back to weight lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, my hand is sore (from a poorly done impact...) when I grip hard - do I have to hold back on weight lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, how do you know if you're better sitting it out, or are ready to go back to the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; My hand injury was punching a wall too hard.  My middle knuckle took the impact.  Not enough to break the skin - not even a visible bruise.  But my hand became sore, especially when gripping something, for a few days.  That's mainly gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-09-27T13:48:12.857" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T13:48:12.857" Title="I hurt my back from a deadlift attempt. When can I go back to weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-17T22:09:11.953" Score="1" ViewCount="462" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the key behind weight lifting and strength training is giving your body time to rest, recover, and build muscle.  So you can't go back to gym or even biking the day &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about the day before? Can I do heavy aerobic exercise on Monday and lift weights on Tuesday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:45:47.377" Title="Aerobic on days before weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7321" CreationDate="2012-07-17T22:16:15.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only say what's worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skip deadlifts (and squats, back-extensions, and anything that works your lower back), until it feels &quot;good&quot;. You'll know what this feels like. The mild pain will be gone. In the mean time, you can foam roll, stretch, or just rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel good, but still aren't sure it's time to go back to the gym, start your workout with a very low weight, and work up slowly from there in increments towards 20% below your previous working weight. If anything feels weird, just stop and take a few more days off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you will just have to learn to listen to your own body, and to distinguish DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness, which shouldn't require any changes to your workout) from injury (which demands rest, or adjusting your workouts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T22:16:15.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7325" CreationDate="2012-07-18T02:02:22.633" Score="2" ViewCount="1006" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently reading a book called &quot;The Body Sculpting Bible for Men&quot; by James Villepigue and Hugo Rivera. In it the author claims that when you start dieting your body receives a shock from the immediate decrease in calories and you lose weight fast. After about two weeks the shock wears off, your body becomes accustomed to the change in diet. It starts to slow down metabolism to conserve energy since the caloric intake is lower now. So instead of continuing to lose fat you just become more lethargic and the fat stops burning. He claims the same thing about exercise routines. Stating that both diets and exercise regimens need to be changed up every couple of weeks to make sure the body doesn't get accustomed to either. For example he suggests that you alternate between high and low calorie diets biweekly. Only in this way can one lose weight and gain muscle consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3867" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-18T11:33:50.910" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T11:33:50.910" Title="Is it true that the body gets used to diet and exercise after a while and stops responding?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7324" CreationDate="2012-07-18T04:34:06.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well the first part is true for some people. It's a fact that not everyone responds to diet and exercise the same way, and that's a reasonable hypothesis for why some people react in a certain way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last part about alternating high and low calorie diets being the only way to lose weight and gain muscle consistency isn't true. For weight loss it might certainly be a way that works for some people, but it's not going to be the only way that works either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as losing weight consistently goes, I've seen numbers of as high as 95% of people who lose weight return to their original weight (or higher!) within a year, and that's regardless of specific method used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as muscle gain goes, you don't need to switch things up. There the science and evidence is pretty solid. Progressive overload leads to progressive strength gains and progressive strength gains lead to progressive muscle gains. If you're lifting weights, getting enough rest in between sessions and gradually increasing the amount you're lifting, you'll get stronger, and your muscles will get bigger. How much stronger and how much bigger will depend on your genetics and how suitable the method you're using is, but the principle stays the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest obstacle, aside from overtraining, to sustained progressive weight overload is that at a certain point a 5lbs or 10lbs jump in weight becomes a bit too much. Eventually you're going to be increasing in increments of 2lbs, 1lbs or even 8oz, and then finally at your absolute max you'll stop making gains at all. Once you hit that, switching it up isn't really going to help for strength, but that doesn't mean you should branch out. It's not going to be after 2 weeks that you'll need to change your strength building routine though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T04:34:06.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7331" CreationDate="2012-07-18T07:23:36.833" Score="1" ViewCount="365" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have changed our workout plan from the past month onward. Our daily workouts are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;biceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;abdomen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in heavy weights. We are doing it for obtaining muscular strength. I have read that rest is needed for 24 hours for small muscles and 48 hours for large muscles. Are we doing the correct workout or do we need to change our workout plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-18T11:29:00.887" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T11:29:00.887" Title="Is it good to continuously do the same workouts for maintaining our musles?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2012-07-18T07:50:15.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she's been on a low-carb diet than it's likely the immediate weight gain is just water and glycogen being replenished by the consumption of some carbohydrates. If you start a low-carb diet in the first few days you'll likely lose around 1.5kgs which will just be water and using your glycogen stores. Same will go back on when you reintroduce carbs into your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as long as she understands this is just water and not fat, she should be ok. if she's eating the number of calories as her BMR suggests, then she shouldn't be gaining weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;encourage a diet based on veges, fruit, meat and nuts. as less processed as possible. she should stay healthy and lean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3870" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T07:50:15.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-18T07:59:31.990" Score="2" ViewCount="9591" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there exercises (or sequences of exercises) which work the same muscle groups as regular squats or squat jumps with comparable intensity, but which put less stress on the knee (are safer for the knees)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am only interested in bodyweight exercises or ones which use just free dumbbells or resistance bands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask this question just out of interest and not because I have knee problems or problems with squats or squat jumps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be great, if you could include some training-scientific references of why the suggested exercises work the same muscles with same intensity and why they are safer for the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-07-18T18:06:43.647" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T13:54:26.133" Title="Substitute for squats and squat jumps that put less stress on knees" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-18T09:08:15.773" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;My diet for now is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BreakFast: Oats (mostly), whole wheat bread with jam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: Just fruits: apples, peaches, nectarine, oranges, blueberry, banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch : I limit it to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/menu/menu.aspx/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chipotle Bowl&lt;/a&gt; (a burrito in a bowl without a tortilla), a little amount of Chinese vegetables and rice, fish sub, etc. I try to make sure I eat less.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The questions is I need to reduce fat and be trim and flexible. I am 185 pounds now. I just wanted to bring it down as low as possible, basically to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7277/does-lifting-weights-pull-back-you-weight-losing-process&quot;&gt;reduce my weight&lt;/a&gt;. It seems like I have been consuming carbohydrates and been advised to change it to protein-based meal. What kind of protein-based breakfasts and dinners can I have to reach my goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3849" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T19:56:26.203" Title="Ideas for Protein based Break Fast &amp; Dinner (Trying to be a veggie, occasional Non-Veg is fine)" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7328" CreationDate="2012-07-18T09:44:46.107" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Properly done squats are safe on the knees, assuming no prior knee problems, and will actually reduce risk of knee injury from other causes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe goes into detail on why this is the case. His book is focused exclusively on barbell training, but the information still applies for dumbbells, and he also describes how to prepare for the squat without weights, which can be used as a technique guideline for doing bodyweight squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're dead-set against doing squats, then do deadlifts. Both the deadlift and the squat engage the largest muscles in the body, and all of them perform some work, although the degree will vary between the two. Either the deadlift or the squat is a necessary component of a strength training routine (ideally you use both), so if you're not going to squat, then deadlifts it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-07-19T13:54:26.133" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T13:54:26.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7326" CreationDate="2012-07-18T11:14:35.407" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can sustain a workout at the same volume and intensity every day, then it's not too much, and you'll be able to maintain your strength at the level necessary to perform that workout (any excess strength will eventually start to dwindle however).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having to reduce the weight on certain days, your target workout intensity and volume is exceeding your capacity to be able to do it every day, and you're heading towards overtraining and a burnout if you keep it up. At least one rest day with no exercise should be inserted between each workout, if not two or three, or six. Depending on the intensity and duration of your workout, and your recovery ability, you might take 2-3 days simply to get back to the strength level you were at before, and the next 1-3 days your muscles are actually getting stronger. So 3-6 rest days is optimal for a high intensity workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep adding rest days until at the very least you can perform each workout at the same intensity and volume. Ideally, however, you can incrementally increase the intensity (weights used) over time. Maybe not each workout, but certainly once every 3 or 4 workouts you should be able to go up 1kg (that's a conservative estimate, especially starting at lower weights you should be able to do a lot more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your gains are still pretty slow, then decreasing volume (number of sets, and number of reps in a set) is also advisable, to aid in recovery. If you really want to do more frequent workouts, ie only one rest day between workouts, then cutting back to maximum 2 sets (ideally 1), and maximum 6 reps per set is the other way to go about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T11:14:35.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7334" CreationDate="2012-07-18T12:03:57.140" Score="5" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new - more specifically I'm about three months into starting strength. Tonight for the first time I felt a slight panic on my squat and my deadlift. Nothing too serious - just thoughts that I could seriously injure myself at the weight I'm now at (I work out at home, alone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? How would you suggest I curve this - is it time for me to start training with a partner for safety's sake or can it still be safe squatting 100kg without others around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T19:50:09.207" Title="Slight panic when weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7237" CreationDate="2012-07-18T12:35:03.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, absolutely you can overdo it with electrolytes. It's called hypernatremia. The best resource I know of is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.succeedscaps.com/articles/water_electrolyte_balance_table/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;9-way table by Karl King&lt;/a&gt;. This shows the effects of being under-, over- or normally hydrated and being under-, over- or normally salted. It shows what the symptoms are and what the treatment is. This table is really useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can tell if you're in this state because salty foods will taste bad. Your body would be telling you to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gatorade is rather unlikely to get you into this state because it's isotonic. Its concentration is the same as blood so you would need to add external electrolytes to start getting into hypernatremia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking at training for 100mi or 24hr events then you'll need to start experimenting with the regime that works for you. Gatorade probably won't because its strong sweet taste becomes unpalatable after a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Karl King is a scientist who studies these issues in details and supplies hydration and electrolyte products. He's a little controversial in the ultra world in that he's banned from the ultra mailing list for pushing those products without specifying that he has a financial interest in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T12:35:03.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7332" CreationDate="2012-07-18T12:50:47.000" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can assure you that with proper form it is safe, provided you take the proper precautions.  I just squatted 200kg without any spotters a couple weeks ago.  Deadlifts are less of a challenge, because it is easier to drop the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use safeties with your squat rack (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/set-of-safety-spotter-arms.php&quot;&gt;like these&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice dumping the bar on the safeties with a weight you are confident you can handle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Think &quot;superman&quot; and stick your chest out--this helps keep your back tight and in a stronger position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When working out alone, safeties are an absolute necessity.  You can use them on both squats and bench press.  This makes sure you can escape out from under the bar without it pinning you down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to building confidence with heavier weights, I've found a couple things help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat walkouts: load up a couple 20kg plates more than what your top squat is, unrack the bar, stand for a few seconds, and re-rack the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lockouts: practice the top part of a movement with a heavier weight, but one you can handle.  It works with bench and deadlifts.  It's a partial movement, so set your safeties at the lowest point you want, and then lock the bar out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The squat walkouts do a couple things for you.  They let you get used to a heavy bar on your back, which helps strengthen your core.  You aren't trying to do a negative (just the lowering motion), but it lets you know you can put much heavier weights on your back without injury.  The lockouts function similarly, but they also help you finish the lift confidently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is most important, and I can't stress this enough, is to make sure you aren't rounding the lumbar area.  On deadlifts, a bit of rounding in the thoracic area (upper back) is OK, and a good number of the strongest power lifters (100% RAW, IPF, and other federations) have some rounding there.  The lumbar region (lower back) is where the biggest risk of injury is.  As long as you concentrate on locking the lower lumbar, and hinge at the hips, you will avoid any injury.  Lastly, just don't get ahead of yourself.  I didn't get to that 200kg squat overnight, and I made the mistake a few times of trying to increase faster than I was able.  While I avoided injury, I did push myself into a state of fatigue more than once that required me to slow down my rate of increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T12:50:47.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7328" CreationDate="2012-07-18T13:02:54.573" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jumps will have impact on your knees, as will running for extended periods of time.  However, squats past parallel actually make your knees stronger.  The reason for this has to do with muscle balance.  The most common risk with exercise, is focusing too much on what you like without doing what's necessary for what you don't like to do.  Core exercises are a common class of exercise that get dropped because they are not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have several muscles in your legs, and with most activities the anterior (front side) muscles get exercised much more than the posterior (back side) muscles.  When you consider that the anterior is what we see when we look in a mirror this makes sense.  For some information about the kenisiology of squats check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Squats.html&quot;&gt;exrx.net article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper squats to depth exercise the following muscles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quadriceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;calves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gluteus muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;core (both back and front)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and if loaded with dumbbells, kettlebells, or barbells--your arms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It truly is a full body exercise.  Any replacement would have to address all these areas.  Back extensions will hit your core, gluteus and hamstrings, but won't do much for your calves.  The quadriceps get more than enough attention through other exercises (like running, cycling, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next closest useful relative of the squat would be the lunge.  But it is inferior to the squat--particularly if knee health is a concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T13:02:54.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2012-07-18T13:11:22.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first piece of advice will be to avoid casein protein, as it has a high cancer risk associated with it.  Going vegetarian isn't the best choice if protein is your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eggs are your best bet for breakfast, assuming you use half (or less) of the yolk.  Omelets, eggs on toast, scrambled eggs, etc. - Omelets are great because you can mix in all kinds of vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch - pack your lunch.  Make a salad or a wrap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner - Salmon, tilapia, tuna, steak, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, black beans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now your diet isn't very well-rounded.  You may benefit from consulting with a nutritionist or tooling around with a diet building website like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.myfitnesspal.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T13:11:22.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2012-07-18T13:14:20.997" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would choose whichever I see myself doing more consistently.  If I'm going to be defeated running, by all means walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now I'm going to put in my two cents of what you should be doing... swimming!&#xA;Swimming is low impact, burns calories like it's nobody's business, and makes you look oh-so-cool when you're kicking it at the lake with your friends.  Your joints and body will thank you.  Swimming will also work your abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T13:14:20.997" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2012-07-18T14:19:30.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would second the recommendation for www.myfitnesspal.com or similar, and I would also recommend picking up a basic nutrition book. I would also caution you against revamping your diet in such a drastic way until you understand your needs a little better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet you have listed is one that I'm afraid will introduce deficiencies, and I don't think it would support the activities that you have in your other post. You have minimal protein and fats, and are VERY heavy on carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I ask why you want to go vegetarian? Vegetarian is not a &quot;recipe&quot; for weight loss. I know plenty of overweight vegetarians, and if you truly do go that way, you really need to know food makeup, as there are only two vegetarian complete protein sources (quinoa and...the name escapes me), so you have to be careful about knowing what amino acids are in various foods to get complete proteins for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T14:19:30.840" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-18T16:04:15.513" Score="1" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 24 year old female. Ive been weight training for 2 years, clean diet, the works. I have to go to bootcamp for the Navy in December. We are not allowed to lift weights while in basic training. What will happen to my muscle tone after 9 weeks of no lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3873" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T08:40:40.570" Title="9 Weeks off Weights" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7339" CreationDate="2012-07-18T16:16:15.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the caveat that you are lifting for general fitness and aesthetics, and not training specifically for something, the below is my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may lose some specific muscle tone, but given the physical nature of boot camp, you probably won't lose much. Depending on your aerobic fitness, you may lose a little bit there. n=1 experience, when I went to basic training, I lost about 10% on my lifting and about the same on my aerobic fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T16:16:15.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7328" CreationDate="2012-07-18T18:20:04.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Robin, but i'd also add that if you have access to a Trap bar this would be even more beneficial for someone who is a little wary of their body.  Because the weight is more centralised, there is much less impact on the lower back and the quads work more so than a conventional deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T18:20:04.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5916" CreationDate="2012-07-18T19:30:28.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're just starting to climb, you'll find that its exceptionally taxing on your fingers and upper back.  I'd definitely recommend against trying to do serious lifting immediately after climbing.  My personal experience is that the only time I lost control of the weights when lifting was when I went straight from the climbing gym to lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you stay in climbing for long enough, though, your hands can recover more quickly, and you tax your back less and less (and your abs more and more), and this will be less of an issue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T19:30:28.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7332" CreationDate="2012-07-18T19:50:09.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should listen to your panic signals.  If your only are three months into the program, what is the hurry? A serious injury will reduce whatever training effect your are aiming for much more than advancing too quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the options you presented in your question, I would go for &lt;strong&gt;getting a training partner&lt;/strong&gt; AND listening to the excellent specific advice from Berin around the racks and techniques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T19:50:09.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2012-07-18T19:56:26.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you say non-vegetarian is fine. Whey Protein and Eggs will be your best source (technically that's still vegetarian in some books, but I won't dwell on the details of boundaries among various vegetarians).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just get straight, simple whey protein that you can buy in a bulk package at your local grocery store, it's a lot cheaper than getting it in a tub from a supplement store. Make yourself some smoothies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For eggs, they should be from free range, organically fed, unmedicated chickens. That doubles the price of a dozen eggs from just normal eggs, but if you have limited sources of protein, you want to make sure what you're getting is the best possible source. Eggs for breakfast is pretty standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T19:56:26.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7347" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-18T21:25:22.177" Score="10" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, going along the vein of a man who coaches himself has a fool for a client, I am looking for recommendations on a training cycle to support competing in martial arts forms and weapons competitions, possibly sparring (Although I am not that fast, which is death in our style of point sparring). Edited to add: My style is ATA Tae Kwon Do, and I am currently a 4th degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will take care of my own cardio fitness and flexibility training (Although if you have pet exercises for flexibility {esp legs}, please share), and I will have 30-60 minutes (possibly a little more on certain days) every day to be able to devote specifically to weight training. I am not looking for &quot;Oh, you should do some lats&quot;, if you have a suggestion for exercises, I would also like the rationale behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the mitigating factors:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have spent the last 3-4 years stripping upper body mass and weight, since I competed in triathlons during that time, so upper body is much weaker than it used to be. It's not overly weak, but definitely weaker in comparison to where my lower body is at. I am also in the early stages of rehabbing a right Achilles tendon rupture, but don't let that stop you recommending, I just may not be able to do some leg stuff right away. I plan to spend the next 11 months rehabbing and prepping for the next tournament season which starts next June.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_0vucHUZCE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is an excellent example&lt;/a&gt; of the form I am currently competing with. (Note, this is at the Worlds tournament which follows the World championship rings, first tournament of the new year.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I wavered between here and the martial arts SE site, I could be convinced to post there, but I thought it had a bit more relevance here.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-01T11:37:29.203" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T22:11:12.500" Title="Recommendations for a weight program to support martial arts competition" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7322" CreationDate="2012-07-18T22:15:00.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're describing is the reason many people work different muscle groups on different days.  In short, yes, you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say your aerobic activity worked your legs primarily, stationary bike for example.  The next day may be a great day to do arms.  However, you may want to gives your legs some rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aerobic activity is building a different type of muscle than anaerobic activity, refer to: &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's keep in mind that you should be exercising &lt;strong&gt;every day,&lt;/strong&gt; but that doesn't necessarily mean a grueling workout.  If your primary concern is your heart (which it probably should be and is!), then make sure to never overlook cardio.  Lifting weights, on the other hand, can help to boost your metabolism and offers benefits of its own: posture, strength, endurance, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T22:15:00.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7347" CreationDate="2012-07-18T22:29:40.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have the book with me at the moment, but in Tom Kurz's book Stretching Scientifically, he says something to the effect of if you can't deadlift 2x your bodyweight and squat your own bodyweight, you have no business training martial arts. I think that's good advice, so we're there with the old stand bys of deadlifts and squats for strength training. Honestly, squats are my pet leg flexibility exercise - I've had incredibly tight hamstrings since what feels like forever, and with various stretching routines, yoga and the like, only squats (initially deadlifts to get to where I could do squats) have helped me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been ages since I've done forms, but looking at that video, I would think cable exercises could be useful. Wood chops and reverse wood chops, and supine grip rows off the top of my head would likely help. Also, some kettlebell floor to standing lifts, like Turkish get ups look like they could also be of use for transitioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I couldn't say if this would help for forms, but it should definitely help for sparring. Buddy Lee has a book on rope skipping out that should definitely help with the quickness and being light on your feet that's necessary to get in, score, and move out before getting scored on yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T22:29:40.897" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7322" CreationDate="2012-07-19T00:52:29.970" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you keep yourself to just one set of reps for each exercise at high intensity, it's fine even the day after. I do 1-2 strength workouts per week, and I cycle everywhere I go, including the day after lifting. It works fine. Now it's possible that that adds an extra day or two to my recovery, compared to what I might do if I didn't cycle at all, but that's not really a problem in my book. I'm still making significant strength gains at each workout. Doing aerobics the day before definitely isn't a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're planning on doing Aerobics - Lifting - Rest - Aerobics - Lifting - Rest you might run into a problem with strength gains due to effectively only having 2 rest days, and only one of them is a real rest day, but if you do Aerobics - Aerobics - Rest - Aerobics - Lifting - Rest - Aerobics - Aerobics you shouldn't have any trouble making continued strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T00:52:29.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7339" CreationDate="2012-07-19T01:04:02.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience with lay-offs ranging from weeks to years (I lifted my first barbell about 50 years ago). I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how much anaerobic strength you'll keep and how quickly and easily you will return to personal bests. Aerobic ability fades quickly if you shift to full sedentary, but as @JohnP states, that won't happen. Most of my knowledge is based on research on men, but I haven't come across anything that says women are different. Shedding weight gained during inactivity became a problem only after 40. Sagging/loose skin became an issue after 60.&#xA;To both of you, thank you for your service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T01:04:02.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5916" CreationDate="2012-07-19T01:31:29.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw some rock climbers train in my gym. They were really wiry with big chests. By wiry I mean small but highly defined arms and legs. This was in Japan, so maybe it's genetic or they were professional competitors, but people said they were training for max strength at the lowest possible weight. &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt; can really pack on the pounds for a young (under 25) novice lifter. I'd say drink lots of milk, lift heavy and get big and strong while you can - it can't hurt (unless you're rock climbing). Seriously, a power lifter might be able to climb higher than his conditioning will let him climb down. As you become less novice in both activities you may have to make some hard choices. But nothing is set in stone (unless you're rock climbing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T01:31:29.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7259" CreationDate="2012-07-19T04:23:59.737" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running on a treadmill is even ground. There are no bumps or slopes like a road has. The downside to this is your stabilizing muscles do not get the workout so they do not get stronger.  Adding weight lifitting can help build those muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nice thing about the tradmill is the belt is easier on the joints, but you do not get the benefit of perception on motion that can help your body move in a more fluid motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are charts that can help you figure out what road speed vs treadmill speed correlates too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best thing to do is see if a local gym has an indoor track to run around on. Might be worth shelling out a few bucks every couple of weeks to get actual forward momentum into your training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T04:23:59.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7354" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7367" CreationDate="2012-07-19T06:47:38.637" Score="1" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;When trying to calculate how much I should eat for weight reduction what should the base calories be based on?  My current weight or my goal weight?  I'm 5'8&quot; at 240lbs wanting to drop to 180lbs or less if at all possible.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T02:05:23.987" Title="Calorie calculations for weight reduction" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7339" CreationDate="2012-07-19T08:40:40.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your existing muscle tone, but given that you will have body weight and cardio training, it may even improve. Also, given the overall picture of serving the 2 year minimum time in the US Navy &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.navy.com/joining/qualifications.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;US Navy Committment&lt;/a&gt;, the availability of weightlifting for the other 95 weeks should be more important for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T08:40:40.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4807" CreationDate="2012-07-19T11:22:14.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Negatives work; going from a handstand to the ground as slowly as possible, ideally on parallettes or two dumbbells or two dumbbells on two benches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also find you can push from the ground with a kip (bending the legs then kicking them into extension to assist the push).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When trying to get back up try to avoid resting your head on the ground; it seems to be much harder to re-initiate the push if you have completely stopped pushing and are resting on your head. Push up just before you head touches the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T11:22:14.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7354" CreationDate="2012-07-19T14:44:25.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need to know is how much energy in calories you are expending every day. This equation is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) + daily living activities + exercise activity = total caloric need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMR is a calculated guess, unless you are lucky enough that you can have it directly measured using some form of calorimetry. Some of the calculation equations are the Harris-Benedict, Harris-Benedict revised, Catch-McCardle and Cunningham. You don't need to know these formulas, there are tons of them premade into calculators on the internet (The two Harris-Benedict formulae are the most prevalent). BMR is basically an estimation of how many calories it takes you to simply lay there and breathe in and out for 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Daily living includes normal activity such as work, shopping, house cleaning, etc. Exercise is, well, exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tables all over that have estimates for those activities as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the weight loss. This is going to be variable. As is pointed out in the comments, the 3500 calories per pound is bad mathematics misapplied, and started with an observation in 1959 by a Dr. Max Wishnofsky. Calculate your caloric needs, add in your activity cost, and eat less than that each day and you will lose weight. The rate at which you do will vary with your own metabolism, activity, types of food, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start by calculating what your needs are, then keep a food log for 3-5 days, writing down EVERYTHING that you eat. Weigh your portions, and get the best count you can for calories. That should give you a starting point for your weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T02:05:23.987" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T02:05:23.987" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-19T15:14:51.213" Score="3" ViewCount="1260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm able to dead lift 5 sets x 5 reps @ 250 lbs OR 5 sets x 3 reps @ 300 lbs OR 5 sets of 1 rep at 400 lbs....the total weight differences are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets x 5 reps @ 250 lbs  = 6,250 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets x 3 reps @ 300 lbs  = 4,550 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets x 1 reps @ 400 lbs  = 2,000 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increased single lbs lift BUT decreased total lbs being lifted.  What's the impact to strength, power, size and calories burned?  So, basic question is, how do you determine the sweet spot where you still gaining overall (strength and power) while burning (short/long term) calories? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T12:53:38.757" Title="Dead lift, best way to gain strength and power" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7358" CreationDate="2012-07-19T16:23:44.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding power, it can be split into 2 types - overcoming a small resistance (e.g. punch) or movements that require effort to be developed rapidly overcoming a large resistance (e.g Olympic lifting).  The deadlift alone is a strength exercise - you could however undertake complex training with the idea here to perform a strength exercise, followed by a similar movement of an explosive variety.  So for example, you could use a deadlift for 3-5 reps, followed by high pulls/sandbag clean/dummy suplex etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength will be gained by lifting maximal loads - it looks like you already are using 5-3-1 or something similar, which is excellent - purely for max strength, cycling through these rep ranges will allow your body to maximise your strength when it comes to the last set, with the goal being to get more reps/ increase poundage lifted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories - by using just the deadlift? Why not try once a week giving yourself a 10-20 window with 60-70% 1RM and performing as many reps as possible (Escalated Density Training).  The aim here is to beat the reps every workout - it jacks your heart rate up and creates a big metabolic burn helping you burn calories long after you finish.  To make it even better, do a longer EDT window and choose multiple compound exercises!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T16:23:44.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7362" CreationDate="2012-07-19T16:28:58.587" Score="2" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am confused since there is so much information about possible exercise routines, and I don't know which one is more accurate for me.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Age:&lt;/strong&gt; 28 &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Height:&lt;/strong&gt; 183 cm = 6 feet&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Weight:&lt;/strong&gt; 158.73 pounds = 72 kg &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I have to eat and sleep well and I am working into that. I try to get one food each 4 hours approximately.&#xA;I take some whey protein after gym and before go sleep (50 gr. per day, only on training days). During breakfast I usually eat low-fat foods like checken breast, or brown rice with tuna, and in the middle of the day some low-fat soda crackers with low-fat cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can go between 5 and 6 times by week to gym (depending on the week). At first some people suggest me to make a routine of 3 days by week because otherwise I would overtrain and get bad results. Some tells me that it is better to train all muscles on three days, and others tell me that I can split routine in 2 muscles each day, for example: &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday (Chest and shoulder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday (triceps and legs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday (biceps and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3880" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T16:55:23.177" Title="Routine to win muscle mass" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7322" CreationDate="2012-07-19T16:33:50.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Can You?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're focusing on strength and mass gain, you do best by &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;prioritizing strength and mass gain&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing other things (cardio, biking, hiking) might be consistent with your goals, if your goals are not primarily strength and mass. But our bodies have a limited capacity for physical recovery. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7666/1771&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You&lt;/strong&gt; have to decide how you want to allocate that resource&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking to the specific scenario you pose, a weekly schedule with heavy aerobic exercise on Monday and lifting on Tuesday would mean that the body would be devoting recovery resources on Tuesday to getting better at aerobic exercise, which would detract from the mass and strength gains that could be had by resting on Monday instead. You will be weaker on Tuesday due to Monday's work, though as a novice, this weakness could be imperceptible or negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Where to Put Conditioning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that putting metabolic conditioning at the end of a lifting workout, or the day after, allows for better recovery alongside a strength program. I intend to see what Tom Kurz has to say on this aspect of programming, but have not gotten around to reading his &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0940149109&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Science of Sports Training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:45:47.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7360" CreationDate="2012-07-19T16:55:23.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A mixture of previous answers should address your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6928/any-suggestions-on-how-i-could-improve-my-workout-routine/6930#6930&quot;&gt;Any suggestions on how I could improve my workout routine?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6553/need-to-get-back-into-shape-is-there-a-slightly-lighter-p90x-type-thing/6587#6587&quot;&gt;Need to get back into shape. Is there a slightly lighter p90x type-thing?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These previous questions address how a person in your training condition (a novice) should best add strength with a simple, focused, effective training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, the recommendation is for a full-body, 3-times-a-week training program based around three five compound barbell lifts: squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, and power clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll get stronger and add weight to each lift every workout for several months. Given your age, height, and weight, you have plenty of room to grow in terms of strength, and are a perfect fit for a novice-level, general strength program like Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(More details in the linked answers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About your nutrition, on these programs, you will need to eat a lot more to support the strength and muscle gains that they will be trying to stimulate. You will be eating more, and eating more frequently, probably snacking almost constantly. Increasing your fat intake will help your strength gains, since it is a very easy source of calories. Since I started strength training, I see low-fat food as a waste of my time... why would I eat 0% yogurt if I can eat 10% yogurt? Same amount of time, but so many more calories!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T16:55:23.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7358" CreationDate="2012-07-19T17:08:57.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should aim for the 5x1 singles. Moving heavy weight will make you stronger (and incidentally more powerful, just not as directly as something like a power clean).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if that's all you do, the lack of volume (2,000lbs) may not give you what you're looking for in terms of calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have four options for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add in warm-up sets at up to 70% of your target weight to add volume, or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate your deadlift workouts between &quot;intensity day&quot; (where you do your heavy lifts), and &quot;volume day&quot; (where you do your 5x5s), or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate your deadlift workouts between &quot;intensity day&quot; and &quot;power day&quot; (where you do speed deadlifts at your normal 5x5 weight but only for 5x3), or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the deadlift to just 5x1, and use the squat (and speed squats) for your volume work, since the deadlift is a much more taxing lift, and is very easy to overtrain and harder to recover from&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As an aside, if you really want to focus on power, you'll need to include power cleans or power snatches, but if you're only somewhat interested in power, doing speed variants of the deadlift or squat can help you target power a bit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-19T17:27:51.857" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T17:27:51.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7366" CreationDate="2012-07-19T17:19:50.540" Score="6" ViewCount="955" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/scott-dorn-muscle-building-program.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scott Dorn's Muscle Building Program&lt;/a&gt;, at least the exercise part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weights I have access to go up or down in increments of 5 pounds.&#xA;How often should I be increasing weight and at what intervals? Add 5 pounds once a week, every two weeks?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What would be a healthy and good progression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T12:22:19.770" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T12:22:19.770" Title="At what frequency should I increase weight?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7364" CreationDate="2012-07-19T18:32:02.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For programs like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt; you get a very cut and dry answer of &quot;add 5 lbs per workout for all exercises, and add an additional 5 lbs for deadlifts.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, after taking a quick glance at the &quot;Scott Dorn Muscle Building Program&quot; I would say &lt;strong&gt;the answer is anything but simple&lt;/strong&gt;. In fact, I will say right up front that you &lt;strong&gt;shouldn't add a fixed lb/frequency for your particular program&lt;/strong&gt;. Here are some of the factors at play which affect your potential weight increment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complex workout with at least 20 different exercises, all with varying levels of difficulty, make setting a fixed increment rate an exercise in futility.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isometric exercises, of which this program has many, are notoriously difficult to apply progressive overload to. You will plateau quickly and often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No rest makes for weak gains. Doing a 6-7 day/week workout is a recipe for overloading your body, at which point you will see greatly diminished gains and more frequent plateaus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given all of this, we need to determine an appropriate weight/frequency increase on an individual exercise basis. My recommended approach would be as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a journal of every exercise done each workout, and record the amount of weight lifted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the journal, also record whether or not you plateaued or struggled at a given weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the time to repeat that exercise comes around, if you didn't plateau you can increase the weight by an amount reasonable for that exercise (anywhere from 2.5-10 lbs, typically).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If instead you did plateau, attempt doing the exercise at the same weight/rep as before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you continue to plateau, deload the weight by an appropriate amount (typically 10-20%) and work your way back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see &lt;strong&gt;this is an incredibly tedious process&lt;/strong&gt; as it requires you to track your progress on upwards of 20 different exercises, not to mention all of the other issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If want you really want is a simple strength training program with predictable weight increments and a proven track record of success, &lt;strong&gt;I recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; programs mentioned earlier. I would argue they are a lot more effective programs and a lot easier to manage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T18:32:02.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7364" CreationDate="2012-07-19T18:56:49.820" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to the fact you are running a bodybuilding program, I assume your goal is to increase size rather than strength.  According to the program's Training section, these are the ways to increase overload:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift a greater amount of weight for an equal number of repetitions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift the same amount of weight for more repetitions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift a greater amount of weight for more repetitions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreasing rest periods between sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partial reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Negative reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supersets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drop Sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cheating method&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The one and half method&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The platoon system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The flushing method&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The rest pause method&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't pretend to know what the &quot;cheating&quot;, &quot;platoon&quot;, or &quot;flushing&quot; methods are.  You'll have to look at the links on his page for a better idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general concept of bodybuilding is to push your muscles to exhaustion, but keep cycling through the different muscles so you have enough time to recover the next time you push it.  Essentially, you'll want to push yourself each time you are in the gym.  Whether it's &quot;1 more rep&quot;, or 5 more pounds.  Many of the options listed are for when you just aren't able to do the simple whole number increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your training goal is size, this will work.  But then so will any high volume program.  While you will get stronger, if your goal is to increase your usable strength then you might want a different program that focuses on compound lifts.  The key to all this is keeping a detailed journal.  You'll need to keep track of the following for each exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight used&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reps performed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest time (some body builders go so far as to time rest between reps, or time at full contraction and time at full extension)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External factors (sleep, food, physical labor [including helping someone move])&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mood (can be used to diagnose fatigue related issues)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be keeping a journal anyway, as it helps you figure out why you may be having a hard time, or if you simply want to see what progress you made.  If your focus was on strength, most programs don't have any requirements on rest time--so it's not nearly as important to track it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T18:56:49.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7354" CreationDate="2012-07-19T22:28:08.023" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Base it on what you're currently eating, which you know is probably too much. So just log what you're currently eating, adjust the macronutrient ratios, and then adjust the total intake downward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Log your diet for a week. Don't do anything special, just log what you'd normally eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the balance of carbs/proteins/fats and aim to bring it more in line with an accepted ratio. Here are some options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For adults, proteins should be between 10 and 35 percent of the diet,&#xA;  fats between 20 and 35 percent and carbohydrates between 45 and 65&#xA;  percent. (From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/303969-the-protein-fat-and-carbohydrate-ratio-for-losing-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Livestrong&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;paleo-type&lt;/a&gt; diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;20% carbohydrates, 65% fat and 15% protein (by calories) (From &lt;a href=&quot;http://paleodietlifestyle.com/question-of-macronutrient-ratios/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've established a well-balanced diet, you can start fine-tuning the amounts. Reduce your intake slightly and increase your activity level to promote fat (not necessarily weight) loss. As long as you're noticing improvement at your chosen activity (weightlifting, running, swimming, etc) and fat loss, you're moving in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-19T22:28:08.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7354" CreationDate="2012-07-20T00:27:05.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with JohnP and Sancho's posts, I just wanted to add that I'd specifically found that using an calorie tracking app on my smartphone made calorie counting and recording my meals practical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been having luck using a calorie counting app on my smartphone.  I'm using the Livestrong app / website.  I don't know that its better or worse than other calorie counting apps / websites out there, but it seems to have a decent user interface.  It has daily caloric goals based on your current body weight, and lets you log the food you eat and the amount of calories you burn to see how close you are to your daily goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using it since February, and I've had a fairly successful run of weight loss.  I'm 6'4&quot;, 185lbs, down from 209... so I know I'm not looking at the uphill battle you were, but I've found that having a basic record keeping system (like the iphone app) seems to have been much more helpful at keeping me conscious of how much I've eaten and exercised.  Its really changed my relationship to my meals.  With better record keeping, I'm able to see when I tend to over eat, how I need to adjust my diet, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2012-07-20T00:41:01.480" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T00:41:01.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4096" CreationDate="2012-07-20T07:37:10.753" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that hip snapping with no pain is not a symptom of anything bad. My snap usually occurs as I get up in the morning and did go away with stretches. I learned this while diagnosing myself for hip muscle problems which turned out to be arthritis (diagnosed by a real doctor based on x-rays). He gave me the stretches. My point is that the snap has your attention but the pain can be from an unrelated cause. Before seeing a doctor again, keep a pain diary that leaves out the snap but includes all pains and your running activity. Get a doctor recommendation from other runners. Remember, trainers, PT's, experienced runners etc can only rule things &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, only a doctor can rule things &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T07:37:10.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2012-07-20T07:54:45.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe (of &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt;) has book of essays entitled &lt;em&gt;Strong Enough?&lt;/em&gt; . Maybe you are for your current needs. I gave all the answers an up, they're all good. One thing I might add is that the plank is very easy to do kind of wrong. Has anyone put a yardstick on you to check your 'plankiness'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T07:54:45.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7373" CreationDate="2012-07-20T16:58:26.683" Score="9" ViewCount="4294" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a week of my vacation, I will be staying at a hotel that has a short pool (17m). My question is: Given a set of swim drills (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mvm.org/workouts-drills.php&quot;&gt;some swim drills&lt;/a&gt;), &lt;strong&gt;for a short pool what should a workout program look like that focuses on technique&lt;/strong&gt;? Workouts should be around 45 min. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner at swimming, typically I swim 50m at around 50s with around 30-31 strokes and can keep that pace for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal for swimming this &quot;trainingperiod&quot; is to participate in an open water race in the center of Stockholm that is about 1.6 km long, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://riddarfjardssimningen.se/&quot;&gt;Riddarfjardssimmningen&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/Riddarfjardssimningen&quot;&gt;FB&lt;/a&gt;. Besides on the vacation, I have practiced swimming 3-4 times per week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-21T07:52:14.700" LastActivityDate="2016-02-06T00:17:21.663" Title="Swim technique workouts in a short pool" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7371" CreationDate="2012-07-20T17:20:13.973" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;With a short pool, you are limited, especially if you have an efficient flip turn. Since you are a beginner, I don't think that is a problem (Not a knock, just a fact. Flip turns take lots of practice to be effective).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take a pull buoy with you and concentrate on form drills. As a beginner swimmer in a very technique driven sport, this would serve you the best, as it's hard to get effective aerobic work in a short length pool. I would recommend single arm drills, sculling, and concentration on early vertical forearm (EVF) and maintaining a high elbow through your pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you describe yourself as a beginner, 1:40 for 100m as a sustainable pace means that you have decent fitness and decent form already. I generally regard 2:00/100m sustainable pace as the break point, in that if you can achieve that pace, you probably don't have any glaring stroke flaws holding you back. Not to say there aren't improvements to be made, but your stroke isn't really hindering your progress much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-20T17:56:08.907" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T17:56:08.907" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7382" CreationDate="2012-07-20T18:04:28.410" Score="3" ViewCount="4880" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a Tennis player. 23 M USTA 4.0. I am pretty much well in shape (height:6'00&quot; weight:170 pounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to improve my stamina. I run 3 miles(at speed about 9 minutes/mile) thrice a week. I can run about 5 miles without a stop before my body urges to take a break. (I try to run as much as I can once in every two weeks). My problem is this number (5 miles) is not improving for last 6 months. That means even if I am working hard my stamina is not improving. Please suggest some techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I run to improve my stamina in general. Yes, I want to improve my stamina for Tennis. My experience is - For about first hour, I can split step every shot. After one hour, my capacity to split step gradually decreases. At hour 3, I do split step only about 20% of shots, I can still hit my shots though. At hour 4, I find myself not moving my legs at all, but I can still hit the ball. What can I do from Tennis' perspective. Is this kind of stamina considered low. (My breaks are very short).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3889" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-07-21T07:17:42.283" LastActivityDate="2012-07-21T07:17:42.283" Title="Why doesn't my stamina seem to improve?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2012-07-20T18:12:45.127" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will address this simply from the standpoint of increasing the amount of time you can run, but I do want to point out that there are other factors that may influence this, such as your nutrition, hydration, other workouts around the run, things of that nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are running approximately 30 minutes, 3x a week, for around 9-10 miles total distance. If you keep running at that same pace, same distance all the time, then your body cannot adapt to longer distances, and thus when you nearly double your distance, you fatigue. This is not surprising, since you are not stretching yourself. If you want to run longer than 5 miles, then you need to work on that day to day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally think that you get much more out of your running if you are doing it more often, so in addition to the 3x per week, I would add in 2 days of 15 minute runs. Keep this up for a few weeks to get used to it, then start adding some time to all your runs. Don't add more than a few minutes to each run, and then give it a couple weeks to adapt to the new level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few months, your daily longer runs will be in the 45 minute range, which will put you in the area of 5 miles at your current pace, and that should result in being able to run 7-9 miles for a long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To adapt to run longer distances, you have to practice longer distances. Right now, you are not pushing past that limitation, so it's not going to naturally get longer. You can level off wherever you want for your own personal fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: You are 4.0 player, which is getting pretty decent. I would assume that you have a coach, but even if not, you have to also consider if simply running more will give you the fitness you desire. If you edit your question to let us know what kind of stamina you are talking about you may get better responses. I can run 13 miles at any time due to my training, but I couldn't do the lateral movements required in tennis for more than probably a set before I'd be dragging. Where do you feel your fitness is failing you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-20T18:18:43.950" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T18:18:43.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7371" CreationDate="2012-07-20T19:18:33.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could also try a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimtether.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Swim Tether&lt;/a&gt;.  I do not have any experience with these devices myself, but know others who use them and recommend them, and not just for short pools.  One downside that I can think of is that it would be pretty difficult (impossible?) to count yards/meters.  But, if you wanted to do a 45-minute straight swim, it would be ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option that could work is just some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D37Ye_ADQ30&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;band work&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="1166" LastEditDate="2012-07-23T12:14:22.123" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T12:14:22.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7386" CreationDate="2012-07-20T20:22:04.207" Score="11" ViewCount="728" Body="&lt;p&gt;What recommendations exist to lose weight without losing muscle?  How much strength training is usually adequate to maintain muscle mass during a healthy weight loss diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been losing weight this year to improve at my sport (rock climbing).  I've lost 25lbs.  I'm 6'4&quot;, and currently 183.  I've been losing weight at about 1-1.5lbs a week for several months now.  During the first month, I found that my benchpress and overhead press began droped.  I had been lifting once a week to maintain, so I bumped it up to 2 lifting sessions a week.  I've successfully stabilized my strength as I've continued to lose fat.  But I feel like I'm being inefficient about it - I'm basically lifting as much as I did when I was doing a strength training / muscle gaining cycle over the winter.  This lifting is in addition to my climbing specific training, so I'm having to workout 5-6 days a week.  It's working fine, I'm thinner, equally strong, and climbing harder.  But I'm wondering if I can be smarter about my training or diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit to address questions:&#xA;I eat about 2000 cal a day, at a rough ratio on 20-30% protien, 20% fat, 50-60% carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lift on Mondays and Fridays, doing 3 sets of 8 of bench presses, pullups, military presses, cable rows, lateral raises, and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do about 4 hours of climbing training on Tuesdays and Thursdays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I jog 2-3 miles, 4 times a week.  Mostly to help hit my caloric goals on the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I climb outdoors on the weekend, or indoors if the weathers bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm running myself ragged doing all this, though.  I'm not developing injuries or anything, but I'm getting burned out, and was wondering if I could eliminate a lifting day, for my sanity, without risking losing strength again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2012-07-21T07:33:52.953" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T17:37:07.293" Title="Losing weight without losing muscle" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7432" CreationDate="2012-07-20T20:48:59.870" Score="2" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am underweight and only able to do 3 pushups at best. I am wondering what I should focus on: getting stronger or gaining weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3892" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-08-27T18:56:48.987" LastActivityDate="2012-08-27T18:56:48.987" Title="Should I focus on gaining strength or weight?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7378" CreationDate="2012-07-20T20:58:02.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Focus on getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also gain weight (if you're underweight), but it will just happen naturally when you lift weights and feed yourself enough to support your strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T20:58:02.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-21T00:53:44.337" Score="1" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that when I'm running I'm using my right foot more than my left foot (I'm right handed). I'm pretty sure that this is bad form. What's the best way to stop doing that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3881" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T19:25:57.827" Title="I'm using one foot more than the other: how can I stop doing that?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7380" CreationDate="2012-07-21T01:00:39.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Focus on maintaining an even cadence. You could listen to a metronome app on your phone, or find a song that has the cadence you're trying to achieve. If you maintain an even cadence, you'll likely be using each leg/foot the same amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-21T01:00:39.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2012-07-21T01:54:49.337" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nature of tennis is 3-5 second bursts of speed with 3-5 seconds rest for around 30 seconds, followed by 30-60 seconds of rest. This suggests that the Phosphagen and Glycolitic pathways will be be called on the most. If you are able to play explosively for an hour or more before fatiguing, it is likely that the problem is not fitness, but nutrition. Your glycogen stores may have been depleted over time, and your body can not produce enough on its own during the activity. You may consider a pre-exercise carbohydrate source, as well as more carbohydrate during the exercise &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coachesinfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=337%3atennis-enduring&amp;amp;catid=95%3atennis-general-articles&amp;amp;Itemid=173&quot;&gt;Physiology of Preparation, Competition &amp;amp; Recovery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running distances trains the oxidative pathway while ignoring the other two pathways. For this reason, increasing your distance running fitness will probably not help you in the later hours of your tennis. In fact, it may be counter productive, as it is difficult to have all metabolic pathways in peak form simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to train for longer tennis activities, train the correct pathways. Consider several rounds of tabata sprints with side-switching length rest, and make sure you are replenishing your glycogen stores with carbohydrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-07-21T01:54:49.337" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-21T14:56:35.847" Score="8" ViewCount="11542" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a debate with a friend where he says you can do ab exercises basically everyday (&lt;a href=&quot;http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-iHgPcWphOgBtYSBBTES1Y6JvattJlo__d019MVKuWfY5Kysb09u0Ch1J&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://d3f8w3yx9w99q2.cloudfront.net/1270/body-solid-powerline-vertical-knee-raise-chin-dip-machine/body-solid-powerline-vertical-knee-raise-chin-dip-machine_4_0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;knee lifts&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sixpackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/torso-workout.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercise ball sit ups&lt;/a&gt;, etc) and others have said that you said treat is like other body parts where you should have rest days in between to get the best results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking on the internet I see both opinions so wanted to see what folks thought was a more effective approach to working out abs with the goal of getting six pack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SDJlm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T14:54:50.443" Title="Should you workout abs every day or include rest days like other body parts?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7384" CreationDate="2012-07-21T17:16:14.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The muscles in the &lt;strong&gt;core&lt;/strong&gt; are the same as other muscles in the body, i.e. to be stronger, they need rest. &#xA;To have visible abs is more a question of body fat %, not strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience of strengthening the core is that a mix of awareness workouts (e.g. yoga, exercise balls,.. that doesn't wear the muscles down) and strength training (e.g. squats, deadlift,..) is best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight for the purpose of having a &quot;six pack&quot; is covered in other answers, e.g. see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/6249/3778&quot;&gt;local fat reduction&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7168/3778&quot;&gt;running and six packs&lt;/a&gt;and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/2752/3778&quot;&gt;six pack wo rotine&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T14:54:50.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7377" CreationDate="2012-07-22T01:13:39.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seeing your routine, which is very solid, I've realized I do have some advice. There are two rough approaches I would take in your shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The first approach&lt;/strong&gt; would be to cut the sets of 8 to sets of 3. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4383/1771&quot;&gt;Fewer reps per set still maintains or improves strength&lt;/a&gt;, without requiring the endurance of 8-rep sets. It also decreases the recovery load on your system. Sets of eight shoot for significant hypertrophy or mass gain, which could make it hard to fit your strength work in with fat loss, climbing, and everything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could increase the number of sets to keep volume constant, or you could just do three very heavy sets of 3 and call it a day for your strength maintenance work. (For deadlifts, I would do only one set, but really focus on making it heavy.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally experiment with sprinting instead of longer, slower distance running, because I'm convinced that sprints are A) awesome, B) better at getting and keeping humans stronger and more explosive, C) easier to recover from, D) quicker to do, and E) as effective or more effective for fat loss. But if 2-3 miles is working for you, and you like it, absolutely keep doing it--it's still a great workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A high-protein, low-carb diet rich in good fats like coconut, olive and avocado would help. That would be a fine approach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The second method&lt;/strong&gt; would be to check out Martin Berkhan's intermittent fasting LeanGains approach, and follow it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2008/06/sure-fire-fat-loss.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;His diet protocol is detailed briefly here&lt;/a&gt;. At the moment I can't find detailed lifting recommendations from him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T13:08:02.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7384" CreationDate="2012-07-22T03:42:19.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a rule, unless you're on steroids, one rest day minimum, no matter what. In fact, two or three rest days is better, and given your core muscles include the back muscles, and larger muscles need more recovery time, you should be leaning towards more for your ab work (if you're not yet balancing your ab work, you should start).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T03:42:19.803" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-22T11:15:01.470" Score="17" ViewCount="1707" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to figure out the best warmup routine for running.  I see a few articles that say  you shouldn't do any stretching before warming up given cold muscles.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--13326-0,00.html&quot;&gt;This article for example,&lt;/a&gt; just states that you should walk and run slowly for a while and &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/howtorun/ht/warmup.htm&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; only discusses stretching as part of cool down.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://beginners.runnersworld.com/2010/07/should-i-stretch-before-or-after-running.html&quot;&gt;This other beginners article&lt;/a&gt; says the same thing but others keep it opened ended as a debate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, should I stretch before I run and if so what is a recommended program between stretching and walking, light running to properly avoid injury and have the best workout ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="3476" LastEditDate="2012-07-23T13:10:59.493" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T03:15:48.347" Title="Best warm up for running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7390" CreationDate="2012-07-22T13:25:01.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should stretch before running, but not the sit down and reach kind of stretching. That is called static stretching, and is best done on fully warmed up muscles, at the end of workouts. What you want to do is dynamic stretching, which is the walk and run slowly recommendation. Dynamic stretching is doing motions that mimic what you will be doing in the workout, in gradually increasing intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LEG LIFTS&#xA;Swing one leg out to the side, then swing it back across your body in front of your other leg. Repeat 10 times on each side. Feel wobbly? Hold onto a steady object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUTT-KICKS&#xA;While standing, walk forward with an exaggerated backswing so that your heels come up to your glutes. When this is easy, try it while jogging. Do 10 reps on each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WALKING LUNGES&#xA;Step forward using a long stride, keeping the front knee over or just behind your toes. Lower your body by dropping your back knee toward the ground. Maintain an upright posture and keep your abdominal muscles tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-22T16:54:48.640" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T16:54:48.640" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7421" CreationDate="2012-07-22T19:14:39.963" Score="1" ViewCount="3799" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'9&quot;, 158.  Plan on shedding 10 pounds of fat and gaining muscle.  I hope to get into amazing shape.  (I'm already in shape, but I'm aiming for getting cut!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious what I should aim for in terms of my Protein/Fat/Carb ratio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally eat around 1,500 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2013-07-21T12:30:05.770" Title="Suggested Protein/Fat/Carb Ratio?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7380" CreationDate="2012-07-22T19:25:57.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few things that come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get checked for a leg length discrepancy.  There are solutions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider getting some inserts for your shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get one of these: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000F5R4S6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Mueller-Jumpers-Knee-Strap-Blue/dp/B000F5R4S6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1342985036&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=mueller+knee+strap&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you run, don't swing your arms crazily - this can throw off your entire stride.  Think of your elbows like elbowing somebody directly behind you, not large, flailing motions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go see a podiatrist, you may have a number of possible problems with your foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep in mind any past injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T19:25:57.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7378" CreationDate="2012-07-22T21:50:54.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well by gaining weight and not strength essentially means you'll be gaining fat???!! Meaning you may not be able to do those 3 press ups at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on strength - check out my answer on a previous question:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7059/is-this-program-good-to-achieve-functional-strength-and-fitness/7089#7089&quot;&gt;Is this program good to achieve functional strength and fitness?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train simple and hard, eat and rest!  Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3770" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-07-22T21:50:54.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7397" CreationDate="2012-07-23T02:59:46.317" Score="3" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm on a strict diet which consists of 3000 calories 50/30/20 (pcf) consisting of chicken or beef, green vegetables, eggs, bread, and rice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'7&quot; and currently about 8% body fat. I have consistently been loosing fat and gaining muscle and I've been happy with my progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to polish off a tub of icecream in one sitting or across a cheat day? Is there any evidence that a cheat day is good for you? I've heard stuff that it keeps your metabolism ticking over or something. Is there any truth to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T04:32:24.637" Title="best way to cheat - cheat day? cheat meal?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7396" CreationDate="2012-07-23T04:25:24.520" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm basing my answer entirely off of this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/in_defense_of_cheat_days&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/in_defense_of_cheat_days&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Supposed benefits&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased thyroid hormone output&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased 24-hour energy expenditure (up to 9% increase in metabolic rate)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased serum leptin levels (increased thermogenisis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Counter-points&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're probably not leptin-depleted, and your metabolic rate probably hasn't actually slowed significantly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cheat days may be a gateway to full-on failure to follow your planned diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cheat days will encourage eating of unhealthy foods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Counter-counter-points&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're not leptin depleted, you aren't dieting hard enough on non-cheat days, and even if you have a slight decrease in metabolism due to caloric deficit, this should be fought by cheat days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not everyone is addicted to food. A cheat day doesn't necessarily mean the end of your diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cheat days just mean high calories, not bad calories... it's up to you to still eat healthy on a cheat day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to cheat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decide that you need to. If your progress has slowed for a few weeks (you say that yours hasn't), try a cheat. If your caloric deficit is not that low, then you don't need to cheat that often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start with cheat meals. If they are not enough to stimulate progress, progress to cheat days.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't stuff yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-23T04:32:24.637" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T04:32:24.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7398" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-23T04:31:59.030" Score="8" ViewCount="24195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately, I have been going to the gym at 9 PM (assume for the question that I can't go earlier in the day).  I usually get home around 10:15 PM and then try to get to sleep by around 11:30 PM. I am doing both cardio and weight training.   I wanted to see if (and what) is recommended to eat because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On one hand people say you need a good meal after working out to repair and nourish your body.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, people say to avoid eating late at night and right before you go to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to reconcile both of these recommendations to see what if anything i should be eating late after working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T21:21:28.017" Title="What should I eat (if anything) after working out if I work out at night?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7392" CreationDate="2012-07-23T04:32:53.590" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;1:1:1, or 33% to 33% to 33%, or anything else to that effect, however you want to look at it. You probably won't nail it exactly, but the most important thing is to get a good balance of all the macronutrients, so your body can decide how to use what it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good rule of thumb I go by is to make sure I've had &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; one of each throughout the day, and &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; 3 different sources of protein, carb and fat each throughout the week. Then you won't be seriously deficient in anything, even if you're not particularly balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T04:32:53.590" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7398" CreationDate="2012-07-23T05:47:30.167" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The time of your work out is probably ok but it doesn't synch well with the time you go off to sleep. You should keep awake atleast for 2 hours after your dinner. You should absolutely EAT after the workout otherwise you would starve your body of the repair that should happen after the workout. Probably you should try to sleep at 12 and eat immediately after the workout by 10:30. It is not recommended to sleep immediately after you have had a meal, this has bad effect on your sugar levels. If you are young and working out enough you might still get away with the harmful effects if you sleep immediately after the meal but it isn't recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T05:47:30.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7398" CreationDate="2012-07-23T07:11:55.810" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd want to eat something that's fairly fast digesting, as undigested food when you're sleeping is a problem (hence the recommendation that you shouldn't eat late).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smoothies would be great for that, as a lot of the digesting work (chewing and mashing the food around by the stomach) would already be done, so it's just straight to breaking down the food for absorption. Monosaccharaides would be good for that, so very ripe bananas would be great for the smoothie, as would a small amount of whey protein (protein doesn't digest that quickly, so you don't want too much). Smoothies are also quick and easy to make, so you can get to eating them faster than a regular meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also taking a multivitamin/mineral after the workout wouldn't be a bad idea under the circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T07:11:55.810" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7390" CreationDate="2012-07-23T13:15:25.277" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neuromuscular Activation and Dynamic Stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthrunning.com/2011/07/the-standard-warm-up-video-demonstration/&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is an excellent video on a dynamic stretching routine for running.  It demonstrates 9 dynamic stretches.  I've been using this routine several times a week for months now.  It is a great way to get warmed up before hitting the road/treadmill/trails.  It includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking Deadlifts (Drinking Bird)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knee Hugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Groiners&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Donkey Kicks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mountain Climbers &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Iron Cross &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunge Matrix &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral Leg Swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other dynamic exercises you can do for a warm up include jumping rope, jumping jacks, and some high knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to dynamic stretching, and to precede dynamic stretching, I would recommend some &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/posts/2012/4/26/the-dynamic-run-warm-up-part-1-muscle-activation.html&quot;&gt;neuromuscular activation exercises&lt;/a&gt; or NMA.  NMA exercises trigger the connection between your brain and your muscles.  Studies have shown that the better your brain and muscles are coordinated, the more force (speed) you can obtain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Save static stretching for the end of your workout, but don't stretch to the point of discomfort.  Focus on stretching hip flexors, hamstrings, calfs and gluteus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T13:15:25.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7409" CreationDate="2012-07-23T13:21:13.647" Score="4" ViewCount="1422" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of cable machines I've maxed out at the gym, such as: leg extension, triceps cable push down, lying machine squat, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm at the point where I'm doing 5 by 5 with very slow movements. How else can I take advantage of these machines for strength and size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've maxed out the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Machine Squat: 410 lbs @ 10+ reps. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps Cable Pushdown: 205 lbs @ 5+ reps. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extension: 310 lbs @ 10+ reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already do free weights for the above muscle groups: deadlifts, bench press with narrow grip &amp;amp; bent over dumbbell kickbacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be clear with everyone, I already do all the major free weights exercises, so it's not a lack of willingness. I currently do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder Press: 140 lbs @ 5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press: 140 lbs @ 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Arnold Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Shoulder Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Bent over Delt Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dubbell Lateral Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy-bar Preacher Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But lets face it, cable machines make certain exercises a lot more convenient and they add a lot of variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:36:08.903" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:36:08.903" Title="How to take advantage of a cable machine when you've maxed it out?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;cables&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7404" CreationDate="2012-07-23T13:33:46.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Step away from the cable machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try free weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add an aspect of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Other/BalanceBoardSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;balance&lt;/a&gt; with free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T13:33:46.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7404" CreationDate="2012-07-23T15:37:59.927" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's good that you do deadlifts, but the next best size builder are straight up free weight squats.  Please do not be overconfident the first time you do free weight squats to full depth.  Get used to the movement with an empty bar and the work up to it.  I was able to do machine squats at over 400lbs, but when it came to free weight squats I couldn't even do half that.  There is such a difference in the range of motion, that you'll find yourself much weaker where the machines &lt;em&gt;couldn't&lt;/em&gt; hit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have maxed out the weight you can do with a machine, the only thing you can do with it is increase the overall volume.  More reps, more sets.  But that's it.  The four big compound lifts are also major mass builders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By varying intensity and volume work, you can grow quite a lot with them.  The combination provides a solid foundation, and the heavier you go with them, the more mass you can build with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of the triceps push down, consider doing laying triceps extensions with the ez-curl bar.  You can load the bar more than the machine.  Or perhaps weighted dips to truly blast your triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that there are valid reasons to use machines, but when there is nothing left that the machine can give you, it's time to find something else that will take you further.  The fact that machines have limits is one of the biggest reasons they can only do so much for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't able to do free-weight squats at parallel for at least your body weight, you are severely limiting the mass you can gain, and the benefits it gives to your core strength, stability, and posterior chain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T15:37:59.927" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7404" CreationDate="2012-07-23T17:53:28.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are usually different attachments that you can get, particularly for the pulldown machine and the row (same machine in my gym). You could get a D-Handle or a rope handle to add elements of grip strength to your tricep pushdowns for instance, or add in one handed or two handed wood chops and reverse wood chops. There's also an attachment I've seen in a book but never in a store or in person that lets you tie it around your ankle to practice moving your leg slideways, which would be a great balance for the flexion and extension of leg extensions and glute-ham curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T17:53:28.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-23T18:49:50.633" Score="3" ViewCount="336" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in doing exercises for strengthening the rotator's cuff, as suggested in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7225/rotator-cuff-strengthening-for-shoulder-overuse-injury&quot;&gt;this question/answer&lt;/a&gt; and other good resources. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, do these deserve their own spot in the training schedule or can they be done at the same time as regular shoulder exercises? Should they be done at a certain distance from shoulder training etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; have any shoulder injury or pain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T11:40:22.880" Title="Should exercises for the rotator cuff be done at the same time as other shoulder's exercises?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;timing&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7390" CreationDate="2012-07-23T19:04:48.447" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to a recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110218083422.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt;, stretching of any kind before running does not aid in the prevention of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The study found that stretching before running neither prevents nor&#xA;  causes injury. In fact, the most significant risk factors for injury&#xA;  included the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;history of chronic injury or injury in the past four months;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;higher body mass index (BMI); and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;switching pre-run stretching routines (runners who normally stretch    stopping and those who did stretch starting to stretch before&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  running).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conclusion in the above study appears to be the regimen shift more-so than what the regimen actually consists of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another number of notes of studies conducted &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-287--7001-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;; however the actual studies I am having difficulty locating but this gem sticks outs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ian Shrier, M.D., a past president of the Canadian Society of Sports&#xA;  Medicine, has been drilling into the stretching literature since the&#xA;  early 1990s. In a 1999 paper titled &quot;Stretching Before Exercise Does&#xA;  Not Reduce the Risk of Local Muscle Injury,&quot; Dr. Shrier lists five&#xA;  reasons why stretching shouldn't be expected to work. Among them:&#xA;  stretching won't change eccentric muscle activity (when a muscle&#xA;  simultaneously contracts and lengthens, as in downhill running), which&#xA;  is believed to cause most injuries; stretching can produce damage at&#xA;  the skeletal level; and stretching appears to mask muscle pain, which&#xA;  could cause the exerciser to ignore this key pre-injury signal. He&#xA;  concludes: &quot;The basic science and clinical evidence today suggests&#xA;  that stretching before exercise is more likely to cause injury than to&#xA;  prevent it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally perform absolutely no stretching of any kind prior to my runs. I do on the other hand perform a light walk if I had been sedentary prior to my run for 2 -3 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastEditorUserId="385" LastEditDate="2012-07-25T03:15:48.347" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T03:15:48.347" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7390" CreationDate="2012-07-23T19:57:40.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been a runner for about 25 years and do not stretch before running. I use two types of warmup routines based on the type of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the run is a distance run I simply begin at a slow jogging pace and speed up as I begin to feel &quot;warm&quot; (sweat and breathing rate are good cues). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I do a sprint workout I begin with a slow lap rotating the following variations, about 20 steps of each: sideways running left, sideways running right, running backwards, high knees, butt kicks (bring heels up to butt). Second lap is a couple 100m &quot;medium&quot; sprints at which point I feel warmed up enough for the full speed exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T19:57:40.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7413" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-23T21:33:52.420" Score="-1" ViewCount="1184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5 feet 11 and I weight 189 pounds, I'm trying to lose some weight to reach 176 pounds. My calculated GDA (with online tools) should be 2800 Kcal/per day. My question is: if I lower this value to 2000 Kcal/day, am I going to lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Regarding to my diet I just cut off all the sweet things, fuzzy drinks and everything that could contain a lot of fat including dairy foods and I've been exercising since the beginning. There's not a precise reason why I want to lose weight, I just want to stay well with myself. I chose 176 pounds because I thought that was my fit-weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3843" LastEditorUserId="3843" LastEditDate="2012-07-24T09:01:55.527" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T09:18:09.230" Title="What's my GDA to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7410" CreationDate="2012-07-23T22:07:53.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, unless you have a known deficiency or need to strengthen them for a specific reason, I would just let your normal training take care of them. They are ancillary muscles for most movements (Which means accessory or helping muscles), and their primary function is to stabilize/rotate the upper arm, mostly by keeping the head of the humerus in place in the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could add a segment specifically to train them, but then you run the risk of overtraining them since they are used so much in other movements. ANY motion where the arm is moving is going to use the SITS muscles, so they are getting trained any time you do rows, presses, pullups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to train them on their own, use light weights and strict attention to form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T22:07:53.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7392" CreationDate="2012-07-23T22:58:06.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most diets that are followed before competition by body-builders are low-carb ones. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307272702&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It&lt;/a&gt; also strongly advocates keeping carbs to absolute minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need protein to keep your muscles grow. The most your body can process 2.2g to 2.5g per kilogram, which in your case amounts to 173g of protein. Which is roughly 46% of your 1500 calories/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suggest is&#xA;10% Carbs&#xA;45% Fat&#xA;45% Protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I follow this very same diet, and the results are quite satisfying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastEditorUserId="1395" LastEditDate="2012-07-23T23:43:53.770" LastActivityDate="2012-07-23T23:43:53.770" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7392" CreationDate="2012-07-23T23:43:41.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people can burn carbohydrates more efficiently than others. I'm currently on 50,30,20 (pfc) and I've had good results. I'd definitely try lower carb first as that has the best success rate. If you have trouble putting on muscle I'd add in more calories 200 at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your appetite can be directly linked to your metabolism and so that would be my guess as to why you don't feel like eating any more than you are. The best way to increase your metabolism is to eat more and more often (ironically), which will in turn increase your appetite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a diet plan which equates to about 2800 calories (50,30,20) (protein,fat,carb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Meal 1: 4 eggs + 1 piece of toast + 40g protein shake&#xA;Meal 2: 230g meat + 200g vegies + 50g rice&#xA;Meal 3: 25g almonds + 40g protein shake&#xA;Meal 4: 230g meat + 200g vegies + 50g rice&#xA;Meal 5: 25g almonds + 40g protein shake&#xA;Meal 6: 230g meat + 200g vegies + 25g + almonds (no rice)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add to that a quality fish oil, a multivitamin, and probiotics for digestive health. All weights are uncooked and 'meat' refers to anything lean (chicken breast skinless, lean beef mince, tuna, etc). Veggies excludes potatoes - just stick to green fibrous like broccoli. Protein powder must be low carb as possible (no sugar). Drink plenty of water (at least 3.5 litres) but not on top of a stomach full of food!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, its mostly about FOOD. As well as all this, you should be training about 3 or 4 times a week and HARD. Train every set to failure. Record your reps/weights and ensure you are always adding reps or weights (ever increasing intensity). There is a lot more to it all but this will be a good start. 15-20 reps on the compounds like squats and deadlifts will burn the most fat whilst growing (or at least maintaining) muscle. Forget cardio - and forget situps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you already have a grasp on listening to your body. At first you will feel like you are forcing food in and intuitively you will feel like you are eating too much. This will quickly change as your metabolism gets up a gear. You will enjoy sustained energy levels throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-07-24T23:09:15.777" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T23:09:15.777" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7390" CreationDate="2012-07-24T04:19:43.240" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what kind of running you are doing. If you are doing a low intensity distance run, no need to do any stretching or warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing a more intense aerobic run you should start with a low intensity warmup run (1/2 mile should be sufficient but ultimately it'll be dictated by your fitness level and the workout you are warning up for).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing high intensity running like max effort sprints you should do an ascending warmup with some dynamic stretching. You should be sweating after this warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Save the static stretches for after your run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T04:19:43.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7404" CreationDate="2012-07-24T17:29:15.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I agree that free weights will give you more gains in the overall scheme of weight lifting.  Reason being, you have to use other smaller muscle groups to help stabilize and balance the weight being lifted.  That being said, here is my solution to your question if you insist on using cable machines...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NEGATIVES! (or eccentric muscle lengthening)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past several decades, numerous studies have established that eccentric contractions can maximize the force exerted and the work performed by muscle; that they are associated with a greater mechanical efficiency; that they can attenuate the mechanical effects of impact forces; and that they enhance the tissue damage associated with exercise. (in a peer reviewed article by Roger Enoka entitled &lt;em&gt;Eccentric contractions require unique activation strategies by the nervous system&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Negatives&quot; force your muscle to work differently and breaks them down more (in a good way).  I will often finish some of my super sets (two exercises back to back that may or may not include the same muscle group) with the same muscle group.  If I can't finish my second set, I will cheat the weight up and perform negatives until I just can not do them efficiently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T17:29:15.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7392" CreationDate="2012-07-24T18:30:23.910" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to consult a sports nutritionist.  There are FAR too many variables that affect your metabolism and how you digest food to tell you what you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you can take a few things into consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1) You have to consume calories if you want to lose weight.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;     -If your body is needing 2,500 CAL/day, and you are only consuming 1,500 your body will think you are starving.  This does not mean eat a 2,000 CAL burger, you still have to be responsible with your calorie consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2) Carbohydrates are needed to burn fat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;     -Therefore, you CAN NOT burn fat without carbohydrates in your diet.  You will lose fat size; but, you will not actually burn the fat.  Mike S. is correct about the varying degrees at which people burn carbohydrates. This is one of the reasons you need to consult a sports nutritionist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3) After a certain point, protein consumption becomes inefficient and you pee out excess.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;     -This level is different for everyone and is another reason you need to consult a professional.  The United States Registered Dietitian's Association states that it, &quot;recommends 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of ideal body weight per day.&quot;  A sub-point to be made here is that natural sources of protein are more beneficial that supplements.  The exception to that rule is when you can not consume enough protein by eating regular foods and need a supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T18:30:23.910" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7390" CreationDate="2012-07-24T18:38:00.583" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember the standard advice for all things running: we are an experiment of one and you need to find what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You haven't said what distance you're warming up for or if you're talking about racing or merely training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Stretching&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the research on this is discouraging or, at best, mixed. However, a great many health professionals will advocate for it - based on experience. Personally, I know my body and I know that if I do a certain stretch before I run then I don't get calf tightness. I ignore most other stretching directly before or after running. I do, however, stretch most mornings to keep my back loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Racing&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are preparing to race then the length of your warmup is inversely proportional to the length of the race. So, if you're about to race 5km you might do a 1-2km light run as a warmup. This is so your muscles are in operating condition right at the start and you don't have to wait a minute or two before they're at full speed. However, on an ultra you've got &lt;em&gt;plenty&lt;/em&gt; of time for things to get going so nobody bothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Training&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are out to do a speed training session then generally you would want a few kms of a light run first so that your legs are operating at peak. You're speed training to run fast when your legs are in that state so you need to get into that state first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T18:38:00.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2110" CreationDate="2012-07-24T20:35:14.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've experienced that due to diet throughout my life. When I was a kid I would always have difficulties waking up and would have incredible weakness in my hands - I couldn't snap the button of my pants together, I was that weak. My mother took me to an alternative allergist who put me on a specific diet, and very quickly I was able to wake up full of energy and without any weakness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently had similar symptoms hit me after eating a particular cereal/granola mix. I woke up with a lot of joint pain and was fairly fatigued. I made sure not to eat that cereal again and a few days later I was fine again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is there's no way to really predict what's causing the problems, and it might even change. For a while I couldn't handle bread made from whole wheat flour or anything with brown rice. After switching to white bread and white rice, the situation reversed and I had to go back to whole wheat and brown. Since then I've just always had a habit of cycling my diet, so I don't stick consistently eating one thing for longer than 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping a journal of what you eat, and trying taking certain foods out until you feel better is the only way you'd be able to figure it out by yourself. Seeing an allergist or nutritionist might also help, but that could be prohibitively expensive depending on where you live and what kind of insurance you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T20:35:14.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6039" CreationDate="2012-07-24T20:51:44.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go with the watts. The nice thing is that due to the inefficiencies in pedaling, watts generated correlates very closely to calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for the apparent discrepancy is in the perception. When you are on a bike, the distance traveled is a function is a calculation of gear inches. If you are set at X number of gear inches, and you pedal at 90 rpm, you will travel Y distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your example, think of it this way. You are on a fixed gear bike, pedaling at 90 rpm for 5 minutes. You travel 3 miles (For instance). To achieve this, your output is 25 watts. Now, you come to a 3 mile hill at 5% incline. You maintain 90 rpm, and so in that 5 minutes your distance traveled will be the same, since your gear inches have not changed. But, to achieve this, you have to work 4 times as hard, so now instead of expending 25 watts, you have expended 100 watts. Same distance, same time, much greater work output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T20:51:44.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-24T22:35:21.173" Score="7" ViewCount="1197" Body="&lt;p&gt;Through observation and empirical evidence, a lot of strength trainers and bodybuilders have found that 5-6 reps is ideal for building strength, while 10-12 reps is ideal for building size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed in my own experience that it's a lot easier for me to add 10lbs to a lift at the 5 rep range, than it is for me to keep the weight for my previous 5RM and go up to 8 or 10 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An obvious answer might be that increasing the reps significantly increases the total load (8 reps at 100lbs is 800lbs total, while 5 reps at 110lbs is 550lbs total), but I'm wondering if there's also something else. Football players are tested for the 40 yard dash because that's about the distance that can be maintained at top speed, around the 5-7 second range, while a 100 meter sprint would have even the best sprinters slowing down slightly at the finish compared to their top speed at any point on the stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something similar going on with lifts? Such as muscle glycogen stores being exhausted in the 5-6 rep range, and the body having to switch to breaking down lactate for energy in the 10-12 rep range?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T03:04:38.300" Title="What changes between the 5 rep range and the 10 rep range?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;effort&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7430" CreationDate="2012-07-24T22:37:34.707" Score="3" ViewCount="2559" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1035/does-being-cold-help-lose-weight&quot;&gt;Does being cold help lose weight?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read this comment on a YouTube video showing body builders having breakfast:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ice water. That's the key. Not just plain water - you gotta put&#xA;  ice in it. Otherwise your gains in the gym just go kaput. It's the&#xA;  secret of the pros. Especially during contest prep. Burns an extra&#xA;  1000 cals a day of pure fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously YouTube comments by random people who most of the time are just spewing nonsense is not to be trusted but this one really caught my attention because of the ramifications if it's true. So I rather ask the experts, is there any truth to this and if so why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3867" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T01:35:27.857" Title="Does drinking ice water burn up to 1000 extra calories per day?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-07-25T16:38:06.043" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7428" CreationDate="2012-07-24T22:51:57.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cold food would affect the homeostasis of your body, requiring more heat to be produced to bring it back to 37 degrees, so there's probably &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; truth to it, but not to the extent suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A much more likely reason that bodybuilders drink so much water for contest prep is cutting weight. If you drink a ton of water and then stop 12-24 hours before the contest, you'll cut anywhere from 10-30lbs by pissing it out and sitting in a sauna in a sweat suit. I've cut 8% of my bodyweight in water doing that. Ice water might factor in there as well, as people in hot countries drink spicy tea to deal with the outward heat, whereas drinking ice water or slushies leaves you still sweating just as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cutting water weight leads to much better muscle definition, so it's quite understandable that someone might confuse 30lbs of water weight with 1000 calories worth of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-24T22:51:57.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7428" CreationDate="2012-07-25T01:35:27.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;NO. A calorie is defined as the amount of energy needed to warm 1 gram of water by 1 degree C. Lets imagine an extreme implementation of this advice - someone who eats a gallon of ice slush per day. That's about 4000 grams or 4 liters. If the H2O goes from freezing temp (0) to body temp (37), the energy consumed is 14800 calories. Since one metabolic &quot;calorie&quot; is actually a kilocalorie in physics terms, the amount (148 calories) is negligible, hardly close to the 1000 calories claimed. More like a couple eggs or apples. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T01:35:27.857" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2012-07-25T04:50:19.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @alesplin. IMO, breathing is directly related to one's stamina. If you have good stamina, then you can run or workout more which is ultimately the result of proper oxygen supply to your blood and muscles. Everything in the start is slow. If you want an explosion of oxygen to increase your running distance/pace, only possibility is to start slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can practice &lt;strong&gt;deep breathing&lt;/strong&gt; with your &lt;strong&gt;nose while breathing in&lt;/strong&gt; and with your &lt;strong&gt;mouth while breathing out&lt;/strong&gt;, when running. Initially you will only be focusing on breathing properly, but that's ok because when it's going to be unnoticeable, you never know. But the rewards will be plenty. You will have increased stamina and your breathing will be coordinated with your steps. By practicing deep breathing, you will have increased supply of oxygen which will curb the lactic acid formation in your body muscles. As the quantity of lactic acid in the muscles decrease, you will tire less. But this will be a gradual process. And it will be fruitful. I have been practicing it since one year and the results are very rewarding. I have scaled from 500m to 6kms non stop just by practicing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3494" LastEditorUserId="3494" LastEditDate="2012-07-25T06:31:12.420" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T06:31:12.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7378" CreationDate="2012-07-25T06:02:03.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this also depends on your age.  But putting that aside you should treat yourself to whatever you can get your hands on and eat the motherload out of it.  Then get yourself in the weight room, decrease the cardio to a minimum, and hit some solid weights.  Don't worry about any strict programming in training, merely focus on doing something.  After the body goes through the adaptation process you can look into certain workouts posted in t-nation or even bodybuilding.com.  Any of those will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for diet add olive oil to everything, have protein shakes like no tomorrow, try to drink a half of gallon a milk a day, eat eggs like their your girlfriend.  After you get a good increase of quality protein meals in your system, have hit the weight room 3-4 times a week, diminished cardio then look into refining your structure.  It will come naturally since you learn how your body reacts to certain movements, meals, etc.  You will build an excellent rhythm after a few weeks and months and fall in love in training.  Here's a trick: &lt;strong&gt;Try to really focus on a heavy protein diet and training for 14 days straight&lt;/strong&gt;.  You'll kick start a habit ritual in your system and everything else will seem easy from then on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After training for 3-4 years on a very consistent basis you can really drill down the details that will help you get your squat over 600pds and get your bodyfat % below 9%.  Then you're on fire and will look back at your post and laugh at your 3 pushups.  Until then it's being super consistent, have a big freaking breakfast for quality energy throughout the day and punch it hard like Chewie did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T06:02:03.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-25T13:41:01.177" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;When i read a lean Ham nutrion fact label (In france) i see (roughly): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 100grams: &#xA;Protein 21g&#xA;Glucide 0.4g&#xA;Lipides 1g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn t add up to 100grams.. So what is the rest ? (Almost all label i see out there never reach 100%)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3912" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T13:41:01.177" Title="Nutritional Label dont reach 100% total when adding all component?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2012-07-25T15:19:12.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5597" CreationDate="2012-07-25T14:22:56.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your priorities (avoiding injuries as no 1) and your current work out plan, I would go for the yoga routine. Done in the right way, it will give additional awarness of your body that will help in everyday situations. The other options you gave seem to be more of cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get more variation in your work outs, you could consider to do weigth lifting instead of TRX at least once a week. Variation is good for long term motivation and also reduces the chance for injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T14:22:56.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7460" CreationDate="2012-07-25T16:09:12.470" Score="9" ViewCount="1785" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been under the impression that one cannot increase their total lung capacity, it's like the ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch fibers in your muscles, i.e. it is what you were born with. However, I was looking through research articles to confirm this, and I cannot find any articles that specifically address increasing total lung capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware that there are lung training devices out there that purport to increase capacity, but what they really do is train inspiratory muscle, and that neovascularization (increase in capillary and blood vessel counts to exercising muscle) also contributes to O2 delivery and increased O2 utilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone provide some studies directly addressing the increase in lung capacity and the effects on athletes thereof? I am aware of the studies in asthmatics, but they are not increasing the TOTAL lung capacity, they are increasing the FUNCTIONAL lung capacity. I am interested in ones where total lung capacity was shown to have increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to clear up - What I'm looking for is any studies where the actual physical lung size has been shown to be increased. Lung volume is directly measured (spirometry, etc), but lung capacity by necessity is a finite value. I'm interested in finding out if there have been any exercises or other interventions that have proven to increase the lung size rather than the efficiency in which we use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-07-25T17:42:29.037" LastActivityDate="2012-07-28T08:11:28.597" Title="Is increasing lung capacity a misnomer?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2012-07-25T16:52:53.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I focus primarily on breathing out, making sure my lungs are cleared of air as much as possible. With the effort on breathing out, the lungs just fill up naturally due to the pressure difference (same with playing a wind instrument incidentally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T16:52:53.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7449" CreationDate="2012-07-25T17:08:28.747" Score="13" ViewCount="56422" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am using the correct form while doing a standard deadlift what primary and secondary muscles are being targeted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3825" LastActivityDate="2018-04-26T11:04:45.933" Title="What muscles are deadlifts meant to target?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7437" CreationDate="2012-07-25T17:20:50.160" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The deadlift works more muscles than any other lift, but what sets it apart from other lifts is the attention it gives to the back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The deadlift builds back strength better than any other exercise, bar none. (From Starting Strength, 3rd Edition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, the deadlift works the legs (hamstrings, quads), hips (glutes, and supporting muscles), abs, forearms (for grip strength), and back (almost everything... spinal erectors, lats, rhomboids, levator scapulae, trapezius).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where you will tend to &quot;feel&quot; the lift if you are using correct form is in the hamstrings and lower back. In the set-up, pre-pull position, you will feel a stretch in your hamstrings as your hips are high and your spinal erectors are pulling your back into rigid extension. Your back fights your hamstrings for control of your hips, and your back must win. That means your hamstrings will feel stretched and your back will be in isometric contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-25T17:26:28.593" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T17:26:28.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7440" CreationDate="2012-07-25T17:24:45.390" Score="4" ViewCount="1402" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've been doing kickboxing workouts which involve high-intensity cardio with some free weights and body weight movements. This has been awesome at helping me trim down and tone up, I've gone from 223lbs down to 205lbs in about 3 months. Though, now I would like to stay around the same weight but continue with the trimming and fat loss that I've been seeing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, Is there a workout regimen for something like this or am I going to have to lose more weight and then bulk back up with lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet that I have been trying to follow during the past 3 months is someone along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;5am  - Yogurt.&#xA;6    - Class till 7&#xA;730  - Peanut buyer toast with a banana&#xA;1030 - Small snack of nuts&#xA;1230 - Frozen vegetables and grilled chicken&#xA;3    - Small snack of nuts&#xA;530  - Yogurt&#xA;730  - Spinach salad and grilled chicken&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are any changes to my eating habits that might help me reach my goals those suggestions would be appreciated as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3654" LastEditorUserId="3654" LastEditDate="2012-07-26T00:04:36.993" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T00:04:36.993" Title="Can I lose fat but stay the same weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-weight-lift&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7439" CreationDate="2012-07-25T17:31:48.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you begin a general strength training program focused on full-body workouts using barbells (squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press), and feed yourself to support this muscle growth, you can simultaneously add muscle, trim fat, and hold your current weight. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; are two popular examples of this type of program. (More detail about these programs are in other answers, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6553/need-to-get-back-into-shape-is-there-a-slightly-lighter-p90x-type-thing/6587#6587&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5773/stronglifts-5x5-an-effective-program/5774#5774&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take some fine-tuning of your diet to exactly hold weight, so you may drop or increase weight slightly if you're not eating exactly the right amount, but you should be able to get close, but your body fat % should continue to decrease regardless of these small variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T18:28:27.577" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7442" CreationDate="2012-07-25T22:19:44.367" Score="2" ViewCount="1696" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started running again after a 4 month period of inactivity due to bronchitis. Used to be a sporty guy up to five years ago (I'm 35 now) then almost nothing until last year. Last year everything was fine while I was running in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I've been training again for about a month, slowly building up my mileage. Now I can do 6km in 35 min but towards the end of my run when my heart-rate naturally goes up and I also start running a little faster I noticed that I get a mild but constant chest pain so I slow down and then I'm fine. As soon as I drop below 160 bpm I'm fine again. Is this something you think I should have checked? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T22:55:20.733" Title="Chest pain while running over 160 bpm" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7441" CreationDate="2012-07-25T22:55:20.733" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most definitely have it checked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress tests are one of the ways that cardiologists check for abnormalities in heart function, as the heart may exhibit dysrhythmia at that time (Under workload such as you are when running), and be perfectly normal at other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be a touch of pleurisy (inflammation of the outside lining of the lungs) from the bronchitis, or it may be something else. Any kind of chest pain should be vetted by a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-25T22:55:20.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7450" CreationDate="2012-07-25T23:57:04.130" Score="16" ViewCount="6685" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exercised for the first time in a long time yesterday. This is what I did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;500 jumping jacks at moderate pace &#xA;100 jumping jacks at fast pace &#xA;10 min of running in place at moderate pace &#xA;100 jumping jacks at fast pace&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I can barely walk, my leg muscles are aching a lot. After being seated for a while if I get up to walk it is very hard. But I noticed after a while once I'm warmed up a bit I can pull it off. So I think I will be able to do the same workout I did yesterday today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is should I?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I reckon my leg muscles are hurting because I tore them up with my exercise and now in order to allow them to regrow and grow bigger I should rest. But my goal at the moment is to lose weight, not so much to grow muscle. Hence all my exercises are cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone in my situation who is looking to lose weight and lose it fast, should I be doing this sort of cardio daily? or take breaks? If I should take entire days off how many a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;height: 5'8&#xA;weight: 185lbs&#xA;age: 23&#xA;sex: male&#xA;body type: overweight&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3867" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T12:48:19.843" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T08:59:19.483" Title="Should I exercise when my muscles are aching?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7447" CreationDate="2012-07-26T00:35:25.680" Score="1" ViewCount="743" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on bodybuilding for a few months, and I want to start using whey protein. I'm lactose intolerant and experience serious stomachaches whenever I drink milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see &amp;quot;lactose free&amp;quot; label on some whey protein supplements, but there isn't any lactose-free protein supplements in Turkey that I could find. Do other whey protein supplements have too much lactose? If I use those supplements, will I experience stomachaches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/bodybuilding-supplements/100-percent-whey-power.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding.com 100% Whey Powder &lt;/a&gt; states in its allergen information that it contains milk, but doesn't state anything about lactose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3916" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T01:26:39.873" Title="Using lactose-free whey protein for bodybuilding" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7446" CreationDate="2012-07-26T01:43:51.320" Score="2" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 20 years old. I am 85 kg (about 187 pounds), and my height is 179 centimeters. I don't really have any muscle. I have belly fat. I was a swimmer 4 years ago, but I haven't done any sports for 4 years. It's time to change :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll go to a gym. There is a guy who will help me as a coach. He's actually not a professional coach but is just manager of the gym. Because of this, I don't trust him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just checked a few websites, and I found two workout goals on bodybuilding.com: &lt;strong&gt;lose fat&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;gain muscle&lt;/strong&gt; . I'm not sure. Which one should be my goal? I'm fatty but I don't want to lose too much weight. I want to stay the same weight (maybe lose 10-20 pounds) and gain muscle. I went to gym for a few months 1-2 years ago, so I know  some basic terminology. But I don't know anything about creating a training plan. I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this plan&lt;/a&gt; on internet, but I don't know if it is suitable for me? I don't know where should I start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any diet program. What diet should I follow? Should I start using supplements? I am also lactose intolerant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3916" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-26T03:27:53.457" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T03:33:59.040" Title="What should be my first goals and supplements when starting a bodybuilding program?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7445" CreationDate="2012-07-26T03:33:59.040" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're a complete beginner, you can both lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. A strength training program would be best suited to this (you can always focus more on muscle hypertrophy when you're already strong).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronglifts.com&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; is a good beginner's strength training program that's also free. You don't have to do exactly that, there are multiple variations of it, but the important thing is to lift weights that are heavy enough that you can only do 5 or 6 of them. SL will start you out way below that, but you'll quickly reach the point which you really are maxing out at 5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For diet, focus on eating healthy. That you know you're lactose intolerant is a good start, but you're probably intolerant to some other foods without knowing it. Keep a food journal and also write down how you feel and at what time. That will help you figure out which foods are causing you trouble. Eliminate them from your diet. Similarly, keep foods in that seem to make you feel really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with lifting in which you focus on strength first, with diet you should focus on eating real foods first, and only then think about supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T03:33:59.040" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7444" CreationDate="2012-07-26T03:36:36.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's unlikely that whey protein would contain a significant amount of lactose. Depending on your level of sensitivity even trace amounts could cause problems, but more likely than not you'll be fine with any whey protein you eat. If you can buy a small portion to try, that would be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, unless you're vegetarian, meat is a good source of protein, as are eggs, and food sources are always better than supplements. If you can get enough protein from meat and eggs, you might not even have to bother with the whey protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T03:36:36.497" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7443" CreationDate="2012-07-26T03:39:22.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely take some time to rest, minimum one straight day between workouts, maybe more. Exercising with slightly sore muscles is fine, but your muscles should not be so sore that you can't move normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T03:39:22.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7437" CreationDate="2012-07-26T04:29:45.297" Score="28" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&quot;That muscle.&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a classic quote about the power clean, attributed &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=55682&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to Charles Staley, that applies to your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You know when you run down the field, catch the ball and then hit a defender? It works that muscle.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deadlift works &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the muscles. However, it's not quite the same as the running-jumping-hitting-the-defender athleticism of the clean, because it's more about being straightforwardly strong. It could be more accurate to say, &quot;You know when you pick up the other guy, throw him to the ground, and pin him there? That muscle.&quot; The deadlift is about picking things up, or maintaining structure and posture against external forces. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The target muscles of the deadlift are all of them. The secondary muscles of the deadlift are all the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lower Back and Posterior Chain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, though the deadlift involves the grip, arms, shoulders, upper back, lower back, abs, neck, and legs, it particularly makes strong the lower back and the posterior chain. The excellent resource exrx.net puts the deadlift as primarily using both the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;erector spinae&lt;/a&gt; (isometrically) and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gluteus maximus&lt;/a&gt;. Second to those muscles in exrx's run-down are the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, adductor magnus, and traps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The erector spinae, abdominals, and related muscles are those that lock the trunk in place during the deadlift, keeping the spine safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The glutes, hamstrings, and related muscles are referred to as the posterior chain, which is critically important in nearly all sports. These are the muscles that drive hip extension, such as is involved in most basic athletic movements like running, punching, and jumping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training the deadlift makes for a solid back, a strong butt and legs, and as a bonus, pretty much everything else gets stronger too. It stands to reason: barring partial-range-of-motion exercises, the barbell deadlift is usually the heaviest lift one can perform. Performed correctly--which is to say, with very heavy weights--the entire body usually ends up supporting more weight than with any other lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Which Muscles, &lt;em&gt;Exactly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book &lt;em&gt;Strength Training Anatomy&lt;/em&gt; by Frederic Devalier details all the muscles used in the deadlift, in graphical form. Those muscles labelled in bold or shaded in red are used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qyF9F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4SCfs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A larger, more complete version can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/OIYX7f5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2018-04-26T11:04:45.933" LastActivityDate="2018-04-26T11:04:45.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7443" CreationDate="2012-07-26T05:11:57.327" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are experiencing is possibly Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). While this is not generally a reason to avoid workouts, if it's so intense that your range of motion or flexibility is compromised, you should rest. However, as you noticed, DOMS usually goes away after a bit of warm-up. If you can warm-up, and recover your full range of motion, go ahead and exercise. DOMS is usually only really bad the first time you work a particular muscle group after a long break from training. So, even if you need to take a few extra days rest after your first workout, you shouldn't need to next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-26T06:01:52.757" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T06:01:52.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7454" CreationDate="2012-07-26T12:05:57.477" Score="6" ViewCount="4273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be participating in a marathon in next 12 weeks. I want to know how can I improve my stamina so that I can run for longer distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I want to know what diet plans should I follow in order to assist the same? I've increased my protein intake and gymming for 6 days a week. On three days I'm running for 3-4 miles, but I am not satisfied. What other primitives can I follow in order to achieve my goal? Will meditation help in this regard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what accessories can I opt for to assist me in achieving my goal? I mean what type of shoes and other gears for improved performance. And, how can I keep track of my daily progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3494" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T14:40:20.573" Title="Marathon - How to train for a marathon in 12 weeks?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7452" CreationDate="2012-07-26T12:35:23.720" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your base is 3-4 miles, and you intend to run a marathon in 12 weeks, you are very likely to either hurt yourself, or fail to succeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is possible you can do it, you are starting from a very low volume point.  I would suggest considering training more to build up a stronger base before considering a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the plan is 10% improvement a week, on a 4-5 week schedule of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;increase    &#xA;   increase&#xA;      increase&#xA;        increase    &#xA;    down week&#xA;      increase&#xA;        increase&#xA;          increase&#xA;            increase&#xA;        down week&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so on.  That is you slowly increase volume each week for 3-4 weeks, then drop back for a rest week for recovery, but not all the way back to nothing, and thus you start back building from a  higher point each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your problem is you are starting at 4 miles, and you want to get to the point where you run 18-20 miles in training in a single run.  Doing this in 12 weeks will be problematic, and will require some big jumps in distance which your body may not be able to handle (thus the concern about injury).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more I think about this, the more I would suggest if you are determined, to pick a marathon a bit later in the year.  There are races almost every single weekend of the year in North America.  Even in the fall season, they start in September and run till December for big name races.  (Toronto has an early September one, Chicago/Cincy/DC are in October.  November is NYC/Philly, and then there are some in December as well, even Jan for Disney and when is Vegas again?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really risky.  If you do go ahead, be prepared for injuries, and be willing to bail on the goal race, as it will just hurt you if you push through the injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the rest of the questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gear: Get the proper shoes.  Find a reputable running store (Not Footlocker, or big name shoe chain.  You want a running store.  Running Room in Canada, JackRabbits in NYC, or some other style store).  If they do not watch you run on a treadmill, or watch you walk a straight line, or make you balance on one foot to see which way your foot falls, walk away.  (All those are valid methods). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the proper clothes:  It is summer, it is hot in most of the northern hemisphere.  Get wicking clothes, they work, and make a huge difference.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like a water bottle, on a bottle carrier.  Others prefer the silly smaller bottles on Fuel Belts, whatever.  On the long summer runs, you need to carry (Or stash ahead of time on your route) water and drink it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sites like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.Mapmyrun.com&quot;&gt;Mapmyrun.com&lt;/a&gt; are excellent at integrating with the GPS in your phone to track where you ran, show you a map, and store for later review.  Or else simply map it later on Google Map or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/&quot;&gt;GMaps Pedometer&lt;/a&gt;.  Or else get a GPS watch and upload the save sets to some mapping site.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise this is all about teaching your legs to run (muscles) and your heart/lungs to handle the demand (Cardio).  There are no short cuts around those two things. The best way to train to run long distance, is to run long distance.  TANSTAAFL.  Alas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="1841" LastEditDate="2012-07-26T17:15:18.470" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T17:15:18.470" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7452" CreationDate="2012-07-26T15:02:38.943" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a high risk of injury but it is possible. You want to get a 20 mile training run about 3 weeks before the marathon, so you have to work up your long run to 20.  You can stick to 3 days a week of running, but make sure you do a long run.  Below is a plan that gradually increases your long run each week.  I included a floating safety week just in case you are out of town or you have to take a week off. This is a high risk plan so it is likely you will have to take off a week to nurse an injury. Do two runs during the week, and make sure you get your long run in on the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 1: 6&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 2: 8&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 3: 10&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 4: 12&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 5: 13&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 6: 15&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 7: 17&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 8: (safety)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 9: 20&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 10: 10&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 11: 8&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Week 12: 26.2 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just to let you know, I tried doing a similar high ramp up plan to this several years ago.  It was going fine for a while, but I got a knee injury in my 17 mile run, which took several months to fully recover from.  So be fully aware of the high risk of this plan and don't be afaid to abandon it so you don't spend six months getting back to normal.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastEditorUserId="972" LastEditDate="2012-07-30T14:40:20.573" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T14:40:20.573" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7456" CreationDate="2012-07-26T17:02:18.920" Score="1" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was eating a frozen yogurt earlier and noticed the nutrition label said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Calories 200&#xA;Fat Cal. 70&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what to make of this. I'm guessing 200 is the total calories, 70 of which comes from fat. I'm currently watching my diet trying not to take more than 2000 calories per day. Does it matter where the calories I'm in taking comes from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it matters from a nutrition perspective but I mean does it matter from a weight loss perspective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If fat calories are important is that because they are harder to burn than regular calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3867" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T23:17:49.503" Title="Is there any practical difference between &quot;calories&quot; and &quot;calories from fat&quot;?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-07-29T15:38:24.123" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7455" CreationDate="2012-07-26T23:17:49.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simplest (and popular) answer is 'No', a calorie is a calorie and once converted to ATP it works the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct and longest answer is: 'it is not that simple'. In fact, it the shortest answer would fill a whole book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307272702&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really don't want to read a book (I recommend you do) search for 'Paleo Diet' and follow the advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastActivityDate="2012-07-26T23:17:49.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6060" CreationDate="2012-07-27T13:05:08.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pulsmeter market is very big with a few global brands (Polar, Garmin, Suunto) and lots of local brands. I have been using Suunto for 5 years now, both a &quot;R to R&quot; recording belt and a watch for feeback during the actual practise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are about to buy one, here are some simple checks regarding service and maintenace: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check their service agreement, sometimes things break down (this happens to all manufacturers based on discussions at e.g. Funbeat and other training forums) and the guarantee and replacement service is important. My experience from Suunto is that there are no questions asked, almost overnight replacement and very helpful customer service. Others that have Polar etc have similar experiences.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check how open they are (e.g. support for ANT+) and support for exporting measurement data from client/web software. Garmin supports ANT+ (they even bought the company behind the standard).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check how easy it is for simpler do it yourself maintenance, e.g. change batteries. No problems with Suunto.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding features, the &quot;go to&quot; site is DC rainmaker, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DC R blog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-07-27T13:05:08.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6199" CreationDate="2012-07-27T14:16:08.220" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most studies regarding meal timing have provided mixed results.  Sometimes not eating before helps, sometimes eating before helps.  In short, it's both somewhat individual, and it depends on the work you do.  You've listed a number of activities where endurance is important.  Any time we are talking about endurance you will have increased energy demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Endurance Based Programming:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Responds well to higher carb content before exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave at at least an hour between eating and exercise to allow your body to start digesting the food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More energy requirements (burning 1,000 Calories is currently leaving you at a deficit before dinner)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased cortisol levels due to the higher stress of training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, having more Calories than you expect to burn before exercise is definitely going to help.  However, it is possible to push yourself into over-training, where your performance in the gym starts going backwards (this is where the cortisol levels come in).  While overtraining is still mild, your body responds well to feasting and sleeping to fully recover.  If you are on a cut, it will take much longer to recover completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intensity Based Training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meal timing doesn't have a big impact one way or the other.  As long as you get all the daily requirements, everything is OK.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do eat before hand, still give yourself at least an hour to digest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Energy requirements still high, but below endurance levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower cortisol levels due to lower overall volume of training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intensity based training is more concerned with heavy triples, doubles, and singles and rarely includes sets over 5-6 reps on anything.  It's usually used with compound lifts for greater economy of training.  The limiting factor here is your central nervous system (CNS).  The heavier you lift, the more muscle fibers you recruit for lifting.  Sleep becomes the most important recovery tool, although food helps a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If something is working for you, keep at it until it stops working.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A more systematic way of eating may help keep your energy levels more consistent throughout the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both food and sleep are effective recovery tools.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mixing both intensity training and endurance training makes you a better overall athlete.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will have inexplicable good days and bad days in the gym.  Don't get too cocky on the good days and injur yourself.  And don't be too hard on yourself on the bad days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on what you described, you probably should have a bigger lunch.  Something that has helped me is to have a large lunch, a small after work snack (usually a protein shake), and a large dinner.  Once I'm done with dinner and dessert, no more snacking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan your lunch and afternoon snack well, you can relax a bit at dinner.  You'll be surprised at how many Calories your body really does need to maintain.  If you eat too few, your cortisol levels will increase due to the stress of training without enough energy, which in turn tells your body to store fat and burn muscle.  Yet, you do need to eat less than you burn to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to address this conundrum is to use Calorie cycling.  The basic principle is that you have more Calories on training days to provide the energy when you need it.  Then you have fewer Calories on rest days when you can afford to do without.  For example, if you have +5% Calories on training days and -20% Calories on rest days, you'll have a net Caloric deficit for the week but still have plenty of energy in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-27T14:16:08.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7452" CreationDate="2012-07-27T19:56:42.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get used to the idea of running slow. If you try and extend your 3-4 mile pace to marathon distance in 12 weeks you're begging for injury (as has indeed been amply stated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you slow down about 20%, or even more, there's much less likelihood of injury, but it takes a tremendous amount of self-discipline to run slower than you want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, but please be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-07-27T19:56:42.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7435" CreationDate="2012-07-28T08:11:28.597" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=if-a-persons-lung-size-ca&quot;&gt;Scientific American article&lt;/a&gt; may help.  It basically states that the improvements in cardio-respiratory function from exercise are due to the efficiency of the cardiac component rather than lung function:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improvement in cardio-respiratory function does &lt;strong&gt;not result from changes in the lung's ability to expand&lt;/strong&gt;, however. In general regular exercise does not substantially change measures of pulmonary function such as total lung capacity, the volume of air in the lungs after taking the largest breath possible (TLC), and forced vital capacity, the amount of air able to be blown out after taking the largest breath possible (FVC). &lt;strong&gt;Studies comparing TLC and FVC show little difference between regular exercisers and nonexercisers&lt;/strong&gt;, in fact. ..........it is unlikely that pulmonary function limits their ability to exercise, unless they have a disease....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the largest differences between an exerciser and a nonexerciser concerns the heart's ability to pump blood and consequently deliver oxygen to working muscles. Cardiac output is a major limiting factor for prolonged exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article elaborates the efficiency improvements as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...an exerciser typically has a larger blood volume, is better able to extract oxygen from the air in the lungs and is better able to extract oxygen from the blood at the working muscles than a sedentary individual is. Gas exchange involves not only oxygen delivery but also the removal of carbon dioxide, which is a byproduct of energy metabolism, and this process is also more efficient in an exerciser. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-07-28T08:11:28.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7466" CreationDate="2012-07-28T15:15:40.567" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started an exercise regime again, and I think I need help with my diet.  I currently will work out, then go a day of rest, and then on the day I intend to exercise again, my muscles are in intense pain finally and take days to heal.  I am assuming this is a problem with my diet (which is currently dismal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals are to maintain my weight (if possible)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increase my overall fitness level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;increase my pushup/pullup/situp reps and running/sprinting distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried adding protein powder to my diet directly after i exercise, but that didn't seem to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I need help with what I should be eating and when, or some good resources where i can find out how to do it myself.  I am currently at a loss and the internet seems to be full of fad diet plans and i have no idea what is &quot;good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;24/Male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5'10&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;175 - 185 (Don't own a scale but I've fluctuated between this with similar physical activity and diet for about 5 years)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current Diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Morning: Nothing with coffee&#xA;Lunch:   Fast food&#xA;Dinner:  Varies between can of beans or pizza or 40g of soy protein if I have been working out&#xA;Also snack on almonds occasionally during the day.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 2 miles &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/week3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Push Ups&lt;/a&gt; - on the 21 push up route&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit ups - do as many as i can hanging from a pull up bar before my grip goes out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups - Working on a routine i found on youtube which involves me starting with holding my body weight on the pullup bar and doing negatives&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its a pretty light routine, the pushups just got me, when i finished, i couldn't do a single knee pushup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3929" LastEditorUserId="3929" LastEditDate="2012-07-29T00:35:49.780" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T00:57:31.890" Title="Diet help for endurance exercise" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7463" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-07-28T15:28:14.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga is commonly known as a generic term for a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline originating in ancient India and found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Specifically, Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools in Hindu philosophy. It is based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and aims to use meditation to attain spiritual insight and tranquility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the West, the term &quot;yoga&quot; is today typically associated with Hatha Yoga and its asanas (postures) or as a form of exercise, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia on Yoga&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-28T15:34:29.730" LastActivityDate="2012-07-28T15:34:29.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7464" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-07-28T15:28:14.867" Score="0" Body="Yoga is commonly known as a generic term for a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-28T15:34:35.283" LastActivityDate="2012-07-28T15:34:35.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-28T22:39:20.683" Score="6" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ivtJB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I've read on a few websites (BodyBuilding and t-nation) that Box Squats are good exercises to help with dead lifts.  You don't get the full range of motion and through doing them I seem to feel more tension on the back rather the glutes or legs...so, are they somehow more like dead lifts? Is it the &lt;em&gt;drive&lt;/em&gt; from the box that provides the benefit to dead lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T03:54:39.460" Title="Are Box Squats more like dead lifts or standard squats?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7462" CreationDate="2012-07-29T00:57:31.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The good news is that your current diet has room for improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Food Quality&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably one of the best things you could do to match your diet to your exercise is simply work on improving the quality of items in it. Regardless of what foods you choose to eat, it's usually possible to eat better versions of them. For instance, speaking in the most general terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Processed foods (e.g. white bread) are more likely to have things in them that are problematic than unprocessed foods (e.g. fresh bread)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grass-fed, free-range meats are more likely to have a healthy balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids (and as a bonus, they're more ethical!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre-prepared store-bought sandwiches or meals are more likely to have things in it that don't make sense for your diet choices than food you prepare yourself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Organic, local, or heirloom fruits and vegetables are more likely to be free of pesticides and be bred for flavor instead of hardiness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, focusing on food quality can involve increasing your awareness of what you're eating, which can lead to thinking about why you're eating it, which can lead to better meal planning, and so on in a virtuous cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What I would eat if I were you&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vegetables, grass-fed meat, free-range chicken, wild-caught fish, greens, good fats like butter, coconut oil, and olive oil. If you tolerate dairy well, full-fat milk and yogurt can be great too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat real food, with good meat, real fat, and plenty of vegetables, it will be hard to do wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good start on this approach would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the paleo diet framework&lt;/a&gt;. It's an attempt to use an evolutionary framework to critically look at our diet choices. It often gets billed as &quot;eat like a caveman&quot;, which is useful as an elevator pitch but not terribly accurate. A similar method, rooted in historical diets, is that of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.westonaprice.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weston A. Price&lt;/a&gt;. Either of these would be a fine starting point to look into food decisions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T00:57:31.890" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7467" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-07-29T14:19:30.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Swimming is a good form of exercise. Since the body weight is supported by the water, practically all the effort goes into forward propulsion. And since propulsion is hindered much more by water than by air, the efficiency and effectiveness of the swimming movements are much more dependent on strength and technique than, say, in running. Swimming is therefore an exercise that gives both cardiovascular and strength benefits, particularly to the arms, legs, upper torso and the abdominal and back core muscles, while at the same time fosters attention to technical detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Swimming is also a good way to relax. Many recreational swimmers prefer a style that keeps their head out of the water and uses an underwater arm recovery – in practice that means breaststroke or some variant of sidestroke. Sidestrokes are also the way most cultures around the world developed swimming techniques before the modern era of competitive swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Furthermore, because the density of the human body is approximately similar to that of water, and thus the body is supported by the water, less stress is placed on joints and bones. The resistance against movement depends heavily on the speed of the movement, allowing the fine tuning of the exercise according to one's ability. For these reasons swimming and other exercises in water is frequently used in rehabilitation after injuries, or for the disabled, or as a complementary exercise for athletes of other disciplines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Swimming&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiki portal on swimming&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions that should have this tag deal with, for example, swim techniques (stroke, breathing), injuries, dry-land exercises, open water swimming, swimming in combination/relation with other physical activities, or work-out routines for swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See for example these questions to learn more about &lt;strong&gt;Swimming&lt;/strong&gt; at this site: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/429/3778&quot;&gt;Swim for Cardio&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/428/3778&quot;&gt;Breathing in freestyle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7371/3778&quot;&gt;Swim work-outs in a short pool&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/5171/3778&quot;&gt;Improve freestyle swimming pace&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7225/3778&quot;&gt;Swim injury&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="22010" LastEditDate="2016-07-20T16:20:30.780" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T16:20:30.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7468" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-07-29T14:19:30.957" Score="0" Body="Swimming describes any method by which humans (or other living creatures) move themselves through water, apart from walking on the bottom. " OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-07-29T15:37:11.737" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T15:37:11.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7470" CreationDate="2012-07-29T14:56:33.550" Score="4" ViewCount="456" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that on speed races such as 100m, 200m, up to 10000m men have a  physical advantage because of their bigger muscles. But over longer distances that shouldn't matter and women, seems to me, should be able to beat men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The WR on the marathon is 2:03 for men and 2:15 for women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone explain? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T16:37:37.213" Title="Why are women still slower than men over long distances?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7469" CreationDate="2012-07-29T16:37:37.213" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mens muscles are stronger. That's the biggest factor. They have stronger muscles, denser bones, mostly related to the effects of testosterone. Women are slower than men by an average of around 10% across all distances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see examples of this split, look at junior and young categories for many sports, and women are just as competitive as men (or boys/girls if you prefer), then once puberty hits, you see the differences start cropping up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, in general, women have less cardiac output, less hemoglobin per blood volume and also less blood volume then men of comparable size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these add up, and the end result is women are slower than men. You can even look at Caster Semenya, who has both male and female sex organs, and has testosterone ~ 3x the normal level for a woman. Her best times for her events (800m and 1500m) don't even meet the Olympic A standards for males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T16:37:37.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7465" CreationDate="2012-07-29T17:08:19.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never done them, but I hear that sitting on the box allows (produces? demands?) a greater hip drive than a boxless squat. My current understanding is that hip-drive-powered squats have more overlap with the deadlift (specifically in the posterior chain) than, say, a front squat or a high-bar back squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, I've never box squatted, and have never used squats to help my deadlift. Squats are for squats in my programming. So, your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T17:08:19.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7483" CreationDate="2012-07-29T21:34:13.473" Score="8" ViewCount="2852" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a bad idea to have a home gym on the first floor of a house with a squat rack and barbell? Most home gyms with racks/barbells I have seen are in the basement or garage on concrete. My concern would be the occasional dropped deadlift or bailed clean smashing through the floor. Could mats, plywood platforms, and/or bumper plates mitigate serious damage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2939" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T16:06:36.777" Title="Squat racks and barbells on first floor of home gym: bad idea?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6615" CreationDate="2012-07-30T01:20:36.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Q &amp;amp; an A, moved to answer for space.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you specifically seeking a &quot;stopwatch&quot;, a single-purpose tool, a watch with interval capabilities, or a smartphone app (my recommendation)? Are you looking to &lt;em&gt;track&lt;/em&gt; intervals, in which case anything with lap counting will do, or be &lt;em&gt;notified&lt;/em&gt; at interval changes? Do you have simple, or complex, interval plans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I current using Impetus for Android. It can set up complex interval programs easily through its UI, and if you can generate your own XML, you can improve over its UI. I currently get my XML from my stealth startup's DB based on a variety of training criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MotoACTV can do intervals, although not with the complexity of Impetus. It's a great dedicated device, though,  modulo some dumb decisions on Moto's part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T01:20:36.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7427" CreationDate="2012-07-30T03:04:38.300" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It goes without saying (?) that these rep ranges are to some kind of failure. The idea is that failure occurs because some system is depleted/damaged and with rest it will be repaired and eventually strengthened. 1-3 reps is thought to stress out your neurotransmitters so you fail and the body's response is improved nerves and muscle recruitment that increases speed-strength (think Olympic lifting). The next system to go is internal to the muscle fibers (4-6). The body needs more strength. Then the energy stores within the cell are taxed at 7-12 - you need bigger cells (hypertrophy). Over 12, failure is lack of capillaries to remove waste products and bring in oxygen - you need more vessels maybe even bigger lungs. Of course there is overlap. 10 solid reps followed by 1 not so solid, followed by puking (not really necessary) will hit all the systems - some of that failure will be neuro, some a drained fiber etc. Thus the popularity of 8-12. The take-away is that at some point you'll start &quot;programming&quot; - spending time at each rep range to support the next. That's another topic. Is there a lot of hard science behind this? That's also another topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T03:04:38.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7465" CreationDate="2012-07-30T03:54:39.460" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe is adamant that the deadlift is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a squat with the bar in your hands. That said, I've used box squats for checking my squat pattern. I find a bench, stool, or box such that when my butt hits it, I've just broken below parallel. I just tap the box and come up. There are versions where you pause for a second before rising. The idea is to be able to keep your eyes looking at the right spot on wall and not try to look down to check your depth. The main point, of course, is to not fool yourself that you can do real squats. Now I check how low I can go (with no weight) before my back starts to round and try to find a box that will help me stay safe. Squats and deadlifts will improve your ROM but it's important to only use the ROM you have. Don't &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; squat so you can show off, don't squat deep if your pattern breaks (butt tucks in and back rounds). The same applies to the dl - use only the ROM you have - you'll get more as you get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T03:54:39.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6962" CreationDate="2012-07-30T04:35:45.903" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost 1.5 pounds a month for two years (because of my age, I was afraid my skin would sag and I'd lose muscle if I was more aggressive). It was easy. WebMD, Mayo Clinic's site, etc all have calculators that walk you through the process. My advice is that given a choice like 'somewhat active' and 'disgusting sedentary slug' always choose the most demeaning option. The best way, however, is the food diary. Weigh yourself right after your first pee in the morning every day and only eat foods with a posted calorie count (like a bag of pretzels or a frozen pizza) and record what you ate, when, and the calorie count. Do that for a week or two. It's not hard. A one pound gain or loss is 3500 calories. You may find that documenting your food caused you to eat better stuff and eat less often. To run my test I developed standard sandwiches and salads - nothing fancy. To my surprise, I never tired of them and found I just ate when I was hungry. I still keep my diary but now it's used to keep my weight up as I train. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T04:35:45.903" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5250" CreationDate="2012-07-30T05:27:50.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could always do the program: The New Rules Of Lifting For Women instead.&#xA;I started this but now am doing Stronglifts instead because i missed doing squats and was keen to do bench presses since i have all the gear at home, and there wasn't alot of that in the new rules program. Also New Rules can take a really long time to do, stronglifts looked quicker which was definitely quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And i'm a woman. &#xA;I didn't lower the starting weight at all. In fact i actually increased it by 5kg for both the squats and the dumbell row since i've done some weights before. I still used the 20kg start weight though for bench presses as it was my first time doing them.&#xA;And i found this starting weight actually pretty easy so am looking forward to future workouts where i can increase the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People really underestimate how strong girls can be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3936" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2015-09-30T07:27:11.403" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T07:27:11.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7472" CreationDate="2012-07-30T13:06:57.623" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much weight are you talking about?  A good test is if you bounce on the floor do you go through it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I would recommend a plywood platform to keep your floor from getting messed up, make sure you put padding under it and that it's thick/strong enough for your weight plus the rack plus the max weight you plan on lifting.  Make sure that any drops won't 'rattle' dishes, pictures, etc. in adjoining rooms.  I think the main reason for most home gyms in basesments is due to the need to keep the wife happy OR general space issues.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ev76T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Here's my workout area (note the cat litter pans adding to the decor)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T13:06:57.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7480" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-07-30T15:58:55.783" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-07-30T15:58:55.783" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T15:58:55.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7481" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-07-30T15:58:55.783" Score="0" Body="Tracking is the process of recording workouts or progress." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-30T17:29:49.500" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T17:29:49.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2012-07-30T16:05:54.063" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an above knee amputee, and have been for 8 years. I came looking for more exercises to do, but can give some advice as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is an excellent exercise, for all the reasons mentioned. The only caution I give is to make sure you work out a plan for getting in and out of the pool before you commit to it. The pool I use has a lift, but I prefer not to use it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hand biking is AWESOME! Be prepared to hurt for the first few days.  Keep in mind that a handbike is very low slung, so you will want to put a flag on it for visibility, as well as the lights. Hand bikes are expensive, so a good alternative is a stationary handbike. I've noticed a lot more gyms having these nowadays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, FOR ME, I can use a regular bike to some extent as well. It depends on the type of knee you have on the prosthetic (I have a 3R80) A third option is a recumbent bicycle, which was what caused me to look into a regular bike. (I hadn't ridden a bike in probably 20 years)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking is always a plus. Pilates in addition to yoga is a good call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PERSONALLY, I would not recommend jump rope except as an additional exercise. You will be beating up your real knee, and that is something to avoid. By all means, you can do it, but I would make it a once or twice a week exercise, not a primary one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3938" LastEditorUserId="3938" LastEditDate="2012-07-30T16:38:11.637" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T16:38:11.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7472" CreationDate="2012-07-30T16:06:36.777" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It definitely depends on the construction of your house. Some home features require extra care, such as grand pianos and hot tubs.  Essentially, anything that puts a large amount of weight in a relatively small area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Covering the whole workout area with another layer of 5/8&quot; plywood will help provide additional rigidity and disperse the weight better.  However, if you have an older house, you might have floor joists that are fairly wide apart such as ever 24&quot;.  If that's the case, you'll need to add some more floor joists for extra support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if we are talking a total of 300lbs of weights, you should be fine.  If you are pulling four big plates a side, you should definitely have the home inspected to see if it can handle the weight.  This is true even particularly if you get a proper lifting platform (2&quot; cement base with 2 layers of 3/4&quot; plywood on top).  The weight of the platform itself is enough to warrant caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be absolutely sure, if you have a concrete foundation below you, you should be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T16:06:36.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-07-30T16:42:22.783" Score="5" ViewCount="30033" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to an injury followed by a stomach virus, I drank a lot (coke, iced tea, and water) but hardly ate anything for 5 days. Now, my weight has dropped by 3 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I lost muscle mass. However, my doctor told me that while not eating I would have used up fat, not muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I stop eating for a week, will I loose muscles or just fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clarification:&lt;/strong&gt; This was not on purpose, I simply couldn't eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:28:58.667" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T18:49:31.167" Title="Do I lose muscle or fat if I don't eat for 5 days?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7484" CreationDate="2012-07-30T17:07:14.500" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll make an assumption that what you're really worried about is how much will your strength be affected in your next workout. That is, how much should you deload when you restart your lifting program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had food poisoning that affected my diet for about a week. When I returned to the gym, my squat had dropped from 230 to 215, shoulder press from 95 down to 85.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, whether or not that is due to actual muscle loss, I don't know. After a week of sickness, you're probably poorly hydrated, you'll have depleted glycogen stores, creatine levels will be low, you'll have missed your super-compensation phase and may have begun deconditioning. You'll definitely feel less strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T17:07:14.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7487" CreationDate="2012-07-30T18:08:35.837" Score="7" ViewCount="3342" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a total beginner to weightlifting, and I am trying to do the stronglifts 5x5 program.  I am extremely overweight, and the biggest challenge for me is that I don't seem to be capable of doing a squat with correct form even with just my body weight.  Balance isn't the issue, I am just not physically capable of going down low enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't add weight every day if I cant even do the exercise.  All of the other lifts are easy for me at this point, and I really want to stick with this program, but I don't want to do squats unless I am doing them right.  Any advice on how to advance to the point where I can do a proper form squat with an empty bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 6' at 295&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3939" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T20:11:09.937" Title="Need help with squatting on stronglift 5x5" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2012-07-30T18:26:27.000" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's Mark Rippetoe emphasizing the importance of shoving your knees outward and emphasizing that everyone except a 78 year old arthritic woman has been able to achieve the correct squat depth (you can do it!): &lt;a href=&quot;http://vimeo.com/21378731&quot;&gt;http://vimeo.com/21378731&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You get down to the bottom, get your knees out of the way, make room&#xA;  between your thighs for your gut, and not only can you get below&#xA;  parallel, you can do it with an extended spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try varying your stance: wider stance, knees pointed further out. That should help you get lower into the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-07-30T20:11:09.937" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T20:11:09.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2012-07-30T18:56:51.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to be at a certain athletic level in order to start a resistance program.  Make sure you check with a Dr. prior to any exercise if you're in a high risk category (diabetes, etc.).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;my recommendation&lt;/strong&gt; is to focus on your nutrition first, this will give you the ability and set the foundation for any exercise program you're interested in.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xV7vg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Above is a good starting point - a stability ball squat, it helps you get the feel for the right form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when it comes to any exercise, technique first and then add weight.  If you can't do the exercise correct, adding weight will most likely cause injury and stop you from achieving any long term goals...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T18:56:51.143" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2012-07-30T19:27:39.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Rule of Thumb:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you cannot do the exercise with good form using only your body&#xA;  weight, then you shouldn't be doing the exercise at all, regardless of&#xA;  load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts 5x5 is a good program, but that doesn't mean it is good for you. While a starting squat of 45 might be reasonable to the average person, remember that as someone who is &quot;extremely overweight&quot; you are in essence squatting an extra 100-200 in body weight alone. This would be the equivalent of an average weight person starting with 145-245 in weights instead of the bare barbell at 45.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A parallel squat is a natural movement of the human body, so if you are having difficulty performing a squat then that is your body sending you a warning message that something is seriously wrong. In essence, &lt;strong&gt;your leg muscles are not strong enough to support your body weight in a squat, and continuing to do so will ultimately result in serious injury&lt;/strong&gt;. If you wish to do squats, then you must either use supplementary exercises to build the leg muscles until they can support your weight (hard), or lose enough weight so your muscles have less of a load to support (easy). Those are your only two options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Setting Goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend re-evaluating your goals that led you to choose Stronglifts as a program. Is your goal to only gain strength? If so, modify the program to only use exercises that you can do with good form. For instance, maybe the leg press would work for you, as it mostly removes your body weight from the equation. Going this route will help build your muscles up to the point where eventually they will be able to adequately support your body weight, at which point you can attempt doing squats again. But as I said before, this route is substantially harder compared to losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is instead losing weight, being healthier, or rehabilitating your knee, then I would recommend not pursuing Stronglifts and shifting your focus to another program. While SL claims to be great for all three of these goals, that is only in the context of the average person. &lt;strong&gt;In your specific case, you would be far better served through a program that revolves around dieting and cardio alone&lt;/strong&gt;. Strength training runs directly contrary to losing weight, and your body weight is currently the biggest factor contributing to your health and your weight/muscle ratio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-07-30T20:05:25.843" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T20:05:25.843" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6962" CreationDate="2012-07-30T21:30:30.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of issues with calories. First of all, you can have 2 people who weigh exactly the same, and are of the same age and sex, and they can both eat the exact same meals in a day. One will lose fat, one will gain fat. Everyone knows someone who can eat whatever s/he likes and not gain an ounce. Then, we also know other people who can just look at food and gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So calories aren't reliable and aren't a good way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, body fat and muscle is seriously controlled by hormones. I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92wUegHpsU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video on my YouTube channel&lt;/a&gt; that explains it well. First focus on hormonal optimization, digestive optimization, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're a competitive bodybuilder or figure competitor, I wouldn't worry too much about calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3942" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T21:21:01.693" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T21:21:01.693" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="193" CreationDate="2012-07-30T21:40:09.733" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's something most people don't know: when people say that 1 pound of fat is 3500 calories, that's not actually true. Or rather, it's not the whole truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, 1 pound of fat is 3500 calories only in an oven. That's how we determine how many calories are in a given food: we burn that food and measure how much heat is produced as a result. We can't do that in a human, so we have to do it in an oven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So counting calories most of the time is of limited use to people. Why? Because you can have 2 people who are identical in weight, age, sex, exercise levels, stress levels, etc.. But feed those 2 people the exact same number of calories and I can guarantee that those 2 people will NOT gain the same amount of weight. One may gain nothing and the other may gain 3 pounds. Or one may lose 3 pounds and the other doesn't gain anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all know someone who can eat whatever they like and not put on an ounce of fat, and then there are most people who actually have to watch what they eat to remain at a certain body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body fat and weight are much more strictly controlled by hormones than by calories. There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92wUegHpsU&quot;&gt;YouTube video of mine&lt;/a&gt; that explains it pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, by doing excessive and exclusive cardio, yes, you may be burning calories during the workout, but due to a process called &quot;adaptation&quot;, you burn fewer and fewer calories each time you exercise. You learn to become &quot;fuel efficient.&quot; Doing excessive and exclusive cardio has a double whammy of also burning muscle. Muscle burns fat, so if you have less of the &quot;machinery&quot; that burns fat, you burn less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can happen over time is that your weight is &quot;normal&quot; yet your body fat is extremely high because you've burned a lot of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3942" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T21:19:27.293" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T21:19:27.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6962" CreationDate="2012-07-30T22:51:46.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;How much should you intake?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About as much as you spend, adjusted slightly up or down if you want weight gain or weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How much should you spend?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let a calorie expenditure target dictate your activity level. Instead, determine your areas for improvement (health-wise), and let those dictate your activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Determine your fitness weaknesses or areas for improvement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose a program to address those (strength training is a good first program for almost anybody with almost any fitness goal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed yourself to fuel that activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fine-tune your diet to make gradual weight decrease or increase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-07-30T22:51:46.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7493" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7494" CreationDate="2012-07-30T23:04:39.970" Score="10" ViewCount="4029" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to this site, but have read several questions and answers here that are related to this question and have found different contradictory answers.  Some say that the only effect is that a larger lean muscle mass will burn more calories.  Some say the extra lean mass will burn a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt; more calories, other answers say that the lean muscle mass effect is small, such as only 10 calories per extra pound of lean mass per day.  Some answers say that only intensive cardio exercise will increase the BMR, others claim there is no significant effect from cardio exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, please don't make just state an opinion or make general qualitative statements.  How does actual quantitative research answer this question? Where are the studies and data?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3943" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T07:24:30.077" Title="Does exercise REALLY increase the basal metabolism rate for any significant length of time after the exercise is over?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7493" CreationDate="2012-07-31T02:17:00.190" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a sense, yes it does. It's not a permanent increase, you simply keep on burning more calories than your resting rate until your body returns to baseline. The type of exercise (the shorter, higher intensity workouts are better) also influences how long this occurs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this study : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mendeley.com/research/postexercise-energy-expenditure-response-acute-aerobic-resistive-exercise/&quot;&gt;http://www.mendeley.com/research/postexercise-energy-expenditure-response-acute-aerobic-resistive-exercise/&lt;/a&gt; they used 90 minute, high intensity strength workouts, and still after 15 hours, the metabolic rate was elevated. However, this only translated to about 150 calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/52A/6/M352.short&quot;&gt;http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/52A/6/M352.short&lt;/a&gt; is a study showing a BMR increase in older men, and here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/75/4/1847.short&quot;&gt;http://jap.physiology.org/content/75/4/1847.short&lt;/a&gt; is another study showing a BMR increase post exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plenty of studies around showing this effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3943" LastEditDate="2012-07-31T07:24:30.077" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T07:24:30.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7493" CreationDate="2012-07-31T02:30:50.770" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a complex question, and no one has the complete answer, but a recent study compared the metabolic rate of a hunter gatherer culture still in existence with the metabolism of sedentary westerners and found that &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040503&quot;&gt;daily energy expenditure of traditional Hadza foragers was no different than that of Westerners&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. Similarly, a study found that the metabolism of obese sedentary women was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/8534191_Energy_expenditure_is_very_high_in_extremely_obese_women&quot;&gt;quite high&lt;/a&gt;, refuting speculation that weight gain was caused by slow metabolism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know intuitively that exercise can stimulate appetite, but some people gain greater &lt;a href=&quot;http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/7835326&quot;&gt;control over appetite&lt;/a&gt; when exercising regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people know someone who has lost a lot of weight through exercise, and probably someone who has gained weight when they added exercise. I was around a group that was training for a marathon, and among that group, some people gained weight, some lost, and some stayed the same. They all were increasing their distances and trying to eat well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are getting contradictory answers because there are contradictory things going on in the body and people are getting contradictory results. In the end, your question really is &quot;Will I lose weight from exercising?&quot; and the answer is maybe; some people do, and some don't. What you probably don't want to do is link some sort of exact calorie expenditure to an exact intake. There are too many hormonal things going on to make that calculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T02:30:50.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7484" CreationDate="2012-07-31T14:14:38.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your doctor is closer to being right (but probably not 100%).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body starts eating muscle when you're out of glycogen. If you're drinking sugary beverages (i.e., not diet) that will delay the onset of chowing down on muscles, at least to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll become marginally de-conditioned after five days, but not radically; most of the issues will be related to not having sufficient fuel stores to bust out a pre-weakness workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T14:14:38.407" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7501" CreationDate="2012-07-31T14:22:44.513" Score="2" ViewCount="544" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gained weight after I quit smoking 4 months ago, e.g. my jeans have become too tight to wear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that my hunger has increased after I quit smoking. Besides quitting smoking, I have also reduced my alcohol intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to lose these extra pounds, so my question is:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way for me to lose weight given these circumstances?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3935" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-07-31T16:30:48.653" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T17:15:15.283" Title="How to reduce weight after quitting smoking" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7377" CreationDate="2012-07-31T15:01:56.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This link gives solid advice on the topic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20120112204440/http://jt512.dyndns.org/what_to_eat.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Lose Weight to Improve Your Climbing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few key points from the document: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bottom line for losing weight is that you must create a caloric deficit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep the protein intake high and the fat intake low &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try not to add fat to anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a diary of everything you eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastEditorUserId="3826" LastEditDate="2016-07-26T17:37:07.293" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T17:37:07.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7498" CreationDate="2012-07-31T17:02:42.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;People will always recommend reducing your caloric intake, but given that you feel hunger that's not sustainable, even if it were to work for you (it might, but it also might not, weight loss is a very individual thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will suggest to you that your goal should not be to lose &lt;em&gt;weight&lt;/em&gt; or for any specific weight target. Your question suggests your issue is that your jeans are too tight for you, so if anything your goal should be too lose inches (which might actually involve gaining weight, as counter-intuitive as it seems).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strength training program would be advisable. Core muscles that keep your stomach in will make it easier for you to fit into your jeans, although I'm not going to suggest doing ab exercises like crunches. The core muscles are there to stabilise your torso, so doing heavy lifting that forces you to contract your core muscles to keep it rigid will work your muscles the way they are designed to work. These exercises would be squats, deadlifts, presses and chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginner to a strength training program, simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain is often possible, so you'll start working towards your real goal of losing inches, even if in that process you start gaining weight (for the same volume, muscle weighs more than fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could modify your diet to avoid feeling hunger as much. Experimenting with the glycemic index or glycemic load diet could work (although for people who have certain conditions, that's actually a bad idea, so pay attention to how you feel after making any changes to your diet). Generally eating foods that are slow to digest (fats, then proteins, not carbs unless they're with fat or protein) could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a hypothesis that ex-smokers eat a lot because moving food to their mouths keeps their hands busy. I'm not sure how much truth there is to it, but it wouldn't hurt to find a hobby or habit that generally keeps your hands busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T17:02:42.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7498" CreationDate="2012-07-31T17:15:15.283" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no easy way to lose weight, all you need to do is look around and realize how many obese people there are - eating/getting obese is obviously easier (and more enjoyable short term) than losing weight and getting in shape.  So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get it out of your mind it's going to be easy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Figure out what interests you have that will keep you physically active&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a mindset that every donut, bagel, ice cream cone you consume, you'll be paying dearly to counter the calories with a heavy duty workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Join a gym, get a trainer and/or nutritionist to help you set realistic goals and find a workout partner to keep you going and honest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;accept that at the end of the day, it's up to you to make the change, no GOD of fat is tormenting you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be brave&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put the triple patty, double cheese burger down along with the milkshake and pick up a weight - doing something physical is always an alternative to eating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adopt a dog to ensure you walk everyday (get a big dog so you'll have to take long walks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;look in the mirror and visualize what you want to look like and how healthy you want to be and do it daily (along with weighing yourself and recording your weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start a food journal - track EVERYTHING for 2 weeks and do this review every 3 months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start/keep an exercise journal - any day you DON'T work out - record and write down the poor excuse why not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's 90% mental, so, get to it.........and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T17:15:15.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7505" CreationDate="2012-07-31T22:53:19.117" Score="4" ViewCount="2915" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love having hardened calluses- except when they rip! A while back, I had a callus on each hand rip open whilst doing Parkour. I was told to &quot;grind down&quot; my calluses every once in a while. By this, I take it I am supposed to decrease the size of my calluses, but to keep them hardened so that I can work out at greater intensity. How do I go about doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3932" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-02T11:36:33.820" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:51:52.467" Title="How does one &quot;grind down&quot; calluses?" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;callus&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7504" CreationDate="2012-08-01T00:15:26.970" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pumice stone&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/12bvo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, if they're really tough you can use a Dremel with a sandpaper attachment (seriously).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O685Q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_2255415_sand-feet-rotary-tool.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Attribution: eHow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3951" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-08-01T15:04:06.047" LastActivityDate="2012-08-01T15:04:06.047" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7507" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-01T08:00:24.383" Score="6" ViewCount="1398" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the goal is functional performance in a power sport (speed, acceleration, vertical jump), how should one train calves, if at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the alternatives that I can think of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't train calves specifically, but train barbell lifts like deadlifts, squats, and power cleans and let the calves adapt to those lifts and your sport&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train calves in addition to the barbell lifts using isolation exercises (calf raises, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train calves in addition to barbell lifts using plyometrics (box jumps, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way of phrasing my question is: is there a benefit to training calves above what is achieved via standard barbell lifts (and your sport), and if so, how should it be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer may be different for a novice than for an advanced trainee, so an answer that covers both cases would be best (I'm somewhere between the two).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some specifics about me, but I'm hoping to get an answer that applies to any athlete training for a leg-dominant power sport (football, soccer, ultimate, rugby, track):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I play ultimate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've been doing a strength training program very close to Starting Strength and am at the intermediate level on squats, close to intermediate on deadlifts, and still a novice at power cleans, bench, and press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practices are 2-3 times per week, each 2-3 hours long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-03T21:56:38.603" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T22:16:44.610" Title="How do I train my calf muscles?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="16" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7507" CreationDate="2012-08-01T08:05:17.437" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer only addresses part of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding vertical jump, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://basketchance.com/files/books/vjb.pdf&quot;&gt;Vertical Jump Bible&lt;/a&gt; says that the posterior chain and quads are responsible for about 80% of the jump, with the remaining 20% split between the calves and upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as a novice, it seems that your time in the gym is better spent on squats, deadlifts, and power cleans, at least concerning vertical jump height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes on to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sprinters don’t train calves at all yet they surely don’t struggle&#xA;  when it comes to vertical jump performance or running speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to support simply focusing on the posterior chain and quads. The calves should get enough stress from that and sport-specific work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, once you've trained that 80% and are seeing smaller return from investment from strength training the posterior chain and quads, some attention can be devoted to calf-specific training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following is based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verticaljumping.com/lower_leg_training.html&quot;&gt;http://www.verticaljumping.com/lower_leg_training.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf training may simply involve changing your plyometrics routine to include stiff legged jumps or hops&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf training is more important if your sport involves a lot of single leg jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-01T08:24:58.643" LastActivityDate="2012-08-01T08:24:58.643" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-01T15:39:54.007" Score="7" ViewCount="6704" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started doing strong lifts 5x5 program and am paranoid about hurting myself.  I am almost 300 lbs, and haven't done much exercise other than walking for the past long as I can remember.  I was having some problems achieving the correct squat depth, but today I was able to get down low enough.  I am still only squatting the bar as I want to make sure I get my form correct before adding weight.  Today I felt fine while and during the squats, but when i later got to the barbell rows I felt a twinge in my lower back.  I decided not to finish my sets, because I don't want to hurt myself, but I need to know a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A.  Is having some lower back pain expected when doing this kind of stuff?&#xA;B.  Is it possible the lower back pain was caused by barbell row form or is it more likely that it was from improper squat form?&#xA;C.  If my back is hurting how long should I wait to try again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3939" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T00:34:23.963" Title="Need help with lower back pain while on stronglifts 5x5" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7510" CreationDate="2012-08-01T16:29:25.973" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't feel a twinge during the movement, but &lt;strong&gt;your back may feel sore after workouts&lt;/strong&gt;. You'll need to learn to distinguish between injury (strains, pulls, tendinitis, etc.) from &lt;em&gt;delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/em&gt; or DOMS (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7450/3085&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7450/3085&lt;/a&gt;). As a beginner, you probably don't know the difference yet. My advice right now would be to &lt;strong&gt;wait until your back feels 100% before working out again&lt;/strong&gt;, sticking to stretching, massaging where it hurts, and practicing bodyweight or broomstick form. If it is just simple muscle soreness, it should feel better in a few days, and it won't feel as sore after each new workout (eventually, you won't feel DOMS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About this particular instance, since you felt a twinge while doing the row, I &lt;strong&gt;suspect it was the row that was the &lt;em&gt;final&lt;/em&gt; cause of this&lt;/strong&gt;. But, your back may have been weakened from the squats, leaving it susceptible to any form errors on the row. If your lower back was rounded during the squat (incorrect form), the two could have combined together to cause this pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like that you're spending some time with just the empty bar. The weight you're moving right now is not enough to injure you badly, but will still let you know about bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help correct form errors, you could have an experienced friend &lt;em&gt;who is doing the same program as you&lt;/em&gt; watch your form. Or you could take a video and upload it to the stronglifts or some other forum (including here) to ask for advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-08-01T16:37:53.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7504" CreationDate="2012-08-01T17:13:23.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a tool calld a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00113FENI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ped Egg&lt;/a&gt; that works well for calluses on both hands and feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sCHzB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-08-01T22:44:37.357" LastActivityDate="2012-08-01T22:44:37.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7510" CreationDate="2012-08-01T18:34:20.590" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between this post and the prior one asking for 5x5 squat help, I strongly recommend seeing a qualified personal trainer and also your Dr. for a physical prior to any more exercising.  Based on your posts, you're overweight, out of shape and do not have a background in weightlifting: this is a combination that could get you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SERIOUSLY&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; injured.  Stop, get a check up, get a trainer a nutritionist and then move on.  Your current approach will not get you where you want to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-09-02T00:34:23.963" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T00:34:23.963" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7504" CreationDate="2012-08-01T22:02:57.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar problem.  I do two things - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00180IW60&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;callus rasp&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  I use a &quot;callus rasp&quot; once a week or so to keep the calluses from growing too large.  Look for a one that has some convex curvature, so you grind a specific, small area of your finger / palm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000WHYBE2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cuticle Scissors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  If I've ever let them get way too large, trimming the calluses down with a pair of cuticle scissors seems to be the best way to get rid of large amounts of skin &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience from rock climbing is that there really isn't an issue with me rasping / cutting my calluses down too small.  As long as I only cut / rasp away dead skin, and I stop as soon as I can begin to feel what I'm doing, I'm keeping my calluses about the right size.  In climbing, at least, you don't &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; need a thick callus to protect your hands, the lower layers of skin seem to toughen up enough.  Any visible / protruding callus will only get caught and rip off.  That's my experience, at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2012-08-02T01:32:29.087" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T01:32:29.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2012-08-01T22:07:44.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Numbness of the foot and tightness of the Achilles usually has to do with tight plantar fascia.  (See below for another cause also).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 2 easy ways to relieve this pain.  Do these the night before a run.  It is best to do 3-5 times a week for 6-10 weeks in order to see maximum change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  Release fascia tissue - get a lacrosse ball.  Stand up and stand on the lacrosse ball with your arch bearing the majority of the weight.  Move the ball back and forth with your foot for 3 minutes.  This breaks up scar tissue and tightness in the plantar fascia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  Stretch your calves.  This is the Jay Dicharry (UVA Speed Clinic) burrito stretch.  Roll up a towel tight to the size of a Chipotle burrito.  Do this &lt;a href=&quot;https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn%3aANd9GcSCpOmR0NQkKzgLiFatYqT1rYToRtn_9Pm3XvTdvlXjbtrMDgOH&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calf Stretch&lt;/a&gt;.  Put the towel parallel to the foot that is back.  Rest your big toe only on the burrito.  This will extend the big toe and release the pain in your calves.  Hold for 3 minutes a side in order to lengthen the tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain and specifically the numbness may be caused by a tight sciatic muscle.  The body is a closed system and sciatic issues can manifest themselves in the lower limbs.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best ways to break up scar tissue in a tight sciatic is to sit on a lacrosse ball.  Roll back and forth and find the tight / sore spot.  This could be anywhere from upper hamstring to lower back to hip to butt.  When you find it, you'll know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, check &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.advpodiatric.com/blog/numbness-burning-or-tingling-in-the-feet-can-be-the-sign-of-something-more-serious/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this blog&lt;/a&gt; for more serious medical issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-08-01T22:07:44.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6984" CreationDate="2012-08-02T03:25:24.830" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A high sweat rate is a good thing, actually. To cool your body during exercise, your body will sweat and it will also circulate blood to the skin. If you sweat more, your body can cool itself better, thus less blood has to be diverted for cooling purposes. You want that precious iron rich blood going to your muscles rather than your skin for cooling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can control your sweat rate.  When you train in the heat, your body will adapt in a process called heat acclimatization.  Your sweat rate will increase, but your sodium concentration in your sweat will decrease.  Heat acclimatization has performance benefits in hot weather, but also cold weather as well. Elite runners will do easy runs in sweat suits to stay heat acclimatized.  You could do the opposite to decrease your sweat rate, but why would you want to. So be encouraged by a high sweat rate and just remember to stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T03:25:24.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7521" CreationDate="2012-08-02T06:23:55.693" Score="6" ViewCount="1581" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lose my breath too early while free-style swimming. As a result I have to stop and take in a breath and then continue to swim again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I train my body/mind to use minimum amount of oxygen under these conditions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3935" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-02T11:39:15.970" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T11:39:15.970" Title="How do I maintain my breath while swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2012-08-02T07:04:15.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being overweight and starting to exercise for the first time, you will find pressure build up especially on your knees. Start by making some life style modifications. Park your car further away from the shopping centre, go for a walk everyday for no less then 20 minutes. Along with diet these small changes will be the first&#xA;Step. Look at your current eating an try to eliminate process foods. The more raw and organic the better! Try to buy your fruit and veggies when you'll use them as the longer they stay packed away in your fridge, the less nutrient they'll have, also peel away the outer layer and wash before consuming as this helps to ride of the chemicals the outer layer contains. Try limit the amount of &quot;other&quot; liquids other then water. You should be consuming atleast 8 glasses a day. This does not include &quot;diet&quot; or &quot;sugar free&quot; drinks. These contain harmfull chemicals which will actually go against your weight loss.             &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as for exercise, I'm a personal trainer with a client similar, we started by going for nice easy walks with a heart rate monitor. It's important to ease into exercise and be prepared for your muscles to feel a bit stiff or sore the next day due to delayed onset muscle soreness. Don't he alarmed by this it's completely normal and you'll find by doing a nice walking warm up before exercise will help reduce this stiffness felt usually the day after exercise. I would recommend also bikes and rower especially, this will raise the heart rate but be easy on your knees and take the strain off the body weight you are carrying. Squats using a fit ball are great not to deep, nice slow repetitions. Side raises and resistance bands and boxing are all great options ! If you have the use of a pool is a great form of exercise as due to the buoyancy takes the pressure of&#xA;Your weight off. Try treading water for a few&#xA;Minutes, high knees or even side stepping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3957" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T07:04:15.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7522" CreationDate="2012-08-02T08:33:47.363" Score="2" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is liquid dieting good for your health, if supplemented with adequate and appropriate vitamin supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it's effect on running prove to be worse from less energy, or better from less load?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3959" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T12:53:20.507" Title="Liquid Diet - Good or Bad?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7517" CreationDate="2012-08-02T10:25:28.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breathe in deep each time (Duh) and then spend the rest of the time constantly exhaling.  Do not HOLD your breath, slowly release it, (blow bubbles) for the next three strokes till it is time to breathe again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T10:25:28.730" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7520" CreationDate="2012-08-02T12:53:20.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Liquid diets in general don't work for the long term.  Even if all the Calories, macro and micro nutrients are perfectly balanced the fundamental problem is one of satiety.  If you don't feel satisfied with what you've consumed, the urge is very strong to cheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our bodies are designed to masticate our food, and without this stimulous we instinctively feel something is missing.  Additionally, most liquids are highly processed.  While this means you can have higher absorption rates, it also means that it just doesn't stick with you.  Whey protein isolates, the gold standard for &quot;quick absorbing protein&quot; will leave you hungry within half an hour.  You'll also notice that the packaging on protein powder says to not use the powder as your exclusive source of nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, a liquid diet can be an effective short term solution to shed some pounds.  By short term we are talking no more than 90 days, and preferably 1-2 months.  It has the advantage of simplifying your shopping requirements and food preparation.  It has the disadvantage of cost, and a nagging feeling of hunger.  You may adjust well enough after a couple weeks, but it still leaves you desiring something to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T12:53:20.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7524" CreationDate="2012-08-02T14:39:53.827" Score="6" ViewCount="4143" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the primary muscles used while hitting the heavy bag (boxing focus sessions as compared to kickboxing where kicks are involved).  And how do you improve the overall hitting/power of those strikes from accessory exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/62BkL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T16:19:26.467" Title="What are the primary muscles worked when hitting a Heavy Bag?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7523" CreationDate="2012-08-02T15:04:50.183" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start at your head, and go to your feet. That's the muscles involved. :p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, a &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; punch will involve most of the muscles in the body. The primary single movers in a punch are going to be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pecs (Chest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps (Arm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deltoids (Shoulder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could throw a punch just using those muscles, but it won't be a hugely powerful punch (Think a jab in boxing). The triceps straighten the arm, and the delts/pecs move the arm &quot;forward&quot; and in towards the center.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that, you can add the muscles of the abdomen (abdominals and internal/external obliques) for rotation in the execution of the punch, muscles of the leg (calves and hamstrings/quads) used for driving and transmitting ground force through the punch, forearm muscles for rotation and stabilization of the lower arm, and lats/biceps for oppositional force and arm retraction after the punch. Clenching your jaw at the point of impact will tense/stabilize and add force, although a permanent clench is counter productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of a right cross, from the point of view of a right handed boxer (lead hand is left). Starting position for a right handed boxer is the left foot and left shoulder forward, right leg back, so that your hips and upper body are angled to your opponent. A few boxers will fight more square, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the boxer settles from movement/shuffle, the feet get planted. The rear leg starts hip rotation and gives a &quot;push&quot; from the feet upwards, involving the calf and thigh muscles. As the hip and torso continue to rotate (obliques and abdominals, some lats) the upper body continues the rotation, and the arm starts to extend out (pecs/triceps/delts), and the hand/lower arm rotate so that at the point of contact, the fist is palm down as opposed to facing inward as in a typical sparring/protection stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as hitting power, any basic weightlifting routine will work all the muscles involved, as most of them are primary movers for the core exercises such as pullups/dips, squats, situps and rotational exercises (abs and wood choppers for example). Where a LOT of the power comes from is simply technique, learning how to plant and rotate, keeping the arm as relaxed as possible until point of impact, things of this nature. You could have one person that can outlift a second person by a considerable margin, but not be able to punch as effectively because of a lack of technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-08-02T15:33:27.827" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T15:33:27.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7530" CreationDate="2012-08-02T15:55:52.333" Score="4" ViewCount="1123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for cardio alternatives to running, which I find incredibly boring so it's difficult to keep a routine up.  I would like something that is a bit shorter and more intensive.  I have tried burpees, which are great but I want 1 or 2 more alternatives to switch it up a bit.  I am fairly active in general, weight training and rock climbing 4-5 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goals I want to achieve from cardio are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Improved stamina on long hikes when I go rock climbing and carrying gear&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Burn a bit of fat which is beginning to accumulate in my belly area (I am 27, 185cm and 160 lbs, so I'm fairly lanky)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions which can accomplish the above but is less monotonous than running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3885" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T11:30:13.147" Title="Cardio Alternatives to Running" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-02T15:57:40.437" Score="6" ViewCount="26635" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the StrongLifts book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Never jump straight into your work weight, warm-up first. As an example, let's say your&#xA;  work weight for the Squat is 135lbs. Then here's how your training would look like...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;2×5 45lbs =&gt; 2 sets of 5 reps with the empty Olympic bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;3 x 90lbs =&gt; 1 set of 3 reps with the 45lbs bar + 22.5lbs/side&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;5 x 135lbs =&gt; first set of 5 reps with your work weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;5 x 135lbs =&gt; 2nd set of 5 reps with your work weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;5 x 135lbs =&gt; 3rd set of 5 reps with your work weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;5 x 135lbs =&gt; 4th set of 5 reps with your work weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;5 x 135lbs =&gt; 5th and final set of 5 reps with your work weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a complete newb, so wondering if anyone could give me a more general way to warm up. Like, you start with empty bar, then add how much, how many times, until you reach the target? And also, do you do this for just the first squat exercise, or do you warm up similarly for the 2 exercises coming after that as well? And if so, should you start with the empty bar each time? Or?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just looking for easier, more general rules I can follow as I'm a total beginner and the examples in the book was a bit too specific for me to be able to pull something general from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T19:33:53.150" Title="How should you warm up for stronglifts sessions?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7526" CreationDate="2012-08-02T16:18:44.113" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only extra warm-up would be a few minutes on a bike to get a general body warm-up before starting with the empty bar on the squat. (This is what Starting Strength suggests.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a general plan: always start with the empty bar (except for deadlifts, because they need height). Then, break up the gap between the empty bar weight and your workset weight into a few intervals. Do sets at each of those weights with progressively fewer reps and more rest as you approach your work weight. Don't do a warm-up set too close to your work weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squats, I do this:&#xA;2x5 @ 45, 1x5 @ 95, 1x3 @ 135, 1x2 @ 185, 1x1 @ 205, 3x5 @ 240&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my overhead press, I do this:&#xA;2x5 @ 45, 1x5 @ 65, 1x3 @ 75, 3x5 @ 100&#xA;(Note, fewer warm-up sets because the weight is lower, and I don't let them come close to interfering with my workset.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my deadlifts, I do this:&#xA;1x5 @ 90, 1x5 @ 135, 1x3 @ 155, 1x2 @ 200, 1x5 @ 235 (Note, the single workset. This is prescribed by Starting Strength, not sure about Stronglifts.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find spreadsheets to program your warm-up sets for you (for example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Tools_and_Downloads&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Tools_and_Downloads&lt;/a&gt;... Stronglifts probably has something similar). I tend to choose warm-up weights that are convenient based on what the bigger plates add up to, but you can get more exact if you want. They shouldn't be interfering with your workset either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should be getting from your warm-up sets is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;movement practice and reminders about form errors that you need to focus on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;preparation of the muscles for heavy weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;preparation of the mind for the heavy weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-02T18:54:19.313" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T18:54:19.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7525" CreationDate="2012-08-02T16:23:56.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An alternative to running, burpees for cardio is swimming. I find it easier to vary than running. Search for questions tagged w swimming (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/swimming&quot;&gt;Swimming&lt;/a&gt;) and you find excellent resources for how to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding variation, swimming can be varied through speed, distance, technical exercises, swim styles. For example, a varied work-out for me (as a beginner) would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm-up 100m&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 sets of {50m , 50m swimm}, where exercises can be found on sites such as Smooth swimming, Total Immersion etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;400m &quot;fartlek&quot; (e.g. swim as fast as possible, swim slow- breathe right, swim slow -breathe left)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100m breast stroke for relaxing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T11:30:13.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7525" CreationDate="2012-08-02T16:32:47.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A team sport, like ultimate (especially because of your height), or soccer would be great for cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T16:32:47.877" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7525" CreationDate="2012-08-02T18:27:45.663" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll get some better search responses with the word &quot;Conditioning&quot;, which is really what you are after.  High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) such as Tabata style training (20s full speed, 10s relative rest) is the best way to optimize conditioning work.  Obviously there are a few other ways to do conditioning as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-butcher-847.php&quot;&gt;Prowler&lt;/a&gt; let's you adjust the effort by adding or removing weight to the sled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/screw_cardio_four_complexes_for_a_shredded_physique&quot;&gt;Barbell Complexes&lt;/a&gt; such as the Evil 8 are fun, and surprisingly challenging even without much weight on the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/sledge.html&quot;&gt;Sledgehammer conditioning&lt;/a&gt; lets you hit stuff, but if you have a hard time finding used truck tires, you can always use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-ballistic-block.php&quot;&gt;ballistic block&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/tire-flipping-101/&quot;&gt;Tire flipping&lt;/a&gt; is a Strongman activity, and also a good alternative conditioning tool.  If you can find a good tire to flip, you can also use it for sledgehammer work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/mma-rope-conditioning/&quot;&gt;Rope conditioning&lt;/a&gt; used by MMA practitioners.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/jumpropeconditioning.html&quot;&gt;Jump ropes&lt;/a&gt; are an old stand by used by boxers to help both conditioning and coordination.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That will at least give you a few ideas to get started.  The goal of conditioning is to get you to be able to put out work for the period of time you need it.  When you look at a basketball game, or even more obviously an American football game, the athletes have periods of relative rest punctuated by brief periods of all out work.  Your conditioning should be good enough to let you go as intense as you need to for as long as your sport requires it.  The type of conditioning required by an MMA fighter will be different from a boxer, and both will be different from a swimmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T18:27:45.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7526" CreationDate="2012-08-02T18:48:46.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run or jump rope for five minutes, rotate all my joints, do some lunges, and then start lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't over-think it. Just add weight in chunks between fifty and ninety pounds. Do one set of five reps at each jump. If you want, leave a few reps off the heavier warm-up sets, or add a second set with just the bar. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/6353/1771&quot;&gt;this related question&lt;/a&gt; for other examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this progression from light to heavy with every barbell exercise. More detailed instructions and reasons behind this warm-up can be found in Starting Strength's second or third editions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T18:48:46.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7526" CreationDate="2012-08-02T19:29:03.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just do one set of 5 at between 1/3 to 1/2 my work set for warmup*. I used to do 3 warmup sets of gradually escalating weight, but I haven't found that's any better than just doing one. If you want to play it safe, do a couple more sets, and when you feel comfortable with it you can start scaling back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I also take a hot Epsom-salt bath before heading to the gym, that may help with warmups, but I find the benefit is actually in my lifts, as I'm able to lift significantly heavier weights after doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-02T19:29:03.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7537" CreationDate="2012-08-03T03:42:29.450" Score="4" ViewCount="122206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hate exercise, I find it excruciatingly boring. But I am overweight and need to lose fat fast. The main reason why I find it boring is because it takes too long and I don't like doing a a variety of exercises. It seems like you have to run on a treadmill for half an hour to lose the calories you get from eating one apple. And following exercise dvds with it's myriad of exercises is just painfully annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get my daily exercise session over with as fast as possible while getting the most out of it. So I am looking to do some intense high straining cardio exercises to the point where my heart is beating really fast and I am burning a lot of calories and fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises I found so far that does this for me are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Burpees&#xA;Mountain Climbers&#xA;Suicide Sprints&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't do the latter because I work out in my room and well there is no room for sprints. I like mountain climbers but it doesn't exhaust me as much as Burpees do so I rather just stick to that as it is the most exhausting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I just want to do Burpees. How many do I have to do and how many reps of each and how much rest in between reps in order to burn an insane amount of calories (and then fat) per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Age: 23&#xA;Sex: male&#xA;Weight: 180lbs&#xA;Height: 5'8&#xA;Body Type: overweight &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't hesitate to recomend something super intense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3867" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-03T10:43:04.247" LastActivityDate="2018-01-06T11:07:04.110" Title="How many Burpees do I have to do per day to lose a lot of fat fast?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2012-08-03T05:11:59.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't like spending a lot of time doing exercise, bodyweight is the wrong way to go about it. To make gains you need progressive overload, and the only way to get progressive overload with bodyweight exercises is to increase your reps or sets, and that's going to draw your exercise out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get things done quickly, you need to lift heavy weights, as you can get progressive overload by increasing the weight you lift while keeping the same number of reps and sets, so you don't end up spending any more time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to do burpees you can, but as you start losing weight you're actually doing less work with your burpees so you'll have to do more just to maintain any progress you've made, and further jack it up to continue making inroads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T05:11:59.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7525" CreationDate="2012-08-03T09:41:16.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Sancho on team sports, but also I'd add racket sports, especially squash. After an initial period of getting used to the sport (assuming you have never played before) you'll be giving yourself a great workout when facing a somewhat even opponent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise I find jump rope much more challenging and fun than jogging. You can do high intensity intervals or just keep a steady tempo. I find it particularly fun varying my jumps, it almost turns into a somewhat silly dance :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I normally try to do when jumping rope:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 regular jumps on a more or less steady tempo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;alternate between one leg jumps (3-5 on one foot, 3-5 on the other) which will ultimately push your tempo up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;once you feel like you are really up to the game throw in some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmyBS_0B4cE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;criss-cross&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if that's not pushing your heart rate enough add some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSPslSgkp60&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;double&lt;/a&gt; or triple jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get your coordination in place you can vary these (and other variations) into a routine which you can go at 10-15 min, even for more if you can manage. One last note stretch your calves before and after jump rope training otherwise you might have pretty nasty cramps :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2012-08-03T09:51:07.357" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T09:51:07.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7662" CreationDate="2012-08-03T10:01:52.867" Score="3" ViewCount="779" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard from multiple sources that &quot;no carbs in the evening&quot; is supposed to be a good way of decreasing the fat buildup and facilitating weight loss. Now while I am aware that none of these sources is a nutritionist, but they are also people that work out a lot and read health and training magazines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I wonder if there is any sound reasoning behind this statement, or if it is just an urban myth of some kind. I can imagine that unused carbs are probably processed into adipose tissue when the body is inert during sleep, so it kinda makes sense but I'd love to know more about it, since I normally have light breakfast and sometimes light lunch, train just before lunch or in the afternoon and finish it off with a proper meal for dinner. By proper meal I don't mean buckets full of food obviously but a sizable portion which usually includes some sort of carbs and proteins, and a sallad on a good day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it make sense to shift the main carbs intake to the mornings considering that my workouts are almost exclusively during lunch or afternoon sessions? If so what alternatives are there for evening meals, since pasta, bread and many vegetables as well as most fruits are out of the question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some reference information: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from LiveStrong article - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/75948-eat-protein-evening-maximum-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;How to Eat Protein in the Evening for Maximum Weight Loss&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consume all of your carbohydrates and simple sugars earlier in the&#xA;  day. If you work out in the morning, you can eat half of them before&#xA;  your workout and the other half after. This nutrient timing strategy,&#xA;  referred as carb stacking, is recommended by &quot;X-treme Lean&quot; authors&#xA;  Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman. For example, you might eat all of&#xA;  your carbs for the day before 3 p.m. The faster you want to lose&#xA;  weight and the slower your metabolism, the earlier you should cut out&#xA;  carbs to let your body burn its stored fat for energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and another bit of info from DailyMail- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-204317/Should-I-cut-carbs-6pm.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Should I cut out carbs after 6pm?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not eating carbohydrates after 5pm is an idea patented in the diet&#xA;  book 'Starch Curfew' by Joanna Hall - a sports scientist and the diet&#xA;  and fitness expert on ITV 1's This Morning program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and finally from Bodybuilding.com - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/5-forgotten-fat-loss-tips.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;5 Forgotten fat loss tips&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tip 2: Avoid Carbohydrates After 6:00 PM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Experience has taught me that eating carbohydrates after 6:00 PM will&#xA;  increase my potential for fat storage. Many people I have trained have&#xA;  also experienced a similar effect. After our final meal of the day,&#xA;  which no doubt would, or at least should, comprise around 45 percent&#xA;  complex carbohydrates, especially if we had trained prior to it, there&#xA;  is little point in eating more of this macronutrient until the&#xA;  following morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2012-08-12T23:41:23.497" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T06:24:38.333" Title="Does it matter when during the day carb intake occurs?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2012-08-03T10:42:24.090" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;One &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/workout-routines&quot;&gt;work-out routine&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/high-intensity&quot;&gt;high-intensity&lt;/a&gt; is &quot;Tabata&quot;, see this search on this site: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=tabata&quot;&gt;Search:tabata&lt;/a&gt; and this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/2666/3778&quot;&gt;What is tabata? How  effective is it?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answering your question,  &lt;strong&gt;you would do 20 seconds of burpees, rest for 10 seconds and repeat this for e.g. 8 times&lt;/strong&gt;. That would take you about 4 minutes. The more fit you are, you can add more sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since you are overweight (BMI ca 27), you should take it easy initially, burpees are very hard if you do them correctly. So: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a medical checkup first since you will have a very high pulse rate doing burpees in a tabata context.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do some light warm-up before the burpees, e.g. see this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7097/3778&quot;&gt;Morning stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work on the technique initially (e.g. don't do a maximum jump or step backwards instead of jumping) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether this will help you to loose fat depends also on diet, see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/weight-loss&quot;&gt;weight-loss&lt;/a&gt; tag&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T10:53:36.657" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7542" CreationDate="2012-08-03T14:00:13.920" Score="7" ViewCount="13348" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something like 6 months ago, I could do 10 pull-ups rather easily.  Now, I'm much stronger than I was then but struggle doing just 6 pull-ups.  Could this possibly be related to the width of the pull-up bar?  The one I was using 6 months ago was probably half the width of the one I am using now. The new bar is probably two inches in diameter. It just seems strange that I've gotten so much stronger but can do fewer pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've gained probably 5 pounds of muscle but at the same time have lost around the same in fat, so I've had no net weight gain. I've been eating well and am lifting more weight in  than I was before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  In case anyone's wondering, I got back to school and could do as many or more pull-ups than I could 6 months ago.  It seems as though my small hands did indeed detriment my pull-up ability with a thicker bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="3918" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T06:27:25.633" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T07:44:18.940" Title="Could a thicker pull-up bar explain my inability to do as many pull-ups? " Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-03T14:23:14.307" Score="0" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I reverse the consequences of eating something bad quickly by going to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g.  If I ate a brownie now, could I do an hour of cardio at the gym and then not 'put on that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is there basically no stopping it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically I want to every now and then cheat on my healthy living regime on Friday's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T18:21:27.410" Title="Can I reverse the consequences of eating something bad?" Tags="&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2012-08-03T14:40:34.900" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that you need to burn Calories, and have a way of measuring the Calories you are burning.  If you have a heart rate monitor that is calibrated to where you are right now, you'll have a pretty decent indicator of the progress you are making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the most amount of Calories I've burned in one session was about 1,400 Calories over 1.5 hours.  The activities involved included heavy lifting with compound lifts, and following it with performing my katas for conditioning.  This is not something I can do every day, but I can do it about 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't tell you how many burpees you have to do per day.  I can tell you that your heart rate has to be up for an extended period of time to burn a lot of Calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, a pound of fat is ~3500 Calories.  &lt;strong&gt;If you do not change what you are eating&lt;/strong&gt;, and you are burning 1,000 Calories a day through exercise, you can lose a pound every 3-4 days.  However, to keep it off, you will have to either adjust what you are eating or keep doing the grueling workout from now till eternity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T14:40:34.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7538" CreationDate="2012-08-03T14:45:30.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an interesting article on Thick Bar Training - &lt;a href=&quot;http://tnation.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/the_benefits_of_thick_bar_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://tnation.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/the_benefits_of_thick_bar_training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds as if you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; be able to lift more/pull up more based on more muscles being activated...so, the thickness may not be why you're seeing issues with your pullups.  The easy way to tell is to do some pullups on the pullup bar you were originally using...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you replaced fat with muscle and seem to have reduced overall bodyfat (seeing your veins) may mean that you might have gained overall strength BUT lost muscle endurance...depending on your goals, you may want to decrease the weight being lifted and increase the volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T14:45:30.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7538" CreationDate="2012-08-03T15:18:38.850" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;SAID principle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most scenarios, our bodies respond to training stimulus very specifically. This is called &lt;em&gt;specific adaptation to imposed demand,&lt;/em&gt; which &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAID_principle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tells us&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;specific skills or training may not easily generalize or transfer to distinct activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be lifting more in the bicep curl, but curl strength doesn't necessarily translate to pull-up strength. (Of the two, I'd say that pull-ups, being a compound exercise more applicable to real-life tasks, would be the better metric of strength overall. My understanding is that they use more of the back, abs, and shoulder girdle.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In light of your update, this also means that it's likely that you adapted to pull-ups with a specific grip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;It's not the bar. It's you.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Henry Rollins brings the truth in this domain with his essay, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/03/16/iron-and-the-soul/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Iron and the Soul&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be able to do more tricep cable push-downs than before. You might have look better, feel better, and have better body composition than when you were doing ten pull-ups. But two hundred pounds is two hundred pounds. If you can't do 'em, you can't do 'em. Don't blame the equipment, blame yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it should be a good blame--a heartening aiming of responsibility at oneself. Because as those who train know, we can tell our bodies to do things, and our bodies will respond. If you do more pull-ups instead of isolation exercises like curls, you'll be able to do more pull-ups. I'd suspect you'd be able to do heavier curls, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mitigating factors&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if it's your &lt;em&gt;grip&lt;/em&gt; that's failing, then yes, it could be the thickness of the bar that's affecting your pull-up numbers. Thicker bars are much harder to hold on to, and so provide excellent tests of (or training for) grip strength and endurance. (&lt;strong&gt;NB&lt;/strong&gt;: the OP's update suggests this to be the case.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or perhaps when you were cheating more on your pull-ups before. Not extending your arms fully, not getting all the way to the top, and kipping up to the top could all explain a difference of several reps. But I'd hope you're doing dead-hang strict pull-ups both then and now, which would allow you to legitimately track your progress (or regress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the goal is strength or ability (rather than appearance), it's important to pick exercises carefully so that they have maximum carryover to other exercises. This is what leads us to squats rather than leg presses, or pull-ups rather than curls, or deadlifts rather than machine exercises for the back. These are highly demanding compound exercises that carry over well to general strength and sport. The question is, what is your goal? If it's more chins, then do more chins. If it's heavier curls, then do more curls. But if it's general strength, then I'd advise the chins over the curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-01T13:10:19.273" LastActivityDate="2012-12-01T13:10:19.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7544" CreationDate="2012-08-03T16:14:40.587" Score="3" ViewCount="19171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Articles like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forearm#Muscles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the wikipedia entry for the Forearm&lt;/a&gt; distinguish between superficial, intermediate, and deep muscles.  What is the difference between these muscle levels?  What are some readily recognizable examples of each?  Are deep muscles more significant or powerful than superficial muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T19:14:14.560" Title="What are superficial muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7543" CreationDate="2012-08-03T16:50:08.250" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It simply has to do with the location of the muscle in relation to the skin surface vs. bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Superficial - muscles you feel through your skin--the outermost layer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intermediate - muscles sitting between the superficial muscles and the deep muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deep - muscles closest to the bone--the innermost layer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/89027-superficial-muscles-human-body/#ixzz0sN5JoSWd&quot;&gt;Superficial Muscles of the Human Body&lt;/a&gt; for more examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superficial muscles are the most visible, so body builders will spend time to make sure they look right.  However, the deep muscles and intermediate muscles add to the overall mass of a person, as well as improving their ability to lift heavy things.  All strength athletes (from body builders to Olympic weightlifters and power lifters) spend time developing the muscles you cannot see.  Compound lifts are an important component of this process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T16:50:08.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7538" CreationDate="2012-08-03T18:17:58.103" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bar thickness is well known for making it more difficult to do deadlifts, there's no reason why this wouldn't apply to doing pull ups as well. Particularly if your hands are on the smaller size, increasing thickness will have a significant effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T18:17:58.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7539" CreationDate="2012-08-03T18:21:27.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're thinking in terms of calories, then maybe - people are a little too eager to say it's all about calories consumed and calories burned, when in fact you can have a pretty wide range of results - but really bad food is food made with unhealthy ingredients, and that can't be reversed. If the ingredient list on the brownies is intelligible to you, you're probably fine, but if it has a bunch of compounds you don't recognise, the detriment to your health isn't related to (lack of) exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T18:21:27.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7550" CreationDate="2012-08-03T20:30:28.280" Score="2" ViewCount="710" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cycle most evenings when I get home from work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I read about Tabata on here and wondered if it would be any good for me?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Maybe cut my total time down to 30 minutes, 5 mins warm up, 2 mins Tabata, 5 mins cool-down?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm trying to lose fat, at a decent rate. I eat well, just want to lose it quicker!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3963" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T19:01:46.830" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T19:01:46.830" Title="Would Tabata be any good on a stationary bike?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7549" CreationDate="2012-08-03T20:32:39.597" Score="4" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently trying to eat a lot healthier, and to that end I've cut out any sugary snacks - cakes, cookies, chocolate bars, protein bars and so on. I've noticed that I've mostly ended up replacing them with nuts, and a lot of fruit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll get through a large container of pineapple, a couple of bananas, a large fresh orange juice and various other fruits through the day. I'm trying to make sure all my fruit is raw and fresh but, even so, are the sugars from fruits likely to be as detrimental to my dieting (the aim is weight loss &amp;amp; muscle gain), as if I simply cheated and had the odd sugary snack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3964" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T03:16:43.627" Title="Is a diet high in fruit as detrimental as one that includes sugary snacks?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7548" CreationDate="2012-08-03T21:16:41.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You correctly identified the bad foods, so that's a good start. You haven't mentioned drinks; if you consume sugary drinks (even from fresh fruit) you better stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that you replaced all of these with fruit and nuts. Fruit is quite overhyped. It is completely true that it is healthy. But you don't need that much nutrients. It's not like if you don't eat few pounds of a 'super-food' you will be malnutritioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is true though, is that modern fruits have lots of fructose. And that is basically sugar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to replace a lot of the fruits you currently eat with vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't strive to eat everything raw or in whatever form a hipsterish blog would suggest. Eat it in a way that you like it, so you have a good chance of keeping following the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T21:16:41.717" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7547" CreationDate="2012-08-03T21:24:28.757" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fine to use a stationary bike for Tabata-style interval training. Much of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9139179&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tabata's&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt; was on stationary bikes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protocol &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/tabata.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prescribes&lt;/a&gt; 4 minutes total of intense intervals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The whole session last 14 minutes and comprises of a 5 minute warm up, 4 minutes of intense exercise and a 5 minute cool down. The 4 minutes of intense exercise comprises of 8 repeats of 20 seconds of maximum effort work of your selected exercise followed by a recovery of 10 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're reasonably fit already, doing absolutely all-out effort for twenty seconds eight times should be exhausting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-03T21:32:32.807" LastActivityDate="2012-08-03T21:32:32.807" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7551" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-04T01:25:41.843" Score="4" ViewCount="561" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ectomorph&lt;/a&gt; and because of lots of reasons, I cannot (or chose not to) do weights. But I can work on cardio (run, swim etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good idea (only cardio but no weights)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My diet is fairly good. I eat my veggies/meat/fruits, don't skip meals and eat sizeable proportions and stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I enjoy an occasional beer or wine. I'm afraid of the beer gut/beer belly but am also interested in staying fit for the reason of staying fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, I'm looking for anything (a regime, advice, reference whatever) to keep me fit while avoiding weights WITH consideration to my body structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The reason I am against doing weights is because my work is highly demanding when it comes to the use of hands and in the past, even a slight workout leaves me numb and sore (I know I can tone it down and stuff but I really don't want to risk it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2759" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2759" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T15:40:55.407" Title="Is it a good idea to only do cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7507" CreationDate="2012-08-04T04:10:36.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is going to improve your vertical by quite a bit is working on your technique in addition to the muscular strength aspects. A standing vertical is going to be much different than trying to leap to catch a disc from nearly a full run. There are a few different components to this type of a vertical jump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blocking - This is a term most often used in gymnastics, and it means to take horizontal momentum and turn it into vertical momentum. This is done by being able to plant either a foot, both feet or hands to stop horizontal motion without stopping, and give a push upwards to transfer momentum upwards. The trick is being able to NOT come to a full stop when you do this. One of the better visual examples is high jumpers. They come in at an angle, dip and plant a foot slightly, and use their other leg to drive up and help transfer the run to the leap. There are numerous training videos on the net for this (Blocking, I mean, not high jump.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is the arm/leg motions. Part of this upward drive is augmented by the upward swing of the arms, and the upward drive of the non planting leg. Not only does this take strength, but timing and flexibility so that they are all coordinated together to add to the momentum of your motion. This just takes practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is another component. The more vertical you can drive your knee upwards, the better your leap is going to be. If you aren't very flexible, then you will be wasting some of your momentum out in front of you rather than contributing to upward motion. The tighter to your body and the higher you can drive your knee the more it will add to the direction of travel that you want. This means that quads and hamstrings all need to be flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch high jumpers, parkour, martial arts tricksters, gymnasts. All are going to have much greater vertical leaps from moving over their standing vertical. There are some NBA players that can't dunk from a standing leap, yet can soar way over the rim when leaping from motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final consideration is being able to activate the stretch reflex as well, which will give an extra bit of oomph to the jump. This can be done by adding plyometrics to your exercise routine, which will help to train yourself to utilize that. But again, plyometrics are a bit more advanced, which also means a higher injury risk. Read up on them before just &quot;jumping in&quot; and doing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T04:10:36.060" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7556" CreationDate="2012-08-04T07:41:34.460" Score="7" ViewCount="5308" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a new lifter about two months into Starting Strength. Recently I bought myself a &lt;a href=&quot;http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/7/3/7323d_ORIG-pull_up_dip.jpg&quot;&gt;dip tower&lt;/a&gt; so I could add some chin-up/pull-up accessory work. My gym buddy mentioned that potentially I may be wasting my time with this and that my gains are coming from heavy weights and body workouts aren't going to really contribute anything for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any truth to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:45:15.253" Title="Am I gaining anything more by doing accessory work with Starting Strength or is it potentially not contributing anything?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7572" CreationDate="2012-08-04T07:59:58.843" Score="7" ViewCount="2143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been bulking since I started lifting (Starting Strength path, two months in) but have started wondering this week - when do I cut? Is this purely when I can no longer stand the fat that ultimately comes with muscle or is there a recommended &quot;x weeks on, y weeks off&quot; method popular with this program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-08-13T21:37:40.713" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T21:37:40.713" Title="Starting Strength: How do I know when I should cut?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7553" CreationDate="2012-08-04T08:18:19.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no rule preventing you from doing pull ups with weights. You can get a belt to attach weight plates too. Works the same as any other lift, except the baseline is your bodyweight instead of 45lbs for the Olympic bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T08:18:19.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7553" CreationDate="2012-08-04T10:19:06.573" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any supplemental exercises other than chip-ups must be chosen very carefully so as to not interfere with progress on [the main 5 lifts].&quot;, and &quot;If progress is being made on the primary exercises, you are getting stronger and your objective is being accomplished. If in doubt, leave it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you're friend is correct, in general, but not about chin-ups/pull-ups. Chin-ups/pull-ups are the only accessory lifts that are explicitly programmed into Starting Strength (3rd Edition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you can't do many chin-ups, your press and bench press will increase as you get stronger on this very important exercise. And that is why it is the only ancillary exercise included in the novice program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe also has a lot of good things to say about dips: good substitute for bench during injury, the best exercise for targeting lower pecs and triceps (better than decline bench), better than push-ups because they can be weighted. It's basically the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_kinetic_chain_exercises&quot;&gt;closed kinetic chain&lt;/a&gt; partner of the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You bought a very useful piece of equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-04T10:27:35.270" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T10:27:35.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7551" CreationDate="2012-08-04T14:29:22.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, only cardio is a bad method to achieve a good-looking/healthy body. The optimal way is doing weight-lifting + healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is the way to lose the extra fat. You are following this part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building muscle is achieved by straining your muscle. You don't really do that with cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T14:29:22.903" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7578" CreationDate="2012-08-04T17:25:47.833" Score="16" ViewCount="17123" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do smart lifters do when they're working out alone and want to do benchpresses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a busy schedule, and it isn't practical for me to have a regular weightlifting partner.  I've usually avoided regular benchpresses in favor of either dumbbell benchpresses or smith-machine benchpresses.  I like to lift to failure on my final set (or at least get very close to it), and don't want to get trapped under a bar.  Also, constantly having to get a spot from strangers in the suburban globo-gym I lift at seems like an imposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see other people benchpressing alone all the time, so I can only assume that my fears are a little exaggerated.  What do smart lifters do in that situation?  Just not go to failure?  Switch to a smith machine for the last set(s)?  Just not feel guilty about asking a stranger for a spot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Details about my background - I'm currently benching a pair of 60lbs dumbbells for 3 sets of 7, and feel comfortable controlling the weight.  But I'm curious about switching over to working with a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-08-05T18:04:57.297" LastActivityDate="2015-07-19T00:27:06.177" Title="How do I bench press safely without a spotter?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-04T19:08:41.810" Score="1" ViewCount="1042" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I am going to start my insanity workout program but I kinda screwed up my diet on the first day, and the workout is the fit test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insanity Workout is the famous workout by beachbody.com. It is the hardest workout put on dvd. It is made out of 10 different workouts and a 60 day schedule to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So should I restart the program or continue?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3967" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-08-07T14:35:33.800" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T14:35:33.800" Title="Insanity workout -  first day failed diet - should I restart or not?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2012-08-04T20:34:17.187" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with doing the bench press in a squat rack. Set the pins at the right height, even if you fail you won't get crushed by the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T20:34:17.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2012-08-04T21:00:47.593" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stopped benching alone because I didn't trust this method to be enough, but I used to leave off the plate clips. That way, if I get stuck, I can tip the bar to one side and slide the plates off with a huge crash. It would probably damage the floor and/or the plates, but I would be able to get up. I never had to implement this strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any system that is able to set an actual safety bar just below the level of your puffed-out chest would be superior. You should test the system with an unloaded bar to make sure you can squeeze out from between the bar and the bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T21:00:47.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7548" CreationDate="2012-08-04T22:15:16.237" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, not the same. Fruit, in addition to the sugar, also contains fiber.  The fiber will slow digestion and keep the sugar in fruits from quickly going right to your blood stream (and thus spiking insulin).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2012-08-04T22:15:16.237" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7553" CreationDate="2012-08-05T03:58:08.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to do pull-ups and chin-ups, then do another variant of &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the various Starting Strength programs&lt;/a&gt; that includes them. Otherwise you're not doing the program, which means you will more quickly &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7666/1771&quot;&gt;cease being able to progress&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heavy squats are hard. Chin-ups done properly are hard. Power cleans should be hard. If you have energy to do extra work on Starting Strength, wait. In a few weeks you won't. Starting Strength gets heavy and challenging very quickly, and sticking with your progression in the face of that challenge is an enormous factor in how strong you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chin-ups, dips, and bodyweight exercises are awesome. They can get people very strong. But &lt;strong&gt;being consistent&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;sticking to your selected program&lt;/strong&gt; is more important than what exercises you pick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:45:15.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2012-08-05T06:25:28.457" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only increase my bench press by 2.5lbs per workout, and only if I did three sets of five reps in the previous workout. So, I know I can definitely get a few reps completed before failure. I know what my second-to-failure rep feels like and don't do another rep if I think I may fail on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I've gotten 2 sets of 5 done, and I really want to try for a new 3x5 and don't want any uncertainty about the last rep, I just ask another random person who looks like they're resting to spot me on my last set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T06:25:28.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1347" CreationDate="2012-08-05T07:14:41.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As said above by many if you cut carbs and eat primal you tend to lose weight, feel happier and eat more nutrients. Why if a calorie is a calorie? Because good fat and protein are what we are designed to eat and they fill us up and do not spike blood sugar in the way carbs do. For those of us who have also been sugar addicts be careful of fruit too. Whilst it is heaps better for you than sweets and junk food you can over eat it to get the blood sugar hit adn it has a lot of carb so keep it for the occasions as our ancestors would have done when they came across it in season in a forest rather than having it many times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is so much that is good for you in fresh fish and meat and eggs than you find in rice or bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3969" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T07:14:41.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7569" CreationDate="2012-08-05T10:10:54.560" Score="2" ViewCount="20729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's vain - but I'm not blessed in this department. As  I progress down the road towards the body I want instead of the current body I have can I expect my wrists to gain in proportion also?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the bones won't grow - but will muscle form in this area or am I limited to only seeing gains in my forearms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T05:28:06.267" Title="Skinny wrists - will this change as the rest of me does?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7566" CreationDate="2012-08-05T11:11:28.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your wrists could conceivably get fatter, but no, they won't grow due to muscle, it's tendons there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T11:11:28.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2012-08-05T13:07:41.030" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you answered the question by properly asking it.  Don't go to failure. Should you be cautious about benching? YES, I think this is the exercise where people actually get hurt the most, by the bar dropping on them (chest or much worse the throat).  I would recommend using barbell in the beginning of your routine and as you get tired, moving to dumbbells. This will give you the experience in using barbell training and the ability to push it with reduced risk of injury using dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout alone (home gym) and had two experiences where I couldn't lift the bar off of me...dumping to the side (as Dave mentioned above) is the option, you can also purchase safety stands&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B4nSU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T13:07:41.030" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7566" CreationDate="2012-08-05T13:48:22.667" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to Ross Training for excellent hand/wrist/forearm exercises: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/trainingthehands.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/trainingthehands.html&lt;/a&gt;.  The wrist is mostly bone, but by building up the hands/forearm, the wrist will get stronger (and look more proportionate).  Go for strength and functionality and don't focus on any one body part, this is the road that will drive you crazy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T13:48:22.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7559" CreationDate="2012-08-05T16:00:58.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to continue. If you have a normal life with all sorts of commitments, you your are bound to miss work-outs and not follow all dietary advice during the 60 days that the program prescribes. This shouldn't matter for a robust work-out routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, given that Beachbody's &quot;go to market&quot; model is based on &quot;multi-level marketing&quot;, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beachbody&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Beachbody&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Multi-level marketing&lt;/a&gt;, you should have a critical view of all the material on the net regarding the result after program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T16:00:58.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7566" CreationDate="2012-08-05T17:03:15.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a barbell exercise that specifically works hypertrophy in your finger muscles, which are the only muscles in the wrist / lower forearm region of your arms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nicros.com/training/articles/eastern-bloc-training-heavy-finger-rolls/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nicros.com/training/articles/eastern-bloc-training-heavy-finger-rolls/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did them for sport specific purposes, and saw some improvement in my wrist thickness (as side effect).  That being said, your wrists are like your calves from a body building standpoint - some people just won't be able to add much size.  I went from finger curling 100lbs to 165lbs, and only had to wear my Timex maybe 1/4&quot; wider, nothing crazy.  But this is an exercise you can eventually go heavy at - finger curling your bodyweight for reps isnt an unreasonable goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2012-08-06T05:28:06.267" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T05:28:06.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7554" CreationDate="2012-08-05T17:46:55.347" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;em&gt;Nutrition and Bodyweight&lt;/em&gt; section in chapter 8, you should stay on the recommended nutrition program (admittedly a bit vague; I wish he had devoted more book space to this topic) for at least 3-4 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fat guys should be approaching 20% by now as well, since their diet has been about the same since the beginning; but their bodyweight should have started back up by now, as bodyfat loss has slowed and LBM increases have begun to exceed the loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scale weight doesn't tell you much, but if your bodyfat isn't decreasing then you should cut carbs while maintaining a decent caloric load.The author's contention is that your body fat will normalize naturally if you're doing the program. He would say if you aren't making serious strength gains and losing bodyfat... then YNDTP (you're not doing the program). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fat guys (not used here disparagingly) see a different result entirely, as their bodyweight doesn’t change much for the first few months. What they notice is looser pants in the waist; legs and hips staying about the same; shirts that are much tighter in the chest, arms, and neck; and faster strength increases compared to their skinny buddies. Their body composition changes while their bodyweight stays close to the same, the result of a loss in bodyfat due to their increasing muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you’re a little fluffy around the belly, you have obviously already created the conditions necessary for growth. You’ll usually start out stronger than the skinny guy, and because your body hasn’t got the problems with growing that skinny guys do, strength gains can come more easily for you if you eat correctly. You’ll still eat a lot, but don’t drink the milk, and cut your carb intake if you don’t see bodyfat levels drop during these first couple of weeks. You’ll first notice that your pants fit looser in the waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as when to stop doing the program (and really cut), I think the main consideration is not to blow your chance to take full advantage of the potential novice strength gains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ability to tolerate a rapid increase in load and to continue to quickly adapt slows after a few months. But during this period, don’t waste your opportunity to grow quickly. After this, the program and diet must change to reflect the reality of slower progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T17:46:55.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-05T17:51:17.107" Score="1" ViewCount="478" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a vegetarian and would like to go on a low carb (preferably no carb) diet. Currently I am getting about 200grams of protein from protein shakes and eggs. Until now I have been eating rice, noodles, etc. as my other food sources. These actually filled me up and gave me energy. I fear without carbs I will feel weak and unable to function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like no/low carb dieters get the majority of their calories from meats. As mentioned I am already taking 200grams of protein so that's not a problem. I just need foods that will keep me full and energized. What low/no carb vegetarian food options are there that will do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also are fibrous carbs okay to eat on this type of diet? Like broccoli, cauliflower, and other greens (I heard they don't get absorbed and can be thought of as &quot;free&quot; foods)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3867" LastActivityDate="2012-08-05T17:51:17.107" Title="What can a vegetarian eat on a low carb diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="18" ClosedDate="2012-08-07T06:40:49.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7652" CreationDate="2012-08-06T04:24:28.033" Score="5" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Occasionally after I finish running I will be overcome with an urge to gag and a feeling like I have a ball of phlegm stuck in my throat.  I usually end up on my knees hacking and spitting up phlegm and then five minutes later I am fine.  During the episode my mouth is extremely dry.  I have tried varying what I eat before running and that has not mattered.  I usually run in the morning and have just a piece of chocolate and some espresso prior to the run.  It is very hot in Austin, Texas so I usually run early in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This reaction never happens during the run and never immediately upon stopping.  It is always between 1 to 3 minutes after I have finished a run.  It usually happens after harder runs, but has also occurred after long slow runs.  The runs vary in distance between 5K and 5 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really like to know what is causing this, what I can do to stop this from happening, and if this is dangerous in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3972" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T21:58:27.700" Title="What is causing a bad/strange reaction about 1 to 3 minutes after finishing my runs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7566" CreationDate="2012-08-06T04:32:56.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;can I expect my wrists to gain in proportion&quot; - from a body building perspective small wrists can make your forearm muscles look huge - you don't want proportion. Small hips and ankles (and wide shoulders) are great for body builders. Do hammer curls to build big forearms leading into small wrists. My small wrists took quite a beating in sumo, but wrist curls and heavy deadlifts put an end to wrist strains. I no longer needed to tape up, but my wrists didn't grow. Top competitive judo players develop 'fat' hands and wrists from constant gripping and sumo wrestlers develop 'fat' insteps from gripping the earthen floor with their toes. It's tendon development, but these people are gripping for hours a day, 5-6 days a week for years. My strength coach was a tall guy with big joints who lifted awesome poundages and never looked very muscular. Lots of long muscle spread over a big frame. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T04:32:56.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-06T07:51:12.143" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/182/what-are-the-downsides-of-minimalist-running-shoes&quot;&gt;What are the downsides of minimalist running shoes?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to start walking/jogging. I am considering the Adidas Adupure and Fila Skeletoes, two articulated toe models available in India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned about the safety of thin soles. Sharp stones/ shards are a constant worry, so not only it must be safe, but also &lt;strong&gt;durable&lt;/strong&gt; against repeated attacks. It must be safe from small puddles, not letting water in. Also I must be safe in slippery/sandy surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these shoes safe for a beginner running on bad pavement? Are there other health issues to be aware of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2338" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T12:07:26.453" Title="What safety issues should be considered before running barefoot shoes on bad pavement?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-08-14T11:37:42.537" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2012-08-06T07:54:23.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One more thing to look into is what is commonly referred to as &quot;the roll of shame&quot;. Personally, I don't think the name is very fitting, as it's a perfectly good method of controlling the bar when coming a bit closer to failure than expected...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you do is that when you can't quite get the weight up, you lower it towards your stomach, roll the bar downwards to the hips, and sit up. From here you can move the legs and put the bar to rest on the bench. Be careful if you need to remove the weights here, as the support is in the middle, and it's easier for the bar to flip over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you have a weight way over your maximum, you will not be able to do this easily, but then again that is not really the situation we're looking at here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be a good idea to practice the move a few times with submaximal loads, just to get the hang of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and one more thing - avoid the smith machine. That's where you can really get stuck if you fail and don't succeed with fastening the bar. Quite a number of serious accidents has happened in the smith.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2534" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T07:54:23.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2012-08-06T15:33:36.197" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is to use a bench station with safeties.  Whether those safeties are sawhorses from the hardware store, a power rack, or a squat rack with safety attachments; they will prevent the bar from trapping you on the bench.  The safeties should be low enough that you can touch the bar to your chest, but high enough you can slide out from underneath if you need to rest the bar on the safeties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when you aren't training to failure, and have a prescribed number of reps you are aiming for, sometimes failure is inevitable.  Using safeties lets you lift without fear of hurting yourself seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pros of using safeties:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are still in control of your schedule&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can lift confidently, knowing you will never be trapped&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will never have to worry about someone who thinks spotting means performing rows while you bench--and the awkward view of this person's crotch while they perform the joint exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cons of using safeties:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can wipe you out unloading the bar, putting it back on the pins and reloading.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A hand-off can make or break a max attempt--and if you don't have one you will spend a lot of energy getting the bar off the pins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may gain the ire (anger) of people who want to use the power rack and don't know what you are doing.  People who have pushed themselves to their limits regularly will recognize what you are doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get someone to lift with you, or just give you a hand off, that can make things a lot better.  If you grab a random guy in the gym, make sure they understand you only want them to hand you the bar and you don't want them to interfere with the bench in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T15:33:36.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-06T18:04:04.187" Score="8" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've decided to run an Olympic Triathlon: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swim&lt;/strong&gt;: 1.5 km (0.93  mi)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cycle&lt;/strong&gt;: 40 km (24.8  mi)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Run&lt;/strong&gt;: 10 km (6.2  mi)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and need to assess where I'm at in order to build a workout schedule on my own.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I perform an assessment workout to see where I'm at in my swimming, running and biking?  I'm not exactly sure what I should assess, and how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-07T15:51:48.647" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T15:51:48.647" Title="How do I perform an assessment workout?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7579" CreationDate="2012-08-06T18:33:44.873" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is going to be pretty much the same for all three sports, in that you need to do a fitness/threshold test, and then use that to compute training paces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For swimming, I recommend the 3x300. Warm up completely, then you swim 3 different 300 meter swims, with :30 seconds rest in between. You want to try to keep them as close in time as possible, while still pushing it hard. Something like 3:30, 5:00 and 6:45 would not be a good test. Once you have your times, then determine your average pace/100m and use that to base training cycles. There is a series of books called Swim Training in a Binder that have workouts, and they outline a fit test in the beginning section. There is also one that is triathlete specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cycling and running, you'll need a HR monitor of some sort. Do at least 15 mins of warmup, then it's basically a 30 minute time trial. At 10 minutes into the test, hit your HR lap button, so that you get your average heart rate over the last 20 minutes. Do a good cooldown after the test. As I don't personally like HR based training, I also try to gauge my perceived exertion (RPE), and use that for later training. There are, however, many people that like HR based zone training and many plans are based off of this as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are fairly new, and planning a triathlon workout regimen can get a bit involved, I would recommend a book that has a plan, or a site such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beginnertriathlete.com&quot;&gt;Beginner Triathlete&lt;/a&gt; that has a lot of premade plans, some free and some paid, and an EXCELLENT support and discussion community, centered around beginners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as a part time coach, I know that for a lot of beginners, the big hurdle is swimming. If you aren't a former swimmer or at all uncomfortable in the water, I highly recommend getting as much pool time as you can, and get in some open waters swims (OWS). OWS is a very different animal, and even experienced pool swimmers can freak out the first time or two. Also, if you plan on using a wetsuit, get some practice time in OW in the wetsuit. It's also a different beast. Don't OWS alone, however. Go with a group or a friend or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend signing up for a sprint or two before you do the Olympic distance. You get used to the environment, transitions, what it actually feels like going from the swim to the bike to the run, and you get an idea of where fitness/training is lacking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edits for clarity: You will periodically want to redo all the fitness tests, since the numbers will change as you get fitter. Also, do not attempt to all the fitness tests on the same day, or even back to back. You might be able to get away with a swim test on one day and a second test the next day as there is no impact with swimming, but I would space them with at least an off day between so that you get the best results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-08-06T18:38:48.203" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T18:38:48.203" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7579" CreationDate="2012-08-06T18:48:24.327" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/5660212#5660212&quot;&gt;you're not trained&lt;/a&gt; in any of these parts and they are mostly endurance sports, I would first assess your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do each type of sport for 30 minutes and measure your distance. Don't do all three on one day, if you're untrained. Instead, take them a day apart or more if you feel sore. If you have access to a heart rate monitor, try keeping a steady heart rate. If not watch your breathing rhythm and try to keep it at such a level that you're still able to keep up a conversation (yes, that can be slow). We don't want you to strain yourself, we just want to see what you're capable off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To measure your distance: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5878/how-to-count-laps-while-swimming&quot;&gt;count laps in the swimming pool,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use GPS to track your running distance or run on a track&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use GPS to track your cycling or use a bicycle computer/speedometer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using an app like RunKeeper is great, because it helps you track your progress and works for different types of workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To assess the result, we can break down the Olympic record, which is 1:48. Here they spend about 20 minutes swimming, 60 minutes cycling and 30 minutes running. This comes down to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4.5 km/hr pace with swimming or reversed ~13 min/km&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 km/hr cycling (using a much better bike than you probably own)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 km/hr running &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people have a part they're good at and one they're weak at. If you want to improve your end result, improving your worst part is probably a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how does this relate to you? Well cutting all speeds into half gives you a nice ballpark figure to aim at for starters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cycling performance will depend highly on the quality of your bike and the number of hills you encounter. Cycling on a flat surface with a race bike will give a better time than using a mountain bike in the hillside. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Given your history with cross country running, this part should be the easiest. At your age, it shouldn't take more than a couple of months or a C25K program to get you running at 10+ km/hr.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lastly swimming will probably be the worst if your untrained and unskilled. Untrained means swimming for 1 km will be exhausting, because of exhaustion you'll breath more, which will hurt your technique, which will exhaust you even more. So we probably don't have expect a great time here. No worries, your program will have to help you improve this and with regular training, this should improve rapidly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T18:48:24.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7582" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-06T18:57:28.853" Score="5" ViewCount="2900" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in what exercises/training I can do to help with reaction time and timing for martial arts.  Specifically, how can I improve parrying and countering a strike?  I'm not looking for speed drills (speed is different than reaction time and timing).  I need to be able to react based on some cue and then determine the on-coming strike speed so I can appropriately parry it and counter...any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-06T19:33:38.037" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T15:22:50.483" Title="How can I improve my reaction speed and timing for martial arts?" Tags="&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2012-08-06T20:03:32.453" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anderson Silva, who is what one could conservatively call one of the most successful counter-punchers in modern mixed martial arts, includes two elements in his training that I would say are vital to that success: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Copious sparring, focusing on technique and defense&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwkeNzW8gOg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dodging a racquetball thrown at his head&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than footwork drills for &lt;strong&gt;agility&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;conditioning&lt;/strong&gt; work to make sure you're fresh enough to present an intelligent defense, drilling &lt;strong&gt;boxing defense and head movement&lt;/strong&gt; techniques, and &lt;strong&gt;power training&lt;/strong&gt; to develop explosiveness, I would focus on these two methods (mostly the first) for improving one's martial arts reaction time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T20:03:32.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2012-08-06T20:10:32.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that you seem to be very experienced in the field, i.e. know all the technical aspects of the situations back and forth, and assuming that you are fit, it might make sense to focus on &lt;strong&gt;meditation&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, meditation can help you with of seeing the situation as it really is and that might be better for reaction speed and timing than basing the reaction pattern on a specific cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a search at Google Scholar, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?q=meditation%20and%20reaction%20time&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=sv&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Scholar: meditation and reaction time&lt;/a&gt; and - for example - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/003193849190543W&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effect of buddhist meditation on....&lt;/a&gt; seems to support this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience from playing basketball is that I was more likely to get into a &quot;flow&quot; state (i.e. where your opponents seems to be in slow motion) if I have had the possibility to meditate before the games. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides meditating before home games, I did it 15-20 minutes twice a day, just based on reading about it, not following any particular meditation school.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-08-06T20:10:32.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7585" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-07T01:27:48.227" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;When does your body actually build muscle in response to fatigue from a workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you slam your arms in one work out ( say any combination of, curls, pullups, pushups, bench press, etc. ), will its effect on the size of your arms be immediately evident, or will they mostly grow during recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it vary by muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3727" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T03:28:49.467" Title="When are the physical benefits of a single workout realized?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7587" CreationDate="2012-08-07T02:09:09.400" Score="4" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to loose my weight, by jogging/running for about 18-20 minutes in the morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the issue that i am having is that after a jogging session i get rashes on high thighs, giving at least one day lull in the programme; resulting in breaking the regularity/punctuality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get rid of the rashes, any suggestions would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3935" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T02:17:45.273" Title="Rashes on thigh after running" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7586" CreationDate="2012-08-07T02:17:45.273" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming the chafing is where your thighs are rubbing. Longer shorts, long underwear and bodyglide will help cut the chafing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T02:17:45.273" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-07T03:24:31.233" Score="8" ViewCount="8284" Body="&lt;p&gt;Michael Phelps (the famed Olympic swimmer and many-time gold medalist) is one of the most fit people in the world, and most people would look at him and say that he is extremely healthy. However, he eats (all!) of this in one day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce,&#xA;  tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One&#xA;  five-egg omelet. One bowl of grits. Three slices of French toast&#xA;  topped with powdered sugar. Three chocolate-chip pancakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lunch: One pound of enriched pasta. Two large ham and cheese&#xA;  sandwiches with mayo on white bread. Energy drinks packing 1,000&#xA;  calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dinner: One pound of pasta. An entire pizza. More energy drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is about 12,000 calories. Obviously, that many calories, that much cholesterol, fat, and sugar would be bad for 99.99% of the world. But my question is, are lots of calories/cholesterol/fat/sugar/whatever bad only if you don't burn them off, or are they &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; bad? It's not uncommon for extreme athletes to eat a lot of calories--do the statistics show that they are more likely to get any types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or anything like that? Or is there something that makes them immune to the detrimental effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it the obvious answer, that &lt;strong&gt;they're only bad if you don't burn them off&lt;/strong&gt;? If so, then does that apply to any person who can maintain the calories-in : calories-out ratio? Since I have always been skinny, can I eat as many eggs as I want and be confident that as long as I don't start gaining weight, the cholesterol is not bad for me? Or is there something else about athletes that protects them from the negative effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3978" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-08-07T22:17:38.043" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T21:09:33.483" Title="Why can extreme athletes eat so many calories without health risk?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="15" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7585" CreationDate="2012-08-07T03:28:49.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/406021-when-do-muscles-grow-after-working-out-with-weights/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, Muscle growth starts about 1 hr after a workout and continues for up to 24 hours. It is important to have sufficient protein and slow release carbs to ensure maximum muscle synthesis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T03:28:49.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-07T04:38:40.300" Score="3" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran for a long distance and developed stiffness in my calf muscles. I have tried stretching out and hydrating myself. Also I'm giving proper rest to my body. Now the stiffness is easing out a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what regime or precautions should I follow so that I should not develop any more stiffness in my calf muscles? Would running again for short distance after 2-3 days will ease out the stiffness, as if I'm getting used to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what normally is the recovery time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3494" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T18:02:50.083" Title="Calf Muscle - Stiffness in calf muscle after running for long distance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7588" CreationDate="2012-08-07T07:54:09.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, we're not going to know much about the Phelp's generation for decades to come. There is good data for sumo wrestlers going back over 60 years, but it's clouded by the fact that smoking and drinking were pretty common even into the eighties. Of course, no professional/elite athlete is in it for their health. As for sumo wrestlers, the outlook is not good even for those who maintained 10-15% bodyfat while putting on a 100 pounds in four years. Their lifespan was shortened even if they carefully returned to normal size after retiring. Phelps and the others might be in danger because of the stress of a lifestyle that can burn off 10,000 calories. I think the diet of Olympic athletes can't be separated from the other extremes of their life so we need to be very careful about learning from them. I could have said that better but pole vaulting is coming on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T07:54:09.270" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7241" CreationDate="2012-08-07T08:21:51.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eric Cressey uses these in shoulder rehab for pitchers. The idea is to limit the range of motion at the bottom which is stressful on the rotator cuff. After my rotator repair I used boards on the floor to accomplish the same thing with pushups (I have no spotters). Gym limitations often require odd lifts like the board press. For a healthy bencher with no fancy equipment but good training partners, this might be used to work on a sticking point. Many exercises have a position where your particular body runs into a leverage problem. In the picture his sticking point might be an inch above the boards. He'll press the weight an inch or so above that point and then lower it back to the board. The idea is to build strength at the sticking point. These guys have a power rack, so they might have been adding or subtracting boards as the set progressed (a kind of drop set). Adjusting pins or rack bars is too slow a process and requires a spotter at each end of the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T08:21:51.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5223" CreationDate="2012-08-07T08:49:47.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The alternative to the bench press is the pushup. In addition to weight vests, bands, and/or chains for increased resistance, there is elevating your feet on a bench. The &quot;functional strength people prefer the push up over the bench press because it requires the muscles that move and stabilize the scapula to work and of course the &quot;core&quot; gets a functional workout as well. &lt;em&gt;Functional&lt;/em&gt; chest training is for pushing a car or an opponent and the pushup simulates that better than the bench press. If you get to one-armed pushups you also achieve the function of impressing the hell out of people (and you can do it anywhere there's a floor). Seriously, the pushup can be considered the &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; upper body pushing exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T08:49:47.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7507" CreationDate="2012-08-07T09:24:50.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been buying the DVDs and seminars of Cressey and Robertson and their friends - all functional sport trainers and rehabbers. Now that you mention it, I don't recall them doing any calf exercises like a body builder would do (various kinds of calf raises). There is plenty of ankle mobility work, however. Cressey has routines where weight exercises are super setted with a mobility - e.g. a heavy squat set followed immediately with a scapular wall slide, rest, repeat. I've done calf work for body building in the distant past and they take a lot of time (&gt;20 minutes) and effort (more weight than you can squat) and special equipment (body building/Golds gym is full of that stuff), but I still have great looking calves and most people don't. Look at Cressey &lt;em&gt;Show and Go&lt;/em&gt; and Robertson &lt;em&gt;Single Leg Solution&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Assess and Correct&lt;/em&gt; by Mike Robertson, Eric Cressey, and Bill Hartman to &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; see much isolated calf work, but you will see integrated leg work and joint mobility. Mark Verstegan has &lt;em&gt;Core Performance&lt;/em&gt; which also integrates muscle exercises and joint mobility. Mike Boyle is another noted strength and conditioning coach. These guys are big in baseball, soccer, and hockey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T09:24:50.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7588" CreationDate="2012-08-07T16:37:06.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suspect that if you actually broke down his entire diet for a day, you would find that the nutrient and composition ratios are not that different than many athletes that do not have his workload, and that the major difference is just the sheer amount. I'd guess that his ratio is probably somewhere in the 60/20/20 or similar range, and for the most part is also planned out by a nutritionist or at least had nutritional consultation somewhere along the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this unhealthy? To some extent, it's unknown. I would tend to lean on the side of it not being unhealthy, as athletes of Olympic/World caliber have been eating high calorie density foods and amounts for decades to sustain heavy workout loads, and as a cohort, have exhibited no greater tendencies to overeating diseases than any other subsection of the population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it will be a factor is if he continues to eat in this fashion after he stops working out quite so much. If he does that, then yes, he will more than likely start to suffer obesity related diseases after the usual time. If he controls his diet and adapts to eating less, then I don't see it being a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T16:37:06.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7591" CreationDate="2012-08-07T18:02:50.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't sound like you're necessarily injured per se, but that you've definitely overdone your training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated in answers and comments to your other question, back off the distance, speed, or both for a bit. Your body needs time to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T18:02:50.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7146" CreationDate="2012-08-07T18:08:14.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the base idea of burning more calories than consuming is correct - however, think about all the factors involved in actually determining both.  What you burn is largely a factor of your metabolism AND if you metabolism is not near average - the avg calories burned based on your rest burn rate and exercise burn rate could dramatically be off.  By reducing your intake drastically, your body could be in 'starvation' mode - reducing to overall rest and exercise calories burn rate THIS is the reason why people who 'crash' diet/exercise don't lose weight quickly....basically, you're putting your body into shock instead of ramping down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good article on determining how many calories your body needs daily: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thegetinshapeworkoutplan.com/how-to-determine-how-many-calories-a-day-you-need/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thegetinshapeworkoutplan.com/how-to-determine-how-many-calories-a-day-you-need/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;set some realistic goals (1-5 lbs loss a month)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;log what you eat daily for a week (normal diet without mass reduction) and determine what 1 or 2 major weight contributors you can reduce/remove&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;develop a long term exercise plan that you can stick with LONG TERM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep your diet to a calorie level fit for your size reducing slightly and eating more BUT smaller meals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is a MAJOR task to undertake and long term weight loss is very difficult.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-07T18:08:14.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3928" CreationDate="2012-08-08T01:58:39.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps fins are like running shoes. It seems I can wear a pair for about 5 months (swimming about 10 miles a week). After that period, the fins start to stretch out around the toe area. &#xA;As soon as I replace them I'm good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I too cramp only at night, not during my early morning workouts when my fins start to wear. I like TYR fins too. Reasonable, comfortable, and efficient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3988" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-08T15:44:26.983" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T15:44:26.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7588" CreationDate="2012-08-08T03:29:54.580" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, there is no way that diet will not catch up with him, even if he burns the calories. While the eggs may be fine, all that processed, refined garbage like white bread, energy drinks, etc. and the excess saturated fat from fried food is unhealthy for anyone. It's ok to consume extra calories if you are not adding on pounds, but empty calories is always a bad idea. Eating things like lean meats, fish (that contains high omega fatty acids) and things like nuts, and avocados for extra fat are good. And you can eat as many fruits and vegetables as you want.   Hydrogenated fats and homogenized milk are bad because they are artificially created and the fat ends up in places it doesn't belong in our body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3989" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T03:29:54.580" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7609" CreationDate="2012-08-08T11:28:47.497" Score="1" ViewCount="7338" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is a person's body age different from his actual age, and how is this body age calculated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the gym I used a machine to find out my body age, and it showed my body age as 4 years more than my actual age. What could have caused such results? Is it the amount of fat in my body or some other factors? How do I get the body age to be same as my actual age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3497" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-08T11:47:28.813" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T14:41:10.757" Title="What is the difference between actual age and body age?" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7702" CreationDate="2012-08-08T11:36:32.260" Score="1" ViewCount="3153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been having knee pain after I do running, cycling, or any cardio workout that uses my legs. How can this be solved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The duration for which I do cardio is around 20-30 minutes, and I also do not strain myself too much. Is wearing knee caps during workout a solution for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3497" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-08T12:19:32.097" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T18:04:15.283" Title="What causes knee pain after cardio?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7398" CreationDate="2012-08-08T11:44:45.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a protein shake with water helps in muscle repair after workout, and also it digests faster than a proper meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3497" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T11:44:45.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7588" CreationDate="2012-08-08T12:43:26.573" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing that separates extreme athletes from most of the rest of us is the amount of energy they require.  It's true that when you need to consume 12,000 Calories to keep up with your training, you simply can't eat clean.  It's easy to make up all the protein the body needs within that amount of Calories, so these athletes can eat pretty much whatever they want and still be lean and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things that we need to realize about food that may not be immediately obvious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food is the raw material your body uses to convert to energy and nutrients necessary to repair itself and function properly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unless the body is not functioning properly, what is in food does not directly go into your blood stream.  The body processes it in the kidneys, liver, and intestines to break it down into the parts required.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more demands placed on your body, the more need for raw energy which means carbs and fats will dwarf the need for protein.  This is in stark contrast to someone who is already overweight and needing to lose fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood cholesterol levels and other health indicators are controlled by hormones in response to the needs in your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more your blood freely circulates, the less risk of plaque buildup, arterial damage, and other health problems.  It also means your blood pressure is within a proper range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food (and sleep) are the major tools of recovery.  With the raw materials to rebuild broken down muscles in abundance, the body can repair itself quite rapidly once it is trained to do so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to take Michael Phelps and keep feeding him that diet while not allowing him to train, he would become as big as a house.  As long as he trains as hard as he does, he can eat like he does.  Extreme athletes like Phelps also work with coaches and get regular physicals to ensure they can keep working at optimum performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To more squarely address the health of these athletes, you need to look at your health indicators.  These include (but are not limited to):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Resting heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VO2 Max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood pressure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood lipid levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood LDL cholesterol levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood sugar levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body fat percentage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise alone has a marked impact on almost all of those factors.  Essentially the body learns to use all of the food efficiently, pushing the energy where it is needed.  The conditioning work involved in exercising for hours every day alone will address the first three indicators by itself.  Getting body fat levels within a healthy range (not too low or high) addresses the remainder of the issues.  The super athletes eating 12,000 Calories a day typically have body fat well within a healthy range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to have regular physicals and assessments to ensure everything remains in a healthy range.  The athletes who can achieve the level we are talking about are not left to themselves.  Between their coaches, team physicians, etc. every aspect of their health is being monitored regularly.  This includes joint health and monitoring whether the athlete is over training or not.  This is a key point.  By regularly monitoring the health indicators, the coaches can take corrective action before it becomes a problem.  Many times, when health indicators go south, it is because the athlete is doing too much and they have to back off for a little while.  All these adjustments are made by people who know their stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2012-08-08T16:28:56.933" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T16:28:56.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7605" CreationDate="2012-08-08T14:33:18.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can see these calculators in many places, and basically what they are is predictors based on actuarial tables (Such as the ones insurance companies use to set premiums), compared against average life expectancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, it should take into account all your lifestyle and risk factors, and apply those to you and the table, and produce an estimate of your &quot;age&quot;. So, if you are 25, male and an overweight smoker, your estimated age will be more than a 25 y/o male who works out and eats well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the more elaborate ones will also take into account heredity and other extrinsic factors, but they are all a guess. We've all heard about the healthy runners that drop dead at 40 (Fixx for example), and the whiskey drinking, lard eating gent that lived to 105. It is, however, a good reminder that our choices now can have a large impact in later life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the ages the same, it's hard to say since we have no idea what your family history is, or what other factors you put into the test. I can say that obesity, smoking, more than moderate drinking and lack of exercise are some of the bigger factors that will make your body age higher than your actual age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T14:33:18.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7605" CreationDate="2012-08-08T14:41:10.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The calculators I've seen on the internet tend to use a variety of indicators BMI (height, weight) rest heart rate (not always called that), how much exercise you get and dietary factors to calculate a &quot;body age&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I don't put to much faith in this kind of calculator except in general terms. Eat healthy, get plenty exercise, don't smoke and you will probably live longer. However, how long you live is mainly controlled by your genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My grandmother lived to 98 and smoked every day from when she was in her twenties. A friend who is a yoga teacher and eats well has currently been diagnosed with cancer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T14:41:10.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7507" CreationDate="2012-08-08T16:14:42.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many schools of thought on this, but one thing is for certain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Isolation exercises are never functional.  They are for rehabilitation or aesthetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is functional strength, then it is best to train in a way that your body is designed to be used.  This includes compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, but it also includes more power generating exercises like Olympic style lifts and plyometrics.  Another application would be sled work when you have to apply force laterally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The demands for jumping ability or other sport related activities vary between sports.  The type of jumping a martial artist needs is drastically different than what a basketball player needs, and similarly what a football player would need.  Strength and explosive power are only part of the equation.  The other is technique work that applies to your sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dan John had a very good article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/figuring_out_your_life_and_lifting_goals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;figuring out your life and lifting goals&lt;/a&gt;.  In that article, he makes a very salient point: there becomes a point in your training where strength is not the limiting factor.  In it he provided some pretty decent guidelines what most sports athletes would need in regards to lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calves themselves will be exercised enough with at or below parallel squats.  If you do the sled work and the plyometrics in addition to that, you will have a very good foundation for your technique work.  In none of the sports you mentioned do you need an excessive vertical jump.  However, being able to apply force laterally is very important (football and rugby come to mind).  You'll find that the vertical jump in track and field is very much technique limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T16:14:42.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7612" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-08T18:07:23.630" Score="6" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does inflammation present itself in a resistance training program (I'm currently using Starting Strength)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is catabolic (I am asking because I suspect it is), how can one lessen its effects through scheduling, rest, nutrition, supplements, or otherwise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please correct me in comments if I'm misunderstanding the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T18:55:38.887" Title="How to manage inflammation in a resistance training program?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7612" CreationDate="2012-08-08T18:37:46.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inflammation's affect on a strength training individual differs based on where the inflammation occurs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the muscle.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is normal as part of training.  Eating and resting will take care of this quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the connective tissue.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is usually associated with overuse injuries such as tendinitis and bursitis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are following a program like Starting Strength, they have figured out the proper amount of rest as a beginner to help you with muscular inflammation and fatigue.  If you follow the program as written, and eat, then you will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second issue is a little more problematic, and the likelihood of having to deal with that type of inflammation goes up with the weight lifted and your age.  If you deal with connective tissue inflammation, the basic approach to dealing with it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/1499-got-tendinitis-in-the-elbowknee-check-this/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Get blood flowing with compression and full range of motion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/glossary/RICEprotocol.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RICE&lt;/a&gt;: Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-steroidal_anti-inflammatory_drug&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs&lt;/a&gt; (NSAIDS).  They help tame the inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Address the cause of the inflammation in your training.  This can be bad form, over-emphasis on some muscles and under-emphasis on opposing muscles, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example where muscle imbalances can cause problems is with tendinitis.  If you do a lot of work on your triceps and don't do a lot for your biceps (or vice-versa), you can develop tendinitis in your elbows.  If you can't do pull ups, you may consider doing curls to help balance the strength in the arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T18:37:46.690" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7612" CreationDate="2012-08-08T18:55:38.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as nutrition goes, there are foods that promote inflammation (you don't want to avoid them entirely, it's actually a necessary part of healing) and foods that help stop inflammation. There are diets specifically designed for dealing with inflammation, one I'm fond of is Meals that Heal Inflammation by Julie Daniluk. It specifically addresses inflammation due to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T18:55:38.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5260" CreationDate="2012-08-08T22:15:34.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a difficult thing to answer that, since there are a couple of factors that are constant (Such as drag of the water), and some that aren't (Efficiency of the swimmer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason that breaststroke is slow is because the majority of the body is underwater, and thus facing drag. You can't get on the top of the water and plane like you can in freestyle and to some extent backstroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Philip Skyba (Founder of physfarm and triathlete coach) did come up with an equation to approximate power output while swimming, however it's not really a &quot;rule of thumb&quot;, as it relies on some estimations of propelling efficiency that are unique to the individual, but constant FOR that individual. So you could get a pretty good idea of your own power output, but you'd have to remeasure for each individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, because power output is related to drag, the faster you go the more power you have to exert for lesser and lesser gains, because more energy is going to simply overcoming the drag factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The PDF writeup for the equation can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physfarm.com/swimscore.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Philip Skyba swim power equations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T22:15:34.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3237" CreationDate="2012-08-08T22:24:20.773" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope that your knee issues have gotten better. However, there are a few things that can cause knee pains on a bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seat height - Having a seat that is way too high or low can place odd stresses on the knees, and if it is too high, can also cause hip issues because you have to &quot;rock&quot; back and forth on the seat to stay on the pedals. A good bike fit can take that away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleats - Forward/back may not cause pain but if the cleats have your feet pointed in/out more than normal it can cause knee pain, especially if you have feet that are more than mildly pigeon toed or splayed outward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crank length - This is somewhat controversial as to how much influence crank length has on the stroke, but if you are trying to push big gears with a wildly long crank length, then you can place some really odd stresses on your knees.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleat height - If your legs are different lengths (Most are to some degree) then you may need shims under your cleat to make the platform height higher.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get an idea on some of this, if you bike down a CLEAR, EMPTY, STRAIGHT road (I say that in caps for emphasis on safety reasons), and look down at your legs, your knees should pretty much be tracking in a straight up and down motion. If your legs are cocking in or out at points in the stroke, something isn't fitting right and needs to be adjusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having the proper sized bike frame and components, and getting a good fit will all help immensely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T22:24:20.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2012-08-08T22:29:35.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can be quite fit without running. You can be greatly fit just by going to a strenuous aerobics class. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to consider in addition to just being fit in a cardiovascular sense is functional fitness, and by that I mean that if you bike 200 miles a day and are supremely fit, you may not be able to swim more than a couple hundred yards, or run more than a mile without feeling gassed, simply because the muscles that you use for those events will not be the same ones as used for biking. Your cardio system will function fine, but your muscular endurance for the task will be nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, do what you enjoy for fitness. If you don't enjoy it, you won't keep with it. And, that way you will be fit and having fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-08T22:29:35.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7618" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-08-09T11:18:21.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Inflammation is not a synonym for infection, even in cases where&#xA;  inflammation is caused by infection. Although infection is caused by a&#xA;  microorganism, inflammation is one of the responses of the organism to&#xA;  the pathogen. However, inflammation is a stereotyped response, and&#xA;  therefore it is considered as a mechanism of innate immunity, as&#xA;  compared to adaptive immunity, which is specific for each pathogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Inflammation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-09T11:52:11.940" LastActivityDate="2012-08-09T11:52:11.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7619" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-08-09T11:18:21.420" Score="0" Body="Inflammation (Latin, īnflammō, &quot;I ignite, set alight&quot;) is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-09T11:52:14.433" LastActivityDate="2012-08-09T11:52:14.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2012-08-09T17:34:11.437" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are actually quite a few studies that address this question. If you search on google scholar for musculoskeletal fitness and health, you'll find a lot of good reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a summation of them, there are basically three components to musculoskeletal fitness, which are strength (ability to perform work), endurance (how long you can do said work) and flexibility, which has two components. Dynamic flexibility is resistance to motion, and static flexibility is resistance to movement around a joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where this impacts your health is that if you have limited flexibility, it can impact your daily life (Such as being able to reach the top shelf of a cupboard, the top shelf at a supermarket, things like that), and reduce your mobility to the point where you have trouble standing, walking and other motile activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These impacts can either be caused by age related degeneration, disease processes or chronic/acute injury. Regular exercise and to some extent a good stretching program (Such as dynamic before and static after exercise) can alleviate these, and help promote better movement as you age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sit and reach test is good because it hits several major muscle groups as well as some skeletal limitations, so it's a basic &quot;all around&quot; kind of stretch test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, what many don't realize is that while touching your toes is considered good, there may be other considerations such as body morphology (Long legs, short arms, or both) that preclude you touching your toes. In those cases, what should be monitored is the consistency. If you can only get to within 6&quot; of your toes, and then 5 years from now you can only get within 9&quot; of your toes, you are losing mobility and need to figure out why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it's not so much a predictor of disease or injury, but it is a diagnostic that can be tracked and used as a baseline for future measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to touch your toes, or if you do not participate in a sport where it is required, then there is no real reason to work on it unless it limits you in some fashion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things that flexibility can help prevent are injuries at the extreme edges of your range of motion. For example, if you play first base, and need to stretch out for a catch, then your dynamic flexibility needs to be good enough to allow that. Otherwise you will either miss the catch, or potentially injure yourself on the stretch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My n=1 is that being flexible (other than needing it for martial arts) has saved me injuries when stepping on rocks and rolling ankles running, coming unclipped and stretching in a bike crash, things like this where that extra range of motion prevented muscle tears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-10T04:48:29.750" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T04:48:29.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19682" CreationDate="2012-08-09T21:29:48.537" Score="11" ViewCount="1105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there some trick to determine which of the three basic muscles is the weakest in a bench press? I'm referring to the pectorals, shoulders and triceps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working my chest with dumbbell presses and flies like crazy. Same with tricep extensions and shoulder press. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I missing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bench press muscle related exercises that I do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell bench press : 80lbs @ 10RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell flies : 60lbs @ 10RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell shoulder press : 185lbs @ 5RM (including bar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell shoulder press : 45lbs @ 10RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell front raise : 25lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over Dumbbell Tricep Extension : 45LBS @ 10RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable tricep pushdown : 205lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell bench press: 185lbs @ 5RM (including bar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I asked is that I can't feel the tension anywhere once I get tired.  I can't tell if a muscle is doing more work to compensate for another.  I might as well be pushing against a brick wall and wouldn't tell the difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the only exercise where my issue seems to be more mechanical than anything else.  Maybe it's just a matter to do a lot of light/medium weights until I learn to use all muscle as an ensemble properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my routine, all exercises are usually done in the order listed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday: Legs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell deadlift : 5 sets of 315lbs @ 5RM (including bar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying machine squat : 5 sets of 410lbs @ 5RM (this is maxed out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying leg curls : 5 sets of 175lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg extensions : 5 sets of 310lbs @ 5RM (this is maxed out) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday: Chest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell bench press : I can only do a couple of sets of 185lbs @ 5RM, then drop down to 135lbs @ 5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell decline bench press : 5 sets of 165lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell fly : 5 sets of 55lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable cross over : 5 sets of 75lbs @ 10 reps.  My 10RM is 110lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just started doing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips : 5 sets of 5 reps with body weight. I just started doing these&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable internal rotation (rotator cuffs) : 1 set, 30 reps of 15lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable external rotation (rotator cuffs) : 1 set, 30 reps of 15lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday: Shoulders and arms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press : 5 sets of 140lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Superset the following three exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Arnold press : 5 sets of 45lbs @ 6RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell lateral raise : 5 sets of 35lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell bent over delt raise : 5 sets of 25lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell front raise : 5 sets of 25lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do arms on Fridays, but haven't settled on what works yet. But my latest stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable tricep pushdown : 205lbs @ 5RM (maxed out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps pushdown V-Bar : 5 sets of 180lbs @ 7RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over Dumbbell Tricep Extension : 45LBS @ 10RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell alternate bicepo curl : 5 sets of 45lbs @ 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable standing triceps extension : 5 sets of 135lbs @ 5RM - this one really burns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eazy-bar preaqcher curl : 5 sets of 70lbs @ 5RM (bar not included)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastEditorUserId="3987" LastEditDate="2012-08-13T19:02:03.677" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T16:47:37.380" Title="In a bench press, are there any tricks for determining which muscles are the weakest?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="16" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7624" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-10T02:08:32.300" Score="7" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really want to start training parkour, but I have no idea where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm only 13, but I'm reasonably fit, and already run regularly. I also found a strength training routine that I intend to start along with parkour-specific training. Since I live in New York City, I assume there are parkour training groups nearby. I'm somewhat scared to try to join one, though, because of my age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I start training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4002" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-10T22:12:27.857" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T09:02:22.633" Title="How should a young person train for parkour?" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7624" CreationDate="2012-08-10T05:41:24.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gymnastics is a great start for parkour training, if cost is prohibitive, I believe Barstarzz have some members in NYC. They're not parkour, but they do calisthenics with whatever is available, and that would serve you well for doing parkour. From everything I've seen, everyone in Barstarzz is are very friendly, and they're big on helping everyone regardless of age or physical ability. I'd be quite surprised if parkour groups weren't similarly friendly, but I don't know anything about them specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T05:41:24.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7626" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-08-10T07:42:42.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific skeletal&#xA;  muscle (or muscle group) is deliberately stretched, often by abduction&#xA;  from the torso, in order to improve the muscle's felt elasticity and&#xA;  reaffirm comfortable muscle tone.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; The result is a feeling of&#xA;  increased muscle control, flexibility and range of motion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-10T11:49:29.290" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T11:49:29.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7627" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-08-10T07:42:42.080" Score="0" Body="Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific skeletal muscle (or muscle group) is deliberately stretched." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-10T11:49:31.053" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T11:49:31.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6594" CreationDate="2012-08-10T08:16:31.173" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many will tell you the best time to do HIT is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. The theory being that a lack of readily available carbohydrates will ‘force’ your body to burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A secondary benefit is the metabolic boost that comes with HIT (or any exercise for that matter). Doing HIT in the morning means you’ll experience your ‘boost’ throughout the entire day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the main reason why HIT (or any other exercise) is best not done late evening or night time as the metabolic boost and general rush in all sorts of post exercise hormones that you experience, may affect your ability to fall asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;big&lt;/strong&gt; problem with early morning HIT is …, who’s got the physical or mental energy to do exercise after just waking up? Not I. If you’re one of those people that wake as bright as a button then go for it. For the rest of us, early morning HIT is a hard slog. If something is a hard slog, you’re less likely to give it 100% and less likely to stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some research does point to afternoon as being the best time for any physical exercise, based on your body’s biological rhythms. However, when it comes to scientific research, bear in mind that the tests are usually performed on a bunch of people in a controlled environment. All research can only ever be an indication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the results of these tests, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will apply to you. Your best approach is always to give something a try see how it goes then try changing it a little and compare your own results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO, the best time to do HIT is when your lifestyle allows. Whether that be early morning, lunchtime, mid-afternoon or after work. If you choose a time based on research or the word of others and you find it a struggleand then it’s not going be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finding a time that suits you, a time that you can stick to and find most convenient will probably mean you’ll stick to it long term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best time of the day for HIT training is the time of day that &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; can stick to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4004" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T08:16:31.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7634" CreationDate="2012-08-10T08:17:09.517" Score="3" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/the-science-of-nutrition-is-a-carb-a-carb.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article on SimplyShredded&lt;/a&gt; that claimed that the &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of carbohydrate doesn't matter, but rather only the &lt;em&gt;amount&lt;/em&gt; of carbs matter to bodybuilders.  In the following excerpt, the author claims that exercise performance does not differ with carbs of differing glycemic index.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nope, not even endurance exercise performance is affected by the GI of&#xA;  the food eaten before the training session. Neither do beta-endorphin&#xA;  levels, rate of perceived exertion, heart rate, ventilation, lactate,&#xA;  respiratory quotient and substrate oxidation rate. For anaerobic&#xA;  strength training, the GI of the carbs you eat makes absolutely zero&#xA;  difference in the gym. The whole ‘needing carbs for energy’ thinking&#xA;  is in your head anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to go against other books I've read and videos of pro bodybuilders I've watched. In these books and videos, they always say to eat low GI foods (yams, whole grain) throughout the day for stable energy levels and high GI foods (fruit, sugar) after working out for recovery and shifting to an anabolic state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So who is right? Does the GI of a carb matter or not to bodybuilders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T12:06:06.707" Title="Why does the glycemic index of a carb NOT affect exercise performance?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7633" CreationDate="2012-08-10T09:19:06.460" Score="3" ViewCount="3916" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started to try out the StrongLifts 5x5 program. Started a week ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I have a rowing machine at home that I'd like to keep using. So, what I'm wondering is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I? Or will it ruin things for SL?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's not a problem, when should I do it? Inbetween the SL days or same day? Before or after?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-10T14:04:29.187" LastActivityDate="2013-11-28T16:24:04.737" Title="Stronglifts 5x5 and Rowing" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1988" CreationDate="2012-08-10T11:38:04.003" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep to your training routine, about two days before the race, engage on weight lifting to build your muscles. On the event day, spend your time with your favourite friends and listening to your favourite music. Go with your greatest motivators to the race to keep your moods. Run with confidence and you will make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4006" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-29T12:22:09.043" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T12:22:09.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7630" CreationDate="2012-08-10T11:40:23.173" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In fact rowing is a good warmup exercise before you lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do your rowing after you lift on the same day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do lighter rowing on your days off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conditioning work is different than lifting work, and as long as the rowing is low intensity it will not interfere with your lifting.  If you want some high intensity rowing sessions, it's best to do them after you lift so you don't pre-exhaust your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T11:40:23.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7629" CreationDate="2012-08-10T12:06:06.707" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;More and more studies are coming up showing that your protein/carb/fat ratio and total calories are really the only thing that separates that shredded look from the flabby.  That does not negate the need for intelligent self experimentation to find what works for you and your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many anabolic diets work by manipulating the easiest hormone to manipulate: insulin.  There are a couple that are more concerned with leptin such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot;&gt;LeanGains&lt;/a&gt;.  The bottom line is that the deeper you dig into nutrition the less clear things become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, lets talk about exercise performance (per your question):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscles are just as content to burn fat as they are glycogen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many people perform well in a fasted state, using only stored energy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The key to exercise performance is what energy you have stored prior to training!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question of low GI pre-training and high GI post-training has to do with manipulating the insulin response.  The general idea is to remain in a fat burning state as long as possible, and then replenish the energy after training as quickly as possible.  It's the same idea with protein manufacturers trying to give you the quickest absorbing protein--which isn't always what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From an energy standpoint, you simply want to replenish your glycogen stores.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The speed of replenishment doesn't affect your training performance, just that it's replenished.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your hormone response is regulated by the nervous system, and it will respond as fast or slow as you are genetically wired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any links, but the real main issue seems to be that many of the claims for anabolic diets and thermal effect of food are overstated.  Those effects are present, but not to a point where they become game changers.  That doesn't mean they are not useful tools.  People respond differently to the proportions of food that they eat.  The key is finding the right balance and approach that works for you both with your body and your schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T12:06:06.707" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7630" CreationDate="2012-08-10T17:07:02.283" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Strength alone?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's okay to want to do more than just strength training. The thing to realize, however, is that the initial period where you start lifting heavy can be very productive if you focus on it, and much less productive if you try to chase two rabbits at the same time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;StrongLifts, like Starting Strength and other 3x5 or 5x5 programs, is based on &lt;strong&gt;linear progression&lt;/strong&gt;, which is made possible because of your status as a novice. You add weight every workout. Once it starts getting heavy, it gets very intense, very fast. Adding things to your weekly workout routine--supplementary lifts, running, rowing, long hikes, playing judo--will dramatically speed up the process of stalling out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Official StrongLifts Advice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mehdi, author of StrongLifts, addresses the question of extra conditioning in the first &quot;5x5 Report&quot; ebook. It's on page 57 of my copy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you somehow need to do conditioning work (I never do it), then do NOT add it on your&#xA;  off days. HIIT is way too stressful because it requires you to go all out to be effective. If you do it on your off days anyway, you'd never have any recovery and you'd quickly be&#xA;  stalling all over the place. My recommendation: wait until the first 12 weeks are over before you even think about doing extra conditioning work, so you have some foundation of&#xA;  cardiovascular fitness first. Then you can add it, but at the end of your StrongLifts 5x5 (yes that's hard but the only way), never more than 2x per week, and spread it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rowing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rowing 20 to 40 minutes definitely qualifies as a significant amount of work to put on top of a novice's linear progression. Devoting your body's recovery resources to attributes other than strength (such as significant rowing) means that your strength will hit a wall faster than if you buckled down and just lifted. If that's OK with you, great! It's perfectly fine to work on multiple things at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would also be a fine approach to put rowing on the back burner. You could put a light 5 minute session before your lifting sessions as a warm-up. You could also dial down the length of the rowing sessions significantly and do a high-intensity 3 to 5 minute row at the end of your lifting sessions, which would minimize its impact on your lifting progress while maintaining good metabolic conditioning effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T17:07:02.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7624" CreationDate="2012-08-10T19:04:02.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Robin Ashe said, Barstarzz is a great group resource in NYC. Their body weight training is extremely beneficial to any one interested in parkour training. In addition to body weight training, rock climbing on a rockwall with safety ropes would be also beneficial, and in time you will move to free climbing..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4011" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T19:04:02.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7507" CreationDate="2012-08-10T19:16:52.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As to your reference to power sports, core strength should dominate all other priorities. With exceptional core strength, your stamina, and long range performance improve significantly which means that you will be performing at a higher level than opponents and teammates in sports like soccer, lacrosse, and ultimate type of events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you insist on &quot;calf muscle&quot; improvement, just attack the muscle group itself with standard toe raises on a stair, while making sure to properly stretch and warmup before hand. A torn achilles is one that is hard to recover from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4011" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-10T22:16:44.610" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T22:16:44.610" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7623" CreationDate="2012-08-10T19:43:43.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to give you one possible path to solving your bench press issue. Other plans may also work, but whatever you pick, stick with it and see it through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Overview&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This plan will solve your problem by focusing on the exercise you want improved, planning appropriately for progression, leaving adequate recovery time, and adding the back squat to your bench press day to stimulate testosterone and growth hormone release.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may look very stripped down, but I think that's what you need. This schedule is focused solely on improving your bench press. The squat work is only present because of it's ability to stimulate anabolic hormone release. The deadlifts are scaled back to allow for easier recovery. I've removed a lot of accessory exercises so you can focus only the bench press and the exercises that will help it. Shoulder press, chin-ups/pull-ups, and dips are the most useful assistance exercises for the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Schedule&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday (legs day):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-bar back squat (3 sets x 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whatever other leg stuff you want to do, but make sure you can do squats and deadlifts on Wednesday, so I'd advise against the 5x5 deadlift that you've scheduled on Monday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make Wednesday this (bench press day):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-bar back squat (3 sets x 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press (3 sets x 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift (1 set x 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjust Friday this way (press and assistance day):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-bar back squat (3 sets x 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press (5 sets x 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups/pull-ups (3 sets to failure, and if you can do more than 15, add weight to a waist chain)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips (3 sets to failure, and if you can do more than 15, add weight to a waist chain. Get triceps below parallel at the bottom, and chest up with elbows locked at the top.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Details&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: Find a good starting weight. If you succeed at every rep of every set, add 5 lbs next workout. If not, stay at this same weight next workout. The back squat is the best exercise for stimulating anabolic hormone release, so I've included it every workout to get it up to a weight that will be useful to you on your bench press day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: Use your current deadlift weight, but just do one set at your work weight (you can do warm-up sets at lower weights). You'll need to back-off on the deadlift volume (5x5 is a lot of stress!) so that you can do squats every workout. If you succeed at your 5 reps, increase the weight for next time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups/pull-ups/dips: These are going to really help your bench press, so I've given them focus on your &quot;shoulders/arms&quot; day. If done with proper attention to scapular retraction, these should really help your rotator cuff as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press: You say you can only do two sets at 185, then back off to 135. That is not standard. You should find the weight that you can use for 3 sets of 5 reps and start with that. If you succeed, increase the weight by 5 (or 2.5lbs) on the next Wednesday. Use proper form, lowering the bar to your chest for a brief pause, no bouncing at the bottom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press: Same progression as bench press. Find the weight you can do for 3 sets of 5 reps and start with that, increasing weight the next workout if you succeed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible adjustments&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't know your strength levels and recovery ability, so some of these might not be enough volume to stimulate adaptation in you. If you find your bench press isn't progressing under this plan, increase bench press and overhead press to 5 sets instead of 3 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Form&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's odd that your shoulder press (is this a standing overhead press?) is equal to your bench press. Normally, bench press is well ahead of your shoulder press. This could mean you have a form issue on your bench press that's not allowing you to make the best use of your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to film a form check video, please follow this guidance to get the best feedback: &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=20249&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=20249&lt;/a&gt;. Feel free to ask a form-check question on this site. There aren't many (any) yet, but they're welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-11T15:38:05.433" LastActivityDate="2012-08-11T15:38:05.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2741" CreationDate="2012-08-10T22:13:17.920" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessblackbook.com/recommends/ConvictConditioning&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/a&gt; has an excellent 10-step progression to the one-arm push-up.  It's also detailed &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnessblackbook.com/body-weight-training/how-to-do-one-arm-push-ups-for-20-reps/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  It took me a month to go from not being able to do one to doing three one-arm push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you should start doing these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diamond grip push-ups - will strengthen the arms much more &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups with one arm stretched out to the side or on a basketball - will put much more weight on one arm &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clapping push-ups - will give you much more strength and explosive power&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you can do 20 of each of the above, you should be able to do one-arm push-ups.  If you're still having trouble, try putting a basketball under you so that you can touch it with your chest to help you push back up with one arm and not lower down as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4014" LastActivityDate="2012-08-10T22:13:17.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7649" CreationDate="2012-08-11T05:25:14.463" Score="38" ViewCount="50678" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know why all Olympic sprinters have muscular arms. They probably have muscular arms to help them sprint, but the reason is unclear. These are the two paradoxes I cannot fathom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy arms increases the force the legs have to supply to move the body. So it seems big arms will slow down a sprinter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The legs are stressed far more than the arms when sprinting, so it is common sense that legs would grow from training. However, the arms only swing against the air, so how are they stressed enough to grow?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is an example of how big Olympic sprinters' arms are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/srTqt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2019-01-30T17:47:10.013" Title="Why do sprinters have muscular arms?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7645" CreationDate="2012-08-11T08:56:16.263" Score="1" ViewCount="1633" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym for two months, and I have gained muscle specifically in my biceps. I have seen my mates drinking amino acid tablets. Does this improve muscles? I'm afraid to try them in fear of any side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4019" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-11T12:26:15.550" LastActivityDate="2012-08-11T14:35:22.860" Title="Is drinking amino acid tablets safe for health and building muscle?" Tags="&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7646" CreationDate="2012-08-11T13:44:24.470" Score="2" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercise builds your internal fortitude the best? the ability to mentally prepare you for life, exercise, encounters, etc.?  Is it weight lifting that gives you the physical strength and appearance? Extreme aerobic that gives you endurance and stamina?  If you had to choose, which would it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-12T07:12:08.330" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T07:12:08.330" Title="What exercise develops internal fortitude?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-08-12T01:51:25.140" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7643" CreationDate="2012-08-11T14:35:22.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;At your level of training, you don't need to do anything special other than eat properly, and perhaps pay attention to post-workout recovery food. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/research/post-exercise_nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a good survey&lt;/a&gt; that covers research on post-workout nutrition, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/competition_and_training2/recovery_nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here are some good guidelines&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=1&amp;amp;itemid=4020&amp;amp;mid=8712&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more&lt;/a&gt;) on actual food choices. I'd go more into proper post-workout nutrition, but it's not what your question is about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About amino-acids, your muscles &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; use amino acids to build muscle. They're present in all the food that you eat, specifically proteins. They shouldn't harm you at the levels that are suggested by the supplement producers, and they're widely used by strength trainers and bodybuilders. However, excessive use (overdose) could result in neurological symptoms (http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/6/1557S.full).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-11T14:35:22.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7644" CreationDate="2012-08-11T14:37:38.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, just participating in any kind of sports can't help you with determination (internal fortitude) by itself. I've tried mountaineering, running, aikido and yoga, and each of them can help with this goal if you have the right state of mind, but each of them can make you even weaker (mentally), when you are practicing with wrong thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own method to improve determination is to state goals for yourself, which are just a little above your skill/strength, as you are feeling it. And successfully accomplishing these goals. For example, if you are in the middle of your (say, 10 km) running workout and sprain your ankle, you can choose to run home (though slower) or even to take a slightly longer route, instead of calling for help.&#xA;I mean no torturing yourself, but just fighting with difficulties which are hard, but have no real danger (I've been in this situation a couple of times, last time yesterday, and all was well afterwards, but &quot;your mileage may vary&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being on the mountain and having to climb on and on because storm/night is coming, you find that you can go further (and even make right decitions) even when yor last sleep was 30 hours ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this can make you believe, that you can handle a lot of difficult situations, and shows you that your effort gives its result, even if it takes time. So in the next difficult situation you'll just fight longer - this is internal fortitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, this &quot;going over your head&quot;, if overused, can be unsafe and lead you into trouble (or plainly make you feel weaker, if you fail to accomplish your goal again and again). Here you should use your common sense and wisdom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can begin experimenting with this by exercising longer. In particular, when you feel that you can endure no more, give a promise to yourself to exercise +10% of what you have done already. Running is ideal for this type of experiments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4020" LastActivityDate="2012-08-11T14:37:38.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7644" CreationDate="2012-08-11T18:36:27.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As steed says, goal setting is one of the keys. One of the other things that I've found to develop that inner confidence is competition. Doesn't matter what kind, and in fact, the more varied the better. Doesn't necessarily have to be physical competition, mental and business lend themselves to the same structure in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are just working out, even if you push yourself, you may not always face the same adversities as you would during a competition. Plus, there is a certain immediacy to competition that promotes the ability to think on your feet, adapt to changing situations, fluid thinking, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Team sports will generate one dynamic and way of thinking, individual sports another. You can develop leadership skills while in a team situation, as well as being able to excel within a role for the good of the team. Individual sports give you a chance to test your self reliance and adaptability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you don't win, do horribly, do average, you should always be able to learn something about yourself every time you do a workout or enter a competition. It's the accumulation of all of this over many many repetitions that gives someone that confidence in themselves, and points out places that you may need to work on for greater confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-11T18:36:27.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2012-08-11T18:50:25.760" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main role of the arms in sprinting is to stabilize the torso and provide drive forward, especially in the start (Which is critical in 100/200m races). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This stabilization allows power to be transferred through the center of mass in an efficient fashion. Since you've got to be able to oppose a significant driving force from the hips and legs, you need the strength in the arms to do so, as well as in the abdomen, lats, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is this writeup, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scarboroughtrack.com/sprintingmechanics.pdf&quot;&gt;Sprinting Mechanics&lt;/a&gt; that also suggests that the arm swing doesn't necessarily contribute to horizontal motion, but contributes to the vertical drive component. It also cites a couple of studies that confirm the role of the arms in stabilization (Hinrichs et al., 1987; Mann &amp;amp; Hermann, 1985).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-11T18:50:25.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2012-08-11T19:05:46.943" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running a protein deficiency leaves the body sluggish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically serious bodybuilders and athletes burn some thousand(s) of calories. The less trained bodybuilders and athletes may do a pretty lazy one-two hour session that burns at least 500 but less than a thousand calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the caloric needs increase. The protein should be replaced too but this is more easily missed. One giant candy bar can make up for the former and recharge the body -- leaving an impression of recovery -- but masking an accrual in protein deficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, any experienced bodybuilder / athlete will note feeling sluggish, lackadaisical and fatigued. An &quot;off week&quot; is usually taken and, following from enough eating and inactivity, the protein deficiency is eliminated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body soon recovers. .8 grams / lb is insufficient for heavy anabolic sports. Dr Peter Lemon's own published slides show significantly increased protein synthesis with 1 grams / lb. Popular anecdote agrees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2012-08-11T19:05:46.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7624" CreationDate="2012-08-12T09:02:22.633" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look up beastskills.com, tricktutorials.com and just drilssandskills.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They provide good explanations and progressions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, at least in europe, parkour groups are very open and very nice people. Maybe try to contact them first(most have a facebook page,forums or other means to coordinate meetups) and ask if they offer an open training for newbies, or if a couple of them can show you the ropes. Since you are in NYC ( which as every european who has never been there knows is a cesspool of crime and violence;) maybe show up with a couple of friends or your parents nearby, but it shouldn't be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't work out, watch tutorials on youtube and imitate. Start with landings, precision jumps and rolls. These are INCREDIBLY important to protect your joints, back, everything. Then move to vaults, wall runs etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are some pointers that I wish I had known when I started, but you NEED to watch tutorials, and lots of them. Everyone does the movements a bit differently, so you might have to search around a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First do landings:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;start out jumping UP from low stuff(&amp;lt;30cm), work your way up&#xA;SLOWLY and always aim for perfect form. This is landing on the balls of your feet, never letting the heels touch the ground, and trying to keep the angle between the legs &gt;=90 degrees. You can let yourself dip forward and stop the rest of the impact with your arms or continue into a roll. You can easily tell if you did a bad landing by listening, a good landing is hardly audible at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second, precision jumps:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start nearly at ground level, maybe by jumping between logs, bricks ( very nice for impact control as they will move if done badly) or just jumping on the edge of the sidewalk. You want to always come in from above, so you always need to jump UP a bit, even for a long jump. What you want is a parabolic arc, that way you can use the landing technique you just learned. Try to land exactly at the edge, so that only the balls of the feet, make contact. Keep your eyes on the place you want to land at all times! A perfect precision jump consists of a perfect landing ( barely audible) and perfect momentum control (coming in from above and not in a straight forward line so you don't move or fall forward). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lastly the rolls:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;watch tutorials(!), then try it on concrete. You need to get a feel for the impact, and grass or soft gym floor doesn't give you that ( You CAN use grass or the slightly springy ground you can find in sprinter lanes if you need to overcome fear and get the basic movement down, but should switch as soon as possible). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start out rolling from a squatting position, then follow by jumping forward and up a little bit and try to do a fluid movement - not landing =&gt;stop=&gt;jump into roll but landing=&gt;during the lowering into the 90 ° position decide if you need to roll ( this will become instinct pretty soon)=&gt;converting the remainder of momentum into a rolling motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;TL;DR: Look up the websites in the first sentence, try the groups, watch tutorials and imitate, do it SLOWLY, CAREFULLY and always be in control *&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, have fun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4025" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T09:02:22.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7574" CreationDate="2012-08-12T15:20:07.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you're having &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_5465947_causes-dry-heaves.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dry heaves&lt;/a&gt;.  I generally receive these when I:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run much harder than I'm used to either distance-wise and speed-wise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have an empty stomach.  I'm pushing myself so hard that I would actually vomit but since there's nothing in the digestive system, nothing comes out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happened a lot to myself and other Marines during training.  Naturally, being gung-ho Marines we welcomed it as a sign that we were pushing the right amount.  This isn't really dangerous if you're otherwise healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some ideas to lessen it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gradually work your way up to the distance or speed that you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider only water or a slice or two of bread in the morning about half an hour before your run.  That's very easy to digest.  Chocolate and expresso might be too rich for your digestive system in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a longer cool-down period.  Here's an analogy: When you run a car very hot for a long time and suddenly stop, you'll hear the engine having all sorts of cooling down sounds.  Our body is similar.  Your blood and energy moved to the extremities to push yourself hard and when it cools down, the digestive and other systems get the focus of the body again and reactivate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4014" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T15:20:07.297" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7653" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-08-12T17:27:17.807" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-08-12T17:27:17.807" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T17:27:17.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7654" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-08-12T17:27:17.807" Score="0" Body="Exercise-frequency is the number of exercises you do per time unit" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-12T19:35:00.050" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T19:35:00.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7138" CreationDate="2012-08-12T21:04:24.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodyfat calipers are a cheap and accurate way to monitor body fat percentage: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/how-to-measure-bodyfat-using-calipers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/how-to-measure-bodyfat-using-calipers.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That reference shows the correct method and locations for taking measurements (triceps, biceps, shoulder blade, waist), and a chart that lets you calculate body fat percentage based on those measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-12T21:38:41.460" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T21:38:41.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5908" CreationDate="2012-08-12T21:14:38.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you decided to just take the first half of the p90x program, and package it as a lighter program... let's call it p45x, and get people to do it, they'd still get more fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the claim &quot;80% of the muscle mass gain is acquired from the first set, and that repeated sets are mostly done to improve tone&quot;, that shouldn't affect your decision. Mark Rippetoe says this about tone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most exercise programs that claim to improve muscle tone are actually lower-intensity hypertropy programs and are only moderately effective for improving muscle tone. If &quot;tone&quot; is the goal, strength is the method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if 80% of the muscle mass gain is acquired from the first set, then that's contributing greatly to your tone. You shouldn't think about them as separate things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-12T21:40:11.707" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T21:40:11.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5815" CreationDate="2012-08-12T21:19:35.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The chin-up bar, combined with bench press and overhead press with the few weights that you have should be enough for a very beginner upper-body strength program. There are much better programs, but with your limited goals and supplies, something like this should work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups (3 sets to failure)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups (3 sets to failure)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternate these every second day, leaving one rest day between them. (A, rest, B, rest, A, rest,...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About bench press and overhead press, I don't know what weights you have, so can't really prescribe a rep/set range for you. If you only have a couple of dumbbells, just do 3 sets to failure. If you have several weights of dumbbells, use a weight that lets you only do 5-15 reps before moving up to the next weight, but pick a smaller range, depending on what you're looking for (4-6 for strength, 12-15 for size).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-12T21:41:31.050" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T21:41:31.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6948" CreationDate="2012-08-12T21:33:12.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;References from T-nation support getting a lot of sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get in a 9-12 hour night at least once or twice weekly. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/things_you_didnt_know_about_sleep_or_lack_of_it&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Things you didn't know about sleep&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And how much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your body knows how much sleep it needs. When it’s had enough it’ll&#xA;  wake up on its own. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_science/the_big_sleep_part_ii&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The big sleep&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't get enough sleep:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;performance on &quot;real&quot; compound lifts like bench press, squats, and deadlifts will decrease. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_science/the_big_sleep_part_i&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The big sleep&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8112265&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The effect of partial sleep deprivation on weight-lifting performance&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-12T21:33:12.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6357" CreationDate="2012-08-13T02:59:10.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you want to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJX1pxL-NMo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle-Ups&lt;/a&gt;.  This is best progession I've found though you will need gymnastics rings: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hN7nX4_ycs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle up Progression from CrossFit Estero&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an excellent progression for the second exercise which is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysqkaCxv2bI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front lever&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4014" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T02:59:10.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7661" CreationDate="2012-08-13T03:29:34.147" Score="8" ViewCount="9545" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started doing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Practical Programming Novice Program&lt;/a&gt; from Starting Strength.  Program below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday&#xA;3x5 Squat&#xA;3x5 Bench press / Press (Alternating)&#xA;Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps&#xA;&#xA;Wednesday&#xA;3x5 Squat&#xA;3x5 Press / Bench Press (Alternating)&#xA;1x5 Deadlift&#xA;&#xA;Friday&#xA;3x5 Squat&#xA;3x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating)&#xA;Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that I actually enjoy doing all of the exercises on each day.  From what I've read, giving a days rest between working out a particular muscle group is fine, so what are the potential draw backs of me modifying the program to the one below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday/Wednesday/Friday&#xA;3x5 Squat&#xA;3x5 Bench Press &#xA;3x5 Press&#xA;3x5 Deadlifts&#xA;Pull-ups&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-13T14:55:03.900" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:59:01.383" Title="Cons of doing all the Starting Strength &quot;Practical Programming Novice Program&quot; exercises on the same day?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2012-08-13T04:01:59.113" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The downside is that you're doing two exercises every workout that need tricep strength (bench press and overhead press).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be okay doing them in the same workout right now, but when you get to your limit weights, this won't be possible. If you lift heavy enough that you'll be stimulating adaptation on the bench press, you won't be able to lift your 5RM for 3 sets on the overhead press in the same workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason squats and deadlifts (or squats and power cleans) don't conflict to the extent that press and bench press conflict is because they use much larger muscles and muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, deadlifts is supposed to only be 1x5 at the work weight, and you definitely shouldn't do it every workout. If you're doing it heavy enough, this &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; result in overtraining. You may be able to get away doing them Monday/Friday for the first while, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-13T04:18:33.477" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T04:18:33.477" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7536" CreationDate="2012-08-13T05:19:20.837" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9040548&quot;&gt;Scientific evidence&lt;/a&gt; seems to suggest that nutrition timing is NOT as important as most think. Most of the &quot;common knowledge&quot; surrounding this is based on statistics that show correlations. With plenty of ulterior causations to choose from (e.g. those snacking at night are more likely to get fat because they are eating more food overall), there is no point changing behaviour based on this. There is NO real evidence that if eating a controlled diet, nutrition timing does much at all. Our bodies adapt to whatever we throw at it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its the daily macronutrient totals that are important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html?m=1&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; very interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-08-13T06:24:38.333" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T06:24:38.333" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2012-08-13T07:00:56.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How far along in the program are you? I suggest waiting about a month and re-evaluating. Novices can increase the weight quite fast on SS (I know I did) and very soon you won't be able to recover in time, thus hurting your goals. Pushing yourself too hard might result in more downtime down the road - focus on adding weight to the three exercises you do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be ok, though, to up the deadlifts to twice a week (so pull-ups just once). You'll probably manage this for a good while, and once you can no longer keep up, hopefully you'll be able to replace one day with power cleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T07:00:56.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6357" CreationDate="2012-08-13T07:32:17.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;BarStarzz has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barstarzz.com/store/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DVD&lt;/a&gt; showing how to get started on what they do, starting from the absolute basics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T07:32:17.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7665" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-13T11:38:16.607" Score="5" ViewCount="3768" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am normally very reserved towards food supplements in powder form, but after reading a bit about protein supplements, I decided to try it out and decide whether or not it's something I am willing to take on a regular basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train often, in form of team/ball sports such as football or squash, and go to the gym to lift weights and do physiotherapy for old injuries. My goals with training are strengthening the muscle groups affected by injuries, and genuinely getting in better shape (better condition and some weight loss). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So keeping that in mind, I started looking at different products from the local distributors here, and noticed that there is a wide variety of products available. I have read about whey and casein, as well soy-based products. I see that they have different pros and cons, each, and I wonder whether or not it makes sense to blend them. Considering that I am slightly lactose-intolerant I think a mix of soy, whey (Optimum Nutrition have a version which has 1% sugar) and casein based supplements could be an interesting option. I would like to know if there are any potential problems with this approach? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T19:00:23.443" Title="Are there any reasons not to blend different types of protein powder?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2012-08-13T14:30:06.367" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Go ahead if it floats your boat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do anything you want. You are a free-willed being. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/25/sartres_paradox_of_freedom/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jean-Paul Sartre notes&lt;/a&gt;, you are in fact &lt;em&gt;condemned&lt;/em&gt; to freedom, and the responsibility that unavoidably comes with it. However, Sartre also insists that &amp;quot;freedom itself is not free. We are compelled to act freely; there is no way to avoid being free.&amp;quot; Modifying the program is your inescapable right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do all the Starting Strength exercises in one session, plus curls, plus hitting the heavy bag, and run a marathon on your off-days, that's your call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the cost is that you will burn out quicker than if you stuck to the program. Right now it feels fine because you're not yet lifting heavy enough, but with more weight you will hit a wall very, very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole point of Starting Strength is to add weight every workout for as long as possible. The lifts are designed to be as maximally heavy while remaining as minimal as possible, so that you can continue to get stronger while maximally delaying the inevitable wall of grueling workouts, failed lifts, and the slogging stupor of under-recovery. Per the program designer's words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My program is 3x/week barbell training until the strength gains produced by linear progression are exhausted. That's it, the whole program. Adding a bunch of other stuff in, or even adding a little other stuff in makes it NOT MY PROGRAM, because it fundamentally alters your response to the stress. Do what you want, of course, but it won't be my program if you do it your way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squatting, benching, deadlifting, chinning, pressing all on the same day will work for a little while. Then it will be too heavy and you will probably have to backtrack and restart your progress. All five lifts is simply too much to recover from once you're lifting significant weight. In fact, I would argue being able to do all five is a sure-fire sign that you're not working close to the edge of your strength, and you need to add weight. (Which is part of the program.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;So you think you're a better coach than Mark Rippetoe?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to criticize. I did the same thing in your shoes. But we all need to realize that it's a little strange for someone who is just picking up a barbell to make dramatic changes to a well-worn program. I understand the mentality. Again, I did it too. I'd bet that seventy five percent of people reading Starting Strength have similar thought processes. It's just that experienced coaches and widespread programs are generally better than a total beginner's ideas. For me, I got better results when I followed the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working around the particulars of your schedule is understandable. Modifying or omitting lifts because of an injury or condition is reasonable. But rearranging the lifts to nearly double the workload is neither of these things. It's more akin to doing a totally different program of your own devising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, fundamentally altering a program as a total novice for the sole reason of &amp;quot;enjoyment&amp;quot; is perhaps not the best way to achieve your goals. But I say that because I want to train, not to exercise. Rippetoe talks about this fundamental distinction in his article on T-Nation, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_biggest_training_fallacy_of_all&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Biggest Training Fallacy of All&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise and training are two different things. Exercise is physical activity for its own sake, a workout done for the effect it produces today, during the workout or right after you're through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training is physical activity done with a longer-term goal in mind, the constituent workouts of which are specifically designed to produce that goal. If a program of physical activity isn't designed to get you stronger or faster or better conditioned by producing a specific stress to which a specific desirable adaptation can occur, you don't get to call it training. It's just exercise. For most people, exercise is perfectly adequate – it's certainly better than sitting on your ass channel-surfing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to ask yourself: are you lifting because it's fun, or to achieve a goal? Do you want to fart around in the gym, or are you there to achieve something? If you want to exercise, modify away. Do the exercises that are fun, arrange them for maximum enjoyment. But if you are training, if you are working towards a goal, if you want to get somewhere long-term by picking up the barbell, I recommend being diligent and consistent and sticking as close as possible to the program as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's your choice. You are inevitably burdened with the responsibility of choosing freely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T14:59:01.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3268" CreationDate="2012-08-13T17:32:42.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do three sets to failure, using some assistance if necessary. Do chin-ups one day, take a day rest, then do pull-ups the next day, and then rest. That should be your cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That may mean your first day looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups: 4, 4, 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's okay. The next time you do it (4 days later), you may get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups: 4, 4, 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on... Your pull-ups will be weaker than your chin-ups, probably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, when you get up to 15 reps, you should add weight by hanging plates from a lifting belt and chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T17:32:42.453" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7668" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-08-13T19:52:31.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more&#xA;  polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form,&#xA;  facilitating a biological function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein are one of the building blocks of body tissue, and can also serve as a fuel source. In nutrition, proteins are broken down in the stomach during digestion by enzymes known as proteases into smaller polypeptides to provide amino acids for the body, including the essential amino acids that cannot be biosynthesized by the body itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-13T19:58:59.727" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T19:58:59.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7669" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-08-13T19:52:31.047" Score="0" Body="One of the 3 main macronutrients, proteins are essential nutrients for the human body. Protein consumption has a strong correlation to muscle growth." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-24T02:06:02.013" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T02:06:02.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6064" CreationDate="2012-08-13T20:29:34.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should start swimming.  I had runners knee for a while and my doctor recommended I swim because there is no impact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4034" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T20:29:34.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7241" CreationDate="2012-08-13T20:32:16.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The farther down you go on bench press, the more chest(pecs) you use.  So with board bench presses you will be using less chest and more triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4034" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T20:32:16.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2012-08-13T21:17:23.903" Score="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look closer, sprinters have muscular everything...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People tend to lump all different types of running into one category but it's more complicated than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marathon runners run long distances, within an aerobic heart range (ex 133 &amp;lt; 152 bpm for a 30yr male), maximizing distance by decreasing load as much as possible. Typically, if you do a dedicated endurance running regiment your body will favor Type I (slow twitch) muscle mass which uses energy (oxygen, glycogen) more efficiently and reduce Type II (fast twitch) muscle mass which trades efficiency for power. That's why experienced marathon runners will typically appear very skinny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprinters are the opposite. Sprinting requires exercise to be pushed into the aerobic ranges up the V02 max (ex 152 &amp;lt; 190 bpm for a 30yr male). The body has a limited amount of time it can maintain an anaerobic intensity due to the impurities that anaerobic metabolism create. To increase the intensity and duration you need more Type II (fast twitch) muscle mass and an increased ability to process the impurities created by anaerobic stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why you can hit the 'runners high' during an aerobic workout where you feel like you can keep going forever and you get the 'muscle burn' from doing anaerobic workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So why are sprinters so muscular?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, increase your anaerobic range to be higher by doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts. Basically, do short hard bursts for of activity (like sprinting) for a few minutes followed by recovery periods to allow your body to recover from the anaerobic stress. The rule is, the harder you push, the harder you will be able to push.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, here's where distinguishing between marathon runners and sprinters will start to make sense. HIIT training (including sprinting) uses your whole body. Make no mistake, high impact, high intensity exercises work your core and upper body as well as your lower body. Unlike endurance running, it's actually beneficial to focus on all muscle groups as long as you're not just putting on unnecessary bulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, Type II muscle burns lots of energy and I mean a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt;. Not only do sprinters have a lot of Type II mass from head to toe, they also have highly optimized circulatory systems. The high energy burn and increased blood flow lead to a very low body fat percentage giving a very defined 'cut' look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, Type II muscle mass and upper body strength is bad for an endurance runner because it adds weight and unnecessarily consumes more energy. But, for a sprinter Type II upper body mass is generally a result of working out and also a good counter to balance the force being exerted by the lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2012-08-13T22:01:03.960" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T22:01:03.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7574" CreationDate="2012-08-13T21:58:27.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I get this when I'm out of shape&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been working out off and on since I was 16 (28 now). I have a tendency to take breaks from my workout regiment because of life circumstances or because I get bored of maintenance workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do decide to start getting back into shape, the first few weeks are brutal. I experience similar problems, difficulty breathing, stomach tightness, ears feel blocked, coughing, borderline lightheaded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thing here, it doesn't happen during or as soon as I stop but after I've finished. Lasts for 20-30 minutes during which I have no appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was diagnosed with 'Sports Induced Asthma' (even though I don't use an inhaler) when I was young so I usually blame it on that. In Colorado at high altitudes it was much worse, here in San Diego it doesn't effect me nearly as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It usually goes on for about the first 2-4 weeks of training (I typically target 1 mile sprints, and 2-4 mile runs) then subsides as I get into better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way I've found to overcome this is to do interval runs until your cardiovascular and respiratory systems get strong enough to keep up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I do:&#xA; - Run 2-4 minutes at a fast pace&#xA; - Slow down for 1-2 minutes&#xA; - Repeat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By 'fast pace', do whatever you can handle. By 'slow pace' I'm referring to a pace where your breathing slows enough to hold a regular conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A gradual cool down will help some (never just stop) but I've found interval rests to have a much better result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that help you improve you may have a condition that needs treatment. GERD can cause acid from your stomach to irritate your esophagus making you cough. A more serious form of asthma could require you to carry an inhaler for after you workout. There may be some other issue that I haven't addressed. If you don't see improvement you should probably consult a doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T21:58:27.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3268" CreationDate="2012-08-13T22:34:26.657" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there is little disagreement that weight should be added after a certain amount of reps is reached (commonly 15), actually getting there is a different matter. One approach, initially popularized by Pavel Tsatsouline (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbass.com/Synaptic.htm&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for more info), is called &quot;greasing the groove&quot;. Pavel claims that &quot;specificity + frequent practice = success&quot;, meaning, one should train &quot;as often as possible while being as fresh as possible&quot;. While this can be interpreted in multiple ways, it boils down to not going to failure on every set and doing several sets daily. Of course, you need to have an easily accessible pull-up bar for this to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally followed this approach to work from my 2 pull-ups to ~12 quite fast - I had a bar on my way to the bathroom and my rule was to jump and do a few pull-ups everytime I went under it. Sure, at the start I cheated, jumping more, not going all the way down, but I improved quite fast. Later on, I tried to vary my grip and do them more strictly. Most importantly, I never went completely to failure, just doing however many I could while I felt &quot;strong&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article I linked to above goes on to mention that this can be applied for other exercises, although it's probably not a good idea (for fear of over-training), though it concludes that doing it with dips might be a good match (which is in-line with my own thoughts and experiences, except I don't have parallel bars handy so I couldn't test it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-08-13T22:34:26.657" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7685" CreationDate="2012-08-14T04:53:33.827" Score="5" ViewCount="6080" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just recently completed the first 12 week period of StrongLifts. My finishing stats are below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 24&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender: male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 170cm (67in)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body weight: 68kg (150#) (I've been eating 4-6 meals/day, but only gained 2 or 3kg in those 12 weeks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 77kg (170#)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 95kg (209#)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press: 36kg (80#)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row/Bench: 46kg (101#)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in a weird transitional period as I am focusing a lot of my gym time on learning the Power Clean and other technical lifts so I can begin a Starting Strength (3x5) program. However, one thing that I certainly want to maintain, both in my current workout and while I transition to Starting Strength, is an emphasis on the overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Problem:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Around week 9/10, I hit a plateau on my overhead press. Instead of lifting 5,5,5,5,5 as prescribed by the StrongLifts program, I would only be able to do something like 4,4,4,4,3. If I was very well rested or if I started with the press, then I could get the first few sets at 5, but not all the way across. Part of the issue was that the smallest plates at my gym are 2.5lb, so I recently bought fractional plates at 1.25lb for a net increment of 2.5lb, because the 5lb increment was too difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the three resets I have done, only the first was successful at increasing the work weight, and that success was immediately followed by another plateau. After two resets, I am still stuck at 36kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the resets I have done thus far have done little to improve my press, I've come to the conclusion that deloading and lowering the sets (as recommended in the SL program) will not be sufficient to get me the desired results in the overhead press, nor will the lowering of sets from 5 to 3 be enough. Rather, I am under the belief that to see the results I want (pressing body weight) I will need to enhance my routine using supplemental exercises &lt;em&gt;in addition to&lt;/em&gt; the use of deloading / lowering sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to press my bodyweight. I am looking for intermediate programs/exercises with a focus on press so I can more efficiently reach this goal. &lt;strong&gt;What are the most effective exercises that I can add into a routine to supplement my overhead press?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-15T20:33:28.680" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T22:10:12.560" Title="Supplemental exercises for breaking an overhead press plateau" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="17" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-14T05:43:28.600" Score="10" ViewCount="16660" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a friend that's somewhat interested in doing Stronglifts, but for personal reasons she's utterly terrified of tearing up her knees from doing squats.  I've tried to convince her otherwise but to no avail.  Is there another exercise, or group of exercises, that can replace a squat?  Or even a modified squat that's a lot easier on the knees?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2012-08-14T10:26:26.737" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T15:03:51.560" Title="Exercises that can replace squats?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2012-08-14T06:11:36.813" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exercise famous for being hard on the knees is the leg press - not squat. If the squat is done with the correct depth (hip lower than the knee) so that the change of direction is NOT done while the knees are at right angles, it shouldn't hurt the knees. If you get some soft knee wraps you might be able to convince her to squat with those. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not - I would highly recommend lunges holding dumbbells. They train similar muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T06:11:36.813" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7684" CreationDate="2012-08-14T10:12:17.317" Score="5" ViewCount="4032" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed in the gym that more experienced guys lift weights in a double-pyramidal order. For example, they do 5 sets using 15 kg in the first set, 20 kg in the second set, 30 kg in the third set, 40 kg in the fourth set and 10 kg in the last set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen guys doing this for every exercise (in which is possible) bench press, squats, curls... Some others do it only for bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the purpose of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4037" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-14T17:04:17.327" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T16:38:27.453" Title="Why do experienced lifters work up to a heavy set, then do a final, lighter set?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7679" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-14T11:01:42.917" Score="0" ViewCount="3586" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a sports activity I fell on an outstretched arm and felt instant pain, but not too severe. The next day I got x-rays which showed a torus fracture of the distal radius. I was put in a cast and still currently am and will be for 4 weeks. The doctor said it would be wise not to return to sports, but it is my last year before high school, and I really want to play. Is there any possibility I'll be able to return to sports?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4038" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-14T18:11:56.657" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T18:11:56.657" Title="Will I be able to return to football after a wrist fracture?" Tags="&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-10-11T19:37:14.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7679" CreationDate="2012-08-14T11:13:24.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Serious injures have to be taken seriously specially when a professional told you this. I would like to encourage you to do a &lt;strong&gt;serious&lt;/strong&gt; rehabilitation and after that re-evaluate the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your feeling as a quit from basketball a couple of years ago for a similar reason. It is frustrating when you really enjoy a specific sport and you have to quit, but your health is a priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4037" LastEditorUserId="4037" LastEditDate="2012-08-14T12:57:20.760" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T12:57:20.760" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7679" CreationDate="2012-08-14T12:43:40.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should never ask for medical advise in such an electronic medium, especially when you have already gotten an advise from a professional. Even if there are/were doctors or physiotherapists here, they would not (and should not) give any advise without having examined you in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really should talk to a physio if you are serious about getting back on track with your training, and come up with a proper training plan. Keep in mind that early come-backs are among the most common reasons for serious injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T12:43:40.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2012-08-14T13:01:49.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider deadlifts (not the stiff-legged ones); they have a small range-of-motion, and don't weight the turn-around point if the weight is set on the floor. (Or reduce rep speed, particularly at turn-around.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/546137-leg-presses-hurt-my-knees/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/546137-leg-presses-hurt-my-knees/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing what the &quot;personal reasons&quot; are it's difficult to provide actionable advice, however, because only exercises that target the same muscles, hence the same joint, will have similar effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible to progress into weighted squats after building up strength and connective tissues through body-weight squats. Depending on her goals, they may be enough on their own anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T13:01:49.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7678" CreationDate="2012-08-14T13:04:18.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To further stress the muscle/muscle group, to get that final pump, to force more blood into the mucle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't search for efficacy studies at the moment. Personally, I just think it feels good to really work the muscle to completion, but it's not something I do all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also bear in mind that just because &quot;experienced&quot; lifters do something it doesn't mean it's effective, safe, or something done all the time. Also note that it is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; necessary to do pyramids &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the time (and most lifters &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; always follow the same routine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T13:04:18.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7678" CreationDate="2012-08-14T13:50:16.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like they're warming up with 15, 20, and 30, doing one work set with 40, then doing what's called a &amp;quot;back-off&amp;quot; set with 10. They do the warm-ups in order to safely get up to a heavy weight. They do the heavy weight because heavy weight is the most effective. They do the back-off set because they're tired from the heavy weight and they want to get another set in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe, who has what one might call a slight pro-strength/anti-bodybuilding bias, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=8293&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;has this to say&lt;/a&gt; about back-off sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back-off sets at a lighter weight can only add volume to the workout, and are usually done to focus on a technical problem within that lift that can benefit from some concentrated attention being paid to correcting it. A lighter weight done as a back-off set cannot drive up the weight on the work sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...Volume can drive progress for a short while, but the main work must be done in the rep range and with the weight called for by the adaptation you want to drive. If you want strength, 3s-5s are what you have to do and lighter 12s will not make that adaptation occur, whether done as a back off or as work sets. If you begin to rely on your back-off sets as the primary stimulus, you will stop progressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've found back-off sets quite useful in two scenarios:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Working on max singles and doubles&lt;/strong&gt; as well as the 3-5 rep range. I'll work up to several sets of 1 or 2 reps each, but if I find my form degrading before I get enough total work done for that exercise (say, only 2 reps in the deadlift, or 6 or 8 total reps in the squat), I'll sometimes add a lighter 3- to 5-rep back-off set that's still challenging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overwarm singles&lt;/strong&gt;. I'll work up to one really heavy rep right at the edge of my ability, then do one or more lighter 3- to 5-rep sets. The heavy &amp;quot;overwarm single&amp;quot; is actually part of the warm-up, since it prepares me for the mental and neurological challenge of the work sets, which are still heavy but feel much more doable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T16:38:27.453" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7675" CreationDate="2012-08-14T14:47:04.133" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Stick with the program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not strong enough to need to supplement your lifts. You need to press and squat and deadlift and chin or power clean or row. Those are plenty for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Switch to 3x5&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;StrongLifts is not 5x5 into eternity. It includes an automatic switch to 3x5 once you're past the approximately 3 to 12 month 5x5 period, which focuses on technique and easy strength gains. You should switch to 3x5 on an exercise-by-exercise basis after deloading twice on a given lift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use the deloads to figure out when to switch from StrongLifts 5x5 to StrongLifts 3x5. You should switch to 3x5 after you deload 2x on a lift. This cuts the training volume by almost half and thus improves recovery. Training will feel lighter for a while, and you'll be able to add weight to the bar for a few more weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Page 48 of my copy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Switch to a press-specific program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a saying, attributed to Olympic lifters back in the days when the clean and press was still an event:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you want to press more, then press more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irongarmx.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&amp;amp;t=220779&amp;amp;p=653268&amp;amp;sid=e4d032b6424ebf67dd4ecbb76713b93d&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/t-71828.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;also&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=18299&amp;amp;p=151820#post151820&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;also&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get stronger overall, then buckle down on your eating, sleeping, and lifting (whether with StrongLifts 3x5 or Starting Strength, or a Rippetoe-derived variant). You are still weak and small enough to be able to get tremendous benefit from novice programming. You are free to do what you like, but there's no specific need for an intermediate program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to press your bodyweight more than develop strength generally, forget both those programs. They're much more focused on whole-body strength, particularly in the posterior chain. If you want to press big weights, then develop or find a program based around that goal. I can't press anything substantial, and am a total beginner, but I'd do one of two things: something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuiltbetter.blogspot.com/2009/04/power-to-people-bodybuilding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pavel's Power to the People program&lt;/a&gt;, which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The side press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The set and rep format for this training routine is simple. 2 sets of 5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First set is 80% 1 REP max then back off set (2nd set) with less weight (approx. 10% less). The idea is that this routine can be done almost daily to build strength gradually and get into the groove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 press, progressing linearly, primary lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lower-body exercise, such as squats, pistols, or deadlifts--not super important for your goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups/chin-ups 3x10, to balance out the pressing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 exercises of assistance pressing work, rotating through: 1-arm dumbbell press because unilateral exercises are awesome / push presses for overhead overload / dips and bench press for pushing in different planes / Turkish get-up to waiter's walk, for stability and trunk strength &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might also play with greasing the groove and training every day, in the Bulgarian or gymnastics style. Handstands and handstand push-ups might be called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recover harder&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know you or your situation, but it's entirely possible with these numbers that you're simply not eating and sleeping enough. If you are OK with growing, keeping your lifts the same while doubling your food intake might be a good method of getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-11T01:13:04.737" LastActivityDate="2012-10-11T01:13:04.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2012-08-14T15:18:18.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there another exercise, or group of exercises, that can replace a&#xA;  squat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The squat is the only strength training exercise that involves a pattern known as &quot;hip drive.&quot; The hip drive is essentially recruitment of the muscles in the posterior chain--hamstrings, glutes, adductors. You could individually target each muscle, however that would be inefficient as the body is designed to work as a whole, so the focus should be on compound exercises that trains the muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, squats are considered by most to be the &quot;grandfather&quot; of all strength training exercises--that is how important they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;for personal reasons she's utterly terrified of tearing up her knees&#xA;  from doing squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She shouldn't be. Squats are a natural human movement, and even babies squat below parallel (albeit without a barbell on their shoulders). If the squat was so dangerous, you wouldn't see babies doing it, and you certainly wouldn't see so many strength training programs advocating its use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Performed correctly, a squat can potentially &lt;strong&gt;rehabilitate&lt;/strong&gt; the knees... not destroy them. Personally speaking, I have bad knees, and I noticed a definite improvement once I started squatting; I just had to ensure that I maintained good form. If she is concerned with form, I recommend buying the book Starting Strength--Basic Barbell Training. It helps tremendously. Another route would be to upload videos to strength training websites for form checks (i.e. the stronglifts.com forum).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T15:18:18.340" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2012-08-14T17:21:52.060" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will say that I have had more stress on my knees from martial arts training than I ever had from heavy squats.  The book Starting Strength has some good information on why this is.  The important and critical factor is getting the hips below the knees before changing directions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The depth causes certain things to happen that &lt;strong&gt;protect&lt;/strong&gt; the knees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Posterior chain is engaged, providing a counterbalance from behind the knee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gluteous muscles are engaged to initiate the lift out of the bottom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knees are traveling in ergonomic paths (assuming toes and knees are aligned in the same direction)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The forces are distributed to larger muscles that are able to bear the stress rather than the joint itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that there is no lift that can adequately replace squats.  Lunges are acceptable, but if you are worried about knee health the idea of touching the knee to the floor with weights is not really appealing.  Goblet squats are a good way to get introduced to the movement, get some torso strength, and more easily get to depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running, partial squats, jumps, etc. are all exercises that place much higher stresses on the knee joint.  One of the main factors is the fact that only the anterior muscles are engaged when you land.  The force imparted to the knee as your weight is coming down and your foot is already on the immovable earth is up to 3x your body weight.  The impact is much faster than it would be to get the posterior chain involved--thus no help.  Squats protect your knee, and help improve your posterior chain use even in these high stress activities.  As long as all the forces come from one side of your body (anterior chain or posterior chain), there is an increased risk of injury.  When both sides of your body are engaged, the load is distributed to the muscle rather than the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T17:21:52.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2127" CreationDate="2012-08-14T17:44:50.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can understand the fact that you probably won't ever get  creatine in natural foods in sufficient quantities  as you will in the commercial supplements. Someone brought the &quot;is there enough water in sea water&quot;  analogy. The problem is a bit more complex than that because the reluctance to taking supplements stems from the fact that you can NEVER be sure what else you are going to get in the supplement besides what is labelled. More a case of &quot;are you sure that there is only sea water in sea water?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4039" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T17:44:50.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7675" CreationDate="2012-08-14T17:55:19.027" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts is a beginner program, and the heavier the lifts go, the more likely you will need to change something.  There is nothing magical about 5x5.  Starting Strength is by design 3x5 from the beginning.  That said, please do review the material for what you are supposed to do on a stall in StrongLifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you stall 3 times, deload and work back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you've deloaded twice already, and are stalling the third time, drop two sets on that lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is from the Stronglifts paper.  Essentially, if you were doing 5x5, and your deload/stall progression is done, switch to 3x5.  Then 1x5.  Finally, to a new program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there are some things you can do to keep the press moving forward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the press before squats.  You are fresher, so squat fatigue won't affect your press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just do 3x5 and forget the stall/deload progression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use ramping sets (increase weight about 10-15% until you get to your one top set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a progression from a different program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than keep hitting a brick wall, sometimes you just need to try something different.  The progression that really helped my press see some consistent gains was the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2011/09/531-for-a-beginner/&quot;&gt;Wendler 5/3/1&lt;/a&gt; progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T17:55:19.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2127" CreationDate="2012-08-14T18:32:16.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This paper that I found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.edb.utexas.edu/ssn/SN%20PDF/Creatine-Levels%20&amp;amp;%20Diet.PDF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine levels and diet&lt;/a&gt; cites some studies that say creatine starts to degrade at 115 degrees in fish, and that baking meat causes 92% loss of available creatine due to actual breakdown and then other actions occurring because of that breakdown. (Note: While it is a research paper, most likely from a college student, it lists a lot of studies that it cites for information.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It states that to get the same creatine from cooked fish as you would from raw fish, you would need to eat 1.7 kg (3.74 lbs) of fish. Beef has even less available creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why everyone is telling you that dietary creatine is insignificant if you are wanting loading levels. You simply couldn't (ok, maybe you &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;) eat enough meat/fish for it to make the difference, and the other health effects from it would outweigh any benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T18:32:16.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2012-08-14T18:41:41.393" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;We will lose this argument&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume you're not going to convince her that squats are good for her knees. They are, but you can only lead a horse to water. What, then, should you have her do instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, get the idea of StrongLifts out of your head. If you're not squatting, you're not doing StrongLifts. It's essential to programs like this to squat heavy three times a week. In fact, on page 41 of the StrongLifts ebook, it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Squats are the most important exercise of StrongLifts 5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So doing &quot;StrongLifts&quot; without squats is out of the question. She can do a linear progression on everything else if she wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Substitutes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could have her do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;goblet squats&lt;/a&gt; until she gets her big girl pants on and realizes that real squats are what strong and healthy people do. Not everybody has to do a 3-times-a-week back squats in order to live their life healthfully. (But it sure helps.) Sometimes just &quot;not weak&quot; is enough. Goblet squats can do that. Unfortunately, they might trigger the same danger signals she has for barbell squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunges would be great. Here's what I'd try: have her do lunges with dumbbells--heavy dumbbells, no five pound BS--and stick with that for a few workouts. Increase the weight as possible. If she's okay with that after a few weeks, spring this question on her: why is bending her knee for a lunge safe, but bending her knee for a squat dangerous? If someone is convinceable, that should work. If they're not, well, fine. We must open our arms to the gentle indifference of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Air squats, adding weight at an imperceptible pace with the wimpy dumbbells until she's doing real work, might weasel past her anti-squat defenses and get her to do real work. It's worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's very possible that she'll reject these and all other fruitful substitutes for barbell back squats (e.g. pistol squats, Bulgarian split squats, front squats...). The problem is that for the substitute to work, it needs to bend the knees deeply. Since she's terrified of using her knees for the purpose which they evolved for--bending deeply--it's kind of a problem. So we might not be able to substitute anything for squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alternatives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now we're not doing StrongLifts, and we're not squatting or lunging. What are we left with in a world without squatting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lift heavy some other way. Focus on deadlifts, heavy presses, and getting to a set of real pull-ups. Lift heavy. Drag a sled and sprint. Maybe throw in a couple farmer's walks--as heavy as humanly possible--since you have time in your workout now that squats are forbidden. Lift heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Linear progression is king, but if someone is scared of squatting I have doubts that they'll add five pounds to their bench press every session. It might be necessary to scale back the progression to add weight every other workout or even less frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll never replace the squats, but if she lifts heavy in every other way, it probably won't be a big deal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-20T15:03:51.560" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T15:03:51.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2012-08-14T20:30:04.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she is &quot;terrified&quot; that she will tear up her knees with the squat, she very likely will.  She probably has (or had) a significant knee problem.  Even if she doesn't have knee problems, trying to do an exercise while in a state of fear can affect one's tension, attention and form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If she has knee problems:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to strengthen the glutes without involving the knees using &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/LVLyingHipExtensionH.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;levers&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/QhKXSqaMFs4?t=14s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cables&lt;/a&gt;.  This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&amp;amp;v=sxRwUAnURp4&amp;amp;NR=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodyweight&lt;/a&gt; could also be ok, depending on the knee problem.  If she does have a knee problem, strengthening the glutes will help reduce strain on the knees.  If/as her knees improve from increased glute strength, she may be more likely to want to try squats, esp. given all the information included in other answers as to why squats can help strengthen the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She can also, strengthen the quads isometrically with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbM_wvNygBM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee locked&lt;/a&gt; and hip &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LBw3GJHDq4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adductors&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/pvnR8CDb4BU?t=33s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abductors&lt;/a&gt; using cables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The beauty of the squat however is that it targets many of the body's large muscle groups so you would also have to consider the trunk muscles (front, back and sides - planks, side planks etc.) and calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If she doesn't have knee problems&lt;/strong&gt; and it is just the idea of a squat with weight that scares her, &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTwoArmSwing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kettlebell&lt;/a&gt; swings may be a helpful alternative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As she gets stronger with other exercises she may feel more confident to try the squat.  Also, when she realizes how many exercises you need to do to equal one squat, she may decide that the squat is worth learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-08-14T20:30:04.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7694" CreationDate="2012-08-15T01:37:06.433" Score="0" ViewCount="1134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the process of creating a new diet plan with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatthismuch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.eatthismuch.com/&lt;/a&gt; however I'm unsure with workout days if I should be intentionally eating less calories to account for the ones I'm consuming with my post-workout protein shake. How do people normally do this? Do they discount the shake or do they simply adjust their meal plans accordingly to account for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T03:27:58.063" Title="Should a post-workout protein shake count in my macros?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7693" CreationDate="2012-08-15T03:27:58.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A shake is food; you're eating it. If you're trying to maintain a certain daily calorie level (e.g., maintain a specific deficit for weight loss, or surplus for gain) then &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; the shake and exercise must be counted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T03:27:58.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7700" CreationDate="2012-08-15T09:01:05.377" Score="0" ViewCount="2296" Body="&lt;p&gt;can you guys please suggest me a dieting plan or something to gain weight or to add some muscle around my body and face. I'm a 21 year old guy , very slim for my age and want to gain weight really fast without body building. Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4042" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T17:08:01.723" Title="Gaining without workout" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7696" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-15T11:01:47.033" Score="1" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend is on an extreme diet that includes acupuncture (amongst other) - his diet is that 2 days he isn't eating anything (literally) and the rest he eats very little - up to twice a day, 1 portion chicken, 1 yogurt etc - He can drink (and should) drink every day - he claims he drinks as many as 3+ liters of water a day - and still lost 6 kilos in the past 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question&lt;/strong&gt;: Did he lose fluids? or actual fat? (carb-&gt;&gt;energy etc.etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you drink so much a day, and still lose weight, is that also fluid drop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. - he is not a tall person, and original weight is 110Ks. (more a chubby person than fat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He did lose 2 belt holes, and looks thinner in his face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT sep-16-2012: Not sure why you think this Q is off topic, but I will still update: Current loss weight stands at 9KG - He still holds this formula. I think he will 'lose' all that he lost once he starts living though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" LastEditorUserId="1318" LastEditDate="2012-09-18T09:19:59.207" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:03:52.727" Title="Are you losing fat or fluids if you diet and drink alot?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7698" CreationDate="2012-08-15T14:33:20.923" Score="2" ViewCount="2960" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for a little while, and just started keeping a log of what I do at the gym. The hardest part has been trying to figure out what to log under &quot;exercise&quot;. Sometimes, the coach will give me a name while telling me what I have to do, but other times he will just go &quot;now you do &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, while doing the motion I'm supposed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a place I can look up names for exercises and their variations, so I can write a proper log with correct names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3785" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-16T06:15:28.970" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T06:15:28.970" Title="How do I find the names of gym exercises?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7697" CreationDate="2012-08-15T14:59:45.490" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a fairly good catalogue of exercises, organized by body part, with animated gifs showing proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look up exercises by name on youtube, you'll usually find videos of people performing them (although not necessairly with good form).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T14:59:45.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7697" CreationDate="2012-08-15T15:02:26.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would bring a notepad and pen to class, and &lt;strong&gt;ask the coach&lt;/strong&gt; either during rest periods or after class. I might ask for a copy of his class plan, if he has one and it doesn't contain confidential information like students' conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing that, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt; is the best source for finding the names for resistance training, followed by wandering around the web, describing the movement with as many synonyms as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T15:02:26.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7695" CreationDate="2012-08-15T15:16:30.140" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can gain weight without exercise, but if you want that weight to be muscle you have to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to bodybuild I understand.  The idea of lifting weights for purely aesthetic reasons doesn't really appeal to me.  However, there are several activities you can do that are useful, fun, and accomplish the goal you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining weight is the easy part.  Just eat.  As for activities, you have some options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodyweight:&lt;/strong&gt; primarily body weight strengthening, like convict conditioning.  You will probably gain enough muscle to satisfy your immediate desires, and be quite challenging.  For some exercises like muscle-ups or pistols, you may need to spend time in the weight room to build the base strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crossfit:&lt;/strong&gt; primarily conditioning work with heavy stuff.  You will gain some muscle and generally be able to engage in any pick-up sport you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Olympic lifting:&lt;/strong&gt; primarily power work.  You will gain more muscle than with crossfit, but it will be compact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power lifting:&lt;/strong&gt; primarily strength work.  You will gain a lot of muscle, lift heavy things, and the muscle you gain will be useful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strong man:&lt;/strong&gt; primarily strength work with unusual implements.  All of this strength is usable strength, lifting things like Atlas stones, wheels of Apallon, weighted carries, tire flipping, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodybuilding:&lt;/strong&gt; primarily strength work for reps.  You will gain a lot of muscle and size, but you won't be lifting as heavy as the other options.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your own thing:&lt;/strong&gt; Adjust your training the way you want for your goals, as long as there are some common components.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have absolutely no idea where to begin, but like challenge and variety, Crossfit may be a good starting place.  There is a lot of difference in the way different &quot;boxes&quot; (name for Crossfit gyms) work, and there isn't enough consistency in the programming to push through strength plateaus.  If you have a well run box you will become a good athlete, otherwise you can push yourself too hard very easily.  The other downside is that a Crossfit box is very expensive--though very well furnished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general any program you do is balanced if it has the following components:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength -- you should be able to lift what you look like you can lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility -- you should be able to move freely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy -- when you want to look like you lift, but also to increase the energy available to your muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning -- you should be able to climb a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to gain lean mass without putting in work to tell your body to build that lean mass.  It's part of the general adaptation syndrome that governs our bodies.  When you add stress that tells the body the strength it has is inadequate, it will respond by building more muscle.  When you add stress that tells the body you need those muscles to endure heavy stuff for a long time, it builds the energy systems in the muscle--which adds to their size but not their strength.  If you add no stress to your body, it will assume the amount of muscle available is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest is up to you.  Take this as a jump off point to look into these different activities to see if it appeals to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T15:16:30.140" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7695" CreationDate="2012-08-15T15:51:03.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you just want to gain weight, eat more. You say you eat a lot, but with no results. That means you're not really eating a lot. Eat more. You'll put on fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want that weight gain to be muscle instead, follow Berin's advice in his answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastEditorDisplayName="user3085" LastEditDate="2012-08-15T17:08:01.723" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T17:08:01.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7606" CreationDate="2012-08-15T17:55:47.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's smart to get an assessment by a medical professional in cases where you have pain. However, it's also good to do basic maintenance on yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do some troubleshooting on your own, take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/knee-pain-basics-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; by Mike Robertson on knee pain. (I've linked to the first part; make sure to read all three.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize what he says, as the articles are somewhat lengthy (but very worthwhile), in many cases knee pain is not caused by anything wrong with the knee but by some other issue above or below the knee. For example, tight hip flexors can cause an imbalance in the thigh that results in knee pain. This is something that's been a problem for me because I work from a chair all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike has some great recommendations on how to correct common problems like this. Another worthwhile resource is Kelly Starret's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MobilityWOD&lt;/a&gt; (Workout of the Day). I've been doing these exercises for a bit and have seen some real improvement in my knee pain. Start at the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises are generally safe if you don't have any other specific problems that your doctor has pointed out. (As always, consult with your physician and stop if something is really painful.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4043" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T17:55:47.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7606" CreationDate="2012-08-15T18:04:15.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it stands, your question is way too vague to diagnose. The pain could be due to the ligaments in the knee, the muscles around the knee, bad form, bad equipment, muscular imbalance, tibial plateau fracture, etc etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise against any kind of knee caps (Not sure what they are) or sleeves or other structural adjunct without a sports doc saying &quot;do this&quot;. I've seen people that had knee pain, wore sleeves that caused their kneecaps to track out of line and caused worse problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that it isn't actually in your knee, but is referred pain from somewhere else. Pain is a funny thing in the body, it doesn't always occur where the injury is. Get a good checkup from a sports doc, and go from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-15T18:04:15.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7751" CreationDate="2012-08-15T23:05:04.230" Score="2" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am re-evaluating my daily diet and was looking for some advice on how I can improve it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: I am a 24 year old male, weigh 68kg/150lb, and do the StrongLifts program 3 days a week. My ultimate goals is to gain weight (mostly muscle, limited fat), but I am also concerned with making sure I am getting enough nutrients and that there isn't any severe deficiency in my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't been tracking specific calories of my meals, but suffice it to say I am never hungry so it is unlikely I'm eating at a deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, my diet looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Tall glass of milk;&#xA;2 boiled eggs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning snack:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Handful of almonds;&#xA;Handful of granola;&#xA;Cup of yogurt;&#xA;Bowl of oatmeal;&#xA;Orange&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Bowl of salad;&#xA;Handful of mixed berries;&#xA;Handful of Nuts;&#xA;One serving of fish/poultry;&#xA;18oz protein shake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Afternoon snack:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Banana;&#xA;Handful of almonds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post-workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;18oz protein shake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Bowl of salad (no dressing);&#xA;One serving of fish/poultry;&#xA;Tall glass of milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-08-17T22:42:22.263" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T16:13:59.157" Title="Need help evaluating my diet to gain muscle" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7717" CreationDate="2012-08-16T00:22:55.060" Score="1" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently joined a gym, and I've done two workouts so far. The trainer at the gym told me which exercises to do, and I simply performed them. I doubt he'll be present for my third workout, however, and I want to figure out what I should be doing for maximum benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trainer mentioned that, working out 3 times a week (which is my plan), I should focus on distinct parts of the upper body two of those days, and the lower body the third day, always finishing the workout with cardio. This makes for 3 separate workout routines, although he only supplied me with two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first routine: So far, I've done a lower body workout that included leg press, leg extension, leg curl, ball squats, straight leg dead lifts, step ups, crunches, and a (very abbreviated) wall sit. I believe these are official names for the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second routine: Just now, I did an upper body workout including chest press, lat pull down, peck fly, incline press (at least, I tried to do this one), and reverse grip row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises should I include in my next workout (the third routine) to cover the muscle groups not covered by the upper body workout I just performed? Assume that I have access to a well-equipped gym with various machines and I'm not comfortable using free weights yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4045" LastEditorUserId="4045" LastEditDate="2012-08-16T13:52:48.153" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T01:34:14.427" Title="What exercises can I do on my next workout to supplement the ones I've done?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6892" CreationDate="2012-08-16T03:06:01.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to face the same problem as the one you are describing. The balls of my feet used to hurt when I used to run.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, I realised that my running technique might be wrong. Have you tried running only on the toes? Ideally, you are not supposed to touch the whole foot to the ground while running as this is detrimental for your knees in the long term.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, if this isn't the case, then you might want to try out a long term strategy-Yoga. Not only does it heal the body over a long term, but also gives you flexibility and agility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4047" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T03:06:01.947" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7705" CreationDate="2012-08-16T03:09:10.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have done only two workouts, then my suggestion is that go with what your trainer has told you for two reasons:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He will be knowing your physical abilities and limitations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should increase your workout gradually, increasing it suddenly will cause your body different parts of your body to ache&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4047" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-08-16T07:53:02.273" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T07:53:02.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-08-16T03:17:13.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion to improve your speed would be:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try out the various drills-like one hand drill, kick drill, hand drill, etc. They develop the specific part of the body.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase the frequency of our kicking. Ideally, you should be kicking 8 times in one whole stroke. This will boost your speed.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try squatting exercises, they will improve your thigh strength and will give a boost to your leg strength, which enable to have a stronger kick.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do at least 100 crunches a day. It will remove the flab around your stomach, this will help you get into a better streamline position.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, start exercises which increase the strength of your biceps and triceps. This will help your pulling action and in freestly, this action is important.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4047" LastEditorUserId="4755" LastEditDate="2012-12-04T06:43:03.100" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T06:43:03.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-08-16T11:14:13.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tips for faster free style (Front crawl) swimming:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Press the Buoy:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your chest is full of buoyant air so if you can lean forward on it, you can literally push against that buoyancy and leverage it to move your legs higher in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest trick I know of for this one is to tuck your chin into you chest and feel like your neck is pulling via your spine to lift your legs up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can help with body position (primarily getting your legs higher in the water.  You should get to the point, where if you are kicking lightly your ankles are coming out of the water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swing from your waist&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you hit a tennis ball with a racquet you do not swing with your arms, your whole upper body gets into is, same with swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be twisting so that you almost swim sideways (in terms of your shoulders being up and down) as you stroke.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best drill for this is use a kick board between your legs like a rudder, mostly sticking down into the water.  This gives you leverage in your legs to twist against.  Not a pull buoy which is about keeping your legs higher, but a flat board so you have something in the water to push against when you twist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lets you use your back muscles in the stroke not just your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hint for this is, if your upper arms are getting tired when swimming, pause and focus on form, since they are just along for the ride, it is your much much larger shoulder and back muscles that should be doing a lot of the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be as long as you can be&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Max speed is related to square root of water line length.  (Which is why bigger ships are faster? It all seems goofy to me). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this, stand next to a wall, arm over your head at your side, hand on the wall.  Then twist your shoulders, and watch where your hand goes, it slides up higher, you just got longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So on every stroke you strive to be as long as possible.  Since from the previous hint you are twisting on each stroke, you are making yourself as long as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like there is a fourth thing but I cannot remember it right now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T11:14:13.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7705" CreationDate="2012-08-16T15:34:15.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your third day, I would concentrate on whole body movements, such as the deadlift, squats, clean and press, things like that. I know you do a couple of them on the leg days, but the rest of your program is isolation type exercises. You don't have a lot of movements that incorporate the entire body as a whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that he showed you the exercises simply so that you would know how to do them, and that he intended for you to either sign up for his program ($$) to get it all, or that you would figure it out on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isolation movements are fine, but you won't get as much benefit out of them as you would exercises that involve multiple muscle groups. As a beginner to it all, you are in a pretty good spot to start a program such as the Stronglifts 5x5, which will build strength as well as some muscle, and then you can adjust your diet some for the continuing weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T15:34:15.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7712" CreationDate="2012-08-16T16:09:34.927" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a few articles that the best way to gain muscle is Time under Tension (TUT) - none of the articles recommended whether it was TUT with heavy weights low reps or light weights and high reps....basically, there doesn't seem to be any 'standard' approach to max'ing the TUT.  So my question is: based on your experience, is there a good TUT? does this change the temp I should be using (standard 2-0-2) to something more extreme (10-4-10)??? I remember reading some book about a 10 second miracle approach to muscle growth.  Does this apply to hypertrophy? or to strength and power also? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T19:25:56.830" Title="How best to apply TUT theory?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7711" CreationDate="2012-08-16T19:25:56.830" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found a couple resources about TUT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa37.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Time Under Tension in your Training Program&lt;/a&gt; (on Bodybuilding.com)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/time-under-tension-the-scientifically-engineered-set-timing-technique-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Time Under Tension: The Scientifically Engineered Set-Timing Technique&lt;/a&gt; (on Simplyshredded.com)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first article provides some reasonable background and ways to troubleshoot your TUT application.  For example, if your goal for TUT in a set is unrealistic given the movement, you can add more sets.  Examples of movements that don't work well with TUT would be any explosive or ballistic movement like Olympic lifts or kettlebell swings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second article goes into a lot more practical application along with a chart that has optimal rep and TUT ranges:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sinUv.png&quot; alt=&quot;http://cdn.simplyshredded.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/optimal-rep-and-tut-ranges.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you'll find that you want to use the heaviest weight you can for your target TUT.  You'll also find that different timings will address problems.  For example, pause bench and pause squats help build power from the bottom of the lift.  You don't need a long pause, simply long enough to stop the bar motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an inverse relationship between the time under tension and the max weight you will be able to lift like that.  If you are intentionally going slow, adjust the weight down.  If your bar speed is simply a result of how well you can control the bar at that weight, you can work on increasing the speed of the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest take away from both of these articles is to not get overworked on one tempo.  Varying the tempo helps you focus on the eccentric part of the lift, or the concentric part of the lift.  If you find the bar path is erratic on that phase of the lift slow it down until you can control the bar properly.  Then work on speeding it back up with higher weight.  A possible approach would be to go fast on weight increases, then slow down at the new weight.  There is no one best.  Just play with the timing to address your current needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T19:25:56.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7714" CreationDate="2012-08-16T19:39:39.630" Score="3" ViewCount="4726" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started doing the 5x5 Stronglifts workout.  I ended up missing my third workout because of some personally reasons.  What should I do?  Should I go ahead and work out the day after I missed, or should I just skip to Saturday?  I don't want to change my schedule though.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday because those are my best days to do it, and I missed Wednesday this week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-17T06:50:22.533" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T06:50:22.533" Title="What should i do if I miss a 5x5 session?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7713" CreationDate="2012-08-16T19:52:12.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's your third workout, it doesn't matter. The weights shouldn't be heavy enough to make a difference if you started with the bar (or 95 pounds on the deadlift). These sessions are just for gradually ramping up the weight while working on technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just get back on schedule as if the missed workout never happened. I prefer to lift again ASAP, but skipping it and just doing the next normally scheduled day is fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the squat as an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: squat 45&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: squat 55&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: oops!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Thursday): go ahead and squat 65, or rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Friday): you could also squat 65 here--it's not a big deal, the weights are light--or rest. The rest is almost certainly not necessary, since you haven't started lifting heavy yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: either squat 75 if you worked out Thursday or Friday, or squat 65 if you didn't&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T19:52:12.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6337" CreationDate="2012-08-16T19:59:27.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so most of these suggestions are relatively disturbing from an exercise science point of view.  While I agree that the valsalva maneuver is common place in power lifting it is still dangerous.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Internally, when you hold your breath, your inner thoracic cavity pressure sky rockets. It is the reason if someone has an inguinal hernia while weight lifting they can lose a testicle.  This isn't always true but it is a possibility, and isn't just caused by weight lifting.  Ever seen that video of the guy power squatting and halfway up he vomits everywhere?  His esophageal sphincter could not handle the pressure his body was putting on his stomach forcing the contents outward. Placing a lot of force on your vagal nerve in the back of your throat while using the valsalva maneuver also slows your heart rate and can cause you to pass out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a risk benefit analysis on your part.  For most people you should inhale on the eccentric motion (muscle lengthening) and exhale on the concentric motion (shortening of the muscle).  Using support belts if you're performing heavy squats will give you the extra support that you might need instead of utilizing the valsalva manuever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T19:59:27.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2012-08-16T21:31:10.353" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes they can, even the one's that have zero carbs. &#xA;With no carbs a protein powder will not raise your blood sugar, but it can and will cause an insulin spike.  This is your body's way of coping with no carbs and it allows your cells/muscles to absorb nutrients from food, and also helps the liver create glucagon from the protein.  When you body takes in virtually NO carbs, it still needs to control and regulate your blood sugar and also create enough energy that your body can still survive and allow you to be active.  The process is described better in this article... &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/insulin-index/#axzz23kFePfEA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/insulin-index/#axzz23kFePfEA&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;and more info here...&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://4hourpeople.com/question/1110/TIP-Avoid-whey-protein-when-burning-fat-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://4hourpeople.com/question/1110/TIP-Avoid-whey-protein-when-burning-fat-&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4053" LastActivityDate="2012-08-16T21:31:10.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7705" CreationDate="2012-08-17T01:27:28.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Day 3 is likely to be a Shoulders &amp;amp; Arms day.  Your trainer told you that his plan is going to focus on distinct parts of your body on each day. Day 1 was Legs &amp;amp; Core, Day 2 was Back &amp;amp; Chest so that leaves Shoulders &amp;amp; Arms for Day 3. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For exercises you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBArnoldPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shoulder Press&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/DBCurl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbell Curls&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/DBTriExt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tricep Extensions&lt;/a&gt;    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/CBPushdown.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cable Pushdowns&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/BBUprightRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Upright Rows&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not how I like to organize a 3 day split workout but it works with what you've done so far. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are still a lot of variables like weight, # of reps, # of sets, rest time, machine vs dumbell vs barbell that are going to be dependent on a lot of factors like your current size, strength and ability.  You really should call your trainer because a training plan should be a lot more than just a grouping of exercises.  I find it strange that he's done two sessions with you and told you that you have to do a third session but hasn't scheduled it or prepared you for it.  I don't want to judge with so little information but you and him need to get on the same page and you may want to shop around a little for a new trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditDate="2012-08-17T01:34:14.427" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T01:34:14.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7720" CreationDate="2012-08-17T12:16:49.260" Score="3" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'10&quot; tall and weight only 56kg. I'm trying to be massive and doing some workout daily, like push ups for at least 30 minutes, with two breaks. In the last 6 months I gained only 5kg.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm quite busy and can't go to gym regularly. How can I build a good physique and gain weight without going to a gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4058" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:25:44.743" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:25:44.743" Title="Body building and gaining weight" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7719" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7722" CreationDate="2012-08-17T13:09:18.120" Score="5" ViewCount="5806" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in the gym yesterday doing a relatively light session which included squatting on the smith machine. It was only about 130kg and I done about 3 sets of 8 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I woke up this morning with an unusual red 'marks' along both of my shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong whilst holding the bar? It wasn't bothering me at the time and I had a sponge roller thing wrapped around the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IbDtd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The image hasn't done it any justice to be honest, it looks a lot worse to the naked eye! Sorry about the lack of rotation also!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was just wondering what the cause was really, I'm not concerned about the marks as they aren't bothering me in the slightest, just wanted to know what was the physical reasoning behind them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4057" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T15:11:26.740" Title="Strange mark on shoulders after squatting" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7718" CreationDate="2012-08-17T14:29:37.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, if you really want to pack on the mass, you are going to have to pack on the weights. It sounds like in your case, you will see quite a jump in mass the first few months if you do a basic military routine or other body weight workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best advice is to just eat. Eat, eat, eat eat eat. Lot's of protein, lots of complex carbs before your workout, and then simple carbs immediately after your workout to fill those muscles. Stay low on unhealthy fats and empty calories like added sugars, beer, white flour pastries/deserts, and get on some nuts, raw vegetables, eggs, steak, chicken oatmeal, and sweet potatoes (or white potatoes in your case since you want to bulk)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do any of the traditional bodyweight workouts: pushups, dips, pullups, situps, body-weight squats, burpees, but then after a few weeks, switch it up and do different variations of those. Do australian pullups, incline pushups, twisting situps, bench dips, ect. If you have a park nearby where you live, some of them have parallel bars and pullup bars you can use. There are people that have gotten big of just body weight workouts, but understand there will be a point of diminishing returns and you will need to stack on additional weight to force your body into growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: And I skipped over this part because I was assuming it was a given, but yeah, post workout protein is essential. A whey protein shake is your best bet, but if you don't have that, you are going to want some tenderized beef/steak. The creatine in the red meat will help those muscles recover as well by getting more water into the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One additional key, you will want your body to be anabolic for as long as possible, and that includes while you sleep, so some cottage cheese or greek yogurt before bedtime is key as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you see, putting on mass involves a lot more than just having the right workout or gym, but not to say it isn't important. All that extra protein you put into your body isn't going to do you any good if you aren't tearing down the muscle to rebuild bigger next time around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3999" LastEditorUserId="3999" LastEditDate="2012-08-17T18:03:43.537" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T18:03:43.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7719" CreationDate="2012-08-17T14:38:10.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either your shirt or the roller pad was probably protruding or got pinched between the sponge roller and your shoulder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevent this in the future by using a barbell without the sponge, without the manta pad, and without the Smith machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T14:38:10.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7719" CreationDate="2012-08-17T15:11:26.740" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like you have some surface blood vessels that popped.  It's not life threatening or something that would prevent you from working out, but common causes for it are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pinching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The location of the marks leads me to believe that you have the bar on your neck and not on your back.  This will put more stress on your neck than it is supposed to handle, and it is also very uncomfortable.  Take your right hand, and reach around to the back of your left shoulder.  You should feel a ridge of bone that protrudes away from your body.  That is called the spine of the scapula.  The scapula is the large bone plate on the back of your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar goes across the back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High bar is where the bar is placed &lt;em&gt;just above&lt;/em&gt; the spine of the scapula.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low bar is where the bar is placed &lt;em&gt;just below&lt;/em&gt; the spine of the scapula.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will not be able to make sure the bar is in the correct position with the pad in place.  Remove the pad and feel the bar going across the back resting just beside the spine of the scapula.  That position is also a much stronger position than up on the neck or top of the traps.  The bar is more balanced and is not likely to roll on you unless you have it too high or too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also never have the blood vessel problem in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T15:11:26.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-17T18:45:22.953" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read a &lt;a href=&quot;http://theconsciouslife.com/anti-inflammatory-diet-how-to-balance-omega-3-omega-6-fats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;great article&lt;/a&gt; on internal inflammation and Omega-3/Omega-6 levels.  It states they should be closer to 1-to-1 than the typical 15-1 ratio of modern diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm willing to supplement Omega 3, and have already changed my diet to reduce Omega 6, but I'm not clear on what proper total levels are and how to test for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4060" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T21:13:50.967" Title="How can one determine their body's Omega Fatty Acid balance?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2012-08-17T18:49:04.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the greatest things that helped my energy level was to &lt;strong&gt;cut caffeine&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was brutal for about 2 weeks but once I was detoxed my natural energy levels were much higher than any of the worn down caffeine spikes of the past.  And now, when I really need a boost, which is rare, a can of soda or a red bull really do provide something useful.  Before I needed them just to feel normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4060" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T18:49:04.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7723" CreationDate="2012-08-17T21:13:50.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there aren't any readily available standard tests, as I don't believe they have established any guideline levels for blood yet. You can get home kits such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.genesmart.com/pages/omega_3_index_home_blood_testing_kit/105.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; and get your levels, but it's really kind of an academic number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The blood tests for porphyria (some people call it the &quot;vampire&quot; test) include an ALA level, but that's the only clinical one I'm aware of that tests for any of the Omega 3 fatty acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, be careful about suddenly just ingesting tons of Omega-3's, somewhere in the early 2000's the FDA published warnings of health risks associated with large quantity Omega-3 supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is that they just aren't really understood yet, so while they know that Omega-3s are beneficial and that the ratio is important, they haven't really established WHY they are important or what good levels are, that kind of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-17T21:13:50.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7754" CreationDate="2012-08-17T21:38:28.767" Score="8" ViewCount="2068" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Briefly&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My deadlift is great and my squat sucks. I want to continue squatting 3x5 more and more weight while I keep my deadlift where it is. &lt;strong&gt;What's the best way to maintain my deadlift strength with a minimum of training time and recovery resources so I can focus efforts on my squat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Details&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm male, 5'10'' tall, and weigh approximately 170-175 pounds, though I'm working on moving up to 180 or 185. I keep pretty good food quality but occasionally under-eat at lunch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently PR'd my deadlift at 385x2, and can hit a hard set of 5 in the mid-300s. My front squat is primary: I am not currently working on my back squat because of form issues and because I think &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theironsamurai.com/2011/06/30/are-back-squats-really-necessary-the-legs-hips-and-ass-issue/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it's not necessary&lt;/a&gt;, but for background I can back squat 225 for reps, probably 240 or so for a max. My front squat has progressed nicely from ~165 to 215 by doing 3 sets of 5, increasing weight every other workout. Once or twice I've been forced to do a 3x3 workout before graduating to 3x5. Those misses were due to poor recovery combined with foolishly adding weight as scheduled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lift two or three times a week, with two to four days a week of judo, moderate hiking and swimming, sprints, or Ultimate. Lifting sessions currently go as follows: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front squat, starting at 45 or 95 and taking steps of ~50lbs up to 3x5 at the work weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift, starting at 145 or 215 and taking steps of ~70lbs up to a set of five in the 315-350 range or a double or triple in the 350-380 range&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One-arm overhead kettlebell presses, 50 pounds, 3x5 or 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other stuff that varies and isn't too strenuous&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for is a program, preferably with references or an explanation, that describes maintaining the deadlift or other major barbell exercise at a given level while working on other lifts. My goal is the minimum amount of deadlifting in order to still lift in the upper 300s, so that my body can use more recovery resources towards squat strength. However, I'm asking this because I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; that maintaining my deadlift as-is will make it easier to improve my squat. If I'm wrong on that, tell me, and tell me what to fix instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-22T21:02:50.683" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T19:10:23.227" Title="What's the ideal way to maintain my deadlift with minimal recovery demands?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="18" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7704" CreationDate="2012-08-18T01:23:48.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes are meant to be supplements, not replacements. Real food uber alles. It doesn't look like you're eating enough food to justify a shake anytime but post-workout. If you think you need liquid supplementation, do GOMAD. If you can't do GOMAD but want to supplement, eat a dozen eggs a day (or two).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Six eggs would be more appropriate for breakfast if you're trying to gain weight, or five plus a piece of meat or yogurt with berries. Same goes for the salads--I don't understand why you're not using salad dressing. Fat is good. Eat fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not gaining weight (as noted in your other question), and you want to gain weight, I'd stop worrying about snacks and just aim to double the size of your meals. If the snacks help you, you could try converting them to a helping of meat, like tuna salad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer to eat more veggies, but this looks like a good diet, though not one that would make someone grow bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-18T01:23:48.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-18T08:11:01.260" Score="4" ViewCount="914" Body="&lt;p&gt;After learning about the difference between bodybuilder training versus powerlifter training, I want to know about how to strength train for the discus throw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is high weight and low reps best for me to develop dynamic strength and maintain speed in the discus circle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4061" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-18T11:11:22.843" LastActivityDate="2012-08-18T21:33:09.767" Title="What lifting is best for discus training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5199" CreationDate="2012-08-18T13:20:26.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're actively seeking medical treatment for a longstanding back problem, I'd advise against starting any sort of weightlifting program without at least consulting with your phylsiotherapist.  Also, if you have a recent history of being unable to walk without pain, you may find basic gym exercises a little overwhelming a first.  Thats not to say you can't improve with time, and grow into them in the future.  Like some other people here said, I'd talk with your therapist about entering an exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@BackInShapeBuddy made a good point - make sure your therapist understands that you're trying to transition into weightlifting as an eventual goal.  When I hurt my rotator cuff and had to go into physical therapy (years ago), my therapist put me on a slightly different plan than if my goal was just to be pain free without physical activity - he actually taught me he to lift safely, and then later recommend a personal trainer for me to move on to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that gym trainers will have wildly varying levels of sophistication.  Some might not understand how to help you through your issues (sometimes successful athletes just don't know how to deal with people who have medical problems because they've never experienced it personally)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2012-08-18T16:20:29.767" LastActivityDate="2012-08-18T16:20:29.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1052" CreationDate="2012-08-18T14:05:43.287" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;People get injured lifting with their back because their backs are weak. Not using one's back is one solution. Strengthening one's back is a better solution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of stiff-legged deadlifts is to start light and slowly progress to weights that are challenging--that is, heavy &lt;em&gt;for you&lt;/em&gt;--but still solidly doable. This is a safe way of loading the back in exactly the position where, if it is left weak, it would fail and cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used stiff-legged deadlifts as rehab from a slight lower back injury caused by poor deadlifting form. I did high reps (25 to 50), done with extremely low weights (5# to 45#). This worked the pulled muscles enough to keep blood flowing and perhaps stimulate healing, but not enough to cause unsafe stress. It worked well for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are another good way to strengthen the back, which focus on locking the spine into a safe and neutral position, then subjecting that structure to stress. The deadlift can be loaded much more heavily than a stiff-legged deadlift, which is good. In contrast, the stiff-legged deadlift is useful because it works the muscles as they've moving through their intended range of motion, but must be loaded much lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-18T14:05:43.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7729" CreationDate="2012-08-18T14:09:42.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your specific question, from what I remember from college, your weight training is going to be dependent on what part of the season you are in, and is going to be a progressive thing. So, for your off season, you will be doing sets in the 8-10 rep range, and as your season progresses, so will the weight and the reps will start dropping down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other considerations, you will probably want to add serious core work, plyometrics, agility. Strength is a key part of the discus, but balance through the spin, being able to translate that spin into the motion with a coordinated toss, etc. are going to matter just as much as how strong you are. I would highly recommend finding a coach that can teach you all aspects of the training and techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a few references I found for exercise programs. The one from brianmac outlines more of what I was talking about, the other one strictly addresses weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/discus/plan.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brian Mac&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coacheseducation.com/strengthtraining/bill-pandleton-dec-00.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coaches Education&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-18T14:09:42.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7729" CreationDate="2012-08-18T14:12:45.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should check out Dan John's work. He's a former discus thrower and has a lot to say on the subject. Much of what he recommends is essentially powerlifting with an upper-body and power focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recurring elements of his discus advice include deadlifts, power cleans, and overhead squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His short book &quot;A Contrarian Approach to the Discus Throw&quot; covers much of his thought on the issue. His &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/old_school_soldier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;opinion on the basics&lt;/a&gt;, however, are well known:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What most people need to do is squat, press, deadlift, clean, snatch, jerk, dip and chin. You know the drill. &quot;Dan, how many chins?&quot; someone will ask. Well, how many can you do? &quot;I dunno. I've never done one!&quot; Hmmm, as an expert in all things, let's try this: let's see how many you can do!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, my totally uneducated opinion (I've never even held a discus) I think high weight for five reps or less would almost certainly be best. Lowering the weights in order to do power exercises like cleans would be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-18T21:33:09.767" LastActivityDate="2012-08-18T21:33:09.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1052" CreationDate="2012-08-18T14:23:33.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one directly said this, so I thought I'd contribute (the other posters talked around this):&#xA;When you do a stiff legged deadlift, you maintain your spine in a fixed curvature, and pivot at the hips.  If you curled and uncurled your back, yes, you'd probably injure it.  But by holding it in position, you perform a powerful isometric exercise for the lower back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-08-18T14:23:33.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7737" CreationDate="2012-08-18T20:34:00.903" Score="3" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night, I saw a news on TV. A guy is running from Baltimore to San Francisco. He promotes healthy living style to each hosting family along his way. He said that at night he wears some kind of pants for quicker recovery. I didn't quite catch what he said actually, so wonder what kinds of pants for example can help in recovery? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="163" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T12:02:48.780" Title="What kind of pants can help recovery from running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7735" CreationDate="2012-08-19T01:07:44.063" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of different types of pants that aid recovery, but neither of them are really &quot;pants&quot; in the traditional sense. Most of them are compression tights, or you can also get compression socks or compression sleeves that cover from just below the knee to the top of the foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several brands of compression hose available on the market, a couple of brands are 2XU, Zoot and Beaker Concepts. You can also get the medical version CEP or TED hose, and it's basically the same effect. You can get these anywhere from $20 - $200 depending on brand and size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also large inflatable boots/pants made by a couple of manufacturers (NormaTec and Recovery Pump) that encapsulate the entire leg or just a boot, and they work by inflating and deflating chambers in the pants to massage, improve circulation and reduce swelling and fatigue. There are quite a few elite endurance athletes that use these, Chrissie Wellington (3x IM world champ), Meb Keflizighi (Oly silver in the marathon), and others of that level that can justify the cost. They run $1000-2000 for a set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The compression in them runs from 10-30mm Hg (For comparison, a blood pressure cuff will generally be pumped up to 140-180 mm Hg at its highest), depending on the style, manufacturer and where on the leg it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My n=1 is that I am wearing Zoot compression sleeves on my right calf to control swelling while I am rehabbing a ruptured Achilles, and they work amazing for that. Since this is my first experience with them, I can't speak to how well they recover for long endurance events, although some of my sponsored triathlon friends swear by them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-19T01:07:44.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7735" CreationDate="2012-08-19T01:08:27.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For anything to be useful in recovery, and not snake-oil or a placebo, it would depend on whether you have a circulatory condition. If you're completely healthy, wearing special pants will just cost you extra money. If you're not healthy, then the types of leggings you might wear to sleep would benefit you regardless of whether you run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-19T01:08:27.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-19T08:46:18.070" Score="6" ViewCount="1053" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are good exercises for upper back which you can preform in the hotel room?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only have my bodyweight and that's it. Also, I'm not very keen to test the strength of the various hotel's bars/rods by preforming pull-ups / chin-ups on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1375" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T22:12:55.877" Title="Upper back exercise on the road" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7739" CreationDate="2012-08-19T12:58:25.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's two products I would recommend (I hate to push a product, but these are relatively cheap and effective):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitdeck.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fitdeck.com/&lt;/a&gt; - a set of exercise cards developed by a Navy Seal with the idea of working out in a limited space.  The basic set will keep you busy and provide a full body workout and they also expanded their products...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodylastics.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodylastics.com/&lt;/a&gt; - a rubber band system with interchangeable bands for resistance.  Not as cheap, but gives resistance training via a very easy to carry case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specific for the back, I would agree with VPeric - using a towel on doorknobs, I would also recommend looking at Ross Enimait's homemade isometric tool/workout: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2009/02/23/homemade-isometric-tool/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2009/02/23/homemade-isometric-tool/&lt;/a&gt;  Isometrics are VERY effective and with this device there's a wide range of back exercises (specific to your question) that you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-19T12:58:25.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6574" CreationDate="2012-08-20T08:04:32.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it will not go away. Unless you do something about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've been running in Vibrams for &quot;quite a while&quot; your feet should have adapted by now, and you should be able to run without pain in your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscles in your feet should have gained enough strength after 4-8 weeks.&#xA;The joints, connective tissue, and tendons might well take longer; ½-1 year before they've adapted fully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if &quot;quite a while&quot; means a year or more then the  pain in your feet will not just go away, and you'll have to change something in order to get a different result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you could/should do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See a doctor, physio therapist, or the like, and let him examine your feet. Don't just trust the advice of some people you asked on the internet - maybe they want to do you harm, maybe they're ignorant, and they've probably never even seen your feet, so how can they give you advice on them :-)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try giving your feet a running break for a week or two, and then start up gently. The pain could just be your feet trying to tell you that they can't keep up with your running ambitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try another model of Vibrams. Making Vibrams is a complex task, much more complex than making regular running shoes, since feet are so different and Vibrams have to fit really well in order to support your natural barefoot feeling. And since it's so complex to create fitting Vibrams, it's a complex task to select the right ones too. You might well have chosen a wrong model. A specialized store with running shoes should be able to give you advice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barefoot running should not hurt your feet, but if it does (for an extended period of time), then something is wrong and has to be corrected.&#xA;Good luck with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T08:04:32.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2012-08-20T09:40:54.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you seen the Stronglifts 5x5 program? Squatting every workout. Deadlift only 1 set of 5 reps sometimes once or twice a week. What your asking is very contradictory. If your squat improves, so will your deadlift, and vice versa. The deadlift is considered to be a lower back/ham string exercise so overlaps the squat &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you should be bothered about maintaining the weight you can lift on the deadlift. You'll find it naturally increases along with your squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4074" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T09:40:54.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7747" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7752" CreationDate="2012-08-20T11:33:04.473" Score="2" ViewCount="1163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a specific routine that involves weight lifting and cardio.  In the weight lifting part I am doing 4 sets of 8 repetitions of several exercises distributed on 5 days. I am not sure if I should give more details but my question is not about the type of exercises to include. I feel like I am ready to increase the amount of exercise, which was my original plan, but I am not sure what is the best change:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switch to 5 sets of 8 repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switch to 4 sets of 10 repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between them in terms of the benefits they provide?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4076" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-20T22:24:22.127" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T22:24:22.127" Title="Is there a difference between the benefits from extra sets or extra reps?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7358" CreationDate="2012-08-20T12:53:38.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The method I use to maximize strength and power in the posterior chain is below. I was not, however, concerned with calorie burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I deadlifted heavy, aiming for a 3RM or 5RM. If I can safely do a triple with X pounds one week, I shoot for a set of 5 with the same weight. If I can do a set of 5, I go for X+5 pounds the next workout. If I was forced to stop at rep three, I'll do a second set of two or three, but otherwise I don't do sets across. This method increased my strength steadily for about six months, excluding two short breaks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either as a warm-up for the deadlift or on separate days, I did power cleans, working up to a work weight and doing 3 to 5 sets of three reps. I increased the weight every few workouts, when I was sure I wasn't committing any egregious form errors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once every week or two, I'd do a set of sprints. I think this and the cleans helped my speed-strength. The sprints also made me leaner if I did them frequently, so that might address the &quot;calorie burn&quot; aspect of your question.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T12:53:38.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2012-08-20T13:39:36.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that &quot;One can breathe in through the nose only&quot; and if it works for you then why stop. I tried nose breathing when doing weights years ago after reading an article on its benefits but gave up because I found it near impossible. &#xA;Recently over the last month I tried it again incorporating it into my 1 hour bike rides&#xA;which includes riding up steep hills I am amazed at the results. Initially I took it easy but I have now reached the point where I am as fast as I was when I was breathing through my mouth averaging around 25km/h. I have noticed that by concentrating on a regular balanced deep breathing pattern of inhaling and exhaling through the nose climbing hills seems much more manageable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4078" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T13:39:36.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7753" CreationDate="2012-08-20T13:45:22.027" Score="5" ViewCount="1428" Body="&lt;p&gt;External shoulder rotation (or lack thereof) is becoming a problem for me as I squat a little heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's preventing me from having a nice low bar and also forcing me to take quite a wide grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some techniques and stretches to help improve external shoulder rotation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4079" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-20T22:25:29.987" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T23:43:20.510" Title="What can improve external shoulder rotation while squatting?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7704" CreationDate="2012-08-20T16:13:59.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's start with basics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep it simple - if you want to gain weight you need to be in calorie surplus. I'll guess you are 6 feet tall, rough estimation of your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt; (calorie you need for maintainning weight) is 2715 kcal per day. To gain pound a week you need calorie surplus of 500 kcal, which puts your energy demands around 3215 kcal. How much fat and how much muscle you would gain, depends on several factors (genetics, training, hormons, rest, etc.).&#xA;I would suggest eating 3000 kcal per week and to track your progress. One very important thing here - like i said, this TDEE is rough estimation, and your actual TDEE can be as slow as 2500 or as high as 3200 (if not even higher or maybe even lower). To be sure about your TDEE, you'll have to learn your body and for that you need time and bodyweight scale.&#xA;Also, note that with gaining extra pounds of lean body, your TDEE will go up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing you need to learn is to keep your eating diary. And by this I mean - &quot;I ate 200g of milk and 120g of eggs&quot;. If you say - &quot;I ate 2 eggs for breakfast&quot;, it doesn't mean anything. Is it 80g of eggs, or is it maybe 140g of eggs? What kind of eggs (chicken / goose / etc.). Kitchen scale is a must! &#xA;After you learn to count weight of your food, use online diary like Cronometer or Myfitnesspal (just to name few) and track both of your macronutrients and micronutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing which you should improve is to set your protein intake at 1g per pound (in your case minimum of 150g of protein per day). Fat shouldn't be lower then 50g (below 50, you might experience lots of problems connected with hormons, like unable to get erection), 100 is even better. Rest carbs. &#xA;To give you better picture, if your calorie intake is set at 3000kcal, 150g of protein equal to 600 kcal, 100g of fat equal 900kcal, which means you should take 375g of carbs (1g of protein and carbs = 4 kcal, 1g of fat = 9 kcal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say protein shake, I guess you mean whey powder, right? Drink it only in the morning with your first meal and after workout. Whey is a very fast protein (to keep it simple, I'll call it &quot;fast protein&quot;) and around lunch there is high chance you'll still digest proteins from earlier meal. If this is a case, whey will be turned into glucose (sugar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, until we see your precise food intake (measured in grams), there is not much I can tell you more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1375" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T16:13:59.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7747" CreationDate="2012-08-20T16:17:42.187" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're doing 4x8, I think doing 4x10 would be a better increase in volume than 5x8. Being able to do another set isn't going to stimulate growth. Lifting the same weight for more reps will be harder and stimulate at least some improvement in strength-endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better than both of those options would be to increase the weight and decrease the volume. Add five pounds and shoot for four sets of 5. If that works, then in the next workout add another five pounds, or do the same (increased) weight 4x8. The process can be repeated for quite a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T16:17:42.187" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7750" CreationDate="2012-08-20T16:41:34.040" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend routinely doing the Diesel Crew shoulder rehab protocol and the associated shoulder warmup.  The rehab protocol is good as both prehab and rehab for a shoulder that is causing pain due to muscle imbalances.  There are good exercises in the protocol that address the external rotation, as well as many other uses you're probably not thinking about right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main article that has a link to both the rehab protocol and the 2 minute warmup is found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dieselcrew.com/how-to-shoulder-rehab&quot;&gt;DieselCrew's HowTo: Shoulder Rehab&lt;/a&gt; page.  This will help address long term shoulder health, as well as your more immediate concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple direct exercises that address the problem are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Band external rotations--be careful not to raise your shoulder up when you do it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &quot;no money drill&quot; -- found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/cresseys_favorite_exercises&quot;&gt;Eric Cressy's favorite exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T16:41:34.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2012-08-20T19:07:25.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Combination between Robin and my responses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a week maintenance on deadlifting, with alternating between a slightly higher rep count and less weight with weeks of higher weight and less reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for maintenance, one week do two reps at near max, followed by slightly less weight in the 5 rep range the next week. A few times a year kick it up a bit and try to hit your one rep max that you are maintaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also cycle through some different variations on the deadlift, conventional, sumo, romanian so as not to get stale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to find the references I was looking at originally, but came up dry on my search strings, I'll have to look through my browser history at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T19:07:25.487" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4096" CreationDate="2012-08-20T20:45:47.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a couple of different courses, actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go to a doctor and have it checked out. There are two different types of snapping hip syndromes, and each have different causes and recommendations. You could be trying the cure for one, when it is the other one that is causing it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check your shoes and have a gait analysis done. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had snapping hip in college cross-country caused by uneven wear in my shoes that I didn't switch out properly, and ran too many miles on worn out cushioning. Often you can't tell from a visual inspection that your cushioning has lost its effectiveness, you have to pay attention to how your body feels. When you start feeling more &quot;beat up&quot; or have other small aches/pains, it may be time to change shoes. Also, be cautious of wildly varying mileages from week to week. If you jump from 10 miles to 50 miles to 30 miles and back to 45, it's easy to create injuries where there shouldn't be any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ibuprofen, ice baths (although I don't recommend these unless prescribed, easy to do cold damage to personal parts), stretching and massage can all help alleviate symptoms, but unless you address the root cause, it will just come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method you can try is Active Release Therapy (ART), and foam rolling the area. You can either try this on your own or find an ART therapist locally to show you how at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-20T22:27:03.637" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T22:27:03.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7750" CreationDate="2012-08-20T23:43:20.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trigger point work got me from being completely unable to hold the bar on my back without my left shoulder flaring way further back than my right. It may not do everything, but everyone does have trigger points to some degree, and if you have problems with range of motion, trigger points will at least develop as a result, compounding the problem, so it's well worth looking into. You should see some improvement within a couple days, even if it's not quite enough to do what you want until some weeks of work have passed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies to Trigger Point Self-Care Manual by Donna Finando, but both will work quite well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-20T23:43:20.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-20T23:46:33.393" Score="2" ViewCount="1574" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out with free weights a couple months ago and have been making good muscle and strength gains. In the past week and a half I increased a lot of the weight so I could stay within my 6-12 rep range for my upper body which seems to give me a good workout. I've had this issue in my right arm for awhile, but now it's getting a bit worse. When I do pushups I get this tingling sensation in my right elbow, when flexing it hurts a little bit and when I rest that elbow on something it causes my fingers in that arm to get numb for awhile. I've read that it could be a torn tendon of some sort, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also followed advice of giving yourself 1-2 days of rest in-between workouts to allow your body to heal. I've been doing proper form and have not done anything that I couldn't handle with ease.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately a doctor visit isn't an option unless it's something serious since I don't have insurance and I'm already in debt to the doctors office in the $10,000 range. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4083" LastActivityDate="2012-11-20T04:03:12.427" Title="Mild Pain in Right Elbow When Flexing Starting After Increase Weight During Workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7759" CreationDate="2012-08-21T02:21:11.887" Score="2" ViewCount="2073" Body="&lt;p&gt;I joined a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_boat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dragon boat&lt;/a&gt; paddling team a few months ago and have been paddling out on the water using club equipment and gear. I have noticed that others who elected to purchase their own paddles have either a T-grip or a palm grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The T-grip it just a plain cylindrical handle that goes in the palm of your hand and is perpendicular to the shaft of the paddle. The palm grip is, in contrast, a little stubbier  rounded rather than extended like the T-grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these different grips make any difference in how someone paddles in terms of technique or how the physical muscles are engaged in the hand, wrists, and arm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XYNLe.png&quot; alt=&quot;Dragon boat paddle T-grip&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4kTpB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dragon boat paddle palm grip&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T17:34:47.430" Title="Do different paddle grips have an effect on performance?" Tags="&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7758" CreationDate="2012-08-21T03:21:36.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest factor of the grip is whether you'll twist it off or snap it off. The wooden one you posted on the left is at a high risk of that happening. The carbon fiber one on the left could still be at risk of twisting, but at least it won't have part of it snapping off. Ideally, it'll be a single piece, rather than having the grip glued to the shaft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many opinions on technique. Some coaches will hold that there is one right way of doing it, and that everything else is wrong. However my best coaching came from a friend (who's now a U-23 world champ) who suggested several options qualified based on what worked well for her, and suggesting modifications based on my body type. That ended up being confounded by the fact that I could really settle on what worked best for me on OC-1, but when I went back to DB it ended up being more important that I fall in line with how everyone else was paddling, and I also needed to make adjustments so I wouldn't punch the guy in front of me in the back of his head while I reached. Incidentally as far as grip goes, I always take a thumbless grip, even though the convention is a thumbed grip, and that's something the coaches were always willing to compromise on - so evidently none of them thought the grip specifics mattered all that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just confirmed the answer with said U-23 World Champ. She said it doesn't make a difference, it's just a matter of comfort or preference, with a caveat that there is a coach who insists on the T-Grip, but there isn't a practical reason for that, again, just coach's preference. If everyone on your team has a particular grip, you might want to ask and go with that, simply because of the nature of a team sport, but other than that, pick whichever one you find more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-08-22T04:15:31.993" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T04:15:31.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7757" CreationDate="2012-08-21T06:15:21.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like I said in comments, we can't diagnose this, but advice that applies universally would be &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; to rest until the pain goes away. You're correct that it's probably related to your lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I will attempt to give some non-medical advice related to your exercise selection and form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of the exercises you list, the ones most likely to be the cause of your pain are your tricep extensions. They're an open-kinetic chain exercise of a multi-joint muscle (the tricep) that isolate only one of its functions (elbow extension). When you re-start, I'd suggest replacing them with lying tricep extensions, explained well in &lt;a href=&quot;http://vimeo.com/25983467&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video by Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other tricep work you're doing is push-ups, which are pretty hard to mess up, but you should still post a form video to have somebody else check that you're using correct form or suggest modifications to alleviate elbow pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T06:15:21.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7762" CreationDate="2012-08-21T08:29:56.363" Score="2" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watched an episode of &quot;Fight Science&quot; on National Geographic Channel which shows an elite soldier being able to sustain high combat performance in a low oxygen environment. This soldier is tested to have a lower resting heart rate than an average human being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does one train to achieve a low heart rate like that of an elite soldier? Does such training enables one to control the heart rate to the extend of feigning death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4086" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T14:46:51.417" Title="How does one reduce heart rate through physical fitness?" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7761" CreationDate="2012-08-21T08:47:10.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart is a muscle. You train your muscles by using them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make heart stronger and more efficient (lower BPM), you have to do exercises which significant increas your heart rate - any kind of cardio will do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BPM of avarge Joe is around 70-75. Athletes usually have BPM around 50-60.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you direct answer - low hear rate is achieved with cardio training (HIIT, Tabata, Crossfit, etc.). And no, you can't control your heart rate. It's under control of your autonomic nervous system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1375" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T08:47:10.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-21T13:44:19.350" Score="12" ViewCount="506" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I have to buy new one every 2-3 months to swim fog free? Is there a way to protect the anti-fog feature for long times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2320" LastEditorUserId="2320" LastEditDate="2012-08-21T18:39:09.920" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T14:05:34.147" Title="How to make a swimming goggle fog free?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7765" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7766" CreationDate="2012-08-21T13:51:02.683" Score="6" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some say; you have to get better at your swimming technique before swimming longer distances. But others (minority) suggest that you have to develop swimming fitness before worrying about technique? Which is the right way to start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2320" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T04:22:26.147" Title="Is it better to develop swimming fitness first or get better at technique?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7765" CreationDate="2012-08-21T14:37:03.213" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to assume that you are coming from a mostly non competitive swimming background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has to be a baseline of both, but I lean towards the emphasis that you need to be a fitter swimmer before you can really start effectively working on your form. Even if you do 2000 yards/meters in increments of 50 (two lengths or one lap) working strictly on form, if you don't have the fitness to swim a 200m distance, as soon as your fitness fails, your form will soon follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there is some evidence that gross flaws in your stroke will self correct as you get fitter, so that by the time you can swim a decent distance, some of your worst mistakes will have corrected themselves. Obviously, the fine points of the stroke won't magically fix themselves, but some of the bigger flaws will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be to follow a program such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ruthkazez.com/ZeroTo1mile.html&quot;&gt;Ruth Kazez 0 - 1 mile&lt;/a&gt; program (6 weeks to swim 1 mile) to get a good baseline of fitness, then you can develop a program that will continue that fitness while you add in stroke refinement drills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good drills for stroke improvement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Catchup drill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fingertip Drag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fist Drill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Arm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sculling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side kicking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there can be a limit to how much you can improve your stroke on your own without feedback from an instructor. Not a coach, a coach is someone who can build a workout season, an instructor teaches strokes and refinements. They can be one and the same, but often are not. For other feedback, I also highly recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/&quot;&gt;SwimSmooth&lt;/a&gt; program, which is a good online resource, and there are also a lot of technique videos on youTube that you can go through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T14:37:03.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2012-08-21T14:41:21.567" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few low tech methods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toothpaste (Smear a bit then rinse free, be cautious as some people are sensitive to toothpaste around the eyes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saliva&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anti Fog spray&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had good results with the aquasphere line, but eventually all glasses fog over. I usually just spit on the insides, smear around, then rinse them out and slap them back on. During practice, I generally just smear pool water over the inside with my thumbs. After a while, fogginess just doesn't bother you any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T14:41:21.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7761" CreationDate="2012-08-21T14:46:51.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As StupidOne says, the heart is part of the autonomic system. As you increase your cardiovascular fitness, the resting heart rate drops, because the heart has increased in size (Left Ventricular Hypertrophy), and the circulatory system is more efficient, so the heart doesn't have to work as hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some guru/yogi/swami types that have been able to drop their heart rates during meditation into very low areas, and highly trained athletes have been recorded as having heart rates in the 20's-30's during sleep, but it's not something you can just do, as in &quot;Snap! I'm dead, see?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T14:46:51.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2012-08-21T23:02:33.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on your personal bests. Its time to shelve the 5x5 program or any variation of it. You can't do the same thing and expect the same results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to add more size and bulk to move into the next category of lifting. Get your food right (consistency is the key), and try a 4 set squat session once a week. Do 4 sets increasing weight on each with a (roughly) 15,10,6,4 rep pattern. Ensure you lift to failure on at least the last 2 sets. Recover for 7 days - try again but start the 1st set on the weight you started with on the 2nd set. Do this for 4 weeks. Write done all your weights and reps each week so you can track progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its important to taper your workouts in cycles so fatigue doesn't get in the way of gains/training. (You might want to read up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core9.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dual Factor Training&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-08-21T23:02:33.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-22T00:29:26.573" Score="6" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand muscle training theory correctly, you put stress on your muscles, often times going as far as microscopically tearing the muscles up, and then expect the recovery process to make you stronger. Please excuse the gross oversimplification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle fibre tears can result in pain, otherwise known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. More stress results in more tears, and more pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would there be a relation between the amount of stress put on a muscle and the physiological reaction that rebuilds the muscle stronger afterwards? In other words, when I feel great soreness, should tell myself &quot;well, this is a good sign&quot;, or rather &quot;oh grief, I've gone too far&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3785" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T01:23:32.503" Title="Is there a relation between muscle soreness and muscle progress?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7771" CreationDate="2012-08-22T01:18:30.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's a light amount of soreness, it's a good sign. If it's a significant amount of soreness, you've gone too far. It's quite possible to make strength progress without significant muscle soreness (fatigue is another matter). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are people who will say that the muscle soreness is necessary, spouting crap like 'no pain, no gain', but those people work themselves to a pretty much constant muscle soreness, while plateauing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, soreness will often be felt near the joints rather than the muscle belly, which is tendon soreness, and not muscle soreness. There's less blood flow to the tendons, so you really don't want much discomfort there at all. If you feel the soreness near the joints, but not in the muscle belly (which isn't uncommon among certain lifters), you're making zero progress in strength while damaging your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-08-22T01:23:32.503" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T01:23:32.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-22T01:56:35.867" Score="2" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I set out to loose 40lbs this year. I cycle approximately 50 miles(10 miles Monday to friday) each week, and have been on a diet of less than 2000(~1700) calories each day for the most part of this year. But in all, I have only lost 10 lbs, and struggling to keep it all off. I recently switched to eating about 200 calories of fish each day and drinking about 3 cups of 2% milk, to replace much of the carbohydrate that used to be in my diet, but still no change. It has been 8 months and still only 10lbs lost. Any suggestions on why the weight is not dropping off? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My start weight was 170lbs. Height is 5ft 4inches.BMI was at about 28 when I started. Still around that(27 ish) after more than 8 months.  It seems my body struggles to go below 160lbs. It takes me about 1 hour to complete the 10-11 miles each day, and I track my calories in my journal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did try reducing calorie but that ended up a disaster. I went as low as 1300 calories/day, maintaining exercise regimen(cycling) for about 2 weeks, lost not even a single pound, but I felt hungry all through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4093" LastEditorUserId="4093" LastEditDate="2012-08-22T07:24:24.137" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T19:03:44.773" Title="Why is the weight not dropping off?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7765" CreationDate="2012-08-22T04:22:26.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have this notion that I would get in better shape by swimming with suboptimal technique, and therefore get more resistance. My girlfriend at the time was a good swimmer and thought the idea was ridiculous. I later had a friend who was quite into swimming as well, and had to stop entirely due to some serious muscular dysfunction in his shoulder from thousands of reps of a technique that was just a bit off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So even if you do somehow get better fitness by not worrying about technique, you're still prone to injury. Technique first is the only sensible way to go. You're not going to get in better shape if you're sidelined due to an overuse injury, and the people who are good at swimming seem to think you get the fitness from the technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T04:22:26.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7973" CreationDate="2012-08-22T04:45:31.523" Score="2" ViewCount="554" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many people, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0684857219&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arnold Schwarzenegger&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_z87avZbHU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hodge Twins&lt;/a&gt;, who say that endurance and stabilizer muscles should be worked out at high rep ranges (16+) for optimal hypertrophy. Their theory is that these type of muscles, for example legs and abs, are composed mostly of type I fibers, so focusing on those fibers would be the most efficient way to increase overall size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a lot of other people who have the mantra that every muscle needs to be trained heavy in the 8-12 rep range. So who is right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T03:51:08.563" Title="Should rep range be determined by muscle fiber composition?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-22T05:25:22.087" Score="3" ViewCount="3206" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago I started putting in effort to lose weight and get more physically active. My effort to lose weight was successful and I dropped about 13 pounds and felt great. But a few months ago I began doing more intense exersises and I started gaining weight instead even though I'm still eating less calories than what I need to stay the same weight. I'm just really confused because I haven't even been doing any weight training to build muscle and I use a calorie calculator so I don't ever eat enought to gain weight. Help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4094" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T18:23:16.667" Title="Eating less, working out more, but gaining weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7779" CreationDate="2012-08-22T05:35:35.283" Score="4" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've looked around but there seems to be a lot of variety out there. Is there a widely accepted &quot;best&quot; set of instructions or video for doing squats correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T04:03:30.350" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T04:03:30.350" Title="Where can I find instructions for doing back squats correctly?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7777" CreationDate="2012-08-22T06:08:41.560" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is widely accepted as the best instructional book for learning how to do squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T06:08:41.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7777" CreationDate="2012-08-22T06:31:07.920" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you need to decide what type of squat you want to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front squat (quad focussed, upright torso)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low bar back squat (balance between quads and hamstrings, torso tilted forward more)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High bar back squat (somewhere in-between the two)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The low bar back squat with a depth that brings the upper surface of your thighs slightly below parallel is well described by Mark Rippetoe in his book, Starting Strength. Some material is available online, also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/squat_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/squat_rippetoe.pdf&lt;/a&gt;: This goes over the differences between front, high bar and low bar back squats, and gives some good reasons for choosing the low bar back squat over the other alternatives.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vimeo.com/30763907&quot;&gt;http://vimeo.com/30763907&lt;/a&gt;: This explains proper positioning of the bar for a low bar back squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T06:31:07.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-22T10:04:00.717" Score="4" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fasting (water only) for an undetermined amount of time (7-14 days) for personal reasons, but I want to continue my workouts so I don't fall out of the habit.  I'm afraid if I let myself skip them I won't restart right away, leading to months of inactivity - it's happened before!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, I have 2-3 cardio workouts a week (30min to 1hr of running/cycling) and 2 weight lifting workouts (3x5 barbell squats, rows, et cetera)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to ensure safe workouts while I fast?  I'm considering modifying/cheating my fast to include milk on workout days, would this help with the weight lifting?  Or is this crazy and I should take a break from the exercise, too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastEditorUserId="4095" LastEditDate="2012-08-22T12:30:13.540" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T12:30:13.540" Title="Is it okay to continue workouts while fasting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7785" CreationDate="2012-08-22T10:53:08.640" Score="17" ViewCount="1173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do a quick google search on &quot;8 hours a day&quot; and you'll find search results that pretty much say that sitting is literally going to kill you. The desk we have at work are adjustable to different heights, and a colleague just got rid of his desk and now stands all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good idea ? What are the potential benefits ? Has anyone on here tried it ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2273" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T12:48:50.683" Title="Should I get rid of my office chair ?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7780" CreationDate="2012-08-22T11:08:19.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't do any heavy workouts while fasting. One time I had neglected to eat (not due to fasting, but due to being distracted) for a while before my workout and I miscalculated the weights I was lifting - increasing my previous max by 40lbs instead of just 10lbs. That was not good for my form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For marathons I wouldn't really go more than 45 minutes between eating carbohydrate packs, unless I'd loaded up on quark in the morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were planning on doing a 40 day fast, I might suggest throwing in a couple weight lifting runs spaced 1-2 weeks apart, but even that probably isn't without risks. If you're only fasting for several days, up to a week, I'd just take a break from the workouts as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T11:08:19.417" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2012-08-22T11:12:00.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had jobs that require standing all day, so I have had long bouts of standing, with only some short breaks, and for the most part it's fine. The only thing is you have to be careful about the surface you're standing on. A perfectly flat surface, like a hardwood or linoleum floor, will be a killer. You'd definitely want to get an anti-fatigue mat to stand on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also see about avoiding wearing dress shoes. If they still need to look formal, driving shoes will probably do the trick and give your feet some space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T11:12:00.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7735" CreationDate="2012-08-22T12:02:48.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was covered in a recent article in the British Medical Journal, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e4848.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mythbusting sports and exercise products&lt;/a&gt;. Their summary was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General public—There is a lack of evidence to support use of compression garments to improve sporting performance. They may reduce muscle soreness if worn for 24 hours after an exercise session&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Professional athletes—There is no consistent evidence that compression garments improve sporting performance. Muscle soreness seems to be reduced if garments are worn for 24 hours after exercise, but objective measures of recovery are less consistent, and compression garments seem to work no better than other recovery strategies such as low grade exercise or contrast bathing. Potential adverse effects of these garments may include increased skin temperature, decreased thermoregulation, and reduced range of motion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Required research—Larger studies in individual sports and research generalisable to either highly trained athletes or the general population, with outcomes related to sports performance, and examination of adverse effects and acceptability of compression garments&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That article is a very useful summary of the evidence on other myths as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T12:02:48.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2012-08-22T12:03:38.537" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, people who spend 8 hours stainding still (like shop personnel, assembly-line  workers or standing security), have got problems too, mostly with their feet and legs: edemas, etc... I haven't conducted any serious research on it, but this makes sense. And in the beginning standing long will definitely be inconvenient or even painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in my opinion the best thing would be to make standing/sitting shifts, like 2-2-2-2 or what your body will &quot;tell&quot; you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, if you start standing and abandon breaks/walks (which you are having every N minutes, aren't you?), it might be not good for your eyes and limbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4020" LastEditorUserId="4020" LastEditDate="2012-08-28T07:30:39.180" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T07:30:39.180" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7787" CreationDate="2012-08-22T13:18:24.240" Score="4" ViewCount="4467" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 yrs old. Even though my BMI is 20, I look lean. I just want to increase bone density or size by doing physical exercise to prevent loss of bone density when I reach old age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4098" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T00:02:20.617" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T00:02:20.617" Title="How do i increase bone density or size through physical exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7786" CreationDate="2012-08-22T13:47:54.253" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Load-bearing and high-impact exercise increase bone density. So squatting, deadlifting, and pressing heavy weights overhead would help. (As they say, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/barbell_medicine_sullivan.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell training is big medicine&lt;/a&gt;.) So would running, jumping, and all the variants thereof. Field sports are another fine way to make sure you give the body some impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-08-23T21:58:02.280" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T21:58:02.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7827" CreationDate="2012-08-22T13:58:55.000" Score="5" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working with Starting Strength for a while now and although I've been taking lots of notes on form and watching videos wherever I can I can't stop rounding my back. I find that when I'm coming up from a squat I feel like I need to ditch the weight or 'round' my way up. Does anybody have any suggestions for preventing myself doing this and if possible without having to deload too much to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T03:05:57.557" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T03:05:57.557" Title="Rounding of the lower back while doing squats" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7773" CreationDate="2012-08-22T16:51:59.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling about an hour a day burns approx. 300 calories (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/fitness/cycling.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nutristrategy.com/fitness/cycling.htm&lt;/a&gt;) and according to this site you need to have a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories for each pound you want to lose....so, it seems that there is something wrong with either your burn rate OR your diet.  I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tracking IN DETAIL your diet for 2 weeks (no cheating)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tracking ALL activity in the same 2 week period (don't do anything extra to look good)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;compare the two and see the results&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one 'wild card' is your metabolism, each person's metabolism is a bit different and by going on a diet could slow it down (it's often recommended to eat more often than eat less).  If you still can't find the answer - get in touch with a dietician and/or personal trainer. The one thing that caught my attention is the time it takes you to bicycle 10 miles...it seems a little slow - and perhaps you can use that time to develop a weight lifting program that would help burn during/post workout.... Like Albert Einstein said: Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T16:51:59.433" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7777" CreationDate="2012-08-22T17:53:31.867" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are always going to be differences in form between different coaches. Therefore, unless one subscribes to the reasoning behind a particular approach, one cannot say that one form of squat is the best. However, we can point out the best instances of teaching what are generally regarded as safe and effective squat methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If looking at sources on the web and in print generally, here are some pitfalls to avoid:&#xA; - If someone says to be careful of squats because they damage the knees, set off an alarm bell in your mind.&#xA; - If someone says not to squat too deep--for instance, only &lt;em&gt;above&lt;/em&gt; parallel, or to a 90 degree angle between the femur and tibia--jam your ears and back away slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some coaches who have particularly effective squat advice include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mark Rippetoe, whose Starting Strength (second or third editions) is a staple for novices looking to learn the squat (and other lifts) for general strength purposes. He teaches a low-bar squat, which many consider to be a little powerlifting-specific.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greg Everett, whose Olympic Weightlifting book includes excellent discussion and instruction on the squat, as well as the more technical clean, jerk, and snatch. He teaches a high-bar squat that is excellent for general strength purposes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Matt Wenning, who teaches a powerlifting-specific approach to the squat in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://train.elitefts.com/instructional/so-you-think-you-can-squat-parts-1-5/&quot;&gt;So You Think You Can Squat&lt;/a&gt; series.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would recommend picking up either Everett or Rippetoe's book, getting started, and dealing with any issues that arise. Both give solid instruction, though they disagree on some points. (You can always switch from low-bar (Rip's method) to high-bar (Everett's method) after trying it for a while.) If you feel like switching to a more powerlifting-centric approach, Wenning would be appropriate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you're particularly unathletic, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/goblet_squats_101&quot;&gt;Dan John's goblet squat&lt;/a&gt; is a dirt-simple alternative to the back squat. If you feel intimidated by the bar, find it too heavy to start, or want to be super-safe, and you aren't concerned with how fast you gain strength, stick with the hard-to-mess-up goblet squat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T17:53:31.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7773" CreationDate="2012-08-22T18:05:05.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're not measuring and tracking what your body fat percentage is doing, you probably should be. A scale that can provide some kind of measurement for body fat would be a good investment, and you can find them for around $40 USD. It doesn't even have to be 100% accurate, as long as you can get some kind of measurement to track changes. My bathroom scale reads 3-4% different than when I had my fat percentage checked by a doctor. Doesn't matter because I'm only interested in the trend: decreasing, maintaining, or (heaven forbid) gaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is your first effort to build fitness and lose weight, you can spend several months replacing fat with muscle throughout your body, and your weight may not change much at all. Tracking your body fat would verify this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't get discouraged. There are many people in this world who struggle to lose a couple pounds in a year. You've shown yourself that you are capable of sticking with it to lose your 10 pounds in the last 8 months. So keep going. You'll get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T18:05:05.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7776" CreationDate="2012-08-22T18:23:16.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are so many variables, we can't really give a good answer to &quot;why am I gaining weight despite eating less and working out more&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, your plan sounds pretty good.. better than the average person. You're active, and you're feeding yourself well. I'd say as long as you're improving at your activity (running faster, kicking harder), keep up what you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some reasons why you may not be noticing weight decrease:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could have improved your hydration, so you carry a bit more water weight around on you. This is good in the long run, because you'll be able to participate in your activities with more intensity and for longer periods of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're 16, so you could be still growing taller (and if you're female, growing breasts). If you're growing, it's natural to have inconsistent weight trends. I suspect this is the biggest reason you're not seeing predictable changes. But this is okay, as long as you keep at your physical activity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could be trading fat for muscle. Since you're a novice, even non-strength training activities will build muscle. If you're really interested, you could track body-fat percentage instead of just your weight. I would bet that your body-fat percentage is decreasing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3085" LastActivityDate="2012-08-22T18:23:16.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-22T22:17:23.423" Score="4" ViewCount="10359" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep reading that the guideline to shoot for is a max of two pounds a week for weight loss. Why?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see these folks on TV being driven to loose 10lbs a week. Is it just the fact they are so obese that they can handle that sort of crazy drop in weight for the short term but will flatten out once they get down to a more 'normal' BMI? Or are they doing some serious danger to themselves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T14:11:35.713" Title="What's so bad about losing more than 2lbs/wk" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7793" CreationDate="2012-08-23T00:38:55.823" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The greatest predictor of future weight gain is past weight loss. If you try to cut weight that quickly, you're likely to be a part of that statistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're losing a significant amount of weight over a short period of time, chances are you're losing muscle instead of, or as well as, fat. This might be a contributor to the above mentioned weight gain predictor. If you cut a bunch of weight, but it's mostly muscle mass, when you gain that muscle mass back, you'll also gain some fat with it, and suddenly you're heavier than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rapid weight loss can also be water loss, which is to say, dehydration. That's not good for you either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, if your goal is to lose fat, which if you have a ton of it, isn't a bad idea (if you're just in the 'overweight' category, I wouldn't worry about it unless you actually feel unhealthy), I would shake any notion of &quot;weight loss&quot;. I would replace it with a goal of losing inches, and reducing body fat percentage. This allows for weight gain, due to added muscle, while losing fat. That's more likely to be sustainable. Muscle loss isn't sustainable - you'll eventually crash and have to build it back up (or be perpetually unhealthy; another likely contributor to the negative health effects associated with being overweight or obese is unhealthy weight loss practices).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T00:38:55.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7796" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-23T00:41:19.350" Score="4" ViewCount="1175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a hilly run/walk that I do pretty much every single day. Most days I feel like it's the right level of workout for my moderate fitness level, but from time to time, I end up breathing harder and my heart beats faster than on a usual day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some common causes for daily variability in what seems like purely physiological fitness level? I haven't managed to spot any obvious connections with anything going on in my routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2823" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T00:49:22.707" Title="Why do I feel more out of shape sometimes doing the exact same workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7796" CreationDate="2012-08-23T00:49:22.707" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to really tell, but since you've tried to identify possible reasons and can't think of anything, I'll throw out what I would look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ambient temperature or humidity might be making it more difficult on some days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Air pollution could vary from day to day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might not be eating the same amount of food, or the same foods every day, resulting in different energy levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may have had poor sleep the night before, resulting in less energy levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may not be giving your body a chance to properly recover, so after multiple days of the same workout, your body is just saying 'enough'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might be preoccupied with something, which may be adding additional stress that your body isn't adapted to handle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might not be just any one cause, but on some days multiple things lining up to cause trouble. That could also be why you're not able to notice any trends. If any one of those things isn't really enough make it harder on you, it might look like one day you had a miserable night and had problems with your routine, and the next time you had problems you slept very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T00:49:22.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-23T04:38:21.913" Score="9" ViewCount="5393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always heard people saying lifting heavier weights helps build muscle mass while doing more repetitions helps improve muscle definition. I have no trouble understanding the former. But how does one rationalize the latter? In the past, I used to think that doing more repetitions helps burn away fat at the target area, thereby making the muscle looks more define. But after reading answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/718/how-to-lose-manboobs&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, it seems the common consensus is that there is no way to target fat loss. So, how does doing more repetitions make the muscle looks more define? Or is this just a myth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4086" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T07:46:01.327" Title="How does doing more repetitions improve muscle definition?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2498" CreationDate="2012-08-23T06:35:28.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength training burns more calories per minute of activity than cardio, it's scientifically proven. It's true, you shouldn't be strength training every day of the week because your muscles are worked so hard they need to rest and repair. But you also shouldn't be doing intense cardio every day. A combination of both is ideal, but if for whatever reason you couldn't do both, you should weight lift because it's more effective at burning calories, while also keeping your muscles. If you just did cardio, a third of the weight you lost would be muscle mass, your body would weigh less, but look worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4101" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-23T10:08:59.710" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T10:08:59.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7810" CreationDate="2012-08-23T07:31:34.520" Score="6" ViewCount="4876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that swimming is the best option for a whole body workout, but I don't really know what effects that swimming has on my body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does swimming burn fat and help me building muscles (my first priority is: abs and back muscles)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is swimming short and intensive or slow and over a long time better for building muscle and burning fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-23T10:04:46.720" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T18:45:40.987" Title="Swimming for muscle building and fat burn" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7802" CreationDate="2012-08-23T08:45:32.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good for fat burn and fitness. It will not get you 'big' as such but will certainly help with your upper body and defined. Just watch your posture because swimming is not good for it. Maybe do some resistance band work for posture after you swim?&#xA;Hope it helps :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3750" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T08:45:32.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7807" CreationDate="2012-08-23T13:22:30.207" Score="2" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just started playing hockey, and it is in the evening. So it is after work (about 02:30 hours). I usually get cramps when doing training, so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long before training should you eat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the best food to have before training?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine said I should have plain cooked pasta, about an hour before training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4104" LastEditorUserId="4104" LastEditDate="2012-08-23T13:35:26.457" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T14:15:36.383" Title="How early should I eat before Hockey training" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7806" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-23T13:50:55.587" Score="4" ViewCount="8172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing some intense cardio and weight training for the last 2 months, with a goal in mind to get a lean body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understood, if I have body fat around 7-8%, that means ripped mid section and overall lean body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just bought a fat calliper (basic plastic one) to measure my current body fat. I have 8mm thickness around my mid section and according to their chart (for a 23 year old) my body fat is around 7-8%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;why can I still see a layer of fat, on my body, when sitting on a chair?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight (2 months ago): 176lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight (currently): 165lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4105" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-22T13:13:10.317" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T19:39:13.163" Title="I am on 8% body fat but still look fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7805" CreationDate="2012-08-23T14:15:36.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;About your first question, it depends. Some people can eat a meal 30 minutes before training and do ok, others might feel burden in stomach if they eat 90 minutes prior to activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are having cramps, try eat little bit earlier. Maybe, you can even schedule your meals in the way you don't need dedicated pre-workout meal (high carb intake during the day).&#xA;Point is to have adequate level of glucoses (sugar) in you muscles. If you have replenished it during the day, you don't need pre-workout meal (unless, and it is big unless, you feel hungry - never do anything hungry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best food to eat before training? Carbs. Simple or complex? If you eat 0-30 minutes before activity, I would suggest simple carbs combined with some kind of complex carbs (e.g. two or more slices of bread with jam / chocolate bar with banana). Otherwise, complex (e.g. oats / maize). However, please do note that some people feel crashed or fatigue if they eat simple carbs before activity. Problem with them is they can't provide sustained energy (that's the job of complex carbs) and if you didn't back them up with more reliable source of energy, it just won't work (in some cases, people said simple carbs before training gave them cramps, so...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other approach might be to eat during the training. You can buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/274155-what-is-dextrose-in-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dextrose&lt;/a&gt; powder and mix it in your water (or with water and proteins if you're using them). Alternative could be to eat small amounts of raisins during training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightlossforall.com/complex-carbs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sources of complex carbs&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightlossforall.com/simple-carbs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sources of simple carbs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness_top_ten/24b_fitness_list.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some examples of preworkout meal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1375" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T14:15:36.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7806" CreationDate="2012-08-23T14:25:54.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Body fat calculators for home use are not accurate. Not even close. They can only be used to track progression (loosing or gaining BF). You might be sitting at 15% BF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other thing which might give you &quot;fat look&quot; is not fat itself, but water. Reduce your carb and sodium intake and make sure you are taking much more potassium then sodium. Just don't do it overnight. Give yourself several days and do it gradually (both sodium and potassium are vital for your heart, if you make too great disbalance, your health, even life, is in danger).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1375" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T14:25:54.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7809" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-23T14:26:08.287" Score="3" ViewCount="3819" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in taking a multivitamin as a supplement to my diet.  Every multivitamin I look at contains 600% of this and 400% of that - I don't really want to see numbers that high.  I don't even really want to see 100% - I would be most comfortable with seeing 20% across the board.  I am not looking to get all of my micronutrients from this pill, just use is as a supplement to the food I am eating.  Googling doesn't turn anything up.  Does anyone know of such a product?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T16:17:34.040" Title="Low dose multivitamin?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-10-11T19:35:26.743" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7802" CreationDate="2012-08-23T15:04:45.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular workout. You can give a very strong effort, and since there is minimal body impact, you can give a pretty intense workout just about every day. It most definitely will help with fat burning, assuming that you are eating an appropriate, healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will assist in muscle building, but only so much as it takes to overcome the resistance of the water. Obviously, the faster that you swim, the more resistance you will have (Even though with a good stroke you will be more on top of the water than a poor stroke), but you won't get hulking muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, I would recommend swimming all four strokes (back/breast/free/fly) in various amounts, as each stresses the body in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As user3750 so cryptically points out, there is a significant emphasis on the anterior portion of the deltoids (shoulder muscles) and the pecs (chest), which can overpower the rear deltoids and give you the &quot;round shouldered&quot; look. If you do primarily freestyle, I would make sure that you add some supplemental exercises to balance out your deltoids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although many swimmers that you see on TV are fairly well muscled, remember that they are at the pointy end of the stick, and use dryland exercises and weight routines to maximize their potential, and they have all day to swim and work out. You will need to balance fitness and weights in combination if you want the same physique that they have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your short &amp;amp; intense vs. long and slow, the answer is yes. You want a combination of both, to stress both types of fibers in your muscles. Lats will be a primary motivator in a proper freestyle stroke, and your abs and lower back muscles will get good workouts as stabilization muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T15:04:45.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2012-08-23T15:37:52.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have several options available to you, but it does seem like you want to really slow down your deadlift.  Outright trying to maintain it may be more problematic, but if you are deadlifting more than once a week it's time to look at only deadlifting once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When recovery is a problem, it's time to ask yourself some goal orienting questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my goal to be stronger as fast as possible?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I be happy with much slower gains?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is lifting support for something else, or is it my sport?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kind of conditioning/mobility do I need?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two questions really attack the same thing from opposite sides of the coin to get you to think about the role of lifting in what you want to do.  The remaining questions also help refine what type of training programs you will be interested in.  From the content in the question, I can guess at some of your answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting supplements your other activities (Judo, Swimming, Hiking, Sprints, Ultimate)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A couple of those activities require skill work, and that has to be accounted for.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of the activities require significant conditioning, and at least one of them requires a decent amount of mobility.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With lifting as a supplement, and the level of work you've brought yourself to, you might really look at programs that have you increase monthly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that foundation, of the programs I know, probably the most flexible and useful program structure would be Wendler 5/3/1.  You have four main lifts: squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press.  Each main lift has its own day, along with 2-3 assistance exercises.  This helps keep the time in the gym down, and your ability to recover up.  The program is a monthly progression, where every 4 weeks you cycle through different intensity and rep ranges with the last week a deload week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can happily substitute front squats for back squats on the program, and you won't be violating the basic principles of the program.  Additionally, the program encourages you to do your conditioning and mobility work.  Wendler is a former football player, made the switch to power lifting, and then stopped being so aggressive so his body could heal itself.  The slower gains keep him moving forward, but letting him do other stuff as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other options include looking at what Dan John suggests.  Dan John is a former track and field guy (discus), who later went into Olympic lifting.  He has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/figuring_out_your_life_and_lifting_goals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;very practical opinions&lt;/a&gt; on training.  Front squats are a staple of Oly lifting, so any program he has will feature them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with mixing different &lt;strong&gt;similar&lt;/strong&gt; programs together.  If you really just want to maintain your deadlifts while bringing other lifts up, I recommend taking a deeper deload with deadlifts, and working back up to where you are.  If you need more time, deload them again and work back up.  Staying at the same weight is going to wear on your recovery.  Varying the weight keeps the body in a place where it's getting a break and then building back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T15:37:52.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2012-08-23T15:53:19.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is based on what your body can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if the bottle says it has 512% Vitamin B, your body will consume a percentage of that and the rest will be dumped out, when you attend the bathroom. That is because most vitamins are water soluble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081103204837AAbLEub&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo Answers&lt;/a&gt; - the answer is a bit straight to the line for how I talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My brother is a body builder, and he told me that he never takes vitamin pills, he injects them, as his body will take more that way, as it goes straight into his blood. He also said, if you take a pill, your body will absorb 60% of the pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you see something that says it contains 20% of this, then your body will probably only absorb about 60% of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4104" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T15:53:19.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2012-08-23T16:17:34.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you are on a healthy diet you should not have to worry about your vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am quoting from an &lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/304/5638&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; from Skeptics.SE on the same topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There answer is not necessarily a simple &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;no.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[…] Vitamin supplements are all about avoiding a vitamin deficiency. There really is no added benefit to getting more vitamins once you're at sufficient levels. The trick is that it's not that easy to keep track of whether or not you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[…] No, you do not need vitamin supplements if you get sufficient levels of vitamins anyway. There is no added benefit to getting more than enough vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[…] It is worth looking into whether or not you belong to any of the risk groups, to assess whether or not you would be in need of supplements, or perhaps, and preferably, a change of habits. For a healthy adult to take multi-vitamins sounds to me like hedging your bets, but a pill a day won't get you intoxicated either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From another &lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/7451/5638&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; to a related question from skeptics.SE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[…] So basically the recommendation is to eat plants, not to eat vitamins. Vitamins are not a good substitute for eating a lot of veggies in this sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned that you might suffer from some kind of deficiency you should -in my opinion- adjust your diet before taking supplements. There is no good reason to avoid eating fruits and vegetables on a diet I would call healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T16:17:34.040" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6304" CreationDate="2012-08-23T16:37:52.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The muscles involved in going down stairs are the same as when going up, but they are being used differently. The primary difference is that instead of your quadriceps pushing you up (a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Concentric_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;concentric contraction&lt;/a&gt;), your quad is resisting gravity as it lowers your body down (an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Eccentric_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eccentric contraction&lt;/a&gt;). The eccentric contraction is extremely powerful and if you have problems along the kinetic chain above and below the knee, this could cause you knee pain when going down stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had some struggles with knee pain and found Mike Robertson's work on corrective exercise to be quite helpful. You can read some articles on his blog about the causes of knee pain &lt;a href=&quot;http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/knee-pain-basics-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and how to correct it &lt;a href=&quot;http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/knee-strengthening-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4043" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T16:37:52.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2012-08-23T16:43:12.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Incorporate a 10 day cycle in your lifts... that is squat every 10 days, dead every 10, ft. squat every 10.  And when you do them lift heavy, build the intensity up each set (btw 5-7 sets) and hit reps between 4-7.  The structure can be broken up like this: lift lower body Mon  &amp;amp; Thurs OR Tues &amp;amp; Fri OR Wed &amp;amp; Sat, etc...whatever you like.  Thus you break up the training in 3 weeks cycles, which is perfect.  So ultimately it would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M: B Squat&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T: upper body&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W: off, hike, bike whatever u want&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R: Dead&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F: off&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M: Ft. Squat&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T: upper body&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W: off&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R: B Squat&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc...you end with ft. squat thurs next week, that's a full 3 week cycle.  Then you can start a whole new cycle of lifts, reps, sets; whatever you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can change the days to whatever you want btw...This isn't from a book, this is merely through experience&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T16:43:12.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7802" CreationDate="2012-08-23T18:45:40.987" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming uses so many muscles in your body all at once that it's an excellent way to increase cardiovascular and muscular fitness. If done long enough and often enough each week, it will help with weight loss by burning calories and fat. A 45-minute swim will burn approximately 450 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/19452-swim-burn-fat/#ixzz24OdUmY5K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/19452-swim-burn-fat/#ixzz24OdUmY5K&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4107" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T18:45:40.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2012-08-23T19:10:23.227" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The deadlift isn't really a super-specialized movement and your deadlift max is going to be governed by a combination of things: core stability, hip and leg strength, grip, etc. If you continue strength training, eating at maintenance or more, and get good recovery your deadlift is unlikely to fall behind. Even if it does, after a few sessions you'll be back at 100% or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Here are some strategies to maximize your Squat &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; Deadlift gains.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Develop your anterior chain&lt;/strong&gt;: This means more single leg work such as step up/lunges, planks/pallof presses/sit-ups. I'd also add overhead squats if you're comfortable with them to really get that core/upper back stability going.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use Chalk/Straps for deadlifting&lt;/strong&gt;. One of the reason the deadlift is so taxing on the CNS is due to having to grip so hard. So reducing the grip load while maintaining overall load will help improve recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do smart assistance movements&lt;/strong&gt;. Things like good mornings, trap bar deadlifts, stiff-legged deads, deficit deads. A good assistance movement will challenge you while not strain your recovery needs. Speed deads also would work great.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improve your recovery&lt;/strong&gt;. If you want more resources going to the squat then just having more resources will do that. &lt;a href=&quot;http://swolept.com/posts/the-most-important-thing-that-you-suck-at-sleep&quot;&gt;Sleep better&lt;/a&gt;. Eat high quality food. Make sure you are eating enough calories. Do active recovery stuff like stretching, moving, foam rolling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do regular deadlifts only once every 2-3 weeks&lt;/strong&gt;. Stick to 2 to 3 rep range, not singles. You can try working on a more upright posture - it might be your regular dead is closer to Romanian now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hammer down your technique&lt;/strong&gt;. Getting good numbers isn't just about pure strength but also maximizing leverage, muscle activation and coordination. I'm 100% confident you can get more pounds without getting any stronger just by increasing your proficiency in the lifts. Speed work and frequent training is best for that.    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Some personal thoughts&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are really overthinking this imo. If you want your squat to get better, just squat more. Start squatting 2 or 3x a week. Do a lot of squat accessory lifts. And your squat will go up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also not a fan of caring about numbers for number's sake. Some people are just not as suited for certain lifts as others from a bio-mechanical perspective. Yeah there are ways around it -- like doing super wide squats -- but I think that misses the point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal advice is to have a sound, periodized strength training program and adequate recovery to back it up. I believe that will yield overall gains to your squat and deadlift at the same time -- doubly so if you are in a bulking phase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck in your efforts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Further Reading&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jasonferruggia.com/drop-the-deadlift/&quot;&gt;Drop the Deadlift?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/deadlift_assistance_911&quot;&gt;Deadlift Assistance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/fix_your_front_squat&quot;&gt;Improving the front squat&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2034" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T19:10:23.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7818" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-23T19:24:14.670" Score="3" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just recently I noticed that I have a muscle imbalance in my chest. Even though I am right-handed, the left side of my chest (upper pecs, shoulders) are much more defined than my right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This mildly impacted my overhead press, but given the simplicity of the lift, I never noticed that there was a power imbalance. It wasn't until I started doing more technical and explosive lifts like the power clean that I noticed how severe the imbalance is. When doing cleans it is very hard for my right arm to keep pace with the left, and as a result when I come down to the lowest point in the lift at the catch, my left arm ends up taking the majority of the weight until the right arm catches up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously this is very problematic, and something that needs to be fixed before I can continue doing cleans. My question is, what is the best way to address this imbalance and prevent it from presenting itself again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T21:25:37.783" Title="Dealing with muscle imbalances" Tags="&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7832" CreationDate="2012-08-23T20:03:58.900" Score="10" ViewCount="21658" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to take up cycling but I'm sure how much I should take on with my first cycle. I don't want to be out of action for a week just because I tried to go too far on my first cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how far roughly should I try cycling on my first time out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4110" LastActivityDate="2020-11-15T05:07:39.193" Title="How far should I go on my first cycle?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7806" CreationDate="2012-08-23T20:37:41.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing to understand about most BF% measurement devices is... they are approximations! Unless you go into a hydrostatic displacement tub, you will only be seeing rough approximations that may or may not work for you based off of your body type. The best way to combat this is twofold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use multiple methods to measure your BF%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be consistent and with your measurements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By using multiple methods of calculating body fat, you are far less likely to have your results skewed by a single inaccurate measurement or outlier. Maybe you measured in a wrong location, or maybe you pinched the wrong fold of skin, resulting in a slightly higher/lower reading? The larger your sample size of measurements, the less you will have to worry about these questions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By being consistent with your measurements I mean two things. You want to measure in the exact same place you did last time, at the same time of day, with the same amount of food/water in your stomach, etc.. This is most easily accomplished by taking your measurements first thing in the morning before you shower. The more variability you can eliminate, the more accurate your readings will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I recommend using the navy body fat calculator, the mirror test, the caliper test (both 4- and 8-point). You can read more about different measurements in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T20:37:41.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7818" CreationDate="2012-08-23T21:25:37.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your question gives the impression that you are at least a somewhat experienced person when it comes to exercising and working out, then there are two possibilities that suggest themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improper form - You've got something in your lifting form that is wrong so you get an imbalance in how the muscles are being used. It's either learned or your body itself has a difference (See #2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body imbalance - You've got something different between the two sides of your body, either compensating for an old injury which caused you to learn bad form (See #1), or you have a difference such as different length arms that is causing it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, the suggestion would be the same: Get a pro to look at your form, and see if it is something in your lifting form, or possibly a body imbalance of some sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as correcting it, you would need to correct the underlying cause, but isolation work on that side will help address the imbalance, as well as being aware and not letting your dominant side take over on compound movements/lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T21:25:37.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7786" CreationDate="2012-08-23T21:46:29.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question.  You are right to be addressing bone density now. @Dave has a good answer so I will just add that a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&amp;amp;field-keywords=weight%20vests&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weight vest&lt;/a&gt; is a good way to improve bone density especially of the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assumming that you are healthy and have a healthy calcium and vitamin D intake, your bone's density and strength responds to applied stress.  So as Dave says, resistance exercises (bodyweight, weight lifting or resistance bands) and weight bearing with impact (running, jumping, plyometrics etc) stress the bone and cause it to lay down new bone in the area stressed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nof.org/sites/default/files/upload/683/nof_mensguidetoosteoporosis.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;National Osteoporosis Foundation&lt;/a&gt; has a nice pdf about preventing osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) that includes the daily amount of calcium/vitamin D you need and foods rich in calcium such as low fat yogurt and sardines.  It also addresses risks for getting osteoporosis such as family history, hormones, smoking, alcohol intake, diseases and medicines that may contribute to loss of bone density.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-08-23T21:46:29.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-23T22:44:09.570" Score="-1" ViewCount="464" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to take this together with green tea and caffeine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4112" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:36:08.793" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T16:36:08.793" Title="Taking Protein Shake with BCAA tablets?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-08-27T19:01:37.933" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2012-08-24T00:14:48.800" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect uncomfortable butt issues will get you first, before you ride far enough to do anything to your legs.  (Intriguingly, I have been told it is actually the little hairs on your butt pulling and tearing as you sit that cause the discomfort.  I always figured it was about building muscles there to sit on vs bones/fat).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, absolute mileage is meaningless, since it would depend on your base that you start from.  If you happen to be a 2:45 marathoner, then going out for your first ride probably will not be an issue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think you will hurt your legs enough to rack you up for a week, in almost anything you could do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try riding around the neighborhood, since the biggest issue will be getting your seat comfy on the seat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="1841" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T15:34:22.663" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T15:34:22.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7798" CreationDate="2012-08-24T01:25:36.440" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Correct, there is no way to burn fat from a specific location. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing more reps of a certain exercise, lets say dumbbell curls, will make your main bicep's &quot;fibers&quot; work more; when the &quot;main&quot; fibers get tired, adjacent fibers are woken up and put to work. So, when you increase the number of reps you force your nervous system to activate more fibers in the last few reps. This provokes muscle hypertrophy, your muscle grows (main and adjacent fibers). That is when you start to see a small curved bulk of muscle in your arm. Because men store little fat in the arm, the change is noticeable in a very short period of time; two weeks can be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About your muscles shape, you can't change it, your genetics determine that. However, when you make it grow it is easier to notice its shape, like in the case of the biceps. Unfortunately for other muscles that is not enough; even if you work them really hard, you won't notice them. This is the case of the abdomen. I know guys that have super big and strong abs, but they don't have a six-pack because its all covered with fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More reps improve definition, because you activate sleepy fibers; they grow and give a bigger better look to the whole muscle. But, this works only to some extent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that will really give you muscle definition is dieting. If you want to see some evidence, search YouTube for &quot;off season bodybuilding&quot;. Most of them look fat, even though they have huge and nicely shaped muscles. They train like that and then go through a special low carb diet before competitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of them will even stop drinking regular water and drink distilled water instead. This dehydrates your body and gives you even more definition; Of course, this is a dangerous practice and people have died for taking this to the extreme&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="21674" LastEditDate="2016-06-26T16:10:40.337" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T16:10:40.337" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7788" CreationDate="2012-08-24T01:56:37.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Andreas tips are great; also, look to the ceiling while doing the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that your lower back is the one that curves. That happens because its weak. You can strengthen it by doing dead lifts and/or lower back raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you started to train recently, just do the lower back raises; start with 3 sets of 15 reps twice a week. I would do this for a whole month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been training for a long time, years, but after a break of about 6 months; I had the same problem. What I did was: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x15 lower back raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did this 3 days a week for 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I added the dead lifts, like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5  dead lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x15 lower back raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did this 3 days a week for 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T03:01:52.167" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T03:01:52.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-24T06:55:10.380" Score="10" ViewCount="4963" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general consensus of exercise order seems to be larger muscle groups first, smaller muscle groups after. So squats or deadlifts would precede presses and pull ups. I started out doing that, and it went fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brooks Kubik holds a different position, he thinks because the press - that is lifting a barbell over your head while standing - requires a strong torso, that tiring it through doing squats or deadlifts is a bad idea. I tried doing that for my past two workouts, and it also seemed fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, has anyone done a study comparing these two methods based on their respective merits (as opposed to just testing one hypothesis and comfirming it)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="3728" LastEditDate="2012-08-26T02:49:07.070" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T23:30:16.243" Title="Presses or squats first?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7378" CreationDate="2012-08-24T12:44:29.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I think whether you are over or under-weight it is never healthy to fixate on the scale.  Total body weight is like a thermometer, it only tells you if something is wrong--but it doesn't tell you what it could be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining muscle requires that you work hard, and eat a lot of food.  For some reason, there are people who's bodies tell them they had enough food very early.  Other people whether through years of ignoring the full signals or just genetically don't get that feeling as quickly tend to pack on weight.  The hormone most associated with this affect is Leptin.  If you struggle to put on weight, your body either makes too much of it, or is too sensitive to it and you stop eating before you can gain weight.  If you struggle with gaining weight, then the body either doesn't make enough Leptin, or it is too insensitive to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leptin, like insulin, is sensitive to carb intake.  Also like insulin, overstuffing yourself with carbs over time will make you insensitive to that hormone.  For people already overweight, backing off carbs for a few weeks will help restore some sensitivity.  If you are underweight, you may want to pack up on carbs during this time.  The purpose is to decrease your sensitivity to leptin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, make sure you have the physical activity to match the food.  Work hard to the point of depleting all the energy from you muscles, and then eat a meal with a decent amount of protein, but go for a lot of carbs.  It really doesn't matter at this point what kind.  The bulk of what you eat will go into your muscles to replenish what you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you work your diet like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: ~1g per pound total body weight.  remains constant--easy to figure out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs on rest day: keep it low.  No more 0.5g per pound total body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs on training days: ~1g per pound total body weight, most after training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: fill in your caloric needs to move towards your weight goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to get bigger and increase your body weight in a way that still looks good.  The same structure can be used to lose weight--but in that case you should probably take 10 days and keep the carbs at or below 30g, and on rest days keep the carbs as low as 30g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T12:44:29.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7849" CreationDate="2012-08-24T13:09:38.797" Score="4" ViewCount="1451" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current program consists of a &lt;strong&gt;5 day workout&lt;/strong&gt;. Each muscle group (say chest for example) has &lt;strong&gt;3 different exercises&lt;/strong&gt; divided in &lt;strong&gt;4 sets&lt;/strong&gt; of &lt;strong&gt;12 repetitions&lt;/strong&gt;. Tempo is &lt;strong&gt;2 seconds down and 1 up&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;br&gt;Monday/Thursday&lt;br&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline dumbbell press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dip on bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biceps&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preacher curl with dumbbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Concentrated curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tuesday/Friday&lt;/h2&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close grip pull (seated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over row with dumbbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Triceps&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline triceps extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forward triceps extension &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wednesday&lt;/h2&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying leg curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good morning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing leg calf raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frontal raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Every second day I do abs/forearms or reconditioning of shoulders (very light weight).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of weight that I could lift went down considerably (of course) but I am noticing more bulking in some muscles than others: My legs become inflated very fast and biceps as well, &lt;strong&gt;but I do not see the same result in chest and back.&lt;/strong&gt; And I think it has to do with the amounts of sets per muscle, even though all muscles have 4 sets and 12 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;There are so many variables that I don't even know how to Can it be the tempo? Perhaps exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone guide me on how to improve?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;----------------------------------------------------------------&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more info:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - My goal is gaining muscle and toning (aesthetics)&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Changing program every second month&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - 60g of protein on workout days&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - 30 year old male, 174cm, 75Kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:35:11.837" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T11:44:55.263" Title="How many sets per muscle?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2012-08-24T14:23:14.090" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your general fitness level, what kind of bike you have and where you are driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped mountainbiking about 10 years ago and didn't do any other sports. When I started again 4 months ago a trip of 20km (12.4 miles), road only, took me a good hour and I was pretty exhausted. The first tour of 30km some days later really killed my legs. Now I can ride for 70 or 80km straight and even did a 130km trip with a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start low, try out how much you can do. Try to push your limit further each time. On your first trip I'd recommend a short tour of 10km (6 miles) just to get used to riding your bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might consider buying some cycling pants with an inlay, they really help reducing the pain in the …. I'd recommend a speedometer, too. It is nice to see how fast and far you have gone and how much time you needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are starting to get more serious about bicycling I'd recommend buying some &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_pedal#Clipless_pedals&quot;&gt;clipless pedals&lt;/a&gt; and cleated shoes. They allow you to not only push but also pull your pedals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T14:23:14.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2012-08-24T14:24:33.937" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, just ride. Don't tear after it, just get used to the bike and being on the saddle for a time. I would suggest that for the first few times, at least until you get used to the bike and how it feels, that you stay close to home and do loops around a park or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last thing you want to do is decide &quot;I'm going to go ride 20 miles&quot;, get 10 miles away from the house and find you can't ride any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get more and more used to the bike, the exercise, how everything feels, you can start going longer distances, picking up the pace, do things like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also strongly advise that you get a helmet, if you haven't already. Even for a 1 mile jaunt around the block, wear it. Anytime you are on the bike, helmet is on head. I've seen people fall over at a stop sign and crack their head open on the pole. IMO, bikes shouldn't be legal to sell without a helmet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T14:24:33.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7837" CreationDate="2012-08-24T15:22:47.570" Score="8" ViewCount="422" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching a video from Strong Lift's Mehdi on bench presses, and I noticed that instead of his elbows going out he heeps them close to his body.  I remember a friend telling me to do something similer to target different muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is keeping the elbows close to the body during a bench press the correct form, or is it a modification to target different muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T20:50:51.217" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T20:50:51.217" Title="Correct elbow location for bench press?" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2012-08-24T16:35:00.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your routine is scarily similar to mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12 repetitions sounds too much to me. In my case this would make me use less weight. Try to reduce this to 8 repetitions and increase 5-20 pounds the weight (gradually and according to your strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of protein, recall that the recommended &quot;dose&quot; is 2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For better results in my back, I have found very helpful doing some rowing after my workout. This would also add some cardio (which seems to be lacking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4121" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T16:35:00.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7824" CreationDate="2012-08-24T16:55:09.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have no allergies to the products and can tolerate the caffeine, I wouldn't expect there to be any significant detriment to your health from that mixture. That said, it's generally advisable to dose supplements and meal replacements separately. In your particular case, the following issues arise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BCAA absorption might be sub-optimal, as they'll compete for uptake with the proteins you ingest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's some evidence that aspects of the health benefits of green tea are abrogated by co-administration of milk. This effect is attributed specifically to the presence of casein protein, and might reasonably be expected to occur with other types of protein as well. In essence, the protein binds to and forms chemical complexes with some of the salutary constituents of the tea, namely the various phenolic antioxidants. Other studies cast doubt on this purported effect, but it's probably prudent to avoid the possibility altogether.&lt;sup&gt;[1][2]&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2007/01/09/eurheartj.ehl442&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2007/01/09/eurheartj.ehl442&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21692489&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21692489&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3609" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T16:55:09.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7834" CreationDate="2012-08-24T17:55:06.037" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's correct form.&#xA;If your elbows are too much out, you are risking injury of front shoulder and shoulder joint. By placing elbows closer to rib cage, triceps is taking more load (from shoulders).&#xA;45° or lower is considered safe zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to try some of bench press modifications, you could try to place wrist much closer (putting load on triceps), using dumbells instead barebell, using decline or incline bech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/progressive6.htm&quot;&gt;Tips about doing BP&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Just to be clear - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45° and above - risk of shoulder injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45° and lower - safe zone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the closer the elbows to your rib cage, the more weight is on your&lt;br&gt;&#xA;triceps (if that can be seen as modification)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1375" LastEditorUserId="1375" LastEditDate="2012-08-24T18:00:12.317" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T18:00:12.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7829" CreationDate="2012-08-24T21:00:05.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;because the press (not bench press) requires a strong torso, that tiring it through doing squats or deadlifts is a bad idea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats and dead lifts require an even stronger torso, that's why you do them first. In the press, your whole back is supported at all times; also your balance muscles have it easy compared to standing on your feet with a barbell on your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its common for guys to curve their back in the last few reps of a squat; that is because their  torso, mainly the lower back, got tired before his legs. This could lead to back injury. In the other hand, if you get tired in the last few reps of the leg press; you could still curve your back, but it will be much easier to correct it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats and dead lifts first, because those are more dangerous exercises; You need to keep balance at all times while performing the movement and your back does not have any support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2012-08-24T21:00:05.517" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7845" CreationDate="2012-08-25T18:49:32.730" Score="9" ViewCount="2770" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a background in bodybuilding training and functional training for climbing. In both cases it has been crucial to keep certain fixed amounts of repetitions within series, numbers of series per exercise, times of breaks etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I learned about crossfit or saw so-called ghetto workouts on youtube - these seemed to lack such theory or even counter the patterns I had met before. I would like to know the theory behind those approaches and other alike general fitness trainings like those conditioning for the police, military or parkour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4124" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-08-27T18:05:00.313" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T12:59:49.013" Title="The theory behind crossfit, &quot;ghetto&quot; workouts etc" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2012-08-25T19:36:51.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem very is obvious, at least to me. Your diet isn't sufficient for your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two factors you need to consider: protein and carbohydrates. For the workout you show here and your weight you mention, I recommend these values:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;200 grams of protein per day (every day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;350 - 400 grams of carbohydrates per day (every day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't go further into the diet problem. I hope you at least know the basics and if not, you should probably read about it in other threads or create a new thread specifically for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your workouts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastActivityDate="2012-08-25T19:36:51.327" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7912" CreationDate="2012-08-26T05:56:39.257" Score="6" ViewCount="546" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should a proper stretching session look like? How should I warm up or cool down for a stretching training? And how long should they be and what exercises should they exactly consist of? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I keep the balance between the exercised muscles or there is no risk in breaking it? I mean, if I do forward bends am I obliged to do backward ones too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I would like to stretch a little bit as a break during my work, can I do so? How far then could such a mini session be stripped down from a full one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Please note :&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; ask about the stretching part of a warm-up before some non-stretching training like bodybuilding for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Update concerning my objectives:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to start stretching for many quite unrelated reasons. First of all I started to have some problems with joints making cracking sounds (in shoulder and legs) and I have read that stretching that exhausts various ranges of motion could help. Secondly it came to me it would be cool to be able to do a split (which in turn would increase my range of motion in kicking, however this in not the main goal), some hardcore forward bends (like those of yoga, see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.katsaksyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Dwi-Pada-Sirsasana-Yoga-Pose-BKS-Iyengar.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.katsaksyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Yoganidrasana-Yoga-Pose-BKS-Iyengar.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt; ) and the sitting positions of yoga ( like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnyhealingarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/lotus-pose.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lotus pose&lt;/a&gt; ). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4124" LastEditorUserId="4124" LastEditDate="2012-08-27T22:08:00.083" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T09:57:22.213" Title="How should a proper stretching workout look like? How to warm up for it?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7843" CreationDate="2012-08-26T11:01:51.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't do anything that's traditionally considered stretching, that is to say lifting your leg up on something to stretch your hamstrings or bending forward to touch your toes. That leads to a performance decrease and an increased risk of injury. This is because stretching weakens your muscles for a short period of time after you stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that isn't to say that you shouldn't do warmups - they're still a good idea, but your warmups should consist of movements that resemble the activity you'll be doing. For weight lifting that would be doing lifts with gradually increasing weight. For running that would be starting off with a walk, transitioning to a jog and speeding up as you warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now there's so called dynamic stretching, which isn't really stretching, I think calling it range of motion movements is more accurate. That said, some people have had it drilled into them that they need to stretch, and they're unwilling to not do it. They are willing to change how they stretch, but not that they stretch. So dynamic stretching as a term was coined to give these people something to do for a warmup that wouldn't actually be detrimental to their performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as cool down goes, it doesn't matter so much. Stretching (that is real stretching) feels pretty good with sore muscles for some people, even if there's no support for it actually being beneficial. At the same time, if you're not going to do anything afterwards, the concern of performance inhibition is moot, and you're not an increased risk of injury doing nothing either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an exception, if you've got a strength imbalance between muscles involved in an action, targetting the stronger muscles with a stretch to bring them down closer to the weaker muscles would allow the weaker muscles to be engaged more, instead of doing nothing at all. That's physical therapy though, and shouldn't be a part of your regular warmup, and once you've achieved your goal you shouldn't be doing it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-26T11:01:51.680" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7841" CreationDate="2012-08-26T19:17:43.693" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crossfit seeks to increase fitness in many domains simultaneously. This includes training different metabolic pathways and increasing overall strength and agility. Crossfitters would say that an elite marathoner who can not lift an average amount of weight is not really fit. Similarly, an elite weightlifter who has trouble with a 5k is also not fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it isn't mentioned as much these days, one of the driving ideas behind crossfit was  how to get as fit as possible with the least amount of work. By changing the workouts constantly, crossfit hopes to gain from physical adaptation before you become really good at something, your body is more efficient at it, and it takes more time to make smaller gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crossfit tends to turn people into very good generalists who can do well in most situations. Crossfit is not a methodology which creates elite athletes in a particular discipline by itself (though it is used by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erin-cafaro/london-olympics-2012-erin-cafaro-rowing_b_1660181.html&quot;&gt;olympic rowers&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thepit.tv/2010/12/02/what-is-crosspit-you-ask/&quot;&gt;UFC competitors&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/09/hasselbeck.tpl&quot;&gt;NFL athletes&lt;/a&gt;, and others) because it is not specific. But it does help provide a very strong base to build upon for practically any sport. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is not an official template on how to do crossfit, but an average 1 hour class might be made up of 30 minutes of focused strength work (squats, dead lift, press, olympic lifting), followed by a metabolic conditioning workout that combines multiple types of lower weight work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strength portion of the workout can follow methodologies such as Wendler 5-3-1 or West Side barbell. Sets and reps at my gym might be 3x5@80%, 3x3@85%, or 5x1@90% with timed rest between sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The metabolic conditioning workouts will range in length from 2 minute sprints to 60+ minute endurance workouts, which intentionally train different metabolic pathways and different aspects of muscular strength, power and endurance. These are timed workouts which are compared for improvement by either the increase in weight used, the number of reps performed, or the time to completion. Some classic workouts include the couplet 21-15-9 95lbs thrusters/pullups, 3 rounds of Run 400m/21 kettlebell swings/12 pullups, 1 mile run/100 pullups/200 push-ups/300 squats/1 mile run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good crossfit coaches keep up with current exercise research and use cycles to build a base, increase strength, increase speed, and deload. This is both a strength and a weakness of crossfit; because coaches have control over methodology, they can adapt and improve, but bad coaches can also do a poor job with programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="939" LastEditDate="2012-08-26T20:19:21.260" LastActivityDate="2012-08-26T20:19:21.260" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-26T23:42:10.500" Score="6" ViewCount="13690" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was hoping someone could shed some light on some minor pain I've been experiencing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run long distance.  I train about half of the year and usually run one marathon each year.  The problem started during the last marathon I ran in early May.  The pain started at about the 21 mile mark and became pretty excruciating around the 23.5 mile mark but I continued through the rest of it anyway.  The pain is coming from the top of my foot, pretty much directly in the middle of the foot, there's actually a visibly small bump at the spot where the pain is emanating from.  Here is a link to a picture showing the location:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZdsYd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;location of pain on foot diagram&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I quit running for 3 months after the marathon.  I just started again 2 weeks ago and started pretty hard, after a week and a half the pain from the marathon returned, though not quite as bad as it was then.  It started to get worse with each run though, so I stopped because I could tell it was just going to get worse and worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am running the marathon in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/pcid1233822&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Under Armour Micro G Stealth running shoes&lt;/a&gt;. I trained for the marathon for 5 months but I only trained in these shoes for about 6 weeks before the marathon.  The shoes are very light, which is what made them attractive to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other notes: It doesn't hurt to walk, but I can still feel the spot with almost every step.  Also, its my left foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions as to what the problem is or what I can do to heal correctly would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4130" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-27T04:13:31.750" LastActivityDate="2019-08-31T13:24:10.560" Title="Pain on the top of my foot" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-09-03T13:53:46.580" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7846" CreationDate="2012-08-27T00:15:42.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an annoying pain in my foot that was sticking around and wouldn't go away for a long time, not directly caused by running long distances but certainly exacerbated by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of all the stuff I tried, the only thing that helped was lifting weights. I'm not sure if it was the squats, the deadlifts or a combination of them that did it, but shortly after I started, the pain went away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be impossible for me to tell if what you're experiencing is the same as what I experienced, but there's lots of benefits from a good, basic, weight lifting routine, so it's definitely worth trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-27T00:15:42.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7843" CreationDate="2012-08-27T02:23:05.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What Robin is getting at, is that static/passive stretching (The general bend and touch toes type stretching) is not indicated BEFORE activity. That is where you want to do range of motion exercises in gradually increasing intensity and amplitude to warm up the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do a stretching routine that increases your range of motion in kicking, then static/passive stretching also may not be what you want to work on. You want to develop your active flexibility, which is different than your static flexibility. Range of motion and kicking ability also depends on muscle strength, it's not all about being able to do the splits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to outline what, exactly, you would like to achieve then it might be easier to outline a program that would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-27T02:23:05.600" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2012-08-27T02:46:58.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I appreciate that you are new to lifting weights etc - but let me save you years of wasted workouts by blowing apart some common myths you have referred to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is NOTHING you can do to control your body shape/physique OTHER than to loose/gain fat/muscle. There are no in-between activities like 'toning', 'shaping' or 'sculpting'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pumping light weights on shoulders for 're-conditioning' is just a waste of time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any activity that promises &quot;muscle tone' is usually an ineffective&#xA;hypertrophy program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any techniques like tempo only serve to distract beginners from lifting as much as they can possibly lift and seeing real results. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is nothing more limiting you can do for your progress (especially as a beginner), than to stop repping at a magic number.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the other nonsense removed, all we have left is to gain some muscle. You may want to stop gaining muscle when you reach your 'aesthetic' ideal. Great. You will have PLENTY of time to stop as gaining muscle does not happen overnight - or without hard work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actively aim to lift MORE every set. More reps or more weight. &lt;em&gt;If you aren't lifting more in any way (reps/weight) then assume you haven't grown muscle and immediately take a good hard look at your diet (are you eating enough?) or your intensity (are you really pushing yourself to the max)&lt;/em&gt;. Remember, to put on muscle you need to become a bigger, stronger version of your current self. Your stronger future self will be capable of lifting a lot more than you are lifting now. Break this ultimate goal into smaller goals (rep/weight targets). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are lifting to failure your reps will look something like 12,10,8,6. If you have been capable of doing 4 sets of 12 it means you were really lazy on the first 2 sets (or perhaps too preoccupied counting the time it takes to rep up and down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the weight the same but add a rep or 2 (as much as you possibly can) each workout until you are repping somewhere in the 17-20 rep range on that first set. Congratulations, you can now put up the weight. Your reps will drop back down but now you can repeat this process all over again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write down every rep/weight of every set of every exercise. Use a spreadsheet to reduce the pain of this (one for each workout type) and add rows to it for each workout deleting old logs as appropriate. When you walk into the gym you will KNOW how many reps you need to do to beat your last workout. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift with explosive movements. Don't do any counting except for reps/weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recover for as long as you like between sets (take as long as 5 minutes if you want).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are training a body part twice per week, &lt;strong&gt;3 sets will be fine&lt;/strong&gt; providing you are working as hard as you can each set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Celebrate your wins. Laugh at your former weak self when you are doing 15 reps of what you could only do 5 of 1 month ago. Even if you added only one rep to an exercise, walk away knowing you are a little bit stronger (and bigger) than you were last week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-08-27T03:29:19.540" LastActivityDate="2012-08-27T03:29:19.540" CommentCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7846" CreationDate="2012-08-27T09:16:50.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had the exact same problem for the last year or so, but I have gotten around the problem by tying my shoes in a slight different manner (see below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the various expects I consulted when I encounted the problem, I understand, that it usually is one of two problems for my age-group (47): a stress fracture in the foot or a inflammation of the ligaments that &quot;runs&quot; over the top of the foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You usually develop both with too much training (no surprise there) and you also best cure the problems with plenty of rest (hopefully no surprise there either). For the inflammation you might also want to use some sort of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibuprofen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ibuprofen&lt;/a&gt; based product as that can help with the inflammation...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a slightly different problem, as it is the small &quot;tendon sacks&quot; on the top of my right foot that are extremely sore. It seems to be permanent, but with small adjustments in my footwear, I rarely have any discomfort - but don't step on my foot, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find other possible explanations in this pretty good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/top-of-foot-pain.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now tie my two running shoes differently. The left shoe - where I (currently) don't experience any problems - is tied as usual, whereas on the right shoes I jump two sets of eyelets over the point on the foot where it hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is illustrated with video and all in the following article from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--12334-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Runners World&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; I have added a picture from my own shoes from today...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3eK9s.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you probably should have you GP looking at this... especially if you want proper diagnostics of the problem...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2012-08-29T18:50:04.593" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T18:50:04.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7221" CreationDate="2012-08-27T17:10:45.253" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize I'm joining the party a bit late, but I do have one suggestion for a lateral collateral ligament stretch.  I used to have pain in my knees when I ran coming from the lateral collateral ligament but I got lucky and found a good stretch for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be too simple of a solution, but its worth a shot because I have no problems with that ligament anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit down on the ground, with your back off the ground and your legs on the ground straight in front of you (~90 degree angle).  Bend and point your feet/toes as far forward as you can; this should start to make the ligament bulge out a little.  Now try and bend your torso as far as you can toward your toes; this will amplify the stretch.  If you don't know what I mean by bending your torso, just try and touch your toes with your hands while your feet/toes are bent forward.  It does the same thing, but if you reach with your hands it'll stretch your calves as well as the ligament instead of just the ligament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lean towards your left foot when bending your torso, you should feel the left ligament stretch more.  If you lean towards your right foot when bending your torso, you should feel the right ligament stretch more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is confusing, let me know and I can make a youtube video or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4130" LastActivityDate="2012-08-27T17:10:45.253" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2012-08-27T17:57:59.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't get rid of the chair, but add a 16-ounce cup/mug to your desk.&#xA;Learn to like and drink water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Assuming you have an office kitchen or water fountain within walking distance  ) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you run out, you'll get up to refill it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You'll also be up often to the bathroom.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Water is also good for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No apps or reminders needed to get you up, just an empty cup or a full bladder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2012-08-27T17:57:59.797" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2012-08-27T21:26:06.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the amount you have been able to lift over time has been going down, and you're interested in muscle gain for aesthetics, I think you should do one of two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switch to a novice 3x5 program like Starting Strength or StrongLifts, in order to get bigger and stronger. Once you feel you are big enough, you can cut weight with cardio and dieting, or switch to a bodybuilding routine like the one you have now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OR you could do one of those novice programs, with a short metcon/cardio exercise at the end of each workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilding routines like the one you're on are more appropriate for people who are already fairly strong. If you're losing ground, you should probably eat more, lift no more than three times a week, and focus on less lifts, done heavier, for fewer reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-27T21:26:06.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5082" CreationDate="2012-08-28T01:35:25.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin's answer is right, but I'd like to add something. As someone who trains martial arts to fight, rather than for fitness, I'd hope that you choose a specific cardio kickboxing class, rather than a competetive one with the side benefit of cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really sucks finding out that the person you just went hard on just wanted to get in better shape, and wasn't prepared for some tough sparring. It also sucks for the person who just got worked over when they just wanted to get in better shape, and serious bruising, fractured or broken bones and concussions could be some unexpected consequences to what you thought would be a decent fitness plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T01:35:25.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2012-08-28T05:23:38.417" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all yoga is not a physical exercise. What people call Yoga in the west is actually called HathaYoga which deals with the body.  HathaYoga involves the whole body system including the breath.  If you do it only as a pose, it gives only the benefits what a normal strech will give you. Yoga is powerful and it will do miracles only with that spiritual element(I mean not religious). It can be more dangerous sometimes if you do it unproperly. Yoga is like electricity, it is of great potential,but if you handle it improperly it can cause great damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want a great result to your body system, it has to be done in a certain way.There are some good teachers out there who can teach you that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still If you want something totally non spiritual, there are some less complex poses which can be done at home..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4138" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T05:23:38.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7863" CreationDate="2012-08-28T12:40:51.440" Score="8" ViewCount="788" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last Friday me and a friend of mine went to the local gym for a workout. It took us 2.5 hours, cause we pushed each other and made a lot of things. After that another friend of us has called us and said that it is not worth it to go for a workout over 1.5 hours, cause then you won't build some hormones or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that you won't you make more progress (in terms of muscle build-up and loosing weight) if you do a longer workout or will even make less progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4141" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-25T12:30:43.797" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T12:30:43.797" Title="Is it not worth it to go for a workout over 1.5 hours?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7861" CreationDate="2012-08-28T14:11:39.300" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pushing each other is good, within reason.  In order to properly answer your question, you have to consider a few factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much time was spent exercising and how much time was spent talking?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you were done, did you feel like you could hardly move?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your belly expanding despite all the work you are doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training with a partner usually generates a lot of talk.  This talk is good, particularly when you are discussing the merits of training styles, checking technique, etc.  But it will extend training time a bit.  If the 2.5 hours is a result of the talking, then you probably are OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second point has to do with making sure that you don't push each other to the point of hurting yourselves.  Motivate, but when form starts breaking down, intervene.  If you are constantly pushing yourselves past the point of being able to train with proper technique, you are asking for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last point has to do with the hormone Cortisol.  Cortisol is the stress hormone, and it is the body's natural reaction to any sort of stress--both physical and mental/emotional.  Cortisol is a natural part of training.  After you are done training, you will also have an increase in Testosterone.  Cortisol is catabolic, with a focus on getting rid of muscle tissue that has been broken down, and converting it to energy.  Testosterone is anabolic, with a focus on helping your muscles recover, triggering human growth hormone, which in turn builds muscle (assuming you are eating properly).  The longer the training session the more Cortisol will be built up in your system compared to the Testosterone.  The absolute amounts don't matter quite as much as the relationship.  The common threshold for when the balance becomes more catabolic than anabolic is about 1-1.5 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I had studies to back up that figure, but even the articles I've found describe the phenomenon, but don't provide any sources for that information.  The question is whether its the overall volume of training, or the time that is more important.  And that I don't have an answer for.  In general, if you belly is getting larger even though your eating is in good shape, that is an indicator of the type of effect Cortisol has on your system.  Shortening your training time to about 1-1.5 hours should help curb that.  If you still need 2.5 hours overall, you always have the option of splitting the training into morning and evening training to stay within the ideal time frames.  If your belly is staying the same size, then I wouldn't worry too much about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T14:11:39.300" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6594" CreationDate="2012-08-28T16:22:08.060" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are training outdoors, when you train is largely dependant on the weather.  For example, I'm from Dallas so in the summer I have to weigh lower temperatures and higher humidity in the morning versus higher temperations and lower humidity in the late afternoon/evening. In a more temperate climate, you may not have that issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I run sprints or a quick pace tabata session, normally it's about an hour from sunset to take advantage of my night-owl tendancies while having some daylight to run it.  Plus there is less danger of heat exhaustion at that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to morning training, I rowed in college so practices started around 6-7am.  Tough to wake up for, but doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4145" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T16:22:08.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7878" CreationDate="2012-08-28T16:31:27.967" Score="7" ViewCount="10625" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that with most chest exercises, the triceps are greatly involved. My concern is that by the time my triceps burns, I barely feel anything in my chest. My coach has suggested I put more conscious effort into my pectorals when lifting. I'm not sure whether I'm simply unable to do so, or it doesn't work, because it hasn't changed a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two theories I have are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My pectorals are way too strong, and my triceps can't keep up with the required effort level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My chest is so weak that my triceps are doing all the work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for is advice as to how to approach my issue. I'd like to find out whether any of my theories is correct, and how to solve my issue. Also, maybe this isn't an issue at all, and I'm overreacting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I usually do bench press. Incline, flat, decline. Also cable/dumbbell fly, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/LVPecDeckFly.html&quot;&gt;lever pec deck fly&lt;/a&gt;. Combination depends on the day, I try to keep it varied. The issue described above appears mostly with bench presses with wide grip. I put my ring finger on the mark that is on olympic barbells. I shoot for 12-15 reps on moderate/high load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3785" LastEditorUserId="3785" LastEditDate="2012-08-28T21:27:06.247" LastActivityDate="2018-12-01T23:03:49.197" Title="Chest exercises make my triceps burn" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7829" CreationDate="2012-08-28T18:32:55.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to consider is that you will see improved results in whichever exercise you choose to open with. You are the least fatigued at the beginning of your workout, so it is intuitive that you will see the best results in whatever you choose to do first. Anecdotally, I recently put the press at the beginning of my workout (StrongLifts) and it helped break me through a huge plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing to consider is warming-up. I noticed when I moved to a Press-&gt;Squat structure, I didn't feel properly &quot;warmed-up&quot; as I went into the #2 exercise. However, this is pretty anecdotal and your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final thing to consider is the impact you will have on your subsequent exercises. Unless you are doing supersets, it is usually a good idea to have a buffer exercise separating two similar exercises. For instance, squats and deadlifts are both very similar and target a lot of the same muscle groups; it would therefore be a bad idea to do a press/squat/deadlift workout, because you wouldn't have enough recovery time between the squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a solution to this problem, you could use press as the buffer exercise between the squat and deadlift, or alternatively you could replace the deadlift with a low-impact exercise like the bench press or rows (press/squat/bench). Either one is acceptable and depends on how flexible your workout program is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Altogether, the final answer depends on your particular goals and what other exercises you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T18:32:55.697" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7829" CreationDate="2012-08-28T20:01:52.250" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You put the most important thing first.  If you are working on your press strength, put it first.  The advice to put squats first are for people who are brand new to lifting.  Squats are the one exercise that take a lot of effort to get right, but have the biggest rewards as far as strength and muscle development go.  If you've been lifting for more than two months, you may get to a point where you need to put the press first to help it keep moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-28T20:01:52.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7870" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8015" CreationDate="2012-08-29T02:53:32.450" Score="4" ViewCount="6776" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently enrolled in a circuit training gym and just 'leveled up' to level 3 last month (after about half a year of being in level 1-2 sporadically). I have been more consistent now (2-3 times a week) but now I also attend some yoga and body balance classes to accompany my wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The current workout consists of 2 days of circuit training. 1 complete circuit is 10 minutes of 20 stations of quick workouts for 30 seconds each. every even numbered station is made of &quot;active rest&quot;: jumping jacks, side steps, jumping rope, box hops, skaters, etc. Odd numbered stations focus on different parts of the body: rows, shrugs, kettlebell swings, clean and jerks, and squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My basic goal is to lose my tummy and gradually tone my muscles and abs. So far, my muscles are turning out fine, but the tummy isn't going away. I know this is the last part to actually go away but I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my new plan now is to yoga/body balance class on T/TH/S and then circuit train on W/F or M/W. Question is, &lt;strong&gt;how do I maximize the benefits of these workouts through my food intake?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food context for this workout is: weekday breakfast consists of what I can get a hold on(noodles - not healthy but still looking for other alternatives. oats? sandwiches?) lunch is usually rice with some tuna or chicken. dinner is a chicken sandwich before working out(but then based on the comments it looks like i should postpone it to after working out...its kinda hard to workout hungry though)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this diet okay so far?( besides the bad breakfasts). I also usually go hungry throughout the day and would like some suggestions as to how to alleviate this without compromising the workouts. I hope this provides enough information :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4147" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-09T13:55:05.617" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T16:39:59.783" Title="Circuit training plan and diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4036" CreationDate="2012-08-29T05:47:04.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done body building several times in my life.  I have never used a sauna before moving to Germany some 4 years ago. (I'm 44.)  I had only used sauna here in Germany (where saunas are VERY popular) at &quot;spa hotels&quot; and loved them.  Recently, however, I joined a gym, and have used the sauna after each workout. Although I am training to the max, I have never experienced the muscle soreness I am so familiar with after using the sauna post-workout - even when just starting the training program.  Not really sure how it works, but others advised me to try it, and it works amazingly well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4148" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T05:47:04.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-29T07:41:16.287" Score="10" ViewCount="2846" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/july/food/protein-drinks/whats-in-your-protein-drink/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Browsing the web&lt;/a&gt; I found the following image:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wwn65.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;whey proteins&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems that lots of them have heavy metals in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the consequences, if any, of consumption over the years of&#xA;these supplements? (following the recommended intake of the producer, of course)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has anyone experienced or has any study that suggest direct relation&#xA;to diseases over the use of supplements?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is kinda hard to find (and separate) the good literature from the fear mongering on the Internet. If you guys could help out to finally put this issue to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T18:25:02.100" LastActivityDate="2013-01-26T18:15:48.743" Title="Are there health risks associated with protein shakes?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-06-16T16:10:38.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6594" CreationDate="2012-08-29T09:11:11.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, there is no wrong time in doing HIIT training. But if you want to do it in the morning, you have to mind some important aspects. DON'T do HIIT on a empty stomach in the morning and right after waking up. Let your body wake up for 30 Minutes, and take a Proteinshake or a small breakfast an hour or an half hour before workout. If you don't eat, and you do HIIT training in morning, your body will get the energy for your workout from your muscles. This will end in up in muscle loss (it won't be so serious muscle loss but you will loose some muscle mass..). Low intensity Cardio in the morning on a empty stomach won't have the same negative impact on your muscles as HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it clearer we compare HIIT in the Morning and HIIT in the late night (before going to bed):&#xA;In the morning: The warm up BEFORE training, and the state of your body and blood pressure after waking up is the most important thing for the results of your workout.&#xA;At night: The cool down of your body AFTER the workout is the emost important thing for the results of your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience: Doing Cardio Training in the morning is a very good start in the day. You just have to take enough time so you dont start doing cardio while you are half a sleep. I'm not a morning person so i have a lot of trouble with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T09:11:11.297" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7877" CreationDate="2012-08-29T12:10:26.050" Score="2" ViewCount="2366" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glucose?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fructose?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sucrose?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know they are all forms of sugar, and your body needs them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But what is what?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, I do know that &lt;em&gt;&quot;Fructose is a natural sugar found in a variety of foods such as fruit, honey and vegetables.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is normal sugar then, like the stuff you buy from the shops to put in your coffee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4104" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T13:01:54.070" Title="Difference between Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose" Tags="&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-08-30T02:29:50.937" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7876" CreationDate="2012-08-29T13:01:54.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glucose and Fructose are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosaccharides&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;monosaccharides&lt;/a&gt;, the simplest forms of sugars that your body can use directly.  Sucrose and high fructose corn syrup are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaccharide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;disaccharides&lt;/a&gt;, or a larger more complex compound of glucose and fructose.  Sucrose, the type of table sugar from sugar cane or beet sugar, is 50% fructose and 50% glucose.  High fructose corn syrup is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;manufactured sugar&lt;/a&gt; that is engineered to certain ratios:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HFCS 55: 55% fructose to 45% glucose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HFCS 42: 42% fructose to 53% glucose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HFCS 90: 90% fructose to 10% glucose--usually used to blend with HFCS 42 to make HFCS 55&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The health concerns usually revolve around the level of fructose more than glucose.  For example &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose_malabsorption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fructose malabsorption&lt;/a&gt; is fairly common.  Most commonly, the biggest concern is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/health/research/fructose-consumption-increases-visceral-fat-study-reports.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link between fructose and visceral fat&lt;/a&gt; levels.  Visceral fat is the fat below the muscle surface packed between your organs.  Too much visceral fat will cascade into several health disorders.  This is primarily a concern because &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/content/86/4/895.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;we have radically increased our fructose intake from 1970 to 2000&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all things dietary, too much of any one thing is not healthy.  Your diet should be very balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T13:01:54.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7866" CreationDate="2012-08-29T17:05:37.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I honeslty don't know if it's a muscle imbalance, a form issue, or other.  What I would do though is deload to the point where your triceps aren't burning and then slowly progress up from there.  This gives you two benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deloading allows you to focus on form to make sure you are doing everything properly and reduces the chance of injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This also allows for your triceps to catch up with the rest of your body.  You might have progressed faster than your triceps were ready for, even if the rest of your body is fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I'm not a professinal lifter.  Most of what I'm saying is information that I've gleamed from reading through the strong lifts material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T17:05:37.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-29T17:51:00.360" Score="12" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like pull-ups, easily my favorite exercise and I do a lot of them whenever I get the chance. I'm quite familiar with form, do them very strict (elbow lock-out, chin way over bar etc) and vary my grip often. Still, I'd like to add some more peak power to the movement and I'm not sure how. My eventual goal is to progress to a muscle-up, but the bar in my apartment is too close to the ceiling for me to practice this. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess learning to do a kipping pull-up would be a good idea, but as long as I remember I've been focusing on maintaining absolute control and tension, and a kipping pull-up is completely opposite all that. If kipping pull-ups are the answer, I'd appreciate a link to some good resources on learning to do them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While my goal is more speed-strength in general, I'd be even happier if the suggestions have carry-over to muscle-ups. Currently, I can do about 10-12 pulls without much problem. I tend to train by &quot;greasing the groove&quot; and doing sets of 4-6, but I also travel a lot and don't have a bar everywhere, so this isn't daily or anything. I'm more interested in exercise suggestions than full programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I rock-climb, so any carry-over is welcome (but I am looking for power outside the context of rock-climbing, too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2012-08-29T20:30:01.413" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T08:52:53.763" Title="Adding power to my pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2012-08-29T19:12:36.003" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;[&lt;em&gt;Warning&lt;/em&gt;: Not really an answer to the question, but never the less an alternative...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, for one, have given my office chair away!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or rather... I have replaced it with an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_ball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercise ball&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0W7XA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;exercize ball from wikipedia&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sit on the ball about half of the day and stand the rest of the day. The advantage of the ball as a chair compared with an ordinary office chair, is basically that you have to use the all the smaller muscles in the back to keep the balance... which is very good for your back and in my case help eliminate the pain I used to have in my lower back... I even bring the ball for nearly all the meetings we have - well, except for those with customers and the top management :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: Another good thing about an exercise ball is that you can use it as... an exercise ball. From time to time when my back hurts whether I standing or sitting on the ball, I use the ball to bend my back &quot;backwards&quot;. I simply lie with my back on the ball and hands and feel in the ground for 4-5 minutes... then I'm usually good again...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the original question... I don't want to stand up all day or sit down all day. The 50-50 mix is perfect for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2012-09-02T17:39:31.907" LastActivityDate="2012-09-02T17:39:31.907" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2012-08-29T20:04:35.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/sitting-kills/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;infogrpahic&lt;/a&gt; on medicalbillingandcoding.org&#xA; that goes thorugh all of the various issues that sitting causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Highlights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increases risk of death by up to 40%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calorie burning drops to 1 per minute&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Those with sitting jobs are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infographic also has a list of sources, I don't have the time to transcribe them from the image so here's a screen cap:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OKJzW.png&quot; alt=&quot;References&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T20:04:35.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7879" CreationDate="2012-08-29T20:06:05.790" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you want to start incorporating muscle-ups and weighted pull-ups whenever possible. I don't think kipping pull-ups are really appropriate for a number of reasons, but if they float your boat (and you have a healthy, strong, flexible shoulder girdle), rock 'em.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Upper-Body Pulling Power&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Power is not a common goal for upper body pulls, though it makes sense for a number of applications (combat sports, particularly grappling, come to mind). My go-to methods for developing speed-strength in that movement pattern would be sets of chest-to-bar chin-ups and/or pull-ups, eventually progressing to clapping pull-ups, muscle-ups (on a bar as well as rings), and climbing rope. A lot of the power work in that movement pattern ends up being sport-specific for me, such as fit-ins for judo throws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I realize that some of those might not be appropriate for your situation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strength Informs Power&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a big fan of kipping pull-ups. They seem to me to be a diversion from my goals of strength, power, and flexibility. They &lt;em&gt;require&lt;/em&gt; all those things, but I think they're too risky for shoulder health, and they don't seem to develop those qualities as efficiently as other methods. (Though if I were a gymnast, I'd be singing a different tune.) I think that instead of developing power, kipping pull-ups would develop strength-endurance and work capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the surest path to upper-body pulling power would be to get strong as hell. Power is a function of strength, after all, so getting stronger will usually automatically make one more powerful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the methods listed above would apply to a strength-oriented approach, but so would working up to one-arm chins, as well as weighted pull-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made the mistake of switching from high-volume chin-ups and pull-ups (something like 3 sets of 12-15) to low-volume weighted chins (3 sets of 3-5 reps with 25-60 pounds extra). Once I work back up to 15 chins in a row, I'm going to add weighted chins as a &lt;strong&gt;supplement&lt;/strong&gt;, not a replacement: 2 sets of 12 to 15 reps unweighted, 1 set of 7 to 10 reps with weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T08:52:53.763" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T08:52:53.763" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2012-08-29T20:17:20.123" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get very tired and restless if I try to stand all day. If I got rid of my chair completely, I would be unhappy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, I feel &lt;em&gt;awesome&lt;/em&gt; if my day is spent switching every hour between a standing desk, sitting desk, and reclining (on a couch with my feet up, preferably). Add frequent two-minute walks for added benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that we are simply not meant to work at a desk or laptop for eight hours. Period. Even mitigating the problems by standing, sitting, reclining, switching, and taking walks won't get rid of the fundamental problem, which is that we should really just do less computer/desk work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-29T20:17:20.123" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-30T03:32:08.200" Score="4" ViewCount="1467" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have myopia and my glasses are -6.50(spherical),-0.75 (Cyl) [Right eye] and -6.00(sph), -1.50(cyl) [left eye]. &#xA;I am a 23 years old man. I do physical exercises like push ups, sit ups, crunching, etc. Recently I have joined a gym and I am interested to start weight lifting exercises. I have heard that hard exercise can worsen the eye sight of high myopic patients. Should I continue with it? I really want to do those exercises but I don't want my eyes to suffer for that. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4152" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T06:27:54.250" Title="Is physical exercise bad for myopic patients?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7884" CreationDate="2012-08-30T06:27:54.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked into that on Wikipedia, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinal_detachment#Risk_factors_and_prevention&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the risk would be retinal detachment (which is really, really, bad), for which myopia and doing the valsalva maneuver would be risk factors. Given that I would suggest focusing more on gradually increasing the weight you can lift, and aiming for lower weights - if you can still breathe normally while going up and down (or down and up depending on the exercise), you haven't done the valsalva maneuver, so there wouldn't be any greater risk of retinal detachment than your everyday activities. I would also recommend against pushing yourself to the point where you can barely finish your set - such as in lifting for high endurance. You would want to make sure that your last rep of every exercises is in as perfect form as your first rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't expect to be able to lift as heavy weights, or as many reps as someone else who's lifting for the same length of time as you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T06:27:54.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7916" CreationDate="2012-08-30T07:40:49.590" Score="4" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over this summer, I have been focused on swimming, 3-4 times a week, almost 1 hour each time, mostly in outdoor 50m pools. Now, when fall arrives (outdoor pools closed last week in Stockholm) and work picks up, it will not be possible to swim that often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;What is the minimum of workouts per week and duration for a swimming maintenance program for the next six months?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-30T14:47:52.050" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T14:24:20.140" Title="What swimming maintenance program can I do until next summer?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7894" CreationDate="2012-08-30T12:34:05.183" Score="5" ViewCount="750" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I bench press I notice that the weight is transferring back onto my wrists. I feel I could go to a higher weight but slight pain when doing this is holding me back. Is this because of bad form (I googled this but wasn't sure) or, alternatively, do I need to get more strength in my wrists before this goes away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T17:43:19.107" Title="Should my wrists have the pressure on them when I benchpress?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7889" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7890" CreationDate="2012-08-30T12:39:06.343" Score="14" ViewCount="16877" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm lucky enough to have been gifted a half squat rack and 160kg of &quot;standard&quot; weights. I'm happy with this and not looking to upgrade in the near future but I was wondering what the advantages are of having Olympic plates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these more durable? Why do novice/beginner lifters typically buy/gravitate towards them instead of the significantly cheaper standard plates? Is there an advantage to Olympic plates that I'm missing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-08-30T14:50:24.480" LastActivityDate="2021-03-01T00:53:33.067" Title="What is the advantage of using Olympic plates over standard ones?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;plates&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7889" CreationDate="2012-08-30T13:12:23.683" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;While your abilities are still below lifting 160kg on any given weight, and you are performing the major powerlifting movements (squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press) then there isn't a major advantage one over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are reasons why you would opt for Olympic plates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standard bars are roughly 1&quot; diameter, but there is enough variance that there is no guarantee that plates from one manufacturer will fit on a bar from another manufacturer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic plates have tolerances that must be met: the hole must be 50mm, the largest disk is 450mm on the outside dimension.  This ensures you can mix and match your plates and know you can use it on your Olympic bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic bars also have tolerances that must be met: 20kg bar, sleeves must fit plates with 50mm holes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The sleeves on Olympic bars spin allowing you to do cleans and snatches with minimal stress on your elbows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic bars can use either less expensive metal plates, or bumper plates which are designed to be dropped without being damaged or damaging the bar.  Bumpers are useful for Olympic lifts like cleans and snatches, but don't do a whole lot for powerlifting lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standard bars cannot handle much more than 160kg before they permanently bend.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Olympic bars can be made to handle weights in excess of 500kg.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more subtle differences between Olympic style bars that are outside the scope of your question which deal with its suitability for one barbell sport over another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are starting out, it makes sense to use the cheapest weights you can get your hands on.  However, if your focus is on strength, there will come a time when you outgrow what the standard set will be able to do for you.  At that time you will be forced to upgrade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T13:12:23.683" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7889" CreationDate="2012-08-30T13:13:59.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link that describes the differences: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newgrip.com/gain.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.newgrip.com/gain.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically standard bars are typically shorter (but you can get a 7' one) and can hold less overall weight prior to bending.  I've lifted 400lbs standard, but have a slightly bent bar because of it and like lifts.  Unless you're going heavy standard is a good beginner/intermediate set to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T13:13:59.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7889" CreationDate="2012-08-30T14:57:09.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Olympic bars are sturdier, heavier, are a well-known and well-followed standard, and allow you to do the fast lifts (cleans, jerks, snatches) much easier. It's easier and safer to load them with lots of weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standard bars are good, particularly to start with. If you can load it heavy, keep doing that. Don't mess with a good thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you run out of space on the bar, or the bar starts to bend, or it doesn't fit your squat rack or power cage, it's time to get an Olympic bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T14:57:09.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7931" CreationDate="2012-08-30T15:08:16.930" Score="8" ViewCount="8383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to train dips, with a goal of moving to ring dips, then muscle ups.&#xA;My problem is that when I do regular dips, or machine assist dips, I get a high, consistsent level of shoulder pain.  I think the mechanism of the injury is that my shoulders rotate internally slightly, possibly because I'm trying to recruit the wrong muscles in the movement, and I get a lot of pain in my rotator cuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think its also notable that, while most people describe dips as a tricep exercise, I only feel the strain in my chest muscles.  I've tried to do dips on a dip assist machine, but I have the same shoulder problems regardless of the amount of assistance I use (my theory is that the dip assist machine may be forcing me into an unnatural posture, which encourages bad technique).  When I try to do dips purely as a tricep exercise (by holding my upper arms in a fixed angle relative to my upper body, and rocking forward), my triceps aren't nearly strong enough to handle the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My shoulders tend to be fairly prone to rotator cuff problems.  Any exercise that's usually considered &quot;bad for shoulders&quot; is definitely bad for mine.  Has anyone out there experienced anything similar?  Has anyone worked through it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do I have a specific combination of bad dip technique and muscle weakness that needs to be addressed, and once it is, I'll be able to dip safely OR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should someone who's prone to rotator cuff problems just stay away from dips entirely, and stick to benchpresses, and standing presses (neither of which cause me any shoulder pain)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 6'4&quot;, 181 lbs.  I can bench a pair of 60lbs dumbbells for 3 sets of 8, and lateral dumbbell raises with 15lbs, but other than that, haven't historically done much pressing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T23:37:26.413" Title="How do I do dips without rotator cuff pain" Tags="&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7888" CreationDate="2012-08-30T17:43:19.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you bench press, it is very important to try and keep your wrists from bending back from the weight in your hands. In other words, you want to have your elbow inline all the way up with your knuckles. If it's too hard to do that with the weight you're using, than that's a sign that you're using too much weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-bench-press-with-proper-technique-avoid-shoulder-injuries/#bench-press-grip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-bench-press-with-proper-technique-avoid-shoulder-injuries/#bench-press-grip&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This page should help you understand the correct form and technique for bench pressing safely.  There is also a video of Mehdi demonstrating the correct form. If you'll pay attention to his wrist you will notice that he keeps them almost perfectly inline with his elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T17:43:19.107" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7870" CreationDate="2012-08-30T18:37:38.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's something I wrote up for myself a while back...maybe it can help you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CUTTING:&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increase water intake&#xA;&lt;li&gt;macronutrients become key&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increase protein intake&#xA;&lt;li&gt;figure out strategy, low carb or carb cycling&#xA;&lt;li&gt;more bites per calorie&#xA;&lt;li&gt;check progress every 2 weeks&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat the same thing every day if the body can take it&#xA;&lt;li&gt;replace carbs with high-quality fats from nuts, avocadoes, oils&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add fiber to diet&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have a protein shake (in water) before dinner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2012-08-30T18:37:38.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7873" CreationDate="2012-08-31T00:34:15.890" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For normal people, a diet high in protein is NOT harmful. Its beneficial. High protein keeps you feeling full longer. Contrary to what I've read on this forum, your body can utilise (for energy, muscle growth) as much protein as you throw at it per meal. It is a great food for sustained energy levels throughout the day. A high protein (up to 50%) diet is popular with athletes around the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for protein in powder form, yes there have been some heavy metals found in them. Some fish also has this. Long story short, there is nothing magical about whey proteins so if you have any health concerns, eat more chicken/beef/eggs instead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biolayne.com/uncategorized/myths-surrounding-high-protein-diet-safety/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a great article&lt;/a&gt; from a very well-respected natural body builder (and power lifter) that did his PHD in protein metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-09-01T00:44:12.097" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T00:44:12.097" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7873" CreationDate="2012-08-31T09:12:49.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heavy Metals are very harmful to the human body. If this report is true, I would like to avoid the supplements completely. I have had supplements in the past and they are a good source of protein. They help you achieve a more muscular, less fat body sooner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, an important question to answer is what do you want to achieve: a healthy, strong body or more muscular body? With time I have realized that I will be in the gym for years and years so I try to be as natural as possible. A Diet plan or workout plan which is short term is never my goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you going to put on extra muscle via the shakes and ready to have them for years? Or are you into these shakes only for initial gains and give them up later? Getting off the shakes and maintaining your older exercise levels is never easy, you see a change in performance in 2 weeks. There are a lot of other sources from where you can get protein and they are more natural and sustainable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-26T18:15:48.743" LastActivityDate="2013-01-26T18:15:48.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-31T10:21:32.463" Score="7" ViewCount="5273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched the Internet, and most suggest that pull-ups do not require warming up. But that advice is for &quot;normal&quot; people and professionals, while I have a weak body. I can at best manage to do two pull-ups, and then it will hurt for days. Can anyone give me some suggestions about how to do proper warming up before pull-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4160" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T07:30:39.767" Title="How to do warm-ups before pull-ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7873" CreationDate="2012-08-31T13:47:43.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was a report by a consumer watchdog organization. The industry asked for and got an independent review by NSF/ANSI, which basically a third party non governmental testing group. It passed their testings. The consumer group also reported that there were varying levels in samples, and not all samples produced the same results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I would classify the protein drinks kind of like the Hitchhikers entry for Earth - &quot;Mostly Harmless&quot;. If you need a quick drink or are behind on protein intake for a day, then I have no problem drinking any protein drinks. If you find yourself needing it long term, then I would assess your diet plan to see why you are always coming up short on protein needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also some concerns about the presence of aspartame, which breaks down in the body to formaldehyde and...formic acid? These have been known to cause migraines and other health complications. Also, heavy metals don't flush from the body easily, so if you continually have high intake, you could potentially see some complications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best advice when you see something like this is to garner as much information from reputable sources, and consider the original source. The consumer watchdog group's prime reason for existence is to sell the results of their surveys. Their article even states that not all samples produced this, but it's a one liner tucked away from the blaring graph of the ones that DID have detectable levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-08-31T13:47:43.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-31T13:53:34.863" Score="5" ViewCount="3969" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing StrongLifts for about a month now, but managed to catch the flu this week. Been horizontal for roughly a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I proceed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start from scratch?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move on to the next exercise as if it was just a longer rest period?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat the last two exercises (A and B) and then continue as normal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deload some amount?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other ways?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course interested in my particular case, but more generalized answers would be nice too. Sure I'll get sick again while doing StrongLifts as I plan to try at it for a while :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight:&lt;/strong&gt; ~85kg &lt;strong&gt;Height:&lt;/strong&gt; 179cm &lt;strong&gt;Lifted last:&lt;/strong&gt; S 37.5kg, BP 27.5kg, BBR 37.5kg, OHP 27.5kg, DL 55kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastEditorUserId="955" LastEditDate="2012-08-31T15:13:23.363" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T19:41:06.840" Title="How to proceed with StrongLifts after illness" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-08-31T14:20:19.283" Score="7" ViewCount="3017" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks back I managed to pull a muscle while swimming.  I'm fairly certain it's because I didn't warm up before I got in the pool and did some higher intensity swimming than I normally do.  What warm ups are there for swimming so that I can prevent this from happening again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:57:26.470" Title="Warm ups for swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7899" CreationDate="2012-08-31T15:30:00.040" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest putting goals and a exercise plan together so you can workout in a progressive manner without getting injured or discouraged.  Doing 2 pull ups and being in pain for a few days is a sign that you need to build up your core and back (and probably all other) main muscle groups.  Don't get discouraged, get organized, set goals and plan it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-08-31T15:30:00.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7899" CreationDate="2012-08-31T16:11:20.130" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;hurt&quot;, do you think its a muscle soreness (a broad, burning sensation in your muscles), or joint pain (sharp, localized pain in your elbows, shoulders, or upper back)?  If its muscle soreness, that's to be expected.  Joint pain is something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its possible that you don't have a &quot;warming up&quot; problem, but that you're just not strong enough to do any more than 2 pullups right now.  That's fine, everybody was there once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my own personal history:&#xA;4 years ago, I couldn't do more than 1 pullup.  I've worked at it on and off since then, and can now do a dozen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What didn't work for me&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with you, when you look at the literature on starting to do pullups, you see a lot of advice to just start with your body weight, and do as many as you can.  People also recommend doing &quot;negative only&quot; pullups, where you jump over the bar and lower yourself down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine that actually works for some people (experienced athletes, weightlifters who've never tried to do pullups, lightweight athletes), but it never worked for me.  Back when I tried to do that, I kept hurting myself.  My shoulder girdle simply wasn't strong enough to handle the strain, and I'd get a lot of pinching around my shoulder blade.  Also, I had a flexibility issue in my bicep that caused my left elbow to keep getting tendonitis when I'd lower.  Trying to work directly with my bodyweight was just something I wasn't ready for yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What did work for me&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're only able to do a very low number of pullups (&amp;lt;5), and feel stuck at that number, I'd recommend trying to find a gym that has an assisted pullup machine (preferably), or a lat pulldown machine.  On either machine, find a weight where you can perform the pulling motion for 3 sets of 7-10 repetitions, and try to build from there.  If you're stuck with a lat pulldown machine, try and stick with a shoulder-width grip, like you'd use on a regular pullup.  Focus on doing pulls (on either machine) &lt;em&gt;with proper form, and through a full range of motion,&lt;/em&gt; bring the bar down under your chin, to your neck.  As you get able to do 10 reps, bump the weight up, and and do sets of 7 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep this up, hopefully you'll get closer and closer to pulling down your bodyweight (on a lat pulldown) or needing almost no assistance (on a assisted pullup machine).  At some point you'll have to start bridging over to doing real pullups, and there will be an adjustment period, because the machines won't completely capture the real pullup motion, but you'll be in a much better position to tackle them then!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-01T03:10:49.477" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T03:10:49.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8038" CreationDate="2012-08-31T19:21:02.753" Score="12" ViewCount="92791" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had surgery and have been asked to avoid exercise for atleast 4 weeks. Before surgery I was doing moderate weight lifting and cardio several times a week and consuming 200 grams of protein a day mainly from eggs and shakes. I am still taking the same amount of protein daily but was wondering if it's going to waste now that I am not exercising at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if one doesn't work out what happens with the protein? Does the body use just a smaller amount and expell the rest as waste or does it get stored at fat, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight is 180lbs and height is 5.8'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3867" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T06:48:02.307" Title="If you consume a lot of protein but don't exercise does it go to waste?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7866" CreationDate="2012-08-31T20:25:33.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may not be able to back what i'm about to say with an article or any sort of evidence, but I   do have a theory based on my own personal experience. I have the same problem that you describe when I am working on my chest, but for me it also happens when I'm working my bi's and back. For instance when I do lat pull-downs or bicep curls, the muscles that begin to really hurt are my forearms. The interesting thing is, that the next day the muscles that are sore from the previous workout are the bi's and lats, but during the actual workout I never felt them ache. The same thing happens to me while training chest, I can go through my sets feeling only my triceps hurt, but in the morning I'll feel my chest as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this lead me to believe the following: When doing chest presses we know that it's not only the chest that is being worked, but also the triceps. In other words the triceps and the pecs are working together to achieve a certain goal, which in the case of a press is to press the weight up. The triceps are there to help the pecs, so as long as the pecs are still fresh the triceps don't hurt, but once the pecs begin to get tired we feel that through the fact that our triceps start hurting. The same thing is true for the bicep curl and the lat pull down. In order to do these exercises, we must grip the equipment. As long as our bis and back are fresh the forearms don't have to work that much, but when our biceps and back begin to tire out the pain is felt in the forearms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, you were concerned that your chest is not getting worked because your triceps are tiring out too early, but from my own personal experience the chest is being worked out just fine. The proof for me was the fact that the next morning my pecs were on fire, and by the next week I was able to press even heavier weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-08-31T20:25:33.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7909" CreationDate="2012-02-08T22:33:13.467" Score="9" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are effective guidelines for using &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_training&quot;&gt;interval training&lt;/a&gt; to improve distance running performance and/or maintain physical fitness? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My high school cross-country coach used to have the team run intervals once a week. Are there any guidelines or research into how often intervals should be mixed in with a runner's regular regimen to either maximize performance/endurance or reduce injury risk? I've seen many sites that discuss the benefits of this form of training, but fewer that discuss a &quot;standard&quot; regimen that can be used for a wide range of runners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4370" OwnerDisplayName="JW8" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T16:56:43.007" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T16:56:43.007" Title="What Are Practical Guidelines for Effective Interval Training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7907" CreationDate="2012-02-08T23:13:27.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a standard regimen for you either, and I hope that someone posts one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use the Energy Zones methodology for swimming, and while &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.teamunify.com/reno/__doc__/Energy%20Zones%20in%20Swimming.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this document&lt;/a&gt; is specific to swimming, the exact same principals apply to running.  The zones relate to metabolic processes: aerobic recovery, aerobic development, mixed anaerobic/aerobic, anaerobic, and creatine phosphate.  In general, the optimal amount of time you should spend on each higher zone decreases and recovery time increases.  A seasonal progression for a cross country runner probably doesn't need to include zone 5, but should progressively work up ability in all other zones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" OwnerDisplayName="Peter DeWeese" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T23:13:27.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7907" CreationDate="2012-02-09T09:18:32.470" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you by &amp;quot;&lt;em&gt;effective training&lt;/em&gt;&amp;quot; mean run faster, then I would concentrate on interval training based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coacheseducation.com/endur/jack-daniels-june-00.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jack Daniels&lt;/a&gt; work (also on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Daniels_(coach)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a page that will help you with all the relevant numbers &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. E.g. if you run &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp?dist=1&amp;units=miles&amp;time=715&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;7:15 per mile&lt;/a&gt;, then you should consider training intervals where you run 400m in 1:55 then jog 1 minutes and repeat this 4-6 times. That should improve your running speed pretty drastically over 4-6 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: For the last couple of months I have also use &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.ku.dk/all_news/2012/2012.5/new_research_shows_runners_can_improve_health_and_performance_with_less_training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10-20-30&lt;/a&gt; two times a week with really good results - I have cut 10-15 seconds on my km-time! The concept is very easy and can be used by everybody - and contrary to Jack Daniels method, you don't need to look up target speeds before you start... And it is just two times 30 minutes per week. After which I'm soaked...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.ku.dk/all_news/2012/2012.5/new_research_shows_runners_can_improve_health_and_performance_with_less_training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;University of Copenhagen&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The 10-20-30 training concept&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 10-20-30 training concept consists of a 1-km warm-up at a low intensity followed by 3-4 blocks of 5 minutes running interspersed by 2 minutes of rest. Each block consists of 5 consecutive 1-minute intervals divided into 30, 20 and 10 seconds of running at a low, moderate and near maximal intensity, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually run three blocks with low intensity = my 20 km speed, moderate intensity = my 5 km speed and high intensity = sprint... And if I'm really feeling up to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" OwnerDisplayName="Tonny Madsen" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T09:42:33.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7907" CreationDate="2012-09-01T03:14:46.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another method is the Oregon system.  I followed the Jack Daniels system in college and the Oregon system after college.  I had much more success with the Oregon system.  Many have success with Jack Daniels, other's not.  The important thing is that there is no magical way, everyone is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple summary of what I might do with Oregon might be this 3-week rotation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm skipping easy days and long runs, only noting intervals/tempos)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 1&#xA;Tue - 5 x mile.  Last one 25 seconds faster than first&#xA;Thur - 6 mile tempo in AM.   Optional 8x200 in PM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 2&#xA;Tue - 6-8 x 800.  Every odd one is even paced.  Every even one has first lap at same pace as odd, second lap 5-10 seconds faster.&#xA;Thur - 1 hour hard tempo  PM optional - 6 x 400&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 3&#xA;Tue - 10 x 500.  Each set of two slightly faster&#xA;Thur - optional am run.  PM - 6-8 X 30/40 (run 200m in 30 seconds, jog 200 in 40) or 50/20  (run 300 in 50, jog 100 in 20).  Vary pace according to ability&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great reference on the Oregon system can be found in &quot;The Competitive Runner's Training Book&quot; by Bill Dillinger  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0020283407&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Competitive Runner's Training Book&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T03:14:46.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7843" CreationDate="2012-09-01T09:57:22.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some ideas for helping you put together a &lt;strong&gt;Stretching Program for Injury Prevention:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proper Hydration&lt;/strong&gt; is a very important component of preparing the body for successful stretching.  Shock absorbing tissues like cartilage and fascia require good hydration in order to do their job effectively.  Ming Chew covers this well in his book, The Permanent Pain Cure, which addresses the fascia with specific stretches for each body part: spine, shoulders, legs etc. (He is also a martial artist so he may have some information on stretching to improve  your kicks, but I don't have the book with me so I can't say for sure.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch Regularly&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;Once your body is well hydrated, a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness&quot;&gt;regular stretching routine&lt;/a&gt; for the full body using yoga moves like the cobra or child’s pose will address large muscle groups.  Joseph Wiseburg, has a nice 3 minute routine of 6 stretches for 30 seconds each that cover the spine, hip flexors, hamstrings, hip adductors etc.  Then just add specific stretches for the specific muscles you want to gain flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm-Up for Stretching&lt;/strong&gt; - Consider the warm up before your stretching program as you would before sports or other exercise workouts. Warm up for the activity considering the muscles that you will be using.  Think of warm up as any low load activity that gets your blood flowing into the muscles and gets the synovial fluid lubricating your joints. (For sports of other types of workouts you would also consider your nervous system in your warm up to improve your reactions, coordination, timing and balance.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking, easy jogging, cycling etc. are good warm up methods for the lower extremities. For your upper extremities and trunk consider some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7ghNKOH9To&amp;amp;feature=fvwrel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dynamic exercise as seen here&lt;/a&gt;. Warm ups do not need to be longer than a few minutes as long as you feel that you have lubricated the tissues and joints that will be put under stress. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Passive stretching&lt;/strong&gt; can help improve your flexibility when done regularly over time.   After you have warmed up, stretch to the point of resistance, allow the tissue to release and then take up the slack. Repeat until you no longer release. Do not overstretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will also add here that passive stretching leads to a temporary weakening of the tensile tissue and this is the reason that it is NOT recommended prior to an activity where strength is required such as with weight lifting or most sports.  Just do your passive stretching as a routine on it’s own or after your activity, sport or exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding your Other Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As to your question about &quot;if I do forward bends, am I obliged to do backward bends&quot; - not necessarily.  Generally it is good to make sure that all the muscles surrounding a joint have good flexibility.  However, if you have limited forward bending, and excessive backward bending (or hypermobility), you would not need to stretch the motion that is hypermobile.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching during work breaks is helpful to relieve muscles that tighten up as you work.  In this case they are very useful.  However, as far a gaining range, I would suggest using the mini sessions as a supplement, not a replacement to your full stretching routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As for your premise that stretching will fix cracking sounds in your joints - I’m not sure about that.  First, see your doctor or physical therapist to find out what is going on with your joints.  Without having a diagnosis, you may cause more problems by stretching, especially if you are trying to “exhaust various ranges”.  Your condition may benefit from exercises that strengthen or stabilize your joints rather than increasing their flexibility.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As to poses 1 and 2,  I would not say that they would help with your goal of injury prevention.  To the contrary, extreme stretches (extreme anything) is more likely to cause,  rather than prevent an injury.  For the lotus pose, stretch the hip internal rotators and your adductors.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailybandha.com/2011/02/how-to-release-hip-internal-rotators.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; gives a nice stretch using a method of PNF which contracts the tight muscles, followed by a stretch as the muscles relax.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. Other than that, I agree with @Dave, that for a better understanding, consider a book on stretching.  If you are still looking for specific routines, I would recommend Jay Blahnik's, Full Body Flexibility.   (If you are interested in getting any of these books through Amazon, I would appreciate it if you would use &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;node=115&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the link on our site&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T09:57:22.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7902" CreationDate="2012-09-01T12:39:37.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warm ups are important for all sports, both physical and also a mental warm up. Here are some warm ups for swimming: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical, structure your work out so that you go from low intensity&#xA;-&gt; techniques -&gt; high intensity -&gt; cool down. E.g. swim 2x50m slow freestyle and 2x50m slow breaststroke, then work on various&#xA;techniques for 200m-300m, and then (as an example) swim various sets&#xA;of 200m, 400m for a total of 1000m - 1200m, last, cool down through&#xA;swimming 2x100m backstroke. The pattern of &quot;low intensity -&gt;&#xA;techniques -&gt; high intensity -&gt; cooldown&quot; is not unique for swimming,&#xA;you will find it in all sports where you involve the whole body in a&#xA;complex way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mental, before the workout, think through the goals for the workout&#xA;and picture yourself doing the work out (in this context, going&#xA;through the swim drills, how intense the 200m and 400m sets should&#xA;feel). On a personal level, when I do this, I can feel my pulse&#xA;quickening, hands getting warmer, and that I want to start moving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various warm up drills for swimming that are integrated in a swim workout can be found at - for example - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimplan.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Swim work out generator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T12:39:37.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7914" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-09-01T12:43:09.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A warm-up generally consists of a gradual increase in intensity in physical activity (pulse raiser), a joint mobility exercise, stretching and a sport related activity. For example, before running or playing an intense sport one might slowly jog to warm muscles and increase heart rate. It is important that warm ups should be specific to the exercise that will follow, which means that exercises (of warm up) should prepare the muscles to be used and to activate the energy systems that are required for that particular activity. The risks and benefits of combining stretching with warming up are mixed and in some cases disputed. Warming up prepares the body mentally and physically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warming_up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Warm up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-01T16:11:35.963" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T16:11:35.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7915" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-09-01T12:43:09.797" Score="0" Body="A warm-up is light exercise usually performed before participating in technical sports or exercising. Warm-ups are intended to to get blood flowing to relevant muscles and to &quot;prime&quot; muscle memory for technical movements." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-09-01T16:11:05.650" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T16:11:05.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7886" CreationDate="2012-09-01T14:24:20.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you can swim in an indoor pool a couple times a week, then here's a hypothetical workout schedule for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mon - 1 hour in pool, 300m warmup, mixed strokes. 10x100 HARD freestyle, 1 min rest between. 5x200 moderate freestyle, :30 rest between. 5x100 IM, :30 rest, 2-400 cooldown.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tue - Full body routine, squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, lat pulldowns, chest flys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed - off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thu - 1 hour in pool, 300m warmup. 10x200 IM, 1:00 min rest between. 500-1000m easy swim. 2-300 cooldown. Use the long swim to work on form, stick in form drills every 100m or so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fri - Smaller muscle group/isolation exercises, curls, extensions, etc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That should keep your fitness, and if you can't do all the strokes, sub out things for the IM portions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T14:24:20.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7902" CreationDate="2012-09-01T14:29:35.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best warmup is going to be swimming. What I usually do for a warmup is a 500m swim of SKIPS. Swim 100m, Kick 100m, 100m IM, 100m Pull, 100m Swim. If you can't do all the strokes, do 400m SKPS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might also not make my most intense set the first one after the warmup, I might put in a threshold set of 10x100 on 1:45 (or whatever suits your swimming speed), before I did any kind of high intensity interval type work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a fan of leaping around a pool deck waving your arms and legs for a swimming warmup. One, the deck is often wet/slippery, two you get funny looks. Swimming is non impact enough that you can just get in and swim at a low level, so as long as you don't jump in and start banging out 50m on a :25 sendoff you should be fine just swimming as a warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T14:29:35.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2012-09-01T15:13:26.503" Score="8" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you get rid of your office chair? - Not necessarily, especially if it is a good ergonomic chair that is adjusted to your work surface.  A good chair gives your back support.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you get up and move at regular intervals? - Yes, this is the key to keeping the negatives of prolonged sitting to a minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you add an exercise ball to alternate with your chair? - Maybe a good idea in that it promotes motion.  Should you &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1762/is-it-a-good-idea-to-use-an-exercise-ball-as-a-chair/2093#2093&quot;&gt;use a ball as your chair&lt;/a&gt; exclusively?  - Probably not.  The back has no support when sitting on a ball.  If you don’t use good posture your back can suffer.  If your setup allows for you to switch off periodically, using the ball it may be a nice alternative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you stand? - Although the standing desk can also make a nice alternative, you would still need to remember to take breaks and do some movement exercises like toe/heel raises, marching etc. Prolonged standing can create lower extremity problems including swelling, varicose veins, pain and arthritis.  A good mat can help as @Robin suggests, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://hazards.org/standing/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stationary standing&lt;/a&gt; presents some of the same sedentary problems as motionless sitting.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other Alternatives? - As others have suggested trying to alternate between other positions and taking walking or exercise breaks can help.  But as @Dave suggests our bodies are designed to function with movement.  Prolonged inactivity is unhealthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remembering to make the changes can be hard when your concentration is elsewhere.  To help in this repect, as @eych suggests, the water trick does work in that you are forced to break your concentration to go to the bathroom.  A &lt;a href=&quot;http://download.cnet.com/Scirocco-Take-a-Break/3000-2129_4-10333152.html?tag=mncol;2#editorsreview&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;computer app&lt;/a&gt; that reminds you to take a break is good (if you use it :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My alternative is to keep the ball and some resistance bands within sight.  I bounce on the ball and do some resistance exercises with the bands for my arms, chest and legs.  It gets me out of my chair and gets my circulation going. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take you a while to get your routine going, but given the downsides of not getting up and moving it is worth the effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-09-01T15:13:26.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-01T17:33:11.203" Score="4" ViewCount="675" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for a while, my weight is about 150lbs (68kg) and i am about 5'7 (1.70m). I bench press about 135lbs (61kg)  and i can squat 250 (113kg). My question is: &lt;strong&gt;what kind of exercises can improve my bench pressing and squat?&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be able lift heavier weights. I would prefer for exerices that can be done without buying any special equipment or going to a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4168" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-02T22:25:11.270" LastActivityDate="2012-09-02T22:25:11.270" Title="What can I do to improve my bench press and squat?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;body-weight-lift&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7921" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7933" CreationDate="2012-09-02T11:43:17.613" Score="6" ViewCount="1499" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went through a period of having recurring knee pain while mainly been using a treadmill. I stopped running on the treadmill and took up road running and also did more swimming. So now my current training per week is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming, high intensity, 40 minutes, 2 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight lifting, all-body weights &amp;amp; machines, 2 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running, 10 miles (16km), in 100 minutes, 2 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm slightly concerned that I could be over-doing it on the running. Given my history of having recurring knee pain, my question is: &lt;strong&gt;Am I overdoing the running&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel any ill effects from it (at the moment), but I'm also not training for a half marathon or anything like that - I just want to maximise my fitness without risking injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I don't cycle because it aggravates my knees even more than running used to - 10 mins on the bike machine pretty much guarantees that I wake up the following night with pain the quadriceps tendon (or sometimes the lateral collateral ligament) in one of my knees (but never both). I've had my knees looked at by a few doctors but they have never gotten to the root of the problem (or even a consistent diagnosis). I had some physio a couple of months ago but it didn't help at all. It seems I've somehow managed to get lucky and settle into a program were my knees are happy ! But as I said, I just worry a bit about 100 mins running - thinking I should cut it back to maybe half the distance but faster ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3834" LastEditorUserId="3834" LastEditDate="2012-09-02T16:15:02.463" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T20:47:56.060" Title="Is running 10 miles twice a week too much when is combined with swimming and weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7921" CreationDate="2012-09-02T12:05:50.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without the specific diagnosis this question is hard to answer and you should better seek out professional help and ask if you can keep on running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really concerned about your knee and just want some cardio workout I'd recommend cycling as a substitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;less stress to the knee (although you still put stress on your knee, of course)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;comparable muscle groups (depending on the type of biking, eg MTB or road)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you can do it for the same time or even longer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you can go further, more variation in what you see&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course cycling brings in other risks and problems, but this should be the case with every sport you can do. If you really need specific help, I recommend again to ask a professional (eg a sports physician or physiotherapist).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-02T12:05:50.677" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7919" CreationDate="2012-09-02T15:19:17.193" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not going to like this answer, but it's a simple one. If you want to increase your bench and squat, you need to bench and squat more. That's all there is to it. Using a muscle makes it stronger. Now, if just doing more reps of Bench Press and Squat is boring, you can switch it up: incline bench press, one-legged squats, etc. But to make a muscle group stronger, you just have to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: I'm amending my answer, since I failed to notice you didn't want equipment OR a gym. That's going to be hard, but the answer is even simpler: push-ups and body weight squats. A lot of them. Do things like one-arm pushups to make them harder if you need to. But you're not going to see huge improvement that way, and it's going to take a LOT of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastEditorUserId="4176" LastEditDate="2012-09-02T15:54:49.990" LastActivityDate="2012-09-02T15:54:49.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7919" CreationDate="2012-09-02T15:35:25.700" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best results for improving your bench and squat are to bench and squat heavy. It sounds, however, like you want to improve your barbell bench and squat strength by using bodyweight methods. This will be difficult. Here's what I would try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get good at pistols. As soon as you can do five in a row, add weight. Anything you can hold in your hands will work. Heavier is better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups. Increasing the number of reps beyond, say, thirty or fifty or a hundred isn't going to much help your bench press, so look into harder gymnastic variations of push-ups once you're at that point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you have a workout partner? Put them on your back and squat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstands and handstand push-ups. The carryover to bench is not significant, but increasing your pressing strength might help somewhat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not looking for squatting or benching numbers specifically, but are interested in strength using bodyweight methods more generally, I recommend looking deeply into gymnastics. Coach Sommer's Building the Gymnastic Body is a good place to start, as is Ross Enamait's work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if it's really squatting and benching you want, best results will come from finding a barbell, weights, and rack for cheap on Craigslist or a yard sale. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-09-02T15:35:25.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="999" CreationDate="2012-09-02T17:43:21.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a rest and go around 7pm? Per workout I have a whey shake 30 mins before gym, another as soon as I've finished, followed by food an hour later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally train at about 8pm, eat and then sleep. There will be about an hour between eating and bed, if this is the case I'd have a cup of cottage cheese before bed to help prevent your body going catabolic during sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried training early morning before but I found I could not lift the same that early. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4178" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-23T12:53:34.267" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T12:53:34.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7928" CreationDate="2012-09-02T23:25:19.097" Score="6" ViewCount="5735" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started doing the Strong-lifts program this week, and while researching the correct movement for each exercise I got a little confused with the barbell row. in some videos I saw it being done with an underhand grip, and in others with an overhand grip. Is there a difference between the grips? If there is, then which one is recommended to do in order to get the best results from the Strong-lifts program? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T06:15:45.927" Title="When doing barbell rows should I have an overhand grip or underhand grip?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7927" CreationDate="2012-09-03T00:49:34.233" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do barbell rows overhand, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot;&gt;exrx recommends&lt;/a&gt; and like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3CqTvPls_Q&quot;&gt;Arnold does&lt;/a&gt; and like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3CqTvPls_Q&quot;&gt;this StrongLifts-doing guy does&lt;/a&gt;. I think underhand would turn them into curls when they're challenging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-master-barbell-row-technique/&quot;&gt;StrongLifts specifically recommends against the underhand grip&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T00:49:34.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7929" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7930" CreationDate="2012-09-03T04:31:52.153" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you cite the foods that are low in fat but high in calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 21, male, around 5'7&quot; tall and I'm kinda skinny. I've read online that one of the things I should consider to gain weight is taking in food which is low in fat and high in calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4181" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T05:35:45.293" Title="What are the foods that are low in fat but high in calories?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-10-25T13:17:22.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7929" CreationDate="2012-09-03T05:35:45.293" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, straight sugar is high in calories but low in fat. Its high in simple carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I'm not sure the advice you read was so great. It likely comes from the outdated belief that dietary fat/cholesterol equals fat/cholesterol in your body. Eat too much of any of the 3 macronutrient categories (protein/fat/carbohydrate) and you will get fat. Eating huge amounts of &lt;em&gt;simple&lt;/em&gt; carbohydrates and the associated sustained high blood glucose levels over a long period of time can put a strain on your pancreas and in some cases lead to diabetes, varying levels of insulin resistance, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherosclerosis&quot;&gt;arterial plaque&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to put on weight, you have to decide what kind of weight you want to put on. If you want to put on fat, the best way to do that is just to eat lots of food with little or no exercise. If you have a normal digestive system then there is always a point at which your body fails to burn all the calories you consume, and you put on fat. If you have a faster metabolism than average, this will be more food than others eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to put on muscle, then you have to train hard in the gym whilst eating lots of quality food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T05:35:45.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7893" CreationDate="2012-09-03T06:00:25.877" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have had varying levels of rotator cuff pain over the years. Most of the time for me its been from bad technique on bar bell bench press, or dumbbell shoulder/bench press movements. There are many ways you can isolate and train (very carefully!) these muscles. I have always found a pain free shoulder &lt;em&gt;strengthening&lt;/em&gt; exercise to be the seated barbell military press. I don't really like the smith machine version but that can be a way to start and learn the movement. Give it a try and see if it works for you. I've built up the strength in my shoulders substantially doing seated military press and rotator cuff pain has diminished and largely disappeared. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyresults.com/e2rotatorcuff.asp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this method&lt;/a&gt; sporadically throughout the years. I must admit I've been a bit lazy with it though but see how you go with it. Its the one generally recommended by most personal trainers whenever you mention rotator cuffs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More to your question on dips, they can be a bit tricky as muscles utilised can change (as you've identified) depending on your posture during the movement. If you want to strengthen your triceps for dips, I would recommend replicating a similar (but more controlled movement) in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/triceps-pushdown-rope-attachment&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;rope pushdown&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T06:00:25.877" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7551" CreationDate="2012-09-03T15:40:55.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The benefits of anarobic work aside, doing cardio only is certainly better than doing nothing at all, if you're dead set against lifting weights.  Have you thought about swimming?  That would be a cardio exercise that would engage your upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'd recommend the you post a specific question about the problems that lifting weights is causing your hands, people here may be able to talk you through some of the issues you have.  A surprising number of issues can be worked around, and the people on this site are fairly I knowledgable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW, I know a couple dental hygentists, one orthopedic surgeon, and one carpenter that are avid rock climbers and Crossfiters.  People that use their hands can still have active hobbies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T15:40:55.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7921" CreationDate="2012-09-03T18:53:22.023" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people make the mistake in running that they think it's ok to just go out and run, without any base training. This misconception leads to a lot of injuries. My &lt;strong&gt;LONG&lt;/strong&gt; run for the entire week is 10ish miles, and that's when I'm running between 30-40 miles/week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a lot of base, then 10 miles twice a week is not what I would recommend. Plus, if you are just doing it for general fitness, then it is way overkill, and in all likelihood, contributing to your knee aggravation. (Especially if your shoes are unsuited/old). If I were coaching someone that wanted to do two 10 miles runs a week as their only training, I'd have expected them to get to the neighborhood of 50-60 miles/week as a base before that, and take into consideration that you will lose some running ability by dropping to just two runs a week. One other consideration, is that recovery will be impacted and possibly interfere with other workouts by limiting yourself to two long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the knee pain on the bike, I would suspect that you have some sort of positional setup that is wrong, or that you are approaching the bike the way you are the run, getting on and hammering at a super high cadence. Just about all cardio activities, you need to have good form, and a good base, otherwise it's easy to hurt yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For general fitness, I would have you do 3-5 miles twice a week, moderate pace with a few :30 second pickups where you increase your pace 20-30% then back to moderate pace. General fitness is not that hard to achieve, and you definitely can do it without two 10 mile runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-09-03T20:47:56.060" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T20:47:56.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7242" CreationDate="2012-09-03T22:11:05.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's not exposed to heat or light, protein powder will last pretty much forever. 3 months is no problem. Just keep it in the airtight, opaque container it comes in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T22:11:05.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7413" CreationDate="2012-09-03T22:13:58.393" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;An easy rule of thumb for weightloss is to just put a 0 after your weight. If you weigh 189 pounds, eat 1890 calories to lose weight. You'll lose weight eating 2000 calories too, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T22:13:58.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7938" CreationDate="2012-09-03T22:54:37.257" Score="6" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;My physical therapist wants me to box six 3-minute rounds before I do weight training. After boxing I feel pretty tired and of course not 100% energized, and I can't perform 100% in weight training due to this (squats, leg presses, etc). Is it good to box to warm up or should I just do light warm-up exercises and jump straight into weight training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4183" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-04T03:41:57.320" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T03:41:57.320" Title="Is it good to box 6 rounds before heavy squats?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7937" CreationDate="2012-09-03T23:13:09.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;6 x 3 minute rounds seems a lot for a warm up.  I would imagine you would be tired and unable to do a complete weight training program.  What are your goals? and why did your personal trainer suggest this program?  If your focus is on improving cardio, this might be right, but if it's strength training....you would normally do a light warm up, focus on the strength training and then some cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T23:13:09.683" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7937" CreationDate="2012-09-03T23:29:18.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's pretty risky to ask someone to box 6 3-minute rounds before doing weight training. As you said, you feel pretty tired and don't feel like you have 100% energy to do the weights, and as a result you won't be getting the benefits out of it that you could if you were fresh. Not to mention if you're fatigued you're more likely to be sloppy and make a mistake, injuring yourself. I wouldn't do anything more than a round of shadowboxing for warmup, or perhaps a few minutes of rope skipping. Since boxing would be more of an endurance exercise, and lifting heavy weights will sap some of your endurance, doing the 6 3-minute rounds of boxing after the weights makes the most sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-03T23:29:18.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7398" CreationDate="2012-09-04T05:42:05.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about eating right before sleeping. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biolayne.com/nutrition/carbs-at-night-fat-loss-killer-or-imaginary-boogeyman/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This easy to read article&lt;/a&gt; summarizes a study done with groups of people eating at different times of the day to see if it had any effect on fat loss/gain. In addition to this there is also anecdotal evidence gleaned from Muslims fasting during the month of Ramadan (all food is eaten close to sleeping). For some unknown reason people eating carbs in a big lump before bed lost more fat. Like the article says, there isn't enough proof yet to state that you SHOULD definitely jam all carbs in before bed, but certainly you shouldn't be worried about excess fat gain or anything like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do the gym training close to bed time. After convincing myself in the past few months that I didn't have to eat 6 meals a day I eat almost 1000 of my 3000 calories shortly before my head touches the pillow and fat loss/muscle gain is at an all time high. &lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: I wouldn't contribute this improvement to my changing eating habits but it merely adds to my confidence that it doesn't make a difference. Our bodies adapt quite nicely as @Sancho said in his comment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-09-04T23:29:55.013" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T23:29:55.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7413" CreationDate="2012-09-04T09:18:09.230" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In broad brush terms one pound of weight equates to 3500 calories. So, to lose two pounds per week, you need to cut out 7000 calories or 1000 calories per day. This can be through increased exercise or through dieting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal rule of thumb is that food intake controls your weight, exercise controls whether that weight is fat or muscle. So if you aren't losing weight, you are eating to much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T09:18:09.230" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7943" CreationDate="2012-09-04T11:43:31.053" Score="13" ViewCount="16604" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing cardio lately, eating pretty healthy and doing lots of ab exercises &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Planks&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3LFjV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Wheel&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h3cXA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Knee lifts&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V19VS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rotating back with body bar&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kyM6l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my upper abs and upper side abs are getting very tight and ripped but  i still can't seem to get rid of lower belly and side love handles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any recommendations to help target these areas better or other things (diet related, etc) that would make the most impact in this area.  I have obviously googled this question and found a lot of different contradictory answers so I thought I would see if anyone on this forum had some good advice that worked well for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T18:05:21.823" Title="What is the best way to get rid of love handles and lower belly fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7942" CreationDate="2012-09-04T12:27:17.390" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't list your age or gender — but the general answer is that you can't spot fix/reduce, you need to reduce and improve overall condition and reduce overall weight.  Everyone stores fat differently and the spots you've indicated will be the toughest/last places for you to see improvement.  My recommendation: if you're seeing improvement in your fitness and health, then continue and you'll see improvement in those areas where you want&amp;nbsp;— but it might take longer.  Pat yourself on the back for focusing on your health and the improvements you've made and continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2012-09-04T15:40:36.167" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T15:40:36.167" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7946" CreationDate="2012-09-04T13:40:24.380" Score="9" ViewCount="9571" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started swimming and trying to swim 1500m nonstop (as a first goal). I gradually increased my set distances. After 4 weeks I can swim 1000m nonstop. I guess I will reach 1500m in 2 weeks. One thing I observe is; my stroke count per 50m decreased from 59 to 48 in 3 weeks period. But it stopped there. (I can now swim 1:52 100m) &#xA;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;Is 48 strokes per 50m a good rate or should I try to lower the stroke count by lengthening the stroke length?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2320" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-09-04T14:47:27.930" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T15:15:57.123" Title="Is there an optimum for swimming stroke rate?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7948" CreationDate="2012-09-04T13:53:10.730" Score="3" ViewCount="525" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningplanet.com/training/top-ten-characteristics-running-form.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runningplanet.com/training/top-ten-characteristics-running-form.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dorsiflexed Foot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the first stride key you think about &lt;strong&gt;during the drive phase of&#xA;  your running stride&lt;/strong&gt;? You probably think of either lifting, driving or&#xA;  pulling your knee up and through. That is a good stride key but there&#xA;  may be a better one. How about first raising your toes? When you raise&#xA;  your toes you are dorsiflexing your foot at your ankle. If you&#xA;  concentrate on dorsiflexing your foot you are putting your foot in the&#xA;  proper position for a flat footed touchdown, pre stretching your calf&#xA;  to maximize energy return and are also encouraging a “triple response”&#xA;  in which your knee and hip flex into proper running stride position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what &quot;the drive phase of&#xA;your running stride&quot; mean when the quote suggests to dorsiflex foot? Is it the phase when one foot leaves the ground,  the leg moves forward, but the foot hasn't landed yet? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="163" LastEditorUserId="163" LastEditDate="2012-09-04T14:04:46.160" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T14:41:01.123" Title="What does the drive phase of running stride mean?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7944" CreationDate="2012-09-04T14:15:06.613" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;The world record holder on 1500m is Sun Yang, an analysis of his stroke per length and stroke rate can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.camelbackcoaching.com/sun-yang-2012-olympic-1500-meter-swim-world-record/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sun Yang&lt;/a&gt;. His stroke rate (or frequency) is 0.96 (almost a stroke per second) and his strokes per 50m length is 27. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your stroke rate is 0.85 (48 strokes per 56 seconds) or 51 strokes per minute, i.e. slower than Sun Yang (58 strokes per minute), and you need 48 strokes (1.04 m/stroke) where he needs 27 (1.85 m/stroke). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In figure 1, I have plotted the two points and one of my own measurements: {{1.85, 0.96}, {1.04, 0.85}, {1.78, 0.68}} and also - assuming constant speed - the Stroke frequency as a function of Stroke length, that is Speed = Stroke frequency * Stroke length&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, you can see that if Sun Yang had a shorter Stroke length (e.g. not have as long arm as he has), he has to increase the Stroke frequency to swim with a the same speed. For me to approach Sun's speed (not likely to happen :-)), my focus should be to increase the frequency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5E4Fj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Fig1 &quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fig 1. Constant speed as a function of Stroke frequency and Stroke length&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you want to change speed or keep the speed constant and work with a frequency, length combination, depends on your overall goals for swimming. Two references that can help you are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An analysis from an Total Immersion instructor, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mediterraswim.com/blog/blog.html?view=entries&amp;amp;page=9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mediterra Swim - Smart speed part 1 and 2&lt;/a&gt;, there is no good/bad answer there but a framework for analyzing and thinking about the problem. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Based on Swim Smooth, your stroke rate is just about right for your&#xA;100m speed, se &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/strokerate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Swim smooth stroke rate&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you want to go faster, I would experiment with the stroke rate, e.g. through getting a tempo trainer, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finisinc.com/equipment/electronics/tempo-trainer-pro.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Finis tempo trainer&lt;/a&gt;. However, my own experience as almost beginner, is that if I increase the effort beyond my technique, I get really tired very fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-12T16:42:20.997" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T16:42:20.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7944" CreationDate="2012-09-04T14:34:19.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glide phase is important.  So on each stroke, you want to hold it for a minimal amount of time to enjoy the benefit of the glide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was taught to bring your arm forward, stretch out, for maximum length, hold that hand forward for a pause, then bring the other arm back, holding that one forward.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same on breast stroke, you need to hold the glide for a moment.  (I cannot define the length of that moment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T14:34:19.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7945" CreationDate="2012-09-04T14:41:01.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plantar flexion of the foot happens when you point your toes. This is what's happening when you first push off the ground. Your heel lifts first, then you push off with the rest of the foot, ending with your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dorsiflexion is the opposite, so after you point your toes, you need to pull them back up towards your shin. That's what the snippet that you provided is saying, is that that movement to recover from the toe point/pushoff should be one of the first things that you initiate as you bring your leg forward and knee up to prepare for your next step on that side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T14:41:01.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7398" CreationDate="2012-09-04T15:54:41.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no reason why you shouldn't eat shortly before going to bed as long as you remain within your nutritional requirements for the whole day.  There has been no study I'm aware of that has shown any correlation with food timing and body composition.  There is a clear correlation with body composition and food content.  The biggest concern is with sleep quality and food content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are reasons to eat after exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To replenish your glycogen stores (energy in your muscles)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To aid in recovery--if your body has the raw materials necessary, it can do it's job better&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are getting your daily requirement of protein throughout the day, the biggest need your body has after exercise is carbohydrates.  Post exercise is the safest and most useful time to eat carbs.  The majority of the energy is put into your muscle, which aids recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that you need to find a carb source that won't affect your sleep.  Now is not the time to get that super spicy deep fried chimichanga.  You definitely want to avoid anything that is likely to give you heartburn.  Also, you don't want something that will turn to liquid and wake you up at 3:00am with an urge to urinate.  That rules out frozen treats like ice cream and most shakes (protein or otherwise).  You know your body best, so try different things to figure out what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be useful to save the vast majority your daily allotment of carbs to post training.  This ensures you don't overeat for the day, and it addresses the recovery issue nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-04T15:54:41.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-04T19:57:54.197" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;What assessments would you recommend taking prior to you (or someone you workout with) takes prior to working out? NASM recommends a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nasm.org/uploadedFiles/NASMORG/objects/downloads/NASM_PAR-Q%20%28PDF,%2021k%29.pdf?n=8236&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PAR-Q&lt;/a&gt;, performing an overhead squat, push up and step tests...what tests have you taken and/or recommend so a person knows they're in good enough condition and have a good idea what areas to work on (strength, flexibility&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T20:08:44.967" Title="What assessments would you recommend prior to working out?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7976" CreationDate="2012-09-04T20:03:04.013" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22 years old, and it has been 4 days since I started to train in a gym. My weight is  60-61 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I am training on different gym equipment, but most important for me is weightlifting. When I workout, the sets typically have 8-8-8-7 repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;does it matter if I can't do 8 repetitions in all four sets?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also working on pull-up, push-ups, legs exercises, biceps, and triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4189" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-09-06T02:16:37.647" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T06:30:05.400" Title="Completing all sets in a weightlifting routine" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-05T07:47:18.060" Score="5" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to run and I can however I suffer from severe shin splints whenever I do so, it has been suggested to me in the past that this could be prevented by one of two main reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason one: I need to change my style to POSE and run in shoes which simulate bare foot running so that my muscles absorb impact how they are supposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason two:  I don't have the correct running shoes and I need to make sure that I get shoes which match my gait and correctly absorb impact when I strike using a heel-first technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I own a pair of vibram five-fingers currently and a pair of nike frees (currently trying reason one out), however in the vibrams I have to run so slowly that it doesn't seem worth it and I produce such a huge &quot;slapping&quot; sound when running on anything downhill that it is quite uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When running in the nike frees which I got as it was described as a way to sort of ease into bare foot running I still get really bad shin splints after 100m or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I go and splash more cash on a pair of heel striking running shoes I would like to understand the benefit of each running style and which would help me solve my current problem which is I can't seem to run for more than 100m or so without getting shin splints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add that I am self diagnosing my shin splints, the pain felt when running feels like my shin bone (lower leg bone) will shatter that is, it feels like there is a pain going up and down it which could be akin to when you see a cartoon character get hit with a hammer and they crack into tiny little fractures like glass or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to summarise firstly I would like to understand which running style will help me to get rid of my shin splints and why it is recommended.  Secondly I would like to know more about which running style will help me to perform best, by perform I mean run for longer and faster, think  100m sprints to up to 10km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do not want answers which consist of biased opinions I would like any response to be balanced and if possible linked to evidence that running said way will reduce shin splints (for example).  This is purely to make the question less subjective and any answers more rigorous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any further information is required please ask, cheers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1975" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T12:17:54.803" Title="How does running style impact health and performance?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7076" CreationDate="2012-09-05T08:46:21.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal heart rate recovery is a decrease in your hr of 20-25 bpm (in 1 minute). For a fitter person it would be 30-45 bpm (in 1 minute). Abnormal heart rate recovery is usually defined as 12 or fewer bpm (in 1 minute). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the number 12 &lt;a href=&quot;http://nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199910283411804&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; is the ref &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2320" LastEditorUserId="2320" LastEditDate="2012-09-06T11:38:28.547" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T11:38:28.547" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-05T12:30:49.323" Score="3" ViewCount="784" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm able to dead lift 270 at 5 reps without straps, after that I need to add straps to get to 400.  How much more should I be able to hold if I used chalk? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-01T19:46:49.890" LastActivityDate="2012-11-01T19:46:49.890" Title="How much more weight can you hold with chalked hands?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7959" CreationDate="2012-09-05T14:00:53.830" Score="8" ViewCount="5105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been regularly going to the gym around 3 - 5 times a week.  I do not do crazy workout like some other people.  I only do resistance training enough to may be build some muscle in a few months.  I just joined Kung Fu class and the instructor told me that it was a bad idea to do both Kung Fu and go to the Gym as it will make by body be disproportionate  and cause back pain.  Is that true?  If it is under what circumstances?  i.e. how much work is too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for myself, I am 32 years old and 6'3&quot; weight around 200 pounds.  I am already a bit muscular, i.e. I am able to incline press 200 pounds for 16 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 1:&#xA;I plan on doing 1 - 2 Kung Fu sessions a week.  Each sessions is about an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1634" LastEditorUserId="1634" LastEditDate="2012-09-05T15:28:47.993" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T23:28:38.957" Title="Kung Fu + Gym = Bad Idea?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7952" CreationDate="2012-09-05T14:58:28.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let me address the misconception in your post. Your heel touching first is not necessarily heel striking. Unless your heel is still out in front of your center of gravity when the majority of your weight is on that leg (overstriding), you probably are not heel striking and are more likely already running either mid or forefoot. It has to do more with the loading phase of the run stride than it does which part of the shoe touches first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your shin splints, or tibial stress syndrome, there can be many different causes, one of the most common of which is simply overuse. This can be caused by either markedly increasing your distance or your intensity in a short period of time. Shoes not fitted for your gait, or ones that are worn out and have compromised soles can also contribute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Robin notes, there are other conditions that can produce or mimic the pain that is commonly called shin splints (Some of which can be serious), so you should have it checked by a pro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a more personal view, I'm not a fan of Chi/Pose or any other trendy &quot;run on your toes&quot; style of running. Truly running on your toes is a sprinter style, and not really sustainable for more than sprint distances. I've seen more injuries from people trying to adapt to not letting their heel touch than actually paying attention to how they really run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T14:58:28.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7076" CreationDate="2012-09-05T15:12:22.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Directly from &lt;a href=&quot;http://restwise.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RestWise.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sports science has confirmed the link between variation in resting heart rate and overtraining. But this link is neither easily understood nor directly correlated. The problem is that an elevated resting heart rate can indicate training stress... but it can also simply mean that you had a rough day at work. To complicate matters, an elevated pulse may be a sign of sympathetic overtraining, whereas a dramatically lowered pulse may indicate parasympathetic stress. Restwise analyzes resting heart rate variability within the context of both your heart rate history and your other daily inputs. Our algorithm then distills this complexity and adjusts the calculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting heart rate should ideally be monitored during sleep or first thing in the morning, before getting out of bed. Day-to-day variations in resting heart rate of approximately 5% are common and not usually associated with fatigue or stress. However, increases of greater than 5% are typically reported in fatigued or acutely over-reached (sympathetic) individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T15:12:22.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7955" CreationDate="2012-09-05T15:25:38.773" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been in the martial arts for 25+ years (Isshinryu Karate and Aikido) and can tell you first hand, that if you do the standard weight training (bench, squat, dead lift, etc.) and go for the full range of motion and stretch, you WILL NOT have any problems with Kung Fu.  Sounds like your Kung Fu instructor is old school, where weight training was considered detrimental to speed and flexibility.  If you look at the top MMA fighters, they ALL do some level of weight training and if you look at some top power lifters, they're very flexible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation: focus on power (Olympic lifts) and make sure your form is good and that you go full range of motion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T15:25:38.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7960" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7961" CreationDate="2012-09-05T15:35:59.850" Score="6" ViewCount="2014" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing a (standing, overhead) press as described in Starting Strength, are your elbows supposed to stay in a vertical plane, under your hands and in front of your hands (more or less), staying at the same distance from each other as you press the bar up?  Or should they travel out, away from each other some, during the movement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do it, my elbows tend to flare out some.  I think this changes the muscle recruitment in the exercise.  I'm not sure if this is a form error that I should correct (reducing the weight if needed), or if I should just ignore it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't see this fully addressed in Starting Strength, but I may have missed it.  Rippetoe talks at length about a proper vertical bar path, and all the photos of people doing the lifts are profile shots, never straight on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T16:06:05.093" Title="Elbow movement during Rippetoe Press" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7960" CreationDate="2012-09-05T16:34:45.200" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes flaring is unavoidable, but you should avoid it if you can.  Essentially it wastes energy on an already difficult lift.  A good setup for overhead standing press is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thumbs around the bar--as long as you are a beginner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hands grabbing just outside the shoulders (this will bring your elbows up some)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar across the deltoids (shoulders), not the collar bone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elbows slightly up, but not all the way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your core tight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When moving head back to clear the bar, bring elbows directly under the wrists as you go up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shove your head through when the bar is about forehead level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finish in the Rippetoe alignment (bar over scapula over mid-foot)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic setup is from an article I read from Bill Starr, who has greatly influenced Rippetoe and posts regularly enough on the Starting Strength site.  The key points to this set up are the fact that with the hand placement, your elbows are forced into the proper start position, and there isn't a lot of room to flare them at all.  This will improve your triceps strength, and put you in a position where solid lats will help be a stable platform to push the bar up from.  Your whole body needs to be tight throughout the lift.  Your abs are a big part of getting that bar up, and not overextending your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T16:34:45.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7955" CreationDate="2012-09-05T16:45:00.800" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whole body strength is helpful in martial arts; however, many people don't focus on whole body strength.  They focus on what they like, as you can see by bird legged people with massive chests and arms.  This is not balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to build whole body strength is to focus on full range of motion compound lifts like squats, standing press, deadlifts, and bench press.  Technically speaking, you can do quite well without the bench press, and not including it in a program that supports martial arts isn't going to hurt you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things to keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not neglect mobility--this will help you prevent injuries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not neglect conditioning--this really becomes the biggest determiner of your stamina&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not focus on being big or huge.  A little size is inevitable when you go heavy, but a program heavy in high rep ranges will get in your way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not neglect technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do go down the path of martial arts and weight training, it might be good to focus on strength 2x a week, and conditioning/mobility/skill work at least 3x a week--and that's not including your classes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T16:45:00.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-05T18:15:50.300" Score="0" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know how the two exercises on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja0AAXg3Rnk&amp;amp;feature=plcp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; are called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact it seems to be one exercise and a variation of it, but perhaps the variation has a custom name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to search more information about this exercise and workouts, which include it, but to to so I should know how it is called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it has different names in different contexts, please let me know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-05T19:47:58.663" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T11:42:07.480" Title="How is this quad exercise called?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7901" CreationDate="2012-09-05T19:41:06.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let's start off with the answer for this specific scenario:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being only 1 month into the program, it is unlikely that you are at a significant enough weight that would warrant a deload. Additionally, with only 1 week of missed workouts, it is unlikely you have had a significant enough deterioration in strength to warrant a deload. Given this, &lt;em&gt;unless your body tells you otherwise,&lt;/em&gt; you should repeat your previous session and then proceed as normal. Should you have difficulties repeating the previous workout, then deload 10% and work your way back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the more generalized answer, that is rather tricky as there are a lot of different stages and scenarios where this answer will change. Generally speaking, when you are working in the heavier weights, safety and form should always come before progress. You cannot and should not attempt to progress to higher weights if it means sacrificing form and/or safety. This is why deloading is such a crucial tool. If you miss a week or two to sickness in the later stages when you are operating at heavy weights, then deloading should no longer be a question, it should be a reality. Go down by 10-20% and start over again, focusing on form and rebuilding muscle so you can get back to and break through your previous weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T19:41:06.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7966" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-05T19:49:21.123" Score="2" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to fitness and will be doing load-bearing and high-impact exercises. It necessary to do warm-up exercises before starting load-bearing and high-impact exercises? If yes, then why it is necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4098" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-06T02:44:46.473" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T06:27:41.223" Title="Is warm up exercise necessary for load-bearing and high impact exercise?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7964" CreationDate="2012-09-05T19:56:04.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen anyone do it, but I think the full version of the exercise, where you stand all the way up, is called the &quot;Sissy Squat&quot; (sorry for the title):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSissySquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sissy Squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/WTSissySquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weighted Sissy Squat&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-01T11:42:07.480" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T11:42:07.480" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-05T19:56:59.147" Score="0" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train every day, usually running 4 miles and doing brisk walking on an incline to burn fat. My calorie intake is less than 1500 calories, and I am burning between 500-600 calories per day which leaves me an average daily intake of 800-900 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this enough for a 12 stone man (168 pounds) to stay in good health? I've been doing it for 1 month now and am starting to feel a bit tired with my training getting harder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4195" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-06T02:48:29.743" LastActivityDate="2012-11-18T12:02:54.233" Title="How much should I exercise given my calorie intake?" Tags="&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7950" CreationDate="2012-09-05T20:08:44.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, I'd say the following six tests do a pretty reasonable job at assessing a person's fitness. (I know I've had to do more flexibility assessments than just the sit and reach, but nothing is coming to mind at the moment; I'll edit this later if I recall any).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step Test&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit and Reach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I think it also pays off to arm yourself with as much data as you can before you start a program. This gives you a meaningful way to measure and gauge your progress throughout the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VO2 Max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body Fat Percentage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body Measurements (waist, neck, hip, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body Weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T20:08:44.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7966" CreationDate="2012-09-05T20:22:24.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've read, warm ups are good for getting your body warmed up and your muscles ready for stress.  Think of your muscles like rubber bands.  When a rubber band is cold, it has a tough time stretching and is prone to snapping if you put too much pressure on it.  Now, take that same rubber band and warm it up to a decent temperature and it'll stretch just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T20:22:24.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-05T20:35:04.150" Score="1" ViewCount="7911" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to gain long-term (permanent) weight and got a weight gainer (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iammutant.com/products/mutantmass.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mutant mass&lt;/a&gt;), the bag specify:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Over 1,060  calories per serving&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2 shakes a day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible or recommendable to intake 2 shakes everyday for long period of times couple of years), just like protein shakes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By my understanding is that weight gainers, are effective in aumenting muscular mass but once you stop intaking (2  weeks - 1 month) you start going downhill (unless you consume same calory amount in food).  Which make sense since you reduce your calories intake and maintin/increase calory burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it healthy to keep using weight gainer?  Are weight gainers more like easily getting where you want and then just worry about maintaining your goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4196" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T22:58:31.493" Title="How long should I intake weight gainers?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7971" CreationDate="2012-09-05T22:58:31.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight gainers don't necessarily &quot;augment muscular mass&quot;, they are just calorie bombs. It's what you do with the calories that matters. A product like this does what it advertises, you gain weight. If you are not doing the workouts to support that amount of caloric intake, you'll gain it in fat. There is no &quot;easily getting&quot; to where you want, it all takes hard work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it has an advantage is if you are doing massive amounts of workouts, and are limited on what/when you can eat. For example, Michael Phelps at peak training consumes in the range of 8-10,000 calories a day. For most dieticians, they shudder to see his daily plate, but he needs those calories to fuel his workouts and recovery. Probably 95% of the general public just doesn't need that many calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember that the vast majority of Phelp's workout regimen is very low impact cardio, I don't know if you could sustain 8,000 calories worth of straight weight workouts for very long without running into overuse/recovery issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-05T22:58:31.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7775" CreationDate="2012-09-06T03:51:08.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be careful about listening to self confessed YouTube 'guru's like the hodge twins. They aren't intellectuals and whilst mean well, they often have blaring holes in their understanding. They are ok for entertainment value but I personally wouldn't follow anything they said. They have decent physiques, but there is no way to know if they just have good genetics (anything works) or hard gainers that know how to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all neither here nor there, but the 'gurus' that I've talked to that have devoted their lives to muscle building seem to agree on the high reps for legs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biologiclabs.com.au&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The crowd I train&lt;/a&gt; with certainly prescribe to this. In fact 50 (yes FIFTY) rep leg press comes up in programming fairly often. 15-20 rep squats are also common (very painful). I feel the white hot pain in those let me assure you! Last week I did 50-40-30-20 reps on leg press. Very painful. I realise this sounds NUTS for someone that has only ever trained in the 12 reps or under ranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_muscle#Muscle_fibers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;is to be believed&lt;/a&gt;, there are predominately type 1 fibres in postural muscles which matches exactly what you said. Since type 1 fibres are endurance tuned, you would definitely aim for fatigue over higher rep ranges to induce an adaptive response. Legs in humans contain &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerlink.com/content/t7446n300207km7m/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;closer to 50/50&lt;/a&gt; white(type 2)/red(type 1 &amp;amp; 2) muscle types which matches the kind of training I've been doing. Squats can be as high as 20 reps and as low as 1. Whether we like it or not, we walk around on our legs all day and therefore there are always going to be type 1/2 fibres there and they have to be trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to try answer your question, I'm not sure who is advocating doing the same old rep ranges all the time and on all body parts, but I would &lt;strong&gt;definitely&lt;/strong&gt; train hard in a variety of rep ranges. I know as I look around my gym, its the guys confined to their 3 sets of 10 (pick a number) month in month out that grow the least. The single best thing I've ever done is to allow myself to rep up to 20 (and beyond for legs). After 3 years of stagnated training, I was able to gain 6kg (13lb) of muscle in 5 months once I learned how to train properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T03:51:08.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7966" CreationDate="2012-09-06T06:27:41.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A warmup is a very good idea, but it doesn't have to consist of what you normally think of as a warmup. The warmup should consist of low-key approximations of what you'll actually be doing. So for weights that might be going through the movements without any weights, then with lighter weights, before going to your work set. For running that would be walking first. For baseball it would be playing catch. And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest reason for doing a warmup is you'll be able to notice any problems before they become serious. If you notice some unusual pain or problems doing a bodyweight squat, that's a good indication you shouldn't be squatting with a heavy load on your shoulders. That might just be stiffness, and if you do a bit of a longer warmup you work the kinks out, but it might also be an injury (from anything, could even be just sleeping badly) and you're best off just not doing that exercise at all that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T06:27:41.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7964" CreationDate="2012-09-06T06:29:39.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://purebarre.com/p-story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pure Barre&lt;/a&gt; exercise.  Pure Barre is a newer version of &lt;a href=&quot;http://callanetics.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Callanetics&lt;/a&gt;.  The techniques use high rep, short range isometrics in specific positions to target deep postural muscles.  They both have a basis in ballet and have Pilates type moves.  They can be very effective in targeting deep postural muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T06:29:39.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7951" CreationDate="2012-09-06T06:30:05.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is progressive overload. So if for some reason you're doing the same weight that you did last time, and you're regressing in number of reps you can do in any of the sets, that's a bad thing (probably you're not taking enough time to rest, but also possibly that the load is actually too heavy for you). But on the other hand if you're increasing the weight gradually and one workout you do 8-8-8-4 and the next one you do 8-8-8-6 at the same weight, you're getting stronger and everything is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T06:30:05.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7987" CreationDate="2012-09-06T10:04:32.173" Score="4" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am over weight (1.85m/6 ft 1&quot; and 105 kgs/231 oz). I started working out 8 months ago and I have lost 25kgs/55 pounds. Over the last 2 months I am focusing on muscle exercises as much as cardio and aerobic ones. My question is this: What exercises would you suggest for the upper bottom/seat/buttocks area. I am doing squats. But apart from that, &lt;strong&gt;are there any additional exercises that can help tone that area?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4201" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-26T14:11:00.390" LastActivityDate="2018-09-10T08:22:45.493" Title="Exercises for the bottom/seat/buttocks area" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7982" CreationDate="2012-09-06T10:14:07.620" Score="5" ViewCount="14749" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am over weight (6 ft 1&quot; and 105 kgs/231 oz). I started working out 8 months ago and I have lost 25kgs/55 pounds. I run for 25 minutes (and cover about 3.20 kilometers/2 miles  in that time ) on the treadmill. I do stretching exercises. I further do some weight and resistance exercises like inclined bench presses, squats, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was recently suggested to wear a sweatshirt while my workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking that this might make sense cos obviously be sweating more .. so maybe that means I am burning more calories as well .. But I am not sure .. So please let me know if this technique makes any sense ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4201" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-06T17:10:52.620" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T17:10:52.620" Title="Does working out with a sweatshirt on burn more calories?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7979" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-06T11:02:29.980" Score="1" ViewCount="2146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know if the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slendertone.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Slendertone belt&lt;/a&gt; has any negative effects on muscles or on the mind. I have read some reviews and feedback online and found nothing dangerous about it. Is it an effect device for toning up your abs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4202" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-06T17:10:27.660" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T14:55:47.873" Title="Are there any side effect with SlenderTone system abs belt?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;slendertone&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-03-03T17:56:00.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-06T11:54:31.287" Score="1" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;When juicing fruits and vegies a lot of &quot;solid&quot; pulp are left over. I was wondering if they contain significant nutrients that might be better eaten instead of drinking pure juice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2245" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T12:21:48.757" Title="Do you miss significant nutrients when juicing?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;&lt;juice&gt;&lt;vegetables&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7980" CreationDate="2012-09-06T12:21:48.757" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good juicer gets a fair amount of skin, though how much nutrition is lost would depend a lot on the juicer. But it's not just about nutrients, it's about fiber. Fiber serves many purposes, including slowing the absorption of those nutrients and sugars (less insulin spike), and fiber is something the body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see anything &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; with juicing, and it's tasty. But IMO it shouldn't be the sole source of fruit and vegetable consumption, because you're missing a lot of what they have to offer, in terms of &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; nutrients and fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this said, not really a fitness question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T12:21:48.757" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7978" CreationDate="2012-09-06T15:57:07.100" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to sweat more during a workout is an idea that's left over from sports with weight categories, like rowing, boxing, collegiate wrestling.  The idea is that an athlete will put on extra muscle weight, then dehydrate him or herself right before an event or weigh-in to fit into a desired weight category.  Most of the sports will allow the athlete some chance to re-hydrate before actually competing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to lose weight, what you want to lose is body fat.  Wearing extra layers (sweatshirts, sauna suits, etc) will interfere with your bodies natural cooling system, make the exercise feel harder, and make it easier to get dehydrated.  You will lose water weight through the extra sweating, but you'll replace it the first time you drink any water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would probably be better off exercising with clothing that light and nonrestrictive, and helps you stay cool.  Or, if you're exercising during the winter, a light layer to keep your skin and extremities from getting frostbite.  This clothing will make it more comfortable to exercise harder and longer.  And exercising harder and longer will help you burn calories and lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T15:57:07.100" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2012-09-06T16:51:44.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The website ExRx (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;) has a long list of exercises and descriptions, which you can sort by muscle group. Here's there list of exercises that work the butt (gluteus maximus): &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html#anchor169231&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html#anchor169231&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing anything on that list should help work that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T16:51:44.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-06T20:22:42.697" Score="1" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does doing daily crossfit excercises and eating a paleo diet consisting of lean meat, vegetables, etc. reduce heart disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4206" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T18:01:48.190" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T18:01:48.190" Title="Does daily crossfit excercise and a paleo diet reduce heart disease?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2012-10-06T15:43:43.457" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7954" CreationDate="2012-09-06T22:09:53.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how much more chalk will let you hold. Anecdotally, on my last working set (when my hands are the sweatiest) I can do maybe 3 reps at a given weight without chalk, and get past 10 with chalk. It's a pretty dramatic difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-09-06T22:09:53.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2012-09-07T02:19:24.780" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back squats are a great start, but I would also suggest doing front squats because it's feasible to go much deeper with them, and going very deep (ass to calves) with a front squat uses your hamstrings more than the back squat to just below parallel. The deadlift works your lower back more, so by adding both front squats and deadlifts you're approaching the butt area from both sides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the deadlift and front squat are quite good for a lot of other muscles, so you'll be ending up in better shape overall. There might be some isolation exercises you could do, but I prefer to see what benefits can be achieved from compound exercises, and only resort to isolation exercises if absolutely necessary - I like to spend as little time working out as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing multiple work sets of back squats now, I would recommend against suddenly throwing on an equal number of sets for the front squat and the deadlift. If, for example, you're doing 4 sets now, cut it down to 2, so you're doing 6 sets total for the 3 lifts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T02:19:24.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7988" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-09-07T13:10:53.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the &quot;Paleolithic diet&quot; also refer to the actual ancestral human diet.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;[2]&#xA;  Centered on commonly available modern foods, the &quot;contemporary&quot; Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Paleolithic Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T13:47:18.710" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T13:47:18.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7989" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-09-07T13:10:53.987" Score="0" Body="The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a nutritional plan. " OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T13:47:13.157" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T13:47:13.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-07T13:41:28.603" Score="19" ViewCount="61746" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have smoked on and off since I was 14.  I just turned 27 in July.  I have smoked a mix of tobacco and other stuff.  I averaged about 15 packs a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently cycle roughly 100 miles a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed my lungs getting weezy and bringing up a fair bit of lung butter. I want to quit , it's not worth my health and I can actively feel that my chest is heavy and constricted the days after I smoke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long will it take for my lungs to get back to 100% after I quit? Is there anything I can do to aid the process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4208" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T18:01:39.423" LastActivityDate="2013-06-02T10:51:40.460" Title="How long does it take lungs to recover after quitting smoking" Tags="&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7985" CreationDate="2012-09-07T14:40:04.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, no and maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, that's going to be about the best answer you will get. Exercise has proven to be a heart disease limiter, and certainly reduces the risk factor of obesity (Assuming you don't eat massive amounts and stay fat), so in that sense, yes, it can reduce heart disease. But, if you still smoke and/or eat a bad diet, it's not going to be a cure-all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the paleo diet, it's another &quot;fad&quot; diet in my opinion. It's an attempt by people to find a short cut to maintaining a healthy weight. Eat a balanced amount of the macronutrients (carbs, protein, fats), with an emphasis on healthy fats (avocado, nuts, fish oils, healthy cooking oils, etc) and a variety of fruits/veggies, and you should be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, you will need to tweak your diet slightly (or possibly majorly) if you have sensitivities such as gluten, lactose intolerance, or other digestive problems, or if you need more of a macronutrient for athletic purposes (Endurance athletes need a higher percentage of carbs than a powerlifter for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T17:12:10.837" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T17:12:10.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7990" CreationDate="2012-09-07T14:49:43.027" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your lungs may or may not ever recover to 100%, so that's a bit unreasonable to answer. However, the timeline for recovery is quick for some things, long for others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within about 72 hours, pretty much all the nicotine and nicotine metabolites will be cleared from your body. Within about 2 weeks, most of your gum circulation has restored itself, and any addiction cravings you have are psychological, not physical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anywhere from 1 month to a year, most of the cilia (small fingerlike projections in your lungs that help move phlegm and other fluids) will have recovered and/or reestablished themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, most of the improvements are in the risk factors, extending out up to 20 years after quitting. This includes the risk of smoking related tooth loss, heart attack, strokes, etc. You will always have a slightly higher risk than a non smoker, but way less than someone that continues to smoke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as aiding the process, simply stopping is the biggest thing. Watch your food intake, as smoking raises your metabolic rate, so when you quit, it will drop down and may fluctuate a bit before it stabilizes. Avoid the temptation to replace cigarettes with food, which is also common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with the quitting, and welcome to a healthier lifestyle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T14:49:43.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7994" CreationDate="2012-09-07T18:24:35.073" Score="7" ViewCount="1640" Body="&lt;p&gt;As part of an online competition I want to perfom 1RM on all of my lifts (squat, bench press, over head press, bent over rows, dead lift).  I do not know what my current 1RM is and would like to find out in a safe way.  How can I do this safely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T18:32:25.283" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T22:38:48.527" Title="Proper way to find out your one rep max?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7993" CreationDate="2012-09-07T19:20:19.427" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should have a general idea of what you should be able to do based on the training you've done to date.  If you haven't trained long enough to have an idea, I highly recommend waiting a bit.  This will help you plan your warm ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Estimating 1RM Based on Longer Sets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a ball park estimate of what you would be good for, use the formula below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eff = ((W * R) / 30) + W&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eff = effort or 1RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;W = weight lifted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;R = reps performed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use your current maximum work set you've done to plug in to the numbers.  So if you are doing Starting Strength, and your highest squat was 225lbs for 5 reps your estimated 1RM will be about 255lbs.  Just note that the higher the number of reps you use for this estimate, the less accurate the formula becomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend this method if you are figuring out what to plug in to a program that uses percentages.  I also recommend this method if you are a beginner.  Work up to your heaviest set of 3 or 5, or pick a weight you know you can lift repeatedly and go for the maximum reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Actually Testing 1RM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testing your 1RM requires preparation to do it safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a power rack with adjustable safeties.  &lt;strong&gt;Do not rely on a spotter&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set the safeties low enough that they won't interfere with the lift, but you can escape out from under the bar if you have to leave it on the safeties.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have someone judge the lift, or use video.  It doesn't count if your squat is high, or you don't lock out all the way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taper your warm up so that the last one or two warmup sets are singles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase from your warmup weight toward your expected 1RM with 10-20lb increments (larger increments for lower body and smaller increments for upper body).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you have to set the bar on the safeties, you are done.  You'll be too fatigued to keep forcing that lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you have plenty of rest before 1RM testing.  Take a week off of training before you go at it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When preparing for a competition, you have 3 attempts.  Most recommendations I have seen are close to these percentages of your target max: 85%, 93%, 100%.  (I've also seen 90%, 95%, 97%).  The idea is that the first attempt should be something you can easily do for a triple.  The second attempt increases your total for the day, and the last attempt is going for a Personal Record (PR).  This is the approach I now use.  If I hit all three attempts, I don't try for a fourth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: Here is a huge reason to use safeties and not rely on a spotter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://redhotrussia.com/powerlifting-fatal-accident/&quot;&gt;http://redhotrussia.com/powerlifting-fatal-accident/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the weight the power lifter was lifting, it would be unreasonable to expect the spotters to be able to do much with it, even if their hands remained under the bar the entire time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2012-09-07T19:25:45.197" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T19:25:45.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7996" CreationDate="2012-09-07T19:59:56.243" Score="8" ViewCount="3912" Body="&lt;p&gt;During squats, on my way back up my weight keeps shifting to the balls of my feet.  From my understanding my weight should be roughly distributed throught he foot, with maybe a little bit more on the heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this mean about my form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any footage or photos to show at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T23:15:11.303" Title="Weight keeps shifting to balls of my feet during squat" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7995" CreationDate="2012-09-07T20:33:11.577" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Footage would be great.  I have to re-correct this in my squat form periodically.  There can be a number of issues that contribute to it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar too high or too low on the back: pushes out of the optimal bar path, and can cause excessive leaning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knees traveling too far forward: pushes the hips up and the upper body forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak upper back or core: unable to hold the weight up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do while you are trying to fix this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use video from different angles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find the fewest number of cues that get you to the correct form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporate pause squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Think &quot;heels, heels, heels&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most recently the culprit has been my knees traveling too far forward.  I've had to dump attempts on the safeties I would normally be able to make because of the forward lean.  Pause squats, video, and a good forum of knowledgeable people are invaluable tools.  A pause squat is where you stay at the bottom position for a few seconds, then explode out of that position.  If you don't where squat suits, this has much more carry over to your unpaused squats than box squats.  Also, you usually have a much better feel for what's going on at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in your situation it could be that your upper back is rounding causing you to slump or do &quot;squat-mornings&quot; (combination squat and good morning) which is very hard on your body.  If that's the case, you will need to strengthen your back to handle the load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-07T20:33:11.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7999" CreationDate="2012-09-08T15:34:45.013" Score="2" ViewCount="537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a software engineer, and have to sit at my desk for long periods of time. I don't have any disease, but my weight has increased. At the age of 29, my weight is 89 kg , while my height is 167 cm. I want to lose weight, especially my abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm far from fit, I am asking for a program that starts with simple exercises, but gets extreme in a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &quot;The Biggest Loser&quot; series on Amazon, which seemed promising. But I thought to ask here first before buying anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4217" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-22T13:04:20.060" LastActivityDate="2020-07-19T18:41:49.833" Title="Suggestion for obesity weight loss program" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7998" CreationDate="2012-09-08T17:13:30.217" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I would have a physical to make sure you are healthy enough to start an exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one statement in your question that concerns me is the &quot;get extreme in a few weeks&quot;. Being fit is not a short, one shot deal that you can accomplish in a couple of months and boom, everything is grand. It's a long (hopefully lifelong) process that builds upon itself. If you start out and then get extreme very quickly, then it's likely that you will either burn out or incur injury that returns you to the sedentary life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend starting out by simply walking a few times a week, building up to where you can easily walk 30 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Add to this a weightlifting program such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your abdominal muscles may get very fit, but you won't be able to see them until you lose the excess weight. That means that you also have to start paying attention to your diet, which is how much and what you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't really need to buy anything, most of the resources you are going to need are available via web sources, and getting out and exercising costs nothing except maybe some gym fees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-09-10T13:51:26.223" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T13:51:26.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8002" CreationDate="2012-09-08T18:30:03.653" Score="3" ViewCount="584" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to train up to do a pistol squat, and am trying to follow the general advice outlined on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/one-legged-squat-the-pistol/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Beast Skills Tutorial&lt;/a&gt;, but I'm trying to understand which of the 3 major styles of squats (low bar back squat, high bar back squat, front squat) would be most applicable to pistol strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to do a direct pistol progression, but found that my hips and hamstrings were pitifully weak, so I think that basic barbell squatting is a good place to start until I get closer to a level of strength where I could switch over to the skill work I'd need to master the balance / coordination of a pistol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would one particular style of squatting me more helpful than the others for this?  Looking at pictures of people on the internet doing pistols, I'd see that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The shin is relatively vertical&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The knee is behind the toes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The hips are pushed far back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b7bDp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Beast Skills Pistol Squat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd think that I'd want to train low bar backsquats.&#xA;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I overthinking ths?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me:&#xA;I'm 180lbs, and I can low bar back squat 155lbs 3x5.  My goal was to be able to squat 120% of my weight for 3x5, then start working in the skill work for pistols.  I'm still in a very early phase of training squats, so I think this number should rise pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2012-09-08T18:36:27.073" LastActivityDate="2012-09-09T14:29:22.790" Title="pistol squats: which kind of barbell squat helps the most" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8000" CreationDate="2012-09-08T19:07:20.580" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: probably none.  The closest type of squat would probably be a front squat, but even that won't have as much carryover as you may want.  However, the front squat helps improve your core strength which will help with the stability needed for pistols.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it helps to squat more than your body weight, the biggest challenge is flexibility.  You will need to work on your dorsiflection (leaning the leg forward while your foot is flat on the floor.  As you practice the pistol using a doorway or some other support, you will find what flexibility issues you need to work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best bet is to do your front squat routine, and then follow it up with mobility and skill work for your pistols.  Be patient, because it requires as much skill as it does strength.  I can do pretty close to 2x my body weight with back squats, but can't do pistols because of the mobility issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-08T19:07:20.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8000" CreationDate="2012-09-09T14:29:22.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the best kind of squat to work up to a single-leg squats is &lt;strong&gt;assisted single-leg squats&lt;/strong&gt;. I used rings at hip height, which I held on to as lightly as possible. At first I rested a lot of weight (and balance!) on the rings. Eventually I was only using a finger or two on each ring for balance at the very bottom, and soon after that, I didn't need assistance from the rings at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That will help you develop the necessary balance and mobility, and will help somewhat in terms of strength. However, I firmly believe that barbells are king for developing the raw strength (particularly in the lower body) that it sounds like you still need. &lt;strong&gt;I think any barbell squat will help&lt;/strong&gt;. Front squats are closest to the pistol movement, but I would rely on back squats (low or high) to provide more load. (If you're already doing assisted pistols, they would provide the &quot;similar to the task&quot; movement, obviating the need for front squats.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only aspect of this that you're overthinking is the planning and waiting. I'd start doing assisted pistols ASAP, alongside your back squat programming. I wouldn't wait until you get to some arbitrary back squat number. Three to five single-leg squats dispersed throughout the day, and after your workout, shouldn't interfere with your strength progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-09-09T14:29:22.790" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8003" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-09T16:22:29.313" Score="7" ViewCount="1664" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to learn gymnastics: handstands, pike, planche, bridge, etc. There's a tiny gymnastics group in my town, but my schedule won't let me train with them. I can use their equipment as needed, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a good choice of book or site for helping me learn gymnastics? I want thorough instructions, form tips, and suggested progressions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify: I'll be able to have people check my form, etc now and then, but not as often as I'd like, so I'm going to do most learning by myself. I'm 21 years old and quite fit. I can handstand for a couple of seconds on most tries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4219" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-02T19:57:16.947" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T15:21:57.943" Title="Looking for a thorough gymnastics book" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8003" CreationDate="2012-09-09T17:35:36.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8651755-building-the-gymnastic-body&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Coach Sommer is good, but I consider it fairly advanced. For a beginner like me, who isn't devoting all their strength work to gymnastics, it was a bit much. You could probably get a lot out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T15:19:03.580" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T15:19:03.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8009" CreationDate="2012-09-10T09:16:46.867" Score="4" ViewCount="1046" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cycle daily (five days a week) to and from work. It is not far, 9 km each way, and takes me 20-25 minutes, depending on direction and intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I cycle with full intensity, my legs are quite heavy on fridays. If I cycle with moderate intensity my legs are fine, even on fridays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals for cycling are loosing weight (of course combined with a diet) and general well-being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what intensity would you recommend me to cycle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4223" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T08:46:59.683" Title="Intensity of daily cycling to and from work" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-10T10:25:51.337" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the last 2 weeks I went from 215 to 220 and the only significant change was a change in sleep habits, from a solid 8 to about 6 hours.  Could sleep have that much of an impact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T07:14:34.863" Title="Increased weight from lack of sleep?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8007" CreationDate="2012-09-10T11:01:09.680" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I'd recommend you to cycle the way you feel most comfortable with. I would recommend you to cycle at an average pace to work and decide daily how you want to cycle back. Maybe you need to relieve some stress or aggression, so just bite your handlebar and go full speed. Maybe you are exhausted already anyway, so just keep it slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling 18km daily will of course have a positive effect on your body, but it wont do magic, changing your diet will probably have the bigger effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T11:01:09.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8008" CreationDate="2012-09-10T13:29:55.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible.  But sleep alone can't cause any weight gain.  It is the increased appetite, due to hormone changes due to the lack of sleep which will cause the weight gain.  Have you noticed such appetite changes?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways you can gain weight:&#xA;- Eating more kilo-joules then you burnt through exercise and metabolism&#xA;- Having excess water retention (e.g. of a cause is protein deficiency)&#xA;- Drinking excess water before weighing yourself&#xA;- Pregnancy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably your weight gain is in water, unless your appetite has increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you continue to gain weight without explanation, see a medical professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T13:29:55.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8008" CreationDate="2012-09-10T15:02:32.537" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible, although a 5lb weight gain in two weeks suggests that there might be other changes that are occurring that you are not considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lack of sleep contributes to higher stress, usually caused by higher levels of cortisol in the system. Cortisol increases your appetite, and can change how your metabolism reacts, causing you to &quot;hoard&quot; the calories that you are taking in. Cortisol is usually highest in the mornings, tapering off during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also been shown that the type of fat stored due to excess cortisol is the abdominal/visceral fat, which has a greater impact on heart and stroke related incidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the hormones ghrelin (the &quot;eat&quot; stimulating hormone) and leptin (The &quot;stop eating&quot; signal hormone) are affected, causing you to have a greater appetite and to eat longer before stopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these can be factors in the weight gain cycle, and I would venture a guess that there is also some other stressor in your life that is causing you to miss the extra sleep. Adjust the external factors, and things should return to normal fairly soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-09-10T16:32:29.117" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T16:32:29.117" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8007" CreationDate="2012-09-10T15:38:26.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to give you a rough idea. I commute about 14km every day (8 miles). My average speed measured over several month is 21.5km/h. This includes riding through city traffic and stopping at traffic lights all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually if the road is free my speed is around 25-30 km/h. I live in a pretty flat area and the elevation on my commute is not more than 60m (according to GPS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling the first week after my holidays was horrible - no stamina whatsoever and I was significantly slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: Cycle as fast as you can, it looks like you are doing a good commuting pace already but listen to your body and slow down if you feel tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To loose weight you have to elevate your heart rate (elevate means not max. out) and a bit of muscle fatigue is maybe part of every serious exercise and is nothing bad at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes like to sprint between traffic lights just to mix up the exercise and to build more muscle from pushing harder. Some stretching after cycling can also do wonders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important is that you enjoy it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="405" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T15:38:26.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8018" CreationDate="2012-09-10T16:37:25.590" Score="5" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an ex smoker (male, 26, 173cm (5'8&quot;)) – smoked about ten years with varying intensity – and since some month really getting into sports. I started mountain biking, shortly after I began swimming and just got into road biking. Biking is a lot of fun, but takes much time and preparation, I usually bike for two to three hours, and need at least one hour of preparation before (planning the route, prepare drinks, get dressed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when I walked the dogs last Thursday, I spontaneously decided to run the route instead of walking. It was a 3.8 km route (2.36 miles), mostly cross-country, up and down a small hill. Because one of the dogs is mainly concerned about digging up potatoes and checking out dung piles I often had to run on one spot to wait, but I tried to keep moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up until yesterday (Sunday) I had heavy legs and walking stairs was a bit painful. I was quite surprised that I can cycle 100 km without major pain in the legs, but those few kilometers of running killed my legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway I decided to run again today and decided to go for 5.1km today (3.16 miles). I looked up what time I had to reach according to the &lt;em&gt;Deutsches Sportabzeichen&lt;/em&gt; List (German Sportsmedal) and it is required to run 5km in 23 Minutes for my age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually got the first half of the course (cross country again, but mostly flat) in time, but after that I had to pause and walk. To avoid stitches I had to slow down with my pace and it took me (with walking breaks) 33 Minutes to finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My short term goal is to reach this 23 Minutes on this specific 5km course (without pausing of course). My long term goal is to be able to run longer distances, not necessarily speed. Still my main goal is overall fitness and mainly biking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often should I be training per week to reach my goals regarding running and would it be a problem if I eg run at one day, bike the other, and run on the next again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:22:50.243" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T01:05:30.440" Title="Start running and progress without overtraining" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7870" CreationDate="2012-09-10T16:39:59.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over emphasis on any one macro nutrient is going to work against you, and it appears you have a big emphasis on carbohydrates.  So my answer is not against carbs, but more in keeping everything balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to eat fewer Calories than you burn to lose weight.  No amount of carb cycling, ketosis, paleo, or whatever diet is going to work if you are eating more Calories than you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your circuit training is primarily conditioning related work.  This is similar to what Crossfit does for you: you work hard, have a limited measured rest, and go again until the circuit is completed.  This is interval training.  You have the following benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Builds your cardio vascular system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limited strength improvements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burns a lot of calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The yoga/body balance is much slower.  While it doesn't have the same Calorie burning potential as the circuit training, it does improve your core strength, mobility, and stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food Planning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should have 3 Calorie targets: your off day, your yoga/body balance day, and your circuit training day.  Your off day will have the deepest Caloric deficit, perhaps 20-30% lower than your normal Caloric requirements.  Your yoga/body balance will have a slightly lower deficit, perhaps 5-10% lower than normal.  The circuit training will have a 5% Caloric surplus, i.e. more than required for maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because Caloric deficits can leave your body wanting lots of food, you should focus on foods that leave you full longer.  These will be foods that are high in protein and fat.  Do make sure you have your vegetables every day--preferably a healthy portion of green vegetables.  On the days where you can have more food, increase the carbohydrates--particularly on circuit training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the Calorie cycling is to match your energy intake with the time you need it.  It's also important to not overeat, so play with the exact balance of everything to make it work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Macro Requirements based on your training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: at least 0.5g per pound of body weight.  I.e. if you weigh 250lbs, that's 125g of protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: as much as needed to fill in the balance of Calories for the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs: on circuit training days, as much as 1g per pound but no more.  Other days, about 0.5g per pound body weight (or less if you want).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to ramp up the carbs for when you need them most, and when they cost you the least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Calorie goals will do the bulk of the work.  The recommended macro suggestions will support your training, and hopefully help you stick with the plan.  Sometimes to meet your protein target while minimizing Calories, you will need to supplement with a protein shake.  That's OK, but do get the bulk of your Calories through real food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T16:39:59.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2012-09-10T16:47:12.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stiff-leg deadlifts, that will work your butt lots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many different exercises, but sticking to the basics is what usually works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stiff-leg deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T16:47:12.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4913" CreationDate="2012-09-10T16:53:29.933" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I squat and deadlift 600 pounds 10 years after a failed ACL reconstruction. I experience minimal issues while weight lifting heavy 3-5 days/week. (The lack of the ACL never causes me problems. My knee's stable during the exercises. But my failed surgery was a patellar autograft. The graft harvest caused my patella to move, and the poor patellar tracking that resulted causes mild swelling with any strenuous activity.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally... my surgeon recommended against squatting and deadlifting. I babied the knee for years and started developing arthritis around the patella. I got to the point where it was hard to stand up, and I started light weightlifting to try to recover. The more frequently I lifted the better the knee got. Today my involved leg is stronger and has a slightly better range of motion than my non-involved leg. Aside from the patellar tracking issue that happened because of the surgery, the leg doesn't give me any trouble. I play basketball with my kids and can dunk a tennis ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4227" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-25T13:49:33.807" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T13:49:33.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8014" CreationDate="2012-09-10T17:30:11.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling is a good adjunct to running, but running and cycling activate the leg muscles in different ways, and also activate different supporting muscles. You also have the impact to to body that you don't get as much with cycling. As far as your 5k test, I think that you just started out too fast for your running fitness, which is common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One basic recommendation would be to look around and find a &quot;couch to 5k&quot; program. This is a progressive program designed to take people from not running at all, to being able to run a 5k without stopping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, I would also recommend a program created by a cross country coach named Barry Pollack, dubbed the 3:2:1 program. In this, you have 6 runs per week, 3 short, 2 medium and one long. Your medium run is double your short runs, and your long run is 3x your short run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 5k in 23 minutes, you are going to need to run 7:24 per mile. That is going to take a bit of running, but is certainly doable. Initially, you just want to go out and run at a comfortable pace, with the goal of being able to run the full time of the workout. Once you can comfortably finish the long run, bump up the time some. A decent starting point would be somewhere between 5-10 minutes for your short run, and do a schedule of something like short-med-short-med-short-long-off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though 5-10-15 doesn't sound like much, it's a good starting point and steadily increasing over time will give you great benefits. Once you have 6 months or so of steadily increasing time, then you can start adding intervals, tempo runs, things of this nature to build your speed. Just remember that it is consistency over time that builds running ability, and getting too intense too fast is a good recipe for injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also cycle on the same days you have run workouts. I would just complete whichever workout you are emphasizing first, so if you are going to cycle on a long run day, do the run first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-09-10T22:02:36.253" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T22:02:36.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8019" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8020" CreationDate="2012-09-10T17:32:54.973" Score="3" ViewCount="3687" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder about the differences between running on a track and running cross country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that it is very dependant on the condition of the x-country course, but I did some research and failed to find comparable times and distances. I also ask myself if it is healthier or worse to run cross country instead of running on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, are there benefits to running cross country and how much more time should I expect to be needing for the same distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T22:10:10.113" Title="Differences between running cross country and track" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8019" CreationDate="2012-09-10T18:13:19.283" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's going to be heavily course dependent, unfortunately. If you have a wide, well packed trail, times are not going to be much different than they are on a track. If you get a typical European x-country course (Many USA cross country courses, esp at the high school level are not much worse than golf courses), then you're fighting rougher terrain, and often worse footing due to mud/water/weather conditions. That's where your time difference is, and why the exact same course in different years can produce wildly different times. A course on the road is not going to be much different in times regardless of weather, unless you are at the extremes of the scale (very hot or icy footing). A road race at 75 Fahrenheit on a mild day won't produce times much different than 50 degrees and raining, where an off road x-country race will be a much greater difference in those two conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the benefits to running off paved roads is that it's easier on your feet (impact), gives you a more thorough workout because you are having to work on balance more, and is generally much more interesting than running on streets. The downsides are that you are more susceptible to injuries sustained by mismanaging the terrain, tripping on a tree root, sliding in mud, things like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as an informative, cement is the hardest surface to run on, followed by asphalt, then progressing from hardpack dirt on up the scale. Most modern running tracks are of a spongy type surface that is more forgiving than asphalt is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T18:13:19.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2012-09-10T19:50:36.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wear the shirts for my back, it basically gives you an extra layer of skin and huge support. Helps with posture. I know runners, football/basketball/soccer players wear compression shorts to help aviod tearing/pulling muscles around the groin. Other reasons are posted and im sure there are other reasons why...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4228" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T19:50:36.303" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7995" CreationDate="2012-09-10T20:02:01.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A video of your movement would be very helpful. However, a common cause of this is poor hamstring flexibility. The good news is that squatting is a great way to stretch out that muscle. For now you might resolve this by spreading your feet further apart, which will allow you to sit your butt down further without tipping forward. Also, a good mental cue is to imagine there is a $100 bill under each heel, and you don't want to let somebody pull it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T20:02:01.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-10T20:22:31.580" Score="3" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've read, the MET for moderate intensity activities is between 3 and 6, walking 3 mph being 3.3 for example.  It seems to me that this number must vary from person to person.  Is there a way for me to calculate my MET for, say, walking 3 mph based on a percentage of max heart rate or, say an estimate of VO2 max?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4230" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T21:59:07.987" Title="Metabolic Equivalancies" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-10T20:23:09.543" Score="2" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sleep for about 8 hours the other day and just last night I have just about 2 hours of sleep. Can I do light exercise workout later?Or if I sleep about 2 hours later and exercise is that ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4231" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T12:55:13.950" Title="sleep and exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8024" CreationDate="2012-09-10T20:44:31.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have the option of getting a little more sleep before doing a workout, then that is obviously ideal. If you don't have that option, then it's a judgment call on your part to see weather you feel up to it or not, but regardless it should be a light workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T20:44:31.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8019" CreationDate="2012-09-10T20:59:03.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rubberized tracks are a very forgiving, comfortable surface to run on, so I wouldn't rule it out if there's one available. But for me, at least, running more than a couple of miles (more than 8 laps on a standard 1/4 mile track) gets really boring unless I listen to an audio-book on my iPhone or something. If you're really good at tuning out and letting your mind wander, or you have something interesting to listen to (or a running partner to talk with), running on a track is a convenient, consistent way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running cross-country (on non-paved surfaces) is certainly more interesting than running on a track. Unless you run a regular route, it's not as easy to gauge your progress, because there will always be differences in elevation from route to route that can mask or simulate fitness increases. But I don't get as bored, especially when I'm running cross-country on trails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running &quot;cross-country&quot; on paved surfaces is about the same, but a little more punishing on the joints if you don't run with good form, and a little more boring, as paved trails/roads are usually in less-interesting locations than unpaved trails and dirt roads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T20:59:03.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8023" CreationDate="2012-09-10T21:40:24.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can make an estimate using your VO2 max. If you don't have access to a lab to get it measured, you can estimate it using a couple of different formulae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VO2 = 15 x (max hr/resting hr)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VO2 = (d12 - 505) / 45, where d12 is distance covered in meters in 12 minutes of running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have your VO2 max, divide it by 3.5 to get the mets that number represents. That's your max mets achievable, so if you are running at 70% of maximum, you're working at 70% maximum mets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for example last time I took a max HR (After running hill intervals) I was at 193, and my resting HR was around 50 at the time. This gives me 3.86 x 15 = theoretical VO2 max of 57.9, which gives me a mets of 16.5 for that workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last race pace was 7:00 mile pace for 5 miles, which gives me 2759 meters for 12 minutes. 2759 - 500 = 2259 / 45 = puts my theoretical VO2 at 50.2, so you can see that it's not really an easy number to estimate. I'd probably avg the two and go with a VO2 of 54ish. That would give me a theoretical max met workload of 15.4 mets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-09-10T21:59:07.987" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T21:59:07.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8019" CreationDate="2012-09-10T22:10:10.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't compete in my youth, but what I gather from the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0060958707&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Run&lt;/a&gt; by Bernd Heinrich, is that the biggest difference is that the whole CC vs. track thing isn't just a matter of the terrain, but how the events are scored. In CC, you are scored as a team and in track (except relays) you are scored individually. In CC, you commonly run on turf, so CC shoes are quite different from trail-running shoes, as they often have cleats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the benefits of exercising on trails vs track:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A huge break in the monotony&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Better scenery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The varying terrain gives you all-around better exercise as you are constantly switching muscle groups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The consensus of most scientists is that running through the wilderness is what we evolved for. We certainly didn't evolve to run on tracks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the cons: you have to watch out for bears, cougars, and NRA members out shootin' in the woods. :-)  (So far, evolution has been on our side for surviving the first two.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding timing, once or twice a month get on the track or a flat paved course and do an all-out workout to gauge yourself and compare with others, and run in a 5K every few months. 4 out of 5 of your daily workouts ought to be slow-paced, and running on the trails actually helps you to slow down when you would otherwise be running a lot faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastActivityDate="2012-09-10T22:10:10.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8030" CreationDate="2012-09-11T08:59:54.610" Score="1" ViewCount="404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy myself equipment for jogging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I dont have motivation for jogging for a number of reasons: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I dont like jogging  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I never know the distance i am jogging so i&#xA;can't really track how far i jogged, how fast i jogged, how many&#xA;calories i burned, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I want to make jogging more attractive to me by buying some equipment like a watch with gps etc. But I don't really know what i have to look for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is: &lt;strong&gt;Can somebody show me some good beginner and advanced equipment such as watches for jogging?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-11T11:30:23.250" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T22:26:44.533" Title="Jogging equipment for counting calories, distance and pulsrate" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8029" CreationDate="2012-09-11T10:34:09.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of hardware out there, usually in watch format with wirelessly connected remote devices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get the main watch with time, alarms, stopwatch, often computer download modes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the accessories.  Heart Rate Monitors almost all use chest straps, (lick/wet the strap to get it to work at first, once you start sweating you will be fine, but when you first put it on, likely won't get a reading) to measure heart rate and transmit the data to the watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are two approaches to distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1) GPS:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like your car or phone GPS, but alas not great for running accuracy.  Has issues when it is cloudy, in cities with tall buildings and not a large enough view of the sky, and trees. (Getting better in later models).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally two friends ran a known marked half marathon course side by side, wearing the same Garmin 201 GPS (Earlier model) but with different firmware revisions.  Over 21.1K they differed by 4K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue with GPS is the cumulative error.  Every GPS reading has some minor error in it.  In a car, you can travel several hundred or thousand feet between readings (say once a minute?) but running you likely can have an error bar that is greater than the distance travelled.  And each error is independent of the previous one, so it can cancel out or build up.  It just depends on satellites in view, and atmospheric conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The antennae are often large, and thus the watches seem bulkier but that seems to be getting better as well with each new generation of device. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, modern GPS users seem to love them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2) Intertial foot pods:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if these are loosing traction as GPS units get smaller, but these measure acceleration, integrate back to get velocity and again to get distance travelled.  Each step your foot with the pod attached accelerates forward and decellerates as it moves.  It measures these and adds them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a calibration run you should do periodically, but these are not terrible on accuracy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a model that has a computer interface you get to download all the good stuff and play with the data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories are always an estimate. Running X minutes does not burn Y calories.  Depends on weight, slope of the run, pace of the run, etc.  Heart Rate helps a bit in estimating as it gives a better effort estimate but everybody is so different it is mostly an estimate still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T10:34:09.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2012-09-11T11:15:01.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The noted recovery benefits are said to stem from the fact that the compression prevents an additional load on the muscles comming from vibrations and inertial movements, e.g. when a foot strikes the ground during a run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, there's a feeling of a greater body coherence to it. Probably, it doesn't make this difference for less dynamic sports and work-outs, where those other noted reasons would prevail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And performance-wise: in some weight-lifting competitions, compression suits were banned. Guess why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4235" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T11:15:01.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6914" CreationDate="2012-09-11T11:39:38.477" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're doing a full body workout 6 days a week, you absolutely need the rest week. If you are working different muscle sets each day then it's less important. The body does need time to catch up to the new muscle that you are building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body's internal organs have to gain strength to handle working those muscles, and without the rest, your body can never make full use of the muscle you are building and you will reach a plateau that you will be unable to cross.&#xA;There are both physiological and neurological reasons to build in rest. Even elite athletes who take on volumes of training most of us would not be able to comprehend have smart periods of lighter training and even full rest periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physiologically training works by stressing the body just enough that the adaptation allows you to recover and the body overshoots a bit so you end up stronger/more coordinated than before. Doing this too much, however, will back fire due to a principle known as GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome). You can read about it here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically it ultimately leads to exhaustion and dramatically increases risk of injury. In training steadily (3 - 5 days per week) for the past 10 years I've had no serious injuries because I build in rest. On the flipside I know people who refuse to stop, believing &quot;more is better&quot; and go non stop ... until an injury has them on their back for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much better to build in the rest periods when you can control them than to end up being forced to rest because you didn't allow your body the recovery it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll often hear you are less likely to need rest if you alternate muscle groups. After all, if I work my legs, my arms are resting, right? This isn't entirely true for two reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason one: unless you're using totally isolated movements like single arm dumbbells, machines, etc, your other muscles do participate to an extent. Your core is always stabilizing your torso, your leg muscles work to provide stability while your upper body is moving, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason two, and more important: every workout taxes your neuromuscular system. There is a neurological effect. This is where the idea of &quot;muscle memory&quot; comes from and the reason why some people can be extremely strong without having large muscles - it's because their neurological system reacts to the workout by improving coordination of motor units, the bundles of nerves that fire to contract muscle (when you lift a heavy weight or a small one, motor units are helping you do that and it's just a question of how many are activated at once). Any type of training will tax your central nervous system and too much training can lead to fatigue. This fatigue can tax your adrenal system and raise cortisol levels, a stress hormone that also makes it more difficult to burn fat. Literally you'll stress your body to the point your metabolism slows, you burn fat less efficiently and stop making strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, please build in rest. If you train 5 - 6 days per week then a week of light activity is probably fine, but even elite athletes I know try to take at least a week off of ALL training at least once per year. I've found if I train just 3 - 4 days per week then I can go a lot longer without having to take a longer period for rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4234" LastEditorUserId="2593" LastEditDate="2012-09-12T06:15:43.987" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T06:15:43.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8034" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8039" CreationDate="2012-09-11T12:43:42.437" Score="0" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;p&gt;How effective is Acetyle L-Carnitine for losing weight?  Basically If one were to take this before an exercise routine, would they burn more fat during that routine, as opposed to not taking it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastEditorUserId="4225" LastEditDate="2012-09-11T14:47:46.817" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T15:11:02.360" Title="Is Acetyl L-Carnitine effective for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7905" CreationDate="2012-09-11T14:39:52.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, all things being equal, your body will convert the excess protein into fat, which will be stored in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you reduce your intake while your not exercising to prevent weight gain.  Protein is a good, but have less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T14:39:52.987" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7905" CreationDate="2012-09-11T15:03:55.083" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Define waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may or may not gain weight, but there are other considerations at play. Excessive caloric intake will &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; cause you to gain weight, plus there are other metabolic considerations from the reduction in exercise that may have an affect as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have an excessive amount of protein intake, then you start placing a larger burden on the liver (deamination of the proteins) and the kidneys (excretion of the excess ammonia converted to urea), as well as being converted to glucose and ketones in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can have an affect on blood acidity, which in turn can cause calcium loss as the body tries to normalize blood pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't exercise for a period of time, I would reduce all your macro-nutrients in proportion, then resume your regular diet when you can get back to full activity. There have been a few questions on the site on how to start back after a period off, as your strength and conditioning will fade a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; general rule of thumb, personal observation and kinesiology classes that I've taken suggest that most people are ok with up to 7 days being off and having minimal losses. After that, it will take two days to gain back for every day you were off. Some people have greater losses, some have less, it all depends on your body.                                &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T09:49:48.273" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T09:49:48.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8034" CreationDate="2012-09-11T15:11:02.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; your answer would be no, as I understand how L-Carnitine works in the body. ALCAR is an acetylated version of l-carnitine, and it occurs naturally, as well as the body creating it's own as needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ingesting it already acetylated can enhance the availability of it in the body. It's a little confusing in how it shuffles in and out of the cells, and it gets converted to l-carnitine then moved back into the cell with acyl groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In theory, it helps promote higher utilization of fatty acids at the expense of glucose, but high amounts of CoA (Coenzyme A) can block it, and ALCAR does promote higher glucose utilization (Which, theoretically, would prevent said glucose from being converted for storage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line, it's possible it might help, but in my personal opinion, the possibility is slim enough I'd rather eat a healthy diet and let my body convert l-carnitine to ALCAR naturally (Which it does do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T15:11:02.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7665" CreationDate="2012-09-11T19:00:23.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually the reason people mix protein powders is to have differing rates of absorption of protein within one meal.  Whey is absorbed the fastest.  Casein is absorbed the slowest.  Egg and soy protein is absorbed at a rate between whey and caesin.  Whey is ideal for post workout.  Casein is used by some before bed to have protein available for recovery while fasting overnight, but this is not necessary for the average fitness enthusiast.  Mixing proteins is thought to sustain you longer when using a protein shake as a meal replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T19:00:23.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6961" CreationDate="2012-09-11T19:09:55.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe shorter muscle bellies fatigue faster and have greater explosive potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get a full contraction on a short muscle belly, actin and myosin filaments have to attach, detatch, and reattach fewer times hence my belief that it would have greater explosive potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="599" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T01:50:16.637" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T01:50:16.637" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8045" CreationDate="2012-02-09T10:19:08.713" Score="9" ViewCount="4897" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people like it not to train biceps together with their back, because &quot;when you get to workout the biceps, it is already tired from the back exercises&quot;. Sometimes, you have a hurt biceps and need it to rest, but still want to train your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the obvious exercises for the trapezius and lats involve the biceps, like the various forms of rowing, pulldowns, pullups and chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises are there to train the traps and lats that do not involve the biceps ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2899" OwnerDisplayName="Gabriel" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-09-13T15:00:02.457" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T16:55:43.297" Title="In bodybuilding, how do I train my traps and lats without involving my biceps?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8044" CreationDate="2012-02-09T11:42:47.660" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wide pulldowns will have minimal impact on the bicep - you focus more on the triceps, trapezius and lats when your hands are spaced widely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twisting sit-ups with a medicine ball are also effective at working your lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For trapezius, you are a little limited as it is used for a lot of pulling movements, which will also use your bicep. You could try overhead bar raises to work the top of your trapezius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" OwnerDisplayName="Rory Alsop" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T11:42:47.660" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8044" CreationDate="2012-02-09T18:41:04.757" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are a very good back and trap exercise. Although this is a pulling movement, the arms remain straight so there is little biceps involvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" OwnerDisplayName="J. Winchester" LastEditorUserId="362" LastEditDate="2012-09-14T20:32:59.210" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T20:32:59.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8048" CreationDate="2012-02-17T17:30:36.513" Score="8" ViewCount="55992" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been a long time bodybuilder, but never tried Crossfit. I watched some videos of Crossfit athletes use large plates of the same size as the 45 pound plates I find in bodybuilding gyms. I am wondering if the Crossfit plates are also 45 lbs? From this knowledge, I would like to gauge my comparative strength as a bodybuilder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pMd9O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" OwnerDisplayName="JoJo" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T18:09:15.147" Title="How much do the plates in Crossfit weigh?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8047" CreationDate="2012-02-17T20:17:02.997" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plates in the picture are more than likely 25s. This is a photo from the 2010 CrossFit Games which, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=66212&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; thread, used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-full-color-competition-bumpers.php&quot;&gt;these plates&lt;/a&gt;.  They are known as &quot;bumper plates&quot; because they can be dropped on the ground. Watch Olympic weight lifting videos and you'll see them use similar large, colorful plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="mrryanjohnston" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T20:44:57.470" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8029" CreationDate="2012-09-11T22:26:44.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until my MOTOACTV I used a Garmin Forerunner 305; loved it, despite it being the size of my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been pretty happy with the MOTOACTV, plus it plays music. I just use my old Garmin chest monitor; I didn't buy anything new. It also connects via BT to my phone, which is convenient on occasion. And it can do BT audio. IMO their website is a little lacking in functionality, but it's improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted, GPS accuracy can vary, but it's been &quot;good enough&quot; for me. Calorie consumption estimation is just that, an estimate, but it &lt;em&gt;seems&lt;/em&gt; to do okay&amp;ndash;when I was being hyper-vigilant about in/out numbers my weightloss seemed to align fairly well with its numbers and my food calculations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this said, there are a &lt;em&gt;ton&lt;/em&gt; of options; lots of people just use something like RunKeeper or CardioTrainer on their phone, stick with a single device, and are perfectly happy. I suspect there's no great way to answer this question with anything other than a list of things you might try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T22:26:44.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7995" CreationDate="2012-09-11T23:15:11.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is your issue is any one of the following. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are resting the bar too far forward. I see a lot of people in my gym with the bar resting almost on their neck. This is very dangerous and hard to watch. It should be resting across your rear deltoid. Refer to the picture in @BerinLoritsch's answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2975/dangerous-to-use-barbell-squat-without-padding&quot;&gt;to this question&lt;/a&gt; for proper bar placement. It should feel too far back when you unrack it. It will then feel solid during the squat movement. I'd recommend throwing out the towel/padding. It is harder to feel where it is resting and can result in movement during the lift. If it is resting on your muscle you won't feel much discomfort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are NOT leading with your butt. You need to actively lead the squat down with your butt with a pronounced arch in your lower back. On the way up you also need to lead with your bum. Don't let your back fall over on the way up. Keep a slight (15 degrees or so) lean forward but consciously keep yourself fairly upright as you stand up. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you use safety bars so that if the lift is failing, you can sit back down and let go of it. Do NOT lean forward and let it roll off your neck. You will do damage this way. In fact if your first instinct is to lean forward to dump the weight then you can be pretty sure the bar is too far forward. It should feel natural just to squat down and dump the weight on the safety bars. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy squatting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-09-11T23:15:11.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8053" CreationDate="2012-09-12T11:34:41.557" Score="2" ViewCount="3290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym for the past 3 years. Although my body shape has changed a lot, my weight has been stable 70kg for this period. For example, my biceps has developed a lot, but I was unable to reduce my belly.&#xA;I'm too lazy to do abdominal exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I reduce my belly fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Food Structure:&#xA;&#xA;Breakfast : black gram dal or Green gram dal or it may be Chickpea.&#xA;Lunch : Rice with Fish&#xA;Dinner : Rice with Fish&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-12T13:28:40.757" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T01:46:53.183" Title="How to maintain my body without fat and reduce belly?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8052" CreationDate="2012-09-12T12:36:35.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly you cannot reduce fat on just one spot, you have to reduce your overall body fat. This will reduce belly fat as well in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might help if you explained what kind of exercises you are doing, but a generalized approach would be to do more cardio workouts, as these kind of workouts burn more fat compared to weight lifting. (Always be careful when counting calories though, they are nothing more than a rough estimate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your abilities and general fitness level I'd recommend that you maybe try to do some jogging additionally to your gym sessions. Other activities would be biking or swimming, but they are more time consuming than simple running. Try to add some minor sporting to your daily routine. If you go by bus, maybe exit one or two stations earlier and walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think rice and fish is a good meal, but maybe try to change it a bit. Some people claim that eating carbohydrates in the evening isn't that good. Whether or not this is true, maybe change you dinner to contain more vegetables instead of rice. If you fry your fish, try to use less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are you drinking throughout the day? Many people don't realize that they are drinking soda (like coke) the whole day and how much sugar they consume this way, switch to water or tea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least do some exercises for the abdominal region. They might be, together with back and shoulder exercises, the most annoying exercises to do, as you don't see fast results here, but they are very important for your posture and overall strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-12T12:43:11.417" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T12:43:11.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8052" CreationDate="2012-09-12T12:42:26.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing this routine for a while and it is high intensity and concentrates on belly fat: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 seconds blast off push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 seconds plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 seconds bucking hops&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 seconds side plank (left and right)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 seconds bird dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L pull-ups until you can't pull up. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 or 4 sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4241" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T12:42:26.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8059" CreationDate="2012-09-12T14:57:53.220" Score="18" ViewCount="78703" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/voodoo-floss-bands.php&quot;&gt;Voodoo Floss&lt;/a&gt; is a new(?) trend in CrossFit that basically involves, if I understand it correctly, wrapping a muscle group or joint very tightly in a thing called a voodoo band while stretching or performing certain exercises to improve mobility and strength in the wrapped area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this work? What is happening physiologically under a voodoo floss band?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1425" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T17:08:48.663" Title="How does Voodoo Floss work?" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2012-09-12T15:09:00.850" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's happening physiologically? Your muscles are constricted, and you are reducing blood flow and mobility in the wrapped area. My &lt;em&gt;personal&lt;/em&gt; assessment is that it's a stupid idea, and it's another gimmick designed to fleece people of hard earned money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that being said, there are some injuries that need bracing, and there may be a case made for stabilization of a joint, but in those cases I would seek medical advice and get a production brace made specifically for the condition you are trying to correct. Simply winding a large rubber band around an area may or may not help, and may actually hinder healing and support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T15:09:00.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-12T15:30:37.063" Score="4" ViewCount="1272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I commonly hear that compound exercises are the best mass builders, but I just can not understand why. Yes, they can save time by doing more at the same time. I also realize that they involve stabilizing muscles, which can be useful for building basic strength for newbies and they are also much less likely to get you disproportionaly strong in one muscle group, but all of that has very little to do with being great specifically for building mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common argument is that they let you lift much heavier, but if you disperse the load among all the muscles involved, you will likely end up with similar loads per muscle group as in an isolation exercise. Actually I would tend to believe that doing more groups at once will probably result in a much less controlled movement, and the secondary muscle groups involved could be a limiting factor in squeezing the most out of your targeted group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we take chin ups as an example, you would not be taking your lats nor your biceps to the limit at all. Would it not be better to do curls and a seated rowing machine instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me it is not just a question of exercising the hell out of the muscle I want, but a question of leaving that muscle to rest for a while, and no matter how I try to structure my workouts, having compound exercises will always overlap and the muscles that should be resting will be getting punished unintentionally on a different muscle group day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I am completely missing something, but by this logic I just can't see how compounds are that great for mass. I would appreciate if someone could explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4243" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-12T18:13:16.757" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T09:07:27.957" Title="Why are compound exercises better than isolation exercises for mass gain?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2012-09-12T15:43:22.780" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essentially, what's happening is that the constriction prevents further inflammation of joints and connective tissue, as well as constricting blood flow for a bit.  Once the voodoo floss (&lt;a href=&quot;http://glennpendlay.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/got-tendonitis/&quot;&gt;or bicycle innertube split open&lt;/a&gt;) is removed, the blood flows back in to the area.  For joints with large amounts of connective tissue, such as elbows and knees, this allows the blood to flush away some of the excess white blood cells that are further making the inflamed area worse.  Beyond this, I would have to do more research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/04/banish-your-elbow-pain-you-dont-really-play-golf-or-tennis-do-you.html&quot;&gt;Used for treating tendinitis&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't cure inflammation based injuries like tendinitis, or prevent all forms of it from ever bothering you again.  However, it does provide some relief and allow you to continue training.  Any time you are suffering from inflammation based problems like tendinitis or bursitis there is something you are doing that is causing the problem.  Until you deal with that, you will be forced to repeat the triage over and over.  For example, I found with my elbow tendinitis the major reason is that I did a lot of triceps work, but hardly anything for the biceps.  I added in high rep curls to my routine, and the tendinitis went away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several types of injuries, and voodoo floss as used in the video I linked to can only address inflammation.  If you actually tore a ligament, sprained a joint, etc., you need to see a doctor.  Usually rehab involves staying off the injured limb during the healing process, and re-initializing work with low weight high reps to strengthen the connective tissue and get blood flowing through the joint until it is completely healthy again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/07/the-biggest-shoulder-problem-of-them-all.html&quot;&gt;Used for Mobility&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The floss isn't going to make you stronger, but it does change the way the muscles orient themselves when you are doing some types of stretching.  What that means is you can intensify the stretch using the voodoo floss.  Again, when you take the floss off, you have that rush of blood into the stretched area.  The best bet is the rush of blood helps recovery.  For a limited time your muscles may be a little larger similar to a bodybuilder pump, but that effect is strictly due to the extra blood post mobility work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/08/people-weve-got-to-stop-icing-we-were-wrong-sooo-wrong.html&quot;&gt;Refuting RICE&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deal with soft tissue inflammation issues (see tendinitis above), cryotherapy can make things worse by increasing the permeability of the lymph nodes.  Essentially, the excess tissue fluids pour into the inflammed area instead of away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, the recommendation is to use compression, which can be any compression--including neoprene braces or sleeves.  Instead of RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation), the new recommendation (by the guy who designed the voodoo bands) is MCE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move safely when you can, what you can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compress lymphatics and soft tissues (use bands, muscle contraction, clothing, normatec, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevate when you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2012-09-12T15:53:49.340" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T15:53:49.340" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8058" CreationDate="2012-09-12T17:31:08.210" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;All things have to be taken in context, and understanding the target audience.  Some compound movements like Squats and Deadlifts have a great anabolic effect, which puts the body in a place where it is more likely to put on muscle.  Particularly beginners are best served focusing on compounds for both the strength and size considerations.  However, that is not the end of the story, nor can it be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goals of Your Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goals affect the type of training.  They are paramount, as they help you determine what kind of a program and what exercises are necessary to achieve those goals.  It also affects what type of results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is to have large masses of muscle, you train for size&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is to perform XYZ, you train for the technique, strength, and mobility required to do XYZ&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles can grow in a couple ways, both are hypertrophy, but the nature of the hypertrophy is different:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in the energy support systems, and is the type of muscle growth sought out by bodybuilders.  Muscles are large and spongy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myofibrilar hypertrophy is an increase in the protein pairs that perform contraction, and is the type of muscle growth sought out by strength athletes (power lifting, olympic lifting, strong man). Muscles are dense and hard--i.e. not as large.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most athletes do need a combination of both of these, but depending on your goals one may take priority over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What causes growth?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a very valid question, and affects whether compounds or isolations are necessary for your goal at hand.  There are some fundamental things that must be balanced in your training that work for everyone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training volume--more volume will increase muscle, but tax your recovery.  Varying set/rep ranges also achieve different proportional results (myofibrilar vs. sarcoplasmic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition--you need raw materials like protein and energy to build muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigue--you can use fatigue as a training variable (i.e. reducing rest times or training to failure)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest--all growth occurs during recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, there is a balance of training stress and recovery that has to happen.  The stress puts the muscles in a state where they will have priority when the body repairs itself.  The recovery is where the actual growth occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compound lifts stress more of your body at once.  However, this requires that you take your training and rest as complete days on or off.  This approach seems to work well for strength sports.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation lifts focus the stress on one part of your body.  This allows you to really stress that part of your body one day, and cycle to other parts of your body while the stressed one recovers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parting Thoughts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not entirely an either/or proposition.  These are simply training options.  Some people do well with mixing approaches.  For example you could use squats, deadlifts, and bench press to elicit its general anabolic effects; but then focus on smaller body parts in isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be a mistake to completely ignore either compounds or isolation work.  Particularly since some isolation work can address weaknesses we may have in part of the kinetic chain of muscles.  For example, if you have a strength imbalance from the left and right side, you need to exercise them independently to make the weaker side stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-12T17:31:08.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8073" CreationDate="2012-09-13T01:31:09.810" Score="15" ViewCount="2226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been told by the doctor that &lt;strong&gt;barefoot walking&lt;/strong&gt; is good as long as it is on a &lt;strong&gt;rugged surface&lt;/strong&gt; (grass, gravel, sand, ...) but I should not walk barefoot on a pavement or home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simultaneously, there is advice encouraging &lt;strong&gt;bare foot running for flatfooters&lt;/strong&gt;. The arguments are that it encourages the runner to land and take off the front part of the leg, instead of the heel, thus reducing pronation during the running session itself and strenghtening the calf, thus preventing further pronation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that I live in an area, where it is impossible to find a long enough patch of rugged surface. All my running sessions are approximately 4 km, out of which only 1.5 is on a rugged surface, the rest is on pavement. I have been running for 2 months barefoot, so far so good, but I would like to know the long term effect of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some research on the topic? Do you have some personal experience?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4250" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T19:11:04.640" Title="Is running barefoot on pavement beneficial or detrimental to flat feet?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2012-09-13T10:45:35.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're running short distances I don't think it'll be much of a problem, especially if you can choose your route. Where it's really a problem is if you're running a long distance race with a fixed course and you're forced to deal with a slant on the path that only goes in one direction - that's hell on the ankles, knees, hips, and well everything. That's one situation where having a cushion to absorb the height difference a bit could actually be a benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-13T10:45:35.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8113" CreationDate="2012-09-13T14:19:57.277" Score="3" ViewCount="3683" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering what body weight exercises might be best to improve arm wrestling skills. Of course not on a professional level, in this case I'd buy equipment, just for the pub level difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current goal would be to just improve strength to win (of course). My far goal would be to actually go in the 'negative' region, let the opponent think that he is winning, and push him back then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, which body weight exercises will help me reaching this goal. Exercises that make use of a 1.5 Liter water bottle might be acceptable for me, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-02T16:01:22.030" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T16:01:22.030" Title="Body weight exercises for arm wrestling" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8067" CreationDate="2012-09-13T14:58:12.587" Score="8" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd previously asked this question in the &quot;Sports&quot; beta - &lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/1263/improving-driving-distance&quot;&gt;Improving Driving Distance&lt;/a&gt;, but they seem to think it's more suited for this site and then twisted the question to focus on equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I enjoy a pretty good golf technique - I hit the ball straight and true - but I don't hit it particularly far. I wondered if there were any key muscle groups I should be focusing on to improve the length of my shots, and any suitable exercises for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I am a regular gym go-er, I'm just more of a cardio fan than a weight pusher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2075" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:55:24.100" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T17:12:43.840" Title="Improving Golf-based strength" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8066" CreationDate="2012-09-13T15:24:32.463" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer you got on sports is pretty complete, although a bit off in the muscle explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want a good solid core and complementary arm strength, coupled with a solid foundation. I would suggest full body exercises such as pushups, squats, plank work, and to specifically work some of the rotational muscles I would add cable chops from high to low and low to high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is also going to be a big factor in your swing. If you aren't flexible, then the only way to get more shoulder turn (And thus a longer arc which in turn gives you more time to accelerate the club) is to start lifting your arms away from your body, which will give you that flying elbow problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other advice about matching your equipment is excellent, I was using a regular flex shaft, and couldn't control it because I was overpowering it and it was way too whippy. If you start accelerating more, then you may have to look at getting a stiffer flex. Conversely, if your shaft is too rigid for your swing, then you are actually losing distance because you aren't getting as much out of your club, because you aren't moving fast enough to get the shaft to flex and then come through the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a typical golfer response to look at your equipment, but that's actually the first place I'd look, especially considering you already have a straight ball flight. Find somewhere that can measure your swing speed over several different clubs, and match your shafts to your swing speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do that and add more flexibility and resisted rotation work, and I would guesstimate you could get into the 250 range pretty easily, and probably still maintain the accuracy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-13T15:24:32.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8066" CreationDate="2012-09-13T15:26:48.437" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would focus on getting stronger in general. Your golf-specific strength will grow faster by doing general-purpose whole-body strength exercises faster than trying to figure out what applies to golf and improving it. Once you have a baseline level of strength--say, after six months--you can decide what needs to be worked on for your golf needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't do chin-ups, barbell squats, deadlifts, and presses, then start. You don't necessarily need to do a linear progression a la Starting Strength or StrongLifts, but deadlifting more than bodyweight would be a good idea before looking at golf-specific strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-09-13T15:26:48.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8069" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-13T16:32:35.253" Score="3" ViewCount="4093" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 15 year old girl and 5'5 in height.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I increase my height in terms of food and exercise? Is there some specific diet plan or routine practice required that could accomplish this?  I would like to be at least 5'7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4253" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-24T18:18:58.690" LastActivityDate="2012-12-24T18:18:58.690" Title="I want to increase my height (teen girl) with the help of excercise routines and diet" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8069" CreationDate="2012-09-13T16:50:33.233" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're 15, you still have several years of development left. There's no magical panacea that will suddenly give you a few inches of height, platform shoes or heels not withstanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height is determined by genetics, primarily. However, maintaining a healthy diet, low in processed foods, and keeping yourself fit and active will allow your body to grow to it's fullest potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastActivityDate="2012-09-13T16:50:33.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-13T19:42:51.260" Score="3" ViewCount="1086" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to learn some cool tricks that I could use on the kind of rope that's found hanging from the ceiling in schools' gymnastic halls. I've tried to search, but all I can find is tips on how to climb them. I don't have any trouble climbing ropes, but want to know what else could be done while hanging in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the right term to search for? I couldn't find it in Overcoming Gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4255" LastActivityDate="2012-11-26T17:03:00.443" Title="Rope climbing gymnastic tricks -- what are they called?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2012-09-14T00:14:10.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing some barefoot running on pavement as a way to help with flat feet and pronation. For awhile I tried to increasing the distance but then I started to feel some minor aches under my foot and on the outside of my ankle. My biggest fear was developing a stress fracture so I've since limited the barefoot run to 5 or 10 minutes as a warm up and then I'll do my regular run using minimalist shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard of people running much longer distances without any problems. For me, I can tell that the barefoot runs are helping improve my form and address some of issues related to over pronation, but I don't think everything has adjusted yet to the point where my foot can absorb the impact forces of landing on the road as well as a normal pronator. I've written about some my experiences with this here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.somastruct.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.somastruct.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4257" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T00:14:10.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8058" CreationDate="2012-09-14T09:07:27.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin's answer is a good one. Total volume is something that you should consider. For eg. If you are training your body with a lot of isolation work than your lifts on the compound exercises are going to come down. Heavier weights is what will increase your muscle mass. Light weights with more reps doesn't increase size but causes muscles to retain more fluid which gives a perception of growth. This growth quickly vanishes when your workouts or diet goes missing for some time.  I would also recommend you to read a book by Christian Thibadeau called &quot;Black book of training secrets&quot;, he explains this concept well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T09:07:27.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7259" CreationDate="2012-09-14T13:36:10.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed a remarkable difference when I run on the treadmill vs when I run on the road. When I was training for my first half-marathon, it was often too cold to run outside. So I ended up doing majority of my training in the gym on a treadmill. Having said that, I found that any distance greater than 6 miles on a treadmill and I'm bored out of my mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running on the road has it's advantages. I realized that I can go faster or slower much easily. It's much harder to do it on a treadmill because you have to keep fiddling with speed control. Time seems to pass a lot quickly on the road. Mainly because there's so much happening around to keep me distracted. There's other runners, joggers, walkers, sights and sounds, the fresh air etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of where you train, the race will happen outdoors. So I'd strongly recommend putting in a couple of longish runs in an environment similar to the race you are training for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4249" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T13:36:10.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2012-09-14T20:24:45.647" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have extremely flat feet and have been barefoot running several years, usually on dirt trails. Although I can't say that the flatness has been affected, I do notice less soreness and faster recovery than when I ran with shoes. At one point I had trained up to three miles at a stretch, then tried a ten mile race on pavement, which gave me sore achilles and calves for 24-48 hours. But while running barefoot I have never had any stress fractures, shin splints, knee pain, nor any cuts or puncture wounds for that matter. I highly recommend it, with a proper gradual introduction of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2012-09-14T20:24:45.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2017" CreationDate="2012-09-15T01:23:07.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A muscle cell is comprised of &lt;br&gt; &#xA;- fibers known as myofibrils &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- cytoplasm, known as sarcoplasm. &lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the contraction of the myofibrils which generates the force a muscle produces.  Therefore the more myofibrils you have, the stronger you will be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sarcoplasm is a liquid (mostly water) which can provide nutrients to the myofibrils.  One can &quot;bulk up&quot; by increasing the amount of water in the sarcoplasm, which makes the muscle look bigger.  This however does not make you stronger.  It is therefore possible for strength to not be in proportion to muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was the science.  Now in order to increase the fluid in the sarcoplasm, making your muscles look bigger, you should do many reps, many sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to increase the number of myofibrils, you should do less reps and less sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no best option.  It depends if you want to train for strength or for size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2012-09-15T01:23:07.287" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2012-09-15T06:00:20.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the immune system that is responsible for inflammatory responses.  Inflammation is generally meant to be a way to help fight infection, but unfortunately sometimes the body's inflammatory response is exaggerated, doing more harm than good.   If your &quot;sickness&quot; is because of inflammation, then you want foods which inhibit inflammation, not promote it.  Such foods include those with omega-3 fatty acids such as sardines, salmon, herring and walnuts.  Other foods which can naturally reduce inflammation include onion, garlic, spinach and ginger.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also stay away from omega-6 fatty acids, which promote inflammation.  So try to avoid vegetable oils (consider olive oil instead) and deep fried foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this website I found on the topic as well:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theconsciouslife.com/anti-inflammatory-diet-how-to-balance-omega-3-omega-6-fats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theconsciouslife.com/anti-inflammatory-diet-how-to-balance-omega-3-omega-6-fats.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastEditorUserId="4225" LastEditDate="2012-09-15T06:06:03.533" LastActivityDate="2012-09-15T06:06:03.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7942" CreationDate="2012-09-15T14:10:27.237" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fat gained around the belly is likely to be &quot;visceral&quot; fat.  That is, this fat surrounds your internal organs.  Fat gained around thighs and other parts of the body is &quot;subcutaneous&quot; fat, or fat stored under the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increased visceral fat puts one at greater risk for cardiovascular disease, as opposed to subcutaneous fat, which is less harmful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/aerobic-exercise-trumps-resistance-training-getting-rid-dangerous-belly-fat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;recent study&lt;/a&gt; has emerged that aerobic exercise is most effective for losing visceral fat.  Any aerobic exercise such as swimming, jogging and cycling that involves continuous repetition for long durations is helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study involved people jogging 12 miles per week, but researchers thought a less intense regime would also be of benefit.  Resistance training was shown to not reduce visceral fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-18T14:03:38.420" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:03:38.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7696" CreationDate="2012-09-16T02:16:36.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know how tall he is, you could do some calculations.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.org/calculate-online/health-fitness/basal-metabolic-rate.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; calculates the basal metabolic rate, given weight, height and age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 30yr old male of 110kg and height of 1.8 m, will have a BMR of 9500kJ/day.  (The formula is just an approximation, and actual BMR will depend on many other factors)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, note that 1kg of Fat stores 37000kJ of energy.  This means that in order to lose 1kg of fat, the 30yr old man above would have to fast for 37000/9500 = 3.9 days.  After two weeks of fasting, he would lose (14*9500)/37000 = 3.5kg.  This is if he was not eating anything at all for 2 weeks and doing no exercise.  If he were to exercise in addition, he could possibly lose 7kg of fat in the two week period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your scenario the man is only fasting 2 days a week.  I therefore think it is unlikely he would have lost 6kg of fat in the two week period.  In the above example, if protein was burnt instead of fat, he could have lost 14kg of protein, since 1kg of protein stores half the energy content that 1kg of fat stores.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore I assume his weight loss could be attributed to a combination water, fat and protein, but not all to fat.  Also body weight varies throughout the day, so perhaps he did not weigh himself at the same time of the day when he calculated his 6kg loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-18T14:03:52.727" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:03:52.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-16T05:25:11.910" Score="5" ViewCount="4033" Body="&lt;p&gt;After much urging, I bought some Wei-Rui weight lifting shoes.  But I found my deadlift in them became much &lt;em&gt;worse&lt;/em&gt;, not better.  A friend told me that the high heel in them ruins the deadlift.  He told me I was better off deadlifting (and squatting, for that matter) bare foot than in shoes with a heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(He said the heel is good for olympic lifts where you snatch.  I'm just doing general Starting Strength squat, deadlift, press, and bench).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he right? Should I get rid of the Wei-Rui and just lift barefoot? Or get a different pair? How should I find shoes that work for my (beginner's) program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3439" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T03:08:15.553" Title="High Heel in weightlifting shoes" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8084" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-16T09:46:53.997" Score="5" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally run 10-15 km training runs. My warm-up has always been nothing more than starting very slowly- I run the first 3 km at a crawl, really. A few months ago I switched to &quot;barefoot&quot; running, and I've been warming up in the same way. But then I managed to injure myself (as I detailed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7319/pain-in-the-back-of-the-shink-shin-splints-or-the-achilles-tendon&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;) despite having done my normal warm-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two excellent questions here about running warm-ups - &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7390/best-warm-up-for-running&quot;&gt;one is a general question&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1943/how-hard-should-my-warm-up-be&quot;&gt;this one is about the intensity of the warm-up&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this- does (long distance) barefoot running require a different warm-up from regular running? Did anyone here make changes to their warm-up as a result of switching to barefoot running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-09-16T19:17:48.733" Title="Do &quot;barefoot&quot; runners need a different warm-up?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8084" CreationDate="2012-09-16T19:17:48.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do the same minimal warmup with barefoot running, as you said, just walking and running slowly. Nothing else has to be changed, beyond that you want to increase the distance that you run at a more gradual rate until your feet have properly adapted to running without shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-16T19:17:48.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8083" CreationDate="2012-09-16T19:21:02.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The weightlifting shoes have a solid sole, so they're much better than any regular sports shoe you'd wear with a cushioned sole, but yes, the raised heel will be a problem (just like putting a board or plate under your heel for a lift). You're better off lifting in Vivo Barefoots or Vibram FiveFingers (in the case of the former you'll want to take the insole out). Barefoot lifting also works, although that's only viable in a home gym (and maybe a CrossFit gym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-16T19:21:02.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8069" CreationDate="2012-09-16T23:38:35.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister used to be short. She played basketball, volleyball and did a lot of cycling atleast twice a week. She is 5 inches taller than me and it's only been a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, she is 19 now. I think you still have enough time to grow. Just stay active outdoors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-09-16T23:38:35.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7696" CreationDate="2012-09-16T23:42:09.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates attach to and retain water, so when your glycogen stores are reduced from alow carb diet, there is accompanying water weight loss &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Water-related_weight_loss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;imperfect citation here&lt;/a&gt;. This is often responsible for early, fast weight loss of up to 10 lbs. This rate of weight loss is not sustainable because once glycogen is depleted, the effect stops. The water extra water that the person drinks can not be retained because it has to attach to some other molecule to avoid being flushed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the diet you are describing sounds like a starvation diet, which might cause significant weight loss, and might also cause health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-09-16T23:42:09.107" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7942" CreationDate="2012-09-17T13:55:03.310" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For loosing love handles: try side kick and Side Plank.&#xA;For keeping the lower belly more fit: try front kick and high knee run,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you add some other cardio like running it would also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you keep on with your healthy eating and exercising that should do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4267" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-22T13:13:06.573" LastActivityDate="2012-09-22T13:13:06.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8083" CreationDate="2012-09-17T15:46:31.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The worst thing a heel can do when weightlifting is compress. Actual weightlifting shoes will have a rock-solid heel, so no concerns there. This issue of compressability is why many people will prefer lifting barefoot to lifting in &quot;cross-trainers&quot; or running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A raised heel can be beneficial for the squat. As your friend said, weightlifting shoes are very popular with the Olympic lifts, but this has nothing to do with the snatch, per se. Both of the Olympic lifts (&quot;Snatch&quot; and &quot;Clean &amp;amp; Jerk&quot;) use a squat motion: an overhead squat for the Snatch, and a front squat for the Clean and Jerk. In either case, the weight being lifted is well below the deadlift that these lifters are capable of. Essentially, they can afford to have a &quot;worse&quot; deadlift in exchange for better performance on the squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginner, the best weightlifting shoes you can buy are a pair of Converse (I even lift in the Target knock-off). They have a flat sole, and the heel is reasonably un-compressable. Since you already have the Wei-Ruis, go ahead and wear them for squats if you like, but a pair of Converse will work just fine and work for all of your lifts as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T15:46:31.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8093" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8095" CreationDate="2012-09-17T17:57:03.443" Score="5" ViewCount="631" Body="&lt;p&gt;My father is giving me his old weight machine. He has not used it in quite a few years (10+) and it has been outside (we get winter 4-5 months of the year, with 3-4 feet of snow on average) for the past 3 years. The weights themselves were protected from the elements, but everything else (cables, chair cushions) were uncovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I get it, what parts of it should I be looking at for wear and tear (and what should I be looking for) with an eye to replacing so that once I start using it, it will be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The machine looks similar to the image below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weighttrainingequipmentcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/multi-gym-2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Weight machine http://www.weighttrainingequipmentcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/multi-gym-2.jpg&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3868" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T18:44:58.800" Title="What should I be aware of for wear and tear on a used weight machine?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8083" CreationDate="2012-09-17T18:36:43.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time you change something fundamental to your form, you will have to go through a relearning process.  When you are used to not having your heels lifted, a proper weightlifting shoe can throw you off.  Particularly if it is a major change like over an inch lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wei-Rui shoes have a 1.25&quot; heel according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maxbarbell.com/products/wei-rui-weightlifting-shoes-silver&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MaxBarbell&lt;/a&gt;, which is rather significant when you compare it to the 0.6&quot; of the Addida's PowerLifts or 0.75&quot; Nike Romaleos 2 shoes.  It might be the size of the heel that is causing the bulk of the problems.  Make sure you check your squat depth again with the shoes.  I found I had to go a little deeper with my Addida PowerLift Trainers.  The affect on my deadlifts was negligible with the 0.6&quot; heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many Power Lifters opt for deadlift slippers, which have a flat, hard non-compressible sole.  This gives you the stability you want in a good lifting shoe, but without any lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T18:36:43.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8093" CreationDate="2012-09-17T18:44:58.800" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest enemy is rust.  Inspect the equipment for signs of rust, and either remove the rust or replace the pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plan on replacing the cables--after 10+ years in the elements, they are probably too weak to trust.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inspect the rust damage on the structural pieces.  If the rust damage is only on the surface, you can simply remove the rust with a chemical rust remover.  If the rust has eaten through the square tubing, it's only a matter of time before it collapses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Examine the pulleys and determine if they can get away with just new lubrication, or if they also need to be replaced.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The padding and material is actually the least worrisome.  You can get new foam padding and a new vinyl cover and fasten it with staples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the structure of the gym equipment is no longer sound, politely refuse to take it.  It would be cheaper and safer to get new gym equipment than to restore that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T18:44:58.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-17T18:55:34.720" Score="6" ViewCount="3457" Body="&lt;p&gt;So here's the thing. In my apartment, I have a gym with a weight machine or two, some cardio machines, and a set of dumbbell freeweights, and a bench. Using this gym costs me nothing extra, but it lacks a set of barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, finding a gym here in the NYC area is annoying. It costs so much extra and I have to go out of my way to fit it in my schedule (I work fulltime) and then go home, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am overweight with low muscle mass and looking to start a strength routine. However, this is hard to do without barbells for things like squats and presses. I was considering buying my own barbell + weights to bring to the gym but I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4270" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T23:21:18.980" Title="My in-apartment gym lacks barbells. Should I join a new gym or buy my own barbell?" Tags="&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8096" CreationDate="2012-09-17T19:17:24.700" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would vote that you join a gym. It can certainly be expensive (and less convenient), but the net positives outweigh the negatives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, an Olympic barbell costs ~$100. Basic, cast-iron weights cost a little more than $1/pound (at least where I live.) So just to get started, you're probably looking at $300, just for a barbell and weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, unless your gym has a squat rack without a bar, you may find it very difficult to do squats, which are a major part of any Strength routine. I'd go so far as to say that doing barbell squats without a squat rack/power cage is genuinely dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T19:17:24.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8096" CreationDate="2012-09-17T19:41:14.617" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;My # 1 recommendation is: start working out now with what you have.  Body weight exercises, some dumbbells and a few cardio machines should keep you busy for a long time.  Don't wait until you have all the equipment you might need or gym membership - those are nice to haves.  The most important step is starting....there are plenty of people who get in great shape with the basic body weight exercises like pushups, crunches, body weight squats....keep the focus on building a strong base to develop a more advanced weight lifting routine.  For now, focus on nutrition and 30-45 minutes a day of exercise to get you to that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T19:41:14.617" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8096" CreationDate="2012-09-17T21:21:37.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting a strength routine without a barbell is not hard to do; it just isn't the &quot;optimal&quot; approach. There are plenty of ways you can build strength and muscle without using barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, there are body weight exercises. You got push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, squats, wall squats, pistol squats, planks... the list goes on and is quite extensive. You can, and in fact others have, build very successful strength routines using nothing but body weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second off, some barbell exercises also have a dumbbell equivalent. Rows, bench, and overhead press, for example, all can be used interchangeably between barbell and dumbbell. Dumbbell is harder overall to do because it engages your stabilizers more, but in that sense it is also more rewarding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your question is concerned, you could avoid having to join a gym by supplementing your strength workout with body weight and/or dumbbell equivalents. Given your circumstances, I would say this is the ideal approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T21:21:37.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8096" CreationDate="2012-09-17T21:44:20.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I belong to two gyms but am considering quitting both to do exactly what you are thinking, build a home gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cons would be that you would need the space, and it would cost more. I spend about $100 on gyms right now, and I might keep at least one for the classes (spinning, aqua) and courts (basketball, squash, racquetball). So, I think the only realistic reason for joining a gym is if you don't have a free alternative for those. I've currently started playing a lot of soccer and the local parks are free to go to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, if you hit up craigslist, I've noticed that you can find some good deals for weights. I'm like you I would probably get a barbell first, but then you've got to have a place to rack it. Then you have to get the weights. By craiglisting everything it looks like I'd spend probably upwards of 500 bucks for everything I'd want with a barbell set. Barbell+500pounds in weight+rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if I quit my gym, within 5 months the costs would be the same, except I can keep them till I'm dead. Plus I have the convenience of working out whenever I want in my own fashion (I like doing circuits myself) where ever I want to do it. I'm thinking that I'd move them inside next to the TV, blast out some bears, then go store them back in the garage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do do bodyweight exercises, but squats, RDLs, rows etc just require weight. A lot of it. Having a barbell for me would keep it interesting. I like to do something different almost every work out and it's worked pretty well for me the past two years. I mean, I get bored just doing pullups/chins/situps/pushups everyday. I'd rather do that every few days, with weight in between. Maybe I'm a ADD weight lifter...wouldn't shock me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4272" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T21:44:20.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8096" CreationDate="2012-09-17T23:21:18.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend joining a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to mix things every now and then is a crucial to making progress with lifting. You need to have options. A home gym costs big bucks and will limit you in your options, which you will grow bored of very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that going to a gym is also a good motivator. Once I am there, I have invested the effort of getting to the gym and want to make it worth my while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, by all means work out at home in the mean time, it's certainly better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4277" LastActivityDate="2012-09-17T23:21:18.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8110" CreationDate="2012-09-18T00:53:09.060" Score="2" ViewCount="362" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that I'm travelling the same route between two points how do walking, running and biking compare with one another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My instinct is that calories per mile (metre, kilometre, or what have you) running is going to burn the most calories, but am I correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there formulae for this?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2916" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-10-01T15:10:00.440" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T15:10:00.440" Title="How do different modes of transportation compare from a caloric burn perspective?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8083" CreationDate="2012-09-18T03:08:15.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone with 20 years of weightlifting and power lifting experience I can tell you that a solid-heeled weightlifting shoe is definitely something that should be in your gym bag. With that said, I DON'T recommend deadlifting in them since the heel lift will likely place your shoulders in front of the bar. Most folks prefer a flat sole shoe to do dl's. Now your squats, overheard presses, even bench press should benefit from a pair of oly shoes. If you aren't totally satisfied with the wei-ruis then checkout &lt;a href=&quot;http://wlshoes.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wlshoes.com&lt;/a&gt; for a lot of reviews and comments on other brands/models.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4280" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T03:08:15.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7942" CreationDate="2012-09-18T03:16:36.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat high fiber food, Avoid sugar, salt intake to lose belly fat.&#xA;Eat low carb food and drink lots of water.&#xA;Daily Excise is must to lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4281" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T03:16:36.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2012-09-18T04:25:19.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few answers here for shoulder injuries, you can search &quot;shoulder&quot; to get a lot of good information. Here are a few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7225/rotator-cuff-strengthening-for-shoulder-overuse-injury&quot;&gt;Rotator Cuff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/740/any-suggestions-on-dealing-with-a-longer-term-shoulder-injury&quot;&gt;Dealing with injury&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T04:25:19.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2012-09-18T09:37:15.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if you are referring to how to avoid having more dislocations after the initial one, or if you mean how to strengthen the shoulders to decrease the risk of shoulder dislocations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's the former, as a person who has experienced multiple shoulder dislocations, here's my most important advice: see a physio! There is no way to replace a physiotherapist's expertise and advice on a Q&amp;amp;A like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mean the second (decreasing the risk for potential dislocations) I would say unless you are genetically predisposed to get this kind of injury or do some exercise where the shoulder joints are put under serious stress one should not be too worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will however try and elaborate on what exercises I have come across with as an aid for recovering from shoulder dislocation. There are two main types of exercises that are recommended in this case; stability and strength exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stability exercises are usually static, you are supposed to hold a particular stance for 30–45 secs, e.g. hold yourself in the initial position of a push up, hands on the floor, or on a vibration plate/medicine ball etc. Another version is vibrating a &quot;gymblade&quot; or tugging on a rubber band, rather small movements but significantly challenging to keep up for a while. These exercises target the smaller muscles and the teamplay of the muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength exercises are typically aimed at larger target muscles, and aim to get them stronger so that your shoulder have more resistance to risky movements. Some of the most typical exercises are in/out rotation on the left/right axis and on the up/down axis. These can be done sitting or standing. Diagonal pulls are also an alternative once the regular rotations are less challenging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also exercises for auxiliary muscle groups such as biceps, triceps, pecks and upper back muscles (particularly trapezoid) help to some extent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T17:24:07.897" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T17:24:07.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8103" CreationDate="2012-09-18T11:12:00.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct.  Running consumes 110 calories per mile.  Calories consumed when cycling depends upon the speed at which you cycle (due to air resistance).  Cycling at 15 miles per hour will burn just 31 calories per mile.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/run_or_cycle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calories Burned Running Vs. Cycling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastEditorUserId="4225" LastEditDate="2012-09-19T02:44:30.617" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T02:44:30.617" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-18T12:36:09.713" Score="5" ViewCount="11111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot;&gt;MadCow program&lt;/a&gt; and appreciate the approach to weekly improvements and regimentation - BUT, I'm used to doing 15-18 exercises per workout (3-4 times a week for about 1 1/2 hours) - the list of exercises take me about 20 - 30 minutes to complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone followed this program? and if so, what additional exercises do you do to get the volume?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-18T13:13:41.477" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T15:21:41.003" Title="What additional exercises do I add to the Madcow 5x5 program?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8024" CreationDate="2012-09-18T12:55:13.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That shouldn't be a problem. Getting 2hrs of sleep 1-3 times a month is alright.But, try to aim for 8 hours of sleep always and try to stay consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a nap, if you're tired. If you're not tired then go ahead and workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T12:55:13.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8065" CreationDate="2012-09-18T14:10:00.210" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For arm wrestling your going to want to work out the shoulder and arm muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/strengthtraining/qt/Chair-Dips.htm&quot;&gt;Chair dips&lt;/a&gt;(Triceps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/close-grip-push-ups.html&quot;&gt;Narrow grip push ups&lt;/a&gt;(Triceps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unique-bodyweight-exercises.com/bicep-exercises.html&quot;&gt;Chin ups and Inverted Chin ups&lt;/a&gt; (Biceps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/111835-bodyweight-shoulder-exercises/&quot;&gt;Push ups&lt;/a&gt; (Shoulders)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/111835-bodyweight-shoulder-exercises/&quot;&gt;Superman&lt;/a&gt; (Shoulders)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General overall upper body strength will help. These exercises work more than one muscle which should only help and not harm your case. If it was me I would start a strength program that works the whole body. Buts thats just my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the exercises I mentioned do not incorporate your 1.5 litre water bottle. (Perhaps fill it with water and drink from it during your rest periods) ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4285" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:10:00.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1852" CreationDate="2012-09-18T14:33:05.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there already is an accepted answer to your question but I thought you might find the following link quite useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/flexibility/l/blstretch.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lower Body stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the ones from the link above that I prefer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hamstring Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lie on floor with knees bent.  Straighten one leg and slowly pull it&#xA;towards you, clasping the thigh, calf or ankle.  Keep knee slightly&#xA;bent. Switch legs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quad Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lie down on your side using elbow for balance.  Using other arm,&#xA;slowly pull your foot towards your glutes, keeping both knees&#xA;together and bent knee pointing down.  Switch legs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inner Thigh Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit on floor with feet pressed together.  Keeping abs in, lean&#xA;forward until you feel a gentle stretch in your inner thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming from a kickboxing background, leg flexibility was quite important. I &lt;strong&gt;personally&lt;/strong&gt; found the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/video_4460154_do-hurdle-stretches.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hurdle stretch&lt;/a&gt;, fantastic. I found it great for the hamstring muscle and also the lower back. However as pointed out in the comments there are some arguments against this exercise. Although I personally never had any issues with it. I did it twice a day 5 days a week for about 3 years and it never gave me any bother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4285" LastEditorUserId="4285" LastEditDate="2012-09-18T14:55:32.790" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:55:32.790" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5910" CreationDate="2012-09-18T14:35:35.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A DEXA scan is going to be the most accurate method of bodyfat analysis, but it's expensive and limited in availability. A properly done underwater weighing would be your next best alternative, but it is also limited availability and can be expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two most commonly available methods are skin caliper testing, where folds of skin are measured, and the thickness of the fold/pinch is recorded. The most accurate method uses 9 different sites, although there are 3 and 6 site measurement protocols available. This requires training and familiarity, and is easily done wrong. Done properly by an experienced tester it is a very good method, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next commonly available are the bodyfat or Tanita scales. These use bioelectric impedence, or basically passing a very low level current through the body from one foot to the other. This can be thrown off some by body hydration, wet skin, other factors. They have an error rate of +/- 5% usually, which means it could be anywhere from 5% low to 5% high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you take some care to do the Tanita weighing under the same circumstances, then you can use the scale consistency to measure progress, since it will nearly always measure the same. By that I mean that if your scale measures you at 5% more than your actual, it will always do so. Couple that with the mirror test (Look at yourself in the mirror) and it's the most affordable and available, as well as being consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really do need to closely monitor body fat, then I would recommend getting an underwater weighing or DEXA scan, then immediately afterwards get on whatever scale you want to use (Bring it from home), and compare the values. That way you know specifically how far &quot;off&quot; your scale is from a true measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:35:35.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7968" CreationDate="2012-09-18T14:46:37.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I would say no, this is not enough to stay in good health. I would say that you are not consuming anywhere near enough calories. I am surprised you are only starting to feel the effects of this now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are a male, I would recommend that with doing that amount of training you should consume (cleanly) closer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/logout/calorie_intake.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2500-3000 calories&lt;/a&gt;. This is taken from the UK Department of Health Estimated Average Requirements (EAR). Its an average, so there are other factors to take into account(age, height etc), so you should use it as a guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this you will notice that you will have more energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you are getting enough rest. 8hrs sleep on average. And dont be afraid to take the odd day off to allow your body to recover. Exercising everyday for a month will have a big toll on the body, so rest plenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4285" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T14:46:37.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7793" CreationDate="2012-09-18T15:08:42.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consistently losing more than 2 pounds per week means you're losing lean body mass (muscle). Lean body mass is what requires calories to operate. If you decrease your lean body mass, and you'll need fewer calories to maintain your weight. So, losing muscle almost guarantees rebound weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4286" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T15:08:42.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2062" CreationDate="2012-09-18T16:04:51.513" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking for a general guideline as I am to purchase an exercise-ball online. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/choosing-right-exercise-ball&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Knees should be level or slightly lower than the pelvis - creating an angle of 90 degrees or slightly greater at the hips and knees (thighs parallel to ground or pointing down slightly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also give a general guideline on choosing the ball for your height, if you are heavier than average you have to take that into account, too: (cm added by me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;45 cm       5' and under    | up to 152.5cm&#xA;55 cm       5'1&quot;– 5'8&quot;      | up to 172.5cm  &#xA;65 cm       5'9&quot;– 6'2&quot;      | up to 188cm&#xA;75 cm       6'3&quot;– 6'7&quot;      | up to 200.5cm  &#xA;85 cm       6'8&quot; and taller | above 200.5cm&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't buy a ball that is too big for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bear in mind, releasing air from the exercise ball will cause it to lose air pressure. As the ball flattens out, this will actually make it more stable, as it has a larger contact area with the resisting surface and the body. This means that stabilizing and balancing exercises will become easier and will lose some effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T16:04:51.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7793" CreationDate="2012-09-18T16:07:08.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The major concerns are as follows:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What goes away quickly can come back quickly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can lose muscle faster than fat on starvation diets--which feeds and perpetuates eating disorders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't eat enough to support your metabolic processes, you can cause serious health issues.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are a couple common exceptions to the 2lb/week rule:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An athlete may dehydrate themselves and cut back on carbs to make a target weight class.  If you try and loose too much water weight, it will negatively affect your performance--so most athletes don't push it to dangerous levels.  After weigh-in, they refeed and rehydrate, getting back to their pre-cut weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ketosis based diets can burn fat at a more rapid pace for the first few weeks while still providing enough essential nutrients (both macro and micro) to support your metabolic processes.  This rapid fat loss tapers off over time, and you will likely settle in to the more normal 1-2lbs a week rate eventually.  Hydration is very important on these diets to prevent keto-acidosis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in both of these cases, the glycogen stores are depleted.  This affects the energy you have available for exercise or competitions.  It also accounts for up to about 5lbs of weight.  This is why after coming out of ketosis you will have a one time weight gain of around 5lbs.  Emptying the glycogen stores only takes about 3 days even when you don't exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-18T16:07:08.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8124" CreationDate="2012-09-18T23:47:04.723" Score="8" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing the Tough Mudder here in Northern California and the event takes place at a ski resort at an altitude of 6000' to 8000'.  I have been training at about 3000' elevation and I'm wondering if there is anything I can/should do to prepare for exercising at the higher elevation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about going up there the day before and spending about half a day hiking/biking around, but I would come back down afterwards.  Would this even help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-19T04:32:35.840" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T14:45:35.480" Title="How to prepare for exercise at high altitude?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-18T23:54:05.450" Score="5" ViewCount="2435" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem I am trying to resolve is either dropping off my training too early in the week and feeling a bit stiff on the day we play or I over train and can't maintain speed/power/endurance because my legs are still sore or tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play on the same day every week so I'm interested in finding out what sort of a weekly routine do football teams have as they are also on a weekly cycle and I assume there has been plenty of research done into:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many days after a game should a player commence full training?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many days before a game should a player rest or pull back from training?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they rest mid-week and train the day before the game?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T16:39:46.343" Title="Typical weekly training cycle of a football club" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7793" CreationDate="2012-09-19T14:11:35.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;2lbs a week is a bit of a blunt instrument and obviously a small woman weighing 100lbs would be different from a man weighing 260lb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20lbs in 7.5 weeks is 2.6lbs/week so you are not far off the 2lbs a week. This works out as 1% of your body weight. So I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T14:11:35.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8120" CreationDate="2012-09-19T14:45:35.480" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, adaptation to altitude is a few weeks of process, as what happens is the body kicks up production of red blood cells, and that's not an instant thing. As noted in the comments, getting there a few days ahead will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, be very aware of hydration, and make sure that in the days leading up and especially during the event, you are getting a lot of water, and avoiding high doses of caffeine (If you are a regular consumer of drinks such as monster, etc). Caffeine in low doses is not a diuretic, but 600mg+ it can have a diuretic effect, and with the consumption of multiple energy drinks you can hit that level. You dehydrate faster at altitude than you do at lower elevations, so you will probably need more water than you think you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware of symptoms such as headaches, vomiting, dizziness and somewhat sudden fatigue, as these are signs of altitude sickness. Most people can ascend to 8000 feet without too many problems, but you will also be doing the tough mudder which is a pretty rigorous event. Don't be afraid to stop and breathe for a bit if you start getting dizzy and nauseous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T14:45:35.480" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-19T19:22:45.453" Score="7" ViewCount="4061" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to everyday pull-ups I've got pretty bad calluses on my hands.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there any way to escape them ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T10:27:21.563" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T10:27:21.563" Title="How to prevent callus growth on hands when doing pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;callus&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2012-09-19T19:42:55.593" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One, you can use something like Lanacane to cut down on the callous you already have. Two, and this is what would really work long term, make sure you start in the position that your hands normally slip to. This applies with dumbbells and barbells as well. Find the end point that the bar would be in your hand, and make sure that's your starting point as well. If your hands aren't slipping around, you'll have much less of a callous building up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T19:42:55.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2012-09-19T20:10:25.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you are doing pull ups bare-handed you will probably have a hard time avoiding the callouses.  And if you are continually cutting down on the callouses that you already have you may find that your hands become a little raw in the areas that are critical for gripping the bar.  This might end up compromising your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend getting some gardeners gloves (I workout in the park in NYC and almost everyone wears these) or some baseball batting gloves.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They provide great protection and will keep your callouses under control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4291" LastActivityDate="2012-09-19T20:10:25.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8133" CreationDate="2012-09-19T21:49:29.017" Score="3" ViewCount="1229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about going to gym in morning for cardio type exercises and then in evening do some weight training, my main goal is to get 6 pack and get ripped. Do you think going to the gym twice a day, 6 days a week will be best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;weight : 183 pounds (83 kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;height: 5 foot 7 inch  (1.70 m)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to gym when I was in high school and then on &amp;amp; off but now I haven't been to gym for like 8 months and just started again, I have been going to gym twice a day but that time my diet was shit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4214" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-14T02:05:08.030" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T15:41:48.393" Title="Going to gym twice a day" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2012-09-20T00:08:59.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure that if you're going at least 6 days per week you have at least a day or two of rest on the weightlifting.  Your body needs the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept behind cardio in the morning is the lack of carbs in your body prior to eating breakfast will result in fat burn.  You should be getting at least 45 minutes of exercise per day no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you get enough sleep and don't starve yourself on the calories.  I suggest using a food tracker like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&lt;/a&gt; or even pen and paper to keep track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, I have recently started a similar program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T00:08:59.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8134" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-20T00:11:30.823" Score="1" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always wanted to try a fast for 1 - 2 days (but with water!) for religious purposes, but I'm always scared it may result in a slowed metabolism or some sort of health problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will a 2 day fast impact the metabolism of an otherwise healthy person?  When I start eating will I begin gaining weight rapidly?  What else should I be concerned about?  I'm having difficulty finding a definitive answer on the net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T04:33:41.497" Title="Is fasting for two days dangerous?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T05:31:22.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8137" CreationDate="2012-09-20T00:47:04.123" Score="3" ViewCount="1483" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing 5 sets of pullups with each set to exhaustion. However my pullups really decreases after the first two sets. I would start off doing 7, then 5, then i get to 2 or 3 if i really try for the next sets. I'm resting about 2min between sets, and I rest 2 days before my next pullups sessions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I rest much longer, I can pull off more. But is that good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately my goal is strength, and slowly I've been increasing my pullups number. But how do I perform better for the later sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-20T05:29:34.587" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T15:49:12.577" Title="How do I increase endurance in doing pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-20T00:47:31.623" Score="1" ViewCount="360" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because I get shin splints easily, I do cardio workouts by walking up steep inclines. My routine is this: I raise my heart rate to 180 for 30 minutes straight with only a water break in the middle. Without stopping at the end, I start jogging until I hit my VO2max (around 195 to 200 bpm, it takes about 3 minutes). Then I cool down.  I do this 3 times a week and I am 21 years old and in good health. &#xA;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;Am I risking damage to my cardiovascular system due to the intensity of the workout?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4295" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T14:25:35.483" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T14:25:35.483" Title="Is my cardio routine too intense?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8135" CreationDate="2012-09-20T01:42:15.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is strength, you're doing fine. Five sets is a lot, seven reps in the beginning isn't too shabby for where you are, and your reps are going up. You're getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anything, the rest periods are too short. Less time between sets makes your conditioning and strength-endurance a more significant factor. More time between sets keeps the focus on strength. Going up to three or five minutes between sets might be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing other strenuous training, three sets might be plenty. If this is your primary training, I'd keep the number of sets as-is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-09-20T02:00:05.603" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T02:00:05.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8138" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8152" CreationDate="2012-09-20T03:22:34.263" Score="4" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a student and live a schedule that makes it impossible for me to commit to any extremely serious programs or even go to the gym. As such, I have began to train at home, doing primarily the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups with resistance bands, I set the bands so that I can only do 10 reps at max strength. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 sets each to exhaustion for both&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink whey after the workout, and rest 2 days before I repeat the cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm neglecting the lower body, which I know is not that great, but I'm trying to focus on my upper body. I want to be stronger, be more toned and shave off excess fat on my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my general approach to food. I don't have any goal of trying to count calories or figure out exact protein contents. Instead I eat whole grains, white meat, fish, nuts, vegetables and fruits. In an average meal I would do 30% grains, 40% vegetables and 30% meat or meat alternatives (tofu, seitan, etc). I eat 3 meals a day, with snacks once or twice a day with nuts, seeds, or fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this all look? Will I make good progress with this? Do I need to make my exercises more intense? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-09-20T05:30:02.667" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T00:26:29.940" Title="Training for strength: How is my training regimen and diet combo?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8134" CreationDate="2012-09-20T04:33:41.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It won't if you're healthy, but it would be up to a doctor to determine if you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T04:33:41.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8136" CreationDate="2012-09-20T04:36:56.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shin splints likely have to do with your shoes, not your routine. The best shoes just keep your feet warm (if it's cold) and protect them from scratches. They shouldn't be tight on your feet, they shouldn't slide around too much, and they shouldn't constrain how your feet can move. Nike Frees, Vibram FiveFingers, Vivo Barefoots, Innov8 BareX, Feiyues and a number of other similar shoes would fit the bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T04:36:56.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8138" CreationDate="2012-09-20T14:23:44.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to be stronger you need to train your whole body, otherwise you will end up with a huge upper body, but lacking strength because your lower body can't support it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of exercises you can do at home, if you want to continue doing push ups, which are great for your upper body, but strengthen your core, too, you might want to either &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;go for more&lt;/a&gt; or make them even more complicated, even without a resistance band.&#xA;You could try Diamond Push Ups, basically it is a normal push up, but you put your hands close together so that you thumb and index finger form a diamond shape.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;If you happen to have an exercise ball at home, you can do push ups on that, too. The legs on the ball or the hands on the ball. Those are a pretty strenuous exercises that train your stabilizing muscles in the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should do more than those two exercises you mention, as said above, go for a workout that trains all your muscles, of course you can set a focus, but you shouldn't ignore the others. Check out the link above, there are other programs listed, eg for crunches and dips.&#xA;If you need more dig around for other body weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally do body weight exercises thrice a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you need the two days rest, take them, otherwise you could do more.&#xA;As always you have to listen to your body first before listening to other people (especially those on the Internet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your food plan sounds OK judging from what you tell, but check your drinking habits as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T14:23:44.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8157" CreationDate="2012-09-20T14:49:21.617" Score="4" ViewCount="1533" Body="&lt;p&gt;I current have a solid 50lb kettlebell that I use.  I'm looking to upgrade, but prices for solid kettlebells are very expensive.  I saw this adjustable handle on amazon (pic)&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/18ejb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; for about $35 and it can take up to 70 lbs...still not the max weight I was hoping for, but an improvement and ability to adjust down for other kettlebell exercises.  Does anyone have any experience with this model or similar low cost ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After following Dave's advice and checking out the parts needed via RossTraining, here's my homemade version - cost $15 (I do need to shorten the handles a little)&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WOXkK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="295" LastEditDate="2012-09-21T18:57:50.773" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T18:57:50.773" Title="What's a good adjustable kettlebell approach?" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8135" CreationDate="2012-09-20T15:49:12.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should definitely rest more between sets.  If you are maxing out every set then 2 minutes won't be long enough for your heart rate to recover and your muscles to loosen up again before you go into the next set. You are actually limiting your strength gains by not resting enough to be able to handle the load.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend going 1-2 reps under your max for 5 sets until that becomes easy then try and add those reps back in and you should be able to handle the 5x7 just fine.  Which means you are stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4291" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T15:49:12.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8065" CreationDate="2012-09-20T15:52:24.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle Ups. &#xA;If you can do them you'll have the explosive upper body strength and transition power that'll help you get that wrist break leverage that leads to winning in arm wrestling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4291" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T15:52:24.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-20T18:36:56.020" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;For instance, consider multivitamins like Opti-Men or Orange Triads or AOR Ortho-Core, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are such multivitamin supplements actually beneficial to health, or is it a waste/possibly even harmful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4270" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T18:36:56.020" Title="Are higher-end multivitamins harmful/helpful/placebo?" Tags="&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-09-20T19:33:09.933" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3066" CreationDate="2012-09-20T19:46:07.330" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been climbing, training for climbing, and reading books on the subject for a long time.  If you are new to climbing, you need as much volume at the easiest grades possible.  This is the best way to condition all of your body, as well as improve your technique.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to the gym, do all of the easiest problems.  Repeat them over and over.  This will make them easier and allow you to refine your technique.  The easy gives you volume, which allows you to climb enough to improve strength without hurting yourself, and the easy also gives you the opportunity to train technique; you can't really train technique while climbing things hard for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For technique, the most fundamental drill is called silent feet.  You focus on your feet 100%.  Follow these steps for every placement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;look for the options&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;evaluate the options and choose one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;place your foot on the hold without making ANY sound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do not adjust your foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weight the foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rules: any sound or readjustment is a penalty.  If you take your eyes off of the hold before the foot is placed AND weighted, it's a penalty.  Repeat this for 10 - 30 minutes of easy climbing; don't every stop.  The basic benefits of this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;learn to focus on feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;learn how to control your feet precisely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the obviously problem with this advise is that bouldering is NOT easy.  I climb v8 and .13 at my limits.  And I still don't consider bouldering at the gym easy enough for warm ups or silent feet training.  So, I guess I'm suggesting you consider adding top roping easy climbs to your routine.  Do some boulder problems after you put your training time in, but don't think of them as training.  They are too hard.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you can't find a climbing gym while travelling.  Just run, do yoga, or something else for general fitness and flexibility.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, the best book I've come across is &quot;The Self Coached Climber&quot;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4299" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-25T12:30:50.940" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T12:30:50.940" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6872" CreationDate="2012-09-20T19:56:07.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only answer is comfortable shoes.  It's quite possibly the only answer for a climber at any level, but certainly for beginners.  You don't want shoes that will slip around, but most places will tell you to get them as tight as you can tolerate.  That's way bogus.  Get them comfortable.  If as you progress they seem like they aren't tight enough, you'll get a tighter pair and still have the comfy pair for wearing on all of your warmups and easier climbs.  The bottom line is that tight shoes are not good for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several types of shoe construction that impact how determining what the fit is going to be.  For your first pair get a shoes that is synthetic; these shoes don't change size over time like leather shoes.  Very important.  They will fit as they fit at the store.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, avoid all performance oriented shoes.  Such as downturned toes and radically asymmetric lasts.  You might want a mildly asymetric last depending on the shape of your shoe.  If your big toe is the longest, you want a mildly assymetric shoe.  If one of your middle toes is the longest, you want the type of shoe that is symmetric, i.e. the long point at the end is centered, rather than the big toe part being the longest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4299" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T19:56:07.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6872" CreationDate="2012-09-20T20:10:18.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Outdoor Gear Lab wrote a pretty good article on the subject here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Climbing-Shoe-Reviews/Buying-Advice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Climbing-Shoe-Reviews/Buying-Advice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting from this article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are just starting out then you probably want a more&#xA;  comfortable, versatile, all-around shoe. Don't go for the aggressive&#xA;  down-turned shoes. Go for something that is not too tight and does not&#xA;  cost much. Shoes that close with Velcro are great because you can get&#xA;  them on and off fast. But a comfortable pair of lace-up shoes can be&#xA;  great as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Agressive downturn shapes are very helpful if you're climbing intermediate / advanced routes (5.10 / V4 and up).  The shape of the shoe will bunch your toes together, and also will fit tighter.  This will improve your ability to stand on smaller holds.  Also, a downturn makes it easier to hook your toes on holds on overhanging routes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to stick with a more comfortable shoe, that's OK to.  Plenty of strong climbers will wear more comfortable shoes.  If you find your toes slipping within the shoe as you try to stand on a hold, or you find the edge of the shoe flopping when you try to stand on a small hold, you'll know its time to switch to something more &quot;agressive'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Velcro will be more convenient to take on and off when you're switching between climbing and belaying (which you'll do a lot in the gym).  But, most velcro shoes tend to be at least a little agressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fit tends to be very personal, and most of the better shoes are made of leather, and actually stretch quite a bit, so even experienced climbers may have to buy more than one size if they switch brands.  (The stretching tends to mold the shoe to your foot, so its really a desirable quality)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I didn't address your question very well.  Most beginner / comfort shoes are either&#xA;1) Inexpensive entry level shoes&#xA;2) traditional climbing shoes &#xA;I think that nearly all &quot;comfort&quot; shoes (and traditional ones) are lace ups.  You'll want a lace up shoe where all your toes lay flat.  Also, you'll want to avoid an asymmetric, downturned shoe.  Those two things (asymetric, downturned toe boxes that force your toes to curl up) are signs on an uncomfortable, more agressive shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2012-09-20T20:25:28.593" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T20:25:28.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3066" CreationDate="2012-09-20T21:19:50.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chad gave a lot of good advice - the best way to build more climbing endurance is to climb more, even if you have to do laps on the easier routes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you might also want to suppliment your climbing with some basic training for pullups and your abs.  &lt;strong&gt;Technique is necessary, but &quot;correct technique&quot; sometimes depends on a certain threshold level of strength.&lt;/strong&gt;  If you can't do 5 or 6 pullups, or 5 or 6 hanging knee raises on a pullup bar, you might not be able to execute good technique on steep routes (like you find in the bouldering area of a gym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only say this because you mention that you've never done anything active in your life... I hadn't either before I started climbing.  I remember trying to work overhanging routes, and having friends tell me to tighetn my core.  And I couldn't, because my abs weren't strong enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this seems like it applies to you, I'd recommend that you start supplimenting your climbing with pullup training, and ab training.  You can find a lot of questions about pullups on this site.  For abs, I'd recommend doing some combination of hanging knee raises, planks, situps, etc.  If you wanted to go crazy and do something like P90x abs, that wouldn't be a bad thing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T21:19:50.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3163" CreationDate="2012-09-20T22:46:24.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, the difference comes down to testosterone and it's effects on the human body. It creates higher density bones, stronger muscles and other various effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerlink.com/content/l47235487q162675/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.springerlink.com/content/l47235487q162675/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few studies around showing the differences, but not too many modern ones as it has been proven in the past what the effects of hormones are on growth and strength, as well as the continuing effect(s) of those hormones, and many of those studies are not available online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/83/5/1581.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jap.physiology.org/content/83/5/1581.short&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That study suggests that while men are stronger in their prime, they tend to &quot;age&quot; faster, and lose more than women in the same measured categories, including faster bone loss in the post menopausal stage. This is probably at least partly due to the loss of hormone production in the post menopausal women, and the way that estrogen limits the effects of osteoblasts, which leech calcium from it's primary storage spot, bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as iron, that is mainly due to menstruation. Women simply need to produce more blood on a monthly basis than men do, and iron is a critical part of that process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-20T22:46:24.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8138" CreationDate="2012-09-21T00:26:29.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let's get into what other types of exercises you can do: chair dips, squats, wide fly push ups, pull ups, chin ups, military press, diamond push ups, decline push ups, lunges, and any sort of kettle bell exercise.  The exercises you choose are up to you, but I think your best bet given your goals are: &lt;strong&gt;chair dips, wide fly push up, decline push up, and chin ups&lt;/strong&gt;. This will give you a good amount of chest, shoulder, bicep, and tricep work, as these seem to be your target areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you need to reevaluate your set/rep count. Instead of doing 5 sets to failure, do 3 sets of X reps for each exercise, where X is a reasonable number of reps given your current strength. Every workout, you will then increase the number of reps for each exercise by 1. Repeat this, deload when necessary, and you will see improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also consider &lt;strong&gt;&quot;greasing the groove,&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; which is summed up succinctly with the formula &lt;strong&gt;Specificity + Frequent Practice = Success&lt;/strong&gt;. In other words, the more you do something, the better you get at that specific something. Start doing a handful of pull-ups (nothing extreme, maybe 3-5) every time you use the bathroom, or leave your house, or watch a movie. Over time, you will begin to see amazing improvements in your ability to do that exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm neglecting the lower body, which I know is not that great, but I'm&#xA;  trying to focus on my upper body. I want to be stronger, be more toned&#xA;  and shave off excess fat on my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, it is not great, but it is not awful either. With the minimal amount of exercise you are doing, you aren't really in danger of looking like The Hulk with Barbie legs, nor are you in danger of creating any serious muscle imbalances, save for those that present themselves by exerting more than your lower body can handle (i.e. lifting a heavy box). Once you get your life straightened out and more time on your hands, I encourage you to take on a full body strength program (&lt;strong&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/strong&gt; are the favorites of this particular site, but there are many more out there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet is pretty much rock solid. That said, I really &lt;strong&gt;recommend counting calories for a week&lt;/strong&gt;, just so you have a ball park idea of what you really take in every day. Knowledge is power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your goal for fat loss is contradictory with your goal to increase strength.&lt;/strong&gt; Building muscle requires a caloric excess to fuel muscle growth whereas burning fat requires a caloric deficit to fuel fat cell loss, so you can see how these two goals compete against one another. You can try to do both at the same time, but won't see optimal results in either, or you can instead do cycles of bulking/cutting where you focus on strength training for a period of time (3-6 weeks) then switch focus to cutting fat through a leaner diet and increased cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T00:26:29.940" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8103" CreationDate="2012-09-21T03:10:08.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-bicycling-ac1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-bicycling-ac1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-running-ac12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-running-ac12&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-walking-ac17&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-walking-ac17&lt;/a&gt; and then converting cal/h to cal/m for various speeds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 10mph burns 1088cal/h so 109 cal/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 8mph burns 918cal/h so 115 cal/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running or walking 5mph burns 544cal/h so 109 cal/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking 3mph burns 225cal/h so 75 cal/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling 10mph burns 408cal/h so 41 cal/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling 15mph burns 680cal/h so 45 cal/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling 20mph burns 1088cal/h so 54 cal/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that either the 8 or 10 mph running number is slightly off, but clearly running/brisk walking is far more calorie burn per distance efficient than walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2916" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T03:10:08.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8164" CreationDate="2012-09-21T03:50:13.563" Score="4" ViewCount="1159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wake up at 7am, go to college, after go to work, and at the end of the day - when I am as sleepy as 30 bears - I go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After returning from gym, I dinner, etc and sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to reduce my sleepiness? Caffeine? Energy drinks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please no capsules or powders (supplements) like ASSAULT or Jack3d ! I already take creatine and whey protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I think something isn't right with my sleep, because I wake more tired than when I went to sleep, it's awkward and bothers a lot, I just can't wake up, I'm a &quot;zombie&quot; the first 5 minutes after waking (When I don't back to sleep after waking)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4302" LastEditorUserId="4302" LastEditDate="2012-09-21T04:04:31.850" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T23:44:23.313" Title="What can I do to have more energy/less sleepy before working out?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2012-09-21T06:01:51.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did paleo for a whole month and have never felt so hungry in my life.  The hunger never went away, until once I had to skip a meal in a busy day, and then I was so hazy I couldn't function.  This isn't right.&#xA;As soon as I ate a normal meal with some grains in it (brown rice) I finally felt better and could think clearly again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4304" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T06:01:51.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6410" CreationDate="2012-09-21T10:17:36.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your condition is mild, then no exercise limitations are required.  It is best however to be examined by your own doctor, so that all factors may be considered.  Generally patients who have a pressure gradient of less than 40mmHg are under no exercise restrictions.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/891729-treatment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/891729-treatment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T10:17:36.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8143" CreationDate="2012-09-21T12:56:12.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let's get some terminology out of the way. In order to be a kettlebell, I would require the tool to be one solid piece of metal. Adjustable kettlebell substitutes are apparently called &quot;T-handles&quot; instead. The model pictured above has an actual handle, whereas homemade versions may just be designed to grab on to a straight stick of pipe. They work for swings, but I wouldn't use any of these &quot;non-kettlebell kettlebells&quot; for, say, snatches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people make these adjustable kettlebell T-handles themselves. The model pictured above has an actual handle, whereas homemade versions may just be designed to grab on to a straight stick of pipe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuA-565ldAY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a quick demo video of the T-handle creation process&lt;/a&gt;. Dave Draper has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.davedraper.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=PmWiki.T-Handle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;detailed instructions&lt;/a&gt;, with a link to Ross Enamait demoing his variation of the equipment (he adds a homemade collar and recommends &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2009/03/25/t-handle-on-blocks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;swinging from blocks&lt;/a&gt; to avoid hitting the ground with heavy loads).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T12:56:12.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8158" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8166" CreationDate="2012-09-21T15:49:31.683" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had gone on my first run in months last night, and aside from the expected soreness in the legs and calves, I've got a rather sensitive spot on my abs, about an inch down and left (from my perspective, looking down) of my navel. I wouldn't necessarily call it pain, just abnormally sensitive. The rest of my abs are slightly sore, nothing that like this little button of 'ow'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background: I used to run pretty regularly, not marathon level, but upwards of 5 miles a day. Last night, I ran just over 2 miles at a slow pace of ~11 min / mi. Just trying to get my legs back under me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas as to the cause of the pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastActivityDate="2012-09-22T01:07:49.497" Title="Localized abdominal pain after a short run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8159" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-09-21T15:50:34.677" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-09-21T15:50:34.677" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T15:50:34.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8160" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-09-21T15:50:34.677" Score="0" Body="A state to be avoided, involving the abdominal muscles, except as it remains in the way of progress." OwnerUserId="4252" LastEditorUserId="4252" LastEditDate="2012-09-21T16:41:22.923" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T16:41:22.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-21T19:01:30.267" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get to where I can squat with the bar in the low bar position as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/video/platform_the_squat_bar_position&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark's video&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having difficulties getting into this position and I think it's a mix of things, one being inflexibility in my shoulders. What can I do to help me be able to get into the proper position for lower back squats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To expand on what my issue is, I'm somewhat able to get into the position, but my wrists end up way past the bar and end up wrapping over it instead of wresting on top of the bar. Trying to squat in this position doesn't feel stable, even with trying to keep my elbows back. I tried widening the placement of my wrists, but that relaxed my back too much and made the bar shift a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-23T12:53:25.013" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T12:53:25.013" Title="Trying low bar position is difficult, what can I do to get there?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8163" CreationDate="2012-09-21T21:42:33.857" Score="6" ViewCount="2694" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I run about 7 km every day. I feel that this is too much for me, as I also do some fitness every other day. It is just too time consuming with my new job. I just want to stay in shape and I have no intentions on running marathons etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Considering my muscles and cartilages on the long run (20-30 years). What is better for my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 3-4 km every day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 7-8 km every other day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2446" OwnerDisplayName="ayckoster" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T22:11:16.910" Title="What is better for my body running every day or every other day?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8162" CreationDate="2012-09-21T22:11:16.910" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, if just general fitness is your goal, then around 5k every other day is perfectly fine for your needs. You really only need to run more if you have specific goals and are training for running races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While 7-8k is not overly long, I wouldn't really run that every other day. I'd cycle it a bit, so that you have a couple of 5k runs then a slightly longer run, 7-10k. You'd be perfectly fine to have a day or two off between runs, especially if you are doing other supplemental fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T22:11:16.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8154" CreationDate="2012-09-21T23:44:23.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Notably lacking from your question is the amount of sleep you get. I am going to assume you are getting at least 8 hours of actual sleep (remember to include the time it takes for you to actually drift off). If you aren't getting a full 8 hours of sleep, well then my answer should be pretty obvious: &lt;strong&gt;get more sleep&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best compilation of advice I've found on this topic has been &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/5664322/eat-your-way-to-a-high-energy-workday&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LifeHacker's High Energy Workday Guide&lt;/a&gt;. The advice is all sound, and has worked well for me. I suggest reading the entire article, but let me summarize the key points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast &gt; Lunch &gt; Dinner&lt;/strong&gt;. Breakfast and lunch are the foundation that feed your energy throughout the day, so treat them with respect and make them hearty meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regulate blood sugar&lt;/strong&gt;. Be mindful of the amount of carbs you eat and the glucose index of your foods. You want to prevent the high/low blood sugar swings that result in energy crashes, and instead have a more regular level of blood sugar. This is most easily accomplished by sticking to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.glycemicindex.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;low glycemic index foods&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat frequently&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't do three big meals a day and starve yourself in between. You should have a small snack between meals, which usually comes out to eating every 2-3 hours. This helps with #2 regulating blood sugar, just make sure to stick to low glycemic snacks or snacks with high protein count.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stay hydrated&lt;/strong&gt;. Water plays an instrumental role in keeping your energy level up. Get a Nalgene bottle or something similar, and take it with you to school/work/etc..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Still having problems?&lt;/strong&gt; If you are still having problems maintaining your energy level, then you should start keeping a log and see if you can notice any patterns. It may be as simple as changing your eating habits by 30 minutes. Alternatively, after a long day you could just be exhausted and stressed out, at which point your best bet is restructuring your daily routine so you get up earlier to hit the gym in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-09-21T23:44:23.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8161" CreationDate="2012-09-22T01:05:15.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have exactly that problem, with shoulder inflexibility. I got myself a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theracane.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thera Cane&lt;/a&gt; and followed the instructions in Clair Davies' &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.triggerpointbook.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trigger Point Therapy Workbook&lt;/a&gt;, within a couple weeks I could usually get my hands to the right position on a bar, although it took a couple months to be able to consistently do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-22T01:05:15.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8158" CreationDate="2012-09-22T01:07:49.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had that pain, same spot you describe. Went to the doctor's several times, they didn't know anything, suggested I go to emerg the next time I got it, so I did. They didn't have a clue either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best guess is food stuck in the small intestine, as that's around where it has to go around a bend, and I don't experience it when I'm focusing on eating a lot of fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-22T01:07:49.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6684" CreationDate="2012-09-22T06:58:10.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds to me like your body doesn't cope with having food in the stomach while exercising.  Are you able to exercise without feeling nauseous at any time other than pre-breakfast?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often do you train and feel nauseous?  What I would suggest is to eat your lunch regularly at say 12 PM, then go do exercise at a regular time a while after lunch, like 5 PM.  Start off with very light exercise, e.g. a walk.  Increase the intensity gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a lot of &quot;incorrect&quot; body reactions, like throwing up after exercise (or blacking out with free diving... for any free divers out there), it's important to not let it happen so that your body doesn't get into that habit.  That's why I think increasing pace slowly, so that you feel minimal nausea, should gradually solve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try to make sure that your meal before you exercise is something simple and easy to digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, maybe try a sport that isn't so nausea-inducing.  Hard cardio in the sun definitely brings on nausea.  Swimming tends to have lower levels of nausea, probably because you have coolant all around you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastActivityDate="2012-09-22T06:58:10.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-22T18:15:15.380" Score="2" ViewCount="13408" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there free alternatives for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/womens-training/apps/nike-training-club&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nike Training Club&lt;/a&gt;, which run on a windows or linux pc or just online via web-browser?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;List of features, from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nike-training-club/id301521403?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iTunes App Store description&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Full-body workouts for 30 or 45 minutes. Targeted and professional athlete workouts for 15 minutes. Set a favorite workout as your Quick-Start.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;130 multi-dimensional, multi-directional drills build on the fundamentals of strength, cardio, interval and core training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Exclusive rewards including workouts from Rihanna’s personal trainer, professional athletes, celebrities, yoga instructors and more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Simple functionality optimizes every workout. Select your goal and fitness level, then choose from a list of workouts that meet your criteria.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Set your workout to albums and playlists from your own music library.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Audio guidance keeps you on track and motivated while working out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Access step-by-step instructions and video demonstrations for every drill at any time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Track details of your workout history and training progress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Share your workout and reward status on Facebook and Twitter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-23T12:53:37.433" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T16:19:36.133" Title="Free alternatives to nike training club for windows or linux pc" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8169" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-22T20:12:11.113" Score="4" ViewCount="1359" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 20 year old, 5ft8 (1.72m) and weight about 120lbs (54kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently joined the gym and plan to add muscle (like most people). I'm completely new to this and I have been browsing for research to see which would work the best for me. For example, I have read about GOMAD and other things about my diet and how I should increase my calorie uptake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mainly need help on what I should be doing at the gym to improve, I plan to alternate so go on Monday, Tuesday etc for a 2 hours or so. What exercises should I do and how often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is greatly appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also say that I have a fast metabolism and also want to mention I don't want to do the GOMAD as too milk has some nasty-side effects so probably 1/4 GOMAD? So that is why I'm deciding for a protein from other sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4310" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-09-26T15:06:51.743" LastActivityDate="2013-03-02T15:42:15.070" Title="Help to add muscle for a skinny guy with fast metabolism" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8169" CreationDate="2012-09-22T20:34:31.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; might help, as might the &quot;Female Hardgainer&quot; section of &lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/2012/09/11/dhea-episode-149/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the latest Paleo Solution podcast&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If milk has nasty side effects (for you? for everyone?), then don't drink it. Eat plenty of other food instead. Milk is awesome, but it's not going to do the work for you. Neither will supplements like whey or whey-plus-carb powders. Focus on eating tremendously, then start worrying about supplements. At the moment it's not clear what problem the supplement will be solving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-09-22T20:34:31.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8169" CreationDate="2012-09-22T20:43:10.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are eating normally (and healthy), you don't need supplements. Protein is not a magic muscle gainer, workouts are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The main belief behind the large quantities of dietary protein consumption in resistance-trained athletes is that it is needed to generate more muscle protein. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein RDA is 0.8g/kg/day, this covers about 99% of the populations protein needs. More than 2g/kg/day is unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle mass and strength&#xA;  can be gained on a wide range of protein intakes, from as&#xA;  little as the RDA up to very large amounts. There is little&#xA;  support for the necessity of very high amounts, e.g. &gt;2 g&#xA;  protein/kg body mass per d, for optimal muscle hyper-trophy during energy balance or excess. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=8259516&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The excess protein will either just go to waste (expensive waste that is), be stored as fat or even damage your internals (not very likely, but if you have some undiscovered liver or kidney condition it could happen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am personally not a Gym-goer but people on fitness.SE tend to recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; program, and from what I read it sounds quite good to do. You should talk to the trainers in your gym, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-22T20:43:10.620" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2012-09-23T01:53:13.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did knuckle pushups as my only pushup for many years, close to thirty. Not every day, but at least 50 pushups three maybe four days out of the week. I've also done them virtually every time on soft surfaces. I've experienced no ill effects. But then I'm an IT professional and maybe that daily keyboarding has balanced things out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently just for the variation I've started including deficit open-palm pushups in my routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4311" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T01:53:13.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-23T05:10:47.393" Score="1" ViewCount="834" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently on the 5x5 program with the goal to get stronger. I understand that in order to  achieve this goal one must consume a surplus of calories in order to actually gain the muscle. I am 5 foot 7 and weigh 160lbs, so my caloric needs to gain weight and ultimately muscle is about 2800 calories a day. Also required in order to gain muscle is protein. From my understanding a person should consume about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. For me that would be about 160 grams of protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have not done the calculation yet, but I'm fairly certain that i can reach 160 grams of protein while still consuming my maintenance amount of calories which is 2300. My question is,  can i get stronger while only getting my target amount of protein without my surplus in calories? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T13:06:26.273" Title="grams of protein vs calorie intake" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8173" CreationDate="2012-09-23T08:36:37.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already posted it as an &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8171/3941&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; on another question. The high protein needs are a myth to sell shakes. Well actually they are no myths but old research that is obsolete now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle mass and strength can be gained on a wide range of protein intakes, from as little as the RDA up to very large amounts. There is little support for the necessity of very high amounts, e.g. &gt;2 g protein/kg body mass per d, for optimal muscle hyper-trophy during energy balance or excess. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=8259516&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you need more protein than before, but even though you are probably extremely proud of your achievements, doing 5x5 still doesn't make you a professional athlete and keeps your needs well below the 2g/kg/day mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, you will probably burn more calories, it does not make a huge difference through which means you consume them, although I personally would recommend carbohydrates before exercise (or during prolonged cardio exercise). Always keep in mind that calories are a rough measurement at best.&#xA;If you consume less than your body needs, it will collect the energy from other sources, first of fat but at some point from the muscle mass itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much your body really needs is hard to measure or estimate, instead of making calorie calculators the main guideline. I'd recommend listening to your body, when you are hungry: eat.&#xA;(granted you are not suffering from an eating disorder, have general weight problem or something comparable, of course)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T08:36:37.930" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8173" CreationDate="2012-09-23T13:06:26.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do understand that the 1g per pound total body weight is a rough guideline.  It will give you more than your body's daily protein requirements.  The excess is burned as energy.  As a rough guideline:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a serving size of meat (beef, pork, chicken, fish) about the size of your closed fist contains roughly 20g of protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a serving size of meet about the size of your open hand contains roughly 40g of protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are a big guy trying to lose weight, hitting your dietary protein requirements without breaking your calorie limits for the day is quite easy to do with real food.  Protein shakes come to play when you need to increase your protein while still trying to stay below a Calorie limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are four things your muscles need to grow and get stronger:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work&lt;/strong&gt;: if you don't push yourself your body will never realize it needs to get stronger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt;: the actual building happens when the muscle is in a relative state of rest.  In fact sleep is when a lot of your strength gains actually happen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;: Obviously, to create the protein pairs that help with contraction the body needs it's essential amino acids which come from various sources of protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Energy&lt;/strong&gt;: Without sufficient energy to synthesize the proteins necessary for strength, the body won't be as efficient and you will have harder times getting stronger and keeping up with the program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-23T13:06:26.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8199" CreationDate="2012-09-23T13:21:13.087" Score="6" ViewCount="2317" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well the question title pretty much says it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While browsing the web for dumbbells I stumbled over the supposedly cheaper 30mm bars and the 50mm bars that all seem to be ball beared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the purpose of the ball bearings in the bars and when should consider buying these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T16:35:00.993" Title="What are the ball bearings in dumbbells and barbells for?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8176" CreationDate="2012-09-24T00:14:51.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From some of the videos I've seen, you want dumbbells that have the weight free from the handle that you hold onto for certain lifts, like the snatch.  This allows you to throw the weight and not have to spin the bar in your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T00:14:51.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7168" CreationDate="2012-09-24T01:25:18.937" Score="14" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The basics of getting abs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs come from low body fat and large core muscles.  Ultimately weight doesn't matter, though checking your weight can help with achieving the low body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get abs, you need to first need to cut enough fat that your muscle tone becomes visible.  This is best achieved through the combination of healthy, disciplined, and goal-focused eating (I don't like the term diet - it connotes a temporary habit) and cardio.  Along with that you need to &lt;strong&gt;build up&lt;/strong&gt; your core muscles.  I stress &lt;strong&gt;build up&lt;/strong&gt;, as if you don't have large core muscles, you will never have abs even if you have zero fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tip for getting good health and fitness - don't bother chasing after &amp;quot;special&amp;quot; foods or exercises.  You won't get six pack abs without sweating hard and eating healthy - if you do somehow, then you'll still have your poor cardiovascular health to sort out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should cut fat and build muscle at the same time as there's no point going from excess fat -&amp;gt; scrawny -&amp;gt; cut like a rock when you can go from excess fat -&amp;gt; cut like a rock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 1: Cut body fat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To achieve this, the most important thing is to burn more calories than you eat.  So of course this needs a two-pronged strategy of eating well and burning calories.  You also need to make sure that your calories are consumed in healthy forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To eat well, first cut out all the bad stuff like fast food, sweets, and other calorie-intense meals (e.g. lasagna, big portions of trashy carbs like white rice, etc.).  These foods make you feel worse anyway.  Try be quite radical with this bit, none of these foods should be eaten regularly if you really want to lose fat.  Now add in all the good stuff (lots of veg and fruit, good carbs like oats and wholegrain rice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you've done that, you need to watch your calories.  Try keep track of them in a simple manner and do a bit of read up on calorific content of different foods.  You could be quite surprised.  Also get used to reading the nutritional information on packets.  I'm not a fan of fully detailed calorie tracking, as I don't think it's sustainable unless you're OCD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the cardio bit, you want to be doing some good cardio exercise every second day for a substantial period of time.  Aim for an hour at least.  Find out what your thing is, whether it be running, swimming, or cycling.  If you find exercising on your own difficult, maybe do a team sport or get a group of people to exercise together with.  Make sure it's a group of people who are keen otherwise they'll just drag you down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This step is challenging, as eating calories is surprisingly easy and burning calories is surprisingly hard.  Have a look at some calorie websites to get an idea, and get some people or even professionals to support you in this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 2: Build muscle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should be done through exercises that get all your body, and some core-focused exercises.  It's not good to just build a single muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by getting good at an endurance level of repetitions (20+), then move to more strength and muscle growth repetitions (10 very hard repetitions).  A common error is to do huge numbers of reps - this will do little to build muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic sit ups are are a great start, do three sets every second day.  Here's some more ab-focused workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Twisted sit ups&lt;/strong&gt; - twist your torso 90 degrees one way as you reach the top.  These are great for your obliques.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifted leg sit ups&lt;/strong&gt; - lift your legs up so that your shins are floating parallel to the floor, and thigh is perpendicular to the floor.  You can get quite creative/masochistic with this one - stretch the legs out horizontally but not touching the ground, then all the way vertically, etc.  It's fun!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medicine ball sit ups&lt;/strong&gt; - hold it above/away from your head, sit up and throw it against a wall and catch it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Big V sit ups&lt;/strong&gt; - whole body is straight, then your body goes up like a V pivoting at your waist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Floating flutter kick&lt;/strong&gt; - lying on your back, legs out horizontally but not touching the ground, kick your legs like you're swimming with knees straight.  Do this for 3 sets, as long as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt; - start without weights, then add weights once your style is good.  Great for core strength and stability.  See here for a great guide to proper technique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gym machines&lt;/strong&gt; - there are a handful of core-burning gym machines, they usually focus on a sit up movement but add weights.  These can be very effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First get your reps up to maybe 50+ in a set for easy sit ups, then start doing more challenging ones, like the big V, where you can only do 10 reps.  The medicine ball is great, as you can just get a bigger medicine ball when it's too easy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is very important at this stage.  Once you've reached a low body fat, your calories eaten should equal your calories burnt.  You now need to make sure you have a good intake of protein.  Your mindset needs to move from slimming to bulking up with muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Swimming is brilliant for abs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All those sit up exercises came from my years on the swim team in high school.  We took it quite far, including some sets of 1000 sit ups.  This isn't necessary for nice abs!  Back in those days I had a good set of abs, including the Vs of the obliques.  My abs are still evident now, and I don't do heaps of exercise - I just have avoided getting fat, and make sure to fit in some exercise when I can.  I'm blessed with a high metabolism, but with correct eating and exercise anyone can achieve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimmers need rock solid core muscles, as that's what enables our legs to move relative to our torso.  Here's a few places where core muscles are vital:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dolphin kicks off the wall for most strokes.  These are powerful, double-legged thrust-like kicks underwater.  Your core muscles basically need to move your legs back and forth as hard as they can and as quick as they can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dolphin kicks while doing fly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Controlling rotation for freestyle and back stroke.  With both these strokes, you rotate your torso as much as 90 degrees to enable you to get the maximum pull.  Your core needs to control this rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with core-focused muscle work, swimming burns a good deal of calories, and also works all the other major muscle groups in the body, particularly shoulders.  It's also a great sport because of the lack of physical impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't forget the rest of your muscles!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only do sit ups, you'll end up with a fairly hunched over physique.  Make sure you work your back just as much, and while you're doing that, just work the rest of your body.  May as well get your whole body in good shape!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Measuring fat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a few approaches, from best to worst (and probably least accessible to most accessible):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-energy_X-ray_absorptiometry&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;DEXA scan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - this is a type of X-ray, so you need to go to some form of medical practitioner for this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Underwater weighing&lt;/strong&gt; - this works off body density (fat floats), though this will make someone with dense bones and muscle appear to have less body fat than they really do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skin callipers&lt;/strong&gt; - these are big pincer things that measure the thickness of your skin.  With measurements taken in certain areas (at least 5), along with height and weight, you can calculate your body fat using a guide.  There's an art to measuring the skin correctly, so it may be best to go to a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Electronic scales&lt;/strong&gt; - these often have a nifty way of measuring your body fat, probably by sending electrical signals through your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never really got into measuring body fat, I've only had it measured 2-3 times my whole life.  Usually you can just look in the mirror and tell how you're going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found the calculation to be unhelpful.  I was measured at roughly 11%, but I had virtually no fat.  All the calculations are indirect approximations, correctly calculating might require you to be dead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though as pointed out by Moses/JohnP, they are usually off by a fixed amount, so you'll still be able to track your progress to some degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-06-19T03:45:06.427" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8184" CreationDate="2012-09-24T03:11:14.537" Score="4" ViewCount="233676" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently noticed that in my gym they have two different sizes of barbells. The difference between them is only in length, but not in diameter. the reason why I'm mentioning that is because I was doing some research and found out that standard bars, which usually weigh about 35 pounds, have a smaller diameter, but These shorter bars have the same 2&quot; diameter as the longer bars, so do they also weigh 45 pounds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T08:29:44.413" Title="How much do empty barbells weigh?" Tags="&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8189" CreationDate="2012-09-24T03:42:00.220" Score="6" ViewCount="3318" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw someone else doing this and I tried it and have liked the results.  I start by doing a half dozen reps on the heaviest weight I can handle, then without resting more that the time it takes to change weights, I do as many reps as I can on a lighter weight and continue down doing as many reps as I can with each lighter weight.  I go all the way down to a very light weight where I am doing lots of reps.  For example, I might start with bicep curls with 45 lb dumb bells, then 35, 25 and finally end with lots (40+) reps with 15 lbs.  I've been doing this for a couple of months and have noticed more muscle bulk and my highest weights have increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am relatively new at doing weightlifting and my goal is for more muscle bulk and increased strength. I'm 63, 6'1&quot;, 220; I've done cardio and strength training for a year and a half so I had some bulk and some strength gain before I tried this new technique, but I had hit a plateau and this new routine broke through that plateau for sure. For example on a chest press machine I had gone from doing about 100 lbs to plateauing at about 140 lbs before the new routine and now I can do 180 lbs 2 months later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, is the an effective way to achieve my goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3943" LastEditorUserId="3943" LastEditDate="2012-09-24T05:26:50.783" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T13:50:26.690" Title="Are multiple sets with decreasing weight and no rest between them a good idea?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8182" CreationDate="2012-09-24T04:14:30.300" Score="4" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of recommendations to do the reps slowly - like with 2 seconds + 2 seconds, also some machines have rep timers of 2 seconds + 4 seconds.  But if you are targeting fast twitch muscle for strength and bulk, why wouldn't you do the reps quickly to fatigue the fast twitch muscle fibers? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3943" LastEditorUserId="3943" LastEditDate="2012-09-24T05:32:35.443" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T05:47:05.013" Title="To increase strength why wouldn't anaerobic reps be done as quickly as possible to fatigue the fast twitch muscle fibers?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2012-09-24T05:47:05.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do want to be doing the reps as quickly as possible, but if as quickly as possible is half a second for the positive and negative phases, you need to be lifting heavier weights. I wouldn't worry too much about the exact time, but if you're lifting heavy weights that will promote strength gain, you probably are looking at around 2 seconds up and down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, fast twitch is a bit of a misnomer. It's better to think of the fibers in terms of slow recovery and fast recovery, because there at least the way they're described accurately reflects how they behave. The 'fast twitch' muscle fibers are the ones most important for strength, but you're not necessarily 'twitching in a speedy fashion'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T05:47:05.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8179" CreationDate="2012-09-24T10:31:01.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbell&lt;/a&gt; - describing the various lengths and weights of barbells.  Unless you're in the Olympics or some sanctioned weight/power lifting meet - the barbell's actual weight could vary slightly based on manufacturer, collars used, etc.  The typical olymic bar is 45lbs and standard/universal 20lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T10:31:01.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8179" CreationDate="2012-09-24T11:05:24.573" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Olympic Bars&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The IPF (International Powerlifting Federation) and the IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) have set forth standards for what a barbell has to be for use in competition.  These standards are largely compatible, so most manufacturers will manufacture for those standards:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Men's bar: 20kg (~45lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women's bar: 15kg (~35lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Junior's bar: 10kg (~25lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the bar is specified in kg, but it is close enough to the weight I listed in pounds that we use that number when loading the bar with plates in imperial measurements.  NOTE: some manufacturers of cheaper Olympic style bars don't follow the standards, and sell a 35lb bar as a men's bar.  Check your reviews if you are ordering from the major consumer fitness chains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three official bars use the same standard sleeve size, meaning the plates are interchangeable for all three bars.  The Junior's bar is a little shorter than the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main differences between a powerlifting bar and a weightlifting bar are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knurl spacing.  The differences are for official snatch grip width vs. official bench press width.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bearings vs. bushings in the collars.  Both collars spin, but needle bearings allow a better spin so it is easier to use in Olympic weightlifting movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thickness.  The thicker the stiffer, and powerlifters like a bit stiffer than Olympic lifters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standard Bars&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standard bars were never meant to be used in competition, so they have much more variances.  They are commonly 20lbs, have no spin, and many don't even have knurling.  However, even the weight listed here might not be true for all standard bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, weigh the bar on a scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T11:05:24.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8180" CreationDate="2012-09-24T12:41:06.283" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll find that there are several options for programming (the combination and scheduling of exercises, sets, and reps that you do), and they all accomplish a set goal.  Many successful programming incorporate the concept of As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP), which only differs from going to failure by saving a rep in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High volume assistance work like curls, leg presses, etc. is very beneficial for muscle size and joint health.  Paul Carter suggests 5 sets of 8-12 for upper body assistance lifts or 5 sets of 12-15 for lower body assistance lifts.  But he also has a program which has you going to failure, trying to beat your last week's number, and then following it with trying to get half the reps going to failure again.  The high rep assistance work gets blood flowing through the joints and strengthens your tendons which helps remedy inflammation and prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another common approach is the pyramid approach which is something similar to what you described.  You work up to a top set, and then back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some food for thought distilled from books from Jim Wendler, Paul Carter, and Mark Rippetoe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength sets require some serious effort, so rest as long as you need&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigue adds difficulty, so do try to keep the rest as short as you can handle--particularly on assistance work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A complete program will address strength, hypertrophy (size), conditioning and mobility.  Neglect nothing, but emphasize what you want to focus on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High reps are good for size, endurance, and joint health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps curls help prevent tendinitis in the elbow (for all you bench happy people)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Performing assistance as a circuit can help alleviate boredom and get through the training session quicker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that size is a result of the volume of work you put your muscles through.  You should aim to get stronger, so that you have the ability to increase your volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume is weight x reps x sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing just 5lbs in the weight can have a marked increase in total volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a plan, execute the plan, and leave.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evaluate after you have done your plan a couple times to see if it needs adjustments.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T12:41:06.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8179" CreationDate="2012-09-24T13:43:49.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never trust a barbell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gym owner will swear it's 45 pounds. It ain't. Your workout partner will swear he weighed it last year and it's 25 pounds. It ain't. There are a lot of different bars, whether Olympic, standard, curl or whatever, and they're being built to different weights. When it comes to precision, different brands have different standards. A bar being used for Olympic competition in the snatch is going to be a lot closer to its stated weight than a beater bar used in the gym. (It's manufactured to tighter tolerances.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to know how much a barbell weighs is to weigh it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T13:43:49.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8168" CreationDate="2012-09-24T16:19:36.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With free alternatives, you aren't going to come across too many that can rival a Nike premium app. In reality, you would probably need to use a combination of one or more different apps to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted randomly generated circuit training or workout routines, try: &lt;a href=&quot;http://sworkit.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sworkit.com&lt;/a&gt;. It randomly generates workouts based off of your desired program level, and provides guides on doing each exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already have a program in mind and wanted to track your progress/history, search for that specific program in the Play/App Store. When I did StrongLifts I found at least 5 suitable free apps to use for monitoring my progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking more for the social aspect of working out, try &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitocracy.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fitocracy.com&lt;/a&gt;. It turns fitness into a game of &quot;leveling up&quot; where you can compete and play with your friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T16:19:36.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8180" CreationDate="2012-09-24T16:59:41.143" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This process of lifting a heavy weight several times, then immediately doing the same exercise with lower weight for many reps, is called strip or drop sets. (They go by some other names, listed &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_set&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.) It is primarily a bodybuilding method, since they are geared towards training a muscle group to failure for the purpose of increasing muscle size instead of strength or power. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dropsets.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com puts it&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilders are unique among athletes because they're concerned purely with cosmetic improvements and not athletic performance. That's why bodybuilders prefer drop sets - because they're decidedly geared towards increasing muscle size (hypertrophy). By contrast, you don't see a lot of football players, sprinters or other athletes using drop sets, because drop sets are not conducive to strength, power or speed gains. In fact, most athletes want strength and power without bulk, so drop sets are usually nixed. However, if pure mass is what you're after, then drop sets are ideal!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, they certainly can produce strength gain. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5446/1771&quot;&gt;Nearly any exercise can&lt;/a&gt;. If someone is sufficiently unadapted to exercise, something as simple as walking can produce massive strength increases. Does that mean walking is optimal strength training? Maybe for them (or maybe not), but not for most people. It may be effective for a limited time in a portion of the population, but it is not a maximally efficient use of time or energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance: push-ups are less efficient for increasing strength than gymnastics exercises or bench press, but if someone using just push-ups is dedicated, they can get very big and very strong. That doesn't mean push-ups are best for someone looking for strength and size, but it doesn't mean it won't work. (NB: a sub-optimal strength or hypertrophy program adhered to diligently, is superior to an optimal program executed with poor adherence, or with insufficient rest or nutrition.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One specific variant of drop sets that might be optimal for you is low-rep drop sets (ibid):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was a favorite method of Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia. Scott used this technique to develop monstrous deltoids and arms, even on a less than genetically optimal frame. Larry believed that heavy weight and low reps (six reps) were the best way to develop size and strength concurrently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This rep range allows you to use heavier weights, which can help maintain your strength levels and thicken up those muscle fibers without much of a pumping effect. Begin with a six rep max, then drop the weight by about ten to fifteen percent with each drop. Repeat with the lighter weight for six more reps for the desired number of drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is size and strength both, and you like this method (with high reps or low), keep at it. I suspect that your strength increases will taper off fairly quickly, since drop sets rely more on strength-endurance than strength. But even at the point when strength gains decrease, you'll still probably be getting bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One caveat that I would agree with, as I am wary of consistently high-intensity programming  for most people (ibid):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use Drop Sets Sparingly As A High Intensity Method&lt;/strong&gt;. Drop sets are intense and they require caution and common sense. If you used them all the time, you would quickly burn out and overtrain. One great way to use drop sets is the 3:1 method: you perform three straight sets of an exercise, followed by one drop set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T13:50:26.690" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7168" CreationDate="2012-09-24T18:50:31.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard advice, &quot;&lt;em&gt;Abs are made in the kitchen&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, is bogus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you really want ABS&lt;/strong&gt;?  Abs that will show even when you are 12 -14% BF? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, you need to build them up. Make them grow so that even if you are not losing body fat, they still become more visible (this is the smart way to do it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this to happen, you need to lift like an athlete (using powerlifting and bodybuilding methods).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your core lifts should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Presses (overhead, bench, and pushups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chinups/pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They should be done heavy (1-5 reps for anywhere from 5 -20 sets) 80% of the time and the other 20%, go for reps (6 -15 for 3-6 sets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To hit your abs further, you should do anti-rotation exercises like 1 Arm row, Turkish Get Up, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gPMaIWtEfQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wide stance chop&lt;/a&gt;, Ab rollouts, Pikes, RKC Planks, and other hard &quot;isolation&quot; movements. Once again, reps should be anywhere from 5 - 15. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing endless crunches and other ab exercises, you are not building your abs for growth. You are building them for endurance (which means they may be even getting smaller!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other Considerations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no &quot;fat loss foods&quot; or foods that by themselves will ruin your abs. What matters most here is total caloric intake. Eat at maintenance or a little less and your abs will shine through if you lift hard. If you follow a Whole Foods approach, you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifestyle&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress will make fat stick to your stomach, even when you are losing weight. So if you got emotional/psychological stress, learn some techniques to help you calm down (like meditation). Other stress includes not getting enough sleep (you are fine) and doing too much running. &quot;Chronic cardio&quot; is counter productive and must be done away with if you want a 6 pack. Instead, all cardio sessions should be short and sweet. For this, do sprints and HIIT. 20 -30 min for twice a week should be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck, bro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2396" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-09-24T20:21:05.563" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T20:21:05.563" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8169" CreationDate="2012-09-24T19:06:37.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your most important equation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;       Stimulus + Recovery (sleep and nutrients) = Adaptation&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you wish to adapt to become a bigger version of yourself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1a)&lt;/strong&gt; Lift more then you are doing now. Often this entails lifting HEAVIER weight or more REPS and SETS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1b)&lt;/strong&gt; Pick challenging full body exercises: Squats, deadlifts, overhead pressing, chinups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2a)&lt;/strong&gt; Make sure you recover from these lifting sessions. Going 3x a week will be enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2b)&lt;/strong&gt; Sleep [on average] 8 hours a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2c)&lt;/strong&gt; Eat a ton of calorie dense foods (see: Fatty foods like nuts, avocados, coconut oil straight from the tub) to help you meet your needs. If you cannot achieve a caloric surplus, then you will not have the necessary raw materials to turn the muscle damage (from your sessions) into muscle growth / weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow these and you will, no doubt, see progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2396" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-09-24T20:19:03.257" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T20:19:03.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-24T20:21:59.000" Score="2" ViewCount="5858" Body="&lt;p&gt;What accessory work is there for the 5 lifts (squat, bench press, over head press, bent over row, and dead lift), and when should one start to consider adding these extra items to their workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T16:09:39.510" Title="Accessory work with Strong Lifts?" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8193" CreationDate="2012-09-24T20:53:19.930" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Officially, all accessory workouts have been removed from the StrongLifts program because people were getting too strung up over them. Accessory workouts are supplemental--they should only serve to assist with your individual goals. However, people were falling into the &quot;more is better&quot; trap and adding all of the accessory workouts into their routine (to their own detriment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When should one start to consider adding these extra items to their workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is highly individualized, and thus the answer will vary greatly from person to person. Generally speaking, you add in accessory exercises to your routine in the following situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are struggling with an exercise and want to focus on and improve on it (i.e. add 30 lbs to press).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are specific areas of your body that are in pain or are having trouble (i.e. bad back, acl, rotator cuff).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What accessory work is there for the 5 lifts (squat, bench press, over head press, bent over row, and dead lift)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This depends on what you are trying to accomplish and which category you fall into (physical therapy or strength building). There is a staggering amount of supplemental exercises available to you that assist with those 5 lifts, and even more when you are talking about physical therapy assistance. To keep it simple, I will just include the 5 that were originally included in the StrongLifts program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prone Bridges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-09-24T20:53:19.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-25T07:31:18.093" Score="9" ViewCount="560" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been weight training for 18 months, and in the past few months have started to get lower back pain. I particularly feel it when I wake up in the morning. Nothing too serious or painful but I can certainly feel it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started to do a number of lower back stretches, particularly first thing in the morning, which definitely relieves the pain, but doesn't eliminate it. At gym I do hyper-extensions which also help a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I be doing any specific weighted back exercises (deadlifts,good-mornings, weighted hyper-extensions) or will that simply increase the pain and be counter-productive?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else could / should I be doing so that I don't increase the pain and rather find a way to alleviate it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4127" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T14:10:53.463" Title="Lower back pain relief" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8169" CreationDate="2012-09-25T09:24:21.743" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Follow the &quot;Starting strength&quot; routine by Mark Rippetoe and you are on your way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will outline several reasons why I think it it will be a good routine for you :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is a good routine for a beginner. It educates most beginners on following compound exercises and makes them strong overall. Since there are very few exercises your form on these exercises improves quickly and you master them as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is a good mass builder for a skinny guy as it has a lot of rest periods involved. By exercising only 3 days a week you get ample rest periods. For eg. if you are skinny and you are exercising 6 days a week you might be left with very little calories to build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It builds overall strength which can then be migrated to other movements. Consider this case where you bench press with 100 pounds, dumbell press with 30 pounds, and do Flys with 25 pounds. By doing so many movements you are very unlikely to increase take up all these pressing movements to say 200 pounds in 6 months. By incremental adaptation as in strating strength you might as well achieve this. For eg. If you can Bench Press 200 pounds it is easy to a dumbell press with 150 Pounds or even 200 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell I feel, that if you follow Starting strength it leaves you with sufficient energy to build muscle and get stronger. Doing multiple Isolation movements and spending hours in a Gym isn't particularly good for a skinny guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="1796" LastEditDate="2012-09-26T05:53:35.367" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T05:53:35.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8197" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8198" CreationDate="2012-09-25T15:29:14.867" Score="15" ViewCount="2961" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that exercises like squats and bench press work a number of muscle groups. I really have limited time at the gym, and I'm trying to build an exercise routine that is as efficient as possible. What are the most efficient exercises that target the majority of muscle groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4326" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2012-09-25T18:18:47.503" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T00:25:58.907" Title="What are the most efficient exercises for balanced workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8197" CreationDate="2012-09-25T16:06:22.913" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a fan of the following progression(1), which is the simplest I've seen that hits all the major movements (press, pull, squat, hinge). The beauty of the workout is that each exercise warms up the next one. It goes like so, adding weight to the bar both between and within each step:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean and press the bar. (You can front squat it--before or after the press--as a warm-up for the next step, if you like.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it's too heavy to press, clean and front squat it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it's too heavy to clean, deadlift it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit the chin-up bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between 2 and 3, you could add a few squats from a rack if your squat is much stronger than your clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last time I did this, I power clean and pressed 45 pounds as a warm-up, then 95, then  120 or so. Then I power clean and front squatted 145 or so, then 200 or so. Then I deadlifted in the 300s before doing three sets of chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get the &quot;major movements&quot; from an amalgam of the work of Mark Rippetoe and Dan John, the latter of whom might recommend adding a farmer's walk finisher to the end of the workout. (He sees carries as another fundamental movement.) I figure that squatting, deadlifting, pressing, and chinning covers all the basics of lifting. The rest of human movement (or &quot;targeting&quot; other &quot;muscle groups&quot;) can come from sports or running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of muscles worked, which I think is a red herring in this endeavor, you're hitting everything. Squats work almost everything in your body, as do deadlifts, and anything they miss, the presses and chins should get. As far as I know, these exercises require the broadest swath of our body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1 - On second thought, this may be more explicitly cribbed from Dan John's book with Pavel  than I initially recalled. Will have to check.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-09-25T18:48:55.153" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T18:48:55.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8176" CreationDate="2012-09-25T16:35:00.993" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ball bearings allow the weights to rotate without the bar in your hand needing to rotate. As you move a weight in most exercises, unless you have amazing form, some amount of rotational energy will be transfered to the weight. This is true in Olympic lifts even if you have perfect form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the weight was not allowed to move freely, you would need to counteract that rotational energy in order to keep your grip on the bar. So instead of the bar rotating in your hand, a bar with ball bearings allows the weight to move and the bar to remain still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T16:35:00.993" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8197" CreationDate="2012-09-25T19:13:30.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a routine I can finish within 5 minutes + time spent waiting for the squat rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've usually done the following order, Squat &gt; Overhead Press &gt; Deadlift &gt; Chin Ups, but other orders could work as well. The squat and deadlift by themselves already target the majority of muscles, the overhead press and chin ups have a lot of overlap but use the muscles differently (there's a good mix of pulling and pushing with those 4).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do 1 work set of 5 reps, where 5 reps is usually the max I can handle at that weight (going up 5lbs per week initially for the press, 10lbs for the squat, 15lbs for the deadlift, and as many reps as possible in one set for chin ups), with each work set preceded by 1, and occasionally 2 warmup sets of 5 with ~40%-60% of my work weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had quite good results with just that, and I don't think it gets more efficient than 5 minutes, once per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T19:13:30.493" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8197" CreationDate="2012-09-25T21:05:52.803" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are really only 2 movements: &lt;em&gt;PUSH&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;PULL&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two movements are then broken down into mostly 2 different planes: &lt;em&gt;Vertical&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Horizontal&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPPER BODY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vertical push: Overhead press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vertical pull: Chinup/pullup&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horizontal push: Bench press or pushup&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horizontal pull: Rows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LOWER BODY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vertical push: Squat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vertical pull: Deadlift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do all these movements, you will no stone unturned. What is best (and most efficient) is to do antagonistic pairing (ie opposing movements in the same plane). If you are really short on time, do tri sets with a lower body exercise (squats or deadlifts) thrown in there as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; A1) Squat (--Lower front)&#xA; A2) BB overhead press (--Upper front)&#xA; A3) Chinup (--Upper back)&#xA;&#xA; B1) Deadlift (--Lower Back)&#xA; B2) Pushup (--Upper front)&#xA; B3) 1 arm DB row (--upper back)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2396" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T21:05:52.803" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8195" CreationDate="2012-09-25T21:26:56.950" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely your back doesn't hurt because it's weak, &lt;strong&gt;it hurts because it is overused&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Why is it overused?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a lot of chronic cases (which seems to be your case as well), our back - which main function is stability - has to cover for joints that are not doing their job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The joints I speak of are the one below (our hips) and the one above (thoracic spine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hips and t-spine have the primary role of mobility but when we sit all day and have poor computer posture (&lt;em&gt;did you just straighten up&lt;/em&gt;?), they become stiff and tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, they become too tight to perform their role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens, our back jumps in and says &quot;&lt;em&gt;I can do it&lt;/em&gt;!&quot;, but really, it can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence, the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So conclusion? Stop stretching your back and start doing mobility exercises for the joints that need to be mobile. I wrote a program for that exact problem &lt;a href=&quot;http://leviclampitt.com/2012/01/19/the-most-important-thing-you-are-not-doing-atleast-not-correctly/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HERE&lt;/a&gt; (warning: it's my website) or you can just find some mobility exercises online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2396" LastActivityDate="2012-09-25T21:26:56.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8195" CreationDate="2012-09-26T00:56:03.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact your back is stiff and painful in the morning suggests inflammation as this builds as we sleep for a number of reasons. &#xA;Combined with the fact you find extension of the back releaving and have most probably been compressing your lower back when weight training, I would suggest it is most likely an annular strain or tear of your intervertebral disc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest seeing a manual therapist for advice. In the mean time, use ice to calm the inflammation. Knee hugs and traction by hanging from a chin up bar and reduce the weights for a period of 2weeks for it to settle. &#xA;You then should concentrate on building the strength of your core muscles before lifting heavy weights to prevent it from worsening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4331" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T00:56:03.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8195" CreationDate="2012-09-26T09:48:38.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As this is a health question you should not rely on diagnoses given through the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go see a professional&lt;/strong&gt;, that means someone who studied this stuff, a Sports Medicine Doctor or at least a general physician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chiropractors, Manual Therapists, Gym Trainers, you never know how experienced they are, what they base their knowledge on, and if they got their certificate on a weekend course or if they worked a year for that. (This of course differs from country to country, too)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the hearsay I overheard when at my physiotherapist, I would guess that your base core muscles are too weak to support you. You can check this with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=wS-oq6EPiPU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;planks and side planks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My next guess would be, that you have overstressed your joints. Your muscles and tendons adapt to new motions and exercises a lot faster than your bones and joints do, you could have permanently wrecked your cartilage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, what do I know, I can scare the heck out of you or give you advice that wont help your problem, so please:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go see a professional&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T09:48:38.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8195" CreationDate="2012-09-26T13:02:42.420" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for providing the information about your workout.  I agree with @Informaficker that the best way to deal with a back problem is to seek  professional expertise.  Lots of people have back pain and lots have advice about what worked for them.  However, all back pain is not alike and there are many contributing factors, so treat your condition as unique. Most likely, at this point, adding weighted exercises on your own could be counter-productive. Here are my suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1) Find a Good Trainer:&lt;/strong&gt; Have a pro check out your form.  Improper form can lead to pain and dysfunction.  Incorrect form over time can cause progressively unbalanced compressive forces on your joints or can cause an acute injury.  So find a professional trainer who can correct any mis-alignments and problems in your form when you are weight lifting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples of Poor Form that can cause Back Pain:&lt;/strong&gt; There are some generalizations that can be made about weight lifting contributing to back pain.  Improper form in &lt;strong&gt;the squat&lt;/strong&gt; such as leaning too far forward can load the spine and cause back pain.   In the &lt;strong&gt;standing shoulder press&lt;/strong&gt;, an example of poor form that can stress the back would be holding the bar too far back causing arching of the back.  Taking video of your form helps you analyze any potential problem areas and can help you to correct your form.  Sometimes it is much easier to see a fault rather than to feel it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2) Find a Good Health Practitioner/Therapist:&lt;/strong&gt; Since you currently have back pain that you are unable to eliminate, it is time to see a professional to evaluate the cause(s), treat any offending tissues (joints, muscles, fascia) and instruct you in specific exercises (stretching and strengthening) to correct imbalances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Palpation, postural and movement analysis, and an assessment of your range of motion will tell if you have joint,  muscle and/or fascial restrictions.  You will likely be given flexibility exercises to address any restrictions of the trunk, chest, hips and lower extremities. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Specific muscle testing will identify any weaknesses that need to be addressed. The best part about seeing a pro is to get knowledge specific to your body and information as to what you can do towards correcting your particular dysfunction(s).  While exercises that emphasize stability are generally good for the back (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot;&gt;as those seen on our site like the plank, bridge and bird dog&lt;/a&gt;), they may or may not be the key to correcting your back problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Choosing a Practitioner:  You will find that all physical (physio) therapists, doctors and other practitioners such as chiropractors, massage therapists etc. are not alike. For hands on treatment choose a manual therapist who specializes in back treatment.  Or you may prefer a sports medicine therapist/doctor that will be more tuned in to your gym program, but who may not be as skilled at hands on treatment.   Try to get personal recommendations from people in the gym who have been treated successfully.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3) Set up your Back Routine:&lt;/strong&gt;  Because you have already found that your back is responsive to stretching and strengthening exercises, you should respond well if you get the right combination of exercises.  In addition to exercise there are other self treatment techniques you can ask your therapist about:    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Self massage techniques such as using a foam roller, a tennis ball or a miracle ball as they can also help to release tightness. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For some back conditions, traction helps relieves pressure.  There are ways to provide self traction, but check with your healthcare pro first to see if it is appropriate for your back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;KinesioTape is another self treatment technique that may  help and your therapist can instruct you how to apply it.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tissue imbalances in the feet, legs, hips, upper back, neck and even the arms can all contribute to back pain, so trying to find the right combination without professional input may be difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps to get you started.  Back pain will often ease off on its own.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that the problem has been resolved.  It may just mean that your body has accommodated to the dysfunction, only to flare up again (or in a different place).  So heed everyone’s advice and find the right professionals to educate you on correcting your form and balance your body.  Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T13:02:42.420" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8208" CreationDate="2012-09-26T15:57:26.383" Score="11" ViewCount="10659" Body="&lt;p&gt;When different people gain weight, the fat tends to accumulate in different parts of the body based on the individual. Some people gain in their stomach, their buttocks, their thighs, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am looking to burn off localized fat in my stomach, for example, would I be any better off focusing more time on my abs? Or would I get similar benefit by working out my whole body, building up overall muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, when burning fat, does the location of the muscle you're working have any bearing on where the fat might come off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Yes, I realize that cardio is useful/mandatory for weight/fat loss as well. I am not interested in the cardio aspects for this question, however.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4045" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T13:16:54.013" Title="Is working out localized muscle going to help burn fat in that area more than building up overall muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8207" CreationDate="2012-09-26T16:19:09.763" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately you cannot spot reduce (localised fat burning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When burning fat your body decides where to burn it from. Doing ab work will build the ab muscles but will not burn fat in only that region. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To burn fat in a particular area you will have to target overall fat loss, with mainly a healthy diet and perhaps an exercise regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4285" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T16:19:09.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2012-09-26T18:26:17.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats, lunges, and deadlifts are all great at targeting the buttock (if done right).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Doing them right&quot; entails:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;strong&gt;Proper warmup and activation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &lt;strong&gt;Proper form&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people have &quot;sleepy butts&quot; (from sitting all day) and need to activate their glutes before they can use them. If they don't do this and lack the proper activation, other muscles (like hamstrings and quads) will simply take over the movement. Before we do glute activation (such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJUPEnX_1TA&amp;amp;list=PL1B50D5C362CC6527&amp;amp;index=14&amp;amp;feature=plpp_video&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;), however, we need loosen up our hips (with an exercise such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of6OYuyYCxE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With proper activation, your form should be immediately cleaned up. But if you have any doubt, I suggest you check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/bretcontreras1?feature=CAkQwRs=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bret Contrera's videos&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2396" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T18:26:17.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8207" CreationDate="2012-09-26T18:27:33.737" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are actually two schools of thought on this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a long time, spot reduction has been (and still is) considered to be a myth because the body burns fat systemically (whole body, as opposed to localized). Up until recently, I myself thought this was true. If the body burns fat systemically, then it is the body that will determine where it pulls fat from, regardless of the muscle that you workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, recent studies have begun to suggest otherwise. Cold fat does not mobilize well, so by warming it up (increasing blood flow to the area) you are assisting your body with mobilizing and eliminating those fat cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other studies have demonstrated that blood flow and lipolysis increased in the subcutaneous fatty tissue that is directly adjacent to the working muscle. In other words, the study showed that working out specific muscles increased the fat loss in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether this new science is right, and spot reduction is real, is up to you to decide. It just helps to know that there are multiple schools of thought, so keep an open mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16985258&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16985258&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://0-jap.physiology.org.library.pcc.edu/content/106/5/1529.full&quot;&gt;http://0-jap.physiology.org.library.pcc.edu/content/106/5/1529.full&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10817155&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10817155&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-09-26T19:13:16.257" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T19:13:16.257" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2012-09-26T20:25:03.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you ask about &quot;toning&quot; one area, it sounds to me like you are really talking about losing fat from that one area.  If that is the case, the answer is that you cannot as stated by the answers to this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8207/is-working-out-localized-muscle-going-to-help-burn-fat-in-that-area-more-than-bu&quot;&gt;Is working out localized muscle going to help burn fat in that area more than building up overall muscle mass?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the best you can do is to continue to lose weight and your body will decide which places it will remove the fat from. Sorry for the bad news...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3943" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-09-26T22:20:16.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8215" CreationDate="2012-09-27T08:26:45.617" Score="2" ViewCount="1086" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 Days ago i did an HiiT Session with dumbbells. I did different excercises in 3 Sets with 12 Repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I finished excercising i didn't do any streching exercises. On the next day I had aching muscles. And the following 2 days, Yesterday and Today it hurted and still hurts when I &quot;stretch&quot; my arm over an angle of 100 degrees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can anybody tell me what could be happened to my muscle? How can I cure it? And how can prevent it the next time?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T08:52:03.793" Title="Muscle hurts after HiiT session" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8214" CreationDate="2012-09-27T08:52:03.793" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This to me sounds like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Particulary if you haven't done this type of resistence training before and your form was good. Also the soreness caused by DOMS is a dull, aching pain in the affected muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the article says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The pain is felt only when the muscle is stretched, contracted or put under pressure, not when it is at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that if I haven't exercised in a while and then I hit the gym hard the effect of DOMS is worse after the first few sessions. The soreness usually leaves after approx 72 hours. But with regular exercise the effect of DOMS gets less and less (but never really goes away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To treat DOMS you can try to increase the bloodflow to the affected muscle by perhaps doing a  as low-intensity workout, massage, hot baths, or a sauna visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If however the pain isn't as described as above and is present at rest then you may have injured yourself and may need to rest from training and perhaps consult a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4285" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T08:52:03.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-27T12:00:57.197" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just turned 57 and play 8-a-side football 2 or 3 times a week. I also work on the exercise bike and do what I shall describe as Yoga - once a week - (on the WII) to stretch my body out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very frustrated that I appear very fit on the bike (no impact) but running around highlights the weakness around my hips, particularly pushing off and turning. This seems due to my gluteus maximus being my weak link. If I push deep into them, it does feel sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never jog as my &quot;shock absorbers&quot; feel shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had massages and seen an osteopath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also saw a podiatrist who gave me some high insoles to wear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe doing lunges etc will help as they are putting further pressure on my weak area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t suffer pain but do get a little stiff sitting down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do - maybe a scan or x-ray - to find out what is causing this and what I might be able to do to improve things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A doctor would not have the knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone doing sport is always looking to improve whatever the age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4341" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T15:08:28.607" Title="What can be done to find out why I have sore/weak Gluteus Maximus muscles?" Tags="&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8216" CreationDate="2012-09-27T12:31:20.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume for the moment that your hip joints are healthy, and don't need replacing.  Do check with your doctor to rule that out.  The rest of my answer has to do with the type of exercise you outlined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing I can see in your exercise regimen is that you aren't doing much for your posterior chain.  The exercise bike gets your quadriceps and your anterior (front) chain working nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to fix it is to exercise the posterior chain.  &lt;em&gt;Basically you've developed a muscular imbalance which causes pain, posture problems, etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following exercises will help strengthen the posterior chain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kettlebell swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats of all kinds--if you at least go to parallel (crease of the hip at or below the top of the knee)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key with any new exercise is to start out light and progress from there.  You may want to start out body weight only.  I wish I knew something that may be more fun that gets your posterior chain involved.  However, once you've increased the strength of the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, calves, back) you will find that the hip pain will start to correct itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same type of pain can happen if a lifter only focuses on pressing movements and never does curls.  The muscle imbalance can cause a form of tendinitis in the elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T12:31:20.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7321" CreationDate="2012-09-27T12:47:12.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sore is a bit too general, and the advice will differ based on the type of pain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS):&lt;/strong&gt; general soreness experienced when you increase the intensity, volume, or type of exercise.  Can be ignored and will generally go as you train.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back pump:&lt;/strong&gt; feels like the lower back is pumped up.  This can be very uncomfortable, but the pain will usually subside by the next day.  You can still train, but perhaps make it a lighter day if it is still sore the next time you deadlift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Serious pain:&lt;/strong&gt; usually due to a muscle spasm that locks hard and doesn't want to release.  Rest is the best course of action.  This type of pain is severe enough that you will likely injure yourself worse if you continue training.  Compress, move what you can, release and rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common type of back pain I suffer from with the deadlifts is back pump.  Usually it goes from uncomfortable to very mild a few hours later, and by the next day it is fine.  The important thing is that when you feel it coming on while you are training, don't push yourself.  If you are doing reps to failure, save at least 2 reps in the tank on that set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are experiencing the serious pain due to a full muscle spasm, take a look at your form.  Even with rounded back lifting (atlas stones), the lumbar region (lower back) must be kept rigid for a healthy and happy back.  The thoracic region (upper back) can round a little bit if necessary--just be sure to lock out properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the impact injury, just like weightlifting you have to condition your hands to hit hard things.  Knuckle pushups are a good way to toughen the bones in your hands to handle impacts better.  If it happens again, and you haven't broken anything, continue to train even though you may be limited by your grip strength.  Although, you may consider spending time with a heavy bag instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T12:47:12.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8216" CreationDate="2012-09-27T15:08:28.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people have &quot;sleepy glutes&quot;, from too much time in chairs, general under-use, or whatever. It may be impossible to know what caused it. What you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do is fix it, regardless of the cause. (Barring serious injury or disability.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of avoiding lunges and other exercises that stress the glutes, focus on them. Glute bridges, deadlifts, squats, kettlebell swings, and lunges should all be a focus of your programming. Focus consciously on using your glutes in each of these. Get them used to doing work again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T15:08:28.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2012-09-27T16:18:54.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spirulina. Spirulina is an algae that grows naturally in the rivers of Africa and contains more protein than meat. It can be bought as a powder or pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4342" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T16:18:54.137" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-27T18:35:42.527" Score="11" ViewCount="3657" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about the average weight for my age (17), I'm fairly active, I enjoy walking and cycling but I don't particularly exercise at home or at a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started a college course studying arboriculture (tree surgery). I've been learning to use a chainsaw at ground height and I've been advised to do some upper body exercises to build up some muscles and reduce back pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second year of my course I'll be spending more times climbing and cutting trees, so it might be worth thinking about suitable training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4343" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-10-01T15:08:48.647" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T01:59:08.337" Title="Fitness routine for chainsaw use and tree surgery" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8221" CreationDate="2012-09-27T18:54:40.977" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd probably start with deadlifts and high rows/pulls. Maybe kettlebell swings or non-KB-equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you work antagonist muscles as well, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For climbing you'll be using spikes and a belt, you shouldn't need to do &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; much specific, although I knew a lot of arborists that were also climbers, which transferred really well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T18:54:40.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-27T18:55:05.127" Score="6" ViewCount="5962" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it that when I squat (400lbs) I can do all of my sets with no ill after effects. Even one legged squats (up to 200lbs) cause me no problems other than maybe DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I climb stairs I find myself out of breath. I got on the stair machine last night at the gym and I was able to do it for about 2 minutes (1 min x 2) but at the 2 minute mark I was about to puke and I was winded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? What's the difference between stairs and squats (or other leg exercises)? why do I feel like I'm going to puke and why am I out of breath on the stairs but not squatting. I started feeling bad probably 15-20 seconds into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T21:24:53.977" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T19:35:16.450" Title="Squats vs Stairs - Whats the difference?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8223" CreationDate="2012-09-27T19:18:28.110" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's the difference between conditioning and strength.  Try 200lbs for 20 reps to get another view into conditioning, or pushing a sled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A well rounded training program will address the following points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skill:&lt;/strong&gt; if you compete or are learning new exercises, you have to hone your technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength:&lt;/strong&gt; this is well understood, you have to be strong enough for your goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hypertrophy:&lt;/strong&gt; even if you aren't aiming for physique, hypertrophy helps improve the energy available to demonstrate your strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conditioning:&lt;/strong&gt; the ability to continue to be strong over and over and over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mobility:&lt;/strong&gt; you have to be able to have enough range of motion to perform your skill correctly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start working on your conditioning, there are several approaches.  At the lowest level, you need to have the conditioning required by your sport or discipline.  For example, if you spar, you need to be able to last more than one round.  So you train to be active for the time of the round, with rest periods that would match competition.  If you simply want better wind, you can strap a heart rate monitor on, and keep your heart rate in the range between the Aerobic zone and the Anaerobic zone.  But set goals and work toward them just as you have with strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-09-27T19:18:28.110" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-27T19:23:53.627" Score="6" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been on LeanGains for the past 3 months, on what started as a cutting diet (but somehow ended up a recomp). So, now I have the following stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;72 kg (from 76 kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;162 cm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;88 kg deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80 kg bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;86 kg squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60 kg overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm training on the usual LG program, reverse pyramid:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday&#xA;Bench Press and Chin-ups&#xA;&#xA;Wednesday&#xA;Deadlifts and Chin-ups&#xA;&#xA;Friday&#xA;Squats and Overhead Press&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently started to incorporate sprints in my program on Wednesdays &amp;amp; Sundays ( mainly because of a need of better conditioning ). Also, I'm strongly considering the switch to the Anabolic Diet, in order to reach my goal of 65kg. The thing is, I'd like (as much as it is possible), to at least maintain or improve the strength gains I have made for the past months. Therefore, I read about having a carb-up meal in the middle of the week (e.g. Wednesday). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, &lt;strong&gt;if I have the meal in the middle of the week, should I reduce the weekend carb-up to just one day?&lt;/strong&gt; I'm thinking that having both Saturday and Sunday as carb-up days might hurt the weight loss process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4344" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-02T18:44:56.147" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T19:14:23.587" Title="Somewhat confused about the midweek spike on the anabolic diet" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2012-09-28T02:54:02.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you aren't keen on eating first thing in the morning then definitely consider this. Intermittent Fasting (IF) is a great way to lose body fat while maintaining and even gaining muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely at least Google it and read a little before writing it off.  Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leangains.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rippedbody.jp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RippedBody.jp&lt;/a&gt; to see some of the awesome physiques people can achieve through skipping breakfast and opting for just some black coffee or tea instead.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4291" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T02:54:02.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8221" CreationDate="2012-09-28T09:07:33.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I know very little about arboriculture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general point I would start off with a program that increase strength overall. Something like Starting Strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could be wrong but to me this kind of work would also involve a lot of climbing so prehaps as a more specifc routine, you could incorporate some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rock-climbing-for-life.com/strength-training-for-climbing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strength training specific to climbing&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the article suggests this training involves a lot of pulling exercises like pull-ups and exercises that work the core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4285" LastEditorUserId="4285" LastEditDate="2012-09-28T09:27:20.290" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T09:27:20.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2012-09-28T10:35:11.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a pad is illegal in lifting competitions and power lifters after all squat the heaviest weights possible without injury or problems. As a submission wrestler I squat over two and half times my own body weight, 5 repetitions with 530lbs at a body weight of 210lbs.  I have never used a pad and never experienced more than the mildest discomfort holding the bar in a higher position when I first began squatting at 17 years of age in 1973. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4347" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T10:35:11.360" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8231" CreationDate="2012-09-28T13:13:56.903" Score="7" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the gymnastic term for, from standing on all fours, lifting yourself into a handstand in a controlled manner? That is, without kicking up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4348" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T17:38:51.693" Title="What is it called when you lift yourself into a handstand?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8230" CreationDate="2012-09-28T13:21:34.677" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drillsandskills.com/article/16&quot;&gt;press to handstand&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T13:21:34.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8221" CreationDate="2012-09-28T14:37:24.160" Score="10" Body="&lt;h2&gt;First, get strong&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who haven't yet done strength training should generally avoid overly task-specific exercises. Instead, they should get strong generally. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2012/09/lifting-for-sport-great-quote-from-mark-rippetoe/&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe puts it&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength is the most general adaptation. It is acquired most effectively through exercises that produce the most force against external resistance, and as such is always best trained with five or six basic exercises. The same exercises that are correct for weak football players and lifters are correct for weak volleyball and baseball players, because the best way to get strong will always be the same. Strength is NOT specific, and cannot effectively be acquired through exercises that mimic sports-specific movements, because these movements lack the potential to produce as much force as general barbell exercises, and therefore lack the capacity to make weak athletes as strong as barbell training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first place people look for the purpose of rapid general strength gain is generally Starting Strength (the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; is as quick-and-dirty as possible; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=413&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; is the best and most detailed overview on this topic I've ever seen) or StrongLifts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/free-stronglifts-5x5-report/&quot;&gt;ebook sign-up&lt;/a&gt;), which is most appropriate for non-athletes or people who have been inactive for several years. Either of these would be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, any simple beginner barbell strength program would also be fine. Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gain-weight-build-muscle/&quot;&gt;Mark Sisson's overview&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The foundation of your routine should be the big compound lifts: squats, deadlifts, presses (bench and overhead), pull-ups, rows, dips, snatches, power cleans, clean and jerks. These engage multiple muscles while triggering your hormonal response systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just steer clear of bodybuilding routines with tons of exercises, machines, and high reps (8-12). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Then, specific strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you have some general strength (and not before!), I would recommend focusing on exercises that involve maintaining posture against heavy loads, as well as upper body strength, particularly grip work. To me this means deadlifts, farmer's walks, Turkish get-ups, pull-ups/chin-ups, and presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-09-28T14:45:22.650" LastActivityDate="2012-09-28T14:45:22.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8250" CreationDate="2012-09-28T15:56:30.197" Score="6" ViewCount="50613" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that after I do some heavy cardio my vision will sometimes get blurry.  The blurriness usually occurs about 15-30 minutes after I exercise and then lasts for 15-30 minutes and is usually confined to one spot in my field of vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else experienced this?  Should I be concerned or is this a common thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Type of cardio - pretty much anything (but not every time).  Typically bike riding, running or body pump class&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Age - 30&#xA;Height - 6'5&quot;&#xA;Weight - 200lbs&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastEditorUserId="3723" LastEditDate="2012-09-28T16:13:03.360" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T18:05:48.733" Title="Blurry vision after exercise?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6491" CreationDate="2012-09-28T16:30:14.693" Score="15" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The History of Keeping Women from Exercising&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine was told she couldn't train judo because it would somehow harm her reproductive organs. (At no time was she asked whether this mattered to her.) We know that even as recently as the 1970s, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kathrineswitzer.com/index.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;women were barred from marathons on similar grounds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TdPtU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure many physicians trained in that era are still spouting the same horseshit. Exercise-induced infertility is one of the oldest anti-woman canards in the history of misogyny. Alarm bells should go off when we hear it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Does it Hold Water?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many scaremongering news stories do you hear about male infertility caused by judo, or sit-ups, or football? Practically none, despite the fact that the testes are much more exposed to external injury and are damaged by overheating. Likewise, how many stories of infertility (or uterine prolapse) do you hear among the women who lift weights, run marathons, do step aerobics, play judo, or CrossFit? How many incidents are reported nationwide each year? Millions of women train hard. We would be seeing an epidemic if these activities carried significant risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6499/1771&quot;&gt;Another answer&lt;/a&gt; claims that sit-ups cause uterine prolapse, which is a serious condition. The idea is that sit-ups increase intra-abdominal pressure, pushing the uterus down into the vagina. What is left unmentioned is the degree to which this is a risk factor compared to the other causes: &quot;aging, time-related weakening of the ligaments holding the uterus up; having had vaginal deliveries; and a drop-off in estrogen production&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else causes intra-abdominal pressure? A vast array of common activities, not just hard exercise. &lt;a href=&quot;http://projects.registerguard.com/turin/2010/nov/09/exercise-yes-sit-ups-no/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Something as everyday as taking a poop is sufficient&lt;/a&gt;. The article warns against sit-ups for &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; woman--not &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; women--because &lt;strong&gt;she recently experienced a uterine prolapse&lt;/strong&gt;. This does not contraindicate sit-ups for women. That's just plain put-the-woman-back-in-the-kitchen scaremongering BS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, the idea that sit-ups cause infertility strikes me as silly. They're not a particularly rough exercise. Are women's ovaries really that weak? I think not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, we do see that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8091047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;extensive exercise can, for some women, in some circumstances, cause irregularities in menstrual cycles&lt;/a&gt;. (It should be noted that not exercising will of course have negative effects as well.) A brief PubMed search resulted in nothing suggesting that sit-ups are particularly harmful towards women's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sit-ups are dumb anyway&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason to avoid sit-ups is not for any of these anti-woman tropes, nor nonexistent dangers. It's because the exercise itself just isn't too great. Sit-ups are not that efficient at training the abs, and they can put stress on the lower back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, spot reduction is a myth, so it won't help reduce belly fat any more than squats or bicycling would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your friend shouldn't do sit-ups, but she shouldn't do them because she's too busy lifting heavy weights, running, or boxing, not because they constitute some danger to her frail womanly nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T04:42:55.700" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8240" CreationDate="2012-09-29T02:19:12.137" Score="16" ViewCount="23550" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go running twice a week, 7 miles each time and it takes exactly an hour. I have kept this routine for a while (like 5 months). I was expecting that by time I would get faster but it seems I am not improving at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I improve my speed? Should I for example run more frequently or run longer each time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4353" LastActivityDate="2015-09-19T19:25:14.460" Title="I run 7 miles in an hour, how can i make it 10 miles in an hour?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8239" CreationDate="2012-09-29T02:27:22.643" Score="63" ViewCount="5944" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing work out with weights, what is the impact of trade-off between &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;amount of weights working with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;number of times an exercise is repeated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I can repeat an exercise 10x3 times with 20kg weights but only 7X3 times with 25kg weights. What will be the difference of these two exercises on the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4353" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-03T08:51:11.630" LastActivityDate="2016-10-22T05:40:17.610" Title="What are the trade-offs of weight versus repetition?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="63" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8238" CreationDate="2012-09-29T02:41:45.860" Score="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your goals and your current level of progress determine the number of sets and reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible Goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training for &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;power&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;endurance&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie-20120504&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;all require a different number of sets and reps&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength (how much weight your muscle can move) is best developed by lifting as much weight as possible. This is probably best achieved with 5 or less reps. Strength is expressed in how much you can lift one time, so the closer you train to 1 rep at a time, the more specific you are training for strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power (how much your muscle can move &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt;) is best developed by moving heavy weights very fast. This is best achieved with very few reps, something like 2 or 3 in a set, but you have to use slightly less weight so that you can move it faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurance (how long your muscle can keep doing its job) is best developed by lifting a weight many times, which requires many, many more reps: at least 15. You'll have to use a lot less weight in order for this to be possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy (how big your muscles are) is best developed by achieving momentary muscular failure, and with overall training volume. Moderate weight works best for this purpose, since it is heavy enough to quickly make one unable to lift it, but not so heavy that failure to lift is dangerous. Most people use 6-12 reps for this purpose, but there may or may not be anything special about this range. Multiple sets and exercises are useful for achieving high total workout volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is well explained by a chart in the article I linked to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/m908W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sets, reps, rest periods for different goals&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three sets of 7 at 25kg will demand and develop more strength than three sets of 10 at 20kg would. The sets of 10 would promote greater hypertrophy and require more strength-endurance and conditioning. The difference is not going to be terribly significant, however, since 7 and 10 aren't too far apart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing fewer reps with heavier weights requires and develops more strength and less conditioning than more reps with somewhat lighter weights. Doing more reps with slightly lighter weights may, in some circumstances, for some exercises, produce more hypertrophy (mass gain). Fewer heavier reps is better for strength; more reps (but still as heavy as possible) is better for size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though the original on page 60 of Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore's Practical Programming is better (the gradations from range to range are less stark) this chart from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/k93un/rippetoes_rep_range_chart/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;reddit&lt;/a&gt; does an excellent job explaining the effects of different rep schemes:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XLqMG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Weight training repetitions table&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing fewer repetitions with heavier weights builds strength most effectively. Doing more repetitions (circa 4 to 12), with weight that is still challenging, builds mass most efficiently. Doing more than 12 repetitions in a single set is generally best for endurance as opposed to strength. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5707/1771&quot;&gt;See this answer&lt;/a&gt; for more information.) Does this mean that someone who is diligent with a 12-rep program can't get strong? Heck no! People get strong with 12-rep sets all the time. But if raw strength is their goal, they could probably achieve that goal faster with sets of, say, 3 or 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A novice generally does best with a focus on strength and some hypertrophy. Three sets of five or five sets of five are the two most common set/rep schemes. The weight must be heavy enough to make more than 5 sets very difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;there is very little about these rep ranges &lt;em&gt;in and of themselves&lt;/em&gt; that produces desired attributes&lt;/a&gt;. It is how these rep ranges relate to elements of training such as volume, intensity (that is, proximity to 1RM), and muscular exhaustion that determines the effects of training. Notice also that hypertrophy produces strength and power, and strength and endurance enable hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following &quot;map&quot;, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/the_map&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Starting Strength site&lt;/a&gt;, explains the relationship of this volume-to-purpose relationship to sports. It refers to the three metabolic pathways: phosphagenic, glycolytic, and oxidative. The phosphagenic pathway is used when we do a very small number of reps in a set (3 or less, whereas higher-rep sets use the glycolytic pathway (approximately 4 to 12, though it depends on how vigorously one is working out). The oxidative pathway is for even higher rep ranges (e.g. 20), and is more commonly associated with longer duration, repetitive exercise like distance running or bicycling. It is explained in more detail in &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/the_map#.UNDAkm_AexW&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lknYc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;sports-to-metabolic-pathway chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-10-22T05:40:17.610" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8237" CreationDate="2012-09-29T02:59:20.730" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Run more. Much more. Mostly slow, sometimes fast. You're talking about sustaining 6 minute miles for an hour, which is starting to approach the bottom of elite level. That would put you at 1:18ish for a half marathon, which is a very respectable time, and often would place you on or near the podium for an age grouper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would need to ramp up to where you are consistently running 5-7 days a week, in the 50-70 miles per week range. This would probably take close to a year to do injury free. Once you get to that point, you can start adding in higher intensity speed work to get faster overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not be able to get to that point. Your natural abilities may not be sufficient to get to that speed. On the other hand, you may be a natural and get to that point in less than a year, but I can guarantee that running 14 miles a week will not get you there. It's the day in day out consistent mileage that brings gains in running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you do not state your height or weight. Weight is also very important in running, as being lighter can be critical to moving faster. I've seen some calculations that show every ounce less in your shoe is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 lbs of lifting that your body doesn't have to do. Now translate that to body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apocryphal lore is that for every pound of bodyweight that you lose, you gain 2-4 seconds per mile of pace (Dependent on personal running efficiency and other factors). So if you lost 10 lbs, theoretically your pace should go from your current 8:34 to 8:14 per mile for the same effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the biggest thing is going to be safely increasing your volume, then gradually adding in the speed work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T02:59:20.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8237" CreationDate="2012-09-29T13:21:57.703" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have built up a good volume foundation by running for several months. You have also trained your body to run at a certain speed by doing it over and over again. If you want to run faster, you have to practice running  faster. Since you obviously can't just go out and run 6 minute miles for an hour, you will need to break up your workout into faster runs separated by rest. Here are two techniques:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After warming up, run 400 meters at a faster pace (1 minute faster than your normal pace) or 200 meters at 2 minutes faster, then walk for the same amount of time it took you to run the 400 meters. Repeat 8-10 times. That would constitute a full workout for the day, don't run further afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a heart rate monitor and run at your anaerobic threshold (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/367851-how-to-estimate-the-anaerobic-threshold-for-runners/&quot;&gt;calculate your threshold here&lt;/a&gt;). The rate at which your heart provides oxygen to your body is often the limiting factor for speed. Running at or over the anaerobic threshold provides the stimulus to improve this limit. This is difficult training, so you might have to work up to it, but the goal would be to run for 20-30 minutes. Don't do this more than once a week because it requires rest to recover from.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you might benefit from running a little bit more often. The general consensus is that twice a week is the minimum for retaining your fitness level, and you need three times a week to improve at a decent rate. You still need rest, though, so start at three times a week and see how your body responds before increasing further. Perhaps do sprints one day, threshold training one day, and your normal run one day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going from 8:30 miles to 6:00 miles is a significant jump, but it is doable. Since you are doing around 10k distances, I disagree with John, this is not elite level speed. It's very fast, but it is an accessible speed for many people who are patient and can put in the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T13:21:57.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-29T15:41:34.397" Score="4" ViewCount="430" Body="&lt;p&gt;I plan to start a running routine using the program listed &lt;a href=&quot;http://sciencebasedrunning.com/2011/08/noakes-on-starting-out-in-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to improve my overall fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What foods and – if applicable – supplements would be recommended for beginning runners? I.e. a &quot;beginning runner's diet&quot; program if possible, including what to eat when, and in what proportion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current daily diet is generally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For breakfast: mostly Corn Flakes + milk;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Lunch: mostly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roti&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Roti&lt;/a&gt;, fried fish, and assorted vegetables;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Dinner: -same as lunch-  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Diet for Beginning Runners&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;by MelissaW, eHow Contributor  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To get the most out of your running, it is important to eat right. If you're a new runner with a running schedule, it's best to match your eating habits with your running schedule. You can do this by eating smaller meals on those days, eating protein-rich foods, eating the right carbohydrates and drinking lots of water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat Smaller Meals&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  The best way to start a diet for new runners is to learn to eat smaller meals a few times throughout the day. That way you won't feel too full when it's time to run, yet you'll have the energy you need. Think of eating snacks throughout the day like celery and peanut butter, yogurt with granola and oatmeal with fruit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;List (snacks): &lt;em&gt;celery&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;peanut butter&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yogurt with granola&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;oatmeal with fruit&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My choice: &lt;em&gt;crackers with peanut butter&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Carbohydrates are your friend when it comes to running. But, it's important to decide between healthy carbohydrates and the not so healthy ones. For healthy carbohydrates, stick with apples, bananas and carrots. Also try brown rice, oatmeal and lentil beans for healthy carbohydrates that will give you energy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;List: &lt;em&gt;apples&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bananas&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;carrots&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;brown rice&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;oatmeal&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lentil beans&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Protein is what helps make you feel fuller longer. That way you won't get any hunger pangs when you start on your new running schedule. Protein is also great because you usually have a feeling of fullness while eating a lot less calories. The best proteins for beginner runners include lean chicken and beef, fish, like salmon, and canned water-packed tuna.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;List: &lt;em&gt;lean chicken and beef&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fish&lt;/em&gt; (e.g. &lt;em&gt;salmon&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;canned water-packed tuna&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drink Water&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Like any plan to better your health, you'll want to &lt;em&gt;drink at least eight oz. of water a day&lt;/em&gt; [my emphasis] when you start running. This will help give you energy, keep you hydrated and cleanse your body of any toxins. But, make sure not to drink too much water too fast before or after you begin running. This could give you stomach cramps or make you feel nauseous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Ref: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/facts_7251798_diet-beginning-runners.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ehow.com/facts_7251798_diet-beginning-runners.html&lt;/a&gt;)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My new diet:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning: Corn Flakes + diluted milk; two bananas &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Lunch: Roti, chicken / fish, lentils, (additionally?: banana? if helpful) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Dinner: -same as above- (plus banana?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this be a good diet program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2389" LastEditorUserId="2389" LastEditDate="2012-10-02T18:59:10.967" LastActivityDate="2018-03-28T05:51:10.557" Title="What are the optimum foods and supplements for beginning runners?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8243" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-09-29T16:10:51.783" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-09-29T16:10:51.783" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T16:10:51.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8244" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-09-29T16:10:51.783" Score="0" Body="Questions about bicycle commuting, recreational biking or competitive biking. " OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-29T17:49:03.317" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T17:49:03.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8242" CreationDate="2012-09-29T16:51:29.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started doing sports (mostly bicycling and swimming) half a year ago and started running a few weeks ago. I did not change my diet for any of those activities. The only reason I changed my diet was to lose weight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As long as you feel that you are living and eating healthy now, there is no real need to change your diet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You should however pay attention to your drinking habits. You will lose more water due sweating and your body might need some more water for muscle build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a big fan of supplements, but there are lacks on certain vitamins,  minerals or trace elements in certain regions and you might want to ensure that your bodies supply on those is sufficient.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you not to eat to heavy immediately before running, it can be very uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T16:51:29.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8246" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-09-29T18:11:53.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic crunch is done lying on the back bending the legs, arms sideways with the hands supporting the head. By contracting the abdominal muscles the upper body is moved up until the shoulder blades no longer touch the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUnAWuDVDHA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Example Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several variations to the basic crunch focusing on different muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting the complete upper body up from the ground is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/sit-ups&quot;&gt;sit up&lt;/a&gt;. Sit ups and crunches are however often confused or treated synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-29T18:20:34.153" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T18:20:34.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8247" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-09-29T18:11:53.817" Score="0" Body="Common body weight exercise for the abdominal muscles." OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-29T18:20:24.140" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T18:20:24.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9488" CreationDate="2012-09-29T19:25:25.547" Score="6" ViewCount="609" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing weights for a few months now, but I find it hard to gain muscles and burn fat at the same time. It seems like one goes at the expense of the other. I think I have a balanced diet, with more proteins than before (whey isolate), and little fat. At the same time, I think I need more carbs than before, to grow muscles. For sure I don't want to be hungry, as my body will burn muscles then, right? I also do cardio exercises to burn fat, but when I do it the day after a weights workout, the muscles hurt more than otherwise. Is this a bad idea, and do I just destroy muscle tissue that way? Or am I doing it all right and am I just being impatient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My core question is how best to combine gaining muscles and burning fat. I am aware that the question has been asked before, but I want to know precisely how one affects the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I minimize muscle loss when losing fat by energy deficit or doing cardio exercise and how can I minimize fat gain when I try to gain muscles with workouts accompanied with proteins and energy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for clarification, when I say &quot;burn fat&quot;, I don't necessarily mean &quot;lose weight&quot;. Just get a lower fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4334" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:46:53.757" LastActivityDate="2012-10-22T09:06:12.510" Title="Burn fat and gain muscles at same time" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-29T20:19:18.027" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did write a long winding entry, but decided to replace it with this. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;23 year old male, 1.80 m, 79 kg&#xA;Running 3+ years (~75 km/mo)&#xA;Swimming 2+ years &#xA;Cycling 1 year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This Summer finally entered some events (triathlons, fun runs, open water swims etc). I didn't increase my distances or overall training much, if anything I took more rest days before and after events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Developed pains in both knees over the Summer. Initially dull ache, then bruises underneath the knees, then burning pain on the inside-leg side of the kneecap and along the entire outside-side of the knee. Sometimes feels like a warm trickle(?) when resting/walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read online, thought it was a generic &quot;runners knee&quot;, took 3 weeks off from all physical activity. Started running again gently (2 mile jogs etc) and pain is back straight away. My current running shoes only have a couple hundred km on them if that and are the same type I've used for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the pain feels like a dull burn in my knees. I can run and walk on them, but even when stretched out on the sofa there's a constant presence in them. I don't know whether it's patellas or tendonitis or ITBS or the myriad of other options I've read about. I would see a physiotherapist but ideally anything I can do to save on an expensive visit would be very helpful (recent graduate here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice people can give would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3440" LastActivityDate="2012-09-29T20:19:18.027" Title="Knee pain after summer training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-10-11T19:33:56.327" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8234" CreationDate="2012-09-30T00:17:42.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think blurry vision and/or dizziness are quite common when exercising. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/482531-blurry-vision-during-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; there are some common causes given for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A common cause of blurry vision during exercise is low blood pressure, or hypotension. A number of factors can bring this on, but those common to exercise include dehydration, allergic reactions or a lack of nutrients in the body. Exercise can also cause or exacerbate blurred vision in people with pigmentary glaucoma, the Monroe Family Eyecare website advises. If you are pregnant, blurred vision could indicate preeclampsia and may warn of your baby's struggle to get all the blood it needs to survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I too have a somewhat blurry vision and 'dizziness' which can be described as a 'high'. But this fades within a minute or so. You also said that the blurry vision lasts longer than this. This should raise some concerns and I strongly suggest to get this looked at by a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4357" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T00:17:42.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="425" CreationDate="2012-09-30T05:12:28.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gels can be problematic; if you don't get enough water with them, you end up with too high of a concentration of sugar in your digestive system, and it doesn't absorb well enough. This can lead to issues. Any source that is highly concentrated will have this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some natural sources are higher in fructose. Whether this is an issue depends on your body; some people are fine with it, others have issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to go more towards starchy food, which can provide the same amount of carbohydrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Electrolytes are a complicated issue. You want them for two reasons; they improve the rate at which liquid is absorbed, and they replace the electrolytes that you are sweating out. Whether you need either of these depends on how hard you working, how hot it is, how much time you have worked out in the heat, and how long you are going to be exercising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T05:12:28.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8252" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-09-30T16:00:36.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;More detailed information can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:47:08.560" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T16:47:08.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8253" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-09-30T16:00:36.370" Score="0" Body="Questions about the weightlifting programs at StrongLifts.com. The site is known for its StrongLifts 5x5 beginner strength training program and the Madcow 5x5 advanced weightlifting program." OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-09-30T16:47:03.317" LastActivityDate="2012-09-30T16:47:03.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-09-30T20:41:54.570" Score="10" ViewCount="26192" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent development has occurred in my squats.  I seem to be feeling the squats work out my right leg significantly more than my left leg.  As far as I can tell my stance is square and I should be using both legs evenly.  It also doesn't make sense since I'm sure my right leg is strong than my left, but I may be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could cause a squat to work one side more than the other?  What should i look for in my form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2015-05-17T19:33:12.870" Title="Feeling squats in my right leg more" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2602" CreationDate="2012-10-01T03:07:55.097" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll start out warmer, and you'll warm up quicker. If you're doing an early morning run when it's still chilly and there's dew out, you'd want to wear a jumper. If you're starting a run a bit later when the sun is already out and it's more nippy than chilly, or even straight up warm, not so much benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like spending extra time warming up to do whatever the core activity is, so I like to wear layers to start just for that. It's more efficient, and allows me to spend less time doing stuff I find boring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from the benefits of a good warmup (less risk of injury), I couldn't say whether there's any other benefit to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T03:07:55.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-01T04:35:21.043" Score="1" ViewCount="4187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I joined gym in when I was 18 years old but due to my tight schedule I couldn't continue the intense workout session in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, after few years, I am once again trying to re-start my gym work outs. Based on my earlier experience, I have noticed that calf muscles, fore arm strength effect almost &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; workout. So I want to be better prepared this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am regularly doing stretching exercises, push ups (for chest &amp;amp; biceps), Chair Dips (for triceps), squats (for thighs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is &lt;strong&gt;What is correct way to prepare your body for gym workouts in terms of exercises and time?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Added:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As per the question of &lt;em&gt;what I am trying to achieve&lt;/em&gt;? I am trying to&#xA;  gain some weights, then after I get the desired mass, I am planning on&#xA;  concentrating on strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1149" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-02T18:33:29.733" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T19:12:46.577" Title="How to prepare your body for gym workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8256" CreationDate="2012-10-01T08:15:27.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training off and on for about 50 years now and have always tried to keep up to date with the best practices. Trust me - this is not an exact science, never has been, never will be, doesn't have to be. Get to the gym and try stuff, then you get more out of this site so you can try more stuff at the gym ... You'll always be modifying your workout as you learn and as the science develops. I (and Arnold and Steve Reeves, and Eugen Sandow) did lots of stuff that was proven later to be wrong, but so what? Of course @siebz0r is correct and of course you shouldn't start with 800 pound squats, but tens of thousands of satisfied customers didn't do the 'correct way' so don't worry and welcome to the club!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T08:15:27.017" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8256" CreationDate="2012-10-01T09:58:18.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a preparation necessary for gym workouts. The way I see gyms are you can get guidance and use their weights and machines. There are a lot of people who go to a gym to get started and why not, in my opinion it's an excellent way to start. If you want to get 'back in shape' you can do some workouts at home or just go to the gym. I think a general rule stands; don't force things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert on it, so correct me if I'm wrong. If you're trying to build mass you can adjust your diet to contain more protein (eat stuff like bananas, spaghetti, etc.) you can also try protein shakes (I'm not a fan of these). If you work out with weights you'll automatically gain weight, as muscles weigh more than fat. Start with whatever feels good, weights, push-ups, sit-ups etc. There is no &quot;required&quot; exercise. If you choose to lift weights, I'd start with 3 sets of 10-15 lifts. The weight depends on whatever suits you (in my gym they recommend starting with 6-8KG dumbbells and build up from there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4357" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T09:58:18.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8361" CreationDate="2012-10-01T12:57:40.973" Score="5" ViewCount="746" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any information on what is considered a healthy (and sustainable) weight and body fat % loss? How many pounds/bf% for each week can I compare my results against so that I know I'm making good progress and that the loss I'm experiencing is sustainable and long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T13:29:30.270" Title="What is considered a healthy weight loss and body fat decrease?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8254" CreationDate="2012-10-01T15:32:39.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I'll write an answer out of my comment to be able to explain a bit further, because you didn't rule it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe your legs are unevenly long, this is a pretty common problem. No ones legs are equally long, but for the most people the difference is too small to be noticed. I never noticed it for myself, neither did my father who is a physician, and I never had problems with it when I was young. Maybe it developed during puberty.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I was 19 however during medical examination for medical service – serving was mandatory in Germany back then – the physician told me that my legs were differing in length, with the right leg about 1cm shorter. Up until to that moment I had never noticed this and I really didn't care about it afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some, maybe three years ago, I started to feel pain in my pelvis and my the adductors in the right leg. It wasn't a really stinging pain but just annoying, so I ignored it for a long time. This year after I started being more active and feared that I could suffer long term damage and not be able to continue my sports, I finally decided to visit a Sports Medicine Doctor. He was not able to confirm the difference in my legs any more, because my pelvis has wrangled itself to even the shorter leg out. This causes higher stress on the tendons and especially the points where the muscles are connected to the bones, as these spots get twisted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no good way I know of to diagnose it yourself as the pelvic might have adapted to the problem. I never really experienced the pain to worsen after any cardio activity (cycling, swimming, running), it was just &lt;em&gt;there&lt;/em&gt; before and afterwards. But I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; that one squatting session I did two weeks ago (without weights) however lead to increased pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can exclude all other factors, you might see a professional to have this condition checked. I have no idea who, other than a Sports MD is fit to diagnose this, Physiotherapists might be able, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T15:32:39.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8262" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-01T20:11:02.187" Score="7" ViewCount="3360" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly doing bodyweight exercises at home and have noticed that I can do most exercises better after a short warm up session. At the moment my warm up consists simply trying to get the muscles I want to work out in motion a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read a bit about dynamic stretching here on fitness.SE and wonder if it might be used as a warm up. I am not interested in doing a whole stretching session before the workout, just use some of the movements, but with less repetitions, as a warm up to have at least some structure in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea to make use of dynamic stretching as a warm up or is a warm up for body weight exercises not required at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T21:39:43.850" Title="Dynamic stretching as warm up" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8262" CreationDate="2012-10-01T20:34:11.217" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dynamic exercises are commonly used for warm-ups. Tom Kurz recommends rotating the joints, jogging or otherwise getting the heart rate up for five minutes, then dynamic stretches of the legs, arms, and trunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you need it for bodyweight exercise is another question. I feel better with a warm-up regardless of the content of the workout. The point of dynamic stretches is to allow the body to safely and fully realize its full range of motion. That seems necessary for many types of workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T20:34:11.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8254" CreationDate="2012-10-01T20:45:18.520" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://spartascience.blogspot.ca/2010/09/what-is-your-dominant-leg.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; on lateral dominance. Apparently the right leg in most people is more coordinated (this shouldn't be of surprise to most people) but the surprising bit is that the left leg is stronger for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the majority of studies support that your left leg is the side of choice for strength or balancing needs, whether it be the plant foot before kicking, the takeoff foot for jumping, or the front leg of a baseball swing to stop rotation. Just reflect on how many more soccer players prefer to kick right footed or baseball players choose to hit right handed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this left leg is used for stability, the right leg supports more fine motor coordination, such as providing the right “touch” when striking a soccer ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could explain why you're feeling it in your right leg more - your left leg is probably naturally stronger and makes strength adaptations quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-10-01T20:45:18.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2012-10-02T14:28:47.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a little confused when you say that when running 3-4 times per week, you find it hard to increase the distance, yet when running 2x per week you can increase the distance 1km per fortnight (2 weeks)? That 1km is less than a mile, and should be able to be added each week, not each fortnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend going back to 3-4 runs per week, and add distance weekly. The structure would be something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 1 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 - 4 miles &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 - 3 miles* &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 - 4 miles &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 4 - 8 miles**&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is actually more mileage than your current week of 16 miles. Put rest days in between each of your run days. On the * day, make that a harder, faster run. On the ** distance day, make sure that about 5-10 minutes of the run are 30 seconds at race pace, 30 seconds recovery, or 1 min race pace, 1 min recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 - 6 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 - 9 miles**&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 - 4 miles*&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, slightly more than your current 16 mile week, add rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the progression is, at the end of each week add one mile a week to your longer runs, and every other week add a mile to one of your shorter runs. That should get you to right around 20-21 miles for your longer runs a couple of weeks out from your marathon, and safely build up your overall mileage at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T14:28:47.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8262" CreationDate="2012-10-02T15:16:05.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There has always been a debate about Dynamic vs. Static stretching, and when the right time for use of both are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, two hours before my football games, I tend to use dynamic stretching before static stretching. The reason behind this is that you want to activate and get blood pumping through your system before any static stretching is to be done later on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, when it comes to lifting, I suggest Dynamic warm ups before the workout and then Static stretches post-workout to help with the healing process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4338" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T15:16:05.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8271" CreationDate="2012-10-02T16:33:14.043" Score="2" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've made some major changes as to what I cook within the kitchen, such as using Coconut Oil, substituting in sweet potatoes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've, as of so far, haven't seen much improvement/visibility in my lower abs and obliques.  Even though trimming body fat is essential to visibility, how can I make these certain abs stand out? I'm an active sprinter who also spends 20 minutes a day toning my abs with various exercises, including P90X ab-ripper and weighted workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions in the gym or food wise to make them really stand out? (By food, I mean food I should be consuming more of and food that I might not know has a surprising volume of fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4338" LastEditorUserId="4338" LastEditDate="2012-10-02T18:47:22.790" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T23:15:55.700" Title="Abs are built in the kitchen, but what about obliques and lower abs?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8279" CreationDate="2012-10-02T16:39:36.053" Score="5" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I carry a lot of water on my bike, when I cycle. A camelback with a 3liter reservoir and 2 bottles of 0.7liters.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When running dehydration is not yet an issue, as I run half an hour maximum at the moment, but might become one in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was on a race this summer, about 100km, a buddy of mine only drank half of his 0.7liter bottle while I nearly emptied all of my resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like to drink a lot, but carrying the camelback or not will probably make a difference when biking. Is there an efficient way to cut down on my hydration needs and get my body used to drinking less while racing and to run longer without drinking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T16:33:25.323" Title="Reduce water consumption during race" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;racing&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-02T16:46:51.757" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Condition:&lt;/b&gt; After a twenty minute workout consisting of walking only (Week 1, Day 3 listed &lt;a href=&quot;http://sciencebasedrunning.com/2011/08/noakes-on-starting-out-in-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) my arm muscles felt unusually fatigued but not sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Question:&lt;/b&gt; What may be the specific problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I suspect this may be due to some dietary (nutritional) deficiency rather than direct physical exertion, since I didn't exercise my arms or upper-body region during the workout.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Follow-up information and question:&lt;/strong&gt; I've faced this problem for some time now. I used to run moderately for some period some time ago, but gave up because my muscles were becoming very fatigued with only modest exertion. - If possible, may an experienced runner provide some feedback on what specifically might be the reason(s)? And how to address this properly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2389" LastEditorUserId="2389" LastEditDate="2012-10-02T16:53:57.693" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T17:48:19.673" Title="An issue with muscle fatigue without exertion" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8268" CreationDate="2012-10-02T16:51:49.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abs are actually built in the gym, to SEE a 6-pack you need to have a low body fat %:7 – 8% for men and 11 – 12% for women (estimates).  To get lean and to stay lean long term are two different endeavors and requires a lot of dedication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T16:51:49.117" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8280" CreationDate="2012-10-02T17:14:02.217" Score="9" ViewCount="1479" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, most obvious solution would be something like a drinkers helmet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t6DdL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But jokes aside, what is an effective way to carry water when training for a marathon or just casually running long-distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/671/3941&quot;&gt;comparable question&lt;/a&gt; has been asked, but I wonder if there are other ways than a camelback (I own two, but they are quite big) to carry water when running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T20:06:26.067" Title="How can runners carry water?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8270" CreationDate="2012-10-02T17:48:19.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only real answer to this is: see a doctor.  I'm not sure of your age or health, etc. (sounds like you're a college student) - but after a small amount of exercise you should NOT be feeling muscle fatigue.  See a Dr. and get a complete physical, blood work and nutritional assessment.  Don't take this feedback from your body lightly....it's a clear warning sign that something could be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T17:48:19.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8262" CreationDate="2012-10-02T18:28:05.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warm-ups are always good, both for the physical and the mental side of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give an example of a warm up exercise with some structure in it, I can recommend &quot;sun salutations&quot; from yoga. For the last couple years, I have used them as my standard warm-up tool for both body weight and other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T18:28:05.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8256" CreationDate="2012-10-02T18:58:04.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your a normal, young, healthy person, you probably don't need to do any particular routine to prepare for working out.  Most good workout programs will have you begin with weights light enough that you can handle them, and increase slowly over time.  With any new exercise, you'll experience &quot;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness&quot;, and it can be fairly intense for the first 3 or 4 times you workout, but you will eventually get to a point where it doesn't affect you as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for specific programs, you might want to consider either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; website, or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B006XJR5ZA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; (the eBook is only $10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are both fairly similar programs that use basic barbell exercises to build strength and mass.  Both are commonly discussed on this web site.  A third option is to hire a personal trainer (the most expensive option, if its available).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing, really, is to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2012-10-02T19:12:46.577" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T19:12:46.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8242" CreationDate="2012-10-02T21:42:04.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't do anything complex, I just try to eat as much fat as possible. Straight butter, several eggs with yolks, high fat yogurt, 6% if I have to settle, but 11% has been showing up more often in stores recently, quark if I'm in a country that sells it, a couple ounces whipping cream, fish oil... anything like that. That lets me last the whole day on one meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rehydrating, a canteen with boullion is nice, as is coconut water, but regular water works nicely too. Lean towards drinking less rather than more, drinking too much just makes you feel like you're going to puke while you're running. Plus, recent research is showing that most people over-hydrate, leading to hyponatremia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't spend much time running or training so I could fall under the beginner, but I've done full and half marathons without training for them, so it's something that works. My dad did the same thing for long distance runs in the army. Dean Karnazes eats similarly for when he runs as well, several pizzas loaded with as much as possible, that he'll eat while he's running. Beginner, intermediate, ultra-advanced - all the same idea for a runners diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat gives you a lot of energy in total, but it gets released slowly which is exactly what you need for running. On days that you're not running, eat however you need to to feel good - not fatigued, no aches, no problems with bowel movements, etc. That's going to be individual though, 7 billion diets for 7 billion people as Julie Daniluk would say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T21:42:04.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8272" CreationDate="2012-10-02T21:46:11.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would just get a smaller camelbak. Honestly, people drink more than they need. If you're running efficiently, you don't need that much hydration. If I'm running a marathon, I'll skip by most of the hydration stations, I don't think more than 500ml is really necessary (maybe 1L if you're larger and a profuse sweater).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T21:46:11.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8269" CreationDate="2012-10-02T21:51:38.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to say just ditch the camelbak and and one of the bottles and limit yourself to 700mL, but maybe your body actually needs more water. More likely though, you're just drinking more than you need (most people drink a lot more than they really need, thanks to Gatorade/Powerade marketing), so try exerting self control, and see if you can have yourself drinking less. To enforce that, maybe start your next race with the 3L camelbak and only one bottle. Then the next time only the camelbak, and after that, ditch it and go back to 2 bottles. Just slowly wean yourself of the habit of drinking that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T21:51:38.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8272" CreationDate="2012-10-02T22:22:04.233" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen camelbak-type packs (like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.camelbak.com/Military-Tactical/Packs/HydroBak.aspx&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;), bottleholders of various types (usually &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004KQBH48&quot;&gt;hand/arm holder&lt;/a&gt; or belt, like the one @michael linked to), or even runners carrying plastic water bottles by hand. Possibly the most comfortable solution is not to carry water, but to have someone else carry it for you - hydration stations at marathons come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best solution is highly subjective - some runners don't mind carrying things by hand, while others might find even a small camelbak to be chafing/uncomfortable. In the end, the runner is constrained by the amount of water that he/she wants to carry, personal comfort, and the amount of money that he/she is comfortable spending. The possibility of reuse for other activities like biking or camping can be a consideration in selecting a solution as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4370" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T22:22:04.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8272" CreationDate="2012-10-02T23:52:03.907" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nathansports.com/&quot;&gt;Nathan&lt;/a&gt; makes some amazing hydration products that are specialized for distance running.  I found the &lt;a href=&quot;http://nathansports.com/our-products/hydrationnutrition/race-vests/minimist&quot;&gt;Minimist&lt;/a&gt; to be the best of their camleback-like products.  It only weight 6.5 oz when dry, holds 50oz of liquid and has enough pockets for fuel for a 4 hour run.  The cavity that holds the bladder is a bit bigger than the bladder and you can use that space to put extra fuel in it.  The pocket in the front is also big enough to slip an iphone into it if you like music.  I've used this on many runs and found it to be the best over my camelbacks.  It does not hang very much on your shoulders as the weight is distributed through the use of the side straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also make some of the water-bottle holders as well. If you are going to carry a water bottle, I reco getting one that has a least a small pocket on it. This will allow you to carry a gel or a small amount of fuel as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-10-02T23:52:03.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-03T00:40:14.280" Score="12" ViewCount="17458" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be on fitness, sports or just plain daily life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything I hear and know about ectomorphs is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They struggle to gain weight (be it fat or muscle) and they tend to lose the gains easily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They have small bones, putting them on the &quot;weak side&quot; of the spectrum and at a higher risk of ostheoporosis. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They tend to have low fat levels, so it's harder for their body to regulate its temperature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems that people with that body type (including me) &quot;lost the game&quot; in the gene pool and are screwed for life. Can anybody shine a light on me and tell me if there's any good thing of being like this?! :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4371" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-03T19:35:35.923" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T17:20:23.567" Title="Are there any advantages of being an ectomorph?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8285" CreationDate="2012-10-03T01:39:23.487" Score="3" ViewCount="1027" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I use something similar to the exercise bike shown below. When I used to do track, my friends told me while exercising on this machine, to keep a straight back (maybe even a little leaned back), instead of being hunched over (resting your arms/hands on the arm bars). There reason behind this was that staying straight up allows better work on the quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this statement true at all? I've been using this technique and I find it irritating because I end up sliding forward due to the position/angle of the seat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q3n6r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Exercise Bike&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4338" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T03:10:46.590" Title="Correct position on an upright exercise bike?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8284" CreationDate="2012-10-03T03:10:46.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fine to lean over. Depending on other factors, you may lose a few watts of power if you are at an extreme lean, but since you aren't racing or anything like that, it's pretty much a non factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is going to be important is your seat height, and to some extent the position of the knees over the pedals. When you have the pedal at the very bottom of the pedal stroke, with your foot flat you should have some bend in the knee. Too straight then you have to rock your hips or carry your heels really high, and if it's too low you place stress on the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same with the forward back of the seat, when you are at the bottom of the stroke again, your knee should not be more forward than your toes, or behind the spindle in the pedal. Too much one way or the other also places stress on the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And tell your friends to take a look at any bike race, and see how many of them are sitting as upright as possible (When not eating or taking a leak).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T03:10:46.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8248" CreationDate="2012-10-03T05:45:55.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because body building isn't an exact science like bridge building (and even that has gone horribly wrong more than once), you're going to have to keep a food diary and a workout diary. The food diary tracks calories, protein, (and slip ups) and your weight. The workout diary tracks your strength and work capacity and aerobics. You can start with WebMD calculators for BMI and minimum calorie intake to maintain weight and a good workout program emphasizing big lifts. But these are only starting points. You need real data to determine what works - and remember that things will change as you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T05:45:55.990" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8292" CreationDate="2012-10-03T10:10:26.873" Score="2" ViewCount="3725" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing some basic workout i.e. push-ups for approximately, last 9 months. I have gained 7 kilograms during that period. I also joined a gym 5 months ago but due to some circumstances I couldn't continue, but I did not stop doing push-ups at home. I want to gain more weight, muscle and strength. What should I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider myself a beginner because I have a very little knowledge of workout practices and all those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently my push-ups workout includes 5 sets of 30 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4058" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T08:59:15.040" Title="Best practice for beginners to gain weight" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2012-10-05T23:55:41.343" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2012-10-03T11:18:55.690" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chris made a very good comment on your question. I have the same body structure like yours is. I found some advantages of being an ectomorph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can eat whatever you want; till it's just a matter of increasing fat on your body due to your eating habbits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will never have to struggle to lose weiht.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have fewer chances of getting affected by those problems that mostly arise due to obesity. (As It's said).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you can gain weight if you are consuming proper nutritions. Gaining weight is not mission impossible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accept yourself as you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4058" LastEditorUserId="4058" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T04:54:05.017" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T04:54:05.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1717" CreationDate="2012-10-03T14:56:55.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Roughly 55-80% of bodyweight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dick Moss has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Push-ups--How-Much-Weight-Are-You-Lifting-/486282&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this overview on how much weight we are lifting in push-ups&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;citing&quot; an unnamed study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies have been conducted in which push-ups were performed on force plates. They indicated the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Women performing traditional push-ups lift the equivalent of 71% of their body weight. For example, a 120 pound woman lifts about 85 pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Men performing traditional push-ups lift the equivalent of 77% of their body weight. Thus, a 150 pound man lifts about 115 pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Modified push-ups, performed with the knees on the ground rather than the feet, reduce the amount of weight lifted. Women lift the equivalent of 55% of their body weight, while men left about 56%. So a 120 pound woman lifts about 66 pounds and a 150 pound man lifts about 84 pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He notes that the difference between the sexes is really just a function of body mass distribution between the upper and lower body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These percentages are only averages, but there is a reason for the difference between males and females. Men usually lift more of their total body weight during push-ups than women because they tend to have more bulk in their chest and shoulders. As a result, more of their weight lies directly over the arms when performing pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In contrast, women tend to have a lower center of gravity, with their weight centered around the hips and thighs. Since this weight is located below the position of the arms, less force is required to lift from a pushup position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, this varies widely, depending upon the individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Changes in resistance through the range of motion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important, when trying this at home, to test both the top &lt;em&gt;and the bottom&lt;/em&gt; of the push-up position, since the change in angle of course affects how much resistance is applied. Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20179649&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Suprak, Dawes, and Stephenson 2011&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In both the traditional and modified push-ups, subjects supported less weight in the up vs. the down position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-03T15:02:33.800" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T15:02:33.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8288" CreationDate="2012-10-03T15:46:37.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people believe that working out is the only way to gain weight. This isn't true. While working out in general is effective for gaining muscle, eating is probably gonna be about 75% of what will help you gain weight. Assuming you're an ectomorph, you're going to want to eat loads of calories. the general rule of thumb I found is your weight (in lbs) * 20 = your daily  calorie intake. Make sure you are eating healthy fats and getting as much protein as you can (about 40% of the calories should be protein).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as exercises at home, do some military pushups, pullups if you have a bar, and squats. That should get you some good base muscle. Just keep going until failure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4377" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T15:46:37.417" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2012-10-03T18:39:07.740" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ectomorphs automatically win when it comes to long distance running and rock climbing, as well as any other sport where being light is an advantage. Being unable to gain weight easily means strength gains are almost entirely without a matching weight gain. That's great if you want to keep your own weight low while getting stronger. Also, a lot of designers only make clothes for ectomorphs, if you're fashion conscious that's an advantage too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T18:39:07.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2012-10-03T18:54:15.047" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the english wikipedia is pested by bad references (mostly third class fitness sites that oversimplify the whole thing)  I will cite from the German &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6rperbautyp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; (with translation by me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diese Idee ist heute medizinisch widerlegt. Das Konzept taucht heute fast ausschließlich im Fitness-Bereich auf, um ein dem Körpertyp angepasstes Trainingsprogramm zu erstellen. Die Begriffe und umsomehr die dahinterstehende Theorie sind aus heutiger Sicht mehr als fragwürdig; wissenschaftlich relevant sind sie nicht.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This idea is medically refuted nowadays. The concept only comes up with fitness relation to create a training program customized to the body type. The term and even more the theory behind it are more than questionable from a present-day perspective; they are not scientifically relevant.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In der Humanbiologie allerdings werden die Körperbautypen zur Beschreibung des individuellen morphologisch-anatomischen Aufbaus eines Menschen genutzt. Die Bestimmung des Typs erfolgt dabei über die Messung der Breite der großen Gelenke (z.B. Knie) und Einsetzung in eine Formel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In human biology, however, these body types are used to describe the individual morpologic-anatomic structure of an individual. The typing is done by measuring the size of the big joints (eg knee) and inserting them into a formula.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as Moses commented, these types are still in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Die Einschätzung nach Körperbautyp wird insbesondere in der Sportmedizin angewandt, um ein angepasstes Trainingsprogramm zu erstellen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;These classifications by body type are used especially in sports medicine to create a personal training plan.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But however:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Die heute gebräuchlichste Form der Somatotypbestimmung geht auf Heart und Carter &lt;em&gt;A Modified Somatype Method&lt;/em&gt; von 1967 zurück [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The method used today dates back to Heart and Carters&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.1330270108/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A Modified Somatype Method&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;from 1967&lt;/em&gt; [...] [link included by me]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I had to completely rewrite my answer, my main point is still valid. But I have to modify it a bit:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;What most of the fitness sites tell you is still crap. They give you a checklist and you have to check for certain features, and then they put you inside one class and make you believe that you have all of those features that are tied with it, this a bad oversimplification in my eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which features are measured today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Körperhöhe, Körpergewicht, Hautdickenmessung an vier Punkten, zwei Umfangsmessungen an Extremitäten und zwei Knochenbreitenbestimmungen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height, weight, skin thickness at four points, two circumference measurements on limbs, two bone width measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the most significant part is that there are not only the three extreme types but far more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Die meisten Menschen [weisen] Merkmale aller drei Typen auf. Man unterscheidet in der Sheldonschen Typologie etwa achtzig Untergruppen. Die Fettanspeicherung, der Muskelaufbau und der Skelettbau sind dabei eng korreliert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Most people show signs of all three types. Sheldons typologie know around eighty subgroups. Fat-storing, muscle development and skeletal structure correlate closely.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what can you learn from this?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You are probably not an extreme type, but even if you are a complete ectomorph by the definition of sports medicine, you wont gather muscle mass as fast as other people but you will excel in endurance activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-10-04T20:32:01.987" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-03T19:16:30.030" Score="5" ViewCount="1360" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a lot of remarks in different places about mobility work to help you to achieve the full range of motion in your lifts.  Are there general mobility workouts that one can do to help them with their lifts if you are doing the Strong Lifts program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T15:33:01.923" Title="General mobility help for Strong Lifts?" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8295" CreationDate="2012-10-03T20:20:15.623" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case you have not seen them, there are three sites on the StrongLifts page itself dedicated to increasing mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot;&gt;Shoulder dislocations&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-shoulder-flexibility-how-to/&quot;&gt;Shoulder pec stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-posture-flexibility-how-to/&quot;&gt;Thoracic Extension on roller&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of those I have only been doing the shoulder dislocations. Contrary to what the author of stronglifts says I would not recommend using a flexible band. This only makes it harder to keep your arms parallel to each other. Of course I didn't come up with that itself, it's what the coach in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoGtrEcsqPQ&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T20:20:15.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8297" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-10-03T21:49:32.340" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-10-03T21:49:32.340" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T21:49:32.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8298" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-10-03T21:49:32.340" Score="0" Body="Exercise balls are soft air filled balls. They are often referred to as swiss balls but should not be confused with medicine balls. Questions are either about the balls itself or different exercises in which the balls are used." OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-03T21:50:02.227" LastActivityDate="2012-10-03T21:50:02.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-04T16:36:57.747" Score="7" ViewCount="2473" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to get through a whole round of P90x for just about the entire summer with out a lot of luck. I always feel very fatigued and tired during my workout. While, I'm not following the P90x diet plan verbatim I do eat very healthy, and get a good amount of protein in my diet. I also only have 11%-12% body fat according to my electronic scale. So I'm not extremely focused on fat loss, and thus haven't cut carbs completely out of my diet like the program recommends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I remembered when I was in highshool a good friend of mine used to swear by creatine. I did some research online, and decided to try it. I'm on day 3 of a loading phase, and all I can say is wow it makes a huge difference for me. I feel much more explosive, and can lift more weight with many of the exercises. When I use to be reaching for the pause button I now find my self already with a new set of weights ready to go for the next exercise. After a work out I use to want to crash on the couch, but now I feel like I could go for a run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, will this effect wear off as I use it more?&lt;/strong&gt; Next week when I finish the loading phase, and switch to the regular dosage, will the effect go away or not be as obvious?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second, &lt;strong&gt;what does this say about my body?&lt;/strong&gt; As I understand it Creatine does not affect everyone to the same degree correct? Are there people out there that don't notice the same effects that I'm noticing? Is that because those people already have high levels of Creatine naturally in their system? Does my experience say something about my genetics, diet, or something else about my body?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T08:24:47.747" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T16:39:29.427" Title="Do the effects of creatine wear off as you are using it?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8299" CreationDate="2012-10-04T17:38:52.867" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creatine &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfit.ca/foods_high_in_creatine.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;naturally exists in animal protein sources&lt;/a&gt;, so it will be effective as long as you are creatine deficient.  The perceived benefit of creatine will lessen as you reach the levels your body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary of points from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/creatine-side-effects-what-it-what-it-does&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine: Side Effects, What it is, What it does&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will gain weight.  Initially 2-4lbs water weight, potentially muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle increases only happen if you exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is very hydroscopic--make sure you drink plenty of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has more pronounced results for vegetarians due to the lack of red meat in their diets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not everyone responds to creatine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is not recommended for people under 18--due mainly to the lack of studies with people in that demographic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;'Save money and buy creatine powder and [mix it with] fruit juice,' Kerksick says.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-10-08T16:39:29.427" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T16:39:29.427" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6052" CreationDate="2012-10-04T23:53:38.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we want to grow muscle, we need to give it a reason to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This reason (ie the stimulus) can be a 185 lb bench press or a 400 lb bench press - it all depends on the person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the stimulus is not enough, we will not grow. If it is too much, we will not grow either. If it is just right, however, and we allow for proper recovery (sleep + nutrients), we will grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure you are challenging yourself but no over doing it.&lt;/strong&gt; When in doubt, keep the gas tank filled to 10-20%. Leave the gym stimulated; not annihilated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we can be giving our body the right stimulus (ie right amount of training volume) but still not be growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What's up with that?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, exercise is stressful for the body. And depending on our overall stress load, it can be good or bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we sleep 5 hours, spend the day drinking coffee, and then decide to do a 1.5 hr training session - this is BAD. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is just too much stress for our body to develop a positive adaption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most cases, when people are not building muscle as fast as they want, &lt;strong&gt;they need to learn to manage all the stress outside the weight room so that body can focus on adapting to that one stressor (ie muscle damage).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So how to quiet all the other stress?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sleep enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat enough calories, sodium, and carbs, and dont restrict any macronutrients&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make sure you are not deficient in vitamin/minerals ( most people, especially athletes, are deficient in zinc and magnesium)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;manage psychological stress and avoid confrontational people&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stay away from poisonous things (allergies)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RECAP:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Provide an acute stressor (exercise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Cut down on all chronic stressors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Sit back and grow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2396" LastActivityDate="2012-10-04T23:53:38.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8313" CreationDate="2012-10-05T06:09:47.463" Score="2" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;Christian Thibadeau ( in the book &quot;Black book of training secrets&quot; ) recommends that people who have fast twitch muscle fibers should do more heavier weights with less reps to get the maximum gains. Does this really  matter ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my own personal experience when I recently moved over to the 'Starting strength' program(Heavy weights, less reps) I made tremendous gains. Earlier I had spent years on the 8-12 rep range which body builders follow without much gains. Since I benefited from the lower rep range Christian says that I am fast twitch dominant and will not benefit from more reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However now I feel that even though I have a lot of muscle mass, my muscles lack the hardness that most body builders demonstrate. A friend of mine recommended me to try the 'German Volume training' program to improve muscle shape and hardness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does any one have experience with GVT and thinks that I might benefit even if I am fast twitch dominant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="1796" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T06:26:33.557" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T14:59:20.653" Title="Does Muscle Fiber type matter?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-05T13:27:30.393" Score="4" ViewCount="3543" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been googling for hours and I'm still not sure how to resolve this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defining the problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;many articles on the web are written for heavy people with relatively high body fat percentage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the articles are inconclusive on how much protein should a person consume per 1 meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the amount of protein per 1 meal times number of meals doesn't equal the recommended value for low LBM people&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Putting down the exact values&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my exact total body weight is 63 kg (134 lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my body fat percentage is around 6%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my lean body mass (LBS) is 57 kg (126 lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The photo of me with the values stated above, provided for better understanding of the situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://store.rimmer.sk/IMG_0308.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://store.rimmer.sk/IMG_0308.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I do and what this question is and isn't about&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I lift weights 5 times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In this question, I want to discuss protein and &lt;strong&gt;protein only&lt;/strong&gt;. The consumption of carbohydrates and/or fats should be completely irrelevant to this thread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; want to gain fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The recommended rules&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended rule no. 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;One needs to consume &lt;strong&gt;20 grams&lt;/strong&gt; of protein per &lt;strong&gt;one meal&lt;/strong&gt; for the body to start repairing muscle tissue.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended rule no. 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One needs to consume &lt;strong&gt;25 grams&lt;/strong&gt; of protein per &lt;strong&gt;one meal&lt;/strong&gt; for the body to start repairing muscle tissue.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended rule no 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; consume more than &lt;strong&gt;30 grams&lt;/strong&gt; of protein per &lt;strong&gt;one meal&lt;/strong&gt;, as the body cannot make use of more and will store the rest into fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended rule no. 4:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The total amount of protein consumed per day should be 2 times your body weight in kg.&quot; (this number varies)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended rule no. 5:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Eat at least 6 meals a day.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The problem arising from the rules above&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say that consuming 20 grams of protein per 1 meal is enough. If we multiply it by 6 meals a day, that makes it 120 grams of protein per day, which is only a bit more than what one of the rules say: 2 times 57 (LMS in kg) = 114 grams of protein per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the rule about consuming 20 grams of protein per 1 meal is wrong and it should be 25 grams per 1 meal, it would make it 25 x 6 = 150 grams of protein per day, which is a lot more what I should consume. If the rule is correct at all, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is the rule correct? Should I consume &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; 114 grams of protein per day? That seems like quite a low number to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone shed a light on this once and for all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="805" LastEditorUserId="805" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T14:03:55.760" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T16:30:32.883" Title="How much protein and how often should I consume if my LBM is very low?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8304" CreationDate="2012-10-05T14:42:10.783" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will respect your wishes to talk &quot;only about protein&quot;, but that is simply a repetition of a lot of the fallacies and myths that have grown up around the ingestion of protein. Protein is simply a macro nutrient, and needs to be consumed in balance with other macronutrients. All of the &quot;rules&quot; you state about no more than 30 grams of protein (Which is only 120 calories) at a meal are pretty much bunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how much protein do you need? RDA in the US states for adults, .8 grams per kilo of bodyweight. So for you, that would be 50 grams per day. For exercising adults, the RDA seems to think that it makes no difference, although they recommend higher protein intake for infants/children who ARE growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some studies to take a look at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955286397000077&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Peter Lemon review&lt;/a&gt; This review of studies suggests an intake of 1.6 - 1.7 grams/kg per day, and that more doesn't really have an impact, and suggests there is a &quot;ceiling effect&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/73/2/767.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another Lemon study&lt;/a&gt; - Suggests that among novice weightlifters, 2x the RDA (or 1.6g) is beneficial, but more isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/64/1/187.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Protein and Nitrogen balance&lt;/a&gt; - Suggests that maintenance protein for weightlifters is not that much more than sedentary individuals (Maintenance, not growth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My nutritional classes have usually gone with 1.5 to 2g per kg of body mass as a protein intake (For athletes, not sedentary population), which seems to fit in line with the above studies, and as part of a balanced diet across the board. There are a couple of studies that I have seen that suggest that intense weightlifting requires intakes in the 2-2.5g/kg range. I have not seen anything to suggest that a smaller framed person is going to have different protein requirements when scaled to a larger diet, it's still a function of grams/kg. They aren't written for &quot;bigger, fatter, people&quot;, they are written as a result of studies, and apply to just about anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that being said, every person is an individual, and you need to find where your own balance is, but I think that if you start with around 1.5 g/kg of intake and experiment from there you will find where your &quot;sweet spot&quot; is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the &quot;per meal&quot;, just make sure that you have some high quality protein with almost every full meal, and that you ingest some sort of protein/carbohydrate mix soon after a workout. For endurance athletes, refueling with a 3:1 carbohydrate/protein ratio (oddly enough, which is the exact ratio in milk) is ideal, you may not need that for weightlifting recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-10-05T16:30:32.883" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T16:30:32.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1934" CreationDate="2012-10-05T16:48:02.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that many people who consider themselves hardgainers have simply not tried eating and lifting hard enough. However, I don't hold this belief because of conservation of energy for the reasons michael's answer lays out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I considered myself a hardgainer until I tried Starting Strength with (almost) a gallon of milk a day. The solution to not gaining weight is not to become &lt;em&gt;sedentary&lt;/em&gt; and eat more. It's to lift heavy, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; rest hard, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; eat more than you think yourself capable. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gain-weight-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Sisson notes&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A hardgainer is often someone who doesn’t eat enough. Sure, genes play a role, but you can ultimately have a significant say in how those genes rebuild you. To a point. Eat more and lift harder to grab the reins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my limited personal experience, so-called hardgainers who get their diet, digestion, stress and heavy lifting in order tend to gain weight. Yes, not lifting, eating poorly, not sleeping, and digestive issues can derail that method. Yes, our bodies have a tendency to stay as they are. But I think many so-called &quot;hardgainers&quot; would find substantial success from dedicated eating and lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T16:48:02.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1934" CreationDate="2012-10-05T20:36:14.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, completely untrue. Anyone with short muscle bellies throughout their body will be a hardgainer no matter what they eat or what they do - your muscles can never gain more girth than they have length, as it would be impossible for them to contract otherwise. If you have universally short muscle bellies, the only two possible outcomes of eating a lot are remaining skinny as a rail or getting fat, but it will never lead to significantly increased muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, muscle belly length isn't uniform throughout the body, so chances are everyone has some muscles with longer bellies that can be worked on to gain some extra size. The outcome usually won't be that aesthetically pleasing however - Ronnie Coleman is a good inverse example, he has generally large muscle bellies except for his biceps, which look quite silly compared to everything else. It would be the same if you have mostly short muscle bellies with one set of muscles with medium or long muscle bellies and looking comically large compared to the rest of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're someone like that, your best option is to just train for strength and endurance, and use the fact that you won't gain much bodyweight to perform well in sports that benefit from strength but contraindicate weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T20:36:14.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8262" CreationDate="2012-10-05T21:39:43.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dynamic warm-up takes the muscles and joints thru their available ranges. It lubricates soft tissues and joints, increases circulation to the muscles, increases the heart rate and primes the nervous system. So a dynamic warm-up before bodyweight exercises helps to reduce injury by preparing the body to accept the load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video demonstrates a &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/E7ghNKOH9To&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full body dynamic warm-up&lt;/a&gt; that addresses joint motion and functional movement patterns.  It includes upper and lower extremeties as well as the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-10-05T21:39:43.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6649" CreationDate="2012-10-06T02:11:15.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stride rate is not necessarily optimal at 180 strides per minute.  If you want to run like Usain Bolt, try 257 strides per minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this video:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3gKkq6jjss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3gKkq6jjss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here Usain Bolt takes 41 strides in 9.58 seconds.&#xA;This equates to 257 strides per minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore I would assume that stride rate would depend on one's goals for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T02:11:15.853" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7161" CreationDate="2012-10-06T02:52:33.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Your current plan will not work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dancing several times a week plus overeating will not produce the kind of weight gain you want. It probably won't produce any weight gain at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lift and eat (and dance)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get bigger, then &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lift weights, eat lots, and prioritize quality mass gain&lt;/a&gt;. Salsa can be part of it, but it can't be all of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I'd recommend lifting heavy at least twice a week and eating enormously immediately after every dance session and workout. Breakfast and lunch should be substantial too, but be careful of eating too close to workouts or dance sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foods would ideally include grass-fed &amp;amp; grass-finished beef, pastured pork, farm eggs and chicken, omega-3 rich seafood, vegetables, roots, tubers, greens, as much dairy as you can handle, and good fats like avocado, olive oil, and coconut oil. If you handle it well, rice, corn, quinoa and other grains can add a lot of calories as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Further reading&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be good to fully understand the depth and complexity of how nutrition affects changes in body fat and body mass. A calorie is not a calorie, and our bodies do not function as calories-in, calories-out machines. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/3624/1771&quot;&gt;This question&lt;/a&gt; has some informative answers on the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T02:52:33.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8295" CreationDate="2012-10-06T09:02:05.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found these exercises helpful for increasing mobility, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBlPQOUl1zw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MAQ complex&lt;/a&gt;. &#xA;Besides helping mobilty, they also work as warm-up exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-06T15:33:01.923" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T15:33:01.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-06T14:42:44.673" Score="4" ViewCount="1042" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an avid runner and like so many other runners, I like to get a measurement or number for my current fitness. I use the measurements for two purposes: to see how the different types of exercises affects the fitness and to see how much I can challenge myself for a specific race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how exactly can I measure fitness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last 4 years, I have used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/sporttracks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SportTracks&lt;/a&gt; and in particular the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/sporttracks/plugins/?p=training-load&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Training Load&lt;/a&gt; plugin to calculate CTL, ATL and Training Stress Balance and have used these numbers as a measurement for my current fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Historically, these numbers comes from work by Dr. Coggan and others (as described in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/what-is-the-performance-management-chart.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; by Hunter Allen) for use by cyclists and was later adapted for use by runners. Originally, CTL and ATL was based on a power meter (TSS - Training Stress Score), but for runners the concept of TRIMP (TRaining IMPulse) was used instead as it is rather difficult to directly measure the power used by a runner. As TRIMP is based on a simple accumulation of your heart-rate over the course of the run, it makes good sense as an alternative to TSS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But... I curious, and I wonder whether there are other similar (well-founded) numbers that can be used to calculate your fitness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I forgot: One such number is rTSS (running TSS) by Dr. Steve Macgregor, but it seems to be nearly impossibly to use for your daily runs as it requires many subjective numbers...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T16:09:03.667" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T09:52:47.107" Title="Alternatives to CTL, ATL and TRIMP for running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8302" CreationDate="2012-10-06T14:59:20.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very possible that your progress with the Starting Strength model has more to do with a focused approach rather than being predisposed to a certain rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength does only a few exercises, with very little variation from workout to workout. That sounds like a big change from your prior training. Maybe that's a major chunk of the new-found progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also the case that nearly everyone who hasn't done a basic compound progression does well on it. That's just how novice linear progressions work: focus on adding weight on a few heavy full-body exercises. The reps are kept moderately low, but that's only part of the difference. It's possible that once you've completed your novice progression (the last workouts of which, I warn you, should leave you brutally drained) you'll find that you do better with a lower rep range, such as doubles and triples. Or maybe the 8-12 range will suit you better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend against basing your perception of the types of muscle fibers you have on your progress with Starting Strength. Maybe you're fast-twitch dominant; maybe you aren't. This isn't the time or way to tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to muscle hardness, that's probably because if you're following the Starting Strength program properly, you're eating like a horse and adding some fat as well as muscle. Good. That means you won't look as &quot;hard&quot; or lean as a bodybuilder, because you're prioritizing size and strength at this stage. Later, you can cut weight and your muscles will again look &quot;hard&quot; once the fat is not obscuring them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not familiar with German volume training so cannot advise you on that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T14:59:20.653" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8332" CreationDate="2012-10-06T16:06:53.110" Score="6" ViewCount="5667" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you compare swimming and running speeds? For example, is swimming 100m in 60s comparable to running 1 km in four minutes in terms of effort or in terms the times in races (e.g. map percentiles of finish times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-09T19:07:29.913" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T19:07:29.913" Title="What are equivalent swimming and running speeds?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="409" CreationDate="2012-10-06T17:17:19.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running benefits from strength in the posterior chain, particularly the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. Lower body strength generally will help as well. Dumbbell squats, squat-jumps, lunges, and deadlifts, done as heavy as possible, would be ideal for this goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Power and speed development is also important. For that purpose, dumbbell cleans, swings, and snatches are called for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the interest of balance, it might be nice--but not required--to add in some overhead presses and dumbbell rows for the upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see any particular reason to do sit-ups for a 10k race, particularly if you're getting stronger in the abs from heavy lifting. I prefer planks. But they would probably be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-06T17:17:19.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4913" CreationDate="2012-10-07T01:26:59.507" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squatting actually helped me recover the normal use of my leg. I tore my ACL 10 years ago and suffered a failed autograft surgery where the surgeon cut out the middle 1/3 of my patella tendon and used that as the acl replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The surgery failed and my knee cap shifted out-of-place because of the cut petella tendon. After 10 years, I was suffering from patellar tendonitis. My involved leg was much weaker and had a drastically reduced range of motion which caused a poor gait and all kinds of foot and hip pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The surgeon told me to never squat, but I figured that my leg was so messed up anyway after 10 years I might as well try it. Well, the more I squatted the better the leg got. I started out with light weights for high reps to get the range of motion back. As soon as the range of motion returned, I started ATG front squatting and then slowly adding weight on the back squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, 3 years later, I just PRed 605 pounds on the back squat and 455 on the front squat. I also deadlift without any problems. I tried olympic cleaning for a couple of months, but that caused my knee to swell. That's my experience any way: squat and deadlift without an ACL, but don't do Olympic lifts. Two tips that helped me were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep all the weight on my heels at all times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squat very frequently, every day if possible and at least every other day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That really seamed to maintain the range of motion and keep the stroke efficient and safe so that when I fail on a set it's because my hams/glutes are spent and not because I'm shifting my weight oddly to baby my involved leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4397" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T09:03:07.847" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T09:03:07.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8312" CreationDate="2012-10-07T04:32:01.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another variable to track training (and life) stresses is heart rate variability (HRV).  It will go up as fitness improves, but will go down as life stresses and overtraining impact the ability of your body to cope/recover. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.philmaffetone.com/hrv.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is an article&lt;/a&gt; by Dr. Phil Maffetone that discusses it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I use the ithlete app mentioned to track my HRV score.  There may be other apps by now that work similarly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2877" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T11:43:21.843" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T11:43:21.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8323" CreationDate="2012-10-07T09:14:25.720" Score="7" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently going to the gym 3 times a week doing 2 alternating workouts. I am 31 years old and in a healthy condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During some weeks I feel the need to do more. I am sitting at home during the days I should spend resting but I have too much energy left and need to get out. This week I went to the gym a 4th time and I really enjoyed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that missing out on resting time is bad for muscle growth. That's why I wonder how I should deal with this situation. Is it OK to mix in extra sessions now and then or should I stick to my schedule no matter what? Should I rather do some extra cardio on rest days instead of an extra session weight lifting? Or are there muscles that are more tolerable than others? For example would it be OK to train my stomach muscles more often but not my biceps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T22:55:58.067" Title="Which activities are OK during resting days?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8312" CreationDate="2012-10-07T11:20:38.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First Beat (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/physiology/white-papers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;White papers&lt;/a&gt;) has a concept they call &quot;Training Effect&quot; that guides your training based on the history of the last couple of months and your last traning (besides weight, age, sex,..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In their system, fitness is measured through two parameters: Activity Class and Training level. Both are based on the activity for the last couple of months and they are used to determine how hard you should train for the next couple of weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been using it for the last 5 years and it has helped me to train at the right level of effort. My main issue before the using the system was that I trained too hard and got injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A drawback of the system is that it always tries to guide you to higher training levels, I would like it to have an explicit &quot;maintenance mood&quot; since I want to vary my training over the seasons (harder in the spring/summer, easier in the fall/winter). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T09:52:47.107" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T09:52:47.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8324" CreationDate="2012-10-07T13:21:45.077" Score="3" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 21 years old. My height is 6'5'' and I weigh 108kg or around 240 pounds. My build is OK apart from the stomach where the most of my body fat seems to be! I can start to feel that it's getting really unhealthy, and even though other parts of my body doesn't really show that I have a high body fat, my stomach (and the area around it) definitely shows it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you can probably guess, I want to get rid of it. So I will explain my weekly routine in detail, so that people are able to point out my bad areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all I AIM to work out 3 times a week, which sometimes decreases to 2 or even 1. When I'm working out I normally focus a lot on bicep tricep and chest. I do feel however that this is not the right workout in my situation. When ever I train my lower back or I run for 5-6 mins, my lower backs start aching, and I have a feeling that it's very weak. This may be due to the excessive fat that I'm carrying around my stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My eating routine is not the greatest. I eat a lot of bread, and even though it's wholemeal most of the time, I generally have 2/3 of my meals with at least 4-5 slices of bread per meal. I eat a lot of ready made sandwiches (purchased from my uni). On top of this I don't drink too much water. I have a can of redbull and a bottle of diet coke almost every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do realize many of the things I'm doing wrong, the problem for me is that I don't know what to replace them with. If I stop drinking/eating the stuff that I shouldn't I just replace it with nothing and end up lasting only 1-2 days without it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the long post, but can someone please help me out. I need advice on a weekly training schedule and some diet advice. I'm very interested in losing the fat around my stomach but also to build some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2012-11-03T08:04:36.363" Title="Guidance on my current diet and workout routine" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8320" CreationDate="2012-10-07T13:22:56.510" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing your goals, your training plan, the time you spend in the gym, the workload you put in the gym, it's going to be difficult to prescribe anything that will 100% work.  However, there are a few principles you can go by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set both short term and long term goals and work to beat them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Well rounded programs include strength, hypertrophy, conditioning, and mobility.  If you compete in a sport, then skill work also applies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's several types of strength: the ability to move objects over distance (force), the ability to move those objects quickly (power), and the ability to resist movement (isometric).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body needs enough rest to rebuild muscle, but can do a lot more work than you think.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you feel like you've been hit by a Mack truck, and your strength is going backwards, you need more rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are progressing toward your goals, keep doing what you are doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body is amazingly adaptive.  It can handle physical labor on top of a training program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are running a beginner program like Starting Strength, StrongLifts, or AFP, you will eventually hit a wall where it feels you are going backwards.  That's normal, and the programs all have ways of dealing with it to squeak out a few more quick gains.  After that, you will need a program that moves a bit slower and is more flexible.  More importantly, it allows you to do more things.  Also, if you are fresh into the beginner program, you will have a lot more nervous energy that you can burn off--but if it starts interfering with your strength portion, you might have to taper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Evaluate your program and goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take stock of what you are doing, what you want to do, and what is missing.  We all have goals.  They can be aesthetic like wanting to get big and ripped, or they can be more easily measured like I want to bench my body weight 5 times.  If you are getting stronger, but running out of breath going up stairs, you may want to consider conditioning work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body usually does fine with conditioning work even on off days.  Vary the intensity depending on how you feel.  30 minutes of low heart rate walking can do wonders for active recovery and getting rid of DOMS.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can always work on mobility, and there is always something that is a bit tighter than it needs to be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can work on accessory exercises like curls, chin-ups, etc.  However, if your main work is suffering because of this extra work, you may need to cut it out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to major muscle groups that can take a pounding and come back for more, any of your core muscles are game.  That includes your abs, back, obliques.  You could do planks every day without affecting your your main lifts--as long as you don't do them right before the main lifts.  If you are running Starting Strength or StrongLifts, they don't have any curls and they tell you that pull-ups are way better, blah, blah, blah.  As a heavy guy, I'm still working on being able to do one pull-up, and the strain it puts on my tendons is a bit much.  Adding curls once a week for 3 sets of 10 can help strengthen the tendons and balance your strength in your arms so you don't get elbow tendinitis (or you can correct it if you already have it).  That's just a tidbit I recently discovered, and it helps a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T13:22:56.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8322" CreationDate="2012-10-07T13:52:41.370" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I could easily suggest a lot of things to you, that might be right, but wont help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get rid of the coke and red bull, eat more vegetables and fruit, do more cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well actually all of this is what will help you, but you don't have to be following it strictly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink less coke, buy smaller bottles or just a half. Try to get used to drinking mineral water. I personally prefer to drink water or milk, even when I drink a juice I will fill it up with water, just because most stuff is far too sweet for me. But still on occasion I'll drink a bottle of coke when I feel like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put less on your bread, have you tried it without butter or sauce? Replace one of your meals with a low calorie meal, instead of 4 slices of bread, maybe just eat some raw veggies with a dip (some low fat variant). Fruit and vegetables have a lot less calories but fill you up. If you buy stuff, turn the packing around and try to get a feeling which items are caloric bombs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Although the method of calories isn't very accurate, it probably is the easiest one and works for a lot of people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating healthier should not be a sacrifice but make you feel good. Basically it is just looking for alternatives and replacement. If you dislike the taste of a low fat variant ask yourself: &quot;is this really disgusting or does it just taste different but not bad?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your time when eating, when you munch your food and stuff yourself quickly your body has no time to realize that it is no longer hungry. Thats why I love to eat complicated food, something that takes some time while eating. Like peeling something of each part of what you eat simply will make you eat slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Back pain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your back probably aches because you don't train it. Back and shoulder exercises are probably the most stupid looking ones and the ones were you wont immediately see an effect. If you don't feel comfortable doing them in the gym, you can easily do them at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS-oq6EPiPU&quot;&gt;planks and sideplanks&lt;/a&gt; for your core, you can do them every day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc6UVRS7PW4&quot;&gt;Superman&lt;/a&gt; is a great exercise, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCMNMHBY1Dk&amp;amp;t=36s&quot;&gt;YTWL&lt;/a&gt; is a shoulder exercise, even if you already train your shoulders at least give it a try once to see.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next exercise I'd recommend for training the back are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSquat.html&quot;&gt;squats&lt;/a&gt;. Do them slowly and try to focus on core work when you do them. I prefer to do them unweighted and deep, but in all variants they work out the core in addition to the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Plan&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weigh yourself every day and write it down. Preferably in some table calculation program (like Excel) to create a nice graph out of it. Doing this really motivated me, seeing results after some weeks was nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-07T13:58:33.110" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T13:58:33.110" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-07T16:06:28.937" Score="4" ViewCount="365" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have knee and hip problems, so I run intervals. This is just fine when I run outdoors, but it's starting to get cold in Chicago, and within the next month it's going to be dark both before and after work, so I'd like to buy a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen machines that have interval programs preset, like hill intervals or weight-loss intervals. I'm looking for one that will let me input my own intervals. Doesn't have to be fancy - I'm looking for a way to set it up as fast interval = 3 minutes @ x mph, slow interval = 1 minute @ y mph; repeat until I hit stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does a treadmill like this exist? I've tried to explain to the salespeople at my local sporting goods store what I mean by custom intervals, and they just keep pointing me to the machines with the preset workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2293" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T12:39:43.973" Title="Custom intervals on treadmills" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="960" CreationDate="2012-10-07T18:12:59.823" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try Stretching 5-10 minutes every day before you go to bed. at the end of the day, your muscles are loose so it will be easier to stretch before bed than after breakfast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4402" LastActivityDate="2012-10-07T18:12:59.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8325" CreationDate="2012-10-08T08:41:51.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried a cross-trainer or elliptical trainer? It causes less impact on the knees than a treadmill. I have weak knees and I really love this exercise. I do it for warming up before weighths, normally 10 minutes, but sometimes I enjoy it so much (together with music) that I just keep going :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4334" LastEditorUserId="4334" LastEditDate="2012-10-08T12:39:43.973" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T12:39:43.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8315" CreationDate="2012-10-08T11:58:27.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you start with the world records in a 1500m swim and 10km run you get these times for 100m and 1km&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;approx 26min 10km --&gt; 2:36min/km&#xA;approx 14:30 1500m --&gt; :58s/100m&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:58 vs 2:36 World record level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1:04 vs 2:51* % increase in the swim time based on the European Masters Record 1500m 35-39.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1:10 vs 3:00* based on a recent swedish swimmer 35-39 time for the 1500m, and that I know several 40+ runners that run under 35.  Also a % increase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**Masters ER 1500m men's 35-39 is 16:00 (1:04).  This weekend one of Swedens swimmers swam 1500m in 17:54 (1:11.6).  I think these two levels are possible.  Not everyone can swim at those speeds, so its not expected that everyone could run at that speed.  Maybe we can call this group the amatuerelite.  People who train and race for fun, but are not professional athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1:33 vs 4:00 might be a big jump, but this is based on a year OW river race 3km, and a series of 10km races in Sweden. Roughly 7% of those who swim the river race manage a time under 46:30 in 2012. The 10km races had less than 2% under 40min.  But this difference could be explained that swimming in 16C water is not for everyone, and in the higher number of participants in a 10km might walk parts, effecting the faster times percentages poorly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1:55 vs 5:00 (approx 28% of race finishers in the 3km river race &quot;Vansbro&quot; vs 20% 10km)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2:20 vs 6:00 (approx 63% Vansbro vs approx 60% 10km)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so sure one can say it's like comparing apples to oranges, but if you scale the results from enough swimming events and running events, I am sure you will find these values to be relative close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Open water races in warmer water will produce a higher precentage of breaststrokers that float through the race, were as warm flat races will also attrack more and more &quot;run/walkers&quot;.  so maybe one could start by removing the last 5-10% of the finishers time?!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4407" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T11:58:27.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2012-10-08T18:20:21.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started with a trainer a few months ago and starting out, I would get SO sore. Using a foam roller really helped (before and after).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find different workouts with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/equipment/id/14/equipment/foam-roll&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foam roller here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4409" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-09T12:07:32.497" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T12:07:32.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8315" CreationDate="2012-10-08T18:37:53.540" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A similar question was asked &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5260/power-while-swimming&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That question included data from the 2009 Ironman Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii. As you may know, the race consists of a 2.4-mile open water swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon. A version of the scatterplot matrix from that question is shown here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GAsFg.png&quot; alt=&quot;2009 Kona Ironman swim, bike, and run times&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scatterplot matrix above plots the swim, bike, run, and overall times (in hours) for each &lt;strong&gt;finisher&lt;/strong&gt;. Although not shown on the plot, the correlation between swim and run times is .588, which indicates that there is a moderately strong positive relationship between swim and run performance across individuals (though not as strong as the correlation between bike and run times). The plot shows that &quot;good&quot; runners can be mediocre swimmers, and vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if one is interested in the question &quot;what are equivalent run and swim paces &lt;em&gt;for those who both swim and run&lt;/em&gt;?&quot; one way to examine the data is to ask &quot;how does the median run pace compare to the median swim pace?&quot; Similarly, you could ask &quot;how does the 90th percentile run pace compare to the 90th percentile swim pace?&quot;, how does the 75th percentile run pace compare to the 75th percentile swim pace?&quot; and so on, comparing each percentile to each percentile. This is what the plot below does. It shows a quantile-quantile comparison of run and swim paces, normalized to minutes per mile for running and minutes per 100 yards for swimming. The dotted red lines show the 2nd, 10th, 25th, median, 75th, 90th, and 98th percentile times for run and swim pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sEbhH.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the linearity of the relationship between run and swim pacing. In fact, between about the 2nd percentile and the 98th percentile, the correlation coefficient between the two is above .99. The solid red line shows the regression of swim pace on run pace, and the equation for the regression line is given. As a reminder, this shows the quantile-quantile pacing for multisport athletes who are trying to complete an Ironman, so the pacing will be slower than for single-sport athletes in standalone events. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2813" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T18:37:53.540" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2012-10-08T19:13:09.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am sore I like to recover with a pool session. You only need to get in waist deep and you do a series of stretching exercises (quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, calves, etc.). The water resistance helps with the lactic acid build up. This works the best for me and hopefully may be a good option for your soreness as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4411" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T19:13:09.180" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8320" CreationDate="2012-10-08T22:15:23.443" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do you &quot;feel the need to do more&quot;? Are you not making progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to workout based on feel instead of based on progress, then do whatever you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make progress, just follow your program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say, &quot;I know that missing out on resting time is bad for muscle growth. That's why I wonder how I should deal with this situation.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deal with the situation by just following your program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4412" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T22:15:23.443" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8320" CreationDate="2012-10-08T22:55:58.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend against extensive conditioning or additional lifting on rest days, but if you have time and energy, active rest can be very beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I have time to really do it right, a rest day can involve leisurely medium-distance walks, stretching, a brief morning warm-up or yoga session, or mobility work with a band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-08T22:55:58.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2012-10-09T04:22:03.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised no one's mentioned Epsom Salt bath soaks for the mineral content, as Epsom Salt is a dissolvable form of Magnesium. This really helps me with soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking vitamin B6 orally may help with uptake, and Calcium works synergistically with the Magnesium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getbig.com/articles/faq-min1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; with overall information about minerals and bodybuilding, but you may wish to try and get more updated suggestions for how to take what you need from your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4414" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T04:22:03.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-09T13:00:56.220" Score="5" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to become more flexible. Unfortunately, there's lots of conflicting and unsourced material on stretching and flexibility training out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone point me to a reputable source for such information? For example a book or website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4419" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T21:35:37.683" Title="Source for flexibility training" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-09T19:20:34.753" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have avoided most forms of exercise nearly my whole life, including sports. I try to get myself to go for a jog but it just stirs up all sorts of negative thoughts (all kinds of anger and cynicism about the world, not just my self image); I go to the gym, and though I love lifting weights, I have the same problem of negative thoughts. The only kind of physical activity I consistently appreciate is trail hiking, but the fact is that for me and most people, trail hiking is inconvenient and inaccessible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to find a physically intensive activity that will not trigger picky hangups or mental anguishes? Is there a trial-and-error process that I can follow that will help find discover an exercise routine for my situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-09T21:40:28.287" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T06:36:05.763" Title="How do I find a physically intensive activity without triggering negative thought patterns?" Tags="&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8348" CreationDate="2012-10-09T19:52:26.003" Score="3" ViewCount="1506" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of chest exercises, and I am worried I am not doing enough upper back exercises to balance this out. Predominantly I am doing chair dips, bench press, dumbbell flys, and push ups to target my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What types of exercises should I do for my upper back to balance out these gains in my chest? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-10-11T02:35:34.940" Title="Upper back exercises to balance out chest workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8347" CreationDate="2012-10-09T20:03:31.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pulling exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chin-ups, pull-ups, bent-over barbell rows, Kroc (one-arm dumbbell) rows, and body rows are all fine choices for working the upper back as a way to balance out a surfeit of pushing exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-09T20:12:47.620" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T20:12:47.620" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8341" CreationDate="2012-10-09T20:16:52.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try Pavel Tsatsouline &quot;&lt;em&gt;Relax Into Stretching&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Beyond Stretching&lt;/em&gt;. These are good books that will get you flexible in no time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These books goes through the basics of flexibility. &quot;Relax Into Stretching&quot; goes through the relaxed stretching method which I think Kurz also promotes. It is a safe way of stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Beyond Stretching&quot; goes through some more advanced techniques like different variations of PNF and some variations of more force-full stretching to get through plateaus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first book is a good start to get into stretching for a beginner, and it is good to then get into the other book to increase the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bradapp.com/docs/rec/stretching/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brad Appleton's Stretching FAQ&lt;/a&gt; is a good resource for stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-09T21:35:37.683" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T21:35:37.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1571" CreationDate="2012-10-09T21:02:41.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Eating regularly&quot; and &quot;Having a good-sized breakfast and eating proportionate meals&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proportional meals or when you eat your meals haven't really been proven anywhere. Actually what have been observed in quite a few studies is that you can eat however you want, and it wont affect how you metabolise food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Increased meal frequency does not promote greater weight loss in subjects who were prescribed an 8-week equi-energetic energy-restricted diet&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We conclude that any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study named &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985?ordinalpos=&amp;amp;itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.SmartSearch&amp;amp;log%24=citationsensor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Meal frequency and energy balance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; goes further:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We conclude that increasing MF does not promote greater body weight loss under the conditions described in the present study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T18:08:42.583" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T18:08:42.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8346" CreationDate="2012-10-09T21:37:34.163" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The crux of the problem is that humans are notoriously bad when it comes to perspective, and as a result we can be quite impulsive. As a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/04/q4/1014-brain.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Princeton psychology study&lt;/a&gt; explains, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Impulsive choices or preferences for short-term rewards result from the emotion-related parts of the brain winning out over the abstract-reasoning parts. &quot;There are two different brain systems, and one of them kicks in as you get really proximate to the reward.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; that being active has all sorts of awesome benefits that we want, whether it be longevity, health, strength, fitness, or better appearance; the problem is winning out over our emotional predisposition to short-term pleasures like TV, games, etc.. There are several popular ways you can approach this problem and &quot;trick&quot; your brain into choosing exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make Exercise a Game&lt;/strong&gt;. Since we are predisposed to doing immediate pleasures, find forms of activity that you actually enjoy doing (in your case trail hiking) and do them a lot. This is most commonly sports like basketball or soccer, but can vary wildly depending on the individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternate but similar approach to the gaming aspect is using something like the fitness site &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitocracy.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt;. They make fitness into a social game, where you compete against your friends, receive immediate rewards (in the form of achievements/badges), and being held accountable to your actions by showing them to the public (see next point).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hold Yourself Accountable&lt;/strong&gt;. If you hold yourself accountable and treat exercise as an actual requirement (as opposed to something that is &quot;nice to do&quot;), you are far more likely to follow through with your commitment. Put your workouts on your calendar, punish yourself when you miss workouts (no tv for a day), and &lt;em&gt;make your goals known to the public&lt;/em&gt;. If you tell your friends that you are working out, ditching on your goals now has the added burden of looking like a quitter to your friends. Get a workout buddy who holds you accountable, the kind who would drag you out of bed in the morning for a run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduce the &quot;Short-Term Cost&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. The lower the burden exercise places on you, the less likely you are to put it off. Start small, build big. Do a handful of pushups here or there throughout the day, and make that your thing. As time goes on, add more reps / sets. As more time goes on, add new exercises to the routine. Before you know it, you are doing actual workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Realize Short-Term Goals&lt;/strong&gt;. Since we are so bad at seeing long term goals, you need to start looking at exercise from the short-term perspective. Set daily goals (do one more pushup than yesterday). Look at yourself in the mirror before/after working out. Watch motivational videos to reinforce your long-term goals and keep you motivated. Basically, if you find yourself about to skip a workout, do everything you can to convince yourself to stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-10-09T21:37:34.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-10T12:09:46.667" Score="5" ViewCount="912" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you over use foam rolling? what are the negative impacts? I'm using it 3x a week post weight routines.  Has anyone had any negative experiences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-10T17:01:21.380" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:58:45.157" Title="Can you overuse a foam roller?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5457" CreationDate="2012-10-10T12:18:46.970" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a complement to the other answers, I can recommend the exercises in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0679754814&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brungardt - Leg workout&lt;/a&gt;. Besides a wide array of exercises with/without weights, it contains 12 week programs that has a lot of variation in exercises, difficulty level and time spent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T12:18:46.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8248" CreationDate="2012-10-10T16:06:05.623" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple &#xA;If you are skinny guy , Do sprinting and explosive workout continue for about 20 mins , no rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a little fat and more muslces like you are bulked up.Do 3 mins cardio and 3 mins explosive and then cardio and then explosive and then cardio and then explosive , as many time as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just a fat guy , then just do marathon running + drinking a lot of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need complete scientificly information , you will need to read books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want to know quickly and start doing it , take this simple information and start as fast as you can&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4429" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T16:06:05.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8379" CreationDate="2012-10-10T16:35:43.167" Score="3" ViewCount="673" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having this strange problem. My left side is much weaker than my right side. While my right leg is perfect, my left leg feels comparatively weaker, meaning that I don't feel like putting my left leg on the ground, and feel like having a constant weight being applied on it. Don't feel numbness of any sort. Similarly, while I can lift weights easily with my right hand, it becomes comparatively difficult to do it with my left hand. Any reason or solution to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4430" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T06:35:24.710" Title="Left side weaker than the right side" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8352" CreationDate="2012-10-10T17:52:24.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can probably overuse it in the sense of working a particular area for too long in one go, like 10 minutes straight instead of 3-5 minutes on one spot, but everything I've read on myofascial release suggests even several times per day is fine, so 3x per week is definitely not anywhere near potentially causing overuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3728" LastActivityDate="2012-10-10T17:52:24.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6994" CreationDate="2012-10-11T04:12:48.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that worked on me was to use light dumbells (say, 5 lbs) and do flies, but let the weights droop as much as you can. This is a great way to stretch out the chest muscles and get the shoulders back, and is a nice complement to exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2012-10-11T04:12:48.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8259" CreationDate="2012-10-11T10:02:52.257" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fat storage can only release &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=a%20limit%20on%20the%20energy%20transfer%20rate%20from%20the%20human%20fat%20store%20in%20hypophagia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;69 kcal/kg per day&lt;/a&gt; from your fat mass to be consume as energy. If you use up more energy then that it will be taken from somewhere else. Probably muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will make the assumption that the cell itself is not consumed in the process, therefor the only weight contribution is lipids and water. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8148928&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Water mass is far less and pretty constant in comparison to fat&lt;/a&gt;. The energy content of fat in adipose tissue is approximatly 9000[kcal/kg]*80% = 7200 kcal/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that the fat you have on your body dictates how much caloric deficit you can be in before you start losing fat free mass as it is also shown &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376744/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you weight somewhere around 130kg, with 73kg lean mass and 57kg fat mass. You can use almost 69 * 57 ~= 4000 kcal/day from your fat storage as energy without making too much sacrifice on muscle mass. That can be up to 7 [days] * 4000[kcal/day] / 7000[kcal/kg] = 4kg of fatloss per week. Almost 9 lbs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90kg, 17kg fat mass, you can use only 69*16 ~= 1200 kcal/day. 1,2 kg&#xA;(~3 lbs) per week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;85kg, 12kg fat mass = 0.8kg/week. (~1.7 lbs/week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80kg, 7kg fat mass = 0.5kg/week. (~1.1 lbs/week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you approach 5-6% body fat, your estimated maximum loss of body fat approaches 1 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;So what we see is that 2-3lbs/week is a good estimate for a normal person to achieve a goal for the duration of a normal diet plan. As you get leaner the rule of thumb is getting harder to keep without starting to lose lean mass. Also if you are obese there are no problems to lose more then the 2-3lbs/week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These calculation are estimates and should be seen as optimal release, this do not take metabolic adaptation and and other effects like hormonal issues into acount. What it shows is how much you can be in caloric deficit before you start losing muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastEditorUserId="4423" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T15:46:11.223" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T15:46:11.223" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-11T14:47:14.143" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three days a week workout plan (weight lifting Mo,We,Fr, basically an arms/torso, shoulder, back split respecively, for an hour or more) and I do cardio in between (depending on the time of the year, running or dancing). I basically want to get in shape and generally feel healthier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning, I'd be motivated to do a short running around the house (8 mins or so) and then do some push-ups, crunches - a &quot;30 minute workout before breakfast&quot; so to speak.&#xA;Now I wonder if that might actually be counter productive or if it's good. The morning activities are quite light compared to weight lifting, say, but I'm not sure if e.g. resting phases for arms (which are supposed to be longer than a day) also imply I shouldn't do push-ups etc. daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3998" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T12:27:02.083" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T12:27:02.083" Title="On smaller in between workout activies and the interpretation of resting phases" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6418" CreationDate="2012-10-11T20:31:21.970" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend eating smaller meals more often. Eating one very large meal and one small meal isn't good based on my experience&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm the same way, except I only eat about 3800 calories a day.  I'm 6&quot;2' (1.88m) and 155 pounds (70kg), though My body weight back before I started lifting and when I only ate about 2200 calories per day was 130 pounds (59kg).  According to some BMI calculators, at my height that's anorexia.  So there's nothing lucky about having an overactive metabolism.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost every day, I have to force feed myself till I cant even swallow.  At that point I'll then drink a glass of whole milk and I still have trouble putting on weight.  I've been to a doctor and according to blood tests, I'm completely normal, just not eating enough.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4439" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T10:20:34.260" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T10:20:34.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3637" CreationDate="2012-10-12T03:18:49.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pro heavyweight John Guthrie used to do 12 3 min rounds with 1 min rest three times a week. Usually on same days he does resistance training and weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't train on it more than three times a week at first. Very important to use good quality bag gloves. 14oz with thumb protection. Avoid thumbless gloves on heavy bag work. Also it's important to wrap your hands before you put on gloves. To avoid wrist injury make sure you punch the bag at the proper distance. Standing to close will jam and jar your wrist and throwing punches too far away will hyper-extend your shoulder. Bag should shake more than swing. If it's swinging a lot your too close. If you have any pain in wrist stop immediately. Shoulders will be sore at first. The main problem is developing heavy arms due to lactic-acid. The more you train on it the better your body will process the acid.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4440" LastEditorUserId="4440" LastEditDate="2012-10-16T01:59:30.903" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T01:59:30.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1005" CreationDate="2012-10-12T07:23:12.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar problem that was waking me up from sleep because of thepain, yet I could walk reasonably ok.  The Chiro popped it in place which brought some relief, but it lasted less than two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a bit of research, I found that the best way for me to pop the hip back is actuall very simple.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie flat on your back with arms spread wide.  Legs stretched out straight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raise the leg with the popped/misaligned hip joint so that it is 90 deg to the floor.  (you can bend your leg at the knee if you desire)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let the leg down slowly to the side until you hear/feel the joint pop back into place.&#xA;Initially I had to do this twice a day, now as the muscles have got stronger again, I need to do it only once or twice a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple and effective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4442" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T07:23:12.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8368" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-12T11:29:51.717" Score="8" ViewCount="1880" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine asked me, what's the best way to strengthen her legs and butt. I answered: &quot;Just do regular squats&quot;. However she is not in good shape and is afraid of doing squats because she thinks that it may hurt her knees. However many studies and also many answers on this site suggest that the opposite is true: squats, if done correctly, are good for the knees and for many other things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am looking for a safe progression (very slowly inclining) to lead her to be able to do full bodyweight squats with perfect form in a few months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add that she is very inflexible in her legs, I am not sure if this might be an issue when developing a good squat form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there any slow progression (i.e. do this exercise the first week, do that exercise the second week...) which &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;teaches her &quot;automatically&quot; to do squats in a perfect form at the end&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;slowly&lt;/strong&gt; increases difficulty such that her body adapts to it without problems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it is &quot;psychologically safe&quot;, i.e. that it takes away the fear about hurting the knees by doing squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T17:19:52.227" Title="Safe progressions to a full bodyweight squat" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8368" CreationDate="2012-10-12T11:58:50.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you know about Starting Strength ? It is a linear progression workout program which can help your friend achieve her goals. I have seen many people benefit rapidly from this program. I would like to add that your friend might benefit from complete body workout's using compound exercises. The program also includes Deadlifts, overhead press, bench press, and power cleans. You might want to avoid power cleans and pullups if your friend is heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program basically begins with an empty barbell to start with for Squats and adding 5-10 punds to it whenever the person feels comfortable. The exercises are done in 2x5 warmup + 3x5 normal sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I mention this workout is because of the points 2,3 mentioned by you in your post. The difficulty level is easy to handle in the beginning and your body adapts to it very quickly as the volume of exercise is less. More so it is a psychologically help when you can measure your progress and actually see yourself getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to look at Videos of how the Mark Rippetoe teaches Squats, I am not sure if they are available online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck !!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T11:58:50.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8368" CreationDate="2012-10-12T12:18:37.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a nice video on youtube called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWTmg4dHiKg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to do the Asian squat&lt;/a&gt;. The video itself is a bit humorous but nonetheless, it shows the difference between the european squat - on your toes - and the asian one - keeping the whole feet on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is strongly debated whether deep squatting is detrimental for the knees or not, the video basically states that this is the most natural form of squatting and humans have done it for ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After getting used to do some squats she might use the training plan &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twohundredsquats.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two hundred squats&lt;/a&gt;. It is designed for people that have a beginner ability but targets for fast progression. Anyway you don't have to progress as fast as the plan suggest, tell her to take it slow and maybe repeat some weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-12T12:24:17.517" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T12:24:17.517" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-12T13:00:56.707" Score="3" ViewCount="890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have trouble sleeping at night and usually get 5-6 hours max.  I lift 3x's a week and do cardio 2-3 times a week (including heavy bag work). Does afternoon napping help  with recovery? How does it affect fat burning? I read somewhere that enough sleep is a factor in weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-14T02:05:39.603" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T16:26:31.507" Title="Does afternoon napping help?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="752" CreationDate="2012-10-12T14:18:52.900" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Universe is an Uncaring Void&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen sources say &quot;3x5&quot; (three sets of five) but denote their workouts as 100x5x3 (100 pounds, 5 reps, 3 sets). I've also seen sources say &quot;3x5&quot; and write 3x5 and mean three sets of five in both cases. There is no clear answer to your question. YxZ is fundamentally ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Show Your Units&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In physics, I was taught to never leave the units ambiguous in our calculations. &quot;5&quot; means nothing; &quot;5 Newtons&quot; means something. I think that advice applies here too. We have competing standards each trying to be the One True Answer. Our only reasonable course of action is to somehow indicate that 3x5 &lt;em&gt;in this case&lt;/em&gt; means three sets of five rather than five sets of three. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I independently developed two methods of showing my units: marking my sets as I complete them, and putting commas between &quot;x reps&quot; to show different sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Ticking-Off-Sets Method&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this haphazardly in my own training notes, either simply remembering, or ticking off sets as I complete them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Front squat: 45x5, 95x5, 145x5, 195x5x3  '''&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This says I warmed up my front squat with a set of five each at 45, 95, and 145 pounds  before my work sets. The three tick marks at the end show that I completed three work sets, telling me-six-months-from-now that I meant three sets of five. I certainly don't think this method is optimal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Comma Method&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method I use refuses to write down the number of sets at all, but instead demarcates sets with commas, like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Front squat: (45,95,145)x5, 195 x5,x5,x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This says the same thing as above--three warm-up sets, then three work sets. I think this is perhaps my most unambiguous and concise notation, making it the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a drawback that is also a benefit: it accounts for failures. This is good, because it minimizes scratching out &quot;3x5&quot; when I fail at the last set. It's bad, because it reduces the consequences and certainty of completing the sets as planned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-16T13:42:02.713" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T13:42:02.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8368" CreationDate="2012-10-12T14:27:00.063" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a physical therapist or personal trainer, which may be what your friend needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd start with bodyweight squats, holding onto the two ends of a doorknob, or post-like object in front of them, as low as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do those frequently, increasing depth as much and as frequently as possible. Over time, rely on the post less and less: hold it lighter, or with only two fingers, then one finger, then keeping your hands next to it just in case, then giving up the post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep increasing the depth until the butt touches the calves or heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working on the best squat one can do, consistently and frequently, should be safe and productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the method described in T-Nation's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Third World Squat&lt;/a&gt; article, which goes into more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you can't drop any further, hang out for a while, slowly rocking side to side and up and down. This should free up a little bit more range of motion. Try to maintain this position for about one minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...continue working on the squat at least once daily. This frequency will help ensure steady progress. One minute of holding the position will begin to feel easier, and you can either lengthen the time, or begin adding more sets. Focus on dropping deeper into the squat each day, and bringing your spine more and more vertical. Physically placing your kneecaps into your armpits will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T14:27:00.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8368" CreationDate="2012-10-12T17:19:52.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w4MsA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pilates Reformer&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pilates.about.com/od/gettingstarted/ss/ReformerAnatomy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pilates Reformer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is just wonderful for people whose fitness level does not allow doing standard exercise movements with acceptable form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your 3 questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a few months with a good instructor, doing a squat with flawless form will feel like a perfectly ordinary movement.  The hip fold, low ab stabilisation, and knee and ankle stabilisation that you need for a good deep squat are all trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can work at any level of resistance appropriate to your body.  Learning to do low-resistance work properly can actually be really rewarding as it teaches you to be thinking conciously about what muscles are working in what movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being flat on your back makes it feel very secure, if there's ever any knee discomfort you can just relax and let the springs pull you back.  Not like if you're attempting a body weight squat you weren't ready for and feel knee discomfort halfway up, where you either power through it or fall on your butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for particularly a female who's just getting started in fitness, going to a 'pilates class' may be far more comfortable than a regular gym.  Everybody who is able should absolutely eventually do weighted compound body movements, but if you never even start because the gym is intimidating, there's no use talking about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chief downsides: Classes with good instructors cost $$, and if you don't live in a major city there may not be any studios around that even have the equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T17:19:52.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8381" CreationDate="2012-10-12T20:29:53.020" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a thirty year-old living with a brain tumor. I have made it my every effort to keep myself fit. I do this because I understand it to be beneficial for me should I require ongoing surgery in the future. Given my condition whilst on medication, &lt;strong&gt;how important is a focus on fitness?&lt;/strong&gt; Am I putting myself under unnecessary strain or should I continue? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4443" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:22:06.217" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:22:06.217" Title="The importance of fitness and cancer" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-11-11T21:50:02.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-12T22:14:34.360" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calves, Hamstrings, Quads, Glutes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two days to exercise each group.  As far as weights go, how would you group these exercises?  Calves/Hamstrings on one day, Quads/Glutes on the other?  There will be rest for these muscle groups between days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help.  Please note your reasoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T22:50:41.773" Title="Grouping My Leg Workouts" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8376" CreationDate="2012-10-12T22:50:41.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no correct way answer this question; as the answer would depend on your approach to weightlifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best advice I can honestly give is &quot;don't overthink it&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking: As long as you do the right selection of exercises correctly and with enough intensity, results will follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at how developed a powerlifter's legs are, great example that exercise grouping is not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4444" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T22:50:41.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8371" CreationDate="2012-10-12T22:54:11.760" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I know, a nap will not have any significant effect on your fat loss or recovery. However, it would be great if someone can link to a decent study in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would still recommend that nap :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4444" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T22:54:11.760" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8355" CreationDate="2012-10-12T22:58:48.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As recommended, See a neurologist and an orthopedist. I face this issue with my legs because one is slightly shorter than the other. In your case, the imbalance may be full body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4444" LastActivityDate="2012-10-12T22:58:48.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8375" CreationDate="2012-10-13T00:21:59.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American Brain Tumor Association has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abta.org/search/?cx=006527048787565188425%3acsb-shk8ck4&amp;amp;cof=FORID:9&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;several articles about exercise&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;They use words like &quot;sensible&quot; and &quot;moderate&quot;. They recommend that you check with your healthcare team before beginning an exercise program.  They say that a physical therapist may direct your exercise program, taking into account any specific mobility, strength or balance issues you may have.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise can provide multiple benefits including improving your energy level, mobility, strength, balance, sleep and reduce stress.  And according to a 2008 experimental study, exercise can reduce some of the damage caused by radiation. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/406815-brain-tumors-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Livestrong article&lt;/a&gt;.) But as you mention, exercise can also be stressful.  So the key is to get the right balance of exercise for you, and that should be directed by your healthcare team.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-10-13T00:21:59.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-13T00:36:00.393" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the midst of a heavy lifting routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here's my current arrangement by day:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps/Triceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calves/Hamstrings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest/Abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a more optimal arrangement.  And where would you suggest inserting a rest day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T17:49:10.240" Title="Most Logical Muscle Groups Arrangement and Rest Day?" Tags="&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-01-07T18:44:48.493" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3900" CreationDate="2012-10-13T01:12:28.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are shoes by New Balance that have a roll bar in the heel. I own a pair of these they were about $220 but they do keep my feet from rotating while walking/ running. I am unaware of other shoes with this same tech to correct the walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4446" LastActivityDate="2012-10-13T01:12:28.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9391" CreationDate="2012-10-13T18:21:42.097" Score="4" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following &lt;a href=&quot;http://sciencebasedrunning.com/2011/08/noakes-on-starting-out-in-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tim Noakes' running program&lt;/a&gt; for approximately a week-and-half now: nice program.&#xA;But I have a major quibble-cum-problem / issue: my post-running stretching routine. ... It's HORRIBLE!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- I would like to spend the least amount of time to achieve the most effective stretching outcome. -&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone [viz. &quot;experienced runners&quot;[1]] suggest a routine which they use - and, especially, find to be the most effective and time-saving[2]? (If applicable, among the ones they've tried / used?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would be greatly and genuinely appreciative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] with approximately 1+ years regular running background   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] in the range of 30-45 minutes for the total session&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Note:&lt;/em&gt; One which I've used (not very methodically) is Ch. 7: Post-Workout Craftsbury Cooldown Routine, of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0679409807&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York Road Runner's Club Complete Book of Running&lt;/a&gt;.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2389" LastEditorUserId="2389" LastEditDate="2012-10-13T19:15:01.090" LastActivityDate="2012-10-14T16:39:25.317" Title="What is the most effective and least time-consuming structured post-running (and post cooldown) stretching routine?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9419" CreationDate="2012-10-14T05:49:28.560" Score="8" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started jogging/sprinting recently to get my fitness back and increase my stamina. I find that I tire very soon. As in, though my legs are OK to run, I am out of breath far too easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to know if there is any breathing pattern to be followed which will help me conserve my breath so that I don't start panting too soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" OwnerDisplayName="Orangecrush" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T01:18:50.797" Title="Breathing Pattern while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9388" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-14T10:30:02.203" Score="3" ViewCount="1275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working the night shift and I usually go for a run after that at about 6 'o'clock in the morning. I don't feel fresh because of the whole night stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the problem is I desperately want to remove my belly fat and other extra fats so I force myself to run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: if I only have that time available and I want to reduce the fat in 1 month is it advisable to exercise this way? If this isn't healthy, what should I do instead? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I have seen many people running for years but still having a lot of fat, which makes me depressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is the correct way of exercising or any diet so that I can remove my fat in one month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4428" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-15T19:33:39.887" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T11:55:45.243" Title="Running after night shift?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9388" CreationDate="2012-10-14T11:13:42.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found running after work, but before dinner very effective for years.  If I waited too long, or ate dinner first, it was much harder to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So consider running first thing, after your night shift ends?  See if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-10-14T11:13:42.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9387" CreationDate="2012-10-14T11:16:05.547" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two interesting physiological markers for exertion that can be very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start hearing yourself breathe (likely what you call panting, but probably a bit earlier) you have passed about 60% Heart Rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is useful, since you want to be running harder than 60%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can no longer talk, you are closer to 85% which is needed for harder workouts, but on longer slow runs, you want to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is possible, if you are just getting started, and finding that breathing is consuming you, that it is a matter of taking it a bit easier, until you get your base fitness built and are more efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does take some time, and the best way to get there faster is just keep running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-10-14T11:16:05.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8387" CreationDate="2012-10-14T16:39:25.317" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is coming from my running experience, which includes triathlons since 1983, road racing, and cross country teams in high school and college.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main things you want to worry about are the core muscles and the major muscle groups of the lower body, which include the hamstrings (back of leg), quadriceps (front of leg), gluteal muscles (butt), abdominals, lower back and calves/foot flexors (lower leg muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a stretching routine that takes me about 15-20 minutes to do, you make take a bit longer until you get used to the different stretches. Each stretch should be held for ~ 20 seconds, then relax a bit and then stretch slightly further for another 20-30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring - Stand with feet together, legs very slightly bent. Lean forward at the waist, keeping back straight and reach towards floor with fingers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring/groin - Same as # 1, but put your feet slightly wider than shoulder width, toes pointing forward and not out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadriceps - Stand next to a support, pick foot up behind you. Grab ankle, and pull towards butt. NOTE: This can place some stress on the knees, so if you have knee problems I would recommend an alternate quad stretch. Also, try to keep the tension in line with the leg, do not pull to one side or the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Groin - Butterfly - Sit down, place soles of feet together. Draw feet close to crotch, grab ankles and place elbows across mid thigh. Press down gently until you feel stretch. The closer your feet are, the more the stretch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower back/hamstring - Hurdler - Sit with one foot extended, the sole of your other foot against the thigh of the out leg. Lean forward over leg, then after that stretch, turn and lean out over bent leg. Switch legs and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower back/abs - sitting, place sole of foot against butt (So for left leg, place it against the bottom part of your right butt). Place other foot over your leg, with your foot flat on floor, outside of bent knee. Take your opposite arm (So in this example, right knee is up, use left arm) and place upper arm on outside of knee. Gently push and try to look behind you. Switch and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower back/abs - If the above is too hard, lay flat. Stick one leg straight up towards ceiling, then try to touch it to ground at hip level on opposite side of body. Keep hips as flat as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs/shins - Roll on to stomach. Place hands by shoulders/ribs (Like a close pushup), then push upper body up. Keep hips/legs flat on floor. Feet should be flat (Tops of feet on floor) as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower back - Keeping feet/lower legs flat on floor, sit back on heels, then &quot;ball up&quot; and hug your knees, forehead on floor (You should look kinda like an egg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calves - Put feet flat on floor, and get in a bent/piked pushup type position. Walk your hands forward until you can just barely keep your heels on the floor, knees slightly bent. Stretch with both feet on floor, then one foot on floor, then the other foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With any stretching routine, pay close attention to how you feel. You should feel some tension, but try to relax as much as possible. ANY pain, ANYWHERE, STOP! You are either very tight, or doing the stretch wrong, and in either case to keep stretching can do some serious damage. If you have any question, google &quot;hamstring stretches&quot; or similar, and look at the pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like a good reference book, &quot;Stretching scientifically&quot; is a good read, and there are quite a few good video references on youTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-10-14T16:39:25.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9388" CreationDate="2012-10-14T23:22:22.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if I only have that time available and I want to reduce the fat in 1&#xA;  month is it advisable to exercise this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that truly is the only time available, it definitely is better than no exercise at all.&#xA;However, if you are truly dedicated, you should be able to wake up earlier than you usually do and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also I have seen many people running for years but still having a lot&#xA;  of fat, which makes me depressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely, the people you speak of either a) don't exercise properly b)maintain poor diet c)both. I'm not judging these people, but you shouldn't compare yourself to them if you want to be in better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So what is the correct way of exercising or any diet so that I can&#xA;  remove my fat in one month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is an open-ended question. Run a few google searches and remember the golden rule: Keep It Simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4444" LastActivityDate="2012-10-14T23:22:22.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2983" CreationDate="2012-10-15T02:21:37.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I've already accepted the answer, due to being very in depth and helpful, I find it very difficult to get the bits and pieces recommended in that answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead my physio ahs recently given me some Atex Medical Sports Tape which works perfectly. I can't find it for sale anywhere online, and my physio doesn't actually sell it off the shelf so I can't really recommend it for purchase from anywhere, but I think it's finally lifted the curse!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T02:21:37.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-15T04:22:30.567" Score="4" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to do some fairly simple training to get more in shape for a local informal football league, and from what I have read, the 40 yard dash is a good routine to practice to help improve both speed and stamina. With that background, my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a &quot;proper&quot; way to train for the 40? Right now I just do some simple warm-up (a few quick sprints), run the dash as many times as I can in a row with a very minimal break (btw 15 and 60 seconds) between each run, and then a cool-down routine. How could I improve this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other exercises should I work on to improve my stamina? Speed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any particular warm-up routines specific to this exercise?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-15T18:58:59.293" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T19:11:02.230" Title="Training for the 40 yard dash" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9394" CreationDate="2012-10-15T12:13:33.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically for speed, plyometric jumps onto something are good (start low and get higher), and doing your 40 yard sprints dragging something like a tire or a weighted sled; that will get your acceleration going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For stamina, probably intervals. Get a round timer for your phone, that way you can listen to music, and get the timer signal as you run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going out on a limb, 40 yard dashing is probably like goldsprinting (500m roller races on fixed bikes), so a good dose of hyper ventilating before would help as you won't have time to breathe much between 0 and 40m!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4460" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T12:13:33.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2012-10-15T12:20:44.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want &quot;to get 6 pack and get ripped&quot; then you probably need to focus on lowering your body fat. Morning (fasted) runs, as siouxfan45 has said, are a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the six pack I'd more or less ignore situps and go for things like rounds of Thai kicks on a heavy bag, and cable work - things that work rotationally or diagonally across your abdomen as that ought to pull it all into shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And (sadly maybe) lay off the booze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4460" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T12:20:44.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-15T17:24:13.093" Score="4" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal trainer has suggested I work on my grip strength as he thinks that it is restricting me from reducing heavier(ie I have to lift lower weight as I do have trouble getting a good grip sometimes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I decided to get a hand grip tool and do it while I am watching tv. I have no clue what is good so I  just went to the store and bought a pair for $10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the box there was no indication on the tension but now looking at the online site I see it is mid tension(not sure what the number for mid tension is)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportchek.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=11613059&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mid Tension Hand Grip&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was doing it yesterday and it is not too bad on my right hand(my dominate hand). I would have to double check but I think I can almost close it. With my left hand I get maybe half way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if I need a lower tension or if it is good what I have. I probably will get my trainer to check it out and see as well but always good to hear other thoughts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also even though it came with 2 of them I just use one and do 10 reps and then switch hands as I find it a bit easier to do then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I side question is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3-Grip-Hand-Finger-Forearm-Strength-Trainer-3-Levels-Exerciser-Gym?item=160860439091&amp;amp;cmd=ViewItem&amp;amp;_trksid=p5197.m7&amp;amp;_trkparms=algo=LVI&amp;amp;itu=UCI&amp;amp;otn=1&amp;amp;po=LVI&amp;amp;ps=63&amp;amp;clkid=2788496262207477490&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this kind&lt;/a&gt; of design for hand grips any good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3326" LastEditorUserId="3326" LastEditDate="2012-10-16T20:03:51.400" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T12:10:42.850" Title="Mid-Tension Hand Grip Good For beginners?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7319" CreationDate="2012-10-15T17:24:49.263" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually run in vibrams, and when I first began my calves were extremely sore for the first week or two.  I think this is due mostly to the fact barefoot running forces people to run as nature intended, on the ball of the foot, causing the calf to work harder in order to support the weight.  This would also put more tension on the Achilles tendon since it attaches the calf to the foot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you say you've been running for a while in vibrams, so what ever your experiencing is mostly likely more serious than under developed muscles and tendons becoming accustomed to new running gear, I'm no doctor but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say you pulled something.  Regardless of what actually happened though the one thing I've learned in over 10 years of training is that if an activity hurts, don't do it.  Get it checked out.  Many times even small aches and pains can snowball and degenerate into debilitating injuries that can keep you out of the game for a while, and I speak from personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several years ago I actually ended up tearing my Achilles tendon from my heel because I ignored all the warning signs of small nagging aches and pains which I thought I could just run through.  Let me tell you that was one of the most painful injuries I've ever had to endure and it kept me from running for nearly six months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So long story short.  see a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podiatry&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;podiatrist&lt;/a&gt; and ask him what he has to say.  It may be nothing, but it's better safe than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4464" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-15T19:25:36.993" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T19:25:36.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9394" CreationDate="2012-10-15T19:11:02.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides plyometric and dragging, I would also work on reaction speed exercises. For example, lay on the ground, wait for a signal, get up and sprint shorter distances. The reason is that your goal is to use the sprint in a team sport context where reaction speed is important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical reaction &amp;amp; sprint drills from basketball (where the distance is related to the lenght of a basketball court) would be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up with various slow jogging and running drills 5-10 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 to 5 sets of 6-8 reps of 15-15 (run at 70-80%) for 15s, rest 15s.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 running slow, wait for signal, then max sprint 20-30m &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 standing still, wait for signal, then max sprint 20-30m&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 laying on the back, wait for signal, max sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZjLSmH0Oew&amp;amp;noredirect=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Somersaults&lt;/a&gt;, wait for signal, max sprint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a chapter in the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4-Hour_Body&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The 4 hour body &lt;/a&gt; about how to sprint faster that I found interesting. For example, using a walks (walking a fixed distance a little bit faster every day), deadlift (1-2 lifts of a weight close to 1RM once a week) and running starts to develop speed.  However, I have not tried it myself but the author is open with the references so it should be possible to check their validity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T19:11:02.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9400" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-10-15T19:31:11.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_%28running%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; There are three sprinting events which are currently held at the Summer Olympics and outdoor World Championships: the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 400 metres. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_%28running%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Sprint&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-15T19:44:57.723" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T19:44:57.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9401" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-10-15T19:31:11.887" Score="0" Body="Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances at maximum speeds are among the oldest running competitions." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-15T19:45:01.030" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T19:45:01.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9397" CreationDate="2012-10-15T19:53:25.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased 200, 250 and 300 lb grips from Heavy Grip (&lt;a href=&quot;http://heavygrips.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://heavygrips.com/&lt;/a&gt;). I'm closing the 200 with about 5-7 reps with both hands and just starting to close the 250's. So, to determine real progress, I would suggest grips with known resistance.  In regards to having both hands un-equal, I think that's common for beginners and probably shows up if you're using dumbbells for lifts (instead of barbells where one hand/side can compensate for the other).  My recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get grips with the resistance marked on them, you'll only need one of each weight you're working on (I only work one hand at a time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when lifting, see if your personal trainer agrees, use dumbbells so you're not overcompensating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dead lifts are great grip exercises - last rep, hold on as long as you can, this will build your grip strength (same with pull ups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-25T12:10:42.850" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T12:10:42.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-15T20:16:54.183" Score="3" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, because I'm a bit silly and I guess I misread the description and never looked at any videos for it, I've been doing bent over rows completely wrong.  Instead of having my back mostly parallel with the ground, i was bending over roughly 45 degrees or so and doing it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current weight is 115.  Should I drop it 10-20% and start there (90-105)?  Or...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T20:49:44.577" Title="What should I do since my bent over row form was completely wrong?" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2012-10-15T20:32:37.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wodboard.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wodboard&lt;/a&gt; was just launched last week. It is geared for benchmark workouts, common to the CrossFit program. The idea is to not track everything, just a couple of benchmark workouts a year. You can scale the benchmarks down, they sometimes have really heavy weights for experienced weight lifters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from benchmarks like the 300 challenge and Fight Gone Bad, there are also categories for distances and weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4465" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-15T21:31:02.967" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T21:31:02.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9403" CreationDate="2012-10-15T20:49:44.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be able to just adjust your form and keep your current weight, but in order to be sure that you don't accidentally jump much closer to your 1RM, I'd drop to 95 pounds and restart the progression on bent-over rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking twenty pounds off should be plenty to make sure you can do the exercise with corrected form. It's also not a huge drop in weight in absolute terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: I haven't done bent-over rows in years, and only got about as far as you are now. This advice is based on the other pressing and pulling I do, in which I am merely a beginner.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-15T20:49:44.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9409" CreationDate="2012-10-15T20:54:22.563" Score="4" ViewCount="21786" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 24, 1,83 cm and 70kg (6ft 0in, 155 lbs). Technically I'm not underweight but I could use some bulk. I have started doing some weight training (about 3 days a week) and I plan to get a personal trainer soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard/read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/4466&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and elsewhere that I shouldn't be doing cardio if my ultimate goal is to gain weight. But it bothers me that: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a just a little bit of a &quot;beer belly&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My conditioning seems poor. Specifically when it comes to certain nighttime recreational activities where I can't finish before I finish. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be running the treadmill or cycling at the gym? Should I do morning jogs, or any cardio at all? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4466" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T10:41:03.733" Title="Should I do cardio if I want to gain muscle weight and lose fat?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8259" CreationDate="2012-10-16T11:32:19.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is different for everyone and every situation. What might be considered a healthy &quot;weight loss rate&quot; for someone in a certain situation can be totally different for someone else or in another situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing your body with the right nutrients and get the right amount of exercise will automatically result in your ideal &quot;weight loss rate&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience I found that &lt;strong&gt;loosing 5 lbs per week&lt;/strong&gt; is normal for most people if you adjust you lifestyle and eating habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try this&lt;/strong&gt;: Consume more water rich foods (vegetables and fruit) and limit your intake of sugar and fast carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you to do some research on healthy nutrition an exercise and see how your body is reacting to it. More than measuring your success by your weight loss, I would suggest you to measure your success by how you feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T11:32:19.913" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9406" CreationDate="2012-10-16T11:53:20.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't do cardio. It will not support weight loss and certainly not muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight loss &amp;amp; cardio&lt;/strong&gt;: Although you might burn calories during cardio, you'll not burn stored body fat (loose weight) because of high insulin levels*.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle tissue &amp;amp; cardio&lt;/strong&gt;: Cardio increases the production of cortisol, which brakes down muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to those two reasons not to do cardio: Cardio at heart rates above 75% and up to 95% of the maximum places excessive stress on your body to which you are not adapted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to loose weight and gain muscle I advise you to do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go sprinting once a week (6x 30 sec full out sprint) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go weight lifting twice a week and push yourself to your limit. Do one exercise&#xA;per muscle group.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With both exercises it is very important that the stress on your body is short and intense (max 15 to 30 min and give your all during that period).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Because in western society we consume to much sugar &amp;amp; carbohydrates (incl. bread, pasta and potatoes) our insulin levels are very high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T11:53:20.853" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9406" CreationDate="2012-10-16T15:48:53.307" Score="9" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've heard/read here and elsewhere that I shouldn't be doing cardio if my ultimate goal is to gain weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some limited cardio can be good while weight training. Cardio helps with increasing O2 circulation, strengthens your heart, and increases endurance. However, what cardio doesn't do much of is put stress on your muscles to initiate growth. Running 5 miles a day isn't the same as doing squats because your muscles quickly acclimate and no further challenge is presented. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio is a great warm-up technique for me, personally. I run about about 20 minutes before moving onto the actual weight training. Just enough to warm up most of the muscles in my body, and I've found that it increases my focus better than stretches - which is very beneficial when working with weights. However, if you have a personal trainer (or will soon), they'll be better able to tailor a workout routine for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a just a little bit of a &quot;beer belly&quot;.&#xA;      My conditioning seems poor. Specifically when it comes to certain nighttime recreational activities where I can't finish before I finish. Should I be running the treadmill or cycling at the gym? Should I do morning jogs, or any cardio at all? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The beer belly will improve with just about any exercise that you do consistently, but things to keep in mind are that genetics may be operating against you (men generally store extra fat on their torso, and some men moreso than others) and that a flat stomach is more an issue of bodyfat % than strong core muscles. While strong abdominals will certainly be larger and push against the underside of your skin more than untrained abs, you won't see a six pack without bringing bodyfat % down. SOME body fat is good. If you ever get sick and can't eat a lot, or simply can't eat for other reasons - your body will preferentially use fat instead of muscle if it's available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your nighttime activities - again, just about any exercise is going to help you. However, squats and some light cardio would probably help the best for that particular activity. Running empty because of muscle fatigue (your heartrate is fine but your muscles abandon you) might push me towards a more strength-training oriented workout. Running empty because your heartrate shoots up and you're breathing very heavily would push me towards recommending more cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what you &lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; be doing: Well, that depends on where you are right now, and what you ultimately want. Find an exercise you enjoy and do it consistently is the first step - sporadic workouts don't help, and may end up harming you in the long run. Make a conservative goal; strength train for 30 minutes or jog for 30 minutes. Once you've reached that goal, take stalk of your abilities and re-assess your plan. Once you're happy with one type of exercise - say you're content with jogging for 30 minutes three times a week - then you can work on strength training for muscle mass (or vice versa). After you're happy with both, it's an issue of maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are important things to remember, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;PROPER FORM:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Learn it early, do it often. Cardio injuries aren't acute - they sneak up on you after months or years of bad training if you don't have proper form. Strength training injuries &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be acute, and very, very painful. Lower back injuries from improper form are common, and if you get to larger weights, can be quite literally crippling in extreme cases. If you cannot sustain proper form throughout any exercise, &lt;strong&gt;STOP&lt;/strong&gt; immediately and try again another day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-You might make some early muscle mass gains whilst losing weight, but the overall consensus is that you should choose one or the other based on your goals. Gaining muscle mass involves challenging the muscles and eating surplus calories (usually lean protein). Losing weight involves maintaining muscle mass and caloric deficit (usually through both exercise and decreased caloric intake).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Strength training is not about seeing how quickly you can perform a set of reps, it is about how controlled you can be with the most weight. When you're ready to perform an exercise, take a moment to flex your muscles and brace your body. It's also very common to start with lighter weights first - maybe half your max - so that you can fix any problems in your form when you're at a lower risk for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Whatever you decide to do, &lt;strong&gt;stick to it&lt;/strong&gt;. That's the most important party of any exercise regime. Any training you do - whether cardio or strength - will be quickly reversed if you can't keep doing it. Strength gains can disappear in as little as two weeks (depending on how long you've trained the muscle), and endurance gains can disappear in a similar time frame if you take long breaks. Aim for &lt;strong&gt;6 to 10 weeks&lt;/strong&gt; of very consistent workouts; after that it's usually turned into a (health) habit with all the benefits that goes along with exercising on a consistent basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;strong&gt;Rest Days&lt;/strong&gt; are very important, and you shouldn't force muscles to do what they don't want to do. If you or a particular set of muscles are sore, let them be sore until they aren't anymore. If you feel like you've pulled a muscle, stretched a tendon too much, or have injured a joint - &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; heal before returning to a workout; even if it means weeks of not training. Don't 'train through the pain' - the wear and tear will come back to bite you. As you progress through whichever exercise you prefer, you'll find your recovery time will shorten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4207" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T15:48:53.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7319" CreationDate="2012-10-16T17:33:18.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had a very very similar injury.  Was running for months in the Vibrams and then all of a sudden had similar pain.  Probably because I increased the mileage too fast week to week, from about 20 to then 25mi/week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diagnosis ended up being an inflammation and to just rest and take prednisolone (pill form) for 2 weeks. Almost no improvement in 4-5 days, and then bam and all the pain was gone.  But take it the full course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short - yup, it happens.  Get it checked out.  Even your primary might figure it out if it's simple enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4273" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T17:33:18.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9412" CreationDate="2012-10-16T17:45:56.803" Score="9" ViewCount="1325" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 29 years old, weigh 72kg (174cm tall), my goal is to do 100 &quot;good form&quot; push ups. I am following &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot;&gt;the hundred push ups training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I initially did 30, then I got up to 36. Then I paused for 17 days (hardly slept) and got sick (common flu but extremely tired). Now I can only do 28.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it common to drop so much after being sick? (36 to 28). I am also a vegetarian, could it indicate a problem with my diet? (I've been a vegetarian for 3 years, but have not exercised much).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will improving my stamina help me do more reps? The first reps are fine, but I have always had problem with the last. After being sick I find I have problems after just a few reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A friend suggested I could add 5kg of weight on my back and do fewer sets / fewer push-ups. I would like to try, is it a good idea? How many per rep and how many reps?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very thankful for any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details&lt;/strong&gt; (if more info is required):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially I rested much longer between the reps than recommended (some times more than 5 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;could do 30 on initial test so jumped in on week3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week3 col3: finished 10/8 (failed last rep on each day though)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week4 col3: went fine for day 1 and day 2 (except last rep: 26/36 and 24/40 respectively)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;max out: 35&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I kept the rest time between the reps exactly as it was recommended&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week5 col1: went fine except last rep (day1: 14/20, day2: 10/25, day3: 9/30)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;max out: 36 (had to repeat w5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week5 col1: only did day 1 &amp;amp; 2, went fine except last rep (day1: 15/20, day2: 11/25)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to pause for 17 days, during these days I hardly slept at all! I picked up the program again at week5 day2 column1, but failed on the second last rep, after which I was exhausted and did not even attempt the last rep. So I decided to go back to week4 column 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;week4 col2: did not go very well, after a few reps I was so exhausted I had to break.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I got sick for about 8 days (the common flu but it got me bad and I was extremely tired just sleeping in the bed, likely also a backlash for hardly sleeping at all for those 17 days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to start a fresh, and so did a max out to see where to jump in. I only managed to do 28. I thought I could start with week4 column 3 (says &gt;= 25). But I failed already at the third rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking that it is probably also my stamina (unable to efficiently rest between the reps), I have now started to run every other day (and indeed, I really feel how bad my stamina is comparing to just a few years ago!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4474" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T22:19:49.860" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T13:56:28.027" Title="100 push-up. I went from 36 to 28 after being sick. Is it normal? How can I improve?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9411" CreationDate="2012-10-16T18:39:41.553" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's normal to lose that much strength or more after a protracted period of sickness and non-training. Don't fret.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, improving your stamina will help you get more reps. So will improving your strength, or your cardio. Mostly, doing lots of push-ups will get you better at doing lots of push-ups. If you want to add weight, I'd forgo the 5 kilos and go straight for actual weight training, such as bench press. If you want to train push-ups without just doing basic push-ups, I'd play with variations such as a wide hand placement and clapping before trying to add a few kilos. If I did want to add weight, I'd do so with 10 kilos instead of five--make it heavy if you're going to add weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T18:39:41.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="725" CreationDate="2012-10-16T19:59:49.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the answers above, I can also recommend balance exercises where your feet leaves the ground. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sitting and getting the feet of the grund&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing on your hands &amp;amp; knees on the ball -&gt; Only knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing on the ball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful and do the exercises gradually and with care, it is really easy to lose your balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-10-16T19:59:49.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-16T22:10:06.743" Score="2" ViewCount="1635" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25, in good shape(maybe a few kilos over weight), doing a desk job. Recently I started working out hard, and changed what I eat to healthy options. My goal is to lose weight and build muscles. I have listed my workout routines and daily food intake below. Can you guys please give me advice on my food intake, whether its good, where I can improve? Thanks heaps fitness people :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-5 Days a week (Monday - Friday)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-10 mins boxing &amp;amp; then jump on to weight training. (Medium to heavy weights, Strength &amp;amp; Speed training) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7am&lt;/strong&gt; - Protein shake (with milk) with quick Oates&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10.30am&lt;/strong&gt; - Yoghurt with muesli (about 150g)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1pm&lt;/strong&gt;  - Grilled chicken breast with veges&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.30pm&lt;/strong&gt; - Small vegetable bag (about 200g)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5.00pm&lt;/strong&gt; - Protein shake (with milk) with quick Oates&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7pm to 8.30pm&lt;/strong&gt; - WORKOUT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;9pm&lt;/strong&gt; - Protein shake (with milk) with quick Oates + 6 Egg whites with Spinnach&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have about 2 litres of water everyday coz I bought this big bottle from bodybuilding.com and Its worth it. I'm kind of addicted to water now :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4476" LastEditorUserId="4476" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T23:24:28.607" LastActivityDate="2012-12-16T08:23:58.557" Title="Am I eating right? or way too much?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2012-10-17T09:18:16.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have Erb's Palsey in my left shoulder/neck.  I am now almost 20, and I have had therapy and tests done up until I was 12, when I moved away from my therapist I never was able to continue occupational therapy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things that helped me the most were wall push-ups, and a thing called 'superman' which you lay on your stomach, put your arms as straight out in front of you as possible, and lay your legs straight behind you. In order to do one set, you lift your legs off the ground about 4-8 inches, and lift arms about 5 inches off the floor in front of you all at the same time. Then after holding that position for 15 seconds, go back to the resting position. This should work mainly your back/shoulder muscles, your abs, and stretch the muscles that get tight when our Erb's palsey is being 'difficult.'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is a great exercise for many of the muscles that are hard to target, and when doing it, you should work your way up slowly, and make sure you are ready to go for longer, so that you don't stress those muscles too much.  If you are not safe about things like that, it can have a reverse reaction, where you get hurt, not better. I hope that I helped some.  Have a great day! -Whit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4480" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T15:09:56.903" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:09:56.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-17T11:22:03.693" Score="2" ViewCount="7810" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see references to body fat %, the ranges for great to obese, but I don't know where to find information on body muscle % or how to measure it?  I'm assuming it goes up as body fat % goes down if you're doing the same exercises - right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T19:55:51.417" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T19:55:51.417" Title="What is a good body muscle %?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9387" CreationDate="2012-10-17T11:34:54.977" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a novice runner myself, I've struggled with this one too. I've never been able to talk whilst I run and I don't think I ever will. I'm just not a born runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pattern that works for me is to breathe out for three steps and breathe in for two. I have found that works for slower, distance runs (say 9 - 9.5km an hour, 10k +) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Faster runs demand a two for two pattern (breathe out for two steps, breathe in for two steps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting slowly is a good way to find a pattern that works for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4482" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T11:34:54.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9418" CreationDate="2012-10-17T12:07:25.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There has many different methods to measure the fat%, such as Hydrodensitometry Weighing, Calipers (Anthropometry- Skinfold Measurements), DEXA (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry), NIR (Near Infrared Interactance), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and so on. But for different races,even a same method could get different result. So you can go to a gym, and they can help you to do a test, normally they use Calipers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For an ideal fat%, different age and gender have different standard, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;male    &amp;lt;30(age) 14-20%    &amp;gt;30(age) 17-23%     &amp;gt;25% Obesity &#xA;female  &amp;lt;30(age) 17-24%    &amp;gt;30(age) 20-27%     &amp;gt;30% Obesity &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4479" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T15:09:48.277" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:09:48.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9418" CreationDate="2012-10-17T13:04:45.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body consist of muscles, fat, bones, organs, connective tissue and cartilage. Where everything other then fat and muscles have a constant weight over time. Measuring fat will therefore be the only parameter you need to calculate your lean mass (muscle weight including bones etc). You just takes 100% - Fat% and it will answer your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat can be measured by a variety of different methods. A pretty reliable home test is just using a tape-measure and use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;navy circumference method&lt;/a&gt;. Although not very exact, it is a pretty good way of tracking differences in body composition. It is probably more reliable when losing fat then gaining muscle though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also cheap calipers for home usage. But the method is pretty unreliable if not measured by a professional. I myself use a bioelectrical impedance scale, caliper and navy circumference and then take a arithmetic mean of the three. If you want more a more reliable method you probably need to go down to the gym where they have more exact methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you for some reason specifically want to know your exact muscle mass percentage not including weight of bones. Then you probably need to do DEXA (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) which I think can single out muscle mass. If you want to track progress in muscle mass, you are probably better off tape-measuring the circumference of each body part and forget about percentages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastEditorUserId="4423" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T16:44:26.613" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T16:44:26.613" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9423" CreationDate="2012-03-05T13:10:41.793" Score="8" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many kilometers does a typical running shoes last?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What signs do I look for to see if is time to replace them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="141" OwnerDisplayName="Henrik" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:04:18.907" Title="When do I dispose my running shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9422" CreationDate="2012-03-05T14:52:05.787" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shoe has several important parts of the structure that go into giving you the most support.  Over time you can notice as each of these starts to deteriorate your shoe will feel less comfortable after running despite the possibility that it may feel more comfortable when you first put it on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your shoe should almost immediately return to its natural shape of you bend back on itself.  If the shoe retains its folded in half look for a second or more then it has lost an important part of its structure in the sole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soft sides should rest above the sole.  If they droop below or along the sole then they have lost their structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If when you lace them tightly the eye holes at the laces deform then this part of the structure of your shoe has lost its support.  With me this is generally the first thing to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heal of the shoe should be firm if when you put your foot in the heel seems to collapse and you have to work to keep it upright then this key part of the shoe has lost its support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have Air soles when they deflate you will feel noticeable pockets of give in the sole.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And tread should distinct.  By the time the tread has worn flat in any area it is well past time to replace.  Good runners should have nice distinct tread with deep channels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long they last really depends on the shoe.  My standard nike running shoes got about 250 miles when i was running regularly.  But my style of running is tough on shoes.  I also did other PT in them besides just running.  I had a few other sets i tried that did not last 2 weeks so I went back the &lt;a href=&quot;http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/commerce/men?hf=10002%5E12001&amp;amp;t=Men%27s%20Running%20Shoes#/?ll=en_US&amp;amp;ct=US&amp;amp;pid=400997&amp;amp;cid=102201&amp;amp;pgid=508544&amp;amp;p=PDP&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nike Air Max&lt;/a&gt; though I think it was a different name when I was running regularly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2108" OwnerDisplayName="Chad" LastEditorUserId="2108" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T15:04:18.907" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:04:18.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9422" CreationDate="2012-03-15T21:57:36.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard from multiple sources that about 400-500 miles (650-800 km) is a good upper limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Tenner" LastActivityDate="2012-03-15T21:57:36.500" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9427" CreationDate="2012-02-08T20:07:44.057" Score="10" ViewCount="819" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard there are really three main classes of running shoe types:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neutral &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Motion Control &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I decide which kind I should purchase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" OwnerDisplayName="geoffc" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:05:39.840" Title="What are the main types of running shoes and which should I select?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9425" CreationDate="2012-02-08T20:30:14.070" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You REALLY need to go to a good running shoe store, and have them help you with your selection.  This selection will typically be guided by your:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running mechanics (do your ankles rock in, out, or neither)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;foot mechanics (flat or not)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running volume (do you run long, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The type of surface you will run on (trail, road, track, wet environment)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there, they will direct you to &quot;the wall&quot; of shoes, and point out the 2-5 which are appropriate for you.  Then it goes to fit, feel, and aesthetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Mike Hedman" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T20:30:14.070" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9425" CreationDate="2012-02-09T09:43:28.667" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Classification of running shoes can be done in different ways, as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;motion control&lt;/strong&gt; shoes compensate for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_type#Overpronation&quot;&gt;pronation&lt;/a&gt;, when feet &quot;rock in&quot; at the ankle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cushioning&lt;/strong&gt; shoes compensate for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_type#Underpronation_.28supination.29&quot;&gt;supination&lt;/a&gt;, when feet &quot;rock out&quot; at the ankle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;neutral&lt;/strong&gt; shoes are neutral in relation to pronation and supination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;stability&lt;/strong&gt; shoes offer some extra stiffness in the inner mid-sole&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These all can be further divided according to the running style:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;heel striking&lt;/strong&gt; shoes add extra padding under the heel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;mid/fore-foot striking&lt;/strong&gt; have a minimal heel to avoid it contacting the ground first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, there is an emerging &lt;em&gt;no-artificial-support&lt;/em&gt; category:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;minimal&lt;/strong&gt; shoes, with thin, flexible outsoles for close-to-barefoot feeling (this generally induces mid/fore-foot striking), and extra room to naturally spread toes (or with separate toe pockets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that was only about your health and your running style. Now, what type of terrain you aim for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;track&lt;/strong&gt; shoes are lightweight with spikes at the bottom for better grip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;road&lt;/strong&gt; running shoes, with more cushioning, offer extra wear resistance for hard surfaces&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;trail&lt;/strong&gt; shoes for cross-country, off-road tracks, with aggressive outsole, sometimes with spikes, usually with better water-resistance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And which length of the track?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sprint&lt;/strong&gt; shoes tend to be stiff, lightweight, and again with spikes (essentially track shoes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;middle&lt;/strong&gt; distance shoes vary the most, weight is not important, choose by the terrain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;marathon&lt;/strong&gt; and beyond, a soft and lightweight shoe as the weight becomes important again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more exhaustive guide you can find at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/running+shoes.html&quot;&gt;http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/running+shoes.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4235" OwnerDisplayName="charlie" LastActivityDate="2012-02-09T21:12:59.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9429" CreationDate="2012-05-31T02:15:53.933" Score="4" ViewCount="1030" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have flat feet, and I went to a store for shoes recommendation. The guy then recommended Mizuno Wave Rider and I'd been wearing that for a few years. Did a few marathon, weekly runs and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the Wave Rider was dying, I was looking for a replacement. This time round, the store told me that I'd been wearing the wrong shoes and a flat feet like me should wear Mizuno Inspire as it gives me more support. So I did, thinking the first guy made a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I did the first run today, my feet hurt badly. It seemed like something was pushing the middle of my sole through out the run, and I couldn't even complete my run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for runners to feel like this when they change to a support/stability shoes? I don't really have any problem with Wave Rider, but the store said it will be bad for my knee, that's why I decided to change. Did I make a bad move?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="revolver" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:06:58.013" Title="Stability shoes causes pain when running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9428" CreationDate="2012-05-31T07:49:11.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should really get a second opinion on your foot shape, shoe required and probably speak to a physio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain may just be from new muscles working with your new shoes style.  Your joints react to how your muscles are working so this could cause issues with your knees, back and ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your new shoes are right, the short term pain will be better in the long run and go away but if the guy got it wrong, you could be doing serious damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Kris Moyse" LastActivityDate="2012-05-31T07:49:11.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9431" CreationDate="2012-04-19T09:58:28.853" Score="3" ViewCount="1052" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anyone with a high arch switched to barefoot shoes? If so, how far are you able to run in them? Have you felt pain in your knees? Does the arch of your foot feel like it has been over-stretched?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I choose to run in a 'neutral' shoe I will feel pain in my knees when I run over 10km. The cartilage rubs together on the outside of my knee and boy does it hurt. I switched to some mizuno wave riders and put in some arch insoles and ran some 10k's, half marathons and a marathon with no pain at all in my knees. Now I am interested in trying out some barefoot shoes, probably some from vivobarefoot or a similar brand,  but I am worried that I will again feel pain in my knees because of my arches. Since I have found a pair of shoes that eliminate my knee problems, I am hesitant to try something new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Travis" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:09:05.517" Title="How well do severe under pronators cope with barefoot shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9430" CreationDate="2012-04-20T02:07:41.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that you don't experience pain walking around barefoot, your high-arches should make your transition to a barefoot style shoe pretty swift (as compared to someone with flatter feet.)  Barefoot running makes arches higher on those that have flatter feet.  You won't want to switch immediately and completely so that your muscles and tendons can become acclimated to the new movements created from the reduced heel to toe drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your Wave Riders have a 12mm drop and you probably run heel-to-toe with a longer stride.  As you switch to barefoot, you'll reduce your stride and land on your forefoot.  Your lead foot will essentially land directly inline with your center of gravity.  This change should reduce the amount of force being applied to your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something in the minimalist category (4mm-8mm drop) is a good first step to not overwhelm your muscles and tendons.  I'm a fan of the Brooks' Green Silence (8mm) and the Saucony Kinvara (4mm) for minimalist shoes.  A new generation (3rd) of the Kinvaras is about to come out, so you might be able to find some second generation ones on clearance if you're averse to spending a ton of money ($62 online where I work.)  I wouldn't jump right out and run 15K in these on the first shot, but instead gradually switch over to them over a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book Born To Run is a fascinating read relating to barefoot running and talks a lot about the overall benefits.  The author also discusses his own transition to barefoot style, which may be useful for your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Jacob G" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T02:07:41.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9437" CreationDate="2012-02-13T15:32:38.547" Score="6" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running for a little bit now.  Every time I seem to try to increase my distance I get hurt.  What is the correct way to do this to avoid injuries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="849" OwnerDisplayName="Greg" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:13:34.887" Title="What is the correct/best way to increase distance when running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9436" CreationDate="2012-02-13T17:27:07.713" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building base is hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything depends upon the base.  Getting a base going is hard, and often involves injury.  Once you get past that, people often (always exceptions, there are no hard and fast rule) start getting a different class of injuries, usually due to overwork or imbalances that show up at higher intensities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you need to do as much as you can without getting injured, and slowly increase. That old 10% rule.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your injuries might be due to biomechanical issues.  Proper shoe selection might help.  Orthotics may help.  Strengthening excersizes to overcome muscle imbalances may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there is no silver bullet, other than to proceed cautiously.  Do not try and run through something that hurts, consider it, and make a wise choice if it something you can run through or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, this is why you NEVER want to stop running for several months!  You lose most of your base and have to start again.  That sucks.  A lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" OwnerDisplayName="geoffc" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T23:08:45.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9436" CreationDate="2012-02-19T09:25:21.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First of all, the 10% rule, only increase the mileage of the week no more than 10% than previous week;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest that do not increase the pace/speed and distance at the same time, either increase the distance while maintaining or even at a lower speed than previous distance run, or increase the speed and do not exceed the distance of previous run;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For injury prevention, however, you have to first identify the kind(s) of injury and find the correct way to prevent it. Personally I find the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0875962211&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Running Injury-Free&quot;&lt;/a&gt; very valuable resource;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weight training is important, it helps strengthen your body core so you can keep the right running form during distance run, but also builds up supporting muscles and thus minimize the risks of injuries;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other important notes: proper hydration and proper running shoes for the training types, do not run on hard surface like concrete pavement for too long, do not over-train, etc.;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Yining" LastActivityDate="2012-02-19T09:25:21.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9441" CreationDate="2012-10-17T15:29:25.443" Score="12" ViewCount="46304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to get some runner's perspectives on this one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what I might reasonably expect my 5K time to be. I currently run it in 28-29 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 31, 6'2, 200lbs, and I run a maximum 3 times a week. I always aim for 4 runs, but only seem to be able to squeeze in 3 — some weeks only 2. I started the Couch to 5K in early summer, but only really intermittently. I've been running reasonably steadily since early September. I clocked my first 5K maybe 3 weeks ago. I've already gone from about 32mins down to 28. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any guesses on how low I could go? My current big goal is sub-25mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4483" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T18:58:50.327" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T09:31:20.440" Title="Realistic best time for 5k?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2012-10-17T15:38:13.083" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Realistic is very subjective, but I think that the numbers of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Sports_Badge&quot;&gt;German Sports Badge&lt;/a&gt; could count as realistic, as they are considered to be achievable by every more or less avid athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 5k run the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rk19-bielefeld-mitte.de/info/DSA/maenner.htm&quot;&gt;numbers are&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;       18-29  30-39  40-44  45-49  50-54  55-59&#xA;men:   23:00  25:30  28:00  30:30  33:00  35:30*&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*) this activity is not recommended for people over 55, they should talk with a medical professional before attempting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T15:38:13.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2012-10-17T16:38:39.583" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely think you can go sub 25 minutes.  The key with running is &quot;Accumulated fitness&quot;.  The more often you run and the more consistently (say 4 days a week for an entire year), the better you will become.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do you get there?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1)  Run often - minimum 4 days a week but slowly see if you can fit 5 or even 6 days a week into your schedule&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2)  Run consistently - run every week.  Don't skip.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3)  Add variety - vary your pace, vary your distance, add intervals, add distance, etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4)  Extend your long run - try to get to 90 minutes by adding 5 minutes a week.  Once you get to 90 minutes, try to make the run faster.  One week make the last 5 minutes medium.  Next week make the last 10 minutes medium, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!  Let us know how you progress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.  I have worked with runners of all age groups.  Anyone that has 1) desire to improve 2) discipline in training and diet and 3) even a small bit of athletic talent can improve.  I have seen the following as good age goals for male &quot;non-runners&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;under 30 - 21:00&lt;br&gt;&#xA;30 - 40 - 24:00&lt;br&gt;&#xA;40 - 50 - 25:00&lt;br&gt;&#xA;50+ - 26:00  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="915" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T16:38:39.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-17T16:41:03.167" Score="3" ViewCount="667" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out, but never regularly, for the last 5 - 6 years now. I just resumed my workout schedule with some regularity (10 - 12 days a month or so) a couple of months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After my workout, I feel very tired and a general malaise or discomfort throughout the rest of the day and sometimes even on the following day. It takes about 2 - 3 days for me to feel completely rested and rejuvenated again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something I will just have to get used to or is there something that I can do to improve the way I feel post workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="960" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T18:50:55.450" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T18:50:55.450" Title="General malaise after workout for the whole day or sometimes 2 days. Is it normal?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9414" CreationDate="2012-10-17T18:26:48.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swap the shakes for actual food. They are a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4066/1771&quot;&gt;supplement&lt;/a&gt;, not a meal replacement. If you're concerned about protein intake, drink lots of n(real, whole) milk if it agrees with your stomach, or eat lots of (farm) eggs. You should be able to get your ~150 grams of protein from real sources: a half dozen eggs for breakfast, chicken for lunch, steak for dinner, maybe with a post-workout shake with whole milk and whey if necessary. But three protein shakes a day is more expensive than necessary and creates a lack of dietary variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether your diet is &quot;enough&quot; or &quot;too much&quot;, that's a question for you. Are you losing fat mass? Are you tired all the time, and if so, is it affecting your workouts? If your diet is showing results, it's working. If not, it isn't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I'm confused as to where your dinner is, and why all the oats. Even if losing weight, we must eat. Fasting works for a short time, but for most people, it eventually gets too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T02:25:51.460" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9442" CreationDate="2012-10-17T18:36:44.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The condition of post exercise fatigue (and from a previous question you posted - fatigue during exercise) could be related to MANY causes.  The best approach is to see a doctor immediately, since the causes include diabetes, heart condition, etc.  It could also be something as simple of pre-workout nutrition.  Be safe and see a Dr.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T18:36:44.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9414" CreationDate="2012-10-17T19:49:45.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you work out a lot you mainly need carbohydrate and fats for energy and protein to repair and rebuild muscle tissue. &#xA;You can cover the carbohydrates by eating oats, quinoa, rice and sweet potatoes.&#xA;You can cover the fats by eating fish, eggs, nuts, avocado's, adding extra virgin olive oil to your food and bake your meat/fish/chicken/eggs in palm or coconut oil.&#xA;You can meet your protein need by eating biological fish, meat, poultry, eggs and protein shakes. I personally would avoid diary, because studies show inconsistent results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is just the basis. I think it's at least as important as the foods above that you eat a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals. You can get them from vegetables, fruit and supplements. Try to eat as much colorful food as you can and take a basic multi vitamin (as a rule of thumb, the more expensive the supplement the better quality, but make sure you do your research before buying).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least, eat water rich foods, drink enough water (especially during the workout) and make sure you get enough sleep/rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out is supposed to make you stronger and more energized. If you feel tired during the day on a consistent basis, you might want to re-evaluate the balance you have between resting and challenging your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Couple of tips:&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Don't take more than 32g of protein per meal.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Avoid eating carbohydrates and fats in the same meal.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Don't eat 2 hours before going to bed.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Eat mainly carbohydrates before workout.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Eat mainly proteins after workout.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Keep your workout under an hour.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Drink water as soon as you wake up.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Eat proteins for breakfast.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Make sure at least 60% of your food are vegetables.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Sleep 8 hours a night in a dark room.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Try some yoga breathing techniques (they supply you with a lot of extra energy).&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastEditorUserId="4470" LastEditDate="2012-10-19T07:38:46.717" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T07:38:46.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2012-10-17T19:57:26.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's always nice to see people getting into running :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally run my 5k's around 15-17mins.&#xA;However, I think that time really doesn't matter, it matters whether or not you pushed yourself. I vomit after every race, but I always feel good, physically as well as mentally because I know that I did my best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry what your time is, just do your best.&#xA;(I know that sounds &quot;cheesey&quot;, but it doesn't matter if you don't push yourself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4486" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T19:57:26.570" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9414" CreationDate="2012-10-17T20:00:04.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're eating extremely healthily, but I think you need more carbohydrates.&#xA;If you're doing this a lot, then you'll want more carbohydrates. Other than that, you're taking in a very good amount of protein :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, just a recommendation, you shouldn't workout so close to when you go to bed, I find that it makes you're sleep not as good, but it's different with everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4486" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T20:00:04.860" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9449" CreationDate="2012-10-17T20:15:30.023" Score="1" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I try to exercise my triceps, my elbows REALLY hurt. This is something recent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally I would bring about 45 pounds behind my head and do 15-20 reps, and lowering the weight didn't help at all. I brought the weight down to 20 pounds and it still hurts like hell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;!&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/30VHF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(Picture)&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;(Picture)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referring to the picture, when I do anything to stimulate the triceps, it feels as if the Lateral Epicondyle and the Olecranon are scraping against one another violently. This is where all of the pain is coming from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have correct form when doing my workouts and dropping the weight didn't work.&#xA;I've been taking in a lot of calcium and protein in hopes that it will help, but it isn't doing much, is there anything else to try?&#xA;And thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4486" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-17T20:38:17.013" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T12:22:07.843" Title="It's really difficult to exercise my triceps, could use some suggestions!" Tags="&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9448" CreationDate="2012-10-17T21:22:19.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had similar problems with my triceps and the best exercise I've found is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dips-triceps-version&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doing dips.&lt;/a&gt; But to start out you might want to try them &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bench-dips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;with the assistance of a bench&lt;/a&gt; or a machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4487" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T21:22:19.547" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2503" CreationDate="2012-10-17T22:23:59.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you think of &quot;diet&quot; in terms of &quot;eating less&quot; or &quot;reducing calories&quot;, this is a bad idea. It does not work, and you lose at least as much muscle (rather more) as fat, and &lt;em&gt;as little as it works&lt;/em&gt;, it does not work for a long time at all before you grow tired of it. In the end, you'll have more weight &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; less muscle, which is an unfavorable combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think of &quot;diet&quot; in terms of &quot;eating correctly&quot; or maybe &quot;eating with &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; restrictions&quot;, then it can be very effective up to a certain point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gone from 115kg to 104kg over one year by following the Montignac diet, without ever being hungry or feeling agonized. (It's a low carb diet, though less fanatic than some others). It takes a bit of discipline to begin with, but after a while you don't even feel like you're missing something any more. Quality of life is very good. &quot;No beer&quot; is the only thing that really hurts, but hey, a glass of wine for dinner is allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;104kg was the end of the road as far diet went, no more change. Going on the elliptic trainer for 2 hours every other day got me down to 95kg in 8 months, for a total of 20kg in 20 months (prepare to spend some money on new trousers!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now... going on the elliptical trainer every two days, again, is something that admittedly takes a lot of discipline, but it's entirely possible, and it works. And, you eventually get used to it, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Start gently if your're not in shape (30-40 mins), and add 5 minutes every day until you're at 2 hours. Never train too hard (130-140 bpm is good), and read a book or watch a DVD to make it less boring. Be sure to aim for at least 1 hour (better 2 hours) per session, because anything less than an hour is useless for burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4473" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T22:23:59.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9414" CreationDate="2012-10-17T23:09:42.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is simple. Buy some callipers and pinch the area with the most fat on your body (probably stomach?). Measure with your fingers using belly buttons, nipples, or whatever as a point of reference to ensure you pinch the same point every time. I pinch 3 points, stomach, thigh, side of pectoral. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the millimetres are shrinking over time then be happy :). If not, reduce food intake slightly until you get the right amount. It doesn't matter what body fat percentage you are - it just matters if your skin folds are reducing. I do this once per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. If your skin folds are shrinking and you are maintaining or gaining weight on the scales - you are building muscle and losing fat at the same time (yes - its possible!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-10-17T23:09:42.477" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8355" CreationDate="2012-10-18T12:49:40.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also go see a vascular specialist.  Peripheral Artery Disease can cause those symptoms; but, so can many other things.  Our facility performs free screenings for PAD.  Look and see if there is someplace you can get a free screening before seeking other medical help.  If for no other reason, than to rule out something like PAD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T12:49:40.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9459" CreationDate="2012-10-18T13:17:01.083" Score="5" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are tons of articles, &lt;a href=&quot;http://palmdalefitness.com/general/fitness-and-the-importance-of-sleep/&quot;&gt;like this one&lt;/a&gt;, around the importance off sleep on health, fitness,etc.  The one question i have is how do i know how much sleep i need.  Most of these articles say between 7-8 hours but it depends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If i only get 5 hours of sleep but still feel fine in the morning and don't see it impairing my activities, is that a problem.  Are there still benefits that i am missing out on if i did sleep taht extra 2-3 hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T04:41:31.723" Title="How can i figure out how much sleep I need?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9418" CreationDate="2012-10-18T15:02:38.640" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge there is no formula for calculating body muscle percentage.  Once you have calculated your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt;, the rest is considered &lt;strong&gt;lean body mass&lt;/strong&gt;, consisting of lean muscle, bones, organs and fluids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your body fat percentage decreases, then your lean body mass percentage increases.  However, if you are not eating sufficient nutrients and your weight decreases  but your body fat percentage does not, then you could be losing weight from lean body tissues like muscles.  In the extreme you could be losing bone mass. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two ways you can track muscle growth and definition is with girth measurements and photos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Girth or Anthropometric Measurements:&lt;/strong&gt; One way to track increases in muscles is by &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4087/keeping-track-of-muscle-dimensions&quot;&gt;measuring the girth&lt;/a&gt; of the muscles at designated points and re-measuring over time.  Of course the limitation with this method is that it simply indicates an increase (or decrease) in size, not the composition.  However, if the muscle definition is improving along with an increase in girth measurement, then the increase in size is likely to be due to an increase in muscle mass. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Photo Journal:&lt;/strong&gt; Another method of keeping track of progress is by keeping a photo journal.  Make sure to keep the same camera set up and stand in the same place each time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to rephrase your question: &quot;What is a good &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;lean body mass percentage&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&quot; Calculate your body fat percentage and subtract that percentage from 100. For example, if you are a reasonably fit male and your body-fat percentage is 14-17%, then your &lt;em&gt;lean body mass&lt;/em&gt; would be 86-83%. Generally speaking, however, the body-fat percentage is referenced. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Body-Fat-Percentage-Chart.html#Women&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;body fat % charts&lt;/a&gt; - on our site).  And yes, as your body fat percentage decreases, your lean body mass increases proportionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T15:02:38.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7968" CreationDate="2012-10-18T16:55:50.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the calories for your workout were the only ones burnt per day your math would be correct.  However, everyone has a resting metabolic rate (RMR).  A RMR is the amount of energy (in calories) it would take for your body to perform the basics to keep you alive (breathing, heart beat, etc.).  Everyone's RMR is different, dependent upon several factors (including age, gender, genetics, lean muscle mass, etc.), and can only be calculated via an RMR test.  Unless you have thyroid issues your RMR is probably in the 1200-1600cal range.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means with your exercise you are actually burning 1700-2100ish calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore you are actually a net loss of 200-600 calories a day.  With 3500 calories in one pound, you'd be losing one pound every 6 days or so.  A lot of other factors can play in to this, just putting the math into perspective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are probably tired because you are working really hard and not consuming enough to make up the deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T16:55:50.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7968" CreationDate="2012-10-18T18:29:25.453" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A mistake a lot of people make is that they assume that the human body is some kind of book keeper. That it counts the calories in and calories out and whats left is the energy you have. Unfortunately its not that easy. There are hundreds and hundreds of other variables that have influence on your energy or health in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest calorie burners are your digestion and your internal heating system to keep your body on the right temperature. But it's not about keeping track of the calories. Getting energy is about providing your body with the right nutrients (including water and oxygen) and supporting your body with eliminating the toxins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we take a look at our bodies a bit closer you see that your body is build up from cells, those cells provide us with the energy we need (this process is called metabolism). Providing those cells with the chemicals they need and eliminating it's waist products will result in an increase in energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all cells need oxygen and water, so take deep breaths and eat a lot of foods that contain water (vegetables and fruits). Besides that cells need vitamins and minerals, so make sure you eat a lot of vegetables and take some high quality supplements). And lastly cells need sugars (carbohydrates are converted into sugar) and 'good' fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, it is very important to listen to your body. If you feel tired you need to make some changes. There are a couple of things you can do. I listed the important ones below, starting with the one with the highest impact:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Study yoga breathing techniques and learn to take deeper abdominal   breaths&lt;br/&gt; Eat more water rich foods (at least 60% of your diet should  be vegetables) &lt;br/&gt;Sleep more (ideally you want to wake up without an    alarm clock most of the time) &lt;br/&gt;Exercise less or less intensive    (walking is considered the healthiest form of exercise by many    doctors) &lt;br/&gt;Take vitamin supplements and eat more omega-3 fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T18:29:25.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9454" CreationDate="2012-10-18T18:45:18.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between what is best for your health and what is realistic to implement in your life. The amount of sleep you need is different for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, it's best to go to bed when the sun sets (or little after) and wake up every day without an alarm clock. I did this for a month every day and felt amazing, but it does impact your social life. So I stopped doing it that extreme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More realistic would be: get at least 7 hours of sleep during 'work days'. (7 hours is a good duration for most people. But you should experiment with this and find out what works for you.) Try to go to bed about the same time every 'work day'. On weekends, try to keep to this schedule as much as possible. And wake up without an alarm clock whenever you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the duration of your sleep, there are a few other influences on the quality of your sleep. A few brief recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/19149/do-humans-sleep-better-in-darkness&quot;&gt;Sleep in a dark room&lt;/a&gt;, or with a sleeping mask&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only sleep (and do other bedroom activities) in your bedroom (don't use it for&#xA;study/work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep in a quiet and safe environment &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write your worries down before you go to bed &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your bedroom clean and free of stuff that's just lying around &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/health/04real.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Keep your bedroom cool&lt;/a&gt; (use a warm blanket if cold)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your bedroom is well-ventilated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:42.333" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T04:41:31.723" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9454" CreationDate="2012-10-18T18:47:18.463" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To quote the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/healthy_sleep.pdf&quot;&gt;National Institute of Health&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When healthy adults are given unlimited opportunity to sleep, they&#xA;  sleep on average between 8 and 8.5 hours a night. But sleep needs vary&#xA;  from person to person. Some people appear to need only about 7 hours&#xA;  to avoid problem sleepiness, whereas others need 9 or more hours of&#xA;  sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you may in fact by an outlier that only needs 5 hours of sleep to be well rested and functional, but that is unlikely. Instead of considering how much sleep you need to &quot;not have problems&quot; consider how much sleep you need to &quot;perform at optimal levels.&quot; So you may not be tired after 5 hours of sleep, but your cognitive abilities and physical abilities may (and likely are) affected by your current lack of sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T18:47:18.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6422" CreationDate="2012-10-18T19:00:11.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be caused by a few things.  Treadmills normally have leveling screws near the back roller (think pads on the bottom of a chair that screw in and out to level the legs).  If the left side has more tension, the belt will slip left as it is run, same with the right side.  If it is moving back and forth freely, more than likely, both leveling adjustments are a little loose and the pressure you exert on the belt left to right when you use it causes it to zig-zag.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T19:00:11.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8225" CreationDate="2012-10-18T19:14:23.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more calories you consume, and carbohydrates are calories in their simplest form, the less quickly you will lose weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example :  If you were to consume 1400 calories/day and burning 1750 calories/day you will lose 1 pound in 10 days.  Adding 175 calories in carbohydrates/day to your diet you will lose that same pound in 20 days.  This assumes that the only changing variable in your body was calories in and calories out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the math standpoint, yes you should cut out the carbs on the weekend if your goal is to lose weight at your current rate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many other factors that one could argue about leaving in the weekend carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add another point in here, protein is the food source that will help you build and maintain muscle mass.  However, consuming more than 2g protein/1kg body weight, even for elite athletes is mostly wasted.  Your body also processes real protein (fish, chicken, tuna, eggs, etc.) better than whey powder.  Yet, if you feel you can not meet your protein intake with real food, supplements are what you should look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T19:14:23.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2012-10-18T20:39:03.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you checked out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.challengeloop.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ChallengeLoop&lt;/a&gt;? It is both an iPhone app and website that motivates you to achieve your health and fitness goals. You can challenge yourself and your friends on the system and add photos, videos, and comments along the way showing your progress. They have Facebook and Twitter sharing capability (I know that's what you're looking for). Both the app and website are free. A lot of personal trainers use it with their clients to motivate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4493" LastActivityDate="2012-10-18T20:39:03.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9465" CreationDate="2012-10-18T23:37:03.287" Score="2" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I've been working out about 4-5 days a week trying to get in about 6-7 different lifts in per day.  Focusing on a major muscle group each day for example Legs day 1, Arms day 2, chest day 3 etc.  Recently I've been struggling to get through the work outs and getting in only about 4 different lifts.  Is there any suggestions on how to rejuvenate my workouts so that I am able to get back through all my sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4495" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-19T04:57:10.497" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T04:57:10.497" Title="How to get out of a Work Out Funk?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9464" CreationDate="2012-10-19T02:14:41.490" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may have stumbled with your sleep, eating, stress levels, amount of sunlight or socialization, or fallen into overtraining in a million other ways. Maybe your program simply has too much volume for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, it sounds like you're overtrained. Take a day or a week off, and when you start up again, consider doing dramatically less. Five days a week of lifting is often taxing. Sometimes more rest coupled with more intense lifting on the days when you do work out is easier on your recovery in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T02:14:41.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9464" CreationDate="2012-10-19T03:27:26.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are your goals?  Do you have any goals?  Goals should be a major part of any workout plan.  Whether you want to be a world class athlete, compete well in a local event, improve stamina, lose some weight or maintain an energy level the lack of a goal can make working out a mental challenge.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have an athletic induced goal and you're stuttering to workout, post your goals somewhere to jump start you, be in on the inside of your bedroom door, your desk at work/school or in the car.  If you do not have any try to find additional motivation to work out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T03:27:26.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9474" CreationDate="2012-10-19T03:40:39.300" Score="3" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there seem to be a lot of similar questions, but most are about pain on the top of the foot. Mine is located on the inside of both feet when I run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my situation. I am extremely overweight (honestly I weigh around 290 for 6'0) and I have very flat feet. I did go and buy good shoes with thick gel soles (is that the right word? had to translate). The pain occurs only when I run after about 700m and quite rapidly wears off when I stop running. After my jog I feel no pain afterwards so I don't think I'm injured (yet). I also have the same pain in my calves but the foot pain is worse and makes me have to stop running even though I could still run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a matter of being overweight and having flat feet? Will losing weight make it better, and will I injure myself if I continue to run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4498" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-19T17:08:37.233" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T17:08:37.233" Title="Foot and calves pain when running" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7873" CreationDate="2012-10-19T08:17:27.777" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heavy metals can significantly damage your health. Therefor I would discourage the use of protein shakes with high amount of heavy metals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consequences of consuming high amounts of heavy metals (through taking protein shakes) can vary from difficult-to-pass bowel movements or concentration problems to prostate problems or even cancer (source: Mark Hyman, MD).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &lt;strong&gt;there is a time and a place for certain protein shakes&lt;/strong&gt;. If your goal is muscle gain, you do need to consume a significant amount of proteins to (re)build your muscles. Eating high amount of poultry, meat or eggs for example can be bad for you as well. I suggest you find a protein shake that is extracted form vegan sources (so it's biological) and does not contain high amounts of heavy metals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take the protein shakes for convince&lt;/strong&gt;, if you have no time to prepare a meal for example. But never replace your meals with protein shakes. Protein is just one of the manny nutrients your body needs to build muscle (and stay alive for that matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite sources for protein are: &lt;strong&gt;Nuts, Seeds, Broccoli, Grass Fed Beef, Fish and Omega-3 Eggs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T08:17:27.777" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2012-10-19T08:17:27.777" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9471" CreationDate="2012-10-19T08:48:16.810" Score="1" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am lactose intolerant. I researched many nutritions shop (in Turkey) and couldn't find lactose-free protein powders except Muscle Milk. I have also tried 1 serving from my friend's Muscle Milk and it does not disturb me. In short, I can use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have belly fat though, and I am trying to lose it. I'm working out using the StrongLifts 5x5 program. It's my 3rd week, and I've lost 3 kilograms so far. My body also started having a shape. I'm really happy with this program . I'm not doing any cardio (running, biking, etc.) as part of my workout regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned about the calorie content in Muscle Milk. Is it suitable for me to use it while on my StrongLifts 5x5 program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3916" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-19T17:05:33.577" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T17:05:33.577" Title="Using Muscle Milk but worried about its calorie content" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9470" CreationDate="2012-10-19T09:18:08.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm also lactose intolerant. The ultra filtered whey (sometimes marketed as 100%) works pretty well for my stomach, so maybe you should try using that. Otherwise you could use a pure egg protein, it is produced from egg whites and therefore have no lactose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem to be in caloric deficit even with the muscle milk stuff, so in that sense it is suitable for you. So why change something that is working? If you still think you need to cut the extra calories, go ahead and get a pure protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastEditorUserId="4423" LastEditDate="2012-10-19T09:30:47.013" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T09:30:47.013" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9468" CreationDate="2012-10-19T11:16:37.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check with your Doctor&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clearance for exercise - First, congratulations on starting to exercise.  Based on your height and weight your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/BMI-Body-Mass-Index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BMI&lt;/a&gt;, which is a body mass index used to screen for obesity, is 39.3 which suggests that you are in the obese category, Class II. In this case it is wise that you consult with your doctor and get clearance before beginning an exercise program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diagnosis - Your doctor will be able to tell you the cause of your foot and calf pain.  It may be as you say, due to flat feet and your weight.  However, there may be &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips/965#965&quot;&gt;other causes&lt;/a&gt;, as well as circulation problems.  Your doctor can tell you what is causing the pain and advise you on an appropriate exercise and nutrition program. If the problem is your flat feet, your doctor may prescribe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/subtopic/0,7123,s6-240-319-327-0,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;orthotics&lt;/a&gt;. You may injure yourself if you continue to run on joints and tissue that cannot tolerate the impact of running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternatives to Running&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem is from the impact of running, you may need to try alternatives to running until your body is better able to tolerate the workouts.  For instance, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking will place less jarring compressive forces on your legs and spine than running or jogging.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A stationary cycle causes no impact at all. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running or exercising in water also minimizes impact. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nordic walking poles&lt;/a&gt; with walking can give you more of a workout than walking alone and burn more calories because in includes the large muscles of the trunk. Using the poles also takes some strain off of the lower extremity joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Resistance training is also important when you are trying to change your body composition and lower your bodyfat percentage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) - Once you are in better condition and have a method of exercise that allows you to increase the intensity of exercise, (and clearance from your doctor with safe target exercise heart rate parameters), beginning HIIT will add efficiency to your workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you do not want to do is to continue an exercise that causes pain.  This can lead to an injury as you fear and cause you to stop exercising all together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are 2 other question/answers that go beyond your question but may help you with your program.  Good luck.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6370/how-to-lose-weight-when-morbidly-obese/6374#6374&quot;&gt;Weight Loss when Obese&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2044/how-can-an-overweight-engineer-get-back-in-shape/2058#2058&quot;&gt;Getting Back in Shape&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T11:16:37.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7968" CreationDate="2012-10-19T12:00:53.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The training is harder because you probably have depleted all glucose in your body. Your body have a hard time functioning since it have no readily available fuel and tries to use your fat store for energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't write your height or fat% but assuming you are around 175cm, you probably are pretty low on fat mass, and is probably metabolising muscles as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason I would advice against this. Having muscle mass is a good thing and is something you should hold on to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I where to guess you probably have a daily expenditure of around 2500-3000 kcal depending on how much you move around apart from your active exercise. In that case I think you should be eating 2000-2500 kcal per day, and if you are not losing fat mass. Start cutting from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-10-19T12:00:53.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9542" CreationDate="2012-10-19T16:41:53.443" Score="9" ViewCount="5138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd love to get some advice on this one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr&lt;/strong&gt;:   I can't figure out my calorie intake, and often end up dying in the middle of my 5k runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The longer version:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running since August-ish, and have been trying to three 5k runs per week. In the last month I've gone from 32min down to 27:40. (That's just a bit of background).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 50% of the time, I'll get 3/4 of the way through a run and completely run out of gas. And I mean completely. It's extremely frustrating—one day I'll have a good run, and the next, I'll be ready to pass out after about 20 minutes of running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I had to eat today: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7am:  Toast and peanut butter, coffee&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10:30: apple, banana, coffee&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11:30: a good-sized turkey sandwich&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12:00  a granola bar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12:40 Run&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, I got to about 22 minutes of fairly moderate pace and thought I was going to have to be carried back. I was dead. I didn't have a thing left. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only runs where I find that this doesn't happen are my night runs — when I run after dinner (about 7:30-8pm). I find these runs go just fine when I eat by 5:30 and run after 7:30. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on how I might sort out my daytime running issues? An apple, a banana, a big turkey sandwich and a granola bar should be enough to fuel an 'easy' day run, shouldn't it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any ideas!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ps:  I'm 6'2, about 200lbs. In 'reasonable' shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: So it seems like it's almost certainly a pacing issue. I've had 4 quite good runs now with no out-of-gas issues. I ran last friday on very little food, but watched my pace &lt;em&gt;meticulously&lt;/em&gt; and had no issue. I didn't post a fast time, for sure, but I didn't run out of gas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the 'trick' to getting better at running is really improving your 'conversational pace'? When I started, I couldn't maintain a conversation at any pace, but now I can run for 30mins straight and be conversational the whole time. Again, not with a fast time, but I my heart rate isn't going nuts. I presume that with 6-8+ weeks of this, my 'conversational pace' will be faster? Is that how this works? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, thanks everyone for helping me sort this out. It seems obvious to me now, but it was quite a mystery before! Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4483" LastEditorUserId="4483" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T18:34:43.757" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T18:34:43.757" Title="Always running out of energy when running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9479" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-19T23:13:21.840" Score="2" ViewCount="685" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is...&lt;strong&gt;Is my work out routine useful for mass or is it completely wrong&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For quite a while, I followed a routine where I would start with  3 or 4 sets of a tough excercise and heavy weights I could rep maybe just six times each set. Then on the next excercise of 3 or 4 sets I would move to medium weight I could rep at least eight times each set. Last, I would do 3 or 4 sets of a lighter excercise with omething like 12 reps on each set. For example, for chest I would go heavy on the bench, then do the medium weights with dumbell presses and then finish with peck deck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there are supposedly optimal rep ranges for mass and I was maybe slightly stepping out of that optimal range on either end of the workout, but I somehow had this idea that I need to go really heavy while I am still full of energy at the beginning and take the muscles to their strength limit (still within something we could consider a mass building rep range), then the middle I would consider the golden core of the workout and the lighter weights at the end I would consider something like a pump up excercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some people go exactly the opposite way and start lighter and increase loads as they go, but I just find I get exhausted too early on some easy stuff and the when I need to really work, I am half dead already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generaly there are tons of different load progression methods...but could anyone give me a qualified answer as to what is really good? (again my priority is mass)&#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4505" LastEditorUserId="4505" LastEditDate="2012-10-20T15:24:07.783" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T15:06:10.097" Title="Varying Rep Ranges During a Workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9483" CreationDate="2012-10-20T03:35:11.537" Score="7" ViewCount="8884" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing a 75 mile bike ride in a few days.  I wanted to get some advice on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what to eat the day / night before?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What to eat the morning of the ride (the ride starts at 8 AM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;anything else to focus on the night before or the morning of a ride&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2013-09-07T07:03:35.450" Title="What is the best thing to eat before a long bike ride?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2012-10-20T08:37:53.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest eating stuff that is not too fillig so you can move with ease, yet the food also has to be very rich in complex carbohydrates. Comlex carbohydrates have the property that they release their energy (the body can utilize it to be precise) slowly and therefore gradualy. A great example of a light food rich in complex carbs would be puffed wheat cakes. It a bit dry to eat on its own, but if you eat a bunch of them you will have tons of energy for quite a while and you wont be full at all. I would also suggest taking something like a sweet musli bar as a snack with you. The musli also is rich in complex carbs and the sugar will give you a quick boost, so you can think of it as a small range extender.&#xA;If you dont like wheat cakes or you want to find out other foods of this kind, i would suggest visting &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&lt;/a&gt;. You can search foods by nutrients and you will get tons of alternatives and you can compare the nutritional data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4505" LastActivityDate="2012-10-20T08:37:53.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7319" CreationDate="2012-10-20T12:05:40.207" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calf tenderness is a common occurrence with barefoot/minimalist running. The achilles is in the back of the leg, from the knee to the back of the heel. It is NOT a shock absorber, but is a stabilizing muscle and propulsing muscle. It works harder when one runs barefoot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barefoot running is something that needs to be very gradually introduced into a training program, and there are some people for whom it will remain a very limited part of the workout routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. For the record, I am a podiatrist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4506" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-10-20T16:50:58.173" LastActivityDate="2012-10-20T16:50:58.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2012-10-20T14:56:43.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stocking up a couple of days before hand on complex carbs (pasta etc) is a good idea.  Do not eat loads and loads more, but do get extra carbs into the muscles, (storage).  Not working hard (exercise wise) for 3-4 days at least before hand will give you the energy and rest needed to do your best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not sure at this point then in all honesty things are a bit late.  Ideally you would have done various long rides before hand where you can see how your body response to eating different foods / energy products while exercising and what works best for you.  Some people cant deal with solids while exercising while others need it, (rather than just energy drinks or gels).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is all very personal to the person involved.  I found flapjacks to be great while out riding, they are an awesome source of simple and complex carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GL&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2336" LastActivityDate="2012-10-20T14:56:43.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7757" CreationDate="2012-10-20T15:11:32.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had (and continue to have on occasion) elbow pain, the biggest help I've found was using the TheraBand Flexiband product (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000BPV3GO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here at amazon&lt;/a&gt;).  Basically you're performing an eccentric exercise to reduce pain assoc. with tendinitis (aka tennis elbow).  Here's a video showing the use: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/tQfwpUd8t6o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/tQfwpUd8t6o&lt;/a&gt;.  Key short term help is rest and then exercise, use the theraband to reduce future injuries). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-20T15:11:32.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3865" CreationDate="2012-10-20T18:48:59.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use Cardiotrainer more often since it doesn't have to wait till the GPS picks up before recording.  It has a pedometer built in so it estimates the steps/distance etc from that and also allows for exercises such as Stair climbing (which I do in the office when it's rainy and I just want to do some exercise).  The web interface on Runkeeper is a lot better though.  So I just export the GPX files I want to from the CardioTrainer website and upload it to the Runkeeper site.  I haven't used the Runkeeper app for ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If only the two had a widget which I could install to synchronise them!  Or consolidate it all into one website so I have the data in one place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4508" LastActivityDate="2012-10-20T18:48:59.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4476" CreationDate="2012-10-21T00:13:05.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to disagree with M. Cypher that it is no big deal if there are a few hours between your meal and your workout. I think it is absolutely essential to be loaded with carbs in order to be at your full stregth and a glass of juice is certainly not enough. I would eat a large portion of paste prior to working out. But you also need to give your body some time to diggest the food. I asked doctors how long that takes and while no one knew exactly, the best guess was something like 2 hours.&#xA;To put it short, stuff up, wait for 2 hours and then you are ready to workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a workout you also need to eat to replenish your glycogen, and this is the only time of the day when you can legaly go ahead and enjoy something with sugar. I would not suggest protein directly after a workout, as it will be broken down for energy and it is too precious for that. By giving your body the sugar first, you cover your energy deficit and only at least 30 minutes after eat protein so your muscle can repair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4505" LastActivityDate="2012-10-21T00:13:05.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7757" CreationDate="2012-10-21T03:52:47.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me start by saying, I have a Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science and no doctorate to my name.  That being said, it sounds more like a nerve impingement.  Wiki yourself a diagram of how nerves run through the arm and you will see exactly where the nerves run.  This can be caused by mal-alignment of joints, muscles pressing on the nerve, or even external pressures (think numb leg after sitting on the couch).  If the numbness progresses or fails to go away after a short while (post exercise) you NEED TO SEE A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I have had a patient in my care complain of this exact same problem.  They had tried stretching, ice/heat therapy, NSAIDs, etc.  The thing that worked, and what I would recommend you try, is finding a good massage therapist that can work your arm back to its normal state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-10-21T03:52:47.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8248" CreationDate="2012-10-21T12:08:24.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lowering your fat percentage (burning fat) can be a good goal, but you should be careful not to set unrealistic goals. Wanting a lower fat percentage than you are genetically designed to have can be very frustrating and unhealthy. For a man having a fat percentage between 6 and 15% is perfectly fine. It depends on you body type how much fat percentage you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, let's assume that your fat percentage is higher than you're genetically designed to have. You want to burn some fat and build some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although &lt;strong&gt;loosing weight and building muscle are to different processes&lt;/strong&gt; is your body you can do them at the same time. Burning fat is just using body fat as main energy source while being active and building muscle is just damaging your muscles (in a save way of course) so they come back stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make your body burn body fat is it important that you &lt;strong&gt;lower the insulin level in your blood&lt;/strong&gt;, you do that by cutting on the carbs and eliminating your sugar intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To damage you muscle so they come back stronger you should &lt;strong&gt;put an intense amount of stress on your muscles for a short period of time&lt;/strong&gt;. I recommend you to do three separate workouts in the gym every week no longer than 30 minutes, workout 1 is chest and triceps, workout 2 is back and biceps, workout 3 is legs and shoulders. I would do sit-ups as a warm up every workout. Make sure you push yourself to the lint every time, muscle grow happens in those lat few reps that seem impossible but you have to push them. But again: be careful, use your own judgement, and always ask the fitness instructor if you are executing an exercise in the right way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;By doing this short/intense workout and avoiding sugars you will get your body to burn the body fat&lt;/em&gt;. You will needs some carbs but experiment with it, try one week more and one week less carbs and see what works for you. Always eat a lot of protein, healthy fats and vitamins. &#xA;In loosing fat and gaining muscle diet is as least as important than the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-21T12:08:24.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9494" CreationDate="2012-10-22T03:13:57.040" Score="10" ViewCount="4089" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just did a long bike ride (75 miles) and my legs are starting to hurt alot (tightening up, soreness, etc).  The ride was about 10 hours ago and this was more than i have ridden in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to recover from a long bike ride (stretching?, eating certain foods?, other ideas?) to minimize pain and soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-23T11:58:57.147" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T13:58:29.197" Title="What is the best way to recover after a long bike ride?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8248" CreationDate="2012-10-22T09:06:12.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gain muscle and burn fat at the same time is really hard. I tried it for several years and never really made much of a progress. The thing is if you want to bulk (gain muscles) you have to make sure your muscles get enough energy so that they can grow. So my advise is, forget about burning fat if you really want to gain muscle, do it in a 2 phase manner, first you gain muscle then you burn fat and shape your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bulking and Cutting are two phases that don't really go with eachother. Believe me, as I said I tried it for a long time but as I realised this concept I made some serious progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastActivityDate="2012-10-22T09:06:12.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9414" CreationDate="2012-10-22T12:42:37.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are on the right track and you will achieve the weight loss sooner, friend. I follow almost the same timing in my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodloversfatloss.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fat Loss Diet&lt;/a&gt; and keeping a proper diet will help in burning our excess fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4518" LastActivityDate="2012-10-22T12:42:37.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9490" CreationDate="2012-10-22T15:12:16.867" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Immediately after (like within 30 minutes or sooner) dump a bunch of protein into your system.  I like chocolate milk, but anything with protein and carbs and fluid is good.  This helps your body recover faster as it starts off will all the raw materials it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can handle it, a cold bath (ice cold is optimum, but very hard to take) can help reduce any immediate swelling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advil is quite good for muscle pain, once you have had some time to rehydrate, since it can reduce kidney function.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, suck it up.  :) Alas, this is the side affect of building muscle.  It hurts.  I wish there was a magic bullet to fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-10-22T15:12:16.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-22T15:58:19.037" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the title says, I'm just thin at 5'8&quot; and 130lbs. I'm just 19 years old. Despite eating a lot, I'm still very skinny. My problem is I'm a busy student and I don't have much time to work out. I need to do a lot of stuff the whole day in the university and most of the time I don't have a choice but to sleep at around 3AM just to finish some tasks. Yeah, that much stress while I'm still 19. I don't have the confidence to go to the gym yet so I just exercise at home or at school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my meals, rice really is the steady food here and it's always available (it's really in the culture to eat rice.) I can go for cereal for breakfast, though. I also like fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For workouts, somebody told me to lift weights more instead of jogging. I play play basketball whenever I have time and I do some quick workouts at home (quick lifts on light dumbbells, burpees, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really new to this and it's about damn time to buff up to get some hot chicks. Have you guys any suggestions on how to deal with balancing my busy schedule and my ambition on being a hunk? Thanks a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4519" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-10-22T15:58:19.037" Title="I'm very thin and I want some muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-10-23T02:41:18.710" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-22T18:29:00.437" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for recommendations for earbuds I can wear while running and working out.  Here's my wish list of features:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bluetooth and compatible w/ iPhone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inline controls: volume, play, pause, stop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good battery life - should be at least 2-3 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comfortable and won't fall out while running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Price is almost not an issue at this point. Normally it would be, but I can't seem to find anything that meets the criteria above so I'm willing to spend more money if necessary.  I've done extensive research on Google, product review web sites, and individual manufacturer sites.  It appears that you can have 2 or 3 of the features above, but not all of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of &quot;fitness-rugged&quot; earbuds that might be good?  I want a comfortable, but secure fit, minimal cord length, inline and intuitive controls, and good battery life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4523" LastActivityDate="2012-10-22T18:29:00.437" Title="Bluetooth Earbuds w/ Controls?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-10-22T21:44:20.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29" CreationDate="2012-10-22T18:34:15.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the same range of body fat as you are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I start my workouts with a 5 mile run or 45 minute swim, then I hit the weights. I do this 4-5 times a week and I have been losing weight consistently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time I have been building muscle. I don't want to be big I just want to be strong and have some definition. Last week I ordered Axis Labs Micronized Creatine Monohydrate, so I'm going to try this out and see how it goes. This works for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4524" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-23T12:03:43.337" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T12:03:43.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2012-10-22T19:27:55.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You get energy through a process in your body that's called &lt;em&gt;metabolism&lt;/em&gt;. You have two kinds of metabolism: carbohydrate/sugar metabolism and fat metabolism. You can train your body (and you have genetical tendency towards one or the other) how well both those processes are functioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrate/sugar metabolism tends to give you fast and a lot of energy&lt;/strong&gt;, but it also creates a sugar crash* after a period (about 2 to 3 hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat metabolism takes a longer time to transform fat into energy but it is very consistent&lt;/strong&gt;. This makes it ideal for activities that take longer than 2 hours. If you read journals from some people that did amazing performances such as running 1000 miles in 11 days (Stu Mittleman), you read that they only eat fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creating a well functioning fat metabolism might take a while, it will take your body some time to develop that part of the metabolism. It is worth the effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not recommend you to only rely on fat metabolism because you do need carbs for a healthy functioning body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I advice you to eat fats (biological meat, fish and coconut/olive oil) until 18 hours for the race and carbs after. As a snack during the race: &lt;em&gt;raisins&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;almonds&lt;/em&gt; are a good combination as well as &lt;em&gt;banana's&lt;/em&gt;. I won't advise you to take energy bars to soon in the race but pack one just in case you feel very hungry in those last 10 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Sugar crash means a sudden absence of sugar in your blood. This results in a tired feeling, mentally and physically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastEditorUserId="4470" LastEditDate="2012-10-24T20:04:29.530" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T20:04:29.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2012-10-22T20:10:44.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be a bit late, as you said it was &quot;in a few days&quot;, however it is good general advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am presuming that you have been training and working up to the 75 mile ride, and during those rides is when you should be trying out different nutrition and hydration strategies to see what works best with your body and tastes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meal the night before does not have much impact on the ride the next day. By that I mean that one meal will not atone for poor nutrition in the weeks leading up to the ride, and if you are eating and fueling properly during training, it will not add much to the mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to be doing is replacing calories according to your exertion level, and realizing that most people at a higher effort cannot really process more than 2-400 calories per hour under exertion. The &quot;exact&quot; amount is really person dependent, and also related to effort and environmental conditions. There are many different strategies for doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some like to use energy gels or energy chews, which are approximately 100 calories per serving, and water to wash them down with. Others prefer to have water bottles mixed with things like Gatorade or Carbpro to provide both electrolytes and calories. Some riders are able to tolerate solid foods, and will have things like crustless PB&amp;amp;J sandwiches. I am partial to rice cakes (&lt;a href=&quot;http://lavamagazine.com/training/recipe-allen-lims-rice-cakes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Allen Lim has a great recipe&lt;/a&gt; using actual ingredients. It's all about what you can tolerate, and the way you find that out is by practicing it while you are training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-10-22T20:10:44.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9490" CreationDate="2012-10-23T04:15:08.710" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can find a lot of great information online - search for &quot;recovery nutrition&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two areas that are important:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you need to rehydrate, unless you are one of those rare people who actually drinks enough to stay hydrated on the ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you need to replace your carbohydrate stores. There is a &quot;golden window&quot; after the end of exercise (about an hour or so) in which you will absorb carbohydrates more quickly. It can also be useful to get some protein at the same time. The research says that it doesn't matter whether you use real food to do this, or whether you use a recovery drink. My experience  - and in these sort of things, people vary - is that recovery drinks work much better than real food. I like Endurox R4, though chocolate milk can be a cheap substitute if a) you tolerate lactose well and b) you can find a chocolate milk with sucrose rather than high fructose corn syrup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting this right made the biggest difference in how much my legs hurt after long rides. It also helps control hunger after the ride, which is useful if you are trying to lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T04:15:08.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9503" CreationDate="2012-10-23T05:25:37.750" Score="1" ViewCount="669" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uLRKr.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I jog for 10 minutes, Tibialis anterior muscle start to tense up to the point where it hurts. It's preventing me from doing long distance jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure why this is happening. I usually walk for 5 minutes before I jog, giving it a bit of warning. But it doesn't seem to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 6' and 165 lbs. My left knee joint is slightly weak, so I try to jog softly, but that actually accelerates the process of Tibialis tense-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why this is happening? Has anyone solved this problem before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tibialis.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tibialis.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4328" LastEditorUserId="4328" LastEditDate="2012-10-23T07:18:54.500" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T08:40:48.380" Title="Jogging: Tibialis anterior muscle tense up whenever I jog" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-17T19:39:09.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9502" CreationDate="2012-10-23T08:30:17.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the problem with my calf. I talked to a friend of mine who is physiotherapist and we found out that my muscle was too short because I never stretched it. So try stretching your tibalis and whenever you jog stretch it dynamically before. If it doesn't help see yourselve a physiotherapist which is normally the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T08:30:17.330" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2012-10-23T09:17:29.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;JohnP described it very good but what he emphasized too little is the part with your &quot;chest push out&quot;. You should really focus on your chest pushing out and bring your chest all the way up to the bar. That's brutal I know but that's the part that works your lats the most. If it's too hard for you, start with a supported pull up and really focus on your chest, imagine walking very proud with your chest out, that's how it should look like;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T09:17:29.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9477" CreationDate="2012-10-23T10:47:46.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good general rule is to eat the amount of calories you are burning on the run, 1.5 - 3 hours before hand, or atleast 2/3 of the calories. Once you get fitter and run faster you'll need to consume fewer calories as your metabolism becomes more efficient. Eating low Gi/GL food means you get slower energy release food, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/322596-the-glycemic-index-of-pasta/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pasta&lt;/a&gt; is a fairly common one, pittas or oats + yoghurt are also good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also bear in mind how much sleep you've had the night before, and when you are doing the run. The best time of the day to exercise &lt;a href=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Biological_clock_human.svg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;is around 4pm-5pm.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T10:47:46.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9509" CreationDate="2012-10-23T12:51:50.177" Score="0" ViewCount="5169" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a software developer. We have to sit in a chair for whole day. And we don't get a time for anything else. Get a back Pain, and neck pain. I am posting Images here so that it helps a bit the people. And can anyone tell me. What else exercises need to be done? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EVSun.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2epju.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4517" LastEditorUserId="4517" LastEditDate="2012-10-24T11:09:28.263" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T11:09:28.263" Title="This Exercise Enough for me in a day?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-10-24T02:17:55.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9506" CreationDate="2012-10-23T14:35:36.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts, squats, benchpress, military press and Chins? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No but seriously, I really believe a good strength program is something everybody should be doing. Especially people with sedentary office jobs. Don't lift to look good, lift for a well functioning movement apparatus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try to walk as much you can. Go to a bathroom further away. Go talk to people instead of mailing. Use the stairs instead of elevator etc. etc. If you have a height adjustable table you might also consider working standing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T14:35:36.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9508" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-23T14:59:06.203" Score="8" ViewCount="23540" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically, &lt;em&gt;harden&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To elaborate: I weight 130; my friend weighs 200. He's very muscular. But I'm strong for my weight-- we both do one arm bicep curls at 40 pounds. I have no trouble with strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here's the thing-- his bicep is &lt;em&gt;massive&lt;/em&gt; and extremely hard to the touch. You could almost hit it with a baseball bat and expect him to laugh. My bicep, on the other hand, though comparable in strength, is very thin and soft to the touch. If I exert a great deal of pressure on it with my other hand, I can actually hurt myself. . . .what I mean is that my grip is sufficiently strong to cause pain by squeezing my arm hard enough. This displeases me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are my friend's biceps so hard to the touch, whereas mine feel more normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4531" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-24T15:06:56.813" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T21:48:18.887" Title="How to harden muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9506" CreationDate="2012-10-23T15:03:37.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My qualification for answering this&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no fitness expert beside being involved in sports even before teen years. In my teens and early adult life i would train 4 to 6 days a week, until I started working. I am also a software developer, and been in industry for way more than an hand full so I can relate easily to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Anything is way better than nothing, although walking more, even around the office, while you stretch may be a better option. They may not make you lose weight but will improve you life quality, and may be enough for removing those pains you say your have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First&lt;/strong&gt; of all, lets step out of fitness, since neck and back pain may not be related to it. Sometimes you need to have a better chair or posture at work. We do sit a lot, even more than we are suppose to. There are even &lt;strong&gt;few&lt;/strong&gt; offices that offer &lt;a href=&quot;http://mashable.com/2011/04/22/standup-desks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standing desk&lt;/a&gt; for their workers, I've already tried to implement that in my actual office. I can say it's a good experience, but I am sitting right now as everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second&lt;/strong&gt;, you say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we don't get a time for anything else&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I know the felling, and almost everyone around me says that, believe me, most of times is untrue, and I would bet on 99,99% of the times. I know how a start up can be time consuming, or how a large corporation can be demanding, I had to travel or work at night due to time differences to customer, etc. Simply put, Software developing is demanding, and you pass most of the time sitting in a chair. When I started working my first full time developer job I went from super active to couch potato in a few weeks. I tried to exercise on week-end, but when I wasn't working I was trying to catch with my social or family life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The solution&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't have time, and wish to exercise more, make time then. Get up early in the morning, or get into bed late. To begin, start with 5-10 minutes of strength workout just before you take you bath in the morning or before bed time, you can find a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?channel=fs&amp;amp;q=10%20minute%20fitness%20programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web training pages&lt;/a&gt; and I bet that an equal volume of apps for you favourite smart phone. After a few weeks, in your routine, it's up to you, maintain it, increase the workout time, or the intensity of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started with low time consuming training programs like &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; since you don't need anything more than your own weigh and can be done in our bedroom.&#xA;If you have a tight schedule avoid gyms and big groups sports.&#xA;Choose a small and loose but steady training program. You can do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most of all be persistent&lt;/strong&gt;, at first it's hard, if it was easy everybody would do it. But after a time it will be like any other routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4530" LastEditorUserId="4530" LastEditDate="2012-10-23T16:18:18.813" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T16:18:18.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2012-10-23T16:21:42.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I presume all of your exercises working out the same body part?  If so, you are essentially using the technique called &quot;pyramiding down&quot;.  This means you start with a heavy weight and back off from there.  It's a perfectly legitimate way of working out, though you will of course find its proponents and opponents.  With your priority being mass, going as heavy as possible when you're fresh is arguably the best way to lift the heaviest, which will in turn induce a need to be bigger in your body the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like many things with physical fitness, nobody really knows as an empirical fact.  The reasoning behind your workout is not bad, though, just be careful to warm up thoroughly so you have an idea of your relative strength that day.  The last thing you want is to jump in and abruptly figure out you're not feeling quite right, leading to an injury!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T16:21:42.600" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9477" CreationDate="2012-10-23T16:49:01.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suddenly running out of energy (the kind you experience) is called a &lt;strong&gt;sugar crash&lt;/strong&gt;. You eat high amounts of sugars (and some carbohydrates) before you go exercising so there is a lot of sugar in your blood. This &lt;strong&gt;blocks your body natural energy reserve system&lt;/strong&gt; (your body fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will burn up all the energy in your blood and muscles while you are running and than it is out of energy (because the natural reserves are blocked).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Try this&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;1. eat more good fat's in general (fish, nuts, biological meat, coconut oil), this will give you energy without blocking your bodies energy reserve system.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;2. eat carbohydrates (quinoa, wild rice and sweet potatoes) at least 1.5 hours before you go on a run.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;3. avoid eating 1.5 hours before your run.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The amount of sugar in your blood to disturb the human energy reserve system differs from person to person&lt;/em&gt;, thats why some people can handle a plate full of pasta for the race but some can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you got a chance, &lt;strong&gt;skip coffee before exercising&lt;/strong&gt;. It will subtract water from your body just when you need it the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-23T16:49:01.553" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9477" CreationDate="2012-10-24T04:06:57.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really doubt that you are running out of glycogen (aka &quot;hitting the wall&quot;&#xA; or &quot;bonking&quot;) after 20 minutes of exercise. I'd generally expect most people to go at least an hour on their stored glycogen reserves. It sounds to me like you are just working out too hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T04:06:57.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9508" CreationDate="2012-10-24T06:01:27.133" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hardness can be a component of how much glycogen has been stored in the muscle (from your diet). Are you eating enough? A well fed gym goer has puffier muscles which are harder upon flexing. If you are cardioing your ass off in between sessions this will deplete the muscle's glycogen stores. That said, I assume that if your muscles are small (as you say), then you want them bigger!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read about and have had more success with big compound movements which indirectly train arms. Try some bent over DB rows (trains back but overloads biceps). Your biceps will be turned 'on' for the entire bb row set. Chin ups are another great compound for biceps. Your nervous system will never let you load a single small muscle (like the bicep) to its max. Believe it or not, most people have the ability to snap the bicep off the bone but our nervous systems will limit the signal sent so that doesn't happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you can continue what you are doing but switch to high reps &amp;amp; volume as the way forward with arms. I'm not sure what reps you are doing with the 40 pound dumbbell but pick a weight where you fail at about 20. Do 5 sets of that. Next time pick a weight that maxes at 10 reps and do 10 (yes TEN) sets of that with 1 minute breaks in-between. If you aren't barely able to lift your arms after that then you are a better man than I! Alternating between medium and high training volume will help with recovery while maximising affective work done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biologiclabs.com.au/?p=775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; gives great advice on how to train arms. Excuse the shameless plug for the recomposition clinic within the article!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't forget to EAT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T05:13:04.450" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T05:13:04.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2012-10-24T10:11:48.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you do is train both rep ranges for hypertrophy and strength within one training. That's OK, many guys do that, so you can go on with that but I just want to show you a training that worked insanely good for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jim Stoppani's Shortcut to Size&lt;/a&gt; training and I gained 5-6 kg within the 12 weeks of the program. I didn't take all the supplements he recommended because that's just insane in my opinion. Just make sure you eat enough because the training is tough and remember you want to build some so you have to eat big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea in this training is to focus each week on either hypertrophy or strength and become overall stronger and heavier. Let me know if you give it a try, I absolutely fell in love with this workout routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-24T15:06:10.097" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T15:06:10.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9529" CreationDate="2012-10-24T12:58:28.877" Score="4" ViewCount="493" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many nutrients consumption recommendation come in % of calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One should not get more than 30% calories from protein to avoid kidney overload ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One should get around 30% calories from fat ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then comes fibers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/PolicyDoc.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;USDA recommendations&lt;/a&gt;, googled much. &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodyecology.com/articles/too_much_fiber_symptoms_part_2.php#.UIfkTm_R4Xc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-report/guide-to-daily-fiber/too-much-fiber.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;articles&lt;/a&gt; say around 30g per day is good. Some say more. But nowhere did I find an upper limit, even if consuming too much of it exposes yourself to &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/fiber/overview.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flatulence, bloating and abdominal cramps&lt;/a&gt;. Anyway, those articles considered the middle-aged man on a regular, 2000 kcal diet, not the athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat much more than the recommended amount: around 80g a day. But then, I'm on a bulking diet and eat 4000 kcal a day. I do not eat specific food like All-bran and alikes. I eat a good proportion of fruits and vegetables, but not like crazy either. My guess is fibers should come proportionally to daily calories, and 80 might just be the right number for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How minimum and maximum daily fiber intake should be calculated ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2899" LastEditorUserId="2899" LastEditDate="2012-10-25T12:36:26.403" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T15:30:13.463" Title="How much fiber should I (not) eat?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7279" CreationDate="2012-10-24T17:55:59.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first answer is 100% wrong...  1A and 1B go together, not all of the A's go together. It specifically states that this is a superset routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way it's laid out on MensHealth.com is a bit confusing, because it says there's 3 workouts, but then just lists 12 exercises, or 6 supersets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I figured out is that you do 2 supersets per workout.  So Day 1 = 1A/1B + 2A/2B. Day 2 = 3A/3B + 4A/4B. Day 3 = 5A/5B + 6A/6B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4535" LastActivityDate="2012-10-24T17:55:59.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9508" CreationDate="2012-10-25T01:37:47.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_tone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle tone&lt;/a&gt; may play significant role in the different stiffness of your muscles versus your friend's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In physiology, medicine, and anatomy, muscle tone (&lt;em&gt;residual muscle tension&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;tonus&lt;/em&gt;) is the continuous and passive partial contraction of the muscles, or the muscle’s resistance to passive stretch during resting state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's pretty close to the &quot;hardness&quot; attribute you describe. How do you maximize it? Per Rippetoe and Kilgore's Practical Programming, page 42, sidebar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;tonus&lt;/em&gt; describes an electrophysiological phenomenon, a measure of ionic flow across muscle cell membranes. It can be thought of as the muscle's readiness to do anaerobic work. The more &quot;fit&quot; the muscle, the more electrophysiological activity it exhibits at rest. Lack of exercise leads to poor tone, aerobic exercise improves tone a little bit, low-intensity weight training improves tone more, and high-intensity training improves tone the fastest. As a test, &lt;strong&gt;go poke the traps or quads of an elite weightlifter at rest, if she'll let you. They'll be hard as a rock.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis mine. Note that the term &quot;intensity&quot; in this context means &quot;how close one is lifting to one's 1-repetition maximum&quot;, not &quot;how hard the workout was&quot; or whether one went to failure. They would probably suggest weight training in the three to five rep range, as heavy as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other factors affecting &quot;hardness&quot; of your muscles could include, as others note, muscle density and how full the muscles are with blood or glycogen. Muscle density would be improved with strength training using compound exercises. Fullness of muscles probably isn't worth optimizing outside of bodybuilding competition, since it is transient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T01:37:47.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9523" CreationDate="2012-10-25T01:55:47.443" Score="3" ViewCount="1305" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than the fact that it's 12 lbs lighter, is there any reason to choose the 33lb bar to lift rather than the 45 lb bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4537" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-25T06:05:21.587" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T10:08:47.300" Title="When does one choose the 33lb bar vs 45lb bar?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9477" CreationDate="2012-10-25T05:50:52.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dying in the middle of a 5K run is not due to food, unless you ate or drank a bunch just before you ran. (Except, if you're losing weight you may have a calorie deficit and might try eating a normal meal a couple hours before running.) Your body can normally handle the 400-500 calories of effort without any additional food. See what effect a slightly slower pace has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T05:50:52.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9524" CreationDate="2012-10-25T06:15:08.373" Score="4" ViewCount="1585" Body="&lt;p&gt;How dangerous is arching your back while doing a bench press? I've seen tons of guys in the gym who greatly arch their back off the bench, assumedly to assist with the lift. Is this bad, or just an alternate form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T11:09:45.867" Title="Arching the back during bench press" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9520" CreationDate="2012-10-25T10:08:47.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bWoUp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;I'm assuming you're talking about Olympic bar types.  The differences in weight 'seem' to be related to the width of the bar, the 33lb sometimes being called a woman's bar since it's diameter is smaller.  The larger the diameter of the bar, the more it works the grip/forearm muscles and helps activate the CNS (central nervous system) in some cases (I'm not sure if this is scientifically proven) helping the person lift a little heavier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting a certain weight for your program, the weight of the bar needs to be taken into consideration to determine total weight BUT the weight itself is not important.  What does matter (as stated above) is the width, the stiffness (helps with some lifts hurts others BUT only for high end lifters) and the ability for the bar to hold some max weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T10:08:47.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9522" CreationDate="2012-10-25T11:09:45.867" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to Ripptone explaining how much to arch the back: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=lBNeeeTId1M&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=lBNeeeTId1M&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have a 'big' arch, this is the person using the legs/hips to drive the bar, usually intended to push heavy weight.  So, neither is wrong, it depends on what your goal is: building strength or building ego by moving heavy weight. (butt and shoulders should be touching)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T11:09:45.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-25T12:50:57.380" Score="2" ViewCount="336" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started going to the gym over a month ago, twice a week, to try and build some strength and muscle definition with weight training. I also have tae kwon do training every Monday and Wednesday evening. I've noticed my strength increasing using heavier weights (6x6 reps) but little to no actual growth in muscle size, most notably in my pectorals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other week I was curious about supplements, and someone suggested Maximuscle Progain to help build mass. I dont want to become huge, just a little more built and more definition. I started drinking two scoops in the morning and two scoops after a workout. On the days that I have tae kwon do, I would have 1 scoop in the morning and the same after training. On other days I would only have a 2-scoop shake in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I am an amateur and unsure of about how much protein supplement I should take and how often. Advice would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4539" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-10-25T14:18:11.470" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T04:44:28.187" Title="Should I take protein supplements with my regimen and, if so, how often?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9525" CreationDate="2012-10-25T13:13:01.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all you should decide what you want because bulking(get more mucles) and cutting(get more definition) at the same time is hard. In order to get more muscles, you have to make sure you eat enough so your muscles get all the nutrients they need. When you're cutting you'll normally will be on a minimum level of daily nutrients, so these two really don't go well with eachother. And also if you don't want to become huge as you said, this holds for every one who wants to bulk or cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About your protein intake: Since you're taking your proteins in the morning and after your workout, what I think is very good, you should take whey protein. These proteins are fast-digesting proteins and therefor perfect to take in the morning when you have a protein lack from the night and after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps you. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T13:13:01.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9477" CreationDate="2012-10-25T13:13:28.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dying on a 5km run? I think you need to run longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like your endurance is not very good and you're simply finding it easy to hit your limits. Dying in the middle of the run is something that can happen if you've had a long tiring day or you're running too soon after a previous workout (this goes for any distance if that distance is near the limit of your ability).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take 1 day a week and make it your long run day. I would work up to running 10km by increasing the distance you run by 10% a week. Keep the pace as slow as you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of that you should find running a 5km fast really easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T13:13:28.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9517" CreationDate="2012-10-25T15:54:00.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even the bullet points you enumerate early on are arguable for various people.  For diabetics, you absolutely want a greater amount of calories from protein and fat - taking in 40% of your calories by carbohydrates is too many for a diabetic's damaged endocrine system to handle.  For athletes, the distinction becomes even more complex.  What sort of athletes are we talking about?  Endurance athletes, like marathon runners?  Pure power athletes, like olympic weight lifters?  Or some sort of mix of the two, like baseball or rugby players?  I cannot imagine a weight lifter trying to source 40% of their energy off carbohydrates - there's just no way they'd take in enough raw material to replace the massive damage their training regimen does to their muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also need to be clear on the type of fiber we're talking about.  Digestible fiber comes from your wheat breads, your all-bran, etc.  This fiber can be broken down by your system, but will generally not provide you a huge amount of nutritional benefit.  It is mostly used for working out the 'net carbs' in a food by subtracting them from the overall carb count.  Indigestible fiber comes mostly from vegetables, and some fruits like apples.  This is the fiber that helps seal and slick your gut to make digestion of everything else much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digestible fiber is very useful for cutting regimens and helps maintain a good gut flora environment, but generally people get plenty of it and it's not a concern.  Proper consumption of indigestible fiber relates directly to overall digestive health, so it's basically always a concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason, I think, you did not find an upper limit is that most of the theoretical problems from consuming too much fiber basically solve themselves.  Overconsuming digestible fiber will mean your body spends too much time breaking down the stuff that doesn't provide it much nutrition.  Your body will respond to this by inducing an acute craving for what it requires, and you will not feel satisfied until you satiate it.  Overconsuming indigestible fiber could theoretically coat your gut too thickly to absorb micronutrients that your body needs (such as vitamins) from a normal concentration of it. However, the vegetables you'd have to consume to accomplish this are so rich in these micronutrients that you're going to have a much higher concentration in your gut, anyway!  &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/fiber/overview.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a good article with a fiber overview and a decent number of cited sources for further reading if you want it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, for active people the #1 thing is to &lt;em&gt;focus on your macronutrients&lt;/em&gt;.  Getting worried about things like this is a great way to get off track and miss the forest for the trees.  It's a great question, but its overall impact on your physical fitness, particularly with regard to training, is not going to be anywhere near as great as getting the right mix of protein, carbs, and fats in your diet for your training plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastEditorUserId="1040" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T15:30:13.463" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T15:30:13.463" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8371" CreationDate="2012-10-25T16:26:31.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is indeed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/sleep/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some research&lt;/a&gt; that links sleep deprivation to a greater incidence of obesity, so it does not seem illogical to conclude that sleep plays some role in properly burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/conditioning/a/aa062800a.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some other research&lt;/a&gt; linking sleep deprivation to hindered sports performance.  There are better resources than the one I just linked on Google, but they appear to be screwing up and not loading at this time.  I will update this answer when I see it working.  For now, please accept the search term 'sleep deprivation athletic recovery' as a springboard for your own resource search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a purely logical standpoint, all of this makes a lot of sense.  Sleep deprivation, in many ways, mimics alcohol consumption.  Alcohol's effects on athletic performance and recovery is well known, due to the disruptions it causes in both your digestion and your nervous systems.  Hormonally, a lack of sleep also taxes your adrenaline glands, which now must pump adrenaline just to keep you at base line alertness.  Properly rested, you would instead be using this adrenaline to meet your athletic demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, anecdotally, napping has been part of the training regimen for some sports for centuries.  Sumo comes immediately to mind where junior wrestlers are woken up at 5AM, work hard for about 4-5 hours, then have a huge lunch and go back to sleep.  While I'm not sure one would want to take weight loss advice from a sumo wrestler, I don't think anyone could argue that their musculature and fitness level is also very impressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T16:26:31.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2012-10-25T21:50:17.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One or two time(s) a week a full body, full out (high intensity) workout will stimulate your muscles enough so they don't loose their size and strength. This is perfectly possible without a gym. You don't need fancy exercises, just one for every muscle group will keep your body perfectly in shape: &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest/Triceps/Shoulders: &lt;strong&gt;Push-up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Back/Biceps: &lt;strong&gt;Pull-up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Legs: &lt;strong&gt;Pistol Squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Core: &lt;strong&gt;The plank&lt;/strong&gt; (leaning on elbows and those, body as a plank)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here's the trick:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle growth happens when you put your muscles under serious stress&lt;/strong&gt;. You only need this stress response once, as long as it is intents. This will send a message to your brain that the muscles needs to get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to make the workout short and intense, only four exercises and go full out. To give you an idea how short and 'full out': I'm usually done in 15 minutes. But you should not be able to get up for &lt;strong&gt;30 minutes&lt;/strong&gt; afterwards (breathing heavily).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T21:50:17.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7257" CreationDate="2012-10-25T23:08:56.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also use a weight maintenance calculator to determine how many calories you need to consume each day to achieve you goal weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the following calculator (enter your goal weight instead of your current weight):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/weight-maintenance-calculator-men&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/weight-maintenance-calculator-men&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want dramatic results fast, eat less than the amount needed to maintain your &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;goal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; weight. Or, eat the number of calories required to maintain your &lt;strong&gt;goal&lt;/strong&gt; weight but exercise more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note though: you should never eat less than 1200 calories a day.  And if you need  exercise inspiration but are short on time, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wello.co&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wello&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4543" LastActivityDate="2012-10-25T23:08:56.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9535" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-10-26T13:27:23.567" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sleep is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than being in hibernation or a coma. Sleep is a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems. It is observed in all mammals, all birds, and many reptiles, amphibians, and fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Factors that impact the quality of sleep are often collected under the term &quot;sleep hygiene&quot;, see for example the National Sleep Foundations &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/ask-the-expert/sleep-hygiene&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tips&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Sleep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tag is to be used for questions about physical fitness, relating to sleep.  This tag is not to be used for questions about sleep as a subject, as that is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic&quot;&gt;off topic&lt;/a&gt; for this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="28134" LastEditDate="2019-07-29T07:39:16.903" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T07:39:16.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9536" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-10-26T13:27:23.567" Score="0" Body="Use this tag for questions about how sleep relates to physical fitness.  " OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="28134" LastEditDate="2019-07-28T23:05:36.060" LastActivityDate="2019-07-28T23:05:36.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7257" CreationDate="2012-10-26T13:31:29.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple fact is this: If you are not losing weight, you are not in caloric deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is as simple as that. Usually, the problems are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are not putting everything you eat into the program&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are underestimate the energy in what you eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have overestimated how much you actually move around every day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often a combination of all the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of ways to come around this. Firstly, in my experience there is no way to have long term weight loss without continous effort to keep yourself in caloric deficit. You will automatically start eating larger portions if you don't monitor what you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a sort of stable eating habbit, where you eat more or less the same every day, you can just try removing something from your usual meal. I for example ate bread to every meal, by removing it I more or less cut back 200 kcal. By removing other such things from my diet I managed to put myself in caloric deficit without weighing a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly though, the easiest way to remove all sort of biases is to simply weight everything you eat. This takes a lot of dedication, but it is a sure way of knowing exactly what is wrong with your diet. It makes it a lot easier to diagnose a meal plan. After a while you get a feel on how much you should eat and you only weight your food if you come to a sticky point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you burn 1800, 2000, 2600 or any other calories per day is quite irrelevant. Just cut back on your calories until you lose weight and take it from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-10-26T13:31:29.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9545" CreationDate="2012-10-26T15:44:19.590" Score="3" ViewCount="1158" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6329/doing-starting-strength-once-a-week&quot;&gt;Doing Starting Strength once a week&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking to do Starting Strength twice a week instead of three, on Mondays and Thursdays, because Fridays I tend to be busy with work and on Sundays I tend to be hangover. I know it will be slower than doing three times a week, but it is better than nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, will it completely destroy the Starting Strength program to reduce it to two workouts a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4548" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-10-27T13:45:34.263" Title="Do starting strength twice a week instead of three?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-10-28T03:06:18.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9541" CreationDate="2012-10-26T17:17:31.600" Score="7" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tweaked my elbows recently, and need to layoff pullups and deadlifts for a little while until things heal.  I'd like to substitute goodmornings as a hip-hinge exercise until I can return to deadlifting.  What kind of training frequence do people usually use with goodmornings?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read of the popular 5x5 programs, there seems to be a lot of emphasis on getting the right rep range for a given exercise.  Full deadlifts are recommended for 5x1, once a week.  Power cleans are recommended for 5x3, if I recall correctly.  How do people usually program goodmornings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking a 3x5 plan, twice a week, trying to make 5-10lbs improvements between sessions as I can.  I'm planning on doing the workout in a full power cage, so I can adjust the safety pins so dumping the weights isn't a problem.  Does anyone see a problem with this approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-06-11T12:48:28.107" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T12:48:28.107" Title="Goodmornings: what rep scheme should I use" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9538" CreationDate="2012-10-26T17:37:16.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly possible to grow stronger muscles by working out two times a week. Make sure you train &lt;strong&gt;every muscle group once a week&lt;/strong&gt; (not more). Your &lt;em&gt;muscles need time to rest&lt;/em&gt;. Keep your workouts &lt;em&gt;under 30 minutes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make that happen do the following: &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Two different exercises each &lt;strong&gt;only one set&lt;/strong&gt; per muscle group. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Don't rest more than 1.5 minute between sets.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Make them burn!&lt;/strong&gt; Go all out. You should be breathing heavily for 30 minutes after the workout.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastActivityDate="2012-10-26T17:37:16.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9539" CreationDate="2012-10-26T18:23:56.747" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not proficient in good mornings, but I would urge caution with a 5-10lb linear progression and 3-sets-of-5 rep scheme with this exercise. Many lifters consider good mornings as something to use perfect form and moderate weight with, not to challenge yourself with at near-maximal weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per Rippetoe and Kilgore's Starting Strength 2nd edition, page 247:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful about using lots of weight and generating high velocities; the goodmorning is an assistance exercise, not a primary lift, and it must be respected for both its usefulness and its potential for injury. The smartest of the strongest men in the world never use more than 225 lbs. for the goodmorning, and since it is just an assistance exercise, they use sets of 8 to 10 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will never be a good reason to use more than 35% of your squat for sets of 8-10, and there is no reason to do them at all until 35% of your squat is 95 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If squats don't bother your elbows, definitely keep squatting. I wouldn't see as huge a problem as Rip might with finding a tough-but-very-safe weight for good mornings and doing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glute-ham developer work sounds like a great idea, as are weighted back extensions, but I haven't played with those very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-10-27T16:18:41.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9477" CreationDate="2012-10-26T18:27:27.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Five kilometers is not much. In track and field, a 5 km race is confined to the track, and is considered &quot;middle distance&quot;. This distance does not deeply tax the body reserves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's most likely happening here is simply that you're going too fast. You may also not have developed you pacing skills. Without realizing it, you may be going faster at the point where you bonk. You are warmed up, feeling good, and have only 25% of the distance left to cover, so your &quot;afterburner&quot; kicks in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any given fitness level, there is a pace at which the athlete will wipe out before hitting the finish. If, say, some elite male can run 10K in 28 minutes, and he tries a pace which shoots for 24 minutes, he will not be able to sustain that pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you maintain a perfectly even pace throughout a run, which is fast enough that it feels very challenging near the end, that pace will feel very easy near the beginning. (And the longer the run, the easier. For instance a pace that feels challenging at the end of a 100 meter dash is not that easy at the beginning, either.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paces which are significantly faster than that pace &lt;strong&gt;still&lt;/strong&gt; feel easy at the beginning! But those paces cannot be maintained all the way to the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the feeling of what is easy at the outset of a run is deceptive. It is quite easy to &quot;go out like a rocket&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're into timing, if your stopwatch can take splits, then start taking them at key landmarks in your running courses. Then you know not only that you finished the run in 28:45, but also how fast you hit, say, quarter, half and three quarters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, do not be a slave to the stopwatch. This is probably one source of your problem. You are keeping track of your declining times for the 5K and that creates pressure.  Last time you ran you &quot;got it down to&quot; 28:21. So today you want it under 28. And so it goes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not all your training runs can be time trials of the same distance in which you strive for continuous time improvement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do that, you will blow up. Because after you run a personal best time, then for a while you are no longer an athlete who can do that same personal best. If you shoot for it again the next day or two days later, you may find it unattainable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4550" LastEditorUserId="4550" LastEditDate="2012-10-27T16:52:22.087" LastActivityDate="2012-10-27T16:52:22.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8121" CreationDate="2012-10-27T04:37:15.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that by &quot;train&quot; you mean &quot;work out hard&quot;. If you work out hard and then don't do anything for a few days, the next time you do anything you will be stiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to warm up and work the kinks out one or two days before you play - that will get rid of the stiff feeling. It can also be useful to do a few sprints; not enough to get you tired but just to get your legs good as warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2012-10-27T04:37:15.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9538" CreationDate="2012-10-27T13:45:34.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: No&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will just be gaining a little slower. Other then that I don't see why you wouldn't be adding weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-10-27T13:45:34.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-28T12:32:38.173" Score="4" ViewCount="18770" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently trying to progress on both the &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hundred push ups&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onefiftydips.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one fifty dips&lt;/a&gt; programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot do them on the same day of course, they both put a huge strain on my triceps. And while reading some other question on this site I stumbled across a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/1157-the-average-fn-program-a-simple-and-efficient-training-template/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are doing more than 15 Push-ups per set, you should definitely be doing Dips. The Push-up is only really included as an alternative for people who lack the upper body strength to do 3 sets of Dips, so the goal is definitely to move away from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if this is true in for my case or only in relation to the proposed program behind that link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to achieve upper body strength (strength-endurance mainly), not to complete one or both of the programs. I only use them as some means of progression, I do other exercises besides them for other muscle groups. My question really only is about dips vs push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&#xA;What is the real difference between dips and push ups?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Under which circumstances should I choose which exercise?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What would be an effective method to combine both of my programs? (eg one week dips, one week push ups)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T08:25:13.070" LastActivityDate="2018-12-28T11:11:09.727" Title="Should I be doing dips or push ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9550" CreationDate="2012-10-28T16:07:21.967" Score="4" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be the best exercises for developing a upper chest ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the answer would be inclined Press movements but some how these don't really help me. Know matter how many I do, I can't get my upper chest sore. May the way, I do them or my anatomy my shoulders and triceps do a lot of the work when I do inclined movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a flat bench, I can do 200+ pounds bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard Push ups are a great way to isolate the upper chest. I am planning to include them in my routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other suggestions you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T08:23:03.950" Title="Exercise for Upper chest" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9546" CreationDate="2012-10-28T18:09:06.343" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Throughout, I will refer to actual dips, not bench dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is the real difference between dips and push ups?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, dips are harder than push-ups. Good. That means they're better at making you stronger. That's why the &quot;Average F'ing Program&quot; you link to advises people to switch to dips as soon as possible. It's a &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; program, after all. You do a small number of mostly barbell exercises, nearly as heavy as possible for 3 sets of 5 reps, and you increase the weight every workout. People get stronger on these programs, very efficiently and very quickly. Push-ups get you stronger, but not as quickly or efficiently or as much. Dips are plain harder, and therefore more productive. They're only included as an assistance exercise for pressing strength. (And regardless, the overhead press and the bench are responsible for the vast majority of strength increases; push-ups and dips are a way to do something like those two exercises, but not spend a lot of energy on it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Under which circumstances should I choose which exercise?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should choose dips over push-ups when you want a harder exercise that builds strength more effectively. Push-ups require less equipment, which is nice. They're also easier to do a lot of volume with, so that can make them better for non-strength workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What would be an effective method to combine both of my programs?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a fan of the &quot;X number of Y exercise&quot; gimmick. 100 pushups, 150 dips, 500 sit-ups, 200 squats...all of these &quot;programs&quot; are just a money machine for people to buy the smartphone apps instead of getting on a real strength and conditioning program. They promote a simplistic view of exercise and encourage people into unbalanced workout routines. For instances, pushes should be balanced with pulls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to stick with these programs, I'd do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twentyfivepullups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull-ups&lt;/a&gt; along with push-ups instead. (Then again, I have doubts that most people could get to 25 consecutive full-range-of-motion, no-kip pull-ups in the kind of time frame these programs advertise.) That would probably be better than putting two pushing programs together. Or, you could do pull-ups and (real) dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But more importantly, &lt;em&gt;these programs aren't meant to be combined.&lt;/em&gt; A hundred push-ups is a fairly specific goal, and the program assumes you aren't doing another one concurrently. Maybe it'll work anyway, but I wouldn't assume it would. I'd expect to get burnt out doing so much work that overlaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're willing to branch out into other bodyweight strength and conditioning programs, I'd look to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&amp;amp;t=343&amp;amp;sid=f40d59f438a0f23940c38dd0ff25d8a9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coach Sommer&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ross Enamait&lt;/a&gt;. They have real strength, strength-endurance, and conditioning workouts and programs using bodyweight only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T14:27:47.143" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T14:27:47.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9547" CreationDate="2012-10-29T00:24:04.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The flat and inclined bench press are the best for chest development.  What you might be looking for is a program that provides the volume required to push your muscles into growth.  Typically, a 5x5 program focuses more on strength and a 3x8 program more on size.  The amount of weight used and number of time a week you're lifting is also a factor.  If you're your current routine is within your 'comfort zone', then you need to look to get out of it and either push more weight OR more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T00:24:04.843" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9547" CreationDate="2012-10-29T08:17:53.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try incline dumbbell or cable flyes at the end of your chest routine, that should do it. At least it nicely pops out my upper chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well cable flyes would definitely be better because of the constant pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastEditorUserId="1838" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T08:23:03.950" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T08:23:03.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9552" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-29T12:57:46.970" Score="2" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do 5 sets of 10-15 reps of pull ups using a 20lb weight vest. I'm looking to focus on strength and just ordered a dip/pull up belt to add plates.  What's a good progression to add strength? Should I aim for 5x5 and increase weight until I can just about complete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T13:46:02.187" Title="What is a good progression to using a dip/pull up belt" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9637" CreationDate="2012-10-29T13:22:43.530" Score="6" ViewCount="7056" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im 22 years old, 170cm, ~90kh weight, starting some efforts to get in shape. Im going to the gym 3 times a week, trying to stay in a 6-10 rep per set range, changed my diet to low-carb, trying to put in some swimming and Tabata-style interval running (cant manage the 10-20 rest/work proportion yet, going with 30-10 for now)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a moderately mild case of hyperlordosis and hyperkyphosis. This is probably due to a VERY sedetary lifestyle (work, university, personal projects - all of this requires sitting at a desk for long hours)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the primary goal of my workouts is lowering my BF%, I was hoping that in the process I could strengthen my back and thus help myself sit in proper position and correct my posture a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as i know, hyperlordosis is caused by an imbalance between the posterior chain and the abs. So my question is - is doing deadlifts and squats bad for me and my back? Should I be cutting on the intensity and/or amount of those exericses? Or maybe it will be enough to put additional focus on leg rises, crunches and similar exercises? Are there any other exercises i should focus on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for the hyperkyphosis, isnt it exactly the same case, but for the chest muscles and the upper back? Are bench presses bad for me and rowing great?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T19:20:35.207" Title="Deadlifts and squats with hyperlordosis?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9552" CreationDate="2012-10-29T13:27:14.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard progression I've seen is to add weight once you can do fifteen or twenty unweighted. One then does three or more sets with added weight. One should be able to do at least five and no more than twelve reps--as long as the weight is within those bounds, it's the right weight. This keeps both volume and strength up. If you can't do five, reduce the weight. If you can do ten or twelve each set, add five pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All numbers assume dead-hang, full range of motion, no kip, chin over the bar and hopefully chest touching the bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T13:46:02.187" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T13:46:02.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9557" CreationDate="2012-10-29T13:49:45.350" Score="5" ViewCount="7250" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im 22 years old, 170cm, ~90kh weight, starting some efforts to get in shape. Im going to the gym 3 times a week, I changed my diet to low-carb. My main objective is to lower my BF%, but i wouldnt mind gaining some muscle mass and functional strength. Im &lt;strong&gt;trying to get to the 10-15 BF%&lt;/strong&gt; range in a year (currently around 30-35BF%) and get in reasonable shape (strength, endurance etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While in the gym, i usually do some lat pulldowns, deadlifts, squats, benchpresses, shoulder presses, cable rows, hamstring curls. Im trying to stay in a 6-10 rep per set range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, &lt;strong&gt;Id like to throw in some conditioning to my workout plan&lt;/strong&gt;, so that I can for example run for a bus or swim a bit without panting or gasping for air. I thought that adding in some swimming and interval sprinting would be the best way to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Still, Im a bit concerned about spoiling my gym workouts and overtraining&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday i tried some Tabata style training and managed to do 8 sets of 10sec sprint 30sec walk, and it felt good, and I can feel the effects today - my whole legs &quot;know&quot; they got a nice workout. But today is my gym day, and im wondering, if the usual squat/deadlifiting/lunges is a good idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I went to the pool a few days ago, I found swimming pretty exhausting. 16 25m lapses was the best I could do, taking breaks every 3 lapses (or even after every one, depending on if it was breaststroke or backstroke) and i was panting hevaily. Isnt such swimming undermining my gym efforts to buff up my muscle mass and metabolism? Should I tone it down and make it a bit more splish-splashy playing around, just to have some low intensity movement and exercise? Think a walk in the park instead of a jog or dedicated running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to make my questions clear and separate them from background info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I put interval sprinting into my workout routine without hindering my weight lifting efforts?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, should I do it on rest days, or the same days as I go to the gym?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often can I do the sprinting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I include swimming into my routine without hindering the rest?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How intense should the swimming be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note:&#xA;I read the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1546/overtraining-my-legs-doing-both-cardio-and-leg-workouts&quot;&gt;Overtraining my legs doing both cardio and leg workouts&lt;/a&gt; question, but it didnt really have all the answers I was looking for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T13:09:45.757" Title="Combining HIIT and weight training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-10-29T14:24:56.450" Score="5" ViewCount="968" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started going to the gym around June/July, and so far not doing too badly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'7&quot; and currently weigh 12 and a half stone (175 lbs). Not too fat or not too skinny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my current workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mondays: 20 minutes on the treadmill at 11 speed. 45mins doing resistance training on my upper body/arms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesdays: Same as Mondays&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: 45mins resistance training on upper body and then 20mins on the treadmill, 11 speed &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: 45mins resistance training on upper body.  20mins treadmill at 11 speed again.   Then swimming for 30mins doing front crawl (50m non-stop, 1-2min rest, do another 50m, 10x times).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: 20mins on treadmill, 45mins of resistance training, 30-40mins of swimming again, front crawl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For resistance training I typically do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest press(50kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press(45kg) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbells (biceps 12.5kg, triceps 15kg). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press(30kg using dumbbells of 15kg each)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull downs(45/50kg).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each exercise I do 4-6 sets of 10 reps with a 30-60second break between each rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Morning:  Dried cereals, and a few oranges later in the morning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch:  Chicken and rice (various type, curry, filipino dishes etc etc) or pasta.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evenings: Sometimes the same chicken and rice/pasta plus sometimes steak, pork or fish dishes for dinner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not take any protein shakes though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My goal:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Develop a bit of muscle mass (Similar to Daniel Craig ;) ) whilst having healthy stamina and not being overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do differently to help produce more muscle mass and be more toned up? So far I don't look TOO bad, but still far off from looking like Daniel Craig.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to adjust my diet a bit? Am I taking in enough protein and do I need protein shakes? If I do need a protein shake, which one? I am allergic to dairy products and most protein shakes have dairy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4561" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-19T20:42:00.073" LastActivityDate="2015-08-29T22:26:29.600" Title="How can I change my diet and exercise routine to look like Daniel Craig?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9555" CreationDate="2012-10-29T14:43:54.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The awesome thing about HIIT is that it isn't just a cardio, but it is also a muscle building form of exercise. Allow me to explain. When a person runs on a treadmill for about 30 minutes at a steady pace, they are in essence getting an endurance workout because the fibers that are getting burned are the slow twitch ones responsible for endurance. When a person is working out to get stronger or faster at the something thew will usually try an go after the fast twitch fibers which give you short powerful bursts of energy which is in essence what makes you stronger. Going after the fast twitch fibers is done by doing short explosive movements such as quick  intervals on the treadmill, or really heavy squats in the low rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the above information, I would say that it is absolutely ok for you to incorporate some HIIT in to your routine. I would also suggest that you do it on the days that you workout and not on your rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how often you should do it, I would say that if you have one day of your three working days that you work on your legs that should be your day to do HIIT. If you work on your legs everyday of your working days like with the 5x5 program, than I would say say that you should make your own informed decision as for how often you should do it. Something to consider before you make that decision, is that doing more work on your legs other than the squats will increase the time it takes for your legs to recover and therefore hinder you from being able to increase 5lbs every time you squat as is suggested buy the 5x5 program (again this is only if that is the program you follow). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for swimming it would depend again on weather you are doing it as strictly a cardio or in the form of HIIT. If you do it as a cardio it will hinder you from the muscle gaining goal you have set for yourself, but if you do it as an HIIT than again you may actually become more athletic by doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I just remembered one more thing you should consider. That is weather you should be doing the HIIT sprints before your workout or after your workout. Again this is a decision you should make for yourself, but to answer this ask yourself the following question. What is more important to you the sprinting or the rest of the workout? The simple fact is that whatever you do first will be easier for you and thus get your fullest efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="3250" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T16:08:27.040" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T16:08:27.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9560" CreationDate="2012-10-29T15:30:00.123" Score="0" ViewCount="6564" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started using protein powder today. I'm using Muscle Milk.  I am lactose intolerant and it doesn't bother my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cytosport.com/wp-content/plugins/fresh-page/files_flutter/129989449650320-MM-CHO-2.47lb-NF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is the label&lt;/a&gt; of the product. It says 70 grams powder with 10 fl oz water. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10%20fl%20oz%20in%20ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to WolframAlpha&lt;/a&gt;, 10 fl oz = 300 ml.  But I'm not sure if this calculation is correct.  My trainer told me, &quot;use 1 scoop (35 grams) with 250 ml water&quot;.  Also, checking that label, under &lt;strong&gt;Directions and Use&lt;/strong&gt;, an image shows the shaker is almost full, but my shaker is 700ml. 300 ml looks too low. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I making a mistake while converting &quot;fl oz&quot; to &quot;ml&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In short&lt;/strong&gt;, I have Muscle Milk, how much water should I use with 2 scoops (70 grams) powder and 1 scoop (35 grams) powder?  My shaker is 700 ml.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, regarding usage, I'll sip 1 scoop shake while working out, and another 2 scoop shake after my workout. It's about 460 calories. Is it too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to burn fat, and be stronger. I'm following &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;' 5x5 program, it's my 6th week. I lost 3 kgs and gained muscle. I want to keep this performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help will be greatly appreciated :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3916" LastEditorUserId="1040" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T15:55:05.597" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T16:42:40.023" Title="Usage of my first protein powder (Muscle Milk)" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9574" CreationDate="2012-10-29T16:06:28.740" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background on me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 28 years old. I weigh 205 pounds (92 kg) and I am 6 feet tall (1.82m). Not sure what my BMI or fat % is but I am quite muscular but with a bit of fat. More than I'd like on my belly. Currently I'm quite strong but also quite unfit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I last played &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hurling&lt;/a&gt; (think a cross between lacrosse and ice hockey) about 7 years ago. I intend to begin playing again in about 5 months time. As you can imagine I am not as fit as I was then. I have exercised on and off for the last 7 years, running and free weights, but not with great consistency, but just enough to stay barely in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I intend to start playing hurling again I want to get as fit and strong as I can before I start back in 5 months. I was hoping that I could get some advice on a program that I could follow to build strength and explosive fitness but not to completely ignore endurance fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing the following for the last few weeks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mon: AM&lt;/strong&gt;: Weights (Bench, pullups, dumbell press, one arm row, dumbell flyes, seated rows)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mon: PM&lt;/strong&gt;: Spin class&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tues:&lt;/strong&gt; Treadmill (start off with comfortable job and increase speed every 5 mins)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wed:&lt;/strong&gt; Weights(Shoulder press, bicep bar curls, upright row, close grip bench press, front and lat raises, tricep extensions, dumbell curl)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thurs: AM:&lt;/strong&gt; Treadmill (start off with comfortable job and increase speed every 5 mins)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thurs: PM:&lt;/strong&gt; Spin class&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fri:&lt;/strong&gt; Weights(Squat, leg press, leg extension, hamstring curl, calf raises)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sat:&lt;/strong&gt; Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sun:&lt;/strong&gt; Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the weights I have been doing 3 sets of 8 reps. Lifting as heavy as I can for these reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this program look ok for someone wishing to build muscle and strength, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; to build up a good level of fitness? Hurling requires a good level of overall fitness so I dont want to ignore this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any good programs out there for sports like these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4285" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-30T13:30:17.573" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T09:38:53.287" Title="Fitness/Strength Program for return to sport" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9558" CreationDate="2012-10-29T16:11:34.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The graphics on products like that aren't really meant to be looked at with the sort of detail you're reading.  They're only supposed to provide a very broad view of how to not mess up horribly when taking the supplement - I have little doubt that if they didn't provide any usage instructions at all, there would be a considerable number of people who would try to take the powder dry, or try sprinkling it over their cereal or something.  It doesn't work like that!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The graphics and suggestions on the back are for usages a 'normal' person in a 'normal' situation.  You'd be surprised how few people are truly 'normal' with those things.  Your trainer knows best.  We cannot really judge without knowing more about your workout and your calorie intake, so it's kind of up to you to find the specifics with the professionals and people you trust to know the details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your usage and if it's 'too much', if you're getting results then no, it's not!  I generally prefer to drink only water while working out, but there's no research pinpointing ideal protein supplement use to my knowledge, so people are generally left to do what works for them.  A better question would be, what is your primary goal?  You've mentioned it's to burn fat and be stronger.  But which one is more important to you?  Since it's burning fat, then you might talk to a dietitian to figure out how your shakes fit in to your overall calorie intake; you will not lose fat if you are eating too much.  There are a few other things you can do if possible to help your weight loss goal, which may or may not be possible since you're a very busy college student:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep snacks on you, and snack throughout the day.  This will keep your metabolism going by constantly giving it a little something to work with.  This will also keep you from getting overhungry and gorging yourself at meals.  Some of my favorites are greek yogurt, organic peanut butter, and blueberries.  All of these are quite portable, have good nutritional value, and can be eaten trivially.  I bought a pack of 150 plastic spoons for 1 USD and I just throw them out after I'm done snacking on my yogurt or peanut butter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stop eating artificial stuff as much as you can.  Soda is a low-hanging fruit here.  Don't drink soda. Ever.  It gives you nothing but toxins and empty calories.  If you need a caffeine pick-me-up, buy a tea thermos and use a caffeinated tea.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid of dietary fat.  Clean fats from well-prepared beef, chicken, and pork make up every nerve ending in your body.  Adding something like an egg or a lean burger to a meal can immensely increase how satisfying it is and keep you full for much longer.  That will also turn into you needing to eat fewer calories to stay satisfied.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just some very basic things, and I'd urge you to see a professional to get help on specifics, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastEditorUserId="1040" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T16:42:40.023" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T16:42:40.023" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9561" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9563" CreationDate="2012-10-29T18:09:30.933" Score="2" ViewCount="1038" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always see alot of professional sportsmen, that their chest/ribcage from the side-view is very wide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the normal average human, my arms can cover the whole of my side-view of my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I increase the size/width of my chest? I want to reach something like the photo below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HTB6n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4563" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-10-29T20:13:47.683" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T20:35:28.960" Title="Widen chest area (side)" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2012-10-29T19:07:49.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats, deadlift, and bench press helped me in this respect. If you haven't done those heavy, I would focus on them for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T19:07:49.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2012-10-29T20:35:28.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well thank you, you just made me feel like a freak :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think some of it is probably genetics, like how large your ribcage is. I'm not really sure, but that is probably not going to change that much. So it is very likely that regardless what you do you won't look exactly like the guy on the photo. Nevertheless, you can do the best with what you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you probably can't widen your ribcage you can do something with you chest and back muscles. For that you need a little surplus in energy (eat more then spend).&#xA;For training I would recommend chins, press and bench press for your upper body development. Throw in deadlifts and squats for symmetry. Try to lift heavier and heavier. I think starting strength is a pretty good point to start from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T20:35:28.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7116" CreationDate="2012-10-29T20:36:25.223" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that you are absolutely on the right track as far as when you are taking them on your workout days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as non workout days go, the best thing to do, IMO, is to have one in the morning within a half hour of waking up and if you want a second one, go for it. I honestly don't think the timing is that important. You really need to listen to what your body wants if you are craving more food. DO you want carbs, sugar, etc... There are healthy foods that will solve those needs. If your body wants protein have another shake. I don't think that you will be getting full benefits from a nutritional shake just by taking it because you think you need to. They are best in the morning and after working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4565" LastActivityDate="2012-10-29T20:36:25.223" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9570" CreationDate="2012-10-29T21:16:34.083" Score="3" ViewCount="1926" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what would be a better way to run 5 km if you want to lose weight. Running non-stop or taking a 10 minute break every 2.5 km, so my heart rate can go back down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4566" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2012-10-30T09:07:29.643" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T09:18:53.167" Title="Running continuously or with a break?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9573" CreationDate="2012-10-30T05:46:13.350" Score="7" ViewCount="9356" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the main difference between a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-deadlift&quot;&gt;Barbell Deadlift&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/clean-deadlift&quot;&gt;Clean Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;? I watched these two videos over and over again and, despite each paging saying that the exercises work out different primary muscle groups, I still cannot see what is so different between the two. IN the Clean, the guy does a full squat for some reason before lifting the weight, but it looks like both exercises lift the weight using the same motion. Determining any other difference between the two really puzzles me. Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4567" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T02:41:59.137" Title="Barbell Deadlift vs. Clean Deadlift" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9572" CreationDate="2012-10-30T06:28:00.957" Score="2" ViewCount="3150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym for almost 3 months now, focusing on gaining size. I have been going 5 nights per week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) and have noticed good gains, especially in my arms, chest, back and legs. I have gained roughly 4kg, bringing me to 70kg (154 pounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't made &lt;em&gt;major&lt;/em&gt; changes to what I eat, though I have been making the effort to have breakfast every day (previously didn't) and have invested heavily in high quality proteins such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnclivewell.com.au/product.asp?id=165&amp;amp;t=Ultimate+ISO+Mass+Xtreme+Gainer+Chocolate+&amp;amp;cid=24&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Utilmate ISO Mass Xtreme Gainer&lt;/a&gt;. With that said, I do get at least a large serving of vegetables per day and don't eat anything obviously bad (like fast food, chips, chocolates, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also haven't done much cardio, because from what I've read or heard that will reduce my gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm putting all that I can into my goal which is to get quite big and then next year this time shred down. I want to go as far as I possibly can to gain quickly and effectively, so I've thought about going to the gym twice per day now. What I have realized though is I don't know what I should do in the mornings; whether it's some type of pure strength building workouts (like cross-fit style aimed purely at getting stronger), cardio and core, or just more weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter seems most appealing for my goal, but I'm not confident that lifting weights twice per day will be beneficial. I'm also finding it hard to include a morning weight session in my weekly routine without getting the feeling that I'm just going to wear myself out for that night, or the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pure strength training sounds more appealing because I figure that will lead to me being able to lift heavier and thus gain more quickly, but I'm not sure if that's how that works either. A lot of the strength training stuff also seems quite cardio heavy and again I don't want to take away from my gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it worthwhile going to the gym twice per day, or even just going in the morning two or three times per week? If so, what can I do there to best compliment my goal of getting big? I was also wondering if I could even just do cardio and core (to get abs as well) without affecting my gains too much, considering I will still be doing those weight sessions as per current 5 times each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-10-30T07:33:28.777" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T11:54:05.750" Title="How can I structure going to the gym twice per day?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9567" CreationDate="2012-10-30T06:56:58.843" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's awesome that you've been able to make regular exercise a habit bro!  Just don't over do it.  You actually grow when you rest so you must leave time for that.  otherwise you run the risk of inhibiting gains due to exhaustion and over training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dead set on working out in the mornings it can be done, but I would make the morning  workout the hard balls out session and then come back in the evening on my way home from work and just run through a set or two of burnouts on the same muscles worked that morning or if you did chest and shoulders or something doing rotators that evening is a great way to get your rotator workouts in.  I think core and cardio is a good morning workout too.  I know you're afraid to loose gains through cardio, but some light cardio a few times a week will keep you conditioned for when it comes time to cut and you have to crank up the cardio.  Also, since you'll be burning more calories you can increase your food intake to compensate which means more nutrients for your muscles :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4464" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T06:56:58.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9577" CreationDate="2012-10-30T07:32:39.263" Score="16" ViewCount="18015" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to gym once in 2-3 days, and I have a nice physique except my fatty stomach. Now I have started running daily for half an hour. But some of my friends have suggested to me that I should stop running, because it will also reduce your other muscles(e.g. chest and shoulder etc) with your stomach fat. I have really worked hard to gain some muscles and now I'm  worrying does it really reduce our other muscles, as it reduces fat in stomach, by running. &#xA;If that is the case, then what are other exercises that I can do to reduce my fatty stomach fast. &#xA;Also I want to ask, whether walking at normal speed will help reduce fatty stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-02T08:32:36.783" LastActivityDate="2013-10-02T08:32:36.783" Title="Does running reduce the muscle gained by gym workouts?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9565" CreationDate="2012-10-30T09:18:53.167" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This highly depends on your current fitness and perhaps prior running experience. Unless you're overweight/obese or have very poor fitness, running for 30 minutes shouldn't be a problem. If you can walk 30 minutes, you can jog/run for 30 minutes. The catch is, however, that you might not run very fast. The only 'real' difference between walking and running is that during running, only one foot is in contact with the ground at all times. So you could even do that at walking speeds, but it won't be very comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, taking a 10 minute break sounds like a really bad idea, unless you're in such bad shape that you really can't continue. In that case, I'd recommend seeing a doctor and getting some medical assistance. In all other cases, pick a training program that will get you in shape to run 5 km, for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/c25k_metric.html&quot;&gt;C25K&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These programs make you run and walk alternatingly, so rather than taking a break, you simply start walking to catch a breath. You do these work outs 3 times a week, every week they slightly increase the duration of the running interval, while shortening the walking interval. This way you should be able to run non-stop for 5 km after about 10 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important factor to being able to complete this program is picking the right pace to run at. If you go too fast, you'll feel discomfort or might not even make the full running interval. So try to run at a pace where you could still hold up a conversation. This might be very slow, but that's not the point. The point is to get you in to shape so you can run in 10 weeks, not run fast right now. Also remember that if you feel discomfort while running, you can always go back to walking. Nobody is going to punish you, so don't punish yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with the program and see you in 10 weeks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T09:18:53.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9596" CreationDate="2012-10-30T11:28:34.133" Score="6" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout daily for half an hour to gain some muscles(e.g. chess and weight lifting). I have a nice physic except a little bit belly fat, so for that I daily do some half an hour walking and 15 minutes sit-ups. &#xA;So please suggest me some nice diet(i.e. what things to eat and what to not), so that I can achieve my both goals, i.e. burn and reduce belly fat and gain some muscles at the same time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And my exercise varies in time and effort because it depends upon my mood and time when I sleep last night, so I don't want the suggestions like e.g. eat 20 gm fat and 50 gm protein, cause I can't measure it, but I want some simple suggestions like eat more of this kind of food and avoid eating this etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastActivityDate="2012-11-06T05:12:34.600" Title="suggest some diet for me as I want to gain muscles and at same time want to reduce belly fat" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9567" CreationDate="2012-10-30T11:54:05.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training more do not necessarily give more gains. You don't gain mass DURING the training, you gain when you rest AFTER the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When working out, regardless what type of training, your cortisol levels will rise. Cortisol is a hormone which is released during stress. Among other it will reduce protein synthesis and prevents muscle growth. When you rest, cortisol levels will slowly drop down to normal and your body will again be able to rebuild you muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just constantly adding more exercise your cortisol levels won't go back down to a normal level, and you will not be able to gain mass. If this is maintained for a prolonged time you will move into overreaching, where cortisol levels are chronically high. This will affect your overall health and can take months to come out of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dead giveaway for this is when adding more then one workout per day. Here we are moving into elite athlete land. Full time athletes usually train more then once a day, and seem to be doing fine with that, right? But consider they are doing QUALITY rest between workouts (no work to go to), they have a physician who monitors their health on a weekly basis and they have ramped up training for several years (overreaching is also quite common and injuries is going to happen sooner or later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, stick to your 5 times per week. Do moderate or no cardio. And monitor your weights closely, to stand still for a week or two is normal. Standing still or even decreasing your weights for several weeks, then you need to pull back and rest more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T11:54:05.750" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9566" CreationDate="2012-10-30T12:49:51.437" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is in the set up.  The full squat is part of the clean deadlift, although the person takes the slack out of their body before the pull so the distinction of a clean deadlift from a conventional deadlift is more of splitting hairs than anything.  Your sticking point (or weak point) in the lift is usually dictated by the bar position relative to your feet when you start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar closer to your shins means that the sticking point will be getting the bar off the floor, but if you can get it up you can lock it out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar closer to your toes means the sticking point will be more towards lockout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The recommended position if you are new to the exercise is bar over mid foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This info from Paul Carter in his Strength-Life-Legacy eBook)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double overhand or hook grip is good on warmup sets, but eventually the bar will get too heavy for your grip with these.  That's when you need to switch to a mixed grip.  Mixed grip stretches the bicep of the suppinated hand (the hand facing away from you), so it is very important that you do not try to flex that bicep at all during the lift.  If you follow these steps you won't have any problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take the slack out of your body (your arms full extended with no flex, your back starting to feel the barbell without actually pulling it off the floor).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the lumbar region rigid (lower back) during the lift.  Some flex in the thoracic area (upper back) is OK and at heavy weights it is expected.\&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the head in a neutral position.  Lifting it up or craning it side to side will leave you open to a neck strain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push your heels through the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lock out: knees, hips, and shoulders form a straight line through your ankles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift is the ultimate posterior chain movement as far as muscle recruitment goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gluteal muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower back and abdominal muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uppper back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T12:49:51.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9559" CreationDate="2012-10-30T13:07:33.773" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have been away for a long period from a team sport, you should try to practise as similar to the sport as possible. Your situational awareness will not be as it was 7 years ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the first thing that can be improved in your program is to add hurling like drills and play (e.g. interval running instead of steady state tread mills, change of direction, reaction drills, watching games, recording &amp;amp; watching your own moves). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, your weight lifting seems to have a lot of isolated drills, I would go for more basic exercises such as dead lift, squats, press with barbells, no machines. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; for reasoning on the importance for these drills in team sports with body contact. Especially the reasoning around &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.se/search?q=posterior%20chain%20training&amp;amp;aq=2&amp;amp;oq=%22posterior%20chain%22&amp;amp;sugexp=chrome,mod=0&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;google: posterior chain&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, to fit it all in to a normal, non elite athlete life, I would reduce the number of training days to maybe 3 per week (1-2 hurling like cardio or 2-1 weight lifting) and trying to get in actual hurling play 1-2 times per week (e.g. play on smaller fields with fewer players if that is possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-10T09:38:53.287" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T09:38:53.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9569" CreationDate="2012-10-30T15:35:50.563" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It won't directly, but it can indirectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to have a decent calorie surplus to grow muscle - otherwise your body can't build on what you've done in the gym, and you won't grow any muscles.  Running alongside your workout can burn the extra calories that you were going to use to build muscle.  This is probably what your friends are referring to.  There's nothing inherent about running that damages muscle gains though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware: If you stop your cardio workout, you could hit a plateau very quickly.  Your muscle gains are dependent on you exhausting your muscles.  If you don't exhaust your muscles, your body will never get the signal that it needs to be stronger and bigger.  If your heart and lungs are not up to the task of exhausting your muscles, you'll never grow that way, either!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two main approaches to balancing these demands:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat more.  Calorie surpluses will mean growth.  If you must do your cardio on the same day as you do your lifting, you will have to eat more to make sure you keep the surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Alternate lifting and cardio days.  Don't lift on days you run, don't run on days you lift (outside of warm-ups).  This will keep your calorie requirements more stable, so the nutrition end will be easier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T15:35:50.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9578" CreationDate="2012-10-30T16:35:40.677" Score="2" ViewCount="1782" Body="&lt;p&gt;Workout plan: &lt;a href=&quot;http://teenbodybuilding.com/hagy3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://teenbodybuilding.com/hagy3.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've been following the guide set forth at the url above. I've noticed very minor gains in size and I actually think the growth is just swelling caused by my creatine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following the guide and I'm also waiting 2 minutes before starting a new set (this was set forth in a chart posted here a while back)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm shrugging up to 315 lbs. I'm using straps to help hold the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what can I do to make my traps grow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I just realized that the link is for teen body building. Not sure if that makes a diff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The Workout:&#xA;&#xA;For Delts:&#xA;&#xA; - Warm up with 1 set of light dumbbell presses&#xA; - 3 sets of dumbbell shoulder presses at 8-6-6(do military press about every other week).&#xA; - 3 sets of forward lateral raises at 8-6-6&#xA; - 3 sets of side lateral raises at 8-6-6&#xA; - 3 sets of rear laterals at 8-6-6&#xA;&#xA;For Traps:&#xA;&#xA; - Warm up with a light pair of dumbbells (not too light)&#xA; - 4 sets of forward shrugs at 10-8-8&#xA; - 4 sets of reverse shrugs at 12-10-8 (will have to go lighter on theses till you get the hang of it).&#xA; - Burnout with as many reps as you can do with half the weight you did at 8 reps for the reverse shrugs.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="413" LastEditDate="2012-10-30T16:57:59.717" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T18:58:04.673" Title="Why are my traps not growing?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9569" CreationDate="2012-10-30T16:51:01.450" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, combining strength workouts with non-strength workouts will reduce the effectiveness of the strength workouts. Of course, that should be acceptable if your goal is broader than pure strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per Tom Kurz' Science of Sports Training, page 174:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Combining strength exercises and endurance exercises in one workout reduces strength gain without affecting gains in aerobic fitness... (Hickson 1980; Sale et al. 1990). Adding a relatively brief aerobic endurance exercise (a 3.2 k [2-mile] run) at the end of a strength workout lowers strength gains by 10% compared to doing strength exercises only (Hortobagyi et al. 1991).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Rippetoe and Kilgore note that there is a way around this issue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...endurance work interferes with all the parameters [strength and power] athletes are concerned with developing. The most recent research into interference deals with the tendency of aerobic training to reduce the magnitude of anaerobic improvement when the two are done together or in close sequence.... Studies suggest that separating the two by as little as an hour blunts the negative effect of the endurance workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Page 72, Practical Programming) (Note that strength and power, though related to muscle size, are not synonymous with that attribute.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just lifting will make you bigger and stronger than if you combine lifting with running, but running as well as lifting is a fine way to improve body composition (lose fat) at the same time as building muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T16:51:01.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9576" CreationDate="2012-10-30T18:58:04.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a pretty big improvement in my trap development since starting strong lifts. Breakdown of the program's lifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squats:  don't activate your traps much from my knowledge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench press:  activates your traps isometrically to protect your neck while lifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bo/pendlay rows: activates your traps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overhead press: if you do these with the correct lockout/shurg at the top you get MAJOR workout of the traps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deadlift: activates the traps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to incorporate major lifts that require trap use in the lift instead of focusing on isolation exercises.  But with anything YMMV, and I don't know what else you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-10-30T18:58:04.673" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2012-10-30T21:23:40.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked a chemistry professor who has actually made his own protein powder. He said that the composition of the egg won't turn into something nasty — it stays the same and to go ahead and put the egg powder into my morning coffee. My only issue now is that the powder cooks in the cup! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4571" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T13:20:52.450" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T13:20:52.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9585" CreationDate="2012-10-31T09:54:11.517" Score="13" ViewCount="1570" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have little bit belly fat which I want to reduce. So I started ab exercises (like sit-ups and crunches) month ago. It's much more difficult to me to do these kind of exercises than other e.g. walking or sometime running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I do strength exercises so I don't follow any diet(I just avoid oily and junk food). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yesterday I read that spot fat reduction is not possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now I'm thinking there is no point to continue ab exercises as they are more harder for me than others. So my question is: &lt;strong&gt;what are the benefits of ab exercises&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4570" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-28T17:43:12.520" LastActivityDate="2018-07-18T21:45:40.300" Title="Are ab exercises more useful to reduce belly fat than other exercises?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9587" CreationDate="2012-10-31T11:03:23.123" Score="1" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to reduce my belly fat, for which I'm doing exercise for a month now, but no result yet. So now thinking of starting diet. But if I do that, and eat much less calories, then what  will be burnt or reduced first, muscles or fat. &#xA;Because I have earned nice muscles after a lot of hard work, I don't want to loose them. So I'm afraid that, if I take too much less calories then what will happen, either my fat is reduced(burnt) first or both fat and muscles(protein) are reduced together simultaneously. And if it is second case, then what should I have to do to burn(reduce) only body fat and not my muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4570" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T14:22:49.417" Title="what is burnt first, muscles(protein) or fat" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9584" CreationDate="2012-10-31T11:08:36.947" Score="5" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I don't eat fat, and eat only other things, for example protein and vitamins, then does this reduce my chances of getting fat? In other words, I will never be fat even if I don't do exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4570" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-10-31T20:51:34.563" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:48:04.610" Title="Does not eating fat reduce my chances of getting fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9583" CreationDate="2012-10-31T11:37:06.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only proteins or vitamins?No carbohydrates and no fat?? Well the thing is, if you eat more than your body burns, you will become fat, even if you don't eat fat at all. Carbohydrates are very energy dense, so if you eat too much carbohydrates your body will store the extra energy in fat cells. So if your daily energy intake is too big you'll get fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the thing is I don't believe it's very healthy just eating protein and vitamins as you said, you really should have a balanced eating routine, with fat, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and so on. Even if you don't exercise you won't become fat if you don't eat too much. There are plenty balanced eating plans out there, just google it and I'm sure you'll find something that's healthy and makes sure you won't become fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T11:37:06.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9581" CreationDate="2012-10-31T11:41:39.320" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply: &lt;strong&gt;No they're not&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With ab exercises you train your muscles, the body takes it's energy from every source it got, no matter where it's needed. So you can't specifically burn fat at a particular bodypart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as you want to reduce your belly fat, why not also define some nice muscles beneath it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's absolutely true that you cannot burn fat at a particular body part - in other words, you can't target fat reduction or &quot;spot reduce&quot; fat on any part of your body. However, the idea that abs exercises do not burn fat is a popular misconception. It comes about from misunderstanding the principles behind fat burning and muscle building. When developing a nice set of six pack abs, there are two main parts: 1) fat burning in order to &quot;uncover&quot; the abdominal muscles; 2) muscle building in order to &quot;build&quot; the abdominal muscles and make them appear more &quot;chiselled&quot; and bumpy, which is really just making them slightly bigger and stronger. I emphasise slightly because if you have overdeveloped abs, then it will give you a somewhat bloated look (trust me, you don't want this - a lot of bodybuilders have it and it just looks exaggerated). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your original question, ab exercises are not &lt;em&gt;necessarily&lt;/em&gt; more useful for reducing belly fat than other exercises, but they are still VERY useful. To clarify what I mean by this, here are a couple of questions to think about: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do ab exercises use up energy and thus burn calories?&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes - Of course they do; they put tension on the abdominal muscles &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do ab exercises temporarily break down the abdominal muscles resulting in strengthening of those muscles in between training sessions?&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes - Any exercise which isolates or targets a single muscle group is technically a strength building exercise &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do both of the above &quot;burn fat&quot; so to speak?&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes - burning calories creates a calorie deficit which, eventually, results in a fat loss (including around your stomach!); strengthening abdominal (or any other) muscles also burns additional calories at rest by increasing your metabolism. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the benefits of ab exercises are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they strengthen you abdominal muscles, which will produce that chiseled look once you've stripped away all the remaining fat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they DO assist in fat burning because, like strengthening ANY other muscle, strengthening your abs boosts your metabolic rate at rest &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean for your training regime? It means that if you were to try and sculpt out your abs by doing ONLY abs exercises, then it would probably take you a lot longer, simply because you would not be taking advantage of all the other ways of burning fat such as interval training and steady state cardio. It also means, however, that if you're already doing regular cardio and you intend to continue doing it, then you can also increase your volume of abs exercises in addition to whatever other training your doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently increased the volume or amount of abs exercises I'm doing because I already do a lot of cardio (such as walking) and strength training, so for me personally, there doesn't seem to be much room for increasing what I'm doing in other areas besides abs work. The other main alternative to getting past a fat burning plateau is to increase the weight you are lifting in your strength training exercises, since that will then stimulate your other muscle groups to grow more muscle which will consume more calories at rest. And a nice side effect of doing that, of course, is that you'll also become more ripped and developed in the rest of your body, not just your abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only word of caution with doing abs exercises is to be careful about your form (or technique). There's plenty of videos on youtube which demonstrate correct form so as to avoid a back injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastEditorUserId="5238" LastEditDate="2013-02-25T19:45:35.780" LastActivityDate="2013-02-25T19:45:35.780" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9582" CreationDate="2012-10-31T14:22:49.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you start reducing your daily caloric intake you can run the risk of your body breaking down the muscles to use them as a protein source. This will only happen if you reduce by too much. For example, if your daily caloric requirement is 2000 calories and you reduce that down to 1000 then you will certainly lose muscle along with fat. That is if you would be losing fat at all which I'm not sure you would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the above my advice to you would be as follows:&#xA;Use a calculator that can determine how many calories you need based on your age, height, weight and your weekly workouts (how many times a week you workout).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have determined how many calories you need to maintain your current weight try and stick to that amount of calories. This will help you maintain your muscles, and even build muscle if you eat the right amount of protein, all while you burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;This is a calculator that can determine your daily caloric needs. One thing I will say about this calculator is to take the number with a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T14:22:49.417" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9581" CreationDate="2012-10-31T16:23:02.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume by &quot;ab exercises&quot; you mean things like crunches, sit ups, leglifts, etc. Things that isolate the abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab exercises do very little to help you burn fat, because they are essentially using 1 muscle group (abdominals). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab exercises, when done properly, can help strengthen your core, which provides benefits across the board. However, many people do crunches and situps with poor form, which can lead to back pain....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to burn fat and get a 6 pack, you're going to need to change your diet. Based on what you stated in your question, I'm assuming your already very fit, and you just want to get rid of the last bit of fat on your belly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to get to a very low body fat percentage is with proper diet. Exercise can only take you so far. To get your 6 pack, it is easiest to follow a paleolithic diet, consisting of lean meats, nuts and beans, fruits, and vegetables. While avoiding dairy, processed sugars (such as candy) and grains. This diet, when followed properly, has been proven time and again to help reduce fat. Also, drink lots of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4573" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T16:23:02.487" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9581" CreationDate="2012-10-31T17:07:15.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This goes for almost every place people gather fat. YOU CANNOT SPOT REDUCE. Almost no amount of crunches or &quot;ab exercises&quot; are going to make your abs look better if you don't have the fat loss to back it up. You WILL make your abs stronger, but if you don't shed the fat with a complete exercise and diet plan you will never see all of the hard work you are putting into your ab workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4565" LastEditorUserId="4565" LastEditDate="2012-11-05T20:43:37.600" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T20:43:37.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2012-10-31T17:38:45.370" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cutting fat from your diet does not mean you will by virtue lose fat, in fact the very opposite could hold true! &lt;strong&gt;Good fats&lt;/strong&gt; (poly- and monounsaturated fat) &lt;strong&gt;are good for your body&lt;/strong&gt; and great sources of nutrients and calories. Some examples include avocado, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish like salmon. As an added bonus, a lot of these good fats also have a high protein count as well. In fact, many diets (such as the paleo and atkins) advocate a high fat intake and low carbohydrate intake because carbs are often nutritionally deficient and arguably bad for you in the levels of consumption recommended by the FDA today (think: food pyramid). Instead of thinking of things in terms of carbs, proteins, and fats, &lt;strong&gt;I would suggest a far simpler approach to your diet: eat unprocessed foods.&lt;/strong&gt; Cook your own meals and try to eat whole foods whenever possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you follow a healthy diet and run at a caloric deficit (take in fewer calories than you burned that day) then eventually you will burn off the fat in your belly. You can approach this three ways: &lt;strong&gt;eat less, cardio more, or both&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a caveat, though, as YYY pointed out. Gaining muscle and losing fat are to a degree mutually exclusive. &lt;strong&gt;To gain muscle you need three things: weight training to stimulate growth, energy to fuel growth, and rest to facilitate growth.&lt;/strong&gt; The problem is, when you run at a caloric deficit (which is needed to lose fat), then by extension you are starving your body of the energy it needs to fuel your muscle growth. Will your muscles still grow as you continue your cardio/diet fat loss routine? Yes, but not nearly as much if they were properly fueled (usually a caloric excess of 500-1000 calories is recommended). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T17:38:45.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9595" CreationDate="2012-10-31T18:03:46.673" Score="3" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background Information:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Height/Weight:&lt;/strong&gt; 5'8, 150 lbs &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Sex/Age:&lt;/strong&gt; M, 24 years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spend all day at work in front of a computer (programming), so knowing I get to workout as soon as I'm done for the day keeps me mentally going.  Being in the gym relaxes me, and is basically my sanctuary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I workout/lift 6-7 days a week, and train Martial Arts for MMA 3-4 days.  Since I compete in MMA, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, I'm &lt;strong&gt;not looking to gain size!&lt;/strong&gt;  I need to stay below 155 lbs for my weight-cuts (I fight at 135 lbs in MMA, for example).  Increased strength is always welcome, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical schedule might look something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Chest/Biceps (3 workouts for each, 3 sets of 12-14 reps) &lt;Br&gt;&#xA;Abs (2 times, halfway and end of workout)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;20 minutes on the elliptical &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Judo/Wresting (1 hour) &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Legs/Shoulders (3 workouts for each, 3 sets of 12-14 reps) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Abs (2 times, halfway and end of workout)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tae Kwan-Do (1 hour) &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/strong&gt; Rest Day &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Back/Triceps (3 workouts for each, 3 sets of 12-14 reps) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Abs (2 times, halfway and end of workout)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tae Kwan-Do (1 hour) &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Friday:&lt;/strong&gt; Chest/Biceps (3 workouts for each, 3 sets of 12-14 reps) &lt;Br&gt;&#xA;Abs (2 times, halfway and end of workout)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;20 minutes on the elliptical &lt;br&gt;&#xA;1-2 Hours MMA training &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday:&lt;/strong&gt; Legs/Shoulders (3 workouts for each, 3 sets of 12-14 reps) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Abs (2 times, halfway and end of workout)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Interval Sprints&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Back/Triceps (3 workouts for each, 3 sets of 12-14 reps) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Abs (2 times, halfway and end of workout)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Interval Sprints&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my questions are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I change my lifting workouts to better suit working out 6-7 days a week (sets, reps, muscle groups)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I change my cardio workouts (concentrate in a few days, spread out through the week)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should I add to my current recovery regimen of Protein Shakes after workouts?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, I'm not looking to gain size (strength is welcome, though), and I don't want to be at the gym less than 6 days a week.  Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4520" LastEditorUserId="4520" LastEditDate="2012-10-31T19:12:06.657" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T19:45:26.243" Title="Looking to maintain (not gain) while working out 6-7 days a week" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9591" CreationDate="2012-10-31T19:24:28.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are you working in the 12-14 rep range if you don't want to increase size? You should pick just a few, full body lifts (squats, deadlifts, overhead press, etc.) and do them 5 reps at a time. That will build more strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, why are you doing 3 different exercises for each target muscle group? Why not just one exercise at a higher weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4576" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T19:24:28.320" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4130" CreationDate="2012-10-31T19:53:33.750" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same situation. There is nothing strange about it, but it suggests that you're relatively unfit. Here is why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any given intensity your body requires certain cardiac output (liters of blood/minute) to fill muscles with oxygenated blood and sugars. Cardiac output depends on two values: heart rate and heart stroke volume -- amount of blood shoot by left ventricle in one stroke. These two variables have complex dependency, because at high heart rates stroke volume decreases (left ventricle doesn't have time to relax and fill itself properly). This makes the process less efficient: heart requires more energy (consumed in strokes) to pump less blood. In trained athlete heart rate decreases (difference can be as much as 30 beats/min in sub-maximal activity (1)) and stroke volume increases in rest (50-70 ml/beat in untrained individuals, 70-90 ml/beat in trained individuals and 90-110 ml/beat in world-class endurance athletes (2)) and during exercise. This makes the process much more efficient, allowing for reduced heart rate and less energy consumption. Compared to untrained individual, in trained subjects net cardiac output remains relatively unchanged in sub-maximal exercise (it may actually even go down due to other effects, like increased efficiency of oxygenation), and significantly increases during maximal exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I want to emphasize, that &lt;strong&gt;sustained high intensity workout for long periods of time are not good for heart&lt;/strong&gt;, even for well trained athlete (3). It can cause direct damage to heart, inflammation, fibrosis of heart muscle (all of this mainly in the right ventricle) and overgrowth of left ventricle muscle, leading to increased risk of heart attack. Please do not assume that absence of acute symptoms after training is a sign of healthy workout. More is not always better when it comes to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final point. You're claiming to have &quot;the lactate threshold&quot; at 195-205, but you're making a large mistake. Even in well-trained individuals aerobic threshold is well below that value. You can make a thread-mill test in a sports lab to determine yours. It is probably below 150 beats/sec. As suggested by NIH, it is best to exercise 90% of time in aerobic zone, and only 10% beyond it (in fact, even sprinters train this way; one shall not overload heart).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Wilmore JH and Costill DL. (2005) &lt;em&gt;Physiology of Sport and Exercise&lt;/em&gt;: 3rd Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) McArdle WD, Katch FI and Katch VL. (2000) &lt;em&gt;Essentials of Exercise Physiology&lt;/em&gt;: 2nd Edition Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams &amp;amp; Wilkins&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) &lt;a href=&quot;http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/12/05/eurheartj.ehr397.abstract&quot;&gt;http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/12/05/eurheartj.ehr397.abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4574" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T19:53:33.750" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9591" CreationDate="2012-10-31T21:41:08.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fundamentals look very good.  I can't see any major problems or inconsistencies with your workout.  As a result, none of my following suggestions should be taken in the spirit of a large overhaul or immediate change.  They should instead be taken as just that - suggestions and options.  With that qualified, here they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider adding stability exercises into your regimen, possibly by replacing either the first or last workout for each body part.  These are things like planks, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/363787-the-slow-burn-technique-for-weightlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slow burn lifts&lt;/a&gt;, and other lifts that work out connective tissue or body parts.  I'm thinking wrists (kettlebell hammer curls), ankles (cable resistance movements), etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Note:&lt;/em&gt; Slow burn lifting is thought to help with muscle size/workout efficiency.  There is no clinical evidence to prove that yet. I bring it up because, biomechanically, it is difficult to come up with an approach that better recruits the small, tertiary muscles that are nonetheless critical for overall functional strength.  You're probably sophisticated enough with working out that you will be able to tell if this helps or not after 6-8 weeks of trying it.  If it doesn't, forget about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do NOT change the ethos of your cardio workouts.  Cardio works best when spread out to provide consistent toning for the heart and lungs.  However, you might consider some more variety in your cardio than just the elliptical.  Shadow boxing, punching bags, and swimming could provide your cardio a bit more durability under different circumstances and tempos.  Since MMA fights happen at all sorts of different tempos this could be helpful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For my own training recovery, I love the following procedure: &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10-20 minutes of heat. I prefer saunas or whirlpools, but steam rooms or even a long, hot shower will do well. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow immediately with liquid nutrition.  Whole milk with supplements is good for high-calorie needs.  Water with electrolytes is good for low-calorie needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Followed within 1-2 hours by a nutrient-dense snack/small meal.  Peanut butter, greek yogurt, or 1-2 eggs are all options that come immediately to mind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This procedure relaxes away any minor aches and pains that could theoretically linger, then feeds my body with exactly what it needs to repair and react to the pressures I've put on it.  It also feels great to be worn out, relaxed, and fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2012-10-31T21:41:08.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9591" CreationDate="2012-10-31T21:42:02.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks like a good tough schedule. If you can handle it, good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strength training versus bodybuilding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three aspects of your lifting that strike me as bodybuilding instead of strength training: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sets of 12-14 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple exercises for each muscle group&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Splitting up the workouts by muscle group &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These methods are more focused on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3679/1771&quot;&gt;hypertrophy and possibly strength-endurance&lt;/a&gt;. I suspect you could get better strength and power development by switching to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sets of 1 to 5 reps (done much heavier--these should be near maximal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One exercise per &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of exercise &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing whole-body workouts each day, or if splitting is necessary, then doing one exercise per day or splitting by upper and lower body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fewer reps done heavier is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8239/1771&quot;&gt;generally recognized as more productive for strength and power&lt;/a&gt;. Whole-body exercises (squats, deadlifts, cleans, jerks, snatches, presses, Turkish get-ups, farmer's walks) are &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3407/1771&quot;&gt;generally recognized as optimal for combat sport athletes&lt;/a&gt;. I highly recommend thinking of lifting in terms of &lt;em&gt;movements&lt;/em&gt; (meaning pushes, pulls, hinges, and squats) rather than muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?t=2417&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Glenn Pendlay's basic strength-training template for MMA athletes&lt;/a&gt; is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday&lt;/strong&gt;: Squat, 3 sets of 5; Bench Press, 3 sets of 5; Rows, 3 sets of 5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;: Deadlift, 3 sets of 3; Military Press, 3 sets of 5; Chinups, 3 sets of 10, add weight if necessary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt;: Step-ups, 3 sets of 10; Push Press or Incline Press or Dips, 3 sets of 5; Power Cleans or Power Snatches, 5 sets of 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I train judo/jiujitsu/MMA more than three or four times a week, I relegate lifting to once a week for maintenance only. I'll deadlift (or power clean), squat, press, and chin all in that one workout. I've also tried the &quot;one lift a day&quot; method, where I would do just one of those exercises after martial arts training, but driving home after class made it tough to re-warm-up for lifting. Perhaps it would work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conditioning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple interval sprint workouts each week and one or two distance running/swimming/biking/elliptical workouts sounds fine. I'd try to rely as much as possible on technical workouts (judo/wrestling/BJJ/TKD/MMA) instead of elliptical sessions. Robb Wolf and Greg Everett, who both train jiujitsu and are knowledgable strength and conditioning professionals, &lt;a href=&quot;http://davetrains.tumblr.com/post/14476229060/paleo-for-grappling-notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;are adamant on this point&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For cardio, nothing translates to fighting like fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try to separate these speed/endurance/conditioning workouts from your strength and technical (TKD/wrestling/MMA) sessions in order to get maximum returns from the strength work, but generally this looks fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pendlay is more inclined towards variety and non-sparring work in conditioning than myself, Everett, or Wolf, but he also relies much less on the elliptical and more on strength- and power-biased varied work. Here are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?t=2417&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the exercises he recommends&lt;/a&gt; that I've found success with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) Push a prowler. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) Kettlebell clean and jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5) Farmers walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;6) Kettlebell snatch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;7) &quot;Freestyle&quot; complexes... Take a barbell, a light one, and keep it moving without setting it down for 10 minutes. Do whatever you can think of. squats, presses, cleans, good mornings, push presses. Just keep it moving and do not set it down...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;11) Flip a big tire....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?t=2417&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;forum post&lt;/a&gt; for specifics.) When I train combat sports several times a week, I run in the mornings and train in the evenings. Personally I would spread the sprints out through the week instead of concentrating them on two concurrent days. If I'm training less often, I try to fit in a Pendlay-style odd conditioning workout instead of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recovery&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your recovery regimen should primarily consist of sleep, food, and staying happy by socializing. A protein shake after workouts is part of your diet, and might be very much called for, but it isn't the linchpin of your recovery regimen. Getting enough quality food and sleep is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not getting enough quality sleep, then I'd recommend adding another rest day. If you're not getting enough quality food, then I'd recommend more eggs, more greens with olive oil, more meat, more milk, yogurt, and kefir, more sweet potatoes, more rice, and more vegetables. It's hard to gain weight when training like you are, so don't worry about eating too much unless you start to get bigger. (I'd be more concerned with undereating causing overtraining.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T19:45:26.243" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2012-11-01T01:53:27.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can (and I did month after month) burn fat on a calorie surplus. I'm currently on a 150% calorie surplus and since I'm doing heavy weight training, I'm telling my body to put on muscle to adapt to my ever-increasing intensity in the weight room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your plea to not talk about food in weights or calories, well you can't really expect to do random things and expect specific results. I can only achieve fat loss + muscle gain at the same time because I've carefully tuned a diet that enables enough calories to put on muscle. Your body is constantly both burning/storing fat/muscle. It is constantly in both a catabolic and anabolic state. The key is to gain an overall NET catabolic state in the fatty tissue and NET anabolic state in muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training hard your body will utilise excess calories for muscle before it does fat. That said, if you eat too much you will put on fat as well as muscle. So the key to a clean bulk is to find that happy caloric intake that SLIGHTLY under optimises protein synthesis for the purposes of burning fat stores for the net difference. Good luck trying to do this eating haphazardly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want general advice for food, eat more protein rich foods (naturally lower in calories) and stay away from sugary things. Eat fresh food - stay away from junk food or food that is overly processed. If you aren't getting stronger (or bigger), then eat more! If you are getting fat or not losing fat then eat less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you want to look like a sports model, you have to train like a freak and eat very clean. I'm 8% body fat because I REALLY watch what I eat and I train very hard. You can't obtain an impressive physique by eating any old thing and doing sloppy training unless you have very impressive genetics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-11-06T02:32:59.370" LastActivityDate="2012-11-06T02:32:59.370" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-01T05:14:24.963" Score="5" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, I'm 6 foot tall and I weigh 215 pounds. Based on my weight when I was younger (I'm in my late thirties), I'd say I'm about 25 to 30 pounds overweight (fat) now. I started lifting about three weeks ago, and I'm already seeing a slight increase in strength, tone and size. My question is this: Because I'm already a little overweight, can I keep my caloric intake the same for a while? Would the amount of calories I consume go more toward muscle production rather than the accumulation of fat now that I'm working out? I'd hate to gain more fat in an attempt to feed newly developed muscle. I'm sure I will have to boost calories at some point in the future if my muscles continue to grow, but, for now, am I good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4578" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T16:29:10.060" Title="Caloric intake for fatty trying to gain muscle" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9611" CreationDate="2012-11-01T09:35:05.217" Score="2" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are loads of fitness sites out there. Some will let you track weight loss, some will provide a training program for you and some will let you record your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my issue is being able to stick with whichever training schedule I have set up. I would like a web site where I can fill in my own types of workouts, plan a week of them, and even plan a season. Then I would like the site to email me and ask me if I've completed a workout, and if not, to ask me why not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anything like this exist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4579" LastActivityDate="2012-11-03T02:03:57.793" Title="Is there a web site for planning your own workouts and following up on them?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;&lt;websites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9604" CreationDate="2012-11-01T09:48:32.633" Score="3" ViewCount="10381" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I did deadlifts in my workout, then I got pain in my lat muscles and also in the thigh. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this was caused by wrong posture which also can lead to back problems. But I don't know the exact posture for deadlift techniques and why we need to do Deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is Deadlift is only for gaining muscles in legs or shaping the legs? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do we need to wear a belt? I searched the Internet and it seems like they prefer wearing a belt while performing deadlifts as it reduces the risk of back muscle injuries. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-01T16:41:50.370" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T23:35:01.863" Title="Deadlifting yesterday gave me pain in my lats. What is the proper posture for deadlifting to avoid this?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9607" CreationDate="2012-11-01T10:08:42.860" Score="5" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that there are several things which result in an increase of cortisol release, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too long workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine, especially in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21710168&quot;&gt;energy drinks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One influence is that cortisol will increase your insulin level which on the other hand will store sugar to fat (easy spoken). What I also heard is that cortisol will reduce your muscle gains, is that true and how does that happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1838" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-01T10:26:33.380" LastActivityDate="2012-11-01T23:06:31.973" Title="The influence of cortisol on muscle gains" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9601" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-11-01T12:41:13.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cortisol is released in response to stress and a low level of blood glucocorticoids. Its primary functions are to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis; suppress the immune system; and aid in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism.It also decreases bone formation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: cortisol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-01T15:30:39.987" LastActivityDate="2012-11-01T15:30:39.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9602" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-11-01T12:41:13.940" Score="0" Body="Cortisol, also known more formally as hydrocortisone , is a steroid hormone, more specifically a glucocorticoid, produced by the adrenal gland." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-01T15:29:08.770" LastActivityDate="2012-11-01T15:29:08.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9634" CreationDate="2012-11-01T12:51:31.857" Score="8" ViewCount="3074" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I compete in combat sports like MMA, I have to do a major weight-cut.  Normally, 3 weeks out from competition I weigh 15 lbs above my target weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, through a strict diet (with meals such as chicken, rice and a vegetable) I'm normally within 8 lbs by the last week.  Granted, this doesn't sound like a lot of weight loss accomplished in 2 weeks, but when you already have very low body fat, it's quite a task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last 4 days or so is normally when things get painful, because of lack of food intake and dehydration.  Typically, I will do something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4 &amp;amp; 3 days till:&lt;/strong&gt; Normal water intake, reduce food intake by about a meal (not an entire meal, just portions of each meal is reduced)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 days till:&lt;/strong&gt; Reduced water intake (about 4-6 oz for the day), and two very small meals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1 day till:&lt;/strong&gt; Reduced water intake (about 2-4 oz for the day) and a Balance Bar to keep me going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day Of:&lt;/strong&gt; Nothing until weigh-in, which is normally around noon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a couple of questions concerning making this a bit easier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've heard a few people suggest overloading your body with water 1-2 days out from weigh-ins, then dropping the intake drastically (to the amounts I do on my final 2 days).  Is there any sort of logic/science behind this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any sort of vegetable, like celery, that I could snack on the last 2 days that wouldn't make me gain weight, but would help me retain my sanity?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, is there any alternate factor or tactic that I'm completely missing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4520" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T15:21:14.040" Title="Combat sports weight-cut: How to handle the last 4 days?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9599" CreationDate="2012-11-01T13:18:31.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technique is important for the deadlift. My personal experience is that it is too easy to add weights and once you get above your body weight, small errors increase the chance of back injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the correct posture and technique, see this OP &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/2647/3778&quot;&gt;Physcial Fitness: What is the correct form for deadlift?&lt;/a&gt; and this two videos:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syt7A23YnpA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Deadlift set-up&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N9hAuxNs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Deadlift back angle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift is an excellent exercise for the whole &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_chain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Posterior chain&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (i.e. the whole system of back, glutes and legs), see picture below. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iMzcr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Posterior chain&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it easier to understand it in terms of the wholeness instead of individual muscles. So, it is not an exercise only for the legs or the back which is why you sometimes see people having problems with fitting it in a &quot;upper body&quot; and &quot;lower body&quot; workout routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you should wear a belt or not seems to be a hot topic of debate, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.se/search?q=belt%20or%20no%20belt%20for%20deadlift&amp;amp;oq=belt%20or%20no%20belt%20for%20deadlift&amp;amp;sugexp=chrome,mod=0&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Google: belt or no belt deadlift&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/5000/3778&quot;&gt;Dead lift - belt or no belt&lt;/a&gt;. It seems to boil down to &quot;depends on..&quot; where &quot;..&quot; relates to your specific context (age, skills, goals..). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I don't use a belt since it is one more item to bring to the gym and if you have to lift something heavy off the floor in real life, the belt will not be there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T14:52:49.390" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9598" CreationDate="2012-11-01T15:09:01.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.Fitocracy.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt; has some functionality like that, in that you can schedule workouts for the future and then follow up and put in that you actually did it.  I'm not sure how far into the future you can go though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="4145" LastEditDate="2012-11-03T02:03:57.793" LastActivityDate="2012-11-03T02:03:57.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9583" CreationDate="2012-11-01T19:57:22.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that if you eat nothing but protein, you may starve even if you're theoretically eating enough calories.  The reason being that there is a maximum amount of protein your liver can process for calories per day, and it is below the number of calories you burn per day.  This is called Rabbit Starvation Syndrome (after settlers who were starving despite plenty of lean rabbit meat), though it has not been well studied in humans.  In any case, that's probably a pretty unhealthy way to diet, since it would put a lot of stress on your liver (to turn protein into glucose and urea) and kidneys (to clear the resulting urea).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer what I think is the intent of your question: within reasonable limits, your body is very efficient at converting calories from all sources (protein, carbs, alcohol) into fat.  So yes, you can become fat as long as you are eating more calories (from any sources) than you expend, and are not eating a radical, unhealthy diet like getting nearly all your calories from protein.  Marion Nestle goes into much, much more detail in her book &quot;Why Calories Count&quot;, which is probably worth reading if you're interested in losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="3718" LastEditDate="2012-11-02T06:50:33.177" LastActivityDate="2012-11-02T06:50:33.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9600" CreationDate="2012-11-01T23:06:31.973" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cortisol is actually released in a diurnal rhythm with a spike when you wake up, and tapering off during the day until the time you go to sleep where it is at its lowest. Cortisol levels are also proportional to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2002/05000/Effect_of_Exercise_at_Three_Exercise_Intensities.18.aspx&quot;&gt;intensity of the training as well as length&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elevated cortisol levels is linked to protein synthesis. A widely cited report is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7900796&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, which states that protein synthesis was impaired by 5-20% with higher (the highest is &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; high) cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol levels is also linked to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11724664&quot;&gt;gluconeogenesis&lt;/a&gt; (the conversion of protein to glucose). So by that rational an elevated level cortisol can not only reduce tissue growth but also break down tissue, as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing%27s_syndrome&quot;&gt;cushing's syndrome&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-11-01T23:06:31.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-02T19:19:07.363" Score="7" ViewCount="4079" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct shoulder positions when doing hanging leg raises? What are the reasons to do it this way and not another one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example when you hang on the bar you can lift your body up and down a few inches just using your shoulder muscles (i.e. if you pull your shoulders down and in, your body lifts a few inches and the other way around). So which position is better and why. Perhaps there are more form pointers to take into account concerning the shoulders in this exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RIaro.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;hanging leg raises&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2012-11-02T19:49:13.943" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T22:59:08.143" Title="Correct shoulder position when doing hanging leg raises" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9608" CreationDate="2012-11-02T21:51:17.617" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to use your hips to get your legs up, they need some opposition.  This means all the muscles all the way up to the bar have to be active and involved in some way.  Simple check is, if you feel your entire trunk equally involved, oblique muscles working just as hard as your center line, you have enough shoulder activation.  If it feels like you're hoisting your hips with just the center line and/or you can't control spine position, your shoulders are too slack or over contracted.  (Or possibly your hips/glutes are too tight to even be doing this exercise in the first place)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're &quot;hanging out&quot; deep with your shoulders scrunched up to your ears, the Serratus and various other stabilisers that attach to your scapula are all stretched out and in weak, non-stabilising positions.  There's no opposition to allow you to involve your entire trunk and get all those oblique muscles working with the hips, and the stabilisers you would use to keep your back straight are not in a strong position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try start from that position, you may end up rolling your shoulders forward and rotating internally in order to get enough activation to hoist the hips with the rectus abdominis, instead of anchoring your shoulders into an active position.  The only upside to loading your shoulders in this position is the Physical Therapist you get might be cute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A neutral position with the scapula flat against the back lets all of your various stabilisers be involved and do their job.  Start with your shoulders working actively to maintain their natural (assuming you have good posture to start) position, not bottomed out.  Since all of us who didn't grow up gymnasts are pretty weak there, it may be necessary to cue a bit of pulling back to counteract the natural tendency to go slack, particularly there at the top of the movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common cue for activating there is &quot;wrap your lats around into your armpits&quot;  (just don't confuse the muscle activation with actual rotation of the shoulder joint.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: For a long time I had a serious problem with loading all the effort into the superficial centerline in this type of exercise and had proportionally very weak obliques.  I put a lot of effort into learning to correct it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastActivityDate="2012-11-02T21:51:17.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5000" CreationDate="2012-11-02T22:09:18.340" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a belt is like training wheels for bicycles.  Sure, they will help you increase your weight more quickly then without one, but with proper form and care for your body, you can maintain your skills better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting is a exercise that uses many stabilizing muscles, and if you do not have all of them working together, that's an easy road to injury.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: Got a hernia in college from forgetting to wear a belt during a workout.  The doctor said that I was using the belt as a crutch so I didn't work my core muscles enough.  Once I recovered, I found a trainer and completely reworked my form to focus more on helping my core support the rest of my body.  I still cannot lift as much as I did during college, but I've improved in more areas and I've limited my chance for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More sources: The article by Paul Chek is particularly informative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/belts_chek.txt&quot;&gt;Paul Chek via University of Washington&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sarkartraining.net/2011/07/is-weightlifting-belt-necessary.html&quot;&gt;Sakar Training&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/benefits-and-proper-use-of-weightlifting-belts/&quot;&gt;Elitefits guide to how to wear belts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4145" LastActivityDate="2012-11-02T22:09:18.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9598" CreationDate="2012-11-02T22:32:02.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest one is a site called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.noom.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Noom&lt;/a&gt;.  It's a diet/exercise site but it will send notifications to you to inform you of upcoming exercises and helps you keep your schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mapmyrun.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MapMyRun&lt;/a&gt; to plan my workouts, and I can upload my Garmin GPS data to the site to show what I've done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other sites could include &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.superbetter.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SuperBetter&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.Fitocracy.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RunKeeper&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitbit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FitBit&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SparkPeople&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adidas.com/us/micoach/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adidas MiCoach&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4145" LastEditorUserId="4145" LastEditDate="2012-11-02T22:42:41.257" LastActivityDate="2012-11-02T22:42:41.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8322" CreationDate="2012-11-03T03:19:41.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel for you.  I had a similar starting place at the beginning of this year.  Bad back pain, 60 pounds overweight, little knowledge of fitness, etc.  Back pain is actually a great motivator to exercise: with the right set of exercises, I can get fast improvements in pain so that I actually have something to remind me to exercise.  Back pain is sort of like a really obnoxious gym coach.  :-)  Here's what I've learned so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back Pain&lt;/strong&gt;: I'd recommend Yoga.  It's been tremendously helpful for my upper and lower back pain.  (Since you're a university student, I'd note that my alma mater had free yoga classes available for students, not that I ever went to them.)  In addition to the back pain exercises mentioned by @Informaficker, I find crunches helpful for my lower back.  See also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesroutines/ss/Pilates-Back-Exercises_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pelvic tilt/curl Pilates exercise&lt;/a&gt;, which is simple but very effective for mobilizing your lower back and strengthening weak muscles there.  If your gym has &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000P7ANRI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one of these&lt;/a&gt;, use it.  It's very helpful in strengthening your lower back muscles, and you can also use it to strengthen your lats.  It's not particularly difficult, and easy to scale up/down on as pain requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic Exercise&lt;/strong&gt; Reasonably intense exercise doesn't have to be high impact.  If you struggle with maintaining exertion over 4-5 minutes, try going slower with less impact.  While HIIT (high intensity interval training) gets a lot of press, the fact is that it's really hard.  You can get a lot of the benefits of cardio with less intense exercise, and work your way up.  The important thing is to find anything &lt;em&gt;you can actually do&lt;/em&gt; that leaves you somewhat out of breath while you're doing it.  Keep doing it for 20-60 minutes.  For me, that's a brisk walk on a treadmill at a very steep incline.  I started walking at a 5% incline and 3.2mph for 30 minutes, and have worked my way up to an 11% incline at 3.9mph for 50 minutes.  It's not super-intense exercise, but I'm usually drenched in sweat by the end. I usually even read a book while on the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet and Weight Loss&lt;/strong&gt; Despite losing around 40 pounds so far this year, I actually have little idea what the &quot;right&quot; diet is for weight loss.  I'm not sure there is one, or at least one strongly supported by the evidence as both healthy and effective.  (Low carb diets are apparently effective and possibly healthy, but I found low-carb almost impossible to stick with while having a life.)  As you'll see below, my diet is so-so: for me, exercise seems to be the key to weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The only bits of advice that I've found that seem effective&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Protein leads to satiety.&lt;/em&gt;  I try to eat unsweetened greek yogurt (look for something with ~75% of calories from protein), tuna fish, boiled eggs, lentils, etc.  I would advise finding some high protein foods you enjoy and eat mainly those.  Bread is not particularly high protein, but most lean meats get a very high percentage of the calories from protein.  &lt;em&gt;Monotony reduces hunger.&lt;/em&gt;  I try to eat the same small set of things.  Things I enjoy eating, but the same things.  That probably sounds depressing, but if you pick the right set of foods it's not bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Informaficker is definitely right that weight tracking is a good motivator, and that sugary drinks are bad (switch to tea, coffee or water).  For tracking, I like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/HackDiet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Hacker's Diet&lt;/a&gt; website.  It's bare-bones, but it automatically produces an exponentially-smoothed moving average of your weight, which smooths out day-to-day variations (mostly water and bowel movements), and shows you the real trend over time.  Seeing that trend line react to things you eat and exercise can really be very motivating.  It's important that you weigh yourself at consistent times, and preferably close to naked, or the signal will be much noisier.  Different clothes can vary significantly in their weight, and I've seen my weight fluctuate by 2-5 pounds over the course of the day.  It's much more consistent first thing in the morning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it will probably seem like you aren't making much progress, even when you are.  Weight loss of 1Lb/week equates to a 500 calorie/day deficit, which is a lot of work and great progress.  But 1Lb/week is nothing compared to day-to-day fluctations of 1-5 pounds.  You can only see the trend over time, so don't get discouraged by setbacks and fluctuations.  Even half a pound per week is still 26 pounds per year!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, here's what I usually do in a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bike to work every weekday, 4 miles/day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 1 hour yoga class, 40 minutes of crunches, pushups, weight-assisted pullups, arm circles with hand weights (5-10Lb) and the reverse-situp machine mentioned above.  50 minutes on the treadmill at a brisk walk with a steep incline.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: 1/4 cup (dry) oat bran hot cereal, with berries, walnuts and milk.  Some vegetables on the side: eg carrots, kalamata olives.  Coffee with heavy cream, no sugar.  Four fish oil capsules.  Sometimes I eat Greek yogurt instead of the oat bran.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: Usually crappy restaurant food.  I try to forego starchy sides, notably ask for Asian food with no rice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: Frequently lentil soup, rye crackers, and goat cheese or yogurt.  Lentil soup is one of the few things I cook because it's very filling, is insanely cheap, and is easy to make lots of leftovers. Four fish oil capsules.  Usually a few glasses of red wine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snacks: I avoid snacks as much as possible.  I go for either fruit (apple, orange, berries, banana) or yogurt when I lose resolve.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="3718" LastEditDate="2012-11-03T08:04:36.363" LastActivityDate="2012-11-03T08:04:36.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7354" CreationDate="2012-11-03T05:21:46.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this is the tactic you're taking, I highly recommend the Hacker's Diet by John Walker (available as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;free website/ebook&lt;/a&gt;).  The theory is pretty simple: track your weight and calories daily, and reduce calories when your weight trend line is trending up, increase them when it is trending down more than you'd like.  He's created a simple online tool to track your weight and generate nice trend graphs.  Feedback based on the weight trend automatically takes into account reductions in metabolism, exercise, etc.  The key point is not to take any weight measurement seriously by itself: keep calories/diet reasonably consistent and look at the longer term trend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, while I love Walker's weight tracking tool, I've never found calorie tracking very tenable.  So tedious and difficult to keep up with.  I much prefer adjusting the foods I eat until I find a diet that leads to weight loss over time.  The trend line is still useful for determining when to change things or when changes don't work, but calorie counting is not for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2012-11-03T05:21:46.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2012-11-03T05:41:14.757" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the book &lt;em&gt;The Science of Yoga&lt;/em&gt;, William Broad discusses this in detail.  My summary: for measures of cardiovascular fitness, Yoga is inferior to aerobic exercise.  Indeed a small study of Yoga instructors (who do enormous amounts of yoga) found them to be roughly equivalent in measures of cardiovascular health (VO2 Max, etc) to someone who jogs 3-4 hours per week.  Yoga is also inferior to weight training for gaining strength.  Not really too surprising: exercises designed to specifically target certain ends are superior to flexibility exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However yoga does have significant benefits.  He discusses studies showing that yoga can improve spinal health and treat back pain (one theory being that flexing the spine oxygenates the intervertebral discs, which may not get moved much in a sedentary lifestyle).  It reduces stress hormones, may increase testosterone levels in men and various miscellaneous small benefits.  The main large benefits seem to come in treating shoulder or back injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do all three: yoga, weights and cardio.  Of the three yoga is the most fun, so I'd say give it a try.  The poses generally feel good, help with my back pain.  It may not be superior to other forms of exercise on most measures, but it's worth doing for its own sake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2012-11-03T05:41:14.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9625" CreationDate="2012-11-03T08:09:41.407" Score="7" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just started Starting Strength today and it's recommended to ensure protein intake is adequate to feed muscle growth so the next lift can be made at a heavier weight--the 1g protein per pound bodyweight being suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really see why it's dependent on the person's weight if both light guy and heavy guy still increase by the same amount amount each workout. Wouldn't the muscle growth for all required to lift another 5 pound be the same? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2013-09-04T14:27:56.873" Title="Why is the protein recommendation for strength building dependent on bodyweight?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9617" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9630" CreationDate="2012-11-03T22:14:02.690" Score="3" ViewCount="1625" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I distinguish between them in some simple way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes after running or weightlifting it seems that my gut is quite flat. In fact abdominal muscles are visible when I try a posedown. But then when I relax, it seems that I have a big gut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need some specific exercise to make my abdominal muscles more visible or I must loose fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4587" LastEditorUserId="4587" LastEditDate="2012-11-03T23:11:29.137" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T17:58:33.720" Title="Visceral fat or poor abdominal muscles?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2012-11-20T20:03:47.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9621" CreationDate="2012-11-04T00:07:28.503" Score="5" ViewCount="3499" Body="&lt;p&gt;Started Starting Strength at a gym today and when I came to the presses, I discovered that the power rack didn't have holes on the outside of the vertical members, meaning a loaded bar could only be inside the rack's frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pressing inside the rack wasn't possible as the bar would hit the top members of the rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as I was only starting out, I could clean the bar up into the right position, but I fear as my press needs more weight, this won't be possible, or if possible, take available energy away from the upcoming presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked around the gym and could find no other piece of machinery to load a bar up at sternum height, and be able to walk under the bar to dislodge it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then checked out the only other two gyms in proximity, and they too had power racks that didn't allow a bar to be held on the outside the frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the solution here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-11-04T01:52:22.267" Title="Barbell presses without a suitable power/squat rack?" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2012-11-04T01:45:39.523" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd double check the rack to be entirely sure the pins can't be set outside the rack. Maybe I'd ask someone who works at the gym. Maybe the rack has holes on the side, and the pins can be turned backwards? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But let's assume you can't get a rack at chest height where you can press. Switching gyms is a fine option that sounds closed to you. Buying a power rack or squat rack could work too. But I'd probably just power clean the weight first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had success with one clean followed by multiple presses. It's not particularly draining, since the weight you're pressing should be so much less than the weight you can comfortably clean. I've even found, as some trainers have noted, that cleaning the weight gets me better prepared to press it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-04T01:45:39.523" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9615" CreationDate="2012-11-04T01:46:49.930" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;People need protein for their current muscles as well as new muscle. From what I hear, people who are 280 pounds of muscle needs to do quite a bit of dedicated eating to stay at that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, see Alistair Overeem, heavyweight MMA fighter, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf-Vw-HhzPY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;describe&lt;/a&gt; how much he needs to eat in order to stay as big as he is (and to sustain his training schedule). Or read about the effort just to maintain a high bodyweight in Matt Reynold's article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/eating_through_the_sticking_points#.UJXI42_A-k8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eating Through the Sticking Points&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-04T01:46:49.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2012-11-04T01:52:22.267" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several different approaches I have found to deal with this very problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your own squat rack for your house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean the bar from the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a spotter to help you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the bench press barbell rack so you are only cleaning from waist up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/KCpfNI-QgLM&quot;&gt;steinborn lift&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these has their own pros and cons, and you'll need to evaluate what is best for you given your circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-11-04T01:52:22.267" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-04T03:39:16.147" Score="6" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to eventually start competing in BJJ competitions in the lightweight division (&amp;lt;70kg) and I'm about 67kg (10%bf) at the moment. I'm going to continue weight training until I reach 70kg and then my intention is to stop going to the gym and rely on bodyweight exercises (plyometric push-ups, jump squats, pull-ups) to improve my strength without gaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, as long as I don't eat more calories than I burn off in a day consistently, I shouldn't gain muscle and go over the weight limit... right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4588" LastEditorUserId="4588" LastEditDate="2012-11-04T03:52:38.823" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T01:53:43.613" Title="Getting stronger without gaining muscle" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9622" CreationDate="2012-11-04T04:09:39.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Switching from weight training to no weight training will mean you'll get weaker. Why not try lifting less frequently--maybe once a week--for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3679/1771&quot;&gt;less than 5 reps per set&lt;/a&gt;, for strength and power instead of size? If you're training BJJ all the time and not eating like a maniac, that shouldn't put weight on you. When I do judo twice a week or BJJ several times a week, it's &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt; to gain weight (even though I want to!) while lifting two or three times a week (with sets being 3 or 5 reps) and eating fairly hard. My concern is that switching from lifting to bodyweight exercises will very likely make you somewhat weaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yes, your plan will work in the sense that lifting and eating your way up to a weight, then stopping the lifting and increased eating, should make sure you stay in your weight class. But that doesn't mean it's simply because you ate less calories than you burned off. As discussed in a few answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/3624/1771&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, our bodies don't &quot;burn calories&quot;, we digest food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T19:46:10.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9622" CreationDate="2012-11-04T07:28:41.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My BJJ coach commented once how strong I was when wrestling. This surprised me because I'd never stand a chance in arm wrestle, could hardly smith machine more than the bar itself and bench hardly anything. I mentioned this to him and he mentioned that it's not about individual muscle strength, nor even compound muscle strength in one direction, but about how quickly you can switch the direction of force appropriate to a relatively moving opponent. I'm not talking the 'use the opponent's force' stuff, but engaging the appropriate muscles in an optimized sequence as you try to keep your opponent from escaping as you improve your position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So developing the right type of strength I think is important when you have to fit in a weight division.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-11-04T07:28:41.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9615" CreationDate="2012-11-04T11:39:12.237" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen protein suggestions based on all kind of factors: &lt;em&gt;body weight&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;lean body weight&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;lean body weight modified by muscle mass&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only one of those you can reliably measure is body weight. Body fat measurements are not really accurate and as a result you'd get an inaccurate lean body weight number. Same goes for determining the muscle mass.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On top of that body shapes vary. There are people with longer or bigger muscles and people that have thinner or smaller ones. Some people are just more bulky than others depending on their genes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How the protein metabolism works isn't completely understood, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And lastly not every protein source is as valuable as the other. What counts are the amino acids that make up the different types of protein. There are some types with a high value protein profile and some with lesser value. A combination of two proteins with a low value protein profile can however result in a high value profile, just because the proportions of essential amino acids evened each other out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be really complex to put all those factors into a formula to calculate a specific result. Still that formula wouldn't be very accurate. It is easier and saves you a lot of time to make some assumptions on most of these variables and only use the number with the highest effect - body weight - to calculate your protein needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact the 2g/kg are the maximum that can effectively be used in muscle protein synthesis. Everything above that value isn't necessarily going to waste, but probably just converted to energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead of recommending you something that might be insufficient, Starting Strength just goes with the maximum as their simple estimation to be on the safe side. Unless you have kidney problems, a balanced diet high in protein is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-04T14:27:56.873" LastActivityDate="2013-09-04T14:27:56.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9627" CreationDate="2012-11-05T07:26:40.320" Score="5" ViewCount="62786" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in India, lot of people doing workout in gym wear LANGOT(Loin Cloth or Drawers or Nappy), e.g. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gy3Mr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;   &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1AeHK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say that if they don't wear it, they will suffer from Hernia.&#xA; I have joined gym some days ago and everyone in the gym use it and also advice me to use it or I will get hernia. But I don't think that wearing it will prevent me from hernia.&#xA;So is there any need to wear that while doing workout in gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T15:18:11.910" Title="is there any need to wear LANGOT(Loin Cloth) while doing gym workout" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;hernia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9626" CreationDate="2012-11-05T07:37:45.323" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is no need to wear it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/7730.htm&quot;&gt;It doesn't prevent a hernia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even one doctor told me once not to wear it, because the testicles are held too close to the body. It is not good because when our body temperature rises, they need to stay away from body. While doing workout our body temperature rises greatly so it's bad to wear it during workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4570" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-06T16:13:23.733" LastActivityDate="2012-11-06T16:13:23.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9597" CreationDate="2012-11-05T16:29:10.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on how much (and to some extent what) you're eating now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, you'll gain muscle if you're eating &quot;at maintenance&quot; or slightly above (usually, around 100-200 calories). However, you could be eating way more if you don't know what your maintenance calories are to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate#BMR_estimation_formulas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;number of different ways&lt;/a&gt; you can calculate your calorie needs, and a dozen different calculators online (here's one using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harris Benedict formula&lt;/a&gt;). For your size, that calculator puts your requirements at about 2300 for a sedentary lifestyle. If you're eating about that, you should be fine for the most part, just make sure you're actually eating about there (people are notoriously bad at estimating how much they actually eat, so it's a good idea to spend a couple of weeks measuring and tracking your food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you'll want to take a good look at your diet. While you may be seeing muscle gains now, that's likely &quot;newbie gains,&quot; which will taper off pretty quickly. If you want to continue to gain muscle (and lose fat during &quot;cut&quot; phases), you'll need to adjust your diet accordingly. You probably won't get far if you're living off of pasta and potatoes. Make sure you're getting enough protein, first and foremost - between .5 and 1g per pound of lean body mass, depending on how much you're working out, and don't go crazy on the carbs (remember, you're a lifter, not a runner, you don't need tons of quick-access energy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there, you'll want to monitor not just your weight, but your body composition (your body fat percentage), to make sure that the gains you make are, in fact, muscle. There are a number of ways you can do this, with varying degrees of accuracy, but for the most part, the important part is consistency in its numbers (ie - if a measurement is 5% high, as long as its 5% high all the time, it can still serve as a way to track progress). As your weight and body fat percentage changes, you'll want to revisit your calorie needs calculator to make sure that you're still on target, as you may need more (or less!) to sustain your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T16:29:10.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9617" CreationDate="2012-11-05T17:58:33.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a simple way to distinguish, and that's kind of amazing when you think about it. There is no way to say something like &quot;there is a half inch layer of fat here.&quot; Skin calipers were popular maybe 30-40 years ago to do this, but they turned out to be wildly inaccurate. Most intriguing to me is we no longer have an objective standard for abdominal strength. We used to do Roman Chair sit ups holding weights, but I don't think anyone would do them now. I think 15 reps with 25 pounds was considered strong. Holding a plank for 45 seconds is considered good, but only if done perfectly. You need a spotter to verify and this is as much a test of endurance as strength. If you are free weight squatting and deadlifting your body weight for reps, your abs are probably well developed. &quot;...when I relax, it seems that I have a big gut...&quot; sounds like a posture issue - check out lordosis and pelvic tilt. A six pack is formed by non muscle fibers that hold in the ab muscles - you may not have them. Skin tightness is a huge, under discussed part of 6-packiness. &quot;Sometimes after running or weightlifting...&quot; I wonder if you are retaining beer or salty snacks at other times. Water retention is a problem for body builders prior to competition. A good set of erectors and obliques will help stretch your skin across your abs (assuming your skin is young). The Body Mass Index (BMI) seems to be holding up as an objective fat standard. You should have a good score for health's sake, and it seems unlikely you can have a high score and showy abs at the same time (you could still have powerful abs however). Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-11-05T17:58:33.720" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9916" CreationDate="2012-11-06T02:10:31.073" Score="5" ViewCount="2160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have successfully reduced my body fat from 15% to 8.5%. Keep in mind these are pinch tests so the over all body fat calculated percentage might be a bit off. My abdominal skin fold measures 7.1mm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat 3000 calories a day and whenever I try reduce this, I lose muscle (which results in an identical or worsened overall body fat percentage). Its almost as if my body doesn't want to lose any more fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't do ANY cardio - just hard &amp;amp; heavy (to me at least) weight training 4 or 5 times a week. What cardio should I try putting in (assuming that will get me down)? Anyone tried and had success with intermittent fasting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm ALMOST happy with my physique. I would hate to come all this way and not achieve a full shredded physique. Here is a picture. You can see that blob of fat where the bottom 2 abs should be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K5bTS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;body snapshot&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T14:52:10.437" Title="Body fat loss halted. Anyone have experience getting under 8% body fat?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9631" CreationDate="2012-11-06T02:57:11.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there's no secret to impart here man. It's just a matter of sustaining a negative daily net calorie regiment (more daily calories burned than consumed) over a certain period of time. Once you've reached the physique you're looking for, you can start to match daily calories consumed to daily calories burned to maintain that figure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the shape you're in, I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know. If you're already keeping a negative calorie diet, then it should only be a matter of consistency before that fat percentage begins to drop. If the rate is too slow for your liking, the answer is simple: either burn more calories, or consume less calories, or both. It doesn't much matter whether you do cardio, weight lifting, or bear wrestling, so long as that negative calorie intake is adhered to. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4593" LastActivityDate="2012-11-06T02:57:11.747" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2012-11-06T05:12:34.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Micro carb cycling, as described in Tom Venuto's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.holygrailbodytransformation.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Holy Grail&quot;&gt;Holy Grail&lt;/a&gt;, sounds feasible. Essentially putting your body into a caloric surplus on your workout day, and into a deficit the days between workouts. Also trying to get a lot of your protein and caloric requirements directly around your workout, with other meals during the day much smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He suggests a 3-1 ratio (3 days caloric deficit, 1 day surplus) when the primary goal is fat loss, secondary strength gain, and a 3-(2-3) ratio (3 days deficit, 2-3 days surplus) when the primary goal is strength gain, secondary fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-11-06T05:12:34.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9603" CreationDate="2012-11-06T11:41:57.177" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I regularly cut about 4kg so about 9lbs for ju-jutsu competitions. I start 4 days before weigh-in. The weight loss is basically all water (nothing new there I think), so the day after the weigh-in I am about 1kg below my starting weight again, the day after that I am back where I started. What I do is what I picked up over time from different people, so nothing really scientific about it just experiences mixed together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4kg is not as much as you have to do overall and it could be that your starting conditions 4 days till are a little harder than mine because you already lost some water:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Form day 4:&lt;/strong&gt; I reduce carbs (not to 0 but lower than my regular diet yet enough to keep me sane and going). This is to basically to reduce &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycogen&lt;/a&gt; which binds excess water. I can't find a source on them but &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_diet#Crash_Diets_and_the_Vicious_Cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here are some numbers in a wikipedia article on crash diets.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Days 4&amp;amp;3:&lt;/strong&gt; I drink over 8l of water (0.5l every hour awake + some extra for coffee). So basically what you said some people suggested. I don't know if this is a scientific sound explanation (meaning I don't think so...) but what I heard is that the body gets used to that water intake and will continue loosing more water when you cut supplies. Anyways I tried to watch if it did something to me so I weighted my self before and after each round of water out - water in. I lost about 100g per turn (so about 0.6 out 0.5 in but that method is not very accurate). So to me it seems it forces my body flush out water when there is too much coming in. In short: works for me so i do it. (Watch &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;water poisoning&lt;/a&gt; I sometimes get a little dizzy to end of day 3 depending on what I ate still trying to figure that out). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Days 2 and 1&lt;/strong&gt; Same as you: reduce water and food. I usually cut enough by Day 2 till so I don't reduce my intake any further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the vegetables: It's fruit but I go for fresh pineapple. About 1-2 every day. This might be voodoo but they are said to be further dehydrating and for me they a least don't throw me back but I would try that in a situation where it can't destroy your efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also since you try to dehydrate a hot bath in a tub is the best way to sweat (after that steam bath then sauna). I did that the evening of 2 days before or the morning of the day before weigh-in when I had to cut more weight. But I don't have a tub anymore :(.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I never experienced but heard from a lot of people: Don't shower before weigh-in because when dehydrated you skin sucks water. Don't know if it's true or legend but I usually shower and still make the cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Additional info I forgot: The more muscle you have the easier it becomes to cut. So low body fat means that you can cut a higher percentage of your body mass by dehydrating. Thats because there is more water stored in muscles than in body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternate tactic I'm currently aiming for is getting my weight down permanently again for next year but I think that's not what you where asking ^^ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit/Maybe unrelated rant:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I got interested if there was any study relating to the techniques but only found studies looking at the effects of weight cutting for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jssm.org/vol7/n2/3/v7n2-3pdf.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Acute effects of self-selected regimen of rapid body mass loss in combat sports athletes [1]&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Jetton,%20Adam_2012_Thesis.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dehydration and acute weight gain in mixed martial arts fighters prior to competitions [2]&lt;/a&gt; or the spread of weight cutting while clustering the methods in general bins like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smarttjournal.com/content/pdf/1758-2555-3-4.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Patterns of weight loss and supplement consumption of male wrestlers in Tehran [3]&lt;/a&gt;. Methods where mostly discussed on sites related to weight class sports. Easy to google for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://judoinfo.com/new/alphabetical-list/fitness-for-judo/648-making-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;judoinfo.com&lt;/a&gt; but generally nothing new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was very little on the actual methods mostly general stuff like in [1]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reports of the subjects revealed that the RBML was achieved by a&#xA;  gradual reduction of energy and fluid intake and mild sauna procedures&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why I'm writing this is the following: Most of studies were related to wrestlers and there were some things I didn't know before and I still don't know if I understood this correctly: There are adolescents and even wrestlers below the age of 10  who, in order to cut weight use diuretics and go to sauna in rubber suits &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smarttjournal.com/content/pdf/1758-2555-3-4.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[3]&lt;/a&gt;?  And it also seems to be common for wrestlers to cut weight for a prolonged time so from what I understood from several news articles and some of the resources I found they don't do this every 2-3 month but during season they cut every week for several weeks during season. Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong because those studies mostly related to high-school and college wrestling in the US and I'm from Germany so I don't know about scheduling of high school wrestling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight cutting means basically cutting your nutritional and fluid intake while trying to stimulate the loss of water to willingly starve and dehydrate yourself to loose a certain amount weight in short time for a very short time. I have no problem with adults willingly doing that to themselves and I've done it to myself without experiencing to bad side effects or diminished performance but I find it perverted to do this to children and adolescents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I find scary is that it seems to be pretty common to stimulate sweating by going to the sauna in a rubber or plastic suit. While that on itself is a pretty stupid idea doing this while already dehydrated and weak from fasting is one of the dumbest things I can think of doing to myself without breaking some laws. The idea is basically the same as the 'submerged in a hot tub' method I proposed and find used by most people I know that cut weight by stimulating sweating: If the sweat can't evaporate it has no effect on your body temperature so in its effort to cool you down your body sweats more and it cycles from there. Doing that in a tub or in a steam bath (humidity approaching 100% so sweating has a very limited effect) where you usually won't achieve temperature far above 40 °C (104 °F) without it getting unbearable is one thing but in a sauna with temperatures of 80 and 110 °C (176 and 230 °F) it's just an other way of expressing a death wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while I in no way want to keep adults from weight cutting and find it in my own experience never felt it to be threatening to my life or health (although I thinks it's although not beneficial to health) when done within reason and with a little common sence I would like to express deep concern about some of the practices I found on the web and especially about their application on children and adolescents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this was unrelated to the question but starving and dehydrating children for success in sports is nothing I find acceptable for conscious human beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4489" LastEditorUserId="4489" LastEditDate="2012-11-09T15:21:14.040" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T15:21:14.040" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9640" CreationDate="2012-11-06T14:40:43.093" Score="2" ViewCount="2207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want develop the muscles in the area around my patellar ligament. I am injured in this area. What program would be best, or what should I look for in a program, for me to strengthen this area in order to prevent more injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5CGsx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lower leg muscles&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4597" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-07T05:32:35.903" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T14:40:59.847" Title="What type of program should I do to strengthen the area around the patellar ligament?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9553" CreationDate="2012-11-07T04:02:01.040" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyperkyphosis - hunched back-, due to muscle imbalance, is normally caused by weak mid back muscles (rhomboids, part of traps, levator scap, etc.) and tight pectoral muscles.  This is common in high school age wrestling athletes for example.  Seated rows, shoulder shrugs, rotator-cuff exercises; while paired with pectoral stretches can help correct this. If you have hyperkyphosis because you have a degenerative disc disease, there is not a lot you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lordosis - sway back -, due to muscle imbalance, needs to be addressed with low back and glute muscle stretches while strengthening your lower abs and hip-flexor muscles can greatly improve your posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T04:02:01.040" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4578" CreationDate="2012-11-07T13:19:41.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are many variations of the classical Burpee, I like especially the Pull-Up burpee: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfaERM4_u-4&amp;amp;playnext=1&amp;amp;list=PL0BBED825D859396A&amp;amp;feature=results_main&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfaERM4_u-4&amp;amp;playnext=1&amp;amp;list=PL0BBED825D859396A&amp;amp;feature=results_main&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/11/22/burpees-are-forever-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/11/22/burpees-are-forever-workout/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Handstand Pushups: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB__eF62fLQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB__eF62fLQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAO7OG077Ac&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAO7OG077Ac&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcValTQIKGo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcValTQIKGo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have Rings: Muscle ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SSKgxdAoLM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SSKgxdAoLM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pull ups (you can use a home pull-up bar like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_gear/p90x_chin_up_bar.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_gear/p90x_chin_up_bar.do&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squat jumps&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mountain Climbers&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of high intensity workout videos on some fitness blogs like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/ZuzkaLight?feature=watch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/user/ZuzkaLight?feature=watch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrock.tv&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lovingfit.com/?s=bodyweight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.lovingfit.com/?s=bodyweight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.benderfitness.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.benderfitness.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jillybeantv.com/?page_id=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.jillybeantv.com/?page_id=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyripped.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyripped.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/calisthenicskingz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/calisthenicskingz&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/MyHairycat/videos?flow=grid&amp;amp;view=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/user/MyHairycat/videos?flow=grid&amp;amp;view=0&lt;/a&gt; (some extreme gymnastics style ab routines)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAA61E9888FB1BD85&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAA61E9888FB1BD85&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of bodyweight Crossfit workouts: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learncrossfit.com/?page_id=98&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.learncrossfit.com/?page_id=98&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also have a look at the exercises done in the Insanity Workout Video series (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/text/products/programs/insanity/popup/success-heatherb.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insanity&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity-next-level-asylum-workout.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Asylum&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/insanity-the-asylum-volume-2-elite-training-workout.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Asylum Vol 2&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However be careful to your body, make safe progressions and always use proper form!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2012-11-07T13:57:14.120" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T13:57:14.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9635" CreationDate="2012-11-07T14:29:04.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mike Reinold is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; sports Physical Therapist for this - check out &quot;Solving the Patellofemoral Mystery&quot; for a starting point. It leads you to seven heavy duty articles aimed at PTs in clinical practice. It might encourage you to seek out professional guidance as an informed client who can actively participate in his own recovery. Don't forget that in addition to things you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; do, you need to know what NOT to do. &#xA;To be honest, I've always diagnosed myself and ignored those disclaimers about &quot;seeing a doctor before embarking on any exercise program&quot; and have only been wrong once in 45 years. That resulted in rotator cuff surgery, but that was a complete success. I'm telling you this to show that bad things can happen if you self-diagnose, they usually don't, but they only have to happen once. Reinold says that a coach or PT can only &quot;rule things in&quot; - it takes a specialist with test and scan results to rule things out. I wish you all the best in whatever decision you make. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T14:29:04.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9635" CreationDate="2012-11-07T14:40:59.847" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need is a rehab program to get you back to good shape, followed by a proper program to prevent the condition from happening again.  I have to qualify my answer by the fact I am not a physical therapist, and I highly recommend you see one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, rehab programs involve ridiculously light weight with ridiculously high repetitions.  You will be living with very light weights or resistance bands for a while.  You will also need to work on the supporting muscles which the connecting tissue connects to.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4847546&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article on T Nation&lt;/a&gt; has a good bit of information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Common prescription is Terminal Knee Extensions and Peterson Step-Ups, although research is showing they don't quite solve the problem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will have to stop all exercises that aggravate the issue for a few weeks until you get it sorted out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find lower body exercises you can do that don't hurt your knee in the interim&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;People with knee pain usually have poor hip control--focus on exercising the hips with a joint friendly amount of volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hip exercises that will likely work for you: Glute bridges, hip thrusts, bird dogs, back extensions, and reverse hypers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you can finally do squats again, make sure your knee tracks over your 2nd or 3rd toe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a lacrosse ball on your rectus femoris (see the picture in the article)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've rehabbed the knee, you can resume a nice balanced program that incorporates both anterior and posterior work for your legs like squats.  Just make sure that your form isn't going to reintroduce the problem.  Post rehab you'll want to make sure of the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Form is as important as function.  Knees are meant to track over the 2nd to 3rd toe during any squatting motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not neglect hips, hamstring, and other posterior chain work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soft tissue work and mobility (proper stretching) are just as important as the other work you do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T14:40:59.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9553" CreationDate="2012-11-07T15:14:43.930" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;em&gt;Neanderthal No More - The complete guide to fixing your caveman posture!&lt;/em&gt; by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson. It's available on T-Nation and cited all over the web. It deals directly with your (and my) issue. The 4 part T-Nation version has lots of Q&amp;amp;A from readers. @Grohlier gives a very succinct summary of this article which has tons of anatomy drawings and exercises photos. Some of the exercises (face pulls and pull throughs) were new even to me. I would like to add the following for &quot;my question is - is doing deadlifts and squats bad for me and my back?&quot;. They are fine BUT form is super critical and you must work within the range of motion you have - e.g. you might not be able to get to parallel on the squat for a while. Can you raise your arms above your head without arching backwards? If you can't, you may end up with a very high bar squat that will end up making you round your lower back if you try to break parallel. The deadlift, squat, and bench press are so fundamental that you should get Mark Rippetoe's &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt; to get all the biomechanics right. Possibly, Rippetoe alone might do it for you if you have a partner to check your form and your issue isn't too severe. For sure, study the Cressey &amp;amp; Robertson piece, it worked for me and I believe it is sound scientifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T15:14:43.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9644" CreationDate="2012-11-07T15:56:49.720" Score="5" ViewCount="2261" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any programs that include both front squats and low-bar back squats?  They both seem to have athletic benefits, and it seems like it would be worth my time considering to train both around the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general advice from programs like Starting Strength or StrongLifts is to just stick with low bar squats.  But the authors seem to be primarily interested in having lifters pack on body mass, and seem to have a powerlifter bias.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still definitely a novice at squatting.  I'm low bar back squatting around 175#s (I was a little higher, but realized I'd introduced form errors, and de-loaded).  Should I just stick with low bars until my gains plateau?  Or could I intelligently introduce front squats into my program, possibly  in a 3-day-a-week, A/B format, with low bar squats in the A workout, and front squats in the B workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a rock climber, and I want to get more leg power.  I've noticed big improvements in my ability to shift my weight onto a high foot (then stand up on the high leg) since I started squatting.  It seems, though, the space between my foot, hips, and knees will be all over the place, and I'd want to be comfortable at both quad dominate and posterior chain dominate movements.  (I'd also like to be generally stronger for life, so I'm not exclusively interested in strength as it relates to climbing.)  Maybe I'm over-thinking things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T14:56:48.507" Title="Program that includes both front squats and low-bar back squats" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9650" CreationDate="2012-11-07T16:50:05.113" Score="7" ViewCount="20218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some extremely tight upper back muscles that seemingly no amount of stretching can loosen. What are some alternate or supplemental approaches I can take to loosen tight muscles outside of the typical stretch routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T00:52:11.517" Title="Loosening tight muscles?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9642" CreationDate="2012-11-07T16:55:47.387" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a few options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Introducing the front squat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can back squat 175 or so, don't expect to be front squatting 160 or 170 your first time trying it. You might, but you might not. Introduce new exercises slowly and carefully, with the understanding that it may take time before you can safely and properly apply your general strength to that specific exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alternate&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A now-deprecated version of Rippetoe's programming was that towards the end of one's linear progression, as the squats get difficult, the mid-week workout swaps out front squats for back squats, using 80% of the working set weight for back squats. This provided a little bit of a break from the grind of squatting every workout, as well as some practice with the different movement. (Rippetoe now sees no particular point to this approach, except for Olympic weightlifters, and cautions that simultaneously learning two kinds of squat as a novice can interfere with the movement pattern.) You could do this, in order to throw some front squats into standard novice programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also switch between the two in larger time frames: work the front squat for two weeks, or two months, or six months, then switch to the back squat, and so on. Or focus on one, but toss the other in occasionally--say, once a month--to make sure it's keeping pace with your overall strength gains. It's also good to know the skill is still there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Back squat during squats, front squat during cleans&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A method I like is to focus on back squats for strength development, but get a little work on the front squat movement by throwing them in while doing power cleans. I'll either clean, then squat, then clean again (and repeat), or I'll clean several times, then after the last clean I'll front squat a few reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stick with one&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's not a huge need to do both at the same time for most people. If you're doing a novice progression, or are still not very strong, or if lifting isn't your primary weekly workout priority, keep the two separate: either pick one and do the other only occasionally, or do multi-month periods of only one squatting variation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I started periodizing the different types of squats in my training, I immediately wanted more time to lift. There are so many cool ways to squat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back squats, best for strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front squats, great for strength and Olympic lifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted pistols, an amazing feat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted step-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switching it up ensures that you are a varied human and capable athlete. Picking just one at a time is hard, but I find it's important for progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T16:55:47.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9643" CreationDate="2012-11-07T17:21:00.987" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pair of tennis balls are your back's best friends.  You can stretch and release the spinal erectors by rolling up and down from base of the rib cage to base of the neck along the outside of the spine.  (Some people lie on two at a time, I like to do one side at a time.)  You can then work on the lats/shoulders by starting with the ball outside the spine then sort of rolling over like you're rolling up onto your side and the ball goes toward your armpit, and work your way up and down the back doing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good Yoga or Pilates teacher ought to be able to teach effective techniques for this.  A google for 'back rolling tennis ball' also gets results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more formal documented solution, this is of course a for-profit product, but, it works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://yamunabodyrolling.com/store/body_focus/back/?show_item=48&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Save Your Upper Back DVD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foam rolling from the base of the rib cage to the shoulders can also be helpful, as is lying on the roller lengthwise and just relaxing your spine into it.  But it's harder to target specific back areas with a roller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-23T10:05:52.887" LastActivityDate="2012-12-23T10:05:52.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9631" CreationDate="2012-11-07T18:02:18.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can't really claim to have personal experience on the matter, but I happened to stumble upon &lt;a href=&quot;http://diet-fitness.healthguru.com/video/ryan-reynolds-rules-for-a-6-pack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a video that might be of interest&lt;/a&gt;. The claim is that the training regime has lead to a final figure of 3%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, the concept is to work out 5-6 times a day, a few hours each. In terms of nutrition the advice given there is to eat high protein low fat/carb products (like eggs, chicken breast etc) as well as cutting carbs after 8 PM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I do not claim that this is completely true, or that it works as claimed on the video. However the person in question is pretty well known, you might have even seen him in a movie or two. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-11-07T18:02:18.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9658" CreationDate="2012-11-07T18:08:20.857" Score="5" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might have been asked before, phrased in a different way but how do you go back to your training regime after a couple of weeks break, due for instance to a cold infection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally try to train 3-4 times a week; 2 sessions of football, and 2-3 sessions of weights/cardio. But a couple of weeks break seems to revert me back to a weaker, slower state. How do you get back on schedule, without straining your body too much after a minor infection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T22:19:43.087" Title="When/How to do a comeback to the training regime after a couple weeks break?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9655" CreationDate="2012-11-08T00:08:12.247" Score="6" ViewCount="602" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did my second deadlift routine today but didn't increase the recommended 15 pounds from the first time as I'm purposely limiting growth by only having a caloric surplus on my workout days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead I increased by 5kg (10 pounds), but found I got through the set too easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So then I popped on another 2.5kg (5 pounds) and did another set. It seemed about right as I doubt I could have finished 5 reps if it was any higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book however says it's easy to overtrain deadlifts. I'm already a bit scared of that because I'm deadlifting each workout until I can alternate with power cleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So did I do the right thing by increasing the load until it felt like I got something out of it, or better just walk away and wait until next workout?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Info added as requested by Dave Liepmann&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: &lt;code&gt;6'0&quot; (183cm)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Weight: &lt;code&gt;225 pounds (102kg)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Program: &lt;code&gt;Novice SS (i.e., Squat/Press/Deadlift alternate Squat/Bench/Deadlift)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Workout freq: &lt;code&gt;3/week&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Weight deadlifted (1st workout): &lt;code&gt;121 pounds (55kg)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Weight deadlifted (2nd workout): &lt;code&gt;132 pounds (60kg) (not enough)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Weight deadlifted (2nd workout): &lt;code&gt;138 pounds (62.5kg) (finished set but much harder)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-11-08T03:51:36.907" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T12:52:15.883" Title="What to do having underestimated an increment?" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9643" CreationDate="2012-11-08T01:07:09.630" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Upper back tightness can be caused by weakness and/or bad posture. I'm a Pilates's teacher and most people I see with soreness in the upper back area often have weak deep neck flexors and weak upperback muscles (a muscle can be both weak and tight). Stretching or foam rolling will be good to release tension but it could be useful to find the underlying cause of your tightness. Upper back muscles work all day to hold back the head, especially if your head is protruding or you have hunched over shoulder from having a desk job or using the computer a lot. They are contracting while being extended which happens to be the most demanding type of muscular contraction (eccentric contraction). Strengthening those muscles will help you keep a better posture which ultimately leads to less strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have acute pain at the moment, I would suggest you work on strengthening your neck flexors and upperback muscles. Try 1 or 2 series of 10 repetitions of these exercises every other day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=y4YTIhSBtxc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deep neck flexor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y91up9jStNc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Serratus activation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Su0DUAhuzU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thoracic extension&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people have weak upper back muscles so there's no harm in giving those exercises a try. Go slowly and stay within a painfree range of motion. If the exercises aggravate your pain, stop and seek out a physical therapist consultation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you do have a desk job, try rotating your shoulders towards the back for about 30 seconds every 30 minutes. This will bring blood flow to the area and help get rid of &quot;muscular contraction waste&quot; that get stuck in your muscle when you keep a static position for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4603" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-23T10:04:24.583" LastActivityDate="2012-12-23T10:04:24.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9652" CreationDate="2012-11-08T02:21:35.270" Score="4" ViewCount="503" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recovered from a back strain/injury. It was a pinched nerve. As part of my exercises I need to build my back muscles. The lateral muscles I am having trouble finding an excersise for. It seems that Chin Ups, Rowing and Lat Pulldowns are the popular methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have equipment on hand to do those. I do have dumbbells, barbells and a bench with barbell holder. I also run treadmill and road/mtb bike ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are other ways to build Lats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1482" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T05:35:51.733" Title="Building up Lat muscles without Chin ups, rowing or lat pull down" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9651" CreationDate="2012-11-08T05:14:28.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google &quot;dumbbell rows.&quot; You brace yourself with one hand on your bench and row with the free hand. This is a pretty standard exercise. In your case you may want to be careful not to twist your body. Bent over barbell rows are another staple of &quot;old school&quot; body building/strength training. Again, lighter weight with stricter form may be the way to go. Check out &quot;neutral spine&quot; for these rows. You can support your head on something to keep a good bent over position. From this position you can also do &lt;em&gt;reverse dumbbell flyes&lt;/em&gt; and for the rows you can pull the bar to your stomach or nipples to work different parts of your back. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ericcressey.com/no-chest-supported-row-no-problem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ericcressey.com/no-chest-supported-row-no-problem&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Barbells and dumbbells built some of the biggest backs in body building. Because of your injury you should probably focus on strict form - only the arms and scapula pull the weight, no body English. Feel free to ask for clarification or more links, Good luck and all the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T05:14:28.270" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9649" CreationDate="2012-11-08T09:00:59.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just take it easy, if it's easy the first week or two, it doesn't mean it's going to remain easy forever. The biggest mistake to make with SS is to hurry too much. Remember, you are still increasing linearly and this is amazing progress! Pushing yourself too hard at the start can set you back later on for weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time, just increase by the set weight. I &lt;em&gt;guarantee&lt;/em&gt; that by week three or so it will stop feeling easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the relevant quote from Rippetoe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don’t be in a big hurry to find your sticking point early in your training progression. It is always preferable to take smaller jumps and sustain the progress than to take bigger jumps and get stuck early. Getting stuck means missing any of the reps of the prescribed work sets, since the weight cannot be increased until all of the reps have been done as prescribed. &lt;strong&gt;It is easier to not get stuck than it is to get unstuck.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2012-11-08T09:10:27.007" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T09:10:27.007" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9649" CreationDate="2012-11-08T12:52:15.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's one area of concern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I  didn't increase the recommended 15 pounds from the first time as I'm purposely limiting growth by only having a caloric surplus on my workout days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure this is necessary. Limiting &lt;em&gt;muscle&lt;/em&gt; growth in order to lose &lt;em&gt;fat&lt;/em&gt; mass is, I believe, not the best course of action. If your goal is body recomposition (fat loss), the best option while doing SS is to control your diet and lift heavy, not to lift sort-of-heavy. If your goal is simply to stay in your current weight class, then your best option is to lift heavy and control your diet. Most of the strength gains you experience will be neurological--that is, they won't require an increase in size, especially not without eating big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I would add the full amount of weight, at least until you're deadlifting close to your own bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's another:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...I popped on another 2.5kg (5 pounds) and did another set. It seemed about right as I doubt I could have finished 5 reps if it was any higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your plan is to add 10 pounds instead of 15, do that. If it's to add 15 every workout until you can't, do that. Lifting by &quot;feel&quot; is fairly complex, and should generally be avoided by novices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time, if you get the weight wrong, just leave it for next time. It's better to &quot;leave a few reps in the tank&quot;, so to speak, than to max out every workout. It's definitely &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5237/1771&quot;&gt;not a big deal&lt;/a&gt;, but I also think that adding extra sets when you're already exhausted from the workout isn't the best approach. Slow and steady wins this race: add the weight every time, lift it every time, repeat until it doesn't work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So don't judge the efficacy of the workout by how sore you feel, or how tired. Instead, ask yourself: &quot;Did I accomplish my program goals today? Am I on course? Am I stronger than I was last workout?&quot; If so, congratulations, you achieved awesome that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T12:52:15.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-08T16:32:52.060" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;The over-65 population is growing rapidly and many of us are training seriously and some are competing in sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should old people train differently than young people?  Have there been research studies on training for old people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4606" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-08T20:29:32.830" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T20:29:32.830" Title="Serious training and fitness for old people" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2012-11-08T17:18:50.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="140" CreationDate="2012-11-08T22:13:46.510" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct medical and scientific.answer is that if you sit down after running you will most likely get a blood clot and die. My sources/proof: teens and adults I've known who've died bc they sit after an intense workout. I play sports and in soccer your not suppose to bend your knees when standing on the field after running so much bc people have gotten bloodclots. It's the same with other sports..even cheerleading and gymnastics.trust me I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4608" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T22:13:46.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9647" CreationDate="2012-11-08T22:19:43.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/em&gt; by Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore is written for strength and conditioning coaches including power lifting teams so it applies to athletes in strict training programs. In a section called &quot;Going Backward: Detraining&quot; he says that strength persists much longer than aerobic VO2 max...ability to generate force drops in a few weeks...drops at about 15% per year...returning after 2-6 months, the trainee should drop one level e.g. an intermediate lifter should restart with novice programs (he defines these terms strictly) until his strength returns to pre-layoff levels, which will occur faster than the time it took to become intermediate (this is true for size as well). He strongly cautions coaches/trainers to not &quot;get greedy&quot; in that even an athlete who's just turned intermediate has a neuromuscular system far more efficient than the untrained individual and though it's weakened it is still able to work the detrained muscles harder than they can handle.&#xA;This is what Dave, FredrikD, and YYY have already said in their comments, I just wanted to put a reference in an answer for those who want to pursue these issues further.&#xA;Interestingly for me at least, he then goes on to discuss the returning 'retired' lifter, someone who's taken a year or more off. Here he suggests restarting with novice level programs regardless of pre-layoff level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-11-08T22:19:43.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2805" CreationDate="2012-11-09T01:17:00.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a proposed mechanism from personal experience. Although there is insufficient evidence, I hope that the information will be an anectdote to the above statments that more or less imply that there may be no negative side effects of riding with these shoes. Please comment if you have had any similar experiences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Riding and racing bicycles was my primary extracurricular activity for many years - all done with cycling shoes. Now I ride my bike for commuting - with the same look style cleats and often with heavy loads of children and a single gear. I have taken up running for my primary activity. After developing plantar fascitis last summer, and then feeling the way my foot naturally attempts to grab the pedal by curling up, I am beginning to suspect that this could cause some of the issues with my plantar tendon. I am generally very cautious about and attentive to errors that may be leading to pain. So, I am planning to get either flatter pedals or using cycling shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T01:17:00.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9667" CreationDate="2012-11-09T01:29:28.840" Score="11" ViewCount="17257" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering having one of my desks raised to standing height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are detailed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.osha.gov/Publications/videoDisplay/figure3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;OSHA guidelines&lt;/a&gt; for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZS8o8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;OSHA diagram of ergonomic desk sitting.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there similarly standard guidelines for how to set up a standing office work environment? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastEditorUserId="620" LastEditDate="2012-11-09T01:38:12.890" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:49:43.503" Title="Proper ergonomics for a standing desk?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;skeleton&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9622" CreationDate="2012-11-09T01:53:43.613" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the first rule of training periodisation is that to maintain your gains during a recovery phase, you need to keep the intensity level high. So you can reduce the frequency or the overall load but keep the intensity high during your workout. Keeping your strength training workout once a week will allow you to maintain your strength level without building additionnal muscle mass, especially if you don't eat more than you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose you want to get stronger to get better results in your competition. Another important training principle is specificity. That's why I would say that bodyweight exercises like plyometrics and calisthenics would be great to add 2 or 3 times a week as they will get you stronger and more powerful for your sport. Bodyweight exercises are more similar to the movement pattern you use in BJJ than the bench press or biceps curl are. Those exercises might not improve your 1RM on the bench, but you'll be &quot;stronger&quot; in movement that are meaningful to your needs. Developing strength is also about the neuro-muscular connection so try to be as specific as you can when choosing your exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4603" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T01:53:43.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9668" CreationDate="2012-11-09T03:55:58.983" Score="2" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is about my fitness and my effort to make it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Current Fitness:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working male 24 years  with 214 pounds in US. I have a male breasts and also a big tummy. I suffered from asthma for a long time. Did gym for a brief period of 2 months and left it afterwards because of work pressure.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now 2 years after my last effort I went to gym and I ran @4mph for 30 mins burning 220 calories on the treadmill. I did it for 3 days and left it as I felt too tired to do anything afterwards. In an effort to control diet I did my best to limit calories for a while (just limit not on a hunger strike). It went well for some time, but then my diet, work, gym efforts all messed up together and fell apart.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I read many diet articles and completely messed up. I have nobody to guide me in weights. The only exercise I can do is treadmill and cycling. I am not sure which exercises I should be doing. I am just not confident of looking into websites for guidance because I don't follow what they say and also not sure at what weight to begin with and what pattern to follow.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My life is a mess now with no friends and no one to share. But luckily I don't drink and eat cheese. So I have nobody to ask for help except you.&#xA;I feel sometime difficult to breathe after like 3 floors of steps &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;These are my problems;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I come back after work 7-7 Including travel I am too tired to even walk to gym.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;With all my efforts if I go to gym I do very little and nothing else other than treadmill.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After that when I come back my life is a pause as I am totally tired&#xA;I am not sure what to eat what not to eat on a daily basis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My problem is 3 phased:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mentally i feel I am not worth of anything except work. So my priority goes to at least sticking to my job and I feel just too tired after work to go to gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't eat vegetables at all and I tried several times. I can be without food but cannot eat veggies. I like only spicy foods. (my diet includes rice or frozen chapatis, chicken, bread and some side has little oil and eggs and coffee with milk 3 times a day. but don't drink any carbonated drinks). Some days I feel like not to eat and someday to eat a lot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym - I just don't have any idea of what type of exercises to do. I am not sure what and where to start. Specially what weights to begin and what types of exercises are available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Solution:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I feel only if someone gives me confidence any body who can give me confidence and how to prepare mentally to go to gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to hear from YOU what is the correct diet to follow. Give me exactly in terms of actual food. I am so confused with so many diets around. Please specify, I will follow blindly all these everyday, something I can take into confidence directly. (e.g never eat rice - OK I will stop; eat 1 egg everyday without oil - OK, done)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give me a good gym routine like:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;run 30 1day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;do 40 pound exercise of this every other day etc then increase by 5 after a months.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;eat this before gym so that you can do gym.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;or I read somewhere we should eat half out immediately after gym something like that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to feel energized to gym after coming home. Sleeping for one hour is not an option as it affects my sleeping pattern.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is too much to ask for. I am just confused and I am not doing anything at all. Help me if possible else please don't abuse me it will only let me down in trying to get better. I have tried and failed several times but don't want to give up. I was thinking if someone with true knowledge can tell me something. I can believe it better than my own research and do it blindly. Then get some results and get some confidence and I can build myself later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not in a position to consult any physician or somebody. Its just you, me and Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4609" LastEditorUserId="4609" LastEditDate="2012-11-09T23:57:17.417" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T11:01:47.120" Title="What is the correct diet and exercise for me given the following information?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9662" CreationDate="2012-11-09T07:08:39.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be blunt. &lt;strong&gt;Your true problem is lifestyle.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;It's your lifestyle, your behavior, that causes your body to be the way it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to see this reading your own text, because you are instinctively looking for &lt;em&gt;one solution, or two... or six&lt;/em&gt; while the actual &lt;em&gt;real fix&lt;/em&gt; would require several &lt;em&gt;partial&lt;/em&gt; solutions applied &lt;strong&gt;consistently&lt;/strong&gt; throughout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rule number 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use, when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;No processed foods of any kind.&lt;/em&gt; That includes many cooked foods, that use white flour, any kind or machine or human processing...&#xA;Once you start doing this, you will see that without processed food, there isn't that much &quot;to eat&quot; out there. There are only vegetables and fruit, meat, animal products (milk eggs etc).&#xA;You should eat &lt;strong&gt;mainly&lt;/strong&gt; vegetables and fruit, &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; meat, &lt;strong&gt;little&lt;/strong&gt; animal products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't think&lt;/em&gt;... It's a modern illusion that you have to LIKE what you eat. Everything has it's own taste, it's own &quot;like&quot;. There is no particular reason to choose one over the other unless you use your brain to &lt;em&gt;make reasons&lt;/em&gt; (i like spicy, i only eat red fruit, more sugar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat everything and anything, try something new every time. &#xA;No processed foods of any kind. You should eat &lt;em&gt;mainly&lt;/em&gt; vegetables and fruit, &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; meat, &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; animal products. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not all the food has to be cooked.&lt;/em&gt; One, maximum two cooked meals a day, the rest should be raw. A carrot... buy it, clean it, peal it, eat it. In the middle of the day... one tomato... buy, wash, eat. Raw broccoli... buy it, wash it, eat it raw. &#xA;One of each... buy, wash, eat. No brainer, if you &lt;em&gt;don't think&lt;/em&gt; about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rule number 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise. Pick up &lt;strong&gt;sports&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid &quot;meaning&quot;less exercise, like &lt;em&gt;going to the gym&lt;/em&gt;, running circles around. There is no point or meaning in this behavior other than &quot;a quick fix to the weight problem&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People know this instinctively, that's why they &lt;strong&gt;add meaning to their exercises! =&gt; with sports&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's right... Playing soccer with friends &lt;em&gt;beats&lt;/em&gt; waving your hands and feet pointlessly with extra weight on them while thinking &quot;i'm doing this to lose weight&quot;. I'm not saying you won't get results from going to the gym &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; it's only your body that gets fixed, your mind will be &lt;em&gt;bored&lt;/em&gt;, while looking at the same stuff every second. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play sports, see people, meet people... &lt;em&gt;who knows what might happen.&lt;/em&gt; That's the &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; why the &quot;mind&quot; takes the &quot;body&quot; for an exercise... who knows what might happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go to the gym... the &quot;mind&quot; already knows what might happen... &quot;nothing&quot;... does happen... you move in a room 2 hours every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can add meaning to your exercise by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walking... to work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running... from work, on your way home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bike... to and from work&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Play sports&lt;/em&gt;... with friends and strangers alike. Most sports have strict rules. These, believe it or not mean you won't get into awkward situations while playing with strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PS.&lt;/strong&gt; It's not about confidence, this is just your brain finding even more reasons to avoid changing it's ways. It's not about anything, don't think about it and all &quot;something&quot; goes puff into thin air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PPS.&lt;/strong&gt; Believe it or not... the best advice one can give is &quot;Don't think, do!&quot;. If you want change.... change your behavior... rewrite your brain &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; new experience, new movement, new friends. Some will tell you it's hard or easy, but it's not either hard NOR easy... it just IS... it takes time... it takes space... it takes YOURSELF to change you, both mind and body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So... get in there! Everybody's waiting on you!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4611" LastEditorUserId="4611" LastEditDate="2012-11-12T11:01:47.120" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T11:01:47.120" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9662" CreationDate="2012-11-09T09:45:23.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find strict nutrition and exercise plans not very helpful because they are often very bias toward the personality of those who give them. That's nothing bad but sometimes it can get somewhat religious (don't touch processed food it's the devil work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best approach for loosing weight I have found till now is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;The Hacker's diet&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by John Walker. It's available for free with everything you need provided. I used some of the approaches to drop 20kg over 1 year (while eating all kinds of stuff basilmir would send me to hell for ^^).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A short summary of that approach: The premise is the known fact that to loose weight your body needs to use up more energy than it gets from the food you eat. So you can either reduce what you eat and try to burn more. By a simple comparison of effort it's much easier to reduce food than to try to burn enough calories to drop weight (&quot;I ran @4mph for 30 mins burning 220 calories in tread mills&quot; thats less than 5 oreos provide for). The only way to make sure you eat less than you need is to measure it. Calorie counting is tedious and calories are also not a very good measure for food (my personal opinion). So the approach of the hackers diet is to measure the thing you want change so the basic weight control measure is to check your weight regularly and act accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sports:&lt;/strong&gt; Sports are great to make you feel better, probably live longer and maybe make your overall life easier (stairs) but not for loosing weight (see comparison above). So I would agree with basilmir on that. Play sports you like, use it to meet new people, join a club do it for fun. There is no use in running to an expensive gym in order to loose weight when you don't change your diet or just don't go because you don't like it. &#xA;If you don't want to go anywhere to do sports there is a simplified version of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5BX&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5BX program&lt;/a&gt; in the hacker's diet which I didn't do (I played sports) but it's a very time friendly program (10-15min per day) with an included progression and has been used by the RCAF from 1961-2008. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary:&lt;/strong&gt; Exercise can help you feel better about your body and help you loose weight but it's not key to loosing weight. From my experience it doesn't matter what you eat as long as you eat less energy than your body needs (provided your diet includes all nutrients you need).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@basilmir I agree with most of what you said I just think dogmatic rule hurt more than they help. If I don't like to eat something why should I spend my precious time on this earth forcing it down my throat just because someone said it's healthy? And why when I sometimes eat something that tastes good but is condemned as unhealthy should I feel bad? Where is the fun in that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4489" LastEditorUserId="4489" LastEditDate="2012-11-09T09:57:04.737" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T09:57:04.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9660" CreationDate="2012-11-09T13:10:56.410" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure this is from OSHA, but this is a diagram that I found on the subject: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JDriO.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4616" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T13:10:56.410" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9662" CreationDate="2012-11-09T17:45:19.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty much in your position and can understand where you are coming from. If you are ready for some straightforward answer than you can read on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1:&lt;/strong&gt; Get yourself checked for all possible tests and diagnosis to confirm if you have already done some damage or not. I was diagnosed with Impaired Glucose Tolerance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2:&lt;/strong&gt; Start hating yourself plain and simple. This is part of mental conditioning that will help you pick up a routine and continue it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3:&lt;/strong&gt; Choose smart work-outs which can help you burn more calories in less time. Most important you need to do weight and strength training unlike most who will only do cardio.&#xA;Try to hit 10 calories per minute in whatever you do whether treadmill or elliptical and do no more than 200 at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For instance:&lt;/strong&gt; While walking/jogging on treadmill always walk at the maximum incline with slightly lesser speed, you should never run on top inclination though to avoid damaging knee. While in elliptical always go for maximum resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Target burning around 100-150 calories in less than 10 mins. I do about 200 in 10 mins on elliptical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio (100+ cal/10min) - Weight (4 sets) - Cardio (50+ cal/10min) - Weight (4 sets) - Cardio (100+ cal/10min)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to work out each body part daily instead of doing isolation exercise. 1 exercise each for Legs, Back, Chest, Shoulder, Triceps, Biceps, Abs and Calf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 4:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Drink Right: As far as possible drink lukewarm water and enough of it to keep you well hydrated. Preferably start your day after drinking mixture of lime and honey in warm water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat Right - Have around 5 meals per day and never skip breakfast and not eat beyond 8 pm. Avoid sin foods.&#xA;Once in couple of weeks pig-out at whatever you want and again re-inculcate the guilt feeling and hatred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 5:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Weigh yourself daily. Weighing is also an art, you need to weigh yourself at the same time every day after similar routine. I prefer weighing after every workout. This gives me instant feedback and motivates me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 6:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Keep a gym log. You can use your smartphone to track your progress and also your routine. I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jefit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 7:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Remember every one has a unique body and it responds separately so you need to keep evolving your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 8&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Sleep well at the very least 7 hours per day &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not run of the mill advice and has many things which goes against the so-called norms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T17:45:19.407" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2012-11-09T18:07:41.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without weights, i think the only way to build your traps are commando press ups and diamond press ups....with diamond press ups make sure you emphasize your upper back and keep form, really strain the traps and keep the exercise normal to slow but very controlled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4618" LastActivityDate="2012-11-09T18:07:41.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9662" CreationDate="2012-11-10T00:16:43.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some good advice above so I'll be short. I think you should take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrock.tv/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrock.tv/&lt;/a&gt;. If you haven't tried this before, it could be a good option for you. They have good, free, short but intense workouts that you can do at home (no need to drag yourself to the gym!) with little equipment needed. A lot of people (including myself and my boyfriend) have lost weight doing only those workouts when getting back from work. It's usually 8-12 minutes and your done! They also have a section on food and diet and there's a community of &quot;bodyrockers&quot; which can be inspirational for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there is a lot of other website like this one, but I can tell you from my own experience and my academic background that their workouts are well structured. The videos are easy to follow (and I'll admit, nice to look at!) and the trainers take the time to explain the exercices. If you can find the workouts done by Freddy, they are probably going to be the best for you. Start with the beginner's level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, start slowly, maybe every other day, listen to your body and don't push too hard the first time, since you seem to be deconditionned. And most of all, have fun with it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4603" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T00:16:43.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2012-11-10T17:32:10.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised no one has mentioned &lt;em&gt;supersets&lt;/em&gt;, an ancient and honorable practice in which you do a set of one exercise then immediately do a set of another, rest and repeat. Supersetting 3 exercises is not uncommon. One kind of superset is the leg extension - lat pulldown type. It is done for time efficiency since you get to skip a rest period. Is your performance reduced? Probably. For sure if you're not in great shape or not using steroids. But if today's workout is chest and you do all your benching first, so what? The oddest kind of superset is the dumbbell curl - lat pulldown type. Here you're trying to take your biceps out of the back work, or paradoxically, you're hoping the pulldowns will extract the last bit of bicep strength. The most sophisticated superset is something I recently learned from Eric Cressey's &lt;em&gt;Show and Go&lt;/em&gt; where an exercise is paired with a stretch or mobility exercise.&#xA;As you can see, this is an advanced approach in every sense. All your energy systems need to be well developed and you need to know the primary and secondary muscles used by each exercise. If you're asking the question, you probably aren't ready, but the fact that you came up with it shows a creative mind that will take you far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T17:32:10.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2012-11-10T18:38:17.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Dan John would say, it all depends on your goals.  In fact a lot of &lt;em&gt;programming&lt;/em&gt;, or how you string your exercises together both throughout a session and throughout a cycle, has to do with your goals.  There are a few approaches to programming:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sets x Reps @ weight, with as much rest as needed in between&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supersetting: switch between 2-3 exercises one right after another and then rest before you start the next cycle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timing: pause for seconds, slow down the concentric and/or eccentric phases, and limit rests between sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In programming for a lifting competition, a common practice is to have a main lift for the session.  The main lift has plain old sets and reps at a set weight, with as much rest as you need to make sure you get the next set.  The assistance work is where you get to have all the fun with the training variables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trade-offs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more rest you give your body, the better it deals with fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigue is a component that can make the exercise harder, and may even bring you to a point of failure (i.e. not being able to complete one more rep).  Depending on your goals this may be a good thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some parts of your body are fully engaged on a number of exercises, so be careful of not hammering them too much&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T18:38:17.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8121" CreationDate="2012-11-10T18:53:29.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to work with a university hockey team so although it`s not the same sport, the principles are similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here`s what a typical week would look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: gym workout (intense) and hockey practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: hockey practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: gym workout (intense) and hockey practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: gym workout (more sport specific than lifting weight) and hockey practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: practice and game planning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: light practice (or light cardio) in the morning than game at night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The details of the workout would depend on the annual periodisation plan (stregth, power, endurance, etc), but it pretty much followed the same weekly pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, to help reduce the soreness and tiredness feeling in their legs, the ice tub was their best friend after an intense practice or a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4603" LastActivityDate="2012-11-10T18:53:29.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9674" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:19:51.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Back pain may have a sudden onset or can be a chronic pain; it can be constant or intermittent, stay in one place or radiate to other areas. It may be a dull ache, or a sharp or piercing or burning sensation. The pain may radiate into the arms and hands as well as the legs or feet, and may include symptoms other than pain, such as weakness, numbness or tingling.&#xA;  Back pain is one of humanity's most frequent complaints. In the U.S., acute low back pain (also called lumbago) is the fifth most common reason for physician visits. About nine out of ten adults experience back pain at some point in their life, and five out of ten working adults have back pain every year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_pain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Back pain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:51:52.177" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:51:52.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9675" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:19:51.057" Score="0" Body="Back pain is pain felt in the back that usually originates from the muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:52:02.300" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:52:02.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9676" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:23:09.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Food energy is expressed in food calories (labeling: EU kcal, US/Canada Calories) or kilojoules (kJ). Food calories, or the &quot;Calorie&quot; units used often in nutritional contexts, measure amounts of energy 1000 times greater than the units in scientific contexts known also as calories, or gram calories (&quot;cal&quot;). Food calories are thereby referred to less ambiguously in some formal contexts as kilocalories (kcal) or kilo calories. One food calorie is equal to 4.184 kilojoules. Within the European Union, both the kilocalorie (kcal) and kilojoule (kJ) appear on nutrition labels. In many countries, only one of the units is displayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_energy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Food energy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:52:05.187" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:52:05.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9677" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:23:09.820" Score="0" Body="Calories is an energy measurement of the amount of energy obtained from food that is available through cellular respiration. " OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:51:57.310" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:51:57.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9678" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:30:32.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term martial art has become heavily associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, but was originally used in regard to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. An English fencing manual of 1639 used the term in reference specifically to the &quot;Science and Art&quot; of swordplay. The term is ultimately derived from Latin, and means &quot;Arts of Mars,&quot; where Mars is the Roman god of war Some martial arts are considered 'traditional' and are tied to an ethnic, cultural or religious background, while others are modern systems developed either by a founder or an association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Martial arts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:52:07.997" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:52:07.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9679" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:30:32.587" Score="0" Body="The martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices. They are practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental, physical, and spiritual development." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:51:54.407" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:51:54.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9680" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:33:22.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity. In arthropods it is the posterior tagma of the body; it follows the thorax or cephalothorax. Anatomically, the abdomen stretches from the thorax at the thoracic diaphragm to the pelvis at the pelvic brim. The pelvic brim stretches from the lumbosacral angle (the intervertebral disk between L5 and S1) to the pubic symphysis and is the edge of the pelvic inlet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominals#Human_abdomen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Abdomen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:51:59.727" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:51:59.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9681" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-11-10T21:33:22.193" Score="0" Body="The abdomen (less formally called the belly, stomach, or tummy), in vertebrates such as mammals, constitutes the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:51:47.030" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T11:51:47.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9682" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9683" CreationDate="2012-11-11T01:03:28.843" Score="6" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that I never have time to focus on abs when I work out. If I continue to strengthen other parts of my body (I consistently do squats, deadlift, benchpress, shoulderpress) and continue to neglect working on core strength, will I run into problems?       &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4624" LastEditorUserId="4624" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T13:46:39.830" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T10:10:01.940" Title="Concerned that skipping ab exercises will have negative implications" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9682" CreationDate="2012-11-11T03:47:37.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You squat, deadlift, and press. While these each stress specific muscles more than others (presses working more shoulder strength, deadlifting working more legs and back, &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt;), they are all whole-body exercises that work the core. If done heavy, these exercises demand and develop a significant amount of core strength, including the abdominals, as stabilizers. Along with your lower back, they isometrically hold your trunk in place for heavy lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T03:47:37.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9747" CreationDate="2012-11-11T11:05:45.510" Score="11" ViewCount="24023" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy an exercise mat. I just did a quick check on Amazon and it was like I expected, you get mats in all different price ranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are possible differences between cheap and expensive mats?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What should I look for, when I intend to buy a high quality mat?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there possible pitfalls or features that sound useful but no one really needs?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there fitness mats for different exercises (some are called yoga or pilates mat)?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How long and wide should a mat be, considering my height and the types of exercise?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-11T11:31:04.533" LastActivityDate="2019-05-19T21:42:02.197" Title="What should I look for in a fitness exercise mat?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9688" CreationDate="2012-11-11T11:53:06.183" Score="3" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently visiting the gym 3 times a week for about 1,5 hours to work on my upper body. My goal is to gain muscles and add a little bit of definition. On the weekends I go to the ice ring for about 2 hours of freestyle ice skating to get my cardio done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For relaxation, removing muscle tensions and especially to get more flexible I am planning to incorporate Nuad Thai massages at least twice a month into my schedule. This type of massage focuses on stretching the muscles and seems to be a valuable addition to my normal stretching routine. Now I am wondering if it makes a difference when I do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is definitely less painful when my muscles are not sore, but it also might help with regeneration of those muscles. Would it be a good idea to go to the massage on a day where I visit the gym or the ice ring or should it be on an off day? If it is during a training day, is it better to go before or after the training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other input concerning Nuad Thai and the benefits or maybe even drawbacks for fitness training and stretching is also appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T13:07:06.740" Title="How to incorporate Nuad Thai massages into the training schedule?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9685" CreationDate="2012-11-11T16:29:32.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Searching for &quot;massage flexibility&quot; on &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?hl=en&amp;amp;q=massage%20flexibility&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;as_sdt=1,5&amp;amp;as_sdtp=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google scholar&lt;/a&gt; shows a large numbers of results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An overview of the result is that: Massage in general seems to be as good as stretching for flexibility and &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?q=thai%20massage%20flexibility&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thai massage&lt;/a&gt; seems to be at least as good as Swedish massage (the most popular type of massage practised in the US). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, massage differs from stretching, e.g. see &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?q=caring%20hormones%20massage&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;caring hormones massage&lt;/a&gt; and seems to be better for recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to do the massage is harder to find research on. My personal experience of Thai massage is that properly done, it is relaxing but also makes you a bit tired afterwards. So in terms of doing it before or after workouts, it makes more sense to do it after workouts or on recovery days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an ideal world, perhaps all exercise should be followed by massage but the time and cost would be prohabitive. So your plan of massage twice a month seems to be reasonable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T16:29:32.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="140" CreationDate="2012-11-11T17:29:25.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've also found that if I sit immediately after a session of long, intense cardio, I can experience a brief bout of low blood pressure (I.e., my vision narrows and I almost black out).  I used to experience this when I was doing road cycling and / or mountain biking.  If l rode really hard, then stopped and lay down in the grass, I'd feel the above symptoms if I stood up quickly, where as if I walked around instead (or just peddled my bike slowly for a while) I'd still feel tired, but wouldn't nearly black out or feel quite as exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't claim to understand the physical mechanisms at play, but this was something I'd experience consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T17:29:25.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9691" CreationDate="2012-11-11T20:27:46.050" Score="5" ViewCount="11316" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything I've read says to do 1 set of 5 deadlifts or you risk injury. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is suggesting that I start at 115 lbs and move up to 175 by my 5th set, which is near my max. Would this be ok to do since I'm starting at such a low weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T14:17:44.107" Title="Trainer told me to do 5 sets of 5 deadlifts. Should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9690" CreationDate="2012-11-11T21:13:39.023" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is standard barbell weight training as it has more or less always been. Your first four sets are just warm ups for your one heavy set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we take my own program as an example I start even lower and end up higher. I calculate my warm up sets by ramping up from 20% (or the weight of the empty bar), 40%, 60% and 80% of my final pull. Even though I ramp up more slowly I don't think your program will be detrimental in any way. This is variations of more or less the same concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However as your pulls get bigger, you necessarily don't want to start higher with your warm up sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T21:13:39.023" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9690" CreationDate="2012-11-11T21:49:19.193" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need to determine is how many &lt;em&gt;work sets&lt;/em&gt; you're doing, not how many total sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, anything south of 250 is more of a &lt;em&gt;warm-up set&lt;/em&gt;. I'll do 3 to 5 at 135 or 145, 215 or 225, and in the upper 200s before doing a set (or two) in the 300s. Only that last one is what I consider a &lt;em&gt;work set&lt;/em&gt;, which is the one that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing five sets from 115 to 175 (which is near your max) is a little odd, however. It may be fine--maybe the idea is to pyramid up--but it couldn't hurt to ask which ones are warm-ups, which ones are meant to be heavy, and how the programming works. But don't get married to the &quot;one set of five for deadlifts&quot; idea. That's common for novice programming, but not necessarily the One True Way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-11T21:49:19.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9709" CreationDate="2012-11-12T02:53:06.197" Score="4" ViewCount="26557" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a couple running events recently that have been pushing my endurance (a competitive half marathon, and running 20+ trail miles for a fun-run).  The night following these events I've woken with night sweats--sweating profusely in my sleep (yes, it's definately sweat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Internet searches turn up different mentions of it and supposed explanations.  I'm curious if there's any objective information about whether it's a common side-effect of hard training, or if it's indicative of either going too hard or doing something incorrect (e.g. some claim it's a side-effect of taking in too much salt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1495" LastEditorUserId="1495" LastEditDate="2012-11-12T20:40:20.730" LastActivityDate="2019-04-08T08:23:09.830" Title="Are night sweats common after long workouts?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9699" CreationDate="2012-11-12T04:26:01.097" Score="5" ViewCount="14922" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've now done four Starting Strength workouts and admire the linear progressive nature of it and really look forward to each workout. I'm not sure however it's the best choice for addressing my primary goals of broadening my upper body to offset my child-bearing hips and large thighs (I'm male btw). I'd also like to drop from the current 25% BF to at least get the waist narrower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now feeling StrongLifts with its bent-over rows as a primary exercise instead of the power cleans might have been more appropriate (but @3x5, not 5x5). I want my thighs and calves to get smaller, not bigger, and my lats, delts and biceps bigger. The standing press in SS looks after the delts, but as I think about the exercises, it's only the assistance exercises that really attack the lats and biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is there another popular, non-broscientific program designed more at aesthetics than overall strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three very helpful answers and I got a lot out of each and I really can't pick the tick at this stage. I'm going to keep on SS but keep calories on my workout days at TDEE instead of the 500 extra I was doing to feed the growth. I tried bent over rows today found them quite hard to maintain good form with so I'll stick with deadlifts/cleans. The GreySkull LP program has attracted me the most so I'll start reading that and see what I can extract from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-11-13T08:48:28.750" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T02:01:05.563" Title="A linear progression v-taper program" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9690" CreationDate="2012-11-12T04:53:16.647" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think a single set of deadlifts would be enough volume to grow in my opinion. If I skimp on the deadlift sets (do only 2 sets) I notice I don't gain strength over the next week (assuming you are deadlifting once per week). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@DaveLeipmann is right. Don't confuse things and count warm up sets. You shouldn't have to do huge extended warmups that are going to tire you from your performance during your working sets - especially if the first set is as low as 65% of your max. If you pyramid up the weight (and drop the reps) a 65%, 75%, 85%, 95%, is a good 4 set structure. You could divide the 65-95 range into 5 sets, but remember you don't really want to bother training under 65% of your max (the reps get too high to be of much affect). Notice I'm not talking reps - just % of max because I'm assuming you are going more or less to failure in your WORKING sets. If you are doing it right,the first sets are the HARDEST because high reps on deadlifts close to or to failure are VERY HARD (20+reps). 5 reps (about the 90% mark), even if hard, are all over and done with before you know it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A warmup 'warms' up the muscles. You shouldn't be 'training' your muscles as part of your warmup. If my first set was greater than 65% of max, I would do 2 or 3 warmups with graduations of weights going up with reps looking like 10,3,1. If your first set is 65% then you could almost get away with a bit of light stretching or light pumping at a low weight to practice the movement.  There is NO point 'warming up' with the weight you are going to use on your first set!! You &#xA;could be wasting precious reps and not meet your performance targets for that workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are attempting a new 1 rep max, the warmup regime will be more aggressive. I'd start at 10 reps at 50%, 6 reps at 65%, 4 reps at 80%, 1 rep at 90%, 1 rep at 95%, go for gold! I try do these once per month to gauge how I'm doing. If you are doing these once per week, chances are you will be wrecked after the PB attempt and then will skimp on the VOLUME required for the strength increases &amp;amp; hypotrophy to achieve your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T04:41:02.237" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T04:41:02.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9685" CreationDate="2012-11-12T13:07:06.740" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that a Thai massage after a workout or on an &quot;off&quot; day would be more beneficial than working out after a Thai massage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a lot of people come in here (I own a Thai massage spa in Toronto) on the day before and after a lot of physical exertion - ie - a marathon - the before helps to loosen them up in preparation and the after helps relieve sore of tight muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest going for a Thai massage after your 2 hours at the ice ring, after a workout or on an &quot;off day&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4632" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T13:07:06.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9694" CreationDate="2012-11-12T13:40:44.360" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Detail your goals, and &lt;em&gt;prioritize&lt;/em&gt; them.  You will find that building a good base of strength will help take you a long ways toward your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figure out how you should be eating to address your immediate goals.  While you are a beginner, you can cut body fat and gain strength at the same time.  However, you may start hitting plateaus sooner on a cut.  Depending on the higher priority goal, the cut may take precedence or strength may take precedence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plan your programming for each goal.  I think you will be best served by continuing on with the Starting Strength protocol, particularly because the power cleans burn more energy than the rows.  If you want to lose fat, you have to take in fewer calories than you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You aren't going to be able to satisfy every goal all at once.  There are plenty of good programs that are customizable for your goals at the moment once you've gone beyond what the beginner programs can do for you.  These programs have slower gains, more variety, and allow you to address the aesthetic issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal recommendation is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be patient and let the program work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue with Starting Strength, the power cleans will do more good for your goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change your diet to lose weight.  Keep protein up, but watch your fat and carb content so that you stay under maintenance levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you aren't making any more progress with Starting Strength, go with a different program--I think Paul Carter's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0615663524&quot;&gt;Strength-Life-Legacy&lt;/a&gt; e-Book will be right up your alley.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of good programs if you want to continue pushing the boundaries of strength such as Madcow, Texas Method, Jim Wendler's 5-3-1, etc.  Just as an FYI, both Wendler and Carter are friends, have programs that can be tailored for aesthetics, strength, conditioning, mobility, etc.  The reason I recommended Carter's e-Book over Wendler's for you is because Carter has a lot more specialization templates to address what you think might be problem areas.  He also has some pretty decent points about how to eat that are a bit more useful than Wendler's advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T13:40:44.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3435" CreationDate="2012-11-12T14:06:12.287" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is a very real thing.  In a nutshell:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Overtraining is the cumulative result of relentless high-volume or high-intensity training, or both, without adequate recovery, that results in the exhaustion of the body's ability to compensate for training stress and adapt to it.&quot;  (Practical Programming--Rippetoe and Dr. Kilgore)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the Practical Programming book, symptoms that accompany overtraining include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Primary indicator is a loss of performance capacity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disrupted sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased chronic pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abnormal mood swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevated heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change in appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other physical and mental abnormalities--can look like depression in severe cases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Correcting Overtraining&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several factors that affect recovery, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest (this is priority 1 if you are overtrained)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition--both macro nutrients and micronutrients need to be right&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress--life stress can compound training stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can choose to take one of two approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce your work load so that it is about 50-60% of what you were doing until the symptoms are relieved.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a break until you really feel the need to get back in the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paul Carter calls it &quot;feeling crispy&quot;, and his recommendation is to just take time off until the gym is calling you.  The reason being that sometimes you need a complete mental break from the stress of even going to the gym.  Once your body is ready for more work, it will want to go back to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T14:06:12.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9694" CreationDate="2012-11-12T15:01:01.810" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you want whole-body exercises to lose fat mass, and you want upper-body exercises to improve aesthetics by improving the ratio of upper to lower body size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option in this scenario is to use a program that is more specific to your upper body, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthdisciple.com/2011/08/15/greyskull-barbell-linear-progression/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GreySkull LP&lt;/a&gt; (Linear Progression). It is still a novice's linear strength progression, but focuses more on hypertrophy as opposed to Starting Strength's focus on athletics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench/ or Press (A/B) 2x 5, 1 x 5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curl 2x 10-15 (bench days)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 2x 5, 1x 5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck Harness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench/ or Press 2×5, 1x 5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted Chins 2 x 6-8 (press days, and only if you can do at least 6-8 BW chins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 1x 5+ (with or without power cleans as warmups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck Harness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench/ or Press (A/B) 2x 5, 1 x 5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curl 2x 10-15 (bench days)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 2x 5, 1x 5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck Harness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight Chins are done every day. [Use] 5 lb jumps on Squat and Deadlift [and] 2.5lb jumps on pressing movements and curls (when rep ranges are satisfied). When reps on last set fall below 5, take 10% off of bar and begin process over (on that lift only)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a variant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OUcEY.png&quot; alt=&quot;Greyskull LP variant by Phrakture&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/umks2/need_help_choosing_a_program_that_will_help_me/c4wpf0d?context=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this description of the program&lt;/a&gt;, from reddit, is also fairly good, but basically I'd just buy the book if I were going to do the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be a good fit for you, but I would caution you to recognize that fixing a high-body-fat situation is more dependent on consistent diet and diligence with your program than the specific program you're on. It may be that Starting Strength (or Starting Strength plus conditioning work) with the goal of body recomposition would be the best option for looking better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T02:01:05.563" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-12T19:14:50.223" Score="2" ViewCount="1446" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son is 13, 5'10&quot;, wears a size 14.5 shoes and has a very tall father and sisters.  He hasn't hit his growth spurt yet and I am concerned about his gait and his desire to play sports, but his struggle with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He walks and stands with his feet turned out.  He also mainly walks on the front or ball of his feet, kind of bouncy-like.  His heels don't touch or if they do not much.  He can shoot the ball and do those types of things, but running for any period of time ends up being painful.  He wants to play but struggles to run and if so very slowly.  He is very frustrated and we did have him see a pediatrist, but they gave us inserts and told us not to worry about it.  His ankles and calves are very thick, the bones are large, although he is not an over weight kid.  Average for his size, I would say.  But I worry about his future with his legs.  His dad is 7 foot and he has tall sisters.  But his running almost looks painful to watch.  He can shoot and do all of the other things, just struggles to get down the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any things we can do to help him correct this? Exercises?  Any thoughts would help greatly.  Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4634" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T23:38:22.800" Title="Son walks with feet turned out but bounces on his toes, he runs very slow, but wants to play sports without pain? Any corrective tips?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-11-20T20:02:17.037" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9700" CreationDate="2012-11-12T20:39:01.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Melinda, it sounds a bit as though your concerns are based on conjecture.  He may very well have some troubles, but he also may be perfectly fine and normal.  I would suggest you help him focus on basic training and see how he progresses before raising concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've tagged running as an activity, and it's a good one to start with.  I would suggest using a simple &quot;get running&quot; program like couch to 5k to help him safely take up the sport and to help teach him to incrementally work towards goals.  If he can get to the point of comfortably running a few miles a couple times a week then he can set higher goals for himself to work towards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to get him good shoes; and since you mentioned he has a tendancy to move on the ball of the foot you could consult athletic shoe specialists to see if it might make sense to have him try using &quot;minimalist&quot; shoes--the theory is that humans &lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; land on the mid to front of the foot--as it positions the foot to use the entire leg as a shock absorber.  Be cautioned that if you do go this route he'll need to be careful not to do too much too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1495" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T20:39:01.060" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9700" CreationDate="2012-11-12T23:32:50.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to get the correct exercises for your son, I would suggest an evaluation by a physical therapist to look at the lower extremity alignment including the pelvis, hips, knees and ankles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myofacial restrictions can be released (such as tight hip rotators or calf muscles) and weak muscles can be strengthened (such as core muscles or glutes) to improve alignment and improve shock absorbtion on impact.  The therapist can give your son home exercises to address the areas of concern.  They can also perform a running analysis and help correct any possible errors in form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a clear understanding of what is involved that is causing your son to have pain with running, and have specific corrective measures to address the problem(s), then we can give you better information with q/a like this one on how to achieve &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips&quot;&gt;painfree running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that he is 13, you are right to get him help sooner than later.  Painful running can lead to injury, interfere with his desire and ability to play sports, and even affect his outlook. When choosing a therapist, call around and try to find a sports physical therapist who has a specific interest in running.  Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T23:32:50.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9700" CreationDate="2012-11-12T23:38:22.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your son has specific movement problems that might be caused by a number of things.  Some of them might be caused by inflexibility (see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3900/is-it-bad-that-my-feet-turn-outward-when-i-run&quot;&gt;Q&amp;amp;A&lt;/a&gt; about another runner who's feet point outward when he runs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to look for a personal trainer or physical therapist who specializes in running, and works with normal, ordinary people ...  it sounds like you need someone who know's what he / she is doing to actually watch your son run, give advice, and follow up with him.  Its might be hard to get that off the internet.  My limited experience is that doctors (like the podiatrist you went to) are great if your problem falls in their specific wheel house, but don't do much to address integrated movement / strength / flexibility /issues, at least not in healthy young people looking to play sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a running club in your area, or some local runners online forum where you could post for a local trainer / physical therapist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-11-12T23:38:22.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9694" CreationDate="2012-11-13T04:38:28.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are the classic endomorph body type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer seems pretty simple to me. I would just lose your fat down to about 15% (within healthy range) and then re-evaluate your weight training program. Its a bit hard for a beginner to work out what is muscle and fat sometimes at &gt; 20% body fat - especially in legs. You may find that when you lose the majority of your excess fat, you will be happy with size of your legs, especially if the upper body (delts, biceps) swell up. I've seen many people (girls &amp;amp; endomorphs mainly) complain they don't want to train legs because they will get too big, only to find that they shrink as they lose the fat :). Also remember, since you can't spot reduce fat, don't worry about specific areas of fat storage, just get your overall body fat % down and you will definitely become happier with your physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would give GVT (German Volume Training) training on just arms a go. With arms, a lot of it is about getting a huge pump in the gym to stretch the fascial sheath which enables hypotrophy. Train 10 sets of 10 reps on bicep barbell curl interlaced with 10 sets of triceps (rope push down, skull crushers) with 60-90 seconds rest in-between. By interlaced I mean once you've done 1 set on biceps, immediately do the triceps. Rest &amp;amp; Repeat. This will be a combined total of 20 sets - 200 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be getting big pumps on arms to get anywhere. You can't get huge biceps/triceps by trying to push up max weight like bench press. Its more about VOLUME. Do this once per week within your Strong Lifts program. In 2 months or so, you should really start to see more definition and size popping out in your arms. It certainly worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2012-11-13T04:38:28.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9706" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-11-13T19:46:38.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The human foot and ankle is a strong and complex mechanical structure containing exactly 26 bones, 33 joints (20 of which are actively articulated), and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  An anthropometric study of 1197 North American adult Caucasian males (mean age 35.5 years) found that a man's foot length was 26.3 cm with a standard deviation of 1.2 cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Foot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T03:22:21.110" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T03:22:21.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9707" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-11-13T19:46:38.490" Score="0" Body="The foot (plural feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T03:22:24.713" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T03:22:24.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9553" CreationDate="2012-11-13T19:52:03.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would just like to add in on Grohliers answer, it might just be a typo but it should be addressed. I agree with stretching the lower back and strengthening the abs, but by stretching the glutes and strengthening the hip flexors you would just &quot;reset&quot; the back stretches and abdominal work. Just google &quot;lower crossed syndrome&quot; and you will get a lot of pictures of the pelvis and which muscles pulling where. You will see that by strengthening the glutes and the abs, and also stretching the lower back and the hip flexor, you will straighten out your pelvis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uoZzQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4639" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-27T19:20:35.207" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T19:20:35.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9693" CreationDate="2012-11-13T20:20:47.740" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Night sweats can be related to an increase in exercise intensity due to the affect of exercise on the endocrine glands and hormone secreations. In general, excessive sweating at night is caused by hormones. That is why menopausal  women are prone to night sweats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are also several &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/night-sweats/MY00576/DSECTION=causes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other causes&lt;/a&gt;, including medical or medication causes so night sweats may warrant a medical checkup in some cases.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want objective information regarding the affect of increasing exercise intensity on the thyroid, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nel.edu/26-2005_6_pdf/NEL260605A14_Ciloglu.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neuroendocrinology Letters: Exercise Intensity and Its Effects on Thyroid Hormones&lt;/a&gt; referenced in this Livestrong article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/280499-increased-exercise-night-sweats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Increased Exercise and Night Sweats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-11-13T20:20:47.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-14T06:18:11.117" Score="5" ViewCount="733" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does training the neck have any purpose other than for combat sports and getting the thick neck look (which I assume is desirable when heavily bulking so your head doesn't look too small?)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, might it help with forward head posture, relieve tightness in the neck or shoulders or be desirable for other common daily activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just starting a strength training program that does quite a bit of neck extension work and I'm wondering if I should omit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T09:15:22.673" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T09:37:18.737" Title="Benefits of neck extension training?" Tags="&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9720" CreationDate="2012-11-14T06:25:45.853" Score="5" ViewCount="786" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a specific fitness goal that I want to achieve, and I wanted to take the opinion of some Fitness.SE members to ensure that I'm going in the right direction, and if not, what steps should I take to rectify it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal&lt;/strong&gt;: Reduce fat to an acceptable percentage of body weight (currently 23.6% on a 150 lb body weight, aiming to bring it down to 10-15% depending on my genetic potential), before embarking on a muscle-gain program (as I've read that its difficult to do both at the same time!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plan&lt;/strong&gt;: I've started following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;C25K&lt;/a&gt; program for running, and would be finishing it after 6 weeks (am in 3rd week now). Once I &quot;graduate&quot; from the program, I intend to run 5K 3 days/week, in the evening. I have also started keeping a &quot;food log&quot; (using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.loseit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LoseIt&lt;/a&gt; app), which also keeps track of my exercise calories. Using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this website&lt;/a&gt; (do let me know if there's a better/more accurate one), I've determined what my ideal caloric requirement should be (in order to lose weight @1 lb/week), and am devotedly keeping to that target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions&lt;/strong&gt;: There are quite a few of them, but due to the nature of my query, I can't split them into multiple separate ones without repeating a lot of the above info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does running 5K@3 days a week (for at least 6 weeks before I look for some kind of change) constitute a good exercise plan for losing fat? I've read multiple articles on the net regarding the frequency/duration of running for fat loss, and I'm a bit lost on the kind of contradictory infos that I have gotten on a routine Google search!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In case the answer to 1 is no, what other activities should I supplant my routine with? More cardio (on the same day/intervening days) using a different activity, or longer bursts of runs? I'm scared of injuring my back/knees by running too much, hence wanted to be sure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet&lt;/em&gt; - According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/374543-fda-recommended-daily-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; on the FDA website, my diet should be limited to (based on a 2000 cal daily req, which I'd scale down to my caloric budget) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&gt;= 300g Carbs (&gt;25g Fibers included in that)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total Fat &amp;lt;= 65g, with Saturated Fat &amp;lt;= 20g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sodium &amp;lt;= 2400 mg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Significantly, doesn't mention much about proteins, so at a loss there!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this kind of a diet help me to lose fat &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; I'm running? If not, what should be the limits I should strive to in each of the food categories (if thats too much to ask, what should I be focusing on  the most to ensure I don't take too much/too little of it) ?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My profile&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height : 5'10&quot; (1.78m)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight : 150 lb (68 kg) (Fat % = 23.6% using a handheld BIA device)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender : Male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age    : 27&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;: Ideal combination of diet/running to lose fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2018" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T16:08:43.943" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T12:42:47.113" Title="How to design a running program and diet plan for losing fat in a healthy manner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9710" CreationDate="2012-11-14T08:11:27.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neck training is really important for your health and posture. Daily activities such as driving and sitting in front of a computer cause your head to slightly lean forward and your neck to go out of alignment. In time, this contributes to a poor posture and makes the muscles and ligaments in your neck and shoulders stretch. Permanent tension in this area can also lead to headaches and migraine - because of the way nerves are presses and twisted by the tense muscles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do not be afraid of getting a bulky neck: not all exercises do that. You can try yoga and pilates inspired moves such as trying to elongate and position your neck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4641" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T09:37:18.737" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T09:37:18.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2752" CreationDate="2012-11-14T08:23:20.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many individuals who have very well developed abs, but they don't have a six pack. This is because, as many other answers mention, the nutrition plays a key role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Showing a six pack implies that the muscles are visible, and therefore that you limit the amount of fat on your abdomen. So in my opinion the main thing you should focus on is exercise that helps burn fat, not necessary localized muscle building. Try to incorporate running in your routine.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Boxing can also be an activity with great benefits for you: it has many elements of cardio training combined with moves that seriously sculpt your abs and back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4641" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T09:37:15.103" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T09:37:15.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9714" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-11-14T12:58:05.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The adjective (from Latin) signifying &quot;of the neck&quot; is cervical (though this more frequently used to describe the cervix).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Neck&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T18:45:30.137" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T18:45:30.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9715" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-11-14T12:58:05.660" Score="0" Body="The neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-14T18:45:24.397" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T18:45:24.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9717" CreationDate="2012-11-14T13:46:53.890" Score="4" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2370/any-benefits-to-doing-really-low-or-really-high-number-of-reps-per-set/2373#comment14608_2373&quot;&gt;comment&lt;/a&gt; I was told:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What you want to do is focus on higher intensity cardio. That will both strengthen your heart making your body more effective at transporting nutrients/oxygen during lifting and also help you better process the byproducts of anaerobic metabolism (ie the type that creates 'the burn'). Fewer byproducts = less soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of running as fast as possible for a short time, and repeat. Is that basically it? Are there alternatives? If possible, some exercises I can do at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T07:57:50.030" Title="Which are examples of &quot;higher intensity cardio&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9716" CreationDate="2012-11-14T14:34:57.727" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interval training of any kind would count: swimming, sprints, barbell exercises, et cetera. So would high-intensity exercises done for short periods, whether you repeat or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twenty-rep barbell squats, for example, certainly count as high-intensity conditioning. So do burpees, and kettlebell swings, cleans, or snatches done for time (e.g. 5 minutes) or reps (e.g. 20 with a heavy bell or more with a lighter one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Couplets, Triplets, and More&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method of adding intensity is to switch exercises as you go. This allows you to continue to demand activity from your cardiovascular system without slowing down too much or failing due to local muscular fatigue. This might look like a set of pull-ups immediately followed by a set of air squats. In that case, since there are two exercises, it would be called a couplet. A triplet is alternating between three exercises, e.g. push-ups, sandbag cleans, and a sprint. (More than three exercises doesn't get a specific name.) Generally you repeat the set several times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crossfit is big on this kind of thing. For instance, the mainsite workout for last Friday was a four-exercise interval:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Ralph&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Four rounds for time of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;250 pound Deadlift, 8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16 Burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 foot Rope climb, 3 ascents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 600 meters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all the exercises involve one weight--say, a sandbag, barbell, kettlebell, or dumbbell--it's called a complex. People do complexes for the same reason as intervals, but generally the focus is a little more on strength and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite barbell complex is clean, press several times, front squat several times, then repeat. With kettlebells, I like to swing, clean, and snatch (once each, repeating, or several times each and repeating). I also like to clean, press until I can't, push press until I can't, then jerk a few times before repeating on the other side. I like to integrate sandbag complexes with other work, such as sprints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T15:56:47.497" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9718" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-14T18:53:54.353" Score="4" ViewCount="47377" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing seated shoulder presses, must the bench be set to 90 degrees? I seem to be seeing many videos where people are setting up the bench to about one notch before 90. Last night I tried this myself and felt less strain on my lower back. In addition I was able to press 35's as opposed to 30's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is weather this is wrong, and if it is then how can I reduce the stress on my lower back when the bench is at its upright 90 degree angle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some example videos:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT5TbIHDkqo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rob Bailey presses 150s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0dZS4xLi1E&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodybuilder Vs powerlifter. 100x19 shoulder press.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-15T14:32:25.997" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T23:17:38.783" Title="What is the correct form for seated shoulder press with dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9711" CreationDate="2012-11-14T21:34:03.873" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, calories in &amp;lt; calories out = weight loss. There is some mixed data about the amount of calories, and the textbook &quot;3500 calories = 1 lb&quot; is somewhat suspect according to more modern studies, and the way that different people react, but all the studies agree (Whether atkins, paleo, grapefruit, etc) that caloric deficit is the main factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For protein intake, the RDA is .8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day. So for your weight, theoretically 54.4 grams of protein should be sufficient. However, that is for a sedentary diet, the more active you are the more you need to bump that up to maintain/grow muscle. You should be safe staying around 1-1.5 g/kg per day. That's 408 calories of your 2000, or about 25%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the composition of the diet, I would emphasize the protein and healthy carbs such as fruits, veggies and grains as close to unrefined as you can get. Wheat bread (True wheat bread, not merely undyed white bread), quinoa, cous cous, things like this. Fats should be 10-20% of your diet in general, with an emphasis on the healthy, unsaturated fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the exercise, the cardio is fine, but I would look at adding something like stronglifts 5x5 or similar to add a muscle building component, which will also help accelerate the fat loss as muscle burns more calories, and also tightens areas. I would recommend against this if you have plans for any kind of endurance competitions (such as 5k/10k running) as the extra muscle mass would work against you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I would address your fat rate. I would suspect that your bodyfat is probably less than the 23.6% that your handheld device is telling you. Bioelectric has an error rate in the range of +/- 5-10% depending on the model and algorithm used. I would test it against an underwater weighing, or a skin caliper test done by an experienced tester. While I carry extra muscle weight due to cycling, I am 5' 10.5&quot;, and at 170ish lbs (~77 kg), I am right around 10% bodyfat. I would tend to doubt that you are 14% more bodyfat than myself, at 20 lbs less weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-11-14T21:34:03.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9711" CreationDate="2012-11-14T22:16:53.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Measure up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, if you're serious about your weight loss and subsequent bulking, you may consider buying a body fat caliper. You'll get much more precise values and you'll be able to measure progress more accurately. If you're not willing to spend the money or are not sure whether you can  use a caliper, The other solution is having a professional measure you up before and after. You won't be able to see the progress, though, only the end result. Your gym should provide that service. Let me express doubt about the body fat you provided. You're relatively lightweight for your height, and a body fat that high is unusual for such BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, you should use some web forms to calculate your dayly calories requirements. You can use several and average the results. The forms should ask for your age, height, weight, gender and level of activity. Try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/CalorieResult.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/CalorieResult.asp&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/calories.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/calories.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Plan your calories deficit through diet...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can start making plans on calories deficit. You should spend more than you eat. Bodybuilders in cutting phase often do carb cycles. The routines are varied, but they are often 3 or 4 days cycles with 1 day with plenty of carbs (say 200g of dry carbs, e.g. a 100g apple doesn't count as 100g of carbs), 1 day with somewhat less (say 100g) and one or two depletion days with 50g of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your fat intake between 20 and 30% of total calories, saturated fat below 7% of total calories. Your fiber intake looks good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to eat many smaller meals a day, with an even carb distribution. This will help provide a sustained flux of energy and avoid insulin spikes, wich promote fat storage unless after exercising. Go for the complex carbs with whole grains, starchs. Avoid sugars, soft drinks et al wich, again, provoke insulin spikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often times the cutting phase include a cheat day instead of the say-200g-carbs day, during which you are allowed to eat anything in any quantity. This is an important motivational relief since the daily routine of a controlled diet quickly gets hard to follow. You can't physically eat enough in a day to do significant damage to your diet, so relax and enjoy. Just don't cheat more than once a week !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you don't work out yet, your protein intake can be 1 or 1,5g per kg of body mass per day. I'm not sure how the body fat percentage influences this, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Restrictive diets often lack nutrients. If you're planning to follow it during more than a few months, you may consider taking over-the-counter vitamins and minerals supplements. You may check your vitamin and mineral intake on &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/mynd/mytracking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/mynd/mytracking&lt;/a&gt;. Building the list takes some time, but you'll know what is going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. ...and exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5km 3 times a week seems too low. With this amount, you're barely getting out of the &quot;sedentary&quot; category. Doing more cardio will probably reduce your lean mass too, which, as I understand, is not what you want. Which leads us to the next point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your goal is weight loss, you definitely should lift weights. Buidling lean mass actually helps loosing weight, since maintaining muscle requires more calories than maintaining fat. Lifting weight is also a nice way to burn calories. Just running might very well get absolutely boring. Bulking up will also help you feel better and look better, which is good motivation. Trust the professionals at your gym to come up with a nice and safe workout plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try your best to calculate the calories you use during each cardio session and workout, then add the values to your daily calories requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fear for your knees, which is a completely valid concern, you may consider switch to  elliptical or bike for a start. They're safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last point. Measuring sodium intake, and in fact all nutrients, is a complex and time consuming task. Read the nutritional facts, go on keeping logs and do your best !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2899" LastEditorUserId="2899" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T12:42:47.113" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T12:42:47.113" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9724" CreationDate="2012-11-14T22:38:40.570" Score="4" ViewCount="6557" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a gym without barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get as close as possible to the benefits of Starting Strength without the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking this...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg presses: 3x5 up to 3x8, and then increase the weight and drop back to 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate dumbbell bench press and dumbbell overhead press: same progression as leg presses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions: 3 sets done to failure, and I'll add weight when I can do more than 15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups: same progression as back extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought the 3x5-&gt;3x8 progression would be useful because the increments on the machines and dumbbells are too large for me to increase weight every time, but I want to increase &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T19:10:55.407" Title="Gym without barbells. How do I get close to Starting Strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9682" CreationDate="2012-11-14T22:44:18.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article about abs by Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the loads pass 200 and then 300+ pounds, it becomes &#xA;  enough of a challenge for the now more experienced lifter that a helluva lot of ab work is required to &#xA;  squat and pull properly. At weights above this range, most lifters find that a belt helps them produce &#xA;  harder ab contractions and therefore maintain better spinal stability, and this is why it is common that &#xA;  a lifter’s first squat workout with a belt produces new levels of ab fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-15T03:25:13.907" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T03:25:13.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-14T22:55:26.193" Score="7" ViewCount="2816" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the reasons for choosing a seated shoulder press instead of a standing press (barbell or dumbbell)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-15T04:10:10.547" LastActivityDate="2012-11-20T23:40:56.533" Title="Seated shoulder press vs standing press" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9721" CreationDate="2012-11-15T03:34:15.227" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Dumbbell work instead&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without access to a barbell, I'd dramatically change the programming from what Starting Strength offers, using dumbbells as heavy as possible for as few reps as possible. I'd have to give up on the heavy squats and deadlifts that really make novice linear progressions work, but that's OK. I'd focus on general athleticism, meaning that some of the strength work that we could get with barbells but can't with lighter weights will be substituted with conditioning and speed work. Once you transition to barbells you'll be able to focus on pure strength, and will hopefully be well prepared by the dumbbell work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exercise selection&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5023/1771&quot;&gt;a wide variety of dumbbell exercises I would choose from&lt;/a&gt;, but I expect that I'd want to focus on the ones with which I could still challenge maximal strength: short farmer's walks, overhead presses, bench presses. I'd also make sure to get in some cleans, swings, and snatches. With all of these, I'd shoot for sets of three to five, but if the weight is sub-maximal I'd settle for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Targeting the lower body with less weight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One concern is that the lower body, being much stronger than the upper, will naturally be harder to challenge with maximal loads. One way to work around this is to use single-leg exercises like lunges, pistol squats, loaded step-ups, and single-leg deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T03:34:15.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9727" CreationDate="2012-11-15T04:24:17.830" Score="14" ViewCount="588" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let us assume that we have two people.  The first person starts exercising at 20 years old and continues to do so for the rest of his life.  The second person doesn't exercise in his 20's, but when he is 30, begins exercising and continues to do so for his life.  Assuming both people survive to 60 years old, will the first person have any advantages over the second, for example improved life expectancy or better metabolism etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible can you please provide references to back up your claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T06:23:49.647" Title="Is it advantageous to be fit when young?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9716" CreationDate="2012-11-15T07:57:50.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides Dave Liepmans answer, I would like to add: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.se/search?q=high%20intensity%20cardio&amp;amp;aq=0&amp;amp;oq=high%20intensity%20cardio&amp;amp;sugexp=chrome,mod=4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;High intensity cardio&lt;/a&gt; is when your physcial exercise is so hard that oxygen isn't sufficient for the energy demands, that is, you create an oxygen deficit, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPOC&lt;/a&gt; . Typically, this can't be done for longer periods of time and is stressful. If you overdo this and doesn't balance it with lighter workouts, you are likely to be overtrained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, here is my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.se/search?q=r-r%20heart%20rate&amp;amp;aq=0&amp;amp;oq=R-R%20heart&amp;amp;sugexp=chrome,mod=4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;R-R&quot; heart rate&lt;/a&gt; and calculated EPOC for a work out (a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.viprfit.com/#&amp;amp;panel1-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VIPR&lt;/a&gt; class at a local gym) I did a few weeks ago. The printout is from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/consumers/firstbeat-athlete&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Firstbeat Athlete&lt;/a&gt; software and the heart rate is captured with a Suunto Memory belt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At my age and level of fitness, I only want to this kind of workout perhaps once a quarter. It wasn't my intention to work this hard but I got carried away during the class. I should have stopped when my pulse watch told me that my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/en/training-effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;training effect&lt;/a&gt; was a level 3 or 4, now it maxed out at level 5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in addition to the other answer, my point is to listen carefully to your body when you do high intensity cardio. Especially if you have a background in sports and have aged or not trained for some time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many other Q&amp;amp;A regarding high intensity training on this site, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/high-intensity&quot;&gt;Tag: high-intensity&lt;/a&gt;. One popular and very effective protocol is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=tabata&quot;&gt;tabata&lt;/a&gt;, i.e. work for 20s-rest for 10s a number of times. Especially with burpees, see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7533/3778&quot;&gt;Q&amp;amp;A&lt;/a&gt;. This is easy to do at home or at vacation/business trips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iPdAH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T07:57:50.030" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9725" CreationDate="2012-11-15T13:53:18.383" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two concerns I see with the person who waits an extra ten years before becoming active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sensitive Ages for Athletic Attributes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In his book Science of Sports Training, Tom Kurz goes into several pages of detail on how to maximize the potential of an athlete by matching their age-related susceptibility to certain kinds of development with the appropriate training. As he describes on pages 303 to 304:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At different ages children and youth are most receptive to different stimuli developing different movement abilities. These are so-called &quot;sensitive ages&quot; for a given physical ability (endurance, speed, strength, flexibility, components of coordination). The consequence of not developing a given ability during its sensitive age is reduced fitness and athletic potential lost forever (Drabik 1996).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, this will determine each individual's ability to realize their maximum lifetime potential in specific types of athletics. From page 305:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In gymnastics, figure skating, and swimming, [the age of maximum realization of the athlete's potential] is between 14 and 20 years. In weightlifting, track-and-field throws, and long-distance running it is between 21 and 30 years. In other sports this age is between 18 and 26 years. These ages are relatively stable, determined by regularities of human growth and maturing, and are not influenced much by the time of starting sports nor by the system of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So regardless of other factors, the person who starts working out in their 20s will have the chance to reach their maximum potential, whereas the person who waits will have missed the boat on some specific avenues of maximum athletic potential. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Long-Term Effects of Being Sedentary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are thousands of studies going into the long-term effects of being inactive. Rippetoe and Kilgore put it best on page 2 of Starting Strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Humans are not physically normal in the absence of hard physical effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without running games, carrying and climbing things, random play, contests and sport, people wither. They atrophy in a number of ways too great to detail here. They roll the dice with cancer and heart disease. Their body becomes used to inactivity in its metabolism and its mind, making changes later in life to diet and exercise habits harder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could cite studies that talk about the occlusion of arteries and the long-term effects of sitting, but I think we're all clear that there are real health consequences to being inactive for ten years. Perhaps one can mitigate those negative effects by turning their habits around, but it's like smoking: you do immediate good by quitting, but reversing the damage takes a long time. Sometimes it takes longer than you have left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T13:53:18.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-15T13:55:34.360" Score="4" ViewCount="22409" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to start the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2666/what-is-tabata-how-effective-is-it/2667#2667&quot;&gt;Tabata&lt;/a&gt; routine to increase my cardio endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best I've found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/vo2max-calculator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is this calculator&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are those results accurate? If not, please suggest an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T00:36:14.187" Title="How do I measure Vo2Max at home without specialized equipment?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9728" CreationDate="2012-11-15T14:32:33.983" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are accurate as far as they go, but they are rough estimates at best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VO2 max is a measurement of how much oxygen you are actually using at maximal exertion. The only way to accurately measure this is by using specialized equipment with a mask that captures all exhalations, and then measures the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide that is being exhaled to calculate how much oxygen you are actually using. Check with your local university/college kinesiology programs, some of them offer VO2 testing, or if you have a local triathlon/endurance coaching center, many of them offer VO2 testing for anywhere from $50 - $200 US dollars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, VO2 max is really more an indicator of potential than it is anything else. You can raise your VO2 max by doing nothing more than losing weight, since part of the calculation is based on body weight. Say you have a 220 pound (100 kg) man who has a VO2 max of 50ml/kg/min, or a VO2 max of 5 liters (5000 ml). This man does absolutely nothing except diet to lose 44 lbs, so he is now at 80 kg. His VO2 max is now 62.5. You're not any more fit, you've just lost weight. (This is a somewhat simplistic example, there are other factors that go into this in most cases.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T14:32:33.983" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9728" CreationDate="2012-11-15T14:33:32.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cooper test&lt;/a&gt;, which is basically &quot;run at a steady pace for 12 minutes and look at the table&quot;. I've always found it sufficient for my purposes (to see how much I improved in a given time period). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T14:33:32.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9721" CreationDate="2012-11-15T17:03:09.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the comment you added to your question: that you will be switching gyms in Jan (one month away) - I would recommend that you do preparation work prior to Starting Strength - in other words, start it right at the new gym and use this time to prepare your form.  Grab a broom handle or pvc pipe, review the SS book and videos and start practicing your squats, deadlifts, presses, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one video to start with: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/PCWLs1jTOVE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/PCWLs1jTOVE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you do have available at your current gym, but focus on core and interval training (HITT/Tabata) so you're endurance is in condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T17:03:09.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9721" CreationDate="2012-11-15T19:10:55.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mobility / Flexibility work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength includes &quot;low bar back squats&quot; which take a decent amount of flexibility to pull off correctly - its a different position than the more common &quot;high bar back squat&quot;.  I started doing low bar squats about 6 months ago, and personally had trouble with the thorasic (upper spine) and shoulder flexibility to keep my hands close in behind me when I'm resting the bar on the lower part of my shoulder blades.  Also, some people &lt;strong&gt;might&lt;/strong&gt; have really tight hamstrings and have trouble getting good squat depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the advice from others, you might want to double check that you have the range of motion to do a good low-bar back squat, and maybe use the month until you change gyms to do some flexibility work.  (or you may not need to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-11-15T19:10:55.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-16T14:51:08.047" Score="6" ViewCount="399" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started training for the London marathon 2013. I've been running with Brooks Pure trainers for a few months now and have been getting on really well with them. I'm now really tempted to try the Vibram Five Fingers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my first marathon so I'm a bit wary about switching to such minimalist shoes. Should I stick to what I know or give the Vibrams a go? And advice would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4657" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-16T17:53:19.480" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T16:45:33.873" Title="Marathon training in Vibram FiveFingers" Tags="&lt;vibram&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9734" CreationDate="2012-11-16T15:12:43.003" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Especially in running, I am a firm believer in &quot;If it isn't broken, don't fix it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole movement of Chi/Pose and extreme minimalist shoes has grown out of a misconception and bad application of &quot;heel striking&quot;. Heel striking does not mean that your heel touches first, it has to do with where your foot is when the majority of your weight falls on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many top distance (5k and up) runners are mid to forefoot strikers, but if you look at slow motion video of their strides, their heels appear to be (and are) touching first. However, their legs are not straight in front of them, but slightly bent, and when their weight settles on their foot, most are somewhere between the mid and forefoot, as their body travels over the planted foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to try VFF shoes, I would definitely wait until after your marathon. Transitioning from somewhat minimalist shoes like your Brooks to VFF is going to take a while, and you don't want to still be transitioning or stuck &quot;between&quot; shoes going into your first marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-11-16T15:12:43.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5229" CreationDate="2012-11-16T15:46:37.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calories burned cycling is strongly dependent on the pace (speed) at which you are riding. Seeing how you are doing about 7 1/2 miles/hour going to work, you are likely not burning very many calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I've always believed for overall fitness, something is better than nothing. Keep doing what you're doing and when coming home from work, perhaps add on a few extra miles here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for it not getting any easier, one of my favorite sayings is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;It doesn't get any easier, you just get faster&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4658" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-17T00:54:42.413" LastActivityDate="2012-11-17T00:54:42.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-16T15:59:29.317" Score="5" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2666/what-is-tabata-how-effective-is-it/2667#2667&quot;&gt;Tabata Workout&lt;/a&gt;. I can easily spend more than the 4m/day on it.&#xA;I work from home so I can take a 5m break and ride the exercise bike anytime I like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would there be a benefit from doing it more than 1/day and what is the minimum break b/t those workout sessions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-11-16T17:55:01.370" Title="Is there cardio or weight loss benefit to doing the Tabata (HIIT) workout more than once a day?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9737" CreationDate="2012-11-16T17:20:39.463" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be fine if you worked up to that kind of training volume, but be careful of overtraining. Tabatas and other HIIT is supposed to be &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I happened to stumble across &lt;a href=&quot;http://robbwolf.com/2011/11/09/the-case-for-the-short-metcon/&quot;&gt;this post from Robb Wolf&lt;/a&gt; just a short while before I saw your question. It's relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Training volume is one of those “U-shaped curves”.... Too little isn’t good and neither is too much. Like Goldilocks’ porridge it has to be “just right”. But it must also be said that having too little is far preferable to having too much. If you’re patient, adding volume in small doses is easy. Fixing an overtraining issue that has built up over a few months isn’t. Recovering from an injury can be even worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you take something designed to last 4 minutes and stretch it to 16 minutes you have drastically changed the training effect.... Tabatas are plenty hard even when done correctly. Try the Dan John special of front squatting 95 pounds for eight rounds. You’ll be cooked. I guarantee it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, if I did it once a day for a week and I felt fine, I'd feel okay with doing two-a-days. But I sure wouldn't dive into two or three a day without ramping up slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, because strength training is so productive in a variety of ways, you might consider supplementing your exercise-bike Tabatas with strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-16T17:20:39.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9723" CreationDate="2012-11-16T23:15:34.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standing shoulder press is far more beneficial than a sitting one. This is not to say that the sitting one is useless for people with limited mobility or who are trying to isolate just one muscle group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While standing, your body is able to activate the stabilizer muscles in your back as your arms extend upward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of the back support while doing a seated shoulder press can lead to faulty recruitment patterns in the muscle groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do plan to use the seated shoulder press I'd advise that you do so without the back support. Remember to use those abs it will save you spine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the use of the legs in a standing shoulder press is not cheating. It utilizes the entire body and helps develop explosiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4660" LastEditorUserId="4660" LastEditDate="2012-11-19T18:53:10.177" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T18:53:10.177" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2012-11-17T03:39:48.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to working out with lots of cardio because I have some medical disabilities I'm hoping to overcome, but In the meantime I'm an MMJ patient. For me it helps me focus, and ignore some of the issues I know may never go away with my body (cramps or other pains) and be able to get my ass up and MOVE around. And that is the biggest part for me. As long as the pot doesn't make me to lazy to get off my ass and work out, work,school, kid life..etc.. it's been nothing but a benefit for me. (Smoker 2-3x a day for 2 years) Also, my lungs feel just fine, regardless of smoking, and studies have just been released that infer that MJ smoke is not A FRACTION as harmful as tobacco or other smokes on your lungs. In fact like another poster mentioned, they have been shown to reduce tumor size. Some people even use it for asthma. I know it sounds backwards but it helps clear up shortness of breath and chest pain in some, I used to smoke about 30 minutes before I would run a couple miles and to me it always felt like my muscles in my upper body were more relaxed allowing me to fully inhale and exhale during my workout bringing in lots of yummy o2. Honestly thought, don't do anything you're not sure of, and don't do something that you can feel is hurting you. Like, if you're smoking but it's starting to make your chest sore, you feel light headed or dizzy..... then just stop...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4662" LastActivityDate="2012-11-17T03:39:48.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9723" CreationDate="2012-11-17T12:29:55.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Standing press requires more of the stabilizing musculature than with the seated one. It should however be mentioned that a lot of people lack the required mobility in the shoulder joint to perform the standing press without going into lumbar hyperlordosis. While doing so you effectively exclude the musculature on the front of the abdomen and let the back musculature work on overtime stabilizing your body in a poor position. Tightness in the pectoral minor and lack of thoracic extension is often involved in this.&#xA;Therefore when performing the standing press you should always make sure that your core is tight and that your rib cage does not tilt in order to make up for crappy shoulder positioning.&#xA;An exercise I like to recommend to loosen up the shoulder is called &quot;shoulder dislocations&quot;, which you can read about here: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4639" LastActivityDate="2012-11-17T12:29:55.787" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8237" CreationDate="2012-11-17T17:38:20.817" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its good that you have a few months of running already.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to do this atleast once a week &#xA;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - longer run&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - intervals&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - hills (continue fgoing up and down a hill with a 400m peak and a 400m valley&lt;br&gt;&#xA; -tempo run(start with 15 slow 10 hard 15 slow without a break&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would say that every week you can increase your workout by 10%. so you could do it 10% longer or 10% more times (hills and intervals)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4663" LastActivityDate="2012-11-17T17:38:20.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9748" CreationDate="2012-11-17T17:41:51.337" Score="-1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;When i do a long run (4 miles) or tempo run, I will get a sharp pain suddenly causing me to slow down to a walk. I will then proceed to ice when I get back home. Any ideas what it might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4663" LastActivityDate="2012-11-18T07:03:57.920" Title="Calf pain / tightens" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-11-30T16:12:16.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-17T19:41:55.350" Score="7" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been asked about organising a run session for my Triathlon club.  The club already has a well established run session on a Tuesday night, and would like hold another on Thursday (the one relating to myself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is how to differentiate this run session from the other currently running one.  The existing running session alternates between; hill reps, effort sessions, and negative split.  I want to make the session fun, and to include all members and their abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1217" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T22:55:13.927" Title="How to organise a second weekly run session?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9745" CreationDate="2012-11-17T22:44:16.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at the schedule of the kind of running they are alternating through and find one they do not do enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your list, Tempo runs as an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try to arrange something social after like drinks, coffee, or just dinner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2012-11-17T22:44:16.753" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9684" CreationDate="2012-11-17T23:37:24.967" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about buying a mat myself so I thought I'd share my research so far. As expected different the price is determined by material, thickness and size. Different mats are appropriate for different types of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do some general exercises like sit-ups a 'general' exercise mat will do. The thickness of these mats varies between 1 and 1.5cm and are made of pvc/foam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do some pilates, guess what, a pilates mat is what you want. These tend to be 1.5 to 1.9 cm thick and made of Thermal Plastic Elastomer (TPE).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For yoga you'd want a yoga mat. These mats are like pilates mats but thinner,  around 0.3/0.6cm. These tend to come in roll-up models, I guess for people who bring them to a yoga class or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are heavy-duty mats, the one you find in gyms. These are available in thicknesses up to 5cm (I've seen such mats with a thickness of +30cm, but these are not made for general fitness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the length, this is dependent on what exercises you want to do. For sit-ups you'd want support for at least your tail bone, back, shoulders and head. I can't realy think of an exercise that requires the mat to be as tall as you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to check how to clean the mat (as you eventually will need to do this) and how/where to store the mat. Checking for user reviews (if available) is generally a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some mats also have special features such as anti-slip, anti-bacterial, anti-odor, easy to clean, able to roll up the mat, etc. These may effect your choice so I thought I'd mention this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4357" LastEditorUserId="4357" LastEditDate="2012-11-17T23:46:52.620" LastActivityDate="2012-11-17T23:46:52.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9744" CreationDate="2012-11-18T07:03:57.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with others you should ask a medical professional if it continues to cause pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is not professional, but do you think this might be a calf cramp? This can be caused by lack of vitamins, including phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium. However, it seems that potassium can be the most important vitamin to prevent cramping. I used to get sharp pains in my calves when deficient in potassium. Foods high in potassium include avocados, bananas, dried apricots, mushrooms, spinach, and salmon, among many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy running! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4665" LastActivityDate="2012-11-18T07:03:57.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9749" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-18T10:16:19.130" Score="4" ViewCount="2225" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally, when I wake up I don't have any hunger. I eat directly at 12:30 sharp due to work hours so I can go to the gym in afternoon? My question is: &lt;strong&gt;how much time should I wait for before I work-out?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4666" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-11-18T12:53:51.987" LastActivityDate="2018-03-28T16:54:29.040" Title="Gym time after lunch" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9749" CreationDate="2012-11-18T13:41:14.043" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, you are following an extremely unhealthy approach. You need to have breakfast or eat within an hour of waking up. This will kick-start your metabolism for the  day. Google skipping breakfast to understand what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your question is concerned, it really depends on what and how much you eat for lunch. Ideally you can hit the gym floor about 45-60 mins after meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- Update --&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2824987.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Breakfast most important meal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastEditorUserId="1621" LastEditDate="2012-11-18T17:54:22.247" LastActivityDate="2012-11-18T17:54:22.247" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9768" CreationDate="2012-11-18T19:22:13.473" Score="9" ViewCount="15366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read some good things about high intensity interval training (HIIT) programs, and wanted to give one a try. The problem is I don't know how the structure of one works, so I cannot build one custom to my own needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a standard structure or any considerations I should take into account when building a custom HIIT routine? Are there any popular or well tested programs that I can take inspiration from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T17:49:26.250" Title="How to structure a high intensity interval training (HIIT) program?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-18T23:51:58.267" Score="1" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to go the gym every night, at about 10pm - 12pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it good to go at this time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to become thinner, I am quite stocky, I have never been to the gym to increase muscle size, only to reduce my size, i.e. to get fitter/ thinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally do a straight half an hour on the rowing machine, buring around 300 - 340 calories,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then I do a 20 minute bike ride, equivalent to 10km, burning around 180 - 200 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any problem there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is that I still eat like anyone else would, not a care. What are the best kinds of food to eat when trying to lose fat/ lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4669" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T02:05:40.900" Title="Is there a problem with my gym routine?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9752" CreationDate="2012-11-19T00:28:34.483" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I truly believe dietitians are underrated. I would suggest seeing one, even if it might cost money. Some supermarkets even have an in-house dietitian who could help you determine how to alter your meal plans, and then give a quick &quot;tour&quot; of the store so that you know where to buy those items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I do not think there is any one good time to go the gym. If that fits your schedule, that is great! One thing, though, after a difficult workout it is best to eat a bit of protein and carbohydrates to allow your body to heal. Even if this seems counter-intuitive to lose weight (i.e. to be eating right after a workout late at night, it will allow you to continue your exercise regime with your body not breaking down over time).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I see no problem with your workout! It works out both your upper body and lower body, burns a lot of calories, and it does not cause too much joint-pounding that could be the case with long-distance running, especially for heavier runners who are trying to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In terms of food, I advocate the best way to lose weight is to not go on any crash diet, and simply make small substitutions that do not rob you the pleasure and joy of eating delicious foods! Here are examples of (small) alterations to my diet that caused me to lose about 15 lbs of fat (in high school and NEVER GAINED BACK in the past eight years). I targeted my weak areas, which were soft drinks, sugar (especially milk chocolate), too much white pasta, and eating meals without having a small serving of fruits and vegetables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soft drinks --&gt; Bubbled water with lemon and lime squeezed in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Processed white grains --&gt; Multigrain pasta, bagels, crackers, breads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Red meats --&gt; Lean chicken, turkey, and fish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk chocolate --&gt; Dark chocolate (If you have a sweet tooth like me, dark chocolate will fill you up faster. Sometimes I put peanut butter between pieces of Dark Chocolate like a Reeses Pieces or eat it with raspberries. Dark chocolate has a lot of iron, which we need to avoid anemia, and is shown to be better for the heart).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a small serving of fruit or vegetables before meals. It will provide you with vitamins and fiber so you will feel full faster before you devour a heavy meal only to realize you ate too much too fast! It truly works for me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we see people lose weight (and keep it off) it is because of small changes without holding hostage their pleasure, energy, and health. Nobody has the will power to abide by some an austere, tasteless, Zen-like meal plan for very long, especially if it robs them of nutrients. A dietitian could help pinpoint your weaknesses if you were to show him or her a two-week long &quot;food diary&quot; of everything you eat and drink. Those weak areas can be targeted with healthier substitutions that are just as delicious, especially once you grow accustomed to them! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4670" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-19T01:51:32.313" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T01:51:32.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9752" CreationDate="2012-11-19T02:05:40.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is far easier to make wiser eating choices than to exercise off poor choices. Your 50 minute workout barely covers the few minutes it takes to eat a Big Mac (not that I'm saying you eat Big Macs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By eating quantities of foods delivering a low &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_load&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glycemic load&lt;/a&gt;, it is quite easy to take in less calories in a day and not feel hungry or feel like you're too restricted in food choices. You also get the benefits touted by lower carb diets such as reduced fat storage, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem with working out that time is that you may simply run out of time to do it, or simply be too tired. Maintaining that workout every day just to lose a pound a week will be tough on the will-power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T02:05:40.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-19T04:10:28.843" Score="1" ViewCount="582" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been training for nearly 2 years now. I started first at age 15 in gym for about one month but stopped because I didn't know how to train back then.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I turned 16 I got dumbbells and only trained biceps at that time. About 7 months later I started doing upper body workout. This year I started doing legs and abs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I calculated my BMR and TDEE it says I need at least 3200 calories if I want to bulk up or become at least a little bit huge.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm an ectomorph, my height is 176cm and my weight is 68kg (145lbs). I was 57 kg one and a half year ago. I'm 17 years old turning 18 next month .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how I eat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wake up at 11am: eat oatmeal, 4 breads and 2 scrambled eggs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;after 3 hours, meal 2: chapati and chicken.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;after 3 hours, meal 3: high calcium milk (I drink all of it) and some almonds like alot of almonds.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;after 3 hours, meal 4: chicken and chapati again, I workout about 40 minutes later.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;10 minutes after my workout I eat 3 boiled eggs and 1 chicken leg and the hi calcium milk again&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After that there is no room left for more food, I feel like throwing up and walk around for like 10 minutes waiting for it to be digested and go to bed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bedtime is always at around 10:30pm or 11pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how I workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Full body workout (except abs) 1 hour and 15-20 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tuesday: Abs workout, barely 20 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wednesday: Full body workout (except abs) 1 hour and 15-20 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thursday: Abs workout, barely 20 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Friday: Full body workout (except abs) 1 hour and 15-20 minutes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sat&amp;amp;Sunday: rest nothing on those days  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get a little bit fat around my stomach if I don't do cardio workout for like 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if my nutrition is good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never took any supplements like whey protein or anything because my parent's won't let me have money for it. And well I don't work. I am under 18. I want to know if I am missing something? If it's whey protein tell me which is the best and all the supplements I need for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4672" LastEditorUserId="4672" LastEditDate="2012-11-20T02:55:24.873" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T03:34:03.500" Title="Nutrition plan for weight gain" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9756" CreationDate="2012-11-19T08:48:36.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Citing from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4851/3941&quot;&gt;the answer&lt;/a&gt; I already posted in the comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a typical Indian diet like I used to (though I don't want to typecast or stereotype here), it's probably very carbohydrate-heavy. This means a lot of wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar. […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut down wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar to as little as possible (this can mean just one chapati per meal and no rice, or about two tablespoons of rice), and fill up with fruits, vegetables (which does not mean potatoes) and pulses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;let aside all those calculators (which are highly inaccurate by the way, everybody is different. If you get fattier and don't seem to get more muscles, you are doing something wrong. Learn to look at yourself and adapt your eating habits. You can then use calories to alter your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein supplements are in no way a magically gaining muscles. I don't think that you need more protein, your diet seems rather protein rich. On the other hand it seems to lack vegetables and fruits, at least from what I read in your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot give you much advice on your specific workout, in an hour or in 20 minutes you can do a really great workout that really strains your muscles, or you could be doing a workout that has little to no effect, consisting of a lot of pauses etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat specific exercises often enough to have an effect. With repeat I don't mean repetitions, which can be, depending on your goals, between a low number for strength or a higher number for endurance, but I am talking about sets. In all cases do between 3 and 5 sets for all exercises, depending on the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Variation is important. Your body gets used to specific exercises. So if you are always doing the same exercises, put some variation in them.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you lack ideas for exercises:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dumbbell-exercises.com/exercises/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dumbbell exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercises sorted by muscle group&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Form is important. You can do a lot of things wrong when working out. With a bad form you wont get the results you are looking for. Try to do exercises slowly, when you use your whole body to throw your weights up, you are doing something wrong. Deload to a point where you can do your exercises in a way that you can stop and hold at any point in the exercises range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to the above, put on more weight if you can. You have to strain your body. If you do 5 reps 5 sets and are not feeling anything afterwards you either are doing to few reps or using not enough weight. (Again, depending on your goals)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should, even though you are mostly working out with dumbbells, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;. That site gave me some good ideas for my workout plan, even though I am not using barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T08:48:36.223" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9684" CreationDate="2012-11-19T13:44:41.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend to buy the mat in a store so you can touch and feel a sample mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will you have to carry it? The thinner the mat, the easier it'll fit in a single bag together with your other stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some considerations in case you sweat a lot:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For yoga/stretching/pilates/... you sometimes have to roll up the mat to a very specific height (less than brick height) to facilitate certain twisted poses. Buy a mat that is not damaged by sitting on it (mat in partly rolled-up state).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check it out if the mat still feels right with sweaty palms (or sweaty bare feet). Is it slippery? Does it soak up the sweat like a sponge (and do you want this?) How difficult will it be to remove the sweat, or to wash the mat? If a towel is put on the mat as a second layer, how does the towel move?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mat is too thin the temperature of the floor will pass thru. If the mat is thicker it'll insulate better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T13:44:41.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4304" CreationDate="2012-11-19T17:31:20.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The BBC &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243692&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sheds some light&lt;/a&gt; on the history of the three-meals-a-day mindset:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast as we know it didn't exist for large parts of history. The Romans didn't really eat it, usually consuming only one meal a day around noon, says food historian Caroline Yeldham. In fact, breakfast was actively frowned upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The Romans believed it was healthier to eat only one meal a day,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;They were obsessed with digestion and eating more than one meal was considered a form of gluttony. This thinking impacted on the way people ate for a very long time.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the Middle Ages daylight shaped mealtimes, says Day. With no electricity, people got up earlier to make use of daylight. Workers had often toiled in the fields from daybreak, so by midday they were hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The whole day was structured differently than it is today,&amp;quot; says Day. &amp;quot;People got up much earlier and went to bed much earlier.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By midday workers had often worked for up to six hours. They would take a quick break and eat what was known as a &amp;quot;beever&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;noonshine&amp;quot;, usually bread and cheese. As artificial light developed, dinner started to shift later in the day for the wealthier, as a result a light meal during the day was needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article jumps around a bit, but the end result is clear: economics and the vagaries of culture and history have much more effect on when the majority of people people eat meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T17:31:20.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9718" CreationDate="2012-11-19T18:31:59.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a seat back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try 80 and 90 degrees and see which you feel more comfortable doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do both arms at the same time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also add the following: Do not bring your elbows down past 90 degrees (may be hard on your shoulder joint). Do not touch the weights above your head (you lose tension on the shoulder muscles) and stick to a weight you can press for at least 10-12 repetitions (shoulders require more attention than some other muscle groups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4660" LastEditorUserId="4660" LastEditDate="2012-11-23T23:17:38.783" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T23:17:38.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9718" CreationDate="2012-11-19T20:21:22.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good way to know if your back is in the right place is to sit up right, pushing the chest out and tightening the abs even in the seated position. This will create a small arch in your lower back releasing some of the tension, but the abs will serve as a stabilizer for the stance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence this give you a 90 degree upright position and a chair with a back could be used to brace the back some more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are variations to the lifting of the weights, you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting both sides simultaneously&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternating (lift and drop one side, before you do the next side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reciprocating (lifting the other side and meeting the already lifted one half way into the move). This is like a faster version of alternating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be good to use all three techniques in the same workout. If doing 3 sets, do each kind for each set. Its a great challenge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T20:21:22.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9751" CreationDate="2012-11-19T20:26:56.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For Inspiration, here are some popular and well tested ones. i am a graduate of the first two and trust me, they work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beachbody Insanity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beachbody Asylum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beachbody Asylum Volume 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turbo Fire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the structure of an HIIT program involves going as many reps as you an, for a specific period of time, like say...30 seconds (you may want to do 4 exercises back to back, so you go for at least 2 minutes without a rest) and then come to a complete rest for 30 seconds before you go at it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T20:26:56.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9723" CreationDate="2012-11-19T20:27:49.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be better to do the seated bench press instead of the standing press if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you have problems with the standing press (based on Wingeer's answer), or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you want to target the front shoulder without using any other muscles for aesthetic reasons (based on comments by Dave and Affe), or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you want strong shoulders (based on Mike's answer)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-11-20T23:40:37.270" LastActivityDate="2012-11-20T23:40:37.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9556" CreationDate="2012-11-19T20:30:18.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hit-your-peak-8-tips-for-max-muscle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article to be very useful personally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've been under the bar for a while, but you're a little disappointed—you haven't built the size or achieved the shape you so desperately want. Your chest could be wider. Your back could be thicker. You could have more defined shoulder caps and a sharper biceps peak. What you need, my friend, are some tweaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength and size training have many similarities, but there are some particular things you can do to get the most from your hypertrophy workouts. Try these eight tips to build muscle, shape, and density.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset For Size To do a superset, pair two exercises and perform them back-to-back with no rest in between. It's best to do supersets with antagonist muscles like the biceps and triceps, or quads and hamstrings. Supersets are great for increasing muscle size because they enhance the release of testosterone, which is key to building muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always avoid people who have bad attitudes or who whine a lot. They will always be there to drag you down if you let them. This advice applies to all things in life and I find it nice to have a reminder of every now and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4660" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-11-19T20:57:54.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9751" CreationDate="2012-11-20T03:45:35.027" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;After scouring the web for resources on the subject, I have come to the following conclusions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High intensity interval training (&quot;&lt;strong&gt;HIIT&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;) programs are typically defined by a &lt;strong&gt;2:1 ratio of work to rest/recovery periods&lt;/strong&gt;, with anywhere from &lt;strong&gt;4 to 10 cycles of work/rest&lt;/strong&gt;, for a &lt;strong&gt;total workout session between 4-15 minutes&lt;/strong&gt; depending on its structure (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot;&gt;[source]&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example program would be: 30 seconds of hard sprinting alternated with 15 seconds of walking, repeated 6 times for a total workout time of 4 minutes 30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example would be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://tabatatraining.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tabata&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; method (one of the more popular forms of HIIT), and is structured as 20 seconds of intense cardiovascular work followed by 10 seconds of rest, and repeated continuously for a period of 4 minutes or 8 total sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The primary benefit of HIIT/Tabata style workouts is a substantially improved VO2 Max&lt;/strong&gt;, compared to that of gains from moderate intensity long duration aerobic activities. Additionally, it is thought that HIIT also improves fat loss compared to standard cardio (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/&quot;&gt;[source]&lt;/a&gt;) via the &quot;afterburn effect,&quot; although critics cite that while HIIT has the highest caloric burn / exercise time ratio, traditional exercise can provide a much higher caloric expenditure at the expense of increased exercise duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for specific exercises to do during HIIT/Tabata, that largely depends upon your goals. &lt;strong&gt;HIIT is best designed for aerobic activities such as boxing, sprinting, jumping (rope, boxes)&lt;/strong&gt;, so it is best to pick one or more of your preferred exercise and iterate between those during your 4-6 minute session. Some programs recommend barbell/dumbbell exercises, however those are not ideal because HIIT is an endurance/aerobic workout, and thus does not translate well into either the strength training or body building world (&lt;a href=&quot;http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/The-Tabata-Myth/&quot;&gt;[source]&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, when starting a HIIT program you should be mindful of the fact that--if you are doing it correctly--the exercise will be extremely intense; so much so, people often vomit after the first couple of sessions. &lt;strong&gt;Due to the intensity of the program, it is recommended that you consult your doctor first, and that you incrementally buildup intensity over time.&lt;/strong&gt; For example of the latter, instead of starting Tabata off as 20/10 x 8 (20 work seconds, 10 rest seconds, 8 total sets), you build up to that instead. For example, below is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/six_new_tabata_workouts_for_fast_fat_loss&quot;&gt;incremental HIIT structure taken from t-nation&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1 — 10/20 x6 (10s work, 20s rest, 6 sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 2 — 15/15 x4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 3 — 10/20 x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 4 — 15/15 x6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 5 — 20/10 x4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 6 — 15/15 x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 7 — 20/10 x6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 8 — 20/10 x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-11-20T03:45:35.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9556" CreationDate="2012-11-20T04:56:17.087" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there could be more appropriate URL citations than what I am about to provide: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/05/27/how-to-look-like-daniel-craig-in-casino-royale/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to look like Daniel Craig [nerdfitness.com]&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/James_Bond_workout/Monday_s_Workout.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the James Bond workout [menshealth.com]&lt;/a&gt;. Granted these are from 2009 when Daniel Craig was preparing for Casino Royale--not Skyfall which I suspect you are referring to--however I would say the advice is even more important because it covers his transition from absolute beginner to &quot;Bond.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, Daniel Craigs workout was a circuit of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean and Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted Knee Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted Step-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Push up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The circuit would be 10 reps per exercise, then move to the next exercise, with 3 circuits altogether. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, just as important as the workout is the diet. For Daniel (with respect to preparing for Casino Royale), he was a fairly large guy so he didn't have to worry about bulking up, but rather cutting fats while building a muscular base. To quote nerdfitness.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because Daniel was more concerned with cutting body fat while building muscle, his carb intake was very low.  Also, the guy’s 40 (damn!), which means he has a slower metabolism; if you’re 20, skinny as a rail, and trying to look like James Bond, you’re going to want to eat WAY more complex carbs.  If you’re on the bigger side of the spectrum and trying to slim down…this diet will work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; If you want additional details on Daniel Craig's diet, here is a summary of it taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.squidoo.com/daniel-craig-workout&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.squidoo.com/daniel-craig-workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt; 2 Poached Eggs and 2 pieces of Toast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack:&lt;/strong&gt; Protein Shake -or- fruits and Nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt; Meat or Fish with small amount of Brown Rice -or- Baked Potato&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack:&lt;/strong&gt; Protein Shake -or- Yogurt with some Nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt; Meat -or- Fish with some type of Leafy Green Vegetables like Salad, Spinach, or Broccoli.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-11-20T05:02:12.703" LastActivityDate="2012-11-20T05:02:12.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1369" CreationDate="2012-11-20T07:23:02.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, there is something major missing from the replies you have been given, Fred, relating to how rowing machines (as opposed to rowing with oars) affect the abdominal muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite natural on a rowing machine to draw the pulley baton all the way into the stomach with some momentum at the finish of the stroke, with prior flexing of the abs in order to take the fairly light impact. This flexing can be stronger depending on how much momentum you want to add to the finish. The abs then relax again as you move back into the catch position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This abs flex built into the rowing stroke is very effective in stimulating the abs and the whole core, and so I would disagree that rowing is not an excellent way of developing the abs. Indeed, for a whole body workout, this final addition to the technique covers one of the key aims of many exercisers, to stimulate the core and abs as part of a general aerobic workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, in an hour of moderate rowing, you will do the moderate ab flex as many 1800 times (3 strokes per calorie, total 600 cals). Now that's a serious abs workout by any standards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing is to not overdo the momentum or to be late in timing the flex, otherwise you will end up winding yourself and perhaps even bruising your abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But good technique throughout the rowing stroke is necessary in order to avoid injury and get the most from the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastActivityDate="2012-11-20T07:23:02.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9751" CreationDate="2012-11-20T16:15:26.443" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the answer from Moses, I would like to add: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ratio of work to rest. The 2:1 isn't typical for all sorts of HIIT. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; article in the source also mentions the &quot;Little method&quot; where you have more of a 1:1 relationship. Personally, I have been exposed to &quot;2 min run - 2 min rest&quot;x10 or &quot;15s run-15s rest&quot; x10x2 protocols, depending on goals and where you are in a yearly training cycle. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Besides increasing VO2max, HIIT can also be used to practice &quot;game&quot;/&quot;real&quot; situations. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some strength training work-out routines, e.g. &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenewrulesoflifting.com/new-rules-of-lifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New rules of Lifting&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, have for variation purposes work outs with weights where the weights are relatively heavy (deadlift, squats, lunges) and the rest periods short. If you execute these and measure your pulse, you will see that you get close to a HIIT session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consulting a doctor first is a must, I would also recommend a pulse watch. For beginners so that they during the work out, work hard enough and for formerly active and now aged, so that they don't get carried away and die from cardiac arrest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-07-23T08:15:44.420" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T08:15:44.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9785" CreationDate="2012-11-21T01:31:00.177" Score="11" ViewCount="12107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to gym and i want to improve muscular endurance . My trainer (actually he's not a &lt;em&gt;professional trainer&lt;/em&gt;, and i'm not trusting him) told me you have to do high reps with low weights . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, i'm doing Bench Press 3 set 15 reps . Because of 15 reps, i working with low weights. For example, i can do 10 reps with 35 KGS , but i can't do 15 reps with 35 KGS . So, i'm working with 20 KGS (&lt;em&gt;yes, there are big difference&lt;/em&gt;) so i can do 15 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure 15 reps is good, or too much. I read a few articles about increasing endurance, all of them saying &quot;8-10 reps&quot;, or i misunderstood them. What do you think about my training system ? I'm working with this, for a few weeks. But i want to see my muscles' improvement, i mean my biceps are still small (&lt;em&gt;for example&lt;/em&gt;) . I want grow them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In shortly, I'm doing 15 reps with low weights (&lt;em&gt;but i'm always trying to increase weight&lt;/em&gt;). I want to increase muscular endurance and gain more muscle.&#xA;Should i decrease reps number and increase weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3916" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-11-22T16:32:18.253" LastActivityDate="2012-11-22T16:32:18.253" Title="Are 15 reps too many for increasing muscular endurance?" Tags="&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9775" CreationDate="2012-11-21T02:31:03.343" Score="0" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;All my life I have been doing exercise (running, jogging, swimming, dancing, basket ball, martial arts, and gym stuff)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are many genetic factors that make me almost impossible to reduce the fat in my arms. Some guy told me that I have water instead of fat, Nowadays I can not do exercise everyday (a couple of times per week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to burn that fat?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;My weight - 50 Kg&#xA;My height - 1.60 meters&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a skinny person, but the issue here is the fat in my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1968" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T02:44:02.437" Title="burn arm fat not feasible in my case" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9774" CreationDate="2012-11-21T02:44:02.437" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you can burn fat just in your arms, and it doesn't seem like you're overweight anyway. Why do you want to get rid of the arm fat? It probably doesn't matter. If it's for aesthetics, you'd probably do better to just try to add muscle, which would firm up your arms despite the fat that is on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T02:44:02.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4913" CreationDate="2012-11-21T03:02:43.797" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an active duty Marine and following an injury and MRI that revealed a completely torn ACL, torn MCL, and bilateral miniscal tear, I was back to working out my leg within roughly 2 months. By the way, I was in Afghanistan 3.5 weeks following the tear. It was a slow process and incremental in nature, but effective. To the root of your question though, yes, you can squat and deadlift. You know your body though and that is key. However, I was doing squats and repping 225lbs within 3-4 months, leg extensions(!), deadlifts, and eventually graduated to box jumps and box over jumps within a year (crossfit) after getting home. I just got surgery Oct 11th and I'll be damned, I am doing it all over again. There lies the irony...&#xA;Good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4677" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T03:02:43.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-21T06:52:55.087" Score="0" ViewCount="562" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I concentrate on leg lengthiness exercises first or leg thickening exercises first?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a guy age 30. Height : 5 feet 6 inches (1.67m). I have short and thin legs as compared to my upper body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add at least 1-2 inches to my lower body and make it muscular as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am confused what to do first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4695" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-22T02:37:29.053" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T22:47:46.040" Title="Should I concentrate on leg lengthiness exercises first or leg thickening exercises first?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9778" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-21T06:53:14.163" Score="17" ViewCount="1489" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for an implementation (or a document that describes the actual algorithm) for the energy expenditure/VO2/EPOC calculation from the heart rate variability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few white papers about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oxygen consumption estimation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Energy expenditure estimation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EPOC (Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training effect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Athlete's recovery analysis &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can be downloaded &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/physiology/white-papers&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Garmin's webpage, the error is about 50% smaller than for the generic method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these are fascinating to read, they don't tell us much about how to actually calculate these values from heart rate data. All it says: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neural networks were used to construct a model that derives VO2 from R-R intervals (time between successive heart beats), using respiration rate and on/off-response information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the normal heart rate monitors don't make the data available, there are cheap receivers for polar and ANT+ around that allow beat by beat monitoring, like this one www.sparkfun.com/products/8661 (for polar) or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abra-electronics.com/products/WRL%252d08840-Nordic-USB-ANT-Stick.html&quot;&gt;http://www.abra-electronics.com/products/WRL%252d08840-Nordic-USB-ANT-Stick.html&lt;/a&gt; (for ant+)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://code.google.com/p/hrvtracker/&quot;&gt;https://code.google.com/p/hrvtracker/&lt;/a&gt; (program)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conventional estimation of caloric expenditure as a function of the heart rate can be found in this paper: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.braydenwm.com/cal_vs_hr_ref_paper.pdf&quot;&gt;Prediction of Energy Expenditure from Heart Rate Monitoring During Submaximal Exercise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4679" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-11-30T16:15:42.153" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T05:06:45.683" Title="Firstbeat Energy Expenditure Algorithm" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;programming&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="16" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-21T07:08:53.207" Score="6" ViewCount="2952" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in India and have joined 4-5 gyms in last 4-5 years in different cities. Every time people do and also suggest me to do exercise that target only one muscle per day. e.g. on Monday only biceps exercise, on another day only triceps exercise and shoulder exercise on any other day, i.e. to do exercise that target only one muscle each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I exercise in the gym daily for 1 hour in the morning and 30 minutes at night after dinner and before going to bed (most time of the day I just sit on a chair as I'm an IT developer). &lt;strong&gt;I want to build or grow muscles mostly on bicep, triceps, shoulder, chest, wings (not abs, back, and leg).&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So is it really necessary to do exercise targeting one muscle a day like I mentioned above&lt;/strong&gt;, and if it is necessary, do I have to do exercise targeting only one muscle at morning and night on the same day, or can I target one muscle at morning and another at night? How much time of rest should one maintain between two different kinds of muscle exercise? Or is this all just a myth?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Also if I do biceps and triceps together then will the benefit of exercise gets reduced?&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:21:25.593" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:21:25.593" Title="is it necessary to do exercise that target only one muscle a day" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9779" CreationDate="2012-11-21T07:41:16.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to train every muscle in the body, I only count the &lt;em&gt;&quot;show off muscles&quot;&lt;/em&gt; here, like biceps, triceps, abs, etc not all in the body, you would train each muscle about once in a week, if not even less.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is widely accepted that muscles need some rest after you train them, but for achieving most muscle growth you should train them in when they are in the &lt;em&gt;recovery phase&lt;/em&gt;. When this phase begins depends - as far as I remember - on the person and the muscle, but is generally said to be about two days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on what results you want to get it might be a good idea to use isolation exercises instead of compound exercises, that is focusing on a specific muscle instead of a bigger group or the whole body. But training it only once a week would probably not get you the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My approach, if I would go to the gym twice a day would either be to think of four muscle groups I want to train (eg, abs&amp;amp;back, shoulders, arms, legs) and alternate between those sub-plans, If my goal was not too specific I would rotate them each week.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another possibility would be to do cardio in the morning and muscle training in the evening, with two focused sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it heavily depends on your specific goals how you show arrange your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T07:41:16.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9777" CreationDate="2012-11-21T07:53:18.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to crush your idea here, but there is no such thing as lengthening exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to get a bit more height, is to sleep. After sleep your spine is relaxed and you will be around 1cm taller, this effect wears off over the day and does not affect the legs, only the upper body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no aesthetics expert so my advice would simply be to train your legs in general and maybe work on your posture to optically lengthen your legs. Wearing other pants might work as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T07:53:18.057" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9779" CreationDate="2012-11-21T14:59:15.310" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct to be suspicious of the &quot;one muscle a day&quot; prescription. While that method works fine, it is perfectly possible and very productive to do whole-body exercises every time you work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many Olympic weightlifters do what's called Bulgarian training, which is training five or more days a week, sometimes several times a day. They use whole-body exercises like deep squats, presses, cleans, jerks, and snatches. They get very strong and very big using this method. However, their goal isn't to look good, but rather to lift heavy weights in the snatch and clean &amp;amp; jerk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method is simply not working out every day. If you lift three times per week instead of every day, you can be more sure that your body is getting enough rest. Muscles and people need to rest in order to grow, and it's hard to split up your workouts completely. There's nearly always some overlap between muscle groups no matter how you try to work one while resting the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T14:59:15.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9779" CreationDate="2012-11-21T15:18:37.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a week workout's never worked for me. I have wasted years doing that non sense. For me it only gave starting results and then left me making little improvement. I felt that this was not enough workout and working out each body part twice a week was much better. You could also try alternative routines like Starting strength OR GVT and than lose the excess Fat.&#xA;I also don't agree with your approach to build only show off muscles, why ignore something as important as Legs. IMO exercises like Deadlift/Squats have hormonal affect which improves overall strength and recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T15:18:37.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9777" CreationDate="2012-11-21T15:20:45.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd work on making myself physically fit if i were you.  After about the age of 25 people's bone are pretty well done growing.  If you are younger there are some things you can do, such as exercise and eat healthy, that can help make you taller to an extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an adult, the only real options you have are to have surgery.  Barring that, I would do a beginners wieght lifting program, either Starting Strength or Strong lifts, to pack on muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T15:20:45.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9773" CreationDate="2012-11-21T16:23:19.950" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your trainer is correct. &lt;strong&gt;When training for muscular endurance you want to be in the 12-20 rep range&lt;/strong&gt;, so 15 is a perfectly reasonable rep count. In contrast, 1-3 reps trains for strength, 3-5 trains better for power, and 6-10 trains better for mass. See below image for a reference chart on where you should focus your reps / weight depending on your desired result (endurance, strength, power, mass, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Knowing your ORM (one-rep max) is important because it allows you to set appropriate goals for different rep ranges.&lt;/strong&gt; Since we don't know your ORM, we can only guess based off your doing 10 reps of 35kg comfortably; using the chart below, the 10 rep range &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be approximately 70% ORM, so that puts you at a 35/0.7 = &lt;strong&gt;50kg ORM&lt;/strong&gt;. Using 50kg ORM, we can determine that an appropriate weight for endurance at your current level would be approximately 40-60% ORM, which in your case will be 20-30kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5zKlz.png&quot; alt=&quot;rep range chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T16:23:19.950" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9777" CreationDate="2012-11-21T18:46:26.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to truly gain height (Assuming that you have stopped growing. An x-ray of your growth plates is the only way to determine that, although at age 30 it is extremely likely.) is for very expensive, painful and long recovery surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically they saw your bone in half, use a frame to suspend the bones a bit apart from each other and let the bone &quot;fill in&quot; the gap. This costs anywhere from $25-100,000 US, requires a 6-9 month rehab process and might get you an inch. Maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to make peace with yourself, realize that your height is not abnormal and concentrate on making everything that you have look good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-11-29T14:44:25.950" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T14:44:25.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9684" CreationDate="2012-11-21T20:29:06.543" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read the reviews and then compare them to what you're needing it for.  For instance, if I needed a mat for jumping barefoot, one thing I would keep in mind is whether the reviews speak of how comfortable the mat is, easy to jump on, etc.  When I briefly looked up exercise mats, I noticed that the top ones had tons of reviews so in a sense, depending on what you need it for, your work is done for you in terms of what users write about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4682" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T20:29:06.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-21T21:03:23.807" Score="7" ViewCount="4386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go climbing about twice a week, and after a month or so my shoes are quite dirty. Not only do they smell, but I can actually see the dirt on the inside (probably from walking around barefoot on less-than-clean surfaces). I'd like to eliminate the smell at the very least and perhaps keep them generally cleaner (but I guess this involves using slippers). I've found a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3825/get-rid-of-running-shoe-stank&quot;&gt;similar question about running shoes&lt;/a&gt;, but I'm not sure if the materials used in climbing shoes make any difference? I also saw that they use some kind of spray on the boots they rent at the gym, but I'm not exactly sure what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T21:16:27.487" Title="How to maintain the hygiene of rockclimbing shoes?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9789" CreationDate="2012-11-21T22:19:40.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of things you can do to increase the shelf life of your rock climbing shoes as well as reduce the odor/bacteria in it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not wear them except while climbing; the rubber grips at the bottom soak up the dirt and gravel, reducing their effectiveness and long-term durability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace the soles of the shoes on an as-needed basis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a damp rag or cloth to collect the dirt on the inside of the shoe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brush the outside of the shoe with a moderately coarse brush to get rid of the grime. Not so coarse that you scrape off the rubber, but not so light that you aren't cleaning out the packed in dirt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use anti-fungal deodorizing powders and/or sprays. Gold Bond and Desenex are two examples. (I believe gyms typically spray a Lysol-like disinfectant)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear thin socks instead of going barefoot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always allow the shoe to dry naturally, but not in direct heat since it can melt or deform the rubber.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-11-21T22:19:40.450" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9794" CreationDate="2012-11-21T22:37:37.360" Score="2" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are reasons for someone to do Pilates as his or her main fitness activity (like how other people do strength training, yoga, or running)? What does doing Pilates entail?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T03:10:47.263" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T03:10:47.263" Title="Why would someone do Pilates as their main fitness activity?" Tags="&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9791" CreationDate="2012-11-21T23:00:54.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The overall number 1 reason to choose ANY activity for fitness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It causes the desired adaptation in your body&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nothing is more important than finding an activity that causes the adaptations that move you toward your goals.  You won't make a permanent positive change in your life otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no good reason a person to choose pilates as their &lt;em&gt;main fitness activity&lt;/em&gt; (assuming the goal is fitness, rather than pleasure, or for a feeling of doing something useful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It perhaps would be useful or pleasing as a supplementary activity, but &lt;em&gt;for a main activity&lt;/em&gt;, strength training, cardiovascular conditioning, or a sport that works these attributes work would always be better alternatives to pilates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4683" LastEditorUserId="4683" LastEditDate="2012-11-26T23:07:07.227" LastActivityDate="2012-11-26T23:07:07.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9789" CreationDate="2012-11-22T00:09:27.933" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a period of serious shoe funk, and tried a number techniques before finding a system that works for me. It should be noted that shoe odor tends to be much worse in synthetic shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is prevention. Do not put your shoes in a bag, ever. Even in an open canvas bag, the shoes don't dry out as well between sessions. I've taken to always clipping my shoes onto the outside of my bag so that they're always airing out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so, dirt and sweat will take its toll over time, but there are a number of ways to clean your shoes. I tried the washing machine, but it seemed a bit harsh on the rubber. My preferred method is to just hold them under the tap, run warm water and scrub the hell out of them with a toothbrush. Once the water coming out of them turns clear, I dip the toothbrush in vinegar and give them a good scrub all over to kill any bacteria. After that, I rinse them again and put them aside to dry. I've never had any odor problems survive this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A disinfectant spray to kill fungus certainly can't hurt, but isn't as important if you're the only one using the shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4684" LastActivityDate="2012-11-22T00:09:27.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9791" CreationDate="2012-11-22T00:29:23.190" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The overall number 1 reason to choose ANY activity for fitness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You Enjoy It&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nothing is more important than finding an activity that you discover you like doing and are eager to come back to each week.  You won't make a permanent positive change in your life otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, reasons you might choose to try out Pilates and see if it's that kind of activity for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Good posture has positive side effects in many other areas of your life.  It affects people's impression when they see or meet you.  It prevents discomfort and chronic injury from office work.  There are plenty of full length books on the benefits of good posture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Learning to habituate biomechanically correct movement improves your performance in every other athletic endeavour.  Dedicated pilates study will make flawless form in a movement like the barbell squat feel like a totally normal natural thing you do.  Watch some video of an elite strength athlete like Mariusz Pudzianowski competing, notice the absolute perfection of movements even while doing totally absurd things.  Learn to move properly as a matter of habit, rather than something you focus on for certain specific exercises then go back to having turned in hips and rolled in shoulders the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The right selection of equipment can provide strength training in muscles that are so weak it's almost impossible to work them without having other muscles take over and compensate.  If you're coming from being sedentary, you definitely have some muscle groups that are like this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Likewise the right selection of equipment can provide plenty of resistance for strength training push and pull compound body movements in all planes.  If your goal is primarily putting on muscle mass, would using a barbell be faster?  Of course, but it's not the one and only option for getting stronger.  A Pilates program will combine strength training with balance, posture, mobility, flexibility etc.  (As opposed to a program where you might say &quot;I move a barbell for strength then do these other accessory exercises to keep those other things in line.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can participate in progressive classes where you learn new things about moving and about your body as time goes on.  Variety is important for some people, learning more, new, harder ways to say, do a lower body push movement, may (or may not) be more rewarding for you than the powerlifting approach of pursuing ever-greater weights in the same set of core movements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is difficult to explain and I don't have references to research, but you're just plain happier and more functional when your hips aren't tight and your sacrum is properly aligned.  There are lots of theories on the effect such as clearing up &quot;neuromotor static noise&quot; that have various levels of research around them.  I can just tell you anecdotally it has been true for me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Footnote 1:&lt;/strong&gt; As you indicated, I am referring to Pilates practice as the primary, not only exercise.  I do personally also do the major compound body movements with dumbbell/barbell for additional strength work, but time-wise I put much more into Pilates than moving iron.  It simply shifts the emphasis off of adding muscle and onto those other things.  I am not saying that &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; Pilates does those things and barbell training does not, it's just, how do you want to balance where you put your effort among all these competing concerns?  Do you want to get stronger and have your posture gradually improve as a side effect, or fix your posture and get gradually stronger as a side effect?  I find more time on these aspects and less on straight strength works for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Footnote 2:&lt;/strong&gt; I am of course referring to studying the Pilates method in an equipped studio with a good instructor.  Not flopping around on the floor of the living in front of a DVD &quot;toning your tummy&quot; with 2-lb. neoprene dumbbells :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-23T14:46:23.913" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T14:46:23.913" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9806" CreationDate="2012-11-22T11:44:15.580" Score="2" ViewCount="1270" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being in a good shape it's sometimes for me hard to breathe (I need to breath more and deeper) after doing barbell squats, especially after long omissions. Almost none of other exercises make me feel so breathless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking that this is because of a large weight of muscles in legs and totally not enough blood to serve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can be added to train, maybe, lungs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPD:&lt;/strong&gt; I have no cardio problems so. And yes, I will consult with my physician as soon as I can. I think the answer I will receive would be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4687" LastEditorDisplayName="user4687" LastEditDate="2012-11-24T10:00:14.580" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T09:43:19.277" Title="Barbell squat breathing problem" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8237" CreationDate="2012-11-22T14:46:07.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you to add Interval Running session to your weekly workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, interval running is a series of short sprints (high-intensity interval) with light jogging in between (rest interval).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me explain. Your goal is to run at 6 minutes per mile pace. You can push yourself to run whole workout in that pace, but it will be really hard and stressful for your body to run for an hour in that pace because it's just not get used to it yet. Interval running offers your an opportunity to run in target pace for a short periods of time followed by period of rest. It's much less stressful and helps conditioning your body to run in target pace. Yes, you will need to be pushing yourself during interval trainings, but since yours body will start getting used to that intensity, your natural running pace will increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4688" LastEditorUserId="4688" LastEditDate="2012-11-25T11:24:03.497" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T11:24:03.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-23T00:39:26.143" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is probably not a usual question you see on here but anyways. I have over the past year purchased three different office chairs. They have all seemed fine for the first few months, however after the 2-3 month mark my back starts to hurt. There's no specific part, sometimes it's the lower back sometimes the upper back but it keeps me from doing my work properly. I sit at my desk for 8-9 hours a day( I'm a student and software developer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what to do. Doing back exercises doesn't seem to work either. I don't know whether it's because I'm 197cm tall (~ 6'7'') and most office chairs aren't suited for my height? If so, can you recommend any brand or even a specific chair? It's really a problem for me, it increases my stress levels a lot on top of the pain I have every day in my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help/suggestions appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4692" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T03:21:05.117" Title="My current office chair makes back ache" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-11-23T14:34:23.823" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2012-11-23T03:21:05.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't find a chair that relieves it, try a stand-up or a treadmill desk if possible where you work. I changed over about 18 months ago to a treadmill desk and my back pain has completely disappeared. I would never go back to a chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T03:21:05.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-23T05:39:10.037" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1488/tricks-to-lose-weight-in-48-hours&quot;&gt;Tricks to lose weight in 48 hours&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a photoshoot Saturday morning and I'm looking for ways to lose weight for me to be able to fit into my dress. Unfortunately, today was thanksgiving. I tried not to eat as much but I still am not able to fit into my dress. I'm looking to lose about 5-10 pounds... any help? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4693" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T07:36:33.030" Title="How to lose weight in about 32 hours" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2012-11-23T14:31:14.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9801" CreationDate="2012-11-23T05:59:07.130" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 20 year old man. My height is 162cm (approx. 5feet 4in) but my weight is only 42kg (approx 92 pounds). This makes my BMI to be approx 16.00. The low weight is not genetic or the result of any disease of any sort. In fact, since the past 5-6 years, I have stuck on the same weight. I tried working out a couple of years back for a year but it didn't work out well. The low weight has started to cause me serious health issues which include all-time low stamina, early exhaustion, weakness in various parts of the body, and low immunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on starting to work out again, but this time I want to be sure with my workout plan and diet regime. My daily schedule is, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7:30am wake up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:00am leave for college&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:30am - 5:30pm college&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9:30pm dinner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;11:00pm sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a pure vegetarian. Please let me know if I need to provide any more info than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4430" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T22:15:30.447" Title="Low weight causing health problems" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9800" CreationDate="2012-11-23T09:38:55.290" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah so, you obviously need to eat more. If I understand you correctly you fast for 24 hours per day, which in itself is fine, however it is VERY hard to get one day worth of food in one meal. &lt;strong&gt;Especially&lt;/strong&gt; vegetarian meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you need at least one more meal per day, maybe even two more to get into caloric surplus. Think of it this way. To maintain your current weight you need to eat around 1200-1300 kcal/day, you would probably want to be around 1800kcal/day to start adding weight. I would guess you currently eat well below 1200kcal per day. So if you take you current portion size and just eat that amount once more every day you will at least hold your weight and probably gain some. If you are still not adding weight after a couple of weeks, add one more meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a pure plantbased vegan diet I would recommend you start stocking up on beans, lentils and nuts since it is full of protein and is fairly energy dense. Include that in you every meal. Prepare food to eat the next day at the same time you eat your dinner, then just bring that with you to college.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make a plan with times when you are going to eat your meals and be punctual with your meal time. You will feel stuffed the first couple of weeks, but make sure to eat your meals even if you have to divide it into smaller portions. If you keep to your new meal plan and eat at the same time every day, after a couple of weeks you will get hungry at that time and eating your meals will be easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a lowered immune system I would not recommend you start exercising right now, it will just make you ill. So start with fixing your energy intake. Then after a while you might want to take up some weight training to gain some muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also concider going to a doctor, not only for a check up on your overall health but also so a professional can determin if you need to be referred to a weight clinic or any other problems which can't be determined on a forum like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastEditorUserId="4423" LastEditDate="2012-11-23T22:15:30.447" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T22:15:30.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-23T18:22:42.437" Score="11" ViewCount="3771" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to put on some muscles, so I thought the best way to get started is to learn how the process of muscle build up works. I want to start from the basics to get good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how exactly do muscles build up when exercising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4695" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-23T19:40:07.803" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T00:01:57.050" Title="How does muscle build up when we exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-23T21:16:43.273" Score="1" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard people claim that one should eat small meals every 4 hours (some people even go as far as waking up in the middle of the night to do this), While others advocate a daily fast of 16 hours (aka &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intermittent Fasting&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a consensus on what's healthy ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1673" LastEditorUserId="1673" LastEditDate="2012-11-23T21:46:45.620" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T19:53:16.700" Title="How often should one eat to stay physically fit?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9803" CreationDate="2012-11-23T23:31:51.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that this is a valid question for physical fitness here is why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're out of shape and overweight you focus on two things: You're weight and you're muscle tone. The more you eat(to a certain extent) the more your body has to work with(as far as energy for exercise, and protein for repairing muscles after exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of my experience with people trying to build muscle or get back in shape is that people go through cycles, either bulking up to build muscle or slimming down to reveal tone. I think this is a big part of looking good, do you eat lots and gain muscle mass or eat very little and slim down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My answer from personal experience is that you need to have enough energy to do your daily tasks, and to plan for physical activity. It's ok to eat less than what your body needs to maintain it's weight if you want to lose weight, but you need to consider that you'll be losing muscle mass as well when you do this. Muscle mass burns more calories while you're idle, it also makes your body have good shape and look toned. It's also ok to eat more than your body needs when you're trying to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The balance is something only you can figure out. Personally I think that going though a muscle building cycle for 3-4 weeks, then a cardio/slimming cycle for 2-3 weeks is where I found my balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating more small meals spread throughout the day and a larger one before and after a workout is in my opinion(and many others) the way to manage you're food intake. I strongly believe in a low carb higher protein diet, but again, some people feel differently(distance runners?). The very way the human body works lets us know that when we fast the body stores the remaining energy and weakensd the ability of the mind to think quickly, so I'm pretty against the idea of fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that always trying to lose weight or maintain a weight may not be what makes you look good, looks aren't based on numbers, so if you only base your routine by number of carbs or meals and not improving what you see in front of you'll always be slightly disappointed in what you see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just what I've learned about my body from the past decade. I hope it helped you out. Also if you tell me a bit more about your exercise routine and goals I can change my answer to further help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4660" LastActivityDate="2012-11-23T23:31:51.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9802" CreationDate="2012-11-24T09:28:11.407" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there are many different ways to approach this question, I think the best approach is from a very high-level as it gives you the proper foundation upon which you can build your exercise routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easy way you can understand how muscles are built is by applying Selye's Theory of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_adaptation_syndrome#General_adaptive_syndrome&quot;&gt;General Adaptive Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;. The process can be broken down into three stages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Adaptive Syndrome&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stage One (Alarm)&lt;/strong&gt;: this is where you shock your muscles through stress (exercise). If the weight is insufficient, then the body will not become shocked and it will not enter stage two. In contrast, if the weight is too excessive, it will overload the body and you will find yourself headed to Stage 3 (exhaustion).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stage Two (Resistance)&lt;/strong&gt;: this is where your body responds to the stressor in stage one through various hormonal and metabolic activity, and on a basic level is preparing your body for future exposure to that stress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stage Three (Exhaustion)&lt;/strong&gt;: if the stress on your body is too great or too frequent, then your body will not be able to recover from the stress and exhaustion sets in. With respect to magnitude, it is when you lift weights too heavy for your current muscles; with respect to frequency, it is when you do not properly recover before your next workout (see road to recovery below). This stage is commonly referred to as overtraining and must be avoided.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stage Three (Recovery)&lt;/strong&gt;: if you use appropriate weights to trigger the stress and have adequate rest before your next workout, then you go into the recovery stage where the muscles are made. With new and improved muscles, you are now more prepared for future stress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drawing Conclusions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this we can see that too little weight produces no effect, whereas too much weight or poor recovery results in overtraining, therefore the &lt;strong&gt;best approach to build muscle is using the proper amount of weight and appropriate recovery following the workout.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, we can deduce that &lt;strong&gt;as your body recovers and builds muscle, you will require progressively heavier weights in order to trigger stress and continue to build muscle.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to realize that in these stages, muscle is not made during the workout (Alarm), it is made in the time afterwards while you are &lt;em&gt;recovering&lt;/em&gt; from the stress. Therefore, &lt;strong&gt;even the best structured workout plan can fall short if the trainee does not take the necessary steps to recover!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Road to recovery&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The road to recovery is paved with several stones: &lt;strong&gt;sleep&lt;/strong&gt; (8-9 hours/day), &lt;strong&gt;rest days between workouts&lt;/strong&gt; (1-2 days for the novice, scaling higher for intermediate/advanced), and a &lt;strong&gt;proper diet&lt;/strong&gt; (lots of protein [1-2g per kg of bodyweight], 500-1000 caloric excess to fuel muscle growth, micronutrients, and stay well hydrated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone just starting out (novice) you will be able to adapt very quickly to stress, and thus only need 1 or 2 days rest between workouts. Also, you will see your greatest strength/muscle gains during this time. Depending on your ultimate goals (muscle mass, strength, power) there are loads of different and proven exercise routines to choose from that will provide you a progressively scaling workout to follow. I've had personal success with &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, which are full body barbell routines designed for strength and come highly recommended on this site, but your goals or mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-11-24T09:42:13.013" LastActivityDate="2012-11-24T09:42:13.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9795" CreationDate="2012-11-24T18:07:07.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have no heart or lung problems, you're just feeling the difficulty of doing squats. 15 reps is a long set! The program I'm doing has me doing squats at only 3 sets of 5 reps, but at a higher weight. I don't run out of breath, but they're still really hard, and I'm getting stronger. At 15 reps, you're training endurance, and that's why you're feeling so out of breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-11-24T18:07:07.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-25T09:59:52.490" Score="4" ViewCount="491" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a follow up question to this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7328/substitute-for-squats-and-squat-jumps-that-put-less-stress-on-knees&quot;&gt;Substitute for squats and squat jumps that put less stress on knees&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found this leg exercise program which tries to minimize knee strain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wannabebig.com/training/bodybuilding/get-big-legs-with-bad-knees/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wannabebig.com/training/bodybuilding/get-big-legs-with-bad-knees/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One exercise is for example the half one legged squat half deadlift. But there seems to be a consensus that it is better to do full squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that it is true that one has less knee stress if one does the The Single Leg ½ Squat, ½ Deadlift compared to a full squat. But it doesn't seem to work the entire legs just like full squats do, so one has to complement The Single Leg ½ Squat, ½ Deadlift which other exercises to get a balanced workout and avoid imbalances. Is my feeling correct? Why or why not? Is there any scientific evidence for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of the exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Single Leg ½ Squat, ½ Deadlift&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Anterior Lunges&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Romanian Deadlifts&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Monster Walks&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Single Leg Bench Hip Bridge&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Sled Pushes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Forward Sled Drag&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Reverse Sled Drag  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am not interested in opinions but what can one say from an exercise scientific point of view about that exercise program, the exercises it uses and about the composition. In particular with respect to avoid knee problems, avoid muscle imbalances and about its effectiveness to strengthening the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any important points I should have in mind when following this program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me all those exercises seem to be hamstring/glute dominant, it seems to neglect the quads. So even if those exercises are knee friendly, how can I put it together to get a balanced leg workout? The Reverse Sled Drag seems to be the only exercise which really targets the quads. However if I don't have access to a sledge, how can I put it together in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T16:16:10.670" Title="Exercise scientific understanding of this leg exercise program" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9810" CreationDate="2012-11-25T12:03:03.550" Score="6" ViewCount="417" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm traveling to a long period and neither able to attend a gym on a regular basis, nor to have equipment like dumbbells. I'm keen to do full-body workouts, but still can't find an exercise for shoulders. Can you recommend one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My options at the moment:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;handstand push-ups. I'm not very good at hand-standing now (even against the wall), but I'm practicing. Also it seems that this exercise has limited amplitude, because you need to do something with your head hitting the floor :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pull-ups. Rarely an option because it's really hard to find a pull-up bar in most places I live.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4688" LastEditorUserId="4688" LastEditDate="2012-11-25T13:31:06.913" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T03:39:44.917" Title="Exercise for shoulders strength with no special equipment" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9808" CreationDate="2012-11-25T12:33:47.513" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem a few weeks ago when I was looking to make my routine a bit more well rounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I am doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWPikePress.html&quot;&gt;Pike Press&lt;/a&gt;, depending on how you do them, they may have more focus on your chest than on your back. Compare them with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/BWPikePushup.html&quot;&gt;Pike Push Ups&lt;/a&gt;. The closer your feet are to your hands the more focus you get on your shoulders, so both exercises are often mixed up or simply just called &lt;em&gt;Pike Push Ups&lt;/em&gt;. (as in the videos below)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/BWSideBridge.html&quot;&gt;Side Bridges&lt;/a&gt; and Bridges are mainly focused on the abs and the core in general but use a lot of shoulder muscles for control.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I look for new exercises I often check out Youtube and search for the muscle group I want to train and checkout the exercises on other sites (like exrx) afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some videos I recently bookmarked:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPU9rvvBfdw&quot;&gt;Best Bodyweight Shoulder Exercise&lt;/a&gt; - shows that you can do pike push ups even with a cat in the way.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&amp;amp;NR=1&amp;amp;v=ZlMUT2SqJj0&quot;&gt;4 Killer Shoulder Exercises *Home Workout Routine*&lt;/a&gt; - silly music, but good explanations.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH2FmRXxKEo&quot;&gt;10 Shoulders Exercises (body weight)&lt;/a&gt; - just some dude doing exercises, no further explanation given.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful with videos though, you never know if they are done with good form, so check at least two or three other resources before attempting an exercise. As always: if it hurts or feels strange, don't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T12:33:47.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9812" CreationDate="2012-11-25T13:13:34.980" Score="5" ViewCount="837" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to do all kind of fitness related assessments that are not to difficult/costly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They should produce reports that can be understood by similar professionals.  Ideally it should be possible to repeat them and compare the status.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking broadly, like balance, flexibility, core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not looking so much for specific measurements, but assessments that I can ask Physiotherapists and other professionals to do for me, and have some kind of output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The objective is to know what to ask for, when I talk to professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-25T21:13:30.673" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T21:13:30.673" Title="Fitness assessments" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;&lt;assesment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9811" CreationDate="2012-11-25T16:32:51.750" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some things you can do (I'm just making this up on the spot, based on somebody else's breakdown of the 10 areas of fitness, but they're things I've done in the past or currently to track my progress). They are mostly very standard ways to test these things and understood by any professional you'll visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-stage_fitness_test&quot;&gt;beep test&lt;/a&gt;. It's a good proxy for your VO2Max. All you need is to download the mp3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stamina&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How fast do you run 5km, or 10km?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your max back squat? bench press? overhead press?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Huge list of tests here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Tests.html&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Tests.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much can you power clean? Or, what is your vertical jump from a standstill? You can test this one by marking on a wall the highest spot you can touch while both feet are still planted on the ground. Then jump up as high as you can and mark the highest spot you can reach. The difference between the two is your &quot;standing vertical jump&quot; and is basically only improved by improving your power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Speed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your 40 yard dash time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coordination&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a test for this one. Maybe something like bouncing a tennis ball off a wall and back to yourself (barehanded). Do this at a difficult distance. See how many times you can do this without dropping it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Agility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nfl.com/combine/workouts&quot;&gt;NFL combine&lt;/a&gt;'s 3-cone drill and shuttle run are good agility tests:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The 3 cone drill tests an athlete's ability to change directions at a&#xA;  high speed. Three cones in an L-shape. He starts from the starting&#xA;  line, goes 5 yards to the first cone and back. Then, he turns, runs&#xA;  around the second cone, runs a weave around the third cone, which is&#xA;  the high point of the L, changes directions, comes back around that&#xA;  second cone and finishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The short shuttle is the first of the cone drills. It is known as the&#xA;  5-10-5. What it tests is the athlete's lateral quickness and explosion&#xA;  in short areas. The athlete starts in the three-point stance, explodse&#xA;  out 5 yards to his right, touches the line, goes back 10 yards to his&#xA;  left, left hand touches the line, pivot, and he turns 5 more yards and&#xA;  finishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Balance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of ways to approach this. Do you want to test balance that you've acquired as a skill? Like standing one-legged on a balance board? Or do you want to see how your general training has helped you with balance in general? This is trickier... you'd have to see things like &quot;am I rolling my ankles less while hiking&quot;, or &quot;am I injured less during sports&quot;. But, since you want something repeatable, you could do a test like how long can you stand on a balance board, how long can you do it with one leg, with eyes closed, while moving your other leg to other points in space around the board, etc. But, don't practice whatever balance test you'll be doing other than in the tests, otherwise you'll just be testing a skill rather than your general balance ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Accuracy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This depends on what type of accuracy you want to test. Are you a thrower? Are you a volleyball setter? Are you a basketball shooter? Are you a hunter that shoots? You can pick whatever type of accuracy you would like to test and basically do what you'd do in the range with a gun to test your accuracy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throw a ball at a target on a wall. How close did you get? Repeat this 10 times and take the total. Or,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many baskets do you make from 10 points around the key? Or,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your score at the shooting range? (This should be improved by improving your fitness!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What you'll have&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might do this over a weekend once every 4 months or so, and get a results that look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beep test: 8.5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5k: 20:56&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 200lbs, Bench: 100lbs, Overhead press: 70lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/FlexFunction/ShoulderMobilityOpen.html&quot;&gt;Open hand shoulder mobility test&lt;/a&gt;: -0.5 inch, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/SitReach.html&quot;&gt;Sit and reach flexibility test&lt;/a&gt;: 14 inches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vertical jump: 24 inches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 yard dash: 6.2 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coordination: 42 bounce+catches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shuttle run: 7.3 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time 1-legged on a balance board with eyes closed: 35 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accuracy: 95 (I don't know... some accuracy score, depending on what you do)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, you should make each of these numbers better for the next time you test, or you can bring them to a fitness professional and tell them which ones you want to improve in the next few months, and they can give you a program to suit that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-11-25T16:56:40.880" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T16:56:40.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9803" CreationDate="2012-11-25T18:16:38.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating small meals each 3-4 hours is healthier because of smoother calories intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you eat, your body receives calorie load. Calories mean energy for your body, but our bodies tend to &quot;store&quot; excessive unused calories as a fat to make use of it later. If you eat smaller portions, your body receives less calories in time and may fully transform them to energy. In this case you need to eat more often to keep your body energized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider you need to intake 1500 calories daily. You can have just two meals of 750 calories each or you can have 5 meals of 300 calories each. In first case it's more likely to have excessive calories which will not be needed for your body at the moment. So eating small meals each 3-4 hours is much healthier. Also you will feel not so filled up and heavy as after a big meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4688" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T18:16:38.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9803" CreationDate="2012-11-25T19:53:16.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we are talking metabolism, meal timing have no effect what so ever. There are heaps of studies made and I don't think there is anyone refuting this (at least not in the scientific community), read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of this is about perceived satiety, which of course is individual. So if you go around hungry all day if eating 2 meals per day, then don't do that. If you on the other hand need to count every calorie to not overeat on 6 meals per day, then that maybe is something you have to think over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating six meals per day is fine and maybe even preferable for people with exceptional high training load, only for the reason of getting enough energy. For average Joe with a somewhat sedentary life I would say that it invites for overeating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also endocrine issues and other things that really is yet to be properly explained. (I have some early reports and might edit this post later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastActivityDate="2012-11-25T19:53:16.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9819" CreationDate="2012-11-25T20:00:27.550" Score="1" ViewCount="1102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sitting a lot in the front of the computer, sometimes in not the very best position, mostly seated at the desk but also at home with the laptop not sited on the chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I have a mild back pain around the 3rd lumbar vertebrae(L3) and the worst was a few times when I had a mild inflammation in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I do to prevent arriving to the point when its painful, but also for general maintenance in the lumbar area of the spinal cord, also if there are any exercises for this specific area around the 3rd vertebrae? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to mention that I am slightly underweight and have no chronic health issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4615" LastEditorUserId="4615" LastEditDate="2013-03-16T21:40:24.947" LastActivityDate="2013-03-16T21:40:24.947" Title="Exercises to recover from mild pain around the 3rd lumbar vertebrae?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9820" CreationDate="2012-11-26T03:49:56.077" Score="5" ViewCount="3497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the process of transitioning from being a medium pace summer cricket bowler to being a spin bowler in indoor cricket. In particular I'm playing around with some 'caroom ball' style variations. To bowl these well, and indeed any spin bowling style deliveries, a lot of finger and hand strength is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from simply practising bowling, are there any good specific exercises to improve this kind of strength? Ajantha Mendis who has lead the renaissance of this 'caroom ball' style bowling credits his hand strength to the training he received in the Sri Lankan army. What kind of exercises might this have involved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: For those not familiar with cricket or this style of bowling, the action requires some fingers to pull in (using grip strength) and other to flick out. It is actually the flicking part that needs the most strength, rather than conventional grip strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4703" LastEditorUserId="4703" LastEditDate="2012-11-26T20:26:58.007" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T05:05:30.617" Title="Finger/Hand strength exercises for spin bowling in cricket?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9815" CreationDate="2012-11-26T06:34:14.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a reasonably good set of beginning advice: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/lower-back-pain-10/slideshow-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;webmd&lt;/a&gt;.  I'd say there likely aren't any exercises which will be specifically good for the third lumbar vertebra, but building up strength in that area should generally help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially given that you're underweight, building strength/increasing muscle mass is likely to be helpful.  I'd recommend crunches, &lt;a href=&quot;http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesroutines/ss/Pilates-Back-Exercises_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the pelvic tilt/curl Pilates exercise&lt;/a&gt;, and several yoga poses: child's pose, planks/chaturanga, cat/cow poses, downward facing dog, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/Half-Forward-Bend-Ardha-Uttanasana.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;half (not full!) forward bend&lt;/a&gt; (modify by putting your hands on your knees instead of the floor if bending is too much).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's far from an exhaustive list of good exercises to do.  In general, I think you want to be strengthening your abdominal muscles, your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psoas_major_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;psoas muscles&lt;/a&gt; and your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latissimus_dorsi_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;latissimus dorsi&lt;/a&gt;, so try to find exercises that strengthen those muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note, I am neither a personal trainer nor a medical professional, just someone who's had a lot of back pain.  If the pain persists or gets more severe, seek professional help!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="3718" LastEditDate="2012-11-26T07:01:30.890" LastActivityDate="2012-11-26T07:01:30.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9817" CreationDate="2012-11-26T09:01:50.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no idea of cricket (other than some scenes from British movies that didn't help me in any way understanding the rules) and I'm not sure what a bowler does so I don't know how these translate but I do some gripping exercises for martial arts and use basically homemade tools for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest to build is a tennis ball. I have one in my office and one at home and just squeeze them. It's the same principle as grippers (spring loaded) but much cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing I often use is a wrist roller. It's easy to construct since it's one a weight on a string on a stick. So what you do with it is you hold the stick and twist it to wrap the string around the handle to bring the weight up and down. That's basically a wrist exercise but also works hands and fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An other thing that seems to be popular for grip strength are clubs but I haven't tried that so I can't tell you much about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What also works for pinching strength is just grip some weight with your pinched fingers so for example grab a filled bottle of water or a dumbbell plate with you fingers by the rim but in a way that you only hold it by pinching you fingers (so no hooking the tip of fingers under a rim or anything) and hold it for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if that helps or if the Sri Lankan army does any of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit after clarification:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know of any tool that does provide resistance in a flicking direction. The two options I can think of to add resistance in an outward direction are either to do that motion against a rubber band (which will most likely fly off into your face if you don't find a way to attach it somehow so it can't get off your fingers (maybe sew it to an old glove)). Or do the movement in something like a bowl of sand (wearing gloves if you don't also want to condition your skin) or something similar (high viscosity liquid or something) to add resistance to the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Found a few links on the extension topic: &lt;a href=&quot;http://bemoretraining.blogspot.de/2008/06/finger-extension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is one mentioning a commercial tool for this kind of excercise and showing how to replace it with a piece of thera-band. &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthandphysique.blogspot.de/2008/08/finger-extensions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; one shows an easy way to fix a rubber band for resistance. And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/way_5444147_exercises-finger-extension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is one realy adding anything new but mentioning the sand bowl method which was just a wild stab in the dark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried the thera band thing and I have to say I have very unbalanced gripping and extension strength...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4489" LastEditorUserId="4489" LastEditDate="2012-11-27T05:05:30.617" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T05:05:30.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4621" CreationDate="2012-11-26T11:35:32.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its not so much about the style, but a lot of classes have a lot of fit young women, so you need to find one where you &quot;fit in&quot;, preferably a dedicated beginners class.&#xA;(If the teacher is old female, the students are more likely to be old)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An Ingyear teacher will usually adapt the program well to your level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will recommend against Astanga (for unfit people), as they have this one fixed program, and also put a lot of strain on parts of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't generally recommend Bikram, but I think its OK for unfit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2012-11-27T23:19:48.707" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T23:19:48.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-26T11:43:38.950" Score="1" ViewCount="2960" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard a lot about the benefits of HIIT training over cardio at a constant level so I want to incorporate some into my training. What timings of work to rest should I use? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read about the Tabata method which is 20 seconds rest and 40 seconds work. However when I tried this out I found the 20 seconds wasnt nearly long enough to recover. I'm fairly fit, so I don't know if I'm not fit enough or if I was pushing myself too much during the work phase.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4681" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-26T14:56:50.580" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T16:08:41.423" Title="What work/rest timings should I use for my HIIT workouts?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9824" CreationDate="2012-11-26T13:10:01.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long is your entire session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should consider breaking the HIIT into different phases during a span of several weeks to build up your endurance to the 2:1 work/rest ratio you're trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1-2nd week: 20 second sprint, 40 second rest/jog/walk &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3-4th week: 30 second sprint, 30 second rest/jog/walk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5-6th week: 40 second sprint, 20 second rest/jog/walk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4705" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2012-11-30T16:08:41.423" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T16:08:41.423" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9824" CreationDate="2012-11-26T14:06:50.533" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The point of rest in Tabata protocol workouts isn't to let you fully recover, it's to let you recover &lt;strong&gt;a little&lt;/strong&gt; in order to prolong the length of time you can sustain maximal effort without a dramatic decrease in output. There should never be a question of whether you pushed yourself hard enough during the work phase, because you should be exerting maximal effort. You should be very, very tired from this kind of workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Tabata protocol is 2:1 of work to recovery. Per Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A popular regimen based on a 1996 study by Izumi Tabata (田畑　泉) uses 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles). Tabata called this the IE1 protocol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of other timings that work well. As long as the exercise and recovery periods are kept short, and the entire workout is kept fairly short as well, I wouldn't worry too much about the exact ratios. Instead, focus on working harder during those short efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-11-26T14:06:50.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8072" CreationDate="2012-11-26T16:44:25.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Spanish Web&quot; or &quot;Corde Lisse&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a nice overview at this &lt;a href=&quot;http://community.simplycircus.com/tutorials/aerial/aerial_arts_faq.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aerial Arts FAQ&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4706" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-26T17:03:00.443" LastActivityDate="2012-11-26T17:03:00.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9808" CreationDate="2012-11-26T17:47:17.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Informaficker and his two exercises. The plank is also a very good exercise to work the stabilizers in the shoulders. I also saw this one where, while in the plank position, you alternate the hands coming up with a punch. After about 10 of those, you will start to feel the burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2012-11-26T17:47:17.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9807" CreationDate="2012-11-26T19:28:05.213" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to realize is that if you have good knees, full depth squats are safe as h&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7687/879&quot;&gt;as been stated&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7335/879&quot;&gt;multiple occasions&lt;/a&gt; including a link to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Squats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kinesthetic breakdown of a squat&lt;/a&gt;.  A squat and squat jump are two very different exercises though.  A proper squat is much less impact on the knees than say &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.posetech.com/library/cs-05-2001.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;running&lt;/a&gt; or jumping.  Although there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1948208,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some research that says running&lt;/a&gt; isn't as damaging as originally thought.  Squat jumps, particularly when weighted, can be very damaging to the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing to realize is that the article is talking about training around an injury.  Injuries happen, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2012/11/cant-squat-cant-deadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;if you can't squat or deadlift&lt;/a&gt; it's not the end of the world.  You just need to find some way to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train without pain (we're talking injury pain, not just being sore)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure we don't introduce muscle imbalances.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last thing is to realize is that researchers only research what is interesting to them, and what they can get grant money to research.  I wish there was a great resource to list all the forces applied to the body during different exercises, but even if there were, the next big question is how to apply that information.  While squats have been analyzed (see the kinesiology link) the alternatives you have listed haven't.  Further, programming has not been studied, so you are at the mercy of your coach or your own research.  When in the absence of good information, you have to perform your own experimentation on yourself.  Experimentation requires:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A control group (what you compare your results against)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A plan for experimentation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Executing the plan and gathering observations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evaluating the observations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I would recommend choosing 2-3 programs to try, and giving each of them at least a 2 month run.  One of the programs should be a traditional compound lift program featuring squats as a component--this would be your control group.  Once you've come up with the plan, you will need to come up with the data points you are collecting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain level, scale 1-5 with 5 being I have to stop now and 1 being no pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle groups exercised&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time spent in the gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General observations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some things that need to remain as constant as possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your diet/weight.  Your goal is maintenance, not gaining or losing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The amount and type of conditioning work you are doing (including running, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, just do it.  You can sit and analyze things for days and months and never move forward.  The key is finding something you can do that doesn't cause a bad kind of pain.  If you do have injuries see a physical therapist to find out how to correct things.  In the mean time you can work around the injuries until they are fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-11-26T19:28:05.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-26T21:02:22.240" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;With a torn rotator cuff that isn't quite bad enough to warrant surgery but still painful enough that my mother can't do much with that arm, are there any recommended exercises to at least keep arm and shoulder strength up, or to minimize pain? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T17:42:20.423" Title="Are there any recommended exercises to help manage a torn rotator cuff?" Tags="&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2012-12-11T17:50:15.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10008" CreationDate="2012-11-26T22:12:47.157" Score="7" ViewCount="6712" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago, I asked a question looking for a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/list-of-beginner-dumbbell-exercises&quot;&gt;list of beginner dumbbell exercises&lt;/a&gt;. A user suggested &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dumbbell-exercises.com/workout-routines/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this helpful website&lt;/a&gt;, which I promptly bookmarked. Having procrastinated for the past 10 months or so, I'm now ready to actually start &lt;em&gt;doing&lt;/em&gt; these exercises. Having never done much of this kind of thing before, I have a few questions about routines, specifically about &lt;strong&gt;sets&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;reps&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a beginner (with pretty terrible upper-body strength), how many reps should I start out with for each exercise? To start, I'll be doing one exercise for each muscle type the site lists.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many repetitions of each exercise is recommended for a beginner?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a recommended rest period between sets? If so, how long?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ultimate goal is to improve my upper body strength. I have noodle arms at the moment, and I've only recently noticed how weak I've really become (I'm a geek and I sit at a computer all day long). That said, I'm not looking to become the next Arnold Schwarzenegger; I'm simply looking to improve my strength. Any recommendations or tips would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T17:02:14.553" Title="How many sets and reps should I do as a beginner?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9833" CreationDate="2012-11-27T00:59:08.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your main focus to primarily to gain strength, I would highly recommend you to consider a starting strength 5x5 program. There are different variations of 5x5 programs, but they basically focus on compound exercises through squatting, benching, and barbell row/cleans. There's some extensive wikis on Mark Ripptoe, Bill Starr, and Madcow programs; however, all of these programs require barbell exercises, so I don't know if this fits your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like, I can find the 'calculator' excel sheet for a 9 week 5x5 program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4705" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T00:59:08.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2640" CreationDate="2012-11-27T01:09:18.263" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12659241&quot;&gt;A research on the relationship between ejaculation and serum testosterone level in men&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of the relationship&#xA;  between ejaculation and serum testosterone level in men. The serum&#xA;  testosterone concentrations of 28 volunteers were investigated daily&#xA;  during abstinence periods after ejaculation for two phases. The&#xA;  authors found that the fluctuations of testosterone levels from the&#xA;  2nd to 5th day of abstinence were minimal. On the 7th day of&#xA;  abstinence, however, a clear peak of serum testosterone appeared,&#xA;  reaching 145.7% of the baseline ( P &amp;lt; 0.01). No regular fluctuation&#xA;  was observed following continuous abstinence after the peak.&#xA;  Ejaculation is the precondition and beginning of the special periodic&#xA;  serum testosterone level variations, which would not occur without&#xA;  ejaculation. The results showed that ejaculation-caused variations&#xA;  were characterized by a peak on the 7th day of abstinence; and that&#xA;  the effective time of an ejaculation is 7 days minimum. These data are&#xA;  the first to document the phenomenon of the periodic change in serum&#xA;  testosterone level; the correlation between ejaculation and periodic&#xA;  change in the serum testosterone level, and the pattern and&#xA;  characteristics of the periodic change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, there is a correlation between ejaculation and testosterone levels, there isn't conclusive correlation to short-term effects of testosterone with athletic performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4705" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-11-27T21:51:24.313" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T21:51:24.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9843" CreationDate="2012-11-27T02:40:14.957" Score="5" ViewCount="24021" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it arms recover quite quickly (24 hours or less). Arms are, without a doubt, my weakest point. I've been blessed with good leg genetics but my arms are completely out of proportion in comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this I was planning on doing cable work for my triceps and biceps every second day for the next month. Am I opening myself up to a potential injury by doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:13:59.320" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:13:59.320" Title="Can I work my arms every other day?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-27T08:39:59.373" Score="12" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want a higher and longer jump. What exercises should I use to jump further and higher? I'm specifically talking about jumping from a running start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am only interested in bodyweight exercises for my training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4296" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-27T18:14:15.577" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T17:18:19.683" Title="What exercises produce longer, higher running jumps?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1934" CreationDate="2012-11-27T10:09:33.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was what you would call a 'hard gainer' I have gained 7 lbs to in 2 weeks after monitoring my calorie intake and upping it substantially. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it to be down to people not eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I'm going to gain fat with my current diet but I need it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a pic of my macros for the last 13 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gyazo.com/8e050c79842221933b5528253cbf0d23.png?1354010931&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gyazo.com/8e050c79842221933b5528253cbf0d23.png?1354010931&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4712" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T10:09:33.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9807" CreationDate="2012-11-27T14:54:04.557" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Knee&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The knee joint bends. To avoid bending it in the interest of injury prevention is folly, since we know from experiment and experience that the dangerous exercise regimen is in fact the one that does not use the knee to its full capability. Like anything else in our body and mind, it's Use It Or Lose It.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The half-squat-half-deadlift, whether single leg or not, is designed to avoid the full use of the knee for people who have pre-existing conditions that prohibit full use of the knee. Everyone who is healthy enough to squat fully should do so. And like any fundamental movement, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/6_mistakes_fitting_round_pegs_into_square_holes&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;if you're not healthy enough to squat&lt;/a&gt;, you should avoid loaded squats while you work towards fixing those problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do choose to forgo &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/504/1771&quot;&gt;deep, full squats&lt;/a&gt; in favor of the half-squat-half-deadlift, it will be tough to fully replace the squat. The benefit of the exercise is inherent in the loaded full range of motion of the knee, so &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7691/1771&quot;&gt;any good solution will run into the problem of avoiding full knee bends&lt;/a&gt;. You can certainly go down that path, but the deep knee bend is what squats &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; and why they're useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The History of &amp;quot;Dangerous&amp;quot; Squats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brad Schoenfeld's paper, &lt;a href=&quot;http://general-stuff.38656.n3.nabble.com/file/n2911800/Squat_Depth.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Biomechanics of Squat Depth (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; is an excellent review of the history of this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squatting safety continues to be a concern amongst some practitioners, particularly as it relates to performance at high knee flexion angles. The theory that deep squats heighten injury risk can be traced to studies conducted by Karl Klein at the University of Texas. Using a self-developed measuring device, Klein noted that weightlifters who frequently performed deep squats displayed an increased incidence of laxity in the collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments compared to a control group that did not (8). Klein concluded that squatting below parallel had a detrimental effect on ligamentous stability and should therefore be discouraged. Soon thereafter, the AMA came out with a position statement cautioning against the performance of deep knee exercises because of their potential for severe injury to the internal and supporting structures of the knee joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Subsequent research, however, has refuted Klein’s findings, showing no correlation between deep squatting and injury risk&lt;/strong&gt; (13,15,18). In fact, there is some evidence that those who perform deep squats have increased stability of the knee joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those references in the sentence I bolded are for the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meyers E. Effect of selected exercise variables on ligament stability and flexibility of the knee. Research Quarterly. 42(4):411 – 422. 1971.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Panariello R, Backus S, Parker J. The effect of the squat exercise on anterior-posterior knee translation in professional football players. American&#xA;Journal of Sports Medicine. 22(6):768 – 773. 1994.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steiner M, Grana W, Chilag K, and Schelberg-Karnes E. The effect of exercise on anterior-posterior knee laxity. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 14(1):24 – 29. 1986&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To go back in time to review Klein's anti-squat message, try reading this Sports Illustrated article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1073593/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Knee Is Not For Bending&lt;/a&gt;. A more plainly, on-the-face-of-it-wrong hypothesis I cannot imagine. Among its strange pronouncements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The squat is &amp;quot;of little conditioning value&amp;quot;. No one who has ever squatted heavy and deep could ever say this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The blame for knee injuries in football is place on squats weakening players' knees, as opposed to, say, the dangerous nature of the game itself. The lack of correlation between teams that squat and teams that have high injury rates is ignored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Squats Are Safe&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do find that the knee does undergo stress at the bottom of the deep squat. This stress is in the form of a protective compression, which keeps the joint stable by reducing movement of individual components. To continue from Schoenfeld:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reduction in ACL and PCL forces associated with deep squatting is believed to be a result of an impingement between the posterior aspect of the upper tibia with the posterior femoral condyles as well as compression of various soft tissue structures including menisci, posterior capsule, muscle, fat, and skin (9). This helps to constrain the knee joint, significantly reducing anterior and posterior tibial translation and tibial rotation compared to lesser flexion angles. Hence, tolerance to load is enhanced in the deepest portion of the squat with a protective effect conferred to ligamentous structures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T16:16:10.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9838" CreationDate="2012-11-27T16:33:49.733" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Optimal Jump Training Without Restrictions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Arioch&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/weight-training-weight-lifting/bill-starrs-5-x-5-program-variation-per-madcow2-thanx-so-here-k-up-now-375215-83.html#post5124176&quot;&gt;recommends&lt;/a&gt; squats, plyometrics, and speed work with submaximal weights to improve jumping height:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An athlete wishing to improve his vertical jump should not only squat, but perform a variety of assistance work specific to both improving squatting strength as well as specifically improving jumping skill. As jumping requires a great expenditure of force in a minimal amount of time, exercises such as squatting should be performed to increase muscle power, as muscle cross-sectional area significantly correlates to force output. (30) When wishing to increase one’s power through squatting to assist in the vertical jump, one must train to generate a high degree of force.(31 ,32 ,33 ) This is done by squatting a dynamic manner, where one is attempting to generate a large amount of power while using submaximal weights. This has been shown to provide a great training stimulus for improving the vertical jump. (34) A program consisting of a session once-weekly heavy squatting, ballistic lifting, and plyometric training, with each being performed during a separate workout, should provide maximal stimulus while allowing maximal recovery and supercompensation.(35,36)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;30 Force-velocity relationships and fatigability of strength and endurance-trained subjects. Kanehisa H; Ikegawa S; unaga T&#xA;  Choi, J. Y., Takahashi, H., Itai, Y., &amp;amp; Takamatsu, K. (1997).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;31 Comparison of training effects between power-up type and bulk-up type in strength training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 54.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;32 Hellebrandt, F. A. (1972). The physiology of motor learning. In R. N. Singer (ED.), Readings in motor learning (pp. 397-409). Philadelphia, PA: Lea &amp;amp; Febiger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;33 Christina, R. W. (1996). Major determinants of the transfer of training: Implications for enhancing sport Performance. In K-W. Kim (ED.), Human Performance determinants in sport (pp. 25-52). Seoul, Korea: Korean Society of Sport Psychology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;34 Wilson, G. J., Newton, R. U., Murphy, A. J., &amp;amp; Humphries, B. J. (1994). The optimal training load for the development of dynamic athletic Performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 25(11), 1279-1286.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;35 Morrissey, M. C., Harman, E. A., &amp;amp; Johnson, M. J. (1995). Resistance training modes: Specificity and effectiveness. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 27, 648-660.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;36 Kraemer, W. J., &amp;amp; Newton, R. U. (1994). Training for improved vertical jump. Sports Science Exchange, 7(6), 1-12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this sounds like a weekly training program consisting of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one workout where you work on maximal strength with squats and perhaps deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one workout where you work on speed and power by squatting with submaximal weight for a few reps done with as fast a bar speed as possible. This reminds the modern reader strongly of Louie Simmons' dynamic effort workouts. One could perhaps also use squat jumps, cleans, power cleans, snatches, power snatches, or jumps with dumbbells or a weight vest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one plyometric and jumping technique workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Restricting Jump Training to Bodyweight Exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that loaded work would be dramatically more efficient than bodyweight-only jump training, but Coach Sommer's &lt;em&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/em&gt; does mention pistols (one-legged bodyweight squats, keeping the whole foot flat) and jumping pistols done for distance and height. He recommends adding a weight vest to those, too. I've tried these, but only dabbled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-27T18:13:49.677" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T18:13:49.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9836" CreationDate="2012-11-27T18:15:23.463" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was planning on doing cable work for my triceps and biceps every second day for the next month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a beginner you have a much quicker adaptation to activity then an intermediate or advanced lifter, so to that end this is an appropriate strategy, but with one caveat: time between workouts is not the only factor that affects your recovery. Other factors in recovering include getting 8-10 hours of sleep, eating enough to fuel your increase in activity, eating healthy, staying hydrating, and lifting only what your muscles can support (i.e. don't overload your body). If you do all of these things, then yes, an every other day arm workout would work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I opening myself up to a potential injury by doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injuries typically stem from one of three issues: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Imbalanced routine:&lt;/strong&gt; You need to balance out opposing muscle groups that are worked out in order to avoid created muscle imbalances. Since your program balances bicep and tricep work, you aren't at risk here (an at risk example would be someone doing a lot of chest exercises like bench press that doesn't work the upper back to balance it out).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improper form:&lt;/strong&gt; Make sure you have proper form in all of your exercises. This is especially prevalent with the bicep curls exercise, where people seemingly always cheat to get extra reps or extra weight that they shouldn't be lifting. Make sure you review proper form for all of your exercises, and use multiple sources for each exercise to make sure that you don't get any bad or incomplete information.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overtraining:&lt;/strong&gt; Injuries from overtraining fall into three subcategories: lifting too heavy, getting too little recovery, or exercising too frequently,. The first issue you can avoid by only lifting as much weight as you can do with proper form (and should the form break, put the weight down). The second issue you can avoid by following my instructions in the first paragraph for getting adequate recovery. The final issue is probably what you are most at risk for, and that is something you will just have to listen to your body on. If you find yourself not having enough energy or feeling exhausted, maybe take an extra day off and go to a 3/week routine in the interim.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T18:15:23.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9868" CreationDate="2012-11-27T20:23:05.427" Score="10" ViewCount="891" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can do a kong over something about the size of a picnic table, however I notice that on anything longer, my legs start to fall, and I have to bring my feet down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However many traceurs can get themselves much higher than an average person, and yet are not even particularly strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lcXFB.jpg&quot; width=&quot;323&quot;/&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5J1lB.jpg&quot; width=&quot;330&quot;/&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rh299.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dive kong&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What technique do traceurs use to get themselves that high?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3243" OwnerDisplayName="Ephraim" LastEditorUserId="10430" LastEditDate="2015-02-22T21:15:07.307" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T14:04:14.677" Title="How do I get my legs higher for a kong?" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;&lt;vertical-jump&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9789" CreationDate="2012-11-27T21:16:27.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Dean that &quot;the most important thing is prevention&quot; but my method is slightly different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over my first 6 months of climbing ~2/wk indoors, my climbing shoes became unbearably (and embarrassingly) smelly, despite religiously air drying them after use. As OP mentioned, they were also visibly dirty on the inside. And it's worth noting that I never wear socks with my climbing shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend (and much more experienced climber whose been through several pairs of climbing shoes over the years) insisted that I could wash them in the machine but I remained concerned about damaging the rubber and/or the glue that holds parts of the rubber together. I finally put them through a &lt;em&gt;side-loading&lt;/em&gt; washing machine &lt;em&gt;with a load of laundry&lt;/em&gt;. They came out smelling much better, looking clean and none the worse for wear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After going to the gym with my newly washed shoes, I noticed some odor had returned, although nothing like before. So, while they were still moist with sweat, I put 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda in each shoe and rubbed it around the inside. Also, as noted, I allow them to air dry. Before returning to the gym a few days later, I banged the shoes together to remove excess baking soda out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 2-3 trips to the gym, the baking soda was no longer visible on the inside of the shoe, so I repeated the process. So far (about 1 month of 2-3 gym visits/wk) this seems to be preventing the smell from getting worse. When they again become visibly dirty, I'll either put them through the wash or try @Dean's toothbrush &amp;amp; vinegar method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4118" LastActivityDate="2012-11-27T21:16:27.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-27T23:12:58.623" Score="6" ViewCount="588" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just can't seem to get my arm dead straight with any weight. I can get it 95% straight with about 15lbs, but there comes a point where my shoulder starts lifting instead and my tricep is just not going any more. Should I be doing this with like, 2 pounds to build up my range - or is it normal to not be able to go all the way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4719" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T08:58:26.283" Title="Straight arm tricep kickbacks. How straight should my arm be?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9852" CreationDate="2012-11-28T00:23:10.137" Score="5" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, some context: I'm a 32 years old developer who spends most of the day sit, go to swimming classes once a week, and does weightlifting (at home) whenever it finds time, now moving from Stronglifts to Starting Strength (but sadly not dedicating the three times a week they recommend, so I'm not doing heavy lifting yet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my swimming classes and paying attention to squat videos, I have realized that I lack (a lot of) flexibility in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ankles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; Should I be concerned about this issue? Let's say, it's going to affect me badly when I become old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; If I should, then should I spend all time I have doing flexibility exercises, or can I mix them with regular strength exercises? (squat, bench press and pull ups are the ones I like the most)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T03:32:23.797" Title="Importance of flexibility" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2012-11-28T07:54:37.793" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts has some exercises to boost flexibility on their site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Boost Your Flexibility with Shoulders Dislocations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-shoulder-flexibility-how-to/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Improve Your Shoulder Flexibility for Squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-hip-flexibility-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Boost Your Hip Flexibility for Squats&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not found anything for ankle flexibility, but as the hip exercise uses the basic squat motion, it might fix your akles, too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already given &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8296/3941&quot;&gt;an answer&lt;/a&gt; to a similar question. I quote partially:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Contrary to what the author of stronglifts says [about shoulder dislocations] I would not recommend using a flexible band. This only makes it harder to keep your arms parallel to each other. [That's] what the coach in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoGtrEcsqPQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally do flexibility exercises before, during or after my workouts. I am not lifting, but mainly doing body-weight exercises so I can incorporate dynamic stretching pretty well anywhere between my sets. Eg instead of doing nothing in a pause I do shoulder dislocations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful when doing flexibility exercises, don't rip yourself apart. Don't push it when it hurts. You don't want to increase the pain levels your body can withstand. Pain is a good warning sign for yourself when to stop, if your try to push it you are just learning to ignore warning signs. I have not done extensive stretching in the last year, but when I began doing sports and exercises this year I was not able to reach down to my toes, now I am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T07:54:37.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2012-11-28T10:06:59.877" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should you be Concerned:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually you don't have to wait until you are old to be badly affected by lack of flexibility.  Anytime you have an area of your body that does not move correctly, it affects other parts of your body by making them substitute their normal motions with movements that compensate for the tight areas that are not doing their part.  Overtime this can lead to more and more restrictions which can make you more susceptible to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you are correct to begin to add flexibility training into your routine.  There are several questions and answers that can help you get started.  @Informaficker's answer has several links that address flexibility for a better squat. Here are some other questions and answers that can help you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Information About Flexibility Routines:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness&quot;&gt;Daily stretch routine to increase flexibilty and overall fitness?&lt;/a&gt; will give you an overview of flexibility exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do&quot;&gt;I have extremely bad posture, what can I do?&lt;/a&gt; will give you some ideas specifically to address your posture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5196/what-are-some-good-stretches-to-help-with-squatting/5218#5218&quot;&gt;What are some good stretches to help with squatting?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles&quot;&gt;Is it normal when starting squats to not have flexible enough ankles?&lt;/a&gt; have several good links to stretching exercises for ankles, shoulders, and hips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When to Stretch:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for working your flexibility exercises into your routine, prior to your workouts you want to use &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8262/dynamic-stretching-as-warm-up&quot;&gt;dynamic exercises&lt;/a&gt; to warm up, increase your circulation and prepare the muscles and tendons for your workout.  After your workout when your muscles are warm you can add some gentle passive stretches to gain range.  Do not overstretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Foam Roller&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have some specific restrictions, using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/equipment/id/14/equipment/foam-roll&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;foam roller&lt;/a&gt; to release areas of tightness can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T03:32:23.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9855" CreationDate="2012-11-28T16:13:59.933" Score="0" ViewCount="3072" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am really obese. I am 5'7&quot; weighing around 93 kg. I should be around 65 kg ideally, i.e I am 28 kg overweight which I want to lose. I have always been fat since my childhood so losing the weight e thing is very tough for me. I've been trying to control what I eat for some days but then I fall back into the same thing. This time I am quite serious about changing my eating habits. What foods can I eat to help reduce my weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know about green tea and lemon, I've been drinking about 2 mugs of it per day. What else will be effective in losing weight? I will be really grateful. All I want is to get rid of this extra weight and curse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4722" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-29T03:40:31.367" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T03:40:31.367" Title="What foods will help reduce my weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-11-29T03:42:32.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9853" CreationDate="2012-11-28T17:20:23.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are under a misconception here that I encountered pretty often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to eat &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; to reduce your weight, you have to eat &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;. The basics behind it are quite simple.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;There may be some foods that help while being on a diet or that reduce your hunger but you shouldn't worry about them too much, you should focus on the main problem and that is:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;you are eating more than you need&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your profile says you are from Bangladesh. I am not familiar with the Bangladeshi diet, but I assume it is at least somewhat comparable to the Indian diet and thus I cite from one of my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4851/3941&quot;&gt;favorite answers&lt;/a&gt; in that matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a typical Indian diet like I used to (though I don't want to typecast or stereotype here), it's probably very carbohydrate-heavy. […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut down wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar to as little as possible (this can mean just one chapati per meal and no rice, or about two tablespoons of rice), and fill up with fruits, vegetables (which does not mean potatoes) and pulses. If you do eat grains, try to eat whole grains; no refined wheat flour or maida, or white rice (brown, unpolished rice is preferable). Dairy products are also great: yogurt, milk, buttermilk, paneer, butter and cheese (in moderation, because of cholesterol). Lean meats (if you are non-vegetarian) such as chicken and turkey (and not red meats such as mutton), eggs (no more than one egg yellow/day because of cholesterol), soy etc. are also good things to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beside from changing your eating habits you should start doing sports, this will support your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T17:20:23.513" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2012-11-28T17:26:41.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;By dropping your chest lower than your butt, your center of gravity stays lower. This makes it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall you're not jumping higher, just your legs are. When your hands hit, you have to push the ground away to get your chest high enough again to not face-plant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4724" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-28T18:13:28.877" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T18:13:28.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9861" CreationDate="2012-11-28T18:11:48.457" Score="6" ViewCount="1665" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with my body is that I'm so right handed so that my left upper body almost look wasted. My MAC (Mid Arm Circumference) on my left side is 30 while my MAC on my right side is 36. It's the same with my pectoralis muscles, lattismus dorsi, etc. How can I correct this? Are there any particular workouts that I should concentrate on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4726" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-11-29T03:31:00.987" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T03:31:00.987" Title="Symmetrical body workouts to compensate for imbalance" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9857" CreationDate="2012-11-28T18:36:49.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you do free-weight exercises with good form and appropriate weights, this problem should gradually correct itself.  The only important caveat would be that if you do exercises with dumbbells, you need to make sure that you do the same weight and same number of repetitions with you strong right hand as you do with your weaker left hand.  For anything you do, you'll have to use a weight that your (weaker) left side can handle.  That weight might not be enough to stimulate your stronger right side, but that's what you want, because it would force your left side to grow stronger, while your right side will stay about the same.  Eventually, your left side will start to catch up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With exercise machines there's a chance that one arm could compensate for the other, so you might want to stay away from those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T18:36:49.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="74" CreationDate="2012-11-28T20:31:02.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drbriffa.com/2012/11/13/study-suggests-that-for-optimal-fat-loss-the-best-thing-to-eat-before-exercise-is-nothing-at-all/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a recent study&lt;/a&gt; suggesting that just the opposite is true.  Generally exercise causes short term appetite increases.  This study's results showed that if you ate something before exercise, your brain doesn't compensate for those calories as much as it should, so you end up eating more overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T20:31:02.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9853" CreationDate="2012-11-28T20:56:13.233" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all comes down to body chemistry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did you deposit more fat than the average human?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deposit a lot of fat you had to eat a lot more than your body used up as energy. Fat cells became supersaturated at some point and new cells grew. You probably have more fat cells than a lean person, so you have to face the fact that for the rest of your life you'll be more prone to maintain your current weight, because those cells want to accumulate fat. You also may have different brain chemistry, that doesn't repel food once you've eaten enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the most frequent misconceptions is that eating fatty foods you get fat. It's not quite like that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Actually, eating carbohydrates (complex forms of glucose, that eventually get broken down into glucose by different enzymes) increases the sugar levels in your blood, which triggers the release of insulin to take care of that glucose. Insulin acts as a trigger to get more fat into fat cells. &lt;b&gt;So if you eat carbohydrates, and eat a lot of food, you will get fat.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife sat on a diet that is really working for her. She eliminated all carbohydrates from the diet (no fruits or vegetables, no sugar, no bread, no cereals, just some milk products with low amount of lactose, a lot of fish and meat). Now this isn't quite healthy since we need a lot of vitamins from fruits and vegetables, but when it's short-term, and with dietary supplements, it's bearable. She lost quite a lot the first few days. &lt;b&gt;Point is that carbohydrates should be reduced in order to get thinner.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, &lt;b&gt;you need to count the energetic value of the food you consume&lt;/b&gt;. An average active male needs about 2000-2500 kcal per day. Want to get thin? Reduce to about 1500 kcal per day, take on strength training. Strength training increases muscle mass, and more muscles demand more energy, so once you get into an athletic shape, you can revert to your normal diet, as long as you keep training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, &lt;b&gt;there are no food products that make you lose weight&lt;/b&gt;. There are food products you can reduce or eliminate from your diet, which will help you lose weight. Some acquaintances of mine have resorted to some herbal teas that help you lose weight, but now they have serious intestinal problems because of them. Others use other kinds of poisons to damage their bodies which eventually makes them thinner. Some use parasites. Whatever. If you want to be healthy, don't use any of these &quot;easy&quot; methods to &quot;instantly&quot; lose weight. They're always crippling the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T20:56:13.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9857" CreationDate="2012-11-28T22:09:19.680" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a body symmetry issue you need to address a few things. For one, work out! if you just do you daily tasks you're going to favor one side, that means one side is going to be disproportionate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you need to counter the imbalance, you can do this by increasing the amount of single side workouts(one arm, one leg, one pec, ect). Work the weak side harder than the strong side every other work out, you'll start to see the difference. Just like any problem you're going to have to address the specific area if you want to solve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in doubt up the amount of weight for both sides, force the weak side to up it's game. Use dumbbells they will make your body keep you honest, they reduce bad habits and don't allow for you to cheat and use one side more than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4660" LastActivityDate="2012-11-28T22:09:19.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9862" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-11-28T22:47:25.860" Score="11" ViewCount="9725" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.daddystrength.com/2010/03/bill-starrs-rehab-protocol/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and other places around the internet, the Bill Starr rehab protocol for &lt;strong&gt;muscle-belly injuries&lt;/strong&gt; is described like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wait 3-4 days until the pain starts to “blur”, which&#xA;  indicates that the immediate process of healing has stopped the&#xA;  bleeding and has started to repair the tissue. Then use an exercise&#xA;  that directly works the injury, [...] in this case&#xA;  the squat. Use the empty bar and do 3 sets of 25 with perfect form,&#xA;  allowing yourself NO favoring the injured side. If it’s ready to rehab&#xA;  you will know by the pain: if the pain increases during the set, it’s&#xA;  not ready, if it stays the same or feels a little better toward the&#xA;  end of the set, it is ready to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The NEXT DAY do it again, and add a small amount of weight, like 45 x&#xA;  25 x 2 , 55 x 25. Next day, 45 x 25, 55 x 25, 65 x 25. Continue adding&#xA;  weight every day, increasing as much as you can tolerate each workout.&#xA;  It will hurt, and it’s supposed to hurt, but you should be able to&#xA;  tell the difference between rehab pain and re-injury. If you can’t,&#xA;  you will figure it out soon enough. This method works by flushing&#xA;  blood through the injury while forcing the tissue to reorganize in its&#xA;  normal pattern of contractile architecture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After 10 days of 25s, go up in weight and down in reps to 15s, then to&#xA;  10s, and finally to fives. During this time do NO OTHER HEAVY WORK, so&#xA;  that your resources can focus on the injury. You should be fixed in&#xA;  about 2 weeks, squatting more than you hurt yourself with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This method has the advantage of preventing scar formation in the&#xA;  muscle belly, since the muscle is forced to heal in the context of&#xA;  work and normal contraction, using the movement pattern it normally&#xA;  uses. The important points are 1.) perfect form with 2.) light weights&#xA;  that can be handled for high reps, 3.) every day for two weeks, and&#xA;  4.) no other heavy work that will interfere with the system-wide processes of healing the tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is also very important through the whole process of healing the&#xA;  injury that ice be used, during the initial phase after the injury and&#xA;  after the workouts. Use it 20 on/20 off, many times a day at first and&#xA;  then tapering off to morning, after the workout, and before bed. Ice&#xA;  is your best friend in a muscle belly injury, holding down&#xA;  inflammation and fluid accumulation (“swelling”) while at the same&#xA;  time increasing beneficial blood flow through the injury. But DO NOT&#xA;  USE ICE MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AT A TIME. More than that can cause more&#xA;  damage than it repairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This may actually be the most useful post on this entire little forum&#xA;  of mine, and if you use this method exactly you can save yourself many&#xA;  weeks of lost training and long-term problems with muscle-belly&#xA;  scarring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't know if I've pasted too much, but I thought it's useful for this question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a controlled study that compares full rest (no activity, just icing), vs active recovery (stretching, massaging, foam rolling, range of motion work), vs loaded recovery (this protocol)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there actually a danger that the muscle will heal improperly if you don't work it under progressively heavier loads during recovery? (I know this protocol claims this is the case.) I'd be happy with just some pointers to other evidence that this is the case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this protocol prevent scar tissue formation? (Again, I know it claims to.) A good answer would talk about how scar tissue forms after a muscle belly injury, and how movement, or movement under load may prevent it (or not prevent it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-12-21T20:01:11.483" LastActivityDate="2012-12-21T20:01:11.483" Title="Why does the Bill Starr Rehab protocol work, if it does?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9849" CreationDate="2012-11-29T01:52:21.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you to do three things about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lock your elbow against your body, and ensure that your torso is parallel with the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the above step is already taken care of, and you still have the same issue, then I would lower the weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's actually a way you can do this on the machines, but its kind of tricky. You'll need to go on the seated low row machine and unclip whatever is on it and leave the clip on. Hold onto the clip with your hands, adjust the weight to the what is comfortable, and do the same motion. This will allow a better guided, 'straight' motion; but also be careful when putting the clip back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4705" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T01:52:21.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9725" CreationDate="2012-11-29T14:04:56.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is beneficial to delay the weight increase you would otherwise get with aging, since the set point weight would increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if you are 75kg at age 20 and that is a &quot;good&quot; weight, if you increase to obese 85kg at age 30, you are in a worse position than if you had exercised more and only increased to 80kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-29T18:12:20.487" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T18:12:20.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9867" CreationDate="2012-11-29T14:10:44.320" Score="16" ViewCount="4455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently training for a marathon.  Due to a change in my schedule starting Dec 1, mornings will be the only time I can run.  I heard that it takes about an hour for the body to absorb water, so currently on weekends I drink 24oz of water right when I wake up, urinate, then go run.  However, on the weekdays this doesn't seem so feasible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wake up -&gt; Drink water -&gt; wait an hour -&gt; run 10 miles -&gt; shower/eat -&gt; drive to work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like an extremely early morning.  Is there any way to make it better?  Is it really necessary to wait a whole hour after drinking water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4730" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditDate="2012-11-29T17:11:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-02-23T17:08:37.990" Title="Running first thing in the morning" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9866" CreationDate="2012-11-29T14:34:07.183" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether or not it is necessary to wait an hour depends on you, actually. Some people can drink a lot and go run, some people can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, unless you are chronically dehydrated or exercising in extreme weather conditions, you won't need water for most of your runs. You should be getting most of your hydration from your diet during the course of the day, and there isn't really a need to drink 24 oz. as soon as you wake up. On a personal note, unless I am running in 100+ degrees (Phoenix in the summer), I don't need to drink/take water on runs up to 12ish miles (1 hour 30 mins or so). Anything beyond that, I bring about 20 oz of fluid with me and sip along the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;8 glasses&quot; is a bit of a myth. Yes, the body needs that much fluid, plus some extra for exercisers, but the majority of that will/should come from your diet. When the Western world started eating less and less fruits/veggies (A high source of fluid), dieticians came up with the 8 glasses to ensure adequate hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weigh yourself, go run, and weigh yourself when you get back. Aside from glycogen losses, you'll need about 8-16 oz extra throughout the day for every pound lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people way overhydrate when they exercise, as can be seen by the people that are chugging a gallon of water during a 1 hour weightlifting workout. Not really necessary, replace after and eat a healthy diet with fruits/veggies and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-11-30T05:53:39.203" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T05:53:39.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2012-11-29T14:41:14.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also look into going to a gymnastics center for some basic classes. There are a lot of gymnastic techniques that are essential for a good traceur, such as rolls, body orientation, proprioceptive/kinesthetic awareness, weight transition, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things that is going to help you in your kong along with the center of gravity noted &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/9856/3243&quot;&gt;in the other answer&lt;/a&gt; is a concept called &quot;blocking&quot;. This is being able to take momentum in one direction and redirect it in a different direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is best exemplified by the vault in gymnastics. The gymnast sprints down the runway, gathering horizontal momentum. They hit the springboard, which starts the transition to vertical, and then their arms plant and &quot;block&quot; the momentum into a vertical direction. This is going to be a vital skill for any traceur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-12-01T21:24:17.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9866" CreationDate="2012-11-29T22:21:50.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't mean this so much as a definitive answer so much an anecdotal one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years ago I discovered that my morning run times were measurably better, and I FELT much better, if I drank a whole liter of water right before bed.  I continue to do this when I plan on running the following morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4733" LastActivityDate="2012-11-29T22:21:50.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9870" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9937" CreationDate="2012-11-30T11:33:27.917" Score="4" ViewCount="1202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've grown incredibly bored with your more traditional cardio exercises:  running, swimming, cycling, elliptical, et cetera.  I'm traditionally a weight lifter, but the aerobic side is suffering due to disinterest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative, I've considered trying weighted ruck marching / hiking.  This isn't meant to take advantage of some benefit that weighted marching offers above other types of cardio, just as a different angle on the same old cardio problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen a program (primarily intended for those entering the military) that would proceed as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1-3: 20% bodyweight x5 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 4-6: 25% x5 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 7-9: 30% x5 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 10-12: 40% x5 miles (do not exceed 40% of BW)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 13-14: 40% x6 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 15-16: 40% x7 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 17-18: 40% x8 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 19-20: 40% x10 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 21-22: 40% x12 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 23-24: 40% x15 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the above-listed plan sound reasonable to those experienced?  Does anyone use this exercise for conditioning?  Any tips or advice to share?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4653" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:13:04.113" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:13:04.113" Title="Weighted Ruck Marches / Hiking for Aerobic Exercise" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9388" CreationDate="2012-11-30T11:55:45.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think if there is a balance between your eating habits and Exercise, I mean if you are on a proper healthy diet and do exercise accordingly obviously you can reduce your fat. Those who can't do it because sometimes they do only one thing and fail to do another one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4722" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T11:55:45.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9875" CreationDate="2012-11-30T13:52:14.667" Score="5" ViewCount="19576" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does one exercise per body part work? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I met a guy at the gym who does only one exercise per body part and he is huge and very ripped. He has been working out for long time though. He is also purely natural does not even take supplements. His protein mainly comes from Eggs, Soya and chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On asking him about his workouts. He says he like to keep it simple and does only one exercise per body part and works out each part twice a week and exercises 6 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He follows a pyramidical approach to working out. On his way up he does REPS of 10,8,6,4,2 and continues to add weight and then he reduces weight for each set and increases the REPS from 2,4,6,8,10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His program looks like :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday : Bench Press, Skull crushers, Pull overs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday : Overhead Press, Squats OR Deadlift &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednsesday : T-Bar Rows, Shrugs and Preacher curls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeats the same and takes a day off on sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does his AB Work every morning at home. He also changes his program every 3 months. Keeps the program same but changes the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does this routine make sense? Can it add both add size and make someone ripped?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-11-30T17:39:20.727" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T02:52:48.747" Title="Does one exercise per body part work?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="718" CreationDate="2012-11-30T14:11:10.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also in agreement with Nathan Wheelers answer.  I'd add that it would be worth you looking into HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training. Studies have shown this is more efficient at burning fat than simply hitting the treadmill for long periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rule of thumb on weight loss is that the amount you eat controls what you weigh. The amount you work out controls whether it turns into fat or muscle. It's not strictly true, but it's a pretty good guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T14:11:10.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9872" CreationDate="2012-11-30T17:14:55.823" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First impressions about this program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't really one exercise per body part. There are several exercises that hit his triceps, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This person is focusing almost entirely his upper body. Maybe he's trying to fix an imbalance, and his exercise selection that he does every few months is for that purpose... choosing to work on what he thinks needs the most work in those few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guesses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lifter may have started out using a simpler program suited for novices, without the complicated rep scheme, just using a few compound barbell lifts. It could only be in his later years that he's needed to specialize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he was actually using this program for his entire 8 years, I think Dave is correct, that his progress would have been quicker on a simpler program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should take away:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This program &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; working, for &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; guy. But, this guy is at an advanced level of training, and &quot;working&quot; can have various meanings. If you go to the gym and come out tired, you're &quot;working&quot; something. But, compared to what? Would another program be better? It's hard to tell, but most people, especially novices, do best using a very simple program, with 3 or 5 sets of 5 reps on a small selection of compound lifts. Novices would get more return for their time investment in the gym on a simpler program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-11-30T22:57:20.833" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T22:57:20.833" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9872" CreationDate="2012-11-30T17:37:13.677" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Dedication &gt; Programming&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of programs work. Twenty-rep squats get people plenty big and strong. Working on deadlift singles gets people plenty tough. Three reps, five reps, eight or ten or twelve or twenty, with one set or ten sets or whatever--the major factor is that if you're lifting and recovering, you'll get somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say that some programs aren't better in some circumstances. Different people have better results from different programs, and people need different programs at different points in their progress. But if someone consistently works hard, if they dedicate themselves to proper recovery, they will get results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given hard work, plenty of good food and sleep, and some time, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8189/1771&quot;&gt;lots of programs can have surprisingly good results&lt;/a&gt;. That doesn't mean that the program is optimal for that person, or that point in someone's progress. It means that hard work and consistency pay off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;One Set per Muscle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I'm of the opinion that doing fewer exercises is better than more exercises. Most people don't need to do both squats and leg press, for example. It's usually a waste of time to do lat pull-downs and curls and chin-ups, instead of just chin-ups. I think that focusing one's effort on fewer lifts is better than spreading one's effort across many similar things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't think &quot;muscles&quot; is the right thing to divide one's workout on. I prefer &quot;movements&quot;, like pressing, pulling, squatting, and hinging. (I cribbed this from Dan John.) But if you prefer muscles, that can work too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What seems to work is lifting heavy things. If you only lift light things many times, then you never lift the really heavy things. If you only lift a super-heavy thing a few times, maybe you're not lifting it enough times, so maybe it is better to lift a heavy but not super-heavy thing also. Pyramiding up from ten reps with less weight to two reps with more weight sounds like a fine way to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T17:47:38.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9877" CreationDate="2012-11-30T17:48:45.877" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I very recently rolled my ankle playing basketball. It is nothing serious, but in the wake of the injury my ankle has definitely been hurting when I walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What steps can I take to ensure a proper and expeditious ankle recovery? Are there any activities I should avoid (obviously sports, but what about squats/deadlifts)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T18:01:38.343" Title="Recovering from rolled ankle" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9876" CreationDate="2012-11-30T18:01:38.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 24-72 hours you want all of the above. Rest it as much as possible, wrap and ice (20 mins on at at time, frozen peas/corn work great for icepacks), and keep elevated as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that initial period, ice directly after activity to minimize swelling, and you can also use moist heat to &quot;pulse&quot; the area to help drive the fluid out of the area. Compression/tape/support as needed for activity until pain disappears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rolled ankle can be nothing, or it can be something as serious as an avulsion fracture (piece of bone torn away by the tendon), partial/full ligament tears, etc. If you are more than 5-7 days out and it is still tender/swollen/painful to walk I would go have it checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as squats/deadlifts, they are linear rather than angular in motion, so you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be fine, but just be aware and limit your lifting if it is painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T18:01:38.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9866" CreationDate="2012-11-30T18:06:02.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to the two previous answers alerady...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hydration as a WHOLE needs to be addressed more so than the hydration one understakes right before running.  One should be adaquately hydrated in general.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do dehydrate as you sleep though through breathing (especially in the winter when the air can be dry) and sweat.  You could also drink a less amount of water (24oz. is a lot IMO) as you wake up.  You should give yourself a few minutes to stretch, losen up and wake up before heading out the door anyway, so I'd reco keeping a glass on your nightstand to drink the moment you wake up in the morning.  You don't need the entire 24oz, a simple 4-8oz will do quite a bit I believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to keep a glass of water on my nightstand and, anytime I wake up in the night, I grab it for a quick drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly if your body needs a lot of hydration you could always drink water DURING your run.  If you are running a marathon you shoudl practice drinking during the run.  These early morning runs can be a great time to do so if you must hydrate a lot for any run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T18:06:02.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9777" CreationDate="2012-11-30T22:47:46.040" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should work exclusively on leg lengthening exercises until they are close to the length that you want your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then switch to a hybrid approach that combines leg lengthening exercises with leg thickening exercises. You don't want to stop the leg lengthening exercises too suddenly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you can gradually switch entirely to leg thickening exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4683" LastActivityDate="2012-11-30T22:47:46.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9881" CreationDate="2012-11-30T23:32:03.210" Score="9" ViewCount="122184" Body="&lt;p&gt;The FitBit Activity Tracker (on the website, Android application, and I would presume the iPhone application as well) lets you log various activities so you can track and share them with your friends. You can explicitly log things like running, using a treadmill or elliptical, or other activities that would also cause the device to count steps and miles. The device (and the website) also track your calories burned based on your profile, and when you track activities, it also estimates the calories burned based on the type, duration, and other parameters of the activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to determine how exactly FitBit uses the activity tracker data. Does it convert miles run to steps (meaning wearing my FitBit when tracking a treadmill activity would cause double counting)? Or perhaps is the device smart enough, based on the start time of the activity, to not double count? Or are the things like distance, time, and calories burned in the activity not totaled with your device data?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mainly concerned with the things tracked by the device: steps, flights of stairs, miles, and calories burned. At the end of the day, I'd like at least a reasonable estimate of these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find anything in the FitBit FAQs as to what is recommended, nor many discussions on how others deal with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastEditorUserId="1867" LastEditDate="2012-11-30T23:53:14.200" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T19:46:55.567" Title="If I wear my Fitbit One on a treadmill or elliptical, should I log the activity as well?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;machine&gt;&lt;fitbit&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9880" CreationDate="2012-12-01T00:14:30.730" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's how I do do it (I have a fitbit one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm doing an activity that I think the fitbit won't track properly (biking, or a sport), I switch to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitbit.com/manual#section-recordings&quot;&gt;recording&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitbit.com/manual#section-tracker-sleep&quot;&gt;sleep&lt;/a&gt; mode (they're the same). I only do this so that I can remember how long that activity took.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, using the web interface later, I enter the actual activity, time, and duration (using info from my recording mode to have accurate start/stop times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/413311-how-do-i-log-or-record-an-activity-&quot;&gt;The activity section of the manual&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;&lt;em&gt;All steps and calories recorded by your tracker are overridden for the duration of a manually logged activity by the activity's entered values. This ensures that your steps are not counted twice as long as the manually logged activity has the correct start time and duration.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="7791" LastEditDate="2014-02-09T14:01:42.713" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T14:01:42.713" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11609" CreationDate="2012-12-01T03:38:24.507" Score="8" ViewCount="12967" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a geekdesk (height adjustable desk) for several months, and I've really liked it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My back feels great. I'm not tired. My legs have adjusted to standing a lot. Recently, my neck and upper back have felt really tension while using the desk. Might it be because I have my arms and hands fixed on the desktop while typing? I'm not sure. Perhaps monitor placement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone else has had this problem, I'd like to hear what you did to adjust. Any suggestions welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastEditorUserId="13894" LastEditDate="2015-03-04T05:36:41.573" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T23:52:18.527" Title="Standing Desk is giving me neck and upper back pain" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9950" CreationDate="2012-12-01T14:55:59.780" Score="4" ViewCount="530" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I run 5 times a week, 2 hard sessions and 3 easy sessions are usually considered better than 5 sessions at the same level.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What would be the best approach to estimate how optimal my effort is from such a viewpoint?&lt;/strong&gt;  Assume I can capture all appropriate data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The example is very simplified of course.  Especially one should see it in context over longer periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ideally I would like some kind of precise mathematical formula, but that does probably not exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other answers could be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use the knowledge and intuition of a personal trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Develop my own intuition by reading this forum&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example of what I would like to know, is the relative benefit, on a particular day, of say biking to the office or gym, or to know how much I should push myself in what I do. (The complete answer is outside the scope of this question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real world for me is quite complex - different activities etc. I don't have any particular goals, just to gradually become fitter and used to higher loads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-12-07T15:25:38.633" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T20:09:45.890" Title="How to optimize effort?" Tags="&lt;personal-training&gt;&lt;effort&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1005" CreationDate="2012-12-01T16:51:17.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done a variety of sports and dancing over the years, and due to all this, my hips get misaligned and pop in and out very often. Although I can walk, it's often very painful to do so. This is what's going on with you, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a stretch my soccer team used which we call &quot;opening and closing the gate.&quot; While standing, take the leg with the misaligned hip and raise the knee high, pushing out to the side as far as it will go (this is opening the gate). It should make a circular motion. Repeat a couple a times, then reverse the motion, going from outside-in (closing the gate). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a martial artist, I use high kicks which follow the above mentioned circular path to do the same thing. I find that sticking my misaligned leg directly out to the side and stretching over it helps pop it back with the opening and closing the gate thing faster. Also, with opening the gate, you can leg your leg go down at the end of opening it, so your foot goes behind you. It tests pretty much all the movement of your hip, hopefully letting something move back in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also lay on a table (or bed, or whatever else that is sufficiently high off the ground) with your butt and lower back on the edge, your legs hanging off. Keeping your legs straight, let the injured one drop a little bit at a time until it clicks back into place. This option doesn't always work, and I admit that I found it by accident. This works really well if your hip was misaligned due to a split or similar movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever seen ballerinas grab their foot behind them and lift it above their head? You can try that too, which pulls the leg backward, stretching the hip and sometimes popping it back in. I suggest having a wall or sofa in front of you to lean on though, because with both hands on your leg you have to have amazing balance not to fall over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also get on one knee, with the injured leg down, and rotate side to side. The farther back the downed knee is, the better the stretch -- but also the harder it is to rotate. Do this slow; quick movements can cause further injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really sorry your hips are bothering you (and that I'm 2 years after this thread), but I hope all this helps you. &#xA;Note: I'm not claiming to give valid medical advice -- I'm just stating what has worked for me to realign my hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-01T16:51:17.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6540" CreationDate="2012-12-01T17:35:53.877" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually lost 5% body fat right after surgery by doing the 5x5 SL. I had cut a serious amount calories and maintained my diet with loads of protein and low fat. I would do my 5x5 in 30-40 minutes and do 20 in cardio, and on rest days I did 20 minutes of cardio. I ate around 2000 calories a day, which is about a 1000 less than I need to maintain my weight calories and also is very extreme. I took a rest day which was also my cheat day when once a week I would would have an additional 500 calories. I was 210 lbs on day 1, and at week 6 I was 192 lbs (18 lbs of weight loss). I ate tons of chicken, fruit for carbs, and low fat cheese and yogurt and gallons of water a day. In the morning, I had a protein shake as a meal replacement. I was extremely tired and would fall asleep super easily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I ate per day was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: Protein shake with skim milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: Greek yogurt, string mozzarella cheese, 2 small granny smith apples&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: 12 oz grilled chicken, 2 cups veggies, and 1/2 cup of potatoes or starchy food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was taking in around 140-160g protein, around 130 carbs max, and 15g fat a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, keeping calories down while doing StrongLifts, plus cardio, works (or at least worked for me) to lose weight (hopefully fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4741" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-01T23:51:46.573" LastActivityDate="2012-12-01T23:51:46.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9883" CreationDate="2012-12-01T18:17:16.053" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is really scattered, sorry! But, your question is really scattered. If you could simplify your question, I will try to put together a better answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How optimal the effort is&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question doesn't mean anything without the context of a particular goal. For example, running 5km is far from optimal if your goal is strength. But, running 5km at an appropriate pace and placed appropriately in your training cycle could be optimal if your goal is improving your 10km race time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;the total benefit of say biking to the office or gym&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, the benefit of a particular activity is only useful in the context of a goal. The benefit of biking to the gym could be negative if it happens on a scheduled rest day in an intense team practice cycle or strength training program. But it could be positive if you're starting out from a sedentary lifestyle and your goal is to simply increase your activity level in various ways throughout your day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;how much I should push myself&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This again depends on your goals. Generally, you'd like to be able to push yourself as hard as you can, but there are many standard exceptions. Just starting out? Ease into an activity instead of pushing as hard as you can. In the middle of an intense training cycle? Schedule &quot;easy&quot; days, where your distance, or speed is intentionally decreased. Training for a marathon? You need to include long easy runs to just increase your base miles to prepare your body for harder training. Of course, all of these &quot;easy&quot; workouts are for the purpose of letting work as hard as you can at a later time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what you might be asking is &quot;how do I quantify my effort?&quot; You need to pick a goal, an activity that gets you there, and then track your improvement at that activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're weightlifting: Track the max weight that you lifted in your heaviest set. If you lift that weight for more reps, or lift a higher weight, you'll require more effort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're running a straight distances at constant pace, your load will be proportional to the speed that you run at multiplied by the distance. Increase your pace, or distance, and you'll require more effort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're running intervals, track the pace and time of the speed portions, and the pace and time of the rest portions. Increase the pace and time of the speed portions or decrease the time of the rest portions to increase the effort required from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're just looking to increase general activity levels, track estimated calorie burn from the various things you do during the day &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-12-01T18:17:16.053" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9887" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-01T23:56:56.130" Score="13" ViewCount="3653" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you have heard this a million times in bodybuilding articles and forums: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only beginner weightlifters can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For intermediate and advanced weightlifters, they can only cut or bulk, but never both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you give me a biological explanation of how a beginner can paradoxically do two seemingly opposite things?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why does this biological process shuts off after the beginner phase?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-02T11:57:33.017" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T10:02:24.947" Title="What is the scientific explanation for beginning weightlifters' ability to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9887" CreationDate="2012-12-02T01:52:05.170" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only beginner weightlifters can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.&quot; For intermediate and advanced weightlifters, they can only cut or bulk, but never both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do whatever you want... you won't necessarily be successful with it, or you may not see &lt;em&gt;optimal&lt;/em&gt; results, but that doesn't mean there is only One True Approach and nothing else can work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Defining the &quot;paradox&quot;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build muscle, your body needs a caloric surplus to give it energy. In contrast, to lose fat your body needs a caloric deficit so it will convert fat into energy. Losing fat and gaining muscle, therefore, appear to be opposing goals. Therefore, a beginner losing fat and gaining muscle would be a paradox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How does a beginner lose fat and gain muscle at the same time?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, first off it should be noted that there are not very many studies done on this, so you should challenge the expectation that a beginner can lose fat while gaining muscle. Perhaps their measurements were not methodical and accurate, or were obscured by outside variables? Maybe they had a base amount of muscle that was hidden by fat, and losing fat only made it appear like they were gaining muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the paradox is true, you must revisit your assumptions as they were either incorrect, incomplete, or both. The first assumption that is made is the time period in which the caloric deficit/surplus occurs must be a day. A 24 hour period is a convenient unit of measure for counting caloric intake, but perhaps not for our body. It is possible that with a healthy and well-timed post-workout meal your body is able to build muscle while still running at a caloric deficit to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another assumption that must be challenged is that both outcomes have to be positive at the end of the day. Well that is not the case because we aren't interested in losing fat and gaining muscle for one day, but rather for the long term (say, over the course of one month). So even though you may have gain 0.4g of muscle and gained 0.2g of fat on one day, the next you may lose 0.1g of muscle and lose 0.3g of fat. So while neither day saw the &quot;paradox&quot; of both gaining muscle and losing fat occurring at the same time, the long-term effect was a net positive in both directions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why does this biological process shut off after the beginner phase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your beginner phase you have the most explosive growth, both in lifts and in muscle; however this is not a linear growth, as there is a definite upper limit in which your growth tapers off as you come closer to your genetic potential. This brings us back to what I was saying earlier about the &quot;optimal&quot; approach. As a beginner you have such explosive growth that you get away with the less-than-optimal, but as an advanced lifter you are so close to your upper limit that you have to finely tune your program, meaning you have to go through the bulking and cutting cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-12-02T01:52:05.170" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2012-12-02T04:42:34.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you have new onset of problems (ie neck and upper back tensions) since the introduction of your new desk, you can optimize your posture. Most muscle strain comes from overuse or imbalance, and most office related pain comes from misalignment or lack of core muscle strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To figure out what's going on, first, try to get a sense for your posture. You can do this with a mirror or have someone take your picture from 2 perpendicular angles (eg side and back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Posture impacts all of your muscles, so here's an overview: Feet should be about shoulder width apart with your weight evenly distributed. You should have comfortable, sturdy shoes. Your knees should be slightly bent. Your hips should be level with your pelvis in a neutral position-- not tilted to either side, flexed, or extended. Your core should be tight, with your stomach held in and your shoulders above your hips, and your head should be tilted so that you can see straight ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitors should be about 16 to 24 inches away from your eyes-- about arm's length. You should look away from the monitor every 10 - 30 minutes to focus on something far away, and so that your muscles aren't still for too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your arms are not at your side, make sure your core is strong when you hold them away. To use your core, stand with posture as above and hold your stomach and butt in, like a gymnast or an archer. If you don't use your strong core while you stand, you are likely to use your neck to do what your arms should be doing. If your core (abdomen and back muscles) is strong, your neck can just keep your head up, and your arms can move your hands. This is particularly important because you are standing. To prevent soreness, be sure to use your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, make a list your repetitive activities and log your pain and activities to look for an association. If there is a task you do that correlates with your pain, examine which muscles are involved. Try keeping your core muscles tight while you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also ask an ergonomics expert to evaluate you and your environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/ergonomics/ten-tips-improving-posture-and-ergonomics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ten Tips for Improving Posture and Ergonomics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/ergonomics/guidelines-improve-posture&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guidelines to Improve Posture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4706" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T22:34:56.720" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T22:34:56.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-02T08:00:33.817" Score="8" ViewCount="4225" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says, I haven't worked out in quite some time. I am 23 and I would really like to get into shape, put on SOME muscle. I am 5'9&quot; and weigh about 130 - 140 pounds, so I'm pretty tiny. I have asthma, so I am kinda limited on what I can do. Running is very very hard for me because of it. I tried doing P90X last year and I couldn't finish any of the videos, but surprisingly I did finish the Cardio work out. I had to take a couple 5 minute breaks but I did finish it. My friend wants to do Insanity with me, but I really don't think that is the best idea. I really don't have much muscle at all. My arms are tiny and I think doing these work out routines isn't the best way to start. Eating well for me is very hard because of my financial situation, but if you can throw me some ideas I will see what I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4743" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-12-02T21:56:56.417" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T14:42:50.673" Title="I haven't worked out in years, how should I go about starting?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9890" CreationDate="2012-12-02T09:01:58.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all - there's no universal workout plan for everyone. Both food and training should be adjusted to your body type in order to get the best possible results. Your body type is &lt;strong&gt;ectomorph&lt;/strong&gt;. I suggest you to read some articles on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also take a look at this e-book: &lt;a href=&quot;http://webcast.bodybuilding.com/fitshow/other/bulkingforectomorphs.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bulking For Ectomorphs&lt;/a&gt;. You'll find some tips there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic principles of ectomorph training program are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;using heavy weights (70%-80% of 1 rep max)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;using 4-8 reps in 3-4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;longer rest between sets (2-4 min)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;preferring compound exercises against isolated ones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;workout length maximally 1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition is also very important. Without proper nutrition, you won't get good results (especially as an ectomorph). Therefore you need to find some information about fitness nutrition. You could start with &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/health/the-complete-guide-to-workout-nutrition/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this great infographic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wrote your financial situation is not the best. Well, you don't have to go to gym and still you can gain some muscles. You can use your own bodyweight, you would then perform pushups, pullups, dips etc. For more information on this topic, try to type Barstarzz to Youtube. They have many how-to videos online. You should spend your money on food in first place because you won't grow if you won't eat properly no matter how hard would you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps a bit and I wish you to get stronger and bigger!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditDate="2012-12-03T23:11:46.203" LastActivityDate="2012-12-03T23:11:46.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9893" CreationDate="2012-12-02T11:30:27.557" Score="11" ViewCount="12542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking at some door frame pull up bars yesterday. Now I was standing in my door frame and tried to imagine at which height the bar would be and it seemed a bit low (although I am a bit smaller than average).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the recommended height for a pull up bar? Should my arms be slightly bent when standing, should they be straight? Should I be freely hanging (eg jump up to reach the bar)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that I could bent my knees when the bar is too low, but I'd like to know if there is something like a guideline, a montage recommendation or even something like a standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-02T12:11:28.563" LastActivityDate="2012-12-02T17:32:40.810" Title="Whats the optimal height for a pull up bar?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9892" CreationDate="2012-12-02T17:32:40.810" Score="13" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Minimum height&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be able to hang from the bar and not touch the ground with your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Maximum height&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be able to pull yourself all the way up, chest touching the bar, and still have at least an inch or two of space between your head and the ceiling or anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Optimal height&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great to be able to just barely reach the bar by getting on your toes, because then you can hang from it and not have to bend your knees. Some people even prefer the bar higher, so they need to jump, or step up on a box or something, to get on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also great to have a ton of space above the bar for muscle-ups, skin-the-cats, and other gymnastics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-12-02T17:32:40.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9890" CreationDate="2012-12-02T19:58:47.490" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend Insanity. Most of the exercises are high impact and intense and you need to be in a good shape. It's not for building muscle. It is more to burn all the fat you have. Some people that don't eat properly during Insanity will lose muscle mass as well, because they're not taking in enough protein to maintain the muscle they have so this workout is not a good option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did it and I didn't lose much weight. If you want to build some muscle you should eat right, increase your caloric intake, get enough protein to support muscle growth, work harder but shorter, and rest. You should also limit your cardio training. While doing cardio is great for fat burning, it can limit muscle growth by burning up glycogen and amino acids. You should do a lot of weight-training. Work your whole body by doing squats, push-ups, crunches, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4746" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-12-03T23:14:06.203" LastActivityDate="2012-12-03T23:14:06.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9883" CreationDate="2012-12-02T20:41:24.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Track your goals, workout &quot;points&quot;, and state. The method described in this post comes from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mhhe.com/hhp/physical_education/wellness/fahey_bridge/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fahey's Fit &amp;amp; Well&lt;/a&gt;, my own experience, and the medical physical therapy model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Quantify your goals. Choose measurable indices of strength, endurance, coordination, flexibility and any other trait you plan to improve. (Strength, endurance, and coordination can each be divided into sub groups, such as core strength, leg strength, coordination for dancing, or tennis, etc.) Be as specific as you can here. Searching for &quot;fitness goals&quot; may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fitness goal should be quantitative, measurable, and specific. For example, you may want to be able to do 10 pull ups and run 2 miles within 15 minutes. If you want to be stronger, perhaps you want to be able to lift 100 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Assess where you are. Now that you have your goal, you need to figure out how to get there. It may help to work with a personal trainer at this point or do your own assessment of your current fitness state, with respect to your fitness goals. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next identify what workouts you'll do to accomplish your goals. To do this, you'll quantify your work outs. For each workout, assign a point value to how much it helps you get to each of your goals. For example, a 30 treadmill workout may give you a specific amount of cardiovascular endurance &quot;points&quot; and some leg and core strength points. The faster and longer you run, the more points you'd get. Playing tennis hard for 40 minutes might give you 40 tennis coordination points, 60 cardiopulmonary endurance points, and 40 arm and leg strength and coordination. Assign and track relevant points toward each fitness goal for each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To determine what you get out of each work out, think about what you need to do to accomplish it and how you feel during and after. If you get out of breath, the workout provides cardiopulmonary endurance. If your arms burn, then it adds arm strength; if it makes you a better swimmer, then it adds coordination for swimming, etc. As you exercise more and track your goals, you'll refine your point system to be able to answer the question, how hard should you work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general increasing intensity, duration, and reps should be done about 10 percent every 10-15 days. This rate is slow enough to prevent injuries and fast enough to build up over time at a pace most bodies can adjust to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are left feeling energized after your workouts, it was a good intensity. If you are exhausted or in pain, it was too much. If you can't feel any difference, it may not have been enough. To know, track it daily and review and adjust weekly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Assess your ability to work out each day. This includes your nutritional, stress, immune, mood, and motivation state. You will be able to do more if you are fed, rested, healthy, in a workable mood, and motivated. If any of these are not true, address them before you work out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've been tracking goals, workout &quot;points&quot;, and state, you may find you need to adjust your goals or your point system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4706" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T20:09:45.890" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T20:09:45.890" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9883" CreationDate="2012-12-03T18:26:12.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two aspects that are vital when you are wanting to evaluate your training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much effort am I exerting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much reward am I getting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are two sides of the same coin, and it can show how two radically different training styles using the same measurements can be equally valid depending on how you define the reward.  At it's simplest view in this context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Efficiency = reward / effort&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defining Reward&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most useful tool for deciding what a valuable reward is a clear, concise, &lt;em&gt;measurable&lt;/em&gt; goal.  Wanting to be &quot;fit&quot; is not measurable.  I made this same mistake starting out.  Because I didn't know what I want, I wasted my time, and the time of my personal trainer who tried to get me closer to his definition of &quot;fit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even within the world of goals you have to prioritize some goals over others.  For example, the work needed to improve your 50 yard dash times will be vastly different than the work needed to increase your endurance.  If you want to run a marathon, endurance is going to have to be your primary goal.  You can work on speed later, or be OK with the fact your speed as a marathoner won't ever be as fast as a sprinter.  There's changes in the way your body has to use energy that are mutually exclusive with these two goals.  Both marathoners and sprinters are extremely fit--but in very different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have no goals, your efficiency is by definition: 0%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defining How To Measure Your Goal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each sport has a set of measurements that make sense in the confines of that sport.  Running, swimming, weightlifting, etc. all have different metrics.  Get used to those measurements and use them when you record your work.  This is all about tracking your effort, and measuring how that effort is helping you progress toward your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Express your goals (your reward) in terms of these measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Evaluate Your Effort&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you change your program (the way you organize your effort), see if you are progressing toward your goals more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-03T18:26:12.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9903" CreationDate="2012-12-03T22:33:02.987" Score="4" ViewCount="1435" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am about to embark on a strength training program, most likely Starting Strength possibly blended with aspects of Strong Lifts. I am a 32yr old male who is out of shape (weak and terrible cardio) and overweight but not obese. My primary goal is better health rather than body sculpting or athletic prowess. I'm looking at using strength training since the last time I was in good shape (around 5 years ago) it was primarily due to strength training, simply because I enjoy it (compared with hypertrophy or cardio focused training) and therefore will be more likely to stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My metabolism and body shape definitely fits the endomorph mould. Are there any tips for modifying the SS/SL type approach slightly, or things to focus on in particular to maximise success for my body type? I read a suggestion (I can't find the link now) that endomorphs should rest less between sets in order to thrash the metabolism (I guess making the workout a little more like cross-fit metcon style, though without the kool-aid). Is this valid? Are there any other things to keep in mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes without saying that diet is imperative. I think my diet is actually okay, I think I just need to halve my meals and eat the same amount over 6 instead of 3 and cut out the odd sugary snack I fall prey to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4703" LastActivityDate="2014-09-14T23:34:43.567" Title="Strength training for health tips for an endomorph?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9902" CreationDate="2012-12-03T23:45:38.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Nutrition,_Supplements_and_Cardio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Linked here&lt;/a&gt; is an amazing article that I suggest you read from the Starting Strength wikia. I will highlight some of the key points below, as well as provide some of my own advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle builds most rapidly when adequate supplies of micro- and macronutrients are available at all times. This rarely happens unless you are eating a caloric excess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, if you want to see optimal strength and muscle gains, you should be eating at 500 calories above your daily caloric maintenance level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In order to burn bodyfat, you must take in fewer calories than you need. This generally will result in you taking in less micro- and macronutrients than you need to build muscle, even if you take every supplement on the market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, if you wish to burn bodyfat, you will need to be running at a caloric deficit (generally speaking 3500 calories = 1 pound fat, so 500 calorie deficit / day is the target). You should already see the problem here: you will have to  choose which is more important to you, gaining muscle or losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ideally speaking, any initial weight training will be done with a minimum of cardio and while eating a caloric excess. This will allow for optimal muscle growth during the time in your training &quot;career&quot; that is optimal for that muscle growth. Less cardio = more calories for growth, hypothetically speaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I totally agree with the sentiment that if you are going to do SL/SS, you should commit yourself 100% to the program to get the most optimal muscle gains; even at the expense of gaining an extra couple pounds of fat. As a bonus, you being an endomorph means that you should see pretty awesome gains on this front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you exhaust your beginner's gains and have completed the SS/SL program, you can then shift your focus to losing your body fat while maintaining your strength and muscle. For this, I would recommend a three times a week HIIT cardio program, supplemented with a once or twice a week lifting routine to maintain your muscles and lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you will want to ensure you measure your progress using both &lt;strong&gt;weight&lt;/strong&gt; AND &lt;strong&gt;body fat %&lt;/strong&gt;. Knowing both will allow you to determine how much body fat you are gaining /  losing with respect to your muscle, and provides much needed context to your progress for both goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Endomorphs should rest less between sets in order to thrash the metabolism&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend this at all. Do not rush, but instead take your time, get adequate rest, and always focus on your form. Whatever metabolism gain you get from this practice would be insignificant compared to the loss of muscle gain from not resting, or worse yet, the risk of injury from not resting enough. This is especially true when you get to the higher weights at the end of the program. &lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; to clarify, I mean as part of the actual SS/SL program. Once you have exhausted your progressive gains from the program and have shifted focus to cardio and fat-burning then I would suggest giving this a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It goes without saying that diet is imperative. I think my diet is actually okay, I think I just need to halve my meals and eat the same amount over 6 instead of 3 and cut out the odd sugary snack I fall prey to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely cut the sugary snacks, and focus on getting a well-rounded diet established. The linked article at the top goes into explicit detail on this subject and has a lot of great advice. Once again, I suggest you commit with the 500 excess calories/day to optimize your gains for the program, and then shift your diet afterwards to be more focused on fat loss (500 day deficit + cardio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-12-03T23:55:35.450" LastActivityDate="2012-12-03T23:55:35.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9908" CreationDate="2012-12-04T01:48:59.507" Score="8" ViewCount="16125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been deadlifting now for 7 workouts, increasing nicely, but for the first time today I could feel my grip starting to give way. With another 5kg being added next workout, I fear my grip is going to be limiting me soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless it improves along with the deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I be doing grip exercises? I actually thought I had a strong grip. I'm definitely not into accessories like straps if I can help it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-12-04T01:57:04.847" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T01:41:32.907" Title="Will grip strength automatically increase with deadlift?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9904" CreationDate="2012-12-04T02:23:51.073" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grip will eventually be a limiter, but there are things you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold the bar at the top for an extra 10-15 seconds on your last rep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change your grip to a stronger hold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do grip specific work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first option will help get your grip stronger pretty well.  There does come a time when the weight on the bar increases faster than your grip strength, though.  This is where we come to the second option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three main types of grip for deadlifts, in order of strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kD0gR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Double Overhand Grip&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Double Overhand Grip:&lt;/strong&gt;  This is what most people start with.  Getting this grip as strong as you can will help the other two options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oSzwk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hook Grip&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitsouthbay.com/2012/01/14032/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hook Grip&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt;  Wrap your fingers around your thumb to hook it in place.  This adds quite a bit more strength to your grip.  It is uncomfortable at heavier weights, but it provides the same symmetry that you get with double overhand grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uUKIA.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mixed Grip:&lt;/strong&gt; One hand is overhand (pronated) and the other hand is underhand (suppinated).  This gives the strongest grip you can use, but it lacks the symmetry.  The most critical piece of advice for using the mixed grip is do not flex your biceps at all.  This advice applies to all the grips, but because the suppinated hand is stretching the biceps, that's a good way to tear the muscle.  Instead, make sure there is no flex in your arms at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most critical piece of advice for using the mixed grip is do not flex your biceps at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grip Specific Work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each time you change your grip, keep employing the first option to hold at the top an extra 10-15s.  Eventually, even this may only work so long.  If you want to do grip specific work, you can employ:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plate/dumbbell pinches:  Hold a flat plate (don't use ridges) or the end of a dumbbell by pinching it with your flat fingers and hold it as long as you can.  You are not curling your fingertips to help out, but just using the pressure of the grip to hold it.  When you get to 30s at a time, you can increase the weight you are using.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grippers: Anything that has resistance when you squeeze will help your grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T02:23:51.073" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9904" CreationDate="2012-12-04T02:27:03.340" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this problem as well, where I was able to lift the weight easily enough, but my grip was giving out (I almost dropped the bar at one point). Your grip strength will increase as you progress with deadlifts, but sometimes you will need more so your grip can keep pace with your progressive overloading. Here are a couple of tips that have helped me out a ton with improving my grip:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take off the gloves and straps&lt;/strong&gt;. Gloves make it easier for the bar to slip, and don't build up grip strength as much as going gloveless. Straps take the load off of the grip, so your grip will get &lt;em&gt;weaker&lt;/em&gt; by using straps. Avoid these two things, plain and simple.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlift#Grips&quot;&gt;mixed grip&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. By far the biggest change I ever made for grip strength was incorporating mixed grip into the work set. Mixed grip allows you to lift heavier weights and improved my overall grip strength. Note: I only use mixed on my work set, for the lighter-sets I use normal grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use white-knuckling&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/the_evil_russian_speaks_part_1&quot;&gt;Read this interview&lt;/a&gt; with Pavel Tsatsouline that talks about white-knuckling, or using focused body contractions to improve your grip and overall strength. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use chalk.&lt;/strong&gt; If all else fails and you are still really having trouble with grip, try chalk out. Some people have very sweaty palms and swear by it, whereas I have fairly dry palms and never noticed much of a difference. Your mileage may vary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T02:27:03.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9904" CreationDate="2012-12-04T04:26:27.870" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're deadlifting about as much as you weigh with a double overhand grip, there's no need to worry about your grip as a specific thing. The deadlift itself will develop your grip strength just fine for a while longer, with just a minor tweak or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Least Intrusive Grip Improvements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing to do is to challenge your grip as much as possible without interfering with your progress on the deadlift itself. For that, I recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chalk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A hook grip on your heaviest set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chalk&lt;/strong&gt; was a dramatic shift in my deadlifting. Not having the bar slip out of my hands from sweat was a game-changer with no discernable downside. I got a block at a rock-climbing store for a buck fifty and it's lasted me over a year with frequent use. Keep it in a bowl so you can capture the dust and fragments to use later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend using an &lt;strong&gt;overhand grip for all warm-up sets&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;then switching to a hook grip for the work set&lt;/strong&gt; (or sets). Since the overhand grip is weak, you will be requiring and and creating grip strength on all your warm-up sets (particularly the last). Using the hook grip when it's really heavy gives you a major grip strength boost. This will prevent your grip from getting in the way of big weights, or distracting you from proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This double-overhand/hook-grip combination should prevent your grip from hampering your deadlift until you are lifting approximately double what you are now, or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Grip-Specific Work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend against straps or grip-specific work unless they become absolutely necessary, and even then I philosophically prefer exercises that have other benefits over grip-strength-specific work. For instance, pull-ups, particularly on a rope, fat bar, or other hard-to-grip setup are great for your grip and also improve a whole lot of other strengths. Farmer's walks are another great, fun, productive way to work your grip while also improving posture, conditioning, and muscles across the trunk and legs. I'd do these before resorting to grippers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T01:41:32.907" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T01:41:32.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2012-12-04T07:05:46.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my research, ankle flexibility seems to be quite important for speed. It is common for people with poor ankle flexibility (often joggers) to go the wrong direction when floating on their back and kicking for example, even when kicking from the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wear full length flippers for a few laps in the crawl stroke to not only get enough speed to create a wake to breathe behind, but to try and increase the flexibility as the resistance is quite heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T07:05:46.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11402" CreationDate="2012-12-04T08:04:53.447" Score="25" ViewCount="417902" Body="&lt;p&gt;For years I'm listening from everyone that we have to stop masturbation and also limit sex as it let down process of gaining muscle. Also everyone in gym suggests me to completely stop masturbation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any effect of masturbation and sex on gaining muscle through gym workout? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is any effect, then is the effect and quantity of effect is same for masturbation and sex or they are different.(Because I'm more concerned about masturbation here, and not sex).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read a on link &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2640/effect-of-sex-male-orgasm-on-athletic-performance&quot;&gt;Effect of Sex/Male Orgasm on Athletic Performance&lt;/a&gt; on this site about it, &lt;strong&gt;but it discusses on effect on Athletic performance, and I'm concerned about effect on muscle gain&lt;/strong&gt;. Because I'm not athlete, I'm 29 years old weighting 69 kg who is not related with any sport and just want to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-06-18T08:31:41.383" Title="What is the effect of masturbation on weightlifitng ability?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;sex&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9910" CreationDate="2012-12-04T10:11:48.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that actually it is good to masturbate and doing sex because it release testosterone during one of 2 hours after you do it, and testosterone is good for gaining muscled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't really think it is good to stop for your own spirits and body you have to feel good in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-04T10:51:06.240" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T10:51:06.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9914" CreationDate="2012-12-04T10:18:55.730" Score="2" ViewCount="56578" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just starting to get back into exercising after a 3 year absence (and letting myself go a bit). I recently started rowing as it is quite intense and involves the full body. I'd just like to know what times I should be aiming for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do level 10 (max resistance), 500m sprint followed by a 500m rest and repeat this through the entire workout. Last night I did it in 47.55 minutes. is this a good time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;about me:&#xA;sex: Male&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;age: 21&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;height: 5 foot 7 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;weight: 99Kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;body type: endomorph&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;background history: lifted weights from age 16 - 19&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically I would like to know what times are accepted by certain institutions i.e. Olympic times, World records etc. So that I can compare myself against other records to get a benchmark for where I am right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-03-21T20:30:30.757" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T02:14:26.410" Title="What is a good time to row 10,000m on a Concept C2 rowing machine?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;timing&gt;&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9913" CreationDate="2012-12-04T11:42:45.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Concept 2 &lt;a href=&quot;http://log.concept2.com/rankings.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;actually have a page&lt;/a&gt; that may help you. Some of the better times are around the 33 -34 minute mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The page is dynamically generated depending upon criteria you enter. Below I've selected a few men age 19-29 heavyweight (&gt;75Kg) world ranking for Concept 2 Rowing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1   Eric Murray     29  Cambridge, New Zealand      NZL     31:17.2 IND_V D&#xA;2   Edward Budimier 21  Norfolk VA                  USA     33:43.5 IND_V I&#xA;2   John Madura     21  Hewitt  NJ                  USA     34:13.2 IND   I&#xA;3   Rich Connell    27  Dublin  NH                  USA     34:37.0 IND   I&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://concept2.co.uk/training/answers?id=12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some information on the site&lt;/a&gt; about damper levels 1 - 10 and racing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some confusion reigns because rowers tend to use a setting of 3-4. This is because on these settings the machine closely mirrors the feel of a racing boat. As they spend most of their time training in this medium then it makes sense for them to set the machine up to feel like a boat. For the indoor rowers who have never been in a boat, you shouldn't necessarily follow the rowers strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-07T10:23:50.443" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T10:23:50.443" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9915" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-04T12:47:57.207" Score="4" ViewCount="1266" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading this post &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9802/how-does-muscle-build-up-when-we-exercise?rq=1&quot;&gt;How does muscle build up when we exercise?&lt;/a&gt;. I read there that recovery time (rest before your next workout) is important to increase muscle. Now there are 2 questions I want to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) I go to gym daily 1 hour in morning, my trainer has set schedule for me like 1st day shoulder + bicep, 2nd day chest + triceps , 3rd day abs + back + wings etc(don't exact remember groups, but 2 muscles a day repeated 2 times a week); and repeat this for next three days, and Sunday rest. That is 3 days recovery to a muscle. But after completing his schedule, as I have free time, I take some rest(15 minutes) and do exercise of show off muscles like bicep, triceps and chest(depends on my mood), so my question is will this extra exercise support me to gain muscle or let down the process as I am not giving recovery time to that muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Also at night(9-11 pm), I have dumbbells at home so I do exercise of above mentioned show off muscles(any muscle depending on my mood), so another question whether this late night exercise of random-ally any muscle will support or let down my ultimate goal of increasing muscle(muscle size). &#xA;I am 28 years old weighting 69 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T20:57:16.360" Title="Is recovery time required to increase muscle after gym workouts" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9631" CreationDate="2012-12-04T13:37:41.353" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly mate your looking in great shape considering you don't do any cardio. I believe what you need is 20 min cardio in the morning before breakfast. Id start on 10 minutes on cycle machine in the morning. 5 days a week then every week add a minute or to. That will help build stamina and slowly get your percentage down with out, fasting then piling the weight back on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind this is that your insulin levels are at their lowest before breakfast, and that leaves your fat supplies vulnerable. A light amount of cardio in morning before breakfast (called fasted cardio) targets the fat supplies and, for the most part, leaves your muscles intact. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_ultimate_cardio_solution_disclosed&quot;&gt;Linked here&lt;/a&gt; is the t-nation article describing this in detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4762" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2012-12-04T19:15:00.370" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T19:15:00.370" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-04T18:27:48.017" Score="5" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been participating in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spartanrace.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spartan Race&lt;/a&gt; for 2 years running. During each of those races there was an obstacle where I had to climb a suspended rope. Both times I was unable to complete the challenge and instead did the penalty burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to fail the rope challenge again. However, I don't have a rope that I can practice with. What training can I do to overcome this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T17:57:06.443" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T11:06:48.297" Title="Training Methods for Climbing a Suspended Rope" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9915" CreationDate="2012-12-04T19:14:43.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question makes me have to ask you: Are you aware that muscle doesn't grow while working them? (to put it simply) They grow during rest time so long as proper nutrition is added to the equation. Efficiency is the key, work your muscles as hard as you can in the shortest time possible, then take adequate rest time (approximately 48 hours depending on who you talk to) and feed on proper nutrition. If you know this much, I guess I'm not sure I understand your question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Are you asking how MUCH work should you exert on your muscles and how OFTEN, in order to stress them enough to cause growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4765" LastEditorUserId="4765" LastEditDate="2012-12-04T19:21:38.757" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T19:21:38.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9915" CreationDate="2012-12-04T20:57:16.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is yes.  Rest is on of many required elements to build muscle.  How much rest, and how you organize that rest depends on a number of factors.  Other factors include the amount of work, and the type of work performed to require rebuilding, and nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your first scenario is what is commonly known as a split.  You work some parts of your body while allowing other parts to rest.  There are several types of splits depending on your goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light weight/high rep work can help get blood flowing through your muscles, which is one way of getting what is called a &quot;pump&quot;.  It's a temporary thing that helps show off your muscles, but it soon goes away.  As long as the work is very light, it should be easy to recover from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing muscle size requires a combination of factors, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The weight you are lifting.  If you aren't going heavier over time, you won't be able to get larger muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The number of reps.  Higher rep ranges help increase the energy systems in your muscles, which take up a lot of room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest.  This includes sleep and giving one muscle group a break while you focus on another--or simply take a day off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food.  It requires a lot of energy to build muscle.  You'll need protein as a basic building block, and energy (in the form of carbs and fat).  How much and what portions is beyond the scope of this question.  If you are getting fatter, scale back.  If you don't have any energy and can't do the work you have planned, you might need to eat more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One approach for the work/rest part that works well for size is to take a 10 rep max, and keep going for more reps until you can do that exercise for 15 reps.  Then rest 1 minute, and try to match that first set with about half the reps.  For example in the first week you lift 10 reps, rest a minute, and then 5 reps.  After a few weeks, you lift 15 reps, rest a minute, and then try to get 7 reps.  After that, you increase the weight on the bar and keep going from there.  The key is to switch the focus of the body parts each day you train.  Example: upper body, lower body alternating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T20:57:16.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-04T21:35:12.603" Score="8" ViewCount="9724" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6'0 and 272 lbs. I'm 43 and have always been a big guy i.e in 1st grade I was over 100 lbs. already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to my fancy scale, it says I have 30% body fat so my goal is to lose 80lbs starting today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that I need to eat less but when I go to the gym from here on out, should I focus on muscle building since muscle burns more fat or should I just work on 30-45 min. walks/jogs to lose the fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can get to the gym 3x a week for up to 45 min. each time, what would be your best suggestion to make efficient gains in your mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4766" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-04T22:38:13.173" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T03:27:38.890" Title="To lose a lot of fat mass, should I lift weights, do cardio, or both?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2012-12-04T22:28:36.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both cardio and weightlifting play vital roles in weight loss. Weightlifting helps as you mentioned, by building muscles which in turn burns more calories over the course of the day even when you are not in the gym. Cardio on the other-hand is a great way to burn calories in bundles in one workout. Your problem seems to be that you only have 3 days a week that you can get to the gym which doesn't allow to work cardio on the days that you are not lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the above I would really recommend doing HIIT type workouts. High intensity interval training allows you to burn a lot of calories while you workout and also build some muscle which will help you burn calories even when you are out of the gym. Now obviously this won't build as much muscle as as would a regular weightlifting session, but given the fact that you have a goal of losing FAT and not WEIGHT and only having 3 times a week to workout I think that this is your best bet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="3250" LastEditDate="2012-12-04T22:34:18.643" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T22:34:18.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2012-12-04T22:29:19.080" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a multipronged approach, actually. You are correct that muscle burns more than fat, and that is where I would start. Take a look at a good weightlifting program such as Stronglifts 5x5, which will give you an excellent muscle building base. As you build the muscle, you'll contribute to fat loss as it will require more calories on a daily basis to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the dietary approaches go, you are correct that eating less will help, but you also need to look at what you are eating. It does no good to put the time in at the gym, if all you are going to do for your diet is go from 2 Big Macs at lunch to 1. I would slowly shift your eating to a more healthy structure. You will want somewhere between 1-2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. (Kilograms is pounds/2.2, 176 lbs is 80kg). I say slowly, as suddenly switching your entire diet is likely to create cravings that undermine your efforts and promote binge/splurge eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As part of this, add small salads and healthy soups to your main meals, and eat them before the main meal. This will help curb appetite, and suppress the urge to overeat. Also, eat a bit slower. The &quot;I'm full&quot; feeling is controlled by stretch receptors on the stomach walls, and the signal can take a few minutes to get to the brain. If you are shoveling in food as fast as you can, this can lead to overeating. I wouldn't worry too much about following this diet or that diet, but aim to get around 20% of your calories from healthy fats, another 30-40% from lean proteins, and the rest from healthy carbohydrates (The less refined the carb, the better.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start a food log. Learn to weigh your foods, and accurately count calories. Aim for 1-2 lbs of loss per week. In the beginning you will probably lose a little faster, later it will be harder. Don't be discouraged, it will eventually come off. If you need to, find support channels (Such as exercise groups, friends, here), as going it alone can sometimes get discouraging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also add cardio. You don't have to go to the gym, and at the beginning, it can be as simple as a 10 minute walk. This will also help with caloric burn and metabolic increase, and is easy to do every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have ups and downs, there will be days when you will cheat (Which is perfectly find), but if you stay with it, eventually the weight will come off, and all along the way you will be getting healthier and more fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, it sounds like you have been somewhat heavy most of your life, so as a precaution I would schedule a visit with your family doctor. Weightlifting and various cardio exercises can cause quite a spike in blood pressure and heart rate, make sure you're healthy enough to do what you intend to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-04T22:29:19.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2012-12-05T03:27:38.890" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main issue with losing weight through exercise is that your body has mechanisms for counteracting calories burned through exercise.  That means that those extra calories you burn from the increased metabolic activity of muscle are likely to be precisely compensated by increases in appetite and decreases in your metabolism.  So unless you're rigorously counting calories, you're likely to eat more, and not lose any weight at all.  (Of course any exercise is likely to make you healthier.)  What you need are activities and lifestyle changes to alter your body mass set point, making your body &amp;quot;want&amp;quot; to be thinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some evidence that you should focus on High Intensity Intervals Exercise/Training to maximize fat loss.  This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v32/n4/abs/0803781a.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;small study&lt;/a&gt; found that the following (SSE means something like standard &amp;quot;cardio&amp;quot;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Results: Both exercise groups demonstrated a significant improvement (P&amp;lt;0.05) in cardiovascular fitness. However, only the HIIE group had a significant reduction in total body mass (TBM), fat mass (FM), trunk fat and fasting plasma insulin levels. There was significant fat loss (P&amp;lt;0.05) in legs compared to arms in the HIIE group only. Lean compared to overweight women lost less fat after HIIE. Decreases in leptin concentrations were negatively correlated with increases in VO2peak (r=−0.57, P&amp;lt;0.05) and positively correlated with decreases in TBM (r=0.47; P&amp;lt;0.0001). There was no significant change in adiponectin levels after training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusions: HIIE three times per week for 15 weeks compared to the same frequency of SSE exercise was associated with significant reductions in total body fat, subcutaneous leg and trunk fat, and insulin resistance in young women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, high intensity intervals led to increased fat loss, and increased some measures of insulin sensitivity.  Here's a link to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2012/06/couple-more-studies-on-hiit.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;few more studies&lt;/a&gt;, with promising results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, HIIT can be quite difficult, probably more difficult than standard cardio or many types of strength training. So while I'd recommend trying HIIT, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good: the best exercise is the exercise you do. Giving up on an exercise program burns 0 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another aspect to consider is ancillary benefits.  IMHO, improving strength and flexibility will make you feel better faster than cardio or HIIT.  Strength training can improve pain of various sorts (especially back pain) and make it easier to start other kinds of exercise programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T03:27:38.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9910" CreationDate="2012-12-05T11:44:09.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Take this answer with a grain of salt. See masonk's comments below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short version&lt;/strong&gt;: sex and masturbation are no problem for muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long version&lt;/strong&gt;: several studies have looked at sex, including these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8775649&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link 1&lt;/a&gt; -- found no relation between sex and maximal exercise performance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0222_060222_sex.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link 2&lt;/a&gt; -- sex actually stimulates testosterone production&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dailyuw.com/2004/3/9/the-effects-of-sexual-activity-on-performance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link 3&lt;/a&gt; -- found no relation between sex and maximal exercise performance; furthermore, found no diminishing of mental concentration ability after sex&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;regarding masturbation specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/cgi/content/abstract/70/3/439&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link 4&lt;/a&gt; -- levels of testosterone (among other hormones) increased after masturbation, even though they do not increase if you merely think about masturbation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.andrologyjournal.org/cgi/rapidpdf/jandrol.109.007856v1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link 5&lt;/a&gt; -- similar to previous one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got this info from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askscooby.com/basic-techniques-36/sex-masturbation-testosterone-levels-and-exercise-performance-9907/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;post by Goldie at the AskScooby forum&lt;/a&gt;. I'm a member of that forum, and I have had a look at some of these links in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to add a general advice: &lt;em&gt;don't trust what you read on the Internet&lt;/em&gt;. While some sites usually post reputable information (like NYT, for example), the vast majority of websites post &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anecdotal evidence&lt;/a&gt;; this is especially true regarding fitness and nutrition. When you want to search for information, go to reputable places like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt; (for anything) or &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition Data&lt;/a&gt; (for quick nutritional info) and search those sources directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2013-01-18T09:05:46.327" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T09:05:46.327" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-05T16:45:36.020" Score="10" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using one of the Texas Method variants. I want to add tabata sprints to my weekly workout. The question is, when? My choices are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monday. I'm already doing 5x5 at 80% of squats, bench, power cleans. Plus planks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wed. Lighter day: 70% of 3x3 goblet squats and overhead press, plus 3 sets of 12 pull ups and 5 sets of back raises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Friday I do 1x5 at 90% of squats, bench and deadlifts, plus planks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I make Monday a serious depletion day by adding in the sprints, or maybe Friday would be better so that I have the weekend to recover. Recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4772" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-05T19:00:14.773" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T21:48:37.473" Title="Recommended timing for Tabata sprints to supplement olympic lifts" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9925" CreationDate="2012-12-05T19:22:32.060" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've read about Texas Method, an option for the Friday is to do dynamic effort sets instead of PR squats. Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore say this (referring to swapping in dynamic effort sets in the Texas Method):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When beginning this type of training, it is normal to continue to use&#xA;  5 sets of 5 on Monday and replace Friday's workout with dynamic effort&#xA;  sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Dynamic effort sets are explained in more detail in their book.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main point is &lt;strong&gt;you can do power work&lt;/strong&gt; (like sprints), and it looks like Friday is the day to do it. My guess is that if you're set on doing Tabata sprints &lt;em&gt;in addition&lt;/em&gt; to your heavy squats on Friday, you may have to re-adjust the percentages you're doing across the week to account for the extra load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, remember why you've switched to Texas Method, though. It's because the amount of work you needed to do to stimulate adaptation required too much recovery for a novice schedule. The Texas Method gave you a way to do more work (volume day), and have the recovery time you need (light day). Adding in &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; stuff at this point will be tricky to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe and Kilgore say this about tweaking the Texas Method:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you stall by not setting PRs on Fridays, but are not failing on Mondays, add more volume on Monday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you fail to set PRs on Friday &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; regress on Monday, reduce the volume on Monday (fewer warm-up sets, reduce the percentage, or take out sets or reps from your work sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've given a lot of extra info that you didn't ask about, because I'm assuming that you're wanting to add tabata sprints due to stalling progress. So, I wanted to remind you about the standard tweaks that can be done to Texas Method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T19:22:32.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9925" CreationDate="2012-12-05T21:48:37.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My preference would be to do conditioning like sprints on non-lifting days. Tuesday would be a good fit: you won't undercut your lifting efforts by tiring yourself out before a max-effort or volume day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I had to do my sprints on a lifting day, I'd make it Friday for the extra recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-12-05T21:48:37.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="872" CreationDate="2012-12-05T21:54:06.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recover no matter what you do.  If you are not sure if it has been long enough, start with your warm ups. If you feel better while warming up, go ahead into your workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have been eating right and resting, then you should be o.k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4777" LastEditorUserId="12098" LastEditDate="2015-02-21T10:13:02.183" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T10:13:02.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9944" CreationDate="2012-12-06T10:03:47.323" Score="10" ViewCount="1933" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout in gym daily morning for 1 hour with high intensity. But after 30 minutes, I start to feel very exhausted, fatigue and dried throat. Because of that, I couldn't push myself for much. e.g. If at start, I can press 50 kg, but after 30 minutes I couldn't even press 40 kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also from when I have joined gym, after workout, throughout the day(specially up to evening) I fell very tired and energy-less. So my friend suggested me to take some energy drinks while workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But always I eat natural things, and avoid any packed drinks and food. So I started drinking lot of water(approx half liter, 100 ml for 5 times) during exercise; but not effective. Also I read on net that, rather than only drinking water, drink electrolyte drinks containing some minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So should I start taking some energy drinks, and if yes then in what quantity and exactly at what time(before or during exercise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorUserId="4568" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T10:18:33.557" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T21:05:54.950" Title="should I use of energy/electrolyte drinks if I feel fatigue, exhausted and dried throat during exercise" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9934" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-06T13:22:48.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Handle lengths of dumbbells vary, but are around 30-40cm (11-16&quot;).&#xA;Weights are fixed to the bar or changeable, starting from a few hundred grams up to ones physical limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions are about everything that is related to dumbbells, eg equipment questions or exercise recommendations.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Related tags are &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/barbell&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'barbell'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;barbell&lt;/a&gt; for the long dual handed type of bar or &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/kettlebell&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'kettlebell'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;kettlebell&lt;/a&gt; for a type of weight with a ring shaped handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T16:21:56.580" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T16:21:56.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9935" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-06T13:22:48.797" Score="0" Body="Dumbbells are small bars with added weights at both ends that are normally used with one hand. Depending on the type of dumbbell these weights are fixed or interchangeable. They are used for weight lifting or strength endurance exercises." OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T16:22:00.353" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T16:22:00.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9870" CreationDate="2012-12-06T16:55:48.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not experienced in this, and I don't have a definite answer, but since this has been asked a week ago and there are no answers yet, I will give the information that I found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking through PubMed it's surprisingly hard to find information on this. The keywords which yielded the best results were &quot;treadmill backpack&quot;. In particular, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22215177&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, which does not directly answer your question, but provides some insight. They studied three conditions:&#xA;1) Unloaded, which they describe as &quot;light sportswear&quot;;&#xA;2) Moderate load, which is around 27% of bodyweight;&#xA;3) Heavy load, which is around 46% of bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They found that the motion of walking itself was changed, but in a way which does not make it unhealthy, even for heavy load. This gives you an important piece of information: &lt;strong&gt;40% load is not unhealthy&lt;/strong&gt; (something which actually surprised me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19062021&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another article&lt;/a&gt;, which described 25% load as &quot;significant&quot; for trained firefighters. This leads me to suggest that &lt;strong&gt;20% load, the starting load in that program, might be too high&lt;/strong&gt; for someone untrained in backpack walking (even though a weightlifter is better conditioned than the Average Joe). I would suggest starting lighter, at 10% or maybe even 5% load. Assuming that you are looking for a source of cardio for the long term, it's fine to add 3 extra weeks in the beginning with a lighter load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By far the most frequently studied aspect in backpack walking is the effect of the type of backpack. In particular, if the backpack is very rigid, you will have a tendency to lean forward; this is OK to a certain point, but excessively it could lead to problems. If it is too &quot;bouncy&quot;, it may resonate with your walking pattern and lead to changes in your walking motion which are also problematic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately these papers (well, their abstracts, at least) give zero insight into which types/brands/models of backpacks are best. Perhaps the website where you saw your program can help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2012-12-06T17:15:11.750" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T17:15:11.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2012-12-06T18:09:21.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise will increase the pressure inside your body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aerobic exercise speeds up your heart rate (baring the use of rate limiting drugs).  Stroke volume (the volume of blood ejected from the heart with each beat) is also increased with aerobic exercise.  For both reasons, since the vascular system is a closed pathway, blood pressure goes up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anaerobic exercise is more apt to increase your inner thoracic cavity pressure (pressure inside your chest/stomach) than your blood pressure.  An exception might be doing dynamic-anaerobic weight lifting movements (walking lunges) where the movement is still classified as anaerobic but still taxes your body enough your heart rate increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working in a hospital setting our limitations for blood pressures that we don't allow patients to exercise are over 180/106 or below 90/60.  Those limitations also change if a patient is symptomatic (light headed, dizzy, nauseous, chest pain, etc.).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your blood pressure has started becoming gradually higher you should probably go talk to your primary care physician to discuss if anything needs to be pursued.  If it was a one time deal you should be fine (exceptions being symptomatic). All different things can affect your blood pressure: Stress, Sleep, Fluid retention, even body position (laying down, seated, standing).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-06T18:09:21.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9941" CreationDate="2012-12-07T01:32:34.077" Score="4" ViewCount="7259" Body="&lt;p&gt;Skinfold measurement charts like the Accumeasure one shown below for suprailliac measurement have the same caliper measurement representing different body fat %s in different age groups. Maybe other skinfold methods, or even other body fat % methods do to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NwVmG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can appreciate the skin gets looser with age, but can't see that affecting the measurement, if this diagram below is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zxSpy.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 20 year old male with 25% body fat has a 35mm measurement, a 56 year old with 25% has 17mm. So the skin getting thinner as we age (if it indeed does), isn't significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do we accumulate fat in other, healthier places than is predicted by the suprailliac as we age? I say 'healthier' because the colored bands in the chart above shift their ideals as we age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-12-07T02:11:06.167" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T18:54:17.160" Title="Why does the suprailliac skinfold body fat method depend on age?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9939" CreationDate="2012-12-07T07:45:06.490" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's take a look at what this method does: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you measure is the thickness of the subcutaneous fat layer on your suprailliac. That does not give you your total body fat percentage directly because body fat distribution varies from person to person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what you need is an estimate of your total body fat percentage in relation to the fat on your suprailliac. To do this statistical models are used. So a group of people has these measures taken and their body fat percentage measured (water weighting, x-ray, etc) and the most likely formula of the relation between the measured quantity and body fat is searched (simplified description).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These models which relate skinfold thickness to body fat percentage often include more variables than just one skinfold. Most are sex specific, some take up to 7 skinfolds, bmi, hight, waist circumference, and some, like the Accumeasure chart, use age as an influence on body fat distribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that all of these estimates are (meaning should be) based on statistics thus these estimates never will fit all. So how good they are depends on how specific the group was the estimates are based on and how well you fit into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum up: The idea is to relate an easy measurable quantity (skinfold thickness) to a hidden one (body fat percentage). This relation is most likely unique to each person depending on genetics and lifestyle. So the best that can be done is to gather enough samples to allow a statical estimation of the relation which will give an error depending on the statistics you gathered and the person that is measured.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage#Skinfold_methods&quot;&gt;wikipedia:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some models partially address this problem by including age as a&#xA;  variable in the statistics and the resulting formula. Older&#xA;  individuals are found to have a lower body density for the same&#xA;  skinfold measurements, which is assumed to signify a higher body fat&#xA;  percentage. However, older, highly athletic individuals might not fit&#xA;  this assumption, causing the formulas to underestimate their body&#xA;  density.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning: Old people are found to have a higher body fat percentage (statistically) for the same skinfold thickness, but that's not true for all old people (hence statistically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the shifting ideals: I can't find it anywhere right now but I read some where that with age a higher body fat percentage is found to be healthier. I think it was on a discussion on bmi where they found that a the bmi limits don't hold for old people and that the ideal bmi for them should be higher (independent of the point that bmi is a crappy measurement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4489" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T07:45:06.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-07T07:55:22.183" Score="4" ViewCount="5501" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to alter Starting strength to lose weight ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically I have three questions :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the existing program how can a person lose weight ? There are many success stories available on the Internet where people claim they lost a lot of weight on the original program. How does the body burn fat in the original program ?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I increase the Reps from 5 to 6 and slowly to 7 will I lose body fat OR will this turn into too much volume ?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Like in point 2 will adding assistance exercises help me lose Fat ?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing this program for close to seven months now and have put on a lot of muscle mass on this program. To be honest I love this program and it seems to me the only program that works for me. However now I have started to look Fat :-( So over the last two months I tried a few variations to the program as mentioned on SS Forum like keeping the weights constant + reduce calories + workout twice a week. Sadly I have gained 4 Kgs and the last 4 kgs seem to be fat :-( In fact it seems that I might have lost some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional points : I can workout only 3 times a week + can't do any sprinting because my left knee hurts. All my lifts are close to body weight apart from overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2019-09-18T07:59:03.237" Title="Changing Starting strength to lose Fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9939" CreationDate="2012-12-07T08:26:19.353" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sarcopenia&lt;/strong&gt; - The charts take into consideration the loss of muscle mass with aging (sarcopenia).  Between the ages of 25 to 60 years old the rate of loss is 0.5-1% loss per year.  After the age of 60 this rate can increase especially in the sedentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since body fat is expressed as a percentage of total body mass, as lean muscle mass decreases, your percentage of body fat increases proportionally.  A 56 year old with less muscle mass than a 25 year old would have a higher percent of body fat. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Body-Fat-Percentage-Chart.html#Men&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;age related&lt;/a&gt; healthy body fat percentage ranges).  Of course, a 56 y.o. who exercises regularly should have less age related muscle loss than a sedentary 56 year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The skin caliper method measures the fat under the skin, but is unable to measure  visceral or intramuscular fat.  All calculations of body fat percentage have limitations.  These measurements are best used to compare your individual progress to make sure that your individual measurements are improving toward your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T08:26:19.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9933" CreationDate="2012-12-07T09:39:59.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Energy Drinks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, electrolyte drinks are most helpful for workouts lasting longer than 1.5 hours depending on how much you sweat.  The more you sweat, the more electrolytes (sodium/potassium) you flush out and the more likely you are to need replacements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/what-to-drink-when-you-exercise?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The American College of Sports Medicine says that during exercise lasting less than one hour there's little evidence of any difference in performance between exercisers who drink beverages containing carbohydrates and electrolytes, and those who drink plain water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article has good information as to what to consider in an exercise drink (calories, sugar vrs alternative sweetners, caffeine etc., and gives you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/what-to-drink-when-you-exercise?page=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nutritional information&lt;/a&gt; for specific drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fatique and Exhaustion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Electrolytes may help, but since you &quot;feel very exhausted, fatigue and dried throat&quot; and &quot;after workout, throughout the day(specially up to evening) I fell very tired and energy-less&quot; you may:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Need a medical check-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be overtraining - see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1547/what-are-some-signs-of-overtraining&quot;&gt;signs of overtraining&lt;/a&gt;. You may need to modify your workouts or increase your recovery time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not be getting enough nutrition and/or calories to provide enough energy for your workouts.  As for hydration, you may want to make sure you are better hydrated &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; your workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider all of the above to help you find the right balance to your workout frequency and intensity, rest periods, food, water and electrolyte intakes.  (My personal experience with extreme fatique during long tennis matches was a matter of too little salt in my diet.)  Good luck finding what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T09:39:59.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9952" CreationDate="2012-12-07T09:41:59.857" Score="1" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 21 year old male weighting 99kg. I already have my diet managed, but it is a more weight loss orientated diet currently (I understand about needing to eat more to gain muscle etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing cardio with a duration of 60-90 minutes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I incorporate about 45-60 minutes of weight training in my program to  meet my overall goal of becoming lean, built and building a better overall fitness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-07T11:18:23.773" LastActivityDate="2012-12-08T13:13:14.743" Title="Weights before or after cardio session?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9942" CreationDate="2012-12-07T10:57:16.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing a SS variant for the last month and are trickling down in weight ever so slightly (about 3 pounds @ 215 pounds), despite becoming substantially stronger, looking  firmer to the eye (I and others have noticed, no placebo), I've lost a pant size and a couple of % body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://tinyurl.com/cv5nlan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wheat Belly&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://tinyurl.com/awgo452&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat&lt;/a&gt; opened me up to weight gain not being about strictly about calories in versus calories out. If you can ensure more of your calories come from fat and protein and regulate carbohydrate intake to avoid blood sugar spikes, the insulin provoked fat storage response can be tamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I'm following Tom Venuto's &lt;a href=&quot;http://tinyurl.com/ax8nq6k&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Holy Grail Body Transformation&quot;&gt;Holy Grail Body Transformation&lt;/a&gt; which is all about building strength and losing fat at the same time. Basically it's to have a caloric surplus on your workout days and a deficit the other days, but he goes into good ratios of surplus to deficit days depending on your main and secondary goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only started dropping out foods of high glycemic load this week so can't report too meaningful results yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Fat loss definitely starting to accelerate after a good week now, after reducing any food I have with a high GI to an amount where its glycemic loading is low. No longer getting mid-meal cravings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T08:24:36.627" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T08:24:36.627" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9933" CreationDate="2012-12-07T14:33:24.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were you I would use more fruits and vegetables instead, you can make fresh squeezed juices. I remember a pic a have posted a month ago on on my facebook wall about Ironmanner (Ironman Triatloner) who has done whole competition on 10 bananas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T14:33:24.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9883" CreationDate="2012-12-07T16:03:29.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is relevant since it is easy to be &quot;off&quot; in terms of effort, both to practice too easy and practicing too hard. I have not found any research on this but I think it is quite clear from observing how many never reach their goals and - on the other side - how many that overtrain and become injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A system that tries to make your next workout in the right effort range is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/consumers/firstbeat-athlete&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Firstbeat Athlete&lt;/a&gt;. It terms of your framework, it captures data from a &quot;R-R&quot; pulsmeter or through a manual entry of heart rate. Then, based on your age, sex, training history and a model for gradually increasing effort, it recommends the effort for a number of work outs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, assuming that you have an exercise profile as you described in your answer (2 hard, 3 easy) then the system would recommend the next exercises as you can see in the diagram below. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5KjFU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Firstbeat diagram for Olav &quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, I have assumed that last 5 exercises up to December 6 where of different effort and different lengths. Effort in Firstbeat is measured in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/en/training-effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Training effect&lt;/a&gt;. Then the system recommends a workout for December 7, rest day for December 8, a light workout for the 9th etc. In the bottom right corner, you can see how the system gradually increases the weekly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/epoc.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPOC&lt;/a&gt; load, through a mix of easy, hard exercises and workout length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your optimal effort per week is then to be in the &quot;grey&quot; zone of the diagram in the bottom right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used the system for about 5 years now, for all my workouts (resistance training, yoga and swimming). It has helped me to avoid training too hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T16:03:29.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9945" CreationDate="2012-12-07T16:55:24.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a very scientific answer, but I hope it answers your question all the same. You need to do whatever you most want to improve on first. If you do cardio for 60 minutes before working out, your muscles will be fatigued and you'll have consumed much of your body's energy reserves, and your weightlifting will suffer. The same applies if you lift first, and then run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strategies that others have used would include splitting your workout up by time of day (run in the morning, lift weights at night), or splitting up by days (lift weights M/W/F, run on T/Th/Sa). Both of these options will have an effect on your recovery, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would encourage you to just experiment, and see which kind of programs helps you the most. There's no one right answer to this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T16:55:24.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9945" CreationDate="2012-12-07T17:02:21.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to try one (or more) of these alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell complexes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I use for warmup. My favorite is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WOP9J7QPwI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bear complex&lt;/a&gt;. The video is worth a million words, but in short, you start with the bar in front of you. You power clean it into a front squat position, do a front squat, push press it into a back squat position, do a back squat, then push press it back to the floor in front of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a relatively light weight, because I do typical 8-12 rep weightlifting exercises afterwards. However, you can use slightly heavier loads to mix cardio and weight-lifting at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Circuits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In circuit training, you do one set of one exercise, then immediately do another set of a different exercise, etc, until you're back to the first exercise, then repeat. For example, you might do one set of squats, then one set of bench press, then one set of pull-ups, then one set of standing press, then squats again, and so on, until you've done 3 sets on each exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Typical weights+cardio solution&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative is to do a typical weights training program which lasts 45-60 mins per workout, like Starting Strength, and add 30-45 mins of cardio after. This separates the weights and the cardio parts, but it's what most people do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T17:02:21.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2498" CreationDate="2012-12-07T17:06:52.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio is &lt;strong&gt;much&lt;/strong&gt; more important than weights for losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/1998/06000/ACSM_Position_Stand__The__Recommended_Quantity_and.32.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt; by the American College of Sports Medicine. If you don't want to read it, you can read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askscooby.com/cardio/the-bible-of-cardio/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; I wrote at a fitness forum a while ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary: while you can raise your RMR by building muscle, it is an &lt;em&gt;extremely slow&lt;/em&gt; process when compared to the speed at which you lose weight through cardio. They found that weight-lifting is a minor factor in weight loss; the determinant factors are proper nutrition, cardio exercise, with some influence from typical health considerations (proper sleep, mental health, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for your case, if your goal is to lose weight, spend the whole time on cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2012-12-07T18:01:12.747" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T18:01:12.747" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9942" CreationDate="2012-12-07T19:45:54.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A person loses fat in the original program by eating correctly. From &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/clarification_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Clarification&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eating correctly may  mean 6000 calories/day with a gallon of whole&#xA;  milk, or it may mean 3500 calories/day on a paleo-type  lower carb&#xA;  no-dairy diet, depending on your initial body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program should result in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a 225-245 x 5 x 3 squat workout after 6-7 weeks of training for our&#xA;  novice male, IF HE HAS BEEN EATING CORRECTLY&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not in the demographic he's talking about in this article (novice males between the ages of 18 and 35), so my gains have been slower, but they're not far behind. Every time I've failed to increase the weight, I can track it down to not eating properly. I think the idea is that you're continuously trading fat for muscle. It would better for you to &lt;strong&gt;track body fat percentage&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;keep your lifts increasing&lt;/strong&gt; on the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About question 2, and 3, I think if you just stick to the goal of increasing strength, and eating just enough to do that, you'll end up with a body fat percentage in an acceptable range. If you want even lower body fat percentage, you'll have to do some very close tracking of nutrition needs and intake, but I don't think it changes how you should be lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-12-07T19:51:14.543" LastActivityDate="2012-12-07T19:51:14.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9956" CreationDate="2012-12-07T20:39:30.223" Score="4" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;The strength training programs I have seen typically have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Few exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many sets of each&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the same program for a few months then change - Usually for example on kind of pull-down replaced with a similar exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quite fixed intervals between sessions, 2-3 times/week (If 1-split)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for the reasons it is made like this, physiologically and in assumptions about the object.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example more variation in exercises could give a more &quot;practical&quot; fitness, and one set of each exercise could be more optimal for a beginner when time matters and the goal is fitness, not to prepare for more training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T08:37:18.503" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T09:38:59.480" Title="Why are strength programs made the way they are - much of the same, regular intervals, same program for a long time" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2012-12-07T21:17:41.780" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll answer this question in the context of a popular strength program (Starting Strength) that I happen to be doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why only a few exercises?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because as a novice, you don't need complicated training to make general strength gains. A well chosen, small set of full-body barbell movements trains you in almost every way you need to be strong as a human being. (For example: deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, power clean, in my program.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Many sets of each?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is a false impression that you have. In my program, you only do 3 sets of 5 reps at the weight you're using for that day. There are possibly several warm-up sets that you do before your heavy weight, but those are just to prepare for the heavy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do the same program for a few months then change&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because if a strength program is effective, it will be useful for many months. I know people who have been on my program for up to a year before needing to change. I think you should use the simplest program that works for you. Eventually, when you get stronger, you may need more complicated scheduling to continue making strength gains, but the exercise selection shouldn't change much. I've been on my program for almost 3 months, and &lt;em&gt;every workout, I'm lift more than last time. Why would I change programs?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For example, it should be better to do more exercises and fewer sets, or vary more often.&lt;/strong&gt; (This was in the original question)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is false. It isn't better to do more exercises, if you've chosen the set of exercises you do carefully. Varying the program more often than necessary is wasteful of your effort and time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quite fixed intervals between sessions, 2-3 times/week (If 1-split)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because a good program will plan rest-days to allow your body to adapt to the work it did in the previous workout, so that you'll be stronger in the next workout. For example, since novices can recover with a single day of rest, doing a full-body workout 3 times per week is pretty standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For example more variation in exercises could give a more &quot;practical&quot; fitness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is incorrect. Variation for variation's sake is not more &quot;practical&quot;. If somebody is &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; doing overhead press, then yes, more variation is needed in that person's program. However, if you've chosen an appropriate, small set of exercises and you are alternating between them during your weekly training cycle, you don't need more variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;one set of each exercise could be more optimal for a beginner when time matters and the goal is fitness, not to prepare for more training.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One set of each exercise is not optimal, because it would be very hard to progressively stimulate adaptation with a single set per workout. If your goal is fitness, but don't do enough work to stimulate an adaptation, that is not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i want short-term results, not to build towards being able to train like a bodybuilder&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training is about making &lt;em&gt;long term structural changes&lt;/em&gt; to your body. In my case I'm motivated to become better at my sport, but it's not just for athletes, and it's not just for bodybuilders. It's part of being a healthy human being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T09:38:59.480" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T09:38:59.480" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-07T22:09:16.717" Score="8" ViewCount="11958" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 6 months to train for a swimming race (200m freestyle in a 50m outdoor pool). My level at the moment is beginner/intermediate, with fairly good technique. Should I focus on training longer distances, or sets of shorter distances, or a combination of the two? Or maybe even swim just sets of 200m at full speed? What would be a good workout schedule for my goal? My current time is around 3:30 and I need to lower it by about a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4794" LastActivityDate="2012-12-26T15:56:48.863" Title="training for 200m freestyle swim race" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9957" CreationDate="2012-12-08T03:23:29.537" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very tough question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few starting questions:&#xA;   1) How is your starting block reaction time?&#xA;   2) How many strokes is it taking you during one length of the pool?&#xA;   3) How many breaths are you taking each length of the pool?&#xA;   4) How are your turns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training for longer distances than 200 meters can only help your swimming endurance.  However, you don't want to train solely or endurance because it will hurt your power for the short distance.  You should, in fact, run several trials of the 200 at full speed. This will help you get to know your event better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of the pool you should do some strength training.  Working your shoulder, chest, lats, quadricep, and hamstring muscles. (In all honesty you should train all of your muscles) You should also work on your flexibility.  Having the extra length in your reach, or folding into your turn a little more will only help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a reason Olympic caliber athletes train in dedicated centers.  They have access to highly specialized staff like physicists that specialize in sports that can help calculate maximum efficiency of diving angles, optimal depth for swimming, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope someone can give you better workouts to do in the pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-08T03:23:29.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-07T20:54:20.103" Score="6" ViewCount="1281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bicycle commuter in Toronto, Canada. My feet sweat more than most. In the spring, summer, and fall, I wear closed-toe sandals. But in the winter, I don't, and my feet become overheated and uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did some research today. Now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering putting underarm antiperspirant on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1630659&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;my feet&lt;/a&gt; at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/52254&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bedtime&lt;/a&gt;. Both on the soles and between the toes: there are lots of sweat glands in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drpribut.com/sports/tineapedis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;both&lt;/a&gt; places.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I hear that thin wool socks also help&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1982959?sort=date#ans8946869&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ask.metafilter.com/114498/Breathable-dress-shoes-for-sweaty-feet#c1644119&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ask.metafilter.com/114498/Breathable-dress-shoes-for-sweaty-feet#1670516&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[3]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; and hope to buy some.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else should I do to keep my feet cool and dry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do my sneakers matter much? If so, what's best? Perforated leather? Mesh-and-synthetic-leather? Canvas? And how do you know? (Notes: I'm not concerned about water resistance or athletic performance. Also, I'm on a budget and am probably going to buy generic-brand shoes.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else that makes much difference?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4799" OwnerDisplayName="unforgettableid" LastEditorUserId="4799" LastEditDate="2013-02-19T05:29:45.903" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T23:05:08.617" Title="How can I keep my feet cool and dry?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;cold&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-08T12:56:36.063" Score="6" ViewCount="813" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes after intense exercise, I will become very sleepy and require a nap. Sometimes, exercise doesn't affect my sleep at all. And sometimes, I won't be able to sleep at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a very regular sleeping pattern - in bed by 10:30-11 pm, and up at 8. I usually fall asleep within ten minutes. But on certain high intensity days, I find this doesn't happen. An hour of intense work starting at 3:30 in the afternoon could keep me awake for half the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why this happens? And especially, does anyone know a way to mitigate this problem? Some sort of cooldown routine that will keep my sleep regular? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T05:06:22.340" Title="Sleeplessness after exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9945" CreationDate="2012-12-08T13:13:14.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is far more usual to do heavy work first and fat loss-oriented cardio afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two good reasons for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heavy lifting is &lt;strong&gt;dangerous&lt;/strong&gt; when fatigued. It is best to do it while sharp and fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The goal of lifting is to force a bodily adaptation. In order to do this, you must be putting maximum effort into the lifts. It is impossible to put maximum effort into your lifts if you've depleted your glycogen stores with cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, cardio is not as significantly impacted by having trained first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastActivityDate="2012-12-08T13:13:14.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9963" CreationDate="2012-12-08T13:52:41.963" Score="7" ViewCount="1736" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym 5 days per week rarely missing a day for the last 4 months now, with the aim to put on as much muscle mass as possible. Until about 3 weeks ago I have been able to increase the weight I have been able lift across all workouts except for squats, which I am still stuck on at a tiny 20kg. I have noticed reasonable gains mostly in my quads, chest, triceps and back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed now that I haven't been able to increase my weights, and have on some days even had to reduce the weight I am lifting compared to a weight I could lift perfectly fine the previous session. For example, when I started I was able to do 3 sets of 10 reps of bicep curls using the cable machine at only 14kg and about 3-4 weeks ago was able to do the same volume on 24-26kg, which was exciting. The last 2-3 weeks however I have been struggling, even having to drop to 19-21kg for the last set. I have noticed the same problem across most of my muscle groups including legs, back and chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understandably this is a little discouraging but I'm not sure if it's common to feel like I'm falling behind for a couple of weeks and then I'll jump back and start gaining again or if I am doing something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my current weekly routine below. For all workouts I do 3 sets of 10. Some workouts (marked with an asterisk) I increase my weight each set and often fail on the 8th or 9th rep of the last set. All workouts are listed in the order in which I complete them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday:&lt;/strong&gt; Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- Squats&#xA;- Leg Press*&#xA;- Superset Leg Curl and Leg extension&#xA;- Moderate intensity bike for 15 mins&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday:&lt;/strong&gt; Triceps &amp;amp; Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- Bicep curls with cable machine and straight bar*&#xA;- Tricep pull down with cable machine and the rope*&#xA;- &quot;21's&quot; (though I do &quot;15's&quot; i.e. 5 halves, 5 full and then 5 upper curls with the easy bar)*&#xA;- Skull crushers with the easy bar on a flat bench*&#xA;- Concentration curls*&#xA;- Tricep overhead extensions*&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday:&lt;/strong&gt; Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/strong&gt; Shoulders &amp;amp; Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- Shoulder press&#xA;- Side shoulder raises&#xA;- Forward shoulder raises&#xA;- Upright rows*&#xA;- Bicep curls with cable machine and straight bar*&#xA;- &quot;21's&quot; (&quot;15's&quot; same as Monday)*&#xA;- Concentration curls&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday:&lt;/strong&gt; Chest &amp;amp; Triceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- Dumbbell bench press (flat)&#xA;- Dumbbell bench press (incline)&#xA;- Dumbbell bench press (decline)&#xA;- Tricep pull down with cable machine and the rope*&#xA;- Skull crushers with the easy bar on a flat bench*&#xA;- Tricep overhead extensions*&#xA;- Flys (flat)&#xA;- Flys (incline)&#xA;- Flys (decline)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday:&lt;/strong&gt; Back &amp;amp; Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- Lat pulldown&#xA;- Cable rows (upper back)&#xA;- Deadlifts*&#xA;- Rows with the easy bar*&#xA;- Shoulder press&#xA;- Side shoulder raises (while lent over on a bench)&#xA;- Rotator cuffs&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday:&lt;/strong&gt; Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said this was working well for me up until now - I think I heard somewhere that as you move away from being a beginner in weight training you need to reduce the amount of times per week you spend on each muscle group and increase intensity. Maybe that's where I'm going wrong (looking at the above I'm doing quite a lot for each group except legs and back). Another thing I've thought I might be doing wrong is 3x10 for every workout. I'm guessing some of the bigger workouts like bench press I could come down to 8 reps and try to go a little heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked at routines like 5x5 Stronglifts but they seem to be more for absolute beginners looking to gain some initial strength before serious weight lifting for muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's just time to change my routine entirely, but then I'm not sure what constitutes 'change' - whether I can just swap the days around and add another set or whether I need new workouts entirely. Maybe I should even just try changing up the order I do things in, I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are any noticeably poor decisions I'm making then please let me know. Admittedly I didn't delve too deeply into articles or books about weight training and kind of just structured the above based on what I noticed was producing decent enough gains and what groups I could do next to each other without conflicts (i.e. I tried back day next to arms and my biceps were getting destroyed). I have a feeling there's too much happening but again I'm not even close to being an expert so I have no idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I try 4 sets of 8? Should I stop going as heavy as I possibly can and just sit on a weight I can comfortably finish all my reps without failing on? Maybe I should try supersetting on different groups like arms? Any advice that can push me over the line of being a beginner to an intermediate weight lifter is greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2012-12-08T17:20:54.860" Title="General advice for continuing my weight training effectively" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9962" CreationDate="2012-12-08T16:43:49.470" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first really strange thing about your results is your squat number. It is unnatural to be able to curl more than you can squat, and that's putting it mildly. Squats are probably the most important single benchmark of general strength and if you can't get your squat to go up at 20kg, you should just focus on unlocking that piece of the puzzle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, a 20kg squat puts you in the novice category. I don't care if you've been squatting for 37 years, if you can only squat the bar, then you are a novice, and the Starting Strength - type novice gains programs are still for you. I am still on a novice gains program, still progressing, and I squat 150kg @ 80kg bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you are a novice, you should not be doing &quot;splits&quot;. The best lifting program is one that maximizes your recovery potential, and novices can recover from a full body routine every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of a specific program there is really no need to over think it. Starting Strength, or Strong Lifts 5x5 (which is an inferior clone of SS, but still fine for your purposes), or any other &quot;linear progression&quot; program is what will be best for you. To be clear, these programs produce &quot;serious muscle gain&quot;. They are not &quot;pre-muscle gain&quot; programs at all. They are simply the best way to gain strength and mass for novices - that means you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should drastically simplify your program. Get rid of leg presses, leg curls, and all other exercises that say &quot;curl&quot; in them. I won't say that they have no place in, for instance, a body builder's routine, but they are completely unnecessary for you. Get rid of anything with a cable machine and do dips and pullups instead. All you need are squats, deadlifts, shoulder &amp;amp; bench press, dips, and pull-ups. You can get massive, massive gains if you work on just these six exercises. Simple is best for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, reps in the 3-5 range are best for strength gains. Reps in the 5-8 range are considered a good tradeoff between maximimizing strength and maximizing hypertrophy, aka size. Reps in the 8-10 range might be best for size. Lower, heavier rep ranges help train the central nervous system to go to fuller activation on command. I think you should do something in the 3-8 range when you are novice, because you will get massive gains no matter what, and you want to make sure to train that central nervous system too. Most linear progression programs prescribe mostly 5's and 3's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2012-12-08T17:20:54.860" LastActivityDate="2012-12-08T17:20:54.860" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9959" CreationDate="2012-12-09T07:57:30.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm also a bicycle commuter whose feet tend to sweat a fair amount, especially when I'm active. This caused both strong foot odor and recurring athlete's foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's worked best for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoes with plenty of ventilation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Merino wool socks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoes have typically been &quot;running&quot; sneakers which have synthetic leather with plenty of mesh bits, and some retroreflective detailing. I haven't tried too many varieties, though. I know on days I wear something else, I can feel the heat and moisture difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wool socks made the biggest difference. They don't stop the sweating, but they're breathable, wick moisture away, and don't feel wet when they get moist. Mostly I've been using short &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smartwool.com/mens/l/socks/cycle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SmartWool&lt;/a&gt; cycling or running socks, but in colder weather I'll wear taller socks from them. SmartWool makes both &quot;light&quot; and &quot;ultra light&quot; athletic socks. The &quot;light&quot; are thicker on the sole than on the top, and generally worked best for me. The &quot;ultralight&quot; are less comfortable, tend to bunch a bit, have proportionally less wool, and just generally aren't as nice to wear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merino is the least itchy wool around, so other types of wool are likely to work less well. Avoid acrylic, it looks like wool but doesn't work the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After discovering merino wool socks, I will never go back to cotton. At least not if I'm doing anything vigorous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside: merino wool socks are expensive. One good pair costs as much as a whole pack of basic cotton socks. Maybe just get one pair and see if you like them, first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things worth trying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't wear the same shoes two days in a row. Alternate between two pairs. That makes sure they're totally dry when you put them on in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring a spare pair of socks. Either swap them mid-day, or have a pair to wear during your ride and a pair to wear at work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foot powder (or something like baby powder that's the same stuff). Typically this is talcum powder or corn starch based. Specifically made for keeping feet dry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T07:57:30.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9965" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-09T08:09:49.327" Score="0" ViewCount="689" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of buying some wool socks. I hear they'll help &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9959/how-can-i-keep-my-feet-cool-and-dry&quot;&gt;keep my feet cool and dry&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1982959?sort=date#ans8946869&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;absorbing sweat&lt;/a&gt; while I bike. That's fine: sweat normally doesn't smell right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't own any wool socks yet. Out of all the garments I like to wear, only one is made of wool. I wash it by hand. Every time I do, I notice an unpleasant wet-wool smell. This smell begins right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When wool socks get wet, do they get the same wet-wool smell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4799" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T09:13:07.887" Title="Wool socks are absorbent, but do they smell like the classic wet-wool smell when wet?" Tags="&lt;clothing&gt;&lt;socks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9965" CreationDate="2012-12-09T08:09:49.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most wool socks probably won't. Here's why. It sounds from my online research like the smell comes from wet lanolin. And Garth &amp;amp; Kim Travis &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/native-nutrition/message/112690&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;write&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not all wool sheep are high in lanolin; some, like, Gulf Coast have very&#xA;  low lanolin levels. So it would depend on the breed of sheep. Also,&#xA;  most spinning today is done with washed wools &amp;mdash; very well-washed wools.&#xA;  The lanolin is removed before spinning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4799" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T08:09:49.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9974" CreationDate="2012-12-09T08:11:40.150" Score="7" ViewCount="694" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get the feeling that walking lunges are better for balance, but other than that - especially in terms of muscles used and caloric burn - are there any significant differences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2883" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T17:33:10.687" Title="Is there a significant difference between standing lunges and walking lunges?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-09T08:23:03.873" Score="7" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use both Fitocracy and The Daily Burn to track my exercise. I find that one limitation both of them have is that, when I do something like a bodyweight circuit routine, I'm able to record the exercises and the reps but the ancillary benefit of the cardio on calories burned is uncaptured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been thinking of simply recording an additional &quot;generic cardio&quot; alongside - something like jogging - but I'm unsure about the parameters I should use. My first idea was to record the same amount of time as the exercises took, but I feel like that definitely involves some double-counting, especially in the area of caloric burn, so I feel like maybe... &lt;code&gt;time * .67&lt;/code&gt; might be accurate, but I'm still just guessing. &lt;strong&gt;What is a more accurate way to record the caloric burn of circuit routines?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2883" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-03-09T21:29:10.710" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:37:56.580" Title="How can I correctly log the calorie burn of circuit routines?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8003" CreationDate="2012-12-09T09:09:03.460" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at the book &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13186972-overcoming-gravity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overcoming Gravity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Steven Low, which is by far the best Gymnastics book known to me. I suggest reading the Amazon reviews for more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I personally like about this book:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Many books on strength training tell you how to train, but not why to train this way. This book goes into detail with all the relevant topics -- what kinds of motor units/muscle fibers there are and how they respond/adapt to various kinds of stresses, the neurological components of strength. It explains how to create your own routine that fits exactly your current skill and fitness level, including skill work, stretching, and strength training. It explains basics of programming and how to deal with plateaus (-&gt;periodization). It has a huge chapter on injury prevention and health management. Then it has a large collection of exercises, from basic pullups and Wall Handstands to more advanced stuff like planches, iron crosses, mannas and so on. Exercises are structured in groups, and the author provides progression charts for each group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cons: This book is only about the upper body (which is what gymnasts mainly care about). And an index is missing for looking things up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T15:21:57.943" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T15:21:57.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9968" CreationDate="2012-12-09T09:18:43.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand you corretly, you would like to log various kinds of sports and for each also be able to, for instance, compute the respective number of calories burned. I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endomondo.com/home&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endomondo&lt;/a&gt; for this. For each workout you can specify the kind of activity and the total time spent. The site then computes the calories burned. When I'm doing weight training, I additionally log my sets/reps in the notes you can attach to a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T09:18:43.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9987" CreationDate="2012-12-09T09:37:12.840" Score="13" ViewCount="14180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just purchased a pull up bar and a set of dumbbells. From what I've read there are people who wear gloves at the gym and some don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the effects and reasons of wearing gloves? Are there any effects besides mitigation of callus growth I might be missing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T10:13:41.990" LastActivityDate="2017-09-17T11:50:54.960" Title="Effects of wearing gloves" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;&lt;callus&gt;&lt;gloves&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9971" CreationDate="2012-12-09T10:27:34.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the only purpose for gloves is prevention of callus, as you said, and protection from skin lesion. The reason that a lot of people (me included) do not like gloves could be that they're sweating more within the gloves, or find it uncomfortable for some other reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T10:27:34.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9967" CreationDate="2012-12-09T17:33:10.687" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll assume you're talking about lunge variants close to these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBWalkingLunge.html&quot;&gt;Walking lunge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBLunge.html&quot;&gt;Standing lunge (forward)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBRearLunge.html&quot;&gt;Standing lunge (backward)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The walking lunge starts with the first part of the forward lunge (getting down into the lunge), and ends with the second part of the backward lunge (coming back up out of the lunge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing walking lunges, you never get the second part of the forward lunge (coming back out of the lunge by pushing back to your starting position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing walking lunges, you never get the first part of the rearward lunge (stepping back from your starting position into a lunge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These differences are not significant with respect to muscles used, calories burned, or balance improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-12-09T17:33:10.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9960" CreationDate="2012-12-09T17:43:52.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this happen to me too! But only when I first started to PR every day (after the first couple of weeks of sorting out form, and not lifting as heavy as I possibly could). Then, I found this post about &lt;a href=&quot;http://paleohacks.com/questions/7494/exercise-induced-insomnia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercise Induced Insomnia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It suggests that poor glycogen replenishment can result in insomnia (I have no science to back this up). I just started eating more and the sleep problem went away for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T20:07:04.540" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T20:07:04.540" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9980" CreationDate="2012-12-09T18:49:57.227" Score="3" ViewCount="6865" Body="&lt;p&gt;what is the best exercise/stretching/posture that will separate the vertebrae of the spine? I want to do this because I read that separating the vertebrae will allow the compressed intervertebral discs to decompress/swell again, good if you are sitting too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4802" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-09T19:15:00.067" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T01:31:35.523" Title="Stretching/posture/exercise for separating vertebrae in spine?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2012-12-09T23:03:33.240" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long time jogger and just hated corded headphones, plus having to constantly replace them because the cable would wear near the plug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the reviews of wireless headphones were less than convincing, as you've seen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did however take the plunge and bought a Motorola S9. I returned it immediately because it was counterfeit. Then I got a real one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8ot5M.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as stability and comfort, I couldn't fault it, but maybe I just had the right shaped head. The problem was losing reception when jogging near a interference source, like overhead wires. Nonetheless, I it rarely affected me where I jogged so the only time I'd go back to wired headphones was when I'd forgot to charge the Motorolas. The Motorolas completely eliminated that enormous frustration I had with wires and buds falling out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caveat: I only listen to audiobooks, not music, so can't comment on their sound reproduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just recently I bought a friend some Plantronics Backbeat GOs, telling her to give me them back if she didn't like them, knowing wireless is really a hit and miss affair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uZDg7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She gave them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I now use them along with the Motorolas. Their wireless reception is brilliant, I use them when cleaning the house as I don't have to carry the phone. I use them when walking the dog as power lines don't affect them. I use them at the gym. I use them where I may later have to take them off and carry them in a pocket, as the Motorolas are too bulky for pocketing. The Motorolas however do not feel bulky when wearing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't use the Plantronics GOs for jogging, they simply are not secure enough to handle the bouncing. Another massive design fault of them is the rubber connecting cord between the buds--high friction rubber catches on the back of your neck when turning your head and can pull the buds out. That could have been so easily eliminated with smooth plastic. Sometimes I wonder if any companies actually use their products. Having the cord across the front instead of the back helps this a lot, but now gets in the way of activities more.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two devices together would make the perfect device. Maybe the later version of the Motorola, the S10, is much better, but the reviews still seem poor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A problem with headphones is, because of hygiene, I never found a place that would let me return them if they were no good. One may have better luck in the States, but you may have to just take the gamble, try them, because it seems like people either love them or hate them. Wireless headphones have a long way to come, but are definitely feasible at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-12-10T07:32:39.370" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T07:32:39.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9979" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-10T01:06:56.860" Score="17" ViewCount="3164" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercises would be in a complete, but minimalist, general fitness workout? This would include &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;mobility&lt;/strong&gt;. I am looking for the &lt;em&gt;quickest&lt;/em&gt; workout using the &lt;em&gt;fewest&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;simplest&lt;/em&gt; exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I expect that it will focus on exercises that activate a lot of different muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any equipment necessary should be minimal as well, but anything--kettlebells, barbells, bodyweight exercises--is valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4803" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T19:59:56.430" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T08:35:23.847" Title="What exercises would make up the minimum, complete, general fitness workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9977" CreationDate="2012-12-10T01:18:11.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to decompress your discs and spine.  The first is prevention by minimizing prolonged positioning, especially poor sitting posture.  This q/a gives you several ideas, as well as stretching and strengthening exercises to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do&quot;&gt;improve your sitting posture&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Spinal-Decompression.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;decompress your spine&lt;/a&gt; and reduce the effects of gravity and prolonged sitting you can do traction, stretches, massage or learn to open and close your joints with Tai Chi or Yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Traction:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogetbackinshape.com/Spinal-Decompression.html#Inversion-Therapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Inversion&lt;/a&gt; traction is a great way to decompress at the end of the day.  Grabbing a chin up bar and dangling can also stretch out your back and lats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/vuqSP6TIeyo?t=33s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;An exercise ball&lt;/a&gt; is a good way to achieve some traction and stretch your abs and back muscles.  Some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bigbackpain.com/back_exercises.html#backstretchingexercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;basic back stretches&lt;/a&gt; are knees to chest, spinal twist, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/KneelingHipFlexor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hip flexor/quad stretch&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Hamstrings/LyingSingleLeg.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hamstring stretch&lt;/a&gt; with or without a strap, and yoga stretches like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/16/cobra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cobra&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/227/childs-pose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;child's pose&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Massage:&lt;/strong&gt;  A foam roller can help you release tight muscles and fascia that pull on and compress your spine. Leg muscles like your quads and hip flexors, hamstrings , hip adductors and ITB (iliotibial band) have attachments to the pelvis.  Any restrictions in these muscles and their fascia can pull on the spine, so releasing these can help to decompress.  These videos, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF0OP8_PHmo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Part 1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&amp;amp;v=ProyBqSbFx4&amp;amp;NR=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Part 2&lt;/a&gt; give good instruction for using the foam roller.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tai Chi or Yoga:&lt;/strong&gt;  Both are good exercises with techniques to elongate your muscles and fascia reducing joint compression, but generally you need instruction to maximize the benefits.  Here are some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTX0ABKM7Bg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;yoga type stretching exercises&lt;/a&gt; that can be done at your desk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are wise to address your spine as part of your overall fitness. Set up a daily routine to take good care of your spine on a regular basis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T01:31:35.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9933" CreationDate="2012-12-10T05:26:42.747" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are getting exhausted and fatigued after only 30 minutes, the problem isn't that you need an energy drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that you are working out too hard. The fact that you are feeling tired later in the days would support that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of working out is to put training stress on your system. After you have done that, when you rest, you improve. High intensity workouts do have a place, but only after you have an existing base of workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to back off your workout intensity so that you can do 60 minutes without being super-tired at the end. I'd also consider either backing off to 3 days a week or varying your workout from day to day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T05:26:42.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9979" CreationDate="2012-12-10T08:12:57.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;High intensive interval training workout set will do the job. You tube -&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/feed/UCuY1W4AwhhgkB6rsJBtltUA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body Rock TV&lt;/a&gt;. A former soft porn star and her hubby have started it and not it is something like new phenomena. It looks like easy exercise for women, but believe me they ask for endurance,power and stamina.  The interval training goal gurus believe that the effect from the workout lasts 2-3 hours after the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-07-17T21:27:29.113" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T21:27:29.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9971" CreationDate="2012-12-10T09:17:54.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of gloves while working out can help with a number of things as well as hinder others. Personally I used to use gloves in my intense weight training sessions and found them to hinder the growth of calluses but did however, improve my grip strength drastically (I used very thick gloves). Due to having to grip harder on certain exercises, such as pull ups and deads etc. But once I removed them i had tremendous difficulty with calluses forming and hindering my performance (temporarily).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all down to personal preference really, dependent on your overall aims and goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;strength: incorporate thick gloves and in turn, grip strength and other strength will increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;calluses: personally I preferred to have them form while I worked out so, that when not using gloves to increase grip strength, I dint tear my hands up on Olympic bars etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T09:17:54.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10005" CreationDate="2012-12-10T10:29:42.750" Score="11" ViewCount="26519" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the purpose why people do wide grip pull ups? I know that these pull-ups are harder, but I would like to know why. Are there different muscle groups being stressed? Or is a wide grip pull-up equivalent to a weighted &quot;normal&quot; pull-up? If the latter is the case, shouldn't one prefer weighted &quot;normal&quot; pull-ups because of the greater range of motion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;To clarify my question: I'm talking about the pronated grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorUserId="4800" LastEditDate="2012-12-10T12:55:27.503" LastActivityDate="2018-01-14T19:16:14.997" Title="Wide grip pull-ups vs &quot;normal&quot; pull-ups" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9984" CreationDate="2012-12-10T12:24:25.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time you change your body's orientation to an exercise the muscle is used differently.  One of the easiest-to-see examples of this is your bicep.  Bend your elbow so your palm is facing towards you and look at your bicep, then turn your hand away from you and you will see your bicep disengage and your brachialis engage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding your hands at a wider grip forces you to use your lats more.  Close grip pull-ups allow you to use more of your bicep to pull yourself up.  Therefore the wide-grip pull-up seems hard because you only use your lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T12:24:25.520" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-10T12:54:58.157" Score="4" ViewCount="12113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out for 1 hour daily in the morning. My trainer told me to stay warm i.e. keep the muscles warm, throughout the day (or at least most of the time) because it helps muscle gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, he wanted to say that after doing exercise, instead of wearing half shirts, I have to wear full shirts or jackets to avoid direct contact with cold air so that my muscles will stay warmer, which will support me gaining muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I asked for clarification about it, he told me that his trainers used to advise him like that. So, is it really useful and does it make any difference, or is this just another myth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-09-07T01:39:17.583" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T00:30:09.257" Title="Is it beneficial to stay warm after a workout to support muscle gain?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;cold&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9971" CreationDate="2012-12-10T12:58:20.523" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Callouses form when your skin is pinched between gravity and the bar.  If you learn to grab the bar in such a way that your skin is no longer pinched, you will prevent the formation of callouses.  Additionally, using chalk helps improve your grip while also preventing callouses because the bar doesn't move as easily in your hands (as opposed to when they are sweaty).  &lt;strong&gt;Gloves don't prevent pinched skin, and they cause your hands to sweat--making the likelihood of callouses worse.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gloves exist for the same reason as pads or manta ray attachments for the bar do on squats.  To make things easier and less intimidating to the recreational exerciser.  Unfortunately these products introduce their own problems as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are those that argue that since gloves make it harder to grip the bar you should use them for grip strength.  I would argue that there are far more effective ways of training your grip, such as using Fat Bar grips (makes the bar 2&quot; in diameter), or doing your deadlifts with an Axel Bar (the whole bar is 2&quot;).  Sometimes the simple method of holding the bar at the top of the movement for a few seconds is all you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grabbing the bar correctly:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Locate the &quot;pad&quot; of your hand.  That's the part where your fingers attach to your hand, and where callouses are most likely to form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are pulling (pull ups, deadlifts, rows, etc.): place the pad of your hand on the bar and wrap your grip around the bar.  The skin should be compressed, but when weight is applied, it doesn't pinch the skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are pressing: place the bar closer to the palm of the hand.  This prevents the bar pinching the pad of your hand in the opposite direction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, just think about how gravity is going to pull the weight whether it's you, a dumbbell, a barbell, or a kettlebell.  Grab the bar in a way that when the force of the weight is applied, the pad of your hand does not move much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T12:58:20.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9989" CreationDate="2012-12-10T13:56:31.607" Score="0" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9816/chicken-legs-butt-exercises-video-training-without-equipment-at-home-or-wi&quot;&gt;Chicken legs + butt exercises - video training without equipment (at home) OR WITH equipment?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a newbie (male), and want to get pump some mass to my butt, thighs and legs (they are very thin as compared to my upper body)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to understand, what are the major areas to TARGET in each region:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thighs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in order to gain mass and muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no knowledge in body building whatsoever, nor I have knowledge about the popular terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4695" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T14:45:14.943" Title="I am a newbie (male), and want to get pump some mass to my butt, thighs and legs (they are very thin as compared to my upper body)" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-12-10T22:51:59.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9988" CreationDate="2012-12-10T14:45:14.943" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that if anilkumble has no knowledge of the terms or physiology of what he is asking it will be hard for him to make a well thought out question.  So instead of belittling him we should hep him figure out what he wants to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anilkumble, You asked what major areas you need to target (Butt, Thighs, and Legs) in each region. Did you mean exercises?  You have four major muscle groups in your legs.  Your butt (glutes), the front of your thighs (quadriceps), the back of your thighs (hamstrings), and back of your legs belos the knees (calf muscles).  There are also supporting muscle groups on the front of your hip (hip flexors), inside (addductors), outside (abductors), and beside your shin (anterior tibialis).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps you make a more concise question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T14:45:14.943" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9979" CreationDate="2012-12-10T16:39:10.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that &quot;minimal&quot; means minimum number of exercises, the easiest thing is to look at all of the &quot;beginner&quot; workouts, and see what they have in common. Beginner workouts are generally aimed at achieving the best results with a minimum to learn or do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nearly every beginner workout plan I've seen includes the Deadlift, the Squat, and the Bench Press. Most also include the Shoulder Press, though not all. These four exercises will work the largest muscle groups of the upper and lower body as well as the torso. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An argument could be made that the Olympic lifts also work many of these same muscle groups all in one exercise, but I'd certainly hesitate to call them &quot;minimal&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a workout that uses minimal equipment, the recommendations are largely the same: Bodyweight Squats, Push-ups, and planks to strengthen the abdominal muscles. If you have access to a pullup bar, I would absolutely add pullups and chinups to this list as well. The downside to doing only bodyweight exercises is that because you cannot add weight, you will need to do more repetitions to improve instead. For more on this, look for books like &quot;You Are Your Own Gym&quot; or &quot;Convict Conditioning&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastEditorUserId="4176" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T16:47:20.490" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T16:47:20.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9957" CreationDate="2012-12-10T17:20:35.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest question is going to be time to train. 1 minute is quite a large chunk to shave off in six months. I am assuming that your 3:30 time is an all out sprint, which suggests that you have some stroke flaws that are costing you time as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be prepared to live in the pool for the next few months, 4-6 times per week with 2-3000m (or yards depending on your pool) per session. Ideally you want to be around 18,000 per week as an average, more if you can manage it. Many high school swimmers are in the 25-30,000 range per week, often more, and college/Olympic swimmers get up into the 10,000 per day range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would structure it along the lines of:&#xA;Monday - Interval work&#xA;Tuesday - Distance&#xA;Wednesday - Threshold&#xA;Thursday - Distance/threshold&#xA;Friday - Interval&#xA;Saturday - Distance&#xA;Sunday - off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On your interval days, I would spend a lot of time doing short distances (25-100m), at speeds faster than your 200m race pace. Threshold days, somewhat longer (100m-300m) at near race pace, and the distance days, 200-500m sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with that, every day I would have form drills (See below note), and kicking drills. Lots and lots of kicking drills. The shorter the race, the more the kick is important as a driving/propulsion force, and a well coordinated kick also drives breathing and stroke rotation, which will in turn increase the length of your reach, distance per stroke, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other aspect that is often overlooked is flip turns. With a 50m pool, there are only 3, but often you can make or lose significant ground in a flip turn depending on form. You need to be able to come into the wall, do your flip turn and then push off and dolphin kick away. You want to be able to come deep enough to get under the wave that follows you into the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend a couple of sessions with a swim stroke instructor (not a coach), with the specific purpose of recommending form drills to work on any flaws. This will be worth months in the pool, and can shave off significant time. Have them look at your freestyle (Technically it's the Australian crawl) stroke, flip turns and dolphin kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are stuck for workouts, there are many internet sources available, and I highly recommend the &quot;Swim workouts in a binder&quot; series. Many good workouts, and it has a way to structure/time your threshold and interval workouts off of T (threshold) pace testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T17:20:35.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9986" CreationDate="2012-12-10T18:04:18.717" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question depends on whether you believe you should allow or prevent inflammation during recovery. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/inflammation_sullivan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; explains both sides of the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your trainer probably believes that some level of inflammation, extra blood flow, etc. is beneficial to recovery, and that a jacket can significantly affect that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inflammation begins after you do a heavy set of lifts. Your muscles are stressed during the workout, and this triggers inflammation as part of the recovery process. Regardless of how you feel at this stage, your lifting performance will be reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people believe that this inflammation is necessary for proper recovery and adaptation. However, that review article argues that the science is not settled. Should you use ibuprofen to help yourself deal with inflammation and get back to the gym a bit sooner? Or does that hurt your strength gains by interfering with the natural recovery process? The author's conclusion is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if anti-inflammatory interventions delay healing or blunt gains, they&#xA;  don’t do it by very damn much. Conversely, if they aid return to function or actually promote gains, again, it’s not by very damn &#xA;  much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that if the effects of doing something as drastic as using anti-inflammatory drugs or ice are so inconsistent or insignificant to your training, then the effects of wearing or not wearing a jacket will be much less important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-12-12T04:46:23.960" LastActivityDate="2012-12-12T04:46:23.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9979" CreationDate="2012-12-10T18:26:33.553" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, you need a minimum of three exercises. A leg exercise, a push exercise and a pull exercise. For example, you could do Deadlift + Push-ups + Pull-ups, or Squats + Bench-Press + Rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think any exercise is so important that ANY workout has to include it. For example, the Deadlift is a very good exercise for your posterior chain, but there are plenty of successful programs which don't use it. Same for squats, chin-ups, bench-press, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bodyweight-only example would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A) pistol squats (start with lunges if pistols are too hard), push-ups, pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B) pistol squats (same as above), dips, chin-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have dumbbells, you can use lunges (or a variant, like walking lunges) which provide a decent workout for your legs. You can also do dumbbell bench press although I don't recommend them without a spotter. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A) lunges, push-ups, pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B) lunges, dips, chin-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a barbell (which I recommend), you can go to a gym or ask someone with experience to teach you how to deadlift, and you can do Starting Strength or, if you don't have rack and bench and don't want to pay for a gym, use the following replacements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat -&gt; Lunge or a lunge variant&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench Press -&gt; Push-ups (up to 15 reps), push-ups with a backpack with books, dips, etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These aren't as effective as the SS program itself, but they will give you decent progress especially in the beginning stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T13:41:26.280" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T13:41:26.280" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9986" CreationDate="2012-12-10T19:56:47.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are varying ranges of educational levels for trainers.  They could be non-high school graduates that sat for one of the 4-6 hour personal training courses to those having a Bachelor's in Exercise Science with a Master's of Exercise Physiology.  Some of the time trainers will not know the reasoning behind a method (keeping the muscles warm in this case); and rather that it is a widely accepted norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, keeping muscles warm post heavy lifting is a viable technique for most lifters.  The article that Kate posted addresses everything you would need to know about your original question.  Keeping your muscles warm and doing some light stretching will also help you keep the same (if not improve) muscle flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2012-12-10T20:12:25.840" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T20:12:25.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9997" CreationDate="2012-12-10T22:23:42.347" Score="9" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once read somewhere (though not somewhere very reputable) that the incline bench press will build more muscle in the upper chest, while the flat bench press will build more muscle in the lower chest. Is there any truth to this idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally, how do the different bench press variants (incline/decline/flat) affect the shape and growth of the various upper body muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T23:32:28.120" Title="Do Different Bench Press Variants Build Muscle Differently?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8111" CreationDate="2012-12-10T22:46:20.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know how you feel. I just switched to Texas Method about 3 weeks ago. It's the original Madcow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theory behind these intermediate programs is that you've programmed the load on the bar such that this workout sufficiently disrupts homeostasis. Meaning that, if you've chosen the correct weight, you don't need to do more volume to trigger an adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe's &quot;intermediate&quot; book, &quot;Practical Programming&quot;, describes the Texas method in detail in chapter 7. He's also got a quick rundown of the same thing on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_texas_method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T-Nation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the link,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Assistance Work: If it were up to me, I'd limit any assistance&#xA;  exercises to some brief arm work on Monday. I'd also limit any&#xA;  excessive weekend frivolity that might affect the workout... The Texas Method is still very simple in terms of the number of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theory behind Texas and Madcow are the same. They were invented by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;same people.&lt;/a&gt; You can see that Rippetoe takes a clear stance against more volume. If it's too easy to complete the workout, he would suggest upping the weight. Perhaps resting more time between sets on your volume day would allow you to do this. (He recommends &quot;no more than 8-10 minutes&quot; between work sets. That's a huge rest period.) The truth for me is that I can't even do 5x5 90% 1RM. The volume day completely crushes me at 80% 1RM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing is that you to need to be sufficiently recovered from one Monday to the next so that you can increase the weight. If you can't do that, then you aren't doing the program. If you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do that, then you are following the program. If you can do that even with additional assistance exercises, then I would suggest dropping the assistance exercises and upping the weight. Even for badass lifters, there is definitely some amount of weight X that they can put on that bar such that they will be so taxed that the idea of assistance work doesn't come up. If a lifter is at a point where they are unable to fully tax themselves with a properly weighted 5x5 across, then they're probably still better served with a linear progression program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2012-12-10T23:04:34.723" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T23:04:34.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9995" CreationDate="2012-12-10T22:59:02.423" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's true. Exrx has good breakdown of the muscles targeted by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot;&gt;bench press&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/BBInclineBenchPress.html&quot;&gt;incline press&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBDeclineBenchPress.html&quot;&gt;decline press&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot;&gt;military press&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;clavicular&quot; pectoralis is your upper pec. Most of the lifters I respect make fun of decline press as a pointless exercise (because dips are better). Also, most of the lifters I respect emphasize the importance of the standing overhead press as a functional movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A nice little tip I picked up somewhere if you're trying to hit your upper pec is to do dips, but hold your feet out in front of you in a hollow body position. This kind of dip works your upper pec really well, and assists in the development of &quot;slab like&quot; pecs. Which are just way more manly looking than muscle globes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2012-12-10T23:32:28.120" LastActivityDate="2012-12-10T23:32:28.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9999" CreationDate="2012-12-11T02:23:44.503" Score="6" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a Starting Strength type warmup for squats, deadlifts and presses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 x 5 x bar weight&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;1 x 5 x 40% working weight&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;1 x 3 x 60% working weight&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;1 x 2 x 80% working weight&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Apologies to other programs if SS inherited it, it's just where I first saw it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I tend to round the squats and deadlifts to the nearest 5kg, the presses to the nearest 2.5kg, thinking there's no exact science to warmups, just don't tire yourself for the working set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So even if my work weight has increased only slightly from the previous workout, the cumulative work done in the warmup sets, or volume, could jump abruptly due to the quantization of rounding &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enough to affect the working set significantly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T04:05:04.943" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T15:07:17.283" Title="Does warmup volume have a detrimental effect on working set?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9998" CreationDate="2012-12-11T03:25:47.373" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Benefits of Increasing Cumulative Work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Jonathon Sullivan notes in his discussion of the work of McBride, Haines, and Kirby in &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/2011_science_sullivan.pdf&quot;&gt;The Year in Strength Science 2011&lt;/a&gt;, warm-up sets may (or may not) contribute to development of maximum power:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if you train to actually increase your weight on explosive lifts, won’t you also be training your 60% lifts long the way, as you warm up to your new 1RM?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So those 60% and 80% sets may be developing bar speed or simply assisting your development by increasing your training volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My Method&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't worry as much about specific percentages on the way up, preferring to use readily available jumps in plates. So if your weight set is stocked, as many are, with 25s and 45s, I recommend using those instead of spending time in the weight room doing arithmetic. So for the 250 pound squat singles I did the other day, I warmed up with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;95x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;135x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;225x2 (more for a form check from a friend than as a warm-up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;250x1 several times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that step 4 could very well have been replaced or supplemented with 185x5. So, because I literally don't know what percent those warm-up sets were of my work sets, I'll calculate them now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar weight, as SS prescribes. This is 18% for the nerdy among ye. Note that I only did one set, though sometimes I do two, or one set of 8-10.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;36%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;54%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90% (though 74%--185 pounds--would've been normal for me)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;100%&quot;, but though I was doing singles it definitely isn't my 1RM. I have no clue what my 1RM squat is, though I assume it's between 260 and, say, 290.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So though not an exact match, 36 is pretty close to 40, and 54 is pretty close to 60, and 74 is pretty close to 80. So hey!--it looks like being &quot;lazy&quot; with the plates worked out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, yes, this does mean that there are thresholds where I have to decide whether I'm going to add A Whole New Warm-Up Set. A week or so ago I had to decide to add a ~185 set, because I had been jumping from ~135 to the low 200s without an intermediate step. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Worry?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a trainee is struggling with their max sets, and is also on the threshold where they should be adding an additional warm-up set, caution may be warranted. This is where the SS method may best mine: by keeping the number of warm-up sets constant, one avoids major disruptions to what really matters, that is, your work sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While on Starting Strength, the goal is to maximize the success and progress of your work sets. One hears cries of &lt;em&gt;Work Sets Uber Alles!&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Linear progression will rescue you from the depths of weakness!&lt;/em&gt; and so on. That's a valid approach. If that's your method--and I've had success with it--I'd hew close to the prescribed warm-up percentages, take the increases in weight in stride, and don't worry too much about adding 5 pounds to your warm-up sets. It won't matter much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've also had success with making sure that my warm-up sets involve a little volume too. That's why I use my &quot;add the plates that are easiest to add&quot; method. This ensures that I get practice with the lift, and that I get plenty of training volume in even if I burn out on my work sets, or if the work sets have low volume (such as when I do high-intensity doubles or triples). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's your call. But I wouldn't fret about the difference between warming up with 150 and 155. For instance, in the following scenario with a work weight of 205#:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;40% warmup set would be 82#, round to nearest 5# plate = 80#. Next week working weight is 207.5#, 40% rounded to nearest 5# plate is 85#. 5 reps with 5# more = 25# more volume for 40% set. No big deal. But if the same rounding happened for the 60% and 80% sets, you could be doing up to 50# more volume&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fifty pounds of volume across three sets that aren't close to your work weight are nothing to worry about. The things that you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; worry about is too much volume too close to your work sets. For example, a set of 5 at 190 might be too much for that work weight of 205. So might five sets of 135. But adding five pounds to each warm-up set? &lt;strong&gt;You'll be able to handle it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T15:07:17.283" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T15:07:17.283" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9998" CreationDate="2012-12-11T05:54:55.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exact lift’s and percentages that you mention will have different affect on different people. To give a short answer yes Warm-up lift’s do affect your actual lifts. Your actual lifts are the ones where you will make the maximum gains so you need to optimize them. The volume that you are doing in warm-ups looks reasonable but I would worry if it affects your actual lifts and doesn’t let you add weight all that often. I like to keep it simple in warm up : 2 sets of 5 reps close to 60% of the actual weight. This works well for me, try and see if this works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T05:54:55.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10002" CreationDate="2012-12-11T08:53:12.570" Score="4" ViewCount="1687" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Body Mass Index is supposed categorize you into a place in a scale to determine how healthy you are. What components would one need to provide to do a BMI test, and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one were to do a BMI test, how might they proceed in doing so - what are the steps involved and how must the calculation be executed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4809" LastEditorUserId="4809" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T09:23:12.963" LastActivityDate="2012-12-22T14:53:16.827" Title="How can you do a BMI test?" Tags="&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10001" CreationDate="2012-12-11T09:42:16.583" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am taking most of the data from &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body-mass-index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; here, but most consider this common knowledge anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The BMI or Body Mass Index is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your squared height in meters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;BMI = kg / m²&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example if you weight 65kg and are 1.73m tall you would get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;65 / 1.73² = 21.7&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This index is then matched to a table to give you a rough estimate if you are over or underweight. I copied this table partially from Wikipedia, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Very severely underweight               less than 15.0&#xA;Severely underweight                    from 15.0 to 16.0&#xA;Underweight                             from 16.0 to 18.5&#xA;Normal (healthy weight)                 from 18.5 to 25&#xA;Overweight                              from 25 to 30&#xA;Obese Class I (Moderately obese)        from 30 to 35&#xA;Obese Class II (Severely obese)         from 35 to 40&#xA;Obese Class III (Very severely obese)   over 40&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI tables might vary, for example there are other values used for children or even for people from different nations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These values are, as stated above, only a rough measure, some people with completely good health might fall into the overweight categories easily when they are for example very tall athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BMI is particularly inaccurate for people who are fit or athletic, as the higher muscle mass tends to put them in the overweight category by BMI, even though their body fat percentages frequently fall in the 10–15% category, which is below that of a more sedentary person of average build who has a healthy BMI number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article gives a lot of other reasons why BMI is inaccurate for a single person to determine their health. BMI is mostly useful for statistical comparison of groups of people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The BMI is generally used as a means of correlation between groups related by general mass and can serve as a vague means of estimating adiposity.&#xA;  […]&#xA;  Generally, the index is suitable for recognizing trends within sedentary or overweight individuals because there is a smaller margin for errors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-22T11:35:19.110" LastActivityDate="2012-12-22T11:35:19.110" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10004" CreationDate="2012-12-11T09:48:14.330" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's in most people's knowledge that pregnant women should generally not exercise due to the risk of harming the baby with prolonged and strenuous work-outs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one was pregnant, but still wanted to exercise for her health - how much exercise is safe? At what times is it safe to exercise while pregnant? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4809" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T18:04:34.273" Title="How much exercise should a pregnant woman do?" Tags="&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2012-12-11T11:15:02.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I just had a baby.  Her OBGYN told her (remember everyone is different) it was based off of how active she was before hand.  Since she went to the gym 5-6 days a week, she continued to exercise and go to Zumba classes until 1 week before he was born.  She did have to leave class to pee more as the baby tap-danced on her bladder though.  Talk to your doctors and figure out a plan that is right for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T11:15:02.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9984" CreationDate="2012-12-11T13:56:47.000" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote a rather big post about &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20121105085424/http://www.askscooby.com/basic-techniques-36/pull-ups-vs-chin-ups-which-grip-is-best/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull-ups vs. chin-ups&lt;/a&gt; where I also discuss the issue of grip width. I did it based on a few scientific papers whose links you can find there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those papers study the grip width in percentage of your shoulder width. In other words, if your shoulder-to-shoulder distance is 40 cm, then 100% grip width corresponds to a 40 cm distance between your hands, 150% grip width is 60 cm, 200% grip width is 80 cm, etc. The conclusions are that grip width doesn't change that much how much the lats are involved, as long as you stay in the range 100% to 150%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other papers I've read indicate that going over 150% width can be a good way to force your lats to be more involved, but you will lose a lot of biomechanical advantage. In other words, your lats will do a larger percentage of the work, but the total work is smaller (fewer reps due to the worse biomechanical position of your arm muscles, also smaller distance that you travel vertically in each rep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All things considered, you should look at shoulder-width pull-ups (100% width) and normal-width pull-ups (150%) as very similar. Do the one which you like the most. Use wide grips (200%) if you want to isolate your lats, but remember to do compounds (normal pull-ups) before isolations (wide pull-ups)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2014-08-08T09:27:33.130" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T09:27:33.130" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9833" CreationDate="2012-12-11T16:08:32.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &lt;strong&gt;8-12 reps&lt;/strong&gt;, whichever your goal may be (strength, mass, speed, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: This has actually been rather well studied in science. 8-12 reps is the ideal range for a beginner, no matter what your goal is. You can see a (rather lengthy) post I wrote about this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askscooby.com/basic-techniques-36/the-bible-of-weight-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, or just go to my source, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2009 position stand&lt;/a&gt; by the American College of Sports Medicine (click on &quot;Article as PDF&quot; on the right-side menu).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a wealth of information on that paper by the ACSM -- if you're not scared of reading scientific papers, I strongly recommend it. Among all that information, they mention in the abstract that &quot;&lt;em&gt;For novice (untrained&#xA;individuals with no RT experience or who have not trained for several&#xA;years) training, it is recommended that loads correspond to a repetition&#xA;range of an 8–12 repetition maximum (RM).&lt;/em&gt;&quot; In the paper itself, they split their recommendations in terms of goals: strength, muscle mass, explosive power, and endurance; for all those, the best rep range for a beginner is 8-12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that for more advanced trainees, with some years of training already, different rep ranges should be used for different goals. But until you have some years of training, 8-12 is the best way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T16:41:55.550" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T16:41:55.550" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9833" CreationDate="2012-12-11T17:02:14.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Number of Reps for a Novice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5023/1771&quot;&gt;my answer to your original question&lt;/a&gt;, I think sets of 5 or so are fine for a novice such as yourself. That is close enough to the strength end of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8239/1771&quot;&gt;the rep range spectrum&lt;/a&gt;, but is high enough to trigger some muscle growth (hypertrophy) in addition to the neurological improvements. Later, you can decide whether to switch to higher rep ranges for endurance or hypertrophy, or lower rep ranges for strength and power, or stay where you are to stay in the Goldilocks Zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Number of Sets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A handful of sets is fine. One set will spur the bare minimum adaptation. Three sets is almost certainly plenty if you're lifting heavy. If you're lifting light weights, more sets are necessary. However, that question really depends on what program you pick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pick a Program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of creating your own program from scratch as an untrained novice, I recommend finding a dumbbell workout program created by someone else that has specific recommendations for sets, reps, and exercises. GreySkull Linear Progression, Starting Strength (which has more of an athletic/lower-body bias), or StrongLifts (which has the same bias as SS) are all fine examples. These are barbell-centric, but the principle stands: creating your own workout program is prone to error in inverse proportion to one's experience with working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T17:02:14.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10011" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10022" CreationDate="2012-12-11T18:29:04.700" Score="7" ViewCount="5122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates are stored in the muscles as glycogen. It is a major energy source for weight lifting. I want to know if a muscle can only use the glycogen stored in itself or can it borrow glycogen from other muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll give you a practical example. Let's say I do many sets of bicep curls followed by many sets of tricep extensions. Will my tricep strength suffer because the bicep curls not only used glycogen stored in the biceps, but also the triceps? Or will my tricep strength remain unaffected because the bicep curls cannot be fueled by the glycogen stored in the triceps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T05:15:09.490" Title="Can glycogen only be used by the muscle in which it is stored in?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-11T18:31:28.760" Score="6" ViewCount="533" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for bodyweight exercise for improving long distance running, because winter is coming to the Northern Hemisphere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can still running outside, but sometimes weather is really bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any recommandation for exercises, which helps me to improve my running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1028" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-12-12T20:50:05.450" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T13:30:49.550" Title="Bodyweight exercises for improving long distance running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10011" CreationDate="2012-12-11T19:06:48.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is all balanced by osmosis.  Once your muscle stores of glycogen start being depleted, your body converts blood sugar (glucose) into glycogen in the muscle being depleted.  So your muscles will still get glycogen, just not from other muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, your body is not very good at this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2012-12-11T19:12:41.723" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T19:12:41.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10001" CreationDate="2012-12-11T20:24:28.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Screening Tool:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI is primarily a screening tool.  It can be done quickly and easily with a simple a tape measure and a scale.  The measurements are run thru a formula that gives you a number to determine where your measurements fall between an underweight to overweight chart.  @Informaficker had given you a formula and chart.  Here is another formula: BMI = (Weight in Pounds/( Height in inches )x (Height in inches) )x 703  And a link to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CDC's BMI calculator&lt;/a&gt; and their &lt;a href=&quot;http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BMI calculator for Teens&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Validity:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it is a good screening tool, it cannot actually determine how healthy you are.  Muscular people for example, may show up as being overweight due to their heavier muscle mass.  Older, overweight people may show up as normal due to muscle wasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Measurements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to your BMI, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;waist and hip measurement&lt;/a&gt; will add more information to your health assessment.  And there are other ways to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;calculate your body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; more directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-11T20:24:28.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-12T05:28:45.650" Score="4" ViewCount="19079" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought a &lt;a href=&quot;http://theburnmachine.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Burn Machine&lt;/a&gt; device which has two rotating handles within a frame. It is weighted and functions similar to using a speedbag (see picture below). I've been using it a lot ever since I received it, but the smell of the rubber handles is so overpowering makes my use of the device very limited during sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried letting it sit out in the open air to try and let the smell dissipate (I keep it in my cubicle in a very large office area, not really a lot of circulation but not terrible), and I've also tried cleaning it with some mild soap and water which didn't help much either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to remove the smell of the rubber and make it more bearable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/00O09.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The Burn Machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T19:05:27.250" Title="Can I remove the nasty rubber smell from new equipment?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10289" CreationDate="2012-12-12T06:46:49.967" Score="7" ViewCount="7684" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the proper form for doing kneeling cable crunches? Specifically, I am curious about the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should you face the machine, face away from the machine, or are both okay?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How should you position your arms throughout the exercise? For example, should they stay extended the whole way down like you are bowing to someone?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How should you position your upper body throughout the exercise? For example, do you treat it like a crunch where you start straight and then curl into your chest?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What angle should you be starting at? 90, 67.5, 45?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything else I missed out on that I should be conscious of during the exercise?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2013-01-07T19:11:21.993" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T18:32:38.830" Title="What is proper form for kneeling cable crunches?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;cables&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10011" CreationDate="2012-12-12T08:30:04.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only the muscle cell storing the glycogen can use it for energy.  From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen#Muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; (my emphasis):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle cell glycogen appears to function as an immediate reserve source of available glucose for muscle cells. Other cells that contain small amounts use it locally as well. &lt;strong&gt;Muscle cells lack the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase, which is required to pass glucose into the blood, so the glycogen they store is destined for internal use and is not shared with other cells.&lt;/strong&gt; (This is in contrast to liver cells, which, on demand, readily do break down their stored glycogen into glucose and send it through the blood stream as fuel for the brain or muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2012-12-12T08:30:04.890" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10012" CreationDate="2012-12-12T17:52:06.750" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with running outside. Simply wear layers and take precautions when running where ice buildup is likely. I spent quite a few years running cross country at 8000' elevations for college, and outside for the vast majority of it. This included during rain, snowstorms, predawn in the dark, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would rather run indoors, a treadmill is an acceptable substitute, or pool running is an alternative as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There aren't really any weight routines that will maintain/improve distance running fitness. The only way to really maintain running or improve it is to run. There are some studies that show plyometric exercises can help increase running speed, but these are mostly for the shorter (400m and shorter) distances, and are mostly related to the explosiveness of the start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to run at night, Petzl and a few other companies make very nice headlamps. I would get a headlamp that runs at least 40 lumens, a flashing taillight and a lightweight reflective vest. That's the setup I currently use when running at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-12T17:52:06.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9979" CreationDate="2012-12-12T20:03:00.920" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is minimal? We can minimize equipment, we can minimize time, but to determine the minimal exercises we need to know more about who is asking the question. Someone who is morbidly obese with emphysema would have a minimum workout of &amp;quot;walk to the end of the driveway every day&amp;quot;. An Olympic athlete might have ten workouts a week just to keep from regressing. My point: fitness is relative to a specific task for a specific person, so minimal needs vary widely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, here are some variations on the theme of minimalism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Luddite Workout&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we talk about minimal exercise programming, the first thing to go is all the equipment. It may not be &lt;em&gt;optimal&lt;/em&gt; to eschew dumbbells, barbells, squat racks, bumper plates, kettlebells, benches, rings, pull-up bars and everything else, but it's certainly &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt;. Most dedicated people can get quite fit and strong with nothing but their own body. So out the window the equipment goes, if we're looking for &amp;quot;minimal&amp;quot;. We assume only the use of your own body and the world around you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are the most productive exercises to do with just one's nude body and gravity? Well, I wouldn't omit running and sprinting, push-up progressions (from on-the-knees negatives all the way to explosive triple-clapping push-ups and one-armed push-ups), pull-ups and chin-ups if you can find a tree branch or convenient ledge, handstands and flips and other gymnastics, squat progressions (from holding onto a pole to do a third-world squat all the way to jumping single-leg squats for height and distance) and dips if you see fit to allow a pair of sturdy chairs into your arsenal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of that list, I would say that there is no &amp;quot;must-have&amp;quot; exercise. If you want to do all upper-body strength work and leave out all the running and squatting, that could work. If you want to just run, that will work too. But optimally I would do at least the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;something fast that makes you winded, like sprinting or picking up or carrying random heavy things (e.g. tires or logs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;something to make your legs strong, like single-leg (pistol) squats and jumping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some upper-body pulling, like chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some upper-body pushing, like handstand push-ups or dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that most lists of bodyweight exercises very quickly start using at least &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; equipment. But technically you don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; a pull-up bar or chairs for dips; it just really helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodyweight Workout Resources&lt;/strong&gt;: I am partial to Coach Sommer's &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticbodies.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/a&gt; book (here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-through-bodyweight-conditioning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;summary article&lt;/a&gt;), though I've heard that the prolific and inventive Ross Enamait's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Never Gymless&lt;/a&gt; is good, and that Convict Conditioning is pretty good (&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0938045768&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/zw13Y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;summary image&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Best Return On Investment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the best results in a minimum amount of time, barbells can't be beat, particularly for strength. A user on MetaFilter distills strength training down to &lt;a href=&quot;http://ask.metafilter.com/181405/power-up#26097450&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this minimal program&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: Squat 3x5, (Overhead) Press 3x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B: Deadlift 1x5, Bench (Press) 3x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's probably the simplest, most minimal full-body routine you can do and still cover all the bases. You should be able to do it in 30 minutes or less. Do it 3 times a week, alternating A and B each workout. Do a few lighter warmup sets first, then do all your work sets at the same weight. Rest 3-5 minutes between work sets. Start with a weight you know you can accomplish and add a little bit every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As described, it requires a barbell, some plates, a bench, and preferably a squat rack. (Technically, one could clean the weight to a front squat, but that requires at least one additional skill.) Personally I would substitute pull-ups or dips for bench press, which would allow the use of more readily-accessible chairs or pull-up bar instead of a weight bench, and remove the danger of doing bench presses without a spotter. In fact, for &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; body at certain points in my training, I've found that just three exercises (with the occasional dalliance with an optional assistance exercise) provide my minimum workout: squat, overhead press, deadlift. No bench press or pull-ups needed, since (at times) I find my pulling needs are satisfied by the scapular retraction necessary in those three exercises. Just 1 heavy set of 5 reps with those exercises, plus warm-up sets, proves to be my minimum. Sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A minimal barbell program could take many forms, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1brg0z/im_back_ama_about_fitness/c99ch2s?context=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clean-and-press&lt;/a&gt; 3x5 (or 6x6, or 5x3; the rep scheme handles a lot of variation), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1brg0z/im_back_ama_about_fitness/c99ca22?context=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chin-ups&lt;/a&gt; 3 sets to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This hits the same major movements: squatting in the recovery of the clean, pressing (overhead), &amp;quot;deadlifting&amp;quot; in the clean, and pulling in the chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say that such a program would be plenty for a basic level of strength. To get to fitness, I'd add a little running (say, half a mile or less, as fast as possible) or other form of cardio, or do the clean-and-presses as a complex. Address any mobility or flexibility issues that arise from the workout program as described. That's it. Strength, conditioning, mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell Training Resources&lt;/strong&gt;: the best introduction to barbell strength training I've yet read is Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore's Starting Strength (&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt;, unaffiliated and mostly-correct &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; summary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Minimal Equipment (But Not Bodyweight-Only)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If getting a barbell and squat rack seems too costly, but you want the rapid return-on-investment that external loads provide for resistance exercise, I'd buy one kettlebell, as heavy as you can safely handle. This should be between twenty-five and fifty pounds for untrained adult men and women. That plus a pull-up bar or gymnastic rings allows for tremendous external resistance (though not as much as with barbells).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this kettlebell-plus-pull-up-apparatus setup, one could do pull-ups, goblet squats, kettlebell-style swings, clean, and snatches, as well as overhead presses, Turkish get-ups, and with some practice, single-leg (pistol) squats, eventually with the kettlebell. That's a heck of a lot of strength and conditioning potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bare essentials of that list would be some form of squat (goblet or pistol), plus some form of press (overhead, or a Turkish get-up), plus either swings, cleans, or snatches. They can be combined with rests for maximal strength or as a complex for strength and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T08:35:23.847" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10011" CreationDate="2012-12-12T20:27:38.313" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking, the energy used by the muscles is not glycogen, but the phosphate bonds in adenosine triphosphate (ATP). When energy is needed, one of the phosphate bonds is broken, resulting in an energy release and the creation of the subsequent adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and waste materials. This is one of the main reasons that creatine phosphate works, is that it provides cells with a ready supply of extra phosphate to recreate the ATP from ADP. Glucose is part of this cycle in that it is broken down into pyruvate to feed into the Kreb's cycle. IIRC, one molecule of glucose can provide somewhere around 24 net molecules of ATP. It is the glycogen that is broken apart to provide the glucose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grohlier is somewhat correct, in that when muscles start to run out of stored glycogen they start relying on blood glucose and release of stored glycogen from the liver, and this can be slower than the immediate availability of muscle glycogen. However, for short burst activity such as weightlifting, the amount of time you spend in the recovery phase between sets is enough to replenish muscle glycogen from circulating blood glucose. It can take anywhere from 60-120 minutes of continuous exercise to completely deplete muscle/blood/liver stores of glycogen (This is commonly known as &quot;bonking&quot; or hitting the wall, another term that is vastly overused, usually incorrectly.) This time can be lengthened if necessary by eating/feeding/drinking. It's also extended by your body adapting to exercise, as your body will start to adapt by storing more glycogen in the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recursive is correct, once the glycogen is in the muscle, it can only be used by that muscle specifically. So if you do deplete the biceps glycogen (as per your example), the triceps would not be affected much and could still do work. However, it would be impacted somewhat, as your biceps also play a part in triceps movement, and vice versa. You can't ever really work a muscle in &quot;isolation&quot; outside of a lab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T14:09:00.770" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T14:09:00.770" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10024" CreationDate="2012-12-13T02:16:00.587" Score="9" ViewCount="3083" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been following Starting Strength for about a year and a half. I squatted 3x4 @ 285 lbs today. I was doing 5x5 sets, but read a suggestion on here to reduce to 3x5, and I immediately noticed an improvement (I could increase my weight, which had plateaued). Now, when I can do 3x5 to my satisfaction, I add more weight. I keep my feet slightly pointed out and about shoulder width apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, for the longest time, I have noticed a tendency in my knees to come together as I come up out of the squat. There's no pain or anything, that's just what they tend to do. Is this ok or something I should fix? If I should fix it, how? Deload until they don't come together anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4052" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T02:38:09.490" Title="My knees come together when I squat. Is this ok?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10023" CreationDate="2012-12-13T02:28:07.997" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally, your knees travel out directly in the same line as where your toes are pointing, and your toes should be pointing out at somewhere between 20° and 45° from a line drawn perpendicular to your torso straight out in front of you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your knees are collapsing in, yes, it is poor form. It indicates that you have relatively weak leg abduction. (Remember, abduction is any movement that draws a body part away from the center line of your body.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collapsing knees are bad form; a little bit is not particularly dangerous to you, BUT strengthing those abductors will improve the total strength in your leg by efficiently using all muscles. Definitely work on keeping those knees out over the hips. Also, try mixing up your stance by going a few inches wider than you usually do, and you will find that you're getting more glutes and more inner leg muscles into the action. Which is a good thing - because ONLY the squat can really tax these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collapsing knees also tend to happen in conjunction with weight too far forward. As you collapse in, notice that you tend to pitch forward. Try various mental cues to fix this, such as, &quot;Sit back&quot;, and &quot;Squeeze out&quot;. Practice impeccable weight-in-heels form with your warmup sets and try to carry it into your work sets. If you can't do the exercise without knee collapse, then maybe you should take off a few pounds - or stay put for a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T02:28:07.997" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-13T02:53:21.970" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a blackberry 3G 9105, and was wondering whether there are blackberry users here who have any specific recommendations in terms of running apps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4820" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:18.083" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:18.083" Title="Apps for Blackberry users?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2012-12-16T14:41:11.917" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10012" CreationDate="2012-12-13T07:35:37.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is: In what way do you expect do improve doing strength training. As a long distance runner, your main training focus should be on increasing your muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VO2max&lt;/a&gt; and so on), which is mainly achieved by maximizing the number of &quot;repititions&quot; (milage), and interval training. Low repitition strength training does not achieve this, as it stresses on other types of muscle fibres (the fast-twitching ones). So you should definitely prefer running over strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are not able to run for whatever reason (injury, weather conditions), a little bit of bodyweight training can of course be benefitial (stabilizing joints for instance), but then you should go for higher repitition ranges in my opinion. Squats are one possibility as they are a good compound exercise for legs, bould you should do them unweighted in order get a low intensity, high volume workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T07:35:37.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10044" CreationDate="2012-12-13T09:18:59.027" Score="-4" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;In beginner strength training the way it is usually recommended, how much is soreness, DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), and inflammation associated with the productive muscle breakdown that creates stronger muscle as one recovers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put another way, how much pain is necessary for strength gains? Bonus points for describing optimal training with minimum soreness while still making progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-19T13:40:48.913" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T13:40:48.913" Title="To what extent is strength training about optimal breakdown of muscles" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ClosedDate="2012-12-20T04:01:55.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10026" CreationDate="2012-12-13T09:47:38.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you are running outside, Endomondo is a fantastic app. I used to use it for my mountain biking and walking. simply punch in your details, let it locate your position and start running. After finishing your exercise simply click finish and it shows you statistics of the loop you just ran, times over distances at 1 mile intervals. It's also pretty good as it informs you when you have run mile intervals and informs you of the time over that section. It also has a handy built in personal trainer which says encouraging things to you while you exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the only one I have ever used, a quick Google result shows quite a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iMapMyRun&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adidas miCoach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;runtastic Lite Version: Free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greattrainer &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paid: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endomondo Pro Version: $3.99&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;runtastic Pro Version: $5.99&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A search in Blackberry App world should show more results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T09:47:38.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5030" CreationDate="2012-12-13T12:21:44.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://alphaheartrate.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alpha&lt;/a&gt; is strapless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not clear if it stored everything on the device, but technically it can beam continuously to a SmartPhone, and there seems to be some apps for it  (I am investigating)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somebody edited in this:A review is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/12/a-day-of-continuous-heart-rate-monitoring.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The review actually describes one day of continuous recording with a smartphone app (Bluetooth).  Seems it worked well, except for one crash (Probably the fault of the app).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think we can conclude that contiguous recording on the device itself does not work.&#xA;Also there is some mention of charging (One of the points of the question)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2012-12-19T20:49:43.183" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T20:49:43.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10028" CreationDate="2012-12-13T13:10:41.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is, from what I can tell, four questions in one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) How much of strength training about optimally breaking down muscle, even for beginners?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training is always about optimal muscle breakdown.  However, there are varying levels of what one wants to achieve strength wise.  Are you trying to train for the next strong-man contest? Mr./Mrs. Universe? Recovering from chemotherapy? Sport specific?  Each one requires a different regimen, but all are geared towards optimal muscle breakdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endurance training for your muscles is different as well.  This style is more about getting to a certain strength point and being able to repeat the movements a lot.  An elderly person, for example, would want to endurance train their muscles to help them with activities of daily living (getting out of a chair, lifting groceries, taking stairs more easily, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) How many sets and repetitions would one need to do to achieve an optimal breakdown?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many ways to answer this question it is ridiculous.  It really depends on what you are trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) What are appropriate rest times between sets, and then between workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See question two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) When do routines need to be changed to keep having an optimal effect? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This depends on what you are trying to achieve... Bulking-up? Change more than you stay the same (this is still debatable, I was thinking for starters though).  Just want to be able to get groceries out of the car? Don't need to change once you get to a weight that you feel meets your grocery lifting needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is VERY broad and I hope a couple of other posters can help expound on my answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T13:10:41.907" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2012-12-13T13:34:44.293" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried a lot of techniques but none taught me how to use my Lats. I later realized that the best way to learn how to use your Lats is through &quot;Close grip Pullups&quot; as explained in the article below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://physicalliving.com/the-right-way-to-do-pullups-and-chinups/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;How to do pullups and chinups with the most efficient technique possible to maximize your performance and prevent injuries.&quot;&gt;The Right Way to do Pullups and Chinups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now these are not really close grip but they are not the wide grip pull ups. This lack of width while doing pull ups engages the Lats differently and you can feel the Lats. They also increase your volume tremendously as you are using your Lats more than your biceps. However I feel that Bicep involvement is there in this movement also. Once you learn how to use the Lats you can then migrate to the wider grip option easily. The trick here is to learn how to use the Lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T20:37:45.767" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T20:37:45.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10033" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:06:24.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An activity that challenges one or more aspects of your body's abilities (strength, endurance, agility, etc), often with measurable resistances: weight, time, reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T18:08:38.970" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T18:08:38.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10034" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:06:24.950" Score="0" Body="An activity that challenges one or more aspects of your body's abilities (strength, endurance, agility, etc), often with measurable resistances: weight, time, reps." OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T18:08:41.340" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T18:08:41.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10035" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:07:56.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An exercise/program designed to increase your muscle mass/lifting capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T18:08:25.227" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T18:08:25.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10036" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:07:56.993" Score="0" Body="An exercise/program designed to increase your muscle mass/lifting capacity." OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T18:08:36.410" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T18:08:36.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10037" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:11:01.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A building or room where one can workout. Gyms also frequently have specialized equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T14:15:48.607" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T14:15:48.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10038" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:11:01.690" Score="0" Body="A building or room where one can workout. Gyms also frequently have specialized equipment." OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T14:16:10.960" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T14:16:10.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10039" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:18:33.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An exercise where the athlete lays with their back flat on a bench (or other surface) - that is either parallel to the ground, or at an angle - and their feet on the floor, while lifting a weight (or set of weights) from their chest straight up (perpendicular to the floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T18:08:34.070" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T18:08:34.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10040" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-13T14:18:33.613" Score="0" Body="An exercise where the athlete lays with their back flat on a bench (or other surface) - that is either parallel to the ground, or at an angle - and their feet on the floor, while lifting a weight (or set of weights) from their chest straight up (perpendicular to the floor)." OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T18:08:30.327" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T18:08:30.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10042" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-13T18:23:38.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The major, forward-facing joint in the leg - joining the thigh and lower leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T20:21:57.590" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T20:21:57.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10043" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-13T18:23:38.950" Score="0" Body="The major, forward-facing joint in the leg - joining the thigh and lower leg." OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T20:22:03.160" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T20:22:03.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10028" CreationDate="2012-12-13T18:49:40.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To what extent is the organisation of strength training [...] &quot;just&quot; about getting an optimal breakdown of muscles?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training is about allowing you to lift more the next time: to get stronger. It's about causing an &lt;em&gt;adaptation&lt;/em&gt; in the muscles. This is &lt;strong&gt;hypothesized&lt;/strong&gt; by many to be due to &quot;breakdown&quot; as you call it, but that can mean something more severe than actually happens, and it is also due to neuromuscular adaptation (better recruitment of neurons).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think actual underlying mechanism is very important. Your body at least acts &lt;em&gt;as if&lt;/em&gt; this was the case. So, the model works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to talk about stress and adaptation, rather than breakdown because I think those words better describe what is going on and don't commit to a particular model of what's actually improving at the lowest level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;do you have several sets to be able to break down muscles more than you can in one set?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do several sets, your muscle does more work, is more stressed, and will adapt more between now and your next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are rest periods there so that you won't be to tired to push your muscles (into more breakdown)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To what extent will a given breakdown have less effect if the body is used to it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will stop adapting to a given amount of stress (load, weight) after it adapts to it. This is why it should be possible, and suggested, to add weight to your lifts every workout. If your previous workout did it's job, you should be able to lift more on the subsequent one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T19:01:19.150" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T19:01:19.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-13T19:25:23.037" Score="3" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a climber, so I'm talking specifically about forearms. I train regularly and have been for years, so I'm pretty familiar with how my body responds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, the &quot;pumped&quot; sensation in the forearms comes from the anaerobic energy usage; it's build of lactic acid.  During my training session yesterday, I experienced more onset of a pump than usual.  I would say it seemed that I was getting pumped, doing exactly my same warm ups and workout as I have been doing regularly for several weeks, at about 80% of the normal threshold.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that if I don't warm up good, it sets in faster.  But my warm up was as complete as usual.  What I want to know is what other parameters can affect this?  Was I low on blood sugar?  Were my muscles still fatigued from previous workouts?  Did the cold I had just recovered from matter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4299" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-12T19:15:59.657" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T18:27:11.133" Title="Why do I get lactic acid build up at lower threshholds on different days?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9979" CreationDate="2012-12-13T19:35:40.307" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that your best bet for this kind of arrangement is going to be a setup similar to many of the &quot;fitness trails&quot; that are available in many public parks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are exercise/fitness paths that can be completed at a walking through running pace, with various stations at predetermined intervals to target various muscle groups and agility/power training, as well as balance and stretching. If you are interested in doing this yourself, it can easily be done by substituting for various things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the exercises that I would absolutely include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises for muscle building&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat jumps - Squat down, jump up as high as you can. You can add a leg tuck at the top of the jump as an advanced variation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking/standing lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups/supermans (Superman - lay on stomach, arms outstretched like superman. Arch backwards until only stomach is on ground. Lather, rinse, repeat.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situps/curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips*&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups/chinups*&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse bench press/pullup*&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises for endurance/agility&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral jumps - Place a stick or similar on the ground, stand on one side of it, feet together. Jump from one side to the other, keeping feet together. When you land, jump back to the original side. Do this for :30-1:00, 2-3 sets. You can also do this forward and back. Raise the height of the obstacle for more challenge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High knees - Run in place, bringing the knees as high as you can on each &quot;stride&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grapevines - Sideways run for 50-100 yards, with one leg crossing over in the front, then the back. Very hard to describe, I would recommend youtube or having someone show you. Do repetitive sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Backwards running - Also 50-100 yards, repeating sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Agility steps - Draw a box on the ground. Starting outside one edge, step in with one foot, then the other. Step out the other side with the original foot then out with the second foot. As you get used to the motion, speed it up, and combine with somewhat high knees. You can do this forward/back or side/side. If you are well practiced, you can draw a ladder on the ground and do it diagonally, traveling up/down the ladder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other exercises that you can include are balance walking, single leg drills/exercises, various stretching routines to increase range of motion (Static stretching should only be done after finishing your workout), and other agility/motion drills that you desire or that fit with your chosen sport(s). For many other ideas on this, simply search the internet for &quot;Health Trail&quot;, &quot;Fitness Trail&quot;, and similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A setup like this could very easily be done on a track, trails, or other running paths. With the exception of the few exercises that are marked with *, no equipment is needed, and if you have a fitness trail near you, then it is already set up. Alternatively, you could even set up some stations in your garage, and set out some 1/4 mile loops in your neighborhood so that you come back to your garage to do the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will hit quite a few areas. The straight muscle building with lunges, etc., mobility and agility with the high knees and other moving drills, range of motion, flexibility, and jogging/running the course will hit the cardiovascular as well. Depending on how hard you hit some of the movement drills, that also incorporates the HIIT style of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T19:35:40.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10047" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-13T20:50:40.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Damage to a body part/system. Some injuries can be treated, while others can only be managed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injuries can be classified in 1 of 3 groups (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injury&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Cause&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trauma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;burn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Location&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nerve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Activity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sports&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;occupational&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;accident&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-13T22:46:27.643" LastActivityDate="2012-12-13T22:46:27.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10048" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-13T20:50:40.887" Score="0" Body="Damage to a body part/system. Some injuries can be treated, while others can only be managed." OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditDate="2012-12-14T06:08:37.980" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T06:08:37.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10049" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-13T20:56:45.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Items of varying size and complexity that assist in one or more workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bar bell &amp;amp; weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;treadmill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;elliptical&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jump rope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hand grips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="413" LastEditDate="2013-03-05T19:57:24.160" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T19:57:24.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10050" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-13T20:56:45.967" Score="0" Body="Any device that allows the execution of, or assists with specific exercises" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2013-03-05T19:55:39.780" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T19:55:39.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10054" CreationDate="2012-12-14T13:52:07.223" Score="0" ViewCount="2431" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somebody small will have less Resistance from the air but take smaller steps then somebody who is tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are long people better at long distance runs,&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;small people better in short distance or does it even matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4750" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T17:45:08.410" Title="Does your height affect your running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10053" CreationDate="2012-12-14T14:03:55.687" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say resistance to the air would be almost irrelevant here, what we will impact a lot it would be the longer steps for short (sprinting distances) where probably taller people are in an advantage but in the other side, tallness comes with a cost, a less economic run, so they will be much more difficult to keep up good paces in long distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some interesting information &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/running-training-how-to-improve-your-economy-and-efficiency-691&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, where I extracted this quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height hits economy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of economy, mum probably didn't mention that the taller you are, the more miserable (that's miserable, not miserly) is your economy. But - it's true. As height increases, it costs more to run at a particular pace, even when the cost is expressed per kilogram of body weight. Research in France bears this out ('Influence of Training, Sex, Age, and Body Mass on the Energy Cost of Running,' European Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 66(5), pp. 439-444, 1993).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would that be true? Analyzing the situation, mum used to like to say that bone mass increases exponentially, not linearly, as a function of height, which means that taller runners have both absolutely and relatively heavier bones, compared to shorties. It costs energy to lug those bones around, so economy dips. Small wonder that the majority of world-class marathoners tend to be relatively slight figures. Of course, lack of economy doesn't faze sprinters, the best of whom tend to be fairly tall. Their goal in running is to maximize power, not worry about saving a millilitre of oxygen here and there, and power maximization tends to mean long limbs and rippling muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4408" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T14:03:55.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35833" CreationDate="2012-12-14T17:34:42.673" Score="5" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the most important points I should look for in a heart rate monitor? I am looking at only using it when I work out (so not a fitbit, etc for sleep). I want a hrm and not just a glorified pedometer. I want to make sure its accurate, can tell me total calories burned, and optionally uploads to computer and/or has a chest strap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T14:25:49.617" Title="What should I be looking for in a heart rate monitor?" Tags="&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10053" CreationDate="2012-12-14T17:45:08.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Height may be a factor, but it is probably really only going to matter in the weight, as alluded to in the other answer. Apocryphal lore among runners is that every pound of body weight either gained or lost, will result in a time difference of +/- 3 to 5 seconds. So if you lose 5 pounds, theoretically you can gain 15-25 seconds per mile for the same effort. This is affected greatly by other factors, however, such as training history, running efficiency and economy, things like this. However, there is a point where any further weight loss also results in lost muscle, so there is no real &quot;set&quot; formula to determine an ideal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is going to matter much more is the composition of the muscle fibers and the proportions of fast twitch to slow twitch. Someone with a high percentage of fast twitch fibers is going to be much more suited to short burst, sprint type activities, and the more percentage that you get of slow twitch fibers the more suited you will be to distance events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had always believed and have been taught that the proportions of slowtwitch (Type I) and fast twitch (Type IIa and IIb) were set at birth, much like other body systems, however there have been more recent studies (2004) that are challenging this notion. I've linked one study for reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mcb.asm.org/content/24/14/6253.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle Fiber Conversion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T17:45:08.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10055" CreationDate="2012-12-14T19:56:04.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it comes down to preference as long as it takes your heart rate accurately.  I prefer the HRMs that provide a strap that goes around your chest.  Most machine will pick up on this so you won't always need your watch (unless you have timers set up on them).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can test the watch by finding your pulse (in your dominant hand) on the thumb side of your forearm near your wrist.  Feel your pulse and count.  If you count for 15 seconds multiply by 4 and then look at the monitor and see if it is close! Counting to 60 will be more accurate (no need to multiply by anything since you've counted for a minute).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-14T19:56:04.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10055" CreationDate="2012-12-15T04:41:39.980" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main things to look for in a heart rate monitor for exercise workouts is its accuracy, readability, functions and ease of use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Accuracy&lt;/strong&gt; - Check your radial pulse and compare it to the heart rate monitor for accuracy.  At rest you can check it for 60 seconds.  During exercise you can check your pulse for 6 secs and multiply by 10.  If you need a heart rate monitor for cardiac rehab, ask your healthcare practitioner for recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Readability&lt;/strong&gt; - If your vision is a factor make sure that the display is large enough and clear enough for you to read it easily while exercising.  A night light or backlight function can help readability especially in dim light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Functions&lt;/strong&gt; - As you mentioned you want estimated calories burned and the ability to transfer data to your computer.  Other considerations are the ease of set up, ability to set target training zones, alarms or percent-of-max heart rate display, lap timers, water resistance, and the ability to change the battery by yourself vs having to send it back to the manufacturer for a new battery.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ease of Use&lt;/strong&gt; - Having more functions than necessary can complicate its use, so choose according to your goals. Consider the chest strap comfort and ease of application.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Price and warranty&lt;/strong&gt; are also a consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-12-15T04:41:39.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3541" CreationDate="2012-12-15T20:50:35.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for bodyweight exercises that you can do at home then you need to look for compound exercises and some isolation movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises are exercises where you need to move more than one joint if you want to do them properly. This kind of exercises are the most important ones. These are the best and most known compound movements: push ups, squats, lunges, pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combine these exercises in a routine. For instance: 10 push ups, 15 squats (or jumping squats, which are heavier), 10 lunges per leg, 10 pull ups if you have something that can act like a pull up bar. Repeat the same routine twice again but always do 8 reps instead of 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finish of the workout with some cross crunches and the plank position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to mix things up from time to time. For instance, do push ups with your hands wide or with your hands just next to your chest or maybe in a diamond position next to each other just below your chest. The closer your hands are to each other, the more stress it puts on your triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give it a try, you don't need any equipment for this one and I'm sure you will like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just one basic routine I just put together for you. You can find more of these on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.workoutchallenger.com/category/full-body-routines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;my website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-15T21:12:30.210" LastActivityDate="2012-12-15T21:12:30.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2012-12-16T04:58:59.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ouch! That seems serious. I'd take the surgery. I had the same, not as severe though and I had surgery done.  After the surgery I visited a physiotherapist for about a month and I was fine until I hurt my wrist really badly. And I had to go back to the physiotherapist. That was bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He gave me this thing, called a blood stimulation wrap. I put in on when I'm in pain. Plug it, let my hand rest. And when I take it off, poof, no pain. It's great. Look into getting one for after your surgery. The one I got is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kingbrand.com/Wrist_Injury_Treatment.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;King Brand Wrist Injury Treatment&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, definitely consider surgery. And be careful after, make sure your wrist is totally 100% or else it could knock you back a bit. Good luck. Happy holidays!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4835" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-12-17T01:48:51.433" LastActivityDate="2012-12-17T01:48:51.433" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9414" CreationDate="2012-12-16T05:32:37.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to rely a lot of protein shakes. Here is my advice for what you eat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7am - Protein shake (with milk) with quick Oates&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your protein shake made of? Is there a lot of added sugar? You need to find a sugar free protein shake made from hemp, pea protein, egg whites or rice bran. Whey protein may get a &amp;quot;health halo&amp;quot; but it really isn't healthy. Also, the only milk you should be drinking is grass-fed and grass-finished. A better meal would be eggs with sweet potatoes or roasted butternut squash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10.30am - Yoghurt with muesli (about 150g)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, grass-fed/finished dairy is best. That Muesli may be full of sugar, please double check before eating more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1pm - Grilled chicken breast with veges&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOOD!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.30pm - Small vegetable bag (about 200g)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOOD!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5.00pm - Protein shake (with milk) with quick Oates&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thoughts as above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7pm to 8.30pm - WORKOUT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9pm - Protein shake (with milk) with quick Oates + 6 Egg whites with Spinnach&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ditch the protein shake and have an actual meal with fish, spinach, lentils... Things like that. Your diet is lacking in healthy fats - fish, nuts, seeds, oils, avocados, you need to add healthy fat for your diet. Eating HEALTHY fat doesn't make you fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4836" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-16T08:23:58.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10067" CreationDate="2012-12-16T06:20:30.137" Score="3" ViewCount="1203" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may remember hurdler &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMgmYutL9W0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Michelle Jenneke's famous dance&lt;/a&gt; where she wiggles her fingers to warm up before the race. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/v7OUvlhh4y0?t=1m11s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this interview&lt;/a&gt; (at 01:11), she reveals that wiggling her fingers activates her fast twitch fibers. Is this scientifically valid? And if so, why do your legs become more explosive from movements in your fingers? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2012-12-16T14:35:44.950" Title="How does wiggling your fingers activate your fast twitch muscle fibers?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10069" CreationDate="2012-12-16T07:48:37.230" Score="14" ViewCount="12944" Body="&lt;p&gt;My final set of squats has me going until I can do no more. I usually stop when I feel one more rep may or may not might be possible, but it's going to totally wipe me out trying. I usually sense that point when I'm squatted down, so have to bail out with the safety bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the whole set, I'm fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I climb out from under the bar, that's when it hits me, a second or two of light-headedness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My training partner says he gets the same. Is this normal?&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional info requested&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Warmup sets:&lt;/em&gt; Starting Strength style&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Working sets:&lt;/em&gt; 100kg (220 pounds) currently, 2 x 5, then AMRAP which has been working out anywhere from 10 - 20 reps lately.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Bodyweight:&lt;/em&gt; 100kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also noticed today it happens with deadlifts, which I stopped at 20 in the final set today, possibly had another 5-10 in the bag. With ez-curls though, an exercise which my final rep might take 10 seconds to get up and total failure during the next one, I don't get the lightheadedness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-12-17T23:07:25.703" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T01:24:24.277" Title="Light-headedness after squats" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9414" CreationDate="2012-12-16T08:20:09.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure I'd call protein shakes a healthy option. They're a good option for building muscles of course, but building muscle and health are different goals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get rolled or steel cut oats instead of quick oats. Quick oats often have sugar and salt added and being more processed, are higher GI.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You don't say if the yogurt or milk is low-fat, but there's very little fat in your diet apart from that. Stick with the full-fat varieties.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It reminds me of the typical menu any fitness plan recommends--extremely boring and thus unsustainable, even if you alternate the chicken breast with grilled salmon or turkey. Any food starts to lose its taste when it's repeated too often and is one of the biggest reasons diet fail. If you go to a less optimal diet, one that isn't too far off how you'd like to eat for the rest of your life when you reach a maintenance stage, you'll find longer lasting results.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's quite an expensive menu, with the egg whites and protein shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-12-16T08:20:09.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10064" CreationDate="2012-12-16T14:35:44.950" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's not really a correlation between twitching your fingers and power in your legs. Plus, you don't &quot;activate&quot; your fast twitch fibers. There isn't a switch that turns them on, and they are not independent. You would also be using the slow twitch fibers in the muscle as well. So physically speaking, the finger twitching isn't doing what she says/thinks it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it does do, however, is act as a mental trigger. She has a pre race routine, with the hops, bends, leg and finger twitching, etc. What this does is get her in the mental state to race. You see this with all kinds of athletes in various sports, they all have different routines that basically tell their brain and body &quot;Hey, it's time to race&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-16T14:35:44.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10065" CreationDate="2012-12-16T15:40:09.833" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing that comes to mind is that your sugar level is very low at the end of your workout. I'm guessing that you don't only do squats when you are working out and if your workout partner feels the same, maybe there's not enough oxygen in that area of the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, it's a heavy exercise and you're lifting heavy too. Try doing squats earlier in your routine, maybe that can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2012-12-16T15:40:09.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10065" CreationDate="2012-12-16T16:40:36.660" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you lift heavy deadlifts and squats, your whole body is under high compressive force. The muscles squeeze your blood vessels, which increases the hydrostatic pressure of your circulatory system. In other words, your blood pressures spikes up during the lift. The body attempts to restore homeostasis during the lift by engaging physiological responses which lower the blood pressure - mostly by releasing vasodilators, which are chemical signals telling the smooth muscles lining your blood vessels to get relax. When you finish the rep, your muscles relax, and the pressure drops suddenly - but the vasodilation response has been activated, and your blood pressures spikes down for a few seconds before the body can act again to restore equilibrium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's normal - nothing to be alarmed about. All serious lifters have experienced this, including to myself. However, this physiological effect can lead to passing out, and passing out can be dangerous because you can take a nasty fall. It's also a reason to squat over a rack. Even if you think you could dump the weight if things got out of hand, you might pass out at the top of the rep one day, and then the only thing that's going to save you from a squashing is the rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To mitigate this effect, work on your breathing. Having good breathing will give your whole body, including your brain, more oxygen. It won't stop the blood pressure spikes, but it will allow you to stay conscious at a lower blood pressure. Exhale strong and long after you pass the sticking point on the way up from the rep. (Say at the top 25% of the ROM). At the top, after you finish a full exhale, and while keeping your core tight and engaged, breathe deep into your chest and upper belly (diaphragm). If your vision is clear and your head is solid, take the rep. Otherwise, go through one more deep breathe cycle - without ever losing tension in your stomach. This is hard and takes practice, but you can do it. (It's the same kind of breathing for singing, by the way.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that lightheadedness during a rep, or prolonged lightheadedness after a set, cannot be explained by this mechanism. Only brief lightheadedness at the top of a rep or after the set is explained by this physiological response. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2012-12-16T22:38:29.273" LastActivityDate="2012-12-16T22:38:29.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10065" CreationDate="2012-12-17T13:51:08.407" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are dumping the bar every time, you are going to failure--not AMRAP.  There is a big difference.  Every place I've seen AMRAP defined, it's as many &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; reps as possible, with 1-2 reps left in the tank.  If form breaks down, or you aren't getting to full depth, your set needs to be over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I have experienced the light-headedness you are talking about after widowmakers.  In my case, it was a combination of factors: excessive heat in the gym and insufficient food.  I was shaking pretty badly after the exertion, and every calorie I consumed after that helped the feeling subside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have the feeling, do sit down and rest until the worst feeling passes.  Don't keep going on the session.  If you keep going, you risk hurting yourself.  High rep sets are very taxing on your body, both from the perspective of getting enough oxygen to your body and from the glycogen depletion that goes on.  The good news is that the lower weight is usually easier to recover from--as long as you don't go to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn to recognize when that feeling of lightheadedness is going to come, and stop before then.  Usually you can tell about two reps beforehand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do have some kind of recovery aid like BCAAs if this happens regularly.  10g of Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) mixed with water can help recover enough to overcome that feeling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-17T13:51:08.407" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10016" CreationDate="2012-12-17T16:20:53.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that a combo of vinegar and water (1/5 vinegar) would remove the smell or Murphy's Oil soap.  Worse case I would use Sports Tape to wrap over the handles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PqFWu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;sports tape&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-12-18T04:52:16.147" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T04:52:16.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10085" CreationDate="2012-12-18T00:18:14.933" Score="9" ViewCount="442" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently squatting twice a week, deadlifting once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting doesn't concern me because I feel my back is getting a great workout and the hips are starting much higher than the knees, but squatting I'm fearing too much of a leg workout. My legs are already way too big compared to the rest of my body and more than capable strength-wise for everyday activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact I'm sort of glad I'm up around 20-22% body fat now, as when I was 15% my legs looked just too muscley for my liking. I'm not into the bodybuilder look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm squatting bodyweight (100kg/220lbs) currently, not much by any means, but I've just started training (5 weeks) and it's jumping up 10kg(22lbs)/week, with 2x5, 1x5+ worksets. I feel I have quite a way until I start stalling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By comparison, my work weight on the bench is only 60kg/132lbs, shoulder press 48kg/105lbs and they're not shooting up with double increments like the squats/deadlifts, rather 1.25kg/2.5lbs per workout at best, sometimes failing to complete the final set. I'm up to 80kg/176lbs on v-grip pulldowns and doing lots of chin negs as I can't yet do a single chin-up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing the squat as recommended in Starting Strength/Stronglifts. Does an alternate form minimising quad and hamstring development exist? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might it be preferable to substitute in power cleans for one of the squat workouts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are there other really good total body exercises not primarily working legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T17:40:01.637" Title="Compound, total body exercises minimising quad and ham development" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2012-12-18T00:37:56.180" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does an alternate form minimising quad and hamstring development exist?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there isn't a squat that minimizes quad and hamstring development. If you don't want your legs to get stronger, just skip lifts that involve them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Might it be preferable to substitute in power cleans for one of the squat workouts?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends what your goals are. If you want to increase your power development, then yes. If you want to minimize hamstring and quad development, then no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Or are there other really good total body exercises not primarily working legs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pressing variants are total body exercises not primarily working the legs, but you're already doing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T00:37:56.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2012-12-18T03:35:01.043" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're already doing the first and most important thing: you're working the upper body more than your lower, since you're on GreySkull LP rather than a more squat-and-lower-body-pull program like StrongLifts or Starting Strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to note that you're entering the realm of bodybuilding at this point: developing aesthetics instead of strength, proportion instead of function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want your legs to get bigger, you could try a few more things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Squat, But...&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;strong&gt;nix the AMRAP sets for lower-body work&lt;/strong&gt;. If you're hitting 10s and 20s on the last set of squats and deads, then in my opinion you're still lifting way below your strength level for squats and deadlifts. The AMRAP sets are &lt;em&gt;specifically intended&lt;/em&gt; to function as hypertrophic mass-builders in anticipation of greater weight--note that you end up in a more hypertrophy-oriented rep range on that set. Leaving AMRAPs out would slow size gains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...stay in a &lt;strong&gt;lower rep range&lt;/strong&gt;, e.g. doubles and triples, so that you avoid hypertrophy. This would be premature in my eyes, but would probably work. These should still be heavy, so I'd add substantial weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...stay in super-high rep ranges, so that you work endurance instead of hypertrophy. This would dramatically change the program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...use &lt;strong&gt;overhead squats&lt;/strong&gt; instead, which require a significant amount of skill and shoulder ability, and which you won't be able to use as much weight with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Replace the Squats With...&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;strong&gt;farmer's walks&lt;/strong&gt;, which work the whole body but as far as I know are not terribly conducive to big legs. Do them short and heavy--on the order of twenty yards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;strong&gt;nothing&lt;/strong&gt;, assuring that your other exercises get plenty of rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;strong&gt;sprints&lt;/strong&gt;, which will improve power and strength to a much lesser degree while not doing much to increase mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-18T16:52:24.750" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T16:52:24.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2012-12-18T07:04:21.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jay mentioned something extremely important with programmers and exercise, and that's when programmers say they work long hours, they mean long hours, not 10-12 hour days but 14-16. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often the arms are stationary, not even the mouse is used. The gaze is fixed, the eyes don't even move much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand-up desks are great to solve the constant sitting problem. I started that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treadmill desks are better.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;18 months I've been using one, averaging around 80 hours per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't even remember what back pain feels like now, and I was at a stage where 20 minutes sitting gave me sheer agony when standing back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm reading some document, I tend to use the full length of the treadmill, varying my focal distance at least a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The calories peeled off (and then jumped back on when the treadmill was recently out-of-action for 2 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be getting close to having walked 10,000 miles now, without compromising one minute of programming time. In fact, it's made me work even longer hours, as sometimes when I know I've eaten too much, I'll decide to do a few hours walking to work it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that's helped: I find two smaller, 21-24&quot; inch monitors better than a single larger monitor--it makes you move your neck more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T07:04:21.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-18T09:39:52.147" Score="2" ViewCount="470" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be a good body building program for a beginner? I have been searching the Internet and find a lot of programs but am not sure about the credibility of the people who have published these programs. For example, in the world of strength training, StrongLifts, Starting strength, and Bill Starr are all famous and very credible programs. What could be their equivalent in bodybuilding? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for reputable Programs that have passed the test of time and have been designed by reputable coaches. If the coach is maintaining a forum for the same that is even more welcome. Please do not post a program that works/worked for you. The Program should also be a beginner program which can explain gains for novice bodybuilders and be totally steroid free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2012-12-18T14:01:00.033" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T19:17:34.470" Title="What is a good and tested body building programs for a beginner?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10082" CreationDate="2012-12-18T13:47:55.457" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Body-building is an individual pursuit that requires specific understanding of the individual in question. A general beginner's course would be so simple as to be useless - there is no sense in writing a body-building guide for average height adult males under 60 kg; they have much more fundamental problems. Likewise, 120 kg average height females should not begin on a body-building course until they have somewhat normalised their weight through appropriate measures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my summary of the useful content that a course such as this would contain:&#xA;Eat well and get a decent base strength (should take 3-6 months for ca. 90% of adult population).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest that you should follow a program such as Starting Strength until you have reached an intermediate level of strength. Once you have reached the intermediate stage you will have learnt enough about your own body to begin tailoring a specific body-building program that works for you. Then you can read non-beginner's body-building manuals and they will seem relevant to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no sense in a beginner's body-building program applicable to everyone. The beginning stage of body-building is a basic understanding of physical health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4844" LastEditorUserId="4844" LastEditDate="2012-12-18T19:17:34.470" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T19:17:34.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8047" CreationDate="2012-12-18T16:56:06.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They weigh as much as they weigh. Because they're bumper plates, the plate diameter remains constant, making it tougher to tell how much is on the bar. Sometimes the plates will be color-coded for how much they weigh, but sometimes they aren't. They could weigh 45 pounds or one pound or 10 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T16:56:06.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2012-12-18T17:40:01.637" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a fellow big-legged lifter, I think you are over-worried about the leg development.  There's several reasons for doing squats, including posterior chain development.  What I've noticed is that the legs are going to be where they are.  If you are predisposed to have big legs/glutes/calves, they aren't going to get a lot larger than when they start out.  I've found that working them more burns some of the internal fat that is in there making them look larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said you always have options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay in the 3-5 rep ranges, and instead of AMRAP (as many reps as possible), go for AMSAP (as many sets as possible).  This keeps each set in the 3-5 rep range, but still lets you add in that volume so you can get stronger.  This provides a much more dense muscle, possibly shrinking the size some.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add in some distance running.  This approach does affect your maximal strength, but if you aren't competing that doesn't really matter.  Based on your other question, you are training well below your current max anyway (this is a good thing).  The types of adaptations that happen also reduce the size of your legs.  Carried too far (i.e. training for a marathon) this can work against your goals of increasing your upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Focus on upper body hypertrophy while maintaining strength work on squats.  This keeps AMRAP and 10-15 rep sets for your upper body while not doing the hypertrophy on the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train squats and deadlifts once a week, but put sufficient work into them, it will be enough to get stronger--which has useful carryover to sports.  A useful option when trying to emphasize the upper body is to have a split that looks something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat/Deadlift on the same day.  One week is a squat emphasis, next week is a deadlift emphasis.  Basically, you do the heavy sets for squats and then assistance work for deadlifts one week, and then reverse it for the next week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench/DB Rows/Curls -- flat or incline is fine, just stay with one for a month at a time.  The dumbbell rows should be as heavy as you can for 5 sets of 10-15.  Curls are for joint health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press/Pull ups/Abs -- Any variation of a vertical press is fine, as well as your vertical pull (i.e. pull-up, chin-up, lat pull downs, etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can still program the Greyskull set/rep scheme.  This gives plenty of work for your back between the squats, deadlifts, rows, and vertical pulls.  Each of these provide a different stimulus and hit the back in different ways.  The vertical pressing helps improve your shoulders, and the bench variations get your chest as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep your AMRAP sets for upper body work in the 10-15 rep range, you will get some upper body size, and it also helps build a good base of strength if you ever want to change focus.  If you don't want size on the lower body, keep that work in the 3-5 rep range and fill in your volume using extra sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T17:40:01.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10086" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10087" CreationDate="2012-12-18T19:26:18.143" Score="23" ViewCount="9902" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weightlifting creates micro-tears in the muscle. Protein and other nutrients repair the tears so the muscle grows back stronger and larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is muscle repair affected by a caloric deficit during a weight training program? I can think of these three scenarios:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle still has the potential to grow back stronger and bigger, but at a much slower rate. It patiently waits for what little nutrients come in day after day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle remains the same - there is equilibrium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle senses it does not have proper nutrients and gives up. It does not completely repair and becomes smaller and weaker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct? Or is there a different scenario that happens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Application&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to lose fat by eating less (including protein). I still exercise every day. I enjoy weightlifting, but hate cardio. Will my muscularity be compromised because of this combination of weightlifting and eating less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T22:05:55.063" Title="How is muscle repair affected by a caloric deficit?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10086" CreationDate="2012-12-18T19:58:35.170" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can gain muscle while losing weight, but really only in specific circumstances, which you most likely don't fall into. You need to be fairly obese to start with, and eating the correct nutrients to support the lifting that you are doing. However, you are most likely not in that category, since you have been training regularly already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in a caloric deficit, then you aren't going to be gaining muscle size, with one possible exception that I will detail below. What you will be doing is preserving lean body mass, and using fat stores to maintain the muscle that you currently have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/47/1/19.short&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; suggests that adding weights to dietary restriction results in maintenance of lean body weight, but it's a little oddly worded in the abstract, as it suggests that diet + exercise and exercise only both increased mass and strength in obese women, but I don't know if the &quot;diet&quot; is just a change in what they are eating normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300017&quot;&gt;A study using bodybuilders&lt;/a&gt; showed that energy restriction reduced muscle size, and theorizes that it impacts the anabolic pathways in spite of high protein intake. This makes sense intuitively, as many bodybuilders are relatively much heavier during training, even while maintaining relatively little bodyfat, and they lose quite a bit of weight while dropping down into the single digit ranges for bodyfat when prepping for a contest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867402008085&quot;&gt;another article&lt;/a&gt; discussing cellular biology (Which is mostly way way over my head) suggests that caloric deficits impact the pathways by which cells get the signal to grow. This article is very heavy on the cellular biology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=70&quot;&gt;one article&lt;/a&gt; that suggests that people go through catabolic and anabolic phases during each day, so if you are (as they say) &quot;fanatical&quot; about the planning and timing, it is possible to gain while dieting. This was about the only reference I found that said it's possible to run a caloric deficit and still gain, and I don't think you can run much of a deficit or for very long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for the rank and file crowd, I do believe that if you are anywhere past the relative beginner stage (Who will see gains in the initial adaptation period), you cannot be in a caloric deficit and still gaining muscle. Rather, you are maintaining muscle and losing fat. For your situation, I believe that you will fall into the same area as the bodybuilders in that you might lose some size while losing the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-18T19:58:35.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10090" CreationDate="2012-12-19T01:49:00.803" Score="5" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that weight training can be a good strategy for reducing body fat.  If one's goal is to reduce total body fat, should one's weight training program be aimed at muscle hypertrophy or building muscle strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T15:13:36.187" Title="Weight Training for Weight Loss" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10089" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-19T10:26:04.440" Score="5" ViewCount="322" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do bodybuilders take recovery periods that are longer than any other type of athlete? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im doing a mixture of weights and cardio. I try to do 2 sessions with weights focusing on upper body and 2 cario sessions (with some high resistant) a week. If I do weights on monday and I want to do cardio to tuesday, should I avoid the rowing machine?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4681" LastActivityDate="2012-12-26T19:13:50.497" Title="Why do bodybuilders take such a long recovery period?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10088" CreationDate="2012-12-19T15:13:36.187" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would have to be a multi-pronged approach, but to cut to the chase the answer is &quot;neither&quot;.  I'll get in to why in a bit.  First, you'll need to attack the problem from multiple areas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your diet in order: at least get the total calories and macros where they need to be&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prioritize weight-loss: your goal is to preserve lean mass not increase strength, power, size, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make conditioning a big part of your plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick a reasonable start and end time for the weight loss--preferably somewhere between 1-2 months, but no more than 3 at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a reason for all of this.  Two things will happen when you are on an energy deficit, which is what you need to lose weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You won't be able to demonstrate your strength, so it will feel like you are losing strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will not have a ton of energy to do long sets or high volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing is that you set your expectations properly before you begin.  If you have a solid start and end date, it makes it easier to plan and easier to resist temptation knowing that you have a relative reprieve when you are done.  If you didn't lose everything you wanted to lose, give yourself a month to maintain the weight before you go at it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here's what the program would need to look like:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight lifting 3x a week, focus on big compound lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate Squat, Overhead press, Deadlift, Bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose a weight you can easily do 10 with, and stick with it the entire time.  Warm up and do as many reps as you can.  For Deadlifts do 3 sets of 3 with as fast a bar speed as you can muster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep assistance work to a minimum--just enough to keep your joints happy or keep from being bored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do conditioning 6x a week: heavy work (hill sprints, heavy bag, sledgehammer, etc) on weight lifting days, and a light jog or even walking for active recovery on the off days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here's the trade-offs, and the exception:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing the volume work that bodybuilders do would build size, but what happens if you are reasonably trained is that you do well to maintain weight while the muscles get bigger.  Yes, you are losing fat and replacing it with muscle, but if your goal is to reduce fat as quickly as possible you need to focus on losing fat.  That means, do enough to preserve your muscle, but focus on burning fat.  When you get to maintenance, go for the bodybuilding work, or whatever type of training you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focusing on intensity will leave you beat down and broken feeling the entire time.  You'll be angry and frustrated, and put your body under more stress than it would have otherwise.  This increases cortisol levels, and ends up working against the fat loss.  It's a lot harder to recover from heavy weights when you have less food to do it with, and you can't really induce enough of a stimulus to burn calories--which is part of the equation for losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal behind the weight training as outlined above, is merely to preserve your strength in a way that is easy to recover from... even with the calorie deficit.  Now, in order to pull a program like this off, don't go below 10 Calories per pound total body weight.  The conditioning work and strength training will make up whatever balance is needed to lose the fat.  In fact, 10 Calories/pound on light days and 12 Calories/pound on heavy days is a reasonable target during the fat loss program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exception to all of this is the brand new lifter.  A brand new lifter is so far away from truly taxing themselves that they really don't require as much recovery so they can train however they like on a deficit.  Just know that you very well may see no movement on the scale even though clothes fit better.  For a while.  When that no longer works, or you have done all you can as a new lifter, you'll have to change things up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T15:13:36.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-19T17:13:52.850" Score="8" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just starting to incorporate some dumbbell exercises in my workout. I try to reduce pauses between exercises to get more stuff done in the same time and spend less time waiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I am doing a routine of three different exercises:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;hammer curl, shoulder press and front squats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;All 5x5, each dumbbell loaded with 2.5kg and 2.4kg bar weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder how to order them and which (dis)advantages each order would have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Each exercise on its own:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5x5 curl, 5x5 press, 5x5 squat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wait between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One set of each, then repeat:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5x (5 curl, 5 press, 5 squat)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wait only some seconds between sets&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One rep of each, then repeat:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5x5 (curl, press, squat)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wait only some seconds between sets&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last time I did this routine I did the last version and it felt OK.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am still wondering how the order influences what effects I get from the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-12-20T20:22:50.347" Title="How to superset effectively?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10095" CreationDate="2012-12-19T18:47:34.523" Score="14" ViewCount="1690" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a general question, but I'll give some specifics to fill it in. I'm on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_texas_method&quot;&gt;Texas Method&lt;/a&gt; periodization program. On Monday, I was unable to complete the prescribed workout of a 5lb increase in the squat weight. In fact, I was just really weak on Monday. I hadn't slept and probably hadn't eaten correctly either. After the first set, I knew I didn't have a chance in hell of doing four more, so I lowered the weight by twenty pounds - and I still failed a rep in set three. I had no idea what I should do for the rest of the day. I just made something up - it doesn't much matter what, since I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but basically, I lowered weights on all the planned exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only do I not know what to do on a low performance day, but I don't know how to modify the rest of the week, and presumably the week after, on a periodization program. Please clue me in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T19:49:05.753" Title="What should I do if I can't complete my program's prescribed workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;programming&gt;&lt;periodization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10093" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-19T18:54:18.760" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2012-12-19T18:54:18.760" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T18:54:18.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10094" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2012-12-19T18:54:18.760" Score="0" Body="Periodization is a training technique that attempts to time workouts in accordance with the body's ability to recover, so that new stimulus occurs whenever the body is at an optimum state of recovery, and never when the body is still strongly weakened from a previous effort. Typically the term is only applied to workout plans that have a complete period of a week or longer, and this level of periodization is mostly appropriate for intermediate trainees." OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2012-12-19T21:41:49.853" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T21:41:49.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10092" CreationDate="2012-12-19T19:49:05.753" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Joe Micela's Minimums and Maximums&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the foremost problems in my own strength training is that my strength work often gets pushed around by other athletic and social endeavors. I frequently find myself in a workout without the capability to hit the numbers as scheduled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I've simply reduced total lifting volume, and that’s fine. Another approach would be periodic back-off weeks. Or perhaps I could simply get used to self-directed workout intensities. (There are people who have fancy names for “go as hard as you can, which will vary, in each workout”. That strikes me as putting lipstick on a pig.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/pm/&quot;&gt;free issue of the Performance Menu&lt;/a&gt; (email registration required), Joe Micela discusses a middle path I had not considered: minimums and maximums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My program is based off set goals the athlete must hit for a workout, week, and cycle. We work partly off of set percentages and how the athlete feels. When they feel good, we push it beyond what the program calls for. When they aren’t feeling up to par they still have minimum numbers they need to hit to keep pace for their weekly and cycle goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are planned workouts, which the lifter tries to stick to. But if one is having an off day, volume or intensity can be reduced, down to a set minimum. Vice-versa for those days with a surfeit of testosterone and glycogen. I very much like this idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like “add five pounds each workout, but if the first work set is way off, reduce 5% and continue as planned”, or “add five pounds every other workout, but if the first max rep is way off, deload by 10% and add an extra two sets” seem to work quite well. As always, however, being one’s own coach is the hardest part here, particularly when as inexperienced as myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way this would play out in your particular scenario depends on how bad the first set feels. If I feel totally awful in the first set, I'll sometimes go as far as reducing the weight by 15% while maintaining volume in that exercise, then calling it quits for the day. In the next workout I'll give it another shot, without moving forward to the next prescribed jump. On the other hand, if I feel pretty good, sometimes I'll only back off by 5%, or reduce the number of reps per set from 5 to 3, and otherwise complete the workout (and the workouts after) as scheduled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-12-19T19:49:05.753" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10091" CreationDate="2012-12-20T20:22:50.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;How you organize your sets determines what you get out of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each exercise on its own: 5x5 curl, 5x5 press, 5x5 squat. Wait between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the most strength-oriented of the options. It will involve some hypertrophy and some token conditioning. Note, however, that squatting the same weight that you press and curl will not challenge your legs or back nearly as much as your shoulders and biceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One set of each, then repeat: 5x (5 curl, 5 press, 5 squat). Wait only some seconds between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would call this supersetting. It looks like it would primarily work hypertrophy, but there is substantial strengthiness involved too, and a fair bit of conditioning and endurance. Adding weight will eventually become difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One rep of each, then repeat: 5x5 (curl, press, squat). Wait only some seconds between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would call this a dumbbell complex, which primarily stresses your conditioning, though it will definitely make you stronger. I bet it will be hard to add weight to this for very long, since you're not taking much rest, and you're putting three exercises together instead of doing them individually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2012-12-20T20:22:50.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10100" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10101" CreationDate="2012-12-21T04:58:04.330" Score="14" ViewCount="850" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 23 year old, 5 foot 5 inches tall, 52 kg male. Judging by my BMI, I'm not underweight, but I still look skinny. I am not weak (I think) as I can do 60 push ups (20-20-20), 10-12 pulls ups and some basic exercises to a good extent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried gyming, but that only results in my body getting into good shape (great shape in fact). The gym results are visible on my body faster than any one of my friends. But only the shape, not the mass or bulk. Am I an ectomorph? Does that have anything to do with the metabolism of my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to ask how to add bulk to my body, don't tell me to eat a lot because I'm doing that and there is no visible effect of that on my body. Any help will be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4853" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditDate="2012-12-21T19:19:12.050" LastActivityDate="2012-12-21T21:34:14.640" Title="Gyming does not add bulk to my body, it only puts my body into good shape" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10100" CreationDate="2012-12-21T06:25:52.747" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if you are an ectomorph, but whether you are eating enough or not is the question. If you are not gaining any weight the answer is no. Do you eat 6 times a day? 3 major and minor meals? Even ectomorphs do well on a high calorie diet. To gain weight you should always be on a calorie surplus diet. Do you consume enough protein? If you are a vegetarian you will have to find ways to consume enough Protein to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question reveals a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You need to understand 60 push-ups doesn't necessarily mean you are strong at everything. You do have endurance for push-ups but how much can you dead-lift? Strength is a very relative term for many people some consider themselves strong when they can run 10 miles without puffing. Not all forms of strength mean that you will look big or have extra mass. Consider the marathon runners who are mostly skinny.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What you mention as shape while gymming is nothing but temporary hardness of the muscles that most beginners experience. Given that you already mention that you are skinny what is great shape anyway? I am sure you lose this shape in few weeks if you miss going to the gym. The temporary hardness is a &quot;pump&quot; effect that occurs when muscles become engorged with blood and is felt by beginners and long-time lifters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have never done any gymming before I suggest you to start with a strength training program first. This includes 3 days a week of full body workouts with 5 sets of 5 reps for each exercise. There are a lot of good programs like Starting Strength, StrongLifts, etc. They will definitely help you bulk up. A full description of these programs and proper form of the exercises will be difficult to document in this answer. These program basically focus on getting stronger with a few basic moves; getting bigger is a side affect. I recommend you to search for these programs and follow them judiciously for a few months before you conclude that you eat enough or you are an ectomorph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more point I would like to make is, it is easy to feel that 3 days is way too less work out but please note muscle size is a function of exercise, nutrition, and rest. If you work out alone that will not increase size so please follow the program as Rippetoe says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2012-12-21T21:34:14.640" LastActivityDate="2012-12-21T21:34:14.640" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9862" CreationDate="2012-12-21T19:10:27.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding a controlled study of this particular rehab protocol, you won't find one.  The problem is that there are several rehab protocols, and as long as it is founded on rational principles they all will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in regards to scar tissue formation, you will find many resources, including a short &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/92139.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on Medical News Today&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the body is injured it sends &lt;em&gt;fibroblasts&lt;/em&gt; to the area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initially it grows within the clot to help stop the bleeding and connect the two sides of the tear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fibroblasts grow stiffer over time, and eventually contract to pull the sides together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quote from the article may shed some light on the subject at hand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reported research reveals for the first time that a mechanical mechanism is crucial for this switch from migrating to contractile cells. To make this change, the fibroblasts need to get at their &amp;quot;spinach&amp;quot; -- the growth factor sitting in the matrix which, once liberated, stimulates the production of smooth-muscle proteins. Previously, researchers postulated that the fibroblasts did this by digesting the matrix. But EPFL scientist Boris Hinz, doctoral student Pierre-Jean Wipff and their colleagues have discovered that the cells unlock the growth factor via a purely mechanical process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Referenced Paper:&lt;/strong&gt; Pierre-Jean Wipff, Daniel B. Rifkin, Jean-Jacques Meister and Boris Hinz, &amp;quot;Myofibroblast contraction activates latent TGF-b from the extracellular matrix&amp;quot;, Journal of Cell Biology, December 17, 2007.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/509451-how-to-prevent-scar-tissue-formation/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;less scientific article on LiveStrong&lt;/a&gt; also sheds some light on the subject.  Essentially, part of the healing process is regaining full range of motion as soon as possible.  There are further references at the bottom of the article if you are inclined to read more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Applying This Information to the Bill Star Rehab Protocol&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that scar tissue is formed through natural healing processes using the fibroblasts, and that full range of motion in the injured area helps the fibroblasts do its job more efficiently, the only thing left is to define full range of motion for your muscle-belly.  Squats, being a full body exercise do get just about every muscle involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a balance.  Obviously, you do not want to re-injure the area.  Just about every rehab protocol I have seen features very high reps at very low weights.  The purpose is to get blood flowing though the area which does two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flushes out inflammation, fluids, and repair byproducts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides fresh oxygen, blood, etc. to the area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The combination of the mechanical motion of the light weight squats, and the blood flowing through the area provides favorable conditions for minimizing scar tissue.  The important aspect is to &lt;strong&gt;just&lt;/strong&gt; do the rehab protocol and no other work until.  Heavy work too soon will re-injure the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-21T19:10:27.570" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-21T19:16:40.930" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift weights but sometimes I'm so tired I forget to take dinner because I end up asleep in bed after showering, then I go without eating until next day's lunch time. And I feel light headed before eating and all round slower when moving. Is this starvation mode?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And is it true that whatever I eat after this will be stored as fat in the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4862" LastEditorUserId="4862" LastEditDate="2012-12-21T20:44:17.180" LastActivityDate="2012-12-22T00:27:05.980" Title="What is starvation mode?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9862" CreationDate="2012-12-21T19:25:20.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really want to answer this question with 100% confidence but I can't find the evidence to back it up. This is the best I can do...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  There are individual studies about each of the recovery methods you inquired about; but, no study (that I can find) directly comparing the two.  Each of the recovery methods are valid in their own right.  Everyone is different though, and all of the methods won't work wel lfor each person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  To the best of my knowledge there is not any danger the muscle will heal improperly. The risk you run by not (at the very least) actively stretching the affected muscles is a loss in range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)  On page 222 in the book &quot;Skeletal Muscle Repair and Regeneration By Stefano Schiaffino, Terence Partridge&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=3arwHDny8sEC&amp;amp;lpg=PA222&amp;amp;ots=206xCKmnmT&amp;amp;dq=muscle%20belly%20repair&amp;amp;pg=PA222#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=scar%20tissue&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Click here&lt;/a&gt; It shows exactly how scar tissue is formed during the repair of skeletal muscle.  However, lifting doesn't cause complete transverse tear of the sarcomere.  Lifting causes a breakdown in the muscle, not a complete rip.  Therefore I do not believe scar tissue is formed during weight-lifting unless you happen to completely tear the muscle you are using. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-21T19:25:20.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10104" CreationDate="2012-12-21T19:34:42.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starvation mode is your body's response to a lack of food intake, not the absence of.  The body throttles down your metabolism in order to save energy.  This response is your body's way of saying, &quot;I don't know when my next meal is coming in, I need to conserve.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you are in &quot;starvation mode.&quot; I do think that your body is running low on energy and since you haven't eaten in such a long time your body is just feeling neglected. However, if you feel like this is becoming more and more of an issue you need to take it up with your primary care physician or a registered dietitian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2012-12-22T00:27:05.980" LastActivityDate="2012-12-22T00:27:05.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-22T06:34:08.247" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey I am 15 years old and i am so underweight. I am 5 feet 7 inches and i am 100 pounds. I have tried everything. I have been working out in my home for like 2 years. And I have joined the gym and worked out for 3 months but now I am out. So how could I gain weight and what have i been doing wrong? Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4863" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-12-22T06:34:08.247" Title="how to have big muscles for one who have been trying but have not seen any change?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-12-23T13:22:59.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10001" CreationDate="2012-12-22T14:53:16.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some other ways to calculate body fat other than the weight to height ratio or measuring waist and hip circumference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Bio-electrical Impedance.  This method uses a machine to send a small electrical impulse through your body.  You normally have to input your Age, Gender, Height, Weight, and Physical Activity Level.  The more information you put in the more accurate these types of machines are. Depending on how much fat is present the signal will slow down denoting more fat is present (because fat is a poor conductor of electricity). The machine then calculates your body fat. Being dehydrated can skew the results of this test.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/BI.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link Here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Skin fold test. This test involves using a caliper to measure the thickness of a specific area of the body.  There are anywhere from 3-9 sites from which a trained professional can take the measurements from to calculate the results.  The more sites you use the more accurate the measurement will be. If the calipers are calibrated appropriately and the person taking the measurements is trained appropriately, the test is 98% accurate.&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/fitnessevalandassessment/a/Skinfold-Test.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link Here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Underwater weighing.  This test can be done 2 different ways. One is in a tub meant for this type of measurement with a trained professional and computer for calculating water displacement and underwater weight measurements. The second can be done in a pool and, using a special scale, measures the subject's weight under water.  This method relies on physics and the known buoyancy of fat, muscle, and bone.  A common &quot;hiccup&quot; can be the learning curve.  The person being weighed has to be very still and used forced expiration (exhaling as much air as possible, forcibly) and remain under water until the professional can get all of the readings they need. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/underwater.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link Here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/bodycomp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Listed Here&lt;/a&gt; tests; but, the first three are the more commonly used (common because they don't require the purchase of machines that cost thousands of dollars).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-22T14:53:16.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-23T09:30:47.433" Score="3" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a good upper body weightlifting routine that I could do daily to gain muscle without leaving a day for rest in between? How can I split upper body exercises in 2 halves so that I let the rest of the upper body rest in between?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: I would like to do a weightlifting daily workout session over holidays (2 weeks) on a well-equipped gym, so I would like to have my weightlifting sessions fit in so that I can do as much as possible. During the year, I only do maintenance weightlifting twice per week, and the rest is x-trainer and running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastEditorUserId="2573" LastEditDate="2012-12-23T13:22:00.340" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T07:54:01.660" Title="daily upper body weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5261" CreationDate="2012-12-23T14:23:19.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your hamstrings attach on your Ischial Tuberosity (your &quot;sit bones&quot;, like when you tell someone they have a boney butt if they sit in your lap).  Your Erector Spinae muscles are a group of muscles that run up your spine.  Part of this group is the Iliocostalis that originates along your Sacrum (tail bone) and Iliac crest (your hip bone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that when you stretch for your hamstrings you are letting your back round out.  This would allow the lower part of your back to stretch as well. Adding a 60 pound pack while doing PT is a lot of change for your body.  If the pain is mildly uncomfortable but just &quot;sore&quot; your pain could be a few things.  If your pain is hindering your range of motion or sends sharp pains anywhere you should go see a doctor as soon as you can. If you don't normally feel a lot of pain you should go regardless because your body might not be able to sense how hurt it really is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a muscle imbalance I would be willing to bet your lower abdominal muscles are under-developed compared to your back and your hip flexors are tight. Any of the exercises &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sixpackfactory.com/straight-leg-raise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; should do the job for the lower abs.  As a side note, I did not notice them tell you in the videos but your hands should be on the hamstring side of your hips (not in your lower back).  This help keep your lower back in the floor, relieving the stress place upon it. You can stretch your hip flexors by performing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching/SM00043&amp;amp;slide=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not feel comfortable doing this on your own, ask a trainer or someone in your unit that is more familiar with having &quot;perfect&quot; form while doing exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2012-12-23T14:38:22.240" LastActivityDate="2012-12-23T14:38:22.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10111" CreationDate="2012-12-23T14:37:11.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can get VERY tricky.  The reason you normally rest between workout days is to give your muscles time to recover from the muscle breakdown that occurs from lifting.  I have heard of people breaking upper body routines into &quot;arms and shoulders&quot; and &quot;chest and back.&quot;  The reason I do not prefer this method is due to the fact you still use muscles from your arms while you are doing chest and back (and vice-versa).  While they are not the primary muscles being used, they are still being used (think about how much your tricep helps when you are bench pressing, or how much of the front of your shoulder you use when doing an incline press).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think hard leg routines are one of the most missed opportunities by weight lifters. For one, you don't want to look like the Hulk on stilts.  But doing squats utilizes large muscle groups in a compound way which is very beneficial for your body (not to mention tough).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-23T14:37:11.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-23T17:54:53.380" Score="8" ViewCount="3236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder how to add more weight to a dumbbell.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Adding more plates of fewer weight or fewer plates of higher weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With bigger plates the diameter grows and so will the minimum distance the dumbbells will have to your body.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;With more plates on the handle however the center of the handle itself will be farther away from the body - eg. when placing the plates on the shoulders while doing front squats - and it might be harder to balance the dumbbell as the weight is farther away from the center as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already bought rubberized cast iron plates, not those concrete filled plastic plates, as reviews on amazon complained about the overall size of the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have to worry about this at all when buying weights for my dumbbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per request I drew a diagram:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n1NIs.png&quot; alt=&quot;dumbbell distance&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine this to be the resting position of the dumbbell on the shoulder when doing a front squat, viewed from the front. The brown line below the dumbbell resembles the shoulder, the brown block is the hand. The plates are on the shoulder, the handle itself goes down behind the back.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;With only one plate the hand is closer to the shoulder (red line), this also affects the angle of the elbow. However the hand is farther away from the head (blue line).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;With the three smaller plates the hand is higher up, but the dumbbell can be held closer to the head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-25T21:49:54.970" LastActivityDate="2014-02-08T09:25:36.077" Title="Dumbbell Weights: Diameter vs Width" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10114" CreationDate="2012-12-24T03:30:27.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is no.  As long as you aren't adding a 10 pound plate to the right side of the bar and a 2.5 pound weight on the left, center of balance should not be affected. Also, if I understand your set up correctly, you should not be able to add more pates than there is bar space... Therefore the center of the handle should always be the same distance from your body as in your example.  I am trying to think of examples where weight-plate circumference would affect your range of motion.  If we look at standing, palm forward bicep-curls, I might could see where this is a problem.  My solution for this would be to sit on a bench, sit wide-legged, lean forward slightly, place my elbow of the arm I am working on the inside of the same knee (right elbow to right inside, left to left) and do isolation curls.  This way your bicep is still being worked but it moves your arm in such a way that the range of motion from the increased plate size should not be a factor.  Maybe pictures of the equipment would help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-24T03:30:27.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10123" CreationDate="2012-12-24T03:33:52.477" Score="18" ViewCount="11868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read on various places that exercising for a prolonged period of time with excessive water intake can be dangerous. It may lead to water intoxication (hyponatremia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some searches and a few more articles, it seems that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you hike (especially in hot weathers) you sweat a lot. When you sweat your body loose electrolyte (namely sodium potassium calcium... etc) and also a lot of water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you drink water, you replace the lost fluid, but &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; the salt/minerals. This means the fluid in your body is diluted and your body functions will be affected (confusion, lost of balance and death in severe cases).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking less water is not an option because of the intense sweating when hiking for 9 hours or so under the hot sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An obvious choice was to replace water with sports drink like Gatorade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I don't like sports drink. Secondly, I want to know what is the &lt;strong&gt;exact thing&lt;/strong&gt; my body lost with excessive sweating and needed to be put back into my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a chemist/biologist, but from what I read, the term electrolyte is loosely used to refer to a group of minerals. Sodium, potassium, calcium and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I drink salt water, will it help?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I eat banana (very rich in potassium), will it help?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then, I am only getting sodium and potassium. Hikers recommend bringing complex carbohydrates and eating them frequently to fuel muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think complex carbs like wheat biscuits provide minerals when digested. They give a steady supply of sugar when digested, but sugar and carbs have nothing to do with body electrolyte balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating complex carbohydrates will fuel your body, but it does nothing to restore the electrolyte balance in your body, is this correct?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weight 105kg and I am 6'2 (189cm), I drank around 5 litres of water in a 7 to 9 hours day-hike. I had some biscuits and 3 bananas, and 1.2 out of the 5 litres of fluid I had was sports drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However by the end of the hike I was feeling a slight headache. Was it because I was drinking too much water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to find out what the body looses with excessive sweating, and what are the ways to eat/drink accordingly to replenish the lost substances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4525" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T15:51:16.987" Title="How to avoid hyponatremia(drinking too much water) when hiking?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2012-12-24T04:10:19.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How hyponutremia affects your body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body likes to maintain homeostasis (remain in the same state). When you sweat profusely you are losing a lot of different minerals. If you enter a state of hyponatremia from having too low of sodium in your system your body tries to compensate.  This can make you feel lethargic, cause cramps, and some other cause some other symptoms... Most of which (provided there are no other underlying issues) are extremely dangerous. In extreme cases you can enter convulsions, lose consciousness, or possibly fall into a coma. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being treated for hyponatremia incorrectly can cause Central Pontine Myelinolysis. CPM (in this scenario) is caused when high levels of sodium (from a Saline-drip, for example) are introduced into the body causing a rapid increase in sodium levels. Think about &quot;the bends&quot; but instead of your blood vessels being affected, your central nervous system is affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-12-24T18:59:37.933" LastActivityDate="2012-12-24T18:59:37.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-24T06:35:00.400" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I move up to heavier kettle-bells for my swing, I've been sticking to using two kettle bells instead of one. So I'll do a 2 hand swing with 25lbs on either hand instead of a 50lbs swing. Does it make a difference ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2273" LastActivityDate="2012-12-25T09:47:41.467" Title="Does it matter if I use one kettle bell v.s two ?" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10124" CreationDate="2012-12-24T06:47:23.820" Score="6" ViewCount="638" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I picked up Harvard Medical School Guides' &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003H4RCG6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;No Sweat Exercise Plan: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Live Longer&quot;&lt;/a&gt; book and it seemed to suggest that any exercise was about as good as another for losing weight. Though to be honest its been a while sense I have read it. So I put the question to the community: is any exercise as good as another as far as weight loss/health? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4870" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditDate="2012-12-24T14:33:41.077" LastActivityDate="2013-02-02T17:10:07.663" Title="Does it matter which type of exercise for health/weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10120" CreationDate="2012-12-24T08:13:50.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Every exercise is about as good as another for losing weight&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Good&lt;/em&gt; in terms of what?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you compare the exercise burning thousands of Calories per hour that you totally dislike, with the exercise you can do for hours without losing the fun which burns only a quarter of it, which one is better here?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think thats what that sentence might want to tell you; it does not matter which exercise you chose as long as you are exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-24T12:14:01.150" LastActivityDate="2012-12-24T12:14:01.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10120" CreationDate="2012-12-24T11:20:41.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For aerobic exercise what would matter is the intensity/duration/frequency, not if it comes from running or biking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the short answer is NO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be better if you could combine it with putting on muscle mass (If &quot;losing weight&quot; actually means &quot;loosing fat&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it is best if you do something you really can do regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2012-12-24T11:20:41.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2012-12-24T14:17:39.133" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience with hyponatremia comes from Ironman racing and training.  The thing I had to learn to do was to get enough salt into me.  Sports drinks have no where near enough, compared to the rate I sweat at.  I am at the high end of the range, 1.5L/hr or more.  (Measure dry before, go out for 10 hours, track fluid in, rarely end up peeing, weigh after, 1Kilo=1Litre).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1L of sweat has on the order of 1-2 grams of salt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My issue turned out to be that during the swim, (I am slow, so 1:30 or so) I would sweat so much, but not notice since I was swimming that when I started the bike, I was already down on salt and it just got worse.  I started simply eating salt packets from a restaurant evey 1-2 hours.  Not too much at any one time, easy to get down, easy to come by, made a huge difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But hyponatremia does really suck. I find it makes me fall asleep, even while riding, which is usually my first indication I screwed up.  Within moments of the salt touching my tongue, I start to feel better.  It is amazingly fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The upside is you get to pass out in odd locations, without the use of alcohol!  I stopped once 4 hours into a 7 hour ride at 35C, to buy some water and chips.  Sat in the shade to eat and drink and passed out.  When I woke up and came into the store again they were relieved, as they were planning on calling an ambulance soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="1841" LastEditDate="2012-12-25T02:57:19.260" LastActivityDate="2012-12-25T02:57:19.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10120" CreationDate="2012-12-24T18:08:21.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I can find regarding the book 'The No Sweat Exercise Plan: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Live Longer', it is focused on better eating and doing some moderate amount of exercising - better eating then you are now and more exercising then you are currently doing.  Both combined will provide a weight loss plan that is effective.  As with any other 'no sweat' plan, the focus is on people who currently are not eating healthy and do no (or very little) exercising....for that community of people, anything works, for a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question: Does it matter what exercise for health/weight loss - yes and the book has the same advice in it regarding this (there seems to be one section in a book where high metobolism type exercise is recommended - such as jogging, which does cause most people to sweat..).  The more you push yourself, the more benefit you will receive. My recommendation is to set some goals for yourself and based on your available time and resources develop a plan to meet those goals.  I'm confident that a solid weight lifting program will provide most people with weight loss and basic strength that we all need.  If your goal is to get in to an Iron Man competition, then endurance training is best. Simple weight loss? plan a diet you can live with and walk 1/2 hr a day.....so, step one: set some goals...list them here and lets see what we can do to help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-12-24T18:08:21.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2012-12-25T08:44:28.807" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyponatremia is a deficiency in sodium. (hypo = low level/not enough; natrium = sodium; -emia = in the blood... not enough sodium in the blood). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not enough is not an absolute value, but a concentration value. The more water you drink the more sodium you need. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arniebakercycling.com/pubs/Free/NS%20Sweat.pdf&quot;&gt;Sweat mineral composition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see in this paper, sodium is the main mineral that will require supplementation during exercise as far as sweat loss is concerned... Assuming that your diet is consistent with the RDA and that you sweat less than 4 liters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exact minerals lost through perspiration varies from person to person, and for the same person, from day to day. That makes for a lot of individual variations from the base model. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you sweat more or if your diet is deficient to start with, other minerals can become an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as losses through sweat are concerned, sodium is the key... &lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; sodium and potassium (and magnesium) work together in opposite ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodium attracts water in the blood, potassium attracts water in the cells. When blood sodium levels drop compared to the potassium levels, free water is attracted in the cells. Inversely, when sodium levels are high and potassium levels low, free water flows from the cells into the blood stream and the cells are dehydrated (= headaches). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the loss of sodium through sweat is the most critical, you have to supplement in sodium, but if by doing so you create an imbalance with the potassium, you may develop headaches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with sodium, concentration is important. If you drink a lot, you need more potassium to keep the concentration to its previous level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have headaches after exercise, most likely you need to up your potassium intake.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amongst the natural &quot;sport friendly&quot; sources of potassium you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banana &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coconut water  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dried apricots &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dried peaches/prunes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the extend of individual variations, diet, etc. the best is for you to experiment conservatively to find what works for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid headaches, don't wait until you have one to start taking electrolytes. When you &lt;strong&gt;start&lt;/strong&gt; getting tired, hot, your mouth feels a bit dry, your tongue swells up, your hands feel a bit clammy, etc. Or even before any symptom if you notice you are sweating a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastEditorUserId="4868" LastEditDate="2012-12-25T15:42:14.227" LastActivityDate="2012-12-25T15:42:14.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10119" CreationDate="2012-12-25T09:47:41.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would change the movement completely. like using dumbbell vs barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One handed would bring in more little stabilizing muscles and it would allow more development of your weaker side. While 2H would be better to develop base strength as you have more control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2012-12-25T09:47:41.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-25T13:47:12.390" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 18 yr old guy with height of 6 ft. I have had a thin body from my childhood. My weight is around 66 kg. Although I do not do much of exercise, but have to cycle around 6-8 km everyday. I do not want to become fat, but rather just wish to have a healthy and fit looking body. I take almost everything is my diet and there is no restriction in that. I wish if you could tell me a diet plan or the exercises that I may do to achieve the desired results. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4874" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2012-12-25T13:47:12.390" Title="Maintaining a healthy body for a teenager" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2012-12-31T01:57:40.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10131" CreationDate="2012-12-25T20:21:42.720" Score="7" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between doing just one set and several sets in one training session, if you train to the same level of post training soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2012-12-25T21:33:21.340" Title="What is the difference between one and several sets - With the same level of soreness?" Tags="&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10130" CreationDate="2012-12-25T21:06:51.620" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Don't use soreness to plan sets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soreness part of your question is distracting you from the proper purpose of set selection. You don't choose sets to find a particular level of soreness, &lt;strong&gt;because after the first couple of workouts, soreness is not diagnostic of strength gains&lt;/strong&gt;. What matters is your ability to recover and lift more in the subsequent workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first workout(s), yes, pay attention to soreness/stiffness, and don't over-do it. But after that, soreness will lessen (even disappear), and should not be the key factor in deciding how many sets to do in a long-term strength training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is more-so the case for low rep (&amp;lt;6), high weight (90% 1RM) scenarios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, doing up to 12 reps until you feel sore, you may actually experience soreness during recovery after every workout, but that's a side-effect of the rep range that you've chosen and because you're doing as many reps until you feel sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;One set vs multiple sets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just do one set, that may not reliably reliably make you stronger every workout. It may work for the absolute beginner (which is why you can listen to soreness in your first few workouts), but after a couple of weeks, you need to be doing something that reliably stimulates adaptation. Doing multiple sets (3-5) is needed to reliably stimulate strength gains so that you can lift more in the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some quotes from Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore on the subject of sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing one set at 8 to 12 RM will yield about &lt;strong&gt;80% of the potential gains&lt;/strong&gt; from training in the 8-to-12 rep range. This may be enough to achieve the fitness goal of a typical health club member, or it may be adequate for assistance exercises after the actual barbell workout. &lt;strong&gt;It is inadequate for athletes trying to improve strength and power&lt;/strong&gt;. (emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of sets must produce the metabolic effect desired as an adaptation. [...] If one set is all the work that is necessary to force an adaptation, then the athlete has not been training either very long or correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One set of an exercise is not capable of producing the stress that multiple sets can produce because stress is cumulative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're happy with getting about 80% of the possible adaptation between each workout, one set may be fine for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-25T21:33:21.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-26T07:18:57.873" Score="9" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently posted a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/10065/light-headedness-after-squats&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; about light-headedness after squats, and it was mentioned that squat sets should not be taken to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can appreciate squats could be dangerous if one collapsed or passed out without safety bars available. Bench presses one could drop the bar on themselves. Heck, what happened to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=758-734E0os&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;guy&lt;/a&gt; doing bicep curls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is it only safety concerns or are there other good reasons not to take sets to failure? For bicep curls for instance, my last full rep would take 10 seconds to get to the top, then the next one would fail maybe about 20% through the contraction despite my every effort (while maintaining form) to keep it moving. Total muscle failure. Is this not recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T18:25:08.297" Title="Is taking a set to failure recommended for any type of lift or goal?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10114" CreationDate="2012-12-26T14:08:58.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specific to a Dumbbell front squat where your resting the end on top of your shoulder, a bigger diameter weight would be more comfortable. On the other hand, doing dumbbell deadlifts, having smaller diameter weights would force you to reach lower down, adding a new difficulty level to the exercise.  Overall, you typically buy weights in increasing sizes - 2.5 lbs up to 25 lbs for dumbbells...and add weight as needed.  If you're in the rubberized 'quality' level there shouldn't be a problem. Typically a person adjusts to what equipment they have, the best thing to do is just workout, lift heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2012-12-26T14:08:58.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9957" CreationDate="2012-12-26T15:56:48.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While training is important I suggest that if you want this significant (25%+) of a change in your times, and if you are only beginner/intermediate and going a 1:45 pace in that event, you probably have a long way to go with technique as well. A focus on skills and developing new habits will get you closer to your goal than reinforcing your current 1:45 style with increased training. The suggestions in other answers about improving turns, starts, distance per stroke, etc. are right on.  For most of my swimmers who are at the level I expect you are, a focus on balance, rolling, front quadrant swimming, and keeping those skills at faster speeds and when tired will bring them to lifetime best times – in practice mind you – within a couple of months.  It is important to utilize coaches/instructors who focus on skills &lt;strong&gt;first&lt;/strong&gt; if you want to make such a significant change quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2012-12-26T15:56:48.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10089" CreationDate="2012-12-26T19:13:50.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After doing strength training, the body's levels of Human Growth Hormones rise, and tend to stay elevated for approximately 48 hours.  During this time your body sees the most muscle growth.  So bodybuilders tend to tried to schedule a major strength training session every 48 hours to keep the Growth Hormone levels continuously high.&#xA;Additionally, to achieve maximum growth a muscle needs some time to rest, as strength gains are made during recovery.&#xA;That being said,  for most of us who are mostly trying to improve overall fitness,  having a cardio exercise that happens to work the same muscles on the off days should not hurt you, and probably will help reduce Delayed On-Set Muscle Soreness.  Just make sure that you occasionally have a complete rest day to allow for fuller recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-26T19:13:50.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10158" CreationDate="2012-12-26T22:10:08.347" Score="4" ViewCount="4330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that squats and lunges are primarily Hamstring/Glute exercises.  But I tend to feel them much more in my quads.  Is this indicative of a form issue, or an imbalance in the strength of my quads vs hamstrings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T19:23:01.407" Title="Quads vs Hamstrings in Squats and Lunges" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2012-12-27T06:27:23.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty complex topic, but I'll share some of what I learned from long-distance (&gt; 10 hour, &gt; 150 mile) bike rides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though many people talk about electrolytes in general, the major concern is sodium. This is because the electrolyte that is most prevalent in sweat is sodium, and because the reserves of sodium in the body aren't very big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you become hyponatremic depends on two factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much sodium you are losing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much sodium you are taking in. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much you are losing depends upon your personal genetics and your training. Some people have sweat that is saltier that others. If you regularly train in hot weather and sweat a lot, your sweat will become less salty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of sodium you can lose is significant; some people lose in excess of 1000mg of sodium per liter of sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much you are taking in depends on what you are eating/drinking. If you eat restaurant or prepared food, you are likely getting a fair amount of salt in your diet, but if you are eating a better diet, you may not be getting a lot of salt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since everybody is different, it's important to determine whether this is an issue for your and whether you need supplementation. You can do this by weighing yourself before and after your exercise; if your weight has gone up, you are hyponatremic. Another symptom is swollen hands and not needing to use the bathroom even through you have drunk a lot of water. If you spend a lot of time in the bathroom later after you have eaten something with salt in it later, that's another good indication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not gaining weight and you are going to the bathroom, you probably aren't hyponatremic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mechanism for this is interesting; your body loses some sodium when you excrete excess water. When your blood sodium gets low, your body tries to conserve that by slowing down the kidneys, and it stashes the excess water between cells, swelling up the body and making you heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need supplementation, there are a few option:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sport drinks. Most sport drinks don't really have a lot of sodium in them; Gatorade has about 440mg/liter and it's on the higher side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Electroyte drinks. A drink such as Nuun has about 320 mg per serving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Electrolyte tablets. These are the big guns in sodium replacement; Succeed S-Caps have about 320mg per capsule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Real food. I carry some salty real food; something like beef jerky has impressive amounts of salt in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a long &amp;amp; hot day, I will have one bottle with sport drink, one with nuun, and I'll also take a couple of electrolyte capsules per hour. I also carry beef jerky and salty crackers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T06:27:23.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-27T06:28:31.880" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6123/what-are-good-books-on-muscle-building-heavily-based-on-science&quot;&gt;What are good books on muscle building heavily based on science?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any books which explain the significance of each and every exercise we do in the gym? I do not mean one of those &quot;guides to fitness&quot; I'd rather like a book describing physical fitness from a human anatomy point of view. So that before we work out, we know exactly what is going to happen inside the body, inside the muscles and where and how much wear and tear happens when we do a workout and how to maintain a diet to compensate for that wear and tear? Basically a scientific/medical approach to physical fitness. The sort of workout an orthopedic/sports doctor would tell you to do rather than a fitness trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3835" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T06:28:31.880" Title="Understanding physical fitness anatomically" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;books&gt;&lt;medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-12-27T12:31:30.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10132" CreationDate="2012-12-27T06:36:07.897" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends entirely on how you are defining failure, as there are essentially two definitions, and it is crucial you understand the difference between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do as many reps as possible as literally possible and nothing less.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do as many reps as possible to do &lt;strong&gt;while maintaining proper form&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are using the first definition then you are liable to run into massive trouble working out to failure. To begin with, your fail reps will be bad form which means at best you aren't working out your target muscles (think: using momentum during bicep curls) and at worst your form is setting you up for injury. This should quite obviously be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second definition is where you want to focus, as you want to always maintain good form first and foremost throughout your entire set. If your form starts to give in the middle of that set, then your set is over and you need a rest or lower weight. I would also extend this definition to include effort necessary to safely rerack the bar (which can often be as much effort as a rep). This is the definition of failure that I use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With higher weights there is always a safety concern with lifting just as you noted, but if you are taking the proper precautions there should be no worry about going to failure because you are using good form throughout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the purpose of going to failure, there are really only two areas where it is useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight exercises are often unable to be supplemented with added weights, so you must rely on added reps to progressively overload the body to gain strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When gauging your ability, doing reps to failure is a good measurement to use. For instance, I am doing three sets of 5 squats at 200 pounds. The first two sets I complete 5 reps easily. During the final set I go to failure and reach 15 reps. This is a cue that I am using a submaximal weight for my workout, and I may need to add a lot more weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T06:36:07.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2012-12-27T10:20:35.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found that eating more and supplementing with protein and creatine helps with my recovery a lot. I've never experienced DOMS anymore and have steadily increased the weights I've been lifting. I've been lifting and following the StrongLifts program for more than 8 months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try to get 7-8 hours of sleep a day and rest up during the off-days (no cardio, no x-training, no nothing!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T10:20:35.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2012-12-27T13:40:04.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take time off until you are itching to get back in the gym.  Sometimes you just need a mental break as well as a physical break.  Don't put a time limit on it.  During this time off, you won't be burning as many calories, so just focus on maintaining weight.  Keep your protein the same and change as little as possible about your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Light cardio, such as walking is fine.  The focus should be on active recovery, and the longer walks are a chance to clear your mind, think on things other than training, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you come back, you may want to choose a different method of training.  You can go for longer stretches and build strength in the 70-80% of your 1RM.  It doesn't sound amazing, but it works.  Most strong people I've followed tend to do more volume with lower weights to build their strength.  There's a few reps over time over 90%, but only a few.  The vast majority of the work is done in the 70-80% range which is much easier to recover from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T13:40:04.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10132" CreationDate="2012-12-27T18:25:08.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sisco2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sets to failure help build mass&lt;/a&gt;.  Typically, sets to failure is the domain of the bodybuilder where the primary goal is to increase the size of the muscle rather than to increase strength.  You can gain strength this way, but the primary result is larger muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By definition, when you go to failure, your form will start to degrade as you get later in the set, until you simply cannot lift the bar any longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trade offs:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When strength is the priority failure should not be in your vocabulary.  It hurts your confidence under the bar, and reinforces bad habits as your form degrades.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When mass is the priority, failure is the fastest way to larger muscles.  It does come with serious DOMS pain, and it takes a week or two to fully recover.  During recovery the muscle becomes pretty much useless.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can build mass &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/6-bodybuilding-tips-faster-results.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;without going to failure&lt;/a&gt;, typically by using more volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T18:25:08.297" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10202" CreationDate="2012-12-27T19:37:02.627" Score="6" ViewCount="42110" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened last year that when I used to do pushups, I realized my chest got uneven, and its more than just a bit but still only noticeable to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do wrist pushups properly but don't understand how my chest got uneven. Is it because I might be doing more work with my right hand unknowingly like my right hand is doing more work in pushing myself up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make sure it doesn't get worse than this? And how can I make it approximately even?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. It can also be the case that my chest was uneven before and I just realized the unevenness after it got more noticeable after pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3599" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T08:49:41.603" Title="Uneven chest after pushups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10150" CreationDate="2012-12-27T20:47:19.503" Score="4" ViewCount="485" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an amateur weight lifter. For the past few years have doing a 3 day split workouts. Squat/Deadlift/BenchPress + support. I recently got introduced to the concept of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supercompensation&lt;/a&gt; and seems to me like a biological effect that should be considered in a effective workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does a 3 day split workout set take advantage of Supercompensation? Each muscle group is being trained only once a week. Should one squat/deadlift/bench 3 times a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your input. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4889" LastEditorUserId="4889" LastEditDate="2012-12-27T21:23:01.747" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T01:10:01.883" Title="Supercompensation and split workouts" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2012-12-27T21:37:19.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of exercise I believe you should do nothing at all. That said, I can't do that. I feel tired and in a bad mood if I don't train. I have been successful taking an unloading week instead of a full resting week. In the unloading week I do the same workout, half the weight double the reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of food I keep the same meals and calories except I have a lighter post-workout meal (My usual one is huge!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4889" LastActivityDate="2012-12-27T21:37:19.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1649" CreationDate="2012-12-27T23:52:10.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creating a program&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be unlikely that existing programs will cater for your exact needs, so rather than following one to the letter, check out a few respected programs, pick the appropriate bits out that coincide with your goals and ask questions here or elsewhere if needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I started reading &lt;code&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/code&gt; but thought starting at an empty bar was taking 'motivation through success' and technique training time too far. The marketing of it doesn't sit well with me either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/code&gt; hit the sweet spot with the starting weight IMO so I swapped over to it and found the book and videos of each exercise, something Stronglifts lacked, extremely valuable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/code&gt; however didn't look like it would address my goal of adding mass to my upper body, but from it I was lead to &lt;code&gt;GreySkull LP&lt;/code&gt;, a variant that did address this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the core exercises in &lt;code&gt;GreySkull LP&lt;/code&gt; is weighted neck extensions. I asked about the benefits of such an exercise, I didn't value those benefits, so dropped it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use the warmup and starting weights from &lt;code&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/code&gt; and many things like increments are common between the two. I use the resets from GreySkull LP. I plug-in the appropriate additions to GreySkull LP in accordance with my individual goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keeping Track of progress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried a few of the top rated Android apps, including JetFit Pro, and hated them. Too much unwanted stuff, too many keystrokes and mucking about, and they didn't do what I simply needed. Commercial programs have to appeal to a wide audience so are bloated for any one user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I just used an Excel spreadsheet on Dropbox and use it with OfficeSuite on Android.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z7peM.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the gym, there is no scrolling, no menus, no screen changes, no button presses except for entering the reps achieved in the final set or two in the orange boxes. I'm not battling with tools, nor at their mercy when they change the way they do things in an update.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can instantly see my previous weight and reps achieved, which weight I have to put on each side of the barbell, plus I don't have to think about warmup weights - they're calculated automatically and rounded to easy plate combinations. If I go to a different gym and they have a 20kg barbell instead of the 17.5kg ebay job at my normal gym, it's catered for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all I want for instance, nothing more, nothing less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2012-12-28T02:10:50.303" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T02:10:50.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10147" CreationDate="2012-12-28T01:10:01.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may have actually used an inefficient training program to train through the phase where squatting (or doing another exercise) heavy three times a week would work well for you. But, you're not necessarily past that phase yet, and I'd bet you have a little bit of time left where 3x per week will be doable. Try it out! There are some simple, widely used full body workouts out there (Starting Strength, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recovery/supercompensation graph gets stretched out as you move from novice (where it's just 2 days long) to intermediate (where it is 4-7 days long), so your program will need to change as you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you dont get the recovery you need after a single day of rest, look at weekly periodizations like the Texas Method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T01:10:01.883" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-28T07:04:18.833" Score="4" ViewCount="12302" Body="&lt;p&gt;My age is 22 from Pakistan, my weight is 125 lbs (56.7 kg) and have a height of 5ft and 4in (1.62 m), so do I need to lose some weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far history I have lose about 18lbs in two months, my actual weight was 143 lbs (64 kg).&#xA;So should I lose some more weight or its enough ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4625" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-12-28T10:56:05.473" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:11:57.790" Title="Do I need to lose more weight ? My BMI is 21.5" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10151" CreationDate="2012-12-28T08:36:21.637" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're certainly within the normal range among all governmental recommendations that I'm aware of (including relatively stringent definitions like the Japanese government).  &lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=200731&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMIs below 18.5 are associated with increased risk of death, as are BMIs over 25.&lt;/a&gt;  I'd suggest checking your body fat percentage and evaluating from there: BMI is a somewhat limited measure to determine overall health, but can be useful for quickly diagnosing extreme (obesity/overweight/underweight).  At this point, you should probably focus on other fitness outcomes than just weight: strength, flexibility, blood lipids (HDL/LDL, trigycerides, etc), blood glucose, subjective appearance, waist circumference, body fat percentage, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &lt;strong&gt;south Asians do have a significantly elevated genetic risk of type II diabetes&lt;/strong&gt; relative to most Europeans or east Asians, so maintaining a low BMI is likely to significantly improve your health.  Indeed, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diabetes.co.uk/south-asian/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a BMI over 23 is considered a risk factor for diabetes in south Asians&lt;/a&gt;, and while you're not close to that BMI any more, getting farther away from it might reduce your risk of diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall though, good job!  And remember that weight maintenance is frequently harder than actively losing weight, so you'll probably have to stay vigilant to even maintain your losses.  Dr. Arya Sharma put it very well in this video about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwbh0pI7wms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weight-Loss Plateaus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The important part is continuing to maintain healthy diet and exercise habits, not necessarily to lose ever more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-01T14:11:57.790" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T14:11:57.790" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10151" CreationDate="2012-12-28T15:51:09.547" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that BMI is really only useful as a statistical measurement.  It has no concept of body fat percentage, and is merely a ratio of height and weight.  As a statistical measurement the outlyers (those with above average lean mass and those with below average lean mass) cancel each other out.  BMI is just a rough way to determine who &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be at risk--typically because of too much body fat which is hard to measure accurately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have average lean mass as defined by the charts used to interpret BMI, than it is an easy indicator of your weight loss progress.  There are two cases where BMI simply is not useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Above average lean mass: typically anyone who does strength training routinely, or has a very physical job such as construction.  Your abs can be showing, and veins popping out all over the place and register as overweight on BMI indexes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Below average lean mass: most common in elderly people where the lean mass has atrophied due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcopenia&quot;&gt;sarcopenia&lt;/a&gt;--or people with eating disorders like anorexia or bolemia.  These people can register normal or even lean on BMI and still have enough fat reserves to be unhealthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's much more useful to use a mirror to determine if you need to loose weight or gain muscle.  If you have a small frame and you lack definition, you probably should focus on gaining strength before losing weight.  If you have a normal frame and your shape is round and lacks definition, you can probably stand to lose some fat.  If you have plenty of definition, don't worry about the scale or BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T15:51:09.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10157" CreationDate="2012-12-28T16:34:04.647" Score="3" ViewCount="1683" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing upper body bodyweight strength training (gymnastics stuff) for a while now, and would like to incorporate some leg exercises into my training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for 1-2 good compound exercises for legs. Probably I should be doing squats, but the problem is that I don't have a barbell at home in order to increase the intensity enough (for strength/hypertrophy stimulus). Of course, I One possibility would be to do pistols (one-legged squats), but I'm wondering if one-legged squats are equivalent to/as beneficial as weighted squats (with regards to muscle groups trained)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other suggestions on exercises I could do? My equipment: some dumbbells, pull up bar, suspension-trainer (TRX), and a bench like &lt;a href=&quot;http://images.fahrrad.de/products/10_Torso_7410_500_1024x768.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T22:14:56.310" Title="bodyweight leg exercises for strength/hypertrophy" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2012-12-28T20:47:16.953" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saw a documentary on this and they went into a lot of science regarding this. Their conclusion -Ask the army. They've been training people for thousands of years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically just drink when you're thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4893" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T20:47:16.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10155" CreationDate="2012-12-28T21:51:36.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a few mostly body-weight exercises. If you want to add a lot of mass to your legs, you really do need to push some heavier weight. I did bodyweight strength training for about 2 years straight using some of the exercises below and gained about 1.5 inches to my thighs in the first 6 months or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing compares to barbell squats for adding size. But these exercises below will give you a lot of strength, muscular endurance and lung power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/01/08/kettlebell-swing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kettlebell Swings&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; You can make your own improvised Kettlebell to save money, you should do these with pretty heavy weight if you want to build any size with these&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qiZLReeaKg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hindu Squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are great for building lung power and and endurance. Do these to complete failure (very painful), and you'll build a lot of strength quickly. I apologize that the man in the video is in his underwear. His form is correct, however swinging the arms is completely optional. Some people find swinging the arms to help with balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxiGxyswNsA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plyometric Lunges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDOs1RrpPqo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plyometric Squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx9p7mt8oyE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sissy Squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are good at building up the vastus medialis (&quot;tear drop&quot; muscle on the quadricep). Some people say they can be hard on the knees, I would recommend them as a finisher to minimize impact on your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all quad exercises. It's harder to work hamstring muscles without some sort of weight or equipment. If you get a heavy kettlebell, you could perform Romanian/Stiff-Legged Deadlifts to build your hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4894" LastEditorUserId="4894" LastEditDate="2012-12-28T22:14:56.310" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T22:14:56.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10136" CreationDate="2012-12-28T22:51:48.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;barbell squat&lt;/strong&gt; is primarily a quadricep exercise. Secondary muscle groups include glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and even abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to target your quads during a barbell squat is to keep your feet at shoulder width with your toes pointing out a little bit to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to activate your glutes and hamstrings, take a wider stance and perform a deeper squat (to parallel or just below). I wouldn't recommend going any lower than that until your know that your form is really nailed down. Performing a full squat (hamstrings touching your calves) with improper form can put a lot of strain on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunges&lt;/strong&gt; usually activate your glutes a lot more than a standard barbell squat, but it depends on how you perform them. If you're not feeling glute activation and you want to feel it more, there are two things you can experiment with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The length of your stride. Experiment with the distance between your feet to target your muscles differently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The angle at which you complete the concentric portion of the movement. If you lean forward during your lunge, you will put more weight and emphasis on your quads. Leaning forward is common in this exercise because the quadricep is the strongest muscle in the leg and transferring the load to the quads makes the movement easier to complete. If you keep your spine vertical throughout the movement, you should notice a lot more glute and hamstring activation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really looking into building your hamstrings and glutes though, you should look into performing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XowKMitOVNc&amp;amp;feature=player_embedded&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Romanian Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4894" LastEditorUserId="4894" LastEditDate="2012-12-28T23:06:16.597" LastActivityDate="2012-12-28T23:06:16.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10161" CreationDate="2012-12-29T03:55:42.590" Score="2" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 25 year old male, 67cm in height, 74kg in weight, and have approximately 8% body fat. The 8% figure comes from a 9-point caliper test, while the less accurate 4-point caliper test measures me at 9% and the much less accurate navy body fat test has me at 13%. Ideally I will be getting a hydrostatic pool test soon, but for now I feel 8% is accurate enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish to still lose some body fat, as I am so very close to my ideal physique, but I feel that I am almost encroaching on my essential body fats. As you can probably guess, the majority of my pinch sites were about as lean as can be, but the abdominals still have a ways to go. Since I am not a bodybuilder/competitor, I have no reason or desire to ride the line of bare-minimum bf%, but instead would prefer to have a reserve padding on top of my essential fats. Given this, about where should I be maintaining my BF% levels? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T05:13:54.047" Title="What is an ideal body fat% for young lean males?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10177" CreationDate="2012-12-29T04:11:16.553" Score="4" ViewCount="2210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have comparatively weak gluteal muscles and need to start strengthening them up. Unfortunately, due to knee-issues, my doctor doesn't want me doing exercises where my knees  go to or below parallel (the irony here is that my weak gluteal muscles not properly stabilizing me are in part responsible for my knee problems!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the knee issues, exercises like squats, lunges, and box jumps are all sadly off limits for me. What other exercises are there that can help strengthen my glutes but without exacerbating my knee problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T05:34:07.167" Title="Glute exercises for someone with knee pain" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10159" CreationDate="2012-12-29T05:13:54.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, anything under 5% is difficult to maintain for extended periods of time and requires a fairly attentive focus on diet. When you start getting down into the 3% and lower ranges, it's unhealthy to maintain that for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 8%, especially if you aren't cutting weight for any competitions or other athletic events, I would think that you are lean enough as it is, and that visually you won't notice that much difference between an 8% and a 5% BF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just as an aside, 10 hours a week of training of any type does not qualify as a sedentary lifestyle. I would term your down time as recovery, not sedentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T05:13:54.047" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-29T05:37:58.583" Score="12" ViewCount="4722" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a mother of five children. I have always been a big girl since about the age ten. When I reached the age of 15 I managed to only be 25 lbs overweight. Once I got further along in high school, working in my grandparents deli, I gained over 75 Lbs. After having my first baby, I went from 175 to 235.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throughout my other pregnancies the weight kept increasing. I am now at 345 lbs and just so disgusted in myself. I have developed arthritis because my joints can't handle my weight, I get winded walking up one flight of stairs, I also have depression and anxiety (low levels right now), but I am a full time mom, full time student, and I never exercise. I eat all of the wrong foods, sometimes feeling like I just can't stop eating. There have been times that I have gorged myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So considering I am at home all of the time, what exercises can I do to get a good start at an exercise program, and what kind of foods should I be eating?  I took a nutrition course in my Associates degree but learned nothing obviously.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I just want to be healthy, take the weight off my joints, and be able to lose weight so I can get up and down the stairs without being winded, learn how to eat, and just overall, be in a better place in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4898" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-30T13:48:47.377" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T06:32:51.453" Title="How do I lose Weight when I weigh 345lbs?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2012-12-29T07:09:16.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You sound very much like an emotional eater--someone who eats to comfort themselves from the stresses of life. If so, this is the primary problem you must solve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paul McKenna's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1402775547&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I Can Make You Thin&lt;/a&gt; was the best book I came across for solving this, suffering from emotional eating myself, and I must have read about 30. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307474259&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why We Get Fat&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1609611543&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wheat Belly&lt;/a&gt; were also fantastic, making me realize it's not just about calories in versus calories out, but what constitutes those calories. I discovered that the foods I used to somehow be attracted to most caused me to want to eat again very soon, because of the addictive 'high' I was getting from them and eventual blood-sugar crash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise is the hard way lose weight&lt;/strong&gt;, compared to better eating. It takes a lot of work, typically unsustainable over a long period (especially when time challenged), to burn off the extra calories from poor food choices. It's almost unfair that you'd have to walk an hour to burn off the excess calories from a single, poorly chosen meal. You don't have to eat salads and please don't go on a diet, just learn what poor food choices are and make them the exception rather than the norm. Don't be in a rush, it takes time to change your lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise also &lt;strong&gt;increases your appetite&lt;/strong&gt;, making you feel hungrier than if you hadn't exercised. A positive of exercise however is that it can make you mentally stronger in resisting bad food choices, knowing a painful exercise session was all for nothing if you indulge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to &lt;strong&gt;incorporate exercise into your current activities&lt;/strong&gt; rather than dedicating time for it, simple things like parking a short distance from the school and walking to collect the kids, or from the mall. You'll enjoy ease of parking and instil some good habits into the kids as well. Park a little farther as you find it getting easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn to see chores as exercise&lt;/strong&gt; and they become more tolerable. By sprinkling exercise throughout the day, it'll serve as a constant reminder to make good food choices, something we can easily forget when our blood-sugar levels are screaming for attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't look at TV weight-loss shows and compare your weight losses to theirs. These TV shows have full time trainers, dieticians, the contestants dangerously dehydrate themselves for the weigh-ins and the shows scale time down for dramatic effect, with one weeks loss really being two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try joining an online weight-loss site like &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; to get a good gauge on just how many calories you are eating, but having designed and run an online community weight-loss program for 6 seasons, I came to disbelieve in the community aspect of losing weight. If you need a community to answer to, losing weight is not as important as it should be for you. More learning and/or reinforcement as to the disastrous health effects is required--this is after all longevity we're talking about and it's no secret obesity kills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to want this for yourself, not because you have to answer to someone, or for their admiration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2012-12-29T10:16:23.613" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T10:16:23.613" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2012-12-29T07:25:43.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, let's just start by defining what it means to lose fat. Fat loss occurs when your body takes in fewer calories than it burned that day. It makes sense then that you can lose fat by either &lt;strong&gt;eating less&lt;/strong&gt; (take in fewer calories) or &lt;strong&gt;exercising more&lt;/strong&gt; (burning more calories). It is therefore invaluable that you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;calculate out your daily caloric needs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, so you know exactly how much food/exercise you need in order to lose weight. Since &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_pound.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1 pound of body fat equals 3500 calories&lt;/a&gt;, a reasonable expectation of weight loss is 1 pound per week (500 calorie deficit per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat all of the wrong foods, sometimes feeling like I just can't stop eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how in the first paragraph I said &amp;quot;consuming fewer calories,&amp;quot; and not &amp;quot;eating less?&amp;quot; That was carefully worded because you don't have to necessarily &amp;quot;eat less&amp;quot; but instead Eat Smarter (tm). If you start eating the right foods you will be satisfied more often and less likely to overeat. The wrong foods, like chips or soda, are high in calories but do very little to satiate you, whereas healthier foods (&lt;a href=&quot;https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/52609&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;especially ones high in fiber&lt;/a&gt;) will give you the nutrients you need and satisfy your hunger much sooner. If you want a soda, replace it with green tea. If you want a fatty or sugary snack, replace it with fruits, nuts, or yogurt. This is Eating Smarter (tm) and will help you be healthy, get the calories your body needs for energy, and stay satisfied throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So considering I am at home all of the time, what exercises can I do to get a good start at an exercise program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start small and work your way up. I mean this both in terms of exercise duration and exercise type/intensity. &lt;strong&gt;Before getting into a full-blown program I would consult a doctor and get their opinion on what your exercise intensity level should be.&lt;/strong&gt; Until then, stick to walking. I would **start walking for around 10-15 minutes per day, 3-5 days per week; over time and as your body permits, gradually increase the time walked and number of days exercised. While I don't know your living situation, I would imagine the best time/place to do this would be at your college (either in their gym, or just walk around the campus). You could also turn this into a family activity and walk with your kids (or pets). Maybe even go to a park and walk around there while they play. There are so many options and ways you can be creative with this, the choice is yours!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of foods should I be eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a purely weight loss perspective, the type of food you are eating doesn't matter; all that matters is your calories consumed at the end of the day. That being said, I will reiterate what I mentioned earlier where certain foods like chips or soda are purely empty calories and do little to satiate your body and thus make it a lot harder to keep yourself below your target daily calories. This does not mean they make you fatter, it only means they make it harder for you to get skinnier! Eating Smarter (tm) will go a long way to correct this imbalance and keep you under your target calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't consider this a diet, consider this a change in lifestyle.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now at 345 lbs and just so disgusted in myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take this feeling and use it as &lt;strong&gt;motivation to change your lifestyle&lt;/strong&gt;. It is all to common for people to get excited about exercising / dieting but fall off the bandwagon after a month or two (I myself am guilty of this)! Getting started is the easy part, the hard part is having the mental tenacity to keep yourself motivated and stick with your new lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Set reasonable goals&lt;/strong&gt;. If you set unreasonable goals, and then don't meet those goals, you are setting yourself up for failure which can make you depressed, angry, and more likely to relapse into your bad lifestyle. One pound a week is a reasonable goal, and that comes to 52 pounds per year of weight lost.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take baby steps&lt;/strong&gt;. When you first start exercising and dieting, your first instinct is to do a complete 180 and change everything all at once. Fight this urge, and instead make changes slowly. Gradually build up to what your target lifestyle is. This will make it a lot easier for your body and mind to transition into your new lifestyle, and make you a lot less likely to relapse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monitor your progress&lt;/strong&gt;. Do this by tracking your weight, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;body fat %&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/10001/how-can-you-do-a-bmi-test&quot;&gt;body mass index&lt;/a&gt;. Also take pictures so you can visually see how far you've come.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hold yourself accountable&lt;/strong&gt;. Find people to lose weight with that keep you motivated and hold you accountable to your new lifestyle. This can be real life friends, paid support groups like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;weight watchers&lt;/a&gt;, or free/open support groups through &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;facebook&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.meetup.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;meetup&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T07:38:12.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2012-12-29T08:36:48.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've worked with my mom on several occasions over the last 10 years to try to help her with her weight battle. The most recent attempt she was at 280. We've had many great successes and some failures over the years. Here's a few of my thoughts from working with my mom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mental&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The greatest point of failure that I've experienced with my own mother has been emotions. We've made great progress: one time she lost 70 pounds over several months, another time, through a very strict meal regimen, she lost 30 pounds in 30 days, but the breaking point was depression and thoughts of failure. When she would hit a weight loss plateau would often be when she would give up and return to her old mode of operation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to remove all emotion from this. This really requires a lot of mental reprogramming. Perhaps looking in a mirror, a certain number on a scale, seeing a certain person or a certain food triggers a depressed emotional state. Whatever those things are need to be identified and you need to retrain your brain to not go there. It's hard, but do whatever you have to do turn off those negative emotions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it helps to think of this as your job. Maybe you think of it as a scientific endeavor. The more emotion you involve in the process, the more unstable the process becomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the starting point and by far hardest point of any weight loss plan is learning to control your emotions. You can't let depression get in your way -- easier said than done, I know -- but you have to find a way to be radically committed to change. Whatever meal plan or exercise program you undertake, you have to know this is what you are going to do every day of your life whether you see results or not. You have to do it because you have a conviction that it's the right thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Support&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there needs to be a part of you that is 100% committed to being successful even if it seems like your own family doesn't think you can actually pull this off (my mom felt that way), you need to find people you can lock arms with who will yank you back up when you are down, and you need to do the same for them. Lone rangers rarely win. Maybe it's a forum online, a local group, or check with your local hospital to see if they have a nutrition class/support group. Often times hospital-based groups have expert dieticians that can give you advice for your specific situation, keep you accountable and can be much cheaper than commercial weight loss services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, you need the mental edge to stick with a diet. That said, what I recommend to you below is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself and causes some of the quickest results I've seen (second only to the ketogenic diet, but the diet below is actually sustainable for the long haul).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Slow Carb Diet&lt;/a&gt;. A guy named Tim Ferris has really promoted this, and check out that link, you will see phenomenal success stories. This is what I had my mom on when she lost 30 pounds in 30 days. During the same time, she dropped her glucose levels from a diabetic range (135) to around 85 points and dropped about 75 points from her total cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you're eating black beans, lentils, split peas, almonds, green vegetables, and chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you avoid like the plague all dairy, all fruit, all grains and anything white (egg whites are okay though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend one afternoon each week preparing all of your food. Get out the crockpot and throw in your beans and lentils. Pre-package all of your beans in ziplock bags for the week. Eat nothing that isn't pre-bagged and pre-planned. Feel free to fill up on your beans so you're not hungry. The food isn't exciting, but the results are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the fortitude to commit to that every day for the rest of your life, you will see dramatic results. You just can't help but win if you find the strength to not waiver from this diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any exercise needs to be low-impact at this point for joint health. I really recommend finding a gym that offers child care. If that isn't an option, look into getting a used elliptical machine on Craigslist and workout before the kids wake up. You should perform at least 45 minutes (and work up to more) of slow cardio every single day. Slow cardio is to keep your heart rate around 65% of your max, or generally about 110 to 120 beats per minute depending on your age. Since this type of cardio is so boring, you will want to find something engaging to watch or listen to, whether its just a good TV show or a great lecture series from iTunes U. At any rate, if you don't take your mind off the cardio, it will be much harder to perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how much time you have to commit, I'd also recommend working in some basic weight training to start building some muscle mass. Tons of benefits here, from endorphins to boosted metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never look back&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a person begins to gain fat, that person's fat cells begin to grow, divide and create more fat cells. It doesn't matter what you do, those fat cells will be with you for the rest of your life. You can shrink them down to nearly nothing. But if you ever over feed them, they will come right back and return you to your heaviest weight in short order. That's why you can't ever look back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might sound a bit intense, but be prepared to never find joy in food again. You will find joy in your children, you'll find joy in becoming healthier every day, in doing the right thing for yourself and your family, and you'll find plenty of joy in living a significantly longer, disease-free life. But any enjoyment from food will disappear. You'll begin to eat only to live, and not the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced Issues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a very small segment of overweight people who have a genetic disposition to being overweight. This isn't the case for most people, but certain people have a very efficient metabolism that allows them to survive on very few calories, which makes a regular diet impossible. If after a serious and strict regimen you aren't seeing any weight loss after several months, talk to your doctor to see if you may be one of these people. In such cases, bariatric (lap band) surgery may be the best way to control your weight and add years to your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope something in here will help you along in your journey. Best wishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4894" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T08:36:48.020" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2012-12-29T09:13:34.113" Score="6" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make an appointment with your doctor.&lt;/strong&gt; You have some health issues that you need to address with your doctor so that you can create a healthy weight loss plan.  Your doctor will also monitor your progress and health improvements which will help keep you motivated along the way.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get knowledgable help&lt;/strong&gt; -  The fastest and surest way for you to make a dramatic life change is to get some professional help.  A doctor and dietician will help you reach your goals more efficiently than trying to go it on your own, especially since you have grown up with unhealthy eating habits.  (Given that you have 5 children, you owe it to them to prepare better meals in proper portion sizes and avoid creating unhealthy habits in them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better team you create around yourself, the better chances you have of succeeding.  A buddy that will encourage you to walk when you really rather not, a dietician that is reviewing your food journals, a doctor that is measuring your progress, &amp;amp;/or a counselor that is helping you look past your emotional blocks to see a better future all have a place in helping you transform your unhealthy habits into a new healthy lifestyle for you and your children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.  Create your plan of action:&lt;/strong&gt;  Meal planning, portion sizes, exercise schedule, new lifestyle activities with your children, and mental/emotional exercises to help you succeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Get started on your plan.&lt;/strong&gt; Take a look at the steps mentioned in this question and answer about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6370/how-to-lose-weight-when-morbidly-obese/6374#6374&quot;&gt;losing weight&lt;/a&gt;. Best of luck. Just need to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T09:13:34.113" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-29T10:52:25.873" Score="5" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand it's healthy to exercise in the morning but should it be done after or before having breakfast or a snack? Also, it seems pointless to shower before exercising so I guess that should be postponed until after the work out? And I guess this question doesn't matter but just in case, does it matter when a person uses the toilet the first time in the morning, should it be done right away? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-12-29T14:55:58.847" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T20:16:13.260" Title="What's the healthiest order to do things when you wake up?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-03-28T02:02:29.450" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10168" CreationDate="2012-12-29T11:54:40.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends a bit on the kind of exercises you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a little debate in the fitness community if exercising in the morning with or without prior breakfast has an effect on fat loss. The theory is that your glycogen levels are low and your body has to burn fat to compensate. However as far as I recall research could not show that this is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So back to the exercise, what definitely is true is that your glycogen levels are somewhat lower after sleeping. If your exercise is only a jog around the block for some minutes, this probably does not matter. If it is a full weightlifting routine or a prolonged cardio session (eg running for an hour) you will probably feel exhausted easily without a prior meal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On the other hand a full stomach might also have negative effects on your workout. Some people (including myself) don't like working out with a full stomach or even get nauseous.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So the decision you have to make here is what you like more; working out with a full or an empty stomach. You could also eat something before and the rest afterwards. Splitting meals has the advantage that you might want to eat less, which can come in handy if you are trying to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the other actions: Go to the toilet when you need to, I would do that as first thing in the morning, as a full bladder doesn't feel good and you gain nothing by holding stuff in. Take the shower after your workouts, unless you want to annoy people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T11:54:40.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10171" CreationDate="2012-12-29T14:23:20.003" Score="6" ViewCount="2698" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose one wishes to start an aerobic workout routine.  Assuming one is young and without illness, is a 30 min a day workout (approx 15 min jogging and 15 minute walking intermittently) a reasonable workout routine, or should rest days be initially scheduled? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If rest days should be scheduled, how many per week would be recommended?  Would you recommend the number of rest days being reduced over time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastEditorUserId="4225" LastEditDate="2012-12-29T14:31:56.100" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T15:05:28.147" Title="Are rest days required for Cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10170" CreationDate="2012-12-29T14:48:56.500" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your rest days are going to be a result of a number of different factors. There are many many people that can exercise at varying intensities for days on end in a row with no ill effects, but others that absolutely require rest days. The basic trick is getting to know your own body and how it is reacting to the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use your example, you are exercising at what I personally would term a fairly light intensity. This is something that could be repeated day after day without ill effect, at least in my personal situation. However, if I upped the ante and added in more distance, or intervals or other high intensity variations, then I might need a rest day here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, as alluded to in the comments, it's very much dependent on your own training, your own adaptation and your own tolerance for fatigue. I can give you the personal guideline that if I head out the door for a workout and within 5ish minutes I just know I'm &quot;not feeling it&quot;, I will bag the workout and take a rest day. The best answer you're going to get is &quot;it depends&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2012-12-29T15:05:28.147" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T15:05:28.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11389" CreationDate="2012-12-29T15:21:43.817" Score="8" ViewCount="10217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started the breast stroke in a swimming class. I have heard something like, &quot;It is bad to breathe in using your mouth because there are greater chances of inhaling things that go directly inside lungs. In the case of nostrils, it automatically filters the air we inhale in.&quot; Even elders advise us to inhale air through nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today my swim coach said to me that while your head comes out of water in breast stroke, you should not use your nose alone to inhale but to use mouth to inhale air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I am following it while swimming, but why is there a contradiction between what I have heard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4901" LastEditorUserId="4901" LastEditDate="2013-01-16T05:27:23.477" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T21:22:09.607" Title="Breathing using mouth or nose - correct way while swimming?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10136" CreationDate="2012-12-29T19:23:01.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shorter stride lunges actually work the hip/glutes more.It is a common,broscience miscoception that a wider stride targets the glutes more.Thats nonsense.A shorter stride lunge involves far more biomechanical involvement of the hips and glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4904" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T19:23:01.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-29T21:11:03.380" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8238/what-are-the-trade-offs-of-weight-versus-repetition&quot;&gt;What are the trade-offs of weight versus repetition?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have just started out with lifting weights, now I know that I should be working all the muscles and I have a routine worked out for everything, but I can't figure out which is best should I be doing heavier weights and less reps or should I be doing less weight and more reps and how many sets is a good amount if doing heavier or lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4903" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-12-30T21:51:38.040" Title="Less weight and more reps or heavier weight and less reps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2012-12-31T01:57:02.257" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10175" CreationDate="2012-12-29T21:36:28.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on your goals. For hypertrophy, choose an intensity to perform about up 5-10 reps. Higher intensity (and less reps) targets strength, lower intensity (and more reps) targets muscular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T21:36:28.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10160" CreationDate="2012-12-29T21:50:56.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of glute exercises you can do without having to bend your knees very far or putting too much pressure on your knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/one-move-for-big-hamstrings-stiff-legged-deadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stiff Legged Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - Primarily a hamstring exercise, it also targets glutes and lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/butt-lift-bridge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glute Bridge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - Can also be done with as a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-glute-bridge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Glute Bridge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or done with feet elevated on a Bosu ball or step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5062Qk4Cmzg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Butt Blaster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Most gyms have a Glute Isolation machine. As a variation, you can also perform this exercise by sitting backwards in a 45 degree leg press machine and pressing the weight up with one leg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-cxonq03vQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip Abductor Machine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This exericse will work the sides of your glutes and your hip abductors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great variation of the Hip Abductor is instead of sitting in the machine as the video above shows, kneel on top of the abductor pads backwards (with your butt facing away from the machine). With your body upright, press the abductor pads straight out. It is an amazing variation that will really isolate your glutes. Once you're comfortable with the form, you can push quite a bit of weight with this exercise. It may look very awkward, but let that keep you from doing it. It's a killer exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sq10TQi9Lw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leg Curl Machine Butt Blaster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Just don't let your foot slip off the pad :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cLH4xKji5c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cable Pull-Throughs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elliptical machine&lt;/strong&gt; If your gym has Elliptical cardio machines that offer an incline mode, use it. Experiment with the incline (either half or all the way up), turn the resistance up high, lean your body back so you're spine is completely upright and push through your heels. This is highly recommended and very low impact on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stair Stepper&lt;/strong&gt; This may require you to bend your knees too much, but you can give it a try at high resistance, spine straight up and pushing through your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitnesshers.com/videos/training-glutes-ifbb-bikini-pro-sonia-gonzales&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Other Exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This video features a mix of glute exercises, some that would work great for your circumstances, and other you probably can't perform. But its worth a watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4894" LastActivityDate="2012-12-29T21:50:56.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2012-12-30T15:41:21.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your weight is a health issue, so take everything you read on the Internet, including my following answer with a grain of salt. If you can - per your comments I know you are not able to right now, but do as soon as you are - try to talk to a professional. Be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So considering I am at home all of the time, what exercises can I do to get a good start at an exercise program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are overweight any extreme movement will put unnecessary strain on your joints. So stay away from those exercises and sports for the moment.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As other answers already pointed out, walking is a really good activity.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another good activity that takes the load off your joints is swimming.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'd try to concentrate on the right diet however until your weight allows for activities to be easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;what kind of foods should I be eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is the core question for loosing weight. As already pointed out by @Moses it does not really matter what you eat, but how much you eat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Calories in have to be smaller than Calories out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which brings me to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt; Learning to shop, cook and diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people will tell you to eat healthy but they forget to tell you how this actually works. The below advise is only a guideline, to give you some ideas to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;learn to diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are a lot of strange diets out there that try to force you into even stranger eating habits and provide you with pseudoscientific explanations why this should work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However research has not yet show any diet to be better than another. The only thing that really matters is &lt;strong&gt;Calories in less than Calories burned&lt;/strong&gt; (yes, I am repeating myself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diets often come with the problem that the food seems to &lt;em&gt;not taste good&lt;/em&gt;. But honestly, what is good taste? Taste isn't a universal thing, but something you learned. If you start positive thinking you can convince yourself to like more food than before. Actually don't be so harsh on yourself and try strange exotic things, start small; try some pieces of raw veggies before cooking, maybe you want to add them to a salad once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Write a calorie diary, track everything you eat and try to get an estimate of how much Calories you ate each day. There are tools and online sites out there that may help you, but a simple excel sheet (or a piece of paper) can work, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Weigh yourself daily, too and track this (again, online, excel or piece of paper). It is completely normal that the weight changes around 5 pounds from day to day, so you will might not see results before the first week or even month.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Calorie calculators are only a rough estimate and might even be extremely off your true calorie expenditure, so use them as a guideline, but your weight - and the loss of it - as the main measurement.&#xA;A small warning, don't try to lose too much weight or rush things, this is unhealthy and may even get dangerous at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very important thing: &lt;strong&gt;Don't lie to yourself!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My grandmother always says &lt;em&gt;&quot;I am just eating one piece of cake, I don't know why I put on weight&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, ignoring that the cake consist mainly of double fat cream and marzipan. Oh yeah and her piece was always double sized.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I only eat one piece of bread for breakfast&quot;&lt;/em&gt; … but with half a pound butter, two slices of cheese and a slice of ham.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You want to lose weight for yourself, so be honest to yourself and you will achieve results if you believe in yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cooking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The food industry knows what we like mostly, out taste buds party when eating salty, fatty things spiced up with glutamate. So a lot of ready made sauces in pulverized form mainly consist of those three ingredients. I wont talk about the salt and glutamate here, as for weight loss the high fat is the problem.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of prepackaged food, cook yourself. You don't need fancy premade sauces, for a simple sauce you just need to learn to make &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roux&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Roux&lt;/a&gt; (with olive oil instead of butter), and add low fat milk. If you do it right you can make a relatively low caloric base sauce and adjust how it tastes afterwards.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Eg If you like mac'n'cheese you could add some cheese and broccoli, try to get ahold of full grain noodles if you can. Reduce the amount of noodles and fill up with more vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet isn't simply what you eat, but also what you drink.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sodas, juices and alcoholic drinks contain a lot of calories. If you don't like drinking pure water try to mix juice with water and try to increase the water/juice ratio.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Industrial juice often contains a lot of aromatic substances and sugar, so as you are at home anyway, make your own juice. You don't need a professional electric juicer to start, simply use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003808FBK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;citrus juicer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One gallon of hot water, some slices of fresh ginger and juice of two or three lemons makes for a perfect winter (hot) and summer drink (as ice tea).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tea is also a good idea. Drinking may even satisfy your appetite.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat things that make you full, but are light in calories. A bowl with low fat yogurt, cottage cheese and fresh pineapple (or another fruit, eg kiwis, oranges etc) is low in calories but pretty satisfying.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could give a lot more examples, try to be creative, incorporate vegetables and fruits in your diet. A better place to ask more specific cooking questions would be &lt;a href=&quot;https://cooking.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;cooking.SE&lt;/a&gt; however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;shopping for food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When shopping for food, turn the packings and look for calories, try to learn what food have low calories. Some things will not have calories printed on them, such as fruits, but a simple google search for &lt;em&gt;${food} calories&lt;/em&gt; (eg &lt;em&gt;pineapple calories&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;butter calories&lt;/em&gt;) will get you there.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are some pitfalls, too. Some stuff is marketed as low fat, but actually contains more calories than higher fat stuff. In my supermarket there is a yogurt with 0.1% fat that has the same amount of calories as the 1.5% yogurt. This is because thickening agents and added sugar add their calories to the food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy lean meat that has less fat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Fat isn't necessarily bad, as I pointed out above the main concern is calories. There are low fat or low carb diets out there. Truth is, you need both but they can both converted to each other by the body. Don't take extreme measures but reduce both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:33:29.720" LastActivityDate="2012-12-30T15:56:56.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5" CreationDate="2012-12-30T20:44:51.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your in martial art for competition then I think you should practice something that resembles a match. Your body has to be accustomed to be explosive even when you are doing cardio. If you only do cardio you will become slow.  Medium cardio and then explosive give your max with heavy weights and then back to slow cardio and heavy weightlifting like Olympic Weightlifting-Clean &amp;amp; Jerk. Do not use any machines. IMHO can sometimes crossfit exercises neglect explosive exercises they do so many reps which will not improve your speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I suggest (check youtube for Burpees and Clean and Jerk examples):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[10 Burpees][1]. (To get some pulse) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 [Clean and Jerk][2] . ( For&#xA;overall explosivness) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skip roop for 1 minute. (Low cardio - you being&#xA;tactic in the ring:-)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5-10 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAZaHzd6qAY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kipping pullups&lt;/a&gt;  explosiveness &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSrBTREkiaE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee&#xA;box jump&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;explosiveness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then rest for 30-60 s and repeat 3-5 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training for self defense then just go for explosive exercises. (Since your fights only will last 4 sec.) Take longer rest then and do not do any cardio in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3855" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2012-12-31T08:11:07.913" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T08:11:07.913" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-30T20:51:46.133" Score="0" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect I have a lot of imbalances in my body causing pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I assess and correct them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I expect to consult a professional, so what kind of professional is part of the question.&#xA;(Regular private sessions are above my budget.  I expect to take Pilates classes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises/treatment should be specific for my problems, so not any Pilates class just because it is good for balancing my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking a bit at Functional Movement Screening/ Sysems&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T03:20:32.627" Title="How to asess and correct imbalances in the body" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-01-11T16:21:13.993" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10175" CreationDate="2012-12-30T21:51:38.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that you should go high intensity for 5 reps and 5 sets with big muscle groups with free weights. Why would you need muscle endurance or high tolerance for Lactic acid in your everyday life? The problem with doing exercises with free weights and high intensity is that you could easily injury yourself. But if you start with low weights so you get the correct technique you will be fine. You just have to increase the weights every time. There is a website called stronglifts.com that I can recommend for his basic training program. It focus on high intensity. If you become a member he will send you an email everyday (with about the same message so I have unsubsribed now) His training routines includes only few exercies like, Deadlift, Benchpress, Squats, Rowing all with free weights. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-workout-a-full-video-demonstration/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a video of the routines.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a discussion here about the best exercises for life. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7264/3855&quot;&gt;I agree with this answer about strength:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3855" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2012-12-30T21:51:38.040" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10183" CreationDate="2012-12-31T03:20:32.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that you find someone who specializes in analyzing static and dynamic postures and movements and have them give you program to follow to correct any areas of dysfunction.  The more information and knowledge that you have, the more able you will be to find the practitioner that can meet your needs.  Here are some ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical Therapy&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;You say that private sessions are out of your budget.  However, if you have medical insurance, pain that is related to postural dysfunction may well be covered by physical therapy.  It could be in the form of assessment of posture in all planes, range of motion, strength and movement patterns, with a specific exercise program designed for you to do at home or in the gym to correct these imbalances.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pilates&lt;/strong&gt; is a good method to achieve postural balance with flexibility and control.  It is often best to do a private session to get the best personal assessment and then follow up with classes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Functional Movement Screening Systems&lt;/strong&gt; help you assess and improve movements and patterns of movement.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B0079QQCHI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kindle edition of Gray Cook's book&lt;/a&gt; is probably the best and/or most inexpensive way to look into it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to Pilates and FMS, and here are some ideas of assessment methods that you can consider: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Total Motion Release&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Total Motion Release is a method of assessing movements that cause pain and then performing specific pain-free movements (often on the other side of the body) and assessing the results.  TMR site has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.totalmotionrelease.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video demonstrations&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Egoscue Method&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Pete Egoscue's book, &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/0060924306&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion&lt;/a&gt;, helps you self analyze your alignments and gives you specific exercises to correct problem areas.  This is more of a static than dynamic assessment, but may help you find specific restriction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alexandertechnique.com/at.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Alexander Technique&lt;/a&gt; and Feldenkrais both focus on the connection of movements, sensory awareness and thought patterns.   These methods generally have classes and/or private sessions. Tai Chi and Qi Gong would also be methods of becoming aware of alignments.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Yoga combines flexibility, strength, relaxation etc. to improve posture, breathing and movement.  A restorative yoga instructor could be helpful to you for corrective asanas or postures that allow you to release tension that may be causing imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many more ways to correct your alignments.  In general your assessments are looking for areas with restricted motion, areas with weakness not allowing natural movement, chronic holding patterns from tension, thought and reflex patterns that affect the neural stimulation of muscles and myofascia, all of which can affect movement patterns and cause pain.  You are wise to correct imbalances as these can restrict your exercise and fitness programs.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Full disclosure - the two book links are from our site's amazon store.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T03:20:32.627" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2012-12-31T03:20:32.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-31T03:45:05.343" Score="1" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just putting together a design for a t-shirt for my recently affiliated CrossFit Gym, and was wondering if anyone could help with a tagline that might be appropriate? The gym is targeted mainly as middle aged women and teens but would like to target guys as well, so don't want anything that will scare guys off.&#xA;Currently training people outdoors, but do plan to move into a space eventually, so nothing that limits me to staying outside,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts or ideas welcome!&#xA;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4915" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T14:09:54.657" Title="Ideas for a tagline for CrossFit StarFit?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2012-12-31T18:35:39.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-31T08:53:05.517" Score="1" ViewCount="4207" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I cough, I feel a mild pain in my lower back and hip area. (behind my belly button and in my glute)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to the doctor and he told me I have inflammation in a part of my spinal cord. It is reacting to pressure. Sudden expansion and contraction (like when coughing) will pressure the spinal cord and this will press against the swollen nerves and I will feel pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain is not sharp, it feels more like muscle pain after exertion than being poked by a needle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor gave me some anti-inflammatory pills and he sent me away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did get better, but it keeps coming back. I found out that certain activities will encourage my back pain to develop. Once developed, it will take many nights worth of high quality sleep to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the things that seem to cause back pain, or worsen it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking slowly or standing still for a long (1 Hour +) period of time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carrying a backpack or a sling bag that is moderately heavy (say with a laptop)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some activities that will &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; cause/worsen back pain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hiking for 8 hours with heavy sweating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playing badminton competitively for 2 hours with rests&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rope skipping, average 120 revs per minute, 30 mins or more (3k to 4k skips)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming freestyle or breast-stroke, anything from 30 mins to 2 hours. Both fast (heart rate over 180 bpm) and slow (heart rate between 100 to 130) swimming sessions have caused no back pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I have this weird back pain, it is like a fatigue muscle is in need of some deep relaxation. There is something I can do to relief this pain, most of them requires me to sit down, however if it is severe my back will feel very very stiff, I will only be able to sit at a very up-right position. There are a few things that I can do to relief my back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow but deep breathing, expanding and contracting my torso so that my back can relax&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit and lean forward resting my arms on my knees, arch my lower back (so that my chest is closer to my hip) to relax my back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand and stretch by touching my toe with my finger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Same stretch as above, but with my toe pointing &lt;strong&gt;outward&lt;/strong&gt;, this will pull my glute a lot more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I have relaxed the back muscle, I will be able to continue walking pain-free, for a short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say I am not feeling any back pain now, if I walk for 2 hours non-stop, the back pain will appear, and I will try to find a place and sit down and relax, then I will be able to walk another 40 mins without pain and it will start to come back. If I sit down, rest and relax a bit, then I will be able to walk without pain for maybe another 15 mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that bugs me is when I hike, which is similar to walking, for 8 hours. There is no sign of back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was guess maybe the posture is key, when hiking I tend to lean forward. However I am totally clueless what am I experiencing and if what the doctor said is 100% accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really appreciate it if somebody can share their thoughts, or if they have been in a similar situation before, to share their experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very annoying, but not so much that I felt I am hurting my body. It does feel very very sore and mildly painful when I walk way too much, and my back would be so stiff that I need 10 to 15 mins just to relax deeply to loosen all muscles. However I think it is a condition that I want to understand more about and try to train my body to overcome it if it can be improved by muscle strengthening / loosing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 100kg at 189cm (6'2&quot;), age 26 male. I am overweight, but I came from being obese (BMI 31) one year ago. I have trained very hard and I have shredded 17 kg off me. Any input will be greatly appreciated, thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4525" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T08:53:05.517" Title="Back pain when coughing" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-01-04T17:44:41.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10203" CreationDate="2012-12-31T13:24:50.473" Score="1" ViewCount="698" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4798/i-am-overweight-and-need-to-reduce&quot;&gt;I am overweight and need to reduce?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 22 year old male, I weight about 60.5kg and I am nearly 5 ft 7&quot; tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm from India so I eat a lot of spicy and oily food with more calories.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I used to eat the same diet since my high school but now my belly has enlarged a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I reduce my obesity and fat to reduce my belly? What other things should I do to increase my fitness and get healthier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4919" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T21:32:47.993" Title="How to reduce my obesity?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="31" ClosedDate="2013-01-02T01:11:32.557" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10186" CreationDate="2012-12-31T14:04:33.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just my 5 cent: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starfit makes me fit on time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starfit will shape on time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I flip tires on time to get fit. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just to look better naked. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get result on time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time-Intensity-Result&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.taglineguru.com/ten_tagline_mistakes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tagline&lt;/a&gt; guru with some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3855" LastEditorUserId="3855" LastEditDate="2012-12-31T14:09:54.657" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T14:09:54.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2012-12-31T19:01:51.413" Score="7" ViewCount="1469" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric - holding a weight in the same position. Example: holding heavy bags of groceries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isotonic - moving the weight through a range of motion. Example: bicep curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does isometic strength relate to isotonic strength? Does increasing one increase the other? Or must they be trained individually to increase their respective strengths?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Application&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say I want to increase my ability to hold heavy bags of groceries for a long time. Would I train by holding dumbbells isometrically (farmer's walk)? Or would I train by doing isotonic exercises such as shoulder shrugs and bicep curls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T02:55:13.310" Title="How does isometric strength relate to isotonic strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;isometric&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10193" CreationDate="2012-12-31T21:35:51.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you want to be able to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric contraction work outs major downfall is they only train the range of motion you are using (90º for example). This means if you wanted to have the same &quot;grocery lifting&quot; strength anywhere else in your range of motion you would have to move to that angle and train that portion (45º). You would then be less strong at all other angles than 45º and 90º. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isotonic training (provided you use full range of motion for the given exercise) will allow you to work towards a given weight through a full range of motion. Using bicep curls as an example.. You will be weaker at the beginning of the exercise (when your arm is straight) than you will be at 90º.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T21:35:51.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2012-12-31T22:15:17.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are two approaches to consider&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Electrolyte Consumption:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, as many other answers have already identified it's important to replenish electrolytes as well as water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, your muscles need positively charged and negatively charged electrolytes to function properly but your body loses them through sweat when you exercise heavily. Positive electrolytes are involved in muscle contraction whereas negative electrolytes are necessary for retraction/relaxation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of different types of electrolytes but sodium and potassium are the most abundant and easiest to supplement. To supplement your own intake you can either look for a pre-mixed drink that contains sufficient levels, by a mix like Emergen-C Electro (it's sodium free so you'd need to add your own), or make your own based on a recipe found online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodium chloride is sold as 'table salt' and potassium chloride is sold as 'lite salt' or 'salt substitute'. The ratios/recipe can be found by searching online for 'DYI electrolyte replacement drink'. While a lot of 'snake oil salesman' sell high priced electrolyte supplements, the main ingredients (ie sodium/potassium) can actually be purchased in large quantities for very cheap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aside: Sports drinks may contain electrolyte supplements but usually contain more sugar than anything. The famous historical 'gatorade' mix that the sport drink was closer to a bitter tasting pure electrolyte mix than the sugar water that's sold in stores today. Food for thought if you're trying to reduce unnecessary carb intake.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Change the way you drink water&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you drink water is as important as how much you drink. It takes some time (as well as sufficient electrolyte balance) for your body to absorb water. It may feel refreshing to chug large quantities when you're thirsty but your body will flush the water it can't absorb as well as additional electrolytes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a little time to train yourself to do it unconsciously but it has a noticeable benefit during exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aside: I learned this from one of my wilderness instructors on a month long backpacking trip across The Superstition Wilderness of AZ.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="19943" LastEditDate="2016-04-06T16:50:46.733" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T16:50:46.733" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7347" CreationDate="2012-12-31T23:45:04.237" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;These guys are in the Swedish national team in Shorinji Kempo. They compete in Embu (sort of form) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJhzUebpkg8&quot;&gt;In this video they won the European competition.&lt;/a&gt; They are now practicing for the world championship next year. They only do exercises for speed. They want to be faster since the Japanese are smaller and faster then they are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqSuHN5ecc8&quot;&gt;thrusters&lt;/a&gt; at about 60% of max and they do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSrBTREkiaE&quot;&gt;knee box jump&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shorinji.se/2012/11/spanst.html&quot;&gt;They do few reps with just 60%&lt;/a&gt; of 1RM and rest for minutes between sets. They try to be relaxed and concentrated before every rep. They do every rep as fast as they can. They have the feeling after the weight training that they should have done more. That they are energetic, full of energy afterwards. They only focus on the explosive muscle exercises. Only &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_striated_muscle#Muscle_fibers&quot;&gt;typ IIb fibers&lt;/a&gt;. I train with them and they seem to know what they are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMHO opinion in the video that showed the form you are training for the person who showed the form was very flexible and strong. But he could have been faster. Especially his hands were slow when he did his fast punches. But I do no know what the judges prefer in this sort of competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are practicing flexibility and cardio already I believe you should focus on speed and developing explosive muscles. Since this has to do a lot with the nervous system you should take special concern and not just do as many reps you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3855" LastEditorUserId="3855" LastEditDate="2012-12-31T23:59:59.527" LastActivityDate="2012-12-31T23:59:59.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-01T12:07:12.980" Score="4" ViewCount="14755" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Bent-over Row&lt;/a&gt; is a well known exercise. It is one of the exercises that StrongLifts 5x5 consists of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was browsing exrx.net looking for a dumbbell version of this exercise but only found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Bent-over Row&lt;/a&gt; that only targets one hand at a time, while kneeling on a bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have neither bench nor bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to do the Bent-over Row as in the barbell version but using dumbbells?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it is safe: What are the differences between the barbell and 'my' dumbbell row and between the row on a bench and 'my' version?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2018-03-05T14:10:16.107" Title="Dumbbell Bent-over Row, possible without bench?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10197" CreationDate="2013-01-01T15:23:34.343" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the dumbbell bent over row is a superior exercise for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body is better supported--making this more desirable if you have chronic back problems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It builds your grip much better than the barbell variation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It keeps the shoulders, elbows, etc. in a more natural position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in order to perform the dumbbell row without a bench, you simply need to find something to brace yourself on.  An article on T-Nation about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most.../kroc_rows_101&quot;&gt;Kroc Rows&lt;/a&gt; pictures Matt Kroczaleski (the namesake for Kroc rows) using a prowler handle.  NOTE: Kroc rows are basically dumbbell rows done for high reps with as heavy weight as you can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important aspects of doing a dumbbell row are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A stable base.  Use something immovable to steady yourself with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't jerk the weight up to your chest--lift it with control&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use high reps.  If your program recommends 5x5 barbell rows, I recommend 3x10 DB rows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T15:23:34.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2167" CreationDate="2013-01-01T16:09:34.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to YYY's answer (an excellent answer):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the people who suggest a personal trainer, ask them who they see.  Asking around, especially with friends, can point you in the direction of a good reference.  If several people say &quot;This person is awesome&quot; that, in and of itself, is a personal reference.  That would be like a hiring manager hearing about a person that's qualified for a job from ten of his friends.  You can even ask your friends who suggest a trainer for specifics - where does the trainer excel?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ask a few questions to the trainer you know the answer to so that you can test the response.  For instance, asking a question that requires someone who's medically qualified (MD) is a good test question - some trainers try to over-step their knowledge (danger) and enter realms they have no expertise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ask the trainer where he/she lacks as a trainer.  No trainer will be perfect, so don't go with one who pretends they have no faults as a trainer (they all do).  Some will be great for strength, nutrition, flexibility, and others won't.  Identify your weakness and choose a trainer who's best with your weakness and worst with with your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4682" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T16:09:34.297" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10201" CreationDate="2013-01-01T18:23:05.517" Score="8" ViewCount="104470" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ribs are sore after doing push ups and sit ups. Why?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there muscles in between my ribs? Could it be something else other than muscles that is sore, like tendons, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4925" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T12:47:46.890" LastActivityDate="2015-09-04T02:52:58.537" Title="Why are my ribs sore after doing push ups and sit ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10200" CreationDate="2013-01-01T21:05:53.167" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes there are muscles between your ribs. They're called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercostal_muscle&quot;&gt;intercostal muscles&lt;/a&gt;, though &quot;soreness in ribs&quot; might also be caused by soreness in your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectoralis_minor_muscle&quot;&gt;pectoralis minor&lt;/a&gt; (which connects to the front of the rib cage) or your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratus_anterior_muscle&quot;&gt;serratus anterior&lt;/a&gt; (which connect your back to the side of your rib cage). A good hint that it's muscle soreness instead of connective tissue soreness is that muscle soreness usually feels good to massage, while tendon/ligament/joint soreness does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main use of the intercostal muscles is in opposing the diaphragm in breathing, but they're used in lots of movements.  I get rib soreness after doing planks for a long period, so I suspect that is the main source of the soreness (a pushup being a like plank++).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess that the reason that your intercostal muscles are sore is because they are being used to hold the rib cage rigid, while forces are being transmitted between the serratus, pectoralis minor and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_abdominis_muscle&quot;&gt;rectus abdiminous&lt;/a&gt;.  Dynamic tension between these muscles (and many others&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt;) lets your back stay flat and rigid while you're doing planks or pushups, but since a lot of the force is transmitted through the rib cage, your intercostal muscles contract and get stretched as you go through the movements.  Like any other muscles after a working/stretching them, they get sore.  It's probably especially noticeable since you do very few exercises which exercise your ribs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS7jhssUtLQ&quot;&gt;video showing the main muscle groups used in pushups&lt;/a&gt;, and here's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqqWIFnFLeg&quot;&gt;animation showing them in action&lt;/a&gt;.  Hopefully you can see the stresses put on the rib cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pushups are really great exercises precisely because (if done properly) they strengthen so many different muscle groups (even ones you were unaware you had!).  This is also one of the problems with Nautilus machines for strength training: by isolating muscles you miss out on strengthening small stabilizing muscles like the intercostal muscles and you can end up with big muscles but not genuine strength (and an increased risk of injury).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that stretching my rib cage can help with soreness (though stretching beforehand or immediately after doesn't do very much).  For soreness from pushups, my ribs tend to get more sore on the sides of my body, and a good stretch for that is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myyogaonline.com/poses/standing/extended-side-angle-pose-utthita-parsvakonasana&quot;&gt;side angle pose&lt;/a&gt; from yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it's interesting that you get rib soreness after situps.  I haven't had that experience, though situps are also complex exercises which use a lot of different muscles groups.  Perhaps another answerer can go into that in more detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt; There are a ridiculously enormous number of muscles in your back and shoulders.  Planks are really complicated exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T21:05:53.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10146" CreationDate="2013-01-01T21:17:11.987" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few different things that can cause this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Uneven rib cage.&lt;/strong&gt; It's possible that the right side of your rib cage could poke out slightly more than the other side, pushing those muscles out further than the other side. I have this issue with my ribs under my upper abdominal muscles, causing a slight bulge (virtually unnoticeable to anyone but me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. You're right-handed.&lt;/strong&gt; If you are more coordinated with the right side of your body, the muscles on that side of your body will generally be slightly larger. For me, no matter how big my muscles have been over the last 12 years of weightlifting, my right arm, right thigh, and right calf muscle have been a half inch larger than the same muscles on the left side. I imagine it's the same for my chest but I don't have a good way to measure the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could be pushing unevenly. If you are right-dominant, it's very easy to push more of your body weight with your right-sided muscles because they are stronger, and the movement is easier to perform that way. If you go to a gym, you can often see people bench pressing unevenly in such a way that more of the weight is applied to the stronger arm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The cure:&lt;/strong&gt; Be conscience of your body and how you're pushing your body weight. Try to engage both sides evenly. If that still isn't enough, shift your body weight closer to your left hand to increase the load on your left pectoral muscle. When the left pectoral has reached complete failure, stop, even if you could still push out another rep or two if you shifted your weight toward your right hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't just do one pushup variation. Do your research or do some experimenting and find 10-20 pushup variations if you want to build a full, strong and even chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4894" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T21:17:11.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10190" CreationDate="2013-01-01T21:32:47.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your BMI is 20.9, which is considered optimal-to-low.  However, BMI is far from a perfect measurement of health, and is mostly useful for diagnosing extreme under or over weight. In your case, if you're visibly pudgy/fat, you probably lack lean body mass and have a high body fat percentage.  For someone of normal BMI, body fat percentage, waist circumference and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist%E2%80%93hip_ratio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;waist-to-hip ratio&lt;/a&gt; are likely to be more useful measures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your abdomen is thick, you probably have a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visceral_fat#Abdominal_fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;visceral fat&lt;/a&gt;, which is the absolute worst kind of fat to have.  It's one of the main risk factors for metabolic syndrome and diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @informaticker mentioned in the comments, the fat loss advice is basically the same as for an obese/overweight person, but since you (probably) lack lean mass, strength training is especially important.  You probably don't need to lose weight: you need to gain muscle/lean mass and lose fat.  I'd suggest a high protein diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T21:32:47.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10204" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10207" CreationDate="2013-01-01T22:19:34.687" Score="4" ViewCount="1322" Body="&lt;p&gt;I practice &lt;code&gt;Bikram&lt;/code&gt; and have been using a 3 mm mat which is now well due for replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if it makes sense to aspire for an even thinner mat, i.e. if it is better for you to practice on a skinny mat, i.e. go for 2 mm or even less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4592" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-02T13:27:25.250" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T15:20:42.647" Title="What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a thinner yoga mat?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-01T22:37:10.963" Score="7" ViewCount="733" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym (on and off) for about 20 years (I am in my late 30s).  One thing that I have definitely established is that I do not like getting very tired and if I do work out hard, it creates an animosity and fear in my head for working out so that I am likely to dodge the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way I have countered that was to reduce my workout load to significantly below my capacity so that gym visits become actually enjoyable rather than sweltering pits of misery and pain.  Under reduced schedule, I actually look forward to going in as I am not fearing the discomfort.  In fact, I have realized that this approach pays better for me over time as I will lift a cumulatively higher amount of weight than if I start pushing myself but start hating and avoiding it soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand I will never be super fit because I simply refuse to endure pain but that's OK -- when I work out lazily, I still feel significant improvement over not working out at all and feel reasonably fit.  So I am looking for more tips on how to even advance the workout for a lazy person.  Are there any studies on how to make the workout pleasurable and painless?  I believe some gain is possible without pain.  Primarily I am interested in the psychology of making workout fit in your life's routine and as painless as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4592" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T12:33:32.660" Title="Workout plan for a lazy person" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6708" CreationDate="2013-01-01T22:42:47.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed. Despite it's widespread use, the formula is clearly not extensive. Try running the relevant calculations against the equations for male/female using a 2 year old weighing 27 lbs and 36 inches in height and you'll find female have higher BMR!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consider the physical difference between male and female at toddler age is pretty minimal the I consider the equation should be used with caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;female: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;male: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4927" LastActivityDate="2013-01-01T22:42:47.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10204" CreationDate="2013-01-02T07:34:27.143" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purely a 'by experience' answer here, having tried both:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advantages of a thinner mat:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More sturdy foundation for balancing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Far less bulky when rolled up for transport/storage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dries quicker from sweat/moisture (especially important in Bikram)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advantages of a thicker mat:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knee cushioning when kneeling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tops of the feet cushioning when sitting on your heels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Head cushioning when doing headstands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-02T22:23:11.393" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T22:23:11.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6708" CreationDate="2013-01-02T10:03:38.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1091498/?page=4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Biometric Study of Human Basal Metabolism&lt;/a&gt;, where Harris and Benedict introduced their formula, you will see one important sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These equations have been tabulated for values of weight from 25.0 to 124.9kgm. [sic], for stature from 151cm to 200cm., and for age from 21 to 70 years, so that the most probable basal metabolism of an unknown subject may be easily determined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this formula &lt;strong&gt;is not&lt;/strong&gt; supposed to give accurate results for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;children&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;people with unusual heights (±25cm from average)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;obese people&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-02T10:26:02.683" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T10:26:02.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-02T12:05:15.580" Score="9" ViewCount="12650" Body="&lt;p&gt;When browsing around the various articles linked in answers here, I keep stumbling over rope jumping in articles or blog post.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was never good at rope jumping, at least that's what I thought. Actually I never tried to do it. The last time I did it, I was a kid and gave up pretty quickly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking around on amazon gave me the expected results, far too many variations, far too many decisions to make for an item I don't even know how to use properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;different materials&lt;/strong&gt; for the rope, I've seen nylon, leather and steel.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also of course different lengths, how do I know &lt;strong&gt;which length&lt;/strong&gt; is right for me?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some ropes are called &lt;strong&gt;speed ropes&lt;/strong&gt;, is this just another name or is it really a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;weighted grips&lt;/strong&gt; available and grips that explicitly mention that the grips are not weighted. I am somehow reminded of jogging with ankle weights here, which supposedly isn't useful.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does it matter how the rope comes out of the grip: straight or sideways?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some grips have &lt;strong&gt;ball bearings&lt;/strong&gt; for the rope, sounds reasonable. To take a break just because the rope is twirled wouldn't be motivating, but is this really a concern?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thing I spotted was that there are &lt;strong&gt;indoor and outdoor&lt;/strong&gt; ropes, I would definitely start indoor, but I would want to go outside, are there ropes that can do both or should I simply buy one for each purpose? They aren't that expensive after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="33155" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T12:59:33.217" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T12:59:33.217" Title="What should I look for in a jump rope?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;jump-rope&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10205" CreationDate="2013-01-02T12:39:55.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Choosing a &quot;train - no pain&quot; path is interesting. The question has two parts: &#xA;A. Tips on advancing the workout&#xA;B. Studies on pleasureable and painless workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. A general tip on advancing the suggested workoutis to work on the&#xA;    technique of your exercises. Squats, as an example, film yourself doing&#xA;    squats, compare &amp;amp; contrast with how it is done by masters you know or on&#xA;    what you can see on the net. Log your improvements in technique&#xA;    instead of logging the increased weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?q=joyful%20%20physical%20training&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Scholar: &quot;joyful physical training&lt;/a&gt; Various papers about&#xA;    how to increase the motivation when the focus of training is to have&#xA;    fun, especially for children. &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.se/scholar?q=light%20%20physical%20training&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Scholar: &quot;light physical&#xA;    training&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, one paper that was interesting is that rats training&#xA;    at 60% of VO2max (i.e. moderate exercise) also show an increase in&#xA;    bone growth. Given that your motivation is increased following your&#xA;    way, you can increase the chance of training over a longer period of&#xA;    time which is good for you, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&amp;amp;q=lifelong%20physical%20training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Scholar: life long&#xA;    training&lt;/a&gt;, here the study of &quot;Physical Activity and Muscle&#xA;    Training in the Elderly&quot; shows that the body responds to resistance&#xA;    traning into the 70s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-02T14:21:36.490" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T14:21:36.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10213" CreationDate="2013-01-02T14:06:46.753" Score="5" ViewCount="5894" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it best to split your cardio and weight training when doing them on the same day? Should I wake up an hour earlier to run, then do the gym in the afternoon? I'd try and go to bed an hour earlier to make up for it, but let's be honest .. that doesn't always translate to an hour of sleep. Changing my sleep schedule around throws my body off, and that extra hour of sleep in the morning is dearly missed. So the question comes down to: is better sleep &gt; splitting cardio and weights. With the cliche goal of gain/retain muscle and burn fat. I've felt I kinda plateaued and looking to tweak anything minor to help myself improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My typical week looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday - Weight training &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tuesday - Weight training + running (4.5 miles)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wednesday - Weight training&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thursday - running (4.5 miles)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Friday - Break&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Saturday - Break&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sunday - sprints (45 minutes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3830" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-02T15:39:49.877" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T16:11:53.977" Title="Separating cardio and weight training" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10209" CreationDate="2013-01-02T14:10:34.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rope jumping is a great coordination and conditioning exercise. Here is my take at your parameters (based on countless hours of it..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material&lt;/strong&gt;. As light and thin as possible, that is nylon or leather. Leather is nice but more expensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Length&lt;/strong&gt;.  there are a number of methods for finding the correct length. E.g. stand on the rope, pull the handles towards your armpits, for experienced it should be a little below, for inexperienced a little bit higher, see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.se/search?q=correct%20lengt%20for%20a%20jump%20rope&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;oq=correct%20lengt%20for%20a%20jump%20rope&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.0.57j0l2.7198&amp;amp;sugexp=chrome,mod=4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#hl=en&amp;amp;tbo=d&amp;amp;spell=1&amp;amp;q=correct%20length%20for%20a%20jump%20rope&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=bjnkUOTDLsjw4QTKuYHICw&amp;amp;ved=0CC4QvwUoAA&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&amp;amp;bvm=bv.1355534169,d.bGE&amp;amp;fp=b32967eecf3a3c6&amp;amp;bpcl=40096503&amp;amp;biw=1440&amp;amp;bih=775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google: correct length for a jump rope&lt;/a&gt;. My method is to hold the handles, straighten the arms outwards to the sides, if the rope is a bit above my knees, it is right for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weighted grip&lt;/strong&gt;. I agree with your own analysis, that is, not a must. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ball bearings&lt;/strong&gt;. Good to have for faster spinning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Indoor vs outdoor&lt;/strong&gt;. Should not be a factor. You can use the same for both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T14:10:34.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10211" CreationDate="2013-01-02T14:51:39.820" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, in order to maximize the quality of your weight training, your body should be as fresh and rested as possible. Therefore, you should either run immediately afterwards, or run on your rest days between your strength training. I've tried running in the morning and weight training in the afternoon, but it didn't work out for me, because I never felt being 100% fit in the afternoon when I have been running in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case your weight training includes leg exercises as well, make sure that your legs get enough rest. Carefully choose your running speed depending on your goals. For instance, if you are doing cardio only for burning calories, you should aim for a slow pace because then your running does not interfere that much with you leg strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your current week looks kind of awkward to me, as you're weight training Mo, Tue, and Wed, (with no rest days in between) and aren't weight training at all during the rest of the week. Even if you are doing split workouts, this is probably sub-optimal. You should rather spread your workouts evenly over the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you don't necessarily need cardio, if your goal is losing fat and gaining/maintaining muscle (unless you want to increase your running performance).&#xA;If you want to do cardio in addition to your weight training, I would recommend 3x full body weight training (incl legs) and 2x cardio (low intensity!) per week:&#xA;Weight training on Mo, We, Fri, and cardio either immediately afterwards, or on two of the four remaining days. Another possibility would be to do split weight training (upper/lower body) 4x a week, and do cardio on the days before your leg work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T14:51:39.820" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10209" CreationDate="2013-01-02T15:56:19.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like weighted handles and I ALWAYS go for leather rope.  I tried nylon rope but it lacked weight to provide for consistent swinging pace. I recently got a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002DHM5LU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weider Adjustable Weight Leather Jump Rope&lt;/a&gt; and am very pleased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4592" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-01-03T03:11:44.280" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T03:11:44.280" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10211" CreationDate="2013-01-02T16:11:53.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with zero-divisor on your Workout week out of balance. Unless you doing Super Heavy Lifts.. That is a lot of time off... Have you thought about reversing Cardio &amp;amp; Weight training. Hitting the Gym in the morning &amp;amp; doing the Cardio exercices afternoon/night. My Schedule looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday:(Back&amp;amp; BI &amp;amp; Core) in morning &amp;amp; Indoor Cardio at night(45 mins&#xA;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday:(Chest&amp;amp; Tri &amp;amp;Legs) in morning &amp;amp; Indoor Cardio at night(45&lt;br&gt;&#xA;mins).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday :Short Run(2-3 mile) &amp;amp; Yoga at night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thursday:(Back&amp;amp; BI &amp;amp; Core) in morning &amp;amp; Indoor Cardio at night(45&lt;br&gt;&#xA;mins)(optional).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Friday:(Chest&amp;amp; Tri &amp;amp;Legs) in morning &amp;amp; Indoor Cardio    at night(45&#xA;mins)(optional). Saturday:long run (4-6 miles) Sunday:    Break&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T16:11:53.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10224" CreationDate="2013-01-02T17:10:58.627" Score="7" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;I typically eat a big lunch around 1PM and work until about 6:30-7.  I get home around 7:30, and after a few domestic errands, go work out.  The problem is, by that time I am typically hungry yet I don't like to eat right before workout because of the weight in my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One workaround I have devised is to eat a snack of small volume yet large calories:  a piece of chocolate or a fudge brownie.  While it doesn't fill me up uncomfortably, it does give me the much needed energy boost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if this is a good idea and whether I should replace the chocolate or similar heavy items with perhaps something more nutritious but that has the same cal/weight ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4592" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T02:45:28.610" Title="Concentrated calories in a small snack as energy boost before gym" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10216" CreationDate="2013-01-02T18:00:42.240" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question doesn't sound like you are overweight and need to watch your calories.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion you &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; replace the brownie with some whole grain energy bar, replace the simple sugars with some more complex carbohydrates and maybe have some additional fibers, too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the question is if you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I think this is more a mental thing, the boost you may receive from the taste might be worth far more than something that you don't like but is healthier. Maybe you even work out harder because you ate such an &lt;em&gt;evil treat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So you should ask yourself if you want to optimize your nutrition to the last bit(e) or have some things left, because you simply like to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small example of myself: I love to stop at a gas station and get myself a coke when I am on a longer bike ride. This simply motivates me, gives a small sugar rush and it just feels great to pop up a can in the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T18:00:42.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10229" CreationDate="2013-01-02T19:46:27.327" Score="10" ViewCount="1447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a judo tournament in early May for which I want to be strong, quick in my reaction time and strength output, and in condition. Since it's still pretty far in the future, I'm working on strength for the moment. My judo training is year-round, so this is about my supplemental strength &amp;amp; conditioning training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I switch from strength to conditioning? Should it be a slow transition, keeping some strength work, or an abrupt and total switch? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My high-bar back squat is my current primary strength project. I am currently squatting singles of 270 pounds (122.5 kg) at a bodyweight of 175 (79.4 kg), and triples around 250 (113.4 kg) , but would like to hit 300 (136 kg) if possible before transitioning. I'm deadlifting at 370 (168 kg) for a comfortable 1RM and 390 (177 kg) for a not-quite-good-form 1RM, and would like 405 (181.4 kg) before transitioning to other work. Upper-body work and the quick lifts are on rehab duty, so I won't bring them into this. I fully comprehend that the 300 and 405 goals are not necessarily possible in that timeframe, nor ideal for judo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do a twenty-minute lifting or conditioning session on my lunch break, which I generally do two to four times a week (usually 10 squat singles or working up to a heavy 3 or 5 rep deadlift). I do longer lifting-plus-mobility sessions once or twice a week and can train judo one to four times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-03T13:45:19.450" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T13:45:19.450" Title="How long before a judo tournament should I switch from strength to conditioning?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2013-01-02T22:13:31.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;High Intensitivity Training (HIT) is highly recommended to improve your cardio/endurance/stamina. I consider my self as well fit overall, with top grades in every running test I've taken. To achieve these results, I recommend using the all so incredible 4x4 Interval Workout. Here is how:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you follow these 4 simple steps, 3-4 times a week, your endurance will be adequately increased within 6 weeks.&#xA;Step 1: warm up! Slow jogging with aprox. 60% of max pulse. (10 minutes)&#xA;Step 2: increased speed with 85-95% of max pulse. If you do not have pulse-watch, you may know you're doingnitnright when you absolutely don't want to talk when running. (1-2 minutes)&#xA;Step 3: active recovery. Slow phased jogging (as in step 1). (3 minutes)&#xA;Step 4: repeat step 2 and 3 4 times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your cardio!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4932" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T22:13:31.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10219" CreationDate="2013-01-02T22:25:25.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, given your program and what you would like to do (Along with the upper body restrictions), here's what I would recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning - I would concentrate on HIIT training for your lunch sessions, with an emphasis on agility and footwork drills. Leave the heavy lifting stuff for your lifting/mobility sessions. This will have the double effect of conditioning, as well as maximizing footwork and balance work in a short period of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reaction drills - Add in reaction training, much like hockey and other goalies go through. One example is a person standing behind you throwing a tennis ball at a wall in front of you, and you catch it on the rebound. This will help with response times as well as target tracking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isometric training - As you get closer to the competition, I would work on isometric contractions and your ability to &quot;root&quot; yourself. Set yourself, then use a frame to pull yourself towards, and resist the pull as much as possible. I'm not sure how much of this you will get in regular judo training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get closer to the competition, I would gradually dial back some of the intensity on the HIIT sessions, and step up the reaction time drills. While you are doing all of this, I would concentrate on recovery. I don't know how much time you have between matches, but for a 3-5 minute match, if you have to do 3 or 4 in a day (or more), then recovery will be paramount. Figure out what hydration/rest/cryotherapy strategy really enables you to recover the best between matches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you drop the heavy lifting down a bit, I would add in plyometric and explosiveness exercises. Start working on rotation strength and torque strength for the throws. Keep everything towards the higher end on the explosive scale, with the caveat that it will also increase injury risk compared to the slower movements. You're going to have good strength and muscle mass, but you want to get the fast twitch fibers involved more than they will be with the slower, heavier movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Disclaimer: I don't practice judo, I do a different martial art. This is how I would approach it from the outsider perspective.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-02T22:25:25.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-02T23:49:03.077" Score="9" ViewCount="9662" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what is the best way to improve my cardiovascular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a moderately fit guy and I am going in to the navy In less than a month and a half and I would like to be in the best shape I can by then. I regularly go to the gym and on entry to the Royal navy I need to be able to run 2.4 kilometers in under 11 minutes and 13 seconds (on road). I am not exactly slim or built. weight is 92 kilos (14.4 stone, 202 lb), on a treadmill (which I normally train on) I am able to run an average time of 10.05 - 10.15 and 9.45 being my fastest time yet. most times I feel like I would not be able to complete it but just push on through. I'm not a very confident runner when it comes to timing and would like to have ideas of improving my cardio fast!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4933" LastEditorUserId="2217" LastEditDate="2013-01-03T02:04:47.607" LastActivityDate="2013-01-31T04:13:07.410" Title="best way to build cardio endurance?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10216" CreationDate="2013-01-03T02:45:28.610" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you switch to something less enjoyable but healthier?  That depends on how much you enjoy it, and how integral to your habits this has become.  If you find yourself &quot;going to the gym so you can eat a brownie&quot;, then the brownie has probably become integral to your exercise as a reward for your workout habit.  Exercising regularly is better for you than eating a few brownies a week, and changing habits is hard, so it's likely worth the tradeoff.  Just make sure the brownies have natural ingredients: no partially hydrogenated oils, HFCS, etc.  (Note: If you're trying to lose weight, you probably won't burn off as many calories in most workouts as the brownie.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just looking for calories for purely utilitarian reasons, and brownies are a convenient way of doing that, switching to something healthier is a good idea in theory, though it's difficult to find foods that dense in calories.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fast-foods-generic/5854/2&quot;&gt;NutritionData&lt;/a&gt;, a 60g brownie has 240 calories, which as many calories as if it were made of solid sugar!  Brownies have more calories per gram than heavy cream, and almost as much as triple-cream brie.  Plenty of &quot;energy bars&quot; are that high in calories, but they're frequently not very good (and the ones that are good are pretty much just candy bars anyway).  If you're looking for that density of calories, you're going to need to eat something that's either very fatty or very dry (or both): potato chips, fatty cheese, candy bars, buttery pastries, etc.  None of it is likely to be very good for you, so go with something you like.  Personally, I go for the triple-cream brie, but to each his own...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T02:45:28.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10193" CreationDate="2013-01-03T02:55:13.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each type of exercise has its advantages and limitations which is why &lt;strong&gt;specificity of exercise&lt;/strong&gt; is a good guide. Given specificity of exercise, if your goal is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;increase my ability to hold heavy bags of groceries for a long time,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then holding heavy bags of groceries for progressively long periods of time would be your most direct path.  This not only trains the &lt;em&gt;specific muscles for the task&lt;/em&gt;, but it trains them &lt;em&gt;in the same position where the strength is needed&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;with the type of contraction needed&lt;/em&gt; for the the task. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specific Muscle for the task&lt;/strong&gt;: According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Brachialis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;exrx&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The brachialis becomes more readily activated during isometric elbow flexion. During a dynamic elbow flexion, the biceps is more readily activated than the brachialis. (Tax et al., 1989)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, bicep curls would not be the most efficient exercise to increase your ability to hold heavy grocery bags because not only are they targeting a different type of contraction (isotonic vs isometric), but they also do not emphasize the primary muscle needed to hold groceries isometrically, and they do not address the shoulder/scapular muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specific Position Needed:&lt;/strong&gt; - Holding bags of groceries requires that the arms are abducted (lifted out away from the body). Biceps curls, shoulder shruggs, farmer's walks etc., are performed with the arm/shoulder/scapula positioned with the arms in neutral.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specific Type of Muscle Contraction Needed&lt;/strong&gt;:  When you set up an exercise program with a specific goal in mind, you are right to consider the type of muscle contraction.  To add to @Grohlier's answer, using the example of a bicep curl from full extension to 90 degrees, here are some of the limitations of each type of exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Isontonic&lt;/strong&gt; - The limitation with an isotonic exercise is that you are limited by the weakest point of your range.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Isometric&lt;/strong&gt; - The limitation with isometric exercise is that strengthening only occurs at the range being worked (and about a 15 degree carry over).  To strengthen through 0 to 90 degrees you would need to hold the contraction several points through the range.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Isokinetic&lt;/strong&gt; - A third type of exercise, isokinetic, matches your maximal resistance at each point in the range with special equipment. This allows you to work each point of the range with the maximal amount of resistance.  The limitation with isokinetic exercise is that the machines do not allow you to work eccentrically.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different types of resistance exercises will strengthen targeted muscles, but matching the specificity of the exercise with a specific goal gives you the greatest success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T02:55:13.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2013-01-03T04:19:14.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a woman, and all I can say is I lift 3 lbs some days, 5 lbs most days, and 8-10 lbs other days, and lift 20 lbs using my legs on the lying leg curl machine, and it feels wonderful.  I can't speak to &quot;bulking up&quot;.  It has not happened to me yet.  But in two weeks of free weights I can feel and see bicep, forearm and back definition that simply was not there before, and those cut lines are beautiful.  I think if I challenge myself but stay within these constraints bulking won't be a problem and these gorgeous new muscles will continue looking feminine.  I am so in love with my gym and with endorphins right now - exercise is crazy fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4934" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-01-04T03:56:55.040" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T03:56:55.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2013-01-03T06:32:51.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great place to start would be watching this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/DivaSlimsDown/videos?flow=grid&amp;amp;view=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;young woman's youtube videos&lt;/a&gt;.  She started out in a similar place to you (not knowledgeable about nutrition, overweight her whole life, ~330Lb, etc.), and has lost approximately 180 pounds over the course of a few years.  Many of her videos contain extremely practical and specific advice, and her story is pretty inspirational. I think the most important thing she did was research losing weight for 4 months before starting on her weight loss plan.  When she started, she knew pretty much what to expect, and was motivated to continue tweaking her plan as some things worked, and some didn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read a lot about losing weight, and lost around 50 pounds in the last year.  I don't think anyone but you can figure out a diet/exercise routine that will work for you.  You need to find a set of dietary changes and ways to introduce exercise into your life that will lead to long-term changes.  I can recommend a few things that worked for me, but they may not all work for you.  I'm sure there are things that will work for you that no one here has listed.  Experimentation is key.  I'd suggest trying out the ones that sound appealing or manageable (especially the first one), and go from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track your weight.  There are various online tools for doing this.  I use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/HackDiet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Hacker's Diet&lt;/a&gt;, though I've heard good things about MyFitnessPal. I know it's depressing at first, but actually seeing variations over time as you make changes to your diet can get very motivating.  Whatever you track is something you can affect.  Many people keep food diaries and count calories, but I've never had the wherewithal to do that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a high protein diet.  This means lean meats and cheeses, eggs, thick greek yogurt, beans and lentils.  Protein increases satiety (the feeling of fullness), and will help preserve lean body mass as you lose weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a low sugar diet.  Anything that's sweet other than fruit is probably best consumed only sparingly, preferably not at all. This includes fruit juice of all kinds and pop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get smaller plates and glasses.  This makes the food that you're eating look bigger.   Everyone is sort of on autopilot when we're eating, so the best place to diet is before it's on your plate.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or better yet before it's in your house.  I try to keep all junk food out of my house.  When I do decide to get junk food, it's really, really inconvenient, and I try to only buy as much as I'm going to consume when my resolve is weak.  I learned this lesson the hard way when I was quitting smoking: all the cigarettes I brought home I would smoke in short order.  A lot of people can have a few cigarettes when they're drinking and forget about it the next day.  I'm not like those people.  It's the same thing with junk food.  Many people can eat a few chips and put the bag back in the cabinet.  For many obese people, the bet that you can't eat just one is a sucker's bet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monotony is your friend.  Eating a monotonous, high protein, high fiber diet has made cutting back on calories so much easier for me.  I eat oat bran and plain greek yogurt for breakfast.  Every day. I eat lentils or black beans 4-5 nights a week.  The monotony makes me want to eat less of the food overall, and the fiber and protein make it more filling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink.  He describes a lot more techniques for &quot;tricking yourself&quot; into eating less or eating better, as in the small-plate thing above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Slow Carb Diet&lt;/a&gt; by Tim Ferris.  I hate his writing style, but he does go into detail about basically the same diet that I've found helpful.  (Ignore the claims about losing 20 pounds in 20 days or whatever.)  It's a decent set of simple meals to start with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The End of Overeating by David Kessler.  He describes what foods are most likely to lead to overeating: basically a combination of starch/sugar, fat and salt.  These foods are literally addictive (like drugs), and drive overeating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercise, I would say start with walking, but if that's difficult because of your arthritis, I don't know.  Try to move however is comfortable for you, even if it's not much.  I'd suggest getting some 5 pound hand weights and just sort of playing with them while you watch TV.  For example, lift your arms out to the side, do bicep curls, etc.  A Youtube search for &quot;exercises for the morbidly obese&quot; turned up a number of home-videos of exercise advice from very overweight people, many heavier than you.  I'm not specifically recommending any of them, but they seem like a good place for you to start your research.  See which exercises look attainable and safe and try some of those out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is a really agonizingly slow process.  The main point is to make sure that it's consistent.  Getting down to a healthier weight is probably a multi-year commitment.  Losing a pound a week is a pretty agressive, but doable target for most people.  But even a pound ever two or three weeks is still movement in the right direction.  Expecting faster loss is what discourages a lot of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, it's worth getting started for two reasons.  The first is that even relatively small weight loss can lead to significant decreases in the risk for diseases like diabetes.  The second is that all weight loss is just trucking on with good habits.  If you mess up, don't exercise, binge eat, whatever, none of that matters now.  What matters is what you do today, not what you did yesterday that you weren't supposed to.  That was the key insight for me both with quitting smoking and losing weight.  If I slipped up and smoked a cigarette, that didn't mean that I &quot;started smoking again&quot;, it meant that I &quot;had smoked on one occasion&quot;.  Similarly, if you eat too much one day, that doesn't mean you've stopped losing weight.  It's just a temporary setback, not an end to the journey.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T06:32:51.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10219" CreationDate="2013-01-03T10:32:21.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Judoka do not have as high V02max as other sports like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/VO2max.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bicycling, rowing&lt;/a&gt;. In this study &lt;a href=&quot;http://judoinfo.com/new/articles-index/research-and-technical-papers/611-the-coachs-professional-activities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LEVELS OF ANAEROBIC AND AEROBIC CAPACITY INDICES AND RESULTS FOR THE SPECIAL FITNESS TEST IN JUDO COMPETITORS&lt;/a&gt;. They have measured good judoka. They seem to be around 52 ml/kg/min . I think you can reach that in if your not already there in 45 days with Intervall/HIIT etc. They mention a special Judo fitness test in the paper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must stress although in the same article they mention that the competitors who increased the most in the Judo fitness test &lt;strong&gt;did not do as well in the competition&lt;/strong&gt;. They think that this is due to not training enough judo or going pre matches before the national competition. Here is an study on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ais.up.ac.za/med/sport/physiological.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overtraining judoka&lt;/a&gt;. But this depends on your goal: If you want to be the most fit judoka in the competion or the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3855" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T10:32:21.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10219" CreationDate="2013-01-03T11:30:05.240" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at your numbers, strength is not an issue if you are a local/regional level player, you are all set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like your biggest problem is the lack of mat time. 1 to 4 sessions a week is not enough and no amount of weight lifting is going to change that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 sessions a week is a minimum if you compete locally and you should be putting some serious randori time in those sessions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking higher level, think 8-12 training sessions a week, incl. &gt;10h of randori. Plus weight training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judo cardio is a different kind of animal. If you try to power through your throws, you will run out of gas fast, whereas the same throws with proper technique and timing are effortless and you might not even break a sweat. How long you will last in a contest is more related to your skills and ability to pace yourself than it is related to your cardio level. As such, if you want to develop a good &quot;judo cardio&quot; you have to put in the mat time, there is no substitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line, for Judo, you need the mat time. If your dojo does not provide enough session for you, look into training at another Dojo as well, or even cross training in BJJ, wrestling, or Sambo if that what it takes for you to get more mat time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T11:30:05.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10205" CreationDate="2013-01-03T12:33:32.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are doing currently works for you, so it can't be that bad, but I think your perspective is wrong: You suffer through &quot;working out&quot; as a price to pay for being in reasonable shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also do cardio (treadmill/biking/elliptical...) while watching a movie, set the pace low enough that it doesn't distract you from the movie. Use an elastic band to work your upper body at the same time and you'll still come ahead because 1:15/day at low intensity is not a bad deal at all. And it's just a matter of convincing yourself to go watch a movie. Can't be too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, my real advice would be for you to try and take up a sport that you can actually enjoy doing. Could be Football, Basketball, Judo, BJJ... any physical activity you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grappling sports are particularly good for that. They develop the whole body rather uniformly and it's fun to try and outwit an opponent - just find a friendly dojo where they don't care too much about competition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it doesn't feel like you are &quot;working out&quot; but like you are &quot;playing a game&quot; and instead of having to tell yourself &quot;Darn, I need to workout&quot;, you start looking at your watch and telling yourself &quot;2 more hours. Can't wait to get on the mat&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are the slightest bit competitive, you will find your training intensity goes through the roof because you want to win and the pace is no longer dictated by some arbitrary numbers of reps to be done, but by your desire to win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Result-wise, intensity is a necessary component. Low intensity provides mild cardio benefits and that's about it. Medium-high intensity is where you get all the fitness result goodness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T12:33:32.660" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10235" CreationDate="2013-01-03T12:37:27.503" Score="2" ViewCount="487" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my mountain climbing activities, will eating more calories will allow me to perform a bit better / longer? Is there is an upper limit on the amount of calories a person's body can absorb every day, be it through fat, carbohydrates or protein?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example: My standard dehydrated expedition pack has about 1300kJ / 100g. That is about 310kCal / 100g. One pack contains about 600g of food, so I end up with 1860kCal for one meal. For a multi-day expedition I would eat two of those plus some extra bars etc. Giving around 4500kCal per day. Would my body be able to absorb more, and would it be beneficial to my performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1842" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2013-01-11T16:03:13.907" LastActivityDate="2013-01-11T16:03:13.907" Title="Will eating more calories help in mountain climbing?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10146" CreationDate="2013-01-03T14:04:37.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The obvious &quot;cure&quot; is to try to exercise both sides evenly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) Instead of doing push ups you can do bench presses with dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) You can do push ups with your feet on a swiss ball a wobble cushion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4939" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T14:04:37.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2013-01-03T14:53:06.690" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to improve your cardiovascular fitness is to do more of whatever it is you are doing, in a tempered, gradual progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above, 5 or 6 weeks is not enough to drastically improve your speed, but you can improve somewhat. Here's what I would recommend for you - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run. Almost every day. Take your longest run, do that once a week. 3 times a week, do 1/3 of that time, and 2 times a week do 2/3 of that time. So if your longest run is 60 minutes, that would be 3 runs of 20 mins and 2 runs of 40.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speedwork - Incorporate (probably into one of your middle distance runs) sections of uptempo, faster running. Get used to running faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep/recovery - Make sure that you are properly refueling and getting plenty of sleep. Unless you have other obligations, unless you are training you should be resting/recovering, or doing light activity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of it will be mental. You HAVE to believe, and be able to tell yourself &quot;I got this&quot;. As soon as you start saying to yourself &quot;Wow, never gonna make it!&quot;, you won't. Visualize it. See it in your head, believe it or it will never happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T14:53:06.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2013-01-03T14:55:33.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) If you don't have one, get a good heart rate monitor and learn how to train with it. Work out your anaerobic and lactate thresholds etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Find some local 5K/10K races. Having a target and some competition does miracles for motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Try to improve running technique (assuming it's not already spot on). If you can afford it, do a few sessions with a running coach. This probably won't get you fitter (in the short term), but it should reduce your 2.4K time. If you can't afford a coach, there is a lot of material on the web and on youtube that you can look up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4939" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T14:55:33.980" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10231" CreationDate="2013-01-03T15:06:51.443" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really is no &quot;limit&quot; to how many calories that a person can absorb in a day. Using them, however, is where other factors come into play, that are very much dependent on the person. For example, during his heaviest training days, Michael Phelps is reported to be consuming between 10-12,000 calories a day. However, if you don't exercise to meet that level of intake, it's going to get stored as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are going to be a couple of factors that determine how long/far you can go on a hike. The first is fitness. If you only ever train up to 3 or 4 hours for hiking, then you probably won't be able to hike much beyond that before your muscles are just too fatigued to continue. Someone that trains for a 1/2 marathon, for example, probably wouldn't be able to just up and run a 100 mile ultra. If you are unable to keep hiking/climbing at a certain point, compare that to your training and see if it is nutrition or fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the eating/absorption, &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; people can absorb between 250-400 calories per hour while exercising. Dumping 1800 calories into your system twice a day may not be optimal for you. This is something that you work out in your training, how much you can eat &quot;on the go&quot;, and how your body reacts to the large influx of food/calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are numerous calorie calculator and activity cost calculators around on the web, I would take a sample from several to get a &quot;general&quot; guideline for your activity cost, and if you have a 5 hour day planned, calculate your climbing costs for those 5 hours, aim for an hourly intake of a certain percentage of that, and get the rest from your meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T15:06:51.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10197" CreationDate="2013-01-03T22:12:37.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) It's safe, but you need to be a bit more careful about form/technique. You can pretend that there is an imaginary bar that keeps the dumb-bells at a constant distance apart as you do the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2a) Bent-over Row with dumb-bell&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping good form is a little more difficult.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You activate the secondary stabilizing muscle groups more (which is good).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As your right and left side can't help each other as you are working out, you should be able to lift less weight and/or do fewer reps than with a barbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mass gain may be slower, at least initially.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I like it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2b) Bent-over Row with barbell&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping good form is a little easier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because the right and the left side help each other you can lift heavier weights, at least initially, this can cause a faster mass gain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I like it less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2c) With a bench it's easier, but you can also do Kroc Rows without a bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can hold on to a chair or table to help you stay balanced&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/2012/12/kroc-rows-matt-kroczaleski/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kroc Rows with Matt Kroczaleski&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also do them just resting one elbow on your leg. This is the only video I could find, the technique is poor (way too much upper body movement and hard pulling), but I hope you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwNFzCQZt20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;33x42 kg kroc rows&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep also in mind that Kroc Rows are an asymmetric exercise. The risk of injury is a bit higher than with other exercises because your core is compensating for the weight on one side. This works also your core but could also strain your back muscles too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4939" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-03T23:56:38.593" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T23:56:38.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2013-01-03T22:46:41.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there truth to his claims? Not really. But it's a common belief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the scientific facts? None.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything correct about the idea that lifting heavy weights is inappropriate for women? Physiologically not really. Socially/psychologically I think so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think is that most women don't like to do 8-10 reps pushing to muscle failure whereas guys do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a trainer gives a low-rep heavy-weight program to a woman, she will probably not like it and not stick to it. She might also be intimidated if she needs to train in the weight room with many big sweaty and smelly men and no other women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the trainer gives a woman a high-reps low-weight program, she is more likely to stick to it and at the end get better results. Women also prefer group exercise classes like bodypump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people think that if they do a low-rep heavy-weight program where they work out 2-3 times a week, they'll end up big and bulky like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YsB5l4kaHA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pro body builder&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just not going to happen. A pro female body builder...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is genetically more able to gain muscle mass than the average person&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trains like crazy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diets like crazy (reducing fat levels to potentially dangerous levels)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;often takes steroids, hormones and other drugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4939" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-03T23:59:13.690" LastActivityDate="2013-01-03T23:59:13.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10345" CreationDate="2013-01-03T23:16:25.113" Score="7" ViewCount="16699" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to roughly match my carbohydrate intake to my rate of glycogen depletion with the goal of replenishing without overdoing. Is there an established way to estimate how much glycogen an activity utilizes? In my case I am doing 1.5hr sessions of olympic weightlifting that are fairly intense but most sets are fairly low rep (ie 1 to 3). I've heard/read contradictory statements about this from basically very little to &gt;200g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2013-01-11T18:53:32.790" Title="How much glycogen is burned in weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2013-01-04T03:05:10.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely! Yoga will stretch the muscles that have just worked (better do the body building part first) and body building will help build the muscles to hold the postures better in yoga!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4942" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T03:05:10.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2013-01-04T03:09:00.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try out Bikram yoga :) It is so much cardio that for the same amount you would have broken knees from the threadmill!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4942" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T03:09:00.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10243" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-04T03:21:15.790" Score="2" ViewCount="1009" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compared to other free weights, kettlebells seem disproportionately expensive per &lt;code&gt;kg.&lt;/code&gt; A quick search turns up only speculation, so an acceptable answer should have a source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plausible(?) hypothesis from the internet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shipping is expensive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Production happens only overseas (corroborates with 1.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low demand -&gt; low supply and higher prices&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different material (are they any different internally than other weights?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher production costs due to shape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why are kettlebells so expensive?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4943" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-01-04T03:57:24.433" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T03:57:24.433" Title="Why are kettlebells so expensive?" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="11" ClosedDate="2013-01-04T16:54:05.817" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10247" CreationDate="2013-01-04T03:42:52.190" Score="4" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in good physical health, exercise regularly and having been training capoeira for about a year. While technique is certainly a part of it, I've still been unable to kick more than waist high with an Armada or Queixada (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capoeira_techniques&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary of terms&lt;/a&gt;). I feel like the tension during a kick is in my waist and hamstrings. What stretches or other techniques can I do on my off days to help get my kicks higher?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4943" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-01-04T03:55:56.643" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T10:46:44.750" Title="What stretches can I do to kick higher in martial arts?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;capoeira&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10245" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-01-04T04:25:35.190" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-01-04T04:25:35.190" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T04:25:35.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10246" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-01-04T04:25:35.190" Score="0" Body="Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance and music. Capoeira has a perceived fluidity and is like a choreographed dance, but part of the movement is designed to position themselves around the aggressor in order to lay up for an attack.  It is known by quick and complex moves, using mainly power, speed, and leverage for leg sweeps." OwnerUserId="4943" LastEditorUserId="4943" LastEditDate="2013-01-04T05:32:44.950" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T05:32:44.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10244" CreationDate="2013-01-04T10:32:43.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good place to start looking is &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRx's list of stretches per muscle&lt;/a&gt;. Generally, whenever you feel that a muscle is not flexible enough for your goals (what you described as &quot;tension&quot;), you should try to make that muscle more flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the kicks you mentioned, it seems to me that hip adductors and hamstrings would be the muscles involved, but I never executed those particular movements so I'm not sure. The link I gave has stretches for those two muscles (and many more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2013-01-04T10:46:44.750" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T10:46:44.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-04T11:39:53.083" Score="-2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying the measuring calorie eating for reducing fat but couldn't find a way to measure the calories i am eating ..Is there any ways to do this perfectly ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shihab&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4722" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T17:56:02.723" Title="Is there any info available on how to measure daily eating calories perfectly?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;diet-tools&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-01-04T19:02:04.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1013" CreationDate="2013-01-04T14:44:15.533" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To some degree I think the shoe needs will vary based on individual anatomy and flexibility. For me (43yr old male with 2yrs of heavy lifting, 6 months olympic weightlifting) a taller and stiffer heel was needed to deal with my ankle flexibility issues. Without the higher heel I tended to end up with my weight to far forward onto my toes rather than heels while lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been through 3 different pairs in the past year and so far have liked the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ristosports.com&quot;&gt;Risto&lt;/a&gt; Olimpico the best. They seem to have the biggest heel to toe drop of the ones I've tried and are definitely one of the most comfortable. I'be also tried the Pendlays (had a good heel but were very uncomfortable for me) and the Adidas Powerlift Trainers (very comfortable but not a big enough heel for me). Others at my gym swear by the Nike Romaleos and the Adidas Adipower shoes but I have never tried those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T14:44:15.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10204" CreationDate="2013-01-04T15:20:42.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thickness of your yoga mat has a lot to do with how comfortable it is — too thin, and your knee may get banged up during crescent lunge. The tradeoff is that thick yoga mats (some as thick as 1/4 inch) can make it harder for you to feel a strong connection to the floor, making you more wobbly. Otherwise, it really just depends on whether you want a bulky mat to be carrying around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4940" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T15:20:42.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10248" CreationDate="2013-01-04T17:56:02.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to perfectly measure the number of calories you consume every day. Your best bet is use a website, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; to get a rough estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4392" LastActivityDate="2013-01-04T17:56:02.723" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10297" CreationDate="2013-01-05T10:45:41.007" Score="7" ViewCount="11903" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working through the set of plates on a pulldown machine (w/ v-grip) trying to get to the stage where I can do chin-ups. At 90kg now, not far off my bodyweight of 102kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the pulldown machine at my gym is now out of order, and things never get fixed quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So caught without a machine and no backup plan, I did bent over rows (barbell) that session, 2x5, then 1x5+, thinking it would pretty much target the same muscles I thought chin-ups would be using, i.e., lats and biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are bent rows appropriate and if so, in a 3x5 format? Lift to the upper or lower rib-cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I didn't like about the bent rows is even though I wasn't hunching my shoulders, I could feel the traps getting hammered up at the neck, and me no like ski-slope shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-05T11:45:50.003" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T08:31:47.203" Title="Are bent rows a good substitute for lat pulldowns?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10253" CreationDate="2013-01-05T11:01:00.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't really feel that I get a training effect if I could only do one good form pull up in a row. So as my exercise was really lacking a pulling motion, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Inverted Rows&lt;/a&gt; to be a great way to work my way up to pull ups and chin ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combining the often heard pull up rule &lt;em&gt;&quot;If you can only do one, do them as often as you can&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and inverted rows in different variations improved my ability to do consecutive pull ups and chin ups drastically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do inverted rows nearly everywhere, either over or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWUnderhandSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;underhand&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At the gym you could hang a barbell into a rack and get below (depends on the rack and its placement to the wall of course).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you want to do them at home, you can lie below a table and pull yourself up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the angle of the pulling motion isn't exactly the same as with a pull up, but contrary to a barbell row, still facing upwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-11T18:02:53.427" LastActivityDate="2013-09-11T18:02:53.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-05T11:48:32.373" Score="8" ViewCount="9861" Body="&lt;p&gt;Johnny Pain, author of the GreySkull LP program, does not recommend doing assisted chin-ups to build up to unassisted ones, claiming all they'll make you good at is assisted chin-ups. For instance, on his forums (login required), he has mentioned in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, ditch the band assisted chins lest you become extremely good at doing band assisted chins and little else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Band assisted chins are good for one thing, making you real good at doing band assisted chins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're in a gym that has an assisted pullup machine, they probably have a pulldown setup. I like V handle pulldowns heavy and with good technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So he recommends v-grip pulldowns and chin-up negatives spread through-out the day, instead of assisted chin-ups. Is there any reasoning behind this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T18:38:58.117" Title="Why might assisted chin-ups not be recommended to build up to unassisted ones?" Tags="&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-05T12:01:37.083" Score="3" ViewCount="677" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing chin-up negs to try and work up to unassisted chin-ups, but not having a bar at home or even a space or even a standard door to put one, nor local availability of a reasonably pricing ceiling mounted unit, I've been doing them on TRX straps hanging from the ceiling, spaced about 2 feet apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm finding the negs quite difficult, compared to when I'm at the gym and use a bar. After about 6 weeks, I've progressed on a lat-pulldown machine from 2x8x63kg to 2x8x90kg, yet the chin-up negs don't seem to be getting any easier on the straps, only on the bar at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly the straps need to be a bit closer together, directly above the shoulder joints? Or are some stabilisers just getting smashed, limiting the effectiveness of the negs for building up to chin-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T12:44:44.357" Title="Chin-ups on a bar versus straps" Tags="&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10256" CreationDate="2013-01-05T12:31:03.323" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your other question I know that the lat pulldown machine broke down, however:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Using a machine does not really prepare you for the real exercise. To improve any body weight or free weight exercise it is best to not use a machine. The machine controls the path of the weight and you don't have to worry about the weight dropping uncontrolled or tipping over to the side. This means that the muscles that would normally be used for this, wont get a lot of training. However these are crucial to perform the real exercise with the same weight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also if you are trying to do &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; pull up, why are you doing &lt;em&gt;eight&lt;/em&gt; repetitions on the machine? I'd go for a less reps, more sets and higher weights. Maybe something in the 5x3 range, however this is purely based on my personal approach to arranging workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it harder to do pull ups on the straps, compared to the bar?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's somewhat comparable to how the machine is to a real pull up. With a bar your hands have a fixed point in space to attach to, with those straps they don't. Your whole body has to tense far more to not go in a swinging motion, to not twirl etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you really are bound to the straps (haha, pun not really intended) I'd try to attach them as closely as possible to the ceiling or the wall to reduce their movement. I don't own those straps, I've only have just seen them on youtube, so I am not sure how to actually do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you should check for a pull up bar again. Mine was relatively cheap, about 30€ and ceiling mounted. You don't need a lot of space for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a1qMD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pull up bar&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thats the Home-Gym part of my room, directly after I drilled the bar against the ceiling. My apartment is really small (~20m²), it still works out fine. I can no longer fully open the window, but whatever…&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As a side note: I also did pull ups hanging down the locker on the left before I had the bar. Totally uncomfortable grip, a bit dangerous, especially when the locker tips over, but you are not able to cheat by throwing your legs up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-05T12:44:38.303" LastActivityDate="2013-01-05T12:44:38.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10255" CreationDate="2013-01-05T12:41:47.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take this answer with a grain of salt as I've never done anything besides (underhand) inverted rows or pull ups, chin ups or neutral grip pull ups when training for pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/10-ways-to-get-stronger-at-pull-ups-fast/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I've read&lt;/a&gt; the band assisted pull ups mostly help you in the lower part of the pull up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Resistance bands only help you in the bottom position. You'll have to do most of the work in the top of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider the lower part to be the harder part of the movement as this targets the lats mostly. The upper part seems to train the arms more. For me it is the whole movement is what I am trying to get better at, so assisted pull ups are not really an option.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I think Johnny Pain is right here, at least to some point. Assisted pull ups are probably better to train for pull ups than doing nothing, but as long as your lats are your weak point in the pull up movement, you should look for another exercise that makes it easier to train them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-05T14:12:36.393" LastActivityDate="2013-01-05T14:12:36.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-05T14:12:48.233" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/74/is-it-true-that-you-can-eat-anything-you-want-within-15-minutes-of-working-out-w&quot;&gt;Is it true that you can eat anything you want within 15 minutes of working out without putting on weight?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend and I were having an argument where he was saying that you can pretty much eat any food after working out and even if its unhealthy, there is a window of time where your body is looking to replenish itself. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-eat/what-not-to-eat-after-a-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article s&lt;/a&gt;eems to agree with me but is there any truth to this comment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-01-05T21:04:15.463" Title="Do you have a post training window with regard to eating any foods?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-01-06T23:10:04.507" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10259" CreationDate="2013-01-05T21:04:15.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say there is no truth to the statement that you can eat ANYTHING just because you just finished a workout. I mean no one is going to suggest that a tub of lard is ok as long as you worked out, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what your friend probably heard, and misinterpreted, is that after a hard workout where you have depleted your muscle's glycogen stores, they are best able to replenish them in the 30-60 minutes after.  Many endurance runners swear by a glass of chocolate milk at the end of a run, as the ratio of protein to carbs is just about optimal to replenish glycogen stores, possibly increasing the amount of glycogen stored, thereby increasing endurance in future workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4879" LastActivityDate="2013-01-05T21:04:15.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-06T09:59:18.030" Score="2" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it's healthy to drink warm water that is close to (internal) body temperature so that energy doesn't go into warming it up and that it doesn't &quot;shock&quot; the system. Does that mean it's unhealthy to drink cold water? I find it helps me cool down on a hot day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T13:18:10.070" Title="Is it unhealthy to drink cold water?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-01-06T23:07:23.003" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10256" CreationDate="2013-01-06T11:54:19.593" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't worked out using straps but I would consider they are similar to still rings. The difference between still rings and pull-up bar exercising is that the rings are not static, they can move and as informaficker said you need to maintain a good balance on them in order to exercise. Once you get more experienced and gain strength it would not make a difference to you whether you are using straps, rings or a pull-up bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your question related to the pull-up progression, the width of the straps is not playing such an important role. If you want to achieve a pull-up/chin-up you better develop a certain workout program and follow it. The body needs to adapt and get prepared for this exercise, it needs to gain strength precisely for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have written an article on my website that is related to learning the chin-up and pull-up. I think it might help you: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthlete.com/2012/11/tutorial-how-to-do-your-first-chin-up-pull-up/&quot;&gt;Tutorial: How to do your first chin-up &amp;amp; pull-up!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also find an article about installing still rings in your place. I was very limited in terms of space when I installed mine. Originally I wanted to put a pull-up bar but did not have enough space so I just had to figure out how to mount rings instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope my post helps you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-06T12:44:44.357" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T12:44:44.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10255" CreationDate="2013-01-06T12:06:00.460" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose he mentioned it because in general when one is using bands to help himself with the chin-ups he gets used to them and forgets that they must be there just temporary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However his statement is not true. I did not use bands when learning the chin-up but I did use bands when learning the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthlete.com/2011/05/one-arm-chin-uppull-up/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;One Arm Chin Up&lt;/a&gt;(Disclosure: &lt;em&gt;this is my personal website&lt;/em&gt;). It was one of my primary methods to develop strength and I successfully moved on doing one arm chin-ups without the assistance of using any rubber bands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is to remember that you need to get rid of the bands. You need to challenge your body with the chin-ups. This way it is going to keep building strength. You can do this by primarily focusing on using your body and depending as little as you can on the bands. This is hard to measure because unlike weight lifting you can't measure the amount of assistance that you get from the bands. So what else you can do is either decrease the amount of assistance by the bands by attaching a different(weaker band) once you reach a good number of repetitions using a band(6-8 reps). Or by attaching a weighted plate to a rope which you use to assist yourself(instead of a band). The second method helps you measure your progress for you can attach different plates to the rope, in other words decreasing the assisted weight over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastEditorUserId="4954" LastEditDate="2013-01-06T13:04:54.967" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T13:04:54.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9971" CreationDate="2013-01-06T12:35:48.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally dislike using gloves because as others stated they make your hands sweat. Secondly I would like to always feel the bar when I am performing harder exercises than chin-ups and pull-ups. Thirdly wearing gloves always seemed to be conflicting the whole workout idea. You go to the gym in order to work hard so that you can reap results later from your efforts. There's no easy way around. Calluses are part of the whole process, there are exercises on the bar where even gloves are not going to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen &lt;strong&gt;lean&lt;/strong&gt; people using straps for a single set of 8 pull-ups. Do you need straps to pull yourself up? No. The less you get used to assisting yourself using gloves and/or straps(I can understand straps for deadlifts) the better. Because what are you going to do if you forget your gloves and you are already in the gym, are you going to miss a workout? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my eyes gloves spoil the mind, just an accessory of the fitness industry that helps its manufacturers earn money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T12:35:48.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10263" CreationDate="2013-01-06T13:18:10.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Co-signing to what you said. In the hot summer days I would always try to drink a rather cold water in order to cool down. Just how you said the body warms it up so it basically takes away from the body's temperature. It always works well for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know from my doctor that very cold water will shock your system and from my dentist that it is bad for the teeth's enamel. That's why I try to not abuse it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T13:18:10.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-06T14:19:24.987" Score="4" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note that this question is related to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/418/3941&quot;&gt;Excessive caffeine consumption effect on heart/body&lt;/a&gt;. The question and answers however only cover long term usage effects, I want to know about the short term effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which effects does consumption of caffeine during workout have?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I usually drink one or two 0.7l bottles of water before, during and after workout. I drink about one or two cans of tea daily, and was wondering if it has a detrimental effect when I keep drinking tea instead of water while working out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also noticed that some pulverized energy drinks contain some amount of caffeine and was wondering what the effects of caffeine consumption are on both strength and cardio exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I regularly drink coffee, tea or mate I am somewhat used to caffeine. Would there be different effects if I'd increase the dose or if someone who isn't used to caffeine would start consuming during exercise?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T09:41:24.073" Title="What are the short term effects of caffeine on workout?" Tags="&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10269" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-06T14:40:47.347" Score="6" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read multiple times that the body gets used to certain exercises and will adapt to them, so the training effect for doing the same exercise minimizes. And although two quite similar exercises will often train the same muscles, they use them in different ways.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I have basically two groups of exercises that I switch weekly. I do the first groups of exercises in one week and the next groups of exercises in the other week. There are some exercises I do in both weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it is a good approach to reduce adaption. Should I switch in another cycle; every exercise day, only every two weeks or even less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-06T19:06:18.357" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T07:12:53.540" Title="Alternating between similar exercises" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10269" CreationDate="2013-01-06T15:52:05.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry but after reading your post I couldn't understand what your current goals are. For example do you want to gain muscle mass, or muscle strength, or maybe perhaps endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not familiar with the hundred push ups program and the dips program, that might be the reason why I don't get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However in my training I usually target a specific gymnastics' strength move on the rings(let's say). Which means that I will dedicate all of my training to it which sometimes might be several months. Excluding the deloading phase I would train the same muscle groups(which are being involved in that move) for 3 to 4 times per week. Doing bench dips with bent knees or with your heels on the floor is pretty much the same exercise, slightly varied(I would consider the one with the heels on the floor more advanced and harder). So instead of doing bench dips on both workout days, instead, try something that is still going to target your triceps and shoulders but differently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not impossible to keep training the same muscle groups and continuing making progress(in any direction you desire) if you vary the exercises well. The more the exercises differ from each other the easier your progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you tell me your current goals and which muscle groups you wish to target we can build a program together. Also do you do weights or do you depend on body weight exercises only? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/strong&gt; Regarding your question about the intervals between two similar exercises. The interval could be no longer than the appropriate amount of time your body will need to recover fully after your last workout. In my case that would be around a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastEditorUserId="4954" LastEditDate="2013-01-06T15:59:15.207" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T15:59:15.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10269" CreationDate="2013-01-06T18:49:56.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it is a good idea to work a particular muscle or muscle group with a variety of exercises,  you need to keep a couple of things in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume:  If you are doing multiple exercises that target the same muscle, effectively you are doing more sets.  Therefore, you'll either need to decrease the weight, or decrease reps/sets of the individual exercises. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest:  The issue with doing the 100 Push-ups and 100 Dips program on alternate days is you will never let your muscles rest to recover and gain strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are only doing the 100 Push-ups/150 Dips programs to monitor other improvements, I don't think it really matters whether you alternate weeks, or not, as long as you are rested before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I like the idea of using a basic functional exercise such as a push-up or pull-up as a benchmark.  I will periodically see how many consecutive push-ups/pull-ups I can do before a workout,  I track this number as I think it is a better indicator of my overall strength than the number of lbs I can do on a specific exercise. Overtime I may change from barbell bench presses to dumbbell presses to using a machine, but a push-up is a push-up so it gives me a basis for comparison. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4879" LastEditorUserId="4879" LastEditDate="2013-01-06T19:14:54.150" LastActivityDate="2013-01-06T19:14:54.150" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10282" CreationDate="2013-01-07T05:47:46.323" Score="1" ViewCount="1040" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nowadays we don't considering our body with day to day life, all are working day night shifts in our office environments with in front of machines and computers etc.,definitely they will affect our health in a certain period, after that only we recognize something went wrong in our health and take some consideration or remedy for that, so in that situation which one is best to maintain healthy body either &lt;strong&gt;Yoga&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;Gym&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4891" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T19:11:03.990" Title="Which one is best to maintain healthy body either yoga or Gym?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;tips&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-01-07T18:39:16.940" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10269" CreationDate="2013-01-07T07:12:53.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that you've reduced the size and information content of the question and are basically looking for a higher-level answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To cut to the chase, there are different ways to incorporating variety:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] One day heavy weights with low reps and longer rest periods between sets; the next day lighter weights with higher reps and less rest in between&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] Stripping: start with a higher weight and after some reps reduce the weight and go on like that for a number of sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[3] I go you go: with a partner, you do some reps, they do some reps, then you do some reps, without ever putting the weights on the ground&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[4] Pyramid system: incrementing the weights with every set upto a point&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[5] Working the rack: just do the same exercise with all the weights on the rack one after the other&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[6] Some days work with dumbbells, some day work with barbells, some days with bodyweight, some days with exercise bands&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[7] Try HIIT: high intensity interval training which is timed and much more intense&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[8] Try sprinting on a treadmill for intervals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4821" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T07:12:53.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4715" CreationDate="2013-01-07T10:01:10.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with MountainX about the stress. Stress is proven by several studies to make you lose muscle, increasing the muscle catabolism. I have noticed that stress affects my body, making me lose muscle, even more than I have seen it affecting my friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I don't think this is your problem. You mentioned not working out for 10 days. I have learnt from gymnastics' coaches in my gym that it takes exactly 3 days of not using a particular muscle group in your body and the process of muscle atrophy will be present there. That's because, as Berin mentioned, your body will see no reason to maintain a bigger muscle group. It will burn more calories on a daily basis, harder to maintain and so on. That's why the body will decrease the amount of muscle in a certain area regarding the amount of load/exercising that you apply to it. In other words &lt;strong&gt;use it or lose it&lt;/strong&gt;. Again as Berin mentioned, muscles have memory so you can regain your muscle size and strength in a very short period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only certain way to maintain particular amount of muscle mass is to keep working out. You have to &lt;strong&gt;remind&lt;/strong&gt; the body that you need that muscle group and it should keep it there. If you don't have enough time for a whole workout you can still maintain the size just by throwing in several sets of clean executed chin-ups/biceps curling throughout your day. The examples serves the biceps muscle group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T10:01:10.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10274" CreationDate="2013-01-07T11:40:01.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure you're stating the question clearly...it's sort of asking: what's better salad or a restaurant..??..you can do yoga at home, the gym or a yoga studio - on the other hand a gym might be able to provide yoga, weight training, aerobic exercises, training classes, etc.  Being healthy consists of a good diet and regular exercise...set some realistic goals, find out what type of exercise interests you and go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T11:40:01.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10278" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10280" CreationDate="2013-01-07T14:25:07.487" Score="7" ViewCount="2193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of a knee injury (right knee) I'm looking for ways to keep my upper body in shape until the injury is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've already found some exercises to keep my arms in shape without using my leg(s) so I'm mostly looking for exercises to train my abs. I've tried regular sit-ups but I believe these may put too much stress on my knee over a long period of time. Any advice is appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm in early 20s, amateur and prefer to exercise at home)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4962" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T19:44:55.813" Title="Training upper body without stressing lower body" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10278" CreationDate="2013-01-07T16:17:56.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what would aggravate your knee injury or not, but I would give planks a try. They're a good abs exercise in general, and they don't involve any movement of any joints, just a static hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastEditorUserId="4176" LastEditDate="2013-01-07T19:44:55.813" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T19:44:55.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10278" CreationDate="2013-01-07T16:42:38.740" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do sit-ups isolating the one leg which you have injured. Planks might help you a little but they are not all that challenging for the abs area after one moment onwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exercise that I can think of right now that will completely isolate your knee(and is not very advanced) is the &lt;strong&gt;dragon flag&lt;/strong&gt;. It got popular thanks to bruce lee who introduced it to the world in his active years. The exercise primarily targets the abdominal muscle area of your body, it will also work out your arms a tad bit and completely leave the legs to rest. Below you can see snapshot of Bruce Lee performing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LQ6eI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dragon flag, Bruce Lee&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a video tutorial that I had released couple years ago explaining the progression methods that you can use in order to learn the exercise. What's great about this exercise is that no matter which progression you start with, it will provide your abs with an immense workout from the very beginning. Here's a link to the tutorial I am talking about, if you have any questions fire away at me! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf0Skpkag50&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf0Skpkag50&lt;/a&gt; (Disclosure: &lt;em&gt;The video materials are mine&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T16:42:38.740" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8382" CreationDate="2013-01-07T17:49:10.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to tell without your training goals, but you state &quot;heavy lifting routine&quot;, so I'm going to assume you are trying to build muscle mass.  I would suggest adding squats and leg extensions to your leg day, as these will help release natural testosterone in your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest isolating pull and push movements on separate days.  Starting with the bigger muscle, you would do something like Chest/Triceps on day one, and then Back/Biceps day 3. Here's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.co.uk/exercise/total_body/3187/pushpull_workout_for_big_muscles.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt; of what I mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a whole day for abs? really?  That's just overkill, and if you are looking to get a six-pack, you ain't gonna get it by doing a full day's ab workout.  You'll get much better core results by training your quads and lower back and doing cardio on that day than by dedicating an entire day to abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T17:49:10.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10274" CreationDate="2013-01-07T19:11:03.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends what you do at the gym.  Yoga helps with balance and flexibility.  The gym can help with a myriad of things, depending on what you choose to do when you go there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging by your OP, you want an alternative to the sedentary and complacent lifestyle that results from working in an office setting.  Have you thought about playing organized sports?  They can do miracles for your health, while never really giving you the feeling that you are &quot;working out&quot;.  If this isn't an option, going to the gym and doing the elliptical, some biking or getting on the treadmill will have the same effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, strength training is always an option at the gym, but is much more time consuming and diet-constricting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which leads to my next point: Diet. What you put in your body is just as important as all of the exercise you choose to undertake.  With the right diet, you could get away with around 2 hours a week of exercise, and still maintain a healthy body and weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work as an IT professional, and you'd be surprised if you saw our office and the staff.  We exercise together regularly, have a softball team, ball hockey team, etc... We share healthy recipes all the time, and even have an awesome &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv-LcIC5gtc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;protein bar recipe&lt;/a&gt; that we all use.  Its quite motivational if you get your friends and co-workers involved with getting healthy at the same time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T19:11:03.990" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10255" CreationDate="2013-01-07T19:28:40.603" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Kate mentions a few times in the comments: Resistance bands are not the only way to do assisted chin-ups.  For someone who is either too heavy, or doesn't have very strong delts/lats/biceps, the assisted pull-up might be the only alternative.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend cannot do a chin-up, but using the assisted chin-up machine at our local gym with only 20 pounds of assistance, she can.  Last month, she could only do it with 40 pounds of assistance.  That, to me, is &lt;strong&gt;progress&lt;/strong&gt;, and I couldn't be happier for her.  My aim is that in 2 weeks she will be able to do a few un-assisted chin-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't care what your so-called expert says.  In my experience, the assistance has built up her strength, but more importantly her &lt;strong&gt;confidence&lt;/strong&gt;, to achieve something she never thought she could do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising is different for every single one of us, so don't lend too much credence to what another person says until you try it for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T19:28:40.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10255" CreationDate="2013-01-07T21:52:56.683" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The point is just that the band assisted chin should not be thought of as an &quot;easier chin-up.&quot;    It is a different exercise, it is a different skill that you are learning.  (The non-linear nature of the band helping you out most at the bottom, where the shoulder mobility that most people lack is most important, making it easier to start with bad shoulder position!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That trainer believes the pull-down is a more appropriate accessory exercise than the band-assisted chin to develop the strength needed to proceed to learning the chin-up skill.  One can agree with him somewhat on the basis that bad-form is likely more obvious on the pull down.  One can certainly do &quot;too-much-too-soon&quot; on the assisted pull-up machine and learn the skill incorrectly with poor shoulder mechanics hiding missing strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To someone who is is not a baseball enthusiast, what is the difference between the throw a second baseman uses to home plate and a pitch?  Is it not just a harder version of the pitch with less accuracy?  Of course if you've played baseball you know it's a totally different skill and you don't use one to improve the other.  You use accessory exercises appropriate to that skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am not saying I 100% agree with him, just trying to restate his point as I understand it!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastActivityDate="2013-01-07T21:52:56.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10291" CreationDate="2013-01-08T02:26:54.887" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 30 lap/split memory stopwatch that I got for doing sprints. I thought it would be a little more intuitive, but it doesn't look like stopwatches are really meant to capture what I'm trying to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I simply want to capture only my sprint time as individual laps. Not as cumulative time. &lt;strong&gt;I don't care about my total time or distance.&lt;/strong&gt; So when I go back into memory I can see my sprints back to back so I can improve the next time around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now the only way I can do is is kinda a &quot;hack&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set it to Lap Mode:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hit Start --&gt; Run my sprint --&gt; Hit Lap/Reset --&gt; Lap 1 clocked at 02&quot;30 --&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Immediately Hit Start/Stop --&gt; Lap 2 clocked at 00&quot;20&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I do this, all I have to do is hit Start/Stop and it will start tracking my sprints as I want. But is there a way to do this without going through this &quot;bogus&quot; Lap 2? (I listed in bold)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that make sense? Am I asking too much from my stopwatch? I'm completely amateur to track/field so I'm not particularly sure how the professionals do it without bringing a friend and a clipboard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3830" LastEditorUserId="3830" LastEditDate="2013-01-08T17:35:49.033" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T17:35:49.033" Title="Using a stopwatch for intervals" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-08T02:46:51.360" Score="1" ViewCount="14625" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am moderately active, normal blood pressure, fairly average weight and build.  I've noticed that when I'm running in cold weather, about 5-10 minutes into my run I start to get what feel like heart palpitations, a somewhat uncomfortable but not painful fluttery feeling in my chest.  I don't get dizzy or anything, and am able to run normally, but I usually stop for a few minutes so I can make sure everything is ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had similar experiences when I used to work in a chilly building (65-68F) all day then walk out in the summer air (&gt;95F).  For the first few minutes I'd get the feeling my heart wasn't beating fast enough, and it had the same fluttery feeling, but once I take a few breaths and give it a few minutes, things seem to normalize.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would this be happening?  Do I have bradycardia?  Could this be dangerous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4966" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T15:52:08.630" Title="Is it normal to have heart palpitations in colder weather?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-01-08T19:01:29.217" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10268" CreationDate="2013-01-08T09:41:24.073" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your caffeine consumption, practically speaking, probably does not affect your workouts positively or negatively. As @JohnP pointed out, caffeine studies are on greater amounts than a couple of cans of tea per day. According to the Sports Med. 2001;31(11):785-807,  &quot;ingestion of caffeine as coffee appears to be ineffective compared to doping with pure caffeine.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caffeine Dosage before exercise for performance:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/caffeineandexercise.pdf&quot;&gt;American College of Sports Medicine&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The optimal dose for maximizing the chance that exercise performance will be enhanced is ~3 – 6 mg/kg, where side effects are minimized and urine levels are legal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Caffeine ingestion (3-9 mg/kg bw) prior to exercise increases performance during prolonged endurance exercise and short-term intense exercise lasting approx. 5 minutes in the laboratory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note:  That is 3-9 mg per kg of body weight.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive Effects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;ingestion of 3-9 mg of caffeine per kilogram (kg) of body weight one hour prior to exercise increased endurance running and cycling performance in the laboratory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short Term&lt;/strong&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Research suggests that caffeine ingestion improves performance during short-term exercise lasting approximately 5 minutes at 90 to 100 percent of maximal oxygen uptake in the laboratory.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11583104&quot;&gt;Sports Medicine article&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Caffeine has been &quot;shown to increase speed and/or power output in simulated race conditions. These effects have been found in activities that last as little as 60 seconds or as long as 2 hours. &quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;on strength; however, recent work suggests no effect on maximal ability, but enhanced endurance or resistance to fatigue&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ingesting caffeine reduces muscular pain during exercise in hot but not cold temperatures, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21163281&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; found that, although caffeine improves exercise capacity, its effect on leg muscle pain is dependent on ambient temperature. Although exercise in the heat increases muscle pain compared to a cooler environment, caffeine reduces this pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative Effects:&lt;/strong&gt; According to the American College of Sports Medicine:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The side effects of caffeine ingestion include anxiety, jitters, inability to   focus, gastrointestinal unrest, insomnia, irritability, and, with higher doses, the risk of heart arrhythmias and mild hallucinations. While the side effects associated with doses of up to 9 mg/kg do not appear to be dangerous, they can be disconcerting if present prior to a competition and may impair performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11583104&quot;&gt;Sports Med. 2001;31(11):785-807 article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no evidence that caffeine ingestion before exercise leads to dehydration, ion imbalance, or any other adverse effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether or not the effects vary depending on if someone consumes caffeine regularly, while this would seem to be the case, and is often said to be the case, I don't have a reference to confirm this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T09:41:24.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10017" CreationDate="2013-01-08T11:18:22.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never performed that specific exercise, but it is listed on ExRx's database &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/CBKneelingCrunch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, with alternative technique &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/AnimatedEx/RectusAbdominis/CBKneelingCrunchAlt.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Generally, I trust that website (it is recommended by the ACSM, so it's not just your average website).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your specific points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Both can be used but I'd say that facing the machine is better. It probably makes the resistance direction (which is near vertical if you face the machine, as in the first link) closer to the movement direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Assuming that you use this exercise to isolate your abs, you should put your arms in a position which is as favorable as possible, which in this case means bending them and placing your hands on top of your head (see the link above) if you are grabbing a bar, or on the side of your head if you are using stirrups. Extending your arms will work your shoulder and arm muscles isometrically if you keep your arms rigid; if you don't keep them absolutely rigid, your arms will help your abs, defeating the point of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Yes, you should treat it like a crunch. As that link says, &quot;movement occurs in waist, not hips&quot;. Your torso should bend throughout the exercise. The most important distinction is to ensure that you are bending your spine: think of bringing your upper chest to your groin. You should NOT bend at the hips, as you would in a bowing movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) This will somewhat depend of your body proportions but the first link I gave uses something like 67.5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) That link has a few more pointers, but I think the major points were covered here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="4771" LastEditDate="2013-01-11T17:23:20.293" LastActivityDate="2013-01-11T17:23:20.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10017" CreationDate="2013-01-08T13:57:25.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) You should face the machine. Facing away can work but it forces you into some bad posturing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) You should find a place for your arms to stay. If you prefer arms straight you should let your biceps an lats be relaxed. It is very easy to use the muscles in your arm without realizing it. If bent is more comfortable, once you get in the right position, you should lock everything from your chest up in place. This will ensure that you don't try to pull down with any other muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Your body should be straight from shoulders through your waist to your knees. When you perform the crunch think of moving the ribs right below your pecs into your belly button. Exhale while you crunch. This will help you engage your abdomen as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) This depends on your level of strength with your core. If leaning at even an 80º angle makes you sway your back or pooch out your butt it is too far. The further your knees are from the machine the harder it will be. This is because not only working your abs this way, you are also having to use all of your stabilizer muscles to keep from falling forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Try to be conscious of yourself and not others. Everyone is different and starts at varying levels. Just do your best with the best form possible and you will be okay!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T13:57:25.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10286" CreationDate="2013-01-08T13:58:48.347" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your stopwatch allows review, and you have enough laps, what you do is start when you are ready for your first sprint.   Run it out.  Lap.  Then however long your rest period, let it run until you are ready for your second sprint, and then lap again to start.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your second sprint is done, lap again.  And repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon review, you will have your obvious two and half minute sprints, and some longer intervals for the rest.  Or even if they are similar in time, the ordering will tell which is which, so you will know the sprint times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this on hills.  Start during warm up, lap at base of first hill, lap at top.  Lap at the bottom to measure descent, lap after cool down period and start of second hill, repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It helps I use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000B545AA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Timex Datalink USB&lt;/a&gt; which has a 200 lap stop watch, and downloads over USB to an Excel sheet.  (Alas they stopped making them.  Best watch ever!)  Holy spimoney!  That Amazon link is $250?  I paid between 50 and 70 over the years. (I bought three as I broke/lost them).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T13:58:48.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10286" CreationDate="2013-01-08T14:04:04.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The functionality of most stop watches only contains START/STOP, LAP and RESET. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RESET resets the time to zero, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;START/STOP start/stops the time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;LAP only freezes the displayed time (until you hit it again), still recording the time in the background. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a watch with these &quot;standard features&quot;, there is no other workaround than the one you mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopwatch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T14:04:04.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10287" CreationDate="2013-01-08T15:52:08.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Palpitations can be a result of many things going on with your heart. Atrial Fibrillation, 1st 2nd or 3rd degree heart blocks, and a few others come to mind. The important thing to note is any time you heart starts doing something abnormal, even if you aren't sure if it is a normal response, CALL YOUR DOCTOR. Most exercise induced palpitations can be worked with if treated and monitored by a physician. If left un-diagnosed and untreated they can be fatal. When you call your doctor ask if having an exercise stress test with an EKG hooked up to you. (In all honesty they will suggest you do this anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See your doctor sooner than later though. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T15:52:08.630" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10296" CreationDate="2013-01-08T19:01:59.440" Score="3" ViewCount="6262" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can push-ups be used to develop stamina? For instance, could a trainee use them like running for the lower body, like doing push-ups for an hour without rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physical workers that work all day round with their hands, such as blacksmiths, are known for their strong hands. They also have high stamina in their upper bodies. I'd probably be exhausted after 10 minutes if I did what they do. I get tired quickly when carrying something heavy in my hands, yet I've seen tradeswomen carrying about 20kg in each hand for kilometers. So my hands definitely require strengthening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So would it be a good idea to do as many push-ups as possible to develop upper-body stamina? I can't imagine doing 1000 push ups at the moment, but many people don't imagine even fast walking for over an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-08T21:00:07.450" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T05:58:03.383" Title="Push-ups for stamina development?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10294" CreationDate="2013-01-08T19:16:16.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that you will build endurance in a particular task by repeating that task. If you do a lot of pushups, you will build endurance for pushups, and to an extent for other shoulder-push movements. Doing as many pushups as possible is a fine idea, if you want to be better at doing pushups. If you want to be better at carrying something heavy over a long distance, practice with something like a farmer's walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T19:16:16.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10294" CreationDate="2013-01-08T19:20:05.720" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In theory, you can. Stamina can be trained with any kind of muscles, as long as you are getting training is a very high volume (which implies a low intensity). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that stamina consists of muscular endurance (which depends on the muscles that are trained), and cardiovascular endurance (which depends on the whole cardiovascular system)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice though, most people probably won't develop as much stamina (in terms of muscular endurance) in their upper body as in their legs, because they simply get more volume in using their legs (unless they start walking on their hands all the time). That being said, if you want to improve cardiovascular endurance, you will probably get faster results with leg workouts, because your legs already have more muscular endurance which gives you the ability of higher volume training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorUserId="4800" LastEditDate="2013-01-09T05:58:03.383" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T05:58:03.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10253" CreationDate="2013-01-08T19:25:51.807" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a great question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as muscle recruitment goes, the bent-over barbell rows do yield the most muscle activity for the lats (back) and the biceps during EMG (electromyographic studies); however, this is only when you comparing with other bent-over row exercises (dumbbell, cable, etc.).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the most effective lat and bicep exercises, studies have shown that doing pull-ups and chin-ups are more effective than doing bent-over rows; however, the lat pull-down is a great alternative lat exercise if the pull-up bar is not available or for someone who simply cannot perform many pull-ups or chin-ups in a row (5-10 for examples). And with this being said, I do think that bent-over barbell rows or dumbbell rows are great alternative exercises for the back if the lat pull-down is not available.  Hope this answers that particular question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter if you perform the bent-over rows towards your lower or upper rib-cage.  However, I think the main reason that you are feeling the upper trap muscle is being targeted more is possibly due to muscular imbalances.  From a physical therapist standpoint, what I'm saying is that your scapular (shoulder blade) stabilizers, particularly the mid trap and lower trap are weaker than the upper trap (which is very common in many weight lifters and many people in general).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when doing bent-over rows, your scapular stabilizers give out first, so your upper trap will kick in for compensation, and that is one possible reason why you feel like your upper trap is hammered up to your neck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try performing the prone T's and Y's exercises a couple times per week (3 sets of 20 reps), focusing on squeezing your shoulder blades together for about 3-4 weeks, then try bent-over rows again and see that will help for this particular problem.  Also, give your upper trap a few good stretches during breaks between sets next time. You can google upper trap stretches and prone T's and Y's for more information on how to perform them correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-01-09T03:47:20.787" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T03:47:20.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10294" CreationDate="2013-01-08T19:28:02.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Doc stated in his answer, push-ups will help you build endurance for tasks that have motions that resemble push-ups, and not much more.  It's a great starting point for the push mechanism of your upper body though, sort of like training your quadriceps with jumping squats without any added weight would do for your lower body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But don't neglect the pulling mechanism of your upper body, which is mostly done by your biceps and your back. (hamstrings would be your closest lower body equivalent).  For that, I would suggest rowing, either by machine, weights, or actually going out on a boat and rowing for a long period of time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, cardio is the determining factor in stamina and endurance.  Without oxygen, your muscles will tire out quickly, so they need a constant supply of oxygen from your bloodstream.  You can have huge muscles like body-builders or the 'roided up wrestlers you see on TV, but without fuel they are merely for show.  Developing a stronger heart will most definitely help your stamina and endurance, probably in the most noticeable way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T19:28:02.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10294" CreationDate="2013-01-08T20:11:55.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very interesting topic. Like what zero-divisor said you can develop stamina by training just any muscle group going for a high number of repetitions. Yes, push-ups can do the same work running will do for your legs. But however you need to ask yourself whether you want to do sprints or jogging. I will give you an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 years ago I was obsessed by the idea of reaching 100 push-ups in 60 seconds(I doubt the legitimacy of my form now though). So I did, actually I got carried away and at one point reached 200 push-ups in one set. That's stamina, that's endurance. I could go on with push-ups for a while but did not have a good overall strength which I later realised when I started benching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays I am only interested into strength training. I recently started recording a push-ups tutorial for my youtube channel and figured I would get tired at around 15-20 slow and controlled push-ups. Then I would have to take a break before doing another set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not bother me for I have no interest into endurance in my upper body at this point. But I am bringing it up for you to consider. Perhaps the perfect combination for you might be a little bit of endurance and a little bit of strength to balance everything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T20:11:55.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10308" CreationDate="2013-01-08T20:18:32.503" Score="6" ViewCount="4038" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find or recreate a simple calisthenic workout I got from Health class in high school maybe 20 years ago. It was a one or two page schedule that increased weekly (and possibly varied within each week some as well). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises included jog in place, jumping jacks, push ups, sit ups, and chin ups, though there could have been more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First week was very low intensity, something like jog 4 minutes, push ups to 10 or fail, etc. Times and reps increased steadily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I vaguely remember it was a &quot;family exercise plan&quot; or something, and we did it as a family. Now I am trying to find anything similar. I don't really care about the details of the method, just prefer calisthenics and no required equipment, and safe for a third grader and adults to do. The only completely laid out beginning workout schedules I can find are C25K or are weight equipment oriented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a C25K-like thing for calesthenics? Or a one page beginners calisthenic calendar? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4968" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T19:51:34.683" Title="Simple Starting Calisthenic Workout Schedule" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10303" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-08T22:23:43.237" Score="18" ViewCount="19526" Body="&lt;p&gt;When performing a pullup, what techniques would be ideal for getting higher than chin-even-with-bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I perform pullups, I can get the bar to the base of my neck / my collarbone if I pull explosively in the lower part of the movement.  I can do 12 pullups, and get this high on about 8 or 9 of them.  But I can't pull that far if I'm moving slowly.  For instance, if I start with my chin just above the bar, I &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; statically pull myself any higher. So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I focus on pulling explosively when I want to go higher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I specifically work on pulling slowly from some mid point (say, chin-just-over-bar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I look at different groups doing pullups some (military physical fitness tests, Mark Rippetoe's book) seem to think that just getting your chin above the bar is totally adequate.  But if I wanted to perform a muscle up, I'd obviously need to get higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is sort of a theoretical question at the moment for me - I got some tendonitis in my elbows trying option B, and am on a long, slow road to recovery.  But I'd like to understand better how I should have trained, for when I'm better.  I &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; like pulling explosively was working fine, and had been for a while, and that switching to option B was what injured me.  But I'd like to understand how other people do it, for when I'm recovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T15:32:00.840" Title="How do I get higher in a pullup?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10307" CreationDate="2013-01-08T22:27:47.567" Score="4" ViewCount="993" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a collapsed arch in one of my feet due to a past injury. I have doctor-prescribed orthotics and have been cleared for any and all exercise activity. My primary goal is weight loss. It seems that most cardio machines cause me foot (and consequent leg) pain, however. What exercises can be done for weight loss that don't involve continuous pressure on my feet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4969" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T19:15:35.157" Title="Cardio / HIIT with a collapsed arch" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10303" CreationDate="2013-01-08T22:50:56.887" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were having this problem, I'd focus on changing most or all of my pull-up and chin-up reps to &quot;chest to bar&quot;, and accepting nothing less. This would probably mean a reduction in how many reps I could perform. If that reduced my volume too much, I'd do one (maybe two) &quot;chin-to-bar&quot; sets for as many reps as possible at the end of my pull-up work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also expect that holding at the top for five or ten or twenty seconds, either between reps or at the end of a set, could help tremendously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-01-08T22:50:56.887" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2013-01-09T00:53:33.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar problem in that I have very low arches that are prone to injury from repeated stress.  I have found that one of the absolute best exercises to utilize HIIT without foot strain is indoor rowing.  the motion of rowing makes it ideal for intervals, and works the upperbody and core, as opposed to other low impact excercises like cycling.  Another excellent low impact option is swimming, if you have access to facilities.  switching between rowing, swimming and cycling should also help in preventing unnecessary foot strain. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.3fatchicks.com/3-interval-training-workouts-for-the-rowing-machine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; has several HIIT formats that work will with rowing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4971" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T00:53:33.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2013-01-09T01:28:45.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Strength training plus pool running&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't get a definitive answer to your question, because there are so many options that could possibly work for you, and here's one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training&lt;/strong&gt; (using a small set of full-body barbell exercises, like in Starting Strength, or Stronglifts 5x5) has been used by many people as an effective weight (fat) loss program. Lifting heavy uses a lot of calories, adds muscle, and removes fat. It also increases bone density. The movements are slow and controlled, so if you're in proper shoes with your orthotics, you should be able to hold your feet, ankles, and tibias in a less painful position. The ideal pressure distribution during a squat is actually back toward the heels and towards the outsides of your feet, which should help avoid pronation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add conditioning work into the mix, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6894/what-is-the-a-proper-way-to-pool-run&quot;&gt;pool running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a good option. There is no impact. I've used this during recovery from a tibial stress fracture. It's been used by olympic athletes to supplement or replace their land running during injuries while training for long distance running events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T07:31:04.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10301" CreationDate="2013-01-09T03:37:28.260" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calisthenic exercises are great since you can do them anywhere and anytime, and when doing body weight exercises properly, you can get great results.  Look at many gymnasts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to your description above, you considered yourself as a beginner fitness level, meaning you probably haven't worked out consistenlty for a long time (correct me if I'm wrong).  If this was the case, then I think it's a good idea to start on a light and low level of some sort of a high intensity interval training exercise program.  High intensity interval training can be difficult at first, but it is a great way to get the most out of the least amount of time.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a sample of a high intensity interval training calisthenic exercise program for beginners:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weeks 1-2 (3 days per week with one day of rest in between)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.  Squat (lower body)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.  Knee Push-up (upper body)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3.  Plank (abs and core)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.  Mountain Climber (fat burning)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5.  High Knee Sprint (cardio)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weeks 1-2, try performing each exercise for 20 seconds continuously (perform the Squat for 20 seconds, then move on to the Knee Push-up, and so on until you finish with High Knee Sprint), then rest 60-90 seconds at the end.  This will be one cycle.  Repeat 2-3 more cycles.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weeks 3-4 (4 days per week with 2 on, 1 off, then 2 on)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.  Side to Side Squat&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.  Push-up&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3.  Inchworm&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.  Mountain Climber&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5.  High Knee Sprint  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weeks 3-4, try performing each exercise for 30 seconds continuously, then rest 60-90 seconds at the end.  This will be one cycle.  Repeat 2-3 more cycles.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weeks 5-6 (5 days per week with 2 on, 1 off, then 3 on)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.  Squat Jump&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.  Knee Gator Push-up&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3.  Side Planks (both sides)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.  High Knee Sprint  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weeks 5-6, try performing each exercise for 30 seconds continuously, then rest 60-90 seconds at the end.  This will be one cycle.  Repeat 2-3 more cycles.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weeks 7-8 (6 days per week with 3 on, 1 off, then 3 on)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.  Squat Jump&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.  Gator Push-up&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3.  Plank&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.  Side Planks (both sides)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5.  Mountain Climber&lt;br&gt;&#xA;6.  High Knee Sprint  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weeks 7-8, try performing each exercise for 30 seconds continuously, then rest 60-90 seconds at the end.  This will be one cycle.  Repeat 2-3 more cycles.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to warm-up! And for beginners, a good way to warm-up is to perform 2 sets of 20 jumping jacks each time prior to starting your workout.  Each workout should last about 10-15 minutes long, depending on how much of a break you are taking at the end of each cycle.  By the way, make sure you know how to perform each exercise properly to prevent injuries and for best results.  You can find all of these exercises on youtube these days.  Good luck and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-01-09T04:09:12.047" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T04:09:12.047" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-09T14:32:33.967" Score="7" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to hear from someone who is more of an advanced downhill skier, like someone who has competed in slalom or mogul events, or is a veteran back-country skier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a template program you followed to become a stronger skier, something suggested to you by a coach or a personal trainer?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a specific muscle group in your core or lower body you would suggest focusing on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be either for moguls, slalom, glades, back country, whatever I like all kinds of skiing. I'm already a good skier, I just want to become better, and I think being physically stronger in the right places can help just as much as going out on the mountain and putting a bunch of hours in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a duplicate of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3052/what-is-a-good-exercise-to-prepare-for-skiing/3060#3060&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; which is the closest I could find, because this post just talks about someone with knee problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user4963" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T11:25:09.517" Title="Training Program to become stronger alpine Skier?" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10240" CreationDate="2013-01-09T16:52:28.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Burning Glycogen&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body burns the most glycogen when you perform anaerobic exercises, such as sprinting, heavy weight lifting and other short bursts of intense exercise. Aerobic exercise also burns glycogen, although at lower percentages. For example, if you walk, jog or bicycle at 70 percent to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;50 percent to 65 percent of the calories you burn come from glycogen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. The remainder come from stored fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/538311-what-exercises-burn-the-most-glycogen/#ixzz2HUw9kfZQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/538311-what-exercises-burn-the-most-glycogen/#ixzz2HUw9kfZQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T16:52:28.663" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10303" CreationDate="2013-01-09T22:11:42.510" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your problem is the lack of strength at the very top part of the pull-up. It is normal for most people don't go that high on their chin/pull-ups anyways. I will give you several exercises to follow in order to develop enough strength for what you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Begin with explosive pull-ups, try remaining at the top position where the bar is touching your collarbone. Try it both with the pronated and supinated grips(in other words with the pull-up and chin-up grips). Hold it for a good amount of 5 seconds then release and do another repetition using momentum to get there. Repeat this for 4-6 reps per set. 3 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once holding this top position for over 10 seconds gets easy start focusing onto negatives. Basically where you release the position but in a very controlled manner up to your chin. Then pull yourself explosively(from this position or from the starting pull-up position), using momentum, to the top position again and release slowly. Repeat this for 6 repetitions per set.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After #2 gets easy, add some ankle or other type of weight to your body for the negatives. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have rubberbands attach them to the bar and &quot;step&quot; into them so they can help you for a slow and controlled pull-up. Try decreasing the assistance of the bands once you reach 10 reps. If you don't have any bands use a chair. Move it further and further away as you are gaining more and more strength. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are direct exercises for developing this strength as I call them in my tutorials. Developing additional strength will be much easier if you use some assisting exercises as well. The top part of the pull-up specifically engages the top part of your lateral muscles. Working them will help you increase the strength needed for your goal. Working them in a specific manner which resembles the pull-up motion will do miracles for you. Attach rubberbands above you to the point where they end hanging just above the top part of your head. Now focus on the ending motion of the pull-up. Grab the rubberbands in a pronated(pull-up) grip. Pull them for 12 reps, 3 sets. Do this after you are done with your pull-ups being your first/direct exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you are experiencing elbow tendonitis, wait until it's gone before you start with this program. I had the most severe elbow tendonitis and had to go from one doctor to another doctor for a whole year before it got better. All because I did not rest when I had to. If you have any questions fire away at me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T22:11:42.510" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10364" CreationDate="2013-01-09T22:20:45.290" Score="1" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm male, 29, 5'9&quot; ish, ~ 70kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My normal routine is Gym on Monday (weights only), 2hrs Kickboxing on Tuesday and maybe thursday and an hour of (pretty intense) 5-a-side football on Wednesdays. Then I do what I feel like Friday, Saturday and Sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never quite had a six pack but I've never been &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; far off. 6 months ago I would have considered myself in excellent shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I changed office jobs 6 months ago and hated it, had to work late, was a bit stressed, it was in a crappy location so I ended up basically eating KFC and Cornish Pasties for lunch, got in the habit of skipping Kickboxing and Gym (going maybe once every three weeks) and pretty much buying a big bar of Aero chocolate every night on the way home from work. This is on top of the monthly Kebab and Ales I enjoy drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had to worry about what I ate before.. I just needed to make sure I had a salad and some Orange juice every now and again to ensure I got enough Vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway now, I find myself with a bit of fat on my thighs. You know how you enjoy a good stretch? Well, from Kickboxing I enjoy doing this stretch where I literally spread my legs as far away as possible and &quot;stretch my inner thighs&quot;. I do it all the time, like waiting for a kettle to boil or just whenever. It seems now I've put a bit of fat on my thighs and they've started chafing. This chafing is causing me some discomfort both in my regular routine and tonight when I went out for a run. (I ran about 4 miles?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's ironic I've always wanted to gain weight but now it's gone to one specific and rather uncomfortable place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've quit that job and gone back to my old job for other reasons so although it's too early to tell, I think I've broken my existing pattern. I smoke and am capable (although rarely do) miss meals if needs be, but I was looking for some &quot;my-situtation-specific&quot; answers to these questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What's the quickest way to lose the weight between my thighs? A combination of skipping meals, (or eating only salads) and keep doing all my activities?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert and I can't rule out that as I'm turning 30, it's my metabolism that's causing the slow weight gain. Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Could I achieve the same results by say weight lifting more? Should I count calories, say, to ensure I don't eat more as a result of weight lifting and being hungry?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it even possible to target fat in a specific area? If I don't have huge fat quantities, Do I have to lose my muscles on my arms first?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What time frame is realistic for losing this weight?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I ran 3 times a week on top of my existing activities, could I firm up my thighs?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there any other advice you could suggest from my paragraphs above?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that I'm seen as overreacting but I don't think I have the same requirements of other people trying to lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4979" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T18:43:59.803" Title="Generally healthy male, just had bad six months and now have chafing when running" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;chafing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-09T22:26:14.823" Score="4" ViewCount="3675" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a strength program (e.g., 3x5 or 5x5) where one warms up to their work weight with non-taxing sets, say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2 x 5 x 20% work weight&#xA;1 x 5 x 40% work weight&#xA;1 x 3 x 60% work weight&#xA;1 x 2 x 80% work weight&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would one require resting between warmup sets beyond what it takes to change the plates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-09T22:36:35.940" LastActivityDate="2013-09-15T11:48:52.467" Title="Rest between warm-up sets" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10314" CreationDate="2013-01-09T22:37:16.423" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically, no.  What I've been doing is getting through the warmups as quickly as I can without rushing.  When I'm done with the warmup work, I allow myself a proper amount of rest before the first work set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much rest you need really depends on you.  If you have a head cold, or are running on too little sleep, you may need an extra few seconds after loading the bar.  Sometimes, it's just a matter of how much weight you are working up to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to warmups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go by feel.  If you feel fresh, just power through.  If not, rest a bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give yourself a couple minutes between the last warmup and your first work set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to assistance work, it really depends on your goals.  Usually assistance work is lower weight and higher volume, and limiting rest periods can actually help you get stronger.  However, I do recommend taking as much rest as you need for your work sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T22:37:16.423" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10314" CreationDate="2013-01-09T23:17:28.293" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I find myself wanting more time between warm-up sets than it takes to change the plates, I know something is wrong. Most likely I'm not recovered enough, indicating my program or eating or sleeping or stress is messed up. It's not a big problem, but it's something to note. I should be getting warm and mentally ready for my work sets, not getting tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between work sets, I calculate time in minutes, or at a minimum, 30 second chunks. So for heavy sets of five I'll try to stay at three to five minutes of rest, whereas for heavy triples I'll try to keep it to two or three minutes, and for singles I sometimes go on the minute or 30 seconds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between warm-up sets, I count time in thirty-second blocks at a maximum. If I need a breather, I'll take ten or twenty seconds to write something in my training log, but I'll also take a mental note to get myself psyched up, because being winded after a 50% warm-up set is not something I want to do. This generally helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T23:17:28.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2013-01-09T23:33:38.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my understanding, it is best to partake in static stretching after your workout and seeing that Yoga (generally speaking) is pretty much static stretching there should be no harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harm can come from doing static stretching before your workout, especially for lower-body exercises. It is recommended before workouts to do some dynamic stretching (lunges as opposed to holding a strech like bending over to touch your toes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has been some research on the matter. Check out this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://chrisfry.hubpages.com/hub/Stretching-Before-Sport&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://chrisfry.hubpages.com/hub/Stretching-Before-Sport&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in short, no, it is not a problem as long as you do your yoga after your bodybuilding workout!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4980" LastEditorUserId="600" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T03:07:02.780" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T03:07:02.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10314" CreationDate="2013-01-09T23:42:50.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For warm-up sets, no. Warm-up sets would imply that they shouldn't be taxing your body that much. Warm-ups are just that, warm-ups! It should be used to &quot;lubricate&quot; your muscles and joints as prep for your larger lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, for example if I'm going through my warm-up sets for bench-press, I use the warm-ups mainly to check if I have any problem going-through the benching process - aka: avoiding injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it wouldn't hurt to take more time, but it might be a bit excessive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4980" LastActivityDate="2013-01-09T23:42:50.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10325" CreationDate="2013-01-10T05:21:45.930" Score="7" ViewCount="4793" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has a weights platform and bumper plates which are only allowed to be used on the platform. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally, it seems logical that dropping weights with bumper plates onto the platform should be allowed in this area. However, I keep receiving death stares from other gym members.&#xA;I go to a 24/7 gym and work out when there is no staff. I am a pretty new member and don't want to get into trouble. Do you think it is unreasonable to get in trouble for dropping weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4982" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T14:07:24.403" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T14:20:06.773" Title="Is it rude to drop bumper plates in a gym when on a platform?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;&lt;plates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2013-01-10T05:28:23.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Others have already covered the important ground of whether yoga can be paired with working out, but I'd make some suggestions on the ordering. Many people under-estimate the amount of &quot;work&quot; that can be involved in a number of yoga poses, particularly holds. I've found personally that specific muscles are often too weak for a robust well-rounded session of yoga after lifting weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I get the most out of both when I get my more vigorous yoga session in as a warm-up before lifting. You may also want to keep in mind that despite yoga's reputation it is perfectly possible to hurt yourself while attempting positions your body isn't in the proper shape to execute prop--and being too tired to maintain good form qualifies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer probably depends on what sort of yoga, poses and duration you're practicing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4983" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T05:28:23.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10310" CreationDate="2013-01-10T05:40:53.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a ski instructor who is working on similar things. I picked up a copy of &quot;Total Skiing&quot; by Chris Fellows, and it has a lot of useful information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, it has a set of evaluations for physical strength and balance, and then a set of exercises to work on for each of the areas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T05:40:53.473" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10334" CreationDate="2013-01-10T07:50:48.583" Score="5" ViewCount="41977" Body="&lt;p&gt;I combine BJJ and Muay Thai and from time to time I run for hours. But I still have some belly fat remaining and it's hard to get rid of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A colleague's advise was to eat less greasy and lots of rice and egg-white. I asked him if I would be able to keep my weight, his answer was not clear. I'm saying this because when I started Muay Thai I lost more than 15 kg in less than one year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3623" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T19:11:43.973" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T19:40:46.923" Title="How to get rid of belly fat (six pack) without losing weight?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10321" CreationDate="2013-01-10T08:40:18.940" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a world with &quot;Don't&quot; signs everywhere, if it's a problem with your gym then there will be a sign up saying not to drop. All my local gyms have the sign, but they are upstairs of other businesses. They also have thick mats in the free weight area but do not have bumper plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't be concerned with death stares from other gym goers if there's no sign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would however investigate whether dropping the weights is recommended for the exercise, as most of the dropping I see appears to be for attention seeking purposes. I can't recall seeing a little skinny guy dropping a 20kg dumbbell after setting a new max, it's always 40kg+ jobs by beasts followed by a very pumped prance around the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The noise however is quite startling to those unaccustomed to it, so use rubberised dumbbells or bumper plates if there is a choice, and lift over the thick mats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T08:52:32.450" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T08:52:32.450" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10324" CreationDate="2013-01-10T09:03:54.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing fat and maintaining weight implies building muscle. Building muscle and losing fat at the same time is difficult, although there is the phenomenon that sometimes works for novices. The only thing you can do is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep on overloading your muscles in order to signal your body not to use muscle protein as an energy source&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat enough protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For advanced bodybuilders, their is often only either &quot;bulk&quot; (maintain body fat, build muscle), or &quot;cut&quot; (maintain muscle, decrease body fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T09:03:54.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-10T09:19:30.607" Score="4" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although we know we can't target where weight comes off, if someone gained 20 pounds of fat and then lost 20 pounds of fat with no muscle gain or loss, would they look the same as before? Could it go on the stomach but be lost from the butt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T13:59:13.020" Title="Does weight come off where it went on?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9917" CreationDate="2013-01-10T11:06:48.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rope climbing is all about technique and efficiency. This youtube video should show you the correct technique to climb a rope efficiently: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY_-1GGebQE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY_-1GGebQE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now because you don't have a rope to practice on, the best you can do is develop your strength and muscular endurance by throwing a towel over a pull up bar, grabbing onto the towel and doing pull ups until your fist touches your chest. You should generally be aiming to do at least 15 reps to develop the strength to climb a 15 ft rope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4982" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T11:06:48.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10327" CreationDate="2013-01-10T13:59:13.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my training I tend to have periods when I deload and just enjoy all kinds of food. That would typically happen during holidays when I give my body full rest for couple weeks. At these moments I gain enough fat to lose any track of my six pack(which happens to an extend because of muscle atrophy as well) and then after I get back on track I am quickly getting rid of all fat once again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed and pointed out on many occasions that I tend to gain fat in a certain manner and lose it the same way. For example - I firstly put fat on the sides of my stomach, then on my abs, then on my arms. When I lose fat it starts from my arms, then my abs and lastly lose the fat from the sides and lower back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope my answer helps you. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T13:59:13.020" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10321" CreationDate="2013-01-10T14:20:06.773" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen gyms with bumper plates and a lifting platform, clearly designed and intended for standard Olympic weightlifting style drops from chest or overhead, next to a sign saying that one should &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; configure the safety bars so that the bar doesn't hit the ground. This would of course damage the bar, make a tremendous amount more noise, and increase danger to the lifter. What I'm trying to say is that gym rules don't necessarily make any sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly reasonable to drop a bumper-plate-loaded Olympic bar from chest or overhead in a controlled manner while using an Olympic platform: guiding it down with the hands, making sure it doesn't bounce into the wall, and so on. That doesn't mean everyone at the gym will understand or accept this normalcy. It may even be technically and bizarrely against the rules at your gym. Whether or not it's rude is determined by how knowledgeable your fellow gym-goers are with Olympic lifting, which is to say that it defies all reason and pattern. The guy who doesn't unload his bench press, loudly sings along to his earbuds, curls in the squat rack, steals people's weights while they sit and rest for thirty seconds between sets, and gets his sweat all over the floor might consider it rude for you to drop a 1RM snatch or bail out of a failed max clean &amp;amp; jerk. &lt;em&gt;C'est la vie.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dropping a bar only becomes problematic when it is excessive or unnecessary. Letting go of every deadlift, including warm-up sets, is one example. Dropping a light overhead press is another. Slamming or pushing the bar to the floor in celebration is another. Dropping the bar should be done because it wouldn't be safe for the lifter to do otherwise, which is common in Olympic lifting and occasionally with other lifts. Dropping a bar to avoid the increased soreness that comes with lowering it as well as raising it is a fuzzy area that should take into account the disruption to one's fellow gym mates, but dropping a bar for safety is just something people should get used to as part of being in a place where weights get lifted overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T14:20:06.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10336" CreationDate="2013-01-10T15:53:02.427" Score="2" ViewCount="476" Body="&lt;p&gt;My BMI is 18.5. Age 24, height 172.5 cm and weight 55 kg.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am undergoing training for triathlon. I swim 3 to 4 days a week (6-8 km in 4.5hrs - 6 hrs).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I cycle around 50 km a week in 2.5 hrs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I run around 5-10 km a week in 30 mins - 60 mins.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that on an average a human being burns&lt;br&gt;&#xA;377 calories per hour while swimming,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;400 calories per hour while cycling,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;440 calories per hour while running.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I don't know exactly the amount of calories I am burning doing all these. Invariably I want to gain weight to reach 20 BMI.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I eat food containing more calories? Or the muscle development in doing all these exercise mentioned will help me gain some weight?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T19:02:12.803" Title="How to gain weight? By higher calorie intake or muscle building through exercise?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8121" CreationDate="2013-01-10T16:38:41.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The complete recovery for the muscles after a game is 48 Hrs. I would suggest that a player can commence full training after a days break. i.e. Player should start full training on Tuesday, if he had a match on Sunday. However Monday can't be sedentary, the player at least needs to go for a light workout, that would facilitate the muscle recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would advice a day before the match the player needs to have light activity and should reduce the training session, otherwise on the day of the match player will have stiffness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think the last question is already answered, mid-week session should be the most intense one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T17:10:22.423" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T17:10:22.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10324" CreationDate="2013-01-10T16:56:51.180" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like you have already been doing most of the high intensity interval training with BJJ and Muay Thai, and that is one great way to get rid of your belly fat.  However, here are some rules to remember when it comes to losing belly fat and gaining muscle mass at the same time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch your diet closely - make sure to cut out as much sugary foods as you can (candy, juices, snacks, etc.).  I believe studies suggested that men should consume about 30 grams of sugar per day and women is about 20-25 grams.  In general, we already consumed much more than the recommended amount with just eating fruits and vegetables along with our daily meals.  Next time, try to count the sugar contents in all the foods that you will consume, and you will be surprised of how much sugar is in your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next is to hit the abs effectively.  I mean, you need to do some sort of an ab workout to really bring the washboard abs out.  Studies have shown that these are some of the most effective abs exercises (stability ball rollout, single leg planks (front and sides), plank cross-over mountain climber and stability ball V-up).  You can find these exercices on youtube.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To gain muscles, you must lift somewhat heavy.  I mean you need to make sure that there is a consistent weight training program (2-3 days per week focusing on hitting the major muscle groups like chest, thigh, butt, back and core), and to make sure the volume and the dosage are relatively heavy (8-12 reps from your maximal effort).  Try squat, benches and lat pull-down next time when you are at the gym.  And if you are worrying about putting on too much weight with heavy lifting, you won't if you continue training with BJJ and Muay Thai the way you have been training.  If anything, lifting heavy combining with your regular regimen will make you look more lean and toned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last and perhaps most important is to make sure you consume enough carbs and protein, not just protein.  Your body will need most of the energy that is readily available first to rebuild, and that is carbs, not protein.  Try to consume some of these foods from now on: peanut butter, sweet potatoes, avocados and whole eggs.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, you said sometimes you run for hours, but the real question is for what?  Unless you enjoy running for hours, new studies coming out supporting the benefits of high intensity interval training over long periods of slow and steady cardio training.  I think a good comparison is to look at the sprinters and the marathon runners and ask yourself this question, &quot;Who do I want to look like?&quot;  And then look at their training regimen to see their results.  Try interval sprints from now on instead of long duration low intensity cardio training and start seeing those abs popping out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this has been helpful for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T17:04:30.170" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T17:04:30.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10240" CreationDate="2013-01-10T17:49:28.957" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your basic question, other than utilizing gas analysis to measure CO2 used along with blood and muscle sampling during exercise, there really is no way to tell how much glycogen is being used for a specific activity on a person to person basis. Additionally, your efficiency increases the more you do an exercise and the fitter you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't really think it should be that big a concern for you in regards to weightlifting performance. The average individual has enough glycogen to fuel 90ish minutes of continuous exercise, much longer if you are doing intermittent exercise (Such as the weightlifting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary fuel for muscle contraction is ATP. In short burst, near maximal efforts (30 seconds or less), your replenishment is going to come from Phosphocreatine and anaerobic glycolysis. For longer efforts, aerobic glycolysis starts coming into play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refueling during your workout is kind of like doing situps to reduce belly fat. The body will replenish where it feels it needs to first, so there is no guarantee that what you are taking in is refueling the muscles that you are specifically using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat a well balanced diet, spaced out for your specific workouts, have an energy bar handy if you feel just kind of &quot;bleh&quot; towards the end of a workout, but there isn't really any way to specifically tell how much glycogen was used during a workout session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T17:49:28.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10332" CreationDate="2013-01-10T18:56:48.210" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;By gaining weight, I think you meant gaining lean muscle mass!  And if this is your main concern, then here are a few rules you need to follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lift weights - especially heavy weights by focusing on the major muscle groups like chest, thigh, butt, back and core.  Try squats, deadlifts, benches, chin-ups, bent-over rows and lat pull-down machine next time when you are at the gym.  Try to lift 2-3 days per week with at least 85%-90% of your maximal effort for 8-12 reps.  And if you are worrying about spending hours in the gym or losing your high speed or the intensity (triathlon) with weight lifting, then you can always try to workout with higher intensity (perform multiple exercises as a group/cycle) with less rest in between exercises (10-20 seconds), and rest about 60 seconds at the end before moving to the next cycle. For example, try to perform squat, bench, lat pull-down as a group (supersetting) with only 10-20 seconds of rest in between exercises, then rest 60 seconds after completing the whole cycle.  Repeat 3 more cycles.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consume more calories - but not just any, the right kind of calories.  The way you are training right now (most triathletes do), yo will need lots of energy, if not you will continue to see your weight to drop- try to consume more of these foods from now on  peanut butter, avocados, sweet potatoes, nuts and of whole eggs.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If after about 4-6 weeks of trying the above advice, and you still don't see results, you might want to look into hiring a sports nutritionist who has knowledge about weight lifting or a certified strength &amp;amp; conditioning specialist who has knowledge about sports nutrition to give you a complete individualized - gain lean muscle mass program while still training for your triathlon.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-01-10T19:02:12.803" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T19:02:12.803" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-10T19:00:20.860" Score="8" ViewCount="50911" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been diagnosticated with an L5-S1 disc protrusion which is less than a herniation. Most of the disc herniations occurs at L5-S1 disc, so I think it is a common problem.&#xA;It happens a few months ago and now I wants to go back to gym.&#xA;My medic told me to avoid certain exercises that demands using lower back like squats and deadlift. If I made a mistake I will finish with a disc herniation so I want to go slow and carefully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for help to build a routine that helps me to gain muscle while minimize risk of lower back herniation. It seems to me that every movement uses lower back for which I was looking for exercises that may not need a strong effort from this part of the body. &#xA;I have read about some variants of squats and deadlifts but it seems a little risky for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 27 years old and weights 75kg. &#xA;Any suggestion is welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; To clarify. I asked to doctors and physical therapists and all of them gives me some vague indications like: &quot;Don't do squats and deadlift&quot; or &quot;be careful with lift weight if you are not seated&quot; or &quot;stretch every day&quot; but they all agree that it's ok to go back to gym. It seems to me that if you don't have an herniation they think it is not important. Unfortunately, no one could give me precise indications of which gym exercises are better for my case.&#xA;I don't know who else to ask. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4989" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T08:20:50.093" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T14:46:13.033" Title="Safe exercises after L5-S1 disc problem" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10339" CreationDate="2013-01-10T20:24:51.840" Score="3" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea to do really a lot of push-ups? I'm currently doing 70-80 in one series, but after long training I'm hoping to do much much more. Of course every exercise is good for muscles and helps to train endurance etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But wouldn't doing a &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; big number of push-ups (say, 1000 and more) have some side-effects? Wouldn't it be too much for the &lt;strong&gt;joints&lt;/strong&gt;, for example? Or wouldn't the tendons in forearms be in danger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be strong and fit, but it first &lt;strong&gt;I don't want to hurt myself&lt;/strong&gt; so I want to be cautious when it comes to intensive training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T20:54:04.590" Title="Is it a good idea to do really a lot of push-ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10338" CreationDate="2013-01-10T20:54:04.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No danger for the muscles, joints or ligaments really. If you are used to walking and spend several hours taking a walk outside with a friend will that be bad for your body? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a lot of push-ups will just develop endurance, if that's what you want then go for it. Last time I checked the world record for non-stop push-ups was 10,507 and was set by Minoru Yoshida. Now that would be abusing it a little bit too much but still if you have progressed slowly to that point your body would be able to adequately handle it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-10T20:54:04.590" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10342" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10346" CreationDate="2013-01-11T10:00:03.310" Score="2" ViewCount="702" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 21 year old male and my overall aim is to &lt;strong&gt;lean&lt;/strong&gt; up and &lt;strong&gt;build some more muscle/ increase strength&lt;/strong&gt;, there fore I have adopted a higher protein intake and lowered my calorific intake, could I get opinions on how I could improve my diet and training in order to reach my goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I have a previous experience in strength training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;weight: 16St 0lbs (101.9Kg)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;height: 5' 6.8 (1.70m)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;body fat: 27.8% (28.3Kg)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My overall aim is to lean up and build some more muscle, there fore I have adopted a higher protein intake and lowered my calorific intake, stats are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;calories a day:&#xA;Food: minimum - 1450 / maximum - 2200&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein: 250g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carbs: 120&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fats: 50 - 70 (How could I improve this figure?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water: 4 - 4.5 litres a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat a clean diet consisting of chicken, green leaf salads, olives, fruits, occasional pasta/rice, sweet potatoes and protein shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine: 10g (2 servings of 5g pre workouts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein: 8 scoops a day (in the region of. including pre and post workout)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;zinc and magnesium tablets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;multi vitamin tablets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BCAA (16g a day. 4 servings a day) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AM (before breakfast):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interval cardio for 45 minutes = 400 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training 45 - 80 minutes (lowish weight, high reps in the 15 rep range)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AM (before breakfast):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interval cardio for 45 minutes = 400 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training 45 - 80 minutes (Strength training - high reps in a pyriamid style drop (e.g. 10 x 90, 5x110, 3x130)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AM (before breakfast):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training 45 - 80 minutes (lowish weight, high reps in the 15 rep range)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;steady paced cardio 45 - 60 minutes = 500calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AM (before breakfast):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interval cardio for 45 minutes = 400 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training 45 - 80 minutes (Strength training - high reps in a pyriamid style drop (e.g. 10 x 90, 5x110, 3x130)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AM (before breakfast):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interval cardio for 45 minutes = 400 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training 45 - 80 minutes (lowish weight, high reps in the 15 rep range)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AM:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low pace cardio 60 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AM:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low pace cardio 45 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of exercises that I already do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tuesday, thursday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dead lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;military press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leg press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;calf raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;monday, wednesday, friday&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bicep curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tricep extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lat raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lat pull downs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;incline bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hammer curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to sleep between 7 - 8 hours a night in order to try and get enough sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also aim to eat (small portion size)/ have a protein intake every 2 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could this training be improved to be more efficient and also to help me reach my overall goals of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;becoming leaner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increasing strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditDate="2013-01-11T13:33:17.053" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T15:27:37.973" Title="How can I improve my training program to become leaner and increase strength?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10343" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-01-11T14:22:59.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aerobic organisms of these types—such as birds, mammals, and reptiles—require oxygen to release energy via respiration, in the form of the metabolism of energy-rich molecules such as glucose. Breathing is only one process that delivers oxygen to where it is needed in the body and removes carbon dioxide. Another important process involves the movement of blood by the circulatory system. Gas exchange occurs in the pulmonary alveoli by passive diffusion of gases between the alveolar gas and the blood in lung capillaries. Once these dissolved gases are in the blood, the heart powers their flow around the body (via the circulatory system).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Breathing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2020-08-03T02:33:58.187" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T02:33:58.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10344" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-01-11T14:22:59.037" Score="0" Body="Breathing is the process that moves air in and out of the lungs." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-11T15:49:39.620" LastActivityDate="2013-01-11T15:49:39.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10240" CreationDate="2013-01-11T18:06:34.603" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was still a bit unsatisfied with the answers so far so spent a couple of hours doing research on this. I found a key review of glycogen usage in resistance training that has some useful numbers (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/glycogen.html&quot;&gt;Astorino, T., &amp;amp; Kravitz, L. (2000). Glycogen and resistance training. IDEA Personal Trainer, 11(7), 21-23.&lt;/a&gt;). The studies reviewed were typically small and narrow but it looks like they are all we have to extrapolate from in terms of weight training (there seem to be many more studies related to endurance training). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In one study 6 sets of leg extensions done at 70% of 1RM were found to reduce glycogen in the used muscles by 39%. In the other key study a 30 min workout consisting of 5 sets each of front squats, back squats, leg presses and leg extensions resulted in a 28% decrease in muscle glycogen (and also 30% decrease in intramuscular triglycerides).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional Googling gives some estimates on typical glycogen storage in humans. These estimates seem to be all over the place but the general consensus is that glycogen stores in muscle mass total around 250-400g depending on the amount of training and muscle the individual has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for me, I'm going to guess I have 300g of stored muscle glycogen based on just a conservative look at this. Might be higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to justify using a higher glycogen rate of depletion than the 28% quoted due to the length of the workout (mine is 90mins, not the 30 used in the study). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand I suspect, because the training I do is focused on Olympic weightlifting, there are muscle groups that have much greater rates of depletion than others. The most heavily worked muscle groups like the quads and posterior chain are clearly the largest muscles overall but nonetheless some other significant muscles get very little work (like the chest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For frame of reference, my training typically involves some warm-up, some lighter sets of compound lifts or complexes to work on technique (say 6-8 sets of 3-4 reps of 2 or 3 movements), some heavier sets (say 6-8 sets each near 90% of snatches and clean &amp;amp; jerks), some pulling from the floor movements (i.e. 4 sets of 3 reps of clean or snatch pulls or deadlifts or similar at 80-90% max) and then 30 mins of squats (typically 6-8 sets of 5-8 reps at 60 - 80%). I'd guess this heavily uses maybe 85% of my muscle groups with only the chest and biceps being really left out. I can assure you those do not account for much mass in my case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if I take 85% of the 300g of stores that leaves me with ~255g of glycogen in the active muscles. The assumption here is that the storage allocation is fairly constant across the different muscles. Thinking about it this is probably false - lifters with an Olympic focus probably have higher relative stores in the heavily trained muscles of the legs, but less in the muscles of chest for instance. There is no data I could find on this so we'll keep it simple and use our arbitrary number for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I assume a total 35% depletion after a 1.5 hrs training session (and there are admittedly some &lt;strong&gt;big&lt;/strong&gt; assumptions in this), and roughly 255g of active glycogen storage, that would give me a depletion of 89g of stored glycogen. If we widen the ranges a bit so that we are assuming a glycogen depletion rate of 28-39% and total glycogen stores in the 300-350g range (255-298g in worked muscles), &lt;em&gt;we would have an estimated amount of glycogen burned of 71-116g.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to fit pretty closely with my personal experience. I find myself wiped and useless for the next workout if I don't have at least a small amount of nice dense starchy forms of carbohydrate in the time between workouts. Particularly when I get to the squats. Spending most of my time eating relatively low-ish carb (typically less than 50-75g a day), I think adding a sweet potato (30-40g carbohydrate) or two in afterwards and/or in the next day will likely get me better replenished and ready to roll for the next session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditDate="2013-01-11T18:53:32.790" LastActivityDate="2013-01-11T18:53:32.790" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10342" CreationDate="2013-01-11T18:24:16.930" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your program can be improved by simplification and emphasis on objective metrics of progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forget about creatine, BCAA, and other expensive supplements. You are so far away from your genetic potential that these are a waste of money. You can make incredible novice gains without them. (Multivitamin is a fine idea though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drop the leg press, anything with &quot;curl&quot; in the name, and all other isolation exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having fewer exercises allows you to objectively measure your progress over time because you will be repeating the same exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus your mental and physical powers on increasing the amount of weight you lift with good form in these consensus exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell back squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell or dumbbell bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;power clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the number of reps you can perform of these standard bodyweight exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And aerobically, the 1 mile run time is an excellent, objective benchmark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, go to the gym at least three days per week, and work with heart and soul every time you go. You will see the benefits very quickly. Good luck sir! We who are about to lift salute you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastActivityDate="2013-01-11T18:24:16.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10342" CreationDate="2013-01-12T00:09:53.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get lean (lose fat) and to gain muscle mass while also gaining strength seems hard at first; however, a carefully designed exercise program with proper nutrition can get you results as fast as in 10-12 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like you are doing what I would call a “typical” weight training program that I'm afraid you will not see the results that you are looking for.  To save time and to make sure to utilize all major and minor muscle group during each workout, try supersetting.  This way, you will be able to target more muscles while saving a lot of time.  Each workout should last about 45-60 minutes, depending on how much you really need to rest between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it’s okay to isolate the minor muscle group like curls and extension, but they can take up a lot of time, and that’s why it’s great to also supersetting them. By the way, you can do some cardio on the off days if you wanted, but I would recommend with shorter time (less than 30 minutes) and with higher intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this program instead: Male - Gain Muscle Mass - Gym - Intermediate Level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 1-2 (3 days per week with one day of rest in between) -&#xA;Total Body Toning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset one - Dumbbell Squat Shoulder Press and Dumbbell Push-up Row   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset two –Barbell Squat and Dumbbell Decline Bench Press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset three – Dumbbell Alternate Lunges and Lat Pull-down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset four - Planks (front and sides) and Mountain Climber &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick the weight that will allow you to perform at least 12 reps but no more than 15 reps for weeks 1-2. Repeat 3 more sets before moving on to the next superset.  Try to hold the planks (front and sides) and perform the mountain climber 30 secs each &#xA;. Rest 60 seconds between sets and between superset.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 3-7 (4 days per week with 2 on, 1 off, then 2 on)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 1 and 4  - Chest, Back, Abs and Calves&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset one – Bench Press and Bent-over Barbell Row&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset two – Decline Dumbbell Bench Press and Lat Pull-down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset three – Cable Cross-over and Seated Cable Row&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset four – Kneeling Stability Ball Rollout and Planks (front and sides)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset five - Dumbbell Push-up Row and Seated Machine Leg Press Calf Raise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 2 and 5 - Lower Body, Arms, Shoulder and Fat Burning&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super set one – Dumbbell Lunge Tricep Extension and Mountain Climber&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super set two – Dumbbell Squat Shoulder Press and Bent-over Dumbbell Fly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super set three – EZ Bar Curl and EZ Bar Skull Crush&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super set four – Dumbbell Bicep Curl and Cable Tricep Push-down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super set five – Inchworm and High Knee Sprint&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick the weight that will allow you to perform at least 8 reps but no more than 12 reps for weeks 4-7. Repeat 2-3 more sets before moving on to the next superset.  For kneeling stability ball, planks (front and sides), inchworm and high knee sprint, try to perform 30 secs each&#xA;. Rest 60 seconds between sets and between superset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 8-12 (5 days per week including one day of high intensity cardio training with 2 on, one off, then 3 on)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Days 1 and 4 - Major Muscle Group&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset one – Barbell Squat and Dumbbell Bench Press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset two – Dumbbell Squat Shoulder Press and Lat Pull-down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset three – Bench Press and Bent-over Barbell Row&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super set four – Dumbbell Push-up Row and High Knee Sprint&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset five – Kneeling Stability Ball Rollout and Planks (front and sides)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Days 2 and 5 - Minor Muscle Group&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset one – EZ Bar Bicep Curl and EZ Bar Skull Crush&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super set two - Dumbbell Bicep Curl and Cable Tricep Push-down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset three - Seated Leg Press Machine Calf Raise and Mountain Climber&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset four - Inchworm and High Knee Sprint&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 6 - High Intensity Cardio Training&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprint Intervals - either on treadmill or outside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try sprinting for 30 secs and jog for 30 secs on the treadmill for about 10 minutes&#xA;Or try to do 100 meter dash and walk 100 meter dash (perform 10-20 times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick the weight that will allow you to perform at least 6 reps but no more than 10 reps for weeks 8-12. Repeat 2-3 more sets before moving on to the next superset. For kneeling stability ball, planks (front and sides), inchworm and high knee sprint, try to perform 30 secs each&#xA;. Rest 60 seconds between sets and between superset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating is very important regarding how you want your body to feel and look, especially for the washboard abs and to have energy throughout the day.  If I were you, I will just focusing on eating a lot more of these foods instead of buying all of the supplements due to cost and not-effective: whole eggs, mixed nuts, peanut butter, avocados, chicken breast, fish, sweet potatoes and to make sure to load up with lots of fruits and vegetables for the natural vitamins and minerals.  Let me know how you feel after about 4 weeks into this program.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to warm-up! And for intermediate fitness levels, a good way to warm-up is to perform 2 sets of 10 of burpee push-ups each time prior to starting your workout.  By the way, make sure you know how to perform each exercise properly to prevent injuries and for best results. You can find all of these exercises on youtube these days. Good luck and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-01-12T00:19:03.263" LastActivityDate="2013-01-12T00:19:03.263" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2013-01-12T03:12:18.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reverse push ups:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Get between two chairs and put your elbows on them with your back towards the floor (You should be looking at the ceiling ). Hold your body stiff like a plank, press your elbows into the chairs as you contract your traps. Relax letting your torso drop as low as you can and get your back as round as you can without falling off the chairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4997" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-12T07:28:37.453" LastActivityDate="2013-01-12T07:28:37.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10350" CreationDate="2013-01-12T06:05:52.167" Score="6" ViewCount="545" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been jogging in Vibrams for over 8 months. I used to only do 2-3 miles in them, but have recently started doing 5 miles about 4 times a week. The forefoot of my right foot started developing callus, and it's not comfortable.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there a way to avoid the buildup or to deal with the uncomfortable feeling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4998" LastEditorUserId="4998" LastEditDate="2013-01-12T15:10:38.527" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T16:56:22.840" Title="How to avoid developing callus wearing vibrams with no socks?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;&lt;callus&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10349" CreationDate="2013-01-12T08:08:01.343" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A callus (or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callosity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;callosity&lt;/a&gt;) is a toughened area of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;skin&lt;/a&gt; which has become relatively thick and hard in response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the defense reaction of your body, and, given the circumstances – running barefoot, in Vibram shoes – it's fully normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know why are you running without socks, but if you want to harden your feet, then it's how it looks like. If you want to have soft skin, run in soft shoes with soft socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-12T23:42:56.740" LastActivityDate="2013-01-12T23:42:56.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10352" CreationDate="2013-01-12T08:20:26.117" Score="10" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live about 3.2 miles from where I work, and the most efficient way to commute is running there in the morning and back in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is 2 runs a day 3-5 days a week healthy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it increase my risk of injury?&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Especially repetitive stress injury?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've had problems with this before from long-distance running in my ankles and knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would it be better to alternate between running and biking?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2013-01-12T14:50:59.450" Title="Does running twice a day regularly increase my risk of injuries?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10351" CreationDate="2013-01-12T14:50:59.450" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends what you're doing right now. If you're not running that much right now, then yes, starting to run 3.2 miles, 2x per day will increase your risk of injury, specifically overuse injuries (like stress fractures, iliotibial band syndrome, achilles tendonitis, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is possible to build up to that amount of load safely. There's a runner's rule that says do not increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% per week. Strength training that loads the entire body (barbell squats and deadlifts) would increase your bone density to lower the risk of stress fracture if that's something you're particularly worried about, but the 10% rule should be enough to avoid that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-01-12T14:50:59.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11619" CreationDate="2013-01-12T20:52:44.157" Score="8" ViewCount="9669" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to safely train with grippers to avoid problems with fingers and joints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've once started training with Heavy Grip 150lbs, which was too hard for me on begin. But after a few weeks I've forced to close it. Probably I was training too intensively for my hands not used to professional grippers, because I've started to have some 'clicks' in smallest finger. The binding of finger was not smooth, as if it was blocked. When the blockade was released, there was such click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read on such forums that the climbers have also problems with that think. This is now over, but I've stopped training with grippers for almost a year and now I'm beginning once again. This time I want to be very cautious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I train in the safe way, to prevent such things to happen again? Should I stop to try to close the gripper and concentrate on endurance not the pure strength? Should I use some supplementary exercises to prevent single-direction strenght training? Or my previous problems were caused by the lack of professional warm-up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T13:27:08.060" Title="How to train with grippers to avoid finger joints injuries?" Tags="&lt;joints&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2013-01-13T02:22:07.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle &quot;pump&quot; is nothing more than increased blood flow into a muscle from exertion. If you have a higher pump sensation than usual, then I'd look at something else as the cause. More caffeine or salt than usual, dehydration, other factors that would contribute to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T02:22:07.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10356" CreationDate="2013-01-13T08:35:04.427" Score="13" ViewCount="512" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the precautions one should take when running in wintertime (-2 to -10 Celsius, 28 to 14 F)? I want to know in terms of clothing: what is the most appropriate? Should I end a run close to home so I do not catch a cold due to heavy sweating? Is there a list of what to avoid and what to follow when running in winter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4615" LastEditorUserId="4615" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T12:54:05.717" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T12:54:05.717" Title="What precautions to take when running in wintertime?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cold&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2013-01-13T09:40:24.087" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;When running outside in the winter/cold weather you should keep couple of things in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Firstly cold weather is really bad for your joints. If you expose them for a prolonged periods of time to cold they will eventually start hurting you. With that said make sure you put some warm clothes on yourself. You must consider the fact that there might be wind outside and as you run you are going to sweat. If there's wind and you are sweaty, the wind is going to literally pierce through your body. So look for a wind-proof jacket, usually any skiing jacket will do the to work. And make sure you don't overdo the clothing so you don't sweat more than it is needed or you will feel at discomfort. Don't forget wearing a hat, you lose most heat going off from your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) When you run you inhale the air deeper. And cold air is really bad for your lungs and overally for your respiratory system. That's why what you can do is wrap a scarf around your face so that it will keep the area warmer and just warm the air more as you inhale it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) The surface where you run might be icy so look for shoes that are going to handle slippery surfaces. Also they must keep you feet warm and be at least slightly comfortable(for winter running shoes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finishing your run close to your place is a very good idea indeed. Make sure you take a warm shower/bath right after you are done with your run so you can stsabilise the temperature of your body. I hope this helps, if I think of anything else I will add it up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T09:40:24.087" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2013-01-13T09:46:18.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cause for a common cold are viruses, not temperature. It is a misconception that the cold is caused by cold weather, it definitely puts more stress on a human body and makes it more vulnerable to already present viruses, but if you are healthy you shouldn't have to worry that much. (see Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold#Weather&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Cold&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last run was one of 30 minutes at 0°C at night when it was raining. I wore shorts, a t-shirt and had a headscarf around my arm that I later put on my head. I always wear my biking gloves when running, they leave the fingertips free but I tend to freeze on my knuckles. And they are a blessing when I blow my nose.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Other people I see wear light jackets, a pullover and jogging trousers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It depends on you and what you feel most comfortable in, there is no definite answer to this. If you are unsure, wear layers that are adjustable, zippered clothing that can be opened if you get too hot is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for ice. If you encounter slippery surfaces slow down, be careful, there is no need trying to break your records and end up in the hospital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T09:46:18.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10358" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10359" CreationDate="2013-01-13T10:14:03.313" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been walking/running a 4km track each day for the past 7 days, and always finish in a time period of 30 minutes.  Prior to this, I had not done any regular running before, but I played a regular non-endurance sport about 3 years ago, and occasional running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish to improve by running the track in 25 minutes, but even today, on day 7, I still struggle to complete the 4km track in 30 minutes.  Is it normal to show no improvement after 7 days, and how long does it take to see improvement? (Note:  Obviously the time will vary depending on the person, but is there a normal range?  E.g. Doctors have normal ranges for blood sugar levels even though everyone's blood sugar levels are different.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-13T10:39:29.887" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T22:52:53.157" Title="Improve Timings Running the same Track" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10358" CreationDate="2013-01-13T12:00:59.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a simple way to improve your time would be if you could run the whole track. I myself am not running as regular as you, so I cannot tell you how fast you should see improvements, but after I horribly failed to run a consecutive 5km when I was running for the first time, I tried to step down a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program I would advise you to look into is called the 3:2:1 program covered by @JohnP in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8018/3941&quot;&gt;an answer&lt;/a&gt; to one of my questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would also recommend a program created by a cross country coach named Barry Pollack, dubbed the 3:2:1 program. In this, you have 6 runs per week, 3 short, 2 medium and one long. Your medium run is double your short runs, and your long run is 3x your short run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never really did the 3:2:1 program myself as I wasn't running every day, but I applied some of the aspects to my training. Depending on your long term goal after you reached the goal stated in your question you might want to modify how you train, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would, in your case, try to do a shorter but consecutive run on one day and the long run with walking on the other day. You should also put a bit of variation into the choice of your track, simply to prevent falling into patterns &lt;em&gt;&quot;This is the point where I always start to walk; I need to walk now&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/c25k_metric.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch 2 5k Program&lt;/a&gt;, you might find some other ways to improve yourself in it, too. Although you probably don't need to start in week one or two, be careful and don't overestimate yourself. It is sometimes better to step down a bit to be able to change the approach to a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T12:00:59.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11399" CreationDate="2013-01-13T13:35:32.877" Score="1" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 21 year old male, currently on my own program that can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/10342/how-can-i-improve-my-training-program-to-become-leaner-and-increase-strength&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. It is quite intense and I was wondering what the optimal time to train for &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; would be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I lift moderately heavy weights (in the region of 100Kg for deads, squats and bench)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A) when I have no aching left in my muscles, indicating to me that they have fully recovered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B) when there is still a slight ache or tiredness present within the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T22:19:04.447" Title="What is the optimal time to train in order to see gains in size and strength?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-13T18:13:19.543" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 20 year old girl and underweight. I'd like to gain more weight so I do not look like a skinny girl. I'm in need of advice how to gain weight as soon as possible. Can you give me suggestions how can I start gaining weight by proper diet, activities like exercises and proper rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I've been living a sedentary life for almost 4 years. And experiencing insomnia. Any help is truly appreciated. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5001" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T19:10:58.437" Title="underweight girl with the intention of gaining weight and muscle" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-01-14T03:32:17.093" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10358" CreationDate="2013-01-13T18:16:58.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Focus on trying to run the whole distance, even if you have to run at a walking speed. A week is too short a time to see improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1985" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T18:16:58.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10313" CreationDate="2013-01-13T18:43:59.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, lets address your concerns one at a time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quickest way to lose the weight is to resume your regular activities, and start eating a healthier diet. There is no &quot;quick fix&quot;, it's taken a few months to put on the weight, it'll take a few months to take it off as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not metabolism, although that may play a part. You had an active lifestyle, and you went to a sedentary lifestyle. In addition to that, you let your diet go to hell. Weight gain was almost inevitable with those factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could easily return to your &quot;normal&quot; physique by weightlifting more, and watching your diet a little more carefully. You need to be aware of what your caloric needs actually are, and eat accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spot reduction is a myth. Fat in the body pretty much works on a Last In, First Out (LIFO) schedule. So if your thighs were the last part to get fat, then they will be the first to get lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realistic time frame for losing the weight is probably about the same time it took to put it on, maybe a little less or more depending on how aggressively you pursue it. Running could definitely help, as it is a full body cardio workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would first look at your diet, as your comment about salads and the occasional orange juice leads me to believe you really don't understand how much veggies/fruits and other nutrients provide essential vitamins/minerals and other items. Figure out your daily caloric needs, adjust your activity so that you aren't as sedentary, and definitely eat healthier than KFC, pasties (Which can be quite high in fat, even though they ARE tasty!), and chocolate bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and when running, etc., if you are having chafing on any body parts, bodyglide or other lubricant, or wear long lycra type underwear that covers the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T18:43:59.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2013-01-13T21:05:53.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the excellent advice in the other responses, I would like to add some points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, only run when it is cold if you really have to, for example, Sunday January 13th, in Stockholm it was -9 Celcius (C) (16 Fahrenheit (F))  (-15 C considering the wind chill factor). A warmer Sunday, you would see lots of people running at the popular city parks &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djurg%C3%A5rden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Djurgården&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A4rdet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gärdet&lt;/a&gt;. That day, you hardly saw anyone.   So even when you have a large population used to cold weather &amp;amp; snow &amp;amp; ice ,  most of them avoid intense outdoor exercise in the cold. The key reasons are that it is difficult to breathe (even if you are used to cold air) and the risks of falling.  As a guideline, youth cross country skiers are not allowed to compete under -15 C (5 F), primarily because of the breathing and frostbite risks. Outdoors ice hockey games are cancelled if the temperature is below, -18 C (0 F). In both of these contexts, the participants are used to cold weather and in excellent shape.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lwfIc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Stockholm temperature 2013-01-13 &quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Screen shot from Wolfram Alpha 2013-01-13&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you really want to run, here are some additional things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run with shorter, slower steps &amp;amp; be prepared for slipping.  Most that I saw running on the Sunday had special shoes, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.icebug.se/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Icebug&lt;/a&gt; and they ran slower and with shorter steps. Shorter &amp;amp; also means less effort -&amp;gt;  less intense breathing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clothing, same as cross country skiing, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/crosscountry-ski-clothing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;REI&lt;/a&gt;. That is, layering, ready for being really warm at the core, but protecting sensitive areas such as head,  hands etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid to shave or wash your face in the morning before the run, it helps to protect  your face (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vardguiden.se/Sjukdomar-och-rad/Omraden/Sjukdomar-och-besvar/Koldskador/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;see  the Swedish national health guide&lt;/a&gt;)  from frost bites.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T20:44:23.097" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10358" CreationDate="2013-01-13T22:52:53.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suck at running. So this is my answer as a sucky runner who still sucks but is much better than when I started!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bring a stopwatch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figure out a good 'steady state' running pace. There will be some trial and error here. But this will be a 'comfortable' pace that you could run on fairly level ground for some distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Map out your track using landmarks, hard sections, easy sections. Now you just need to work out a strategy on how to run the course. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the easy parts, maybe pick up the pace just above your steady state. This may be for just a portion of the section, say for 100m. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the hard parts, drop to steady state or lower. Plan which sections are best for recovery. Time your self during each section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will be some trial and error. But once you have a plan and stick to it, it's easy to improve incrementally. All you have to do is improve slightly during each section of the track by a few seconds, and these start to add up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2013-01-13T22:52:53.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-13T23:23:48.723" Score="4" ViewCount="2163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose I'm on a hypercaloric diet (i.e bulking diet), lifting weights, and I also go for a walk 3 hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking is not an aerobic exercise, so the ratio of glycogen vs fat used as fuel is very well weighted to fat. I'm not really sure about the ratio, I guess 80/20 as an average of the 3 hours. Now... walking 3 hours is quite a lot (this is a hypothetical case, you get the point), but I'm sure that I could estimate (with some error margin) how many grams of fat I burned on each walk every day, and if I sum up for a week is plenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point (and question) is: Could this be a way (rather crazy) for gaining muscle and loosing fat at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know achieving both results at the same time is not possible (at least in not overweighted/non-novice individuals), but I'm not sure what would happen in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas or paper that suggests an answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4587" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-15T21:54:17.030" LastActivityDate="2013-01-16T03:08:29.397" Title="Would lots of walking allow me to lean out while lifting and eating a lot?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11383" CreationDate="2013-01-14T01:19:26.297" Score="27" ViewCount="165906" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told that I was doing the squats incorrectly because I was lifting the heels. I was told to try and do them without lifting the heels but I can't lower myself more than a few centimeters. The problem is not pain, I just feel tension in the back of my legs and at the point that the legs connect with the feet, but I don't feel any pain. The problem is that I just can't go lower, I feel locked there. I am young (24) and I haven't been diagnosed with any mobility problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/NMAUPxtaK-M&quot;&gt;video of me trying to squat&lt;/a&gt;. As you can see, there is a huge difference between what I can do with/without lifting my heels. I show as well the position in which I need to place my whole body to be able to put the whole foot on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I improve my squat if I can't keep my heels on the floor?&lt;/strong&gt; Which exercises would help me the most? I am a gym member, but the instructors there are too busy to help people with particular issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;UPDATE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, thank you very much for your answers. I really appreciate people spending their own time on helping me. Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been reading all your comments and answers, and I decided to upload two more videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Here is me &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/XbkKe9s1xYo&quot;&gt;squatting with the help of a table&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Here is me &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/A3HrLYGZovk&quot;&gt;performing the lunge test&lt;/a&gt;. I think it's a lot less than the10 cm that I should be able to do. Here's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/cpIFOd47UWE&quot;&gt;result&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do you feel discomfort, kind of like stretching between the top part of your feet that goes up by your tibia bones(on both of your legs)?&lt;/em&gt; That's exactly it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5003" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-15T17:25:45.720" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T19:23:59.810" Title="How do I squat if I can't keep my heels on the floor?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11388" CreationDate="2013-01-14T02:27:58.040" Score="14" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;My next fitness goal is &lt;a href=&quot;http://danjohn.net/the-overhead-squat-article/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;15 overhead squats&lt;/a&gt; with a barbell that has been loaded with my own bodyweight. I just went today and tried my first set. After lots of stretching and warmups, I did three pathetic work sets - 95x5, 115x5, 95x4. This lift is a hot mess for me. I feel great right now though - my back and core are feeling sore in ways that I haven't experienced since my novice days. I am obviously using new muscles to do this exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, despite the fact that I can easily front squat 175x15, I can't overhead squat even 175x1, so there is obviously a strength gap between me and my goal, in my back and arms. And this is what I'm hoping to train with the lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think the bigger problems are related to mobility. The thing is, besides knowing that my upper back and arms need a better ROM, I'm not sure what other parts of my body need to be more flexible right now. So, my questions are twofold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I evaluate my OHS mobility gaps?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I stretch my deltoids, trapezius, pectoralis, biceps, and triceps, for this lift?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And any wisdom from anyone who's worked this lift is also appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-16T15:43:05.857" LastActivityDate="2013-01-16T15:43:05.857" Title="Overhead Squat Assistance Work" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;overhead-squat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10371" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-01-14T07:41:48.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cold refers to the condition or subjective perception of having low&#xA;  temperature, the opposite of hot.[note 1] A lower bound to temperature&#xA;  is the absolute zero, defined as 0 K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute&#xA;  thermodynamic temperature scale. This corresponds to −273.15 °C on the&#xA;  Celsius scale, −459.67 °F on the Fahrenheit scale, and 0 °R on the&#xA;  Rankine scale.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Cold&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-14T08:26:38.953" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T08:26:38.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10372" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-01-14T07:41:48.273" Score="0" Body="Cold refers to the condition or subjective perception of having low temperature, the opposite of hot." OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-01-14T08:26:34.070" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T08:26:34.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10369" CreationDate="2013-01-14T11:17:46.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to some 'possible' issues with your squat: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/7-ways-to-keep-your-heels-on-the-floor-on-squats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/7-ways-to-keep-your-heels-on-the-floor-on-squats/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can see in the video, it's probably a combination of glute activation and hip flexor.  My recommendation would be to try goblet squats (&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/QrVgpDOLlgM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/QrVgpDOLlgM&lt;/a&gt;) and kettle bell swings (&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/0_XjJjLc7NE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/0_XjJjLc7NE&lt;/a&gt;) for 2-3 weeks.  Each of those weeks try the body weight squats every other day and see if there's improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T11:17:46.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10337" CreationDate="2013-01-14T13:39:09.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the exact same injury in my lower back. I am just unsure if the discs are the same. Anyhow when younger I had to sleep on a very bad bed which started causing me back pains. Later I started deadlifting and that expanded the pains to protrusions. Doctors told me that everything began with the bad mattress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So number 1 thing for you is to make sure the mattress you are sleeping on is good for your back. The harder the mattress, the better for your back. Also when you sit down on a chair it's good to have something against your lower back so that it is resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what doctors told me and that has worked for me ever since. However they also told me to stop all back exercising otherwise it will lead to disc herniation. I did not do anything for 2 weeks to see how that's going to go and also I wanted to think things through. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain in my lower back would not go away. I figured that the muscles of my lower back would just atrophy if I don't work them out. That's bad since your muscles support the bone structure of your body. Hence I started working out again keeping several things in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Any more serious pressure on your spine might lead things to herniation. That's why I replaced weights with rubberbands. I will give you an example why. Imagine biceps curling. I would curl with barbell of 50kgs. My set would be around 40seconds-1minute. During this minute the barbell would remain in my hands and for the whole minute my spine would have to cope with 50 additional kgs. And biceps are one of the smallest muscle groups in the body. I would use much heavier weights on other exercises. When using rubberbands, however, every time I go down, when curling, the bands will release the pressure on my spine. So if I am  to go for 10 reps, at the end of every repetition my spine will be completely relieved from any pressure. If interested check bodylastics, I have been using them for around 3 years now and am highly satisfied: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodylastics.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodylastics.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Even with rubberbands however the pressure on my spine would still be a lot. That's why I replaced the position of the bands. For example instead of doing biceps curling having the bands below my feet and pulling them up, towards my shoulders, I would attach the bands above my head and pull them down behind my head. This way the bands' resistance is pulling my body up instead of pulling it down, putting pressure on the spine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Bands and weights are different. I can't maintain enough strength just by using bands. That's why I focused more on body weight exercises, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthlete.com/2011/05/back-lever-tutorial/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back lever&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthlete.com/2011/05/front-lever-tutorial/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front lever&lt;/a&gt;(Disclaimer: both articles are written by me). These really, really strengthened my lower back and increased the size of my back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Sometimes I would feel a discomfort in my lower back, typically at the end of a harder workout. The feeling is as if somebody has pressed me against the floor. So I would just feel my lower back heavier somehow. That's when I would throw some spinal extensions. There are two exercises one of the best gymnastics' coaches in my country taught me. Focus on the first exercise, I have linked you directly to it. Some of my friends have similar back problems and would refer to this exercise frequently to release the pressure from their spine. Here's the link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/tVokXmC6eJM?t=33s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/tVokXmC6eJM?t=33s&lt;/a&gt; (Disclaimer: This video is mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also never forget to warm your back before a workout. Be careful with the warming up though, anything more aggressive might provoke a hernia. I hope this helped you, if you have any questions please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T13:39:09.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10369" CreationDate="2013-01-14T13:59:43.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the very same problem. The reason for being unable to squat down for me without lifting my heels is the lack of flexibility in the area of the tibia bone(not sure what it is called in english). Anyhow try the following to see if flexibility is the problem for you as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go close to a desk/table or just anything you can hold onto as you are squatting down(keep the object in front of you). Now after you grab that object begin squatting down slowly leaning towards the object(without lifting your heels). As you go down your knees should go forward towards your the toes of your feet(in order to keep your balance). Do you feel a discomfort feeling, kind of like stretching between the top part of your feet that goes up by your tibia bones(on both of your legs)? I am sorry I am unable to explain this better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's your case then I can give you some exercises for improving the flexibility in that area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T13:59:43.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-14T16:14:55.960" Score="5" ViewCount="523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training to do a charity cycle ride and I want to supplement my road training with some work on a cycle machine in the gym. My difficulty is that I don't know what to set the resistance level to on the machine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to train to do an average of 15mph, but I can easily do this by reducing the resistance on the bike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the distance I have covered according to the machine and in what time, but can I estimate using the Watts and/or RPM what resistance level to set?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1160" LastActivityDate="2013-01-15T05:12:13.913" Title="Can I estimate a real world speed using a Cycling Machine in the Gym?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11373" CreationDate="2013-01-14T16:45:55.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/396039-how-to-calculate-cycling-power/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/396039-how-to-calculate-cycling-power/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually one of the better estimations, although any of them are basically educated guesses. Without a properly calibrated power meter, it's hard to get a completely accurate reading of watts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T16:45:55.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10369" CreationDate="2013-01-14T17:33:24.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is completely a range of motion problem. The tendons and muscle down your calf and into your feet lack necessary range to squat without lifting heels to release pressure. You look like you're keeping almost exactly a 90 degree angle.&#xA;There are other exercises you can use to increase range of motion, probably continuing to squat and &quot;force&quot; range can be dangerous, if you're using weight that is. Instead focus on stretching exercises, and using foam rollers or hard rollers to tenderize the tissue down there.&#xA;You absolutely CAN increase your range of motion, squats are meant for heels! &#xA;Your form of the squat is also a bit wrong though. It's hard to explain in text but to squat properly you've got to stick your butt out like you're going to sit in a chair, you look like you're trying to sit your butt strait down between your legs. You can find videos on proper squat technique but the point is, you have to play with different squat forms to find where your personal physiology fits. Some bodies need feet farther apart than others, some all the way to sumo squats. Some with toes pointing almost strait forward, and some needing to point outward to varying degrees.&#xA;You may be able to squat better on your heels by taking a wider stance and pointing your toes out a little more, just be sure to keep your knees above your feet and not collapsing to the inside of your stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once last trick to keep you off your toes: take a book or piece of wood and put the front part of your feet on the book as you squat. This forces you to stay on your heels more. A proper squat form has all the power coming up through the heels. If you find you have to get on your toes to stand up, the form is not correct. Stick your butt out, your chest out, your head up, and squat through your heels. Work on range of motion as a secondary activity.&#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5006" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T17:33:24.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-14T17:41:24.240" Score="-3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6'2&quot; and 270lbs. I'm not all fat, for some reason, but I've never worked out before. I've just decided that I'm going to be joining a local gym and was wondering if there was a tool online that would build a 30 minute (or should I be doing more?) workout based on my goals/metric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that Gold Gym has one, but I tried putting several different metrics and usually got the same workout ... so I'm not sure how reliable it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, what kind of workout should I be doing? My goal is to lose weight and get healthier. I was thinking two 30 minute workouts per week along with playing soccer and basketball on a intramural team. Is that a lot or not enough? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5007" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T19:18:52.880" Title="Building a first-time workout based on my lifestyle" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11376" CreationDate="2013-01-14T19:13:03.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on population average metrics, you are obese and your body fat % is a clear and present danger to your health.  Therefore any responsible system for programming is going to give you its weightloss program first regardless of what the inputs are, until your weight is no longer a risk indicator for serious diseases.  Then you could be programmed to start branching out into sport-specific or goal-specific types of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been as high as 255lbs in my life at ~5'11&quot;, which is about the same size as you given height difference, and never &quot;looked fat&quot; either on account of not getting a &quot;chubby face&quot; and my body distributing it evenly up and down my legs and back.  Fortunately for me, I accepted just how high my BF% was regardless of looks and got my act together before developing Diabetes and needing new knees.  It is good you have done the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;30 Minute Workout&lt;/strong&gt;:  Time does not tell us anything, honestly.  If you do intense circuit training with no rests for 30 minutes, that is a lot of working out.  If you do one set of vanity lifts followed by a three minute rest for 30 minutes, you will not accomplish much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To accomplish as much as possible towards &quot;general fitness&quot; with only 30 minutes to work, two good options are circuits or complexes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Circuit: Instead of doing N sets of one exercise before moving to the next, you set up a bunch of exercises in a row and do them in a loop.  Cuts down on rest time and setup-takedown time and allows you to maintain an elevated heart rate continuously for longer.  Biggest problem for you is likely that it's hard to get 4-5+ exercise stations to yourself in a crowded gym, and gyms are crowded this time of year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Complex:  Perform a series of connected movements all with the same barbell or dumbbells without putting them down between exercises.  My favorite: take a barbell loaded with a weight I can comfortably overhead press at least 10X, then do &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 Romanian Deadlifts, lean forward and do &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 Bent Over Rows, then clean it up and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Squat it 6 times, then do &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 Overhead Presses.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Doing that as many times as you can in 20 minutes keeps the entire body working and no time lost changing plates/waiting for equipment.  After you've done it a few times you'll be able to choose a weight that lets you keep it up for the amount of time desired with reasonable between-set breaks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: These are advanced movements that require practice to perform safely.  Please try to find a capable person in real life to teach them to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just out of consideration for your time driving to and from and changing clothes, 30 minutes seems like a short program at a commercial gym!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My goal is to lose weight and get healthier&lt;/strong&gt;: This is all about what you eat.  You can slog on the treadmill for two hours and if you finish it with a 32oz gatorade and a powerbar, or go out in the evening and put away 6 beers, not much progress will be made.  Fix your diet and &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; activity will be plenty to lose weight.  Just the team sports would be fine if you're eating properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T19:13:03.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11376" CreationDate="2013-01-14T19:18:52.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two ways you could approach this, and both are equally fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first approach would be sticking 100% to your goal of losing weight. Doing 30 minutes of cardio at the gym, best case scenario you would be burning around 500 kcal / session or 1000 kcal / week. This is roughly equivalent to a medium sized Big Mac meal. I'm not sure what your diet looks like or how often you do basketball/soccer, so I cannot speak to whether or not this gym time will be enough for you to actually lose weight. Suffice it to say, you should always make sure you have a healthy, balanced diet that leaves you at an appropriate caloric deficit for your weight loss goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second approach would be to use your time at the gym to improve your strength/power so that you perform better in your favorite activities (basketball/soccer). Example exercises include burpees, squats, deadlifts, box jumping. Personally I would recommend following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; program, and supplementing the program with some additional exercises like burpees or box jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both approaches are equally valid and really depend on how you want to prioritize your goals. Personally, I feel the latter approach would have the best reward for you, but ultimately it is up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-01-14T19:18:52.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5613" CreationDate="2013-01-15T01:03:52.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider putting underarm antiperspirant on the palms of your hands at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/52254&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bedtime&lt;/a&gt;. I don't know if underarm antiperspirant is safe or effective on the hands. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1630659&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; which studied the use of underarm antiperspirant on the feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There exist &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=hand+antiperspirant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;$20 antiperspirants labeled for use on hands&lt;/a&gt;. The inactive ingredients might differ from those of underarm antiperspirant; I haven't researched the matter. The active ingredient is likely to be an aluminum compound which is either identical or related to the aluminum compounds found in underarm antiperspirants. Make sure the product you choose contains an aluminum compound: if it doesn't, it's unlikely to work very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Dear all: if you do some PubMed searching to see if underarm antiperspirant works on hands, please edit this answer and point us to what you found. I can approve your suggested edit.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4799" LastActivityDate="2013-01-15T01:03:52.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11373" CreationDate="2013-01-15T05:12:13.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get something by paying attention to how you feel riding at a specific speed outside vs on the exercise bicycle, but it won't be terribly accurate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I recommend that you don't try to duplicate your outdoor training. You would see greater improvement if you did some intervals instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-01-15T05:12:13.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10369" CreationDate="2013-01-15T15:49:04.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a video with some mobility exercises from the Swedish MAQ &quot;school&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://miroforlag.se/produkt/muscle-action-quality-maq/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle Action Quality&lt;/a&gt;),  see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmIu4YX-nf0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Demo of exercise&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a great combination of exercises for mobility, no weights, only a stick. Basically the combo consists of  &quot;dead lift&quot; with straight legs, a front squat and a squat with straight arms.  All done in a slow and controlled manner. Most gym have light wooden sticks that you can use for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have done this as a warm up exercise for a couple of years and my mobility has increased dramatically compared to when I started. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you are quite immobile, I wouldn't start with any weights at all. Instead focus on this kind of drills that are similar to core, posterior chain focused weight lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2013-01-15T15:49:04.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10369" CreationDate="2013-01-15T16:10:52.097" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not being able to do a heels-on-the-ground 3rd world squat is a major mobility problem in my opinion. If I were you, I'd do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat all the time. At least a half-dozen times a day, stop whatever you're doing and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;practice your third-world squat&lt;/a&gt;. Use a table or door for balance until you can do it without one. Spend some time down there. Tell your body that this is something it has to do well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch your calf muscles frequently. I've found improvement in my squat mobility with doing &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6600/1771&quot;&gt;these stretches&lt;/a&gt; several times a day. It's dramatic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up thoroughly before your lifting workouts. You should have broken a solid sweat and be warm all over before trying to squat with an external load. Make sure to move all the involved joints--ankle, knee, hip--though as much range of motion as possible, several times, to get them ready to improve that range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the end of your lifting workouts, while you're still warm but stretching won't interfere with resistance exercise, work on improving &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2010/08/first-of-many-beat-downs.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the maximum amount of time you can spend in the bottom of a proper squat&lt;/a&gt;. Improving my maximum from thirty seconds to six minutes helped my hip mobility enormously.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In order to develop proprioception (the sense of where your body is), &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/gYZjHErxMqQ?t=1m40s&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;squat with a broomstick&lt;/a&gt;. The video shows a Romanian deadlift; do the same thing but squat: hold it against your back while you squat. Work on having it touch at no more and no fewer than three places as you squat: the back of your head, between your shoulderblades, and your sacrum (back of the hips/top of your butt).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also spend some money on a private lesson with one of the trainers. Ask them who can help you with your &lt;strong&gt;specific goal&lt;/strong&gt; of achieving a deep squat with heels on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-01-15T17:26:50.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10367" CreationDate="2013-01-15T17:49:05.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a resource you can go back to several times, I highly recommend &quot;Practical Programming&quot; by Kilgore and Rippetoe.  The first half of the book covers exercise theory, general adaptation syndrome, energy systems, and balancing recovery and stress.  The bottom line is that the holy grail of losing fat while building muscle mass is something that is really only achievable by beginners.  However, it does require some expounding here to understand why.  But here are some applicable observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulking is most effective at adding muscle when you start in a lean state.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking is an effective method of active recovery, but not very effective for burning fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is more than one way to add muscle mass, depending on your goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bulking is Most Effective When Already Lean&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are already lean, you can tell by looking in a mirror whether the increase in weight is due to muscle mass or fat mass--or the relative percentage of each.  The bottom line is that adding muscle mass is not easy.  It can take a while to add a pound or two of muscle mass, but when you do, you will be burning significantly more Calories even at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majority of the problem is that your body likes to maintain the status quo.  If it is in the mode of storing extra calories as fat, it will tend to continue storing more of your excess calories as fat than as (more accurately within) your muscle.  If you are already obese (&gt;20% BF for young men or &gt;25% BF for older men), then your body is tuned to store fat.  The best way to break that cycle is to get to 15% or below body fat (assumption: men).  It's about that threshold that the body is more tuned to feed your muscles than your fat cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking Not Effective For Fat Loss&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite frankly, walking doesn't burn a lot of calories.  It does help, because it gets the blood flowing which helps reduce soreness and other issues with strength training.  However, you need a way to get the best of both worlds.  This is where we enter the world of conditioning.  Conditioning can be as simple as adding a weight vest while you are out walking, or it can be as widely varied as the different forms of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to burn Calories you have to expend more energy than you take in--but if you are &quot;bulking&quot; you are taking in more calories than you burn.  This is the conundrum, and yet another reason to separate the activities.  The bottom line is that movement burns Calories.  High intensity work will continue to burn fat just as low intensity work, but will also deplete your glycogen stores much quicker.  Once the glycogen is burned up, the only energy source left is fat.  But don't get too ahead of yourself here.  See below when I bring in the concept of diet...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Multiple Ways To Train&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you care about increasing muscle mass, then training for muscle size is going to help your goals quicker and more effectively than training for strength.  Paul Carter calls this mass building, or base building.  It is similar to bodybuilding, but the end goal isn't the perfect ratio of muscle sizes.  The end goal is to increase the ceiling of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training for mass (base building), I found myself increase in size around the chest, and decrease in size around the gut.  That is until the holidays came and I started over eating my gains.  My goal here was strictly eating to maintain weight.  I wasn't doing conditioning, just long sets and a decent amount of volume.  As long as I didn't eat too much, I was trading mass.  However, once I hit equilibrium (i.e. still maintaining weight) the fat wouldn't come off anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other side of training for mass is that you are burning more calories because you are training more volume, which requires more work overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's All About Energy Balance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, whether you are trying to get slim or build muscle, you have to balance the needs of your body for energy.  You have to be in a caloric deficit to burn fat, plain and simple.  You have to be in a caloric surplus to build muscle.  Unfortunately, the capacity of the body to pull from the fat stores while building muscle is very limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various diets attempt to address the conundrum by something called &lt;em&gt;Calorie cycling&lt;/em&gt;.  This gives your body more calories on the days you weight lift, and fewer calories on other days.  The net result over the span of a week should be lower than your requirements if you want to primarily lose fat, or higher than your requirements if you want to primarily gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As useful as Calorie cycling is, it can only do so much.  In essence, it is best to pick one primary goal and pursue that while having the least amount of impact on the other goals.  For example, if you are obese, the primary goal should be to lose fat while &lt;em&gt;preserving&lt;/em&gt; the muscle you have.  If you have normal body weight you can either maintain or go for muscle building while &lt;em&gt;minimizing&lt;/em&gt; the amount of fat that inevitably will be added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-01-15T18:52:06.780" LastActivityDate="2013-01-15T18:52:06.780" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10367" CreationDate="2013-01-16T00:15:34.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adaptation is a bastard. I walk 8-15 miles a day, 5-6 times a week, while doing a strength training program 3 days a week. I feel my body has worked out how to walk effortlessly, such that the calories burnt are definitely less than activity burn sheets might imply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep a caloric deficit non-workout days, a slight surplus training days. Fat loss seems to be so much harder now than before I started the strength training. I feel the recovery from a workout leads me to sleeping more, eating more and less inclined to do varying types of energetic work. The large amounts of walking (which has also reduced by about 30% since strength training) just can't seem to compensate for the occasional 1000 calorie surplus bad binge day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember the weight I'd lose going on a 3 day hike walking around 7-8 miles a day. But I'd only hike once or twice a year (no adaptation), I'd have a heavy backpack (as Berin suggested), plus tough hills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-16T03:08:29.397" LastActivityDate="2013-01-16T03:08:29.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12168" CreationDate="2013-01-16T01:49:28.510" Score="9" ViewCount="13135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 22 years old and had knee surgery almost 7 months ago to fix damaged cartilage (I was a distance runner).  The damaged cartilage was right in the weight bearing portion of my knee (medial femoral condyle) such that putting pressure on it while walking hurt.  I had the OATs procedure and am almost better now.  After taking x-rays, my surgeon said that I am free to run, bike, and workout.  He said it would be hard to damage the cartilage plug at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been workout out for about 5 months, but I've only been doing upper body.  I've read that to really get good and build muscle, you really need to do squats and deadlifts, as these are considered the most essential exercises.  I'm sure doing these exercises with the bar or even a plate on each side probably wouldn't hurt, but I imagine that I will improve over time, and at some point I'll be wondering if a 300 pound squat is a healthy thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone who's had cartilage damage and knee surgery: do you have any experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1288" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T22:44:17.717" Title="Squats and deadlifts after knee surgery" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10370" CreationDate="2013-01-16T05:02:46.397" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with all squats you need flexibility in the calves, legs, hips, pelvis, back and shoulders. Other questions have addressed flexibility needed for squats in general: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5196/what-are-some-good-stretches-to-help-with-squatting&quot;&gt;What are some good stretches to help with squatting?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles&quot;&gt;Is it normal when starting squats to not have flexible enough ankles?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For the Overhead Squat&lt;/strong&gt; where the arms are overhead, tight &lt;strong&gt;latissimuss&lt;/strong&gt; muscles will limit proper overhead arm positioning.  Also as you have mentioned, &lt;strong&gt;upper trap&lt;/strong&gt; tightness will limit the scapula from rotating into position, and &lt;strong&gt;pectoral&lt;/strong&gt; muscle tightness prevents proper shoulder positioning which is important to prevent shoulder injuries and impingement with overhead positioning.  Stretching these muscles should help you achieve good overhead arm positioning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/LatissimusDorsi.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;latissimus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; begins on the iliac crest and lower back and travels up the back and chest to insert into the humerus (front of the shoulder).   Tightness of the lats will restrict motion of the shoulder as well as the back and pelvis, all of which are important to have full range with the OH squat.  Child's Pose is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/LatissimusDorsi/BentoverFloor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;good lat stretch&lt;/a&gt; as it stretches the full length of the muscle.  Other good lat stretches: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/LatissimusDorsi/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wall Lat Stretch&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/LatissimusDorsi/SeatedSideReach.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lat Side Reach&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/LatissimusDorsi/Overhead.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lat and Triceps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusUpper.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Trap&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; tightness will restrict the downward movement of your scapula or shoulder blade that is needed as your arm reaches overhead.  To &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/TrapeziusUpper/Trap.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stretch the upper trap&lt;/a&gt;, stablize the shoulder in a depressed position and gently stretch your neck by tilting your head away toward the opposite armpit. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pectoral&lt;/strong&gt; muscle tightness tends to pull the shoulders forward out of neutral alignment.  The doorway stretch is a good pec stretch, but this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/PectoralisMinor/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wall Shoudler Girdle&lt;/a&gt; exercise stretches the pecs while contracting the opposing scapular muscles.  If you can keep your back, shoulders and wrists against the wall during this exercise without difficulty, you should have sufficient shoulder mobility for the OHS. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As previously mentioned, work with a weight that you can control with good form.  And remember that static stretching is not recommended before strength training as the tissue is temporarily weakened following static stetches.  These exercises to gain range should be performed after you are fininshed with your workout or when your tissues are fully warmed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-01-16T05:02:46.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10172" CreationDate="2013-01-16T07:15:50.843" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had read to use both mouth and nose, but found that whereas the nose is good at filtering air, it's not very good at filtering the water droplets splashing around. Water up the nose isn't nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ended up buying Total Immersion's &quot;O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O, A Self-help course on breathing in swimming&quot; and it teaches in with the mouth, out with the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2013-01-16T07:15:50.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11398" CreationDate="2013-01-17T09:55:18.617" Score="6" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training for Olympic distance triathlons or longer. My schedule is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;    Mon: Rest&#xA;Tue-Fri: Swim 8km or more&#xA;Sat-Sun: Cycle 100km or Run 10km&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any particularly weak areas. What changes could I make to my routine that would improve my speed and overall finish time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T15:57:54.633" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T22:45:38.633" Title="How to increase my speed in Olympic distance triathlon?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10172" CreationDate="2013-01-17T11:57:03.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is better to inhale through the mouth for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of time we get to inhale is very less (the time during which our head is out of the water). During this time we have to quickly inhale, which is better done with the mouth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we inhale, always some water enters into either the nose or the mouth (whichever we use to inhale).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The mouth can easily spit the water, in case water enters. Also the filtering(the air from the water) is effective when the mouth is used.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In yoga, one is advised to exhale completely and concentrate more on exhalation rather than inhalation. This is because the carbon-di-oxide formed in the lungs is to be completely (if not completely, to a maximum extent) removed; prolonged exhalation period and a short inhalation period is advised in yoga; also the vacuum created due to the effective exhalation will help in effective inhalation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In swimming, like yoga, we exhale while head is inside the water(long period, about 4 sec for breastroke) through our nose and inhale while head is outside the water(about .5 sec for any stroke).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T11:57:03.210" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-17T13:50:39.040" Score="4" ViewCount="2669" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to cut for a while and lower my fat percentage. As everybody I want to maximize fat loss and minimize muscle loss. &lt;strong&gt;Are there any warning indicators that my body is burning muscles instead of fat?&lt;/strong&gt; What is the best way to avoid it? Should I eatless proteins than in bulking phase? Should I keep doing the same strength exercises with the same weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4334" LastEditorUserId="4334" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T15:46:37.493" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T13:12:09.630" Title="Cutting phase: indicators for muscle loss" Tags="&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2013-01-17T14:44:23.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body can use about &lt;a href=&quot;http://baye.com/calculating-the-daily-calorie-deficit-for-maximum-fat-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;31.4 Cal / lb of fat / day&lt;/a&gt;. This key statistic tells you a lot about your maximum rate of fat loss, because fat loss only happens when the body is using calories from your fat stores.  There is thus a maximum rate of fat loss, and that rate is &lt;em&gt;dependent on how much fat you have.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have 25 lbs of fat on your body, then you can metabolize about 31.4*25 = 785 fat Calories per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, a pound of human fat tissue is estimated to store about 3500 Cal. It might be a little higher or lower, but that is the number that is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zoeharcombe.com/the-knowledge/1lb-does-not-equal-3500-calories/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frequently thrown around.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you estimate your weekly fat calories at 785*7 = 5495 Cal/week, and divide that by 3500 Cal/lb, then you get a maximum fat loss rate of about 1.57lb/week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid muscle loss, you should never run a deficit greater than what your body can make available from fat, or else you are guaranteed to lose muscle just to stay alive. Beyond that, you should train with weights and eat a high protein diet in order to prevent catabolism - the breakdown of muscle. Small and frequent meals to keep insulin levels constant is also believed to help. Another technique which is suspected to help but hasn't been proven is increasing your free testosterone, such as with a zinc supplement, or by abstaining from masturbation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obvious indicator that you're losing muscle is that your muscles get smaller and weaker. I don't know of any others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T15:57:18.767" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T15:57:18.767" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11394" CreationDate="2013-01-17T14:56:07.743" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would consider your cycling and running to be completely inadequate as far as the amount of training, especially if you would like to be competitive in your age group. Your swimming is probably fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best recommendation would be to go to a site, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://trifuel.com&quot;&gt;trifuel&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://beginnertriathlete.com&quot;&gt;BeginnerTriathlete.com&lt;/a&gt;, and take a look at some of their free 16 or 20 week training plans. Most of them are going to be fairly balanced with 3 to 5 workouts in EACH discipline (so 9-15 workouts) per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about strength training. While there are triathletes that incorporate strength training, most of them are either at the pointy end of the stick (pros) seeking to get every last gain, or using it to address a deficiency or imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone in your situation, to get faster, you simply need to be doing more, in a prescribed, planned fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2013-01-17T16:02:02.030" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T16:02:02.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10360" CreationDate="2013-01-17T22:19:04.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It takes approximately 36 hours for the muscle fibres to recover, but even after 36 hours of intense training you will still be able to feel the aching in your muscles .. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're training with a split program, it's better to do exercises in different muscle groups everyday, and then have 2 recovery days per week, with no exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training with the same exercises everyday, it's better to recover every second day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer to your question is a mix of both A and B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5022" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T22:19:04.447" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11394" CreationDate="2013-01-17T22:45:38.633" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to JohnP's answer,  consider doing Brick workouts, where you combine two of the disciplines in a single day.  The Challenge of a triathlon isn't the distances, it is doing three different body motions back to back.  So you need to teach your body to bike after the swim and run after the bike (assuming a traditional order, some races are run in reverse, but typically in the Sprint distances).   BeginnerTriathlete.com has a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Enrico%20Contolini/Introduction_to_bricks.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Introduction to Bricks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4879" LastActivityDate="2013-01-17T22:45:38.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9910" CreationDate="2013-01-18T03:18:56.227" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Peer reviewed literature on testosterone appears to have inconsistent conclusions, however, the well designed studies all agree that abstinence raises T.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some studies say that masturbation raises T, and some that abstinence does so. But the well-designed studies all conclude that abstinence raises the baseline amount of T in your body. Well designed studies measure blood T levels for &lt;strong&gt;at least ten days after a masturbation event&lt;/strong&gt;. One frequently cited study only compared T levels a few hours before and after the masturbation event, which lead its authors into an incorrect conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that there is a  brief spike in T during and after sexual activity that lasts a few hours at most, before returning to a baseline level, b. But 5 days after an ejaculation event, blood T levels begin rising, and flatline at about 1.5b on about the 7th day after masturbation (presumably, after any orgasm). They stay at this highly elevated level until you orgasm again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short: protracted abstinence dramatically raises your T level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the best part is, you don't have to take anyone's word for it. Just try it for yourself and you won't doubt it anymore. The effects of that extra testosterone are powerful. I assure you that you won't be able to mistake the difference. The strength, motivation, clarity, and drive that you feel after protracted abstinence has been noted by men throughout the ages, and all across the globe. To give an extreme example, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartiate#The_lifestyle_of_the_Spartiate_class&quot;&gt;Spartiate warrior caste lived in barracks their entire lives&lt;/a&gt;, and only had carnal knowledge of their wives when they were able to sneak out (at the risk of formal censure). The warriors of the Maori, the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand, widely famed for their ferocity in battle, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/ehrenreich-rites.html&quot;&gt;engaged in rigorous, extended periods of sexual abstinence&lt;/a&gt; in preparation for war.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11760788?ordinalpos=16&amp;amp;itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&quot;&gt;Endocrine response to masturbation-induced orgasm in healthy men following a 3-week sexual abstinence.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This current study examined the effect of a 3-week period of sexual abstinence on the neuroendocrine response to masturbation-induced orgasm. Hormonal and cardiovascular parameters were examined in ten healthy adult men during sexual arousal and masturbation-induced orgasm. Blood was drawn continuously and cardiovascular parameters were constantly monitored. This procedure was conducted for each participant twice, both before and after a &lt;em&gt;3-week period of sexual abstinence&lt;/em&gt;. Plasma was subsequently analysed for concentrations of adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol, prolactin, luteinizing hormone and testosterone concentrations. Orgasm increased blood pressure, heart rate, plasma catecholamines and prolactin. These effects were observed both before and after sexual abstinence. In contrast, although plasma testosterone was unaltered by orgasm, higher testosterone concentrations were observed following the period of abstinence. These data demonstrate that &lt;em&gt;acute abstinence&lt;/em&gt; does not change the neuroendocrine response to orgasm but &lt;strong&gt;does produce elevated levels of testosterone in males&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1275688&quot;&gt;Orgasmic frequency and plasma testosterone levels in normal human males.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twenty males participated in a 2-month study examining the relationship between 8 a.m. plasma testosterone levels and orgasmic frequency. Within subjects, higher levels of testosterone are associated with periods of sexual activity. Over subjects, however, the direction of the relationship is reversed. &lt;strong&gt;Mean testosterone levels were higher for sexually less active individuals&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1631/jzus.2003.0236&quot;&gt;A research on the relationship between ejaculation and serum testosterone level in men.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The authors found that the fluctuations of testosterone levels from the 2nd to 5th day of abstinence were minimal. &lt;strong&gt;On the 7th day of abstinence, however, a clear peak of serum testosterone appeared, reaching 145.7% of the baseline (P&amp;lt;0.01)&lt;/strong&gt;. No regular fluctuation was observed following continuous abstinence after the peak. Ejaculation is the precondition and beginning of the special periodic serum testosterone level variations, which would not occur without ejaculation. The results showed that ejaculation-caused variations were characterized by a peak on the 7th day of abstinence; and that the effective time of anejaculation, is 7 days minimum. These data are the first to document the phenomenon of the periodic change in serum testosterone level; the correlation between ejaculation and periodic change in the serum testosterone level, and the pattern and characteristics of the periodic change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2013-01-22T22:24:49.473" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T22:24:49.473" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-18T05:59:39.617" Score="2" ViewCount="2964" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 17 and I workout 5 times a week with my uncle after school for conditioning for football next year and I need to get stronger and bigger and we lift everyday and run on the treadmill everyday and after my workouts I take one scoop of 6 star whey protein and one scoop of body fortress creatine a day and I drink lots of water so Is it safe for my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5024" LastEditorUserId="5024" LastEditDate="2013-01-18T06:10:37.927" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T20:13:11.750" Title="Creatine and protein schedule" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11408" CreationDate="2013-01-18T06:08:22.860" Score="2" ViewCount="4255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read that Lance Armstrong used EPO to win cycling championships.  I wish to improve my ability to run long distances quickly.  Will taking EPO be good for this, and are there any negative side-effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2017-03-05T21:55:11.607" Title="Will EPO increase my running ability?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11403" CreationDate="2013-01-18T11:20:17.223" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The recommended age for working out and doing heavy strength exercises is 16. When it comes to your protein shake and creatine, then the amount of protein and creatine isn't dangerous for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whey protein is optimal for your training, if you want to gain extra muscles. The creatine  is just for your own motivation, cause the only thing creatine does, is that it reduces the aching in your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I read in your question was that you lift everyday? There's no point in lifting everyday if you want to gain muscles. You can run the treadmill, in order to get in shape, but  you must notice that it takes 36 hours for the muscle fibres to recover. Which means you would gain muscles faster if you for example lifted weights 4 days a week, and then had 3 days of recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5022" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T11:20:17.223" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11409" CreationDate="2013-01-18T11:52:06.400" Score="7" ViewCount="470" Body="&lt;p&gt;I swim 2 km or more per day and 4 days a week.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In that distance I use the kickboard and do freestyle kicks (200 m). It takes around 120 second to complete every 50 m in that kick session.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please suggest a way to improve my kicks and thereby reduce time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T20:58:12.267" Title="How to increase speed in freestyle kicks?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11404" CreationDate="2013-01-18T14:33:06.027" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Erythropoietin (EPO) is a naturally occurring substance in the body that aids in red blood cell (RBC) production. It was originally developed as an external drug in the early 1900's to aid people with poor RBC production or other disease pathologies such as anemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By itself, EPO will do nothing to enhance your running ability. What it does do, is enable you to do more work by making available more oxygen to working muscles. This enables you to work harder, which in turn should make you faster. It is an enabler, not an instant result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are quite a lot of drawbacks to EPO supplementation in an otherwise normal person. One of the biggest is that when you artificially increase the RBC count in blood, it does not also increase the plasma/sera (liquid portions of the blood), so your blood becomes thicker. This makes it harder for the heart to pump the blood through the body, and when coupled with a lowered resting heart rate (A very common side effect of being fit), you highly increase your chance of stroke and death, especially when sleeping. There have been over 20 deaths in professional cycling in recent years linked to EPO use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, people make their own choices, but if you are considering supplementing with EPO I would highly encourage you to research it thoroughly and understand the dangers and the risks that you take with your life by doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T14:33:06.027" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11407" CreationDate="2013-01-18T14:48:56.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer for this is similar to the one for triathlons, is that you get faster by doing it more. However, the kick is one of the parts of the stroke that if you aren't &quot;getting it&quot;, then it's hard to be able to do it properly without someone showing you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you have a swim instructor look at your stroke and make sure that you are doing it correctly. It should flow almost in a &quot;wave&quot; from your hips through your toes, with minimal bend in the knee. Your foot should also be pointed, ideally you would like a straight line from the top of your shin down through your toes. The best dryland drill for kicks is to sit on your butt, point your toes, lift your legs about 1' off the ground and scissor kick (Keeping legs straight, no bend).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for long distance swimming, the kick is less and less important for propulsion, and is mainly for balance and driving the breathing cycle. Also, the muscles of the legs are quite large, and take a lot of energy/oxygen, so if you use them as a primary propulsion source for a triathlon swim, then you are reducing their work capacity for the later legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T14:48:56.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9910" CreationDate="2013-01-18T15:17:50.967" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the reason why masturbation is believed to have an effect on muscle gains is because it influences the testosterone levels. Recent research suggest that natural levels of testosterone simply have no effect on muscle gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New research from scientists at McMaster University reveals exercise-related testosterone and growth hormone do not play an influential role in building muscle after weightlifting, despite conventional wisdom suggesting otherwise. […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;A popular mindset for weightlifters is that increased levels of hormones after exercise play a key role in building muscle,&amp;quot; explains Daniel West, lead author of both studies and a graduate student in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster. &amp;quot;That is simply not the case.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first study, researchers examined the responses of both male and female participants to intense leg exercise. Despite a 45-fold difference in testosterone increase, men and women were able to make new muscle protein at exactly the same rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Since new muscle proteins eventually add up to muscle growth, this is an important finding,&amp;quot; says West.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;While testosterone is definitely anabolic and promotes muscle growth in men and women at high doses, such as those used during steroid abuse, our findings show that naturally occurring levels of testosterone do not influence the rate of muscle protein synthesis.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120614130946.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T15:17:50.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11403" CreationDate="2013-01-18T19:59:29.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really want to bulk up, working out 5 days a week is counter-productive.  You need to get your body to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supercompensate&lt;/a&gt; and you won't get there without rest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume you isolate different muscle groups on different days, something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Mon: Chest/Triceps&#xA;Tues: Back/Biceps&#xA;Wed: Shoulder/Forearms&#xA;Thurs:Legs&#xA;Fri: Core/Abs &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because that's what everyone reads in magazines and people tell others to follow programs like this without really knowing why they even follow these schedules...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm going to pull some Rippetoe/Mehdi stuff on you :)  What you want to be doing (assuming you want to become stronger and bigger for football) is compound lifts.  You want to be squatting 3x a week.  You want to be getting your deadlift and bench numbers up.  Drop any exercise that has the word &quot;curl&quot; in it. Drop leg presses. Drop triceps extensions, lat pull-downs, etc...  Compound lifts baby! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, an ideal schedule would be one day on, one day off, and cardio on the weekend.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite honestly, to achieve your goal, you could do it with 5 simple exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;    Squats  &#xA;    Benchpress &#xA;    Barbell Rows  &#xA;    Chin-ups &#xA;and most importantly, Deadlifts&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically I'm recommending &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5x5 Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt;.  I followed this for hockey, and in 3 months, with the right diet, I put on 25 pounds, and judging by my BF%, 12-14 of those lbs were pure muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow this training regimen, get 200+ grams of protein, 3000+ kCal in you per day, and you'll gain muscle. Start small, increase the weight every workout.  Muscle confusion is a myth. If you want to get stronger keep lifting and build up to more weight, your body will evolve naturally to handle the added strain.  That's how you get stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastEditorDisplayName="user4963" LastEditDate="2013-01-18T20:13:11.750" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T20:13:11.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11419" CreationDate="2013-01-18T20:26:41.090" Score="4" ViewCount="1002" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am now planning to go to the gym, I never did gym before more than a month.. and that was 5 years back. Now as since last 5 years I have ruined my body by eating junk foods, sitting in front of the computer (obvious, as I am a software Engineer), late night sleep and sometime eating one time in a day.&#xA;My current build is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 5 feet 11 inches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 74 Kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gained little mass on my chest and belly too (15-20% fat). Now I need an advice how do I train my body- by lifting heavy weights or light weights? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do I need to have supplements, protein shakes or organic multivitamin tablets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last point, when last time I did gym for a month I noticed that I have lost fat from my face too. Is that fine or an indication of malnutrition ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2321" LastEditorUserId="2321" LastEditDate="2013-01-18T20:35:06.200" LastActivityDate="2013-01-19T15:49:48.557" Title="Shape up body with heavy weights or light weights" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11413" CreationDate="2013-01-18T20:59:34.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to loose weight and want to get rid of excess fat, you should change what you eat and how. Reduce the Calories you consume, you could start by adding more vegetables to your diet and eat regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add muscle by weightlifting you should have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. It is a beginner weightlifting programs that takes a linear approach to weightlifting. I have only used some aspects of the program as I don't workout in a gym and don't have a barbell myself, but a lot of people here on fitness.SE are convinced of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to take supplements, I am convinced that you can achieve your goals without. Some people might find it problematic to adjust their diet to account for their increased protein needs and prefer to supplement with protein shakes. The same counts for Vitamins. I prefer to adjust my diet, supplements are pretty expensive compared to regular food sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loosing fat from the face is not necessarily a bad thing, it is the first place where I lost fat, too. When I began my fitness craze it was the first thing people noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-01-18T20:59:34.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11420" CreationDate="2013-01-19T08:08:09.173" Score="9" ViewCount="12101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to exercises while watching TV, and don't particularly want to get more home exercise equipment (like a bar or stand).  What equipment I have is mostly stuff my wife has used for pilates and physical therapy.  I have small dumbbells up to 10 pounds, a yoga strap, a balance board and an inflatable exercise/stability ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually do jumping jacks, pushups, crunches, various core/leg exercises, etc., but I'm looking specifically for exercises which would be useful in training for indoor rock climbing (mostly biceps and lat exercises).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted rows on a chair, and I don't have any chairs work particularly well for it. (chairs uncomfortably small)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curls.  The weights I have are pretty light, and I don't have a lot of spare money/space to get heavier ones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T16:21:15.110" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T17:19:43.047" Title="Home exercises for training for indoor rock climbing" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11416" CreationDate="2013-01-19T09:02:44.900" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to improve your strength needed for climbing, you should focus on pulling patterns: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inverted rows (horizontal pulling) are good, lay down under a table und pull yourself up. If this is too easy, place your feet onto a chair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull ups (vertical pulling). They are my favourite pulling exercise, they just give you so much strength, work your biceps and back at the same time. Work with different grips (overhand and underhand) and grip widths to focus on specific muscle groups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly recommend too get a pull up bar, some rings, or a suspension trainer. Maybe one of the latter two make sense for you, as they can also be used for many other exercises. If you don't want to buy anything, try to use a door for pull ups.&#xA;I think in order to gain strength, 10 pound dumbbells are too light, you should definetly train with higher intensity (like 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps each for each exercise). But training intensities are another story...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you should keep doing pushing exercises as well to prevent unbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-01-19T09:02:44.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11416" CreationDate="2013-01-19T09:03:36.817" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you to get a pull up bar, as I think the pull up comes closest to real climbing. The models for the door frame are not that expensive. But it might be complicated to find the right door to make you still able to watch TV and I doubt you want to glue a ceiling mounted pull up bar to your living room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So without a pull up bar, try inverted rows below a table. I did it before I got my pull up bar and it was a nice help progressing into the pull up movement.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can do the inverted rows with both grips, underhand and overhand. With the underhand grip you can increase intensity by lying in front of the table and trying to bring your hands behind your head, effectively lifting your head above the plate of the table. The overhand grip comes closer to climbing movement and grips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally I'd drop the curls. I think it would be better to spend time doing compound instead of isolation exercises.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can still use the dumbbells to increase resistance doing certain body weight exercises. Eg if you are already doing body weight squats, you could do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ThighWt.html#anchor172012&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbbell front squats&lt;/a&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T16:38:28.723" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T16:38:28.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11413" CreationDate="2013-01-19T15:49:48.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you mean by &quot;supplements?&quot; If you want to lose body fat, there are a plethora of &quot;fat-burners&quot; and thermogenics available. However, they can be dangerous if you misuse them. The safest way to lose body fat (IMO) would be High-Intensity Interval Training. Programs like p90x and crossfit—to name a couple—are great for people trying to shed some extra pounds. Even the smallest changes in your daily routines can help you lose weight: taking the stairs, parking in the farthest spot, yard work and landscaping, riding a bike to work (just be safe!), eating less but more frequently (helps stop cravings too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, the main point to get across here is to increase your metabolism. And anything that keeps your heart rate up and respitory rate faster than &quot;resting&quot; will burn calories. Whether those calories are from fat depends on your diet as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been up all night so I hope I didn't lose you anywhere here…hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4974" LastActivityDate="2013-01-19T15:49:48.557" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11416" CreationDate="2013-01-19T23:07:49.167" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rock climbing is largely a skill sport, so to get better, climb more. Being generally fit also helps, but to be a better rock climber, you need to climb a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to specifically do extra work for rock climbing you should start off with identifying your weaknesses. From my experience in my climbing gym, the biggest weaknesses are grip strength and flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things you can do at home&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can train your grip with something like the Black Diamond forearm trainer. You could probably just find a block of wood and just squeeze it. Real holds don't have any give after all. Don't use a regular grip trainer. Your closed grip is probably relatively strong. You probably want to train your open handed grip positions (like you're holding a fat hold).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try Metolius Rock Rings. They are like a pair of mini hang boards that you can just hang somewhere. They come with an example program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is also worth working on as increased flexibility open up moves that you may not be able to perform at the moment. I find leg flexibility more limited than shoulder/arm flexibility. I'm not confident in prescribing stretches but perhaps someone at your gym can give you a few pointers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Add drills to your regular climbing time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the campus boards and hang boards in the climbing gym. You can do various drills before you climb: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just hanging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging in the middle position of a wide grip chin up (so that your arms are beside you and your forearm and bicep form a right-angle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-sit hangs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Off set pull ups (one hand lower than the other)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Various patterns to get up the campus board&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask someone at your gym for advice and to show you drills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Otherwise maintain good general fitness.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edited to try and answer the question more directly. Thought the Edit Summary field would add an editing note. Does not seem to be the case. Edited again to put edit note&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastEditorUserId="284" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T10:29:14.507" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T10:29:14.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11422" CreationDate="2013-01-19T23:39:37.237" Score="2" ViewCount="1848" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that my father only complains a little bit about his left knee, which routines should him practice to be fit and prepared for ordinary tasks? Pilates, gym and physical therapy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More details about my father: he still works and walks a lot, but there is no special program or a sport he is practicing. He feels that he is slowly loosing a little bit of strength and not sleeping as easy as he used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5033" LastEditorUserId="5033" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T02:38:25.453" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T11:49:27.253" Title="What are good geriatric exercise routines for a 70 year old?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11421" CreationDate="2013-01-20T08:36:07.267" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pilates, gym and/or physical therapy can all be appropriate exercises for your father  depending on his present condition, his goals of exercise, and availability of appropriate instruction, as can aquatic exercise, Yoga, walking, Tai Chi etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise programs for seniors&lt;/strong&gt; who are beginning to get into exercise are best when supervised by trainers or instructors who are trained in working with the geriatric population and their needs. Exercise programs for this population should address all of the concerns listed below and recognize that progression of difficulty may go at a slower pace.  Pilates or gym workouts, if new to your father, should begin with an instructor so that he can learn the proper form and prevent injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elderly people who have not been working out consistently or who have had musculo-skeletal problems over their lifetime may have to deal with the following concerns when creating an exercise program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joint Pain and degenerative changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of mobility and range of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of muscle strength &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Problems with balance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Postural changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thinning bones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduced Cardio-Respiratory capacity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of the above can lead to reduced function with daily activities like going up and down stairs, bending or squatting down, reaching overhead, carrying groceries, getting up and down off of the floor, getting up from low seats, functional walking speed and balance, endurance and tolerance to exercise etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This age group requires &lt;strong&gt;medical clearance&lt;/strong&gt; before beginning an exercise program.  The doctor will refer your father to physical therapy if appropriate. The doctor can give your father guidance as to what exercises are appropriate for your his health condition, such as a safe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise target heart range&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aquatic exercise&lt;/strong&gt; is a good way for the elderly to get a good cardio and resistance workout with little to no impact on their joints.  The bouyancy of water also helps them achieve exercises that they might have difficulty with on dry land.  Because these are generally good exercises for seniors, aquatic exercise programs for the elderly are often readily available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt; -  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walking can be a good exercise if it does not aggravate his knee.  Nordic walking poles can help to improve balance, posture and to reduce joint pain. Walking groups often meet to walk at malls or other safe areas which adds a socialization aspect to the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cycling, stationary cycling and elliptical training can be easier than other weight bearing exercises on painful knees due to reduced impact.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance Training&lt;/strong&gt; is an important aspect of workouts for seniors.  Weight training, resistance bands, resistance cuffs and barbells for aquatic exercise, body weight exercises are all helpful to improve daily functional activities, posture, muscle and bone strength.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility and Range of Motion&lt;/strong&gt; exercise can be done with a gentle stretching program at home on a regular basis.  A stretching strap is a useful tool.  Yoga with modified or restorative postures can achieve excellent results.  Yoga will also help improve balance and strength. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bone Strength&lt;/strong&gt; - Osteoporosis or thinning of the bones is a factor to consider with senior exercises.  High impact exercise can lead to fractures depending on the degree of osteoporosis.  Progressive strength training can improve bone health and posture.  Wearing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B001FB61AG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weight vest&lt;/a&gt; when walking can help to strengthen bones of the spine and legs. (link from our site's amazon store)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical Therapy&lt;/strong&gt; - Ideally, a baseline evaluation and follow up assessments by a physical therapist can help identify problem areas and direct your father's program to correct aspects such as postural muscle imbalances, range of motion, strength, balance and functional activities.  Additionally if your father's knee condtion warrants direct treatment, a geriatric or orthopedic physical therapist can address this as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthritis.org/resources/community-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Arthritis Foundation&lt;/a&gt; has community exercise programs, including aquatics, walking and Tai Chi exerise classes which may be helpful since your father has some knee pain.  You can check to see what they have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthritis.org/resources/community-programs/search-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in your area&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and congratulations to you for encouraging him and helping him get started.  A little bit of exercise can make a big difference in keeping your father functional.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T08:36:07.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11416" CreationDate="2013-01-20T16:03:12.920" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of good stuff in the other answers here.  Pullups and rows are great.  Grip training at home (with Rock Rings or grippers) is awesome. I'd also emphasize 2 other things: &lt;strong&gt;core work&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;general fitness&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strong core is what's going to let you control your legs, and drive power between you lower and upper body, especially on overhangs.  You want to focus on abs exercises where your abs are supporting a significant percentage of your body weight.  Crunches will have a minimal carryover - when you're doing a crunch most of your weight is resting on the ground, and you're isolating one muscle group of your abdominal system.  I'd encourage you to look into exercises that engage your abs as a more complete unit, and put them under greater tension:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging knee raises.  If you have a pullup bar, hang from it, and raise your knees.  Depending on your strength level, you might aim for hip height, or touching your knees to your elbows.  If you're shoulders hurt while doing this, you can try using &quot;abs straps&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks and plank variations.  You say you can do a lot of pushups, so a plank may be easy for you.  Try doing one arm planks - enter a regular plank position, then lift one arm and extend it forward.  Hold for 30-60 seconds on each side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More advanced gymnastic moves, like the &lt;strong&gt;front lever&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;L Sit&lt;/strong&gt; are great goals for core strength, and are a gold standard for abs strength in climbing.  If you can hold a front lever for a minute, you've probably built the highest level of useful abs strength a person could apply in climbing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of strong climbers I know like to do the &quot;P90X abs&quot; routine, which will hit a lot of stuff, and doesn't require an equipment, you might play around with that, too ( although I personally prefer to keep it simple and do one single strenuous exercise, like hanging knees-to-elbows).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Fitness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate to say this, but losing bodyfat is just about the single most effective thing you can do (other than actually climbing) to become a better climber.  The closer I am to 10% bodyfat on any given month, the better I perform.  The gains I can make getting down from my usual 15-18% down to around 10-12% just about overwhelm any training gains I can make in a similar timeframe doing just about anything else (except improving my climbing technique).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T17:19:43.047" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T17:19:43.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11424" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-01-20T17:05:03.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;HIIT is a form of cardiovascular exercise. Usual HIIT sessions may vary from 7–20 minutes. These short, intense workouts provide improved athletic capacity and condition, improved glucose metabolism, and improved fat burning. A HIIT session consists of a warm up period of exercise, followed by three to ten repetitions of high intensity exercise, separated by medium intensity exercise for recovery, and ending with a period of cool down exercise. The high intensity exercise should be done at near maximum intensity. The medium exercise should be about 50% intensity. The number of repetitions and length of each depends on the exercise, but may be as little as three repetitions with just 20 seconds of intense exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-03-26T16:28:11.050" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T16:28:11.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11425" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-01-20T17:05:03.367" Score="0" Body="Questions about high intensity interval training." OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T20:47:27.807" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T20:47:27.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6615" CreationDate="2013-01-20T17:53:18.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, the gold standard is whether I can use the device to time the Tabata protocol. That protocol is 8x(20s exercise, 10s rest). The most common exercise is sprinting. This is a difficult protocol to time. Your device must:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be programmable to beep alternating on 20s,10s intervals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loud enough to hear when your heart is pounding and the wind is rushing by or the gym music is blaring and you feel like you're about to explode. It should be annoyingly, painfully loud.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small enough and light enough to carry conveniently while sprinting. It must strap down securely. It obviously needs to be wearable because you're running. If you set it on the ground and run away from it for 20s, you won't hear it beep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideally it should be programmable to give a 3,2,1 countdown at the end of the rest interval.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other difficulty with timing devices is accidental activation of the device. This happens frequently with watches if you are doing HIIT with barbell work or exercises with wrist hyperextension such as pushups or handstand pushups. Then your left  hand frequently presses against the right side of the watch where the timing control buttons usually are. I have never found a watch that conveniently times my crossfit wods, and smartphones are too large and fragile for me to consider wearing one while in the middle of a high intensity workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2013-01-20T18:10:46.323" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T18:10:46.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11436" CreationDate="2013-01-20T19:39:06.137" Score="5" ViewCount="1387" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to train to be able to do really long walks (about 100km)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the training for such walks similar to training for long runs? The distance is similar but when walk you can take pauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to be able to take part in orienteering competitions on 100km distance, where I have time limit of 24h. I'm also impressed by student mountain guide training, with include 100km long walk in mountains in winter condition with backpack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My record as for yet is 50km walk in summer condition with light backpack, but I was sleeping very long next day, and as general, when I walk more that 20km I have often headache, so I think it can be lowered sugar level, which means for my body it's a 'calory shock'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to prepare my organism for such big effort and calory usages? Is it possible, that only some people are able to such effort and I will stop on this 50km border?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T15:27:00.613" Title="How to train for long walks (~100km)?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7307" CreationDate="2013-01-20T19:52:37.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really hard to disprove steroid use. Any muscular physique that can be attained without steroids can also be attained more quickly with the use of steroids. Only very, very muscular bodybuilding pros have naturally impossible physiques (Ron Coleman, Arnold Schwartzenegger level).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guy you linked could be natural. I doubt he is, but he could be. If you want to stalk a particular person, you should track their rate of gains over time. That's the biggest clue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastActivityDate="2013-01-20T19:52:37.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11431" CreationDate="2013-01-20T22:36:54.287" Score="3" ViewCount="2675" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just been given an abs toner belt, and would like to know if these actually do anything or not? Should I waste my time and use it or just put it away in a cupboard and forget about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one I have been given is  &quot;Slendertone Flex Max Unisex Toning Belt&quot;, it was bought for some one and they never used it so they have given it to me, so it hasn't cost me anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be great. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4903" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T10:33:54.037" Title="Slendertone ab toning belt" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;toning&gt;&lt;slendertone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11430" CreationDate="2013-01-20T22:54:52.773" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, lets clear how these things work. They use EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) to contract your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blogher.com/do-those-ab-toning-belts-actually-work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; that talked to a physiologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;These devices tend to only activate the surface of the muscle,&amp;quot; Swoap says. The electricity causes tingly-feeling contractions around your middle, but it doesn't reach deep. To entirely activate the abdominal muscles, &amp;quot;You would either need to have a massive voltage from the surface (burning skin, anyone?) or surgically implanted electrodes.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These belts effectively don't train your muscles, they don't even help you burn a noticeable amount of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/4896/5638&quot;&gt;full answer on Skeptics.SE&lt;/a&gt;, I will only quote a part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results showed no significant changes in weight, percent body fat, girth or strength of the treatment areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The EMS device did not work for any of the claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the question on Skeptics confused &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;TENS&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) with &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;EMS&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;. EMS is a a variation of TENS but serves another purpose. Both have their purpose in therapeutic applications (see @BackInShapeBuddy's comment), but not for the claims which are used to market the Slendertone belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly, there is always the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spot reduction myth&lt;/a&gt;. Your body will not burn fat on based on the muscles you train but in places where it prefers to take fat from and this happens to be defined by your genetics. Although &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16985258&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some recent research&lt;/a&gt; suggest that there is a slight spot reduction this effect is minimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T20:56:33.053" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11432" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11434" CreationDate="2013-01-21T00:16:32.557" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do heavy weight lifting 5 times per week, and when I think back over all the times I have taken discs off the machines, carried them around to other machines, put them on the ground and so on, I have always used my right arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned about losing a balance between the strength in my right and left side if I continue to transport equipment using only one arm? Or will the actual workouts maintain that? I've been trying to make a habit of alternating my arms but it's surprisingly easy to forget about it once you've gotten into the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do feel as though my right side is slightly stronger than my left, but so far I have assumed this is natural because I am right handed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T03:49:34.120" Title="Should I try alternate which arm I carry weights / discs with at the gym?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-21T00:55:38.277" Score="9" ViewCount="12234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I broke my arm a week ago and am now in a cast to my elbow. I've been working on pull-ups/pushups/crunches for over three months, but now I obviously can't anymore. What are some body-weight exercises I can do with one hand that work approximately the same muscles (minus my right arm muscles)that I can manage with one hand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4546" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T00:58:42.603" Title="Exercises with one hand" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11432" CreationDate="2013-01-21T03:07:02.467" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a good question. Mark Rippetoe even acknowledged in Starting Strength that muscling dumbbells around and getting them into position for a dumbbell press is part of the movement. When I carry a pair of dumbbells from the rack I always take one with each hand. Even if I take them back separately, I take one with each arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think moving a 45lb plate around does anything for me anymore in terms of progressive overload, so I don't think I'm in danger of getting unbalanced by doing that. However, if you are a novice, and it is actually work for you then you should be trying to divide all of the work evenly between the two sides of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training tends to even out strength imbalances. Make sure you have good form and don't come up from a lift crooked, or else you will never balance out. One of my workout buddies has had the same messed up benchpress and press form for years because of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: and by the way, I do dumbbell press and dumbbell benchpress in preference to the barbell versions specifically to ensure an even development in both halves of my body. But even properly done barbell movements will balance out your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T03:15:14.510" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T03:15:14.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11432" CreationDate="2013-01-21T03:49:34.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm right-handed, and tend to instinctively carry loads on my right side, so I always move plates around with my left hand to help balance things out. It seems to have helped me be more balanced, but my guess is that it's more neuromuscular than strength-related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T03:49:34.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11428" CreationDate="2013-01-21T03:55:32.063" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep going for long time periods, you need to stay hydrated and to take in calories, primarily in the form of carbohydrate, and salt, to replace what you have sweated out. You can generally absorb somewhere around 250-350 calories per hour while you are exercising, and if you are working hard, you can sweat a liter an hour, or more if it is hot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect dehydration as the source of your headache, though if you are up high (say, 2500m or higher), you can also get headache from altitude sickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the latter is the case go down to lower heights as soon as possible, after you start feeling the headache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T15:27:00.613" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T15:27:00.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2311" CreationDate="2013-01-21T06:39:58.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, generally long walks burn a lot of calories, the only thing you'll burn more is extreme sport (such as long-distance runs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When walking, you'll burn calories not only from distance, but also from temperature difference (in cold winter). When I was on moving camp, I've burned about 6000 kcal a day, but this was distance about 20-30 'normalized' km (1km+100m up) with heavy rucksacks and staying the whole day&amp;amp;night outside. The calories usage was measured by professional devices (from university).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T06:39:58.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11439" CreationDate="2013-01-21T11:20:04.347" Score="5" ViewCount="7444" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last August, I started a project to get back into shape after a decade of inactivity. I chose to tackle endurance and cardiovascular fitness first, and to that end followed the &lt;strong&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/strong&gt; program. This worked well. In 6 months of training I've progressed from being able to jog for one minute to being able to run at 9km/hour for 90 minutes continuously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I liked about running is the ease with which you can record and measure your progress. I found it motivating to be able to easily and accurately compare my performance to my earlier performances. With running, this is easy: time and distance are both simple to measure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is the best way to measure strength?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being satisfied with my endurance, it's now time for me to focus on improving my strength. (I'll keep running now and then, but only aim to maintain the current performance, not to improve it further.) So how do I measure my strength? Ideally, the measurement should have the following properties:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It shouldn't require special equipment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should be doable anywhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The results should be one or more concrete numbers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The numbers should give a fair overview over most major muscle-groups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body-weight exercises seem to fit the bill nicely. Here's my current idea. I'm looking for critique and suggestions for improving this list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do push-ups for 3 minutes. Record the number.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a plank for as long as possible. Record the seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do pull-ups until muscle-failure. Record the number.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best test of leg strength? What changes, if any, should I make to this list?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5042" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T19:22:12.873" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T13:41:18.360" Title="What is the simplest way to measure strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11438" CreationDate="2013-01-21T15:25:35.103" Score="15" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Max push-ups, Max plank, Max pull-ups&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The no-equipment requirement is forcing the measurements towards strength-endurance tasks instead of true strength. Push-ups require some strength as a prerequisite, and strength definitely affects ones ability to do more push-ups in a limited amount of time, but a maximum number of push-ups is a test of strength, strength-endurance and conditioning, not just strength. The same applies to the plank, and to pull-ups to a lesser degree. As supporting evidence, consider that Dr. Kilgore has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lonkilgore.com/freebies/muscle_endurance_standards_small.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle-endurance standards&lt;/a&gt;, which happen to test the maximum number of push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups a person can perform in one set, defined as &quot;not more than approximately 5 seconds pause between reps&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The no-equipment clause is an external constraint that does not assist us in testing pure strength. The only way to get closer to testing strength with bodyweight exercise is to demonstrate gymnastic skills, which of course have elements of balance and learned skill instead of just strength. These strength-dependent skills include handstand push-ups, front and back lever, press to handstand, muscle-ups, and others that require rings or other equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pull-ups could be simply and dramatically improved by making them a one-repetition-maximum &lt;em&gt;weighted&lt;/em&gt; pull-up test, out of three attempts. This would require weight plates and a dip/pull-up belt. The other tests do not seem to be closely correlated with strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Existing tests of strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pure strength is best tested with barbells or machines, as is done in powerlifting competition and scientific studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sport of powerlifting would more accurately be called strengthlifting. It tests strength with one-repetition maximum lifts in the squat, deadlift, and bench press. The person being tested gets three attempts at each. Knowing how much weight a person can pick up off the floor, or push off their chest, or stand up from under, is an excellent survey of their whole-body strength. This takes much longer than fifteen minutes--perhaps an hour or two--and requires access to a barbell, plates, and squat or power rack, as well as someone with basic knowledge of the lifts to verify that each one is performed correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This idea could be extended to any lift. The squat/bench/deadlift is well balanced for overall strength--though it omits a pulling motion--but a one-repetition maximum in many lifts can test strength. I track my maximums in the squat (front and back), deadlift, overhead presses, farmer's walks (which involve some conditioning), power cleans (which, being a fast lift, is more a test of power (speed-strength) than pure strength), Romanian deadlifts, push-press, and so on. Strength standards for common lifts can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;, as well as from &lt;a href=&quot;http://lonkilgore.com/freebies/freebies.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lon Kilgore&lt;/a&gt; and elsewhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many scientists use one-repetition maximum exertions on leg press or leg extension machines, or test maximum grip strength. In untrained persons, these can be used as rough analogues of overall strength. Sometimes bench press or squats are used, similar to powerlifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Feats of Strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One awesome but subjective way of measuring strength is the completion of diagnostic tasks that are impressive. These are related to strength but often involved a degree of other attributes such as balance. On my list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One-leg squat (pistol)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One-arm push-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstand push-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and many, many more. The test is simply, &quot;can you do it at all?&quot; for any of the items on the list. In his CrossFit gym, Dave Werner uses a similar set of Athletic Skill Level tests (&lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitseattle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Skill-Levels-poster.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;) which includes non-strength attributes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Starting a strength-measurement regimen&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are just starting out with measuring your strength, I would recommend the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you are able to perform basic bodyweight strength exercises. Being able to do a few dozen push-ups, even more air squats, ten dips, and a handful of pull-ups are fair prerequisites for barbell resistance training. Record the number of sets and repetitions you do, and approximate rest periods. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find an appropriate novice strength training program. Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore is an excellent kicking-off point for barbell training. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; provides the bare minimum to understand the program, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; is a superior choice. It teaches you the fundamental lifts (squat, deadlift, overhead and bench press, power clean) in unparalleled detail, provides a lifting philosophy, and outlines a program. Other resources like StrongLifts are okay as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track your progression in these basic strength movements over time. In each workout you'll prove your squat and other lifts for a five-repetition-maximum. After several months it may be appropriate to test your 1RM, which you can then return to every year or so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remember that while cardiovascular health is challenged by resistance exercise, metabolic conditioning is a short-lived attribute. It would be quite reasonable to keep running or other conditioning work--sprints, sled drags, hill runs, swimming, rowing--in your program in order to maintain this aspect of your fitness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-06-15T13:41:18.360" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T13:41:18.360" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11440" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-01-21T16:23:47.317" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T16:23:47.317" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T16:23:47.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11441" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-01-21T16:23:47.317" Score="0" Body="Bodyweight exercises use the body as resistance. Exemplary exercises are push ups, planks, pull ups and squats." OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-24T03:52:49.853" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T03:52:49.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-21T19:28:47.593" Score="4" ViewCount="22780" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that it's very important to have a proper diet when you want to develop a sixpack. I often read that one should avoid pasta, rice, potatoes, bread and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I like this stuff very much. Is there a way to incorporate pasta, rice, potatoes and bread into a diet which aims to develop a sixpack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My idea is to do just more cardio, avoid sugar, alcohol completely and have enough proteins in my diet and eat much veggies and little fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this have a chance to work? Do you have any other suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-01-23T13:36:31.270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T13:27:59.910" Title="Eating pasta and developing a sixpack" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11442" CreationDate="2013-01-21T19:36:44.180" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having visible abs is all about having low body fat, and having low body fat is all about eating fewer calories than your body consumes in a day. It doesn't matter (much) what foods you eat, as long as you're eating fewer calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T19:36:44.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11442" CreationDate="2013-01-21T19:37:40.123" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of diets and a lot of claims. A lot of them are simply not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with pasta, rice, potatoes and bread is that they are high in carbohydrates and by that high in calories.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you want to lose weight (and by that reducing the fat that covers your abs), you should try to keep your caloric intake below what you burn each day. How you reach your daily limit does not really matter, as long as your diet doesn't lack crucial nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also note that people (and by that the articles they write) often think of different things when they talk about the same stuff. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aSelection_of_bread_in_German_bakery.jpg&quot;&gt;bread I think about&lt;/a&gt; is certainly something completely different as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aToast-3.jpg&quot;&gt;someone else thinks about&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cutting alcohol is a good idea, too, as it contains a lot of calories. Drinking less alcohol is always a good idea when looking from a health perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course your abs won't develop themselves, I am not sure if cardio alone is enough. Try to incorporate some exercises into your workout that target the abs, at least in a compound style exercise. And always be wary of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot;&gt;spot reduction myth&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-21T19:46:30.027" LastActivityDate="2013-01-21T19:46:30.027" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-22T01:50:35.523" Score="2" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Roger Federer, a professional tennis player, spends time in his off-season training in the dessert of Dubai, where temperatures can be extremely high.  What physiological adaptations does the body make in response to this training, and how do such adaptations enhance performance in cooler conditions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T01:50:35.523" Title="Body's adaptations to training in hot conditions?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-02-11T04:15:38.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6278" CreationDate="2013-01-22T01:53:16.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you like running and just love to get out there, run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't particularly enjoy it or it's too low a priority in your life, diet control is far easier. It will be hard to maintain jogging when time is at a premium, the weather is not good, or when the scales aren't rewarding you appropriately for the effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus you have more chance of escaping plantar fasciitis, shin splints, tendinitis, ITBS, runner's knee, knee replacements, hip replacements and other hazards out there (a faulty manhole for instance required me to have an arthroscopy).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T01:53:16.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-22T05:30:18.770" Score="2" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a slim body (5'9&quot;, 64kg) and I would like to gain some weight (~72kg) in a healthy way (not by adding fat) I don't want to do any kind of weight lifting, push-ups or pull-up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5045" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-01-22T07:39:59.600" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T12:35:38.417" Title="Can I gain weight in a healthy way without any strength training?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11451" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-22T11:40:54.013" Score="1" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;this question is a extension of my pervious question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11413/shape-up-body-with-heavy-weights-or-light-weights&quot;&gt;Shape up body with heavy weights or light weights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have google about the diet to have the six pack and I have learned that I need to break up my eating habit to 6 times a day with small amount of food. I am a &lt;strong&gt;pure vegiterian&lt;/strong&gt;(I don't even eat egg) &#xA;Can you guide me about the food I can take to have six pack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2321" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T11:40:54.013" Title="diet for six pack for vegiterian" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-01-23T08:56:23.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11448" CreationDate="2013-01-22T12:05:51.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its most probably not possible, at least not to an extent that would make a noticeable difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a change in diet is necessary to provide enough protein, you need some kind of stimulus for the muscles to grow, altering your metabolism and hormone balance to enter muscle hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take note, that typical low intensity activities are not enough, high intensity and preferably resistance trainign are a must. Compare the body composition of a marathon runner and a 100m sprinter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides diet and exercise there are other factors, but none of them is substantial without exercise. If you want to know more about how to gain muscle mass, there are other questions about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T12:05:51.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11433" CreationDate="2013-01-22T12:15:08.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest AGAINST working on one arm only. It will only make a bigger disproportion between your arms. One arm would get a workout and improve from its current state, while the other would get weaker because of the immobility causet by the fracture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take it easy, give yourself a break and dont do any training with one arm that cant be accomplished by the other. As David suggested, work on your abs, glutes, legs, back etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T12:15:08.763" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11442" CreationDate="2013-01-22T12:27:36.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, dieting is a vast subject, and &quot;simply cutting calories&quot;, reducing the amount of food you eat, without changing your eating patterns, does not necessairly work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the proper way for losing weight, even among professionals there is no consensus. Maintaining the new weight is heven harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, youre quite a specific target - you want to drop your BF% very low (for men, abs are visible at around 10%BF, a bit more for women, but still equally hard to achieve) while most of the studies focus on obese people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the theories pinpoints carbs as the main villain in the battle with fat, and after reading a whole lot of books and articles on the subject, Im willing to say that most of it makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, high carb and sugar intake makes your insulin levels spike, and one of the roles of insulin is causing your body to store fat. A carb rich meal can rise your blood sugar level to a point where you cant use all of it as an energy source, and the insulin makes sure the rest is stored as fat - our glicogen stores are limited, but we can store almost unlimited fat. If your diet is very high on carbs, you may even build up partial insulin tolerance, which will keep your insulin very high just to preserve the normal blood sugar level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video quicky summarises the role of insulin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNYlIcXynwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNYlIcXynwE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eatingacademy.com/start-here&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://eatingacademy.com/start-here&lt;/a&gt; - this is a great blog full of great articles. I suggest you surf around that site - youll finish having a lot of new knowledge. There are great articles about the ketogenic diet, the causality of calorie intake imbalance and much more. The author is an M.D and he managed to get his own six pack abs, so i think its a worthy read. Especially this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/do-calories-matter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/do-calories-matter&lt;/a&gt; tackles the problem of why does it matter what we eat and simple counting calories isnt exactly the best way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to say, Im in the process of losing weight myself, and in around 3-4 months i lost over 20lbs, and mostly the changes in my diet would be cutting on carbs. Im still far away from my target BF%, but im not done yet :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while i understand your love for pasta, youd probably do better leaving it be, or at least restraining your intake. If you have to eat such carbs, try to eat small portions, even if more often - less of a insulin spike. Same, try to aim for low glicemic index products, for example try using full grain pasta isntead of the regular one. Try to educate yourself on the dieting matter, because the subject is quite vast and complex, and a simple &quot;Ill eat less and it will be okay&quot; is probably not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T13:47:51.773" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T13:47:51.773" CommentCount="28" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11442" CreationDate="2013-01-22T19:13:33.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not try a body recomposition program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A well defined six pack is well built muscles and a low fat percentage. A way to attain this is to eat 500kcal above maintenance levels on training days and 500kcal below maintenance on non training days, training each other day so that the net balance is zero over the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build the muscles you need to hit them with hypertrophy training. Cardio is detrimental towards that goal. It puts alot of stress on your body which really should be resting and building muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to eat somewhere around 1.5g protein per kg lean body mass, which also helps towards building muscles. As long as you hit your protein, the rest can be pasta, rice or whatever you like to eat which helps you keep the dietplan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are in a net equivalence, or in net deficit. This will, albeit slowly, gain you some muscles and lose fat leading towards a six pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4423" LastEditorUserId="4423" LastEditDate="2013-01-23T09:52:28.860" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T09:52:28.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-22T22:38:38.330" Score="12" ViewCount="4531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been strength training now for 10 weeks and have never bothered with spring collars because the weights have been light and the collars are a pain when doing 4 different warmup weights, then the work weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting to a stage now where the bar is starting to noticeably flex (280# reps deadlift, 265# reps squat on a 17.5kg bar), but still there is no sign of plates sliding. Nor have I found myself tilting the bar sufficiently to cause sliding. Because of the tight fit of the plates to the bar, I'm not even sure if they'd slide off if the bar was tilted at 45 deg (but I might just test that tomorrow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet every time I find the person before me hasn't unloaded a bar, there are collars on them. Even if it's just 25 pounds each side on an ez-curl bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I note that Rippetoe recommends in his bench press video not to collar the bar when benching alone, so weight can be tilted off if caught with the bar on the chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when should a barbell be collared?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-22T22:48:02.663" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T22:49:39.350" Title="When should a barbell be collared?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11459" CreationDate="2013-01-22T22:49:39.350" Score="10" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Preference&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I collar my squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses just because it annoys the heck out of me if the plates slide around even an inch or two. The noise and the asymmetry irritate my aesthetic preferences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With squats, only once have I seen the plates move more than an inch or so, and it was a good indicator that my set had been sloppy. However, I often find that during a heavy deadlift set, the plates can slide around enough to noticeably unbalance the bar if I don't use collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Necessity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the Olympic lifts, the plates are going to move significantly without a collar. If you're doing multiple reps, this will be a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-01-22T22:49:39.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11462" CreationDate="2013-01-23T02:09:51.810" Score="3" ViewCount="9670" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background Information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently began a running/walking regime that lasts for 30 minutes.  I think I run about half the journey and walk the other half of the journey.  There are 2 very steep hills, and numerous medium hills on the journey.  I tend to walk up the 2 very steep hills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On my walk I noticed that some other people walking had very large/bulky (although doesn't look fat) looking legs.  My observations of endurance athletes are that they have quite lean legs.  I am weather my regime will turn my legs bulky, or if they will remain lean looking.  (I would prefer if they don't become bulky, how can I prevent this?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T22:22:37.587" Title="How do legs change in response to running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11461" CreationDate="2013-01-23T04:12:08.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run. Half marathons, 5ks 10k, and trail runs. building legs muscles are a lot like building other muscles. You can develop slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers. For running you are going to need both. The short answer is your legs muscles are going to take on your own unique genetic shape. Simple answer, keep up the endurance and run on flat surfaces if you want lean looking legs. Hills are going to make your muscles bulk up because it requires more strength. Eat light and lean and remember to train in your lactate zone so yo burn fat to keep trim. Most important have fun and allow your legs to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5053" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T04:12:08.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11448" CreationDate="2013-01-23T12:35:38.417" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can make use of appetite tablets like Vitamin B, I am sure if your appetite improves you will eat more but you should watch what you eat. It has to be healthy foods with all necessary nutrients that help build up your body. You can also try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.supplementworld.co.za&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dietary supplements&lt;/a&gt;, some will definitely help you gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5058" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T12:35:38.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11472" CreationDate="2013-01-23T13:53:16.977" Score="5" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should I be focusing on when doing a situp?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there ways to reduce strain on muscle groups that should not be getting strained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T15:49:21.993" Title="How do I do a proper situp?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11461" CreationDate="2013-01-23T14:38:01.023" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, runners tend to have more slender, leaner looking legs than other athletes. This is because low weight, high repetition exercising such as distance running (pretty much anything other than sprints, so anything above 400 meters, really) does not really lend itself to building bulky muscle, and is in fact counterproductive because of the extra weight. It's the wrong kind of stress in the muscle to produce bulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would venture a guess that a lot of the &quot;bulky&quot; runners you see are doing weight training and simply running/walking for fitness, or they are multisport athletes such as triathletes or duathletes. This segment will have bulkier legs because of the bicycling that they are doing, which will cause greater hypertrophy in the calves and upper legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T14:38:01.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6278" CreationDate="2013-01-23T14:48:16.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to add running to spur weight loss, then ANY amount of running is going to work towards that goal. For every person, there is a &quot;set point&quot; of calories and activity that will maintain weight. As an example, if your basal metabolism is 1500 calories, and you have 1500 calories worth of activity in a day, then eating 3000 calories in a balanced diet will maintain your current weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, keep the same numbers as above, but add in 3 runs of 20 minutes each per week. Depending on your pace, training, skill and other factors, those 3 runs will burn X amount of calories. That creates a deficit, so you will lose weight. There is no real way to predict how much weight will be lost and how fast, and it will slow down some as you adapt to the exercise and get more fit/efficient. However, you will lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies are increasingly showing that diet makeup (such as Atkins, Paleo, South Beach, etc etc.) has less to do with weight loss than it is simply caloric deficit. Eat less or exercise more, and you will lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T14:48:16.557" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11467" CreationDate="2013-01-23T15:49:21.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What should I be focusing on when doing a situp?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary thing you should focus on is contracting (tightening) your abdominals as you bring your chest to your knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there ways to reduce strain on muscle groups that should not be getting strained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never do the traditional sit-up anymore because it puts so much strain on other areas, and there are safer and more effective exercises to focus on. That said, here are some ways you can reduce the strain on your body during a sit-up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Support your head with your neck. Have your hands cupped behind your head during the exercise, gently supporting your neck so it is in alignment with the spine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't lift with your head. There is a tendency in some to use their hands to lift their head up through the movement, making the head the primary driver. Avoid this and use the form described above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't swing. It is very tempting to use body momentum when exercising to squeeze out a last rep or two, but avoid this because at best you aren't working out the muscle and at worst you are straining other muscle groups. Keep the feet firmly planted, and use steady, controlled movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T15:49:21.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-23T21:33:59.310" Score="5" ViewCount="706" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually I have a training partner so it's not an issue, but occasionally I require someone else in the gym to spot me on the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I require that person to help me unrack the bar and rack it at the end of the set, not to help me complete a rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After asking for a spot, I usually say, &quot;Just help me unrack and rack, don't make a rep easier for me&quot;, but every time when they see me slowing down through the last few reps, I feel them deload the weight. Then as I'm 'thanking' them, I have to guess whether I would have completed the set by myself or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better way? I was slowly but surely getting to the top of a shoulder press the other day when someone walked past and helped, so I'm thinking this could be tricky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T22:49:05.850" Title="Gymspeak for spotting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11473" CreationDate="2013-01-23T21:37:54.873" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I say &quot;I'm going to do 5 reps. &lt;em&gt;Please don't touch the bar unless I ask for help&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're following a reasonable progression (only lifting a bit more than last time), there's always time to ask for help as you lower the bar to your chest while failing, or even after you've lowered it to your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule my regular partner and I have is that we don't touch the bar unless it has started to move downward, but that's quite a bit to explain to a random helper... better to just tell them to not touch the bar until you ask for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-01-23T22:23:11.183" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T22:23:11.183" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11473" CreationDate="2013-01-23T22:26:36.797" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'd rather fail a rep than have a rep be half-me, half-you, so please only help me with racking and unracking. Give me a sec if I have a hard time with a rep--I'll shout for help if I need it. Thanks, chap.&quot; Big friendly grin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they screw it up by &quot;helping&quot; with a rep anyway, and I think I'm going to need their assistance again in the future, I'm the type who'll find a way to mention my preferences obliquely. &quot;Yeah, that last rep was tough. Too bad you jumped in--I wanted to see if I could grind it out. Anyway, cheers, mate. You need a spot for anything, just let me know.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of this may be the clash of cultures: the bodybuilding tradition doesn't mind forced reps, because it's the muscular fatigue they're after. In contrast, weightlifters generally regard The Lift as sacred, probably because the Olympic lifts require so much mental focus and physical precision. In Olympic lifting, it's common to regard even &lt;em&gt;walking or making noise too near someone setting up for a lift&lt;/em&gt; as a significant &lt;em&gt;faux pas&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T22:26:36.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11473" CreationDate="2013-01-23T22:49:05.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words I use are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I get a &lt;strong&gt;hand off&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hand off is simply asking the person to hand you the bar.  I've found most people understand this phrase.  These days I need them less and less as I'm focusing on higher rep ranges, and I have safeties.  The basic idea is that if I can unrack it, I better be able to press it.  That said, if I ever do testing, I may request a hand off to save my energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-01-23T22:49:05.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11528" CreationDate="2013-01-24T07:18:06.407" Score="4" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have developed a slight niggle in my right shoulder. Reason could be because of over workout in swimming.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The niggle is light pain when I move my shoulders a bit fast with some weight on it. For example pulling the water while swimming. It is not severe and all. That is why mentioned it as niggles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is, can I cycle or run?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have planned for a slow jogging or very slow cycling(both being a bit long) for coming three days followed with one day's rest and then start swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay? Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer I am expecting is similar to this:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For different extent of shoulder injury, different allowance of running or cycling can be done or may be that there is no such thing (can do running or cycling, it doesn't matter to the shoulder at all) or may be that I shouldn't do both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-01-24T15:53:45.650" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T18:22:46.517" Title="Can I cycle or run with shoulder niggles?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11479" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-24T13:19:28.160" Score="7" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could anyone suggest some good Bouldering specific routines (flexibility/strength/endurance training) that can be done without any equipment during a lunch break (30 mins). I Climb about a V5 and have been doing so for about 5 months. I normally train after climbing using fingerboards for pull ups, two handed and one handed dead hangs but would like to expand my training during lunch-breaks. I have available a large open space but nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5067" OwnerDisplayName="Manatherin" LastEditorUserId="5067" LastEditDate="2013-01-26T23:24:51.500" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T23:14:52.250" Title="Bouldering Routines for Lunch Breaks" Tags="&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-24T18:10:17.567" Score="9" ViewCount="3976" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm many months in to Starting Strength (which prescribes 3 sets of 5 at the work weight), but I can do 4 or 5 sets, would this be advisable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I could just try it, and if I start stalling, it would mean I'm not getting enough recovery from the extra load, but if I don't stall, are there any downsides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm guessing this may be a more useful change to the program for an absolute beginner, who doesn't have to worry about too much volume at the low weights.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T05:12:50.953" Title="On a 3x5 program, can I do 4x5 or 5x5 if I'm able to?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11486" CreationDate="2013-01-24T18:18:50.823" Score="8" ViewCount="932" Body="&lt;p&gt;When training for a sport that includes a lot of single leg jumps (basketball, for example), how specific should the strength training be? Does strength training need to be single leg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see two ways of approaching this, and I'm not sure which is correct, or if I'm missing a third altogether:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just get your basic two-leg barbell squat, deadlifts, power cleans as strong as possible. If your two-leg squat gets stronger, your one-leg squat gets stronger. No need for single-leg strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Single leg strength work is important. Two-leg squats don't train the movement that's displayed in single-leg jumps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking how specific the &lt;em&gt;strength training&lt;/em&gt; needs to be. Of course, we practice single-leg jumps very often in plyometric routines, games, drills, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T17:22:31.720" Title="Bilateral vs single leg squats" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;vertical-jump&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-24T18:34:45.687" Score="3" ViewCount="4766" Body="&lt;p&gt;My obliques are sore, I think from PR deadlifts that I did yesterday, because all I did other than that was squats (not PR... rebuilding from a deload), and bench press. I've felt this before, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What part of the deadlift works the obliques?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-01-24T20:22:27.407" Title="Why do deadlifts make my obliques sore?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2013-01-24T18:58:02.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is whether you can recover from the extra load during the rest period. If you can recover from the extra work, then that's great! &lt;strong&gt;You want to do the maximum amount of work that is recoverable.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is indeed a trial and error process to learn what you can recover from. I think developing that intuition is part of the sport of lifting, and it requires body insight.  Also remember that your recovery potential changes based on what's going on in the rest of your life, particularly what you're eating and how you're sleeping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you know in advance that you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; recover from 4x5 repetitions of a certain weight, then you might consider increasing the weight until 3x5 is the maximum number of sets you can recover from. I think varying the reps, sets, and weight is good for training. I suggest trying to increase the weights first, and going to more reps or sets when that isn't working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is recoverable? Simply, will you be ready to lift more weight using the same protocol the next time you're scheduled to do so? E.G. for a Starting Strength routine, you have recovered from workout A if you can do more work during the next A-type workout. Keep in mind that if you lift 200 for 4 sets this time, then you haven't recovered until you can lift &gt;200 for 4 sets next time (even though the program calls for 3 sets: you're tweaking the program when you add more sets, and there is nothing wrong with that, but you should compare apples to apples when you evaluate your recovery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T03:20:18.543" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T03:20:18.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2013-01-24T19:28:42.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a complete beginner, there really isn't a huge reason not to.  What it does is give you more practice, at the expense of energy.  The time to back off and just do the 3x5 is when you feel run down before you start.  This is how you adapt the load to what you can do right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When 3x5 gets you run down all the time, it's time to switch things up and go for slower increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, make sure the practice you are doing is good practice.  You don't want to reinforce bad habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a form check (i.e. have a trainer make sure you are doing it correctly or use a forum)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your form is tight and repeatable.  If your form changes slightly rep to rep, that's a bad thing.  If you are loose in your set up, you are robbing yourself of power.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-01-24T19:28:42.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11482" CreationDate="2013-01-24T20:22:27.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The obliques mildly assist in flexion of the torso, and part of their attachments include the sheath of the rectus abdominus (abdominal muscle) and the linea alba (tendonous side attachment that serves as a connection and brace for the external oblique and abdominus).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary thing that they are going to be doing during your deadlift is stabilizing the torso, and when you are doing things like maximal/PR type lifts, you engage muscles more than you might normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you activate them for stabilization, and keep them tense throughout, which will give you elements of isotonic, eccentric and concentric contractions throughout the exercise. They are all a system combined with the abdominals. They also assist in breathing and a few other functions unrelated to torso rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-24T20:22:27.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11481" CreationDate="2013-01-24T21:05:18.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Dan John, once you can do squats at your current body weight for a set of 10, strength is not your limiting factor (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/figuring_out_your_life_and_lifting_goals&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;).  That is squatting with a bar on your back that weighs as much as you do.  Until you can reach that milestone, I would recommend to keep programming your squats.  You don't have to push your squats more than that if you don't feel like they will help you in your efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to increase your vertical, then I would recommend you also incorporate explosive work in the form of plyometrics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do single leg work (lunges, pistols, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do box jumps at varying heights (in % of your current max vertical)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do single leg box jumps, alternating legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you go on, use a weight vest to increase your body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a number of jump programs out there, but this is the basics.  There very well may be some technique work to help you get the most out of your vertical as well.  Usually that does come in to play.  Something that you may not realize is the plyometric work you are doing also does good things for your squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-01-24T21:05:18.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4241" CreationDate="2013-01-24T21:51:22.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stay away from antioxidant vitamins, at least C and E.  There is a study from 2009, suggesting that &lt;a href=&quot;http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/13/exercise_and_vitamins_now_wait_a_minute_.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vitamin C and E supplementation negate some of the beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity of exercise&lt;/a&gt;.  Also linked from that post is another paper showing that vitamin C supplementation decreases endurance gains from exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2013-01-24T21:51:22.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11491" CreationDate="2013-01-24T22:25:01.470" Score="4" ViewCount="1781" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it physically possible to have a calorie deficit for a month and gain 5 kilos of weight while being on diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am eating around 1500-2000 calories a day and I should be taking around 3500 minimum given the fact that I swim vigorously for an hour a day or more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I should have roughly lost around 5 6 kilos realistically this month but instead I have gained five kilos! What exactly does this mean? I have gained 5 kilos of muscle? Yes I used to do serious training before and well I think my waist-size has not increased in this period and it might have got reduced slightly. I am 6 2 and was 100 kilos when i started and now i am 105. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a bit confused because this is rather extreme! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="753" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-01-26T13:48:37.163" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T10:28:52.527" Title="Is it physically possible to have a calorie deficit for a month and gain 5 kilos of weight while being on diet and training?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7484" CreationDate="2013-01-24T23:16:56.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your doctor is correct, see this website:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&amp;amp;p=PMC3&amp;amp;id=3529354_DMM010009F3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&amp;amp;p=PMC3&amp;amp;id=3529354_DMM010009F3.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about day 5, the energy taken from fat stores is the greatest.  If you continue to fast longer than 5 days, the proportion of muscle burnt begins to increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-01-24T23:16:56.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11489" CreationDate="2013-01-24T23:58:09.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any diseases that causes excess water retention could cause you to put on weight (which include many diseases)or any disease which causes bowel obstruction. These are two examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, perhaps the liquid sarcoplasm in your muscles has increased. No calories are required to increase the amount of water stored in your muscles, which will also add to your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elevated exertion is responsible for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy the same as for myofibril hypertrophy. Basically, your body compensates for the extra stress by increasing the size of capillaries feeding the muscles so that they receive more fluid and, therefore, more energy. When such reoccurring periods of trauma occur, such as during regular workouts, the body triggers the sarcoplasm to retain and store more glycogen and ATP for future use as energy to meet such demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-01-24T23:58:09.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-25T00:07:08.870" Score="3" ViewCount="38494" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently read on this Q &amp;amp; A site that the rule of thumb that 37 000kJ is required to burn 1kg of fat is incorrect.  I have been down-voted by some for quoting this figure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that the above relationship is a rough estimate of fat loss, or has it been shown to be untrue.  I'm interested in seeing any studies you can give that indicate your point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T11:01:00.703" Title="How much energy is required to burn 1kg of fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2013-01-25T02:30:30.877" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;After starting with StrongLifts (5x5), then moving to Starting Strength (3x5), I also found I wanted to do more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's common advice in the former two to just do the sets and go home, you don't have to kill yourself, be patient, strength will come, you'll stall soon enough... That didn't however ease the feeling of not making the most of a workout--I'd rather smell the roses in nature than in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mucked around with doing an extra set or two with Starting Strength, but of course some of the same issues I had with StrongLifts came back, i.e.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workouts &lt;strong&gt;taking too long&lt;/strong&gt;, sometimes half an hour extra than straight 3x5.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercises a bit &lt;strong&gt;too monotonous&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having a training partner, it felt like we were &lt;strong&gt;hogging the single power rack&lt;/strong&gt; for an unreasonably long period. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It was &lt;strong&gt;not concrete enough&lt;/strong&gt;. I'd do an extra set and whether I'd do another set really was dependent on how much I wanted to rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I quickly moved to GreySkull LP (2x5, 1x5+) because it solved many small issues I had with Starting Strength and StrongLifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 3rd workset in GreySkull LP being AMRAP was key to some of these issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I felt fulfilled.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workouts increase by mere minutes, equipment is not dominated unreasonably.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 work sets don't get monotonous&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The number of reps achieved is like being told you got 90% in an exam as opposed to just being told you passed. It's motivational.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AMRAP tests my real limit, for I can do no more. It's concrete. Without AMRAP, whether I wanted to do a 4th, 5th or even more was dependent on how long I wanted to rest. I see definite progression with AMRAP.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AMRAP gives me a great &lt;strong&gt;carrot during the exercise&lt;/strong&gt;, knowing I double my weight increment if I can reach 10 reps. With Starting Strength the carrot really wasn't there during the exercise as doubling an increment was more hazy and based on if you feel you can handle it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unlike an extra set or two, the AMRAP set allows me to &lt;strong&gt;estimate my 1 rep max&lt;/strong&gt; and follow my progress on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt; chart. It was motivating hitting the Novice threshold for those exercises with muscle groups I know I was weak in. It was exciting working towards the intermediate level for the deadlifts and although advanced is still so far off to have that motivating pull, the squat intermediate is here any week if all goes well (touch metal) so I usually seem to have some exercise getting me up at 6am and out to the gym. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making the workout exciting in these ways has been key to me getting my three workouts per week without fail since starting three months ago. Motivation leads to consistency. Consistency leads to greater progress than tweaks in programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T03:50:29.323" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T03:50:29.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11500" CreationDate="2013-01-25T02:52:40.350" Score="5" ViewCount="3864" Body="&lt;p&gt;On Thursdays I work on my chest and triceps. This is probably my favourite workout day, except for the final component which is flat, incline and then decline flys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current Thursday looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x8 Flat Bench dumbbell press.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;3x8 Incline Bench dumbbell press.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;3x8 Decline Bench dumbbell press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x10 Tricep pulldowns.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;3x10 Skull crushers.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;4x8 Close grip bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x10 Flat Bench flys.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;3x10 Incline Bench flys.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;3x10 Decline Bench flys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, there's a lot going on. And to top it off, I train with a friend which makes this workout my longest one averaging at just over 2 hours. Another thing is that flys just aren't that enjoyable compared to the rest of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it necessary to do this many variations of flys each chest day? I am seeing good shaping + size but I feel like that's coming naturally from press rather than all the flys I am doing. Would I see little to no difference if I rotated between flat, incline and decline flys each chest day and only did 1 perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T04:13:45.133" Title="Is it necessary to do flat, incline and decline flys?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2679" CreationDate="2013-01-25T03:01:04.220" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite quote by John Broz is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you can't go into the gym and squat heavy twice a day, every day, you aren't overtrained, you're undertrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greg Glassman &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/29_05_What_About_Recovery.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;defined&lt;/a&gt; overtraining as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Overtraining is not sleep deprivation, soreness, or systemic or&#xA;  musculo-skeletal fatigue due to excessive training volume. Overtraining&#xA;  is a neuroendocrine beat down associated with excessively intensive&#xA;  work – more rest won’t necessarily help, reduced intensity will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He then goes on to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why is it that those most inclined to worry and ask about&#xA;  “overtraining” are about as likely to set a new record in the Olympic&#xA;  Decathlon as they are to ever overtrain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally done months solid of very high intensity 14-20 per week training sessions with outstanding results.  It's difficult, and takes twice as much time outside of the gym to &quot;pamper&quot; just to stay healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, don't worry about overtraining.  You'll know when it's time to scale it back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nasgaweb.com/forum/an-interesting-discussion-off-of-john-brozs-site_topic15108.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is a really good sciency article on the Bulgarian method written by a phd in neurobiology.  I think &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6803/5071&quot;&gt;our friend Bee&lt;/a&gt; may have been in the &quot;Dark Times&quot;.  It seems those who can power through are the most successful, while those who can't fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I trained under Broz' philosophy for a few months.  Squats every day.  It's horrible.  I don't recommend it unless you're competing.  I did make some serious progress though.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T22:55:50.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11492" CreationDate="2013-01-25T06:04:03.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 37,000 number is correct, but it can be misleading in a couple of ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A kg of fat contains 7700 calories of food energy, so to lose that 1kg of fat, you need to burn 7700 more calories than you take in. This is well-understood and agreed upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start talking about kJ, it gets a bit more complicated and confusing. Kj is a measure of the amount of work done - for example, I have a power meter on my bicycle, and it can measure the amount of work that is done in kj. Let's assume I go out on my bicycle and do 1000 kj of work. Now, a calorie is roughly 4 times bigger than a kj (see note 1), so that would imply that I only used about 250 calories of food energy. However, humans around 20-25% efficient in converting food energy to mechanical energy, which means it takes 250 / 25% = 1000 calories of food energy to do 250 calories of mechanical work. So... what everybody does is just consider them to be equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have a way of determining power expenditure, it makes a lot more sense to just deal with calories instead of kj.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note 1: When we talk about calories WRT food, we are really talking about kilocalories in the physics sense, but nobody calls them that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastEditorUserId="5072" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T14:24:57.040" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T14:24:57.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11494" CreationDate="2013-01-25T15:18:52.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not necessary to do any kind of flys at all. You can become enormously strong and sexy just by doing basic barbell compounds, as I've mentioned in another answer to one of your questions. 2hrs is a long workout, many experts suggest more than an hour of work sets is counterproductive. But I mostly read strength literature and you're doing a bodybuilding routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T16:38:22.480" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T16:38:22.480" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11494" CreationDate="2013-01-25T18:54:16.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody is going to be able to answer that question but you.  Let's assume your goal is maximal sarcoplasmic hypertrophy -- which means you want &quot;bigger&quot; muscles as fast as possible (not to be confused with more &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt;, since we can see our friend Clarence here squatting almost 600 lbs at 5'11&quot; tall and only 190 lbs body weight is certainly not big: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV6sKV8nMq0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV6sKV8nMq0&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, you'll need to take a scientific approach with your own training to see how your body reacts to the stimulus.  The reason is that there are a lot of factors contributing to &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt;  growth (how adept your adrenals are at producing cortisol, how effective your body is at producing sarcoplasm and replenishing ATP, natural testosterone levels, mental resolve, etc).  What works for somebody else may not work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to know whether or not your two hour push-movement workout is working the best it can be is to try to stabilize every variable you have control over (diet, rest, cardio, etc), then examine your results every few weeks.  Guess and check. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T19:28:39.403" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T19:28:39.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11651" CreationDate="2013-01-25T18:57:03.853" Score="11" ViewCount="1814" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read squat tips in this site and others, but I can't really figure out how to reach the posture in figure A. Mine is more similar to figure B. It seems physically impossible to get my hips and feet so close. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My idea is to stop increasing my squat weight until I get the right form. Is it only a matter of time and repetition? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises I'm doing are ankle flexibility (like doing the alphabet), moving my hips in a circle, and try to do a weightless squat with my arms pointing forward for balance (I can stand in the squat position for a few seconds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5CTZN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This is broken&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T19:11:05.710" LastActivityDate="2018-02-25T13:48:23.493" Title="Squat form: hips and ankles" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5875" CreationDate="2013-01-25T21:50:52.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best bodyweight substitution for a weighted shrug is just a shrug from the inverted hang (aka &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/InvertedShrug.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inverted shrug&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rPGHf.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be done on rings, straight bar, or even parallel bars:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FnBKz.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-01-25T22:07:41.143" LastActivityDate="2013-01-25T22:07:41.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-26T01:19:55.113" Score="13" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 35 year old woman and I weigh 105.  I want to gain 20 pounds and add shape to my figure.  I know what I need to do to gain weight, but what exercises can i do that will help me maintain the weight that I gain yet add shape to my bottom, definition to my arms and loose the small baby belly that i have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5081" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-25T15:32:23.083" LastActivityDate="2018-09-11T07:54:43.013" Title="Small woman and want to get bigger" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11503" CreationDate="2013-01-26T03:46:39.317" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question!  As you probably expect, to get the results you're looking for, you'll need to do some work.  20 lbs is a lot of weight to gain, but it's an attainable goal!  It's probably not what you want to hear, but in your first year, you shouldn't expect to put on more than 10 lbs of healthy weight.  You'll need to be patient!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great way to get started is with a simple 3 or 4 day per week routine that focuses on weight training and concludes with some high intensity cardio of some type.  I've personally lost body fat but gained weight at the same time for months straight using this type of routine, and I really enjoy this style of training.  It's fast, has great results, and you'll love it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get started, you'll need to get comfortable with a few foundational weight training movements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFullSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/AnimatedEx/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bench Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/AnimatedEx/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPressBentLeg.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know these may look intimidating for a beginner, but before you get scared off, I'll let you know that I'm going to give you some alternatives that are effective and less intimidating.  These are optimal choices though, so if you aren't afraid, dive in!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to that simple routine I was talking about.  It's called a push/pull routine, because one day you'll do pushing movements, the next time you'll do pulling movements.  That will give your push body parts time to recover until next time, and vice-a-versa.  However, since the squat is a movement your body can handle doing more frequently, you'll do squats every time you work out.  (Plus doing so will help you get a great butt!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should structure your routine around your schedule, but for now be sure to get at least a day of rest in between each workout.  I'll get into the details, but here's an example schedule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday (push day): Squats, bench press, 10 minutes high intensity cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday (pull day): Squats, row, 10 minutes high intensity cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday (push day): Squats, overhead press, 10 minutes high intensity cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday (pull day): Squats, deadlift, 10 minutes high intensity cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat starting Wednesday (and so on)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Movements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start out, you should aim for 3 sets of 10 repetitions of each movement in the routine.  You should use a weight that's heavy enough that on your last rep of 10, you are really struggling.  You should try to increase the weight as often as you can and strive for 10 reps.  Take 1-3 minutes of rest between each set, depending on how you feel.  Shorter rest is better in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The squat should be considered the foundation of your training.  This exercise is going to do the most for you.  Not only will you get some serious &quot;back&quot;, but you'll also get great posture.  It is the most important movement and you should try your best to master it.  I've provided more details on squats in the tips section below.  A great alternative until you build confidence with the movement is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbbell squat&lt;/a&gt;.  I have to mention that you should not use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/SMSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;smith press&lt;/a&gt; to squat (details &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/SmithSquat1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) because it is really stressful on your knees and creates muscular imbalances between the front and rear of the leg (bad news! causes all sorts of systemic issues!).  Always use free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deadlift is similar to the squat in that it works what's called your posterior chain (butt, legs, back).  However, it will also help define your upper back, which is something the squat can't do.  It's also going to help give you a really attractive and regal posture that happens naturally. There aren't a lot of alternatives for this one, but another option is the stiff-legged deadlift.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2rJiF2dLE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a video&lt;/a&gt; of a woman explaining the stiff-legged deadlift.  I recommend doing some more research on this movement to get the form down.  Remember: keep your lower back straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only will the bench press possibly make your &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/can-bench-pressing-lift-breasts-5092.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;breasts more shapely&lt;/a&gt;, but it will also help give you the definition in your arms you're looking for (bye bye under-arm flab).  A great alternative you're probably familiar with is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWPushup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;push-up&lt;/a&gt;.  The push-up is a tough exercise!  But, if you decide to scale it by doing push-ups with your knees down, you're doing yourself &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h2TUz2eod4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more harm than good&lt;/a&gt;.  Scale this exercise by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWInclinePushupBar.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inclining&lt;/a&gt; against something.  The better you become at it, the lower you can go.  To throw in some variation, you can also do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/AsChestDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;assisted dips&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Row&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The row is important for giving figure to your back.  It will also help naturally pull your shoulders back and give you a more upright posture.  It's also great for defining your arms.  My favorite variation of this exercise is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inverted row&lt;/a&gt;. If you struggle for your 10 reps, you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRowHigh.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;increase the incline&lt;/a&gt;.  From time to time you may want to add some variation by doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/AsPullupOpen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;assisted pull-ups&lt;/a&gt; if you have a machine available (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/AsChinupSelf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;self-assisted pull-ups&lt;/a&gt; if you don't). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your arms will thank you for this movement as well.  There's not much to it, just push the weight overhead.  You may want to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.womenshealthmag.com/files/images/0906-shoulder-press.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;use dumbbells&lt;/a&gt; until you get comfortable with this movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cardio&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to popular belief, long, intermediate cardio sessions -- like jogging for half an hour or using the elliptical -- are really poor methods of conditioning and fat loss.  There's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/63_07_Tabata_Dumbbell.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;large&lt;/a&gt; body of research showing that short, high intensity training is where it's at.  I've experienced fantastic results (it's whipped me into such good shape, my resting heart rate is actually in the 40s!, plus it keeps my bodyfat low.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can approach anything with a high intensity approach, if you like -- even squats.  The idea is that you'll want to go as hard as you possibly can for a short period of time, then slow it down for about twice as long, then go hard again, etc.  My favorite type of intervals are hill sprints (run up the hill as fast as possible, jog back down).  I also enjoy using this method on a rowing machine, or stairmill, or even chaining multiple movements together with no rest in between (like pushups followed by rows followed by squats).  Experiment!  The idea is that you push as hard as you possibly can for 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;That's it!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!  You're going to do great.  I think you'll be blown away by how great your results are in the first few months.  If you have any questions, feel free to comment in the comment section below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This style of routine really offers a lot of millage.  If you find yourself becoming stagnant, come back and ask us about intermediate training methodologies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tips:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink a lot of water (personally I drink at least a gallon a day).  It will help your body's lymph system flush damaged muscle tissue out of the body.  (&lt;em&gt;Note: Water leeches salt from your body.  The average american diet has enough salt in it for this not to matter, but if your diet is low in sodium, make sure you up your salt intake a bit so you don't become &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia#Signs_and_symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyponatremic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat clean.  The less a food has been processed the better.  By processed I mean anything that alters it from its raw state.  A raisin is a processed grape.  A rolled oat is a processed oat.  You'll be surprised how your flab will shrink away even though your figure will remain, just from consistently eating healthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough protein. The rest of your calorie needs can come from anywhere, just be sure to get enough protein so your muscles can stay healthy (at least 1g per lb of bodyweight per day is a good rule of thumb).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get enough sleep.  Sleep is when your muscles and central nervous system do the brunt of their regeneration.  If you can get a solid 8 hours per night, your results will come much quicker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor your weight.  Adding a workout routine means you may be burning more calories than you realize, which means you could lose weight.  Skin fold calipers are a great tool to help you keep track of your bodyfat (plus they're really cheap on amazon. I personally own &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002VAPHXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; and am happy with it). (I don't recommend electronic bodyfat readers because they are very inaccurate.) Take a reading every 2 weeks to help give you some indication of whether or not you're eating enough or too much.  Ultimately the scale shouldn't matter -- the mirror should.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meditate.  If you can add 15-20 minutes per day of good mindfulness meditation to your routine, the absolute relaxation will really help you gain awareness of your body.  Plus it will help your brain create neuromuscular pathways so that you can be more effective in your exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squats: This exercise will help you get a great butt, legs, and core.  If a barbell is too heavy, try getting started with a broomstick or a PVC pipe or dumbbells.  Cues for learning this exercise are to think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping your chest up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All four corners of your feet glued to the ground &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs tight (as if someone were going to punch you in the stomach)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knees out as you descend.  Try to keep pushing your knees out so your legs stay open.  This will keep your glutes engaged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't flop into the bottom position, control yourself on the way down.  Keeping your muscles tight will protect your spine from injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then touch try to touch your butt to your ankles.  Remember to keep your heels on the ground; push through your heels.  It's important to use good form on this exercise, so if you aren't sure, search around on youtube or ask a personal trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-26T14:06:37.867" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T14:06:37.867" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11503" CreationDate="2013-01-26T10:06:04.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't achieve your goals by gaining 20 pounds of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't gain 'shapes' in a good way. Breasts grow larger with fat, your booty grows with fat. But fat also makes almost every other part of the body look worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no way to lose weight in only desired places. It is entirely determined by genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain 'good weight' you need to lift weights. Yes, exactly as a male body-builder. But any female that does that for several months to few years will not look like one. She will not look like a female body-builder either (they take testosterone and other substances).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine a Victoria's Secret model. She got lucky with genetics for sure. But how her body differs from the average girl's? She has more muscle, and she has less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to lose a bit of fat, to lose the belly. And you need to gain muscle, so you don't look skinny, but look and feel great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1395" LastEditorUserId="1395" LastEditDate="2013-01-26T17:20:24.073" LastActivityDate="2013-01-26T17:20:24.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11567" CreationDate="2013-01-26T13:10:14.923" Score="3" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have learnt from this site that weight training that involves lifting few repetitions (e.g. 6) of heavy weights will result predominantly in muscle strength increases, where as lifting many repetitions of lighter weights is useful for muscle hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally I would think that for weight training for improving power in the sport of tennis, one would be more concerned about strength than hypertrophy and therefore perform less reps, but with greater weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In tennis however, muscle endurance is also important, which leads me to think perhaps more reps will provide benefit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish to improve my power in tennis, should I focus on max weight and less reps, or medium weights with more reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-02-02T00:56:41.893" Title="Weight Training for Tennis" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11489" CreationDate="2013-01-26T14:55:31.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a small calorie-deficit and a small weight-gain it's possible by increasing water-retention in the body. Someone might have lost a kg of fat, yet gained a kilo and a half of water, perhaps some of it in the form of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's not possible sustained over time, with a substantial calorie-deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus there's two possibilities: either you eat more calories than you believe, or else you burn less calories than you believe. Both are quite possible, metabolic rates vary wildly by individual so the &quot;calculators&quot; you find online are only &quot;general average&quot; kind of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible to directly measure your calorie burn, the simplest method is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubly_labeled_water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doubly labeled water&lt;/a&gt;. You drink a carefully measured amount of water that contains isotopes of both hydrogen and oxygen, then you submit a urine-sample for spectroscopic analysis a week later. The results tell you fairly accurately (+- 2-4%) how many calories you burnt in that week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5042" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T10:28:52.527" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T10:28:52.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11547" CreationDate="2013-01-26T16:50:55.187" Score="2" ViewCount="615" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started regular strength and core training for the part few weeks after years of no exercise. For the last 2-3 days I notice that I wake up in the night with a back ache that involves muscles of back and side. I am a side sleeper and switch sides in the night usually. This pain is strong to wake me up and doesn't go away for 20-30 mins until I get up walk a bit. Then it goes away as though it never was there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this related to the core training and how can I prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5083" LastEditorUserId="5083" LastEditDate="2013-01-28T16:53:06.743" LastActivityDate="2013-01-31T03:22:58.953" Title="Core training and muscle cramp?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2013-01-26T18:50:41.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one thing I experienced very quickly with minimalist footwear is the importance of landing lightly and to use small strides. My pace increased and I have had no more knee or shin problems. I often listen to runners with heavy padding and they seem to stomp more when running. So I'm pretty happy with the minimalist sneakers (New Balance Trails are my favorites) as I'm more conscious how I'm landing and have had no injures as a result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5085" LastActivityDate="2013-01-26T18:50:41.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11513" CreationDate="2013-01-26T22:36:52.753" Score="15" ViewCount="21114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing push ups on a daily basis, and I feel like I need to also train the opposite muscles, to make sure I'm training evenly. What would be a good counter-exercise for push ups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5088" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T12:47:55.447" LastActivityDate="2019-05-08T11:20:22.017" Title="What is the opposite exercise of push ups?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11510" CreationDate="2013-01-26T22:45:44.277" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWPullup.html&quot;&gt;Pull ups&lt;/a&gt; (or chin ups), if you have a pull up bar available – or something else where you can do pull ups. They not just train the shoulders and the upper back but a lot of other muscles, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you don't have any special equipment or can't do pull ups yet, go with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot;&gt;inverted rows&lt;/a&gt;, you can do them lying under a table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should try to counter every push movement – one where you exert force away from your body – with a pull movement that works in the opposite way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-01-26T22:45:44.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-27T02:36:18.470" Score="4" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current strength routine consists of olympic-style squats, clean &amp;amp; jerks, snatches, clean pulls, that sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm making steady progress, but considering adding some variation.  Does anybody have any experience with atlas stones?  The explosive hip extension and massive core involvement in movements such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=857bGNXArZI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stone to shoulder&lt;/a&gt; seem like they would have a great carryover to oly movements.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anybody found success with this strongman tool, specifically in relation to olympic lifts?  Are they a good supplemental exercise for olympic lifts?  What were your experiences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T05:06:52.457" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T05:06:52.457" Title="Atlas stone experience?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-01-30T21:59:34.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11510" CreationDate="2013-01-27T03:24:02.647" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot;&gt;row&lt;/a&gt; is the exercise that best antagonizes the push-up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an easy conclusion to make just by considering the force vector of the push-up.  The direction of force is outward and perpendicular to the body.  If you reverse that vector, you have a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify further, imagine only the upper arm and the chest when doing a push-up (imagine you just have stub arms).  What's happening is that your [stub] arms are adducting -- they're coming together.  The pectorals are driving this movement.  To be scientific, the primary movers in this adduction are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisSternal.html&quot;&gt;Pectoralis Major&lt;/a&gt; (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisClavicular.html&quot;&gt;clavicular head&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisMinor.html&quot;&gt;minor&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidAnterior.html&quot;&gt;Anterior Deltoid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TricepsBrachii.html&quot;&gt;Triceps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again to use the stub arm image, think of the same thing when doing a row.  The stub arms are &lt;em&gt;abducting&lt;/em&gt; -- they're moving apart.  Your back is also retracting to pull the weight back even further, and providing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_exercise&quot;&gt;isometric contraction&lt;/a&gt; so your arms don't get ripped out of their sockets.  Now think about all the muscles that need to be involved for this to happen: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Rhomboids.html&quot;&gt;Rhomboids&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusMiddle.html&quot;&gt;Traps&lt;/a&gt; (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusLower.html&quot;&gt;lower&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/LatissimusDorsi.html&quot;&gt;Lats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidPosterior.html&quot;&gt;Posterior Deltoid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/BicepsBrachii.html&quot;&gt;Biceps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(There are quite a few others)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason we can't consider the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWPullup.html&quot;&gt;pull-up&lt;/a&gt; a very &lt;em&gt;complete&lt;/em&gt; antagonist exercise to the push-up is that it predominantly targets the lats.  It's missing a couple of key components: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core involvement (both the row and the push-up require significant core involvement to execute) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scapular retraction (though some adduction occurs, it is less pronounced than the row).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could consider the pull-up to be a downward &lt;em&gt;rotation&lt;/em&gt; rather than abduction.  The pull-up could be considered the antagonist exercise to the overhead &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot;&gt;press&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;upward&lt;/em&gt; rotation). Read more about scapular and clavicular articulations &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Scapula.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T03:36:02.250" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T03:36:02.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2013-01-27T06:11:37.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like it could be Raynauld's syndrome! It's usually pretty harmless, just make sure to keep warm, but check in with your doctor. It could be a sign of an underlying autoimmune or thyroid problem. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5090" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T06:11:37.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9815" CreationDate="2013-01-27T15:20:26.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think if there were one exercise you would want to do to relieve lumbar discomfort it would be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BWReverseHyperextension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse hyper-extension&lt;/a&gt;. This exercise gently stretches the lower lumbar.  There aren't many other ways for the spine to stretch under decompression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard a lot testimonials of people who have saved their backs (recovered from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0zjMFNjC4M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;broken backs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stellspot.blogspot.com/2009/04/herniated-discs-l4-l5-l5-s1-advice.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bulging discs, herniated discs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getnarked.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5110&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sciatica&lt;/a&gt;) by doing this exercise. Even famous physical therapist &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/about&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kelly Starrett&lt;/a&gt; can't say &lt;a href=&quot;http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/01/kstar-revhyper1.tpl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;enough&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSa7Ak584Lw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good things&lt;/a&gt; about this movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T15:20:26.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11518" CreationDate="2013-01-27T15:35:11.567" Score="12" ViewCount="1932" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Gironda&quot;&gt;Vince Gironda&lt;/a&gt; was famous for training people like Arnold and Lou Ferrigno and operating &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironguru.com/images/stories/33171493.jpg&quot;&gt;Vince's Gym&lt;/a&gt;.  He was one of the OGs of professional bodybuilding.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a story I've heard more than once about a man doing crunches at Vince's gym.  Apparently, Vince refunded his money, told him to get his stuff, and kicked him out of his gym, saying something like, &quot;nobody does crunches in my gym!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would Vince be so anti-crunch?  Is there any merit to this belief? Are crunches an effective ab exercise for bodybuilding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-01-27T16:37:35.010" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T02:45:48.093" Title="Are crunches an effective exercise for building the abs?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11516" CreationDate="2013-01-27T20:05:34.157" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crunches CAN be an effective tool, however there comes a point where they do more toning and conditioning than they do size building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The function of the abdominals is to curl the torso &quot;forward&quot; and &quot;in&quot; (These are subjective to the position that you start in). If you take your lower ribcage and try to picture touching that to your hips, causing your upper body to kind of curl into a ball, that is the motion that works the abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If most of the motion is occurring at your hip joints and your back is relatively straight, then you are working your hip flexors rather than your abdominals as the primary mover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if your abs are underdeveloped, then crunches will definitely work the abs. However, once you get them to a base level of conditioning, then you don't really get much more out of doing more crunches. It's kind of like being able to bench 250, so you don't get much out of doing bunches of presses at 135.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if you add weight, vary the exercise (Such as hanging crunches), then you can get back to the building, but you are going to need to keep increasing the stress on the muscle to see advancement in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addendum - As with almost every muscle group in the body, there are a group of antagonistic (opposing) muscles, and these are the muscles of the lower back (erector spinae, etc.). For all the work that you do on your abdominal area, you need to match that with work on the lower back. Imbalances between these two are often a cause of lower back pain, and can also promote poor form, injury and other like complications. Any time you work one muscle group, you need to make sure to have equal work on the opposing muscle group(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-01-28T02:45:48.093" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T02:45:48.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11516" CreationDate="2013-01-27T20:13:39.897" Score="10" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why would Vince be so anti-crunch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say Vince is anti-crunch so much as he is anti-novice. The distinction here is that Vince would assume if someone were to do crunches as part of their routine, then that person is a novice and does not belong in his gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any merit to this belief? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Ask anyone in the world and chances are most people will only know of the sit-up and crunch. But instead ask any intermediate or advanced bodybuilder, and they are likely to tell you that they haven't done crunches in years. Why the disparity? Because there are hundreds of exercises at peoples disposal for doing abdominal work that are both safer and more efficient than crunches, but chances are the novice will only know of the crunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are crunches an effective ab exercise for bodybuilding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great deal of exercises can be effective for building muscle, but that doesn't mean they're optimal or even safe. Sure you could use crunches to build up your abs, but that would be like eating a McDonalds burger when you have a cut of prime rib already on your plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T20:13:39.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11516" CreationDate="2013-01-27T21:14:11.147" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore describe in Practical Programming why many trainers--particularly strength trainers, and most particularly weightlifting trainers--eschew crunches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The lower back is supported from the anterior by the abs, and ab work done correctly, protects and assists lumbar stability. &quot;Done correctly&quot; means that the abs are strength-trained, as opposed to endurance-trained with high reps and low resistance. Weighted sit-ups or some version of them, knees-to-elbows from a hanging position on the chin-up bar, and exercises that isometrically load the abdominals in a fashion similar to their normal postural-support function, are preferred over exercises (e.g., crunches) that do not adequately stress the muscles in a way that actually applies to their role as spinal supporters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From page 102. The position that the function of the abdominals is not solely to curl the torso forward and in, but rather primarily to provide isometric contraction for postural support, is the key. Many people note that the abdominals are quite necessary for bracing the torso during heavy lifting, for example, pulling movements deadlifts, cleans, and snatches, as well as squats and overhead work like presses and jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many supporting reasons: crunches provide very little resistance, they often dovetail into a mistaken belief in spot reduction, or their use signals a misguided priority of developing a six-pack without attention to fundamental strength, conditioning, and mobility. However those reasons are secondary to the central claim that the abdominals are primarily useful for bracing the trunk to resist movement (whether under a barbell or to maintain good posture during normal daily activities), rather than flexing the torso in order to move a load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T21:14:11.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6368" CreationDate="2013-01-28T06:24:26.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure of any exercise equipment that has an API but I do know you could easily use an Arduino and multiple sensors, build a very simple hardware suite, gather that information and transform your exercise equipment into an input device.  For example, the use of bicycle levers as input devices could very easily use a flex sensor or the like.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a VERY broad answer and a bit different than what you wanted &quot;How to transfer vs. what exists&quot;, but this is likely a very cheap, easy and fun way to transform your existing equipment.  If you would like more info or help using the Arduino let me know.  I can find specific examples for your scenarios if you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T06:24:26.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11537" CreationDate="2013-01-28T07:01:35.080" Score="3" ViewCount="1316" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started to run barefoot because no shoe suits my feet perfectly. I ran a half marathon yesterday and made my PB too, I am happy. But during the course of running I developed blisters. I enjoy the pain but I am scared that it may lead me to a bad injury, if I continue this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, is there any tape for barefoot running? I have heard of some tape but I don't know how they refer to it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How do they refer to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is there any better ways to avoid blisters?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I can't afford the five fingers shoe. &#xA;Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-01-28T10:01:21.063" LastActivityDate="2013-02-03T15:40:40.163" Title="How to avoid blisters while running barefoot?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11542" CreationDate="2013-01-28T07:59:20.120" Score="5" ViewCount="7417" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I went to a gym to pick up a membership form, they gave me a parental consent form as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that means there is some risk attached to going to a gym for children. &#xA;Aside from pulling muscles, what other health risks are there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5099" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-01-30T03:22:06.410" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T10:07:40.147" Title="What are the health risks for children under 18 of going to a gym?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11540" CreationDate="2013-01-28T14:56:28.297" Score="2" ViewCount="960" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my wrists is weaker than the other.  I am working on strengthening both of my wrists, but I want to protect my weaker wrist while I workout. Should I use wrist wraps on the weak wrist or both wrists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-01-28T15:55:13.700" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T21:34:54.097" Title="Wrist Wraps on both wrists?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11508" CreationDate="2013-01-28T17:01:58.250" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it has been years you need to startup with something more basic like jogging and little cardio this will help you get over the years of rest that your body has had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't push yourself too hard you won't become John Abraham in a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will adapt this routine gradually, I have gone through this phase myself, I weighed 96 Kgs when I started and in 4 months I am 82 now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5102" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T17:01:58.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11527" CreationDate="2013-01-27T18:26:59.833" Score="3" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done plenty of high intensity sports training (kickboxing, circuit trainings etc) but never running. This fall I was bitten by the running bug. I started doing around 10km runs once or twice a week. Then I got my Icebugs and did few 14km runs on snow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now both ankles are inflammed. My ortopedic put me on pain meds and no running for two weeks and then to start easier. Here's the problem. What's easier? As I said I'm pretty fit so my ankles apparently break a lot before my fitness gives in. So how should I progress my runs now when I return to running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run with short steps and mainly forefoot landing as I think this should be best for my ankles/knees? I don't pronate/supinate. According to ankle x-rays there's nothing wrong with my ankle structurally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5100" OwnerDisplayName="vertti" LastActivityDate="2013-01-30T17:12:52.320" Title="Starting running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11525" CreationDate="2013-01-27T19:16:18.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a guess, but I would say that your ankle problems are caused by a combination of your shoes and your stride.  When you run, do you land on your heel, midfoot or forefoot?  Did you choose a pair of shoes appropriate for your stride and your pronation?  It is probably worth going to a specialty running store, if they have them in your area, and have them help you choose the correct shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to a store like that, you can take the '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-shoes/take-wet-test-learn-your-foot-type&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wet test&lt;/a&gt;' to determine your foot type and look at the wear patterns on your current shoes to provide additional insight to the type of shoe that's going to serve you best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Jacob G" LastActivityDate="2013-01-27T19:16:18.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11525" CreationDate="2013-01-28T15:50:26.830" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question &quot;what's easier&quot;, cross training to start. There are several different ways to start cross training. Pool running running in the deep end of the pool where you cannot touch the bottom will take the impact off your ankles. This works several of the same motions and muscles that you will need to stay in running shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link offers instructions, tempo workouts, and explains the benefits to pool running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runaddicts.net/tips-tricks/the-top-3-cross-training-exercises-for-runners&quot;&gt;http://www.runaddicts.net/tips-tricks/the-top-3-cross-training-exercises-for-runners&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the temperature of the water, I found it harder to get my heart rate up, so I included cycling, yoga, &amp;amp; weights as permitted by my doctors &amp;amp; trainers. Competitor continues to elaborate on the different options for cross training (cycling, swimming, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2012/08/training/four-ways-to-cross-train_56243&quot;&gt;http://running.competitor.com/2012/08/training/four-ways-to-cross-train_56243&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5103" OwnerDisplayName="Alicia D" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T15:50:26.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11477" CreationDate="2013-01-28T18:22:46.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I found this a bit subjective, hence I am answering it myself.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The shoulder niggle may vary for different person.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When we call it 'niggle' which means slight but persistent discomfort is not a serious injury but one has to be careful with it, since it may lead to some serious injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took rest for a day and then the next 2 days I followed the exercises given in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7225/rotator-cuff-strengthening-for-shoulder-overuse-injury&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; without weights.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It was very helpful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then the following day I cycled 50 km and the following day I ran a half marathon and I made my personal best. This is very subjective, I know.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in my opinion, after experiencing the constantly irritating niggle in my shoulder, cycling or running doesn't hurt the shoulder, provided resting 1 or 2 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T18:22:46.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11525" CreationDate="2013-01-28T19:09:22.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;People who are fit can easily get hurt by applying that fitness to an activity that they're not used to. Their strength and conditioning engine is able to handle the workload, but their mobility and joints may not. In these cases you need something like Couch to 5k for the fit: a ramp-up program that challenges you while not overstepping the capabilities of your bones, ligaments, and tendons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try dramatically reduced running volume--something like ~1km at first--before ramping back up slowly, perhaps adding a kilometer every third run, to 10km. Sprints, if they don't aggravate the issue more, could be used to increase the intensity without adding problematic volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also consider the possibility that you could develop a tougher constitution through strength training. Weight-bearing exercise is great for bones and ligaments when done in a progressive manner. Deadlifts, power cleans, and squats come highly recommended for runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T19:09:22.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9745" CreationDate="2013-01-28T22:55:13.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep it social with some competitive spirit thrown in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a larger group of different paces, pick an out and back trail and pick a time (not distance) that everyone will turn around at, such as 25 minutes. All run at their own pace heading out for 25 minutes and all try to negative split back to the start, the faster group will run further and still get a good strong finish feel and finish about the same time as the slower group who did not run as far down the trail, but still get to finish strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sort of workout allows the group to start and finish together, promoting the social aspect before and after. Allows faster runners to not feel like they have to slow down the group. It also adds a little competitive spirit, even for slower runners (can I get back before the fast guys). Finally, in a triathlon run it is good to not start too fast, start easy off the bike and build throughout the run and finish strong. Pushing for a negative split, even in a training run, forces you to run faster on the second half of the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go get recovery drinks after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2549" LastActivityDate="2013-01-28T22:55:13.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11534" CreationDate="2013-01-28T23:21:28.003" Score="12" ViewCount="982" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read about / been told / agree with the fact that my workout should not be exceeding around 1 hour, however most of my workouts approach the 90 mins - 2 hour mark &lt;em&gt;because I work out with a partner&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When done solo, I can finish all of my workouts in under an hour 15.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the 1 hour recommendation actually cover? Is that one hour of total weightlifting time, one hour of weight lifting inclusive of the minimum rest between sets, or just one hour total regardless of time spent waiting for my partner to finish his sets, waiting for equipment to be vacant, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the final point is valid, does that mean that me and my friend should work out how to finish both of our workouts in under 75 minutes or so, maybe by using separate equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is maximum size / mass gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="3113" LastEditDate="2013-01-29T00:34:59.610" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T14:04:55.747" Title="Recommended workout duration vs working out with a partner" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11535" CreationDate="2013-01-29T01:58:01.053" Score="10" ViewCount="635" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few years ago when training for a duathlon at school (swim, run) we had to train with heart rate monitors on to test what we could run at and how quickly we could drop it back down to a resting heart rate. I never really bothered to ask the question until now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While sprinting I was able to get to 229 BPM which at the time I thought was impossible because max was 220, upon researching a bit more it is possible to push harder and than 220, as it's only used as a standard measurement. I was able to recover in under 5mins down to a resting heart rate of 33 BPM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: 175cm&#xA;Weight: 60kg&#xA;Age: 17&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always been a thin person but highly fit, I played water polo for school and club, rugby and touch everytime the seaons would roll around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess what I'm asking is what does having a low heart rate and being able to push to a high heart rate when exercising mean? What do low resting HRs and high max HRs tell about a person in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5106" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T05:05:13.517" Title="Heart rates and what they say about you?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;sports&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;recovery-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11531" CreationDate="2013-01-29T02:51:21.553" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the big hubbub surrounding bodybuilding and &lt;em&gt;one hour&lt;/em&gt; is the hormone &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cortisol&lt;/a&gt;.  This is going to be a bit long-winded, but bear with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's cortisol and why is it important?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, first we need to know a little bit about how muscle tissues work in an &lt;em&gt;anaerobic&lt;/em&gt; state.  (An anaerobic state is where you're working so hard your body can't supply oxygen quickly enough to the muscles: weight lifting at moderate to high reps, high intensity intervals, that sort of thing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to an anaerobic state, an &lt;em&gt;aerobic&lt;/em&gt; state is when the muscles are able to use cellular respiration (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_glycolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aerobic glycoloysis&lt;/a&gt;) to fuel themselves.  In this state, the body is able to supply both oxygen and sugar (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;glycogen&lt;/a&gt;) to the muscle fibers quickly enough, so that the cells don't need to use stored energy to do work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;stored energy&quot; part is important.  When your muscles are operating anaerobically, they have to use their stored energy source (called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ATP&lt;/a&gt;) to get the work done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that brings us to bodybuilding.  There are two parts of the muscle we care about: the sarcoplasm and the myofibril. Here's a good illustration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DVDRJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sarcoplasm of the muscle stores energy for the myofibril to operate in anaerobic conditions.  That's where the ATP is stored.  Using something called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endoplasmic_reticulum#Sarcoplasmic_reticulum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sarcoplasmic reticulum&lt;/a&gt;, ATP gets pumped from the sarcoplasm and turned into sugar for the myofibril to use.  If you're interested, you can watch a great lecture on this process &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/v/role-of-the-sarcoplasmic-reticulum-in-muscle-cells&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're bodybuilding, you are training your body to store more ATP in the sarcoplasm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to the cortisol.  After a certain point in training, your muscle cells are under such stress that they communicate to the brain that there isn't any way to create enough sugar to contract (there's a good diagram of the synapse/muscle fiber structure in the lecture linked above).  The brain responds by releasing cortisol from the adrenal gland.  This neurotransmitter responds to the cell by telling it that if it needs to, it can start using &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catabolism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;catabolism&lt;/a&gt; for fuel.  In this case that means the cells themselves are going to start getting munched up for energy.  We don't want this if we're bodybuilding, obviously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, we reach a huge cacophony of &quot;bro-science&quot; that links various research to cortisol in misconstrued fashions.  It becomes really tough to wade through the truth behind the spin (especially when an article is immediately followed by a supplement advertisement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is (though I haven't been able to find the exact medical paper) that after 75 minutes or so of training, the body starts releasing cortisol.  The reason we can't rely on this number is that there are no qualifications on what's considered training, nor the training volume, nor considerations about person's conditioning, nor their conditioned tolerance to cortisol.  I'd like to point out that a cursory google search for &quot;cortisol tolerance&quot; should turn up some resources explaining that the body becomes more tolerant to cortisol with training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, take this for example: a trainee does one set, waits 30 minutes, does their second set, then waits another 45 minutes before doing their third and final set.  Does the body suddenly say, &quot;whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on -- we need to start catabolizing muscle fibers before you can move this weight,&quot; and then releases cortisol?  We just learned that cortisol (in relation to training) is a response by the body to react to lack of stored ATP in the muscle fiber.  The average trainee certainly wouldn't be out of stored ATP after that amount of volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I find the &quot;one hour&quot; notion to be far too subjective to be valuable and would much rather rely on something like training &lt;em&gt;volume&lt;/em&gt;.  But here's an easy test: if you're losing your gains, it means you're catabolizing faster than you can build.  If you're still making progress, don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it worth it to ditch your workout partner in favor of keeping your session times down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say absolutely not.  Having a spotter increases your ability to progressively overload because you can get more reps out (especially on chest day).  Plus the the psychological benefits of having a failsafe will really help you focus on the exercise rather than stress out (which releases cortisol!).  Keep the partner in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T14:04:55.747" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T14:04:55.747" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11533" CreationDate="2013-01-29T05:05:13.517" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a bit about physiology. Just like some people have big feet and some people have small feet, some people have big hearts and some people have small hearts. Those that have smaller hearts have higher heart rates in general; their resting rates won't be as low and their maximum rates may be higher. That's just natural variability. It's also generally true that, as you get older, your maximum HR will decrease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, resting HR and maximum aren't very useful to compare between people. Resting HR can be a useful thing to track over time as a reasonable indication of your current fitness state; as you train your heart's stroke volume increases and therefore your resting HR goes down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T05:05:13.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11521" CreationDate="2013-01-29T12:20:50.693" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case that you looking for a way to protect your feet from getting blisters, you may want to run in simple sandals, something like the Tarahumara tribe uses. You can search Google images for &quot;Tarahumara sandals&quot;. They usually made of old tires. &#xA;You can prepare them by yourself. You only need hard rubber, laces (thin rope) and tools. You can find the instructions by searching &quot;invisible shoe&quot; in Google. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5114" LastEditorUserId="5114" LastEditDate="2013-02-03T15:40:40.163" LastActivityDate="2013-02-03T15:40:40.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11521" CreationDate="2013-01-29T13:44:43.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say that you've started running barefoot, how recently? If it's very recent, your feet are not accustomed to that sort of serious strain. No callouses have been built up, they're as soft as a baby's because of the foot coffins we wear all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start out slow, work up to the distance you can normally run while wearing shoes. Consider this a 'new workout' since you need to build up tolerance, primarily callouses and running style, where you have probably not had them in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said in one of your later comments that you were able to do 33km in 3 stints, so I'm going to have to assume you could do 11km at any given time. That's just shy of half of a half marathon (quarter marathon?). Essentially, you doubled your distance to reach that half marathon, where you experienced blistering. That doesn't seem all that strange to me. I know when I switched to running barefoot, the distance I was comfortable running was cut way down until I got accustomed. Granted, I'm no marathon runner and I don't pretend to be, but I went from 10-15 km to dying after 5 km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastEditorUserId="4252" LastEditDate="2013-01-29T21:32:41.423" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T21:32:41.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11525" CreationDate="2013-01-29T17:17:45.740" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for quite a while already, and completed 20 marathons and ultras without injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet I would say that running on deep snow is not quite easy on my ankles. I do it, but slowly and carefully, and for the purpose of strengthening my legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might help you if you run mostly on harder surfaces for a while. Also are you running on flat surfaces or hills? If you can, diversify your running, including uphill, downhill, and around the hill, both clockwise and counterclockwise, so that you use different muscle groups.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5107" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T17:17:45.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11521" CreationDate="2013-01-29T17:30:23.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do some barefoot running, but sometimes it is too cold or too hot. In such cases I am wearing Altra Adam shoes, which are essentially loose socks - they allow me to spread my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5107" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T17:30:23.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11523" CreationDate="2013-01-29T20:53:54.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: when you are experiencing recurring pain that lasts for weeks during your workouts, then you should definitely consider getting a doctor or physical therapist to check it out. The rest of my answer is going to assume that you got the &quot;all-clear&quot; from your doctor and that this is in fact nothing more than a muscular imbalance in your wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me it sounds like the exercises you are doing are too intense for your weaker wrist to handle, thus the pain. I would scale back on the intensity level and gradually build up wrist strength before attempting to do these exercises at the intensity level you are at now. Additionally, you may want to consider adding some supplemental grip strength exercises to your routine to expedite the recovery. Here are some exercises that will help you build wrist strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9904/will-grip-strength-automatically-increase-with-deadlift/&quot;&gt;See this question&lt;/a&gt; for advice on building grip strength as your deadlift progresses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tennis ball squeeze. Put a tennis ball in your hand, squeeze it as hard as you can, then release.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist curls. Get a very light dumb bell (maybe 1-5 lbs to start), hold it at a 90 degree position to your upper arm with your palm facing up, then curl the weight without moving the forearm (only the hand and wrist will move).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as doing your current exercises, using a wrist wrap is totally fine, and as you scale in intensity it can often become a necessary tool in order to avoid injury. On your build up sets I would recommend forgoing the wraps, and only using them on your work-sets / exercises that are giving you problems. That being said, wraps can become a crutch that prevent grip strength from developing, and will lead to eventual degradation of wrist strength in relation to the rest of the muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for using one or both, I would personally stick with both. For one, if the weak wrist is experiencing pain from the exercise, chances are the other wrist isn't too far away either. Second, by using only one wrist wrap you will be developing the muscles asymmetrically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T21:34:54.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-01-29T23:21:13.453" Score="2" ViewCount="892" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend gets very sleepy while exercising and yawns all the time. We have searched online but couldn't find any answers except a few brief mentions of several possibilities, like heart or blood pressure problems (she has very mild anaemia), sleep depravation (not at all, she sleeps &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; - she can sleep 11 hours during the night and still take a nap in the afternoon) or fatigue (also not the case, on the contrary, she has been having a very sedentary life lately, unfortunately).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on what could be the cause for this sleepiness that strikes her just a few minutes after she starts exercising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5117" LastActivityDate="2013-01-29T23:21:13.453" Title="Why does my girlfriend get sleepy during exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-01-30T03:17:49.203" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11522" CreationDate="2013-01-30T01:02:24.620" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having little Timmy at age 3 doing curls is not the same as having big Bobby at age 17 doing curls, so for the purpose of this answer I will assume the base age of 6 as an appropriate minimum for being defined as a youth / child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the scientific community, it is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19620931&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;pretty&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17119361&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;widely&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19945973&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;accepted&lt;/a&gt; that resistance training is a safe and appropriate activity for children to participate in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as health risks go, they are really no different than that of any other sport or physical activity; it all boils down to using proper form in a safe and supervised environment. By supervision I am not referring to some nanny making sure they aren't rough-housing, but rather an experienced and knowledgeable personal trainer who can ensure they use proper form, spot the weights, and build a safe and age appropriate training program for the child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that there are also psychological benefits and risks associated with sports and resistance training. While the activity may be very beneficial for the child physically, if they treat it with the wrong mentality then it can be dangerous to them psychologically (think sports breeding hyper-competitiveness). By introducing weight lifting at an early age you risk the child becoming hyper-narcissistic (among other things) if you approach it with the wrong mentality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-01-30T01:02:24.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="115" CreationDate="2013-01-30T02:41:31.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's bad for you if you start off small and work yourself up to longer distances. While you gradually do that, your body will become used to it and hopefully you will also be losing weight gradually as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5118" LastActivityDate="2013-01-30T02:41:31.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11549" CreationDate="2013-01-30T13:45:29.953" Score="4" ViewCount="698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to compete in a 5km outdoor race.&#xA;It's going to be breaststroke competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a while since i really did any real training,&#xA;and I'm am currently not in good shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The competition is in august. So I have aprox 5 months for training.&#xA;Last night I swom 1km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question:&#xA;How many times should I go swimming per week,&#xA;Do some durablility vs long swims,...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thx in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extra info:&#xA;The race is in a channel. (Belgium, Brugge)&#xA;I'm currently trying to swim 2/3 times a week.&#xA;My longest is a 1.4km swim atm.&#xA;Laps of 25m per minute for the 1.4km&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, i went swimming and did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x8 laps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x4 laps (2min for 4 laps, 3/4 min recuperating)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x6 laps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x2 laps (sprint)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;=&gt; 900m total&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 1.8m big and my weight is 106kg (which is a bit much at least :p)&#xA;I've started to run, but have a weak ankle.&#xA;So for our new years resolution (kind of a wager), my friends and I each committed to something to help our fitness.&#xA;And this is why I'm going to swim this competition.&#xA;I'll keep swimming I think, I really like the sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5121" LastEditorUserId="5121" LastEditDate="2013-01-31T10:37:56.073" LastActivityDate="2013-01-31T18:15:13.730" Title="Going to compete 5km outdoor breaststroke" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11525" CreationDate="2013-01-30T17:12:52.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not surprised that you have inflamed ankles. You are stating that you went from not running at all, to running 6 miles once or twice a week. That's a big chunk to just go out and start running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like anything else, you need to work into it. Make sure that you have shoes that are appropriate for your stride and foot landing pattern, and change them out on a regular basis. I run in more minimalist shoes (Less padding), and I get around 3-400 miles out of a single pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with maybe 10 minute runs 3-5 times a week, and gradually (no more than 5-10% at most) increase every couple of weeks. You can also look into the Galloway run/walk system, where you do a combination of running and walking, or else I like a program called 3:2:1. Basically, you do 3 short runs, two medium and one long. Each one is double the previous run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if your short run is 10 minutes, then your medium run is 20, and your long run is 30. I would start with 7, 14 and 21 initially, and bump it up from there. The benefits from running are great, but you need to work your way up to the longer runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-30T17:12:52.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2013-01-31T01:59:10.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have very flat feet, and i have started barefoot/VFF running a couple of years ago. I have no problems running 10-15 miles on concrete and or pavement. In fact, it is easier for me after the winter, when my feet get tender and feel all those little rocks and roots too much. I may carry my VFFs or Altra Adams in my fanny pack in case the surface gets too hot or too cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only problem I keep getting again and again is that my soles get kind of hard, and sometimes they crack a little bit. Kerasal softens them in a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I think that whenever we need to run barefoot in the darkness, it is safer to run on paved surfaces, even if we carry headlamps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5107" LastActivityDate="2013-01-31T01:59:10.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11508" CreationDate="2013-01-31T03:22:58.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes this pain could be because of your bad forms during core training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you get this back pain only at night, may be between 2 AM to 4 AM. Sleeping on your stomach will make the pain worst. and sleeping on your back will be better than sleeping on side. These problems usually starts around age of 40 and/or if you have a belly. If you had more stress at your work, you will have more pain at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually this happens because of bad form of sitting/walking at work or during workout, after gaining weight body posture and form can go bad. Things like putting pillows around you to make sure you sleep on your back whole night may help. Or when you sleep on your side, put a pillow between your legs at knees could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the actual problem could be your bad form in your day to day activities or during your core training, if you have weaker abs (specially lower abs) then you might be compensating it with your paraspinal muscle. The same way sometimes pregnant ladies get lower back pain. Technically (Medically) speaking The deep muscle Adbominus transversalis and Erector Spinae and Superficial muscles like Rectus abdominis and Pectoralis major and even Serratus Anterior (and I guess even Iliacus and Psoas major) all these muscles work together for spinal movements, so depending on where exactly you feel pain and how much deep, Chiropractor or Physiotherapist can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to scare you but if you continue doing core training wrong way, or if you don't fix your posture in your day to day activities, you can get more serious problems like herniated disk in a long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ps. I am just a software engineer, with an interest in body building and human anatomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5126" LastActivityDate="2013-01-31T03:22:58.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2013-01-31T04:13:07.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is an 8-week program from one of the best running coaches in the US:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50933/Novice-Training-for-your-first-5K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hal Higdon's 5K Novice&lt;/a&gt;. Of course, you need to run a shorter distance, and you do not have 8 weeks, but this program might still be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5107" LastActivityDate="2013-01-31T04:13:07.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11544" CreationDate="2013-01-31T18:15:13.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the extra information, here is what I would recommend for your swim training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swim training is low impact, so you can do it at a fairly high intensity almost every day. Your target distance is 5k, I would aim to be able to swim that distance straight by two months out from your race. So if the race is 15 August, then be able to swim the distance with no breaks by 15 June. That will give you two months to be able to work on your speed as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your workouts are currently in the 1000m range, I would do that 3-4 times a week, and each week bump every workout by 200m. Have one day a week where you simply swim the distance straight, or with as little rest as possible. Every couple of weeks, add another day as well. You really do want to be swimming between 3-5,000m total per workout, with 4-6 workouts a week, and be able to swim your target distance straight with no breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the resources that I would suggest is called &quot;Swim workouts in a binder&quot;. It has prepackaged workouts that you can do, all of varying intensity and distances. It also has baseline personal testing so you can gauge where you at in your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing that you need to work on is acclimation and getting used to swimming in open water rather than a pool. Even a canal, if you are not used to cold, dark water and currents, it's easy to get spooked and freak out. Get in the canal with someone watching, and swim to get used to it. Do this as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, find out if the swim is wetsuit legal (Usually determined by the water temperature). Wetsuits greatly aid in bouyancy and can really help reduce fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-01-31T18:15:13.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10120" CreationDate="2013-02-01T03:20:24.733" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Feel free to drop me a line on any hints or grandfatherly advice you might have. I'm doing this on my free time.&quot; - from your profile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get in good shape and look athletic, then become athletic. 1/2 hr walks and a decent diet will only get you so far, theres not really anybody i know who does this that I would consider physically fit or more than borderline healthy - perhaps slim in some cases with people who properly restrict their calories and have a certain set of genes. but the wind could sweep them away! in other words nobody whos in great shape - i.e. strong, fast, a great cardiovascular system, good endurance. It wouldn't make sense that my granny who walks around the block every morning could outrun a sprinter. walks and diet will in the best case make you skinnyfat. you may look alright with clothes on, but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not telling you to become a sprinter, but if you want to be in decent shape, heres my suggestion;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;set up a proper diet. track your macros; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iifym.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IIFYM&lt;/a&gt; (if it fits your macros). eat decent foods. as for supplements, only concern yourself with covering your vitamin intake, and fish oils.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sleep, at least 7 hours of healthy sleep per night. more is better, but not in excess of 12.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;follow a strength training regime, heres a couple I recommend:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my only complaint is the low amount of volume, but for a beginner its fine:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;starting strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; is a great program, the other sections have tons of great info, too. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great program, I recommend the &quot;boring but big&quot; template: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/hardcore-look-at-jim-wendlers-5-3-1-powerlifting-system.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wendler 5 3 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have balls of steel, try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seriouspowerlifting.com/2843/articles/20-rep-squat-program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;20 Rep Squat Program&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;building strength and muscle alone will not make you a rounded athlete. do hill sprints 2-3 times per week to build endurance and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These 4 points are really the basis for becoming a good athlete. Lift as heavy as you can without breaking your form, stick to the program, track progression. You'd be surprised how quickly your strength and muscular mass improves if you follow through 100% on these points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last piece of advice is that building a better body requires dedication and time, and exercise is not means to an end - its a lifestyle. so throw out your supplement-promoting fitness magazines with get-shredded-in-12-weeks programs that follow a typical bodybuilding split! you're never done, you start and keep going, along the way you will find new goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5136" LastEditorUserId="5136" LastEditDate="2013-02-02T17:10:07.663" LastActivityDate="2013-02-02T17:10:07.663" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="760" CreationDate="2013-02-01T03:29:58.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Walkerton, Ontario investigation as noted by BillThor determined that &lt;strong&gt;people drinking 4+ liters of water per day experienced proteinuria&lt;/strong&gt; (i.e. kidney damage):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Canadian doctors are warning that drinking too much water may cause loss of kidney function... Researchers... identified 100 otherwise healthy adults who had a condition called proteinuria, or abnormal amounts of protein in their urine. ... Proteinuria can cause kidney failure and is a sign of microvascular disease, where the heart's tiny arteries are damaged, causing cardiac disease and cardiac death. ... They were drinking, on average, at least four litres of fluid per day. ... Some people were drinking six litres. One woman, a health care worker, was drinking eight.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=612070ac-ae0a-47c5-b4a1-39e1b1ce9735&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=612070ac-ae0a-47c5-b4a1-39e1b1ce9735&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's a scholarly paper about it:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2175005/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2175005/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;strong&gt;humans &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; safely drink 15 liters per day&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This information does not appear to be widely known, since google search results are dominated by (1) the old weakly supported 8x8 advice and (2) that the only possible danger from water is water intoxication by rapid ingestion of large quantities (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5135" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T03:29:58.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11552" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11557" CreationDate="2013-02-01T06:21:53.480" Score="2" ViewCount="1062" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long should I warm-up to secure train with the grippers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking not about general warm-up but about warm-up aimed specifically on hands. Should it be 5 minutes, or 1 minute intensive hands and fingers warm-up is enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm training with relative light grippers - 150 lbs, and I'm still not closing it. I've once had problem (about a year ago), when I've got 'clicking' finger', but I think it was because of missing finger-oriented warm-up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T18:36:56.823" Title="How long warm-up before gripper training?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11556" CreationDate="2013-02-01T14:56:34.280" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just started to learn swimming... and learnt that there are a large number of styles like Freestyle, breaststoke , backstroke, butterfly stroke ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I just know that each of these strokes have unique advantages, can anyone tell me what is the benefit of each stroke ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which style can be used to reduce the butt fat ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which style can be used to reduce the abdominal fat ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4901" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T20:52:34.443" Title="Swimming - usefulness of different styles with fat" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11555" CreationDate="2013-02-01T15:00:27.313" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;today my coach (in swimming) taught me (after breast stroke) to kick backwards (as we do in breast stroke) with my head upside facing the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what am i doing is like : having my face towards the sky and kicking in the water as we do in breast stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when I searched in internet i find that backstroke is something like having your hands move like freestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what movement am i doing now ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4901" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T15:32:30.297" Title="Breast stroke kick with my face facing the sky! Am i back stroking in swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11554" CreationDate="2013-02-01T15:32:30.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds a lot like the elementary backstroke. It uses the same kick as the breast stroke. To me, the arm motions also feel similar to the breast stroke, but it's as if you're doing them below your shoulders instead of above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvn9QinYMQc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Video example&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3058" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T15:32:30.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11553" CreationDate="2013-02-01T16:23:42.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't reduce fat in a particular place. Your genetics determine which places you will gain and loose fat from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T16:23:42.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11552" CreationDate="2013-02-01T17:56:43.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of rock climbing, and do a finger specific warmup for it, otherwise I get popping and clicking in my fingers, just like you describe.  I don't use heavy grippers like you describe, so maybe someone else will have a more relevant post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use grip putty like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rei.com/product/478026/power-putty-hand-strengthener&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.  Some sort of physical therapy putty might also work.  I usually squeeze it with my free hand as I'm driving to the climbing gym, sometimes for a fairly long time, 10-20 minutes, alternating hands as I'm driving.  It may be more than is required, but it goes a long way to loosen up all the connective tissues in my fingers.  Other than putty, any medium or light resistance squeezable object would do (once on a road trip I used a plush dog's chew toy I bought at a grocery store).  They're just a lot of different moving parts in the fingers, and it takes me a good long while to get them all loosened up and moving properly, but I see big improvement when I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do 5 minutes of light cardio to get my blood flowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My $0.02&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-02-01T18:36:56.823" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T18:36:56.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-01T18:02:55.090" Score="10" ViewCount="490" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a very overweight man at 385 lbs (175 kg).  I've been this weight for over a decade.  I've started a new eating &amp;amp; exercise program in order to lose 185 lbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that worries me is I've seen many websites and YouTube videos showing loose, hanging skin.  Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening as I lose the weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:49:29.230" Title="How to prevent loose skin when losing lots of weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11558" CreationDate="2013-02-01T18:41:39.380" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The younger you are, the more likely your skin is to return to a more &quot;normal&quot; or &quot;tight&quot; state. However, depending on the length of time the skin has been stretched, the extent to which it has been stretched (think about really bad stretch marks) it might not return to that &quot;normal&quot; state even at a young age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the only solutions I know of is surgery. I hope someone else can answer this that might have heard of a less invasive solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T18:41:39.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11560" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-01T18:45:39.343" Score="4" ViewCount="1837" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to learn proper hip rotation during a walking gait and am stuck finding a specific example for the hip rotation cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When walking, your hips are supposed to rotate while taking a step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should the hip of the leg taking a step move&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;before the leg starts to make a step, sort of guiding the leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at the same moment the leg starts to make a step.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after the leg starts to make a step, letting the leg guide the hip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in a different manner than these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4510" LastEditorUserId="4510" LastEditDate="2013-02-01T23:50:00.390" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T23:50:00.390" Title="Should the hip rotate before, during or after taking a step during a walking gait" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11553" CreationDate="2013-02-01T20:52:34.443" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stroke that will burn the most fat in general is the stroke that allows you to get the most vigorous workout.  Look up some of these questions and answers to get a better understanding of how to implement your swimming program to meet your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regarding why to use different strokes: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7802/swimming-for-muscle-building-and-fat-burn&quot;&gt;Swimming for muscle building and fat burn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regarding swimming and calorie burn:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5094/swimming-for-fat-burn&quot;&gt;Swimming for Fat burn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regarding the idea of spot reduction:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1299/how-to-lose-fat-only-in-your-thigh/3933#3933&quot;&gt;How to lose fat only in your thigh?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regarding pool running (esp. useful if your swimming stroke is not yet efficient enough to get an intense enough workout: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6894/what-is-the-a-proper-way-to-pool-run/6909#6909&quot;&gt;What is the (a) proper way to pool run?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regarding HIIT (high intensity interval training): &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6029/max-heart-rate-for-hiit-with-weights/6032#6032&quot;&gt;Max Heart Rate for HIIT with weights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that to reduce fat you must also address your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T20:52:34.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11560" CreationDate="2013-02-01T22:28:32.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hinge at the Hip is a queue to use your actual hip flexors to lift the leg in the socket rather than tilting the pelvis.  Go stand in front of a mirror and pick up one leg.  See your pelvis shift and you drop on the other side to make room?  Now hold on to something with your hands, squeeze your low abs (but not your glutes) and lift the leg again, concentrating on being strong in the standing leg and keeping your pelvis stable.  That's working the hip-fold instead of cranking the rest of your body around to hide lousy hip mobility.  You &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be able to do that with arms held out to the sides, without your pelvis moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No comment on the actual effectiveness of the source material you're referencing, do not have any knowledge of that author's work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T22:28:32.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11506" CreationDate="2013-02-01T23:39:57.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tennis is a very demanding sport, and as such requires a multi-pronged approach to training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Dave suggested, it is always a good idea to build up a baseline of strength before you start getting into the sports-specific exercises that an intermediate or advanced athlete would focus on. The Starting Strength program would be ideal in this case, because of its focus on strength and power which translate very well into the needs of tennis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said, there are different rep ranges for training hypertrophy, strength, and endurance (as well as power, which you omitted). Following the Starting Strength program will help you build power by doing explosive lifts with heavy weights and low reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have established a baseline of strength through the program, you are ready to start fine-tuning your body for the demands of tennis. Areas to focus on include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscular strength and endurance training in tennis-specific areas. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/249181_Strength_Training_For_Tennis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sample&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flexibility training. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/249177_Dynamic_WarmUp/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sample&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running form and ability training. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/249178_Run_Form_Drills/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sample&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tennis-specific movement and conditioning training. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/249179_Movement_Training_and_TennisSpecific_Conditioning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sample&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardiovascular endurance training for those long bouts / matches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-02-01T23:39:57.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11506" CreationDate="2013-02-02T00:56:41.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common approach for strength and conditioning for sport is to establish a baseline of strength and cardiovascular endurance separate from the sport, then work on sport-specific strength, endurance, and conditioning. Strength work is maintained while working on other attributes and tapered before competitions. I like Kurz' Science of Sports Training for specifics on this topic, though it may be too much detail not focused on tennis for your specific situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to strength, you should consider the attribute of power, which is a separate quality that is derivative of strength. It is best developed by submaximal weights moved explosively. Cleans, snatches, jerks, and push presses are the most common techniques used. One should have a foundation of strength before focusing on power movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step is to take a novice resistance program such as Starting Strength. It may be necessary to modify its programming according to your sport schedule, but one to three strength workouts per week should be possible even around regular sport training. After you have a baseline level of strength--perhaps a bodyweight squat, greater than bodyweight deadlift, and the ability to do several pull-ups--it would be reasonable to look at tennis-specific strength and conditioning and power workouts. Some recommend even greater levels of strength, such as double bodyweight deadlifts and 1.5x bodyweight squats, before sport-specific movements should be incorporated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-02-02T00:56:41.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-02T11:16:48.507" Score="7" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fitness classes I have often seen that crunches were done in a specific pattern, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 normal crunches&lt;br&gt;&#xA;10 crunches in 2 steps (i.e. up hold 1 count, up hold 1 count, down, down)&#xA;10 mini pulsing crunches on the top&lt;br&gt;&#xA;hold it 10 seconds  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or when doing bicycle crunches for example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do 15 very slow bicycle crunches and then do 15 very very fast ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the reason for the described variations concerning body-sculpting effects and body performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T05:22:32.097" Title="Reason for some variations in doing crunches or other ab exercises" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11569" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-02T13:08:23.707" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lurked this site for a bit and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3291/how-to-lose-fat-and-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; question basically showed me that for people who are obese it is possible to be losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have experienced this myself; a couple of years ago, when I was obese, I decided to lose weight. I also frequented the gym and I found that I was losing weight and gaining muscle (mainly biceps). As I lost more weight I even started seeing a six pack and after about 7 months I achieved my goal; I lost weight and I had a body I found aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately for me though, a couple of weeks after achieving my goal I got into an accident which sidelined me for months and kept me from training intensively for a year or so. The weight piled on (which was my fault, I picked up on an unhealthy diet) and now I'm back to square one. I started going to the gym again recently and I wanted to start again, and I was wondering what the best diet would be for losing fat and gaining muscle quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I gain muscle very quickly and I lose fat very quickly too, however, I also gain fat quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to just go for a calorie deficit everyday, but I'm wondering what kind of diet would be optimal for this (in terms of meat, vegetables, fish, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4950" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-02-02T13:08:23.707" Title="Good diet for losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2013-02-08T18:35:44.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-03T04:34:32.900" Score="-1" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's a good diet for bodybuilding nothing too crazy just what to eat and what not to eat and how much of a portion to gain mass and not be skinny anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5024" LastActivityDate="2013-02-05T16:39:24.013" Title="Body building diet" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-02-18T19:16:19.043" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11570" CreationDate="2013-02-03T05:56:54.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For &quot;not to be skinny&quot; you just need to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate the calories you need to steadily increase your weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to eat atleast every 3hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't need a strict diet but don't cheat by getting your calories from something like candy and Coca cola.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasize foods with high protein content (lean meats, eggs, fish, cottage cheese, quark) or just add some whey/casein powder to your diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always got bad looks from people that were trying to lose weight when I said that trying to gain weight is not much more fun than losing weight. Both require discipline and a healthy diet. Gaining weight requires you to eat more frequently and when you are not feeling hungry which in the beginning will feel bad but you'll soon get hang of it if you just stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5100" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T21:19:48.810" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T21:19:48.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-04T00:29:15.247" Score="9" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's common knowledge that bodybuilders need rest after a workout to rebuild muscle. Everyone advises &lt;em&gt;localized&lt;/em&gt; rest. That is, you should give a particular muscle at least 48 hours of rest before working that muscle out again. A lesser touched upon subject is &lt;em&gt;holistic&lt;/em&gt; rest. This is resting of the entire body - not doing anything for an entire day. What are the endocrinological benefits of holistic rest over localized rest, if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T23:47:09.873" LastActivityDate="2013-09-30T19:57:01.107" Title="What are the endocrinological benefits of holistic rest in bodybuilding?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11653" CreationDate="2013-02-04T03:11:25.560" Score="1" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine has sent me a book by John Kiefer on Carb Backloading that seems to be an interesting premise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically - it looks like it's the foundation of ketosis but you’re allowed to eat carbs after you work out and not during the day. I can't find many sources on this and I'm wondering if it would be considered more &quot;bro-science&quot; or if this is accepted as scientifically sound in the greater fitness community (something I'm usnure of since I've not heard of it until now)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T05:43:33.340" Title="Carb Backloading" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-04T03:38:51.700" Score="2" ViewCount="1506" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a couple of muscle groups that I consider to be 'falling behind', or that I simply want to get bigger as quickly as possible regardless of sacrifices I have to make to training other areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best example of this for me is probably my shoulders, which are what I would consider to be out of proportion to my biceps and especially triceps now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to hit one or two muscle groups that you want to 'catch up' or simply want to have larger as quickly as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure whether the right way to do this is to try and get an extra few hours sleep on shoulders day, try force myself to eat more that day, reduce reps and try up my weights, do more reps, throw in an extra workout on that day, work the group an extra one or two times during the week and remove another muscle group, etc. For all I know it means only working on that group only once per week on its own day at a really high intensity (like 5 workouts, 4 sets to failure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:41:05.340" Title="How do you properly 'focus' on one or two muscle groups?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11580" CreationDate="2013-02-04T04:51:43.403" Score="10" ViewCount="1646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not fit. I'm in my early 30s. I struggle to do 10 push-ups, crunches/sit-ups hurt my back, and I can't jog more than 5 minutes without feeling exhausted. I'm not too fat, just crossing the 'overweight' line in regards to BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've picked up a few health magazines, and the proposed exercises are way out of my league - I can barely do a few push-ups, much less do them between other exercises. I find gyms a little too expensive and out of my daily route and will probably quit if I have to rely on one. I've searched on the Internet, but I can't really figure how reliable those sites and blogs are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I'm interested in just doing about 30 mins of exercises a day before my morning shower. I figure if I can comfortably maintain a routine of 30 mins of exercise a day, I'd be in shape to go higher. If possible it should be without equipment, though dumbbells or anything available at home should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not so interested in strength/muscle building, but in improving stamina, not getting diseases, improving posture, and just plain feeling good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5156" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T18:45:34.497" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T04:28:02.093" Title="Starting morning routine for unfit person" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11579" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11614" CreationDate="2013-02-04T06:46:15.537" Score="5" ViewCount="659" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cycled 200 km. My palms are feeling a bit numb and like a mild electric shock is passed through my palms.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please suggest any relaxation exercise for my palms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-02-06T21:42:42.520" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T16:28:26.263" Title="How to relax the palm muscles after cycling?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11578" CreationDate="2013-02-04T10:08:48.340" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever we start something, we &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; find it boring.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, I would suggest you for a change of mind, i.e., try different sports.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt; is good for you at this stage. You said you are unable to run continuously for more than 5 minutes. If I were you, I would rather follow the run/walk strategy. Run for 2 or 3 mins and walk for 1 min and continue this for some 3 to 4 km in the beginning . You will definitely be able to do better than now. Later when you feel good and start building stamina, you can increase the timing (4 min run and 1 min walk).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt; alone may wear you down. You can look for other alternatives:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you are a swimmer, &lt;strong&gt;swim&lt;/strong&gt; twice a week. Cover some good distance in it, say 1-2 km a week. Swimming uses many of the body muscles and it is a very good alternative.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you prefer &lt;strong&gt;cycling&lt;/strong&gt;, cycle twice a week. Cycle in your own pace for half an hour(twice a week). The distance doesn't matter, just try and stay in your comfort zone. Cycling gives you good pleasure. Or you can cycle to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good option is to join a &lt;strong&gt;yoga&lt;/strong&gt; session. Find a yoga center nearby and suit yourself. It helps you relax. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Marty Wallace suggests, &lt;strong&gt;boxing&lt;/strong&gt; is a very interesting sport and one of the best options to build stamina. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try any of these and find your interest, later build passion in it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: I too sit in front of the computer in my office, being a software professional. I train myself for triathlon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-10T05:26:04.567" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T05:26:04.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11576" CreationDate="2013-02-04T14:08:34.243" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me personally I would consider the route of drop setting. this is mainly due to your primary goal (from what I understand) to gain size in your shoulders to be in 'proportion'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consider a routine such as this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;day 1 shoulders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Over Low Pulley Lateral 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Flyes 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Lateral Raise 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Up Right Row 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Military Press 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Shrug 14 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2 exercise of your choice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3 shoulders: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Over Low Pulley Lateral 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Flyes 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Lateral Raise 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Up Right Row 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Military Press 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Shrug 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4 exercise of your choice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 5 shoulders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Over Low Pulley Lateral 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Flyes 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Lateral Raise 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Up Right Row 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Military Press 15 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Shrug 14 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 6 and 7: avoid exercising upper body as much as possible and eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises and schedule may seem intense but this is a sure way to gain some size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would work on a drop set principle in each set in order to try and maximize growth. I would also consider upping your diet to make sure your body can cope with the stress of the exercises. I would also consider drastically upping your protein somewhere into the 300g a day region. I would follow this for more than a few weeks as shoulder injuries can be a nightmare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't lift massively outside your comfort zone and make sure you do each rep with correct form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T14:08:34.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11591" CreationDate="2013-02-04T14:24:00.570" Score="1" ViewCount="11673" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;21 year old male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 foot 7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;94.4Kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;32.2% body fat (last time I was checked)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently on a lean bulk diet with 5 very intense days of strength/weight training and weekends I actively rest by doing cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As title suggests, I was wondering if I am losing body fat if I am starting to see the veins in my arms. I have never been vascular in the past and have only currently noticed my veins slightly. They become much more pronounced as I workout, mainly on days where I am going for high reps. What is causing this and am I losing body fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T22:30:14.840" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T02:45:06.813" Title="if I am starting to see the veins in my arms, am I losing body fat?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11585" CreationDate="2013-02-04T16:46:34.080" Score="4" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my favorite Training Program let me down or should I say I fail to raise myself to it's level :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last 2 months have been difficult on SS. First I wanted to lose weight and then travelling and erratic food habits + sickness and injuries didn't let me make any progress. I have hardly increased on any of the lifts. My Program includes SS + Barbell rows(120 pounds) currently apart from overhead press all my lifts are close to 220 pounds which is 10-15 pounds more than 2 months ago but I am plagued with injuries. I weigh 195 pounds. I have frequent back aches out of which one is a persistent one in the Rhomboids. Rotating on my back causes pain in the middle back. However bending and lifting weights isn't that much of a problem. It also seems that my recovery isn't as good may be because of the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of break I can take to heal the back while still retaining strength ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the best way to come back on the program ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T17:42:21.310" Title="Breaking down on Starting Strength" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11584" CreationDate="2013-02-04T17:42:21.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to know what went wrong, but here's a preliminary list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may not have good form. A mirror simply can't provide enough feedback. I recommend finding a coach or training partner to check your form in the squat, deadlift, and power  clean at least, and probably in the presses as well. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You got sick and traveled--which means time off from workouts or diminished recovery--without deloading. Though you may have been able to keep up with the increased weights, this meant you were lifting much closer to your maximum than normal. This puts greater stress on recovery and makes form errors more likely, which makes repetitive-strain injuries more likely and soreness much greater. I would deload all lifts by 15% (so, approximately 30 pounds for those lifts in the 220 range) and re-start your progression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You only read the book once. It has a lot of information on workout programming as well as the minutiae of the lifts that is almost impossible to absorb in one reading. I'd reread the book.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your modifications to the program raise eyebrows but sound OK. Squatting twice a week isn't optimal, and could disrupt your progress in that lift. Adding the barbell rows may have affected your ability to recover for the other lifts. I'm not clear whether your missed reps were very different from the prescribed deloading procedure. Adding weight once a week is almost certainly not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T17:42:21.310" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11589" CreationDate="2013-02-04T18:48:34.670" Score="2" ViewCount="2647" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let me describe myself:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been weightlifting since I graduated (2010). Before graduation I weighed close to 120lbs, now I weigh (on a good day) 163lbs (I'm 5' 11&quot;). I have plenty of definition but want to build mass. I have done a lot of research for different routines and everything that has to do with body building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body fat %: 8.8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Diet: I'm happy with my diet. It consists of high protein (chicken) and healthy carbs (whole wheat bread, fruits, oatmeal). Not Much fat though. (Usually several servings of peanut butter a day) On Saturdays, I eat anything I want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Ultimate Goal:&lt;/strong&gt; Body Building - I get compliments all of the time, but I'm still &quot;too skinny&quot; (for my own standards). I want to gain probably 10 more healthy pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Routine:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/teen-amateur-of-the-week-19-years-and-growing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;6 day routine&lt;/a&gt; and substitute the cardio and abs for high intensity kick-boxing classes. I usually switch up my workout routines every 3 months or so. So I am fairly satisfied with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press Max: 225lbs (~145% of my body weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift Max: 255&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat Max: 235 lbs (I know this needs to be increased, I've been focusing more on legs recently)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Main Question&lt;/strong&gt;: - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2296122&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GNC Mass XXX&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I'm taking GNC's Mass XXX. I only take a little over half a serving (about 30g of protein) because I know my body does not process the full 50g)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it worth it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there an alternate suggested supplement? (Really any weight gaining supplements)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I not be taking anything at all and do something different?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum myself up - I'm pretty experienced with weightlifting and dieting, and ultimately I'm satisfied with where I'm at. Why not get stronger and bigger though? With my low body fat percentage and intense workouts, what should I do to gain strength and weight? I have been at a plateau for almost 6 months with only seeing gains in my abdominal area and legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T19:49:49.617" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T09:05:54.060" Title="Is my mass gainer supplement ideal?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11586" CreationDate="2013-02-04T19:16:25.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing magical in GNC Mass Gainer, or in anybody's Mass Gainer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at the ingredients list: Maltodextrin, Mass XXX Protein Blend (Whey Protein Concentrate, Soy Protein Isolate), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Lecithin, Salt, Acesulfame Potassium, Sucralose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in order, it's a simple carbohydrate, protein, flavorings, and artificial sweeteners. The only reason that Mass Gainer supplements exist is that some people find it easier to consume calories in a liquid form, rather than as real food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight and find that a mass gaining shake helps you meet your nutritional goals, then go ahead and use it. But if you'd prefer to get your carbs and protein from other sources, that's fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, I'd advocate getting your carbs from whole grain sources, rather than maltodextrin, but at least in the short term there's probably no harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T19:16:25.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11570" CreationDate="2013-02-04T19:43:06.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your goals. Personally, my goals are to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet matches many bodybuilder's diets pretty well. I'm not too strict though, it is easily do-able.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6:30am - &quot;Zone Perfect&quot; protein bar and 1/3 cup of oatmeal (whole grain) (mixed with applesauce)&#xA;       -- This gives a good balance of protein and healthy carbs and sugars. Breakfast is a very important meal of the day! Don't pass it up. I would subsitiute &lt;em&gt;eggs&lt;/em&gt; in here if you have time to make them!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8am - Banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9am -  Peanut butter sandwich (whole wheat bread with about 1.5 servings of peanut butter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;11am - Turkey, Chicken, Ham, 3 leaves of Romaine lettuce (for a little bit of fat and taste - This sandwich is very high in protein)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Afternoon:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1pm - (same as 11am)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4pm - serving of peanut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5pm - 6-8 oz of chicken breast on whole wheat bread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout time!&lt;/strong&gt; - (This time varies depending on my routine for the day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Evening:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(At most 30 minutes after workout) - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2296122&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Post workout shake&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8pm - 6-8oz of chicken breast on a mixed greens salad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Before bed) Peanut butter on whole wheat - This step is very important because you rebuild a lot of your muscle while you sleep!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just maintain a high-protein diet similar to this and I believe you will be satisfied!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday:&lt;/strong&gt; (or the day you rest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I should also &lt;em&gt;greatly&lt;/em&gt; emphasize the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jenheath4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;importance of drinking plenty of water&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat what you want! Not necessarily healthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of personal gains using this diet. I have gained 40lbs in the past 2 years. (from 120-160) I'm 20 years old and 5' 11&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-02-05T16:39:24.013" LastActivityDate="2013-02-05T16:39:24.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11586" CreationDate="2013-02-04T19:49:10.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only you can decide if a supplement is worth the cost. Personally, I would prefer an extra steak and three extra helpings of buttery mashed potatoes to a mass gainer supplement. There's nothing magical about powders, though I do find them useful for getting a quick post-workout protein-and-carbohydrate package that doesn't fill me up. But whole milk provides that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your note about limiting fat intakes makes me wonder if you believe that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5692/1771&quot;&gt;fat makes you fat&lt;/a&gt;, which it &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4306/1771&quot;&gt;doesn't&lt;/a&gt;--at least any more than eating protein or carbohydrate makes one fat. I'd advocate a high-protein diet to prioritize lean muscle mass, particularly during cuts, but restricting fat isn't necessarily part of that. If getting bigger while maintaining a low bodyfat is important, I would look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Martin Berkhan's LeanGains&lt;/a&gt; or another form of intermittent fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 5'11'' and ~160-165 pounds, you've got plenty of space above you to get stronger and heavier. I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lifting heavy, eating big, and making sure you've got all your ducks in a row for recovering&lt;/a&gt;. Reviewing your diet from your other posts suggests to me that eating twice as much food in half as many meals would probably work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T19:55:07.173" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11592" CreationDate="2013-02-04T21:03:36.690" Score="6" ViewCount="19838" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a habit of using a steam room (moist heat) after I work out at the gym. I do this weekly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this helpful for recovery? Should I use the steam room immediately after my workouts, or should I wait?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T22:31:29.303" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T08:11:41.953" Title="Is it good to use a steam room after working out?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11583" CreationDate="2013-02-04T21:22:22.647" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the adaptations that occurs with exercise, is that the body will grow new blood vessels into the muscles for greater blood flow/oxygenation. The term for this is angiogenesis. It's a normal byproduct of aerobic and endurance exercise, and to a lesser extent anaerobic activity. Also, your existing blood vessels will expand some to accommodate the increased demand for blood flow. This will also account for some of the engorgement you see as you work out, as part of the vascular response is to shift more blood flow towards superficial (close to the skin) blood vessels to aid in cooling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get more and more lean, they will also appear more pronounced as you do not have as much fat obscuring them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5Vc4e.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cyclists legs, purportedly Lance Armstrong&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T21:22:22.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11590" CreationDate="2013-02-04T22:25:03.000" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with anything that hasn't been studied, you will find mixed reviews. Many people advocate the use of a sauna after exercise, claiming that it helps flush toxins from muscles, opens up skin pores for a more refreshing cleanse afterwards, and provides cardiovascular benefits. There are some restrictions, including alcohol use and certain types of acute cardiac conditions, but overall is safe for most people including children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for after exercise, there have not been a lot of studies that prove or disprove the claims. I tend to avoid them (as I do hot tubs) after exercise, as I am already heated up, with elevated heart rate and blood pressure from exercise, so I do not want to do an activity that might further elevate both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some claims that because of the blood pressure and heart rate changes that 30 minutes in a sauna is equivalent to running a 10k (6.2 miles), but I could not find evidence of that and I find it dubious at best on a personal level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This review &lt;a href=&quot;http://butler.cc.tut.fi/~trantala/popular/MinnaH-SaunaReview.pdf&quot;&gt;cited here&lt;/a&gt; gives an overview of some of the information and studies available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&amp;amp;cpsidt=22945231&quot;&gt;One study as opposed to review&lt;/a&gt; was done to measure glycogen replenishment rates with sauna exposure, and after 4 hours, the non sauna recovery had significantly higher replenishment (Although there was no real difference noted in shorter intervals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, the science is mixed, although exposure to heat does appear to impact glycogen replenishment rates. (Note - This was written for sauna exposure before clarification to the original question, not a steam room which is at a lower temperature. However, both are higher than the temperature used in the glycogen study, so I believe that it would still impact glycogen replenishment rates.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-02-04T22:36:31.110" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T22:36:31.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4681" CreationDate="2013-02-04T23:27:11.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a powerlifter I started intermittent fasting 10 weeks ago, I fast from lunch to lunch 2 times a week (from monday lunch to tuesday lunch, and thursday lunch to friday lunch) I don't eat anything, just water black coffee and that's pretty much it, I still lift on fasting days without a problem, I just lost fat and nothing else. While you 're on a fasted state your body will generate growth hormones to keep your muscle mass intact. Don't worry about losing muscle cuz you won't! Hope that helps, talk to you next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5160" LastActivityDate="2013-02-04T23:27:11.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11598" CreationDate="2013-02-05T07:43:59.483" Score="2" ViewCount="33267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read about subcutaneous and visceral fat and I understand it's the latter that is hard (and therefore cannot really be perceived by a person by touching and feeling around on the skin I assume).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my question stems from my perception that my belly fat has been very apparently &quot;hardening&quot; over the past few weeks. I don't know if it's the fat actually hardening or some other phenomenon, but I wanted to know if subcutaneous fat ACTUALLY hardens? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read in some places that perhaps the fat is &quot;settling&quot; and therefore hardening after LOONG periods of no exercise and therefore no circulation. Is there any scientific weight to that theory or is it just voodoo myth like most things on the internet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's a myth then what is the explanation for my belly hardening recently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5163" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T13:15:13.123" Title="Does fat actually &quot;harden&quot; or is there something else going on?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11601" CreationDate="2013-02-05T08:18:23.587" Score="5" ViewCount="512" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have more than 700 personnel in our human resources department that sit several hours per day. When we alert them for exercise twenty percent stand up for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We worry about this and are thinking about ways to solve this problem.&#xA;How can we motivate them to take part in the activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you help us and give your experiences to motivate yourself that if we generalize them, our personnel is notwithstanding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4953" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-02-15T18:51:56.600" LastActivityDate="2013-09-23T07:19:36.793" Title="Ways to motivate employers for exercise time?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;&lt;workplace&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11596" CreationDate="2013-02-05T09:12:48.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is estimated that about 36% of deaths from&#xA;CAD in men and 38% of deaths from CAD in women are due&#xA;to lack of physical activity. To produce the maximum benefit&#xA;the activity needs to be regular and aerobic. Aerobic activity&#xA;involves using the large muscle groups in the arms, legs and&#xA;back steadily and rhythmically so that breathing and heart&#xA;rate are significantly increased.&#xA;It is recommended that adults should participate in a&#xA;minimum of 30 minutes of at least moderate intensity activity&#xA;(such as brisk walking, cycling or climbing the stairs) on 5 or&#xA;more days of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-02-05T09:12:48.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11595" CreationDate="2013-02-05T09:58:50.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are confusing some things here. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipose_tissue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In humans, adipose tissue is located beneath the skin (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcutaneous_fat#Subcutaneous_fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subcutaneous fat&lt;/a&gt;), around internal organs (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visceral_fat#Abdominal_fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;visceral fat&lt;/a&gt;), in bone marrow (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_bone_marrow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yellow bone marrow&lt;/a&gt;) and in breast tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How your body stores fat is mostly defined by your genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never heard of any of the claims you are making in your question and they don't seem to be the explanation for your issue. It might be best to see a medical professional to talk about that specific problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-02-05T09:58:50.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11600" CreationDate="2013-02-05T14:24:33.120" Score="6" ViewCount="582" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the dangers of steroids (injection/shots) and how can I convince someone to stop using it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having a hard time at the moment, I try to convince my best friend. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3623" LastEditorUserId="3623" LastEditDate="2013-02-05T14:35:21.650" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T02:40:54.983" Title="How dangerous are steroids (injections)?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-06-26T14:11:35.690" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11599" CreationDate="2013-02-05T15:32:43.910" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some myths about Steroids like &lt;em&gt;Taking Any Kind of Steroid Will Result In Death&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Steroids are Easy to Get&lt;/em&gt;, but they are not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Good Side of Steroids?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Steroids do increase size and strength. In fact, they do so very significantly. In addition to gains in strength and muscle mass they also seem to provide you with more energy and aggressiveness, things that are conducive to good workouts (but not so in interpersonal relationships). Depending on the steroid used, you may also get cell voluminizing effects that promote a bigger pump. Aside from even just the legal risks of steroids, the &quot;good side&quot; comes at a high price. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[…]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Steroid Users Risk:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Increased Liver Function.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Depression of Natural Testosterone Production.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Increase in Cholesterol Levels and Blood Pressure (Not conductive to good cardiovascular health).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Altered Thyroid Function.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Headeches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Nose bleeds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cramps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Development of breastlike tissue in men (Gynecomastia).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Insulin Insensitivity (Even though Deca Durabolin improves the insulin metabolism).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Androgenic Side effects such as thinning hair, enlarged prostate, oily skin, water retention, increased body hair, aggressiveness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Stunted growth if you are a teenager.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Oral Steroid specific side effects: In addition to the above, the orals also tend to cause nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and vomiting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;May accelerate the growth of tumors. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/supplementationbasics/a/steroiddangers.htm&quot;&gt;(Source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-02-06T07:35:21.637" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T07:35:21.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11596" CreationDate="2013-02-06T01:14:30.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motivating yourself is easy enough, it's motivating other people that is tricky. As the saying goes, &quot;you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.&quot;  The horse may be too stubborn to drink even though it's thirsty, it may be too embarassed to drink in front of others, or it may already be full of water and not want any more! Regardless of the reason, you will need to accept that outside of a company mandate (which may cause resentment by the employees) it will be near impossible to achieve a participation rate even close to 100%. That being said, there are ways you can encourage employees to participate which can improve your overall participation rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give them rewards for attendance. Find a way to reward people for participating in the fitness events. A simple approach would be taking a tally of people attending and randomly awarding a prize every day/week/month. The more you attend, the better your chances. This could be a gift card, company swag, whatever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give them rewards for being healthy outside of work. For example, offer a weekly / monthly subsidy for people who walk to work, have a gym membership, do weight watchers, etc..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a &quot;grassroots&quot; approach. Make it a collaborative event and get managers and supervisors to actively encourage participation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diversify the type of activities. By changing or adding new activities you broaden the appeal and bring in new participants. Perhaps men are too embarassed to do yoga, but would love to participate in basketball/soccer/etc..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Educate employees. Many people have a hard time understanding the tangible benefits of fitness aside from &quot;it makes me less fat.&quot; Put up flyers or hold seminars about the dangers of inactivity or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/fitness/fitness-management/top-10-benefits-of-being.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;benefits of being active&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold competitions. Have competitions on who can lose the most amount of body-fat, or maybe gain the most strength / muscle. Perhaps do group-based as well as solo, so you can have employees getting together and working as support-groups for each other. Again, have some sort of reward like gift cards for winning. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important for a company to promote fitness and activity in its employees, as it makes the employees healthier, happier, more productive, more loyal to the company, and greatly reduces the companies potential future medical costs. Arguably, the amount of money a company will save from its promotion of healthy living will be exponentially more than the cost of having an overly inactive workforce, thus these programs can pay for themselves and some!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T01:14:30.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11607" CreationDate="2013-02-06T06:32:19.500" Score="7" ViewCount="4524" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love using a boxing bag. Before I got serious about hitting the gym and putting on size, I used my bag up to two times per day for 30-60 minutes each session. I was very strong even without lifting any weights at all, and had very defined arms, traps, back and core. With that said, I would not consider any of those muscles as being anything close to 'big' at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I began weight training to gain size, I read a lot about the impact of cardio when trying to put on size. Because of this, I stopped using my bag altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that since then (about 5-6 months ago) my stamina and overall fitness has degraded severely. My strength and size however have of course skyrocketed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to start using a bag again, but I am concerned about reducing my gains. I am not sure whether the boxing bag will restrict my gains to the same degree as say cycling or running, but I am much more interested in size gains than my fitness at this stage. I have compared running to boxing and to me it seems like if anything it may even assist with size gains, because of all the muscle groups used. I do still consider boxing as cardio though, which is why I've stopped doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will my gains be affected if I start using a boxing bag frequently? Will how I use the bag impact on the results? For example, can I hit much harder and less frequently to reduce the impact on my gains vs a more agile and fast-paced heavy bag workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T14:18:26.563" Title="Will frequent training on a boxing bag have the same inhibiting effects for mass gaining as lots of running?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11606" CreationDate="2013-02-06T09:08:18.767" Score="3" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight: 80kg / 176 pounds&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Height: ~192cm / 6 foot 4&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Age: 19&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to improve my bone/joint structure and am worried that due to an insufficient diet, it's an uphill jog. I am asking for advice on improving my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I became athletic at the age of 15, and haven't let myself go since. I have done martial-arts, swimming and rugby. For the past two years, I've been mostly working out on my own, doing resistance training, trying to improve antagonist muscle balance, some interval running and cardio. Overall, I prioritize ligament strength and joint stability/safety over muscle strength (if that makes sense) and body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On to my diet: mostly (80%+) carbs in the form of grains(a wide variety), occasionally pasta. Olive oil everywhere. Very little meat or fish: 3-5 meals a month; I somewhat ignore other protein sources other than grain. Little vegetables during the winter time, mostly: onions, hot peppers, garlic, more variety there during summer. Minimum 1l of water daily. Don't abuse alcohol or cigarettes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am strict and conservative with my choice of foods, I don't consume conservatives, and mostly stick to minimally processed products. Cooking is somewhat of a passion of mine. If I set my mind to a particular mode of nutrition, I can keep it. So I'd like to learn the following: what nutrition fosters joint health? Or maybe you have comments on my mode of nutrition in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5168" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T14:34:21.933" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T14:34:21.933" Title="Improve diet to improve bone/joint structure?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;bones&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2013-02-06T13:58:54.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for the joint health part - why exactly are you trying to improve it? If youre experiencing joint pain or other similar problems, self medication and simple self-perscribed diet fixes are not the way to go. You should simply go see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If youre just wanting to have a healthier diet, you may try to include some gelatin. It is said that gelatin &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; positively affect your joints - there were some studies that i cant find right now, but they were inconclusive. The gelatin eating group improved their joint health compared to the placebo control group, but the positive effects may have came from increased vitamin c intake for the gelatin group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the rest of your diet, since you say its mostly grains + olive oil, im not quite sure youre getting all the necessary aminoacids in your food (the ones that cant be produced by the human body), also i suspect that you might not eat enough protein in general. Could you estimate your daily protein intake in grams? Considering your height, weight and the fact that you say youre doing resistance training for quite some time now, I'd say you should weigh a little more. Are you &quot;skinny&quot;? If so, it might be because youre not eating enough protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T13:58:54.237" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2013-02-06T14:33:40.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on the way youre training with the bag - the intensity of that training. The same rule apply to running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically doing marathons and 100m sprints is running, but they are completely different - just compare a sprinters musculature to a marathon runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can treat your boxing sessions as a form of High Intensity Interval Training and try to incorporate it into your trainintg regimen. For more info on combining resistance training and HIIT, please check out some other questions here, like this one:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9555/combining-hiit-and-weight-training&quot;&gt;Combining HIIT and weight training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T14:59:35.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2013-02-06T15:11:41.740" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your bones are primarily responsible for storing calcium and phosphorous. Almost 100% of the stored calcium in your body is in your bones, and somewhere around 85% of the phosphorous is stored there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have deficiencies in your diet in these minerals, then the body releases hormones that cause the bones to give up their calcium for use elsewhere in the body. Over time, if the deficiency persists, then you start getting problems, such as rickets (soft bones caused by a deficiency in Vitamin D, calcium and/or phosphorous. As an aside, sailors away from fresh fruit used to get this quite often, so the British started using limes to combat this. Hence the term &quot;Limeys&quot; for British people).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fruits, vegetables and fortified milk are good sources to replenish this. And, as has been pointed out already, you are probably also deficient in protein intake to some extent, as you appear not to eat even a normal RDA, as opposed to an athletes need, but without a detailed diet list that would be hard to assess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T15:11:41.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2013-02-06T16:27:42.603" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your monitor is too high or not at the right angle. It should conform to these standards:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ggvDy.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(From &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/9660/1771&quot;&gt;this question about standing desk ergonomics&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5171" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T16:38:50.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11579" CreationDate="2013-02-06T21:42:25.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, there are very few muscles that actually run through the palms. Most of it is either tendons or ligaments, and the tendons are attached to muscles that are in the forearm, not the hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, what you are describing is a very commonly known (among cyclists, anyway) effect of pressure on the palms which compresses the nerves and blood vessels, resulting in numbness and tingling. The best two cures are to buy a good set of cycling gloves with pads, and shift your hand position often. It's the resting in one spot for a long time that does the most damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also check your tire compression, too high an air compression will result in more shock from the road being transmitted up through the handlebars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note: Mostly for male cyclists, but to some extent female cyclists, pressure on the perineum (area between the scrotum and the anus) for long periods of time can cause short term numbness/tingling, and if continued for long periods of time (months to years) can cause erectile problems as well. There are bike saddles designed to specifically ease this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-02-06T21:59:26.997" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T21:59:26.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-06T21:56:44.873" Score="10" ViewCount="1477" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is somewhat related to the losing weight/gaining muscle question found &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3291/how-to-lose-fat-and-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but I would like to find out if there are any studies or knowledge of weight loss impeding the physiological adaptations of endurance exercise training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain adaptations that occur with endurance training, such as the enhancement of Type IIa and IIb fibers, which includes fiber growth and hypertrophy. Blood vessels grow into the muscles to aid in oxygen transport, the body gets more efficient at using fat and increases the mitochondrial count in the muscles themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1478672/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; looks at the physiological and metabolic changes that occur, and would suggest that there was no weight loss in the group (Since the VO2 did not change, weight did not change as weight is central to the VO2 calculation), so it is possible to increase endurance in the short term without weight gain/loss. Also, it is possible to get more fit while losing weight in untrained people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, over the long term there are certain physical changes that occur. Specific to cycling, the upper legs and calves can get quite large. You see this most markedly in sprinters, but also in endurance cyclists, just not quite as pronounced. Common sense and the above referenced question would indicate that the muscle growth associated with endurance training might be hampered with weight loss, but would this also impact the changes that occur internally? (Fiber density increases, mitochondrial increases, blood vessel growth). And in the case of untrained people, is there a middle ground where no more fitness/endurance can be gained without gaining weight in the short term? Any information is welcome, but studies are preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T16:12:30.970" Title="Does losing weight impede endurance training (Specifically cycling but also in general)?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11579" CreationDate="2013-02-06T22:05:25.320" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really doubt that you have a palm muscle problem at all. The palm of the human hand has very little muscle (basically just a muscle for the thumb and for the little finger[1]), with no muscles in the middle of the palm. Most of the muscles for your fingers are actually in your forearm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More likely things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You compressed the medial nerve in the carpal tunnel. Can be compressed by wrist angle and/or the pressure of weight on your hands. This is relatively common for cyclists, especially if you lean hard on hands palm-down with any significant bend in your wrists.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You compressed the ulnar nerve on the side of your hand opposite the thumb. Either from angle of hand or direct compression. Sensations related to that would be more around the blade of the hand or the 2 smallest fingers. This is also fairly common for cyclists, especially if you're riding with palms inwards (hands on drops, hoods or ramps) with a significant bend to your wrist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This could be simply from extended direct pressure, vibration and shock on your palms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting the bike properly fit to you will help. Improving your core strength with exercises like planks will help. Moving your hands around during a ride will help, which is easier with some handlebars than others.  Bigger tires at lower pressure will help reduce the vibration and shock, you may want to consider 28mm instead of 23-25mm tires for longer rides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gloves with vibration-damping pads could help, but many gloves cause more pressure on your carpal tunnel or ulnar nerve, so avoid those. Look for a channel or gap in the pads on the palm, and be sure that when your hand is thumb-up the pads won't dig into the bottom side of your hand when in the drops or on the hoods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Periodically taking one hand off the handlebars entirely can really help a lot with hand issues, and lets you do some hand stretches. If you can't take one hand off the handlebars, you're leaning too heavily on the handlebars and either need to move handlebars up/in or improve your core strength. More hamstring flexibility makes it easier to engage the core muscles to hold yourself up, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're going over a rough surface, there's a tendency for people to pedal slower, lock up their arms and steer the bike with a death grip. It's better to pedal harder (which shifts weight off your hands and butt), keep a very light grip on the handlebars, and let the bike steer itself straight. Obviously, however, this is only a useful technique for short stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wrist_and_hand_deeper_palmar_dissection-en.svg&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wrist_and_hand_deeper_palmar_dissection-en.svg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T22:05:25.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2013-02-06T22:21:59.113" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience: yes, whey isolate can kick you off the ketosis. It happens with me this week; I feel fatique although I eat enough, and ketostix became negative. I drunk 60g of whey isolate three days in the morning (Monday, Tuesday, and today is Wednesday)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It boosts insulin (or something else; and it doesn't matter what); in fact, I don't feel as energized as I was during weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is third time when I am on ketogenic diet in my life (during past 15 years); first time I was drinking-eating raw egg whites (20-30 a day) and eating meat etc; second time meat; and now I was drinking protein shakes too in the morning, instead of breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read in few different sources: main idea behind ketogenic diet is not &quot;low carbo&quot;... indeed, it is &quot;do not eat unnatural food&quot;, do not eat grains, sugar, _protein_powder_,  anything whichever is unnatural to millions-years history of humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am on ketosis 18 days; I lost about 8-9 pounds, and about 1 - 1.5 inches. However, most weight loss (4-5 pounds) happened in first two days; and now everything stopped (although I do not eat any sugar! I even replaced my BCAA powder which had some maltodextrin) - now I know where the problem is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, insulin is spiked to process sugar, and not protein. And, body can generate glucose from protein. Someone posted &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120127031335AAxrX6T&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&#xA;&quot;Glucose is the bodies preferred fuel - the body can convert 100% of carbs, 58% of protein &amp;amp; 10% of dietary fat into glucose.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5174" LastEditorUserId="5174" LastEditDate="2013-02-06T22:46:07.613" LastActivityDate="2013-02-06T22:46:07.613" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4328" CreationDate="2013-02-07T08:21:31.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this website where the author has the exact same question, and then goes about a rather scientific method of finding out the answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's: www.treadmilldeskdiary.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading it, it sounds like ergonomics is a key problem to look out for, also possibly reduced productivity from walking too fast, but the author seems to think you can get used to that. Anyways, it seems really relevant to your question, hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5175" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T08:21:31.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11627" CreationDate="2013-02-07T09:14:45.137" Score="4" ViewCount="3136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started jogging a few years ago, it's mostly been a hobby till now, I'm running the silverstone half marathon at the beginning of march. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only ever spent around £30 on trainers for running, and they've never been amazing, but they've never completely debilitated me either. I've had a few problems here and there with blisters, and the outside of my foot aching, balls of my feet hurting as I've upped the distance in the last year or so. Which seems normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it going to be worth it to me to go and get measured properly and spend £90+ on running shoes? I'm not sure how useful the measurement service is, it sounds very much like a gimmick to take my money to give me &quot;tailored&quot; shoes. But then lots of people reccomend them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tl;Dr;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a running shoe measuring service, and therefore a more expensive shoe, a good investment to get more suitable shoes to go on my precious feet. Or is it a way to make people with more disposable income than they know what to do with buy some trainers that are a different colour depending on the smell of their feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for something a little more than &quot;I bought some, didn't like them&quot; or &quot;Yes because my feet smell lovely now&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: This isn't a paid for service, but by using it you're opening yourself up to buy much more expensive shoes based on their advice. I'm worried their advice is tosh :)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to a store last night (won't recommend individual store here as I've only ever been to one, unless that would help?) and they were brilliant, got me in a neutral pair of shoes on the treadmill to start, analysed my running, and showed my in slow motion what their conclusions were and why. (I was pronating, bending my feet inwards as I put weight on them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then brought me out 3 different pairs all with the correct support for me to try out for &quot;feel&quot;. They were really informative throughout and I now know what to look for in my next pair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought one of their recommended ones for £100. I was weary at first, but the offer a 30 day guarantee so even after 29 days of hard use, I can take them back and exchange them, get another analysis or just return them. Doesn't seem like I can loose. Now to try them out tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Later Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nearly a year on I'm &lt;strong&gt;still&lt;/strong&gt; wearing these same shoes and they're still brilliant. Admittedly I don't jog quite as often as I did when I bought them but still between 1 - 3 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Highly recommend getting an analysis for anyone reading this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3420" LastEditorUserId="3420" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T12:36:53.947" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T12:36:53.947" Title="Is it worth getting measured for running shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10353" CreationDate="2013-02-07T10:39:09.117" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hand Injury&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hands can easily be injured because the tendons must glide thru a sheath.  You describe &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“The binding of finger was not smooth, as if it was blocked. When the blockade was released, there was such click.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons info link gives a nice diagram and explanation of how the tendon gets stuck and then &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00024&quot;&gt;“triggers”&lt;/a&gt; as it gets unstuck.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you have already injured your hands the safest way to resume strength training for your grip is to see a hand therapist.  Hand therapy is a specialty of either physical or occupational therapy.  They can test your grip and pinch strength with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002BUJ3QE&quot;&gt;dynamometer&lt;/a&gt; and tell you how to proceed given your condition.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some additional information that you can consider, but ask your hand therapist to direct you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternatives to Grippers&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your previous injury, a gripper may not be the best way for you to strengthen your grip.  It may not be the right resistance or the right size for you causing strain to the tendons.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/images/B0044V2KCW&quot;&gt;Thera-putty&lt;/a&gt; of varying resistance levels could be better matched to your ability and to the shape of your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing the size of your grip can help increase your strength.  Using a fatter bar or adding a product like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B005FIS14Y&quot;&gt;fat grip&lt;/a&gt; to your bar, dumbbell, wrist roller or cable handles can help to improve your grip strength. (Link is from our site's amazon store).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forearm Muscle Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The forearm muscles should also be targeted in order to have a strong grip.  To strengthen the forearm muscles, curls and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristExtensors/BBReverseWristCurl.html&quot;&gt;reverse wrist curls&lt;/a&gt; with a bar, dumbells or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc1ZwMmUC8I&quot;&gt;roller&lt;/a&gt; are effective exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the reason you are working to increase your grip strength, &lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/B007MEWU14&quot;&gt;a gyro or spinning device&lt;/a&gt; can be effective to help you increase your grip strength and forearm muscle control. (Link is to our site's amazon store).  These spinners can be good for developing grip and arm control for sports like tennis or golf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farmer’s Walk improves your grip and also increases overall arm strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any exercise make sure that you warm up well and gradually increase your resistance levels over time.  Given your previous injury, go slow and pay attention to any signs of discomfort or lack of smooth motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T10:39:09.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11618" CreationDate="2013-02-07T14:15:43.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good shoes can make the difference between enjoying running, and dreading going out the door. Especially if you are going to be running a half marathon, then you are going to be putting in a lot of miles in preparation and then the race itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have never had a gait analysis done, I would highly suggest that you have it done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, while it is possible that their advice is rubbish, there is nothing that says you have to buy the shoes there. You can always tell them &quot;Thank you, but I will need to save for these&quot; or some other line, and then go to a different store and see what they say. Comparison shopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also yes, it will open you up to more expensive shoes, but I can tell you from long years of experience, it's worth it. Finding the right shoe is like running on a cloud. You would be amazed at the difference between a shoe for 30 quid and a shoe for 60 quid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One warning, the cushioning in higher end shoes may not last as long, so if you start noticing odd little aches when starting your run, you may need to replace your running shoes. Also, use your running shoes only for running. The more you wear them, the quicker they break down. Wear your low end stuff for everything else, and the running shoes for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T14:15:43.487" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11621" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-07T14:24:13.183" Score="4" ViewCount="2736" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/fitness-class/running-fat-loss/6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;R4FL training program&lt;/a&gt; for running. It trains me to run up to about 60 minutes, but the last two weeks are mostly intervals, sprints and Fartlek runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3fYRX.png&quot; alt=&quot;R4FL calendar&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady = 70% Max HR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8x3 min fast = Interval Training: Alternate between 3 min of high intensity with 2 min of light recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x10 intervals = Split Training. These are 10 min bouts of intense work. Should be near maximal effort for the recommended time. Recover with walking in between.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;150:30 Intervals = Sprints: Alternate between 30 sec of super high intensity with 150 sec of light recovery (15x)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45 min Fartlek: Fartlek Run. Use random period of intervals of high intensity. Combine periods of near maximum effort with recovery. Use your own ability to determine how long each period is&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I finish the program, what types of runs should I do to &lt;em&gt;maintain&lt;/em&gt; the same training level? Should I simply do 60 minutes runs, or also use intervals? If so, which and how often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastEditorUserId="3175" LastEditDate="2013-02-07T19:05:09.590" LastActivityDate="2013-02-08T01:39:53.763" Title="What to do after the R4FL training program?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-07T15:52:21.130" Score="3" ViewCount="823" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was younger I could play the guitar all day without back pain (muscular). I stoped playing and exercising for many years, this with associated weight gain. Now I wanted to play the same guitar again but back pain do not allow me to  it anymore (every 5 min I have to stop). I want to know if there is solution, and if exercise help. What is the best practice to strenght my back and be able to do what I used to do. There a detail, my sleep is not very good (few hours) and I can`t change this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5176" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T16:06:01.310" Title="Does weight loss and exercise make back pain go away?" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11622" CreationDate="2013-02-07T16:06:01.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being in shape helps prevent back pain. Being out of shape, overweight, and inactive all contribute to the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would lift weights at least two or three times a week, focusing on barbell squats and deadlifts, which are both tremendously helpful for strengthening the back. Yoga, going for a medium-long walk, or another form of stretching that you enjoy would be good to do on days you don't lift. It would be fine to add running, swimming, biking, rowing, or another form of cardio once or twice a week, to help lose weight. The primary problem is probably a weak back, however, which is best addressed with a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T16:06:01.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11613" CreationDate="2013-02-07T16:12:30.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, I wouldn't be surprised if you can't find a study that addresses this - most fitness-related studies are done by grad students, and the topic they pick needs to be easily addressable within the time they have. Further, I think it would be hard to design a control for this study; if you built one that forced people to maintain weight you would probably add a lot of confounding factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you probably already known, increased fitness = training stress + recovery. As long as you are meeting your body's recovery nutrition requirements well, then your fitness improvement should not be compromised if you happen to lose some weight along the way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a fine line, however, and if you are in calorie deficit and not getting your recovery nutrition right, or trying hard to lose weight, you will compromise your improvement. WRT muscle strength improvement, long exercise can easily lead to muscle catabolism, where you end up breaking down your muscles instead of building them up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pro cyclists training for stage races with significant climbing spend their time walking this line, but they are generally more concerned with power/weight ratio rather than pure power (though power is important in the TT stages, if you lose significant time in clmbing stages the TT stages don't matter). Low weight is less of a factor on single-day races, and I think it would be the same for triathletes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somewhere in one of Carmichael's books (&quot;food for fitness?&quot;), he states that it's very hard to lose weight and increase fitness at the same time, though whether he has any credibility any more is an open question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I wrote all that, but I think the best chance of getting an better answer to your question is to drop an email to Joe Friel - he regularly answers questions like this on his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.joefrielsblog.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T16:12:30.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4681" CreationDate="2013-02-07T19:39:37.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While @berin brought leangains into the topic already, he didn't address @gruszczy's concerns about any actual studies to this end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Martin Berkhan, of course, addresses this topic to some degree at leangains in point #4 and #6 of the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Top Ten Fasting Myths Debunked&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;4. Myth: Fasting tricks the body into &quot;starvation mode&quot;.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h3&gt;Truth&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Efficient adaptation to famine was important for survival during rough times in our evolution. Lowering metabolic rate during starvation allowed us to live longer, increasing the possibility that we might come across something to eat. Starvation literally means starvation. It doesn't mean skipping a meal not eating for 24 hours. Or not eating for three days even. The belief that meal skipping or short-term fasting causes &quot;starvation mode&quot; is so completely ridiculous and absurd that it makes me want to jump out the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Looking at the numerous studies I've read, the earliest evidence for lowered metabolic rate in response to fasting occurred after &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3661473&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;60 hours&lt;/a&gt; (-8% in resting metabolic rate). Other studies show metabolic rate is not impacted until 72-96 hours have passed (George Cahill has contributed a lot on this topic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Seemingly paradoxical, metabolic rate is actually increased in short-term fasting. For some concrete numbers, studies have shown an increase of 3.6% - 10% after 36-48 hours (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2405717&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mansell PI, et al&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837292&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zauner C, et al&lt;/a&gt;). This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline/noradrenaline) sharpens the mind and makes us want to move around. Desirable traits that encouraged us to seek for food, or for the hunter to kill his prey, increasing survival. At some point, after several days of no eating, this benefit would confer no benefit to survival and probably would have done more harm than good; instead, an adaptation that favored conservation of energy turned out to be advantageous. Thus metabolic rate is increased in short-term fasting (up to 60 hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Again, I have choosen extreme examples to show how absurd the myth of &quot;starvation mode&quot; is - especially when you consider that the exact opposite is true in the context of how the term is thrown around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h3&gt;Origin&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I guess some genius read that fasting or starvation causes metabolic rate to drop and took that to mean that meal skipping, or not eating for a day or two, would cause starvation mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;6. Myth: Fasting causes muscle loss.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h3&gt;Truth&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This myth hinges on people's belief it's important to have a steady stream of amino acids available to not lose muscle. As I explained earlier, protein is absorbed at a very slow rate. After a large high-protein meal, amino acids trickle into your blood stream for several hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No studies have looked at this in a context that is relevant to most of us. For example, by examining amino acid appearance in the blood and tissue utilization of amino acids after a large steak, veggies and followed up with some cottage cheese with berries for dessert. That's easily 100 grams of protein and a typical meal for those that follow the Leangains approach. We are left to draw our own conclusions based on what we know; that a modest amount of casein, consumed as a liquid on an empty stomach is still releasing amino acids after 7 hours. With this in mind it's no stretch to assume that 100 grams of protein as part of a mixed meal at the end of the day would still be releasing aminos for 16-24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Few studies has examined the effects of regular fasting on muscle retention and compared it to a control diet. None of them are relevant to how most people fast and some are marred by flaws in study design and methodology. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17413096&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Like this study&lt;/a&gt; which showed increased muscle gain and fat loss, with no weight training or change in calorie intake, just by changing meal frequency. While I would love to cite that study as proof for the benefits of intermittent fasting, body composition was measured by BIA, which is notoriously imprecise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only in prolonged fasting does protein catabolism become an issue. This happens when stored liver glycogen becomes depleted. In order to maintain blood glucose, conversion of amino acids into glucose must occur (DNG: de novo glucogenesis). This happens gradually and if amino acids are not available from food, protein must be taken from bodily stores such as muscle. Cahill looked at the contribution of amino acids to DNG after a 100 gram glucose load. He found that amino acids from muscle contributed 50% to glucose maintenance after 16 hours and almost 100% after 28 hours (when stored liver glycogen was fully depleted). Obviously, for someone who eats a high protein meal before fasting, this is a moot point as you will have plenty of aminos available from food during the fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h3&gt;Origin&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An example of severe exaggeration of physiological and scientific fact, not relevant to anyone who's not undergoing prolonged fasting or starvation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4983" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T19:39:37.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11618" CreationDate="2013-02-07T21:50:35.777" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I specialize in gait analysis, so obviously I'm heavily biased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are your options for footwear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No shoes, so barefoot running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimal shoes, like Vibrams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run-of-the-mill running shoe (sub 100$)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High end neutral shoe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High end correcting shoe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've decided the first two options aren't for you, you're going to have to pick a shoe. That leaves three major options: do you need some correction or not? Without doing a gait analysis the only way to answer this is by looking at your history: do you have a history of running-related injuries, do you use orthotics in your regular shoes or do you need orthopedic footwear? If any of those is yes, get yourself checked up before buying a pair of shoes, because you're at an elevated risk of getting injured. Given that there are no cheap correcting shoes, you're pretty much out of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what if you only just started running and don't have any prior injuries? Well, that doesn't mean you're not at risk. If you're planning to pick up running as a regular part of your workouts, than you have a stake in preventing that from happening. Because most overuse injuries take a long time to heal, they'll ruin any progress you've made so far, limit your options for alternative workouts and mean you'll have to pick up another workout until you're healed. So if not for your wallet, do it for your health. If buying the right shoes helps you not get injured than that trade-off alone should be a no-brainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So say you get yourself checked, does this mean you have to buy expensive shoes? Well shoes, regardless of quality, wear down over time and much faster than most people like to admit. People who start running tend to pick their old tennis shoes or some worn-out pair of sneakers they have lying around. Big no-no, because wrong shoes and worn-out shoes are a major cause of injuries. They can alter your roll-off pattern the wrong way, because some parts of the shoe are more worn out than others and cause an asymmetrical load. Good shoes tend to be made of more durable material. This means they will be able to support your feet for a longer period of time, which may not safe you money, but hopefully will prevent you from getting injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, you're making a trade-off between paying 100$ more or not being able to run for ~6 weeks. If you're favoring money over your own health, than you're not doing yourself a favor. Overall, running is a fairly inexpensive exercise, you don't need to pay for a gym or swimming pool. Apart from some functional clothing and shoes, you don't need much else. Investing in these things while not knowing whether you'll stick to it is always a gamble. However, they can also make the difference between having a pleasant experience and a dreadful one. For example, running in a cotton shirt will start to soak and stick to your body over time. Whereas with functional clothing, they will drain the sweat away and feel more pleasant (and warm!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As John mentioned, you don't have a guarantee that you'll get a quality analysis, so unless they are very reputable and friends recommended the place, I'd take his advice and first get some (preferably) free advice. If you do get a check up, make sure to ask questions, don't be afraid to ask 'dumb' questions, if he knows what he's doing, he should be able to tell you why. Remember, you don't &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; to buy shoes from that person, you can always take his advice and buy the shoes somewhere more affordable. Be sure to try on different pairs of shoes, not just those with a fancy color or those that are on sale, there are major differences between the lasts and builds between different shoe brands. If the shoe doesn't feel right, don't let them talk you into buying it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to not get a check up, be sure to buy a decent shoe. Some pointers on how to recognize one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When pressing against the buttress, from the rear of the shoe, it shouldn't bulge in, but give you the feeling that its tough and able to resist some stress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you hold the shoe between two hands and try to bend it, look at where it bends. If you see if bend right through the middle, best avoid the shoe (unless you're looking for Nike Free's). Your foot has its joints near the ball of the foot and that's where the shoe should bend too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you try to wring the shoe like a towel, it should resist that movement. If not, it probably has no support whatsoever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But seriously, do yourself a favor, get a proper gait analysis, most reputable places will over it as a free service &lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; you buy the shoes from them. Shoe at least you won't be paying twice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2013-02-07T21:50:35.777" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11621" CreationDate="2013-02-08T01:33:22.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok.  Well, given the nature of the routine, this question is kind of ambiguous.  &lt;em&gt;Maintenance&lt;/em&gt; in this case may be considered maintaining a certain weight (since the routine suggests it's a weight loss routine), or it could mean conditioning level (since this routine involves a significant amount of metabolic conditioning).  Or, maybe it's both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's examine the possibilities.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you've finished your routine and you have achieved a weight that you wish to maintain, you could simply cut out the conditioning altogether and reduce your caloric intake to match the needs of your physique.  You'll notice muscle atrophy since you aren't conditioning any longer, and you'll have to taper caloric intake accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, you could try to be formulaic about your conditioning to match the caloric consumption of the last few weeks of your R4FL routine.  In this case, you would need to try to keep your diet as constant as possible as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume it's both: you continue with your current diet, and for lack of ideas, you continue repeating the last few weeks of the routine.  Unless you're dumping tons of refined starches and sugars into your body at every meal, you'll probably continue to lose weight.  Those types of interval training sessions are &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; demanding.  (If I may interject my own experience, I've seen 1000+ calories burned in the span of 20 minutes of high intensity intervals.)  Furthermore, I think that it would be difficult for you to repeat your intervals at exactly the intensity you performed them at the previous time, just because you'll be in better shape.  You'll perform them better, faster, and with more calories.  Since intervals also introduce an anaerobic element to your training, you'll also be putting on muscle.  Muscle require more calories to &quot;own and operate&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to answer this question exactly. I suppose ultimately when you finish this routine, you'll want to decide what you want to do.  What type of exercise do you like doing?  Do you just want to not be fat?  Do you just want to run 60 minutes?  Do you like doing intervals?  Do you want to do both?  Do you want to do neither?  If you keep it up, the fat will stay off -- and likely continue coming off.  If you don't keep it up, you'll have to play a game of weights and balances to eat just the right amount.  In the long term (if your goal is strictly aesthetics), the type of routine you do will start to shape your physique in different directions.  Distance running will give more of  &quot;stringy&quot; physique, where intervals will give you a more &quot;lean&quot; or &quot;fit&quot; physique.  If you're bored of running, maybe try doing something like following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;crossfit.com&lt;/a&gt; main website's daily workout routines (there's pretty much something new and challenging every day -- check &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums/viewforum/16/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for a scaled version of the workout of the day).  I can refine my answer for you given some feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-02-08T01:39:53.763" LastActivityDate="2013-02-08T01:39:53.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6649" CreationDate="2013-02-09T15:54:28.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try&#xA;Eagles: take it easy - after adjustment = 176 spm&#xA;Miranda lambert - white liar. = 186 spm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use adobe audacity to adjust songs close to the 180 spm while keeping tone and pitch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its more difficult to use a beat every third step, 60bpm (getting 180spm).&#xA;More songs with 60bpm (r&amp;amp;b) but the 3-2- left, 3,2,right sequence i find difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5189" LastActivityDate="2013-02-09T15:54:28.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2013-02-09T23:26:38.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use coins (or marbles and two containers) and move them from one location to the other every lap or two, somewhat similar to how score is kept on Foosball tables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5143" LastActivityDate="2013-02-09T23:26:38.053" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11640" CreationDate="2013-02-10T06:11:00.940" Score="18" ViewCount="18126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've been reading a lot about how cardio reduces muscle mass and strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following is an excerpt from &lt;a href=&quot;http://community.crossfit.com/article/what-fitness&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;crossfit.com&lt;/a&gt; that seems to sum up what I've been reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aerobic training beneﬁts cardiovascular function and decreases body fat – all good. Aerobic conditioning allows us to engage in low power extended efforts efﬁciently (cardio/respiratory endurance and stamina). This is critical to many sports. Athletes engaged in sports or training where a preponderance of the training load is spent in aerobic efforts witness decreases in muscle mass, strength, speed, and power. It is not uncommon to ﬁnd marathoners with a vertical leap of only several inches! Furthermore, aerobic activity has a pronounced tendency to decrease anaerobic capacity. This does not bode well for most athletes or those interested in elite ﬁtness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen some dramatic pictures(if unflattering to endurance runners) that emphasize this:&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cvVvB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;marathoner vs sprinter&quot;&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here is my question. Why is there a decrease in muscle mass etc. with aerobic, but not with anaerobic activities? Is cross training enough to offset this? Or should everyone give up on long distance running and other endurance sports if they want muscles, more power, etc.? Is there any benefit to endurance sports other than better cardiovascular function when compared to strength training (if this in fact the case)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5191" LastEditorUserId="5191" LastEditDate="2013-02-10T07:04:28.310" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T11:08:38.320" Title="Why does cardio/aerobic exercise lead to muscle loss?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;aerobic&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11636" CreationDate="2013-02-10T06:26:54.607" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio training doesn't necessarily lead to muscle loss, but generally, training time is limited, and if you're preparing for a marathon, you don't have the time to spend in the gym, and your body will be busy adapting to the stresses of long distance running, which are different than the adaptations needed for sprinting 100m, dunking a basketball, or moving heavy things around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, marathon runners will be less strong, slower, less powerful, have smaller verticals, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't mean that their &quot;overall fitness&quot; is lower than that of a powerlifter or sprinter. They are just at different points in the athletic spectrum having optimized for different goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason crossfit says that &quot;this does not bode well for most athletes or those interested in elite ﬁtness&quot; is because most athletes are power athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some resources on this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/the_map&quot;&gt;Map of Athletic Performance&lt;/a&gt; - Maps sports onto circle depending on what metabolic pathways they train. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/strength_fitness&quot;&gt;Strength &amp;amp; Barbells: The Foundations of Fitness&lt;/a&gt; - Argues why strength training is a good foundation for fitness and acknowledges that strength training doesn't do a lot to help cardiovascular/respiratory endurance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-02-10T06:36:08.713" LastActivityDate="2013-02-10T06:36:08.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11636" CreationDate="2013-02-10T06:29:12.267" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any kind of training can produce increases in muscle mass. Aerobic training simply stops doing so very quickly, since it doesn't require much strength to perform. Aerobic training requires a small degree of strength repeated over a relatively long period of time. The body is more stressed by the requirements of repeating the exercise over a period of time than by the strength required for executing it, therefore recovery is focused on improving the body's ability to perform over a period of time rather than muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One gets good at things by demanding the body do them. Gaining strength and muscle mass means demanding the body perform at or near maximal strength and muscular exertion. Gaining greater cardiovascular ability means demanding the body perform low-level exertions repeatedly. The Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID) principle governs the body's development in the face of these stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-02-10T06:29:12.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11636" CreationDate="2013-02-10T08:07:02.983" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The situation is a bit tricky. Every exercise leads to muscle increase, but only in that amount that is needed to handle the situation. Sprinters need a lot of strength in legs, so their leg muscles are growing bigger. So with mountain runners. Marathon runners don't need a lot of strength, they need endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In theory&lt;/strong&gt;, you can have both, marathoner's endurance and culturists's body, if you combine endurance training and strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In practice&lt;/strong&gt;, you will meet the difficulties:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Endurance training requires &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; of nutrition. You burn extreme amounts of calories and need much more proteins. In &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; situations it can lead to muscle burning. This is seen, for example, in long mountain trekkings with tents, where you have the food amount limited by how much you can carry. People are loosing muscles, mostly in upper body parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The bigger the muscles, the more energy you burn. Having big muscles, you can run the marathon, but the best efforts have those who looks as those runner from people, because they burn less energy. This is the reason why you need to train muscles in order to force them to grow. This is energy and protein saving. Your body will not let you have bigger muscles as you really need. The economy was always the key to survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Marathons are extremally exhausting. If you train regularly, you can have problem to do strength training, because you will be too exhausted. Your body won't have much energy for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2013-02-10T08:07:02.983" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11636" CreationDate="2013-02-10T18:06:27.883" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used this illustration in a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11531/recommended-workout-duration-vs-working-out-with-a-partner/11534#11534&quot;&gt;previous answer&lt;/a&gt;, and it really does a good job of demonstrating the idea:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZWO9r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things we care about on the illustration (in relation to your question) are the &lt;strong&gt;sarcoplasm&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;myofibril&lt;/strong&gt;.  The myofibril is the part of the muscle that actually does the contraction, where the sarcoplasm is the part of the muscle that stores &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ATP&lt;/a&gt;.  The myofibril taps into ATP for energy when it is in an anaerobic state.  During an &lt;em&gt;aerobic&lt;/em&gt; state, the myofibril just uses &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_glycolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aerobic glycosis&lt;/a&gt; for energy.  In this case the blood is able to provide enough sugar and oxygen for regular cellular respiration. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/v/role-of-the-sarcoplasmic-reticulum-in-muscle-cells&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; lecture for more details on these processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training that involves using the muscle during an anaerobic state (weight lifting, sprinting, etc) can cause &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy#Myofibrillar_vs._Sarcoplasmic_hypertrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sarcoplasmic hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt;.  In other words, the muscle is trained to store more sarcoplasm so that it can provide more ATP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the contrary, training that involves using the muscle in an aerobic state (distance running, cycling, etc), doesn't induce (as much) &lt;em&gt;sarcoplasmic&lt;/em&gt; hypertrophy, and therefore the muscle does not swell in size (that's not to say &lt;em&gt;myofibril&lt;/em&gt; hypertrophy doesn't occur).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, aerobic exercise doesn't lead to muscle loss -- it just doesn't contribute strongly to (sarcoplasmic) muscle growth.  An endurance athlete COULD have larger muscles if they also trained in an anaerobic state. This would be detrimental to performance in endurance sports though, since it would be useless, additional weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-02-10T20:26:34.223" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12585" CreationDate="2013-02-11T01:23:34.367" Score="8" ViewCount="492" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a lot about size gains vs strength gains, where the difference is substantial and where size is certainly not linear to strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength appears to come from low reps with very heavy weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size moreso from high repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately I've been trying out 2 sets for size and 2 sets for strength. So for example for barbell curls I might do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-10 reps of 8kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-10 reps of 10kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4-6 reps of 16kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 reps of as heavy as I can (failing on the 4th).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this type of training effective, or should I just stick to one thing at a time (like weekly rotation between strength vs size)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to be breaking past a lot of plateaus in terms of the weight I was able to lift, but I am starting to think I may have slowed my size gains down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With a goal of mass gain specifically, would this approach put on more size through being able to lift heavier weights in the high rep range? I found it hard to add extra weight each session sticking to 3-4 sets of 8-10. Then again I'm not sure if the much slower progression of weight I am able to lift while sticking to 4 full sets of high repetitions will actually benefit me more over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="3113" LastEditDate="2013-02-12T23:09:13.303" LastActivityDate="2013-05-24T17:05:42.787" Title="Is it effective to do 2 sets for size and 2 sets for strength?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11687" CreationDate="2013-02-11T12:20:42.643" Score="28" ViewCount="135081" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for ~6 months and have worked my legs once per week throughout this time, on their own day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My legs, especially my quads, ache to the point of finding it hard to walk, particularly up or down stairs, for between 3-4 days after a leg workout. At first (the initial month or two) I thought to myself this is great because it meant I did good during my workout. Now 6 months on I am starting to think I'm doing something wrong, mainly because of the duration of soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current legs routine is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- 4x5  Squats (on the Smith Machine because can't get the balance right for a proper squat).&#xA;- 4x10 Incline leg press machine.&#xA;- 3x15 Calf extension on leg press machine.&#xA;- 3x10 Leg extension&#xA;       ^ Superset with 3x10 Leg curl machine.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty confident that I am getting adequate recovery time and resources; I get an average of 7 hours sleep per night and have been forcing myself to eat up to 5 times per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some factors that may provide information about why this would be happening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a web developer, I sit at a PC for the majority of the day and don't move my legs much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't make any time to stretch out my legs or anything, not sure if that will impact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't do any cardio (bike / treadmill), again not sure if that impacts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this common, and is there a way to reduce the duration or magnitude of soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="3113" LastEditDate="2015-10-21T00:11:35.317" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T18:23:04.567" Title="My legs still ache 3-4 days after legs day" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-12T00:23:49.503" Score="3" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mainly perform following exercises: running (1-3 miles), push-ups, pull-ups, squats, sit-ups, calves raises, planks, legs raising, and bridges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I vary them a little. For example, one day I do chin-ups instead of pull-ups, lateral planks, or lateral legs raisings, however, I never use weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I include anything else? (not considering things like stretching or walking, which I also do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Add-on&lt;/strong&gt;: I am the OP (who created an account now). Thank you, Doc, Renny and Dave for the feedback. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't use a barbell, but I could use a heavy backpack to increment my bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changing these points below, would my routine be complete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squats, enhanced with backpack (to cover for deadlifts).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vertical push-ups (to cover for barbell military press).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Horizontal pull-up (to cover for barbell bent over row).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plus, adding dips and back extensions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could also enhance any exercise with the backpack or vary them (like doing push-ups on the tips of the fingers). The idea is still the same, be complete and simple, so I'll do it systematically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5207" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T19:33:36.487" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T19:33:36.487" Title="Am I exercising all my muscles?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11648" CreationDate="2013-02-12T00:32:30.290" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're lacking exercises that involve significant engagement of the shoulder and posterior chain.  A good rule of thumb is to include all of the &quot;big five&quot; exercises (or some variation of them) as a foundation.  The big five are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bench&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have your bases covered here by doing push-ups.  You could add a weight vest or loaded backpack to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/WtPushup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;increase resistance&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As Dave suggested, you could also include dips.  If you don't have parallel bars, you can always do dips &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4mCllu5Qps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;on the corner of a kitchen counter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Row&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're doing pull-ups -- and they are an excellent exercise that you should definitely keep in your routine -- but by only including a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Scapula.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;downward rotation&lt;/a&gt; movement, you're missing out on engagement of the upper back (see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Scapula.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;adduction&lt;/a&gt; articulation) and core involvement to properly balance-out the push-up (analysis on that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11510/what-is-the-opposite-exercise-of-push-ups/11513#11513&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you aren't able to use free weights for these, you can include &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inverted rows&lt;/a&gt;. Use a loaded backpack for more resistance. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Press&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you mentioned, you'll be incorporating &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Scapula.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;upward rotation&lt;/a&gt; in your programming by including a bodyweight press such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWPikePress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pike press&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWHandstandPressBench.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;handstand press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Squat&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's a shame you can't do these with weight.  As Renny suggested, doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSingleLegSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pistol squats&lt;/a&gt; (single leg squats) would be an excellent alternative.  I also recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSissySquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sissy squats&lt;/a&gt;.  You can always increase the resistance of these with a weight vest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These are the most practical and fundamental of all exercises.  Picking something up off of the ground is an essential human movement.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3262/are-there-any-alternatives-to-deadlifts&quot;&gt;This question&lt;/a&gt; is pretty spot-on.  Berin is right in saying that there really just is no real alternative. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;I can't find the exact resource I was looking for (I believe it was a talk by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/about&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kelly Starrett&lt;/a&gt;) about analysis on the shear, torsion, and torque forces applied to the spine and hips, but I was able to find this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sfu.ca/~leyland/Kin201%20Files/Deadlift%20Mechanics.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mechanical analysis&lt;/a&gt; that covers them in some detail.  Essentially, the alternatives to the deadlift can't produce anywhere near the same amounts of forces on the spine as the deadlift.  What this means is that the entire waist (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/ErectorSpinae.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spinal erectors&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/RectusAbdominis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;abdominal erectors&lt;/a&gt;, etc) and many of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hip rotators and flexors&lt;/a&gt; only receive their maximum possible engagement with a floor pull. &#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Aside from that, there are many other benefits to doing deadlifts, such as maximal &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;isometric engagement&lt;/a&gt; of the gripping muscles, enormous forces applied to the upper back (presently you are lacking any real &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusUpper.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;trapezius&lt;/a&gt; engagement -- perhaps include some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/BWInvertedShrugPB.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inverted shrugs&lt;/a&gt;), maximal &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/GluteusMaximus.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;glute&lt;/a&gt; engagement, and so on.  It's really a shame to omit this exercise, but if you must, see Berin's &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3262/are-there-any-alternatives-to-deadlifts&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; or maybe check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alkavadlo.com/2012/09/04/bodyweight-deadlift-alternatives/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; resource.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OP asks if his or her routine is complete.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barring deadlifts and including a bodyweight shoulder press, I think you've got a pretty good collection of movements put together. There are a lot of calisthenic-only bodybuilders out there that have had a great deal of success.  Unfortunately without including some kind of pull from the floor, there's no way you could get a trunk like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLPxwuGUZBY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.  But, the more you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overload&lt;/a&gt; your bodyweight movements, the better your results will become over time.  Just keep making it more difficult and keep at it -- that routine will work out great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-02-15T18:42:03.720" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11641" CreationDate="2013-02-12T04:13:02.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think to make it easiest for yourself, you should just follow one of those popular programs like a Wendler 5 3 1 or Starting Strength for at least 6 months and see how you like the results.  Starting Strength is a good way to learn the big lifts that give the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to getting strong and big.  Both of these programs teach you how to progress and how to customize your workouts to get the desired outcome, like size in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, Wendler 5 31 has the main strength component that is based on your current strength levels and then assistance exercises that you can customize for your desired outcome.  &quot;Big But Boring&quot; prescribes doing 5 sets of 10 at 50%+ of the training max of your main lift of the day.  So for example, on squat day, you do your squats at the prescribed weights and then you do 5 set of 10 squats at a lower intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend both of these programs for the sake of learning how to do the main lifts and having a program you can just plug and play.  You can find them via google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5208" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T04:13:02.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11501" CreationDate="2013-02-12T04:26:08.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you have to decide which squat you're doing, low bar or high bar squat, because high bar squats allow a more upright back while the low bar makes you lean forward more like figure B, which as Kate mentioned, is the way Starting Strength teaches.  I personally low bar squat myself, where the bar, my shoulder blades, and my midfoot form a straight vertical line.  You should check out starting strength by Mark Rippetoe and learn how to squat.  As for ankle mobility, there are plenty of stretches, but I would also consider weightlifting shoes for a stable ground to push against and a built in heel that makes squatting low easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5208" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T04:26:08.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2013-02-12T05:12:50.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's far better to make slow, steady increases in all your lifts for months than it is to make fast, unsustainable increases for weeks; do the math and you'll see the point. There will be plenty of time later for more exercises and more elaborate programming, but as long as simple works, complex is neither necessary nor desirable.&quot; - Rippetoe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, if you really think you have more in the tank, save it for the next  workout after less rest.  Always good to break new PRs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5208" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T05:12:50.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11575" CreationDate="2013-02-12T05:43:33.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Robb Wolf, one of the most famous people in the paleo community, who is pretty legitimate as a science guy, had Kiefer on his podcast, which is free to listen to on the website.  I think that's a great endorsement for Kiefer.  Oh also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kiefer graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and a Bachelor’s in Physics in three years then became a Ph.D. candidate in physics at the University of Florida in only a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, it's all about trying it and see how it works for you.  Although one proviso is that it doesn't work as well if your body fat percentage is above 20%.  He recommends Carb Nite, something else he came up with years ago, as a better program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5208" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T05:43:33.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11654" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-12T07:46:08.013" Score="8" ViewCount="16406" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best iOS application for recording and tracking progress in Starting Strength? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need an app that tells me which lifts I am supposed to do on which day. It must also allow me to input my lift numbers and track progress. Exporting the data would be a bonus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I intend to use this app to replace sheets of paper and copying into a spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5209" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T19:24:03.513" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T19:24:03.513" Title="What is the best iOS App for tracking Starting Strength progress?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-07-24T02:26:46.467" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11654" CreationDate="2013-02-12T09:41:16.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jefit&lt;/a&gt; - I have been using this currently (the free version) and it has been fantastic for tracking all my stats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is handy for timing rest between sets and this product also allows you to see which day which lifts need to be done on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also really good for progression as it tells you the 1 rep max based on your current stats with information on how to beat that 1 rep max. There are also numerous routines that vary in type and range in difficulty from beginner right through to advanced, so, if in the future you wish to change things up it is all very straight forward. Included with the product is also an online site that links directly to your device, so you can browse your stats and other routines on the web as well as your mobile device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditDate="2013-02-13T09:55:30.103" LastActivityDate="2013-02-13T09:55:30.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11648" CreationDate="2013-02-12T11:27:33.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Doc, you could be working your vertical shoulder movements more. If you absolutely cannot include weight exercises in your training, you could try more advanced shoulder exercises like incline push-ups (starting with your feet on an elevated surface, like a bed, gradually increasing the incline all the way up to a handstand push-up against a wall (video: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGhdSLkf-8o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGhdSLkf-8o&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend single leg squats when you begin to feel like the squats are too easy (which in my experience, happens quite quickly), however the learning curve is sharp. I recommend you check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.beastskills.com&lt;/a&gt;, the guy that posts here has very good instructions on form and how to ease your way into more advanced exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4761" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T11:27:33.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11654" CreationDate="2013-02-12T13:49:23.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not 100% sure what starting strength is, but I think it's similar to Stronglifts, and this is the App I use -&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-tracker-iphone-download/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;App Here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if it isn't the same exercises as Starting Strength, but when you are done that program you should have a look at Stronglifts, as I think this may be the continuation program to SS, followed by Madcow's 5x5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastActivityDate="2013-02-12T13:49:23.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-12T15:45:27.407" Score="19" ViewCount="4569" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of my friends are into history reenactment and historical fencing. Doing this is quite demanding in terms of fitness, so I wanted to help them develop a training plan to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the goals of such a training plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It has to strengthen stabilizing muscles of all the important joints. People doing this are fighting having really heavy armour. The helm itself can weigh up to 2kg, the mail can weigh up to 12kg. Add the gambeson and plates and you end up with around 20-30kg. To avoid injuries, strengthening the stabilizing muscles is a must. Some swordsmen say that a big focus should be put on scapla and lumbar stability.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anaerobic capacity. Some fights can last longer, especially 5v5 or 21v21, but typical tournament 1v1 fights have rounds lasting 1 minute of really intensive activity. A single handed sword might weigh around 1,2kg, two handed ones even more. The swordsmen must have superb control over their blades at all times - this is also a matter of safety. No not-intended thrusts!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strength. The outcome of a fight is often decided by a knock out. Even tho the swords are blunt and the fighters wear a lot of padding and armour, strong blows make people fall to the ground. Even if the fight wont be won by knockout, strong blows are like to break the parry or wear down the enemy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Time. A training plan must incorporate time for working on technique, without ruining the resting periods. That would probably mean that the technical training should happen on training days. Technical training often includes fencing drills (not necessairly in full armour) and sparrings, both can be quite demanding in their own right.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Preferably, minimal use of fitness gear/equipment. Since the technical training should happen on the same days as the fitness one, it would be preferable that the strength training etc could do without a fully equipped gym. Its not crucial, as every swordsman could do the training alone, and group trainings would only cover the technical part.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if a typical StartingStrength/5x5 training or similar, followed by HIIT sessions with a sword and a tire hung on a tree (resembling boxingbag workouts)&#xA;would be the way to go. If that were the case, should the technical training take place before or after the fitness one? Are there any training plans that would better fufill the goals i mentioned earlier? Are there any bodyweight training programs that would do as good, but without the need of a gym/barbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since every swordsman fights both in &quot;bohurts&quot; (many vs many) and 1v1 tournaments, a training plan accounting for both would be welcome. I know that you cant eat a cookie and have a cookie, so if Id have to point out the more important thing, it would be 1v1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here are a few videos to give you an idea of what they are doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA83cJ-qu-s&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA83cJ-qu-s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-M84TFS3jk&amp;amp;feature=player_detailpage#t=103s&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-M84TFS3jk&amp;amp;feature=player_detailpage#t=103s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nquTQySF4I&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nquTQySF4I&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=m_03On25H24#t=1605s&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=m_03On25H24#t=1605s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the last one is a Polish documentary about the Grunwald reenactment held each year in Poland. Ive set the timer to some fighting scenes that ended with a knockout - for those who have shown interest in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt; Ive been talking with some friends and researching materials provided by the ARMA organisation. It may be very helpful in developing a training plan, and Im discovering new concepts. Cant jump to conclusions, but im starting to think that Starting Strength and similar programs may not be the best way to go...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, one of the swordsmen pointed out that &lt;em&gt;speed&lt;/em&gt; can be a crucial factor and definitely should be considered. he pointed out that most probably the program should be similar in some ways to existing conditioning programs designed for martial arts, only accomodating for the usage of heavy armour and weapons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-02-14T00:40:17.767" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T06:37:21.147" Title="Making a training plan for medieval swordsmen / reenactment" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;sports&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-12T19:06:00.707" Score="2" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do this a lot when I'm watching TV. I lie on my back sometimes with my hands behind my head or to my side. I put both of my feet straight up together in the air (perpendicular to my body, I look like an L). Then I separate both legs to go to either side of my body as far as I can sometimes and I will slowly bring them back up to meet together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing this for while, and I want to know the term for it to make sure others are doing it and that I'm doing it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5214" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-02-13T04:19:04.497" LastActivityDate="2013-02-13T04:19:04.497" Title="What is the exercise called that works your and inner thighs while on your back?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11660" CreationDate="2013-02-12T21:38:14.313" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The movement you're describing is &lt;em&gt;hip adduction&lt;/em&gt;. You're exercising the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Adductors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hip adductors&lt;/a&gt;, which are thigh muscles that pull your legs together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find an image of a bodyweight version of the exercise you're describing, but here is an image of the weighted exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Iw6bp.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find out more about that exercise &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipAdductors/CBLyingHipAdduction.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  There are some other examples in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ThighWt.html#anchor1943047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; section of the thigh exercise page on exrx.  A google search for &quot;hip adduction&quot; or &quot;hip adduction exercises&quot; should give you a lot more direction on the movement if you would like to find out more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-02-13T03:12:44.470" LastActivityDate="2013-02-13T03:12:44.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11663" CreationDate="2013-02-12T23:01:39.847" Score="2" ViewCount="641" Body="&lt;p&gt;27 year old male - 5ft 11in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 Months ago i had a BMI of 40+ (21.5 stone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sticking to a 1000-1500 daily calorie intake (Counting &amp;amp; weighing everything) i have dropped to a BMI of 33.6 (17.4 stone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw my GP before doing all this and he said that my BMI was that high i really didn't need to worry about burning muscle / under-eating (Within reason of course) as the shear excess of fat would just burn of first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the BMI is down to 33.6 from 40+ i just want to update my understanding of safe / recommended deficits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a recognized calorie deficit vs BMI ratio that i can use to determine a target calorie deficit as my BMI carries on going down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A graph with BMI on the X axis and recommended calorie deficit on Y axis would be perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5216" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-02-14T13:37:52.733" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T13:37:52.733" Title="Calorie Deficit to BMI ratio - how fast can I lose weight without losing muscle" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11662" CreationDate="2013-02-13T00:26:11.817" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI isn't something you use to calculate your personal fitness, it is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/10002/3941&quot;&gt;statistical measurement&lt;/a&gt; and highly inaccurate for personal use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of diets that 'speed diet' your weight down and don't care about muscle loss, what counts is the result on your scale to make them look efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Safe rates of weight loss are mostly determined by your fat storage, the more fat you have the more Calories you can safely burn from them. A guideline is provided in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519304004175&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; and according to that study the maximum energy transfer rate from your body fat is about (290±25) kJ/kg d, that means: ~79kcal per kg (of fat) per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-02-13T00:59:51.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2013-02-13T12:22:30.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first and best way to check if youre doing something wrong is to check your progress. If you find yourself on a plateau, then probably someting is wrong. What are your weekly/monthly weight increments? Have you failed to meet them? If not, youre probably doing fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the soreness, a bit of stretching after the workout wouldnt hurt. Also some mild activity in the regeneration phase. Try walking to work instead of using the car, or simply have a walk when the soreness kicks in. It will improve the bloodflow and help the muscle regenarate. Dont push it too hard tho - remember that you are resting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure youre eating enough protein. Bad diet could also be a cause of slower/no progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to try changing your traning program to whole body workouts 3 times a week. You probably will see quicker results by doing so, and the legs would get their workout more often - they could accomodate to the stress, and your DOMS shouldnt be so bad. As far as I know, the one-bodypart-a-day training programs are quite specific and targeted at advanced bodybuilders. It seems to me you are just trying to get/keep fit, and for that purpose, a whole body training program might do a better job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I think you should focus on free weights wherever possible. I see you are doing a lot of machine exercises. Machines look all fancy and cool, and make it very hard to hurt yourself while using them, but make it very easy to hurt yourself when doing some actual real life lifting. The machines are designed to force a particular movement. Your big muscles are doing the work and they get stronger, but the little stabilizing muscles have nothing to do, since the machine keeps the weight steady and makes it move the correct way. The stabilizing muscles are weak, and when you try to lift something heavy, they cannot hold everything in place as they are sopposed to and bam!, you end up with an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to get a specialist to teach you proper form and try doing freeweight exercises. They are better for you :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-02-13T12:22:30.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11667" CreationDate="2013-02-13T18:50:47.140" Score="6" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;My doctor has instructed me to stop doing all leg exercises, and as such I know have to revise my workout routine. I am considering building a custom A/B split upper-body routine and doing my rehabilitation + abs on the rest days. Here is what I came up with off the top of my head:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A/B Split Routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;_____________ A ____________|____________ B ______________&#xA;| Overhead Press 5x5        |   Overhead Press 5x5       |&#xA;| Bench Press 5x5           |   Bench Press 5x5          |&#xA;| Bentover Barbell Row 5x5  |   Bentover Barbell Row 5x5 |&#xA;| Pull Ups 3x15             |   Chin Ups 3x15            |&#xA;| Wide Push Ups 3x30        |   Inverted Row 3x8         |&#xA;----------------------------------------------------------&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rehab:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gastroc - 5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Piriformis - 5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hip abductor - 5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glutes - 10 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks - 5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side Planks - 5 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Crunch - 3x20 (200lb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A one week sample would be:   &lt;code&gt;A / Rehab / B / Rehab / A / Rehab / rest&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two concerns with this program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is not enough rest. Even though the rehab portion is just stretching and can be done anytime, the abs portion has me slightly worried I might over-stress my body when it should be resting. Is this a valid concern?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough exercise diversity. I am concerned that my exercises might not be as balanced as they could be. What upper-body exercises should I add or take away from the program to make it more balanced? &lt;em&gt;(leg exercises are off the table)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-02-19T15:29:48.703" Title="Building a custom upper body routine" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11666" CreationDate="2013-02-13T20:44:05.557" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Wow, that's a lot of volume&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing 5x5 overhead press and 5x5 bench press is a lot for one day. Doing that, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; 5x5 rows, &lt;em&gt;AND&lt;/em&gt; three sets of 15 pull-ups is doggone impressive. Even if your pressing weights are puny, that's quite a lot of work. If you can do it, awesome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My inclination is to lower the volume and make your A and B days more distinct. I'd use a primary movement in each, an assistance movement for the non-primary movement, and a handful of prehab exercises to keep the shoulders happy. Perhaps something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;_____________ A ____________|____________ B ______________&#xA;| Overhead Press 3x5        |   Bench Press 3x5          |&#xA;| Pull Ups/Chin-Ups: 3 sets |   Bentover barbell row 3x5 |&#xA;| Push-ups: 3 sets          |   Handstand work           |&#xA;| Dips: 3 sets              |   Inverted Row: 3 sets     |&#xA;| Prehab Grab Bag: Cuban presses, band pull-aparts       |&#xA;----------------------------------------------------------&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to write this would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;_____________ A _____________|____________ B _______________&#xA;| Barbell overhead push      | Barbell horizontal push     |&#xA;| Bodyweight vertical pull   | Barbell horizontal pull     |&#xA;| Bodyweight horizontal push | Bodyweight overhead push    |&#xA;| Bodyweight downward push   | Bodyweight horizontal pull  |&#xA;| Light multi-directional work                             |&#xA;------------------------------------------------------------&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handstand work depends on your shoulder mobility and strength. It could range from inclined (pike) push-ups to handstand holds to full handstand push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I altered the order of the workout because I like alternating between movements. Doing overhead press then push-ups burns me out, but overhead press then chin-ups then push-ups is much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it isn't contraindicated by your leg issues, you might do three sets of strict presses, then two sets of push presses for explosive power work that overloads your press. If the push-ups don't challenge you, do clapping or wide or one-handed variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't be worried about rest days being messed up by a stretching session. I find that my recovery is aided, not hampered, by a ten-minute warm-up and stretching routine in the morning or on rest days. Going for walks helps too. If you are concerned about ab work interfering with recovery during rest days, then reducing the volume as I've outlined should make it possible to put ab work on workout days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My similar routine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm in a similar situation, being barred from squats and deadlifts for a time. But I'm also barred from barbell pressing as well. Here's what I'm doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;_____________ A _____________&#xA;| Pull-ups: 3 sets&#xA;| Dips: 3 sets &#xA;| Band pull-aparts: 1 set of 10 for each kind&#xA;| Inverted rows: 3 sets &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I progress by doing three sets of a number of reps that is moderately challenging. Once it becomes easy, I add one. I do not go to failure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning I did five sets because my dips and pull-ups were too weak to get enough volume into each set. Now I find it counterproductive to do a ton of upper-body volume all on one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-19T15:29:48.703" LastActivityDate="2013-02-19T15:29:48.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-14T02:03:10.107" Score="2" ViewCount="1146" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Weightlifting Performance Standards&lt;/a&gt; by Dr Kilgore are quite motivating, giving targets to aim for and a sense of accomplishment when a level is reached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I appreciate that these charts are based on classification systems used in competition, but are there respected figures for other popular type exercises, for example, bicep curls and lat pulldowns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even a basic list for a single bodyweight would be helpful (e.g. lat pulldowns: untrained 75kg, novice 90kg, intermediate.... for 100kg man) I respect the estimations of experienced lifters on this board just as much as many web pages, so a published chart is not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T13:54:08.803" Title="Performance standards for curls and other small muscle exercises" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-14T05:34:59.917" Score="3" ViewCount="3877" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tim Ferris writes in his books &quot;The four hour body&quot; and &quot;The four hour chef&quot; about using this 30/30 rule to burn fat. All I have found about the &quot;Why?&quot; is that after fasting for seven to eight hours the body starts burning muscles. The high protein input will direct the body to burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anybody done a study about this? What are the underlying metabolism mechanics? Would it also work during the day after not eating for a long time or has it something to do with REM/Non-REM sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5226" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T21:29:38.560" Title="Why does consuming 30 g of protein within 30 minutes after waking helps to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11669" CreationDate="2013-02-14T13:54:08.803" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The lifts referred to in the standards are the core performance lifts. Enhancing these will help an athlete perform better. We have these standards so we know what their weaknesses are and what we need to work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The lifts that you are referring to work the synergists of the standard lifts. For example, you could say a bicep curl will help with grip strength for the Olympic lifts like cleans &amp;amp; snatches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) The smaller lifts are harder to standardize because it's easier to &quot;cheat&quot; the lift by swinging hips or using momentum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are a bodybuilder working on increasing the girth of particular muscle groups, doing max or high percentage sub-max weights on smaller muscle groups isn't really advised. Focus on training the movement, not the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5228" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T13:54:08.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-14T14:36:12.097" Score="4" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running my first marathon on Sunday.  I read on the internet that you should eat 4 grams of carbs per pound the day before the race.  At 185 pounds, I would have to eat 740 grams of carbs!  Does that sound right?  What would I even eat to get that much?  4 bagels (which is a lot of bagels imo) is only about 250 grams of carbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4730" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T23:00:32.787" Title="How much carbs the day before a marathon?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11672" CreationDate="2013-02-14T15:19:16.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first marathon was 4 months ago. I did not worry about what I read on the Internet, but rather made sure that I felt good. Above all, I tried not to mess with my eating routine. I was much more afraid of upsetting my stomach than of running low on carbs. I even had a glass of wine the evening before because, well, I liked to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, I did eat lots of carbs the evening before (300 g Pasta/170 lbs body weight), but more importantly, I went to the restroom well before the start of the marathon. Also, I started refreshing early during the run, but stuck to bananas and water. Energy gels can be tough on your stomach if you're not used to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, I found it easy to deal with energy consumption and dehydration. Even motivation was OK (though it does get boring after 4 hours). My problem was my left knee, and it was hard to stop after 30 km, even when I was feeling pain. But then, others had problems with chafing nipples. There are so many ways a marathon can go wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about the carbs (unless you really have issues with blood sugar)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5230" LastEditorUserId="5230" LastEditDate="2013-02-14T15:51:58.933" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T15:51:58.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11670" CreationDate="2013-02-14T17:25:56.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've checked the book I recommended in the comment. It is written by a PhD Robert K. Cooper and is entitled &quot;Flip the switch&quot;.&#xA;A simplification of what you could read there is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have limited storage space for excess protein, and the amino acids from them remain in the bloodstream for only about 4 hours. thats a good reason to include proteins in every meal and to keep the amounts reasonable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author claims that the body may slow the metabolism when low on proteins, while an optimal amount of them can boost oxygen consumtion by 200-300%, indicating a higher metabolic rate. He points out that protein rich meals produce a greater and longer lasting sense of fulness than high-fat meals, as proteins break down slower than fat and carbs. He discusses the quality and sources of protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the timing of the meal. Obviously, you will be low on pretty much everything after 7h of sleep, so you shouldn't wait very long with your first meal of the day. In the books terminology, bright light exposure, calm but energetic action, small, high protein meal and some physical activity within 30min after the meal are all &quot;switches&quot; that help boost your metabolism. Citing thereasoning behind it would be actually too much work, but you can read the book itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you check the bibliography for the chapter you'll see, among others, these papers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Studies by Callaway, W. Cited in Rodin, J. Body Traps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;International Journal of Obesity 28(2004)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leveille, T. &quot;Adipose Tissue Metabolism: Influence of Eating and Diet Composition&quot; Federation Proceedings 29(1970)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He quotes some studies etc. Anyhow, even tho I'm not sure all the contents of the book are 100% truth, and there may be some mistakes, it's still a worthy read, especially if you dont want to dig in to all the science behind it. If youre insisting on knowing the reason &quot;why&quot;, I'm afraid you have to mail the author of the book you read or start educating yourself on nutrition, cause even the specialists don't seem to agree on the details ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="20063" LastEditDate="2017-01-02T21:29:38.560" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T21:29:38.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11672" CreationDate="2013-02-14T23:00:32.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stick with whatever routines you have used to for your LSR/long-distance training! You know it works. &quot;If it ain't broke...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a very, very common mistake to overdo all the preparations for the first marathon... usually with less-than-optimal results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did that as well for my first marathon: Eating a lot more pasta than usual (almost the double than normal ration for a 28-30 km LSR), almost no meat or protein the last day (I usually just eat whatever is for dinner), getting up very early to eat the breakfast 4 hours before the race (I usually eat a light meal 2 hours before the start of LSR), etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The end result was that I felt stressed and very nervous before the start of the race: normally I would know pretty well how my body will react to the long distance - but not here as I effectively was in untried waters. And the result was as expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just stick to your usual routines for a LSR! There are no need for alcohol, big steaks, fat ice-cream or late movies, but other than that it is business as usual. This way it is so much easier to enjoy the race :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And good luck..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T23:00:32.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11659" CreationDate="2013-02-14T23:41:36.213" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to &quot;what should a beginner do to physically prepare for X activity&quot; doesn't change very much whether you're training for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8232/1771&quot;&gt;chainsaw-wielding&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11567/1771&quot;&gt;tennis&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/a/1756/347&quot;&gt;martial arts&lt;/a&gt;: first get strong while doing your chosen activity, then add power and slightly sport-specific tasks, and add conditioning if your sport doesn't do enough to tire you out. If you're already strong or very much in-shape for your chosen sport then the recommendations differ, but most people do well with fairly general training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;First, get strong&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who haven't yet done strength training should generally avoid overly task-specific exercises. Instead, they should get strong generally. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2012/09/lifting-for-sport-great-quote-from-mark-rippetoe/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe puts it&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength is the most general adaptation. It is acquired most effectively through exercises that produce the most force against external resistance, and as such is always best trained with five or six basic exercises. The same exercises that are correct for weak football players and lifters are correct for weak volleyball and baseball players, because the best way to get strong will always be the same. Strength is NOT specific, and cannot effectively be acquired through exercises that mimic sports-specific movements, because these movements lack the potential to produce as much force as general barbell exercises, and therefore lack the capacity to make weak athletes as strong as barbell training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first place people look for the purpose of rapid general strength gain is generally Starting Strength (the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; is as quick-and-dirty as possible; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=413&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; is the best and most detailed overview on this topic I've ever seen) or StrongLifts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/free-stronglifts-5x5-report/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ebook sign-up&lt;/a&gt;), which is most appropriate for non-athletes or people who have been inactive for several years. Either of these would be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, any simple beginner barbell strength program would also be fine. Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gain-weight-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Sisson's overview&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The foundation of your routine should be the big compound lifts: squats, deadlifts, presses (bench and overhead), pull-ups, rows, dips, snatches, power cleans, clean and jerks. These engage multiple muscles while triggering your hormonal response systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that list of fundamentals, the only change I would make in deference to your sport is to add farmer's walks. Dan John argues that they're a fundamental movement, and it may buttress the squats and deadlifts in developing strong posture against heavy load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells are your best bet for getting strong, with dumbbells a close second. Kettlebells work well for combining strength with conditioning, but they don't provide the really heavy stimulus that makes squats and deadlifts maximally productive. Machines are generally not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to do a three-days-a-week top-priority linear progression like Starting Strength and StrongLifts recommend. If you're sparring or working technique several times a week, then two strength workouts a week might be all you can handle. Those sparring workouts are also the best form of conditioning--there's not a tremendous need for HIIT or other forms of conditioning, since you're already getting in-condition by doing your sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;After strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're strong, you are ready to focus on power and sport-specific strength. Starting Strength recommends incorporating power work in the form of power cleans quite early in training. More power exercises can be prioritized once you have a baseline of strength. A moderate medium-term set of strength goals could roughly look like a double bodyweight deadlift, squatting bodyweight ten times with ease, a dozen strict pull-ups, a bodyweight power clean, and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sport-specific work for this activity is beyond my understanding, but might involve rotational work, farmer's walks, more sprints, snatches and jerks for power development, barbell complexes or 20-rep squats for strength-endurance, unilateral work like lunges and pistols, gymnastic feats...it's really up to you to find what is necessary. Generally speaking, combat athletes need all attributes to be well developed, and benefit from being capable across a range of strength movements. Once you're strong, it could help to cycle through variations of basic movements in order to become familiar with a wide range of athletic movements. For example, one could cycle between back squats, front squats, loaded pistol squats, and Bulgarian split squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For both speed, conditioning, and power, I'm a fan of sprints and interval running. For power--which also benefits speed--nothing beats the power variants of the Olympic lifts: power cleans, power snatches, jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Athletes in some sports find that after a certain level of skill has been attained, it's hard to challenge their conditioning during skill work. For instance, many Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts &lt;a href=&quot;http://davetrains.tumblr.com/post/14476229060/paleo-for-grappling-notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;find&lt;/a&gt; that they need to incorporate conditioning in addition to sparring, whereas white, blue and purple belts get plenty of conditioning just from rolling. If this is the case, perhaps because of a surfeit of technique work instead of sparring, then you have a cornucopia of conditioning options too numerous to list. The method &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?t=2417&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommended by Glenn Pendlay for mixed martial arts competitors&lt;/a&gt; seems like it would apply: cycle through a moderate variety of power-biased conditioning workouts (such as kettlebelling, tire flips, sandbag complexes, Prowler pushes, and sled drags) and occasionally return to benchmark workouts (e.g., &quot;how many 24kg kettlebell clean-and-jerks can I do in ten minutes?&quot;) to gauge progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:49:44.007" LastActivityDate="2013-02-14T23:41:36.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11596" CreationDate="2013-02-15T12:21:16.013" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience from leading projects in 150+ companies on how to promote physical excercise and active lifestyle in companies (ranging from 20 to 7000 employees) are, in summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Peer pressure/everybody else is doing it/risk of standing out, is the most effective psychological component in bringing many people on board a fitness promotion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Competitions are the best way to encourage the people in the company that do not normally excercise - and the way to do it is by having the already motivated employees promote participation to their co-workers - rather than top management decisions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Competitions that want to engage as many as possible should not focus on the individual's effort, rather on the team/group dynamics of making an effort together. With technology, doing &quot;fitness together&quot; doesn't have to imply visiting a gym at the same time - just sharing the participation (like on a Facebook group).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;People will make additional effort &quot;for the sake of the company&quot; (for example a competition or a program of classes) for a maximum of 6-8 weeks. However, up to 30% of employees will have established a higher level of activity that remains even after the promotional campaign period.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if a single method/event is very popular and successful, employees lose interest after 2 or maximum 3 events of the same type.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my business, we've tried to boil down these findings into a repeatable concept. We are now reaching 70-95% participation in the organisations we are working with, which is higher than we had expected ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, I agree with Moses on the different principle methods of encouragement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5237" LastActivityDate="2013-02-15T12:21:16.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11648" CreationDate="2013-02-15T18:29:05.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also do not see any exercises that really work the lower back, bulking up on muscle while neglecting lower back can lead to poor posture and back pain. I would recommend deadlifts or hyperextensions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers,&#xA;Leo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5241" LastActivityDate="2013-02-15T18:29:05.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2013-02-15T21:01:46.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A couple ideas:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Check your nutrition, specifically after your lifts. Try eating a recovery meal that consists of a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein within 90 minutes of lifting. If you can't get a meal in that time, try drinking a protein shake that contains carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Use a foam roller - The foam roller was game changer for me. It hurts like crazy rolling over knots in your legs, but it helped me quite a bit getting over the soreness quicker. It also helps prevent and treat minor muscle injuries. Here's my foam rolling routine &lt;a href=&quot;http://joefitness.com/you-need-a-foam-roller-heres-why/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://joefitness.com/you-need-a-foam-roller-heres-why/&lt;/a&gt; (sorry for the self serving link) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Spend more time warming up and cooling down, don't just go right into working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) You're doing a lot of pressing (quad dominate) exercises, add more pulling like deadlifts to help balance out the workout. Won't help much with the soreness, but it may take stress off the front part of your legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5228" LastActivityDate="2013-02-15T21:01:46.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-15T21:08:16.463" Score="4" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some minor postural problems, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyphosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kyphosis&lt;/a&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbar_hyperlordosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lordosis&lt;/a&gt;, I do not experience any pain from it, it is very minor, but gives a slouch look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that some stretching exercises may help to minimize the aforesaid conditions. The link from wikipedia on Lordosis have some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is in the title: &lt;strong&gt;How one can cope stretching with weightlifting in order to improve the spine?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for things like the best days/hours to do it, if I should do in the same ON day, if I should do the stretches everyday, how long the sessions should take, night or morning, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastEditorUserId="5238" LastEditDate="2013-02-15T21:13:20.717" LastActivityDate="2013-02-18T03:33:30.443" Title="How to cope stretching with weightlifting in order to improve posture" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2013-02-16T04:30:01.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my legs hurt every time I did leg workouts, then I'd focus on my legs more. Squatting more often would be the priority. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, unless you're squatting (below parallel) more than bodyweight, I would squat more often--perhaps every workout, or a majority of workouts--and eliminate the other non-squat leg exercises. This would let your 4x5, 5x5, or 6x6 progression do its job of making big and strong legs, without being burdened by the other work that probably isn't as productive. By squatting more frequently, I'd still be working my legs with a comparable amount of total volume, but spread out over more workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is physique instead of athletics, then I would do squats and maybe some calf raises for all my leg work, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3963/1771&quot;&gt;per Arnold Schwarzenegger's beginner program&lt;/a&gt;. Reducing volume while staying challenged is a good way to reduce soreness while still making progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-02-16T04:30:01.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2013-02-16T06:25:43.213" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bizarre thing about delayed onset muscle soreness (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;) is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-lactic-acid-buil&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;we still don't &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; know what causes it&lt;/a&gt;. Though people like to attribute it to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;lactic acid&lt;/a&gt; buildup, that's probably a misconception.  As stated in the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers who have examined lactate levels right after exercise found little correlation with the level of muscle soreness felt a few days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referencing Nosaka's research published in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=ueMh1x7kFjsC&amp;amp;pg=PA59&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; book, Wikipedia goes on to explain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two other hypotheses that have been advanced to explain the soreness,&#xA;  muscle spasms and the presence of lactic acid in the muscle, are now&#xA;  considered unlikely to be correct, since there is evidence to refute&#xA;  them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common sense would lead us to believe that the soreness is caused from tissue damage.  I think that's probably the case, and I agree with the article when it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though the precise cause of DOMS is still unknown, most research points to actual muscle cell damage and an elevated release of various metabolites into the tissue surrounding the muscle cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose that it may possibly tie back to how muscles work in an anaerobic state, which we explored in one of your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11531/recommended-workout-duration-vs-working-out-with-a-partner/11534#11534&quot;&gt;previous questions&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for prevention, I'm sure we've all heard numerous remedies.  Most of these have turned out to be false, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004577.pub2/abstract;jsessionid=D4FE92CC9418FAAD865E037A0A99AAE0.d02t02&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;stretching&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2489863&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;warming up&lt;/a&gt;.  However, as described in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=y7RhhbUN3x4C&amp;amp;pg=PA111#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; publication, gradually increasing the intensity may mitigate some of the soreness.  Since you've been working your legs for over six months already, that might not be relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, if we act on the hypothesis that DOMS is caused by tissue damage (which I think we should), and if we can't reduce that damage by lowering our workout intensity, that leaves us with the option of doing what we can to speed recovery after the damage has occurred.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer involves knowing a bit about how the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphatic_system&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;lymphatic system&lt;/a&gt; works in the body (in relation to tissue damage).  Among other things, your body uses lymph to collect and flush damaged cells.  The lymph is transported by one-way vessels throughout your body and eventually drains into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subclavian_vein&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;subclavian veins&lt;/a&gt;.  The important thing to note is that lymph is not pumped like blood through a closed system, but rather &quot;drains&quot; with the aid of muscle contraction, gravity, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the lymphatic system is how the body cleans up damaged tissues, and your DOMS are actually caused by tissue damage, recovering from your tissue damage means doing everything you can to help that system perform as well as it can.  I'm sure &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=0UmJVgEWZu4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video, in which Kelly Starrett (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/about&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;KStarr&lt;/a&gt;) et. al. describe that very thing in detail has been posted here before.  The old belief that rest, ice, compression, elevation (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RICE_%28medicine%29&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;RICE&lt;/a&gt;) is the best way to treat this type of damage is wrong.  As described in the video, rest and ice actually have a negative effect on lymph's ability to move around, so does anti-inflammatory medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/08/people-weve-got-to-stop-icing-we-were-wrong-sooo-wrong.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; that goes along with KStarr's video offers what I think is the best and most current treatment: movement, compression, elevation (MCE).  Movement will keep the lymph pumping, short compression treatments (massage, compression bands, etc) will also help push lymph, and elevation will also aid in moving the lymph.  Since I squat three times a week, personally I do full range &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=5S1Aorzn8CU&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bosu ball squats&lt;/a&gt; (as recommended by KStarr in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?&amp;amp;v=Rz_aw09RXuE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video) to clean up soreness and stiffness.  If you think about the iterations of contraction and relaxation the muscles have to do to balance in this movement, it seems an ideal way to pump lymph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, since lymph is &quot;recycled&quot; blood plasma (which is 90% water) staying hydrated is a good idea.  As numerous resources I've linked have mentioned, making sure you're receiving proper nutrition and managing electrolytes will also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The linked resources offer a ton of information on the subject matter if you'd like to find out more.  What seems to be the consensus is that the best way to treat your DOMS is probably movement, hydration, nutrition, electrolytes, compression treatments, and elevation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-02-16T06:31:20.887" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11689" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-16T20:28:35.220" Score="6" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to create myself a good swimming workout schedule and need some advice. What is the best schedule to get optimum results? How often should one have rest days? I'm currently looking at approximately 5 30 min swims a week (totaling about 5k in distance) but this could increase in the future. Am I better structuring my routine for longer workouts or more frequent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already do swim fairly often but without a fixed schedule. My main goal is fat burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastEditorUserId="2407" LastEditDate="2013-02-17T20:18:56.917" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T19:29:06.487" Title="Creating a swimming workout schedule" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2013-02-16T21:01:22.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I learned to juggle 3 balls as a kid in San Diego. I moved to NYC and there was a group of people juggling on the lawn outside my office in Bryant Park, so I meet up with them and juggle from 12-1 on my lunch break. I got the heavy balls just to try them, and fell in love with them. I've never been one to work out at all. This was a fun way to get some exercise. I've been doing it over a couch each night for at least two years. It hasn't caused me any injury or discomfort. I really love doing it and love the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5251" LastActivityDate="2013-02-16T21:01:22.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-17T15:48:59.320" Score="3" ViewCount="1000" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would an isometric deadlift be a good substitute for a normal, barbell deadlift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that's difficult to engage as many muscles in the same way as barbell deadlifts. (I read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3262/are-there-any-alternatives-to-deadlifts?lq=1&quot;&gt;Are there any alternatives to deadlifts?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11648/am-i-exercising-all-my-muscles&quot;&gt;Am I exercising all my muscles?&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5212" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T09:29:35.007" Title="Isometric deadlifts instead of barbell deadlifts" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;isometric&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11684" CreationDate="2013-02-17T21:12:30.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I have a similar problem, and I have asked about related things erlier on this site - check those questions out (deadlifts with hyperlordosis). I also consulted a friend who studied physical theraphy. She gave me a bit of advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dont work on your pectorals too much. In my case, the pectorals are overtightenedd due to a lot of slouching while sitting at work. The muscle spent so much time in shortened state, that the shortened state has become normal to it, drawing the shoulders inwards and sticking the scapulae out. Those muscles need a lot of stretching, especially after you have been working out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Work on rowing motions, with elbows both high and low. Take care to keep your spine in line when doing pendelay or bentover rows - dont look forward, keep your head neutral with the spine, thats better for your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stretch the lower back. In my case, the lower back is a bit too strong, making my belly stick out. I was told to avoid heavy deadlifts and make sure Ive got 100% proper technique when doing squats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just for a starter, also take a look around some questions here, but my real advice would be - if you want to correct your posture with training, or you have any posture problems at all, dont try to fix it on your own, using advice from the net. Many people will want to help you, but not necessairly give you the best advice or advice best fitted for you and your particular needs / posture. In my opinion, you should see a specialist and develop a training plan to fix your posture using his help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-02-17T21:12:30.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11684" CreationDate="2013-02-18T03:33:30.443" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried wall stretches, but by far the stretch that helped me most with my posture was to do dumbbell flys with a light weight (say 5 pounds), and use the weight to stretch my arms back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-02-18T03:33:30.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11701" CreationDate="2013-02-18T04:30:42.860" Score="18" ViewCount="530" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to perform strength training on certain muscle groups and training for mass gain on others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I don't want big legs, but I of course want much stronger legs. Can I do strength training on my legs day (low repetitions and heavy weight) while purely working to put size on my upper body on their days (high reps, lower weight)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR will my body only do one thing at a time over a given timeframe? By that I mean, if I do my legs day for maximum strength gains and then for the rest of the week do training for size, will my body decide that it should just pack on size everywhere that I trained that week, or still honour my strength workout for legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could include body parts that are related / close together like say if I wanted to have stronger biceps but bigger triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="3113" LastEditDate="2013-02-22T05:33:39.827" LastActivityDate="2013-02-22T23:31:16.030" Title="Can I train for 'mass' on some parts of my body, and 'strength' for others?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11666" CreationDate="2013-02-18T06:17:46.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is very similar to the program that I have for upper body strength. My core work is done every training day though. It's usually shorter and varies depending on our trainer. So I did not devise my program. I attend a quite relaxed CrossFit gym that allows for a lot of different work to suit other goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So abs might be 3 rds or 30 each of side plank, side plank, hollow position. Only 4.30min. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or 3 rds 10 slow GHD situps, 15 back extensions, 15 reverse hypers not for time. Probably less an 10 min total. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would do, starting on a Monday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;A + core | rest day | B + core | rest day | A + core | rest day | rest day&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest days usually means mobility, foam rolling and stretching. Total workload is a little less than yours. So I think your work load is OK. But I prefer having clear rest days. I definitely benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workout never really changes. Fundamental upper body strength is probably very similar to fundamental leg strength (squat, squat some more). I do enjoy some of the more gymnastic work, so I sometimes throw in some handstand drills, back levers, front levers, muscle ups etc just for fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2013-02-18T06:17:46.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11698" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11705" CreationDate="2013-02-18T23:21:37.167" Score="7" ViewCount="179350" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the gym, some of the equipment doesn't have the weight listed on the individual weight plates, just numbers. For example, the &quot;Hoist Fitness Systems CL2403 seated leg press&quot; just has numbers for each weight plate, from 1 - 21. Here is a diagram of the actual CL2403 weight stack:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H2U3k.png&quot; alt=&quot;Hoist CL2403 weight stack&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much weight am I actually lifting when I set the pulley to lift different numbers of weight plates?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much does each small round &quot;add on weight&quot; weigh (that I can slide over onto the stack when the weights are at rest)? See at the top right of the weight stack:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B8XKD.png&quot; alt=&quot;CL2403 weight stack showing add-on weights&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will these answers be consistent across all weight lifting equipment, or does it change from manufacturer to manufacturer?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have searched online and found lots of pictures of equipment, and lots of equipment for sale, but haven't been able to find anything &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt; on the weight bars and their specifications, let alone anything definitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I primarily use free weights rather than isolation machines. I simply had some upper body muscle soreness the other day and could not trust myself to use anything but lower-body machines that day. I have only a couple of months of consistent gym use under my belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, you might ask why I want to know? Because I am entering my exercises in a spreadsheet and charting them. I have lost 8 pounds already, without really dieting (besides working to avoid soda and frivolous sweets). Seeing my strength and workouts improve on the chart is motivating. I'd like to enter reasonable values when I do end up using some of the machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1294" LastEditorUserId="1294" LastEditDate="2013-02-19T17:44:17.050" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T12:49:46.097" Title="What does each weight plate weigh in standard gym equipment?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-18T23:34:48.083" Score="8" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesfmarathon.com&quot;&gt;San Francisco marathon&lt;/a&gt; has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesfmarathon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/fullmarathonelevation1.pdf&quot;&gt;substantial elevation changes&lt;/a&gt; (over 800 feet total). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this effect the typical times it takes runner to complete this course as compared to perfectly flat courses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say my time on a flat course is 3:30. What should I expect for the SF marathon? What if my time was 4:00 on a flat course?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T23:38:23.840" Title="How do typical San Francisco marathon times compare to flat courses?" Tags="&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11698" CreationDate="2013-02-19T01:20:40.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry to see that you have to use that poor excuse of a machine, because no proper machine manufacturer labels their weights in this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, I have found on the page below that the whole stack on your machine is 455 pounds. Dividing this by 15 plates, you get about 30 pounds per plate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Usually the small weights you can add at the top are around half of what each plate would be. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for third question, weights vary manufacturer to manufacturer, even machine to machine. For example, if it's a leg related machine the plates will usually be 20-40 pounds each (since legs can handle a lot more weight). Machines that you would use for arms usually go up in 10-15 pounds gradations. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Page I found was: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.who-sells-it.com/cy/hoist-fitness-2947/hoist-fitness-systems-2005-product-catalog-14814/page-7.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.who-sells-it.com/cy/hoist-fitness-2947/hoist-fitness-systems-2005-product-catalog-14814/page-7.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5241" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2017-10-27T21:46:36.120" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T21:46:36.120" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11695" CreationDate="2013-02-19T01:23:02.270" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You sure can, however if your diet is proper you will still gain mass even while strength training. Therefore, you will probably gain mass everywhere, but somewhat less in the parts where you focus on more strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-02-19T04:13:16.263" LastActivityDate="2013-02-19T04:13:16.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11702" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-19T04:59:14.123" Score="8" ViewCount="5230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had trouble with shin splints, my IT band, and extremely sore ankles / knees before from long runs before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to try preventing this, I've switched landing on my heel while running to landing on the balls of my feet. Does this help lead to a proper running form? Should I try something else? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2013-02-19T15:34:46.900" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T20:45:44.440" Title="Proper running form - landing on balls of feet?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11702" CreationDate="2013-02-19T11:55:28.180" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a good runner. I am definitely not a distance runner. My foray into running styles was an exercise to manage a minor knee injury. So my running style is entirely to do with injury prevention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried forefoot running, but that gave me very sore calfs. I can't say that it is wrong. I still tend to land more on my forefoot if I sprint. Still a big improvement on my legs and knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At my gym, the trainer has adopted the Pose method. As far as I understand, this encourages a mid-foot landing. As far as comfort and injury prevention goes, this has been the best method for me. Be aware, the Pose running website is really bad and looks like a scam. But worth a try if injury prevention is your main goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2013-02-19T11:55:28.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12716" CreationDate="2013-02-19T13:08:30.873" Score="2" ViewCount="2360" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past 3 days, I have been swimming very hard. Now, my triceps muscles have started to feel the pain. Rather than calling it pain, I would say, they are tightened up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I continue swimming? Or should I rest for 1 or 2 days and wait for the triceps to loosen up. Normally, I swim every day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-03-24T01:12:15.617" LastActivityDate="2013-06-08T10:37:39.607" Title="Tight triceps: should I rest or continue swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11698" CreationDate="2013-02-19T15:30:50.543" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.manualslib.com/products/Hoist-Fitness-Cl-2403-3703966.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the owners manual&lt;/a&gt;. Check out page 36:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The [below] chart shows the actual weight you are lifting when the ratios are applied. To find the actual weight you are lifting you would come down from the ratio being used and across from the number of the weight plate you have pinned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cluv1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cluv1.png&quot; alt=&quot;Weight Ratios&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The top plate weighs just under 41 pounds, and all the other plates weigh 20 pounds, but you have to add 15% due to the mechanical disadvantage inherent in the machine. So effectively, the top plate is 47 pounds and all the others are 23 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, most add on plates tend to be quarter steps to the next. For example: Plate 1 (~47lbs) and Plate 2 (~70 lbs) are 23 lbs apart. This means that Add On 1 should take you to roughly 53 lbs, Add On 2 should take you to roughly 59 lbs, Add On 3 should take you to roughly 64 lbs, and then you move up to the next plate (Plate 2 at 70lbs). This of course is based on no solid facts, just deductive reasoning based on prior experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also some standard weight bars because that is what your title asked for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;French bar (the zig-zag looking one): approximately 18 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic bar: approximately 44 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2018-10-16T12:49:46.097" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T12:49:46.097" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6029" CreationDate="2013-02-19T17:43:25.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two previous answers detail two DIFFERENT workout protocols. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer # 1 details HIIT, which is High Intensity Interval Training and as answer # 1 suggests the &quot;interval&quot; is necessary for this to be considered HIIT. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To achieve HIIT, train 90 - 100% of your maximum capacity (not your MHR which is really only a guideline and does NOT necessarily measure your maximum capacity) for an &quot;interval&quot; (usually 30 to 60 sec) and then rest for an &quot;interval&quot;. Your work to rest ratio really depends on how long you can sustain maximal effort and how quickly you can recover to be able to perform the next work interval at maximum capacity. Common work/rest intervals are 30s/30s, 30s/60s, 60s/60s, 60s/90s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very important to note that the work interval REALLY needs to be maximal or close to maximal effort in order to perform HIIT correctly. Using sprinting and the 30s/60s interval as an example, you would sprint for 30s as if you were running a race i.e. &quot;as fast as you can&quot;. Then you would rest for 60s and that is 1 complete interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I disassociate MHR and maximum effort is that MHR is really only a guideline. As an example I am a 42 yr old male so accordingly my MHR would be 178 (220 - age). However I normally hit 200 BPM during each work interval of HIIT and recover to about 160 BPM using roughly a 60s/60s interval. As you can see, 60s at 178 BPM is NOT my maximal effort and would therefore not be High-Intensity but would be a medium intenisty interval program or simply known as interval training (before HIIT was invented).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For answer # 2 the writer is really referring to High Intensity Training. If you do not use the &quot;interval&quot; then you are simply doing Hit Intensity Training (HIT) and you are NOT doing (HIIT).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT, HIT and plain old interval training all have benefits but if you want the fat burning benefits of EPOC and the benefits of raising your VO2-Max, then HIIT is the one for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that HIIT is really about working in the anaerobic threshold, recovering, and working into that threshold again. If you make the work interval too long then you are really working the upper limits of your aerobic threshold which will not produce the benefits of HIIT (or at least I know of no studies which show this). Most experts agree that any activity lasting longer than about two minutes has a large aerobic metabolic component. You do NOT want an aerobic component in your HIIT workout, you want only an anaerobic component so you must go at maximal effort. Otherwise the workout is not HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recap:&#xA;If you want to do HIIT keep your work under 2 minutes per interval, Work at maximal capacity, recover sufficiently to perform the work at maximal capacity and repeat. Use the common intervals listed above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2013-02-19T17:43:25.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11707" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-20T02:53:50.160" Score="6" ViewCount="545" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to measure my fitness, so I wanted to know the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What items should be considered when determining if a person is completely fit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What tests are available to calculate the areas from question one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4072" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T03:00:54.463" LastActivityDate="2013-02-27T11:58:42.543" Title="How can I measure my fitness at home without any instruments?" Tags="&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-02-27T11:52:13.477" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11707" CreationDate="2013-02-20T14:03:38.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For 1) and 2) I would recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-stage_fitness_test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bleep test&lt;/a&gt;. Its the standard used by the British armed forced and police among others. It only requires a cd of the test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastActivityDate="2013-02-20T14:03:38.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11707" CreationDate="2013-02-20T14:56:21.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should be considered when determining if a person is completely fit.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;aerobic fitness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strength fitness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What tests are available to calculate the areas from question one.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The President's challenge - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adultfitnesstest.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.adultfitnesstest.org/&lt;/a&gt; - which takes aerobic, physical and flexibility into cosnderation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;United States Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Physical_Fitness_Test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Physical_Fitness_Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T03:03:16.333" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T03:03:16.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-20T15:15:54.637" Score="2" ViewCount="1897" Body="&lt;p&gt;When i'm doing curl or bicep exercise (more when my palm face the ceiling) I feel pain in my forearm between my wrist and my elbow. The pain is situated on the side of the ulna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain seems to come when I release my grip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did someone know from where it's coming; muscles, nerves, ... ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT : I've check with a professional and it seems to be my muscle the &quot;Extensor carpi ulnaris&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did someone know if it come from a bad form or too much weight ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastEditorUserId="2315" LastEditDate="2013-02-22T15:02:33.150" LastActivityDate="2013-02-22T15:02:33.150" Title="Pain in forearm while doing bicep curls" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;curls&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="16" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-02-21T04:00:41.423" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11702" CreationDate="2013-02-20T17:47:08.820" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Landing on the ball of your foot will help prevent shin splits, and promote better running form. It is better to start slow when switching form though, as landing on the ball requires more work for the calves; you will be sore for a little while, so start with shorter runs. You may wanna look into barefoot or minimalist running shoes as they naturally encourage that style of running; without the extra cushioning, you won't land on your heel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your IT band, the best thing to do is strenght training and stretching. You need to build more muscle in your legs; think squats and ballet-inspired leg raises (that's what the physiotherapist had me do when I injured mine). You should also get a foam roller to massage the area, it helps a lot. Yoga once or twice a week works for both strenght and flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ankles and knee pain after long run can either be because you have increased your mileage too fast, or you need new shoes. Take some advil, elevate and ice the area if it's painful after the run, but if it's sore for more than 1 day, you should consider slightly shorter runs and increasing your mileage gradually (no more than 10% increase per week). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5277" LastActivityDate="2013-02-20T17:47:08.820" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10209" CreationDate="2013-02-20T18:29:09.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number of jump rope variations is ridiculous for such a simple device.  Like you, I tried jumping rope once or twice as a kid, sorta sucked at it, and gave it up.  But I recently revisited the idea of jumping rope as a great winter time / bad weather cardio option.  I generally prefer to get outside and do something fun for cardio, but if the weather doesn't cooperate, indoor options are good to have.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ended up buying a &quot;speed rope&quot; for about $2.50.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rope itelf is some sort of rubber, I guess, and really light, so you have to go really fast to keep it spinning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No weights in the handles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO, it's perfect for what I wanted it for.  Awesome indoor cardio, though I suppose it'd be no problem to take it outside.  I could see a rough concrete surface eventually eating up the rope, but at under $3, it wouldn't be a big deal to replace it once in a while.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for length, mine is 9', and from what I saw, that seems pretty standard.  I'm 6' tall and it's fine.  I read somewhere that if you stand on the rope, the handles should come to mid-chest.  If 9' feet is too long, you could easily shorten the rope by tying a knot at the handle.  If you're really tall, I suppose you will need to seek out a longer rope for yourself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5276" LastActivityDate="2013-02-20T18:29:09.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6509" CreationDate="2013-02-20T19:34:25.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that the clean and jerk performed at a moderate weight for numerous repetitions is unmatched for this purpose.  My favorite way to train at high intensity with this movement is called &quot;death by clean and jerk&quot;.  On a running timer, one clean and jerk is performed the first minute, two performed the second minute, three the third minute, and so on, until failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see Mikko Salo perform this ladder in a very impressive way &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME91c_-jMQg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-02-20T19:40:51.917" LastActivityDate="2013-02-20T19:40:51.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10209" CreationDate="2013-02-20T21:48:20.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started skipping when I started CrossFit. If you are not good at skipping and are trying to get good enough for fitness, you should look for a rope that spins nicely, is moderately thick and isn't too heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spin&lt;/strong&gt;: You want it to spin freely because it's much easier to maintain a rhythm. This is important when you are trying to get the intermediate skipping steps. Running on the spot, double-unders, cross-overs. Good skippers can skip with pretty much anything, but something with &lt;strong&gt;ball bearings&lt;/strong&gt; really helps. Also makes it easier to go faster when you are ready.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material&lt;/strong&gt;: Material is not important because you may be skipping indoors or outdoors, but because you will &lt;em&gt;whip yourself&lt;/em&gt;. If you get something heavy and thin, like those cable speed ropes, you will get a nice welt if you miss. So get something not too heavy, and not too thin e.g. PVC. The only concern with skipping outdoors is faster wear on the rope because of what you are skipping on, road, concrete etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Length&lt;/strong&gt;: Don't worry about it. A decent rope will allow you to adjust the length. There are various methods that you can find by googling. Be conservative at first. Leave the rope longer than you need when you start out. You can always cut off more rope later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight&lt;/strong&gt;: I have never skipped with weighted handles nor have I ever seen anybody else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have one of the fancy Buddy Lee Aero Speed ropes. A little more expensive, but it's been a really great rope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: The typical material is PVC, not nylon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastEditorUserId="284" LastEditDate="2013-02-20T22:02:04.223" LastActivityDate="2013-02-20T22:02:04.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-21T14:00:01.770" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I properly prepare my oatmeal, that is by boiling and cooking it for roughly a minute, it really burdens my body to consume it. I feel fatigued an hour after eating it and my stomach feels heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, when I just drop the oatmeal in some water\milk and eat it right away I barely feel it. I also go hungry sooner compared to the alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I eat uncooked oatmeal, does it provide the same nutritional value to the body or does most of it just get disposed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2616" LastActivityDate="2013-02-21T23:08:25.787" Title="Does uncooked oatmeal get less absorbed by the body?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-02-21T15:38:07.733" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6649" CreationDate="2013-02-21T20:08:38.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cadence can be improved by using the right equipment, doing drills and then running to the right rhythm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be barefoot or use very thin sole shoes with minimal heel-toe drop. (This means the heel and toe are at the same level). This is critical as it helps you feel the foot more completely as well as allows you to load the foot on the midfoot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drills:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bounce in place. Feet should be shoulder width apart. Alternate shifting the weight from one foot to the other.  Do not use a metronome. Simply bounce and after 100 repetitions you will find a a natural frequency in the bounce.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single foot hop in place. Hop on one foot and try landing on the&#xA;same spot. Again don't use a metronome. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High knees with a bounce.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kick with a bounce&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running to the right rhythm:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the Podrunner  Podcast (its free, but do try to donate). Each podcast is about an hour long and DJ Steve Boyett specifies the BPM for each Podcast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following podcasts are a few of the excellent ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;180 BPM Rapid Transit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;180 BPM Trendsetter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;177 BPM Fastigium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;173 BPM Among the Titans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5283" LastActivityDate="2013-02-21T20:08:38.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11724" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-22T07:50:01.407" Score="8" ViewCount="434" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many programs that I've come across (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hundredpushups.com/week1.html#sthash.8KRfPxsG.dpbs&quot;&gt;100 push up challenge&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.7weekstofitness.com/programs/7-weeks-to-50-pull-ups/&quot;&gt;7 weeks to 50 pull-ups&lt;/a&gt;, etc.) prescribe a minimum rest time between sets and mention that you can take longer breaks if necessary, but when is it necessary? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For such program, would it be more beneficial to wait as long as I think is needed to perform every rep, or to keep the resting time as close as possible to that which is prescribed and repeat a week if I fail to perform the minimum number of reps, or some other variation of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is mainly to achieve as many reps as possible in one go (training for a fitness test).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastEditorUserId="2867" LastEditDate="2013-02-25T05:44:01.220" LastActivityDate="2013-09-04T21:19:22.123" Title="Should I do more reps or take more rest?" Tags="&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11780" CreationDate="2013-02-22T14:50:38.173" Score="6" ViewCount="840" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed lately that I lack symmetry in my arms (biceps and triceps, not forearms). This lack of symmetry also follows through to the strength and endurance in the weaker arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my dominant hand (right), I have no issues with aesthetics and strength, however this does not translate across to my other arm. I have huge issues with the way the left arm looks and the strength issues that are starting to follow suit. I usually do exercises using barbells and some isolation exercises using drop sets on my pump week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How could I improve the aesthetics or size of the weak side?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I improve the strength in my weaker arm to get it up to a similar level as my dominant arm?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T22:00:18.913" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T22:00:18.913" Title="How to improve symmetry in both strength and size" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2013-02-22T16:34:33.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add to what already has been said: studies show that prolonged (over one week) sexual abstinence increases testosterone levels for males. Orgasms boost testosterone levels, but only for a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link to an abstract of an exemplary study: &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs003450100222?LI=true&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs003450100222?LI=true&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In contrast, although plasma testosterone was unaltered by orgasm, higher testosterone concentrations were observed following the period of abstinence. These data demonstrate that acute abstinence does not change the neuroendocrine response to orgasm but does produce elevated levels of testosterone in males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-02-22T16:34:33.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11695" CreationDate="2013-02-22T23:31:16.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To a degree yes. Do you mind if I ask how long you have been training? If you haven't been training for very long, there isn't really a notion of training for size vs training for strength, since doing just about anything(within reason) will elicit a training response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastActivityDate="2013-02-22T23:31:16.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="993" CreationDate="2013-02-22T23:58:26.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no muscular response to &quot;tone&quot;; muscles can either grow or or they can shrink(or change in number of fibers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically my point with that is, is that there is no special exercise or rep scheme out there to elicit a &quot;toning&quot; response, just approach the weights with intent to gain muscle. I have yet to meet a natural lifter in person who legitimately said they have too much muscle, I would even go so far as to say that it is almost impossible for someone to have too much muscle(unless they have are myostatin deficient). So I am sure you will be fine :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastEditorUserId="5291" LastEditDate="2013-02-23T05:58:49.033" LastActivityDate="2013-02-23T05:58:49.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11574" CreationDate="2013-02-24T03:36:17.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if you will be able to find a definitive answer to your question, as is the case with many questions in the physical fitness world. There are many outside factors that come into play(mental and environmental stresses that we have no control over just to name a couple) that make it really hard to isolate the impact of just one factor such as rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My biggest piece of advice would be to just experiment around with the amount of rest days you take, but spend an appreciable amount of time during each phase of the experiment. Also not that what may be optimal in one phase of your life may not be optimal in another phase(If you just start a new, stressful job, you may have to incorporate additional rest days, for instance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastActivityDate="2013-02-24T03:36:17.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1085" CreationDate="2013-02-24T06:20:22.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also try biofeedback using a sensor like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lumoback.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LUMOback&lt;/a&gt; that is work around the lower back and alerts you via your smart phonen when you slouch. That way you won't have to constantly mentally monitor your posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LUMOback is designed to measure lower back spinal posture. That generally correlates with poor neck and upper back posture. You might want to check if that is your case as well. If not, the guys behind LUMOback are working on a more general posture detection sensor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastActivityDate="2013-02-24T06:20:22.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11905" CreationDate="2013-02-24T17:49:55.130" Score="3" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;we all have encountered those days when we aren't zoned in at the gym, but what do you find to be the &quot;best&quot;(if there is truly a best way) to handle your volume and intensity on those days? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am fully aware most evidence on the subject will be anecdotal(all I have found up to date has been, not saying there is anything wrong with that), but if anybody knows of any scientific studies that would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, when I encounter days when I am mentally out of it, I just get my big movement of the day done(Squats on ME lower body, for example) and then cut out the accessory work and call it a day(or stick around if that movement jolted my brain awake).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastEditorUserId="5291" LastEditDate="2013-02-24T23:10:52.467" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T20:29:52.040" Title="Adjusting volume and intensity on non &quot;zoned-in&quot; days" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-24T19:26:13.487" Score="4" ViewCount="1466" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started some exercise programs at home such as P90X and Insanity.  However, I have found that working out on my carpet has proven to be difficult in a number of ways.  For example, when jumping around, I will often get carpet burn injuries on my feet.  When doing the various forms of pushups I, again, will sustain burns to my hands.  These can become really painful and have limited my success in these programs.  What are some methods that I can use to help prevent related injuries when working out at home and on a carpeted surface?  Additionally, I sweat a lot during these programs and am worried if the carpet my start to take on a smell or become more difficult to clean.  Are there any suggestions for this as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2316" LastActivityDate="2013-05-25T21:11:24.290" Title="Prevent Injuries At Home Gym on Carpet" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11735" CreationDate="2013-02-24T19:59:11.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did exercise on carpet before, and never had problems with skin-burns, but using an exercise mat should help with your problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought a mat myself a few months ago - mostly because of sweating, as the floor in my room is some sort of PVC. It is easier on the hands now, and the strange feeling when touching the floor with wet skin disappears, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-02-24T20:05:03.273" LastActivityDate="2013-02-24T20:05:03.273" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11707" CreationDate="2013-02-25T00:18:03.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say how you recover tells you everything about your fitness and with that in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your resting heart rate (and how quickly you can get back to it) should tell you a lot about your fitness and you can measure if by taking your own pulse. You might need a watch though so it might be cheating the no instrument specification you laid out there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3931" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T19:06:43.693" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T19:06:43.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2013-02-25T00:40:44.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not if your punching properly. If you punch right you should be putting your body weight behind your shots and that type of punching won't build lots of muscle but it will put some more in just the right places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use heavy bags to work on your power and light bags to work on your speed but whichever bag you are on you need to punch right through. Typically people will instinctively bring their hand back as soon as they feel the bag touch their fist and this is a bad habit unless you are finding your distance or setting something up so you need to consciously avoid doing it until you don't need to anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the heavy bag try planting your feet in your stance and working on different movements like dipping and rolling between the shots rather than steps or pivots until you get the swing of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3931" LastActivityDate="2013-02-25T00:40:44.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9581" CreationDate="2013-02-25T17:27:37.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For all practical purposes no. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I do remember reading a study a couple years back about about the fat cells in the vicinity of muscles that recieved a training stimulus being warmer than other fat cells, and that there was a correlation between temperature of fat cells and their eagerness to be used by the body as energy, although I don't remember where I read it off hand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abstract abstract of it basically boiled down to that an individual who was already very very lean, with a little bit of stubborn body fat in a particular bodypart could &lt;em&gt;potentially&lt;/em&gt; benefit from throwing some additional volume at that bodypart, but for all intents and purposes the average person will see no spot reduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-02-25T19:57:57.423" LastActivityDate="2013-02-25T19:57:57.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-26T00:05:19.440" Score="5" ViewCount="5107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Years ago I tripped in a hole and got a 3rd degree ankle sprain. One of the exercises the physiotherapist told me was to use a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=bosu%20ball&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;aq=t&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-US%3aofficial&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;um=1&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;source=og&amp;amp;sa=N&amp;amp;tab=wi&amp;amp;ei=HPwrUfzkEsSG0QH-pYG4DA&amp;amp;biw=1600&amp;amp;bih=1032&amp;amp;sei=HvwrUfaEEYji0QHd34CIBw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bosu ball&lt;/a&gt; and do circles with while standing with both feet on it. I think I stopped my recovery exercises to early and am trying to strengthen my ankle. I've been using the bosu ball but find it too hard to to do circles. I always slip off. Is there any tips to make it easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example is it easier or hard to have feet spaced far apart? What are other exercises I can do to strengthen my ankle with a bosu ball?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: thanks for the feed back. I forgot to mention I had been doing it with no shoes and my socks slide against the slick surface of the bosu ball. &lt;strong&gt;Should I be doing it with or without shoes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastEditorUserId="4900" LastEditDate="2013-03-04T21:49:07.587" LastActivityDate="2013-03-04T21:49:07.587" Title="Ankle exercises with bosu ball" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;&lt;balance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11745" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:17:59.893" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:17:59.893" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:17:59.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11746" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:17:59.893" Score="0" Body="Organic chemical substance classified as a waxy steroid of fat.  Required to establish proper membrane permeability and fluidity." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:05:52.753" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:05:52.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11747" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:21:46.257" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:21:46.257" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:21:46.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11748" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:21:46.257" Score="0" Body="This tag refers to questions regarding prevention from injuries." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:06:48.307" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:06:48.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11749" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:22:36.457" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:22:36.457" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:22:36.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11750" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:22:36.457" Score="0" Body="Refers to the exercise done at home." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:04:53.517" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:04:53.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11751" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:23:57.063" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:23:57.063" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:23:57.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11752" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:23:57.063" Score="0" Body="Power 90 Extreme, is a commercial home exercise regimen, known for its intensity." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:08:16.720" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:08:16.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11753" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:25:51.353" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:25:51.353" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:25:51.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11754" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:25:51.353" Score="0" Body="Strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and dead-lift." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:08:12.117" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:08:12.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11755" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:27:11.557" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:27:11.557" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:27:11.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11756" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:27:11.557" Score="0" Body="Questions regarding the biceps, which lies on the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:05:27.807" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:05:27.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11757" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:28:34.033" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:28:34.033" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:28:34.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11758" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:28:34.033" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:28:34.033" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:28:34.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11759" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:32:06.450" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:32:06.450" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:32:06.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11760" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:32:06.450" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:32:06.450" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:32:06.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11761" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:32:46.730" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:32:46.730" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:32:46.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11762" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:32:46.730" Score="0" Body="Refers to questions regarding body measurement." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:06:56.250" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:06:56.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11763" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:33:46.790" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T07:33:46.790" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T07:33:46.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11764" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T07:33:46.790" Score="0" Body="The forearm is the distal region of the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T08:05:15.717" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:05:15.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11765" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-26T08:17:49.547" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a gamer, and I used to be 150lb's and my weight has increased to about 215lb's. What sort of exercise routine and diet should I try to set up to lose weight and become a bit more healthy? keep in mind, I have not actually exercised in a year or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:17:49.547" Title="Out of shape and in need of help" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-02-26T11:56:39.913" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11744" CreationDate="2013-02-26T08:40:02.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Bosu&lt;/strong&gt; can be used on both sides - standing on the rounded blue side or the flat black side.  Both sides provide an &quot;unstable&quot; surface that makes your ankle muscles adjust to control your movements and stability of the ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressing from Sitting to Unsupported Standing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuPZBN1hepQ&amp;amp;NR=1&amp;amp;feature=fvwp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; shows a progression of ankle exercises beginning in sitting, advancing to supported standing and then unsupported standing.  The demo is on a wobble board, but a Bosu works similarly. The video shows using a chair for support, but you can also use a dowel to give you support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you progress, you should be able to accomplish ankle circles standing on the Bosu without support. These next two videos are specific to ankle rehab (after your therapist has cleared you to do so). 1.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/H_ZrFV01O4o?t=1m38s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ankle circles&lt;/a&gt; on both sides of the Bosu,  2. &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/UFl5yLyqg-0?t=38s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Adding motions&lt;/a&gt; - side to side and forward back. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proprioceptive Training in Standing&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a video of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDqs1yVivtI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;closed kinetic chain exercises&lt;/a&gt; that will strengthen your ankle making it more stable and responsive to movements in all planes of motion. Once you can do these on a stable floor, you can do these on a Bosu for added &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3299/what-is-proprioception/3334#3334&quot;&gt;proprioception training&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the position of your foot, the closer to the middle of the ball, the more stability you should have assuming you do not have other balance problems.  The farther away from the middle, the more range of motion your ankle will require putting more stress on your ankle.  If you have limited motion, you may not be able to tolerate the outer limits.  Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T08:40:02.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11767" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:45:03.440" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:45:03.440" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:45:03.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11768" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:45:03.440" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:45:03.440" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:45:03.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11769" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:47:13.110" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:47:13.110" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:47:13.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11770" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:47:13.110" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:47:13.110" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:47:13.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11771" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:49:42.063" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:49:42.063" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:49:42.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11772" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:49:42.063" Score="0" Body="Type of beans classified as oilseed, used for satisfying protein needs." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T23:46:50.340" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T23:46:50.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11773" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:52:00.703" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:52:00.703" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:52:00.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11774" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:52:00.703" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:52:00.703" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:52:00.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11775" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:53:11.933" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:53:11.933" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:53:11.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11776" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:53:11.933" Score="0" Body="Martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching." OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T13:52:30.763" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T13:52:30.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11777" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:54:18.440" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:54:18.440" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:54:18.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11778" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-02-26T11:54:18.440" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T11:54:18.440" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T11:54:18.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11726" CreationDate="2013-02-26T15:03:38.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to focus on the weak arm. I am so right handed I can't stand it. When I am in the gym I have to make a very concerted effort to isolate my left arm. I have also noticed that my left arm has naturally formed bad habits from being my non-dominant hand. So when you focus on it, also concentrate on proper form. Don't shy away from doing tricep-dips, French-bar curls, etc. Just be extra conscious of the weaker arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be aware that everyone's body is different. My right deltoid muscles seem to have a noticeably shorter muscle belly than my left. Therefore my shoulders look asymmetrical. Even though my right shoulder is a little stronger than my left. Nothing I can do about it but try and accept the results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T15:03:38.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9660" CreationDate="2013-02-26T16:53:18.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/positions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here are the guidelines&lt;/a&gt; from OSHA for both sitting and standing desks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5308" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T17:16:03.743" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T17:16:03.743" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8066" CreationDate="2013-02-26T17:12:43.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a strong core is hugely important for a powerful golf swing. A lot of exercises involving a gym ball are great to strengthen your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also look into increasing your flexibility as this will allow you to rotate your body more when you're swinging thus creating greater swing speed and distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The most important thing to do while going to the gym and getting stronger is to continue to play golf.&lt;/strong&gt; If you took a break from golf to get fit and then come back stronger you will have lost a lot of the muscle memory used for swinging the club.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4110" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T17:12:43.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11574" CreationDate="2013-02-26T18:20:58.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cenegenicsfoundation.org/library/library_files/Endocrine_responses_to_resistance_exercise.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Probably the most specific answer to your the part of your question pertaining to the endocrine system.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you give your muscles that 48 hour rest period is to ensure it has enough time to repair the micro-tears that strength training creates. I know that a lot of people swear by groupings for alternating days (back/biceps Monday, Chest/triceps Tuesday, etc.); however, I find that it is much easier to alternate hemispheres of your body (Upper body on Monday, lower on Tuesday). The reason for this is because: even if you have perfect lifting form, you still use varying muscles as support/stabilizing musculature for lifts. Example, try using a French bar for standing, unsupported bicep curls and NOT letting your pec muscles activate. While you are not actively using the muscles, if your goal is to give your body the best total rest it can have, you should try to not use them as much as possible. Yes, some leg exercises require upper bod stabilizers. However, you use them far less than if you try to split the upper body into several alternating day exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T18:20:58.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11744" CreationDate="2013-02-26T20:11:51.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main reason for using a bosu ball is to increase the number of muscles and muscle fibers recruited for the activity, and to increase the proprioception. I had to use the Bosu quite extensively for my Achilles rupture rehab, and here's a few the exercises that I was doing (My PT guys were creative sadists, but they were good.):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chop squats - Put the round side down, stand both feet on the flat. Take a medicine ball and &quot;chop&quot; (Much like a cable pull) from high to low, left to right and squat at the same time the ball comes down. Repeat going the other way for one repetition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One legged deadlift - Done with a swiss ball, stand on the rounded side, foot in the center. Holding the ball out in front of you, lean until it touches, then stand back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side touches - Standing on one foot on the ball side (not on the flat), stick your leg out to the side, squat until the toes touch, then back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Net toss - Requires a large net that you can use to &quot;throw&quot; the ball back to you. (See picture below) : stand on bosu flat side, throw medicine balls into the net and catch coming back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other exercises that I did that would also help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine ball slams - Stand with both feet together. Take a medicine ball and slam it into the floor on the right side of your body. Catch it on the way up, immediately rotate and slam it into the floor on the left side. 30 seconds of this x 3.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plate drags - Put a 35 or 45 plate flat on floor. Hook lip of plate with toes, and walk on hands forward 20-25 feet then backwards, pulling/pushing plate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Windmills - Take a 5-10 lb dumbbell in each hand. Stand on one foot, slightly leaning over. One dumbbell at shoulder height to side, other in front. Lift the one in front out to the side, at the same time you bring the other down in front of you. 20 reps, then switch feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these are designed to increase both the strength in the area, and the proprioceptive feedback.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6FMMG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-02-26T20:46:30.837" LastActivityDate="2013-02-26T20:46:30.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11797" CreationDate="2013-02-26T22:53:30.640" Score="4" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently following a full body program that is helping me build muscle at a satisfactory rate. However a friend convinced me to join him and try the &quot;300&quot; workout, which is a circuit program with lots and lots of reps. I felt completely floored after that stuff, and noticed that my muscle endurance was much worse than his.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current routine, which I run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mostly consists of heavy lifts and few reps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Squats, Deadlifts, Dumbbell bench press, wide grip rows, shoulder press, pull ups, dips (with added weight), dumbbell bicep curls, clean and press and narrow grip row.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;All exercises are 4 reps, 3 sets, 30 sec break between sets, and done in this sequence. Not circuit style.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I am very satisfied with this program, I don't want to cut it. I want to know how or if I could supplement it with workouts to work on my muscle endurance without getting overtrained. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5311" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-28T01:57:08.317" LastActivityDate="2013-02-28T01:57:08.317" Title="Supplementing my weekly routine for increased muscle endurance" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11707" CreationDate="2013-02-27T00:41:01.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As pointed out by Meade, there are military and government tests that try to encapsulate most areas of fitness (aerobic, strength, agility). I would argue that &quot;balance&quot; should be another area, but I'm not seeing this one covered under many of these tests. In summary, these appear to be capture enough aspects of fitness that they should be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some others in addition to what Meade pointed out, here is a reference for several other branches of military (US Army, US Navy, Coast Guard, etc): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/pftstandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/pftstandards.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="390" LastEditorUserId="390" LastEditDate="2013-02-27T11:58:42.543" LastActivityDate="2013-02-27T11:58:42.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-27T14:41:02.810" Score="3" ViewCount="2972" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize this is a complex medical issue, but I've been frustrated with my lack of progress.  About two years ago I was finally struggling enough with my back pain (difficulty standing for long periods, pain when lying flat, difficulty due to pain when getting out of bed, etc) that I decided to visit a therapist and have some x-rays done.  They found that I have degeneration between the L5-S1 discs.  I was told that many people have this specific degeneration and that it really depends on the individual and how they react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the PT, some walk around completely oblivious to it while others have major difficulties.  Fortunately I have progressed to somewhere between these two camps.  I can perform squats but I have some difficulty with keeping my back straight while lowering.  I have reduced the weight significantly in order to perform them correctly (or as best I am able).  Surprising to me is that planks, even on my elbows, are extremely difficult.  I'm not sure if this is a function of simply building strength or due to the degeneration.  There is some pain while doing them.&#xA;Given this information, I'm wondering what people do since the general recommendation is to build strength and flexibility since there is no 'cure' for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just be patient and keep at it?  Are there any ideas of what I can expect for progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any information!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1965" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-28T00:55:46.817" LastActivityDate="2013-07-28T04:21:59.983" Title="Building strength with Spondylosis (L5-S1 degeneration)" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-07-29T14:57:13.910" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-02-27T15:11:37.977" Score="-2" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to gain weight and I'm thinking about drinking large amounts of olive oil to get more calories in my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an issue with drinking 100ml (~800 calories) at once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="301" LastActivityDate="2013-02-27T15:21:02.853" Title="Drinking pure olive oil" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-02-28T01:30:31.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11794" CreationDate="2013-02-27T15:21:02.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done this several times experimenting with ketogenic diets. I strongly recommend you start with a much smaller dose and work your way up, as drinking that much oil can cause nausea if you're not accustomed to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else to consider is that olive oil is high in Omega 6 EFAs, but is very low in Omega 3s. You may want to see if consuming EFAs with a messed up ratio could cause any health issues over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider other oils such as cod liver oil and coconut oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was on my high fat diet, I actually found heavy cream (whipping cream, not whipped cream) to be the easiest solution. I mixed it with chocolate protein powder and it tastes great. The issue here could be high cholesterol if you are prone to cholesterol issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4894" LastActivityDate="2013-02-27T15:21:02.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11788" CreationDate="2013-02-27T17:54:52.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This all depends on your goals. You're feeling weak from your trial of the 300 workout which is really more conditioning than strength. Granted you have to be able to lift at a certain level to get some of the moves, but if your goal is more strength orientated than your focus is fine. Check out Mark Rippetoe's piece on conditioning: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/conditioning_is_a_sham&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/conditioning_is_a_sham&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary: Conditioning is good and healthy and should definitely be done, but without the proper strength you wouldn't of gotten very far in the workout anyways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;300 workout is fun so if you're planning on beating your friend maybe start training those items in pieces. HIIT style or something similar. But if that isn't your goal simply want to add some conditioning than try removing some rest in between sets in your current routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe BCAAs alone will improve your conditioning as one post mentions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5316" LastActivityDate="2013-02-27T17:54:52.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11788" CreationDate="2013-02-27T18:19:39.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Strength train and add conditioning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how strong you are and how heavy the strength-endurance exercises are, the best option for improving your strength-endurance may be to continue getting strong while doing some token conditioning work. This might mean sprints, barbell complexes, Prowler pushes or whatever on off-days or at the end of the workout. If your recovery suffers by adding this extra work, you may need to subtract some work from your lifting routine, for instance, by separating your lifting into A and B days. One random stab at that kind of set-up could be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;A Day: Squats, Dumbbell bench press, wide grip rows, dips (with added weight), clean and press, 10 minute barbell complex without rest&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Deadlifts, shoulder press, pull ups, dumbbell bicep curls, narrow grip row, maximum number of kettlebell snatches or clean-and-jerks or swings in 10 minutes&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consider yourself strong, then adding some conditioning is called for at the end of every workout. If you still have a ways to go before considering yourself strong, then maybe you should add one conditioning exercise per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reduce strength training in favor of extensive conditioning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conditioning is highly activity-specific. If you want to be good at the 300 workout, do the 300 workout. If you want to be a good runner, then run; to be good at swimming, swim, and so on. Maintaining a variety of conditioning exercises, such as is done in Max Effort Black Box type programs, is a good way to get good at strength-endurance across a broad spectrum of possible tasks. This would involve a more dramatic reduction in the amount of strength-specific work, however, since these programs are generally geared towards someone with an acceptable level of strength. They are often programmed with only a single strength movement for each workout, followed by conditioning/strength-endurance work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Set clear goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to be clear with yourself about the short list of things you want to improve with your current program. Trying a new workout and getting a novice's exhaustion from it does not necessarily mean you have to add it to your routine--it just means that there are many areas of physicality, most of us can't do all of them well at the same time, and strength-endurance or conditioning workouts are &lt;em&gt;specifically designed&lt;/em&gt; to make anyone tired. If you chase every workout program that makes you tired, you'll be unable to make progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-02-27T23:36:20.557" LastActivityDate="2013-02-27T23:36:20.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11793" CreationDate="2013-02-27T19:46:33.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made a quick reference &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbar_spinal_nerve_5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to look at nerve innervation originating below L5. Your abs should not give out due to the degradation and a loss of innervation. If the degradation was causing the problem it is much more likely that your glutes are giving out. Since they are a major stabilizing muscle this is a viable possibility. You should definitely strengthen your core (abs, back, obliques, etc.). Remember to stretch too, though. Having tight muscles that attach to the pelvis (hamstrings, piriformis, gultes, etc.) can pull the pelvis out of alignment. In turn, causing mal-positioning with your back and hips (which then affects the rest of your body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing squats, maybe try using a weight-lifter's belt. While your body is out of balance you should try to assist yourself while possible. All the while, training those weaker muscles to rely less on the assisted devices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that pain is bad. If something is causing sharp pain, STOP. And as always, consult your PT or a Physician if you are unsure if you should continue to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-02-27T19:46:33.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12179" CreationDate="2013-02-28T06:06:55.723" Score="6" ViewCount="2543" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out at the gym for a fair few years now (around 6). Started by just going with a friend doing random weights. Then progressed to muscle groups. For the last 6 months I have been trying the strong lifts method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My squat has increased immensely so I definitely know the system works (for me). My question is that I'm hitting walls all over the place at the moment. Squats 100kg, bench press 90kg, standing rows I am still progressing, standing press 57.5kg, deadlift 135kg. I'm getting half way through my 5x5 sets and failing at everything but rows so far. How can I overcome this? is it a question of perseverance and I will slowly be able to pass my walls? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to gain lean muscle mass. I'm currently around 80kg, 5ft.10&quot;, BF 15%. I do MON/WED/FRI at the gym (my big days) then TUE &amp;amp; THURS some shoulder work and abs / whatever takes my fancy. Also do martial arts 2/3 lunchtimes per week. I eat well and take protein supplements after workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&#xA;james  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5318" LastEditorUserId="5318" LastEditDate="2013-02-28T06:37:44.543" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T18:11:56.350" Title="I am hitting walls with my lifts, how can I progress?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11803" CreationDate="2013-02-28T06:42:33.243" Score="19" ViewCount="12194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a web developer. I spend 5 days a week, 8-10 hours per day in front of my PC in a chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get in insanely good shape. I don't mean I want to be a little stronger than the &lt;em&gt;average person&lt;/em&gt;, or able to run a little further. I don't care what I look like vs the average person. I want to be that guy that stands out in a crowd of 100's of people as being in amazing shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure this isn't possible. I feel like if I wanted to be serious about this goal that I would have to change my career to something that is physically demanding; like a ranger or a labourer. I have even considered, being barely 21, the thought of going to university and using my time there as the time in my life where I will have this ultimate body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this amount of time being used up sitting down, should I abandon the idea of getting to that level of physique? Is it impossible to achieve unless I am a full time athlete, or can I push myself before and after work, over the weekend and anywhere in-between to reach my goal of a muscular, ripped body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it makes it any easier, I am much more interested in appearance than brutal strength or being able to run 100's of kilometres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if it's possible to get here with the amount of sitting I need to do during the week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/avHVr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if I'm going to find it impossible to get past this type of level unless I find a way to get active during the day too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hvgtc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="3113" LastEditDate="2013-02-28T09:01:17.780" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T12:46:30.607" Title="Can I be serious about getting into great shape if I have an office job?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;goals&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="16" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11800" CreationDate="2013-02-28T10:05:00.857" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your work absolutely does NOT have to involve physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cool thing about such a job is having as sort-of workout and being paid for it. The only difference for you is having to work out in your own free time. Now working very hard, being a family man and all could make that troublesome, since you wouldnt have much free time. But a typical 8h working day should be no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting an athletic physique is not about training 24h/7. Actually, a workout session usually should take an hour. HIIT tainings can be done in minutes! And your body needs to rest after each workout too, so its not like you will be training daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most important factors will be your diet, your attitude, consistency. Your job is not one of those factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Youre asking us if it is possible to get the looks youre after while having a sitting job. Read some magazines for men, like Mens Health. Each issue you can read a story of an average man getting a heroic physique. Those arent only lumberjacks and construction site workers! Ive seen programmers, drivers and others being heroes of those stories. If they could make it, so can you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question you have asked looks like you want to give up on getting in shape on account of it being &quot;impossible&quot; because of something. Well, we wont give you the green light to give up. To really achieve your goal, your attitude should be quite the contrary - if we told you its impossible, you should strive to prove us wrong! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get you in the fighting mood, one of the best inspirational speeches in the history of cinematics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you will take up the challenge, just remember to work hard, but smart, too. Make your research, try to expand your knowledge. Whenever you hit a plateau, try to search for the resons. Experiment, adapt and learn. And dont give up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-02-28T10:05:00.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11800" CreationDate="2013-02-28T13:51:57.377" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Things get in the way&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Constraints are obstacles, no doubt. But you can mitigate them, and you can smash them, and you can punch your office job right in its sedentary face. Several of the Golden-Age bodybuilders and weightlifters worked around day jobs (see some &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=148&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stories at Rippetoe's site&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do what you can&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The job description is &quot;work at a computer&quot;, not &quot;work sitting down&quot;. Get a standing desk. Be diligent about proper posture; eliminate hunching over your desk. Take stretch breaks, go for walks instead of coffee breaks, and occasionally do some push-ups at work. Try to work from home once in a while. Convince your boss to let you take a siesta. Optimize your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/6/1771&quot;&gt;office/computer life&lt;/a&gt; to your goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yes, fundamentally, everything that isn't a part of your goal is an obstacle to your goal. That includes drinking--ever--as well as dating and traveling to see your family for Christmas. That's why people go professional: to do their thing all the time. Even then, they still have lifestyle factors in their way. But that doesn't mean you have to go professional to achieve your goals. It just means you'll have to work around it. Is it harder than if you were a billionaire with servants and everything about your life revolved around bodybuilding? Sure. Is it possible despite the obstacles? No one can say but you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-02-28T13:51:57.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11800" CreationDate="2013-02-28T14:40:46.933" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure it's possible, but it depends on what you are personally willing to sacrifice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 168 hours in a week. Even if you work 60 hours in a week and sleep 56, that leaves 52 hours of the week available. If you are single without kids, it is plenty of time to get in the workouts needed to shape your physique the way you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it will require intense attention to the details and time management. You have to figure when you will sleep/recover, when you have time available for working out, strict diet attention and planning, things like that. As a programmer, you have an advantage, since you are used to working within program specification requirements and language constrictions (I'm a programmer as well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things you can do include preparing healthy meals/snacks for the week on the weekend or whatever your days off are. Grill 5-6 chicken breasts, a few steaks and you've got lunches for a week. Throw a chicken breast on top of spinach with some mushrooms and dried fruit, a little vinaigrette and you've got a power lunch. Avoid the temptation to munch while at your desk unless it's a planned snack/meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, you can get some workouts in on your lunch hour if you have a convenient gym, work split shifts, see if you can work some hours from home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, I am at my desk from 6am until 4pm 5 days a week. I regularly put in 15-20 hours a week of triathlon training, including 1/2 hour swims or runs at lunch, and working out immediately when I get home, with long workouts on the weekends. I am down 42 lbs from the heaviest I ever got (208 lbs at 5'10&quot;) when I first started working as a programmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's absolutely doable, but it all depends on your own motivation and how religious you want to be about pursuing what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-02-28T14:40:46.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11806" CreationDate="2013-02-28T18:24:05.317" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was in college, I used to pretty good at keeping up a decent workout schedule (three days a week during normal times, at least one day a week during extremely stressful exam weeks).  My workouts would usually be one of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running ~3 miles;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~45 minutes on the elliptical; or,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General weight lifting (all major body parts, 10-20 reps at average weight, 5-10 reps at very difficult weight).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ended pretty much instantly when I got an internship which required a four hour total commute every day.  I didn't have time for anything except driving, working, and sleeping, and I was basically living out of my car on fast food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, I've gotten a permanent position at the company and have relocated closer so that the commute is much better.  But in the intervening nine months, I've gotten very, very out of shape (definitely the worst shape of my life).  I've gained a lot of weight and my cardiovascular endurance is shot.  I've tried to hop on a treadmill or elliptical and do my old routine, but all that this accomplishes is me getting angry and hating myself for not being able to do it anymore and letting myself go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a trainer and I don't know all the math and science behind fitness; I always just went to the gym and worked out, no problem.  Since my body just doesn't seem capable of doing what it once did, is there a good way I can ease back into it and get back to where I was?  How can I start, and how should I pace myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5320" LastActivityDate="2013-02-28T18:57:55.570" Title="What kind of workout regimen can get me back in it?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11805" CreationDate="2013-02-28T18:57:55.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Expect Less&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're detrained. That's to be expected. Don't try to get back where you were all at once. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jim Wendler poses it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The game of lifting isn‘t an 8-week pursuit. It doesn‘t last as long as your latest program does. Rather, it‘s a lifetime pursuit. If you understand this, then progressing slowly isn‘t a big deal. In fact, this can be a huge weight lifted off your back. Now you can focus on getting those 5 extra pounds rather than 50.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about how hard you can run or what you can lift &lt;strong&gt;today&lt;/strong&gt;. Worry about how you'll perform next year. Plan your workouts around that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Deload&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your running time and intensity and slash it in half or more. Make a mini-version of your old routine and start doing it regularly. Keep a workout log and note the distances, times, and how you feel. Focus on being consistent, even if sometimes you can't finish the workout, or you can't finish the set. You have more on your plate and a tougher schedule now that you're not in college. In six months you'll be surprised at how much progress you've made. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't lift as much as you used to. Fine. The fastest way to get back where you were is to cut the weights in half, or by two-thirds, and start progressing from there. Add five pounds every workout, and if you can't finish a set, drop it by twenty in your next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-02-28T18:57:55.570" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2013-02-28T20:30:26.130" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been an amputee since 1982. I don't think jumping or hopping is a great idea for regular exercising. Often times I was too lazy to use my crutches around the house and would hop on my left leg. I developed severe osteoarthritis in my good knee and recently had to have a total knee replacement. It is all good now and feels better than it has in years, but if I had it all to do over, I would not hop or jump unless necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5323" LastActivityDate="2013-02-28T20:30:26.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11817" CreationDate="2013-03-01T00:46:44.397" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr - Starting to feel slight tendon pain. How long should I rest before it's OK to hit the gym hard again.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently decided to end my winter hibernation and got back into rock climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of my slightly sloppy physique I have been hitting the bouldering gym as hard as my body will allow. Meaning, I may do more than one session a day with a few hours in between but am careful to take rest days so I can take advantage of super-compensation. I'm being careful to warm-up properly by hitting an exercise bike and stretching before each climb session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from a lot of expected soreness and energy dip until my body catches up to the pace I woke up today with some slight tendon pain in my right elbow (ie dominant arm) that subsided by lunch time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concern:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I'm making good progress so far but also take the correct steps to avoid injury. I can switch over to working cardio in the interim but the super-compensation has been working surprising well so far and I'm really motivated to get back in the gym as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's a good preventative rest interval after a minor tendon strain?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: There was no inflammation, just slight localized pain. Probably similar to golfer's/tennis elbow.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to the advice from DavidR. I started taking rest days a lot more seriously and implemented a strict 'one rest day following a climb day' rule. I also occasionally mix in some light extensor/flexor stretches during my climbing sessions. Now that my forearms are conditioned for the intensity, I rarely feel any tendon soreness unless I climb routes that include dynamic moves or a lot of really crimpy holds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once my forearms got better and I could handle longer sessions I actually started to have shoulder pain instead. I dislocated my left shoulder when I was a teen so I have to be careful about straining it. With some basic rotator cuff exercises and ample rest days when it started to hurt the shoulder pain also subsided. I've been climbing 100% for a couple months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T18:24:38.310" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T18:24:38.310" Title="Avoiding Tendinopathy (suggested rest interval to prevent chronic pain)" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11800" CreationDate="2013-03-01T02:56:11.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is: &lt;b&gt;You don't need to be a full time athlete, and being a web developer won't prevent you from reaching what you want to reach.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I (and many of my friends) are software engineers/programmers and we are all in good shape and so you can be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All you need is &lt;b&gt;40 minutes a day, 4 times a week&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working out (which I will explain later on) constitutes 20% of your progress, and what you do in the kitchen 80% (what you eat plays the biggest role).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;b&gt;2 phases&lt;/b&gt; in the body sculpting field: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bulking up (usually done in winter but you can chose whenever you want, takes between 4-6 months depending your level) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cutting (comes after bulking up to shred fat and build definition using the muscle layers built during the bulk up phase).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I will explain both phases in details. All the info I am about to give you are based on several familiar bodybuilding facts I have read and tried through years and personal experience.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;==&gt; you do NOT have to follow it, but I can assure you this works and most bodybuilders do it&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;BULK UP PHASE:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;a) Workout (40 minutes, 4 times a week. You don't need more)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept in a nutshell is: lift heavy &lt;b&gt;with rest&lt;/b&gt; in between sets. Lifting heavy will help you build power and mass, and resting in between sets will help you recover and recharge the glycogen store (energy) of the muscle to keep lifting. &#xA;&lt;br&gt;You should aim for heavy weights and low reps (between 8-12). Heavy weight will challenge you muscles, build the fibers and give you mass. However do not harm yourself, go gradually, start with weights you can lift without injuries and with time you will build resistance and strength and you will be able to lift more.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;Now as I said, working out is 20% of progress and food is 80%. So I discuss nutrition next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;b) Nutrition for bulk up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add mass, you MUST eat a lot. Remember, when you bulk up you will add muscle mass AND a bit of fat (there is no way to not add some fat while bulking up).&#xA;Now, you want to do what they call &quot;clean bulk&quot;, means add maximum muscle mass with minimum fat. So you should Calculate your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;maintenance(BMR) calories&lt;/a&gt;, which is how much your body needs to survive at rest and add to it around 700 to max 800 calories (if you add more you will be adding more fat, but you can try if you want genetics play a big role too).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So for example you are:&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;6'2, 200 pounds and 28 years old ==&gt;Your BMR is: 2061 calories, eat 2061 +700 = 2761 calories to eat per day. Eat real non processed food, with the following (my &lt;b&gt;personal recommendations&lt;/b&gt;):&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 to 1.3 g protein per pound of bodyweight (my personal recommendation, most bodybuilding sites will say 1.5 g/lb body weight).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The remaining calories divide them between carbohydrates and fat (i personally prefer the remaining to be 70% carbs and 30% fat).&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example as we said: 200 pounds and must eat 2761 calories or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  ==&amp;gt; 1.3 g/pound protein --&amp;gt; you should eat: 260 grams protein (which yields 260 *4= 1040 calories)&#xA;  ==&amp;gt; 2761 - 1040 = 1721 calories left&#xA;  ==&amp;gt; 70% carbs = 1204 calories or 301g&#xA;  ==&amp;gt; 514 calories for fat or 57.44g&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's about it in a nutshell, of course with time you will see what your body needs (if you need to eat a bit more/less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;CUTTING PHASE:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it is similar to bulking up with some important modifications (in brief at first):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a) You have to eat less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;b) You have to incorporate 2 days of cardio only (30-40 mins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;c) You can use an extremely efficient technique called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QjSmQPdxoA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cardio acceleration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;a) How much should you eat:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several recommendations by bodybuilders on how much to eat and what to eat, but this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/fat-loss-for-athletes-part-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; summarizes it all.&#xA;Taking the same example as above:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You are 200 pounds&#xA;==&gt; An estimated maintenance calorie intake of 12 cal/lb &lt;b&gt;on training days&lt;/b&gt; (on cardio days eat less)&#xA;==&gt; 2400 calories/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a 20% deficit of calories ==&gt; 2400 * 0.20 = 480 calories. 2400– 480 = 1920 calories /day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For protein: 1.5 g/lb &lt;b&gt;lean&lt;/b&gt; body mass (i prefer 1-1.3 g/lb) = around 1000 calories /day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat will be 25% of total calories ==&gt; 2400 * 0.25 = 600 calories or 67 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates will be the remaining 2400 calories – 1000 – 600 calories from fat = 800 calories or 200 grams.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;b) 2 days cardio&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lift weight 2 days in a row then one day only cardio (30 to 40 minutes MAX). I recommend skip rope and biking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;c) CardioAcceleration&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a technique by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jim-stoppani.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr jim stoppani&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Read more &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/EaseMyDay/posts/596460370368073&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;; I explained it on my Facebook page.&#xA;This is very simple and efficient: do not rest between sets, do 1 minute of any cardio you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2894" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-07-16T12:46:30.607" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T12:46:30.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11800" CreationDate="2013-03-01T03:49:07.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now it's pretty popular to focus on the downsides of office work.  But the reality is that there are downsides of using your body to make a living too...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spent the past few months recovering from an elbow injury from rock climbing and general overtraining.  There was a period there when I was seeing a PT, and not able to lift anything remotely heavy.  Because I'm also a web developer,  I work in an office and have good insurance, which meant I could rest as long as i needed to let my elbow heal, and choose which doctors and physical therapists I dealt with.  If I had a job where I had to use my body, I might not have been able to to work for up to a month or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than just making me able to (literally) afford to get injured, because of my office job, I don't have to worry about strenuous labor's wear and tear on my body (or it even interfering with recovery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to walk away from a web developer job you already have, there might be definitely downsides down the road, including ones that might interfere with your physical goals.  The older you get, the more acute the downsides can become.&#xA;Lots of people complain about the downsides of sitting at a desk, but I really think we web developers have it lucky.  My $0.02&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-03-01T04:19:03.847" LastActivityDate="2013-03-01T04:19:03.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11814" CreationDate="2013-03-01T13:44:27.430" Score="8" ViewCount="916" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long distance runner (marathons and longer) and I'm beginning to incorporate strength training into my routine now that I'm in a bit of an off season for my races. My time for training is somewhat limited by work and family (my choice, priorities) but I have around an hour or so each day during lunch during the week to hit the weights (I have to devote the majority of my weekend to longer runs and I use that as a rest from the weights). So far (a month in) I'm seeing excellent gains and I'm just looking for some suggestions/critiques on my routine. I don't really have any room to budge on the running, that's priority, but I want to make sure that my lifting schedule is set up to maximize the time I have available. Here's a sample of what I'm doing currently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: 5x5 bench, incline DB, &amp;amp; dips followed by 35 minutes of easy running &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: 5x5 squats followed by 45 minutes of speed work (pace varies) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: 5x5 OH press, front raises, lateral raises followed by 35 minutes of easy running &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: 5x5 deadlift, 1 arm DB rows, chins followed by 35 minutes of easy running &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: OH DB extensions, kickback, barbell curls, incline curls followed by 35 minutes of easy running &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: Running (varies, some trail, tempo, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: Long run (12 - 30 miles depending on race schedule)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take rest days from running as my body needs and won't hesitate to drop a run if my legs don't feel up to it. My diet is good, my weight hovers right around 195 and I'm between 10-15% BF depending on what tool I use to get it measured. I've increased my protein intake since I've added the weights and I'm getting between 100 &amp;amp; 140g a day when I lift. Carbs and fat are at good levels, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question(s): Does my lifting program look okay? Are there any exercises I should be adding/removing? Should I swap the lifting schedule around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2013-03-01T14:23:47.000" LastActivityDate="2013-03-01T17:52:59.660" Title="Strength Training Suggestions for Long Distance Running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11812" CreationDate="2013-03-01T15:47:19.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If maximizing running plus doing a little upper-body aesthetic work is what you want, this sounds like a fine program. I'm not knowledgeable about long-distance running, but to me this looks pretty good. You're squatting and deadlifting to maximize your running strength, and doing some bodybuilding in your arms and shoulders. That's in line with your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only tweak I'd make on the lifting side is that if you're going to squat and deadlift, 5x5 is probably too much volume for someone focusing on running. (This might be true with the upper-body work as well, but I'm not sure.) I'd try 3x3, or 10 easy sets of 2, or warming up to a handful of heavy singles, but never go above three reps per set. I'd use more sets to add volume instead of more reps per set. I've heard several anecdotal reports of less running plus more of this kind of strength training improving short- and medium-distance (marathon and under) running performances. This would help keep your strength gains on the neurological side of things, rather than encourage added muscular mass. It will also be easier on your recovery resources, which I expect to be strained by all the running you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need to run more, but that's outside my understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-03-01T15:47:19.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11812" CreationDate="2013-03-01T17:52:59.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;3:23 marathon is ~ 7:45 per mile, and a 3:15 is ~ 7:26 mile. While not that far apart, it's going to take a bit of work to get there, but it is entirely doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would recommend since you already have a very solid base (And now the 30 miler makes sense, for a marathon that would be counterproductive), is to incorporate more up tempo work in your daily runs. Strides, pickups, fartlek/tempo runs, all of these are going to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if your daily run is something like 7 miles at 8:30 pace, I would add a segment such as 8x:30 seconds at 7:00 pace. The entire workout would be 20 mins regular pace, 8x:30 at 7:00, :30 easy (total 16 minutes), 20 mins regular pace. As that becomes easier, you can start doing it at 6:50 pace, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On your speed days, I would separate them and work on both threshold (at or just below race pace on short rest), and interval (Above race pace, long rest between) segments. Interval segments will help raise your top end speed, and threshold segments will increase the amount of time you can spend at that speed. If you do one speed workout a week alternate weeks, if you do two a week alternate between days. If you come into a speed workout and are dead, it's ok to take a day off. Better that, than push on too much fatigue and get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Macmillan Running&lt;/a&gt; has a great tool that you can enter your numbers, and it will tell you goal paces for workouts. One of the biggest mistakes I see is that people go too hard on their easy days, and not hard enough on their tough days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the weights, I wouldn't do anything for legs. Any muscle you add there from lifting will not be really contributing to the marathon goal, and just adds weight and takes up oxygen. Arms, probably won't hurt much other than the weight. Common lore (And it's proven in my n=1 experience) is that each pound of weight either gained or lost is worth about 3 seconds per mile in pace for the same effort. YMMV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-03-01T17:52:59.660" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4504" CreationDate="2013-03-01T18:32:34.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As has been mentioned, don't increase distance and speed in the same week. You'll end up over-taxing something in your leg/foot/hip area (voice of experience). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also can't stress enough the need to make your easy runs truly easy. A recovery run can be beneficial but only if it's done at a substantially reduced pace,i.e., if you run at 9:00 min/mile pace for a typical moderate effort run you may want to stay in the 10:00 - 10:30 range for a recovery run. You'll have to figure it out for yourself but it should be slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest days are also not to be skipped. There's nothing wrong with taking a day if you're overly tired or have an unusual ache. You don't want a minor annoyance to become a major injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-03-01T18:32:34.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11819" CreationDate="2013-03-01T20:37:13.830" Score="5" ViewCount="2408" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might be an odd question. My mom does walking exercises and aerobic videos and some very light weights (5lb). She knows that I make protein shakes (with spinach, berries, flax seed) after my workouts. Is whey protein recommended for elderly people (she's 62) too? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1908" LastActivityDate="2013-03-02T03:07:59.677" Title="Is protein powder recommended for older people after workouts?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11808" CreationDate="2013-03-01T21:06:44.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Strategies for Tendonitis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real general advice is something you probably already know.  Listen to your body, and if something hurts, quit doing it.  If it hurts when you're not active, take a few days off.  And if it continues to hurt after a week or more of rest, go see a doctor and physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advice for gym climbing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're coming straight &quot;off the couch&quot; and trying to do indoor bouldering as much as you can, as hard as you can.  I'd recommend caution about that.  &lt;em&gt;That sounds like a receipt for tendon injury, exactly what you're trying to avoid.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, just ramp up slowly.  &lt;em&gt;All of the structured climbing training plans I've ever seen all assumed that the athlete was experienced and well conditioned, and in pretty good climbing-shape to begin with.&lt;/em&gt;  If you're not up to a basic level of climbing conditioning, the aggressive kind of training I think you're trying to do will just injure you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ramp up more slowly, focus on technique, having fun&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get back into the gym and you're worried about overdoing it, don't try to train for multiple sessions a day.  Just warm up and do one session, then go home.  Don't try to climb more than 2 or 3 times a week, and not on consecutive days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're in the gym on a given night, warm up and stretch first.  Then climb whatever easy boulder problems you can.  Focus on things you can easily onsite.  Gradually work through problems you've done before, until you're repeating routes just below your limit.  Then try and project one or two problems at your limit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its time to go home for the day when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You find yourself repeatedly falling out of moves you could do earlier in the night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You find yourself having to crimp on every single hold, including ones you can usually grab with an open-hand grip.  More than anything else, this is a sign that you've exhausted your fingers, and that your risk of tendon injury is starting to rise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn technique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can usually pick up lots of technical pointers by watching other people climb the same routes as you, and just hanging out in the bouldering area.  You could also look into a skills class or group coaching class, if your gym offers one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Novice Gains&quot; are your friend&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of very basic, semi-structured bouldering will still wear you out, and produce a positive training affect.  You'll develop more strength and endurance in your fingers, build a better base of technique, and get to know more climbers in the gym all without having to kill yourself trying to train multiple sessions a day, or being on a super strict training plan.  Take advantage of this.  Ride that pony until it dies.  &lt;strong&gt;Then&lt;/strong&gt; go out looking for a more aggressive plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-03-01T21:13:06.907" LastActivityDate="2013-03-01T21:13:06.907" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11816" CreationDate="2013-03-02T03:07:59.677" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, whey protein can be helpful for elderly people also. The Journal of The American College of Nutrition, JACN, reports that the elderly have greater protein requirements than younger adults.  Given that your mother is exercising, ingesting whey protein (or other biologic sources of protein), especially immediately following exercise, may well help her minimize age related muscle wasting. Here are some references:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jacn.org/content/23/suppl_6/627S.full&quot;&gt;JACN&lt;/a&gt;  - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Protein tissue accounts for 30% of whole-body protein turnover but that rate declines to 20% or less by age 70. The result of this phenomenon is that &lt;strong&gt;older adults require more protein/kilogram body weight than do younger adults&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;High levels of dietary protein will not affect renal function in an individual who does not have predisposing renal disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.. the requirements for exogenous protein is &lt;strong&gt;at least 1.0 gram/kilogram body weight&lt;/strong&gt; with additional amounts needed to heal wounds or pressure ulcers, to fight infection, or to build new tissue to replace normal losses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regular exercise will stimulate protein tissue turnover&lt;/strong&gt; and maintain muscle mass. However, it is essential that adequate energy and protein be provided from exogenous sources so that muscle tissue and other protein components can be restored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a study in the January 2008 issue of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18090657&quot;&gt;Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care&lt;/a&gt;&quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Elderly individuals are still able to respond to both resistance training and the anabolic signals provided by protein ingestion, provided specific amino acids, such as leucine, are present. Whey proteins are a rich source of these essential amino acids and rapidly elevate plasma amino acids, thus providing the foundations for preservation of muscle mass. Several studies involving &lt;strong&gt;supplementation with whey protein have been shown to be effective in augmenting the effects of resistance exercise, particularly when supplementation occurs in the hours surrounding the exercise training&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though your mother's exercises may not be very intense, it sounds like she is on the right track and the addition of whey protein following her exercises can help maintain muscle mass and should not hurt (unless she has kidney disease as @Evain Plaice pointed out). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-03-02T03:07:59.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="633" CreationDate="2013-03-03T05:26:29.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I posted this question (2 years ago), I've continued to train with heavy compound lifts and to work on my marksmanship. The latter has steadily improved, and I think I can safely claim that, in the big picture, becoming stronger has not affected my steadiness. I am, of course, a single data point, but both my strength and my shooting scores have continually improved over this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've noticed that if I lift that same day I shoot, then that definitely &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; affect steadiness. After a lifting session I'll have a slightly elevated heart rate and general &quot;buzz&quot; for quite some time, often hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T05:26:29.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11724" CreationDate="2013-03-03T10:50:12.760" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think its not completing the specific number of reps you are prescribed to do. The main goal here is to do the reps to failure with provided rest time. This helps in giving the much needed shock to your muscle and help your muscle to grow stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it doesn't count if you do 100 reps with long rest time. Do reps till failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2013-03-03T10:50:12.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11883" CreationDate="2013-03-03T21:47:54.187" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to use an exercise ball as a chair. I have done this previously with several different brands of exercise ball, and it has worked for me in the past. I noticed that some balls were far comfier than others, but apart from the obvious effect of using an appropriately sized ball, I don't understand what causes one ball to be comfier than another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What properties of an exercise ball make it more suitable for purpose as a chair? Where possible, how I can ensure a ball bought unseen (i.e. online) meets that specification?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4844" LastActivityDate="2013-03-09T16:54:35.777" Title="Apart from size, what properties make for a good exercise ball?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-04T15:56:11.800" Score="5" ViewCount="842" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know the correct seated Rows technique. I wanted to use this exercise to develop the middle back particularly the lower Traps/middle Traps and Rhomboids. I already do Deadlifts and Pullups which has given me a broad back and upper traps but middle back is mostly missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a lot of confusion on this on the Internet about short V Handle or long handle. Pull close to the chest or toward the lower abdomen. Elbows should be close to the body or flared out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T01:05:32.237" Title="Correct seated Row technique" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2013-03-04T19:18:22.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm directly answering the question &quot;I would like to know how to make sure we will burn fat when working out instead of muscles.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way no one mentioned is the use of BCAAs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One theory as to how BCAAs exert their substantial fat burning and&#xA;  muscle building effects is this: When present in high amounts during&#xA;  exercise, the body senses high levels of BCAA in the bloodstream which&#xA;  is typically a sign of excessive muscle breakdown. So the body stops&#xA;  muscle breakdown and uses more fat for fuel. At the same time the&#xA;  extra BCAAs in the blood stimulate insulin so the BCAAs are driven&#xA;  directly to the muscle. So the result is people lose body fat and gain&#xA;  muscle at the same time. If my hunch is correct, in order to benefit&#xA;  the most from the fat loss aspect of BCAAs you should make sure you&#xA;  limit carbohydrate consumption during the 2 hour window before your&#xA;  workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BCAAs probably exert most of their anabolic effects through&#xA;  anti-catabolic activity. &lt;strong&gt;In short, they suppress the use of muscle&#xA;  proteins for fuel, thereby sparing the breakdown of muscular protein.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  In part this is because they can sacrifice themselves as fuel. With&#xA;  less muscular protein being broken down by the body during training,&#xA;  the net result is increased protein synthesis and more muscle for you!&#xA;  In a study done on obese people put on a starvation type diet, BCAA&#xA;  supplementation was found to induce anabolism and nitrogen sparing so&#xA;  the subjects burned body fat instead of lean muscle mass, thus sparing&#xA;  muscle protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unknown study:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Supplementation of BCAAs has been shown to trigger significant and&#xA;  preferential losses of visceral body fat. Located in the deeper layers&#xA;  of the body under the subcutaneous fat, this visceral fat tends to be&#xA;  resistant to dieting and is hard to lose. In one study, 25 competitive&#xA;  wrestlers were divided into 1 of 3 diet groups: a diet high in BCAAs,&#xA;  a diet low in BCAAs, and a control diet. The wrestlers stayed on the&#xA;  diets for 19 days. The results showed that the high BCAA group lost&#xA;  the most body fat, 17.3% on average. Much of the fat lost was in the&#xA;  abdominal region. This may give credence to BCAAs effectiveness at&#xA;  &quot;spot reducing&quot; the abs. In another study 2 groups of climbers were&#xA;  divided into a BCAA supplemented group and a control group. Both&#xA;  groups lost weight but the BCAA group actually gained muscle mass&#xA;  while losing fat and the other group lost muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/inmag13.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/inmag13.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I do agree with &quot;you can't guarantee that you're only burning fat and not muscle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2013-03-04T19:18:22.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-04T22:36:51.993" Score="1" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please can someone help me.  I have been looking into the 5x5 stronglifts, and I am keen to get started as I need to get in shape, and I like the look of the results.  I have difficulty doing squats because I was born with half dislocated hip joints.  I have had surgeries to deepen the sockets, and recently found out that I need a hip replacement because the top of my bone 'has died and worn away'.  I can do a few easy ones, but definitely struggle with lunges.  Should i just start with light squats and build up, or should I just avoid these altogether?  I am worried about using heavy weights with squats in case my hip dislocates.  They already click and pop.  Is there anything else I can do to get the same results without doing squats?  I know the squats are an important part of the routine, but want the results and the strength.  Thanks for any advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5341" LastActivityDate="2013-03-04T22:36:51.993" Title="5x5 Stronglift squats and hip replacement" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-03-04T23:52:30.680" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11830" CreationDate="2013-03-05T01:05:32.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geek,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct technique for seated row is pretty simple.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/seated-cable-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/seated-cable-row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your knees slightly bent to reduce stress on your knee joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not hump your upper back as this will increase stress on your shoulder joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not hyperextend your lower back when you finish as this may put more stress on your lower back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull close to the abdomen has been shown to reduce stress on the neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding different types of handles, EMG studies show no significant difference regarding muscle activation (lats, rhomboids, upper traps and biceps).  However, closer to the body with underhand-gripped has shown to activate the biceps, rhomboids and middle traps a little bit more.  Do not allow your elbows to flare outward as this will increase the stress both on the shoulder and the elbow joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to add bent-over rows (barbells or dumbbells) since these are the most effective exercises for the lats and upper back according to EMG studies.  If you haven't yet, you should try some prone T's to isolate your middle traps even more.  You can google or youtube this exercise.  If this is too easy, you can try to perform the prone T's on a stability ball.  Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T01:05:32.237" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14859" CreationDate="2013-03-05T12:12:23.470" Score="5" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BACKGROUND&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For about four months now I have been on a low carb diet, and during that time I went from 93 to 78kg. I have been lifting some weights (some squats, overhead pushes, bent over rows) at a low rep (6-8) and set (1-2) count, once or twice a week, just for maintaining the existing muscle mass. Im quite sure most of the weight lost was fat. Some calculations made with my (a bit inncaurate) bathroom scales that has BF% measurement, I concluded that around 75% - 80% of the weight lost was fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my diet was actually based on changing eating choices/patterns, not counting grams and calories, and I mean to keep it, I cant really control accurately my calorie and protein intake. Still, I would be guessing that Im in or near to a caloric deficit. The diet bases on removing sweets, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other similar carbohydrate sources and severely limiting fruit. Ocasionally (once a week or two) I allow myself for a carbohydrate spike, eating pretty much anything I want, pizza or chocolate included, just to keep the diet maintainable in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I wanted to begin a training plan around 2 physical and 1 swordsmanship technical workout a week (please see this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11659/making-a-training-plan-for-medieval-swordsmen-reenactment&quot;&gt;Making a training plan for medieval swordsmen / reenactment&lt;/a&gt; question, it could use some more good aswers). I will be mostyly focusing on endurance/90sec burst interval adaptation rather than strength during the physical preparation workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im afraid that my protein intake might bee to small for such a training plan. Most probably I still am in caloric deficit, as my weight isnt yet stable (Fluctuates +- 1kg, with a overal declining tendency, at least up till now). Thats why I was considering including some protein supplementation to make sure i get enough of protein to prevent muscle loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;QUESTION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While my diet includes quite a lot of eggs, dairy and different forms of meat, I cant be sure if its fit for some additional conditioning training. Is adding some supplementation &quot;just in case&quot; a good idea? If so, how much should I add? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also (I dont want to repeat the background section in another question) can the conditioning training interfere with my body recomposition program, which is based on eating pattern changes? Can this program hinder my efforts to improve my endurance/condition? Please note, im not trying to build muscle mass while losing weight. I want to improve how long I can be active in high intensity 90sec bursts, without hidnering my fat-loss-ability and ruining my existing strength and muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T01:22:37.500" Title="Protein supplementation when doing conditioning on caloric deficit" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-05T12:17:35.090" Score="3" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am practicing myself on the &lt;strong&gt;Total Immersion&lt;/strong&gt; style of swimming, as I am practicing for long distance &lt;strong&gt;triathlon&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a lot of practice I am doing the &lt;em&gt;2 beat kicks&lt;/em&gt; with little difficulty.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone tell me the optimum angle the body (core) should turn during the raise of an arm?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sometimes I feel that I turn my core less and sometimes more.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know if more detail is required on this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-07-06T06:34:20.133" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T06:34:20.133" Title="Body angle during freestyle" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;ironman&gt;&lt;ironman70.3&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11837" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11843" CreationDate="2013-03-05T12:47:23.843" Score="5" ViewCount="12070" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to do pectoral stretches? A specialist recommended that besides avoiding bench presses and strengthening my back, I should stretch my pectoral muscles as often as possible, as they have grown accustomed to being in a shortened state and will actively try to make me slouch. Preferably those stretches should use no equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T17:35:40.673" Title="Proper way to stretch the pectoral muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11841" CreationDate="2013-03-05T13:52:43.703" Score="5" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the normal weight training motions (e.g. bench press lifting it up and down) and holding a weight at a certain point (e.g. holding a weight in the middle of a press for a long amount of time)? Why is the first more effective? Does the second have any specific benefits that you could elaborate on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5346" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T17:21:57.550" Title="Method of exercising" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11840" CreationDate="2013-03-05T14:51:26.183" Score="6" ViewCount="6442" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just completed the Newport Half Marathon and had an pretty steady heart rate of 88% of my max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My details are &lt;a href=&quot;http://connect.garmin.com/activity/279791619&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this good?  Generally speaking, what should the heart rate be for a half marathon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5347" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2013-03-05T16:50:07.260" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T05:37:42.517" Title="Heart Rate for a Half Marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;racing&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11839" CreationDate="2013-03-05T15:55:11.673" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your max heart rate will happen typically at the end of the marathon, when you're making your final push for the finish line. Comparing your heart rate throughout the majority of the marathon to this maximum isn't very meaningful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you just worked really hard right at the end and you'd end up with your steady heart rate being a lower percentage of your max. Or maybe you don't push that hard at the end, so your steady heart rate is not that much lower than your max at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady heart rate of 170. Pushed hard right at the end and had a max heart rate of 200. Result: 85%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady heart rate of 170. Push hard right at the end, but you're in better shape than the first example , so your max heart rate is only 185. Result: 91%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady heart rate of 170. Didn't push very hard near the end, but you're also not in as good shape as the second example, so your max heart rate is also 185. Result: 91%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady heart rate of 170, but you maintained that right until the finish line. Result: 100%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady heart rate of 170, but you encounter a hill in the middle of the race. You attempt to maintain a good pace over the hill. That pushes your heart rate up to 195. Result: 87%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady heart reate of 170, but you encounter a hill in the middle of the race and just take it slow and easy. This pushes your heart rate up to 180. Result: 94%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could give more examples, but hopefully you see that there is no meaningful conclusion that you can draw between the ratio of steady-heart-rate to max-heart-rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T15:55:11.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11838" CreationDate="2013-03-05T17:21:57.550" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;John,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave Liepmann is correct.  However, the concept is called Isometric hold vs. Full Range of Motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full Range of Motion exercises are more functional and have been shown to reduce stress on the joints.  In this case, it's the shoulder the the elbow joints.  Isometric hold has been shown to recruit more muscle fibers, but also increase stress on the joints (shoulders and elbows with bench press).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because our body and joints are more suited for full range of motion with our daily activities.  Think about it, we tend to get up and move, pick up things and put them down, constantly moving from one place to another.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this being said, there is nothing wrong with training with Isometric hold, just as long as you have a goal and is functional and specific to that goal.  If your goal is to recruit more muscle fibers, then you should try to train with Isometric hold every now and then.  I say 1-2 times per month to reduce stress on the joints (squats, bench presses, shoulder presses, etc.).  It takes time to get used to this type of training methodology.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example is to look at the way most offensive linemen train.  They do train with Isometric hold (typically for about 5-10 seconds) to give their running backs and quarterbacks sometime to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, just making sure the training methodology is suited for your goals and is functional to your activities, whether you are a runner, weight lifters or any athlete to reduce injuries and for best results.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hope this helps!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T17:21:57.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11837" CreationDate="2013-03-05T17:24:01.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would look at some of the stretches used for swimming, and while the pectoral muscles play some part in posture, one of the major causes of slouching/rounded shoulders is over development of the front deltoid compared to the rear deltoid. This is extremely common in swimmers, and can often be seen in people that emphasize front muscular development and neglect rear development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usmsswimmer.com/201001/swimmer_stretching.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stretches 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewMiscArticle.aspx?TabId=1645&amp;amp;mid=702&amp;amp;ItemId=700&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stretches 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T17:24:01.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11837" CreationDate="2013-03-05T17:35:40.673" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;KL,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your pectoral has two portions and two muscle groups: the upper portion and the lower portion, the pec major and the pec minor.  So to effectively target both portions and both muscles, here are two simple stretches that you should try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Corner stretch for the entire lower and upper chest and mainly the pec major &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YyOrh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This corner stretch to mainly target the pec minor, which has been shown to be more problematic in the PT world from my experience.  &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lafCC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you do not have any shoulder instability problems before doing these stretches as they may cause some pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should feel the stretches in the muscles, not in the shoulder joints.  Try not to lean forward to far in the beginning to reduce stress on the shoulder joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I recommend holding the stretches for about 20-30 seconds, repeat 2-3 times and perform them at least 2-3 times per day for best results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In addition to these stretches, you can try this one on a foam roller for 5 minutes before bed for an awesome stretch of the entire chest, shoulders and biceps.  &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hVRn2.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T17:35:40.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-05T22:21:31.760" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that trainers or other experienced body builders are great to work out with because they can help with form and method. One of the biggest issues I have is muscle isolation, meaning that while trying to workout a certain muscle group, I actually work out another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Tricep dips, I end up extending out too far and end up working my shoulders instead of my triceps. I realized this after watching training videos. But I never felt like it was working my shoulders so I never thought about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how can a person who is training alone help to realize when they are not isolating the target muscle group and prevent doing so? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watching videos is a great way to get the form right but since no one is there watching me, what can I do to make sure my form is correct and that I'm isolating the target muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T23:08:29.377" Title="Ensuring muscle isolation when training alone" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11844" CreationDate="2013-03-05T23:08:29.377" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure focusing on isolation is correct, especially in the example you provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example you gave (tricep dips), the shoulder does play an important role, and so do the pecs. They're often used as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_kinetic_chain_exercises&quot;&gt;closed-chain&lt;/a&gt; alternative to the bench press, and closed chain exercises are chosen because they &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; isolate a muscle group, but force antagonistic muscle pairs and supporting muscles to work simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should simply focus on proper form for whatever exercise you are doing. That may or may not result in isolation. You will generally only be able to isolate a single muscle through the use of a machine (leg extensions isolate the quads, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding proper form, you can record a video of yourself and share it with an online community (this website, t-nation, starting strength, etc.) for feedback. You should also be including very light sets at the start of an exercise (empty bar, or bodyweight) so that you can practice and lock in the form you want to keep throughout the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-03-05T23:08:29.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-05T23:38:46.240" Score="4" ViewCount="618" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I usefully interpret running metrics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't been running for long.  I've got a heart monitor and a GPS watch (all the gear and no idea), but I get a buzz from seeing the metrics anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know how to interpret the metrics I collect though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the key elements to look for in &lt;a href=&quot;http://connect.garmin.com/activity/comparison?activityId=279791619&amp;amp;activityId2=278035052&amp;amp;activityId3=275758933&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these metrics&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5347" LastEditorUserId="5347" LastEditDate="2014-01-07T13:51:17.727" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T02:03:08.297" Title="How to interpret running metrics" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-09T03:43:44.507" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5069" CreationDate="2013-03-06T00:59:19.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone is giving you the answer you're looking for. If I understand this question correctly, you are asking about keeping your abs engaged or taut at ALL times. Yes this most definitely works! I started &quot;holding in&quot; my stomach in high school, and I always had ab definition without much effort. Lately, I've stopped and there is a huge difference. I am training myself to start doing it again. Keep your abs tight as if you were doing crunches. It is challenging at first, as you have to train yourself but eventually it becomes something you just do without thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2013-03-06T00:59:19.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11848" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11849" CreationDate="2013-03-06T17:07:42.803" Score="4" ViewCount="588" Body="&lt;p&gt;They say there are more than one types of step. Is there any exam that can help me know my foot angle/type/format/etc, so i can buy running shoes that are good for my feet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-03-20T19:44:32.157" LastActivityDate="2013-03-20T19:44:32.157" Title="How can I analyze my running gait?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11848" CreationDate="2013-03-06T18:53:38.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are trying to determine if you are an over or under pronator (or a neutral runner).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pronating is the movement your foot makes as it strikes the ground. Over pronation is when the foot rolls in at more than 15% causing the big toe to do most of the push off. &#xA;Under pronating or supination is when the foot rolls in at less than 15% leaving most of the stress on the outside of the foot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to determine this is by examining an old pair of running shoes and looking at the wear pattern. If the majority of wear is on the inside of the shoe you're likely an over pronator. If it's on the outside, under pronator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of your local running specialty stores should be able to provide you with a proper gait analysis and help you get in the correct pair of shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-03-06T18:53:38.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11800" CreationDate="2013-03-06T23:45:47.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two suggestions for you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One: would your company consider allowing you to install either a standing desk or a treadmill desk.  Although you couldn't run while you work, you could keep more active than just sitting.  Another alternative is to replace your chair with an exercise ballor a chair that requires that you exercise your core muscles to keep from falling over.&#xA;Two: Check out the book, You aAre Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren. He shows lots of ways to exercise without fancy equipment.  You could take a break every hour and do a few reps.  You might be surprised how consistent work yields results. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5362" LastActivityDate="2013-03-06T23:45:47.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-07T00:11:21.977" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a half marathon I spent the week before carb loading and hydrating.  I'm running a 6 mile soon and would like some 5Km races too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I change my diet for different length races?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should terrain affect my diet?  Roar running requires less raw power then undulating gress and mud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5347" LastActivityDate="2013-03-07T14:17:59.400" Title="Change in eating habits from Half Marathon to 6 mile" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11852" CreationDate="2013-03-07T14:17:59.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've personally never altered my diet for anything shorter than a marathon (my current half PR is 1:29). The purpose of increasing carbs for longer distances (runs longer than 2 hours) is to maximize glycogen stores. I would be skeptical that your body would actually need any extra stores for a run lasting less than 2 hours. A sensible diet of 60-70% carbs the week before a long race/run should be sufficient for most. The last thing you'll want to do the day before the race is gourge yourself or eat anything that your body is not used to processing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some articles that you may find helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathontraining.com/articles/art_39th.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Science of Carbohydrate Loading&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathonrookie.com/carb-loading.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carb Loading&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/fill-er&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runner's World Article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-03-07T14:17:59.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2013-03-07T16:58:47.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running in minimal shoes for the past year. It feels to me that they're better for your knees, but possibly transfer some of this strain to your calves and feet. I don't regret the transition, but twice I've needed to stop running for a few weeks when I &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7319/do-the-calves-achilles-muscles-become-especially-sensitive-when-barefoot-running&quot;&gt;hurt  my calves&lt;/a&gt;, and my latest 10k has left my foot so sensitive that I haven't been able to run for days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/barefoot-running-can-cause-injuries-too/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This recent article in the New York Times&lt;/a&gt; says something similar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those who believe in barefoot running often point out that humans ran and walked without shoes for millennia before footwear was invented. They argue that being unshod is normal for humans and should reverse past injuries related to modern running shoes and prevent future ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But anecdotal evidence, including from physicians who treat runners, indicates that some people who take up barefoot running develop entirely new aches and injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes on to quote a study from 2011 which shows that a significant portion of barefoot runners develop bone marrow edema to dangerous levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be that this is the ultimate trade-off- leaving our knees in better shape but risking our feet. Right now, I'm still willing to take this deal, but if my feet don't recover I may yet reconsider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-03-07T16:58:47.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11846" CreationDate="2013-03-07T18:24:16.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with GPS and heart rate and all the data that the little gizmo's give you is that they are short term metrics, that are generally only applicable to that day and point in time. Yet everyone wants to use them to change the way they train tomorrow, and it doesn't work like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your heart rate. Today you go out and you run a 6 mile out and back course, and it's windy and cold, and you end up with an average heart rate of 180. Four days after that, you run the exact same course, and it's windless with moderate temperatures, and your average heart rate is 165. Did you suddenly gain fitness in those four days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Data is data. It is best collected and averaged out over long periods of time (months to years), and instead of comparing one week to the next, you look for trends in whatever metrics you are tracking. So if you are looking at heart rate, you want to see a general trend lower over the same types of courses/conditions as you get fitter. Or, if your heart rate is staying the same, hopefully you are running it in a faster time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, if you track it and over the last 3-4 weeks you are noticing a rise in the heart rate, then you can look at factors that influence it. Have you been stressed, eating different, not sleeping, overtraining, etc. and correct it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason that I stated the only metric that matters is race times, is that you can train according to the numbers all you want, but if your race times are not improving, then either you have maxed out your abilities, or there is something else that you need to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW, I track mileage and training times, and I track power with a powermeter on the bike, but I've never tracked heart rate at all. If they ever come out with a commercially viable powermeter for shoes (There are some attempts out there, but I'm not impressed yet) I'll be the first one in line, but HR (to me) just isn't a great metric, there's too much that influences it. However, other people swear by HR based training, so your mileage may vary on that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-03-07T18:24:16.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11862" CreationDate="2013-03-07T19:42:49.487" Score="6" ViewCount="6126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently had issues with my IT Band, did all the stretches and PT. And it did not work.&#xA;I recently decided to try out my old pair of running shoes(on a whim), that originally were bothering my knees(interior side). Amazing my outside IT Band seemed to be a lot better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, did some research, and may have realized I'm an under pronator, especially in my new shoes i bought that corrected my other knee issues. Looks like i went from Over-pronation in one pair to Under-pronation in the new pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for ideas, stretching(pre-post) and particular muscle work that may help correct or alleviate the problem. I'm going next week to be properly fitted for shoes at a local running store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So hopefully with the correct footwear, my new IT Band Strap, and some good running techniques i can put this issue behind me and enjoy the trails again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, i see a lot of books on amazon about proper running technique, anyone read any of these and recommend one that shows how to train and practice proper technique, and maybe shows ideas to overcome common injures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS. i could not tag this topic correctly, not enough points. Not sure if someone can help with that.&#xA;(stretching supination under-pronation it-band)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 4.15.2013:&lt;/strong&gt; So its been a month since i last updated this. About 3 weeks ago i went and got a proper fitted running show and insoles. Definitely less cushioning and lighter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've ramped up to 3+ continues miles and 6 miles with a few 30sec walking breaks. And &lt;strong&gt;NO IT Band pain! Woot.&lt;/strong&gt; Doing a few mins of stretching(before and after), leg muscle workouts(especially hips), jumping and stepping up on exercise box/platforms(about 18&quot;). But most of all, I really believe it was the shoes over everything. Its expensive to get fitted, but all the time and money i spent on other remedies, it would have been cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, my problem looked to be Supination(bow legged) caused by improper running shoes, hopefully this will help other people out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5288" LastEditorUserId="5288" LastEditDate="2013-04-15T14:43:59.570" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T14:43:59.570" Title="Stretches and muscle work for Supination or Underpronation" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11858" CreationDate="2013-03-07T19:52:00.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't already have a foam roller, get one!  They're great for IT band issues and warming up/loosening muscles.  I personally use a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thestick.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stick&lt;/a&gt; for the same thing (pre &amp;amp; post run muscle stretching) but I don't have IT band issues so can't speak to the efficacy of a Stick on the IT band specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5259" LastActivityDate="2013-03-07T19:52:00.790" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="509" CreationDate="2013-03-07T20:21:36.387" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Runner's trots&quot; or an increase in the need to hit the port-a-john during or after a run is most often attributed to a general decrease in blood flow to the intestines, altered hormones and absorption levels, and “jostling” of the gut (think about what happens to a ketchup bottle when you turn it upside down and smack it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twentysixtwo.org/images/Runners_Trots_article.pdf&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; to an short article that goes a bit more in depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-03-07T20:21:36.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-07T21:16:00.897" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am preparing for marathon and I feel the need to change my diet to prepare better for this event. What is your experience? Which changes did in your diet helped you most? What was hardest to give up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5367" LastActivityDate="2013-03-16T13:00:13.947" Title="Which diet helps you best during marathon preparations?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-03-24T01:13:30.140" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11858" CreationDate="2013-03-08T02:32:08.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is alot of good info about running injuries and ITB syndrome, so I'll try to highlight some of the answers that will help to answer your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding Warm-up&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Ryan gives a good running warm up with video links in answering this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7390/best-warm-up-for-running/7403#7403&quot;&gt;Best warm up for running&lt;/a&gt;.  Generally dynamic exercises are recommended prior to the workout.  Static stretching would be done post exercise, not before.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding Possible Causes of Running Injuries:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Ivo's answer covers both intrinsic and extrinsic factors to consider, including proper shoes and running surfaces etc.: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips/965#965&quot;&gt;How to run without damaging your feet, knees or hips. &lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With ITB problems two of the extrinsic factors to consider would be your shoes, as you have already identified, and the running surface. Consider the slope of the running surface to avoid stressing the side of your knee.  Run on alternate sides of the road to avoid one leg always being on the outer slope. As for technique, see below.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding Strengthening Exercise:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said you did all the stretches and PT. Hopefully your PT included hip strengthening exercises.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/04/us-leg-injuries-idUSTRE54342G20090504&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; discusses the role of hip muscle weakness in overuse lower leg injuries:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stretching the hip muscles is important for runners as well, according to Ferber. However, he said, studies indicate that strengthening the muscles may be much more important when it comes to reducing injury risk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With ITB syndrome, weak hip musculature should be addressed. &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthrunning.com/2011/02/the-itb-rehab-routine-video-demonstration/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; gives some good ITB strengthening exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching and Myofascial Release&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This q/a that will give you additional info about: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3796/itbs-recovery-methods-techniques-advice/3802#3802&quot;&gt;ITBS&lt;/a&gt;. Here is a video link on how to &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/AAuv9BUq_yY?t=1m29s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;use a tennis ball&lt;/a&gt; for myo-fascial release that may help you get more specific than with a foam roller.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running Technique&lt;/strong&gt;, here are 2 book links from our site's amazon store:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/0972553762&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Nicholas Romanov's Pose Method of Running&lt;/a&gt; was already mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://astore.amazon.com/howtogetbackinshape-20/detail/1416549447&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chi Running&lt;/a&gt; is another running technique to prevent injury.  The book is good, but it may take going to one of their workshops to get the form: anterior to midfoot strike, minimalist shoes, and developing the skill of &quot;body sensing&quot; to identify causes of pain/injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barefoot or Minimalist - Many runners find switching to barefoot running eases pain.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This study compares four &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/2012%20UNC%20Running%20Impact%20Study.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;different types of running forms&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;traditionally shod rearfoot strike,&#xA;barefoot/minimalist anterior footstrike, Chi, and minimalist shoe rearfoot strike&quot; (Pose runners were not included because they were unable to recruite enough for the study):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Traditional shoe wearers were 3.41 times more likely to report injuries than experienced&#xA;  minimalist shoe wearers (46.7% for traditional shoes vs. 13.7% for minimalist shoes, X²=77.4, 1df,&#xA;  p&amp;lt;.001, n = 888) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Contacting the ground with a more anterior footstrike pattern may reduce eccentric knee work1 and possibly reduce the high number of&#xA;  overuse knee injuries commonly seen in runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experienced minimalist runners reported fewer overall injuries&lt;/strong&gt; and fewer injuries&#xA;  specifically at the hip, knee, lower leg, ankle, and foot than did traditional shoe wearing runners.&#xA;  Chi runners also reported fewer injuries than did rearfoot striking runners. &lt;strong&gt;Overall, runners who reported utilizing a more anterior footstrike pattern reported fewer injuries than rearfoot striking runners.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T02:32:08.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-08T08:26:47.087" Score="0" ViewCount="7815" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know the exact formula to calculate metabolic age. How do i get the average bmr of people in the chronological age group? Is here any link I could get regarding the calculation?&#xA;Explanation in detail would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5368" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T11:22:01.760" Title="I want to know the exact formula to calculate metabolic age" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11864" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11874" CreationDate="2013-03-08T09:33:42.520" Score="2" ViewCount="4447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing 100 pushups everyday and now I'm afraid whether this will cause damage to the shoulder joints?&#xA;Will this help me to gain Chest muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5333" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T18:35:12.027" Title="Does it damage the joints if we do pushups everyday?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11910" CreationDate="2013-03-08T09:39:24.050" Score="7" ViewCount="1196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a grad student I find it hard to concentrate on my work after exercising (cardio+weights) and I can only do after taking a nap. &#xA;I would like to know if its healthy to have a nap after the work outs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4884" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T02:33:43.977" Title="Nap after exercising" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11863" CreationDate="2013-03-08T11:15:11.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can check out the page at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate#BMR_estimation_formulas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia, at the section BMR estimation formulas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several formulas there, I'll not copy/paste everything, better to look there for more explanations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Original Harris-Benedict Equation [1919]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for men: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OgCvv.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for women: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XBggO.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where P is total heat production at complete rest, m is the weight, h is the height, and a is the age, and with the difference in BMR for men and women being mainly due to differences in body weight.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OgCvv.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt; For example, a 55 year old woman weighing 130 lb (59 kg) and 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) tall would have a BMR of 1272 kcal per day or 53 kcal/h (61.3 watts).&#xA;In 1984, the original Harris-Benedict equations were revised&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XBggO.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt; using new data. In comparisons with actual expenditure, the revised equations were found to be more accurate.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1ZhZo.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Revised Harris-Benedict Equation [1984]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for men: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1ZhZo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for women: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/inkFk.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Mifflin St Jeor Equation [1990]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GJyCg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; where s is +5 for males and −161 for females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Katch-McArdle Formula (BMR)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SfJC5.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; where LBM is the lean body mass in kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Cunningham Formula (RMR)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8jcmV.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; where LBM is the lean body mass in kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastEditorUserId="5238" LastEditDate="2013-03-08T11:22:01.760" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T11:22:01.760" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11868" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-08T11:25:26.360" Score="2" ViewCount="11462" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mild case of Posterior Tibial Tendonitis, the physio has applied some Kinesio tape for support whilst it heals up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding of tendons and muscles was that there wasn't much friction between them, if there were, moving would be a very painful experience.  So, given that the tendons are lubricated via the inter-muscle membranes, how can applying tape to the skin provide any support at all to the tendons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB:  I'm not asking for medical advise, I trust my physio.  I'm just curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5347" LastEditorUserId="5347" LastEditDate="2013-03-08T11:32:56.767" LastActivityDate="2013-11-29T15:46:02.397" Title="How can Kinesio tape provide support for tendonitis" Tags="&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;&lt;treatment&gt;&lt;compression&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11865" CreationDate="2013-03-08T11:58:25.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Naps help the learning process, the brain sorts out the stuff you've learned.  Napping and studying go hand in hand.  Likewise, rest after exercise helps the learning process too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, nap if you feel you want to, it'll only have good affects on both your fitness and your studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5347" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T11:58:25.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11865" CreationDate="2013-03-08T12:14:10.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry, you are no the only one who had this issue, so did I when I first started out my workout sessions, but now after 2 months of continuous workouts, my brain and body has fine tuned itself to accept the strain during the work outs. In short, you'll get used to it, and you will able to study without naps in the long run. &#xA;Sleep when ever your body feels so, dont fight against your body because you will only be hurting yourself.&#xA;Keep working out and stay fit!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5368" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T12:14:10.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11868" CreationDate="2013-03-08T14:21:35.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not so much support for the tendons. One of the theories behind it is that it helps lift the skin away from the structures underneath it (microscopically) which allows a little more room for swelling, which in turn helps minimize pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second theory is that it acts much like rubbing an area does, which interrupts the pain signal to the brain. It is also theorized that it allows natural movement, while at the same time providing a proprioceptive feedback that helps limit the full range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies so far have shown no real benefit to kinesio tape, but there are people that swear by it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T14:21:35.457" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11868" CreationDate="2013-03-08T14:25:44.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It works for my shoulder (supraspinatus) tendinosis. It keep my shoulder in the right place and give me more strenght, also alivates pain, activate the muscule and give me more movility that improve my condition.&#xA;The creator Dr. Kenso Kase assures that tape gently lift the skin and other tissue covering the muscules and that improves circulation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5370" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T14:25:44.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11868" CreationDate="2013-03-08T17:16:49.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is that it doesn't help with tendonitis.  Randonmized controlled trial studies show that there are no benefits with kinesiotaping and tendonitis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you do not ask for medical advice and you said that you trust your physiotherapist, but I want to ask you this question, &quot;Why do you come up here and questioning your physiotherapist, and not asking your physiotherapist about this treatment plan right in front of him/her?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is that you need to know what causes the &quot;mild posterior tib tendonitis - PTT in the first place?&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be from overtraining, bad shoe wear, poor foot alignment, tightness in the Achilles tendon and hamstrings, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this being said, the best treatment for any tendonitis is eccentric strengthening, proper training regimen to include rest and hydration, deep tissue massage, ice massage for pain management, and of course lots of flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your physiotherapist again on how did you get this problem in the first place.  Then go from there.  Remember if the tire is low, and you keep filing it up with air, but never wonder why it was low in the beginning, then you only fixing the symptoms, not the problem. You might have to do this for a very long time if you keep thinking this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T17:16:49.587" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11864" CreationDate="2013-03-08T18:15:51.453" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are seeking two answers here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will you have shoulder problems if you continue to perform 100 push-ups everyday?  The answer is it depends.  If you have been doing 100 push-ups everyday, and you haven't had any shoulder problems, then you probably won't have a shoulder problem in the short run. However, you might want to consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11837/proper-way-to-stretch-the-pectoral-muscles/11843#11843&quot;&gt;pec stretches&lt;/a&gt; and some back exercises to prevent a potential shoulder problem in the long run.  This common problem in the long run is called shoulder impingement due to muscular imbalances (from your push-ups - strengthening the front - chest and shoulders, but no strengthening the back muscles - so add chin-ups and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/seated-cable-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rows&lt;/a&gt; when you do your push-ups from now on).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will doing 100 push-ups everyday help you gain chest muscles?  The answer for this question is also depending on your goals.  If your goal is to continue to improve muscular endurance, then you have to continue to increase the load by doing higher reps (ie. long distance runners).  However, if your goal is to increase muscle size, then you have to follow the progressive overload principle by increasing the load to your chest muscles by picking weights/exercises that you can only perform around 8-15 reps with proper rest (every other day).  This can be done with variations (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/decline-push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;decline push-ups&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/plyo-push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plyo push-ups&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/clap-push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clap push-ups&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/weighted-push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;weighted push-ups&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles till get used to a certain load and movement pattern after a while (4-6 weeks) based upon the neuromuscular adaptation principle.  So, you have to continue to challenge your muscles whether your goal is to improve muscular endurance or increasing muscle size.  And of course, proper nutrition is vital for either goal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this answer is helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T18:15:51.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11875" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11876" CreationDate="2013-03-08T21:17:08.533" Score="6" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a ton of variations of the question but never found one that answered my question.&#xA;I understand why only one set of dead lifts because of the squats. My question is why is the weight on the deadlift so low? I've worked up to 425lb 1RM on my dead lift and now it has me starting out at 190lbs x5 on the first week and by week 12 I'm not even at my 5RM. Now I love deadlifts and want to keep my 425 1RM up but don't think I'll be able to with this program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I digress. My question is why such a drop in weight on the DL?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5372" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-04-17T20:12:05.390" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T20:12:05.390" Title="Should I drop my deadlift to 190# while switching to StrongLifts if I can already deadlift 425# x1?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11875" CreationDate="2013-03-08T22:36:40.473" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Don't Drop Your Deadlift!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't listen to StrongLifts' recommendation of dropping your deadlift weight by more than 50%. It's a 5x5 program with deadlifts at 1x5, so you should be dropping the weight a little bit, perhaps 20 or 25%, but definitely not from 425 to 190. You would lose strength or at least leave strength gains on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your numbers, it looks like your deadlift is great, your squat lags a little behind your bench press, and your press needs to catch up with your bench. That's fine. What I'd do is start the 5x5 progression at something like 75 or 85% of your 5RM numbers across the board. For your deadlift, that might be around 300 pounds (you don't mention your 5RM for that lift, so I'm guessing). That leaves plenty of room to improve while still challenging yourself. The same goes for your bench--it would be absurd to drop a 275 5RM bench press to 150 5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that while you may still be a novice in the sense that you have potential to improve on a linear progression, it's necessary to modify novice programs when you have existing strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T22:36:40.473" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11848" CreationDate="2013-03-08T23:16:13.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't remember the name of the place around where I live but there are places that will record you running and have it analyzed and tell you what type of runner you are and also the best type of shoe for you (which they obviously carry but you don't have to buy). Sorry I can't find the website but here's one I came across that may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-shoes/take-wet-test-learn-your-foot-type&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Learn Your Foot Type&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5372" LastActivityDate="2013-03-08T23:16:13.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11879" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15813" CreationDate="2013-03-09T11:00:06.487" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my strength/hypertrophy based training program, I've chosen following exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts (2 work sets of 4 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press (3 work sets of 5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ring Dips (3 work sets of 9)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-Legged Squats (3 work sets of 7)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull Ups/Chin Ups (3 work sets of 8-10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted Rows (3 work sets of 8-10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Bench Press (3 work sets of 6-8)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; I feel this is a bit too much volume for one workout, I'm currently alternating between doing [1,2,4,5,7] and [1,3,4,6,7]. I wonder if this makes sense or if I rather should stick with one of them for a longer period of time (like 2 weeks or so) and then switch to the other one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Relevant details:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm doing 2 mins rest between sets and 0-2 warm-up sets for each exercise, so one workout is about 1 hour. I'm doing that 3x/week. I also do some low intensity running (5km) 2x/week. I started training 7 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other advice on my program is greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T20:32:10.310" Title="Alternating exercises from workout to workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-09T13:47:46.743" Score="11" ViewCount="726" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always wanted to lift weights and honestly have no idea where to begin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get started? Do I need to join a gym? find a personal trainer? buy a book and weights? find a friend who weightlifts? What's the best way for me to get involved in the weightlifting community and start lifting weights myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something I can do by myself (at home), or is it a good idea for me to train with others (at a gym or club)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal details:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;My goal is mainly to gain muscle. I've been focusing on cardio a lot recently (running, zumba), and have lost quite a bit of weight from eating healthily. Now I'd like to define my muscles a bit more and get stronger (especially upper body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5376" LastEditorDisplayName="user5376" LastEditDate="2013-03-09T14:56:29.513" LastActivityDate="2013-03-09T21:21:29.733" Title="What's the best way for me to start weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11880" CreationDate="2013-03-09T14:11:27.317" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Pick a goal&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do you want to lift? To look good, to be healthy, to improve athletic performance, to win a bodybuilding competition, to challenge yourself? Your goals determine the kind of lifting you'll want to focus on. I'll assume that you want a basic combination of health, fitness, and looking good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Beginner weightlifting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any beginner program should be fairly simple and focus on whole-body lifts. This means you'll use free weights (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells) to do compound (as opposed to isolation) movements. These lifts include squats, deadlifts, bench presses, chin-ups and pull-ups, overhead and bench presses, cleans, snatches, dips, and rows. Programs, gyms, and trainers that avoid these exercises might not be the best fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Resources&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stumptuous.com/category/starting/starting_weight_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stumptuous&lt;/a&gt; is a solid resource for people, especially women, new to weightlifting. However, as far as I know they're light on specific programs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that, get a copy of Starting Strength (the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt; is a good overview and quick-start guide; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; is a full description of the program, including excellent instructions on the lifts) and start lifting. Take it easy at first. After after a month or so, find a trainer or gym that does these lifts (a CrossFit gym is usually a good bet) and have them check your form in a private lesson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-03-09T21:21:29.733" LastActivityDate="2013-03-09T21:21:29.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11880" CreationDate="2013-03-09T14:50:11.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;like the guy said &lt;strong&gt;pick a goal&lt;/strong&gt; first, personally when your first join the gym your going to see some quick changes to your body. So in my view I will just start off by going to the gym and doing some exercises. Personally go with someone with experience, who knows HOW TO LIFT! Remember learning the exercises are key!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5377" LastActivityDate="2013-03-09T14:50:11.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11829" CreationDate="2013-03-09T16:54:35.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to pay attention to the texture of the ball. Some exercise balls have latitudinal ridges that help the ball grip onto surfaces. These may make a ball more comfortable to sit on since the ridges can prevent the ball from sliding around too much on wood or tile floors. This however might also make the ball less comfortable if you can actually feel the ridges when you're sitting. Usually by looking at photos you can tell if the surface of the ball is textured or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5378" LastActivityDate="2013-03-09T16:54:35.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11880" CreationDate="2013-03-09T17:42:56.053" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dave has given you some good points.  It seems like you have 2 goals here regarding weight lifting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gain muscle mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gain strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as a Sports Physical Therapist, I would like to recommend you for one more goal - injury free when starting out any program.  I have seen too many immature weight lifters trying to do too much too fast, then only to learn that they have to stay off or take off a few weeks, sometimes a few months because they did not follow a golden rules of weight training for beginners due to suffering an injury (shoulders, back, knee, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the golden rules of weight training for beginners:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn the basics by doing body weight exercises (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/squat&quot;&gt;squat&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/push-up&quot;&gt;push-ups&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/chin-up&quot;&gt;chin-ups&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/chair-dip&quot;&gt;dips&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/alternate-lunges&quot;&gt;lunges&lt;/a&gt;, etc.) until you can master the form and technique for a few sessions, then you can try resistance training with similar movement patterns (barbell squats, weighted push-ups, pull-ups, dumbbell lunges, etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might be forth it if you have some friends with great experience regarding weight training to help you in the beginning to make sure you understand the basics (proper form and technique, breathing patterns, dosage, frequency, duration and simple eating plan).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your friend(s) cannot help you with this, I recommend you to find a local CSCS (Certified Strength &amp;amp; Conditioning Specialist) to work with you for a few weeks, perhaps months.  But you do not have to meet every single day.  You might want to start out training and learning with a CSCS once per week for 4 weeks, then once per month for another few months until you are comfortable to be on your own.  This will ensure your goals are met!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of us are just like you.  We have to start somewhere, and some of us learned the hard way in the past (doing it ourselves).  With this being said and because of my work and my extensive experience of treating many injuries related to immature or beginner weight lifters, I strongly recommend you to find a local CSCS and give it a try.  I understand that you might have to spend some money in the beginning, but trust me, your program is more specific and individualized to your goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not against Cross-Fit or any other group fitness/training programs out there, but shouldn't all fitness programs consider your fitness level, the time you have, your goals and of course your finance?  This is why I think it's important to understand the difference between an one-on-one training session versus a group setting, especially in the beginning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and I hope you find this answer helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-03-09T17:48:20.887" LastActivityDate="2013-03-09T17:48:20.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-10T13:25:59.713" Score="4" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sleep at 9pm and wake up at 4am, take a cup of warm water and I will do some simple exercises very slowly, then some house work. At 5am, I run for 30min with the speed 9km/hr (so it is a 4.5km run). I take a shower and I feel very good and energetic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a breakfast with high protein, sometimes I will fell a little bit sleepy. But if I go out to have some fresh air, everything is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take the lunch almost between 10:50-11:30am, then a 10min slow walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I take a 20-30min (depending on if I am very tired) siesta at 12pm. When I wake up with some easy exercises, I still feel the body and brain are not so fully awake. And my heart rate is a little fast.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I can wake my body if I run for a while, say 3km. But I don't want to run at 12h30pm or 1pm. Also, it is not convenient to run in the campus. Furthermore, I prefer to run at 5pm or 5:30pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do you have any idea how to be energetic after a 20-30 min siesta (afternoon nap)?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5383" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T19:50:55.183" Title="How to be energetic after a 20-30 min siesta (afternoon nap)" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11886" CreationDate="2013-03-10T15:27:46.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is pretty normal to feel a little tired right after a nap.  However, feeling sleepy consistently and heavily after a nap can very well be other problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem like you sleep enough (9-4).  I don't know much about your diet, but I would suggest first and foremost &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/blog/5-tips-to-consume-more-water/13&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stay hydrated throughout the day&lt;/a&gt;.  Studies show that proper hydration prevents feeling fatigue, sleepy and increases awareness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it seems like you are looking for a quick workout while you are at work to be energetic after a nap.  I wrote this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/blog/get-fit-at-your-own-desk/12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt;, and you might want to check it out to see if this quick workout is helpful for you.  Let me know your thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-03-10T16:02:51.140" LastActivityDate="2013-03-10T16:02:51.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11889" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-11T01:11:45.893" Score="8" ViewCount="1557" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is a follow on from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11884/5376&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11884/5376&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed that as I get stronger, my muscles will get bigger, but it seems that this is not a strictly linear relationship, which indicates that I can increase the amount my muscles can do without increasing their size, (they become more efficient?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is twofold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How are muscle mass and strength related? What causes an increase in strength but not mass?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the types of exercises that increase strength but not mass?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think that there are some limitations to muscle mass vs strength, that is, that the muscle can reach a maximum efficiency where it has to increase in size before it can be stronger. I'm looking for answers where the muscle hasn't reached this stage yet (and so there is room for increasing in strength or mass).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals: I'd like to increase the amount my muscles can do (their strength) rather then increase their mass at least initially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assumptions: I'm using the words size and mass interchangeably, even though they strictly aren't the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5376" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T13:45:11.083" Title="What's the relationship between gaining muscle mass and strength? How do I increase in strength without increasing in mass?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2475" CreationDate="2013-03-11T09:44:40.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if alcohol is the main reason. I heard that one or two glasses of red wine a day is healthy for a man. But just like Berin said alcohol is just empty calories. &#xA;I do think changing your diet will help you over come the weight plateau. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestions are: &#xA;Try to eat &lt;em&gt;slow carbs&lt;/em&gt; and up your &lt;em&gt;veg&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fruit&lt;/em&gt; intake. Try to eat regularly and take with you emergency snacks like unsalted nuts and fruit if you feel hungry. It is a good thing to keep your metabolism going. &#xA;By starting the morning with oatmeal (which I know a lot of you will find disgusting) really helped me to not feel hungry until lunch because of the slow carbs. I eat it with almond milk cinnamon and banana. For lunch I have a BIG salad with beans, cheese or chicken. And for dinner anything with loads of veg. I still eat carbs like rice and potatoes but in smaller portions and try to substitute them for healtier options like sweet potato, quinoa, and brown rice. The biggest part of your plate should consist of veg then protein then carbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here a &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitvoorhetleven.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/voedselzandloper-kris-verburgh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; to the food hourglass model. Anything on the top you should replace with something on the bottom. It is in Dutch but I hope you understand by the drawings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I hope this will help you lose those extra pounds while feeling energetic and strong!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5390" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-03-11T10:42:28.840" LastActivityDate="2013-03-11T10:42:28.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2013-03-11T10:01:13.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsscience.co/supplements/methods-to-increase-testosterone-naturally/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Increase Tesosterone Naturally&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay well hydrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fix any dietary deficiencies after taking a blood test to fnid out which deficiencies you have.  That includes zinc, magnesium, vitamin D and more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight lifting, preferably compound movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5391" LastActivityDate="2013-03-11T10:01:13.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-11T14:32:34.357" Score="1" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a book published in the 80s (by Kenneth Cooper, MD), Aerobics, in which Dr. Cooper suggests a way of getting fit without risking one's cardiovascular health. He devised a point system of exercise based on one's fitness level (initially determined by how much distance one can run in 12min, Cooper's 12-min test) and one's choice of exercise (walking, running, swimming, etc.). For those in the first level (not fit), for example, he set a 16-week program to get fit in a &quot;safe&quot; way. His system was based on his studies participated in by the US Armed Forces so it looked like his system had some &quot;clinical&quot; basis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would any of you have come across exercise programs based on similar observations with a large group of people?  I am particularly interested in running or walking, so perhaps studies related to these would help me improve my aerobic fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5396" OwnerDisplayName="m3victor" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-03-12T12:15:28.757" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T12:15:28.757" Title="Aerobic exercise: Any updates or comments to the Cooper method?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11895" CreationDate="2013-03-11T16:37:00.563" Score="5" ViewCount="848" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have some recommendation on how to &quot;get back&quot; into the training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I have to stay few weeks without training, when I am on holidays for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually have &lt;strong&gt;two weeks of light training&lt;/strong&gt; before starting with a proper body building routine, since I do not want to be very sore or injure myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastActivityDate="2013-03-11T18:15:45.563" Title="Best way to ease back into body building routine after a long break" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11893" CreationDate="2013-03-11T18:15:45.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some things I do (this is strength training, not body building, though):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I missed one or two workouts, repeat the last completed workout (not increasing weights on any of my lifts).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I miss more than that, I deload 5-10% and just slowly rebuild as my program would normally progress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I miss a lot of time (usually just on one exercise due to an injury), I start over very light, even with the empty bar. I get back to my former weight much quicker than the first time through because I plateau less, and my form is already good, so it's not as much a set-back as you might think.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-03-11T18:15:45.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-12T03:36:50.743" Score="6" ViewCount="19518" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I bench press, I sometimes feel a muscle seize up slightly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_location#Proximal_and_distal&quot;&gt;distal&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_anatomical_terms#Near_or_away_from_the_vertical_longitudinal_center_of_the_body&quot;&gt;lateral&lt;/a&gt; from my &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_superior_iliac_spine&quot;&gt;ASIS&lt;/a&gt;. I don't know what muscle this is, but I'm guessing it's involved with external rotation or abduction. This happens sometimes in the left hip, sometimes the right hip, sometimes both simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It happens when I'm arching my back hard, with glutes pressed against the bench, legs open at about a 30° angle and feet flat against the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it hard to maintain the arch of my back off the bench without these muscles occasionally seizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I tensing up an area that I should be leaving relaxed? Is this a sign of improper form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T07:20:25.137" Title="When I bench press, why do my hips sometimes cramp up?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2013-03-12T04:27:00.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;keep it up am 47 yr sold I hit the bag for 10 min right after I do skipping for 10 min then shadow box for 5 min the do step ups for 5 min 30 min cardio workout Then I go to my weight training I fell strong and young again anyone can do it just go for it do it no matter how old you are I have a good shape on my body now and fell good about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good Heavy bag workout is the 10 hit cardio. First is you step up to your heavy bag hit the bag twice then drop to the floor do 2 nuckle pushups get up hit the bag 4 times drop to the floor do 4 nuckle pushups, do this to 6, 8, 10, then count down it is a great heavy bag workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another heavy bag workout, is the 30,30,30s. you do this for 3 min on the bag, 1 min rest between rounds. To start you step up to the bag hit the bag slow like you walk up to a bag and hit it,for 30 sec then you ride the bike you hit the bag at the same time pumping your legs at the same time for 30 sec, after you hit the bag hard as you can for 30 sec you do this for three min follow through the routine you can do one round two rounds of this your body will tell you. Try it and give me a feed back if u like this workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5397" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-03-12T12:19:08.217" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T12:19:08.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1005" CreationDate="2013-03-12T05:01:43.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have Sciatica and now my hip has popped out of place (been out about 4 months now since falling). I had a car wreck in 2008 and my hip was out of place then but I was able to work it back into place through working out and getting adjustments. However since I have fallen and popped it back out, I've been struggling to get it back into place so I can work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that sleeping with a pillow helps and have looked up some physical therapy exercises on YouTube but just started using the techniques today. I have been told that stretching helps but honestly I can't afford to keep going to the chiropractor as after going to him for two months 3 times a week I'm still out of place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have stumbled across an exercise that pops my hip back in at least momentarily. Put a pillow in between your legs and bend down in the squat position keeping your legs together and pushing in with your legs slightly squeezing the pillow as your bending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5398" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-03-12T14:09:26.833" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T14:09:26.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11889" CreationDate="2013-03-12T13:45:11.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are a woman, so by nature you will not bulk up as much as men since you lack sufficient testosterone. It's a big myth will get bulky just by strength training alone. You muscles will increase in mass but not so much in size (think density). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stacy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, pick a good strength building routine like Starting Strength or Stronglifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5402" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T13:45:11.083" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-12T14:35:59.147" Score="1" ViewCount="1337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am little overweight, 120 kg, from India. When I go to bed after a workout in the gym, say for 30 minutes, I can't sleep as my body begins to heat up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any remedies? I tried showering, but it didn't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4666" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-03-12T14:48:07.463" LastActivityDate="2013-03-13T10:35:45.730" Title="Increased body heat after workout when in bed" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11896" CreationDate="2013-03-12T16:18:18.383" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kate,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This muscle that you are feeling tensing up could very well be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_fasciae_latae_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL)&lt;/a&gt;.  This muscle is activate by externally rotate the hip, slightly abduct the hip and slightly flex the hip (30 degrees in both motions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that this muscle is also a part of our ITB, so when you externally rotate your tibia, it will also engage at the hip.  This muscle is activated the most during a hyperextended of the lumbar spine in addition to the motions described above (ER and ABD or the hip).  People with increased lordosis or arching the back during benching will sometimes feel like this muscle is cramping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem knowledgable about weight training.  So, I would like to ask you why are you allowing your back to arch that much during bench pressing?  Although this is a very common mistake many people do at the gym, and although they claim that they can bench more (cheating).  However, this very technique (arching the back) has been shown to increase more stress on both the hips (in your case) and in the lower back area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you tried placing your feet on the bench (with bent-knees)?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T16:18:18.383" CommentCount="16" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11702" CreationDate="2013-03-12T18:28:36.337" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Proper running form&quot; is much more comprehensive than just the foot strike. Running with a fore/mid/heel strike are all valid IF you're not suffering as a result and the rest of your mechanics are sound. Focusing on foot strike alone will not yield a more efficient run. It is my opinion (after several years of running and trial and error) that getting your body mechanics in line is the most important focus. Your foot strike will naturally evolve into what works best for you. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/04/running-technique-footstrike.html&quot;&gt;Here is a good article&lt;/a&gt; (if slightly dated) on The Science of Sport that talks about foot strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Head Tilt&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your head is key to your overall posture and that determines how efficiently you run. Look ahead naturally, not down at your feet, to straighten your neck and back and bring them into alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders play an important role in keeping your upper body relaxed while you run. For optimum performance, your shoulders should be low and loose, not high and tight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arms&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your hands control the tension in your upper body, while your arm swing works in conjunction with your leg stride to drive you forward. Keep your hands in an unclenched fist, with your fingers lightly touching your palms. Your arms should swing mostly forward and back, not across your body,between waist and lower-chest level. Your elbows should be bent at about a 90-degree angle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Torso&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding your back straight allows you to run in an efficient, upright position that promotes optimal lung capacity and stride length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hips&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your hips are your center of gravity and when combined with proper torso position they keep you pointing straight ahead. Tilting your pelvis can put pressure on your lower back and throw the rest of your lower body out of alignment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs/Stride&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Efficient endurance running requires just a slight knee lift, a quick leg turnover, and a short stride. Together, these will facilitate fluid forward movement instead of diverting (and wasting) energy. When running with the proper stride length, your feet should land directly underneath your body. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg (below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some articles on general proper running form that will provide addiitonal insight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/perfect-form&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/perfect-form&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/406261-proper-running-jogging-techniques/&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/406261-proper-running-jogging-techniques/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Good-Running-Form-for-Beginners&quot;&gt;http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Good-Running-Form-for-Beginners&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathonrookie.com/running-form.html&quot;&gt;http://www.marathonrookie.com/running-form.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.triathlontips.org/proper-running-form/&quot;&gt;http://www.triathlontips.org/proper-running-form/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastEditorDisplayName="user5324" LastEditDate="2013-03-12T20:45:44.440" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T20:45:44.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11896" CreationDate="2013-03-12T19:29:44.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bench does require significant hip/leg drive, there are even stories of powerlifters tearing hammies or quads while benching. Pretty much everything needs to be tight on a max bench attempt, so I don't really think there are &quot;right&quot; muscles to keep relaxed. I would just chalk it up as the nature of the beast, assuming the seizing/cramping is just causing discomfort and not resulting in injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T19:29:44.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11734" CreationDate="2013-03-12T20:29:52.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming because you're talking about not being zoned-in, this question isn't about you not being physically able to do the work (due to inadequate recovery, for example), but just that you don't feel like it. There are two answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Easy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to accept that you're not zoned-in, just take it light that day. Do your warm-up sets and just do as much of your workout as you feel like doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how your program is set up, this may mean you've ruined your chances for progression this week (if you're on something complicated like Texas Method), or it may simply mean you need to redo this workout the next time you're in the gym (if you're on a simple A/B split). It might not be a big deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hard&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get back in the zone. Here are some things to help you do that. (Each of these topics would warrant a full question/answer on its own, so I'll just give brief pointers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportpsychologytoday.com/sport-psychology-for-coaches/the-power-of-visualization/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Visualize success&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn to &lt;a href=&quot;http://fithealthinsurance.com.au/livefit/livefit-article/article/91/optimal-arousal-for-peak-performance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;control your level of mental arousal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imperfect-spirituality/201106/positive-self-talk-can-help-you-win-the-race-or-the-day&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;motivational and instructional self-talk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-03-12T20:29:52.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-13T00:59:25.780" Score="4" ViewCount="5678" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suffered a minor calf strain playing indoor cricket yesterday. I iced the muscle for around 4 hours after the injury. It has pulled up stiff and a little sore this morning, although I wouldn't describe it as painful and I can walk, albeit with a bit of a limp. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the injury occur I 'felt something go' but I doubt it is a full tear, just a strain. My question is how soon is too soon to start gently stretching and restrengthening after an injury like this? I'd like to get back to full fitness as soon as I can, but I don't want to make things worse by going to hard too early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4703" LastActivityDate="2013-03-13T02:35:38.513" Title="How soon after a minor calf injury shoul I start stretching and strengthening?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;calf&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11906" CreationDate="2013-03-13T01:43:35.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note: The following is general strain/sprain treatment. Your treatment may vary, you need to be aware of your own pain and get medical attention if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. This is what you want to do for the first 24-48 hours for strains and sprains. Once you are past that, you can start doing light activity as you can stand it. Ice after activity, and alternate with moist heat to help drive excess fluid out of the tissues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calves are tricky, as during running and jumping, they are the main shock absorbers for the legs, so it's easy to re-injure them or delay their healing by going too hard, too soon so be very aware of how you and your legs are feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-03-13T01:43:35.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11906" CreationDate="2013-03-13T02:35:38.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bogdanovist,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697334/pdf/12178_2009_Article_9045.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; as it will give you the best evidence based research about your question and a treatment plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can have access to a PT near by, I strongly suggest you to go see one.  Make sure a PT is experience with sports injuries.  Real quick tips to get back on your feet fast:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a deep tissue massage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform eccentric strengthening like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJikwp2tWrc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;, once you can stand on one foot without pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No running or jumping until you can perform 3 sets of 20 reps of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/single-leg-standing-calf-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;single leg standing calf raise&lt;/a&gt; pain free.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quick tips on how to prevent this injury in the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydrate, hydrate and hydrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fusc.org/fuscsoccerwarmup.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dynamic warming up&lt;/a&gt; prior to practices and games.  You don't have to do all of them, just some of them, but make sure you will sweat lightly afterwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJikwp2tWrc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eccentric strengthening exercises&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.traindaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Core_Training__Evidence_Translating_to_Better.4.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Core strengthening exercises&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you find this answer is helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-13T02:35:38.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11901" CreationDate="2013-03-13T10:35:45.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you work out, your heart rate rises and your metabolism reaches a higher rate. After I workout, my metabolic rate remains quite high for over an hour, so I cannot work out effectively in the evening and then go to bed (my problem is that it makes me very alert, the heat is less of an issue in Scotland:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my solution is to work out first thing in the morning - this also gives me a boosted start to the day. See if you can change your workout time to the morning - it may make all the difference you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" LastActivityDate="2013-03-13T10:35:45.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11865" CreationDate="2013-03-13T23:31:18.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise also causes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myosynthesis.com/the-limits-in-your-head&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CNS (Central Nervous System) fatigue&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar manner that your muscles/joints need to recover your CNS requires recovery as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extended CNS fatigue (ie &gt; week is a key sign of overtraining). If you feel 'fried' get more sleep or take a break for a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleep, eating more calories, and reducing external stress should help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link for &lt;a href=&quot;http://jasonferruggia.com/7-ways-to-minimize-cns-fatigue/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some additional tips&lt;/a&gt; to adjust your workouts for additional relief. Basically, it comes down to two things. Either don't do everything to the max all the time and/or or schedule for ample recovery (ie sleep/relaxation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="501" LastEditorUserId="501" LastEditDate="2013-03-13T23:36:51.240" LastActivityDate="2013-03-13T23:36:51.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-14T08:44:58.190" Score="2" ViewCount="1273" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people appear to be born with muscle*. I know lots of people who don't work out at all, have an office job where they sit around all day, and still they have a muscular body with strong (looking) arms, big chest etc. Me, I'm naturally slim, and however hard I work out, I seem unable to make a big change in my physical appearance. Yes, I do get stronger and more fit, but I look (almost) the same after a year of intense training: thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several years ago I did dumbell exercises from Bill Pearl's &quot;Getting Stronger&quot; and supplemented my diet with a meat based protein shake. After a year this made me look more toned, but the effect was minor. I stopped this routine when doing lunges with weights caused knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I follow Mark Verstegen's &quot;Core Performance&quot; (the book), but have only been at it for a few months. I did not change my diet again except eat more soy products and nuts. The time is too short for any visible effects, of course. I'll very likely stop this routine also, because I'm experiencing shoulder pain from raining weights above shoulder height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to imply that these routines don't work for me, I just describe what I did to give you an idea of the status quo - and of the fact that I easily self-hurt myself, if I work with weights. I don't want to go to a gym (for reasons that are irrelevant here but definite), so I cannot work out using machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Obviously people are not literally &quot;born with muscle&quot;. There is a genetic influence and, as has been found, the muscles that children use around 5 to 6 years of age develop in the adult individual. Both influences cannot be changed by a post-adolescent adult, so &quot;born with muscle&quot; is a good short description of the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5414" LastEditorDisplayName="user5414" LastEditDate="2013-03-14T10:35:04.070" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T19:31:48.673" Title="Gaining muscle with slim body type" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11914" CreationDate="2013-03-14T08:58:00.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very few people are &quot;born with muscle&quot; to a degree that matters; they are possibly born with larger bone structures, or born with genes that make muscle gaining easier. One such gene would be the feeling of fullness -- some people have to eat more to feel full, and some less. However, if you've done a lot of heavy lifting via chores/physical tasks while growing up and still eat a lot, you will (slowly and inefficiently, but still surely) gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The unaccounted-for factor here is your diet. Lifting heavy, eating to calorie surplus, and eating large amounts of protein (try your body weight in grams, just to be sure) will make sure you make muscle gains. However, lifting heavy is not enough either: to stimulate hypertrophy (the growth of muscles), you should be lifting in the 8-12 rep range. Adjust weight (more or less) until you get there. To increase strength (absolute pounds lifted), lift in the 5-6 rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5415" LastEditorUserId="5415" LastEditDate="2013-03-14T10:09:45.623" LastActivityDate="2013-03-14T10:09:45.623" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11917" CreationDate="2013-03-14T09:13:49.350" Score="5" ViewCount="897" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been kind of creeped out by gyms; many people doing things and no one is talking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started working at a place with a gym that has lots of machines in a relatively small space. I have no idea what's going on but sometimes when I go there appears to be a class and ladies telling people what to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I not be in the gym at this time? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I try to figure out which equipment they're going to use and not use it? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once I noticed the bosu ball was placed under the table, does this mean I shouldn't use it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since the class seems to be women only, is it frowned upon for a male to be working out in the gym at the same time? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to ask when the instructors are busy giving instructions and music is playing in the background. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any common rules I should be aware of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-12-10T15:29:56.007" LastActivityDate="2019-08-17T03:03:25.720" Title="What is courtesy in a gym?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11916" CreationDate="2013-03-14T13:53:38.043" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think everyone who has gone to the gym understands your situation, since we were all beginners at one time.  Trying to figure out what a machine does can be kind of humiliating; what if you're using it wrong?  For that reason I recommend talking to a personal trainer just to get a primer on the equipment. I have no conflicts of interest here -- a trainer can really help break the ice in the gym. If this isn't an option, it is easy to self-educate with videos these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, here are some basic things I think everyone should know about using the gym, and how to act respectfully towards the establishment and other patrons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read the gym rules&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is really important. If you don't read the gym rules, know that those around you probably have and aren't happy with you if you don't follow them. The rules will be posted conspicuously somewhere in the gym.  Read them and follow them.  Try to encourage others to do the same if you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rack your weights&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is a pet peeve of every experienced gym patron. Put the weight back where you found it. Also, nobody likes hunting down weights, or having to dig through plates when the 5lb plate is buried behind four 35lb plates.  Keep it neat.  Put your weight back where it belongs when you're done. Leave things more organized than the way you found them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use the equipment properly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If there's a squat rack and you're doing curls in it, you're preventing someone from using the equipment as it was designed. For example, you don't need a power rack to do curls unless you're curling so much you physically can't pick the weight up off the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be respectful towards beginners&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You were a beginner once too. Help them if you can do it in a friendly and non-intimidating way. Be a friend to a beginner. Then spot them, teach them, help them, be their workout buddy. Let's all be friends here, right?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Share&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't hog the equipment.  Let people work in if you're going to take a while.  If you see someone who looks like they're waiting, ask them if they'd like to work in. If the gym is busy, be especially vigilant and try to be aware. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Communicate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If a piece of equipment you'd like to use is not in use, but out of place, ask others if they are using it, or have seen anyone using it recently. Also, in general, ask if a piece of equipment is in use in a busy gym if you have the opportunity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clean up after yourself&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're sweaty, wipe it down with sanitizer! Even if you aren't, some gyms cultivate a very clean atmosphere. When in doubt, wipe it down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of minor points: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yield to people carrying weights&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Encumbered people have the right of way.  Give them space.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't hog the water fountain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's impolite to fill your water bottle in the water fountain when people are standing in line and just want a sip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically it all comes down to respect.  Respect the space in the way you'd like your own space to be respected by others, and everything will be fine! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2019-08-17T03:03:25.720" LastActivityDate="2019-08-17T03:03:25.720" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11951" CreationDate="2013-03-14T14:44:49.443" Score="6" ViewCount="8865" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes you know that you have a very busy time ahead of you, and that you're going to have less time for fitness activities, for whatever reason (work, a new child, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is this- what is the least that I can safely run without risking injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, while training for a 10k/ half marathon this season I run about three times a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an intervals workout (2 km easy, 1 km fast, 500*2 very fast, 1 km fast, 2 km easy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a medium run, 10-14 km&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a long, slower run, 15-19 km&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I want to maintain my conditioning with relatively little deterioration, can I run just once a week, my long run? (because I enjoy the long, slow run most)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many days gap in between such a run can I have before it becomes &quot;too much&quot; and it's better to add another (possibly shorter) run in between?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-03-23T17:35:22.343" LastActivityDate="2013-03-23T17:35:22.343" Title="What is the least I need to run to maintain my conditioning?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11918" CreationDate="2013-03-14T15:13:12.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't cut any of your workouts, as I wouldn't consider your current training sufficient for a 10k or a half marathon. Barely sufficient for a 5k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to running well and safely without injury is keeping up the volume sufficiently for the events you are training for. What I would personally do is find 15-20 minutes every single day to get out the door for 2-6k. That's going to pay off way more in benefit than kludging together some makeshift schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the injury risk, that is going to be highly dependent on you and your own running history. I know my minimum training for completing a half marathon safely is in the 25-35k range. If I want to compete at all, I need to be way higher than that. On the other side, I know some people that can run a 1:35 half marathon on 10k a week. If you happen to be one of those, then your long run and a couple short ones when you can manage may suffice. YMMV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-03-14T15:13:12.720" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11931" CreationDate="2013-03-14T16:49:03.920" Score="10" ViewCount="56835" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every Sunday I do soccer in the morning for two hours where I run non stop and sweat extensively. After the sport I take a shower and take the bus home, but by the time I get home my dry and clean shirt becomes soaking wet as I keep on sweating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the day advances I am starting to get a headache, and occasionally a smallish fever by night. This happens most of the time,and I have yet to solve this issue. Should I wear more clothes? Or change shirt multiple time? I also try to drink a lot, but I have not yet found a 100% solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5418" LastActivityDate="2019-07-07T20:10:16.783" Title="Cold and fever after doing extensive cardio sport?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1309" CreationDate="2013-03-14T17:48:07.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slowly stretching your entire body for a good 15 sec each stretch will help, and drinking 2L of cold water to regulate body temp and flush out toxins. 30 mins ofter relaxing, taking a cool shower would be a good way to top it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastActivityDate="2013-03-14T17:48:07.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11922" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11929" CreationDate="2013-03-14T19:39:05.820" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard several theories regarding when you should eat, especially protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat carbs before a workout and protein in a &quot;window&quot; of 30mins after a workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat through the day. so that in the end of the days you will have the needed balance of protein and carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the &quot;righter&quot; theory?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S - I refer to mostly weight lifting workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5417" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T19:21:15.543" Title="Should I eat before a workout or just during the day" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11927" CreationDate="2013-03-14T19:43:55.140" Score="7" ViewCount="6978" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started consulting in November 2012. The 4-hour a day commute tires me out and leaves me with absolutely no time to do anything else, much less go to the gym. So, I haven't gone to the gym since January 2013 and have since put back all the weight I had lost, and much more, and have lost shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to start a 1-hour walk from tomorrow morning and my plan is to do free-weight dumbbell exercises after the 1-hour walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been so used to going to the gym that I am a bit unsure if just a pair of dumbbells would be enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I lose back all the weight, develop muscle tone and get back into proper shape with just a pair of dumbbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My plan is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Walk 1 hour for the next 30 days because I cannot jog or run with all the weight I have put on now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow that with a few dumbbell exercises such as lateral raises, frontal raises, chest press, shoulder press, hammer curls, and concentration curls and full body-weight exercises like squats, lunges, side-lunges, push-ups, pull-ups, ab crunches and some stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) For the next 90 days, replace the 1-hour walk with a 40 minute jog. Then, do the same dumbbell and body weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) For the remainder of the year until 31st December 2013, replace the 40-minute jog with a 20 minute mix of jogging with short lapses of running (30 - 90 second lapses). Then, to follow that with a dumbbell and body-weight workout routine same as the one I described above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to do this workout 5 days a week and plan to lose about 57 lbs weight and gain some 10 lbs lean muscle mass after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the walking, jogging and running I am planning is going to be on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love the gym and still hold my membership there although I am totally unable to go because I leave home pretty early for work and come back very late at night. The gym is also quite far and in the opposite direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I was planning on just doing the dumbbell and body-weight workout routine I outlined above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this routine enough to get me back on shape or am I going to need to join the gym again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="960" LastActivityDate="2018-05-06T21:07:54.677" Title="Is just a pair of dumbbells enough?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11920" CreationDate="2013-03-14T20:38:20.420" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;People that did a lot of exercise can have a lowered immune response, so they end up sick. Usually after many hours of working out like after marathons or ultra-marathons and so on some people get sick because their immune system doesn't have enough resources to fight off infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That depends on your condition - do you work out a lot, how do you eat (do you eat a normal western diet or a healthy one), do you have any medical conditions. They all can influence your immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think resting a little bit more after the training would be great. Wearing wormer clothes can't harm (unless it's too warm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also focus on food you eat which is the fuel for your body and immune system. If you usually eat processed foods, bread, pasta with just a little addition of fruits, veggies and meat I'd suggest switching the diet to more healthy one - limiting gluten intake, eating more lean meat and veggies should help in your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you already do eat like that you should consider visiting a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5421" LastActivityDate="2013-03-14T20:38:20.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2013-03-15T10:29:48.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to do front crawl or breast stoke with a float between my legs! Works your upper body well and is a good cardio workout!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5427" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T10:29:48.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2013-03-15T12:51:00.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been practicing differents sports and I can tell that the key is &lt;strong&gt;to strech and keep hydrated&lt;/strong&gt; before, during, and after your efforts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a web developer, I sit at a PC for the majority of the day and&#xA;  don't move my legs much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same for me here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't make any time to stretch out my legs or anything, not sure if&#xA;  that will impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes it does &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't do any cardio (bike / treadmill), again not sure if that&#xA;  impacts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes it does too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the workout, it is important to do a little bit of cardio to warm up, at least 5min. Going straight to high intensity exercices is traumatising for your muscles and tendons, and they will make you pay back for this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the effort the rule of thumb is to drink water as often as possible, in small quantities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After your workout, you should spend at least 15min stretching, keep each streching position about 20sec (calves, quads, hamstring, groin, butt) and pay attention to breath deeply.&#xA;Then again, drink &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; of water, water is your friend (or drinks such as gatorade, or even better, coconut water!!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After intense exercice, I sometimes take an aspirin, that works well.&#xA;And, I know its hard, but on the day after, 15 min of cardio + stretching help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5271" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T12:51:00.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11923" CreationDate="2013-03-15T17:27:45.497" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this routine enough to get me back on shape or am I going to need to join the gym again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is so special about the gym? Treadmills/steppers? Do the cardio outside. Freeweights isolation? Just use a pair of dumbbells with adjustable plates. Barbell strength routine? Buy a power rack for cheap off of craigslist. Whatever you can do in a gym, you can do in or around your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I lose back all the weight, develop muscle tone and get back into proper shape with just a pair of dumbbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. But you will definitely want to invest in heavier plates so you can take advantage of progressive overloading. You won't be using the 9kg dumbbells forever, especially not for the compound presses. Rather than wasting your time by doing a massive amount of reps with a light weight, you should be sticking to a specific rep range (somewhere in 5-12) and just increasing the weight as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same can be said of the body weight exercises. Eventually they will become so easy you barely break a sweat doing them (I'm looking at you, squats). Consider loading weight as necessary to these exercises so you aren't waisting your time doing several dozen or hundred reps just to &quot;feel the burn.&quot; For example once you can do 50 - 100 squats easy, start doing goblet squats with your dumbbell. For exercises you cannot load with weight, consider making them more difficult (add the clap to push-ups, raise the leg during dips, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I plan to do this workout 5 days a week and plan to lose about 57 lbs weight and gain some 10 lbs lean muscle mass after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you mean every day you will be doing cardio AND lifting weights? If so, that is a major red flag for overworking your body. Rest is just as important as the workout itself! Without rest you're just a hamster on a wheel; sure you're exercising, but you're going nowhere. Consider doing A/B/A splits where A is your cardio day and B is your strength training day. By separating these elements apart, you are giving your body enough time to recover before you train those muscles again (and recovery is when the muscle growth actually occurs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're like me and you have a tense body, you may also want to have a dedicated stretch day every week where you just do a full hour of yoga or similar stretching. So a two week workout would be something like: A/B/C/A/B--A/B/C/A/B. Or, if your schedule is flexible enough, keep the original A/B split, and do stretching on Sat/Sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T17:27:45.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11923" CreationDate="2013-03-15T18:00:59.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sathyaish,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like everyone is already giving you some good tips.  And I agree with Moses regarding his tips and plan for you.  However, the truth about sustainable weight loss has a lot to do with dieting and less with exercising.  I don’t know your diet, but whenever I consult my patients and clients, and hear them saying that they have gained the weight back since they stop exercising, I realize then that it’s mostly eating habit, rather than exercising.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this being said, you seem like you are pretty determined to get back in shape.  Although you have 2 goals (lose the weight and gain some muscle mass), the truth is if you eat well and exercise efficiently, you can achieve both of these goals. However, to reach your goals and to reduce unnecessary injuries, some sort of an organized eating plan and workout program need to be applied.  I put together some tips and tricks in addition to a sample workout plan (too long to put it here) for you to lose weight as a sustainable mean.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips and tricks for successful and sustainable weight loss:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat healthier foods throughout the day to include meals and snacks. Try to eat every 2-3 hours (including snacks) to keep your metabolism running high, thus resulting in burning more calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consume the least amount of sugar as possible. Foods like milk, juices, sodas and sweet snacks have lots of sugar, which will slow down your metabolism, thus will not be effective for burning calories. Be sure to read the label before purchasing or consuming.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/blog/5-tips-to-consume-more-water/13&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;water&lt;/a&gt; so that you will feel full throughout the day (12-16 glasses per day).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do eat late (after 7 PM), try to eat good calories like vegetables and lean proteins. If not, make sure to exercise extra to burn those calories the same night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes! Exercise, but try resistance training. You do not have to use actual weights, but rather mostly your body weight to get results (look at the gymnasts). Plus, resistance training has been shown to boost your metabolism. Remember the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn throughout the day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try &lt;a href=&quot;http://jp.physoc.org/content/588/6/1011.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;high intensity interval training&lt;/a&gt; as they are more efficient.  Yes it is harder, but you will get used to it.  Plus you said you do not have much time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/combo-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;combo exercises&lt;/a&gt; as they are more effective and efficient for targeting the entire body (major muscle groups). Also, try to train at a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22289907&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;higher intensity&lt;/a&gt; for at least 15-30 minutes per day, 3-5 days per week. Try these exercises: dumbbell squat shoulder presses, dumbbell squat swings, dumbbell push-up rows, squat jumps, chin-ups, stability ball rollouts, planks and mountain climbers.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Motivation comes with a price; however, you need to dig deep each time and ask yourself the same question why you wanted to lose weight in the beginning. Is it for your looks, your feelings, for someone else’s or just for the HEALTH of it! &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you start a habit by eating healthier, most likely you will sustain the results because it is so natural to eat, and not so natural to exercise and sweat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everything we do in life is habitual. You just have to get started!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Let me know your thoughts or if you would like a copy of your workout plan.  Good luck!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T18:00:59.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11922" CreationDate="2013-03-15T19:21:15.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Roman,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on the intensity, the duration, the frequency and your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is/are your goal(s):  gain weight, lose weight or maintain the weight?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long is your workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How intense is your workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often do you workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, that is why they all called &quot;theories&quot; because they may work for some people, but may not.  The truth is that you need to figure out the 4 questions that I presented above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about it!  Olympic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsdietitians.com.au/resources/upload/Swimming.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;swimmers&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livingstonac.com/info/training/Sports_Nutrition_for_Sprinters.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sprinters&lt;/a&gt; eat differently than us.  These two scientific sample meal plans should give you some ideas regarding your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Real quick tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you train harder, you will need more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snac.ucla.edu/documents/HO.Carbohydrate.PickingWholeGrains2010.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;complex carbs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you train longer, you will need more complex carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you train more frequently, you will need more complex carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to gain muscle with weight lifting, yes you will need both proteins and complex carbs (energy).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try reading this plan from &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/health/complete-guide-workout-nutrition-infographic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Greatist&lt;/a&gt;.  But don't forget that if you can't answer the 4 questions that I posted above, then it's going to be tough to assist you regarding your dieting plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T19:21:15.543" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11914" CreationDate="2013-03-15T19:31:48.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar build and I have an idea to test, but I'm at a point in my life where I am not that motivated to test my idea so why don't you test it for me ;-)  It isn't actually my idea, I got it from Tim Ferris and you can read about it on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;his web site here&lt;/a&gt; or in his book, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/030746363X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The 4-Hour Body&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, your workouts would consist of one set of a relatively small number of exercises, performed until &lt;strong&gt;complete&lt;/strong&gt; failure 1 or, at most, 2 times per week.  This is failure like you have never pushed yourself to experience before.  As I recall, Tim does basic strength training exercises like dead lifts, squats, etc. but I have some friends doing this on machines and it is probably safer to do this way, though perhaps not quite as effective.  It amounts to a shockingly small amount of time in the gym followed by a lot of recovery time.  Your diet consists of large amounts of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could go on, but Tim Ferris can fill in the details with much more authority :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2013-03-15T19:31:48.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11920" CreationDate="2013-03-16T05:09:26.283" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe this is dehydration and/or exhaustion.  There are multiple message boards and online  forums where people conclude this.  Here is just one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fatsecret.com/Community.aspx?pa=fp&amp;amp;t=76945&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;  I too have experienced this MULTIPLE times, usually after extremely hard workouts or prolonged endurance events.  I've done multiple 24-hour ski races where I never stop during the 24-hours.  I end up staying awake for close to 40 hours and by the end I am too exhausted to maintain body temperature.  My two fastest marathons resulted in the same thing.  I was as healthy as I could possibly be before, during and after the marathon (my results in the race prove that) but I was feverish for a few hours later in the day).  I've since discovered I was never hydrating enough during my marathons and concluding I was overly dehydrated at the end of each one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Couple of things to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are you taking a HOT shower after soccer?  I've noticed if I workout/perform to exhaustion and then take a HOT shower I can have issues.  My body is too tired to regulate its temperature as it normally can.  If you are taking a very hot shower maybe turn the temperature down a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hydrate a bit before, during and immediately after the workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd also ensure you eat something within an hour after working out.  The first 60 minutes after a workout of thta length are the most important for fueling.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/beginners/eating-after-running/729.html&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; link for an explanation &#xA;and especially note this:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;After exercise your muscles have a 'glycogen window'. This occurs 30-90 mins after you finish exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glucose (from carbs or sports drinks etc) is converted to glycogen to replenish your muscle store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this window, you will store glycogen at four times the normal rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to fuel you next running session. Eat!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try these three things I think your body will react better after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2051" LastEditorUserId="2051" LastEditDate="2013-03-18T13:04:01.530" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T13:04:01.530" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11861" CreationDate="2013-03-16T13:00:13.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does your current diet look like? What is your current marathon PR and what is leading you to think your diet may not have been quite right? You'll need to provide some insight into what you're currently eating before you can get any specific advice on what to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many resources on the web that offer suggested plans and they all generally fall into similar recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marathon training burns a lot of carbs, how much you burn will differ based on your fitness level, experience, pace, and running economy. The general wisdom is that runners should be consuming a diet that is composed of between 65% and 70% carbohydrates. A typical marathon training diet is one that is around 65% carbohydrates,25% protein, and 10% fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are several links to articles that will say roughly the same thing and give varying approaches to building your diet plan. You'll need to figure out what works best for your body through trial and error. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathon.ipcor.com/Marathon-training-diet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marathon.ipcor.com/Marathon-training-diet.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningplanet.com/training/marathon-nutrition.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runningplanet.com/training/marathon-nutrition.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/370581-marathon-training-diet-plan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/370581-marathon-training-diet-plan/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathonguide.com/training/articles/Nutrition.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marathonguide.com/training/articles/Nutrition.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/ask-dietitian-ideal-pre-marathon-training-diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/ask-dietitian-ideal-pre-marathon-training-diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/How-to-Create-Your-Marathon-Nutrition-Plan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/How-to-Create-Your-Marathon-Nutrition-Plan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-03-16T13:00:13.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11936" CreationDate="2013-03-16T21:48:14.687" Score="1" ViewCount="2899" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read in some yoga books that it is not recommended to exercise after taking a bath. Is there  reason to this. Is it safe to exercise after bath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested if a prior bath delays the time where I can safely do yoga asanas or body-weight exercises? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4615" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T08:31:49.867" Title="Is it safe to exercise after taking bath?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-16T22:11:11.710" Score="17" ViewCount="82167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I joined a gym 2 months ago, and have exercised almost daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first 2-3 weeks I went to the gym almost daily exercising for about 45 mins (treadmill, weights etc) but I realised this was not sustainable because I was really exhausted. Also the treadmill hurts my knees. So now I'm working out at the gym 6 times a week with one rest day. However, I am not sure if this is the best way to work out, because after about 2 months, I only lost 4 kg. My target is to lose 10kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, my gym session is 15 mins on the Crossover machine (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.technogym.com/gb/products/cardiovascular-training/ellipticals/excite-+/crossover/3765&quot;&gt;http://www.technogym.com/gb/products/cardiovascular-training/ellipticals/excite-+/crossover/3765&lt;/a&gt;) on the level 5-6 difficulty (out of 25). This is what I think is the &quot;medium&quot; intensity as I sweat quite a lot. Then after that I either do 20 minutes of weights or 15 minutes on the rowing machine (for 2km).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the right approach to lose weight? Should I do more or less cardio / weight lifting? Also, would increasing the workouts to twice a day be better? (30 minutes for each?) I'm female, in my 20s. Any tips on how to structure my workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5439" LastEditorUserId="5439" LastEditDate="2013-03-16T22:25:59.220" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T15:33:29.823" Title="What is the best way to train at the gym for weight loss purposes?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11934" CreationDate="2013-03-16T22:33:14.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a hot-tub session, there may be some reasons to not exercise immediately, but I can't think of any reason why you would need to avoid exercise after a normal bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-03-16T22:33:14.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2013-03-17T04:00:56.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lightbulb,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moses already mentioned about dieting, and Moses is right.  I don't know much about your diet, but I can tell you that the truth about sustainable weight loss has a lot to do with proper eating and little to do with exercising.  This works for all normal individuals (no hormonal imbalances).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this being said, I don't think you should worry about whether you should lift weights or doing cardio to lose weight.  The truth is that if you decide to lift weights, and you burn more calories then you consume, and if you continue to do so, then you will lose weight.  You may even get more toned and more muscle definition.  Look at the women gymnasts and cheerleaders.  They use their own bodyweight as resistance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other end, if you run 2 hours per day, but you consume more calories than you burn, then you will gain weight.  This is true with many people in the gym on the treadmills and the ellipticals.  It's really all about calories in and calories out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are working out at a moderate intensity (sweat a lot), so I won't change much.  Just make sure your diet is good and clean.  Here is what I always tell my patients and clients!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips and tricks for successful and sustainable weight loss:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat healthier foods throughout the day to include meals and snacks. Try to eat every 2-3 hours (including snacks) to keep your metabolism running high, thus resulting in burning more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consume the least amount of sugar as possible. Foods like milk, juices, sodas and sweet snacks have lots of sugar, which will slow down your metabolism, thus will not be effective for burning calories. Be sure to read the label before purchasing or consuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/blog/5-tips-to-consume-more-water/13&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;water&lt;/a&gt; so that you will feel full throughout the day (12-16 glasses per day).&#xA;If you do eat late (after 7 PM), try to eat good calories like vegetables and lean proteins. If not, make sure to exercise extra to burn those calories the same night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes! Exercise, but try resistance training. You do not have to use actual weights, but rather mostly your body weight to get results (look at the gymnasts). Plus, resistance training has been shown to boost your metabolism. Remember the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start a habit by eating healthier, most likely you will sustain the results because it is so natural to eat, and not so natural to exercise and sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this has been helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-17T04:00:56.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11942" CreationDate="2013-03-17T06:52:55.730" Score="0" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how to properly get hydrated? I assume it is more than just drinking lots of water. It was &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11920/cold-and-fever-after-doing-extensive-cardio-sport/11931?iemail=1&amp;amp;noredirect=1#11931&quot;&gt;suggested here&lt;/a&gt; that one should hydrate before, during and after extensive workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5418" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T00:35:53.977" Title="How to hydrate / get hydrated / avoid dehydration?" Tags="&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;dehydration&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-03-18T09:01:00.060" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-17T12:59:10.153" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be an anachronism but I like to read magazines. For running I love &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningtimes.com/running-times&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Running Times&lt;/a&gt; and was wondering if there was something similar for strength training/general fitness. I'm looking for something that isn't full of a bunch of marketing fluff or &quot;bro science&quot;; something where I can get informative, educational articles, not the &quot;blast your chest with body builder X's mind blowing extreme chest routine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked and didn't see a similar question, if this isn't appropriate for the forum please feel free to delete. I also wasn't quite sure how to tag this. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-03-17T17:00:28.903" LastActivityDate="2013-03-17T17:00:28.903" Title="What are some scientific and education fitness magazines?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-03-24T01:11:14.317" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11939" CreationDate="2013-03-17T15:31:52.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not exactly clear what your intentions are. If you drink tons of water your kidneys are not happy. You will have many bio-breaks ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of (muscle) workouts you can increase the amount of water in your muscles by using creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your intention is only to drink enough water before a training session you could eat vegetables/fruits with a high water amount. Fruits also increase your low-carbs for energy. Drink a lot but not pure water, instead use isotonic drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5444" LastActivityDate="2013-03-17T15:31:52.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11939" CreationDate="2013-03-18T00:35:53.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to factor in what keeps your body hydrated before breaking a sweat. If you've heard the term &quot;Electrolytes&quot;, it is simply a blood mineral made up of sodium, potassium, chloride, etc. In order to be replenished before and after cardio activity, your body needs to have high enough levels so that it can function. For instance, if I'm breaking a sweat, I'm loosing electrolytes that need to be replaced via water or sports drinks. I usually stick with water while lifting and sports drinks/water for activities such as basketball or football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also be interested in Pedialyte in extreme situations to prevent cramping and sustain higher levels of electrolytes than normal (marathons).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4338" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T00:35:53.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-18T11:58:52.580" Score="1" ViewCount="3675" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard few of my friends saying doing gym after drinking a liter beer will give a better result. Is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does drinking beer and going to gym a good practice?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5448" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T20:03:02.883" Title="Can I drink beer and do gym?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11944" CreationDate="2013-03-18T12:07:16.070" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: no.  Longer answer has to do with a bunch of factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, after drinking a liter of beer, you are drunk--if not tipsy.  You don't have full motor control, which means you can end up hurting yourself or others without intending to.  There's a good chance you'll get kicked out of the gym (unless you own it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, alcohol dehydrates you, and to exercise properly you need to be properly hydrated.  Dehydration is made worse when you are sweating out what little hydration you have left--there's a good chance you will vomit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, alcohol numbs you to pain.  That means if you do something to injure yourself, you won't know it until you really make things worse--or possibly after you are sober again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, your friends sound like they just want to laugh at the drunk guy at the gym.  Not really a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just don't be stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T12:07:16.070" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11947" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-18T12:24:50.710" Score="-3" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to quickly get a good shape and muscles. I would prefer to spend 4 hours a day in Gym. I would like to take Eggs, Bacon, Beef, Mutton, Potatoes and Beer everyday with a hope I can achieve a quick result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will the above help me? or its useless? any other suggestions to quickly gain good personality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5448" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T14:06:18.787" Title="Quick body development tricks" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-03-18T22:26:18.460" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11947" CreationDate="2013-03-18T14:06:18.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat Big&lt;/strong&gt;: your body doesn't know the difference between protein/fat in bacon versus that in chicken, so there aren't any magic foods that will grow muscle (no, not even protein shakes). Eat enough to cover your ideal macro split (fat/protein/carb) plus an 300-500 kcal extra to fuel muscle growth. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compound Workout&lt;/strong&gt;: don't start out doing the isolation split routines, those are really only effective for advanced bodybuilders. Do compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, bench, etc. which will train and grow muscles in your whole body. Two good programs to follow are Starting Strength and Stronglifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive Overload&lt;/strong&gt;: The key driver to creating muscle is lifting heavy. So always be lifting heavier when possible (sometimes, you will need to lower weight to ramp back up--that is okay).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;KISS&lt;/strong&gt;: keep it simple and short. You don't need 4 hours a day to grow massive muscles; one hour a day is really all you need. If you're really wanting to spend time at the gym, do 1.5-2 hours max.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt;: Your body doesn't make muscles at the gym, it makes them in bed when you're resting. If you don't get a sufficient amount of sleep and wait a sufficient amount of time in between workouts, then your muscles won't fully recover and you will be inhibiting your own muscle growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be Smart&lt;/strong&gt;: Avoid common pitfalls that stop workouts for long durations.  Learn good form to avoid injury. Don't be embarrassed at the gym when starting off at low weights / empty barbells; the alternative is lifting too much and hurting yourself. Stretch your muscles so they don't become overly tight and impair progress or promote bad-form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T14:06:18.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11916" CreationDate="2013-03-18T16:49:48.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general the attitude in a gym is: Everybody works out for themselves, so everybody keeps to themselves. &#xA;This might give the idea there is no room for communication, but actually most often the opposite is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find most people in a gym cooperative and knowledgeable, but ONLY when you start talking. If you're not talking, then you're assumed to work out for yourself and keep to yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5450" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T16:49:48.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11918" CreationDate="2013-03-18T20:52:30.277" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your posted schedule and your history mentioned in another comment I would think that running 1 long run per week at your current distance would be sufficient to keep you in shape to &lt;strong&gt;complete&lt;/strong&gt; up to a half marathon with relatively low risk of injury (based on your stated history). Don't plan on being competitive, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With only 1 slow long run a week you will lose speed. If you want to reduce that loss I would add in speed work once a week at least 2 days before/after your long run to allow for sufficient recovery to get the most out of each run. I would also alternate the type of speed work you do (intervals one week, tempo another) and I would suggest turning a few of your long runs into faster steady-state runs or fartleks. You could also play around with negative splitting a few long runs. That won't completely prevent losing a little speed but it should mitigate any loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not going to get a definitive answer, I fear, because this is highly specific to your specific body/history/training needs. Conventional wisdom is that you can maintain fitness during the off season on 3 runs (2 short, one medium) for 5k/10k training (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/beginners/winter-maintenance-running&quot;&gt;this Q&amp;amp;A on winter maintenance&lt;/a&gt;) but your results will vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T20:52:30.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11952" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11953" CreationDate="2013-03-18T22:06:01.297" Score="14" ViewCount="4016" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just gotten strong enough to do pullups for the first time in my life.  Should I stretch before I do them?  If so, what stretches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5445" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T23:50:53.427" Title="Should I stretch before doing pullups?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11952" CreationDate="2013-03-18T23:50:53.427" Score="15" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Don't &quot;Stretch&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing &lt;strong&gt;static&lt;/strong&gt; stretches before working out is not good. It cools you down and relaxes you, which is the opposite of what you want while you're exerting yourself. What's worse is that by stretching your muscles, you decrease the amount of force that your muscles can exert, and make yourself vulnerable to injuries like muscle pulls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static stretches--where you put your muscle into a stretch and hold it there for several seconds or longer--is not a good idea before pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Warm Up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, do a thorough warm-up and some &lt;strong&gt;dynamic&lt;/strong&gt; stretches. What I do before pull-ups is from Tom Kurz' Stretching Scientifically. Basically I briefly roll out my joints (wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, ankles, neck), then move for five minutes. Sometimes I go for a jog, sometimes I jump rope, sometimes I shadowbox. Some people use a stationary bike--it doesn't matter what you do, as long as it's not too strenuous or explosive and it gets your blood pumping. Then I do three sets of arm circles both forward and backward, to make sure my shoulder joint is ready to be stressed. (If my workout includes lower body work, I do leg swings as well for my hips.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T23:50:53.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2013-03-18T23:51:28.467" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In any 5x5 training regimen, the two first sets are the warm-up sets, the repxset per se is then 3x5.&#xA;you should have read mehdi's report before doing the program, which is the right thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5452" LastActivityDate="2013-03-18T23:51:28.467" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2013-03-19T00:02:07.860" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like every one else said. Diet is going to be the main part. Look into eating paleo or keto. That will cut some weight fast depending on where you're at. Even eating right though I never got skinny. Strong lifts are what helped with that. It's lifting every other day. If you're worried you're going to get &quot;Bulky&quot; like the big guys at the gym. Trust me you won't. They spent years and years to get where they are with tremendous amounts of effort. Starting out I'm confident you'll see some muscle gain as well as weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - I went from a huge beer belly gut to getting pretty cut and working on getting a six pack. My best weight loss has been from weightlifting and doing zero cardio (not saying cardio is bad just saying it didn't help me cut weight like so many people praise it for)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5372" LastActivityDate="2013-03-19T00:02:07.860" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2013-03-19T11:51:27.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend &lt;code&gt;circuit workouts&lt;/code&gt; initially to get the best bang for your buck. Combine exercises that get your heart rate up with weight lifting and you will both burn fat and firm up with a little muscle, which also helps you to burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are having difficulty maintaining the regimen you were on, try three to four days a week - this will help to maximize recovery and give you balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the longer the workout the more calories you are going to burn, but you can do simple things like combining upper and lower body exercises to maximize your calorie burn. (For example, add a squat to your bicep curls.) Make sure you alternate cardio with these strength exercises and you will really start to see some changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you start getting stronger, make sure to increase weight or change up your routine - you want to keep your body guessing so you don't plateau. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of references out there and with a simple web search you can find a wide variety of sample circuit workouts. Just as an example check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/od/circuittrainingworkouts/Circuit_Training_Workouts.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Circuit reference&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastActivityDate="2013-03-19T11:51:27.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2013-03-19T19:47:32.283" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;The goal here is not weight loss. You can lose weight by chopping an arm off or donating a kidney. What you want is to be healthier, look better, and lose &lt;strong&gt;fat&lt;/strong&gt;. The term for this is &lt;em&gt;body recomposition&lt;/em&gt;, that is, changing out body to be composed of more muscle and less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You can't out-gym a bad diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You can't outrun a bad diet&quot;, the old saying goes, which means that almost no amount of exercise can help someone who eats lots of bad food. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightymatters.ca/2015/04/climbing-stairs-isnt-about-burning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Yoni Freedhoff puts it&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exercise is the world's best drug - it's just not a weight loss drug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, some few people find success from a total lifestyle change that includes exercise--usually &lt;em&gt;lots&lt;/em&gt; of exercise--&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;plus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a total change in diet. The specifics on the exercise side don't seem to matter a whole lot: some people just run, some people just lift weights, some people run and lift. Consistency over time on the exercise is the important part, but again, pinning your hopes on workouts getting rid of body fat is going to be disappointing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean you shouldn't hit the gym, it just means that the gym isn't what's going to cause tremendous fat loss. It can still help you with body recomposition &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightymatters.ca/2015/07/theres-no-realistic-amount-of-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;and a whole lot more&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My exercise mantra remains the same. Some is good. More is better. Everything counts. And the good news too is that lesser amounts of exercise, while unlikely to have a dramatic impact upon your weight, may well have a dramatic impact upon your health, mood, sleep, and quality of life, all the while preserving your functional independence as you age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diet first&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important exercise for losing fat is to make sure your diet is in order. Most everyone can agree on the fundamentals: minimize or eliminate soda, sugary processed snacks and desserts, highly processed breaded and fried fast food, and so on. Consider that some specific food groups--such as dairy, bread, or carbs--give some people more digestive trouble than others. Pay attention to your body when you eat specific foods and test to see whether you do better trading one food group for another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't starve yourself and don't restrict any macronutrient unless you're sure you know what you're doing. Your body needs protein, and fat, and if you're working out it definitely needs carbohydrate. Eat quality foods, lots of vegetables, lots of protein, no junk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rest&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also want to make sure to get plenty of sleep and have a manageable amount of stress. Losing fat is a lot harder when you're stressed or underslept. Getting enough sleep helps with recovery, and goes a long way to preparing a person for more frequent exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exercise for body recomposition&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, we know that exercise isn't a weight loss drug, but that it can help build muscle and help us feel better and be able to do more things. How should we then work out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength train&lt;/strong&gt; at least a little bit, to increase your metabolism and make you more capable of harder conditioning workouts. Once a week is fine, though two or three will work too. Barbells, kettlebells, and dumbbells are all fine. Start light but focus on adding weight as frequently as you can. Squats, deadlifts, bench and overhead presses, push-ups, body rows, dumbbell/barbell/kettlebell rows, Turkish get-ups, and lunges are all fine exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the end of those workouts, or as a separate workouts, do &lt;strong&gt;high-intensity conditioning&lt;/strong&gt; to get in a lot of work. Five to twenty minutes of hard conditioning, two to four times a week is reasonable. This could mean sprints, kettlebell swings, dumbbell clean-and-jerks, burpees, bodyweight intervals, or a whole host of other exercises. CrossFit workouts are usually designed with this model, as are the conditioning portion of the Max Effort Black Box program. The point is to stay at a high intensity for a relatively short period of time, which will burn plenty of calories. Your workout can be something like &quot;as many reps as possible in five minutes&quot;, or &quot;sprint for one minute, then walk for three, then repeat five times&quot;, or &quot;five squats with the dumbbell, then five presses, then run across the room, do ten push-ups, bear-crawl back, and repeat the whole thing as many times as I can in twenty minutes&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you still have energy after that, one or two &lt;strong&gt;medium-to-long sessions of running, swimming, or biking&lt;/strong&gt; are fine. They go in a separate workout. They are less efficient per minute than high-intensity conditioning, but are a straightforward way to get a large volume of work into your weekly schedule.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will take a tremendous amount of work, but will make you more able to do things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2018-02-14T15:33:29.823" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T15:33:29.823" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11960" CreationDate="2013-03-19T19:49:02.210" Score="3" ViewCount="813" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the literature seems to suggest I should do between 4 to 5 sets of bench presses, but after my third set or so, I start to feel very exhausted, often to the point where I couldn't even complete a single rep if I tried.  (This actually holds for all compound lifts, not just bench.)  I find myself taking 30 second breaks at first, then 90 second, then sitting for 5 minutes waiting to get my breath back, procrastinating the next set, and getting nothing done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often is it appropriate to take a break while lifting, and how long?  If I could take 5 to 10 minute breaks between each set (even if I did so by lifting other muscle groups) I could definitely meet the 5 sets goal.  But would that negate the effect of doing 5 sets?  Does letting your muscles recuperate between sets defeat the purpose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5445" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-03-19T20:50:38.013" LastActivityDate="2013-03-20T02:13:26.247" Title="How often should one take breaks when lifting weights for muscle size gain?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11959" CreationDate="2013-03-20T02:13:26.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For bodybuilding and muscle growth, you want to keep your rest periods relatively short. This approach differs from strength training and power-oriented Olympic weightlifting, in which rest periods of three, five, or even ten minutes is called for between max effort sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe and Kilgore recommend very short rest periods to optimize muscle size:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If muscle hypertrophy is the only concern, rests of 45 seconds or less are best. There seems to be a link (although not necessarily a causal relationship) between lactic acid production from resistance exercise, hormonal status, and increases in muscle mass. Between-set rests of about 45 seconds would be optimal in maintaining this relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Page 82, Practical Programming)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a bodybuilder, but I imagine it would be reasonable to have longer rest periods for those exercises where you're focusing more on strength than hypertrophy. You might not have any exercises where that is true, but it's worth considering strength work even in a hypertrophy program. In those cases it would still be good to keep the rest periods short--say, three minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't complete your later sets, then I would lower the weight, reduce the number of sets, or accept a longer rest period until you're better adapted to your current program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-03-20T02:13:26.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-20T03:54:22.567" Score="5" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lumbar lordosis and I play basketball competitively. Sometimes when I land from a jump I feel like the pressure comes up from my heel up to my spine. Now I chronically feel a very sharp pain in my lower back that comes and goes. Most especially when sitting for long periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises are helpful in strengthening my body to prevent herniated discs from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5460" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T09:56:56.390" Title="What exercises are helpful in preventing herniated discs?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2013-03-20T11:33:33.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;LightBulb,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are many excellent ideas to think about in the responses on this thread, already, I would like to register my opinion that there is no &quot;one-size-fits-all&quot; regimen, or type of work-out, that's &quot;best&quot; for people of all ages, all physical conditions, all body-types (by &quot;body-type&quot; I mean such genetic factors as metabolism, and your tendency to have a &quot;natural&quot; gene determined optimal weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, your long-term, and recent, exercise history comes into play here: it's one thing to be re-starting to exercise after a long period of not exercising; quite another to be very obese and just starting to exercise; another &quot;universe&quot; entirely to be over sixty, and start weight-lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing the details of your age, your current physical condition, your history of exercise, and more information about your diet, metabolism, sleep habits, use or non-use of stimulants, tobacco, alcohol, etc., I don't think a lot can be said, except to congratulate you for starting to exercise !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, one generalization I think can be made is that working out ... doing the same work-out ... more than four or five times per week is probably too much. And, particularly if you are &quot;pushing your limits&quot; you need to consider, and find, your body's minimal rest period for restoration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you are varying types of exercise, for example: doing cardio three times per week; doing weights twice a week; and swimming twice a week, imho, I think that can be a good thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing is to avoid resuming exercise to fast, and too intensely, after a period of relatively not exercising. To do that is to risk injury, and the kind of exhaustion that will lead you to stop exercising, particularly: imho, if you are over fifty years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A key variable you can work with, as referred to in several responses here, is &quot;intensity:&quot; as you probably already know, achieving a certain level of intensity, and maintaining it for a certain amount of time, is essential to increasing &quot;aerobic fitness.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, the relatively newer concept of high-intensity interval-training (HIIT) in anaerobic exercise, suggests that short intense heavyweight work-outs, interspersed with exercise using lighter weights, can give you quicker gains in strength, and stamina (I have not seen studies of anaerobic HIIT and weight loss, or gain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there's every indication that using &quot;variety&quot; in your work-outs, varying their type, and what you do, has a strong effect on total impact and carry-over of strength and fitness into everyday life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me (age 69), a combination of alternate days of aerobic exercise, and weights, with two days off, and then a swim-day, works best, but I vary that by sometimes doing a work-out where I alternate fifteen minutes on a treadmill with a circuit of several weight-machine exercises where I do high reps per set, and repeat that cycle three times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you exercise and observe carefully how your body responds; the more you pay attention to your diet, and adapt to a more healthy way of eating, the easier it gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own personal bias is that a longer-term effort involving exercise and slow change of diet is much better than any &quot;dieting,&quot; per se. And, for some people, like myself, born with a very slow metabolism, and a large frame, we need to accept that being large (not obese, but heavy, and having more body-fat than other people) is just a natural part of who we are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;good luck, Bill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5465" LastActivityDate="2013-03-20T11:33:33.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12017" CreationDate="2013-03-20T17:50:48.760" Score="8" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been three weeks since I started doing cardio exercises and I feel calm and relaxed. Is it because of the exercises? How does exercise improve mental health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5333" LastEditorUserId="5333" LastEditDate="2013-03-26T13:00:25.053" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T06:56:02.443" Title="What are the effects of improving physical health on mental health?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-21T02:15:13.227" Score="19" ViewCount="698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a bit abut these programs, I see some results in forums and in internet in general, but any reasonably good method and proper nutrition can get results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there papers or academic research that proves the efficacy and efficiency of the &lt;code&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Strong lifts&lt;/code&gt; method? (Maybe comparing to others training programs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to see paper mainly &#xA;about the &lt;code&gt;linear progression&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;weight reset&lt;/code&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T15:46:18.823" Title="Are there papers about Starting Strength or Strong lifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11961" CreationDate="2013-03-21T02:58:21.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rick Ong,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not trying to tell you not to take advice from the internet, but I think it's a great idea for you to go see a PT (physical therapist).  Try to find a PT with either has an OCS (Orthopedic Certified Specialist), a SCS (Sports Certified Specialist) or with McKenzie Certified.  Not that the other PTs won't be able to help you.  It's just that these PTs (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apta.org/uploadedFiles/APTAorg/About_Us/Membership/Development/Brochures/Brochure_SpecialistCert.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;board certified&lt;/a&gt;) are a lot more well-rounded when it comes to hands on and manual or mechanical diagnosis and treatment for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jospt.org/issues/articleID.2745/article_detail.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lower back pain&lt;/a&gt;, orthopedic and sports related injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this may take some time (paper work, insurance, PT referral, etc.) and money, but if you really want some great tips not only to take care of this problem that you are facing, but also preventing it from coming back again, then I strongly recommend you to go see a PT.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=204298&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Herniated discs&lt;/a&gt; can be towards anterior (front), posterior (back) or posterior lateral (back and to the side - most common).  This is why a PT will be able to perform some special tests during an evaluation to find out what exercises and treatment plan is best for your symptoms and problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give it a try.  Good luck!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-03-21T02:58:21.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11966" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-21T04:29:06.800" Score="1" ViewCount="1647" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the speed indication on an elliptical?  It ranges up to about &#xA;9 or 10 at what is a high speed run for me.  Is there an approximate conversion to mph?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5281" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-03-21T16:41:39.857" LastActivityDate="2013-03-21T16:41:39.857" Title="Is there a good way to convert a speed number on an eliptical to mph?" Tags="&lt;speed&gt;&lt;elliptical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2013-03-21T05:14:57.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have good answers so I’ll just add a few extra points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I only lost 4 kg. My target is to lose 10kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body Fat Percentage&lt;/strong&gt; - Tracking your weight is not necessarily the best guideline to judge your progress.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat/2592#2592&quot;&gt;Tracking your body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; and waist measurements may give you better feedback and motivation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because  I am assuming that your goal is to lose fat and not muscle, tracking your body fat percentage gives you better information about how your body composition is changing, so that you can determine if your exercise and diet program is on track.  Since you are lifting weights, your percent of lean muscle mass is most likely improving.  This would not be reflected as a loss of weight on the scales.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this the right approach to lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; - As others have already mentioned, the most effective way to lose weight is to improve your diet and nutrition.  Portion size, balanced nutrition, frequency of meals, hydrating and avoiding empty calories like sugars and sugar substitutes are all things to consider when planning your diet.  Exercise is important, but diet is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt; - Others have covered the ideas of resistance training for muscle strengthening, cardio for endurance training and HIIT (when you are able) to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time.  Each have their benefits, so the fact that you are doing both cardio and weight training is helpful for your goals. As others have  pointed out you don't need to do weight training everyday and you do need to give yourself recovery time. (See signs of overtraining below.)  Circuit training, cross training, body weight exercises, resistance bands are all valid ways to help you meet your goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't mention any flexibility exercises, so you may want to add some stretching and/or foam rolling after your workouts to maintain your flexibility.  (These don't help with weight loss but they do help to keep your body in good shape so that you can continue exercising over the long run.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also the treadmill hurts my knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The elliptical is a good alternative to the treadmill given you have knee problems.  At some point  it may be worth having your knees checked out to find out why you have knee pain.  A sports medicine doctor or physical therapist could evaluate your alignment, feet, footwear, weaknesses and any myofascial restrictions that may be contributing to knee pain.  Correcting the problem(s) may help to keep you exercising  and prevent overuse type symptoms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was really exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch for signs of over-training.  Balancing your workouts with sufficient rest will help to keep you from burning out so that you can keep up your workouts for a lifetime. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1547/what-are-some-signs-of-overtraining&quot;&gt;What are some signs of overtraining?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least - Congratulations on such a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-03-21T05:14:57.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11966" CreationDate="2013-03-21T13:03:28.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would likely be dependent upon your machine but I did find this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Elliptical machines calculate average speed based on thousands of&#xA;  readings taken throughout your workout. Most machines measure your&#xA;  speed every few seconds and record the information in the elliptical's&#xA;  computer. Average speed is typically available in real time and as a&#xA;  final summary of your elliptical training session. Speed is normally&#xA;  denoted in miles per hour and is carried to one decimal place -- for&#xA;  example, an average speed of 5.2 mph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/396841-the-average-speed-on-an-elliptical/#ixzz2OB9id5Is&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/396841-the-average-speed-on-an-elliptical/#ixzz2OB9id5Is&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-03-21T13:03:28.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11984" CreationDate="2013-03-22T09:18:55.680" Score="1" ViewCount="2016" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to train a few times a week, just cardio like running or cycling, so I was in decent shape. I then tried to cycle to work when my car broke down (about 8 miles of lanes). About half way I got suddenly ill, lost all my strength, started throwing up etc. I had some sort of contraction in the muscles in my head, the investigations are still going on for what happed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But no I have no strength at all, I can't run more than half a mile or cycle up my road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I gain my strength and more importantly, endurance back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3738" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T20:17:40.863" Title="How do I get back into exercise after illness" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11961" CreationDate="2013-03-22T09:56:56.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To prevent disc problems or back problems in general, you will want to do a combination of flexibility, strengthening and posture exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A regular flexibility program&lt;/strong&gt; for your legs, hips and back will help give you the range you need to keep the pelvis and spine balanced as you move, which will reduce strain on your lower back. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; of your abs, back, pelvic, hip and leg muscles will help to create a stable base and provide support for the spine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The right combination of flexibility and stability will give you a neutral posture that minimizes pressure on the discs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I land from a jump I feel like the pressure comes up from my heel up to my spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your leg muscles are not strong enough and flexible enough to absorb the shock as you land, the force is transmitted up thru your legs to the spine.  Strengthening your abs, glutes, quads, and calf muscles will help cushion your landing.  However, how you go about strengthening these muscles could help or hurt your back. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bird dog, planks&lt;/a&gt; etc. are generally good exercises to support your spine, but you should see a therapist first to make sure that they are appropriate for your condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a &quot;lumbar lordosis&quot; is not a problem. The spinal curves actually allow for more shock absorbing than a straight spine would.  Having an &lt;em&gt;excessive&lt;/em&gt; lordosis or one that is &lt;em&gt;stiff&lt;/em&gt; is a problem.  Finding the cause - tight muscles, weak muscles or restricted joints will determine how you can correct your lordosis (if possible).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now I chronically feel a very sharp pain in my lower back that comes and goes. Most especially when sitting for long periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prolonged sitting&lt;/strong&gt;, especially if you slump, increases disc pressure.  Getting up frequently and making sure that you have good back support can help. This q/a: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;I have extremely bad posture, what can I do?&lt;/a&gt; will give you some ideas for improving your sitting posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are already having symptoms, as @GetFitChimp suggests, find a good physical therapist who will evaluate your imbalances and give you specific exercises to address your specific problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The sooner you get appropriate help the better.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21099735&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; concludes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was a lower risk of subsequent medical service usage among patients who received PT early after an episode of acute low back pain relative to those who received PT at later times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T09:56:56.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11976" CreationDate="2013-03-22T11:13:54.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost consult with your doctor about taking on a fitness regimine - never sacrifice your health. That being said, fitness is an important part of health and can often help speed recovery, if your doctor thinks it is safe to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are ready and able, the key is to start somewhere and listen to you body. If you can't run 5 miles, run 1. If you can't run 1 mile, walk it. If you can't walk a mile, walk a half mile. And so on. Your goal is to push yourself enough to get out of your comfort zone and increase your ability without hurting yourself in this state. Over time, keep adding difficulty (heavier weights if weigh lifting, faster speed or longer distance if cycling, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often after illness or injury people lose muscle, so weight traing may be a good place to start. This will help you build back your strength, and you can add on more cardio exercises to get your heart rate up and work on your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's frustrating to feel like you're starting back at square 1, but remember you are reconditioning your body, and it will take some time to get back to where you were. Keep your eyes on the prize continue to push, and you will see the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T11:13:54.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11981" CreationDate="2013-03-22T11:43:48.933" Score="4" ViewCount="659" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been traning my current session since December, that is about three months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I consider my whole 3 years of traning sessions I would say this one to be the best. I learnt some new ideas particularly on the nutrition part - having more Protien each day, eating each 3 hours and etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following a plan I made by myself which based on :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1. Workout Routines :&#xA;&#xA;  - Chest/Biceps&#xA;  - Back/Triceps&#xA;  - Shoulders/Legs&#xA;&#xA;2. Workout Phases: (5-6 days a week)&#xA;&#xA;  - Sunday : Chest/Biceps&#xA;  - Monday : Back/Triceps&#xA;  - Tuesday : Shoulders/Legs&#xA;  - Thursday : Chest/Biceps&#xA;  - Friday : Back/Triceps&#xA;  - Saturday : Shoulders/Legs&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel very fatigue from this workouts although having 3-4 Whey Protien and other Protien sources each day allow me to recover pretty fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to say my training is really hard, very hard. I'm pushing myself to the limits and also add 30 mintues of cardio and small lifting in the end of the workouts - while doing abs I also do simultaneously on each workout a bench press with 60kg (just to stimulate my chest more and more) and 10 military press. That is, each 50 crunches I do bench press, military press, some lower abs, running(speed 15, 1 minute and calm down), pushing rope and come back to another 50 crunches - doing this like 3-4 times in the end of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each workout totals to 1:30 - 2:00 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided today to stop training for a week becuase I believe I'm having plateau and It's annoying. I have few questions on how should I continue when I come back to my next 3-4 months training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One important thing I want to do as I come back is to change my workouts as much as possible, I was considering following this article (&lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/weighttrainingprinciples/a/advbuildroutine_3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/weighttrainingprinciples/a/advbuildroutine_3.htm&lt;/a&gt;).&#xA;It includes some workout I don't use, new mixes and more important new body parts division.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;According to this arctile I have 2 phases : Loading Phase and Growth Phase.&#xA;On which phase should I increase wights and on which phase should I decrease wights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this article includes Deloading? Is it good thing? Is it used only to avoid plateau or as a training method? I just hate lifting lower wights and I want to know why It is good and if so, When......&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is 1:30-2:00 hours workout is really too bad? I just want to train my abs each workout and including 1:00 hour of my workout + abs It totals to 1:30 - 2:00.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What can I do to avoid plateau for the next time?.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important note I would like to advice with you. I'm consider myself as pretty strong guy (according to the wights) and yet my muscles are not so large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to @Jeremy Likness, &quot;&lt;em&gt;and the reason why some people can be extremely strong without having large muscles - it's because their neurological system reacts to the workout by improving coordination of motor units, the bundles of nerves that fire to contract muscle (when you lift a heavy weight or a small one, motor units are helping you do that and it's just a question of how many are activated at once)&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone explain me what does Jeremy means? One thing I want to change is my muscle, I hate it that I have strength but the muscle isn't large. I can lift 100-110 kg on Bench Press and 32kg on each hand on Sholdurs Press and so on and yet my arms and chest isn't big enough and the muscle are not large as I exepect them to be. How can I change it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is pretty long post with alot of confusing concepts on my part, I would appreciate If you could answer some of the questions or make some of the concepts clearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you all! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5438" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T18:25:56.730" Title="BodyBuilding - Plateau and a new Workout Plan - Intermediate - Advanced" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11980" CreationDate="2013-03-22T13:45:00.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to preface my answer by saying I am not as familiar with bodybuilding programming.  However, I can answer some of your questions from a more general strength training perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding @Jeremy Likeness' quote, the strategy behind both power lifting and weightlifting programming is to be able to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible.  In other words, do as much as we can with the muscle we have, since the goal is to demonstrate strength on a stage.  As you can imagine, eventually you will have to increase the size and both types of hypertrophy (sarcoplasmic and myofibrilar) to get stronger.  However, pushing and pulling heavy requires firing more muscle fibers for short bursts of all out effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building muscle size requires exhausting more muscle fibers and forcing them to adapt to get bigger.  There are several ways of doing that using different set/rep ranges for proper effect.  Shorter rep ranges with more sets emphasize myfibrilar hypertrophy, and longer rep ranges with fewer sets emphasize sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  Medium (4-6) reps are a tradeoff and have marginal improvements in both.  However, the key to this process is the overall volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(1 and 2) The program you chose&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the looks of the program, the loading phase is all about volume.  You are probably going to be around 70-75% of your max.  Any more than that and you might be buried in fatigue.  You will feel tired, but you should be able to recover properly if you eat well.  Introducing or increasing your creatine consumption post workout should help with recovery.  This is what loading is all about.  Power lifting routines have a similar volume phase that is preparatory for the next phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The growth phase will be higher intensity, but with the rep ranges there, probably closer to 75-85% of your max.  If the weights are chosen correctly, your muscles should feel quite used but not feel so cloudy as you might in the loading phase.  This is similar in concept to the &quot;realization&quot; phase in power lifting periodized programming.  It's the bodybuilder equivalent to peaking.  The cardio is there to help keep fat in check, so don't overemphasize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(3) Deload Week&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first week of the whole cycle is just as important as the remainder.  It is an active rest.  You'll want to keep the weights around 50-60% of your max.  That will help you keep from feeling a bit too crispy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The challenge with high volume work, which is inherent in all strength programming, is managing fatigue.  Muscles grow when they are at rest.  You still have to put demands on them, but sleep, active rest, etc. are a critical part of getting stronger.  You need to give your muscles opportunity to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(4) Length of workout&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the bodybuilding articles, and some power lifting ones as well suggest 1:00 hour as the optimal training time.  The reason is managing cortisol levels in your system which is catabolic.  Those articles have 90 minutes as the outside length of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you also have the option of splitting the work up into multiple 1 hour sessions per day to stay inside that training window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend running a program as written for at least one cycle before changing it.  This goes for any program you choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(5) Avoiding Plateau&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the challenge we all face.  Avoiding plateau is essentially managing the stress/recovery cycles of supercompensation (i.e. getting stronger/bigger) properly.  It is particularly difficult when you are dealing with a program that can bury you with fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to how well you can think, and how you feel session to session.  Take notes in your training log.  If you feel like you are getting weaker, or you are finding it harder to concentrate throughout the day, fatigue is winning.  You will want to back off the weight a bit while you are training until you are clear headed.  Sometimes the fatigue is masking the strength you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend coming up with a rating system for how you felt during training.  Some days are better than others.  A friend of mine has a 4 point rating system:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training really sucked.  Couldn't do the work, felt weaker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigued but got through the required stuff.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Average training day.  Clear headed, but nothing special.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The training gods are smiling, you feel like you can lift a mountain--again and again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal is to string together as many '3' days in a row as you can.  If you live in the '3' world, you will progress at a good pace.  If you feel like you are in the realm of '2' for a session cut out anything extra and just do the required work.  Hopefully that's a one time thing (they happen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The challenge is what to do with those '4' days.  The best thing you can do is to avoid the temptation to do extra work.  That extra work means extra fatigue, and you might be in the world of '1's and '2's for a couple weeks afterwards.  A better use of a '4' day is to aim for more crisp domination of the weights you normally would be using.  Move the weight with more speed, or reduce the rest between sets.  Just don't add more weight or do more sets/reps than the program calls for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The unfortunate truth is that there is a genetic limit, and laws of diminishing returns.  If you are living in the realm of '3' workouts most of the time, you may find that your progress (however you are measuring it) will be slower.  Not stopped, just slower.  Please don't confuse slow progress for plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll respond to your follow up questions here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First of all, thank you very much. I have few questions about your answer. Shouldn't I use one more phase between the deload week which I keep the weights around 85%-100%? Shouldn't I start off with a week or two keeping the weights around 50%-75%? After the deload week should I rest completely for a week? Regarding the training days I misunderstood you. If I train each 3 days in a row taking a day off between I can have 5-6 workouts per week, is it okay? How much workouts should I have per week as I Starr this session? Thank you very much !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to keep in mind is the goal you are trying to achieve at the moment.  Periodization is a method to have a logical progression of goals to help achieve some final end goal.  For example, power lifting periodization has an ultimate goal of a new 1 rep max in competition.  To achieve that ultimate goal you first go through an &quot;accumulation&quot; phase (similar to your loading phase), an optional &quot;switching&quot; phase, and then a &quot;realization&quot; phase.  The progression of building more base strength through volume through less and less volume to more and more intensity is a proven way to increase your 1 rep max.  There's a bit more to it, obviously, but each phase has a specific goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heavier the weight, the more stress it puts on your body.  One of the ways to live in the '3' world (see the grading scale above) is to make sure you don't go above 90% unless you are preparing for competition.  Most of your training can and should be done with lighter weights--particularly if you are trying to put on muscle size which requires a lot of volume.  As intensity, or the weight on the bar, goes up; then volume has to go down to compensate.  The lower the volume, or the shorter the number of reps, the more you are training your nervous system rather than your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every successful program has a philosophy behind it and a reason for manipulating the training variables.  Some guys will write books about their training methodology such as Paul Carter, Jim Wendler, and Mark Rippetoe.  You can learn a lot from they similarities and differences between the programs and why each of them made those choices.  The guys I referenced are all power lifters, and I have books from each of them.  I recommend finding equivalent guys in bodybuilding to help understand the tradeoffs in that style of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-03-22T18:25:56.730" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T18:25:56.730" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11986" CreationDate="2013-03-22T18:32:02.173" Score="7" ViewCount="4107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training for two years, trying to develop muscles (for astethics, being big and not for strength training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that in order to do that I should work more on my sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. As I'm building a workout plan built on the periodilazion method I want to understand a basic concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until today I believed that in order to develop muscles and being big I should train with as much as weight as possible even for 1-5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I read that in order to develop or work on my sarcoplasmic hypertrophy I should train with low intensity and high volume that is low weights, and more reps (8-12) and more sets (3-5). Am i right ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If i understand correctly and i'm using the periodilization method then on my first month while I'm using 70%-75% of my strength for 1 rm then this is the phase in which I will bulk up ?  And then on the second month as I'm using 75%-85% of my strength for 1 rm and less reps/sets  (high intensity and low volume) then I will work on my strength ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to understand what's the best periodilization method division I should use in order to bulk up that is work as much as I can on my sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much !!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5438" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T22:14:28.460" Title="Bodybuilding - Myofibrillar and Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy - Building muscles" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11976" CreationDate="2013-03-22T20:17:40.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The approach has to be in the following order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Figure out what went wrong.  What you experienced is not normal.  It could be anything from bad dehydration to a latent neurological or cardiovascular problem.  It might even be dietary or simply a really bad flu.  You'll be working with your doctor on this.  I presume you are writing your question some days or even weeks after this event.  The fact that normal strength hasn't come back is not promising.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find out what you can do.  Once the problem is diagnosed, and you understand cause and effect, it may limit your options to the types of exercise you can do.  Again, this is something you have to discuss with your doctor once you know what happened.  The key is to avoid the same events that caused the problem to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Come up with a plan that is slow and steady to get back to where you were, or whatever your new goal is.  The focus should be on slow progress, and monitoring how you feel.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, without further information on why you had that incident, it will be very difficult to help come up with a plan for recovering that level of cardiovascular health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One approach that can help you get back, slowly, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk every other day.  Walking is low intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first day you go for about 40 minutes at a comfortable pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't handle 40 minutes at first, build up to that by maintaining the same pace but adding as much time as you can handle each day until you hit 40 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The every day after that you try to cut a little time off the same route.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you can get the same distance you did in 40 minutes at a comfortable pace to a quick paced 25 minute walk, you can start introducing interval training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the interval training, again start light and build up.  Perhaps 2 minutes walk, 30s jog, and do that for 20 minutes.  Then start lengthening the jog time to 1 minute.  Then start shortening the rest time to 1 minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point you can do any Couch to 5K, and build up your endurance from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I'm a firm believer in doing strength training as well, I highly recommend you get the cause of the incident sorted out as well as you can.  You might have to be very meticulous about the records you keep for a while.  Keep track of what you eat, how you feel before, during, and after exercise.  If you feel nausea start to come back, stop what you are doing.  Put that in your notes.  Review those notes and figure out if there's any correlation between those episodes and anything you ate, or how you felt leading up to that event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of all that tracking is to help you recognize patterns so you can avoid future incidents like that.  Even if the doctor seems to be less than helpful, meticulous note-taking and reviewing can help you find your own cause and effects.  If a certain type of food seems to be associated with most of your incidents, try eliminating it from your diet for about 3 weeks and try to introduce it back after that period of time.  If the symptoms return with the food, there is a good chance you might have an allergy to one of the ingredients.  3 weeks is enough time to completely purge any lingering affects from any food.  If the symptoms return before that 3 week period is up, the problem is likely someplace else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else, sharing your observations from those notes with your doctor may help them help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T20:17:40.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1013" CreationDate="2013-03-22T20:48:35.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like it really depends on the lift. Pretty much unanimously, a lifter performing oly lifts or front squats will benefit from an oly lifting shoe. Equally, a flat bottom shoe, such as chuck taylors or ballet slippers will help out during the deadlift. However, I feel like the back squat has a wider variance in what lifters prefer to lift in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T20:48:35.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11983" CreationDate="2013-03-22T20:59:18.317" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The good news is that there is more than one way to achieve your goals.  That means that you can have two answers that vary within a certain degree and they will both be right.  In short, there is no &quot;best&quot;.  The &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/8238/3941&quot;&gt;related question&lt;/a&gt; that @Informaficker linked to in his comment applies to this conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to understand that many successful bodybuilders cross train with other sports.  Two examples would be Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Frank was primarily a power lifter, and Arnold was primarily a bodybuilder.  Yet they both trained together, and they trained in each other's sport.  Frank Zane was a beast of a short man, and at his small frame could outlift Arnold.  Arnold however, was much bigger in every dimension.  There were differences in what they emphasized and how much time they devoted to the other sport.  Frank was a better power lifter and Arnold was a better body builder.  They were both very strong and very successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I mentioned this, is because I find it useful to think about a year in training with the goals you want to accomplish per quarter.  In my example, I am primarily a power lifter, but my first quarter of the year was spent doing what I call &quot;base building&quot;.  It's essentially bodybuilding without being hung up on shape and proportions.  In other words, just getting bigger.  This quarter, I'm focusing on losing fat while preserving the strength and muscle I've accumulated so far.  Next quarter will be increasing strength and preparing for my next competition.  And the cycle will continue similar to that for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Building Size&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program I used for this was called &quot;Big-15&quot;, which is how Paul Carter organized his Dogg Crap training over time.  The basic structure of the program was like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 6 weeks you stay at the same weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 sessions a week, 3 big, 3 small.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 big sessions which alternated round robin style.  2 upper body days and 2 lower body days.  In my case I chose bench and behind the neck press for upper body, and squat and romanian deadlifts for lower body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You start with a weight you can do for 10 reps on upper body (about 77%) and 12 reps for lower body (about 73%).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After the main all out set to failure (really near failure), you did a second set for half the reps within 1 minute.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each session you try to beat the number of reps you did last time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small sessions were basically alternating between two main focuses: pipes (biceps/triceps) &amp;amp; abs and shoulders &amp;amp; abs.  These were very light weight 100 rep sessions--example: 5x20.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt good the whole time.  I didn't ever feel buried by the volume, and the light days helped keep my joints happy by getting a lot of blood flowing through the area.  This training did wonderful things for my upper body, increasing my chest and arms with my gut staying about the same size.  At the end of 6 weeks, you use higher weights for your new 10 or 12 rep max.  This worked very well.  It's not traditional power lifting training, but I lived in a nice steady 80% or '3' world (referring to my other answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not the only way to train, but there are reasons why it worked.  The related question linked to at the beginning has several charts that show how the body adapts to the type of training you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-3 reps: primarily myofibrilar hypertrophy.  used to build strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4-6 reps: middle ground, builds both myofibrilar and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  Though not as well as higher rep ranges.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-15 reps: primarily sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (size).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16- reps: primarily muscular endurance.  Size and strength not really affected, but you can build more work capacity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rep ranges also influence the weight you can use.  There are several Rep Max calculations available out there, and each has their own strengths and weaknesses.  While using them to try and calculate a real 1 Rep Max (1RM) is sketchy, using them to calculate a 5 rep max or a 10 rep max is fairly useful.  The bottom line is that when you compare a 5 rep max against a 1 rep max, it is a certain percentage of that (+/- a couple percent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 1-3 reps, you can use 90% and above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 4-6 reps, you can use 80-90%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 8-15 reps, you can use 70-80%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 16+ reps, it will be below 70% (like about 65% for 20 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your program calls for multiple sets in that 8-15 rep range, you'll need to take up to 5% off the max to account for the accumulative fatigue.  So if a 10 rep max is 77%, but you need to do 5 sets, use 72% of your max.  It sounds like a lot of math, but after a while you can feel the weight and know if it's right for the amount of work you need to do.  The long story made shorter is that the reps in the program dictate how heavy you can lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive Overload&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to keep improving, you need increase the work that you are doing.  That can be in the form of more weight, more reps, more speed on the bar, etc.  The bottom line is that what you did to get to where you are isn't going to be enough to keep increasing size/strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the body adapts in cycles.  You go through a training stress, and the body is fatigued and has to work to compensate for it.  It responds by rebuildng itself better than it was.  At least in an ideal world.  Below is another chart to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8AEwf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically training too light doesn't give an optimal supercompensation to your training, and training too hard is worse.  You actually detrain after pushing yourself too hard.  This is why I recommend rating your workouts.  An 80% day (average day) is decent.  A -10% day would be at the bottom of the supercompensation curve.  Nothing to get worried about, but definitely don't do anything extra.  A +10% day is enevitable after that.  The trick is to not get carried away on those +10% days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you string enough of those 80% days together, and resist the temptation to go nuts on +10% days, you'll stay in that optimal training curve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Building Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though this is not your stated goal, you can benefit from more of a strength training approach for up to a quarter a year just as I can benefit from the bodybuilding training.  Strength emphasis looks something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulk of the time is in the 4-6 rep range&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some peaking into the 1-3 rep range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Percentages well below 5RM or 3RM, with multiple sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These programs are as varied as the bodybuilding ones.  The idea is to build up strength, so you can work heavier with the bodybuilding work and get even bigger.  That's essentially what Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger did.  The bulk of their training was spent focusing on what they considered most important, but they cross trained to get the benefits of each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Myofibrilar and Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy Are&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Myofibrilar hypertrophy&lt;/em&gt; is an increase in the protein pairs that actually contract.  These guys are what make you stronger and lift more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy&lt;/em&gt; is an increase in the energy support systems within the muscle.  The energy support systems take up more space and increase the mass of the muscle more than the contractile protein pairs--and they help you lift weight longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Completely and blindly focusing on one over the other limits the amount of gains you can make in either power lifting or bodybuilding.  It requires a lot of energy to bench press 300+ pounds once, just as it does to bench 225 pounds a dozen times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Final Words&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set your goals and do the type of work necessary to achieve them.  Push yourself, but keep an eye on residual fatigue.  A good program will push you, and then provide some relative rest to let it breath.  A loading phase (or accumulation phase) is about building volume. Volume work can affect the cumulative fatigue levels which is why they are limited in time.  Switching then to more intensity based work with much less volume helps manage the fatigue and take advantage of the supercompensation coming.  After that, you'll need a period of relative rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not easy sometimes resisting the urge to destroy the weights.  But I learned that lesson rather painfully last year.  I finally got to a milestone squat, and in my naivete used a Russian squat program to hit the next milestone up.  The problem is I programmed too heavy and my ego caused me to not be able to finish that program.  The program works if you know how to use it correctly--which I didn't.  I got buried under the volume and the end result was that I was weaker after the program than before.  Because of that foolishness, my competition squat was lower than my milestone squat.  It took a long time to dig myself out of that hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program you selected will work if you do it as written, and you don't put your ego into it.  Think about what weights you can handle any day of the week, your 80% weights as it were.  Use those to get started.  If after running one full cycle of that periodization program you want to tweak it, you'll know where to make the tradeoffs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-03-22T22:14:28.460" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-22T22:34:47.127" Score="1" ViewCount="5122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google turns up conflicting result for this and that's why I though it best to ask it here. I was told by a friend that not eating dinner will help in losing weight. But then someone else said that that was not true; she said that it will make you weak because you sleep on empty stomach which might be harmful to your health in the long run. I wonder if any of these myths are true. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5479" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T03:30:27.317" Title="Not eating dinner, benefits and detriments?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11993" CreationDate="2013-03-23T16:25:58.877" Score="11" ViewCount="5970" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that it's better &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11944/can-i-drink-beer-and-do-gym/11945#11945&quot;&gt;don't drink beer before gym&lt;/a&gt;. But after gym? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-491236/A-pint-beer-better-workout-water-say-scientists.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; they claim the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbon dioxide in beer helps quench the thirst more quickly, while&#xA;beer's carbohydrates replace calories lost during physical exertion.&#xA;Based on the studies, the researchers have recommended moderate&#xA;consumption of beer - 500ml a day for men or 250ml for women - as part&#xA;of an athlete's diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-08-11T15:10:38.020" Title="Drink beer after gym?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11989" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-03-23T16:36:17.290" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-03-23T16:36:17.290" LastActivityDate="2013-03-23T16:36:17.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11990" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-03-23T16:36:17.290" Score="0" Body="An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethyl alcohol which is commonly referred to as ethanol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits (or distilled beverage)." OwnerUserId="5200" LastEditorUserId="5200" LastEditDate="2013-03-23T17:35:33.453" LastActivityDate="2013-03-23T17:35:33.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11987" CreationDate="2013-03-23T18:09:40.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not eating dinner helps you lose weight in one way: it reduces your total daily calorie intake. But that does not mean that its a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in a caloric deficit, you WILL lose weight, but the way in which you reach the deficit also matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What and when you eat triggers various hormonal responses, and some of them can support healthy fat loss, others can prevent it. For example, high insulin levels make it hard for your body to burn fat. The topic is vast, but going to sleep hungry isnt necessairly a good signal to the body's metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you have been working out, most of the regeneration takes place duringg sleep. You want to have enough nutrients, like proteins, for your body to best use the regeneration time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to sum it up, you SHOULD eat dinner, but make a smart choice of what to eat. It should be high in protein, low in fat and sugar. Farm cheese could be a good choice, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-03-23T18:09:40.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11988" CreationDate="2013-03-23T19:04:22.927" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often heard myself that beer itself can be considered an isotonic drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I quote some interesting parts of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/1996/December/pintaday.asp&quot;&gt;this Royal Society of Chemistry's article&lt;/a&gt;, maybe the studies the DailyMail talks about are those linked at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Beers] high water content more than compensates for its dehydrating effects.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  One other fact about beer that may come as a surprise is its fairly high content of protein and vitamins. Beer contains about 2 g of protein […] nearly 4 g per pint of water-soluble B vitamins: rich in niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine and riboflavin, beer is relatively low in only two B vitamins, thiamin and biotin.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  One of the other benefits of drinking beer is that unlike some other drinks, it contains relatively low levels of sodium. Typically, the Na : K ratio is just 1 : 4, compared with a ratio of 29 : 1 for some sports drinks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you worry that alcohol prevents recovery of muscle, there are studies that show that high alcohol consumption &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20012446&quot;&gt;actually does&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;consumption of [a beverage containing 1 g of ethanol per kg bodyweight ethanol] after damaging exercise magnifies the loss of force associated with strenuous eccentric exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20878178&quot;&gt;smaller amounts don't&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;consumption of [a beverage containing 0.5 g of alcohol per kg bodyweight] after damaging exercise appears to have no effect on the loss of force associated with strenuous eccentric exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you drink 500ml of beer, which normally has around 5-8% of alcohol, this is around 25g-40g of ethanol. This amount is at or below the value of the second study, depending on your body weight of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are of course very different types of beer and by that its contents will vary. Additionally alcohol-free beer exists that doesn't bring the downsides normal beer does, but it still brings the benefits. Some alcohol-free beers are actually marketed as isotonic in Germany.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an anecdote: The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vattenfall-cyclassics.de/index.php/en/&quot;&gt;Vattenfall Cyclassics&lt;/a&gt;, an annual bike race in Hamburg, has Erdinger (a beer brewery from Bavaria) as a sponsor, and both alcohol-free and normal Erdinger Weissbier is well received after the race both by the crowd and the racers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T15:26:39.450" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T15:26:39.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-23T23:11:52.077" Score="13" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my city, some advocacy groups are raising awareness about the dangers of vehicle exhaust nearby parks and other places where people exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we couldn't get to &quot;the heart&quot; of the body of knowledge about influences of vehicle air pollution (small particles and gases) specifically over people who are performing physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any classic study on the subject?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5483" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T21:03:57.620" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T11:10:04.007" Title="Is there any scientific info about effects of air pollution during exercise?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-24T06:04:59.270" Score="4" ViewCount="2939" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my friends is over 222 lb. He is a bit lazy to go to gym; so, I suggested he do stair climbing at home. He agreed to the idea at first but then told me it might be harmful given his weight. So is it okay for an obese person to do stair climbing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5479" LastEditorUserId="5479" LastEditDate="2013-03-28T13:55:02.547" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T06:56:14.977" Title="Stair climbing for an obese man" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11996" CreationDate="2013-03-24T14:01:05.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lose fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume. You can do this through eating fewer calories, burning more calories (i.e. more exercise), or some combination of the two. A combination of eating fewer calories and exercising more is what I (and probably most people in the health and fitness world) would recommend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your friend needs to address both of these. For the food part, there is a lot of information out there on this (everything from fad diets to getting the proper nutrients for your body). I could write a very long post on it, but since you asked only about the exercise I leave it at &quot;he needs to eat less calories than he burns&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the exercise part you asked about. Stair climbing at home can be a great place to start, even when overweight or obese. (As an extreme example, look at the TV show &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Biggest Loser&lt;/a&gt;. They have people over 400 and even 500 pounds do all kinds of intense exercises. I'm not advocating the extreme training they do on that show, but hope to make the point that even very overweight people can train if they are willing to push themselves.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing your friend needs to watch out for is injury to things like the knees, ankles, and hips. If he is carrying around a bunch of excess body fat, impact to the joints over time can cause a lot of pain. As he loses the weight, it will be less pressure on those joints and movement will become easier. He just has to listen to his body and stop when it becomes painful (notice I used the word &quot;painful&quot; and not &quot;uncomfortable&quot; - &quot;uncomfortable&quot; usually means you are pushing yourself, which is good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he finds stair climbing to be painful, recommend something a little easier like walking. Go as far as he can one day, and then that distance plus a block the next. Keep adding distance and start to pick up the pace. Over time he can push that to a jog, then a faster jog, then a run. The key is to keep moving in whatever way his body will allow, no excuses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went from being overweight to fit in the basement of my house. All I had was a cheap pair of weights and an exercise video I got for free. At the time I could barely even do a pushup on my knees, and over time, with effort, I kept pushing until I was doing one handed pushups and a variety of crazy exercises. Your friend can do it too, if he stays motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastActivityDate="2013-03-24T14:01:05.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12004" CreationDate="2013-03-24T17:45:29.287" Score="4" ViewCount="2003" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an issue I always surpressed my mind of: the necessary carbohydrates per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I learned a while ago is the importance of consuming at least 20 gram of protein per 3-4 hours in order to build muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consuming enough protein seems to be very easy to me, when I can't have a real meal I just take Whey Protein and I know I have enough protein in the body for the next 3-4 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much carbohydrates I need is what I am always guessing. My guessing is to get as much as carbohydrates as I can as long I don't feel like I ate too much. Each time I take Whey Protein, I drink a cup of milk with 5 spoons of oatmeal (just from the box without boiling it). Sometimes I also add some whole rice (4-5 spoons) and sometimes just a banana/yogurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the evening, after a workout I take Whey Protein then I shower and 30 minutes later I consume 2 whole bread, eggs and cottage cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it enough? Is consuming Whey Protein and Oat Meal mostly enough? What can I do better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 26 years old, my height is 1.83cm and my bodyweight is 90kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5438" LastEditorUserId="5438" LastEditDate="2013-03-24T20:07:30.093" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T04:46:17.303" Title="Eating enough carbohydrates to build muscle" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11999" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-24T20:18:57.820" Score="4" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everywhere it is written to &quot;sleep well&quot; to lose weight and build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder what is the &quot;correct&quot; number of sleep hours? For Cardio workouts? Weight lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm doing a more intense workout (such as Crossfit) would I need more sleep hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5417" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-03-25T00:54:28.550" LastActivityDate="2013-03-25T16:39:19.860" Title="Proper sleeping time after tough workouts?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-25T01:59:49.167" Score="4" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope it's pretty simple. What is the best program to both gain some muscle mass/strenght and gain endurance ? Would it better to alternate frequently (every 1-2 days) between cardio training and weight lifting or go for a smaller frequency (1-2 weeks) ?&#xA;In case this matters, I have a BMI of about 20 that I plan to get to about 23 and I can run a semi-marathon but I'm aiming for a Half-Ironman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5486" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T14:15:39.390" Title="Program to gain both muscle and endurance" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12129" CreationDate="2013-03-25T02:59:01.403" Score="15" ViewCount="2604" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I'm at the gym, I am not motivated enough or I don't feel energetic enough to really push myself and force myself to really struggle with those last 2-3 reps in each set. Times like these I'll find myself sticking to what I can complete 3x10 in pretty comfortably, needing moderate effort in the last set but always being able to complete it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the goal of putting on size - is there still going to be a benefit in weightlifting if I'm not pushing myself to my limits? I know for example with strength training that you really need to push yourself and be consistently increasing your lifting weight to make strength gains, but I'm not sure if the same applies to a goal of muscle mass gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am of course sticking pretty close to edge of struggling (I'm not just doing a low weight that requires no effort whatsoever), I just find often that I'm not adding that extra 3, 4 or 5 kgs to make it difficult for myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably important to note that I like to stay just under my lifting capacity to allow slower movements and perfected form as well. I feel like form and slower movements would be preferred over quick jerky movements with more weight, but I could be wrong considering I see a lot of big guys at the gym doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T13:30:41.467" Title="Is there a benefit to weightlifting without pushing yourself?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11999" CreationDate="2013-03-25T16:39:19.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the people who live the longest, sleep six to seven hours per night see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Sleep&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how does sleep and exercise relate to each other? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ligtht physcial exercise seems to favor sleep, e.g. see &lt;a href=&quot;http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&amp;amp;cpsidt=909990&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effects of light physcial exercise on sleep regulation in rats&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heavy exercise and sleep deprivation creates an energy deficit, see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140138608967198&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; where a group of soldiers did heavy, sustained work for 107 hours with only 2 hours of sleep. Even the group that was allowed to eat a lot (8000 kcal per day) lost around 1.3 kg of body fat. So exercising hard and not sleeping seems counterproductive to hard workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleeping too much is not too good for you, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/physical-side-effects-oversleeping&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Physical Side Effects of Oversleeping&lt;/a&gt;. According to the article, sleeping for nine or 10 hours every night increases the chance of getting diabetes, becoming obese, getting headaches etc. However, in the context of training, some of the negative side effects (e.g. obesity) is unlikely. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you create a matrix of Sleep time {too little (less than 6-7 hours), right amount (6-7 hours), too much (9-10 hours)} and Exercise {no exercise, light exercise, heavy exercise} and map it too {+, -}, it seems reasonable that you should sleep 1-2 hours extra after a heavy workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience is that I have sometimes difficulties to sleep after hard workouts late at the day. So the question might also be related to when at the day you exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2013-03-25T16:39:19.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11998" CreationDate="2013-03-26T00:22:22.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike protein and fat, there are no specific requirements for your body with respect to carbs. This is why people are able to get away with ketogenic diets that cut out all carbs. That being said, carbs definitely serve a purpose, especially with regard to physical fitness, muscle growth, and sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs are the preferred fuel source for your body, and thus it is preferential to have a reserve of carbs to fuel your activities. By doing so, you allow your body to perform optimally, which will allow you to thereby increase workout intensity and as a result build more muscle mass (whether this is by a significant factor, I do not know). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your volume of activity, I would suggest anywhere from 2 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight, all the way up to 8+ grams per pound (extremely active). If you are moderately active, 2-4 grams/pound would be the range I would stick with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some further reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=11633&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=11633&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/NU00200&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/NU00200&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T00:22:22.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-26T03:48:48.347" Score="5" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean effectually - I understand the functional difference. What different GAIN do I receive from Arnold  presses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5489" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T19:31:03.360" Title="In what way is the Arnold press different from a standard dumbbell press?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12021" CreationDate="2013-03-26T03:53:52.180" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is, what do I gain from swimming that I don't from running, and from running that I don't from cycling, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the answer is obvious, with different muscle groups, but I'm curious about the respective cardiovascular effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5489" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T16:53:08.523" Title="What specific health benefits do I receive by pursuing each of the triathlon disciplines separately?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-26T04:00:35.727" Score="4" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing Cooper runs (1.5 miles) as fast add I can 2-3 times per week, followed by an upper body workout (I know, friends don't let friends skip leg day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I determine whether that constitutes HIIT? Is that simply a function of heart rate and duration? If so, what are the parameters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5489" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-03-26T15:51:17.320" LastActivityDate="2013-03-27T17:58:55.700" Title="What is the minimum effective dose of running that constitutes HIIT?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12010" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-26T04:16:13.637" Score="5" ViewCount="469" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found excellent results with endurance, per se, with the   TI stroke, but as I've seen great gains there, my speed had remained relatively constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is best to focus on to turn on the jets with TI?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5489" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T19:03:13.487" Title="What is the best way to improve speed with the Total Immersion stroke?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6445" CreationDate="2013-03-26T04:53:24.083" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well actually I just made the discovery of why abs are uneven right now, although quite grotesque, i think every man will agree with me why it is true. Put your hand next to your crotch and move it up and down, now feel your top ab on that side of whichever hand your using, your ab is actually getting used when you do this. Now relate the motion your doing to whatever you do in real life, and it is obvious why your abs arent even, its not genetics, its the fact that youve been using the same hand to pleasure yourself everynight. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5492" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T04:53:24.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12019" CreationDate="2013-03-26T11:44:35.813" Score="4" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to fix these problems(according to my own opinion) which are having narrow/very slim arms and soft hips and thighs. I do different sports and think these problems are limiting me in some of them that I need stronger arms and surely having firmer hips and thighs can make me more beautiful and gives a better shape to my body. Which exercises do you suggest me for this reason? Please consider that I do not want to lose weight! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5187" LastEditorUserId="5187" LastEditDate="2013-03-26T15:32:49.780" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T15:32:49.780" Title="What are the best exercises to have bigger/stronger arms but bold/firm hips and thighs?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12016" CreationDate="2013-03-26T11:53:46.167" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am slim enough and do not want to lose my weight but I do bicycling for some hours three times per week and cannot avoid it! How can I control my weight through doing this? I do some other sports like swimming and squash two times per week too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5187" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T14:52:16.603" Title="How can you bicycle for some hours three times per week without losing weight?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12015" CreationDate="2013-03-26T12:49:34.067" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you eat enough food to offset the energy you spend cycling, you won't lose weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One basic approach might be to estimate the number of calories you're spending (there are several online calorie estimate tools for cycling out there on the internet), and make sure to eat that much additional food per day.  Track your weight, and adjust the amount of food you're eating if you start gaining or losing too much.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're already eating a healthy diet, you can just eat proportionally more of whatever you're already eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-03-26T14:52:16.603" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T14:52:16.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11963" CreationDate="2013-03-26T13:15:08.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression. These improvements in mood are proposed to be caused by exercise-induced increase in bloodcirculation to the brain and by an influence on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and, thus, on the physiologic reactivity to stress. This physiologic influence is probably mediated by the communication of the HPA axis with several regions of the brain, including the limbic system, which controls motivation and mood; the amygdala, which generates fear in response to stress; and the hippocampus, which plays an important part in memory formation as well as in mood and motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470658/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5333" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-03-26T14:15:54.077" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T14:15:54.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12014" CreationDate="2013-03-26T15:03:15.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number one workout you should absolutely be doing is the squat. It is bar-none the best functional exercise you can do, and it will work out your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/328228-target-muscle-area-for-squats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entire leg&lt;/a&gt;. A second workout to consider is the deadlift which is a good supplementary exercise alongside the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for arms, you're really going to want to target the triceps, shoulder, upper back, and chest to get a well-rounded and functional strength to apply in your sports. The bench press, the overhead press, and the bentover row will all build larger arms while also building necessary strength in the chest, shoulder, and back. Push ups, chin ups, pull ups, and handstands are all good body weight exercises that target these areas if you don't wish to involve barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for not losing weight, that is up to your diet. At its simplest, it comes down to calories in (consumed) versus calories out (burned). Figure out what your daily caloric intake needs to be to maintain your weight, factor in the calories burned from your sports and weightlifting, and you have your number of calories required to maintain your weight. However, I recommend eating 200-400 calories over maintenance to fuel muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T15:03:15.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12006" CreationDate="2013-03-26T16:53:08.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The differences in cardiovascular improvements between those three activities are going to be minimal in the overall scheme of things. Cardiovascular fitness is different than muscular, in that any stress that raises your heart rate, increases respiratory rate will have improvement effects for the CV system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will have much more of an effect is the intensity level and the length of time for your workouts. In that, cycling will have an advantage, because you can go for longer at a higher intensity than you can with running and swimming. Swimming has the advantage of being able to go at a fairly high intensity day after day, as there is no impact, and it is a whole body exercise. Running is pretty high intensity, but because of the impact and the necessity to work up to higher levels, it can't be done as often as the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, what will happen is that there will be cellular adaptations for energy conversion and oxygen utilization, your body will develop more capillaries into the working muscle, your circulation will become more efficient, and depending on your body makeup, you may convert some muscle fibers to a different phenotype. This will happen almost regardless of the activity, as long as you are stressing the cardio system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T16:53:08.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-26T18:05:19.580" Score="1" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have always noticed that my endurance-oriented friends have always been more vascular than me at similar bodyfat levels. I stumbled upon the term, Angiogenesis, in another post on this site so I did a little bit of reading up on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering though, is there an optimum level of aerobic exercise needed to induce an increase in vascularity via Angiogenesis, while not hindering lifts in the gym? My motive is purely for aesthetic purposes, but I compete in powerlifting in the offseason so I wouldn't like my lifts to suffer from too much aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T18:05:19.580" Title="Optimum amount of aerobic exercise to induce Angiogenesis for bodybuilding purposes?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12005" CreationDate="2013-03-26T18:45:17.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I feel it is that Arnold presses take more time per rep, meaning that your front shoulders feel more stress during the movement as it takes longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps your middle shoulder parts (outer parts) benefit more from arnold presses as you have this twisting motion when lifting the weights. You don't have that when doing standard dumbbell press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5499" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T18:45:17.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12005" CreationDate="2013-03-26T19:31:03.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arnold Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher range of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Engages deltoids more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potentially adds too much strain to rotator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standard Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift heavier weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less complicated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two exercises are similar enough that you can use them interchangeably if you so desired. Personally, I stick to the standard press and only occasionally use the arnold press to break up the redundancy; even then, I am considering taking arnold press totally out of the lineup because of the strain it puts on my rotators (your mileage may vary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T19:31:03.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12027" CreationDate="2013-03-26T20:19:44.353" Score="6" ViewCount="943" Body="&lt;p&gt;A week ago, followed by 4-5 months of high intensive training I decided to take a break from the gym.&#xA;I felt very disappointed and discouraged as I was training very hard and there were no gains, unfortunately just the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the following indicators I believe implied that I was overtraining, but I ignored them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small gains in muscles, sometimes just the opposite – losing muscle and feeling weak.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Generally fatigue (all the day).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difficult to sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difficult to wake up in the morning. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had red spots between the biceps and the forearm – the part which is opposite of the elbow, I don't know how it is called.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also pretty sure I'm experiencing overtraining because the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each workout I trained in very high intensity for 2 hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I trained almost every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each workout from the beginning till last week ( 4-5 months ) I trained to failure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it is very hard for me to take a pause from the gym, I did it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been learning so much about bodybuilding these days. In this forum and in the internet. I bought books related to bodybuilding and strength training for the first time in my life. I decided to stop going to the gym with no preparation and 0% knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually I'm pretty angry at myself that I never tried to study the theoretical part and just trained as hard as I can. I always believed this is enough.&#xA;I spent so much time in the gym, If I do a simple calculation It would be 6 days a week * 2 hours of training = 12 hours per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 26 years old, I work as a software developer and I'm an undergraduate student which puts a lot of pressure on me, but my will to success always pushed me so strong although there were no gains.&#xA;You may understand me, when you are so busy in your life and you have no time to go out with your friends, speak in the phone and etc. – you also don't find the right time to sit down and ask yourself if you can fix the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I decided to stop is due to Passover. I'm on vacation now(PTO) and I have time to think more deeply about my life.&#xA;Luckily I didn't hurt my study, It goes well BUT I did hurt some aspects in my life – It might be the reason why I don't have a girlfriend, why I'm little depressed being occupied all the time by work/study and gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I shared with you as much as I can to ask you about my return.&#xA;Assuming I'm expireinceing overtraining and asssuming It did hurt me mentally (as you can see above) how much time do you believe I need to rest until my CNS will regenerate? When do you believe I can come back to the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days ago I believed I can come back after a week while all I'm doing this week is studying (for school purpose) and also reading a lot of bodybuilding/strength articles all over the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just found an article at bodybuilding.com which specifics that if someone has been overtraining for 3-5 days, a one week rest is enough but for someone who has been overtraining much more than that, weeks to months are required to fully recover.&#xA;Is it correct, what is the best indicator to come back to the gym? Can I do other stuff until the recovery is done (swimming, running, abs) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5438" LastEditorUserId="5438" LastEditDate="2013-03-27T11:13:50.570" LastActivityDate="2013-03-27T11:13:50.570" Title="Long overtraining - What is the solution and how much time is needed to recover?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12026" CreationDate="2013-03-26T21:02:59.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the best indicator that you can return to practice is that you feel more positive about it. However, since you have been &quot;addicted&quot;, you should be suspicious of your feelings and have some measurable &quot;toll gate&quot; indicators, e.g. social life, less fatigue and less sleep problems, before you go back to the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I would get a system in place that stops you from training too hard, e.g. register training in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.firstbeat.fi/consumers/firstbeat-athlete&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Firstbeat software&lt;/a&gt; and follow its recommendation on training effect for workouts. This could limit you from doing too much high intensity training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you have the green light from the toll gate indicators in place and a measurement system in place, I would do something different, e.g a team sport. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T21:02:59.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2274" CreationDate="2013-03-26T21:59:49.967" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have kept tabs on various body particulars, including daily records of weight,(160) fat (currently 9.5%, moisture (64.5%), heart rate (42) at different times, and blood pressure (range from 112/58 to a high of 229/127) from March 26, 2006 to the present day. I am a distant runner and Decathlon competitor, which includes weights, speed work and of course forms and plyometrics.  Recently, due to an injury, my exercise regime went from a high of 35 miles down to nothing. Then, I had the misfortune of falling off the roof. Stuck the landing, but bleed quite a bit. Anyway, things are improving. There is a phenomena called Wilson's syndrome in which the body temp is less than 98.6. When air temp gets below 45 degrees, the body temp goes down. With a 9.5% number, I have had usually a number in the range of 95-96F, but a recent cold spell, and not working out, had me down to 90.2. Death from hyporthermia supposedly occurs at 89F. But, I was fine.  There were no symptoms of shaking or cold body parts or whatever.  I'm running today. &#xA;    I have recently speculated that there is a defined ratio of air temp, and body fat, that allows it to slide down to 90, without problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5500" LastActivityDate="2013-03-26T21:59:49.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7137" CreationDate="2013-03-27T13:21:40.403" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jogging, swimming, cycling are fine, that's what my doctor said to me. The problem is, if you have myopia, your retina is thinner and that's why it could detach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5502" LastActivityDate="2013-03-27T13:21:40.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12040" CreationDate="2013-03-27T13:47:07.447" Score="8" ViewCount="15583" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is better? I am told that calisthenic exercise is much more better than weight-lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past I went to gym daily until 2 weeks ago when i am told that calisthenic exercise can actually make our body even more shredded and is better than weight lifting so I decide to try calisthenic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different trainer are telling me different thing so need a little help in getting a better idea on which is better for me. I want to more shredded at the same time working on strength training but do not wish to go for both weight lifting and calisthenic exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2013-10-27T16:29:47.160" Title="calisthenic exercise vs weight-lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-26T18:23:15.287" Score="25" ViewCount="1252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read (and it seems intuitive) that cycling exercises some muscles more than others. Other than the obvious lack of an upper-body workout from cycling, are there specific muscles that tend to be disproportionately weak in cyclists? Can an imbalance of muscle strength lead to injury? Should cyclists perform weight training to strengthen specific muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related questions: &lt;a href=&quot;https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/7301/effective-equipment-minimal-leg-strength-training-for-cycling&quot;&gt;https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/7301/effective-equipment-minimal-leg-strength-training-for-cycling&lt;/a&gt; and&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/7055/i-feel-long-rides-exclusively-in-my-quads-should-my-calf-muscles-be-doing-more&quot;&gt;https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/7055/i-feel-long-rides-exclusively-in-my-quads-should-my-calf-muscles-be-doing-more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3126" OwnerDisplayName="amcnabb" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:32:41.563" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T03:59:44.493" Title="Should cyclists use weight training to strengthen underutilized muscles?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12031" CreationDate="2013-03-27T11:31:23.550" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've asked this implicitly of two qualified personal trainers. (One of the two usually trains Olympic athletes, so I trust his judgement.) Each time I said that I was interested in weight training to balance out the extra workout that my quads get (not just in the lower body, but to bring up my upper body strength too). Both of them said it was a reasonable concern, but put me on a programme which was all-round weight training, and didn't focus specifically on my 'neglected muscles'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They each had an additional piece of advice to offer. One of them recommended I take up swimming, which is a good all-round workout (and gives you a choice of different strokes to work different muscle groups). The other looked at my posture and said my pelvis was rotated from its usual position, and that this is a common complaint in cyclists who get a lot of miles in. He gave me what I'd describe as balance exercises: stretching in particular positions, without any weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, they gave me the impression that if your all-round fitness is reasonable, a normal amount of commuter cycling (a few miles a day at a relaxed pace) won't do enough to your muscles to cause a problem. To imbalance your muscles enough to cause a risk of injury, you'd have to be a bike courier, get no other exercise at all, or be training for a race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" OwnerDisplayName="Dan Hulme" LastActivityDate="2013-03-27T11:31:23.550" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12030" CreationDate="2013-03-27T15:58:03.487" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting gains come from progressive overload, where &quot;muscles are overloaded by attempting to lift at least as much weight as they are capable.&quot; &lt;em&gt;(Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Applications)&lt;/em&gt; In other words, muscle gains come from constantly pushing your muscles to adapt by increasing the load (i.e. reps and weight) you place on them. I mention this, because understanding this simple concept is critical for evaluating your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which is better? I am told that calisthenic exercise is much more better than weight-lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With respect to building muscle / strength, traditional weightlifting is strictly better&lt;/strong&gt; because with weightlifting it is easier to progressively overload your muscles. As I explained in the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7141/why-are-pyramid-sets-often-advised-for-bodyweight-exercises/7148#7148&quot;&gt;why are pyramid sets used for body-weight exercises&lt;/a&gt;, when doing body-weight exercises it becomes a lot harder for people--especially beginners--to overload their muscles using body-weight exercises. In weightlifting, you have 20,30,45lb bars, and variable size plates you can load on the bar ranging from 1.25lbs all the way up to 45lbs+. In contrast, with body-weight calisthenics, you are always using a fixed weight (your body), so the only factor you can adjust is the amount of reps you do. Pyramid sets partially alleviate this issue, but don't get rid of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take me, for example: I weigh 165 pounds and bench 3 sets of 3 reps of 200 pounds (I would be placed as a late-novice / intermediate lifter). If I wanted to get a similar burn doing only calisthenics I would have to do 3 sets of 50 reps of push ups, if not more. That is just one exercise, I do anywhere between three to seven more exercises per workout. If I replaced my workout routine with calisthenics outright, I wouldn't be surprised if my workout doubled or even tripled in length do to the amount of time wasted on doing so many reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the past I went to gym daily until 2 weeks ago when i am told that calisthenic exercise can actually make our body even more shredded and is better than weight lifting so I decide to try calisthenic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outright false. Getting &quot;shredded&quot;, while possible to reach through either program, is far easier to attain through weightlifting for the reasons I described above. Calisthenics are great introductory exercises for novices, but if you want to break the barrier to intermediate/advanced and get &quot;shredded&quot;, weightlifting will be the most optimal path there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Different trainer are telling me different thing so need a little help in getting a better idea on which is better for me. I want to more shredded at the same time working on strength training but do not wish to go for both weight lifting and calisthenic exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see why the two are mutually exclusive. Even in the Starting Strength barbell weightlifting program, pull ups / chin ups are recommended as supplementary exercises, and all are easily done within the gym. Additionally, some areas of my body (mostly the abs/core) I enjoy doing calisthenics for more than weightlifting, because of the diversity exercises and what I perceive to be a higher recruitment of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-03-27T15:58:03.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12007" CreationDate="2013-03-27T17:58:55.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, HIIT is defined as: Working out for no longer than 30 minutes at a period of high intensity, and a period of low intensity and repeating the process a number of times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running and then lifting is more inline with circuit training (working one muscle group followed by another with little to no rest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example of a HIIT routine would be sprinting than walking/jogging and then sprinting x amount of times within a 30 minute window. There is no rest, just a combination of low and high intensity training. Breaks are not considered low intensity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastActivityDate="2013-03-27T17:58:55.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12441" CreationDate="2013-03-27T19:13:34.397" Score="5" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just subscribed to a up-run competition, the competition takes place on the staircase of a building. The building is 107 meters high, 25 stories, 500 or so staircases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never been on this kind of competition before. I've run up hill before, I ran on staircases  (max 1500) a few time when a child. I do some hiking and biking (also uphill).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I didn't run on a building like this before and the competition is very soon(3 days) I would like to know how to prepare both mentally and physically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I wear, does a small repose help in this kind of run, should I alternate/ run and walk, how much should I warm up  before so I don't get tired, because it is a speed competition rather than one of endurance? Hope for an advice from someone who has done something similar. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4615" LastEditorUserId="5013" LastEditDate="2013-05-08T16:19:05.533" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T17:25:54.343" Title="How do I train for a stair stepping competition?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12030" CreationDate="2013-03-27T23:53:34.523" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jie Liang,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moses pointed out a lot of good stuff already.  This is a very good question, and it is very popular these days.  Unfortunately, there are people out there will be biased regarding one or the other (body weight or weight lifting).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to make sure there is accurate information and share some thoughts regarding what I do for a living, and what I've been doing for the past 10 years as a passion of mine - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/&quot;&gt;GetFitChimp&lt;/a&gt; - Body Weight Exercises (mostly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Which is better?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends.  I mean to gain absolute strength and continue to put on muscle mass, you have to follow the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot;&gt;progressive overload principle&lt;/a&gt;.  Moses is right when he said that it is much easier to progress weights when it comes to progressive overload comparing to body weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are ways you can progress (resistance) with only body weight.  For example, a beginner may start out with 3 sets of 15 reps with the regular &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/push-up&quot;&gt;push-up&lt;/a&gt;.  He then can progress towards 3 sets of 15 reps with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/single-leg-push-up&quot;&gt;single leg push-up&lt;/a&gt;, then towards &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/plyo-push-up&quot;&gt;plyo push-up&lt;/a&gt;, single leg plyo push-up, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/side-to-side-plyo-push-up&quot;&gt;side to side plyo push-up&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/chair-dip&quot;&gt;chair dip&lt;/a&gt; for examples to continue to follow the progressive overload principle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it may not be the exact formula when comparing with weight lifting (bench press for example). However, I've been training many high level athletes and gymnasts using this formula for all of their body weight exercises.  More with gymnasts in a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Body weight and getting shredded&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the answer again is depending on the way you train, your diet and your genetics.  For example, you can train with super heavy weights, but only training at 50% of your max in addition to eating poorly, then you probably will not get shredded.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you train hard using body weight only at a very high level (most gymnasts), and you eat good in addition to good genetics, then you will be shredded.  Just look at the Olympic Gymnasts - purely body weight exercises!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I want to get shredded and gain strength at the same time!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, the truth is that you can gain absolute strength and get shredded at the same time.  Just look at some of the running backs, linebackers, sprinters and of course wide receivers and cornerbacks in the NFL.  They are all shredded and very strong at the same time, especially the running backs and the linebackers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you may be surprised, but body weight exercises like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/chin-up&quot;&gt;chin-ups&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/diamond-push-up&quot;&gt;diamond push-ups&lt;/a&gt; and chair dips are very effective exercises for targeting the shoulders, biceps and triceps (gymnasts).  And surprisingly, one the most effective body weight exercises to target your abs is sprinting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you can and should perform both weight lifting exercises and body weight exercises for a fun, effective and efficient workout each time.  And if your goals are to gain strength and get shredded, make sure you do these things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift heavy (4-8 reps) - squats, benches, chin-ups, clean and presses, deadlifts, bent over rows, etc.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat clean and eat well throughout the day (every 2-3 hours) - lots of good calories (proteins, good fats and carbs) - lean meats and fruits and vegetables (avocados, peanut butter, fish, chicken breast, whole eggs, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay away from sugary snacks and drinks - regular milk, sodas, juices, sweet snacks, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/blog/5-tips-to-consume-more-water/13&quot;&gt;water&lt;/a&gt; throughout the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try high intensity interval training (HIIT).    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, and take Moses advice as he already gave you plenty there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-03-28T00:23:14.500" LastActivityDate="2013-03-28T00:23:14.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7137" CreationDate="2013-03-28T04:03:51.283" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A doctor once recommended to abstain from all traumatic sports because of danger of retinal detachment, however this would limit the quality of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a detached retina will affect the quality of your life more. It may be wise to have an eye exam and get clarification from your eye doctor as to whether or not you are at risk.  If you are at risk, ask your eye doctor for recommendations and learn the signs and symptoms.  Then if you do experience any symptoms you will know to get immediate care.  With this knowledge you can make a more informed decision as to what activities you are willing to risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Risk Factors for Retinal Detachment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Severe myopia is a risk factor for detached retina. Aging, trauma, certain diseases and family history are other risk factor. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sightwise.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sightwise.org&lt;/a&gt; refers to * -6.0 Diopter correction or greater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stlukesretina.com/conditions/retinaldetachment.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nearsighted people&lt;/a&gt; are more susceptible because their eyes are longer than average from front to back, causing the retina to be thinner and more fragile.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Symptoms of Retinal Detachment&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Knowing the signs of retinal detachment and treating it as a medical emergency can help to save your vision.  If you experience any of the following, seek medical help immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 Fs - Sudden Flashes, Floaters, Field Loss of vision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A slight feeling of heaviness in the eye&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A dense shadow or a veil obstructing your view&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have already read Wikipedia's article about retinal detachment and the caution about high impact sports, rapid acceleration-deceleration, and heavy manual lifting.  The real question is how dangerous is jogging, martial arts and heavy weight lifting for you and your condition, considering your eye health, your general health, age, family history and prior history.  Your eye doctor is the best one to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-03-28T04:03:51.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11836" CreationDate="2013-03-28T11:48:30.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I can't suggest an optimum rotation angle for you without seeing you, I can suggest that it is hard to overdo it if you have good balance. For efficient distance swimming it is common to roll quite far and extend the shoulder forward, and many drills from Total Immersion encourage being completely on your side, such as kicking on your side and zipper switch. I also encourage my young swimmers to emphasize their roll while drilling to prevent long term injuries. It minimizes shoulder stress as their yardage increases, so it isn't something endeavor to do minimally. When sprinting, there is a trade off between the economies of efficiency, stroke rate, and power, so it is common to see less core roll in sprint events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2013-03-28T11:48:30.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12030" CreationDate="2013-03-28T13:53:20.437" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I kind of think this is somewhat of a false dichotomy.  In other words, there's a lot more to &quot;getting shredded&quot; or building strength than focusing strictly on calisthenics or weight lifting will do.  First thing is to identify your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting shredded is having muscle mass, but very little (single digit percentage) body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting strong is being able to move more weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running a marathon is all about endurance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprinting and Olympic weightlifting is about short, intense bursts of energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is that your goals are going change over time as you set your eyes on new possibilities you didn't have before.  The bottom line is that I don't see it as an either/or proposition, but more of a proportion question.  Since your stated goal is getting shredded, the rest of the answer will be centered around that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Losing Body Fat While Maintaining Muscle Mass&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all about diet.  It's usually the first step in &quot;getting shredded&quot; unless you are already underweight.  The keys to getting shredded with your diet are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough protein to maintain your lean mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough work to maintain your lean mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Managing total calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough fat to keep your testosterone levels normal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough carbs to fuel your exercise but no more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common adage of 1g protein per pound lean body mass (or total body mass) is &quot;good enough&quot; to be right.  Truth is you really don't even need that much even as a genetic outlier.  Protein requires more energy to process, so it isn't bad if you eat more than necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too little saturated fat will drop your testosterone (T) levels below normal.  Too much fat will not increase your T levels above normal but will increase your calories.  3g of Omega 3s would be decent, and no more than 6-7% of your calories coming from saturated fat.  NOTE: 1g fat = 9 Calories.  Beyond that, the amount of fat you have is what's necessary to fill out your calorie requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs are the quick energy used in just about all strength workouts.  These are the variable to think about manipulating.  As long as you are at or below your target Calories for the day, if you see yourself getting a little softer cut back on carbs a little.  Otherwise keep pushing them higher until you find that threshold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to work needed to preserve lean mass.  Both calisthenics and weight lifting work well.  They send the right signals to let your body know it needs the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Building Size&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle size is all about volume of work.  If you focus on calisthenics, you will need to make up for the limit of the weight of the body with volume of work.  Another tool to vary intensity is to change the leverages (wide pushups, narrow pushups, T pushups, as an example).  With weight lifting, you merely need to change the weight being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, overall volume is the key to keep building muscle.  Once the volume no longer changes, you won't add more muscle.  That means for calisthenics you do a lot more sets/reps of whatever is on the menu for today.  For weight lifting you use weights you can lift many times.  3 sets of 8-12 reps is the traditional bodybuilding ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will come a point where just adding weight will not work anymore, or you simply can't do more reps.  That's when you have to introduce the concept of varying intensity and rep ranges.  In calisthenics you go for more difficult techniques (like human flags, muscle-ups, etc) on high intensity days, and the old standby for volume days.  In weight lifting it's a matter of increasing the weight and doing shorter rep ranges on some days, and decreasing the weight and doing longer rep ranges on others.  The actual programming for this is outside the scope of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inherent Advantages&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both weightlifting and calisthenics have some inherent advantages towards your stated goal of being shredded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight lifting increases your strength, which can help you increase the volume of work (weight * reps) beyond what's possible with calisthenics alone.  That translates to more muscle mass like a Ronnie Coleman (steroid questions aside).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calisthenics increase your conditioning which also helps burn fat.  Arnold Schwarzenegger used this approach before he had access to a weight room and won his first youth bodybuilding competition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calisthenics can be recovered from very easily, allowing you to keep the volume up over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight lifting can let you use intensities much lower than your body weight if you aren't strong enough to perform the calisthenics properly yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually Arnold used the weight room to win the world titles for bodybuilding.  But the bottom line is both help you achieve your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use Both To Good Effect&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with focusing on 3-4 main lifts a week, and using body weight exercises for all the assistance work.  It's a very potent combination to help you use the inherent advantages of each to achieve your end goal.  Wendler's 5/3/1 program even has a variation where all the assistance work is calisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-03-28T13:53:20.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12042" CreationDate="2013-03-28T15:25:34.580" Score="2" ViewCount="855" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm doing squats with 180kg and I'm afraid that my 25-mm barbell won't handle any more plates (it's rated as 100kg max :)). So I'm going to buy an olympic barbell and a set of plates, something about 240 kilos total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to buy a pair of plates of each diameter (25 + 20 + 15 + 10 + 5 + 2.50 + 1.25 + 0.50) * 2 + 25 = 183.5 kg. And I wonder is it beneficial to fill the missing 60 kilos with large 20/25kg plates or is it better to buy a bunch of 10/5 kilo plates? The only benefit I can think about is that I can use smaller plates with dumbbells, while I never did any exercises with dumbbells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts appreciated, thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5516" LastEditorUserId="5516" LastEditDate="2013-03-28T16:13:44.830" LastActivityDate="2013-03-28T17:31:08.097" Title="Optimal set of barbell plates" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12041" CreationDate="2013-03-28T15:42:56.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bigger plates have a bigger diameter, which brings the handle of the barbell higher up, this might be advantageous when doing deadlifts or other lifts where you lift the bar from the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to stack as many big plates for the same total weight as if you were using smaller plates. This leads to the distribution of the weight being closer to the center of the bar. I have no practical experience here, but it should be easier to control the bar when the weight is closer to the center.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider the time it takes to change the plates, if you want to add 40kg to the bar, why put on four plates, if you can simply add two?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On the other hand it might be nice to fine tune with smaller weights, I think this comes down to personal preference and style of lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-03-28T15:42:56.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12041" CreationDate="2013-03-28T17:31:08.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;An Olympic barbell is 20kg for men's competitions both according to the IWF and IPF standards.  That's what the manufacturers build towards.  The other standard sizes would be 15kg for women's competition and 10kg for junior's competitions.  Beyond that, standard plate sizes from 2.5k and up are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;50, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From 2.5k and below, there are two options.  IWF for weightlifting uses the 1kg rule plates, and IPF for power lifting (and most gyms) use the 1.25kg &amp;quot;biscuit&amp;quot; as the smallest plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IWF: 2.5, 2, 1.5, 1, .5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IPF: 2.5, 1.25&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the sizes of the plates, the maximum disc (European spelling) size is 450mm or ~17&amp;quot;.  The 20kg plates reach that size, and the 25kg and 50kg plates make up for being heavy by their thickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fancy doing Olympic lifting (Clean &amp;amp; Jerk, and Snatch), I recommend getting bumper plates for 10kg and up.  They are more expensive, but are made to handle being dropped.  All bumper plates are the full 450mm diameter, and vary in thickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to stick with bodybuilding or power lifting style workouts, stick with the less expensive metal plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal recommendation:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I have both sets of plates, and honestly, just using the 1.25kg plates as the smallest is just fine.  Unless you are also trying to outfit Olympic plate sized dumbbells, I would recommend filling out the rest of the bar with 25kg plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for your purposes it would be:&#xA;(25 + 20 + 15 + 10 + 5 + 2.50 + 1.25) * 2 + 20 = 177.5 kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That leaves 62.5kg to fill in.  If you get a second pair of 25kg plates you'll have 227.5kg, and a third pair of 25kg plates and you can lift anything up to 277.5kg.  Traditionally, you simply keep adding 25kg plates as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are getting a pair of Olympic plate holding DB handles, then my recommendation will change.  In that case I would get another set of 5kg and below plates so you can load them up the same, and then fill in the rest of the weight with 5kg plates.  Anything larger than 5kg on the dumbbell handle makes it difficult to handle properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-03-28T17:31:08.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10114" CreationDate="2013-03-28T17:46:25.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a couple things to consider: length of the grip, and the exercise being performed. The dumbbell handles I have don't have a lot of hand room.  For me, using wider plates will change the way I perform the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a point of reference, most gyms have fixed dumbbell heads.  Those heads usually don't get any thicker than if you had nothing more than 5kg or 10lb plates on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some exercises, like dumbbell rows would be adversely affected because you can't pull the dumbbell as close to your chest if you had 10kg or 25lb plates on the handles.  Other exercises, like the DB bench press would hardly be affected at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my purposes, all the plates I put on my dumbbell handles are 5kg and below (yes, I'm American and I lift metric).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-03-29T12:53:14.847" LastActivityDate="2013-03-29T12:53:14.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-29T10:12:14.357" Score="3" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a man weighing 81kg, 6ft 2inch, 25yrs and I've been going to the gym for the last two months. I don't have a gym trainer here (office gyms). My workouts are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Day 1&#xA;Warm up:&#xA;Running on treadmill (2km - max 15mins)&#xA;Running on Elliptical (2km - 8min) &#xA;Abdominal Crunch (3sets - 15reps)&#xA;Biceps training (3sets - 12reps, 7.5kg)&#xA;Push ups (3sets - 10reps)&#xA;&#xA;Day 2 (alternate day)&#xA;Warm up:&#xA;Running on treadmill (2km - max 15mins)&#xA;Running on Elliptical (2km - 8min) &#xA;Abdominal Crunch (3sets - 15reps)&#xA;Triceps training (3sets - 12reps, 7.5kg)&#xA;Chest training (3sets)&#xA;Bench Press (3sets - 10reps, 20kg)&#xA;Push ups (3sets - 10reps)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spend nearly 90 mins in gym.&#xA;I used to do all above exercise with certain rest periods and usually on Sundays I don't go to gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to reduce my weights to 75 kg. Do these exercise helps me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5518" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-03-29T10:23:42.993" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T05:40:06.037" Title="Will this workout help to reduce my weight?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12046" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-29T10:49:12.247" Score="17" ViewCount="9329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand recomposition to be about trading away fat for new muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How is it different than weight loss as a goal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would it ever be recommended to focus on purely weight loss first, and then strength later, rather than recomposition from the beginning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T09:16:00.403" Title="Recomposition vs weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12045" CreationDate="2013-03-29T11:47:24.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As discussed in the comments, if you want to lose weight, adjust your diet. I wont delve into this, but focus on diverse, protein rich meals. Try to bring the carbohydrates (wheat, sugar, rice, potatoes) down a bit, if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio exercises like running on a Treadmill or Elliptical are good for your endurance, but as they drain a lot of energy you might consider to move them to the end of your workout.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would only do one of both on each given day, as the movement is quite similar and I doubt there is any benefit switching the machines compared to doing one exercise longer. If you have a stationary bike, it might be advantageous to switch, as the movement is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You weight-exercises look a bit unplanned to me, I think you are using machines here mostly, but some of the lifts look like you have a barbell or dumbbells available. I'd recommend you to look into free weights lifting programms such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;. They only use a small set of barbell exercises, but as those exercises are compound lifts you will engage your whole body doing these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't even have to use the gym every day, only three days are enough to build muscle. If you work out too often you risk overtraining.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know how compelling it is to work out every day, especially when you've just begun and can't wait to lose those pounds. But again, losing weight comes from the right diet, building muscles comes from exercising. And to build muscles you need to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way: you complain about belly-fat and do crunches, note there is no such thing as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spot reduction&lt;/a&gt;. Just saying this, because a lot of people who have belly-fat think the abdominal muscles and the abdominal fat are somewhat related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-03-29T11:47:24.340" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12046" CreationDate="2013-03-29T12:20:45.160" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I cannot say that my answer is from the standpoint of an authority, as I'm not really an authority, I can share what I think about the weightloss vs recomposition problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people say they want to lose weight, when in fact they just want to look good naked. To an unexperienced person, weight loss = fat loss = looking good naked. So they ask &quot;How do I lose weight?&quot; instead of &quot;What should I do to look good naked?&quot;. It's a form of the popular &lt;a href=&quot;https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem&quot;&gt;XY problem&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body recomposition is about decreasing your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; while maintaining or even gaining muscle mass. It's hard to lose fat and gain muscles at the same time (usually only possible for beginners), so most of such programs have phases- the so called bulking phase (gaining muscle mass) and cutting phase (losing fat). The phases differ in diet and training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IF you want to look good naked, you WILL need to have those muscles. If so, why waste the ones you already got, and lose them in the process of a typical weight loss program (lots of cardio done on a acute calorie restriction), if you could work towards your goal from the beginning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, there are people who might want to just lose weight. Those would be people morbidly obese - their goal is to actually lose weight, because it impairs their normal functioning. They simply want to get smaller, and they don't really care if they lose some muscle mass in the process. They will probably be losing connective tissue along the way too, since when there is less of a body to support, they wont need as much of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, the baseline is the diet. Actually, a good body recomposition diet will work well for the weight loss goal, so I don't think there is a lot to be said about it in this answer: just remember to eat enough protein and bear in mind that diet is 80% of your success. I personally like the low-carb diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With diet out of the way, we can go on to the training program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical body recomposition program will include some form of resistance training, for example weight lifting, perhaps with elements of cardio (I'm not a fan of cardio exercises, and I personally recommend weightlifting and high intensity interval training). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A training program for a person trying to simply lose weight could be pretty much anything that person fancies,but most instructors recommend lots and lots of cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just trying to lose weight, probably your own bodyweight is enough challenge for you, and you should not burden yourself and your joints and muscles with additional iron. Can you imagine a person as wide as she/he is high, doing squats with a 50kg barbell? Doing interval sprints, while walking up the stairs is a problem for them? Me neither. In the morbidly obese section, pretty much any exercise will help, especially that diet is still most important factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some time and losing enough weight, a weightloss person will probably change his/hers goals and will want to go for a body recomposition, modify their diet accordingly and pick up on a proper workout schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T10:32:31.357" LastActivityDate="2013-04-07T16:43:55.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12051" CreationDate="2013-03-29T12:30:34.227" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out again about 2 months ago, following a long period of inactivity, currently my body fat percentage is around 12% my goal is to get it down to 6%-8%. I'm on a low-fat high-protein diet (I make sure I get at least 2g of protein per kg) and I do 3 days of lifting followed by 20-30 mins of cardio (jogging) and the other 3 days I do 20 mins of aerobics and skipping rope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I've just started tracking my progress two weeks ago, as you can see it doesn't seem to be slowing down, I lose around 0.5kg per week, however, I can't make sense of the data, what are those peaks after every weight loss, and why do they seem to be getting smaller ? will I eventually stop losing weight or is this a good thing ? I was thinking maybe it has something to do with water retention, or am I doing something wrong here ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KITpk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take my weight every morning after going to the bathroom and before breakfast, at the same time, also when I started I was around 74Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5520" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-03-31T21:19:33.530" Title="Help understanding my weight loss results" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12050" CreationDate="2013-03-29T12:44:40.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are interpreting too much into too little data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will always have daily peaks with no apparent reason, this depends on how well you digest, how much you drink (and let go) etc. I weighed myself over the past year - sometimes more than once daily - and as you can see only the long term curve really is interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mmLok.png&quot; alt=&quot;weight curve&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the peak around the holidays (christmas and new years eve).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The rise in February was due to a project I had to work on, where I spent most of the time in front of the computer, eating pizza and finishing the evening with some beers. (So no workouts and no calorie-counting)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you don't have to weigh yourself more than once a day, however, try to do it at the same time of the day (eg after toilet, before breakfast).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I only did it because it was fun to do, I need this aspect of gamification to keep me motivated. And it is funny to observe differences in weight before a tour with the bike and afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are lifting you will build muscle, too. Don't focus too much on loosing weight, so you don't interfere with the process of muscle generation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-03-29T12:50:25.327" LastActivityDate="2013-03-29T12:50:25.327" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12054" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-29T20:34:36.490" Score="3" ViewCount="1429" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got sick and lost almost all the muscles that I had built. I have recently started playing volleyball. I used to play basketball but the court seems to be a little way from where I live so I can't really go there because of other engagements. I play volleyball for nearly 30 minutes every day at home. I wonder if it will help build my upper and lower bodies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5479" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T11:01:01.993" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T23:52:13.977" Title="Playing volleyball and muscle building" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;volleyball&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12054" CreationDate="2013-03-29T22:42:04.107" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Volleyball is not strength training. It is a cardio/skill/power sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a beginner with respect to strength training, then you will get stronger and see some muscle development from volleyball, but volleyball will not carry you past the very beginner stages of strength training or bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you gain from strength training will transfer to volleyball: strength and power give you speed, acceleration, and vertical jump height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you gain from volleyball will have minimal transfer the other direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-03-29T22:42:04.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12057" CreationDate="2013-03-30T04:36:38.807" Score="3" ViewCount="2712" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscles can be trained and grown. Stretching can prevent injury to muscles, joints, and connective tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But can connective tissues (tendons, ligaments) be trained and&#xA;strengthened like muscles can, in any way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separate but related, are there any foods or supplements (e.g.&#xA;glucosamine?) that are reasonably known to be effective with respect&#xA;to promoting connective tissue health, strength, and/or recovery&#xA;(similar to steroid shots for injury, although granted supplements&#xA;wouldn't be quite so effective)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5523" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-03-30T15:28:00.160" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T16:18:12.617" Title="How do I promote connective tissue health/strength?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12056" CreationDate="2013-03-30T05:31:58.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tendons and ligaments can be strengthened by doing some stretching. It is better that you do some stretching before you start any exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is an article that teaches how to stretch some of your tendons:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/221709-how-to-rebuild-strengthen-tendons/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Rebuild &amp;amp; Strengthen Tendons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said that you feel sharp pain in your wrist? I have the same problem as you a month back until my friend teaches me some exercise to strengthen my wrist. I don't know how to explain the exercise to you, so I've searched for an article on how to stretch the ligaments in your wrist.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/398532-exercises-for-strengthening-wrist-ligaments/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercises for Strengthening Wrist Ligaments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know much about the food that helps to strengthen tendons or ligaments, but I have found some articles talking about it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For foods that help strengthening tendons:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/262031-foods-to-strengthen-tendons/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foods to Strengthen Tendons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutritions to help strengthening your ligaments:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/536759-nutrition-to-strengthen-tendons-ligaments/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition to Strengthen Tendons &amp;amp; Ligaments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-03-30T11:34:17.810" LastActivityDate="2013-03-30T11:34:17.810" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-30T09:45:21.273" Score="2" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fitness context one often hears the statement: &quot;Abs are built in the kitchen&quot;. Which means that you have to follow a very clean diet (together with a proper workout) to get visible ripped abs. For example if you have a look on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/category/interviews/women-interviews&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;female fitness model interviews&lt;/a&gt; on simplyshredded.com you see that all of them follow a very restrictive diet. And even most of them have a very low carb diet and high protein diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am interested in some background info's about the case of olympic athlets. Regardless of whether you consider track and field athlets like Jessica Ennis, gymnasts, divers, soccer players etc. there are many of them with really ripped abs. Sometimes it is said that you can eat everything what you want as a olympic athlet because you are training so much that you burn everything away. Is this statement true? If this is the case, is the training for example of an olympic 100m sprinter such more intense and burns such much more calories than that of a professional fitness figure model (which seems to train every day some hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How differs (especially concerning the restrictiveness of the diet) a typical diet of an olympic athlet with ripped abs from that of a professional fitness figure model and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2013-03-30T10:29:13.957" LastActivityDate="2013-03-30T16:19:29.433" Title="Visible abs of olympic athletes and diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12058" CreationDate="2013-03-30T15:38:43.390" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main difference is the amount of calories that the athletes expend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see the olympic athletes' abs despite their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.michaelphelps.net/michael-phelps-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;relatively undisciplined diets&lt;/a&gt; because even at 12,000 calories per day, they are not overeating. Their physical activity requires all that fuel. Thus, their body fat percentage stays low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their abs are also more prominent because for most sports, core strength is crucial, but this alone wouldn't make them more visible. It's really the low body fat percentage that does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goals of an sprinter also differ from those of a professional fitness model. The professional fitness model trains for appearance, while the sprinter trains for strength and power. This actually gives the professional fitness model an advantage regarding visibility of abs. Their only focus is to look good, so they can choose a diet that drives their fat loss, and tailor their workload to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-03-30T16:19:29.433" LastActivityDate="2013-03-30T16:19:29.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12056" CreationDate="2013-03-30T16:38:53.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are training, your whole body adapts to the stress you put on it. The speed, how different structures of your body adapt, differs. Muscles and tendons will adapt faster than joints and bones. Under normal conditions you don't need to explicitly train your tendons – and I doubt it is possible at all – they will develop as your muscles grow, and so will all the other connective tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether static stretching is good or bad is a highly disputed topic. I personally don't stretch statically as it increases pain tolerance. As cool as pain tolerance might sound, pain is a warning signal, and I don't want to train this away. Some people think static stretching might be useful after exercising; I personally am not really convinced, and too lazy to do it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should warm up before every workout, you can use dynamic stretching. The main difference between static and dynamic stretches is that you only bring your muscles and tendons in the fully stretched state for a short period, but repeatedly. The movement gets your blood flowing and readies your whole body for the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating the right stuff to support your connective tissue? – I don't think that this is necessary. But anyway, a big portion of your tendons consists of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collagen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Collagen&lt;/a&gt; and the body needs Vitamin C to actually put it to use. I wouldn't supplement that, just eat an apple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-03-30T16:38:53.250" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5730" CreationDate="2013-03-30T21:12:09.300" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest to start doing some bodyweight routines and some abs and core exercises on a regular basis. But don't do them every day because you will be overdoing it. Do them 2 or 3 times a week for like 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think with your bodytype you should see some results in a few weeks time because you don't have a whole lot of bodyfat covering your muscles right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're absolutely new to doing any exercise, maybe start of with just flexing your abs throughout the day, let's say about 10 seconds for one rep. And then go on with what you were doing. Do another 10 seconds-rep after 10 to 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure you don't go to hard from the start. A good form is more important than a good number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck man!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5499" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2013-04-05T18:01:45.770" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T18:01:45.770" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-03-31T17:55:45.833" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;When visiting my parents I have access to their stepper.I only visit them every now and then - lets assume once a month I can use the stepper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a specific goal, I normally ride bike and run as main cardio-activities, but on the stepper I don't necessarily try to support those activities, it is more like a welcome variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to do something interval-ish today, I wonder if there are any good guidelines or recommendations how to make use of that machine. The time I spent and want to spend is 30 minutes; I normally do one session between weightlifting and sauna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, the intensities of the exercise I did today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N71cN.png&quot; alt=&quot;stepper intensities&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The intensities translate to a number of 20cm steps per minute:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;lvl steps&#xA;14  138&#xA;10  104&#xA; 6   69&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:29:02.583" Title="Using a stepper once in a while" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12050" CreationDate="2013-03-31T21:19:33.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's some good discussion of this in John Walker's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Hacker's Diet&lt;/a&gt;.  Here's a quote from a chapter called &amp;quot;The Rubber Bag&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this view of human as rubber bag presented at a NASA conference on the exploration of Mars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kLydd.png&quot; alt=&quot;NASA&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this all-inclusive perspective, which accounts for the oxygen in the air we breathe, moisture lost through the skin, and water generated by the reactions that break down the food we eat and reassemble it into the cells of our body, a human being [...] resembles a water pump [...] Most of the changes in weight you see have nothing to do with how many calories you're eating or burning. Instead, all you're seeing is how many pounds of water happen to be inside the rubber bag at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small changes in a flux of 6Kg/day can change your weight considerably.  I've been tracking my weight for almost a year in a similar manner to you, and I find that the day after I go running, I frequently lose up to 2KG or around 2.5% of body mass!  I then proceed to gain all that back over the next two days, and I'm back approximately where I started.  My theory is that I'm depleting/replenishing my glycogen stores, which take up several times their weight in water, though other factors are presumably at work.  In any case, daily fluctuations of 2Kg are in no way uncommon for me, and they're probably unavoidable.  Walker suggests using a (smoothed) moving average to factor out daily fluctuations, and only look at the trend line, which has worked well for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-03-31T21:19:33.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-01T06:56:11.523" Score="0" ViewCount="95959" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to lose weight. Currently my weight is 90 kg.   According to my height 5'11&quot; (1.80 m), I should be on 75 kg which I was 2 years before l came to UAE from Pakistan. I have gained weight very quickly in the span of one year and my waist reached 38. I want to go back on my previous size 34.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I am going to start running for weight loss, kindly advise me about diet plan which I need to follow strictly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5530" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-17T11:44:01.000" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T05:50:31.713" Title="Want to lose weight from 90 kg to 75 kg" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4721" CreationDate="2013-04-01T11:31:04.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although spitting is disgusting, it is better to spit out the saliva. As is mentioned above, the saliva is a way for the body to remain constant. (Homeostasis) When you exercise you become very hot because your cells are respiring quicker to produce energy. Sweat is a way for your body to become colder again, this works by water being taken to the surface of your skin then evaporating and taking heat with it. Spit contains a lot of water but also enzymes which would have been used to digest food in the mouth. So it is best, (although a bit disgusting) to spit out the saliva. When exercising you inhale a lot more air at once, this needs to be cleaned before entering your body otherwise you have a risk of infections, therefore, your body produced mucus and saliva to remove the large dust molecules and bacteria. When you exercise your body takes in a lot more air at a quicker pace, so you produce more mucus to help clean it. It is important that you regularly blow your nose/ spit to get rid of the excess and old mucus that is full of bacteria and dust particles from the air. Swallowing your saliva completely goes against the point of your mucus as the dust and bacteria can then enter your body anyway! So make sure that you do not swallow your spit and you blow your nose regularly when exercising. Make sure that you also drink fluid during/after exercise to replace the water levels that have gone. You should be made of about 80% water, so it's important that you drink water to enable all the processes in the body to work properly. &#xA;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2013-04-01T11:31:04.213" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-01T15:14:52.970" Score="12" ViewCount="3730" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a fairly proficient forefoot runner (10K in 41:30) but I am really niggled about my form. When I toe-off my feet are not in-line with my knee. Is this something that can be corrected?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a recent race photograph of me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qtjEl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Runner finishing race&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5533" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-04T10:01:07.463" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T21:25:54.993" Title="When I toe-off my feet splay outwards" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12046" CreationDate="2013-04-01T18:54:20.117" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recomposition really is only possible or visible when your body is within certain phases of its life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Beginner:&lt;/strong&gt; The beginner is so far untrained, that any regular training will have a significant impact on their muscle mass even when you are eating for losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Obese:&lt;/strong&gt; The obese person has so much fat, that any serious change in diet will cause them to use use their fat energy while exercising regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Almost Lean:&lt;/strong&gt;  Once a person gets under 15% body fat, they can approach their eating and weight loss so the net result is very slow fat loss.  Calorie cycling is an effective way to get from 15% body fat to 10% body fat, while still increasing strength and/or muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Catch:&lt;/strong&gt;  You are only a beginner once in your life, so most of the time the holy grail of body recomposition is a compromise.  The strategy is relatively simple.  You need to eat enough food and do enough exercise to build muscle, on training days, while eating less food and doing some conditioning work on rest days to burn fat.  You'll need more &quot;rest&quot; days than training days to pull it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to keep protein high.  At least 1g per pound total body weight, maybe more.  Eat more carbs on training days when you need them, and more fat on rest days when you don't need the carbs.  You'll have to figure out your maintenance Calories, or how much you need to eat to neither gain nor lose weight at your current level of activity.  From there, you eat maintenance +20% on training days, and maintenance -20% on rest days.  If you train 4 days a week, you'll be at a net deficit of a couple hundred Calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that the fat loss will be very slow, and the muscle gains will also be very slow.  If you are 15% or less body fat, you'll be able to see the change over time and remain motivated.  However, if you are obese it will take a very long time to see results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Recommendation:&lt;/strong&gt; If you are above 15% body fat, forget about recomposition.  Maintain your muscle mass by eating sufficient protein and doing exercise, but eat less than your maintenance Calories to lose weight as quickly and safely as you can.  You won't notice recomposition, and you can still gain a little strength while losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are between 10% and 15%, go for recomposition.  Once you are at or below 10%, your body is in the best position to gain muscle without gaining fat nearly as easily.  Until then you want an approach that can give you some gains while you start to make your abs more and more visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are at or below 10%, bulk.  At this point in your life, you are the most resistant to gaining fat.  You can eat well above maintenance and still remain lean.  Carbs will be your friend.  If things start looking soft again, cut back a little.  If you get back to 13-15% body fat, either go through recomposition again, or a short cut to get back down to 10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-01T18:54:20.117" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-02T03:39:56.060" Score="5" ViewCount="3498" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've mountain biked up a mountain a few times with a heart rate of 80%+ for over 2 hours. No symptoms, just exhaustion at the end of the day after a morning ride. I'm interested to know if there are any cyclists (on or off road) that exert heart rates for this period of time and whether or not this has any long term effect on the heart muscle.&#xA;I'm not in peak shape and I'm hoping for a reduction in heart rate as I get fitter.&#xA;Thanks..!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT - I need some proof in the form of experience or links with studies, not general speculation. So you would need to be a doctor/specialist or runner/cyclist, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5539" LastEditorUserId="5539" LastEditDate="2013-04-10T18:00:14.793" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T20:24:30.500" Title="Is it safe for high heart rate for extended periods?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-02T06:24:39.243" Score="3" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 30 years old woman and weigh 53 kgs.My height is 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m). I have been working out for 5 years now with 1 year gap in between when I gave birth to my girl in 2011 December. I have stared working out again and little close to my pre-pregnancy weight which was 51.5 kgs .The problem is the stomach and love handles, otherwise I have strong and lean limbs with a lean look overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I basically do cardio for 20 mins + weight training 4 days a week with long walks on remaining days. I burn 200 cals on a cardio workout in one session. I train all major muscle groups by including squats, pushups and free dumb-bells. Here is my diet chart on most days-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8:00 AM      Oats &amp;amp; Milk + Egg white&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9:30 AM      Lemon Tea/Green Tea w/o sugar or substitute&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11:15 AM     Sandwich (2 brown bread + sauce/spread)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12:50 PM     Lunch - 2 Chapati(Thin wheat bread) + veggies + pulses + salad                +rice(optionally)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3:00 PM      Apple or Fruit or Juice before/after workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6:30 PM      Tea + Biscuits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9:00 PM      Dinner - similar to lunch + curd +salad&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11:30 PM     Milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes to roughly 1600 calories. Please suggest any improvements in the diet or my routine to knock off last couple of kgs and reduce my tummy and sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-04-02T09:12:54.033" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T13:33:27.430" Title="Any advice for improving my diet chart?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12067" CreationDate="2013-04-02T08:13:02.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid Light-products. They have sweeteners in them that influence your insulin levels and it has a negative effect on your metabolism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough Protiëns (especially after sports and for breakfast).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid Cola, Chocolate and Chips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't sport too much, like an idiot. It leads to overeating. Sport on a normal basis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water or red wine. Don't drink calories (white wine, beer, light drinks, soda drinks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tips are from the 4-Hour Body a book by Timothy Ferriss. In the book are more tips. For me they worked well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5541" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T08:13:02.520" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12086" CreationDate="2013-04-02T09:28:36.423" Score="7" ViewCount="487" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the age of 19, I've come to accept for many years that my lower body would take complete and total predominance when it comes to my muscle mass. However, over the last year or so, I've been less-than-pleased with my build above the waist. I don't own any equipment, can't go to a gym (no car, and the closest one is &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; out of my way), so I was wondering. Is there a means to which I can bulk my upper build at home without any special equipment? Abs, pecs, back, arms, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the weather's been nicer, I've started running to get my cardiovascular back up to snuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I've heard talk about doing planks and pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5543" LastEditorUserId="5543" LastEditDate="2013-04-02T09:39:26.400" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T17:56:41.200" Title="At Home Regime To Build Upper Body Muscle" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12085" CreationDate="2013-04-02T09:57:16.193" Score="9" ViewCount="2298" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware of the following exercises, and I'd like more options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight squats (esp. with a raised heel in the lower position) - seems to put far more effort onto the front tigh muscles, so I don't work my hamstrings that much&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;glute ham raise - I'm not strong enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;raises (lie on floor, one foot on elevated platform, raise lower back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for my training goal: The muscles to the front of my tigh are for more developed and bigger (have been doing muaythai for years), I believe having some more muscle on the back would support my knees better (they sometimes feel weird). Also, when I doe some bw (including deep squats) exercises I want  to be somewhat balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T14:48:41.077" Title="What bodyweight exercises are good to train the hamstrings?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12082" CreationDate="2013-04-02T11:10:15.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than Leg Curls and Seated Leg Curls (which are machine exercises) the only thing I can think of for a good hamstring workout would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://bit.ly/5O5w2c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lunges&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://bit.ly/Z5F1rA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Straight leg deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;.  These are extremely good hamstring exercises, and can be performed with minimal weight/bodyweight and still produce results.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They would obviously work much faster and more noticeably if you added weights, but if you only want to use your bodyweight, just going through the motions would work, to a certain extent.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T11:10:15.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12081" CreationDate="2013-04-02T11:32:12.353" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pushups&lt;/strong&gt; are great for your chest, triceps and core.  Work your way up to 50 in one set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Install a chin-up bar in one of your doorways.  Then you could do &lt;strong&gt;pull-ups&lt;/strong&gt; (biceps, lats, delts) and &lt;strong&gt;chin-ups&lt;/strong&gt; (lower lats, biceps) and &lt;strong&gt;hanging leg raises&lt;/strong&gt;(obliques, lower abs).  Put two chairs together and do &lt;strong&gt;dips&lt;/strong&gt;, as well, for your triceps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Invest in kettlebells or dumbbells, then you could do &lt;strong&gt;shoulder presses&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;shoulder shrugs&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;bicep curls, tricep extensions, front raises, dumbbell rows&lt;/strong&gt;....  I could go on for hours. Two 25 pound dumbbells could go a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;LONG&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; way, and would only cost you like 30-40$. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The perennial calisthenic exercises are for your core.  &lt;strong&gt;Sit-ups, Planks, Side planks, crunches, reverse crunches, bicycle crunch, mountain climbers&lt;/strong&gt; are all good for your core/abs/obliques and  can be done easily, with no equipment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HOWEVER!&lt;/strong&gt;  You claim you want to &quot;&lt;em&gt;build upper body muscle&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, and the best way to do this is by following a strength training regimen with progressive weight loads, while overcompensating calories burned with a high caloric intake and massive amounts of protein.  People will say that exercising with your own bodyweight can be enough, but that depends on genetics, among many other things, and it could take &lt;em&gt;YEARS&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you truly want to build muscle, you'll need to invest in a car or a bus pass and a gym membership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I really can't think of much other than push-ups if you &lt;em&gt;ONLY&lt;/em&gt; want to use body-weight and nothing else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastEditorDisplayName="user4963" LastEditDate="2013-04-02T19:36:41.757" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T19:36:41.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12082" CreationDate="2013-04-02T14:48:41.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamstring strengthening is very important to prevent knee injuries in addition to improve your performance, especially in sports that require lots of kicking, jumping, cutting, sprinting, acceleration and deceleration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can find a stability ball, then you can try these exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/stability-ball-hamstring-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stability Ball Hamstring Curl&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/stability-ball-single-leg-hamstring-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stability Ball Single Leg Hamstring Curl&lt;/a&gt; for side to side isolation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't have a ball, find a slick floor and replace the ball with a towel for same results, just a little less core engagement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a partner for an awesome hamstring exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/kneeling-hamstring-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kneeling Hamstring Curl&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is too hard at first, then try this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqDnZaAvqZ0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJikwp2tWrc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T14:48:41.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12081" CreationDate="2013-04-02T15:05:50.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The truth is that you can build upper body strength and muscle using only your body weight.  Marco is right!  You can at least invest in a pull-up bar.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try this workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFRaCGthTg0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plyo Push-ups&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3enzWZglPwQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chin-ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5BjJTEQGw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chair Dips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McLR5mFiOeA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plank Pelvis Crunch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb3J03g8ALY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Side Plank Pelvis Crunch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps (work your way up) 3 days per week with one day of rest in between for 3-4 weeks.  After that, you have to follow the progressive overload principle to continue to build strength and muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must also eat clean and eat more healthy calories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sweet potatoes, egg whites, chicken breast, grilled fish, peanut butter, avocados as they are loaded with good carbs and proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can change to these exercises once you can perform more than 15 reps easily to continue to follow the progressive overload principle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKbIaNbSEoE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gator plyo push-ups&lt;/a&gt;, pull-ups, decline plyo push-ups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-30T17:56:41.200" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T17:56:41.200" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12088" CreationDate="2013-04-02T15:31:18.770" Score="3" ViewCount="6721" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner for weight lifting. I think first I have to know what muscle groups are used in olympic lifting. After that I will google to know how to train those muscle for weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could any one please inform me what muscle groups are important for weight lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if I am wrong please tell me what my goal will be for the next one month and what I should do to reach that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5282" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T03:30:05.307" Title="What muscle groups are used in olympic lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12087" CreationDate="2013-04-02T15:57:01.980" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an olympic style lifter, but I'm around a lot of them, and from what I've tried to do, and from what they've told me, &lt;strong&gt;olympic lifting uses every muscle&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a beginner, they all started on a simple strength program, like Starting Strength (squats, deadlifts, overhead press, bench press, and power cleans). &lt;strong&gt;This should be suitable for the first many months of your training&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you move past the beginner phase into the intermediate phase is when it would be a good time to switch programs to specialize for olympic lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/em&gt;, Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore say this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important characteristic of intermediate trainees is that they have specific training goals [...]. The intermediate program must differ significantly from the novice program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important consideration [...] at the intermediate level is the selection of exercises [...]. [For olympic weightlifting], the snatch and the clean and jerk will form the basis of the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is common to restrict snatches and cleans to singles and doubles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squats can be used by intermediate trainees interested in Olympic weightlifting as a squat variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T15:57:01.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12087" CreationDate="2013-04-02T16:46:21.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exrx.net should be the resource of first resort for determining the muscle groups used by standard weight-bearing exercises. Its pages on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Snatch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;snatch&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/CleanAndJerk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clean-and-jerk&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/OlympicWeightlifting.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Olympic lifting in general&lt;/a&gt; describe the hip, knee, ankle, shoulder, and spinal articulations that are used by those lifts. Clicking on those articulations describes the specific muscles involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, Olympic lifting is recognized to use almost all muscles, with particularly notable development of the hamstrings, quads, glutes, back, traps, and shoulders. I'd say the pecs and forearms get less work than everything else. But Olympic lifting isn't really about working specific muscles--it's about athletic performance, power development, and whole-body strength. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7449/1771&quot;&gt;As the saying goes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You know when you run down the field, catch the ball and then hit a defender? It works that muscle.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in Olympic lifting, forget working this muscle or that muscle and just start a beginner Olympic lifting program. Catalyst Athletics has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=131&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T16:46:21.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2013-04-02T18:16:43.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My feet do the same thing but far more than yours do. I've also run a bit farther than most people (albeit very slowly) and it's not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gary Moller (a NZ sports advisor and naturopath) advises &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.garymoller.com/2012/01/correcting-foot-pronation-collapsing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some exercises&lt;/a&gt; to correct this. I tried them for a while and saw little effect - this may have just been me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot said about gait but very little science - what little there is disputed. If you have no symptoms of a problem then I would conclude you're fine. However, if that's not the case then I would consult a kinesiologist to get some specific exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-04-02T18:16:43.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12202" CreationDate="2013-04-02T21:44:08.203" Score="7" ViewCount="1073" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's that time of year again when I am slimming down (reduce body fat %) to show off my hard work. I'm looking for an effective way to increase my calorie burning during a routine. I picked up a 40lbs weight vest for christmas and I wanted to know if adding the vest will help increase the rate at which calories are burned during walking/running, cardio, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, will adding the weight vest to my routine aid in reducing overall body fat % in a way that is worth while?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited to rephrase my question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastEditorUserId="413" LastEditDate="2013-04-13T22:55:39.363" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T14:38:05.977" Title="Can adding a weight vest improve fat loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2013-04-03T05:04:30.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes!! I have done cardio, weight training followed by Yoga in the same session. I must say it feels great to finish off the workout routine by Yoga stretches and I feel much rejuvenated afterwards. I basically do Surya Namaskar to finish the routine and it really helps to stretch the muscles and give some relaxation after strenuous workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T05:04:30.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12109" CreationDate="2013-04-03T11:09:37.333" Score="8" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;The military PRT, Physical Readiness Test, requires one to do a minimum number of pushups and situps followed by a 1.5 mile run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a good runner, so the main concern is my weak upperbody.  A month ago I could barely do 10 consecutive pushups.  Now I can do five sets of 10, which feels like good progress.  However, I want to train harder.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After educating myself, I know I need to incorporate pullups for balanced muscles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I do these on the same day? &#xA;Also, can I follow my 'full' pushup workout (which leaves me maxxed out) with knees-down/&quot;girl&quot; pushups?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or should I do more pushups throughout the day/before bed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm living overseas and only have access to a poorly paved park for my runs. My jogs are followed by lunges, situps, and crunches.  I'm currently working out only three times a week with the belief that rest days will benefit me more than consecutive workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have access to equipment or a soft surface.  With that in mind, could you give me feedback?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apologies in advance if the question isn't objective/specific enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5558" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T16:57:14.857" Title="Is this an effective military PRT training plan?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12108" CreationDate="2013-04-03T16:57:14.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the gym my family used to run, we used exhaustion style workouts with a lot of success. You would work as much as possible with the heaviest weight possible, then go down some in weight (5-10 pounds/2-5 kilos) and work to exhaustion again. Keep repeating until you can't even lift the smallest of weights and you're working with no weight at all. We typically did this with no more than 15-20 second rest periods between sets (enough time to set the heavier weight down and grab the next lighter weight). I would say that working in the same manner with push-ups or other body weight exercises would be equally effective in areas where you can somehow reduce the resistance your body offers via gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can always work different muscle groups on the same days without any problems (except maybe more limited mobility from soreness tomorrow...) You do definitely need rest days (1-2 between working the same muscle group) or you will reduce the gains you see and increase your chances for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8096/my-in-apartment-gym-lacks-barbells-should-i-join-a-new-gym-or-buy-my-own-barbel/&quot;&gt;the answers to this question&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/86/what-are-some-short-30-minute-body-weight-lift-routines-for-travel/106#106&quot;&gt;the answers on this question&lt;/a&gt; for some lists and links to more body-wight exercises you can do since you don't have access to a gym or exercise equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T16:57:14.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2013-04-03T19:17:46.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend reading the information at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/Back_Pain/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Back Pain&quot;&gt;National Insititute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A part of their website that sticks out to me is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can Back Pain Be Prevented?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the best things you can do to prevent back pain is to exercise regularly and keep your back muscles strong. Four specific types of exercises are described in “&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/Back_Pain/#10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;treating back pain&quot;&gt;How Is Back Pain Treated?&lt;/a&gt;”. All may help you avoid injury and pain. Exercises that increase balance and strength can decrease your risk of falling and injuring your back or breaking bones. Exercises such as tai chi and yoga—or any weight-bearing exercise that challenges your balance—are good ones to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eating a healthy diet also is important.&lt;/em&gt; For one thing, eating to maintain a healthy weight—or to lose weight, if you are overweight—helps you avoid putting unnecessary and injury-causing stress and strain on your back. To keep your spine strong, as with all bones, you need to get enough calcium and vitamin D every day. These nutrients help prevent osteoporosis, which is responsible for a lot of the bone fractures that lead to back pain. Calcium is found in dairy products; green, leafy vegetables; and fortified products, like orange juice. Your skin makes vitamin D when you are in the sun. If you are not outside much, you can obtain vitamin D from your diet: nearly all milk and some other foods are fortified with this nutrient. Most adults don’t get enough calcium and vitamin D, so talk to your doctor about how much you need per day, and consider taking a nutritional supplement or a multivitamin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Practicing good posture, supporting your back properly, and avoiding heavy lifting when you can may all help you prevent injury. If you do lift something heavy, keep your back straight. Don’t bend over the item; instead, lift it by putting the stress on your legs and hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all just general tips and you should always seek a Physician's opinion, especially if you are having chronic Back Pain, before acting on any advise that has potential to worsen your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5508" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T19:17:46.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2013-04-03T21:48:13.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems your best bet would be to use resistance bands.  Figure out your max with the strongest resistance band.  once you have established this number than do your sets throughout the day with 60-75% of that number.  As you increase your repetitions over time use lighter resistance bands and then eventually no resistance bands at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5563" LastActivityDate="2013-04-03T21:48:13.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12114" CreationDate="2013-04-03T23:30:01.443" Score="5" ViewCount="2378" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got into a car wreck which damaged my knee.  I can walk around and such, but it's really disrupted my routine of running or getting on a treadmill.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any good cardio workouts that I can do which will not put too much stress on my knee?  I was thinking that maybe bicycling would be okay, but I haven't tested it yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm definitely interested in cardio, not weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5320" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-04-04T13:33:33.710" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T22:01:10.960" Title="Are there good cardio workouts which do NOT stress the knees?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12113" CreationDate="2013-04-04T02:13:17.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should go without saying: consult your doctor and physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you should make a point to avoid high-impact activities which aggravate your knee. These can vary depending on your injury, but are typically exercises like running, stairs, squats, deep lunges, and box jumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For doing cardio you want to keep it low-impact, and to stop immediately if you feel discomfort or pain. The most recommended low-impact cardio exercises for your situation are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stationary Bike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elliptical (you mentioned having an issue here, so I'd avoid it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who is currently recovering from knee issues, I prefer swimming as it never aggravates my knee and is an especially good cardio exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T02:13:17.067" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12116" CreationDate="2013-04-04T04:53:57.563" Score="5" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have developed a habit of walking for half an hour, after about an hour after dinner.&#xA;I dont walk fast, its just the normal speed that I usually walk.&#xA;I think this will help in digestion &amp;amp; give me sound sleep.&#xA;Now I have read various articles on the internet some of which are against this habit while some support this practice.&#xA;Speaking scientifically, since walking in moderate speed results in vibrations to the stomach this results in better contact between food &amp;amp; acids in stomach. But this is what I can think of. Any advice on this regard would be helpful.&#xA;Thank You. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5447" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T15:45:59.210" Title="Is it beneficial to do moderate Walking after dinner?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12115" CreationDate="2013-04-04T09:19:43.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physical activity at any time of the day is good for you, only if it is not too close to the sleep time just because one might be too active to fall asleep. Ideally half an hour before sleep time should be the cut off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people say that walking after having food interferes with digestion, but I say sitting idle just after having food is even worse. Majority the blood sugar and energy infused by the food eaten is more likely to convert into fat if somebody just stays inactive or sleeps right away. Its much better to stay moving throughout the day off and on to maintain a good metabolic rate and digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T09:19:43.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-04T12:02:49.943" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I participate in a road bike race at the end of the month, and due to the cold weather and general winter laziness I didn't bike a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that I can do the distance in theory; I've done a race of comparable distance, but a lot less elevation gain, last year. There is a maximum time for completion, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I focus on the distance or speed first?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have two bikes available, a mountain bike and a road bike (which I'll be using in the race), should I use both for training?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other routines should I include in my pre-race-workout?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I planned on keeping my upper body workout going (dumbbell stuff, push ups, pull ups), should I add other activities, like running or swimming?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is mainly completing the race, a good time and good ranking would be nice of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-04-06T17:43:46.817" Title="How to prepare for the first road bike challenge of the year?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-04T12:09:23.110" Score="6" ViewCount="789" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am competing in a road bike challenge, which has considerably more elevation gains than I am used to. My problem is that I live in the plains and have no hills or other steep elevations to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I compensate for the elevation I will be experiencing in the race?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'd prefer a solution I could do on one of my bikes while training for the challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-04-07T03:50:51.837" Title="How to compensate for elevation gains in a road bike challenge?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12120" CreationDate="2013-04-04T12:13:25.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try towing a weight behind your bike, but you would need to do it off public roads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T12:13:25.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12124" CreationDate="2013-04-04T12:22:04.733" Score="3" ViewCount="562" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very hard hamstring.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I can stretch my hamstring to a good extent, i.e., touch the floor without bending the knees with my knuckles but not beyond that. At that stretch point, I feel a stone-hard hamstring.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I stretch further to obtain a loose and flexible hamstring?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or is there something other than stretching, which I should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I jog some 1.5 km per day and do floor exercise (stretching and strengthening all different muscles) before hitting the pool.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I &lt;code&gt;swim&lt;/code&gt; some 2.5 km per day after the jog session.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Will this help loose hamstring?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T04:01:29.127" Title="How to loosen up the hamstring?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2013-04-04T14:08:48.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can still put on mass without lifting to failure every time. I will say though, you get out of exercise what you put into it. If you are constantly adding 2, 3, 5kgs often, you are doing something right. I am a big fan of perfect form over sloppier form to get up a little more weight. Note: I am not a power lifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try doing some &quot;negatives&quot; your last few repetitions. After lifting the weight (lets take biceps for example) to your shoulders, SLOWLY lower the weight back to the starting position at your hips. You can perform whole sets like this, or just the last few repetitions in a set. Your muscles will fatigue a lot quicker and it might give you the extra &quot;oomph&quot; to your workout that you have been looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T14:08:48.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12122" CreationDate="2013-04-04T14:10:21.447" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Freakyuser,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might not be your hamstring muscle. If you can touch the floor with your knuckles without bending the knees, then it is most likely not your hamstring.  Also, this is beyond average (most people can't do this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to check and see if your lumbar spine is the problem of your stiffness.  However, you can read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.advanced-fitness-concepts.com/fms.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Functional Movement Screen&lt;/a&gt; and see if you can test your own hamstring flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can watch this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXs5HoRPvm0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video on the active straight leg raise&lt;/a&gt; and see it for yourself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you said, &quot;I feel a stone-hard hamstring.&quot;  First of all, this is pretty normal because that's when you start to put your sciatic nerve on a stretch, so your neuromuscular response is to stop your muscle from going any further.  This is done to prevent injury.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you might want to stretch your piriformis muscle, since the sciatic nerve runs straight throught it.  Give &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.utc.edu/Academic/PhysicalTherapy/documents/Piriformis_000.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;your piriformis muscle a stretch&lt;/a&gt; and see.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is that it is pretty normal for you to feel this way at that stretch point.  However, you might want to start working on your lumbar spine mobility and stretch your piriformis.  Check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.columbianeurosurgery.org/specialties/spine/physical-therapy/helpful-excercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lumbar spine mobility exercises&lt;/a&gt; and see if you can start working on your lumbar spine mobility.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.putmebacktogether.com/Home/PhysicalTherapyArticles/PhysicalTherapyArticle/itemId/253/5-Reasons-Why-Dynamic-Is-Better-than-Static-Stretc.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dynamic stretching&lt;/a&gt; since it's been proving to be more effective overall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-04-05T04:01:29.127" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T04:01:29.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12115" CreationDate="2013-04-04T15:45:59.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The digestive issues may be a problem for some people with certain GI problems (heartburn, for example), but just try it out. There's no reason to preemptively modify your activity with no evidence that you need to. I can't imagine light walking would do any damage that you couldn't fix by just changing your behaviour if you notice a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T15:45:59.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12113" CreationDate="2013-04-04T16:14:38.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to keep this answer short and sweet:  &lt;strong&gt;Rowing Machine&lt;/strong&gt;. Focus on using your biceps and back to perform the row rather than pushing with your legs, and voila! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or an actual canoe/kayak on an actual body of water, that would work as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T16:14:38.263" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12081" CreationDate="2013-04-04T17:33:23.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're looking for exercises to bulk up without special equipment. So first of all I would advice you to buy some dumbbells because they offer the resistance you will need to bulk up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure you can create a well defined upper body using only bodyweight movements but your goal is to bulk up, so you need resistance. You need to trigger your muscle fibres in order to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if I were you, I would invest in dumbbells or look for something you already own that has some weight and fit the palms of your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to buy anything then you need to be creative: do some push ups with a weight on your upper back (books in a bag or something).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is great for cardio. Do you do interval training while running to boost your heart rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep us posted on your progress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5499" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2013-04-05T18:03:06.417" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T18:03:06.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2013-04-04T18:09:49.937" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the complicated science, Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome, super compensation curves, etc. point to one simple fact: unless you are doing more, you won't get bigger.  If you only ever spend 15 minutes at a time under the sun, you are only going to get so tan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be better to restate the question like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I can I increase size without killing myself in the process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your original question, yes you can get bigger without going to failure all the time.  In fact, that's how you stay at it longer and avoid injury.  The important concept to understand is &lt;em&gt;progressive overload&lt;/em&gt;.  As &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Karwoski&quot;&gt;Kirk Karwoski&lt;/a&gt; puts it: &quot;if you put more weight on the bar, you're stronger&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rating of Perceived Exertion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runners have been using this indicator for years to help their training.  Mike Tuchscherer (a power lifter) came up with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/rate-of-perceived-exertion-rpe/&quot;&gt;way to apply it to weight lifting&lt;/a&gt;.  If we were to reinterpret his RPE scale for body builders it would look something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10) Set to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9) Last rep is tough, but still 1 left in tank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8) Too heavy to go fast, but not a struggle; still have 2-4 reps left in tank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) Can use maximal force to move bar quickly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Can use moderate force to move bar quickly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Warmup&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Rehab work: 20+ rep sets designed to get blood moving&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1-3) not worth worrying about (i.e. life)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I understand you correctly, you want to live in the RPE 8 world, and increase the weight used for that over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive Overload Without Maximal Work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to alternate your target RPE from 7-9.  For example, over a month you would do something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1: RPE 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 2: RPE 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 3: RPE 9&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 4: RPE 7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you break up the sets/reps is up to you.  If you want 3x10, 3x12, 5x8, etc. at the end of all the work it should feel like the RPE rating above.  One strategy to help ensure you hit that if you under-estimate the weight you need is to turn the last set into an AMRAP set.  In other words, As Many Reps As Possible to hit your target RPE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the weight you used this time was too low to hit your RPE target spot on, then increase it next time.  The purpose of hitting RPE 9 at least once a month is to force your body to adapt to something heavier.  Following it by a week at RPE 7 helps your recovery, so you can spend most of your time at RPE 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good strategy is to use much heavier weights and shorter sets for RPE 9 work.  Let's say you can bench 225 3x10 with an RPE of 8.  You might decide to do 250 3x3.  The next time you get to RPE 9 work, you'll want to increase the weight, even if it's just 5lbs.  It should be possible for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, not pushing yourself to physical exhaustion and failure is a good thing.  Failure takes a lot more out of you than it's worth.  As long as you keep increasing your work load over time (progressive overload), you will get bigger/stronger.  Changing rep ranges also helps toward the goal of getting your body ready for heavier weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T18:09:49.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12113" CreationDate="2013-04-04T22:01:10.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, the answer is no, there aren't really any good cardio exercises that are upper body only and don't involve the legs without the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand, you need to know the structure of the knee, but suffice to say that there are tendons that go through the knee area and encapsulate the patella (kneecap) and there are ligaments that hold the knee together. (Tendons connect muscle to bone, ligaments connect bone to bone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pretty much any exercise (including swimming, unless you are doing strictly pull work) is going to bend the knee to some extent and involve the muscles of the upper leg, which will in turn place stress on the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go to an orthopedist, and a physical therapist and figure out what is damaged and causing the pain, fix that, and then get back to working out regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-04-04T22:01:10.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12165" CreationDate="2013-04-05T08:53:14.547" Score="9" ViewCount="1735" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out at the gym and do weight training and cardio alternately. Like the general working population, I work from 9 am to 5 pm. And I am a software developer, so for the most part, I am seated at my desk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out late in the evening (after 7PM) for the last 3 years. I am thinking of changing my work out time to morning(around 7AM).&#xA;So I wanted to know what are the pros and cons of working out in the morning vs working out in the evening for people who have similar lifestyles like me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3330" LastEditorUserId="3330" LastEditDate="2013-04-05T16:15:23.263" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T17:12:58.423" Title="Working Out in the Morning vs. Evening" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1814" CreationDate="2013-04-05T11:11:21.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course you'll lose strength, strength is about neuro-muscular conditioning and strength decreases pretty rapidly. Good news is though that because you've already built those pathways you 're-learn' strength at a much more rapid rate than you initialy built it once training resumes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5569" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T11:11:21.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12141" CreationDate="2013-04-05T16:23:41.257" Score="5" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are you doing wrong if for months together you have been working out pretty regularly but haven't really felt an increase in strength. When I am weight training, I don't seem to be able to increase the weight the I take for my sets. For example, I have been stuck at 50 - 55 pounds when doing &lt;code&gt;pec fly&lt;/code&gt; for the past few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout 4-5 days a week. Is it just a mental block? How can I push myself and take moreheavy weights. It feels like I am stuck right at the same place and it is getting frustrating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3330" LastActivityDate="2013-04-06T12:06:57.680" Title="How can I increase the weight I take when weight training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-05T19:30:47.630" Score="9" ViewCount="41840" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add mass to my legs, should i lift heavy with few reps or lighter with 12-15 reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For legs I did 5 sts of 5 reps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight Legged Dead Lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every 5th rep was about to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5574" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-04-05T19:49:17.353" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T07:44:32.323" Title="To add mass to my legs, should i lift heavy with few reps or lighter with 12-15 reps?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12136" CreationDate="2013-04-05T20:16:32.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding mass or hypertrophy happens at higher weight and lower reps. 8 is the ideal rep count. Try to pick a weight that has you struggling on 6,7 and 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastActivityDate="2013-04-05T20:16:32.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12120" CreationDate="2013-04-05T21:19:21.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you can fully compensate for elevation gains (climbing) without some actual climbing...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any small hills, multi-story parking garages, or anything where you could do some climbing laps, at least? Off-road hills on a mountain-bike with bar-ends?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think some combination of longer rides, intervals, sprints and/or added weight (pull a heavy trailer) should help you get the basic cardiovascular and leg components of hill-climbing. Some planks or other exercises to improve your ability to transfer power between arms and legs should help, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When going up a hill, it can be challenging to keep your effort level the same as when you were on the flat. If you increase your effort on the climbs, you're likely to tire quicker. At the very least, you may be exceeding the effort levels you were training at. Managing your effort levels on hills takes some experience that may be hard to acquire without some decent length climbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go up a hill the bike is tilted nose upward, and you have to compensate for that by moving your weight forward or pulling yourself in, or you lose a lot of power. If you get off the saddle to stand up to shift your weight forward, the bike shifts back as you stand and the bike moves forward/aft and laterally as you move. A stationary bike with the front up on blocks might help you with &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of that, but a real bike moves under you and those gym &quot;bikes&quot; can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go up a steep hill you end up going a lot slower, and it's helpful to have practice with balancing at speeds barely above walking speed while putting a lot of effort into making the bike move forward. Balancing a bike that's going slowly without you working hard isn't nearly the same thing. Without that practice, you're more likely to have to get off and walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's different variations of &quot;shoelacing&quot; or &quot;switchbacking&quot; you can use on hills when your lowest gear isn't quite low enough. Either taking a large zig-zag pattern to get a less steep (but longer) effective climb, or weaving the bike while your center of mass keeps to a relatively straight line so that the rear wheel takes a longer path and emulates a lower gear. I can't imagine practicing any of that without an actual hill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastEditorUserId="195" LastEditDate="2013-04-07T01:26:35.890" LastActivityDate="2013-04-07T01:26:35.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12136" CreationDate="2013-04-06T00:46:21.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To put on mass you need BOTH.  Load up the squat bar with your normal 10 rep max weight.  Then do 20 reps.  Eat and sleep a ton for 2 days.  Increase weight on the bar 10 pounds.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  You will put mass on everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2013-04-06T00:46:21.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12142" CreationDate="2013-04-06T04:16:29.967" Score="7" ViewCount="2057" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm mid 40's and have a great 3 X weekly program. Great for me in that it is tough enough and works for me as I'm getting good muscle tone and core strength. I am, however, in some confusion about pullups and body weight rows. Below is my program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ring Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ring Pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body Weight Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Barbell press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do each about 8-10 reps (weighted vest as needed) with a 15-20 sec break between each rep and three sets. I want to build biceps, so I use the underhand grip for pullups but I dont want to lose the effectiveness of of overhand pullup to strengthen lats. Does the body weight row support that and can I stick to underhand pullups and body weight rows to gain the advantage of bicep strength and lat strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5539" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T22:20:59.417" Title="Pullups or Body Weight Rows to compliment my routine?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12135" CreationDate="2013-04-06T11:56:24.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you can read from the comments, with the information you gave it is not easy to say why exactly you are on a plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several things you could do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;exercise on fewer days, your muscles need time to recover from the stress of exercise and to rebuild or increase mass and strength. If you are doing a pattern that only trains a few groups of muscles per day, you might want to change that pattern and the order. Also try to increase the rest between sets, or deload and decrease.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You need a good amount of sleep to get the best results. You should not be too exhausted from your day to day life, when you work out. 8 hours are a rough guideline, but this differs from person to person. Some people just need 6 hours to be fully rested, others need 10.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your muscles glycogen stores need to be full to bring maximum performance, watch what you eat and when. How you approach this depends on the diet you chose, eg: if you are on a low carb, high protein diet, you need to eat earlier as protein and fat take more time to be digested and stored as glycogen. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Variation I&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you are on a 5x5 routine, drop some weights and do 3x15 or maybe AMRAP. If you are on a 3x15 routine, try 5x5.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You should not do this forever, but trying something else certainly is worth a try, especially when you are stuck anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Variation II&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Find a different exercise for the same muscle(groups), do it for some weeks instead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pause&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Extreme measurement, do nothing for a week or two. After that week deload and try to get to your old max (and above). Doing this helped me with a lot of my early plateaus, but I am not sure if it still works if you aren't a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr:&lt;/strong&gt; Try to be creative; If you are stuck and your approach doesn't seem to work any longer, change it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-04-06T12:06:57.680" LastActivityDate="2013-04-06T12:06:57.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12140" CreationDate="2013-04-06T13:55:04.697" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you might want to read this article, &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mikereinold.com/2011/02/pull-up-or-chin-up-which-is-better.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pull-up or Chin-up&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; by Mike Reinold to get a better understanding regarding chin-ups and pull-ups in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is that chin-ups and pull-ups both target your lats somewhat equally (no significant difference according to EMG studies); however, as you know already that chin-ups will isolate the biceps a little more, according to EMG studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you really want to target your biceps more without losing the lat isolation, then yes you should stick with chin-ups from now on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the body weight rows (sometimes referred to as inverted rows), this is just another variation (easier) for the chin-ups or the pull-ups.  With that being said, you can continue with the underhand gripped inverted row in addition to adding a few sets of eccentric chin-ups towards the end of your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say you should try 3 sets of max of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.exercise.com/exercises/eccentric-chin-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eccentric chin-ups&lt;/a&gt; before you call it a day.  Don't be surprised if your biceps are extremely sore the next few days.  This is due to the fact that eccentric strengthening has been shown to damage more muscle fibers, but no worries, with proper rest and nutrition along with good sleep, your biceps will grow bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="31231" LastEditDate="2020-10-10T22:20:59.417" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T22:20:59.417" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12119" CreationDate="2013-04-06T17:43:46.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much time do you have to train, and how  many days/week are you able to train?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You sound like a relative beginner, so you can expect pretty rapid improvements from just riding more. Frequency beats duration at this point. Try to get out as often as possible, and ride as long as you have time for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you feel yourself stagnating (which will probably happen pretty fast, with the low intensity), or if you already have a decent level of fitness, it is time to include some intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a basic rule, the fewer hours each week you have to ride your bike, the harder those hours should be. You should focus on raising your lactate threshold (the maximal point you can ride at for prolonged periods) as much as possible. If you have a long hill nearby to train on I would highly recommend using that. Try to ride for 15-30minute periods at a HARD pace. How hard? Hard enough that, at the end of the interval, you'll doubt whether or not you will be able to finish the last couple of minutes - a little bit easier than this is OK to. &#xA;You can include some longer intervals as well at a slightly lower intensity, where you can complete about 45-90 minutes without struggling too much, but it should require some mental focus to maintain the pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to have enough recovery during the week. I would recommend at least two days off (as a minimum). A schedule of riding every other day will probably work great for you, and will insure you are adequately recovered before each workout. &#xA;As your fitness increases you can include more frequent rides and structure your week in blocks, in order to accumulate more overall stress. A block could be &lt;strong&gt;Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.&lt;/strong&gt; and then &lt;strong&gt;Saturday, Sunday&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for now though, a sample plan could be something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: 2x15 minutes at a HARD pace with about 5-10minutes of&#xA;recovery in between.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tusday:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: 2x20 minutes at a pace slighty easier than monday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: 90 minutes a a pace slightly easier than thursday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: A long ride, or just restart the cycle by doing the same&#xA;workout as you did Monday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that is pretty basic, and you will probably progress pretty fast on this plan. You can change it up a little bit, like adding an extra interval once in a while, making it harder or making the interval longer.&#xA;You can even try riding consecutive days in a row. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5576" LastActivityDate="2013-04-06T17:43:46.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12136" CreationDate="2013-04-06T19:23:21.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;High weight with few reps will primarily result in adaptations to your central nervous system. That is, you become better at contracting your muscles and wont necessarily add any significant amount of muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do a lighter weight, with a higher rep routine one of the things that will happen is that you will deplete muscle ATP, which the body then super-compensates to by hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat is an excellent exercise for various reasons (hormonal, strength, balance etc). I would base my program around this exercise. Make sure to perform it properly - which means proper depth (upper thigh should be parallel to the ground). Don't get caught up in chasing numbers. an 80kg squat performed at proper depth, is worth much more than a half squat at a much higher weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;just to be clear. When I'm talking low rep, I mean about 1RM - 3RM (repetition maximum).&#xA;and high rep beeing about 8-12&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17255174&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17255174&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;squat depth&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23604798&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effect of range of motion in heavy load squatting on muscle and tendon adaptations&lt;/a&gt;&#xA; &lt;br&gt; &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22344055&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Influence of squatting depth on jumping performance&lt;/a&gt;&#xA; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23442291&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effect of back squat depth on lower body post-activation potentiation.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5576" LastEditorUserId="5576" LastEditDate="2013-05-14T10:26:49.657" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T10:26:49.657" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12136" CreationDate="2013-04-06T21:17:20.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you're eating plenty of food, particularly plenty of protein, and assuming that you're getting enough sleep and aren't terribly stressed, the best way to add mass to your legs is with a small number of exercises--certainly squats and deadlifts, plus additional exercises like leg press and so on if you are sure that you're getting enough sleep and food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not squatting over 1.5x bodyweight, I'd stick to just the squats and deadlifts, and stick with three to five sets of five or six reps each. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are already squatting over 1.5x your bodyweight, I'd do at least one or two sets of 8-12 or even as many as 20 reps in a set. One good way to do this is with two sets of five or six, then a final set of as many reps as possible (with good form). Another way is to do one to three sets of twenty-rep squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8238/what-are-the-trade-offs-of-weight-versus-repetition/8239#8239&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; describes, the best rep scheme for mass is probably between 8 to 12, but it's important to make yourself strong enough to work with heavy weights before focusing on mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-04-06T21:17:20.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-06T22:10:24.140" Score="4" ViewCount="3885" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are cable machine squats easier to do than squats on a Smith machine? I'm able to do about 220 pounds on the cables, but I'm doubtful whether I'll be able to replicate the results on a Smith machine. In terms of physics, I don't really see why they would be - both are assisted to some degree, but it seems to me that cables would actually provide less assistance since they are not rigid. Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4593" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T17:45:48.590" Title="Cable Squats vs Smith Machine Squats" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;cables&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12147" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-06T23:12:23.470" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very skinny and I am looking to put on weight by gaining muscle. I am 6 foot 2 and weigh about 160 pounds.&#xA;I am willing to change my diet. I eat quiet a lot of chocolate and crisps but not fast food. I am involved with a sports team and train 2 or 3 times a week but will be looking to hit the gym more.&#xA;Any advice will be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5577" LastActivityDate="2013-04-06T23:12:23.470" Title="Looking to gain weight by putting on muscle" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-04-08T22:48:57.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12120" CreationDate="2013-04-07T03:45:29.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing magic in climbing. The ability to climb on a bike is mostly determined by the ratio of your power output to your total mass (total = you + bike + all your equipment). It's entirely possible to become a good climber while riding in non-hilly areas, or even indoors on a bicycle trainer -- it's easier and more fun to do it on actual hills but if you live in an area without hills it just means you'll have to focus on building up your sustainable power and minimizing the weight you have to carry up hill. These are things you can do on the flat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that is harder while training on the flat or indoors compared to training in hills is finding the right way to gauge your effort and pace during a long climb. Once again, it's possible for you to learn to do that in the absence of hills but one of the hardest aspects is that the crank inertial load you experience on the flat or on a trainer doesn't realistically mimic what you'll experience on a climb. You can think of crank inertial load as the feedback you get through the pedals that tells you how much momentum you lose as you pedal along. On the flat, or on most trainers, bike speed doesn't decrease much if you lighten up your pedal force during each revolution; on the other hand, on a very steep hill, the bike slows down quite a bit during the &quot;off&quot; phase of the pedal stroke. You cannot easily replicate this change in momentum on a trainer, no matter how many books you stick under your front wheel in order to change the angle of your bike. So, you'll just have to live with working on raising your power in an unrealistic crank inertial load environment. Many riders find it harder to pace evenly on the flat or on a trainer compared to on a hill but that can't be helped, and now you're aware of it. Increased power is the rising tide that lifts all boats, so if you raise your sustainable power you can get a larger margin of comfort during your climbs by riding steadily at a pace well below your sustainable maximum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2813" LastEditorUserId="2813" LastEditDate="2013-04-07T03:50:51.837" LastActivityDate="2013-04-07T03:50:51.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-07T08:38:00.607" Score="5" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 22 year old female. My body fat is 31%. I hadn't exercised in really long because I started last week because the flab I've gained on my stomach, thighs and sides of the stomach has become really noticeable and off-putting. I've started running but I'm obviously out of shape so get out of breath rather quickly. I have the following questions:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should be focussing on recomposition or weight loss?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My diet is 70% carbs, 15%protein. What changes should I make?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've started running. Will that be adequate to help me get in shape?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5578" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T01:36:03.620" Title="30% Body fat, what habits should I adopt?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12648" CreationDate="2013-04-07T10:18:50.213" Score="6" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training three days per week for about two months now and feel that I want to increase the amount of training I do. From mon - wed - fri, to mon-tue-thu-fri. Currently I have a two day training routine with 8 exercises each. Mainly kettlebells, but a few machine exercises aswell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I need to think about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I'm concerned about overtraining muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training the same musclesgroups two days in a row, is that bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I still have soreness in the muscles from training the day before, is there a danger in training again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2189" LastEditorUserId="2189" LastEditDate="2013-06-01T21:22:20.753" LastActivityDate="2013-06-01T21:32:45.330" Title="Going from training 3 days/week to 4 days/week" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2013-04-08T09:04:15.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say yes, take into account the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some Yoga exercises can be dangerous if your form is bad due to you beeing exhausted (as mentioned earlier)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on what how much Yoga you do, this can also be pretty exhausting and maybe your form will suffer if you do another workout later that day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may take you body some time to get used to so much workout in one day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So give it a try, watch your form closely and don't give up to early if it seems to hard at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-04-08T09:04:15.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12150" CreationDate="2013-04-08T10:40:41.567" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is eat less, and exercise more.  Eating less is far far far more significant a factor for weight loss than exercising more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fast 1 day a week, you might burn about 8000kJ (check out a metabolism calculator for your exact daily metabolic rate).  If you want the same results through exercise you'd need to run 30 minutes, every day, for a week at medium to high intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's easier, fasting 1 day a week, or intense running 30 minutes a day for 7 days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly both could be done, but reducing calories is a much more efficient way to lose weight.  In addition to fasting 1 day a week, you could cut your calories in half every second other day.  This would lead to a calory deficit of 20 000kj.  Add 1 hour a day of running to your routine and your deficit becomes 36000kj, which is approximately a 1kg a week loss of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2013-04-08T10:40:41.567" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12586" CreationDate="2013-04-06T21:22:07.670" Score="5" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from the obvious fact of lessened degree of training intensity, do seniors bodies respond differently to training stimuli? Besides increased risk of injury, is there a reason for a senior couch potato not to take up some kind of sports?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggested to my grandmother to start power walking, but don't want to let her get her hopes up if her body won't be able to build the necessary muscles.&#xA;On the other hand, I lately read an article of a Grandpa who started running at 72, and finished his last 10k run at the age of 101 (even marathons in ~5h30).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5583" OwnerDisplayName="Rafael Cichocki" LastActivityDate="2013-05-24T17:46:07.193" Title="Do seniors(age 60+) need to be treated differently in training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12155" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-08T23:17:53.440" Score="2" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am slowly getting thinner (or less fat), but I have the impression that my double chin is not getting smaller. I know that spot reduction is largely a myth, and when exercising, my body will choose where to take fat from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder whether my body could totally ignore my double chin fat, no matter how thin I get. Is there fat that's forever there? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5212" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T01:39:38.383" Title="Is there fat that won't be reduced?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12150" CreationDate="2013-04-09T01:36:03.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key thing to understand is that you need to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose fat. For longer term fat loss and overall improved health, what I recommend is pairing fitness with good eating habbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the big picture - now for your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both. Body recomposition will help you to burn fat - the two go hand in hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's about balance and that &quot;fewer calories in than out&quot; mantra. There are all kinds of combinations of foods that different people will recommend but here are some good rules of thumb from my experience:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whole fruits and vegetables tend to give you more bang for your buck in terms of the amount of food you can eat for the calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein will help you stay full longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates help to give you energy (and fuel your workouts). Choosing complex carbs like whole wheat bread can help you stay charged without getting the simple sugar (not always true depending on ingredients vs marketing so it's always a good idea to read ingredients labels). There are plenty of folks out there who will tell you to dramatically reduce or even eliminate carbs, but I'm not one of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fats and sugars are what you want to eat the least of. Your body needs fat, particularly &quot;good&quot; fat like what you find in avocado or olive oil, but in reasonable quantities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep exercising. Do whatever your body will let you do - you're still burning more calories than you would if you did nothing. Plus there are benefits to your heart, lungs, metabolism, etc. Running is a great overall workout, and it's a perfectly good exercise regimine for lots of folks. Personally I like circuit training the best to get the most out of my workouts (cardio plus weight training). Many people find that trying new things (yoga, swimming, dancing, weight lifting, etc) keeps them interested and also keeps their body guessing. Whatever works for you, as long as you keep moving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T01:36:03.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12155" CreationDate="2013-04-09T01:39:38.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That fat will disappear if your bodyfat percentage gets low enough. There is no man with 8% bodyfat (or woman with 15% bodyfat) that has a double chin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably don't need to get as low as those numbers to get rid of your double chin, but just keep working towards it. It's slow progress... you may not even notice the difference unless you're taking progress pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T01:39:38.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2013-04-09T02:17:50.830" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run 60 min every single day and every time I come back home I feel very well and satisfied of another successful day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time I run quite slowly and I speed up at maximum 1-3 times during this hour. It depends on how I feel on the determinate day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lost a lot of weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice? Just move your body. The more you run the more you lose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't expect to get slim running once a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't expect immediate results. It takes time and I strongly reccomend to repeat this sentence into your minds: TODAY I HAVE TO RUN. I HAVE NO CHOICE. IT'S A MUST! it will help you to move your ass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5586" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T02:17:50.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12073" CreationDate="2013-04-09T06:50:34.727" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are saying your heart rate is 180% of normal, like 110-120, then yes that seems normal, and no it is not bad for the heart muscle, though 2 hours without a break is a little harsh. Might want to limit it to 45 min with 10-20 min breaks in between (But not like stopping breaks, more like getting off the bike and walking slowly with it, then hop back on...), if you make this a pattern for a long enough time this will improve, and you will be able to ride longer with less stress on the heart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5588" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T06:50:34.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11689" CreationDate="2013-04-09T09:43:23.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I swim for endurance as part of triathlon training, but have never looked at it from a fat-burn perspective. My swim sessions are 1-2h long, 1-2x per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From running though, I really noticed the difference in fat burn once I started my long(&gt;20km, &gt;2h), low intensity runs(70%-75% MHR), as opposed to short(&amp;lt;5km, intervals, sprints) high intensity(85%-99% MaxHeartRate). I went from 85kg to 80kg over 3 months, once I added long runs regularly.&#xA;I read the medical explanation for it: that endurance work-out gets a higher percentage of energy from fat, whereas power-training (intervals, sprints) gets most of it's energy from somewhere else (carbohydrates? sugars?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So I would suggest longer trainings.&lt;/strong&gt; I read a study that endurance running burns more fat than endurance swimming though, so I'm not sure by how much you would see the results in swim training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5583" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T09:43:23.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-09T15:46:22.693" Score="11" ViewCount="678" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last Sunday on the weekly LSR, I got to talk with a follow runner that was about to run his first Marathon in 2 months time. The subject was how to find the correct Marathon pace, and it turned out that most of us on the group had wildly different rules as to how to find the correct or optimum pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We came up with the following list of methods and I wonder if any of you have anything specific to say about them. (Yes, I do know that is not a proper Q&amp;amp;A, but I have no ideas where else to ask the question...) Assume that you have run a half-marathon at 1:45:00 (=4:57 min/km)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We had &quot;double the distance, means add 13 sec/km or 20 sec/mile&quot; (no official reference, but see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/ask-coaches-finding-half-marathon-pace&quot;&gt;Runners World&lt;/a&gt;), which gives 5:10 min/km (=3:38:00).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We had &quot;2*HM+20 minutes&quot;, which gives 3:50:00 (=5:27 min/km).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run for 60% HRR, which for me would give 5:25 min/km (=3:48:00)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We had &quot;age-grade is constant&quot;, which would give 3:39:00 (=5:12 min/km) (see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningfreeonline.com/Tools/Running_Age_Grade_Race_Calculator&quot;&gt;calculator&lt;/a&gt; for numbers). The idea here is that if you run at the x% of the speed of the fastest HM runner at your age, then you can do the same for the fastest Marathon runner also your age.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We had &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runscore.com/coursemeasurement/Articles/ARHE.pdf&quot;&gt;Pete Riegels formulars&lt;/a&gt;, which gives 3:38:00 (=5:10 min/km). I have used these via SportTracks for some years, and testify that they are somewhat optimistic unless you really are doing an all-out effort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We had &quot;VO2max is constant&quot; method based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.had2know.com/health/vo2-max-calculator-racing-daniels-gilbert.html&quot;&gt;work by Daniels and Gilbert&lt;/a&gt;, which gives 3:38:00 (=5:10 min/km).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although the methods are rather different (at least as I seem them), they tend to give almost the same results: either 3:38:00 (=5:10 min/km) or 3:50:00 (=5:27 min/km). I have no doubts that the later speed will give a more comfortable and sure run with little risk of injury whereas the former will probably give some sore legs for the next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you rate these methods? Should we tell our fellow runner to go for the fast pace (he is young and confident of himself) or the slower pace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T15:09:29.030" Title="Finding the correct Marathon Pace" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12162" CreationDate="2013-04-09T16:57:05.157" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting conversation and results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to use what is known as the Yasso 800 method named after Bart Yasso.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of using your half marathon time, base it off of repeated 800 meter efforts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To test, run a series of 800 meter controlled efforts with ~400 meter jog in between. The average time in minutes and seconds of your 800s will be your marathon time in hours and minutes. For instance, if you can run 6-10 800 meter repeats at an average of 3 minutes 20 seconds, your marathon time will be around 3 hours 20 minutes. From this you can estimate the pace and effort that you should target for the marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it's best to build during a marathon at least in effort if not pace. So again, using the 3:20 800s which equates to about a 7:38 pace, you may want to start out closer to 8:00 miles and build to a 7:30 pace or effort. Your results may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T16:57:05.157" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12132" CreationDate="2013-04-09T17:58:36.490" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you tell us something about your workout routine? Does your workout routine involves heavy weight lifting and intense interval training or do you run a few miles or do yoga exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why I ask is because I think there's a big difference in heavy intense workouts or workouts with lower intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An absolute pro in morning workouts is that your metabolism is getting an early boost which is great for fatburning purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5499" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T17:58:36.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12132" CreationDate="2013-04-09T18:51:48.643" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a forewarning I am not a dietitian or a personal trainer but I played football for 16 years, including 4 at PLU and have taken 2 classes on exercise and diet, as well as read numerous resources given to me by the training and coaching staffs at PLU, along with personal research; and have switched off between early workouts (pre-6am) and late workouts (post-6pm) for extended periods of time over those 16 years. Now I am a web developer and have a good ol' 9-5. All of the sources I have come across have had very similar research on the topic and I will try to summarize and extrapolate for you, as well as indicate which is which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attempted Summary of Research:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When you are asleep your body goes into a hibernation like state, due to the low demand and long period of not consuming calories, thus your metabolism is greatly decreased. It does not naturally start up again until you have eaten, a sign to your body that it is ok to start burning the normal amount of calories because you have finally consumed some. This means that you will be more sluggish and underperforming your potential until you have &quot;restarted&quot; your metabolism with a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you workout you are adding a greater demand on your body's consumption of calories, for obvious reasons ranging from heart rate to O2 production/consumption to muscular calorie consumption, thus your metabolism is greatly increased, and it takes as long as a couple of hours after your workout for it to drop down to your resting rate. That is why you may have heard that you can get away with eating anything after your workout, your metabolism is burning in overdrive directly afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is pretty obvious that proper hydration is vitally important to physical exercise to insure your body has a reserve of water to consume while exercising. Water is used in the body's natural cooling mechanisms, sweat for instance, your lungs consume water in the process of putting O2 into the bloodstream, which you are highly increasing the demand for when exercising, and water is consumed by the muscles during exercise (for instance; Creatine is an essential nutrient for skeletal muscle and brain function that can be found in many meat food sources, from salmon to steak, as well as created from a mixture of amino acids when not dietarily sufficiently supplied. Creatine is responsible for converting an energy source used in aerobic exercise (ADP) into its anaerobic cousin (ATP). In this process a lot of water is consumed. Which is why you may have heard of athletes who supplemented creatine and wound up with heat stroke and other injuries, they were not properly compensating their increased consumption of water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attempted Extrapolation of Research and Experience:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In order to properly workout in the morning you will need to go to bed earlier, insuring the proper amount of sleep, be hydrated when you do go to bed, and eat a small breakfast and drink a couple of large glasses of water right after you wake up, the earlier the better, to make sure you are hydrated and have your metabolism started with enough energy to get through your workout. Then after the workout you will have to eat a big meal and drink more water to help with the recovery of the workout, similar to what you probably do after your evening workouts now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have noticed with working out in the morning is that it takes some getting use to. Not only is there a little more planning involved (going to bed earlier, hydrating before bed, getting a meal in before the workout and afterwards) but when you start, it will make you more tired during the day until your body gets use to it. I've noticed this lasting from 1-3 weeks, depending on how often you workout (the more often, the faster you acclimate to it but the worse it is at the beginning). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, &lt;strong&gt;I love morning workouts&lt;/strong&gt;, once you get use to them. When you are properly fed and hydrated before hand and have gotten past the acclimation period, you will feel more energy and most likely more joyful during the day, particularly in the mornings, due to the increased metabolism right afterwards and the endorphins released during your exercise. And the feeling of accomplishment that comes with a good workout is increased when it is early in the morning, probably due to the increased difficulty of getting up early. Also coming home from work and not having to get a workout in because you have already done it is a great feeling. All in all I would say that it is a good idea to give morning workouts the ol' college try. After a month of 2 you may discover that it is less fulfilling than it is difficult and then you will get your answer, but if you have a similar experience that I have, you will notice an increase in mood, energy, accomplishment, and satisfaction (after a week or 2 on the energy and possibly mood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5590" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T18:51:48.643" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12162" CreationDate="2013-04-09T20:43:57.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer largely depends on his training. How has he felt after his long runs and longer tempo runs and at what pace were they? I don't like to compare half times unless the half was run on some part of the same course as the marathon you're trying to estimate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Warning: non-scientific advice ahead] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, for a first marathon I'd suggest running the first 16 miles consistently at the easier of the two paces to gauge how he's holding up. If he feels strong at 16 pick up the pace and evaluate again at 20, then again at 23. In my marathons I've found that both physically and mentally it's easier for me to increase pace if I have targeted distance intervals. When I've gone out too fast, I've failed to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use 16 because that's a distance I'm very comfortable running and I can accurately tell how I feel at that point. Plus, there are only 10.2 miles to go :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I check again at 20 (the 10k left mark) and again at 23 (roughly a 5k) because those are easy distances to mentally &quot;swallow&quot; and I know how my body responds over them. They are also a nice way to mentally divide the remainder of the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5324" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T20:43:57.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12046" CreationDate="2013-04-09T21:08:38.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can give you my anecdotal experience with recomposition, since I usually lose a few percentage of fat and gain about 10 lbs every summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the winter I do strength training followed by a short metabolic conditioning session.  An example workout would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic backsquat (work up to max load singles, then doubles, followed by a 3x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean and jerk (work up to max load singles)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell bench press (pyramid to max load triple, followed by a 3x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Metcon resembling strength workout (in this case, maybe five rounds for time: 10x135lb front squat, 20x pushups, 250m row, 10x135lb push press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my gym time during the winter is usually an hour and a half to two hours, 5-6 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm an avid mountain biker, in the summer I change around my workout routines in order to get time on my bike (at least three times a week, often more -- especially at the beginning of the season).  To continue with my strength training, my workout routines then follow a two or three time per day scheme (so as to have adequate rest), where a training day may look like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning (strength training):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front squat (work up to max singles, then doubles, followed by a 3x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean pulls (work up to max singles, then doubles, followed by a 3x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch (metcon):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of movements resembling my strength training (e.g.: 10x135lb thrusters, 10x135lb barbell row, 50x double unders, 10x225lb deadlift)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evening (bike session):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15-25 miles rigorous trail riding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, interestingly, despite a significant increase in energy expenditure during the summer, I tend to gain at least 10 lbs of weight, but drop bodyfat.  In winter I generally hover around 190lbs and 12% BF -- summer I generally end up around 200lbs and 10% BF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the winter, I sort of watch what I eat.  I'll try to get around 2500-3000 calories a day (by daily rough-estimate calorie counting).  In the summer, I eat A LOT more and don't count calories (an estimate would be 5000-6000 calories per day). I'm hungry constantly and fill up with a lot more food each time I eat.  I also include sports drinks in my diet, and am not particular about omitting any types of simple carbs.  Protein levels remain at least 1g/lb of lean body mass year-round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After gaining the summer weight, I tend to look bulkier and leaner.  I think the gain in weight can be attributed to more than just sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, but I'm not too scientifically versed on the matter.  I imagine my body has to store more glycogen for the rigorous cardio of trail riding, perhaps increase water storage for the prolonged sweating (is this possible?), and I suppose my GI tract may have more food in at any given point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How is it different than weight loss as a goal?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For me personally, the goal is not weight loss at all -- rather an increase in strength and conditioning levels.  The recomposition is simply a side-effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would it ever be recommended to focus on purely weight loss first, and then strength later, rather than recomposition from the beginning?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This, of course, is subjective.  Personally, my strength is always first since I get the most enjoyment out of seeing my weights increase on my olympic lifts, but I'm passionate about mountain biking to the degree that I take a lot of pleasure from the activity alone (as opposed to having goals about my biking ability, like I do for my weightlifting). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, I've attempted to recompose my physique with strict calorie counting, daily meal plans, and internet workout plans and I haven't had much success.  I did a really dirty bulk about 5 years ago, then lost about 30 lbs with the intention of recomposing and it turned out pretty poorly.  I lost a lot of muscle mass along with the bodyfat.  I moved backwards quite a bit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, training organically, without the intention of recomposition has proven more successful than training simply with the intention of recomposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-04-09T22:34:35.417" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T22:34:35.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11387" CreationDate="2013-04-09T21:08:56.227" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a 22 year old former college football and track player who is suffering from previous injuries, including a fairly severe back injury, I would advise that unless you are going to seriously compete in athletic events, I would stay away from very heavy lifts even if you didn't previously get injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have learned over my 16 years of athletics and 11 years of heavy power lifting (heavy being relative one's level of strength) is that injury is inevitable. You will get hurt at some point if you are athletically competing and you will get hurt at some point if you are heavy lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are trying to bulk up and get as strong as you can then you need to lift heavily to push yourself into progressive gains, but I would ask yourself if bulking up and getting as strong as you can is worth the greatly increased risk of injury you are putting yourself through. And as a distance runner there is no need to bulk up, and it would actually be a hinderance to your running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes squats and deadlifts are great lifts for your back, hips, hamstrings, glutes and quads. All of which are more important areas to exercise than your pecs, delts, biceps, or triceps. I would strongly advise that you, particularly considering your past injury, focus your workouts on your lower body because you need to re-strengthen your hammies, quads, hips, and lower back. I would venture to bet that you have lost significant strength and flexibility in those areas. But I guarantee that low weight, highly dynamic, mobility focused lower body exercises like single leg squats, front squats, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAMBVWe65Qo&quot;&gt;single leg romanian deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr1XeaievVM&quot;&gt;bosu ball squats&lt;/a&gt;, basically any lower body lift that strongly engages stability and core muscles, would give you better bennifit at a much lower risk of injury than would heavy squats or deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for if a 300 lb squat or deadlift is good or bad for someone to do, it is really a mislead question because someone's ability to lift a specific amount of weight is arbitrary. It is all relative when it comes to strength. 300 lb's to a 5'6&quot; swimmer would mean a very different thing that it would to a 6' former football player and it would be different to a 6' distance runner as well. What I would suggest to you is not to look for a specific weight. Lift what you can while still feeling confident in your stability and control. Push yourself, but do it at a low enough weight that you don't feel like you are risking your health in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for myself, my max squat while I was a player was 415 lbs, but I don't try to lift anything over 225 lbs any more. I rarely even go above 40 lb dumbbells or kettlebells anymore. I don't feel like I have any reason to increase my chance of injury now that I am not seriously competing. So I stick to low weight, highly dynamic, mobility focused exercises with the purpose of increasing my effective range of motion and my muscular and cardiovascular endurance rather than increasing my max strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you need to make the same decision for yourself. It is all about cost benefit analysis. I doubt that you would benefit more from increasing your squat max to 300 lbs than you would for increasing your flexibility, stability and core strength (aka. effective range of motion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yes deadlifts and squats are good exercises for you to do, particularly considering your injury, but don't try for some arbitrary number of pounds. Do what you can while feeling confident in your ability to stay safe during the duration of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5590" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-04-09T22:44:17.717" LastActivityDate="2013-04-09T22:44:17.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12073" CreationDate="2013-04-10T00:40:48.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that cyclists might do that, but it isn't necessarily optimal training.  When I was cycling more (on road) I was advised to spend a lot of time (read: up to 4+ hours at a time) at &amp;lt;70% of my max heart rate, then once I was conditioned, include short bursts of speed at rates above my lactic threshold.  There was a notion from more experienced cyclists that what you're trying to do (which is very common) is simultaneously too much and too little.  Its too intense to train your aerobic capacity, but also too moderate to really train your lactic threshold, V02 Max, or max leg strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, that's only comparing it to an optimal training schedule for experienced road bikers.  If you're having fun and feel like you're getting better, keep doing it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you try and be aware of signs of overtraining - if you feel like you're not recovering between rides, or you're starting to pick up aches and pains that feel like their not going away before its time to ride again, or if you just find that you're getting slower and less explosive, you may want to reduce your pace or weekly mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend that you research beginner training plans for cyclists.  I know that Bicycling Magazine published a nice small book for beginning road bikers, and they may have a good one for mountain bikers too.  You'll get a lot better if you're following an established training plan than if you just go out and beat yourself up.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT - I can't speak to the potential long term negative effects of keeping your heart rate that high for that long.  Whether it exists at all, or to what extent it does / doesn't matter to people of different ages.  That's outside the scope of the training literature I read, or my experiences of those of the other (20-something) cyclists I used to know.  The only thing I could say is that if you're feeling short term symptoms of overtraining, your odds of doing something bad are likely higher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-04-10T18:45:25.193" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T18:45:25.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12171" CreationDate="2013-04-10T10:22:10.590" Score="8" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started doing running stairs in the building I live in. There are 26 floors. However the stairs are enclosed with only a fire exit as a door (no windows). And only the 26th (penthouse/amenities) floor is unlocked. The air is a bit stale/heavy(?) since the area is enclosed, &lt;strong&gt;does anyone believe that this might be a risky environment?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:&#xA;When I was starting out, when I run out of breath during mid floors, I felt hard to catch my breath, and thought it might be the stale air, but lately I've been able to get better at it...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1555" LastActivityDate="2013-04-24T10:45:40.767" Title="Running or climbing stairs that are enclosed, any risks?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12170" CreationDate="2013-04-10T10:30:39.250" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that this poses a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as there is at least some exchange of air naturally occurring - doors don't close airtight under normal circumstances - there will be enough circulation. As you're running you're causing even more circulation, the heat from your body and the air you breath out will add to that; Of course not enough to cause a storm in the staircase, but enough to get the air moving. I doubt that lack of oxygen will ever cause serious problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might be a problem is dust. Depending on how old or clean the environment is, what it is made of (old buildings might have asbestos), and how you breath under exhaustion (I often start to breath through my mouth), it could be problematic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another issue might be humidity, if the environment is too wet, it might encourage molds to grow, breathing their spores isn't really something you should do on a regular basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-04-24T10:45:40.767" LastActivityDate="2013-04-24T10:45:40.767" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12170" CreationDate="2013-04-10T12:10:03.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With all forms of fitness there are risks. I think you are ok to continue under the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You do not smell anything concerning like gas or have reason to believe there are harmful gases in the enclosed space.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You do not believe your physical security is at risk in this area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You stop to recover when you reach your limit or if you in any way start to feel faint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would also be a good idea to find a partner to do this with you. You would then have the reassurance that there is another person there in case of emergency and it's great for morale and comradery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T12:10:03.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12180" CreationDate="2013-04-10T15:19:25.720" Score="13" ViewCount="1135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had been told that doing exercise like squats, running, jumping, etc will cause knee injury when we age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we do those exercise we are rubbing the soft bone together and as time passes the soft bone will degenerate due to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it is true. I have been doing a lot of leg exercise recently and do not wish to have problems when I grow older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a point I read when looking through websites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cartilage in the knee begins to break down and leaves the bones of the&#xA;  knee rubbing against each other as you walk. Persons who work in a&#xA;  place that applies repetitive stress on the knees are at a high risk&#xA;  of developing this condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-04-10T21:00:02.903" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T02:29:38.153" Title="Will squats/running/etc cause knee injury when we age?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12132" CreationDate="2013-04-10T15:28:03.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heared that it seemed to be difficult for women to exercise without eating before. So for men it should be okay after getting used to (body feels stressed because of the requirements to have a bit more energy stored, but leading to improvement for the next times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;And for women it would be okay if they eat a yoghurt or anything else small (and wait 60-120 minutes if the exercise may shake the stomach)&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;I thought so, but I cannot find any appropriate source for that!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Found those resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/296/2/R233.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/296/2/R233.short&lt;/a&gt; (Effects of exercise on energy-regulating hormones and appetite in men and women)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/&lt;/a&gt; (Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to summarize it, it seems to be recommended for men to exercise before eating, since it helps men to have a bit less appetite (and maybe this is the reason for not gaining that much body fat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5594" LastEditorUserId="5594" LastEditDate="2013-04-10T17:12:58.423" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T17:12:58.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12073" CreationDate="2013-04-10T15:34:12.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually you should not keep it max for more than 2 hours per day. If your glycogen storages are empty, then your body may burn some muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter when doing it a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For marathon runners it is said to be the main reason for heart operations after 10 years (less muscles at heart, then rebuilding, and again the same, every time.. so there are rumors that their heart gets some blood supply problems)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that is also the reason why HIIT training is getting more popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you are unable to keep your speed, then maybe it is a feedback that you are running low on energy, and a break would be useful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5594" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T15:34:12.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12173" CreationDate="2013-04-10T17:26:19.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aggressive games such as basketball, football definitely tend to do wear and tear to knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel your knee. There are very few muscles at the knee. Minimal muscles at the knee means you cant strengthen the knee. So any stress you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; feel on your calf or thigh muscles goes directly to the knee joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water intake and proper nutrition keeps the cartilage in knee joint intact and helps it last longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a downside to excess of everything. That includes excess strain on knees. Do exercises which strengthen your thigh and calf muscles.&#xA;If your thigh and calf muscles are strong the pressure exerted on joint bone is less. Things like climbing stairs, squats will feel easier as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, make the muscles around knees strong. Strong thighs and calves are your best bet towards saving your knees from constant strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swimming&lt;/strong&gt; by the way is one of the best forms of exercise. It exerts just the right muscles and just doesn't do any kind of harm to the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5595" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T17:26:19.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11799" CreationDate="2013-04-10T17:38:08.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you have to keep in mind is that when you just start seriously lifting you are going to find significant gains right away no matter the program, and you are going to have some slowdown in your gains after the &quot;honeymoon&quot; stage is over. When you have more to gain, you will gain more. It is the same in fat loss, when you have more to lose you will lose it faster. But that slowdown shouldn't come to a plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a football player for 16 years, including 4 at PLU and I started heavy olympic lifting in sixth grade, with over a decade of experience now. I have encountered numerous plateaus as well as numerous extremely long periods of steady, albeit gradual, gains. What I have seen over and over again is if you are hitting plateaus, but steadily lifting, it is almost always the program to blame, not the little extras you do on tuesdays/thursdays. I would always recommend doing little extras on &quot;off-days,&quot; so long as the little extras are low weight, non-failure exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fairly well known that when you lift heavy you are causing micro tears in the muscle fibers, mostly to blame for soreness. These micro tears are healed during rest periods, mostly sleep, and the muscle comes back stronger than before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your body runs out of stored ATP (anaerobic energy source) it produces lactate (lactic acid) in the muscles to help with the synthesization of glucose, which is involved in the creation of energy, with the purpose of extending your exercise. This lactic acid is the source of the &quot;burn&quot; you feel towards the end of a hard lift. The pain is actually a defense mechanism intended to cause you to stop the hard anaerobic exercise before you cause permanent damage to your muscles. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-lactic-acid-buil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(1 a lactic acid explination)&lt;/a&gt; And in the rest period between lifts the creatin stored in your muscles take the responsibility of creating more ATP to use the next time you demand anaerobic exercise from that muscle group &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfit.ca/foods_high_in_creatine.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(2 a creatine simple explination)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12701817&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(3 a creatine study)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes you to feel &quot;stiff&quot; the day after a hard lift is not due to soreness, or to the tears in general. It is caused by the pooling of lactic acid in those new tears. The lactic acid that was created during the initial lift, unless explicitly worked out, will pool and sit in the newly opened &quot;pockets&quot; that are the micro tears. This pooling of lactic acid is actually a hindrance to your muscular recover. The side effect is essentially the same as that of swelling in a newly injured body part, the reason for the RICE mnemonic (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) you are supposed to follow immediately following an injury; to reduce the swelling and get the pooling fluid out of the injured area &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RICE_%28medicine%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(4 RICE explination)&lt;/a&gt;. The micro tears are a minor injury to the muscle fibers that the body needs to heal. A pooling of fluid in the injured area is going hinder the flow of fresh blood to the injured area, causing a slower rate of recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So doing these little extras on tuesday/thursday is actually beneficial to your muscular recovery because it is causing an increase in your blood flow and helping to flush out the pooling lactic acid from your sore muscles. &lt;strong&gt;This is only the case if the exercises you are doing are infact light weight.&lt;/strong&gt; Lifting to failure in the same muscle groups 2 or more days in a row may in fact limit your ability to properly recover. What I would recommend is that you add &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&amp;amp;catalogId=10751&amp;amp;languageId=-1&amp;amp;pagename=91&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foam rolling&lt;/a&gt; to your daily routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can tell about the Stronglifts 5X5 is that you do mostly 5 sets of 5 on your lifts for most of the time. This is going to cause plateau's because you are not &quot;shocking&quot; or &quot;confusing&quot; your muscles &lt;a href=&quot;http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/44478380/muscle-confusion-principle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(5 a great offline paper source)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://athletics.wikia.com/wiki/Muscle_Confusion_Principle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(6 a simple explination of the principle)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/438644-muscle-confusion-and-physical-conditioning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(7 some easy to follow guidlines)&lt;/a&gt;. Doing the same number of sets and reps daily or even weekly is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; going to cause continual gains, you will hit a plateau as your body is continually trying to reach a point of homeostasis. This I have seen over and over in my own experience. The great programs I did where I saw gradual but continual gain in every area were the ones that switched up components of the routine every week. I have never seen any real benefit come from doing the same number of sets/reps every week. You can not expect continual gains to come from the execution of the same routine week in and week out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure I will receive flack for that statement because there are a lot of people out there with &quot;proven results&quot; for their specific workout routines but what I can tell you is that I have never gotten a workout routine from a website that promises results. All of the programs I have been on the past 11 years have been created by athletic training experts in the fields of Kinesiology, Personal Training and Sports Medicine, designed for maximum continual gains. There is no such thing as a sustainable &quot;Get Ripped Quick&quot; program. And any program that promises &quot;You'll add 100 pounds to your lifts every month....&quot; like the StrongLifts 5X5 program, is a lie. It isn't sustainable, and is not possible to make a claim that someone is going to gain an arbitrary amount of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to get stronger and more athletic without a plateau I would suggest finding a college's sports training routine because they are going to have the most research and science behind them, with the least amount of flair and promises. Here is a guideline from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coachwillmuschamp.com/pages/conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;University of Florida&lt;/a&gt; made for it's football program which gives a good explination of how a proper fitness/lifting program should be outlined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are serious about wanting to be fit and strong, which it appears that you are considering the 5 days a week in the gym and 2 days a week of martial arts, which is awesome by the way, then it isn't a matter of just following a set routine and there you go. It is a lifestyle of fitness and nutrition that you adopt and live. Not a workout program that gets you ripped and strong in a matter of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5590" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T17:38:08.987" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11799" CreationDate="2013-04-10T18:11:56.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran across an article that has a lot of very good basic knowledge about increasing your work capacity--however you define it.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/increasing-work-capacity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Increasing Your Work Capacity&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by Greg Nuckols.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition of a Plateau&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A plateau is when the amount of training stress you put your body under matches the recovery your body makes.  For example, if you are stuck at a 185lb bench press, and can't seem to get over that number, the amount of work you are doing is good enough for a 185lb bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've essentially hit equilibrium.  To break a plateau, you have to change the training stress in such a way that it helps you lift more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SAID Principle: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body responds to the demands you place on it.  Do understand that martial arts places different demands on your body than any form of weight lifting.  Even within weight lifting, the disciplines of bodybuilding, power lifting, and Olympic weightlifting each have different demands on the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While General Physical Preparedness (GPP) is important to all goals in life, some avenues to achieve GPP may conflict with more specific goals you may have.  GPP encompasses your level of conditioning, strength, and mobility to do most athletic tasks.  That said, your GPP is developed over time using the SAID principle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Endurance activities like running and cycling improve your conditioning, but do so in a way that your body works more efficiently to use less energy to move relatively light weight for long periods of time.  That is the opposite of what is needed for lifting weights, where you need to move heavy weights for short periods of time regardless of the energy required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of even bringing this up, is that a plateau in one area can be due to conflicting activities you may be involved in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breaking the Plateau&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to change the adaptation and training stress relationships.  When you look at training stress, think of it in terms of volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Volume = Weight * Reps * Sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets say you put in 1000 lbs volume of training stress.  No matter how you split up the components of weight, reps, and sets, as long as the total volume doesn't change your body is used to that level of work.  That doesn't mean you'll be able to bench press 1000 lbs if you can do 40 lbs for 5 sets of 5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to increase the volume of work over time.  Even adding one rep per session is increasing the overall volume a little bit.  Let's say you take that 40 lbs and increase the reps per set to 10 over time.  When you suddenly reduce the volume of work back down to 60lbs 5x5, your body is still used to compensating for the 5x10.  So you get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add, rinse, and repeat.  The specific rep ranges and number of sets you do depend on your current specific goals.  Are you trying to add muscle mass?  More sets in the range of 8-12 reps is in order.  Are you trying to get stronger, varying the rep ranges is very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T18:11:56.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12173" CreationDate="2013-04-10T18:42:52.020" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is some of the the best available evidence regarding knee problems and osteoarthritis (OA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Virtually all activities require weight bearing will put stress on the knee joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activities and sports that will put more stress on the knees are (football, jumping, long distance running, soccer, and any other sports that require constant cutting, pivoting and changing direction constantly).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderation of walking, swimming and biking are some of the best exercises to do for OA and to prevent OA.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention and treatment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The best way to prevent OA is of course to not overtraining (whether from weight training or from sports).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The second best way to prevent OA is to make sure to listen to your body, in this case it's your knee (pain around the knee joint) is the first sign of overtraining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The third best way to prevent OA is to make sure you have strong and balanced muscular system, especially the quads, hamstring, hip abduction and of course the core muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fourth best way to prevent OA is to have proper nutrition.  There are some studies out there saying that &lt;a href=&quot;http://journalsconsultapp.elsevier-eprints.com/uploads/articles/arthro5.pdf&quot;&gt;glucosamine&lt;/a&gt; can help in the long run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that genetics also have a role of this.  Also, overweight (obesity) is perhaps one of the main causes of chronic and gradual OA of all joints, especially the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are all of the scientific evidence regarding OA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everything you need to know about knee OA &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG59NICEguideline.pdf&quot;&gt;http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG59NICEguideline.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Facts about knee OA &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Knee_Problems/knee_problems_ff.pdf&quot;&gt;http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Knee_Problems/knee_problems_ff.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knee OA prevention &lt;a href=&quot;http://arthritis-research.com/content/pdf/ar3113.pdf&quot;&gt;http://arthritis-research.com/content/pdf/ar3113.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-04-11T02:29:38.153" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T02:29:38.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12073" CreationDate="2013-04-10T20:24:30.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the training evaluations that many endurance athletes use is called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/rpe-intensity.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rating of Perceived Exertion&lt;/a&gt;.  In practice this kind of maps out to a rough % of your max heart rate at whatever your current level of fitness is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/cs/fitnesswalking/a/hearttraining.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zone Training&lt;/a&gt; the RPE can be mapped to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/cs/fitnesswalking/a/hearttraining_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training zones&lt;/a&gt;.  It would map out like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fitness Zone: RPE 6-7 (60-70%)--can sustain for hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic Zone: RPE 7-8 (70-80%)--can sustain for hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anaerobic Zone: RPE 8-9 (80-90%)--can sustain for minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Red-Line Zone: RPE 9-10 (90+%)--can sustain for seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the exertion is Aerobic, there is absolutely no danger to your cardiovascular health whatsoever.  Venturing into the Anaerobic zone also does not pose any danger, only that you will lose energy much more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any potential danger lies in the red-line zone.  This is where you can pass out if the heart rate gets too high.  Peaking into the red-line zone occasionally during training isn't a major issue, but if you start to feel light-headed it's time to end the training, and do a cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T20:24:30.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12170" CreationDate="2013-04-10T21:02:05.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my staircase, I can definitely feel a temperature difference between bottom and top (5 laughable stories : P), but its definitely there (especially in summer), and as far as I know, its not good to train in strongly different temperatures. Perhaps hanging jacket/sweatshirt at floor 13 for when you go down, and leave it there when you go up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curious if you feel this difference as well : )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5583" LastActivityDate="2013-04-10T21:02:05.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-11T02:15:48.150" Score="6" ViewCount="413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing crossfit for about 7 months now, and I'm extremely happy with the results.  For the amount of time I put in and the amount of results I see, I can hardly believe it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently switched from a Mon/Wed/Fri workout week to a Tue/Wed/Thur workout week, and I feel like I'm struggling a bit more.  Here are my questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much difference is there in those types of schedules?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is the struggling all in my head?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that after 4 days off (fri/sat/sun/mon) my workout on Tuesday seems that much harder.     Any thoughts or input would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5599" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-04-11T10:44:26.427" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T17:01:19.137" Title="Crossfit Times MWF or TWTh" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12183" CreationDate="2013-04-11T13:33:06.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing you have is a back to back session of Wednesday/Thursday.  My knowledge of Crossfit is that the focus is on General Physical Preparedness (GPP), so the whole body is being hit every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would expect Thursday to be the day you struggle the most due to residual fatigue from Wednesday's session, but if that's not the case then the culprit could be too much rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's two things you need to keep an eye on, whether you are going for GPP or more specialized training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too much fatigue/not enough rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too little work/not enough stimulus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By spreading things throughout the week a little more evenly, you probably have a better distribution of training stress to recovery to help you improve optimally.  The two back to back sessions with four days off afterwards can very likely be giving you too much rest despite the heavier training stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T13:33:06.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12183" CreationDate="2013-04-11T17:01:19.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would strongly advise you to put your rest days back in between workouts. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days&quot;&gt;this answer about the importance of rest days&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, too long of a rest period between workout days causes you to lose part of your gains, and working out too many days close together has the same effect, with the added risk of injury from overworking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T17:01:19.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12188" CreationDate="2013-04-11T17:26:44.440" Score="5" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;My job as a software developer requires me to spend nine hours a day in an office. The building has a gym, but it is not so well equipped that I use it as my primary facility. I work out at another gym after work using a three day whole body split. I use a modified HIT routine and hit these three sessions with intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, I have been getting up from my desk and walking down to the gym at least once a day. For example, just now I came back from a five minute session where I just walked in and, without changing, pumped out fifty dips to failure with my legs stretched between two flat benches. Then I walked back up to my office and my outlook for the day is so much improved that I'm even motivated to write about the experience now. I feel better because I am &lt;em&gt;pumped&lt;/em&gt;. Yesterday evening I trained triceps &lt;em&gt;for real&lt;/em&gt;. Do you think that my single set to failure just now &lt;em&gt;helped&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;hurt&lt;/em&gt; my prospects for muscular development? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My inclination is to keep this up, focusing each day on one of the muscle groups that I trained last during my primary sessions. I suspect that the additional period of &lt;em&gt;pump&lt;/em&gt; each day will give my muscles a better environment for protein synthesis which will tend toward an overall increase of growth over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is there a reason anyone can tell me of that this extra work might be counterproductive because it interrupts the recovery period for the muscle which began after my last workout one or two days earlier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5602" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T19:56:46.657" Title="What is the best way to integrate brief sessions in my workplace gym into my strength and body building practices?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11886" CreationDate="2013-04-11T19:50:55.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if this is the kind of info you're looking for, but I often take what I call a &quot;caffeine nap&quot;. The perfect length of nap for me is 15-20 minutes, so right before I take my nap, I have half a cup of coffee. It takes about 20-30 minutes for the caffeine to hit me, so it doesn't interfere with my napping. Once I wake up, I am totally ready to go because I am rested from the nap and have extra energy from the coffee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5604" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T19:50:55.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12186" CreationDate="2013-04-11T19:56:46.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a popular practice called &quot;Greasing the Groove&quot; developed by Pavel Tsatouline which is similar in practice to what you are doing currently, but with one key difference: &lt;strong&gt;intensity&lt;/strong&gt;. Pavel's GTG is designed to increase your performance in a specific activity (e.g. pull ups) through the simple formula &lt;code&gt;Specificity + Frequency = Success&lt;/code&gt;. Specificity means you are doing one particular exercise--let's say pull ups. Frequency means you are doing that exercise several times a day (at &lt;em&gt;submaximal effort&lt;/em&gt;). Success means you will increase your performance in this exercise over time. The key to GTG is that you do it at submaximal effort, so that you don't exhaust your body (as opposed to your approach of training to failure). This allows you to balance GTG alongside your existing training program without seeing performance loss in either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your current situation, it would be easy to overreach by training to failure, and as a result see degraded performance in your lifts on the primary workout days. Additionally, it doesn't make sense logistically: if you are training to failure the muscle last worked out, that only covers Tu/Th, it doesn't cover what you would do on MWF. With GTG you have a set plan for every day, and have a measurable performance goal (increase to maximum reps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I've done GTG several times. First with pull ups, then with push ups, and most recently with handstands. At no point did I see a performance decrease in my primary lifts when doing GTG, because I was always careful to keep my daily exercise at submaximal levels. In contrast, I noticed much more muscular development in the targeted areas (shoulders, back, pecs) and much better rep performance when doing GTG.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T19:56:46.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12191" CreationDate="2013-04-11T20:43:08.897" Score="5" ViewCount="494" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I spend a lot of time in my office, but do not heat it too much, would that help me lose weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to reduce it to a point where it's unhealthy, just to drop it slightly below the comfort zone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If comfortable is something between 70 °F and 75 °F, then I would put it at 68 °F.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5212" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T04:11:07.017" Title="Low room temperature and weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12189" CreationDate="2013-04-11T21:00:16.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is significant with 2 things for normal individuals (no hormomal imbalances):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercising more and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's common sense, and that's also science.  With that being said, currently there is no scientific evidence regarding temperature and weight loss in a significant number.  So, the answer is no, especially going from 75 degrees to 68 degrees.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, if you continue to consume more food than you can burn, then I don't think the temperature has much to do with weight loss!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-04-11T21:53:45.367" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T21:53:45.367" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12189" CreationDate="2013-04-11T22:22:19.843" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like there was a British study that concluded if you change room temperature from an average of 71°F to an average of 60°F (that's going to be quite a cold room)  that one could burn 400 to 500 extra calories per day leading to a possible weight loss of about 9 pounds per year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That seems like an awful uncomfortable way to lose 9 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400893/Can-Chilly-Rooms-Promote-Weight-Loss.html&quot;&gt;Description of British study&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5605" LastActivityDate="2013-04-11T22:22:19.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12193" CreationDate="2013-04-12T17:27:48.640" Score="4" ViewCount="22663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose weight and someone told me that working out legs is the best way to lose fat (obviously along with a balanced diet, cardio and good amount of sleep). Is there any truth to this statement? I have lost some weight over the last 2 months of working out but then cannot seem to go down anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason that the person gave me was that leg muscles are some of the biggest muscles in the body and hence working them out burns more calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5611" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T05:09:10.793" Title="Legs workout and fat loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12192" CreationDate="2013-04-12T18:27:17.547" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well that 'someone' is correct in some way. Your legs hold the biggest muscles (bigger than your back or chest) and it's a fact that muscles need a lot of energy. This means that big muscles burn more energy, so the bigger they are... you get it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work your whole body though, you will burn fat much faster (obviously)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a great time losing weight ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5499" LastActivityDate="2013-04-12T18:27:17.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12192" CreationDate="2013-04-13T13:44:02.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah he is totally right. WorkoutChallenger gave a good explanation why; its the largest muscle group in your body, and stimulating it does not only increase your base energy consumption, but is also beneficial for your hormone production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important exercise for legs is the squat. Be sure to use the right technique: watch some videos ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbxxs1PErLQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbxxs1PErLQ&lt;/a&gt; ) to understand it, but have a trainer look at it to be sure. If you do it wrong, it can be dangerous, but if you do it right, its a wonderful exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you add a Leg-day into your plan (assuming you are already experienced with weight lifting, and do so for your upper body). A day could look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;squats&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;leg press&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;leg curls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;calf press&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how I have my leg day, additionally I do a upper body push-pull split, i.e. three days in total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5515" LastActivityDate="2013-04-13T13:44:02.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-14T00:13:45.803" Score="10" ViewCount="612" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that when I'm on a caloric surplus, I stimulate hypertrophy best if my training intensity lies somewhere between 6-12RM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's say I'm on a caloric deficit. What intensity is optimal for preventing my muscles from atrophying? Is it simply the same as above? Or should I (as hypertrophy is difficult/impossible anyway) rather train for strength (lower rep ranges) then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-06-19T23:55:44.300" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T19:53:08.597" Title="What is the optimum training intensity to prevent atrophy when on a caloric deficit?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-14T22:07:24.577" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will be my first post on Fitness Stackexchange but I am very familiar with this great website (you may remember me from the Mathematics forums).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I have 2 months before I leave for my home country of Italy (I am currently in the US) and would love to bulk. I have never bulked before but I have always been working out and weight lifting and doing the standard Chest-Tri, Back-Bi etc routine. I try to eat a lot but I have &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; been ~ 135 lbs. I am very &quot;fit&quot; and have worked out for &lt;em&gt;years&lt;/em&gt; and get stronger but I do not see any real size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~ 135 lbs &#xA;5'8&quot;&#xA;slim/ectomorph &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have enough reputation to upload some pictures but I would if I could :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong? Not eating enough? Too much basketball? I do not take whey or mass gainers as they contain lots of sucralose and artificial flavoring but I am open to the idea if anyone can provide mass gainers without artificial stuff. What exercises should I be doing?&#xA;Lastly, is it possible to bulk for 2 months? Or is that a long time? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much in advance :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5621" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T08:21:41.440" Title="Bulking up in a 2 month time span" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-04-15T18:09:24.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-15T01:50:31.603" Score="2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;In intermittent fasting does the fasting period start immediately after your last meal Or only after your body digested the food? I can never figure this out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5622" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T03:29:53.780" Title="Intermittent fasting" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-04-15T08:34:01.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12198" CreationDate="2013-04-15T03:29:53.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It occurs RIGHT after you finish eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4836" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T03:29:53.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12189" CreationDate="2013-04-15T04:11:07.017" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're obviously trying to find a &quot;quick fix&quot; and unfortunately you could be sitting in a freezer and it really wouldn't help you lose all that much weight. Yes it may increase your &quot;brown fat&quot; mass which helps your metabolism speed up but not enough to make you lose copious amounts of weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy diet, exercise, ample sleep, lots of water and de-stressing is how you can lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4836" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T04:11:07.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12092" CreationDate="2013-04-15T13:18:08.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes using a weight vest will make you burn more calories while running. Much like a heavier person burns more calories than a lighter person doing the same movement at the same intensity so too using the weight vest will help you burn more calories. In essence the vest is making you a heavier person. this means you will have to work harder to do any activity that you normally do at your own body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="3250" LastEditDate="2015-07-03T14:38:05.977" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T14:38:05.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2013-04-15T16:09:00.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One good way to gauge exercise effectiveness, based on my own experience, is where you sweat and how much you sweat.  When I work out on the heavy bag (and my BOB free standing target), I move like an actual fight, left and right, up and down, punch high with one hand and low with another in a combo, etc., and sweat pours from my stomach, legs, glutes and back areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other important aspect is how high your pulse goes, mine really hums after attacking the bag.  If your metabolism is gunned up along with your pulse, you will be burning calories for hours after you finish the workout.  For max calorie and fat burn, several sources have shown that exercising before breakfast may be more effective, if you can fit in the time and an empty stomach doesn't work against you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't do any stomach specific exercises but depend upon full body exercise to work the core areas.  But what works for one may not work for all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, my best workouts involved imaginary karate fights against three opponents coming from different directions, which were occasionally held in the bathroom,.  Strikes and kicks against targets on wall were stopped an inch or so short of target (requiring control and speed in constrained conditions).  The combination of rapid karate movements and direction changes seemed to rev up the metabolism and generate sweat like nothing else.  Thirty to forty five minutes was enough to get the weight dropping off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5625" LastEditorUserId="5625" LastEditDate="2013-04-15T16:21:56.373" LastActivityDate="2013-04-15T16:21:56.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-15T21:02:51.353" Score="16" ViewCount="76656" Body="&lt;p&gt;My shins (specifically the Tibialis Anterior muscle - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tibialis_anterior_2.png&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tibialis_anterior_2.png&lt;/a&gt;) often tighten up while I'm running.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has happened my whole life when running longer (e.g. more than a mile or so) distances at slower speeds.  I was a sprinter years ago in high school (with no problems), but even then if we'd go for longer jog, the outside of my legs below the knee (left leg in particular) would get very tight.  Not extremely painful, but uncomfortable - and at its worst, movement of my ankle was impaired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running again (distance only) about a year and half ago, and it kept happening.  I did stretch, but that didn't help too much, and I read that I should write out the alphabet with my toes before running.  I do that every time I run now, and it definitely helps, but my shin still tightens up, but it really varies (sometimes it's barely noticeable, sometimes much worse).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's never been bad enough that I have to stop running, but it isn't pleasant and I'm slightly worried that I'm altering my form a little and that it could lead to an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="966" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T23:29:12.603" Title="What can I do to prevent my (outer) shins from tightening while running?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;shins&gt;&lt;tight&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2013-04-16T00:37:30.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;i wonder if you have weak ankles.  there are some excerises that should help with that. &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=115978391&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=115978391&amp;amp;page=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, have you used a foam roller? I swear by this one &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0083UNS26&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Thera-Roll-Textured-Therapy-Foam-Roller/dp/B0083UNS26&lt;/a&gt; it masages out the tension &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5627" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T00:37:30.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10337" CreationDate="2013-04-16T00:55:33.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the commenters on the question; saying you should be show caution with picking up new exercises with such a serious injury. I will say though, the biggest problem will be over exerting yourself. If you start with basic motions with little/no weight, and work your way up you will be fine. Avoid jerky exercises, and go for full range of motion exercises. An example of a range of motion exercise that avoids jerky motion is sitting on a medicine ball and rotating your torso as far as you can comfortably go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4011" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T00:55:33.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2013-04-16T01:03:05.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are called shin splits. Recently being called &lt;a href=&quot;http://foothealth.about.com/od/exercisefeet/a/ShinSplints.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;medial tibial stress syndrome&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;This is indicative of your calves being significantly stronger than your tibialis anterior. Other causes are listed in the aforementioned article.  I played soccer competitively and this was my main weakpoint after a 90 minute game; Painful shins after cooldown. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fix recommended by my trainer was to target the shins with resistance training, such as weighing down the foot and just raising it using only the shin muscle. The targeted training improved the symptoms as did gaining conditioning over the course of each season. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4011" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T01:03:05.113" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12192" CreationDate="2013-04-16T01:04:38.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While that person is technically right (kind of), working out a single part of your body like that is generally a bad idea. If you are adding leg training exercises to your normal routine it is probably fine, but working out only an isolated muscle group does not maximize your fat burn. In fact, it is quite the opposite - the more muscle groups you can hit with sustained intensity the better your burn will be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going to focus on just your legs (which I suggest you don't for the reasons stated above), at least add in some upper body and other exercises to achieve better balance and burn. For example, if you're doing side lunges you can throw in a tricep kickback with some dumbells, or add an overhead press to your squats. There are tons of combinations you can do that will boost your fat burning potential and help you build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T01:04:38.283" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12209" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12214" CreationDate="2013-04-16T03:14:31.437" Score="10" ViewCount="2157" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the &lt;strong&gt;benefits&lt;/strong&gt;, if any, to the diet, physical conditioning and body-engineering typically associated with &lt;strong&gt;sumo&lt;/strong&gt;?  Can an individual intentionally &lt;strong&gt;build large amounts of fat&lt;/strong&gt; in a way that could be considered &lt;strong&gt;responsible&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;healthy&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;useful&lt;/strong&gt; outside of this sport?  What are the limits to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5629" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T20:24:24.757" Title="Benefits to sumo, intentional fat-building" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12283" CreationDate="2013-04-16T03:15:36.893" Score="12" ViewCount="4422" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to enjoy rock climbing quite a lot, but I realize that my flexibility leaves much to be desired. One of my problems is that I cannot seem to lift my leg as high as I'd like to in order to step onto a relatively high foothold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that this is a stretching issue, because when I lie on the ground and use my hands to pull my knee up to my chest, I don't feel the typical stretching sensation that I get when doing &quot;real&quot; stretches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I don't really know what I could do to increase that leg-lifting height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="757" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T13:19:22.303" Title="Learning to lift my leg higher" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12210" CreationDate="2013-04-16T06:58:04.100" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good way to increase your leg lifting height is to use ankle weights. Legs carry a massive proportion of your body weight (on the average person). Train the muscles involved in lifting your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By using a light ankle weight (around 1.5kg) and lifting your knee to its highest possible position. Rinse and repeat performing 10-12 repetitions on each leg. Modify the repetitions to your own ability. The weight can be increased with heavier ankle weights over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't own ankle weights you could use a cable resistance machine at the gym. With a fitting that goes just round your ankle above your trainer. Again this involves lifting your knee up and slowly back to the ground. Make sure to start on a very low weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train this way with ankle weights to improve the stability and strength of my kicks in martial arts. Holding my knee high before the kick is released (front kick). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5318" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T06:58:04.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12213" CreationDate="2013-04-16T08:11:00.380" Score="7" ViewCount="3208" Body="&lt;p&gt;After my time in the army (5 Months), i gained 6kg. My eating habits got lost and I ate everything and to any time. Now I gained alot of belly-fat, but when i look at the rest of my body i don't look that wispy anymore.. Now I continue with my Kickbox Workout again (3x per Week). 1x we have endurance and stamina training and 2x basic Kickbox technics..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now i wanted to start with fitness in the gym on my other free days except for one day on the weekend. I want to do some weight lifting to gain some muscles. Is this too much for my Muscles to regenerate or would it be ok? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plan would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: Kickboxing (soon some sparring) 50 Minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: Gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wendsday: Kickboxing endurance and stamina&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: Gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: Basic Kickbox training 80 Minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: Gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: Free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend from kickboxing said it would be too much for body. But I want to get in shape as fast as possible. It's already april damnit.. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-04-16T10:46:59.450" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T06:43:45.417" Title="Is 5 to 6 times workout per Week too much for the muscles to recover?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12212" CreationDate="2013-04-16T18:59:06.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No workout schedule is intrinsically too much. This schedule might be too much &lt;em&gt;for you&lt;/em&gt;, just as it may be entirely doable for an elite-level heavyweight kickboxer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've been kickboxing three times a week for several months and you're feeling great, then adding one to three lifting workouts might be fine. If you just started kickboxing, or if you already feel exhausted from the current workload, then adding three lifting workouts to your existing three kickboxing workouts will probably end in overtraining, injury, or noncompliance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd stick with one or two lifting sessions per week at first, and only ramp up to three once you're sure that it's been working for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T18:59:06.037" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12209" CreationDate="2013-04-16T20:24:24.757" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, for those unfamiliar with the Sumo wrestler's diet, you can get a rough idea &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intermartialarts.com/article/sumo-wrestler-diet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt;.  A main staple of the diet is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chankonabe&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;chanko-nabe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  A couple quick points from the first article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Average life expectancy is 60-65 years (10 years younger the average Japanese male)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lifestyle does carry with it increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and high blood pressure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To say the diet is &amp;quot;healthy&amp;quot; would be wrong.  However, it isn't as bad as it could be.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/12/20/the-two-types-of-fat----visceral-and-subcutaneous----and-which-poses-the-greatest-risk-to-you.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another article&lt;/a&gt; sites that the majority of the fat in a sumo wrestler is subcutaneous fat, and as such is less of a health risk.  &lt;strong&gt;Quote follows:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While commonsense would dictate that Japanese sumo wrestlers, who eat upwards of 5,000 calories a day and are obese by most weight standards, are setting themselves up for a barrage of obesity-related health problems, studies have found that this is not the case. Why? MRIs of sumo wrestlers have shown they have hardly any internal fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;They have low cholesterol, they have low insulin resistance and a low level of triglycerides,&amp;quot; said Bell. &amp;quot;Their fat is all stored under the skin, on the outside.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, someone who appears thin on the outside, yet doesn't exercise nearly as much as a sumo wrestler, may be at risk of a host of health problems because their fat is being stored on the inside, and in the organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;This is particularly true of men who have a slim build but who do little or no exercise,&amp;quot; Bell said. &amp;quot;We know now that 40 percent of people have fat infiltration of the liver, which is linked to so many other health problems.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first glance, it looks like the two articles contradict each other.  However, understand that there are differences among individuals, and some are more prone to diabetes vs. heart attack, etc.  Any time you have an excess of fat, your body has to work harder to move.  Adding weight too fast will cause your heart to not be able to keep up with the new demands of a heavier frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer your questions more directly:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any benefits?  The fat is mostly subcutaneous which is the &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; lethal variant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chanko-nabe is reasonably healthy, and is high in protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As to large amounts of fat being responsible, healthy, and useful outside the sport?  That would be a very hard sell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In sumo wrestling, more mass usually means more of an advantage in the ring.  The number of applications where the person having high mass being beneficial is very limited.  Another place I can think of where high mass can help is with power lifting, but if you gain too much mass your body proportions will limit your overall total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can agree that if you are going to have the mass of a sumo wrestler, the way they go about doing it is probably the best and most responsible approach.  That said, even if the amount of visceral fat is low, having large mass can be harmful in its own rite.  While hardly a sumo diet, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5xXsdWRaFw&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cautionary tale of C.T. Fletcher&lt;/a&gt; highlights the danger of increasing your mass too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T20:24:24.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4875" CreationDate="2013-04-16T23:32:47.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having started Parkour a year ago at the age of 30, I think Matt's answer is not very helpful for older people interested in getting into it. Most people I see practising parkour are in their early 20s or younger and they all appear to have started in their teens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main activities are rock climbing and CrossFit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My experience as a 30 yo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with parkour is that you are training in urban areas. If you are interested in 'pure' parkour, this is pretty safe. There are no tricks involved. Just getting from point A to point B efficiently. Landing on concrete is quite unpleasant though. You need a fair amount of conditioning to do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem areas are with your lower body since this take the majority of the stress. There is a lot of jumping (and landing), twisting and balancing. You'll want to do various types of squats, lunges, single leg lifts, single leg step ups, calf raises and balance work. I also like agility ladder drills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also ankle flexibility and leg flexibility is important. You may do a precision onto a angled surface and range of motion will be important to get your COG in the right place. And some moves like a cat pass or underbar over an obstacle benefit from good flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parkour actually exposed a lot of weaknesses in my lower body for me. I did classes first, and then realised what areas I needed to work on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rock climber I didn't find upper body strength and flexibility to be an issue. Other than learning to roll correctly, upper body moves are quite basic. Strength helps of course, but no serious gymnastics work is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2013-04-16T23:32:47.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12000" CreationDate="2013-04-17T02:54:07.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way to achieve added muscle like this is to gradually add heavier weights to your endurance training. For example, instead of just running you could run while pulling weights or a weighted sled. You can also use hills to add difficulty by letting gravity give the feeling of added weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you're running long distance races you may not want to do too much bulking up. I'm personally a big fan of circuit training because you get the combined cardio and strength training. If you limit yourself to your own body weight or to moderately heavy weights, then you'll still gain lean muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T02:54:07.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12031" CreationDate="2013-04-17T03:41:28.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard/read olympic weightlifting trainers Glenn Pendlay and John Broz and various olympic weightlifting athletes -- Clarence Kennedy for example -- say (and I will try to cite these when I get a moment) that training anything other than the recruitment patterns utilized while performing the movement is a waste.  And that makes sense.  Becoming exceptionally good at something means practicing &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, not practicing other things.  You don't see oly lifters doing bench press, because nowhere in the movement they wish to master is a bench press included.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same mentality should be adopted for any movement pattern.  If you wish to be exceptionally good at throwing trash bags in the back of a garbage truck, be a garbage man, not a swimmer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, say a portion of the movement is identified as a weakness.  Continuing our oly lifting example, say (to simplify things greatly) the lifter is able to jerk more weight than he can clean, a partial movement pattern may be practiced to train the lifter on strengthening his or her weakness (in this case, the lifter would work more on the clean portion of the movement).  The same mentality could be adopted for improving on weaknesses in any portion of the movement.  In the case of pedal stroke, this would likely require some analysis on a dynamometer or from a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This boils down to your goals.  If you wish to be a competitive cyclist, losing muscle mass in every part of your body other than what is needed for pedaling is beneficial and desirable.  That's the extreme end of the spectrum.  If you wish to also play football on weekends, train other stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to injury potential, that's completely subjective.  Are you worried about injuring yourself walking down the street, or trying to flip an 800lb tractor tire?  If it's the latter, then, yes, your leg muscles may be so powerful that they can pull your spinal erectors if you have not practiced the muscle recruitment pattern of flipping a tire.  The same is true for most things.  Try sprinting at full bore after having only done body building movements for a whole year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should weightlifting be used to strengthen underutilized muscles?  I think this is a poor question.  How do you define underutilized?  Do you mean underutilized in cycling?  Do you wish to improve on your cycling? If you want to get good at weightlifting, lift weights.  If you want to get good at pedaling, pedal. If you want to get good at pedaling on 100km courses that are entirely uphill, pedal on 100k uphill courses.  Progressive overload is the essence of all training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-04-17T03:59:44.493" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T03:59:44.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12212" CreationDate="2013-04-17T06:43:45.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your scheme shouldn't just say &quot;Gym&quot;. You should make a plan of which muscle groups to work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the answer from @DaveLiepmann says, your training might be too much for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, but it might also be &lt;em&gt;fine&lt;/em&gt; for you. That depends on your shape - that is, it depends on how fit your body is right now and how well (how fast) it recovers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.corerunning.com/recovery.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.corerunning.com/recovery.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually a rule of thumb I have heard is to have two days of pause between workouts of &lt;em&gt;the same muscle group&lt;/em&gt; for most people in usual condition. And after some time you can extend your training to just one day of pause between workouts.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Feel for yourself, when the sore is almost away again. At that time you are ready again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But keep in mind that this is a rule regarding each muscle group individually. You can without any hesitation start training other parts of your body (of course your endurance (hearts and lungs) is also to consider as a group to train) without any pauses. If you can make a schedule of kickboxing as now, and fill in the inbetween days with gym training of other muscle groups, then that's preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I suspect kickboxing to be full body exercise... Then it can be difficult to find unexhausted muscles to work on in the gym. You've got to feel for yourself how ready you are when standing in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T06:43:45.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12000" CreationDate="2013-04-17T13:03:46.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most important principle in programming is the SAID principle: Specific Adaptations To Imposed Demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means your body will respond to the demands you put on it.  Please review this article called &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/death_by_prowler_reynolds.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Death By Prowler&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, in particular the section on energy systems.  The big take away is that marathon running and weightlifting require opposing adaptations.  As such, your body will do the best it can to compromise with the stresses you are imposing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best Case: Alternate Emphasis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the time to plan out your training, you will give more emphasis to the activity you need most at the time.  If you are preparing for a race, the natural emphasis is going to be on your running program.  If you are preparing for a lifting competition, the natural emphasis will be on your strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whatever has emphasis: do it at least 3x a week, or whatever your program requires (such as every other day).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whatever is de-emphasized: do it at least 2x a week with a goal of at least maintaining strength or conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &quot;advanced&quot; strength training programs that allow more time for recovery before increasing intensity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use well written/tested running programs for preparing for your race&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the running off season, you can maintain a decent level of conditioning by running an easy 5k twice a week.  The effort should be in the aerobic zone, and it's purpose is just maintenance.  This is where you'll spend more time strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the running season, you'll lift 2x a week using a program like Wendler 5/3/1 (there's different variations) and not worry too much about increasing weight.  Perhaps work on increasing reps--which also helps with muscular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Worst Case: Training Both Simultaneously&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine agreed to do a power lifting competition with me, and then a few weeks later told me he entered the Marine Corp Marathon.  The race date and competition dates are only a couple weeks apart.  This is going to be a rough time of training, particularly because the legs are getting fatigued from the running and the lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most important thing is fatigue management.  It's better to lift and run on the same day and have a day off than it is to alternate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a 2x per week program for strength training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never go to failure on either lifting or running.  That can throw a wrench in both programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only really possible when you are a beginner lifter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still feeling out the specifics on this.  Since I'm acting as my friend's strength coach, I'm going to have to monitor and adapt his programming.  Currently, his squats are having problems, and a good reason for that can be the fatigue from running.  I'm going to have to tweak the strength programming a bit to help him realize his goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T13:03:46.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12298" CreationDate="2013-04-17T13:34:58.307" Score="4" ViewCount="2346" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally I'd be following a typical freeweight strength training program, like Stronglifts 5x5, but lately I have found the necessity to go to a gym is a bit of a problem. Also, I will be leaving for some delegations at work in the following months, so going to a gym will be very inconvinient or even impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im thinking of switching to a bodyweight strength training program - that way I could exercise anywhere, anytime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I want to replace a 5x5 program with bodyweight exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to reach the same goals doing 5x5 helps accomplish. I want to gain strength and overall fitness. Im also in the process of getting leaner, but thats what my diet takes care of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have a few doubts about all this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is bodyweight training effective for strength and muscle gain? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there muscle groups that such a training plan does not properly adress? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are bodyweight programs easy to adjust in terms of how hard they are, and is it easy to measure progress (like 2,5kg increments in 5x5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Id be happy if you could provide me with a program that could fufill my expectations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive read the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/10155/bodyweight-leg-exercises-for-strength-hypertrophy&quot;&gt;bodyweight leg exercises for strength/hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt; question, but its far from being a complete answer for my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T14:58:02.800" Title="Bodyweight strength training" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12230" CreationDate="2013-04-17T13:42:11.833" Score="7" ViewCount="1562" Body="&lt;p&gt;So let me start by saying, This is the best program I have ever followed in my life.  I am in the best and strongest shape I have ever been in my entire life, and I can attribute most of it to sticking with the Stronglifts 5v5 program.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'9, weigh 155 lbs and I wear it proudly.  These are my numbers after about 5 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;245 Squats &#xA;185 Bench  &#xA;185 Rows &#xA;105 Shoulder Press &#xA;315 Deadlifts &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am quite proud of all of these, because I am not, and have never been a big guy.  I would love to keep going, &lt;strong&gt;however&lt;/strong&gt;....  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do this workout 3-4 times a week, my right knee starts to hurt.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am not looking for medical advice.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  I'm an athlete, I know what kind of lingering pain is detrimental to my health, and this isn't it.  It's just over-exertion, and lots of strain being placed on my knee due to the heavy weight, and perhaps not 100% perfect form.  Besides, when lifting like this, a little bit of pain to be expected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I am looking for&lt;/strong&gt;, is a continuation program, probably with less squats.  Maybe more strength training, with power cleans, clean and jerks, compound lifts, etc...  I am really not a fan of isolation exercises, because they are a huge waste of time for my goals/body type.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My goals&lt;/strong&gt; are basically to &lt;em&gt;keep getting stronger&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;get more muscle definition&lt;/em&gt;.  I really don't care about my weight or my body fat %.  Summer is coming, and I'd love to sculpt the muscle mass I've gained after a long winter of heavy lifting.  If isolation, low volume and high reps is what I need to do, then so be it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if someone has had success with something a little more geared toward strength and compound lifting, I would love to hear it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4963" LastEditorDisplayName="user4963" LastEditDate="2013-04-17T16:41:12.560" LastActivityDate="2013-04-23T18:18:15.097" Title="Stronglifts 5v5 : Where do I go from here?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12226" CreationDate="2013-04-17T14:41:04.507" Score="5" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to find safe abdominal exercises.  That is to say, executing the exercises I have learned through my life I can feel the vertebrae in my lower back rubbing/grinding against each other, mostly on the right side.  That usually means pain the morning after.  So I ask, does anyone have any suggestions for &quot;safe&quot; abdominal exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1924" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T15:56:16.577" Title="&quot;Safe&quot; Ab Exercise" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4913" CreationDate="2013-04-17T14:52:13.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tore my &lt;strong&gt;ACL&lt;/strong&gt; training for a MMA tournament. Had total ACL reconstruction using a cadaver and arthroscopic surgery to scrape calcium deposits off my knee cap( doc said 9 months before I could do any cutting movements etc)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I did intense rehab and stretching for three months, gradually went to the &lt;strong&gt;leg press&lt;/strong&gt; high foot placement and increasingly heavy loads.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I then began &lt;strong&gt;box jumping&lt;/strong&gt; on a low box about 20 inches many times smaller for lateral jumps.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I jumped rope and did lots and lots and lots of &lt;strong&gt;lunges&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also &lt;strong&gt;quit&lt;/strong&gt; leg extensions as the put unnatural tension on your ACL and patella tendon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By April 2011 ( August surgery) I was jogging up two 2 and 1.5 miles a day. I continued &lt;strong&gt;basic pt movements&lt;/strong&gt; , &lt;strong&gt;leg press&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;lunges&lt;/strong&gt; then in January of this year I did my first &lt;strong&gt;deadlift&lt;/strong&gt; in over 2 yrs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also began weighted &lt;strong&gt;back squats&lt;/strong&gt;. My knee feels better than ever, I tweaked it yesterday landing odd on a high box while doing seated box jumps, but I'm fine just had some fluid on it the next day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So my rehab was basically insane amounts of pt movements always using resistance bands, Jump rope, squats using body weight, jogging and lunges brought me back from the dead. Now I am squatting  500 and deadlifting 520. I only box squat now because its safer and strengthens the posterior chain and upper quads/ hip fleckers which is way more important than lower quad development. I do &lt;strong&gt;sled pulls&lt;/strong&gt; the strengthen quads and lunges/ reverse lunges. &lt;strong&gt;Step ups&lt;/strong&gt; with moderate weight also helps tremendously.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I still bust my ass is because I am finishing my masters in Sports Science and opening my own athletic training facility/ power lifting club since their are none in my town. I admit my squat was once 800 lbs and my dead was once  about 750. I don't care if I can ever lift that again, but in order to train others I need to at least perfect my lifts. I put 20 lbs back on my deads and squats after switching to the conjugate system march of this year. I plan to be back to 800 dl and sq but if I don't make it its no big deal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5638" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-04-18T14:50:35.020" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T14:50:35.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12223" CreationDate="2013-04-17T15:47:46.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=14_plank_exercises_for_a_stronger_core&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Planks!&lt;/a&gt; As long as you have proper form they are very good at building strength for your core without having to do crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T15:47:46.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12223" CreationDate="2013-04-17T15:56:16.577" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people believe that concentric ab work is unnecessary. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Abs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Mark Rippetoe outlines the common reasoning and alternatives to concentic ab work. Here's some summary and excerpts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The primary role of the abs is &lt;em&gt;isometric&lt;/em&gt; stabilization.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Since the basic nature of correct ab function is isometric, the exercises in which the abs perform this function will provide exercises for the abs as well.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;As the loads [on a squat or deadlift] pass 200 and then 300+ pounds, it becomes enough of a challenge for the now more experienced lifter that a helluva lot of ab work is required to squat and pull properly.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups, while not supporting the spine also require isometric ab work to hold the body in position. During later reps, there even is a little bit of eccentric/concentric contraction as your abs become tired and relax/tighten every rep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;But for most lifters – and I mean the vast majority who will never squat 600, or even 500 – the stresses normally encountered under the bar provide all the work the abs need.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;For those of you with recurring low back problems, see what six situp-free months does to your back problems.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this to be true. When my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11482/why-do-deadlifts-make-my-obliques-sore&quot;&gt;deadlift started to get heavy, I noticed my abs got sore&lt;/a&gt;! This happens now with my heavier squat sets. Chin-ups and pull-ups always leave my abs sore. I haven't done a sit-up in three months, but my plank has increased from a 1m30s to 3m (and I don't train the plank; I just test it occasionally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T15:56:16.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2013-04-17T16:25:19.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a first stab at an answer. Definitely open to corrections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replace 1 of your gym workouts with conditioning work (sprints, intervals, other HIIT, etc.) and reduce your calories so that you maintain strength, rather than gain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will still do your gym workout, only 2 times per week, but don't aim to increase the weight on the bar, or increase it much more slowly than before. [Somebody could describe a nice alternative workout like Marco's asking for here... I don't have any suggestions.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should result in a slow decrease in bodyfat % (will bring definition), while not sacrificing your current strength. You say you don't care about bodyfat %, but while you may not care about its absolute value, you do care that it decreases... this is the only way to get the type of definition I think you're talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I'm trying to describe what people call a &quot;cut&quot;. I've never done one myself. There are probably other experts around here, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the story of a guy who took this to the extreme. He's a powerlifter with a 700+lb deadlift who decided to cut for a bodybuilding competition, losing 40lbs in 63 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/steel_odyssey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/steel_odyssey&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/how_to_lose_40_lb_of_fat_in_63_days&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/how_to_lose_40_lb_of_fat_in_63_days&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T16:25:19.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12755" CreationDate="2013-04-17T16:43:41.860" Score="2" ViewCount="2297" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best training programme to improve 1.5 mile run times?  For reference, my starting point is about 9:30, aiming for 8:30. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5639" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T16:06:22.193" Title="Training for 1.5 mile run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2013-04-17T18:35:33.757" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice to you should be treated like gold as this advice gave me the ability to smash my records and stay injury free even with a surgically related knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First squats are not the problem, it is probably the way you do them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Second you are overtraining by using this method three to four times a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5'10&quot; and I benched an all time best 510 last week, I recently broke 600 on deadlift and squat around 550. I have no pain and I train to a near 90 percent max on a weekly basis.  You may ask, &quot;how do I do this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself was an accomplished athlete I played two years of college football, I was a competitive mma fighter until my knee injury.  I use the &lt;strong&gt;conjugate method of weight lifting&lt;/strong&gt;.  I can sit here and write you a 8 pg research paper on its benefits and at the end of my comment I will leave you the info you need to install this system. NFL lineman, Olympic track and field, basketball and yes hockey players have used this method to shatter records and stay injury free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conjugate method of weight lifting is centered around three major core lifts: bench press, deadlifts, box squats; these lifts, if done in accordance to the method developed by Louie Simmons, will give you more power than you have ever had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped doing free squats and instead do box squats at or below parallel because the box squat was used by soviet lifters to shatter American records and dominate sports. It is not even a squat at all, it is really a leg curl that kills the posterior chain, a group of muscles that include your hip flexors and ham strings and the erector muscles of the lower back. It is easier on your knees and will keep you injury free. You will have more strength and raw explosive power than ever before with no need for doing overrated Olympic lifts done wrong in the United States.   Go to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://westside-barbell.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;west side barbell&lt;/a&gt; website and begin changing your life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5638" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-04-23T18:18:15.097" LastActivityDate="2013-04-23T18:18:15.097" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2013-04-17T18:37:12.170" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body is telling you it's in trouble, and you're asking for ways to get stronger while continuing to do the thing that's causing the trouble. That sounds backwards. Fix your squat form, figure out what the pain in your knee is, and continue squatting with 5/3/1 or a similar intermediate program. (Or, start doing conditioning or gymnastics or Oly lifting or....) Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away. The fact that you're the fittest you've ever been and you're quite strong for your size might mean an injury is right around the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the impetus for your program change is &quot;my knee hurts when I squat&quot;, then fix the knee pain, don't remove the squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a temporary lifting program because you've stopped squatting while you go to health or lifting professionals about your knee, then &quot;more of everything except squats&quot; would be fine programming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-04-17T18:37:12.170" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-17T19:47:08.237" Score="2" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed a difference in my workouts when the only factor I change is the temperature of the room in which I workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware that there are risks and benefits to exercising in hotter temperatures, as discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6523/are-there-any-benefits-to-running-in-the-heat&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt;, but I'd like to know &lt;em&gt;how the heat specifically effects burning calories&lt;/em&gt;. In other words, will I burn more or less calories in a room that is warmer than another - or does it matter at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T12:34:11.160" Title="Caloric benefit to working out in hotter temperatures?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-17T19:56:42.763" Score="7" ViewCount="573" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an exercise regimen for muscle building which works fairly well. However, my cardio is not exactly the best and I'd like to burn as many calories as possible with my time alotted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitdesk.net&quot;&gt;FitDesk&lt;/a&gt; which I use at my desk. At low speeds, I can bike for around an hour while maintaining focus on my work. At higher speeds, I can bike for around 20 minutes while maintaining focus, though it's more difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the ultimate solution would be to bike in a situation at which I don't need to focus on my work, but this is what I have to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better for general fitness and cardio workouts to have higher intensity workouts for shorter amounts of time or lower intensity workouts for longer amounts of time? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastActivityDate="2013-07-28T19:38:48.813" Title="Cardio: Longer Workout with Lower Heartrate or Shorter Workout with Higher Heartrate?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12238" CreationDate="2013-04-18T00:28:41.513" Score="4" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's already almost 2 months that I've started a body building routine that gave me good results (which is why I decided to extend it until now). The program is volume based, a typical 4 days / week routine with 6-10 reps / set, however I really give everything I can and I don't skip leg day, euphemism inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is the following: being intermediate in the discipline, what is the kind of recovery week you would recommend for me? I'm going to start another program which will be intense as well after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of 2 options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full rest, with an every other day stretch/abs routine (my bad, that's right to say I'm not focused enough on my abs normally so I don't think these need so much rest)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 times a week full-body routine with lighter weights&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your advices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastEditorUserId="5178" LastEditDate="2013-04-18T15:11:47.460" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T15:11:47.460" Title="recovery week between 2 demanding programs" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6921" CreationDate="2013-04-18T00:44:04.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;7lbs seems like alot - but I feel like the same thing happens to me and I have linked it to where I am in my 'cycle' - so about 5 days before my period is due to start I get really heavy and feel unusually fat (confirmed by scales) for about 3 days. So I'd say its partyly water retention, partly hormonal (which can play a part in retaining water as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just dont lose motivation or blow out when you feel like that - keep on track and have faith that it will pass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5642" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T00:44:04.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12234" CreationDate="2013-04-18T14:58:05.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your core can typically take a beating and recover pretty quickly.  There's no reason you can't do both.  Basically, the goal of a deload is to allow your body to actively recover and rebuild a bit more deeply than it otherwise would.  A successful deload has these qualities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The work feels easy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has a lot less volume/intensity than you normally use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is easy to recover from&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a power lifter, I'll usually use my three competition lifts plus an overhead press variation at about 50% intensity for 5 reps.  That's it.  My assistance work is also kept to the stuff that keeps me healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T14:58:05.890" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6921" CreationDate="2013-04-18T15:28:50.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take time to read the following article just put up on the Fitocracy &quot;Knowledge&quot; center: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/why-weight-loss-is-not-the-king-of-achievements/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Why Weight Loss Is Not the King of Achievements&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  You'll see a few before and after pictures and real life body transformations.  You'll also see how in many cases the weight went up or stayed the same while the results are a much tighter, fit body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some tips I've come across as I've cut fat on more than one occasion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The scale is like a thermometer.&lt;/strong&gt;  It can only tell you whether your weight is either above or below &quot;normal&quot; (wherever that is for you).  If the number isn't normal, you have to look at other things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tape measures are excellent tools.&lt;/strong&gt;  At the end of the day, we want flab to go away.  If your shoulders and chest are getting bigger while your waist is getting thinner, who care's what the scale says?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take progress pictures.&lt;/strong&gt;  Once a month, take a picture of yourself from the front, side, and back.  Compare it with last month's picture, and the first progress picture you have on this journey.  You should be happier with the way your body is adapting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why can the scale go up when you are getting smaller?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might be gaining lean mass (more muscle, connective tissue, etc.), this is very common among people who used to be sedentary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might just be gaining water weight--though in my experience water weight is +/- 3-5lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body might be making changes to handle the new work load, which will keep you at the same weight or a little higher until it is done.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There might be a reaction to something you're eating causing extra bloat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What if the scale is going up because I'm getting fatter?  You'll have to do some detective work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are all your macros getting hit?  You need protein to help support increases in lean mass.  There are some essential fats (i.e. fats your body needs to survive that it can't make on its own).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you eating enough Calories?  This seems counter-intuitive, but the harder you starve yourself, the more your body will hold on to fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you eating too many Calories?  If the Calories seem right on paper, try dropping just a little bit to see if that helps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there something in your diet that is causing a reaction?  Dairy, wheat flour (gluten), and even highly processed sugary foods can cause a disproportionate bloat in some people.  Try eliminating all problem foods for about a month, and re-introduce them one at a time to see what you might be having problems with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you getting all the micronutrients you need?  A happy thyroid needs magnesium, selenium, and iodine.  These can be found in foods like spinach, kale, shell fish, sea fish, and chicken.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are your hormone levels correct?  Get periodic blood work done and discuss it with your doctor.  Thyroid T3 levels are very important for good fat loss, but if your sex hormones are off (testosterone/estrogen) that can also cause problems for you.  Sometimes that is affected by what you eat.  I.e. very low fat diets can drop testosterone levels, but the converse is not true (i.e. you cannot raise testosterone above normal by increasing fat in your diet).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps you need to change the type of conditioning/running you do.  Steady state running may not work as well as interval training for you.  Or vice versa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: if everything is looking better and you are feeling more healthy, ignore the scale.  If the scale really is telling you the truth, then it's time to figure out what needs to change.  While Calories are King for weight loss, they aren't the only thing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T15:28:50.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2013-04-18T18:51:20.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another possibility would be you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartment_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chronic compartment syndrome&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the muscle sheathing doesn't expand sufficiently with the muscle.  This can range from uncomfortable to very painful and feels pretty much exactly like the muscle is tightening up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a more sever case, but I was never able to find any stretch or warmup exercise that helped much at all.  There are only 2 'fixes' I am aware of -- time and surgery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A specialist can diagnose this by measuring the resting pressure in the leg compartments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2013-04-18T18:51:20.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12241" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-18T20:19:20.550" Score="11" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much should one speed train, in relation to my total mileage? Some resources (&lt;a href=&quot;http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/10/training/interval-workouts-to-try-on-the-track_65324&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; for instance) say that the amount of interval training should not exceed 7-15% of your total mileage. My question is: Is this also true for runners with very low mileage? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training for a 6.5km (4miles) race. Due to my strength training schedule, I can only go running twice a week. I thought about doing interval training on Sunday and low intensity running on Thursday, but according to the above rule, this would be way to much interval training. Should I really be interval training only once every 4 weeks (which would be 12.5%)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-04T10:01:24.837" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T17:51:03.437" Title="How much should I speed train (% of total mileage)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12246" CreationDate="2013-04-19T05:35:57.063" Score="9" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do planks, and some other exercises that require a higher level of stability than average, the trainer always tells me that my &lt;strong&gt;core is weak&lt;/strong&gt;, and that I need to make it stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can any of you suggest some of these exercises that will help me increase my core strength? It would really help if there are related photos/or videos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3330" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T23:31:53.590" Title="Exercises that make the 'Core' strong" Tags="&lt;core&gt;&lt;stability&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6370" CreationDate="2013-04-19T06:48:53.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, congratulations on starting a new life. Trying to lose weight is hard, take it from someone that has not cared about anything she eats as long as she has been alive. I too have started on the same road you are on to a healthier life at 278lbs 5'4&quot; and 29yrs old not a good look for me, not only that, but at this weight I am destroying my life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice I have gotten from many people and what I have gotten from personal experience, is to start only with cardio for the first couple of months. I've only been exercising for a little over 3 weeks now and already I feel better. Take it slowly, you don't want to hurt yourself. The first day I could not do over 5 mins in any machine, 3 weeks in and I can do over an hour in the elliptical machine, then start working weight training into it. Also, have an exercise plan, don't just go in doing things like crazy, you wont get anywhere that way. I'm lucky enough to have a sister who used to work in the industry and has given me some advice on the matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also something I have learned is very important, drink water, more when you are exercising. Not drinking enough water can actually lower your metabolism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, keep the good work and good luck on this new adventure, hope for the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brenda&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5650" LastActivityDate="2013-04-19T06:48:53.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12242" CreationDate="2013-04-19T15:06:54.260" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kate has given you a &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/core_stability_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;great article to read&lt;/a&gt;.  I agree with this article as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a sports PT, I can tell you that people do not realize how much your core is actually working when you do exercises like squats, deadlifts, clean and jerks, clean and presses, and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your trainer is telling you that your core is weak, you should ask your trainer to give you some exercises to strengthen your core.  After all, you are paying him/her to train you right?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, you should keep in mind that &quot;core stability&quot; has lots to do with the entire chain, not just the abdominal region.  This goes from scapular stabilizers to the hamstring muscles to the deep intercostal/diaphragm as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One way to strengthen your core stability is to try doing more exercises with single leg stance or on uneven surfaces from now on.  For example, try standing on one leg and doing bicep curls, standing shoulder presses, etc. to get your core to engage more.  Also, you can try standing on an uneven surface like a bosu ball when doing exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to increase core stability is to perform dumbbell exercises (chest presses, etc.) on a stability ball.  You must be extra careful as you may lose some balance at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that if you are going to train for just core stability, you may lose the ability to gain true strength because you may not be able to perform heavy weight liftings while you are on uneven surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the best exercises to strengthen the entire &quot;core stability:&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/kneeling-stability-ball-rollout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kneeling Stability Ball Rollout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/stability-ball-hamstring-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stability Ball Hamstring Curl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/dumbbell-squat-swing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Squat Swing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/dumbbell-golfer-swing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Golfer Swing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your trainer to give you a specific core stability program.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T23:31:53.590" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T23:31:53.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-19T15:23:32.690" Score="8" ViewCount="1558" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I stumbled upon the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/train_like_a_man_8_the_4minute_pushup_test&quot;&gt;4minute pushups test&lt;/a&gt;, which challenges you to do as many pushups as you can within 4 minutes (you can pause anytime as long as the clock keeps running). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering &lt;strong&gt;what would be the best strategy for doing this&lt;/strong&gt; (maximizing the number of pushups). One strategy would be to go do consecutive pushups until failure, rest for some time, then do some more. &#xA;Another strategy would be to evenly distribute the pushups. For instance, if plan to achieve 100 pushups, then I could do 4x(25 within 1min), or 10x(10 within 24seconds), or 100x(1 within 3.6seconds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;To clarify my question: I'm interested in the optimal distribution of breaks and work within the 4mins in order to maximize the achieveable number of pushups. I think this question can be generalized to: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Given a time range, how do I distribute work and breaks over time in order to maximize the total volume?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I've read somewhere that long distance runners try to run the first half of a race within 51% of their target time, which means that they run with almost constant intensity. If this applies to the pushup challenge, we should do half of the pushups in half of the time. Applying the same reasoning again, we should do 25% of the pushups in 25% of the time, and so on. Eventually this would lead to pausing after each pushup (because then the pushups are perfectly distributed over time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, another strategy would be the one suggested by Moses in his answer (starting with a high number of consecutive pushups and a long rest, than a smaller number and a shorter rest, and so on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there is one strategy that is known to be superior to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorUserId="4800" LastEditDate="2013-04-22T21:37:53.350" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T08:53:18.600" Title="Optimal strategy for &quot;4min pushup test&quot;" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12242" CreationDate="2013-04-19T15:42:33.480" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Follow the Strong Lifts or Starting Strength novice weight lifting programs, and you'll develop a strong &quot;core&quot;.  These programs utilize a 5x5 or 3x5 scheme (5 sets of 5 reps, or 3 sets of 5 reps) with incremental loading (you increase the weight 5 lbs per work out).  The lifts in these program are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench press (with proper form you actually transfor some force from the ground through your feet and arched back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pendlay rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2013-04-19T15:42:33.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12251" CreationDate="2013-04-19T16:23:30.690" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a few questions regarding putting on some weight as I'm sort of skinny. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to go to a gym just a few days ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to gain mass and muscle in case they can be gained at the same time. Here are my questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I started to eat a lot and am wondering whether taking any protein products could be good for newbies like me. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also should I take a day off? I've worked out 2 days in a row. Heard overtraining could be bad for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5654" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-04-19T19:22:38.877" LastActivityDate="2013-04-19T20:05:55.437" Title="Should I use any supplements to get quicker result?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12249" CreationDate="2013-04-19T20:05:55.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a couple articles to help you build some foundational knowledge:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/65-intro-to-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Intro to Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; -- I wrote this to collect a lot of the answers to basic questions in one place.  Obvious bias is for power lifting/oly lifting rather than body building.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/6836#6836&quot;&gt;Liepman's answer to building mass&lt;/a&gt; -- another good primer on the basics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your specific questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I started to eat a lot and am wondering whether taking any protein products could be good for newbies like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat plenty, but protein products aren't really necessary.  If you can get at least 1g/lb total body weight you won't be able to use all the extra protein.  Since the supplements are expensive, save your money and buy a burger instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rough portion guide, a portion of just about any meat the size of a deck of cards (or your closed fist) is roughly 20g of protein.  Give or take.  Seafood has high protein and relatively low calories, while pork probably has the most calories per serving (and least amount of protein).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just don't go too crazy.  If you feel like you are eating a lot, but your body isn't changing, then do a little homework.  Write down everything you eat.  Maybe you aren't eating as much as you think!  Also, quite possibly, you need to add more food.  If you are gaining, you don't need to change anything until the gaining stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also should I take a day off? I've worked out 2 days in a row. Heard overtraining could be bad for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend you research some programs that are designed for beginners that have proven results.  One off the top of my head would be Starting Strength.  The book is a good primer on lifting in general, has some excellent tutorials on the main lifts, and will help you get reasonably strong in a short period of time.  From there you can branch out.  Just follow the program as it's written to help you get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By your question, you are so new to lifting that it's impossible for you to overtrain.  It is possible to train almost every day even when you are an advanced lifter, but you have to be smart about it.  You aren't going to be doing the big lifts every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that when you always feel fatigued, and you can't think straight, you've at least hit &quot;overreaching&quot;.  When you've hit that, then go light for a bit until you feel fresh again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-04-19T20:05:55.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2013-04-19T20:43:57.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting out by saying Dave Liepman's answer is pretty spot on.  There are plenty of programs out there that are good, including Gray Skull, Hepburn, Wendler 5/3/1, Big-15 (Paul Carter), etc.  Take a look at them and figure out what fits your desires best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the knee pain, there are a couple things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foam rolling or LaCrosse ball treatment on trigger points.  Lots of squatting can get your hips so tight it pulls at your knees at odd angles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a deload and work on technique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've gone through a number of times in my journey to a 445lb squat where I had to take weight off the bar and refine my technique.  The first is where your squat is now, then again in the 300s.  And again in the 400s.  My squat is a lot better now than it was during starting strength.  When I finally get my squat over 500lbs, I can say the same about my squat being better then.  While I have mad respect for Rippetoe, and his Starting Strength book is one of the best strength training books out there, particularly for beginners, I found his squat cues don't help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some points that have helped me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The tighter your entire body, the more you can lift.  Arch your back, tighten your shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar path needs to be as close to straight up and down as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shove those knees out to make room for your body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't sit back too far.  That only works if you have a squat suit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to &quot;Break the Bar&quot;.  That's apply as much force straight up through the bar on your back as you can, like you are trying to permanently bend the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last point, &quot;Break The Bar&quot; automatically takes care of the first couple points.  It also helps prevent the &quot;squat-morning&quot; where your hips move faster than your shoulders.  If you open your knees to let your body come straight down, that also helps with the bar path and sitting back too far.  Just boil it down to the smallest number of cues that can give you the greatest results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one of the best tools I've discovered to help fix form is the paused squat.  You don't relax at all, but you stay at the bottom for a second or two.  Enough to feel that you've hit parallel, are still in good balance, and ready to drive up hard.  It kills the stretch reflex, but you can better feel if you are out of alignment or discover and fix any number of small problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-19T20:43:57.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12196" CreationDate="2013-04-19T21:52:07.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm unaware of any evidence that the differing effects of training in various rep ranges changes due to caloric surplus or deficit. How much one is eating determines recovery and mass gain, but the body is still reacting (or trying to react) to the training stimulus in the same manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm on a calorie deficit, I train at just barely submaximal intensity for strength: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-3 reps per sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;circa 3 sets, less for the deadlift, more if I'm feeling energetic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because I recognize my ability to build muscle is limited, so I avoid the hypertrophic rep ranges entirely. I can do this because my goals are health, strength, and power. If my goal was muscle mass then I might disregard my calorie deficit, work in the 6-12 range, and recognize that my recovery ability is going to be strained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of my goals, any cutting diet should be high in protein in order to minimize the negative effects of a caloric deficit. Protein is dense and satiating, which helps with coping with hunger, and high-protein diets have been shown to encourage the body to spare muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-07-22T16:21:30.663" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T16:21:30.663" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12247" CreationDate="2013-04-20T00:26:59.623" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading about this I decided to give the challenge a try, and can say it was surprisingly difficult. &lt;strong&gt;Maintaining strength for 4 minutes requires a ton of endurance and training&lt;/strong&gt;. That being said, I was able to do very well because I have done a ton of training similar to this and it left me incredibly well prepared. To be specific, I was able to succeed for three reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a great baseline of strength because of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;barbell strength training programs&lt;/a&gt; I have been through.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have already trained my body for similar challenges, e.g. the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hundredpushups.com/&quot;&gt;hundred pushup challenge&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have used the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.notyouraveragefitnesstips.com/best-workout-routines/grease-the-groove-how-to-increase-pushups-increase-pull-ups&quot;&gt;greasing the groove&lt;/a&gt;,&quot; technique developed by Pavel Tsatsouline to further increase my ability with regard to push ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot overstate how important these points are. &lt;strong&gt;Having a baseline of strength is the most important thing&lt;/strong&gt; you can do to improve your ability to do push ups. Once you establish that baseline, you will then need to start training your body with specificity and frequent practice so it can adapt to doing push ups in the 100+ range. Both steps are important, as are the order you approach them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have the physical strength and endurance necessary, then you can shift your focus to optimizing your approach. Follow these steps to optimize your 4 minutes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set a target goal of push ups to do (mine was 120).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate how long it takes you to do a typical push up (I used 1.2 seconds).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate how much time you get for rest. This is &lt;code&gt;total time - pushup qty * pushup time&lt;/code&gt; (mine was 240 - 1.2 * 120 = 96 seconds to rest).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Determine how you want to structure your breaks (short and frequent, long and infrequent)*. I decided to split the challenge as follows: &lt;code&gt;60s work, 50s rest, 50s work, 46s rest, 34s to failure.&lt;/code&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Everyone has a different body, and what works for some may not work for others. I personally opted for long rests in this challenge because I never do HIIT or interval training, and exclusively do 60s+ rest in between heavy barbell lifts. This may not be the case for you, so do what your body tells you to do. In contrast the author of the t-nation article mentioned taking frequent breaks and not overextending. Different people require different approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-04-20T00:26:59.623" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12258" CreationDate="2013-04-20T01:05:22.923" Score="6" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 16 year old boy. I work out for 15 minutes daily (intense cardio and about 50 pushups), and I am mildly active. I have read online that I should be eating between 2000 and 3000 calories a day, from different sources. That's a huge range. I don't know which end, or the middle is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I weigh 180 lbs and I am 5' 7&quot;. I don't know if that makes a difference. My goal isn't massive weight loss (though I would like to be a little skinnier). Ideally, I'd like to grow taller, but I realize that genetics is also involved. How much should I eat and how much should I workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5657" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T02:38:57.147" Title="Teen Calories/ Workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12255" CreationDate="2013-04-20T10:01:34.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no simple answer to this question. Everyone is different; different tissue burns different amounts of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask yourself: Why do you want to know this anyway? Are you really willing to track the calories you want to eat each day for a long time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't use Calories as your primary control mechanism. Body recomposition and weight control are long term processes. It is very hard to track Calories exactly for more than a few weeks (you have to put everything on a scale, if you don't cook yourself it gets even harder). Calories - those you burn and those you eat - are always only estimates with big error ranges, especially if you only have online sources available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should you do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Track your weight&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Weigh yourself daily, every morning after going to the bathroom, before breakfast. This is a much more reliable source in tracking your weight than any other way - surprisingly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look at your food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Read the labels of the stuff you eat; check the ingredients and the nutritional information, learn about what you eat. Check fats, types of fat, carbohydrates and sugar content, protein and calories.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Change your food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I wont delve too deep into this, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fast food and oven-ready meals contain a lot of empty calories (empty calories is a vague term, as fat and carbohydrates are not inherently bad, but in these kind of foods there is often too much of both).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;instead of drinking soft drinks or juice, switch to water and eat fruits. Juice is often made of concentrated fruit and sugar and sometimes even combined with aromas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; track the Calories you eat. I do this too, but you have to determine the amount of Calories you burn yourself by experimenting… and you need time for this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You need at least two weeks of data before you can see a trend in your weight, better are a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-04-20T10:01:34.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12255" CreationDate="2013-04-20T14:53:35.490" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, anything you read online or in a book can at best be simple guidelines.  It takes time to build your bull-crap meter, particularly for things you don't know a lot about.  It helps to take a look at people who are successful at what you want to do with your life, and see what they did.  Just be warned that if their site sounds like an infomercial, it's healthy to have a high level of skepticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, I think you may be suffering a bit from a lack of focused goals.  That's normal, I started there as a full grown adult.  So I would recommend the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take stock of where you are:&lt;/strong&gt;  What do you like?  What don't you like?  What are you willing to change? How much do you really eat?  What do you really eat?  Are you happy with your exercise?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Set measurable and realistic goals:&lt;/strong&gt; This can be anything from wanting to run a race to being strong enough for XYZ.  Start with goals a little out in front and don't worry about life goals just yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stay away from extremes:&lt;/strong&gt; If you want to loose weight, it might be tempting to cut your food in half.  If you want to gain weight, it might be tempting to eat 6 cheeseburgers at a time.  If you take steps from where you are (point 1) towards your goal (point 2), you'll have time to determine if those steps are in the right direction.  Jumping off a cliff, so to speak, can cause lots of problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all seriousness, if you really want to get rid of the extra weight, and not look skinny there are things you'll need to change.  15 minutes of cardio and pushups help a little bit.  But if all you ever do is 15 minutes of cardio and the same number of pushups, your body will stop changing and you'll be wondering why.  Same thing with only tanning for 15 minutes a day.  You'll reach a point after a couple weeks where you don't get any darker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive Overload&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This basic principle applies to whether you pursue racing (running, cycling, swimming), team sports, extreme sports, or strength sports (Olympic lifting, Power Lifting, Bodybuilding).  Remember the last point?  Each step you take will increase the amount of work you can do, and how efficiently you can train toward each of these goals.  I recommend giving each one that interests you a shot.  Give it a good 6 months each to see what you like the best.  6 months is long enough to get you past the complete novice stage and start building momentum towards a goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep eating the same amount of food, but are much more active, the fat will come off (not necessarily the pounds).  What's more than likely is that your appetite will increase, and you'll have to find out how much more of what foods you can eat and still maintain your short term goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to play soccer, then basketball.  Later I got involved in martial arts, then power lifting.  While I like each of those pursuits, power lifting is the one that I feel I want to keep pursuing.  Your journey is likely going to be different than mine.  The point is pick a direction, and stick with it long enough to start learning how to get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-20T14:53:35.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-21T12:06:21.970" Score="6" ViewCount="28184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 17 and I am skinny according to BMI. I am thinking to join a gym to gain muscle and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people contradict me saying that I will get even more skinner if I do so. Should I join gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4283" LastEditorDisplayName="user5324" LastEditDate="2013-04-22T12:53:37.927" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T09:01:24.027" Title="I am skinny, would joining a gym make me skinnier?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-21T16:40:36.453" Score="2" ViewCount="740" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got operated on 3rd of January this year (it was an appendicitis operation). The surgery was open. Now its been more than 3 months and I have putted on a lot of weights.&#xA;I just wanted to do cardio exercises like cycling or running on a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the question is, whether should I go ahead with cardio like cycling or wait some more time. If I can continue what should be the correct way to proceed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4566" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-04-26T11:36:25.833" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T11:36:25.833" Title="Can I do cardio exercises after an appendicitis operation?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-04-26T19:37:00.457" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12595" CreationDate="2013-04-21T21:55:01.000" Score="2" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 15 and I am 6 feet tall, I weigh 'bout 145 pounds (last time I checked), I am currently doing about 35-40 pushups and about 50-60 sit-ups every night. Then, every wednesday I go to Krav Maga, on a very ambitious level, with random workouts, like scissor, bike, burpies, pull ups, sit ups, palm push ups, fist push ups and resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether this is a good routine, I am called skinny but chest muscle covers up, and will it affect my height for the better or worse? (better being taller)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5665" LastActivityDate="2013-05-26T09:41:23.403" Title="I am 15, what is a recommended non bull-crap workout routine?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12268" CreationDate="2013-04-22T06:16:15.027" Score="6" ViewCount="3481" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing Stronglifts 5x5. I want to incorporate exercises for abs, biceps and triceps because I want to have a stronger core for the main lifts and I want to avoid T-Rex arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current plan is to do L-sit training for 5 minutes at the end of each workout then only on fridays do biceps and triceps. Since I will have the weekend to rest, doing extra arm work on friday should not affect my workout on the next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What non-machine exercises are the most effective for biceps and triceps? The goal is strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5275" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-04-22T17:54:00.763" LastActivityDate="2013-04-22T19:46:26.993" Title="Need exercise recommendations for abs, triceps and biceps to incorporate into Stronglifts 5x5" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2013-04-22T09:16:49.583" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term runners high, refers to the state of feeling &quot;high&quot; after a run... I think what you're asking about is &quot;second wind&quot; there are various theories regarding the second wind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one being that after a certain amount of time running your body reaches a state of equilibrium between oxygen and pyruvic acid ( which turns into lactic acid if it is not oxygenated quickly enough) which results in this pyruvic acid being converted into ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate). Therefore giving you a new source of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second theory is that of the endorphins mentioned earlier&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can gather from extensive reading on the topic, there is no way to train for the second wind, however I experience it after 3-4 minutes over my usual running time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4528" LastActivityDate="2013-04-22T09:16:49.583" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3169" CreationDate="2013-04-22T14:05:24.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same reservations as you about working out. I can only share what's been working for me (switched the past month or so). I don't pay too much mind to the specifics just try to workout when I can and based on how I feel (don't force it when tired).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hight intensity means shorter workouts (less than 20mins). I sprint as fast as I can then walk and do it over and over. If there is bad weather I use an exercise bike 10 secs fast as possible 20 secs rest for about 15mins. It can be hard and difficult but it's over quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Started lifting for first time in my life. Bench press or deadlift, clean and jerk &amp;amp; squats. 3 reps 5 sets usually no more than 5-8 a set or I try to add weight. Don't focus on the amount of weight focus on form and being consistent in doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Started being aware about limiting carbs. I try my best to limit it to 1 beer a day and anytime i have a sandwich it's one piece of bread for me. Heavy cream,lots of butter ,tons of salad and veggies with some meat mixed in. You'd be surprised how easy it is to switch out mashed potatoes for greens or regular fries for sweet potato fries. I go to reddit.com/r/paleo or /r/keto to get ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went from 33-34 pants to consistently fitting in 32's now and even my ex-gf commented on my arms so something is working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5668" LastActivityDate="2013-04-22T14:05:24.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12263" CreationDate="2013-04-22T17:25:49.480" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll assume you are a novice lifter (since you're doing stronglifts), with a goal of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need additional tricep work. Triceps are worked every workout with either bench press or overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the capacity for extra arm work at the end of a workout that included benching or pressing 5x5, you must be just beginning stronglifts. Soon, you'll have workouts where you'll only be able to barely complete the prescribed number of reps. That is sufficient to stimulate a strength increase for the next workout. There is no need for additional work beyond that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you begin stalling on the bench or overhead press, the suggested accessory exercises are chin-ups and pull-ups, but these are part of the optional program anyway. Much later on, intermediate lifters may include dips or lying tricep extension. &lt;em&gt;They didn't become intermediate lifters because they do these exercises; they're doing these exercises because they're intermediate lifters.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bicep work, Stronglifts includes rows, and optional chin-ups and pull-ups. These will make your biceps stronger. I can't think of an activity that requires isolated, open chain biceps contraction, so there is no need to train that movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For ab work, you don't need any accessory exercise. Your abs will get stronger in proportion to your need for them as you progress on your main lifts. Once you're well past the novice stage, you may need some accessory ab work, but not now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you follow Stronglifts, you will not get t-rex arms, and your abs will become as strong as they need to be&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-04-22T18:59:07.267" LastActivityDate="2013-04-22T18:59:07.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12210" CreationDate="2013-04-22T18:52:59.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say without seeing your movements, but I'd say you probably want to strengthen your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Iliopsoas.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Iliopsas&lt;/a&gt; and Psoas muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various types of leg rises will help do that. Check out the Hip Flexors section on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we did in one of my kick-boxing classes was a lot simpler though and I found it to be effective. While standing, just lift one knee as high up as you can (keeping back straight) and hold it there for 10-20seconds (or as long as you can). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastActivityDate="2013-04-22T18:52:59.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12263" CreationDate="2013-04-22T19:46:26.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you have noticed, Stronglifts does not have any direct arm exercises, and relies purely on compound exercises to grow arms. Make no mistake, Stronglifts will NOT give you puny &quot;t-rex&quot; arms, but the arms WILL be aesthetically underdeveloped; this is especially true with regards to the biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where you go from here depends on your priorities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you care ONLY about gaining strength: consider switching your program to &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;; it is much more finely tuned and suited to that purpose. It can be argued that Stronglifts is more a hybrid strength / hypertrophy program, but to that end it lacks the direct arm work necessary for bodybuilders to stay fully balanced. In contrast, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; is absolutely designed for gaining strength, and it is exceptional in that category.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain strength AND do body building: you can either continue doing StrongLifts and do the recommended supplemental exercises (pushups/chinups) as Kate suggested, OR you can do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148036063&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modified Novice 5x5 program&lt;/a&gt; designed for bodybuilders that addresses the arm/core issues you identified. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to understand your goals and make a recommendation, because clearly you have at least some aesthetic motivations (&quot;avoid t-rex arms&quot;), but you also stated your goal here is strength, not mass. Personally I would go with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148036063&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modified 5x5 bodybuilding program&lt;/a&gt;. It is very well designed, has the direct arm and core work you were looking for, and puts all of the assistance work at the end after your main three lifts. Stronglifts did a lot for increasing my base strength, but it was the modified program that really gave me the body comp I was looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-04-22T19:46:26.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12273" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-23T06:57:02.263" Score="6" ViewCount="654" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the pros of interval training over same intensity training over the same period?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I walk for 1 min @6kmph and then run for 2 mins @9km/hr, repeat for 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast this with walk @6kmph for 2 mins + run @9kmph for 8 mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which style should I prefer for better workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-05-19T20:32:29.673" Title="Interval training versus linear training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12273" CreationDate="2013-04-23T09:46:05.267" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0736054928&quot;&gt;Jack Daniels&lt;/a&gt;, the difference is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interval training aims to increase your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot;&gt;VO2MAX&lt;/a&gt; by targeting high intensities, which can't be maintained for a longer period. By design it achieves to maximize the overall volume for those very high intensities because you have breaks between each interval.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;longer (several kilometres) tempo runs aims to increase your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactate_threshold&quot;&gt;lactate threshold&lt;/a&gt; by targeting a little bit lower intensities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Daniels_%28coach%29#Training_intensities&quot;&gt;training intensities&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-04-23T09:46:05.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2013-04-23T09:55:58.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Came off Stronglifts after about 14 months of linear progression - was in the best shape of my life, but I just couldn't keep increasing the weight every session once I hit about 145kgs on Squats, and 155 on Deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've since shifted to Wendlers 5/3/1 - It's a great program for me, because it focuses on monthly progression - I am comfortable enough with my level of fitness that I don't need to improve at any particular rate, as long as I'm constantly improving. And you can do that with 5/3/1. Also, it's squats one day a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5679" LastEditorUserId="5679" LastEditDate="2013-04-23T16:36:32.490" LastActivityDate="2013-04-23T16:36:32.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2013-04-24T08:55:39.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;By sleeping hungry I suppose one would not have dinner and not have any meal at least 4 hours before sleep time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think its a good idea to sleep hungry, though it's ok if you had your last meal 2 hours before bedtime. Next morning you will be ravenous if you skip dinner and may overeat at breakfast. Sleeping hungry also affects sleep quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, its not good practice to crash into bed just after eating your dinner. It will convert all the extra sugar straight into fat. It will also slow down rest metabolic rate as sleep requires least calories of all activities. Muscle building/repairing happens overnight anyway and also throughout day, depending on your protein intake too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be a balanced approach. Ideally have dinner 1.5-2 hours before sleeping and if you still feel hungry have a cup of milk or almonds before sleeping. If you are really concerned about weight loss, have no carbs, high protein/high fibre dinner which will help to cut down unnecessary calories in form of carbs/fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-04-24T08:55:39.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12210" CreationDate="2013-04-24T19:17:45.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High stepping in rock climbing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To high step, you need to lift your knee high, but also rotate your hip out and then possibly extend the high foot from that rotated position.  This is going to require developing dynamic flexibility / mobility in your glutes, hip flexors, and hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This image illustrates a fairly advanced high-step:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gregepperson.com/image.php?mediaID=MzQ3YzIzZjdlYTA5MQ==&amp;amp;type=sample&amp;amp;folderID=MzJjMjNmN2VhMDkx&amp;amp;seo=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;high step&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What stretches to do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stretch that the OP mentions (laying on ground, pulling knee to chest) is a good start, but that only stretches the glutes, and not the other muscles.  That limits the range of movement you're working to a single plane (and doesn't help with rotating the hip out, or extending the foot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had good luck doing the following stretches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;froggies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chair stretches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;ATG&quot; squat - a deep bodyweight squat with an upright posture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Nicros website has a good resource on the first two of those stretches: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nicros.com/training/articles/stretching-to-improve-high-stepping-and-hip-turnout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nicros stretching&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find a great link about &quot;ATG Squats&quot;.  I have one from T-Nation that is full of blather and posturing and light on tips, but better than nothing.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1856085&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg strength and high stepping&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also found that basic strength in a squatting position is helpful to fully execute a high-step.  When I started climbing, my legs were pretty weak, and when I'd place a high foot, I often wouldn't have the strength to rock onto it and stand up.  Sometimes this felt like a flexibility problem (my hip won't &quot;let me&quot; transition to the foot), but (for me) was actually a strength problem (my body thought my high leg was too weak to bear the load of my full bodyweight).  I started doing a combination of bodyweight squats and (light, by most people's standards) back squats, and as the weight I was squatting got closer to my bodyweight, my high-stepping became noticeably smoother.  Your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-05-08T13:19:22.303" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T13:19:22.303" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-25T07:45:42.663" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've certainly been taught breakfast is the most important meal of the day because while you sleep it's the longest period of time the body goes without food. Someone told me today that there is no science behind this claim. I did a Google search and there are roughly the same number of articles supporting breakfast is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=is%20eating%20in%20the%20morning%20healthy&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;aq=t&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-US%3aofficial&amp;amp;client=firefox-a#client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=Hrc&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-US%3aofficial&amp;amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;amp;q=why%20breakfast%20is%20good%20for%20you&amp;amp;oq=why%20breakfast%20is%20good%20for%20you&amp;amp;gs_l=serp.3..0j0i5i30l2j0i8i30.412890.413308.5.413494.5.5.0.0.0.2.129.551.2j3.5.0...0.0...1c.1.11.psy-ab.b9OLwLc9bkI&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&amp;amp;bvm=bv.45645796,d.cGE&amp;amp;fp=2ec0b9d6037ebe57&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=956&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good&lt;/a&gt; vs breakfast is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=is%20eating%20in%20the%20morning%20healthy&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;aq=t&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-US%3aofficial&amp;amp;client=firefox-a#client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=EBI&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-US%3aofficial&amp;amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;amp;q=why%20breakfast%20is%20bad%20for%20you&amp;amp;oq=why%20breakfast%20is%20bad&amp;amp;gs_l=serp.3.1.0l2j0i22i30l2.42065.42342.4.43574.3.3.0.0.0.0.82.232.3.3.0...0.0...1c.1.11.psy-ab.70sTgLAMD6o&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&amp;amp;bvm=bv.45645796,d.cGE&amp;amp;fp=2ec0b9d6037ebe57&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=956&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bad&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T07:45:42.663" Title="According to whom breakfast is healthy?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-04-25T11:18:09.243" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12552" CreationDate="2013-04-25T08:12:35.790" Score="6" ViewCount="2015" Body="&lt;p&gt;While Muaythai is basically a full-body sport, my feeling is that it's no sport that developes the whole body equally without imbalances. I notice this most strongly about my legs and maybe the lower core. &#xA;Is this assumption basically correct? &#xA;What additional exercises will help to develop the whole body in a balanced way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that many gyms (including where I train) do a bodyweight set or similiar as a finisher - one classic is crunches, squats, pushups and supermans.&#xA;Since gyms will vary widely about this, I would prefer if we talk about the imbalances created by the sport specific movements (throwing kicks, punches, elbows and knees, clinching, moving while sparring) and then about wether specific supplementary exercises make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T11:00:36.787" Title="What are good exercises to balance Muaythai?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2013-04-25T09:48:39.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly. The best time to take food is 3-4 hours before sleeping. It will not allow fat to collect and help in the metabolic process.  Besides having a light meal at night you can have salad or Vegetarian Snacks which are healthy and fat free. This will not leave you feeling hungry at night and the possibility of fat build up would also be reduced. Healthy snack will keep you fit. For a healthy snacks you can try sheffafoods&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5695" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T09:48:39.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12295" CreationDate="2013-04-25T10:22:00.570" Score="3" ViewCount="764" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've found out that a few streets from my home the city has built a free outdoor gym. The problem is, the machines in the outdoor gym dont use any weights, and as far as I know, they have no regulation. I dont know how much Im pushing or lifting when using them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A picture of one of the machines Im talking about: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7H5TN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;rowing machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any sense to exercising at that gym, or am I better off just doing my bodyweight routines? Maybe I should mix the two? If the gym could be helpfull Im willing to use it, but I want to do most of the work with bodyweight exercises. Im gonna have a few delegations this year and I wont be able to visit any gyms at all for several weeks, so I would like to be able to do the core of my training everywhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any way to determine what % of my bodyweight I am lifting/pushing/pulling on various outdoor machines? (For example, lets say that the rowing machine lets me pull 70% of my bodyweight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BACKGROUND FOR THE FIRST QUESTION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for 2-3 weeks, but found the need for a barbell and weights too much of a problem, since I dont have a squat rack at home. The gym is too far away and recently they raised the prices. Also Im living in an apratment, so I cant really buy all the needed equipment. Ok, I can, but im simply not willing to do it. Thats why Im setting up a bodyweight program to &quot;replace&quot; it, see my last question here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12221/bodyweight-strength-training&quot;&gt;Bodyweight strength training&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now &lt;strong&gt;my main goal is to reduce my BF% from 26% to around 15%.&lt;/strong&gt; I want to minimize muscle loss, or even increase my muscle mass, as im not a very advanced and should be capable of doing that. Increasing overall fitness is a secondary but important goal, especially the back - I got a weak back, and I slouch a lot (sitting office job). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the diet, Im not counting calories, but I eat lots of protein and limit carbs. Ive been losing weight since 11.2012, but last month my weight seemed to stabilize at 75kg and around 24-28BF%(down from 93kg and 35BF%)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to do fun physical activities during the week without ruining my workout plan due to overtraining. Those fun activities may include swimming, riding a bike, playing squash, asg shooting games, a bit of historical fencing etc. I just sometimes do some of those things when im feeling like it - sometimes once a week, sometimes 4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T17:42:27.090" Title="Outdoor gyms equipment/machines" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2013-04-25T11:55:01.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Studies show that proteins are available for the body only for a limited time after ingestion, and can be present in the body in limited amounts - the rest is wasted. That means that you should ingest proteins frequently in relatively small amounts. That will allow your body to fully use them to repair damage and create nev tissues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since a lot of the regeneration takes place while we sleep, i dont think going to sleep hungry is the best solution - the body is deprived of necessary nutrients. Id recommend a little protein snack around 1h before going to sleep. IT should be high in protein and low on fat and carbs. I personally like to eat some cottage cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T11:55:01.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12293" CreationDate="2013-04-25T13:46:18.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Do What You Feel&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any sense to exercising at that gym, or am I better off just doing my bodyweight routines? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, there's sense in using outdoor gyms. Or you could stick with your bodyweight stuff. It's your workout time. Do what you feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Maybe I should mix the two? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could definitely work. Or do something else. At this point there is no reason to pick bodyweight work, or this outdoor gym, or StrongLifts: you have not clearly explained your goals or that you are willing to work towards them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point what we know is that you apparently put a lot of value on not going to the far-away gym, not buying a barbell or squat rack, and doing a hodgepodge of sport and play for several days each week. If that's what you want to do, then do it proudly. If you want to start training, however, you might have to reduce all this other stuff and make training your priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment your goal seems so broadly defined (&quot;strength and overall fitness&quot;) as to reasonably suggest nearly any training modality. So just pick a program and do it. Use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/faq#wiki_beginner_routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;/r/bodyweightfitness&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;something from Ross Enamait&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://zp130.infusionsoft.com/app/storeFront/showCategoryPage?categoryId=24&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/a&gt; or just start doing pull-ups and push-ups and sprints and squats and using the outdoor gym rowing machine. Don't pretend this program will replicate StrongLifts. &lt;strong&gt;Do it on its own terms&lt;/strong&gt;. It will not look like StrongLifts. It will not progress like StrongLifts. It will not have the same kind of results, good or bad, as StrongLifts. It will be its own independent program. It could use these outdoor facilities or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the gym could be helpful I'm willing to use it, but I want to do most of the work with bodyweight exercises, as I'm gonna have a few delegations this year and I wont be able to visit any gyms at all for several weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not possible to do Stronglifts while magically replacing the barbell with bodyweight exercises. Like most people who travel or take time off, you can either do an alternate routine and allow for some regress, or you can try to find a gym wherever you are and do your thing, or you can pick a routine that doesn't have any requirements beyond a floor and do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any way to determine what % of my bodyweight I am lifting/pushing/pulling on various outdoor machines? (For example, lets say that the rowing machine lets me pull 70% of my bodyweight)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really; and I don't think that doing so would be that useful. Just track your progress with reps, sets, and rest times on these machines or with whatever bodyweight work you do. Trying to determine analogues between exercises is difficult even when the weights are known and fairly similar; I wouldn't even try comparing an outdoor rowing machine of a particular brand with anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T13:46:18.433" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12297" CreationDate="2013-04-25T14:11:03.207" Score="4" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of the Bowflex SelectTech 1090 dumbbells and a bench.  They are great for upper-body workouts, but I'm looking for a way to use them for leg exercises as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What leg exercises can I do with dumbbells for strength-training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T14:48:29.920" Title="Leg Exercises with Dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12296" CreationDate="2013-04-25T14:48:29.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are tons of exercises that you can try with just a pair of dumbbells.  However, if your goal is for strength training, then you must follow the progressive overload  principle, paying close attention to the rep ranges (3-8).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this being said, depending on the max weight that you have (I believe they go up to 90 lbs), you can try these exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dubbbell Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Stiff-legged Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Single Leg Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These should be plenty for you to start out with.  Again, for strength training, you should aim for 3-8 reps. For muscle hypertrophy, aim for 8-15 reps.  For both, then aim for 6-12.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T14:48:29.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12221" CreationDate="2013-04-25T14:48:57.513" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Bodyweight Cannot Replicate Barbells&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is bodyweight training effective for strength and muscle gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. So are barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, bands, and any other form of resistance. That does not mean they are &lt;em&gt;equally&lt;/em&gt; effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there muscle groups that such a training plan does not properly address?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any training modality can omit muscle groups. A bodyweight training program can be designed so it does not omit any muscle groups. Right now you don't have a training program, so it can't address or omit any muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are bodyweight programs easy to adjust in terms of how hard they are, and is it easy to measure progress (like 2,5kg increments in 5x5)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes. Depends what kind of bodyweight training you're doing. Most of them you can progress along some measure. Nothing will ever match barbells in precision and flexibility of measuring progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd be happy if you could provide me with a program that could fulfill my expectations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no bodyweight training program that matches your expectations. No bodyweight routine can match the results of a barbell routine, because barbell training is different than bodyweight training. 5x5 routines get the results they do, in the time they do, in the way they do, &lt;em&gt;because they use barbells&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;5x5 is Barbells and Bodyweight is Bodyweight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should find a bodyweight training program and start doing it. Don't worry about getting the perfect program right now, just get started with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/faq#wiki_beginner_routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;/r/bodyweightfitness&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;something from Ross Enamait&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://zp130.infusionsoft.com/app/storeFront/showCategoryPage?categoryId=24&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/a&gt; or just start doing pull-ups and push-ups and sprints and squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to do a 5x5 routine, then go to the gym and use their barbells, or buy a barbell and squat rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-04-25T14:58:02.800" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T14:58:02.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12299" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12300" CreationDate="2013-04-25T19:30:41.077" Score="4" ViewCount="1010" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering why is the single leg version of the deadlift is usually performed with stiff legs. For instance, exrx.net and most of the youtube videos that teach the single leg deadlift show it with stiff legs. What is the reason for this? Are there any risks when performing the single leg deadlift like the standard one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T01:13:02.820" Title="Why is the single leg deadlift stiff-legged?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12299" CreationDate="2013-04-25T19:53:13.687" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A big portion of it is simply the mechanics of the lift.  Just try to stand on one leg in a conventional deadlift stance (sumo would be impossible).  You run into the big question of what to do with the leg you aren't using.  If you stick it in front of you like a pistol, grabbing the bar becomes nearly impossible.  If you stick it behind you there is a high likelihood that you don't have the flexibility to keep it behind you like a half split while you initiate the pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The stiff single leg deadlift is a natural movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have the advantage of the other leg acting as a cantilever to help you lift heavier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The stiff leg helps target the hamstrings and glutes more, which make it a good assistance exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second portion is understanding what the exercise is designed to target.  The primary part of the posterior chain that single leg deadlifts are hitting is the hamstrings, and secondarily the glutes.  As such, you need to follow these guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't lock your knee, that puts more stress on the tendons and ligaments rather than the muscle itself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do try to minimize how much you bend the support leg.  That increases the stretch reflex, and ultimately your flexibility.  It also allows you to snap back more quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the video you linked to, the leg was bent too much to be of much use on the hamstring and glutes.  Instead, it will be more focused on the hips.  It also loses the stretch reflex making it less bio-mechanically advantageous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-04-26T01:13:02.820" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T01:13:02.820" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12299" CreationDate="2013-04-25T19:53:18.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The single leg deadlift is done with a stiff-legged due to the fact that it's biomachanically advantage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep balance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase leverage &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Natural movement pattern&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a Sports Physical Therapist standpoint, I prescribe all single leg exercises to include the single leg deadlift for a few reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To maximize side to side muscle isolation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To decrease compensatory movement/dominance from one side to another&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To be sports-specific and functional, since most sports and daily activities are single leg activities (walking, reaching, running, jumping, cutting, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To improve propriocenption or balance enhancement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, all of these reasons can later enhance injury prevention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for as muscle recruitment goes, read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://iconperformancenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/EMG-Hamstring-Study.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;.  Basically, stiff-legged deadlift has been shown to recruit more hamstrings, glutes and paraspinal muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are risks for all exercises; however, with proper form and technique, the single leg deadlift is safe and effective for the above reasons.  Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-04-25T20:50:25.000" LastActivityDate="2013-04-25T20:50:25.000" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12302" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-26T04:25:44.890" Score="3" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;My long term goal would be to lose about 10 kg of fat, but I would also like to gain more muscle mass.  I am about to begin a training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen on this forum that it is difficult to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In light of this, do you think I should focus on first losing the 10kg of fat, followed by gaining muscle mass, or instead focus on gaining muscle mass, and then lose the 10kg of fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of you might be critical that these two suggestions are too simplistic, and if you would prefer a more complicated mixture of the two, I welcome those suggestions as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T18:30:45.430" Title="Lose weight or Gain Muscle?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12302" CreationDate="2013-04-26T06:46:49.620" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 1st step is actually to eat right to loose weight and pracctice after that you lost a little bit of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because your heart will suffer if you start to run/exercice with your actual weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscle gain will come naturally when you'll start to pracctice sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the most important thing i can say is : EAT RIGHT, TRAIN DIRTY ! =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T06:46:49.620" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12302" CreationDate="2013-04-26T07:51:38.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the main focus should be diet - its the base of weight loss. To it, you could add some form of strength training, best barbells, but not necessairly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in caloric deficit due to your diet, you will not gain much muscle mass, but the training combined with high protein intake will limit your muscle mass loss. It willmake you lose mainly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A long time ago I went through a severe calorie restriction diet and lost a lot of eight, but im sure a lot of it was muscle. I was weak, tired all the time, and soon after completing the diet i bounced back with my weight. This time, I dont restrict myself so harshly, but I changed my eating habits and did some strength training. I lost 17kg and around 12kg of that was fat. That does not mean i lost whole 5kg of muscle - I probably lost some connective tissue too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing cardio workouts, you wont be stimulating your muscles to grow/remain in their current state, so on a diet theyre more likelyto break down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, doing a strength program is likely to increase your strength, even if you dont gain muscle - strength is a neural thing, and by training you increase your brains capability to use your muscles potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T07:51:38.650" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-26T10:26:25.530" Score="3" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;This year I have returned to alpine skiing and found myself relatively fit for quite intensive skiing session (up to 10 runs per hour for 3-4 hours straight twice a day for 5 days) except for two things where my body failed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First one - on the fourth day the muscle which goes from buttocks to the waist (left one) started to hurt a lot in its upper part at the beginning of every right turn I did. There is a very specific movement at the beginning of a ski turn when you sit down and at the same moment bend your knees inside the turn. Except for this specific movement this muscle has never troubled me and I do bends touching my toes every day and squats every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there is a question - what exercise I could add to my routine to train this muscle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1057" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-04-26T12:13:58.523" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T19:43:18.290" Title="How to train muscle which goes from buttocks to the waist?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-26T11:00:14.663" Score="4" ViewCount="537" Body="&lt;p&gt;This year I have returned to alpine skiing and found myself relatively fit for quite intensive skiing session (up to 10 runs per hour for 3-4 hours straight twice a day for 5 days) except for two things where my body failed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second one: While I can do quick intensive turns without problem I've found that my legs haven't enough strength and endurance - I can't hold steady downhill body position for longer than a few seconds and when I do hockey stop from high speed my thighs hurt a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already do more than hundred body-weight squats a day twice a week and I need to find out how to increase load on my legs but preferably without additional equipment as I live in a very small apartment and can't afford to spend additional hour to go to a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I've found that pistol squat is good to increase load but I have problem with my left knee and I probably won't be able to train both legs equally. Another one is wall sit but again, Wikipedia says that it is terrible exercise for someone with an existing knee problem. Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1057" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T10:12:16.403" Title="Bodyweight exercises to increase legs strength" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12307" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-04-26T12:31:28.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions involving Skiing as recreational activity and competitive sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-04-26T16:33:05.163" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T16:33:05.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12308" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-04-26T12:31:28.987" Score="0" Body="Skiing is a recreational activity and competitive sport in which the participant attaches long runners or skis to boots or shoes on the feet and uses them to travel on top of snow" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-04-26T16:33:23.463" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T16:33:23.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12306" CreationDate="2013-04-26T14:50:12.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is one main thing you need to keep in mind when it comes to training for alpine skiing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train specifically&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skiing is what I would call a relatively eccentric loading your quads and glutes.  This is where your muscles are constantly working in an lengthening phase, relatively in a squatting position.  So, you need to train specifically to this phase.  My recommendation is for you to look into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.totalhockey.com/product/Six_Foot_Slide_Board/itm/5090-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slide board equipment&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many versions for the slide boards.  I would strongly recommend for you to look into this piece of equipment.  Here are some exercises that you can do in the mean time to get your quads stronger with just body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/single-leg-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Single leg squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/alternate-plyo-lunges&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alternate plyo lunges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/squat-jump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squat jumps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T14:50:12.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12314" CreationDate="2013-04-26T16:55:24.940" Score="1" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 25 years old.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My height is 172.5 cm.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My weight as of today(26th Apr, 2013) is 54.3 kg.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was 56.5 kg, 4 weeks back.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My BMI is 18.25.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been swimming really hard in this period, covered around 75 km (oh yeah, I am trying to become a good triathlete).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have been eating a lot of vegetables, 2 eggs a day, lot of rice, nuts &amp;amp; sprouts but still I am losing a lot of weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I am feeling tired after every swim session and I sleep for 2 hours subsequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really alright to lose this much weight rapidly?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How much will champion athletes BMI be (really curious on that)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4430" LastEditDate="2013-04-27T13:23:36.407" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T08:25:58.233" Title="Losing weight rapidly" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-26T17:11:31.700" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to start tracking my diet, with a goal of understanding if I'm eating enough, getting close enough to the right amount of protein, fat, carbs, etc.  But, I don't want to spend 10 minutes weighing every meal (Impossible in a restaurant) and entering every individual component of my meals into a diet tracking app (find the entry for hamburger patty, estimate the size/weight, look up the bun, look up and estimate each topping, etc). There's millions of phone and web apps that can do this, but if I have to spend 10 minutes tracking each meal, I'm probably not going to stick with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is, can you get reasonable accuracy on your dietary intake from rough estimates, and secondly, if so, what's a plan/solution/system/technique for doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T06:51:41.000" Title="Tracking my diet without insane detail" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1376" CreationDate="2013-04-26T17:32:48.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would bet &quot;no,&quot; simply by using common sense. Yes, it is healthy to go barefoot, but to run – or walk, even– on concrete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may not show signs of harm right away, but I would bet that it would show up at the end. Our bones, ligaments and tendons are not built for running on a hard surface. Common sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time I wear more cushioned, supportive shoes is when I am out on the road. The rest of the time I am barefoot or wearing beach shoes, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I think the reason why so many runners get injured isn't due to the traditional shoes but just not paying attention to their running style and their diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5702" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-04-26T18:25:19.880" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T18:25:19.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12310" CreationDate="2013-04-26T19:05:49.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Is it really alright to lose this much weight rapidly?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes its fine. The important thing is to get a balanced diet with enough calories in it. You may find your weight bounces back up as you start to put on muscle. Just make sure you listen to your body and rest when you feel you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;How much will champion athletes BMI be (really curious on that)?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI is an awful metric for very fit people. It only takes into account height and weight so obviously someone with more muscle mass than somone of identical height will have a higher BMI. Its not uncommon for athletes to be &quot;obese&quot; (&gt;27.5) on that scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastActivityDate="2013-04-26T19:05:49.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12310" CreationDate="2013-04-27T01:20:16.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure your protein intake is high enough or you could be losing muscle.  2 eggs is only about 12g of protein.  Maintenance levels of protein for a very physically active person are at least 1g of protein per lb of body weight (~2g per kg).  Take this with a grain of salt, as it is subjective -- depending on your current physique, you may wish to lose muscle (for example: if you are a pro bodybuilder and wish to become a triathlete, significant muscle loss would be desirable). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to pick up some &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002VAPHXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;skin fold calipers&lt;/a&gt; to monitor your body fat.  Your loss of weight should not be coming from lean body mass.  Body fat percentage will be a much more helpful piece of information than BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately (and most importantly) are you seeing quantifiable improvements?  The essence of all training is progressive overload.  The matter becomes: are you bettering your lap times?  If so, continue until this begins to plateau, then start examining your diet more thoroughly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One side note: feeling tired enough to sleep 2 hours after your swimming sessions seems to suggest to me that your carb intake may be a little low.  You may want to add some sugary electrolytes (sports drink) to your diet around the time of your workout to keep your glycogen and electrolyte levels up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-04-27T01:20:16.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12306" CreationDate="2013-04-27T10:03:49.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compared to your current body weight exercises, you will have more dynamic load on the posterior chain that body weight squats or wall sit. You will also get a nice aerobic workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/workout-routines&quot;&gt;work-out routine&lt;/a&gt; that fit burpees very well is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hiit&quot;&gt;tabatas&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your knee, check with a doctor. My own experience is that trouble in the knees have to do with the technique in the exercises and overdoing them. That is, work out slow and deliberate in the beginning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a minial investment that fits your small apartment, I would also consider a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kettlebell&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-04-27T10:03:49.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12320" CreationDate="2013-04-27T10:59:41.340" Score="7" ViewCount="7895" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any simple tests you can do at home to check if you have some muscle imbalances between hamstrings and quads? I.e. to test if your quads are too weak compared to your hamstrings or the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2013-04-27T17:42:21.980" Title="Simple tests to detect muscle imbalances between quads and hamstrings" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12310" CreationDate="2013-04-27T16:20:12.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essentially, what you are saying is that you've kept the same diet, and have drastically increased the amount of Calories you use.  It's natural for you to lose weight under those conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If losing the weight is undesirable, then you must increase the amount of food you eat to compensate for all the activity.  Feeling tired after exercise is natural, and your body will need the rest to make the changes it needs to fit the new demands you've put on it.  However, if you are always tired, it's likely you just don't have enough food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Checklist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough protein?  As an active person a good ballpark would be 1g/lb or 2g/kg of lean mass minimum.  You probably won't use that much directly, but it provides the building blocks your body needs to rebuild itself after training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough Calories? If you are losing weight you are eating fewer Calories than you are using.  If you are gaining weight, you are eating more Calories than needed.  It's that simple.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How is your body changing?  Tape measures and mirrors are probably going to be the best bet hear.  If your shoulders are getting broader or staying the same while you are loosing belly fat, you are losing primarily fat.  If the shoulders or arms are getting smaller, you are losing muscle.  Typically the belly, hips, and for women thighs and arms are where fat tends to accumulate fastest and is lost first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it seems like you are loosing muscle, increase your protein.  If you are loosing too much fat (you do need some), then increase your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-27T16:20:12.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12317" CreationDate="2013-04-27T17:42:21.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTK_qe11RLg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Klatt Test&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, although not specific to quad/hamstrings, will give you a good idea of your overall functional lower extremity muscle balance. Basically, you jump down from varying heights on one leg and determine if you land solidly or if you lean or hop in different directions.  For example, if you hop forward on landing, your hamstrings may be weak &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.charlespoliquin.com/portals/0/pdf/StructuralStoryHiRes.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see page 37 of this Structural Balance pdf to interpret test results&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quad-Hamstring Ratio&lt;/strong&gt;:  As for the quad-hamstring ratio, when tested on an isokinetic Cybex machine, 3:2 is noted as the appropriate ratio.  However, depending on various factors, such as if the ACL is weak, you may want more of a 1:1 ratio.  The ratio also will depend on the type of sport or activity you do, so an ideal ratio is difficult to say given the variables. Your could do a max &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Articulations/Knee.html#anchor22459&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quad extension&lt;/a&gt; vrs max &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/LVLyingLegCurlH.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hamstring curl&lt;/a&gt; to determine your ratio, but in terms of function, the Klatt test will probably give you better information.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-04-27T17:42:21.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12310" CreationDate="2013-04-28T00:52:29.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen several studies that suggested that a good target for weight loss is 1% of your bodyweight a week.  Doing this helps you avoid arbitrary calorie deficit targets or unsustainable losses, plus allows your body to gradually get used to the shrinking you without provoking a defensive response (i.e. slowing your metabolism) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5711" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T00:52:29.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12353" CreationDate="2013-04-28T03:26:52.810" Score="6" ViewCount="1069" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had started Starting Strength (SS) on mid January, 2013, and have continued 3 workouts/week since then (I think I missed only 2 workouts when I fell sick in between). But, while introspecting if I was progressing correctly today, I happened across &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/clarification_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article by Rippletoe, which had the following lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if you’re three months into the program and your squat has gone up 50 pounds, YNDTP (You're Not Doing The Program). If you’re 3 months into the program at 10% bodyfat and you have only gained 6 pounds, YNDTP. If you’re 3 months into the program at 30% bodyfat, your waistline has not gone down 4 inches and your squat is not up 175 pounds, YNDTP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized that I would immediately fall in the first category (my squat went up from 70lb to 120lb since I started, with a bodyweight increase from 145 to 159lbs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had a problematic lower back in my childhood and hence didn't want to aggravate it by rushing too quickly in the beginning, hence I wasn't pushing myself too hard in the beginning (this was also the first time I started a strength program) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I also did not look too closely at what I had been eating and more importantly, what I should have been eating. I've only done so for the past week or so, and have realized I didn't eat properly before!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, at this juncture, what should I be doing? The following seem to be the options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep eating properly, and continue the program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deload, and start at a lower weight - but if so, should I be starting from the very beginning (the empty bar) and work my way up? Some pointers on effective deloading, if thats the remedy needed, would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give SS a rest for a definite period, and then start from where I left off, eating and resting properly in the meantime.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further details: My age is 28, I'm 5'11&quot; and prior to starting SS, had only completed a C25K program (to build up my cardio capacity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if additional details are required for a well-crafted answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: I was asked to elaborate on my fitness goals, which are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;From the SS program, I want to be able build sufficient strength to do standard powerlifts (squats/presses/deadlifts) in multiples of bodyweight - e.g DL 3x my body weight, Squat 2x my body weight etc (I assume these are standard strengths since I've seen most people be able to perform in the gym)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once I've achieved that, I'd want to move on to a mix of cardio/weight training, so as to get into a defined body shape that I can maintain then onwards.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, I'd like to be able to finish the first step in 6-8 weeks, so I'm looking at what I should be doing to accomplish that...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2018" LastEditorUserId="2018" LastEditDate="2013-04-28T17:19:47.607" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T20:32:37.457" Title="Should I reboot Starting Strength program, to get better results?" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12707" CreationDate="2013-04-28T06:34:47.013" Score="9" ViewCount="7420" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm doing pull ups, I try to go all the way down until the arms are straight, but I do not lock out my shoulders. Recently, I thought in order to get a greater ROM, it might be a good idea to completely lock out my shoulders at the bottom. After the workout I felt a slight shoulder pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any real benefit in locking out shoulders? Or is it just bad for my shoulders and I should avoid it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T14:15:50.033" Title="Should I lock out my shoulders at the bottom of a pull up?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18192" CreationDate="2013-04-28T12:08:11.523" Score="8" ViewCount="6255" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive read that most climbers have a lot of muscle imbalances, including some that affect proper posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is that true?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What muscles are imbalanced?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do those imbalances affect posture?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to fix those imbalances, preferably without specialised equipment?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T09:07:11.547" Title="Muscle imbalances related to indoor rock climbing/bouldering and ways to fix them" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12324" CreationDate="2013-04-28T13:02:25.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some quick googling around, the biggest issues I could find included:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hunched shoulders -- suggesting upper back or general posterior chain weakness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difficulty of spreading fingers -- the opposite of a grip problem, manifests itself as inflammation pain in the fingers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hunched shoulders I think are the more common issue that plagues a number of sports, not just climbing or bouldering.  The good news is most of this can be addressed with common barbells and dumbbells.  You might even get away with some body weight only exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fixing Hunched Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes from pulling yourself up while facing the rock, particularly if you don't hold yourself close to the face of the rock.  It seems contradictory that a sport dedicated to pulling yourself up can result in hunched shoulders.  One cause can be allowing your shoulders to shrug forward during &quot;rests&quot;.  You can see that when strongmen are pushing themselves on their farmers walks.  The chest compensates to keep the shoulders in their sockets, which means more force pulling the shoulders forward.  If you have gotten to a state where you are shrugging forward all the time, it's because you lack sufficient strength in the upper thoracic portion to keep the shoulders back even when you are relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common exercises that can address this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell reverse flies (targets the rhomboids and posterior deltoids)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell front raises (targets the lats and rotator cuff)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extentions, rounded (targets the entire back, round at the bottom and raise up with the shoulders first ending in a sort of superman position)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (hits the entire posterior chain, and strengthens your entire core)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts (also hits the entire posterior chain and strengthens your entire core)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any type of row (hits the upper back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already have pronounced hunchback going on, I would start with the the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rounded back extentions body weight only 3x8-10.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dumbbell work (both listed above) at light weight for 5x20.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rows as heavy as you can and still pinch your shoulder blades together 3x8-10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dumbbell work would be every time, and alternate the back extensions and rows.  After that, squats and deadlifts will be awesome to build general strength and keep everything good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finger inflammation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common cause for a joint becomes inflamed is when you keep using it one way, and don't balance that work going the other way.  For example, bench pressers who don't do any curls or pull ups tend to have inflammation in the elbows.  Cyclists and runners who don't do anything for their hamstrings or posterior chain can have problems with their knees.  The same goes for gripping small crevasses to support your whole body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is you don't have to balance the intensity of the work to get good results.  You just need to get blood flowing through the joint with very high rep work (5x20, or any variation of 100 reps total).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address the finger inflammation, use a rubber band around your fingers and open your hand enough to work against the resistance, but not so much that the rubber band rolls up on your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-04-28T19:55:23.210" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T19:55:23.210" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12323" CreationDate="2013-04-28T16:55:10.063" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your suspicion that locking out your shoulders might be detrimental to your shoulders, I would say, is a correct assumption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our shoulders are one of the joints that, I think, are most prone to injury due to incorrect technique in a wide variety of exercise, so I would say that, you should always try to look up proper technique beforehand as well as listen to your body and stop if something is hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing chin ups or pull ups you should always try to hold you shoulder down and not let them go up towards your ears, as the additional range of motion is not worth the increased risk of injury that it comes with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://physicalliving.com/how-to-stabilize-your-shoulders-during-the-pullup-exercise/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;, with a 7min video just addressing the shoulder positioning, etc. when doing pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5051" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-04-28T17:50:31.117" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T17:50:31.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12328" CreationDate="2013-04-28T17:59:16.443" Score="1" ViewCount="670" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ultimate goal, as detailed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/12322/2018&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, is to &quot;build sufficient strength to do standard powerlifts (squats/presses/deadlifts) in multiples of bodyweight - e.g DL 3x my body weight, Squat 2x my body weight&quot;, using Starting Strength in a reasonable period of time (6-8 weeks would be best, but I can stretch it upto 12 weeks if so required)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that, I want to ensure that I'm eating correctly, both in terms of calories consumed and proportion of macro-nutrients absorbed. I used a number of sources to build some sort of a eating plan, I want the community's opinion on it (I don't want to find out, after 3 months, that I've been over/under eating all along!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before I started SS, I was a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=skinny%20fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;skinny-fat&lt;/a&gt;&quot; person, so I went looking for an eating plan targeted at people like me. I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148733753&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; in a supposedly reputable forum, which advised that I need to eat 10-20% over my maintenance calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Armed with that info, I used online calorie calculators (like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;) to estimate my maintenance calories, which came down to between 2300 - 2400 calories for my body type/fat % etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then, I wanted to know what balance of macro-nutrients to have every day - I followed Rippletoe's advice in his &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Nutrition,_Supplements_and_Cardio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt;, and decided to give a Carb/Fat/Protein ratio of 50/25/25 a try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all the above, the following became my diet plan for everyday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Net Calories&lt;/strong&gt; ~ 2700(2350 + 15%) KCal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Carbs&lt;/em&gt; : 337g = 1350 KCal&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Fat&lt;/em&gt;   : 75g = 675 KCal&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Protein&lt;/em&gt;: 170g = 675 KCal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to bulk up both in terms of mass and lifting capacity in a week-to-week basis. My current stats are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age: 28,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: 5'11&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body Weight: 159 lb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat %: 12-14 (using callipers)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that for my height, a body weight of 175- 185 lbs with the same/lower fat % would help me achieve my strength goals.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My question(s) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my target weight/strength goals realistic, given the time frame - if not, what should I be aiming at? (I'm not looking for a quick fix - its just that I'll have significantly less time once Fall semester starts, and I want to make the most of Spring/Summer).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am I eating too much/too little in terms of sheer calories? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For my fitness goals, are the balance of macros sufficient?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As long as I'm staying mostly clean of junk food/refraining from eating out more than once a week, are there any specific food items that are better than others that I should either try to get more of (veggies/fish) /try to avoid (red meat, whole milk etc) - despite them adding up to the exact total for each day? (In other words, are th &lt;strong&gt;sources&lt;/strong&gt; of macro-nutrients important as well? )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2018" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T20:24:32.503" Title="What amount of excess calories, and in what proportion of macro-nutrients, is most effective to bulk up while doing Starting Strength?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12327" CreationDate="2013-04-28T20:24:32.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a fun, yet practical reference on food, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2013/04/the-history-of-fad-dieting-carbs-fat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paul Carter wrote an article&lt;/a&gt; based on the different diet fads over time.  The basic take away is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories are king.  If you want to gain weight, increase Calories.  If you want to get thinner, reduce Calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat your protein.  At least 1g/lb lean body mass (with the information you gave, is 136g at the low end.  Let's just call it 140g as your absolute minimum.  Anything more is not going to be used to build muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat 90% good foods (i.e. real food, not fast food).  10% can be junk foods to keep you sane/happy.  Don't forget your fiber sources, veggies, and fruits as well as protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything after that doesn't really matter too much.  How many carbs or how much fat really depends on what you can get within your budget.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't over think it.  If you aren't getting bigger, eat more.  If you are gaining too much fat, dial it back a bit.  Most folks I know that started with a low body weight took a lot more food than they or anyone else might have thought to get bigger.  I can't give you exact numbers.  The calculators provide estimates.  Just eat and adjust the diet from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength Goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, yes, they are unrealistic.  You want a deadlift that is 3x your body weight, and at 159lbs that is 477lbs.  At 185lbs that would be 555lbs.  I've been lifting seriously for about 2 years, and while I'm not young, it took me about that long to hit about 500lbs deadlift, and my lean body mass is roughly your target total body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's tempting to plug in the numbers and fantasize over how long you can go without failing (in the sense of Starting Strength).  My suggestion to you is to forget about targets and schedules and just do the program and see how far you get.  If you start with just an empty bar on most of the exercises, it might take you upwards of 3 months to get to the point where you are stalling more often than you are progressing.  If you start with more weight, that time could get shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is you will get stronger.  You will put on muscle.  But once you hit the end of Starting Strength, which even Rippetoe will tell you doesn't last forever, you'll have to find a new way to train to keep progressing and getting stronger.  A lot of people switch to Texas Method which is very flexible.  That gives you weekly or biweekly increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell you what you should expect at the end of it.  I can tell you that I got to about a 300lbs squat at 250lbs before I had to switch off of Starting Strength.  You might not get that high.  You might even get higher, particularly since you are trying to increase your body weight a lot more than I was.  Just take time to look back, appreciate the journey, and then keep pressing forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T20:24:32.503" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-28T20:53:23.010" Score="3" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a mainly lower body program, like running, and you rest 3 days a week, will training arms on those days have an effect on the running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5717" LastActivityDate="2013-05-03T16:06:40.420" Title="Will training upper and lower body on separate days have an effect on the other?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11407" CreationDate="2013-04-28T20:58:12.267" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're kicking properly, the rate at which you kick should be tied to your stroke rate. That is, every time you take a stroke and rotate your hips and shoulders, your legs should finish the movement as a kick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what's known to competitive swimmers as a &quot;&lt;strong&gt;two-beat kick.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; In one full stroke, you kick twice, once with your left foot and once with your right, as you rotate from side to side. The kick is really just finishing the stroke. For shorter-distance sprint swims, there's a high-frequency kick known as &quot;&lt;strong&gt;six-beat kick&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; where you kick once to rotate, then scissor kick with both feet, and then repeat on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any sort of distance swimming (200+ yards) a two-beat kick is really what you're looking for, otherwise you'll be burning energy through your legs, which don't really help much with propulsions. But it's important to remember that kicking should never be about flailing you legs faster and faster. Your kick should fit in with your stroke rate and body rotation, either one kick per rotation or three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you slow down when you're swimming, it's usually because your stroke rate has slowed down. You aren't taking strokes as quickly and your body isn't rotating from side to side as frequently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see lots of lap swimmers who jump in and kick aggressively for the first few minutes with a high stroke rate who then slow their kick down and their stroke rate slows as well. Keeping a focus on your kick can really help you maintain a constant stroke rate and keep you moving along for workouts or distance swims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, check out the swim program I'm running called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onlineswimtrainer.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Swim Trainer&lt;/a&gt;. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5666" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T20:58:12.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2013-04-28T21:16:43.923" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fogging&quot; on the inside of the googles is caused by temperature differences between the inside and outside of the lens. This is the same reason your car window fogs up when you turn on the heat in the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The simplest solution is to dunk your googles in the pool before you put them on.&lt;/strong&gt; I've done this for over 8 years as a swimmer and I've never had issues with fog, no matter how old the goggles were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to rub them when I was a kid but then my coach showed me the dunking technique and it changed my life forever... :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5666" LastActivityDate="2013-04-28T21:16:43.923" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-29T01:15:15.710" Score="3" ViewCount="5245" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I thought this question is physics-related, so why not elaborate here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscular strength can be combined not just by muscle mass but density, neuromuscular conditioning, joints, leverage, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does being able to lift a heavier weight than one another, or just a specifoc weight for more repetitions mean the be all end all of absolute strength? Because if I can lift more and another can not, does that, in physics or in any understandable series of sense, imply that I who lifts a greater amount of mass that another can not make me stronger by all means, no exceptions, or is strength not necessarily linear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any input regarding this would be nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T16:17:36.467" Title="does being able to lift more weight mean more strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12332" CreationDate="2013-04-29T01:24:34.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength is defined as the ability to produce force. The closest analogue for this is the ability to lift or otherwise move a known mass. So yes, lifting more weight &lt;em&gt;by definition&lt;/em&gt; means one is more strong. (That does not mean that lifting more on Tuesday than you did on Monday means that you've become stronger. It's possible that you are of the same or lesser strength, but are simply working at a higher effort.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically a weaker person might lift more than a stronger person because of other factors--luck, a mistake of balance or breathing, and so on--but the simplest test of who is stronger is who can lift more weight in a given movement. The deadlift is the highest regarded test for this purpose, though the squat, bench press, and overhead press are solid contenders as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting the same weight multiple times measures strength, but is confounded by the role of muscular endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T01:24:34.657" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-29T01:56:25.640" Score="5" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I have been working for strength only exercise with dumbbell wrist curls, both ways, pinch gripping, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have yet to see much from it. My grip is still chartin just around the average, according to some statistics I have seen online; I have not become &quot;powerful&quot; at thoa yet, and I have tried making the best of the free weights I have, but I want that &quot;break your hand&quot; kind of grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there's any notes I should be taking regarding the hand strength,  because one day I will have a clae grip and another a grip of a 10 year old; it isn't working linearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T02:23:45.137" Title="What are some of the most effective exercises to build grip/forearm strength?" Tags="&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12334" CreationDate="2013-04-29T02:23:45.137" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I see it there are two things going on: not seeing the results you want from the activity you are doing, and not understanding why strength is not linear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to attack these in reverse order.  Take a look at the chart below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wOchu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the training stress, your body is too fatigued to demonstrate any kind of strength.  It needs to recover, or rebuild itself to handle the new demands you place on it.  If you understand the way your body reacts, you can time the next stress while you are at the top of the super compensation curve.  Super compensation means that you are stronger than you used to be.  When you have the grip of a 10 year old, it is likely because your hands are fatigued.  If you keep adding stress, you will eventually get weaker because your body can't recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you are correct, it's not linear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Effective Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about the type of grip you want.  Pinching is not the same as holding.  Rotation is also not the same thing as holding.  If you want to crush someone's hand, you need to hold really heavy things.  My suggestion is that you don't train your grip more than once a week, and ideally after you train deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Static holds: load up the bar as heavy as you can hold, and hold it as long as you can.  Stay at the same weight until you can hold it for at least 30 seconds.  Increase the weight and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High rep 1 arm dumbbell rows.  350 training is very effective: attempt to get at least 50 reps in no more than 3 sets.  When you can do that, increase weight and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do static holds on the last rep of deadlifts.  If you aren't doing deadlifts, it might be a good time to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T02:23:45.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="913" CreationDate="2013-04-29T10:35:17.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sleeping 20 mins will refresh your mind giving it a quick rest,  in a sense tricking it into thinking you have had a good sleep. After you come too you will be alert and energised, but it is very important to get a good night sleep after doing this.. I do it almost every day after work and I can honestly train 50% harder than if I dont nap plus much healthier than pre work outs or any caffeine supplements. .. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5722" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T10:35:17.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12232" CreationDate="2013-04-29T15:42:07.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If fat loss is your goal, then longer cardio lengths with lower heartrate are the best way to go, think marathon runners - endurance is key. However, as with any fat loss goal, you will lose some muscle along the way. If preserving muscle is relatively important to you, then try High Intensity Interval Training for your cardio: think sprints, run walk combinations, in your case maybe go all out for 20-30 seconds on the bike, then a slow pedal for about 10 seconds, and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T15:42:07.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12323" CreationDate="2013-04-29T15:59:43.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I relax fully at the bottom of the pull-up. This ensures that I work the maximum amount of muscle. Mark Rippetoe &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=8260&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggests&lt;/a&gt; the same approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you relax your arms at the bottom and let your shoulders slide down, the muscles that have to pull you back up from that position are the lats and upper back muscles. Since we want to work them, use the full ROM in the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this does not cause me discomfort or pain. You may have a mobility issue you should address before doing full-ROM pull-ups. I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; feel discomfort when I relax fully at the bottom of a chin-up, so I am careful not to wantonly relax with those, and am working on that as a separate mobility issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-06-07T00:58:03.120" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T00:58:03.120" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2013-04-29T16:04:38.910" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain muscle and strength, then you need to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Eat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't buy into the 'hardgainer' non-sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Calories In &gt; Calories Expended = Weight Gain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the simplest way I can put it. If you eat like a skinny person, you will gain weight like a skinny person (little to none). Proper nutrition is of course next but a little out of scope for this question. Suffice it to say that 1k-2k calories above what you burn during the day is a good start. To make it easier try drinking 1/2-1 gallon of milk &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;per day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and/or a small jar of peanut butter &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;per day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Also, keep the sweet tooth in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lift Heavy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a simple plan for lifting to get big: compound exercises, and actually &lt;em&gt;lifting heavy&lt;/em&gt;. These are exercises that work multiple muscle groups at one time (think squat, deadlift, press), as opposed to isolation exercises that only concentrate, or &lt;em&gt;isolate&lt;/em&gt;, one muscle or muscle group at a time (bicep curls, for example). Isolation exercises have their purpose, but not in this particular application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I say &lt;em&gt;lift heavy&lt;/em&gt;, I don't mean go in and hurt yourself. I mean every time you lift, you should add a little more weight than you previously used when you did that workout. This is how you measure your &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;strength progress&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. You don't have to try and keep up with the guy who's been lifting for 10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can join a gym that has free weights, or if you have the means and space, you can build your own 'gym' that has everything you need, and it would only cost about one year's membership at a typical gym where I am ($360-$600/yr on the low end).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a practical application and more detail to this approach, there is a book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Rippetoe, who talks about this very thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastEditorUserId="5013" LastEditDate="2013-04-29T16:31:10.387" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T16:31:10.387" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12341" CreationDate="2013-04-29T16:18:45.753" Score="3" ViewCount="3786" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to gain muscle, weight and at the same time be flexible, in good condition, and do competitions in near future in boxing. For that, after the recommendations, I bought the proteins and aminos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does boxing 3 times in a week interfere (or slower) with gaining muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my workout calendar everyday after 19h except Sunday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Mon:  Boxing  &#xA;Tue:  Bodybuilding  &#xA;Wed:  Boxing  &#xA;Thu:  Bodybuilding  &#xA;Fri:  Boxing  &#xA;Sat:  Bodybuilding  &#xA;Sun:  nothing  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time I want to be in a good shape of course and loose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5726" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-04-29T18:04:51.830" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T18:04:51.830" Title="Does boxing interfere with gaining muscle?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12340" CreationDate="2013-04-29T16:35:05.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nearly everything except eating, resting, and lifting heavy weights slows down muscle growth. So, yes, boxing will somewhat interfere with your bodybuilding. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; may help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it doesn't sound like your goal is &quot;get bigger&quot;, it's &quot;get fitter in every way&quot;, so your current amount of boxing is fine. Boxing will improve your conditioning, as well as your ability to box and to compete. However, you might get more results out of powerlifting or Olympic lifting rather than bodybuilding, since those would develop strength and power more than muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T16:35:05.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2013-04-29T16:37:59.280" Score="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain muscle and strength, then you need to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Eat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't buy into the 'hardgainer' non-sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Calories In &gt; Calories Expended = Weight Gain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the simplest way I can put it. If you eat like a skinny person, you will gain weight like a skinny person (little to none). Proper nutrition is of course next but a little out of scope for this question. Suffice it to say that 1k-2k calories above what you burn during the day is a good start. To make it easier try drinking 1/2-1 gallon of milk &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;per day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and/or a small jar of peanut butter &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;per day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Also, keep the sweet tooth in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lift Heavy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a simple plan for lifting to get big: compound exercises, and actually &lt;em&gt;lifting heavy&lt;/em&gt;. These are exercises that work multiple muscle groups at one time (think squat, deadlift, press), as opposed to isolation exercises that only concentrate, or &lt;em&gt;isolate&lt;/em&gt;, one muscle or muscle group at a time (bicep curls, for example). Isolation exercises have their purpose, but not in this particular application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I say &lt;em&gt;lift heavy&lt;/em&gt;, I don't mean go in and hurt yourself. I mean every time you lift, you should add a little more weight than you previously used when you did that workout. This is how you measure your &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;strength progress&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. You don't have to try and keep up with the guy who's been lifting for 10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can join a gym that has free weights, or if you have the means and space, you can build your own 'gym' that has everything you need, and it would only cost about one year's membership at a typical gym where I am ($360-$600/yr on the low end).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a practical application and more detail to this approach, there is a book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Rippetoe, who talks about this very thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T16:37:59.280" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-29T16:52:12.997" Score="4" ViewCount="3947" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always when you read about diets, you also read a warning saying that a too small calorie intake will slow down your metabolism. However, I can't find any sources explaining what exaclty slows down and how much engery is conserved through this slow metabolism (1%, 5%, 50% or maybe 99%?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know from experience that I can't reach the max. performance in sport during a diet as glycogen reserves are depleted faster and ketogenic processes take a while to kick in, but these kinds of reduced enegery consumption are in general additonal accitivies that are not required to keep up life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I sit on a chair and just fart around, is my energy &quot;consumption&quot; reduced through the following things, as compared to a normal food routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the heartrate sink?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is blood renewed slower?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does my brain work less?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do hair and nails stop growing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does my immune system take a holdiay?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do my bowls drain the food more completely?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I produce less semen?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do injuries heal slower?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do my cells get older (recycled later), thus maybe even increasing the cancer risk?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my temp lower?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume most of these things can only be reduced slightly in order to survive, so where does the body optimize energy &quot;consumption&quot;, and how much savings are we talking about? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when eating massivly less than required (e.g. 5000KJ under maintainance requirements over more that 2 weeks) I do not notice massive drawbacks in bodily functioning, therefore I am questioning these warnings. Furthermore you often read about a &quot;starvation mode&quot; and even a &quot;ruined metabolism&quot; - is there any scientific indication that such things exist and are inreversible (slowly reversable)? If so, why does the body in gerneral not work in this more effiecent state if there are no drawbacks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not questioning that lifting heavy weights while eating less will conserve more muscle mass. Also please don't give answers along the lines of changing your food consumption in general to lose weight (e.g. what the word diet really means). I'm using the word &quot;diet&quot; in the wrong modern way, as a limited time change of food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5197" LastEditDate="2013-04-30T14:06:00.387" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T07:23:46.803" Title="How (much) can a metabolism slow down?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12311" CreationDate="2013-04-29T17:48:27.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, most portions are about the size of a deck of cards, or a closed fist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 portion of meat is roughly 20g of protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 portion of starches (potatoes, etc.) is roughly 20g of carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tough thing is to estimate the amount of fat in things, which can easily sneak up on you.  Deep fried potatoes (all variations of fries) contain lots of fat.  Same with some cuts of meat such as a pot roast.  Burgers are also notoriously high in fat.  While fat is necessary, and helpful, if you have too much you'll blow your calorie target before you get all your necessary nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you stick with &lt;strong&gt;lean&lt;/strong&gt; meat, fresh or frozen vegetables and fruit for the bulk of what you eat, you'll have a lot easier time getting in the ball park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take some time to figure out how many portions you need to eat, and then use your hand to ballpark the portions.  If you are losing weight, you are eating fewer overall calories than you need to maintain.  If you are gaining weight, you are eating more overall calories than necessary to maintain.  If that's not what you want, adjust your portions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-04-29T17:48:27.620" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2013-04-30T01:14:39.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining weight quickly can be as dangerous as losing weight quickly. If you are equating muscle to weight, in your question, then you will definitely need some exercise regiment to convert calories and bulk the muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the smartest path forward is to do so under the guidance of your doctor and a personal trainer. But if these warnings are meaningless to you then I'd suggest you follow the following method:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dietriffic.com/2009/12/08/tips-to-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5 Tips to Gain Weight Easily and Safely&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set a realistic goal weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Record what you eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stick to healthy foods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add extra calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat regularly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don’t forget to exercise&#xA;  You may have been afraid to exercise in case it led to increased weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But, regular exercise plays a key part in helping you gain weight in a healthy way, and it’s really important for maintaining strong bones and muscle tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just remember to maintain your increased food intake, with enough extra calories so you continue to gain weight gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Walking would be an excellent choice of physical activity (aim for 30 minutes, five days a week). Resistance training, using weights, may also be a good choice to help you build muscle strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you’re concerned about being underweight, do make an appointment to see your doctor, who can check for underlying conditions which may be preventing you from gaining weight.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last line says it best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5508" LastActivityDate="2013-04-30T01:14:39.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6573" CreationDate="2013-04-30T12:40:27.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No its wrong ... See the carb up period is not to improve your workout, a carb up phase can only stimulates your pancreas to release insulin and. shoot the new glucose. Into blood so to be stored as muscle glycogen  but it won't improve a workout rather help rebuild some muscle because insulin is an anabolic agent. So why do we carb up other than an anabolic advantage ? It is to keep the metabolism Intact see in a situation of prolonged carb fasting the thyroid harmone t4 shifs to t3 which slowers your metabolism thus lowering bmr and leading to lesser thermogenesis I.e. The main goal while burning fat initiated through glucagon and harmone sensitive lipase as a result of lowered insulin levels and blunting atp citrate lypase ....so our job is to keep insulin low but no so less that it would blunt  thyroid t4 that is where carb up becomes necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5731" LastActivityDate="2013-04-30T12:40:27.563" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-30T15:13:53.107" Score="3" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm usually free squatting (8x) and leg pressing (4x)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a change, and also to see whether I can improve 1-my hip flexors and 2- the bottom part of my squat, I want to include 4x box squatting, (with wide stance, if you wondered) instead of 4x regular squat, having at the end 4x of each method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I do the 4x standard squat first or 4x box squatting first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would tend to fatigue my hips first to later emphasise the quads by starting with the box squat, but I'm not so sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: my current workout plan is a 4days per week routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D1: shoulder back [push press, chinups ...]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D2: glutes quads calves [squat, press ...]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D3: chest biceps [bench press, curls ...]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D4: hamstrings triceps [deadlift, dips ...]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't really do more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastEditorUserId="5178" LastEditDate="2013-04-30T19:24:40.427" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T01:12:06.837" Title="How to integrate box squat to my weekly leg workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12343" CreationDate="2013-04-30T15:42:14.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are my 50 cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say, by reading your question, that it is convenient to remember that the 3 following things are totally different:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When on a diet, mathematically absorbing less minerals, vitamins and other essential oils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being on a reduced activity (not moving = consumming less energy, != lowering your metabolism)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having an actual drop of metabolism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These 3 elements are complementary, not necessarly interconnected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you will have body issues even on a high calories diet if you don't pay attention to what you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now that this is clear, let me see whether I can help about the metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your basal metabolism is if I'm not mistaken defined by the energy your body is consumming when resting (extended on a bed, for example).&#xA;This involves many different aspects that I don't control totally, but the main are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body will consume energy to feed your brain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body will consume energy to maintain its temperature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body will consume energy to maintain your muscular mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body will consume energy to feed the central system (mainly, the nervous and endocrinal systems).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you lower down your energy (food) intake, you're right to say that not so many things can be adjusted. But definitely the first things to drop down will be your central system quality level (sleep of less good quality, hormonal state a bit down, less strength...) and then your muscular mass, hence reducing the energy consummed every single second. That's why when some people go on an uncontroled diet they not only loose fat but drop down their metabolism, making it then really easy afterwards to gain weight again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I helped a little bit.&#xA;Cheers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastActivityDate="2013-04-30T15:42:14.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12359" CreationDate="2013-04-30T18:18:47.060" Score="3" ViewCount="4988" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to troubleshoot a new Bluetooth heart rate monitor that is attached to a chest strap.  When I try to scan for Bluetooth devices with my computer or Android phone, it does not show up.  There are no lights or buttons on the device and I want to make sure I have it turned on.  Therefore, I'm trying to figure out &lt;strong&gt;how does it turn on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The instructions say to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wet the chest strap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snap the heart rate monitor to the chest strap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place the strap around your chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it turned on when it's &lt;strong&gt;snapped to the wet chest strap&lt;/strong&gt;?  I.e., is it activated when there is a conductive path between the two buttons on the sides of the device (via the wet strap)?  Is there a conductive path if the strap is dry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it turned on when it's &lt;strong&gt;strapped to your body&lt;/strong&gt;?  Does the monitor's circuit somehow pass through your body?  Does the device need to sense a pulse to begin transmitting?  Does it rely on detecting an electromagnetic field that is only achieved when the strap is against your skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of curiosity, does anyone know how these devices detect heart beats?  Is the device sensing the &lt;em&gt;electrical&lt;/em&gt; current that causes your heart to contract?  Is the device sensing the &lt;em&gt;electromagnetic&lt;/em&gt; radiation from this electrical current?  Is it sensing the &lt;em&gt;pressure&lt;/em&gt; from a heart beat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The device in question is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/accessories/H7_heart_rate_sensor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Polar H7&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2013-05-01T13:03:35.230" Title="How does a chest heart rate monitor work?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-04-30T18:40:23.477" Score="11" ViewCount="2237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a new pair of running shoes. With this pair, I've noticed that my heel slips up and down ever so slightly as I run in them. I've found a few different pages online that mention ways of fixing this by lacing the shoes differently, but none of these pages seem to mention the low seventh eyelets that my shoes have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what they look like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8IHqf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My shoe&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the first six eyelets (which all have laces through them) are all in a line, but the seventh (which is empty) is lower than the sixth. Can I use this seventh eyelet somehow to keep my heel from slipping as it does?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T12:51:45.813" Title="Can I use my running shoes' seventh eyelets to fix heel slipping?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12322" CreationDate="2013-04-30T21:00:43.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Progress at the rate which you feel is safe. If you have back problems, fix them while working out as hard and heavy as possible while not aggravating those problems. Once they're fixed, add back in the weight or exercises that you took out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat in accordance with how heavy you're lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drop the long-term multiples-of-bodyweight goals. Just focus on safely getting stronger now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-04-30T21:00:43.267" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12351" CreationDate="2013-04-30T22:22:36.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are activated when wet.  The best and most effective way I have found to get it to turn on and connect is to run under a faucet for a few seconds.  Get it real wet and you should be good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5738" LastActivityDate="2013-04-30T22:22:36.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-01T02:20:57.597" Score="1" ViewCount="10419" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Intro/Disclaimer:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm quite ignorant about fitness. I don't have a sharp body with 6&#xA;packs but I'm not horribly fat, just some belly (1.75m, 72 kg, male, 25yo).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd like to have a sharper body and hopefully get the famous 6 packs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I started to go to the gym some months ago, once/twice per week without a real plan nor any diet change. Of course I didn't get any exterior visible result other than feeling a little bit &quot;better&quot; in general.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm questioning two specific branded product because I'm not sure of what they contain, I'd make me happy if the answer mention similar product or what kind of ingredients I should look for, or avoid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I've read the claim that ingesting some &quot;stuff&quot; like MuscleCore X and Androsolve daily should help dramatically and fast towards this goal. One pill a day of each product for some period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&amp;amp;sl=fr&amp;amp;u=http://www.menhealthsix.com/promotion/&amp;amp;prev=/search?q=musclecore%2bandrosolve%2bmen%2527s%2bhealth&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;biw=1301&amp;amp;bih=682&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;translated link&lt;/a&gt; for instance. I'm not entirely sure what they contain and I'm wondering if they are worth to bootstrap a healthy lifestyle and helping me getting a nicer body for the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Questions&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do the two products really contain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is their claim true? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there counter notable side effect?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5742" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-05-01T14:50:52.453" LastActivityDate="2014-01-19T09:18:39.477" Title="Will Musclecore x and Androsolve help bootstrap my fitness routine to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12356" CreationDate="2013-05-01T12:50:31.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few things regarding supplement companies that you need to understand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They over promise and under deliver&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The majority of your results will be from a proper diet and exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The less information you can get from the manufacturer's web site, the less you should trust them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that Musclecore X uses certain BCAAs, namely &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arginine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;arganine&lt;/a&gt; to &amp;quot;boost NO2&amp;quot; in the blood.  There's a few supplements that use the claim that increase in nitrous oxide (NO2) helps build muscle.  It is also important to note that arganine is readily available in a number of common foods.  There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/south28.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;semi-scientific study on Bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; using a different product with similar claims.  The pertinent information is quoted below (emphasis is mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the results of the test, it is obvious that the test group made considerable gains in lean body mass compared to the group that received the placebo. Each bodybuilder in the test group [with the exception being test subject number three] made gains from the supplement, and the gains were roughly equal for each bodybuilder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Test subjects reported a difference in vasodilation, increased blood flow to skeletal muscles, increased oxygen transport resulting in quicker recovery following strenuous exercise&lt;/strong&gt;, and reported better pumps resulting from exercise. All three test group subjects indicated a pronounced increase in libido.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;None of the test subjects demonstrated increases in strength or stamina&lt;/strong&gt;, and test subject two indicated an &lt;strong&gt;increase in blood pressure&lt;/strong&gt;. Some of the subjects experienced &lt;strong&gt;hot flashes, spontaneous sweating, diarrhea and fatigue&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the nine testable label claims outlined above, this nitric oxide supplement satisfied seven. Although not directly testable, the dosing procedure allows for the supplement to be digested over a ten hour period of time, thus satisfying the last label claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Therefore, the supplement, in this test, proved to be successful in two persons by satisfying 77% of its stated label claims.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three test subjects were a beginner, intermediate, and advanced bodybuilder.  The advanced bodybuilder did not receive much affect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Androsolve is a non-steroidal &amp;quot;testosterone booster&amp;quot;.  Products in this class fail to increase your testosterone much above normal.  If you have low testosterone levels (T levels), a blood test at your doctor can tell you that, then the product may work.  Although, if you typically eat a very low fat diet, simply increasing saturated fat intake can bring your T levels to normal.  Other than that, most studies I could find indicate that testosterone boosters as a class of supplement provide at best inconclusive results.  The only proven way to increase T levels above normal is to use steroids, which has its own risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-05-01T12:57:02.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12351" CreationDate="2013-05-01T13:03:35.230" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The strap has two areas that measure the heart rate by measuring the bio-electric impulse that naturally occurs when your heart beats.  The strap itself is the measuring device, and the pod you snap on collects the impulse and transmits it to a receiver.  The monitor begins its job as soon as the buttons are snapped in.  In short, the strap does not need to be wet to measure your heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moisture improves the sensitivity of the heart rate monitor giving it a more accurate result.  Wetting the strap before exercise allows you to enjoy the same level of accuracy before you raise your heart rate and sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-01T13:03:35.230" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12352" CreationDate="2013-05-01T13:09:36.483" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can... But in my experience, it's better to use that 7th eyelet slightly differently to prevent heel slipping. It is shown in this video starting around 1:47:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;amp;v=y0BSXa8vE10#t=95s&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;To the video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steps (images from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthontherun.net/running/how-to-tie-your-shoes-and-other-shoe-tricks/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Health on the Run&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Create a loop using the last two eyelets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DzZ9Y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put the shoelace through the hole on the opposite side. Put on the shoe and pull the laces tight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/whzHl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now you can tie your shoes like normal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cdKAF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-05-02T08:55:22.467" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T08:55:22.467" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2013-05-01T15:05:03.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish I had some sort of study to back this up but I read on a news site somewhere that sprinting in a short amount of time can be comparable of not better than jogging for a longer amount of time. So if you prefer to only do a 10 minute sprint, this may work just as well as jogging continuously for 30min. I would suggest jogging at a comfortable pace for 30 min on one day, alternate with a sprint on the other, and then every week increase the speed of your jog and the duration of your sprint. In time and increasing levels of difficulty you will build endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can tell you that the American Heart Association recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity excercise 5 times per week for heart health. In addition to heart health, you'll also reduce the risk of other conditions like strokes, diabetes, etc... So if you can only get 30 minutes in and you continuously jog that duration you'll be helping your body out tremendously vs not excercising at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5744" LastEditorUserId="5744" LastEditDate="2013-05-01T22:57:00.280" LastActivityDate="2013-05-01T22:57:00.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12343" CreationDate="2013-05-01T16:15:28.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what bodily functions are affected by a decreased energy expenditure but I have found two studies on the subject which I think you might find interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3661473&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on 3 days of fasting&lt;/a&gt;, conducted at Department of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, NY. Six men fasted for three days and as a result their metabolism (RMR) decreased by 8%. During this period their glucose production declined by 38%, while their proteolysis (traced by leucine) went up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second study is on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19198647&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;6 months calorie restriction&lt;/a&gt; and comes from Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana. It includes 48 overweight subjects over six months, divided in four groups with different diets and activity plans. The calorie deficit groups had their daily energy expenditure (TDEE) decreased by 270-430 kcal. However, the one group who were dieting but also exercising did not have their TDEE affected at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;em&gt;starvation mode does exist&lt;/em&gt;, but you can completely mitigate it by working out while decreasing your calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This perhaps only answers half of your questions and maybe my conclusions are wrong (I'm no expert in nutrition) but either way; there's two tangible studies on the subject if you want to dig in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastEditorUserId="5746" LastEditDate="2013-05-02T11:07:27.560" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T11:07:27.560" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12385" CreationDate="2013-05-01T17:25:03.590" Score="3" ViewCount="1818" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which half of the complete Pull up works the Lats more ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For eg : If I do the lower half of the pull up will it involve my Lats more OR if I do the upper half of the pull up ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem : I can't do more than 5-6 full pull ups in my first set and the number quickly falls down to 3-4 in the 2nd set. I finish my routine at 30 reps. I am considering doing half pull ups to a count of 50. I hope this might cause improvement in the max pull ups in the first set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T15:26:50.207" Title="Half pull up for the Lats" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12329" CreationDate="2013-05-01T19:18:38.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you eat sufficient calories, your running workouts and push-ups will not interfere with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-05-01T19:18:38.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-01T21:52:21.923" Score="3" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got an android phone and with the power of technology I hope that added data on how my body is reacting to exercise may give me insights into what my fitness regimen may be missing.  What should I be looking for, data gathering wise, in monitors and attachments?  What capabilities and technologies are available for gathering and organizing bio-metric data?  With accelerometers built into most everything step tracking should be pretty straight forward, but what about heart rate, blood oxygen, blood pressure, etc?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5749" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T18:01:21.630" Title="What should I be looking for in bio monitors?" Tags="&lt;assesment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-01T23:03:43.407" Score="4" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im starting a bit of indoor climbing, but Im not sure Im commited enough to buy climbing shoes - they are quite costly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, my running shoes seem to be a poor choice for climbing, I can only use the biggest footholds available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any types of regular footwear that would do better for climbing, or do I have to buy dedicated shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T02:10:01.067" Title="What footwear would be suitable for climbing" Tags="&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4721" CreationDate="2013-05-02T00:39:52.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thick saliva forms in your mouth because of &lt;strong&gt;evaporation&lt;/strong&gt;, not because your body shuts off its saliva glands.  By taking a quick glance at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saliva#Contents&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;makeup of saliva&lt;/a&gt;, it's easy to deduce that when saliva condenses (when water evaporates from it), what remains is mucus.  The saliva remaining in your mouth during heavy exercise is thick and slimy because it has a higher concentration of &lt;strong&gt;mucus&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason much of the water in this saliva has evaporated is because your mouth closes much less frequently during heavy exertion (also leading to less &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saliva#Stimulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sympathetic stimulation&lt;/a&gt;) and you respirate much more frequently -- both of these contribute to more rapid evaporation.  Standing outside on a cold day will give you an idea of how much water you expel each breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not you spit it out is your choice.  Personally, during heavy exertion I only spit if the saliva starts to impede my ability to breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-05-02T00:45:59.607" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T00:45:59.607" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-02T10:42:49.120" Score="1" ViewCount="14377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consider it common sense to avoid exercise after a night of two beers (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingfisher_%28beer%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kingfisher Strong&lt;/a&gt;s in 650ml containers with 8% alcohol content). The day after drinking, I feel weaker and stiffer and get cramps for days if I do my &lt;strong&gt;usual&lt;/strong&gt; effort in exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is &quot;day after&quot; exercise a bad idea &lt;strong&gt;no matter&lt;/strong&gt; the quantity of alcohol consumed? Yesterday I had 500ml of the same stuff and I felt it best to not exercise today. What is the recommended way of regaining my pace after drinking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2338" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T08:12:28.420" Title="Abstain from exercise the day after a &quot;drinking night&quot;?" Tags="&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2013-05-02T11:27:22.997" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple, gain more calodies from what you eat than you consume during daily activity.&#xA;You should know that 1g of fat has 9 calories, 1g of proteins=4cal. and 1g of carbohydrates=4cal.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can easely get fat eating fastfood if it`s what you want :)) but i will never recommend that....so eat healthy, more fruits, vegetables (especially potatoes)! Practice a sport and try to avoid stress factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5753" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T11:27:22.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12379" CreationDate="2013-05-02T12:05:45.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest if you have the feeling it is not a good idea to exercise because of the way your body feels then it is indeed a good idea, skip that workout. However don't make it an excuse for not exercising. It also depends on when you workout. For eg : If you workout in the evening and you had a drink last evening, it shouldn't matter at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T12:05:45.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12379" CreationDate="2013-05-02T16:17:55.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/hangover_starr&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Training With a Hangover&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Bill Starr:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made it a point to push them to personal records on several of the exercises in the program for that day. I wanted to show them that they did have control over their bodies, even when they wanted to throw up or just go lie down on the sit-up boards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, he also says it's not a good idea to make a habit of this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[I]t takes a toll on the nervous system to have to go through such an ordeal, and it was harder for the nervous system to recover than the muscular system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T16:17:55.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-02T16:35:33.143" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the other day I saw two people sorta balancing on one another. Person A was on their back with their feet and hands in the air holding up person B who was sorta moving around on person A's hands / feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kinda a vague description but it looked kinda neat. Anyone have any ideas as to what that's called? Seemed kinda like a yoga thing idk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T16:35:33.143" Title="balancing on other people" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;balance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-05-09T04:04:19.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12363" CreationDate="2013-05-02T16:59:44.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geek!  I like your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EMG studies show that pull-ups and chin-ups to not target your lats as much as bent-over rows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half pull-ups at top or bottom has no significant difference when it comes to lats activiation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behind the neck pull-ups hurt your shoulders because you have placed the greatest amount of stress on your biceps tendon and the rotator cuff - not good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your arms get tired quicker than your lats when doing pull-ups because the pull-ups isolate the forearm more than the lats.  Read number one answer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to increase the number of pull-ups, then you should try one of these techniques:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a. Eccentric training - going down slowly&lt;br&gt;&#xA;b. Train more often - pretty much work-up to doing pull-ups everday eventually&lt;br&gt;&#xA;c. Supersetting - pull-ups, then perform a few reps of lat pull-down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a qretty good book about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beyondstrengthperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/The-Pull-up-Manifesto6.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;pull-ups.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T16:59:44.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12379" CreationDate="2013-05-02T17:35:37.013" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally NEED to exercise the day after. I feel like it helps to clean out my body and makes me feel refreshed afterwards. And when I drink it's at least 4-5 drinks, maybe beer, hard alcohol, wine, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like you cramp up due to dehydration, which is cause by drinking. Try drinking water with/after the alcohol, then have plenty in the morning before working out. Maybe a banana with and sea salt too for potassium + sodium (both are supposed to help with cramps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course everyone is different, so your body might just not be able to take it. But I would say try some things out and see how you feel. Maybe also take a pre workout supplement like Muscle Pharm Assault before hand to give you some extra energy/pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5757" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T17:35:37.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12192" CreationDate="2013-05-02T17:39:27.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is ONE exercise to do, it's SQUATS!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best full body workout and, yes, it's a great leg workout. Start with body squats to get form down, add a bar THEN start adding weight. You will notice a total body transformation after doing squats for a month (and yes, those precious abs get targeted big time)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make SURE your form is correct or you can hurt yourself...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5757" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T17:39:27.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9406" CreationDate="2013-05-02T17:42:08.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't do CHRONIC cardio (i.e slow/moderate pace for miles at a time). Do sprints and HIIT type training. I would say google &quot;Sprint 8&quot;. It's a simple training plan that will only take 20-30 min of your day but will help to BURN FAT and BUILD MUSCLE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5757" LastActivityDate="2013-05-02T17:42:08.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12162" CreationDate="2013-05-03T08:03:41.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did my first marathon 5 days ago. I wrestled with the question of target pace. &#xA;The tool at McMillan predicts a 3:22:25 for me based on my half marathon. That feels very aggressive to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran 3:38:11 on the day and I'm happy with that. I think if I'd started much faster I would have been reduced to walking/staggering at the end and would have ended up overall slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a new tool at the Fetch Everyone website that gives a much closer prediction for me: 3:36:58   - see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fetcheveryone.com/training-calculators-improvedriegel.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fetcheveryone.com/training-calculators-improvedriegel.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an article at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fetcheveryone.com/eblasts/article37/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fetcheveryone.com/eblasts/article37/&lt;/a&gt; explaining the maths and research behind it. In short, they analysed the Fetch Everyone database of times for runners who've done 5 halves and marathons to see what happens in the &quot;real world&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try the tool - for first timers I'm confident it will give a better estimate than the original Riegels formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, my best times for shorter distances are: 5k=20:10, 10k=42:50, 13.1m=96:11   I've run 30-33k 5 times in the last year. I ran 1850 miles in 2012.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5761" LastActivityDate="2013-05-03T08:03:41.873" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12329" CreationDate="2013-05-03T15:20:40.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only effect I have seen is sometimes my arms or shoulders will get sore while I run. This all depends on how hard you go with both running and arm work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think working out your arms will HELP running in any way if that's part of your question whether it have an &quot;effect&quot;. Although if you do find your arms ever getting tired during runs, strengthening them will help in the long run (no pun intended...well maybe)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5757" LastActivityDate="2013-05-03T15:20:40.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12329" CreationDate="2013-05-03T16:06:40.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;All recovery is shared&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All training takes a toll from all other training. This can be minimized by working separate parts of the body or separate metabolic pathways, but in the end your ability to recover from any workout is shared across all workouts, all you eat, all your stress, all your sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Running and arms work sounds fine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you're used to running three times a week and you add in some push-ups and pull-ups, then you shouldn't experience a significant decrease in your recovery from either. Make sure that you have at least one day a week of &lt;em&gt;complete&lt;/em&gt; rest--no running, no arm work, just taking it easy with a stroll or massage or nothing at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were doing an extensive bodybuilding routine (with many exercises, heavy weights, and many sets to failure), it might be a problem. If you're new to both modes of exercise, recovery would be affected, but you'd do fine. I'd be more concerned with getting an adequate balance of upper-body movements: be sure to mix pushes and pulls, strength work with endurance work, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-05-03T16:06:40.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12067" CreationDate="2013-05-03T17:09:33.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat a balanced diet, avoid high fat, high sugar food. Dont go near chips (cold) or fries (hot), eat fruit between meals, and eat plenty of salad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a sip of water between each mouth full of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do about 30 min of exercise (quick walking or easy cycling) every day, try standing up and walk around every 10 to 15 min if you work at a desk during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loosing 500g a week is easier to achieve and keep achieving than trying to loose lots of weight quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5763" LastActivityDate="2013-05-03T17:09:33.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2013-05-03T20:34:36.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a running store near me, &lt;a href=&quot;http://runnerslane.com/services/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runners Lane&lt;/a&gt; which does a Gait Analysis. They basically watch your form on a treadmill for a few minutes. Then depending on your gait and foot size, they choose a shoe and &quot;orthopedic&quot; sole that helps to promote proper gait. I'm not sure how researched this is or how much it works for others, but it has since improved my gait, though I didn't have as lateral form as you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that I can really improve my form by consciously thinking about my positioning and watching my feet from time to time. However, I've never ran more than a 10k and at that distance or greater you may be too tired to pay attention to form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5744" LastActivityDate="2013-05-03T20:34:36.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12399" CreationDate="2013-05-04T07:23:09.080" Score="3" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;My coach tells me that I shouldn't eat before going for a swim session. But I feel hungry during the session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine I follow in the session is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1 to 2 hours of Jogging and Floor exercises(own body weight or weight training). It mostly lies in the range of 90 mins.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After which, we get down into the pool and swim for 90 mins to 120 mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What shall I eat just before the session starts?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How heavy shall I eat?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am expecting answers related to swimming as it is involved and that is the main workout in the session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-05-04T11:57:57.550" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T07:42:28.310" Title="Eating before workout" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12398" CreationDate="2013-05-04T13:04:00.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me preface by the fact I've never swam competitively, and it's been a while since I've swam routinely.  I do train competitively, and I do eat before training.  The two biggest risks with eating before training are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle cramps--which in swimming is much more dangerous than with running or cycling, and more likely when the training is sustained such as in all three of these sports.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nausea--which if it gets messy requires the pool to be cleaned and maintained before practice can resume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nausea can be avoided as long as you stay away from oily, greasy, or whatever your trigger foods are.  An example that happened to a teammate when I was on the high school basketball team was sardines before sprinting which resulted in vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle cramps are understood less, but can be anything from electrolyte imbalances to heavy exertion while the body is trying to digest a meal.  It's typically the second issue that your coach is concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Guidelines for food before training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't eat a heavy meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat light fare.  Examples are cottage cheese, yogurt, toast and jam, fruit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BCAAs or Creatine Monohydrate can also provide energy without violating the spirit of your coach's objections.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is to give you some quick energy that isn't going to burn out right away.  This is why we stay away from candy, but mix together a couple different energy sources that are easily digested.  You also don't want your body to divert a lot of its resources to digestion when you need to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My typical pre-training snack is either cottage cheese or yogurt with fresh fruit mixed in, 2 slices of Ezekial bread with organic jelly or jam on it.  Either that, or I'll have 10g of BCAAs or a serving of creatine monohydrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food provides energy without weighing me down too much, and I stay energized throughout the training session.  BCAAs work by providing amino acids your body needs during exertion in a form that doesn't need to be digested.  Your muscles use ATP as their direct energy source.  When ATP is consumed it becomes ADP.  Creatine monohydrate facilitates reconverting that ADP back to ATP--thus allowing you to maintain energy for longer.  If your coach won't like the light fair, then they shouldn't have any problems with the BCAAs or the creatine.  Those are liquid, which also helps your hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preparing for Long Training Sessions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just read the training regimen which is grueling.  To be properly prepared for that, you will need a sizeable meal, but the timing of it is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Between 1-2 hours before training have a good size meal.  Try to stay away from greasy or fatty foods, but get plenty of lean protein and a healthy amount of carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 minutes before training, you can have the light fair or supplements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use regular Gatorade to maintain hydration particularly between the running and the swimming.  It has some sugars and a balanced amount of electrolytes your body will need to keep going.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After training eat whatever you want.  You deserve it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only major change to my recommendation is to time your last meal to be no closer than an hour before training but still close enough that the energy from that meal can be used for your training.  Staying away from fatty or greasy foods will keep the meal easier to digest so you are ready to train without being weighed down.  You can have them after training, but before hand you want protein and carbs.  The protein provides longer term energy and the carbs provide the nearer term energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-05-04T13:18:04.657" LastActivityDate="2013-05-04T13:18:04.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2013-05-04T17:39:17.540" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;i used to be fat and i am same height as you. I exercise usually 6 to 7 days a week and eat daily the right food i do not cheat much maybe once a month. And i still manage to gain weight. I do not eat much either about 1000 to 1200 calories. For a man i will get canned for it that is too little or too much depends on a person. But a ex-fat person has an easier time to gain weight than a skinny person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5769" LastActivityDate="2013-05-04T17:39:17.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12401" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12420" CreationDate="2013-05-04T20:40:00.723" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would one combined with a scale be sufficient?  Or is better to measure on other points?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the accuracy about the same for all scales?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I really need is something that stores or transmits the information, so i don't have to note it down everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2013-05-05T07:32:58.023" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T16:35:32.573" Title="What should I look for in electronic measurement of body composition?" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-05T07:47:34.937" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started taking parkour lessons and after a full day of vaulting and jumping around, the area around my hip flexor (or possible the hip flexor itself, I'm not a doctor) hurts. For some reason, it seems to only happen to my right leg (probably because of a tendency to vault a certain way based on right-handedness). When I stand on my left leg and then lift and rotate my right leg, it feels like a tendon being caught on something. Sometimes after a few rotations or stretching, the feeling will go away (though the soreness remains) but then return again later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying my best not to fall into the trap of trying to self-diagnose with the internet and I can't afford a doctor for the time being, so I'm hoping to find some advice here. Is anyone familiar with the feeling I'm describing? How can I treat and prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attempting to push my knees down while in the butterfly position causes a feeling of tightness (of both legs) in the same spot and I believe it may be similar to what &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1462/why-is-my-outer-hip-tight-when-doing-some-inner-thigh-stretches&quot;&gt;the poster of a similar question&lt;/a&gt; experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2429" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T10:10:59.710" Title="How do I prevent the scraping that occurs when I rotate my leg about my hip?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-12-16T21:58:17.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12408" CreationDate="2013-05-05T09:50:02.487" Score="5" ViewCount="27325" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since asking &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; quite some time ago I have been on a quest to be able to squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I quickly managed to solve the ankle issue I was having by stretching daily against objects under my desk at work, but I still wasn't able to perform a squat. I can get parallel and all the way down into quite a low squat now without a bar, but once I add weight I find it really difficult and feel a lot of pain in my groin, inside my thighs, around the knees and and in my ankles (which make a crunching sound as I get to parallel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read the first chapter of Starting Strength and watched a tonne of videos of Mark explaining the squat. I noticed him mention that &lt;em&gt;the knees should be outward in the same direction as your toes&lt;/em&gt; throughout the movement (at about 30 degrees). This is when I realized that when I stand up and point my feet straight ahead, my knees actually point inward at about 20-30 degrees. I also noticed that when I stand and walk, I generally do so with my toes pointed outward. This becomes an issue when I try to squat because I end up with my feet angling out extremely far so that my knees are wide enough to perform the squat (exceeding 45 degrees). If I try maintain a 30 degree angle with my feet all the way down, my knees end up buckling in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this problem something I can work on, or am I just born this way? Would I need to get an operation on my knees maybe to correct it, or are there exercises that I can perform to correct the angle of my knees over time? Any advice is appreciated. If anyone has any experience with this problem, especially related to performing a squat, then please share how you overcame it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS I have been squatting for several months; I've been using the Smith Machine and I haven't been able to increase my weight at all since starting even though I do them every week. I assume bad form because of my knees and the use of the Smith Machine is the reason for this. I have however increased my weight on leg press machine immensely (started on 40kg, now do 160kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T01:52:51.763" Title="Excercises to try correct knees pointing inward" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12406" CreationDate="2013-05-05T09:59:10.120" Score="4" ViewCount="786" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 40, Male and have been doing hot yoga (Bikram) for a few months - go 4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess my metabolism is slowing down and am having trouble keeping weight off and seem to be loosing muscle mass slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of adding a weight training regimen to my yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to see if someone could point me to a weight training regimen I could use in addition to yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5771" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T05:17:08.370" Title="Adding Strength Training to Yoga" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12405" CreationDate="2013-05-05T13:54:56.877" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Basic Beginner Lifting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were new to weight training and doing yoga (or almost anything) four times a week, I'd either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A) Reduce the yoga (or sport, or hiking, or whatever) to three times a week and weight train twice a week for a while, focusing on achieving a basic standard of strength (see footnote)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B) Keep doing yoga four times a week and strength train once a week, allowing for slower but still productive progress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, since I'd be a novice. Nearly all people new to lifting weights need the same thing: a basic program of squatting, picking things off the floor, pushing things, and pulling things. Barbells are the most efficient for this purpose, and I'll assume their use here. I'd so something vaguely similar to what was recommended to me as a beginner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up for five minutes with biking, running, jumping rope--whatever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prepare my joints with arm circles and leg swings (three sets of ten in each direction), plus joint rotations (one set of ten each, which can also be done before the warm-up) for smaller joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back squat, one set of 20 (with, as always, warm-up sets preceding), adding five pounds each workout until it's very hard, then switching to 3 sets of 5, and being very careful to hit full depth and avoid rounding of the back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate between dips and chin-ups or pull-ups, both for 3 sets of as many reps as possible with good form, eventually adding weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift, one set of 5, taking care to have a locked, neutral spine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're feeling your Wheaties, you can do a set of Hindu push-ups--kind of like up-dog then down-dog, scooping your chest down in the middle of the movement by bending the elbows, thirty times--at the end. The deadlift can come before the upper-body work if you prefer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get feedback on your squat and deadlift frequently, by asking someone competent at the gym to watch, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; by posting a form check video here, at the Starting Strength forums, and on Olympic weightlifting forums. Getting it right is super-&#xA;important. If you find yourself lacking the mobility to do a particular movement, fix that before adding too much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Or Buy Starting Strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If parts of that are confusing, then pick up the book Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. (The second and third editions are both good; the first edition is insufficient for your purposes.) It doesn't match these recommendations exactly, but the general thrust is the same. More importantly, it includes &lt;em&gt;extremely detailed instructions&lt;/em&gt; on how to do each lift correctly and safely, as well as the Why behind each lift. You can easily adapt the lift-three-times-a-week, gain-weight protocol recommended in the book to suit your purposes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Footnote: Just as an example, a basic set of standards for strength might be: squat my bodyweight for reps, 1.5x bodyweight deadlift, ten chin-ups, and fifteen dips. You could use substitutes or different numbers for all of these; the important part is to retain a standard for as many as possible of Squatting, Hinging (a.k.a. a deadlift kind of movement), Pressing, and Pulling. For instance, some people prefer the more strict &quot;1.5xBW front squat, 2xBW deadlift, fifteen pull-ups, bench press 1.25xBW&quot; standard; that's fine and fairly impressive.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-05-05T13:54:56.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12438" CreationDate="2013-05-05T14:40:32.397" Score="12" ViewCount="41336" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do just a few push ups (10 to 20), not an excessive amount. It helps me to increase focus on my work during a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a warm up necessary before doing these or can I go without?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3600" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-12T13:57:22.767" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T05:20:07.093" Title="Is it necessary to warm up before doing a modest number of push ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12404" CreationDate="2013-05-05T14:56:59.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This problem is called &quot;valgus&quot; knee.  Its is more common for females due to the anatomy - wider hip and slight larger Q angle.  However, here are some very common problems for most people with valgus knee, especially during squatting and landing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weakness in hip abductors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weakness in hip external rotators&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pronated feet (flat feet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weakness in posterior chain of hip and knee (glutes and hamstring)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tightness in ITB &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can be due to bad habit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is how to fix this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthen your hip abductors &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthen your posterior chain (glutes and hamstring)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch your Tensor Fascia Latae&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either practice in front of a mirror or have someone continue to watch your form to give you feedback while performing a squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some great scientific journal articles about this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hersheyrehab.com/media/file/342915/influence%20of%20hip%20on%20knee.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip influences knee problems&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/2003/pdfs/158.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip muscle weakness and knee valgus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some exercises to fix this problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ptclinic.com/medlibrary/pdf/758.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TFL stretches&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/single-leg-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Single leg squat&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/stability-ball-hamstring-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stability ball hamstring curl&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E2oie5_oWc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Monster walk&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJikwp2tWrc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Single leg reaching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to stretch everyday, especially during breaks on leg days.  For the rest, try to perform  3 sets of 10-15 reps, 3 days per week with one day of rest in between, focusing on the form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps!                                                           &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-05-06T01:52:51.763" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T01:52:51.763" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-06T09:30:26.483" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have big belly in my stomach, i'm going to get married in a month. So i need to reduce my stomach in home remedies.. Please guys help me with giving some tips. Surely i will follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Kumara Guru Barar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5779" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T09:30:26.483" Title="How to reduce my BIG BELLY into SMALL within 3 to 4 weeks" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-05-07T07:26:47.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-06T12:58:18.730" Score="1" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love indoor climbing. It happened a few times that I caught a handgrip in a particularly bad way and now when I move my wrist a snapping sound is heard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not hurt, everything seems alright. It's just the sound does not sound really naturally. Is there something I can do to get rid of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3600" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T00:48:29.100" Title="Snapping/cracking in joints when moving" Tags="&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7377" CreationDate="2013-05-06T13:05:35.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're getting burned out because of the low carb diet. Your muscles need carbs to function and rebuild, and without much carbs your body will just break down muscle to supply you with energy. Strength training and high protein intake will counteract this to some degree, but cutting excess calories from fat would be the ideal method. Your likely eating lots of healthy fats, which is good health-wise, but not for cutting weight. Your body is just storing that fat and breaking it down during your runs (and not much during climbing or lifting). Cut your intake of fat calories and replace it with carbs. I would suggest eating around 180 grams of carbs (roughly a gram per pound of bodyweight) on training days, with the majority of those carbs in your pre and post workout meals. This will give you better workouts and muscle recovery. Revert back to low carb on rest days. You need at least one rest day a week. Climbing laps might also assist in fat burning, while increasing endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether you should continue running 2-3 miles or opt for sprint/interval training, it's a coin flip. Sprints might burn more fat, but bulk up your legs in the process (adding additional weight). Long distance definitely leans you up, but might encourage muscle loss in areas where you want to keep it (especially if operating on a caloric deficit). If your in your late twenties (or older), you might want some of the increased HGH production you get from running sprints. Try a mixture of both? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5783" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T13:05:35.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12401" CreationDate="2013-05-06T16:35:32.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going to use a body composition monitor, look for one that includes the upper and lower body.  If you get one combined with a scale that you step on, get one that includes the hand held sensor so that your upper body is included in the measurement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accuracy depends.  A monitor can over-estimate or under-estimate, but if you are using it to track your progress, ie are you improving over time, then they can be a useful tracking device. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Units do have memory for different periods of time such as up to 90 days.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on measuring body composition, you will find a lot of helpful information here:   &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;How can I calculate my body fat percentage?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-05-06T16:35:32.573" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12423" CreationDate="2013-05-07T06:35:40.803" Score="3" ViewCount="553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an IT professional, and don't get much time for exercising. I used to go to the gym, but now I dont get much time. All I have is just 15 minutes in the morning to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any fitness equipment at my place. All I do daily is some stretching and a few push ups in addition to a few pull-ups .But doing push ups regularly has created some space between my chest muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So can anyone suggest me a fitness regime that I can follow over a week so that I can focus on other parts of my body as well like shoulders, biceps, triceps without any gym equipment.  Also, an exercise for my chest other than pushups so that I can reduce the space between my chest muscles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5790" LastEditorUserId="5790" LastEditDate="2013-05-08T06:30:09.587" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T05:59:36.550" Title="exercise schedule without gym equipments" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12422" CreationDate="2013-05-07T07:47:44.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; hard to believe that you have a meagre 15 minutes each day to exercise. If that &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the case, you should take a serious look at moving around your schedule to allow more time, at least half an hour to 40 minutes. Stay up later, prepare meals in advance to reduce time spent cooking, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I explain some things that I do without equipment, I'd like to try persuade you into purchasing &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; great piece of equipment that I have used successfully to strengthen myself overall before I started going to a gym - a boxing bag. These are very cheap and in my experience one of the best pieces of equipment you can get to strengthen yourself overall in short sessions. It's also very fun. With a boxing bag, you can break 15 minutes down however you like for interval training. For a beginner, I would suggest 90 second rounds with a 1 minute break. This should give you 6 rounds total. As you advance you could move up to 3 minute rounds with a 30 second break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found the boxing bag really worked my back, triceps, biceps, chest, traps and core. It also has a huge impact on your stamina and balance. Depending on your skill level, you can use a variety of punches and stances to further increase the results. For legs, you can unhook the bag and squat or sprint with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for workouts that I do without a bag, here are a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups - chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide grip pull ups - back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close grip pushups - triceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close grip chinups - biceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstand press (against a wall) - shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse crunches, planks, side planks - core.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not sure what to do about legs. Maybe sprints and bodyweight squats?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2013-05-07T07:47:44.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12428" CreationDate="2013-05-07T11:06:57.927" Score="5" ViewCount="2372" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been leery of weights - it takes me months of very steady progress before I feel at home with them. By comparison: Yoga and Cardio come naturally to me. The only time I did weights seriously (and by that I mean as a supplement to my cardio stuff) was in my twenties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also tend to get injured with weights easily with long recovery times. I've also had two minor back surgeries in the last 20 years - disk tucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I however, feel that, as I get older, I really need to add weights as I feel my muscle loss is now no laughing matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do hot yoga 4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really interested in bulking up - I just want to loose weight, get in better shape and look and feel better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is - Is adding weight training to my yoga routine still a good idea? and if so any important notes that I should know about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5771" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T17:47:38.867" Title="Strength Training and a Bad Back" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12422" CreationDate="2013-05-07T11:44:31.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend the book &quot;Never Gymless&quot; for someone in your situation, imo it is the resource for training without equipment. It has 100s of equipment free exercises for building all aspects of fitness including strength. Some of the exercises are listed below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength Exercises:&#xA;Pushups, Diamond Pushups, Clapping Pushups, One handed Pushups, Pike Presses, Hand Stand Pushups, Calf Raises, Squats, One legged squats, Squat jumps, Pullups, Muscle ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core Exercises:&#xA;Planks, L-sits, chinnies, ab wheel roll out (I know it's equipment but very cheap), dragon flag raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conditioning Exercises:&#xA;Running, Skipping, Burpees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Program creation based on your goals is also covered in the book and a very important part of training. Anyone can exercise but the difference between training and exercise is having a specific goal and tailoring your exercise routine to attain that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5793" LastEditorUserId="5793" LastEditDate="2013-05-07T13:14:06.610" LastActivityDate="2013-05-07T13:14:06.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2013-05-07T12:57:18.177" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to lifting injury free is to keep the intensity manageable and the form correct.  The big 4 lifts: squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press are excellent staples that give you a lot of benefit for the work you do.  However, if you are starting out you may want to work up to them.  The posterior chain is important, and one of the first things we lose when we sit in chairs all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might start with this for a few weeks to build some base strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rounded back extensions. 4x8 at body weight.  Lower your body so the back is rounded, and lead up with your shoulders.  Try to work up to 5x10.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull downs. 4x8 at whatever feels challenging, but you can still do with good form.  Work up to 5x10.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges.  50 reps total (25 each leg).  Start body weight, and when that feels really easy use dumbbells at your side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline press. 3x5 at a weight you can control for the whole movement.  Bring the bar down so that it is parallel with your chin, and then back up.  Bringing the bar lower won't make you that much stronger, and has the potential of hurting your shoulder.  Be conservative and start light--even with just the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lets you build some foundational strength that will be necessary for performing the big 4.  It also lets you do something that isn't quite as technical to get started.  Once you feel confident with that, I would recommend moving on to something like Wendler 5-3-1.  Your stated goal is to at least maintain your muscle, and bring back some of what you lost--not try to get as strong as possible as quickly as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler 5-3-1 only increases weight once a month, and keeps the weight manageable with weights you should be able to handle if you choose an easy starting point.  It has the concept of AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) on the top set of the main exercise for the day, and that is AMRAP with good form.  If your form starts to break down, stop the set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-07T12:57:18.177" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-07T14:14:23.740" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 28 Years old Male. My height is 5.6 feet, and weight is 45 KG. My BMI is 17, and I am underweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look very skinny, and I get insulted by many people when I am in public gatherings like Birthdays, marriages etc. I look like a teenager. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 4 months I am going to get married, and for that I want to look like a MAN and not like a kid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest weight gaining exercises, foods, and supplements (if required).&#xA;I am a non vegetarian and non alcoholic. I want to look like a healthy person. Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5795" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-05-08T17:21:38.520" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T17:21:38.520" Title="I want to gain weight. 15 KGs in 5 months" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-05-07T16:05:00.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6861" CreationDate="2013-05-07T16:51:26.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biologically speaking- you can and will lose muscle fibers as part of regular aging or if you  become stagnant.  However, you can always build on muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referece: Bio 101 in college&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5796" LastActivityDate="2013-05-07T16:51:26.737" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12433" CreationDate="2013-05-08T00:47:50.953" Score="5" ViewCount="1325" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was considering taking part in marathon, but recently I came across this &lt;a href=&quot;http://athlete.io/5343/why-women-should-not-run/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;. To summarize, the author claims that long distance running, and actually any cardio done for hours  at or above 65 percent of your max heart rate, is harmful particularly for females as it devastates their metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies—both clinical and observational—make a compelling case that too much cardio can impair the production of the thyroid hormone T3, its effectiveness and metabolism[1-11], particularly when accompanied by caloric restriction, an all too common practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When T3 levels are normal, the body burns enough energy to stay warm, and muscles function at moderate efficiency. When there’s too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism), the body goes into a state where weight gain is almost impossible. Too little T3 (hypothyroidism), and the body accumulates body fat with ease, almost regardless of physical activity level. Women inadvertently put themselves into a hypothyroid condition when they perform so much steady-state cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then he also makes a point that too much running causes muscle loss that in turn might be detrimental to general health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of years ago I did 3 half-marathons, and I must admit, although I trained a lot I remained chunky. Shortly after my runs I switched to non-mixing diet as well as removed all processed food from my diet and without any regular physical activity I lost 8kg. I concluded that it was the wrong diet that didn't help me lose weight while running. But after reading the above article it makes me think that maybe it was due to running and metabolism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: are the claims that running ruins metabolism true? I am aware that there are many myths around that females should not do plenty of sports, but this author is making a strong claim about cardio while promoting other activities in the gym like weightlifting (throughout his website, not explicitly in the article).&#xA;Another thing is that I was considering marathon mainly as a challenge and a test for my endurance as I am not interested in losing weight anymore. But then the muscle loss might occur which is definitely not my goal.&#xA;If the metabolism and muscle loss claims true, then running doesn't seem healthy to me anymore - is it correct or am I missing something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5798" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T17:22:52.360" Title="Is long distance running harmful for women?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12431" CreationDate="2013-05-08T02:05:31.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is in some ways quite broad, but in the narrow sense: yes, long distance slow paced steady-state cardio like marathon running absolutely reduces muscle mass, and has a distinctly diminished return on investment after you've been doing it for a while. That is, if you work yourself up to running X miles every week, staying at X miles each week will eventually not do much good for losing weight, since your body will adapt to the activity. There's more nuance there, but it's not wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with the ways in which this might be particularly harmful to women, but I am quite aware that the training goals of many women are to lose fat or have a particular body type. Long, slow, steady-state cardio helps work towards that goal, but works a lot better when mixed with a lot more short high-intensty interval training and heavy weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T02:05:31.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12431" CreationDate="2013-05-08T03:08:39.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, to the extant that endurance training makes you lose muscle mass, it will likely be noticeable as its happening.  If you WANTED to do distance running, it might make sense to combine it with a basic strength workout once or twice a week.  That way, as you lose strength, at least you'll be able to see it happening, and track its progress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is totally from my personal experience, this i what I've done when I wanted to do some heavy endurance activity for a while (road cycling, rock climbing).  I would lose strength through a summer / fall season of these activities, but keeping a minimal strength program going helped minimize the loss, and maintained a foundation to re-gain strength in the winter when I was indoors more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this is going to be sensitive to the particulars of your situation (exactly how much you're trying to run, exactly how strong you naturally are, and what level you're trying to maintain).  A lot of these effects (how different activities affect your strength and energy levels) are pretty noticeable, and if you don't like what you're seeing, you can always revise your training plan.   You may be better off thinking less about what happens to athletes in the abstract, and what you actually see happening to &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; as you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T03:08:39.743" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12436" CreationDate="2013-05-08T09:38:35.840" Score="18" ViewCount="66036" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polar.com/us-en/products/accessories/Polar_WearLink_transmitter_with_Bluetooth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Polar heart rate monitor chest strap&lt;/a&gt;, and a compatible Android phone on which I can run a number of different apps for recording my heart rate. My primary interest is in how many calories I am burning during any one exercise. I play a variety of sports and run regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What concerns me is that just about every app I've tried comes with an option to select a type of exercise, and then it will calculate different calorie burn rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worse, these different calorie burn rates seem to be derived from a lot of assumptions about how much a person &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; burn doing these activities, not what I'm &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; doing. As a test, I've tried connecting the heart rate monitor, choosing an activity, like &quot;team sports&quot; or &quot;rock climbing&quot;, and then just standing there without moving. Regardless of the fact that I'm not actually doing anything, each app shows me burning calories fairly aggressively, as if I were engaged in that activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I really want is an objective measure, something that doesn't try and make guesses based on the type of workout I'm doing, and lets me know what the most likely minimum calorie burn I am doing given my current exertion level, as measured by my heart rate. And, of course, taking in some known measurements about me, such as my height, weight, and age. Maybe GPS and pedometer as well, but whatever measurements it uses, it should be objective and not assumed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/6468/2053&quot;&gt;this related question&lt;/a&gt;, which leads me to believe that it should be possible to only use heart rate, and yet I can't find an app for Android that does that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it actually not possible? Is there a reason why these apps are all making up numbers and not just going with the heart rate input?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2053" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2019-08-27T12:46:43.500" Title="Is it possible to measure calorie burn from heart rate alone?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12435" CreationDate="2013-05-08T11:27:19.607" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is, this is the Formula when you dont know the VO2max (Maximal oxygen consumption)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Male:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;((-55.0969 + (0.6309 x HR) + (0.1988 x W) + (0.2017 x A))/4.184) x 60 x T&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Female:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;((-20.4022 + (0.4472 x HR) - (0.1263 x W) + (0.074 x A))/4.184) x 60 x T&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;HR = Heart rate (in beats/minute)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;W = Weight (in kilograms)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A = Age (in years)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;T = Exercise duration time (in hours)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With VO2max known you can calculate the calories burned like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Male:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;((-95.7735 + (0.634 x HR) + (0.404 x VO2max) + (0.394 x W) + (0.271 x A))/4.184) x 60 x T&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Female:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;((-59.3954 + (0.45 x HR) + (0.380 x VO2max) + (0.103 x W) + (0.274 x A))/4.184) x 60 x T*&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx&quot;&gt;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a online Calculater Tool on this Website if you dont want to calculate everything on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the bottom of the Website you also have some calculations about the Equation for determination of the maximal Heartrate based on age and the equation for Exercise Intensity Conversion from %MHR to %VO2max. But I don't know what to do with these 2 Formula so i didn't post them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T11:27:19.607" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12431" CreationDate="2013-05-08T13:18:29.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seriously doubt that long distance running can ruin your metabolism, especially when we're talking about 3 half marathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually women have a lower abandon rate than men at ultramarathons, double, triple or deca ironmans or similar endurance races. There are a lot of examples for this - you can check out Chris McDougall best-seller &quot;Born To Run&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_to_run.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_to_run.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you expect to lose weight only by running (unless you run hundred or more miles a week), you might be waiting quite some time for this to happen :). You need to combine this with a healthy life - I don't like diet as I don't believe in diets - restricted and calculated. I think you should eat natural (as much as possible) food, dropping sugar, burned fats and maintaining a well balanced intake of most of the basic nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myself I started long distance running less than two years ago and meantime I ran 15 marathons (of which mostly mountain ones, a 70km ultra) and several half's. I personally feel that my metabolism has but improved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5070" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T13:18:29.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12407" CreationDate="2013-05-08T15:19:30.660" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, if you want to perform an exercise set then a warm up is &lt;em&gt;preferred&lt;/em&gt;. We all know this, but I found some great &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mydr.com.au/sports-fitness/warming-up-and-cooling-down-for-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;documentation&lt;/a&gt; on what a warm up actually does, and why one should do it. Most notably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What does a warm up do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;increases blood flow to the muscles, which enhances the delivery of oxygen and nutrients;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;warms your muscles, which promotes the energy-releasing reactions used during exercise and makes the muscles more supple;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;prepares your muscles for stretching;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;prepares your heart for an increase in activity;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the type of warm ups you could do, one comment to your question suggested jumping jacks and that's a great warm up that will accomplish the goals above. Another one is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt;, which is kind of encroaching on the push up kinetics a bit, but still worth a mention. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyeZM-_VnRc&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mountain Climbers as well&lt;/a&gt;, just to name a few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note&lt;/em&gt;: I didn't used to be a warm up person (1/4-1/2 mile jog before weightlifting was about it), but I've since re-thought the whole warm up idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T15:19:30.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12440" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12443" CreationDate="2013-05-08T16:03:40.267" Score="6" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I commute by bicycle every day, and sometimes I use my commute for training and to improve my fitness (I wear cycling clothes and shower when I arrive, so I can push hard if needed).  About a month ago I obtained a heart rate monitor to aid my training.  Based on my physical characteristics, male age 31 5'9&quot; 200 lbs, I should have a max heart rate of around 185.  However, in the last month my heart rate rarely exceeded 160 BPM, even on some tough climbs, and I've only ever exceeded 170 BPM twice, and only for a few seconds, once reaching 171 and once 174.  This is despite numerous &quot;all-out&quot; efforts over the course of the commute.  What number should I use for my max heart rate for the purposes of interval training and endurance training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5800" LastEditorUserId="5800" LastEditDate="2013-05-08T17:42:13.053" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T19:33:33.133" Title="Should I use observed max heart rate from workouts for zone training?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12035" CreationDate="2013-05-08T17:25:54.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to prepare for a real life situation is to train the same way, at least mostly. So, in your specific case, You should start by &lt;em&gt;climbing stairs&lt;/em&gt;. You don't have to climb the same amount as will be in the competition, but start gradually and work your way up. Since this competition is about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Endurance&#xA;2) Strength&#xA;3) Speed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you should train those aspects in that order. I say that order because you can't finish if you don't have enough endurance or strength, no matter how long it takes, and strength means nothing if you've 'maxed out' by the second flight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Train the primary muscles&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This includes climbing actual stairs, as well as the stair stepper at the gym. Given the choice actual stairs are your best option, as they directly relate to what will be required for the competition. One or two stairs isn't really relevant at this point, because you will be focusing on cardio, legs, and glutes, and it &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; tax you  :-). The point of this section of training is to get the primary muscles ready for the competition, to make sure they are physically prepared to go the distance, and they will know what to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Train the secondary muscles&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondary muscles are sometimes overlooked unfortunately, but this would give you a slight advantage against other competitors who don't train them. Often called support muscles, these are the muscles that help the primary muscles function. Think of how a bench works (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;primarily&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;)chest and triceps, but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;secondarily&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; works the shoulders and traps. The secondary muscles in your case could be abs, calves, and even shoulders -- if you swing your arms back and forth when you step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is, you should see slight to decent improvements when training if you work these muscles outside of primary training. This doesn't have to be super-intense or heavy training, light-weight high-rep training is fine, this is &lt;em&gt;endurance&lt;/em&gt; training which is exactly what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice I didn't speak much about endurance speed and strength training. There's info on the site about training in this fashion, but to summarize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Endurance&lt;/em&gt; training involves mostly low intensity and long duration. For your particular application, start the stairs slow and make completion your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Strength&lt;/em&gt; -- To put it simply -- is the polar opposite of endurance. This high intensity short duration. There are some merge areas between strength and endurance where you'd work both, but that's out of scope here. For your application, this is where you'd pick the amount of stairs you want to climb at once. On one extreme, you could jump 6-10 stairs at a time (or however many your stride length allows), but the duration would be extremely short. On the other extreme, you could stick to one stair at a time. You'd have to find your own sweet spot, but as you found out, endurance is key so strength should be an afterthought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Speed&lt;/em&gt; -- 'nuff said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this helps future visitors also, as well as your training for next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T17:25:54.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12440" CreationDate="2013-05-08T17:35:07.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to get the most out of your workouts, then training in your &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;target heart rate zone&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is one step toward doing that. Hence the word &lt;em&gt;zone&lt;/em&gt;, its actually a range of bpm that you want to stay in during your workout. From what I've seen, %50-80 of your max is sufficient, I don't think anyone can train very close to their max for very long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also don't say much about if a certain exercise will put you there. If you've been biking long, then biking the same route every day may not put you in your t.h.z. like, say, sprinting for example. It's all about adaptation there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The calculators are also an estimate, don't be afraid to dial it up or down as needed. If the monitor says your operating at 160 but you're barely breaking a sweat, try wearing a weight vest for added resistance, for example. After listening to your body in addition to where the formula puts you, you'll know your &lt;em&gt;true&lt;/em&gt; target heart rate zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calculator_target.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THR calculator&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T17:35:07.653" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12440" CreationDate="2013-05-08T19:33:33.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use max heart rate to determine training zones assuming you can get an accurate max heart rate. There are several calculations you can use to guess a max heart rate zone. However, max heart rates can very drastically and in many cases is NOT an indicator of overall health. Some people have really high max heart rates because they have a very high resting heart rate. Some people are the exact opposite. And others have a smaller range between max heart rate and resting heart rate. A good field test can determine your max heart rate better than any calculation. The problem with a field test for a max heart rate is that it is difficult to perform on a bike, outside and do so safely. So, it is commonly done on a bike trainer which may or may not be as accurate as riding outside. Also, if done correctly, your body will be in such a state of stress and fatigue that you will need several days to recover.  May I offer an alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of focusing on a max heart rate, let's use your aerobic threshold and build your zones based off that number. Your aerobic threshold is the effort and/or heart rate where you body changes from a mostly aerobic state to a mostly anaerobic state. A common set of training zones, often used in endurance sports, like triathlon is Z1-Z5 where Z1 is easier than Z2 is easier than Z3, etc. Z3 is usually right around your aerobic threshold and Z5 is just about full on effort that can only be handled for very short periods of time. Many people find benefit from training in a Z2 zone (aerobic) for long periods of time and then throwing in some short Z4 and Z5 intervals to build anaerobic performance. But, many more people that do not do zone training suffer from a lot of Z3 training - they are going too hard to build aerobic endurance but aren't working hard enough to build anaerobic performance, speed and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also note that the Z1-Z5 zones is only one example of zone training. I've also seen and used other programs that have many more zones and are named A1, A2, A3, AT1, AT2, etc.&#xA;There are several resources available to determine your zones once you know your anaerobic threshold and/or lactic threshold, which are similar, but may not be the same heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://philmaffetone.com/180formula.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phil Maffetone&lt;/a&gt; has a fairly simple way of figuring out similar to a Z2 heart rate zone for you without any field tests. Some will argue or agree that this is where you should spend the majority of your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/quick-guide-to-setting-zones.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Joe Friel&lt;/a&gt; also describes setting your zones (Z1-Z5) based on your lactic threshold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bike Zones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 1 Less than 81% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 2 81% to 89% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 3 90% to 93% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 4 94% to 99% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 5a 100% to 102% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 5b 103% to 106% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 5c More than 106% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one last point. An example field test to find your aerobic threshold or lactic threshold is to do a time trial. For instance warm up slowly over 15 minutes to a comfortable but low race pace effort. At 15 minutes in the TT will begin. You want to go as hard as you can at an effort (not speed) that you can maintain for 30 minutes. 10 minutes into the TT, hit the lap button on your HRM. And after the full 30 minute TT, hit the lap button again. Cool down appropriately. Your average HR for the 20 minute second part of the TT can be used as the base for the Zones. If you go out too hard and cannot maintain a stead effort for the full 30 minutes, you will probably want to try the field test again in a week or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2013-05-08T19:33:33.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12455" CreationDate="2013-05-09T14:39:02.123" Score="9" ViewCount="3022" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently 5'9&quot;, 262.8 at last weight in (about 10 days ago). I'm still cutting, by no means am I 'obese', although that's what my BMI says. I have plenty muscle mass, but to be honest I could stand to lose a few pounds (got married, stop lifting, etc). At my best physique I was between 175-195, and BF% floated between 7-10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside of that is, according to the blanket bmi chart &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iIujI.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm dangerously obese, and even at my top physique I not even &lt;em&gt;close&lt;/em&gt; to the target range (160 is definitely out of the question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My health insurance provider (among other companies) regard BMI as the end all be all of healthiness, which is certainly not the case. So, my question is: Has anyone been able to talk with these companies regarding this? I know I'm taking a chance with this being off topic, and that's fine (we need off topic examples anyway) but I know I'm not the only person in this dilemma. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastEditorUserId="5013" LastEditDate="2013-05-09T15:17:42.677" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T01:58:50.620" Title="Is there any way I can convince companies I'm in great shape, despite my BMI results?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12445" CreationDate="2013-05-09T15:11:19.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not had a discussion with an insurance provider, or had the need to have that conversation. But, I have had similar conversations with similar, physically strong people with regards to BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt any single person will change the health industry from using BMI as a guideline for insurance premiums. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not work for an insurance provider, but if we are to use a single measurement of health, there are arguments for using BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI is body MASS index. In simple terms, &lt;strong&gt;it is simply the effect of your MASS on your heart&lt;/strong&gt;. Mass is not biased. Two hundred pounds of mass is 200 pounds. There is no difference on the stress of your heart if that two hundred pounds is 4% body fat or 40% body fat. The heart still needs to support the stress of 200 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, absolutely, 4% body fat is generally better than 40% body fat especially in terms of high blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. But, again, BMI is all about total MASS, not body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think we are trained, maybe from various media, that the term obese is only associated with high fat and overweight people. But, in reality obesity is simply a measure of mass or BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If again we accept that BMI is a valid measure of simply stress on the heart, then one must agree that the BMI scale is a good single indicator for health insurance companies. With heart disease and heart attacks being top causes of death and other related (high cost) issues in the United States, it's simply a way of filtering the highest risk candidates with the lowest number of tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2013-05-09T15:11:19.083" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12451" CreationDate="2013-05-09T17:35:20.437" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question regarding circuit training.  I have been reading on circuit training, and it seems optimal for my routine as I don't have much time to spare at the moment but would like to fit in say 30 minutes of resistance training when I can manage.  Given they can target the full body, I think they would be ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would one use the same weight-total for all stations, or do you change them?  For example, if I start with a 5kg dumbell, do I continue with it, or would I change it based on exercise?  Given that most circuits expect you to jump from one station to another in seconds, changing weights would prove quite time consuming I guess, thats why I'm asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also any opinions on circuit-training in general would be appreciated, as well as any sample workout templates for beginners like me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5811" LastActivityDate="2013-05-09T17:56:18.853" Title="circuit weight training and total weight used" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12450" CreationDate="2013-05-09T17:56:18.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not &lt;em&gt;mandatory&lt;/em&gt; to use the same weight for every exercise in the circuit, especially since some exercises may not require weight at all, and some may require more weight than can be performed with other exercises. The main thing to keep in mind with circuits is to keep moving. Try to pick weight that will allow you to complete your circuit the first time around, and then try to increase the resistance or circuit repetitions, depending on your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-05-09T17:56:18.853" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12418" CreationDate="2013-05-09T18:34:20.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its impossible for us to give you precise advice - this could be OK, or it could be a sign of a growing injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you grabbed a hold wrong, and now your wrist is behaving oddly (popping in a specific position), I'd take it as a sign that you have a very mild injury / overuse, and to take a couple nights / a week off and see if it gets better.  Maybe you should also climb a little lower grades / less strenuous routes for a little while.  Continuing to train on it may be OK, or it may make it worse, there's no real way for us to know out here on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements and taping with athletic tape both sometimes get recommended, but I've never had them work for me.  Sometimes there's no substitute for proper rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-05-10T00:48:29.100" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T00:48:29.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-09T19:41:29.777" Score="2" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read in the wikipedia some time ago that the height/weight index was generated using statistics taken from soldiers as subjects of study in the war, but now I can't find the article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the records... I'm particularly interested in whether it is being updated, and how so often, and if it was repeated using updated data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5812" LastActivityDate="2013-05-09T19:41:29.777" Title="Year in which it was established and subjects of study of height/weight index" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-05-10T01:36:33.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12469" CreationDate="2013-05-09T21:46:25.237" Score="6" ViewCount="69224" Body="&lt;p&gt;It measures &quot;very active time&quot; in addition to steps, but I have no idea what that means.  Assuming it's based on &quot;lots of arm movement, does that mean that it'll pick up jogging, but not a stationary bike?  Is there some way to tell it I'm (finally, at long last) working out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3934" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T23:37:18.957" Title="How does the fitness flex define &quot;active time&quot;" Tags="&lt;fitbit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12445" CreationDate="2013-05-09T23:10:49.977" Score="7" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medical Checkup&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to convince your health insurance provider that you are in great shape is to show them the results of your physical exam showing that you pass with flying colors.  Your medical doctor would be the one to determine whether or not you are healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BMI is a screening tool&lt;/strong&gt; - NOT a diagnostic tool.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html#Used&quot;&gt;As stated by the CDC&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BMI is used as a screening tool to identify &lt;strong&gt;possible&lt;/strong&gt; weight problems for adults. However, BMI is &lt;strong&gt;not a diagnostic tool&lt;/strong&gt;. For example, a person may have a high BMI. However, to determine if excess weight is a health risk, a healthcare provider would &lt;strong&gt;need to perform further assessments&lt;/strong&gt;. These assessments might include &lt;strong&gt;skinfold thickness measurements&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;evaluations of diet&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;physical activity&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;family history&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;other appropriate health screenings&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that I am not a doctor and cannot give you medical advice I can't tell you which tests would show that your are healthy. Some of the tests your doctor performs will show if you are at higher risk for heart disease and other health conditions.  According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/risk.htm&quot;&gt;National Institute of Health risk factors&lt;/a&gt; include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•High blood pressure (hypertension) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•High LDL cholesterol (&quot;bad&quot; cholesterol) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•Low HDL cholesterol (&quot;good&quot; cholesterol) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•High triglycerides &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•High blood glucose (sugar) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•Family history of premature heart disease &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•Physical inactivity &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•Cigarette smoking &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So having normal blood pressure, good cholesterol levels and ratios, normal blood glucose levels etc. could give your insurance diagnostic tests indicating your health.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Waist Measurements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Waist measurements are another part of the assessment. The more weight you carry around the middle, the more your heart health is at risk. Measure your:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist circumference &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist to Hip Ratio &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist to Height Ratio &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally your waist circumference should measure half your height or less.&#xA;Your waist to hip ratio should fall between .9 to 1.0 for men and .8 to .85 for women.  Waist circumference can be used as and indicator of obesisty with measurements determined as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Men —  Greater than 40 inches (101.6 cm) are obese  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women —  Greater than 35 inches (88.9 cm) are obese&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(These values can be even lower depending on ethnicity.) Our site has a page on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot;&gt;waist measurements and ratios&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the above, combined with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Body-Fat-Percentage-Chart.html#Women&quot;&gt;healthy body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; can help you determine your health risks.  If these values are in the healthy range, you have good data to give your health insurer or other companies.  If these values are not in the healthy range then see @JohnP's comment :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-05-09T23:10:49.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2013-05-10T00:52:37.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medical Clearance:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that your surgeon has given you the ok for weight training.  Given that you have had back surgery and have previously injured yourself using weights, you may want to check with your physical therapist for an evaluation of any muscle weaknesses or limitations of motion that you may have so that you can address these before adding a load to your spine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stabilization Exercises:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the deeper control muscles (such as the multifidi) are weak and do not help to protect the spine.  A stabilization exercise program that includes &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;abdominal muscle control&lt;/a&gt;, esp. the transverse abdominus, multifidus, glutes and back extensors will help to prepare you for adding weights to your exercise routine.  Before the term &quot;core&quot; strengthening became over utilized, the term meant learning to use these core muscles to control the position of your spine in a stable position before you began adding movement of the arms and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioroom.com/prevention/core_strength/core_strength_1.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This stabilization exercise program&lt;/a&gt; describes some of the stabilization exercises, including how to contract the transverse abs and multifidus, how to maintain control in functional positions, while adding arm and leg movements, and how to progress to more difficult stabilization exercises using a swiss ball.  If you have good control with these exercises, then you are more likely to be successful with strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength Training:&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find that you can do resistance training more comfortably with resistance bands before you are comfortable with weights.  But whether you use weights or bands for strength training, having a therapist checkout your form and assure that you are stabilizing your spine well may help to keep you injury free. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T00:52:37.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2013-05-10T03:14:23.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow, VFFs are so environmently unfriendly if they need a machine wash so often, plus all that effort after the wash. I sweat well above average, and have experienced the same stink issues with my Komodo Sport VFF. I have hit upon an environmentally friendly solution that actually works, thanks to Grandma :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wash them in tap water after every use, sun dry, and then pop one half of a used (squeezed out) lime or lemon into each shoe overnight. By next morning, the stink is 95% gone and the shoes are ready to go. Works every time. Good old Grandma!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5815" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T03:14:23.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-10T04:00:58.740" Score="4" ViewCount="1249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22 years old, weigh 80 kg and 5' 7&quot; (170 cm) in height. I have a tummy like a giant basketball, for which people make fun of me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't always like this. I used to be VERY lean and thin until I was 18. Then things took a dramatic turn and I was on antipsychotic drugs for two years. During this time I became what I'm today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got a bike and I've started riding and it feels great. I have more energy and I don't feel like a giant sloth all the time. So, I've decided to start running. I've tried to start it real slow but I failed. I can barely go 100 meters. So, I'm looking for some kind of exercise that'll will help to make my leg muscles ready for running/jogging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: Except the biking for the last few days I barely had any physical exercise(not even any sports) in the last 4 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I've found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/beginners/8-week-beginners-program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this 8 week program&lt;/a&gt;, which seems to be very carefully structured. I'll give it a try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5816" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-05-10T08:38:37.103" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T14:50:48.543" Title="How to prepare yourself before starting to run regularly?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12454" CreationDate="2013-05-10T10:16:54.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/1020095-what-are-%22very-active-minutes%22-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From the Fitbit help pages:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You earn &quot;Very Active Minutes&quot; when you wear your Fitbit while doing&#xA;  cardio workouts and high intensity activities like jogging, running,&#xA;  aerobics, biking, rowing, or anything where you are working up a&#xA;  sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By default, you are given a starting goal of 30 Very Active Minutes a&#xA;  day based on the Center for Disease Control's recommendation of 20-30&#xA;  minutes of daily moderate-to-intense activity. You can always change&#xA;  your Very Active Minutes goal to meet your personal needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which doesn't tell us much, though I suspect it should be able to pick up forward accelerations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other help topic mention your concern &lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/176113-does-the-fitbit-tracker-accurately-track-calories-from-cycling-and-biking-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regarding cycling:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All Fitbit trackers are optimized for walking, running, and general&#xA;  household and lifestyle activities.  It will not be as accurate for&#xA;  activities like biking, but will record that your were active if you&#xA;  wear your tracker during a non-walking or running activity.   For&#xA;  increased accuracy, go to: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitbit.com/activities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fitbit.com/activities&lt;/a&gt; or click&#xA;  the &quot;log activity&quot; icon from your Dashboard to manually log activities&#xA;  like cycling. This will allow for a more accurate estimated calorie&#xA;  burn for workouts like cycling to be included in your daily totals.&#xA;  Our online database of workouts makes it easy to save and access your&#xA;  favorite activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/176113-does-the-fitbit-tracker-accurately-track-calories-from-cycling-and-biking-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;and:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All Fitbit trackers are optimized for walking, running, and general&#xA;  household and lifestyle activities.  It will not be as accurate for&#xA;  activities like biking, but will record that your were active if you&#xA;  wear your tracker during a non-walking or running activity.   For&#xA;  increased accuracy, go to: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitbit.com/activities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fitbit.com/activities&lt;/a&gt; or click&#xA;  the &quot;log activity&quot; icon from your Dashboard to manually log activities&#xA;  like cycling. This will allow for a more accurate estimated calorie&#xA;  burn for workouts like cycling to be included in your daily totals.&#xA;  Our online database of workouts makes it easy to save and access your&#xA;  favorite activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's more information &lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/413311-activity-logging&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regarding manual logging&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that the Fitbit Flex uses a 3-axial accelerometer, I reckon it starts counting Very Active Minutes as soon as it notices a deviation from patterns of known activities such as normal walking, sitting or lying down/sleep. Especially if you fall into a repetitive pattern, it should be able to reliably determine you're doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice for cycling: put the wristband around your ankles, they might record awkward data, but it'll surely be very reliable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T10:16:54.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-10T10:51:07.510" Score="4" ViewCount="601" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is one of these vibrating platforms at the gym and a chart with different positions to exercise different body parts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_body_vibration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_body_vibration&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to combine this platform exercises for legs and back with the standard 30 minutes x-trainer plus weights that I do every day. I split my weights sessions usually into 3 different days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the best combination for the vibration platform exercises together with the x-trainer and weights sessions I am doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastActivityDate="2013-05-11T08:45:23.257" Title="when to use vibrating platforms" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12470" CreationDate="2013-05-10T14:39:32.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the good uses that I'm aware of for vibrating platforms is during rehabilitation. I had an Achilles tendon surgically repaired last year, and extended time with absolutely no calf activity left it atrophied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During rehabilitation (for my injury and other lower limb injuries), the plate was used to stand on and do various bodyweight exercises (With appropriate railing support) to increase the muscle activation and workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for an able bodied person, I think it would actually detract from the exercise, as you are concentrating on balance more than the exercise form, and you lose whatever you might be gaining because of a less effective lift. There are very few lifts (swiss ball exercises notwithstanding) that I am aware of where you want a less stable platform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T14:39:32.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12635" CreationDate="2013-05-10T14:46:54.347" Score="4" ViewCount="6842" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 25yo 170cm x 57kg and I like run&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I started running 3 years ago, because I wanted to lose weight, so after few months I get rid of 25kg~, after that I continued running more seriously, and I improved and improved...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually I run about 250km/month and my 10Km personal best in 39:30..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout about 5day/week plus, sometimes on saturday or sunday I practice some low intensity trekking or MTB...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the summer I &quot;run&quot; some trail/skytrail...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have a nice form, but nothing &quot;extreme&quot;, I'm lightweight I can feel the ABS under my skin but I cannot see it... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately I feel like I'm annoying to run so I skipped few workouts, and loosen my general form so I would like to try Insanity or P90X workout, for the reasons above and also for a challenge against myself  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goal is to  improve myself without losing much &quot;running form&quot;, and if it's possible improve it, and get a better muscle definition!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between the two (&lt;strong&gt;Insanity - P90X&lt;/strong&gt;), I'm more like towards the first one, mainly because it's more cardio/fitness related and I do not need tools...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;here's the questions, assuming my form and my routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you prefer Insanity or P90X?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you suggest to continue running instead of Insanity?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switching from running to Insanity/P90X workout could give a benefits or rather than that worsen my &quot;running&quot; form? (speaking of endurance/speed/etc)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume I switch to Insanity, I can run/MTB/Trekking as well as doing the daily workout? (not every day, and not stressful exercises)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the weight I am (last time I checked (september) I had 5.5% body fat), I would like to get a better body definition and, as I said, improve my endurance/speed etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Said so, acutally I did not have a particular diet, although I did it in in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My regular routine is: eat 5 times a day, breakfast/morning meal/lunch/afternoon meal/dinner, drink about 1lt water in the morning, 1lt water in the afternoon and 1/2lt tea/water in the evening&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in italy, I have a well rounded diet, I eat everything and especially a lot of vegetables...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I don't mind to write the entire diet but I do not want to be lengthy...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the main problem, for me, to completly follow a program like Insanity or P90X is to strictly abide the diet, I live with other people and it could be difficult to manage a particular diet routine, sometimes they just cook something and having a different meal isn't a possibility...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2258" LastEditorUserId="2258" LastEditDate="2013-05-11T00:59:27.200" LastActivityDate="2013-05-30T22:12:19.723" Title="Running vs Insanity vs P90X" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;performance&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12459" CreationDate="2013-05-10T19:30:41.177" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on getting started.  Now that you have recognized the benefits of exercise - having more energy and feeling better, you should have motivation to continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have chosen a progressive program that combines walking and running, gradually increasing the degree of difficulty.  You have some good links in the comment section to information and programs such at Couch to 5k which will get you started on the right track.  Choose the program that speaks to you, then stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that you should not overlook is the medical disclaimer to always check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.  Although you are young, it is still a good idea to check with your doctor to discuss your plans.  Your physician will give you a checkup, evaluate your weight and give you your baseline measurements. This will help you track your improvements to your health and provide motivation to keep going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this q/a for some information on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3421/useful-measurements-tracking-approach-for-a-fitness-strategy&quot;&gt;tracking your progress&lt;/a&gt;.  Keeping a log of your walks/runs/time/distance etc. will help you see your progress over time. A pedometer can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important discussion to have with your doctor is your nutrition since your goal is to lose your tummy.  If your &quot;basketball&quot; is abdominal fat, diet is an important factor.  If lack of muscle tone is an issue, consider these &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout&quot;&gt;abominal exercises&lt;/a&gt; instead of traditional crunches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other considerations to prevent injuries as you start to run regularly are a proper warm up, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/113/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-running-shoe&quot;&gt;good shoes&lt;/a&gt; and a cool down period. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8262/dynamic-stretching-as-warm-up/8308#8308&quot;&gt;Dynamic warm up&lt;/a&gt; exercises prepare your joints, connective tissues, heart and nervous system to be ready for the workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your new exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-05-10T19:30:41.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2013-05-11T01:53:21.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Old but interesting question, so I thought I might add some points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid the arms to legs length ratio, I guess it is more important to focus on how close our upper body is to our thighs while bending. Can we fold totally or is the angle between the two more than 45 degrees? Can we lay the upper body flat on the thighs or do we actually make an arc to reach the toes? Myself I have rather short legs and it takes me only a small bend to touch my toes. My goal, however, is to lay my chest flat on my thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Years ago my kung fu teacher taught me that flexibility is somewhat connected with breathing. While you bend over and think that you reached your limit, breathe deeply and once you exhale, try to bend a few centimeters further. For me it always worked and during my kung fu years my flexibility was excellent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I started experimenting with yoga, and here there is also a clear emphasis on breathing. As I synchronize my movements with breathing, even tricky positions become much easier to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both kung fu and yoga practitioners strive to reach the balance between the strength and flexibility. So I would say that if one cannot touch their toes, it is a sign that there is some disharmony in the physical fitness. Either too much strength or too little of both, strength and flexibility. &#xA;Another thing is that yoga is a holistic system and the lack of flexibility can translate to some emotional/energy blocks, but of course this makes sense only if one is interested in the spiritual side of yoga...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5798" LastActivityDate="2013-05-11T01:53:21.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12470" CreationDate="2013-05-11T08:45:23.257" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;During my studies I participated in an experiment where we had to maintain squats off varying degrees on and off a vibrating platform. They compared our heart rate and oxygen uptake, to see if it had any effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the idea was that when you're in a deep squat, the blood flow in your legs gets occluded due to the pressure of the tensed muscles on your arteries. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19125731&quot;&gt;similar, published study&lt;/a&gt;. Because of the occlusion, you would start to fatigue, because your muscles don't get enough oxygen and thus have to work anaerobically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results of the study showed no advantage when using the vibrating platform, which has been the result of other (independent) studies as well. As a disclaimer, my university got sued by Powerplate, because they published some studies claiming vibrating plates didn't work, so you can understand my skepticism. However, other groups published results &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.comfitsolutions.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/WBV_-_Versus_Resistance_Training.13001634.pdf&quot;&gt;that were more positive&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, as Berin commented: you can get great results using traditional strength training, so you simply shouldn't need vibrating platforms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2013-05-11T08:45:23.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12472" CreationDate="2013-05-11T19:24:52.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At your size (height/weight), if you want a six pack (or more accurately, if you want to &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; your six pack), then you'll need to gain some muscle. There's plenty of info on this site for doing so, so I won't reinvent the wheel there. 5.5% bf is fantastic, however you have very little muscle which is why you're not seeing any muscle definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about 'gaining weight', it's important to differentiate some things. First, I'm not talking about turning into Arnold Schwarzenegger or Lou Ferrigno, though you could. Even gaining a modest 5-10 lbs of muscle will improve definition dramatically if done correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we've established that gaining muscle is a &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;, and exactly &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; to gain muscle can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/12342#12342&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;here&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, we can cover how to maintain your cardio endurance. I don't know what 'running form' is exactly, however if you're referring to your running style then you won't have to worry too much about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining 5-10lbs of &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; will be felt when running. Just try putting on a weight vest and doing your same routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bxnOv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;weight vest&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can prepare for this beforehand, by actually using a weight vest or something similar while you run, or switch to something a little more intense such as stairs or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio such as sprints. Sprinting is my personal favorite as it doesn't melt the muscle off of you like marathons do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also will want to cut your low intensity cardio down while you gain weight, that will work against your weight gain process. So, no 5k+ runs, mini-marathons, etc. Hiking and mountain biking might be okay since they work more muscle during the workouts, but I would limit that also for safekeeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-05-11T19:24:52.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-11T19:34:32.987" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 soon turning 16 and i have started going to gym about a week ago and i am regular but the question is should i continue? if yes, then what would be most appropriate for me to do in gym like weightlifting, bench-press/push-ups or walking/cycling etc. Please reply properly.&#xA;I'm 5'11&quot; also i am thin 54 kg and i am an Indian. Also i will really like it if you could give me the answer to the diet i should take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5824" LastActivityDate="2013-05-11T19:34:32.987" Title="Should i go to gym i'm 15" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-05-14T14:53:33.140" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12482" CreationDate="2013-05-12T16:08:29.697" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having a physical problem for about 4 years by now that's really making walking or just standing insufferable (even for a few seconds). I can't do any fitness and it really messes my physical health up (e.g. I even have a hard time going to bed because I'm so far from being exhausted at the end of the day). So I went to a lot of doctors over the years and I've been suggested to strengthen a specific area of my legs by doing stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My issue is that no matter how much time passes which in I'm doing the stretches which my physiotherapist told me to do, I see no improvement &lt;strong&gt;whatsoever&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So walking doesn't hurt any less than before, and I can't stretch my legs any more than I could months ago or before I even started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to avoid my question being too localized, I'm simply asking what should you do when you exercise and see no benefit at all and why could that happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;P.S. Should it matter: some hours after stretching I feel like the area I've been stretching is actually extremely tensed. Is it normal or an indicator I'm doing something wrong?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3102" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-05-12T22:49:48.637" LastActivityDate="2013-05-12T22:49:48.637" Title="What is the reason my pain and exhaustion are not improving?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-05-13T21:29:13.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12480" CreationDate="2013-05-12T19:45:50.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are doing stretches and aren't seeing progress, then there are a few possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not stretching long/frequently enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching with bad form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching wrong area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with #1. You need to be holding stretches long enough for the body to actually adjust to the change. I would say 30-60 seconds at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With #2, there are a whole slew of reasons you may be using bad form. For example, do a glute bridge and feel your hamstrings. If they are super tense and tight, then your glutes are not being properly engaged; if the muscles are loose then you are properly engaging your glutes to hold the position. This is just one example on how you can do a stretch but not properly engage the muscles you are trying to stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For #3, often times we get caught up in trying to stretch the areas where the pain is localized. You need to take a step back, though, and see exactly why that part of the body is in pain or needs stretching. Often times, pain or tightness in one area is a result of one or several imbalances somewhere else in the body. For example, a weak abdominal core can cause poor hip flexion by not providing proper stability, which in turn can causes the hips to get tighter to provide stability lacking from the core, which in turn causes the quads to be more active than hamstrings during exercise, which in turn causes excess stress on the knee. So how do you fix the knee pain? You could stretch the quads, or the hips, but neither of which addresses the root problem -- poor core stability -- so the knee pain will persist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a very interesting article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/stretching_doesnt_work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;t-nation&lt;/a&gt; about how stretching doesn't work. While I don't agree with the premise, the article does raise a few good solutions which you should take to heart. If nothing else, I would recommend watching the first embedded video in it, as it is very informative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-05-12T19:45:50.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2013-05-13T01:23:57.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No worries with your hands. If you want to make your wrists stronger then knuckle push-ups are the way to do it. My training is karate/taekwondo/kali-escrima/kick-boxing and lately bujinkan. But take your time to do it right - you don't have to do 100 at once, take care that you have your wrist in the wright angle. You know - as you would push your hand throug stone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry - i realized i'm late with this comment - sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5830" LastEditorUserId="5830" LastEditDate="2013-05-13T01:30:33.427" LastActivityDate="2013-05-13T01:30:33.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2013-05-13T06:18:57.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An interesting question! Generally to be flexible one has to start from childhood/teenage years. That is when muscles/joints are in early development stage and can stretch to establish a flexible body (think Gymnasts). However, this does not mean that any adult cannot improve his flexibility by doing stretching exercises/yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is not the only indicator of fitness. However, it is one of the essential criteria. One can be fir without being flexible, but should always do efforts to attain a flexible body.Flexible body is like a shock absorber when we workout. It enables us to go beyond our limits..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-05-13T06:18:57.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2013-05-13T09:36:01.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it is good to do pushups on the palms in the beginning. Palms provide a larger base of support (especially with the fingers spreaded). For some reason I also find it a little bit easier to focus on keeping the trunk active (which I think is very important), when doing it on the palms. Also, one thing that is useful for me in protecting the wrist is to spread the fingers and push them into the ground - which is just like trying to make a fist.&#xA;Then, as others have already said, it is beneficial to switch gradually to knuckles, if you'd like to do large numbers of pushups, not to overuse the wrists.&#xA;But I would also suggest to switch back sometimes to the palms, it can provide larger variety (eg you can move your hands further back, which makes the pushup much harder - on your knuckles you would fall on your face).&#xA;To summarize, I think it is &quot;better&quot; to do them on your palms, unless you plan to do large numbers on a regular basis - but remember more is not always better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-05-13T09:36:01.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2013-05-14T06:31:07.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;you just listen to your body,&#xA;first you need to train and here you should not concentrate on how much weight you lift&#xA;but you should concentrate on the form (i.e Full and &lt;strong&gt;Slow&lt;/strong&gt; movement you must resist the weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now while you are training right your body will tell you that he want fuel(Food), so provide him with it as needed (i.e Eat when you feel hungry and dont let your self starving never)&#xA;also what you eat matters a lot..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;now we come to the rest part here i only tell you sleep 8 hours at night to let your body recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;after all of that you need to read and ask and be patient year after year until you find your path to what you want to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5836" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T06:31:07.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12407" CreationDate="2013-05-14T08:10:51.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, do &quot;warm up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways you could build up a short routine that's safe end effective. Of course, doing nothing else than your 20 push-ups is a lot better than doing nothing, but it may be far from optimal. You may think that the push up is not a difficult exercise, but you still put your bodyweight on your wrists and shoulders. So &quot;warming up&quot; for you specially would mean to gently move the muscles without straining, and not &quot;increasing your pulse to 70% of maximum&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an example of what I would do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gentle &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42CmODzzhac&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;active stretch&lt;/a&gt; of the wrists and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A few spinal movements, and lunges.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The first push-up slowly, with focus (maybe the knee down).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then do the full set of push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold the last push-up halfway for a few seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sit up, and again move the wrists and shoulders gently. Wait a little bit before standing up again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works for me but it's probably best if you experiment and build up your own routine which works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T08:10:51.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12472" CreationDate="2013-05-14T12:32:11.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no shortcuts in gaining muscle, so does with gaining abs. Generally you can add about 5-10 lbs pure muscle a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we all know getting abs include two factors - low body fat (you have it man) and abs exercise. Find 2 or 3 abs routines and do then in circle for a while. There are two laws- your body adapt to your workout so you have to change it frequently, you have to be patient and regular on your routines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a pair of dumbbells about 20-30 lbs and start doing some workouts at home. I like doing some skipping rope too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T12:32:11.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12136" CreationDate="2013-05-14T13:10:22.207" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's more than one type of muscle mass, and training different rep ranges emphasize one over the other:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rep ranges 1-3: emphasizes myophibrilar hypertrophy (i.e. more protein pairs that actually perform muscle contractions)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rep ranges 4-6: balanced hypertrophy range (i.e. both myophibrilar hypertrophy and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rep ranges 7-15: emphasizes sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (i.e. more energy support systems)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rep ranges 15+: emphasizes endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key word in each of these bullet points is &quot;&lt;em&gt;emphasizes&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.  You won't have any rep range that is exclusively myophibrilar or sarcoplasmic.  Next, it's important to understand what myophibrilar and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy do in terms of muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myophibrilar hypertrophy is dense, and doesn't necessarily lend much to size once you get past an untrained state.  Muscles with a high proportion of myophibrilar hypertrophy are hard like rock.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy takes up more room, and lends to more size even when you are trained.  Muscles with a high proportion of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy are firm, but spongy in comparison to myophibrilar hypertrophy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Folks who train for mass emphasize the sarcoplasmic hypertrophy range because it takes up more room.  Whether you want to be bigger or you want to be stronger, you will need to emphasize both over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keys to getting more mass:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat.  You need plenty of protein and carbs, and the right amount of fat, to build muscle.  Saturated fat keeps your testosterone levels normal, carbs put energy into your muscles after training, and protein is the raw building blocks for more muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement.  You need vitamins and minerals.  You also need to make sure you don't overeat, so to keep the protein up without overshooting your calorie requirements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train high volume.  You'll do the bulk of your training with intensities that are 60-80% of your max.  You'll do lots of reps.  3x8, 10x10, 5x20, multiple sets to failure.  All of these work for your stated goal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep it simple.  Squats (both front and back) and Romanian Deadlifts will be the bulk of your leg training.  Perhaps some standing calf raises with a barbell on your back to help increase the size of your calves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with training density.  More density (more work in less time) helps burn fat while building muscle.  Less density helps you recover if you are feeling a bit crispy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be patient.  Muscle takes time to build.  The more you have the slower it grows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to include sets of 1-3, do a lot of sets and keep the intensity the same as if you were doing sets of 8-12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T13:10:22.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-14T17:37:04.973" Score="3" ViewCount="15209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Myself 21 years old male. I used to weigh 76 kg (height - 174 cm which is still same) earlier 3 or 4 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a matter of weight reduction and muscle toning(specially chest and abs)...I started doing some physical activities daily which included&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;      1.  abs streching sideways and backwards.&#xA;      2.  Simply doing 100 + 80 + 70 jumps..(total 250)&#xA;      3.  Abs Crunches&#xA;      4.  push ups ( 15 x 2 normal , 10 x 2 leg raised , 8 x 2 placing fists)&#xA;      5.  Chin Ups (4 sets)(max 3 per set)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now. What i have observed &lt;strong&gt;i have lost weight to 65 kg and have just become lean and i couldn't see better results in other aspects(perfect shaping or toning within body) other than just weight loss.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I used to eat heavily during break fast , medium lunch and much less dinner. I avoided carb foods to greater extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now I m planning to go to a gym (targeting abs , arms and chest) at evening and performing basic yoga at morning including simple activities like meditation , pranayama etc&lt;/strong&gt;. My main goal is to make a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;70 kg fit body with pretty much muscle toning, endurance and flexiblity.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Not the massive one we see in wrestlers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So Here are my following doubts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;       1. Should I Eat much more and workout to make my body weight reach 70 kg or Should I rely on minimum weights workout at gym with proper resting waiting for my muscles  to grow since i have heard muscles growth leads to weight gain ?&#xA;       2. Is it good to include yoga during morning along with gym at evening as i've mentioned earlier ?&#xA;       3. Is der anything i have to consider as i've been doing certain physical activites daily as i've told earlier ?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please Also feel free to suggest your own ideas by which i can achieve my target from my current condition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5829" LastEditorUserId="5829" LastEditDate="2013-05-15T08:14:44.127" LastActivityDate="2015-08-29T07:54:25.480" Title="making a 70 kg fit body with proper muscle toning" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12332" CreationDate="2013-05-14T18:33:22.060" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The max you lift in any given exercise is the process of &lt;em&gt;demonstrating&lt;/em&gt; strength.  It is just one way to measure strength, but it is one that is universally accepted.  However, there are several factors that go into that one number:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skill/technique&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work capacity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neuromuscular adaptation (i.e. the ability to recruit more muscle fibers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight x Acceleration (i.e. force)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kinetic vs. potential energy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigue/Addrenaline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I left out muscular density because at the end of the day, you can either lift something or you can't.  The size of the muscle that produced the result is irrelevant to absolute strength, and only comes to play when you are talking about relative strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I listed skill/technique first&lt;/strong&gt; because the ability to apply your strength into moving a heavy object requires correct technique.  The heavier you can lift, the better your technique has to be to do it.  This can mean the difference between first and second place if you are comparing otherwise equal people.  It can also explain why someone who is technically stronger can be beaten in a fight or arm wrestling match.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work capacity&lt;/strong&gt; is the ability to do more work.  It's hard to measure, but is probably a better representation of overall strength than an all out one rep max.  It's one thing to be able to squat 315lbs for a set of 5.  It's quite another to do that 10 times.  When you look at how elite strength athletes train, they stay away from their maxes and focus on increasing their work capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neuromuscular adaptation&lt;/strong&gt; is the ability to call more of your muscle into doing work at once.  When you are untrained, your body only uses a small portion of your muscles to do work.  This limits the all out max you can do, but saves your muscle for endurance.  As you progressively get stronger, you can make increases in strength even when you are not increasing muscle size or hypertrophy simply by getting more of your muscle to work together.  It's a natural byproduct of increasing weight over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Force&lt;/strong&gt; is the purely physics related portion and is simply weight x acceleration.  In short, the faster you move the bar the more force you produce.  Similarly, the more weight on the bar the more force you have to produce to move it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kinetic vs. Potential energy&lt;/strong&gt; describes whether the weight being moved is in motion or is stationary.  A 315lb barbell sitting on the ground has more potential energy than a 225lb barbell.  It requires more force to turn that potential energy into kinetic energy.  A weight already in motion is easier to move than one that is stationary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fatigue vs. Adrenaline&lt;/strong&gt; describes the effect of your endocrine system on your ability to lift on any given day.  Heavy lifting and high volume lifting increase fatigue.  Fatigue is like running with an open parachute into high winds.  It severely limits your ability to demonstrate strength, but it is a normal and necessary part of getting stronger.  In contrast, with a proper peaking cycle, you can ensure fatigue is at a minimum when you go to test your numbers in contest.  Combine that with the adrenaline rush of performing that lift on stage, and you can perform well above your normal every day level of strength.  That's a big reason why someone with a 1000lb deadlift can do it on competition day, but a couple days later wouldn't be able to come close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best measure of strength is your every day max.  This will be far below a test day or competition max.  It's what you can do even when you are very fatigued, and your technique is less than stellar.  Increasing that every day max will have a direct result on increasing your competition max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can curl 40lbs today, and someone you are challenging can only do 35lbs it might be just because they did 50lbs the day before.  Or it might be because of life's stresses getting to them.  When you get into a competition like arm wrestling, they may be able to best you because they can call on more of their reserves or adrenaline has a bigger effect on them.  Or they simply know how to bring an arm down better than you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot that goes on with getting stronger.  Demonstrating strength is its own discipline.  Olympic weightlifting, strong man events, and power lifting all have different requirements.  You might be really good at one, and really bad at another.  But that is likely due to technique more than just being weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-14T18:33:22.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2164" CreationDate="2013-05-15T08:49:06.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Being able to touch your toes&quot; in my opinion is a weak measure for flexibility.&#xA;A better measure for hamstring &amp;amp; hip flexibility is this: sit comfortably on the floor with the legs straight and try to lift one of your legs straight, and see if you can touch your forehead to your shin effortlessly (or if not, how close you can lift without much effort). This way you can see how much your body wants to go by itself (without your hands and/or gravity helping).&#xA;Also, if you are inflexible and focus too much on trying to &quot;touch your toes&quot;, you'll have a greater chance of injury (in the lower back or in the hamstring, or both).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-05-15T08:49:06.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12504" CreationDate="2013-05-15T08:53:26.153" Score="6" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will participate to a 4-Person Half Marathon Relay and I did a few training runs for the 5km that will be my part in the marathon. Usually I tend to accelerate and get tired earlier but I was with a friend and I kept his rhythm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done good because I kept the rhythm of my friend, since he will participate also to the same Half Marathon Relay I will be on my own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What tricks to apply to keep the right rhythm ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4615" LastActivityDate="2019-01-11T07:37:38.450" Title="How to keep rhythm when running for long-distances?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12502" CreationDate="2013-05-15T11:00:56.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best frend is knowledge about your distance. It's 5 km, and you know that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will have to run the whole of it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will not need to run more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, first, you need do save energy for kilometers 2-5, thus do not run your maximum during the first km. Second, you can just stop and relax after you finish the 5-th km, so you can spend the remainder of energy on your last 1 km or 500 meters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remembering this will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking about tricks: you can train with a GPS-enabled sports watch or a GPS-enabled phone (e.g. iPhone or Android phone) with a sports app (e.g. Endomondo, RunKeeper, ...). They usually show (or speak out) your &quot;lap&quot; pace. You can set lap length to 1 km or 500 m and try to keep all the laps with the same pace as the first one. It will need some experimenting to find the pace which is not too high and not too low for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then stick to this pace and maybe try to improve it gradually. During the competition you can go for a little higher pace - you will probably know how much you can allow before it kills you, if you have had enough experience training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4020" LastEditorUserId="4020" LastEditDate="2013-05-16T12:14:03.437" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T12:14:03.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-15T11:45:32.467" Score="-2" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't want to build my body, I just want to be active and keep fit. What would a exercise that will help me to relax my muscles and keep me active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to know which exercise among walking,Jogging,Running, Cycling will help me most!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5840" LastActivityDate="2013-05-15T15:32:52.760" Title="One best exercise to keep body fit!" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-05-15T23:55:17.540" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-15T13:27:11.173" Score="11" ViewCount="7728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a bar with heavy weights at home but want to incorporate deadlifts into my workout program. I experimented a bit with dumbbell deadlifts, but the 10 kg dumbbells I used feel very light for me (I just read that a beginner woman could deadlift her bodyweight) and I don't want to buy new dumbbells. So my idea was that I could do the deadlift with resistance bands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a pull-up bar and some strong bands and made something like on the following video but without the weights: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poyrLz6GpEk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poyrLz6GpEk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a slightly different image of this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0fknS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here is another simple setup: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=jwD211uLXBs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=jwD211uLXBs&lt;/a&gt; (though the guy on the video is performing stiff leg deadlifts)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have some questions about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it possible to get the same benefits from the deadlift using this setup as from a regular deadlift?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any risk of doing it this way instead of a regular deadlift?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since the force of the bands increases monotonically with the elongation of the band you have a significantly smaller force at the initiation of the lift compared to the top of the movement. Does this lead to any problems concerning risks or training effects and does it imply changes in technique compared to the normal deadlift?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For travelling I can take the bands with me but not the bar. Is there and reasonable way to do deadlifts with bands only? How is the proper technique in this case?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a more complex setup of how to use resistance bands for deadlifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=HztKutgiim0&amp;amp;pxtry=1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=HztKutgiim0&amp;amp;pxtry=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a more simple version of this but it seems to lead to bad form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lonkJjBeFKg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lonkJjBeFKg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2013-09-21T09:58:56.397" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T02:01:36.177" Title="Resistance band deadlifts" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12506" CreationDate="2013-05-15T13:57:01.363" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using bands seems like a fine alternative, but it will never be the same as a barbell deadlift. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/12298/1771&quot;&gt;Different exercises are different&lt;/a&gt;. For instance, one of the benefits of  barbells is the ability to load the bar with a tremendous amount of weight. Overcoming this resistance requires enormous effort and a demand for proper alignment that cannot be replicated with other training equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applying maximal force from a dead stop is a key element of the barbell deadlift. (Hence the name, &lt;em&gt;dead&lt;/em&gt; lift.) In addition, as you suspect, the fact that the bands produce more resistance at the top is the opposite of the deadlift, and will produce a different training effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with using bands instead of barbells, you're not going to get A) the same &lt;em&gt;magnitude&lt;/em&gt; of resistance, nor B) the same &lt;em&gt;kind&lt;/em&gt; of resistance, with the maximal effort at the bottom. However, the bands are a real exercise and I wouldn't see any particular danger in doing them the way Steve Maxwell shows, though it appears more akin to a Romanian deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend taking the leap and buying a barbell, squat rack, and plates. It's usually a couple hundred bucks for a used one on Craiglist. If not, keep kettlebells in mind--you can use swings, a KB deadlift, cleans and so on to work the posterior chain with a piece of equipment that takes up only a tiny amount of space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-05-15T13:57:01.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12506" CreationDate="2013-05-15T14:02:18.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The concept of using bands and chains with any lift is to make the lift more difficult at lockout.  That's fine if lockout is actually your sticking point, which is often the case if you use powerlifting gear like squat/deadlift suits or bench shirts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many people who don't use powerlifting gear, the most difficult part after getting the bar off the floor is getting it past the knees.  Bands force you to work harder through that range than if they weren't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While bands do change the feel of the deadlift, it doesn't change the basic technique required.  As a result the benefits are pretty close to the same.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assuming your technique is correct, the only risk is not putting more training stress where you need it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The biggest problem with bands is properly estimating the additional force they give to the bar, for precisely the reasons you listed.  The band manufacturers give a range of resistance based on how stretched the band is, but there is no real way to know how close to which number it is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your sticking point is above the knee, bands will provide the best training benefit.  If your sticking point is somewhere to just below the knee to just above it, block pulls (deadlift on blocks so the bar is just below the sticking point or below the knee) will give you a better training benefit.  If your sticking point is about mid-shin, hamstrings are probably the weak link and Romanian Deadlifts would be a better training benefit.  If you simply can't get the bar off the floor, you probably don't have one area weaker than any other--you simply need to get stronger overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to deadlifting with just bands, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Atlas&quot;&gt;Charles Atlas&lt;/a&gt; made a good amount of progress with similar &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_tension&quot;&gt;dynamic tension&lt;/a&gt; movements.  You would probably be better served by doing banded squats.  The band would go under your foot, and loop around your shoulders while you are at the bottom.  Then perform several squats.  But even more, you would be best served by finding a local gym with daily or weekly rates while you are on travel.  Or just take the time off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-15T14:02:18.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12505" CreationDate="2013-05-15T15:32:52.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE. Try out any activity that sounds fun. If you enjoy it, keep doing it. I personally like to incorporate running, swimming, biking, basketball and weights into my weekly routine because they are all enjoyable to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gone away from saying &quot;I need to go for a run/swim/gym&quot;, and instead just go do whatever seems like fun at that time. You can even buy a jump rope for a quick workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do want to get a little toned, add in some burpees randomly (every .5 miles during a run, in-between jumping rope). This will provide a huge benefit in terms of staying fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5757" LastActivityDate="2013-05-15T15:32:52.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-16T07:08:00.170" Score="3" ViewCount="2631" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been long distance running for one+ year and have a marathon under my belt (in addition to dragon boating for three years) and being a college student, my meals usually consist of cheap things like cereal (Cheerios), sandwich + apple, and soup/pasta and exercises are general leg stretches (and now &lt;em&gt;leg strengthening&lt;/em&gt; due to recovering ITBS injury). I currently have a well paying job so money restrictions in terms of food aren't necessarily an issue as much any more. I'm hoping to step up my game and achieve a core fitness level of having a six pack of abs and since long distance running is kind of the opposite of &lt;em&gt;general&lt;/em&gt; strength building (muscles effectively being dead weight and/or 'burned away' in long distance running hence the huge body type difference between LDRs and sprinters, although one can argue having strong abs to help the back is a good idea), I'm wondering the plausibility of this goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to be a long distance runner and have a six pack (not necessarily be ripped everywhere, just have a strong core to help out the back and the like) and what meal plans and training/stretches/exercises are ideal towards achieving a strong six pack core while being able to maintain decent long distance running (eg not cut carbs from meals)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The more specific the better I think)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5802" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T16:18:51.257" Title="It is Possible To Be A Long Distance Runner and have a Six Pack? How?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12562" CreationDate="2013-05-16T07:09:40.637" Score="0" ViewCount="1919" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming a strict diet and training schedule, there should be a limit to how much muscle growth the average person can expect within a given time frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be more specific, lets assume the person has 70kg and just started to go to the gym 3 times a week. How much muscle (in kg) can be gained on average within a month? I am looking for a rough benchmark here because it obviously depends a lot on many other variables. I am also interested in the differences between men and women concerning muscle growth expectations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T07:34:49.920" Title="How much muscle gain can be expected within 1 month of training on average (m/w)" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-06-17T13:36:09.060" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-16T08:15:41.657" Score="2" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6&quot;1 (187cm) at 194 pounds (88kg) targeting 187 pounds (85kg) and currently eating between 1800 kcal and 2200 kcal daily, with 50 % protein and fat &amp;amp; carbs more or less balanced. I've been doing this for 3 weeks and want to continue for another month. First muscle structures around the abdomen are slowing starting to show, so the way I'm doing things can't be completely wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I however read that you should strongly cut your training when on a diet, e.g. train one muscle ground every 6 days in the 6-12 rep range or when doing pure strength excersises (1-3 reps) even take as much as a 10 day break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these recommendation only valid for bodybuilders trying to increase muscle mass at max rate? I'm interested in maintaining 85kg (187kg) longterm as I do love roadbiking, but at the same time I want to increase my strength (less fat, more and stronger muscle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currenlty I'm running to the gym on a &quot;schedule&quot; similar to this one. I don't have problems performing max strength excersises in the gym, but I rarely manage more than 1-2 sets at full weight and mostly one manage on set in the 8-12 rep range before hitting the big weights. Even then, if I would fully feed managed 10 reps I only manage 8 when on diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Benchpress: 1x15x110 lbs, 1x8x198 lbs, 1x2x246 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low squats (only started 4 month ago): 1x10x88 lbs, 1x10x132 lbs, 1x10x176 lbs, 2x3x231 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing military press: 2x5x88 lbs, 1x4x110 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips: 2x10x26 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolated triceps: 1x10 to finish off my arms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups: 1x10x0 lbs, 1x10x44 lbs, 2x6x88 lbs or 1x3x130 lbs pull down with one arm at machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift (pain for some small back muscle, currently resting): 1x10x110 lbs, 1x10x180lbs, 1x10x220lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rowing: 2 sets a 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell curls standing: 1x5x50lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder rotators&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverted butterfly thing: 1x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1: Push&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2: Pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3: Rest or roadbike (25- 45 mi)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 4: Push&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 5: Pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 6: Rest or roadbike (25- 45 mi)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 7: Push&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 8: see Day 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note due to weather some weeks have no road bike and most only one session)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I'm dieting I'm still progressing in squats and pullups (obviously weight drop helps...), plus I can eat a bit more because of the workout. Should I really reduce my workout? I couldn't eat any less without feeling hungry, and the missing workout would make me feel board, thus leading to eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5197" LastEditDate="2013-05-16T10:01:46.210" LastActivityDate="2013-05-20T20:30:56.830" Title="Training load on a diet (am I doing too much?)" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12498" CreationDate="2013-05-16T10:56:39.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, info on your current body fat percentage would be usefull, but I can give you some pointers even without it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You were doing mostly cardio/high reps. While this could be usefull for weight loss, youre saying you already are lean. If so, you should be doing strength training. If you need to lose some more fat, it will help you doing so without losing muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big part of looking toned, besides low BF%, is having muscles. Strength trainign will help in that respect too. The difference in gaining muscle/losing fat while strength training lays in your diet. While manipulating your calorie intake, you can achieve different goals. Still, keep in mind to have at least 1-2g of protein per 1kg of bodyweight daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DONT&lt;/strong&gt; do what you intended that is &quot;targeting abs , arms and chest&quot;. You should do all the big muscle groups (back, chest, legs) to ensure proper body composition, and you should be doing compound movements - they will give the smaller muscles proper workout as a side effect (like arms or abs). Check out the &quot;friends dont let friends skip leg day&quot; internet memes to find out why doing whole body is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question youre asking has been asked a lot over here. I hope my answer will point you in the right direction in terms of what to search for. Determine what you need to achieve the desired looks, search the site for question on proper diet and training plans that help with getting there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T10:56:39.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12517" CreationDate="2013-05-16T13:59:33.097" Score="4" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to participate in a &lt;strong&gt;half marathon&lt;/strong&gt; in the 1st week of July and&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;3/4 Ironman&lt;/strong&gt; in the 2nd week of July.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am training 11 sessions a week.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;8 sessions of swimming with lot of floor exercises before it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 sessions of running.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Let us not bother about my cycling for now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of the 3 sessions of running,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;one is &lt;strong&gt;Interval training&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5 mins of warm up run, 4 intervals of 1 min/2 min slow/fast run and 5 mins of cool down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one is &lt;strong&gt;Recovery run&lt;/strong&gt;, the day next to the interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;slow casually paced 4 to 5 km run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the 3rd session is what I am thinking about.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shall I make it a sprint training with &lt;strong&gt;spike shoes&lt;/strong&gt; on?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Will it work good?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If yes what regime shall I follow?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If not what should I do in that session?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If required I can cut one swim session and make it a run session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please comment if more info needed from my side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T16:19:55.747" Title="Sprint training for long distance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12516" CreationDate="2013-05-16T14:35:10.010" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the above regimen, another sprint workout is the last thing I recommend. On that schedule, in your two sessions you are doing at most, 5 miles (8k). That is pretty meager training for the distances that you are considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would make your third run a slow to medium paced 10k run. Running long distance fast is about your base and consistency, and you need more distance a lot more than you need more sprint work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you absolutely feel that you have to have more sprint training, I would throw in several 30 second segments of uptempo running into that longer run. If you were my athlete, then I would slash your swimming from 11 sessions a week down to four or five, and use the extra time for more running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-05-16T16:19:55.747" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T16:19:55.747" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12511" CreationDate="2013-05-16T14:43:48.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As k.l. says, having a six pack is a function of both muscle structure and body fat levels. The &quot;six pack&quot;, or 4, or 7 or 8 (etc) is basically just the abdominal muscles, with the connecting/support fascia making the indentations. (I say the other numbers as you have no control over how many divisions your fascia makes, it's genetic. I've even seen one guy with 10.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a distance runner, it will be easier for you to cut body fat than it will be for less aerobic based activities. Attention to diet and timing, along with your normal training regimen (And I am basing this on the assumption that you train 5-7 days a week for running) will bring your bodyfat down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs start becoming visible around 10-15% bodyfat (Depending on muscle development and fat distribution), and sharply defined around the 5-8% level. Much below 5% is not recommended, as it is actually unhealthy to have that low a level for an extended time. Simply do a google search for &quot;galen rupp abs&quot; or &quot;meg keflezighi abs&quot; for some examples of distance runners with defined abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-05-16T16:18:51.257" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T16:18:51.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12523" CreationDate="2013-05-16T15:27:11.067" Score="6" ViewCount="6963" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am now 40. I did some weight lifting about 15 years ago and it was fun. I am now back into it, focusing on strength and muscle gain. I obviously don't expect to become a Mr Olympia, but I find it much more fun to do the exercises with the goal in mind of becoming stronger and have bigger shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it might be a subjective impression, but I don't remember to need so much time for recovery after a hard training (on the 3rd day after a shoulders and deltoids training I still feel it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any kind of relation between the time needed for recovering and the age? That is important: Your muscles aren't supposed to grow if you don't allow them to rest long enough, namely at least a couple of days between trainings when you are in your 20s. If the times needed are longer (then, how much longer?) for a man in his 40s, then the usual routines for strength and muscle gain will not work, and you need to adapt them somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, any other clue about how to adapt the routines to a somewhat aged body (well, apart from being more carefully and progressive with the increasing weights of course) are welcome. Might it work if I simply use the normal workouts and insert additional rest days (or days of soft aerobic work) in between?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Later edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12519/differences-in-recovery-time-after-weight-lifting-versus-age/12523#12523&quot;&gt;the answer below by Berin Loritsch&lt;/a&gt;, and also from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1804/does-muscle-build-differently-after-40?rq=1&quot;&gt;this other answer&lt;/a&gt; I am gradually becoming aware of the following thing: at least at the age of 40 it will be much more useful to stop worrying about it and simply go to the gym and work your butt off like hell!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But anyway, the question is interesting, and I am willing to accept the most useful answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T21:00:12.547" Title="Differences in recovery time (after weight lifting) versus age" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12519" CreationDate="2013-05-16T15:50:50.497" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore's &lt;em&gt;Practical Programming for Strength Training&lt;/em&gt;, they include a chapter on Masters athletes, &amp;quot;usually defined as individuals 35-40 years of age and over&amp;quot;. Here are a few relevant excerpts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A significant consideration for the masters athlete is the reduction in recovery capacity over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[P]eriodization of training is particularly important, and periods of offloading should be longer and more pronounced...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[If you're on a novice program,] Texas method works better when adopted sooner than when a younger novice would need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T15:50:50.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12522" CreationDate="2013-05-16T16:08:24.253" Score="5" ViewCount="2211" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want increase my endurance with bodyweight exercises including pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be better to use progressive overload and start at, for example: 3x4 reps for Pull-ups and progress by an extra rep per set every day until I get to my max (say 3x8) and then rest for a day and resume...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;grease the groove: do single sets of low reps (for example 3 reps a go) throughout the day. So for example, every time I walk into my room, do 3 pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a combination of the two:&#xA;grease the groove with 2 pull-ups a go on the first day, 3 pull-ups a go on the second day, 4 on the third etc. until I reach the point where I'm doing 1 under my max every day and then have a day or two rest and resume?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, from what I've read about greasing the groove, it's just making your muscles more efficient - so surely gtg will only work for a certain period of time before you're muscles are as efficient as they can be - maybe then is the time to swap to progressive overload?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5852" LastEditorUserId="5852" LastEditDate="2013-05-16T16:38:01.433" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T16:54:39.317" Title="Progressive overload vs. greasing the groove" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12521" CreationDate="2013-05-16T16:54:39.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you currently have a one-set max of 12 good-form full-range-of-motion pull-ups, then doing three sets of four isn't going to do much to move that max count. Nor will even a large number of sets of 3 throughout the day. You need to do high-rep sets to improve your high-rep set performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, once I am doing a dozen pull-ups, greasing the groove isn't useful as my sole approach. To improve past 8 or so reps I need to do sets of more than 8. (Below 6 or 8, I've found greasing the groove quite useful on its own.) The primary way I'll do this is with 3 sets of my max (say, 15 then 13 then 12) plus some optional couple back-off sets of 5 to 8 or maybe a version of greasing the groove with a handful of 5- or 10-rep sets on days I'm otherwise resting. 3x4 seems like a step backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your 12-rep-max isn't current, or finishes with three kipping reps, or finishes with two reps with bad form, or doesn't involve a full range of motion, then I'd use greasing the groove or lower-rep sets to work on those aspects of my pull-ups first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you warm up and stretch out your shoulders properly in the morning before your first set of greasing the groove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T16:54:39.317" CommentCount="27" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12519" CreationDate="2013-05-16T20:08:38.870" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore had to say in Practical Programming for Strength Training, as an over 40 lifter I can offer what I've figured out for training at this stage in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping right in after any kind of layoff results in very intense DOMS.  Just keep at it and your body will get used to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can train longer and harder if I stay away from my maxes.  70-80% for all the heaviest work, and make up for it with more reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm also a lot more capable than I might think or feel going in to a training session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't equate soreness with fatigue.  Fatigue has more of a general impact on your mental acuity and your ability to lift.  Soreness is just a temporary feeling that goes away the more you train consistently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I've Found Works&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as session to session training, I have 4 primary movements and the accessory work that supports them.  I can do each of them once a week and still be OK.  Since I compete in power lifting, I have an off-season where I'm just increasing my base strength.  In the months leading up to a competition I'll do a peaking program.  The structure of the two is very different.  Since my base building bears a lot of similarities with bodybuilding, I'll speak to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I keep my training cycles 4-6 weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I keep the weight consistent for the cycle, and try to increase reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the end of the cycle I'll increase the weight and drop the reps back to the starting number of reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this approach I'm able to keep a consistent pace without any layoffs or general fatigue induced mental haziness.  I also hadn't had to do any deloads since my last competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I've Found Doesn't Work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quickest way to push yourself into overtraining is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep working in the 90+% range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using your competition or test maxes for planning your every day training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, competition takes a lot out of me.  Going for a 100% max that's a PR takes its toll on you--even more so since adrenaline is kicking in for competition.  After competition I need to take a couple weeks off completely.  When I get back to training I resume with my last every day training max (I don't change it based on what I did in competition).  First couple weeks I'm really sore, but after that I'm good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T20:08:38.870" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12526" CreationDate="2013-05-16T20:24:05.853" Score="3" ViewCount="603" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I want to increase the number of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been leaving an arbitrary 2 minutes in between sets. Is this the ideal amount of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5852" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T21:17:34.957" Title="ideal rest in between sets for increasing bodyweight exercises" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-16T20:59:14.797" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually do a long run every sunday, something beetween 18 and 22k, I am just starting training for runnning, so I woluld like to know the pros and cons of just training one day per week. &#xA;I mean pros and cons in health, not in the performance of the activity or anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="5710" LastEditDate="2013-05-21T19:20:00.623" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T19:20:00.623" Title="What are the pros and cons of training running just one day per week (18k-22k)?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-05-22T01:55:20.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12524" CreationDate="2013-05-16T21:17:34.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two minutes is fine. More rest means you'll improve your muscular endurance and recovery time less, however your strength will improve more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People training for strength should take 3 to 5 minute breaks, or even more in some circumstances. People training for fitness, hypertrophy, or endurance might want to work shorter rests--2 minutes, 1 minute, or even circuit training, where one does another exercise (e.g. jump rope or air squats) instead of resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-05-16T21:17:34.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12533" CreationDate="2013-05-17T06:05:32.937" Score="9" ViewCount="6994" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is assuming I am training purely for strength (it seems there are already topics about this subject from a bodybuilding perspective).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets say I only barely make it through my first set of squats, and am sure that I will fail on the second set if I go for it in another 3-4 minutes.  Is there any particular disadvantage other than convenience to, say, taking a break and doing my press, and then coming back with my legs completely refreshed for the next set of squats.  Basically, would it be better to just to go with the shorter rest times and do 5/4/2 rather than wait as long as I need to and get 5/5/5?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems especially relevant with chinups/pullups, where I can either go to failure and do ~7/4/3, but if I wait a half hour between sets and go for sets of 5, I can easily total 40-50 chinups in a single day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5857" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T02:18:48.793" Title="Are there disadvantages to long rests between sets when strength training?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12527" CreationDate="2013-05-17T14:34:47.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are disadvantages in that you won't be stressing your muscles enough to get all the growth that is possible out of each session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle growth is a combination of two different types of hypertrophy, sarcoplasmic and myofibril. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy produces more size, but less strength (This is what is stimulated by the 8-12 rep range), while myofibril hypertrophy produces more strength but less size (2-6 rep range, with higher weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the muscle responds to micro tears by repairing the tissue, and adding more to try and prevent that kind of injury in the future. If you don't go to overload/failure or near that point, then you are not stressing your muscles to the degree needed to stimulate full growth. You can do things with lots of rest, but you won't get the same training effect as you would with shorter rest intervals, and while you may see growth, it won't be as much as you would see otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-05-17T14:34:47.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-17T15:10:40.363" Score="2" ViewCount="466" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I ate two pounds of food and then was immediately there after subjected to a hydrostatic body fat my suspicion is that that food would not count as body fat since it wouldn't have had the chance to convert to body fat yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that that's correct than how long would it take for it to turn into fat? A day? Two days? A few hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2013-05-17T15:21:30.910" Title="how long does it take for food to convert to fat?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-05-19T23:38:13.253" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12529" CreationDate="2013-05-17T15:21:30.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this might not be what you're looking for but don't worry about stuff like this. First of all, there is no determined amount of time that food will automatically turn into fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of thinking in these terms, just feed your body proper nutrition, stay active, continue to exercise and your body will use this food as fuel. In the end it's &quot;Calories In vs Calories Out&quot; for weight loss/gain, so combine that with a good diet and you don't have to worry about silly details like how long until it turns to fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5757" LastActivityDate="2013-05-17T15:21:30.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12527" CreationDate="2013-05-17T17:14:47.493" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what you are after.  If you are running the Starting Strength program or some other beginner program, they take the stance of take as much rest as you need--even 10 minutes between sets!  The goal for those programs is to increase the weight on the bar as quickly as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trade offs for Rest Times&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Longer rests provide more recovery between sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too long of a rest and you might &quot;cool down&quot; enough that you won't be ready for the next set without more warm up.  For example rest times of 30 minutes or more will likely cool you down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorter rest provides more training stress/fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing training density (more work in less time) is another way of getting stronger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Applying that to your goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal at the moment is to increase the weight on the bar with a given amount of sets and reps, take as much rest as you need.  Just make sure you don't cool down in the process.  You are pushing yourself pretty hard, and will need to make those adjustments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is muscle size or to burn fat, shorten the rest between sets as much as you can.  You'll likely have to stay at the same weight while you work on shortening the rest times.  Some really strong people train this way.  Sam Byrd (a power lifter) performs his squats 5 sets of 5, and works on doing them quicker until he can get it all done in less than 25 minutes.  Then he increases the weight and repeats the process.  His squat is over 700lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are feeling a bit worn down, increase the time between sets.  Playing with training density (volume / time) is one way to manage fatigue and recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have limited time to train, shorten the rest between sets and adjust the weight on the bar to something you can do in that time.  Over time as you increase weight, but keep the time the same, it pushes your more rested max even higher.  You may have to drop 10-20 lbs the first time you switch to short rest periods (1 minute or less), but you'll make up the difference soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-17T17:14:47.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12527" CreationDate="2013-05-18T04:08:33.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there disadvantages to longer rests between sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure. I cool down if I wait longer than five or so minutes between heavy squat sets, and that can be a problem if my mobility is iffy and I really need to be warm to get good form. It's also annoying to have the two-hour-plus workouts that result from 10-minute rests between sets of, say, heavy squats and ego-driven pull-up sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lets say I only barely make it through my first set of squats, and am sure that I will fail on the second set if I go for it in another 3-4 minutes. Is there any particular disadvantage other than convenience to, say, taking a break and doing my press, and then coming back with my legs completely refreshed for the next set of squats. Basically, would it be better to just to go with the shorter rest times and do 5/4/2 rather than wait as long as I need to and get 5/5/5?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the problems above apply. Plus, I know you said this is purely for strength, but...there's a whole host of other benefits from being able to do the sets with only a five minute rest: improved muscular endurance, cardio, recovery capacity, mental fortitude to fight through soreness, and so on. Plus I find it a little more challenging to stay focused on my squat form when I'm switching back and forth with other exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing a novice linear progression, I'd just focus on doing better with the 3 sets in a row, with 5 to 10 minutes rest, rather than trying to continue to add weight by jumbling the exercises you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This seems especially relevant with chinups/pullups, where I can either go to failure and do ~7/4/3, but if I wait a half hour between sets and go for sets of 5, I can easily total 40-50 chinups in a single day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we're talking about Greasing the Groove and not a single workout. That's a whole different enchilada that requires separate research. It works, but single high-rep sets are more impressive and productive, as discussed in detail &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12521/progressive-overload-vs-greasing-the-groove&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your pull-ups, I'd do &lt;strong&gt;both&lt;/strong&gt;: three maximum-rep sets (with good form) with a maximum of five minutes rest, and sets of 5 throughout the day on rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-05-18T04:08:33.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2013-05-18T20:48:55.843" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you continue to spend your hard earn money on ice and ice packs which will not fix the problem but enhance it. Inflamation is part of process for our bodies to repair themselves. A 50 cent bicycle tire tube wrapped with moderate pressure to the joint for at least a minute in a good position while doing a pnf stretch sequence will definitely help break up the garbage inside so your body can clean it out. Try it. Are you smarter than your body and the creator?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5860" LastActivityDate="2013-05-18T20:48:55.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-19T15:41:29.917" Score="-1" ViewCount="5695" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very skinny body. So I try to train a lot to change that.&#xA;I want to make my biceps and chest bigger first, so I do push-ups and pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every other day im doing 12 sets of push ups, every other day i do 12 sets of pullups. I take 2 min rest between the sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of reps varies between the sets. They may look like &lt;code&gt;35-30-30-27-26-25-24-23-22-21-20-19&lt;/code&gt; for the push ups and &lt;code&gt;17-14-13-12-11-10-10-9-9-9-8-8&lt;/code&gt; forthe pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Im afraid that the volume of my training and its frequency will stunt muscle growth and wont let me reach my goal.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3114" LastEditorUserId="3114" LastEditDate="2013-05-21T15:26:42.113" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T18:23:56.747" Title="How many sets should I make for muscle growth?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12273" CreationDate="2013-05-19T20:32:29.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no general answer. Your individual response to high intensity training (HIT) might be in parts genetically determined. You might be anything from a non-responder or a good responder. Watch last half &lt;a href=&quot;http://video.pbs.org/video/2364989581&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a BBC documentary&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;The Truth About Exercise&quot; with Michael Mosley, for more details as I just did (and stumbled upon your question) If you are a &quot;good responder&quot;, HIT will probably work very efficiently on you, and doing little HIT/week will suffice to get good results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/108/6/1487.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Using molecular classification to predict gains in maximal aerobic capacity following endurance exercise training in humans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a field of active research. There is only (?) one study with few participants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These genetic tests mentioned in the documentary are not available to the general public, AFAIK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2013-05-19T20:32:29.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-20T12:55:25.050" Score="16" ViewCount="1378" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I see someone else doing push ups, it seems so easy. I have tried doing it myself many times, but I find it very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a gradual step by step process to learn how to do push ups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5868" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-05-20T14:10:33.193" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T14:05:26.873" Title="How to learn to do my first push ups without losing hope?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12539" CreationDate="2013-05-20T13:05:00.890" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, doing a push up aint so hard :) If doing a proper push up is too difficult for you, try changing the leverage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing a push up flat on the ground, youre lifiting a certain % of your body weight. If you lift your chest, arms and head higher, you change the leverage, so you will be lifting a lower % of your body mass, and doing the push-up will be easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start with wall push-ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JLUE9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And eventually you could try incline push-ups: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dHW3b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;incline push up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once youre really comfortable with incline push ups, you can reduce the incline, till you start doing regular push ups. When regular push ups become too easy, you may start doing decline push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to work on holding a plank position, from either your elbows or your knees. This will assist your push-up strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember always to exercise with proper form!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-05-20T13:50:48.277" LastActivityDate="2013-05-20T13:50:48.277" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12514" CreationDate="2013-05-20T20:30:56.830" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question lies in how you feel.  If you feel run down, unmotivated, and you have to drag yourself to train, you are probably doing a bit much.  It's natural not to be 100% when you are cutting fat, but when motivation suffers it's a symptom of over-training.  The lifting portion of the program looks pretty decent, and there are a couple tweaks you can do to balance the work you need and the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to improve your training result, you have to do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Train&lt;/strong&gt;--this is the stressor.  It will cause fatigue, and continual training will increase the fatigue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Over-reaching&lt;/strong&gt;--this is the level of fatigue where you feel a bit &quot;crispy&quot;.  It's a normal and healthy part of training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest and super-compensation&lt;/strong&gt;--this is where you cut the work back and let your body recover.  When it is done it will be a stronger version of itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over-reaching is good, over-training is bad.  Here are a few things to look out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight feels heavier than normal: this is a sign of over-reaching, but it can also just be a bad day.  If it continues for more than a couple weeks you'll have to start the rest protocol.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mental sharpness: the more you over-reach, the more you will feel like you are in a mental fog.  Again, if this feeling continues for more than a couple weeks, start the rest protocol.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mood/motivation: the more stress you have the more this is negatively affected.  If you are alway irritable, feel depressed, or you lack all motivation you have over-trained.  Take some time off for a bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of strength: while it's normal to not be able to be at your peak performance when you are cutting, when your strength keeps going backwards you are probably mildly over-trained.  Again, rest protocol.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to do about rest:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you really don't have rest days in your plan, you can either modify it so that you add a rest days built in; or you can use an active rest protocol.  One example of programming with rest days would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mon: Push&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tue: &lt;em&gt;Rest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed: Pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thu: &lt;em&gt;Rest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fri: Roadbike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sat: &lt;em&gt;Rest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sun: &lt;em&gt;Rest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has the advantage of keeping every week looking exactly the same.  You can probably push yourself a bit harder with the lifting this way than what you originally set up.  However, if you feel that your current plan is working well for you, you can consider an active rest policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active rest still has you training per normal, but the work load and intensity is cut down tremendously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active Rest Push Day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 1x5 @ 50%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 1x5 @ 50%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press: 1x5 @ 50%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active Rest Pull Day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 1x5 @ 50%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows: 1x5 @ 50%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curls/shoulder work--focus on high rep low weight to get blood flowing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active Rest Roadbike Day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3-5 miles @ easy pace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially you do the active rest protocol when you start feeling ground down, and keep it up for 1-2 weeks, or until you start perking back up.  If you ignore the over-reaching feeling and allow yourself to go completely over-trained I would take time off for a mental and physical break until you really feel the desire to get back to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-20T20:30:56.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12557" CreationDate="2013-05-20T21:20:38.400" Score="6" ViewCount="447" Body="&lt;p&gt;One day in my 20s I was stressed and I stupidly tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physicalfitnet.com/exercise_video/reverse_dumbbell_fly.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse dumbbell flyes&lt;/a&gt; too fast and with too much weight. Something went deeply wrong, more or less under my right scapula, and I completely quitted lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am 40 and back to the gym. I try to do exercises that involve a lot of muscles simultaneously, i.e. squat, bench press and so on. But I cannot do Deadlift without feeling pain. Yes, I have gone to a doctor and he tells about applying warm and massages and so on, but there is something more than pain there. I feel like somehow my scapula is weakly fixed and I am afraid I could damage my back again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my idea is changing Deadlift by a collection of exercises that work the same muscles separately, so that I can address the ones that cause discomfort differently, perhaps by going for many low-weight repetitions until gradually reinforcing the zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine that two of them are: reverse dumbbell fly, and machine back extension. Any other suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Later Edit, months before&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain doing Deadlifts went away after reading in SS how to do Deadlifts with proper form and start with very light weights. It was merely caused by trying to lift with not-retracted shoulder blades and rounded back (thanks God I stopped soon). Form does matter. I think everybody should be forced to read some standard basic document before entering any gym, alerting from the risks of not learning proper form. It really is a problem. Who knows how many guys get severely injured because of a lack of information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T12:19:07.827" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T12:19:07.827" Title="Which collection of specific exercises can be used to completely substitute Deadlift?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12527" CreationDate="2013-05-21T02:18:48.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does make comparing your lifting sessions useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you time your rest periods then you can be assured that one week you were doing better than another and see whether or not you were making progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;aka doing 1000 chinups over a full a day can't be compared to doing 4 sets of 10. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T02:18:48.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12551" CreationDate="2013-05-21T04:18:17.083" Score="5" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently progressing through 'Mad Cow' system and I have upped my calorie intake over the past 1 to 2 months. I have a question that I wondered if anyone could shed some light on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take about 2 supplement shakes a day along with 3 to 4 meals. Would I be better off having about 5 to 6 meals and dropping the supplements? Does your body process the liquid supplements differently to actual food? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to build strength / muscle mass. My increase in good carbohydrates and protein is helping me immensely with my lift gains but I just can't help thinking that it may help more if my body has the actual food to process rather than just gulping down my supplement shake. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5318" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T14:32:31.377" Title="Does the body process food and supplements the same way?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12550" CreationDate="2013-05-21T14:32:31.377" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I would recommend you commit to the nutrition SE site in Area 51: &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/44550/nutrition&quot;&gt;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/44550/nutrition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on the supplement, what it is designed for and the composition. It can be very complicated to outline, but there are various nutrients, vitamins and minerals that depend on the presence of other substances to be better absorbed and utilized in the body. For example, on extremely low fat diets, it can be easy to develop a deficiency in fat soluble vitamins, since fat is necessary for transport of the vitamins into the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get all of your necessary nutrients in your &quot;real food&quot; meals, and the supplement shakes are simply to increase calories, then there probably isn't a problem with them (With the caveat that there have been reports of heavy metal contamination in some liquid shakes). If you are relying on them for other things than extra calories and you have the time to prepare meals, then I would do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to always recommend real food over processed supplements unless there are mitigating factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T14:32:31.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12291" CreationDate="2013-05-21T15:01:49.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can kind of answer your own question, with a little basic knowledge of anatomy and the mechanics of Muay Thai. The best way is to break each movement down into their component muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feet/Calves/Shins - I group these together as many of the tendons and muscles for both run through the same area. The calves and other extensors are used to &quot;bounce&quot; while sparring, and to extend (point) the foot for some kicks. When you are doing kicks where the striking area is the ball of the foot, then you use the shin (flexor) muscles. Depending on foot orientation (My feet are somewhat duckfooted, which emphasizes medial development), then you may notice more development to the medial (inside) or lateral (outside) area of the calf muscle (Gastrocnemius/Soleus)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Quadriceps/Hamstrings - These would be utilized for kicking, obviously. Any kick that extends the leg from a bent to a straight position (front, round) or brings the leg forward at the waist (Many shin/knee/side of leg targeted straight leg kicks) will utilize the quadriceps more, while kicks that bring the leg backwards or from a straight to a bent angle (wheel kicks, hook kicks, axe kicks) will emphasize the hamstrings more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Glutes - Almost any kick will utilize the gluteal (butt) muscles, but kicks such as back kicks, donkey kicks, side kicks will use the gluteal muscles for the majority of their power. They are also used for movement and stabilization.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Abdominals/Obliques/Lower back - These muscles are all used extensively as an anchor/base for almost all techniques, as well as adding rotational force to any technique.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pectorals - Punches and similar motions (spearhands), and normal (As opposed to upset) ridge hands, some elbow techniques. The primary function of the pectorals is to adduct (bring into the center) the upper arm. There isn't going to be much more involvement for the pectorals than that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Triceps - Extension of the arm, so any movement that takes the arm from bent to straight will utilize them. Punches, hammer fists will be primary among these.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deltoids (shoulders) - Used for stabilization, and to contribute to any arm technique. Front/medial will be used more for the active motion (such as a punch), while medial/rear will be used to bring the arm back to the body after the execution of a technique. Can also be a primary motivator in some elbow techniques&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Biceps - Retraction of the upper arm, and any technique that brings your arm from straight to bent, which is somewhat limited, mostly being back/reverse elbow techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neck muscles - Stabilization of the head, either to resist motion when struck, or as a base for other movements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Upper back (Latissimus) - The primary function here is also adduction of the upper arm, in a different plane than the pectorals. The major involvement here is going to be a lot of the reverse arm techniques, and back elbow type strikes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Forearm - Mostly in stabilization and rotation of the lower arm during punching and blocking techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stabilization - For martial arts, pretty much every muscle in the body will be used in some form or another, (see this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7523/what-are-the-primary-muscles-worked-when-hitting-a-heavy-bag&quot;&gt;What are the primary muscles worked when hitting a Heavy Bag?&lt;/a&gt;), so to find deficiencies, you need to look at what the activity promotes. For example, tae kwon do is very heavily leg focused, so to balance I would have the practicioner do more upper body work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For muay thai, it is a very intensive, full body art. About the only places I might see weaknesses are the biceps and the lats, as they are underutilized for their comparative size. Your lower back may be comparatively neglected as well, depending on what calisthenic type exercises you do. However, if you heavily favor the striking side of muay thai, then your legs may be comparatively weaker, and vice versa if you are primarily a kick oriented fighter. Overall, I would say that muay thai actually is one of the better arts for full body development, and there wouldn't be much to supplement for, unless you notice that you are lacking comparative power in certain techniques, that one portion of the muscle is being more developed than other (Such as the medial portion of the calf as opposed to the lateral portion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one other caveat, is that muscular development can come at a cost, either in mobility, flexibility or speed. If you do add in weight training, make sure to still emphasize speed and flexibility work. If these are neglected, then weight training over time can restrict range of motion, and possibly change muscle fiber composition to a small extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-05-21T15:10:38.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-21T18:43:26.480" Score="4" ViewCount="11701" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym instructor told me to increase my dumbbell weight once I feel comfortable with the current one. If I want muscle growth only to some extent (I mean not much) and maintain my body with proper endurance, toning and flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it OK that i stick to one single weight throughout or should i increase my dumbbell weights periodically as my instructor suggested ? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain the fitness aspects of these two cases? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I m currently doing dumbbell workouts using &lt;strong&gt;5 kg&lt;/strong&gt; for biceps and triceps and planning to use it for other exercises like chest press, squats, abs etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If using the same weight throughout is an option. Can anyone recommend me the proper weight since I'm thinking of buying one at home ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I m currently 66 kg and 173 cm tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5829" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditDate="2013-05-22T01:25:23.220" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T16:58:08.960" Title="Should I increase dumbbell weight or should I use throughout" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12553" CreationDate="2013-05-22T01:38:39.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is fine to reach a certain weight and stick at that weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, different muscles react differently to increased weight. Just because you don't want large bulging muscles doesn't mean that you shouldn't increase your weight for every exercise. You can stick to one weight when doing something like bicep curls and a different weight when doing squats etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you stick to a certain weight eventually you will level off as your body adapts to that weight, which is fine. You just need to decide where that level is. My suggestion is don't stick to the same weight for every exercise because you can use different weight for each exercise. Maybe you want stronger thighs, but don't want a lot of upper body muscle. Then you can keep increasing the weight when doing something like squats, but use lighter weights when working your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do some work at home you can buy from most sports stores a set of weights that has a variety of weights allowing you change the weight as needed. So don't just by two dumbbells with 4x 2.5kg weights. Buy a set that includes 4 x 1.25, 4 x 2.5 and 4 x 5 or something similar. This will be your basic start and then if you want to go higher at a later time you can buy larger individual weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For which exercises you should use heavier weights on, I suggest speaking to the gym staff or trainer and speak to them about your goals. Do you want to run faster, do you want greater core strength, do you want general fitness etc. your goals will determine where you should focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T01:38:39.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12536" CreationDate="2013-05-22T01:50:24.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the problem is you are doing a large amount of repetitions on a limited number of exercises. It sounds like you are only doing two exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodies are designed to adapt, if you just do the same two exercises over and over again you are only focusing on a limited number of muscles and they will easily adapt to this limited set of exercises and you will only get a very limited benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is, once your body adapts it is going to plateau because you are not increase the weight or resistance. I am guessing once you could do a 100 standard push-ups your body adapted and you saw no further benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm happy for other people's input, but my suggestion is you shouldn't be doing more than 2 or 3 reps of the same exercise, say (2 or 3) x 10. You can then use your remaining strength and energy doing a different exercise. There are different types of push-ups you can do, so maybe you could do 3 sets of 10 with 3 different types of push-up then move onto another exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also increase weight while doing push-ups and pull-ups by using a weighted backpack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest you look at doing some sort of weights training. If you don't want a trainer or go to a gym, go online you can search for a wide variety of exercises for specific muscle groups and mix it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T01:50:24.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2013-05-22T02:57:42.997" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It very much depends on what is causing the pain or discomfort. First of all, if you are worried, see a doctor or physiotherapist, they will be better able to diagnsoe the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for substituting a deadlift, its not really possible as its a complex compound exercise that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot;&gt;involves a lot of muscles&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you can move smaller weights relatively pain free there are other exercises you can do that will stengthen the component muscles that are active during a deadlift. But again it depends on what your goal is - if you want to have a large deadlift you by definition need to deadlift, but if you are looking for better stability and better health there are plenty of options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of unilateral-exercises, like single-leg deadlifts will help with stability and leg-strength. Another good option is the turkish get-up, which even at low weight, requires concentration and balance to perform well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good place to start is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/&quot;&gt;EXRX&lt;/a&gt;, exploring which muscles you'd like to strengthen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-05-22T21:55:22.843" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T21:55:22.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12087" CreationDate="2013-05-22T03:30:05.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated weightlifting requires most if not all muscles to some degree, however the &lt;strong&gt;snatch&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;clean &amp;amp; jerk&lt;/strong&gt; are 2 different highly technical movements that use emphasis different muscles in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While strength training, like that suggested by Kate, is important, if you are interested in performing olympic weightlifting you may quickly find a program Starting Strength unsatisfying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength considers &quot;the major lifts&quot;, i.e. the Bench Press, the Back Squat and the Deadlift, and trains these for maximal strength - moving the largest thing possible -, while olympic weightlifting trains for maximal force, what people refer to as an &lt;em&gt;explosive movement&lt;/em&gt; or moving a relatively large thing as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the slow controlled movements through a minimal plane, contemporary strength training may train minor auxillary, stabiliser muscles, but not to the degree in olympic weightlifting which requires controlling a large weight that is moving fast under going significant torque. Many athletes in contact incorporate at the least cleans into their programs for this reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking at doing olympic weightlifting, for fun or competition, its worth investigating what programs are available, beside the commonly suggested contemporary strength programs. Starting Strength will give you a good base, however if you are interested in olympic weightlifting supplementing it early on with technique practise of the major olympic movements - even with a broom handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T03:30:05.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-22T06:16:24.217" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 18 year old boy which suppose to look healthy n fit and have a great built but instead I look like a broomstick and I hate that so much I have tried many things such as drinking eggs and milk daily,tablets etc I have also tried working out but I don't see an improvement I need some advice on picking up weight please help me out being skinny changes your entire lifestyle your clothes does not suit you even if you the best ones,your face is small and you just look horrible please tell me something that will really me thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5876" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T07:21:33.770" Title="I really want to pick up weight I'm too skinny" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-05-22T14:26:09.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12559" CreationDate="2013-05-22T07:21:33.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;EAT GODDAMIT. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter how much you think you are eating it is no-where near enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a Male in his young twenties I aim for like 6000 calories, your metabolism is crazy at this stage and you have to eat to its rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T07:21:33.770" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12553" CreationDate="2013-05-22T07:26:18.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your routine is to get out 8 reps it means once you are strong enough to get 8 reps you should move up (Heavier).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise you will stagnate/atrophy, I mean you can increase the reps but eventually you will just hit a plateau and wont be increasing your reps each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T07:26:18.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12512" CreationDate="2013-05-22T07:34:49.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If its the first time you have ever got into fitness/working out you can sometimes expect &quot;noob gains&quot;. I myself got about 5 kilograms without nutrition at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really strict with your diet (Bulking) you can expect to get like half a kilo of muscle per week after that. Its a really rough number, it will be more or less depending on your body and usually you will overestimate how &quot;well&quot; you are exercising and dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will plateau out eventually, you cant keep putting on muscle on indefinitely&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T07:34:49.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12459" CreationDate="2013-05-22T14:50:48.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The RunnersWorld program looks like a good way to get yourself into running. It's based on time, which is good because time spent running is all you really need to focus on when you start. During the 8-week program, noticing that you're able to run longer without feeling worse will be a good enough sign of progress. You may feel discouraged sometimes during the first two weeks. If you can stay motivated through that, however, you'll start to really notice yourself getting more fit. Once you are able to run 20-30 minutes continuously, you may want to start keeping track of how many miles you run each week to make sure you don't build up too fast. Be conservative. Try not to add more than 3 miles per week as you move beyond the beginner program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5626" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T14:50:48.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12332" CreationDate="2013-05-22T16:17:36.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers here have done a great job answering the question for a single person lifting more on one day than on another. But they have all omitted some very important physics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limb length plays an important role in the physics of weightlifting. For example, the longer your arms, the farther you have to move the bar for the bench press. Tall people generally have to expend more energy to bench press a given weight than short people because they must move the weight through a greater difference in height and a proportionally greater change in gravitational potential energy. So with the same muscular strength, two people might still have to exert themselves to different degrees to lift the same weight. Bicep curls are another good example. The longer the forearm, the greater the torque exerted at the hand by the force of gravity on the weight. If your forearms are X% longer than someone else's and your muscles attach at an Y% greater distance from your elbow the effect will depend on whether X or Y is bigger. Only if X=Y will there be no effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, if A's muscles are stronger than B's, it could still be possible for physics to allow B to lift heavier weights than A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/397181-does-height-influence-how-much-weight-you-can-lift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; sums it up nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5626" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T16:17:36.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1052" CreationDate="2013-05-22T17:43:22.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As somebody mentioned, it is not the exercise that causes the lower back pain; however it can cause more stress on it further especially if you have had a lower back and weak hamstrings to begin with. When the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.squidoo.com/deadlifts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Deadlift 101&quot;&gt;stiff-legged deadlift&lt;/a&gt; is used correctly, it can help benefit your lower back and hamstrings by effectively targeting them and growing them stronger in attempts to minimize such pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5880" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T17:43:22.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16532" CreationDate="2013-05-22T18:52:17.127" Score="5" ViewCount="4083" Body="&lt;p&gt;I swim in an unheated outdoor pool in Spring (in the UK). It's cold enough to be uncomfortable but not dangerous (today the water was 14°C, and if it's below 10°C they close the pool). After a length or two, I'm used to the water temperature and my body doesn't feel so cold any more, but my head still feels as if I've been eating ice-cream too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would wearing a swimming cap reduce heat loss through the head while I'm in the water? (I'm not worried about after I get out: I make a beeline for the hot showers.) If it makes a difference, I wear my hair about an inch long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T11:45:22.070" Title="Do swimming caps keep you warm in cold water?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;cold&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12567" CreationDate="2013-05-22T21:57:11.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not the heat loss through the head that you are feeling(The whole 90% of heat loss is through your head thing is a myth), it's the cooling effect of the cold air on wet skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cap will help prevent that, but it's not going to do much for actual heat retention until you start getting into the neoprene caps, which are designed to be warmer than traditional latex caps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, they will help some, but if you really need a warm cap then look at some of the thicker, neoprene rubber caps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-05-22T21:57:11.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12572" CreationDate="2013-05-22T22:51:46.260" Score="5" ViewCount="24612" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about 5'10&quot; 175 lbs doing the Insanity workout, and have been doing it for about a month and half.  I don't want to &quot;get big&quot;, I want to get cut.  Is there any benefit to taking a whey protein shake after my workout, or is it overrated?  I have never tried it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Here is the protein I'm currently eyeing: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11043996&amp;amp;cp=3593187.2108294&quot;&gt;GNC Whey Protein Platinum&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always been skeptical of supplements in general.  My gut feeling is to simply adjust my diet and eat better/take in more protein naturally (fish, chicken, etc).  However, there's no doubt that adding a protein shake is a lot easier than changing one's eating habits; whether it has any benefit, however, is why I'm here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So whey or nay?  Does adding a whey protein shake after an intense cardio workout have any benefit?  Will it be beneficial in getting toned, or not really?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5301" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T16:19:31.970" Title="Insanity Workout: Whey or Nay?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12569" CreationDate="2013-05-23T01:39:29.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, cardio can be considered a resistance workout if you think in terms of the muscles that are being worked (diaphragm, legs, abs, etc), and with any exercise program typically you want to shoot for .75-1g/per pound of bodyweight of protein &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;daily&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. I've seen this number vary and even given in kg for similar quantities, but the closer to 1g/lb you can get the better, I've seen results that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, it's very difficult to get that quantity of protein on a daily basis using natural foods alone. That's where the whey comes in. Taking a protein supplement won't get you &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt;, especially if you're just lifting weights, but it will help to build/maintain the muscle you need to do your cardio workouts, and may even replenish a small amount of the muscle you're burning off with the cardio (keyword is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey or ney is up to you, but I will tell you when I'm doing any serious training, cardio, strength, or a hybrid of the two, my day includes whey. As for servings stay away from making that you're sole source of significant protein on any given day. Personally I don't go over 50g/day and derive the other 150+g (I'm a growing boy....) from foods such as peanut butter, chicken, tuna/other fish, eggs, and maybe one or two other foods that escape me at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T01:39:29.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2013-05-23T02:37:57.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to know that BMI is a poor indicator if you are not middle aged with a sedentary lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI was developed as a tool to look at averages across a large population not as an individual assessment tool. Although, due its popularity has become a defacto tool used by many to do this, when it wasn't designed that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have two options, you can either look at yourself in the mirror and think about how you feel about your body / fitness / strength and then set yourself some goals &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; get a proper fitness assessment done where you will be assessed on your fitness and strength as well as having your weight and body fat measured. This information will then be used to provide you with some goals and a sensible plan to reach those goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to becoming skinnier, this largely depends on what you put in your mouth &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; you are exercising heavily. In the past three months I have gone from 72kg to 76kg and lost 6% body fat. I am not taking protein supplements. I am doing a huge amount of cardio and also two weight sessions per week. So this is offset by a large uptake in the amount of food I eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you exercise and start losing body fat, you will build up some muscle, but if you are doing large amounts of cardio and no strength training or weights and you are not changing the way you are eating you may find you look skinnier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to get someone to do your assessment mention to them that you want to put on weight and discuss with them the best way to do it. It takes a while to do, but with the right program and nutrition you can be heading in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T02:37:57.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12569" CreationDate="2013-05-23T04:06:02.057" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to get big, you need to eat a calorie surplus (more than you burn in a day). To get cut, you need to eat a caloric deficit. If you eat 200g+ protein but still eat fewer calories than you're burning, you're going to lose weight and you won't get huge and bulky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to get cut, I'm assuming that you're trying to lose weight and/or lower bodyfat. This makes sufficient protein intake even more important. If you're eating a deficit you're always going to lose some fat and muscle. If you don't eat enough protein, a bigger percentage of that loss will be muscle. If you eat sufficient protein and strength train, you can minimize muscle loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's often stated that you should aim for about 1g/lb body weight in protein. It's certainly not absolutely necessary, but I've definitely noticed better performance in the gym and more progress when I hit that goal. It's really hard to eat that much protein in &quot;real food&quot; though; You'd have to eat several chicken breasts every day, which is why some people opt for a scoop of whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: supplements are meant for just that: to SUPPLEMENT your diet, not replace it. If you're providing yourself with good nutrition and want to optimize your muscle gain / fat loss, it can be beneficial to take some whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5884" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T04:06:02.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12536" CreationDate="2013-05-23T09:51:38.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing push-ups and pull-ups is great. However, since you're doing them so frequently and with so much repetitions, your muscles are getting used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to shock your muscles to get them to grow. Now, what does that mean? Actually it's simple: switch up your rotation! Try 1 push-up over 12 seconds: push up slowly, then hold, then go down slowly again. You should start to notice that reps become more difficult and your muscles should begin to burn a lot earlier. Same goes for pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to grow muscles, you should switch up your routine every 3-4 weeks in my opinion. For my body, my muscles are adapted to my routine after about 3 weeks so then I switch from heavy weights to lower weights but more repetitions, after that I increase the weight a bit (but not maxing out) and slow down my repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5887" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T09:51:38.693" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12575" CreationDate="2013-05-23T15:08:44.383" Score="3" ViewCount="609" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually just run 1 day per week, I just do my long run for 20k, but now I have a minor injury in my finger, I have a mallet finger (or baseball finger) so I need to use a stack split in my finger for 6 weeks to recover. So I don't know if the recovering of the long run can affect the recover of my finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-05-25T04:20:18.297" LastActivityDate="2013-05-25T04:20:18.297" Title="Can I train for running with a minor finger injury?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12574" CreationDate="2013-05-23T16:02:09.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask yourself this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's the likelihood of re-injuring the finger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The finger will take as long as it takes to get better, and running isn't going to change that significantly enough to worry about it if at all.  As long as there is a low likelihood that you are going to hurt the finger again doing any activity, there is no reason to avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may experience minor pain from the impact of your feet radiating up to your finger, or you may not.  I don't think it's re-injuring it, but it might not feel good.  A bit of ice for 20 minutes will probably make it feel better after your run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also probably have to be careful if you are grabbing some water with that hand while running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are the only two things I can think of that would cause you any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T16:02:09.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12569" CreationDate="2013-05-23T16:19:31.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a fan of Whey protein for one primary reason: 30 minutes later and I'm hungry.  It just doesn't stick with you, and you find yourself looking to snack on something too soon.  That's bad for cutting fat.  In fact, the more quickly you absorb the protein the more quickly your body is done with it.  Fast in, fast out.  That's why the highly micronized, easily absorbed protein supplements aren't good for cutting fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best Option:&lt;/strong&gt; Get all your protein from real food.  It's not as hard as you might think. 2 decent sized chicken breasts will give you 100g of protein alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternatives&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, after doing the math, getting all the protein you need will cause you to eat more food than you can lose weight with you'll need to supplement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2nd Best Option:&lt;/strong&gt; Use meal replacements for one or two of your meals.  MetRx is an example manufacturer of a Meal Replacement Packet (MRP).  One of their MRPs provides 38g of protein with only 250 Calories.  MRPs provide both a blend of proteins and several micronutrients your body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3rd Best Option:&lt;/strong&gt; Use a protein complex which has protein from different sources in a blend.  Example products include Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex or Syntrax Matrix protein poweders.  They include whey, egg, and other proteins in a blend which will stay with you longer helping control hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T16:19:31.970" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12553" CreationDate="2013-05-23T16:58:08.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me say this up front: &lt;strong&gt;one weight does not work for all your muscle groups&lt;/strong&gt;.  Your legs are far stronger than your arms.  Even the act of pressing something away from your body is stronger than just doing curls or triceps extensions.  You might find 5kg (~11 lbs) challenging for those muscles, but you won't even feel the difference with squats.  Give yourself enough time with that weight, and it won't even feel like you are doing anything with that either.  This is true whether you are a child, a woman, or a man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To Increase Regularly or Not&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an over-arching principle in all fitness: Specific Adaptations to Implied Demands (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAID_principle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SAID principle&lt;/a&gt;).  If your demands never change, you will never adapt more than you already have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people function under the false impression that having muscle automatically makes them bulky or unattractive.  Usually they are looking at elite bodybuilders that have put decades of dedicated work into looking the way they do and feel like that is not what they want.  On the other hand if you look at the average track and field athlete, or even Olympic weightlifters, they don't have the same appearance as the body builders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: don't be afraid of increasing the weights.  That helps you get stronger, which in turn improves your muscle to fat proportions.  While too much fat makes you not look toned, too little fat can give you that bodybuilder look you are trying to avoid.  If you eat and train like an athlete you will have the physique of an athlete.  That means you'll have to increase the weight over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Fitness Impact&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll bring up the SAID principle again.  If the imposed demands don't change, you won't have any adaptations.  To put it another way, if you keep doing the same thing at the same times, you will never see any change.  You won't increase muscle any more, and you won't lose fat any more.  You have to change something about what you do to cause other changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Potential changes that can all have an effect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change of diet: this affects the amount of fat you carry, and if you supply enough training stimulus how much muscle you can put on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change of intensity (increasing the weight): increases the demands on the muscle, which in turn will make it stronger.  That in turn increasing the amount of Calories your body burns in a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change of volume (more sets/reps): increases the demands and endurance needs of the muscle, which in turn will make it bigger.  More volume tells your body you need to keep more energy close to the muscle, and the energy systems take up more room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change of training frequency: increases fatigue which can have the same effect as increasing the volume over the course of a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change in leverages: this is particularly true with bodyweight only exercise.  A pushup is harder when both hands are placed next to each other at or above forehead level.  That effectively increases the work your arms are doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a limit to hours in the day, and attention span while training.  Increasing intensity when you are comfortable with the sets and reps you are doing is one way to get more out of your exercise in the same amount of time.  It's also a good way to challenge yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to increase every time you work out.  In fact it's fine to keep using the same weight for 6 weeks straight and just add reps week by week.  It's a strategy that I use myself.  At the end of 6 weeks, you'll be more than comfortable with that weight so it's time to increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recommendation for Home Purchase&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get yourself equipment that can grow with you.  Either buy an adjustable dumbbell, or buy a dumbbell handle that you can add weight to.  Make sure you know were to buy additional plates.  I personally have a fully equipped home gym, with Olympic plates and an Olympic barbell.  When I purchased dumbbell handles I opted for handles made for Olympic plates.  That ensured I could buy more weight any time I wanted from just about any source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pair of dumbbell handles and the plates that go with it may vary in price depending on where you live and how many options are near you.  It will still be a lot less expensive than buying a number of fixed dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T16:58:08.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12580" CreationDate="2013-05-23T19:21:24.337" Score="5" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been dieting and losing weight for around 3-4 months now and have been mainly doing cardio but still doing resistance as well. On average, I am losing 9lb a week however I got weighed today and was told my body fat has not gone down at all and still remains at 40%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone please shed some light in why this is and how what I could do to bring my body fat down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My diet (Same all week, apart from sundays)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Morning:&#xA;- Oats (30g) + water + Sweetener&#xA;- OR Porridge + Sweetener &#xA;&#xA;Lunch:&#xA;- Tuna / Chicken / White fish&#xA;&#xA;Dinner:&#xA;- Steak / Chicken / Tuna + (Protein Shake)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No carbs, drinking nothing but water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trainning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roughly, on average, 6 days a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Resistance (12 reps 3 sets):&#xA; - Butterfly curls (8kg+)&#xA; - Smith Machine (40kg - 60kg)&#xA; - Deadlifts (50kg)&#xA;&#xA;Cardio:&#xA; - Treadmill (walking at around 5.2 speech with intervals of 1.5 minutes at speed of 12.5 - 15.5)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Resistance&#xA; - (Mainly the same, chest machine, and zipper wire - Same reps / sets)&#xA;&#xA;Cardio:&#xA;- More cardio at the evening, longer walk time. Aim to burn around 1k calories per day.. So 500+ in the morning and 500+ in the evening.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.S.&lt;/strong&gt; No measurements was taken, I was asked to stand on a machine and put my hands on this bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5889" LastEditorUserId="5238" LastEditDate="2013-05-24T14:30:48.173" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T07:04:37.413" Title="Body fat still the same even though losing weight" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2013-05-23T19:36:32.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight, then you can, but you can't do it halfway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was skinny all of my life, averaging 6 foot four and 170 pounds. About a year and a half ago, I went on Mark Rippetoe's plan (minus the gallon of milk a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within nine months, I was deadlifting 300 from practically nothing, and benching 225.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight went from 170 to 205.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two big caveats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will need some extra protein. I used Greek yogurt, or you can use supplements, but it has to come from somewhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be very very careful about your form. Like, very careful.  Shortly after I hit 300 dead lifting, I developed tendinitis in both quadriceps, which put me out of commission for about three or four months.  Then, six months later I got a minor herniated disc in my lower back from bad form at the bottom of squats (whatever Mark says, don't take your low bar squats as low as he instructs, it's almost impossible to prevent rounding at below parallel).  I've actually moved away from his program to a much safer one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/21_exercises_for_injury_free_mass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;21 exercises for injury free mass&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5605" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T19:36:32.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12578" CreationDate="2013-05-23T21:42:08.260" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, the last line of your post now makes it clear. The type of measurement that they are doing is called bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA). These have an error rate of anywhere from plus or minus 5% on up depending on the quality of the unit being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BIA can also run high or low depending on factors such as skin sweat, level of hydration, timing of your last meal, things like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hydrostatic weighing (When done properly by both tester and testee) and DEXA scanning are the two best methods for determining body fat. Next up would be a 9 point or 7 point skin caliper test, again dependent on the skill of the tester. Then 3 point caliper, circumference measurement and personally I place BIA at the bottom of the heap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BIA is good for trends over time, if you can manage to get on one at the same time in the same condition every day. Many Tanita or similar scales have the impedance built in, so you can weigh/analyze at the same time every day (Such as right out of bed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not place too much stock in the unit at the gym, as long as the weight and the mirror are both giving you good feedback, keep it up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-05-23T21:49:54.333" LastActivityDate="2013-05-23T21:49:54.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12582" CreationDate="2013-05-23T22:11:54.893" Score="4" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get more flexible for BJJ. I'm intending on stretching 3 times (or more) a day, holding each stretch for about 30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that it's good to strengthen the muscles while you stretch them to avoid overstretching. I already have strong legs because I used to do both weighted and bodyweight squats. At the moment, the only exercise I do for my legs is 800m, 2k and 4k runs - is that going to be adequate strengthening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And is three times a day excessive (/dangerous)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5891" LastActivityDate="2013-05-24T01:18:22.057" Title="Flexibility questions" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12581" CreationDate="2013-05-24T01:18:22.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the stretching, pick up Tom Kurz' Scientific Stretching. It addresses your questions. Three times a day may or may not be excessive; it depends on how you do it. You might get more mileage out of doing yoga a few times a week and developing a home routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is not strength training unless it is sprints. 800 meters is way too long for strength work; if you want strength do deadlifts and squats and pull-ups and dips. I find Romanian deadlifts quite useful for simultaneously strengthening and stretching the hamstrings, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you do plenty of counter-movements to the BJJ work: opening the hips and shoulders to reverse the curled-up posture common for most groundwork. &lt;a href=&quot;http://jiujitsubrotherhood.com/2013/05/yoga-jiu-jitsu-a-natural-symbiosis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; is a good overview:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you’re in guard, attacking from the side mount, back and many of the other positions, your body is in a contracted state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The upper back is often rounded as you are holding onto your opponent, the hip flexors and psoas are usually tightened because the knees are tucked up towards the chest, and as for the neck and shoulders – well if you’ve been training for any length of time you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.This excessive contraction is even more pronouced in the primary defensive postures, like the turtle postion. (Interestingly, the ageing process is also characterised by contraction – this is why old people start to hunch over.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular practise of the various asanas and vinyasas is the best remedy I’ve found for this imbalanced state, due to their twofold effect of lengthening and opening the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-05-24T01:18:22.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-24T08:46:23.863" Score="1" ViewCount="11789" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not the first time i'm doing a push-up but i think this is probably the first time i'm doing it well hence the pain on my right rib. I want to know if this is normal and if it is, should i continue my daily pushup or wait till the pain is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5893" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T05:42:43.600" Title="My ribs are aching after a pushup. What's wrong?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-07-27T13:56:08.743" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13767" CreationDate="2013-05-24T14:40:38.657" Score="5" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have much time to do my trainings, I just do my long run on Sundays mornings, but I would like training on Saturdays too, but maybe the training of Saturday could affect my long run of Sundays.. so I would like to know what could be a good 2 consecutive day training per week.&#xA;I was thinking of doing a trail running session on Saturday, and Sundays a fartlek in my long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-05-24T15:13:31.853" LastActivityDate="2013-08-29T21:58:14.203" Title="What could be a training for a just Saturdays and Sundays?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11641" CreationDate="2013-05-24T16:49:07.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible and effective, but I would recommend going for the strength using compound movements first and the more specific hypertrophy second.  The primary reason for this is fatigue management.  The fatigue induced by a heavy set affects the longer lighter sets less than the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler 5/3/1 program is built around this approach.  The strength portion is first and features 3 work sets of 1-5 reps where the top set is for as many as you can do at the programmed weight.  After you do the strength work, you add in 5 sets of 10 for hypertrophy.  To complete the program you would also work on mobility and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find this approach works much better with heavy compound movements used for the strength work than it does with smaller isolation type movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compound movements such as bench, squat, deadlift, pull ups, dips, all affect multiple muscle groups.  Due to that fact, it is more effective at strengthening all the muscles being activated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation movements such as curls, triceps extensions, chest flies, are best done in volume for hypertrophy affect and/or joint health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that the smaller muscles used in isolation movements are only going to get so strong on their own.  In order for your mind and body to agree on heavier weight, the mind has to be assured that the rest of the body can handle it.  It's one reason that deadlifts are limited by what you can grip.  The mind puts the breaks on if it thinks you can't hold the bar, and this is an involuntary reflex.  Since compound movements take care of multiple groups of muscles, when you go back in for isolation work you will be able to do that at higher weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative approach also works.  It's similar to how Hepburn routines splits things up.  Essentially for a few months you are working on strength primarily, and when you can't make any more progress that way you switch to hypertrophy for a few months.  And alternate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally prefer to do the strength and hypertrophy work in the same session.  Both are needed to get stronger (my goals), and it's just a matter of adjusting the proportion of work that goes into what I want to emphasize at any given time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just an additional note: don't get hung up on just one set/rep scheme.  Sometimes when you are hitting a plateau, you need to change your approach.  Sometimes you need to add sets, or reps.  Other times you cut the sets/reps and add weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple and effective way to balance this out is to start with a baseline set/rep scheme.  It can be 3x8 for example.  Just keep at the same weight and try to work up to 4x12.  When you hit that, increase the weight you are using and start over with 3x8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-05-24T17:05:42.787" LastActivityDate="2013-05-24T17:05:42.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12154" CreationDate="2013-05-24T17:46:07.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shortest answer to your question is yes.  Seniors are more likely to have injuries, general weakness, or other extenuating health conditions due to their age or other activities when they were younger.  More care has to be taken toward the beginning of their journey, but once they get started it will drastically improve their quality of life.  That said, their bodies will still respond to training stimuli.  Improvement will be slower and fatigue will be higher due to the age factor.  However, they will improve, and they will get stronger/faster/more mentally quick just as younger folks do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1: Assess and Correct Base Fitness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the senior is very much out of shape, has high blood pressure, history of heart disease, or have lost a lot of muscle due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcopenia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sarcopenia&lt;/a&gt;, the steps at the beginning will be very modest.  You may have to consult with a doctor to help design something they can do.  Someone in their 60s is likely still strong enough to embark on fitness.  However, if the person is in their 70s or higher when they start, there's a good chance they'll have some basic work to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slow.  The first step is to get them moving more often.  It's likely that stuff hurts and they don't like hurting.  It takes time to figure out when they are wimping out or it truly is a chronic problem they have to work around.  Sometimes the effort involved just in standing up alone takes all the vim and vigor they have.  If that's the case, you may have to start them off in the weight room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A leg press can be a an effective way to get them moving while they are seated.  Start on the lightest setting, and over time add weight until they can leg press their body weight.  That will help them tremendously with just standing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will likely need to get them to do some sort of back exercise so they can keep their torso as erect as possible.  If they already have severe &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyphosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kyphosis&lt;/a&gt; there may not be a lot they can do.  If they haven't developed it yet, the back work will help them tremendously.  Same approach with the leg press, use a cable row machine on the lightest setting and work up to about 50% of their body weight.  Then graduate to back extensions.  When they can do that bodyweight only movement, they will likely have the confidence they need to do most things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2: Find something they will want to continue to do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The older the trainee, the more brittle their bones and cartilage.  That limits the types of things they can do.  Sports that require a lot of agility may be out of reach, or highly unadvised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always suggest that there be some element of strength, mobility, and conditioning in your activities.  Strength training provides a number of quality of life benefits as well as enabling the trainee to perform another sport better.  Mobility also improves the quality of life as you can move better and with less pain.  Finally, conditioning helps the cardiovascular system respond to the demands that the trainee now has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the trainee starts to feel better and more enabled, they are more likely to keep doing what they are doing.  If they used to be completely untrained, they will start to gain enough muscle mass to support being active.  They won't feel as frail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point it's a question of finding something they can do that they enjoy.  The more you enjoy something the more you will continue doing it.  Think outside the box.  Tai chi (or taiji) uses slow flowing movements that even older students can perform even after many years of abusing their bodies.  Running is an option, and I've witnessed a few 70+ year old guys beating much younger guys in 5Ks.  I also know a 79 year old power lifter who handed his cane to the judge at my last competition as he said &quot;excuse me, I have to go squat&quot;.  He was a man with a bad back and a minor case of permanent kyphosis, and was able to squat, bench press and deadlift (his final pull was over 315 lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest challenge is finding something that is either competitive or social (or maybe both) that they will want to continue doing.  It may be that while you are working on the base level of fitness that they take to the weights.  Great.  It might be that now they can move better power walking and then running is actually enjoyable--esp. if they meet people they wouldn't otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-24T17:46:07.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-24T21:26:20.533" Score="3" ViewCount="447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm investigating tools that can be used to analyze weight training performance. Let's say I'm doing a squat. Besides my gut feeling, how can I know how well I'm lifting? How much force am I applying? Am I balanced during the lift? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to know if anyone has any experience with these tools and what their thoughts are on using them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5897" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-05-27T14:29:59.863" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T16:29:21.023" Title="How can power tracking tools such as MyoTest or Tendo Unit help my weight training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-25T05:07:16.450" Score="4" ViewCount="14790" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best friend is getting married next month and I'm in the wedding. It turns out they invited my ex whom I haven't seen in a year. I would like to get into shape quickly. However I work long days in a camp and don't usually have lots of energy to hit up the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard of a new product out there called Muscle Core X, but it doesn't seem too trustworthy. I'm a male, 6'0 tall, 185lbs with a bit of a belly, and average arms. Please please help me strike jealousy into my ex. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5898" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-05-25T15:14:09.057" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T10:23:13.660" Title="How can I get in shape in one month?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-25T14:01:53.463" Score="5" ViewCount="1956" Body="&lt;p&gt;My regular workout consists of about 3/4 sets of 90 pushups and furthermore some situps. I am 19 years old. Would it be bad to do this workout (almost) every day of the week? And would doing it as often as possible give me maximal results or would I get better results if I took days of rest in between? If so, how many days a week should I work out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5899" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-05-25T16:29:57.947" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T23:09:17.120" Title="Is it benificial to take off rest days between bodyweight workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12588" CreationDate="2013-05-25T15:12:16.427" Score="25" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Supplements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle Core X won't do any good. I don't know what's in it, and it doesn't matter. It could be anabolic steroids mixed with cocaine and it wouldn't make much of a difference for you, because what you need cannot be distilled into a powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone just starting to work out, no supplement will do much good. Powders and shakes are well-advertised and quite profitable for the people selling them, but are indistinguishable from useless for someone just starting to get in shape. Save your money. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop putting your hopes into consumer products. They will not save you. The only thing that can get you in shape is hard work, performed consistently, without excuses. The universe doesn't care that you work at a camp. The laws of biology and physics will cut you no breaks. You must overcome these obstacles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;One month to get fit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get in better (but not great) shape in a month--&lt;em&gt;if you rearrange your entire life.&lt;/em&gt; But even the perfect workout schedule, Herculean effort, and optimal diet will only have moderate results. One month is simply not that much time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you could change everything you do for one month and make a dent. Go to sleep early every night, wake up early to run a mile every morning, eat only real food with plenty of animal protein and good fats. Start doing sets of 20 barbell squats three times a week, keeping in mind that using imperfect form with heavy weight will cause injury but using only light weight will not produce change. Do fifty chin-ups each day, split up however you have to, and pray you don't get elbow inflammation. Learn to deadlift and bench. Run two sprint or high-intensity interval training workouts a week. Miss no workouts. Skip no exercises. Get perfect sleep, avoid all stress, get plenty of sunshine but no sunburn, and eat a perfect diet. (Remember that there are at least a dozen broad definitions of the perfect diet and they all contradict each other and the right choice depends on a thousand individually-nuanced factors.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If&lt;/em&gt; you do all of that &lt;em&gt;perfectly&lt;/em&gt;, no exceptions, no injuries, no mistakes, then you'll be in &lt;em&gt;somewhat&lt;/em&gt; better shape in a month. You won't be &quot;in shape&quot;, it won't be a stunning, head-turning difference, but it'll be a modest improvement. As Earle Leiderman &lt;a href=&quot;http://ditillo2.blogspot.com.tr/2010/07/best-exercise-earle-liederman.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;said&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many men with waning energy, or diminishing vigor, will try all sorts of vitamins, whether through medical shots or orally, yet, if these same men would take up a systematic regime of progressive squatting they would soon discover that these movements can do more good than any synthetic method of securing added vitality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That plan is conceivably possible. But more likely you won't or can't restructure your life so drastically, or something will go wrong. Therefore you should define your goals, research a workout program that fits your goals, and ease into it slowly so you don't get injured. You won't stun your ex, but that's a silly goal anyway. Better to work out for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, to become the awesomest Matt you can be, than to chase someone else's fickle affections. Take the long view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ross Enamait uses an &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2012/10/06/the-decision-to-change/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt; of someone who dramatically changed his body over the course of a year:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Significant changes in body composition do not happen overnight.... Quick fixes are a marketing creation. They don’t exist in the real world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best time to start may have been ten years ago, but the second-best time to start is today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-05-03T10:23:13.660" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T10:23:13.660" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-25T15:43:06.093" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do racket sports 2 to 3 times a week, but I feel that I need some more exercise. So maybe jogging would be a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic things that I need to do in the mornings are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shower&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and now running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, the shower comes after running. But should you eat before or after jogging ? Is running as you get up healthy ? Any tips ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5900" LastActivityDate="2013-05-25T16:27:58.753" Title="What is a good routine for running in the evening?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12591" CreationDate="2013-05-25T16:27:58.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try it both ways and see what you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/fueling-runner-eat-or-not-eat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article from Runner's World&lt;/a&gt; gives some things to consider when making this decision, but the decision doesn't make much of a difference, especially for jogs, rather than training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you had a late dinner or snacks in the evening, you probably won't feel the need to eat much before running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-05-25T16:27:58.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12588" CreationDate="2013-05-25T21:23:53.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cut out the following (presuming that you consume the items off the below list) you will likely lose a couple of pounds and look slightly trimmer without doing anything else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nice thing about not being fit is that if you make any changes at all to improve your lifestyle you will notice a difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consume no bread, beer, coffee, refined sugar and artificial sweeteners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Needless to say junk food is also out. Cigarettes are out. Pizza out. Soda Out. Any food that makes a paper bag translucent is out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do just this for even just two weeks the slight improvement should act as a motivator to actually make the time to get more active and eat even more healthily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to ya.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3684" LastEditorUserId="3684" LastEditDate="2013-06-02T13:52:23.773" LastActivityDate="2013-06-02T13:52:23.773" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2013-05-26T01:47:03.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Voodoo floss added 10 degrees ROM to my ankle after foot reconstruction. I did not pay the floss, nor mobility wod much mind until it brought me back in the fight. I believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5904" LastActivityDate="2013-05-26T01:47:03.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12262" CreationDate="2013-05-26T09:41:23.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good routine? Bad routine? Towards what end? What is your goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's to be &quot;more fit&quot; for Krav, your listed routine likely will work because the bodyweight work will bring enable your body to work with itself better, handle the intensity of a Krav class, etc..  But if you want to get bigger and stronger, that routine won't take you very far. Bill Kazmaier didn't get as he did because of pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You did later comment you are trying to gain strength and more mass. So if that is your goal, I would recommend looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; program by Mark Rippetoe. What you want to pick up is his book, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&amp;amp;rn=413&amp;amp;action=show_detail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (presently in it's 3rd edition). This book is squarely aimed at people in your shoes: young guy that ways to get bigger and stronger. Mark lays out a very logical program based upon fundamental barbell-based movements: bench press, squat, deadlift, press, power clean. The program is simple, straightforward, and has proven results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you put in the work to follow the Starting Strength program, eat big (consider GOMAD), then the size and strength will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5903" LastActivityDate="2013-05-26T09:41:23.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12615" CreationDate="2013-05-26T21:28:35.890" Score="5" ViewCount="1891" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am disabled, I use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tenerife-mobility-hire.co.uk/images/5a187aad.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;walker&lt;/a&gt; and I'm practicing walking using &lt;a href=&quot;http://independentlivingconsultants.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/crutch.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elbow crutches&lt;/a&gt;. I can move my legs, I just can't balance so I have to use aids. My upper body is normal. I want to go to gym, to strengthen my upper muscles so I won't get tired when I walk on the crutches. And I want to strengthen my legs a bit, and my shoulders and back so I can walk better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already go do physical therapy but I'm not making any progress, I feel I can do better. Can I go to gym? Or is it impossible for people like me to go to gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@DavidR I talked to my pt, asking him if i can go to gym, he said i can, i didn't tell him that i'm not satisfied with what he's doing, i'm gonna try to have that conversion with him soon... So yes he said i can do gym if i want to, the question would i become &quot;is there any gym workout i can do&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5909" LastEditorUserId="5909" LastEditDate="2013-05-27T20:36:20.420" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T01:46:34.423" Title="I am disabled, can I go to gym?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11839" CreationDate="2013-05-27T05:37:42.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;HR is a very accurate measure of effort, and as delayed as any other natural parameter, call it breathing, perceived effort, fatigue (or even sweat to give another example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your heart doesn't know if it's cold or hot, uphill or downhill.  Any factors that increase/decrease your heart rate will likely impact your performance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that might be important is to normalize versus minimum heart rate which decreases as the subject trains more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say your 88% of the max was a pretty well run half marathon, At the beginning it can be lower but after a couple of miles, you should hit both goal pace and goal HR (and of you did it right, your sprint at the end might not be that great), barring any hills of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, you hardly reach your max heart rate in a marathon... You might get closer at the end of a 5K race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5910" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T05:37:42.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="855" CreationDate="2013-05-27T08:43:51.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inverted shrugs are the way to go in my opinion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please notiche that they &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; bodyweight, but they are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; equipment free, though. You have to build a TRX-like device (I did with less than 10 euros) and find a place to hang, so it's impractical if you're looking for something to do with &lt;em&gt;nothing&lt;/em&gt; more than your own body. If you want to ditch the gym and have a (safe!) place where to hang from, then this is an amazing exercise.&#xA;This is the best video I could find of it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kibHxko15BY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kibHxko15BY&lt;/a&gt; although you should &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; bend your head that way. Just keep your whole body in a straight line. Have fun. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T08:43:51.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12604" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12610" CreationDate="2013-05-27T10:03:44.700" Score="4" ViewCount="1728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been jogging for almost more than couple of months now. I use to run on and of but I guess I was not too fit so could not run for more than 5 mins. This time I decided that I would not give up and would build a stamina good enough to run a 10k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I face is that I am not able to jog daily. I feel soreness in my legs (shin and calf muscles) if I try and I am not able to continue for more than 2-3 mins. But if I run on alternate days,I feel light soreness for the first few 100 meters and then it goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can run for about 25-27 mins and I run for about near 3 kilometers. I know I don't try to push too hard, I guess I do follow the 10% rule. I do stretch before and after jogging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure I am doing something wrong cause I have read that other people can run for 5-10 kilometers with ease daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other problem I face is not being able to add much to stamina as I am progressing very slowly due to loss of breath. I try to breathe properly though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a male, 68kg wt and 5'7''. I am from India. I have read people talking about getting proper shoes from some specialized store for running. I have not seen one around. So, I am not sure if I use right shoes. But I guess they are comfortable. Also, I run in a park with hard surface, not concrete, but bricks fitted together. I do have an option to go to another one with concrete surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my questions is, what should I do to be able to run daily as I really want to build stamina. In 2 months, 3km is a bit of disappointment. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for taking time to read this. It might be a duplicate question, but I could not find if the same issue was addressed in any other question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3792" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T03:06:58.207" Title="Sore legs on jogging daily" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2013-05-27T11:44:57.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're new to machines, just take a low amount of weight and see how the thing works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: the regular and incline-chestpress machines in my gym provide 2 somewhat broad handles, which means I got quite some space to place my hands. Every position will train my chest differently. Try different positions and learn how they affect your muscle. Some machines are harder than others. Look at how other people are using them, you can learn a lot from that alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Machines that got cables can often be used to train multiple muscle-groups. If you can change the cable position vertically, you can often train biceps, triceps and even some lats and shoulder with just 1 machine. Again: see how other people use them and try things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for free weights.. well they can be quite tricky... I was always performing a dumbell-press where I would have my hands against each other when my arms would be fully stretched, meaning my hands would move towards each other when pushing upward. I tried pushing them straight up instead of to each other (that would be the same movement as with a barbell) and my muscles started burning a lot faster, even with weights up to 10kgs lighter!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gym can be intimidating when you're new around, but keep in mind that everybody started out with 0 knowledge. Exercises in the gym aren't rocket science and everybody can learn them, it's just that there's so much exercises that it might seem very complex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least: never care how much other people lift!!!! I started out with dumbell presses as low as 6kg per dumbell, and now, after 1,5 years I don't see much people (apart from the beasty boys) lifting much more than me. Everybody will be outmatched some day. Even if you can lift 150kgs on the bench, there might come a guy around who does 160kg. Train for yourself for shere pleasure and results and focus on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5887" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T11:44:57.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12587" CreationDate="2013-05-27T14:34:48.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of these tools seem to primarily track power output over time. Per Peter Drucker, measuring power output will help improve it. So, this may help you improve that metric (within your physical abilities). Note that the programming for the MyoTest and Tendo Unit is for only a limited set of exercises and lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, this probably won't help you with technique, balance, etc., as it's not really measuring bar path or body position. I think the best tool to use for these is still a video camera. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2013-05-27T14:34:48.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12604" CreationDate="2013-05-27T15:28:22.563" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try a BCAA supplement. Drink before and after, and if you run longer than 45 minutes, during as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also strongly recommend working your way up gradually, with run/walk intervals. My first training program was with a Jeff Galloway run/walk method. After a month or so I no longer needed to walk on long runs, and was able to modify my interval training by alternating between fast and slow running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastEditorUserId="2875" LastEditDate="2013-05-29T05:28:12.587" LastActivityDate="2013-05-29T05:28:12.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12619" CreationDate="2013-05-28T01:25:38.250" Score="4" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have on several occasions taken an extended break from the gym for various reasons. When I return, I find it hard to continue my workouts (even at a lower weight) for about 2-3 weeks. Muscles take longer to recover for that period (e.g. they will be very sore for more days than usual) and starting to lift weights again for the first couple of days has on occasion even made me vomit afterwards. I also find it hard to complete the full workout that I would have done before and end up skipping a couple workouts because of muscle pain / inability to continue using them effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With limited time (let's say 20-30 minutes 3 times per week) and mostly my own body to use, is there a way I can retain my tolerance to weightlifting so that when I return to the gym, my muscles will recover as they were and I won't feel unwell after the first few sessions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Obviously I will need to work back up to the weight I was using, I don't go back after 2 months and try to lift the same weight I was on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T16:25:45.870" Title="With time and equipment restrictions, how can I best maintain my tolerance to weightlifting while I'm away from the gym?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-28T01:36:38.017" Score="1" ViewCount="777" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing the insanity fitness and I am currently in the first month. It's going pretty great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They keep pushing shakeology as a results and recovery drink pretty hard. But the thing is that it is $129 per month. Is that a worth-while investment or are there better alternatives with a greater bang for the buck?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5919" LastActivityDate="2013-05-29T20:18:03.560" Title="Is shakeology worth the price" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12604" CreationDate="2013-05-28T05:43:00.190" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stick to what is working for you. If you cannot run everyday, but OK with running on alternate days, do that. Unless there is some deadline due to competition, there is no point in over-stressing yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a big runner myself and used be even worse, but I learned that persistence leads to good results and persistence is not possible if you do not enjoy the process. I could not run even 1km during my school years. I started running two years ago in the gym on the treadmill 3 times a week and went to 5k in about a year. Now I run 7-13k daily and taking a rest day after every 3 jogging days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if alternate day running works for you now, do it. When you are ready, try switching to 2 days of running + 1 day of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5804" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T05:43:00.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12609" CreationDate="2013-05-28T11:01:18.453" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely, it isnt worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;129$ a month is a really BIG pile of money. While it is possbile that the recovery drink you are taking helps with recovery, it surely helps in a marginal way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three most important factors about recovery after a training are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein intake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking it easy (including active rest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any deficiency in any of those three has a great impact on your recovery. Your recovery drink cannot match any of those. Your drink may introduce some protein to your diet, but theres a lot of other, cheaper alternatives that do the same thing just as well or even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make a long story short, the rule of 80/20 applies: 80% of the results can be acquired with 20% of the cost/investment. Eating enough proteing, sleeping and not overdoing it doesnt cost 129$ a month, but makes up over 80% of your recovery after training. Your drink can be easily replaced by a planned, pre-made meal you prepared before the training, and it will be a lot cheaper. You can check other question on the site about planning such meals. As a quick summary, try to include carbs and protein in a about 3:1 ratio (for this particular meal, eaten about half an hour after the training!) from valueable sources. The classic rice + chicken and some water to wash it down would do great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-05-28T12:47:16.187" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T12:47:16.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12614" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-28T12:29:54.803" Score="4" ViewCount="4821" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive read that there are several types of endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them is the so called strength endurance, defined as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the body's ability for repetitive action on a moderate to high intensity level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other would be the cardio-vascular endurance, used in long distance running and similar low-intnsity activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rock climbing instructor said that most people have enough strength to do difficulty 7 routes, but they lack the necessary strength endurance. As I understand, military physical exams, especially those for special forces, all require that the recruit has outstanding strength endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone please elaborate on types of endurance and ways to best train them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T20:25:14.493" Title="Types of endurance and ways of training them" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12597" CreationDate="2013-05-28T14:22:52.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the information in your post, and particularly with the fact you talked to your PT and he gave the green light, there is nothing to prevent you from training at the gym.  The challenge is figuring out what you can do.  In this answer I'm going with the presumption that the balance problems has to do with strength and muscular stability rather than an inner ear vertigo type problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start Small&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't stand, you can't squat or deadlift, so there goes some of the best lower body work options.  I'd recommend no more than 2x a week when just starting out.  When you feel confident with that, you can move on to a more typical 3x a week plan.  The plan I'm laying out here is a relatively simple one, and just a starting place:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curl  3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glute bridge 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline press (dumbbell or barbell) 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curls 3x8-12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just start at the lightest setting on the leg press and leg curl machines.  Glute bridges should be done body weight only.  If you can't do them just yet, work on what you can until you build up enough strength for the glute bridges.  If you can, hold at the top for a second on the glute bridges.  Same with the incline and curls--start light and build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you hit all 3x5, you can add 5 lbs.  If not, just stay at that weight until you can.  The reason for starting at the lightest settings or weight is to build up momentum.  There's probably a lot of stabilizer muscles that haven't really been used as much, so the lighter weight is going to target them first.  The more muscle you have in your legs and glutes the easier it is to stand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Build from there&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you feel like it's possible, you'll be making some alterations to the basic plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions 3x8-12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate: bench press/seated overhead press 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curls: 3x8-12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can stick with the incline if you want, but this will give you a bit more variation.  The back extensions work a bit more of your posterior chain than the glute bridges and leg curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time you can leg press your body weight for reps, you should be a lot more stable than you used to be.  Ideally, you would build up to being able to do goblet squats, and then barbells squats up to your body weight.  However, your journey is likely to be different.  You may have to make some changes to the ideas I put up for you based on ability.  If your balance issue is more of an inner ear problem rather than strength, you may never be able to squat--but there are things you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T14:22:52.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12597" CreationDate="2013-05-28T15:31:09.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Stumptuous.com, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stumptuous.com/a-couple-good-reasons-and-one-bad-one-to-drag-your-crippled-ass-to-the-gym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a recommendation for the disabled to get to the gym&lt;/a&gt;. The description lacks specifics but may be useful regardless:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the record: I’m a 32 year old woman with multiple sclerosis. My experiences are, of course, bound by the particular quirks of my own crippled body and may not always be representative of yours&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why hit the weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Because your body is just like everybody else’s.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It can be hard to remember because your illness or disability sometimes feels like your body’s defining characteristic, but remember that your body is, in the ways that matter, the same a everybody else’s. It wants to move, to act with purpose and focus and silliness and joy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your body does not care that it can’t do the same things other bodies can, or that it moves differently, or that other people might think it looks weird – it just wants to do what it can do, whatever that may be. What’s different about you is not nearly so important as what’s the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your body, just like everybody else’s body, wants to be used. Use it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T15:31:09.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12608" CreationDate="2013-05-28T16:25:45.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of traveling, both for leisure and business related, and I heard about a book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marklauren.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You are your own gym&lt;/a&gt;. It is a fantastic source of exercises that will help you through a exercise schedule using your body, &lt;strong&gt;my tip is to use also whatever you have at hand, laptop bag, trekking backpack, doors, bed sides and so on&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have followed many exercises of this book when traveling and very much recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind I really do not think that it is a substitute for a real gym so whenever you are back you will notice the difference, both in power and bulk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T16:25:45.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12621" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-28T18:41:01.227" Score="2" ViewCount="613" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always get hurt the index toe of my right foot when doing my long run, the nail is black and very thick.&#xA;In my last run I applied a little vaseline, it was better but still the index toe get hurt.&#xA;How can I protect better that toe.&#xA;I bought new shoes, one size bigger.&#xA;My long run is for 18-20k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw Anton Krupicka to take of something from his toes when he was running with Kilian Jornet (Kilians' Quest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="5856" LastEditDate="2013-06-17T18:57:58.953" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T18:57:58.953" Title="How to protect index toe in long run training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12621" CreationDate="2013-05-28T20:05:41.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blackened and/or losing toenails is very common among very long distance runners (half marathon and longer). One of the primary causes is the foot being too loose in the shoe, and being rammed into the front of the shoe repeatedly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oddly enough, buying shoes one size bigger can lead to worse problems, and still not solve the original problem, as the toe/foot now have even more room to move and slide around, and will promote bad practices such as tying the laces too tight to try and prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get proper fitting shoes, and if possible, get a gait analysis done. It is possible that your natural running motion is promoting the smacking of your toe against the front of the shoe, and changing your stride/plant pattern slightly can help alleviate any damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T20:05:41.717" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12614" CreationDate="2013-05-28T20:25:14.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you stated, there are two types of endurance - Cardiovascular, which is the ability of the body to deliver blood, oxygen and nutrients to working muscles, and the ability of the muscles to use that oxygen to do work. The other is muscular endurance, which is the ability of a muscle to do work without fatiguing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardiovascular endurance is stressed by doing exercise that elevates the heart rate and respiratory rate for extended periods of time. As you are first starting out, you may feel that you could run or bike (or whatever) much further, but that you can't breathe. As you keep stressing the CV system, it will adapt by being able to pump blood more efficiently, make better use of the oxygen being delivered, and other physical adaptations such as growing new capillaries into the muscles being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscular endurance has a strength component to it as well, which also plays a part in the endurance factor. The more you train for strength, the less endurance you will have at that workload. The more you train for endurance, the less strength. They counterbalance, so while someone might only be able to lift 500 lbs once, they might be able to lift 100 lbs for quite a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where your instructor is coming from, is he is stating that people have the grip and foot strength to hold on to a technical hold, but that the ability to do so for a long time is lacking. This is what needs to be trained, and the way to do that is simply to do more of the activity, in a progressive loading fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have probably noted it yourself, in that when you first started rock climbing, your forearm muscles grew fatigued on simple climbs, after a certain period of time. As you become more efficient and more trained, the simple climbs don't tire you out, and now it's the intermediate climbs that pose the challenge. As you keep progressing, it builds upon itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference in training between pure strength and pure endurance, and being able to mix them effectively for the activity in question is why many trainers now have 4 year degrees and other advanced training, as there are many different complex systems being used, as well as being able to prescribe specific types of training for specific sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-05-28T20:25:14.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12609" CreationDate="2013-05-28T20:56:04.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to add that I am not a beachbody coach (and hate that the web is spammed with biased reviews of Shakeology). That said, I do like shakeology a lot, but it is certainly not worth the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The energy it gives you and taste are really above any comparable products. That said, I've found that health stores offer a comparable list of ingredients for a fraction of the cost (50 dollarsish). Their tastes usually aren't as good, but if you mix it with some almond milk, banana and ice, it becomes tolerable and, ultimately, decent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastEditorUserId="5505" LastEditDate="2013-05-29T20:18:03.560" LastActivityDate="2013-05-29T20:18:03.560" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4637" CreationDate="2013-05-29T01:53:59.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“In 10 sessions you will feel the difference, in 20 sessions you will&#xA;  see the difference, and in 30 you will have a new body.”&#xA;  - Joseph Pilates&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pilates was &quot;invented&quot; by Joseph Pilates, a German physical-culturist who, during the first half of the last century, came up with a system of core exercises that strengthen both the human body and mind. He was convinced that the health of these were interrelated. He published several books and gained more and more attention. In recent years the term &quot;Pilates&quot; has entered the mainstream and equipment is often both over-priced and over-rated...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some advice for beginners (taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://queencheap.com/awesome-deals/pilates-reformer-for-cheap-the-alternative-to-plastic-surgery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Pilates article&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go to a Pilates studio.  Understand you need to first work with a professional.  You will not get the results or body/mind awareness without this key step. So budget for this, it’s not forever...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Begin to buy some smaller home equipment.  After 2-3 months of working with your pilates trainer, you’ll have great body knowledge and are ready for some home equipment.  It is my recommendation to continue working with your trainer at least once-twice a week and to now supplement your other workouts at home. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above resource you'll also find that you don't have to buy the $3,000 reformer machines. There are several cheap (approx $100-$150) alternatives on Amazon. Once you have your new machine, you’re going to want a trainer, and well trainers are not cheap.  So here is what you do: subscribe to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pilatesanytime.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pilates Anytime&lt;/a&gt;.  It is a great website with hundreds of free pilates reformer classes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5929" LastActivityDate="2013-05-29T01:53:59.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12589" CreationDate="2013-05-29T20:05:45.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend taking &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; one day off for some light cardio/stretching/yoga per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you should not be working the same two muscle groups on consecutive days. Your body needs time to repair the broken down muscles and cannot adequately do so in ~24 hours. I would recommend working in exercises that target different muscle groups for optimal repair and gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastActivityDate="2013-05-29T20:05:45.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12588" CreationDate="2013-05-29T20:10:08.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your results would be 90 percent nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body can handle it (not sure since you mentioned that you were a bit out of shape) there is  a 30 day program that is very intense that. Its has a big following in the at home fitness space. You can google it -- I was told not to give product recommendations though (even though I have zero vested interest)  Be cautioned, I would &lt;em&gt;NOT&lt;/em&gt; recommend this for someone that isn't in decent shape already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastEditorUserId="5505" LastEditDate="2013-05-31T18:51:03.977" LastActivityDate="2013-05-31T18:51:03.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-30T04:50:04.393" Score="1" ViewCount="6731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing push ups every day in the following manner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1:  2 X 14 standard push ups&#xA;2:  2 X 10 declined push ups&#xA;3:  2 X 8 push ups using fists&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often heard doing push ups other day build chest muscle and I'm only intending to tone my chest muscle and not building it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will my current routine help me to build a lean and toned chest or should I give a day break off after each push ups or should I stop doing push ups and only do cardio? How should the push up routine go for a heavy chest (just for information) and for a lean toned chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh 67 kg with 173 cm height&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5829" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-05-30T07:17:58.823" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T16:57:59.420" Title="push up routine for lean and toned chest" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;toning&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-30T09:11:28.190" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;After so much reference from the Internet. I myself planned a fitness routine aiming for a lean and toned body like this in the following picture&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LXiG1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;a perfect fit body&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently weigh 67 kg and 173 cm. I have planned my fitness routine as follows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;           &amp;lt;--   Day 1  --&amp;gt;&#xA;           1. Stretching abs&#xA;           2. Squats (no weights)&#xA;           3. Cardio Activities like jumping 250 times and Fake Running for around 10 minutes i.e running  with legs motion at the same position (not moving) &#xA;           4. Pull Ups (around 3 X 3)&#xA;           5. Push Ups (standard , declined and using fist)&#xA;           6. Abs (situps, bicycle crunches and lower abs excersise)&#xA;&#xA;           &amp;lt;--   Day 2  --&amp;gt;&#xA;           1. Stretching abs&#xA;           2. Squats (no weights)&#xA;           3. Cardio Activities like jumping 250 times and Fake Running for around 10 minutes i.e running  with legs motion at the same position (not moving) &#xA;           4. Chin Ups (around 3 X 3)&#xA;           5. Biceps and Forearms using dumbells (8 kg each)&#xA;           6. Abs (situps, bicycle crunches and lower abs excersise)&#xA;&#xA;           &amp;lt;--   Day 3  --&amp;gt;&#xA;           Yoga particularly meditation , pranayama and asanas.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following routine will be done every 3 days............&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Will this routine help me reach my goal&lt;/strong&gt; and are there any things to be avoided i.e &lt;strong&gt;are these excersises contradictory or affecting each other in any sense&lt;/strong&gt;. For eg. I think, well am not sure that chin ups and push ups cannot be done the other day. Please add your opinions concerning my fitness routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5829" LastEditorUserId="5829" LastEditDate="2013-05-30T09:20:05.477" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T05:36:04.490" Title="proper fitness routine" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;toning&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12472" CreationDate="2013-05-30T22:12:19.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a runner and have completed P90X and P90X2. I would strongly suggest P90X2 to meet your personal goals of improving your physical appearance and your running form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While P90X is designed for general fitness, P90X2 is more focused on athletic performance. There are a few key aspects of P90X that make it a better fit for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Core strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; - There are many exercises designed to help you develop a stronger and more stable core. These go beyond the normal &quot;ab exercises&quot;, developing your lower back muscles and obliques. This will give you a stronger look and also make your running form more efficient, because the less your body twists with each step, the more forward propulsion you will have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explosive power&lt;/strong&gt; - P90X2 uses a training technique that's designed to increase how much speed and force your muscles can generate. This will directly translate to running faster at any given effort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proper warmup and recovery&lt;/strong&gt; - The latest sports research shows that warmup and stretching techniques like those taught in P90X and Insanity can actually lead to more injuries and reduced performance. P90X2 teaches foam rolling and other warmup and recovery techniques that the latest science has shown to be safer and more effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both programs will help you gain strength, endurance, and muscle definition, but for the reasons above, I would go with P90X2. Insanity is far too focused on high intensity cardio workouts to help you gain muscle. It tends to show the best results with people who need to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that running too much or too quickly will reduce the amount of muscle you're able to build. However, you don't need to stop completely. When I did P90X2, I was intentional about running fewer miles and fewer days each week, and running at a slower pace. I satisfied my goals of looking more muscular and gaining strength and stability. This directly translated to improved running performance once I finished the program and returned to my regular mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastActivityDate="2013-05-30T22:12:19.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2013-05-31T04:42:24.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no magic here. It is simply a neuro-physiological response. Beyond occlusion-- what is happening is a forced gliding of the myofascial structures. With conventional smr and manual therapies tissue displacement compromises effectiveness; with voodoo flossing the compression forces tissue adhessions to forcefully slide against each other with minimal tissue displacement. This forced glide not only resolves myofascial dysfunction due to aberrant tissue formation,but also indirectly (or very directly depending of the therapist's intent) acts as an effective neurodynamic tensioner technique. The increase of ROM is not only driven by inhibition of tonus, but also by increased neural drive. Functional movement assessments and HEP are key to maintaining changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5948" LastActivityDate="2013-05-31T04:42:24.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12656" CreationDate="2013-05-31T08:24:24.433" Score="4" ViewCount="703" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have trained for Kuala Lumpur 2013 marathon since April. The marathon is on 30th June. I have injured my heel in the training and I was out for 4 weeks in May. I have started training again last weekend with 7km, 10km and yesterday 12.5km. The heel feels fine, just needs more careful stretching before and after. Now I have exactly one month to prepare for the marathon. I have already run a marathon last year (Mt. Fuji) in November in 4:35. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to do one or two interval trainings, two long runs and two 60 min runs a week to prepare for the last marathon. I have ran the longest distance (almost 42km) about 3 weeks before marathon and then I reduced the distance until the marathon day. This worked well for me then. After marathon I just kept running 10km few times a week until April.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what should I do now? My biggest concern is that my muscles and joints might not be ready for 42km. How should I prepare? I am definitely not fit enough to run as fast as last time, but I was thinking I should be able to run it in 5:30-5:45 with breaks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5944" LastActivityDate="2013-06-03T08:56:38.890" Title="Resume training for a marathon after forced break, one month left, recommend a plan" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12640" CreationDate="2013-05-31T13:22:48.423" Score="2" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know close to nothing, have a lot to learn. I'd appreciate any advice so I can quickly get started while I start learning - the less the better for motivational reasons. I don't expect a quick result, I just want to get &lt;em&gt;started&lt;/em&gt; quickly, not get overwhelmed, but learn more as I go. [Edited]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among others, I've read the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3962/are-these-workout-routines-right-for-body-building&quot;&gt;Are these Workout Routines right for Body Building&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7718/body-building-and-gaining-weight&quot;&gt;Body building and gaining weight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4214/getting-enough-calories-with-a-suppressed-appetite&quot;&gt;Getting enough calories with a suppressed appetite&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My goal&lt;/strong&gt;: I want to build bulk. I don't hope to build BIG, just want a big-ish athletic appearance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My situation&lt;/strong&gt;: I have very little fat, a little bit of muscle, but low strength. I have a low appetite. I'm very much out of shape and can't exercise for long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My thoughts for how to proceed&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercises per session: push ups, pull ups, squats, sit-ups, and more as I learn about them. I will start with about 15-20 minutes per session. I suspect this is not the best way to start, as the links suggest I should aim for about an hour's worth per session.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stretches: at beginning and end of session, say 10-15 minutes before and after.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Frequency of sessions: 3 times per week as suggested in posts. Could I multiply that by doing two or three sessions per day? Or should I stick to one?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Food: &lt;strong&gt;At the moment&lt;/strong&gt;: I drink a lot of full-fat milk, cooked fish, and beef (jerkey and cooked), drink tons of fruit juice. I also pig out on danish pastries, from what I can tell the pastry is not a good idea, but the nuts at least are beneficial, but maybe I should stop eating those? &lt;strong&gt;I plan to:&lt;/strong&gt; keep my diet besides the danish pastries, it seems I'm vaguely on the right track already? I will eat more white potatoes, and fresh fruit / veg. Given my low appetite I will look into various drinks. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any quick-start advice and/or thoughts on the above would be &lt;strong&gt;hugely&lt;/strong&gt; appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5950" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-05-31T15:26:35.343" Title="Quick start body building advice" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-06-03T10:45:49.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-05-31T14:36:57.740" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I Am Rachit Chopra a clg students. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically regulatory I go to clg and after in evening time I go to my dad's office to experience some good thing, Because this is my final year of clg. So, after I have to join my dad business so for sake of it I have condenser on clg n dad business. As you know both are important for me after in got very much tried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So some time I try to wake up early in morning to go to gym but after doing so much of work and clg, it's was difficult for me to wake up for gym also. Sorry for a long story. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically I just want to ask you how can I put on my weight without joining gym. I am 20 yrs old and my weight is 55kg only and my height is 5.7 and as you know in today's life it's so important to get a good body and after its all about personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So come you will give me some good suggestions that can be help me. You can also contact me on my g-mail id-RACHITCHOPRA02@MAIL.COM&#xA;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5952" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-05-31T14:43:11.043" LastActivityDate="2013-05-31T14:43:11.043" Title="how to gain weight without joining gym" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-06-01T01:35:55.510" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12638" CreationDate="2013-05-31T15:26:35.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand a bit on my comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting a workout routine is simple. Walk into a gym, pick up a weight and bingo, you've started. The key word in that first sentence, however, is routine. Fitness gains, whether they are muscular, cardiovascular, some combination of both, are the result of planning and consistent application of that plan day after day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you will have days where you don't feel like working out, or scarf down a whole pizza, things like that. That won't hurt you unless that also becomes a habit. It's highly dependent on the individual and their training background, but the &lt;em&gt;general&lt;/em&gt; rule of thumb I learned in physiology classes (And seen firsthand in many cases) is that you can take between 3-7 days completely off before &quot;detraining&quot; (loss of fitness) starts to take hold, and for every day after that period it will take two days of workouts to get it back. (This is probably a bit more applicable to endurance fitness rather than muscular strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, decide what you want to achieve, which it sounds like you have, and you have also started doing research on it, which is also good. Sit down now and write out a plan to achieve your goals. Assess your nutrition. Realize that things won't change overnight, and if you do try to change everything at once, it is likely to fall apart. If your diet is horrible, change one thing (Such as packing a lunch instead of eating fast food, or getting a salad instead of fries). Make that a habit, and the next change will be easier. Each step should build on the one previous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with exercises in the gym, take advantage of a trainer. Get instruction on how to do lifts, exercises, and machines. Get a body assessment (Although your best friends will be the scale and the mirror). If you are intimidated by something, you are less likely to do that thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy it, have fun! If you don't, you likely won't keep doing it. If you are jogging to get in shape and find that you hate jogging, try cycling. Swimming. Soccer. Whatever. Find something that you can enjoy and do for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing, you mention stretching before exercise. Dynamic (moving) stretching is fine, but the traditional &quot;sit and reach&quot; type stretching should never be done on &quot;cold&quot; muscles (Such as before a workout, or more than 30 minutes after a workout). It's easy to stretch/strain/tear muscles that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about your appetite too much, as increased activity will also increase your appetite. Figure out where your &quot;theoretical&quot; calorie intake should be, and aim for that. It should equal your basal rate + daily activity (work, etc) + exercise. If after a month or two you find that you aren't gaining weight, add a couple hundred calories a day. If you are gaining and want to lose, subtract a couple hundred. With some allowances for types of calories and insulin effects, etc., pretty much any deficit or surplus will eventually result in loss or gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Welcome to a brand new world. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-05-31T15:26:35.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12151" CreationDate="2013-05-31T18:57:56.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, you should refrain from training the same muscle groups on consecutive days. For example, you can split it up based on push vs. pull muscles (Push: chest, shoulders, tris, Pull: back, bis), upper vs middle vs lower body, and so on. Allow your muscles to have the proper recovery time to prevent overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastActivityDate="2013-05-31T18:57:56.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12305" CreationDate="2013-05-31T19:08:24.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to strengthen your lower back and there are plenty of exercises but, unfortunately they often times are neglected. Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superman (lie on your stomach and lift your legs and arms about 6 inches off the ground, for added strength and intensity place your hands together, palms facing outwards, and move them in unison to your sides and repeat. It looks similar to the breast stroke in swimming)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reverse plank leg lifts (toes point upwards and arms shoulder length apart, fingers facing forward. push up and settle into the &quot;reverse plank.&quot; From there alternate bringing your each knee as close to your chest as you can.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a ton of other examples online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastActivityDate="2013-05-31T19:08:24.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-01T00:38:39.823" Score="4" ViewCount="2070" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was a 5-6 day a week runner up until last month when I ran a half-marathon and have not wanted to run since.  I also put on an unwanted 20 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make up for the missing running, I have been doing the elliptical (hills at level 6) and the treadmill (weight loss intervals at level 10 so 1 min 6.5mph at 2 incline/1 min 4.2 mph at 0 incline then 2 mins at 10 incline then repeat for an hour) for up to 3 hours a day 5 days a week which is comparable to how much I ran.  I also work out with a personal trainer doing weights and interval training for 3 hours a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am on My Fitness Pal and stay pretty consistently at or below 1200 calories (2 egg whites and a banana for breakfast, an apple and a cheese stick for lunch and salad, lean meat, vegetables and a sweet potato for dinner) and yet my weight has gone up 3 pounds!  How is this physically possible?  I don't think this is fat turning into muscle weight as I already had muscle.  I am devastated.  I am not sure how much harder I can work.  Some guidance would be greatly appreciated.  Also, I am 5'6&quot; and apparently 137 lbs.  I just want to cry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-01T16:27:20.303" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T20:43:02.550" Title="What am I doing wrong with my diet and exercise routine?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12646" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-01T11:53:58.867" Score="4" ViewCount="5540" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing a typical push-pull workout in the gym, mostly with basic exercises (bench press, squat, dead lift, weighted pullup, ...) and low reps. Now I would like to integrate the front lever into my training. I can currently only perform a quite crappy strongly tucked form, however I feel that my triceps are the limiting factor and not so much the core stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All tutorials suggest that you train your core stability with dragon flags and the like. When I do the tucked variant my triceps burn like mad, and afterwards feel quite destroyed (I nearly completely lock out my elbows). It is however a very localized pain right in the middle at the thickest area. Could it be the spot where the tendons from the back muscles attach to the back of the upper arm bone (humerus), and that I'm only mistaking it for triceps pain? When doing the exercise I think about pushing my (nearly) locked out arms towards my hips, and then it really starts burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the intesity of this excerise I only want to do it every 5 days or so, so this spot can properly adapt without being destroyed again before it can heel. I think of the front lever as a back excerise, hence it should be placed in the pull workout day, but this strong triceps pain makes me wonder if it would be better placed in the push day. What do you think is better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my triceps muscles or tendon pain holding me back? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I also think about pulling my shoulder blades downwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5197" LastEditDate="2013-06-01T14:39:08.560" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T05:00:38.563" Title="Integrating Front lever into training plan - which muscles are used?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12647" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-01T20:09:03.740" Score="15" ViewCount="41113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started doing squats a couple of weeks ago, and I'm having trouble maintaining balance near the bottom of my squat (when I'm trying to go below parallel). Let me describe the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat stance&lt;/strong&gt;: I keep my legs shoulder with apart. My heels line up with my shoulders, and I point my feet about 15 degrees outward. I squat down so I am in a &quot;third world squat&quot; stance and my knees are in line with my feet. I stand back up and that is my starting squat stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I squat, I place the bar on my traps, take a deep breath, and bend at the knees. Once I reach a sufficient bend in the knees (meaning not beyond my toes), I try to do the do the rest of the squat by bending at the hips--like I am squatting in to a chair. Anyways, as I get close to parallel, I start experiencing some problems with my balance/form--like I am tipping backwards. The only way I can compensate is to allow my knees to travel beyond my toes. I know that a little about dos/donts of squatting, and I know that it is generally an indication of poor form if I allow my knees to travel beyond my toes, but it's the only way I can get below parallel. After that, I push back out of the hole and the squat is complete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is pretty clear: why am I falling back when I am squatting? And: is knee travel beyond my toes a necessarily a bad thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5958" LastActivityDate="2013-09-25T09:51:35.187" Title="Why am I falling back when I am squatting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12151" CreationDate="2013-06-01T21:32:45.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going from 3 day/week to 4 day/week typically mean you'll lose a day of rest in between the training days. So you'll need to plan your exercises a bit more. I google a bit and found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/dougs-4-day-split-workout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this plan&lt;/a&gt; to start from. It has set up different musclegroups on different days, so that you should have time to rest before exercising the muscles again, even if you are training two days in a row. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that I wanted to add some more kettlebell exercises, since I found those to be fun and raise the cardio quite alot. Those tend to work alot of muscles at the same time, so I put them in on tuesdays and fridays, i.e before resting days. &#xA;If you are like me, and you are, you typically have a set amount of time for you workout so I found that six exercises was optimal with four sets each. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what I ended up with was the training schedule below. The musclesgroups are separated enough to not give me issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders, Alternating Kettlebell Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders, Dumbbell Lateral Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders, Dumbbell Shoulder Shrug&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps, Barbell Lying Triceps Extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders, Barbell Up Right Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps, Cable Triceps Pushdown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Legs/back, Kettlebell two hand swing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders, One Arm Kettlebell Snatch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back, Barbell Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back, One Arm Dumbbell Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs, Ab Crunch Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forearms, Kettlebell, bottoms up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest, Dumbbell Incline Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest, Dumbbell Incline Fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest, Bench Press Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps, Dumbbell Incline Hammer Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps, Barbell Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps, Bicep Curl Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders, One Arm Kettlebell Snatch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Legs, Front Squats With Two Kettlebells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Legs, Leg Press Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Legs, Leg Extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower Legs, Calf Press on Leg Press Machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower Legs, Seated Calf Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2189" LastActivityDate="2013-06-01T21:32:45.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12588" CreationDate="2013-06-01T21:43:13.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to achieve quick results you should look into a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_calorie_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VLCD diet&lt;/a&gt;. There are plenty of options available. It'll mean you will be drinking lunch and dinner for awhile. Its not the most fun thing to do, but it will guaranteed give results in the short time you are talking about. &#xA;You will probably have little or no energy for training during this time, since the diet is gives very low energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be warned though, that this is not a permanent solution since you will eventually have to stop with this diet. Most suggest at most two weeks on a full vlcd diet, the step by step going back to normal food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2189" LastActivityDate="2013-06-01T21:43:13.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13882" CreationDate="2013-06-02T06:27:45.073" Score="6" ViewCount="7871" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not the most glamorous question but its a very annoying problem. I like to swim about 1km without stopping, but I find every now and again I get thick mucus on the back of my throat that makes me gag or feel like Im about to gag. I have tried taking Ventolin, expectorants like Bisolvan, and have just started Nasonex. Have any other swimmers had this issue and what strategies do you have to prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2019-03-28T19:42:38.750" Title="how can I prevent gagging from mucus on back of throat when swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12650" CreationDate="2013-06-02T23:21:16.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only had problems like this with an active sinus infection or severe allergies, otherwise simply &lt;strong&gt;breathing out of my nose every breath&lt;/strong&gt; keeps everything clear. Go to an immunologist as needed for proper diagnosis and treatment. Finally, Afrin works really well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2013-06-02T23:21:16.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12637" CreationDate="2013-06-03T06:13:38.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Run the half - don't run the marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A base of 15km is not enough for a full and you'll cause more damage if you try. The heel inflamation is a signal from your body that you're doing too much too soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to run a pretty good half and then go back for the full next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-06-03T06:13:38.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12657" CreationDate="2013-06-03T08:55:38.953" Score="0" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running in treadmill everyday for 10 minutes with speed of 6kmph. The treadmill shows the amount of calories burnt is around sixty. My question is only Time,speed and distance determines the calories burnt or there are other factors too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5333" LastActivityDate="2013-06-03T10:40:09.330" Title="What are the factors affecting in burning Calories?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12637" CreationDate="2013-06-03T08:56:38.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the risk of getting caught in the race &amp;amp; shutting down pain signals from your body -&gt; worse injuries, I would skip the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-199214050-00004#page-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;. Even if it is a bit old (1992), it states that running as an exercise has a high frequency of injuries and one of the main causes is competition. Naturally, you can be injured in all sports and even without doing sports. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience from competitive sports is once you are in the race/game etc., it is too easy to ignore normal signals regarding injuries and just focus on winning/completion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2013-06-03T08:56:38.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12655" CreationDate="2013-06-03T10:30:50.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many various factors. Actually, there are so many, that every calorie burnt calculation is an approximation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first and most obvious factor is - does your treadmill include your BMR in its calculations? (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMR&lt;/a&gt;) Your weight, age, VO2max, the intansity of the exercise (your heart rate), bloodsugar level, the temperature... Sometimes its even hard to determine if something is actually a factor - it would require making separate studies on that subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The baseline is - almost everything you can do to measure burnt calories is only an approximation. Those approximations can be wildly inaccurate. But you have to know - why do you even need the number? If you want to measure your trainign progress or motivate yourself for training, aim for more &quot;material&quot; indicators and goals. Try to run further, longer and faster. Try different exercises, running distances and intensities. Since youre asking about burning calories, I assume you want to lose weight. My advice is - dont rely on calorie calculations, they are very inacurrate in both intake and expenditure. Check out the great questions on weightloss that can be found on this site - they should be of help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-06-03T10:40:09.330" LastActivityDate="2013-06-03T10:40:09.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12323" CreationDate="2013-06-03T14:05:45.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The shoulder joint&lt;/strong&gt; is designed for flexibility and motion rather than for stability.  Its stability comes largely from coordinated muscle control rather than its bony structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The shoulder blade or scapula&lt;/strong&gt; is a foundation of the shoulder complex.  When the scapulae are well stabilized against the chest wall, the rotator cuff and other shoulder muscles have a stable base from which they can rotate, flex/extend, abduct/adduct and circumduct the arm.  However, when the scapulae are not stabilized, it is like trying to perform precision movements while on an unstable surface - where mistakes (and injuries) can be made. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @JohnP said, the shoulder does not “lock out” in the sense of the elbow because there is not a bony structure to “lock”.  When you do a pull up or chin up and allow yourself to dangle at the bottom, your body weight is supported by muscles, and “soft” connective tissue rather than a bony structure.  If you dangle allowing the muscles that are stabilizing your scapulae to relax, then your body weight is pulling on the smaller more delicate tendons, capsule, ligaments etc. - structures that you do not want to tear.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proper Pull Up Form&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Hummlas has given you a nice link about stabilizing the scapula when doing a pull up.  By stabilizing the scapula, you strengthen the scapular muscles as well as other shoulder muscles during the pull up.  This is more protective of the shoulder and keeps the rotator cuff from being pinched. Even though this form has you fully extending your arms, it does so with your shoulder blades in a stable position, down against the chest wall, rather than allowing the scapulae to travel up/and/or out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-do-pull-ups-and-chin-ups-with-proper-technique/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; describes the starting position:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Start each rep from a dead hang with straight elbows.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But they also include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chest Up. Don't let your shoulders go forward: it's unhealthy for your shoulders. Lead with your chest up &amp;amp; keep your shoulders back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;- Strengthening vs. Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you said you wanted more range, you would be safer to do specific stretching exercises without forcing the range with the weight of your body. (Note - Use dynamic exercises prior to workout rather than static stretches.) The purpose of doing pull ups and chin ups is for strengthening, not for flexibility.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line - If dangling or &quot;locking out&quot; causes pain, it is not right for your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2013-06-03T14:14:59.673" LastActivityDate="2013-06-03T14:14:59.673" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-03T16:05:45.900" Score="0" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;Injured (not broken) rib pains for 3 weeks or more. Friends, doctor and some online material suggest taking some paracetamol based pain killers, e.g &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panadol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panadol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First aid is rest, ice, and light compression. Long-term treatment includes rest, support around the rib cage, &lt;strong&gt;pain medications&lt;/strong&gt;, and a gradual return to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/injury-pain/bruised-ribs-what-you-need-to-know.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(source)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, will pain killers actually aid to &lt;strong&gt;faster&lt;/strong&gt; recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or will they simply make me feel better during the days of rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5572" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T04:37:32.613" Title="injured rib and pain killers" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-06-07T03:05:32.283" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-03T18:32:33.870" Score="1" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the title may be off putting such as the matter of this question, but is there any reasonable way to find out how strong one's crushing hand grip strength is from the amount of weight resistance from hanging on a bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, see, I do not own a gripper, so I thought that support grip (used for hanging) can possibly transfer or equate yo some comparable form of crushing hand strength in pounds per square inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like, for example, a 400 lb person can support their body weight hanging from a bar or beam, and I weigh 200 lbs so I would need an extra 200 lbs to match that equivalent support grip. Can the support strength be translated in to squeezing, crushing grip strength, as applied on a gripper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5971" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T11:26:41.100" Title="How to convert hanging hand grip strength to pounds per square inch?" Tags="&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-03T18:49:50.087" Score="1" ViewCount="634" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have any perfect routine or regimen, but often at least once a week I do strength-only training, and the weights are not getting easier, the reps are not coming in easier, and I am not showing virtually any improvements I can notice in overall strength anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been stuck at a 50 lb max strict dumbbell curl for about 1 rep for several years; I have tried different forms of exercise, chin ups, weighted chin ups, cement bag lifts, barbell, dumbbell, etc. I always keep reps low for only myofibril training and nervous system application; muscle mass is of no importance to my purpose of exercise, so do not gove any advice on sarcoplasmic training. My diet isn't too perfect, but I do the best I can eating pretty well, but I do intake a lot of fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point is, I made the improvements time ago, but over the course of time, changing exercise types and angles, weight amounts and adjusting decent rest, I often feel tired over a week after resting, and never feel &quot;fresh&quot; much.&#xA;I do go through a lot of stress and anxiety emotionally and have social anxiety disorder. I know stress effects rest and what not, hindering sleep, etc., but is that just reason enough? How do I begin to make improvements, but now older, hardly improving at all over months and months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My squat's the same, bench has strangely been decreasing rather than increasing, and it's weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep good rest between sets, go for 5 reps max to only strengthen the myofibrils and CNS as elaborated in many testings, and I will not increase reps because I do not want sarcoplasm fluid increase, I only want strength, but nothing is working and hasn't for months and years....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the real reason I do not make gains, but most other people do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5971" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T02:37:01.423" Title="Not making anymore improvements from strength training ... reasons why?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12664" CreationDate="2013-06-03T20:19:33.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've already started out with the wrong mindset.  Essentially, you need help, but you refuse any help that doesn't meet the criteria you want--even if it is the right answer.  The bottom line is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nothing works forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength, while a great program doesn't work forever--and it's not meant to.  The same goes for any other strategy.  The stronger you get, the more you will need to change strategies.  There are several reasons why people hit a plateau, which simply means they need to change something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibility 1:  Too little training stimulus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can simply be put something heavier in your hands and lift it.  Or it can be more sets and reps.  Or more training days.  It's a possibility if you only lift once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibility 2: You are doing too much&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you constantly grind at 90+% of your max, you are going to feel bad all the time.  Always fatigued.  Never clear-headed.  I ran into this myself last year after grinding my squats too often.  Back off the intensity, and live in the 70-80% world for a while.  While you are at it, perhaps cut back on sets/reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibility 3: Too much focus on myofibril or sarcoplasmic hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This affects all strength athletes.  Bodybuilders want more emphasis on the sarcoplasmic hypertrophy while folks who want to lift the heaviest total want more myofibril hypertrophy.  Bottom line is you need both to keep progressing.  Larger muscles have more capacity for strength, mainly because they can supply more energy to the lift.  More body mass moves more weight.  It's simple physics when you look at potential and kinetic energy, and transferring that to another object.  At the same time, you can't neglect the protein pairs that actually contract to move stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you said you don't want to do sarcoplasmic work, but it may be what the doctor ordered for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibility 4: Overtraining&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've ignored fatigue levels for far too long, added new stresses in your life (outside the gym), then it's possible you have crossed the overreaching threshold and fallen into overtraining.  Common symptoms of overtraining include irritability, fat gain, regressing in lifts, anxiety, loss of sleep, and/or depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you seriously think this is you, then take some time off away from the gym.  Don't think about training or going to the gym until it is calling your name.  It might take a couple weeks, or it might take a couple months in the worst case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibility 5: Lack of training focus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body responds to the demands you place on it.  There comes a point in time where in order to progress, you have to focus your energies in one direction.  This is where strength athletes start specializing in bodybuilding, power lifting, Olympic lifting, or strong man style training.  Then you do the work that is necessary to get better, and only that amount of work.  Even folks who successfully cross train, their energies are focused on one discipline at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibility 6: Diet, Recovery, and Environment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you lift, the more you need to eat to support the lifting.  That doesn't mean go out to McDonalds and eat 5 big macs a day.  You'll need sufficient protein, fat, and carbs to support the activity.  The old standby of 1g protein per pound body weight is more than you can use, but it will assure that you have enough to build muscle.  Testosterone is manufactured from cholesterol, so you'll need to make sure you have some dietary cholesterol in your fats.  Carbs are energy, and you will need a lot.  If you make healthy choices, and try to minimize inflammatory foods, you can eat a lot more than you think and not get fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another recent issue come to light is xenoestrogens such as parabens, phthalates, etc.  Xenoestrogens are environmental chemicals your body absorbs either through the skin or through eating that throw off your normal body chemistry.  Estrogen receptors in the body react to them and they are stored in your fats.  Parabens are common in grooming products, but are fairly weak so not a major concern.  Phalates are in plastics to make them softer, and get transferred to your food when you heat the food in the plastic container.  Most pesticides have the same effect, so make sure you wash your fruit and vegetables before preparing them.  If you switch to glass containers to store and heat your food, that can also make a good difference.  Of course, organic proteins (chicken and grass fed beef) that are not injected with hormones are also better sources of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line here, is if you keep putting garbage in, you can't expect it to help you get strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My assessment based on the information I have&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see signs of possibilities 2-5.  Since I don't know what your training regimen is, the fact that you don't want to hear about doing sarcoplasmic work, the fact you always feel fatigued and your social anxiety disorder seems to be intensifying, and it doesn't seem like you have a specific focus you've got a lot going on.  I recommend taking a break at least for a couple weeks, maybe even a month.  When you get back, change the way you've been training.  It's not working anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a good focus, and a program that someone knowledgeable in that discipline wrote.  Stick to the program as it's written for at least a couple months.  If you feel you need to make slight adjustments then, do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: strict dumbbell curls are a great exercise, but they will do you better if you keep it relatively light and do high reps with them.  That will help get blood flowing through your elbows and prevent or correct inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-06-04T02:37:01.423" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T02:37:01.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12645" CreationDate="2013-06-03T21:29:19.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you have the activity level in MFP set up? If you have it set to anything less than &quot;active,&quot; are you logging your exercise? If so, are you eating the calorie allotment that MFP is giving you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MFP calculates your calorie needs based on your height, weight, activity level, and your weight loss/maintain/gain setting (for those that don't use MFP, it's basically the Katch-Mcardie formula). The deficit is built in to the number it gives you, and so, when you log exercises, you'll see that number go up. That's because it's programmed to keep you at the calorie level that you need in order to change (or not change) your weight. If you spend calories by exercising, you have to &quot;eat them back&quot; to keep the difference from your usual calorie expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, your weight fluctuates throughout the day, and week, sometimes by more than 5lbs. Judging by your name, it's also possible your hormones are at work, too. Women often retain water the week of or prior to their period, which packs on the pounds. I wouldn't worry about a 3lb or even 5lb change if you haven't been doing the same routine for more than a week or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, 5'6&quot; and 137lb puts your BMI at 22.1, which is squarely in the &quot;healthy&quot; category. I wouldn't worry about your weight too much, and I recommend getting your body fat percentage checked and consider doing a &quot;body recomposition&quot; routine, which is designed to lose fat and gain muscle (usually in a cyclical lose fat/gain muscle manner). The MFP forums contain a number of valuable posts. I highly recommend checking out the Success Stories section and looking for the ones from women who have taken up lifting programs to get an idea of how body recomp programs affect the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2013-06-03T21:29:19.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-03T23:28:49.933" Score="2" ViewCount="5398" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am underweight and skinny, I am 5.8 and only 120lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat a blended shake of milk, oats and banana. I hear that oats is not good to advantage for people looking on to put some mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? What things could I eat to gain some mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5858" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-04T09:11:59.230" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T09:11:59.230" Title="Oats a negative aspect for skinny people?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-06-07T03:04:52.143" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12668" CreationDate="2013-06-04T03:46:01.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oats are Healthy, trying to find a replacement for them that is &quot;healthier&quot; is difficult near impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with oats and putting on weight is that they have a low calorie density and also are low GI. So you feel fuller for longer while only eating a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who is going to want to be eating lots the low GI can make it a little difficult as trying to eat another big meal when already full is a struggle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I never gave up oats, my breakfast is normally 100g of oats with some toast (Grass-fed, unsalted butter) and a protein shake. You feel like you are going to explode and it takes a while to get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I go to the gym straight away and try to build up my appetite. Then have a post workout meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again it takes time to adjust to eating lots but you have to be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to make up the calories elsewhere because oats for breakfast is kinda amazing in every other aspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T03:46:01.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12663" CreationDate="2013-06-04T03:57:07.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hanging doesnt really test your forearm strength, I mean its a part but there are other factors that would influence your &quot;test&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply trying to hold onto a heavy dumbell would be a better indicator. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note there are different types of grip strength &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grip_strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Crushing, pinch, support)&lt;/a&gt;. And even the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strongman13.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Farmer's Walk&lt;/a&gt;&quot; would only test one type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its probably easier to just pay for a visit to a physio to get them to test it for ya with the proper equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or Buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HAND-GRIP-STRENGTH-DYNAMOMETER-STRENGTH-POWER-MEASURING-DYNAMOMETRE-TRAINING-/300902836465?pt=AU_Strength_Training&amp;amp;hash=item460f34e8f1&amp;amp;_uhb=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;? They are like $30&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T03:57:07.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12646" CreationDate="2013-06-04T04:14:14.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Follow &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysqkaCxv2bI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an exercise that works out your core (Like hanging leg raises). However because its a body weight exercise it will test everything (Arms, back, legs, everything really).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be able to do it is to train out all the weak spots until &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt;  is strong enough to do it (All those tiny stupid supporting muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a really advanced core, body weight exercise; it could take a year of daily practice to get up to that level (exaggerating). Maybe less if you have done those sort of core exercises (Like flagpoles) before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in that sort of stuff maybe dedicate a whole day to training core per week. Get a book like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004GTLFNW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and work your way through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt; Keep going, everything is going to hurt for a while before you get it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T04:14:14.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12661" CreationDate="2013-06-04T04:37:32.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've cracked ribs four times. The amount of time that it takes for the bones to knit does not depend on whether you are taking painkillers or not; it takes about 6 weeks either way (for me, at least). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice from my physician with &lt;em&gt;cracked ribs&lt;/em&gt; (broken ribs are different) is &quot;you can do whatever you can tolerate. Try to breathe deeply a few times an hour (helps prevent pneumonia)&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was healing, I would take a pain reliever at bedtime to help me sleep, and gut it out during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Panadol (Paracetamol (international name) or acetaminophen (US name)) is a good pain reliever, but you should be careful not to exceed the dosing guidelines, which can lead to liver failure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T04:37:32.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12645" CreationDate="2013-06-04T05:13:51.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be wrong, but when I read your question, I couldn't help wondering how you can do so much workout and eat so less at the same time. Is it possible that your body has gone into starvation mode and just not burning any calories to conserve weight. In my opinion you are eating too less. Do you not feel hungry mostly? If you do not, then may be your metabolic rate has slowed down.. I would say it would help if you increase your diet a little and include some carbs in the better part of the day. The body needs fuel to burn fat too :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you include more weight training and decrease the cardio, you may see better results. This is from my personal experience. I have reduced 6 pounds in 2 months just by increasing the weight training part, with just a little bit of carb control in my diet. Also, full body workout like squats, pushups and pull-ups do much more than dumbells alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T05:13:51.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12668" CreationDate="2013-06-04T05:24:32.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oats is a super food and is good for most people, whether skinny or fat! It is a constant in my diet for years, especially in breakfast. You can include a variety of other cereals in your diet to make it more balanced. You can also increase the protein content in your diet to put on some mass, along with high quality cooking oil like olive or rice bran.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oats lowers the cholesterol and has high iron content, while it is true that it is low calorie, you can add raisins, nuts, sugar and full fat milk to increase the calorific value. Cholesterol may not be a problem for you right now, but it is always good to keep it in control as we age..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T05:24:32.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2013-06-04T09:52:05.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to face the same problem. But after picking up a second swimming style, I don't have this problem anymore. The trick is to swim two laps of one style, followed by one lap of another style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke return&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front crawl forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke return&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front crawl return&#xA;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;??. Breast stroke return --&gt; 8th lap&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better still, if your memory is really very bad, pick up more styles and swim them in a sequence, counting them as ONE SET. Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SET 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke return&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front crawl forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front crawl return&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butterfly forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butterfly return&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back stroke forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back stroke return&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SET 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breast stroke return&#xA;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you get the gist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4086" LastActivityDate="2013-06-04T09:52:05.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12682" CreationDate="2013-06-04T12:10:47.693" Score="5" ViewCount="3103" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal and background&lt;/strong&gt;:  I'm training for a 10 mile (16k) run at the end of July.  My typical runs are 6k and my weekly long run is 8k. I'm trying to run 4x per week. My pace is roughly 6 mins/km — so I tend to do 5k in about 30mins. So I'm not fast, and I have a fair way to go in less than two months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The issue&lt;/strong&gt;:  My cardio seems to be doing really well. But my overall strength isn't.  When I find the right pace, I generally feel very good cardio-wise by the end of my runs (even the long 8k runs). But my legs always feel very tired, sometimes to the point of being wobbly. Cardio-wise, I think I could easily run 10-12km now, but my legs would never hold up to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Question&lt;/strong&gt;:  I have 3 competing needs now:  running, strength training and rest. With less that two months to race day, how can I do enough of each to be ready?  At this stage should I run and rest more? Should I run less and do more strength work? I think I still need 2 rest days per week, so that only leaves 5 days for running and strength work. Should I just keep running and do as many squats as possible everyday? Should I run only hills?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Terry &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4483" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:47:17.433" Title="Build leg strength while training for 10 mile run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12681" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-04T13:00:34.747" Score="6" ViewCount="46817" Body="&lt;p&gt;After pushups I experience a dull pain and soreness in my back muscles behind my right shoulder. I believe its in the rhomboids. The dull pain varies in magnitude and is never completely debilitating. However sometimes it lasts for a day or two. Often the next time I do pushups I experience the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone experienced this or has any idea what I could be doing wrong? A few months ago I used to do 2 sets of 20 pushups but on someones advice, in order to alleviate this, I now do 3 sets of 12. Initially for a few weeks this back soreness seemed to have gone; but then reappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some warmup or stretching that I can do specifically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5980" LastEditorUserId="5980" LastEditDate="2013-06-05T10:23:46.643" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T20:26:50.423" Title="Dull pain/soreness in upper back muscles behind right shoulder bone after pushups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12680" CreationDate="2013-06-04T14:41:07.557" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep running. Your legs have all the strength they need to run. What you need to develop is muscular endurance. Squats will build strength, but they won't give you the endurance. You should also give your muscles a bit of rest after you 6k runs if they really tire your legs out that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternate days that leave your legs feeling tired, exhausted, or &quot;trashed&quot; with days of either easy jogging or rest. This will allow you to go a little bit farther on some of your runs and help your muscles adjust after those runs. Eventually, you should find that you've been able to build up enough endurance to run the whole 16k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try splitting your runs into something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3-4k &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt; - this should not make your legs tired - think &quot;recovery jog&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4k easy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's slightly more distance than you've been doing per week, but the recovery jogs and rest days split up your longer runs so it should feel either similar or easier. As a result, your legs should feel a bit fresher on the 6k and 8k runs. After a week of that, see if you can't turn the 6k runs into 7k or 8k runs and your 8k into a 9k or a 10k. If you're comfortable with that, try doing 5k easy instead of 4k easy the following week. If your legs feel tired after 5k easy, go back to 4k. Keep adding a little distance to what start as your 6k and 8k runs, but keep your recovery days relatively short and easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes on pacing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery jogs/easy runs should feel easy. You should be able to hold a conversation throughout the run, and it should not make your muscles feel any more tired than before the run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your longer days can be a bit faster, but since your goal right now is endurance, you should try to maintain the same steady pace throughout the run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go by feel, not time. You can worry about pace/km, workouts, and race times after you have the endurance to run the full 16k with relative ease.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5626" LastEditorUserId="5626" LastEditDate="2013-06-05T21:59:11.363" LastActivityDate="2013-06-05T21:59:11.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-05T06:33:58.437" Score="1" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for the past 6 months and realised that I need to incorporate a change in my workout routine to avoid boredom creeping in. I started alternating between yoga and strength from this week onwards and it does feel good. I feel there is a difference in my strength and flexibility after I started doing Yoga and the is helping me in my strength training as well. However, its too early to come to a conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Is it a good idea to alternate between yoga and strength training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5989" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T15:12:17.237" Title="Yoga and Strength training" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12687" CreationDate="2013-06-05T10:28:15.913" Score="4" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I took some interest in the military and various armed forces around the world. Ive read some books written by US Marines, SEAL and SAS members. I was very impressed by the training they recieved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It actually made me wonder - what is the science behind those plans? They seem overly exhausting to me, not leaving enough rest time to allow for muscle regeneration and growth, but those programs still seem to produce, fit warriors. While I am aware that the Hell Week in the SEAL is mostly a psychological test and training, even the regular PT seems really hard, hundreds of pushups, pullups and crunches, and kilometers of running and marching each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone make an analysis (or provide a link to one) of a chosen military training program and explain how and why it works so well? One can read about the training plans on various official sites and documents, but Im mainly interested in the more extreme end of the spectrum, like the SEALs physical training regimens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-06-06T10:41:25.620" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T18:41:44.760" Title="Scientific base for the construction of the army and special forces physical training plans" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12685" CreationDate="2013-06-05T14:45:18.137" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot provide a link to an official analysis of the training/instruction program of an elite military facility. What I can do is tell you of my own personal experience with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned the lack of regeneration and rest, and you are absolutely right. The idea behind the selection process is to completely maim you psychologically and put you to the test physically, so they can later build you back up as a soldier with the extremely intense memories binding you to your troop. Not only that, but you obviously become extremely attached to your military function. The whole notion of being part of the elite, having passed the selection process gives you a great deal of confidence, pride and &lt;strong&gt;trust&lt;/strong&gt; in your comrades(since they proved themselves tough and resilient just like you). These are all positive features for a soldier, in fact, essential. These selection camps, be it hell week or boot camp, provide all the soldiers with an important common ground, a common achievement if you will. The feeling that unites us soldiers is very strong, and only this ensures a loyal and functioning team, especially under extremely unfavorable circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings me to a second important aspect. The lack of regeneration is almost mandatory, because these selection programs must simulate intense ongoing stress that a soldier will face in combat. That is why they screw with your mind and play silly games, to make you feel like a tiny little piece of useless stinking garbage. They just want to see how far they can push you, and check your reaction. Sleep deprivation, hunger, cold, &lt;strong&gt;fear&lt;/strong&gt; and constant physical and mental stress is the best way to achieve this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: These methods do not aim to get the best out of your body, they just filter out those men that can take it and not break. Some just do not cope with little sleep. Others get all kind's of physical problems when they work in the cold, don't eat much or cannot warm up properly. Just like not all knees and backs are made to carry around a 50 kg combat pack, and under circumstances, also a wounded comrade on a bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My physique has completely changed after 6 months of basic training. I don't have the same peak performance regarding condition (running), long jump, or short distance sprints. The difference is I can do those things under all circumstances. If you don't get injured joints or whatever, you become extremely tough and resistant, but not really a super-athlete. In military terms, soldiers like to compare themselves to machines. Always working, never tired. So their training regimen does work extremely well, depending on what you set out to become: Athlete or Soldier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-06-05T14:45:18.137" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12367" CreationDate="2013-06-05T15:04:58.703" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rent them until you can get your own. Evolve makes some fairly low priced shoes, at least much cheaper than the other mainstream brands. Unless you're naturally a good climber, 5.8'ish is going to be a ceiling for most people without proper shoes. It's hard to gain confidence and good technique without being able to practice good footwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5990" LastActivityDate="2013-06-05T15:04:58.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12689" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-06T02:34:25.503" Score="0" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to buy a protein product which features a Insulin Amplification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I'm a little bit worried what Insulin Amplification really is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'm here to ask the expert:&#xA;What is actually Insulin Amplification? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to use it in daily dose for bodybuilding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5993" LastActivityDate="2013-06-06T07:35:51.630" Title="What is Insulin Amplification?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12689" CreationDate="2013-06-06T07:35:51.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;High insulin levels should supposedly increase the cells creatine intake capacity, which is beneficial for muscle growth. In fact, some athletes resort to consuming refined sugars such as glucose or maltodextrose after the workout. The consequent hyperglycemia will lead to rising insulin levels naturally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must also keep in mind that these supplement products are a huge business, and often their products are advertised to be what they clearly are not. You know the doctor smiling in the catalog, promising that this special mix of simple protein(which you could simply get by eating a steak) is going to get you ripped in a few weeks and with minimum effort? Yeah well, his day job is probably working at a call-center in eastern Europe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, a protein supplement featuring Insulin Amplification could contain some refined sugars and Acetylcholine and Phorbol Ester (they amplify glucose induced insulin secretion). &lt;a href=&quot;http://xerxes.calstate.edu/pomona/articles/record?id=FETCH-gale_primary_3183021591&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Read Here&lt;/a&gt;. Or alternatively, and more likely, they wrote it on there simply because it sounds good, knowing that people who've heard of insulin levels affecting creatine intake will probably buy the product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it safe?&lt;/strong&gt; I wouldn't suggest you chemically amplify your insulin secretion, but neither do I have conclusive proof that it will hurt you. I can however assume that: Tampering with any natural equilibrium in our body is bound to lead to problems. The sheer amplification of insulin will lead the body to secret less and less in the first place, to the point where it reaches normal levels again. If you suddenly stop taking the product you could experience diabetes like symptoms until you system re-adapts. &#xA;Also remember, these high concentration protein shakes are a lot of work for your liver. For a young adult with a healthy diet it shouldn't be a problem, but don't overdo it. After 8 weeks max. I normally take a long break (I use standard Whey Protein &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerfood.ch/products/de/Sporternaehrung/Protein/Optimum-Nutrition-100-Whey-Gold-Standard-2300g-Dose.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LINK&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-06-06T07:35:51.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12681" CreationDate="2013-06-06T13:46:13.367" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mention that you do push ups, but do you do any pull-ups or inverse rows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, it's not uncommon to have Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) due to changing the intensity (weight) or volume (sets * reps).  At first glance it sounded like this may be your problem.  The DOMS can be quite intense and last for a few days if you really worked things harder than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your back muscles are involved in push ups, but not to the degree that a proper back exercise uses them.  As a result, you might be hitting the rhomboids to a greater degree than the surrounding back muscles so they aren't actively helping out in the process.  The way to even things out is to introduce a back exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull ups/Chin ups&lt;/strong&gt;--one of the gold standard body weight exercises.  They hit your lats, traps, biceps, core, etc.  Problem is that they are very difficult to do for many people.  If you can do at least one, you can quickly add more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inverse Rows&lt;/strong&gt;--a very accessible and useful back exercise.  They are like the opposite of a push up.  Your body is straight, just like a pushup, but you are lying on your back and pull yourself up to a bar or table.  They'll hit many of the same muscles as the pull ups, but from a different angle.  Even if you can't do a single pull up, most people will be able to do this.  You can put your feet on a chair to make it more difficult if necessary.  Use the same volume as you use on push ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you work one set of muscles, you need to also work the antagonist (opposite) muscles to help your body remain in balance.  Failure to do that results in lingering aches and pains, joint inflammation, or muscle spasms.  Since you talked about body weight exercise, I provided a couple options that should help that were also body weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-06T13:46:13.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-06T15:28:32.723" Score="1" ViewCount="2051" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did tabata intervals religously for 2 months and the results have been great. I did my intervals on an elliptical machine for 4 times a week running for roughly 16minutes to 25minutes a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it looks like ive hit my limit with this tabata exercise. My legs constantly feel tired and exhausted and i now cant continue my tabata exercises. I also feel hungry and tired everyday, constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another problem is my legs look fit and cut, while my upper body and abdomen is not. I am under the impression that i am on a upper body plateau or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although ive been doing pushups, situps and weight training with my 8lb dumbbells together with my tabata. It doesnt quite show as much in my upperbody &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can feel my abs under the layer of fat but it isnt really coming out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What upperbody and abdomen exercises can i do to make them show with only an elliptical machine, an exercise mat and two dumbbells weighing at 8lbs each?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what weight lifting exercise or circuit exercise without weights can i replace my tabata with to even out &#xA;y body while losing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastActivityDate="2013-06-06T17:48:15.770" Title="Did tabata training, now my body looks a bit disproportionate" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12696" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-06T16:06:24.443" Score="4" ViewCount="3265" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to find time for 45 - 60 minutes, 2 - 3 times a week for resistance training, where I follow a circuit-training routine.  Sometimes, I don't manage, but would manage to squeeze a short one of say 15 minutes.  My main aim is to get bigger arms rather than strength (forearms, biceps, triceps, ...) - Does it make sense that if I don't manage to find time for the full circuit, I do 3 - 4 of the circuit exercises which focus mainly on the arms?  In general, I tend to build up quite well in chest, shoulders and legs area, however I've never seen a good noticeable increase in arm size, and would like to know if it makes sense that if rather than skipping it when I don't have time, I try to fit in just a few exercises.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any general suggestions how to get the best of your time at the gym would be greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5811" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T00:02:05.873" Title="getting bigger arms by doing just bicep / tricep exercises" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12697" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-06T16:20:49.853" Score="3" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;What to do if you have backpain due to many hours of sitting although going to the gym between those hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean that are there any good (rather finnish if possible) sites on computer ergonomics? I know that one needs to keep about rest every one hour, but how long and what should I do? I know what I can do, but how long? &#xA;And then this backpain is focused on middle back and I notice that when I sit straight, this pain occurs, but when little leaning against back, it does not seem to be so much pain than previously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-06-07T05:49:27.267" LastActivityDate="2019-02-11T07:25:26.183" Title="What to do if you have backpain due to many hours of sitting although going to the gym between those hours?" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;workplace&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12695" CreationDate="2013-06-06T17:48:15.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tabata, like sprinting, has significant anaerobic involvement (sprinters look muscly, runners look skinny).  Your legs probably look fit and cut because your muscles have had to make significant gains (hypertrophy) over the last two months on the elliptical. If you were to total up calorie expenditure from each area of your body during a workout, I'm sure you'll find your legs are making up the brunt of the total exertion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, it sounds like you are &lt;em&gt;undereating&lt;/em&gt;. Feeling hungry and tired all day, every day is a pretty obvious indicator of this.  It's easy to be overzealous about how much of a caloric deficit you create for yourself when dieting.  Unless you're patient about it, odds are you won't be happy about your results because, in my experience, you'll just look sickly/unhealthy.  So, instead start making a serious effort at determining your total caloric needs, counting your calories exactly, and eating at a minor caloric deficit (maybe start at 100-200 calories per day).  Not only will your weight loss be much healthier, this will also help prevent you from going catabolic (where your body uses your muscle for fuel rather than fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for bodyweight exercises, there are many options.  As you know, you can continue using the tabata method for any exercise.  8lb dumbbells don't offer a lot of resistance, but you could incorporate them into exercises like thrusters, pushup rows, weighted burpees, etc.  If you can do pullups, that would add a lot to your &quot;pull&quot; muscle development (lats, biceps, etc), and help even-out your torso.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, losing fat while gaining muscle (also called recomposition) is a pretty difficult task, but -- anecdotally speaking -- it's possible.  Personally, when I recomp, I eat at a caloric surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-06-06T17:48:15.770" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-06T19:26:00.080" Score="0" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a dancer and have been dancing competitively since the age of four and will be going to New York for dance this coming September.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in pretty good shape but I feel like there is one layer of fat on my body that I need to get reduce to improve my muscle definition for aesthetic reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just started counting calories today, exercise about 4 times a week plus go to the gym every second day if possible. When I workout at the gym I do the Cybex Arc Trainer for 30 minutes on weight loss level 2. I find it a great machine to sweat like crazy on! Then i will do an ab workout for about 30 minutes, then butt and thighs for about 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the next day I workout on the Arc Trainer and then about a 45-1 hour arm workout but I feel like I am seeing little to no results and I've been dancing all year and just started the going to the gym in March.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want that one layer of fat covering my body to disappear. I eat poorly to good, however I am not consistent so if someone can please give me some tips and pointers it would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6001" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-17T13:29:29.480" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T07:03:28.117" Title="Fitness and weight loss for dancing" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-06T20:45:51.757" Score="3" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work on the 5th floor of a 7 story building, and prefer the stairs over the elevator. I'm in moderately good shape, walking 1.5 miles each way to/from work every day, and usually working in a 1-3 mile run/walk at lunchtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the walk up the 5 flights of stairs leaves me frustratingly winded, so I've decided to start training stair climbing endurance specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of a couple of routines that might be the right thing for me to do, but I'm not sure which one to choose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;climb the 7-story building &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt;, climb back down, climb up again &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt;, be completely worn out, or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;climb up 2-3 stories at a normal pace, cross the building to another staircase, climb down 2-3 stories, cross the building, climb up 2-3 stories at a normal pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can sustain #2 for quite a while because of the built-in cool-down times. #1, on the other hand, is more like what I'm trying to get good at, but I've got totally rubbery legs by the end of 2 reps of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the right approach to get good at a 5 floor climb without being so winded that it's hard to talk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2823" LastActivityDate="2013-06-06T21:03:25.520" Title="Training to walk up to my 5th floor office without panting" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12700" CreationDate="2013-06-06T21:03:25.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both 1 and 2 would be helpful, and your training plan should include both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In exercise 1, you are working on your endurance, similar to the long run that most runners do about once a week. By going &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt;, you'll stimulate the growth of more capillaries, which will become new pathway for delivering oxygen to your muscles. In time, you'll be able to go the distance with less fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In exercise 2, by moving a little more quickly (with rest breaks) you are teaching your cardiovascular system to run better during periods of more intense work. This technique (known as interval training) will help your body become used to working harder before &quot;redlining.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to do a stair workout 4-5 days per week, I would recommend doing exercise 1 once or twice, and exercise 2 three or four times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastActivityDate="2013-06-06T21:03:25.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12706" CreationDate="2013-06-07T01:26:03.693" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to learn how to breathe better for all of the different types of exercises I do - working out, grappling, and cycling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read a lot about how to breathe and different techniques to improve breathing etc. what I really want to know is at points when one is really struggling to maintain breathing rhythm, and really feels like they need to take in air (which will interrupt the correct rhythm) what is better to do? Although it feels like taking in an extra bit of air is really satisfying it seems like its the wrong thing to do and that i should put more effort into keeping the rhythm and ensuring I breathe out all that i can before taking in more air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: will taking in air like this just be a short term gain and mean that in the longer term (towards the end of the workout) the body will not appreciate it (as I didn't manage to breathe out all of the air)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6002" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-06-07T05:46:53.787" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T14:03:14.750" Title="When running out of breath, keep breathing rhythm or take in air?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-07T04:39:28.840" Score="2" ViewCount="2420" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guys are supposed to have more upper body strength than girls but what about core strength? Seems like yoga, pilates, pole dancing and the like utilize the core much more so than biceps or chest or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T21:19:39.050" Title="girls vs guys for core strength" Tags="&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-06-12T03:36:33.467" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12633" CreationDate="2013-06-07T05:21:11.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will this routine help me reach my goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.  They'll &lt;em&gt;help&lt;/em&gt; you reach toward your goal, but whether you will reach your goal with them in a time acceptable to you is impossible for anyone here to say.  As someone mentioned, it all depends on how far you are from your goal and how vigorously you do these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and are there any things to be avoided i.e are these excersises&#xA;  contradictory or affecting each other in any sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing I would think to suggest is that you swap Day 2 and Day 3:  do the yoga in between the exercise days, so that you have an extra day to recover before you repeat some of these exercises for a second day in a row (and, in my opinion, that includes cardio, depending on your intensity).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T05:21:11.043" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12770" CreationDate="2013-06-07T13:37:27.313" Score="3" ViewCount="2449" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Situation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to a one sided sport I intensely practiced for a good portion of my teenage years(rowing in a team with only one oar per person), I have ever since experienced an awkward tight feeling in my hip when I stand up in the morning. After intense exercises I regularly feel a burn radiating down my leg on the outside of my thighs. I extreme cases and when it's very cold, I have a tingling sensation in my toes that makes me want to kick and stomp everything - the pain is really not a big deal, it is just so annoying! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My very competent sports doctor diagnosed a piriformis syndrome. The radiating pain is caused by the muscle pressing on the Sciatic nerve. Unfortunately for me in addition to that, my entire gluteus is also extremely cramped up. My physiotherapist suggested puncturing the muscles with a needle that will causes the muscle to twitch and eventually relax. In my case the needles just bent.. this gives you and idea of how severely these muscles are cramped. The therapist said it is very unusual for these needles to bend, as they are quite thick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched all over the place for ways to help my muscles relax: massages, needle therapy, ultra wave therapy, stretches, no running, more running, more bicycle, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually I decided to take to extreme measures: at the local gym I used a machine to train external hip rotation with weights. I tried less weight and many reps until muscle failure/exhaustion, and I tried big weights with less reps, both slow and fast. I did this together with stretches and massages over 6 months now. It has become slightly better, but gluteus is still severely cramped, and in the meantime I have peaked on the weights (machine cannot do more than 110kg). &#xA;I forgot to mention that I have no complaints whatsoever during activity, even under maximum loads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is the possibility of injecting cortisone directly into the&#xA;affected muscles, which makes them lazy as a couple of drunk cats. Increasing&#xA;load slowly after the treatment, I should be able to rehabilitate&#xA;the muscles. Does anyone have experience with this cortisone&#xA;injection (or similar)? I have quite an uneasy feeling about it, not&#xA;sure why.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does anyone have alternative methods, procedures, exercises that could help me? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for taking your time and reading this, it means a lot to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T23:30:19.627" Title="Hip stretches - recover from piriformis syndrome and hard gluteal muscles" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12702" CreationDate="2013-06-07T14:03:14.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body is remarkably adaptable, and if you feel you need to breathe more, go ahead and do so. Trying to maintain an artificial rhythm at higher exertion levels can be counterproductive. Just ignore it, and let your body breathe on its own rhythm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there are a few times in working out and grappling that you may want to control your breathing to match the exercise, but for the most part (especially during cardiac/endurance type training) you want to let your body breathe naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T14:03:14.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12323" CreationDate="2013-06-07T14:15:50.033" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shoulder is deemed to be a joint of the ball and socket type, as is the hip. The major difference is that in the hip, there is actually a bony socket on the pelvis (Called the acetabulum) that the head of the femur fits into. There really is no such structure in the shoulder, the &quot;socket&quot; in the shoulder is made up of tendon and cartilage structures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This results in a highly fluid, mobile joint that is able to move in many directions. Most other joints have a limited range of motion because the bony parts that make up the joint will not allow further motion in a direction. When you get to the end of that range, that is what is termed &quot;locked out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't really do that in the shoulder. If you get to a certain point and can't really move any further, or it produces pain, then what is happening is that you have reached the range limit of a tendon/muscle complex or a ligament. Forcing these to stretch further, especially under the load of a pullup can cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few different things that can cause a limited range of motion in the shoulder, such as highly developed muscles without concurrent stretching, natural morphology, previous injury. I trained an athlete that could not &quot;hang&quot; in a pullup position without dislocating his shoulder due to many dislocations in his history. It is also possible that by forcing yourself into a full hang, you are putting the shoulder at high tension when it shouldn't be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like your shoulder mobility is hindering you, than you can try safe swimming stretches and there are some martial arts routines that safely stretch the shoulder, but it's not likely that you have such a limited range of motion that it hinders your athletic goals. If that is truly the case, then I would get with a professional for an assessment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T14:15:50.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12709" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13389" CreationDate="2013-06-07T18:26:48.573" Score="12" ViewCount="43878" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is related to the following, I think:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6970/why-is-my-body-shaking-during-certain-exercises&quot;&gt;Why is my body shaking during certain exercises?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how this works on the muscle/biology level. The best thing I can imagine, is that the body switches very quickly in between using different muscle groups, so that the ones under stress get some rest. It does this as a sort of self-preservation so that certain muscle groups don't get damaged by being overstressed. Can anyone confirm this - or is my thinking wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's interesting to me, because it happens on all muscle groups when I'm tired, but always in my stomach area, and maybe I need to do a different exercise to train the concerned muscles individually on a smaller scale (if possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5583" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T18:35:50.793" Title="Does anyone know what causes muscles to shake uncontrollably while under stress?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12696" CreationDate="2013-06-07T18:45:17.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of a circuit, you might consider doing some days that focus on arms, and some days that focus on legs. Working on your legs is really important for overall health (balance, posture, etc). Some research also suggests it can stimulate muscle growth across your whole body (though this isn't proven with 100% certainty). I &lt;em&gt;would not&lt;/em&gt; skip leg workouts altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since you have been seeing general gains and now want to grow one specific muscle group, you could try adding some extra sets of bicep curls and tricep extensions during your upper body workouts. And yes, if you continue circuit training, you'd be better off doing only arms if you're short on time rather than skipping all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you mentioned that your main goal is to gain size, not strength. In general, it's hard to gain one without the other. But, you can gain a bit more size pretty quickly by taking a creatine supplement. This will cause your muscles to retain more water, so they'll appear bigger. Don't bother with this if you're not also putting the time in at the gym, but as part of your overall plan, it can be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastEditorUserId="5947" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T00:02:05.873" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T00:02:05.873" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12645" CreationDate="2013-06-07T20:43:02.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestions are to lift weights 3-4 times/week, incorporate 1-2 days of high-intensity interval training/week, eat MORE, and do less steady-state cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to spend 60-90 minutes in the gym several days a week on cardio machines, and never had the physique I thought my hard work should warrant.  Last summer, I started researching ways to increase lean muscle mass and came across www.simplyshredded.com/the-ultimate-female-training-guide.html.  This article changed my entire approach to working out and I have never been leaner or stronger than I am now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weightlifting takes no more than 30 minutes 4 days/week, and you don't have to do nearly as much cardio, since increased muscle mass give you a faster metabolism all day long.  Typically I do cardio 4 days a week for 15-30 minutes max, always after my weightlifting session to burn more calories.  Cardio for me is jumping rope for 15 min, 30 sec sprint/15 sec rest intervals for 20 minutes, stairmaster for 20 min (again, intervals!) or just something fun like tennis or bike riding.  It's awesome, I spend so much less time in the gym, and I feel pretty cool doing deadlifts and wide-grip pull-ups next to all the dudes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, figure out your proper caloric intake either by googling a 'calorie needs calculator' and being honest about how active you are, or talking with a nutritionist.  I used to try the old starvation techniques in my youth, and all it does is screw up your metabolism.  I'm 5'6&quot;, 130-ish, with BMI of 18, and I take in about 1800 cals/day, and even splurge once a week.  Sounds like you already have the discipline to not eat processed/junk food, so just up your caloric intake, and make sure you're getting enough protein, carbs, and fat--so important!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another site that helped me was &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; (great video library shows how to do every weightlifting exercise).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when it comes to food info, Michael Pollan can't be beat.  Read &quot;In Defense of Food&quot;.  Totally makes sense out of the tons of frustrating nutritional info thrown at us every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck in your quest to lean out!  And don't be afraid of meat heads in the gym!  Just ask to work in!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6008" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T20:43:02.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12712" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-07T21:15:55.640" Score="5" ViewCount="3383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often brisk walk for rapid reaching of destination, and my legs aren't in bad shape; I have always been a walker, do calf exercises, but the front part of the calf (as mentioned in title). Why would it hurt? I didn't know that muscle needs to be worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the tibialis anterior need exercise directly (isolated) to get stronger, or is the pain there from walking from another potential reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6009" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T11:33:12.293" Title="Calves hurt in the front (the tibialis anterior muscle) from walking fast?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-16T13:13:17.063" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12703" CreationDate="2013-06-07T21:19:39.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a misconception that males have stronger upper bodies, as opposed to general strengtha all around the body generally being stronger: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/men-vs-women-upper-body-strength.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/men-vs-women-upper-body-strength.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/422532-do-women-have-more-lower-body-strength-than-men/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/422532-do-women-have-more-lower-body-strength-than-men/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6009" LastActivityDate="2013-06-07T21:19:39.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12712" CreationDate="2013-06-07T23:58:16.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normal. It happens when walking quickly because you're pushing off the ground harder, your tibialis anterior needs to work harder to slow that down and bring your ankle back into dorsiflexion, and it holds it in that position longer than when running. Unless you ramp up your speed-walking too suddenly, it should just balance out eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a small reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.lifetips.com/tip/48909/walking/racewalking/sore-shins.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://exercise.lifetips.com/tip/48909/walking/racewalking/sore-shins.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-06-08T00:17:46.980" LastActivityDate="2013-06-08T00:17:46.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-08T05:37:11.537" Score="0" ViewCount="1771" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to Spain for 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The place is 1 km from the sea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what morning workout do you suggest for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get up regularly at 6:05 in the morning every day and then I have time to 8:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What combination of actvities in the morning do you suggest? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I run on mon, wed, fri and swim on tue, thu and maybe on weekend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to have free weekends if possible (maybe except a little swimming).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not curious about intensity, but more about when to do what. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean, if I should run more or swim more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combining these two in one day is quite difficult, because running &quot;wet&quot; is a little dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you know some tips how to run after swimming (notice I don't want to run bare-foot or in flip-flops ;)), then let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a bodybuilder nor a triathlon athlete. My aim is to stay fit and sexy ;) therefore 45 - 60 min max for a morning workout. My main concern is that running can lead to knee/ankle injuries because I have 93kg and I am 187 cm tall. But I don't want to loose much weight I like how I look right now. Could the weight be the problem in the long time period? I was running 3 times a week (mo, we, fr) for 5 months now and I am quite accustomed to that, eventhough sometimes I walk for a while and not run all the way (especially if I staid up late at night the previous day). But I definitely see some progress. I don't run very long distances only about 5-6 km and I do some push ups, dips, pull ups etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4905" LastEditorUserId="4905" LastEditDate="2013-06-08T08:16:45.140" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T03:41:29.763" Title="Running and swimming in the morning combination" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11704" CreationDate="2013-06-08T10:37:39.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's really worth to &lt;strong&gt;take a good rest&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a continual overload for particular muscles you are simply risking too much in long term sustainability. There is a risk of &lt;strong&gt;microtrauma&lt;/strong&gt; here and you can damage your body. One day rest now can save you another week of training when you are back in a good fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know your workout but I experience tired triceps mostly when swimming crawl. I'd suggest you to switch to a backstroke at least for a while. You should swim &lt;strong&gt;the same distance by crawl and the same distance by backstroke to avoid disbalance&lt;/strong&gt;. It can be in one workout day or in one week for example 3 days crawl and 3 days backstroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not a problem you can go out of water for two days and try for example &lt;strong&gt;running&lt;/strong&gt; or go to the &lt;strong&gt;gym&lt;/strong&gt; and focus on your &lt;strong&gt;core&lt;/strong&gt; (which will be used while swimming too!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been already suggested in comments: if you can't be without water just do great &lt;strong&gt;leg workout&lt;/strong&gt; for this time and let your arms rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I don't need to mention proper &lt;strong&gt;warming up&lt;/strong&gt; before training and &lt;strong&gt;stretching&lt;/strong&gt; after it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: You can try a &lt;strong&gt;massage&lt;/strong&gt; too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2013-06-08T10:37:39.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2013-06-08T10:48:44.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience: put your goggles into the water, salivate by your tongue and put immediately on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I'd never use any anti-fog chemicals now. Why? When the protection is partially off and goggles start slowly fogging you will be forced to think about licking chemicals in case you would like to use my tip. So don't use any chemicals, just salivate it. I'd like to have something chemicals free on my eyes :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-10T06:45:01.420" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T06:45:01.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12650" CreationDate="2013-06-08T11:13:30.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right this is not the most glamorous question but many swimmers experience the same problem. Doctor appointment could be a solution but what to do when your nose and throat is healthy and ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can avoid some food which is know to be involved in more mucus creation such as these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/339269-foods-that-create-mucus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/339269-foods-that-create-mucus/&lt;/a&gt;. The thing is that (looking at list) you can basically stop eating.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to use any medications for only this one reason so I was forced to find another solution. I'm dealing with this I'd say... psychically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I feel I have a mucus on back of my throat I usually slow down my swimming tempo so I can do something with it. I will spare some air to be able to cough very strongly and intensively into the water and try to clear my neck by this. If it doesn't work for 3 or 4 times I just decide to give it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this time I simply ignore this and breathing slowly and constantly to avoid unnecessary irritation which can cause gag reflex. Plus I'm saying to myself -- this is a natural thing and I'm not the only one with this problem. And simply... keep swimming :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2013-06-08T11:13:30.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="45" CreationDate="2013-06-08T14:37:58.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Endurance is like anything else, it takes time to build up. Many people find that a program such as a couch to 5k or similar can help get them back training to a more effective level, and I have found that the Galloway run/walk method can also be an effective way to increase endurance safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds also like you may have had some muscle catabolism or other damage due to the illness, and that will also take some time to repair and recover. It may be that you simply can't run much yet because you are replacing the lost muscle tissue first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend some sessions, or at least a consultation with a physical therapist, as they may be able to provide better guidance on how to go about getting back to where you were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-06-08T14:37:58.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-09T01:44:13.630" Score="2" ViewCount="2832" Body="&lt;p&gt;I first learnt about Rippetoe's 3x5 program, but the Power Clean seems risky for me for the moment, so I looked for something similar and found Mehdi's Stronglifts. But after one or two sessions of Mehdi's workout, I felt the need to add &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/WtPullup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/a&gt; (well, equivalently, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBFrontPulldownProLatBar.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cable Pulldowns&lt;/a&gt;) and more recently, some forearm work. It seems to be working well for me, although it is still too soon to claim to have any result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a few minutes ago I have found the origin of both Rippetoe and Mehdi workouts. It was &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Park&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reg Park&lt;/a&gt; who invented the 3x5 (or at least he made it popular) back in the 50s. The most surprising fact is that &lt;em&gt;Reg Parks original workout is almost identical to my modified version of Mehdi with Pull-ups and forearms&lt;/em&gt;. See for instance &lt;a href=&quot;http://somebodysuperbody.com/reg-park-5x5-workout-routine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my question is: is there something &quot;wrong&quot; with the original Reg Park workouts and therefore the need of Mehdi/Rippetoe? What are the improvements of Mehdi/Rippetoe with respect to the original Reg Park workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-06-10T06:11:22.677" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T06:11:22.677" Title="Why Rippetoe's Texas or Mehdi's StrongLifts instead of Reg Park original workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12715" CreationDate="2013-06-09T03:36:25.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for edit which provides important information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say that your weight is ok for 187 cm sport man. If you are afraid of injuries you can try to use your forefoot while running. Your arch will automatically and NATURALLY absorb shocks. This type of running will lead to stronger calf muscles too. Or you can run on the beach where sand is absorbing shocks pretty well. Proper warm up is a must of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are in a very good situation when even thinking about, let's say, 3 days running + 3 days swimming and 1 day rest. That's the ideal training ever. I'm very eager swimmer and as time goes by I experience more fun and more performance when I go &quot;out of water&quot; for some days. Combining swimming, running and gym for compensation exercise is the best way for long term sustainability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all about providing necessary rest for particular muscle groups. Your legs (after hard run) will relax inside of water and vice versa. During running our arms, back and shoulders will taking a good rest and will be ready for tomorrow swimming again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can combine these 2 in one day but I'd suggest you to run first and then go to the water so your muscles, again, can take a rest and relax. Water pressure provides something like continuous massage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus, there is another big advantage here too. This will be FUN for a long time. When you are swimming 6-7 times per week you are tired and you can find this boring. Maybe you can be even sick of it and experience very unpleasant burn out. (Ok, depends on motivation, competition etc. etc...) When doing 2 activities (maybe 3 actually: including push ups, pull ups after run) your workout will never be boring routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So good luck, keep moving and keep your very healthy life style!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: when to do what: just rotate your activities every day to avoid repeating one workout in 2 days. I'd plan my week like this: run+body, swim, run+body, swim, run+body, relax swim, rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-09T03:41:29.763" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T03:41:29.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12740" CreationDate="2013-06-09T04:18:12.603" Score="3" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been swimming for 1,5 year and 4 times per week in average. I had a period of 6-7 trainings during a week and with spring coming I switched 2-3 trainings to running finally because this is simply more fun and unfortunately I've found myself to be sick of swimming at the end of winter. I'm amateur not professional swimmer. That's why my goal is to be fit and have fun. But I want to improve my performance too, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was asked to participate in 500 m free style amateur swimming race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I'm &lt;strong&gt;sprinter&lt;/strong&gt;. I really VERY enjoy fast speed and my favourite distance is 50 and 100 m. And I would say this is the reason why I like swimming. Experience that beautiful feeling of literally cutting water in a high speed. I use short fins or/and swimming paddles very often during my workout. I simply internally LOVE 50-100 m of burst then some time of rest and doing these intervals again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know what to do, I know how to train. My question is more likely &lt;strong&gt;psychological&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to force my mind not sprinting the first 100 m of 500 m race and not totally exhaust myself so I'm not able to finish a race in a good time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I'm able to swim 500 m but I find it very boring, very slow and I can't enjoy it now with current mind set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How you are dealing with is? Is it possible to switch my mind and body set &lt;strong&gt;from sprinter to long race swimmer&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-10T10:16:06.313" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T18:27:05.337" Title="How to switch from sprints to swimming longer distances" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12727" CreationDate="2013-06-09T12:17:22.980" Score="2" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;since a year i go to the fitness-center, first once a week, since 4 months i'm trying to strictly go 2 (or 3) times per week. there i train multiple things (biceps, triceps, back, belly, shoulders, legs). Even if i regulary can increase the weights, i dont really see differences in the volume of the muscles. I'm more a thinner person (181cm -&gt; ~71 inch | ~63kg -&gt; ~140 lbs). Do i have to gain weight to train more powerful? I know there are special products out there for this, but i dont really trust them and dont want to use them. Are there other powerful method's to &lt;strong&gt;gain weight&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;increase the result of the training&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Primary target&lt;/em&gt; : increasing the volume (muscles) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Second target&lt;/em&gt; : increase the weight i can lift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6013" LastEditorUserId="6013" LastEditDate="2013-06-09T14:37:40.173" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T14:37:40.173" Title="How important is it to gain weight for weightlifting (build muscles)?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12726" CreationDate="2013-06-09T12:53:42.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to gain muscle for weightlifting.  Fat doesn't lift things, but higher overall mass can provide a more stable foundation for lifts.  In case you are wondering, you can get too fat to perform the lifts properly.  In an ideal world, you will start lean (in the 10-12%), and dial things down when you edge up towards 15% body fat as a man.  Add at least 5% body fat if you are a woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, different rep ranges target a higher proportion of different types of muscular adaptation.  All are necessary to getting stronger, and over time you'll probably alternate your focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-3 reps: power range.  Typically with 90% of your 1 rep max or more intensity, targets primarily the miophibrilar hypertrophy.  Pros: this is where you truly increase the amount you can lift.  Cons: prolonged life in the 1-3 rep range with intensities of 90% or more of your max can wreck your body (injury, fatigue, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4-6 reps: balanced range: Slightly lower intensities, targets a pretty balanced mix of miophibrilar and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  This is a great rep range for beginners because it gives them everything they need to get started.  It's also really good for just building up volume work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-12 reps: size range.  Typically in the 70-80% range, targets primarily sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  This gives you a good foundation of useful size to build more strength from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16+ reps: endurance range.  Typically below 70% intensity, targets the ability of a muscle to grind out reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these play an integral part in increasing your max to help you get stronger.  As a beginner, you will see plenty of increased strength without much change to the size of your muscles.  That's because your body has a lot of untapped reserve that it's now getting ready for you to use.  Eventually that runs out.  As the weight you lift gets heavier, you start having more fatigue that takes longer to recover from.  That's when you need to structure your training differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Miophibrilar Hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; is the bread and butter of strength.  Essentially it is more contractile protein pairs, which essentially means more power.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; is the energy systems to feed your contractile proteins.  Essentially, an underdeveloped energy system will limit your ability to push or pull heavy weights because the muscle runs out of gas before you are done.  It also tends to take up a lot more space, so it increases your muscle mass visibly.  Bodybuilders intentionally take advantage of that fact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Endurance&lt;/strong&gt; is the ability to keep working in a fatigued state.  Sometimes your one rep max is a real grinder.  The difference between making the lift and missing it is the ability to keep grinding through the sticking point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to gain muscle mass over time to lift bigger and heavier weights.  It takes time to work up to this point, and to work through it.  Multiple years of dedicated and intelligent work will help you see your goals.  As a general rule, you aren't going to see someone with a 400lb or higher bench press that has small arms.  It just doesn't happen unless in rare exceptions.  The same holds true for someone who can squat 600lbs or more.  They are just big--but not necessarily fat.  They've put in time under the bar, increased their size and increased their maxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to think of it is that muscular size represents strength potential.  It's up to you to put in the work to turn that potential into reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T12:53:42.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2511" CreationDate="2013-06-09T13:46:57.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-banana.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;potassium in bananas&lt;/a&gt;, a large 136 g banana contains 477 mg of potassium, which is pretty good. As far as workouts go the banana is great to eat before, during and after, they are small and can be eaten on their own, where as several other high potassium foods need to be part of a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But obviously if you don't like the taste then looking elsewhere at one of the other many &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calories-in-foods.com/foods-high-potassium.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foods that contain potassium&lt;/a&gt; is a good plan. How about prunes or prune juice, pumpkin seeds, or raisins which are a great source of potassium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could take potassium supplements BUT you have to consider that this is just one nutrients that you will get from them, whereby any foods are going to have a wealth of other nutritional benefits on top of the potassium, plus fruits like raisins also have natural sugars that will provide you with the energy you need when working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T13:46:57.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5474" CreationDate="2013-06-09T13:57:29.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get some fruit inside you to get your energy back and also for some potassium to help muscle recovery. Bananas and raisins are great sources of potassium as far as fruits go. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-banana.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bananas&lt;/a&gt; are also one of the few natural foods that are deemed a complete protein, and proteins are a must to aid working and growing muscles. Bananas and raisins may be relatively high in calories for fruits, but better you get their nutritional benefits and use the calories that eat something less effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T13:57:29.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12720" CreationDate="2013-06-09T16:41:57.713" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength and StrongLifts have the goal of strength, and to a lesser degree athleticism. Reg Park's workout was for bodybuilding prep, which has a large degree of overlap with strength training for the beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing things like calf and forearm work from Reg Park's workout allows more focus on the remaining elements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T16:41:57.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12732" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12738" CreationDate="2013-06-09T20:42:56.167" Score="5" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I've enrolled myself on indoor cycling classes but I'm not sure now if that was a good idea. What I'm concerned about is if I will manage to cycle for about 50mins taking into account that I have no fitness history and my condidion is rather non existent (I do not do any sports)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your view? Is it all just a matter of bike adjustment to make classes more suitable for me or should I choose something different as a start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6019" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T11:04:10.923" Title="First time indoor cycling (Spinning) with no fitness history?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5179" CreationDate="2013-06-09T21:18:28.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is maybe the most important question on this site!&lt;/strong&gt; (For runners, volleyball players, basketball players, jumpers etc. etc.) Thank you for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was fighting with my Jumper's knee for 2 years. Why I experienced this? 5 volleyball amateur trainings per week (too young and too eager!) + no special supplementation + no coach + no compensation exercise. I was even thinking about giving up this beautiful sport. What's now? I'm jumping without any support and playing again at full blast!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to get rid of it in initial phase or prevent it? The key is your quadriceps femoris muscle. You need to exercise and strengthen it &lt;strong&gt;EVERY SINGLE DAY!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this video from 1:45 the first exercise -- slightly rotated leg lifting. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHNqaPrCpvY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHNqaPrCpvY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do it while waiting on the bus stop (while standing), you can do it in your work while sitting, you can do it whenever and anywhere you want to and anyone don't tell me that you can't! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only this one worked for me. I wish you good luck. I hope you will catch it in the initial phase and cure it totally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-09T21:30:35.903" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T21:30:35.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12630" CreationDate="2013-06-09T21:28:43.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me it looks quite simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All &lt;strong&gt;calisthenics&lt;/strong&gt; (= exercise using only one's body weight for resistance) will lead to &lt;strong&gt;toning&lt;/strong&gt; your body as opposed to for example bench press with heavy weights which should result in the distinctly bigger chest muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep going with your push ups, no worries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2013-06-09T21:28:43.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12745" CreationDate="2013-06-09T22:23:50.970" Score="5" ViewCount="1623" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, Deadlift is a great exercise. But I don't dare lifting heavy yet, because of an old injury. However, when performed with reverse grip (both hand with palms facing forwards, I believe this is called supine grip, but I am not sure) I feel it is safer. The area where that old injury is, somehow feels less compromised, less stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then, is that variation of Deadlift dangerous? Does it target very different muscles? Do I miss the good properties of the normal Deadlift by reversing the grip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T08:28:57.427" Title="How different or &quot;sub-optimal&quot; is Deadlift if performed with reverse grip (both hands)?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12732" CreationDate="2013-06-10T01:30:41.100" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone has to start somewhere.  You will very quickly find out how far you can go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not try and keep up with the class, but do work on keeping your legs moving as long as you can.  I.e. Do the best you can, considering the circumstances.  You will get better with practice, and have patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things the instructor will do is suggest tension levels on the brake.  Keep your tension easier so you can make it as far through the session as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T01:30:41.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12684" CreationDate="2013-06-10T02:16:15.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alternate, probably not, but that all depends on what your goals are. If you want to be strong powerlifter, you want to be lifting almost all the time. If you just want to keep fit and like a change, sure stop lifting for a week and just do yoga then switch back. its your body and routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this isn't to say Yoga isn't a great supplement to most activities. If you ignore the dubious spiritual claims, yoga is basically intense active stretching, and helps improve your flexibility and strength especially when the muscles are at their longest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you want more depth in your squats and more strength when you get deep in the hole?&#xA;Do you want more stability when performing overhead squats or presses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, maybe give yoga a go, and see if you can do a session or two a week on your non-lifting days and see if it helps your lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T02:16:15.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12722" CreationDate="2013-06-10T09:49:34.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way of getting your mind from the sprint to the 500m distance is too get at swim pacer, e.g. this one from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finisinc.com/tempo-trainer-pro.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FINIS&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to figure your current tempo, e.g. see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7944/3778&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; and reduce the tempo to a rate that you can sustain for 200m, then 300m and finally 500m. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method is more likely to succeed than training to keep the higher tempo for 500m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the context of your race, the team depends on you to finish the swim race, not to win it. 500m swimming is easily done under 10 minutes, so it is likely that it is a small part of the total race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T09:49:34.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12722" CreationDate="2013-06-10T11:43:09.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can train your mindset alongside physical training. You should be focusing on aerobic and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/anaerobic.threshold.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anaerobic threshold&lt;/a&gt; training with sets that prevent you from getting by with sprinting. Example: 8 - 10 x 100 on an interval that allows you 5-15 seconds rest with great difficulty once you settle in will not allow true sprinting. If you accidentally do sprint early on, you'll still need to settle in and tough it out. Focus on how you feel later in the set and force yourself to use proper technique. If you can barely make it but do, you are on the right track. This will help develop the psychological mindset that you need to foster for the 500 freestyle event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T11:43:09.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12630" CreationDate="2013-06-10T11:52:38.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a heavy boxing sack, some bandages and gloves. Then I suggest to do following exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&gt; warmup, then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit the sack lightly on your feet for a minute. Stay distant, move all the time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after 50 sec drop to floor and go all in for push ups. Do them for 20 seconds. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jump up and while skipping in place as fast as you can hit the sack as fast as you can (very short range, and almost no power, just speed). Do this for 10 seconds. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Last 30 seconds of the second minute punch the sack as hard as you can. Plant your feet and beat the sand out of it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;repeat at will&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your chest will feel like it explodes during step number 3 especially. Number 1 is a bit of rest, to catch your breath. After you get better reduce time of step number 1 and increase step 2 and 3. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do it right you should stand in a pool of sweat after 45 minutes. When you find yourself wiping the floor where you did the push ups just to get some grip again you know the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your doing the exercise right!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are in shape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are drinking sufficient water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provided the right diet, your chest and shoulders will get so toned you can see and count the muscle strings on flex.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T11:52:38.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12754" CreationDate="2013-06-10T12:35:39.860" Score="3" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be popular to spread abs exercises over the weekly schedule — e.g. one exercise at the end of every training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OTOH there is an option to do abs all on one day, alone or combined with another muscle group (back?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which option is considered more effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6022" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T03:50:02.277" Title="How to incorporate abs into a weekly schedule?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-10T13:10:57.417" Score="-5" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 19 y old , 5'7&quot; (1.70m) and weigh around 180 pounds (81 kg). &#xA;Just started going to the gym after a long hiatus. My regular exercise consists of: &#xA;20 minute treadmill running and &#xA;15 minute cross training. &#xA;2 sets of 30 crunches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My tummy is protruding and I know it would take very long to to see my desired outcome. To add on, I do not eat no more than 1000 calories a day I think. My question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there any tips I should follow to achieve a flatter belly in 2 months time?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks. Have a great day. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6026" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-12T01:46:54.910" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T01:46:54.910" Title="I need help on losing fats on my hideous tummy. Help" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-07-21T19:03:08.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12736" CreationDate="2013-06-10T14:52:33.167" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Changing the grip of a deadlift does not greatly change the targeted primary muscles, the exercise allows some significant variation in the grips used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reversing the grip should not &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; cause you trouble, but it might be a bad idea in the long run for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is a weaker grip. The bar will have a tendency to roll away from your body. Grip strength becomes a problem for most people who deadlift at some point, it would happen much earlier with this kind of a grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It runs greater risk of you inadvertently placing strain on your biceps, which doesn't handle extreme weights very well. (Look up &quot;torn biceps deadlift&quot; or similar on YouTube for ample demonstrations - if you dare!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may wish to experiment with a &lt;em&gt;mixed grip&lt;/em&gt; (one palm facing towards the body, the other is reversed). It solves the first issue, but the second remains. It is a popular technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T14:52:33.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12630" CreationDate="2013-06-10T16:57:59.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You ask about how to use push-ups to tone. That is an understandable question, but it displays a misunderstanding regarding how muscles and exercise interact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Toning&quot; is a colloquial term used to describe the process of developing visible musculature without greatly increasing muscle size. For this, &lt;strong&gt;the details of your workout are relatively unimportant compared to your nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to continue focusing on your upper body via push-ups, you can do that. The only really important part of doing it is following an &lt;em&gt;intelligent progression&lt;/em&gt;. There exist dozens of good push-up programs, Googling &quot;push-up program&quot; will reveal lots of them just on the front page. You may want one that focuses on hypertrophy (add that to the search if you'd like) rather than on becoming able to to a particular number of repetitions. See also &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3105/how-should-i-do-push-up-to-get-better-chest?rq=1&quot;&gt;this question.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to prevent yourself from becoming &quot;too bulky&quot;, you monitor your diet. If you do not eat more than what you require to maintain yourself at your goal weight once it is reached, it is physically impossible to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T16:57:59.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12749" CreationDate="2013-06-10T18:28:24.540" Score="2" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently having problems with the following exercises and activities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tucked planche (&lt;strong&gt;Priority 1&lt;/strong&gt;: even getting of the floor is impossible, my legs only tuck if my hips get pulled in by my abs, thus no leeway is produced)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straddle/tucked handstand/headstand pushup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V-Sit (can't straighten legs when pointing towards the sky)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Front)-Squats (Leaning to far forward)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skiing - bad posture (standing to stiff, bending to much in hips to compensate) due to little ankle flex&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never do any stretching or similar stuff, as I always manage full range of motion with all other exercises, however with the things listed above my flexibility is holding me back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best strategy to improve quickly? Warm up my legs for 10 minutes and then stretch hamstrings and calves? Do some dynamic movements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: For the planche and handstand stuff, I'm also not very good at &quot;moving my shoulder forward&quot; and then rotating through thinking about lifting the streched arms upwards (the hands are fixed on the ground, hence the body moved up instead of the arm), so this my partically also be an issue when getting into a tuck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5197" LastEditDate="2013-06-10T19:39:20.193" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T19:44:54.870" Title="Hip &amp; ankle flexibility - how to progress?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12748" CreationDate="2013-06-10T19:44:54.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lack of hip and ankle mobility is a common issue among most &quot;Westerners,&quot; because we sit all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best ways to improve hip and ankle mobility is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Third World Squat&lt;/a&gt;. Just do it for as long as you can, as many times during the day as you can. This can be as static or as dynamic as you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Sisson, over at Mark's Daily Apple, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-regain-and-maintain-hip-mobility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has a number of exercises that can help improve hip mobility&lt;/a&gt;. His list includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Box jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mountain climbers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foam rolling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I'd also add in a few Yoga poses, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lotus (start with half, work up to full)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pigeon (this is great one to stretch that front section where the leg meets the hip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warrior (all of the Warrior poses, strengthens the hip flexors, which helps support hip mobility)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/anatomicalfocus/a/hips.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;About.com has a more extensive list&lt;/a&gt; of poses for the hips, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A note on Yoga - Yoga poses don't have to be static. In fact, most practitioners will do sequences. If you put them together right, you can flow from one pose to another, keeping you moving for the most part.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your ankles, I'd look into not only ankle exercises, but also hamstring work, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/anatomicalfocus/a/hamstrings.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;about.com has a great list in Yoga department&lt;/a&gt;. I particularly recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/straddle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seated Wide Legged Straddle&lt;/a&gt; and associated bends. To do it right requires you to adjust your hips correctly, and keeping your feet pointed up puts a good stretch on everything in the legs, which will help give you more range of motion, as well as strengthening the muscles in the feet (make sure you don't slack!). These will help keep your legs straight in the V-sits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-improve-wrist-and-ankle-mobility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark's Daily Apple&lt;/a&gt; has some other good ankle-specific work, including &quot;foam rolling&quot; with a tennis ball, and dorsiflexion exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also suggest calf raises on a slightly elevated surface. That way, you can move your heels below the balls of your feet. It doesn't need to be fast, or weighted, the idea is to work the ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also roll your ankles around while sitting. Keep the balls of your feet on the ground, and make vertical circles with your heels. This will help get blood flowing to them and work the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to do while sitting is to plant your heels and try to lift your toes and the balls of your feet as high as you can. With the help of the calf raises, you should see improvement here after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, squats, squats, and more squats. Doing good-form squats, themselves will help with mobility. They don't need to be weighted or one-legged (again, because you're working on form and mobility, here, not so much major-muscle strength), just make sure your form is as good as you can get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the long run, you'll want to do these things (or things like them) all the time, especially if you have a desk job. Mobility and flexibility, like strength, are use-it-or-lose-it. To get improvements quickly, it might be worthwhile to take a couple of weeks off of your normal progression routine (if you have one), and work on mobility. You don't have to stop your usual stuff, just don't push for gains, go back to the basics and focus on mobility and form. Basically, treat it like you might a weak muscle - make a concerted effort to focus on it for a while, until it catches up with the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T19:44:54.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12810" CreationDate="2013-06-10T20:09:49.130" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if when training in a day with a speed series like 8x400 is more heavy than a 18k longrun. Because yesterday I did my first speed series training and I was sleeping all the afternoon. But when I do my long run of 18-20k my body is ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-14T03:21:42.183" LastActivityDate="2013-06-14T18:26:05.277" Title="Is series training more exhausting than long run training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12744" CreationDate="2013-06-10T20:28:52.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Chelonian mentioned, your daily caloric need is 1,650, plus whatever calories you burn during exercise. Also, you can't &quot;spot-reduce&quot; fat. So losing the 12lbs or so of fat in two months doesn't mean it will come from your abdomen, nor does it mean you'll actually get the results you're looking for, depending on what your goal is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, if you're doing the crunches in an effort to lose the belly, it's a futile effort. It will help you (sort of) get well-trained muscles, but crunches really only work the surface-level muscles. And again, you can't spot-reduce fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At your current weight, running for 20 minutes at 6mph &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-fitness-calorie-counter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burns about 270 calories&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;Cross training&quot; is kind of vague, but let's say it burns 230 calories for 15 minutes (for the sake of math). That would be 500 calories you're burning, on top of Chelonian's calculation of 1,650 calories, for a total requirement of 2,150 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, it's recommended to have a goal weight loss of about a pound a week. That requires cutting back by 500 calories per day. This means that, with your current exercise, you can eat 1,650 calories and lose a pound a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as I mentioned earlier, you may still not get the results you're looking for. Cardio is great for reducing fat, but frankly, you'll very likely just end up a smaller version of your shape right now, and still feel and look &quot;flabby.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help remedy this, it's a good idea to include full-body strength training in your workouts. This can be bodyweight stuff, such as push ups, bodyweight squats, and so on, or it can be weighted stuff, such as barbell squats and bench presses or kettlebell work. This will help maintain muscle mass, which will give you a more &quot;firm&quot; look as the fat comes off. And no, you won't turn into She-Hulk if you pick up more than a 5lb dumbbell (in fact, most women are &lt;em&gt;smaller&lt;/em&gt; than they were at the same weight), so don't be afraid to go after the Olympic barbells or the 25lb kettlebells if you have the strength to use them with good form. For detailed information, check out &lt;em&gt;New Rules of Lifting for Women&lt;/em&gt; or even &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, see about trading in your consistent treadmill runs for sprint intervals, especially if you're increasing the duration of your runs. This is known as &quot;High Intensity Interval Training,&quot; which has shown to be more efficient at fat burning than steady state cardio (ie - 20 minutes of high intensity intervals burns as many calories as 60 minutes of steady-state). If you're just starting out with running, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; program uses interval training to work you up to 5k (~3 miles) and is a good one to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, for diet - be careful restricting your calories too much. If we assume that your workouts burn 500 calories, and you're already at a deficit of 650 calories (1,650 - 1,000), then you're taking a total deficit of 1,100 calories, or a little over 2lbs per week. This really only works for people who are severely overweight and have 100+lbs to lose. While you have a decent amount you could lose, you're still at a low enough weight that this kind of deficit can backfire on you, in a number of ways (including plateauing). Additionally, eating such a small amount can lead to nutritional deficiencies, and just in general not being able to fuel your body's needs, leaving you tired all the time and requiring longer time to recover from intense workouts. If you find that happening, don't be afraid to increase your caloric intake by a couple of hundred calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're eating good whole foods. 1,000 calories worth of pizza won't get you far (and really, isn't that much pizza if you're getting it from a pizza joint; Pizza Hut's pan pizzas run about 400+ calories per slice). Good, whole foods, like steak and broccoli will carry you a lot farther.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not already, start tracking your food. I personally use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;, but there are others. If nothing else, use it for a couple of weeks to make sure you are, in fact, only eating the amount you think you're eating (and conversely, that you're eating as much as you think you're eating). A lot of people grossly underestimate how much they're eating, and it's good to get a baseline idea. Additionally, it allows you to see what it is you're actually eating, since a lot of people don't think about it much and think they're eating healthy, only to find that they have 3 servings of cookies and a 20oz bottle of Mountain Dew every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you carry most of your weight in your abdomen, then you might want to look into gluten-free and/or lower carb ways of eating. &quot;Beer bellies&quot; that aren't actually caused by drinking a lot of beer are often caused by insulin resistance and/or gluten sensitivity/intolerance. It might be worth trying each for a month or so to see if it has any effect on your tummy area. Again, it comes back to eating good, nutritious whole foods. Shop around the perimeter of your grocery store, or better yet, go to a farmer's market and butcher shop to get the bulk of your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2013-06-10T20:28:52.547" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12764" CreationDate="2013-06-10T22:02:27.463" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing an Ironman in about 4 weeks. Having just completed a half Ironman a couple of days ago, I'm feeling upbeat after performing well.  However, I have a question about nutrition for my forthcoming race.  For my half Ironman, I ate mostly protein the night before, porridge in the morning, then structured my gels throughout the race accordingly;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One half an hour before the swim I ate a gel, and sipped at a bottle of Hi5 upto the race start&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once on the bike drank two further bottles of Hi5 and four gels during my 50 odd miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the run I drank several small plastic cups of water/Hi5 from the aid stations, and a gel at miles 6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use thicker un-caffienated gels, as the ones with a thinner viscosity ones are repulsive.  I've heard from friends and have read that some people put gels (up to 26!) into a bike bottle, and consume this during the ride. However, this needs to be done with caution as it can adversely affect your constitution! &#xA;Is gel choice a personal choice, as in what agrees with you, or should I avoid specific types?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have Ankylosing Spondalytis so I'm also worried about the hot weather, and my genetic inclination towards hyponatremia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1217" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T05:23:07.143" Title="Gel recommendations for Ironman Triathlon" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;gel&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12743" CreationDate="2013-06-11T03:50:02.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best approach is to train them like any other muscle. 2-3 times per week with progressive overload to ensure that the reps or time under strain is relatively consistant over time. This is more difficult with abs, but exercises such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab rollouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks and then weighted planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dragon flags&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All offer the ability to increase the weight over time which will eventually lead to hypertrophy. The best approaches for training abs though will take into account your goals. If its aesthetic, the above should work fine, however if you are training for contact sports anti-flexion and anti-rotation exercises (which aid in the stabilisation of your 'core') will offer the most protective results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that exercises such as squats and deadlifts will also require core activation and you'll want to incorporate your abdominal training around these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, look into the work of Dr. Stuart McGill for good core training techniques. He is probably the foremost expert in the field of sport medicine and lower back and core health&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T03:50:02.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12228" CreationDate="2013-06-11T04:12:08.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At that short a distance I'd say run more. First and foremost, you need your body to get acustomed to running faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So doing sessions of 400m and 800m sprints - about 0.25mile and 0.5mile respectively, aiming to get towards a pace at or below your goal pace will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, keeping consistant records and lot of practise will get you there quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A plan like that below (with adequate rest) should help get you towards the speed you want:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mon - 3x800m&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tue - 4x400m&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thu - 3x800m&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sat - 1.5mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T04:12:08.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12769" CreationDate="2013-06-11T07:54:06.580" Score="2" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been told by the physio that my right rhomboid muscle is tight. As a result I am getting some pain in that area, especially when I breath deeply (Which is impacting my running).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some exercises to stretch and relax the rhomboid muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T23:19:47.400" Title="Rhomboid muscles" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12633" CreationDate="2013-06-11T09:19:25.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This routine is good, I guess, but to get the body you want you will need to train more. I.e. you left out shoulder exercises(i.e. front-raises, traps, etc). Pull-ups and chin-ups won't be enough for your back to develop alone, try doing lateral raises, pull-downs, bend-over rows and deadlifts (be careful with deadlifts - wrong form/too much weight can f**k up your back and it's easy to tear muscles). For your biceps, chin-ups are pretty good for that and you're doing regular curls aswell. Try switching up the regular curls for something else once every 3-4 weeks(try preacher curls, cable curls, concentration curls, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups is by far not enough for develop a nice thick, seperated chest. You will need to do benchpresses, dumbell-presses, fly's and perhaps dips. Dips and close-grip benchpressing will also develop  your triceps(keep in mind that the triceps is like 2/3 of your arm, so never skip these).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All-in-all: your routine will surely train your chest, biceps, triceps, shoulder and back a bit, but not enough to reach your ultimate goal. However, I can be wrong ofcourse. If  your muscles start developing and &lt;em&gt;you're&lt;/em&gt; happy about it, then that is the most important thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5887" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T09:19:25.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-11T09:46:34.900" Score="3" ViewCount="906" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mild chronic kidney disease, through which I have an elevated creatinine level and decreased kidney function.  Due to this, I cannot take good amounts of protein, and need to follow a relatively low-protein diet to decrease the load on the kidneys.  I currently do kick-boxing, and 2 / 3 times a week of circuit resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading on the topic, a lot of forums / information mention quite a good amount of protein per body weight.  Is this absolutely necessary to increase in muscle size?  Is there anything I can do to help, without actually including excessive amounts of protein in my diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main aim is to increase in muscle size / mass, rather than strength, although it would be beneficial if I were to increase both.  In general, I don't think I have a bad shape or form, and already have a good amount of muscle size but would like to increase it .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing of curiosity I would like to ask about is - I read about creatine supplements, which are somewhat related to creatinine level.  I have a naturally high creatinine level due to the mild kidney disease, which hovers in the 130 - 150 range.  Does this have any to do with muscle size?  If some people actually take supplements to increase, could this actually be of any relevance?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6034" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T09:17:15.483" Title="increasing muscle size / mass and protein intake" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12663" CreationDate="2013-06-11T11:19:15.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nah if you think about it it's not the same type as squeezing simply because it doesn't cover the full range of motion. It's easy to close a gripper the first little bit but then it gets dramatically harder the closer to closed it gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6037" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-06-11T11:26:41.100" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T11:26:41.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12228" CreationDate="2013-06-11T16:06:22.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;On every day that you run, go for at least 30 minutes. When you do intervals, go for consistent pacing, not speed--quick but relaxed. Alternate between workout days and easy running/jogging days. Don't bother too much with speed work right now, for 1.5 miles you need to develop aerobic fitness more than anything else. &lt;strong&gt;If you haven't been training much/at all, you should probably just do easy runs of 30+ minutes each for several weeks before adding intervals.&lt;/strong&gt; A typical mid to long distance (&gt;= 1500m races, often down to 800m) training program will start with &quot;base training&quot; (easy runs only), then progress into alternating easy days and longer, endurance-oriented workouts, then add some race-pace and faster intervals. 600m-1000m is where &quot;sprinters&quot; and &quot;endurance runners&quot; overlap (in a grossly over-simplified 2-party model), so if you're going for 1.5 miles I would recommend approaching it as a distance runner rather than a sprinter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For intervals, you might try starting 3-4x800m in 3:20-3:30 with 60-90 seconds rest. I got that pace range both by estimating relative to your race pace and by using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this pace calculator&lt;/a&gt;. McMillan's &quot;steady state&quot; pace would be good for some 2-3 mile runs to build aerobic endurance as well. Doing a few shorter, faster workouts will probably help you, too, but it's not what's most important for a 1.5 mile race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finally, be sure to build up your mileage and intensity gradually to avoid injury.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5626" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T16:06:22.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12752" CreationDate="2013-06-11T18:14:23.640" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;4 weeks before an Iron man - I wouldn't try anything new. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are probably going in a taper in 2 weeks, and you should already be at the peak and ready for the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, Gels are a personal (and some medical) choices, but just continue with what got you through the half, and you'll do just great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are Gels, Gums, powders, pills (and probably 20 other types), bars, etc. It's a choice, I wouldn't make 4 weeks before my peak race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and Good Luck!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" LastEditorUserId="1405" LastEditDate="2013-06-12T05:23:07.143" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T05:23:07.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12765" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-11T20:34:32.257" Score="4" ViewCount="3562" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bench press, aside from me not liking the motion of the exercise, nor the overrated outlook on it in general, is pretty crappy, even with attempts to improve it. I follow a strict regimen only limiting myself to myofibril training, no hypertrophy, but that hasn't been a problem at all; the problem seems to do with the form of it. I have seen videos demonstrating proper form and all, but when it comes to be actually doing it I fall short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried lowering the weight to work on repping with form, but all that does is weaken my one rep max if I don't stay heavy most of the time, or stimulates sarcoplasmic fluid, more muscle build up, but the weights don't get easier. Pyramids don't work for me because I'm tired before I get to the highest weight, and end up overworking/hurting myself, or causing delayed onset muscle soreness for days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't seem to get it right. I will either incorporate too much chest, too little triceps, or the other way around, or some combined mess. I fail to &quot;push&quot; the weight cleanly with the load equally distributed between the aforementioned muscle groups, hence, I fatigue after only a couple of reps and often experience soreness instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not like this for any other exercise besides bench, so here is what I surmised:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a naturally weak chest and poor body form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have bad biomechanical positioning, arms not short enough, and can't learn form, explaining a lot of why my bench rarely increases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something else I can't think of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I have tried arched back, but doesn't make nary a difference at all, if any, in my poor bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I need some suggestions&lt;/strong&gt; on how to achieve correct form and maximum performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6040" LastEditorUserId="5969" LastEditDate="2013-06-14T14:52:37.623" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T12:36:16.980" Title="Can't seem to do a proper bench press ... any reasons as to why?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-11T20:48:36.437" Score="2" ViewCount="829" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that you can put more &quot;force&quot; in to each press off the ground when running, making it more of a power run, or a fast sprint, or the kind of running footballers do when they go to tackle another player.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of running differs from running regularly, like on track and field, to me at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long-distance runners do not focus on the &quot;force&quot; or &quot;push&quot; behind each movement as much, such as a wrestler or football player would. They just focus on the endurance and mobility to keep going, but not completely on the power trade off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there any difference between a trade off regarding &quot;running speed&quot; versus &quot;running power&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: This is not just regarding fast-twitch versus slow-twitch muscle fiber types, but a different carry-out force measurement in different practical implementations of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6040" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-12T03:33:44.253" LastActivityDate="2013-06-14T11:43:08.230" Title="Running speed versus running power - is there a difference?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-11T21:00:21.460" Score="5" ViewCount="624" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the trainers in my local gym did my measurements with a fat caliper. He unfortunately has not had time to calculate the fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the numbers and figured might as well do it myself but I not sure what formula to use. I can't match up all the body parts since he uses some different names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He used the caliper in 6 areas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bicep  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tricep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scapula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Illioc  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;calf  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower Back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What formula can I use that I can plugin my numbers to calculate my body fat percentage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3326" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-10T02:15:40.577" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T20:24:12.793" Title="How to calculate body fat using calipers?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12766" CreationDate="2013-06-11T21:05:19.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming all other things are equal (running form, for example), if you produce more power, you'll run faster. Somebody that is running faster is producing more power. There is no trade-off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T21:05:19.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12758" CreationDate="2013-06-11T23:19:47.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;EXRX is usually my go to site for queries like this. Here is the link for their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/BackWt.html#anchor854426&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rhomboid specific stretches&lt;/a&gt;. However, as stated following your physios advice will be your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to look into foam roller massages for yor back to help stretch your muscles out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T23:19:47.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12705" CreationDate="2013-06-11T23:30:19.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the problems with competitive or repetitive sports on the growing body is that they can cause the body to grow with asymmetries.  Young athletes who do not have knowledgeable enough trainers are likely to develop problems over time with muscles, fascia and joints as uneven strains are created.  Now you are left with figuring out how to correct the problems and asymmetries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you appear to have good medical care and are hesitant about getting a shot, you may want to check with your therapist about some of the suggestions below that worked for me.  My asymmetrical sport growing up was tennis.  Everyone is different, but here is my experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cortisone shot worked for about 24 hours and then the pain/discomfort started to migrate and spread, becoming more annoying than my regular pain that I was used to having.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Physical therapy - My therapist explained that my SI joint was involved and that is why my muscles continued to overwork, trying to stabilize my pelvis.  She gave me specific corrective/stretching/strengthening exercises, explained what to avoid, and did myofascial release work mostly following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anatomytrains.com/at/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tom Myers' Anatomy Trains&lt;/a&gt; work that addresses continuous areas of fascia (head to toe) rather than individual muscles.  (When muscles contract they pull on the connecting fascia.  A tight shoulder for example, may result in the opposite hip having a restriction via the fascia.)  She also included tape, PRRT to relax the reflex, electrical stim to fatigue and relax the muscles, ultrasound to improve the circulation and mobilized some joint restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My exercises - One exercise where you stand in the doorway with your foot on the door jam and isometrically contract your glutes began to ease the pain that I had for eons almost immediately (but not permanently at that point).  I was amazed and paid attention to all the exercises she gave me to do as a home program. I wouldn't recommend trying them without your therapist's advice as they may not be right for you, but some of them were &lt;a href=&quot;http://thelowback.com/fix.htm#exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Don Tigny's SIJ exercises&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also did my own myofascial work with tennis balls and foam rollers to work on the glutes, piriformis and ITB between treatments.  And I did the regular hip/glute stretches using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRMlfbDZGgE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PNF contract relax&lt;/a&gt; to stretch and release tightness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully some of this info will help and you will find the right combination of stretching and strengthening exercises to balance out your pelvis and muscle tone.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T23:30:19.627" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11699" CreationDate="2013-06-11T23:38:23.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lazy and very basic comparison of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_New_York_City_Marathon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Boston_Marathon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Boston&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Marathon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Houston&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_London_Marathon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;London&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Marathon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Berlin&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Marathon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cologne&lt;/a&gt; run times compared to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Marathon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;San Francisco&lt;/a&gt; run times, shows winners run a marathon in about 2:05 to 2:10 compare with the San Fran where the recent finishers looking at 2:20 to 2:30, or &lt;strong&gt;about a 10-15% increase in time&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind these are professional runners who probably trained for the San Fran course. So if you are running a 3:30 marathon, you'll probably be looking at a close to but sub 4:00 time. If you are running in 4:00, then expect at least a 4:30.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-11T23:38:23.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12772" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-12T03:32:48.123" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started up my long distance running again, and am looking to compete in a marathon early next year. However, I've noticed that specifically my achilles tendon can be quite stiff some mornings. I'ev been quite lax in the past with post-run stretching mostly due to not being sure what or when to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any good stretching routines for runner (specifically distance runners) as well as tips for when do stretch? eg. pre- or post-run or warm-up, stretch, long run, etc...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T14:21:46.300" Title="Stretching routines for runners" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12772" CreationDate="2013-06-12T06:00:48.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of debate about the efficacy of stretching (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tothemaxfit.com/articles/pdf/FlexibilityInjuryReview.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see &quot;The Impact of Stretching on Sports Injury Risk: A Systematic Review of the Literature&quot;&lt;/a&gt;), but the general suggestion is that you should (i) do some light exercise to increase blood flow to the muscles/tendons (walking, light jogging, massage, apply heat) before you exercise, (ii) do some light stretching, (iii) exercise, and then (iv) do some stretching post-exercise (here are some suggestions on how to prevent injury: &lt;a href=&quot;http://achillestendon.com/preventing-injuries/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Achilles Tendon.Com&quot;&gt;&quot;Achilles Tendon Injury prevention&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6044" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T06:00:48.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-12T06:26:02.230" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had plantar fasciitis for over a year now, have tried a variety of treatments (e.g. stretching, golf ball rolling, night splint, physical therapy, etc.), and would like to know the efficacy of shock wave therapy. I am aware of some older studies that indicated it was not more effective than sham therapy, but also that therapy might vary depending upon the machine/technique used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is this: is extracorporeal shock wave therapy effective for treating plantar fasciitis or similar ailments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These earlier studies being:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1016/S0736-0266%2803%2900048-2/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Extracorporeal shock wave therapy for plantar fasciitis. A double blind randomised controlled trial&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7406/75&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Extracorporeal shock wave therapy for plantar fasciitis: randomised controlled multicentre trial&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=195298&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ultrasound-Guided Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for Plantar Fasciitis&#xA;A Randomized Controlled Trial&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6044" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T11:40:01.453" Title="What is the efficacy of shock wave therapy in treating plantar fasciitis?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;treatment&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12766" CreationDate="2013-06-12T08:59:19.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The higher intensity of 'push' in each stride manifests itself in acceleration. That is the variable your are considering, not speed itself. What you call 'running power' simply implies reaching a specific speed faster. The 'end' force you have to constantly apply to maintain that effective speed is the same, no matter how fast you reached it earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In synthesis; football players do almost all of their running in constant acceleration, where as running athletes on medium or long distances reach their pace and keep it for several minutes to hours. The speed the football player has reached before a tackle however must not necessarily be higher than the speed of a track and field athlete running the mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T08:59:19.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12774" CreationDate="2013-06-12T11:40:01.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my own experiences, I can only say that the shock wave therapy did help on the pain in my feet from PF, but not enough to help me start running again. The later took 9 months and a very slow start-up after that. Now - two years later - I run 40+ km/week and participate in all the half-marathons I can find the time for... I still tape my feet (the usual T pattern around the heel) for the longer runs (15+ km), though I'm not sure if it is needed anymore (though I have no intension to test this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T11:40:01.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12772" CreationDate="2013-06-12T14:21:46.300" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try dynamic stretching. There is a video at the followng link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/stretching/dynamic-routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/stretching/dynamic-routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LEG LIFTS&#xA;Swing one leg out to the side, then swing it back across your body in front of your other leg. Repeat 10 times on each side. Feel wobbly? Hold onto a steady object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUTT-KICKS&#xA;While standing tall, walk forward with an exaggerated backswing so that your heels come up to your glutes. When this is easy, try it while jogging. Do 10 reps on each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PIKE STRETCH&#xA;Get in a &quot;pike&quot; position (hips in the air). Put your right foot behind your left ankle. With your legs straight, press the heel of the left foot down. Release. Repeat 10 times on each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HACKY-SACK&#xA;Lift your left leg up, bending the knee so it points out. Try to tap the inside of your left foot with your right hand without bending forward. Repeat 10 times on each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TOY SOLDIER&#xA;Keeping your back and knees straight, walk forward, lifting your legs straight out in front and flexing your toes. Advance this by adding a skipping motion. Do 10 reps on each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WALKING LUNGES&#xA;Step forward using a long stride, keeping the front knee over or just behind your toes. Lower your body by dropping your back knee toward the ground. Maintain an upright posture and keep your abdominal muscles tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T14:21:46.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12781" CreationDate="2013-06-12T16:36:34.450" Score="0" ViewCount="876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been given some glute &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.womenshealthmag.com/files/images/1006-poolside-glute-bridge.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bridges&lt;/a&gt; to do, to improve the strength of my core and hips, to prevent injury while running. I'm quite weak in this area and after a day and a half,I'm finding it's my calves that are aching, not my hips or core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean I'm doing them wrong, or just that because I'm weak at that area, I'm over compensating and supporting myself with the calves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.womenshealthmag.com/files/images/1006-poolside-glute-bridge.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Like this&lt;/a&gt; but without the knee-squeeze and with raising one lower leg up in the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6049" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-12T18:09:40.167" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T19:16:09.853" Title="Should glute-bridges make my calves ache?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12780" CreationDate="2013-06-12T19:16:09.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a combination of both. In order to be 100% sure I would need to see how you do it. In any case, if it's unsupportable pain I'm guessing there's something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are ALWAYS sore after doing that exercise (even after a few weeks of doing them), you might be compensating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concentrate on the glute contraction and everything should fall into place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T19:16:09.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2013-06-12T21:27:09.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/is-barefoot-style-running-best-new-studies-cast-doubt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this blog article&lt;/a&gt; on the NY Times blog, about the comparison between barefoot running and traditional (&lt;em&gt;cushioned&lt;/em&gt;) running. Especially it compares the forefoot landing and heel landing styles, which is not exactly the same distinction but closely related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also cites the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23681915&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Journal of applied physiology&lt;/a&gt; but with focus on the economy of each running style in terms of oxygen consumption and carbohydrates versus fat burning. Their conclusion is that heel landing guarantees a lower amount of oxygen and carbohydrates consumed per footstrike, suggesting a higher autonomy and a higher rate of fat burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the sources reports about the effects of both running styles on biomechanics, but I'm going to read some literature to find something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3355" LastActivityDate="2013-06-12T21:27:09.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12789" CreationDate="2013-06-13T03:36:12.010" Score="5" ViewCount="670" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am feeling very thirsty while swimming.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have an event(3/4 Ironman), next month, which requires me to swim 3000 m in the first leg.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But the problem with me is that I drink water every 500 m while I train, due to thirst.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yesterday while I trained, I drank a sip after the first 400 m and took a sip after every 800 m. The total distance I swam was 3.5 km.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I take breathe every alternate stroke and that is what I have planned to do during the event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to prevent this? I want to swim 3000 m without stopping. I am capable of swimming non-stop except for the thirst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T12:22:55.667" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T12:22:55.667" Title="Feeling thirsty while swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;ironman&gt;&lt;ironman70.3&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12785" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-13T03:39:24.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ironman triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race, where the Ironman race starts at 7:00 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all finishers must complete their marathon by midnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-13T03:48:45.910" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T03:48:45.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12786" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-13T03:39:24.527" Score="0" Body="Is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-13T03:48:35.423" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T03:48:35.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12787" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-13T03:44:58.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of middle-distance triathlon races, consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-13T03:48:42.080" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T03:48:42.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12788" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-13T03:44:58.900" Score="0" Body="An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of middle-distance triathlon races, consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-06-13T03:48:28.503" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T03:48:28.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12784" CreationDate="2013-06-13T03:58:37.807" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are properly hydrated before you start, and its not a physiological need to drink there isn't much you can do. One thing I would suggest is if you are hydrated but feeling thirsty, in or out of the pool, speak with a doctor as extreme thirst can be a symptom of some serious disorders including diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If however you are hydrated, and don't normally feel thirsty during other training, I would seriously approach this like any normal training regime. Start where you are now and look to swim for longer periods of time without drinking. Even if its just, 400m, pause &lt;em&gt;no drink&lt;/em&gt;, 200m pause &lt;em&gt;drink&lt;/em&gt;, building up your time between drinks will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to cramping, this again comes down to the source of your thirst and how you manage it. If you are physiologically thirsty, then lack of salt and such is going to be a problem you need to manage. You also need to recognise that you'll be losing less water via sweating through a swim leg than you would over an equivlient length run or cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you mentioned that you need to drink every 500m due to feelings of thirst. This is the analogous to someone needing to drink every kilometer of a run. While it may make you more comfortable, I think you'll that unless there is an &lt;em&gt;underlying health issue&lt;/em&gt; as mentioned in the first sentence, you should be able to build up to being able to safely swim for 3km in competition as long as you properly hydrate before and after a session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-13T04:23:07.110" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T04:23:07.110" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13614" CreationDate="2013-06-13T11:30:22.987" Score="7" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;In context of running, one of the most discussed subjects over the last many years probably have been whether &quot;Natural Running&quot; will prevent injuries or actually be the source of injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have looked at the many, many references you can find on the web if you search for &quot;natural running injuries&quot; and to me it looks like you can easily confirm any initial views or assumptions no matter what you think of the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With other words, it is extremely difficult to find objective investigation - let alone research - into this subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From discussions on my local running team, the general agreement seem to be that natural running is good for your legs in general - especially your shins, knees and hips - but it is bad when it comes to plantar fasciitis. Which kind of make sense to me, as your steps are shorter, but the archs under the feet must handle more pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[As I have almost continuous problems with shin sprints, I wonder if I should try to switch. But I have also had some rather serious problems with PF in the past, which I really, really don't want to repeat..]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus the question: Are there any (conclusive) research in this field? Has anybody figured out if natural running is good, bad or just same-same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T22:37:20.407" Title="Natural Running - less injuries or not" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12796" CreationDate="2013-06-13T12:26:00.640" Score="6" ViewCount="12126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been bodybuilding for about 4 and a half years. Two hours a day, 5-6 days a week. My physique has went from null to pretty insane in that time frame. I was a scrawny 105lbs 18 year old male to a now 170lbs 22 year old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the course of my different training programs, I have some programs that include a day off for every 2 days of working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On those days off, I feel guilty, anxious and almost sick... It sickens me that I'm not at the gym and lifting heavy or helping others out to improve their form. I feel addicted...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes that feeling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T13:07:20.263" Title="Why am I anxious when I don't work out?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12795" CreationDate="2013-06-13T13:07:20.263" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's actually a very normal feeling. It's not even comparable to other purely psychological addictions(like internet), because physical activity induces a secretion of &lt;a href=&quot;https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphin&quot;&gt;endorphines&lt;/a&gt;. If the activity is intense, and lifting heavy weights falls under that category, the amount released is proportionally higher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have experienced the same feeling you described. I remember a few years ago I twisted my right ankle 2 times in one year - I had to quit sports for 6 weeks, and then build up gradually. I actually turned to alcohol to stop that nauseating and depressing feeling. I drank regularly much like an alcoholic, at least a liter of beer a day, often more than three (starting at lunch). When I recovered I stopped drinking as quick as I began. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This of course add's up with the normal 'pull' to do the things we enjoy doing. It's a craving feeling, that can get so strong as to provoke debilitating symptoms during withdrawal. The entire concept of addiction is very complicated and equally interesting, the dilemma about when an activity or a substance (not just drugs but also chocolate, ice cream, sparkling water) is to be considered a negative addiction will probably never be solved. You have to evaluate if the activity has any negative impacts on your life. Sports doesn't really fall into that category, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. However you may have noticed that it's more difficult to maintain a social life outside work and the gym, because you spend so much time there. Also having a relationship might not be so easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately in my experience the more sports I do, the less I feel the need to sleep. That really compensates for the time spent cycling or lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, everything depends on you perspective on life. I am sure you'll even find doctors that can diagnose some psychological disorder just because you love working out to the extent where you feel bad without it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What causes that feeling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;sum up&lt;/strong&gt; this, perhaps, too long answer. The cause of your feeling is twofold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical withdrawal for the sense of well being that comes with natural endorphines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The intense craving for an activity simply because you enjoy it (this point is not to be underrated).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much. Hang in there and always be careful with extremely heavy weights. The price we pay for bad form or for exaggerating always comes many years later (no complaints now does not imply what we are doing is good for our joints, ligaments and skeleton).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T13:07:20.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12588" CreationDate="2013-06-13T13:50:46.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try the following workout 3-4 times a week. I would recommend a full body workout!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: 20min warm up on bike&#xA;6x20 pressups&#xA;6x8 chest flies (6/7 reps)&#xA;3x8 pull ups&#xA;4x10 pulldowns 7/8 reps&#xA;4x10 bicep curls&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then try planking 1 min on and 1 min off for approx 10 mins!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all in the diet too! So get o a high protein, low carb diet and most of all cut the alcohol before the wedding. if this sounds inconceivable I would recommend 3 weeks off 1 week on!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition should come from natural sources so good proteins (chicken, fish) and good carbs are welcome (sweet potato, vegetables) good fats too olive oil, nuts, natural yogurt). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;best advice is to cut beverages that are high in sugar (fruit juice/ cola etc.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mornings I would go for scrambled eggs with a slice of wholegrain toast!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6056" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T13:50:46.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12800" CreationDate="2013-06-13T14:59:13.940" Score="8" ViewCount="1254" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to swim 3000 m non-stop for an event coming up next month.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have got three different plans for training to that event, them coming from a great coach.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Those plans are concentrating on the 20*100 m and 10*200 m&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is, for swimming that long distance (3 km), should I add a long distance in plan in my schedule. Like 2*1500 m or so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironmen and great swimmers out there, Please suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T04:28:52.650" Title="Train for swimming long distances" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;ironman&gt;&lt;ironman70.3&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12798" CreationDate="2013-06-13T16:18:09.043" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, it is not really necessary to swim overlong long distance sets, as there is no real training benefit other than mentally knowing that you can swim the distance. Even for competitive swimmers doing the 1500, workouts will rarely have that distance in the plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is more benefit to swimming a set such as 6x500 on :10 rest than there is in swimming 2x1500, or 1x3000, and if you can complete a set like that, then there shouldn't be any problem in being able to swim the distance straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example for clarification: If you have a 3000m race, and you are thinking that you can swim that in 1 hour (60 minutes), then you should be able to do 6x500, at the pace of 10 minutes per 500 (2:00/100) with a :10 rest interval. If you can't do 6x500 on 10:00, :10 rest interval, then your race pace is too ambitious and you need to aim for a slower pace. If you simply can't even swim 6x500m, then you have larger problems than worrying about pacing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were training for this, I would make sure that my workouts in total were more than 3000m, and that I had longer (400-800m) components to each set, but I wouldn't be overly concerned with set components longer than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-06-13T16:57:42.180" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T16:57:42.180" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12803" CreationDate="2013-06-13T20:04:42.433" Score="1" ViewCount="2239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some kind of low cost supplement to help me shed some pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm about 260lb right now.. at 5ft 10.5in.  I have been working out regularly.. trying to keep a strict diet (work on making some changes) and I figured I would look at other options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read online that Capsicum tablets can heat the body up and burn fat cells.  Does it just burn up more calories or does it target the fat cells in particular?  Lastly.. does it even really work?  I've looked around online but I haven't been able to find any real facts on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6060" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T20:45:21.927" Title="Capsicum: Simply burn more calories? Does it even work?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12765" CreationDate="2013-06-13T20:28:20.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have experienced this in the past. One of my weak points was my bench because like you, I have pretty long arms in relation to my body height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what helped me fix my bench press:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Began dumbbell pressing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Varied benches (incline, flat, decline)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping shoulder blades on the bench, exposing my chest more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Range of motion, I go completely down and touch my chest, but not  completely up in such that I extend my shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 4 is a tough one to master. Basically I get the full range going down but not going up. This means that I will stop extending when my triceps and shoulders get more tension than my chest (I also do this because I injured my shoulder). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tip I can give you is to focus on the contraction more than anything else. If the bar is aligned with your chest and when you extend upwards, try to contract the pecs as if you're flexing for someone (this is quite hard to do but once you master it 's great!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know its rough not to put as much weight, but form is so important ... Never neglect form :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T20:28:20.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12801" CreationDate="2013-06-13T20:45:21.927" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Capsicum is an extract of the compound in hot peppers that make them hot. As such it has side effects similar to that of eating a bunch of hot peppers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From WebMD &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-945-CAPSICUM.aspx?activeIngredientId=945&amp;amp;activeIngredientName=CAPSICUM&quot;&gt;&quot;Side effects can include stomach irritation and upset, sweating, flushing, and runny nose.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, technically speaking, any compound that causes the body to heat up will burn more calories, and no, it doesn't target fat cells in particular. However, how much of an effect is questionable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ephedra, the active ingredient in the original Metabolife supplement (now referred to as Metabolife 356), enabled weight loss through a similar &quot;heat the body&quot; mechanism. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/310377-capsicum-annuum-for-weight-loss/&quot;&gt;Since there don't appear to be many studies on the efficacy of Capsicum for weight loss&lt;/a&gt;, we'll assume here that it has the same efficacy as Ephedra. You're looking at, then an extra &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra#Effects_and_uses&quot;&gt;.9kg/month&lt;/a&gt; loss, or about 2lbs per month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the short term, that's great, but there's not much evidence to say that it's a long term solution, nor that the test subjects kept the weight off in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, I say save your money and spend it on something more worthwhile. Try logging your food for a while, if you aren't already, to make sure you're eating how much you think you're eating, because too many calories is too many calories, even if all those calories came from lettuce. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have been tracking, and you're within your goal for the calories, then I recommend seeing a medical doctor (especially if you're female). Many people (women, especially) are prone to a number of conditions that can make losing weight nearly impossible without medical help. Some of the conditions can lead to even more serious consequences if left unchecked (for example, anovulation, often caused by hormonal imbalances caused by polycystic ovarian syndrome, significantly increases a woman's risk of cancer; and, of course, insulin resistance by any cause very often leads to Type 2 Diabetes). If nothing else, the doctor can refer you to a nutritionist, who can go over your diet and help you improve it even further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;quick fixes&quot; are often a waste of money. Even if they're successful now, they won't do you good once you've lost the weight and try to &quot;go off&quot; the supplements. The only thing that will allow you to get to and maintain your goal weight is to make changes that you're willing to stick with for the rest of your life. As the saying goes, &quot;it's a marathon, not a sprint.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T20:45:21.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12798" CreationDate="2013-06-13T21:05:48.000" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although there is only some need for full distance training and @JohnP's answer is useful for most of your training, it really can help with strategy, psychological conditioning, and for practicing pace to do an occasional full distance swim. Healing after your first full distance training session will produce an excellent training effect as well. I have done full distance training for up to 7750 yards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2013-06-13T21:05:48.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12765" CreationDate="2013-06-14T07:40:17.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't ever do max weight when you don't feel comfortable with the motion of an exercise! As a matter of fact don't do weights at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what you do:&#xA;Lay down on the bench, take a bar or a long wooden stick and practice! &lt;strong&gt;Do 1000 bench presses with no weights every day&lt;/strong&gt;, and you will feel a difference. If you don't, do 2000. Ask a pro at the gym to watch your form while you do them, they know stuff and it obviously worked for them. Don't stop this until three or four successful athletes tell your your doing good(they will be glad to share knowledge and help you). The reason why repeating the motion will help you is neurological: the neurologic paths used by the motion will be 'strengthened' with use, your coordination for that specific motion will increase, and it will start to feel &lt;strong&gt;natural&lt;/strong&gt; to you. When I started boxing my trainer would make me step and jab for 50 minutes every evening. Gradually he added more complex footwork and other punches. I did this for hours because I trusted him. It was worth it, I can now throw a punch at any time, and I know my feet are in the right place and balanced. It has become a &lt;strong&gt;primal&lt;/strong&gt; movement. Of course with your bench it is less extreme.. a couple of days, maybe two weeks and you will feel substantial improvement already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to realize that it's not about what is fun and enjoyable - not in the beginning. It will be boring and often frustrating(with no weights at all form is often more difficult to maintain), but sometimes this is necessary for you to stay healthy and have a good performance later on. You will need to stay focused. Pauses during the 1000 presses of course are allowed(even the bar alone get's heavy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be one of those people who think they can just jump in the gym and lift or run or cycle like a pro. Pace yourself, accept the difficulties, dedicate the necessary time and eventually your bench will work out too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-06-14T07:40:17.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12766" CreationDate="2013-06-14T11:43:08.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive once read a study/article about running technique, but Im afraid I cant find it right now. I can summarise it tho.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, there are a few factors determining running speed. Those are stride length, flight time, ground contact time, stride frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study showed that at some level of competitiveness, most top athletes had a very similar stride frequency - mening that they put one leg ahead of the other in almost the same rythm. You could conclude that you just cant do it faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can make only so many steps in a certain amount of time, how do you get faster? You make longer strides, maximizing flight time, and minimizing ground contact. How to achieve that? You have to push with more power, more dynamically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This of course is true for an all-out effort. You do that when trying to reach max speed, at the highest exercise intensity. You wont be able to sustain such a run for longer periods. In my opinion, thats why long distance runners may not be putting so much focus on the &quot;power&quot; of their running - they are pacing themselves and conserving energy for the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-06-14T11:43:08.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12765" CreationDate="2013-06-14T12:02:15.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have no muscular endurance, and have reached the end of this cycle myophibrilar range training (1-6 reps per set).  Bench likes volume.  People with bigger arms tend to bench better than people with smaller arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand if you aren't trying to look like a body builder, but you'll need to add useful mass to your frame.  I'm not telling you to go out and eat like Micheal Phelps.  Just eat more and do the work necessary to get big.  Also check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/p/most-popular-posts-and-series.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Raw Bench series&lt;/a&gt; by Paul Carter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If adding an arch isn't making a difference and you &lt;strong&gt;run out of energy&lt;/strong&gt; before you can finish a pyramid, then you need to focus on &lt;em&gt;sarcoplasmic&lt;/em&gt; hypertrophy and muscular endurance for a while.  Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy isn't just for size, it's for increasing your energy supply systems in the muscle.  If you don't do anything for your energy systems you are going to run out of energy before you can lift heavier weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may try to work with Madcow or Wendler 5/3/1 using the Big But Boring assistance package for a bit, as both did good things for my bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Madcow arranges the work like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: 5x5 ramping sets (increasing 12.5% until you hit your work weight on the top set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: 4x5 ramping set matching the first 4 sets on monday, then a set of 3 at 5 lbs heavier, and then a set of 8 at the weight of the 3rd set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Following week use the top weight from Friday for your work weight for the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's say you had 100 lbs as your work weight for the week.  The week would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: 50x5, 60x5, 75x5, 90x5, 100x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: 50x5, 60x5, 75x5, 90x5, 105x3, 75x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler 5/3/1 uses sets of 5, 3, and 1 or more for the work weight, where your top set is for as many reps as you can.  For the assistance, you would have bench again at around 50% and do 5x10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can search for the programs and get their basic outline (and a few calculators to take the quess work out of it).  Wendler's philosophy is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any good program will address &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hypertrophy&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mobility&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;conditioning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have been excluding hypertrophy and it is limiting what you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-14T12:02:15.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12750" CreationDate="2013-06-14T18:26:05.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfamiliar exercises are harder than familiar exercises. The 8x400 zonked you because you're used to 20k runs. A sprinter used to 8x400 would be zonked after a 20k run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things we're not good at or that we don't do are more exhausting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-06-14T18:26:05.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12812" CreationDate="2013-06-14T19:57:16.500" Score="0" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 260lb 5'10.5&quot; male trying to lose some weight.  I'm also on a really really tight budget.  I have about $100 a month I can spend on food at the moment so I'm really trying to go as cheap as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I've began to run into a problem of not eating enough calories though.  I'd been trying to diet by eating less junk, little to no sugar, cutting portions, etc.. and exercising (strength and cardio) but the weight wasn't dropping.  Then I fell down on my working out and I dropped about 15-20lb in about a month.. when I started working out again regularly my strength didn't drop so I'm assuming it wasn't muscle-weight that I lost so I'm thinking that my caloric requirements dropped and let my body shed some fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at what I've been eating, I don't think it has been enough.  From what I've seen and what I've looked at I'd guess its been around 1500 to 2000 instead of the 2800-3300 I should be eating..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how do I find out how few calories I can take in and still remain fairly healthy while reaching my goal of 200lb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6060" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T14:22:11.617" Title="What is the minimum amount of calories?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12811" CreationDate="2013-06-14T20:11:00.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are multiple calculators on the net that you can use to &lt;a href=&quot;http://caloriecount.about.com/tools/calories-goal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculate the exact calorie&lt;/a&gt; intake that a 260lbs 5'10&quot; male should be taking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my advice though ... When trying to lose weight you must burn more calories than you ingest. So at around 2800-3300 calories, you would be doing a lot of work to burn off those calories in order to lose / shed some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience, 1200-2000 (give or take) calories per day will drastically show a difference ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the weight drop ... I'm guessing it was muscle mixed with fat that you were losing. Even if you didn't lose strength, you may be naturally strong. It might have even been water weight that you lost - there's many possibilities!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck for you to get a little more cash to put in your food, that's something you really can't neglect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Side note&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay away from fatty foods and carbohydrates if you're trying to lose weight. Lazagna, Pizzas, TV Dinners and all that &quot;good&quot; stuff ... It's gotta go! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-14T20:11:00.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12813" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-14T23:18:15.793" Score="4" ViewCount="653" Body="&lt;p&gt;While checking out some workout videos, I can across one from Jillian Micheals where she says, &quot;you never want to do static stretches until after the workout is over and you're doing cool down&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does she say this? What is the problem with doing static stretches pre-workout vs dynamic stretches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T16:13:19.297" Title="Pre-workout - static vs dynamic stretches" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12813" CreationDate="2013-06-15T08:28:29.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Studies (like this one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1250267/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1250267/&lt;/a&gt;) show that stretching does not prove to be useful before training at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote a commentary on the study i linked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In view of the limitations of the review, the evidence presented here indicates that neither pre-exercise nor postexercise stretching positively affects soreness. This observation is consistent with the extensive body of literature on the treatment of postexercise muscle soreness, indicating that no nonpharmacologic intervention has a significant effect on soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to injury risk reduction, the authors have provided strong evidence from randomized trials that pre-exercise stretching of the major lower extremity musculature using a specific stretching protocol does not result in a meaningful reduction of lower extremity injury risk. However, because these investigators only studied army recruits, the authors stated it would be interesting to assess the effect of more prolonged stretching performed by recreational athletes over an extended time (ie, months or years) on injury risk reduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some even say that stretching pre-workout lowering your max performance in strength training! I cant find those studies right now, but If you ask me, science says that stretching pre-exercise does not help prevent injuries or limit the DOMS one may experience after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for the sake of your question, because we cant prove that stretching is useful, we can skip even without checking if it actually has some negative side effects, like Jillian Michaels suggests (and Im pretty sure it does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This goes for pre and post-workout stretching, not stretching as a standalone. Im stretching too, but it serves diferent goals (I have too tight pectoral muscles and need to stretch them to help maintain good posture). I do both static and dynamic stretches to increase my range of motion and accustom some of my overtightened muscles to being in the neutral state, but I do it on non training days and in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember to do a proper warmup before doing any streneous exercises - warmups have been proven to be beneficial!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T23:13:47.213" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12697" CreationDate="2013-06-15T11:18:48.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back pain from sitting comes down to developing poor habits during the 8+ hours you re sitting. Slouching and poor posture will relax or force the muscles into unusal positions, and over a course of time will cause discomfort. What needs to be done is to retrain the muscles to work properly and to provide good support for your spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best suggestion I have is this 12 minute routine:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this every week, maybe a little more often, and it focuses on building a stronger 'core',  focusing on the hip flexors, gluteals and lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, focusing on building stronger abdominals to ensure even tension across your 'core' to ensure good pelvic alignment will go a long way to reducing or even eliminating your pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-15T11:18:48.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-16T12:04:02.877" Score="0" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have mild knee pain in my left knee only whenever I have a small break in form when doing any squat type exercise (ie, my knee goes past my toes when my feet are flat on the floor). When in proper form, the knee is pain free and this does not happen to my right knee at all, regardless of form. I have no pain in the knee when not exercising (ie standing, going up stairs, etc) but am worried that I may be setting the ground work for a future knee injury. I wish I could always have perfect form but this isn't possible, say, on the last 2 reps of my last heavy set. I keep proper form &gt;90% of the time. Once the pain hits and I correct my form, it goes away. Also, I cannot take ibuprofen b/c of a reoccurring stomach issue.&#xA;Should I be concerned? Since it is in one knee only will it continue to get worst or will exercise strengthen the joint? Should I be doing other exercises to strengthen my knee or go see a doctor? I squat once a week and do jumping exercises ones a week. I also deadlift ones a week so 3 days a week I have this issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6071" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T12:15:27.373" Title="Knee pain when squatting" Tags="&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12820" CreationDate="2013-06-16T14:51:54.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your knee is so important. If this were me, I would do two things. First I would lift lighter, as this means it will put less stress on the knee. If you do this and it still hurts, then you should go see a doctor and let them x-ray the leg to see what's going on. But like I said, look after your knee - it's so important!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6072" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-06-16T21:51:00.810" LastActivityDate="2013-06-16T21:51:00.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12824" CreationDate="2013-06-16T15:28:21.030" Score="1" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is been said everywhere that any strength/muscle gain workout should be restricted to 45 minutes, due to hormone levels decay after that time. Many say that you are even supposed to cause loss of muscle mass if you keep on training beyond that time limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try my best, but my workouts (very similar to StrongLifts/Starting Strength) take 60~70 minutes minimum. I end nearly exhausted and trembling (which is OK, I don't have any problem with that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, should I cut the number of sets, or? I want to gain strength and muscle mass. Is it really important to restrict the workout to 45 min? When you have a look at the workouts that are supposed to be followed by high-level bodybuilders, it is clearly impossible that they do that in 45 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-06-16T18:34:26.870" LastActivityDate="2013-06-16T18:34:26.870" Title="Is it really important to restrict the workout to 45 minutes?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12823" CreationDate="2013-06-16T16:06:24.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the hearsay about limiting workout length is based on studies that were done on hard cardio workouts. Comparing to this type of strength training is apples and oranges, as your intensity is much higher and you rest between sets. Also keep in mind that the difference between 45 minutes and 60 minutes isn't that great - we're not talking about several hours here!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right that high-level strength athletes very often take longer workouts, and more of them. Arnold, for example, was known to work out over three hours per day and six days per week. While certainly you may need to build up a &quot;work capacity&quot; over time by gradually increasing what you do, if you have the energy and inclination to do your lifts after 60 minutes, then by all means do them. If you do find yourself running out of gas, then work on conditioning with the goal of being able to last long enough to complete your scheduled training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2013-06-16T16:06:24.533" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12820" CreationDate="2013-06-16T19:07:12.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I could always have perfect form but this isn't possible, say, on the last 2 reps of my last heavy set. I keep proper form &gt;90% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the proper answer to this question is to do everything in your power possible to maintain proper form at &gt; 99.9% of the time.  If that means dropping the weight, then do so.  Gutting out those last few reps on your heaviest sets with poorer technique is not worth the potential damage it will do.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really are intent on attempting those last few reps at increased weight, then make sure you always have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC64aQ7ptFU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spotter to help you squat&lt;/a&gt;.  Mentally this allows you to focus on your technique and not worry about failing or cheating because your spotter, assuming the spotters knows what to do, will be able to let you finish.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditDate="2013-06-17T12:58:46.297" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T12:58:46.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12835" CreationDate="2013-06-17T02:19:44.830" Score="2" ViewCount="4478" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi my friend and I (both 13) are just getting into weightlifting and I was wondering if you think our routine is good for beginners (we did throw in track though and we are pretty strong) we plan on working out 3 times a week with upper body and we don't wanna get injured so thanks for any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have supervison, his mom who is a physical therapist approves of it, and our goal is for muscle gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our routine: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;Bench Press (Bar) 3x10- 90&#xA;Seated Biceps Curl (Bar) 3x8- 40&#xA;Incline Press (Bar) 3x10- 60&#xA;Standing Alternate Bicep Curl 3x5- 15&#xA;Push Press 3x10- 20&#xA;Triceps Bench Press 3x10- 20&#xA;Hammer Curl 3x8- 15&#xA;Incline Fly 3x10- 15&#xA;Shoulder Shrug 3x10- 25&#xA;Pullover 3x10- 30&#xA;Concentration Biceps Curl 3x10- 15&#xA;Military Press (Bar) 3x8- 40&#xA;Wrist Curl 3x10- 25&#xA;Dead lift 5x5- 70 &#xA;Pull ups and Chin Ups&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6076" LastEditorUserId="6076" LastEditDate="2013-06-17T21:11:16.250" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T08:25:56.570" Title="Is this a good weight lifting routine for a 13 year old?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12820" CreationDate="2013-06-17T08:46:05.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution is in your question. You have pain only when you lose form, so the solution is obviously keeping good form. If you lose form towards the end than you are simply not concentrating, I don't believe it is muscular. Before the last sets take a slightly longer break (get your pulse down), then focus, and lift. Also, stop looking at the hot chicks! (it never helps my form anyways)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you don't necessarily feel any pain when losing form, therefore setting ground work for and injury is always a risk. Be smart be safe, good form is not optional!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-17T10:59:38.677" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T10:59:38.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12699" CreationDate="2013-06-17T09:55:13.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than focus on weight loss, I'm going to focus on your goal of increasing muscle definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I understand that as a dancer there are certain restrictions that come with how you can look. Managing your weight and figure require self-discipline, which means ensuring that you are eating right and working out right every day. This isn't to say eating very little, but eating what you need for your diet. As someone who weight-lifts, its not uncommon for me to be forced to eat more than I feel comfortable on some days to ensure I am getting what I need - and this isn't uncommon for many elite athletes, which we can include professional dancers in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To increase muscle definition you can reduce fat or increase muscle mass.&lt;/strong&gt; Doing both simultaneously is hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, your height and weight is in the normal range, and losing too much weight (either muscle or fat) will become detrimental. So that leaves focusing on increasing muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio won't build muscle&lt;/strong&gt;, its great for lots of reasons, but your dancing is probably enough too see the positive effects of cardiovascular exercise. Skipping your cardio gym sessions for something else will help with your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Building muscle requires lifting things&lt;/strong&gt;, and it won't make you 'bulky' or 'manly' and is necessary for definition. It will also help with your dancing - heavy pylometric exercises like power cleans and box jumps will do wonders for your vertical leap, great for dunking, but equally so for a Grand jeté. These will also build great muscle on your quads and thighs, and give you a great behind. While exercises like dips and pull-ups will give you definition in your arms but also give you the upper body strength and balance required for some of the more gymnastic moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, at your height and weight, focus less on losing fat, and more on building a strong functional muscle that looks great but also help put you ahead of the rest in your chosen career. Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T09:55:13.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12820" CreationDate="2013-06-17T15:27:06.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the knee is borderline on inflammation problems.  Inflammation happens when a joint is under stresses it isn't ready to handle or is not designed for.  Our bodies were made to squat, and it's an innate ability toddlers possess.  The question is what is causing the inflammation?  Here are possibilities I've run across:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working too heavy all the time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Way too much volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subtle technique issue exposed by heavier weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A different exercise is causing the problem that is being exposed by squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are constantly pushing or pulling weights in the 90+% range of what you can do, you are just going to grind yourself down.  It is important to hit those weights periodically, but not as a mainstay of your training.  Your joints need a break from the heavy weights so they can also get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the same token, there's a limit to the amount of volume your body can take at once.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vpxsports.com/article-detail/training/prilepins-table-for-maximal-strength-gains&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prilepin came up with a table&lt;/a&gt; where he found his weightlifters were able to still make the best progress without killing themselves in the process.  This is a very useful tool to help prevent over-use related injuries (i.e. inflammation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Form is very important, and as fatigue increases form breaks down.  Sometimes you have subtle imperfections in your form that only come to light when the weight gets heavy enough.  Fix the form issues and many of the problems will resolve themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes you need to do rehab work.  Rehab work consists of very light weights for a lot of reps.  We're talking weights that don't even register a proper training stimulus, and doing 50-100 reps total.  All that work is designed to flush blood through your joints to remove the inflammation.  They also help strengthen supporting and stabilizing muscles that don't get a lot of attention when the weight gets really heavy.  Body weight or light lunges might help as an assistance exercise.  Or perhaps leg curls (exercise ball leg curls are surprisingly challenging).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T15:27:06.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12829" CreationDate="2013-06-17T16:57:17.810" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This program looks like a lot of exercises with not a lot of weight. Even if your goal is getting big purdy muscles, I'd reduce the number of exercises and focus on getting better at a wider variety of movements. Stick to one kind of curls per workout--you're not big or strong enough to need more than one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After removing a bunch of exercises, I'd put more emphasis on pull-ups and chin-ups, add in dips, consider adding rows, and do at least some push-ups and Hindu/divebomber push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T16:57:17.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12829" CreationDate="2013-06-17T17:39:21.373" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;All you have is a list of exercises without any description as to training splits: how often you train and what you focus on each day.  Additionally, in all that work you only have one lower body exercise that is questionable on its mass building capabilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you split the work up into 3-4 training days per week, and try to keep the work so that you are done in about an hour or less.  I also recommend you focus on having one big compound movement and 3-4 assistance movements in any given day.  No matter what your goal is, you are doing way too many presses and curls.  That's a recipe for beat up elbows and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are thinking in terms of bodybuilding or muscle groups you can split things like this: legs, back, chest &amp;amp; pipes, traps and shoulders.  If you are focusing instead on strength supporting an active sport, then you'll want to build general strength.  For general strength, I recommend a squat day, deadlift day, bench or incline day, and an overhead day.  Core work will be part of the main movements or assistance work you do just about every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs&lt;/strong&gt;: Nothing beats the squat as your main movement.  Go deep.  If you want strength work in the 5x3 or 3x5 range.  If you want size, work in the 3x8 range.  Add in hamstring work like leg curls and quad work like leg presses or lunges for two of your assistance exercises.  Do something for your core and call it a day.  If you want nice sized calves, 3x15 with as heavy a weight as you can do.  You can change up the type of squat but stick with one for a month at a time: back squat, front squat, zerchers, goblets, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back&lt;/strong&gt;: All around monster back builder would be deadlifts.  Go for strength on deadlifts and use your assistance work to build size, so one set of 5, 3x3 and work up to 5x3.  Romanian Deadlifts hit the hamstrings and glutes and you can do those for volume.  You can do more calf work if you want on this day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest and Pipes&lt;/strong&gt;: Basically this is your pressing day.  Pick &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; press movement (like squats) for a month at a time: flat bench, incline bench, decline bench.  For assistance, DB presses, DB rows, and &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; form of curl (you can switch the curls every week if you want).  If you want more chest emphasis, do DB flies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Traps &amp;amp; Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;: Pick &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; overhead movement and stick with it for a month: military press, push press, behind the neck press, seated overhead, standing overhead.  Add in reverse flies, DB front raises, or DB side raises.  Maybe add in some heavy static holds to increase the traps.  This would be a good day for pullovers or pullups/chinups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Strength Emphasis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the focus is on general strength, the assistance work would look different, but there's a lot of programs already laid out that would be best to follow.   No sense in reinventing the wheel.  I personally focus on 3-4 exercises per day.  I plan my week so that I don't get overwhelmed with fatigue and can stay healthy week in and week out.  I also increase the weight regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: you do not have to do many exercises to build size.  However, you also need to be mature enough to put on size.  You mentioned you and your friend were 13, and that's when your bodies are just beginning to change.  You probably won't see a lot of size growth until you are closer to 15 or 16 when your Testosterone is kicked in full gear.  Don't get frustrated, just work on getting stronger, and the size will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T17:39:21.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12839" CreationDate="2013-06-17T18:53:46.980" Score="7" ViewCount="1366" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone would like to be a Ultra Runner from zero, for how long would have to train for the body to get in perfect shape of an 80k ultra race...&#xA;6 months? 1 year? 2-3 years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="6115" LastEditDate="2013-06-21T15:14:54.773" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T18:56:00.477" Title="How long do I have to train to be a Ultra Trail Runner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12836" CreationDate="2013-06-17T19:35:36.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Danish Extreme Runner &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/jacobjuulhastrup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jacob Juul Hastrup&lt;/a&gt; trained his girlfriend for Atacama Crossing in Chile in 2006. The training took 6 months according to his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saxo.com/dk/ekstremloeberen_jacob-juul-hastrup_epub_9788702124194?searchText=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt;. Worth a read if you want to run yourself - though it is only in Danish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="6115" LastEditDate="2013-06-21T18:56:00.477" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T18:56:00.477" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-17T20:28:59.930" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an inteview, Kilian Jornet said that during races at the end he gained 1 kilo, for all he was eating during the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- A half-liter to one liter per hour.&#xA;- Gels every 30 minutes from the Foresthill checkpoint to the finish. &#xA;- I took Aliment Liquide [liquid food] two times.&#xA;- Salt pills at one or two an hour for most of the race. &#xA;- And a few sandwiches at aid stations with tomatoes, ham and cheese.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much would I have to eat or drink during long runs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-18T00:02:02.297" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T00:02:02.297" Title="What to eat during running?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12836" CreationDate="2013-06-17T22:22:46.243" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are going to be a few different questions that will somewhat dictate the time needed to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much have you run in the past? - If you haven't run much, then getting to the point where you can do 50 miles (roughly 80k) is going to take longer than someone that has a more extensive running background. You also need to progress slower, as your body will be adapting to both the running as a new activity, and increasing distance. A more experienced runner will have some of those adaptations already.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How consistent can you be in your training? - Running is one of those things where it isn't a few months of working out will get you everything you want, but long extended periods of putting in the work and the mileage day after day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How far can you run now? - If you can already easily run a 10k (slightly more than 6 miles), then you are further along and can shortcut some of the earlier build work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is your goal for the race? - If your goal is just to finish it, then the time to train will be much less, and the type of training may be markedly different as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recommended this plan before, and the simple reason that I continue to do so is that it works. On many levels from recreational to highly competitive. 3-2-1. Take whatever distance is your longest achievable. For this example we will use a 10k run, and theoretically this is as far as you can currently run in one shot. To complete this run takes you 45 minutes. This would be the 1 of the 3-2-1. For the other runs, the 2 runs will be 30 minutes each, and the 3 runs will be 15 minutes each. Don't worry about pace too much, just run easy. Hard will come later, and as you get more fit, your pace will naturally increase of its own accord.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Structure it along the lines of short (15 min), medium (30 mins), short, medium, short, long (45 mins), day off. This gives you a starting point of about 33k or so for a week. You want to gradually build this up, usually a 5-10% increase in distance every couple weeks depending on training intensity, your own tolerance, things like that. This is where your own personal monitoring comes in, you should be able to feel if the last week left you beat up, or if you feel good enough to add a little extra training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially you'll want to just concentrate on building up distance to where you could complete the 80k run. This may take a year, it may take 5, just depending on how you react to the training, and how much attention you pay to things like rest, recovery, nutrition, equipment, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are at the point where you can complete the distance, then you can start looking at adding in speedwork and other higher intensity workouts to be able to compete the race, rather than just complete it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T22:22:46.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12838" CreationDate="2013-06-17T22:23:42.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most weight gained during longer runs is water weight - fun fact &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon#Water_consumption_dangers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;you're more likely to drink &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt; water during a long-distance run than not enough.&lt;/a&gt; (It's Wikipedia, but it's got a lot of good sources.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick search shows that Kilian Jornet competes in Ultramarathons of 100+ km where maintaining adequate nutrition is difficult mainly for logistic reasons - eating on the run is hard. So he is probably trained to eat what he can, when he can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much you need during training and competition is something &lt;em&gt;you and your coach&lt;/em&gt; need to figure out. If you haven't got a coach and are looking at getting into Ultras, get one. The best advice on what too eat will come from someone well trained who can observe you in training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As for your question, what should you &lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt; during a race - probably nothing.&lt;/strong&gt; Most amateurs run marathons on a big bowl of pasta the night before, some simple carbohydrates in the morning, and adequate water during the race. I'd suggest that if you are asking this question here, in the way you are, this advice will be adequate for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-17T23:10:57.987" LastActivityDate="2013-06-17T23:10:57.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12841" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-18T10:51:13.700" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is joining a gym for getting a muscular body and good physique really worth it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean, how beneficial is a gym membership for staying in shape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6086" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-06-18T13:14:13.300" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T15:06:51.110" Title="Muscular body building by gym" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-06-19T00:28:19.873" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12820" CreationDate="2013-06-18T12:15:27.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have suffered from knee pain, chondromalacia to be precise... knee pain can be very nasty, can take a long time to recover (and may not do so perfectly).&#xA;While I do agree that &quot;proper form&quot; is important, I do not agree that this is the only thing you would need to pay attention to. I think you would benefit from doing pre-emptive rehab work (at least I wish I did it &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the pain got bad). Unfortunately it is difficult to say what you need to do exactly without seeing you. Stiff quads, hamstrings, weak vmo muscles can all lead to problems later, and all need specific rehab work. I would suggest that you work together with a good physiotherapist to prevent future problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T12:15:27.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12843" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-18T12:27:08.763" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that muscle-building exercises, specially core exercises like squats with high-weight load, will increase the basal metabolic rate, thus increasing the caloric intake to stay at the same weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good gym routine to maximise basal metabolic rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T12:51:32.747" Title="gym exercises to maximise basal metabolic rate?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12843" CreationDate="2013-06-18T12:51:32.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle building exercises increase your BMR in the sense that they let you build up more muscle. Each kilogram of muscle-mass needs a certain amount of energy to be maintained through the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any routine that increases your muscle mass will help increase your BMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also exercises triggering the so called afterburn effect, see the Tabata protocol and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But all in all, dont get too excited about increasing your BMR. Its very hard to increase energy expenditure to a level that affects how much you can eat without putting on weight. If you think that a bit of excercise is a get out of jail card for overeating, think again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T12:51:32.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12588" CreationDate="2013-06-18T13:04:23.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The true answer is you shouldn't!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if you were to do it my recommendation is for you to go on a  &quot;Juicing&quot; Diet, basically you got to get your self a juicer, and only drink juice for a full month, I would highly recommend you do it with a 1/2 hour run 3x a week, I lost 15 LB in 2 weeks like Doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on this diet go to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/&lt;/a&gt; where you will find all the info you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is 1 recipe for the juicer called &quot;Mean Green&quot; to get you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 cucumber&#xA;1/2 lemon&#xA;6 big kale leaves&#xA;2 Green apples&#xA;little chunk of ginger&#xA;a few mint leaves&#xA;4 celery stalks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this should give appox 1 to 1 1/2 servings keep drinking this all day there is no limit on how much you should drink of it, whenever you feel hungry drink juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6087" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T13:04:23.703" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12848" CreationDate="2013-06-18T14:18:15.883" Score="0" ViewCount="12463" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have about a mile walk every morning -- would I get more exercise biking or walking that same mile? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose weight -- I am right now using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; to track my eating habits and exercise et al -- but I need to lose &lt;strong&gt;more than&lt;/strong&gt; 20-25 pounds since I am right now in the &quot;overweight&quot; category of BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which --- biking or walking, will help me lose weight more efficiently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6088" LastEditorUserId="6088" LastEditDate="2013-06-18T14:25:57.190" LastActivityDate="2020-07-20T09:32:59.873" Title="Walking vs Biking a mile" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-18T14:25:20.730" Score="8" ViewCount="1515" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the conclusion is that there is consensus &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/416/is-having-a-normal-bmi-a-healthy-target&quot;&gt;BMI is a really unhelpful metric&lt;/a&gt; for determining ideal weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, at 5'9&quot; my ideal weight is about 150 according to BMI.  The last time I was 150 was in Jr. High School (now in excess of 20 years ago), and I now clock in at 235.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For sure, I'm overweight, but as I design an exercise program for myself, how do I choose a realistic, science-based goal weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6081" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-03-28T03:11:13.693" Title="What is a good metric for defining an ideal weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12846" CreationDate="2013-06-18T14:38:38.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going strictly by distance, then walking will be more beneficial simply because you will spend a lot more time to cover the same distance. Say you are going 4 miles. A moderate biking speed, you will cover that distance in about 20 minutes. To walk it at a moderate speed will take about an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it makes a difference in a lot of exercises is the impact that your body takes (almost none with biking, more with walking), and the intensity in which you do it. Higher intensity exercise does burn more calories, but you typically spend less time doing it, so it can be kind of a wash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T14:38:38.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12847" CreationDate="2013-06-18T14:43:09.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good self-improvement metric is measurable and productive. Some good alternatives to BMI are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;body fat percentage, which is hard to measure accurately frequently and without tools&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body Shape Index, which &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2012/07/25/the-body-shape-index/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;seems to be a predictor of one's risk of death&lt;/a&gt;. Keep in mind that while it takes belly fat into account, it still does not keep track of muscle or actual markers of physical health, like mobility, strength, inflammation, diabetic state, or cardiovascular disease. BSI = Waist Circumference/[(BMI^(2/3))*(height^(1/2))]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;performance metrics, which have the advantage of being easy to measure and more fun than checking one's own measurements. They are also easy to break into short, easy goals and long-term, harder goals: &quot;finish a 5k&quot; can become &quot;run a 5k in under 30 minutes&quot; then &quot;run a 5k in under 25 minutes&quot; then &quot;finish a sprint triathlon&quot;. Weight training, running, bicycling, and so on all work well with this approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If body image is the underlying goal, it may help to take consistent progress pictures  every, say, six weeks (using the same lighting and clothes every time) while otherwise ignoring how your body looks. This frees you up to focus on getting your deadlift up, or biking to the next town and back, or not missing a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picking a goal weight is difficult if you choose to strength train, since muscle gain can make the scale seem to say you're not losing fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-03-28T03:11:13.693" LastActivityDate="2015-03-28T03:11:13.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12847" CreationDate="2013-06-18T14:47:03.537" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI is an actuarial table, and while grossly inaccurate for people with muscular or other types of extreme builds, for a general guideline it will work, especially if you are mainly targeting fat loss. So, take a look at the BMI scale, pick out a reasonable weight goal and aim for that in the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start, I would not only design an exercise program, but I would also design a lifestyle nutrition plan. I don't say diet, as diet implies a short term change. There are two main components to fitness, one is exercise and the other is what you eat. Only if you really pay attention to both, can you really be successful at losing the weight and getting fitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a physical, start with moderate level, low impact exercise such as cycling, swimming, walking, and basic weights. Get your weight into a manageable level, and along the way find out what kind of exercise you like, and design your exercise plan around that activity. If you hate weightlifting, you won't do it for long, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodyfat can be measured by a Tanita type scale, bodyfat calipers, circumference measurement, and advanced methods such as underwater displacement weighing and DEXA scans. The last two are the most accurate, then calipers, then the rest. A Tanita scale, while possibly very inaccurate, does at least give a general trend. One of your best aids will be the mirror and your clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T14:47:03.537" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12841" CreationDate="2013-06-18T15:06:51.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to get a muscular physique in your home gym than you might encounter several problems. The most  common being:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Motivation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of form while performing the exercises (usually corrected by a trainer)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No training program (some can be gotten by the internet, but usually it's best to get one custom made for you)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Equipement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've done both and I can really say that going to the gym is the way to go. You pay for your membership but you also get what you're paying for. You have all the training equipement you need, trainers and training programs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You even make friends, you can set goals by seeing what others are lifting. Seeing others in the same state as you're in is also motivating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, if you're trying to get fit and have nice endurance. Training outside can be very beneficial also. That being said, there are still many benefits to training endurance in a gym as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, yes it is worth going to the gym. The equipment, people, training programs and trainers make it worth your while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T15:06:51.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12846" CreationDate="2013-06-18T15:18:11.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since its a &quot;mile&quot; that is in question I am agreeing with JohnP's answer I just wanted to add a few tips &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once walking gets easy start Jogging this will make sure that you keep your heart rate elevated. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have a android or and apple device there is an app from Digifit called Digifit or Ibiker or Irunner they are all the same choose either one of them, the good think about it is that it works in sync with MyPalFitness and it will update your calorie needs, and please note  that this app is only usefull if you buy their heart rate monitor you will also need to get the in app purchase for about $8 on apple devices, the reason for that is so that while you walk jog or run you can make sure to keep you heart rate elevated at about %55 to %65 of your max heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6087" LastEditorUserId="6088" LastEditDate="2013-06-18T15:34:35.390" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T15:34:35.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12846" CreationDate="2013-06-18T16:10:58.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every Diet has to obey the first law of thermodynamics: Burn more calories than your uptake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This guy analyzed the fuel milage of a human. The comparison could be sound:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Activity            MPG food MPG    gas/lard    kWh/100-mi&#xA;&#xA;Biking, incidental      290           1300         2.8&#xA;&#xA;Biking, long-haul       160           720          5.1&#xA;&#xA;Walking, incidental     75            340          10.4 &#xA;&#xA;Walking, long-haul      40            180          20&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't have a good idea how to format this table right now)&#xA;Note that those are approximations, good for a factor of two. But still this tells us that walking burns more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="5553" LastEditDate="2013-06-19T13:49:57.740" LastActivityDate="2013-06-19T13:49:57.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12685" CreationDate="2013-06-18T18:36:12.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I cannot fully answer this question with specific scientific evidence, I can provide input that supports the assumptions of the original question.  The original author assumes there is a scientific basis for the physical fitness programs used by the elite fighting units of the United States' military.  At least one response called this assumption into question. But this assumption is accurate.  Years ago, while at one of the Federal military academies, I can tell you that I saw the countless studies and research that contributed to the a) academies' physical training programs, b) the wider military services' physical training programs, and c) the military's special units' training programs.  The military academies and each service had (have?) a small Army (pun-intended) of doctors, dieticians, and health-experts who are paid with your taxpayer dollars to study, research, and implement the programs, but to be fair they are only periodically (think: every few years) updated.  But I'm failing to answer the original question here because I no longer have (nor can remember) the specific documents and research I saw, nor the names of the doctors and health-experts from years gone by.  I can, however, recommend an Internet search for the various military services' chief medical offices/officers and their web-portals (probably at the Pentagon or St. Louis) and someone there might be able to put you in touch with the right people.  I, for one, went through the Ranger training program (and it was hell).  As others have noted, it was as much mental as physical. From both personal experience and observation of the science years ago, taxpayers can hopefully sleep just &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; better knowing that, yes, their military uses some type of science, research, and professional process to create the military's physical fitness programs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6090" LastEditorUserId="6090" LastEditDate="2013-06-18T18:41:44.760" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T18:41:44.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-18T22:49:50.523" Score="5" ViewCount="1370" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently encountering a weird discrepancy between the force I can generate to lift my  body with one arm and the amount of weight I can pull down with one arm at the lat machine, using a one-handed handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this machine I can only pull 60kg (132lbs) twice, as compared to lifting my 86kg (190lbs) bodyweight two thirds of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people report they only have to lift 65-75% of additional bodyweight on weighted pullups to manage an OAC. This makes sense because your body is in a more efficient pulling position for the OAC, thus utilizing more muscles and furthermore less muscles are pulling in contradicting directions, thus fewer forces are canceling themselves out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this does not apply for the OAC vs. One arm lat pull (OLP). Can friction of the machine play such a big role? It has a 1-to-1 transmission, and only one big wheel to direct the rope. My knees press against some stabilizer, may this cause my body to tilt less, and therefore utilize less muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My general question is, where does this discrepancy originate from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-06-28T01:23:00.190" LastActivityDate="2013-06-28T07:45:58.290" Title="One arm chin/pull-up and the lat pulldown machine" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12847" CreationDate="2013-06-18T22:56:42.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Science-based goal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight&lt;/strong&gt; is not the best choice to judge your diet and fitness program's progress.  A low weight person can have a high percentage of body fat.  Conversly, a higher weight person can have a low percentage of body fat if that weight comes from muscle mass.  So you are right to think that picking an ideal weight is somewhat arbitrary.  Generally, 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week is considered healthy.  However, once your body composition begins to change and you begin to add muscle weight, your body fat percentage will become a better guideline.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Waist Measurement:&lt;/strong&gt; One of the easiest ways to track progress is your waist measurement.  Because the ideal waist measurement is about half of your height or less, the average waist measurement for men should be less than 35 to 40 inches (less if you have health risks or are Asian).  Women's waist measurements should be less than 32.5 to 37 inches.  To calculate a good goal waist measurement, multiply your height of 69 inches x .55 = &lt;strong&gt;37.95 inches&lt;/strong&gt;. (Women would multiply by .53. See reference from our site below for other &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;waist ratios&lt;/a&gt; such as waist to hip ratio that are helpful in determining health risks.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body fat percentage&lt;/strong&gt;: Tracking your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;body fat percentage&lt;/a&gt; will give you good insight into how your diet and fitness program is working.  The easiest methods allow you to track your trend on a regular basis and make adjustments to your program as needed.  The simple AccuMeasure lets you determine (roughly) your percentage with one suprailiac measurement.  A bioelectrical impedance or body fat scale is also easy to use. Your ideal body fat percentage would depend on your age and gender.  For example, 8-19% body fat is healthy for a 20-40 y.o. male, but a 60 y.o. male could be considered healthy up to 25%. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Body-Fat-Percentage-Chart.html#Men&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;See chart&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body Shape Index:&lt;/strong&gt;  As @Dave has already mentioned the BSI takes into account your height, weight and waist measurement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medical Values:&lt;/strong&gt;  Check with your doctor for health values that you can use to set goals and monitor your progress - blood work or blood pressure for example.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realistic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Almost any goal is achievable given enough time, an effective plan and the discipline to stick to the plan (and a plan to get back on the plan when you falter).  Although 100 pounds may not seem achievable to you today, once you’ve altered your lifestyle and begin to reap the benefits of an improved diet and activity levels, you may be very surprised to find that it is not such a remote goal as it seems at this point in your life.  As you get healthier and feel better, you will be better able to determine your ultimate healthy values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to getting to your ideal weight, ideal body fat percentage and ideal waistline is to give yourself intermediate, attainable goals with specific time frames so that you can succeed at each step along the way.  Keep track.  Looking back at your progress can be very motivating during the slow times or plateaus, and informative as to what is working for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially,  it will be easier to create &quot;process goals&quot; - I will do cardio (45-60 mins on a bike @ about 145-155 BPM) 4-5 days per week and strength training 2x/week, rather than &quot;outcome goals&quot; - A 37&quot; waistline and 15% body fat in one year.  Cut your big, long term goals down into monthly and weekly goals, revising them as necessary or adjusting your plan to meet your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet - Although not part of your question, do not overlook an appropriate diet.  Exercise alone will not get you to your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T22:56:42.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12847" CreationDate="2013-06-18T23:15:44.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Focus on fitness and let that dictate your weight, not the other way around.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't pick a science-based ideal goal weight. My ideal weight is 77kg - why, because I think its a not &lt;em&gt;too heavy&lt;/em&gt; and thats the upper limit for middle class olympic weight lifters. While I don't compete, its nice to dream and gives me a goal to work towards. I didn't sit down and scientifically come to that decision, I literally said &quot;I like weight-lifting, but don't want to be too big&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your ideal weight should be related to your ideal activity.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Want to be a olympic or powerlifter or martial artists, look at weight classes you feel competitive in. Want to be a swimmer/runner/cyclist, focus on building the muscle needed for your event. Want to look good with or without clothes (don't we all) focus on minimising fat and maximising muscle until you are happy with how you look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a statistician, I'm pretty pro-BMI even on an individual level, but both BMI and weight aren't great goals. BMI is a metric and weight is mostly arbitrary. Focus on perfecting your fitness goals and you will hit your ideal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T23:15:44.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12859" CreationDate="2013-06-18T23:28:34.260" Score="2" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a quick question when summer came.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually play 5 to 6 matches on beach volleyball tournaments and there is 35 Celsius degrees in the shadow but of course there is no shadow on the field. Sometimes you can even burn your feets by hot sand if you are not using neoprene socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example last 2 matches I usually experience cramps in my calfs. So many full-power jumps during last 4 matches cruelly decided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to alleviate these? Do you use any special drinks during such an excessive performance (instead of hypotonic iont drinks and a lot of water)? Salt? Magnesium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know harder training can help here but what can I do in terms of supplementation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T23:42:12.910" Title="How to avoid cramps during beach volleyball tournament (extreme hot weather)" Tags="&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12858" CreationDate="2013-06-18T23:42:12.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat something with a lot of potassium.... Like a banana.  Th potassium &lt;a href=&quot;http://macdonnellj.hubpages.com/hub/Does-Potassium-prevents-muscle-cramps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stops cramps&lt;/a&gt;. My uncle's doctor even told him to eat a banana a day because he was getting such bad cramps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6076" LastActivityDate="2013-06-18T23:42:12.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12864" CreationDate="2013-06-19T00:09:48.270" Score="5" ViewCount="730" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 18 years old, 174 cm tall, 60 kg weight male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very skinny, and haven't trained for ages.&#xA;Last few years I've been living very unhealthy way of life - spending way too much time in front of books and laptop. Now I want to change this, before it's too late. I have a strong will to start training, eat healthy food, strengthen my immune system, gain some muscles and in the end, look good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm not trying to achieve anything overnight because I know it's not possible. I just want to make sure that I do things RIGHT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said I am new to all of this so I hope that someone will be so nice to explain in details how should I start training, what exercises (and how often) should I do, how to eat healthy and get in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Ok let me try to be more specific. I don't want to grow huge muscles in short period of time and look like Hulk. That's not my goal at all. I want to strengthen my body in natural way and just like you said - look muscular (no exaggeration). I also want to be fit and athletic in the sense that I can run long and fast. Let's say that those are my main goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone can make suggestion on a book, or some web-tutorial, or training programme for my situation I would be really grateful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6093" LastEditorUserId="6093" LastEditDate="2013-06-19T11:23:55.903" LastActivityDate="2019-12-06T17:07:57.087" Title="Beginner in physical fitness, need tips and advices" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12356" CreationDate="2013-06-19T14:44:19.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter what these products contain, what their claims are, or what side effects they have. Supplements that work exist: it seems to me that creatine, whey, vitamin D, and steroids are well proven to enhance the results of hard work. But that doesn't mean that someone new to working out should consider them, nor any other supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;STOP RELYING ON CRUTCHES&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitness is about hard, consistent work. Busying yourself with supplements distracts from hard, consistent work. Putting money into well-marketed powders and other voluptuously-priced products will lead you to think that they, instead of your sweat and diligence, are the &lt;em&gt;sine qua non&lt;/em&gt; of success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all want quick, easy fitness. Supplements are primarily a way for advertising companies to make money from that desire. Supplement companies hide the fact that fitness takes time and effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of putting your hopes for a six-pack into some slimy capitalist's wallet, try buckling down on your diet and exercise. Focus on what you know will make a difference: doing the hard work of lifting heavy weights and making yourself tired. Take the time you would spend researching MandroQuickAndEasyResults and put it into cooking your own meals and finding a rational workout program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-06-19T14:44:19.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12836" CreationDate="2013-06-19T15:41:49.407" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;JohnP's answer is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the question directly - probably 2 years would be safe - but it's kind of the wrong question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tim Knowles' book contains plans for a nice progression from no running at all through to finishing the ~90km Comrades Marathon. It starts by training for 10km, then a half, then the full marathon and then the ultra. Each stage is, from memory, about 4-6 months. That plan has be scientifically evaluated and shown to work pretty well and not have many injuries. Going faster than this is likely to cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say that it's kind of the wrong question to ask. I believe people are ultrarunners because they enjoy running. They do it for a variety of reasons (and, if you were to dig deep enough, some of those reasons are about being able to brag) but they're more motivated by the joy of running and being part of that community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, instead of wondering how long it's going to take, I'd just get out there and start planning to run a 5km or 10km well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-06-19T15:41:49.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12860" CreationDate="2013-06-19T15:45:59.153" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on opting for a healthy lifestyle.  It is way too easy to get into the trap of a sedentary lifestyle.  The younger you start getting back in shape, the easier it is with more lifetime benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have any medical problems check with your doctor first. (Standard disclaimer, but worthwhile.  Even at your age you may have signs of a sedentary life.  So, if you feel the need, get a check-up.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take inventory&lt;/strong&gt; so that you have a way to track your progress.  Photos, waist measurements, body fat percentage, weight, food journals etc. will give you some idea of your starting point. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12847/what-is-a-good-metric-for-defining-an-ideal-weight&quot;&gt;What is a good metric for defining an ideal weight?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt; - When you are sedentary, beginning to get back in shape should be done gradually to avoid injuries.  Basic, moderately brisk walking, a minimum of 30 minutes per day, working up to 60 minutes, most days of the week will prepare your systems (musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardio etc.) for more vigorous workouts.  Progressing to a program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt;  will take you from walking to running in a well thought out, controlled manner.    &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For strengthening&lt;/strong&gt;, basic body weight exercises can help to stabilize your core and prepare your muscles for heavier resistance training.  Core exercises like plank, side plank, bird dog, etc will help give you a solid basis to begin a strengthening program. (See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;Optimal exercises for an abdominal workout&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Posture&lt;/strong&gt; - Having admitted to spending too much time at the laptop, your postural muscles are likely to be weak, tight and/or stretched out of their optimal length.  The core exercises above will help.  Additionally, here are some exercises to improve your posture if you need them - &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;I have extremely bad posture, what can I do?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt; - Check to see if you have any areas lacking full range.  If so, make sure that you have a short daily flexibility program - yoga exercises like a cobra and child’s pose address multiple joints and muscles. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness&quot;&gt;Daily stretch routine to increase flexibilty and overall fitness?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once you have the basics down, you can begin some &lt;strong&gt;intervals&lt;/strong&gt; for your cardio workouts.  They are more intense, but can be done in a shorter period of time.  When you are ready for intervals, look up questions about HIIT, (high intensity interval training) for more information.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For strength training, after you have your core stability and postural muscle control, &lt;strong&gt;adding weights, resistance bands or suspension bands&lt;/strong&gt; can give you additional strength.  There is lots of info on the site about strength training.  Starting Strength is a popular program. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4359/starting-strength-a-practical-program&quot;&gt;Starting Strength: a practical program?&lt;/a&gt;) Just make sure that you have good form, either by working with someone who knows, or taking video and evaluating your form. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fitness includes &lt;strong&gt;eating healthy&lt;/strong&gt;, nutritious food in appropriate amounts.  After keeping a food journal, look to see where your weak spots are and address those: ie to much sugar, fast food, excess empty calories (food without any nutritional values).  Even though you are skinny, make the food you eat give you nutrition, not just calories. Also as you increase your activity, you will need to increase your intake. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I recommend finding a &lt;strong&gt;sport&lt;/strong&gt; or activity that you enjoy for the fun of it.  This keeps you active, around active healthy people, and motivates you to keep up your exercises so that you become better at your sport. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-06-19T16:14:10.513" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12866" CreationDate="2013-06-19T19:30:05.237" Score="2" ViewCount="2698" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend today indicated that I should be doing warmup sets but I've never done them before. Is it really necessary to do warmup sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually row on days I do back and triceps and use the eliptical (pushing on the hand bars) on days I do chest and back. I bench press under 100 lbs and I haven't read anything about warmup sets in the books I have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6099" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T14:05:25.137" Title="Is it necessary to do warmup sets at moderate weight?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12865" CreationDate="2013-06-19T21:02:32.013" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are young, you can get away with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you did that for years while you were young (like I did), your joints will be wore out when you reach my age (44).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always warm up, now. I wish I had warmed up more when I was younger, but I didn't really see any point to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chest day, some good chest stretches help (grab a pole, twist your body, and stretch your pecs) and a couple sets of 20 using lightweight weight should go a long way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2013-06-19T21:02:32.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12867" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12870" CreationDate="2013-06-20T01:13:19.797" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once in a week I make a 2.5 hours walk that in the middle of it there is a few hundred steps up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine (that has nothing to do with fitness) just told me recently that upclimbing steps is harmful for your heart. Is that true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I have no history of health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6101" LastEditorUserId="6101" LastEditDate="2013-06-20T01:24:29.930" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T04:00:58.030" Title="Is it true that going up multiple steps is harmful?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12873" CreationDate="2013-06-20T01:23:08.313" Score="6" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do every day 10 push-ups, and with that ends my daily routing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do a massive 2 hours walk that includes climbing and walking for a long distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to improve my daily routine, but I don't want to depend on external gear, because   in my experience it doesn't last long.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to give each day a few minutes, and I prefer to do the most important and profitable exercises at that time. I know you'll will shout that I'm a lazy person, and that might even be true, but currently I want to help myself under these circumstances, and I think it's better little than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oops, forgot to mention, I'm 27 yo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm begging for some recommendation on what that should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6101" LastEditorUserId="6101" LastEditDate="2013-06-20T08:02:11.507" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T08:21:54.030" Title="Best primitive several-minute daily routine for time-restricted people?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12867" CreationDate="2013-06-20T03:31:42.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Climbing steps will raise the heart rate more than walking. Generally, that is a good thing; you get more of a workout, burn more calories, and improve your aerobic fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are generally good help, the more stairs the better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T03:31:42.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12867" CreationDate="2013-06-20T03:34:49.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a look and was not able to find any evidence of harm from stair climbing. On the contrary, stair climbing is positively correlated with good heart health in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743500906340&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;previously sedentary women&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/707484&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;post-college males&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are at risk of heart issues, moderate stair climbing is no more dangerous than other activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-20T04:00:58.030" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T04:00:58.030" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12868" CreationDate="2013-06-20T07:46:21.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've offered very little clarification apart from a desire for better &quot;health&quot;. I would strongly rethink your aversion to using any equipment, as there are certain movements that will be hard to replicate with your body weight alone. But, lets assume you buy nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The laziest possible option for good health is the turkish getup&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grab the nearest heavy thing you can - a bag filled with heavy things is fine - hold one of the straps, and perform 5-10 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTurkishGetup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Turkish getups&lt;/a&gt; per side per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DW4py.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DW4py.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medindia.net/news/ability-to-stand-up-after-sitting-on-floor-may-influence-mortality-111474-1.htm#ixzz2WjwQ3qA6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Your ability to stand up unaided after sitting on the floor could be an indicator of your mortality&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. Adding some getups will work your legs, hip flexors, abs, lower back, shoulders and help with your proprioperception. This coupled with your long walks cover your basic movement needs and cardiovascular requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may seem like an odd movement, but the ability to static hold an object, while getting up from the floor, balancing between your legs is much tougher than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look into bodyweight fitness, but even that requires straps or pullup bars sometimes. Beyond that, if you want more specific advice, you need to figure out some specific goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="6101" LastEditDate="2015-10-06T23:46:27.197" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T23:46:27.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12874" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-20T11:37:03.593" Score="2" ViewCount="2016" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the bodyweight exercise complementary of the push-up? I got contradictory information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some claim it's the chin-up/pull-up and I always thought this was true. However, others claim that the bird is the complement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intuitively, I'd say that the first is correct, since you are putting enough strain using it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5212" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T09:43:24.617" Title="Push-up complement" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-06-26T09:36:55.560" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12868" CreationDate="2013-06-20T12:03:33.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a complement to the Turkish getup (excellent answer), I would say 3-5 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://www.poweryogaottawa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Yoga-Sun-Salutation-Warmups-V2.jpg&amp;amp;imgrefurl=http://www.poweryogaottawa.com/sun-salutation-a-b-practice-sheets-free-download/&amp;amp;h=3300&amp;amp;w=2550&amp;amp;sz=1495&amp;amp;tbnid=lCYeWO-KKDVMwM%3a&amp;amp;tbnh=90&amp;amp;tbnw=70&amp;amp;zoom=1&amp;amp;usg=__2dFILFURGs5EXWRy0R8Pax-R97w=&amp;amp;docid=Wy2r2xqAU5C45M&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=_-7CUeSeI-eC4ATs0oGQAQ&amp;amp;ved=0CDoQ9QEwAw&amp;amp;dur=482&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yoga sun salutations A&lt;/a&gt;. No equipment at all and will activate the posterior chain. Great as a morning routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T12:03:33.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12874" CreationDate="2013-06-20T12:49:17.317" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a movement that goes through the same range of motion as a push-up, but in the opposite direction to gravity, its probably the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot;&gt;Inverted Row&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T12:49:17.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12865" CreationDate="2013-06-20T13:22:48.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is important for you to warm up before a set. Going on heavy lifts when your muscles are &quot;cold&quot; raises risks of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common injury points are the rotator cuffs. Using elastic bands with your elbows to your side and moving the hand in a left to right motion (going far enough on both sides so you feel it stretch) is very good to prevent injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a very controversial subject and many people disagree but from personal experience in training, I MUST warm up before my workout session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T13:22:48.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-20T14:04:48.960" Score="3" ViewCount="1891" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you do squats, and can you also do Calf raises, either on machines or free weights, if you have plantar fasciitis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had this for 3 years now: I have stopped running. I also find stationary bikes do put some pressure on the plantar, which is not good, as does the eliptical trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, desperate!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6107" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-21T01:10:12.607" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T01:10:12.607" Title="Weights and plantar fasciitis" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12865" CreationDate="2013-06-20T14:05:25.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warm-up sets aren't absolutely necessary, no. Some people go into the gym, load up their max, and manage to avoid injury for at least a while. But warm-ups are a tremendously good idea, because they reduce the likelihood that you will pull a muscle while lifting your max. You should get warm before lifting by running or, as you do, using a rower or elliptical, then put progressively more weight on the bar before your heaviest set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're benching under 100 pounds I'd do one set with the bar, then one with 75 or so, then get right to the heavy sets. If you're not lifting very much weight, perhaps because you're doing sets of 12 to 20 for bodybuilding instead of strength training, then warm-ups aren't really necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T14:05:25.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12879" CreationDate="2013-06-20T17:40:57.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dee,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a sports physical therapist, I will recommend you to read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jospt.org/issues/articleID.1407,type.34/article_detail.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first. You can download the full article with a click away.  However, I will sum up the best available scientific evidence on how to treat plantar fasciitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you want to do these things (straight from the literature):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dexamethasone 0.4% or acetic acid 5% delivered via iontophoresis&#xA;can be used to provide short-term (2 to 4 weeks) pain relief and improved&#xA;function.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prefabricated or custom foot orthoses can be used to provide shortterm&#xA;(3 months) reduction in pain and improvement in function.&#xA;There appear to be no differences in the amount of pain reduction&#xA;or improvement in function created by custom foot orthoses in&#xA;comparison to prefabricated orthoses. There is currently no evidence&#xA;to support the use of prefabricated or custom foot orthoses for longterm&#xA;(1 year) pain management or function improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Night splints should be considered as an intervention for patients&#xA;with symptoms greater than 6 months in duration. The desired&#xA;length of time for wearing the night splint is 1 to 3 months. The type&#xA;of night splint used (ie, posterior, anterior, sock-type) does not appear&#xA;to affect the outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go and talk to a physical therapist who is either a board certified in Sports Physical Therapy or Orthopedic Physical Therapy to get indepth information about your problem.  By the way, your physical therapist should be able to recommend you on what exercises or activities you can and cannot do in the meantime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T17:40:57.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-20T18:14:54.977" Score="4" ViewCount="664" Body="&lt;p&gt;I broke my fourth toe (minor fracture). Doctor's orders prevent me from running for about a month. Swimming hurts and is not really an option for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My running base is about 40 kilometers per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to preserve my running form while the toe heals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6106" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T22:24:19.863" Title="How do I keep my running form up with a broken toe?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12882" CreationDate="2013-06-20T18:17:46.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It won't provide the best results with regard specifically to form, but an elliptical machine will be better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6109" LastActivityDate="2013-06-20T18:17:46.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12882" CreationDate="2013-06-20T23:39:36.203" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your doctor has recommended not running for a month, I would suggest not running for a month.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure you can exercise now, but it will probably lengthen your recovery time and potentially aggravate your injury further. When in doubt, a doctor who has assessed you the internet. If you want a second opinion, try another doctor or a physiotherapist, but I think you'll find you'll get the same advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Four weeks is not long enough for your form to suffer drastically. Additionally, if you run (either track or on an elliptical) with a break in your toe, your body will adjust - even subconcoiusly - to minimise your pain which could lead to muscle imbalances leading to worse form than if you had just rested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-21T07:38:36.420" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T07:38:36.420" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12887" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12921" CreationDate="2013-06-21T07:38:35.617" Score="10" ViewCount="731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Europe and will be travelling to the US for the Chicago marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to stay a week in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you minimize the effects of jet lag for the day of the race? Is it best to arrive to the US ahead of time or right before the race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any nutrition advice to speed up recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question also applies when travelling West to East? Do you apply the same advices when going West-to-East and East-to-West?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6106" LastEditorUserId="6106" LastEditDate="2013-06-22T19:24:43.467" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T16:01:19.390" Title="Dealing with jet lag when travelling internationally for a marathon?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12874" CreationDate="2013-06-21T09:43:24.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd also never heard of &quot;the bird&quot; (other than that it's the word...) before, but from those images I can't see how it would be considered the inverse to the push-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups primarily target the chest and triceps, whereas chin-ups/pull-ups primarily target the back and biceps, so they're a strong contender for the inverse exercise to the push-up. Lego Stormtrooper's suggestion of the Inverted Row is also good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between the two, I'm not sure which would be the better option. It depends what equipment you have access to and what kind of shape you're in. If you have a chin-up bar already, but you can't adjust (lower) it to allow you to do inverted rows, then that makes the decision for you. However, I've always found inverted rows a fair amount easier than chin-ups or pull-ups, so if you're starting out I'd suggest those first - you can always progress to chin-ups and pull-ups later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5547" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T09:43:24.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12887" CreationDate="2013-06-21T14:21:41.897" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In both cases West-to-East and East-to-West jet lag does apply (not north and south / south and north). Basically your body and brain are completely out of sync due to the departure time and arrival time when travelling through different time zones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest arriving a few days (atleast 3, some people prefer 1 week) earlier before your marathon.  This will get your body adjusted to sleeping at the correct American / European times respectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Melatonin is known to help people with Jet Lag but I suggest not to take that if you are going to be a tested athlete. Some commissions ban the use of melatonin therefore risking you getting disqualified. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going out in the sun will help you a great deal. Here are some other helpful suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequently eating small meals (fruits and veggies)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid alcohol / caffeine / pre workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nap when you feel sleepy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comfortable clothing (some people prefer loose clothing like pyjamas)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck on your race!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T14:21:41.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-21T14:50:24.980" Score="11" ViewCount="14605" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per the title, what is the minimum long run training distance to merely be capable of finishing a half-marathon? I've been trying to research this myself and answers seem to be all over the place ranging from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/whats-the-best-long-run-training-distance-for-half-marathon-runners&quot;&gt;7 miles&lt;/a&gt; all the way up &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/long_run.html&quot;&gt;to 14 to 15&lt;/a&gt; although the latter might be for more competitive runners. I'm seeking merely to be able to finish the half-marathon so what is the minimum long run training distance I should be aiming for to be able to finish a half-marathon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6115" LastEditorUserId="6115" LastEditDate="2013-06-21T16:10:00.287" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T14:38:05.990" Title="What is the minimum long run training distance to finish a half-marathon?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12890" CreationDate="2013-06-21T16:12:12.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I ran my first 20km (almost HM, which is ~21.1 km), I had previously run 5-10km, and twice 12km and once 17km, with about 1-2 runs per week over 1,5 months. Plus I trained acrobatics 3 times a week. I managed to finish, in just under 2h (so roughly 10km/h), but could barely walk up stairs the two days after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Half a year later, my first HM, I had completed a training plan with 4x Running per week over 3 months, including 4 runs of 20, 22, 22, 24km respectively. I ran the HM with a friend who was an avid tennis player, but only ran 2 times a week for the past month with max distance 10km. We finished both around 1h45 (roughly 11,5 km/h). I was very happy at having improved my time, and a bit vexed, that even though I ran much more, my friend seemed to manage just as well. He fell sick that day, and only went back to work 3 days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I think the moral of my experience, is that amount of specific running training directly correlates to your wellbeing after having run a HM.&lt;/strong&gt; If you are generally fit, and have run 10km, you should be able to finish, while being quite exhausted the days after. If you want to finish with a smile - you should run the half-marathon distance once or twice in a very slow speed (3h), although it is best to work your way up to that distance in successive runs and not straight away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5583" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T16:12:12.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-21T16:20:31.607" Score="1" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can measure my general fatigue every morning by checking my resting Heart-Rate. It's shown me quite effectively, when I am a bit sick or sleep to little, my resting HR jumps up to 10 beats higher. After a resting day, I can be 3-4 beats lower than during training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyway to measure if I am eating/drinking enough/too little? I'm asking, since my method of consuming as I feel just allows me to indulge as an omnivore. I don't eat particularly unhealthily, nor healthily. Some numbers would be helpful to control my tendency to eat a lot &quot;cause it tastes good&quot; as well as sometimes to &quot;forget to eat&quot; during the day. Being hungry or not doesn't seem to do it for me, since hunger is somehow connected to my emotional well being lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5583" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T20:05:57.793" Title="Measurable body indicators for correct amount of nutrition?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12890" CreationDate="2013-06-21T19:56:22.077" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a very big difference between &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; completing a certain distance at a modest speed and running &lt;em&gt;competitively&lt;/em&gt; for a good finishing time (e.g. with a time-goal). The following is true if you just want to finish, not if you run competitively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I learned it many years ago, to finish a race up to and including Marathon, the rule is that you should be be able to run 2/3 of the distance and feel reasonable well afterwards. Then you should be able to complete the full distance at a race at the same speed without feeling completely wasted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to do complete a 15 km race at a modest speed, you must be able to run 10 km at the same speed. And to complete a half-marathon, you should be able to run 14 km (~ 2/3 of 21.1 km). This matches most beginners plans for half-marathons that I can find online. The intermediate and time-goal plans usually have longer distances for the longest runs, but here the plan is not to complete the race, but complete at a specific time - which is something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running longer than 30 km is very hard on your body - especially you joints - and really should be avoided if at all possible. Even if you want to train for a Marathon. Most training plans for Marathon that I have looked at also stops at 30 km for the longest run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to run longer distances than this - like Ultras and Extreme Running - there are no way to train for it at a beginners level! The usual recommendation is to try first with a couple of Marathons, and then run 10-30 seconds slower per km depending on the target distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2013-06-21T19:56:22.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12882" CreationDate="2013-06-21T21:28:48.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a pool, water running can be pretty effective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a pool that is deep enough for you to not touch the bottom, and with a floaty belt (or not, I prefer not), pretend to run, without touching. The key is not to touch the bottom and possibly hurt your toe.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I.e. Make the running motion, arms and legs, through the water.  Assuming your toe can take the waters resistance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can focus on the muscles used for running and form, (Easier to focus on form with a floaty belt, but better workout without it) but you lose the benefit of impact (which the toe is obviating anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found this fairly effective, when injured, that disallows impact on joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="1841" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T10:39:59.260" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T10:39:59.260" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-22T01:04:12.780" Score="5" ViewCount="8114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a frequent problem that deters me from running. I have a bad habit of picking shoes that rub my heels on longer runs. In the store they feel great, but after a 5km run they just destroy the skin over my Achilles. Given that it happens with lots of the shoes I pick, I figure its not related to how to pick them, but how I wear them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any tips for minimising friction on the backs of your ankles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T12:46:12.677" Title="Minimising ankle rub in running shoes" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4527" CreationDate="2013-06-22T06:36:13.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work on a computer all day long and have for the past 10 years, even before then I had horrible posture as a kid. Most of this was due to self esteem and being over weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even after growing up, taking up Karate and working out a ton my posture and self esteem improved a bit but it wasn't &quot;good&quot; yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually I made two changes that I feel changed my posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I started stronglifts 5x5, I believe it's the fact that I focused on my posture during my squats because well, I didn't want to hurt myself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I converted my desk at work to a standing desk. My work didn't give me one. I just stacked boxes, little tables, anything I could find to setup the proper height to get it done. While standing I made sure I had my shoulders back properly whenever I remembered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about 4 months of both of these I would say my posture is good, if not great and it actually hurts now to slump like I used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6119" LastActivityDate="2013-06-22T06:36:13.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12896" CreationDate="2013-06-22T12:05:04.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I reckon you have an exostosis (a benign bony growth projecting outward from a bone surface) on your heel bones, around your Achilles tendon's insertion. This rubs against the 'heel' of the shoe, which often contains cardboard-like material around the heel to support it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had this problem myself with any of my shoes in the last ~5 years without resorting to my more nefarious solution. In your case I suspect the heel bone rubs against the 'heel' of the shoe, because there's too much room (either due to your foot type or poor fit) or your laces aren't tied properly. When the shoe fits your foot like a glove, they can't move relative to each other and thus you won't get the damage on the shoe &amp;amp; blisters on your heel. Making the shoe fit better can be done with insoles/orthotics, but obviously you'd prefer to buy shoes that are a better fit in the first place. I'll ask around to get some advice on how to find a good fitting shoe (not based solely on 'it felt good').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't find a shoe with a better fit, you could cut out part of the material. It involves opening up the stitching at the top of the 'heel', then poking in between and removing some of the support material. However, this also means the heel of the shoe will no longer be able to give the support it was designed for and you'll have to be able to stitch (or glue) the shoe back up. On the other hand, you have first hand experience with the damage your feet will do to the shoe if you don't, so it might be the lesser evil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: my father makes orthopedic shoes, so if I need it, I let him do it for me :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastActivityDate="2013-06-22T12:05:04.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13025" CreationDate="2013-06-22T18:06:37.127" Score="6" ViewCount="15126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planing to get an elliptical (cross) trainer. After some research I found some guidance on how to choose one with details on different features and models. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found two different types of machines; ones with magnetic resistance and other with belt resistance. The magnetic ones are much more expensive, and it's supposed to be quieter and have more resistance levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend told me that magnetic ones are better for the knees and joints in general, however, I couldn't find anything to support this. Does anyone have any experience with both types and can provide information on which is better in terms of physical impact and why ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6121" LastActivityDate="2020-03-13T01:29:05.637" Title="Magnetic v.s. belt resistance elliptical trainer" Tags="&lt;elliptical&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12903" CreationDate="2013-06-22T22:32:13.027" Score="20" ViewCount="1698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying it for years now and can't free myself from drinking products like Coca Cola (or Red Bull). I just love the taste and the feeling while drinking it. It wakes me up and makes me feel better and more alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing sports at least 2 times a week (badminton or squash and swimming or jogging) but I am not able to lose weight since 4 years (my weight is 130 kilograms and I am 185 cm high). I consume too much sugar (1 liter Coca Cola per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop without that bad feeling that I miss something out? I think I can't live without the taste and the feeling I get from drinking it (which makes the whole addiction a sickness to me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6123" LastEditorUserId="6123" LastEditDate="2013-06-22T22:42:18.347" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T14:13:32.450" Title="How do I stop drinking soda?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12901" CreationDate="2013-06-23T01:52:10.590" Score="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus and determination&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sugar is addictive, and while is moderate doses it isn't harmful the effects of high doses of sugar lead to insulin spike and dependence, &lt;a href=&quot;http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&amp;amp;doi=10.1037/1064-1297.15.5.481&quot;&gt;with removal or reduction in sugar leading to withdrawal symptoms similar to of opioids&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodas (and most juices) are even worse, as not only do they contain sugar, but caffeine which is also addictive, as well as well &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;_r=1&amp;amp;&quot;&gt;engineered flavour palettes&lt;/a&gt; that neither quench your thirst, make you full or actually satisfy you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I hate to talk in absolutes, but soda is absolutely bad for you&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So enough of the scary stuff, you can quit soda, but there are a few obstacles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Soda tastes great&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;No, it really doesn't.&lt;/strong&gt; It tastes sweet there is a difference. You think it tastes nice now, but thats because of conditioning. You body is used to a set level of sweetness, and soda sets and meets that need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I can switch to diet soda though?&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;No you can't.&lt;/strong&gt; Diet soda has far fewer calories, but we are starting to see that artificial sugars keep that desire for sugar at higher than normal levels, so people continue to seek out high sugar foods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ok, so fruit juice then?&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;No, these are just as bad&lt;/strong&gt;. Sugar is sugar no matter where it comes from. Sodas and fruit juice are a sometimes treat, not what you want to hydrate you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;But what about withdrawls?&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;They will suck&lt;/strong&gt;, but its worth it. I am going to guess that at the moment things like fruit don't really seem to have the same kick as Coke, and you'd be right.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm not going to sugar coat this - going onto a low sugar diet is going to suck&lt;/strong&gt;, because sugar withdrawal is a real thing. For about 2 weeks everything is going to taste bland, because you aren't getting the same response you are used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how can you beat this addiction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a journal - go out and buy some some soda, some milk, a little cake and some fresh fruit. Have a little of each, and in the book, write how these taste. Drink some soda, write about it, then have a piece fruit (strawberries are the best for this), write about them - they taste overly tart probably. The milk probably tastes fatty. No need to be overly scientific, but what we want to do is log how the taste of these things makes you feel, and rank their sweetness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spend at least a month sugar free. No soda, no fruit juice, no sugar in your coffee or tea, no overly sweet biscuits, cake, etc. Even try and limit your fruit intake, but eat more fresh vegetables to replace the lost vitamins. For the first few days or even weeks, this will suck. The goal here is to get your body accustomed to having much less sugar, we want to reset what your body thinks of as sweet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During that time hydrate with water only. When you feel &quot;thirsty&quot;, drink water - I put that in inverted commas because its probably not thirst its your body craving a soda.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After at least a month, we are going to repeat step 1. Don't look at what you wrote, but try and eat the same things. Does the food taste different? How much sweeter do the fruit and milk seem? If you didn't say quite sweet, go back to step 1. Milk is loaded with sugars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Normal&quot; foods taste sweet again? Great, now we can reintroduce sugar into the diet - &lt;strong&gt;in moderation&lt;/strong&gt;, but evaluate everything. Do you need sugar in your coffee, or does the milk make it sweet enough? Not everything and not every drink needs to be sweet. Tea, especially green tea, is lovely without sugar and great to drink all day long.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The key thing to remember, is that removing soda, or limit sugar doesn't mean a world without taste.&lt;/strong&gt; By this stage, you should find that small amounts of sugar are enough to satisfy you. But by limiting your sugar, you'll start to notice how pleasurable other flavours such as the tartness in a strawberry, or the subtle bitterness of tea and coffee are just as satisfying as overly sugary sodas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-23T01:52:10.590" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12904" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-23T05:29:34.033" Score="2" ViewCount="1058" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to very bad smog situation that will last at least couple of weeks, I can't go running outside. I was thinking I could supplement long distance running by some jump rope excercises at home. I am used to running 10km/1 hour regularly. I am not sure what kind of excercies should I do, never tried jump rope before (only as a kid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT? Or just jump as long as I can? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With running shoes? Or bare feet on yoga mat? I have hard floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any special requirement for the jump rope?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read the following questions and I believe it could work, with proper routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/10209/5944&quot;&gt;What should I look for in a jump rope?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/2265/5944&quot;&gt;What is a jump rope good for?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/4507/5944&quot;&gt;Benefits of jogging/running versus rope skipping&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5944" LastEditorUserId="33155" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T14:48:06.213" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T14:48:06.213" Title="Indoor jump rope as a temporary supplement for long-distance running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;jump-rope&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-23T16:28:04.587" Score="1" ViewCount="538" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started getting into shape, mainly by counting calories at MyFitnessPal and getting more serious about my road cycling hobby. I'm in my late twenties and otherwise relatively fit, but need to lose about 25kg to reach my ideal weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I have so much weight to lose, I've aimed for quite agressive goal of 1kg per week. MyFitnessPal tells me I should eat 1000kcal below my calorie consumption daily. On a day when I don't exercise this means 1540kcal, but as I excercise more I get to eat more, and end up eating anywhere between 1500 and 2500 kcal on most days, thus compensating for the spent calories and hovering around the 1000kcal &lt;strong&gt;net deficit&lt;/strong&gt;, +/-200kcal or so. This works fine for me and I am losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then there is the odd day when I either go for a longer endurance ride, or I miss a meal for some reason, and my net calorie deficit can drop drastically. For instance today I cycled for 4 hours at an average speed of 27km/h. MyFitnessPal tells me that at my weight, 4 hours of &quot;vigorous&quot; cycling spends 4000 calories, but that sounds to high to me, so I opt for the lower category of &quot;moderate&quot; which gives me 3200. Add to that my 1540 base calories and that means I should eat &lt;strong&gt;4740kcal&lt;/strong&gt; today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I've managed about 3000 (breakfast, lunch, dinner plus carb loading during the ride) and I feel perfectly fine. Am I really supposed to go ahead and make myself eat 1740 more? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens to me on average once a week. On the other hand, once I week I have a &quot;cheat day&quot; when I might go to the pub and eat at a restaurant, which puts me well over that day's calorie limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I hurting my weight loss by not sticking to my minimum intake on a day to day basis? Am I hurting myself? Or does it all even out in the long run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of mixed information about this online (&quot;starvation mode&quot;, lowered metabolism, losing muscle, etc.), but I can't find anything that's based on any reliable sources. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6127" LastEditorUserId="6127" LastEditDate="2013-06-23T16:43:53.980" LastActivityDate="2013-06-23T23:19:56.937" Title="Do I need to compensate for calories spent exercising on a day to day basis?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12906" CreationDate="2013-06-23T23:19:56.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its not necessary to compensate for engery expended during exercise and can lead to eating too much to compensate. Measuring the energy expended during exercise varies wildly, and is never precise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I'd recommend aiming for a lower weight loss per week and thus lower deficit per day, and exercising as normal. Aiming for a more conservating 0.5kg per week based on calroic deficit, and then exercising on top will get you to your goals just as quick, and will mean you have one less thing to measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to &quot;starvation mode&quot; as @JohnP said, it is a myth based on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Minnesota Starvation Experiment&lt;/a&gt;, that was performed on already underweight people who were performing strenuous activity. The results were never shown to be applicable to the general public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-23T23:19:56.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5312" CreationDate="2013-06-24T04:15:12.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been dancing since i was 3 years old and have been on competitive teams for 4 years. Dancing 4 hrs 5 days a week. finnally for my 4th year on a team i quit just cuz. i lost lots of stamina and did'nt get much better at dancing. the next year i came back to dance. a month before the next team year I wanted to practice all the time. It was hard and i got winded fast. To get better i practiced nonstop 2 hrs a day and did many push ups and situp at home.&#xA;- do pushups&#xA;- do situps&#xA;- jog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6129" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T04:15:12.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12896" CreationDate="2013-06-24T07:55:55.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Ivo's answer, that making sure your foot doesn't wobble around in the shoe has primary importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I know the problem of achilles-chafing from extensive hiking tours. I would pre-emptively stick band-aids up and down my achilles, and then cover it with a good hiking sock. At first it feels unnatural, but after a while I tend to forget about it. There are also special running socks that cover your achilles(similar to hiking-socks, but less thick, since your foot gets more action and could overheat in hiking socks : P). Form my experience, the sock also counts, since thinner socks lead faster to blistering and some skin-wear for me (ex. when all my running socks are in the laundry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps good running socks will suffice, if not, try adding band-aids.&lt;/strong&gt; You should definitely protect your foot within the shoe as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5583" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T07:55:55.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12912" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12918" CreationDate="2013-06-24T09:07:59.497" Score="2" ViewCount="21316" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just exposed to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calisthenics&lt;/a&gt; and I loved what these people could do on the pull up bar. I researched and found out a few routines for the beginners and would like to start up with them. However there was no mention of how frequently these routines should be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no beginner to the Gym. Have been around for a long time. I have been doing SS routine for more then a year consistently and doing a lot of schedules and stuff for years before that. I am 6ft 1 Inches and weight 210 pounds and am happy with my size and strength. I have no plans to grow any bigger. My current lifts are close to 200 pounds and I am happy with that too, don't want to get any stronger either. My basic idea is I love working out so I think Calisthenic will add good variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read some where that these workouts can be done 6 days a week. Please let me know what would be a good frequency ?? also what is a good place to learn more about the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine for a beginner looks like below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted rows &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do 3 sets per each exercise and 5 sets of squats, doing as many repetitions as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-06-25T08:07:16.090" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T23:51:39.823" Title="How often can one do a calisthenics workout?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-24T10:14:58.393" Score="1" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people say that vegan food is good for health, but is it good for bodybuilding and weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an additional wrinkle, although I am not diabetic, my family has a history of diabetes so I am willing to adopt a suitable lifestyle. I understand that in this case some vegan foods like potatoes are restricted. Will eating a vegan and diabetic-friendly diet help me with my physique?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4722" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-06-26T21:46:00.437" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T12:16:07.877" Title="Will a vegan diet help for weight loss and physique?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12914" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-24T11:08:51.250" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="4333" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T18:16:19.583" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T18:16:19.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12915" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-24T11:08:51.250" Score="0" Body="The term calisthenics covers wide bunch of physical exercises which are performed by sportsmen using natural body weight only. " OwnerUserId="4333" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T18:14:39.923" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T18:14:39.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12913" CreationDate="2013-06-24T12:16:32.907" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &amp;lt; insert diet choice here &gt; better for XYZ?  No.  And not so much because I like meat or carbs or bread or whatever the diet says you can't have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the studies I've seen come up with one basic fact about diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you eat more than you need, you gain weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you eat less than you need, you lose weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you eat what you need, you maintain weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our bodies are very good at this.  If you think that removing all meat and milk from your diet is going to magically cause you to maintain a healthy weight, without addressing other concerns then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.  A healthy physique requires routine exercise, with a healthy balance of strength, conditioning, and mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vegan diets do present certain challenges that are more challenging to overcome for active people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting sufficient levels of essential amino acids.  Many vegetarians will eat eggs, fish, or protein supplements (which contain whey and/or eggs) to do this which is both healthy and delicious.  Vegans rely on soy (a phytoestrogen), and getting a mixture of other vegetables with higher protein content to balance this out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you get sufficient levels of amino acids on a vegan diet, it is hard to keep the calories in check.  This is particularly true if you do strength sports like bodybuilding, strongman, power lifting, or Olympic lifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Challenging doesn't mean impossible, it simply means more difficult.  The other side of things is keeping a proper hormonal balance.  This is where one diet says they are better than other diets because they manipulate X or Y hormone and other diets only worry about Z.  There's a host of things that have nothing to do with your diet that can affect your hormone balance.  There's also a number of things that you do consume that affects the hormone balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin&quot;&gt;Insulin&lt;/a&gt; is the storage hormone--as long as you maintain consistent vigorous activities, insulin will store energy in your muscles and organs which need to be replenished.  If you are sedentary, then the excess energy gets stored as fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptin&quot;&gt;Leptin&lt;/a&gt; is the &quot;I've had enough&quot; hormone--helps keep body fat to a minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone&quot;&gt;Testosterone&lt;/a&gt; triggers muscle and tissue growth--even women have testosterone, and is an important part of maintaining a healthy physique.  As long as it is produced naturally by the body you will simply look like a stronger you.  Taken exogenically (injections, patches, orally), it can disrupt normal hormonal balance and cause other problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen&quot;&gt;Estrogen&lt;/a&gt; can increase metabolism and fat storage--even men have estrogen, and in proper balance in an important part of maintaining a healthy physique.  Problem is there are a number of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoestrogen&quot;&gt;xenoestrogens&lt;/a&gt; that block the testosterone receptors and overstimulate the estrogen receptors.  This leads to weight gain and in the worst cases breast cancer for women or prostate cancer for men.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vegan diets tend to reduce xenoestrogen exposure, but that has more to do with the culture of vegan diets rather than the diet themselves.  Vegans are more likely to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat whole organic foods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use simple soaps and other organic products for cleaning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid pesticides, plastics, and hormone injected meat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All those activities can be done with any diet you have, and minimizes your exposure to most known xenoestrogens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T12:16:32.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12913" CreationDate="2013-06-24T12:42:19.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;French fries are vegan.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite what many people may say, there is nothing intrinsically healthy about vegan food. I have a close vegan friend who makes the best peanut butter cookies that are just the right amount of fatty and crumbly from the peanut oil that they are to die for!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many reasons to choose a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, however without calorie controls and good food decision, neither will be better than any other diet for weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-26T23:18:52.197" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T23:18:52.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12912" CreationDate="2013-06-24T14:07:32.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geek,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple quick thoughts about this routine: One is that this is not a beginner routine (most beginners won't be able to perform pull-ups or dips), and two is that doing max out reps for each exercise is not the best way to start out of any exercise, workout or routine.  You are at a higher risk for injuries (most commonly is tendonitis and extreme muscle soreness that may last for days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working with high level gymnasts and college athletes over 10 years now, and one of my specialty is to design and implement calisthenic workout routines for all athletes at all fitness levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question specifically, I have broken down your workout routine including the frequency and duration for you.  I do think that since you have been doing SS for over a year consistently, you should consider yourself as an intermediate level, not a beginner in my opinion.  So here it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your workout for the first 2 weeks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout 3 days per week with one day of rest in between.  Try 3 sets of 10-15 reps.  Rest 45-60 seconds between sets and between exercises.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next 2 weeks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gator Push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat Jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout 3 days per week with one day of rest in between.  Try 4 sets of 10-20 reps.  Rest 45-60 seconds between sets and between exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next 4 weeks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyo Push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuck Jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout 3 days per week with one day of rest in between.  Try 4 sets of 10-20 reps.  Rest 45-60 seconds between sets and between exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The maintenance phase: You can do the same exercises as above (pull-ups, plyo push-ups, inverted rows, dips and tuck jumps), trying for 4-5 sets of max effort, resting 30 seconds between sets and between exercises.  The key is that you will only need to do this workout 3 days per week, not 6 days per week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this is helpful.  Give it a try and let us know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T14:07:32.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12904" CreationDate="2013-06-24T14:14:36.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The smog coming from the forest fires in Indonesia will affect you inside as well as outside, unless you have air filters inside or you wear a suitable face mask (e.g. a mask with an N95 rating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you insist on working out inside and you can't find a treadmill to use somewhere then you can try jumping rope.  I would advise you to start jumping rope slowly, focusing on your skill.  Anytime you start a new physical activity you run the risk of injury because your body is not used to the new demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good article online about jumping rope: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rossboxing.com/thegym/thegym26.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jump Rope Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article recommends trying to do 20 second intervals without tripping on the rope, and building from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2013-06-24T15:14:59.077" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T15:14:59.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-24T14:37:38.677" Score="6" ViewCount="538" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard this many times from powerlifters that I've work with, &quot;All you really need is 3 lifts to hit all major muscle groups, and technically that's all you really need for maintenance, too.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of my head, I would think that squat, deadlift and bench press are the three exercises that really target pretty much all the major muscle groups.  I would also recommend chin-ups/pull-ups and clean and press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are your thoughts about these 3 exercises (squat, deadlift and bench press) for hitting all the major muscle groups?  Also, are there any other exercises that you would recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T12:22:24.367" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T14:15:58.923" Title="Are there such thing as best exercises for weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weighttraining&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12887" CreationDate="2013-06-24T16:01:19.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your circadian cycle is synced to the real time using light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as you can, start exposing your body to light (preferably natural) in the morning of the timezone you want to be at. Then, during the night, make sure it is dark. So, when you get to the US, go for a short early morning run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, figure out what the race time is in your local timezone and do some training at that time. This will accustom you to what it will feel like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T16:01:19.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12829" CreationDate="2013-06-24T17:40:13.467" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you are 13 , you should not go very heavy on any lift that is above your neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is actually a debated concept but they say that ovehead lifts compresses the spine and may stunt your growth. So i just suggest that you dont go too heavy. The main aim for you guys is to increase your strength and not worry too much about lifting heavy. Just get in the habit of working out and you will start gaining as the years go by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T17:40:13.467" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12901" CreationDate="2013-06-24T17:48:58.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lego pretty much gave a perfect answer, however I would like to add to it by giving you a few tips from my experience(ex-heavy soda drinker).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you just have to drink lots of water, like just drown yourself in water. You have an addiction to drinking, just try replacing sodas with water. It is going to be extremely difficult, but slowly you can overcome it. Take one day at a time. Drink no other fluid other than water at least 3 days a week and your're well on your way to recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to understand that feeling of freshness you get when you are completely hydrated. It's much better than the freshness you get by having sodas and you will understand that with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you already seem to have put on a lot of weight going on a high water diet is must for you. Sugar levels in your body are too high and this can be very dangerous in the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you can have lots of green tea (without sugar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T13:01:20.407" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T13:01:20.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12896" CreationDate="2013-06-24T18:18:15.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;On hiking trips, I used to use a product called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=dr+scholls+moleskin&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=HI3IUb-HIq-N0QHUnoCoAQ&amp;amp;ved=0CDsQsxg&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&amp;amp;bvm=bv.48293060,d.dmQ&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=989&amp;amp;cad=h&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;moleskin&quot;&lt;/a&gt; which is a leather buffer that adheres to your skin in a problem area, reducing the friction on one small area.  Great stuff.  Not sure if it's as good for running as hiking, and it's similar to Rafael's suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6081" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-07-16T12:46:12.677" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T12:46:12.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12901" CreationDate="2013-06-24T19:24:00.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once you've committed yourself to weaning yourself off the stuff by modifying your diet, you might also consider a two-pronged attack of also modifying your &lt;em&gt;buying&lt;/em&gt; habits so that the opportunity to acquire soda isn't there at times when your cravings are high. Perhaps getting your groceries from somewhere that doesn't sell soft drinks, or ensuring that you don't carry small change around when you might pass a vending machine, might help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have much of a junk food habit, but I feel that I would do if I hadn't trained myself out of buying the stuff. When I was a student, shopping on foot with no motor transport meant that my carrying capacity as well as my available cash was very limited and therefore I could neither afford nor carry home snacks or dessert items, so I very rarely bought them - and still don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastActivityDate="2013-06-24T19:24:00.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12920" CreationDate="2013-06-25T01:07:56.143" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything always depends on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best exercises are the ones that help you accomplish your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a power lifter, your goals are to get the biggest squat, deadlift, and bench press you can.  Obviously, it helps to do those exercises to make them stronger.  It does also happen that they are very good exercises for General Physical Preparedness (GPP); but they aren't the only ones that are good for GPP.  If an Olympic lifter were to make the same observations they would select their competition lifts--which hit all the major muscle groups as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is bodybuilding, compound lifts are great for building general strength and large slabs of muscle.  However, you'll still need isolation exercises to fine tune the proportions of the muscles with each other.  That's important if you are a physique competitor.  On the same token, isolation exercises in the proper proportions can keep your joints healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a strongman, you need to put heavy things over your head, so overhead pressing becomes much more important than bench pressing.  This is true for the continental press, the log press, keg tossing, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For GPP I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline press--more useful in most team sports, and provides good carry over to both overhead pressing and bench pressing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats in all variations--Helps with jumping ability, sprinting, core strength, leg strength, and a good muscle builder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pulls from the floor (deadlifts, cleans, snatches, high pulls)--excellent posterior chain work, mental toughness, and strength builder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows in all variations--balances out the pressing, keeps the shoulders from becoming slumped forward, and helps out both the squat and deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, do whatever is necessary to fine tune work.  I find that light weight high volume curls help flush out inflammation in the elbows before it has a chance to start.  However, if you do too many of them it can become a source of inflammation themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no &lt;em&gt;absolute&lt;/em&gt; best exercise.  There is only what's more appropriate for your given goals at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-25T01:07:56.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12933" CreationDate="2013-06-25T10:31:12.650" Score="3" ViewCount="10678" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while ago I started working towards making my first pullup - I have been doing negatives for quite some time. Recently I decided Ill try to make a pullup, and I did. Over the course of a week or two I got to doing 3-4 pullups in a row, depending on how good a day Im having.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I have been experiencing paint at my wrists. I cant really pinpoint situations in which it hurts, but it tends to be when im using force to keep the wrist straight or when there is a shock to it (for example, throwing a punch at a bag).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im thinking my tendons and joints might not be ready for the challenges I present to them with my pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Should I take a break from pullups? Should I wrap my wrists? Should I go see a doctor? How to prepare my wrists for future exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-08T06:32:10.573" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T06:32:10.573" Title="Wristpain after doing pullups" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12929" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12930" CreationDate="2013-06-25T11:48:07.510" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some background info: I am 28 years old, about 177 cm tall and my weight fluctuates between 92-96 kg. Despite the unfavorable height/weight ratio, I am pretty heavy built, with wide shoulders and a broad chest. While I would not consider myself really fit or strong, I am also not really out of shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spend a lot of time in front of a PC at work and at home. That being said I try to train at least twice a week; primarily playing football (indoors or outdoors) and try to work out at the gym on a regular basis (even though I cannot claim to have good discipline). I recently got introduced to the idea of obstacle races such as (&lt;a href=&quot;http://toughviking.se/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tough Viking&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.warriordash.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Warrior Dash&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spartanrace.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spartan Race&lt;/a&gt;...) and come to like the idea. Especially setting the goal to finish such a race before I turn 30 in two years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do realize that these competitions are tough, and that they are aimed primarily at training-enthusiasts that invest much more time and money to their training than I do. However considering that I don't care about the racing aspect of it (i.e. I dont care my &quot;time&quot;, but only to actually make it to the end without giving up), I think it's still a reasonable goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My specific questions are as follows: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is 12 months too little time to train for such an event, assuming I do not drop focus on my work and social life? I like training, but I cannot allow training to take over my life altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned about my shoulders and lower back due to previous injuries, while I do not have any limitations in my daily life, I wonder if participating in such a race would be too much of a risk. What are good exercises for shoulders and lower back, considering the type of wear they will face during such a race?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How important is condition in such an event? I usually get tired after running straight after 20 mins, but in interval training (e.g. football, squash etc) I can keep going at it for more than 1h without any trouble at all. Would this be an issue?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I have mentioned that I have had several injuries without explaining what they are... I have had serious problems with my shoulders, as both have been dislocated more than once. I have been operated on one shoulder and have some rotation limitation (about 5-10 degrees on outwards rotation). With my weight it gets pretty painful in both shoulders, very quickly, when I attempt to do proper dips and pull-ups &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my lower back, I have had less but still painful problems, due to relatively sedentary life as well as some weird movement I did on the football pitch at some point. I have some sort of minor issue with discs but they doc said it wasn't serious enough for a surgery. I pay more attention to stretching and try to be more active during the day (at work that is) in order to help with that. Hope that helps to give a better picture of my physical situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2013-06-25T20:48:27.990" LastActivityDate="2013-06-25T20:48:27.990" Title="Is 1 year a reasonable amount of time training for a challenging obstacle race?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12929" CreationDate="2013-06-25T13:13:58.007" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been an avid Spartan Race competitor myself. By experience I can certainly say some people doing the obstacle race are not in shape. One of my buddies completed the race at 270lbs (30% bodyfat) in a couple hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking for me, I am a natural bodybuilder and doing such races are pretty rough for me. Despite having an awesome physique, my legs become gased and pumped after just a few minutes of running uphill. So here's a few tips on training for an obstacle race:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is 12 months too little time to train for such an event, assuming I do not drop focus on my work and social life?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12 months is plenty of time, I started doing cardio 1 month before (but don't do like I did!). Conditioning is important, you will need your shoulders for the obstacles (you need to be able to pull yourself up above obstacles, if not, prepare for burpees!). You'll need cardio to keep going after every obstacle, going uphill, crawling in mud, carrying a variety of heavy objects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What are good exercises for shoulders and lower back, considering the type of wear they will face during such a race?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crossfit training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extensive leg endurance training (no more 3 sets of 8 reps, go up to 20-25+)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hyperextensions-back-extensions&quot;&gt;Hyperextensions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyperextensions are great for endurance, take it from me... It really sucks when your lower back starts giving out after just 1km of going uphill!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How important is condition in such an event?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spartan Sprint&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 5-7km race with  12 obstacles can take between 1-2 hours with average conditioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Super Spartan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 12-15km race with 20 obstacles can take about 2-4 hours with average conditioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on what kind of results you're expecting for the race ... Do you wish to finish first or simply finish for the sake of completing the race? The people who finish first in these races are very well conditioned with multiple years of training for this specific type of race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, good luck on the race,&#xA;AROO!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-06-25T13:13:58.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12934" CreationDate="2013-06-25T14:44:19.353" Score="4" ViewCount="17023" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, in strength training it is relatively common knowledge that if you want to see your lifts go up, you should focus on doing 3-5 sets of 5 relatively heavy reps, with 3-4 minutes rest in between. Is there an equivalent with speed training? Say if I wanted to improve my 100m dash time as fast as possible, what would be the optimal training program in terms of intensity of reps and rest in between sprints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have actually never seen any empirical research done on this, so if you could point me to an article that would be awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone has heard of starting strength, is there starting speed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: How many 100m sprints should I do a training session to get at optimal speed? How long should I rest? I know it is a naive question because sprinters will not often do the same thing every workout, but I am curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6143" LastEditorUserId="6143" LastEditDate="2013-06-25T20:39:12.213" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T16:42:03.373" Title="What are the optimal sets/reps for gaining speed?" Tags="&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12931" CreationDate="2013-06-25T16:26:35.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of thinking in terms of sets and reps, think instead in terms of groups of exercises and the manner in which you perform them.  The weight room is there for both general physical preparedness, and to build more strength.  The goal is to build both plain physical strength and explosive strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important principle is &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/compensatory-acceleration-training-maximizing-each-rep-each-set/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compensatory Acceleration Training&lt;/a&gt; (CAT).  The idea is to accelerate all the way through the lift as if it were your max effort.  It is always performed with submaximal weights that feel heavy, but you have no doubt about hitting 5x5.  For further reading, look at Donche, Dan (2008). FF Trainer Certification Guide. USA: Fatal Fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your training should at least include the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: including back squat, front squat, lunges.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Box Jumps: various heights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/06/25/the-deadlifts-role-in-power-development/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for power development&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sam Byrd, a power lifter, is known for his training style which would fit your needs quite well.  He starts with squats running 5 sets of 5 reps, but the weight stays the same.  He uses CAT to decrease the time it takes for each set, and then when he can't shave more time off of that he cuts down the rest times between sets until he can get all 5x5 done within 13-15 minutes.  Once he hits that threshold he will increase the weight and repeat.  He has two squat sessions a week, one for back squats and one for front squats.  Sam's training methodology was outlined in Juggernaut Training Systems' ebook on squat training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Box jumps and lunges are supplemental activities.  The idea behind box jumps is to generate power.  You don't need to jump as high as you can, but you'll jump on to a platform for 5 sets of 5.  When that becomes too easy, increase the height of the platform.  Lunges should be more like 5 sets of 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more detail and programs geared more towards athletes who are in more traditional sports (track and field, football, etc.), Do check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Juggernaut Training Systems&lt;/a&gt;.  You can download the 3 free training manuals which includes the squat training manual that outlines Sam Byrd's training.  They also have a couple well regarded books called &quot;The Juggernaut System 2.0&quot; and &quot;The Cube Method&quot;.  I hate to sound like I'm plugging them, but they are a source I trust and I know they also train non-strength sport athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-25T16:26:35.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12928" CreationDate="2013-06-25T17:10:27.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you may have sprained your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shoulder2hand.com.au/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/triangular_fibrocartilage_complex_fcc_injuries.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TFCC.&lt;/a&gt;  It is one of the most common wrist injuries when it comes to weight training, especially after doing lots and lots of pull-ups or push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a sports physical therapist, I would first recommend you to take away all painful activities, yes this includes the punching and doing pull-ups.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, you should try to protect your wrist by wrapping it or wearing a wrist brace during weight training over the next 4 weeks or so.  You can also substitute bent-over rows and overhand lat pull-down for the pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If things don't get better, you should go get it check out either by your orthopedist or by a physical therapist.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For future references, you always want to train proximal stability (rotator cuff and scap stabilizers) for distal mobility.  Secondly, you should not try to progress too fast, and in your case, it seems like that may be it.  This progression may not be just by doing pull-ups, but also by doing lots and lots of repetitive motion that may cause stress and strain to the wrist (punching, push-ups, gripping and pulling things).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-06-25T17:10:27.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12931" CreationDate="2013-06-25T18:09:21.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tom Kurz' book Science of Sports Training has a good chapter on speed training, with oodles of studies backing it up. One relevant section is on page 191-192:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A well-trained athlete must rest 5-8 minutes between sprints of up to 100 meters if the number of repetitions is not excessive. Because these rest intervals are so long, besides passive rest light exercises similar to or imitating the main exercise are done while the athlete is recovering to maintain the specific neuromuscular coordination for the main exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Naglak (1979) speed exercises should be done in small doses but frequently, even several times during the day, but in varying form and in different conditions and not too often at the maximal speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last part about avoiding full-time work at maximal speed is in order to prevent a &amp;quot;speed barrier&amp;quot; from forming, which is discussed in more detail in the book. There is literally an entire chapter on this specific topic, so I recommend reading the book or narrowing down the question. Personally, as someone using sprints for other sports and fitness purposes, I do three to six sprints with anywhere from thirty seconds to a few minutes between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that speed training is distinct from power training, and the set/rep/rest schemes that work for barbells are not the same as those that work for interval sprints, kettlebells, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The element of weight training that you want for speed is power. Power is optimally developed with a moderate number of reps (e.g. 3-6) done with near-maximal bar speed (though pauses between reps are fine) and submaximal loads. For the goal of optimal sprint times, that might mean five sets of three power cleans or snatches done at 60% of your 1RM, or four sets of four at 70%, or similar. I'd also make sure to work on maximal strength, which in the context of running would mean a handful of near-maximal deadlifts. For instance, one heavy set of 3, five singles, a maximal set of 2, or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For sprints, the takeaway I got from Kurz' book was that the best way to train speed was to take &lt;em&gt;complete rests&lt;/em&gt; between sprints. One would still do longer runs and sprints where one was not fully rested, but maximal sprints seem to develop best when fully rested but not cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-06-25T20:53:51.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12901" CreationDate="2013-06-25T19:03:04.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I put this much detail into this post because I am concerned about your weight, and dietary preferences beyond just the sugar from soda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lego's answer is quite comprehensive, but to me it sounds way too painful, unnecessary and unnatural. Unnatural because your metabolism will still be dealing with carbs, doesn't matter how complex or what glycemic index they have. Just like a lot of calorie-restriction low-fat diets are unnatural. As long as high levels of carbs are there, the instinct will remain, and you will have to deal with withdrawal for ages, It's torturous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lego's solution implies Personality-conditioning, Personality-conditioning in the face of your body generating withdrawal and longing. You can just condition your body, a very painless process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low-carb diets are the answer to your problems, Your metabolic processes change and your body's hunger mechanism is completely changed, one change is insulin and blood sugar is no longer in the loop, so your body literally forgets about sugar. You don't have to stick to the diet forever, 2 weeks would be enough to break the addiction I reckon. but you are a heavy dude like me), and are probably heading to type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure :(, so it be worth sticking to it for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will most likely be a gap in your life if you eliminate those things which you took great pleasure from. I recommend endurance exercise to fill this gap :D &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Atkins program is quite good a good way to start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here is What you do :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop eating carbs and sugar, 60% fat + 35% protein and 5% complex veggie carbs. No bread, no pasta, no fruit. Your addiction will literally fall through the floor 6 or so days in. You'll have 2 days or so of fogginess, after that your set. Add more salt to your food because you excrete more salt when you eat like this, if you don't you might start feeling faint, eat more salt especially during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hunger in general is countered by:&lt;/strong&gt; Fat. Slow digesting, and the stream of fat entering the blood stream inhibits hunger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longing for sugar/carbs is countered by:&lt;/strong&gt; the elimination of insulin spikes, and the stable blood sugar levels brought about by ketones, and the adaption of most of your cells to fat metabolism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, eating lots of fat is NOT BAD:&lt;/strong&gt; (only misconception I will address). Once your body has adapted, there is actually a preferential order as to how your body consumes fat. The dangerous types of fats are burned before the healthier ones. This means that over time a person on this has SIGNIFICANTLY better bloodwork than those on a carb-based diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Experience&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to eat 1-2k worth of processed sugar almost every day. I would think about sugar when I wasn't eating it. It was almost an addiction. I switched to Atkins and started training on a bike, I have lost 9 kg in six weeks, and probably would have lost more if I hadn't been gaining muscle mass. I eat 1.8-2.5k calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After the first 3-4 days I stopped thinking about sugar/complex carbs ENTIRELY.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can under eat to 1k calories (maintaining 100 g of protein) without feeling any hunger pangs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I drink a double glass of coffee with 3-4 tbsp of double cream and 2 tablespoons of Splenda in the morning, I doubt any soda ever tasted as good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.s., to those with stereotypical unscientific negative notions on carbless diets I refer &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Science-Carbohydrate-Living-ebook/dp/B005CVV2AE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&amp;amp;q=stephen%20phinney&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;as_sdt=1,5&amp;amp;as_sdtp=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6146" LastEditorUserId="6146" LastEditDate="2013-06-25T19:32:23.463" LastActivityDate="2013-06-25T19:32:23.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12829" CreationDate="2013-06-26T08:25:56.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pick five: squat, deadlift, bench press, floor press, dips (weighted when strong enough), pullup (ditto), chinup (ditto), standing overhead press, SLDL, one handed row, barbell row (Yates style), T-bar row (can be done by fixing one end of a barbell in corner of room). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just pick five and make sure those exercises cover the entire body (for example: squats, dips, chinups, overhead press, SLDL), and then focus on &lt;em&gt;mastering&lt;/em&gt; them. That means doing just them with perfect form for at least half a year. No need to do anything else - no, not even curls (if chinups don't get you big biceps I don't know what curl will!). But you probably won't listen to me about this until you find out that that's all you needed once you get more experienced. That's ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, regarding your current routine, that's too much work for one session, so hopefully you were going to split that up. Also, doing deadlifts after a long session is dangerous - you have to be focused on your form unless you want a debilitating injury! Do them first or second. In general, arrange the exercises so that you work the biggest muscle groups first, or so that the biggest exercises are done first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, you can do your own routine, it's ok - but remove ALL of the curls. The bicep is a small muscle, it will grow tremendously from chinups and underhand rows, and no isolation work is necessary. Trust me, I'm an experienced iron-lover. I'd suggest you focus on some bigger compound exercises instead of mindlessly curling all the time! Also, you have plenty of overlap, for instance even though you have deadlifts in your routine you also have shrugs. I can't see the need for those. BUT, if you do them on different days it could be ok. Regarding the training frequency, 2 days a week is enough if you're working hard. Each time try to get a bit more weight on the bar (if you have access to really small plates, called &quot;little gems&quot;, which are just a few pounds, add them each workout) and/or try to do more reps. This is called double progression: when you can do 2 reps more than your goal, increase weight next workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see you're not focusing on the legs at all (you said it yourself in the question), so I'll suggest some safe ways to train them, ok? &#xA;Remember, the harder you work your lower body the better your entire body grows!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try one legged squats. If you can't do them or balancing is a problem, grasp onto something - ideally a rope suspended from somewhere overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try sissy squats. This is a great movement for the quads and you're not crushing your spine here. You don't have to use any extra weight. Again, if balance is a problem, grip onto something. Even if it isn't hold on in case you lose your balance and can't get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try wall squats. Basically, you 'sit' against just a wall. Your legs are parallel to the floor. Get a stopwatch and compete with your friends who can last longer. This is a very safe movement (and very painful!), and I really suggest you doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, remember to rest and recover after each workout. Train hard (eat hard too!), enjoy yourselves, but then remember to have a life outside the gym. Training is meant to improve your life, not to become your life, and this applies to any lifter out there, no matter how experienced and hardcore.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I don't hope this helps because I know it does, I hope you listen! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6151" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T08:25:56.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-26T08:30:58.273" Score="5" ViewCount="716" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know if &quot;panic&quot; is the right word: every time I squat, when my stomach get compressed (during the descendent phase), I feel a real uncomfortable feeling. Something like a small panic attack. However, I am not scared of weightlifting and I have this feeling even when I am lifting only 80% of my 5RM. I may be wrong but I have the impression my body is reacting to some kind of compression of the diaphragm. Have you ever experience something like that? If yes, do you know what may be the cause and how to solve such an annoying problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6150" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:31:20.127" Title="Panic when squatting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12760" CreationDate="2013-06-26T08:45:23.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are few things to say on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) You cannot build good muscle if you only do kick-boxing and/or circuit resistance training. If you want to gain muscles you have to two things: weight-lift and eat properly (see 2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The first thing to keep in mind when you want to gain weight is that you need to bring into your body more calories than you burn. Also, the correct division of macros is essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Now the answer to your question: yes and no. Yes, you do not need to eat a huge amount of protein to gain muscles. Many people do because having a good amount of protein in your blood flow facilitate building muscles (and avoid catabolic reactions). However, protein are indeed building blocks for your muscles: therefore you cannot gain size without a proper amount of the. How much is a proper amount? This vary from person to person, the old-fashioned rule of thumb says bodybuilder should take at least 1.0 - 1.6 grams of protein per lb (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbprotein.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no doctor so I cannot tell you if this intake is too much for you, given your condition. You should definitely speak to your doctor or to a nutritionist. You also asked for supplements: yes, there are supplements that may help you gaining weight. However, they are called supplements for one reason; you cannot do any good if you do not provide a basics amount of macros (in this case protein) to your body. If you are interested on the matter you can read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/top-5-supps-for-faster-muscle-gain.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;, which summarize all the basic supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6150" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T08:45:23.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9599" CreationDate="2013-06-26T09:00:26.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The latissimus dorsi extends the shoulder joint - meaning it brings the elbows from overhead to near the body. When you're deadlifting, the lats work really hard because you need to keep the bar close to your body. If your form is correct, the lats will be hit hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the pain you felt was muscle burn and not anything related to injury, that's ok. But, maybe the bar is a bit too much away from you at the beginning of the movement. Try getting in position so the part of your feet where your shoelaces are is under the bar, and your shin touches it a bit. Make sure your back is straight and your upper back is tight. You don't &quot;need&quot; to do any exercise, but the deadlift is a great one because it works a huge amount of muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The deadlift is usually classified as a back exercise, although I'd say it's literally a &quot;back exercise&quot; because it works every muscle on the back of your body from your feet to your neck! Everything there gets a good beating. &#xA;But I'd never say it's a leg exercise, or for shaping the legs. The reason is, the main movers are the spinal erectors (lower back), the glutes and the hamstrings. Only the hamstrings are really a part of the leg, and they could be better hit with the romanian deadlift, for example. There's no doubt the deadlift will give you powerful hamstrings, but it will mainly give you a big back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You don't. The belt is here to keep your entire core tight - but you can do that on your own. If your core isn't tight you could get hernia. But you'd need to lift really really heavy weights for that to happen. I never use the belt myself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6151" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T09:00:26.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12760" CreationDate="2013-06-26T09:17:15.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mike Mentzer, a former mr Universe (only one with a perfect score), ate around 100 grams of protein daily. He questioned bodybuilding dogma (and was probably the most controversial bodybuilder ever) and reasoned it made no sense to eat a lot of protein because protein wasn't used for energy like carbs and fat are. That means it isn't dependent on your activity levels. I suggest reading &lt;em&gt;How much protein&lt;/em&gt; by Brad Pilon (author of Eat Stop Eat), where he analyzed lots of research on protein intake. Among other things he mentions that in scientific research &quot;high protein&quot; means 0.55 to 0.7 grams per pound. In bodybuilding &quot;high protein&quot; is 2-3 grams per pound! He says the protein intake should be between 70 to 120 grams per day on average, even for steroid users. &#xA;Here's one more article for you to check out:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that it's the supplement companies that own all the biggest muscle magazines, and that they use those magazines to advertise their own products. The supplement industry is a billion dollar business! &#xA;How do you think George Hackenschimdt became one of the strongest men ever to live in the beginning of the 20th century, with &lt;em&gt;no supplements&lt;/em&gt; whatsoever? All he needed was hard work, good food and lots of rest, and the same applies to you and me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6151" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T09:17:15.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12946" CreationDate="2013-06-26T09:36:48.590" Score="6" ViewCount="9620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I explained my workout, which is quite close to StrongLifts, to my physiotherapist. She told me I'd better avoid Back Squats and do Front Squats instead, because back squats and things like behind-neck barbell overhead press force me to squeeze my shoulders too much. I have slightly bent forward shoulders. The idea is that I'd better use front squats and dumbbell press seated instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please avoid any answer with the tiring &quot;If you want do to StrongLifts then do StrongLifts&quot; bullshit (I encourage readers to furiously downvote such answers, if any). My question is, does it matters much for the program if I do Front Squats instead of Back Squats. If so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-06-26T14:28:25.973" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T00:40:06.893" Title="Is it OK to substitute Front Squats for Back Squats in StrongLifts 5x5?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12942" CreationDate="2013-06-26T09:51:26.890" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unless your goals include having a strong back-squat there is nothing wrong substituting them with front squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be curious to know why your physio would suggest one of the other, but I strongly recommend heeding her advice. But both variants are useful for building powerful legs, and while front squats will engage your quads more than back squats. While back squats will engage your hamstrings more than front squats, any imbalances can be corrected through your deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T09:51:26.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12945" CreationDate="2013-06-26T10:59:01.347" Score="2" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any bodyweight bicep exercises? Or any form of bicep exercise that can be performed without equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-06-26T18:10:24.143" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T08:49:35.843" Title="Bodyweight Bicep Excercises" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12944" CreationDate="2013-06-26T11:38:38.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are upper body movements that involve the biceps, but none that isolate them specifically like you can with dumbbells or machines.  Examples include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chin Ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWUnderhandSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Inverse Rows&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWUnderhandSupineRowHigh.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;high bar&lt;/a&gt; variation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically anything that involves pulling will involve the biceps, and more so if you do it with a suppinated grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T11:38:38.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12942" CreationDate="2013-06-26T13:13:46.003" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of squat variations, and they are all good exercises: front squat, high bar back squat, zercher squats, goblet squats.  The mobility issues can be temporary if you work at them intelligently and over time.  So I'll address the question in two parts.  First is the question you explicitly asked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By all means substitute front squats in place of back squats.&lt;/strong&gt;  Unless you are planning on competing in power lifting, the back squat isn't absolutely necessary.  Additionally, if/when you ever try to re-introduce back squats, do them high bar.  The torso is more upright, and like front squats they are also a little more quad dominant.  That's OK because deadlifts will take care of your posterior chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But don't neglect upper thoracic mobility.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is something I'm working on myself, and my upper back mobility has been preventing me from going very heavy on front squats because the bar wants to keep rolling forward.  I found an article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mikereinold.com/2011/10/simple-thoracic-spine-mobility-exercises-everyone-can-perform.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple thoracic spine mobility&lt;/a&gt; with exercises everyone can perform.  The one mobility exercise that helped the most would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=UYnsRN5pOgc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.  Also to work on shoulder mobility itself, the DieselCrew has an excellent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=A0ONHZmsFec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rehab protocol&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCp-YynBEvE&amp;amp;feature=player_embedded&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;warmup routine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any time you are benching, overhead pressing, or doing back squats, I recommend starting with the DieselCrew warmup routing to open up the shoulders and getting them ready to work.  Use light weights for them, it's meant to be warmup not actual work.  After pressing, you might want to work on dumbbell front raises or reverse flies for light weight with high reps (between 10 and 20 reps for 5 sets).  You can alternate them on pressing days.  The purpose is to strengthen the upper back and rotator cuff so your shoulders return to a more natural orientation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After a couple months try high bar back squats.&lt;/strong&gt;  Between the shoulder rehab/warmup and the upper thoracic mobility work, your shoulders should now be in a more favorable position rather than slumped forward.  Stick with high bar, and use a wide grip.  That should allow you to back squat without pain, and it is competition legal should you ever decide to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T13:13:46.003" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12944" CreationDate="2013-06-26T14:11:58.707" Score="7" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Chin-ups&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chin-ups pull-ups pull-ups pull-ups chin-ups pull-ups, chin-ups chin-ups. Chin-ups &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; pull-ups, as well as chin-ups, or chin-ups &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; pull-ups, alternating between chin-ups and pull-ups on different days, chin-ups chin-ups chin-ups, pull-ups chin-ups, chins, pulls, chinning and pulling. Specifically, chin-ups and pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chin-up negatives, chin-up holds at the top, chin-up holds at the bottom, chin-up Frenchies, chin-up ladders, maximum repetitions of chin-ups, many many sets of just a few chin-ups, narrow grip chin-ups, wide grip chin-ups, alternated grip chin/pull-ups, towel chin-ups, pull-ups leaping to another bar, chin-ups with a slide to each side at the top, chin-ups with extra weight, weighted pull-ups, greasing the groove with chin-ups throughout the day, chin-ups with short rest periods, chin-ups with long rest periods, chin-ups in a circuit with dips, ring chin-ups, clapping pull-ups, muscle-ups, 50 chin-ups a day no matter how you split 'em up, fifty chin-ups in as few sets as possible, as many chin-ups as you can do in twenty minutes, slow chin-ups, explosive chest-to-bar chin-ups, chin-ups with a little kip on the last rep or two, chin-ups with a friend helping for a few extra reps, chin-up contests, chin-ups alone at home, chin-ups on alternating days, chin-ups at the beginning of the workout, chin-ups throughout the workout, chin-ups at the end of the workout, chin-ups for biceps, chin-ups for justice, chin-ups for God and country, chin-ups for looking good, chin-ups for athletics, chin-ups just for you, chin-up gumbo, chin-up lasagna, chin-up ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, &lt;strong&gt;chin-ups&lt;/strong&gt;. (And pull-ups.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T08:49:35.843" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T08:49:35.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12942" CreationDate="2013-06-26T14:16:57.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back squats, low-bar or not, are preferred to front squats because they allow heavier loads. Some say that back squats use more hamstrings and glutes than the front squat, but I've found this isn't a major concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squats are a fine exercise and I'm sure that they'll work almost as well as back squats. You won't advance &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; as quickly, but I doubt you'll be able to notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I'm substituting front squats for back squats due to flexibility issues in my back, shoulders, and hips. That's OK. But avoiding the back squat forever because it's a lot of work to fix those issues is not a great idea, and not part of my plan. I absolutely plan on back squatting again, and am working on regaining that ability, because avoiding an exercise due to a fixable issue is not a productive way to live. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T00:40:06.893" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T00:40:06.893" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12587" CreationDate="2013-06-26T16:29:21.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally haven't used the tools, but well known power lifter Mike Tuscherer does.  They help analyze the power you apply to the bar.  When you combine a tool like that with Compensatory Acceleration Training, it can tell you how well you are accelerating through the lift as it becomes more mechanically advantageous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tools like that are most useful when comparing a string of training sessions.  Let's say you train like a Sam Byrd where you stay at the same weight and try to minimize the time it takes to lift it for 5 sets of 5.  Sam first improves the rep speed using CAT until there is too little change in that before he minimizes rest times.  The tool will tell you whether your bar speed and power production are increasing or staying fairly constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more dialed in your technique, the more useful the gadget becomes.  If you don't train like Sam Byrd, and you really don't care about CAT or bar speed, then these units aren't going to be of much use to you.  In short, you may have to change the way you train to make use of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T16:29:21.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12944" CreationDate="2013-06-26T19:14:22.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chin-ups and pull-ups. If you don't have a pull-up bar, buy one, or go outside, parks and playgrounds will often have such facilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a pull-up bar, or while you're waiting until it arrives, you can do isometric bicep exercises, using eg. a table (putting your hands under and pulling it up) or a towel (putting it eg. under your toes and pulling up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mean bicep exercises with absolutely no equipment, just your body, then there's not much. You can still do isometric exercises, eg. pulling your legs, or knee to your chest (standing on one leg or lying on the floor) while simultaneously pushing your knees away. Another thing that works the bicep is turning your forearms while keeping the elbows fixed and bent.&#xA;Note, that the biceps are stabilizers in most exercises where your body is supported on your hands (push-ups, handstands etc.) that is, they don't work much.&#xA;But none of this compares in intensity to pull-ups (the last couple of exercises I mentioned are mostly used in rehab).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T19:14:22.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12847" CreationDate="2013-06-26T19:28:42.650" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For men: (height in centimeters) - 100 = ideal weight in kilograms.&#xA;For women the same but minus 110.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb for natural bodybuilders this is the maximum weight for entering a competition. Of course, not everyone is a competing natural bodybuilder - in fact, my mother taught me this 'weight standard' when I was a kid, and I was surprised to learn that it applies to bodybuilding too.&#xA;In general, you should strive to weigh that much while being as muscular as you want. Even if you don't have much muscle you'll look good and healthy at that weight. If you actually are interested in natural bodybuilding and that seems light to you, consider you'd be weighing that much with a very low bodyfat percentage...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for a 6 ft male:&#xA;182-100=82 kg=180 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the weight in pounds is actually almost equal to the height in centimeters here, but that isn't the same for other heights. For a 190 cm tall man the ideal weight is 198 lbs, not 190. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6151" LastActivityDate="2013-06-26T19:28:42.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12882" CreationDate="2013-06-27T04:56:13.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try an erg like a Concept2 if you have access to the one.  My only concern is if you would put too much pressure on the toe during the leg drive phase.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would agree with the other commenters who mentioned rest.  You may find your body recovers in some other ways as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="664" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T04:56:13.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12954" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13632" CreationDate="2013-06-27T08:54:59.807" Score="4" ViewCount="2351" Body="&lt;p&gt;Question is quite simple. I'm looking for &lt;strong&gt;gym-specific&lt;/strong&gt; bunch of exercises which can help me to build up swimming performance/endurance/speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when I'm not in the water I can still be continuously improving my swimming. Of course I know that I need to go into water because of technique training, feel of water etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: focused on &lt;strong&gt;crawl&lt;/strong&gt; performance. Not interested in strength improvement in other styles at this moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:32:01.857" Title="How to improve swimming performance in the gym?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;crawl&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12955" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-27T09:00:58.237" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T09:00:58.237" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T09:00:58.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12956" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-27T09:00:58.237" Score="0" Body="Most common competitive swimming technique." OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T11:53:06.067" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T11:53:06.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12957" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13630" CreationDate="2013-06-27T09:04:41.957" Score="4" ViewCount="1135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for exercises which can help me compensate muscle overload generated by swimming (mainly crawl).  I crawl about 3 to 4 times a week and I want to focus on that style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard that you should compensate each crawl session with an equally long backstroke session, but I don't want to spend another 3 days per week in the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I really need to do this or are there better ways - I'd prefer exercising in the gym anywhere else out of the water - to compensate for the overload?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-28T08:07:00.203" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T17:47:40.720" Title="How to compensate swimming overload in the gym?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;crawl&gt;&lt;backstroke&gt;&lt;compensation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12958" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-27T09:05:50.303" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T09:05:50.303" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T09:05:50.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12959" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-27T09:05:50.303" Score="0" Body="Special exercises which help to compensate and reduce overload on body generated by specific repeating sport/movement." OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T11:52:59.753" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T11:52:59.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12960" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-27T09:06:34.697" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T09:06:34.697" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T09:06:34.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12961" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-27T09:06:34.697" Score="0" Body="One of the swimming techniques." OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T11:52:43.033" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T11:52:43.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12962" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-27T12:53:08.157" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T12:53:08.157" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T12:53:08.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12963" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-27T12:53:08.157" Score="0" Body="Volleyball is a team sport usually played by 12 players. Players have different roles such as: setter, hitter or blocker. This type of sport can be potentially dangerous for human physical fitness because of shocks caused by landing to hard floor or overhelming specific parts of body like knees, ankles, shoulders or back." OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T18:16:05.927" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T18:16:05.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12920" CreationDate="2013-06-27T14:15:58.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Fundamental human movements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to create a set of &quot;best&quot; exercises that cover all one's weightlifting bases. The best way to do so, in my mind, is with Dan John's movement classifications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hinge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull (upper body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push (upper body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not convinced that Carry is as fundamental as the others, but if it was generalized to &quot;locomote&quot; I would strongly agree. This gives us an enormous grab bag of exercises within each category:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front squat, pistol, goblet squat...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift, clean, snatch, Romanian deadlift, tire flip...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups, barbell rows, Kroc rows...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench, overhead press, dips, push-ups...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking lunges, waiter's carries, sprints, hiking, sled drags...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arranging them in this way makes it simple to combine them in a complementary way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Squat, Bench, Dead&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the Big Three of powerlifting leave out a key movement: pulling. This can be easily remedied with pull-ups. A similar omission (and solution) exists when training Olympic-style weightlifting with cleans, overhead pressing, snatches, and squats. The framework suggests as well that both of these approaches could be rounded out with some locomotion as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not to say, however, that a powerlifter or Olympic lifter or gymnast who omits a squat and hinge movement is going to fall apart at the seams. It's just that these are version 0.1 of the broad strokes of a complete approach to moving the human body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have cycled through several personal &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9979/what-exercises-would-make-up-the-minimum-complete-general-fitness-workout&quot;&gt;favorite combinations&lt;/a&gt; of well-rounded exercise groups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dan John's minimal program: clean and press, front squat, pull-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Starting Strength approach: Back squat, deadlift, bench and overhead press, pull-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian or regular deadlift, front squat, dips, pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In doing so, it is increasingly clear to me that the specific exercises are not as important as getting in all or most of the major movement types and making sure to work on one's weak points. I think periodically replacing one type of squat for another, for example, is good for keeping our bodies robust and widely capable. There's also tremendous room for variation within these classifications. For example, we can explode the last group into multiple approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three light sets of 12 Romanian deadlift for flexibility, front squat for three sets of 5, three sets of dips, three sets of maximum pull-up reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A five-round circuit of max pull-ups/10 front squats/max dips/20 Romanian deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greasing the groove with short sets of pull-ups throughout the day, then an actual workout of front squats for two heavy triples, weighted dips, and one heavy set of 10 Romanian deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these produces different results, despite using the same exercises. One can play with the qualities of conditioning, strength, hypertrophy, mobility, and power by titrating the load, set/rep scheme, and arrangement/timing of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't think there is any &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; set of best weightlifting exercises, but I do think there are many approaches that qualify as optimal. I think that keeping an eye on &lt;strong&gt;movements&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;qualities&lt;/strong&gt; is the best way to create an optimal approach for a given trainee at a given point in time with specific goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T14:15:58.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12966" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-27T14:34:39.623" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T14:34:39.623" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T14:34:39.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12967" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-27T14:34:39.623" Score="0" Body="Bones are solid parts of a human body and providing necessary support and protection for organs and muscles." OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-06-27T18:16:16.490" LastActivityDate="2013-06-27T18:16:16.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12855" CreationDate="2013-06-28T01:06:43.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Set the lat pull machine to 80kg, don't place your legs under the knee pads. Perform a TWO handed lat pull down. If your body lifts off the ground rather then pulling the lat pull handle down then there is clearly extra frictional resistance on the machine. Try again for 85kg. At 85kg your body should come off the seat but the pulldown machine handle should also move a little down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've determined the pully weight is correct you must be cheating a little and using momentum to help you with the One-Armed Chinup. I'm currently 81kg and can do a 75kg single arm lat pull, but I can't do a one arm chin-up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6160" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-28T03:23:53.330" LastActivityDate="2013-06-28T03:23:53.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12972" CreationDate="2013-06-28T04:47:46.890" Score="0" ViewCount="14313" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two questions regarding &lt;a href=&quot;http://phantzm.com/IMG_0002.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this picture of myself&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can I get rid of that stubborn chest fat that's surrounding my nipples?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you can see the right side of my chest is longer than my left side. What can I do about that?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started jogging/walking (80% walk + 20% jog) should I continue it? What should I change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6161" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-06-28T07:57:37.793" LastActivityDate="2019-05-19T03:41:14.753" Title="Stubborn Chest Fat/One side of chest length longer" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12855" CreationDate="2013-06-28T07:45:58.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is because the motion is completely different when doing a pull-up and when pulling down on the lat machine. I for example could chin-up my bodyweight + as much weight attached to my body. I couldn't pull down as much on the lat machine. Your body works in a different way on these two similar but yet different exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have released a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxoLbji8ts0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tutorial online&lt;/a&gt; two years ago regarding the one arm chin-up/pull-up. It's one of the most popular on youtube now, I am encouraging to watch it for additional ideas. In case you have more time check out the narrated version of the tutorial, I am explaining A LOT about this exercise and how it works. Cheers and good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any additional questions about the exercise please fire away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-06-28T07:45:58.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12970" CreationDate="2013-06-28T08:21:59.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A diet will fix the chest fat. Eat a healthy, balanced diet, so: vegetables, grain(but not white flour!), fruit, lots of water(this really helps, my best advice is to drink a glass of water as soon as you urinate. This will make you use the restroom a lot for a few days but after that it'll normalize and you'll simply be drinking a lot of water - that makes the hormone receptors stick further out of your cells' lipid bilayer so they're more receptive), and meat, milk and eggs, but those three in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dissymmetry with the pectoralis muscles is really common. Actually, I'm sure it's common on all muscles, but the pectoralis are very close together so it's visible. In any case, there's nothing you can do about it. But you still have a layer of fat over them, so who knows, maybe they're actually quite symmetric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking and jogging is great. If you aren't doing any other exercising, I'd suggest some bodyweight exercises: pushup, chinup, australian pushups (reverse pushups), planks, wall sits. &#xA;Also, jump rope is great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6151" LastActivityDate="2013-06-28T08:21:59.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12970" CreationDate="2013-06-28T13:00:24.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a two pronged question deserving of a two pronged answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting Rid of Stubborn Fat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This requires a diet change, and perhaps a look at your grooming products.  Focus on whole foods and lean sources of protein.  You may want to have your T levels checked as well.  The Art of Manliness put together a nice 4 part series on testosterone and what you can do if you have low T:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/01/13/testosterone-week-intro/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Testosterone Week: The Declining Virility of Men and the Importance of T&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/01/14/testosterone-benefits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Testosterone Week: The Benefits of Optimal Testosterone&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/01/15/how-testosterone-is-made/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Testosterone Week: A Short Primer on How T Is Made&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/01/16/normal-testosterone-levels/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Testosterone Week: What’s a “Normal” Testosterone Level and How to Measure Your T&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/01/18/how-to-increase-testosterone-naturally/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Testosterone Week: How I Doubled My Testosterone Levels Naturally and You Can Too&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The articles are very accessible to folks who are not doctors, and at least gives you an idea of what affects T levels, what normal T levels are, and what you can do about it without resorting to crazy measures.  A couple of the takeaways from the final installment are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your diet should have higher fat/cholesterol content&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need some sort of resistance training--whether barbell or body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid common xenoestrogens (note: grooming/cleaning products not mentioned in the article that also work are Every Man Jack and Bert's Bees)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One Side Longer Than the Other&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be a dissymmetry in fat distribution, or in the underlying muscle.  Perhaps even a little of both.  In order to &quot;correct&quot; muscular dissymmetry you should use unilateral movements.  Basically you are working the left and right side independently.  For example, doing dumbbell presses with one arm at a time, and adding an extra rep or two to the side that is smaller.  To correct unsymmetrical fat distributions you need to get rid of excess fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The combination of losing fat and gaining muscle will help correct the things you are concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-06-28T13:00:24.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4681" CreationDate="2013-06-28T14:54:22.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard this as well, and honestly as a person who really wants to get ripped and lean all I can do is try the 16 hour fast and make sure my meals are healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried this fasting program for only one week now. I workout fasted and do low intensity cardio fasted and then I consume my meals throughout the 8 hour window. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I am stronger and leaner from doing this program for one week. I can see the results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, your body is different than others so all you can do is try the program for a few weeks and see what your body looks like and how you feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is all about nutrient timing in my opinion. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6163" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-06-28T15:56:05.873" LastActivityDate="2013-06-28T15:56:05.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-28T19:57:37.760" Score="2" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am really looking for some help on how to lose weight and increase my core strength. I am 22 years old, weigh around 76kg and my height is 5ft 8 inchs. Basically I am overweight. My aim is to reach 65kg and build some lean muscle. I have approximately 6-8 months to achieve this goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started going to a gym nearby this month.The schedule I am following is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cardio: running for 25 mins (around 2.5 - 3kms)(5 times a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;lower body - squats,leg press,calf raise etc. (twice a week), upper and lower abs (5 times a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;upper body - biceps/triceps/chest/shoulder(both machine and free weights)(thrice a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to ask if this schedule is good enough or do I have to make some changes. Also I need some advice on what nutrition to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I am following this food plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breakfast- 2 eggs or cornflaks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lunch - bread,pulses,vegetables,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dinner- bread,pulses,vegetables,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;late night snacks - fruits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am bit of an foodie, so I occasionally overeat.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People in my gym take some protein shakes and have suggested me to take whey protein(advanced myotein protein matrix).They give the reason that as I don't eat non-veg at home,I need the protein.Will this help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6166" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-06-29T04:40:56.663" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T23:07:51.193" Title="Weight loss routine" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13046" CreationDate="2013-06-29T00:39:25.780" Score="5" ViewCount="1719" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working on squatting recently, after going through a realization that it is really important to get your hips below your knees when you squat I've been trying to attain a full range of motion, ass to grass squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, as part of my workouts, I've been squatting with no weight, stretching all of the muscles I need to get deeper (hip flexors, quads, calfs, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing box squats and lowering it as I get small gains in flexibility.  I'm to the point where the box is ~6 in below my knee while standing upright but I'm realizing that it is going to take a while - maybe years - for me to gain that flexibility.  I've been going at this for a few months and even though I have small gains I'm to the point where progress is in centimeters/millimeters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure that this is a flexibility issue and not just bad form.  For example, if I lay on my side with my legs in line with my torso and try to pull one foot straight back, I can't get my heel to touch my glutes.  Also, many years ago, I did give myself a knee injury (damaged left meniscus) by trying to go deeper so now I'm very familiar with what a bad squat feels like and have a good sense of how my knees should feel when I'm going down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - with all of that being said - &lt;strong&gt;should I continue developing range of motion with no weight, or am I at a point where I can/should begin adding weight to my squats?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastEditorUserId="2059" LastEditDate="2013-06-29T01:00:52.350" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T16:07:55.730" Title="Should I squat ass to grass before adding load?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12977" CreationDate="2013-06-29T02:24:41.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This, this right here is your problem:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am bit of an foodie, so I occasionally overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As cliche as it is, what goes in your mouth is more important than what exercise you do. If you want to lose weight, you need to track what you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can't out run a bad diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes about:&#xA; - a minute to eat an apple or a cookie&#xA; - 5 minutes of jump rope to burn of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=calories%20in%20an%20apple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the calories in an apple&lt;/a&gt;&#xA; - 40 minutes of jump rope to burn of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=calories%20in%20a%20cookie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the calories in an cookie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By not eating a cookie, you save yourself 40 minutes of exercise, and you know its not one cookie. Until you control your snacking, and start tracking what you eat - both calories, and macro-nutrient breakdown, there isn't much else you can do for your goal of weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On the subject of vegetarians and whey protein supplements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey is a &lt;em&gt;supplementary food&lt;/em&gt;, so if you find that you aren't getting enough protein (ie. about 200g per day), and can't fill that gap through traditional means, then you use it to fill a gap in your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are eating well, mixing your pulses and grains properly, you can easily meet your protein requirements. Start by tracking your food intake and &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt; accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-29T23:07:51.193" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T23:07:51.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12988" CreationDate="2013-06-29T05:37:30.087" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read a few articles about the duration and intensity of aerobics,most of which were in contradiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard that interval running for 5 minutes with high speed(on treadmill) burns more &lt;strong&gt;FAT&lt;/strong&gt; than running with normal speed for 30 minutes(for example 8.0).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I do 20 minutes of treadmill and 20 minutes of cycling.&#xA;I would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6010" LastEditorUserId="6010" LastEditDate="2013-06-29T09:37:24.620" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T04:22:40.687" Title="Intensity or duration in aerobics?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12983" CreationDate="2013-06-29T07:38:56.777" Score="2" ViewCount="5330" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, I'm currently doing a lot of push-ups, and I need to increase number of push-ups I am able to do in a row (currently, I can do 34 push-ups in a single attempt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current routine is simple: 5-7 times a day I do a maximum of push-ups possible (currently that's 33-34), and I do this 7 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will be good training regime for it? Should I do several sets in a row (like 3x20) several times a day, or should I just do maximum number of push-ups in one set several times a day? Should I proceed with the routine 7 days a week, or some resting days are required?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I discovered &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hundredpushups.com&lt;/a&gt;, and they say there that 3 days a week, 4-5 sets on each day is the best way. How that could be possible? The total number of pushups a week is about 10 times smaller than I currently achieve, yet they advertise quicker improvement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="132" LastEditorUserId="132" LastEditDate="2013-06-29T07:47:13.167" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T23:06:48.933" Title="What reps/sets should I use in bodyweight excersices, if I need to train for total count of repetitions?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12982" CreationDate="2013-06-29T09:10:33.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't try to apply a mathematics approach to your training. What you are doing now is over training your body because you workout everyday. What that website suggested is better because by training 3 days per week your body will be able to recover on the other 4 and build strength. In your case there is no recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However what I encourage you to try when increasing the number of push-ups is something different I used several years ago. My goal then was 100 and I managed to reach 200 with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have to give it a name it would be an active-resting approach. That is because in this method you will be active even on your rest days but at the same time you will be still working out your body and making progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay so first before you try this take a rest for a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then on the next day do several sets with the maximum of your push-ups, let's say 34. So 4x34(or as much as you can on the sets after the first set).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the day after that do only 70% of what your maximum is which would be something like 23.(again 4 sets)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the day after this(the 3rd day since you started) do just 30% of your max reps which would be 10 push-ups.(again 4 sets)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the 4th day do your maximum again. Using this method on every 4th day you must be able to increase the number of push-ups with several repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. All sets must be done one after another within a rest interval of not more than 3 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps you achieve your goal, good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-06-29T09:10:33.000" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12977" CreationDate="2013-06-29T09:20:22.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really want to trim down, I would say 25 minutes of cardio is on the low side. I would aim for &lt;strong&gt;40 to 45 minutes&lt;/strong&gt;, 5 times a week and I would try to make sure these have a few high intensity intervals in them. Note that these 45 minutes &lt;strong&gt;do not need to be one block&lt;/strong&gt;. In fact splitting them between morning and afternoon can increase benefit as it will boost your metabolism for longer. If your work is nearby, cycling to work can achieve that really easily. But do your high intensity pedalling on the way home to avoid arriving at work sweaty!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein supplement can help you build muscle faster or recover better, but in my experience the vast majority of gym goers overdo it with those and forget that they actually represent additional calories. I would definitely never follow the advised quantity on the box which is always too much (unless you are training for Mr universe or something). One shake twice a week right after heavy sessions (i.e. legs) would probably provide best return on investment and not compromise your attempt at loosing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before worrying about &lt;em&gt;visibly&lt;/em&gt; building muscle, I would make sure some of the weight comes off. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-06-29T09:20:22.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12982" CreationDate="2013-06-29T09:39:48.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing a single set 5/7 times a day, I would try doing 2 or 3 sets in a row, with 1 to 2 minutes rest, 2/3 times a day. The second or third sets should feel a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt; harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that, It's not clear what your goal is in your question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-06-29T09:39:48.143" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-29T14:20:36.210" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember to have read somewhere (and it seems to me reasonable) that you might damage your spinal disks by repetitive excessive stress with not enough recovery time (yes, correct form for the exercises, do not overtrain, reps within the strength / hypertrophy / endurance range, yak yak yak)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder what is safer: more weight but less reps, or a lighter load that happens however more times. Of course, both cases must be somehow equivalent. Let's say that both cases lead to the same theoretical one-rep maximum calculation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it in numbers, let's say you are dealing with Overhead Press. You might equally well do either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up to 15 reps, close to failure, with 30 kg or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up to  5 reps, close to failure, with 44 kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this example I have used &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-repetition_maximum#Brzycki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brzycki's one-rep max formula&lt;/a&gt; (for no special reason).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is, what of the two options is safer for your spinal disks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-06-29T23:57:45.263" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T02:54:51.493" Title="What is safer for your spinal disks: short, high-load sets or longer sets with less weight?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1515" CreationDate="2013-06-29T16:34:58.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are swinging you are most likely trying to go too fast or you are lacking strength so the natural reaction of your body is to generate additional momentum so you can complete your pull-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, here's what I suggest to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a bar that is tall enough so when you hang off of it your feet won't touch the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assure that your whole body is straight as your hanging below the bar. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extend your legs, flex them and keep them and your feet together. I don't advise you to cross your feet, that will create a habit of executing the pull-ups in an ugly manner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now try a CONTROLLED pull-up where you don't generate any additional momentum and where you  have the whole movement under control. What I mean by &quot;under control&quot; is the ability to stop yourself at any point during the pull-up without swinging additionally. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your whole body straight during the pull-up and this way you will gain the most out of the exercise. In addition I will say that it's normal for your legs to go slightly in front of you as you are pulling yourself up in order for your body to balance itself. So don't worry about that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays when I do pull-ups I just keep my legs straight, I straddle them slightly because that helps me to balance it if I am going faster or doing clapping pull-ups, etc etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-06-29T16:34:58.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12981" CreationDate="2013-06-29T17:09:00.843" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes that is true. I will give you an idea of how you can understand this matter better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about fitness I always like to give an example that is referring to the human body and a regular car. Think of how much fuel your car is going to consume when you are driving with a slow speed and once you are driving a lot faster. Well it's kind of debatable because it really depends on the gear that you are on whilst driving. So let's say the consumption could be very similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the human body can't switch between different gears and thus the faster that you run the more stressful it will feel on your body(higher blood circulation rate, higher breathing rate, higher heart rate, etc). Thus the body will need more energy in order to keep going. In order to provide additional energy it will burn more calories. Now it really depends on how you have structured your workout regimen and your diet plan. If you did them well the calories will come mainly from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also here's another idea that I want to give you. Some years ago I was experimenting with running and I maximized my results as it follows - Because you can't sprint all the time you can try sprinting for 2 minute(let's say your maximum period of time is 3 minutes). Then jog for another 2 until your breathing stabilizes, then try sprinting for another 2 minutes and jog for another 2. Why do I suggest this method? Think about the car example again. A car will always consume more fuel in the city then it will on the highway. Because in the city the car will have to stop and start again and again(because of traffic jams, traffic lights, etc). Thus that will be very stressful and cause more fuel consumption. If you combine sprinting with jogging you will recreate the same type of stress on your body making it burn more calories in order to keep up. You should consider that this might feel stressful on your heart as well so in case you are overweight or have heart problems you might want to avoid this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-06-29T17:09:00.843" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12986" CreationDate="2013-06-29T18:48:45.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With regard to spinal disk safety during exercise, the critical factor is &lt;strong&gt;amount of impact&lt;/strong&gt; rather than actual load (within reason). So doing static lifts will usually be less stressful than playing basketball or running for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, &lt;strong&gt;maintaining good form during lifts is also critical&lt;/strong&gt; especially when your back is involved. In my experience, people are much more likely to lose form when doing heavy sets, so &lt;strong&gt;longer lighter sets are safer&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor to consider, is wether you already have a damaged disk or not (I do). If you do, stay away from heavy loads (I do). If you are just trying to avoid injury, limit short heavy sets for strength training only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-06-29T18:48:45.437" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-06-30T01:51:01.377" Score="6" ViewCount="2011" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have very tense muscles in my back (mainly my traps) and I am having trouble relaxing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physios have told me that my lower traps and rhomboids are weak and I should be trying to strengthen them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that different health professionals have advocated for and against strength training while the muscles are tense. But the muscles are tense partly because of muscle imbalance (I work as a programmer and my shoudlers have rounded and my head pokes forward a little bit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other reason they are tense is because I experience a lot of anxiety which manifests in the neck/shoulder/back region&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current approach to solving this problem is :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Psychologist and meditation for anxiety (root cause), and progressive muscle relaxation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Static stretches from the physio (traps, pecs, seratus anterior, lats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pilates once a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15mins Yoga daily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming 30mins (mainly breaststroke and backstroke) 3x a week, with cycling for 30mins as a change. Sauna after swim.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't seem to be getting any results. The stretches don't seem to have a big impact, the yoga and pilates feel good, but I'm not sure I do enough of them, and the swimming doesn't seem to build strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have to relax my back muscles before building strength? Does swimming build body strength? Would weights be an option? How can I get an objective measure of how these things are helping (either in building strength or flexibility)? Any ideas on other approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about self-administered trigger point therapy and using a bio-feedback device to learn not to tense my shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking here because different Physio's have advocated completely different approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6171" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-06-30T10:02:49.383" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:13:48.943" Title="Should I be building strength if I have very tense back/shoulder muscles?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12986" CreationDate="2013-06-30T02:54:51.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a quick research session, I can't find any research that shows that heavy lifting contributes to spinal disc degeneration. So, lift according to your goals, eg. more repetitions for hypertrophy or endurance, less reps for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Previously, heavy physical loading was the main suspected risk factor for disc degeneration. However, results of exposure-discordant monozygotic and classic twin studies suggest that physical loading specific to occupation and sport has a relatively minor role in disc degeneration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/2004/12010/Lumbar_Disc_Degeneration__Epidemiology_and_Genetic.12.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lumbar Disc Degeneration: Epidemiology and Genetic Influences&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The study showed that intensive training will increase the [bone mineral content] to an extent that the spine can tolerate extraordinary loads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/1987/03000/The_Loads_on_the_Lumbar_Spine_During_Extreme.10.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Loads on the Lumbar Spine During Extreme Weight Lifting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, resistance training can actually reduce the need for surgery:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A large number of patients who had been told they needed surgery were able to avoid surgery in the short term by aggressive strengthening exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993%2899%2990302-7/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Can spinal surgery be prevented by aggressive strengthening exercises? A prospective study of cervical and lumbar patients&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about disc compression, you can use a weight belt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Results suggest that the use of a lifting belt increases IAP, which may reduce disc compressive force and improve lifting safety&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&amp;amp;metadataPrefix=html&amp;amp;identifier=ADA215224&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effects of a Belt on Intra-Abdominal Pressure during Weight Lifting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T02:54:51.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12981" CreationDate="2013-06-30T04:22:40.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a complex topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are exercising, you are burning both fat and carbohydrate. If you are exercising easily, the bulk of the energy is coming from fat. As you start exercising harder, you will hit the limit of the energy that can be supplied through fat metabolism, and the extra energy will be supplied by carbohydrate metabolism. If you are working very hard, the majority of the energy comes from carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your specific question - whether 5 minutes at high speed burns more fat than 30 minutes at a lower speed, the answer is &quot;probably not&quot;, for a couple of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, even if you burnt all fat, that would mean that you would have to be working 6 times as hard to burn the same amount of energy in 5 minutes as in 30. That would be a very big spread in effort; if you are working pretty hard at both durations, it would be rare to work twice as hard on a 5 minute (a more typical ratio is perhaps 30% harder). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the majority of the extra energy you burn at 5 minutes would come from carbohydrate, not fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you are looking for burning more calories during a workout, a longer workout will nearly always burn more calories than a short one. If you want to lose weight, you should care about the overall number of calories you burn, not just the fat calories you burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, higher-intensity workouts do burn more calories per minute, and can also burn more fat calories per minute. They will also burn additional calories at a higher rate after the workout is over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A caution: High intensity workouts are harder on your body, and it's easy to overdo it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T04:22:40.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12997" CreationDate="2013-06-30T06:16:21.300" Score="1" ViewCount="1335" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've met physical education teacher in the swimming pool and he told me that swimming will NOT have significant effect for developing my vertical jump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we omit weight loss caused by swimming and better core muscles stability, can swimming help in developing leg (vertical jump) specific muscle groups? Or swimming (crawl) is focused on developing exactly contra non-water-sports muscle groups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2013-07-02T11:36:43.207" Title="Can swimming significantly help to improve vertical jump?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;vertical-jump&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12994" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-06-30T06:18:08.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of raising one's center of gravity higher in the vertical plane solely with the use of one's own muscles; it is a measure of how high an individual or athlete can elevate off the ground (jump) from a standstill.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;The vertical jump is divided into two different types:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Standing Vertical Jump:&lt;/strong&gt; This refers to a vertical jump done from a standstill with no steps being involved at all.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Running Vertical Jump:&lt;/strong&gt; This refers to a vertical jump after an approach or run to help add energy to the jump in an effort to improve on the standing vertical jump.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In general, the standing vertical jump is the one that is used as an official measurement for athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8266" LastEditorUserId="8266" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T15:41:47.560" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T15:41:47.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12995" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-06-30T06:18:08.773" Score="0" Body="Vertical Jump or Vertical Leap Definition" OwnerUserId="8266" LastEditorUserId="8266" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T15:41:54.320" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T15:41:54.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2013-06-30T06:26:10.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to do many open palm push ups.  Due to an injury unrelated to push ups, I had to have wrist surgery to repair a TFCC (forgot what that acronym means).  I was unable to do open palm pushups for about 1 year after surgery, so substituted knuckle pushups instead.  They are great, especially if you are predisposed to wrist problems.  I wear MMA gloves when I do them to protect my knuckles.  Been doing them for almost 3 years now.  No callouses or other issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6172" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T06:26:10.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12993" CreationDate="2013-06-30T07:07:36.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Vertical jump is an indicator of leg and hip power. Swimming doesn't promote the explosive movements required for a large vertical leap, especially not in the leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T07:07:36.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2013-06-30T07:59:56.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To improve cardio any fitness level you should run at a pace that is just faster than where it is still comfortable to talk as you run. It is also about technique, you should not tense your shoulders (they should be controlled but loose) and make sure that your arms do not cross the center of your body as you run because this is a very inefficient way to run. Keep your feet facing forward and your arms bent at a 90 degree angle. All this information has been sourced from varying places, including a friend who was a fitness specialist for years and personal experience. Ultimately make sure that you are comfortable (not too comfortable!) when you run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative to running for ages is interval training (shorter, more intense training periods) if you don't have heaps of time spare. I'm not too sure about what is best for what fitness level, and this improves anaerobic fitness rather than aerobic fitness, but there are a range of varying excercises that you can do that are easy to find with googles help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any cardio is better than no cardio. Never push TOO hard! Hopefully this is helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6173" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T07:59:56.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14126" CreationDate="2013-06-30T12:35:17.007" Score="16" ViewCount="2665" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to improve my flexiblity to be able to to center and front splits. Is there any &lt;strong&gt;safe&lt;/strong&gt; exercise program to follow which will lead me to this goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the week I have time to stretch for 10 min a day (perhaps sometimes even 2 sessions a day). At the weekend I have more time for longer sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So what exercises should I do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long should I hold the stretches? How often repeat it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How intense should the stretch be? (Should I do several rounds with increasing intensity in each session?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any special stretching techniques that will help?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On which days should I do which exercises in which order?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To measure my current status towards the front split I measured the angle in this position (it's not me on the picture) and got about 135 degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hpokq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2013-07-01T17:30:32.460" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T14:29:53.223" Title="Safe training regime to work towards center and front splits" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5290" CreationDate="2013-06-30T15:10:10.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very interesting topic that I have been discussing recently. It appears that genetically the skin of some people is not flexible and once they lose weight it remains stretched out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember when I lost 7kgs when cutting I didn't get any loose weight. But I have seen it with other people where their skin would remain stretched and loose after they would lose some fat(just how you are describing it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However what such people told me is that the skin won't go back regardless of the exercises. So the only option for them was to fill it in with muscles. This way it wouldn't stay loose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that I can suggest you more than enough exercises but you will have to combine them with proper nutrition plan in order to gain muscle. Right now if you are dieting to lose fat you can't really gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if my answer is what you are looking for, then I can suggest how to proceed further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T15:10:10.170" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13026" CreationDate="2013-06-30T15:34:05.723" Score="6" ViewCount="1305" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming the goal is to progress in size and strength using weight training, what are you thoughts on a routine that either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Uses a rep range of 5-8 (for example), where you start workout day 1 with a weight heavy enough that you can do 5 reps but not 6. And over the next few days/workouts, you use the same weight but aim for a 6th rep (assuming correct form and same speed), and over the next few workouts, a 7th, and finally an 8th rep (means you became stronger overtime). THEN you add enough weight to the same exercise so your next workout will end at 5 reps again, and you challenge yourself to reach the 8th rep over the next few workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) A routine that uses a fixed rep limit, say 5 reps dead, so the weight is heavy enough to complete 5 reps but not a 6th. In the next workout, you add a little weight (2 lbs for example), and aim to do 5 reps again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thoughts on number 1 is it becomes a nice challenge but I'm not sure if it will help with the goal of strength and size. My thought on number 2 is it will be quicker to stall because adding weight to the bar every workout will mean I will struggle with that weight if my strength doesn't keep up, and I may not have weights small enough to add in very small increments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please can I have some thoughts on this? I like the sound of method 1, but is there anything wrong with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6175" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-07-01T13:21:54.500" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T19:13:40.473" Title="What are you views on progress between rep range vs. fixed reps?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13001" CreationDate="2013-06-30T17:38:09.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; has a useful table for reps and sets for various training goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem with this question is, you will never build strength so fast that you are going to see a significant difference between sessions, so I'm not sure either method will really work. You will see progress from week to week, or month to month, but not likely from day to day. So both your methods will test your will power rather than your actual strength. You may end up getting discouraged by you lack of apparent progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use rep counts as soft targets during training, and indicators you are using the right weight. What matters is that you stress your muscle tissue in a way that will yield your desired result, not the actual count each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T17:38:09.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13001" CreationDate="2013-06-30T18:18:14.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both approaches have worked for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing more reps with the same weight is challenging for strength at first, and later for endurance. It works strength, endurance, and size. It can be hard to keep adding reps. Personally I prefer going heavier and doing sets of 3 and progressing to sets of 5 (and sometimes adding additional sets in order to get enough volume). I would only recommend such low reps for someone with significant experience under the bar and no mobility issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding weight every workout is challenging for both strength and endurance in the 4-6 rep range, which works strength, endurance, and size. It can indeed be hard to get small enough plates. (It helps to make them yourself out of washers or sand.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both approaches are hard and require a lot of recovery once the weight gets heavy. It's anybody's guess as to which will stall more quickly, since 8 reps is a lot for more modest weights than 5 reps, but you'll be adding weight more slowly on the 5-to-8-rep progression. Six to one, half dozen the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-06-30T18:18:14.187" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13047" CreationDate="2013-06-30T23:28:34.823" Score="0" ViewCount="36858" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used C4 before, with strong effect I might add, never really used creatine. I was wondering since C4 already has some creatine in it, is it ok to use them at the same time and will it possibly change the effects of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T13:59:08.217" Title="C4 and Creatine together" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13008" CreationDate="2013-07-01T00:08:39.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what C4 you are talking about, but if it includes creatine, the effect of adding more creatine, will be the same as if you just took lots of creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check how much creatine is in C4, then add creatine &lt;strong&gt;up to a max of 5g per day&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More than that may cause minor negative effects&lt;/a&gt;, but is mostly a waste of money. Consuming more than 5g a day of creatine has no research-backed positive benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T00:08:39.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12647" CreationDate="2013-07-01T03:20:20.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well the good news is that you are falling backwards not forwards. Which not only means that you won't be crushed but are likely using better form. Without seeing your form there are a couple things I can recommend.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;1.  Try doing some front squats and maybe even overhead squats:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- This will definitely help in balance and even out the progress of your muscles, the back squat may have over developed certain muscles&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;2. Make sure the bar is in the right spot on your back&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- the bar should rest just above the traps on a highbar squat, I strongly prefer highbar to lowbar squats&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;3.Lastly buying olympic weightlifting shoes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- Olympic weightlifting shoes lift your heels up which leans you forward and gives you better squat form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of these things help you may be doing to much weight&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Thought of one more thing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you place some 2.5 plates under your heels during the squats that will also help, though you should try to grow out of doing that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2013-07-02T19:32:09.143" LastActivityDate="2013-07-02T19:32:09.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13023" CreationDate="2013-07-01T11:26:28.993" Score="10" ViewCount="726" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an objective test that I can use to determine the deterioration of my running shoes cushioning? I follow the rule of thumb and replace my shoes after about 500km. But some shoes feel like the cushioning deteriorate faster than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: In the answers, outsole and cushioning height is mentioned. While the outsole of my shoe is somehow noticable, how would I measure the cushioning height? From the side and the back, new and old shoe look the same. &lt;strong&gt;However measuring depth of the shoe inside, it looks like there is 3mm difference!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My new shoe (0km, bottom/left) vs. old shoe (500km+), outsole comparison and heel height comparison. The old shoe cushioning feels worse only after some distance (few km). I am a midfoot/heel striker and run on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KVdiI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Shoe comparison&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the shoes are not perfectly size-aligned on the second image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XvZf5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5944" LastEditorUserId="5944" LastEditDate="2013-07-01T15:42:23.117" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T22:40:57.233" Title="Objective test for running shoe cushioning deterioration" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5290" CreationDate="2013-07-01T11:57:31.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compound excercices&lt;/strong&gt; that will use as many muscles as possible. You can already do with what you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell and dumbbell chest press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycle crunch and plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend investing in doorframe gym bar and do pullups and chinups. You can also do leg lifts with gym bar, but I find them inferior to bicycle crunch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For upper body, do more series &amp;amp; more repetitions with less weight. When I was toning for marathon, I used only as much weight to be able to make 5 series of 12 repetitions.  I was really lean after that. Helps with running a lot, without losing strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably don't have much lose skin on legs, but squats with barbells are good. But for me, running uphill was much more fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running helped my abs as well. But to make them  better looking I used bicycle crunch, because it is very good for the muscles on sides. It makes you look &quot;stretch&quot; the belly from front and &quot;shrink&quot; from sides - effectively making it look flatter. Do plank to stabilize the whole center, it's good for deep muscles and works well in synergy with other excercies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this all will help just to make you look better. The skin will stretch a bit because you will have more muscle everywhere... So of course, hydrate, proper diet, use creams to make the skin more elastic and don't lose so fast, but you probably don't want to hear that ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5944" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T11:57:31.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11724" CreationDate="2013-07-01T12:09:04.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different levels of recovery.  The one most people think about is the rest between sessions.  When your training is arranged well, you will be recovered &lt;em&gt;enough&lt;/em&gt; to do the prescribed work the next session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one not everyone thinks about is the time between sets.  The principle is the same, you want to be recovered enough to do the prescribed sets and reps.  The longer the rest the less training density, and the shorter the rest the higher the training density.  The minimum rest between sets is there to ensure you can do all the work prescribed for the whole training session.  If the minimum rest is 1 minute, and you only rest 15 seconds, chances are you won't be able to complete the final sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest is your primary fatigue management tool&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you feel like you are more fatigued than usual after a set, extend your rest time.  Sometimes we have off days, we can't operate at 100% all the time.  Sometimes the work increases a bit more than we are ready for.  The rest between sets helps you deal with it better.  As a general rule, I tend to have shorter rest times, but there are days where I have to extend the rest a bit more than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T12:09:04.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13017" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-07-01T12:32:24.217" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-07-01T12:32:24.217" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T12:32:24.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13018" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-07-01T12:32:24.217" Score="0" Body="Use tag sitting for questions about ergonomics, ergonomic chairs, sitting positions and questions about potential damage to your body caused by sitting for longer periods of a time." OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="6011" LastEditDate="2013-07-01T13:06:29.247" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T13:06:29.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13019" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-01T14:12:18.257" Score="1" ViewCount="1431" Body="&lt;p&gt;What can a 15 year old boy who weighs 145 pounds and is 6' tall do to gain a lot of muscle and size without using weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for results in two months and I work out for half an hour a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5665" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-07-01T15:51:14.890" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T17:06:57.293" Title="How can I gain muscle in two months without using weights?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13013" CreationDate="2013-07-01T14:23:32.620" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you note, the 500K notion is just a rule of thumb.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a pretty big guy (250+ pounds) and my shoes wear out much faster than 500K.  I am lucky if I get 300K out of a pair.  You can see the crushed and worn out sole (Of course some of that is my goofy running stride, leading to strange wear patterns).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So sole wear depth is another hint.  As the sole wears out, you can assume the cushioning has gone with it as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, if you compare a fresh pair, with a used pair, you can see how much the cushioning at the edges, has shrunken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T14:23:32.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13019" CreationDate="2013-07-01T14:26:32.887" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Buy Weights or Join a Gym&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you gain a lot of muscle in two months? &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/6836#6836&quot;&gt;Get access to a barbell and squat rack, squat and press heavy three times a week, eat a lot of food, and sleep a lot&lt;/a&gt;. Your restrictions (half-hour workouts, no weights) make it unlikely that you'll get much bigger and muscled in less than a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start saving your money to buy some dumbbells or a barbell, because come on, they work better. Used equipment is cheap if cost is an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Adding muscle without barbells&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you absolutely refuse to lift a barbell (or even a dumbbell or kettlebell), then you could see &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; results from three to six months of upper-body work. That means a whole lot of chin-ups, pull-ups, dips, and push-ups (including divebomber or handstand variations). In order to avoid totally neglecting your lower body, do some squats, pistol squats, and back extensions as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw a modest improvement in my shoulders, upper arms, and upper back from four months of doing 3 maximal sets each of pull-ups and dips. I only added five or ten pounds of muscle, however. Three workouts a week with a minimum of 50 pull-ups and dips would be a fine start to a muscular upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Eat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get bigger, you must give your body the raw materials with which to make more of you. Eat a lot of vegetables and pastured meat, milk, and eggs. Focus on food quality--avoid soda, junk and deep-fried food, get grass-fed beef and dairy--but don't forget to simply eat a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T17:47:17.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2013-07-01T14:53:30.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want &quot;to be able to run for longer amounts of time without taking a break,&quot; you should be jogging/running at least 30 minutes continuously at a pace that is comfortable enough that you can still speak short sentences. Only walk if necessary, and even then try to keep the break under a minute. The sprinting intervals other answers are recommending will help you mostly with speed and anaerobic fitness. Going from no running to interval training, they will still help a bit with endurance, but not nearly as much as steady, consistent running for longer periods of time. It's all &quot;cardio,&quot; but running for longer without breaks means focusing on aerobic fitness and muscular endurance. Simply putting in the miles should do that just fine. Throw in a couple of interval workouts and you'll be feeling much more fit in a matter of months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5626" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T14:53:30.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13013" CreationDate="2013-07-01T15:04:48.133" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually have 8-900 km in pair of shoes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 100 km I measure the sole depth and when it is 10-20 % less - usually 3-4 mm after 8-900 km - I start looking for new shoes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very unscientific... but it works for me :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;EDIT&lt;/em&gt;: &#xA;By the way: &#xA;Basically I use a normal ruler. I put in inside the shoe and measure the hight to the next shelf in my bookcase... Easy :-) I do this every 100 km or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fF8MW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My shoe in the bookcase&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I usually apply a little bit of pressure on the ruler to make sure my custom made insole in properly positioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I don't measure anything the first 100 km to allow the shoe to &quot;settle in&quot; first..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2013-07-03T10:19:56.703" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T10:19:56.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13019" CreationDate="2013-07-01T15:36:21.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have followed a guy named Matt Furey and his workouts will get you some real results without using any weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to his website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mattfurey.com/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mattfurey.com/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also read the following to get more insight &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW - I don't want overstep my boundaries but to my knowledge a boy at 15 if he is that tall and its not common in the family he should probably be taken to the doctor to verify that he is not suffering from gigantism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Routine #1: Killer 200 Pushup Workout: 3 minute back bridge 100 Hindu Squats 50 Hindu Pushups German 50: 10 Elbows in, 10 hand over hand, 10 Superman, 10 hands wide, 10 hands backwards performed in a row, without stopping. 25 Hindu Pushups with feet 10&quot; apart 25 Hindu Pushups with feet together 25 Hindu Pushups with hands and feet together 25 fingertip Hindu Pushups 3 minute back bridge, 3 minute front bridge Routine #2: 3 Minute Back Bridge 100 Hindu Squats 10 Grasshoppers 35 Bootstrappers 10 Kneeling Back Bends 20 Hindu Jumper Squats 10 Mountain Climbers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is officially a beginners routine, but for most this will be too much, so do the sets as listed but with less reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6087" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-07-02T15:28:14.383" LastActivityDate="2013-07-02T15:28:14.383" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12900" CreationDate="2013-07-01T18:51:45.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/silent-magnetic-resistance-elliptical-machine-9831.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;few&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exerciseandleisure.com/forms/HowToShopForAnElliptical.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;articles&lt;/a&gt; about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagohomefitness.com/how-to-buy/selecting-an-elliptical&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elliptical&lt;/a&gt; trainers the magnetic resistance is the highest quality for a couple reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower maintenance as there are few to no moving parts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides a quieter machine with less annoyances&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quicker to change resistances&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides more precise control on resistance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anyone who has used an elliptical at a modern gym has used magnetic resistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all that comes at a cost: specifically manufacturing costs.  I've used a couple belt resistance machines that were not elliptical (primarily stationary bikes), and the difference in the consistency of the resistance is noticeable.  The big question is whether the difference is so big that it justifies the price tag.  Here are some differences between a commercial facility and your home:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A commercial facility has to keep equipment in good shape for hundreds of users every day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A commercial facility has to minimize bad press due to faulty or just crappy equipment so it can keep attracting new members.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A home has only a handful of people to satisfy--and in many cases only one that will use the equipment regularly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your personal standards may not be so high as to require the very best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is for a home budget you have to get the most bang for your buck.  I don't have any information on how often machines of a certain type break down, or typical repair costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your friend's assertion that the magnetic resistance is better for your joints, I don't think that really applies for elliptical trainers.  If your foot were coming off the machine and landing back down on it, there might be something to that claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to general guidelines for purchasing home gym equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with your budget first.  You can sink a lot of money into a home gym, depending on what you want to buy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find 2-3 options that seem to be the best within your budget.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a store that sells those items and give them a test drive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more moving parts, and the fancier the equipment is (ellipticals certainly qualify), the more a test drive makes sense.  In contrast, if you are looking at a barbell and weights, those things are very uncomplicated in comparison and probably won't need a test drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T18:51:45.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13001" CreationDate="2013-07-01T19:13:40.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll start with the overall theory.  Greg Nuckols wrote an excellent article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/increasing-work-capacity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;increasing work capacity&lt;/a&gt;, which is at the core of getting stronger.  It provides a great framework to understand everything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 1:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Same weight, but increase reps.&lt;/em&gt;  This is essentially how the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myosynthesis.com/workouts/doug-hepburn-routines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Doug Hepburn training routines&lt;/a&gt; are designed.  Another example of programs in this family include Big-15 by Paul Carter.  I'm currently using this approach myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 2:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;em&gt;Predefined set/rep scheme with regular weight increases.&lt;/em&gt;  Most beginner programs are designed around this approach.  Starting Strength and StrongLifts are two examples that come to mind.  Another example would be a linear progression that power lifters of old used to run.  Essentially they would work backwards from the next competition, and work to a top set of 8, 5, 3, and then 1s until their competition--each week adding weight.  Kirk Karwolksi still trains this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 3:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;em&gt;A hybrid between options 1 and 2.&lt;/em&gt;  Wendler, Greyskull, and a few other training methodologies use a periodization scheme combined with a concept known as AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible).  Basically the first week is for building volume, and you do exactly the prescribed sets and reps until you get to the top set.  On the top set you go for as many reps as you can do with good form.  The next week is for a transition, and the sets/reps are higher intensity but lower volume.  The last week is for peaking, and is the highest intensity and lowest volume.  Your training max goes up, and you restart the next cycle with slightly higher weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line:&lt;/strong&gt; I've used all three of these methods at different times in my training, and all have yielded good results.  There's a trade-off to high intensity and volume.  You can't do both.  You'll also find that no approach to training works forever.  A recent discussion between &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2013/06/part-1-of-5-discussion-between-brandon.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brandon Lilly and Paul Carter&lt;/a&gt; highlighted this.  Brandon Lilly went for volume all the time and saw great results, until he was feeling beat up and couldn't keep it up.  Then he went to West Side Method, which is higher intensity needing to be strong all the time.  He saw good results with that (all this fits within the increasing work capacity framework mind you), until he started stagnating and feeling beat up with that.  He's then returned to more of a volume approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing works forever, but different strategies all work to help you get stronger.  When you've exhausted what you can get from one strategy, move on to something else.  When you are done with that, you can go back to the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-01T19:13:40.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-02T10:55:05.620" Score="6" ViewCount="2530" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today's paradigm seems to be the Reg Park workouts in different flavours, like Starting Strength and StrongLifts 5x5. A few compound exercises with free weights, using barbells, as opposed to the 80's fever of specialised machines and crazy complex workouts combining lots of isolating exercises that confused the beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to see a bodyweight-only routine that follows analogous principles, thus using only a few compound exercises. I can imagine something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (with no weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips between two chairs (?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-Ups if you have somewhere to hang from. If not, what?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What more? Specially for shoulders, I can imagine there is some work with the Indian Push-Ups, but ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, strength training is done with barbells or dumbbells, but if you can barely perform one or two push-ups at the beginning, and add a few each week, nobody would doubt that you are gaining strength. Eventually a point will be achieved in which you are able to perform, say, thirty of them. After that, I agree that going for more means you are training for endurance and not strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be useful too for advanced trainees, merely as a program to help maintaining form during a holidays travel or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(yes, starting with the barbell alone in a 5x5 program will lead you to strength gains too, and yes, long live Mark Rippetoe! Ok, but that is not the question)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-07-02T15:45:42.513" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T06:56:15.483" Title="What is a bodyweight-only strength workout with a few compound exercises?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12993" CreationDate="2013-07-02T11:36:43.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming can of course develop tremendous leg and hip power, especially for breaststroke, but this does not directly translate into an improved vertical jump because the motion is quite different. The sport, however, requires developing an excellent jump for starting and pushing off the wall. For this reason swimmers train for vertical jumping both in and out of the water, although I doubt many swimmers can beat an average NBA vertical. Phelps can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2013-07-02T11:36:43.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13030" CreationDate="2013-07-02T12:14:08.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is a good question. Years ago I started with weight lifting but then switched to body weight training. Obviously as you said after you pass a certain number of push-ups you continue working endurance with little to no strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I switched to gymnastics strength exercises. Now you can say that if you go on a holiday you can't do these. However that depends on the holiday. I usually bring a pair of rings that I hang from a tree and I continue my workouts. That or one can always look for a pull-up bar OR bring a portable one with him(that can be attached to a door. Obviously the pull-up bar will be insufficient for some of the exercises below but those that could be executed on it are more than enough for a good workout!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The compound exercises that I would recommend would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To list just a few of the Shoulder exercises: &lt;br&gt;-Handstand Push-Up &lt;br&gt;-Front Lever &lt;br&gt;-Back Lever &lt;br&gt;-Muscle-Up &lt;br&gt;-Ab-Wheel Rollout &lt;br&gt;-Pseudo Back Lever Pull-Up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harder exercises would be: &lt;br&gt;-Iron Cross &lt;br&gt;-Planche &lt;br&gt;-One Arm-Chin Up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a workout that I recorded for my followers to demonstrate some of these exercises: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT2tvhIv8qM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT2tvhIv8qM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch the video and you will see a demonstration for most of the listed ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These will NOT only allow you to maintain strength but will boost it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a routine that doesn't include a pull-up bar or rings: &lt;br&gt;-Handstand Push-Ups x 8-12 for 3 sets ; &lt;br&gt;-Ab-wheel Rollout/Crunches x 5 for 2 sets(or 30 for 3 sets if you are doing crunches) ; &lt;br&gt;-Wide Stance Push-Ups x 15 for 4 sets ; &lt;br&gt;-L-Sit on the ground for time for 2 sets; &lt;br&gt;-Plank for time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a routine designed for a pull-up bar, rings: &lt;br&gt;-Front Lever(or a variation of it) x 6 for 5 sets; &lt;br&gt;-Diamond Push-Ups x 10 for 3 sets; &lt;br&gt;-Regular Pull-Ups x 10 for 3 sets, if you do them in a L-Sit you will put more stress on the shoulders and work the abs too; &lt;br&gt;-Crunches x 25 for 3 sets&#xA;her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastEditorUserId="4954" LastEditDate="2013-07-02T12:24:34.867" LastActivityDate="2013-07-02T12:24:34.867" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5290" CreationDate="2013-07-02T15:23:19.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Home Exercise Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some (&lt;em&gt;beginner&lt;/em&gt;) exercises that I provide some of my clients with who train at home. The following will include links of how-to's, videos, and images that show you which body part you will train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The descriptions in the links provided help a lot. They explain thoroughly and have helped me complete some of my exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I wasn't sure if you had a bench so I tried including exercises which didn't have any benches&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/stiff-leg-barbell-good-morning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Good Mornings&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Lower back strengthener &amp;amp; toner&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; (intermediate) &lt;em&gt;Full body strengthener but concentrated on lower back&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Over Rows (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bent-over-two-dumbbell-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbbells&lt;/a&gt;) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bent-over-barbell-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;em&gt;Great for toning the side &amp;amp; middle back&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Every kind of pushup will  tone your chest. It will also help tone your triceps (back of the arms). Beside each exercise I'll explain which works what a little more.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/incline-push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Incline Pushup&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Upper chest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/plyo-push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plyo Pushup&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Faster nervous system in muscles&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/push-up-wide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wide Pushup&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Triceps, upper back, chest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/push-ups-with-feet-elevated&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elevated feet Pushup&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Lower chest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/alternating-deltoid-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alternating Deltoid Raise&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Tones front of the shoulders&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/front-dumbbell-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Front Dumbbell Raise&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Tones Front of the shoulders&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/side-lateral-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Side Lateral Raise&lt;/a&gt; *Tones Side of the shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/standing-military-press&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Standing Military Press&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Tones upper shoulders&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Squat&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bodyweight-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodyweight Squat&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Tones up your legs, squats are great!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-lunges&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Lunges&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Tones the thighs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/stiff-legged-dumbbell-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stiff Legged Dumbbell Deadlift&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Tones the back of your legs (hamstrings) and lower back&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All of these tone your arms&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/alternate-hammer-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alternating Hammer Curl&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Curl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/close-grip-standing-barbell-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Close-Grip Barbell Curl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/concentration-curls&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concentration Curls&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Triceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All of these tone your arms&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bench-dips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chair Dips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/seated-triceps-press&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seated Tricep Press&lt;/a&gt; (Overhead Extension)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/tricep-dumbbell-kickback&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kickbacks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping Jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skipping rope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tbfn.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/burpee.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Burpees&lt;/a&gt; (harder exercise)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perform 3 to 4 sets of 15-20 repititions and you will get toning results. You will be sore but ... No pain, no gain!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, good luck with your exercises! This may seem like a lot, but please, don't try to complete everything at once! I just provided you with some ideas and links to explain the exercises you can do at home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep walking even if you do some of these exercises! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastEditorUserId="6050" LastEditDate="2013-07-02T15:54:05.490" LastActivityDate="2013-07-02T15:54:05.490" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13030" CreationDate="2013-07-02T16:11:32.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I don't have access to weights, I try to get in as many of these as possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-up work (either regular, handstand, or Hindu)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-up work (either chins or pull-ups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat work (either Hindu squats or pistols or burpees)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are the high-return exercises I focus on, and that I think are most similar to barbell work. Plenty of other exercises are excellent, too, like lunges, sprints, or various gymnastics work such as planches, levers, and L-sits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the desire to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/12298/1771&quot;&gt;mimic a 5x5 barbell routine using only bodyweight&lt;/a&gt; is a fool's errand. The two are intrinsically different. If you want to train with bodyweight, don't pretend that it's anything like a 5x5 routine. If you want to train with barbells, don't pretend it's anything like a bodyweight routine. They have different goals, different timelines, and different results. Whichever method you pick, be clear about what you want from it. Be consistent: pick a program and stick to it for at least three months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight exercise is most useful because of the element of self-dominance, or the mastery of one's own body. Barbell work is most useful because it produces the most strength and power and does so much faster than any other method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people with the goal of sports performance or overall athleticism will combine the two: mostly bodyweight exercise for the upper body and mostly barbell work for the lower body. This uses the strongest elements of each approach: unmatched loading for developing back and leg strength with barbells and maximal range of motion exercises for the upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T20:42:13.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12647" CreationDate="2013-07-02T16:47:08.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing video, it is very likely you are trying to &quot;sit back&quot; too far.  Your squat technique shouldn't change drastically from doing the third world squat to doing it with a barbell.  Another option is that you are putting the weight too far on your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do need the proper amount of mobility to squat, but if your set up is wrong, it can doom you before you even descend.  To work on and correct your squat form so that you are in good balance I would recommend the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet paused squats.  Use either a dumbbell or a kettlebell as a counterbalance in front of you, squat down and hold for 3-7 seconds before you squat back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paused squats with a barbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of these is to give you time to feel and correct your balance while you are in the most mechanically disadvantageous position.  Use weights you can keep a straight back with.  You want to focus on keeping the balance of the weight on mid foot.  With a barbell, that happens when the bar is over your mid foot.  You want to practice the descent and ascent so that the bar doesn't travel back or forward from mid foot and your balance is steady.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a squat, work on the following form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Athletic stance (i.e. feet about the position you would do a vertical jump with)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance over mid foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest up, big breath into your spine.  (not physically possible, but it's the right mental image)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Descend naturally, pushing the knees out to make room for your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If pausing, make sure balance remains over midfoot and stay tight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ascend quickly, as if you want the bar to come off your shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breath out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get overly caught up on feet X position and Y angle, etc.  People with longer femurs will need a wider stance, while people with shorter femurs will need a narrower stance.  The feet should not be so far apart that your knees are not over your feet when you start going back up.  I've found I have a hard time if the feet are too far apart.  Conversely, they can't be so close that you are fighting your thighs to get deep enough.  A comfortable jump width is a good starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on being consistent with every rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-02T16:47:08.853" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12978" CreationDate="2013-07-03T04:34:14.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should add weight to the bar. Ask anyone the best way to get better at squats is squats. Unless you start trying with weights you won't really know the feeling of a squat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you start with the weights a good way to become more flexible would be to do front and overhead squats which require extra flexibility and will force your normal back squat to have better form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lastly&lt;/strong&gt; it's hard to say but you may want to try widening your stance if your legs are to close it is hard to go down all the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T04:34:14.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13041" CreationDate="2013-07-03T05:30:53.993" Score="19" ViewCount="33273" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting plenty of sleep is really important for putting on size - something I am very aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, various circumstances lead to me not being able to get to the gym until about 9:30PM at night. I work out for about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the day, and then begin a journey home which takes about 1 hour. I need to wake up the next morning at 6:30AM for work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking in to account up to an additional hour of overflow (time it takes to fall asleep, have a quick shower before I get to bed etc), this leaves me about 5-6 hours for actual sleep. Obviously this is not great company for weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to maximise my gains with restricted sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will going easier on myself in my training benefit me in this case because of reduced recovery time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I try get as many hours sleep over the weekend as I can?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe I should leave legs or back until Friday where I get a massive sleep the following morning (because of the weekend)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I restrict myself to a single muscle group a day rather than two?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T00:17:02.713" Title="If I can't get plenty of sleep, should I be doing anything different when trying to put on mass?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13039" CreationDate="2013-07-03T09:13:33.737" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Five to six hours of sleep a night is not optimal for most people. While your attempts are admirable as you rightly recognise other more vital activities have to take priority over working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Priorise getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night:&lt;/strong&gt; This is necessary for good health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting your diet in order first:&lt;/strong&gt; Most people will acknowledge that the best exercise regime won't out do a bad diet. Learn about good nutrition now and when you have the time to devote to a full workout you will see fantastic gains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look at alternate times:&lt;/strong&gt; if you are at work, university or school, can you workout during lunch?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explore bodyweight options:&lt;/strong&gt; Its not ideal for building massive amounts of muscle, but a good bodyweight routine with a good diet can get you looking trim and muscular. Push-up, pull-ups or horizontal rows and pistol squats are all quick morning exercises that will give you a good basis to work from later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep is something you can't work around&lt;/strong&gt;, you can't just &quot;make it up&quot; on the weekend - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_debt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sleep debt&lt;/a&gt; is a real phenomena.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite what people may think, fitness and weightlifting (and sport in general) is a 24 hour a day activity. Right now you can either lose your hour of gym time or 8 hours of quality sleep time. Think about it like this, practice doing it right for 23 hours a day now, then later, when you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; fit the extra hour in your life you'll be in a better position than someone who is perpetually tired or someone new to fitness entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-03T07:06:26.900" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T07:06:26.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-03T09:24:48.387" Score="4" ViewCount="16510" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you lift a lot your intervertebral disks get smaller because of the pressure and destruction caused be too much pressure. Also, you loose the body fat surrounding many of your organs and the fat under the skin e.g. in your feet (bottom part).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the reason that extreme bodybuilding make you shorter in the end? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are there other factors that compensate this lose caused by damaged intervertebral disks and fat loose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4905" LastActivityDate="2018-09-30T07:11:45.133" Title="Does bodybuilding make you shorter?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13042" CreationDate="2013-07-03T09:36:08.477" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The loss of height from compressed discs is most likely negligible even over the long term. Over the course of a normal day spinal discs will compress, but spring back during normal sleep. Even under high loads, the spinal discs will spring back relatively quickly - this being part of their primary function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding weight loss and height loss, I've never seen any research studying this. However, fat lose could cause a marginal (sub-centimetre) loss in height, &lt;em&gt;however&lt;/em&gt; this would most likely be offset by a similar corresponding &lt;em&gt;height increase&lt;/em&gt; caused by less body weight compressing the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, while I find it difficult to believe that weightlifting and weight loss could cause a measurable change in height, I couldn't find any evidence to back it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think you've gotten shorter, it may just be a change in posture. Pelvic tilt, which can be caused by poor posture or imbalanced training of either the anterior or posterior chain &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; cause a noticeable change in height, among other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T09:36:08.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11724" CreationDate="2013-07-03T11:09:29.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @tridip1931 with regards to training to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rest time should probably be somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes (but no more than that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not sure how long to wait, &lt;strong&gt;use your heart rate as a guide&lt;/strong&gt;. Once it is back down to something sensible (say 70% of your max HR), you are ready to go again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of reps before failure you manage on the following set is also a good guide. If it doesn't fall, you have waited too long. If falls too fast, give yourself more time. After a while you should get a good 'feel' for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that reducing the rest time to 30secs or 40secs is a good way stress you muscle a little more and also increases the cardio aspect. In my experience, most people rest too long between sets in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastEditorUserId="6169" LastEditDate="2013-07-06T20:14:21.993" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T20:14:21.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12978" CreationDate="2013-07-03T16:07:55.730" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I don't think you have the correct notion of ATG based on this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, if I lay on my side with my legs in line with my torso and try to pull one foot straight back, I can't get my heel to touch my glutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an ATG squat you are going down until your calves are in contact with your hamstrings.  Simple physics state that two physical objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, and the stronger you are the more they will push against each other -- limiting the absolute depth you can physically achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should you add weight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you squat, is the crease of your hips at or below the top of your knee?  If you've reached this level of flexibility, you can squat with weight and it will be beneficial for you.  In many ways adding weight can help your flexibility by pushing you a little deeper than you can in bodyweight alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also mention that your back should not be rounded excessively in the lower lumbar region.  I'm not talking about the minimal tuck that is normal at the bottom, I'm talking about leaning too far forward like a clamshell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should you really pursue ATG?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a personal choice, but the benefits of squats in developing the posterior chain begin when you get the crease of your hip below parallel with the top of your knee.  Going so deep that your calves now add pressure to the back of your knee while you are weighted might not be such a great idea.  The only competition that judges you on squat depth would be power lifting, and you are only required to get your hips below parallel with your knee.  Olympic lifters tend to go deeper, but that is to get under a heavy clean or snatch.  Their foot position is also a bit different than a power lifters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to go for a more Olympic style squat, that's admirable.  Understand that the way you set up affects what you can do.  The Oly squat is high bar, with the torso as erect as possible.  The knees typically travel a bit more forward and require a higher degreee of ankle dorsiflexion.  Good Oly lifting shoes help a great deal with any squatting, but particularly with the high bar Olympic squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T16:07:55.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13008" CreationDate="2013-07-03T19:49:30.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used C4 quite a bit along side with Creatine as well. Depending on your creatine, C4 won't be giving you that much creatine (I believe it was 1g per scoop). Some people claimed creatine needed a &quot;loading phase&quot; but that hasn't been proven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the &quot;loading phase&quot; was popularized by companies who wanted to sell more of their product. They would suggest a loading phase and the consumer would be using more during the first weeks (without any added results).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine is a natural amino acid present in the body of humans and animals. The human body has 100-115 grams of creatine in the form of creatine phosphate. No negative side effects have been noted in the research with the recommended levels of supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your weight, here are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dimaggio2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;creatine&lt;/a&gt; intakes per day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less than or equal to 140lbs = 5-6grams per day is maintenance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;141lbs to 168lbs = 6-7.5 grams per day is maintenance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;169lbs to 199lbs = 8 grams per day is maintenance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;200lbs to 242lbs = 8-10 grams per day is maintenance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;242lb+ = 10-12 grams per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gotten from bodybuilding.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll be fine if you use creatine and C4 together. Just drink water due to the added creatine levels. When I cycle on creatine I use about 5g per day even if I'm 170lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: If you liked C4, you might love Craze. My new pre-workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-07-03T19:49:30.527" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13051" CreationDate="2013-07-04T01:57:10.980" Score="2" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive been exercising almost religiously for about 4 months but have observed a declining rate of performance for the past 1 and a half month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't changed anything in terms of diet and sleep since the first day of my exercise. Though now I feel more lazy to workout despite the major weight lose I have incurred (I know I should feel more motivated to workout but my body just seems lazy at times). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a day job and only workout at night at around 8 or 9pm to 12 midnight then I sleep afterwards, I have been doing this 3 to 4 times a week for almost 4 months now. I have been missing on sessions for the past 2 weeks because I just feel so lazy and tired to workout. Even got to the point I fell a sleep on my exercise mat before a pushup routine lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My routine has been very high impact (in terms of cardio) for my first 3 months but I have reduced the intensity lately due to my declining performance and drive to workout. Also I have been feeling my legs are not recovering enough that's why I switched it up a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only goal as for now is to lose fat in my upper torso. I can see that I am getting there already but still not quite enough. Building muscle is only a secondary thing for me but will sure be a benefit nevertheless. I can already see some of the abs peeking out of the fat, which I assume just means I just have to uncover it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To comply with my body fat losing goals I usually go on a caloric deficit so that I can, even though I missed a day of workout, continue to lose fat; I don't know if this is the correct approach though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastEditorUserId="5997" LastEditDate="2013-07-04T02:03:15.990" LastActivityDate="2013-07-04T13:45:23.947" Title="Declining performance after almost 4 months of continous exercise. Why is this?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13049" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-04T05:49:05.193" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've a few questions regarding the alcohol consumption, smoking and body building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About me:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5'5&quot;, 136 lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Undergoing a hard weight gaining program at gym at evening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drinking &lt;code&gt;Serious Mass&lt;/code&gt; two scoops per day a mass gain supplement. One between meals and another one before going to sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And I'm pretty sure that I'm eating more and heavy than what I spend since I don't let me feel hungry all the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I drink a couple of beers on the rest day(mostly the Sunday in my case) or a 2-3 drinks of alcohol on any one of the days(for a party), will it affect my protein synthesis or muscle growth?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I smoke 3 to 4 cigarettes a day but not at-least 2 hours before I hit the gym. What would be the effect?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6181" LastActivityDate="2013-07-04T05:49:05.193" Title="Will drinking alchohol and smoking cigarettes inhibits muscle growth?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-07-05T15:05:22.963" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13048" CreationDate="2013-07-04T13:45:23.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like classic overtraining. I'd try taking a full week off from all strenuous workouts. Instead of a workout, just warm up and stretch or go for a walk. Take it easy for seven days and see how you feel in the workouts after the break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In athletes, overtraining is closely associated with undereating. This is hard news for someone working on long-term fat loss, but it might be necessary to increase the amount of calories, fats, or carbs at least temporarily. It can be productive to reduce those macronutrients for body recomposition, but your body might have had too much. You might need to make adjustments to your diet in order to continue working out productively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-04T13:45:23.947" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-04T16:17:29.313" Score="2" ViewCount="1052" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a little bit about shoes for running on asphalt and for trail-running, but they always refer to lightweight people. I would like to know what to look for in a running shoe when my weight is between 80 and 85 kilograms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2013-07-05T15:06:02.770" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T10:26:31.547" Title="How to choose a running shoe when you weigh 80-85kg?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13061" CreationDate="2013-07-04T16:43:21.797" Score="3" ViewCount="4905" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do high intensity training to build mass. I usually get muscle twitching after a hardcore training session. Usually in my Glutes, Triceps, Shoulders, Chest and Quads. I am genetically more gifted with my shoulders and back - but I have never gotten any muscle twitching in my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last training was a shoulder training composed of several supersets. My shoulders were so pumped it felt as if lactic acid was going to ooze out of them. About four hours after my training my &lt;a href=&quot;http://mymusclepassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/deltoidheads.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anterior deltoid&lt;/a&gt; started twitching. It has been doing this for about 18 hours now and almost prevented me from sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's related to stretching because I stretch a lot (I'm a male and can do the splits easily). I'm extremely flexible and use great caution when stretching and lifting. I prefer quality over quantity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes the muscle twitch? Does it mean it is overworked?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T10:08:29.240" Title="Twitching after Intense Workouts" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-04T18:20:49.533" Score="2" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a few muscles that are prone to strains--lower right hamstring, right pectoral just where it meets the deltoid in my armpit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have strained these muscles multiple times both by working out and playing sports.  I stretch, warm-up before workouts and ice afterwards.  I don't use excessive weight on these areas but a pop followed by a forced 6-8 weeks of rest is still nearly an annual occurrence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to protect myself against future strains?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2013-07-07T00:31:52.870" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T03:56:24.590" Title="How to exercise muscles that are prone to strains?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13055" CreationDate="2013-07-04T20:12:33.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dynamic Warm Up&lt;/strong&gt; - You mention stretching before workouts.  Consider a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8262/dynamic-stretching-as-warm-up/8308#8308&quot;&gt;dynamic warm-up&lt;/a&gt; rather than static stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical Therapy&lt;/strong&gt; - Also, since you have repeated strains, you may need some physical therapy to improve postural alignments and soft tissue restrictions.  They will evaluate where you are tight and where you are weak and give you specific exercises to correct the imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Myofascial Release&lt;/strong&gt; - Using a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2362/using-a-foam-roller&quot;&gt;foam roller&lt;/a&gt; or tennis ball can help you release tight areas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-07-04T20:12:33.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13059" CreationDate="2013-07-05T01:51:50.870" Score="0" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it's often recommended that you don't lift with your back - that you instead lift with your legs, lest you injure your back. But a lot of exercises have you do just that. Dead lifts, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hyperextensions-with-no-hyperextension-bench&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyperextensions&lt;/a&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leaves me wondering if I should avoid lower back exercises or if the traditional advice of lifting with ones back is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, should I be training my lower back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-05T03:18:37.090" LastActivityDate="2013-07-05T08:37:46.033" Title="lower back exercises" Tags="&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-07-05T14:50:48.530" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13058" CreationDate="2013-07-05T02:58:15.963" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its hard to find adequate diagrams to illustrate this, but I'll explain as best I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For the average person, the teaching to not &quot;lift with the back&quot; is good advice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone who isn't used to lifting what the average person would consider heavy loads (lets say a 20kg box), bending at the waist to lift causes a rounding spine. Combined with weak hamstrings and back muscles, this rounding leads to unnecessary strain on the spine and can cause disc damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, people are taught to stand close to the weight, pull it close and lift from a squat position, using the stronger quad muscles. Lifting from this position helps keeps the back straight and minimises pressure on the discs of the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But, lifting with your back is not necessarily dangerous&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you pointed out, there are plenty of exercises that use the lower back muscles, such as extensions and deadlifts. However, you'll notice whenever people advocate for these exercises they stress the importance of good form - much more that in most other cases. Once trained in or aware of how to straighten and strengthen the spine, and brace with the &quot;core&quot; muscles to increase Intra-abdominal pressure, deadlifts are perfectly safe. Thus, for someone who has a 100kg deadlift, who keeps &lt;em&gt;good form&lt;/em&gt;, straight leg lifting a 20kg box from the floor is perfectly safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does this mean for you?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, always keep a strong/straight spine when lifting anything that isn't a balanced and uniform barbell. One difference between weightlifting and what is taught as &quot;safe-workplace lifting&quot; is the load is usually uniform and easy to lift in the gym, whereas the a box in the workplace may be imbalanced and hard to hold. So good spinal form is the most important part of the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, continue to strength your lower back. With good form there is absolutely no danger to training your lower back like any other body part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-05T02:58:15.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13058" CreationDate="2013-07-05T08:37:46.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a weakness in my back from an injury 20 years ago. I find that working my back to make it stronger is a great help. If I ignore my back I start getting back pain. I find that kettlebell swings, deadlifts (stiff legged and normal) and squats if I'm very careful about  good form are all beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general the advice to lift with your legs is good advice, but excluding your back from any exercise is not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2013-07-05T08:37:46.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13054" CreationDate="2013-07-05T12:58:07.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many potential causes for involuntary muscle twitching (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nativeremedies.com/ailment/involuntary-muscle-twitches-fasciculations.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My guess is that you might just be &lt;strong&gt;dehydrated&lt;/strong&gt;. I get involuntary twitch in my calf if I do not hydrate well during long cycling rides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note&lt;/em&gt;: that I'm not advocating your purchase any of the remedies in the link provided. It just contains a handy list of potential causes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-07-05T12:58:07.087" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-05T16:55:40.723" Score="4" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only started this a few weeks ago, so who am I to talk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing a TGU with a 30kg dumbbell, which is the heavist dumbbell around. Hence, today I used a straight and quite short barbell and a curlbar to do the TGU, but balancing the weight was my main issue. The bar tilts back and forth and my wrist has very little power in comparison to the weights at each end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is using barbells (curlbar better?) the natural progession in this exercise? If yes, how do you balance the weight? I can't find any tutorial on this. There are no kettlebells in the gym. I can't move to the olympic barbells because the gym is not big enough to securely swing that thing around without smashing someone's head. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you use less weight at the beginning for the barbell, or is this only required while figuring out the balance issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5197" LastEditDate="2013-07-05T18:36:23.343" LastActivityDate="2013-07-05T21:48:45.583" Title="Balancing barbell with turkish getup or alternative?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13080" CreationDate="2013-07-05T19:27:31.507" Score="0" ViewCount="433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 25 years old my height is 5'8&quot; and weight is 58K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to gym for gaining muscle in 2011 and my progress was very slow, after couple of months continuing gym, I left it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For last six months my lower belly is getting big. And I am feeling weak now a days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to gain some weight with mass and want to loose my belly fat(its look really odd).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read couple of fitness blogs they suggest to go to gym and do weight training. But now its not possible for me to go to a gym(nearest gym is far away from home and I dont have much time to go there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can do, I can buy light(cheap) instruments and also can arrange better food. And I can do some home exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have any specific suggestions? How can I recover from this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont need six pack, what I want to achieve like a better shape with some mass and strength.Btw I live a hacker's life style(lots of coca cola, beers and chocolates, pizzas)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please share your experience, I am really worried in this condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6213" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-07-06T05:01:15.667" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T19:30:36.403" Title="Skinny male getting belly fat, how to gain weight and mass from this condition" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13063" CreationDate="2013-07-05T21:48:45.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have the space for it, the barbell can work.  And yes, you'll want as short a straight barbell as you can get your hands on.  While you are working out the balance issues, use the bar unloaded.  Your wrist hasn't had to stabilize something so unwieldy before and the leverages are very different (read, harder).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, using a barbell is not advised for the Turkish get up due to the leverages involved.  It would be preferable to get a dumbbell handle you can load with more weight.  The pair I have can be loaded to 150 lbs (~67.5kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-05T21:48:45.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-05T21:59:45.207" Score="1" ViewCount="8652" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a male adult . I have done incline and standard bench presses for the past 2 yrs. from the front , my chest looks good, but from the side I can still see extra fat and it looks ugly. any recommendation on what type of exercise that will help me getting rid off this fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6214" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T05:47:31.887" Title="how to get rid off fat on the side your chest" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13068" CreationDate="2013-07-06T00:58:23.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is a pretty well known fact by now that you cannot get rid of fat on a spot. However you can make the muscle there look better giving the appearance of less fat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good Chest Exercises For Bulking Are:&lt;/strong&gt; Dumbell Fly, Bench Press (Incline,Decline and Normal) and Dumbell pullovers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good idea would be to do cardio to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T00:58:23.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13078" CreationDate="2013-07-06T02:57:02.763" Score="2" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a CS student and hence spend long hours sitting on my desk.&#xA;I am trying to establish a routine targeted towards cardio (since I have had asthma in the past) and building muscle mass(since my upper body is rather skinny).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current routine is basically :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mild Stretching &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking 1.5 km, 15 min&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jogging, started with a 5 minute jog covering around 950m. Add 15-20 seconds every few days, with proportional increments in distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking, around &gt;1km, dependent on jogging distance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches, sets of 10, adding a set every few days. Currently at 5 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit-ups, sets of 10, adding a set every few days. Currently at 3 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups, sets of 10. Currently at 2 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually do cardio and muscle on alternate days. Sometimes, if I am up to it, I do them together as well. I tend to stay out of gyms, and for now, there is no gym nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I add to either routine to make them more effective? Total duration including warm-up and cool-down should ideally be ~1 hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5776" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T05:30:01.650" Title="Developing a training routine outside the gym" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13068" CreationDate="2013-07-06T05:47:31.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't spot reduce fat. If you want to lose fat you need to look at reducing your calorie intake below your maintenance requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest exercises like those suggested by @Aaronman will help change whats underneath the layer of fat to give it a more aesthetic shape. Cardio exercise, while good for many other reasons, is no better than resistance training for losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on building some muscle in the areas you are least happy with, and eat less than your maintenance requirements while eating a healthy diet will help get you where you want to be - keep in mind that extra weight training may increase your dietary needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T05:47:31.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-06T08:46:57.063" Score="0" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that rest weeks are beneficial for body builders since that extra week of recovery (vs a rest day) helps them gain muscle by constituting the healing process the muscle requires, is the same thing applicable to people who are going for fat loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed decreasing levels of intensity and all out motivation to work out because of over training, and I was suggested I go on a rest week, would this help me in my fat loss venture? I feel so guilty today since it is day one of my rest week that I want to workout already though I feel like Im so tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T18:27:53.780" Title="Recovery week is it beneficial for fat loss as well?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12231" CreationDate="2013-07-06T09:13:59.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The energy you burn exercising is not directly connected to the ambient temperature. In fact you body is very efficient at regulating its &#xA;temperature (within reasonable limits). So the only thing that changes as temperature go up is that you are going to sweat more to maintain normal body temperature, hence you will need to drink more to stay hydrated (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/list_7221981_signs-symptoms-dehydration-during-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;how dehydration affects performance&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastEditorUserId="6169" LastEditDate="2013-07-06T12:34:11.160" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T12:34:11.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12056" CreationDate="2013-07-06T13:36:44.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ligaments are passive rubber bands.  They are not muscles or tendons that you can voluntarily contract and release and so you cannot strengthen them through exercise.  They are also very poorly vascularized and take a very long time to &quot;heal&quot; which is why when you tear one, the surgeon can't just &quot;sew it back together&quot; but has to replace it with a ligament (or sometimes tendon) from a different part of the body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ligaments stabilize your joints.  The best way to improve joint stability, and achieve the effect of &quot;strengthening the ligaments&quot;, is to strengthen the muscles and tendons around the joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T13:36:44.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5094" CreationDate="2013-07-06T14:05:44.377" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is not an ideal fat burning exercise.  It burns fewer calories than running or cycling (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist3.htm&lt;/a&gt;) and although the resistance of the water does break-down and build muscle the effect is not nearly intense enough to induce &quot;afterburn&quot;.  Plus, swimming makes me incredibly hungry!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, swimming is a terrific exercise because it provides both aerobics and low-grade upper-body resistance training with minimal joint impact.  Plus it's great for thinking because you can't read, watch television, listen to music, or talk to someone while doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for swimming in cool water, I personally find that it burns more calories simply because it allows me to keep swimming for longer.  I find swimming in warm water uninspiring at best and nauseating/headache-inducing at worst. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastEditorUserId="6174" LastEditDate="2013-07-08T18:25:29.113" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T18:25:29.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13072" CreationDate="2013-07-06T14:44:00.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question was to how to make your routines more effecive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are working long hours at the desk, you should make sure that you move a bit every hour, see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17sitting-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt; that says that the drawbacks of sitting for longer period of times can't be nullified by exercise at the end of the day. So perhaps this would be the biggest improvement for getting effect from your work-out routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your cardio, for variation and maybe as a core workout (core in the sense of being the highest priority), you should look at high intensity workouts, see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/the-4-minute-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt; from Norway. Basically, it says that you improve your VO2max etc with only 4 minutes of exercise 2-3 times per week. If you want to improve your running, the 15s run - 15s rest protocol is great (both my own experience and also mentioned in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17414804&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt; article)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your muscle workouts, you are working too small muscle groups with your exercises. Aim for exercises that engage your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=posterior%20chain&quot;&gt;posterior chain&lt;/a&gt;. If your are outside of a gym, you could go for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=burpees&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt;. Instead of situps, which can be bad for your back, go for variants of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=plank%20exercise&quot;&gt;plank&lt;/a&gt; exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T05:30:01.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12010" CreationDate="2013-07-06T19:03:13.487" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The synopsis at that link is very good.  The gist is that what you want is to increase thrust-per-stroke.  If you look at Olypmic swimmers or even just fast swimmers at your pool, their arms don't fly around faster than everyone else's, they just get more per stroke than anyone else does.  A good way to developing a powerful stroke is to slow down.  Perform the most powerful stroke you can without over-rotating and without injuring yourself, then hold your form until you come nearly to a complete stop.  Repeat.  Use this exercise to fine tune your &quot;power stroke&quot;.  I can get across a 25m pool in about 6 or 7 power strokes and I know people who can do it in 4.  Once your power stroke feels good, speed it up gradually until you find your natural power stroke &quot;gait&quot;.  You should try to squeeze most of the forward thrust from each stroke before you start counter-rotating for your next stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T19:03:13.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13066" CreationDate="2013-07-06T19:30:36.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is way too generic, the answer to your problem is in lifestyle advice, not really an exercise plan ... try doing two things to start&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nowloss.com/foods-not-to-eat-when-trying-to-lose-weight-dieting.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stop eating and drinking rubbish&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Do some body weight exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stick with it for at least 2 month without cheating or slacking and come back to ask more specific questions if that did not help you lose some belly fat and build strength. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-07-06T19:30:36.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13055" CreationDate="2013-07-07T01:06:24.267" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;BackInShapeBuddy has given you some great tips.  Here is my advice in addition to scientific evidence to prevent recurrent muscle strains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will need to start performing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.therapeuticassociates.com/injury-prevention-and-care-sports-medicine/general-dynamic-warm-up/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dynamic warm-up&lt;/a&gt;.  In addition, I strongly recommend you to perform 2 sets of 10 reps of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/burpee-push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpee push-ups&lt;/a&gt; before any chest exercises from now on.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will also need to start training your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.traindaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Core_Training__Evidence_Translating_to_Better.4.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;core&lt;/a&gt; even more.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps the most important routine you need to start looking into is to slowly adding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3105370/#!po=1.61290&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eccentric strengthening&lt;/a&gt; exercises, particularly the pecs and the hamstrings.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For your eccentric hamstring exercises, you may want to start out with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJikwp2tWrc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;single leg stance matrix reach&lt;/a&gt;.  After a few weeks, you can try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.getfitchimp.com/exercise/kneeling-hamstring-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kneeling hamstring curl&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For your pecs, you can try eccentric push-ups or going down much slower than usual, and this can be done for all chest exercises (presses).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this website from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dukehealth.org/orthopaedics/services/sports-medicine/care-guides/developing-an-injury-prevention-program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Duke University&lt;/a&gt;.  Please remember that eccentric strengthening exercises will put greater stress on your muscle fibers (extreme muscle soreness), thus you will need to start out easier (3 sets of 8-10 reps, 1-2 exercises for a few weeks) prior to moving towards the goal by doing 3 sets of 10-15 reps of 2-3 exercises 3 times per week as a regular routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, you may also want to check your nutrition by drinking more fluid, particularly your sodium (electrolytes) and eating your potassium (sweet potatoes has the most).  This should do it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T01:06:24.267" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13055" CreationDate="2013-07-07T03:56:24.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some cases, strains come from muscle imbalances or weakness, and in other case they can be related to technique.  In either case, when you do strain a muscle the following protocol works well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest.  When it is no longer causing a lot of pain, you can start on the rehab.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compression and &lt;strong&gt;light&lt;/strong&gt; work.  It's better to do a lot of volume with low weight to get fresh blood flowing through the area to help speed healing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly increase the intensity until you are back to your previous level of work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to preventing it in the first place, it's going to require some coordination with a physio to discern what specifically is going on.  I will say that the most common cause of hamstring strains are due to weak hamstrings because they are not regularly exercised.  However, the most common cause of pectoral strains is due to technique.  That may or may not apply in your specific case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When exercising or performing sports:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Warmup is important:&lt;/em&gt; if lifting weights, use light weight to get the muscles warm, and increase a little at a time until you get to the work weight.  If doing sports, perform controlled bodyweight movements like squats, running in place, etc. that warm up the muscles you will be using.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Regularly review and correct your technique:&lt;/em&gt;  Take lots of video and review it.  Sometimes you can spot things easily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Develop your proprioception (body awareness):&lt;/em&gt;  If you pay attention, you can catch warning signs before they become something serious.  Just as important, you should know how good technique feels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perform helpful assistance exercises:&lt;/em&gt; assistance exercises either help you do your main exercises better, or they prevent injury.  Typically they are done with lighter weight and higher reps.  It's a perfect time to incorporate prehab into your normal routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Work on mobility regularly:&lt;/em&gt; mobility work should be done after the main exercise, and can include loosening tight muscles, strengthening weak support muscles, stretching, and foam rolling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Exercise regularly:&lt;/em&gt;  The weekend warrior mentality calls on your body to do things it spent all week forgetting how to do.  This is a recipe for injury.  Instead training 2-3 times a week for an hour each day spread evenly across all 7 days will be enough to be considered regular exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building each of these disciplines into your routine will help keep you injury free.  If you are coming off a recent injury warmup in the beginning and mobility work at the end becomes much more critical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T03:56:24.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13084" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-07T13:54:56.353" Score="4" ViewCount="782" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have fallen arches and wear orthodics.  I haven't regularly worn sandals or even low-top shoes in about eight years.  A podiatrist gave me a series of exercises involving a tennis ball to strengthen my arches and those helped some.  I am wondering if there are any other exercises I can do to help strengthen my arches.  Conversely I am wondering if there are any exercises, e.g., squats, I should avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T17:21:21.017" Title="Any exercises to strengthen and lift foot arches?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13085" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13086" CreationDate="2013-07-07T16:06:57.010" Score="5" ViewCount="2529" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been following &lt;em&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/em&gt; method for a week now. I am way too overweight:&#xA;Age: 21yrs, Weight: 95kg, Height: 5ft6in.&#xA;I started most of the exercises with lower weights than recommended by the program.&#xA;So on 4th session/workout I had completed 2 sets (5 rep each) of squats with total of 25kg.&#xA;The Gym instructor brought me aside &amp;amp; told me that if I continue with my current Squat technique after a few more sessions, I would injure my knees so bad that I would have to undergo an operation after which I wont be able to come to the Gym again in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He told me to follow his technique. He told me to Squat until only the point where my knees will not ahead of my toe. Basically that's not even half the length of &lt;em&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/em&gt; method. So while following &lt;strong&gt;his technique&lt;/strong&gt; on 3rd rep my muscles gave in while going up &amp;amp; I fell down. Now he is blaming it on the damage caused by my previous method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am a bit scared of the consequences &amp;amp; want to ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is going below parallel (but not too low) bad for my knees?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5447" LastActivityDate="2019-04-30T14:16:46.067" Title="Stronglift's Squat method bad for knees?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13085" CreationDate="2013-07-07T16:14:10.590" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mehdi gives an answer to this question in the Stronglifts Report. It is not based on actual science, but rather anecdotal evidence, I quote it here. (Page 58)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Watch out by the way with people telling you to do half Squats instead of hitting parallel.&#xA;  Half Squats are NOT safer for your knees, they can actually destroy them because they&#xA;  cause muscle imbalances (lots of quads development, but little hams/glutes). Your body is&#xA;  designed to Squat below parallel. Why do you think babies naturally sit in the bottom&#xA;  Squat position when playing with toys? And if this was really bad for your knees, wouldn't&#xA;  your body be designed in a way to prevent you to Squat parallel in the first place? Indeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The whole “Deep Squats Are Bad”- myth is spread by gym bros who hurt their knees by&#xA;  doing Squats wrong, which is how the large majority of gym goers do it. I challenge you to&#xA;  find 10 guys in your gym who Squat with proper technique. When these guys now go get&#xA;  help for their painful knees, those dumb doctors wrongly conclude that the exercise was&#xA;  the cause instead of the bad technique. I've only met one doctor so far who recommended&#xA;  me to Squat parallel. Frankly, I was stunned. But then again, he did Squats. All other&#xA;  doctors, past and present, told me that lifting weights is bad for your health, even though&#xA;  the American College of Sports Medicine – the largest sport medicine &amp;amp; exercise science&#xA;  organization in the world – recommends weight lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I talked to a sports medicine doctor and he agreed on this. As long as it isn't painful and you watch for correct technique, deep squats are safe. This means, focus on correct technique instead of increasing weight. If things get too heavy you are likely to adapt a bad technique that brings your knees in trouble.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another thing is that your joints and bones are not growing as fast as your muscles. If you just started out with doing sports you might want to take it a bit slower as they need some more time to adapt to the new circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnV7vEi7Sz8&quot;&gt;video Medhi made&lt;/a&gt; where he explains (and draws) how to properly deep squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-07-07T16:20:09.080" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T16:20:09.080" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13042" CreationDate="2013-07-07T17:37:57.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that body-building stunts growth--or worse, actively makes you shorter--is a myth. It likely grew out of the fact that over-aggressive weight-lifting can cause injury to the ephiphyseal (i.e., &quot;growth&quot;) plates in those who have not finished growing.  But injuring a growth plate doesn't actually stop that bone from growing, it simply creates a usually small anomaly in the bone just like any other bone injury.  Osgood-Schlatter's disease in which the patellar tendon pulls--and sometimes pulls off--the tibial growth plate is a common teen weight-lifting injury.  If O-S stunted tibia growth, there would be a lot of folks walking around with one leg longer than the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really are getting shorter, that is the result of something else which could be related to weight-lifting or not.  People do get shorter as they age as a result of loss of cartilage in the spinal discs, relaxation of the foot-arch ligaments, and consequent posture changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T17:37:57.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13074" CreationDate="2013-07-07T18:27:53.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An exercise regimen that targets muscle-building (i.e., anaerobic activity, intense muscle breakdown and rebuild, and a heavy diet) is fundamentally different than one that targets weight-loss (i.e., aerobic activity, lighter muscle breakdown and rebuild, and a lighter diet).  I can see why taking a week off from muscle-building will help the former&amp;mdash;you are giving your muscles additional time to rebuild.  But a weight-loss routine doesn't emphasize muscle rebuild&amp;mdash;so that particular benefit is reduced.  At the same time, you could lose a tiny bit of aerobic conditioning that you had built up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you need a mental break from exercise&amp;mdash;and who doesn't?&amp;mdash;by all means take a week off and come back re-charged and re-dedicated.  Just take it easy on the cupcakes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T18:27:53.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12647" CreationDate="2013-07-07T20:17:48.873" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;[I'm noviceSquatter--I've since created a stackexchange account. Also I'm doing low bar squats!]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the delayed response. I posted the question a month ago, got a few comments, and didn't expect anything more. Anyways, to answer informaficker, I found the t-nation article helpful because it accurately described me. Here's the key paragraph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you couldn't keep your weight off of your toes and barely got your thighs to parallel before you started tipping over backwards, you have a fairly severe degree of immobility.&#xA;  If you're at this level it'll be challenging, if not impossible, to squat down with your heels on the ground. Your goal here is simply to attain this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That described me when I started squatting. The way I fixed it is pretty simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots and lots of ankle and hip mobility exercises. And deep air squats. I spoke to a powerlifter in my gym, and he gave me a long list of warm ups to do (defranco agile 8 is a good set of warm ups), but I googled around and experimented to see what worked for me. I do a good 20 minute warm up and 5 minute bike ride before I step to the squat rack. It's helped a lot. Honestly, I feel it is simply something that'll work itself out over a month or two of consistent stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6221" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T20:17:48.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9968" CreationDate="2013-07-07T23:18:11.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Theres no benefit to logging calories burned via exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie measurements for exercise are rarely accurate. The difference between doing X reps of an exercise, and X reps of an exercise &lt;em&gt;really fast&lt;/em&gt; is pretty negligable to begin with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=calories%20burned%20running&amp;amp;a=%2aFS-_%2a%2aRunning.p-.%2aRunning.d-.%2aRunning.t--&amp;amp;f2=30%20min&amp;amp;f=Running.t_30%20min&amp;amp;f3=5%20km&amp;amp;f=Running.d_5%20km&amp;amp;a=%2aFP.Running.S-_Male&amp;amp;f5=72%20kg&amp;amp;f=Running.W%5Cu005f72%20kg&amp;amp;a=%2aFVarOpt.1-_%2a%2a%2aRunning.p--.%2a%2a%2aRunning.v---.%2a--&amp;amp;a=%2aFVarOpt.2-_%2a%2a-.%2a%2a%2aRunning.age-.%2aRunning.H--.%2a%2aRunning.incline--.%2a%2aRunning.HRResting---.%2a%2aRunning.p---&amp;amp;x=2&amp;amp;y=6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5km in 30 min burns 1670 kJ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=calories%20burned%20running&amp;amp;a=%2aFS-_%2a%2aRunning.p-.%2aRunning.d-.%2aRunning.t--&amp;amp;f2=15%20min&amp;amp;f=Running.t%5Cu005f15%20min&amp;amp;f3=5%20km&amp;amp;f=Running.d_5%20km&amp;amp;a=%2aFP.Running.S-_Male&amp;amp;f5=72%20kg&amp;amp;f=Running.W%5Cu005f72%20kg&amp;amp;a=%2aFVarOpt.1-_%2a%2a%2aRunning.p--.%2a%2a%2aRunning.v---.%2a--&amp;amp;a=%2aFVarOpt.2-_%2a%2a-.%2a%2a%2aRunning.age-.%2aRunning.H--.%2a%2aRunning.incline--.%2a%2aRunning.HRResting---.%2a%2aRunning.p---&amp;amp;x=0&amp;amp;y=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;At double the pace, 5km in 15mins burns 1820kJ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%281820-1670%29%20kilojoules%20in%20Calories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The difference is a woefully depressing 150kJ or about 36 Calories&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=calories%20in%206%20potato%20chips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is the equivilent of 6 potato chips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But all of this is contingent on you being a mid-twenties 72kg Male, that the chips are &quot;regulation&quot; potato chips, that the ambient temperature is the same as when the results to get these estimates were measured, that the moon was in the third house of Ragnarok, etc... you can see where I'm going here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are tracking the calories you eat properly, and calculated an honest TDEE, consider exercise to be above and beyond that. If you do, if you skip a session, you won't need to adjust your food intake. Yes fitness should be based on science, but at some point you have to acknowledge the innacuracies in your measuring instruments and go by the one you can trust - your own body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you track your food and exercise independently - i.e. Food diary &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; measures food, workout diary &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; measures weight/reps/run time/etc... - and you are losing too much or too little weight, adjust your food intake requirements accordingly. But be reactionary, because outside of a control laboratory, it is impossible to measure to the accuracy you are aiming for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat - there is a huge benefit to tarcking your exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to be clear, I'm not saying don't track your exercise. Tracking workouts to see trends gives a great way to track progress and performance in areas such are improved pace, increased weight lifted or improved endurance. However, the calories burned that is reported by most tools are wildly inaccurate, so I would recommend just flat out ignoring them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-07T23:18:11.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-08T01:56:10.333" Score="1" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gone through the thread &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. I have a few other questions regarding protein supplements and organization of cooking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I organize my meals for a morning workout. ( 7.30am to 8.30am). Should I have something before I hit the gym or just pre-workout shake ?. (If pre workout please suggest what to buy - my objective is to gain weight and I have no knowledge of what protein to buy).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is pre-workout protein different from post workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I have any other protein shakes apart from pre and post workout supplements (like whey). I don't eat MEAT so I have to depend on protein supplements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: &lt;em&gt;Also it will be really great if someone post up reputed online stores to purchase protein so that it can directly ship to my home. It can help a lot of student who can ship stuffs to their school mail box. Its easier to carry it to gym.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5858" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T17:07:49.670" Title="Organize meals for morning workout (gaining weight)" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12696" CreationDate="2013-07-08T02:27:05.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are tons of articles online that will give you bigger arms in just X weeks (tm). But the general gist is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work your biceps and triceps at least twice a week each, but not on the same day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For biceps, curls using dumbbells, hands pronanted will provide maximum stimulation for your biceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For triceps, close grip push-ups, triceps extensions, skull-crushers &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aim for &lt;strong&gt;lots of volume&lt;/strong&gt;, 12-15 reps per set, 3-4 sets per exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last point is key, aim for the heaviest weight you can lift for the high volume. If you can complete the reps, drop the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing a traditional push/pull split in the gym, biceps are considered a &quot;pull&quot; exercise and triceps a &quot;push&quot; exercise. Even if you want to continue your current plan with the same circuit every day, alternate days between biceps and triceps at the end of a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High reps with high weight, and rest between workouts, combined with good nutrition, supplemented with creatine and extra protein should grant you size.&lt;/strong&gt; But imporance is in that order; reps, rest, food, supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a personal anecdote, my approach was after a chest or shoulder day, I'd do 4 sets of 12 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BBLyingTriExt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lying Triceps Extension&lt;/a&gt; with rest between. Aiming to be able to complete the last rep and no more, after the last rep, I'd immediately do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BBCloseGripBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Close Grip Bench Press&lt;/a&gt; until failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a pull day, which usual consisted of lots of rows and pullups (which already work your biceps quite hard), I'd do 4 sets of 12, but continue the last set until complete failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T03:02:20.567" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T03:02:20.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-08T02:50:46.420" Score="0" ViewCount="2344" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a weak left hand compared to right hand, how can I deal with this problem when lifting dumb bells and bench presses. Often it gets really bad and my left arm just gives away. How can I strengthen my left arm more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont want to drop the bells in between sets. Rather I want to do it properly and in correct form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5858" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T15:27:18.477" Title="weak left arm - forced to drop sets inbetween" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13094" CreationDate="2013-07-08T03:10:26.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably lifting too heavy for your left arm. Switch to dumbbells to ensure that your right arm can't compensate and drop the weights until you can complete your sets using proper form with your left arm. If you want to give your left arm an extra boost, perform additional sets &lt;strong&gt;with your left only&lt;/strong&gt; using the right to assist. Working out your right arm independently will only increase the imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your right arm won't 'grow' during this time, it will allow your left arm time catch-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned, speak with a medical professional to see if there are additional causes for the imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T03:10:26.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2013-07-08T09:59:12.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying minimalist (&quot;barefoot&quot;) running for about 1 year now, using Vibram FiveFingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reasons for trying it was that I was fed up with injuries, and constantly buying more expensive shoes with more cushioning. And when a physiotherapist wanted me to buy insoles in addition to the thick shock absorbance in my running shoes, I had enough. I don't consider myself damaged goods to a degree that requires me to spend that much money on protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I went the other way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually got inspired by this forum, when I accidentally came across answers to questions about running injuries, suggesting barefoot/minimalist running as a remedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a special offer for Vibram FiveFingers Bikila, and of course I overdid it the first period, and got very sore calves. Note that I overdid it because it was so much fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've now run for about a year in VFFs, I have 3 pairs of VFFs for running, one pair for leisure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not going back to cushioned shoes, ever. The reasons are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No injuries in VFFs (yet). My knee problems have gone, and I haven't had ankle sprains, which I got on a regular basis with cushioned shoes - when you think about it, wearing high heels and plateau shoes increases the risk of ankle sprains. So running in plateau shoes seems rather silly to me :-)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Speed. Running with VFFs immediately cut off 30-60 seconds of the time I use for running 1 Km. Most of my personal records are now set with VFFs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fun. I find it generally more fun to run minimalist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find the whole mindset behind minimalist running appealing (&quot;your feet were made to run, so drop the packaging and cushioning&quot;), you should really try it - chances are you'll love it. But remember to take it slowly, and listen to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T09:59:12.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-08T13:18:34.967" Score="0" ViewCount="2452" Body="&lt;p&gt;I measured my resting heart rate using the runtastic chest strap and It is 54.&#xA;I am 27 years old and my current weight is 75 kilograms (165.3 lb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used the Formular which according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate#Robergs_and_Landwehr&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; was the least objective to get my max heart rate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;205.8−(0.685×27) = 187.305&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this data Runtastic calculated the following heart rate zones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy: 120 - 132&#xA;Fat Burning: 133 - 146&#xA;Aerobic: 147 - 159&#xA;Anaerobic: 160 - 172&#xA;Red Line: 173 - 187&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But according to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aExercise_zones.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;image&lt;/a&gt; on wikipedia which uses the fox and haskell formula, my fat burning rate should be approximately 115 - 135 which is totally incoherent with the zones calculated by runtastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is going on here? I know that it is not possible to say it with absolute precision, but what would my fat burning zone approximately be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6227" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T16:01:24.270" Title="Runtastic heart rate zones way too high?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12938" CreationDate="2013-07-08T17:50:19.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure your knees are spread out. If your gut is compressed by your knees, it'll contribute to your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5317" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T17:50:19.963" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2013-07-08T17:57:35.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the replies claim that the difference in calories is negligible because you are only adding 10 lbs of weight, but it is important to remember that ankle weights are not passively carried near your center of gravity, but are taking advantage of the physics of rotational motion meaning that a small weight a long distance (about a meter) from the center of gravity increases the moment of inertia SIGNIFICANTLY, thus requiring much more work and burning many more calories.  The number of calories burned will be dependent on the length of your leg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6230" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T17:57:35.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12901" CreationDate="2013-07-08T19:51:09.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is almost nothing better you can do for yourself than to quit drinking soda.  A number of recent studies have shown that the rise of obesity in less-developed countries is almost entirely due to soda!  Just the availability of soda, without any other changes to the diet, is enough to significantly tip the epidemiology of a population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, if you cannot bring yourself to forgo soda completely, you should at the very least try to have it side-by-side with high-fiber and/or high-protein food that will buffer the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream.  If you want a can of soda, have an apple or a turkey sandwich at the same time.  Other than the taste, the thing you are addicted to is the instant blood sugar spike you are getting from unbuffered high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  And if you can't or don't want to cut out the sugar in soda, try to cut out the sugar elsewhere. Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T19:51:09.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12938" CreationDate="2013-07-08T21:07:40.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am &lt;strong&gt;definitely&lt;/strong&gt; not a doctor, and have no qualification whatsoever to dispense advice. Everything that follows is a combination of Wikipedia and guesswork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vagus nerve passes the diaphragm and in fact has branches attached to the surface of the stomach, among other places. Since the vagus nerve has a number of jobs including involvement in regulation of heart rate, it isn't out of the question that something about your technique or your individual physiology is causing some stimulation of this nerve, which you're feeling as a heart response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned, definitely speak to a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastActivityDate="2013-07-08T21:07:40.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13535" CreationDate="2013-07-08T22:36:31.583" Score="12" ViewCount="950" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have spent the last few years running in stability shoes with orthotics (Brooks Adrenaline line) to prevent ankle pain caused by overpronation. My joints and muscles are fine after long runs (including one marathon), but I am hesitant to continue running longer distance because the orthotics give me terrible foot pain and blisters during training and actual races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two months ago I bought a pair of Five Fingers. I started out slowly, and have gradually worked my way up to about 5 miles in them. I really enjoy running in minimal footwear, but I am limited in mileage because the bottom-center of my foot gets gets tight/exhausted (probably from years of wearing orthotics, right?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presently I am starting to train for a marathon (Oct.), and for my longer runs I continue to use my stability shoes. That is, I'm basically running 50% in VFF and 50% in my Brooks Adrenaline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thought is to remove the stability shoes from my training soon; I'd probably pick up a replacement pair that will encourage forefoot/midfoot striking, but also provide &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; support to help during the transition and accommodate overpronation issues. PureConnect or Nike Free, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm basically looking for someone to validate this reasoning, or tell me I'm going about this all wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it make sense to use shoes with intermediate support for long runs while I'm still breaking in my VFF?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or is there a different approach I should take to transition away from stability shoes and more toward lighter footwear?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3513" LastEditorDisplayName="user3513" LastEditDate="2013-07-10T03:05:55.323" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T15:33:37.453" Title="How should I transition into minimalist running shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13106" CreationDate="2013-07-09T00:37:43.837" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train in long distance running and sometimes end up with typical running injuries often attributed to inflammation.  For example, I recently had to take long-ish breaks because of what I believe to be shin splints and Achilles tendon inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides breaks from running and strengthening exercices, are there other things that treat inflammation or help prevent it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, ice and NSAIDs are often suggested.  Do they treat inflammation or only reduce the pain it causes?  I just want to put everything on my side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1954" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T01:37:07.650" Title="Does anything treat and/or prevent inflammation" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;treatment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13104" CreationDate="2013-07-09T01:28:29.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One method of preventing runaway inflammation is to control your intake of omega-6 fatty acids and increase your intake of omega-3 fatty acids. I do this in two ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Real food&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat meat and dairy from grass-fed (and preferably grass-finished) cows, and eggs and flesh from pastured chickens. Eating more wild-caught fish would help too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Supplements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I supplement daily with several thousand IU of vitamin D3, which happens to come with some omega-3s. I aim for the D3, not the O3, so I don't actually keep track of or know how much O3 I take in from supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T01:28:29.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13104" CreationDate="2013-07-09T01:37:07.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ice and NSAIDs both treat inflammation as well as reducing pain.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inflammation is caused in part by vasodilation forcing blood and fluids into the area. Ice treats this by numbing the area, and causing vasoconstriction to limit blood flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NSAID is short for Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflamnatory Drug - so the name alone should indicate that yes they have pharamological agents that treat inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inflammation is a response to injury, so preventing inflammation can be &lt;em&gt;dangerous&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inflammation happens for a number of reasons, but is most often in reponse to injury. Inflamming an area can cause tendernous making your body more cautious with that body part or can restrict movement to allow for recovery. In your example, the inflammation is most likely reducing your range of motion through your ankle as a protective measure to prevent further damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than just treat the inflammation, treat the cause of it. This might include changing shoes, changing stride or stretching but it all depends on what the damage is. If your inflammation continues you would definately want to speak with a medical professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T01:37:07.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13097" CreationDate="2013-07-09T04:35:55.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 'fat-burning zone' is a relatively unproven idea on heart rates and fat loss. If you wanted to you can look at the two results and split the difference and aim for about 133-135. However, how accurate will your heart monitor be in practise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in weight loss, any substantial amount of cardiovascular activity combined with a calorie deficit will help with healthy weight loss. In fact, just a calorie defcit would work, but there are many added benefits to aerobic exercise that its well worth doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T04:35:55.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-09T15:12:15.987" Score="0" ViewCount="397" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, for reference, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-scaption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dumbbell scaption&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XZVDN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/exerciseImages/sequences/1341/Male/m/1341_2.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An iron cross on the rings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7xPvR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is... if someone weighs 140lbs and can do an iron cross is that the equivalent of doing a dumbbell scaption with 70lbs dumbbell's in both hands?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T15:41:30.340" Title="Dumbbell Scaption vs iron cross on rings" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-07-29T11:35:59.153" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3900" CreationDate="2013-07-09T15:12:22.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Walking/running with splayed feet seems to run in my family (me, my sister, my son). So, I think it has a genetic/anatomical component. If one's body is just built that way and it doesn't cause discomfort or pain, then why try to change your body's natural motion? Trying to change that might cause its own problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was a kid, I would consciously try to turn my feet straight when I walked. This was in part because of getting slight teasing about walking funny and my parents telling me to try to walk &quot;straight&quot;. It never did change my walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for performance, I've never had problems keeping a good sprinting speed. My son, while his issues are not as pronounced, has always been the fastest sprinter on his sports teams. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because something is different, don't assume it's wrong and in need of correction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6238" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T15:12:22.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13112" CreationDate="2013-07-09T15:15:37.643" Score="9" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of exercises, I get the impression, require a flat back. Like if you're doing a front lever or back lever in a &quot;V&quot; shape with your hips sagging your back isn't straight. And I think you're supposed to have a straight back for planks, dead lifts, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, if you don't have a mirror, what's a good way to figure out if your back is flat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T15:17:12.020" Title="getting a good sense of when your back is flat" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13108" CreationDate="2013-07-09T15:41:30.340" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Different moves are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most notably, holding dumbbells &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; is not the same as pushing &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt; on rings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T15:41:30.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13110" CreationDate="2013-07-09T15:44:18.943" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can lay down flat on your stomach and then lift your feet up. You don't only lift your toes off the ground, but you also lift your feet up to the point where your knees are also leaving the ground. You then repeat this for several repetitions. This will cause you to feel a certain burning sensation in the lower back muscles. The idea is, once you feel these muscles working you will be more in tune with them and as a result know when they are flat. Mark Rippetoe uses this technique with people who have a hard time getting their back flat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/video/platform_lower_back_position_control&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/video/platform_lower_back_position_control&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this video you will see him demonstrate this technique amongst others. This video is on the longer side (11 minutes), but really worth the watch as it should answer your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T15:44:18.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13110" CreationDate="2013-07-09T16:56:07.363" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Awareness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step is to discover the sensation of a flat back, of firing your lower back muscles, of arching your back, and of keeping or losing your back arch while the hips move. Practice &quot;supermans&quot; on the floor, lifting your legs and chest off the ground. Get into what you think is proper position, then feel with your hand or look in a mirror. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reinforce this sensation using Romanian deadlifts and by squatting while holding a dowel or broomstick up and down your back, touching your sacrum, between your shoulderblades, and the back of your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Periodic review&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've achieved sensation of proper back position, it's important to get occasional feedback on how your proprioception is doing. I'll ask a knowledgeable lifter to take a look at my deadlift (or clean or squat) and let me know how my back arch looks. I'll also set up a camera with a tripod and see how it looks to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-12-21T15:17:12.020" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T15:17:12.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12938" CreationDate="2013-07-09T19:15:18.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is very likely something going on with your technique.  Without more information for your specific problem, all I can do is provide a list of things to look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How big is your gut?&lt;/strong&gt;  You can get too big to squat with proper form, and if you are very obese this can contribute to the problem.  In this case losing weight would be the best course of action.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are you letting air out while you descend?&lt;/strong&gt;  In order to provide a good rigid platform to support the weight of the bar on your back, you need your diaphragm full of air.  Breath into your spine and hold that breath until you are back at the top.  Loosing air during the descent will compress your lungs even more adding to the problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How strong is your upper back?&lt;/strong&gt;  If you are constantly folding over into a good morning, then you aren't keeping your chest up enough.  That can be due to a weak upper back or shifting your weight on your toes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High bar or low bar?&lt;/strong&gt;  One of these will be more comfortable to you due to your physiology.  High bar squats allow for a more upright torso, which is just more mechanically sound for keeping your breath.  Low bar squats force your body forward more, which might contribute to your problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How well do your brace for the squat?&lt;/strong&gt;  Your whole body should be tight as you descend and go back up.  If you have a belt, you should fill that belt with your breath for additional stability.  If not, brace your whole body with the same breath described in bullet 2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is your gut hitting your legs?&lt;/strong&gt;  The squat should start with your feet about the same width as you would for a vertical jump.  As you descend you need to push your knees out, which provides room for a larger gut and gets your adductors involved in the lift.  If your knees come in over your feet on the way up that's fine.  If your gut is hitting your legs even with this set up, then see bullet 1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully one of these things will help point you in the right direction.  While bullet 1 does apply to me, the other bullet points allow me to squat properly to depth without any breathing or panic symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T19:15:18.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13213" CreationDate="2013-07-09T19:30:59.620" Score="7" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed when reaching my upper limits on squat, I start to get some impingement around the ankle and upper foot area.  I've learned that this can be caused from weakness of the ankle and foot muscles.  I try to keep these areas flexed throughout the movement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that barefoot running is a great way to improve foot and ankle musculature. I'm wondering if there is any evidence of carryover to squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would barefoot running (or running with barefoot shoes) help keep my squat form from breaking down in the ankle and foot region during max effort lifts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I should mention I'm using olympic lifting shoes and am not a beginner: I am 6'2&quot;, 195 lbs, and am maxing in the low 300lbs range with full range olympic-style back squat.  As I mentioned in the comments, I feel that &quot;clutching&quot; the ground with my foot provides the most stable base when squatting, and would like to strengthen that musculature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T19:35:04.597" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T19:35:04.597" Title="Barefoot Running Effective for Improving Squat?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12990" CreationDate="2013-07-09T19:46:18.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the personal training studio where I work, we have several clients who come in for either weight loss or strength gain along with bad postures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our approach to this problem is to include corrective exercises in their warm ups and then have them do regular workouts which are geared towards their goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the corrective exercises which we use in the warm ups is called wall slides. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReigOk7Krzc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReigOk7Krzc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a great exercise which targets the traps and is a great way to help your traps keep your shoulders from rolling forward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, Deadlifts are a great strength training exercise which also help strengthen the traps. When lifting up the heavy weights the shoulders tend to want to roll forward, and the traps stabilize them and keep them in place, and as a result they get stronger. Stronger traps means straighter shoulders which means better posture. &#xA;Now I do realize that the deadlift is an advanced move, but I am pointing out that strength training can have some very positive affects for you in your position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also mentioned that your muscles are tense due to a lot of anxiety you feel. Typically lifting heavy weights and having a good effective workout is a great way to release stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it all up, should you include some strength training? In one word: YES!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T19:46:18.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13116" CreationDate="2013-07-09T19:55:40.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got the opposite effect: barefoot running is awesome and I prefer it, but it builds up my calves and can temporarily make them quite tight. Squats require a mobile calf and ankle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may help with ankle stability and I wouldn't avoid barefoot running for this reason, but I don't think it helps with my squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T19:55:40.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12990" CreationDate="2013-07-09T20:13:48.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength exercises to pull the shoulders backwards have helped me with programmer's hunch. Pull-ups and deadlifts are particularly useful, as well as back squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training is OK almost no matter what: it's making sure that the strength training is working to solve your problems rather than exacerbate them. For instance, I would go easy with push-ups, dips, and bench press for the moment, and focus on mobility exercises (such as wall slides) until you feel more comfortable with those pushing movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:13:48.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2013-07-09T20:31:37.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right that this program has a lot of volume. You'd be better off choosing from one of many well-known beginner programs (ie Westside For Skinny Bastards, PHAT, Strong Lifts, 5/3/1). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're insistent on doing these exact exercises it would make more sense to organize them into a push/pull or upper/lower split, as this is a standard practice for hypertrophy oriented programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, deadlifting 3x week isn't a great choice. If you're using proper working weights you wouldn't be able to properly recover fast enough to make progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:31:37.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13116" CreationDate="2013-07-09T20:34:40.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly doubt that running (barefoot or otherwise) will help your squat. If you suspect ankle mobility or general calf/foot weakness you're better off addressing that directly with specific stretches or exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/hip-and-ankle-stretches-for-olympic-weightlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these exercises&lt;/a&gt; to help greatly with my ankle mobility. Another option is to invest in a pair of weightlifting shoes with a raised heel. You can get a pair of VS Athletic or Wei Rui shoes for pretty cheap, if cost is a factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:34:40.690" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11576" CreationDate="2013-07-09T20:41:05.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have muscle groups that are &quot;lagging&quot; then the obvious solution is to target them even harder than before. However I might add that most people have shoulders that are not &quot;up to par&quot; with what what they want. Part of the problem here is that the deltoids are a very small muscle group, and getting &quot;big&quot; shoulders usually takes a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to the point at hand, your technique of training to failure isn't far off the mark, however since this isn't working the way you hoped for these different body parts it might be time to try something new. Perhaps switching to a high volume (not to failure!) program or even a strength program will yield results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important lesson I've learned in my training is that if what you're doing doesn't work &lt;strong&gt;CHANGE IT&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't keep banging your head against a wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:41:05.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13072" CreationDate="2013-07-09T20:54:38.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This won't build muscle or improve cardio, but you may want to consider asking your advisor for a standing or adjustable desk (good luck!) or rigging one yourself.  I try to work standing up at least for an hour a day, I just put my laptop on a bookcase.  If I am just reading something I will also try to do it standing up.  Man (and woman and child) was not meant to sit in a chair for 8+ hours day after day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T20:54:38.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11461" CreationDate="2013-07-09T21:42:56.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's genetic mostly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hypertrophy is not only caused by high intensity and low reps. If you do any exercise long enough this will lead to hypertrophy to some extent (the extent is genetic and proportional to the stimulus you are applying).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those skinny elite distance runners you see that run 100+ miles a week, that's genetic. Their body simply doesn't want to build muscle.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For most white people, if you start doing long distance running (such as marathon training), your legs will almost certainly get a bit bigger; you shed fat but you will build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to point out, that when highly trained distance runners suddenly stop running, and continue eating as normal (like before a big race), it's easy for them to put on 15-20lbs. How so? Glycogen. Highly trained runners constantly have their body in &quot;low energy mode&quot;, and when they stop running, the body is like &quot;shoot! Don't know when we'll next get this chance to store up on energy, better do it now!&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And as a result muscles start storing starch in the form of glycogen very effectively.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is when the muscles don't grow bigger, but the muscle adapts to have more water in it (to help muscle get energy and respiration done more effectively), this is less common in distance runners. But again. genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So overall it's mostly genetic (your body frame), but the type of exercise you do, and how often also plays a big role in hypertrophy (gain in muscle mass, fiber size).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6241" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-07-09T22:22:37.587" LastActivityDate="2013-07-09T22:22:37.587" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-10T05:01:33.170" Score="4" ViewCount="9552" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 25 year old female  and my weight is 141 lbs (63 kg) and my height 5.3 feet (1.63 m). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to lose 20 lbs (9 kg). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current traning and eating: &#xA;I do yoga for one hour in the morning daily and 30 min aerobics in the evening. I also walk for 30 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink 12 glasses of water each day. I eat one &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapati&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chapati&lt;/a&gt; (Indian flat bread made of wheat) in the morning at 9am, then a half cup of tea at 10:30am,  two chapatis at 1pm, another half cup of tea at 3:30 pm and two chapatis at 6pm with low oil vegetables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but my weight is not decreasing. What should I change in my training and eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6242" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-07-10T10:50:48.320" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T09:21:24.667" Title="I exercise daily but my weight is not decreasing" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13126" CreationDate="2013-07-10T14:50:40.597" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a misconception that all a person has to do is regular physical activity to lose weight. The biggest tool available to you for losing weight is your diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pound of fat is 3500 calories, &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/cs/howtoloseweight/a/howcalburn.htm&quot;&gt;to burn this many calories exercising you'd have to walk over 30 miles&lt;/a&gt;. However, if you were dieting, you'd have to cut out 500 calories a day over the course of a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T14:50:40.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12684" CreationDate="2013-07-10T15:12:17.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know a few weightlifters that also do yoga once or twice a week. Because the sport requires such a high level of flexibility yoga is often a great complement to a weightlifting program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I will +1 what Lego Stormtroopr said in his answer. If you want to be good at something, that something needs to be your focus. I will add that in a sport that is a notoriously boring, keeping things interesting is important for your psyche. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as you're a novice when it comes to barbell exercises, I'm confident that you are lacking the flexibility to properly do squats. So any kind of stretching you do will benefit you there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T15:12:17.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13091" CreationDate="2013-07-10T15:22:57.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I, for one, am of the opinion that any strength based activity (powerlifting, bodybuilding, weightlifting, strongman, etc) should not be done on an empty stomach, unless you're specifically cutting weight. So in your case a sturdy breakfast is important. Because I'm an American I will suggest something familiar to me, which is a bunch of eggs and a bunch of toast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from the all-important pre-workout meal, the timing of your meals is largely unimportant. There are people that will tell you that there is a &quot;window&quot; post-workout where you have to consume something, however for your average gym goer this will not make a huge difference. The important thing is that you are eating the right amount of food. For &quot;hardgainers&quot; the common issue with gaining weight is their overestimation of the amount of food they're eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T15:22:57.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13094" CreationDate="2013-07-10T15:27:18.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is likely that you are very new to lifting weights and your dominant arm is much stronger. It will always be the case, to varying degrees, that one limb is stronger than the other. So it is not something to be really worried about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember distinctly that my left arm was noticeably weaker in the bench press and overhead press when I was just starting. However this evened out with time, and I didn't do anything specific to address the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not a novice and this is a sudden occurrence, it is time to worry and you should see a physician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T15:27:18.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13126" CreationDate="2013-07-10T17:49:02.747" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing I see going on here is your diet is very unbalanced.  That is going to cause health problems if you don't make changes, soon.  One of the basics of nutrition is that your body has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_nutrient&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;essential&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/vitamins-minerals/nutrients-101-essential-and-non-essential-nutrients-explained.html#b&quot;&gt;nutrients&lt;/a&gt; that it must consume from food and cannot make itself.  Unfortunately, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11976176&quot;&gt;carbohydrates don't qualify as essential&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are 9 essential amino acids.  They are readily present in all meats (including fish).  If you are a vegetarian, you'll need a mix of protein sources to get them all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are 14 essential vitamins and 15 essential minerals.  If you do not have a varied diet, you must supplement with a multivitamin to get them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of water.  At least 8 cups a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body needs enough protein to protect its muscle mass, particularly when you are trying to lose fat.  You do not have a proper source of protein in your diet.  Your lean mass, particularly your muscle mass, is what is going to burn the most calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: at least 0.5g per pound of lean body mass (i.e. how much you weigh without fat).  If you don't know your lean mass, just use your total body mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: Make sure you get some quality Omega-3s in your diet.  If you eat fish, you are OK.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates: as much as you need to do your exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you meet the minimum protein target for the day, you can fill in the rest of your daily calories with the fats and carbohydrates.  Remember, the focus shouldn't be so much on your weight as it is how much fat you have.  If you look in the mirror and like what you see, chances are you have the proper amount of fat for your body.  That is no less true if the scale never moves or even says you've gained weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your exercise looks OK, but instead of a walk it would be better to have a jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-10T17:49:02.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6173" CreationDate="2013-07-10T17:57:36.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even a very lean person has enough body fat to fuel them for running several marathons, but to metabolise this fat, your muscles also need to use some sugar or protein. That's just how the chemical process works. Your muscles have some sugar stored in them, and they use this up over the course of your ride. This reserve is small enough that you can use it all on one ride. When you &quot;hit the wall&quot; or &quot;bonk&quot; (suddenly feel very weak because of low blood sugar), it's because you've used up the sugar. Even though you still have fat to burn, you can't do it! That's why riders take sugary drinks, bars, and fruits with them instead of fatty foods like bacon or doughnuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of a few possibilities why your friend eats before going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If he's fitter than you, is it because he does more long rides during the week? It may be that his sugar reserve is always running on empty, whereas yours has a chance to replenish itself between rides.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is your friend careful what he eats at other times? As I mentioned above, the body can use sugar &lt;em&gt;or protein&lt;/em&gt; to metabolise fat. If your friend is trying to eat plenty of protein to build muscle (or aid recovery), perhaps he's being careful to avoid burning protein for fuel when it could be put to better use in the body. It would be like buying expensive wood panelling for your walls and then taking it down to burn on the fire!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could be something unrelated to how fit and lean he is. Maybe you have a very late dinner the night before, or a midnight snack, so you don't feel hungry until later in the morning; whereas your friend doesn't eat much in the evenings, so he's hungry as soon as he wakes up. The body adapts to its eating patterns, and people can have very different habits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or similarly, it might be that he is just being more careful. Maybe he's &quot;hit the wall&quot; before on a pre-breakfast ride. If that happens it really makes the ride a lot less enjoyable, so perhaps having done it once, he always eats breakfast to make sure it won't happen again. Perhaps he doesn't need to eat breakfast on this ride in particular, but doesn't want to risk misjudging.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More personally, I think you are the odd one and your friend is normal. I can manage about 40 km before breakfast and my fitter cycling friends all think I'm crazy for going that far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" LastEditorUserId="5503" LastEditDate="2013-07-17T07:17:43.317" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T07:17:43.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13126" CreationDate="2013-07-10T19:08:30.933" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;@astha, first of all see the Berin's answer which is full of essential and very useful information about nutrition. If this general overview is not enough for you I would just suggest to find some fitness diet on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT HERE: One question arose today and you can get some inspiration there: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12074/any-advice-for-improving-my-diet-chart&quot;&gt;Any advice for improving my diet chart?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said in the comment, please make your breakfast &lt;strong&gt;bigger&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;more various&lt;/strong&gt; than only one pancake. Eat some yogurt, cereals, fruit. Put another meal between your breakfast and lunch and one more between lunch and dinner. So you will end up with at least 5 meals per day! I don't know whether your diet is really strict as you mentioned but if it is &lt;strong&gt;you need to stop it&lt;/strong&gt; and start feed your hungry body with essential nutritions &lt;strong&gt;immediately!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's something like -- your body is speaking to itself: &lt;em&gt;&quot;Oooh, I haven't enough food... well, if I'd like to survive, I need to start store any single molecule of fat!&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking a tea (green is better choice) should be boosting your metabolism. That's great, approved :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Psychological point of view: At first, I would focus rather on &lt;strong&gt;balanced diet&lt;/strong&gt; than on losing weight. You need to internally know that you are ok, fit and healthy. And you will not be like that with you current diet. Sorry, that's very simple and obvious fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that you can start do some experiments or you can even workout harder because you will have more power. You will see -- better food basically give you more power. Then, you can workout harder and your body will start changing itself. As Berin said, more muscles will consume more calories so you will start to losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And consider the fact that most men don't like skinny women. They like women in a good fitness shape with a strong core and unobtrusive amount of muscles. The best way I can see here is to continue with your exercise routine and possibly go a little bit beyond your current &quot;comfort zone&quot;. Yoga is fine for stretching. Try something &quot;harder&quot;, for example jogging could be great as well as swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see you are active woman, that's very good! So change your diet properly, be happy with the healthy body and do sport on your 100 % edge :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T14:08:45.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-11T05:36:16.150" Score="4" ViewCount="4377" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is primarily addressed to those who have done knuckle pushups consistently for several years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing 100+ knuckle pushups for about two years everyday, and I've developed fingernail problems where the cuticle (nail folds) and nail bed have disconnected from the nails. Is there a certain way to hold your fist or distribute your weight to avoid this type of problem and to fix it? I do my pushups on the first two knuckles on top of a firm, thick piece of rubber. After I'm done, I can see the imprint of my fingers and nails on the palm of my hand. Thanks for any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6251" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T16:45:48.413" Title="How do you do knuckle pushups without injuring yourself?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13138" CreationDate="2013-07-11T08:01:01.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rest it until it heals. Then, make sure you cut your nails as much as you can (but I guess you probably did that already). If that didn't help - everyone has different nails and for some it might still 'bite' - shifting your weight forward towards the first knuckle might help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T08:01:01.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-11T08:20:00.480" Score="4" ViewCount="2031" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some time ago I asked a question about how to replace deadlifts with resistance bands: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12506/resistance-band-deadlifts&quot;&gt;Resistance band deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;. One point was that the resistance band doesn't offer a constant resistance but it increases monotonically with the stretching of the band. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I discovered the cable pull through as a safe way to train the posterior chain: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a8Wk2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bVmRA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Image from &lt;a href=&quot;http://experiencelife.com/article/the-best-exercises-youre-not-doing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://experiencelife.com/article/the-best-exercises-youre-not-doing/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I asked me again whats about resistance band pull throughs. Since the forces are different in the cable version vs. resistance band version (constant force vs. increasing force) one might guess that the muscle activation and thus the training effect is different. On might also ask if one needs to use a modified technique for the resistance bands or if one should add another exercise to get the same effect with the resistance bands as with the cables. Perhaps there is a general answer to those questions without referring to a specific exercise (you can substitute many cable or dumbbell exercises in principle with resistance bands). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I want to know the following specifically to this exercise and in general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does the constant force vs. increasing force fact imply concerning&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;training effects aiming to build a proper working/functional, healthy muscle system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;training effects aiming at bodybuilding (i.e. how the results will look like)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;are there any technique variations you must have in mind?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;are there any additional exercises you should to to compensate the shortcomings of the resistance bands?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By asking google I already found this passage from bodylastics which doesn't need to be very objective since it's a resistance band manufacturer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another unique benefit of elastic resistance that free weight&#xA;  resistance does not offer is linear variable resistance. What this&#xA;  means is that, as the range of motion of the exercise increases, the&#xA;  resistance provided by the elastic equipment increases. For example,&#xA;  when doing a biceps curl, as you curl your hand up toward your&#xA;  shoulder, the resistance of the elastic tubing increases. This is due&#xA;  to the physical properties of elastic material. As its length&#xA;  increases (from being stretched), it provides more resistance11. One&#xA;  of the benefits of this is that as the range of motion increases and&#xA;  the resistance increases, the number of muscle fibers that are being&#xA;  used in the exercising muscle increase. The more muscle fibers being&#xA;  used, the greater the adaptations in muscle strength that can be&#xA;  achieved with the training program. This benefit is not offered by&#xA;  free-weight resistance. Another reason linear variable resistance, as&#xA;  provided by elastic resistance, is beneficial is due to what is known&#xA;  as the strength curve of muscles. The linear variable resistance&#xA;  provided by elastic tubing better mimics the strength curves of most&#xA;  muscles. A strength curve refers to the way a muscle’s or muscle&#xA;  group’s strength changes over a range of motion. Because of their&#xA;  anatomy, most muscles increase in strength over the range of motion&#xA;  until a certain point. Again using the biceps curl as an example, as&#xA;  you curl the hand toward the shoulder, the muscle gets stronger up&#xA;  until about the halfway point of the range of motion. Thus, the biceps&#xA;  muscle is weakest at the start of the exercise and strongest at the&#xA;  halfway point of the exercise. When doing a biceps curl with a free&#xA;  weight, the individual is limited to how much resistance he can use by&#xA;  how strong the biceps are at the beginning of the exercise (its&#xA;  weakest point). That means that during the biceps curl, the muscle is&#xA;  not receiving adequate resistance when the muscle is in its strongest&#xA;  point in the range of motion. When performing a curl with elastic&#xA;  tubing, however, the resistance increases as the range of motion&#xA;  increases. This means the muscle is receiving greater resistance at&#xA;  its strongest point in the range of motion and therefore is receiving&#xA;  more adequate resistance to better stimulate strength adaptations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T18:19:29.007" Title="Implications of the fact that resistance bands doesn't provide constant force for pull throughs and in general" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-11T11:26:32.983" Score="8" ViewCount="13368" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently my workout buddy was at a phlebologist who diagnosed varicose veins which have to be treated by surgery (just one large vein) the cause of this seems to be genetic and she now have to wear compression tights (at least until the surgery next winter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We workout together for 3 or 5 times a week. The problem is that much of our workout seems to be not very good for her veins:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training (including leg work like weighted squats, lunges etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hill sprints (which is in particular intended to be a strength exercise for the legs especially the posterior chain)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She often uses also a mini trampoline for cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea for her to continue doing this just wearing compression tights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is that she is afraid to ruin her veins because of the HIIT, Weight-lifting and sprints, but she is also afraid to stop doing this because it is fun, and gave her great results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already asked google which gave me those articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/549154-how-to-lift-weights-with-varicose-veins/&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/549154-how-to-lift-weights-with-varicose-veins/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.varistop.com/varicose-veins-exercise/&quot;&gt;http://www.varistop.com/varicose-veins-exercise/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second article suggests particularly to avoid standing leg exercises such as weighted squats, deadlifts or lunges and choose exercises instead where the heart and the legs are on one level. I guess that doing upper body exercises like pushups, pullups or handstand pushups is no problem, but I am not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However multiple discussions on this site showed that it is difficult do replace those ones (even by a chain of exercise) while getting the same results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would be great if someone could give me some tips how to make her training more vein friendly while not sacrifice the results she has now (think of the goals as if she were a female figure fitness athlete, only as a hobby without competition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially it would be great to see a good series of safe exercises for the lower body that can be done at home (i.e. with dumbbells, resistance bands and exercise balls) and that don't have other shortcomings (such as being bad for the knees or leading to functional muscle imbalances etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T10:23:46.783" Title="Fitness training with varicose veins" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13138" CreationDate="2013-07-11T12:20:47.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you are doing this to avoid strain on your wrists rather than to toughen up your hands for bare-knuckle boxing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option is to use push up &quot;bars&quot; or &quot;handles&quot; instead of your knuckles.  This would have the additional benefit of getting you another 4&quot; or so off the floor and increasing your possible range of motion.  You can probably get a pair for $20 or so (cheaper than a manicure).  Alternatively, you could try holding something in each hand which is roughly the size of a bar, e.g., a magic marker, to get your nails out of your palm.  Gloves are another option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastEditorUserId="6174" LastEditDate="2013-07-11T13:38:19.163" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T13:38:19.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12074" CreationDate="2013-07-11T13:33:27.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your diet needs significantly more protein. Despite what you may think, it won't make you gain body fat. Quite the opposite actually. When body-builders/fitness models are cutting their body fat they tend to increase their protein and fat intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For breakfast you should eat regular eggs along with egg whites. It will help with absorption and digestion while giving you the fatty acids you need. Try 1 boiled egg and 3 egg whites. You should also be eating a small serving of fruit or juice as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add some sort of meat to your sandwich. Once more protein is essential for fat loss and you don't have any here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid the rice and chapati's as you already ate two slices of wheat bread an hour before and consumed enough fiber. Once again add some meat with your veggies. As far as the rice is concerned, if you are Indian and your goal is fat loss, your carbohydrate tolerance might be pretty bad. Try to avoid rice for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are consuming juice after your workout this is fine as long as you are waiting about 30 minutes but consider a protein supplement and a vitamin. This is the time when your body will truly require it. Personally I would just eat some fruit as opposed to the juice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid the sugary biscuits and tea if it has cream and sugar in it. It is fine once in a week or so but not good every day if you are trying to cut bodyfat. Tea would be beneficial at this time assuming there is not cream or sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't be eating carbohydrates very late at night. If you have to eat something, consider eating a very small portion of some almonds, pecans, and a few berries just to prevent hunger. You will consume your essential fats and reduce your caloric intake this way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A little milk is fine before bed and should help you get to sleep as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6255" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T13:33:27.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12348" CreationDate="2013-07-11T15:29:27.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;standard squats&quot; are you implying ATG (ass to grass)?  Full range of motion is important in all lifts.  Box squats are a great way to make sure you're going to depth.  Don't do &quot;standard&quot; AND box, just do box squats to make sure you're getting parallel.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6256" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T15:29:27.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13146" CreationDate="2013-07-11T16:37:56.697" Score="6" ViewCount="26597" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 4'11 and 84 lbs and have been doing the 30 day squat challenge. I'm on day 25 and I noticed that the right side of my butt looks better than the left. It's rounder and more lifted. I was just wondering how I could balance them out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6257" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T19:34:51.223" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T11:12:16.933" Title="How do I fix an uneven butt?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13145" CreationDate="2013-07-11T17:00:17.167" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's pretty normal. Everyone tends to favor one side or the other -- usually your dominant side will be stronger.  One side may always be slightly more toned than the other, but you can make the difference much less noticeable by doing alternating unilateral movements such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBLunge.html&quot;&gt;weighted lunges&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBStepUp.html&quot;&gt;step ups&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSingleLegSquat.html&quot;&gt;pistols&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSingleLegSplitSquat.html&quot;&gt;split squats&lt;/a&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T17:00:17.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13353" CreationDate="2013-07-11T21:24:38.010" Score="1" ViewCount="833" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean not totally barefoot, I mean using VFF or something like Nike free run 3.0, in my long run I do a good 10-13k in barefoot, but after that my feets gets a lot of pain. I think my foots has been much stronger, and maybe it could be a good distance to run just 10k barefoot for maintaining stronger feets, and then to do long run with a cushioner shoe..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited:&#xA;My Body weight is 83k, and my height is 1.80, I think running barefoot could be maybe something for people that weights &amp;lt;= 70 Kg on long distances, but for heavier people we must do just 10k or use maybe a middle cushion shoe like Saucony Kinvara 3 that alows you to run like a forefoot strike runner but alows you to run heel-strike too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="5856" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T16:35:10.177" LastActivityDate="2013-08-11T13:00:21.527" Title="What is a safe distance for a barefoot running on asphalt?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-11T22:22:06.147" Score="13" ViewCount="1705" Body="&lt;p&gt;For regular workouts there is information on the benefits and importance of doing pull-ups regularly.  CrossFit even mentions it in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/pullup_Apr03.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Men's Health&lt;/em&gt; even talks about this in one of their &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.menshealth.com/the-craziest-exercise-ever/2011/11/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blogs/articles&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAZaHzd6qAY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit Pull-ups&lt;/a&gt; looks like they use kipping (where you using a forceful initial leg movement for momentum which looks like swinging).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a physical therapist and a strength coach, I do not encourage the violent movement from the Kipping Pull-ups exercise.  I've treated many patients over the years with Upper Trap Strain and Shoulder Injury as a result from doing the Kipping Pull-ups from CrossFit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do Kipping Pull-ups in the first place?  Also, if you are a CrossFit lover or a Certified CrossFit Trainer, how should I approach you without you thinking that I'm against CrossFit philosophy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-01-13T00:35:02.180" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T02:06:00.877" Title="Why does CrossFit use Kipping Pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13149" CreationDate="2013-07-11T23:37:50.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should approach them like you should approach everyone who does something in a way you don't agree with (or don't understand): with respect and without prejudice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion (not a crossfitter): Kipping pull-ups are a different exercise than strength focused pull-ups. They focus primarily on explosive movement and the clever use of inertia.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The goal of crossfit, as I understand, is real-world application of the movement. For climbing a normal pull-up is useful, but you don't always want to do something elegant and clean, but simple and quick and just jerk your body up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-07-11T23:37:50.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13149" CreationDate="2013-07-11T23:40:50.783" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I look at it as, they're competing in a sport with a completion criteria of chin-over-bar for reps/time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the participants understand that they're taking on a certain level of risk of certain types of injuries training for this type of competition, then that's their business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People risk straining muscles kicking soccer balls too, but they accept the risk because they want to participate in a competition that involves kicking. A particular coach not being clear that this is a reps-for-time technique and not also teach correct strict form for strength training, that's a diff issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re: talking to people who may be perceived as too gung-ho about crossfit to critically examine their training, I would refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1936608588&quot;&gt;'Becoming a Supple Leopard' by Kelly Starrett&lt;/a&gt; (who obviously has some serious cred with crossfitters).  The very beginning of the first chapter has a good discussion about the dangers of 'task-completion obsession' that is perhaps helpful in getting people to examine when it's appropriate to take &quot;game day risks&quot; for one more chin-over-bar and if they really want those risks to be part of regular training also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4133" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T05:48:07.893" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T05:48:07.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12348" CreationDate="2013-07-12T01:12:06.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well here is a little feedback: I did that for 4 weeks, and realised I took no interest from it because my posterior chain &lt;em&gt;was already my strong point&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm using a different approach now, doing 4x athletic squats + 4x front squats, and my quadriceps have much better sensations (not mentionning the fact that my back really LOVES the front squat!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers,&#xA;S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T01:12:06.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-12T04:34:59.820" Score="3" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;I posted a question before about how I can fix an uneven butt and I found a workout online and I was wondering if it would help. Here it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 jumping jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 plié squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 side lunges &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 glute kickbacks &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 short bridges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 side leg circles (each) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 glute kickbacks &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 plié squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 jumping jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this work to even it out, but still continue to round and tone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6257" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T10:48:56.190" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T17:49:13.120" Title="Would this workout work for making my butt round and toned?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-12T08:28:57.867" Score="14" ViewCount="1098" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct form and technique for the single leg db deadlift in detail? I also want to know &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; one should do it in this way and not differently. What are common mistakes when doing this, why are they harmful and how to fix them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are reasonable technique variations please also mention it and explain the how and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the web there you can see pictures of multiple different forms which makes you unsure whats correct and whats not. Take for example this picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k2Kf9.jpg&quot; width=&quot;350&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that the standing leg is slightly bend and that the arms are not perpendicular to the ground (as it would be the case in a normal deadlift). However perhaps this makes sense for the single leg deadlift, I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the next picture the arms are perpendicular to the ground:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D1es4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the next picture only one dumbbell is used and the standing leg is straight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lxlJl.jpg&quot; width=&quot;300&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I also found images where the dumbbell is in the hand on the side of the standing leg:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gCTaP.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JT6zX.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found this variation which seems to be similar to the regular deadlift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rWjDV.jpg&quot; width=&quot;260&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rough rule of thumb which gives a relation between the weight you can use in a regular deadlift and that one you can use in a db single leg deadlift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T09:37:45.387" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T03:28:10.577" Title="Correct form and technique in single leg db deadlifts in detail" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12736" CreationDate="2013-07-12T11:24:58.903" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to add the results of my own &quot;investigations&quot; on the subject (although the answer I accepted is still OK).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, my old injury is gone and the problem was the incorrect form. After reading in Rippetoe's book, I found I could perform Deadlifts easily. &lt;strong&gt;Form does matter!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBSumoDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sumo Deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; an easier exercise. And, according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBSumoDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;EXRX&lt;/a&gt; website, the muscles involved are quite similar (normal Deadlift &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqHYfpYEi2A&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;video by Elliot Hulse&lt;/a&gt; called &quot;4 Types of Deadlifts You Should Do&quot; was helpful too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to EXRX, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/DBOneArmStraightLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this dumbbell version&lt;/a&gt; of Deadlifts works pretty much the same muscles (normal Deadlift &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) though of course the load on the lower back will be half the load with respect to the barbell version (or, conversely, you might pick up a heavier dumbbell if available, but then one single shoulder will carry twice the load, which doesn't seem a very good idea).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T19:34:36.020" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T19:34:36.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-12T12:15:36.393" Score="5" ViewCount="1911" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I recover from two simultaneous tendonitis caused by improper use of the pull-down machine, I cannot help thinking and re-designing the program I am going to do when I return to training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For practical everyday life reasons, it is going to be very difficult for me to go to a gym, and nearly impossible to go to one that has a proper squat cage and olympic barbells. Therefore SL5x5 will have to wait until my circumstances change. Nevertheless I have a door bar and a pair of adjustable dumbbells with plates I want to use at home. I have thought of a workout, and I would like to have your suggestions (or warnings) in order to improve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the circumstances and goals that must be taken into account:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am 41 and pretty weak, after two decades of computer work that have rounded my shoulders (but my doctor says it is not a skeletal problem). So I have to strengthen my core and back muscles to improve posture and back protection, and I have to improve my shoulders and upper back mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can barely perform one or two push-ups, and zero chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of dumbbells that can be adjusted up to 7 kg each, or 12 kg in one single dumbbell. I will buy a couple of additional plates, so that the max amount in a single dumbbell will probably reach up to 22 kg, but not much more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the program I have in mind, with an explanation. Please post feedback and suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two workouts A and B, with a rest day in between. Three exercises in each: squat, a push and a pull. Day A for horizontal push/pull, day B for vertical push/pull. The bodyweight exercises are performed in 3 sets to failure. The dumbbell exercises within a 3x8 scheme. I choosed 3x8 instead of 5x5 because the dumbbells will not achieve as much weight as gym barbells, so I better work in a somewhat longer repetition range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodyweight Squat&lt;/strong&gt;, 3xF (three sets to failure), to be replaced by &lt;em&gt;Dumbbell Squat 3x8&lt;/em&gt; after achieving 100 BW squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push-Up&lt;/strong&gt;, 3xF, to be replaced by &lt;em&gt;Hindu Push-Up&lt;/em&gt; after achieving 3 sets of 20 reps. I choosed push-up not only because I don't have a bench, but also because of the need to strengthen my core.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One-Arm Bent-Over Row&lt;/strong&gt;, 3x8 (after two warm-ups sets). I choosed a single-arm version, so that I can go heavier by loading a single dumbbell with all the available plates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doorway pec stretches, neck stretches and hip flexors stretches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodyweight Squat&lt;/strong&gt;, 3xF (three sets to failure), to be replaced by &lt;em&gt;Dumbbell Squat 3x8&lt;/em&gt; after achieving 100 BW squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One-Arm Standing Shoulder Press&lt;/strong&gt;, 3x8, I not only choose a one-arm version because of a single dumbbell being heavier, but also because of the additional core strengthening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chin-Up&lt;/strong&gt;, 3xF. It will be only negative chin-ups at the beguinning, but I hope I will be able to perform at least one chin-up after a certain number of workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder dislocations, neck stretches and hip flexors stretches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't been able to find a substitute for deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I hope for corrections and suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T23:28:14.803" Title="A strength workout with only adjustable dumbbells" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13156" CreationDate="2013-07-12T13:13:58.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 suggestions for you which I think can be useful to you. The first is regarding your chin ups. You mentioned that at this time you are not strong enough to perform chin ups and therefor want to do negative chin ups. I think you may be better off getting your self a resistance band and looping it over the bar to help you perform full range of motion chins. Perfroming full range of motion chins will certainly get you stronger faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMonUeS818o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMonUeS818o&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;This video demonstrates how to use the bands for assisted chins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second suggestion is regarding the deadlifts. There is actually a pretty effective way to use dumbbells in order to perform deadlifts. (Now if the reason you say you haven't a substitute for deadlifts is because you cant go heavy enough using dumbbells then what I'm about to say won't help) In order to perform deadlifts with dumbbells all you have to do is turn the dumbbell on its side as if it were standing on the plates. This will give the dumbbell enough height off the ground so that when you lift it you wont have to round your back. Much like when doing a deadlift with a barbell you need to make sure to use the big 45lbs plates to give you the right height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy lifting!!&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gEc85.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dumbbell laying on its side.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T13:13:58.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13156" CreationDate="2013-07-12T16:17:53.030" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;On review of your previous questions, I'm worried that you may be program-hopping. I understand that injuries are to be respected, but it's more important to be consistent on any one single program than to constantly switch from StrongLifts to Reg Park to a minimal bodyweight-only program to dumbbells and onward to something else. You seem to be experiencing analysis paralysis--or its cousin, hyperoptimization after excessive research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resolve yourself to stick to one program for three months. Mark down the dates. Keep the training volume low. Scale back your expectations for progress. If you get injured, remove or replace &lt;em&gt;only affected exercises&lt;/em&gt; and continue doing everything else the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picking a program has a lot to do with what you've been doing previously. Is what you describe a good program? Yes! Does that mean that it's better than whatever you're already doing? No! A bad program followed diligently is better than switching from program to program, even if each one is better than its predecessor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I'm mistaken, and you haven't been program-hopping. But I strongly recommend reviewing your workout log (you do have a workout log, right?) and seeing how frequently you abandon one approach. I've done it myself for long stretches of time, and my results were always better when I stuck to one thing--&lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; one thing--for at least three months at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T23:28:14.803" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T23:28:14.803" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7758" CreationDate="2013-07-12T17:34:47.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the gist of the prior response -- it is mostly a matter of personal preference.  I coach and I never tell paddlers which to use.  I would add that the T grip can make any problem with blade angle in the transverse plane (whether the power face is turned you or, more rarely, away from you, rather than straight back) easier to notice and correct.  I personally find the palm grip more comfortable and that is what I usually use.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6266" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T17:34:47.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13164" CreationDate="2013-07-12T17:42:30.743" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 340lbs and I'm 5'10&quot; and I'm trying to lose some weight. I'm currently watching my calorie intake during the day, but as soon as I end my exercise routine or its around 10pm to 12pm, I feel like I'm starving! I do take a lot of water to try to control it, but it doesn't seem enough. I'm really, really, really holding myself from eating too much at night. Is there any type of food that will control this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastEditorUserId="6265" LastEditDate="2013-07-12T19:23:41.377" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T04:28:24.277" Title="I'm in need of guidance for apettite control" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-07-17T02:25:08.730" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13149" CreationDate="2013-07-12T17:58:12.443" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The kip is not legal everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was in the Marine Corps (1988-92), the kip was allowed, and I used it because I did not have the upper body strength to complete 20 dead hang pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since learning the kip is no longer accepted in the Marines, I stopped using it to complete my pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kip is a good, all over body workout, and it can still exhaust you. My guess is that is why these CrossFit courses are using them. These courses are not designed to make you powerful and strong, but rather they are designed to get you into shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah, you could injure yourself. You could also injure yourself by slipping on a wet floor in the bathroom at work, but you still go in there for your &lt;em&gt;business&lt;/em&gt;. Right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now it's time to show your buddies you can do 20 pull-ups. Are you going to kip or use dead hang? If you kip, they are liable to say, &quot;Dude, WTF was that?&quot; If you do a dead hang, they might say, &quot;Bro, your chin didn't go all the way over the bar on Number 18.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is sort of what others have said, but I just wanted to put in my 2 cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a professional trainer, though. I'm just someone who's been working out for 25+ years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T17:58:12.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13165" CreationDate="2013-07-12T19:26:56.543" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'am afraid that if I lose weight I will get loose skin, is there any way to avoid loose skin while losing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T21:35:15.863" Title="how could I lose weight and at the same time and try not to have skin excess or loose skin?" Tags="&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-12T21:23:29.627" Score="4" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training for my first mountain ultramarathon :-) Unfortunately, I live in a completely flat location --- the biggest hill is about 20 meters. I use the hill extensively during my runs, but I am afraid it may not be sufficient to prepare for 2-8km climbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I extended my workouts with running stairs (42 floors, about 130 meters). Is it a good idea? What other exercise could I add to my workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6267" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T22:55:11.553" Title="Training for an ultramarathon without hills" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13160" CreationDate="2013-07-12T21:28:05.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Affe said, eating more vegetable will help. Short of that, any sort of caffeine-based drink--coffee, tea, etc.-- can serve as an appetite suppressant, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6268" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T21:28:05.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13162" CreationDate="2013-07-12T21:35:15.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you lose weight at a healthy pace, i.e. two pounds or less a week, you should not have much excess skin. And, even if you do, loose skin will tighten up after a few months. Exercise helps, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6268" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T21:35:15.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-12T21:37:07.110" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in search of free access to a loaded gym, fitness center, recreation center, etc., with at least a few weight stations containing loadable and unloadable barbells, dumbbells, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just the basic stuff, &lt;strong&gt;but for free.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want some form of access to weight training for no cost, &lt;strong&gt;or an &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; minimal amount in a one-time payment at most&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried local rec centers, but they charge. There's no gym I can find that allows free admission, and the only one that does requires ID verification, and I can't go through that daunting process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any special ways to gain access to weights, barbells, etc. for free?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T22:21:56.327" Title="Free access to a gym, fitness center, location with free weights, etc.?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13167" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-12T21:42:26.290" Score="2" ViewCount="434" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen many finger exercises, but some have noted that fingers are conjoined with hands in muscularity and use, so can you really strengthen or isolate the fingers indirectly from the hand muscles, or must they work in conjunction always?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are different types of grip, like pinch, crush, static endurance application, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But regarding the fingers specifically, because I notice some people just have really tough fingers aside from strong hands, and although my hands aren't &quot;weak&quot; my fingers aren't actually strong, and are pretty frail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, are the fingers conjoined 100% with the hands, or can they be worked on more directly through exercises without worrying about over working hand muscles interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T22:31:03.810" Title="Is it literally possible to strengthen the fingers directly through finger exercises, or are they in conjunction with the hands mainly?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13166" CreationDate="2013-07-12T22:21:56.327" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two types of free gyms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your home gym. Buy weights for cheap on ebay/craigslist. Use the park for pull ups, working out, running, etc. Use chairs for doing dips / decline push ups. Use heavy items like bags of flour for goblet squats. Be creative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;School/work/affiliation gym. If you are in high school or college, there is a good chance that you have access to a gym that you can use for free during their &quot;open session&quot; hours. Ditto for work or affiliations like Senior Centers or Lodges which often have gyms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else you will need to be paying for. Personally, I use 24hr because I got a very good deal with them and only have to pay around $20/month. But typically, your better deals are going to come from the smaller gyms in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shop around and see what is available. Ask the attendants if they have any specials going on, and when they typically have their best sales. My guess would be in the fall, because it is the dead period between the &quot;beach season&quot; and the &quot;new years resolution&quot; season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot find anything that works in your price range, then do not fear. There are plenty of body-weight only workouts that you can do with no gym at all. The workouts will probably not get you the same results as a proper barbell workout would, but it will be exponentially better than giving up and not working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-07-12T22:21:56.327" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13167" CreationDate="2013-07-13T03:52:49.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the muscles that control your fingers are in your forearms. The few muscles in your hand control just your thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Finger strength&quot; and grip are related, more so, regardless of the type of grip, they are all exercised in pretty much the same way. So anything related to holding heavy things, like deadlifts, farmers walks, or shrugs will all exercise your grip/pinch/crush ability as well as specific exercises, like grip strengtheners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-13T03:52:49.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13175" CreationDate="2013-07-13T12:27:50.700" Score="2" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;WAVA (now WMA) age grading is a method of comparing your running (and maybe other athletic?) performance across ages and genders. Most places describe it as being relative to the world record performance for a certain distance in your age/gender category (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ridersite.org/SBTraining/WAVAtables4.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;although not all&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would like to know what it means to be further down the WAVA grading. Where is 0%? Is it the slowest performance ever recorded?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the range based on some sort of normal distribution? Is 50% WAVA some sort of average time for that age/gender category?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4957" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T23:32:27.200" Title="How is WAVA age grading calculated?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-13T17:38:07.303" Score="2" ViewCount="3189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering how effectively a stationary bicycle can be used at building lower-body strength vis-a-vis weight-based exercises like squats and lunges.  For instance, if I put a stationary bicycle on a resistance setting of &quot;15&quot; (just a number, I understand that scales on different brands and models are different), I can't pedal it faster than 40 or 45 rpms or for longer than 3 or 4 minutes.  When I am done, I can barely stand.  Can I substitute this routine for a traditional set of squats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T02:24:53.967" Title="Building lower body strength using a stationary bike?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13171" CreationDate="2013-07-13T20:31:10.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand the WAVA (and WMA) age grading is calculated as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;record-time/your-time&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the record-time is the best recorded time for the specified distance, gender and age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as an example assume you are a 48 years old male running half-marathon at 1:42:12 (me). Then you need to know the record time for the WAVA 2006 tables: 1:06:23. And you age grade is then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1:06:23/1:42:12 = 3983 seconds/6132 seconds = 64.96%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check with one of the many &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/age-graded-calculator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;age grade calculators&lt;/a&gt; around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With other words, the age grade tells you how well you are doing compared with the best for the distance &lt;em&gt;at you age&lt;/em&gt;. 50% means you're running at half the speed of the best, 66% means you're running at 2/3 of the speed of the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to get a 0% WAVA age grade, your finish time must be infinite... And 50% does not mean you are middle of the road, but just that somebody else runs twice as fast as you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2013-07-13T20:31:10.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13177" CreationDate="2013-07-14T00:07:51.883" Score="3" ViewCount="7872" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5'8 and 184 lbs. When I started the gym about a 6 weeks ago, I was 189 lbs. My goal was to lose weight with the help of cardio (running and bike), which was going fine until recently (past 1.5 week), when my weight started to plateau at 184. I have been rigorously following myfitnesspal, recording every caloric intake, trying to balance nutrition and my daily caloric intake comes to about 1300-1400, far less than approx 2200 recommended for me. However, I should be losing weight as per that calculation. My conclusion seems to be resistance training. I have started doing resistance training rigorously (low pull, chest incline, shoulder, to name a few). Is it possible that this could be the reason why I am not losing weight at the rate I used to before (due to bulid up of muscle mass)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to switch to only cardio for time being, but feared losing the already built muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion/advice is appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: Using myfitnesspal, I have managed to eat recommended protein, vitamins, fiber and keep the sugar, sodium carbs, well under the recommended level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6280" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T09:11:15.500" Title="eating less calories but still not losing weight, resistance training" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13176" CreationDate="2013-07-14T02:53:07.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating well under your recommended levels can also be a reason for not losing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body needs a certain amount of calories to simply carry out its daily activities such as breathing, digesting, and keeping up with your physical activities. Every person has an amount of calories required each day to maintain their current weight. People who gain weight are usually eating more than they need to and people who lose weight usually eat less than they need. Let us assume that your recommended  daily intake for maintenance is 2000 calories. If you would eat only 1000 calories a day you would essentially be slowing your metabolism down as opposed to the intended goal of speeding it up. The reason is because the body is not getting enough fuel to survive and as a result cant afford to expend energy by burning fat, so instead it saves up as much as it can which leads to stagnant weight loss. In extreme cases the body even begins to feed on muscle tissue to survive, so people may even see the numbers on the scale drop but it is obviously not the number they are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct thing to do in order to lose weight in a safe and effective way is to eat only about 500 calories less than the RDI (recommended Daily Intake). I should also mention that the RDI takes in to account your activity level, so if you do exercise then depending on how often and how rigorous you work the more calories you must consume to maintain your weight. There are calculators that you can find online that can tell you how many calories you should consume on a daily basis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This particular one will ask you for your age, gender, and activity level. Once you have that info put in it will tell you how many calories you should eat to maintain your current weight and also how many calories you should eat to lose weight. I dont know how accurate it is, but it is certainly a good place to start. Once you know basically how many calories you need, you can then pay attention to your results and then tweak the amounts accordingly. If you are not losing then you know you should be eating a little less. If you are losing then you know you got it right and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing worth mentioning, and with this I will conclude, you should pay closer attention to your waist line rather than paying attention to the scale. The scale tells you how much you weigh, but it does not single out your fat. It includes bone density, muscle mass, water, and finally fat, so when you see the number dropping you cant be certain what it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-07-14T02:53:07.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13140" CreationDate="2013-07-14T10:21:53.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance Varies with Range&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With Resistance Bands the resistance becomes stronger the farther into the range that you go. The resistance provided by the bands is less at the beginning of the range ans stronger at the end of the range, whereas the cable provides a more constant resistance throughout the range.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the bodylastics quote states&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the biceps muscle is weakest at the start of the exercise and strongest at the halfway point of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but it avoids to mention that the band may provide too much resistance at the end of the range.  So you may not be able to complete the motion if the resistance from the bands becomes too great.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concentric vs Eccentric Loading&lt;/strong&gt; (Positives and Negatives)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another difference between resistance bands and cable resistance is that the resistance bands do not provide eccentric strengthening or resistance to the muscle as it lengthens or decelerates. An example of an eccentric muscle contraction would be the quadriceps action as you descend stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A resistance band becomes more slack or can even assist the return motion, whereas the cable weights require that you control the return motion against the resistance of the weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you would compliment your resistance band exercise program with weights in order to address eccentric muscle contraction training that is missed with resistance bands.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-07-14T10:21:53.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13198" CreationDate="2013-07-14T18:14:22.653" Score="3" ViewCount="16971" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to build my chest, shoulders, and lats using a simple bodyweight routine that I can do at home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like there are a million options out there, but I just want something simple I can follow indefinitely (with a few changes of exercises, reps, etc.) that will get good results that I can keep with regular workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to get big with such a routine, and could somebody suggest a routine that I could just &quot;set and forget&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.s. - I ride my bike and hike a lot, so legs aren't a problem for me, and I have been getting into climbing which has helped with my arms and back, but I now want to build my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Maybe a picture of what my aim would be would be more descriptive&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OKgtm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;Image from &lt;a href=&quot;http://instruct.uwo.ca/kinesiology/222/Lab2/lab2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://instruct.uwo.ca/kinesiology/222/Lab2/lab2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5052" LastEditorUserId="5052" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T10:01:48.197" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T00:50:08.100" Title="Big chest and lats with simple bodyweight routine?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13174" CreationDate="2013-07-14T18:16:53.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bikes are definitely not a substitute for squats&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The motions are vaguely similar and workout out many of the same muscles but biking is cardio and squats are for improving strength. You might be the best biker in the word but that doesn't mean you can automatically come out and squat 400 pounds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to keep in mind is the squat is a more full body motion. When you bike your quads and glutes are doing most of the work. In a full atg squat you bring in those your calves and your back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up if you want strength do squats for cardio endurance do stationary biking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-14T18:16:53.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13180" CreationDate="2013-07-14T18:22:16.717" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry but bodyweight exercises really peak on their usefulness quite early. For mass gain you generally want to be in the 8 - 12 range of reps even a novice can do that many pushups meaning you will not gain mass from pushups.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullups are not much better, unless you weight them. While they are slightly harder they too wear out there usefulness early.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders might be the exception. Don't quote me on this but handstand pushups may be difficult enough to actually increase mass. I can't speak from firsthand experience because I do use weights. The only problem with handstand pushups is the high starting level of fitness required to do them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end I'll say if you want to get big you have to lift weights bodyweight will not suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-14T18:22:16.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13453" CreationDate="2013-07-14T21:28:40.593" Score="0" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very common to get soreness/pain/DOMS when you do something you haven't done in a while (like skiing or bench) - Even when working far from max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this because something with the muscles, or is it more related to what we are doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the training less effective at this point or will you  gain more compared to how hard you work (because untrained muscles are easier to train)?(In relation to max).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this &quot;regularness&quot; effect continue into regular training? (If we compare doing something regularly/often compared to less regularly/often)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you for example compare a program with many sets (Starting Strength), to one with few sets (4 hour body)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this irregulars effect have a name?  Is there some methodology for how to minimize it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically for things I do like weights, hikings, Pilates, Yoga with some strength I want to minimize this effect (Be beeing &quot;just regular enough&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T06:03:04.850" LastActivityDate="2013-08-04T21:04:04.873" Title="Getting PAIN when you do something you havent done in a while" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13183" CreationDate="2013-07-14T21:45:37.717" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)&lt;/a&gt;, and is a natural consequence of changing either intensity or volume on anything you are doing.  It's temporary, and once you get used to the new regular workload you won't get it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has no effect on your ability to train or carry any risk of injury.  It's simply uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little information on how to minimize DOMS for infrequent activities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform a wide variety of General Physical Preparedness (GPP) exercises throughout the week.  These can be conditioning, strength, or mobility related exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Define regular as at least 3 times per week distributed as evenly as possible throughout the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform regular Sport Specific Preparedness (SSP) exercises that use the same muscles in similar ways.  I.e. select your exercises based on your desired sport.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even just doing GPP work at a sufficient intensity and volume can greatly reduce the DOMS you would receive from sporadic activities.  SSP work will help your technique and ability to perform your sport of choice.  The key here is to perform regular exercise.  You may still get DOMS from the special activity, but it will not be as intense as you have taught your body how to recover more effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T18:32:22.507" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T18:32:22.507" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13174" CreationDate="2013-07-15T00:22:08.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength is built and demonstrated with intense exercise. In this context, &quot;intense&quot; means &quot;it is increasingly difficult to do repeatedly&quot;. An intense squat for someone would be a weight they could only squat two or three times--or only once--before failing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intensity is inversely related to duration. If I can do something five hundred times, then by definition it's not intense (according to the strength-training definition of &quot;intensity&quot;). So no matter how wobbly your legs are after a 4-minute level-15 spin, the intensity of bike riding is fairly low. So that's one way in which squats, and strength training in general, are radically different from bike riding (unless the resistance is so high you can only rotate the pedals once).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other major difference is that the movements are so radically different from each. Squatting is not the same as pedaling. There is some limited overlap, but different exercises are different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Literally any physical activity can build strength. Riding a stationary bike on a high resistance has a strength component, but not much. If you want strong legs, or to gain the benefits of strength training, then do squats and strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T02:24:53.967" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T02:24:53.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13204" CreationDate="2013-07-15T02:06:18.320" Score="4" ViewCount="2166" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past year and a half I've been doing starting strength with some good results. I'm now getting married within year and want to transition to a program that focuses more on size and aesthetics rather than strength. Unfortunately all the one's that I find are more bodybuilding related and require you to work out five days a week which with a study and work routine isn't a possibility for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any programs similar to starting strength (ie. can be performed three days a week) that are more aesthetic based or how would I go about designing one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T14:21:06.093" Title="Effective three day split for size and aesthetics?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13186" CreationDate="2013-07-15T02:22:44.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I don't bodybuild and have not tried these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Boring But Big&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_boring_but_big_3month_challenge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5/3/1 variant called Boring But Big&lt;/a&gt; gets good press. The idea is to do 5 sets of 10 on one major lift each day, then finish the workout with assistance lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Kilgore/Hartman/Lascek's Novice Mass-Gain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Lon Kilgore (co-author of Starting Strength), Dr. Michael Hartman, and Justin Lascek of 70s Big present &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/18eh63/a_beginner_mass_gain_routine_from/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a novice mass-gain progression&lt;/a&gt; in their book FIT. It recommends 3 sets of 10 on multiple versions of the major lifts as well as a small number of bodybuilding-specific exercises. The authors are well-respected in the S&amp;amp;C community, so I give this program weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday&lt;/strong&gt;: squat, calf raise, &lt;em&gt;overhead press&lt;/em&gt;, lat pulldown, shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;bench press&lt;/em&gt;, rows, dips, deadlift, weighted crunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt;: front squat, back extension, &lt;em&gt;curls&lt;/em&gt;, french press, chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises in italics alternate between barbell and dumbbell versions each week. Dips and chin-ups are done to failure if one cannot get 10 full reps, and use added weight if one can do more than 10 in a set. Deadlifts only get 1 set, not 3, at the heaviest weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;GreySkull Linear Progression&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also look into &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/9699/1771&quot;&gt;GreySkull LP&lt;/a&gt;: a novice progression, similar to Starting Strength but with more of a focus on upper-body mass gain and aesthetics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T14:21:06.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13153" CreationDate="2013-07-15T04:09:57.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your workout sounds alright, or maybe even excessive depending on how you do it. (Make sure it is 'hard', not easy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also watch your diet. Where your fat goes to is dependent on your genes; to you the excess fat may go straight to your rearend (assuming that you're unhappy with just your rearend, hence your question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Will it even work out?'&#xA;Hard to say because it really depends on your consistency and efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6286" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-09-13T16:59:49.210" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T16:59:49.210" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13180" CreationDate="2013-07-15T04:16:15.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you want to bulk. Hiking, biking, and other 'extra' physical activities will not help with your bulking, no matter what your workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bulking with your bodyweight is possible in my opinion... Just make sure the exercises are in the 8-11 rep range (that means, that you can't do more than 8 to 11). This means taht your exercises won't be 'easy' and will challenge you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders: Handstand pushups. Do them properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest: Pushups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lats: Pushups, with your elbows to your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to keep your exercises 'difficult' enough to keep your range in the 8-11 rep range. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6286" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T04:16:15.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13160" CreationDate="2013-07-15T04:28:24.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I have had to do to keep my appetite in control is to &quot;shrink my stomach&quot;. You see, before I started dieting I would eat no breakfast, a light lunch and then gorge in the evening for dinner about 1 or 2 hours before bed. The food would just sit and turn to fat as I slept. My stomach got to where it would not feel full unless I was overeating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To solve this I started fasting.  First I say only do this if you have no medical issues and you will not be doing any intense physical work while you fast. Also stop if at anytime your uncomfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start eat light for a couple of days and then try going 24 hours without eating. Then eat light for a week and try going 36-48 hours without eating. You don't want to go over 3 days for safety. Each time you do this you will notice that when you do eat it will not take less to fill yourself up. I looked into this after having the flu for a week and going ~3days without eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work up to fasting once every 2 weeks and begin light working out and see how you feel. Your body will have nothing left to burn but your body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T04:28:24.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13180" CreationDate="2013-07-15T04:39:25.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If hiking and biking are enough for your legs, and climbing is enough for your back, then you don't need much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your chest, five sets each of push-ups and dips, as many as you can do with good form, three times a week should be plenty. For the lats, wide-grip chin-ups and pull-ups are awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights would be better for bigger changes but it sounds like you only want a little more muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T19:12:48.760" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T19:12:48.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-15T05:26:29.323" Score="6" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in maintaining overall health but get bored after a few weeks of aimlessly pulling weights and running. I was wondering if I could take up Boxing (or Muay Thai) for overall fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some thought, I've decided that it sounds fun and I will stay motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any possible medical concerns of boxing? I will not fight/spar though, but I am a PhD student and the last thing I want is brain damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't do hybrid strategies (like both weights and boxing). If I commit to my boxing coach, he will design my schedules and he is really nice, trust-able and reputed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, as a PhD student with brain being the only source of income, does it make sense for me to take up Boxing/Muay Thai for my fitness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2759" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T06:26:10.403" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:06:15.390" Title="Boxing for Overall Fitness" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13180" CreationDate="2013-07-15T05:31:15.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some good exercises you can do at home with only bodyweight that require quite a bit of strength, and should keep you within the 8-12 rep range for a while -- which is what you're looking for if you'd like to put on size:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4mCllu5Qps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wide grip dips&lt;/a&gt; (on kitchen counter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBFRZnjK8a4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One arm pull-up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAO7OG077Ac&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Handstand push-up&lt;/a&gt; (with variations)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysqkaCxv2bI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Front lever&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/one-arm-push-progression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One-arm push up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-07-15T12:50:43.363" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T12:50:43.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13192" CreationDate="2013-07-15T06:22:58.217" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on how you define &quot;overall fitness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boxing is an excellent source of cardio training, and a good traininer will have you not only pounding the bag, but running, doing sit-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, bodyweight squats, skipping, and who knows what else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these things are going to build &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; lean muscle mass and will help reduce fat (as much as any other high intensity training). Good training will also give you excellent coordination - for both both hand-eye and footing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three or four boxing sessions a week will leave you much fitter and healthier than not. Obviously, it woun't build as much muscle as similar time in the gym. But equally, you won't run as fast as someone who spent that time sprint training, or as far as someone who spent that time long-distance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to damage preventing, ensuring your trainer teaches you how to wrap your hands well is important. If you aren't sparring then your hands are the only real concern you need to look after. Even under gloves, I busted a pinky finger on a boxing bag because my hands were poorly wrapped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To a certain respect &quot;health and fitness&quot; is a very hazy goal and one that you can only really see over a lifetime in hindsight. If you enjoy boxing and it gets you up and active, and you can keep it up for the long term then it is the perfect activity for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T06:22:58.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="586" CreationDate="2013-07-15T06:30:18.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you're struggling with posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't need to use your achilles tendon, AT ALL, when doing squats. If they are activated, then you're using your foot and that is wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct your squat by increasing the arch on your back and sticking out your ass more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6286" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T06:30:18.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6458" CreationDate="2013-07-15T11:44:14.753" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;End your treadmill workout by gradually reducing your incline and pace until your heart rate returns to a calmer level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some treadmills are equipped with heart-rate and cool-down features that will notify you of your current heart-rate and gradually reduce your pace and incline until the treadmill stops completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6291" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-16T02:00:53.403" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T02:00:53.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13180" CreationDate="2013-07-15T12:29:45.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK that picture helps everything - that isn't big by any stretch of the imagination, and it certainly achievable with bodyweight work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The think about that physique is the low body fat and moderate muscle mass. To achieve the first part focus on your diet, assuming you are just lacking in size, eat close to maintenance or a little over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to how to build muscle, as people have stated, the key is volume. Focus on being able to do exercises in the &lt;strong&gt;10-15 rep range with good form for 5+ sets&lt;/strong&gt;. The challenge with body weight exercises is increasing difficultly. Unlike with weights were you can just increase the weight, your challenge is to decrease leverage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest exercises can be increased in difficultly like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups on the knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standard push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide-grip push-ups (A narrow grip works the triceps more)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline push-ups (the greater the incline the more the deltoids are worked)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a certain point push-ups may become easy, but you can just throw on a backpack with some weight - books, sand, small children - to increase the difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back exercises include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body weight rows (A broom across some chairs will work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline body weight rows (Elevate your feet on a box)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin ups (Supine grip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups (Pronated grip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, a backpack can be helpful. But by the time you can go 10+ reps for 5 sets your lats will look awesome. Regardless of what people suggest, you can get a great back with body weight alone. Will you win Mr. Olympia - no, will you impress most people - yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even just devoting a day to pushups and a day to pull ups will work your shoulders quite well. Your front deltoids, which are &quot;meatier&quot; and help build that shoulder contour actually play a large roll and are worked thoroughly in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Shoulder.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Transverse Flexion&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;em&gt;pressing&lt;/em&gt; while your posterior deltoids will be worked by the rows and pullups. While both pushes and pulls will work your lateral deltoids. Both exercises have the added benefit of working your core for stabilisation - i.e. your abs, obliques and lower back - as well as the oft neglected &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/SerratusAnterior.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;serratus anterior&lt;/a&gt; - those muscles that kind of look like ribs or fingers but &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegymlifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Zyzz-best-quotes.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;only show on boxers and posers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day A: 10-15+ reps x 5 sets pushups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start on the knees and move to the next exercise in the list once you can hit 20 reps on your last set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day B: 10-15+ reps x 5 sets pullup variation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with rows, and move through the progressions as above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day C: Rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat A-B-C until you look awesome. As I mentioned, this kind of work won't have you winning Mr. Olympia - but if you can do 50+ pushups or pullups in a single session, you will have a strong and enviable physique like the picture you posted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T12:29:45.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12697" CreationDate="2013-07-15T13:10:03.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try standing.  Seriously.  Ask your supervisor for an adjustable desk or for a tall desk and an adjustable chair, or rig a setup of your own.  I work standing for at least an hour a day by putting my laptop on a bookcase.  I also try to do non-computer work (e.g., reading papers, conference calls, etc.) standing up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sit quite a bit as well, and often with suboptimal posture, but just a few hours of standing a day seems to counteract that fairly well.  Your mileage may vary, but for me this works well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T13:10:03.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12813" CreationDate="2013-07-15T18:37:50.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember reading about this topic a while ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't remember the exact articles I read, but the upshot was this: static stretching BEFORE  strength/explosive movements is at best irrelevant and at worst actually decreases performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a page with a summary of a few different studies that seem relevant: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article027.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article027.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that being said, I do think there is something you should do before any workout - and that is warm up - especially if we're talking about heavy lifting or explosive movement. Stretching seems to me to be a somewhat misguided attempt to 'loosen up' the muscles before working them, in the hopes of preventing injury, when what you really want is a good warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good article from Joe DeFranco on the whole subject: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/58-the-stretching-roundtable-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/58-the-stretching-roundtable-2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not exactly a scholarly article, but DeFranco trains some very strong people professionally and I think his thoughts are well-grounded in real-world experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit of a contrived comparison, but if you think of your muscles as a kind of elastic material, like a rubber band for example, the whole warmup concept is a bit more intuitive. Would you rather put a lot of stress and force on a rubber band that has been taken out of the refrigerator 2 seconds before, or one that has been flexed gently for a few minutes until it is more pliable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also remember reading that if you do want to do static stretching, you can feel free to do it post-workout - when your muscles are still warm (so you can actually stretch farther) and so that you don't have to worry about any performance degrading (your workout is over anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This blog kind of sums it up nicely: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mindthesciencegap.org/2013/04/04/a-muscle-myth-buster-stretching-and-physical-performance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mindthesciencegap.org/2013/04/04/a-muscle-myth-buster-stretching-and-physical-performance/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T18:37:50.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12813" CreationDate="2013-07-15T18:52:25.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to answer this question we need look at the differences in these 2 types of stretching, let me explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static stretching - is referring to when you are trying to increase the ROM (range of motion), an example would be a 1 leg hamstring stretch, as you sit and have 1 leg extended on the ground you would for a period of 30 seconds pull on your toes or ankle in order to stretch your hamstring, in other words increase the ROM, as oppose to,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dynamic stretching - which is referring to when your body does the work for you, which in our case with the hamstring stretch, you would stand with 1 leg off the ground and you would swing that leg back and forward till you see that your hamstring has reached its fullest &quot;current ROM&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have quoted &quot;current ROM&quot; because that is the main difference between Static and Dynamic stretching, in the case static stretching as in the 1 leg hamstring stretch, within 10-15 seconds as you pull you would have reached your fullest &quot;current ROM&quot; whatever you do afterwards is trying to go beyond that, in Dynamic stretching all you are trying to achieve is your fullest &quot;current ROM&quot;, in fact you would hear a lot of times trainers emphasize while doing Dynamic stretches not to over stretch, now that we know all that I will try to go over the reason for stretching and the effect it has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason - The main reason for stretching is that while you are working out may it be in a strength program doing a bench press or a round house in a martial arts class, in both of these cases a certain muscle would have its ROM increased beyond its day to day ROM, in the bench press it would be chest (Pectoralis major), and in the round house kick it would primarily be your hamstring, having said that, not making sure before a workout that your body is ready to go to that ROM and usually because you have not warmed up enough can cause you to pull a muscle or even worst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effect - The effect stretching has on your muscles (besides for the obvious which is increasing ROM) is in fact counter productive, mainly in strength workouts and that is because muscles are at its strongest while they are contracted and tight in a bench press while your hands are extended upwards or in a bicep curl while your hands are curled up, so the more you increase the ROM the more your muscles are weakened and therefore you will be unable to fully perform while working out, and that is why there are people who don't stretch at all before a workout, now here is the big &quot;revelation&quot; this counter productive effect is mainly only in &quot;static&quot; stretching  and that is because as we said in &quot;dynamic&quot; stretches you are not trying to increase your overall ROM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope i have answered your question as to why Jillian wants you to avoid statically stretching before a workout, I know that there is a lot more to stretching for example hormone releases, but for its not for this article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should point out a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;static stretching is OK before your workout if don't pass the 10-15 second mark in other words don't try to go to the beyond, and it is common to do them as well as long its not over done, an example would be Tony Horton in P90X in which he does a combo of dynamic and static stretches before the workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure why Jillian is trying to avoid static stretches so strongly since to my knowledge her workouts are mainly cardio but I might be wrong on that, let me know DustinDavis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6087" LastEditorUserId="6087" LastEditDate="2013-07-17T16:13:19.297" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T16:13:19.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13186" CreationDate="2013-07-15T20:20:11.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very common 3-day split is push/pull/legs. If you google it there are a million different variations. Find one you like and tweak it to fit you as time goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you could do a more &quot;old school&quot; bb'er routine like chest/tris, back/bis, shoulders/legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T20:20:11.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13145" CreationDate="2013-07-15T21:19:32.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An interesting solution for you might be to the following workout every 2nd day for 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm Up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some dynamic stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then only on your right side do a static glute stretch, this is so that you weaken the muscle on the right side a little, but please take extreme care not to over stretch as that can cause injury during the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now do a single leg squat on your right leg without any weights and on your left leg add 5LB in each hand and do the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can incorporate this in any workout you are doing if you feel it will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option to look at is to do yoga, I have seen a lot of results in that area on myself with yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6087" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T21:19:32.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13208" CreationDate="2013-07-15T21:34:31.560" Score="0" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see that in SL5x5, the weight increments are bigger for Squats and Deadlifts. I am curious about that. It seems obvious too that you are not expected to lift the same weight in an isolating, small muscle exercise like Reverse DB Flies, than the amount you lift in a big compound Bench Press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are good proportions between weights in different exercises, for a well balanced athlete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any canonical, numerical proportion between loads for different exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I guess we could have a rough idea by looking at the training statistics of some known athletes. Any idea about where to get such data?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-07-16T07:56:26.040" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T07:56:26.040" Title="How are related the weights a healthy athlete can lift in different exercises?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13210" CreationDate="2013-07-15T21:40:24.980" Score="2" ViewCount="849" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoting wikipedia.org's article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Squats&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another error where health of the knee joint is concerned is when the&#xA;  knee is not aligned with the direction of the toes. If the knee is not&#xA;  tracking over the toes during the movement this results in&#xA;  twisting/shearing of the joint and unwanted torque affecting the&#xA;  ligaments which can soon result in injury. The knee should always&#xA;  follow the toe. Have your toes slightly pointed out in order to track&#xA;  the knee properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an illustration on wikipedia of a squat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7zyZF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like this persons form is bad because their toes aren't slightly pointed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T00:26:41.230" Title="squats and alignment of knees" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;overhead-squat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13206" CreationDate="2013-07-15T21:44:57.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The website Exrx publishes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weight Lifting Standards&lt;/a&gt;, which are recommended strength goals for people of different bodyweights who have been training for different lengths of time. They only cover a handful of major lifts (press, bench, squat, deadlift, clean). You may find it useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that this information is derived from Lon Kilgore, who is a frequent co-author with Mark Rippetoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T21:44:57.280" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2013-07-15T22:28:25.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that this is incorrect form for one simple reason. She isn't squatting below parallel. Parallel is defined as follows: When the crease in the hip is lower than the knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to reach parallel, she would have had to widen out her stance a bit and point her toes out slightly. This accomplishes 2 things. the first thing is that it would give her the range of motion needed to reach parallel. The second thing is that it would allow her knees to follow in the direction of her toes, which further allows her to reach parallel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, a correct squat is butt to the ground. Widening out the stance and angling the toes out a bit are all only vehicles to help achieve the ultimate goal of butt to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T22:28:25.910" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2013-07-15T23:05:45.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think she is using bad form, her knees are inline with her feet. Her stance looks a little narrow but that is generally a matter of preference. As for the depth she could go a little deeper, but we don't even know that the squat is over since it's not a video, generally to go deeper it is easier with a wider stance. Other than that her back is straight and she is looking forward which is good.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you personally wideness of stance is something you will have to figure out on your own, likely it has to do with the dimensions of your legs. &lt;strong&gt;Now on the other hand that person deadlifting in the backround might be using the worst form I have ever seen&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-15T23:05:45.833" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2013-07-16T00:26:41.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are seeing one still frame of a squat. That's not so good in determining good form. But from what we can see, the form is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The knees are tracking the toes. Great. If that continues to be the case, then there's no need to point the toes outwards. Some coaches, particularly those focused on Olympic lifting such as Diane Fu and Kelly Starrett, advocate a very toes-forward stance. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper depth may or may not be reached - we don't know because this is only one frame of the squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We can't see back angle or spinal position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T00:26:41.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13116" CreationDate="2013-07-16T01:12:17.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sorry I do not believe that barefoot running will help&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But I definitely have advice for improving your squat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some exercises that can help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBGoodMorning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good mornings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/OverheadSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overhead squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;, specifically sumo style targets your legs more &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Know your weakness  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you tell us where your failing so you can do the right exercises  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some sources for increasing ankle mobility &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift.net/2013/05/03/ankle-mobility-better-squats-bryce-lewis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ANKLE MOBILITY FOR BETTER SQUATS – BRYCE LEWIS&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tabatatimes.com/ankle-mobility/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ankle mobility&lt;/a&gt;, you can easily do a google search for more, sorry non mentioned running.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you want to avoid the ankle mobility coming into play you can do box squats, just don't rely on them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try sitting on the bottom of your squat with lighter weights to get used to having the ankles in that position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A cool way to improve just your max is to improve your nervous system&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a weight significantly more than your max, 10-20kg more, and step out with it and breathe for 20-30 secs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always increase intensity, if you don't challenge yourself you can't improve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One last piece of advice: watch &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/BROZKNOWS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;john broz's channel&lt;/a&gt;. This helped me realize how weak I was. Broz advocates squatting everyday — heavy. It's not for everyone and you will be sore, but if you eat and sleep right and are dedicated, it can give ridiculous gains.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW: my advice comes from a 315 squat at 155 so hopefully you won't think I'm talking out of my ass :), specifically I think that the front and overhead squats can help because they really make you perfect your form as opposed to a back squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T16:20:38.847" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T16:20:38.847" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13116" CreationDate="2013-07-16T02:12:59.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will barefoot running help your squat? Possibly - but not in the way you think.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.japmaonline.org/content/101/3/231.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barefoot running is a contentious issue&lt;/a&gt;, with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Proponents of barefoot running claim many benefits, such as improved performance and reduced injuries, whereas detractors warn of the imminent risks involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I found &lt;strong&gt;no evidence to suggest that barefoot running will build strength in the musculature of the ankle&lt;/strong&gt;. Common sense suggests this may be the case, given that there is minimal external support the muscles supporting the ankle must work harder. However, this is conjecture and there is nothing to support (or refute) this claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I did find an article that indicates that barefoot running &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitforsportclinic.com/documents/Barefoot_Running_Mechanical_comparison.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;could also enhance the storage and restitution of elastic energy at ankle extensors level&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. The &lt;strong&gt;ability to store and release enegry throughout the ankle and calf would certainly have a benefit for squats&lt;/strong&gt; at the low point, so this is certainly a positive point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also of note is the measured &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1934148209013677&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;increase in torque at the knee and hip&lt;/a&gt; generated by shod runners versus barefoot suggesting &quot;relatively greater pressures at anatomical sites that are typically more prone to knee osteoarthritis&quot;. As such, if you were going to run while doing a squat based program, &lt;strong&gt;barefoot running may offer some preventative protection against knee damage&lt;/strong&gt; when compared to shod running, by reducing the torque and pressure on the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a precautionary note, barefoot runners may &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002192909900192X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;keep their muscles stiffer&lt;/a&gt; during running to minimise heel impact. As such a proper warm-up and cool down program with stretching should be followed to ensure that the leg muscles are kept limber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-29T23:24:25.537" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T23:24:25.537" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-16T14:56:16.873" Score="4" ViewCount="6249" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local outdoor pool has a chin-up bar (as part of a deployable multi-gym thing), but because it has to survive the elements, it's just a plain galvanized steel bar. The bar is less than an inch in diameter, so I can easily wrap my fingers around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, such bars have rubber on the outside, or knurling, so that you really have to be sweating a lot before they become slippery. This one is completely smooth. When my hands get even a little sweaty, it becomes slippery, and I worry I'm going to lose my grip on it. Can I improvise something to cover it with to avoid slipping? It has to be something I can easily take with me, and remove when I'm finished. My towel is the obvious thing, but it would grip my hands well but still slide over the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" LastEditorUserId="5220" LastEditDate="2014-10-13T10:19:56.930" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T10:19:56.930" Title="How can I improve my grip on a slippery chin-up bar?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13215" CreationDate="2013-07-16T15:05:58.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This a multitude of things you can use. Here's a list that I suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting straps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chalk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sand (I do this when I do my spartan races, right before the pull up bars)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if there isn't any sand, I suggest bringing a little chalk to rub on your hands before you do your chin ups. This dries up your hands and enables you to lift yourself much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting straps will help also, but I discourage using them whenever you're doing bodyweight exercises. In the long run, they will help you do the exercise but also neglect your forearm strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T15:05:58.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13215" CreationDate="2013-07-16T15:06:40.413" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sweat a lot. When my grip slips because of sweat, I blame the sweat and not the bar. This approach works pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wear sweat-bands on my wrists and carry chalk. I wipe the sweat from both sides of my hands onto a towel or my shirt, then chalk my palms copiously. This keeps my grip mostly dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T15:06:40.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-16T16:55:36.123" Score="0" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year I decided to shed some pounds and after a lot of struggling, I managed to lose ~45 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, I'm very much maintaining my weight but I want to lose more. I currently weight 190 but I want to go down to 170. I want to feel and look better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've done everything from carbo loading and running regularly, to just focusing on a paleo diet. Nothing works. My calorie intake daily is ~2000. I don't eat from restaurants and always prepare my own food. I stray away from carbs and usually prepare meals that are just a protein and some veg. I also go to the gym every other day where I do half hour of cardio and half our of weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yet, I'll drop a pound or two but it comes right back to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6302" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T19:29:49.523" Title="I think I've hit a Plateau" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13218" CreationDate="2013-07-16T17:04:34.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plateaus are caused by many different things. Sometimes your body is just used to the training program and other times your body just needs a break. Here's a list to help you through your plateau:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;New training program&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Better sleep (if you're sleeping 6 hours, try sleeping 7-8)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorter rest time between sets (if you were doing 90 seconds, try 30 seconds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different tempos through your sets (2 seconds going up, 1 second hold, 3 seconds going down)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;New workout split (Ex: Legs on monday instead of chest, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Personal trainer (they will be able to narrow stuff down better than us)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my personal trainer recommends me to &lt;strong&gt;take a week off&lt;/strong&gt; of training each 6-8 weeks of HIT (High intensity training) because my body will just crumble under the intensity of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switch up your diet if needed. Paleo diet is great, but have you tried anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to burn fat through your cardio, try to stay in a rythme where you'll be able to hold a conversation with someone without being out of breath. When you find that fine line, you'll get better results from the fat loss department. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the weights, if you've only been doing weights maybe it's time to try plyometric exercises. I suggest talking to a personal trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember ... Even if you're not losing weight, perhaps your losing fat but building muscle at the same time which won't change your current weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastEditorUserId="6050" LastEditDate="2013-07-16T17:13:22.600" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T17:13:22.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13218" CreationDate="2013-07-16T17:30:06.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on your accomplishments so far!  I agree with @Alex that you probably need a professional (or pseudo-professional) to take the next step.  It sounds like you have the basics covered.  Going further will take tweaking routines or regimens you probably don't even know you have.  If I would add one thing is that you might want to consult either your physician or a nutritionist.  Losing weight is largely about diet.  It sounds like your current diet is fairly lean.  If you make any additional changes, you want to make sure you don't undershoot on important nutrients and compromise your health.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T17:30:06.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13235" CreationDate="2013-07-16T21:33:44.847" Score="1" ViewCount="2138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking to gain muscle/lift a little in order to be less weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I only own one pair of 10lb dumbbells which I use for dumbbell pressing. As a weak 6'0(182cm) 132 lb.(60kg) 17yr old, I don't have access to public gyms, or buying more weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will increasing the number of reps I can do back to back help with muscle gain, or will this gain plateau eventually?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, are heavier weights &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt; necessary for muscle gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6304" LastEditorUserId="2210" LastEditDate="2013-07-17T14:13:07.563" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T17:57:32.310" Title="Weightlifting with only one set of weights" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13167" CreationDate="2013-07-16T22:31:03.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although there are muscles in your hands themselves, most of them are in your forearms. As an awesome example, check out rock climber Adam Ondra at 4:02 in this video, where he's traversing the ceiling of a cave by gripping stalactites: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOC15Atu39U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOC15Atu39U&lt;/a&gt; . You can pretty clearly see that because of the kind of grip he's attained, his forearms are huge compared to his upper arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But training isn't just about muscles. You're also building the strength of your connective tissue, and there is a lot of that in your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6305" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T22:31:03.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13013" CreationDate="2013-07-16T22:40:57.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scientific studies do not seem to support the seemingly commonsense idea that cushioning in your shoes protects you from injury: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18801775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18801775&lt;/a&gt; . When you run with less cushioning, your brain apparently subconsciously adjusts your stride to keep the forces the same. This suggests that you save your money and keep using a pair of shoes until it wears out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6305" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T22:40:57.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13221" CreationDate="2013-07-16T23:07:47.930" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes. Muscle growth requires progressive overload&lt;/strong&gt;, among other things. Maximum hypertrophy occurs in the 10-20 rep range, and to continue growth it is important to ensure that exercises in the range remain difficult - which generally means adding weight as exercise becomes less stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you can easily do 20+ reps with your weights (which won't take long for any exercise) you are longer training for hypertrophy, but muscular endurance - essentially, training for the ability to perform work for long periods of while flushing lactates from the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it may be possible to achieve some growth with 10lb weights and bodyweight exercises you will plateau quite quickly. &lt;strong&gt;So, if you are aiming for muscle gain you are going to need to look at lifting more weight.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weightlifting on a budget&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a pinch, if you can't get to a gym, get a cheap but solid calico bag, and make some smaller approximately weighted bags of rocks or sand. You can make a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/sandbag-training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good workout bag&lt;/a&gt;, and then add or subtract weight to change the difficulty as required. If you can get enough rocks and a big enough bag, you can put on some muscle mass, but even then you will reach a point where adding more weight to a bag become unwieldy. The question becomes, are you happy with where that plateau point is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-16T23:07:47.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13218" CreationDate="2013-07-17T01:29:42.123" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've hit a plateau a few months ago, and have 'broken' it now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did was change my program. Mix things up. Add in new things / take things out etc. Mix and see the change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6286" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-17T02:23:22.300" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T02:23:22.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13215" CreationDate="2013-07-17T06:42:54.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although &lt;strong&gt;chalk&lt;/strong&gt; works amazingly for grip (as a rock climber I can confirm from experience), I'm going to try to provide another answer rather than repeating what the others have already answered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could just obtain &lt;strong&gt;grip tape&lt;/strong&gt; (like for tennis rackets) and wrap it around the bar (it's made to survive the elements, and wouldn't be damaging the bar, I don't see how people would have an issue with it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the others have answered are the ways for &lt;strong&gt;YOU&lt;/strong&gt; to improve your grip, not employ a &lt;em&gt;temporary&lt;/em&gt; solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6304" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T06:42:54.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13192" CreationDate="2013-07-17T11:14:47.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would add to Lego's great answer that boxing and muaythai are often seen as beeing good for your back, because you train the core and you often move your whole torso. I got this from numerous friends who had in turn heard this from their doctors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for myself, for long stretches of my life muaythai has been the only sport I could do for longer without getting bored, it's for the same reason the sport I can do with the highest intensity. If you are more disciplined than me, that will not apply of course - but it could be a consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T11:14:47.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13230" CreationDate="2013-07-17T12:49:23.880" Score="2" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to do physical activity in my school-days but after college it got reduced and after that none. I started doing exercises five month back I am following this regular exercise routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6km running (30 min)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 jumps touching my chest from my knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie down and touch my nose with my knee 10 times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Duck walk and jump for some 5m forward and backward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally some stretching,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total time taken is approximately  45 min. My weight is 58Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's intense for me and I sweat a lot, and I don't know if I am overdoing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I add some more exercises to my daily routine or should I just change the exercises each day to new ones. I want to do some plank exercises too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, does it requires me to take more protein since I am doing this stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-07-17T16:04:46.847" LastActivityDate="2013-07-20T11:39:36.077" Title="How long should i excercise?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13229" CreationDate="2013-07-17T13:03:04.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Workout length (45mins-1h)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A successful workout  shouldn't really exceed more than an hour to &lt;em&gt;an hour and a half&lt;/em&gt;. 45 minutes is great, your body can push 100% throughout that time. Anything more and you start to slack off or give less intensity on the other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Workouts &gt; 1 hour 30 mins&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, my trainings go from an hour and a half to two hours (stretching and abs included). Although, I eat very well and provide enough carbohydrates so that I don't feel drained. I drink intra-workout shakes (which provide BCAAs, Carbs, etc) to help me stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Adding exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is switch up your exercises, try something new. You need to perform things your body is not used to - that way it will adapt and change accordingly. If things get easier, yes you can definately add in some more exercises;  like 15-30 burpees or plank exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stronger Core&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is a stronger core, here are some intense abdonimal exercises I perform and suggest to my more advance clients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ibodz.com/files/exerciseimages/v-crunch-1.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10 v-crunches&lt;/a&gt; (legs elevated off the ground slightly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ibodz.com/files/exerciseimages/v-crunch-with-single-leg-1.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10 single-leg v-crunches&lt;/a&gt; (legs elevated off the ground slightly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cdn.vogue.com.au/media/article-steps/4/3/3/0/43333-1_asl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;30 seconds with legs and upper body slightly elevated&lt;/a&gt; (lift arms if possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flattenbelly.com/elements/exercise_images/basiccrunch.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;20 crunches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://popworkouts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/bicycle-crunches-exercise2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;15 bicycle crunches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 minute plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Protein intake&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the protein, yes your body should intake more protein than the usual person. You're excerting more energy and your muscles need to rebuild. Protein will help you do that. You should take about 1.5g of protein pour kilogram of bodyweight. Knowing that you're 58 kilos, you should take approximately 87 grams of protein per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, do not take all the protein at once or else you will just poop it out. Separate it throughout the day for more successful results. Your meals also have protein so try to balance it out with protein shakes if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastEditorUserId="6050" LastEditDate="2013-07-17T15:32:06.637" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T15:32:06.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13221" CreationDate="2013-07-17T13:26:16.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You also have the 132 lbs. of your body available to you although it is easier to use it to exercise some muscles (e.g., chest and triceps via push ups) than others. Given that you are a beginner, you can start with a program that uses body weight plus the small weights you have.  By the time you max that resource out, other options could become available or you can jury rig something like @Stormtroopr suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T13:26:16.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13233" CreationDate="2013-07-17T17:23:10.987" Score="0" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;for the next two weeks i won't be able to train with fitness-machines. What are the best excercises to train (with own weight)? I want to cover more or less the main parts of the body: triceps/bicepcs, stomach, back, leggs, shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6013" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T20:18:31.620" Title="Best excercises without machines?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-07-18T20:20:45.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13232" CreationDate="2013-07-17T17:28:16.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight exercisese are pretty limited but here are some good ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Push ups (chest, triceps &amp;amp; shoulders)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.1. Variations of Incline / Decline push ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and try this challenge: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU7O_DU_TQc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bring Sally Up Video&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Bring sally up = Push Up | Bring Sally Down = Stay pressed down&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chin ups (biceps &amp;amp; back)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups (back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chair dips (triceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (legs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges (legs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches (abdominals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burpees (full body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more suggestions, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, maybe it could help you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastEditorUserId="6050" LastEditDate="2013-07-18T00:46:53.750" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T00:46:53.750" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13221" CreationDate="2013-07-17T17:29:54.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ten pound dumbbells are close to useless for building muscle. You are a young man, in the prime age for lifting and growing. Find a way to acquire weights. Used weights on Craigslist would be best, since &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lifting heavy weights is the best and fastest way to gain muscle and strength.&lt;/a&gt; Look for a barbell and squat rack, or failing that, for 25 and 50 pound dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible to get stronger without heavy weights, but it's harder and much slower and often doesn't result in getting bigger. I highly recommend barbells or dumbbells. If you absolutely can't or won't find equipment, then look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodyweight&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_funny/all_muscle_no_iron&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T17:29:54.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13221" CreationDate="2013-07-17T17:57:32.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really like the question as its something that a lot of teenagers struggle with at this age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your question &quot;Will increasing the number of reps I can do back to back help with muscle gain, or will this gain plateau eventually?&quot; the answer is Yes you will gain a drop of muscle but not alot, and Yes doing the same thing all the time will cause you to gain a plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that I think you need to look at other options ifd you are serious about getting in better shape, the best option for you would be is to look to get a program, and I will list 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;would be to get something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do?e=5b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;INSANITY&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/focus-t25-workout.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T25&lt;/a&gt; if you are looking for something less intense, and thew are both from Shaun T, the benefits of these programs are, one that they do not use any weights, just a band occasionally, and 2nd and most importantly using a program will help you better keep track of your progress and make sure that you don't hit a plateau, but again you mentioned that Buying weights is not an option and if its because of financial reasons this would probably not be an option as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;would be to follow a guy who I have followed his name is Matt Furey, it will be very cheap and it will help you gain overall strength, some muscle as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to his website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mattfurey.com/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mattfurey.com/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also read the following to get more insight &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Routine #1: Killer 200 Pushup Workout: 3 minute back bridge 100 Hindu Squats 50 Hindu Pushups German 50: 10 Elbows in, 10 hand over hand, 10 Superman, 10 hands wide, 10 hands backwards performed in a row, without stopping. 25 Hindu Pushups with feet 10&quot; apart 25 Hindu Pushups with feet together 25 Hindu Pushups with hands and feet together 25 fingertip Hindu Pushups 3 minute back bridge, 3 minute front bridge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Routine #2: 3 Minute Back Bridge 100 Hindu Squats 10 Grasshoppers 35 Bootstrappers 10 Kneeling Back Bends 20 Hindu Jumper Squats 10 Mountain Climbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is officially a beginners routine, but for most this will be too much, so do the sets as listed but with less reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope all this helps you, I will list a few tips that will help you along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't have your lean factor but from the info you provided i would say that your calorie intake should be at least 2000 calories a day not less.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't rush into anything as it will do you more harm then good, try to find someone who has done these programs and get more insight as to if the intensity level it will suit you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6087" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T17:57:32.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13237" CreationDate="2013-07-17T18:08:03.577" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 330lbs and was thinking about starting to exercise first 1 time a week and as my body get used to it, Add more time to the week... for example if I make exercise Monday and get to 320 lbs and my body get stuck at 320lbs then I add a day to my routine, like saying Wednesday. Will it make a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T00:40:11.670" Title="Workout routine" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-07-18T20:21:04.100" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13236" CreationDate="2013-07-17T18:11:24.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working out more often will make a definate difference. It is alright to start slow, get used to everything first.  You don't want to be injured so take it easy when starting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you stay stuck at 320lbs though you will need to continue adding a few more workout days to the week &lt;strong&gt;OR&lt;/strong&gt; making the current days you workout, more intense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of all, it starts with the diet and eating habbits. Ff your diet is low in fat &amp;amp; carbohydrates , you will get some insane results. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastEditorUserId="6050" LastEditDate="2013-07-18T00:40:11.670" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T00:40:11.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13218" CreationDate="2013-07-17T18:26:32.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have the basics covered, and I will interject that while manipulating carbs is a proven way to lose weight they should be a part of your diet.  Even with the paleo structure, fruit is paleo and has carbs.  There are a number of things you'll have to take a look at and be honest with yourself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How active are you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kind of activity are you doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How balanced are your meals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often do you deviate from your eating plan?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much body fat do you have?  Is 170 even a reasonable goal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much stress do you have in your life right now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't losing weight right now it's clear that &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; has to change.  The hard part is figuring out what's wrong.  If you are mostly sedentary, you will probably have to increase your activity.  However, if you work out six days a week for 2 hours each day you may be doing too much.  I'll cover these in more detail below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Activities&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both frequency and type of activity are important.  Too much activity, or too much of the wrong activity can increase your body's level of stress to a point where you are just flooded with cortisol and your pituitary glands are constantly firing.  That's a bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be doing some strength training.  Barbell, dumbbell, body weight, kettle bell are all useful tools when trying to lose weight.  Go for moderate weight, and more reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be doing some conditioning work.  20 minutes medium intensity steady state a day, or 15 minutes of HIIT 2x/week is enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should limit your activity to no more than an hour at one sitting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any sports you like to play, it makes the exercise a lot more fun and useful if you do things that support that sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are going to have to be brutally honest with yourself.  How often do you grab a quick &quot;little something&quot; from the candy bowl at work?  If you don't log what you eat, start doing it.  It's most useful and important when you hit the plateaus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure all your essential nutrients are covered (amino acids, vitamins, minerals, omega-3s).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your macros have some balance.  Carbs help you do the activities you need to do, so they do have a place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you are eating enough, but not too much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will do much better when all your nutrients come from real food.  Supplements are for filling gaps when you need to hit your macro goals, not for replacing meals.  Your body does better when it is in proper hormonal balance.  Some changes are outside of your control, but your body does react to what and when you eat.  What you eat can set off either good chain reactions or bad ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If carbs are under-represented, you'll probably need to increase them while decreasing something else.  Same with protein and fats.  For example, testosterone is manufactured from cholesterol, and a proper amount of saturated fat in your diet helps your body manufacture the needed amounts.  Another example would be prolonged lack of carbs can cause the body to convert any free testosterone to estrogen (which can increase weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your meal plan is good, but you don't stick to it well enough you have to change your behavior.  See how long you can stick to your plan before you cheat.  When you cheat turn that day into a whole cheat day, and then try to beat your previous streak.  Alternatively, schedule minor treats every time you lower your body weight another couple pounds.  The important thing is to have a plan you can remain faithful to without feeling deprived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good measurable goals are important, but try to use goals that help you accomplish some end game.  For example, if you want to look like a fitness model then you'll need to make sure you have a decent base of muscle while you lower fat.  If you just want to look jacked, you'll need more muscle and lower fat.  If you just want to be healthy, you want to target either a healthy (&amp;lt;20% for men) or athletic range (10-15% for men) of body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are 190 with 15% body fat and wanted to get to 10% body fat then 170 would be too low.  Take time to get your body composition measured.  That will give you some real data to set your goals from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body's response to stress is to adapt to it.  In some cases the stress is something we want.  For example, the stress of lifting weights causes your body to build muscle.  In other cases the stress is bad.  Things like not enough food, looming deadlines when you are behind schedule, worry, etc. all cause a fight or flight response which increase the catabolic state of your body.  When the body is catabolic it can pack on pounds and catabolize muscle in the process of dealing with the stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Identify any cause of bad sources of stress (include caffeine abuse, poor diet, major life events, commuting, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find out what you can do to reduce unwanted stress (reduce caffeine use, simplify your life, plan alternate routes, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For things you can't change, try to find ways of dealing with it better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is designed to have periods of catabolism and anabolism.  They help you stay healthy, and modern lifestyles tend to emphasize a catabolic state.  Your goal here is to restore balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you hit a plateau, then what you were doing is no longer working.  You have to try something else.  Do a little thinking to figure out what the most likely culprit is and make changes to address that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T18:26:32.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13236" CreationDate="2013-07-17T20:14:29.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people are stuck in the idea that working out is the main course of action when dropping body fat. While exercise is great, dropping from 330 to 320lbs requires you to re-evaluate your diet as a whole and will be the key to your success. The workout routine part is a supplement to that change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen tons of people who workout on a daily basis and cannot drop a pound of weight. I'd recommend making the workout routine secondary to the change of diet which essentially will make the biggest difference in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="487" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T20:14:29.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13241" CreationDate="2013-07-17T21:15:23.990" Score="0" ViewCount="6723" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have very much about fitness and what is efficient or not. Is this program constructed well enough to produce good results in your opinion?&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kq2Rr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The 30 Day AB Challenge&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6304" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T23:08:30.777" Title="30 Day Ab Challenge" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13240" CreationDate="2013-07-17T23:01:48.843" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your goal is to have strong, defined abs that plan will do nothing for you.&lt;/strong&gt; Worst of all the volume of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/19/the-man-who-wants-to-kill-crunches/&quot;&gt;situps it involves could be dangerous&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting abs is a tough process that requires two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat loss&lt;/strong&gt; - as mentioned in the comments, fat loss cannot be targetted. To hav visible abs, you need to get your body fat below 15%, possibly further depending on your circumstances. Fat loss comes from a well constructed diet that has a healthy calorie deficit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle growth&lt;/strong&gt; - once you've got your diet under control, you need to also be building your abs so that once you hit the target body fat percentage, you have something to show off. This means working like any other muscle. Target your abs 3-4 times a week, completing a maximum of 5 sets, using exercises where its challenging to complete about 12-15 reps. This is essentially a hypertrophy routine using progressive overload, much like you'd use for any other muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the exercises you should do, people will suggest that deadlifts and squats are already working your core quite a lot, and to a certain extent they will be correct. However, like anything else in life, if you want great results you need more effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get some great abs, once your body fat is low enough, throw some of these into your routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x15 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWBallRollout.html&quot;&gt;Roll-out&lt;/a&gt; - These look simple but are surprisingly difficult, especially with a proper ab roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x15 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtLegHipRaise.html&quot;&gt;Weighted Leg-raises&lt;/a&gt; - These work both your abs and hip flexors to help (hopefully) enhance your &lt;em&gt;adonis belt&lt;/em&gt;. Not everyone is genetically disposed to having the adonis belt, but these are great anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x15 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DBSideBend.html&quot;&gt;Side bend&lt;/a&gt; - Work the obliques, make sure you only use one dumbell. If you use two, they counter balance each other effectively ruining the exercise. Go slow, focus on crunching you side using just your obliques.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a bonus extra, on chest day at the end throw in some push-ups. At the top of the movement, focusi on retracting your scapula  by pulling your shoulders together at the front. This will help work your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/SerratusAnterior.html&quot;&gt;Serratus Anterior&lt;/a&gt; (the small muscles that look like fingers hugging your ribs). These aren't worked out as effectively as they could be during bench presses as the bench helps brace the scapula, reducing their requirement to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-17T23:08:30.777" LastActivityDate="2013-07-17T23:08:30.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13249" CreationDate="2013-07-18T01:29:09.640" Score="1" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title suggests, I was wondering how one should go about constructing a proper cutting diet and workout plan? I will be finishing with a bulking routine at the end of August, and I would like to start soon thereafter--dropping 1 lb of fat per week and saving as much muscle mass as possible. How does one go about doing this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sex: Male&#xA;Age: 29&#xA;Height: 6 feet&#xA;Weight: 185 lbs (by the end of August)&#xA;bf %: 18 percent (flucuates)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to drop to around 12 percent body fat if possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6221" LastEditorUserId="6321" LastEditDate="2013-07-19T02:21:31.560" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T14:09:00.403" Title="How do I construct a cutting plan?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13154" CreationDate="2013-07-18T04:37:34.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of the muscles worked out the bend of the leg in the air should not matter too much, you should try to keep it still though (don't use it for momentum).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMO you should have the leg up on the opposite side of your arm for better balance. The first person has weights in both hands which is better once you start to get to the heavier weights for balance. The last person seems to be doing a beginers version of the exercise because she lacks the balance to lift her leg off the ground. My suggestion would be to follow the form of the first one. If you have trouble doing it the last one should be easiest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last part of your question I'm not sure if your reffering to a barbell deadlift or one with a kettlebell. But I can tell you either way your one legged deadlift will be significantly less possibly by over 100 pounds depending how high your deadlift is.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For my lifting reference i use exrx, here is a reference to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BWSingleLegStiffLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;single leg stiff-leg deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T04:37:34.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11998" CreationDate="2013-07-18T04:46:17.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the primal movement, 150g of carbs a day is sufficient for someone living an active lifestyle. Going beyond that will lead to weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ofcourse, make sure they're complex carbs, preferably derived from fruits and nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;100-150 grams/day – Primal Blueprint Maintenance Range&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This range based on body weight and activity level. When combined with Primal exercises, allows for genetically optimal fat burning and muscle development. Range derived from Grok’s (ancestors’) example of enjoying abundant vegetables and fruits and avoiding grains and sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydrate-continuum/#ixzz2ZMwyTGGI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydrate-continuum/#ixzz2ZMwyTGGI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6316" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T04:46:17.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13245" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13247" CreationDate="2013-07-18T06:04:31.603" Score="1" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sweat a lot, I don't know the reason behind it and also if this is bad for me.&#xA;This is making me think that I should find ways and make some habit to keep my body well hydrated all the time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know that I need to drink a lot of water and most importantly I need to make it a habit so that I don't have to think much about it and just do it unconciously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After eating it is difficult to drink more water as my stomach is already full. My idea would be to drink a lot after morning exercise when my stomach is empty or I have just taken some really light food and a little bit more before sleep and rest of the day normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other ways to keep the body well hydrated (I mean adding some salt to water or some solution) and does liquid food and juices help to do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never measured it but I drink 2-3 liters of water everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-07-26T13:27:49.817" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T13:27:49.817" Title="How do I keep my body well hydrated?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13245" CreationDate="2013-07-18T13:57:26.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, hydration relies on some basic principles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink a bit of water, all the time (not at specific times)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Under physical activity, increase frequency&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use mild temperature water (20-22ºC is the recommended tmp. if I'm not mistaken)&#xA;(cold water refreshes but does not hydrate, mild water hydrates but does not refresh)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Include non-dry fruits &amp;amp; vegetables in your diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restrict diuretic components (cafeine, alcohol)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, at least that's what I noticed in my own situation, the following symptoms will tell you whether or not you're well hydrated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't feel thirsty at any time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are not thirsty after a meal (well, a very salty meal will make an exception)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And this one, very neat... If your lips are starting to crackle, even a little bit, you're dehydrated. In winter for instance, if you need that little cream to protect your lips, you're dehydrated. (I'm not living in a place where temperatures go below -5ºc or so, so maybe in Northern Canada it would be different :-))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At last, I'll remind you that the feeling of being thirsty depends of how aware of you body you are. After you start to respect these little rules you'll start to notice your dehydration &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; faster, accurately. Your body will really talk to you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastEditorUserId="5178" LastEditDate="2013-07-18T14:09:17.463" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T14:09:17.463" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13242" CreationDate="2013-07-18T16:59:03.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One easy way to do it without having to count calories is to standardize your diet. By that I mean eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, dinner every day. It makes it easy to figure out how to tweak your diet to continue to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to get a calorie tracking app for your smartphone and track everything that way. It's a little more work, but it makes it easier to eat a diverse diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also take appetite suppressants like coffee. There are herbal and OTC drugs you can take that are &lt;strong&gt;reasonably&lt;/strong&gt; safe, but I'm not going to suggest any. However, I will note that if the product you're looking at has a name like &quot;&lt;em&gt;Fat Burn Extreme XXX&lt;/em&gt;&quot; it's probably much more expensive than it needs to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another trick I've found it to split your meals (maybe eat 2 smaller lunches at work instead of one big one). And if you can arrange it, eat one of your meals right before you lift so you don't get too lightheaded when going heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is that unless you're using anabolic agents, losing weight too fast can ruin your size and strength. This is one of the reasons people argue that the bulk/cut cycle isn't the most effective for the natural athlete. So I would say that 1-2lbs a week is the most you'd want to lose if you care about your strength levels after your cut. &lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt; you will likely lose a lot of water weight fast if you switch to a low carb diet so don't freak out about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercise: you might find that you can't handle the volume you're used to doing on a bulking routine. One way around this is to take pre-workout supplements and/or save some calories to drink a bit of Gatorade (or other sugary beverage) while you lift. And of course you should supplement creatine, this will add unnecessary bloat, but that's just water weight. If, at the end of your cut, you want to look more dry you can just cut out the creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people like to add some additional steady-state cardio a couple times a week just to speed up the process. I know that steady-state isn't necessarily the best choice if you want to lose fat, but it allows you to burn a few extra calories without adding significantly to your workload, so you'll not be friend in the gym all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly, drink lots of water. If you keep your stomach full, even if it's just water, I find it &quot;takes the edge off.&quot; Or of you like chewing gum, that's also a wonderful way to ignore the hunger pangs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T16:59:03.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13232" CreationDate="2013-07-18T20:18:31.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out this video in this blog post and you will see up to 50 different exercises that can aid in your endeavour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://trevoirwilliams.com/best-body-weight-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://trevoirwilliams.com/best-body-weight-exercises/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2013-07-18T20:18:31.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13259" CreationDate="2013-07-18T20:22:13.347" Score="1" ViewCount="1393" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Possibly better suited to Biology but assuming people here will be more knowledgable on this specific area of Human Biology&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's general practice for Creatine it seems to have 'No Under 18s', however what is the reasoning behind this. Apart from the obvious, that nobody wants to try it on kids for fear of repercussions along their whole lives, is there any scientific basis to believe that under 18s would have any adverse affects to it that cause bad reactions/decline in growth, etc., as from what I can see it terms of hormones it only debatably effects testosterone (increase) and oestrogen (decrease), and in a male surely that would only have positive effects on growth due to the only minor adjustments, not pushing rates outside of the norm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In brief, is there any reasoning apart from just fear of 'we're not exactly sure and wouldn't want to risk damaging kids' that Creatine is not recommended generally for under 18s?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3463" LastActivityDate="2013-07-19T16:22:53.510" Title="What is the reasoning behind Creatine not being recommended for under 18s?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13251" CreationDate="2013-07-18T21:36:49.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It makes for better marketing.&lt;/strong&gt;  A diet high in animal proteins likely already has more creatine than can be utilized by the body.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/likness2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The typical male adult processes 2 grams of creatine per day, and replaces that amount through dietary intake and fabrication within the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/524782-the-amount-of-creatine-in-meat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For each kg uncooked red meat, you can expect to find 4.5 g creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Uncooked pork contains more creatine per gram than beef, with 5 g per kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the richest sources of creatine is herring, which can contain 6.5 to 10 g creatine per kg. Salmon contains 4.5 g and tuna contains 4 g per kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People under the age of 18 are ingesting plenty of creatine as it is.  None of the claims presented on the bottles of creatine supplements are evaluated by the FDA anyway -- any substantiations they present are bogus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-07-19T00:14:23.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13163" CreationDate="2013-07-19T04:05:25.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never extensively run stairs for training but they're far better than running flat (even that 20m hill is pretty flat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your climbs are up to 8km (eeuch!) then you need to simulate that in training. I would probably starting progressing the stair run to be the equivalent. Bear in mind that an 8km is very difficult mentally - you need to be able to keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to worry about is the down-hill on the other side. You need to have the footwork - and the confidence in your footwork - to be able to manage it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-07-19T04:05:25.517" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13256" CreationDate="2013-07-19T14:11:20.330" Score="19" ViewCount="2319" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to lose some belly fat, get six-pack abs and look good naked. I want my muscles to show. Im of an average build, a bit too chubby to my liking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to achieve my goal? What pitfalls and mistakes should I avoid? How much time must I spend daily on exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T07:49:23.080" Title="How to lose fat fast and healthily?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13255" CreationDate="2013-07-19T14:11:20.330" Score="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MYTHBUSTING&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, there are some myths present that cripple a lot of attempts to get into shape. Before we start addressing the question itself, those myths have to be busted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myth 1: Weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myth 2: Spot reduction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myth 3: All you need is exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myth 4: All you need is a diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myth 5: Doing crunches helps you develop a 6-pack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight loss&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first big trap is hidden in semantics. People often ask how they can lose weight, they weigh themselves and celebrate every kilogram they lose. The problem is that they don't really want to lose weight - they want to lose fat! Losing water and/or muscle mass does not help them achieve their goal - looking good. There are many diets that help you lose a lot of weight fast - but not the kind of weight you want to lose! That's why you have to check if you are losing weight healthily. Besides weighing yourself, check your waist, thigh, chest and neck measurements, or use some other of measuring your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body Fat Percentage (BF%)&lt;/a&gt;. If you gain weight, but drop in BF%, everything is good!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spot reduction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a myth. Many people ask questions about losing fat in some particular body parts, for example the belly or chest. The problem is, you can't really lose fat from a particular spot - you just lose fat and your body decides where to use it up first. Be patient and reduce your BF%, and at some point you will lose those manboobs and belly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All you need is exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People believe that once they start exercising, they will be able to lose fat while stuffing fast foods down their throats. Sadly, that's not the case. Let’s do some math: intense swimming for two hours could let you burn around 800 kCal, as a rough estimate. After such a hardcore training session you would feel entitled to reward yourself, right? I'm guessing that you'd drink a 500ml sports drink and perhaps treat yourself to a pizza or spaghetti? Oooops! You have just undone all your efforts! You ate almost as much as you burnt exercising! The truth is, it's very hard to outrun your fridge - if you eat badly, you won’t be able to make up for it just by exercising. You need to change your eating patterns!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All you need is a diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking that into account, many people believe that a diet is a solution to their problems. Sadly, it isn't. The problem is in the very definition of a diet - at some point in time, it ends, and once it ends, you will bounce back to your old weight, or even higher! That's the famous yo-yo effect. Keeping the weight down can be harder than getting it there! So, how do you avoid it? Don't impose a diet on yourself - you won't keep it forever. Make gradual changes to your lifestyle. Nothing radical, just change one thing every week or third day. Make smart decisions, and think about what you eat. Pick a whole grain pasta and bread over the regular ones. Pick brown rice instead of white. You don't have to give up all your pleasures or favorite foods - sooner or later you'd crack (or live a sad life with no chocolate in it!). Just be sure to think and make decisions, instead of mindlessly stuffing things down your throat. You can read about healthy eating habits later on. For now - just remember that a diet isn't an answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The 6 pack&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one more popular misconception. People think they have to do sickening amounts of crunches to get the abs they dream of. Actually, that's not the case. The most important thing about visible abdominal muscles is having a low Body Fat percentage. No matter how big muscles you have, they will be covered by fat if your BF% exceeds 20%. Abs are visible around 15 BF% for men (a bit more for women, as they naturally store fat on some body parts). Also, it’s good to know that many exercises that supposedly strengthen your abs actually target your hip flexors and/or are bad for your back. So don't worry about crunches, just focus on lowering your BF%, it should be enough, and if it isn't, we will worry about it once we are there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SO WHAT DO I DO?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we dealt with the popular myths we can get to the actual process of losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating habits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you should be changing them gradually, in a controlled manner. Your new habits must have the time to actually become habits. They also need to be sustainable - it's a lifestyle change, not a temporary diet! The second important aspect is to stay positive. Studies show that a negative dieting pattern, the route of &quot;guilt&quot;, results in lower success/failure ratio and has a lower percentage of people who were able to maintain their weight after the weight loss. If you feel the urge to eat those donuts and then feel guilty about it, you're doing it wrong. You’re eating patterns don't need a revolution - they are a sum of small decisions. Having a pizza or a beer on a Friday night out isn't necessarily a good decision, but it’s still just a single one. It’s the overall that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Energy intake and expenditure&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do we get fat? Because we eat more energy than we use up - we overeat. If you eat less than you need, you are going to lose weight, if you overeat, you get fat. But this isn't all that there is to it. First of all, notice what I wrote - if you don't eat enough, you lose &lt;em&gt;weight&lt;/em&gt; - not necessarily fat! Also, there is the big question - &lt;em&gt;why and how&lt;/em&gt; do we overeat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much should we eat? I can’t give a definite answer to that question, as it varies from person to person. We all have different &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)&lt;/a&gt; defining how much energy we expend just to stay alive. To that we have to add our energy expenditure. It varies from person to person. It’s actually very hard to accurately measure one's BMR or energy expenditure - while 1h of cycling may mean burning of 300kcal for one person, another might burn only 250. Actually, we can never be sure how much energy we ingest, too! How much of the macronutrients is disposed of by the body with feces? How effectively one’s body uses certain macronutrients? It’s very hard to tell. That’s why I don’t encourage you to do the &quot;calorie counting&quot;. Your calculations can be wildly inaccurate, and I personally think it’s a bit of a chore, not in line with the things I wrote earlier on changing your lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;how much&lt;/em&gt; we eat is a very important and decides if we gain or lose weight, &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; we eat decides how hungry we are, whether we burn fat or muscle, and how effectively do we do that. Some foods bump up our calorie count without leaving us full. Some make us feel hungry a few hours after eating them. Some foods put our bodies into &quot;energy storage mode&quot; while others let us be energetic for long periods of time. So while people will say &quot;the only thing important is how much you eat&quot;, you should know better - what you eat matters, and also influences how much you eat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The three macronutrients&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m sure you know what the three macronutrients are - protein, carbohydrates and fats. There are different strategies in planning the balance between the three in your diet. Some people tend to react better to low fat, mid-high carb intake, others do well with low carb, medium fat diets. My body responds well to cutting down on carbs, and I've lost 20kg over half a year by gradually changing my eating habits and eliminating a lot of carbohydrates. You will have to try and see what works for you. Still, there are some concepts that are uniform to nearly all the diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them is this: you need protein. When losing weight, you will be in a caloric deficit. Eating enough protein (around 0.8 - 2g of protein per 1kg of body mass daily) and physical activity are the two most important factors helping your body in losing fat instead of muscle. Proteins are the building blocks for muscle. They are broken up into necessary amino-acids by your body. Some of the necessary amino acids can be synthesized by our bodies, but some need to be ingested - so remember to eat your meat/dairy/soy/eggs/whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insulin and GI&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important concept is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Glycemic Index (GI)&lt;/a&gt; of the foods you eat and its effect on your insulin levels. Basically, the glycemic index depicts how fast the food will be turned into sugar in your bloodstream after ingestion. A low GI means that the food is processed slowly and it rises your blood sugar levels slowly. Those are the good products, leaving you with a steady supply of energy. A high glycemic index is means trouble. It rises your blood sugar levels high and fast, forcing your body to release more insulin to your bloodstream. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Insulin&lt;/a&gt; is the single most important hormone responsible for fat management in the human body. It has a few tasks - it lowers the blood sugar levels, forcing the sugar to your cells as an energy source. It also causes your body to store fat. If your blood sugar levels stay reasonable, everything is fine and the insulin does its job. If your sugar levels are too high, the body can't process all of the sugar, so the unused energy gets converted to fat by your liver and then is stored in your body due to the presence of insulin. A chronic exposition to very high blood sugar levels may cause your cells to build up partial insulin tolerance - if so, they need a lot more insulin to properly digest sugar and turn it into energy. Those high insulin levels help you store more fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, the more processed the food, the higher its GI is. That’s why we prefer brown rice, full grain products, fresh carrots instead of boiled ones etc. Products containing lots of sugar, especially refined one, are sure to raise your blood sugar level fast and high. You can check GI tables on the internet to get a feeling for what’s good for you and what’s bad. Remember to check how much sugar a product has - a watermelon may have a high GI, but is has little calories, so you can eat it safely! Read a bit about the topic and start making informed decisions on what you eat. Also - try not to drink your food. Coke, fruit juice, sports drinks and the like - they all have lots of sugar, but don’t leave you with the feeling of being full!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink water, lots of it. It is necessary for your kidneys to process the protein you eat, and it’s necessary for the process of burning fat. Drink even if you’re not feeling thirsty - sometimes you can be dehydrated and not feel thirsty at all! Also, sometimes we think we are hungry, while actually we are thirsty!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EXERCISE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, we finally got here! Exercise! But wait a minute... Didn’t I write earlier that exercise isn’t the best way to create a caloric deficit? Yes I did! But we are not exercising to create a caloric deficit - we are exercising to prevent our bodies from eating up our muscles once we are in the caloric deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That’s why I don’t actually recommend doing cardio and aerobic exercises that are typically prescribed for weight loss. Now don’t get me wrong - cardio is great in a lot of ways, and if you have the time and desire, go ahead and do some cardio! But it is a good idea not to limit yourself only to low intensity activities. In order to trigger the muscle preservation &amp;amp; growth reaction of your body, you need some high intensity stimulus. You could lift some weights or do some &lt;a href=&quot;http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIIT&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt; training. Basically - do something you enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing - if you don’t want to do weight lifting because you’re scared of turning into a Hulk, don’t worry. It takes a very specialized diet and years of specialized training to get that big. It does not just &quot;happen&quot; as a byproduct of training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THIS IS JUST A STARTING POINT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to cover the whole fat-loss topic in this answer, as there is a lot of research to be done in the field, and hundreds of books have been written about it already. Hopefully this answer will give you an idea on how to lose weight and what to look for when educating yourself further. Remember - it’s not only working about hard, but also working smart!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="12098" LastEditDate="2017-05-11T07:49:23.080" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T07:49:23.080" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2013-07-19T16:00:58.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't like exercise, you can focus on improving your diet.  Cut down on sugar and flour.  Cut out fried foods.  Eat more vegetables, especially green leafy ones.  Consult your doctor or a nutritionist about supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also incorporate more &quot;stealth&quot; exercise into your daily routine rather than setting aside explicit exercise time.  Take the stairs rather than the elevator.  At work, if you are just reading or on the telephone rather than actively typing at the computer, try standing rather than sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These changes won't produce fast results&amp;mdash;nothing except for maybe lipo-suction will&amp;mdash;but they will produce results.  Safely.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2013-07-19T16:00:58.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13251" CreationDate="2013-07-19T16:22:53.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Web MD has a surprisingly well balanced &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-873-CREATINE.aspx?activeIngredientId=873&amp;amp;activeIngredientName=CREATINE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on Creatine&lt;/a&gt;.  A couple of the highlights are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is common in meats such as beef and fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; common in vegetables, so vegans and vegetarians might be deficient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can also be made in a laboratory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;There is some science supporting the use of creatine in improving the athletic performance of young, healthy people during brief high-intensity activity such as sprinting&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand what &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/creatine-monohydrate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine Monohydrate&lt;/a&gt; (the most researched, and validated form of supplemental Creatine) is and does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The only reason it is not recommended for people under 18 is that there isn't sufficient research to validate whether it remains unharmful or what dosages are appropriate for that age group..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; manipulate hormones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During exertion, your muscles use Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) for fuel.  The byproducts are Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP) and lactic acid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine reacts with ADP to add the missing phosphate and turn it back in to ATP.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine is hydroscopic (absorbs water), so drink plenty of fluids when you supplement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The direct effect is that it enhances your recovery so that you can work out harder and longer for the same level of fatigue.  It is the exercise itself that causes the hormonal response of increasing testosterone and decreasing estrogen--not the creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat plenty of meat in all its various forms, chances are you are getting a proper amount of Creatine in your diet.  In the absence of research data to recommend proper dosages for minors, it's easier to recommend that the minor get their dietary creatine through food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excess creatine is excreted from the body, so additional supplementation may not produce a perceived effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-19T16:22:53.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-19T22:14:29.250" Score="2" ViewCount="1026" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.globalbodyweighttraining.com/turtle-freeze/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;turtle freeze&lt;/a&gt; is, as I understand it, a breakdancing move where you hold yourself parallel to the ground with your body weight going into your elbows. Pic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZtBfG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://www.globalbodyweighttraining.com/wp-content/uploads/Turtle-Freeze-Kevin-Newcre-Sanchez.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't this essentially a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2495&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;peacock yoga pose&lt;/a&gt;?:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AKiiV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breakdancer, in the pic, is a bit more jagged but it seems like they're still essentially the same thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-20T02:35:27.160" LastActivityDate="2013-07-20T02:35:27.160" Title="What is the difference between a turtle freezes and a peacock pose?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-07-30T17:15:24.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13262" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-19T22:24:48.170" Score="1" ViewCount="1438" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/468&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Crane poses&lt;/a&gt; are yoga moves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yjwsU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/468&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A frog tuck, as I understand it, is mainly a gymnastics move that's taught as a progression to, among other things, planches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8j4MV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;forg tuck&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they pretty much the same thing, just with different names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I note that in the crane pose pic the persons knees are above the elbow whereas in the frog tuck pic they're below. From what I've read (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-through-bodyweight-conditioning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;writings by Christopher Sommer&lt;/a&gt;) a frog tuck is supposed to have the knees above the elbow so I figure the pic just isn't that great a pic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-07-20T02:32:31.320" LastActivityDate="2013-07-20T02:32:31.320" Title="What is the difference between a crane pose and a frog tuck?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-07-30T05:43:20.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13261" CreationDate="2013-07-20T02:13:04.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, as the pictures show they are absolutely not even remotely the same thing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A turtle freeze might be a progression to a peacock pose - which is much closer to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planche_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full planche&lt;/a&gt;, but is much easier than a peacock or planche. The main differences come down to an altered center of gravity and how this impacts the effort required to balance the body on the hands:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leverage&lt;/strong&gt; - In both a planche and a peacock pose the body remains straight. This increases intraabdominal stress by resisting torque provided by the extended body. In the turtle freeze, the extremities of the body are pulled much closer to the center of gravity. This reduces the effort required to hold the body in position.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Larger&lt;/strong&gt; base of gravity - In both the planche and peacock pose the hands are kept symmetric across the midline of the body, which provides a very small base for the center of gravity to rest in to maintain balance. However, the turtle freeze has the hands in asymetric positions giving a much larger base, and thus greater margin for error. Unlike in the plance or peacock where the position must be very static to hold, this allows for greater opportunities to shift weight in the turtle freeze.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Freeform vs strict form&lt;/strong&gt; - The planche (and I'll assume peacock pose because of the similarities) are strict movements, which must meet a number of criteria to be considered &quot;correct&quot;, among these are the symmetry of the move which requires the body to act in unison and have uniform strength bilaterally. This is in contrast to the turtle freeze, which is an exhibition activity and takes advantage of the freeform rules - this allows a breakdancer to take advantage of unilateral strengths (which are usually present due to the phenomena of '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;handedness&lt;/a&gt;'). Similarly, a turtle freeze has greater room for interpretation as long as it suits the performance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-20T02:13:04.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13262" CreationDate="2013-07-20T02:21:55.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, a frog stance and a crane pose are not the same thing.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That second picture is a terrible example of a frog pose, but the article you linked has a much better one here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MWXFW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you'll notice the big difference is the lack of contact between the knees and the elbows that is in both of the photos you linked. Part of the challenge of the frog stance (and planche) is the ability to hold the core rigid and hold the hips and eventually the legs at a distance. The frog stance trains the core to work against the massive torque generated when the legs are extended in the full planche.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the legs are brought in contact with the elbows as in the crane pose, the abdominals and hip flexors need to provide much less stability as the upper arms, torso and upper legs build a rigid triangle (although less pronounced in the upper photo) that provides a massive mechanical advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the crane pose looks similar the change in torque and stability required in the frog pose make them vastly different exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-20T02:21:55.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13229" CreationDate="2013-07-20T11:39:36.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It totally depends on your goals. If you want to tone down, however in your case it doesn't seem to be what you are after or  If you want to get bulky like have muscles(biceps, triceps)  and abs then 1 Hr is the right time. You need to balance your diet and exercise accordingly. You need to take good and perfect amounts of Carbs, Calories, Proteins and Water every day. 15 Push Ups a day is a little less if you have been exercising since 5 months. Always keep going ahead while exercising slowly. Like every week add 10 more to what you do now. I would also suggest that you do some ab crunches. If you find swimming interesting, try doing that as well, it is a great way to stay in shape. &#xA;Sweating is a good thing but remember to drink lots of water every day but not immediately before or after exercises. Yes, you may need more proteins but if you eat chicken or fish on a regular basis you might not require a protein shake everyday. However you must have one protein shake at least once in 3 days and if your exercise is rigorous then have 1 everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6157" LastActivityDate="2013-07-20T11:39:36.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13148" CreationDate="2013-07-20T19:57:24.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no universal cap on barefoot running. People do ultramarathons barefoot, and marathons that are entirely on asphalt. But pretty much any source on barefoot/minimalist running advice is going to tell you to ease into it to build up the strength in your feet. If doing more than 10k causes you pain, listen to your body and keep it to shorter runs for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2238" LastActivityDate="2013-07-20T19:57:24.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-21T08:45:19.350" Score="7" ViewCount="4383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can understand that the muscles of the Rotator Cuff group are small and therefore I could understand the recommendation of using much lighter dumbbells &lt;em&gt;in relation to&lt;/em&gt; other exercises. But almost in any site I have found, the recommendation is to &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; work them with the lightest pink dumbbells and in the &gt;15 rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't that wrong? Why not to strengthen that small muscles by working them with sets of 5 reps too with increasing weight?. For instance, a rule of thumb such as &lt;em&gt;&quot;use one tenth of the weight you use for the overhead press&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or something similar would be very interesting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-07-21T16:13:05.950" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T09:41:11.843" Title="Why working the Rotator Cuff in the high reps &amp; low weight range? Isn't that wrong?" Tags="&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13268" CreationDate="2013-07-21T12:57:59.313" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I've heard--and this is mere hearsay, I'm no medical professional--is that any attempt to use heavier weights (and thus lower rep ranges) with the small muscles of the shoulder is nigh-impossible, because the larger muscles, the prime movers, take over after a certain weight. Keeping the weight very low allows the stronger prime mover muscles to hang back while the smaller muscles carry the load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike Reinold &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mikereinold.com/2013/03/rotator-cuff-exercises-myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;describes&lt;/a&gt; how this is the case for almost everyone who is just starting out with rotator cuff work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine you had a pretty weak rotator cuff during an exercises such as side lying external rotation. You can comfortably perform the exercise with 3 pounds. If I were to give you a 15 pound weight, I bet your form would be awful and you would just sling your arm back using your posterior deltoid and trapezius muscles. That is obviously not good, any time you overload a weak muscle you will get compensation. That applies to every muscle in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that doesn’t mean that you can’t slowly work your weight up to over 5 pounds as you get stronger. Why would you stop at 5 pounds? What if that isn’t challenging anymore? What is the point of that? Would you stop loading your squat at a certain weight and just sit there forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I routinely get patients into weight over 5 pounds when working the rotator cuff, some even in double digits. If you are compensating and using larger muscle groups, you may just not be strong enough for that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So more weight might be called for after you've been doing the light weight for some time with impeccable form and are not challenged by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-07-21T20:17:29.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13268" CreationDate="2013-07-21T22:57:19.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm also not a medical professional.  I had minor shoulder problems in my early 20's, and was put on rotator cuff exercises (plus a basic strengthening program).  And it worked, and I did rotator cuff exercises fairly consistently (along with regular weight lifting and sports) for about 10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I found when I tried to go any heavier than the lightest weights is that my elbow was very weak in that position (bent at 90 degrees, torquing in and out), and I got a distinct impression that I'd develop elbow problems if I tried to push rotator cuff exercises into heavier weights.  I don't know how common that is, but I never saw anyone else doing them at heavier weights, so I didn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was using a standing cable pull machine to do internal / external rotator cuff exercises.  I'm not sure if that would directly translate into a dumbbell weight, and I'm not sure if everyone is going to have the same exact limit as I do.  But I never did more than a 2 or 3 plates on any cable pull machine, and that was after years of doing 1 or 2 plates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2013-07-22T02:33:19.653" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T02:33:19.653" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13268" CreationDate="2013-07-22T00:22:12.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe and Starting Strength don't advise sticking to light weights for rotator cuff work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He says that your rotator cuffs will strengthen in the appropriate amount if you just press correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pressing actually strengthens the rotator cuff muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you press overhead and finish the lockout correctly, all of the muscles of the shoulder are tight and contracted. As the weight goes up over time, the strength of the finish must increase and the force produced by all the contracting muscles must therefore increase as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the press uses the rotator cuff muscles isometrically to stabilize the lockout position at the top, and since proper form ensures that they are active in this capacity as well as safe relative to a position of impingement, it seems as though the logical way to strengthen the cuff muscles — even cuff muscles weakened by injury and surgical repair — is to press correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the correct press lockout, the weaker muscles are supported by the healthy ones, and as the injured muscles heal, they are able to resume an increasing amount of their normal functional load &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; correct technique is utilized with weights light enough to permit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this way, the injured muscles can be brought back to normal function &lt;em&gt;while performing&lt;/em&gt; their normal function, in effect given no choice but to heal by doing what they normally do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T00:22:12.967" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13268" CreationDate="2013-07-22T09:41:11.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RTC Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to link to some of the programs you reference that “always work them with the lightest pink dumbbells and in the &gt;15 rep range”.  I suspect that the RTC exercises referenced are rehab exercises for RTC injuries.  Injured tissue is exercised differently than normal healthy tissue and often specific muscles are worked in isolation, which are two of the reasons lower weights may be used.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sport Specific&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other, RTC exercises can be specific to sports rather than an injury.  They may emphasize eccentric contractions to address the deceleration phase of pitching for instance.  They may use PNF patterns to achieve control in functional movement patterns.  They work on neuromuscular control and not just muscle strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tendon vs Muscle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An RTC injury generally involves the &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00064&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tendon(s)&lt;/a&gt; rather than the muscle.  Because the RTC’s job is to properly set the head of the humerus (the ball) in the glenoid (the socket), and in the proper relationship to the scapula, if the RTC has tears or degeneration and is not working correctly, any attempt to overload the RTC muscles can cause additional damage to the weakened tissue rather than strengthen the muscles.    &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder and Scapular Positioning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The posture of the shoulder/scapula is important when doing exercises to strengthen the RTC.  If the shoulder is in the rounded position (from tight pecs or weak scapular muscles) it can put more strain on the RTC tendons, especially when raising the arms overhead.  The cuff can become impinged between the acromion and the head of the humerus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it sounds like you are presently doing rehab for RTC inflammation, your therapist can direct you as to the proper shoulder/scapula positioning, the range and the level of resistance that is suitable for your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Posture&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check this q/a for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do&quot;&gt;general postural exercises&lt;/a&gt; and ask your therapist which, if any, would be appropriate to help you improve your overall posture and reduce stress on the shoulder and RTC.  Strengthening the lower traps and rhomboids, for instance, are important to good posture, but also in stabilizing the shoulder/scapula so that the RTC muscles have a stable base from which to work. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your injury is fully rehabilitated with free weights, resistance bands or cables, and the RTC and scapular muscles are able to stabilize your shoulder joint(s), then general strengthening exercises like farmers walk or deadlifts should recruit more muscles and further strengthen your shoulder/scapular muscles, as long as you increase your weights gradually.  And you can continue specific isolated RTC muscle strengthening exercises, increasing the weight as your shoulder tolerates.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T09:41:11.843" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-22T12:29:01.790" Score="6" ViewCount="7439" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for years for fun. Since last year I am interested in marathons. I attended 2 marathons and currently getting prepared for Munich marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run 4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I would like to run barefoot at one or two of my easy runs per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried first time this morning; I did 5k and ended up with minor blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I run on asphalt barefoot without having blisters? &#xA;Does the skin get used to it after a couple of -easy- runs? Or should I use a heel first style bcoz of the asphalt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6343" LastActivityDate="2017-10-20T13:01:50.657" Title="How can I learn running barefoot on asphalt without having blisters?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2013-07-22T12:57:48.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried barefoot running on concrete. I restricted myself to 5-6 kms distances. I didn't get any blisters though - maybe because I'm used to walking barefooted outdoors. However, one time, I did get a very painful puncture wound from sharp gravel or wood. Make sure you run on clean surfaces devoid of any debris. You can also get ultra-minimalistic running gear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6344" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T12:57:48.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2013-07-22T13:16:51.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have a lot more running experience than I do, but it seems logical that there are really only two ways you can go here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Negotiate with yourself and buy a barefoot shoe like Vibram FiveFingers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just keep running until you blister over.  When I was in college, I knew a guy that walked all over campus in bare feet - even in the middle of winter with 8 in of snow on the ground.  He was able to do this because - over time - the bottom of your feet build up a thick pad and they become less sensitive.  Apparently he had been doing that since he was a kid though, so it was a gradual progression; so if you go this route, I'd increase the frequency you're running barefoot slowly over time, giving your feet enough time to heal in between barefoot runs but not so long that you lose your gains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T13:16:51.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12196" CreationDate="2013-07-22T13:28:58.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really think this would have to do more with diet than exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that the best way to slow the muscle loss while cutting calories (don't believe there is a way to stop it) is to eat lean protein/or protein shake both right before and right after your workout. (NOTE: While you see a lot of people on the forums who drink protein shakes for no particular reasons, I believe this is one of the cases where supplementing with protein shakes makes sense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The logic is simple; basically, by giving your body surplus protein when you're most likely to lose it you're going to decrease the amount of muscle mass you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any studies which confirm/contradict this though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other thing I would say is keep in mind there is a physiological limit on how much protein your body can absorb and if you go over that limit your basically using up your kidneys for little to no benefit.  May not matter now but dialysis doesn't look fun so you might as well do what you can to avoid it in your golden years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T13:28:58.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12196" CreationDate="2013-07-22T19:53:08.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You continue to train for your goals.  The best way to curb muscle loss is to eat at a &lt;em&gt;slight&lt;/em&gt; caloric deficit, as opposed to an extreme deficit.  The more extreme the deficit, the more muscle your body will break down for energy.  And since the idea of weight loss is generally to retain as much muscle as possible and shed as much fat as possible, slow and steady wins the race.  Like anything fitness related, patience and persistence will reap the rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T19:53:08.597" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2013-07-22T23:02:27.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have worn shoes your entire life, when running barefoot (and in this case I assume you mean completely unshod) you are going to get blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoes cushion the feet and provide a soft surface for us to walk on, this leads the feet to be soft and supple. Not necessarily a bad thing, until you walk without shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barefoot running is going to subject the sole of your foot to friction and tearing that it is unused to. This leads to localised inflammation as a healing and protective response - aka. blisters. Overtime these heal and provide a protective layer of scar tissue and rough skin for your sole. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to speed this process, apart from walking barefoot more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-22T23:02:27.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-22T23:46:42.747" Score="2" ViewCount="3346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was yesterday night having fun with my two-years old daughter, doing Overhead Presses with an almost weightless aluminium tube, when I realized that my shoulders make cracking noises. I had never heard them in the gym, but now at home I can clearly hear them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be partly because my shoulders are in worse shape than usual, since I am waiting for some light tendonitis to heal, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I have bad posture and slightly bent forward shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13268/why-working-the-rotator-cuff-in-the-high-reps-low-weight-range-isnt-that-wro/13273#13273&quot;&gt;this answer here&lt;/a&gt; in another post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The posture of the shoulder/scapula is important when doing exercises&#xA;  to strengthen the Rotator Cuff. If the shoulder is in the rounded position&#xA;  (from tight pecs or weak scapular muscles) it can put more strain on&#xA;  the RTC tendons, especially when raising the arms overhead. The cuff&#xA;  can become impinged between the acromion and the head of the humerus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freddimenna.com/archivedetails.php?ID=97&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this other text in a blog&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The deltoids are a multidirectional muscle with three distinct&#xA;  sections (heads) that move the arm in different directions. Overhead&#xA;  presses target the front and side. However, degree of involvement can&#xA;  be altered considerably with slight modifications and once again,&#xA;  balanced development is key. Generally speaking, most people are&#xA;  overdeveloped in front, which causes the upper arm to rotate inward&#xA;  and results in a postural deficiency characterized by rounded&#xA;  shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be therefore a good idea to look for another basic, compound shoulder exercises that put less emphasis on the Front Delt, for people with rounded shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to EXRX, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/DBUprightRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Upright Row&lt;/a&gt; is a basic, compound exercise that mainly targets the Lateral Deltoid and not the front. And the list of synergistic muscles includes the Rotator Cuff: Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus and Teres minor. As a comparison, see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbell Military Press&lt;/a&gt; that works mainly the Front Deltoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore the question: is Upright Row a good alternative to Overhead Press for people with rounded shoulders? Why / why not? (within a program such as SS or SL5x5)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T14:52:57.123" Title="Is Upright Row a good alternative to Overhead Press for people with rounded shoulders?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13283" CreationDate="2013-07-23T00:18:09.617" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you suspect you have a muscular imbalance in your shoulders, the better course of action is to attempt to correct the imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ShouldWt.html#anchor1934542&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;EXRX list of exercises for the posterior deltoid&lt;/a&gt; for exercises you can safely perform. This will help strengthen your shoulder girdle through the full range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned for your shoulders, be careful how you perform upright rows. Upright rows with a barbell can &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/five_exercises_you_should_stop_doing_forever&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cause or aggravate shoulder impingement syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. This is confirmed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Citation/1997/04000/Preventing_Weight_Room_Rotator_Cuff_Tendonitis__A.5.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;past&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Citation/2001/10000/Avoiding_Shoulder_Injury_From_Resistance_Training.2.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;current&lt;/a&gt; literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T00:18:09.617" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13283" CreationDate="2013-07-23T00:25:46.443" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found overhead presses to be a poor way to fix a programmer's hunch. Pulling exercises like barbell rows, deadlifts, and pull-ups have helped me much more in that regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since any program for you should include both a push and a pull, you should probably omit the overhead press and use that time for mobility work instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-11-08T14:52:57.123" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T14:52:57.123" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13287" CreationDate="2013-07-22T20:14:14.000" Score="9" ViewCount="571" Body="&lt;p&gt;To what degree is cardio/endurance training sports specific?  Are there any academic references detailing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently (a little over a month ago) starting training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).  When I was trying to looking something else up, I came over &lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/2021/how-to-build-up-endurance-when-rolling&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; question here and more than one answer suggested that cardio is highly sports specific.  But that seems to contradict this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2012/04/cardio-for-the-martial-arts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;.  It is also at odds with my own &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;very limited&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; experience since my running improved noticeably after I started BJJ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'm certain there is some degree of cardio being sports specific, but to what degree is it true?  Are there academic citations?  And if it is highly sports specific, is there anything that would help for those of us that can't make it to the gym as often as we like due to schedule conflicts (single person drills, etc)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6354" OwnerDisplayName="TimothyAWiseman" LastEditorUserId="6354" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T01:00:42.173" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T01:00:42.173" Title="How sports specific is cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13286" CreationDate="2013-07-23T00:43:45.243" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the novice stages, all activities can improve general fitness. As one progresses, however, all attributes improve in more activity-specific ways. This is less true of attributes like strength and more true of attributes like cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a general cardiovascular capability, which can be measured by activities we are not accustomed to or by VO2MAX. But improving one's cardio becomes a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/health/nutrition/08BEST.html?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;sport-specific project&lt;/a&gt; quite early on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/health/16best.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This New York Times article&lt;/a&gt; is light on the science, but has the gist correct and references relevant papers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each sport uses highly specific muscles and nerves. Using an elliptical cross-trainer may feel as if it is exercising your running muscles, but it is not giving you the same kind of training that running does. Nor does it train the muscles you need for cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“You can maintain your cardiovascular capacity by cross-training, but it is extremely difficult to maintain your performance when you rely on cross-training,” Dr. Tanaka said. “This is because you are violating the principle of the specificity of training.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge, this is fairly well-known in exercise science: an aerobic base is fairly general, but beyond that, cardio is largely activity-specific (especially compared to strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" OwnerDisplayName="Dave Liepmann" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T00:43:45.243" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11654" CreationDate="2013-07-23T10:22:14.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/multi-year-weight-training/id504858271?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Multi-Year Weight Training&lt;/a&gt; is pretty good (link goes to iTunes, site of the app is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightliftingapp.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.weightliftingapp.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a free app that can track a lot of different programs, Starting Strength is one of them (it even supports 2 different versions). It times rest between sets, shows how to warm up, and suggest an increase in weight after every successful workout. You can add secondaries after a while, do deloads, and most of the stuff is customizable. It offers a few charts and nice documentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The developer of this app really outdid himself. Starting Strength as a program is a free option in the app, and a couple of advanced programs are offered as in-app purchases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Highly recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T10:22:14.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11654" CreationDate="2013-07-23T12:58:47.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not found a strength training app that I really like all they way around just yet.  I've tried quite a few, and my observations are listed below.  My current solution is to use Google Drive for my training spreadsheet and Fitocracy Training app to log the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jefit.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;JEFit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a decent general purpose app with a focus on body building.  Out of all the offerings, this is one of the closest to what I want but it does have some major shortcomings.  In JEFit, KG and LBS are just labels, so if you ever travel and enter stats in the unit you don't normally use it will throw off all your charts.  Same with competing, if competitions are held in a unit you don't normally use, you have to do the conversion yourself or throw off your charts.  It's programming is good for weekly training.  If your routine fits a nice weekly pattern it's perfect--but if it's a monthly or longer cycle JEFit's programming falls very short.  Adding ad hoc exercises is a bit of a pain, so simply not using the programming part is rather annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fitocracy-fitness-tracker/id509253726&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy Fitness Tracker App&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is great if all you want is a way to track what you are doing today.  It doesn't pretend to have a programming aspect, so it makes it really easy to record things ad hoc.  I use &lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-drive/id507874739&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Drive&lt;/a&gt; for my training spreadsheet and the Fitocracy app to record the work.  This combo seems to be good enough.  Fitocracy does know the difference between a pound and kilogram, so if you ever have to change units it won't mess any charts up.  Problem is, you can't have one exercise in KG and another in LBS if your gym has mixed equipment (most commonly with kettlebells).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightliftingapp.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Multi-Year Training App&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; this had a lot of potential, and I paid for the programming add on--which was a waste of money.  The app can handle more complex programs if you use the ones that are built in, which includes strong lifts, starting strength, Wendler 5/3/1, German Volume Training, and a few others.  It provides some good primers on strength training out of the box, but the piece meal purchasing for things that should be included (like tracking your work) is not cool.  The programming essentially is limited to one day's work.  Each day is it's own program.  You can't even string a week's training together.  Really.  It's a waste of the $1.99 to get the programming.  I'm sad I spent money on it.  If you use the packaged programming, it's workable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wendler-5-3-1/id455470293&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Big Lifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; only does Starting Strength and Wendler 5/3/1.  Don't waste your time if you ever want to do anything besides those two.  It doesn't support ad hoc exercises, or track any assistance work you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymheroapp.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gym Hero&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; at the time I tried it was nothing more than a digital notebook.  I could track my work quicker and easier with a pen and paper.  It does integrate with RunKeeper for historical tracking, but the strength training portion doesn't get sync'd with Fitocracy if you use that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility I saw that integrates with RunKeeper, but I have not tried would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitness-tracker.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitness Tracker 90&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T12:58:47.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13292" CreationDate="2013-07-23T15:10:04.260" Score="5" ViewCount="12785" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mark says that your rotator cuffs will strengthen in the appropriate amount if you just press correctly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pressing actually strengthens the rotator cuff muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you press overhead and finish the lockout correctly, all of the muscles of the shoulder are tight and contracted. As the weight goes up over time, the strength of the finish must increase and the force produced by all the contracting muscles must therefore increase as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the press uses the rotator cuff muscles isometrically to stabilize the lockout position at the top, and since proper form ensures that they are active in this capacity as well as safe relative to a position of impingement, it seems as though the logical way to strengthen the cuff muscles — even cuff muscles weakened by injury and surgical repair — is to press correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the correct press lockout, the weaker muscles are supported by the healthy ones, and as the injured muscles heal, they are able to resume an increasing amount of their normal functional load if correct technique is utilized with weights light enough to permit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this way, the injured muscles can be brought back to normal function while performing their normal function, in effect given no choice but to heal by doing what they normally do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this terrible, wrong advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bill Starr seems to agree with this advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The very best way to insure that you keep those groups that make up the rotator cuff strong and healthy is to do overhead lifts: presses, push presses, and jerks. Holding a weighted barbell overhead for several seconds hits the rotator cuffs directly. Lifting a weight overhead forces those muscles known as the scapular control groups, lower trapezius, lats, and serratus to work. These also get worked with heavy pulls, but a double dose of exercise that hits them directly is even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever someone tells me he’s feeling a twinge right where his rotator cuffs are located, I have him do overhead presses to strengthen the weak area. Standing dumbbell or barbell presses done with fairly high reps, 15s and 20s, and if the injury is not advanced, the presses solve the problem in a matter of a month or six weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-07-24T04:50:12.587" Title="Is Rippetoe's advice about the press terrible and wrong?" Tags="&lt;press&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13291" CreationDate="2013-07-23T15:37:47.347" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it terrible and wrong?  I'm willing to concede he knows a fair amount more about training than I do with his multiple years under the bar.  Bill Starr is also a very reputable source.  There are some subtleties that I think are worth calling out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bill Starr recommend sets of 15-20 for rehab--which is consistent with all the rehab advice I've read.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The rotator cuff work is actually done on the isometric hold at the top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The high rep work recommended by Starr forces you to stick with lighter weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any rehab, you should be lifting a weight that does not cause pain in the injured area.  The higher reps help get blood flowing through the injured area more which in turn speeds up the recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For normal strength training, keeping overhead work in your routine will help maintain and strengthen your rotator cuffs.  I think that was the point that Rippetoe was wanting to make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is overhead pressing the only way to work on the rotator cuffs?  No, but they also provide other benefits such as increased core strength and confidence under the bar.  Overhead pressing to a full lockout helps keep your shoulders healthy.  I've also found that hang snatches help with shoulder health as well as dumbbell shoulder exercises.  Rippetoe's target audience is newbie and beginner lifters, so he is trying to give them the best bang for their training buck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T15:37:47.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-23T18:41:04.803" Score="4" ViewCount="556" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last four months I have been doing the Insanity workout. During this time I have decreased the amount of food I eat to about 1800-2000 calories a day. I drink the recommended amount of water one needs (about 8 cups) daily, and I never eat junk food. I drink a whey isolate protein after my workout (one 29g scoop), I take the ACG^3 pre-workout formula before exercising (one scoop), I take 12 Censor (a CLA supplement) capsules daily, and I get about 8-8 1/2 hours of sleep every night. Over these four months I went from 195lb to 175lb. I'm much stronger and feel really healthy, and I'm fairly tone everywhere except for my stomach. I exercise my abs daily and they've gotten lots stronger, but I'm not seeing definition unless I grab my excess flab and pull it down so I can see where it is covering up my abs. What's going on? I want the definition, and I'm working really hard every day for it. The abs are definitely there, but how do I get it to look like they are there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6330" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T17:27:02.107" Title="Why Aren't I More Tone?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13293" CreationDate="2013-07-23T19:01:46.263" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest keep doing what you're doing. You lost 20 pounds in 17 weeks. That's great progress. That progress will necessarily slow down, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab visibility is largely related to body fat percentage. My guess is that you're somewhere around 20% body fat (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/body-fat-percentage-men.jpg&quot;&gt;http://www.builtlean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/body-fat-percentage-men.jpg&lt;/a&gt;). (I'm assuming you are male from your username.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're still losing weight on your current plan, it's working for you, it will just take more time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lasting longer through ab workouts isn't training ab strength, but ab endurance. If you want to focus on ab strength, you need to progressively load them, and that is perhaps best done by working them isometrically as part of a larger full-body exercise, like the squat (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-07-23T19:06:46.583" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T19:06:46.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13293" CreationDate="2013-07-23T19:17:06.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what your body fat percentage is but you need to have around 10% to have visible abs, mine is lower and I still barely see them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to make your abs more visible is to do actual weighted ab exercises. Most fit people can do well over 20 situps which is no longer stimulating hypertrophy, if you try situps with some weight you may see better results.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to go back to my original point which is that body fat is mostly what matters, sometimes people who are not even in good shape have six packs solely because they are skinny, you are clearly doing a good job with your workout (lost 20 pounds) I say keep going as you are but increase the intensity of your workout that is the best way to get results, always keep trying harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I thought of one thing you can do but note that this is not necessarily healthy.&lt;/strong&gt; Once you are around the BFP I specified you can start cutting water weight to make your abs show more. I suggest google searching this or ask another question, I'm not a body builder and don't have any reason to cut water weight so I'm not that knowledgable about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2013-07-23T21:29:10.053" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T21:29:10.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11654" CreationDate="2013-07-23T21:58:45.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnessbuddyapp.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitness buddy&lt;/a&gt; is a nicely put together app with a free and paid version. It has logs and instructions on exercises. Not much else to say I actually did use it for starting strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-23T21:58:45.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13291" CreationDate="2013-07-24T04:50:12.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer this question, we need to break the quote into two sections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pressing actually strengthens the rotator cuff muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you press overhead and finish the lockout correctly, all of the&#xA;  muscles of the shoulder are tight and contracted. As the weight goes&#xA;  up over time, the strength of the finish must increase and the force&#xA;  produced by all the contracting muscles must therefore increase as&#xA;  well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the press uses the rotator cuff muscles isometrically to&#xA;  stabilize the lockout position at the top, and since proper form&#xA;  ensures that they are active in this capacity as well as safe relative&#xA;  to a position of impingement, it seems as though the logical way to&#xA;  strengthen the cuff muscles ... is to press correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This statement is absolutely correct.&lt;/strong&gt; Any shoulder work, by necessity will incorporate the all of the muscles of the shoulder girdle; anterior, lateral and posterior deltoids, as well as the numerous muscles of the rotator cuff. More to the point the will be exercised in their correct capacity in this role. If the role of the rotator cuff is to stabalise the shoulder during lifts, then they will be worked out and strengthened effectively for this role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this falls down right about here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— &lt;strong&gt;even cuff muscles weakened by injury and surgical repair&lt;/strong&gt; — &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is a statement of absolutes&lt;/strong&gt;. That says a way (granted not the only way) to strengthen an injured rotator cuff is through the overhead press, or other normal movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the correct press lockout, the weaker muscles are supported by the healthy ones, and as the injured muscles heal, they are able to resume an increasing amount of their normal functional load if correct technique is utilized with weights light enough to permit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what usually termed a &quot;compensation pattern&quot; where the body is forced to perform an activity outside of its normal movement pattern. A common example is limping when a leg muscle is injured. The above passage advocates for continuing a movement, when a required muscle is injured, and working around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most cases this may be possible, but if the movement breaks down, as happens towards the ends of workouts, the a primary stabilisors of the shoulder girdle may be unable to work due to injury. This would require additional effort from alternative muscles in unnatural ranges of motion, either at full extension or flexion. This may in turn lead to further injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In this way, the injured muscles can be brought back to normal function while performing their normal function, in effect given no choice but to heal by doing what they normally do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The above is contradictory to the prior statement&lt;/strong&gt;, as while the movement may look similar, different supporting muscles will be active during the movement. Injured muscles would not be worked as normal, thus no active recovery could take place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can a compound exercise be performed while recovering from an injured stabilising muscle? Yes, but at a &lt;em&gt;significant&lt;/em&gt; deload.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case we can consider the bench or overhead press and an injured rotator cuff muscle, or a squat variation and an injured hip flexor, or an similar pairing. While it is important during recovery to test the progress of the muscle, the exercise should be performed at a deloaded weight that will not place undue strain on the rest of the joint if the injured muscle were to spasm or fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, a good recovery pattern would include (under the guidance of a trained physical therapist) exercises that specifically engage and aid in the recovery and strength-building of that muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-24T04:50:12.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13298" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-24T04:51:59.393" Score="2" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out since 3 months. My weight, from that time, has increased 3 kgs. But now, since two weeks, the weight has been constant. My trainer told me that perhaps I have hit my plateau stage whereby it becomes difficult to increase weight. What do I do to overcome this stage. Does changing the exercises I do will help me achieve that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout consists of exercising each body part each day. I exercise for 1 hr 15 min, 6 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T13:02:15.860" Title="Increasing Weight : Plateau stage" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13298" CreationDate="2013-07-24T06:05:28.873" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on personal experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change your workout. Instead of doing the same things all the time, mix it up. E.g. instead of doing your usual exercise A, then B, the C,D,E, do A, C, and then E, D, B on another session etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you're trying to gain weight, which sounds like you are, I think you would need more rest days! - If you can do 6 days a week, with &gt;1hr exercise per session, it sounds like your exercise routine is easy... So, more advise: Exercise say, 3 days a week (the rest are rest days), and in those exercise days, do intense high weight low rep exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6286" LastActivityDate="2013-07-24T06:05:28.873" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13298" CreationDate="2013-07-24T08:51:38.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally , I don't believe that weight should matter at all. Its how you look that matters more than weight . If you can carry the same weight but look better due to muscular development over time then that's better than gaining weight but looking more fatter .Muscles carry more weight than fat , so even if you maintain the same weight but increase muscularity , then that's a win win situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My workout consists of exercising each body part each day&quot;. Don't do that . Any body part require at least 48 hours for recovery , and larger the body part , larger time it takes to recover . That said do one or two body part once a day with two rest day in a week . Rest adequately and do your workout after full recovery and more intensity . &#xA;You have to work hard outside the Gym to gain weight/muscles , that is have proper diet , gain knowledge and you will see the results in the gym . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2013-07-24T08:51:38.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13298" CreationDate="2013-07-24T16:23:55.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No one hits their plateau in 3 months, plenty of people can gain strength and size for years&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three things that beginners do that can stop their progress  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not using good form  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not putting enough effort in&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not increasing intensity  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the third one is the most important, people stay with the same weights for months and expect to get stronger and bigger. As a beginner you should be able to increase the weight every week because your progress should be fast.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your workout, 6 days a week sounds like a lot, if you workout every day and never rest your muscles have no time to heal and won't get bigger and stronger.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to know much more than this without knowing more about your current workout and strength but the good news is that your trainer is a moron if he thinks your hit a plateau in 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-24T16:23:55.200" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-24T21:04:33.850" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found a new sport's plan for me and I liked it a lot. I tried two days ago and today this sport's plan without special nutrition, just with my daily meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the plan: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-dtp-4-weeks-to-maximum-muscle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kris Gethin's DTP: 4 Weeks to Maximum Muscle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am worried about nutrition and its proteins. This nutrition plan provides ~404 grams of protein every day (without supplementation). Is it too much? Because I weight just 63kg, so I need about 158 grams of protein. +- for sports, so about 200 grams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6360" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditDate="2013-07-25T10:07:58.797" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T19:27:11.420" Title="Does this sport's plan provide too much protein?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13310" CreationDate="2013-07-25T10:49:31.837" Score="2" ViewCount="981" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm am wondering if someone could provide a reference to a scale or explain the limits of how much it is possible to lift for different exercises, based on how much you can lift in one exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I have seen many people state that the amount you can lift in an overhead military press (as demonstrated in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nh3Lp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;picture&lt;/a&gt;), is about 2/3rds of what you can lift in a benchpress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if someone can lift 60lbs in a military overhead press they can bench 90lbs -- is this scale correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, is there any reference to see how much, on average, it would be possible to lift in other exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6367" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T17:11:31.483" Title="Lifting limits guide for different exercises?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="55" CreationDate="2013-07-25T11:14:10.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't necessarily lose weight because you burn more calories, even if you do so consistently. Using more calories will make your body demand more calories as well, i.e. you will be hungrier. So unless you control intake somehow, it will probably not have any effect at all on your weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for higher metabolism from more muscle as well, it's not sure that that will make your net calorie balance change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way of being sure you lose weight is to control the number of calories you eat and adapt them to your expenditure. If you don't want to do that, and you typically don't, if you aren't a professional athlete or make it a big part of your life, you have to change how you eat and what you eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunger is not the only factor that determines calorie intake, appetite and habit are other ones. If you always have access to calorie-dense food, you will eat more because it will reward you more. On the other hand, if you have a habit of eating home cooked food, if you buy groceries when you're not hungry, and so on, you will eat what you have, because laziness and habit are more powerful than gluttony ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also some evidence that fructose changes your hunger levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T11:14:10.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2013-07-25T11:24:40.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exrx to the rescue!&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But remember, the genes your parents gave you will make you better at some things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for example, I'm 200 lbs and can deadlift about 290 lbs, so looking at the deadlift sheet, I'm quite exactly a novice, thus I should, according to the bench press sheet, bench press 175 lbs, which is a bit low since bench press is one of my strengths. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T11:24:40.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13245" CreationDate="2013-07-25T11:36:11.927" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body is really good at keeping your water levels in a good range by making you thirsty. But if you know in advance that you will lose more water, drink a bit more water. People are crazy about drinking water these days. I'd say that unless you exercise more than 10 hours per week, you don't have to bother with it at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to drink all the time when exercising, then I started doing brazilian jiujitsu, wrestling in warm suits, losing tons of water, not having time to refill a lot, and you know what? I stopped drinking so much, didn't change a thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T11:36:11.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-25T15:48:55.613" Score="3" ViewCount="1471" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started climbing 10 flights of stairs every day. At the end, I'm breathing heavily and by heart is beating rapidly. My calves are hurting a bit...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will I definitely improve, even though this only takes around 5 minutes a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2973" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T16:10:59.613" Title="Will I improve by climbing 10 flights of stairs every day?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13313" CreationDate="2013-07-25T15:56:06.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on what you are trying to improve, I guess you are talking about overall fitness. The answer is quite simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, doing anything is better than nothing, so you definitely will improve. If you have more ambitious goals, eg losing weight or gaining muscle you might want to check out some other exercises.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You should be careful however if you are heavily overweight as climbing a lot of stairs might injure your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T15:56:06.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13313" CreationDate="2013-07-25T16:10:59.613" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are asking if you will improve in terms of ability to climb stairs, the answer is almost definitely yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself used to climb up my apartment building everyday, and found that after even a couple days my legs didn't burn as much and I was less out of breath at the top. Your body adapts fast to the work you give it regularly, so don't be surprised if after a couple weeks you find it easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6370" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T16:10:59.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2013-07-25T16:15:38.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try checking out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strstd.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.strstd.com/&lt;/a&gt; which is actually based on the exrx sheet someone else posted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a simple interface where you can put in the weights you can lift and it shows you where they rank in terms of untrained, novice, advanced and elite. For example, if your benchpress and overhead press are both exactly at novice, then you'll know they're strong in reference to eachother. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lift regularly I think you'll find yourself coming back to this site and measuring how strong you are, as it's quite addictive ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6370" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T16:15:38.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2013-07-25T17:16:47.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will find that there are variations based on body weight, individual leverages, and what you have focused on.  Some exercises do have a direct carryover to others, while many exercises do not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example I've heard that you should be able to incline press 90% of your bench press and front squat 80% of your back squat.  All these ratios provide is a target to shoot for.  Incline has a direct carryover to bench, and front squat has a lesser carryover to the back squat.  The reverse, however, is not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Military press does not have any carryover to the bench press though.  It strengthens some muscles you use on the bench such as the triceps, as well as some stability muscles that are neglected by the bench press.  However, increasing your overhead pressing won't have an automatic carryover to bench.  Incline (being between the two) does have a carryover to both the military press and the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long story short:&lt;/strong&gt; ratios that people give you are nothing more than goals.  You will find some exercises easier than others.  That can throw off the ratios.  So should you pursue them?  That depends on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T17:16:47.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2013-07-25T19:09:09.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ratios aren't hard-and-fast rules.  Basically, you will always see (from least amount of weight to most amount of weight) Shoulder Press -&gt; Bench Press -&gt; Squat -&gt; Deadlift.  If you don't, then you need to work on whatever lift is lagging behind.  Training for a specific percentage is pretty silly though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T19:09:09.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13304" CreationDate="2013-07-25T19:27:11.420" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you need to check your math.  In his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-dtp-nutrition.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition section&lt;/a&gt;, he is saying you'll be getting 6 meals per day, with 35 - 45g of protein per meal.  That is 210 - 270 grams per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At your weight (139lbs), he is saying to get 2780 calories per day.  His macro ratio gives you 973 protein calories, 1390 carb calories, and 417 fat calories.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein contains 4 calories per gram, carbs contain 9 calories per gram, and fat contains 4 calories per gram.  Knowing this, based on your weight, you would be eating 243.25 grams of protein, 154.4 grams of carbs, and 104.25 grams of fat per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is the ratios.  If you are eating 2780 calories per day, those calories will have to come from either protein, carbs, or fat.  So even if you decreased the protein, you would need to add carbs or fat to get the calories.  243 grams of protein is probably a bit high for someone your size, but this is also only a 4 week program, so it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-25T19:27:11.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13320" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-07-25T23:40:22.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long distance running covers races as &quot;short&quot; as the traditional marathon of 42.2km as well as longer ultramarathons, up to 100km or beyond in a single session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-26T03:03:28.303" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T03:03:28.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13321" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-07-25T23:40:22.920" Score="0" Body="About proper training, equipment and diet for running sessions covering distances of at least 30km where mid-race nutrition due to depleted glycogen becomes a factor in training and race regimes." OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-26T03:03:25.490" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T03:03:25.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13324" CreationDate="2013-07-26T06:32:24.100" Score="5" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every day i ride 20km to work with my bike. Then when my work is done i do those 20km again.&#xA;I'm doing martial arts 2 times a week and try to get 4 power workouts a week to gain some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do still weigh 84kg and i'm 1.70m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main problem is that i seem to be unable to get a good food balance that makes me feel allright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main problems are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have my breakfast 10 minutes before i start biking and my body feels 'empty' causing my to have a very strong hungry feeling after.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During the day i try not to eat to much but when i get home i feel like eating loads of food. But then i feel this is energy is not burned and turned into fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do try to eat healthy and limit any fastfood/alcohol/candy. But i feel my food balance is way off since i'm not loosing any weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent loosing muscle tissue i do take a proteine shake every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope i can get some advice to make my body feel comfortable and actually start loosing some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: I'm not looking really fat but i can't hide my belly ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastEditorUserId="6373" LastEditDate="2013-07-26T18:40:06.590" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T14:14:14.173" Title="Food diet off balance" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13322" CreationDate="2013-07-26T07:47:48.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is OK and normal to be hungry after activity. If you really want and need to eat, don't force yourself not to, this probably wont work. But there is a simple trick you could and should try: Eat slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunger is a feeling that your brain produces, after you started eating it takes some time for the feeling to be satisfied, the amount of food you actually ate only plays a little role (you are likely to eat too much). Eating slow reduces the amount of food you eat before the hunger feeling is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think you are unable to or have no idea how to start eating slow, you can force yourself into the habit by snacking whilst preparing your meal. Eg when I eat pineapple yoghurt, I always snack some of the pineapple while preparing. You snack some nuts while you prepare your meal, too. Just don't munch them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addressing your main problems:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should re-arrange your breakfast, let it settle down before you ride to work. Maybe have breakfast before your bathroom routine. If that's not possible you might want to get up a bit early. A hastily gulped down breakfast is not a good start into the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat throughout the day, there is nothing inherently bad with eating, especially as some small meals will probably reduce the risk that you overeat in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T07:47:48.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13322" CreationDate="2013-07-26T12:52:37.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is my 2 cents&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I think you are probably working out plenty. Biking 40 km per day is a great workout and should burn plenty of calories. In addition, you work out other times, so the AMOUNT you are working out is no problem at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good breakfast is extremely important in my opinion for feeling good throughout the day and also to even help your metabolism. It's always healthier to eat a little slower, and it sounds like you are really rushing your morning meal. I know it can be hard, but maybe wake up earlier or eat RIGHT when you wake up before doing other things. Doing a long bike on an undigested meal can leave you feeling queasy for hours from my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to keep your eating consistent throughout the day. It's better to eat 2500 calories or whatever you eat per day over several meals and snacks rather than gulping down half in one meal. Your metabolism reacts quicker and better, allowing you to constantly store more energy and burn more energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I've never been a huge fan of protein shakes. First off, if you do have protein shakes, make sure you're buying lean protein shakes with next to 0 fat. You would be surprised how many of the protein shakes have exorbitant amounts of fat and carbs in them. For some people, that's good, like football players and atheletes. This gives them more energy to burn and let's face it, most athletes, whether they are high school, college, or professions, burn MUCH MORE calories than an average person. This is why protein shakes are especially good for athletes. Not only do they get the protein, but also some fat (energy) to burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat a healthy, normal diet, you should have plenty of protein to maintain your muscle. Muscle doesn't just evaporate. Honestly, muscle can dip quickly, but it's not really muscle mass you're losing. Losing actual muscle mass takes months of strictly not working out and eating a poor diet. The same goes for building muscle. It takes several months to actually build permanent muscle. If your protein shake has lots of calories, ditch it, or buy a leaner protein shake. You really don't need it to maintain muscle. As long as you continue to work out and have some protein in your diet, you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, maybe you could try using a calorie counter? I find them actually really fun and entertaining. This will also help you guage your diet balance. Almost every person in America has way too much salt, way too much sugar, and not enough potassium. Challenge yourself to be well rounded in those categories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last litte bit is about eating after working out. Dont be worried it's going straight to fat!. You just worked out. Your body needs nourishment. It's healthy to eat a lot when you are done working out, so continue eating when you get home, just maybe eat slower and try and watch how many calories you put in. Avoid 1000+ at a time. Cheers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6374" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T12:52:37.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13298" CreationDate="2013-07-26T13:02:15.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no way you've hit any sort of limit after three months. Keep at it. If you aren't increasing any more, it's very possible that you're overtrained - you're doing a lot of volume. Also, if your goal is to lift more weight, I would recommend doing heavier weights and fewer reps. You build strength in the 3-5 rep range, and honestly, if you're &quot;comfortable&quot; you aren't pushing hard enough. I'm not saying you should try dangerous weight you can't handle, or use poor form, or go to exhaustion every set - I'm just saying that it shouldn't be easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T13:02:15.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2013-07-26T13:06:19.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone's body is a little difference. The squat and the deadlift might use a lot of the same muscles, but if you have longer arms and a stronger posterior chain, there's a good chances that you'll be proportionally better at the deadlift. Similarly, since the bench press focuses more on the chest whereas the overhead press focuses on shoulders, depending on where you're stronger, you can easily be off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as has already been posted, the exrx strength standards (also found in various Rippetoe books) are at least a starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T13:06:19.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12065" CreationDate="2013-07-26T16:14:06.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks to me like you have  pretty solid interval routine.  Like any cardio (or strength) training, how you train depends on your goals.  The way you are doing it probably gives you the most bang-for-your-buck as far as calorie burning goes.  Personally, I would probably just work to stay in the high-intensity range a bit longer every time.  A heart-rate monitor will really be the key to determining what intensity to train at though (again, depending on your goals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T16:14:06.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9968" CreationDate="2013-07-26T16:29:02.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the most accurate way to get a good estimate of how many calories you have burned is by using a heart rate monitor.  If you decide to go this route, get the kind with the belt or armband.  The band monitors the heart rate and sends a signal to the wristwatch, and the wristwatch has the computer that will analyze all the data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most decent HRM will allow you to input height, weight, gender, age, and resting heart rate (which is best taken first thing in the morning, while you are still in bed).  When you hit &quot;start&quot; it will start tracking your heart rate and give you a pretty good indication of how many calories you are burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind though, it is still just an estimate, although it will be more accurate than a generic estimate on something like Fitocracy.  Where a HRM has the biggest advantage is in giving you an accurate indication of when you have reached your target heart range, since this is the determining factor for meeting your cardio goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T16:29:02.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12146" CreationDate="2013-07-26T18:02:32.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are not comparable exercises.  The cable machine squat incorporates your arms, while the smith machine will be pretty much all legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T17:45:48.590" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T17:45:48.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13332" CreationDate="2013-07-26T18:06:11.870" Score="4" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I've been wanting to do a muscle up ever since I knew they were possible and was wondering what muscles and how you should train for one at home. I occasionally go to a gym with a pull up bar with weight assistance but I prefer to do my pull ups at my house. I was wondering how and what I should train to be able to do a muscle up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have dumbbells, barbells, a bench, and a pull up bar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6076" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T15:28:54.490" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T02:48:12.463" Title="Training for muscle ups" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13330" CreationDate="2013-07-26T18:24:51.553" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hardest part will be the transition when you are at the top of your pull up.  To start, do this motion in reverse.  Start by jumping up and getting yourself in the position that you would be in at the top of the muscle up, with your arms locked looking down on the bar.  Then, slowly lower yourself down into the position you would be in at the top of the pull up.  It's the same concept that is used for training to do pull ups by doing them in reverse to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to do is get a stool or something stable and high enough that when you stand on it, you are just over the height of the top of your pull up.  From here, you will practice the transition from the top of your pull up to the muscle up part.  The idea here is that at first, you will be pushing off with your feet a bit.  Gradually, you will want to use more and more of your arms until you no longer have to use your feet (think about how an assisted pull up machine works, same concept).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start each session by trying to do a muscle up from beginning to end.  Eventually, after doing these exercises enough, you will start your session with a full muscle up.  And it will be awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T18:24:51.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13333" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-26T18:30:39.190" Score="4" ViewCount="7098" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing P90X and Insanity. I've been taking Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60 (a whey isolate formula), and it works amazing. I also got the results and recovery formula from beachbody.com when I ordered the workouts, but I haven't used it at all. I'm wondering if it would do me any good to take both, or if I should just stick to the protein. Also, I do one exercise in the morning and one in the evening; should I take both the protein and recovery formula after each exercise, or just stick to one or the other?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6330" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-07-28T12:22:40.270" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T11:53:58.970" Title="Whey Protein or Recovery Formula?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13336" CreationDate="2013-07-26T18:39:47.753" Score="1" ViewCount="700" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm remailn skeptical to a comment of a collegue, who claims that after making some cardio training, water temperature while taking a shower immediately after training prevents you from keeping burning calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason not to consider this nonsense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6380" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T19:39:10.740" Title="Does the temperature of the water, while taking a shower after cardio, matters?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13334" CreationDate="2013-07-26T19:06:11.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prevents you from burning calories? I certainly haven't heard anything like that. I suppose their theory is that if your core temperature remains higher, your heart rate will also remain higher? Or are they saying that by taking a cold shower your body has to work harder to regain that body temp?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, I have a hard time believing that the temperature of your shower drastically impacts the amount of calories you burn either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T19:06:11.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13334" CreationDate="2013-07-26T19:39:10.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your friend is over-thinking it.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fastexercise.com/?LP=70&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt;, there are several factors that contribute to continued burning of calories after exercise, one of which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Decrease in Body Temperature: As energy is liberated from the&#xA;  exercising muscle tissues of the body, heat is produced. Thus, during&#xA;  EPOC, the body must expend energy to return to the normal core body&#xA;  temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So theoretically, if you are taking a hot shower, you are actually causing your body to work harder to get back down to the normal core temp, which should result in more calories burned.  Taking a cold shower should have the opposite effect.  If you consider that your body should be back to normal temp about 20 minutes after your workout anyways, and assuming you are cooling down normally (walking for 5 - 10 minutes after your workout), the differences in calories burned wouldn't be noticeable based on the temperature of your shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T19:39:10.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-26T19:54:40.970" Score="1" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my youth, I walked to school where I mostly sat, and walked home, where I mostly sat. I never practiced sports or other physically strenuous activity, except some weight training as a teenager, and I never stretched. And that's true of my entire life thus far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: what evidence is there that I can or cannot increase my flexibility beyond a certain threshold determined by my past sedentariness, assuming &quot;unlimited&quot; flexibility training from now on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, this is not a question about motivating myself by telling myself optimistic white lies about science, so please do not answer in that way. I just want to know what evidence there is for and against my past body treatment affecting my future body potential, given a lot of training &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:59:27.403" Title="Is flexibility training limited by lack of exercise in youth?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13192" CreationDate="2013-07-26T21:33:26.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a PhD student in computer science and an amateur Muay-Thai boxer :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will not tell you anything about &quot;brain damage&quot; --- because I am not an expert in this topic (though I do not think it is a real problem on the amateur level). I will not tell you that Muay-Thai is a great, fascinating, enjoyable sport, perhaps the best I have ever tried. Because these things do not really matter in light of the following fact. Muay-Thai is &quot;brain consuming&quot; --- you can simultaneously run and think about mathematics, you can cycle and solve your favorite problems, you can swim and design algorithms; but  when you go to a Muay-Thai gym you have to focus on Muay-Thai. Moreover, after the training you are mentally exhausted. This actually means that from the perspective of a researcher Muay-Thai costs a lot of time... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try running/biking/swimming instead --- these disciplines will definitely boost your research :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6267" LastActivityDate="2013-07-26T21:33:26.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12583" CreationDate="2013-07-27T05:42:43.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very common injury during bench presses or push-ups is a small cartilage or muscle tear in either the internal or external obliques - can also happen to the anterior muscle group, which are higher but usually this is not as painful.  There are a lot of reasons why including not warming up, a previous injury, movement wasn't even (one side going up or down faster than the other), turning the trunk during the chest movement...  There are generally small muscles and muscle/cartilage tears do not take much action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These will feel like a &quot;broken rib&quot; or a stabbing pain the ribs.  Do you need to see a dr for this sort of injury?  If you want.  Do you have to see a dr?  No.  There is no treatment other than ice and rest.  When I was younger and muscles weren't as developed I had this happen several times.  Usually a few days before the sharp pain goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T05:42:43.600" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13192" CreationDate="2013-07-27T06:06:15.390" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I boxed for 5 years - the last two professionally.  When I boxed - in the projects - it was at a &quot;real&quot; gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also instructed people in classes and &quot;boxing gyms&quot;.  And I put that in quotes because I was more personal trainer that used boxing techniques and workouts for my clients.  Probably in the same category you are in - you aren't looking at becoming a boxer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be working with a great personal trainer but no well respected boxing coach is taking on clients that don't spar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you get out of your boxing workouts depends on what equipment and exercises that you do.  If you gave me an example schedule I could probably tell you what to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are &quot;boxing&quot; with a good trainer 4 days a week your work would include small amount of weight work (normal day might include 4 sets of 20 squats at moderate weight), it would include abdominal work every day, it would include speed work (sprints, jump drills, lateral movement), it would include endurance training (jumping rope, long jogs, shadow boxing), and it would include lots of heavy bag work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you expect out of a real boxing regime?  Answer is simple - an efficient body.  A true boxing workout slims down your body to its optimal weight while retaining as much speed and explosion as possible.  Don't be fooled by Rocky - that body doesn't exist at most gyms.  Having large muscles is slow, lessens your length, and makes you jump to a higher weight class...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you need to worry about?  If you aren't sparring then nothing will ever hit your head (my trainer did used to smack the sh!t out of me with his mitts if I dropped my hands).  I would say for the new boxer the elbows would be my main concern - over extending is the #1 injury from experience.  Make sure your hands are properly wrapped, you have gloves on when you are hitting something, and you work into the routine slowly the first few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits of a good boxing routine.  You will use muscles that you will never have a chance to use in your life.  You will become quicker and leaner.  You will get the best natural high you can get.  And how do you know if you have a good trainer... he should be more worried about your intensity not your &quot;form&quot; or giving you &quot;boxing lessons&quot;.  If you aren't putting in the effort and just jumping rope and hitting a bag, you will see little to no results (other than sweating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:06:15.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13337" CreationDate="2013-07-27T06:19:55.787" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flexibility can be had.  There is little cap on your flexibility based on past non-flexibility.  The two basics of flexibility is how often your muscles are stretched (in a variety of ways) and genetics.  Gains are very small and incremental.  However the good news is that you have done little weight training in your life and you don't have to worry about muscles getting in the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:19:55.787" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12065" CreationDate="2013-07-27T06:29:02.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run a lot and lift moderately.  I would love to add more stair stepping in.  It is a good alternative to running and it is easy on the ankles and feet.  I think the most important key is to keep those reps moving.  Anytime you hit a new machine treat the first few sessions as a baseline and try to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get a good workout keep the pace going - what this means is do not increase the intensity.  Your legs need to move, not get tired.  Once you get to the point where you can move fast enough where you hit a ceiling or that the machine becomes unstable, then up the intensity.  Work hard the first few times then improve.  The graph looked OK.  In the middle of the workout I think the valleys were a little low but looks OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:29:02.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12146" CreationDate="2013-07-27T06:33:20.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on the equipment that you are using.  Smith machines friction levels vary greatly and so do cable machines (along with their weight read-outs).  In general Smith squats should be harder.  Also I would never substitute regular squats with these and I would never recommend anyone to do Smith machine squats unless they were advanced.  It isn't a normal range of motion and can cause back, hip, knee problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:33:20.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9968" CreationDate="2013-07-27T06:37:56.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and rhetorically asking...&#xA;And what do you count as a calorie burnt - are you counting just during your workout or recovery calories also?  There is scientific evidence that your body burns more calories recovering based on intensity.  Not sure how you can measure your intensity level.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion I think cardio equipment giving read outs based on weight and distance is laughable too.  If I run 1 mile in 5 mins compared to 6 I will burn more calories recovering.  Every treadmill I have ever gone on would give me the same amount for the mile...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T06:37:56.580" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12146" CreationDate="2013-07-27T07:27:10.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Things to take into consideration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cable machine you use more than one pulley wheel, then your not lifting the full weight (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulley&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unless you manage to get the cable almost vertical, you are not displacing the weight as much on a cable machine and so not producing the same amount of work (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_%28physics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't forget to count the weight of the bar on the Smith machine!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you are probably right that the weight you can squat on a cable machine is likely to be more than on a Smith machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T07:27:10.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13333" CreationDate="2013-07-27T14:53:39.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly I think one or the other is good. In my opinion, stick with the Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60. Whey protein formulas are usually among the best, if not the best. I'm not sure exactly what this recovery formula from beachbody.com is, but I can't imagine it being better than Whey, or adding to your results by taking both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of taking your protein two times a day. I think you should. I remember when I used to work out at P3...a pretty popular training facility for athletes, I got some info from those guys, some of which had PhDs in kinesiology and such. What they told me was this: It's important to take protein 15-30 minutes after a workout if you want to recover fastest and get the most out of your exercise. I can't tell you exactly why, but I'm going to take their word for it. I always had thought up till then as long as you eat within an hour or hour and a half after a workout, you're fine, but they stressed getting a good protein shake in you DIRECTLY after the workout. They even had their own protein mix at the P3 facility to make sure you got it in you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as long as you're doing two different types of workouts (training different muscles) I would take the protein right after each workout. I wouldn't recommend  working out the same muscles twice a day though....that can lead to problems down the road. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6374" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T14:53:39.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-27T18:23:23.683" Score="12" ViewCount="1853" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get shin splints when running on concrete/asphalt, anything hard.  Rubber track I am fine, grass I am fine, treamills fine.  So what can I do to limit shin splints on hard surfaces?  I have tried stretching and different shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6387" LastActivityDate="2013-09-11T15:02:47.877" Title="What can I do to limit shin splints?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;shins&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13350" CreationDate="2013-07-27T20:28:32.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the best review article I know about medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848339/?report=classic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848339/?report=classic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should look at the differential diagnoses and consider if you have a different injury which gives similar symptoms, like stress fracture, compartment syndrome, muscle tears, or vascular injuries, among other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; have MTSS, treatment generally involves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Controlling inflammation during and post activity (icing, and NSAIDs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drastically reducing intensity of training and gradually ramp back up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf stretching and foam rolling (like 30+ minutes, spread throughout the day, every day) and eccentric calf exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gait analysis to determine if orthotics could help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-07-27T20:38:54.937" LastActivityDate="2013-07-27T20:38:54.937" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2013-07-28T03:19:32.947" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely do not heel strike. It's not necessary, and you won't want to do it anyway because it will be painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you run on clean asphalt with proper form, it should be quite comfortable and you generally &lt;em&gt;should not&lt;/em&gt; get blisters or excessive wear on your feet. If you start with half a mile to a mile max barefoot in the first week and gradually increase the distance, your soles should adapt without problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to running barefoot on asphalt, or really any surface, without pain or blisters is correct form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend your knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Land lightly. Think of the lunar lander landing on the moon: begin to pull your feet up/back (by bending your knees) before they touch the ground, to lessen the impact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't &quot;strike&quot; the ground but touch it. Focus on &quot;lifting&quot; your feet from the pavement rather than striking the pavement, this will help you be lighter on your feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to be very quiet on your feet. Quiet means low impact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first part of the foot that should touch the ground is the ball of your foot. Followed quickly by your toes and then heel (or possibly heel then toes, whatever feels more comfortable). Yes, your heel can touch the ground, this helps the spring action of your calves to absorb shock and energy and propel you correctly, but it should barely touch the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way that your foot touches the ground -- ball-heel-toes -- allows the foot to spread out as it lands rather than after it's landed, so that you can distribute your weight over your foot without it sliding around. What causes blisters on pavement or other surfaces is the sliding or spreading of the foot over the surface. Visualize paint on your feet and try to leave perfect footprints. Proper foot alignment (toes straight forward and under your center of gravity, not too widely spread) and hip rotation will help here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's actually a great idea to start barefoot on asphalt, because asphalt will give your feet all sorts of feedback to encourage proper form. Once you can run comfortable barefoot on a hard surface, you can run on any surface barefoot (or in minimalist shoes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it's easy to not notice pain, blisters, or other problems while running, a good way to prevent overdoing it, especially when you're starting out, is to stop every mile or so and rest for 30 seconds. Then evaluate and see if your feet feel fresh enough to continue. Otherwise you'll suddenly realize you should have turned back a while ago because your feet are too tender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2013-08-15T03:52:54.117" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T03:52:54.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13148" CreationDate="2013-07-28T03:27:03.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran long distances for two years in minimalist shoes, and have just now realized that yes, minimalist shoes are great for improving your form and reducing injury, but they still mask just enough of your senses to make it harder to perfect your form—specifically, running efficiently with as little impact as possible. Also, minimalist shoes need to fit quite snugly to prevent blisters, so I can feel a lot of pressure on the tops and sides of my feet, even running on soft surfaces, late in a long run. I've been trying out true barefoot running recently with good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest visiting some barefoot running web sites or forums, or reading a book or two, to learn how to perfect your form. You may need to increase your cadence or work on a lighter foot landing. I think two of the most important tips for running more lightly are to bend your knees more than you think (meaning sink your hips down, not run with &quot;high knees&quot;) and to focus on lifting your feet from the pavement rather than pushing off. When I count cadence while running, I count each step as the feet lift from the ground rather than counting as they touch the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You ultimately will need to listen to your body, as mentioned by @Igaud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2013-08-11T13:00:21.527" LastActivityDate="2013-08-11T13:00:21.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11793" CreationDate="2013-07-28T04:21:59.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have the exact same affliction that you have but mine is in the same area (connective tissues) and has the same needs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats were always the bane of my workouts.  I consider squats the most important lift to do yet it was the worst lift on my lower back.  A few years back I was squatting up to 550-600 on heavy days.  2-3 times a year my back would go out.  Normally in pain for 2-3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After careful monitoring I found the following to be reasons that added to lower back pain (or throwing my back out):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gaining weight - if I had 10-20 extra pounds on the chances of my back going out went up exponentially.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improper technique - especially on squats but got hurt doing a few other movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting after cardio/sports.  You do not want to lift with &quot;loose&quot; muscles - or lift heavy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not doing enough core work.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long periods of inactivity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How I dealt with each:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lost the big muscle body and some fat.  My body couldn't handle the body builder physique at all.  I started jumping rope again.  It is a great low impact core workout that trims.  Two feet down - two feet up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink before and during workouts.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I switched from high weight to quick sets.  5 sets of 12-14 reps at a fraction of the weight with 30-45 seconds in between.  That way I could focus on technique and still get a good workout in (harder).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is something that I still don't practice - hard to lift before basketball.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do abs 4 times a week.  I also do side bends at 45 degrees and good mornings.  I have been explicitly told not to do good morning but nothing strengthens the lower back better - IMO.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I won't go more than a couple days without at least jogging no matter what.  Blood flow and muscle use is key.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I would suggest looking into seeing a chiropractor that specializes in seeing athletes.  I have a great one in my area.  He not only treats my lower back issues but also sets realistic boundaries for me.  Every doctor I saw gave me a laundry list of things I couldn't do.  Their goal seemed to be that I never have to see them again - not that I will enjoy my life.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-28T04:21:59.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13333" CreationDate="2013-07-28T05:20:02.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would drink something after each workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are doing P90X so I am guessing you are trying to get lean/ripped.  If you start dabbling into multiple kinds of supplements I would recommend monitoring your bowel movements.  Your body can only handle getting so much bigger or processing so much protein but it can take in tons of calories.  If you have too much #2 you need to cut the supplements down/out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also nothing wrong with 16 ounces of chocolate milk after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-28T05:20:02.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13350" CreationDate="2013-07-28T14:41:13.847" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my advice. It has already been said, but I'd like to say it in a different way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you really tried rolling? Like actually doing it correctly? Here's how to do it. You need to roll BEFORE and AFTER the workout. Rolling before is even more important than after. Also, try getting in the habit of rolling for several weeks before trying to run on concrete again. Rolling can do quite a few things for you. The obvious is it can roll your muscles and such to make them more flexible and smooth so they don't cramp and kink...tear or pull. If you actually do it on the bone though, it can strengthen the bone (well sorta, but think of it that way, really you can calm down the nerves around the bone)! How do you think UFC fighters take such harsh blows to their shins constantly? These kind of kicks can sometimes break an average person's shin. They strength train their bone so it doesn't break as easily. Of course, there are a plethora of exercises to do this which I don't think you need to get involved in, but rolling across your shin can calm down the nerves and strengthen areas that cause soreness in your shins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you haven't tried dedicating yourself to rolling for several weeks, do that. That's the only fix I can think of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's a well known fact that running on concrete is the absolute worst thing for your knees and shins. Coaches don't even let their runners run on concrete it's so awful. I mean I know you want to road run, but I'm pretty sure you can avoid concrete. Asphalt is still not great, but it's better than concrete and should help significantly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6374" LastActivityDate="2013-07-28T14:41:13.847" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12232" CreationDate="2013-07-28T19:38:48.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I hear cardio - I assume that you are getting your heart beat up to at least 70% max for 20 mins.  With around 30 mins being a good time.  I actually told my clients 30-40 mins because I know they would normally pick the lesser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can cover this for 5 different possibilites- &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You want to do cardio because you want your endurance to be better or to have a healthy heart.  Then it would be better to start slow for long periods 30-40 mins a few times a week.  And work up to a more moderate pace for the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You want to do cardio to lose weight.  XXX Nope.  Cardio will only aid in short-term weight loss.  It actually can (will) have an overall negative affect on weight loss in the long-term.  If you are doing a lot of cardio you will hinder the growth of muscles and break down muscle fiber.  That will slow your metabolism.  You will be able to eat less calories a day.  I have worked with marathoners - they are skinny and generally have little muscle tone.  You can do cardio in short spurts (a month or two) without a lot of negative effects but then you must adjust your calorie intake after.  Also from years of experience my clients have told me that when they start hard cardio training they are really hungry so they eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your goal is to become big (bodybuilding or at least bodybuilding on small scale).  Then I would suggest doing a speed walk 3-4 times a week at a half hour or a light jog (8 min mile or slower).  This would work your heart and have little affect on your weight routine.  It would also bring blood to your muscles and help with lactic acid build up.  This would be the norm for most body building plans.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your goal is to become toned (boxer/basketball player physique).  Then I would suggest shorter, more intense runs twice a week (15-25 mins) and two longer low pace runs (30-40 mins).  When you are running fast, you are striding.  Your long stride stretches your legs and abs and puts a lot of stress on your core.  You will strengthen your core muscles and tone that region more with high intensity runs.  Based on fitness levels I have suggested anything from interval training (200 meters at 80% then walk 200 meters and so on) for beginners, to a routine of sprints, to routines of &quot;fast&quot; miles (3 miles in 17-20 mins). Also running at high intensity does promote muscle growth in core and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You just want a cardio/weight routine balance.  Then I suggest that when you start a routine that you spend 80% of your intensity and at least 40-50% of your time lifting and work in the cardio after at less intensity.  When you are looking at overall balance you do not want to start high intensity cardio - think of the big guy hitting the gym twice a week drenched in sweat from a hard hour on the stair stepper.  This thinking is for the misinformed.  They are cycling between working out hard and eating.  They are making little to no progress because their body is so deprived and shocked after a workout that they overcompensate by eating more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-28T19:38:48.813" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13350" CreationDate="2013-07-28T21:04:58.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my teams mates tried something different some years back in a very similar situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He simply spent 5-7 weeks where he didn't run on roads at all, but instead went for long walks - 10-15 km - in &lt;em&gt;his running shoes&lt;/em&gt;. As I recollect, he walked for 2 x 1 hour the first week and ended with 3 x 3 hours the last week. He did experience some mild shin pains in the beginning, but that went away after a few weeks. After this he moved to walk-run and followed a regular beginners 10 week program until he got to 5 km. He is running fine now with very few problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether this will work for anybody else, I have no ideas. But I'm very, very sure you have to be very disciplined to not start running too soon if you feel everything is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2013-07-28T21:04:58.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7319" CreationDate="2013-07-29T01:32:17.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I've been a minimalist runner (mostly in Vibrams) for the past few years.  At first, there was a lot of pain as my feet and &quot;spring&quot; built strength, then things settled down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did notice that as I slowly increased the mileage, I would often hit a wall and flirt with some pain like you describe (sometime underneath in the plantar fascia).  I've come to realize that these are symptoms of tightness in the achilles (or the plantar fascia when the pain is at the heel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A combination of tissue massage and long (3 minute+) stretches have produced good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6397" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T01:32:17.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-29T03:29:19.217" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 6 ft tall (183cm) male, who weighs 175lbs (80kgs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a very lean build, falling into the &quot;skinny&quot; category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started trying to get in shape a little bit more. I don't really have specific goals, except to just be in better shape. perhaps some more definition, slightly larger biceps and triceps and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment, I do the following routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press, 3 sets of 10 reps, 2 dumbbells at 30lbs each.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep curls, 3 sets of 10 reps, 1 dumbbell at 30lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curls, 3 sets of 10 reps, 1 dumbbell at 30lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have maybe a 15 minute rest between each type of workout, and a 3 minute rest between each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started increasing the reps, for example the first sets may be 15, then 12, then 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this about 4 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is good....my diet consists of a good balance of carbs and protein, calroic intake is around 2000 - 2500 per day. I'm getting at least 150g of protein each day, although not more than 200.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware I should probably add squats or some other exercises in, but at the moment I would like to know what results I could expect from the above workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6367" LastEditorUserId="6367" LastEditDate="2013-07-29T03:35:48.293" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T04:34:06.283" Title="What results will I see, based on the following routine and diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13350" CreationDate="2013-07-29T04:00:13.133" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having an ongoing problem is a real challenge.  It sounds as if you are an experienced runner who has been dealing with this condition for a long while so I'm assuming you've researched or tried the following, but you may want some professional help, other than a doctor.  And when choosing a doctor for a runner, choose a Sports Medicine doctor who runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest and Gradual Return to Activity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoes&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/113/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-running-shoe&quot;&gt;What should I look for in a running shoe?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good Warm Up/Cool Down&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7390/best-warm-up-for-running/7403#7403&quot;&gt;Best warm up for running&lt;/a&gt;, / &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3904/why-do-runners-immediately-stop-after-a-run-does-opening-your-mouth-more-while/3919#3919&quot;&gt;Cool Down&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running Form&lt;/strong&gt; -  &quot;Overall, runners who reported utilizing a more anterior footstrike pattern reported fewer injuries than rearfoot striking runners.&quot; according to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/2012%20UNC%20Running%20Impact%20Study.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dissertation study&lt;/a&gt; on different running styles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intrinsic Factors and Balanced Alignments&lt;/strong&gt; - @Ivo gives a nice discussion of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips/965#965&quot;&gt;intrinsic and extrinsic factors&lt;/a&gt; that contribute to running and overuse injuries.  Although you say that you have seen doctors, you do not mention seeing a sports or orthopedic physical therapy specialist.  A specialized physical therapist can be helpful in identifying any intrinsic factors contributing to muscle and alignment imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your orthotics should be specific for correcting any alignment problems in your feet, but the rest of the leg/hip/pelvis also needs to be considered.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://sph.sagepub.com/content/1/3/242.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this clinical review&lt;/a&gt; hip weakness may be more linked to faulty lower extremity mechanincs and running injuries than foot mechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching/Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; -  Stretching alone is not enough to address muscle imbalances.  In addition to strengthening the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/1079-shin-splints.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ankle dorsi-flexors&lt;/a&gt;, strengthening or stabilizing exercises, esp. at the hip as noted in the above reference, can help with the alignment and shock absorption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Myofascial Release&lt;/strong&gt; - As you have said, you have done &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3845/where-can-i-get-instructions-for-a-daily-stretching-routine/3848#3848&quot;&gt;stretches&lt;/a&gt; and foam rollling.  A physical or manual therapist can take a look at your alignments, assess where you have restrictions: plantar fascia, front, back, inside and outside of the foot, leg, thigh, and hip muscles; and correct myofascial restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the best suggestion I have is to call around to find the right physical therapist to help you find any alignment, form and/or muscular imbalances, treat and correct them and give you an exercise and myofascial program specific to you.  By balancing out your lower extremity you may reduce the stresses causing your shin splints.  Otherwise, you just keep going in an endless cycle of aggravation, avoidance, aggravation, avoidance etc. Hope that gives you some ideas for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T21:55:51.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13362" CreationDate="2013-07-29T04:34:06.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You won't see much resulting from the listed routine and diet you listed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might see some growth in your triceps, biceps and deltoids. But eventually that will slow and stop if you aren't increasing the weight or difficulty of the exercises. Given that you are already doing 15reps you might not see much more growth at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd strongly consider looking at other exercises you can do with those, such as rows for your back and single or raised leg squats for your legs just to improve your overall strength. You should also consider adding some cardio, not for the fat-loss that people assume, but for good heart health, i.e. the cardio in cardiovascular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T04:34:06.283" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13373" CreationDate="2013-07-29T07:46:03.153" Score="5" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found on the internet that people who are runners and run long distances surmount knee problems in their later life. I am a runner too and I don't want any kind of problems with my legs anytime in later life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true or can I do something to keep my legs healthy and problem free?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-07-29T08:32:02.160" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T23:36:01.207" Title="Is there any way to keep your knee problem free in the long run for a distance runner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13383" CreationDate="2013-07-29T09:06:29.893" Score="9" ViewCount="50279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently bought &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branched-chain_amino_acid&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;BCAA&lt;/a&gt; powder, monohydrate creatine and whey protein, and I'm wondering if I'm able to take BCAA together with the whey protein or creatine? I've heard from people you should take BCAA with an empty stomach, some even said you shouldn't take it together with protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was my plan of taking BCAA&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Pre-workout:  BCAA   &amp;amp; Whey protein&#xA;Post-workout: Gainer &amp;amp; Creatine&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this OK? Or should I switch so it's BCAA + Creatine on pre-workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to bulk for 7 months, and my daily calorie intake is around 3500.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats are:&#xA;Weight=76kg(167 lbs), length=176cm(5 f 9)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why i bought BCAA is because i've heard from my brother it's a great supplement to get gains. The creatine and whey protein i've taken for a year now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6399" LastEditorUserId="6399" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T07:22:36.480" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T01:23:51.820" Title="BCAA together with whey protein" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12977" CreationDate="2013-07-29T13:00:28.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are working out plenty. Resistance training 5x a week along with cardio 5x a week is more than enough exercise. As a general rule I'd suggest focusing more on big, free weight movements (squats/deadlifts/bench/press), but that's not really the core of the issue here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to lose weight, you have to take in fewer calories. Protein shakes aren't a bad thing, but if you add a protein shake to your current diet, you're just tacking on extra calories - you'll gain more weight. You need to eat less, snack less, and &lt;strong&gt;don't drink your calories&lt;/strong&gt;. You should really be drinking mostly water if you aren't already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As was previously suggested, keep track of everything you take in via something like MyFitnessPal or FitDay. You might be surprised by the amount of calories you're actually taking in - and that's where you need to start if you want to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T13:00:28.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13365" CreationDate="2013-07-29T17:02:56.290" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be sure to do some joint loosening (not stretching) before you run.  Then walk for a few minutes before starting.  This is a less shocking way to begin for the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice about gradually increasing your distance is spot on.  Otherwise, just be mindful of the way your foot is striking the ground (be as light as possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6397" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T17:02:56.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12977" CreationDate="2013-07-29T20:57:31.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are in the same boat as 80% of my clients that wanted to lose weight-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not over-do cardio.  25x5 is PLENTY.  I would actually change it to maybe 4x30 to give your body more days off.  The key to integrating a cardio program into a new routine for weight loss is what can you do that will not cause your body to go into starvation mode?  When you start a new cardio routine or expense a lot of energy/intensity on cardio your body will naturally try to recoup through diet.  No use busting your ass on the treadmill to burn 300 calories and then have to eat 500 calories to feel better.  Am I suggesting cutting out the cardio?  No.  What I am suggesting is cutting down the intensity at first until your body is used to the activity.  Also I strongly encourage 2 feet up - 2 feet down jump rope.  It is low impact and I don't know of a faster way to take off fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about your weight routine.  You label what you do but not how many sets, reps, or exacts.  In general what you are saying is good.  I would also ask your intensity level, how tired you are after lifting, and how long does the soreness last in each body part.  Lifting is more crucial to losing weight than cardio - the more muscle you put on the more your metabolism speeds up.  Also your metabolism is sky high during recovery.  So lift before your cardio not after.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your diet seems protein deficient.  You need to add lean meats/beans.  I would aim at 35-40% protein - natural.  You should not be taking protein shakes to lose weight.  Maybe 1 out of 10 of my clients would actually eat less when taking these sorts of supplements.  Only even think about taking protein shakes if you know that you will cut out an equal amount of calories out of your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not starve your body and you really need to make sure you are limiting binges.  You have a big routine.  You have to eat.  You never mentioned calories and you need to start counting.  I would not consider you way overweight.  I would shoot for losing a pound every week or two.  You need to know more about your calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make the goal how you look not your weight.  If you are working out hard and lifting you will gain muscle.  Muscle is heavy.  Often initial muscle gain (some water weight) can rival fat loss.  It is conceivable that after a year of lifting/cardio/watching what you eat that you weigh slightly less but look totally different.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T20:57:31.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-29T22:33:47.397" Score="2" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been following a conditioning heavy fitness plan in order to cut some weight and lose some body fat over the last three weeks.  I am exercising six days a week, and two sessions involve sprints (hill sprinting and normal).  On these sessions it has got to the point where I can't finish them because my knees hurt quite a bit.  When not doing anything my knees just sort of have a mild discomfort but sometimes when the leg completely straightens it is really painful and feels like the knee will just give way, and I often buckle when this happens, but it doesn't happen often maybe three times in the last few days. I am not sure if this is because I am actively preventing it from happening or not as I am being more careful in day to day activity because of the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain feels like it is beneath the kneecap but in a sort of &quot;U&quot; shape around the kneecap.  I am able to walk and do day to day things ok and I was able to perform a squatting session, with a mild weight for me without any discomfort, in fact normally I get a popping sound in my knee when I squat which was absent for this session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the pain has probably been caused by an overuse of the knees in activities they are not used too, as I stopped exercising around April and didn't really do anything until a few weeks ago.  Last weekend I also completed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thethreepeakschallenge.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the three peaks challenge&lt;/a&gt; with no extra training and it wasn't until after this I noticed the problem with straightening my legs, but the mild discomfort was present prior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am making good progress exercising and I would like some alternative exercise suggestions to sprinting as I do not wish to stop if at all possible.  I tried swimming tonight and that doesn't seem to have aggravated my knees but it is expensive and commuting to the pool takes time therefore I couldn't afford to do it more than once a week.  Advice on treating this type of knee pain as well would be appreciated if possible, additionally any insight into why my knees normally make a &quot;clicking&quot; sound when squatting would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1975" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T02:13:45.833" Title="Alternative exercises for sprints due to knee pain" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13365" CreationDate="2013-07-29T23:36:01.207" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long-distance running is a natural human activity and is not inherintly bad for your knees&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find a decent journal article, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/36241-5-experts-answer-running-bad-knees.html&quot;&gt;general consensus&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1948208,00.html&quot;&gt;is that running&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/health/how-bad-running-your-knees&quot;&gt;is not bad&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mizunousa.com/running/blog/article/the-planet-wave-is-running-bad-for-your-knees&quot;&gt;for your knees&lt;/a&gt;. It is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_running_hypothesis&quot;&gt;theorised that endurance hunting&lt;/a&gt; (i.e running after an animal until it dies of exhaustion) was the first form of hunting of humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bad shoes lead to bad knees, lead to worse shoes, etc...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is big difference between how we ran in the distant past, and how we run now. The rise in knee injuries happened shortly after the &quot;westernisation&quot; and commercialisation of long-distance events such as the marathon. During the fitness crazes of the 1970's and 80's more and more untrained &lt;em&gt;adults&lt;/em&gt; began to do fun-runs and marathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, because they were unused to running they would run with a heavy heel strike causing high pressure and damage to the leg joints. This lead to the evolution of the modern 'running shoe'. This in turn lead to &lt;em&gt;heavier&lt;/em&gt; heel strikes, and the sudden pressure their of increasing hip, knee and ankle strain. Eventually shoes then looked at eliminating ankle roll and pronation to reduce ankle damage, again leading to mroe damage. The reason for this was there was little sensory feedback from the foot and muscles to know what it was doing was unsafe until it was too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Decrease your risk of damage by using a minimalist shoe.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent the risk of long term joint damage you may want to consider minimalist shoes. Its only recently that the modern 'minimalist' shoe has evolved, that paradoxically is safer. By forcing the entirety of the leg to actively cushion the foot fall, this leads to a safer, softer mid-foot strike. If you are looking at distance running regardless of shoe type, begin slowly, in terms of both pace and distance, and train on how to perform a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodformrunning.com/learn-good-form-videos/166-forefoot-versus-midfoot-versus-heel-strike&quot;&gt;mid foot strike&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of emerging evidence that suggests that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1934148209013677&quot;&gt;musclar adapatations for running minimalist shoes will provide support and protection for the joints&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/full/nature08723.html?ref=nf&quot;&gt;while encouraging a safer running gait that minimises the force driven into the ground&lt;/a&gt;. If you heed this science and your own body, your risks of knee damage from running will likely be no more than the risk of anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-07-29T23:36:01.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13378" CreationDate="2013-07-30T05:13:35.790" Score="6" ViewCount="11858" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been consuming electrolytes before and after sports disolved into water &lt;strong&gt;without sugar&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can electrolytes in high volume make you gain weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4671" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T11:17:06.950" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T11:17:06.950" Title="Do Too Many Electrolytes Make You Fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;&lt;sodium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13377" CreationDate="2013-07-30T05:20:29.097" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are drinking flavored salt water.  If it has no calories it can't make you fat but it can make you feel bloated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sodium/NU00284&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sodium/NU00284&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mayo clinic references too much sodium can lead to water retention.  So maybe in the short term it could make you retain a percent of an ounce of water in your system.  Not fat but maybe feeling fat and maybe weighing (slightly) more on a scale the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T05:40:47.073" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T05:40:47.073" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-30T07:05:33.030" Score="9" ViewCount="9236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found a few websites that claim the oxygen usage is countered by increasing a treadmill to a 1 degree incline, however, what I'm looking for is a way to convert treadmill running times into outdoor running times (average, of course).  Hopefully a simple multiplier, but a more complex function would be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something like this, or is there a factor I'm forgetting which makes this impossible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2888" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T16:59:00.713" Title="Converting times from treadmill to outdoor running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12709" CreationDate="2013-07-30T09:27:31.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be because of the build-up of Lactic acid and the formation of free radicals after an intense workout which alters the excitability of muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More about muscle twitching (Benign fasciculations): &lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.yahoo.com/muscle-twitches-after-exercise-concerned-3943484.html?cat=50&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://voices.yahoo.com/muscle-twitches-after-exercise-concerned-3943484.html?cat=50&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T09:27:31.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13366" CreationDate="2013-07-30T09:36:44.480" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I don't see why not. Some protein shakes combine the two (or all three). Some samples: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/platinum-hydrobuilder-p-277.html?zenid=ae9891f40daa2abdb333377b2d397500&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hydro Builder&lt;/a&gt; (Protein + creatine) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/platinum-hydrowhey-p-271.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hydro Whey&lt;/a&gt; (Protein + BCAA) (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170430003440/https://www.optimumnutrition.com/en_US/products/platinum-hydrowhey#yLkvY6Rx8xmSZqqK.97&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastEditorUserId="3806" LastEditDate="2017-05-08T09:14:55.700" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T09:14:55.700" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13392" CreationDate="2013-07-30T10:33:35.393" Score="5" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training for some time now but I don't feel like my schedule is in balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I switch between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scheme 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck Flexion (neck)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Neck Extension (neck)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arnold Press (shoulder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear Lateral Raise (shoulder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press (chest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Bench Press (chest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scheme 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent-over Row (back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curl (bicep)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kickback (tricep)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Arm Triceps Extension (tricep)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist Curl (wrist)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situp Crunches (waist)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I alternate between these and exercise 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I setup this scheme myself and since I'm not 100% happy with it I started reading about the &lt;code&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/code&gt; 5x5 method. This seems very appealing to my but I cannot implement this because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;riding 40km 5 times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running 5km a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 martial arts trainings a week (and some exercises at home)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My legs are really pushed to the limit by this so I can take some training there but not loads of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beside this I don't have enough money to get myself a gym pass and I'm limited to my home bench (just a small bench) 2 hand hand halters and a basic bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also can't find any decent site that helps me build a schedule for free so I hope to get some advice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: My goals for weight training is to get stronger and build up figure in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-08-01T02:49:04.503" LastActivityDate="2013-08-01T02:49:04.503" Title="How can I get stronger while involved in other physical activities?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13381" CreationDate="2013-07-30T12:22:26.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 1 - 2 degree incline will give you enough extra resistance to adequately compensate for the reduced difficulty from using a treadmill, however there is no exact calculation for this.  The treadmill advantage will vary based on brand, since they will use different belts, and the tread-board can have more or less spring, depending on manufacturer.  If you are training specifically for a running event, there is no replacement for training on the surface you will be running on (pavement, track, grass, etc).  The biggest advantages with a treadmill are that you can train regardless of weather, and you can train specifically for inclines (and declines with some models).  If you still really want a conversion, the best approach would be to run outside for a set amount of time at a set heart rate.  Then run on your treadmill for the same amount of time at the same heart rate.  Your conversion will be based on the difference between those two distances.  But again, this will vary from one machine to the next, so if you go to a gym, make sure you use the same treadmill and incline settings from one session to the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T12:22:26.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2013-07-30T14:32:53.793" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Along with your normal diet, you should eat eggs &amp;amp; milk. I'm a 5'10 ft 22 yr male, and my weight just increased from 52 kg to 55 kg in 2 weeks. I hit the gym every day at 5:30 pm and take 3 eggs and 1 ltr milk after the gym, and otherwise continue with my normal diet. Also I have some almonds and cashews in my spare time every day. Perhaps this can work for you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6412" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T21:20:42.880" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T21:20:42.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13381" CreationDate="2013-07-30T15:34:31.633" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outdoor - Completely flat, little wind, similar surface (let's say a rubber track)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor - Treadmill flat, same temp as outside, mph/kph calibration is correct (this is hard to prove or disprove but if you are an experienced runner you know if it is wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE** Just because a treadmill is on a flat floor doesn't mean you are running on level.  Also - and more common - just because a treadmill is on a LEVEL floor doesn't mean the &quot;0&quot; level is actually level.  I have seen both inclined and declined slopes for this.  I have worked out at a gym where the owner kept the desirable (good location/tv) treadmills inclined on &quot;0&quot; so the heavy runners wouldn't use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then they are the same.  I have worked with people that have had faster treadmill times and others that have had faster outdoor times.  It is really in their head.  Personally I have the attitude that I will do anything I am &quot;made&quot; to do so I think I am faster on the treadmill - yes it is in my head too.  Others get sick on treadmills and need to run outside.  The question is very very similar to saying do you run faster on a track or road running?  People have the same variances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 1-2% incline comment.  This comes from road racers.  From the road racing/marathon community they believe setting the incline to 1-2% should mimic times they would get on average when out on the road.  In theory it is probably right on average but a better tool would be going between -5 to 5% to mimic the hills you will face - I know that is only possible with very high end treadmills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like the outdoor winds and hills and rough road conditions you may face you can also face indoor conditions.  I have ran in small rooms where I could tell the oxygen levels had depleted during my run, I personally can't stand running in humid rooms, I run slower with a video screen in front of me... We all have our likes and dislikes.  If I had my way I would be in a room at 50F with little humidity at 1 PM.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless your goal is marathons or longer road racing you do not need to make an adjustment on your treadmill.  If your treadmill times are vastly different from outdoor times I would try a few other treadmills to make sure the calibration isn't throwing you off.  If the times are still different then you need to see if there is something you can do to help your &quot;slow area&quot;.  If your outdoor times are slower are you sure the running area is flat, are you sure about the distances, do you like where you run, are there obstacles, do you run at the same time of day compared to indoor, how is the weather???&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really really concerned then count your strides on a treadmill for one mile/2km.  Is it roughly the same outside for the same distance (and don't trust all outdoor signs that give you distance info).  If your strides are the same that means that you are actually running faster on the treadmill (which is not a negative thing) and you need to push yourself outside more.  If your strides are different you may need to work on lengthening your stride outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T16:59:00.713" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T16:59:00.713" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12709" CreationDate="2013-07-30T17:59:21.260" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;First there is nothing wrong with your muscles shaking.  You are making them work and have good intensity.  That is great.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some reasons for the muscle shakes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Balancing muscles (fixator) that are used to stabilize the lift cannot carry the load.  Lifting weights is not overall natural.  There are a lot of balancing muscles used that get little to no use in everyday life especially modern life.  An example of this is the bench press.  Your triceps are doing a lot of balancing.  When you first starting benching it is natural that your chest is exponentially stronger.  So your large muscle group will push but the balancing muscles are shaking.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Imbalance of power.  When you have a muscle group that is superior to another and the inferior group tries to transfer load to the superior.  Bench is a great example again.  So you broke your left arm (which was already your weak arm because you are right handed).  You start benching.  Your left pec and deltoids are going to try to transfer the weight over to the right side.  So your left side will start shaking because it is out of balance because it can't handle half the weight.  Then your right gets out of balance because the pivot position for the weight has changed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not enough muscle power.  When you start a new lift or if you are new to lifting the big muscles like to take over.  Not only that but you probably don't use the smaller muscles much in everyday life because they are usually strengthened when the big muscles are tired or you perform a very specific movement to use them.  An example for this is the squat.  As your hips roll the weight starts off using the gluteus maximus (butt) and hamstrings (I am being very general here) and the weight is transferred to the quads - more weight if done improperly.  Your quads say - hell no I can't carry that load - so the weight load transfers back and forth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fatigue - If you just worked out your triceps hard and go to bench there is a greater chance of them breaking down and shaking during the lift.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lack of oxygen - This is really in the same category as fatigue but it is common for new lifters.  You have to get oxygen to your muscles when working out.  No matter how stupid you think you look when breathing heavy it is part of the process.  Lack of oxygen can instantly fatigue the most seasoned lifter and start them shaking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general you should be able to take the shaking and use it for good purposes.  First say to yourself am I drinking/eating enough before and am I breathing enough during my routine?  If yes then you can start to work on the muscles when they are shaking.  For example if your triceps shaked during bench I would have you bench first so that your triceps had the least amount of fatigue and then hit triceps hard after.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a seasoned lifter and you are experiencing a lot of shaking (given good diet and breathing) then I would look at your routine.  You may not be giving your body enough rest between sets.  You may be trying to work out opposing muscle groups causing balance fatigue.  Again there is nothing wrong with shaking as long as you can get your work done!  Might be as simple as lowering the weight until your body is OK with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-07-30T18:21:32.973" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T18:21:32.973" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12709" CreationDate="2013-07-30T20:22:29.780" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming we are talking about normal exercise stress, and nothing related to a deeper physiological or neurological problem (like Parkinson's Disease).  With that understanding, the most likely culprit is the normal way fast twitch muscles fatigue.  The article &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/why-do-muscles-shake-during-exercise&quot;&gt;Why Do Muscles Shake During Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&quot; has a few decent points to help understand what's going on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Typically associated with intense exercise like sprinting or weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fast twitch muscles only activate so many cells for contraction, quickly distributing the load to other muscle cells during exertion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As the stress exceeds the energy and recovery available for the muscle, the distribution goes to other fatigued muscle cells and simply cannot keep up with the work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the shaking happens at the end of a workout, it's probably a good time to stop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the shaking happens at the beginning of a workout, you are probably trying to do more than your body is capable of right now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some minor shaking is normal as you push heavier weights, but but as you move closer and closer to full exhaustion the biggest danger is inuring yourself due to your form breaking down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason the shaking occurs is because you are pushing yourself beyond your ability to recover.  Recovery is multifaceted, and includes important topics like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sufficient hydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper nutrition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest during exercises (i.e. rest between sets, sprints, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest between training sessions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reducing life stresses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The topics were listed in order of importance.  Bodybuilders will sometimes intentionally push to exhaustion to encourage the body to build more muscle size, but care must be taken to ensure good enough technique to avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T20:22:29.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13397" CreationDate="2013-07-30T20:59:46.750" Score="5" ViewCount="890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training 3x a week for mainly strength and progressing fine, but I find that my rest times between sets are ridiculously long and if I don't take them, I'm not able to finish my sets.For example, on my heavy 3x5 squats, I need to rest for 5-7 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is pretty bad, but what's worse is that even my assistance work (chinups, dips) need this much rest, or else the number of reps I can do goes down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the best way to improve my endurance and need less rest time? I heard cardio might help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6370" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T23:32:36.340" Title="Ways to reduce rest time between lifting sets?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13384" CreationDate="2013-07-30T21:12:20.507" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You must do legs in your workout.  Think of your body as a growing tree.  Have you ever seen a tree with a skinny trunk and huge branches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your legs get stronger and you strengthen your core the rest of your body will fall in place - you have an upper body workout (that is probably not optimal but I don't know enough about you to recommend something exactly).  With the equipment you have (don't have) I would do lots of deadlifts, light squats (you will have to clean the bar up and lift over your head - I know this sucks but a lot of home lifters have to do it - really light weight), good mornings (do a set of good mornings after a set of squats while the bar is there), and dumbbell squats.  I personally would incorporate star bursts or frog jumps with this workout if I didn't have the weights to push myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start with one set of each every other day (deadlifts should be first and you should be trying to lift as much as you can according to your plan eventually).  And work up to a full legs/lower back workout that you are doing twice a week.  I don't think once a week is enough given lack of equipment if you want results quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this will hurt.  It will suck having to ride your bikes some days.  But you need to start slow with the legs and work your way up - and your bike rides will actually be easier in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the running 5km a week is not too much.  Even with the biking.  I would shoot for more but up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you expect.  Well once you get used to your core/leg routine you can work on form and explosion.  You will get stronger and you can get serious muscle tone if the intensity is right.  However given the lack of weights/equipment you will probably plateau faster and easier.  But then again I would work on intensity level and slowly increasing the weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T21:12:20.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13391" CreationDate="2013-07-30T21:25:03.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing cardio would make your heart rate return to normal faster if that feels like the problem (I have to say if your heart takes 5-7 minutes to return to normal you are very out of shape). If your legs are the problem, I would suggest stretch and be well hydrated and fed (obviously don't eat right before the workout). Sometimes after squat sets I would cramp up a little and need to take pretty long rests between sets, I would say that generally squats will require quite a bit of rest time between sets though more like 3 mins not 7&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T21:25:03.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13391" CreationDate="2013-07-30T21:25:31.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For someone starting out 5-7 mins is just way too long to be sitting around in between sets.  You need to be doing something not reading!  If you are lifting for pure strength - not size or tone or athletic reasons - than longer break times can work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not at 5-7 mins per.  That means you spent 21 mins doing 15 squats?  That doesn't seem efficient.  There have been studies done showing that once a person starts an intense workout they have anywhere between 20-35 mins of peak strength building time.  After muscles are fatigued (you are making your muscles more tired not necessarily stronger) and the body needs to be replenished.  A lot of olympic lifters actually lift twice a day for 30-45 mins each.  And yes they do take ridiculous breaks between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you are there yet though.  You need to use your time wiser in the gym.  Even if you think you have unlimited amount of time your body doesn't.  For a beginner 3-4 mins is a long time.  Drop the weight, increase the movements you do and the reps, and increase your intensity level.   Now once every month or two if you want to have a max out day on a lift you can go ahead and take the long breaks to see where you are at.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T21:25:31.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13350" CreationDate="2013-07-30T21:36:24.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oddly, I've experienced the same thing. I suffered through shin splints for &lt;em&gt;years&lt;/em&gt;. Even a 5% increase in mileage made my legs ache. I sought advice from a number of doctors (including sports physicians), physical therapists, physical trainers, long distance/ultra runners, etc... and finally found a solution that helped me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fellow runner suggested that it was a muscle imbalance causing my shin splints.  He suggested that I strengthen my shin muscles with toe lifts (4x50-daily) and then lifting light weights (5lbs) with my toes.  He suggested that I put light weights into a small bucket (think: sand bucket kids play with at the beach) and sit on a table and use my toes to lift the bucket towards my shins. Yes--you're wearing shoes during this process. Again, 4x50-daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I laid off the running for a few weeks while I strengthened my shins and then eased my way back into my daily routine.  I haven't had a problem since. I still do the occasional toe lift (2x/week) as I'm fearful they will return, but to date I haven't experienced a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose it can (and will be) argued that the two week rest was the trick and that the weights wasn't a factor. However, my problem with shin splints was an ongoing problem for three years. During that time span I tried the following: rest, ice, rolling, stretching, air casts, orthotics (prescribed and OTC), new shoes, old shoes, minimalist shoes (Vibrams), minimal shoes (4mm drop), cushioning/control/neutral shoes, different shoe lace patterns, ankle wraps, shin wraps, compression stockings, compression sleeves, KT tape, myofascial massage (stripping), sports &amp;amp; Swedish massage and yoga. I have a whole box of products (and experiences) to last me a lifetime.  I found that the weights worked for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck &amp;amp; good running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6192" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T21:36:24.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11568" CreationDate="2013-07-30T22:06:13.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you get trained to teach classes by a professional (company) they talk about keeping your audience focused and participating.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are two main reason for switching of exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After 10-15 reps a lot of people would zone out and lose focus.  I have been told 15 is the magic number but opinions vary.  I personally think 12 is a great number because it is one syllable and after that it is all 2 - you have to say eleven really quick so it is one syllable.  You are counting in your head 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, THIR, TEEN, FOUR, TEEN... If you are doing something high intensity you either slow down, skip numbers, or lose count.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people in class have trouble doing more than 10 of something.  By doing the same thing over and over you are rubbing it in and leaving them out of an exercise for a while.  So if a guy can only do 4 crunches at a time he is doing 40% of the crunches - that's OK.  Better than doing a set of 30 and he does 11%.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T05:22:32.097" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T05:22:32.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13391" CreationDate="2013-07-30T23:32:36.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're on a novice linear progression like StrongLifts or Starting Strength, then 5 to 10 minute rests between sets are a reality at the tail end of the progression. If you're getting to real weights, don't fret. If it's happening quite early in your progression--say, with less than bodyweight on your squat, or less than 100 pounds on your press--then you might have a problem. Otherwise, just buckle down and do the sets with a powerlifter's rest periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend imposing an Absolute Limit on your rest periods, and simply doing your next set at that time. If you fail, then follow the failure protocol for your program. This usually involves a deload in the next workout. This is incredibly useful for your long-term strength gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't&lt;/strong&gt; start taking 15 minute breaks in an attempt to regain strength, because it won't work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't&lt;/strong&gt; worry about cardio or additional strength work to fix the problem. It's normal to need long breaks between heavy squats on a novice linear progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-30T23:32:36.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-31T01:06:42.793" Score="25" ViewCount="7138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength is a excellent resource for overall strength training and invaluable for powerlifters. However, I feel for the majority of people who are new to fitness, Starting Strength is an unrealistic guide. While greater than bodyweight bench presses and double-bodyweight deadlifts are admirable achievements, the effort required for them is more than most people will put in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, despite the detailed descriptions in the book on how to correctly and safely, perform the three main movements are not without their risks (especially when they are performed without supervision or a spotter):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell bench press&lt;/strong&gt; can lead to shoulder impingement and poor shoulder girdle development if the bar is brought too close to the chin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt; require excellent form until failure, otherwise there is a serious risk of disc herniation. This is very hard to self-diagnose as a lifter is encouraged to look forward, which limits the ability to see form during a motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back squats&lt;/strong&gt; again require excellent form, and have no easy failure technique without equipment. Again, due to the motion the lift is hard to see in motion and if a lifter is stuck in the low position, without safety rails recovery can be difficult or dangerous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be verified by the number of videos (including those by Mark Ripptoe) that reinforce how to lift with good form. This fact, and the fact that many people require form checks on these movements, shows they are skilled-tasks that beginners have problems getting right from just written instruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, apart from strength for the sake of strength (which is an admirable personal goal in itself), Starting Strength offers quickly diminishing returns. While strength is important in day to day life, someone who can deadlift their own weight (which is considered novice or lower in many online communities), is strong comparative to their peers and more than likely strong enough for day-to-day activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Given there are some downsides for unsupervised &lt;em&gt;fitness novices&lt;/em&gt;, why is Starting Strength considered by the online fitness community as the most important fitness regime?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T05:58:21.607" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T07:32:07.673" Title="Why is &quot;Starting Strength&quot; the most highly regarded workout regime on the Internet?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;novice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13399" CreationDate="2013-07-31T02:48:14.680" Score="24" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Starting &lt;em&gt;Strength&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it's the best introduction to the most productive yet neglected aspect of fitness: strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bring up weights to most people, and they think of machines and curls and bodybuilding. Starting Strength lays out a cogent alternative, closer to many people's goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people still think of &quot;fitness&quot; as synonymous with &quot;cardio&quot; or running. Starting Strength reminds us that strength is much more important for everyday tasks like picking things up and standing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Critiques of the program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All exercises have downsides, but those you criticize are, bar none, the fastest way to a strong chest, back, and body. The fact that they need to be done properly is not a downside: it is why the book is so highly recommended. Many people know that Starting Strength (the book) is the best way to communicate to an eager fitness-novice friend how to lift properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that many people will not achieve a double bodyweight deadlift is immaterial. So what? If a person does want to be big or strong, as people often do, then Starting Strength is perhaps the most appropriate recommendation. If that person doesn't want that double bodyweight deadlift, they won't get it...but the book (and program) is still enormously useful as a clear introduction to strength training and the fundamental movements of squatting, deadlifting, pressing, and cleaning. These techniques, or ones quite similar, are fundamental to being a healthy human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I disagree with the book's recommendations in a number of ways, but it remains the best way to communicate &quot;how to lift and why&quot;. &lt;em&gt;That's&lt;/em&gt; why it's so commonly recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T07:32:07.673" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T07:32:07.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13399" CreationDate="2013-07-31T04:11:59.640" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to mention that I am in no way opposed to Starting Strength.  As Dave mentioned, it has a lot of useful tips for beginners.  In that it stresses form and core movements it should be commended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it is highly regarded because there is a press and advertising behind it.  They are smart even down to the name... Starting Strength.  Meaning no experience required.  It takes the results from these starters, who work out hard, gain tons of weight, and follow a strict regimen and acts like these are mind blowing things.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AX47t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact all of these &quot;power lifting/strength&quot; programs basically work off of the same premise which has always been known to those in the industry.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only the core movements matter at first- squat, deadlift, bench, pull-up/chin-up, power clean.  When I work a weight room for a team you aren't allowed to do anything else until you do two of those.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To re-emphasize if you want to get bigger your body will adjust to the largest muscle group which is in the ass and legs.  If they get bigger so will your arms.  Your body likes harmony.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intensity is a big big big part of the strength building equation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all of these programs including Starting Strength focus on shorter, &quot;easier&quot; workouts.  Because they are playing on the fact that a person will more likely work on intensity if they aren't overwhelmed by reps/sets/time commitment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality most/all of the programs will give the beginner a good base given that they are only doing powerlifting at first.  I have trained countless young men and I have seen similar gains (going from 100 pound to 300 pound deadlift in 4-5 months).  A lot of the gains are simply getting used to the technique and the lift itself.  A lot have to do with gaining weight/muscle at a rate only a beginner could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These workouts do work because they focus on the lifts that work the best and intensity.  My big problem with the routines is that a lot people think they are for everyone.  I have a hard time suggesting these routines for someone that is already active or is not a beginner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And again the beginner market is probably 98% of the general population.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your concerns...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That the lifts given are dangerous.  I agree to a large extent.  The average person will have bad form after reading the book.  I have to do a lot of training to younger kids to get them squatting right.  But the fact is they want hype.  They want to be able to show big gains and these movements are crucial to that.  If you don't do the core movements your gains will take forever in comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That the lifts are not for everyday life.  True again.  And mentioned before this is my big concern.  If you continued down this path forever you would be a big, slow-twitch, hulk.  If you want functional strength I could see doing this routine for 2-3 months tops to get someone started.  You will need to incorporate more fast-twitch movement, endurance weight training, simulation movements, plyometrics...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-25T17:15:06.603" LastActivityDate="2013-08-25T17:15:06.603" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13399" CreationDate="2013-07-31T04:59:41.913" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like you're asking two questions. Why strength? And why these exercises? These are both answered in &quot;Strength &amp;amp; Barbells:&#xA;The Foundations of Fitness&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/strength_fitness_wolf.pdf&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/strength_fitness_wolf.pdf&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why strength?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since 1.) strength significantly improves nine of the ten aspects of fitness, and &#xA;  2.) the tenth can be improved rather quickly, and 3.) whereas strength increases require architectural &#xA;  changes that happen slowly, therefore strength should be the primary aspect trained for, with any &#xA;  other necessary aspects (such as cardiovascular/respiratory endurance) focused on temporarily when necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why barbells?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Infinitely scalable loads&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows the maximum weight to be lifted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training using a small number of movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Movements that have clearly defined and reproducible ranges of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why starting strength?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this is where my answer starts to become personal opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes advantage of the novice effect and linear progression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's a minimal, time-effective program, with a simple full body A/B split.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All the lifts are very accurately and clearly explained in the book.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's a large community to support you for form checks, training advice, and Mark Rippetoe himself is very responsive to questions on the official forum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these are absolute reasons to choose Starting Strength over another similar barbell program like Stronglifts, or 5/3/1, but they are reasons that I think lead people to choose Starting Strength over the alternative barbell programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Your specific concerns&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;While greater than bodyweight bench presses and double-bodyweight deadlifts are admirable achievements, the effort required for them is more than most people will put in.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strength doesn't require that you aim for the benchmarks you mention. It only requires that you lift more than last time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Also, despite the detailed descriptions in the book on how to correctly and safely, perform the three main movements are not without their risks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rippetoe acknowledges the risks inherent in the lifts. Instructions are only as good as they are followed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Barbell bench press can lead to shoulder impingement and poor shoulder girdle development if the bar is brought too close to the chin.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's very clear that the bar is supposed to start at the middle of your chest at the bottom of the range of motion, and end in a position directly above your shoulders at the top of the range of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deadlifts require excellent form until failure, otherwise there is a serious risk of disc herniation. This is very hard to self-diagnose as a lifter is encouraged to look forward, which limits the ability to see form during a motion.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rippetoe designates an entire section of his forum to form checks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Back squats again require excellent form, and have no easy failure technique without equipment. Again, due to the motion the lift is hard to see in motion and if a lifter is stuck in the low position, without safety rails recovery can be difficult or dangerous.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strength does not advocate squatting without safety rails while alone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Starting Strength offers quickly diminishing returns.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes. Starting Strength is a novice program. Beginners doing the program are usually on it for only a several months (the most dedicated and gifted trainees) to a year (people who are less dedicated, or older, or just less genetically gifted).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;While strength is important in day to day life, someone who can deadlift their own weight (which is considered novice or lower in many online communities), is strong comparative to their peers and more than likely strong enough for day-to-day activities.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;True. If somebody doesn't want to get stronger, they shouldn't be doing strength training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T05:44:17.960" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T05:44:17.960" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-07-31T11:33:40.873" Score="7" ViewCount="13097" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been on a ketogenic diet for the past two months, while also doing weightlifting three times a week. I need 2900 kcal a day to maintain my weight, but I've been eating at a 20% deficit to lose weight - 25g carbs, 160g protein and 175g fat daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the fact that I'm in ketosis means I'm already burning mostly fat - why not burn my body's fat instead of sticks of butter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, all that really matters in preventing muscle wasting is that you get enough protein and exercise. So can I spend a couple days eating only 160g protein, and expect at the end to have around 250g less fat in me (i.e., the fat I &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt; eat, that thus had to come from my body's stores) for every day mostly-fasting? And would that happen without losing significant muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6422" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T13:46:45.413" Title="Will eating only protein cause me to lose weight faster without muscle spoiling?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13384" CreationDate="2013-07-31T11:46:05.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems like a list of bodybuilding work, rather than strength training. You should consider a strength workout once or twice a week. You could do a few sets each of chin-ups, dips, bench presses, overhead presses, and even squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T11:46:05.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13409" CreationDate="2013-07-31T13:50:21.877" Score="3" ViewCount="6655" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new set of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B008L61G0I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Resistance cord&lt;/a&gt; that I bought.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Assuming that all brand resistance tubes are quite similar, what is the length of extension that I can give to it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each cord is of 4 feet length.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While doing a few exercise, I am required to pull it overhead(while standing), placing the cord under my feet and using both hands to pull. I am 5 feet 8 inches tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am afraid I will break the cord and injure myself while exercising.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hope this is not off-topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T11:32:12.917" Title="What is the resistance band's elastic length" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;resistance-cord&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13406" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-07-31T13:52:44.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Resistance band is used to increase range of motion and movement such as increasing jumping high. The band works by making the body work harder on the areas where the bands are attached and by making more tears for the body to repair and build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T14:21:21.550" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T14:21:21.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13407" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-07-31T13:52:44.093" Score="0" Body="The Resistance band is used to increase range of motion and movement such as increasing jumping high. The band works by making the body work harder on the areas where the bands are attached and by making more tears for the body to repair and build muscle." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T14:21:14.877" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T14:21:14.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13176" CreationDate="2013-07-31T14:03:50.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the exact same experience with doing everything right (with the intake of calories and myfitnesspal tracking, plus exercising) and didn't see any result. Our weight and height also seem the same. I did that for about three months and I actually gained a pound. I gave up, started eating normally and not going to the gym and guess what? I lost two pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if I was stressing my body over so much exercise or if just cutting calories was not the right thing to do. Then I decide to cut all the wheat, sugar and dairy from my diet, but forget to count calories. After two months, I'm 8 pounds lighter!&#xA;I am not saying you should do the same, but for my body that was what did the trick. My body took forever to digest wheat and dairy, so even though I was eating under the 1300 calories that MyFitnessPal said I was allowed to, I couldn't burn that fast enough. &#xA;But the lesson I learned from that is that isn't all about calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6424" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T14:03:50.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13405" CreationDate="2013-07-31T14:08:01.297" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, not all bands are the same.  If the cord is made for the purpose of exercise, then the band simply won't stretch anymore if you are at the end of its elasticity.  I can't tell you what that length is for the cord you purchased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/iron-woody-bands.php&quot;&gt;&quot;Iron Woody&quot; bands&lt;/a&gt;, and the loop is about 4 ft.  These bands can easily handle the type of exercise you are talking about.  In fact they can also be used for accommodating resistance for barbell exercises.  There will be no worry about the bands breaking under normal use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I haven't handled or examined the bands you purchased up close.  If they do break, the chance of serious injury for your resistance band exercises will be very low.  I recommend testing out the stretch by the exercise you described.  They won't break on the first use.  If they have reached their elastic limits and prevent you from doing the exercise you need to do, I wouldn't trust them to maintain integrity for very long like that.  However, if you can perform the exercise and they feel like they can handle even more stretch you will be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T14:08:01.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13451" CreationDate="2013-07-31T14:10:12.980" Score="9" ViewCount="1279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that many pre-workout supplements have green-tea extracts, including caffiene. I'm considering purchasing some expensive pre-workout supplements that include green-tea and want to know if they are worth the cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do green-tea extracts improve your workout or recovery, if consumed as part of a pre- or post-workout drink, and if so are they any different to just drinking plain green tea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6398" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-01T04:04:42.977" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T20:41:02.233" Title="Are there any positive effects of green tea (or extracts) as part of a pre- or post-workout regime?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12811" CreationDate="2013-07-31T14:22:11.617" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know where you live, but my husband and I spend around this much per week and our groceries are 95% only healthy stuff. I completely agree with Alex in the point that you have to burn more calories than you ingest, but you also have to pay attention to what else comes with those calories, so you can succeed in burning them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me be more clear and maybe very obvious. But it's much easier for you body to burn 200 calories from a dish of baked veggies than from a little plate of stir fry brown rice because of all the other components, besides the calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of thinking that your have a small budget, you should search for dishes that fit in your budget and are still very healthy and rich in veggies. If you allow me, I will share two of the most popular dishes I make. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You just need some spinach (frozen spinach is so cheap!) and dice ALL the veggies you have in your fridge, stir fry them (even without oil, just a bit of water) and then put them in a baking dish. Then cover it with eggs beaten (more egg whites, if possible), sprinkle some spices, a little salt and leave in the oven 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. It will be pretty much carbs free, pure protein and delicious. Did I mention very cheap?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You still can have a lasagna, but what about a eggplant lasagna? You just need to season some ground beef/turkey and use a tomato sauce (I avoid canned stuff, but I'm in love with Muir Glen products, they are delicious and not as bad). While this gets ready, slice one eggplant, maybe some squash or zucchini (everything is allowed to increase your intake of veggies and make you fill satisfied), stick in the oven for about 20 min (400F). Then once it's cool, you will just create the layers alternating veggies and the delicious meat, put back in the over for other 15 min and you have a delicious not fat meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't have to be expensive to be delicious. It doesn't have to be small to be light. It doesn't have to be crappy to be cheap. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6424" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T14:22:11.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13403" CreationDate="2013-07-31T14:50:49.880" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ketogenic diets are of questionable benefit unless done for medical reasons (Such as an attempt to control epilepsy). Studies of ketogenic diets have had very mixed results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only eat 160g of protein, that is a daily intake of 640 calories, which is borderline starvation diet. That isn't really a desirable outcome either. Fat is essential, but if you keep eating ~ 1600 calories a day of fat, you're going to have other health problems. Consuming that much fat will start to result in other conditions, especially if done for a prolonged period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Metabolism is not a 1:1 relationship, i.e. if I don't eat 200g of fat, my body will take 200g of fat to make it up from stores. The body basically decides what and where it will take from to get the nutrients and energy that it needs. If it opts to take it from muscle, it will. All that you will do if you eat nothing but protein is force your body to take what it needs from where ever it can find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies have shown many times that the type of diet is almost irrelevant, whether it's Atkins, South Beach, grapefruit, ketogenic, whatever. Simple calorie restriction is the single most important factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat a healthy diet of varied elements (Shop the edges of the store), ensure you get enough protein and keep the 10-20% calorie reduction, and you will see desirable results. Given that you are weighlifting, that may be higher than BMI charts (Which are notoriously unreliable for athletic/muscular bodies) say you should be, but let the mirror and your health be the best guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the question regarding the Inuit diet which is routinely 50-75% fat based depending on season; the Inuit diet is high in fats that are monounsaturated and very high in Omega-3. Unless someone is eating wild caught seal/fish/walrus, it's going to be much higher in saturated fats, which is very common in Western diets and unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Inuit diet also varies from 50-75% fat depending on season, the diet described in the question is a straight 65-70% from fat daily. And, while the Inuit may not have the health problems most commonly related to high fat intake, they do suffer from obesity, which negates the weight loss that is desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-08-01T14:33:43.607" LastActivityDate="2013-08-01T14:33:43.607" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6753" CreationDate="2013-07-31T15:58:40.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of body builders I have worked with wear athletic tights and shorts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For deadlifts I prefer people to wear warm-ups.  Example would be you basic nike/adidas basketball/soccer style warm-ups.  These have a little sheen to them and the bar glides up the leg better.  Athletic tights are great too.  I can't convince kids to buy/wear these though so I usually don't bring it up.  Tradition sweatpants kind of get stuck on your legs when you sweat.  I have seen these cause problems &quot;riding up&quot; during deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cleans... I prefer shorter shorts and a tight shirt.  If the shorts are too baggy/long the bar sometimes catches.  It isn't the friction (maybe it is to some) that bugs me but it is the distraction.  Warm-ups work well here too.  Tight-shirt would be like an underarmor type shirt.  The bar should slide up your chest so give it something to slide on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squats... Loose shorts (tights if you will wear them is fine).  Don't want your motion adjusting to your clothing at all.  Also you don't want to deal with a split down the middle of your ass.  You can wear warmups squatting but they would have to be loose fitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bench... tight shirt.  Underarmor style would work here.  Some people wear bench shirts.  I feel a tight shirt promotes rigidity and form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chin-ups and all the smaller movements...  Doesn't matter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T16:04:12.913" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T16:04:12.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6753" CreationDate="2013-07-31T16:29:36.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wear &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adidas.com/us/product/womens-soccer-condivo-training-pants/ZU090?cid=Z04010&amp;amp;breadcrumb=sxZu3Z1z13xg4Z1z13071Z1z11zrf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adidas Condivo 12 Training Pants&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wide in the thighs so they don't affect range of motion for squats. It's not that the material stretches, it just is kinda baggy, and doesn't stick to the skin... it slides over it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cover the shins to protect during deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-07-31T18:56:07.517" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T18:56:07.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="718" CreationDate="2013-07-31T23:54:30.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What type of &quot;man boobs&quot; do you have? If it's due to fat then you can lose it through cardio, remember there is no spot fat reduction, you lose it everywhere or nowhere at all. Pectoral weight exercises like the bench press will make your chest look more tone but won't get rid of the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now there is a condition called gynecomastia. If you have this then no amount of exercise will help and the only solution is plastic survey. Gynecomastia sufferers have actual excess breast tissue in their chests, it can happen due to genetics or steroid use. Mine was genetic and I didn't lose my man boobs until I got the surgery for almost 9k in NY.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The procedure consists of lipo to get the gist of the tissue and fat removed and then excisions are made under the nipple to remove the breast glands. Some fat and tissue is left in there to prevent cave in. Recovery takes about a month during which time you can forget about exercise and feeling doesn't come back fully to the area for up to a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who have gynecomastia due to genetics develop it at the start of puberty and it never goes away with exercise because you can't burn tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6427" LastActivityDate="2013-07-31T23:54:30.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-01T04:57:20.487" Score="12" ViewCount="1300" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most exercises can be performed with similar weight and form using either a barbell or a pair of dumbells. I have heard that as people begin to lift heavier weights it becomes more difficult to increase the weight of dumbbells when compared to barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, my gym's dumbells only go as high as 30kg, and I've noticed that while I can barbell bench press 60kg for 5 reps quite easily, I can't do the same when trying to press a 30kg dumbbell in each hand (even with help getting the dumbbells into position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why is it more difficult to perform a lift with dumbbells than it is with with an equivilent weighted barbell?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it because different muscles get used when being using dumbbells, even though its the same basic movement?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there are differences, are there any advantages to barbells over dumbbells or vice versa?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-11T17:37:58.000" LastActivityDate="2013-09-11T17:37:58.000" Title="Are there different muscular adaptations between barbell and dumbbell use?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13416" CreationDate="2013-08-01T05:15:03.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Starting Strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dumbbell version of the exercise [...] involves a greater amount of instability [...]. This is especially true if the weights used are sufficiently heavy to challenge your ability to finish the set. Most trainees use dumbbell bench presses as a light assistance movement, and never appreciate how hard they are or how useful they can be at heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] the lifter has to take the dumbbells out of the rack or off the floor, get into position on the flat bench, do the set, and then get off the bench with them after finishing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because dumbbells are not tied together between the hands as a barbell is, dumbbell bench presses require more active, conscious control, are harder to do, and therefore less commonly done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with dumbbell bench presses is that the equipment provides its own limitations in a progressively increasing program. Most dumbbell racks are not graduated in fine-enough increments due to the expense of having twice as many dumbbells as most gyms have the money or space for. Plate loaded dumbbell handles that would permit such loading are not widely available, or of sufficient quality that they are safe at heavy weights, or capable of being handles without a lot of help from two spotters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And with heavy weights, getting on and off the bench becomes such a large part of the task of completing the set that the logistics are a giant pain in the ass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] as good an exercise as the dumbbell bench may be, you will be bench pressing with a barbell, as the weight of history and precedent demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the limiting factor at heavy dumbbell weights is the constant firing of smaller muscle groups needed to stabilize the heavy dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, improvements in these small stabilizers don't transfer into sports as much as improvement in the larger muscles. I stick with the barbell, so that I can continue strengthening the largest muscle groups in a linear progression for a long period of time without being impeded by my weaker stabilizing muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smaller muscles are still getting worked, just not as much, and I'm not letting them be the bottleneck, because that's not where the biggest return on investment is going to come from for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-08-01T05:21:31.513" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13416" CreationDate="2013-08-01T05:21:24.267" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pro Dumbbell&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows for a more natural movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do more movements.  Could not do flies with a bar...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A seasoned lifter does not need a spotter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work your fixator/balancing muscles more.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Force you to use each side equally.  Can really help if you have a muscle imbalance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can help stress smaller muscle groups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretches muscles better (with correct form) promoting more tendon strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always working out your fingers, hands, wrist, and forearms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simulates athletic movements better, especially in the upper body.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pro Barbell&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows for better progression.  Easy to add 2.5 lb weights to each side.  We actually have 1.5 pound collars used for progression lifts at the school gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Helps focus on larger muscle groups.  If you squatted with dumbbells there would be a lot of additional muscle groups supporting the weight being held.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easier to use when you get to heavier weights.  Loading 150lb dumbbells on your chest to do inclines is a chore.  I think getting these on my chest was half the battle.  Very easy to load a bar up and sit down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows you to do more weight.  If you squat 600lbs good luck finding the dumbbells you need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are certain lifts that are hard to do efficiently with dumbbells.  Think cleans, snatches, good mornings, skull crushers (I hate the dummbbell version)...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very expensive and takes a lot of space to do a dumbbell only solution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do any competitions - they don't use dumbbells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbells are always working out your fingers, hands, wrist, and forearms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In almost any example your dumbbell movement (x2) will not equal your barbell movement because it puts a lot of stress on fixator muscles.  I have found that your dumbbell max for the same movement is roughly 75-90% of your barbell movement.  I give a range because it is very easy for some lifters who don't routinely use dumbbells to not have the range of motion or balancing muscles in place to get near 90%.  Only if you are putting in the same intensity or if you have more of a dumbbell plan can you hit that 90% mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you a real world example:  Grab dumbbells so that you have about 70% of your max.  Lay on a bench and hold them straight out like you are top of your bench progression.  See how long you can hold it there and why you fail.  Then go over and do the same thing with a bar.  Even at 70% of my max I can hold the bar a long long long time - where boredom might cause failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-01T14:56:16.020" LastActivityDate="2013-08-01T14:56:16.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12241" CreationDate="2013-08-01T17:18:36.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 4 mile race is not that long.  Also 2 times a week is not very much time spent training for this.  I would think that if you are training only twice a week you should shoot for 5-6 miles twice at a decent intensity (80-90%).  I don't think you need any speed work unless you hit at least 20 miles a week.  I think doing extra miles should be your main goal - make the 4 miles seem easy.  Do you think an extra kick in the last 100 meters is going to help your time that much?  You have to prioritize on what will be the most effective given your schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6387" LastActivityDate="2013-08-01T17:18:36.497" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13422" CreationDate="2013-08-01T19:44:39.013" Score="8" ViewCount="6396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to do my front sqauts holding the bar on my shoulders while crossing my arms over it to hold it in place. I then wanted to learn how to do a power clean, but noticed that I must first master the front squat to carry over to the clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that the way to hold the bar in the front sqaut that has carryover to the clean hurts my wrists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it the bar rests on your shoulders mainly and your hands are there to ensure that it doesn't fall. Now when the bar is resting in my finger tips in  this manor, as needed for the clean, it really hurts my wrists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any issues with my wrists that I know of since no other exercise ever hurts my wrists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I have a lack of flexibility in my lower arms needed to hold the bar in this way. If that is the case, what can I do to properly hold the bar without any pain? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-08-01T23:47:29.133" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T16:20:41.323" Title="Why does the front rack position hurt my wrists, and what can I do about it?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13421" CreationDate="2013-08-01T19:50:53.660" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure your forearm is not stacked on top of your humerus. It should be off to the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LFOtQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do this stretch to help improve your flexibility for the catch position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i8oqr.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is most important is elbows up, not the finger position in the catch. If you lack flexibility, there are alternative catching grips you can use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kOJyL.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-08-01T19:50:53.660" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13421" CreationDate="2013-08-01T21:09:45.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When switching to power cleans and/or front squats for the first time you will start to notice that many areas of your body are not very flexible. This will adjust over time, however I would recommend that you do supplementary stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a big fan of Glenn Pendlay's videos when it comes to Olympic lifting, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.californiastrength.com/videos/daily-training-videos/viewvideo/52/cal-strength-exercises/flexibility-exercises-for-the-upper-body-in-olympic-weightlifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; is most appropriate for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastEditorUserId="6240" LastEditDate="2013-08-02T17:23:35.173" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T17:23:35.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13461" CreationDate="2013-08-01T23:52:59.077" Score="17" ViewCount="2264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift, but most of my friends don't. What should I have them do when they (finally!) decide to try coming to the gym with me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friends are not fit, but also not obese or possessing gross injury. Let's assume this composite &quot;ideal friend&quot; will actually do the workouts for at least a month, and that their goal is health and general fitness. They cannot perform a pull-up but are generally capable of running a mile or two and deadlifting at least seventy five pounds with excellent form. My goal is not injuring them and showing them a path to consistent results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to specify exactly what equipment they need to acquire, whether it be a gym membership, barbell, kettlebell, set of dumbbells, TRX gear, pull-up bar, or enormously elaborate Rube Goldberg system of pulleys attached to farm animals which one lifts in a prescribed order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T12:39:58.450" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T12:39:58.450" Title="What novice program should I recommend to my unfit friends?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;&lt;novice&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13425" CreationDate="2013-08-02T01:11:35.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From experience, I've personally been in both situations and this really depends on the person. Several factors may cause them to come up with an arguement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on which age, &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; may be more discouraged to start as they get older. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both male / female friends might be &lt;em&gt;intimidated&lt;/em&gt; to start with a more experienced person     &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple jobs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kids&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work shifts (night &amp;amp; evening may cause more problems)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cost&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prices of gyms, trainers, programs, supplements, nutrition may intimidate them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Before training (age 18)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a scrawny 18 year old. My friends were for the most part, the same age as me. It was very intimidating for me to start training (being very weak) with my best buddies who have been working out for 2 years and getting a nice physique as well as strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was very hard for my ego, this can be different for each person. Of course, when I did start, they were very helpful (as anyone would be) and added just the right amount of teasing to push me harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important note:&lt;/strong&gt; I started seriously when I was out there to prove to &lt;strong&gt;myself&lt;/strong&gt; what I could acheive and not to my friends. This is often the cause for people quitting working out.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Now&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I encourage everyone I can &lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; they have the will power. This is a key factor because not everyone will start with the same motivation. You almost can't make someone start at the same level of intensity as you (unless they have a huge ego). Many people will be discouraged before they even start to see results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For added motivation, I suggest everyone I know to take progress pictures so that they can really see their achievement. This helps them stay motivated and push even harder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What I suggest&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people should start with something simple, easy &amp;amp; fun. A program which consists of three sets of 8 repetitions per exercise with nothing really particular (no drop sets, supersets, varying tempos, etc). The time of completion for the workout should not exceed 1 hour for the first 3-4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A three day split program will ease people into training. It will only take 3 days of their week as well as an average of 1 hour per training. 3 hours per week is easy to manage for a lot of people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3 day split&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat / Incline machine press, pushups, machine fly, machine shoulder press, lateral raises, cable pushdowns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2: Back, Traps, Biceps&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machine lateral pulldowns, machine row, barbell shrug, machine curl, barbell curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3: Legs, calves&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press, leg extension, leg curls, lunges, bodyweight squats, standing calf raises, seated calf raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest beginners to start with machines so that they get the sense of isolating the muscle when forcing. Doing so will help prevent injuries when moving to something more advanced such as barbells and dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As time goes and if they're still keen at working out - suggest to make it harder, more intense and slightly longer / more often. Eventually, start talking about nutrition to help them get even healthier, faster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastEditorUserId="6050" LastEditDate="2013-08-02T05:31:44.667" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T05:31:44.667" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13425" CreationDate="2013-08-02T04:34:40.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;My Program!&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Squat/push/pull/hinge/sweat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, I've instituted a basic powerlifting-based strength-training template for my friends (mostly women). (I watered it down from the novice program I was given by a friend.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They lift with me, using my barbell, squat rack, pull-up bar, and rings. I strongly encourage them to keep a workout notebook, and have found that compliance with this step is intimately correlated with long-term compliance and success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run a half mile to warm up. If this is contraindicated, they warm up with something they can safely do that will make them sweat after five minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roll out the joints with arm circles and leg swings, perhaps with some sun salutations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat, starting with unweighted (air) squats, progressing to goblet squats using light dumbbells, then (mercifully, they report) onto the barbell once they can complete 3 sets of 5 goblet squats with the 50 pound kettlebell. This can take one session or some months, depending on the novice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups, as many as I can cajole them into, often using &quot;lazy push-ups&quot; (which don't require a straight back and allow resting at the bottom) and plank work. Once these are mastered, dips, Hindu push-ups, and overhead press await, depending on their goals and whims. The infirm use wall push-ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts, usually starting at sixty to ninety pounds for one set of five heavy reps. If they lack flexibility, we do partial or Romanian deadlifts with a greater number of reps--say, 8 or 12. The infirm do partial deadlifts using a dumbbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups, with copious use of negatives and holds at the top and bottom, and a lot of volume: 3 sets of 10 or to failure-with-good-form. If they have access to a gym, an assisted pull-up machine or lat pull-down is acceptable. The lat pull-down machine is also the best option for the infirm. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, I recommend a short high-intensity cardio finisher. This may require splitting the workout into an A and B (squat/pull-ups and deadlift/push-ups is best) to save time. My friends have not done well with this--it seems that they'd prefer to lift &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; run, but not both in the same workout. They also seem to despise sprints, preferring long slow distance cardio.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they want to work out and don't have much time or don't want to lift without supervision, they run a couple miles instead of lifting. If they've been running somewhat regularly, I encourage them to run sprints after a half- to full-mile warm-up. Most of these friends will train more haphazardly than I, and generally will pepper their life with walks, hikes ranging a half hour to six hours, and yoga. I consider this well-rounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;But I don't have a barbell and (fill in the reason not to get one)&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the absence of basic equipment, friends have jury-rigged a couple gallon jugs and scrounged up 25 pound dumbbells to add at least some resistance to their squats. They run, they squat, they do push-ups, maybe they do a clean-and-press, they leave the rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found a bodyweight deadlift to be the most common first milestone. I use this to get them addicted to the unlimited potential for goal-setting in barbell work. Other near-term goals include a bodyweight squat (often somewhat intimidating for non-athletes) and, with much fanfare, their first full-range-of-motion pull-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Other programs&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Robb Wolf's workout progression in his book The Paleo Solution and Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint Fitness ebook are fine choices for someone looking for an easy, low-equipment progression into working out. They both strike a balance between strength training, low-intensity cardio, and high-power intervals, and meet people where they are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Paleo Solution's approach is essentially a circuit that starts with a walk (or run) before a collection of bodyweight-progressing-to-dumbbell exercises that are scaled to one's capabilities. Push-ups are started against a wall if necessary, air squats are partial if necessary, and so on. It's a fine program, though the description is a bit disjointed and it's not a fitness book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Primal Blueprint's philosophy is, in decreasing order of suggested serving sizes: &quot;Move Frequently At A Slow Pace. Lift Heavy Things. Sprint.&quot; So hiking, biking, and walking are alongside a strength routine and weekly sprints. The strength training is designed around four essential movements: the squat, the push-up, the plank, and the pull-up. The author discusses multiple options and progressions for each. For advanced devotees, circuit workouts (e.g. four sets of lunges, pull-ups, throw the weight, dips) are recommended in place of (not in addition to) the strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When someone is looking for a book to read on their own--or a guru to heed the advice of, as dangerous as that approach is--I recommend those two, or if they're athletic, Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore's Starting Strength. If their goal is (male) bodybuilding, I've heard enough good things about the Greyskull LP to point them in that direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-02T21:14:55.647" LastActivityDate="2013-10-02T21:14:55.647" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13425" CreationDate="2013-08-02T04:49:36.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you need to figure out how motivated the friends are.  There is a difference between some friends going to the gym because that is their yearly resolution and another if they really want to start up a weight program.  This will help you gauge the intensity level you can have during your workouts (after the first few weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would shoot for 3 day-split if you can.  Two days leads to them never getting serious about it or in to it.  4 days is a major commitment for a newbie.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to understand that your friends are looking for a lot of guidance from you.  For the first few weeks you are more personal trainer than workout buddy.  If you just try to help them during your workout they will be lost.  Also this isn't time for you to use 5x the weight they do - think of these sessions as a warm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1 - Monday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Bench 3-4 light sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Curls 3-4 light sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as many other chest and bicep movements you can fit in to bring you to 30-40 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2 - Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T-bar row 3-4 light sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skull Crushers 3 light sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try some row variations, dumbbell push press, pull-up machine, tricep pulldowns - again 30-40 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3 - Friday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 4 light sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs - very dependent on what your gym offers - assisted crunches and reverse crunches would be good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try leg extensions, light lunges, very very light good mornings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The splits are what I give a newbie who isn't gung-ho on powerlifting or strength training.  It keeps you from doubling up on your fixator muscles.  You do two major movements every day.  The rest of the day you jump from exercise to exercise for 2 sets.  You need to make sure they are using very very low weights and try to keep them off machines.  Focus more about the speed of the workout not pumping weight.  Also by starting very low the first week - they should never come close to failure - you are ensuring that you can go up in weight a tad for the major movements week 2, 3, 4...  If they get too sore they aren't coming back.  Don't let them try to figure out their max.  They will be disappointed and then sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your main focus is to first get them to like squatting, benching, pull-ups/major row movement.  They need to do the staples.  You need to stress this with them in a nice way.  I recommended hitting a bunch of different lifts after the major movements for 2 sets for 2 reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can show them how to do things right.  Make sure there is little to no weight and perfect form.  Once they are comfortable doing something right they will use those as their staple lifts.  I saw my college roommate 3 months ago and he says he still has the same workout that I gave him our sophomore year!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can gauge a potential work-out plan for them once they hit week 5 or 6.   Some people love certain lifts, some people hate doing things they feel they are not good at, hell some people just don't like the position of a lift or feel they look stupid.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I recommend some very light cardio after.  Go out for a jog, elliptical machine, bike... no treadmills unless your friends are runners and no stair steppers or similar machines.  15-20 mins of light cardio will help the lactic acid build-up they are about to experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-02T09:04:30.690" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T09:04:30.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2013-08-02T05:16:39.230" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are a serious runner this is a big deal.  Don't let others tell you that it is what it is.  You are adding extra tension and wear on your hamstrings and groin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From past experience the splay is due to tight hips, gait issues, or a muscle imbalance.  Often I would see the &quot;splay&quot; get worse as a runner tired.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest a few things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on stretching your hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your shoes fit right for your feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus more while you are training.  The fact that you know you splay your feet should be an advantage.  Can you run a mile without doing it if that is what you are focusing on?  I often saw people's form go out the window when they were tired.  No matter how you feel, doing this is making it worse not better.  Do not accept that your body is less efficient than another person's.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are still having issues try doing some sprint work to focus on form.  Tape yourself and figure out what is causing the splay.  I know it is just one picture but I noticed your arms were out wide causing a slight rotation - does that help the splay (or does the splay cause the arm rotation)??&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know that if you were just 3% more efficient you would be at a 40min 10k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6387" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T05:16:39.230" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13425" CreationDate="2013-08-02T07:03:00.757" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may sound like advice applicable only to children, but frankly, that's not the case...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make it fun&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people, starting a training schedule is a tough decision - they put on a Rambo-style bandana and grind their teeth while thinking &quot;this is pain but I will do this!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We both know such an attitude wont let them stick to their training plan. Instead, you could start off with any kind of activity that could be fun for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had some friends that never-ever would have gone with me to the gym. But I asked one to go with me and play some squash. The other got hooked on indoor rockclimbing. The third one seemed to enjoy our trips to the swimming pool. Now they actively ask me to join them! Some of them started running with me - and they are enjoyibng it! If I said in the beginning &quot;come running with me&quot; Id get a &quot;hell no!&quot; answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, it starts with making it so that they &lt;strong&gt;want&lt;/strong&gt; to be active. If you can achieve that, the hard work is done. If they want it, they usually find the time and the motivation. If exercising is a chore, then they wont get too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had several attempts at getting fit earlier, and all of them failed, when I was trying to get to a weightlifting or running training plan right off the bat. But I found some fun activities, played some squash, climbed, tried some fencing... And once I got the feeling that getting tired can be kinda fun and helps me regenerate after a day at the desk at work much better than sitting in front of my computer at home, starting to run with my friend every other or third day became a lot easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sum it up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my humble opinion, if the goal is general fitness and health, there is no need for a specific program. Just find an activity that you all enjoy and start doing that, more and more frequently and regularly. Motivation and having fun is crucial to sticking to any form of physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T07:03:00.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13425" CreationDate="2013-08-02T16:14:12.270" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the goal is &quot;health and general fitness&quot;, I recommend a strength-primary approach centered around compound barbell lifts. I assume access to a gym with a squat rack and a flat bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why Strength?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because out of the 10 aspects of fitness (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy), strength training through full ranges of motion will improve 9 of them, and the remaining (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance) can be improve rather quickly when needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength is about making long-term structural changes to your body, so you can't wait until you need it to start developing it. It should be happening now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why Barbells?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Infinitely scalable loads&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows the maximum weight to be lifted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training using a small number of movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Movements that have clearly defined and reproducible ranges of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The program&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The performance goal: lift more than last time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program comprises squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, power cleans, and pull-ups/chin-ups. This exercise selection hits the largest amount of muscle with the fewest amount of exercises. The exercises all have well-defined, repeatable ranges of motion so that progress can be measured accurately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workouts happen three times a week with at least a full off-day between workouts. This is because as a novice, a single day of rest is all that is needed in order to come back and be able to lift more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progression is linear. Each workout after the learning phase, your friend will be adding weight to the bar they were successful in the previous workout of that exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Phase 1: Learning phase&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people will require a learning phase at the start. This may be a single workout with an experienced coach, or this may be several workouts that include form-check videos in order to get feedback from friends or community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the learning phase, for each lift, practice the correct form in sets of 5 or less with the empty bar (or add a bit of weight to it if it's too easy). Your friend should be able to do many reps at the chosen weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For very detrained individuals, they will have difficulty controlling the bar through the standard range of motion for the press and bench press. You can use barbells that are below the standard weight. Many gyms have fixed-weight barbells with weights as low as 20lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a friend that cannot squat through the full range of motion with even an empty bar, they should start with linear progression on the leg press machine until they are able to squat with the empty bar. It won't be long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Towards the end of the learning phase, establish starting weights for each lift by adding 5-10 lbs at a time and trying a set of 5. As long as form is not breaking down and the lift remains relatively effortless, keep adding 5-10 lbs to the bar. As soon as it is hard to maintain form, or if the lift slows down due to the effort required, that will be the starting weight for that lift going forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Phase 2: Establishing the deadlift&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout A is squats, bench press, and deadlift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout B is squats, overhead press, and deadlift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Phase 3: Progress until plateau&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the deadlift is established firmly ahead of the squat, introduce the power clean, and deadlift less frequently. At this point in time, pull-ups and chin-ups should be added to the program to help support the presses (these can be added earlier if needed or desired).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout A is squats, bench press, and power clean.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout B is squats, overhead press, and deadlift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout C is workout A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout D is squats, overhead press, and pull-ups/chin-ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Cardio&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your friend would be more motivated by including some cardio work in the program, you can replace one of the three workouts per week with high intensity interval training. If they have a lot of motivation and natural work capacity, you could even just add a HIIT day during the 2-day rest that happens each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Anecdotal results&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've introduced 11 of my friends to this workout and only one of them stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-02T17:13:41.733" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T17:13:41.733" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-02T17:11:29.343" Score="5" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read Starting Strength, Practical Programming, various Dan John and Pavel Tsatsouline titles, and Tom Kurz' Science of Sports Training. With the exception of that last title, all the strength and conditioning books I find are oriented towards someone with that as their primary focus. The target audience seems to be off-season sports players or amateurs just looking to lift and run. In contrast, I'm looking for material on how to integrate sports training with lifting and other supplemental work. This is difficult because most programs are designed for someone to devote themselves to it full-time, to the exclusion of other activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best book or blog that addresses how to develop a strength and conditioning program &lt;em&gt;specifically&lt;/em&gt; for someone simultaneously engaged in sports several times a week? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T18:11:49.173" Title="What book(s) cover supplemental strength and conditioning for an amateur sportsman?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13039" CreationDate="2013-08-02T19:23:08.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sure that you are aware that your testosterone levels can go down due to sleep deprivation.   Also most bodies naturally try to store fat.  So gaining weight should be easy, but it might not be lean weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your lifting done in 30-35 mins or less each day.  Your body is already tired.  No use making it over-fatigued.  Anything you are doing after this is not helping you gain muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each day start with a core movement - for a good amount of weight.  At the same time try to be done with the core movement in 10-15 mins.  Being fatigued you may only have 10-20 mins of good lifting time.  Use that for squats/deadlifts, pullups, bench, curls/skullcrushers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After doing the core movement I would then go to the auxiliary lifts with speed not weight in mind.  Get your body shocked during the core lift(s).  Afterward you should be lifting almost non-stop.  You can try supersetting 2-3 lifts in rotation.  Key being form and intensity - not weight.  The reasoning behind this is that you need to fight your body's natural attempt to put on fat.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try working out in the morning.  Even one day a week.  You can probably more efficiently get to sleep at night if you workout in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4-day split (legs, back, arms, chest).  I would also do a few mins of core/ab work daily - fight the fat gain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep as much as possible on weekends.  I worked night shift at one time and averaged 5-6 hours a day of sleep during the week.  Weekends I would grab 12 each day and I was fine.  If I missed the 24 hours of weekend sleep I felt it within a week or two.  Your body can recover with extra sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink more water.  200 ounces of fluids a day.  You are much more prone to pulling a muscle when fatigued or distracted.  Don't let dehydration factor into that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See if you can switch one or two of your workouts to the weekend.  If you only had 2 days of low sleep that is optimal.  Even switching 1 would be a big help.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light cardio.  You are sleeping less so more prone to lactic acid build up.  Start a light cardio routine 15-20 mins daily.  You are not training for a marathon here!  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(So total workout time is 45-55 mins x 4 days a week).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure on recommending squats (given that you feel they are most important - I do too) to Fridays.  You would have optimal time to sleep after but you would also be at your most sleep deprived on Friday night.  Personally I would do them on the weekend or Monday.  I want to be awake as possible when I have a lot of weight on my back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess to sum this up.  Do things to sleep more.  When you are at the gym quickly do heavy weights.  Use your gym time more efficiently.  When you are fatigued at the gym (after doing a core lift) do not lift heavy.  Incorporate some body-building theories into your routine given that your body will be more apt to put on fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-02T19:29:20.423" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T19:29:20.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13039" CreationDate="2013-08-02T19:44:16.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few articles (below) that correlate decreased sleep to higher appetite, weight gain and risk of diabetes. The latter two might have more to do with the correlated increased desire for high-carb foods, rather than the actual loss of sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/515387&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/515387&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792%2807%2900020-2/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792%2807%2900020-2/abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would say that the downsides of sleep loss are probably going to be offset by the increased appetite. Unlike a powerlifter or weightlifter, a bodybuilder doesn't need to be as mentally focused in the gym so the mental fatigue won't be a factor. And with a decent caloric surplus you should not be worried about muscle fatigue, as you are likely to be an amateur body builder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-02T19:44:16.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13445" CreationDate="2013-08-02T22:18:20.297" Score="3" ViewCount="2917" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a relatively long time now I have been doing Bill Star 5x5 type routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight ~85kg with max bench 130kg, squat 160kgx5 but deadlift is low, I sometimes got sharp pain in my lower back when going to anything heavier than 100kg or 120kg. Recently, I have slightly widened my stance and my hands go inside (like sumo) and the pain is no longer there and it seems easier for me to keep my back straight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get the impression that it should be at least as high as the squat from what I see most others doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My grip also loosens very easily and my forearms are relatively weak. At the moment I drop 140kg. I am trying to work out whether I can overcome this or if I have an injury which makes it hurt when I deadlift. What is a good method for increasing grip strength if that is the problem? Or could it just be that my lifts are not in a coventional proportion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6437" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T23:18:01.120" Title="Why do I have a deadlift deficiency?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13435" CreationDate="2013-08-03T03:48:57.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the problem is, but I'd bet you either have a significant injury or a significant form problem. You need a form check video. I'd make one for your squat, too, to see if everything's copacetic there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a 5x5 routine your squat and deadlift should be at least reasonably close to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T03:48:57.940" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-03T04:09:01.913" Score="0" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 13 and I am classified as Overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat healthy,mostly fruits and I always have vegetables with a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go for a 1 hour bike ride with my friends at a fast pace almost daily.I also play badminton&#xA;for an 1-2 hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im still growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However,when I check'd my weight recently,I weighed more,I had been doing the above things for about 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6439" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T04:37:42.580" LastActivityDate="2014-07-20T11:05:24.463" Title="How can I lose weight as a young teenager?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13437" CreationDate="2013-08-03T06:41:42.063" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is whats happening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm still growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are thirteen, and say you are classified as 'overweight', so I'll assume you are talking about your BMI and aren't considered 'obese'. Usually metrics like this are calibrated for adults, usually for males and are based on limit studies. BMI is useful at the population level and can be a useful metric in a limit set of individual cases. &lt;strong&gt;However, as a young teen, metrics like BMI will not be accurate for you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likely, you are going to get heavier simply because you are still growing. If you are concerned about your health or appearance, rather than try and lose &lt;em&gt;weight&lt;/em&gt;, try and have your body &quot;grow into that weight&quot;.  Focus on building positive habits that can help reduce your total body fat, without limiting the energy your body needs to continue growing. &lt;strong&gt;At 13, you are likely to continue growing in height, so focus on eating healthy and look at other metrics for your health and fitness.&lt;/strong&gt; For example, get a bicycle speedometer and track your bike rides, aiming for a better pace each session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consider doing some basic strength training that you enjoy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This depends on what equipment you might have access. Even a basic exercise routine like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodyweight squats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWPushup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;push-ups&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;abdominal planks&lt;/a&gt; will help build beneficial muscle in an untrained individual, and can be made more difficult in a number of ways by repositioning the arms or holding something as simple as a large book. Search on this site for some basic introductory strength or bodyweight routines and see if you find one you like. Track the number of reps and weight of exercises you do and aim to improve every week. &lt;strong&gt;Strength is important whether you're a young man or woman.&lt;/strong&gt; Weight training helps to build fat burning muscle, improves cardiovascular health, increases bone density (which is especially important for women in later life), and can help improves your energy and mental levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key however, is to find exercise you enjoy. While exercise can be tough, and it builds discipline having to work through that, you need to find exercise that works for you. Once you find a program stick with it for a few weeks to see if you adapt to it. For example, while you might not like doing push-ups on day one, or enjoy the muscle stiffness on day two, by week 3 you may begin to enjoy them or enjoy the changes they build in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating healthy needn't be difficult or expensive.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likely, your diet is most likely restricted by what foods your parents buy cook, but when you can:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Limit foods with added sugars and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12901/how-do-i-stop-drinking-soda&quot;&gt;stay away from soda&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aim for fresh whole foods that are high in fiber&lt;/strong&gt; - This includes vegetable and fruits, wholemeal grains and lean meats. At dinner aim for more vegetables and less meat. A playing card sized piece of meet will have the majority of the protein you need for a day. Healthy vegetables such as pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and leafy greens like cabbages and spinach are high in vitamins and fiber and low in calories. By loading up on these you will feel fuller for longer and give your body the nutrition it needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Limit your snacking&lt;/strong&gt; - Snacks foods available now days are often loaded with fats and sugars and promote over eating. While even a small handful of nuts is healthy, if you absent-mindedly eat them over the whole of a day they do add up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat sufficient protein&lt;/strong&gt; - This includes animal protein such as meat, eggs, and dairy; but also vegetable proteins from nuts, tofu, rice, wholemeal breads, beans and legumes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are concerned about what you are eating, keep a food diary, but don't overly stress about calories. &lt;strong&gt;You are young, and you have one awesome factor in your favour - puberty burns energy and builds muscle (in both men and women) in a way that will make the most seasoned runners, lifters, athletes and dieters jealous.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you might feel peer pressure about your weight, if you eat well and in healthy proportions you can help improve your health, reduce your body fat and improve your muscle mass without having to worry too much about your actual weight. Also remember, two weeks is a very short time, focus on long-term goals and habits. Learn to eat healthy now and you won't have to reverse these habit in the future when it is much, much harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T06:50:12.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13479" CreationDate="2013-08-03T12:10:21.263" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an area with small hills. How do I make the most of these hills when training for a trail race with much larger hills?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my &lt;a href=&quot;http://ridgewalk.com/walksruns/index.html#15mileJOMTR&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;favorite races&lt;/a&gt; is a 15-mile trail race with 3000+ ft (900+ m) total elevation climb. There are three big uphill segments, 1–3mi (1–5km) long, 500–800 ft (130–230m) climb with grades of 7–10+%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to improve my hill training in preparation for this year's race. The best two options I have in my area are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple hills with comparable or steeper grade, but much shorter: maybe 200 ft climb max. I can repeat these hills in quick succession. This trail is just a few minutes from my home and I can visit it several times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One large hill, 500 ft, but it is much steeper (15% grade) and more technical, it's a good challenge uphill but seems difficult to run back down it in a safe matter. I spend a lot of time walking on this hill. I can only make it to this trail occasionally&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are repeated climbs on a small hill comparable to a single climb up a larger hill, in terms of training for miles-long climbs in the race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T12:39:15.733" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T15:43:13.003" Title="Training on small/medium hills for a trail race with large hills" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13440" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-08-03T12:13:56.593" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-08-03T12:13:56.593" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T12:13:56.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13441" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-08-03T12:13:56.593" Score="0" Body="Questions discussing workouts, technique, or cross-training for specific running goals." OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2013-08-03T12:30:47.443" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T12:30:47.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2013-08-03T12:54:48.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After you get the two plates on either side which is easy you have the obstacle of the bar being heavier than 45 lb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have the plate in one hand and pull the bar up slightly slotting it through the hole. Then hold the end of the bar that has just came through the hole and pull upwards whilst slotting the plate on. You don't need to lift the whole thing too much but sometimes even a small upwards force can get rid of the resistance when putting the plates on. It is actually quite easy to lift just one side of the bar compared to deadlifting it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When unloading do something similar. Unload one side first, as the plates come off the bar they become easier to remove, I grab two at a time and jerk them a bit bearing in mind that the upward force neutralizes the friction. After one side is unloaded the other is easy because other bar touches the floor and the angle creates enough space for you to slide them off with no resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this is clear the rolling it on and off of weights idea is good. I think I have done it before but I prefer doing it this way it seems less fiddly and it works well for me so give it a try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6437" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T12:54:48.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13435" CreationDate="2013-08-03T13:36:57.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlift with less volume, a bit more frequently, and increment more slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're might be deadlifting with too much volume per workout (5x5). Deadlifts could be trained with less volume at the work weight. 1 set of 5 (after warm-up sets at lower weights). This will allow you to deadlift every 4 days, rather than once a week. However, as part of Bill Starr's 5x5, more volume once a week might not be the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weight jumps are too large. If you can easily deadlift 100kg one workout, your next workout should be only incrementing to 103kg or 105kg at most. Definitely not 120kg. Only add weight if you succeeded at your 1 set of 5 with perfect form on the previous workout. You should have never been trying 140kg, since 120kg was causing pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take this more gradual approach, your body will be able to adapt to the changes, getting strong enough to hold form correctly at 120kg, and eventually getting strong enough to grip 140kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, it might also be true that your proportions don't allow for as strong a deadlift. A form video is needed for us to check that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-03T16:51:13.847" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T16:51:13.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13435" CreationDate="2013-08-03T16:35:18.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the deadlift is the most difficult to do of the big three lifts, 90%  of people dead lifting in the gym use terrible form. To get deadlifts right you really have to keep your back straight and focus on the lift. For the grip problem I would say buy a pair of straps but don't bother using them until the set where you feel your grip slipping.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this being said your deadlift is unrealistically low compared to your bench and squat. Therefore there must be an injury or a serious form problem. If it really was an injury I would think that the squat would aggravate the same spot since they work out many of the same muscles and both put pressure on your lower back. As I said in my comment I'm going to assume that your problem is actually that you are not going deep enough to make the squat or bench difficult. When you do a full ATG squat you definitely feel it in your back after, I can't imagine that this wouldn't aggravate the same back injury as the deadlift.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't believe that your bench and squat form are the issue I suggest you see a doctor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squats are more helpful in increasing you deadlift because of where the load is balanced you may want to incorporate them into your routine. If they also hurt I would suggest you see a doctor. If they don't it's possible that your weak grip causes you to compromise form. Chalk may also help with your grip. I Also saw you said that the sumo didn't hurt is much, generally sumo dead's are easier on peoples backs but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; people lift less with them for the sake of your back it might be a good idea to stick with them. Also since your squats are low bar a squat higher than your deadlift wouldn't be to ridiculous but personally my bench  is about 62% of my deadlift and I do not consider myself a good deadlifter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2013-08-03T21:30:32.083" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T21:30:32.083" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13435" CreationDate="2013-08-03T23:18:01.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had back issues my whole life - mainly lower back.  When I was lifting heavy, squats and deadlifts threw me fits.  You getting close to about double your weight.  This is where it gets a bit tricky for some.  What surprises me is that you are not having the same back issues squatting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you need to take a step back here and think long-term not how much you will do in the next month or two.  If you keep getting hurt you are only prolonging truly getting better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some general tips - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't see the ceiling while deadlifting you could be dropping your shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not start the bar out too much in front of you.  Right on your shins to 1&quot;.  No further.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start working your abs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Probably most important - do Good Mornings 2x a week.  Very low weight at first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower your weight a lot.  Start doing sets of 8 - moderately easy sets.  Hold each rep at the top for 3 seconds.  On the last rep hold until you lose grip.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on rolling your hips quickly during you deadlift.  Deadlifting is a much more explosive lift than squat.  Know that if you are doing the lift slowly it is harder to roll your hips.  Especially if you are doing them slow with a low weight.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would generally suggest wearing a good belt only for your last set or two.  You still want your back to get a workout.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would not suggest wrist wraps at all.  Not being able to grip the bar is a bigger issue than you think and you need to get your body used to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think is happening is that your forearm strength/shoulder strength just isn't there yet.  This instability is causing you to hunch a bit a you try to use your back instead of shoulders for stability.  This is very common for younger deadlifters.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend a couple of months not getting hurt at all - lower back injuries can take forever to heal.  After a couple months start adding a couple of heavier sets of 2 and see how things feel.  (8-8-8-2-2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I followed this same advice/routine about 8 years ago.  Year later got squat up to 625lb and deadlift at 725lb.  Not trying to slow you down at all but without a foundation you are going to keep injuring yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-03T23:18:01.120" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-04T02:10:17.617" Score="2" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to start regular workouts in the gym and want to monitor my progress. Measuring body fat seems like a good starting point and I've already read about various methods to achieve that. I was wondering whether there is a point in measuring whole body fat when you have disproportionate body? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My case: I am a female with quite thin yet muscular upper body - narrow arms, protruding collar bone, strong back and flat belly. The lower body is also muscular but with a proper layer of fat especially around hips and thighs. By visual inspection the two parts clearly have different fat percentage (even when considering the fact that females should have some fat around hips). Is there a way to estimate body fat only for lower or upper body? Or maybe the whole body measure is sufficient? I am mainly interested in working on my lower body to achieve some balance and to monitor my progress I don't want to rely only on a mirror as the perception of my own body may change and I can get very critical at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5798" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T17:17:43.980" Title="Measuring body fat with uneven upper/lower body proportions" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13425" CreationDate="2013-08-04T09:43:54.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Beginners Fitness - as told by Alice and Bob&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Prelude: Wherein Bob decides he wants to get fit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scene: A workplace lunch-room. &lt;strong&gt;Alice&lt;/strong&gt;, an athlete, sits reading a book on &lt;em&gt;Frozznastics&lt;/em&gt; - a physically demanding sport that (coincidentally) requires all the skills and talents of the physical activity the reader enjoys, but requires none of the skills or movements the reader hates. Alice is educated on fitness and especially Frozznastics and it is plain to all that she works out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enter &lt;strong&gt;Bob&lt;/strong&gt;, the beginner, he is a little out-of-shape and hasn't really done much exercise since high school. He's had trouble with the yard work and his wife Carol (sweet as she is) has started commenting on his belly. He has just felt not quite right and he wants to change that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob walks over to Alice and says, &quot;Hi Alice, I want to get fit and I've noticed you eat healthy and talk about fitness a lot, perhaps you can help me?&quot;&#xA;Alice turns looks to Bob with a smile and replies...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Section 1: &quot;Why do you want to get fit?&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob looks confused by this question, so Alice continues, &quot;Fitness isn't an overnight change it can take months or even years to complete. So if you want to get fit, you need to have the right motivation otherwise you might just give up.&#xA;Now from the people I speak with at Frozznastics training, motivation for fitness comes in a few ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Health&lt;/strong&gt; - This can be as formal as a doctor has commenting on your weight or cholesterol, or as simple as you noticing you are having trouble getting up the stairs. But at some point you decided &lt;em&gt;you want to live a longer life&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ease of life&lt;/strong&gt; - Being fit can help in day to day life. This can be as small as having the strength to a water cooler in place at work or joining in games at picnics without getting out of breath. But you've decided that &lt;em&gt;you want to live a better quality life&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Life goals&lt;/strong&gt; - You've hit a milestone and realise half your bucket list remains unchecked - you've never run a marathon, lifted your own weight, done a pull-up, done 100 push-ups, walked the local mountain, or been on a winning Frozznastics team. But &lt;em&gt;you want to live a happier life&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vanity&lt;/strong&gt; - Try as we might to deny it, we are all a little bit vain. Perhaps you want to look better for your loved one, or look better so you can get a loved one! Or the healthiest and longest lasting motivater, you want to look better for yourself, but either way &lt;em&gt;you want to live a sexier life&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;Bob looked puzzled and said, &quot;haha, I'm not vain&quot;. Alice cut him off, &quot;Bob we are all vain, even me, some days when I have a hard day or things aren't great I will pause in front of the mirror, and be proud of the body I made for myself. Not all the time, but sometimes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Often its a mix of all 4 motivators that help us make the decision to get fit.&lt;/strong&gt; As long as you are honest to yourself and remember what motivates you fitness is easy! So Bob, what motivates you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob paused and stood silent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Well Bob, think about why you want to get fit, but until you can honestly tell me that you know how you want to improve over the next year, then I can't help.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob walked away deep in thought, and Alice went back to re-reading &quot;Starting Frozznastics&quot;. A few days later Bob came over and told Alice that he had an idea of where he wanted to be - able to work in the yard without losing his breath, lower his body fat like his doctor suggested, and yes... a little better looking both for himself, but also he knew how much it would please Carol and set a positive role model for their kids.&#xA;Alice smiled, proud of her new brotege (its French for protege). &quot;But Alice, I have no idea where to begin. I haven't exercised since high school and that was millions of push-ups...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Section 2: &quot;How do I get fit?&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I mean Frozznastics looks interesting, but I'm not sure that's my cup of tea.&quot;&#xA;&quot;Bob, remember how I told you that fitness is a long term activity, the truth is fitness is for life. We need to help you find &lt;em&gt;what you will enjoy doing&lt;/em&gt; so that it won't be hard to keep it going.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob was puzzled, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;But I thought all exercise was hard?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Well, yes, all good exercise is tough, but its all about finding the kind of toughness that you enjoy. Even when they know they are out of energy, a runner will love the next mile. Even when they know that the next kilo will make them so sore they won't be able to move tomorrow, a lifter will smile as the load the bar. If you find something you enjoy, even when you are sore and your lungs are burning, &lt;em&gt;you'll be happy with how much fitter and stronger it makes you on the inside as well as outside&lt;/em&gt;. Our challenge is to find out, are you a runner, lifter, swimmer, cyclist, gymnast, a crossfitter, a tough-mudder or even... a Frozznaut!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob sat slumped in his chair, &quot;That seems tough, I haven't even done half of any of those things, how am I supposed to know what I'll enjoy?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alice felt for her poor friend, before she started Frozznastics, she has well meaning friends drag her on 10km runs, and made her lift until her legs turned to jelly and one even took her to the pool so often she thought she was going to grow gills! Often experienced people forget, what they enjoy about fitness might not thrill others, thats why Alice wanted to help Bob find what he enjoyed, even if it wasn't Frozznastics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'll tell you what Bob. One thing I do know is that when you start to get really fit, its always good to take a break from your routine to relax and let your muscles recuperate. So I'll tell you what, I'll help build a routine that explores all the different things you might enjoy, that we can do together. This way I can go with you to the gym and show you the ropes, besides a change might be good to expand my horizons too!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ever fretful, Bob looked a little worried. &quot;That all sounds great but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Section 3: &quot;I'm a little intimidated by the gym&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I mean its full of fit people, especially away from the machines, near the bar -thingies. I mean all of the guys there are huge and strong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Of course every one at the gym is fit, that's because they go to the gym. If you went to a library, the people over in the non-fiction section are also probably well-read, but that shouldn't stop you checking out the books or asking for a good book to read.&lt;/strong&gt; Besides, everyone at the gym will  keep to themselves and are more focused on their own motivations than yours. So with that in mind, lets talk about what you are going to do. Now, you said you wanted to go 3 times a week, so I've put a little plan together that we can run through together.&quot; Alice slide a piece of paper over to Bob..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Section 4: Alice &amp;amp; Bob's simple fitness program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This plan is designed to cover a few different activities and give you a taste of many different exercises so you can learn about what you want to do next.&#xA;There are two main workouts, that we will alternate on the days we can go to the gym. We alternate because our muscles need time between workouts to recover. While recovery from endurance activities like jogging can be as short as overnight, if you start lifting heavy weights its most useful to have a few days between working the same muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each workout has a Cardiovascular (cardio) component and a strength component. The cardio work comes first as an exercise on its on right, but also serves as a warm up to the basic strength exercises that come after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardiovascular activity&lt;/strong&gt; helps stress the heart, and as you run or ride for longer this can help lower your resting heart rate and improve overall mobility and endurance during everyday activity. Contrary to popular believe, cardio doesn't have special fat-burning properties, but there are numerous other positive benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training&lt;/strong&gt; requires us to constantly increase the difficult of the work to see benefits, either by adding weight or changing the resistance through changes in angles or leverage. Strength training not only helps build muscle, but also can help improve bone density and flexibility. Strength training is also good for long term weight control as it causes more 'damage' to muscles which the body will repair using nutrients that may otherwise be stored as fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these exercises can be performed with dumbbells, but if you prefer barbells then you can use those instead. If possible perform all exercises in front of a mirror to see how your body moves and ensure you are performing the action correctly. Terminology: a rep or repetition is one full completion of a movement, up and down. A set is a number of repetitions. A barbell is a long, two-handed bar that can be loaded with weight and may be of a fixed weight, a dumbbell is a short, one-handed bar that is usually of fixed weight, but may be variable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Day 1:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt; : 15 mins jogging or jog/walk. This is a light jog that gets you used to running. Each workout aim for an improved pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet squats - 5 reps x 5 sets. Aim to for a weight that ensures good posture.  Hold a dumbbell to your chest and squat as low as you can. Keeping your head up will help keep your back upright to perform this movement in the safest manner. Squats help with balance and start building leg strength, but will also improve your flexibility in your quadriceps and hamstrings that will help if you choose to progress to a more advanced program that features back squats and deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press - 8 reps x 5 sets. Aim for a weight that is taxing but allows you to complete the required sets. These build the shoulders and help outside the gym when lifting weights safely overhead. Using dumbbells practices lifting unsteady objects, whereas it's easier to lift more weight with a barbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups - 8 reps x 5 sets. An old 'favourite', these build basic chest strength for pushing and don't require the setup of a barbell or the unsteadiness of dumbbells. How to do a good push-up: stand up, arms straight, hands by your side. Pull your arms out to about 45 degrees and then bend your elbow, so your hands are in line with, but just below your shoulders. Now face your palms forward and point your thumbs to the sky. That's a safe lowered position. We do these after the shoulder press, as that exercise leaves your chest fresh but exhausts your shoulders and triceps, forcing your chest to do more of the work in the push-up. Learning where to position your hands in a push-up will translate over to safely performing barbell bench presses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Day 2:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt; : 15 mins alternate cycling or and rowing machine. These are designed to introduce other cardiovascular activities. If you prefer on of these more than running, then swap the activities around and experiment with what you enjoy. Each workout aim for an improved pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight leg deadlift - 5 reps x 5 sets. Use a weight that allows you to keep your back straight. Stand up straight, holding the bar in your hands with your arms relaxed. Bend at the waist, but keep the back straight. Let the weight hang straight down, and lower as far as you can. Slowly lift yourself back to upright. You will feel tension in the hamstrings. Unlike the other lifts, keep your head in a neutral position facing forward, then as you lower keep your neck straight so at the bottom of the lift you are facing the floor. Deadlifts help improve your ability to safely lift an object when you need to bend to reach it, will help with your back and hamstring flexibility, and will strengthen your hamstrings in preparation of other other strength programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back rows - 8 reps x 5 sets. Place one arm on the wall or sturdy object, lean forward to about 45 degree, leave the other relaxed with a weight in hand. Using your upper back, pull the weight to your chest. After doing 8, switch hands. That's one set. These balance the pushing exercises and, because they're done unilaterally, give you practice bracing against rotation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curls - 8 reps x 5 sets. We all know what these look like. Hold a weight in a relaxed arm, bend your arm at the elbow and pose. These help make your arms look good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Day 3: (Optional)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above workouts will be fine for starters, but after a week or two on your non-workout days, start testing exploring other types of exercise. There is room for a 4th weight exercise on each day, look online and see what might be interesting to try. Additionally, explore other forms of physical activity such as team sports, rock-climbing, swimming or sprints. The goal here is to find exercise you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob finished reading the paper and starting thinking about how sore he'd be after his first workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two months later&lt;/strong&gt;: Alice and Bob started going to the gym, and as he predicted Bob was usually sore after his workouts, but keeping his motivation in mind he kept working at it and was out of breath less. But the exercises had started to become to easy, so Bob walked over to Alice and asked...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Section 4: &quot;Where to now?&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alice replied, &quot;What do you mean?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Well, I know that I'm not into Frozznastics, but I also know that this program is becoming too easy. What should I do now?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Well that all depends on what you enjoy. While I love it, Frozznastics isn't for everyone. This program is a very basic one that should improve your basic flexibility and functioning in day to day life. But if you are looking to challenge yourself you'll need something more and that all depends on what you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are interested in athletics or &lt;strong&gt;strength or power&lt;/strong&gt; training, a book like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; would offer a good program and introduction into the benefits of strength training for passionate amateurs or seasoned athletes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If &lt;strong&gt;running&lt;/strong&gt; is your forte, look into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0873229592&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lore of Running&lt;/a&gt;, a text book that covers the physiology, nutrition and programs for running distances from as little as 5km up to 100km.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are interested in the aesthetics of &lt;strong&gt;bodybuilding&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0684857219&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt; is one of best resources covering training and nutrition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you enjoyed cycling, swimming, gymnastics or other sports, research online for resources or communities that can point you in the direction of good books and programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;But Bob, remember, fitness is a multifaceted endeavour. Which ever road you go down, remember to occasionally incorporate different activities both strength and cardiovascular to ensure your body is fit for all purposes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-02T21:24:31.150" LastActivityDate="2013-10-02T21:24:31.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13449" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-04T11:35:33.850" Score="0" ViewCount="726" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bulging belly, and some jiggly thighs, but I weigh only 112lbs and am 5'5&quot;. My BMI varies between 18.5 and 19. I'm thirteen, so I'm not sure if you can help. My thigh circumference is 52cm and my waist is 71cm. What I want is a flat stomach and thin thighs. I recently ordered a circle glide cross trainer, and I want to know how long should I do it each day to get what I want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6443" LastActivityDate="2013-08-04T15:24:59.793" Title="I have flabby arms and legs, but I'm light. What's going on and what should I do?" Tags="&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2013-08-06T14:28:58.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13449" CreationDate="2013-08-04T15:24:59.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;People hold body fat in different proportions throughout their body. Weight is not a gauge of your aesthetics or overall level of fitness. Some body builders at your height weigh over 200 lbs but their body fat is incredibly low so they don't look fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to have a flat stomach and thin thighs, plain and simple you have to reduce your body fat percentage. You can't reduce body fat in one area and not others; the human body fat scales proportionally. This comes through consistent dieting for a long period of time and frequent exercise. The body's response to this is also different for each person. Some people can very easily loose body fat with minimal effort and some people have to work harder but it is never impossible. So in general don't get frustrated if you don't see results in three weeks. It usually takes about eight to really notice a significant difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reference to how long you have to exercise, that really depends on your health level and if it is even safe for you to engage in it. If you are in relatively average shape start with 30 minutes a day. Then as it gets easier through the weeks add more time or intensity (try working out harder). Keep changing your routine every few weeks (try running outside when you get bored of the machine or doing calisthenics if you can't get to a gym); your body will become accustomed to doing this type of exercise very quickly and your results will start to lag. Most importantly, challenge yourself. Your body won't change if it doesn't have a need to; create that need through your intensity and intervals of training. The main thing is diet, however. You can work out for 10 hours a day but if you aren't eating the right foods consistently every day, week after week then you won't see any change. Good Luck, Hope that helps and feel free to ask any questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6255" LastActivityDate="2013-08-04T15:24:59.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13410" CreationDate="2013-08-04T16:58:12.920" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on which supplement you are taking. If it is a nitric oxide supplement with green tea extract in it for instance, at least from personal and anecdotal evidence you tend to get less exhausted during your workout and as a result you can do more volume and/or greater intensity. That comes from the way the body breaks down Nitric Oxide. The caffeine keeps you alert and raises your heart rate. Note though that taking it for long periods of time does tend to reduce your level of intensity during your workouts (Again anecdotal, not true for everyone). Taking it after a workout may help your body circulate nutrients better but don't quote me on that, I'm not a doctor. I do however know that some pre-workouts come loaded with L-arginine and some other amino acids which help with recovery time. So if you want you could take a pre-workout afterward and you can see some benefit but the question is why would you do that when you can get a supplement designed specifically for that purpose and save your money?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reference to your green tea question, theoretically consuming green tea or  green tea supplement has numerous health benefits (Vitamin C, helps skin, high fluoride content for you bones, helps lower cholesterol, the list goes on for days) regardless of your timing, so its not unsafe to say it may assist in your recovery. Consuming it prior to your workout will yield the results I stated above, essentially a better quality workout because of the caffeine content but you don't have the added effects of the nitric oxide. Consuming it afterward would keep your metabolism up after your workout is ended but its negligible if you are doing any kind of cardiovascular training as studies show your metabolism stays in a higher state for hours after your workout anyway. So at that point you would be taking it for the nutritional value and to stay awake. So no matter what you are benefiting. Know that it does contain caffeine and like any drug/herb your body gets used to it and will require more for the same effect; in your case the pre-workout alertness feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as a difference between drinking a pre-workout versus regular green-tea, that is more of a personal preference. Taking a pre-workout consistently for a long period of time is not exactly great for your liver and kidneys depending on which brand you choose. You may also become dependent on it to get you through your daily gym routine which is also not good. Finally the affects tend to become less noticeable after extended periods of time. It is also more expensive than green-tea and does not have the same nutritional value. At least with green tea when your body adapts to consuming that level of caffeine you still benefit from the other nutrients in it. (That is not to say there are no nutrients in pre-workout supplements) Should you avoid a pre-workout completely? That is up to you but there is nothing wrong with keeping some around the house for days when you don't feel like training or you feel sluggish. Should you drink green-tea before and/or after? It is once again personal preference and there are numerous health benefits so it can't hurt your recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in summary, get both if you want. Drink your natural green tea every day (before and after is fine as long as you don't have heart problems) and keep some pre-workout around for those days when you feel lazy. Try not to take the pre-workout every day though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, sorry it was so long but you asked a very multifaceted question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6255" LastActivityDate="2013-08-04T16:58:12.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-04T17:11:30.043" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not afraid of water or cold, but very sensitive to cold water, especially on my belly, waist and back. When other people claim the water's warm, I have difficulties to breathe. Can I do anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6447" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-04T18:06:34.857" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T14:54:25.067" Title="How can you get your belly to be less sensitive to cold water swimming etc?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13183" CreationDate="2013-08-04T21:04:04.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Wikipedia DOMS article  it is called &quot;Repeated-bout effect&quot; - or rather this is the &quot;opposite&quot; viewpoint - that there is less DOMS when you do something regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also states that just one session is enough to reduce DOMS significantly in the following session - and the first session can be quite light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness#Repeated-bout_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness#Repeated-bout_effect&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2013-08-04T21:04:04.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-04T23:46:13.410" Score="6" ViewCount="1859" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an avid runner but I also train BJJ and so I want to have good endurance and some explosive power without being bulky. Recently, my strength training has just consisted of bodyweight exercises (pull-ups, push-ups, planches etc.). I'm intending on also getting a 20kg kettlebell soon as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, slow twitch muscle fibers are the ones working when I'm doing an exercise that requires endurance and fast twitch muscle fibers are the ones working when I'm doing an exercise that requires explosive power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When I'm doing push-ups (or pull-ups), are they working my slow-twitch or fast-twitch?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If they use slow-twitch, I'm guessing plyometric/explosive/clap push-ups stimulate fast-twitch so should I do both to get power and endurance? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or does it depend on the rep range? Because for example, if I can do 20 explosive push-ups, will I no longer be able to develop my fast-twitch muscle fibres because the rep range is too high?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, I read that slow twitch muscles fibers aren't able to grow as much as fast-twitch muscles. When you gain endurance, do the slow twitch just get more efficient? Whereas fast twitch get better by getting bigger?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6448" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T02:54:44.117" Title="Developing both muscle fibres for endurance and explosiveness" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;plyometrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2013-08-05T00:08:15.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fast-twitch muscles are used and developed by moving fast. Regular push-ups can be done a little fast, but basically you want to do clapping or plyometric push-ups to really develop explosiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start doing 20 reps of push-ups, no matter what kind, those reps aren't going to be particularly explosive. If they are, they won't be challenging enough to really produce an optimal training stimulus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle endurance is different from activity-specific endurance. They're related, but your ability to roll longer and harder at BJJ is not the same as your ability to do 50 push-ups in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What You Should Do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already run and do BJJ, so there's &lt;em&gt;absolutely no reason&lt;/em&gt; to do more endurance work. To get more endurance and explosiveness you need to work on your weakness, which is probably strength and power. The &lt;strong&gt;Olympic lifts&lt;/strong&gt; and supporting programming would be a fantastic idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: you should learn the power clean, and see if you have the mobility to snatch. You should get access to an Olympic barbell that spins well, as well as to bumper plates and a lifting platform. You should deadlift and squat and do some push presses after developing some basic overhead strength with regular presses. Deadlifting is well-recommended for both running and general strength, and squats are one of the best ways to rapidly develop strength. The fast lifts, the clean and snatch, develop power better than any other exercise. Push presses are similarly excellent for training upper-body explosiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 20kg kettlebell will be okay for this purpose, but not really ideal. It won't be heavy enough to do squats or deadlifts that are really challenging. To get the most out of it (if you intend to stick with the kettlebell and not get a barbell), focus on cleans, snatches, presses and push presses, Turkish get-ups, and develop a pistol squat that's so good you can eventually add the kettlebell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T02:54:44.117" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T02:54:44.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12646" CreationDate="2013-08-05T03:29:43.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grant Grimes is the only person who I've seen discuss on the internet how to integrate the front lever into generalized training. His program has been posted many places across the net (&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=111530641&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for instance&lt;/a&gt;), but here's one excerpt that may have you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I did gymnastics movements first because I viewed them as a skill I wanted to improve. If you just want them for static strength, you should follow the traditional training hierarchy and put them last. I did a lot of static strength work, so gymnastics first never bothered me. However, I wouldn't recommend that a newbie tax his trunk with planches and front levers before doing heavy squats and deads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So he's saying the front lever involves the back, that it's a static strength exercise rather than a push or a pull, and that it should be done last if you are doing it for strength rather than skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T03:29:43.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12646" CreationDate="2013-08-05T04:21:55.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could do a front lever when I was 20-22 years old.  Haven't tried but I don't think I have a chance now.  I find that it is a tendon/balancing exercise.  One of the great things about it is that it really picks on your least acclimated body part.  It shows you where you need to work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practicing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a partner who will take some body weight off of you while doing this.  Make sure your palms are pointing at your feet.  This is a key to the front lever and is almost counter-intuitive to what you might do your first time - hang and stick your legs out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do sets in the front tuck.  Also note that I would do these on push days.  If you do these on pull days your forearms will be shot and your form will suffer.  I can't see trying to do a front lever after a good pull workout and doing it before could hurt your workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you get very comfortable with holding the front tuck then progress to push outs.  You will simply just push your knees out of the front tuck towards the front lever in very small increments and hold.  Maybe an inch every week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I had trouble holding on to the rings - I was swaying so much it wasn't possible - I was told to try it on a bar first which is easier.  I used a bar on a squat rack to practice.  This does help build up triceps and forearms. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice, practice, practice.  The only reason I could do a front lever easy is because I wanted to date the hot gymnast I was working out with.  So I did tons of sets.  And I hate to break it to you but it is probably your shoulders not triceps. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups - palms out.  Weighted would be better.  Do them nice and slow too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted Rows - just reverse bench.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell raises.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skull Crushers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good mornings and ab work for core.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when asking how to do front levers by lifting it is kind of like asking how to lift to dunk a basketball.  You can get marginally better at the front lever by lifting but if you do lever exercises more you will get to it much faster.  And at the time I was in peak shape and it took about 2.5 months of practicing it 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T05:00:38.563" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T05:00:38.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14044" CreationDate="2013-08-05T08:13:58.717" Score="4" ViewCount="1856" Body="&lt;p&gt;With bodyweight inverted row, or body row, I mean hanging by my arms from somthing, the feet on the ground, the body more or less horizontal (head higher), and pulling myself up between my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep my elbows close to my body, pointing towards the feet, mostly because it feels easier to stress both sides symetrically that way. When rowing a boat, your elbows point more outward, same for pulling machines in the gym. I don't know about the equivalent free-weight exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it really matter where the elbows point?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the best position, specifically for body rows, and why?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit to add: My hands are slightly wider than shoulders width apart, palms pointing inwards or to my feet (depending on wherre I do the exercise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-24T01:19:02.703" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T18:04:23.270" Title="Bodyweight inverted row - where do the elbows go?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2013-08-05T08:51:16.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Locker rooms are a comfortable space for most men, and a terrifying space for some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in the latter category, don't use the locker room or use it but don't shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is as long as you don't stare it is hard to violate any sacred rules, because there are none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having showered in dozens of different locker rooms, layouts vary.  Regardless of shower type (stalls or open), the basic procedure is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You put your street gear in the locker and go work out.  When you are dine you return to the locker and get naked, stowing your sweaty gym gear in your gym bag/back pack.  I have showered in gyms 4 to 7 days a week for more than ten years and owing to work travel I go to lots of gyms.  I have seen lots of guys skip the shower but I have never seen one  put on a swim suit to shower in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are stripped, most guys put the towel around their waist as they walk to the shower area.  Others kinda just hold it in front of them.  Some hold the towel at their side or put it over the shoulder.  There is no rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get to the shower area, there are usually hooks in an area near the stalls, right outside the communal shower room or sometimes in the shower room on the wall opposite the shower heads.  A few places have hooks inside the oversized shower stalls.  You just look around and put your towel where others put it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the shower there are no special rules except no staring.  No staring doesn't mean you can't look at people.  You should look your shower mates in the eye, however.  If it is an open shower you shoul pick am open shower head as far distant from the other users as possible.  This gives others space, but it is not an inviolable rule,  One guy at my gym for some reason apparently needs to use the same shower head, and if the shower is empty except for me, upon entering he will take the head right next to mine if it is the one he likes.  I figured this out at some point and if I see him in the gym and expect our showers will overlap, I go to a head on the otherside of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can and should bring your own shampoo or body wash.  Very few bring in bar soap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trip back to the locker is the same as the trip into the showers.  If you want, you can shave, etc.  Some guys do this in a towel.  Some do it in underwear only.  Some do it in pants but no shirt.  Some do it fully clothed.  A few guys like to do it naked.  It is a choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6454" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T08:51:16.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13425" CreationDate="2013-08-05T13:28:48.483" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing with getting people started lifting is to help them to like lifting.  The worst thing you can do is to overwhelm them with details.  The dirty little secret for newbies is they can do just about anything and make some relatively quick increases (with few exceptions).  That means it matter less what they do and more that they do something consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real answer to your question depends on where they want to go with the training.  Are they wanting to look better, get better at sports, or just be strong?  The basics of the beginning program will probably be the same, but when they know how it is going to relate to their end goal they can be more motivated.  The most effective approach is that you train them.  Giving them a program and saying &quot;here do this&quot; is the least effective way to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1: Assess and Plan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step is to find out where they are.  The things you need to find out are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What exercises will they need: while most sports benefit from some sort of pressing, squats, and deadlifts is that all they will need?  What kind of pressing will be most beneficial?  A cheerleader would benefit more from overhead work, and foot ball players may benefit more from an incline press.  Also, if they need explosiveness then keep in mind Oly style lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they have the mobility they need to perform the exercises in the menu?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they have the coordination to do them well enough?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just how much training is needed until they get it right?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How strong are they now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2: Prep Work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where you give them some basic homework to build strength while you work on technique and mobility for the main program.  This might not be a necessary step depending on their level of fitness, but I'm including it just in case they might need it.  At this stage you are giving them work just about everyone should be able to accomplish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press and Leg Curls (yes, a machine) or goblet squats if possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline press (least technical press movement that has carry over to overhead and bench variations)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable, chest supported, or dumbbell row (they are supported and this complements the press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would be the foundation during this stage.  In addition to those basic movements you would have them doing other supplementary exercises to fix alignment and increase their mobility to the point where they can learn the proper squat, press, and pull routine they will use later on.  When they can leg press their body weight, they should move on to goblet squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rep ranges can be higher.  3x10 isn't a bad place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2: Basics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where you introduce them to the beginner routine they are going to use.  You have two options: train them yourself, or hand them over to a prepackaged program.  Good possibilities are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greyskull LP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Madcow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your own custom program&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program with the least amount of work explanation and provides a good base of strength to pursue other things later on would be Starting Strength.  Why Starting Strength?  Because the book provides the best explanation and trouble shooting for the all the lifts it has you perform I've seen yet.  Why not Strong Lifts?  Mainly because the misinformation and leaps of logic that the proponent of Strong Lifts has is much more egregious than most things I've seen.  The program itself is a good one.  The exercises in each of the options listed above all work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm training my daughter on a program I made up.  It has all the basics that she needs both for cheer-leading and for the power lifting competition she'll be doing with me later this year.  This option works because I've already tested out the principles and I'm actively coaching her.  If you are actively coaching, a custom program works.  Honestly, this is the best approach as you can balance the load of strength training with the sports they are actively involved in.  Out of the box Starting Strength isn't a great choice for someone who is in two other sports simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just introducing them to strength training, Starting Strength will probably be the best bet as they can also get a lot of help from the forums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3: Graduation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they stick past the basics program and exhaust the beginner gains, they won't need as much hands on training.  Just give them guidance on where to go next.  If they want to look good, point them towards body building routines.  If they want to get better at sports, help them to think about how to balance the needs of sport specific training with strength training.  If they just want to get strong and compete in strength sports, then introduce them to programs that will help them continue getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T13:28:48.483" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13452" CreationDate="2013-08-05T14:54:25.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a problem with 'not so warm' water myself, although it isn't as extreme as yours.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What I do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take a cold shower right before going into the water. This will get your body used to the temperature and make the water you are going to swim in appear warmer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take cold showers while showering. I do this from time to time to get myself used to colder water. Start showering warm and reduce the temperature. Turn the temperature up again and repeat. Whether you reduce the temperature gradually or by abrupt comes down to what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T14:54:25.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13935" CreationDate="2013-08-05T15:33:19.040" Score="2" ViewCount="4546" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I want to achieve a slim-athletic physique through only doing body-weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, after you do more than 12-15ish reps of an exercise per set, you're no longer utilising your fast-twitch muscle fibers which are the ones that are more capable of hypertrophy and so you'll mainly be developing endurance with little strength/size improvement (slow-twitch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to reach the max amount of the following exercises that will stimulate all possible fast-twitch muscle growth by working out 3 times a week and then maintain it through training once a week (as I run and do BJJ too...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wide-grip Pull-ups: 5?x15&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Chin-ups: 5?x15&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Explosive push-ups: 5?x15&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Handstand push-ups: 5?x6 (due to smaller muscles, more challenging)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Jump squats: 5?x15&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Deadlift: 5?x12 (60kg barbell...)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Planches: 180 secs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then I'd do variations on these to hit the muscle groups in different places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, does this make sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, how many sets of &quot;up to 12 reps&quot; (using fast-twitch muscle) does it take before you cross over into endurance training? 3? 4? 5?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6458" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T19:56:24.780" Title="Bodyweight exercises to stimulate fast-twitch muscle growth" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-05T15:40:15.613" Score="7" ViewCount="14133" Body="&lt;p&gt;On days like today, when I've only had 5 or 6 hours of sleep, I often wonder if it would be healthier (in terms of recovery, performance, and so on) to skip my lunchtime workout and take an hour nap instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to skip my workout when I'm sleep deprived and nap instead?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If not, should I make any alterations to my routine (such as focus more on strength movements, reduce the amount of cardio, etc)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T17:28:39.610" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T12:56:22.633" Title="Is it better to take a nap or work out?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13464" CreationDate="2013-08-05T16:41:30.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you aren't getting in shape by sleeping.  Yes sleep is crucial to a good fitness routine but sleep is not making you more fit.  Also 5-6 hours isn't terrible if it is just one night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have 4 workouts you do a week and you will move this workout to another day I say do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you will simply skip the workout, I wouldn't.  Since you are more apt to injure yourself while being tired, I would adjust my workout not skip it.  It also depends on where you are with your routine.  If you are concerned about strength, just go in and get the weight work done with a lot less reps per set than usual.  If strength isn't a concern then do your same workout with less weight, faster.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio...  No reason to skip it.  I would first make sure it is done after lifting.  Second, I might lay off the treadmill or running.  You are more apt to pull something being tired or distracted.  So try biking, elliptical, stair-stepper - things that won't stretch your legs/core as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will sleep tonight much better knowing that you reached your workout goals even when a little tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T22:32:56.437" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T22:32:56.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13464" CreationDate="2013-08-05T16:44:04.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like most things relating to strength training, it really depends on the person. I would say a good rule of thumb is to &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; skip a workout, regardless of physical/mental ailment. Often you will have to accommodate your physical/mental condition in your workout by decreasing the volume or intensity, but something relatively trivial as &quot;I'm tired&quot; isn't a great excuse. Save your skip days for days where it really counts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also depends on the goals you have for your training. If you workout to maintain a healthy body, than skipping a day isn't going to kill you. But if you plan to compete in your chosen sport than I would seriously advise adhering to the Never Skip A Workout Ever approach as it helps contribute to a winning attitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T16:44:04.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13467" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-05T18:18:11.893" Score="2" ViewCount="2192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some basic weights, dumbbells and a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always assumed there were 30mm and 50mm diameters for weights, but when I measured my dumbbells they appear to be 25mm and my barbell is 30mm. Could this be correct, are there some other measurement standards? Which size should I my barbell weights be? Are there any problems with 30mm barbell weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T20:25:21.460" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T10:50:46.107" Title="Are there Common Dumbbell and Barbell Diameters?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13470" CreationDate="2013-08-05T19:54:38.517" Score="3" ViewCount="13918" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I do front squats my knees hurt the next day. Well I shouldn't say hurt, but I certainly feel some discomfort in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that without a from check video it would be hard to say what is causing me this mild pain, but perhaps there are some common errors that people make that I should be more mindful of? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T20:34:11.420" Title="Why do front squats hurt my knees?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13469" CreationDate="2013-08-05T20:02:44.847" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There certainly is a common error people seem to be making based on what I have read in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/troubleshooting_the_front_squat&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improper sequencing. Front squats are deceiving because while it's a primarily knee-dominant movement pattern, you still want to initiate the movement from the hips first and push your butt back before breaking from the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's an almost simultaneous hip/knee break, but it's important that it happens in that order: first back, and then down. Breaking from the knees first will create excessive sheer forces on the knee – not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To help ingrain the idea of sitting back, it may be helpful to put a box behind you for a little while. This isn't your typical box squat where you try to keep a vertical tibia and pause on the box. Your form should mirror a regular front squat and the box just there as a reminder to initiate the movement from the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was the mistake I was making. Due to the fact that the front squat is primary a knee dominant movement I was initiating from the knees and not the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next time you're due to front squat, be mindful of this and make sure to initiate out of the hips just like you would in a back squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-05T20:31:04.847" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T20:31:04.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13469" CreationDate="2013-08-05T20:34:11.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Odds are your knees are not tracking out far enough.  You should be spreading your knees as wide as possible throughout the movement.  A perfect front squat is performed with the toes pointing straight forward.  If you don't have the flexibility to do that, it's okay to point your toes out a bit.  The further out your toes point, the worse it is on your knees.  A good range of motion test is to try doing a full squat (butt to ankles) with your feet together without falling backwards.  You should also be able to reach the same depth with your feet at shoulder width.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also be concerned about thoracic extension.  Hopefully you are performing this exercise with a clean grip rather than a folded-arm grip.  A zombie squat is also acceptable if you don't have the mobility to use a clean grip. This will help force your pelvis to remain level throughout the movement because you won't be tempted to compromise hip position by leaning forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T20:34:11.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1662" CreationDate="2013-08-05T20:35:02.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My &quot;cure&quot; for bursitis in my right hip as a runner in peak fitness was to stop running on land for a couple of weeks and instead &quot;run&quot; in the water.  I ran in deep water while wearing a flotation vest.  I started with ankle weights of little weight and slowly added weight with each workout.  I was amazed not only at the recovery from bursitis but also at making a personal record time on a particular hilly race event I had done in prior years.  The bursitis in the right hip returned in later years during intense training and is probably due in part to not having good alignment of the right leg/foot.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6459" LastActivityDate="2013-08-05T20:35:02.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13476" CreationDate="2013-08-05T20:45:50.637" Score="0" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bet with someone who can cycle just a little bit better than me. Our average is about 30 km/h for 75 km in a group. We always cycle together with some friends on Monday evenings (using Racing bicycles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, we have a bet to have a match the 2nd of September.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already have some improvements in mind, but I don't know which will improve my performance the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what is possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sport, half hour in the morning, an hour in the evening (perhaps 1,5 in the evening)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food improvement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No alcohol when going out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... For you to help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some random facts about me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going out on the weekend - mostly drink some when I don't drive, but I won't drink anything for the next month (or more).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't need a lot sleep, 4 hours is normally enough. I sleep 6 hours on  Saturday nights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't eat that healthy, but will improve that and I will eat more frequently and better the next month, to lose some weight also (currently at 92,5 kg for 178 cm).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I sport frequently (swim 2 km. crawl and cycling), Monday is always a cycling day, Tuesday is always a swimming day. The rest of the week it depends on the weather / friends / ... But for the next month, my friends are less important. It's the result that matters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Currently don't have a heart meter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The day of the &quot;bet&quot;, I could take start working a couple of hours sooner, so I could rest some time before the match.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Suggesting another sport for some days, is okay for me. I can buy a subscription to the gym, but I have some gear at my home. (Eg. dumbbells, sledge hammer and a tractor tire, stability ball, climbing rope, pull up bar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should I do in my training the next month, to optimize my results for a cycling &quot;match&quot; in about a month. The match itself will start in the evening (18:30) and after my work (I'm always a little tired at the beginning. I'm a programmer - so I sit the whole day).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already have a basic cycling &quot;fysique&quot;, I'm ready to do HIIT,... a lot to get my results optimized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2730" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T11:08:04.183" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T11:08:04.183" Title="How to get the best cycling results / improvements in 30 days?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1662" CreationDate="2013-08-06T00:07:58.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a half marathon runner and had this recently, this is what I have done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice packs for 10 minutes at a time, a few times a day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a good few weeks off running and racing in events. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See a good chiropractor (my hips and pelvis were out of alignment) each week for 4 weeks, then once a month till problem is gone completely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can still exercise to keep up strength and core strength, this is vital for recovery - lower intensity swimming, cycling, yoga and body balance classes, squats with no weights, abdominal work, weights for your upper body etc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foam roller twice a day for the tibial band covering the bursa to the knee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink extracted fruit / vegetable juice a few times a week with a big chunk of fresh ginger in the mix (ginger a good anti-inflammatory)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish oil capsules and glucosamine capsules also good for injury recovery and joint health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't take any painkillers, I don't want cortisone injections and at all costs want to avoid any expensive unnecessary scans.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest from running and taking things a little easier is the key as the problem will become much worse if you keep running on it and you will do more damage than its worth.  Icing the area is better than any pain killer and results almost instant in reducing inflammation and pain. I now see why top marathon runners do the &quot;ice bath&quot; after a race and heavy training to stop any injury in its tracks. I ended up with a winter bug in the midst of this so it was a good reason to totally rest for 10 days and let the area heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, GP's and unnecessary scans a waste of time and money unless the problem does not go away with what I suggested.  Then other nasties would need to be ruled out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6461" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T10:11:08.940" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T10:11:08.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-06T03:22:08.580" Score="2" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for alternatives to doing effective cardio running in the water.  Big plus if there are ways to get all of the same muscles to fire, to scale workouts easily, to be able to have an ultra intense workout, for options that someone with foot or knee issues could do, and a plus if it can be done in most &quot;larger&quot; pools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like an answer that does not rely on the runners feet ever touching something.  I would like some workout plan examples, equipment needed, progressions, and good insight in the answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Athlete with turf toe injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severely injured person recovering from spinal or leg injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T20:56:56.807" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T17:01:05.880" Title="How do you effectively train for running while in the water?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13473" CreationDate="2013-08-06T03:57:08.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JohnP mentioned in a comment, what you need is interval training. The simplest is all-out interals, which, if you haven't done them before, are fairly &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is pure interval training. Basically, you warm up for 10-15 minutes, and then do a series of all out efforts. Typically, something like 2 minutes as hard as you can go, rest for 5-10 minutes, and then go all out again. Repeat 5 times (actually, you repeat until you are no longer able to sustain the same effort). You need to be well-rested for this to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also work at the aerobic threshold, and there are lots of different ways of doing that. To do it properly, you need to figure out what your aerobic threshold is, which is done using a field test; a short (about 10-20 minutes depending on which approach you use) all-out effort in which you record your heart rate. After some calculation, you set training ranges and base it on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This obviously requires a heart-rate monitor to perform. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several good books that give the necessary approach. Friel has a good one, and I've recently used Carmichael's &quot;the time-crunched cyclist&quot; to good effect. If I were you, I would spend 3 weeks on one of the plans from the Carmichael book, taper/recover for a week, and go from there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T03:57:08.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13464" CreationDate="2013-08-06T12:56:22.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are talking about a nap for a whole 1 hour. Actually, this is not a true &lt;em&gt;nap&lt;/em&gt;. Nap is about 20 minutes long, depends on personal preferences but the rule is that you (better say your brain) should stay in &lt;em&gt;REM&lt;/em&gt; (Rapid Eye Movement) sleeping phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal point of view, the best solution for your situation is to have a 20 minutes nap and then 40 minutes hard workout.&#xA;This worked for me every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During afternoon hours one hour of sleeping can be total waste of your time. You will probably get up more &quot;damaged&quot; than you were before lying into the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tips: You should know how long you need to fall asleep. For me (afternoon, after work etc.) is about 5 minutes. So I go to the bed and set my timer to 25 minutes to make sure I will be sleeping no longer than 20 minutes and will not miss the end of my very first REM phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 2 cents :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T12:56:22.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13439" CreationDate="2013-08-06T19:56:29.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are repeated climbs on a small hill comparable to a single climb up a larger hill, in terms of training for miles-long climbs in the race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, not really, but so what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can visit the multiple hills several times a week then I would do that a lot. I would then add the one large hill as part of your long run(s) on the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hills are great strength training for runners so doing lots, and lots of different ones, is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T19:56:29.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7675" CreationDate="2013-08-06T21:31:20.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Continuing to switch plans constantly will not allow for optimal gains. Pick a program and stick with it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Eat more. If you have only gained a small amount in that time you are not eating enough to support optimal strength gain. You should, as a beginner, put on at least a pound or more per week and consuming proper amount of macro nutrients. This level of nutrition should be optimal for furthered strength and muscular gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both StrongLifts and the Rippetoe program are good starting programs that take a novices ability to quickly gain strength in a linear fashion and capitalize on it. Though 5/3/1 is also a food program it utilizes longer term periodization which is very slow for a beginner because in effect it is an advanced lifters program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay consistent, eat consistent, sleep well and lift heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6470" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-06T22:10:12.560" LastActivityDate="2013-08-06T22:10:12.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13039" CreationDate="2013-08-06T21:40:50.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me start off by saying that &lt;strong&gt;sleep is more important than working out&lt;/strong&gt;, and here is the why, the main thing we try to accomplish while sleeping is &quot;recovery&quot; and the most important thing you need after working out is &quot;recovery&quot; and obviously you can see that if the main thing you need is recovery but you are not getting recovery time the workouts wont do you any good since you wont be able to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But don't give I will try to give my best advice possible and I will go through question by question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to maximize my gains with restricted sleep? &#xA;Yes, but that's not only in the case of restricted sleep but as well when you get a full nights sleep go to the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sleepfoundation.org/primary-links/how-sleep-works&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; and see whether there is anything you modify in you sleep environment that will maximize your sleeping gains.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will going easier on myself in my training benefit me in this case because of reduced recovery time? Yes, less workouts means less recovery needed, although I should point out that even if you do not workout at all you should still be getting 7-8 hours of sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I try get as many hours sleep over the weekend as I can? My advise is don't force your self to sleep, go to sleep and don't set an alarm and allow your body to tell you when it had enough sleep &quot;your body know whats best&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and 5. &#xA;Maybe I should leave legs or back until Friday where I get a massive sleep the following morning (because of the weekend)?&#xA;Should I restrict myself to a single muscle group a day rather than two? On these 2 questions I will try to advise you as best as possible, I gather from these question that right now your following some sort of strength program, since right now you do not have enough sleep and in strength programs specifically sleep is really important as that's the time that your body will be rebuilding the muscle cells,&#xA;my advise is limit your workouts to 45 min and this alone will give you an extra 30 to 45 min of sleep at night, &#xA;I agree as well with @Xavier Casto that you might want to look at doing your workouts in the morning since you will be able to tell when you wake up if you are up to it or you need more sleep,&#xA;you might also want to look at alternatives to strength programs (read bodybuilding) something like a an aerobic strength program where you would have more reps and less weight as this will require less building time of muscle, you might look at somthing like joining a CrossFit training class which is High intensity but usually limited to 30 - 45min workouts,&#xA;working out a large muscle group for (Legs - Chest - Shoulders) as you pointed out is advisable,&#xA;you can also try to linit your workouts to 4 times a week and try to get 2 of those on weekends like @DMoore wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and at last I want to point out that in most cases &lt;strong&gt;your body tells you what it needs&lt;/strong&gt; so if you feel tired you know you need more sleep and if you try to ignore it you wont gain much from working out, so try to find the proper balance that works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6087" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-10-16T00:17:02.713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T00:17:02.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13488" CreationDate="2013-08-07T08:31:36.090" Score="6" ViewCount="6183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive read that the preferred swimming style for the US Navy soldiers is the sidestroke. What are the benefits of the sidestroke that make it the preferred style?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T08:55:48.540" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T21:23:40.697" Title="Advantages of using the sidestroke" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13492" CreationDate="2013-08-07T09:19:51.933" Score="6" ViewCount="4094" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of stores are selling free stand squat holders. It seems they could go off balance since they are not connected. They also do not supply a real safety system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they safe to use? And so to what weight can you actually use them? Not considering the maximum weight described by the manufacturer but what is actually safe to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is related to home use where it really has to catch the weight after the exercise is done or on failure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F52vx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastEditorUserId="6373" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T13:33:46.490" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T14:57:25.387" Title="Are free stand squat holders safe for home use?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13487" CreationDate="2013-08-07T12:00:16.260" Score="7" ViewCount="1477" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started trying to do negative chin-ups in several occasions, but afterwards I feel a mild pain in both my left and right wrists. It is not the kind of &quot;healthy&quot; discomfort of sore muscles, but rather the kind of thing that, when ignored, eventually sets up as a tendonitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a day or two it goes away, then I try again, and it comes back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means, not only I have to do negatives in order to gain strength to eventually perform chin-ups, but rather I have to strengthen my wrists first, in order to be able to do negatives...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) What exercises can I do to &lt;em&gt;gradually and gently&lt;/em&gt; gain strength in my wrists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Will the bodybuilding writs wraps help by pulling too? Why and how? Should I wear them always when attempting dumbbell lifting and calisthenics, or would that protect my wrists but also prevent them from becoming stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APMEP-uxnu8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this wonderful video&lt;/a&gt; of a man performing several chin-ups at age 89, so I am not going to give up (I am 41).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark:&lt;/strong&gt; by wrist straps I mean something like that:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3mvFd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which (I think but it is only a guess) act by relieving some tension from the transverse carpal ligament during heavy lifting. Nothing to do with the straps used to assist the grip in heavy deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T14:41:13.643" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T22:09:50.113" Title="How to strengthen *very gently* your grip in order to safely perform chin-ups? Are wrist wraps good?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;age&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13485" CreationDate="2013-08-07T12:10:37.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have problems with my grip half a year ago, so i started to train my forearms to increase my strength in my grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some excercises i added on my arm day to increase my grip strength - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/seated-palms-down-barbell-wrist-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;seated-palms-down-barbell-wrist-curl&lt;/a&gt;  4 sets of 25&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/reverse-barbell-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reverse-barbell-curl&lt;/a&gt; 3 sets of 15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use gloves to get a better grip so the weights don't slide off. I consider the gloves to be very good for pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gloves i use : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CNlud.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6399" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T12:10:37.980" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13485" CreationDate="2013-08-07T12:50:03.503" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cheapest piece of exercise equipment for grip strength is one of those binder clips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G20M3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They come in difference sizes, so start small and work your way up.  Pinch it open between your pinky and your thumb.  This tip comes from Mr. Ed Coan himself.  When your grip breaks, it's always the pinky side first.  If you get that side stronger the grip will be harder to break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next in the grip builders is to pinch grip a dumbbell by the fat part and increase time.  When you get to 30s grip you can get a heavier dumbbell.  This allows you to build up the grip with what you can handle right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assess your Set Up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I recommend you do is to assess your setup on the pull-up bar.  It could be that your hands are too close together or too far apart and your wrists are bending at an unnatural angle.  When you add weight to that it stresses the ligaments and tendons rather than strengthening the surrounding muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also might be that you need to focus on neutral grip pull-ups for the time being until your grip naturally gets stronger from the pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T12:50:03.503" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13483" CreationDate="2013-08-07T13:08:48.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per request I quote important parts from Wikipedias articles on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidestroke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sidestroke&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_sidestroke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Combat Sidestroke&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; the US Navy developed from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic sidestroke is a swimming technique that is good for long distance swimming.&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidestroke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sidestroke allows the swimmer increased endurance because, instead of working both arms and legs simultaneously in the same way, the side stroke uses them simultaneously but differently&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The US Navy combined elements of freestyle, sidestroke and breaststroke to develop the Combat Sidestroke. It can be used with or without flippers, the swimmer only has to use a flutter kick instead of a scissor kick.&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_sidestroke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The combat side stroke allows the swimmer to swim more efficiently and reduce the body's profile in the water in order to be less likely to be seen during combat operations if surface swimming is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think especially the low profile and the high distances you can cover swimming with this style are the main reasons the US Navy seals adopted the side stroke and developed their own versions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T13:08:48.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2013-08-07T14:05:17.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that these stands are intended to be actually used with the weights described by the manufacturer. I guess the manufacturer only labels it with the weight you can put onto them without breaking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am using stands comparable to those in your picture when I visit my parents, they have a heavy disk at the bottom instead of extensions. Assuming a normal backsquat where you step back after lifting the bar out of the rack, the danger lies in the step forward when you finished your set. You are probably exhausted and are not completely able to control the step forward, you are happy to just slam the weights in the stand. Although this isn't how it should be, I guess this happens to everybody once in a while.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am not even big - 173cm / 5'8 - and even with small weights - I encountered the problem even with an empty bar (10kg in my case) - those stands will tip back a bit. The higher the weight is positioned and the bigger the plates get, the more careful you have to be, as the lever is quite big when squatting a high bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is probably safer to use other equipment if possible, however it depends on your goals, too. If you don't want to engage in a powerlifting (or strength gain) program and continue to lift in a lower range, these stands might be OK to buy, especially when just starting or having limited space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T14:05:17.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2013-08-07T14:29:32.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I wouldn't be happy with them, they look pretty unstable.  I'd hate to have to figure out what to do with a bar in a back squat if I knocked one of these over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd consider the safe weight to use to be what I can lift from back squat position over my head and put down safely... which makes the stands pretty much useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T14:29:32.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2013-08-07T14:46:27.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I considered and rejected these for my home gym. They do not provide safety bars on which to dump a failed rep. They do not have a vertical post on which to slam a just-completed near-max set. The target area is small, particularly for a back squat rather than a front squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would trust freestanding squat stands if I was using bumper plates on a lifting-platform style floor. That way, if I felt unable to put the bar back in the rack safely, I could &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/K837AwoIpFI?t=3m46s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;drop it to the floor&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would trust them with a whole lot of weight. That's not the problem. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK7m6I5m6gY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pat Mendes squatted 800 pounds and the stands just seemed to rock a bit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T14:46:27.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2013-08-07T14:57:25.387" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a manager/trainer at a couple of Gold's gyms.  Our insurance company wouldn't allow these on the floor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are actually good to hold very moderate weight for several different lifts.  The problem is they can take little to no horizontal force and when the squat racks get full people would spill to these.  And to make matters worse it is hard to have rules for them.  For instance some people may put 300 on a bar and this would work great because they can do 300 20 times...  The next guy can barely do 300 and throws the bar in causing a chain reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T14:57:25.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13485" CreationDate="2013-08-07T15:00:00.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What works for me is a slower and more cautious progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming back from a shoulder injury, I started with three sets of five dips. I could have done many more, but I took it super slow. The next workouts looked like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of five again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of six&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of six&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Four sets of six, since I wanted more volume but felt that my form started to deteriorate ever so slightly towards the end of a set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Four sets of six&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...and so on until I was doing three twenty-rep sets plus weighted dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this approach works well for coming back from an injury and taking it easy on potential injuries. For what it's worth, I've also found pull-up negatives to be helpful with elbow tendon inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T15:00:00.013" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13475" CreationDate="2013-08-07T15:57:51.260" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No movements in the water will come close to that of running. &quot;running like movements&quot; will have very little resistance in the water compared to propelling your body. The principle of specificity says that the best way to train for something is whatever is closest to that thing. The best you are going to get from swimming is general cardiovascular endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6475" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T15:57:51.260" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-07T16:41:38.167" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I injured my right ankle a couple weeks ago and I had to put a stop to all my running and cycling. I'd like to keep exercising, but I have limited options. I can stand on my right leg, but no squats or anything. Here's what's available:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I own a dumbbell, that, depending on the weights on it, can be 1, 6, or 8 kilos. I have used it lightly for kettlebell-like swings and some dumbbell rolls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a pool nearby that I could frequent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a gym close by, but I'd rather work out at home between things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a metallic jump rope, but that I'd have to skip on my leg only. Jumping on my right leg is out of question.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goals are to improve my endurance for sports and to shave off some upper body fat, get a little leaner. Also my thigh fat could use a little trimming. (I'm 178 cm/81 kg, that is 5'10&quot;/179 lbs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: To limit confusion - this is not about diets. I have vastly improved my eating habits over the past few months, this is solely about fitness. Also, this is a very short-term thing. My ankle should be fine rather soon, it's not like I can't even walk. I just wanted to fill the void as I stay home, staring at my road bike. The advice about sports that Shauna gives is not relevant to my case as I cannot practice the sports I want to... because of my ankle. Sorry if I did not make myself clear in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5634" LastEditorUserId="5634" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T18:15:50.643" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T20:05:18.627" Title="Fitness with a busted ankle" Tags="&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13475" CreationDate="2013-08-07T17:01:05.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used pool running while I had a stress fracture in my tibia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I liked using the flotation belt, so that I could pool run in deep water, to make sure the activity was very low impact. I also had a lot of difficulty maintaining proper form without the flotation belt. To avoid being in the way by moving very slowly forward down a lane, you can tether yourself to a pool ladder in the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a few sessions to get used to the running form, but after that, I used pool running to mimic on-land high intensity interval training. I used the same work-rest ratios that I would on land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this seems too simple an answer, but really, once you get the form correct, you can take any land-running program and transfer it to the pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T17:01:05.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13497" CreationDate="2013-08-07T17:32:03.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The best thing for you to do right now is recover.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is already working overtime to repair your damaged ankle. You don't need to be taxing it further by trying to exercise and risking injuring it more, particularly with the options you've listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Want to exercise, anyway? Do rehabilitation work, if you can, and ideally under the supervision of a physical therapist. That's your job right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot stress this part enough. Even though it doesn't feel like it, &lt;em&gt;your body is already doing a lot of work repairing&lt;/em&gt;. Think about it this way - if you do advanced training for something (let's say weightlifting), one of the big things trainers stress is rest days, not? Most programs are 3-4 days per week. This is to provide the opportunity for the body to rest and repair itself. Likewise, getting enough sleep is of utmost importance. Why? Because during these rest times, &lt;strong&gt;your body is actually doing things&lt;/strong&gt;, and it needs the resources to do them. If you divert them to other things, then your depriving your body of those resources, and risk setting yourself back even further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abs are revealed in the kitchen.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to shed fat? Then turn to your diet. No amount of exercise will trim the fat off your body if your diet is crap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat at a deficit.&lt;/strong&gt; You can't lose weight if you're eating too much, plain and simple. So figure out how much your body needs in your current recovery state, and eat slightly less (given the needs of your body to repair itself and the relatively little fat you have to lose, I'd recommend 250 calories per day under TDEE, which is .5lb/week loss). A calorie tracking website, such as MyFitnessPal or SparkPeople will help you make sure you're in your goal calorie range.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nourish your body.&lt;/strong&gt; While it's technically possible to lose weight eating nothing but Twinkies, doing so doesn't do your body any favors. Your body needs specific nutrients to repair itself, both now and when you're fully healthy. The general rule of thumb is 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass (which, for your height, will come out to probably around 110-120g), this number allows your body to spare lean tissue when trying to find a non-food fuel source (in other words - it turns to the fat deposits instead of your muscles). Your carb and fat numbers will depend on the type of diet that works best for you, just keep in mind that they're both pretty much purely fuel, and that the body will choose carbs over fat when both are present. Play with it and see what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regardless of what you choose for your carb and fat ratios, you should get all of your nutrients from nutritious, whole-food sources - meats, healthy fats and oils (olive, coconut, avocado, etc), fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts/seeds, dairy (assuming no allergies, here). These things provide tons of micronutrients needed not only for your body to repair itself, but also to fuel your body when in healthy condition. Glucosamine and chondroitin are abundant in bone broth and can help your body repair your ankle (they support joint health), and of course calcium and Vitamin D (get it best from the sun) will support repairing any bone damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When you're healthy, train for the sport(s) you want to play.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there is sometimes some crossover, your ability to run 30 miles will have little to no bearing on your endurance on the hockey rink or in the boxing cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want more endurance for sports? Which sport? Pick one or two you want to train in, then &lt;em&gt;train in them&lt;/em&gt;. The training for hockey is going to be worlds different than the training for tennis. You use different muscle groups in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, as I mentioned, there is some crossover - general functional strength and flexibility will help you pretty much everywhere. Things like kettlebell strength training, Yoga, body weight strength training, and barbell strength training, can help you in most sports (though the specifics may vary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can't spot reduce fat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above information should be enough for you to trim off the excess fat, barring any medical issues. However, even when you're back at peak condition, you may not get the results you're looking for. This is because the fat's going to come off where your body says it's going to come off. That means that it may suck dry the fat deposits in your neck and arms before it even considers your chest, waist, and thighs. There's nothing you can do to change that. Just keep working on the other points (eating healthy, training in and playing your chosen sport) and the weight will come off in due time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditDate="2013-08-07T20:05:18.627" LastActivityDate="2013-08-07T20:05:18.627" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13505" CreationDate="2013-08-07T17:44:12.490" Score="8" ViewCount="68954" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference? Does it target different muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me a bit more natural for my shoulders if I change the usual grip (open grip with palms out) and do a natural grip in my shoulder press. It is the &quot;classic&quot; picture I had in mind about that exercise, specially when alternating hands:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6sA0F.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(form the blog of Joe Dowdell)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a completely subjective appreciation, but this and the Arnold version, seem both easier and less prone to annoying tiny cracking noises, to my computer rounded shoulders (in which I am already working with stretches, and with the presence of reverse dumbbell flies in my workouts, but that is another question)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I call the &quot;usual&quot; grip (open grip with palms out)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kLlN7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A third option is called &lt;em&gt;Arnold Press&lt;/em&gt;, invented by the Governator in his early years, where your palms rotate during the movement, from inwards at the bottom of the movement, to forward at the top:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uXxso.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-08T08:25:40.343" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T05:05:46.833" Title="Dumbbell Shoulder Press: Natural vs the usual grip" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13504" CreationDate="2013-08-07T23:03:43.143" Score="18" ViewCount="7193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some background: I'm 6'1 and weigh approximately 152 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be toned (muscular and cut). Not big, but I want my muscles to be showing even when I don't flex. I especially want a six pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I know this takes time and hard work. I also know I need to have a good diet. So here's what I do (and have been doing for the past few weeks):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating Habits:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt; I have a chicken cutlet (I hate eggs) with greek yogurt and a glass (or two) of milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt; Mon-Fri A buffalo chicken (boars head, sliced, from Publix deli) sandwich on italian bread, a banana, and an apple. On the weekends, my lunch varies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt; Varies. About two-three nights a week I'll have two Bubba burgers for the protein (26g per burger). Maybe once or twice a week I also have frozen pizza (I think that's the worst that I eat). Tonight I'm having tacos, last night I had spaghetti. Any recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides milk, I almost exclusively drink water. I never drink soda. I don't smoke. On the nights when I go to the gym, I have a protein shake with whey protein. I typically have it with ice cream, frozen strawberries (sometimes raspberries added) and orange juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm jogging three times a week, following &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/trainingschedules/a/Four-Week-Beginner-Training-Program-To-Run-Two-Miles.htm&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; plan, to be specific. After I get to two miles, I'll be doing that three times a week, and I'll probably move it up to three miles when I can. I'm doing the cardio to help lose body fat so my six pack will show when I have enough muscle in my abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym on the days in-between my jogging. For example, Monday I'll jog, Tuesday I go to the gym, wed jog, thurs gym. But I only go to the gym twice a week. I workout only on the machines, but I want to start doing deadlifts for their great all around workout, as well as bench presses and squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also work my abs every other day, doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfY_4m3RVRc&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; workout, although I can't do 4 sets yet, my max is 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my main goal is a six pack, that's what I want the most. But I also want to be toned. If I keep doing this will I achieve my goals? Do I need to change some of my habits? What do you think? Any recommendations or critiques are most welcomed. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6479" LastEditorUserId="6027" LastEditDate="2013-08-12T21:43:47.013" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T10:39:32.920" Title="How can I get more &quot;toned&quot;?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13502" CreationDate="2013-08-08T02:50:38.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Toned&quot; is merely a term that implied good muscle definition with low muscular volume.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To look &quot;toned&quot;, you need two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low body fat percentage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good muscle definition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter very much depends on which muscles you wish to pronounce, but in general you'll want a high volume, low weight program with a rep range in the high teens. Rather than focus on hypertrophy which will occur even at the lower rep ranges, you want to focus on musclar density and endurance. &lt;strong&gt;If your focus is cosmetic, focus on lifts that target the muscles you feel are lacking rather than broad compound movements.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, focus on the former, running a mild calorie deficit, with a high protein component to prevent muscle atrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is difficult, but possible to get a lean 'wirey' look, ala. &lt;em&gt;Brad Pitt Fight Club style&lt;/em&gt;, but the key is getting the lowest body fat you can safely achieve. For males this is in the 8-9% range, women in the 15% area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative way to achieve this is to cut to a low body fat then bulk to build muscle, however if you cut without a decent frame you will look gaunt and worry people. Similarly, you could bulk then cut, but you may grow larger than your desired end point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out for vanity reasons, is a legitimate reason, but it means that other programs may not be as effective for your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-08T03:06:40.237" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T03:06:40.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13502" CreationDate="2013-08-08T03:15:05.550" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to look muscled without being big. The good news is, it's hard to get too many muscles. The solution is to lift a little and get your body fat down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;Toned&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;toned&quot; means different things to different people. It's not a technical term, like &quot;strong&quot; or &quot;powerful&quot; or even &quot;big&quot;. Most people use &quot;toned&quot; to communicate their desire to look fit and a little bit athletic but not muscle-bound or &quot;bulky&quot;. Instead of saying &quot;toned&quot;, some people will say they want to look like some actor in a movie where an Adonis belt plays a starring role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xnUuX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Brad Pitt&amp;#39;s Adonis belt is the apple of many aspiring fitness enthusiasts&amp;#39; eye&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you want to look muscular and trim without being big like a bodybuilder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Programming to look muscular but not big&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key point is to A) build some muscle and B) work towards a low body fat percentage so those muscles look well-defined. Your abs don't need to be that big, but to have a six-pack they can't be covered by much fat. Running, lifting, and a fairly controlled high-protein diet is a fine way to work towards that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lift for muscles&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd make sure to hit the following lifting priorities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;direct ab work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;direct chest and tricep work, such as bench press or dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups and chin-ups for impressive shoulders, biceps, and upper back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deadlifts or squats, for overall strength and posture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd shoot for rep ranges that produce hypertrophy. That is, I'd do sets of 10 or 12 to make my muscles big. If they got too big, I'd stop eating and lifting so much. But that's not likely. More likely you'll like the muscles that appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd focus on multiple sets of pull-ups, dips, bench press, and ab work. I wouldn't shy away from circuits or short rest periods. Squatting and deadlifting would be a secondary priority, at the end of the workout with less volume. For instance, three or four times a week I might do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;three rounds of a circuit of pull-ups followed immediately by dips, aiming for the maximum number of reps with good form, taking a minute or two (but not five) to rest between rounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weighted Roman chair sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a single set of 10 moderately heavy Romanian deadlifts (plus the warm-up sets, of course). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, alternatively, since we're just spitballing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench press, three heavy sets of 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups, as many sets as necessary to get fifty reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;assorted ab work - windshield wipers, ab rollouts, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squats, one heavy set of 10 (plus those warm-ups)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Run and eat protein for low body fat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the muscles growing from the lifting, the second priority is to get my body fat down low. Eating less helps. A high-protein diet helps. Running and other forms of cardio help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to cook foods yourself. Focus on high-quality items like grass-fed and pastured meat, eggs, and milk, and a large proportion of greens and vegetables. Avoid sodas and sweets. Minimize alcohol and deep-fried foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two or three times a week, I'd go for a run. Optimally, one of those runs would be a mile or three and another would be a short warm-up followed by a half-dozen sprints. The running isn't set in stone--if I felt like swimming or biking hills or rowing, that's all fine. The point is to get in some short, high-intensity cardio and some longer, slower, low-intensity cardio in each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-01-30T10:39:32.920" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T10:39:32.920" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13501" CreationDate="2013-08-08T05:25:25.757" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, neutral grip (palms facing each other) presses are much easier on your shoulder.  This is true of the dumbbell bench press, pull ups, etc.  By easier, I mean less stress on the connective tissue (ligaments and tendons), rotator cuff, as well as being more mechanically advantageous.  That means you can load it heavier with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) than the open grip (palms facing forward).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to which is most advantageous, that depends on what you are after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodybuilders prefer the palms out grip due to the way it builds the shoulder muscles.  They also tend to use the 8-12 rep range, which means the intensity is kept below where it can be a problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are trying to help build the strength to put more weight over your head, the palms facing each other approach will be the best bet.  That allows you to protect the stabilizing musculature and minimize the stresses in the shoulder joint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some forms of competition or strength training involve a lot of overhead work.  For example, strong man competitions will have both neutral grip presses and open grip presses.  For example, log presses are a neutral grip overhead press while axle clean and press is an open grip overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a power lifter, I prefer the neutral grip option for just about all my dumbbell pressing needs.  As far as musculature emphasized, there are differences.  About as much difference as between pull ups and chin ups (palms facing out vs. palms facing you).  90% of the exercise is the same, but that last 10% can be aesthetics or more shoulder stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to rotate the dumbbell as you press.  In the bottom, the dumbbell is in the safer neutral position.  At the top, the dumbbell is rotated to the open position.  This approach allows you to get the best of both techniques: reduced stress on the shoulder and better aesthetics (as well as strengthening the rotator muscles).  If you incorporate this approach, start out with lighter weights and higher reps to get used to the movement better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="29544" LastEditDate="2018-09-25T12:52:02.070" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T12:52:02.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13513" CreationDate="2013-08-08T13:27:12.780" Score="7" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of training schemes out there. But what are the advantages and disadvantages of a full body scheme vs a scheme that targets different musscle groups each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they desinged for different goals or does it all come down to the same base result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T18:21:01.433" Title="Training scheme - full body or by muscle groups" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13510" CreationDate="2013-08-08T13:43:32.733" Score="0" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife is in great shape, but she has gained 15 lbs in the last 2 years. She eats clean and works out (Crossfit 3-4x week , spinning 1x week) but she can't lose the weight that she has put on the past few years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her metabolism is normal to slightly above normal, and she eats about 1800-1900 calories/day. With her metabolism and activity level, she should be able to eat 2,300 calories/day and maintain her weight. She eats less than that and is gaining weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her thyroid level is a little lower than normal, but a doctor put her on meds. This didn't help her weight gain stop, so she got off the meds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is frustrated and sad with her not being able to control this situation and lose the weight. I think she looks great, but that doesn't seem to help her fears that she will continue to gain weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&#xA;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6483" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T15:45:22.950" Title="Wife has normal to above normal metabolism - still gaining weight" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13506" CreationDate="2013-08-08T14:23:07.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Full Body&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A full body workout is usually more biased towards the fitness aspect. You'll be burning more calories and generally working more muscles in your training time span. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method of training generally provides a lower injury percentage. The reason for this is because everything is split up equally throughout the body. If we compare to a split training, where you'll go all out on a targetted muscle, that muscle will be sore and weak for X days. Whereas a full body workout will never get to that point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Split Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Split training will be more on the bodybuilding side. You'll be targetting a select split of muscles throughout your week which will be completely demolished. For example, a bicep workout may consist of one compound movement followed by two isolations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will &lt;strong&gt;specifically&lt;/strong&gt; target your bicep and barely nothing else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full body workouts are more oriented for fitness while split training is more for bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T14:23:07.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13097" CreationDate="2013-08-08T14:51:50.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;fat burning zone&quot; is a badly misinterpreted piece of information that has somehow become written in stone among exercisers. Your body burns fat at all times during exercise, the proportion of fat to other energy sources just varies according to how intense the workout is. Additionally, while you may exercise longer at a lower intensity, the total calorie expenditure may be less than a shorter, more intense workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate is also somewhat unreliable as a metric to base a workout on, because there are many factors that can raise or lower the heart rate that are completely unrelated to the exercise you are doing. Dehydration and caffeine are two things that can raise the heart rate. Also, most of the &quot;zone&quot; charts that you see plastered on walls at health clubs are based on the atrocious concept of &quot;220-age&quot; being a maximum heart rate. This is one of the worst myths in health and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as an example, say you walk on a treadmill at a heart rate of 130, and normally this a 4 mph pace. Today you are dehydrated and you drank a cup of coffee to wake up, and now the same 4 mph pace you have a heart rate of 150. You aren't working any harder or burning any more calories, but suddenly you're out of that &quot;Fat burning zone&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T14:51:50.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13507" CreationDate="2013-08-08T15:45:22.950" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go back to the doctor, get other bloodwork done.&lt;/strong&gt; Women are prone to a couple of different endocrine issues that are related to weight gain - namely PCOS and hypothyroidism. Both are very often under- or misdiagnosed. For PCOS, you need at least the following bloodwork - DHEAS, fasting insulin, and fasting glucose. Ideally, she should also get free testosterone levels checked, as well. For hypothyroidism, TSH testing isn't enough, get the free T3 and T4 tests done, as well. At the very least, this will rule out medical issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hammer down on the food tracking.&lt;/strong&gt; That she's eating Paleo and tracking is great, but she can probably do better. After all, it doesn't matter if she's eating chicken and broccoli all day, if she's eating too much, she's going to gain. At the very least, measure everything. Even better - weigh it. This gets her the most accurate numbers she can get. Also, don't substitute. If the food item isn't in there, or doesn't match what is on the package or in a cross-referenced source, then either update the entry or add a new one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get a heart rate monitor.&lt;/strong&gt; MyFitnessPal is notorious for wild estimates for calorie burn. Get a heart rate monitor and use it for any and all exercise. Use its numbers over MFP's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat the calories back.&lt;/strong&gt; If she's using MFP's system for calculating calories, and her workouts aren't figured into the calculation, then follow how MFP does it and when she exercises, she eats more to account for them. MFP builds in the deficit when you configure it, exercise above and beyond the configured value is gravy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Double-check other medications.&lt;/strong&gt; Is she on birth control? Most hormonal birth controls are known to cause weight issues, and Depo Provera is often the worst offender. Does she take any other medications? Check them for weight issues and see if they can either be phased out (with doctor's supervision) or changed to something that doesn't cause weight issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go back to Paleo basics.&lt;/strong&gt; As, &lt;em&gt;Humans are not broken&lt;/em&gt; puts it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humansarenotbroken.com/youre-getting-too-good-at-paleo/&quot;&gt;you might be getting too good at Paleo&lt;/a&gt;. If the SAD-style &quot;treats&quot; have worked their way back in, though technically Paleo, they might be causing issues (particularly if they have some kind of sweetener in them). Do a Whole30 to get back to the basics and force a habit change. At the very least, go through your typical meals and cut the chaff and stick to the powerhouse foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tweak macros.&lt;/strong&gt; Paleo isn't necessarily low-carb/high-fat, and some people do better on low carb, while others do better on higher carb. This will partially depend on what the aforementioned bloodwork comes back with, though. If she shows signs of insulin resistance, then lower carb will probably be her best option. If she doesn't, then she's more free to try increasing the carbs (depending on where she's at now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Change up the workout routine.&lt;/strong&gt; It's possible that the intensity of Crossfit, plus the spinning classes are too much and too intense. Try dropping one and do some dedicated power lifting or strength-oriented body weight training, or just drop one for something less intense altogether. Mark Sisson puts it elegantly - &quot;move frequently at a slow pace.&quot; You don't need to power through an hour of spinning at top speed, when an hour walk or leisurely bike ride will suffice and won't cause your body as much stress (and thus, cortisol production).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be patient.&lt;/strong&gt; It took 2 years to gain those 15 pounds. They're not going to come off overnight. Give any changes &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; a month, before giving up on them. And if she's anything close to normal weight, it might take longer to see the scale move. Fifteen pounds in 2 years is just over half a pound a month. Don't expect it to come off much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T15:45:22.950" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13506" CreationDate="2013-08-08T15:56:13.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your goals. Generally speaking athletes looking to get stronger will focus more on multi-joint (complex) movements. Examples of these are press, deadlift and squat. And people looking for a more bodybuilding style of training will incorporate more single joint (isolation) exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't to say there is no cross over, but if you want a high level of all-around fitness you should include both kinds of exercises in your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your &quot;advantages and disadvantages&quot; question, what is perceived as advantageous for one might not be fore the other. Again it all goes back to how you want to train and/or what your goals for training are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T15:56:13.483" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13506" CreationDate="2013-08-08T18:21:01.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main issue with a Full Body workout is that you only have so much &quot;maximum energy&quot; to perform lifts.  Therefore only the first few body parts or lifts that you do will have maximum impact.  Being very general I would train full body for endurance or explosion movements (plyometrics, speed drills, athletic training, rehab).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By focusing on specific Muscle Groups during a specific training session you ensure that not only will you have the energy to put forth maximum effort but you will also have the adequate amount of time to devote.  Therefore breaking down the muscle group enough that when it recovers it will be stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few key components when deciding what is right for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How old are you?  The younger you are the faster you recover for the most part.  If you can recover well enough to squat three times a week then you will probably have to incorporate a full body workout routine at least sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where are you in your fitness regime?  If you are just starting out, going full bore on a muscle group could have negative impact - in that you could shock your muscles to the extent that recovery takes so long that it affects future training. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are your views on gaining muscle mass?  Creating a routine where you are doing a lot of weight and high intensity is promoting muscle growth.  Some people do not want this and some people take place in activities where this is detrimental.  In general (it is not all or none) working out in specific muscle groups would promote more muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why are you working out?  If you are playing a sport that requires the use of all body parts and explosion then a full body workout may be more appropriate.  If you want better muscular endurance a full body routine would probably optimize things more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is your gender?  Most people workout to look better.  Again I am being very general.  I have found that women can get results (toning, definition, promoting fat loss) through full body workouts.  Men can get results either way but often need a muscular base (working muscles in groups) before they can follow full body workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T18:21:01.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-08T20:55:13.053" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would you say to a teenager about the use of enhancing drugs apart from the medical conditions that could arise from use?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T21:29:24.000" Title="What are the disadvantages of using steroids or enhancing drugs while training?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="15" ClosedDate="2013-08-09T02:02:34.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13518" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13521" CreationDate="2013-08-08T21:22:26.893" Score="8" ViewCount="904" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite stretch to loosen up neck muscles had been doing circles and rolling my head around in 360 degrees of motion a few times then switching direction. I've heard from people and on the news that this is unhealthy and dangerous. Why? What are alternatives that work the full range of motion. I do a lot of swimming and find my shoulders and neck get sore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T09:50:54.720" Title="How to properly stretch muscles in neck" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13483" CreationDate="2013-08-08T21:23:40.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sidestroke is used in open waters to navigate and not get sick.  It is not the most efficient method of movement in water by far.  However when you are swimming in salt water you have to keep the water out of your mouth.  The backstroke is about the worst at this and other styles are not as bad but entail bobbing your head in and out of water.  There are a lot of reasons the NAVY teaches this but keep your head a little tilted to the water and a little out of the water is just common sense.  Getting a technique that revolves around that is just taking that given and trying to do the best with it.  I am positive that if a NAVY seal had a shark coming at him from 100 feet he isn't sidestroking to the boat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T21:23:40.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13518" CreationDate="2013-08-08T21:38:34.303" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rolling the neck is contraindicated because it can hyperextend and compress the cervical vertebrae and cause nerve damage over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can let your chin just kind of hang your your chest, and lean your head to the side (Think touching your ear to your shoulder) as recommended neck stretches. As you advance, you can add a gentle traction to the side stretch. (So if you are leaning your head to the right, you can place the palm of your right hand on the high curve of the head and gently apply a pulling, not a downward, pressure. Be aware and stop at any discomfort). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look to the right and left as if you were trying to look behind you without moving your shoulders. These should all provide a stretch to the muscles in the neck/jaw/upper shoulders (Of which the sternocleidomastoid will be the primary recipient).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-08-08T21:38:34.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13523" CreationDate="2013-08-08T21:59:38.833" Score="7" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be healthy, fit, strong, and flexible. I don't want an impressive Deadlift mark in a few months--and much less a herniated disk or tendonitis from training too hard and too fast. My ideal of health and strength is that people that are muscular but not very bulky, are very flexible and can perform many pull-ups. How can I achieve this ideal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am especially concerned with gradually strengthening my tendons and gaining flexibility, as opposed to focusing on quickly gaining skeletal muscle strength and hypertrophy using rapidly progressing barbell programs like Starting Strength or other 5x5 programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: I am happy with the answer given here about healthy, balanced development, but regarding the issue of &quot;specific tendon training&quot; you may want to see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13660/specific-weigthlifting-protocol-to-strengthen-tendons-regardless-of-hypertrophy/13661#13661&quot;&gt;this answer here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T14:07:07.353" Title="How can I achieve healthy tendons and balanced muscles, with no particular hurry to bulk up?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13522" CreationDate="2013-08-09T02:54:51.850" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Any training can cause injury&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wary of bodyweight training just as much as I am wary of barbell training. Both have their risks, including tendonitis, shoulder trouble, and back problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is an issue under &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; overzealous progression. What you are looking for is not marked by any particular tool, but by cautious progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Workout progression to prevent re-injury&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm cautious with an existing injury or overuse situation, what works for me is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/13493/1771&quot;&gt;a slower and more cautious progression&lt;/a&gt;: for instance, when working around an inflamed shoulder I started with three sets of five dips. I was capable of doing many more, but I took it super slow. The next workouts looked like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of five again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of six&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of six&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Four sets of six, since I wanted more volume but felt that my form started to deteriorate ever so slightly towards the end of a set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Four sets of six&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Four sets of seven&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of eight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of eight for several workouts until it felt easy and I didn't need much rest between sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of ten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...more gradual progression until I was hitting three sets of twenty or multiple sets with added weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this approach works well for coming back from an injury and taking it easy on potential injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar approach works for barbells, too. (Again, there's nothing inherent about barbells that makes them more prone to causing injury than a set of gymnastic rings.) What was recommended to me was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back squat, warm up then three sets of 20 reps at a low weight, increasing weight only when the current weight is easy. When the weight gets to 135, switch to 3x5 and add 5 pounds once a week or even less often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian deadlift, warm up then one set of 10, increasing the weight only when you have perfect form and the weight is boringly easy. Switch to regular deadlifts  for sets of 5 when the weight is heavy, and consider snatch-grip deadlifts to emphasize mobility and the upper back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one way to take it slow and easy with barbells. The slower rate of adding weight and the higher-rep starting period both allow more time for the tendons to grow in line with the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Well-balanced programming&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're concerned first and foremost with a healthy, balanced body rather than looking big or impressing people with numbers. For those purposes, I'd focus on &lt;strong&gt;a variety of exercises&lt;/strong&gt; and picking those exercises based on &lt;strong&gt;movement patterns&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;balanced combinations&lt;/strong&gt; of movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise variety&lt;/strong&gt;: don't strive to be good at pull-ups...strive to be good at pull-ups, chin-ups, muscle-ups, windshield wipers, barbell rows, and dumbbell rows. Not all at one time and not quickly, but switching cautiously among similar exercises helps ensure we don't get too adapted to one particular challenge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Movement patterns&lt;/strong&gt;: classify exercises in groups such as pulling, pushing, squatting, hinging (deadlifting), carrying things, locomoting (walking, dragging things, running, swimming, crawling, brachiating...). Keep in mind the distinction between fast and slow movements; deadlifting and power cleaning are intertwined and mutually beneficial just like sprinting and going for a walk with a friend.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Combining movements&lt;/strong&gt;: for each push you pick a pull, and for each squat you pick a deadlift, and if you've been doing an overhead push for several months maybe you switch to downward pushes (dips) for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Research for approaches like this&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to figure out a similar approach to this, it may help to see where I got these ideas. The movement patterns is an amalgam of Dan John (see his book with Pavel) and Ido Portal (browse his site and gymnasticbodies.com's forums for his posts). The rest was cobbled together from guesswork, programs recommended to me by friends, Coach Sommer's forum posts and articles referencing his Building the Gymnastic Body project, Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore's Starting Strength (which has a lot of philosophy and productive discussion about organizing training) and Practical Programming (which goes into the science of strength training), as well as Tom Kurz's heavily-referenced elite-sports tome Science of Sports Training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-08-09T03:29:43.627" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-09T13:28:45.483" Score="0" ViewCount="1211" Body="&lt;p&gt;My left Levator Scapulae is tight like hell today (probably from incorrectly lifting a heavy gas bottle yesterday) and it is causing some undesirable effects. It is even noticeable in the mirror. I just came back from a doctor that has told me to avoid exercises involving that muscle, take a muscle relaxant and correct my posture. Additionally, I asked how long this may take, and the answer was: probably weeks or even months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question: &lt;strong&gt;what exercises can be done to still keep on working your upper body, at least up to some extent, that minimize involvement of the Levator Scapulae?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was the general form of the question. Now, to add some detail, these are the exercises in my workout. I would like to change as little as possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet Squat (which probably will have to be air squats now)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Arm Bent-Over Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Arm Shoulder Press (this is probably what must be substituted)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist work (it was neg chin-ups, but I had to stop until strengthening my grip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in the pink light dumbbells and high reps range for the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have just came back from a tendonitis. I am working too in the problem of weak/painful wrists. And a few days ago I solved the problem of lower abdomen pain after doing air squats, by effective learning how to stretch the hip flexors. And now this new thing arises. My body is a crap... I really need to get it in shape, but the beginning is being very difficult...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2013-08-10T20:11:51.057" Title="How to workout around a tight Levator Scapulae" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;tight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13547" CreationDate="2013-08-09T14:45:54.360" Score="1" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;This year I am in marching band as a snare drum for my high school.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was told to engage my core to make all my fundamentals (forwards, backwards, and sideways marching) smoother, and to keep my drumsticks together when I'm not playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, when I try to engage my core, I find I cant breath, and it doesn't really help my marching. Am I doing it right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6493" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-09T16:09:41.320" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T04:07:15.190" Title="Engaging Core In Marching Band?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-09T21:49:29.173" Score="-1" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a logger for my exercises, where I can record reps, see progress, etc. I am into weightlifting [&lt;em&gt;or write here whatever you are doing&lt;/em&gt;] but I would like to be able to record my cardio progress and others, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any such program, online site, smartphone app?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5717" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-10T21:13:50.700" LastActivityDate="2013-08-10T21:13:50.700" Title="What is a good workout logger that help me keep track of my training progress?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-08-10T04:10:57.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13529" CreationDate="2013-08-09T23:07:29.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some nice Android applications for free, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.kndy.liftinglog&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lifting Log&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.katsoftwarellc.liftlog&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fit77&lt;/a&gt; for general weight training; &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=liftbig.lb.sources&amp;amp;hl=en_GB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LiftBig&lt;/a&gt; specifically for SL5x5, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ihunda.android.hiit&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt;, that will additionally help you with your cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/WorkoutLogs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here, in EXRX&lt;/a&gt; there are some nice spreadsheet logs ready to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, whatever solution you find, I would like to know about it (specially any Linux program) so I encourage you to post it as a comment, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2013-08-09T23:07:29.917" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13538" CreationDate="2013-08-10T00:13:37.450" Score="2" ViewCount="776" Body="&lt;p&gt;For reasons explained in other posts and not relevant here, I am only doing now Push-Ups and Dumbbell Bent-Over Row (and Air Squats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the rows I use a nearly empty dumbbell for the moment. That is far from the ideal push-pull equilibrium. Relative to that, push-ups are a strong exercise: Playing a bit with a scale at home, I reached the conclusion that I was lifting 77% of my body weight at the bottom position of each push-up, and around 65% for an easy version with knees on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore my question: can that be a problem for my shoulders? Which load should I aim for in the rows? Should I keep the pushups under a minimum? I don't want the next injury to be caused by muscular imbalance...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2013-08-11T12:58:10.217" Title="Are Dumbbell Bent-Over Rows alone enough pull to counteract Push-Ups?" Tags="&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13518" CreationDate="2013-08-10T08:24:44.240" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way is to slowly, gently stretch and strengthen different muscles at the same time. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;push the chin down (that firms the front of the neck) and at the same time, pull the throat backwards (that lengthens the back of the neck)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;push the throat forward, lift the chin up (lengthens the front, firms the back)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When turning the head sideways, it is good to slightly lift the ear (eg. if you are looking over the right shoulder, lift the right ear slightly). The reason is that the upper part of your spine is at a slight angle, that is, if you turn your neck when it is perfectly vertical, there will be a slight pinching in the neck (noticeable on the skin of the neck), which you should avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you bend, try not to collapse on one side, instead, lengthen one side and maintain length on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2013-08-16T09:50:54.720" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T09:50:54.720" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13526" CreationDate="2013-08-10T20:11:51.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would, too, advise to explore some gentle form of movement as Dave suggested earlier in his comment. If you are looking for motivation and a starting point, this might be a good one:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.hu/2009/06/developing-practice-part-23-then-and.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.hu/2009/06/developing-practice-part-23-then-and.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-08-10T20:11:51.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13103" CreationDate="2013-08-10T21:36:42.700" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're off to a great start with minimalist shoes. The first rule is to &lt;em&gt;start slow and increase usage gradually&lt;/em&gt;, and you have done so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The shoes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the shoes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/faq/#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fit&lt;/a&gt; perfectly. You can get blisters and pain in minimalist shoes pretty easily, especially on long runs, if they don't fit perfectly or you're not wearing them correctly. Also, if the shoes don't fit snugly and conform to your feet, you will miss a lot of feedback and your proprioception will suffer, thus increasing the chance of pain or injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first pair of Vibrams were too large and I would constantly get blisters due to some parts of the shoe chafing the skin. I had to almost always wear toe socks with them. The second year I made sure the shoes fit better, and since then they have been more comfortable, and I no longer wear socks with them. I still occasionally get some sore spots around the heel or side of the foot on long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Focus on running form&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never be complacent with your running form. Constantly monitor your form and do some reading. It isn't just &quot;run on the balls of your feet&quot; (actually, my heels touch the ground lightly near the end of my step), there are a lot of subtle details about your form that can continually be improved. You don't get perfect form and prevent injury just by putting on minimalist shoes or going barefoot, just like traditional running shoes don't by definition cause injury. Minimalist shoes do make it easier to learn and maintain good form because they don't mask the impact of bad form as much as a cushion shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running completely barefoot this year and read the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Barefoot Running Step By Step&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. I realized that while Vibrams do give you a lot more feedback than cushion shoes, and thus help encourage better form, there's still a significant difference between that and going barefoot. In retrospect, I've realized that I was being too be hard on my feet and joints in minimalist shoes. In previous years, my feet and joints would ache after a long run in minimalist shoes, but this year, after some significant improvements to my form, I feel tired but refreshed after a long run in minimalist shoes, with no unnecessary aches or pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, since you've done a good transition in to minimal shoes and are already logging 5 mile runs, if you aren't just tired but &lt;em&gt;hurt&lt;/em&gt; after a long run in minimalist shoes, then there's likely something you can improve with your form. Yes, the transition to minimalist shoes can involve some muscle and foot soreness as your body adapts, but don't be a hero and push through pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Barefoot training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/faq/barefoot_running_faq.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vibram FAQ&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We recommend running first completely barefoot on a hard flat surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In hindsight, I think this is key. Running barefoot on a road (and even on gravel) will maximize the sensory input to your feet. You'll feel every nuance of your form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What part of your foot lands first and last&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How softly your are making contact with the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether your are twisting or scuffing your feet (you shouldn't)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether your are pushing off the ground rather than simply lifting your feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether your feet and legs are relaxed (thus able to handle a rough surface) or stiff&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether your cadence is quick enough (faster cadence = lighter step)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether your knees are sufficiently bent (improves the spring action of your feet and legs, allowing a lighter step, forefoot strike, and activation of the calf)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to &quot;go easy&quot; by sticking to softer surfaces, whether barefoot or in minimal shoes, and by doing so you are likely to miss a lot of key lessons about proper form as the surface is more forgiving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a few runs on pavement or gravel can really fine-tune your form and teach you how to run efficiently and avoid injury. These lessons will apply to minimalist shoes and cushion shoes too. I like to do a few miles barefoot at the beginning of a long run to fine-tune my form, on a variety of surfaces including asphalt or gravel, and this carries over nicely to the main part of the run performed in Vibrams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Regarding overpronation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert about this, but I think focusing on form could help a lot as you spend more item in minimalist shoes. I developed knee pain earlier this year due I'm pretty sure to overpronation and a tight hip flexor, even while wearing minimalist shoes. By focusing on form I've nearly eliminated the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasional barefoot running has taught me to increase my cadence a little more, correctly align my hips and feet, land more lightly, and run downhill properly—even while wearing minimalist shoes or traditional shoes. This has nearly eliminated my pronation and knee problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Regarding sore feet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am limited in mileage because the bottom-center of my foot gets gets tight/exhausted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few points of advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your feet may still be adjusting to the new biomechanics. You may need to just take your time increasing your distance so that your feet can continue to strengthen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may need to lighten your step. In my first two years running in minimalist shoes, I would feel the same tightness and fatigue in the center of my sole. Since then I have learned to run lighter on my feet, with even higher cadence, and I don't really have this problem anymore. If you use a GPS watch or app to track your runs, note that some of them (such as iSmoothRun) will track your cadence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, don't overdo it. If after some time you can't seem to get past a certain number of miles in minimalist shoes without this problem, then you may need to seek a more experienced opinion than mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if the &lt;em&gt;top&lt;/em&gt; of your foot gets sore, then you may need to tweak the way you wear and lace your shoe, or possibly consider a different type or size of minimalist shoe. Because they fit small and snug, there can be a lot of pressure on the top of the foot from the laces or straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Added in 2014:&lt;/em&gt; These days, there are many styles of “minimalist” or zero heel drop shoes. I have found that the feel and fit can vary dramatically among brands and styles, and is a very personal choice. Especially with ultra-minimal shoes, it is essential that it fits well and feels comfortable; these shoes tend to amplify any problems with fit. If soreness or other problems are persistent with Vibrams, try a different style, perhaps a zero-drop shoe with more substantial construction and cushioning. As long as it’s comfortable, I have found that bulkier ZHD shoe works basically the same way biomechanically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Next steps&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you can continue to gradually increase the distance you run in your minimalist shoes. I was able to complete 12 mile runs in my first year with no problem, and 16 miles the following year, and it sounds like you're in better shape than I am (I've never attempted a marathon for example). The “transitioning tips” bullet points at the end of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/faq/barefoot_running_faq.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vibram FAQ&lt;/a&gt; sound like good guidelines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be no problem with wearing other shoes for some portion of your runs until you get to the point that you're ready and willing to use minimalist shoes or go barefoot 100% of the time. In the first two years I used traditional running shoes on roads, and I still use heavier shoes during the winter months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you run in your other shoes, try to imagine that you're in minimalist shoes and apply the form you use there in your other shoes. This can only work to a certain degree of course, but that could help you maintain your form. You may find that you will be running better in both types of shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running with minimalist shoes 2 1/2 years ago, and by the end of that year I was doing 90% of my runs in Vibrams (excluding winter runs in snow). This year, I added true barefoot running to the mix, doing that about 30% of the time now. Before getting into minimalist shoes, I wore a variety of cushion shoes from the basic road shoes to some pretty heavy duty trail shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T14:11:10.210" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T14:11:10.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-11T10:48:48.147" Score="-1" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is often said that it is easy to train untrained muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How easy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train strength, how does what you need to do to keep progressing change over time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples: (Can a beginner progress strengthwise training in these ways)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just training lighter, compared to max - (Not so interesting :-).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elliptical Trainer? (Perhaps in an interval mode where I use some body parts quite hard in periods).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More reps/set and/or fewer sets?  (Compared to a normal strength program).  For example  one set of 20-30 reps of each exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mental image of this is that as we train it is getting more difficult to stress the muscles enough to progress, so you need more sets, more load, more sophistication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am interested in real mass and strength gain  - Not particular to the exercise I am doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T05:49:50.097" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T05:49:50.097" Title="Easy gain for untrained muscles?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2013-08-11T18:58:27.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13536" CreationDate="2013-08-11T11:58:30.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is often said that it is easy to train untrained muscles. How easy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is said in the context of strength training.  Basically if you start with an empty bar and increased 5 lbs every week you would be able to continue that pace for a few months.  Depending on the size of the muscle group some will be able to maintain the pace longer than others.  That fact is what Starting Strength or Strong Lifts are built around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another part of that fact is the process of getting better technique which helps you lift more weight.  Many times beginner gains happen as much from learning technique as they do just getting stronger.  The technique effect is also what helps someone who is already strong get stronger at a completely new movement relatively quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All muscle groups are easily trainable, but the larger the muscle the more it can be trained.  For example, you won't be able to put the same weight over your head as you can squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what about ellipticals?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ellipticals are designed to train your cardiovascular system.  You will enjoy going from gasping for breath after a relatively short period of time on the elliptical to being able to maintain a very respectable pace for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cardio and strength are important factors in being fit.  Both are worthwhile efforts.  However, cardio doesn't fix your posture or help you move better when you are getting up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's the least level of strength needed to get a bit bigger?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question needs some parameters, so I will tell you what they are and you can fill in the blanks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much bigger are you wanting to get?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How strong are you now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do you eat now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much sex do you get regularly (affects testosterone levels which in turn affect natural HGH release)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you have self destructive habits? (binge drinking, staying up all night playing video games, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add size then you have to get stronger than you are now.  You also have to have a bit of endurance with that strength.  If you can do reps in the 8-12 rep range for most of your strength work, and do them at a relatively slow tempo you will be able to add size with even relatively low weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that it's kind of like tanning.  If you tan for 15 minutes a day, you will get darker than you are now, but eventually you won't get any darker.  You will need to increase your time in the sun if you want to be darker than 15 minutes gave you.  The same goes for building size.  Increasing your bench press by 50 lbs (easy with beginner gains) will give you more size on your arms and shoulders, but if you aren't happy with that size you will need to go heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio will help you lose fat, and move blood around your body much better.  However, it doesn't really provide the type of resistance needed to make you gain any size.  Also remember that exercise is specific.  Strengthening your upper body doesn't make your lower body grow any more than the reverse is true.  Some exercises release the most natural anabolic hormones like squats and deadlifts, but they are used on the muscles that had the most work.  Squatting won't give you a bigger chest any more than benching will give you bigger quads.  There is always a cause and effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-08-11T11:58:30.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13531" CreationDate="2013-08-11T12:58:10.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are over-thinking things too much.  Yes, it's important to have equilibrium in your exercise, but understand the purpose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is to make sure your joints stay in proper alignment when at rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight I use for my rows is much lighter than my bench press.  I make up for that fact by doing more reps with the rows than I do with the bench.  For example, I may be benching in excess of 120kg and rowing with 55kg.  The ratio isn't so important as it is the fact you are using the heaviest weight you can do for 20+ reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your routine is mostly body weight exercises, perhaps a better match would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inverted rows&lt;/a&gt;.  Essentially you have a bar, desk, or table over you and you pull yourself up to it.  If you can do pull ups, those would also be excellent additions to your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-08-11T12:58:10.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13541" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13542" CreationDate="2013-08-11T17:08:57.327" Score="0" ViewCount="1324" Body="&lt;p&gt;By marathon runner's physique what I mean is a body type that is not bulky but muscular. Something like just a real lean build with low body fat percentages, muscles showing naturally without even working them out that much, not the bulging everywhere type. But not looking wimpy at the same time too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my attempts to reach this goal (and with no gym membership to boot) I've opted to use this workout &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;routine&lt;/a&gt;. I've modified the routine a bit to increase intensity especially on the core area and on the arms, maybe even with the chests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For equipment I currently have the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My trusty elliptical machine (where I've been doing tabata intervals and pyramid HIIT exercices in the past. I've opted to stop using it because I noticed I've been working out my legs far too much and that maybe I can now burn the remaining percentages of fat that I have through resistance training (the aformentioned routine); correct me if I'm wrong though)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2 dumbbells weighing 8lbs each total (the weights are removable, each dumbbell is made up of 2 2.5lb weights and 2 1.5lb weights)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An exercise mat&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our kitchen door frame for doing my pullups&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's pretty much it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the mentioned equipment, I've gotten to a fitness level beyond anything I've ever imagined I can achieve so I plan to just stick with what I have as of the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would Scooby's suggested routine along with my aformentioned equipment be enough to achieve my goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sex: male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 5'3 (I'm a small guy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 56kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyfat percentage: 17% I think. I measured it through an online calucator that relies on the 'Navy's Body Fat Percentage' computation, something like that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet: I don't have a diet because I find it hard measuring what I eat but most of the time I aim for a 20 or more percent of caloric deficit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Level of fitness: I haven't really measured my fitness level yet and I don't know how to describe it, but I'll try. I can do 4 sets of tabata intervals (20 sec work, 10 sec rest; 8 reps), 70 - 80 pushups per session, 120 situps/crunches, 40 pullups (not in one swoop though), dumbbell goblet squats, around 50 reps. That's it more or less.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T14:59:43.407" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T14:59:43.407" Title="How to achieve a &quot;marathon runner's&quot; physique by just working out?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-08-13T06:47:08.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13541" CreationDate="2013-08-11T18:37:35.053" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One misconception you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;just lean muscles&quot;: All muscles are lean. There is no difference between the lean-ness of one person's muscles and another person's muscles. The difference is in the amount of bodyfat they're carrying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a body that is muscular, but not bulky:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength-train or body build until you're at the level of muscle that you want, and then just maintain that. You won't be come bulky overnight. You can then work on adjusting your proportions in just the way you like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a marathon runner's physique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train for a marathon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a thin frame, and &quot;flat&quot; abs, not the bulging everywhere type:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just eat less. You don't need to do any physical activity to get to that state. You'll lose your bodyfat, your muscles will be lean (as they always have been), your abs will be flat (since you will not have trained them); they won't be bulging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switching to resistance training from your HIIT training to burn fat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT along with a correct diet works great for fat loss. The reason that was working for you is because you're using the biggest muscles in your body (hamstrings, glutes, quads, spinal erectors). Resistance training can also totally work. But, the people who have the most success using resistance training for fat loss use a strength training program centered around a few full-body compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, presses, and pull-ups/chin-ups (note, these also get the biggest muscles in the body working). With the workout you've chosen, it's benefits are more akin to your HIIT work. It's just endurance intervals, but instead of running or elliptical, you're just doing other movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-11T18:55:05.743" LastActivityDate="2013-08-11T18:55:05.743" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13554" CreationDate="2013-08-11T23:32:25.560" Score="5" ViewCount="551" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have previously done the starting strength program, which puts emphasis on compound exercises with a lower body focus. Recently I have started commuting to work on my bicycle, and my commute includes a steep hill-climb at the end of the day. After that, the last thing I want to do is squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My lower body and core get a sufficient workout, so I would like to compliment this with upper body strength training. I have adjustable dumbbells and enough gym experience to train myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what is a good upper body focused strength routine (preferably requiring only a dumbbells and chin-up bar) for a cyclist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3462" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T16:28:35.473" Title="What is a good upper body strength routine for a cyclist" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13541" CreationDate="2013-08-12T00:02:41.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to have the body of a runner, you need to run. Likewise, if you want the body of a powerlifter, lift; rower, row; rock climber, climb; etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that marathon runners only run marathons during a race, but will often do upwards of 100km a week when training. Start slow and look at programs like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch25K&lt;/a&gt; that will get you running. You could get the body you wanted with a strict diet and a 3-4 long sessions a week. More good news, running is fun, gives you time to think, and the only equipment you need is some good shoes. Depending on the weather you might need a water bottle (and holder), if you are doing more than 10km a session when its hot, or a pair of good light gloves when its cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your elliptical, you could look at just doing long steady sessions on the machine instead of running. Keep in mind that elliptical training will not make you a better runner as there is less weight-bearing contact and a difference in stabilising muscles used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, high intensity training is the complete opposite of that adaptations needed for long-distance cardiovascular endurance. So whether you run or use the elliptical, you are going to look at putting in considerable long, steady sessions of cardio work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At the end of the day, if you want to look like a particular type of athlete, you need to train like they do.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T05:51:19.520" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T05:51:19.520" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13527" CreationDate="2013-08-12T04:07:15.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty sure that your teacher is telling you to get your shoulders back (don't hunch over) and stand straight up.  You don't need to flex anything though.  But when you are doing something like marching (think Army) you need to have your back straight and perpendicular to the ground, your steps need to firm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your posture is bad when you normally walk it will take practice.  And of you should feel a little out of breath keeping your body in a position you are not used to, especially when doing something else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T04:07:15.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13558" CreationDate="2013-08-12T13:22:21.497" Score="10" ViewCount="56330" Body="&lt;p&gt;My both hands are really shakey. Starting in the middle of the workout and ending after five hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they shake? What doest it mean? And is it normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6503" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T19:44:31.913" Title="why do my hands shake after a workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13552" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-12T13:40:52.110" Score="3" ViewCount="1946" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm on a more or less intense training regime in the last few weeks. As I have a bike race coming up in two weeks I need to find the time to begin slowing down my training and start a short resting phase before the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Mo: Strength&#xA;Tu: Cardio&#xA;We: Strength&#xA;Th: Cardio&#xA;Fr: Strength&#xA;Sa: Party&#xA;Su: Pizza&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio primarily means biking for some hours (50-100km) in the afternoon. Depending on my mood and the weather I sometimes add half an hour of swimming in the morning.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Strength means Stronglifts 5x5, as I just restarted it the weight ranges are in the lower area (around 30-40kg depending on the exercise).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I add some bodyweight exercises (push ups, pull ups, headstands, planks etc), yoga and other cardio every now and then when I am bored.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The race is two weeks from now on a Saturday, how should I reduce the training intensity?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When to stop adding weight to 5x5?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On which day should I stop lifting completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Note: I know this workout program smells like overtraining, please ignore that fact. I know it myself, I can currently keep up to it and am more interested in the fun of exercising than &lt;em&gt;gains&lt;/em&gt;. Additionally I can't keep it up for much longer as soon as I have to study again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Note2: Ignore that this question is about a specific event, simply answer like the event is still 2 weeks from now, as there will always be another race two weeks from now.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T06:19:52.327" Title="When should I reduce my training intensity before a competition?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-03T02:31:38.953" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13552" CreationDate="2013-08-12T16:16:24.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never competed in a cardio-based sport like biking. But I know in weightlifting you generally start to taper ~3weeks out from a competition. Since you lose your cardiovascular endurance much faster than your strength, I think the 2 weeks you have to play with is a reasonable time frame. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would cut out almost all the intensity and volume from your strength program. Stop adding weight now, and just do a 1x5 or a few 3s at a very comfortable weight (maybe %80?). You won't lose very much strength in 2 weeks because you're staying pretty active. And I would definitely leave 2 or 3 days between your last lifting session and the race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't really speak to your bike/cardio workouts just because I'm not familiar with that kind of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T16:16:24.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13543" CreationDate="2013-08-12T16:28:35.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any specialized requirements for a cyclist other than &quot;avoid squats because my legs are fried&quot;, so a generic upper-body strength workout sounds fine. One slapdash version might look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of pull-ups for maximum reps with good form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead dumbbell press, warming up to three heavy sets of 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have heavy enough dumbbells to make it challenging, push presses are also great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another version of the same basic workout (one pull, one push, no bench or barbell) might be alternating between sets of push-ups and pull-ups. You could also play with renegade rows (push-ups on the dumbbells, pulling one dumbbell up between each push-up). Dips and one-arm rows are also great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the long term, I'd make sure to do one push and one pull in each workout. Those pushes and pulls could be swapped out (e.g. trade dips for push-ups) as you start to reach diminishing returns or boredom in one exercise. I'd also recommend at least a little bit of deadlifting and even squatting. This would make sure your hamstrings stay strong and you get some heavy, short leg work amidst all the long-duration cycling work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T16:28:35.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13552" CreationDate="2013-08-12T16:30:46.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, tapering is one of those things that is far from an exact science, and varies from individual to individual. Generally it's learned through long trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, my taper period is 2-3 weeks depending on the intensity of the event and how much I am targeting it as an 'A' race. I generally cut 30% from my workouts in week 1, another 20% in week two, and light workouts/refresher only in week 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try cutting by 20-30% this week, and light on the cardio next week as well as any lower body stuff. Other than making sure you replenish glycogen stores, you can probably keep the upper body, but if you start feeling fatigued don't be afraid to bag it. Then, you have a baseline of what to work from the next time you need to taper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T16:30:46.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13559" CreationDate="2013-08-12T19:33:03.447" Score="2" ViewCount="19290" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're not the most well-known ab isolation exercise, but they are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/CBKneelingCrunch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;documented on exrx&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148036063&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Icecream Fitness 5x5&lt;/a&gt; recommends them as the only ab isolation needed in the routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know/have a reference to whether they are worth doing over regular crunches or other core work? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are a pretty fun movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6370" LastActivityDate="2017-11-04T19:56:47.383" Title="How effective are Kneeling Cable Crunches?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13551" CreationDate="2013-08-12T20:58:06.830" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;First, this is not immediate cause for alarm.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is rather common as far as post-workout complications go, and is not, to my knowledge, an indicator of more serious problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Second, the reason for this.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your skeletal muscles are controlled by motor nerves. Each motor nerve controls a large group of muscle cells. Of importance is that these groups overlap, each muscle cell is capable of receiving commands from more than one motor nerve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a large muscle contracts under normal circumstances, the nerves fire off one by one, creating a tight pattern that gives the &lt;em&gt;illusion&lt;/em&gt; that the muscle as a whole is moving smoothly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As fatigue sets in, some motor nerves are knocked out of action. As the muscle cell groups overlap, the muscle can still contract, but since there are now fewer neurons handling the muscle as a whole, the illusion of the contraction being smooth is damaged - the muscle moves in jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people notice this most easily in the hands, as this is an area where we are used to having a very fine degree of motor control. Some notice it the most in the largest muscles (such as the quadriceps), as those muscles have a great number of muscle cells compared to the number of neurons to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the nerves are adequately rested, normal motor function resumes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Third, it may be possible to &quot;cure&quot; this.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People have reported quite a few things that seem to aggravate post-workout trembling, and their direct solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration. Solution: Drink more water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of electrolytes. Solution: Consume bananas/salt/Gatorade/your favorite replenisher.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low blood sugar. Solution: Eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of sleep. Solution: Sleep more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine overconsumption. Solution: Drink less coffee/tea/soda.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat:&lt;/strong&gt; I am not a doctor. I am an amateur working from my memory of an article that I can't find any more. If the trembling is causing you discomfort, is chronic, or is verging on being full-on spasms and/or seizures, I suggest you see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T20:58:06.830" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2013-08-12T21:06:43.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they are fun, they are more effective because you are more likely to do them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as them being more effective in actual muscle building, it all depends on form. If form is correct, then they are not any more or less effective than any other ab isolation exercise done with correct form (With the caveat that cable crunches are often easier to do with higher level weights). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary function of the rectus abdominus is flexion of the lower (lumbar) spine. Depending on whether you anchor the pelvis or the chest, it will move one or the other towards the opposite. (Anchor pelvis, it will move the ribcage to meet the pelvis in direction, and vice versa). Anything that increases resistance to that movement will have beneficial effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T21:06:43.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13561" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13562" CreationDate="2013-08-12T22:32:00.713" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be going on a trip in about a year that's going to require some fairly heavy physical labor. Last time I went, I thought I was in fairly decent shape and still got knocked around. This time I'd like to be better prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only problem is I'm not super great at committing to a &quot;workout&quot;. So here's my question: how have you gotten over the hump of getting started to build a habit of working out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things I've considered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Graph paper, set a goal and try to reach it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beeminder?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forcing myself to do it (sounds inefficient...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've got a plan in mind, as well, dumbells at home in the morning. Doable?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6515" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-13T05:04:00.627" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T05:04:00.627" Title="Getting ready for outdoor work as a knowledge worker" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13561" CreationDate="2013-08-12T23:04:51.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Make it part of your routine.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're working out at home, try laying your gym clothes out the night before so that you're ready in the morning.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a difficult time getting out of bed in the morning, an A.M. routine might not be for you.  Consider working out at lunchtime or after work instead.  The workout will be the first to go if you need a little extra sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I work out at least five times a week.  Every morning I put my gym clothes into my gym bag and put it in my car as I go to work.  If for some reason I don't do this, it's very difficult for me to go home and leave again to go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Start by making short-term goals, not long-term ones.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long-term goals are generally a bad idea when it comes to starting a workout routine.  Instead focus on short-term goals such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to the gym today&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a healthy meal at lunch today&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do one more rep on my set today&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the incline slightly on the treadmill today&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will help keep your focus on doing the right thing on a day to day basis, rather than reaching for goals that may not even be attainable.  This is a mistake many beginners make when starting to exercise.  For example, people often set a weight loss goal (say 20 lbs in 3 months), and find they start gaining weight when they work out.  This can be discouraging.  Instead focus on making the right choice; make it your goal to work out &lt;em&gt;today&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Forget about how you &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Successful people are successful because they work hard at a goal even when they don't &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; like it.  Be mindful of how you feel, yet still make the decision to do the work.  You'll feel a greater sense of accomplishment after having done the work even when you didn't feel like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Get a workout buddy.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having someone to work out with will keep you accountable.  A personal trainer might do the job if you can't find anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-08-12T23:04:51.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13561" CreationDate="2013-08-13T00:14:29.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As much as I usually hate the term you need...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;em&gt;Functional strength!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical labour is very different to regular strength training for a few reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbells and dumbells are symetrically weighted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbells and dumbells are static weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbells and dumbells are designed to be easily grabbed and safely lifted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Traditional strength training has you doing fixed reps and sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bad news is, that when you are moving things around the weights are usually asymetric, they shift as you carry them, are unwieldy and won't move in ways you want them to. Think about a bag of cement versus a barbell, a bag of cement will weigh about 15-25kg, which is about the weight of an unladen barbell, except the bag of cement has no easy hand holds, and will move in your hands, an you'll be moving them all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than join a gym, I'd probably recommend looking into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/sandbag-training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sandbag training&lt;/a&gt;. Most plans will be similar to the one just linked, but will be based on high rep kettlebell &#xA;like movements. Kettlebells are fantastic for weightlifting endurance, which is why they were so revered by the Russians&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By their nature, typical kettlebell exercises build strength and endurance ... in a way that mimics real world activities such as shoveling or farm work. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sandbag training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially you need to fill a duffel bag with some weight, like small bags of sand or lengths of chain and use that as the weight. The idea behing many small weights is so you can load and deload the bag as needed easily and cleanly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you'll be looking at doing full body exercises like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet Squats (To get a weight into an easy to carry position)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleans (same as above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts / Straight leg deadlifts (To get a weight onto another platform to make it easier to lift)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One-arm farmers walks (To get a weight to the other side of the yard)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One-arm snatch (To get a weight onto your shoulder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press / push press (To get a weight well above shoulder height)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already have some strength training under you (weight) belt, dial the weight back when using a sandbag for two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The weight will be far less stable - meaning your small stabilisers will be much more important&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will want to be doing lots of reps, and I mean lots. When you are in the field, it doesn't matter if you can lift a really heavy sandbag once, you need to have the endurance to do it all day long. So train for endurance over raw power and strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to insert the above along side a traditional strength training program, but what will be important when you are down there is the ability to lift weights for a long time without rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T00:14:29.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13561" CreationDate="2013-08-13T02:45:53.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What worked for me to get committed was to set time aside, make a concrete goal, and take notes in a notebook with a pen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Set time aside&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided firmly that I would work out three times a week. I figured out the days, I resolved to clear my schedule, and I didn't make plans for those days. If someone wanted to hang out, I made an appointment for after my workout. I planned ahead so that meals, dates, and work would not interfere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Make a concrete goal&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I knew exactly what I was going to do in every workout before I started. That's because I was following a program and not just farting around. I highly recommend this approach for someone starting out: pick three to six exercises, determine a set and rep scheme, and decide how often you'll add weight. Then do it. Don't waste precious minutes mid-workout doing calculations or considering whether you feel like doing pull-ups today: just follow the plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is one reason why a workout program designed by someone more experienced than you is such a good idea. Starting Strength is a solid option, since it will give you a solid base of strength to work from. Pavel's Power to the People or kettlebell workouts are fine choices too. If you are working with dumbbells, maybe just cobble together a routine out of renegade rows, clean-and-presses, dumbbell squats and one-leg deadlifts.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Take notes in a notebook with a pen&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know about all this computer jibber-jabber. I record my workouts in detail using a pen in a paper notebook. I write the date, the day of the week, the time of day, how I feel, and everything I did in the workout. If something was a personal best or went particularly poorly, I make a note. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T02:45:53.227" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2013-08-13T05:14:16.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't suggest do kneeling cable crunches unless you need the advanced weight to actually engage your abdominal muscles - meaning you are a very advanced lifter or body builder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anytime that your have that much contact with the floor to settle your body - knees and feet in this case - the more the weight is distributed.  In fact I would strongly suggest that this lift is often done improperly engaging in too many muscles outside of the abs.  I considered myself very advanced with ab workouts and wouldn't touch these.  I don't want to over-generalize but I feel my hip abductors and shoulders getting a workout - not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to work your abs out - get your feet (and knees) off the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T05:14:16.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12407" CreationDate="2013-08-13T05:20:07.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are getting at over 50% of your max there is no reason to warm up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely do not support jogging or any other form of cardio before lifting.  You want your muscles to have tension when working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do suggest to a person doing push-ups in the morning.  Get down slowly and do the first 5-10 slowly with perfect form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T05:20:07.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13569" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-13T06:17:43.127" Score="8" ViewCount="4667" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my physical test requirements are standing broad jumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What methods are there to train for standing broad jumps or leg explosive power in general?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And which precautions do I have to take so that I do not injure my knees or my back as I land?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6508" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T10:52:22.790" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T20:28:08.667" Title="How to train for leg explosive power?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13569" CreationDate="2013-08-13T07:05:04.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost look at a strength program that has a focus on the lower body. A programs like Starting Strength is good as they cover the basic mechanics of the Squat, Deadlift, and Clean all movements that will provide excellent foundation for building a strong leap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is the last exercise - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_and_jerk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Clean&lt;/a&gt; - that you will want to focus on the most. A properly executed Clean requires the lifter to provide enough power through the legs to give a heavily laden barbell enough momentum to carry it to chest high to catch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that, while a strong vertical leap requires significant drive from the quads, a horizontal leap requires significant glute engagement. So additional glute training to may be helpful to provide the frward thrust you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to safety, unless you have pre-existing conditions, it is unlikely that you will hurt yourself. The human knee is quite strong and resilient when properly trained. Alongside you strength training, practise your long jump, starting with a short distance, learning how to land safely and cushion the blow. When you land, try to land with a bend in the knees to allow the muscles and ligaments of the ankle, knee, and hip to take the weight, rather than the bones themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T07:05:04.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13569" CreationDate="2013-08-13T12:43:26.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Olympic lifts are great for practicing and generating powerful, explosive legs. The snatch and clean (and their power variants) are the most explosive training movement and should be the focus of your training for explosiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one should not solely work the Olympic lifts. Supporting lifts like the back and front squat, regular and Romanian deadlift, overhead press and push press are all necessary scaffolding for a successful and healthy Olympic lifting regimen. Make sure you start with a base of strength and mobility before challenging your body with heavy cleans or snatches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One should also include jumps for height and distance (box jumps and broad jumps), using either one or both feet at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T08:46:59.277" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T08:46:59.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13502" CreationDate="2013-08-13T13:47:14.120" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people have misconceptions what 'tone', what it is, and how to achieve it. Being toned is a combination of two things - having muscle mass, and having a low enough amount of body fat to show the definition between the aforementioned muscles. A six pack is simply satisfying these conditions in a specific area - the stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're 6'1 152, and without visible abs, I would presume you have limited muscle mass. I realize you don't want a bodybuilder look, but 1/2 of the formula for being &quot;toned&quot; is having muscle on your frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to lift weights like you're trying to get big - just don't eat like you're trying to get big. You can lift like a bodybuilder or a powerlifter for years but without a certain caloric volume, you aren't going to get that big. Drop the machines and add in the big lifts - you need to be doing squats, deadlifts, presses, weighted pullups, etc. Also, these big exercises, when done properly, work your core very hard, which helps to build muscle necessary for a six pack. The prior advice that you should stop lifting so much if you start getting too big is just incorrect - keep lifting big, just don't eat as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings us to the next half of the equation - diet. While on the surface what you posted doesn't look bad, the devil is in the details. You need to really know how many calories you're taking in, how much protein, etc. For a couple of weeks, track &lt;strong&gt;everything&lt;/strong&gt; you ingest with something like FitDay, MyFitnessPal, etc. Get an idea for how many calories you're taking in, and how many you're burning. Only then can you really know if your diet is properly aligned with your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ab exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People tend to work under the assumption that in order to get a six pack, you need to do tons of ab work - crunches, lifts, planks, rollouts, you name it. Realistically, this isn't the case. Yes - as my definition at the top states, you need to have muscle mass to show stomach tone. However, most people that don't have a six pack simply have too much fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone's metabolism is different, and everyone's body accumulates fat differently. People like to throw out 'magic' numbers of body fat percentage where abs can be seen - these are general guidelines. Some people can have visible abs above 10%, some might need to get down to 7%. The real key is to just keep reducing fat until you get where you want to be - and remember, you cannot spot reduce fat. There is no exercise or diet that will cause you to lose more stomach fat than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the long run, you need to lose body fat to get the six pack you want. This requires a caloric deficit, but it also requires more focus on lifting to ensure that your body is burning fat, not muscle. In the short term, you may find it beneficial to focus more on building a baseline of muscle, without focusing as much on the caloric deficit. You will gain weight in this phase, but most of it should be muscle. Following some muscle gains, switch to a caloric deficit, cut the fat away, and you'll have the definition you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastEditorUserId="6375" LastEditDate="2013-08-13T17:36:21.837" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T17:36:21.837" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13569" CreationDate="2013-08-13T14:38:23.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any explosive movement (ie power cleans, squat jumps, box jumps) will increase your power. But keep in mind that the broad jump is an event that has it's own technique and the best way to get good at a skill is to practice that skill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T14:38:23.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12765" CreationDate="2013-08-13T16:31:03.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't something about you that makes you unique when compared with other strength athletes. If you eat more and train more you are going to progress. This sport isn't rocket science, so I think part of the problem is you are over thinking it. Pick a program with a lot of volume (Texas Method, Madcow, Smolov jr, etc) and stick to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are stalling, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; not gaining weight, try eating more. If you are stalling while gaining weight then things get tricky, and goes into much more depth than should be answered here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-13T16:31:03.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2013-08-14T02:05:34.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats and deadlifts definitely promote growth.  But that is not the whole story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use the tree analogy.  You don't see a tree with a tiny trunk and big thick branches.  If you want the thick branches you have to have a thicker trunk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes doing squats and deadlifts will promote complete body strength but that isn't the whole story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thing #1 - So you are starting out and want to get big quick.  Yes go heavy on squats and deadlifts.  But you have to do some arms.  First you need a little triceps to help bench.  Second the arm workouts help forearm and hand strength which help deadlifting and other lifts.  Then the biggest thing is so where are you at after 6-12 months of deadlifting and squatting when you have got a little bigger and you haven't touched your arms?  Well you are starting your arm workout and your arms will basically be shocked for a while.  Why not work them out (even marginally) so that your body can adjust easier to new routines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thing #2 - You might be at a point where you are not going to have huge gains in deadlifts and squats.  Of course working out your arms hard will make them stronger and bigger.   I don't think we need to debate that working out a body part makes it stronger/bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thing #3 - If you want size you need intensity for the reps or weight.  You can't do everything with intensity.  You get about 30 mins if you are lucky with high intensity.  So you if you want great arms you need to do them on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T02:05:34.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13569" CreationDate="2013-08-14T06:22:18.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tuck Jumps are your friend. Also look at Ninja Tuck Jumps where you basically start on your knees, go to a lower squat position from there and then jump.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;These exercises immediately came to my mind when you mentioned &quot;explosive&quot;. The classic Squats and Deadlifts are always going to help you build leg strength but these jumps increase your &quot;explosive&quot; strength since you are always trying to jump higher!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be very careful to have your knees bent as you land to minimize stress on them. Look up videos on YouTube for this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some exemplary videos:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtube.com/watch?v=zh1v8jINBZ0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tuck Jump&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fug09TvDC5Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ninja Tuck Jump&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6421" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T10:48:11.307" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T10:48:11.307" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="81" CreationDate="2013-08-14T08:55:05.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/463/3941&quot;&gt;An answer to another question&lt;/a&gt; lead me to an the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritionexpress.com/article+index/vitamins+supplements+a-z/creatine/showarticle.aspx?articleid=208&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Conquering creatine myths with science&lt;/a&gt; which also talks about other forms of creatine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Harris showed that the vast majority of creatine powder consumed is absorbed -- about 95% of the dose.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Special treatments and &quot;delivery systems,&quot; such as micronization, effervescent powder, or sublingual sprays have never been shown to produce more retention or absorption than creatine powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/creatine-how-much-should-you-be-taking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Creatine: How Much Should You Be Taking?&lt;/a&gt; on Schwarzenegger.com agrees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Creatine monohydrate is incredibly well-studied—and nearly every study referenced in this article utilized CM. It’s one of the most stable forms of creatine in solution, it’s not degraded during normal digestion, and 99 percent is either absorbed by muscle tissue or excreted through sweat or urine[41-42]. Other forms of creatine may be more soluble, but that has nothing to do with effectiveness. Creatine monohydrate is simply your best—and cheapest—choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems that you really don't need any special creatine as the absorption rates of standard creatine are extremely high anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T08:55:05.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2013-08-14T09:03:08.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how you do them you will not fully workout the lower part of your abs and mostly the upper part. I would not do them, as you say &quot;over regular crunches&quot;, but in addition to. In order to get a complete abs workout done you will need something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm-up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sit-ups, max amount possible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hanging Leg Raises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hanging Leg Kicks&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hanging Side Leg Lifts&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hanging V Lift&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wood Chop, High to low&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wood Chop, Low to high&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Twisting Sit-up, Incline&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Leg Cross Twist Crunch  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing that once per week to begin with and you will have a complete abs workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line however, if you think the exercise you are doing is fun and your seeing results there is little reason to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="6525" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T11:16:06.643" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T11:16:06.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13502" CreationDate="2013-08-14T09:21:56.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number ONE thing you will need to focus on is your diet. You can go to the gym and run all you want but without knowing exactly what you put into your body there is zero chance of you seeing any abs anytime soon. A six-pack is built in the kitchen, end of discussion. There are thousands of hits if you search for how to get a good body and many of them will focus on training and not enough time on the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Re-evalute your diet. You will need to record everything you eat (If you bite it, write it) and then create a diet around a general rule of as little carbs as possible. The idea that an Apple do not matter will need to go, EVERYTHING matters. Look at implementing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Ketogenic Diet&quot;&gt;Ketogenic Diet&lt;/a&gt; as this will produce results fairly fast. I can not stress enough how important the diet is, diet 80%-90% and the rest is training.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find your TDEE which you will need to get a correct diet (Again about the importance of diet). Here is a good explanation of TDEE &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;TDEE&quot;&gt;Basal metabolic rate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take your time. Really, go to the store, spend sometime looking at food and it's nutritional values. Take your time to implement the plan as the plan itself is very important.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allow a monthly cheat day. You will cheat so you might as well plan it. Most people will need this as they will go stir crazy otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take weekly pictures and weigh yourself weekly. Do not obsess over each day as you weight can change 5 pounds over night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be honest with yourself. If you cheat, write it down, accept that it happened and move on. Do not try to fix it by eating less the next day as it will only make things worse.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DIET, DIET, and DIET this is where the magic is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T09:21:56.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-14T09:24:04.760" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am staying away from the &quot;as-much-as-you-can&quot;. Now, in the dumbbells part of my workout I simply mimic a linear load progression at fixed number of reps, á la SL5x5. I just use smaller increments and a slightly higher rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I need an explanation of what I should do with the number of sets. What is the recommendation for a middle-aged person whose priority is to avoid screwing up his tendons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safer to restrict the number of sets to 3 instead of 5, or will that inhibit the progress too much? I don't mind to slow down the progress (as long as there is some) if that is safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specially, my priority is giving room for my wrist tendons to keep up with the progress. In most workouts plans I have seen, the number of sets specifically dedicated to forearms is usually low in relation to the main exercises. But I don't know if that is due to the fact that the forearm training is seen as a mere addition that should not interfere with the big exercises, or if that is due to an specific need of low volume for the most grip-taxing exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, my question is about the number of sets &lt;em&gt;in general&lt;/em&gt;, not only for the forearm specific work, since wrists take part in nearly all exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T09:44:10.417" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T07:18:13.113" Title="On the influence of the total number of sets, particularly with regard to tendon progress" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13569" CreationDate="2013-08-14T10:00:22.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explosive Leg Power Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train for explosive leg power you need to incorporate &lt;strong&gt;plyometric&lt;/strong&gt; or explosive strength training. Plyometric exercises improve your neuro-muscular control, as well as your strength and power.  However, because plyometrics are demanding, you do need to have a basic level of strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training for the Standing Broad Jump&lt;/strong&gt; (Also known as a Standing Long Jump)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve your standing broad jump you need &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;proper form and technique &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;power or explosive strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;flexibility   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The powerful hip and leg muscles propel you into the jump and then eccentrically help you land safely.  You also need to address your core strength. And don’t overlook the arm swing for lift which contributes significantly to the distance of the jump. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Form and Technique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To maximize your jump you must have good form, including timing of the arms and legs, positioning of the head with focus beyond your landing goal, and knee alignment on landing.  This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_zeTxnc_k4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standing broad jump video&lt;/a&gt; shows techniques, good form and test standards. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specificity of Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specificity of exercise suggests that to get good at the standing broad jump you need to practice the jump.  To get better results in a testing situation, the more you can simulate the testing conditions and surfaces, the better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to practice the needed component skills to accomplish the jump. This video gives &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGKIFTL-TbE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;drills&lt;/a&gt; for some of the component parts of the jump. It includes how to work towards to a safe landing by jumping down off of progressively higher boxes to gradually work on the deceleration/landing phase.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt; - Basic core strengthening exercises such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Stability-Fitness.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plank, side plank, and birddog&lt;/a&gt; can be done without equipment.  Squats and lunges strengthen your glutes and legs.  If you have access to a gym, lifts as mentioned by @Dave and @Lego will give you both strength and power.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power or Explosive Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_zeTxnc_k4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plyometric exercises&lt;/a&gt;, deep medicine ball squats with toss, jumps and bounding will give you good carry over for the broad jump.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/5zAkYWo_4ts?t=1m35s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kettlebell swings&lt;/a&gt; are also good for targeting the glutes and hip muscles dynamically. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need full body flexibility for good form in the broad jump.  Hamstrings, calf muscles, quads, hip flexors, lats all need to be free to give you the movements you need.  The &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2959/what-is-the-key-to-avoid-injury-when-squatting-with-your-body-weight/2960#2960&quot;&gt;Third World Squat&lt;/a&gt; is a good way to work on lower body flexibility.  Yoga has good full body stretches like child’s pose, cobra and sun salutations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safe Landing&lt;/strong&gt; - To avoid injury you need to have good lower extremity alignment and good eccentric muscle strength to decelerate. For a practice &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGKIFTL-TbE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;landing drill&lt;/a&gt;, see the previously referenced video . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Knee flexion - The hips and knees need to fully flex on impact and not remain stiff or straight.  If they are stiff on landing you risk injuring your back or knee ligaments.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Knee alignment - The knees should also remain in alignment with your hips and ankles. If you have weak glutes, your knees may roll in toward the midline rather than maintaining alignment with the hip and ankle on landing, causing a medial knee strain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to warm-up (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8262/dynamic-stretching-as-warm-up/8308#8308&quot;&gt;dynamic&lt;/a&gt;), visualize the jump and go for it.  Good luck with your test.            &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T10:00:22.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13583" CreationDate="2013-08-14T11:44:58.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keeping your rep range between 8-12 will allow you muscles to reach hypertrophy (You can Google for many studies around this) and as soon as you can lift 12 you increase with the smallest amount possible. Always lift to &lt;strong&gt;positive failure&lt;/strong&gt; and you will have tendons adjust to your new weights in no time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is supposed to and what have been actually studied are two different things. It seems very hard to find anything scientific around the 5x5 method (I am not saying it is not working) but I will reference one of many studies in regards to what I am stating above &lt;a href=&quot;http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/11828249/reload=0;jsessionid=cDq9RRlTq8szWQ2t7flQ.24&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to muscle activation differences between using dumbbells and a machine it is fairly minimal which would mean you could employ using machines with the 8-12 range and safely increase your muscle mass without the fear of being injured as this study confirms &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2010.543916#.Ug3PnmT88zE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A comparison of muscle activity and 1-RM strength of three chest-press exercises with different stability requirements&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="6525" LastEditDate="2013-08-16T07:18:13.113" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T07:18:13.113" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12765" CreationDate="2013-08-14T11:54:23.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best way I found to fix my Bench Press problem was to start using a Smith Machine. The difference in how the muscles are activated is pretty minimal, see this study &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/41112033_A_comparison_of_muscle_activation_between_a_Smith_machine_and_free_weight_bench_press&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A comparison of muscle activation between a Smith machine and free weight bench press.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now rotating the Smith Machine with a regular Bench Press and I am seeing a significant difference now that my Pecs have gained some mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quote from study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS&#xA;  The bench press is a common exercise performed by both athletes and recreational lifters and prescribed by strength coaches and trainers. The results of the present study suggest that the free weight bench press may lead to an increased requirement for stabilization about the glenohumeral joint from muscles such as the medial deltoid. Sports such as basketball, baseball, tennis, racquetball, hockey, and volleyball include movements that require deltoid strength and stability about the glenohumeral joint. The strength coach may better serve his/her athletes by choosing the free weight bench over the Smith machine bench press because of its potential for more sports-specific muscular development. The results of the present study also suggest that it may be advantageous for those who have not developed the neuromuscular adapta- tions necessary for correct stabilization of the glenohumeral joint (patients in rehab, or novice weightlifters) to use the Smith machine bench press over its free weight counterpart because of its reduced requirement for stabilization of the glenohumeral joint. However, future research should examine training-related changes in activation and strength develop- ment of these muscles as a result of different modes of bench pressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="6525" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T12:36:16.980" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T12:36:16.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4170" CreationDate="2013-08-14T11:58:26.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supplements are for people working on the last bit of perfection in their physique. Any normal gym rat will not notice and huge difference. One need to understand that most supplements are simply crap and that almost no one in the Ads for them actually take them but supplement with AAS instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T11:58:26.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2013-08-14T12:40:46.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some replacement exercises, however, as stated above, it can not be replaced entirely due to the complexity of the exercise itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lat Pulldowns (compound, overhand grip)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pull-Ups (compound, weighted, overhand grip)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bent Over Barbell Rows (compound)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seated Cable Rows (compound)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One-arm Dumbbell Rows (compound)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullover Machine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kneeling Cable Bent-Over Pullovers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decline Cable Pullovers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyperextensions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T12:40:46.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-14T14:55:15.600" Score="0" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I used to run track my coach would tell us to eat a bunch of spaghetti the day before a big race because it would give us energy. Recently I ready a study that said whenever you eat complex carbohydrates your body automatically stores it as fat because it cant break it down. I  am trying to minimize my body fat whilst gaining muscle mass. This requires many carbs with are easy to get form starches. So should I avoid these foods or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6526" LastEditorUserId="6526" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T18:36:26.003" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T04:54:45.907" Title="Should I avoid bread, noodles and other starches the day before fitness activities?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-14T15:02:04.153" Score="3" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both my father and my grandfathers have fairly large muscular frames. However, they haven't worked out since they were much younger. How is it possible for them to maintain this muscle mass without working out? Is the extent of muscular atrophy different in everyone? Could it be genetic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: With the exception of yard work and occasionally moving heavy objects they are mostly sedentary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6526" LastEditorUserId="6526" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T15:56:10.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T22:27:54.087" Title="When does musclar atrophy take place?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13552" CreationDate="2013-08-14T15:02:57.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cut down on long distance training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The most important part is to cut down on the total amount of workout one week before the race and sometimes two weeks, depending on how you feel. Cut the training in half or the total distance by about one third is a good rule of thumb. This will give the body a good opportunity to relax without going into “sleep” mode. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep the speed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Still workout at the same speed as before only cut down on volume as this is a good way to keep the edge of the capacity you have built-up before during your normal training weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Easy workout but do not rest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To take one, maybe two, days of before the race is good and will help the body but resting for several days in a row will have the opposite effect and will make the muscles tighten up  and you will lose the flow of your workout. It is better to do a very slow and not so long ride before hand just to have the body move around a bit and keep your feeling of still working out. You can call this ”active rest”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T15:02:57.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13591" CreationDate="2013-08-14T15:45:47.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Genetics...some people have more natural muscle mass than others. If they worked out when they were younger, I imagine they were bigger then, and if they worked out now they'd like be bigger than they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T15:45:47.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13594" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13596" CreationDate="2013-08-14T16:03:36.720" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Products like CYTOMAX (with Stevia) boast enhanced energy for endurance sports, and I have certainly felt a boost at times when I need it. However my local nutritionist said that Fructose inside it increases lactate levels and also hampers fat burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goals are to get better at sprinting up the climbs with reduced lactate burn, and also burn body fat overall with my workouts. Should I stop using products with Fructose in it? Will this help reduce that lactate burn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6527" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T17:06:27.993" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T18:50:38.403" Title="Does the fructose in my supplement hinder my cycling routine?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13399" CreationDate="2013-08-14T17:39:51.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll answer from my perspective of noob/novice to serious gym training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I love the book is that explains everything you need to know about the most serious exercises a poor unconditioned bastard like me has to do it, and HOW to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The challenge I encounter is finding a spotter who understands the &quot;middle of the foot&quot; concept and the other spotting criteria that Rip defines. The hope I have is to start teaching this concepts to a partner so we can train and spot with the same &quot;quality&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot critique the program to full extent because I don't do it completely. I have other activities between the training (TKD) so I play very safe on the lifts themselves, always checking the form by myself (to much embarrassment taking videos alone). I'm mastering one by one on the books instructions and it has worked. I have a very good squat form (the first I've learned) at 118% BW, my bench,press,deadlift are improving as I read and apply session by session what's in the book. I've discarded power cleans because i have to master DL first, and since I don't trust that much in gym instructors to teach me it's better to leave at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the success is having a nice language, the way the book &quot;talks&quot; keeping it simple and focus on learning deeply the lifts involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not regret doing it rips way simply because now I can punch,jump and kick stronger than ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6528" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T17:39:51.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13594" CreationDate="2013-08-14T18:23:34.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clear up a common misconception - Lactate is a fuel source, and is NOT the source of muscle burn/fatigue. As you exercise, glucose is broken down into pyruvate and lactate. Pyruvate is used in the mitochondria to produce ATP (Adenosine Tri Phosphate), which is what produces energy in the cells as they break a phosphate bond to produce ADP (adenosoine Diphosphate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the cell gets to capacity on how much pyruvate the mitochondria can process, the body correspondingly seeks equilibrium and produces more lactate. It is this buildup of lactate that was mistakenly attributed as the cause of fatigue/burn in muscle. The mitochondria have the ability to take up lactate, convert it to pyruvate and then to ATP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as far as muscle burn, physiologists are somewhat back to square one, in that they are seeking what causes it. One of the recent suspects is the buildup of hydrogen (H+) ions which creates an acidic environment in the muscles during high intensity exercise.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16573355&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; [Study synopsis&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the fructose causing higher lactate levels, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/9/1/89&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; suggests that within a few hours up to 1/4 of the fructose can be (not necessarily will be) converted to lactate, but again, lactate is a fuel source and is not the cause of your muscle burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat metabolism is not an either/or thing. You are always burning some proportion of fat for energy when you exercise. At lower intensities, this may be as much as 50% of energy is coming from fat stores, while the higher the intensity the less you rely on fat. However, overall you generally burn more calories (and thus more fat) at higher intensity exercises. Fructose isn't really going to have much of an effect on this (That I am currently aware of, anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL:DR; - Fructose won't affect fat or the lactate burn. To be good at cycling up hills you want a good power to weight ratio, and to reduce fat simple calorie restriction on a good diet combined with exercise is all you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-08-14T18:50:38.403" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T18:50:38.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13598" CreationDate="2013-08-14T19:22:53.843" Score="3" ViewCount="4996" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a taekwondo pupil and weightlifter in between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thing is some of my high kicks are troubled by a lack of flexibility around &quot;I don't know where &quot; mainly the Dollyo Chagui and Yop Chagui and their variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What flexibility training would be recommended in off days to improve range/height of those kicks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus points for suggestions of exercises that improve technique control of those kicks too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current flexibility assessment: bow down to half the shins distance, rounding back. Straight back seated is barely less than 90º burns and holds on the back of the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6528" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-08-15T13:36:58.167" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T20:13:01.027" Title="Flexibility Training for Taekwondo?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13597" CreationDate="2013-08-14T20:48:42.847" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those that are not aware, Dollyo Chagi is a roundhouse kick, and Yop Chagi is a side kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is key for Tae Kwon Do (TKD), as the style heavily favors kicking, and especially for World Taekwondo Federation type sparring (Olympics) it is the major scoring technique. Very little scoring in WTF is done with hand techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the description that you give, it sounds like you have very tight hamstrings, which is not that uncommon. I went through several links on google and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/stretching/4-effective-hamstring-stretches.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; has what I would consider the best 4 hamstring stretches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I stretch, I go through a progression, designed to hit all the major lower body muscle groups which I outline below. I generally do this directly after class or form work. Hold each stretch for 15-20 seconds, then relax, exhale and reach/hold for 15-20 again. Generally I get a little further on the second stretch than the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get more advanced, you can look into something called Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) which can get somewhat extreme and is only recommended once or twice a week. Also, you can look at Bill Wallace's book &quot;Dynamic Stretching and Kicking&quot;. While somewhat dated, all of the basic stretches are there and you can develop your own routine. Just make sure that you modify it for modern understanding of safety (Such as the hurdler stretch, place your foot next to thigh, not out to side and behind).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stretches that I do are as follows (I generally stretch hamstrings, then inner/groin, quads then calves/feet, although my order and stretches may vary.) I don't do much partner stretching, as I've had overzealous partners do some damage before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing hamstring - Feet together, your standard &quot;hang and reach&quot;. Try to keep your back more flat, not rounded. Don't push this too hard, as there is some risk to the lower back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straddle stretch - Think Annon Chagi (Horse/Middle stance) but with mostly straight legs. Reach to floor. I do one set with feet shoulder width, and then one set with a fairly wide foot base.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quad stretch - Pick foot up behind you, try to touch it to your butt. Advanced - Arch backwards at same time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hurdler stretch - Foot tucked into thigh&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front splits - As far as I can go, not quite to full yet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rotational - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/485&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This link&lt;/a&gt; shows it, hard to describe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butt - Lay on back with feet like you were sitting cross legged (one foot on opposite knee) - Reach under crossed foot, pull lower leg into body, which will stretch the crossed leg. Repeat on other leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straddle - Sit on the floor in a straight leg annon chagi type position (Stretch #2 but seated) and reach to right, left, center.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calves - Your basic pike position (Pushup position with a bent middle instead of straight), &quot;walk&quot; your hands forward until your heels just start to lift off floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sitting on toes, then sitting on tops of feet will work the fascia and muscles in the feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With anything, monitor. Stretches should be a little uncomfortable, but should never hurt. Never &quot;push through&quot; pain on a stretch. If it hurts, you're either doing it wrong or you are stretching too far for your capability. Also, never stretch without some kind of an active warmup first. Stretching on &quot;cold&quot; muscles is a good way to hurt things. Read through basic yoga, figure out what you like and works for you. These two links from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;martial arts stack exchange site&lt;/a&gt; are also good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/723/what-are-ways-to-increase-flexibility-for-karate-kicks&quot;&gt;Flexibility for karate kicks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/287/how-do-i-increase-hip-flexibility-for-round-kicks&quot;&gt;Flexibility for round kicks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as control, that just takes lots and lots of practice. Grab a bar or other support, and work on slow, controlled kicks. When we teach, we do a four count of chamber, extend kick, rechamber, return to start position. Hold it in various spots. Good kicking is a combination of relaxation until just before impact, muscular strength, flexibility and lots of repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, on your yop chagi, if your hip abductors (The muscles responsible for raising your leg to the side) are weak, you won't be able to raise your leg as high, and if you are inflexible, then you are fighting that. It all works together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:49:44.007" LastActivityDate="2013-08-14T22:25:03.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13609" CreationDate="2013-08-14T23:37:23.913" Score="4" ViewCount="11402" Body="&lt;p&gt;The calorie calculator tells me to eat 2700.&#xA;My friends/forums tell me to eat 3000-5000 to bulk up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm student who us very lightly active. Most of the time I read or sitting at the desk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do go to the gym 5 times a week. And now I do take 2600 cal and 200gram protein daily. But I'm getting fatter and the belly is growing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I sink it down to 2100 cal, will this affect my muscle growth? What should I do? How much to eat? I need maximum muscle growth and minimum body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;23yo. Male. 1 year experience. I do run every night for 2-5km. &#xA;5 days per week for weight lifting. 174 cm. 82 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6503" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T11:20:02.440" Title="Do i really have to eat this much for building muscles?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13604" CreationDate="2013-08-15T02:01:49.580" Score="1" ViewCount="1299" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/19/the-man-who-wants-to-kill-crunches/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, all forms of crunches are bad for your back, because they flex the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of whether or not this is 100% accurate, I would like to know if there are any ab exercises I can perform which involve little-to-no flexion of the spine, yet still exercise the muscles enough to achieve a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13502/how-can-i-get-more-toned&quot;&gt;toned look&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article mentions these exercises which are safe for the back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/RearDeclinePlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bridges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Planks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/LVLegExtension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leg extensions ?&lt;/a&gt; (Side note: does anyone know which exercise they are referring to?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BWBirdDog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bird dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxl9Fxcr-00&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stir the pot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all of these exercises, it looks like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/RectusAbdominis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rectus abdominis&lt;/a&gt; muscles are exercised &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Glossary.html#anchor1290868&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;isometrically&lt;/a&gt;. Is that really enough in order to achieve a toned ab look? If not, can you recommend any alternative exercises which don't involve spinal flexion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say I do use an exercise which tones the abs without requiring flexing the spine, would it take a lot longer to build muscles than the traditional way (i.e. sit-ups, crunches, etc.)? Also, would it be more likely that I would plateau a lot sooner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I realize that in order to get toned abs, you need a combination of very low body fat in addition to significant abdominal muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6513" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T01:21:40.860" Title="Exercises for toned abs that aren't detrimental to back health?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-09-03T19:32:55.223" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-15T02:57:22.790" Score="9" ViewCount="596" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the first suggestions when looking at improving a running pace is to examine your technique. However, I prefer to run alone and if I didn't I don't know any experienced runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I most commonly run 5 or 10km runs during the week, with a longer run over the weekend. I've been using minimalist shoes for several months and feel like I have adapted to a mid-foot strike. I'm looking at bringing my pace down from 5:30 min/km to closer to 5:00 min/km for a marathon next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a suggestion for how I can self-assess my running technique to identify flaws?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T09:04:12.390" Title="Methods for self-assessing running technique" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13601" CreationDate="2013-08-15T03:29:34.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A technique that has proven useful to me is to run barefoot on pavement and gravel. The roughness of the surface maximizes the sensory input to your feet, and the hardness of the surface calls attention to any excessive impacts or inefficiencies further up the foot/leg/knee/hip joints. I often run the first mile or two of a workout barefoot on pavement as a way to maintain a &quot;muscle memory&quot; of good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start by standing on the pavement or gravel, getting a feel for what the surface feels like &quot;at rest&quot;, and then walking in place for a few steps, then bouncing and jogging in place, and then begin moving forward. As you transition from standing to moving in place to running, pay attention to how the surface feels on the soles of your feet, how your feet are landing and lifting, how your muscles and joints feel. I've found that even very small adjustments in foot placement, hip movement, knee bend, cadenece, etc., are can be measured by watching for changes in the level of comfort or pain felt on these sorts of surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is a rather subjective technique that I think is only useful in conjunction with learning about good form from other sources, etc. Thus I would be very interested in seeing a more thorough answer than this that describes some more objective techniques to self-assess running form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T03:29:34.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13599" CreationDate="2013-08-15T03:57:11.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite a couple confusions, here are the answers to the questions you asked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should &lt;strong&gt;absolutely not sink down to 2100 cal if you're trying to gain muscle&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't have a source for it (I hope someone can provide a good study), but it's near impossible to gain muscle while at a caloric deficit. Considering your activity level, you will lose some body fat at 2100 calories, but you absolutely won't gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain muscle you &lt;strong&gt;NEED to eat more calories than your body burns in a day&lt;/strong&gt;. If your body is burning 2700 calories a day, you should aim for 500 more than that (3200) to gain muscle. You can eat more than that and it might help with your strength, but you will also gain more fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will put on some body fat while bulking up and gaining muscle naturally, this is inevitable. You can cut back down with your 2100 cal diet after that if you want to lose the body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6370" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T03:57:11.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13600" CreationDate="2013-08-15T04:25:31.717" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://uwaterloo.ca/kinesiology/people-profiles/stuart-mcgill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Stuart McGill&lt;/a&gt;, who that article sites, is probably the worlds leading expert on back health and abdominal strength. He has stated quite adamantly that sit-ups and crunches are unsafe for the back, so if you are looking to minimise your risk of lower back pain and injury I'd be inclined to agree with everything he has to say on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of McGills main principles is that the abdominal muscles are stabilisers not movement muscles, so you want to train them in a way that they need to offer stabilisation. Often people find this is difficult to work into a progressive overload routine as you expect to be adding weight to keep within a rep range for strength or hypertrophy depending on your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to promoting ab growth the exercises you listed will all work fine, but if you are looking for a further challenge &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWKneelingWheelRollout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ab rollouts&lt;/a&gt; can be extremely difficult. Alternatively, if you want to use a weight to gauge progress an exercise I find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/plate-twist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plate twists (aka. cherry pickers)&lt;/a&gt; are a great ab exercise. The key with these is that your abdominals remain flexed in a static position, rather than being flexed and relaxed like in crunches. By remaining braced to maintain a position, while your obliques rotate the waist you use your body to perform a more &quot;natural movement&quot; for those muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing to look for in abdominal exercises is for activities where the spine remains static and the abdominals remain braced. While exercises might require a flexed, or extended abdomen the key is that the abdomen and lower spine should stay in a static position through the entire range of motion. Its because of this that people often suggest exercises such as deadlifts and squats (especially front squats) are sufficient for ab and core development; as the abs are used to statically and safely hold progressively larger weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regading your issue of how to expose the abs, that is an issue of diet rather than an aspect of any particular exercise. No matter how big your abs get, if they have a layer of fat they won't be seen. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13502/how-can-i-get-more-toned&quot;&gt;However, there are plenty of posts on this board that cover how to get 'toned'.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T01:21:40.860" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-15T06:18:17.083" Score="0" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out since 3 months. Initially, my aim was to increase weight. I increased my weight by 3 kgs during this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I feel confident and comfortable lifting moderately heavy weights. So, I want to shift my focus in giving my body a good muscular build. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presently my workout is of 6 days a week. I workout for 1 hr. My weight is 59 kg and height is 175 cms. Workout basically consists of each body part each day; warmups included. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to ask, whether to get a more muscular look, do I have to include anything else in my routine? I also want to ramp up my exercises to achieve my goal. In what direction should I spend my energy - exercise, now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T11:02:26.337" Title="Building abs and shaping up muscles" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-08-16T05:53:27.743" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13599" CreationDate="2013-08-15T10:47:50.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many reasons that bulking diets fail but here are a few of the most common reasons:&lt;p&gt;&#xA;1. Calories are not high enough and putting on muscle mass fails.&lt;p&gt;&#xA;2. Calories are too high and macros are wrong. This in turn leads to putting on fat as well as muscle.&lt;p&gt;&#xA;3. You are bulking, not cheating. Cheat days can be factored in, but your food choices should still be healthy. All diets, whether cutting or bulking, need to be monitored. This means that watching your insulin spikes and the type of carb you consume.&lt;p&gt;&#xA;4. You are what you eat, it’s that simple. To simplify, you eat crap and you will look like crap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harris Benedict Formula for Calorie Calculations&#xA;“The Harris Benedict equation is a calorie formula using the variables of height, weight, age, and gender to calculate basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is more accurate than calculating calorie needs based on total body weight alone. The only factor it omits is lean body mass and thus the ratio of muscle-to-fat a body has. Remember, leaner bodies need more calories than less leaner ones. Therefore, this equation will be very accurate in all but the very muscular (Harris-Benedict will under-estimate calorie needs) and the very fat (Harris-Benedict will over-estimate calorie needs).”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there are is no concrete number of daily calorie intake your body needs, however using this formula will give you can idea of what you do need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harris Benedict Formula for Men - Step 1&#xA;BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kilos) + (5 X height in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&#xA;You are 25 years old&#xA;You are 6 feet tall&#xA;Your weight is 220 pounds&#xA;Your BMR is 66 + (1370) + (914) - (170) = 2180 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harris Benedict Formula for Men - Step 2&#xA;To determine your total daily calorie needs (aka TDEE) multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are Sedentary - little or no exercise&#xA;Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.2 &#xA;- If you are Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week)&#xA;Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.375 &#xA;- If you are Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)&#xA;Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.55 &#xA;- If you are Very Active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/week)&#xA;Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.725 &#xA;- If you are Extra Active (very hard daily exercise/sports &amp;amp; physical job or 2X day training)&#xA;Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.9 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total Calorie Needs Example&#xA;If you are lightly active, multiply your BMR (2180) by 1.375 = 2997&#xA;Your total daily calorie requirement is therefore 2997 calories.&#xA;This is the total number of calories you need in order to maintain your current weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain body weight, you must consume more calories than you burn, pretty straightforward. So now we know that you need extra calories to gain weight. So what should these calories be comprised of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The BASICS-&#xA;1. Carbs - carbohydrates are a very helpful macronutrient when you are trying to gain lean mass. Meals should be comprised of slow burning complex carbs that are low on the glycemic chart. Some good examples of low glycemic carbs are brown rice, yams, and oatmeal. Others may include whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Protein - For bulking a good rule of thumb is 4g-6g of protein per kilogram of lean bodyweight. You should take in a good portion of your protein in the source of real meals, avoid intaking too many shakes. Examples of food with high protein bioavailability is egg whites, lean steak, and chicken breast.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fats - EFA’s (Essential Fatty Acids) are extremely important in any diet. Examples of good sources of fat are flax oil, nuts, salmon, olive oil.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The separation of Carbs and Fats - It is often when you eat items and with what you eat them that is more important than what you are eating. Remember that when you take in certain carbs you can spike your insulin levels. If you are taking in fats when your insulin is spiked you are allowing the basic laws of physiology to act out, and you allow for a higher propensity for fat storage. Separation is key. The sample diet will give a good example of how to separate them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Supplements - Glutamine: Helps prevent catabolism. Best used in dosages of 10grams daily, 5 grams before cardio and 5 grams at another interval, but not after workout as it fights for absorption with the glutamine peptides in whey. Creatine: Unlike while cutting, creatine can be used while bulking since the water retention from its use will not be an issue since you are “bulking”. In the body, creatine is synthesized from the amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine. Taking supplemental doses of creatine monohydrate can increase muscle creatine and phosphocreatine (PC) concentrations by up to 40%. These increases can lead to improvements in muscle energy production and recuperation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cheating - Cheating is essential. Why? Remember, the body runs on homeostasis and it likes to keep balance. After eating so well after a week, your body begins to adjust and lean mass gain / fat burning over time will not be as rapid. The other extremely important aspect is mental sanity. So many diets crash and fail because people don’t give themselves a chance to breath. Shoot for a cheat meal, not an all out binge. A fast food value meal can be 2,000 calories. Eat that 3 times on one day, and you’ve consumed 6,000 calories. And that’s not good in any case.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cardio - Cardio works the most important muscle of all – your heart. Not only that but doing cardio 3 times a week will help keep the fat you will gain in this diet to a minimum. The proper cardio for burning fat is done by staying in your target heart rate for fat burning which is 65-70% of your max heart rate for a period of 45-60 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample Diet: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the Harris Benedict formula above, our friend here needs 2997 calories a day to maintain his current weight. So in order for him to gain 1 pound a week, we need to increase his calories to right around 3500 a day since that will yield 3500 calories over his maintenance numbers needed for the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 1: Pro/Carb&#xA;8 Egg Whites, 1 Scoop Of Whey Protein, 1 cup oatmeal&#xA;50g protein / 54g carbs / 5g fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 2: Pro/Fat&#xA;Lean Ground Beef, ¼ cup swiss cheese, green veggies&#xA;55g protein / 2g carbs / 20g fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 3: Pro/Carb &#xA;Chicken Breast, 1 and a half cup Brown Rice&#xA;55g protein / 64g carbs / 3g Fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 4: Pro/Fat&#xA;2 Cans of Tuna, 1 Tbsp Full Fat Mayonnaise, Veggies&#xA;60g protein / 2g carbs / 13g Fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 5: PWO Nutrition&#xA;2 Scoops Whey Protein / 80g of Dextrose&#xA;40g protein / 80g carbs / 0g fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 6: PPWO&#xA;Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, ½ cup Brown Rice (Measured Uncooked)&#xA;50g protein / 70g carbs / 3g fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 7: Pro/Fat&#xA;Lean Protein of your choice, 2 Tbsp Natural Peanut Butter&#xA;50g protein / 5g carbs / 18g fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 8: Before Bed&#xA;3 Scoops of Whey Protein, 1.5 Tbsp. Flax Seed Oil&#xA;60g protein / 3g carbs / 21g Fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That turns into approximately 420 grams protein, 250 grams Carbs, and 83 grams of fat. This is roughly 3500 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="6525" LastEditDate="2013-08-15T11:22:14.787" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T11:22:14.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13605" CreationDate="2013-08-15T11:02:26.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at your weight and height I can tell you right now you will need to focus on what you eat. You need to create a bulking diet(I just answered that question here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13599/do-i-really-have-to-eat-this-much-for-building-muscles&quot;&gt;Bulking diet&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the workout itself is important diet is still 80%-90% of progress. There are so many good routines by doing a quick Google search that I see no need to repeat one here. Just get your diet right and the rest will follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T11:02:26.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13599" CreationDate="2013-08-15T14:00:16.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're gaining weight, you are in a caloric surplus. Do NOT drop your calories. If anything, it's possible you need to eat a little more, yes, but in general if you're gaining weight you have to be eating more than you're taking in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you aren't gaining any muscle, something must be wrong with your workouts. You say you're lifting 5x a week - what are you doing? The big lifts do the most to add muscle mass - squats, deadlifts, presses, etc. Also, running every day might be good for your cardiovascular system but it's burning more calories and not doing anything to help you gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T14:00:16.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13599" CreationDate="2013-08-15T14:49:10.707" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calorie calculators can't tell you exactly how many calories you need to eat -- they're making a lot of assumptions about your metabolism, activity level, etc.  While tools like the Harris Benedict Formula are useful, they are &lt;em&gt;generalizations&lt;/em&gt; -- everyone is different.  Not to mention, your activity level and metabolic rate will vary from week to week due to all kinds of stimulus you may not be able to control (stress levels, weather, relationships, sleep, and so on). You should use a calorie calculator as a baseline and do your own study from there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to do this is to buy a skin fold caliper (~$8 on amazon) and start a spreadsheet.  Use the calipers to measure your bodyfat, and weigh yourself every day or week.  Keep track of how many calories you're eating using something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fitday&lt;/a&gt; (or tallying the calories yourself).  Keep this data logged and make adjustments on a weekly basis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can dial in your daily caloric needs by observing for a couple of weeks.  If your weight and bodyfat don't fluctuate over the duration, you can average the number of calories you ate to determine your daily needs.  At that point, you can increase your calorie consumption by about 300-500 per day for the duration of your bulk.  If you find you are putting on too much body fat, you can tweak these numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that reading &quot;couple of weeks&quot; can be off-putting because we want a solution &lt;em&gt;right now&lt;/em&gt;.  But remember that there is no instant gratification in fitness.  You can't get a six pack overnight, nor can you squat 405 overnight.  Be scientific, be patient, and your results will reflect your effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-08-15T17:46:40.317" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T17:46:40.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4170" CreationDate="2013-08-15T17:45:09.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't waste your money. If you aren't willing to put in 'more than a little' exercise, the impact you'll see from the supplements will be slim to none. If someone told you that you looked bigger while you were taking creatine, that's because creatine causes you to retain slightly more water - so you had a bit more water weight bulking you out, but that's not the same as actual muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T17:45:09.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13612" CreationDate="2013-08-15T21:10:37.860" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running on the sand of the beach is supposed to be harder for your leg muscles and perhaps less stressful on your joints. What kind of shoes are best for that? Normal jogging shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-15T21:16:20.553" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T21:28:09.300" Title="What kind of shoes do you need in order to run on the sand?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13611" CreationDate="2013-08-15T21:28:09.300" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually none.  I tried several things including swimming &quot;socks&quot;.  It doesn't matter, sand gets in them and drives you nuts.  Barefoot is the way to go.  You will get used to it after just a couple weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T21:28:09.300" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13601" CreationDate="2013-08-15T21:32:29.833" Score="5" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treadmill Video&lt;/strong&gt; - Can be done on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although imperfect, if you have access to a treadmill, you can set up your video camera and film your running form from the side, the back and the front if the treadmill doesn't block the view. I also think it helps to do both side views because there can be left -right differences. If you can hook your camera up to a monitor where you can watch as you run, you can try different techniques to see and feel the difference simultaneously. This method is also helpful to monitor your form at different speeds.  You may need to repeat at different camera angles if you can't get a whole body shot at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Outdoor Video&lt;/strong&gt; - Need a friend or coach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For outdoor running, find a friend to man the camera and a track for level running.  Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-use-video-analysis-catch-common-running-problems?page=single&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nice article&lt;/a&gt; on the different shots to take to include the arm swing, knee positioning and footstrike. Then it gives some tips on analyzing the video, some common problems and corrections (over-rotation, overstriding etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Professional Analysis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can have a professional perform a running analysis video and go over it with you.  Depending on where you live and how detailed you want to get, you can go to a running center,  or a  running or movement lab.  Just make sure that you see the whole body for full assessment of your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T09:04:12.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12793" CreationDate="2013-08-15T22:37:20.407" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really is no &quot;conclusive&quot; proof at the current time, and not likely to be any in the near future. Part of the problem is that Chi/Pose and the natural styles of running also have a very lucrative market for shoe companies. Pretty much every shoe company now makes minimalist type shoes, and there are entire companies (Newton) that make only fore/mid foot strike shoes, and a lot of the studies have been funded by the company selling the shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of the studies are observational, i.e., they just watch runners and classify them and then review the injuries that they suffer in a year. Part of the problem with some of the studies is that they look at elite runners, and then everyone wants to apply that to the general masses. You can see this with the recommendation for 180 foot strikes a minute being &quot;ideal&quot;. This was taken off of a small sampling of elite runners during a high profile marathon. Suddenly your 11 minute a mile weekend warrior is being told he needs to get to 180 foot strikes a minute because Bekele runs that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal opinion is that people generally self select the strike pattern and gait that naturally suits them at the speed they are currently running. As you get towards the faster end of the field, the more you need to start moving from a rear foot strike to mid/fore foot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/pdfs/2012b.pdf&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; to be very interesting, as it definitively shows over the period of a year that rear foot strikers tend to suffer injuries at twice the rate of fore foot strikers. It also points out that the faster the runner, the more likely they are to fore foot strike. This was done on a group of elite college level cross country runners, and was published this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also dismisses the &quot;heel never touching the ground&quot; strike pattern as it's extremely rare among elite runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing that hasn't really been studied is if a mid foot striker wears rear foot strike shoes and that contribution to the injury rate. There are just way too many variables that are unknown in most studies to really nail it down yet, and the shoe companies have no vested interest in doing those kinds of studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-08-15T22:37:20.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-16T01:56:12.533" Score="3" ViewCount="4045" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my physical fitness test is called sit and reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the best methods to train for this &quot;exercise&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, I do agree that it requires flexibility. However, I heard of different methods from friends on the use of correct muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some says it uses abs, while others says it's the back or the legs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a proper method?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What should I look at when I'm doing sit and reach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6508" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-16T08:00:02.920" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T18:05:24.940" Title="how to train for sit and reach?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-16T04:46:58.413" Score="3" ViewCount="6683" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to learn how to strap my ankle before playing soccer. I have had some problems with my ankle and I've heard many professional players strap regardless of being injured or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also need to know which is the best tape I should be using. I've never bought this before and don't know what I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T13:30:02.410" Title="How to properly strap an ankle for soccer" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13583" CreationDate="2013-08-16T05:12:26.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sets are primarily a method of controlling volume. More volume means more training stimulus, which means a harder but hopefully more fruitful recovery period. I don't know of any relevance the total volume has to tendon health. A moderate weight done for 8 to 12 reps in a slow, controlled fashion is the important part for tendon health. I would increase the weight regularly but less often than every workout--once a week would be reasonable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would keep the number of sets low, in light of your repeated self-injury due to age and poor conditioning. One to three sets would be reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T05:12:26.060" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13629" CreationDate="2013-08-16T10:28:39.370" Score="0" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how many days should muscles rest before I have another workout with that muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I am going to gym 3 times a week and on each day I have exercises for different muscle groups. However I feel like week of rest is too much and would like to know the minimum as well as suggested rest period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6538" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T02:20:23.630" Title="How many days muscles need to rest?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-08-17T05:20:19.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13618" CreationDate="2013-08-16T13:05:21.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing a 5-day split with different muscle groups being exercised each day compared to a 3-day split where one works out the entire body makes little difference in terms of muscle building in the long term. Naturally, this applies to the non-professional who is not on a elite level where the slightest detail can make or brake the winning of a competition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If what you are saying, assuming I am reading it correctly, you are splitting your entire body on 3-days which is too little to make significant improvements. you will need to have either a 5-day or 3-day split. Many programs doing this can be found online, i.e &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclehack.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THT5.2 Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T13:05:21.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13616" CreationDate="2013-08-16T15:17:27.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not agree with strapping your ankles unless you are battling through an injury and the bracing is critical to you being able to perform/play.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really really oppose any young athlete to wearing hi-tops, braces, or anything else that hinders ankle movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost you are debilitating the strengthening of that region of your body.  The sport of soccer is a great example.  Compared to football players their ankle injuries are less common and less severe.  Big surprise - because they have been wearing low cut shoes their whole lives.  Yes they might have gotten quite a few low ankle sprains along the way.  But those are the ones that are good in a day or two.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am seeing now is a generation of teen girls and boys that have grown up playing in hi-tops.  Their ankles never developed.  Yes they don't get the nuisance ankle sprains but when they do it is a high ankle sprain and they are out forever.  I have seen high ankle sprains compound into a year or two of PT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I am sure that some pro soccer players strap but in no way is that the norm.  Straps, braces, and hi-tops all inhibit ankle movement which decreases speed and power.  There is movement in football where skill position players are switching back to low cut cleats. In basketball pros are switching to mids and lows (Kobe's shoes are lows with extra ankle support). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are injured I would use the brace to help heal the injury.  I have worn braces for half of practice if going through an injury.  The muscles need to be used to properly heal and most importantly strengthen for future injury.  Given that you are injured I would try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldsoccershop.com/41111.html?CAWELAID=1489286548&amp;amp;cagpspn=pla&amp;amp;gclid=CNC8ndiggrkCFRGg4AodfE8ABw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mueller brace&lt;/a&gt;.  I have personally worn this and recommend it because it allows for different degrees of tightness in multiple regions.  Your goal should be this fitting looser and looser until you can lose it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T15:17:27.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13615" CreationDate="2013-08-16T16:48:36.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sit and reach test is part of a general health assessment battery of tests. The basic method is to sit on the floor, legs flat, with feet against a box or other vertical stop. A measuring stick or device is used to see how far a person can reach towards (or past) their toes. It's used as a measure of general health when included in a full assessment. Poor results are an indicator that the person may be predisposed towards lower back pain and/or injury unless corrected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main limiters for this test are going to be your hamstrings, your lower back (erector spinae), and possibly to some extent the gluteal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While somewhat self serving, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13597/flexibility-training-for-taekwondo&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; covers all (And then some) of the stretches that will help with this (There are many many other stretches, these are the main ones. Every stretch/muscle group will have multiple variants). The particular ones that you want to do for this specific test would be 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T16:48:36.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-16T18:32:43.230" Score="0" ViewCount="858" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've gone in 1 year from abs to flab!  Mostly I have logistical issues with work and studying which leads me to eating unhealthy food, sleeping badly and not exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started cooking and plan to cook my food and work into a 30 day cleansing plan where I will work up to eating only boiled vegetables, fruits and poached eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I made a cheese sauce with a gracious amount of butter and refined flour, and ate it with spinach and mushrooms and brown rice. Was delicious!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;: (1) Is cheese sauce (milk+butter+flour) a good enough compromise to eat veggies along with it. (2) Is it a feasible plan to work up to eating just small amounts of brown rice and mostly boiled veggies and poached eggs? I'm assuming this will get my weight down considerably enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1470" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T01:13:58.290" Title="is cheese sauce a good compromise to eat veggies" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-08-19T16:53:56.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13218" CreationDate="2013-08-16T19:29:49.523" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is really not as complicated as to require an enormous answer. Bottomline: Calories in, calories out. Calories out (your deficit) needs to be greater and you will lose weight. Get your body fat measured and then have your TDEE calculated. This will tell you EXACTLY what you need to eat in terms of caloric value. Just eat less than that (-500 from TDEE is a gerneral rule) and you will be all set. Bodyfat, TDEE, -500 Calories, it really do not need to be more complicated than that. If you get that down you will be 80%-90% on your way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T19:29:49.523" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13623" CreationDate="2013-08-16T19:47:07.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a good plan, well, at all! Simply cutting out all carbs from your diet will have a huge impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No. Why? Because your are combining carbs and fat and this is a sure bet to spike insulin levels and convert all those carbs to fat. Forget this combo.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No. Why? There are a million plans online you can find and most of them (at least now) subscribe to some sort of LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) idea which have been proven in literature to have amazing effects on blood sugar and other health factors. Google Musclehack TSPA and you will, in my subjective opinion, have a very solid plan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T19:47:07.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13623" CreationDate="2013-08-16T20:24:25.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;More calories = you gain weight.  It doesn't matter if it is butter, milk, and flour or some hamburgers.  Actually if you are working out I would go the fast food route since you would get more protein.  If you don't like a &quot;healthful&quot; food that is low in calories then don't worry about eating it.  Slathering it with calories isn't helping the cause.  I would experiment with foods until you found a combo of things you liked that didn't have a ton of calories - hint: low fat meats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-16T20:24:25.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13623" CreationDate="2013-08-17T01:13:58.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is within your macronutrient limit, a sauce like that is neither good nor bad. But a high calorie sauce that includes cheese, butter and flour will make it harder to get under your daily calorie limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, it should be stated that the advice to completely cut out sauces on vegetables isn't the best advice. Fresh vegetables are quite high in vitamins and nutrients that are necessary for good health and muscle growth, however &lt;strong&gt;many vitamins naturally found in vegetables are fat-soluble&lt;/strong&gt; - these include vitamins A, D, E and K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you are eating a caloric restriction, ensuring the highest absorption of vitamins from what you eat is important&lt;/strong&gt;, so ensure you eat adequate fat to promote absorption of these vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, fats help provide feedback to your brain through '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouthfeel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mouthfeel&lt;/a&gt;'. This helps your brain register you have eaten. As a comparison, when you eat a carrot your mouth feels 'clean' very soon after swallowing, while the same carrot with a modest amount of butter will leave a (good) lingering taste in your mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to what to put on your vegetables, consider &lt;strong&gt;small&lt;/strong&gt; amounts of healthy fats and oils such as butter or olive oil, depending on taste. A teaspoon (or less) of these will coat the vegetables making the more palatable and &lt;em&gt;healthier&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T01:13:58.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13618" CreationDate="2013-08-17T02:20:23.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The amount of rest that your muscles (in general or one specifically) need to rest after a workout depends on your eating and sleeping habits during the recovery period, level of training ability, as well as the intensity of the workout. That is to say, there is no answer to your query, or more precisely, there are many answers and all of them are correct in different circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're new to lifting and you lift heavy, one or two days of rest is a fine approach. If you're very new and using moderate weights, you might be able to get away with no rest between lifting days, but this is tough to keep going for a substantial period of time. Experienced lifters are also sometimes able to train every day, using careful modulation of training load and diligent recovery efforts. Some lifters split the body into components, so that they can work their upper body on one day and their lower body the next, each one resting while the other half works. As you see, there is no simple answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T02:20:23.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12957" CreationDate="2013-08-17T03:07:59.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems like too many comments and not enough answers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to do backstroke along with freestyle, because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Backstroke covers certain muscles a lot better than freestyle, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym can't perfectly replicate backstroke swim time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're going to swim as much as you do, you may as well get comfortable with a second stroke.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing different swimming strokes prevents RSI.  Don't think of backstroke as wasted time - you're still improving your cardiovascular capacity, and many of the muscles cross over.  E.g. backstroke will improve your shoulder flexibility and your back muscles, which will probably help with the arms out of water cycle of freestyle.  So, don't be afraid to actually sacrifice some freestyle time for backstroke.  By the way, I'm a devoted freestyler, but I know the importance of this &quot;cross-training&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you need to be ready for that glory moment when Coach tells the team that the star backstroker is injured and can't swim the medley relay, and you put your hand up and say &quot;Put me on, I got this Coach!&quot;!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting back on track... some backstroke-esque gym routines are still great to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows, where you bring your arms out back and wide thereby extending pectoral muscles - this is a nice opposite to the heavy pectoral work that freestyle does, should help build a good range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rotator cuffs in the direction opposite to freestyle.  Free weights would probably be best, basically just keeping your upper arm steady and rotating as your forearm lifts up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I think that's the bulk of it, it's really about the reversed shoulder motion and the back-focused rather than chest-focused work.  If your freestyle stroke is good, both your biceps and triceps would be getting worked hard.  Kick is fairly equal on both hamstring and quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Align the reps and sets to how you swim freestyle - if you mainly sprint, build power, if you mainly do long distance, build endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastEditorUserId="4301" LastEditDate="2013-08-17T03:14:24.027" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T03:14:24.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12954" CreationDate="2013-08-17T03:44:17.790" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found huge improvements from taking on gyming while swimming - specifically muscular strength and endurance.  That is, until I overtrained and heavily damaged my back.  Be wise and know your limits!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How often?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think two to three swim sessions to one gym session is a good ratio.  If you're a sprinter, maybe more towards two to one swim sessions to one gym session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many sessions a week that ends up being depends on how into the sport you are! A competitive swimmer may be doing 7-10 swim sessions a week, coupled with 3-4 gym sessions would be a nice mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you give enough time for your muscles to recover. Throwing gym into the mix puts a much higher demand on your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sets and Reps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did freestyle mid-distance events, 200 m up to 800 m, so my focus was more on endurance reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For standard workouts, I would do 3 sets of 20, and gradually increased weights accordingly.  I did them at a similar speed to swimming stroke rate, except for legs of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I frequently did circuit training - 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, go to the next exercise, around 70% of my max or greater.  This was the money, I loved these workouts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One stupid set I frequently did was pyramid sets on quads until muscle strain.  20 reps, climb weight until you injure your muscles, then climb back down.  I actually didn't realise that I was straining my muscles, the 5+ days for my quads to recover despite my well conditioned muscles should have been an obvious clue!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Routines&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think through what muscles hold you back the most, and focus on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable flys - these were my favourite! Go for pulling from&#xA;full extension, this is great for having a powerful pull at maximum&#xA;reach. Slight bend in the elbow, just like your initial underwater pull.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps curls - pretty boring, but important&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps - use free weights, extend from half to full.  Heaps of ways to do this and they're all pretty similar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders - free weights, extend to horizontal on your side and front&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows - your traps are helpful in the pull sequence, but more so it's just good to work the opposite muscles so you keep your muscle development equal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press - covers the above muscles quite well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups/machine pull downs - real important&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs with weights - whether it be sit ups with plates or pulling on a cable, it's all good - gives your off the wall dolphin kicks more grunt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions with weights - just as important as the abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some people like to throw squats in the mix for more off the wall push power, but I'd say that it's lesser importance unless you're in some serious competitions.  In which case, you would have asked this question to your team physio/gym trainer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastEditorUserId="4301" LastEditDate="2013-08-18T03:21:20.767" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T03:21:20.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13634" CreationDate="2013-08-17T06:04:09.817" Score="3" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of information on the internet about diets for bodybuilding. The information seems to change depending on the writer of the article. Everyone seems to have their own suggestions on how many carbs/protein/fat one should take based on their body weight when pursuing muscle gains. I am beginning to get confused...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of the diets suggest for example, protein percentages related to your bodyweight that seem excessive to me. I was told by my physician that protein intake for someone highly active should be your bodyweight in kilograms multiplied by 1.5 at a high end and yet I see programs suggesting 2g per pound. Wouldn't this over time damage your kidneys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can one scientifically create a meal plan that is optimized for gaining muscle and mass with so much conflicting information out there? Also, how can this be done safely (without putting an excessive amount of stress on your body)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 165lbs, 6'0 and in reasonable physical condition. I would like to put on 10 lbs of muscle for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6545" LastEditorUserId="6545" LastEditDate="2013-08-17T06:15:01.037" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T08:00:58.750" Title="How to Create an Optimized Diet for Muscle Gain" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13633" CreationDate="2013-08-17T07:23:19.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are generally two accepted way of doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cyclic ketogenic diet or a &quot;standard&quot; 40/40/20 diet. The 40/40/20 diet have been used by bodybuilders for 50+ years so it is really not anything new and does have a proven track record. It simply works! You will find many ways of doing this online and it will all be based on you knowing your body fat percentage and TDEE, again, many calculators online to help you here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I opted for a Cyclic Ketogenic Diet myself which have been working extremely well. The best explanation for this diet is here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/cyclical_ketogenic_diet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cyclical Ketogenic Diet: The Best Ever Bodybuilding Diet?&lt;/a&gt;. Mark also runs his own website with some excellent programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-17T07:23:19.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13635" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-17T22:10:32.700" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started trying to get fit about 6 months ago.  I mostly bike (70 miles a week), but I sometimes mix it up with jogging (which I do using minimalist shoes; I used to not be able to run because of knee pain, but those shoes really seemed to take care of that).  I'm a bit overweight, but not horribly so -- I'm 5'11'' and 190 pounds.  No injuries that I know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I went out for a jog this afternoon, and I had a weird pain.  It started immediately.  Every time my feet hit the ground, I felt my lower back start to tighten up (in a narrow band just above my buttocks, all the way across the back; if I press on the location, I feel what I assume are the tops of my hip bones).  It got tighter and tighter every time my feet hit the ground, and eventually it was so painful that I had to stop.  I made it maybe one block (0.1 miles) before I had to turn back.  If I do very light jumping in place, I get the same tightening and pain, but I don't feel anything from ordinary walking or from biking.  It is a dull and not a sharp pain, and I haven't felt any bulges or had the sensation of something &quot;giving out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any idea what is wrong?  Are there stretches I need to do or anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6548" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T03:25:24.857" Title="Pain in lower back when running" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-18T00:14:49.833" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do Crossfit WOD's 5 times a week. After running one day carrying two 20 lb med balls, my right knee was very stiff the next day. It's been about 3 weeks and the stiffness has not decreased. I am still working out but trying to avoid squats and I haven't run. I've been icing my knee, elevating it when I can and wearing an ace bandage. I'm not sure what to do next. I'm a 45 yr old female in good shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6549" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T00:14:49.833" Title="Knee stiffness and soreness" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-08-19T05:13:23.867" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13639" CreationDate="2013-08-18T02:44:22.960" Score="7" ViewCount="14289" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do planks at the gym, I can ask someone else to check my form and make sure I'm not sagging or lifting my butt up to high. But I can't always go to the gym, and then I end up doing planks at home. I don't seem to have a good feel for weather I'm doing it correctly even at the gym, and since I'm often not sore after doing planks at home I think I'm doing them wrong. Is there some way to tell if you're doing the plank correctly without having someone else watch you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6551" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T10:58:04.913" Title="How can I tell if I'm planking correctly?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2013-08-18T03:25:24.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your hamstrings are connected to your lower back muscles.  Many times tight hamstrings can cause lower back pain because they force the lower back muscles to stretch.  The answer isn't to stretch the hamstrings before - that can cause more harm than good.  Stretching after you are hurt doesn't help either.  The key is to wait for after the recovery and stretch the hamstrings after every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this is a diagnosis that's not coming from a doctor.  It did work for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple links to specific hamstring stretches for back pain:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/specific-hamstring-stretches-back-pain-relief&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/specific-hamstring-stretches-back-pain-relief&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://golf.about.com/od/fitnesshealth/a/back_stretch_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://golf.about.com/od/fitnesshealth/a/back_stretch_2.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to a sports specialist if it keeps up.  You want someone who sees athletes all day every day diagnosing your sports injuries, not someone who is a generalist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2971" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T03:25:24.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13637" CreationDate="2013-08-18T06:53:01.353" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a small foam block that is just the right height so that if you are barely are touching it with your stomach, your hips are neither sagging nor lifted too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The foam block should be very soft, so that it's not actually capable of supporting you at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T06:53:01.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13637" CreationDate="2013-08-18T10:49:34.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to do the plank correctly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking from a distance, your upper body can seem to be parallel to the floor, but it is not what really makes the difference. The important thing is to  engage the right muscles.&#xA;Firstly, make sure you are not collapsing in the upper back. Broaden and depress your shoulders, and lift between the shoulder blades. Second, make sure you don't stick your tailbone up. In the plank position slightly tilt the pelvis: move the top of the hips sligthly up, the tailbone down. These will lengthen your spine and activate the right muscles around your shoulders and core. Make sure you can breathe smoothly and effortlessly into your belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to make sure you're doing it right&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest is to have someone correct you, by touching the spots where you have problems, and gently adjusting you so that you get a feel for what the verbal instructions mean.&#xA;If no-one is available, you can try to get the feeling in the following way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the knees down. This is important, even if you can do it with your knees lifted. Look in a mirror so that your upper body is parallel to the floor. Push the mat away with your forearms. Then, pull with the knees forward as if you'd want to pull your mat forward (nothing needs to move, just feel the forces). This will activate your core and straighten (or even flex slightly) the spine. Only when you are familiar with this, then lift your knees, but you need to maintain the same feeling around your core and shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to progress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you can do 2-3 minutes, progress to more dynamic versions (eg. lifting one hand-leg, or doing it on unstable surfaces, balls etc. so you need to stabilize more). There's no need to do hours of it. If you can do a few minutes, move on to something more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2013-08-18T10:58:04.913" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T10:58:04.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13633" CreationDate="2013-08-18T11:04:25.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should checkout intermittent fasting, periods of fasting and feasting.  The idea is to reduce your caloric intake. See &lt;strong&gt;Eat stop Eat&lt;/strong&gt; for the research and benefits of fasting. But it is much easier that counting calories. For example, 3 days out of the week don't eat while you are at work. Fasting has also been shown to increase growth hormone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatstopeat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;eat stop eat&quot;&gt;Eat stop eat&lt;/a&gt; - gives a good description of benefits of intermitient fasting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lean Gains&lt;/a&gt; - Free information about intermitient fasting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warrior diet- Another schedule for fasting, basically fasting all day and eating one big meal in the evening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6552" LastEditorUserId="6552" LastEditDate="2013-08-20T08:00:58.750" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T08:00:58.750" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13646" CreationDate="2013-08-18T11:32:37.903" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spend most my time sitting in front of my computer, so my back often feels tight and sometimes my upper back muscles between the shoulder blades are really hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm looking for some exercises to specifically target that area of my back, not to build the muscles but to loosen it up and have good health in those areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have access to a gym so I can only do bodyweight and dumbbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already have a pretty normal routine with pushups, cardio and various sit up and dumbbell exercises, but am looking for something specific for my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6553" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T21:06:21.223" Title="Exercises for loosening up back muscles" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13643" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-08-18T13:36:09.490" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-08-18T13:36:09.490" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T13:36:09.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13644" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-08-18T13:36:09.490" Score="0" Body="The deep muscle layers in the spine and central torso regions. Core muscles are important for posture, balance, stability, and power transfer." OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-18T23:00:28.667" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T23:00:28.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13688" CreationDate="2013-08-18T15:39:41.887" Score="3" ViewCount="499" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my long runs (about 25k) when I finnish the smell of my body is like ammonia, I have read in internet thats because of converting my muscles into energy, so Could I say that my body is not burning fat like it should be? the other question I would like to ask is, How do I know when my body is burning fat correctly? I mean there is some indicator? like the ammonia smell is to burning muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="5856" LastEditDate="2013-08-20T15:46:52.630" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T16:27:52.273" Title="Ammonia smell when running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13642" CreationDate="2013-08-18T21:06:21.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my shoulders are tight from too much computering, I make sure to warm up and do some arm circles (3 sets of 8-10 forward and back each side), a lot of dead hangs from a pull-up bar, should shoulder dislocates with a stick. Pull-ups are also good, since they strengthen the back muscles, helping to prevent a forward hunch. Yoga, particularly down dog, is also helpful for improving the range of motion for my arms overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-08-18T21:06:21.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13648" CreationDate="2013-08-18T21:43:57.870" Score="3" ViewCount="3337" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I am training my muscles look good, tight and strong but after I finish training it's not the same look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if there is anything that can help me to keep the same look as I have during training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6555" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T03:29:32.587" LastActivityDate="2018-09-13T11:52:56.327" Title="Anything I can do to keep the muscles look tight after finish training?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13647" CreationDate="2013-08-18T23:24:45.217" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The effect you are describing is commonly called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson161.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'pump'&lt;/a&gt; and is caused by a high volume of blood being pumped into an area that is being actively worked out. The reason this occurs is to push nutrients into an area and flush waste products back out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how to maintain your pump outside of the gym, it is not possible for the above reason. This is because when an area isn't being worked out the body detects a lack of need for increased blood supply and returns to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for ways to ensure your muscles look their best, first and foremost you want to keep as low a body-fat percentage as is possible and healthy - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;so in the 10%-15% range for men and 15-20% in women&lt;/a&gt;. The less body fat you carry, the more your muscles (and the separations between them) will stand out visibly, even in an untrained relaxed fashion. Secondly, you can try induce a pump. Before you go out (to a date, bodybuilding contest, or the bank) do a few sets of high-rep, moderately low weight sets to flush blood into the area. However, this will be temporary and will impact your ability rest between regular exercise sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, there are synthetic oils that people inject into their muscles to enlarge them, however these are expensive, relatively short lasting and provide an unnatural and unhealthy look as the muscle does not deform with movement as normally happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T11:58:07.973" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T11:58:07.973" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13649" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-18T23:50:00.110" Score="4" ViewCount="704" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing the Strong Lifts program (pretty similar to Starting Strength). My hips and shoulders are giving me trouble when doing squats and the overhead press. I want to increase mobility/flexibility in those joints, but overall body flexibility is desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never done any type of Yoga. So which type of Yoga that focuses on flexibility/mobility would you recommend to a beginner? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5275" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T15:05:37.577" Title="Which type of Yoga focuses more on flexibility?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-19T03:44:36.550" Score="8" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 16, a girl and I cannot gain weight. Before, I didnt really care that I was too skinny, I am naturally skinny and eat whatever I want when I want. Now I exercise in sports and still eat whatever, but drink mostly water and milk. I dont like being boney, I dont think its attractive, nor does anyone else and some people even think I am anorexic. I'm 5'8 and weigh 115 pounds. What can I do to gain weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6556" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T05:38:41.500" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T06:52:54.657" Title="How can I gain weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13650" CreationDate="2013-08-19T04:05:36.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key is &lt;strong&gt;good nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;growth-promoting exercise&lt;/strong&gt; and a &lt;strong&gt;healthy attitude&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A healthy diet of minimally-processed food consisting of wholegrains, vegetables and if you eat meat, lean meats will help your body grow.&lt;/strong&gt; I'd strongly suggest staying away from refined sugars, especially soda, as these can be quite adictive - despite being an easy source of calories they can be habit forming. Of note, you are still young and going through puberty, so your body is going to require more food and rest than normal, so ensure you eat well. Of note, it is very difficult to over-eat on vegetables and whole grains as they are high in fibre, so feel free to reach for a second of vegetables at dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you wish to gain weight in a healthy manner, following a weight training program will encourage muscle growth rather than fat accumulation.&lt;/strong&gt; Contrary to popular belief, gaining large amounts of muscle mass is quite difficult and has large bodies of science behind it. Rather than make you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, when done properly weight-training will help fill out your form and will improve your ability to do day to day activites. As a matter of fact, (accounting for slight crude anatomical differences between men and woman) many major muscles have connections around either the hips or the chest and upper back, so that a good weight-training program often helps to accentuate the hourglass figure in women or the classic 'V' shape in men. In most cases, because of the differences in musclular potential and the anatomy of the hips between sexes, the same program can have wildly different results for men and women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many question on this board about different weight-training programs, so have a look and if you can't find one that meets your needs or equipment you have access to, ask another question specifically on this matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The last factor to take into account is understanding why you want to gain (or lose or maintain) weight as time goes on.&lt;/strong&gt; What other people think is attractive varies in time, and where you are, what the time of day is, or what other celebrities look like. Rather than focus on what others find attractive, focus on how you want to look, and more importantly how you want to feel and what you want to achieve. Look at sports and exercise as a hobby, an activity you enjoy in and of itself, rather than as a chore that is a means to an end. Strength-training, cycling, rock climbing, teams sports or running will all make you healthier and stronger in their own ways, so pick something you enjoy because you enjoy it, not because you want to look a particular way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your age, weight and sex I'd suggest against using a food tracker or constant weigh-ins if people are already concerned about potential anorexia - at least until you have spoken with your parent's or caregivers and adviced &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; you are weighing yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T05:43:00.063" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T05:43:00.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13650" CreationDate="2013-08-19T04:13:10.253" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get older.  You are 16.  Your height and weight are very normal.  I wouldn't &quot;try&quot; to gain weight now.  Let things come naturally.  If you are lifting weights or playing sports your body will adapt to what it needs to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 5-6 years when your metabolism slows down a little and you have less time for activities you will be on here asking how to lose weight...  And some guys like boney girls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T16:54:46.363" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T16:54:46.363" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13703" CreationDate="2013-08-19T04:25:43.160" Score="1" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few exercises in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freeworkoutguides.com/node/680&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ab Ripper X&lt;/a&gt; workout that cause a pop in my hip on each rep:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &amp;amp; Out - on extending/straightening&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fifer Scissor - on switching legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there stretches or proper forms to do to prevent this popping? It doesn't cause pain, but it is very uncomfortable and it distracts from the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T13:48:30.863" Title="Hip popping on Ab Ripper X workout" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13647" CreationDate="2013-08-19T07:18:32.753" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you train, your blood pump to the working out muscle and thus it looks bigger. After you train your muscle wont require that much pumping and thus the muscle bigger smaller. What I do to maximise my gym workout is that I use pre workout to enchance the blood flow and the oxygen level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6558" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T07:18:32.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13650" CreationDate="2013-08-19T07:41:37.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me start by stating the obvious, you are eating to little. If you are not gaining weight you will need to increase your caloric intake and what those calories consist of could depend on your fitness goal somewhat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take one week to record everything your eating and then figure out how many calories that is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get help to figure out your current body fat level and from there you can get your TDEE. If you are not used to these things it will help a lot to get the help from a professional to get these values correct.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you now have your TDEE, meaning you know how many calories you need to tick, you will increase your caloric intake above this and you will gain weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: For most people this is a temporary phase in that age group. Some will be very skinny and some somewhat on the heavier side. This does not mean you should simply &quot;see what happens&quot; and your age is a perfect one for getting going on correct nutrition and good training. You body, generally, will respond very quickly to changes in diet and training. See this as an opportunity, I know I wish I had!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a weight gain food list for bulking up:&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Proteins&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fish as in salmon, cod, or tuna&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;red meats as in lean ground beef and lean steaks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;turkey and chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dairy products like milk, cottage cheese and low-fat yogurts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;legumes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ham&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pork&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tofu&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lamb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein supplements in the form of whey protein and soy protein&#xA;supplements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oatmeal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fruits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whole grain cereal and bread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pasta&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brown rice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vegetables like corn, broccoli and green beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snacking on pretzels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;legumes like lima beans, kidney beans, soybeans and chick peas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;olive oil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;almonds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;peanuts and peanut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sunflower and safflower oils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avocados and walnuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;These are all commonly known healthy fats.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snacking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;beef jerky&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;apples&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein bars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;baked (not fried) potato chips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pretzels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;REF:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="6525" LastEditDate="2013-08-21T06:52:54.657" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T06:52:54.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13649" CreationDate="2013-08-19T09:07:02.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Below is a list of popular yoga styles which are probably available where you live. But of course there are a million approaches to yoga these days so it's not possible to list them all. Also it depends very much on the teacher and how much personal assistance you can get. It's always better to go to a small class with a skilled teacher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Iyengar Yoga&lt;/strong&gt; - Focuses on precise alignment in poses, and uses many 'props', blocks etc. This might fit your goals as well as it is quite safe because of the strong anatomical focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ashtanga Yoga&lt;/strong&gt; - A very dynamic style that gives the quickest results in flexibility and strength. The first posture series of ashtanga yoga has a strong focus on opening up the hips and hamstrings. However, I would not necessarily recommend it to you as it contains a lot of bodyweight strength elements which might conflict with your lifting goals (if you want to get bigger). There's also a higher risk of injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vinyasa Flow Yoga&lt;/strong&gt; - Usually focuses on mobility, and improving circulation, rather than strictly flexibility. Poses aren't held for long, so it's less boring. Usually it's based on ashtanga so there's a good balance between strength and flexibility. However, there're many teachers and each approach it slightly differently so it's difficult to tell what you'll get. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bikram Yoga&lt;/strong&gt; - A fixed series done in a hot room. Focuses on flexibility, there isn't really much strength involved at all (at least compared to ashtanga). It probably meets your expectations, but I'd only recommend it if you do not have any cardiovascular problems (the hot is hard on you). Also, it is very much commercialized, the rooms are usually full so you'll probably get very little personal attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T09:07:02.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13286" CreationDate="2013-08-19T10:21:51.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from general fitness which helps to some extent it really is the type of sport and specific effort of that sport. Of course cardio is itself a form of effort different from the effort required in other sports. Here also comes the difference between aerobic and anaerobic effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related to you example with running an BJJ:&#xA;Running is a cyclic sport and the fitness you gain from it is not like to type in martial arts unless you are alternating the rhythm like inserting sprints in a jogging session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Striking arts specific effort is not cyclic since you have bursts of explosiveness on attacks and then more relaxed intervals. The effort here is aerobic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grappling arts are also not cyclic as you have periods of effort combined with periods of relaxation. Here the effort is different from striking arts since you will not be having the same explosive contractions and you will probably deal with anaerobic effort for instance a period of constant contraction while trying to keep a choke as tight as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6559" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T10:21:51.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13650" CreationDate="2013-08-19T12:27:24.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try this link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;calculate your BMI&lt;/a&gt; (body mass index).  It is a calculator specific to teens, not adults, because as a teen your body has not fully matured.  I think you'll find that according to the CDC you are a &lt;strong&gt;healthy weight&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The BMI is just a guideline so to get accurate information regarding your weight, you should check with your doctor at your next check-up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it does turn out that you are a healthy weight for a 16 y.o. female, then your desire to gain weight is simply for appearance, not health.  Unless you have a health problem you will &quot;fill out&quot; with maturity.  By the time you are in your early 20's I imagine that you will be very pleased that your body is not overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, work on your posture. Sometimes simply correcting your posture can improve the way your body parts fit together making you look strong and centered.  Carry yourself with strength, full height and with confidence.  Given that you exercise in sports, with good posture I imagine you will have a healthy lean muscle athletic look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do want to work on your posture, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;this answer about core strengthening&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;for links in this section for a good start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some suggestions of other good abdominal exercises that carry over into improved posture and function are: The plank, side plank, bird dog, progressing to dynamic control with dying bug, knee tucks on a swiss ball or swiss ball roll outs. Using resistance bands helps to target the obliques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, do not worry about what other people think, unless it is your medical professional telling you that you are underweight.  If you are not anorexic, then do not be concerned about what others say.  18% of teens are obese, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;see stats&lt;/a&gt; (by 20 y.o., 69% are overweight). So compared to all the overweight people around, a healthy weight person may look thin in comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your doctor says that you are underweight, ask for a registered dietitian who can give you a healthy diet with the proper nutrition and portion sizes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T12:27:24.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-19T13:35:50.813" Score="5" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question was indirectly embedded within other more general questions I made in this site, for example &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13583/on-the-influence-of-the-total-number-of-sets-particularly-with-regard-to-tendon&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13522/how-can-i-achieve-healthy-tendons-and-balanced-muscles-with-no-particular-hurry&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. But the scope was more general. I would like to do this specific question here now, mainly because I have found very interesting information that can be useful to another readers, so I will answer it by myself. Please note that I will not elect my own answer as the best one: you are encouraged to post your own answers and relevant information on the question too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all has happened because I started training at middle age with very poor conditioning. In only a month and a half, I managed to see my muscles bulking in the mirror and I was enthusiastic, but I had to stop and it is months now that I am healing a lot of different tendinosis. Which shows that, at middle age, your skeletal muscles might feel as young as ever, but your tendons play in a different league and a different approach is needed. So, my question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of muscular hypertrophy or endurance or whatever your goal, what is a specific way of weightlifting specifically directed towards strengthening your tendons? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T13:02:56.990" Title="Specific weigthlifting protocol to strengthen tendons, regardless of hypertrophy or any other goal" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13660" CreationDate="2013-08-19T13:53:31.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What my new therapist uses to prescribe in order to help healing not very severe tendon problems is &lt;strong&gt;slow eccentric exercises&lt;/strong&gt;, aka &lt;strong&gt;negative phases&lt;/strong&gt;, with &lt;em&gt;very light&lt;/em&gt; weights, two or three sets, three times a day, everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I think that you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that, whatever is useful to heal and strengthen an injured tendon, is likely to be helpful in strengthening a healthy tendon as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some links to places where I have seen sort of confirmation to this question, and references to scientific papers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://tendinosis.org/current.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link, tendinosis.org&lt;/a&gt; with this paragraph, among other interesting data:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies have shown that loading a tendon parallel to its length helps&#xA;  the collagen fibers grow with better parallel alignment and speeds the&#xA;  healing process. (...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some studies have shown that eccentric exercise is especially helpful&#xA;  for tendinosis. [50, 51, 52, 53, 54] Eccentric exercise is when a&#xA;  muscle is forced to lengthen while it contracts because it is being&#xA;  used as a brake or to absorb energy while doing &quot;negative work.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This other post in T-Nation, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/accentuated_eccentric_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Accentuated Eccentric Training&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eccentric training is also a superior method to treat tendinitis when&#xA;  compared with concentric exercise (Mafi et al. 2001). It could be&#xA;  argued that this form of training is beneficial to injured athletes&#xA;  and that it's relatively safer than concentric training even if the&#xA;  loads used are greater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the best one on this question of tendons and tendonitis is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/eccentric_exercise_a_solution_to_tendonitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; (in T-nation too):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Surfing the web one day, I came across a posting on a newsgroup that&#xA;  described a study done on runners with long-term, chronic Achilles&#xA;  tendonitis. The study involved a new treatment that achieved&#xA;  remarkable results in only 12 weeks. (...) The study, done in Sweden,&#xA;  used two groups of fifteen middle-aged ex-runners who couldn't run due&#xA;  to chronic Achilles tendonitis. (...) The special exercise program&#xA;  involved performing calf raises with the legs both straight and&#xA;  slightly bent twice a day, seven days a week for three sets of 15&#xA;  repetitions (to hit both the gastros and soleus). The subjects&#xA;  performed the concentric part of the exercise (raising the heel) with&#xA;  the uninjured ankle and used the injured side to do the eccentric&#xA;  lowering phase in a slow, controlled fashion. (...) At the end of the&#xA;  twelve-week period, all the patients in the exercise group had&#xA;  returned to running at their pre-injury level. (...) In a recent&#xA;  two-year follow up of the fifteen runners in the exercise group,&#xA;  fourteen were still running pain free(...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judge by yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T12:17:39.977" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T12:17:39.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2013-08-19T14:20:02.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/eccentric_exercise_a_solution_to_tendonitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this post in T-nation&lt;/a&gt; very interesting. A summary: a study with runners suffering from an Achilles tendon injury, healed very well by performing eccentric exercises, aka negative phases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eccentric exercises seem to be very useful for healing tendonitis, in several studies. More details in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13660/specific-weigthlifting-protocol-to-strengthen-tendons-regardless-of-hypertrophy/13661#13661&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you may find useful to spend some time reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scooby's website&lt;/a&gt;, a fitness internet veteran. He pays himself a special attention to stretching and working out his hamstrings. See his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpJab7LcbxE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hamstring stretch in Youtube&lt;/a&gt;. Note that he starts with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can get away without stretching almost every muscle in your body,&#xA;  except your hamstrings. Maintiaining hamstring flexibility is really&#xA;  important for every sport (...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T14:20:02.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13650" CreationDate="2013-08-19T16:59:12.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you're doing sports, my advice is to simply focus on improvement at your favourite sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That requires training (practices, strength training, etc.), and eating the right type and amount of food to support that training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will all just balance out. You might just be in a skinny phase right now (but, 5'8&quot;, 115lbs seems pretty normal to me). But, who cares anyway. As long as you are making progress with your training, feeling energetic, and improving at your sport, you're eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you weren't eating enough, you'd be stalling in your progress, not have energy to play, and you'd be easily tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T17:06:02.990" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T17:06:02.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13668" CreationDate="2013-08-19T18:32:01.333" Score="4" ViewCount="6644" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physiotherapists usually make you do several light sets &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt; in order to strengthen your healing injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Military training consists of lots of calisthenics, almost daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not so long ago, it was not uncommon that Lorries had no power steering. Lorry drivers developed huge arms, merely by doing their job day after day with that vehicles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same for miners and heavy-duty workers in general around the 1900s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember too, some very famous &lt;a href=&quot;http://images04.mundoanuncio.es/ui/19/88/61/1358195941_473028761_1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;body-building-at-home&quot; courses from the 1950s&lt;/a&gt; that were very famous still in the 80s in the country where I live, that resembled the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Atlas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Charles Atlas&lt;/a&gt; method. That courses consisted of several exercised to be done &lt;em&gt;daily&lt;/em&gt;, one only set per each exercise. Every 15 days, the exercises changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, that is my question. If reducing the volume to one only set per exercise obviously reduces the chances of over-training and injury, why not training a single set per exercise, every day? It seems to me a more progressive way of strength training. Less repetitive stress on your joints, less micro-trauma and less recovery time needed, but all that, more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have evolved to be in a constant fight against the environment. I am sure our ancestors didn't climbed the trees nor ran to escape predators twice a week, with rest days in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T18:47:14.360" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T09:31:19.210" Title="Why many get stronger by working out with less intensity but every day, with no rest days?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13665" CreationDate="2013-08-19T19:01:51.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One set per exercise is nowhere near the volume you're talking about in those scenarios. If you're a coal miner and you're lifting moderately heavy things &lt;strong&gt;all day&lt;/strong&gt;, you're going to build strength in those muscles. Doing a single set of everything is going to result in very little strength gains. Not to mention that, barring any kind of warm ups which don't appear included in your concept, doing a single moderately-intensive set sounds like a good way to injure yourself, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6375" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T19:01:51.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13665" CreationDate="2013-08-19T19:05:14.397" Score="8" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Physiotherapists usually make you do several light sets every day in order to strengthen your healing injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If reducing the volume to one only set per exercise obviously reduces the chances of over-training and injury&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't obviously reduce the chances of over-training and injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;why not training a single set per exercise, every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because your 1 rep maximum increases more quickly when you do a few high-load/low-rep sets every couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take a rest day in this setting because the high-load causes a period of recovery where your performance is reduced and you will not be able to repeat that workload let alone increase it by a couple of pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It [a single set per exercise, every day] seems to me a more progressive way of strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This depends on your definition of progressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Less repetitive stress on your joints&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do 3x5, 3 times a week, that's 45 work-weight reps per week. If you're doing one set of 5 every day, that's 35 work-weight reps per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you include warm-up sets (for example: 5 reps empty bar, 5 reps empty bar, 5 reps heavier, 3 reps heavier, 2 reps heavier) that's 20 reps to warm-up to your work weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a standard 3x5 program, that's 35 reps (20 warm-up, 15 work), 3 times per week, for a total 105 reps per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a 5 reps per day program, that's 25 reps (20 warm-up, 5 work), 7 times per week, for a total of 175 reps per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;less micro-trauma&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;True.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and less recovery time needed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably, but a full day less? A single work set is sufficient to stimulate about 80% of the adaptation of the full 3x5. Because of this, I don't expect that recovery time would be cut in half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am sure our ancestors didn't climbed the trees nor ran to escape predators twice a week, with rest days in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is also true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T19:19:26.687" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T19:19:26.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-19T22:07:12.783" Score="4" ViewCount="565" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eEs5y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done pushups in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7GiwX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that describes exercises done using only your own body? Is there a book that guides one to fitness by using these exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6565" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-08-19T22:21:28.763" LastActivityDate="2013-08-26T13:41:19.833" Title="Is there a name for the exercises that don't use dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-08-28T01:43:22.010" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13670" CreationDate="2013-08-19T23:05:32.500" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term you are looking for is &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyweight_exercise&quot;&gt;bodyweight exercise&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and includes activities such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga&quot;&gt;yoga&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnastics&quot;&gt;gymnastics&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilates&quot;&gt;pilates&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics&quot;&gt;calisthenics&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for books of programs on the topic, there are quite a few but they very much depend on what your goals are. Its probably best to look for, or make, a question focusing on what you want to be able to do, how you want to look, or what your goals are for peoople to be able to recommend one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-08-19T23:05:32.500" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13676" CreationDate="2013-08-20T02:19:11.877" Score="5" ViewCount="5017" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently quit the local gym (budget restrictions) and started to workout from home instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought a little set of 2x30kg adjustable dumbbells, and built a little bench for doing dumbbell bench press. This being quite a light weight, I bought some 10kg plates to add up on those dumbbells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My big surprise was that it felt incredibly more difficult to press, say only 2x30kg with the following setup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;5|10 === 10|5&lt;/code&gt; x2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;than with this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;2|2|2|4|5 === 5|4|2|2|2&lt;/code&gt; x2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 10kg plates I bought are indeed quite large, but I didn't expect this to have an impact on the workout difficulty. Can anyone help me understand what's happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6566" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T19:46:59.760" Title="Dumbbells: Why do a few heavy plates feel much heavier than many lighter ones?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14232" CreationDate="2013-08-20T05:05:23.420" Score="11" ViewCount="29014" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be living in Africa for the next year, with little access to a gym.  I was thinking about purchasing a portable gym resistance band set, but I'm skeptical of the efficacy of resistance bands in building muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any links to studies or anecdotal evidence confirming or denying the effectiveness of resistance bands?  And if so, what routines do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastEditorUserId="6567" LastEditDate="2013-08-20T05:11:33.353" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T16:09:54.350" Title="Is it possible to effectively build muscle mass using resistance bands?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;&lt;resistance-cord&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13672" CreationDate="2013-08-20T07:01:45.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The narrower your center of gravity the harder it is to balance the plate.  Think about trying to press a relatively light bar that was 30 feet across.  It would be very taxing to balance this bar even if it didn't weigh much.  The balancing will happen from the use of your muscles, and the wider the weight distribution makes it seems heavier - due to more muscle interaction for the same &quot;weight&quot;.  Physics of lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T07:01:45.810" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13670" CreationDate="2013-08-20T07:16:00.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Body weight, gravity based, plyometrics exercises are all considered strength training using your body weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read a few books on the topic and never loved any of them.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7907805-you-are-your-own-gym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You are your own gym&lt;/a&gt; has great examples but is very poorly written - but you should be buying for working out not reading right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T07:16:00.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9971" CreationDate="2013-08-20T09:58:40.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out with gloves since I started lifting 5 years ago. Still have the same pair too. I'm callous free and have soft hands which I like. My deadlift 1rm is 495 and front squat is 315x3. Some people just don't want to have rough, nasty hands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6569" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-08-21T01:57:22.223" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T01:57:22.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13692" CreationDate="2013-08-20T11:55:02.587" Score="10" ViewCount="5706" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a beginner runner for years. Usually I've had to stop running after a while because of knee problem or common colds. Because of the first, I've got interested in toe-first technique (referred also as barefoot running technique). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first attempt hasn't taken long because of very strong calves fatigue. The muscle activity unusual for my body has made it hard for me to concentrate fully on details, but I've noticed I was running quite fast, and my heels were not touching or slightly touching the ground, and it was quite painful for my calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper technique when toe-first running? Should the heel have a solid contact with the ground, or it should only slightly touch it? Or it shouldn't touch it all, so that only the front part of the feet has contact with the ground? It seems to be the most fatiguing for the calves... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T20:00:49.860" Title="When running with toe-first technique, should heels touch the ground?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13679" CreationDate="2013-08-20T12:36:45.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been told I walk on my toes, and when I started running, at the same time, I had been doing a lot of stair climbing (I started doing stair climb races (CN Tower, Empire State Building, Rockfeller Center) and spun running off that idea) and that got me used to toe running as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find it takes a lot of calf strength and lots of time to develop that strength and endurance in them.  Consider a stair machine to practice on, and to build strength with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally the heel does hit; it just does not really look like it, nor is it very long on the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you will find the front half of your foot will hurt a lot until you build strength.  Look for shoes with more forefoot padding to help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2018-03-15T20:00:49.860" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T20:00:49.860" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13645" CreationDate="2013-08-20T12:39:09.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general it is thought that your body takes three approaches to energy sources while exersizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your percent heart rate (HR) is below 80% usually people will be burning fat.  If your HR gets higher, your body will switch to using glycogen for fuel, since it can be processed faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually you can burn muscle, but that is usually pretty extreme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I too find an ammonia like smell, and have just accepted it is the cost of distance running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T12:39:09.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13682" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13684" CreationDate="2013-08-20T12:44:39.280" Score="5" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently starting to change my habits, I'm 330 and 5'11. How can I determine the amount of weight I can lift safely and to make progress for weight-loss. I'm currently doing cardio and someother exercises depending of the day of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards and thank you in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T17:30:17.613" Title="Right weight for lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2013-08-20T13:17:16.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've made recently a 20-minutes walk on the asphalt, which resulted with really nasty and painful blisters. And it was only walking, not running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the answer on the Outdoors: &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/4277/how-to-harden-feet-for-walking-barefoot-on-harsh-surfaces&quot;&gt;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/4277/how-to-harden-feet-for-walking-barefoot-on-harsh-surfaces&lt;/a&gt; the best thing to adapt your feet to barefoot running is the sand. If your feet are better adapted to walking on asphalt than mine, you can simply practice barefoot walking, it's quite common in Germany. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for heel-first running technique, it's absolute no-go. According to various sources, it's the source of various injuries even when running in special shoes, barefoot you have no amortization, so the whole impact would come to the knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:01.620" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T13:17:16.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13682" CreationDate="2013-08-20T13:18:23.620" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is you who can determine the amount of weight that you can safely lift. Key point in weight-loss by doing weight lifting excercises is to do many repeats for each of your moves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example if you want to make dumbbell fly excercise for chest muscles, take small and not heavy dumbbells and do minimum of 15 repeats. If you don't feel tired during the excercise, increase the weight on next set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will eventually find the correct weight for yourself by trying from less weight to higher. But for weight loss, be sure of doing every move properly with minimum of 13-15 repetitions and 4-5 sets so don't try with heavier weights that you think you can't complete the excercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this information will help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6571" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T13:18:23.620" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13682" CreationDate="2013-08-20T13:52:18.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One book that I would have loved to purchase when I began lifting is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, no affiliation. In this book the authors recommend starting with the bar (a standard olympic bar is ~45 lbs). This sounds counterintuitive, especially for a heavier person, but there are reasons for this. When learning the exercise, form corrections are best made &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; weight is added to the bar. After the exercise is learned, one should always start the exercise warm up sets with the bar to get the blood flowing, warm up tendons/ligaments, and other things. I'm summarizing b/c I don't fully remember, but I read enough to know it's important, and I have done it enough to know that it helps when your legs are still sore from two days ago, but &lt;em&gt;every day is squat day&lt;/em&gt;, that easing into your warm up sets with the bar isn't so bad. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll add that in that book there are logical progressions for adding weight to the exercises, if that's your next question. If you feel like you're not progressing &quot;fast enough&quot;, take your ego out of the picture and just follow the routine, they've done all the heavy lifting for you. Odds are if you stick to it you'll naturally elevate to where you should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this isn't &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; for gaining weight. Heavier people will lose weight while gaining muscle (such as myself), while those with less mass will gain weight. The diet is then difference. So in the OP's case, this is a viable option although it goes against the mantra of 'low weight more reps'. Partly because while that advice works, once your body adapts to that low weight at a certain # of reps, you will no longer tone and have to increase the weight to get the same effect. Not to mention the effects on the body's metabolism are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastEditorUserId="5013" LastEditDate="2013-08-20T13:59:08.610" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T13:59:08.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13682" CreationDate="2013-08-20T13:52:57.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For weight loss, you basically need to do 15-20 reps on each exercise. And like Sir SC mentioned, if at the end of 15 or 20 reps you feel like you could do more, then that weight was too light for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5241" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T13:52:57.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13675" CreationDate="2013-08-20T13:55:18.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use resistance bands for warmup to my routine. In my opinion, they are useful to train smaller muscles like shoulders but bigger muscles need other exercises. To be honest a good pushup/pullup routine can go a long way. (Close grip push up, wide grip push up, there are many good variations!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5241" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T13:55:18.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13645" CreationDate="2013-08-20T16:27:52.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ammonia smell is caused by your body using protein as a fuel source. When necessary, the body will turn to breaking down protein to get glycogen, and the waste products can over load the mechanisms for getting rid of them. When this happens, one of the pathways for excretion is through sweat, and ammonia is one of the waste products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will generally happen when on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is always burning both fat and glycogen. At lower intensities, the mix will be fairly balanced between fat and glycogen being used for energy, as the intensity increases you will tip more towards the glycogen end of things, but fat is never cut out of the equation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you do long duration training, you may get the ammonia smell anyway, as you have pretty much depleted your bodies ready glycogen stores (Muscle and liver).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T16:27:52.273" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13682" CreationDate="2013-08-20T17:30:17.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no idea why everyone is advocating a higher rep amount as this is counter intuitive to building muscle. Yes, you read that correctly, building muscle. The fact is the more muscle mass will help burn fat faster (Muscles require more energy) so increasing muscle mass at the same time would be much more beneficial than doing light weight with many reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T17:30:17.613" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13675" CreationDate="2013-08-20T17:46:14.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is possible.  There isn't anything ground breaking on the advice you will get on band training techniques.  The books will basically give you creative ways to attach them.  You want to be doing the same movement as your squat, deadlift, bench, (find a place to do pull ups and chin ups), curls, tricep extensions, good mornings, and so on... The movements don't change, how you attach the bands depends on what you have available.  You can get in great muscular shape using bands.  You will not put on a lot of mass quickly, your workouts will have to be pretty much non-stop (to get intensity), and you may have to settle on smaller gains but bands vs just body weight in the middle of no where... give me the bands to work with too (and do body weight exercises).  I would also sprinkle in lots of plyometrics but I like speed builders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T17:46:14.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13694" CreationDate="2013-08-20T18:07:57.257" Score="8" ViewCount="11860" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Northern California and there are a bunch of wild fires up here right now.  The skies are a bit hazy and I can smell smoke in the air.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I avoid running in this weather?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastActivityDate="2018-08-21T03:19:13.883" Title="Bad to run in the smoke?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13679" CreationDate="2013-08-20T19:06:54.033" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The technique is known as the &quot;forefoot strike&quot;. I encourage you to look at this &lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html&quot;&gt;Harvard study&lt;/a&gt; on the subject. The premise is that it is the natural running technique for all cultures who predate Nike. Indigenous peoples who run barefoot or in sandals typically use this technique, and it is believed that we have run that way since we left the trees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heel is, in fact, supposed to touch the ground for an instant, having had most of the impact already absorbed by the ball, arch, and all the other parts in between. The key is that the heel is not supposed to be the point of impact as commonly occurs among heel-strikers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T19:06:54.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13679" CreationDate="2013-08-20T19:35:35.690" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely not recommend landing on your &quot;toes&quot; specifically. When running with what people are calling &quot;barefoot&quot; form, you want to land on the ball of your foot or slightly back from there on the midfoot and allow your foot structure and calf muscles to absorb the impact so that when your heel touches the ground it's not really making an impact with the heel. This allows for a little bit of relaxation in the calf muscles while allowing the stored energy in the achilles tendon to still aid in pushing off and again (importantly) preventing the braking high-impact-force moment of a heel first landing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to remember with natural form running is that you want to avoid over-striding and the forward hunch I see a lot of times. You want your foot to land under or at the front edge of your center of gravity, and if you lean forward you want to lean slightly from the ankles, NOT from the waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is not much to be gained, except in a flat out sprint, from never allowing your heel to touch the ground, and it can lead to increased calf muscle fatigue. Much of the reason for contradicting reports regarding injury prevention etc. is that many people try to run too far, too fast, or some combination thereof too soon after switching. So if your calves are getting painfully tired and sore, slow down and decrease your distance until they adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T19:35:35.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13691" CreationDate="2013-08-20T21:59:55.803" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comments section in this question, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11994/any-scientific-info-about-effects-of-air-pollution-during-exercise&quot;&gt;Is there any scientific info about effects of air pollution during exercise?&lt;/a&gt; link to some relevant information about exercise and air pollution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/wildfires/facts.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CDC&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Smoke can hurt your eyes, irritate your respiratory system, and worsen chronic heart and lung diseases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @JohnP notes, the higher the level of warning or level of particles in the air, the higher the chance of irritation you may experience (sinus, throat, cough, eye, respiratory irritation).  These will be exaccerbated if you have any risk factors or pre-existing conditions like heart or lung disease, asthma or allergies.  To find out the air quality index in your area &lt;a href=&quot;http://airnow.gov/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;check here&lt;/a&gt; to help you decide whether or not it is safe to run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do run when you smell smoke you risk respiratory irritation.  When you run, you breathe faster and more deeply taking in fine particles deeper into your lungs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oehha.ca.gov/air/risk_assess/wildfirev8.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;During exercise&lt;/a&gt;, people can increase their air intake as much as 10 to 20 times over their resting level. Increased breathing rates bring more pollution deep into the lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only you can decide whether or not you should run with smoke smell and smoke haze in the air, but I personally would not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-08-20T21:59:55.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13697" CreationDate="2013-08-21T07:53:23.247" Score="2" ViewCount="3218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought the &quot;Polar WearLink hert rate sensor with Bluetooth&quot; in order to monitor my heart rate when running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I paired it successfully with my Android.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But Runkeeper doesn't show a heart rate, although it should according &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/heart-rate-monitoring&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to the instructions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to fix it? What can I do to check if the sensor/transmitter is actually working?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:07.273" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:07.273" Title="RunKeeper fails to pick up my heart rate" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;polar-wearlink&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13696" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13701" CreationDate="2013-08-21T08:42:59.850" Score="2" ViewCount="1452" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running a week ago. I also learned about fore-foot-strike running, and I'd like to try that. But I'm wondering what shoe I should use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A minimalist shoe, so I'm forced to run &quot;properly&quot;. If so, how do I know I'm to exhausted to run properly and should stop for the day?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A normal running shoe so I don't hurt my self, when I fail to run &quot;properly&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-14T14:28:31.023" LastActivityDate="2013-09-14T14:28:31.023" Title="What shoe for aspiring fore foot strike runner?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13695" CreationDate="2013-08-21T11:33:03.830" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just tried it again and now it works. I have no real idea why it works today, but didn't yesterday, but I'll describe what I did as precise as possible, so others might get some useful information out of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yesterday (didn't work)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Activated Bluetooth on smartphone Put transmitter on strap, put strap around chest. Paired transmitter with phone. I'm not sure when I started Runkeeper ... it is kind of hard to tell if an application is running or not anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Today (did work)&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Made the rubber part of the strap wet. Although hardly any water stayed on it, and yesterday I was heavily sweating at least a couple of minutes after I started the process, so everything should have been nicely wet. Put strap around chest. Put transmitter on Started Bluetooth. Started Runkeeper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that the heart rate sensor/transmitter has some kind of sleep mode and needs to wake up, since it does not have any kind of external switch. Maybe because the strap was dray first and only slowly got moistened there wasn't a sudden enough change for it to get started ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll accept another answer if it provides something more specific, especially a way to debug this kind of issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T11:33:03.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13698" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13705" CreationDate="2013-08-21T11:43:46.377" Score="0" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different ways of training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low intensity for a long duration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intervall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;short and intense&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with resting days in between or without&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are things which I have seen being mentioned&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can somebody give an overview for what kind of purpose what kind of training would be useful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As discussed in the comments, I'm not looking for tons of details, but a rough overview how different types of trainings get classified and what they are used for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2013-08-21T12:37:40.873" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T15:23:45.437" Title="What kind of training strategies are there and what is there purpose?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-08-21T15:47:10.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13696" CreationDate="2013-08-21T12:45:49.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A minimalist running shoe would be optimal, but I doubt that you should invest in one of those just to try forefoot striking.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can run and walk on your forefoot in every shoe, although the rigid sole or heavy cushioning might make things complicated. I started running on my forefoot last fall, the shoes I used weren't even proper running shoes (more like general purpose field and track shoes). Although this is not optimal, it worked for me. If you have normal running shoes you should be able to use them. However you will feel a difference when switching to minimalist shoes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On your first run you should not try to even get close to distances you ran before, just try to run one mile or less. The leg has to adapt to the new technique as some muscles that haven't been used before are now put under stress. As you just started running this issue might not be as big, but I suspect you didn't walk an our forefoot and thus those specific muscles are probably still weaker than the rest of your normal running muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: Try to switch to forefoot running for a short distance in one of your normal runs and see how it feels like. If you like it and want to get more serious about it, buy minimalist shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you could try running completely without shoes as this will make you run on your forefoot automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T12:45:49.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13696" CreationDate="2013-08-21T12:46:29.810" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're just starting out running, you have a great opportunity to make the effort to learn correct form now before developing any bad habits. Minimalist shoes indeed can help to encourage a certain type of foot landing, because the lack of cushioning or heel rise makes it easier to land on the fore- or mid-foot and heel striking will feel uncomfortable or painful. But you don't get good form simply by wearing such shoes, you should invest the time to learn the nuances of proper form and specifically how it applies to your own body. A good book or trainer can be as valuable as a good shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A normal running shoe so I don't hurt my self, when I fail to run &quot;properly&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe a traditional running shoe will avoid pain or discomfort in the short term if you run with incorrect form, but in the long term you are likely to develop stress injuries regardless of the type of shoe you wear if you have bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easier to try out minimalist shoes if you're new to running. When experienced runners try switching to minimalist shoes, they need to be careful to start slow with the new shoes and gradually rebuild mileage, pay attention to changes in mechanics and form, etc. But if you're a new runner, you'll need to do that anyway, so there's nothing to lose in trying minimalist shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now is also a good time to try true barefoot running. It's easier to try this as a beginning runner. I said that minimalist shoes can help encourage some aspects of good form, but I find that full barefoot running can be more directly beneficial to good form, and what you learn while barefoot can carry over to any type of shoes you wear for the rest of your running. Unlike going barefoot, minimalist shoes still restrict the motion and flexibility of your foot to some degree, and still shield your sole from the sensation (either good or bad) of the ground. The additional feedback, if learn how to listen to it, can guide all sorts of very small adjustments to help perfect your form. For this reason I do a portion of my runs barefoot, as a means to adjust and perfect form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of which you select—traditional shoes, minimalist shoes, barefoot, or an combination thereof—now is the time to learn good form, build up gradually, and find out what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I know I'm too exhausted to run properly and should stop for the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, it may be helpful to find a training plan for new runners, not necessarily as an absolute prescription for how long to run each day, but at least as a guide that you can adjust to your needs. This can give you a general idea of how much you could expect to run each week and how to gradually increase the mileage or intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, if you feel pain in your feet, joints, etc., you should probably stop for the day. Like starting any sort of new exercise, it's ok to feel soreness or fatigue, but pain is a sign that you've either reached a limit for the day, or something is wrong. Perhaps your shoes aren't fitting correctly, or something about your form has caused too much stress to your feet or joints for the day, etc. Or, it could be that some of the small muscles in your feet or the larger muscles in your legs have just reached their limit for the day: especially with minimalist or barefoot running, there are adaptations your body needs time to make. Your feet especially need time to strengthen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Update&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11702/proper-running-form-landing-on-balls-of-feet/11703#11703&quot;&gt;three&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/293/experiences-with-barefoot-running/1442#1442&quot;&gt;great&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4530/is-it-preferrable-to-run-on-toes&quot;&gt;discussions&lt;/a&gt; on this site that go deeper into proper running form and minimalist running experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T13:03:43.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13704" CreationDate="2013-08-21T13:48:13.747" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 330 lbs and 5'11 and I've a problem with my shoes, I wore them out to fast but from one side only, the outer side. So my ankle twist and that make my hip hurts, I change shoes frequently but the same thing happens all over again. Any specific specific features or characteristics I should look on a shoe? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastEditorUserId="6265" LastEditDate="2013-08-21T14:32:57.430" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T23:58:07.020" Title="Shoes for a very heavy man?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13653" CreationDate="2013-08-21T13:48:30.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely it is something called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapping_hip_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;snapping hip syndrome.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  The wiki article doesn't provide any ground-breaking info, but it's a good overview of the condition.  If it starts causing you pain, see a doctor.  I get this with my left hip when I do side kicks.  I just learned to live with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T13:48:30.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13702" CreationDate="2013-08-21T14:50:36.043" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/info/index.jsp?categoryId=12749426&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page on how to select a running shoe&lt;/a&gt;. Sounds like you underpronate your walk.  That is you walk slightly outward on your foot with each step.  From the chart on the page you might want to try a neutral type of shoe.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Underpronation/Supination: The two terms &quot;underpronation&quot; and &quot;supination&quot; can be used interchangeably to describe a runner whose foot does not roll in at all or even rolls slightly outward with each step in the running gait. The runner pushes off mainly from the small toes on the outside of the foot. An extremely small percentage of the population underpronates. Typically, a runner with a high arch will underpronate. A runner with this foot mechanic will have extreme wear on the outside edge of his or her current running shoe. Underpronators generally need a NEUTRAL shoe that encourages a more natural inward foot motion. Shop our great assortment of men's and women's neutral running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6576" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-21T23:58:07.020" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T23:58:07.020" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13698" CreationDate="2013-08-21T15:23:45.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll do my best to link these up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;low intensity for a long duration&lt;/strong&gt; - endurance, weight loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;intervall&lt;/strong&gt; - endurance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;short and intense&lt;/strong&gt; - strength (powerlifters usually lift very heavy weights very few times)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;medium length and intensity&lt;/strong&gt; - muscle volume&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;with rest days&lt;/strong&gt; - powerlifters and endurance athletes usually take days off to recuperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;without rest days&lt;/strong&gt; - bodybuilders usually don't take rest days because they stress muscles much more than joints/tendons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that gives the general outline. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5241" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T15:23:45.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13711" CreationDate="2013-08-21T15:38:28.667" Score="2" ViewCount="489" Body="&lt;p&gt;My teen (17) broke an ankle and is bedridden.&#xA;They're obese (5'7&quot; @ 250lbs female) and have a difficult time regulating their binges until now.  Can't get to the kitchen so built in limiting.&#xA;My spouse and I are having a conflict when it comes to diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm seriously concerned about massive weight gain during the recoup period so I'm saying calorie intake should be limited down to about 1500/day.  My spouse doesn't seem too worried and keeps feeding our teen closer to 2200-2500/day.  Also bad choices, IE a Fast food 3 chicken strip meal with fries instead of a 5 strip meal evidently makes sense to them while I'm saying perhaps roasted chicken with salad would be a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I need is a good source for what the dietary needs are and even some sample menus to makes things idiot proof.  I've got the knowledge but am not being taken seriously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be great.  Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T23:39:14.630" Title="Obese bedridden teen" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-08-22T05:26:34.930" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13707" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-21T20:56:21.487" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a science&amp;amp;tech &quot;geek&quot; (I like to study things myself, using my PC in advanced ways like programming my own analytic solutions) and I like to run. So I am willing to purchase a gadget (like a watch or so) that would not only provide me with live data based on my heart rate when I run, but also let me download the heart rate dynamics (I mean the way like an ECG) data as &quot;time series&quot; to my PC so that I'd be able to analyze it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you recommend any particular models? I don't know any for sure. Many are USB-enabled and can transfer some data to a PC but I couldn't find information about what exactly do they transfer and I am not sure if they can record and give me the heart rate history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other features are not really important. The only feature I actually want is what I have described, all the others would be just pleasant &quot;bonuses&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5295" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T20:56:21.487" Title="What runner's heart rate monitoring gadgets let a user to download his heart rate history to a PC?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-08-22T06:16:39.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13706" CreationDate="2013-08-21T21:52:14.040" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand the comments of calling in a medical professional.  Holy cow if we needed to see a doctor to eat better we would need 3 billion doctors in the world!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both parents have to be on the same page.  It's a given.  You should take your kid's weight serious because you do not want health issues now or down the road.  Also coming from an obese family I understand the importance of learning good eating habits.  As a parent you have let your child (I don't say this to be negative because kids do what they do) eat certain foods.  Try to introduce foods that they like that are lower in calories and healthier.  Get rid of the junk food in the house and simply don't buy it.  If you buying it you are enabling it. I don't want to get into the family dynamics because I still have issues what my mom serves my kids but just buy good foods and buy foods that are filling and low in calories.  If your spouse doesn't understand how your daughter's health could be impacted she needs to be educated on this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your current problem I don't agree with either parent.  Use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/calories-burned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple calorie calculator&lt;/a&gt; to see how many calories a day your kid burns without doing anything.  With the stats you gave me I get almost 2400 calories per day.  So if your kid eats 2400 calories per day she should maintain her weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dropping her to 1500 calories puts her body in starve mode.  This isn't healthy and isn't good for long-term results.  Also a person that has that big of a deficit is more likely to binge eat if they are starving.  For the first week you can go somewhere around 1800-2100 calories.  As her weight drops you can adjust it down a little.  The goal isn't that she eats significantly less, it is that she chooses foods that have less calories.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T21:52:14.040" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-21T23:00:50.450" Score="4" ViewCount="20287" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercise can I do for developing the lowest abdominal muscles (colloquially named the V-muscles)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need something that's bodyweight and I am aware that I'd need to lose some weight until someone can see them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6577" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-22T00:01:18.687" LastActivityDate="2013-08-22T05:44:09.743" Title="Bodyweight exercise for the 'v'-muscle in the lower abdomen" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6286" CreationDate="2013-08-21T23:28:44.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same issue. My PT prescribed &quot;eccentric leg curls.&quot; Put 50 or 60 lb on the leg curl machine. Pull slowly with both legs, then slowly return to the rest position with only one leg on the pad. Somehow this really helps the hammies. Just do three sets of ten. Increase weight with caution as you improve. Beware of too much weight or too many reps or pulling too fast; any of these can cause re-injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6578" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T23:28:44.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13706" CreationDate="2013-08-21T23:39:14.630" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI - According to the CDC's &lt;a href=&quot;http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BMI Calculator for Teens&lt;/a&gt; your daughter's BMI (body mass index) is 39.2 placing her above the 98th percentile and indicates she is obese.  It says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This teen is obese and &lt;em&gt;is likely to have health-related problems because of weight and should be seen by a healthcare provider for further assessment&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best answer to your question is to get professional help: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medical- someone who specializes in teen obesity and eating disorders,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical therapy to address her inactivity and broken ankle, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutritional (registered dietician) to set up an appropriate diet that meets her  nutritional and weight loss needs,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Psychological - to address underlying emotional issues and to include family counseling to assure that everyone has the same goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As previously mentioned in the comments, unless you have a united plan of action that everyone is in agreement with, nothing is going to improve.  The more your daughter remains bedridden, loses strength and gains weight, the harder it is going to be to get her back on her feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need some help being taken seriously, get the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/calls/obesity/fact_consequences.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Surgeon General&lt;/a&gt; on your side who lists health consequences of obesity as: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, breathing problems, premature death, arthritis, reproductive complications, and in adolescents (as well as adults) social discrimination.  For additional information see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6370/how-to-lose-weight-when-morbidly-obese&quot;&gt;How to lose weight when morbidly obese&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck and let us know if you need more information to get your plan in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-08-21T23:39:14.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13709" CreationDate="2013-08-21T23:51:26.100" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 'v' shaped section at the lower abdominals is commonly called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%27s_belt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;'Adonis belt' or 'Apollo's belt'&lt;/a&gt; depending on who you speak with, however a common (although obsolete) anatomical term  for this feature is the 'iliac furrow'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IfqkP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Roman statue of Apollo from Wikimedia&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the ability to show off an Apollo's belt is very genetic. Rather than being a muscle, its a combination of the location of your hips and certain ligaments in the lower abdomen. The common attribute to a lot of people who show an Adonis belt is low bodyfat, good core development and engaging in sports that involve rotational aspects at the waist - such as martial artists, swimmers, surfers and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary ligament that gives the 'v' look is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inguinal_ligament&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inguinal ligament&lt;/a&gt; that forms part of the femoral triangle which is what gives the 'v' look. The second major anatomical feature that help give this look is a prominent &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliac_crest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;'iliac crest'&lt;/a&gt;, being the large bony outcrop of the hips which is generally fixed in size and shape. What both of these anatomical features have in common are their connections to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_external_oblique_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;external obliques, with portions of the obliques joining with the hip at iliac crest and while &quot;the aponeurosis of the external oblique muscle forms the inguinal ligament&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. As such, you can help stimulate growth in this area by targeting your obliques, however while ligaments can grow, unlike muscles this takes a significant amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for which exercises, any &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/WaistWt.html#anchor1944764&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodyweight exercises that adequately stress your obliques&lt;/a&gt; should work - examples include the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4oHT4olsaY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hanging side crunch&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X59_4RrU_aA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;windscreen wipers&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/BWSideBridge.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;side planks&lt;/a&gt;. Other activities that I've seen suggested are martial arts training with a bag, both traditional boxing or a martial art with kicks will work as both require significant rotation force generated from the waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As JohnP points out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_abdominal_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;transverse abdominus&lt;/a&gt; also connects with the iliac crest and inguinal ligament in a similar fashion to the obliques. These are a deep abdominal muscle beneath both the internal and external obliques, and are difficult to target properly. The best way to target these is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TransverseAbdominus/AbdominalVacuum.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;abdominal vacuum&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/corzU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A picture of an abdominal vacuum from EXRX.net&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-22T01:03:43.330" LastActivityDate="2013-08-22T01:03:43.330" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13715" CreationDate="2013-08-22T05:12:08.243" Score="7" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm traveling abroad for a year, and I'm wondering if anybody has good experience with portable workout equipment such as resistance bands or suspension systems&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastActivityDate="2013-08-22T07:13:27.677" Title="What equipment can I buy that will build muscle mass and fit in a suitcase" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13713" CreationDate="2013-08-22T07:13:27.677" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance Bands and Other Workouts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably one of the best, if not the best thing you can bring that is portable and gives you a good muscle mass increasing workout are resistance bands. Now it depends what kind of muscle mass you're planning on building. Resistance bands are going to build less bulk muscle and more lean muscle (although perhaps you already knew that). If you want more bulk muscle, I really suggest finding a good public playground and doing some heavy body resistance workouts (look up the super buff guys on youtube videos who claim to never have been to a gym, learn from them). When working out for basketball, as a guard, we wanted lean muscle mass. At P3, we used arm bands for many excercises to build lean muscle. These included (also added a few more):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Upper Body&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep Curls (stand on a the band and do a bicep curl like you have a bar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Shoulder Raise (stand on the band, arms in front, lift them straight up without bending)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banded push ups (hands on either side of band, band goes around your back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side Shoulder Raise (same as front shoulder, just hold arms by your side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Band Row (loop band around a tree or anything, thne row with either arm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep Row (same as band row, but turn around facing away from tree)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, there's nothing wrong with push-ups. Push-ups don't have to be&#xA;mundane. You can change your hand position to excercises a vast array&#xA;of muscles. Bring the closer together and lower and push all your&#xA;weight forward to really get the chest. Put your hands out wide and&#xA;forward to get back and triceps. Also try doing a pyramid workout (start with 5 pushups, once completed, get on your knees and raise your arms straight above your head 5 times. Then go to 6. Progressing to 10 and back down usually works me out REAL GOOD.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups. These are great for building more muscle mass then push ups. Since sets range from about 5-15 if you're in decent shape, they're better at building more muscle mass than pushups (ranging from 20-50+)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Abs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't think you need any equipment to build abs. I never have used any and my abs are fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stomach Ups are an unknown favorite of mine. Hang on a bar like a pull up, but then just raise your toes to touch the bar above you. Sets range in the 5-20 reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banded ab workouts can be useful to increase resistance, but honestly I don't think there's a need for them. There's plenty of other ab workouts that are just as useful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Russian Twists (feet up, rotate side to side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V-Ups (especially tough, lie down, arms straight above head, lift legs/arms simultaneously)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side crunch (lay on your side, hands on head, touch right elbow to right hip, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hardcore situp (just a regular situp but raise your feet above ground)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg ups (hands under your butt, push legs up in air at 90 degree angle as high as you can)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold the planck (especially good right after a pushup workout)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Those are some of my favorites, there are many more of course&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lower Body&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Short sprints (40 meters)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banded Slide (put bands around legs, get low, move legs apart sideways, repeat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banded Ice skater (put bands around legs, get low, move legs apart diagonally, repeat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banded Leg Raise (lay on back, raise one leg as high as you can, raise other, repeat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges (while standing, step forward and touch back knee to ground, hold for a second)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6374" LastActivityDate="2013-08-22T07:13:27.677" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13718" CreationDate="2013-08-22T09:48:38.893" Score="21" ViewCount="5631" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to know if it is possible to prolong an erection with the help of workouts. Are there any specific exercises that can be done to help with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6581" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-22T11:02:09.670" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T12:47:43.290" Title="Workout to prolong erection?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;sex&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13716" CreationDate="2013-08-22T11:03:50.710" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there is no specific exercise that will do this general good aerobic conditioning will help. So, keep going to the gym and stay healthy and you should have long, happy sex for years to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From WebMD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study showed that men over age 50 who kept physically active had a 30% lower risk of impotence than men who were inactive. As men age, the chance of impotence increases, but the research shows that exercise can keep a man going significantly longer. The findings appear in the August issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Impotence Affects 20 Million Americans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies show that impotence, also called erectile dysfunction, is far reaching; it affects as many as 20 million American men. By age 60 nearly half of all men will have had at least one brush with impotence, researchers say. For decades, worsening sexual function has been accepted as a natural part of aging, but researchers for this study write they may have proof this doesn't have to be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To test their theory, researchers surveyed more than 31,000 men between the ages of 53 and 90. Volunteers rated their ability in the previous three months, without treatment, to have and maintain an erection adequate for sex. Researchers also analyzed other measures of sexual function and looked at the men's lifestyle habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitter Men Have Better Erections&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Results showed that men who were physically active reported better erections: The fitter the man, the better the erection. Frequent, vigorous exercise, the equivalent of running at least three hours a week or playing singles tennis five hours per week, produced the most benefit -- with a 30% lower risk of impotence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Findings also showed that men less than 60 years old benefited most from exercise. But bad lifestyle habits such as being overweight, watching more than 20 hours of television a week, and smoking offset the benefits of being young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Researchers write that they hope men will get an important message: Sexual activity can stay strong for years through healthy living. Impotence doesn't have to be a &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; part of aging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SOURCE: Bacon, C. Annals of Internal Medicine, August 2003; vol 139: pp 161-168.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;WebMD: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/erectile-dysfunction/news/20030822/exercise-prolongs-mens-sex-lives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercise Prolongs Men's Sex Lives&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T12:47:43.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13716" CreationDate="2013-08-22T11:20:21.463" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the penis itself isn't a muscle that can be trained, but simply speaking just a sponge for blood, there are three muscles that are responsible for supporting ejaculation and maintaining an erection via compression of blood vessels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retractor_muscle_of_the_penis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Musculus retractor penis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It doesn't seem like this muscle is important in humans, the english wikipedia article doesn't tell much nor does the german version. It still exists in humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbospongiosus_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bulbospongiosus&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In males it contributes to erection, ejaculation, and the feelings of orgasm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ischiocavernosus_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ischiocavernosus muscle&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It helps flex the anus, and (in males) stabilize the erect penis or (in females) tense the vagina during orgasm. Kegel exercises (also known as pelvic floor exercises) can help tone the ischiocavernosus muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ischiocavernosus compresses the crus penis, and retards the return of the blood through the veins, and thus serves to maintain the organ erect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there you have it, &lt;strong&gt;pelvic floor exercises&lt;/strong&gt; are an exercise you should try. These exercises are often used in prenatal exercises and to reduce incontinece, but you can use them too. The muscle serve a different function for women and various other functions for men. So don't be confused if you find a lot of information aimed at pregnant women or for older men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read about men that used these exercises and were very satisfied with the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegel_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kegel Exercise (Pelvic floor exercises)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises are usually done to […] reduce premature ejaculatory occurrences in men, as well as to increase the size and intensity of erections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these exercises seem to make use of special devices, there are &amp;quot;body weight&amp;quot; style exercises too, that only aim on contracting the pelvic floor muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also aim for a good overall fitness, using other exercises (cardio, resistance workouts, sports, …) and a healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-08-22T11:32:00.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2013-08-22T16:57:34.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work for a hospital and I wear ankle weights my full shift sometimes 4, 5, 6 days in a row.  I take the stairs and I walk fast. I lost 12 pounds in 3 months just adding the ankle weights without even dieting.  I also drink a lot of coke (two cans a day) and ya I know it's not healthy but I don't drink alcohol or eat junk food and I am a vegetarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I also ride horses and jump on a trampoline and use wrist weights. I have never had one single problem wearing them as long as I wear very good tennis shoes.  I wear the black sketchers high top so the weights actually rest on my tennis shoes not on my ankles. The weights never even touch my ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rode horses and jumped on a trampoline years before using ankle weights so I know for a fact the ankle weights are what worked. I only wear them at work and if my legs start to feel tired I just take them off. I probably walk 5 to 10 miles during my shift around the whole entire hospital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually have very firm legs and no muffin top anymore. I love wearing &#xA; them and if I don't wear them I feel off balance now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They hide under my scrubs so no one knows I'm wearing them. Anyway, ankle weights have been a success for me. I'm 47 and had my only child at 40 and I have a better body now than I did before I had a child. My stomach is flat and I have more curves than I have ever had in my life and I actually have a waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are my own personal results.  I also have a friend who is a hair dresser that wears them every day and I started wearing them because she started looking so much firmer and leaner in her leg and butt area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think they can work for some people.  They definitely work for me.  I love love love them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6588" LastActivityDate="2013-08-22T16:57:34.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-23T01:25:51.150" Score="1" ViewCount="44124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are modern &quot;barefoot running&quot; or air-cushion running shoes better that the previous EVA-soles of the 80s and 90s? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel better protected with the EVA, landing solidly on the heel, and have the impression that shoes that are too soft hurt my ankles (since they provide less stability). Normally, I run 3-5 miles 3x/week and weight 70kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are EVA-shoes that bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6591" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-08-23T04:27:56.250" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T22:24:22.683" Title="Running shoes: are EVA soles that bad?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13722" CreationDate="2013-08-23T02:01:51.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is part of your problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;landing solidly on the heel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to the invention of cushioned shoes, most people ran using a mid-step or forefoot, rather than with a heel strike, because as you mentioned without cushioning, the pressure of a heel-strike impacts on the foot, ankle, knee and hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of questions on the site that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/293/experiences-with-barefoot-running&quot;&gt;address barefoot running&lt;/a&gt;, but the common thread is a slow introduction and focus on a good mid-foot or forefoot technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether or not traditional running shoes are bad all comes down to the runner and their technique. The general concensus is that heel-strike running patterns are bad for the legs in quite a few ways as they encourage heavier foot falls. The problem is that traditional runners make heel strikes less painful, but not necessarily more safe for the leg over all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you learn to switch to a mid-strike and enjoy traditional runners they are fine. But, and I can't stress this enough, continuing with a heel strike gait, regardless of shoe will increase your risk of injury in the long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-08-23T02:07:58.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13725" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-23T11:16:55.077" Score="6" ViewCount="34551" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to gain weight, primarily for muscle bodybuilding (not professional). In various online calorie calculators I need to choose my activity level. I'm always stuck on which one to choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, this one (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&quot;&gt;http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&lt;/a&gt;), along with many others, has a drop-down for activity level, usually containing levels between sedentary and very active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout is 3x a week weightlifting, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, 3 day split, in the gym about 30-45 mins. Am I supposed to include my workout activity into this calculator?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my job is largely sedentary, sitting on an office chair. My home activity is fairly sedentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I pick to get a better estimate of calories for weight gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6175" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T05:30:50.347" Title="What activity level should I choose in calorie calculators?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13725" CreationDate="2013-08-23T11:40:07.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A warning at the beginning: Calorie Calculation is inaccurate, these calculators only give a rough estimate at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to chose depends on what you want to do with the results and if you are planing to count calories for your exercise separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to track your activity, select the light or moderate activity and use that number as a first estimate, read below how to adjust the number to make it more accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do so, you should calculate your BMR or the sedentary level and add activities on top (optimal would be to calculate the RMR - Resting Metabolic Rate). You need to be careful doing this, as a lot of calorie calculators for different activities already include your RMR. You can check this by calculating the caloric burn for a sedentary activity, like watching TV, reading a book or sleeping. If the number is higher than a few calories, they add RMR. In this case you have to subtract that number from the calories of an activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Example:&#xA;&#xA;Caloric Burn:&#xA;2000kcal/day ~ 83kcal/hour&#xA;&#xA;Watching TV / hour (according to calculator):&#xA;85kcal&#xA;&#xA;Riding bike / hour (according to calculator):&#xA;240kcal&#xA;&#xA;Riding bike / hour (without sedentary rate):&#xA;(240-85)kcal ~155kcal&#xA;&#xA;Daily Caloric Burn for sedentary activity plus an hour of biking:&#xA;2155kcal instead of 2240kcal&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories are a useful tool to measure how much you eat, and are especially useful as they probably have a psychological effect and make yourself more aware about the stuff you eat, but they are, as said before, inaccurate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't solely rely on them, track your weight with a scale (don't get distracted too much by fluctuations though), measure your body fat (with a skin fold caliper for example) and take photos of yourself to compare.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can use all the combined measurements to get a better estimate of the number of calories your body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-23T22:18:21.017" LastActivityDate="2013-08-23T22:18:21.017" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-23T14:31:59.460" Score="5" ViewCount="836" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that localized reduction of fat it largely a myth and that I'll have to really lose weight if I want to get rid of my belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the muscles in the belly are tighter, wouldn't that reduce my belly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6591" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-24T08:33:57.090" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T08:33:57.090" Title="Do abdominal vacuum exercises reduce the belly?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13727" CreationDate="2013-08-23T14:48:26.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may reduce the appearance of your stomach, but you have not actually done anything to reduce it. The vacuum exercise is the primary way to work the transverse abdominus, which is the most interior of the abdominal muscles. It is primarily responsible for holding in the viscera (intestines).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the TVA is not in shape, then it will allow more protrusion than if it is toned and fit, but this is ONLY a visual effect, it has nothing to do with the actual amount of fat present in the abdominal area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-08-23T14:48:26.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-23T20:55:02.570" Score="2" ViewCount="1239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been unable to touch my toes. This is becoming increasingly problematic for my yoga. Of course focusing on stretching my hamstrings helps and I'm making progress but I'm concerned that my regular cycling — which I'm told tightens the hamstrings — is counteracting my yoga efforts. Is this likely to be the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6597" LastEditorUserId="6597" LastEditDate="2013-08-25T09:49:46.330" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T14:05:53.600" Title="Does cycling tighten hamstrings?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13725" CreationDate="2013-08-23T21:09:21.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using Calorie Counters for the lifter/athlete/in-training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want a pretty accurate calorie count you need to use a calculator that is not just height/weight/age based.  It needs to be height (helps estimate skeletal, organ, and fluid weight), weight (for ratios), and body fat % (so that you can get some kind of estimate for muscle weight).  You don't have to get your body fat % every day but you need to check it during intervals to update your counter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your muscular weight is going to have a huge impact on the amount of calories you burn per day.  Without knowing it the calorie counter is trivial for the athlete or lifter.  Most calorie counters either assume a body fat % or they assume that anything over a certain weight for a given height can be attributed to fat (based on gender).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When using the counter the calories burnt per workout is very very hard to estimate for lifting weights.  There are some decent estimates for basic things like running, walking, activities.  These are guesses usually based on your weight.  They are OK to use.  They could be off by as much as 10-30% though for in-workout calorie burn.  For someone 160-180 pounds lifting for 45 mins I would give at least 200 calories.  Why not 250 for you since you are looking to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The afterburn is the real deal.  The more intense your workout the more calories your body will burn after your workout (while your body is still cooking) and during recovery.  There are studies that bicyclists have burned up to 700 calories AFTER a ride - THE SAME DAY.  Didn't even take into account the full recovery process.  If you are trying to lose weight, then you can just ignore this afterburn - you will just lose weight quicker.  But if you are trying to gain weight you are going to have to really use your best judgement.  If your weight workout is at a very high intensity for 45 mins I could see adding anywhere from 400-1000 calories based on your weight/muscle mass.  But here is the deal.  This isn't a one time one day addition.  When I work with one of my athletes and dieticians we normally attribute 60% of the after-burn calories to the workout day and spread the rest through out the week (done so that you fuel your body properly for recovery periods).  You work out 3 days.  So let's say you calculate your total per workout afterburn to be 600 calories - pretty intense.  So you would gain at least 360 calories on the 3 workout days.  And then 240x3=720 divided by 7 days = 103 extra calories per day.  So a total of an extra 463 calories on workout days and 103 on non-workout days.  Simple but easy.  You can spread the calories a little more if you want balance but you have to account for them (and you should be eating/drinking more calories on workout days).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are sedentary at a desk most of the day then pick a very low activity level.  But if you go for a walk or anything on a regular basis you need to add it in so that it is accurate.  Walking to the store everyday might seem like normal life but it might be 100 calories a day which adds up (maybe with 1 calorie afterburn too).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2013-08-23T21:09:21.867" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13731" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-24T01:16:05.430" Score="4" ViewCount="16507" Body="&lt;p&gt;So after answering this question &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13709/bodyweight-exercise-for-the-v-muscle-in-the-lower-abdomen&quot;&gt;Bodyweight exercise for the &amp;#39;v&amp;#39;-muscle in the lower abdomen&lt;/a&gt;&quot; I started doing some investigation into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transversus_abdominis_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;transversus abdominis (TA)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've found, while the TA provides support during any heavy weight bearing activity (squats, deadlifts, overhead press, carrying shopping), the only way to directly exercise this muscle is through &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TransverseAbdominus/AbdominalVacuum.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;abdominal vacuums&lt;/a&gt;. However there is really no way to make these harder as the TA acts as a girdle around the abdomen, with no way to add weight or change leverage. Although some people think doing this on all floors so the body sags more increases the difficulty, but not by much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the only way to really train it then is through volume. Starting a few days ago I started doing vacuums pretty much constantly, sitting at my desk if my posture lags, waiting for the bus, while cooking, etc.... Since then, I've noticed my posture is a little improved and my stomach certainly &lt;em&gt;feels&lt;/em&gt; tighter (but that could be DOMS) and I think I look slimmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is, what physiological changes happen from exercising such a small, important muscle in this way, are there any dangers or benefits, will it interfere with other lifts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:45:59.180" Title="Risk/benefits of daily abdominal vacuums to workout transversus abdominis?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3716" CreationDate="2013-08-24T07:49:05.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had patellar tracking disorder for years.  I run and run and the end result is eventually sublocation in my knee everytime I use stairs, walk, or crouch.  I have found a magic tool though!  My friends, I am talking about the torture device called the foam roll.  Most times the cause of patellar tracking disorder is overly tight IT bands on the outside of the thigh.  Rolling on IT band with your weight on the foam roll about 10 times is a miracle.  After two days of using the foam roll I can use the stairs again.  It is still a little hitchy but gets better all the time.  I can not sing the praises of the foam roll enough. Stretching using this tool will loosen it up in no time. Get one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6599" LastActivityDate="2013-08-24T07:49:05.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3986" CreationDate="2013-08-25T01:17:25.113" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens to me too...they feel like the most intense menstrual cramps and only happen right after any run more than 3 miles. I think mine is related to the &quot;blood flow&quot; issue and I have started to cool down more and walk a fast paced mile after my run which tends to slowly let the blood flow back into the stomach area rather than all at once. I still get cramps but they aren't as bad as if I just stopped running. So maybe incorporate a longer cool down and see if walking for a bit after the run helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6605" LastActivityDate="2013-08-25T01:17:25.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13670" CreationDate="2013-08-25T12:39:00.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a word that describes exercises done using only your own&#xA;  body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. That kind of exercises is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calisthenics (see Wikipedia)&lt;/a&gt;, or you may spell it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/calisthenics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;callisthenics in US english&lt;/a&gt;. It comes from the ancient Greek, &quot;Beautiful Strength&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Push-Up in your picture is probably the most popular, but there are many more. See for instance &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POdzasJklxw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this amazing video (Tee Major)&lt;/a&gt;, or do a search in Youtube with the word &quot;Barstarzz&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a book that guides one to fitness by using these exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a famous book about progressive strength training using only your body and some place to hang from. It is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045768&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author (under a pseudonym) claims to have spent many years in prison, training himself and training other people with bodyweight exercises uniquely. I think it is all invented, but the system he proclaims seems sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are between four and six exercises to master, each of them with a lot of variants in increasing difficulty. For example, for doing pushups, you would start doing them standing against a wall. After mastering 3x40 of them, you would change your hands to a bench, then to kneeling pushups and so on. Eventually, the athlete would master one-hand pushups, one-hand pullups and other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a nice poster and graphics for the progressions &lt;a href=&quot;http://convict-conditioning.com/convict-conditioning-progressions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. When my tendonitis eventually heal, I think I am going to give it a try. At least all the first steps in the progressions seem nearly innocent (the author call these steps &quot;rehabilitation&quot; stages).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybody seems crazy about barbell training with systems like &lt;em&gt;HerniatedDisks5x5&lt;/em&gt; and similar. You are free to give credit to whatever you want, but there is no doubt that, if you manage to do pullups and lots of pushups (not to mention that you progress very far an reach the ability to do one-arm pullups) you will have become really strong, and the system in this book divides the progression towards that goals in steps that (at least at first glance) seem realistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the book is funny, because the author hates modern bodybuilding and states a lot of controversial affirmations against it. He depicts modern bodybuilders nearly as slow, clumsy animals artificially pumped up, with their joints damaged. Of course, all is to be taken with a grain of salt, but sometimes is nice to read something from a perspective other than the cult of Rippetoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-08-26T13:41:19.833" LastActivityDate="2013-08-26T13:41:19.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-25T14:21:25.843" Score="3" ViewCount="613" Body="&lt;p&gt;i have some APT and associated knee clicking (the latter being the main issue). I believe i got this from cycling/muscle imbalances and lack of stretching. To try and cure this i've been doing strengthening exercises for the glutes and abs,and stretching the hip flexors,groin, calves and piriformis. My goal has been to try and rotate my femurs externally to stop my knee caps clicking on the outer leg.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've read that sitting cross legged stretches the piriformis (good), but would it also stretch the glutes etc and make APT worse ? So basically is sitting cross legged good for helping cure APT and achieving some external femur rotation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6609" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2013-08-25T15:46:13.577" LastActivityDate="2013-08-25T15:46:13.577" Title="Is sitting cross legged good for anterior pelvic tilt?" Tags="&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-09-03T19:33:13.113" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-25T21:17:56.177" Score="6" ViewCount="2622" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Assume we're near the Earth's surface, so that center and gravity and center of mass are basically the same.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that the&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13672/dumbbells-why-do-a-few-heavy-plates-feel-much-heavier-than-many-lighter-ones#comment24012_13676&quot;&gt;center of gravity is not fixed when there are two pivot points as there is when there are two hands on a bar&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, and&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13672/dumbbells-why-do-a-few-heavy-plates-feel-much-heavier-than-many-lighter-ones#comment23979_13676&quot;&gt;your center of gravity is the space between your hands on the bar. Since you have two access points (given that your hands are centered) the entire space should represent the center of gravity&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had the understanding that the center of gravity is a single point, that it is fixed, and that it would be located at the average of all the mass in the barbell or dumbbell. I also thought that the position of your hands on the barbell doesn't change its center of gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T04:00:37.137" Title="Dumbbells and barbells: Where is the center of gravity?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-25T23:02:26.373" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often get a mild headache within a few hours of finishing a half marathon race or other intense distance run. I otherwise feel fine. Are there any common causes of/methods to prevent such headaches? I drink water during such runs regularly but in moderation, only as I feel thirst, and I eat plenty of the standard finish-line fare. I don't get these headaches after shorter or less intense runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11920/cold-and-fever-after-doing-extensive-cardio-sport&quot;&gt;a similar question on this site&lt;/a&gt;, and am not certain whether my question would be considered a duplicate or not (I'm talking only a mild headache with no other symptoms or signs of reduced immune response).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-08-25T23:02:26.373" Title="Cause and prevention of post-race headache" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-08-28T01:48:21.877" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13739" CreationDate="2013-08-25T23:24:40.753" Score="9" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Center of gravity is the point in a body around which the resultant torque due to gravity forces vanish. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_mass#Center_of_gravity&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The center of gravity of any given rigid body (like a barbell) is fixed. For objects with movable components, like sandbags or water bottles the centre of gravity can move. Note, that while the centre of gravity of a barbell will be approximately in the centre of the bar, when you unevenly load it this point will &lt;em&gt;shift&lt;/em&gt;, but only because the new system (bar + weights) will have a different centre of gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Changing where you place your hands on a barbell or dumbell &lt;em&gt;does not&lt;/em&gt; change the centre of gravity.&lt;/strong&gt; If one were so inclined you could find the approximate centre of gravity of a barbell by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this doesn't explain &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; barbells and dumbells are so physically different. &lt;strong&gt;The reason objects become unstable is a factor of their centre of gravity and their stable base, both of which impact the objects &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_equilibrium&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;equilibrium&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Barbells and stable equilibrium&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below left we see an illustration of a bench press (although the same applies to any barbell movement). The blue dot is the centre of gravity of the barbell, and the base on which it rests is the lower body. We can consider this bench presser as an object which is in a state of stable equilibrium. On the right we see a ball in stable equilibrium, any movement in any direction will move it, but it will return to a stable point. Much like our bench presser who has a large amount of leeway in movement before the centre of gravity of the barbell moves out of the base. This makes the barbell easier to control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WKMOK.png&quot; alt=&quot;A bench press in Stable equilibrium&quot; /&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Stabilni_rovnovazna_poloha.svg/250px-Stabilni_rovnovazna_poloha.svg.png&quot; alt=&quot;Stable equilibrium&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Dumbbells and unstable equilibrium&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast this with the below dumbell bench presser, each dumbbell has its own centre of gravity. Although there are two shown, this is to eliminate issues of counter balance, and we will consider only a single dumbbell. Where the base for an individual dumbell is is tricky to determine, but if we consider it to be either the shoulder, the elbow or the hand, the main point is that it is &lt;em&gt;much smaller&lt;/em&gt; than the base when holding a barbell. As such, we can consider it like the body below in &lt;em&gt;unstable equilibrium&lt;/em&gt;. As such it requires much greater effort to keep the weight within the base to prevent the system (and the exercise) from failing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z266R.png&quot; alt=&quot;A bench press in Unstable equilibrium&quot; /&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Vratka_rovnovazna_poloha.svg/250px-Vratka_rovnovazna_poloha.svg.png&quot; alt=&quot;Unstable equilibrium&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why is this important for fitness?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because this question is bordering on off-topic, I'll address why this is of importance to people who lift. Most exercises can be made more difficult by reducing the base on which the activity is done, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell bench press vs Dumbell bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell squats vs single leg squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups vs One-handed push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In each of these examples, the latter is performed with weight distributed across a much smaller base (if we consider the dumbell bench press to be two independent systems). As such, effort goes less into performing the basic movement, and to a larger degree in stabilising the body to ensure the weight is distributed above the base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in part why dumbbell movements seem more difficult than barbell equivalents, as more minor muscles are needed to ensure proper control of the weight, which in turn leads to additional stresses on the neural system. This also help explain some of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13416/are-there-different-muscular-adaptations-between-barbell-and-dumbbell-use&quot;&gt;advantages to the dumbbells in training and recovery&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T04:00:37.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13725" CreationDate="2013-08-26T11:28:03.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here I am showing you how I do it and I know the question is only about which activity multiplier to use but it seemed easier to do it this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note about Body fat: You will need to get this one as close to the actual value you have as this will all be based off that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am using the Katch-McArdle formula. Different websites refer to the value you get as either RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) or BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) but it is the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight: 72.2Kg&#xA;Body fat: 10%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formula Lean Body Mass:  (Weight x (100-(Body Fat)))/100&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;((72.2 x (100-10))/100 = 64.98&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formula: BMR = 370 + (21.6 x Lean Body Mass(kg))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;370 + (21.6 x 64.98) = 1773.57&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This mean that if I were to never get out of bed, not even to go to the bathroom  simply being alive will cost me 1773.57 calories per day. In order for this to be correct I will now add a value for activity multiplier which is simply a way to add calories for you moving around, working, and going to the gym. I am adding 1.55 which means I am moderately active. This value is called total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and for me this is 1773.57 x 1.55 = 2749.0304.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will notice that a lot of sites will tell you to start with about +500 calories over maintenance mode (This is 99% of the time to much) but I started at maintenance mode itself and added 50 calories/week until I found my perfect value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Activity Multiplier&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A paper on metabolism used a definition of &quot;vigorous exercise&quot; as expenditure of 14.1 to 16.3 kcal/kg of ideal body weight per day.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8156941&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; Using the rounded figure of 15 Calories per kilogram of body weight, then &quot;vigorous exercise&quot; for a person weighing 150 pounds (68 kilograms) corresponds to 1020 Calories per day. If walking at 4 miles per hour burns about 300 Calories per hour, then you would need to walk 3 hours and 24 minutes to burn off 1020 Calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The activity factors for the Calorie Restriction Calculator are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.200 = sedentary (little or no exercise)&#xA;1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week, approx. 590 Cal/day)&#xA;1.550 = moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week, approx. 870 Cal/day)&#xA;1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week, approx. 1150 Cal/day)&#xA;1.900 = extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job, approx. 1580 Cal/day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The activity factor lightly active corresponds to walking 2 hours per day, moderately active corresponds to walking 3 hours per day, very active corresponds to walking 4 hours per day, and extra active corresponds to walking 5 hours per day (20 miles). More strenuous exercises, such as climbing stairs or running, burn more calories per hour. Most people who exercise from 30 minutes to 45 minutes per day are in the &quot;lightly active&quot; category. You can use the CR calculator to determine the number of calories for each level of exercise for your particular weight by subtracting the calories for a specific activity level from the calories for the sedentary option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;REFRERENCES:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8156941&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutritional regulation of the insulin-like growth factors.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificpsychic.com/blogentries/what-is-moderate-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What is moderate exercise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-08-26T11:28:03.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-26T12:38:00.360" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new set of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B008L61G0I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Resistance cord&lt;/a&gt; that I bought.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am exercising regularly with it, but then how do I know if I am using it in the correct way?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us say that I am doing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.gaiam.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/chris06_00143.jpg&amp;amp;imgrefurl=http://blog.gaiam.com/bottoms-up-4-exercises-to-lift-firm-your-glutes/&amp;amp;h=576&amp;amp;w=576&amp;amp;sz=109&amp;amp;tbnid=64Z3YZ2XeRV5ZM%3a&amp;amp;tbnh=111&amp;amp;tbnw=111&amp;amp;zoom=1&amp;amp;usg=__L8MLkcgmE0YEmdb26K93xffB1UI=&amp;amp;docid=K4G8DCWuCLO7kM&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=BUobUt2oD8SPrQedloCYCg&amp;amp;ved=0CC8Q9QEwAA&amp;amp;dur=9987&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat&lt;/a&gt; with it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if I am having an equal length of the cord on each side (from my hand to feet).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If they are not of equal length on both sides, does that mean that I am exercising wrongly and thereby building uneven muscles on each side?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If so, then how do I hold even lengths on each side?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-26T12:40:49.880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:27:31.140" Title="How do I know if I am using my resistance cord in the right way?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;resistance-cord&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-26T13:20:35.817" Score="1" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does a high heartrate indicate bad health / unfitness? I have a 80~85 BPM at resting state and it seems unusually high compared to the average. I don't exercise often, but I'm not necessary fat either - I'm 5&quot;8 at 155 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned? If yes, what can I do to lower my BPM?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6614" LastActivityDate="2013-08-26T14:10:02.247" Title="Is a high heart rate a sign to be concerned of?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-08-29T20:36:01.053" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13745" CreationDate="2013-08-26T14:10:02.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are within the normal limits. Anything above 60 beats per minute and below 100 beats per minute is normal for a resting heart rate. Once your heart rate dips below 60 bpm, you are in Bardycardia (means slow heart). After breaching 100 bpm you are in Tachycardia (means fast heart). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically people that are more physically fit (cardiovascularly, not strength) have a lower resting heart rate than others that don't. However, this is not always the case. There are several medications (prescription and over the counter) that can both slow heart rates (like beta-blockers) or speed them up (think about pills with caffeine in them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are not having any abnormal signs or symptoms (shortness of breath, light head, dizzy, confused, tunnel vision, chest pain, etc.) a heart rate between 60-100 should not be an issue. However, your primary care physician will be the best person to talk to about any concerns you might have. If they feel it is necessary they can refer you to a Cardiologist as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone's heart rate is a little different. I have seen several athletes with resting heart rates in the 80s, and several geriatric patients (not on rate limiting medications) with heart rates in the 60s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2013-08-26T14:10:02.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13768" CreationDate="2013-08-27T05:41:28.730" Score="3" ViewCount="1395" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 1-2 hours after running yesterday evening, I was cooking some salsa in my kitchen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When adding some lemon juice to the salsa I suddenly had a craving for the lemon and basically  ate half a lemon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this craving caused by the running? If so, does it indicate that my body was missing some kind of nutrition, that it was hoping to get from the lemon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T23:57:03.710" Title="Is it normal to crave for lemons after running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-09-03T06:50:26.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-27T06:15:27.757" Score="0" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;With most abdominal exercises I tend to get a pain in my back. I've been looking all over for exercises that are hard on the abdomen, but; easy on the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I find some reference to an exercise that 'should' be easy on my back it feels very awkward and painful to perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some abdominal exercises that have the possibility to add more weight/resistance that are less likely to hurt my back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2017-04-12T19:04:11.743" LastActivityDate="2021-03-09T18:02:35.200" Title="Abdominal excercises (with weight) - Easy on the back and fun to do" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13744" CreationDate="2013-08-27T07:47:51.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should watch a few youtube videos on how to use resistance cords. I find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyCtzAF8F0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Max Wettstein&lt;/a&gt; has some pretty good ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for not having equal lengths of band whilst standing on the band, I don't think you should worry too much about that. Unless it's obvious you have too much on one side than the other, re-adjust your hands and continue with your workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only advise with resistance bands that I would give is to start off light and work on perfect form. Vary your exercises also, the video I listed should help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5318" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-27T08:18:22.487" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T08:18:22.487" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13485" CreationDate="2013-08-27T12:27:04.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest doing an exercise that will work your grip and another muscle group at the same time, like dead-lifts, shrugs, farmer's walk, etc. Probably the easiest of the ones mentioned would be shrugs and easy to progress since you can incrementally add weight after every week or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like using straps or gloves or anything that will artificially improve my grip or hold. You are your weakest at your weakest link (grip most of the time) so it makes sense to strengthen it, not enhance it artificially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T12:27:04.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13333" CreationDate="2013-08-27T16:26:03.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked at the ingredients in the P90X Recovery Formula and they included a number of known elements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dextrose &amp;amp; Maltodextrin: a sugar to help provide an insulin spike (40g carbs / serving)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whey Protein Concentrate: protein (10g / serving)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Citric Acid: vitamin C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-Carnatine &amp;amp; L-Glutamine: Amino acids associated with fat burning and recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine Monohydrate: helps get energy back into your muscles (500mg / serving)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Magnesium Oxide: probably the form of magnesium supplement with the lowest absorption rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An insulin spike after an intense workout helps push energy where it is sorely needed: your muscles.  The common prevailing thought is that that conveys to other needed nutrients like protein.  Whether it truly is cause and effect or simply correlation, your muscles are ready to absorb protein as well post workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing what the percentages of the different ingredients are, these are pretty good recovery supplements.  The problem is the amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's contrast this with the AMP Wheybolic Extreme:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glutamine, Arginine, Leucine, L-Carnitine: Amino acids associated with fat burning and recovery (Leucine is a Branched Chain Amino Acid)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AMP marketing ingredients: carbogen and aminogen don't mean anything outside of AMP products, but I'm guessing it provides the same effect as the dextrose/maltodextrin in the P90X Recovery Formula (note: carbs are only 7g / serving)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whey Isolate blend: 60g protein / serving&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wheybolic Extreme supplement is giving you a lot more protein, and some BCAAs which are known to help with recovery.  Between the two supplements this provides a better recovery solution.  The only thing that concerns me are the marketing ingredients.  There really isn't any way to tell what they do for or to you without relying on the AMP marketing hype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's missing that could make it better is some Creatine Monohydrate (the only form of Creatine with loads of research behind it and proven results).  The recommended dose of Creatine Monohydrate is about 5g / day.  When you exercise your muscles burn ATP with a byproduct of ADP and lactic acid.  Creatine helps convert the ADP back to ATP, allowing you to do more work.  It is hydroscopic which means you'll have some water weight gain with this supplement--but that does not negatively affect your body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to completing the supplement profile, as long as you have a multivitamin designed for athletic people and possibly a good magnesium supplement you'll have an even better formula than the P90X Recovery Formula.  Chelated magnesium is probably the gold standard and Optimum Nutrition has a very reasonably priced multivitamin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T16:26:03.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12431" CreationDate="2013-08-27T17:22:52.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article you cited suggests that &quot;too much&quot; cardio is bad for you, but the actual number he gives is 20 hours or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you take one day off per week, that is 3-4 hours of cardio every day. The only people I know who come anywhere near this figure are either pro athletes, or one friend training for an ironman. Even they don't maintain 20 hours a week of straight cardio on a regular basis. All include strength training in their regimes, and are careful about diet and monitoring their health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all you want is to do run a marathon, most of the training plans max out around 8-10 hours of running a week towards the end, assuming a 12 minute mile (google marathon training). The Jeff Galloway one maxes out around 6 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are still worried, consider how many women do run marathons each year, without &quot;devastating&quot; their health. Just pay attention to your body and your health as you go. If you think something is wrong, cut back on the exercise, and see a doctor. Don't let one alarmist article stop you before you start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/training-plans/marathon-training-plans?page=single&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/training-plans/marathon-training-plans?page=single&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/marathon.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/marathon.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6627" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T17:22:52.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13765" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-27T18:23:00.757" Score="6" ViewCount="8127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I R overweight dude with main focus on running... with many many failed attempts in the past to stick to the gym due to DOMS&#xA;and &lt;em&gt;*&lt;/em&gt;* getting too tough to progress...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand weight training helps build&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) muscular strength (from lifting heavy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) muscular endurance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing couch to 5K -&gt; its high intensity running enough for me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking to alternate do weight lifting and running on alternate days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been looking at starting strength program ... but the gym instructors seem to seem aloof from it and have their own circuit involving machines dumbbells etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do i stick to the rule of high weight and low reps for the gym circuit or is it better to follow the starting strength program and exclude the machines etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can i effectively manage starting strength and running alternatively . I was looking at starting strength forums and from what i have been reading is that the rest days are for recovery from the weight lifting days...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lift weights on rest days of high intensity running ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So ... how do i make the progression on weights or how can i tackle the starting strength to fit my needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to be able to run 5K ( doing the couch to 5K ) HIIT stuff like insanity or crossfit is not possible at my fitness level and weight. the secondary goals is to retain muscle mass if i have any ... while on a calorific deficit by lifting weights &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6628" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T08:12:54.947" Title="How to Alternate Starting Strength and Running/Jogging" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12584" CreationDate="2013-08-27T20:54:02.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only reason not to practice two days in a row is because the body gets fatigued, and a fatigued body will not have the energy and time to adapt to the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does the body get fatigued?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you perform one type of training, say long distance running, you are taxing one of several energy systems in your body, specifically, your muscles. In the case of long distance running you are taxing the aerobic system, which utilizes oxygen to make energy for muscle contraction. In the hours after long distance running, your body will undergo changes to prepare for the next session of long distance running with increased functioning. In this time period there will be more harm than good if you do the same training and tax the same system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, one way to circumvent this problem is to tax different energy systems on alternate days. That is, saturday you can do long distance running, while on sundays you can do an anaerobic glycolytic training such as strength training or sprinting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way your body will adapt more to the demands put on it, and you will lower the risk of becoming overtrained (Generally speaking. However, this risk is low when practicing 2 times/week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On an additional note, the energy systems do differ in the time it takes for them to recover. This is exemplified by the phenomenon of supercompensation. Supercompensation is what occurs after the muscle has gotten adequate rest, and also adapted to the increased demand by increaseing fitness temporarily. It is when you practice again, in the time frame of supercompensation, that the body increases its fitness and you become stronger/more endurant. Aerobic training takes less time to regenerate (about 8h for low intencity running), while high-intensity anaerobic glycolytic traning takes longer and thus requires a longer rest period (up to 72h for competitive sprinters and weight lifters).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2013-08-29T21:58:14.203" LastActivityDate="2013-08-29T21:58:14.203" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13750" CreationDate="2013-08-27T23:50:57.173" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.betterraw.com/2011/10/what-do-food-cravings-say-about-you.html&quot;&gt;random internet chart&lt;/a&gt; that I'm not entirely sure I trust, craving acidic things is a sign of a magnesium deficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're low on magnesium, it's likely you're low on other electrolytes. It's one of those things you'll sweat out and need to replace. You might want to consider drinking some sort of electrolyte mixture instead of water, or taking electrolyte tablets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal (anecdotal) experience is that after an hour or more of sweaty exercise, I'll tend to crave water, salt and sour, and that drinking electrolyte-laced water during exercise helps significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="195" LastEditorUserId="195" LastEditDate="2013-08-27T23:57:03.710" LastActivityDate="2013-08-27T23:57:03.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13770" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13775" CreationDate="2013-08-28T04:20:00.613" Score="9" ViewCount="935" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13750/is-it-normal-to-crave-for-lemons-after-running&quot;&gt;different question&lt;/a&gt; I learned that I probably need more electrolytes during running. I currently run 30minutes in one go, possibly increasing that in the future to up to an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I drank some water before running and lots of water afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I improve on that, i.e. &lt;strong&gt;what should I drink&lt;/strong&gt;? I'd like to avoid the expensive sports drink with lots of marketing and replace it with something I can make at home from more or less natural ingredients (water, juices, salt ...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also would like some advice on &lt;strong&gt;how to drink&lt;/strong&gt;? Is drinking before and after enough? If not how do you carry your drink? Just a bottle in the hand, or a backpack with water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T20:04:52.200" Title="How and what to drink for 30 min to 1 hour runs, avoiding the marketing hype" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13770" CreationDate="2013-08-28T09:56:14.647" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've reduced my water consumption during bike races to a minimum, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/8269/3941&quot;&gt;see my question about this&lt;/a&gt;. I try not to drink anything within the first hour of activity, depending on the temperature this time varies, of course.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While running is a bit different from biking I think it isn't absolutely necessary to carry something to drink while running, if you are unsure, have a look at my other question about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/8272/3941&quot;&gt;how to carry water when running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've drank a lot of different stuff before, during and after my activity. I've never really felt a big difference, only that pure mineral water during a longer tour wasn't enough; but that was probably just a lack of carbohydrates than anything more complicated. Lately I adopted an uncommon, but in my eyes pretty effective drink: Alcohol free beer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The reason is simple, it is one of the few isotonic drinks (depending on the beer) that is readily available. First I was just joking around, but then I tried riding some tours with it in my bottle and I am really happy how it turned out. (I mix it half and half with some mineral water and add some fruit sirup)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a ride or run I prefer drinks that have at least some sugar in them, I often mix juice with water. A cold beer can be great, too. (Watch out for alcohol, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11993/3941&quot;&gt;don't drink too much&lt;/a&gt; or simply non alcoholic)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend you to eat healthy and adopt a well rounded diet, you should not rely on your drinks to contain all the nutrients and electrolytes you need. It probably differs from person to person and you will have to do some experimentation yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-08-28T10:04:25.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-28T11:57:14.447" Score="2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not considering stones or sharp objects on a terrain. With barefoot, I mean real barefoot, not &quot;barefoot&quot; shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could we say that since barefoot running (and not getting injured) is feasible, running with any footware won't harm you? In both cases, provided that we have good technique (not falling heel first, not over-training). I could even run with slippers and not get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-08-28T12:30:05.230" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:13:36.303" Title="Barefoot running vs any footwear" Tags="&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13773" CreationDate="2013-08-28T13:50:45.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, I doubt that running with every footwear is safe. Of course this depends on the level of training you have with that specific footwear, but in general I would not recommend running in high-heels, clown shoes or diving fins. And while you probably can run in slippers or flip-flops I wouldn't recommend that either. The footwear is not made to hold on to your foot, especially not when twisting the feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've ran in sub-optimal shoes before, hiking shoes, leather dress shoes and others. This is possible and it primarily depends on the stiffness of the sole how comfortable the running will be, and while you maybe won't injure your knees when you adopt a forefoot strike in these, compared to a heel strike; you need to take other risks, like slipping, into account. Your ankles might be at higher risk, too, as the stiff sole doesn't attach to an uneven surface as a flexible one would do, which your feet could compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on how you want to assess safety and which kind of injuries you want to look at. If you just look at the issues normally linked with running (bad knees, etc) you might have the same injury rates comparing barefoot running with running in slippers. But running in slippers introduces new risks:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You could stumble over the flexible tip of the shoe if you land in a bad angle, which wouldn't happen either with minimalist shoes or running completely barefoot.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The holder in the from between the toes might cut into your flesh badly, which wouldn't happen barefoot or with shoes either.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do a lot of stupid things, without ever getting injured, I have done so myself. But I would not recommend anyone to do the same without giving the warning that I might have been just lucky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-28T14:02:30.857" LastActivityDate="2013-08-28T14:02:30.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13770" CreationDate="2013-08-28T14:38:48.977" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you're running in extreme heat conditions, for 30 minutes to an hour you really don't need any on course hydration. Drink some water beforehand, and afterwards to replenish sweat loss, and you should be fine. I've run up to 2 hours without on course hydration in moderate conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some evidence that even 2% dehydration can start to cause performance impact, so if you notice that it is slowing you down or making you sluggish then you can start to increase your fluid intake. The simplest equation is that total body water is .6 x your weight in KG, since about 2/3 of your body weight is water. There are other formulae available, and a calculator at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medindia.net/doctors/clinical_cal/bodywater.asp&quot;&gt;this link.&lt;/a&gt; The percentage is expressed as a portion of your total body water. Losses are measured against this. For example, I have ~ 44 liters of total body water (TBW). 2% of TBW is .88, or basically 1 liter. The best way to measure this is going to be weighing yourself before and after exercising many times to establish a baseline. Every kg of weight lost (2.2 lbs) is ~ 1 liter of fluid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make your own, go to a home brewing supply house, and get a large bag of maltodextrin. It's basically the same sugar that goes into many of the gatorade/electrolyte drinks. You can also get various flavors, or just drink it straight. Play with mixtures so that you get the taste you want and your stomach will absorb it while exercising. As far as afterwards, studies have shown that one of the best replacement drinks is chocolate milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The marketers have pretty much convinced everyone that you can't do even a 5k without some sort of drink and nutrition along the way, when that just isn't the case. The human body has some pretty impressive storage capacity, and can fuel itself for quite a while without replenishment. As with everything, every person is different, so experiment and find what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-08-30T20:04:52.200" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T20:04:52.200" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13780" CreationDate="2013-08-28T18:32:28.817" Score="4" ViewCount="6950" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there has already been a question relating protein to vegetarianism, but the answers mostly speculated on whether it was possible for vegetarians to get enough protein.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which kind of diet should I adopt, keeping my vegetarianism, that would allow me to put on muscle mass?&#xA;And is there a workout routine designed with hypertrophy in mind.  I've done StrongLifts, I've done Starting Strength, but I think I've reached a plateau when it comes to body mass.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will drink a gallon of whole milk a day for a week, put on 5 pounds, and within two days, I'm back to my starting weight.  What am I to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-28T19:30:36.777" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T04:04:23.263" Title="How can a vegetarian ectomorph put on lean muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13770" CreationDate="2013-08-28T20:11:55.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to say what and how much &quot;is enough&quot; without more detailed information.    But in general, if you are exercising at an intensity where you are sweating, then failure to replenish will definitely impact your performance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coconut water is well studied and one of the most natural hydration substances available. I just wanted to mention it because no one else has so far.  From the most scientific studies I could find: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Coconut water] was significantly sweeter, caused less nausea, fullness and no stomach upset and was also easier to consume in a larger amount compared with [a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage] and [plain water] ingestion. In conclusion, ingestion of fresh young coconut water, a natural refreshing beverage, could be used for whole body rehydration after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12056182&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[sodium-enriched fresh young coconut water] was similar in sweetness to [coconut water] and [sports drink] but caused less nausea and stomach upset compared to [sports drink] and [plain water]. In conclusion, ingesting [sodium-enriched fresh young coconut water] was as good as ingesting a commercial sports drink for whole body rehydration after exercise-induced dehydration but with better fluid tolerance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17883020&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I have not found it to be cheap, and it tastes funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milk may also hydrate better than trendy sports drinks or water.  This surprised me a lot at first when I read it so I just wanted to mention it so people could begin to research it for themselves too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110817142849.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Milk better than water to rehydrate kids, study finds&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which does make sense since it is created to keep young animals healthy without anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love Pacific Health Accelerade.  It is a sports drink so I understand it isn't what you are asking for.  I am just suggesting it so you can consider and research the benefits of a ratio of fast digesting protein combined with the hydration of your choice if you continue to strive for longer or more intense runs.  To answer your question directly, you could make something similar but more natural yourself with some maltodextrin for carbs,  mix in some BCAA's for protein, and a banana or coconut water for the potassium (electrolytes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you have something to drink...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Start fully hydrated before the exercise by drinking plenty of liquid hours earlier and regularly.  Your urine should flow clear before you start (vitamin supplements can make this step hard to tell because you can be hydrated but excreting very yellow unused B). You can't cram hydration.  Then when you exercise, drink an amount as close as you can estimate to replace your lost bodyweight as you lose it. Drink before you feel thirsty..don't drink enough to feel sloshy.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to carry...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you need to carry liquid with you, consider a hands free container like a lightly loaded CamelBak.  That should allow you to sip without anything holding you back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5019" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-29T07:39:22.240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-29T07:39:22.240" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13783" CreationDate="2013-08-28T21:07:59.570" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an average weight person trying to lose 5-10 pounds, but possibly like a lot of people, I tend to use the fact that I exercise as a good excuse to eat more.  &quot;Oh, I'll need the extra energy later today or tomorrow when I run.&quot;  That makes sense if you're about to run a race and need top performance out of your run.  But when you're trying to lose weight, there must be a balance point between not consuming more (so you'll burn more than you take in) and eating enough to avoid passing out halfway into your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, assuming a person of say, 35, with an average weight and in reasonably good health is running a moderate pace on a flat surface, where, on average, is that point at which s/he needs to increase intake?  I would take the answer in either distance or duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4966" LastActivityDate="2013-08-29T05:45:51.357" Title="When dieting, what's the shortest run that requires an increase in caloric intake?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13782" CreationDate="2013-08-28T22:11:26.333" Score="1" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard about complex fat and about water fat which is not that hard to get rid of as complex fat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would like to know more about them and how to get rid of them and how to know if my fats are complex or water fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6555" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-08-29T04:55:23.790" LastActivityDate="2013-08-29T04:55:23.790" Title="What are water fats and complex fats and how to get rid of them?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13776" CreationDate="2013-08-28T23:34:59.300" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;somatotypes are completely bogus&lt;/a&gt;. The idea of ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs was originally used for &lt;em&gt;psychology&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;fitness&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't gaining weight like you want, you are not eating enough - it is as simple as that. Advice for gaining weight is exactly the same as advice for losing it - &lt;strong&gt;measure everything you eat and weigh yourself at the same time under the same conditions&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight, you need more healthy calories. To build more muscle you need to ensure you are working your muscles actively, which a strength program should do, and make sure you are eating adequate protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a vegetarian this is slightly easier than being a vegan, but I'll cover both (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pescetarianism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pescetarianism&lt;/a&gt; and complete omnivores too). You need to ensure you are getting a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;complete protein&lt;/a&gt; complex throughout the day - at the same meal is less important than just ensuring you are getting the right essential amino acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you aren't vegan&lt;/strong&gt;, animal proteins have all essential proteins required for humans, so eat as much of those in the types you feel comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you eat all types meat, eat meat of your choosing - but mix it up with some of the options below. There are ecological, ethical and financial reasons that making reducing (but not necessarily eliminating) meat in your diet a good choice - plus who doesn't love a change.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Piscatarians - eat lots of fish, fresh water sustainable fish is best as its less damaging ecologically, and you are less likely to have issues with mercury accumulation in the future as is common in top-level seafood such as tuna.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vegetarians - dairy and eggs are your friends. Yoghurt, milk, cheese are high in calories and rich in protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you are vegan&lt;/strong&gt; (or looking for an ethical/culinary/financial change), protein intake can be more chanllenging. Very few plant sources contain complete proteins, but they do exist. Two common plant-based complete proteins are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buckwheat&lt;/a&gt; is common in Japanese cuisine and used in the production of soba noodles, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quinoa&lt;/a&gt; a South-America pseudo-grain that can be cooked an eaten in a similar fashion to rice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However where such plant-based complete proteins don't exist, most cultures have by chance stumbled upon culinary choices that lead to food sources that when eaten provide complete proteins. The gist of these dietary patterns is that by eating a balanced amount of grains and legumes - like rice,corn or wheat with beans (as seen in lots of Central American food) or rice and soy (as in a lot of South-Asian food) - you should get all of the amino acids you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As JohnP points out below, the idea of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;protein combining&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, the theory that foods with incomplete proteins &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be eaten together to adequately build a complete protein is has been refutued in all scientific literature. There is no reason that you can't eat a serve of rice at lunch, and a serve of beans with dinner to meet your protein requirements. However, people often eat these protein sources together either for convenience or for purely culinary purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-30T04:04:23.263" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T04:04:23.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13778" CreationDate="2013-08-28T23:35:41.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any amount of extra exercise consumes additional calories. 1 mile or 1 meter, it doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to increase your intake to compensate, especially if your goal is weight loss and not performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-08-28T23:35:41.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13779" CreationDate="2013-08-28T23:56:43.040" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of the term &quot;water fat&quot; or &quot;complex fat&quot;. However there are two common ways that people will divide human body fat: classing it as either brown or white fat or abdominal or subcutaneous fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Brown fat vs. White fat&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_adipose_tissue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;White adipose tissute (i.e White fat)&lt;/a&gt; is the most common type of body fat in humans, and makes up nearly all body fat in adults. When people think of body fat, this is what they picture - a calorie rich storage mechanism. It has a small function in thermoregulation of body temperature through insultation, but is promarily a calorie storage tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brown adipose tissue (i.e Brown fat)&lt;/a&gt; is a relatively new discover. In humans brown fat only really appears in measurable amounts in new born children. Before they learn to shiver, brown fat is a tissue that consumes calories to actively (rather than passively) produce body heat. It is very rare to seen naturally occuring in adult humans, and some research is being performed to see if we can promote brown fat growth in adults to help weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Abdominal vs Subcutaneous fat&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other main way people classify fat is less about its makeup and more about its position in the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipose_tissue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Subcutaneous fat&lt;/a&gt; is excess fat that is stored under the skin, but above muscles and away from organs. Again this is the classic picture of what people think of as fat - the folds on your body you can grab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_obesity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Abdominal fat&lt;/a&gt; is excess fat that resides within the abdominal cavity, that is underneath your abs. This is primarily the same tissue as subcutaneous fat. The main difference is the health risks related to abdominal obesity, however this is difficult to isolate, as if you have large amounts of abdominal fat you most likely already have large amounts of subcutaneous fat as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;In the end it doesn't matter what type of fat you have&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myth that you can target where you lose fat&lt;/a&gt;. Fat gain and loss is a systemic change that is related to your genetics and hormones. If you are looking at getting healthy minimising your fat will minimise it systemically, and in ways that are most benficial. You can never get rid of fat completely, even abdominal fat and fats around organs are important for hormone regulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Just eat healthy, exercise, and aim to lose fat - but don't stress on where or how the fat comes off and you will be pleased with the results.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-08-28T23:56:43.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13778" CreationDate="2013-08-29T00:24:29.900" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In answer to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, assuming a person of say, 35, with an average weight and in reasonably good health is running a moderate pace on a flat surface, where, on average, is that point at which s/he needs to increase intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in good health and running less than 15km in a single session I wouldn't bother with a special diet. Humans literally evolved to travel long distances on little food. If it's less than 25km I wouldn't even bother with special mid-race meals or gels. A weekend warrior who isn't aiming to place should be able to do a half-marathon (21km) on a moderate bowl of pasta the night before, a small bowl of white rice about 1-2hrs pre-race and whatever sugary electrolyte drinks are around the track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are the kind of person that considers a light run to be an excuse to &quot;refeed&quot; it's unlikely that you actually need any special pre-, mid- or post-training nutrition asides from your regular meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-08-29T05:45:51.357" LastActivityDate="2013-08-29T05:45:51.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13809" CreationDate="2013-08-29T09:43:23.543" Score="5" ViewCount="1944" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently training for marathons (half &amp;amp; full) coming up in quick successions.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My best is 1 hr 44 min for a half marathon. I haven't attempted the full marathon yet. But I have got the endurance to do it because I have done up to 3/4 Ironman. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I am doing only one HIIT session in a week. I do up to 5 cardios (mainly running, sometimes cycling) in a week. I strengthen my muscles (calisthenics or using resistance ropes) before or after every cardio session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the HIIT, I warm up (jog, 900 - 1000 m) for 5 minutes. Sprint 200 m in 35 s &amp;amp; jog 200 m in 70 - 80 s and I repeat them 4 or 5 times. Then again cool down jog (800 m - 1000 m) for another 5 min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is how many times can I do this in a week?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If I use the HIIT (eg: Tabata Protocol) for strengthening, not the same day as HIIT run schedule, is that considered as a separate HIIT session?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Keeping in mind the recovery run schedules(0 - 1 session after the HIIT) and the Long distance schedules (I do once a week), can anyone guide me?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way my age is 25.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My resting heart rate ranges between 55 and 60.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-08-29T11:10:49.510" LastActivityDate="2013-09-01T12:38:35.853" Title="how many high intensity interval training (HIIT) schedules can/should I do per week?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13790" CreationDate="2013-08-29T12:25:47.803" Score="1" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost 8kg of fat in the past 6 months. I used to eat rice with some meat and fried things and I've replaced this for meat and vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm trying to increase my weight, but without increasing the fat I've lost. I added a lot of protein (chicken, fish, low-fat cheese, whey protein after gym) to my diet and started to work out. I didn't increase carbs in my meals that much, only in pre-training and post-training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I include carbs again to build muscles or will this just lead to gaining fat again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6646" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-09-04T00:10:40.383" LastActivityDate="2013-09-04T00:10:40.383" Title="Carbs to increase weight without increasing fat?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13765" CreationDate="2013-08-30T04:48:26.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting off, I am in no way an expert and I will merely give my opinion as I have completed similar activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting off, you have to realize that there is either &lt;strong&gt;burning fat&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;gaining muscle&lt;/strong&gt;, and it's very hard to do both at the same time without the use of something synthetic. The main reasoning for this is because if you want to gain muscular size and strength you really have to put yourself in a calorific surplus and if you want to lose fat you have to put yourself in a calorific deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally the goal of starting strength is going to be to gain strength and muscle. Whereas the goal from couch to 5k is going to be to burn fat and gain fitness, making them counter productive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you're going to have to listen to your body. If one day your taking your legs to fail doing squats and then the next day you're using them for fitness/running training, this can also be counter productive since your legs wont have recovered in time and they will now be over trained, especially if you're aiming to be in a caloric deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you have a bit more insight into the problems involved, there's a few different paths you can take. Firstly, you can continue doing the starting strength program and couch to 5k program if you feel that you are making solid gains in both areas, remember this is always about what your body is telling you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, I think you should ask yourself, &lt;strong&gt;what do you want the most?&lt;/strong&gt; Depending on what you want more, you should focus your training more towards that style of training and limit yourself to the other style of training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do still want both styles equally, a good style of program which balances the strength/fitness combination is something like a 100m-200m sprinters program. You can obviously edit the program to your liking, for example they will train a lot of things which assist in their running time such as high knees which you wouldn't need to train. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also they will only typically aim at sprinting 100m for training, which you may want to extend - but the sprinters frame is quite muscular still, because they do a lot of things like deadlifts to help their explosive power. It is this combination of fitness/strength that you will be aiming for so that your training isn't being counter productive - so that it allows muscles to recover properly and is shaped around one goal instead two opposite goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I am in no way an expert in the matter and I in no way know your body better you do - remember everything said is also a guideline, not a solid fact and the guidelines may be broken. Lastly, you'll probably find this out the hard way but running in general is a mental battle - never give up before you have to otherwise you're only cheating yourself. The best way to train past that mental barrier is by finding a training partner (a positive training partner!) that will push you past where your mind allows. Using this method will get you to your goal a lot faster than what you typically would find. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastEditorUserId="6651" LastEditDate="2013-09-02T22:05:28.723" LastActivityDate="2013-09-02T22:05:28.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-30T13:16:30.053" Score="3" ViewCount="2816" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am familiar with two positions to keep the hands when doing body weight squats, either in front of your body with arms straight forward or slightly bent or behind the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this make a difference? Does it make any difference at all where my hands are at when squatting? Why not just let the arms hang down the sides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-08-31T00:26:26.680" Title="Influence of hand position on squatting" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13785" CreationDate="2013-08-30T14:33:07.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, you're very likely not going to be able to gain weight without gaining at least a little bit of fat. Likewise, you're not going to be able to lose weight without losing a least a little bit of muscle. This is why bodybuilders work in bulk/cut cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain weight, you have to eat more than your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Provided you get enough protein for your body to repair your muscles when you've worked them out, it doesn't much matter whether you get the rest of your calories from carbs or from fat - both are pretty much pure fuel (though some fat is require to properly absorb a number of nutrients).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Controlling how much fat you gain means controlling how many extra calories you consume. You can really only gain a small amount of muscle at a given time. According to bodybuilding.com, you're looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/maki2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;about 2 pounds a month, if you're extraordinarily lucky and insanely dedicated&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to experiment to get the exact number that works for you, but a general starting point is TDEE+30% or so. Remember the limits above, and if you find yourself gaining more than about half a pound a week, you're probably eating too much and should recalculate. This helps ensure that you're providing your body with enough fuel to build muscle, without giving it so much of a surplus that you gain a large amount of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a few months, whenever you get to about where you want to be in terms of strength (at least for now), or you start seeing a little more fat than you'd like. You can start a cut cycle, which will be something like TDEE-20% to help reduce fat, bringing you to your end goal of having more muscle and less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T14:33:07.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13770" CreationDate="2013-08-30T15:01:50.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water intake should mainly be used to stave off dehydration, which can happen as early as a 1.5% body weight loss. Depending on how much/quickly you sweat, the time for this to happen can take a short period of time or a long one. Most likely, with exercise under an hour long, you're not going to lose that much water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to see if you're hitting these levels, next time you run, weigh yourself (without clothes on) before your activity, and then once again after activity ( without clothes on, and towelled dry) and see how much your body weight changes. If you've got over a 1.5% body weight loss, it might be a good idea to hydrate with plain water during your activity. Otherwise, you should be good without any hydration during the race, from a performance standpoint. That being said, not everyone fits in the mean, so tinker with your routine so you find out what is best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note- there is some interesting research showing that if you swish and spit a carbohydrate based drink ( so you don't actually drink it), you can perform better in your activity!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6657" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T15:01:50.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13789" CreationDate="2013-08-30T15:59:48.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where your hands are changes your center of gravity. An easy way to demonstrate the difference is to do a bw squat with your hands in front of you, and then go close to a wall and do them with your hands behind your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have a good reason to be doing the squats in a particular way, just do whatever is easiest for you. It's a common thing in my gym to see weightlifters doing bw squats very close to the all so they can work on their flexibility and get used to keeping their weight on their heels. But these people have a specific need for doing these squats with their hands behind their heads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T15:59:48.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13794" CreationDate="2013-08-30T16:27:20.967" Score="3" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I signed up for a 5k mud run a few weeks ago, and started a C25K program.... at which point I realized it's a 10 week program and I only had 4 weeks to train!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've got two weeks left, and I could barely handle the week two runs (2 minutes running, 1 minute walking.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My biggest problem is my shins/calves being super tight and getting sore/stiff after about the 3rd round of running.  It's gotten better... but not getting better fast enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically I'm wondering if running every day would be beneficial or not?  Also wondering what other exercises would help... I don't have a bike.  I do have a gym membership though, and they have a pool.  So maybe alternate running days with swimming?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6544" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T16:53:56.597" Title="How can I fit 7 weeks of C25K training into two weeks?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13793" CreationDate="2013-08-30T16:48:30.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately there's no quick fix to getting fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say your shins are super tight - make sure this isn't shin splints, since it may put you out of the run altogether if you continue to train on it without proper care - you may want to google or youtube some videos to double check and be sure to stretch/rest them appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of calves, for me at least, the first time I blitz a muscle is always the worst in terms of burning sensation and recovery. If you are able to push your calves to their limit before the race day (while leaving enough recovery time before the big day!), I think it would be beneficial. This means you should be aiming the best you can produce already.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you may possibly be able to 'rush' is your mental game since it will probably be the biggest factor for you on the 5k run. Always remember that your mind will be telling you that you can't go on or your body is too sore to continue. The best way to overcome this is with a positive training partner (thus the use for personal trainers) or if you can't find anyone suitable in time, try and set goals for yourself. Goals can be either time related or length related, but make sure they're actually challenging.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to tell yourself - pain is temporary. You'll probably have sore calves for a day or even a week after, but after that week you'll forget that the pain even happened. What you won't forget happening is your gained fitness since it will stay with you as long as you maintain it. Also, any time you begin to walk or stop moving when you could have actually run another kilometre is simply you cheating yourself, no one else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of running every day - you need to listen to your body and see how it feels - but I would advise against training every day. You can stay active daily meaning you can still do other activities that keep your heart rate up but if you run one day, your muscle groups used need time to recover. If you attempt to run while these muscle groups haven't recovered you will start to fall into over training which will actually bring more bad than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastEditorUserId="6651" LastEditDate="2013-08-30T16:53:56.597" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T16:53:56.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13789" CreationDate="2013-08-30T17:06:42.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The positioning of the arms during body weight squats affects your center of gravity. Therefore the only difference in arm positioning is the stabilization muscles involved. This difference however is very minimal and won't have any noticeable affect.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I perform bodyweight squats, I prefer having my hands out in front of me. This is a personal preference since I find that when I'm using correct form, most of my weight is sitting on my heels and therefore I have the feeling of almost falling backwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This feeling is typically cancelled out when I have weight added with the traditional weighted squat style seen with barbells. Due to this, some people like to practice or warm up for weighted squats with the hands behind the head position so that the have the correct feel. The hands near the neck position (when holding the barbell) is an important roll in weighted squats since it tenses the muscles in your back such as your traps which creates a groove for the bar to sit in nicely and stops it from shifting around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastEditorUserId="6651" LastEditDate="2013-08-31T00:26:26.680" LastActivityDate="2013-08-31T00:26:26.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13798" CreationDate="2013-08-30T17:26:32.853" Score="4" ViewCount="825" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been lifting weights for around a year now and my first program I followed was starting strength. Since then I have moved onto greyskull and my training week typically looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Squat                       2x5, 1x5+&#xA;A Bench     B Press         2x5, 1x5+&#xA;A Tris      B Bis           2x10-15&#xA;Optional Plugin&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A Press     B Bench         2x5, 1x5+&#xA;A Bis       B Tri           2x10-15&#xA;Deadlift                    1x5+ (power cleans as warmups)&#xA;Optional Plugin&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A Bench     B Press         2x5, 1x5+&#xA;A Tri       B Bis           2x10-15 &#xA;Squat                       2x5, 1x5+&#xA;Optional Plugin&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this time I've make considerable 'noobie' gains, and haven't  really had any bad plateaus until now. For the last 3 months I have been stuck at 85KG bench and can't seem to shake it. During this time my press, squat and deadlift have all continued to slowly grow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat big and am constantly (slowly) adding weight. My sleeping patterns are normal and I get enough sleep for recovery. I am fairly certain my form is good - flat head positioning, slightly arched back, planted feet and shoulders, 45-60 degree grip and arm angle to body, elbows coming into body. Bar goes straight up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, what is the best thing I can add in to assist my bench - this can be either in terms of exercises or tips to remember during the lift. Is there a way to determine which body part is slowing me down the most? (Other than the obvious ones)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastEditorUserId="6651" LastEditDate="2013-08-31T01:02:51.000" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T01:48:47.740" Title="Bench plateau, while other lifts continue to grow" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2013-08-30T17:48:25.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also had problems stuck in bench some time ago. For me, the weight was 33kg each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the starting strength program, you can check a section where there are several reasons for your stalling. Just look for the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ%3aThe_Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stalling, Resetting and Progressing&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, my problem was the shoulders, I was doing presses one day before the bench. My shoulder were sore and tired, they compromised my form and I couldn't add more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have done, unintentionally, at the time, was take off a break of the gym, and come back after 2 weeks, with other split on my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what I can advise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to pay attention to what muscle is the weak one, It may be the triceps, the shoulder or the grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you think one muscle is the cause, try to get light on it on the days before the bench, even skip some exercise for that muscle for 1 or 2 weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to skip some benches, in your case, I would skip the Friday, so you get more rest in between&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to get 1 week break, and get back to the bench with 70% or 80% of your current weight, than continue to add weight slowly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DISCLAIMER:&lt;/strong&gt; I am no expert in fitness and weightlifting, just a curious guy who suffered the same problem and I am just guessing based on deduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastEditorUserId="5238" LastEditDate="2013-09-05T11:55:12.873" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T11:55:12.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2013-08-30T19:30:10.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very possible that your bench isn't going to go up linearly any longer.  As you grow out of the beginner programs this is what happens.  The solution isn't adding new things, it's changing the way you program your bench.  I'll write up more on that in just a moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best raw bench instructional series I've read was Paul Carter's Developing Your Raw Bench:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/11/developing-your-raw-bench-part-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 1&lt;/a&gt; -- covers the power path and set up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/12/developing-your-raw-bench-part-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 2&lt;/a&gt; -- covers grip and assistance work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/12/developing-your-raw-bench-part-3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 3&lt;/a&gt; -- covers some basic programming choices for the bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth a look to make sure your form is truly as good as you think it is.  I've learned a few things with that series.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my bench got stuck with linear progression, I moved to a weekly progression.  When my bench got stuck with weekly progression, I moved to a monthly progression.  In both those cases I started using a variety of rep ranges.  If you look at programs like Madcow and Wendler 5/3/1, you'll find that they use rep ranges that are both shorter and longer than 5 reps.  With your Greyskull LP background, you might find Wendler 5/3/1 to be very compatible with that style of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also find that with more advanced programs you'll have some variation between the intensities used week to week.  The general progression is that the first week is an easy weight and you do more volume work, and the last week is a hard weight for less volume work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-08-30T19:30:10.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13731" CreationDate="2013-08-31T12:20:40.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no dangers of exercising the TA. By doing that you will increase spine support by your core. What this leads to is reduced injury risk when doing heavy lifting (Hodges et al. 1997). It does so by two mechanisms: 1) by reducing the pressure on the spine and 2) by compartmentalizing the viscera inside the abdomen to reduce the risk of herniation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physiological change that happens when doing isometric vaccuums is that the muscle will have an increased tonus due to a more active reflex arc; this is what will give you a flatter stomach (I'm assuming this is the reason why you feel tigter, not because of DOMS. On another note, DOMS is mostly induced by eccentric contractions, which are virtually nonexistent in vaccuums (the force exerted externally by the viscera is low compared to the concentric force by the TA)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biomechanical change that happens, on the other hand, is much more interesting. By stabilizing the spine through a stronger core, you will improve force production of the lower limbs because they will be able to exert their forces where necessary instead of also stabilizing the upper body in each movement. This is of importance in virtually all sports, but could also be of help in sedentary people to reduce spinal pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it will not interfere with lifts. It will only make them safer and easier to perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2014-05-09T13:45:59.180" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:45:59.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11574" CreationDate="2013-08-31T12:49:19.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a very important aspect of your question. To answer it we must consider what happens during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When exercising a muscle, its energy supplies become depleted, it becomes fatigued and creates by-products such as lactic acid which go into the blood stream. All of these changes stress the body, in response to which the adrenal glands produce cortisol. Despite common belief, and the fact that it is a steroid, cortisol is a catabolic hormone; it suppresses protein metabolism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this then relate to rest periods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing an upper body/lower body regime on alternating days, each individual muscle will get a full 48h of rest. Which is adequate for regenerating the energy supplies within the muscle. However, the body will still be in stress from the previous workout, with increased blood levels of cortisol. By maintaining this sort of protocol, you eventually risk becoming overtrained (depending on training intensity and volume).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when you have a full day rest between two trainings, the levels of cortisol and other stress hormones falls, the body regenerates and the risk of overtraining reduces significantly (if this holistic approach is followed regularly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an optimal training schedule, you must weigh the benefits of a high frequency of trainings (such as increased strength, endurance and hypertrophy) with the risks (overtraining, fatigue and injury) in order to find an optimal balance between resting and exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as some other answers to this question have stated, there is localized fatigue in stabilizing muscles, such as the core, with any type of exercise. So a full day rest is often needed. The best way to utilize this knowledge is to do block periodization. That is, to exercise on alternate days for a couple of days, say 3-4, and then to take a whole day off. This way you stress the body in waves, but also allow it to adapt and regenerate on the resting days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2013-08-31T12:49:19.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-08-31T17:44:15.007" Score="6" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to build some muscle mass, for both raising my RMR and for useful/practical strength and endurance.  I don't want or need to look like a body builder, I just want to lose a little fat (I'm doing cardio and paying attention to nutrition already) and get stronger.  I'm 41 and male if that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a bench and a bunch of weights at home, used to lift fairly regularly about 10 years ago but since then it's all been sitting around.  I could start using it again, but it sounds kind of boring so I'm thinking of changing it up by snagging one of those towers that let you do pullups, dips, elevated pushups, and whatever you call it when you grab the handles and raise your legs off the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like a good way to build useful strength and muscle, but right now I don't know how many reps of most of the tower exercises I could do.  I've been doing pushups for a couple of months and can do a fair number of those, but I don't know if I could do even one pullup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions is this: can I snag the tower and work my way up to being able to use it from where I am, or am I going to have to spend some time on the bench before the tower can be useful?  I think I'll be much more likely to actually work out with the tower, so I'd love to find a way to jump right into that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6656" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T16:33:25.130" Title="Free weights or body weight exercises?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7225" CreationDate="2013-08-31T17:53:59.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my own shoulder rehab I have used the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thoracic bridge, as described here:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_30_second_mobility_cure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_30_second_mobility_cure&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bear crawls  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups on rings (you would need to start with the rings pretty high and lower them over time) - see here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/ring-push&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gymnasticswod.com/content/ring-push&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups with elevated feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that good form for push ups implies that your elbows stay at your side.  You do that by having your right hand thumb at 11 or 12 and index at 1 (and reverse for the left hand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have heard good things about Turkish get-ups (low weights at first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastActivityDate="2013-08-31T17:53:59.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4991" CreationDate="2013-08-31T21:43:11.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is one thing that might not be as serious as rhabdomyolysis or kidney damage, but it is far more frequent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the fact that people use NSAIDs as pain killers during training. I am a professional athlete, and to my experience more than 90% of athletes have this habit of taking NSAIDs for DOMS and pain to get through training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the function of pain? To alert the person that something is either inflammed or damaged. By covering that pain during training you put additional strain on an already damaged structure. This puts you at risk of not only futher injuring yourself, but also of overuse through faulty movements or other types of strain that pain would have signaled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using NSAIDs during competitions, to rid the pain and achieve maximal performance, is fine. But to use them for that purpose continually can only do harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, NSAIDs are a frequent causative agent of peptic ulcers. Long-term use puts you at direct risk of this. To further aggrevate the problem is the fact that the sympathetic nervous system gets activated during training, which decreases mucus (protective mechanism for the gastric acid) production in the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2013-08-31T21:50:19.287" LastActivityDate="2013-08-31T21:50:19.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13801" CreationDate="2013-09-01T01:15:35.337" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a look at the book &quot;Convict Conditioning&quot; by Paul Wade. I gave more information about that book and some free internet resources related, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13670/is-there-a-name-for-the-exercises-that-dont-use-dumbbells/13736#13736&quot;&gt;in this answer&lt;/a&gt;. The author teaches how to build strength with a pullup bar, departing from a very easy version of the exercises he calls &quot;the rehabilitation steps&quot; and building up gradually up to pullups and pushups with one arm and such things. I think that suits you and your tower well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, for God's sake, &lt;strong&gt;be careful and progress very gradually, with whatever way of training you eventually choose&lt;/strong&gt;. I am exactly your age an I had been for years out of weightlifting as well. I resumed in May and, in only one month and a half, I got a lot of tendonitis around my neck and &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; shoulders (additionally, carrying my 2 yr old doughter always on the same arm didn't help much). I am still on physical therapy. Yes, being 41 does matter. Generally speaking, &lt;strong&gt;it is your tolerance to the so-called &quot;microtrauma&quot; and your recovery ability what has changed&lt;/strong&gt;. You haven't noticed it yet because that doesn't affect normal everyday activities. So you want to take it easy and build up slowly, specially if you have not lifted for years, as it seems the case. Forget about the failure and no-pain-no-gain bullshit and simply progress on the spreadsheet, by adding reps gradually or small weigth increments at fixed reps if you use dumbbells. Or, if you train with bodyweigth and that tower, then follow all the steps exactly as laid on the Paul Wade book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-09-02T01:22:27.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-01T09:24:10.393" Score="0" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner in running who run about 2 miles per day. How can I improve it? And also I want to know, is that better to run in the same speed or to shift gear during the running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6662" LastActivityDate="2013-09-02T00:08:36.987" Title="Running in the same speed or shifting gear?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13801" CreationDate="2013-09-01T12:07:31.890" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Question is asked like an either or but I see nothing wrong with using what you have at home to get going combining the weights and your body. Once you grow out of what you have perhaps you could join a gym. Since you have a bench and a bar at home you can already do so many things, bench press, deadlift and so on. Pull-ups are not easy to start with but you will increase fairly fast. You could use a bench to stand on and help push with your legs just to get going. There could be many examples given but would need a bit more detail on what you have at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are more interested in a program P90X is a generally a good program but tends to burn muscle a bit to much for my taste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned to lose weight and if this really is the main goal you can skip all this exercise to being with and 100% focus on your diet. You will see very quick results with fairly small changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-09-01T12:07:31.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2013-09-01T12:26:46.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Already some good suggestions but I'll add what I did as I, and many more I am sure, have had this problem numerous times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First time I had this problem I lowered by rep range to 2-3 reps for 3 weeks lifting heavier weight. I then returned to the previous weight and low-and-behold I easily pushed through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second time I started using a spotter. I simply asked a random guy in the gym each time and lifted until he had to lift it himself pretty much. Did this for a few weeks and then tried it myself and easily pushed through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third time (Which is what I am going through now) I am using a Smith Machine and it seems to be working. Its a bit too early to tell but figured I give it as advice anyhow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-09-01T12:26:46.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13784" CreationDate="2013-09-01T12:38:35.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This article does, in a long way, answer your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Marathon Myth: High intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) vs. Long Duration Training (L.D.T.)&#xA;  I have written several FitBit Articles this year detailing the efficacy of High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T. training). H.I.I.T. has been shown to develop much higher levels of cardiovascular fitness in much shorter periods of time than the traditional L.D.T. Not only have numerous Universities reported on research conducted by some of the top Cardiologists and Exercise Physiologists in the country, but we also have world-champion endurance athletes using H.I.I.T. to smash all existing race records.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recent research now demonstrates that retention rates for H.I.I.T. are significantly higher than L.D.T. Previous research had shown that as intensity increased, retention decreased. This research did not take into consideration that H.I.I.T. by its very nature, requires much shorter durations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For fitness training, H.I.I.T. duration is typically 15-20 minutes, while typical L.D.T. training is 60-90 minutes. H.I.I.T. Frequency is typically 2-3 days/week, while L.D.T. Frequency is 6-7 days/week. This significant decrease in both duration (Time) and Frequency (number of training sessions/week) appears to be the primary reason for increased retention rates and exercise adherence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The one big question in all personal trainer minds should be &quot;Great, but what about SAFETY?&quot; Remember rule #1 for all IFPA Certified Personal Trainers, Medical Fitness Specialists or any one of our other Certified Professionals that are certified in one or more of the over 70 other IFPA certifications is DO NO HARM!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is probably the most significant and controversial of all the news research coming out on H.I.I.T. vs. L.D.T.: H.I.I.T. is actually safer than L.D.T! Read it again! H.I.I.T. has shown to be safer than L.D.T.!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is contrary to many current beliefs and is contrary to what has been considered &quot;Common Sense&quot; high intensity MUST be a higher risk than low-moderate intensity, long duration training, but once again, &quot;Common Sense&quot; and long held beliefs have been proven WRONG.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At risk of sounding like the mean old grinch that stole Christmas from all the hard core marathon runners and endurance athletes, I am required to report to you conclusive research that demonstrates that H.I.I.T. is actually safer than L.D.T.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Dr. Eric Larose, exercise and cardio health expert from the University of Loval in Quebec City, &quot;Exercise reduces cardiovascular risk by a factor of three, but vigorous exercise such as marathon running increases cardiac risk by a factor of seven.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dr. Larose's study shows marathon runners suffer temporary heart damage because of the level of exertion when running such a long distance. The further you run the more stress you place on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Dr. Arthur Siege, Director of Internal Medicine at Harvard's McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, &quot;Your Body doesn't know whether you've run a marathon or been hit by a truck.&quot; I used to run the Boston Marathon. When running a marathon your body kicks into Survival Mode. That releases a chemical cascade inside you. Your adrenal glands release stress hormones like cortisol and vasopressin. Your muscles release a protein called cytokines and that makes your liver produce C-reactive protein. This triggers an inflammatory response to protect you from all the havoc raging in your body. This can lead to cardiac arrest which is not uncommon in such long races. As you go deeper into the 26.2 mile race, your muscles take on the brunt of the stress and that includes your heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dr. Siege and colleagues conducted a study in the American Journal, of cardiology. They analyzed the blood of marathon runners less than 24 hours post race. The runners showed high levels of inflammation and coagulation markers associated with heart attacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even more disturbing is another study in the American Heart Association Journal: Circulation that found abnormalities in how the blood was pumped into the heart after running a marathon, including some runners that had difficulty refilling the chambers of their hearts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a lot of research and studies being conducted on both H.I.I.T. and L.D.T. and I will be reporting on this further. Some very passionate marathoners are offering numerous explanations for the deaths associated with L.D.T. including: (1) undiagnosed congenital heart defects, (2) Electrolyte imbalances, (3) too little or too much hydration, (4) heart exhaustion in high heat/high humidity situations, (5) statistically low death rates and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regardless of defending opinion in the face of these facts, there is a relatively simple solution to the problem, try H.I.I.T. Protocols following all the Exercise Science Principles you learned in the IFPA Personal Fitness Trainer or the Group Fitness Instructor Certification Courses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;REF: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ifpa-fitness.com/fitbit_detail.php?id=616&amp;amp;title=The%20Marathon%20Myth%3a%20High%20intensity%20Interval%20Training%20%28H.I.I.T.%29%20vs.%20Long%20Duration%20Training%20%28L.D.T.%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Marathon Myth: High intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) vs. Long Duration Training (L.D.T.)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-09-01T12:38:35.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13805" CreationDate="2013-09-02T00:08:36.987" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, run training takes several forms, often considered as Strength and Endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be accomplished with building running specific muscles, usually by hard running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hill Training&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You run up a hill, pushing hard, to build the muscles you use when running up a hill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Speed Work&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is often done on a track, running repeats of a specific distance.  100, 200, 400, 800 meter repeats. (Outdoor tracks are very often 400m or 440 yards in length.  So 200m is half a lap, 800m is two laps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem for you, is that 2 miles at a time is not quite enough of a base of running to really start in on these training methods since you almost certainly will get injured due to lack of fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Endurance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be thought of as people training for longer distance runs, like a half marathon (13.1m/21.1k), marathon (26.2m/42.2k) or even longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect, if your base is 2 miles at a time, you need to focus on endurance first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly the basic way to do it, is simple and almost tautological.  To run longer, run longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, if you can do 2 miles a day, then try one day to run 2.5 miles, while keeping the other days at 2 miles.  Then keep increasing one or two days a week.  (Space the longer days out as far apart as you can to allow for recovery, since the harder workout breaks down muscle, and it grows back stronger, which is how you get stronger, but all that takes time to happen.  So recovery is key).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1841" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-09-02T00:08:36.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-02T16:30:00.310" Score="2" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to lose some of the belly fat that I'd accumulated while doing Starting Strength (SS) for the last 6-7 months. At the same time, I don't want to lose the strength that I've on the bar. From what I see after googling, it seems like Carb Cycling (having a combination of High/low/No carb days over the entire week) seems to be the answer. However, like most things on the net, the specifics vary widely, and I'm unable to tell a reliable source from one thats not. Hence, I've the following queries that I hope the community can answer - or even better, point me to resources that've worked for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the typical duration of a carb cycle - I want to get back to making progress on my lifts, and I know that can't be done when I'm losing fat, and in general on a calorie deficit!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are the most reliable, detailed source of information for the nutrition aspect of Carb cycling? Some sites advocate a High/Mid/Low spread, while others insist on having at least some No Carb days! Also, the definition of &quot;High&quot; vs &quot;Mid&quot; is not entirely consistent!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If my current lifts are as follows: Deadlift =&gt; X, Squat =&gt; Y, Bench Press =&gt; Z (in the same pattern as a SS routine), should I be following the exact same routine with same reps/set and max weight, or should I be expected to drop some sets (how many?) while keeping the work set at same weight and reps?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anything else I'm not focussing on (that I should take care of) while attempting such a routine!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2018" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T21:22:58.673" Title="Carb cycling while maintaining strength on the bar" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13818" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13821" CreationDate="2013-09-02T18:59:12.747" Score="4" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the general question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How often and how long should do soft aerobic exercise a middle-aged man in his 40s, provided that he his healthy but out of shape? If possible, please focus your answer specifically on fast walking as exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, after the general question, I would like to add some particular details that may help the readers understand better what I want to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 41, quite out of shape but I have permission from the doctors to do aerobic exercise. Because several months ago I returned to weight training improperly after 18 years of sedentary computer work, and then aggravated it by improperly stretching my pecs and carrying my 16 kg doughter always on the same arm, I am still recovering from several tendonitis in both shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, I am doing some aerobic exercise every day. But, after having injured myself so badly, this time I want to be sure that I am doing the aerobic exercise properly and that I am not going to die suddenly in the middle of the street because I was stressing my heart too much, or who knows what may happen this time...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; what I have been doing in the last 11 days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I start walking very fast, just at a pace where it seems that I should instead start running. But I don't run, I just stay walking. I do this uninterruptedly for up to 45 min. I wear a fairly good running shoes. I check my pulse at least twice during the walk, and it always stays between 120 and 150 bpm (I never let it go over 14 beats in six seconds). I breath correctly. I don't feel it is exhausting, but rather slightly challenging. I think I could say some sentences aloud while walking, as long as they were short and there were enough pauses to breathe in between. I sweat a bit but not too much. At the end, I stretch my quads a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have written down how long I do this every day. This are the times up to yesterday:&#xA;25, 30, 36, 45, 45, 41, 45, 45, 43, 42 and 45 min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that wrong? Should I insert rest days or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this question seems too localized because of the additional details I gave, please feel free to answer only to the general question at the beginning, and I will try to derive the appropriate adaptation to my personal circumstances. Nevertheless, I think that explaining the correct way of starting a soft aerobic walking program for middle-aged unconditioned people is something of a general interest, and the personal details I added are valuable as an example of how it should (or how it should not) be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-09-02T19:12:28.017" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T00:00:02.507" Title="What is the correct dose and frequency of aerobic exercise for unconditioned middle age people?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13765" CreationDate="2013-09-02T21:29:26.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion its OK to keep both... The hardest part though, is to stick to your schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To have some remarkable effects, you'd need to stick to your plan for the next 3-6 months... From my experience, I know that it might be hard, to fill every day of week with exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest days are okay too, they helps regenerate mentally and physically, so you'd feel fresher on next run / workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And good luck on your path. Just pick what's more important to you and try to prioritize. Eg. if you choose running, try never to skip running workout - it would be ok though, if you skip gym once a while if you're tired - It will help your recovery... So all depends on your priorities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6670" LastEditorUserId="6670" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T20:30:45.353" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T20:30:45.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13818" CreationDate="2013-09-02T22:58:40.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your general question, according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans&lt;/a&gt;, you need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of &lt;strong&gt;moderate-intensity aerobic&#xA;  activity&lt;/strong&gt; (i.e., brisk walking) every week and &lt;strong&gt;weight training&#xA;  muscle-strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; activities on 2 or more days a week that work&#xA;  all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest,  shoulders,&#xA;  and arms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you the strength training is currently on hold, so the following is about &lt;strong&gt;cardio-vascular or aerobic exercise&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Moderate Intensity Aerobic Activity&lt;/strong&gt; ranges from 55% to 75% of your MHR (max heart rate);  or a level of exertion of 12 to 16 (somewhat hard to hard at a steady pace) on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/measuring/exertion.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Borg Scale&lt;/a&gt; when exercising. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Calculate your target heart rate&lt;/a&gt; to optimize your workouts. Since you say that you are &quot;quite out of shape&quot;, begin in the 55% to 65% range and work your way up. (&quot;Quite out of shape&quot; means different things to different people so that figure may or may not be a good starting point.) Your doctor may also give you guideline targets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my calculations are correct, your MHR (maximum heart rate) is 179, making 120 - 150 bpm in the 67%  to 85% range, which may be overly enthusiastic given your level of fitness and recent injury history. To be more accurate, use your RHR (resting heart rate),  to calculate your exercise target heart rate using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Karvonen-Formula&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Karvonen Method&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to avoid injury is to begin modestly and progress gradually. A &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8262/dynamic-stretching-as-warm-up/8308#8308&quot;&gt;dynamic warm-up&lt;/a&gt; before walking (being careful not to aggravate any current injuries) will lubricate soft tissues and joints, increase circulation to the muscles, increase the heart rate and prime the nervous system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you may not know that you have overdone until after you finish exercise, (or even the next day or two). Be cautious until you know how your body reacts.  Make notes on your exercise log about how you feel.  Pay attention to little annoyances that may become worse with the repetitive movements of walking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have safely progressed from the above recommended level without injury, gradually increase to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5 hours (300 minutes) each week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity and weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or&#xA;  more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back,&#xA;  abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you add up your walking weekly times you have already reached the progression to 300 minutes per week recommendation.  How your body feels will tell you if you have progressed too quickly or are on schedule.  Given that you are beginning a process to get back in shape and want to avoid injury, you may be more prudent to lower the intensity and progress more gradually.  1-2 rest days per week can help with recovery. For the necessary patience, think of getting back in shape as a lifelong healthy lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt; - A regular gentle stretching program after you walk will help to keep you flexible.  In addition to your quads, include your hamstrings and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles/6600#6600&quot;&gt;gastroc/soleus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Measurements&lt;/strong&gt; -  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3421/useful-measurements-tracking-approach-for-a-fitness-strategy/3431#3431&quot;&gt;Tracking your physical progress&lt;/a&gt; will also help you judge if you are benefiting from your exercise program, and whether or not you need to make changes.  Measurements also help with motivation (which does not appear to be your problem. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T00:00:02.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2013-09-03T05:57:22.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ashtanga yoga and vinyasa flow styles are usually focused more on 'asana' (physical postures). This might be a good place to start:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There you can find tons of resources, reviews etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On developing a home practice: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/developing-home-practice-parts-1-26.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/developing-home-practice-parts-1-26.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Book and DVD reviews:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/p/zdfbkdngf-wednesday-20-april-2011-still.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/p/zdfbkdngf-wednesday-20-april-2011-still.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free practice ebook:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/p/my-complete-vinyasa-yoga-practice-book.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/p/my-complete-vinyasa-yoga-practice-book.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On strength:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/search/label/Jump%20back%20jump%20through&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/search/label/Jump%20back%20jump%20through&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T05:57:22.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13785" CreationDate="2013-09-03T08:32:26.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its nearly impossible to gain weight without gaining a little bit of unwanted fat, What I would recommend is to slowly increase your intake of carbs around your workout periods, and see if it works for you! But remember everyones body is different, you will have to do a fair bit of experimenting with your diet to see what works for you! Don't forget to eat clean and train intense!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6673" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T08:32:26.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13827" CreationDate="2013-09-03T14:13:58.900" Score="3" ViewCount="1984" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people told me that I shouldn't drink water while doing body building exercises and others told me that I should drink more. All these days, while doing workouts, if I feel thirsty I used to have a sip of water and continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any benefits of drinking water or is it detrimental on my body building efforts to drink while working out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6675" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-03T14:29:43.133" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T16:14:22.590" Title="Water intake while doing body building workouts?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;dehydration&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13826" CreationDate="2013-09-03T16:14:22.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hydration is paramount with any form of exercise.  Hydration is a necessary component of all metabolic processes.  This includes building muscle.  However, hydration is also a bit more than just drinking water.  Proper hydration requires that you keep your electrolytes in balance.  Electrolyte imbalance is more critical in endurance training than bodybuilding, but it is still important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some highlights from an article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/02/03/what-the-eff-is-an-electrolyte-is-gatorade-the-real-deal/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;electrolytes and hydration&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Electrolytes are sodium, chloride, potassium, bicarbonate, calcium, and phosphate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Electrolytes help your body absorb water more quickly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training for 45 minutes or less?  Water is more than plenty for your needs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read this article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/behar12.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;why hydration is so important for muscle mass&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A 2% drop in body water can cause a small but critical shrinkage of the brain, which can impair neuromuscular coordination, decrease concentration, and slow thinking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration can also reduce endurance, decrease strength, cause cramping and slow muscular response.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper hydration improves your skin, teeth, bones, digestion, and reduces fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water is needed to transport nutrients to your cells and transporting waste out of the body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water helps form the structures of protein and glycogen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration can prevent muscles from properly contracting, reducing muscle tone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration can limit what you can do in the gym, which in turn limits the time and tension you can apply to your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is you need hydration, and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about.  It is true that competitive bodybuilders and figure contestants do use temporary dehydration to ensure that they make a certain weight class.  After the weigh-in, they will drink sports drinks or some other hydration formula to safely rehydrate.  This helps them regain strength, muscle plumpness, and a more healthy look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use Creatine Monohydrate, which is very hydroscopic, you need to drink more water than you would otherwise.  Creatine Monohydrate is a supplement that helps with recovery and work capacity, so it is very useful for any athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T16:14:22.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13817" CreationDate="2013-09-03T16:37:20.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several accepted ways to carb cycle, a discipline that has been in use for a couple decades now.  Let's first cover some basics on carb levels:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Below 120g/day: ketogenic levels.  Ketosis is a useful tool for burning fat, however it does affect your strength levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;120-130g/day: Minimum levels needed for your brain and thyroid to function normally.  The thyroid helps in the process of burning fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Above 130g/day: Excess carbs are used for replenishing muscle glycogen and for performance in the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your carb and Calorie levels can be varied throughout the week so that you have them when you need them.  The key is to time them so that they are available when you need them.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/08/30/optimal-nutrition-for-strength-performance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article by Jordan Syatt&lt;/a&gt; helps to shine some light on the subject.  In that article there are some important points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total Calories are the most important item for whether you gain or lose weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Macro nutrient content is the second most important item.  I've seen some variation in recommendations here as well, but all of them have protein higher than 1g / pound body weight for fat loss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timing is the third most important item.  You want your carbs 1-3 hours before training so you have the energy all through out training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the minute details and specifics you have a couple choices: try and work it out for yourself or hire a coach.  Hiring a coach is expensive, but it is much easier to follow the plan.  The biggest thing with working it out yourself is that you monitor your progress often.  If things seem to stall, change your approach.  For example, instead of carbing up once a week, do it when you lose the next 2 lbs--however long that takes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat loss doesn't happen linearly.  You'll find that you'll hit some stalls along the way before you start losing weight again.  The biggest challenge you'll have is experimenting with how little of a Calorie deficit you need to lose weight.  Going too aggressively will affect your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In regards to the programming aspect:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are still making consistent gains with Starting Strength, then don't change anything.  You'll be surprised how far you can go.  If you are starting to have some misses here and there, it will only get worse as when you start cutting calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's the case, it might be beneficial to change to a program where you increase weekly such as Texas Method.  You'll still be making regular increases, but you'll be able to recover better each training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T16:37:20.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2013-09-03T20:17:15.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im assuming your knees also move inwards when you squat. This is the same basic mechanism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do feet splay outwards, and knees go inwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main hip flexor is the iliopsoas muscle, located deep within the hip. It flexes your thigh toward your chest. Or, as in running, moves your knees forward after toeing off. When this muscle is to weak other accessory hip flexors activate to allow you to perform this function. One of the main ones in this respect is the tensor fasciae late (TFL). This is the muscle inconveniently located on the sides of the hips, making it an inefficient hip flexor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TFL is actually a prime leg abductor (it moves the leg laterally). What happens when it contracts during running is that your knees move slightly inwards during the forward motion (perhaps also during the push-off, as is the case when squatting). This causes a lateral rotation of the tibia; the shins are rotated outwards. Since the feet are aligned with the tibia, the outward rotation of the tibia also makes your feet splay outwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to correct the imbalance and faulty rotation that occurs at the hip, your best bet is to strengthen the iliopsoas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can this be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One basic exercise is this: sit on the edge of a chair with your hip and knees bent roughly 90°. Arch your lower back (this is important for all exercises involving this muscle since it attaches there, and thus provides a stable base for its contraction). Then raise one leg at a time as high as you can. This is the closest you will get to isolating the iliopsoas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do contractions, or static exercises in that position. Eventually add weights to your ankles, or put them on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a professional sprinter, and at the end of my medical studies, and I can tell you that this muscle is of great importance in running. It has vastly improved my acceleration (which is not that exciting information for you), but also my leg push-off recovery (which should be very exciting news). This has allowed me to increase my top speed even further by allowing my knees to lift higher, the stride to be longer and faster. It has also eliminated my problem from when I started practicing athletics, which is that my knees went inwards during squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;I just read in one of your comments that your feet point outward even when standing still, so I will add a small comment to my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The iliopsoas would help correct this problem while running, but since it is not active when standing still, this suggests some other cause. It is true, what some have said here, that every person has his individual body type, but they can also change (such as getting better posture bu changing the relative strengths of flexors and extensors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two more exercises/muscle groups that could help you: medial rotators and semitendinosus/semimembranosus muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Medial rotators are the muscles that rotate your thigh inwards in the hip socket. By strengthening these muscles you can increase the tension they create to maintain the legs, and thus the feet, at a slightly more inward angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Semitendinosus and semimembranosus are two of the main knee flexors, besides biceps femoris. These three muscles originate from the same place at the hip, but their distal attachments differ, and as such their actions also. Biceps femoris attaches to the lateral part of your tibia (shin). When it contracts, it bends the knee while causing lateral rotation of the tibia over the knee joint. Basically, the feet splay outward. However, the other two muscles attach on the inside part of the tibia, and as such causes it to rotate inwards while running. Your problem could stem from the fact that your biceps femoris is stronger than the semi-muscles, which makes your feet assume the natural position of pointing outwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising these three muscles/muscle groups is the only way to correct your problem physiologically and biomechanically. Either try them one at a time, or all at once; incorporate them into your regular strength routine and you might see some progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2013-09-03T20:37:36.437" LastActivityDate="2013-09-03T20:37:36.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-05T10:27:46.153" Score="3" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;My heartrate is 65 at rest and top heartrate i can get while biking is 191.&#xA;My goal is to burn some extra fat so i try to get i the 60%/70% zone for optimal fat burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now i find there are 2 ways to calculate this zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take 60% and 70% of your max rate:&#xA;114-134&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(60% or 70%) * (max Hr - rest Hr) + rest Hr)&#xA;140-153&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These result turn out very different but which one is correct? Or how should i interpret these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T14:34:31.087" Title="Different ways to calculate heartrate zones" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13831" CreationDate="2013-09-05T14:34:31.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason for the difference in these two results is that the second formula that you cite is not a direct heart rate zone, but it rather is an assessment of heart rate reserve (HRR) (Karvonen formula). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HRR is the difference between your maximum heart rate (MHR) (Either predicted or measured) and your resting heart rate. The theory is that as you get fitter, your MHR will increase, and your RHR will decrease, and as a result your HRR zones will change to reflect your fitness level. In reality, the Karvonen was a bad sample, based on less than 10 people if I remember right, and it doesn't take into consideration VO2 values either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a big fan of exercising according to heart rate zones, for the simple reason that there are too many variables that can affect the heart rate in various ways. For example, take your MHR, and your calculated zone of 114-134. Today you were tired when you woke up, so you have coffee for a change, and you are also dehydrated and tense from work. All of these combine to raise your normal heart rate by 10 beats per minute overall. Now when you workout, you are probably not working as hard as you think you are, because your HR is elevated for reasons unrelated to your exercise level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is just to pick one method, calculate your zone and use that. As long as you are consistent, you should see results. The body is a very complicated system, and lumping things in by zones and generic predicted formulas generally has mixed results, i.e. it works for some but not others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T14:34:31.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2013-09-05T16:23:56.090" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past few years, I have been doing primarily weight training with very little cardio.  Recently I have decided to start training for a triathlon and my regimen has changed dramatically.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comments suggesting not lifting are dead wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with weight lifting and training for long distance running.  Studies have shown that distance running actually degrades your overall strength, while strength training improves your ability to run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lift for endurance, low sets, high reps.  2 or 3 sets of 12 to 15, 2 to 3 times a week  Do a variety of exercises including leg exercises.  Squats aren't just for your legs, they are an excellent core exercise and with the right amount of weight and reps are actually HIIT.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to this is diet.  You have to eat, and eat right and eat often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6685" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T16:23:56.090" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13801" CreationDate="2013-09-05T16:33:25.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your stated goals in the first paragraph, I would suggest that you get a power rack, enough weights for squats and deadlift and take a look at Mehdi's 5x5 Beginner.  It is three days a week, three primary exercises per day.  It is based around the squat, which is by far the best exercise you can do, if you are doing it right.  The workout leaves plenty of room for pullups, pushups, and other bodyweight exercises.  I just sold my squat rack, weight and bars for $200 because I have a free gym through work.  Figure it costs between $60 and $100 a month for a good gym, 200 or 300 bucks is worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not knocking bodyweight exercises, but if you aren't able to do a bunch of them it is easy to get discouraged and not get the results you are looking for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6685" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T16:33:25.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2013-09-05T16:38:47.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past, if I fail to hit my goals in a workout three times, I fall back 10% and work my way backup.  It has helped quite a bit, though I have personally hit my own ceiling on bench.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen suggestions that it might be time to alter the workout with fewer reps to increase weight (as mentioned previously.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6685" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-09-06T01:48:47.740" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T01:48:47.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12293" CreationDate="2013-09-05T17:42:27.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, the best outdoor fitness equipments are push-up bars and parallel bars. There are many different exercises that can be done on them: pull-ups (obviously), dips, muscles ups, inverse push-ups, 'the monkey' (grabing the bar with one hand for some seconds). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience with the sort of devices that you posted a pic of, is that they are useful only for the totally untrained or for the pretty old. But you probably would be better off with more intense bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't get obsessed with your weight (measured in kg/lb). Measure your size check your appearance. When building muscle, you are also increasing your weight, even if you have a lower body fat percentage. But there is nothing bad about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastActivityDate="2013-09-05T17:42:27.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13845" CreationDate="2013-09-04T21:52:24.967" Score="11" ViewCount="927" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard all kinds of things said about this. Is it more effective for muscle building if you take protein supplements before or after working out? Some say that it is better before; others say afterwards. I've even heard that some people take it during a long workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6694" OwnerDisplayName="Dan the Man" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T18:14:06.593" Title="Is it better to take protein supplements before or after a workout?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13840" CreationDate="2013-09-06T05:51:36.707" Score="1" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a nerd and don't have very fit body. I have been going to gym irregularly for the last 3 months, getting a little bit in shape &amp;amp; improving my strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: Is it safe to take Extreme Muscle Pro as a supplement to make this process faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is lots of talk &amp;amp; controversy on the internet about this product. I couldn't find right answer, so please answer yes or no and list reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am into computer software development and am also worried that if something goes wrong I might lose focus in programming. Any possibility of this?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6689" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-09-07T01:37:25.280" LastActivityDate="2013-09-07T01:37:25.280" Title="Is Extreme Muscle Pro safe?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13839" CreationDate="2013-09-06T06:17:31.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that the second result for &quot;Xtreme Muscle Pro&quot; in google is for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scambook.com/company/view/84686/Xtreme-Muscle-Pro&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scam warning site&lt;/a&gt;, I'd suggest that even if it is safe, its unlikely to provide the result you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to muscle growth is: Lift weights &lt;em&gt;regularly&lt;/em&gt;, eat whole food rich in proteins and vitamins, track your calories and research supplaments if and only if your diet is lacking in things you can't get from food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T06:17:31.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13842" CreationDate="2013-09-06T06:53:55.643" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 18, I have been lifting weights for about a month now - I am quite new to it so I would like to get everything correct before I get into bad habits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first started training I was experiencing a lot more muscle pain than I am now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the muscle pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I am feeling the pain less, does that mean I'm not working out as hard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I feel the pain less now, does that also mean I can work out the same muscle earlier than before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if not, what kind of recovery period should I be giving the muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6690" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T06:55:04.150" Title="Muscle soreness" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13841" CreationDate="2013-09-06T06:55:04.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, the pain you feel is &lt;strong&gt;'delayed onset muscle soreness' (DOMS)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From WebMD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a common result of physical&#xA;  activity that stresses the muscle tissue beyond what it is accustomed&#xA;  to.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Regardless of whether you're sore, there are still improvements&#xA;  occurring in your muscles during exercise.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a very controversial subject - you will find people form very different opinions on the matter. I feel the main reason for this is due to the fact that everybody is different and sometimes people feel that their own way is the only way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One common misconception is that DOMS is a sign of a good workout. While it is true that DOMS shows that you have had a decent workout, it actually has little to do with how good a workout was - &lt;strong&gt;it is entirely possible to have a good workout without DOMS&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you are progressing, maintaining, and not losing strength in your lifts, your workouts are most likely good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOMS is not always a reason to skip a workout, as I mentioned &lt;strong&gt;everyone is different&lt;/strong&gt;, everyone produces different amounts of testosterone and people have different recovery times. You have to &lt;strong&gt;listen to your body&lt;/strong&gt; – it will take time to correctly figure out how to listen to your body but it’s the only way to get an accurate answer for how many days rest you personally should take. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule of thumb people say you should rest for about 1 week per body part but then others also say you only need about 48-72hrs for a major muscle to recover and be ready for a full blown attack on it again. &lt;strong&gt;Find out what works best for you&lt;/strong&gt; and go with that.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T06:55:04.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2013-09-06T10:56:11.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion both statements are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein is best processed at it's peak during your workout. This means that you will have to take your supplements about 1h before working out. This protein can also be in the form of normal food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offcourse after your workout your muscles will still need to grow and recover and it won't harm to have some extra protein for this stage of muscle recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently devide my supplements before and after training to gain maximal effect. And this seems to work for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6373" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T10:56:11.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2013-09-06T11:54:24.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein, Carbs and Fat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein&#xA;- energy source&#xA;- building blocks for muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs&#xA;- digests fast&#xA;- fast energy source&#xA;- building blocks for cells, including muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat&#xA;- digests slow&#xA;- high energy source&#xA;- acts as cushion for organs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short and intense exercise&#xA;- Increases testerone level (men have higher testerone level than women usually)&#xA;- Builds muscle, when there is enough protein and carbs available&#xA;- Burns carbs and fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long exercise&#xA;- Burns carbs and fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to avoid:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food in plastics, especially when heated, so don't heat up your meals in plastic holders (it will polute your food with an estrogen-like substance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough activity, kills muscles that are not used and with less muscle it takes longer to burn fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High estrogen, which tells you body to store more fat (women have higher estrogen levels, which is normal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6692" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T11:54:24.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2013-09-06T11:59:23.947" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First my opinion about protein shakes is well resumed here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/milk-post-workout-build-muscle-gains/&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/milk-post-workout-build-muscle-gains/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.science20.com/news/study_says_milk_is_as_good_as_protein_drinks_for_workouts&quot;&gt;http://www.science20.com/news/study_says_milk_is_as_good_as_protein_drinks_for_workouts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think heavy protein shakes directly before workout are not advisable, because you body needs to digest. If you necessarily want to take them, drink them at least 90 minutes before working out. Personally, I think taking BCAAs directly before a workout is the better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a beginner, don't worry too much about the fine-tuning, just drink 0.5 L of milk post workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6365" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-09-10T18:14:06.593" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T18:14:06.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-06T14:38:52.117" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 20 age and my weight is 52 kg I am so thin like skeletal I want to gain weight and how I can make my body please help me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6693" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T14:38:52.117" Title="Body building and gaining weight" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-09-06T21:25:17.763" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-06T14:59:06.907" Score="6" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a kid, I was an avid swimmer.  I was nowhere near an expert, but I was in a pool, swimming laps, almost every day of the summer.  My form was probably poor then, but nobody instructed me otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a &quot;pushing-40&quot; adult, I'd like to get back into swimming, potentially training for a triathlon (haven't hit the bikes yet).  I know my form is poor and want to get better.  What are resources, exercises, methods that the SE community can recommend to get me (re)started?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TIA,&#xA;Larry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T16:25:43.760" Title="(Re)Learning how to swim" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13847" CreationDate="2013-09-06T16:25:43.760" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your absolute best bet is going to be finding a decent instructor (not a coach, although they can be the same person, it isn't often you find both in one entity) and getting stroke instruction. Swimming is a very form intensive sport, to where correct form has a significant impact on both competitive times and on longevity. Bad form can easily wreck shoulders and cause other injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good resource, oddly enough, is youtube. There are quite a few good instructional videos on there, and I also recommend a virtual instruction site such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.findingfreestyle.com/&quot;&gt;Finding Freestyle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also hear recommendations for Total Immersion, which I don't find to be a bad system for teaching beginners to be comfortable in the water, with a basic stroke that functions decently. My main contention is that I don't find it teaches a very fast style of swimming, it teaches you to complete, rather than compete the swim. However, there are some individuals that have used the system and are quite speedy, so it may work for you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T16:25:43.760" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-06T17:20:25.117" Score="2" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bit of historic and personal info: I'm 24yo, have 5'9 (1,75m) and 213lbs (97kg), more or less 22%BF. I've begin to weight training in my 15, but never got it serious. Trained for one year, stooped for 1 more, and so on. Last year I successful lost about 8kg of fat, and then for almost 2 months, I'm on the following routine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider what I'm doing a Strength training, but see for yourself, here is how it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A - Monday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats* 12/10/8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press 10/8/6 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Warm-up + 3x5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pulley 3x8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunch in pulley machine 3x12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand Calves in smith machine 3x12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B - Tuesday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead-lift Warm-up + 3x5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press   Warm-up + 3x5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps curl (w-bar)       3x8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying triceps extensions (h-bar) 3x8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C - Thursday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats* 12/10/8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stiff leg dead-lift Warm-up + 3x5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Bench Warm-up + 3x5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attempts to Chin-up (pulley machhine) 3x8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg elevation Abs 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to change it to a more bodybuilding routine, focusing on &lt;strong&gt;two main goals&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Postural correction - reading another question, I ended up in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/neanderthal_no_more_part_i&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neanderthal no more&lt;/a&gt;, and I have  a mild kyphosys and lordosys which I would like to minimize&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proportion arms/torso - I have a strong chest, and a large torso, but thin arms. Seeing me from behind I'm square, from back, I a v-shape, even with my belly. But my arms seems to NOT grow, in the past I was monitoring it, and I could reduce belly while increase chest circumference. Increase chest and back weighs, but my arms lags behind. While I know a big part is genetic, I never really tried anything to improve the relation arms/torso&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;doubts&lt;/strong&gt; during developing a new routine is: There's to much exercises I should do to improve the posture, and I don't know how many of them I should include. Also, I don't know if I should continue with my bench weight, which I consider far ahead of other move, but could potentially come in the way of postural improvement. I have read too, that for arms development, you should training arms 2 times/week. I have to keep my training to Monday, Tuesday and Thursday only**.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I would like to do heavier squats, but last year had a problem in the knee during squats. So currently I do it just as warm-up, to improve my form, and get used to the move. And have included Leg Press as a replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**I would like to hit the gym 4 times/week, but I'm working in another city and I only have time to go to the gym in aforementioned days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastEditorUserId="5238" LastEditDate="2013-10-07T11:30:27.783" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T12:08:03.107" Title="As a novice/intermediate, how to change to a bodybuilding routine while incorporating these two main goals" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-06T19:09:25.090" Score="1" ViewCount="794" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend who spent some time in the military told me about a silent language in which the hands are signed in short, rapid bursts. Really, really rapid bursts, actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen videos of both &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/tuH-GYUHyQw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wing chun&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/8GaLEY17G_Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speed stacking&lt;/a&gt;, but these seem to be about the arms, more or less exclusively. I have yet to find anything on fast &lt;em&gt;hands&lt;/em&gt; on the internet, and I've been searching for a while. I've seen some people speaking relatively quick sign language on a city bus, so I'm inclined to believe my military friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there exercises to improve manual dexterity? Anywhere from the wrist to the digits -- how can I get more use from the fast-twitch muscles in my hands?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus points if you can tell me what that military language is, or if he was pulling my leg :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6696" LastActivityDate="2013-09-06T19:09:25.090" Title="Fast-twitch hand muscle exercises?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-06T21:47:34.933" Score="2" ViewCount="5575" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running 20 miles a week (three hour long runs, monday, thursday, and saturday) for a long long time. Last year in my annual physical I had a venous blood carbon dioxide level of 29. This year it is 33 (upper limit of normal is 31).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my blood carbon dioxide level high because my system has 'learned' to tolerate high levels of carbon dioxide? Am I going to drop dead in a week or two? Does anyone know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6215" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T08:18:41.583" Title="Is Hypercapnia (high CO2 in the blood) Normal In Distance Runners?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2013-09-07T03:17:47.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As other answers have mentioned, these ratios are just rough averages for most people who are well and equally trained on all movements. Moving beyond the EXRX standards mentioned (which focus on powerlifting lifts), here are some more ratios for Olympic lifts taken from Greg Everett's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0980011116&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Olympic Weightlifting&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snatch -&gt; 80-85% of Clean &amp;amp; Jerk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power Snatch -&gt; 80-85% of Snatch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power Clean -&gt; 80-90% of Clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean -&gt; 70-75% of Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle Snatch -&gt; 60-65% of Snatch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press -&gt; 70-75% of Push Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Squat -&gt; 85-90% of Back Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Squat -&gt; 65-70% of Back Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snatch -&gt; 90-100% of Overhead Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2013-09-07T03:17:47.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2013-09-07T07:03:35.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good nights sleep is important so don't eat a 2 am and try and get back to sleep. I have rode lots of long rides and I believe the key is a good pace and lots of water with honey and sugar mixed in. Meals during training should be healthy, veg salad and complex carbs, save the simple carbs for racing and quick power release they only last 20 mins and you bonk afterwards if your riding the 100 + distances.&#xA;Ultimately you know your body. I've known people to have a night on the town and a cigarette in the morning and be fine? Not for me chef.&#xA;Good luck and enjoy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6697" LastActivityDate="2013-09-07T07:03:35.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13849" CreationDate="2013-09-07T07:19:02.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The short version:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Broadly, I think your program is fine in terms of composition. To get the result you want:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up your &lt;strong&gt;cardio&lt;/strong&gt; to lose fat and improve your arm/body ratio that way (do it whenever you can, or as a warm up in the gym)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up your &lt;strong&gt;core work&lt;/strong&gt; for posture (do it right after your cardio along with some stretching)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up your overall &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt; (go for longer sets - 10 to 12 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up your overall &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt; (reduce your rest between sets - no more than 60 secs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The long version:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your program is light on arm work so it's not very surprising they lag behind. Also, as you said yourself, you are doing low-rep strength training type sets which won't help you with bulking up. &lt;strong&gt;Try introducing longer rep (10 to 12) sets&lt;/strong&gt; involving your arms in each of your workouts. Do some push-ups during your warmup, then fit some curls or pulls in each of your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to posture, the program you describe contains very little core. I would recommend incorporating &lt;strong&gt;10 to 15 minutes core work&lt;/strong&gt; and stretches as part of your pre-lifting warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the overall work, I tried to estimate how long your workouts are ... and assuming 30 secs per set (you do low reps) plus 90 secs rest between sets, giving roughly &lt;em&gt;2 minutes per set&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday 18 sets: 36 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday 12 sets: 24 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday 15 sets: 30 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is only &lt;strong&gt;1:30 hour per week&lt;/strong&gt; which might yield slow progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, considering your BMI of 30+, you should &lt;strong&gt;increase your cardio&lt;/strong&gt;. The great stuff about cardio is you don't have to be in the gym to get it done. Start walking, running or cycling around whenever you can. My guess is that you don't store much fat around your arms, hence they look skinny compare to the rest of your body. If you up your cardio, you'll lose fat elsewhere and the proportion you seek will come that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastEditorUserId="6169" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T12:08:03.107" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T12:08:03.107" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24522" CreationDate="2013-09-07T10:57:57.583" Score="2" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend is a sailor and has a bit of a problem with designing a training plan for himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While at home, he does various activities, he likes swimming and rock climbing, sometimes he plays squash. He wants a trainign plan to keep him fit when he's at sea for 3-6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are problems with that. He has to travel light, so he cant take much equipment with him. Think something that would fit in a handbag or a small rucksack. He cant be running around the deck to make any reasonable running sessions, and he cant really do the usual bodyweight exercises. At the ocean the waves are so strong most of the time, that its either very hard or very easy to do a pullup for example, as the ship is going down or up and aiding/hindering the efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a good general-fitness training plan for such an environment? Maybe some resistance bands or springs...? Would that provide enough resistance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T12:53:52.290" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T16:33:30.670" Title="Training plan for a sailor at sea" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13870" CreationDate="2013-09-07T18:16:43.687" Score="-1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fitness goals are to be lean and have good core strength/balanced physique but not ripped or anything. I currently weigh 188lbs. and I am 5 ft 9. I think I have a bit too much excess fat on my body. So I guess my goal is to lose about 10-15 pounds of fat and improve or at least maintain my muscle mass and strength (I am fairly strong as is though I may be neglecting certain muscle groups). A lot of my concentration is on diet but that is a separate discussion. Here I am wondering about my gym schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I've found that I'm feeling very muscle tired especially in my legs, and I think I may be doing too much. I'm wondering if anyone has any criticism or ideas about my proposed new gym schedule. I'm not that interested in upper body stuff so I figured I could cram that into my running day, but that might be too ambitious I dunno know. On my non-running days, I also do a light cardio warm-up to begin my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my CURRENT routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1: Running 30 minutes &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2: abdominals/back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3: lower body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4: upper body &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- return to day Day 1 with no rest days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my PROPOSED routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1: Running 30 minutes + light upper body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2: full rest day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3: abdominals/back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4: full rest day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 5: lower body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 6: full rest day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 7: full rest day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;repeat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2976" LastEditorUserId="2976" LastEditDate="2013-09-07T18:29:36.727" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T09:52:21.137" Title="Seeking criticism and advice about my proposed gym schedule" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2014-04-02T16:24:21.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13861" CreationDate="2013-09-07T13:25:33.057" Score="3" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WjvWy.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Flexor Hallucis Longus muscle can be in an intense training during long-distance running, particularly if forefoot running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do you maintain the Flexor Hallucis Longus muscle for long-distance running?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Helper questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What kind of stretching and does it vary between different runs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How should you diagnose pain in Flexor Hallucis Longus?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What kind of warming up before long distance running and after long distance running? Special tool such as bands?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" OwnerDisplayName="hhh" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2013-09-07T20:49:08.283" LastActivityDate="2013-09-07T21:08:54.697" Title="Maintenance of the Flexor Hallucis Longus muscle for Long-distance Running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13860" CreationDate="2013-09-07T21:01:59.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Before massaging/stretching muscles, warm up and wear enough clothes so your muscles not getting pain just because you are not wearing proper shoes and clothes...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally like to use straps and loops besides normal stretching and gym-training. With straps and loops you can easily adjust the intensity and strength even though you was feeling pain after intensive training -- this is a large relief if you are trying to go to sleep, it is possible to massage/stretch the fibula muscles on a lying position if you have a rubber band. If you do not like to do stretching on a hard surface, get a soft stretching mat such as &lt;code&gt;NPR Yoga Mat Pad Non-Slip&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rubber-band stretching such as resistance band loop (used in Crossfit for example)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yoga/pilates stretch strap &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;normal stretching such as leaning against the wall, rolling the ankle around -- typical to warming-ups of dynamic sports such as football&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Massage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sitting on knees and trying to get fibula muscles relaxed while other person does it like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkCiH2Bfv9U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;ask your buddy/massager to locate the key pain points while you are lying relaxed on stomach. Ask him/her to massage them and make him/her understand that he/she must stop if you say so -- so nothing getting broken.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2013-09-07T21:08:54.697" LastActivityDate="2013-09-07T21:08:54.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="484" CreationDate="2013-09-08T00:49:47.920" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are exact words from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the July 2007 Muscle and Fitness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] you can build up to doing full-range-of-motion chins for many reps. Start with the lat pulldown machine.  Over time, increase the weight until you're doing pulldowns with your equivalent bodyweight for about eight reps. Then, leave the machine and to free-hanging chins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm up to about 210 lbs for roughly 6 reps. I weigh about 215, so I'm slowly, but surely getting there.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The only other advice I can tell you is to just get in the gym and focus like a pro: No chit-chat, texting, no more than 1 minute rest between reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6698" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-08T12:18:19.313" LastActivityDate="2013-09-08T12:18:19.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13867" CreationDate="2013-09-08T23:53:23.650" Score="3" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 27. Normally work as a programmer. I've been tracking my blood pressure and heart rate and at rest, they're quite high (around 120/80 and 90+ bpm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to go for a run today, combined with some squats and push-ups. My heart rate was still safe for my age (around 140 bpm), but my blood pressure shot up to 166/93. I normally get dizzy after a workout, but I realize now that it's due to blood pressure, not heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the question is.. how should I deal with this? Should I be aiming for less intense exercises? Should I be exercising more or less? Is exercise a good way of lowering blood pressure or is that something solely solved by better nutrition (and cutting down on the lamb)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5156" LastActivityDate="2013-09-09T00:43:39.843" Title="Safe blood pressure for exercise" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13866" CreationDate="2013-09-09T00:43:39.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise will help reduce your blood pressure, but you need to understand this is a case where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your blood pressure is spiking during exercise because your heart is working harder to pump blood to flush nutrients to, and waste away from, your muscles. The harder you work, the harder your heart has to pump blood, so the higher your blood pressure will be. This is a natural response to an increased cardiac workload and isn't necessarily dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is worth being concerned about is a high &lt;em&gt;resting&lt;/em&gt; heart rate, but &lt;strong&gt;the only person qualified to diagnose high blood pressure is a medical professional.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for getting dizzy post-workout that isn't uncommon especially if you are undertrained or are lifting at your maximal load. Just keep working out and your body will acclimatize to its new workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-09-09T00:43:39.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13871" CreationDate="2013-09-09T01:05:54.100" Score="-2" ViewCount="1600" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, the faq states &quot;gear and gadgets used during exercise&quot; is on-topic. So I am going to ask about the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch (or similar watches) and I hope that is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be interested in using a smartwatch as a full featured replacement for carrying my smartphone while running. I don't care about any phone-related functions. I don't even need to listen to music. I only care about tracking my workout in great detail. I want to record my route via GPS, my speed, my heart rate and even my cadence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a Zephyr HxM that provides cadence, heart rate, and other data. (I also have a Zephyr BioHarness.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know if the capabilities of these new smartwatches that would make it possible to achieve my goals? If so, are there existing running apps that support this scenario?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, since the Zephyr HxM provides r-r interval data, does any smartwatch app record this data?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3283" LastActivityDate="2013-09-09T15:52:49.200" Title="Heart rate monitoring &amp; tracking with the Samsung Galaxy Gear (or similar) Smartwatch. Possible?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-09-10T00:23:24.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13859" CreationDate="2013-09-09T13:22:09.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose fat while maintaining muscle, its going to be very hard, unless you are an absolute beginner. From your question I deduce that you are indeed a beginner. If so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dont do a split routine. As a beginner youll have better results doing whole body workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;switch to resistance training, preferably weight lifting.&#xA;In order to maintain muscle mass, you have to give your muscles proper stimuli. Doing jumping jacks or bodyweight lunges may not be enough. You could have a look on some popular beginner programs, like 5x5 or Starting Strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;mind your diet. Proper nutrition is 80% of success in weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;track what really matters. Dont pay too much attention to your weight alone, as it may be misleading. Try to find a convinient way to measure your BF%.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;check this site for more info. There are many questions that are a bit more specific than yours and cover most of what interests you. Take a look around and check if after reading existing questions and answers you still have doubts. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13255/how-to-lose-fat-fast-and-healthily&quot;&gt;Here's&lt;/a&gt; an example of a question that might pick your interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T09:52:21.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13868" CreationDate="2013-09-09T15:52:49.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The galaxy gear actually links to your phone and can't do much without it (certainly not GPS), so it's not going to solve your problem with carrying your phone around. I believe the MIO alpha strapless monitor might be the sort of thing you are looking for ... there a review of it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/electronics/mio-alpha-heart-rate-monitor?page=single&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. But that still won't give you GPS. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/electronics/advanced-gps-running-watches&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GPS watches&lt;/a&gt; are rather pricey and ugly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-09-09T15:52:49.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2013-09-09T21:27:45.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The time of day that you take your protein shake is really splitting hairs.  The most importing thing is that you find the time to take it (Non supplement protein sources are preferable).   I like Marc’s Answer about milk.  If you are training hard milk will give you some simple carb to help your blood sugars from getting too low when you are done working out.  If I don’t get some sugars in me after a hard work out I will get cranky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2013-09-09T21:27:45.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-10T07:47:33.343" Score="4" ViewCount="1218" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those of you who can't or aren't inclined to watch the video, it is a presentation by a martial arts instructor who shows various exercises you can do with a wooden rod.  He basically hits himself lightly on various parts of his body.  The idea is that this will cause bone remodeling, which will improve bone density to the parts of the body that he applies the exercises to.  I'm guessing this is related to martial arts practices where, as I understand it, students practice kicking at trees and punching planks of wood in order to develop &quot;toughness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any point to these kinds of exercises?  Are they practical and beneficial?  Is there a particular program that is reputable for knowing how often and in what manner these kinds of exercises can be trained for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to determine whether these kinds of &quot;contact exercises&quot; could do me some good, beyond the lame calisthenic exercises that I resort to these days.  I'm 31, 225 lbs, 6' 1&quot;, and wouldn't mind some added bone density, especially as I age.  Right now going to the gym isn't a realistic possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the video: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIh7CenPIu4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIh7CenPIu4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6713" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-10T10:04:01.170" LastActivityDate="2013-10-06T18:01:53.993" Title="Is there any point to these kinds of exercises to employ bone remodelling and Wolff's Law?" Tags="&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;bones&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13880" CreationDate="2013-09-10T08:57:32.950" Score="7" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be healthy, we're supposed to exercise at least x hours a week, one can read here and there. But does it depend on the person? Does it have to be divided into daily pieces or can it safely be packed into saturday + sunday for instance? And what would be the safest figure for the minimum weekly amoung of exercise for securing optimal health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T11:28:35.330" Title="Is there such a thing as a minimum amount of exercise per week?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-10T13:32:22.647" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just been given the info on a pre-employment physical assessment for a job I am looking at. There are 5 components and I can see obvious answers to achieving some of the goals but some are going to be a little bit challenging.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Stage 1:&lt;/strong&gt; is a skin fold test- Not much I can do about this one as I presume the result will be related to my prep on the other parts of the assessment. If anyone has idea on how this can be improved quickly I would appreciate it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Stage 2:&lt;/strong&gt; Is a flexibility test based on reach. For this I am making sure I stretch properly when i exercise and trying to do stretches through the day as often as possible.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Stage 3:&lt;/strong&gt; A cardio assessment using a Monark bike test. 3 minute warm up, increase resistance at 3 minutes then again at 6 minutes then resistance decreases at 9 minute for the return heart rate to be assessed. I'm not sure what the what a Monark bike is. I am also working away from home and have no access to a bike, what other solutions to increase the cardio while I'm away could I do that when I do have to jump on a bike I can be at least some part prepared.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Stage 4:&lt;/strong&gt; Push ups 5 x standing at a wall the 5 arms at shoulder length but knees on the ground, 5 arms shoulder length apart but coming off the toes, 5 with hands together and fingers forming the shape of a diamond and the 5 with the same hand position but with feet up on a step. I can do the first 3 easy enough but struggle a bit with the hands together style (and haven't even added the feet on the step trick in yet).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Step 5:&lt;/strong&gt; Sit ups 5 x wrist to knees, 5 x hands on chest and raising up, 5 x hands on forehead then 5 with hands behind the ears. I haven't done sit ups for years because I thought (wrongly I guess) that they were no longer used very much as an exercise.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Well its a long question with probably a heap of answers so even if you have thoughts on just part of this process I would appreciate the feedback.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And now for Macca's Quarter Pounder with cheese and a thick shake. Apparently these are important food groups or so my teenagers tell me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6715" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T22:23:16.040" Title="What exersise routine would I be able to do which would prepare me for pre-employment physical assessment outline below?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13879" CreationDate="2013-09-10T14:05:48.910" Score="3" ViewCount="2917" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have undergoing rehab for knee, elbow and shoulder injuries right now for having used poor form and more importantly pushing myself hard for too little muscle mass that I have. Previously I was doing Jillian Michaels' workout videos and some yoga dvds'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it's high time to gain muscle mass after I recover. Earlier I used to workout with very light dumbell, never lifted heavy before. &lt;em&gt;Will I benefit with the novice effect while doing Stronglifts 5X5?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't afford bench/power cage, so &lt;em&gt;can I replace barbell squats with goblet squat and bench press with floor dumbell press without making the program unbalanced in any way?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Are warm up sets the only warm up preceeding the workout?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: I'm 25 YO female, stand 5' 4.5&quot; tall and weigh 100 lbs (I am an ectomorph basically). I tend to eat 1600-2000 calories when I'm active. Now lesser since I'm all sedentary except for the rehab. I have been working out since 1.5 years. Was active (martial arts) for 3.5 years before but stopped due to hectic schedule/laziness/excuses...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastEditorUserId="6594" LastEditDate="2013-09-11T11:31:37.850" LastActivityDate="2013-09-11T11:31:37.850" Title="Is my modified Stronglifts 5X5 a balanced one?" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13873" CreationDate="2013-09-10T14:47:07.567" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're addressing is also known as cortical remodeling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The human body is constantly recycling bone, at the rate of about 10% replacement per year. Impact and load bearing sports (Soccer, martial arts, weightlifting, running, etc.) are known to help retain bone mass density (BMD), while non weight bearing sports (swimming, cycling) do not have the same benefits. This BMD benefit was shown to persist through adult/aging cycles, even if the person no longer participated in athletics past youth levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of the benefits from cortical remodeling due to sports comes from the stresses placed on the bone from the muscles (through the tendons) that are attached to them. I am not aware of (and was unable to find any through pubmed) any published articles that directly relate impact to bone growth in the area, although there have been some measurements that show elbow regions with greater bone density due to repeated elbow strikes, but whether this is due to the impact or the stress on the tendons/muscles was not shown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whacking of the leg, thrusting hands into sand, hitting the boards (makiwara) are not necessarily designed to increase the bone density, but to increase the muscular strength to direct impact and to deaden the sensation of pain in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially for younger athletes, this is not recommended. Direct impact in a small area (such as hitting the shin into a tree) can kill the periosteum, which will result in no more bone growth in the area. If you feel the shin of an athlete who played soccer for example, you will often find &quot;pits&quot; in the edge of the bone where growth was impacted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the vast, vast majority of people that train in martial arts, there is no real need to start mangling your shins or beating up innocent trees. When we did not have protective padding, it was necessary to deaden yourself to impact to be able to fight effectively, however this is not really the case any more unless you are intending to fight competitively in the Muay Thai/kickboxing/MMA type arenas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T14:47:07.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13876" CreationDate="2013-09-10T15:11:33.920" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts 5x5 is best suited for &lt;em&gt;healthy&lt;/em&gt; people who can at least handle an empty bar.  You are starting from an unhealthy point, so it's probably not the best option for you.  The bottom line is that you want to start with something you can do properly without joint pain.  Your muscles may get sore and that's OK, but you don't want sharp pain after training.  Additionally because of the difficulty you had with bad form, I would recommend some changes until you get some strength and muscle size to help support proper squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you, I would recommend starting with 3x8 (3 sets of 8 reps).  If you happen to not get all 8 reps on the last set repeat.  If you're stuck there after three times, change it to 4 sets of 6 reps.  And then to 6 sets of 4 reps.  The 6x4 seemed to work well for my daughter.  The 3x8 is there to help put some muscle mass on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will you benefit from the novice effect?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm unaware of your age, but I'm guessing you are a woman.  My daughter experienced the newbie gains, increasing strength pretty quickly.  Her strength gains are limited by the fact that she is a girl, particularly with upper body strength.  That lasted for about 3 months, and now the strength is progressing a little more slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't have her do Stronglifts 5x5, but a program I adapted for her that used the same principles.  The core movements were the same, but there was a bit more variety in assistance work.  Just know that women tend to be capable of performing more reps than men at a certain percentage of their current max.  For example, the difference between a 5 rep max and a 1 rep max for a woman might be as little as 5lbs.  If I guy can do a weight for 5 reps, he can perform a 1 rep max much higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Programming Substitutions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Floor presses are an excellent substitution for bench press.  However, I would use dumbbells as assistance and use a barbell for the main work if you can.  I'm assuming you have access to a barbell in addition to dumbbells.  The important thing is that you are able to keep increasing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goblet squats however are not great for a main movement.  They are fine for warmups or as assistance work, but your upper body strength will limit your lower body development.  Without anything to put the bar on while you get under it, there's very little I can recommend.  If you have access to a proper gym, you can do leg presses and leg curls.  It's not the best training economy, but you can increase the load on them better than you can with goblet squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say this: use goblet squats until your upper body is limiting what you can squat.  Then you need to figure out how to squat or afford a squat rack (it doesn't have to be a full power cage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have the right mentality as far as substituting similar movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are warm up sets the only warmup needed?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, if you aren't involved in any other sports or activities that might be enough.  However, I've found that the same things that help me during my pre-workout also help my daughter who is involved in two sports:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mash: foam roll your legs and back.  This helps loosen up stiff muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activate: basically some body weight work to get your body prepped to do the next movement.  For example, body weight squats to full depth for 2 sets of 10 reps--focusing on activating the gluteus muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warmup: do your warmup sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This progression is helpful to get your body moving properly.  Save stretching for after you train.  If you focus on having good posture both while training and when you are at rest, it will help address the issues you had on the Jillian Michael's workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assistance Work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend having one main movement per workout.  That would be squats, floor press, deadlifts, and overhead press.  After that you can have 3-4 assistance movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always do something for your core: planks, sit ups, horizontal leg raises, back extensions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do something related to your main movement: examples would be doing rows for floor pressing, flexed arm hangs or pull ups for overhead pressing, hamstring work for squats and deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do something to fix your posture or body alignment: examples would be reverse flies and front dumbbell raises to fix hunched over shoulders, curls to provide joint stability for your elbows, or anything that helps your pelvic alignment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the assistance work would be for relatively low weight and at least 8-10 reps if not 15-20.  You'll only need a couple sets.  It's a lot of work, but it will help improve your posture which in turn improves your ability to perform the techniques with proper form.  The assistance work also helps you become more injury resistant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will put some muscle on you, so your body weight may go up.  If you are very thin, you'll see yourself getting a little thicker, but everything will be firm.  If you are slightly heavy, you may find your weight go higher or it may remain the same as you fit your clothes better.  Just be mentally prepared for that.  The important thing is that you are happy with what you see in the mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T15:11:33.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13874" CreationDate="2013-09-10T20:01:01.507" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2008 Physical Activity Guidelines&lt;/a&gt; for Americans, you need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Moderate Intensity Aerobic Activity ranges from 55% to 75% of your MHR (max heart rate); or a level of exertion of 12 to 16 (somewhat hard to hard at a steady pace) on the Borg Scale when exercising.  Your doctor may also give you guideline targets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calculate your exercise target heart rate using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Karvonen-Formula&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Karvonen Formula&lt;/a&gt; that takes into your resting heart rate into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have safely progressed from the above recommended level without injury, gradually increase to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 hours (300 minutes) each week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity&#xA;and weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days&#xA;a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen,&#xA;chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has been some more recent information that this activity level alone is not enough if you sit for prolonged hours.  The suggestion is that you need to take &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2013/06/26/ajcn.112.051763.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;regular activity breaks from sitting&lt;/a&gt; in addition to the above exercise recommendations to lower your risk of cardiometabolic disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea of packing all your activity into the weekend would not be optimal.  Doing so could also increase your risk of injury and not give you the health benefits of regular activity.  It is best to schedule your routine into your daily life.  The above guidelines are to improve your health.  As your health and fitness level improves you will want to re-evaluate and adjust your activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T20:06:30.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13875" CreationDate="2013-09-10T22:23:16.040" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that your test is in the fairly near future, you aren't going to be able to do much for your body fat percentage (i.e. the skin-fold test) or your general strength and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the body responds to very specific training. By far the best bang-for-the buck would be to simply practice stages 2-5 as closely to the testing conditions as you can. Muscle memory will go a long way towards improved results - even a few runs through the test will make a difference. That way you aren't learning the movements while being tested. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest recording results from your self tests so that you can see where you are improving, and how far away you are from passing marks (if you know what these are). If you don't know what passing marks are, you may want to focus on those stages which are improving the fastest, since those are where you have quick, easy gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T22:23:16.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12650" CreationDate="2013-09-10T23:00:04.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After two GP visits and one visit to an ENT specialist the conclusion is that the root cause is Acid Reflux. I've noticed not eating a couple of hours before drastically reduces the severity of this occurring with it sometimes not occurring at all.. I was told a prescription of Nexium  will help or reducing intake of acidic foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2013-09-10T23:00:04.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13876" CreationDate="2013-09-11T01:41:10.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I cannot compete with the wisdom and experience of Berin, I want to add my point of view on StrongLift 5x5 and similar programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in rehab for having pushed too hard and injured my shoulders. This has given me the opportunity to a lot of personal research. I know now what I am going to do when my rehab is over, and it has little to do with barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to gain muscle. So do I. I am going to explain why I think it is a bad idea for someone in my situation (and perhaps in yours too) to &lt;em&gt;begin&lt;/em&gt; the way leading to muscle gain by weightlifting compound exercises. It doesn't mean that you should never do weightlifting, but rather that (I think) you should do other kind of things first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People that have been all their lifes doing some kind of sports or physically demanding jobs, don't grasp what being weak feels like. For them, an empty 20 kg olympic barbell is a good starting point. Not for me. Here are some thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Randomly reading in different forums, I have learnt with horror that it is not uncommon for people to get herniated disks from doing deadlifts &lt;em&gt;without proper form&lt;/em&gt;. Paradoxically, the same people are happy that the same exercise, performed with lighter weights and proper form, alleviates their pain months after the injury (hey, there is even one of such testimonies in the Stronglifts report itself!). Believe me, you don't want a herniated or ruptured disk that is going to stay with you for the rest of your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lesson is: unless your form is perfect, it is very easy to do a lot of damage to your spine with deadlifts. And, &lt;em&gt;how easy is to have bad form Deadlifting&lt;/em&gt;? Well, &lt;strong&gt;Bruce Lee&lt;/strong&gt; himself got a herniated disk by improperly doing Good-mornings, a quite similar exercise to Deadlifts, at least regarding the lower back. Are you telling me that Bruce Lee had poor control of his body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing to maintain proper form is extremely easy if your are weak. Specially with compound exercises because antagonist muscles must counteract and balance one another. You may struggle to have perfect form while deadlifting, but if your abdominal muscles are weak and don't stand the tension in the middle of the lift, your lower back will curve and thus be very vulnerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not saying that one should avoid Deadlifts forever, but it may be a good idea to invest some time first, strengthening your core muscles with safer exercises (safer because it is much easier to maintain proper form, and because they don't use external weights) There are many of them: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-the-Bridge-Exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bridges&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BWBirdDog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bird Dogs&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/Superman.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Supermans&lt;/a&gt; for the spinal erectors; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Plank&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWStraightLegRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leg Raises&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWSitUp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sit-ups&lt;/a&gt; for your abdominal muscles; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/BWSidePlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Side Planks&lt;/a&gt; for your obliques...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One easy way to integrate those exercises in a single one to strengthen your core and abs, is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/2012/07/01/rotisserie-functional-core-abs-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rotisserie&lt;/a&gt; invented by &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/about/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scooby&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I short words, I think that, if you cannot stand a plank position for a couple of minutes or do a bunch of situps without wanting to puke, it is probably suicidal to start doing deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for Bent-Over Rows and Back Squats with barbells. Great exercises, yes, but only after you have a minimum of strength and are properly trained to perform them with strictly proper form, otherwise they may be a quick way to injure your lower back. Building a minimum level of core strength by safer means before attempting these lifts is not a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Bench Press and Overhead Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During both the bench and the overhead press, it is very important that the shoulder blades and the shoulders in general are stable in their correct position during the lift. A collection of different muscles is responsible for that. The movement of the scapulas is complex and depends upon the well balanced action of that muscles. Again, if that muscles are weak, it is very likely that you will injure your shoulders under a 20 kg barbell. That is probably why Berin recommends you to bench press from the floor, not on a bench. Because the floor gives a better support for your back and restricts the motion to a range that is safer for your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, again, there are safer exercises to strengthen the muscles around your shoulder girdles and upper body in general, in a more natural and balanced way, involving more muscles at the same time. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWPushup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pushups&lt;/a&gt;. During Pushups, your pectorals and front deltoids are actively working, but the important thing is that the muscles around your scapulas are receiving an isometric workout, helping them become progressively stronger. You can start by doing very easy variations like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sistersrunningthekitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/wall-push-ups.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wall Push-Ups&lt;/a&gt;, then you may progress to &lt;a href=&quot;http://static.oprah.com/images/health/201006/20100624-no-equipment-2-600x411.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Incline Pushups&lt;/a&gt;, after that you have the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49NR8BmQNcQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kneeling Pushups&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises involve the same muscles as the Bench Press and the Overhead Press and some more, but are easier and safer and they will prepare your body for heavy weights. Additionally, they involve more core stabilizer work, adding safety to your future workouts. Again, I think that, if you cannot perform these exercises, then picking up a 20kg barbell is asking for injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more things I don't like in SL5x5. I started doing the Shoulder Dislocations Mehdi recommends (if you don't know what exercise Shoulder Dislocations is, then the better for you). This is a passive stretch exercise that would give you more flexibility around your shoulders. Again, this is good for people that have at least some level of muscular strength. But I did them for a while and noticed with horror how my shoulders became loose and started doing craking noises. Passive stretches might be a good way to improve your ROM when you have strong muscles attached to that joints. If that is not the case, the only thing you get is loose joints, prone to injury. Mehdi constantly does a lot of assertions like the benefits of the shoulder dislocations and other things with no solid background, and you can easily notice that by reading any older version of the StrongLifts report, where you see how he has evolved. For instance, until recently, he stated that the weightlifting belt was useless and only gave a false sensation of safety. He then corrected that in the following version of the report. So, if you still insist in doing a 5x5 program, read Rippetoe's book, at least it has a very good description of the proper form of the lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, if your body is weak and you are prone to bad form, weightlifting and 5x5 programs might not be the best choice to start from (although you may turn to them in the future). Progressive calisthenics exercises are my bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a very easy to follow, free progressive calisthenics program in youtube. Here are the links (the guys call themselves calisthenicskingz, I think they have another website where they sell the gloves or something):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYFDcpX9oMQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Beginner Calisthenics Program&lt;/a&gt; by calisthenicskingz&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2xPSFFoJVQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Intermediate Calisthenics Program&lt;/a&gt; by calisthenicskingz&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an advanced level too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am going to follow an even more progressive and better structured program, as laid in the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://convict-conditioning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/a&gt;. I gave more information about the book &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13670/is-there-a-name-for-the-exercises-that-dont-use-dumbbells/13736#13736&quot;&gt;in this answer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option, if you love weights, are the workouts in &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scooby's webpage&lt;/a&gt;. He has them structured in several levels, and does emphasize safety a lot. He has a lot of videos with very detailed explanations about all aspects of weightlifting and the proper form of the exercises, and all is free. If you follow his programs, you will nevertheless start by doing pushups, but the following levels is done with dumbbells and barbells, he is a weightlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-09-11T02:30:31.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13909" CreationDate="2013-09-11T13:00:40.210" Score="4" ViewCount="2826" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty active,but nursing injuries now. I haven't started lifting heavy yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have come across many sites that suggest ectomorphs to train with compound moves only while a few others opine that ectomorphs who have long and thin bones, low muscle mass have to make certain changes to their lifts because of the difference in body structure. But I have a feeling that there is more to be addressed abt heavy weight training for female ectomorphs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a woman, I have low upper body strength and low muscle mass makes things worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone let me know by their experience if things are different for a female ectomorph?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T17:43:12.270" Title="Weight training advice for ectomorph female?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;weighttraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13350" CreationDate="2013-09-11T15:02:47.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a showboarding accident I've had problems with shin splints in my right ankle for years. I've tried a couple of things and between the two I've seen a huge improvement in under a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Toe lifts&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just to go straight to the instructions they're some good ones on &lt;a href=&quot;http://gizmodo.com/5902699/banish-shin-splints-forever-with-one-magical-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gizmodo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be the only way to solve the problem for good. If your calf muscles are strong enough you're probably not going to have a problem with shin splints. Unfortunately, running places such huge stress on the shins (particularly if you're a bit overweight) that you're more likely to injure them before they get strong. Toe lifts allow you to build up the strength progressively by doing a little every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Orthotics&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm using vasyli blue insoles to correct for fallen arches in both feet. If you have fallen arches I can't recommend these enough. Besides improving my shin splints they've also completely eliminated pain in my left knee which I've been suffering from for years (on first use!).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6722" LastActivityDate="2013-09-11T15:02:47.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13888" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-11T17:38:15.033" Score="6" ViewCount="5933" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the Stronglifts 5x5 Report (Page 44):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the way, if your gym doesn't have round plates […], switch gym. You can't&#xA;  Deadlift/Row correctly with octagonal plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes round plates superior? Is there even any truth to this claim or is it just a personal preference of the author? Are there advantages of using octagonal plates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T10:45:42.810" Title="Differences between round plates and octagonal plates?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;&lt;plates&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13889" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-11T22:20:02.497" Score="6" ViewCount="1726" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a new rock climber at the age of 30 and I have been climbing (and bouldering) twice a week for two months now (one session bouldering and one session in the wall).  I have lately been feeling some soreness around the A2 and A3 pulley (see figure) below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms I experience is a strange stiffness in the morning which makes it hard to bend my fingers, and when they bend, it feels somewhat strange, as if something was moving around in the A2/C1/A3 area.  The same area is also slightly tender.  However, I have no pain in these areas while climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jalXO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Finger anatomy&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Figure courtesy of Training for Climbing, by Eric J. Horst (via &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nicros.com/training/articles/finger-tendon-pulley-injury/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&#xA;Finger Tendon Pulley Injury&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is therefore:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are symptoms of climber's finger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to continue climbing, as often as possible, and &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; twice a week.  But is this sustainable, given the current situation, or do I need to take a break from climbing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6725" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T23:01:07.557" Title="What are symptoms of climber's finger" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13888" CreationDate="2013-09-12T00:28:11.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Nil to Negligible&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Octagonal plates will be harder to position &lt;strong&gt;on the floor&lt;/strong&gt; due to the plate edges. Its not uncommon for plates to rotate on a bar, so that as you return the plate to the ground it may shift slightly, and rotate the bar in a plane parellel to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you need to reposition your feet, but this is only a problem for floor exercises, such as deadlifts, cleans or snatches. Squats, overhead press and bench press are unlikely to be effected at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presuming a difference in mass, the center of gravity and physics between the two plates is unlikely to be disernable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding height, again, there may be a slight difference in the radius of the octagon, depending on if the radius of a circular olympic plate is used for the distance to a corner, or the centre of the edge, or some point in between. But again, this difference is likely to be no more than an inch in height compared to a normal circular plate (that are also subject to differences between manufacturers). This again, only impacts floor exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real difference is the inconvenience of having to lift and move the weight if it shifts during the lift, when returning a weight to the floor. But you can always just move your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Just to clarify, I'd recommend round plates over any other shape if all other factors are equal. However, if you have a choice between a gym that is convenient and cheap with octagonal plates, and a gym that is inconvenient or expensive that uses round plates, I wouldn't consider the shape of plates as a major factor in where you lift. Apart from a small difference in a few exercises it is a very minor issue. &lt;strong&gt;Don't leave your gym over the shape of the plates&lt;/strong&gt; - maybe ask nicely for some round bumpers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-09-16T23:27:19.717" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T23:27:19.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13891" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-12T01:26:34.233" Score="1" ViewCount="1298" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its only been about 2 days since my first gymnastics class and all my muscles are extremely sore. Should I still go today even though I'm still this sore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6727" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T08:33:13.607" Title="Sore Muscles from Gymnastics" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-12T03:02:08.413" Score="8" ViewCount="2055" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exercise every alternate day - which means 7 times a fortnight. I mix it up ever so often, but I generally do a mixture of about 45 minutes of cardio (either a run at &gt;10.5 or intervals on the elliptical at l8), plus about 20-25 minutes weights plus static. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This pattern has been pretty constant for the last 6 years - I consider myself relatively fit and healthy. However, I've noticed in the last couple of years that I've been getting bruises on my arms and legs. it's about 4-5 on the left leg and 2-3 on the right - mostly on the calves. And recently a few on my upper arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spots vary in colour day-to-day, from pink to light brown to purple, and I am quite fair so it shows. When I press on them, they will disappear for a bit, and then reappear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the aesthetic unpleasantness, I am wondering how common these are. I am guessing they are capillary bursts - but does anyone have anything similar? It doesn't appear to be a skin condition, and I know definitely that they aren't the result of bumps. And does anyone know how they happen? My guess is that perhaps they happen when I exert myself while running/weight-training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6728" LastEditorUserId="4301" LastEditDate="2013-09-13T10:54:28.487" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T23:03:53.640" Title="How often does running or weight lifting cause capillary bursts?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13891" CreationDate="2013-09-12T03:51:00.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The feeling you are experience is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS&lt;/a&gt;. It is common for people to experience soreness when they are new to exercise, have restarted after taking a long break, or even are just performing a new movement. It should safe for you to workout again and the soreness will diminish in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, if your pain prevents you from moving, is accompanied by swelling or inflammation, or causes you concern speak with a medical professional.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T03:51:00.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13894" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-09-12T04:41:32.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A tendon (or sinew) is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension. Tendons and muscles work together to move bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T10:17:11.863" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T10:17:11.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13895" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-09-12T04:41:32.470" Score="0" Body="A tendon (or sinew) is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T10:17:08.393" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T10:17:08.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13896" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-09-12T04:47:08.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, one that often tests a climber's strength, endurance, agility and balance along with mental control. While not an Olympic event, rock climbing is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T10:17:04.113" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T10:17:04.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13897" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-09-12T04:47:08.163" Score="0" Body="Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T10:17:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T10:17:16.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10253" CreationDate="2013-09-12T08:31:47.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree that pull ups are one of the most beneficial exercise for back muscle building . There are these articles by Al Kavadlo, CSCS on bodybuilding.com that I came across. There is some good advice to increase your pullup counts .These would take some practice , but are really great for no machine , only body weight workouts. Instructional videos are also available . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Links below :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bodyweight-bodybuilder-the-mass-building-calisthenic-workout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body weight mass building workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/body-double-bodyweight-alternatives-strength-training-classics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Improving pull up counts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T08:31:47.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13888" CreationDate="2013-09-12T08:39:10.833" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Octagonal plates interfere with proper strength training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Octagonal plates have no reason to exist, and are actively counterproductive to working out properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Octagonal or otherwise non-round plates make many fundamental barbell exercises from the floor--including cleans, snatches, and most importantly deadlifts--awkward. Upon putting plates down, the bar will often roll away from you (possibly upsetting your back position, and certainly your foot position) or painfully into your shins. This produces a deadlift set peppered with minor frustrations. One must constantly re-set one's stance, interrupting each rep. It's not just annoying. The movement of the bar and disruption to one's stance is a safety issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not currently deadlift, imagine needing to turn &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; 3 degrees after every push-up or crunch that you do. It's a tiny thing that is disproportionately disruptive to one's workout. If you do &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; pulling from the floor, non-round plates are a significant problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Find a gym with round plates&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one is training the deadlift regularly (which most strength trainees should), this is enough of an annoyance to justify switching to a gym that has proper equipment. Moreover, I am not aware of any advantages to non-round plates. They should be avoided in favor of round plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-09-16T12:03:49.370" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T12:03:49.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13902" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-09-12T14:09:17.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The trapezius is a large muscle that extends longitudinally from the occipital bone to the lower thoracic vertebrae and laterally to the spine of the shoulder blade. Its functions are to move the scapulae and support the arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T15:14:46.297" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T15:14:46.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13903" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-09-12T14:09:17.867" Score="0" Body="The trapezius is a large muscle that extends longitudinally from the occipital bone to the lower thoracic vertebrae and laterally to the spine of the shoulder blade." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T15:14:52.733" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T15:14:52.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13904" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-09-12T14:14:57.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The chin-up is a strength training exercise. The intention of this exercise is to strengthen muscles such as the latissimus dorsi and biceps. Chin-ups, in which palms face the chest, are not to be confused with pull-ups; pull-ups have the palms facing away from the chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T15:14:37.280" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T15:14:37.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13905" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-09-12T14:14:57.810" Score="0" Body="The chin-up is a strength training exercise. The intention of this exercise is to strengthen muscles such as the latissimus dorsi and biceps." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T15:13:52.433" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T15:13:52.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13906" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-09-12T14:29:30.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, travelling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and rivers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T15:14:41.670" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T15:14:41.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13907" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-09-12T14:29:30.260" Score="0" Body="Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and rivers." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T15:13:58.510" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T15:13:58.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13886" CreationDate="2013-09-12T17:43:12.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Greg Knuckols wrote a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/07/17/do-women-need-to-train-any-differently/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article regarding the differences between men and women&lt;/a&gt; as it pertains to weight training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscles behave the same on everyone:&lt;/strong&gt; all that matters is cross-sectional size of the muscle and neural stimulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Women's skeletal structures are different where the legs join the hips:&lt;/strong&gt; this affects what correct form looks like for a woman vs. a man.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Waist and hip size are typically different:&lt;/strong&gt; women tend to have smaller waists which means lower weight for squats, and hips can be wider which means greater hip range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fewer fast twitch muscle fibers:&lt;/strong&gt; this limits the absolute amount of weight a woman can handle, and suggests that a woman can do more reps at the same percentage of their max than a man can.  These observations do bear out in practice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hormonal factors:&lt;/strong&gt; without &quot;vitamin S&quot; (steroids), women have lower testosterone levels and have a slower rate of increasing muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What all that means is that you have to temper your expectations of progress from what any suggested program promises.  While it is very possible for women to safely squat 225lbs (a little more than 100kg) it will take a lot longer for a woman to do that than a man.  It may not happen in the first year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding Ectomorphs (or endomorphs, or mesomorphs)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one is 100% one or the other, and any psychological profiling on somatypes has been sufficiently proven to be false.  The use of somatypes to dictate training or eating is just not helpful.  What people are talking about when they diagnose themselves as one somatype or another are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ectomorph: I can't gain weight to save my life (AKA hard-gainer)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mesomorph: I'm happy with the way I look (does this person truly exist?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endomorph: I gain weight just looking at food (AKA fatso, or me)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In each of these cases there are hormonal and structural differences in people where this seems true enough to be concerned.  There are several hormones that factor into whether you tend to gain or lose your fat or muscle.  Your skeletal structure is dictated by your genes, and to a very limited extent the stress that they have to support.  What I'm saying is whether you have a large frame or a small frame that isn't going to significantly change by lifting weights.  You may get a bit more bone density because you are supporting the weight of the bar in addition to your body weight, but that isn't going to change a small framed person to a large framed person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hormones that affect your body composition include (but are not limited to):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leptin&lt;/a&gt;--tells your body that you've had enough food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insulin&lt;/a&gt;--the energy storage hormone (either to your muscles or to fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glucagon&lt;/a&gt;--the energy release hormone (both from muscles and fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Testosterone&lt;/a&gt;--triggers HGH1 and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammalian_target_of_rapamycin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mTor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hgh&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HGH1&lt;/a&gt;--Human Growth Hormone triggers muscle and bone growth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triiodothyronine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Triiodothyronine&lt;/a&gt; (T3)--thyroid hormone responsible for triggering the body to burn fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is by no means exhaustive or a list of everything these hormones are responsible for.  People who have a hard time gaining weight, muscle or otherwise can have an overactive thyroid or high leptin sensitivity.  Most likely the problem is the latter issue.  The body is likely signaling that it is done eating well before it truly is.  Many times people with high leptin sensitivity may have difficulty eating more--it can make them feel physically sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that if you feel like you lack enough muscular size you do need to eat more.  If you have a high leptin sensitivity you probably need to eat a lot more than you do now.  In either case you'll want to have a good amount of protein.  A good rule of thumb is 1g protein per pound body weight, or 2g protein per kilogram body weight per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To gain weight: increase how often you are eating, and the amount of carbs that you have with each meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To maintain weight: keep eating the way you are eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To lose weight: decrease the frequency and/or amount you are eating, and reduce the carbs to about 120g / day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &quot;ectomorph&quot; or hard-gainer will need to eat more often with whatever sized meals they can eat to increase their weight.  You should see the scale move, and a thicker you.  The important thing is to monitor how much fat you are gaining with the muscle.  If you are gaining fat more quickly than muscle, you need to slow down your intentional overeating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T17:43:12.270" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13912" CreationDate="2013-09-12T17:45:16.200" Score="2" ViewCount="1763" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there such a thing as residual fat? That means, fat that will stay there in your belly, thighs or other place? Does your body save fat just for emergencies? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might sound as a silly question, but this is a pretty demotivating thought of mine when dieting or doing physical exercise. I always think that I won't manage to have a flat belly, no matter how hard I try. Maybe my body only lets me reduce my fat up to x% before getting sick and leaves my belly fat untouched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastEditorUserId="6634" LastEditDate="2013-09-12T18:05:32.667" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T10:08:29.000" Title="Residual fat: can all fat be dealt with?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13889" CreationDate="2013-09-12T23:01:07.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finger injuries from climbing often involve strains of the tendon and/or tendon pulley, inflamation, partial or full tears and/or joint ligament sprains. You would need to see a doctor for a diagnosis, preferably a hand specialist with experience treating climbers. If you need treatment, look for a specialized hand therapist (either a physical or occupational therapist who has specialized in evaluation and treatment of the hand). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to an abstract by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18098354&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tokyo Hand Surgery and Sports Medicine Institute&lt;/a&gt; climber's finger symptoms are described as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(1) A sharp pain when grasping, and a sudden &quot;snap&quot; sound and snapping&#xA;  phenomenon in the concerned fingers and (2) a tender palpable mass&#xA;  proximal to the PIP joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article from the Mayo Clinic describes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/trigger-finger/DS00155/DSECTION=symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;symptoms of trigger finger&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Finger stiffness, particularly in the morning   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A popping or clicking sensation as you move your finger &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Tenderness or a bump (nodule) at the base of the affected finger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Finger catching or locking in a bent position, which suddenly pops straight  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Finger locked in a bent position, which you are unable to straighten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be able to climb long term, it is best to treat your symptoms sooner rather than later for best results.  You can see by the picture you linked to that the finger pulley and tendon sheath system is complex and confined. Rest is important to allow a tendon or ligament to heal. You may need a splint for protection. The degree of injury can progress if you do not allow it time to heal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have been cleared to return to climbing, get a professional to help you evaluate your technique to help prevent a recurrence. Progress very gradually. You may also need to use taping for protection.  Good luck.  Hope it turns out ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2013-09-12T23:01:07.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13910" CreationDate="2013-09-12T23:25:43.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body does &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipose_tissue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;require a minimum amount of body fat&lt;/a&gt; to survive and function properly and has roles beyond simple calorie storage. In fact, your brain has a small amount of adipose tissue that is necessary for brain function. So it is impossible to have a body fat percentage of 0 and survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would focus on a healthy diet and exercise plan that helped reduce your body fat to a healthy level. If you are concerned about how you will look in the future, investigate resistance training to increase your muscle mass. Often when people speak of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13502/how-can-i-get-more-toned&quot;&gt;toned bodies&lt;/a&gt;&quot; its just a low ration of body fat to muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about losing fat particularly off your stomach, unfortunately, where our fat deposits are located is entirely genetic. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spot reduction is a myth unfortunately&lt;/a&gt;. Focus on a healthy diet, with resistance training and you will feel healthier and look better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T10:08:29.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14386" CreationDate="2013-09-13T07:25:25.220" Score="2" ViewCount="918" Body="&lt;p&gt;I alternate concentration on my arms, belly and legs in that order. That is, I push with my arms till they are tired, then fall back to core till they are tired and fall back to legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I feel aches around the scapula region and above-cavicle region which go away only if I skip the machine for two days. It seems fatiguing to those muscles too. I also get muscle aches around lower back if I am not careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I putting myself in harm by actively using my arms? Should I use arms only for support? Is there a better warmup for the upper body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2338" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T16:50:46.547" Title="Elliptical trainers unkind on my upper body muscles?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13765" CreationDate="2013-09-13T08:12:54.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you haven't mentioned your age , because then I would have answered accordingly.&#xA;You mentioned that you are a &lt;strong&gt;over weight guy&lt;/strong&gt;,then keeping that in mind I would suggest that you &lt;strong&gt;limit your running&lt;/strong&gt; , because in the long run your leg and shin joints will start hurting as they will be under lot of pressure. Just standing puts lots of tension on them, then if you start running, the pressure/tension increases . Said that , if you will run for long intervals , every thing is going to be OK for now , but later when you will be somewhere in your 40-50 , you will start to feel the effect of it. Then second reason for limiting your running is , if you run too much , your body will start consuming your muscle as fuel, as they are larger source of energy for the body. Believe me that can happen , and I have seen that happen. You need to &lt;strong&gt;limit your running session to one to two session per week&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;Performing strength training three to four sessions per week . Also the &lt;strong&gt;running/cardio session needs to be limited to 30 -45 minutes at max&lt;/strong&gt;, and in those session , perform various cardiovascular exercises, as then you will provide variation to the body.Vary your time for the cardiovascular exercises that you do. &#xA;And &lt;strong&gt;Burning fat and gaining muscle at the same time is very much possible&lt;/strong&gt; . I have done that, I am doing that, and that too without any supplements or steroids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T08:12:54.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2013-09-13T09:57:57.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;two main mechanisms here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) tight muscles are tight because of nervous system input. Choke off the blood supply for 1 minute and nerve and muscle cells have other problems to worry about --&gt; less tense muscles and increased ROM - is this good? probably not in the long term but if it improves your position during the bout then yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) myofacial release is well understood. Band puts pressure on muscle fascia and as you move it you trigger myofacial release (less important than 1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that sliding surfaces get stuck unless you haven't moved them for a long time (not an issue for most ppl)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also this technique works incredibly well. Try it and you'll be a convert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that effects are transient though. useful preworkout so that u can get into good position on that max rep. otherwise of lesser value&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People use it a lot for forearm/elbow problems with a lot of success&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6740" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T09:57:57.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2013-09-13T12:57:08.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I weigh myself once a week, first thing Sunday morning after I wake up and urinate.  I don't drink anything until after I have weighed myself.  Then I enter the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, weighing myself helps me to avoid eating too little, which I've tended to do to &quot;make sure&quot; I was losing weight when I avoided the scale in the past.  So avoiding the scale is counterproductive for me.  Weighing once a week immediately after I get up and go to the bathroom keeps me sane and helps me to monitor the effect of my eating habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6741" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T12:57:08.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-13T13:18:15.833" Score="2" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was am about o change my routine (next week), and wish to try a Push/Pull split. I never trained in this split, but would like to try, I have looked for online routines, but it seems target to those who hit the gym 4 times a week, or put the legs on separate days, wich I wouldn't like to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the days Monday, Tuesday and Thursday only, so i would be Mon: A, Tue: B, Thu: A, Mon: B, and so on... My goals are to improve posture and get bigger arms. I also know I'm overweight and a bit high on BF, I will correct my diet, as currently I'm eating too much junk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats are: I'm 24yo, have 5'9 (1,75m) and 213lbs (97kg), more or less 22%BF (measured about 2 months ago)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 12/10/8/5/5/5 (will try to do linear weight progression)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Hamstring Curl 4x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide-grip seated row 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell unilateral row 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-up 3x6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inclined Dumbbell Curls 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scott Dumbbell Curls 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank 3x30 secs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 10/10/10 (lightweigth due to fear and knee problems in the past)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press 10/10/10 (will try to do linear weight progression)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench 12/10/8/6/6 (will try to do linear weight progression)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peck Deck 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-up 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Triceps Extension (H-Shape Barbell) 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pulley Triceps 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Calves Extensions 4x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit-ups 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concerns are about the routine balance, volume and order/selection of exercises. For example, I may be missing some shoulder work, and is it okay to do planks on A and Sit-ups on B?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T15:52:02.613" Title="Help with 3/Week PushPull routine" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13922" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13933" CreationDate="2013-09-13T18:15:03.580" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im a little unsure about one thing. After the weightlifting, should I have only meal or both the meal and shake? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My shake is: 30gram protein and 227 cals.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My meal is around: 500 cals, 32 gram protein and half avocado + 1 glass milk or water.&#xA;I eat 5 meals per day. 500 cals each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I not wasting if I intake both of them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6503" LastActivityDate="2013-09-14T21:11:11.520" Title="After workout: meal or protein shake or both?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14479" CreationDate="2013-09-13T18:53:35.670" Score="3" ViewCount="700" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running in minimalist shoes for about 4 months now, gradually getting to 40-80 km a month. The maximum distance I have run so far is 12 kilometers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to run a half-marathon in about 5 weeks and I'm wondering if it's a good idea to run it in my minimalist shoes. When I was pushing my max distance while getting used to barefoot running I often needed to step back or give myself rest to alleviate soreness of &quot;barefoot&quot; muscles. Since half-marathon distance will be my max distance so far, I'm worried if I might get injured in the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I have done all my running for the last couple months in those shoes and I'm used to the feeling. I'd like the setting to resemble my training as much as possible. Please, advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6744" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T14:34:04.663" Title="What is the mileage needed to run half-marathon in minimalist shoes without injury?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13927" CreationDate="2013-09-13T19:24:56.943" Score="3" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift Heavy (amateur strongman).  I have been struggling with tendonitis in my left elbow.  I believe I have the cause narrowed down to my squatting.  I am currently doing my 5x5 at around 500 lbs. &#xA;I have thought that maybe this is due to shoulder mobility (Though I can overhead squat fine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the reason that people use spider squat bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I reduce the pain and cause of my tendonitis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T21:22:13.647" Title="Elbow Tendonitis" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13924" CreationDate="2013-09-13T20:20:09.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard much anecdotal evidence from a lot of powerlifting friends of mine that they pain in their wrists/elbows/shoulders from squatting heavy with the low-bar style. So I think your assumption is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my understanding that people use the safety bar (spider bar, as you call it) for exactly this reason. There are other reasons, of course, but I've seen it most used for issues with pain in the shoulders/wrists developed while squatting heavy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some level of strongman/powerlifting, squatting without any pain isn't very attainable. But you should always be working to mediate the pain you're feeling with the appropriate accessory movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/archive/index.php/t-8380.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agree with Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt; that you can't let tendonitis slow you down. However there are a few things you can do to alleviate some pain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wear compression sleeves to keep the joint warm/tight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://glennpendlay.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/got-tendonitis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compression treatments&lt;/a&gt; with bands or a cut up bike tire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The compression treatment seems like a scam, but it works like magic. Do it as soon as you feel pain and it's instantly better. This doesn't last a long period of time, but it's much better than popping pain killers to get through a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, I've seen it suggested (was going to link to lifthard.com, but his site doesn't have the page I want anymore...) that bodybuilding type exercises can go along way to preventing injury. What I mean is that you pick couple of single joint exercises (ie curls, tricep pushdowns, lateral raises, etc) and do them in high reps a couple times a week. I've done some of this for my shoulders and it seems to be helping keep the pain away. You'll have to experiment with this and find the exercises that work for you, but I guarantee you will find one or two that are actually beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T20:20:09.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13924" CreationDate="2013-09-13T21:22:13.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having dealt with elbow tendinitis successfully, there's a couple things to look out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How tight are my hands when I'm squatting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my upper body work triceps dominant or biceps dominant?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often am I lifting at 90+% of my max?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes you can alleviate a lot of stress on your elbows just by bringing your hands out a little further on the bar.  Some &quot;how to&quot; squat guides suggest that you generate upper back tightness by getting the hands as tight toward your body as possible while squatting.  All this does is allow the weight of the bar to transfer to your elbows.  You can (and should) keep a tight upper back when you squat, but that is separate from your hand position.  First time I dealt with tendinitis this was all I had to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common plight for power lifters is that they spend a lot time pressing in some fashion or another, but don't have nearly enough pulling or curling.  If you are doing a lot of overhead work for your strongman event preparation, be sure to do some high rep curls once a week to help keep the joint healthy.  Barbell, dumbbell, etc. it doesn't matter what type of curl, just do 5 sets of 20 (100 reps total).  The goal is to get blood flowing through the joint to flush away inflammation.  The compression treatment works on the same principle, but the curls actually correct the muscle imbalance.  Same can be true if you have a lot of biceps work compared to triceps work, in that case do the 5x20 work with close grip bench press or some other triceps dominant movement.  Second time I dealt with tendinitis this corrected the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you spend a lot of time close to your max then you are putting your joints under a lot of strain.  If you are doing supramaximal work (doing partials with greater than your max) such as bench lock outs or squat walk outs, that stresses your joints a lot.  If the majority of your work is in the 70-80% range, that allows the joints to get stronger.  Look at supramaximal work as an initial stressor that will take your body a couple weeks to fully recover from.  It's better to get stronger with more volume overall than it is to constantly push maxes.  This is true whether you do strongman or powerlifting.  When you look at the way the most successful people in those sports train they average around 70-75% for the month--sometimes heavier and sometimes lighter.  However, it helps their bodies stay strong and stay healthy.  Constantly living in the 90+% range is just testing your strength--not building it.  I went through a short phase where I played with supramaximal work.  When the beginning signs of tendinitis started creeping in, I backed off and it went away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do understand that there are times to go into the 90+% range.  As I'm currently in a peaking cycle for competition I'll be hitting numbers in that range within a couple weeks.  I just do the majority of my training sub-maximally and build strength on volume.  This has really been key to keeping my training consistent and building a much better base of strength than I had last competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-13T21:22:13.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-14T05:24:38.530" Score="2" ViewCount="2260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner in working out and building muscles. I am skinny and have no muscles at all, but I want to start working out, so I could get muscles and get strong. Are there any good workout programs with videos for beginners? Programs for building muscles and strength? I do push ups and sit ups, and pull ups, but I want more intense stuff. Like weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any weightlifting programs that involves a full body workout (chest, shoulders, back, biceps, triceps, legs,abs,..)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6747" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-14T10:38:18.130" LastActivityDate="2013-09-14T11:14:00.907" Title="Any Good workout plan for beginner?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-09-16T01:31:49.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13930" CreationDate="2013-09-14T05:51:55.740" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I started weightlifting I was in a similar situation.  It is important to note that weightlifting itself takes time and consistency.  You won't see results right away.  For a beginner's guide I recommend Steve Cook's Big man on Campus 12-week college trainer (link provided below).  Even if you aren't a college athlete it is a program that I have tried myself and feel it is a good place to begin.  Built for people not accustom to weightlifting, this guide goes into everything that will help excel your workouts so that you can maximize the exercises(including nutrition, supplements, detailed workout schedules, etc.).  There are many guides out there depending on your interests.  It all comes down to what you want to accomplish, however, I feel this is a good place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/steve-cook-big-man-on-campus-12-week-college-trainer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/steve-cook-big-man-on-campus-12-week-college-trainer.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6748" LastActivityDate="2013-09-14T05:51:55.740" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13930" CreationDate="2013-09-14T10:29:04.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All programs in www.bodybuilding.com have two things in common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lot of pressure on the idea that you need supplements,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An enormous volume per workout, so that it is ensured that you will be exhausted and think that it is because you need the supplements. This is because bodybuilding.com is merely a retailer of supplements, as you can simply check in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;its wikipedia entry&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That workout recommended to you in the other answer is a good example, have a look at one of the days in that workout (&quot;Big Man on Campus&quot; - Hey, it should be called &quot;Exhausted Man on Campus&quot;) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/big-man-on-campus-week-3-day-15.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. It is completely crazy, and it belongs to a 4-days split workout with two additional cardio days. It is particularly crazy because this particular program stresses the need of supplements a little less than the others in www.bodybuilding.com (it is supposed to be tailored for students), so they have to raise the volume of work per day to an enormous quantity, to be sure that you will be totally exhausted and will fall in the trap of buying more supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for all bodybuilding magazines, all sponsored or directly owned by the supplements industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt myself in this kind of trap when I was in my 20s, during nearly two intense years with little or no results and eventually an injury that took me out of bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are alternatives. For instance, many people are using a different approach, based on simpler, yet very effective barbell programs used by olympic powerlifters, proven by many decades of experience. Google for &quot;Mark Rippetoe&quot; and his book &quot;Starting Strength&quot;, look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the website as well&lt;/a&gt; . This is the kind of program that Arnold Schwarzenegger used in his earliest youth before going to America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other sources of information, but nothing seems visually so fancy like www.bodybuilding.com because there is a multimillionaire industry behind. Nobody can compete with their marketing resources, but you may have a look at some individuals websites like &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Scooby's Workshop&lt;/a&gt; or you may uncheck the &quot;accepted&quot; mark on the other answer and wait, because there are some notable individuals in this site that may give you much better recommendations for a beginner workout than the crap in www.bodybuilding.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think the male model for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n_and_His_Sons&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Laocoön and His Sons sculpture in year 25 BC&lt;/a&gt; used whey powder or creatine supplements...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-09-14T11:14:00.907" LastActivityDate="2013-09-14T11:14:00.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13922" CreationDate="2013-09-14T21:11:11.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It depends.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you getting enough protein from your meals? If not, drink the protein shake. Personally, since I need to get about 190g of protein each day I typically have a post workout shake along with any meals I need to eat in order to maintain my daily calories/macros. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6319" LastActivityDate="2013-09-14T21:11:11.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22421" CreationDate="2013-09-14T21:13:39.603" Score="5" ViewCount="1301" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very interested in fitness and I have done a lot of training in the past (both cardio and strength). However, &lt;strong&gt;I become overtrained very, very easily&lt;/strong&gt;. When I get overtrained I become &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; fatigued, I have trouble sleeping, I get headaches, I get run down and sometimes I get sick. Therefore, I have to limit my training and this limits my progress and what I am ultimately capable of achieving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, on a background of steady cardio (such as cycling) I started running 3 years ago. I can run 45-50 miles in a month without much problem and I can run 60 miles if I am really careful (in terms of rest and not pushing too hard in my training). Earlier this year I ran 75 miles in a month and it made me overtrained and it took me months to recover from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last few months I have been running 50 to 60 miles each month and this month I finally felt ready to try to step it up again. At almost the middle of the month I have run 36 miles so far. This week I ran or walked 5 days in a row, managing each session so as not to overdo it. However, during yesterday's run I realized I was feeling drained, so I backed off and walked part of the way and cut the distance short. However, by bedtime it was evident that I had become overtrained. Sleeping was very difficult and today I have no energy to do anything. I feel drained and extremely fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been this way my entire life (since I was a teenager). I have been checked by many general doctors and nothing obvious shows up. I don't have any recognizable diseases or even anything obviously wrong according to basic medical examinations. Furthermore, because of my desire to be fit I eat better and follow a healthier lifestyle than any of my friends. The problem most certainly is not a poor diet or lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people I know who have worse diets and lifestyle are able to training much harder than I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that I would &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; be able to run a marathon (or even a half marathon) given the limitations in the amount of training my body can handle. I just could not follow any of the half marathon training programs I have seen without quickly becoming overtrained. The same limitations have been present for any type of physical training I have attempted. I had to give up a sport I loved because even through I had athletic talent for it, I did not have the stamina and I could not find any solution for getting the stamina. (Again, the typical training routines were far too much for me to handle.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just accept that my body cannot handle much exercise? Or should I go for some really advanced medical tests? If so, any ideas about what should be tested? (I had a treadmill stress test a couple years ago and passed that with flying colors. The doctor remarked on my excellent physical fitness!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6752" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T16:21:49.787" Title="Can some people just not exercise very much? Do some people become overtrained at typical levels of exercise?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="17" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13463" CreationDate="2013-09-14T22:29:35.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The central idea of explosive training is that is utilizes the anaerobic alactic energy system. This energy system has enough ATP for about 7s of sustained high intensity exercise. This is the system that the fast-twitch muscle fibers use. After 7s, there is not enough ATP for sustaining contraction and the muscle switches to the anaerobic glycolytic (less capable of generating force, and produces lactic acid which inhibits contraction).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question there are three aspects that have to be taken into consideration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Duration of contraction&#xA;     - The contraction should not last longer than 7-10s. That means that you would do about 9-10 jump squats in a set, about 7-8 chin ups etc.; you are constrained by a time limit, not a number of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Force of contraction&#xA;     - The force of the contraction has to be as high as possible. The best way to achieve this is to increase the weight which you exercise with. However, since you are doing bodyweight exercises only, the execution is crucial for adaptation to occur, since after a couple of weeks your muscles will get used to the training stimulus and no further increase in strength, hypertrophy or explosiveness will occus. To activate as many motor units as possible (=a greater part of the muscle) you have to perform the exercise as quickly as possible. I.e. try to do as many reps as possible within those 7-10s. Just make sure you use the proper form; don't cheat your way to a higher rep count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Number of sets&#xA;     - When training the anaerobic alactic system you do not have the same adaptation mechanisms as during hypertrophy training. When aiming for bulk, you do 3 sets of 8-12 reps at 4 seconds per rep, totalling a set time of about 40s. However, when training for explosiveness, you do not produce lactic acid, and the muscle does not fatigue as easily, so you have to perform more sets than for hypertrophy. &#xA;          - Firstly because of the lower volume of training; the total number of reps per training is much lower when doing explosive training than for hypertrophy. &#xA;          - Secondly, the muscle hardly fatigues, so theoretically you could perform as many sets as 15-20 or more. In my training (I am a professional sprinter), I usually keep doing sets until my form deteriorates, which usually occurs somewhere around the 7th-9th set depending on the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your second question directly, you do not cross over to endurance training by increasing set number, because you actually rest between the sets. You increase the endurance aspect of training by increasing the number of reps within each set. Just make sure you have about 5min of rest between sets so that your ATP has time to replenish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T10:43:28.740" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T10:43:28.740" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13937" CreationDate="2013-09-13T21:56:58.960" Score="10" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite place to run is the hard and moist sand where the ocean meets the beach. A friend of mine said I should avoid running at the beach, since the running-surface is slightly slanted, which can lead to injuries. This person said trail running is ok, because the the slant does not have a constant directionality. I was wondering if anyone has any credible sources that confirm either or both of these claims, and if so, how long I can go in one direction without causing injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6830" OwnerDisplayName="SierraCalifornicus" LastActivityDate="2013-09-15T10:53:50.040" Title="Can running on the beach lead to injury due to the slanted surface?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13936" CreationDate="2013-09-14T19:52:09.527" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you always run for a long distance along the beach in one direction, and the beach has quite a steep slope, then you could end up with problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But generally you would be much more likely to run along the beach and then return, so you get both directions of slope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I wouldn't worry. Sand running has so many other benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it uses up to 50% more energy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;causes less impact to joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you build more power at your running speed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your stabilising muscles work harder, which can help prevent injuries such from going over on your ankle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" OwnerDisplayName="Rory Alsop" LastEditorUserId="2850" LastEditDate="2013-09-15T10:53:50.040" LastActivityDate="2013-09-15T10:53:50.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13934" CreationDate="2013-09-15T03:43:59.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a theory...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My theory is that you are exercising every day. If so, the problem that you are running into is that you are giving your body insufficient time to recover. This is sometimes expressed as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training stress + recovery time = Improvement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not give your body time to recover, you will not improve; you will just continue to accumulate training stress. Depending on how you do it, you will either plateau, or you will get overtrained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work out fewer days during the week, you will be able to work out harder, and that is how you will improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-09-15T03:43:59.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13940" CreationDate="2013-09-15T07:44:03.743" Score="4" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the 30's and I admit to be very sedentary. Worse of all, with a hectic work schedule, a family with small kids it is very difficult (or impossible?) to find the time for a proper exercising without a complete life revolution, which is not possible now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, I think that doing &lt;strong&gt;absolutely zero&lt;/strong&gt; physical exercise is not good and will be worse the more time I let pass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I started thinking about doing at least something, in the only moment that I can think of: in the early morning, when everybody else is still sleeping. So ideally (?) I would get up at 6 am, do .. something? for some time, then begin the normal day (and, like the internet meme goes, profit!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is: is this meaningful at all? can it really provide me with some health benefits? And what would be the magical &quot;something&quot; that I could do by myself in the living room without waking up wife and babies? I am thinking about some calisthenics but maybe I am so completely off that I don't even notice it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6756" LastActivityDate="2013-09-15T07:56:37.083" Title="Is it possible to gain health benefits by following a calisthenics routine for a very sedentary person?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13939" CreationDate="2013-09-15T07:56:37.083" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some exercise is indeed better than no exercise. Calisthenics would be a fine choice, as would yoga, dumbbell work, running, or some combination of those options. Anything is better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have half an hour, then twenty minutes of yoga to limber up before doing a bunch of push-ups, air squats, and pull-ups would probably hit the spot. If you have or acquire a pair of twenty-five (or more) pound dumbbells, you could use them for the squats as well as renegade rows, overhead presses, cleans and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have fifteen minutes instead of thirty, then five minutes of yoga and ten minutes of calisthenics or dumbbell work would be great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have five minutes, then a quick jog around the house followed by a set of push-ups and pull-ups would be quick and productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out every morning, or most mornings, or half the mornings, is &lt;em&gt;enormously&lt;/em&gt; beneficial, especially compared to doing nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-09-15T07:56:37.083" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-15T08:36:27.473" Score="5" ViewCount="6831" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was eager to exercise so I brought some of the dumbbells home and without anyone's help I started doing butterfly exercise or mostly known as bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this put me in a very huge dilemma. My right and left chest got uneven. I got afraid and so I quit the exercise. I am having this trouble for more than 6 months. If I do push ups the left chest gets more size and the difference still remains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to even out the imbalance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6757" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-15T09:18:51.710" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T17:46:06.387" Title="Uneven chest by doing bench press/butterfly" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-15T09:19:04.947" Score="2" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13939/is-it-possible-to-gain-health-benefits-by-following-a-calisthenics-routine-for-a&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, I want to &quot;design&quot; a brief calisthenic workout, within my capabilities and possible to follow, to be done in the morning (let's say before the rest of the family wakes up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume that I can touch the point of my toes and that the majority if not all of my physical exercise comes from playing with a 2 years old kid who is always willing to run and play. If it is needed, I am 1.82 m tall and weight in the 80-85 kg range (depending on the amount of stress at work and wheter I am able to restrain myself or not).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to improve my health: I don't expect miracles. I know that I should improve my diet and my life style. But those are not easy tasks and I would like to at least try do to something concrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6756" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T22:27:16.297" Title="I am out of shape, what exercises should I use for a brief calisthenic workout in the morning?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13943" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-15T10:29:42.573" Score="3" ViewCount="2036" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who used to go to gym for hours everyday and he had a great body.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then suddenly he started experiencing pain in his stomach area.&#xA;So he visited a doctor who told him that there is a 'ball' near our navel region which got 'shifted' a bit due to the weight lifting. Even worse is that it cannot be rectified by surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So he had to spend a month at a specialist camp where they did some massage, therapy after which the problem got solved.&#xA;But after a month he had lost all his muscles &amp;amp; was very weak.&#xA;Now he does not go to the gym.&#xA;I am also scarred a bit by this and I am planning to quit the gym.&#xA;Is this a recognised phenomenon internationally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: He used to train under supervision by an expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5447" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-15T12:24:09.803" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T08:47:06.653" Title="Weight Lifting adversely affecting stomach muscles?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13943" CreationDate="2013-09-16T08:33:46.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common thing I could find when searching &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003277.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;ball near navel&quot;&lt;/a&gt; was a hernia.  A hernia is not normal, but neither is losing all your muscle within a month.  The thing is without an official medical diagnosis it isn't clear exactly what it was--because it could also have been a tumor.  When dealing with a hernia, you really shouldn't do any heavy lifting as it can make things worse.  It usually takes longer than a month to lose significant amounts of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say that there are many people who claim to be an expert who really aren't.  There are also experts who get results in a manner which is not the safest.  I had a personal trainer try to teach me to squat incorrectly.  However, he was not a personal trainer that specialized in weight training, nor was he someone who coached lifters who compete.  At the same time, even though I wouldn't call him an expert, if I told him something was off he would modify his plans to accommodate or if he thought it was something more serious he would have told me to go to the doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some risks associated with lifting that you have to consider.  The most common risks are muscle strains and joint pain due to trying to do too much too fast or improper technique.  It does not mean that lifting is bad, or as inherently dangerous as playing tackle football.  Ankle sprains are a common risk in basketball or any other sport where you have to change directions quickly--but that doesn't mean that basketball is to blame for the injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T08:33:46.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13888" CreationDate="2013-09-16T12:53:30.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's easy to make the argument that a plate has only one requirement: to weigh a certain amount.  However, round plates enable a range of exercises that are impractical with any weight that has straight edges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any floor exercise: i.e. rows, deadlifts, cleans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any exercise that requires rolling: i.e. barbell ab rollouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The difference is significant enough to be concerned about&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started lifting in a gym with octagonal plates.  While the weights were pretty light, the annoyances were minimal.  However, when I was deadlifting in excess of 350 lbs when the plates spun (and they did every pull) the bar would jerk as it settled on the ground.  That is a recipe for injury.  Not to mention the fact that you had to interrupt your set to chase the bar that was spinning underneath you, sometimes smacking your shins and sometimes wrenching your obliques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I switched gyms to one that had both round plates and a proper lifting platform, the difference was very noticeable.  I wasn't wasting energy chasing the bar anymore.  I was able to add weight consistently again without fear of injuring myself.  If I set the bar down a little too far in front, all I had to do was pull the bar in closer again and I was set up for the next pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gyms employ octagonal plates on purpose&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gyms that are not designed for serious lifting, and instead cater to the cardio crowd use the octagonal plates to discourage deadlifts and other floor exercises.  They also usually have rules about not allowing chalk for the same purpose.  For some reason the sound of the plates hitting the ground either intimidate or annoy gym goers that don't want to lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finding a gym that has round plates at the very least will be more open to proper training.  If you are very fortunate, then the gym will provide chalk for your use, and have a number of strongman implements for real conditioning work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T12:53:30.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13949" CreationDate="2013-09-16T14:38:16.923" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;included in the exercise regimen I've been trying to do is trunk extensions for lower back muscles. in almost all the examples I've seen for trunk extensions, they are done on a medicine ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have a medicine ball, so I was wondering what any recommended alternatives are. Can I do it just laying on my stomach on the ground? Should I try it laying off the edge of my bed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6763" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T15:45:09.727" Title="How to do Trunk Extensions without a Medicine Ball" Tags="&lt;core&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13948" CreationDate="2013-09-16T15:45:09.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do trunk extensions flat on the floor. Or if you prefer you can use pretty much anything to lift you up a little eg a folded blanket or cushions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/exercise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/exercise.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T15:45:09.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13951" CreationDate="2013-09-16T15:50:57.760" Score="4" ViewCount="682" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 30 years old Software Engineer and for 10 years I've been suffering from muscle contractures on my right and left trapezius:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8euNn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started doing the 7 minute HIT training, cycling and swimming since one month ago and I decided to buy a chin up bar to gain strenght in my back. But I don't want to get contractured again because of a bad training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please tell me what is a good plan for &lt;strong&gt;carefully&lt;/strong&gt; training this area and the whole back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6754" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T03:53:43.067" Title="My back is weak, how to train carefully with a chin up bar?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13950" CreationDate="2013-09-16T16:50:07.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Build up to full pullups with a slow progression, allowing not only the muscles but the supporting tissues to grow together. That probably means you don't start with full pullups right off the bat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is one sample progression from &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0938045768&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/a&gt;, along with standards for progressing to the next level. The specific exercise are described in the book, but are also very easy to find on Youtube. Even if you feel you can start at a more advanced level, it's probably better to start at level 1, and work your way up using perfect form and a slow cadence (2 seconds up, 1 second pause, 2 seconds down). This will be a very short workout, a warmup set or two, and then your 2-3 work sets, 2-3 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vertical Pulls&lt;/strong&gt; (progress when you can do 3 sets of 40)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Horizontal Pulls&lt;/strong&gt; (3 sets of 30)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jackknife Pulls&lt;/strong&gt; (3/30)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Half Pullups&lt;/strong&gt; (2/15)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Full Pullups&lt;/strong&gt; (2/10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Close Pullups&lt;/strong&gt; (2/10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Uneven Pullups&lt;/strong&gt; (2/9)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1/2 One-Arm Pullups&lt;/strong&gt; (2/8)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assisted One-Arm Pullups&lt;/strong&gt; (2/7)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One-Arm Pullups&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, you are probably best off strengthening the whole body and not focusing on a specific area; the body likes to work as a complete system. I'd suggest a complete calisthenics or weightlifting routine (i.e. not just back/pullups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T16:50:07.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13941" CreationDate="2013-09-16T18:32:17.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, Butterfly exercise and bench press are two different movements. &#xA;The butterfly is done like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.jm/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=2&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;ved=0CDkQuAIwAQ&amp;amp;url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKw0NNlbvfY&amp;amp;ei=kE03UqHbBYO28wTkn4HgBg&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNHoggJZ1nuqGMSmX1KJ7ijjXN3RBw&amp;amp;sig2=jtZVsydtVuLf7BVVBs-QMw&amp;amp;bvm=bv.52164340,d.eWU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and the chest press is done like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.jm/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CCsQuAIwAA&amp;amp;url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmB1G1K7v94&amp;amp;ei=sE03UsfJNo7Q9gSH1YDQDA&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNEg46xzyjJHIlo68uJi4-rEx3pLsw&amp;amp;sig2=S4YIAocCn8S03Y6pDAXtEA&amp;amp;bvm=bv.52164340,d.eWU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, the stronger side of your body will always appear to be bigger, and even if that is not your stronger side, no human being is completely symmetrical. I have an inch size difference between my right and left arm (right being bigger) and the same for my quads. Ceasing to exercise is not the answer. Continue to train, and not only train the chest, but also the shoulders and the back and arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to ensure that you so the same number of reps on either side each time (or u can do two extra on the seemingly smaller side, which is what i did to reduce a 3 inch size difference to a 1 inch size difference). Also, mix it up for the chest exercises, there is a plethora of exercises you can do to get a nice healthy chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T18:32:17.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13990" CreationDate="2013-09-16T20:48:46.173" Score="3" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lot of advertisements of supplements and other fitness products tell that you can grow a lot of lean muscle mass in one month. I understand that it really depends on diet and exercises, but what are sane boundaries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much muscle mass can be developed - without the use of steroids - assuming different stages and intensities of training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5943" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-17T12:10:11.820" LastActivityDate="2013-09-19T21:06:10.157" Title="What are reasonable numbers of lean muscle mass growth?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13950" CreationDate="2013-09-16T21:50:56.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When &quot;software engineer&quot; and &quot;upper trapecius contractures&quot; are written side to side, they powerfully ring a bell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is quite common. Many hours seated, hunched, with no attention to your body because your mind is debugging subroutines... Cycling won't probably help (your legs may be moving, but you are seated and hunched over the bicycle...)  but swimming should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important point is that, no matter what sport you do or what muscles you strengthen, you will still have problems if you don't pay attention to what is causing the problem, the rest of the day, when you are out of the gym/swimming pool/whatever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the points mentioned in this fantastic series of three or four posts you should read: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/deconstructing_computer_guy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Deconstructing Computer Guy&quot; in T-Nation&lt;/a&gt;, I think they will give you a better understanding of what is happening and what may be a better approach. I quote a paragraph. After mentioning some sporting activities (spinning among them) and showing a picture of some guys riding stationary exercise bicycles in a gym, the text reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The vast majority of those exercises promote a forward flexed position &#xA;  or compressive/shear force on the spine [Read: not good]. By repeating&#xA;  the same posture in the gym that he was in from 9-5, computer guy WILL&#xA;  produce improper motor patterns that just cause or reinforce all of&#xA;  his problems in the first place!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you use linux, there is a wonderful little free program called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.workrave.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Workrave&lt;/a&gt; that will remind you every X minutes (by default I think it is around 5 min) to make a micro-pause and correct your posture, and once every hour it will remind you to walk away from the computer, do some light stretches and rest a few minutes. I t will periodically remind you to do some randomly choosen light exercises (like some arm circles, fixing your sight in the distance and so on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is not the direct answer you ask for (merely how to strengthen your back with a pullup bar) but reading your question, I think that the solution to your upper back contractures requires an richer approach than the strength exercises alone. Dynamic stretches are a very important part of whatever you do with this kind of situation, and specially correcting your posture and habits during the whole day, not only at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-09-16T22:26:08.030" LastActivityDate="2013-09-16T22:26:08.030" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13942" CreationDate="2013-09-17T01:13:24.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a look at the old and famous &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregsadetsky.com/_files/5bx-plan.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5BX progressive program&lt;/a&gt; developed in the 60s by the Royal Canadian Air Force and tested by many during decades. It was ment to keep in shape their staff in all kind of places an situations, by means of a daily 11 min program that could be performed in a dorm. Quoting from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5BX&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;its Wikipedia entry&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The 5BX Plan is composed of six charts arranged in increasing order of difficulty. Each chart is composed of five exercises that are performed within 11 minutes. The first four exercises are calisthenics, and the last an aerobic exercise. As the individual progresses within the system, the number of each type of exercise that must be performed increases and the difficulty of each exercise increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2013-09-17T01:18:33.140" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T01:18:33.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13956" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13957" CreationDate="2013-09-17T01:34:21.247" Score="3" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does a weightlifting belt protects against? How exactly? I can't imagine why wearing it is better, although I have used them and, at least subjectively, I felt more safe and comfortable during the lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T10:41:56.663" Title="How does the weightlifting belt work?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13956" CreationDate="2013-09-17T03:43:40.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons why you would where a weight belt and the best reason is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To protect your lower back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on what weight you are lifting, if you are lifting something that require some effort then you would need a weight belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please have look at this links with more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;All of the upsides to wearing a belt come down to the idea of intra-abdominal force or pressure.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/olympic-weightlifting/weightlifting-belts-should-you-use-one-pro-and-con&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pros and Cons of varying belt.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The assistance and/or protection provided by a support belt during exercise may be a result of increased abdominal pressure (IAP), feedback to the exerciser on body position, reduced compressive and shear forces on the spine, and restricted torso movement. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/weightbelt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2013-09-17T10:41:56.663" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T10:41:56.663" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13953" CreationDate="2013-09-17T03:50:55.670" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining lean mass is not an overnight process nor is it one or two monthS process. You will lose lean mass if you don't use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the question how much can you gain?&#xA;1 kg should be a good number for a month, till you reach your limit beyond which you wouldn't gain lean mass without affecting your health in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can gain whatever weight you want by taking steroids.&#xA;(&lt;code&gt;Sarcasm&lt;/code&gt;, if you din't understand. The risk involved with this method is so high, you should probably be scared off why is it still there in the world)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking lot of rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But do you really need to gain so much weight so quickly by taking steroids and risking your health? &lt;code&gt;I HIGHLY DOUBT IT&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2013-09-19T04:54:14.937" LastActivityDate="2013-09-19T04:54:14.937" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-17T04:22:32.053" Score="8" ViewCount="2137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a problem. I can only do 6 chin-ups in a row before something gives way. I'm able to go for 2-3 sets, usually with a kip on the last on few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a weight bearing exercise, there are common techniques, like altering rep ranges and lowering weights and working back up, but I'm not sure those can be used in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I do more consecutive chin-ups when my best set is 6?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For reference, when I say chin-up I mean the neutral grip, palms facing variety. Not a fully supinated chin-up nor a fully-pronated pull-up.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-03T11:39:26.250" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T08:51:33.067" Title="Overcoming a chin-up plateau of 6 in a row" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13960" CreationDate="2013-09-17T07:43:41.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfXuohjylwI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negatives&lt;/a&gt;, they build your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set goals for a week in total (not per set), achieve it. I would suggest keeping the goal to little less what do you can (motivation factor). Increase your count over the weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you know you'll be doing more than what you use to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T07:43:41.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13960" CreationDate="2013-09-17T09:21:23.283" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Volume&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do two or three sets of about 6 chin-ups, I'd focus on &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt; rather than any particular set or rep scheme. That's because it's hard to stick to any particular number of reps per set with chin-ups in general, and especially so when the trainee can do less than 10 in a set. (Increased but tolerable volume is frequently the goal when deloading and working back up or altering rep ranges when this problem is encountered with barbell exercises.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing sets of six with kipping, I'd focus on getting 25 &lt;em&gt;strict&lt;/em&gt; chin-ups in every workout (or even every day, or every weekday). That might mean a set of six, then four, then two sets of three, then four sets of two, then one. Don't worry about the number of reps being consistent across sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other tools&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negatives&lt;/strong&gt; are an enormously productive way to increase chin-up numbers as well. Maybe make your last two or five sets all negatives, where you jump to the top and lower yourself as slowly as possible. This allows you to dramatically increase the pull-up volume you can achieve, and it does so in a more productive manner (for strength and pull-up performance) than kipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Holds&lt;/strong&gt; are very useful as well. When my maximum pull-up number is low, or when my elbow is inflamed, I'll alternate workouts with an A and B system. On A workout days, my pull-up workout is as described above, with no negatives or holds, just focusing on volume and maximum number of reps per set. On B days, I pick a number of reps I know I can do reliably. (This is often quite low.) I do three to six sets of that many reps, as negatives, each performed with a hold at the beginning (at the top) and end (at the bottom) of the set. Sometimes I'll do holds between every rep. This slow, low-volume approach gives me plenty of training stimulus for the movement while avoiding the high-stakes intensity of going for a maximum number of reps in each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-21T08:51:33.067" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T08:51:33.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13965" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-17T11:45:20.667" Score="4" ViewCount="1413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did only cardio workout in the gym today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 mins incline walk at 5.8 kmph with incline 4  - 50 cals&lt;br&gt;&#xA;8 min repeat of same incline walk  - 50 cals&lt;br&gt;&#xA;cross trainer at intensity 2 for 12 mins - 100 cals&lt;br&gt;&#xA;bike at intensity 4 for 5 mins - 25 cals  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The calories burned came out to be 225 cals. At the end of it I felt tired. However, I am not really satisfied with the amount of calories burned. Is it okay or lesser than what I should target?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am working out since 5 years with 1.5 year break due to pregnancy. I regularly do strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-17T12:00:45.013" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T22:01:48.477" Title="Burned only 225 cals in 25 minutes doing cardio. Is it less or adequate for a 5 feet 114 pound girl?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13965" CreationDate="2013-09-17T12:31:56.350" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel it is a good workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1035&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anaerobic workouts&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T12:31:56.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12067" CreationDate="2013-09-17T12:42:40.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most important is your decision to reduce your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce the plate size (whatever your current plate size is).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat vegetables, preferably raw (the main reason for this is, it is hard for the stomach to digest it and extract valuable material from it and hence your stomach is working out for you). This will work wonder on your overall health also.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do some kind of physical exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To notice any change it will take time (maybe a month or so), then you can see lot of change in your weight. Initially you will lose water weight very fast but then, you have to keep doing things without losing hope. Don't give up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your metabolism will increase and you will lose weight fast.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a weighing machine, keep track of your progress, it is the best feeling to see your weight reduce.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase your knowledge on the subject by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/WeightLossTips.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reading articles, blogs, others  success&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is a mind challenge than physical one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am sure you will reach your target. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2013-09-17T17:13:13.053" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T17:13:13.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13965" CreationDate="2013-09-17T12:56:11.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essentially you worked off a little less than a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.snickers.com/Nutritional-Info&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Snickers bar&lt;/a&gt;.  If the goal is to burn calories, you need to pick up the pace.  Even a light jog will burn more Calories than an incline walk.  If you aren't accustomed to the higher intensity cardio work, your body will adapt pretty quickly--particularly if you employ intervals to do it.  That said, higher intensity work does impact what you can do with the weights.  It's still worthwhile to incorporate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best approach is to outline your goals and plan accordingly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Active recovery:&lt;/strong&gt; you're feeling beat up, so you just want to get blood flowing.  Walk at a pace where your body temperature rises but it doesn't affect your ability to hold a conversation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alactic capacity (sport performance):&lt;/strong&gt; usually involves sprints, prowler work, farmer's or yolk walks.  These are high intensity for relatively short distances.  The goal it to increase your alactic work capacity--which helps with many sports as well as lifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic capacity:&lt;/strong&gt; usually involves distance runs with a light jog or fast walk--sometimes intervals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is calorie burn, either Alactic capacity training or Aerobic training for 60 minutes will be what you want.  Active recovery (which is where you spent most of your time) is not very useful for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T12:56:11.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13953" CreationDate="2013-09-17T14:43:12.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle gains are going to be highly variable from person to person, depending on their starting point, personal genetics and training history. Someone that has never trained at all is typically going to gain muscle slower than someone that used to be an athlete and is merely out of shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's hard to define what you mean by mass. Do you mean simply body weight? Overall size? Strength? Each of these can be affected by working out, but the type of workout done will emphasize one of the aspects more than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ads can be fairly accurate, but they generally go strictly by the scale. If you are very intense and religious about your workouts, pay strict attention to diet and recovery, it is feasible to gain 10 lbs in one month. Whether or not that is all muscle mass, however, is where the claims start to get sketchy. Simply because you gained 10 lbs over the course of a month is no guarantee that it is all muscle mass, but the adverts will claim that it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best thing to do is form a picture of what you want to look like, and plan out how you are going to get there. Have a 6 month, 1 year and 5 year goal plan, and reassess/adapt every 6 months or so. Let the mirror and the scale be your guide. Supplements such as protein powders, creatine may or may not help depending on your diet and other personal fitness habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T14:43:12.530" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-17T14:48:57.053" Score="5" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used a calorie calculator some time ago that had two different options for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running (less than 10 minutes)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only guess wildly. Maybe because the body burns energy stored in the muscles first and after a certain amount of time the body starts to refill them, which increases the energy needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there differences in the way the body burns calories after a specific amount of time?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or asked in another way: Is there a difference between running for 3x10 minutes  with pauses in between or running 30 minutes in one go (assuming all other conditions, pace, total distance, etc, the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-17T15:06:11.413" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T17:28:07.033" Title="Impact of cardio-exercise duration on burned calories" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13973" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-17T21:36:54.860" Score="6" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've searched for questions about cholesterol before, and haven't found a satisfactory answer; most seemed to be all speculation and little fact. I was wondering whether the generally accepted strict limits on dietary cholesterol should always apply to everyone, or whether people on intensive exercise regimes could safely consider a different amount of dietary cholesterol to be safe. The basic distinction which occurs to me is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio athletes, such as runners, cyclists, swimmers and so on;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy athletes, such as bodybuilders and powerlifters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do either of these exercise regimes either consume extra cholesterol, perhaps specifically in the recovery stage, destroy it such that it is no longer a problem, or emit some sort of enzymes or hormones that render it irrelevant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a layman I would expect hypertrophic exercises to consume extra cholesterol, since they promote the creation of extra tissue, of which cholesterol is an essential component. However, I realise that dietary cholesterol and cellular cholesterol are quite different, and consumption of one does not necessarily correlate with the presence of the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any quality scientific literature on this topic, or does anybody have an educated view on the matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T15:28:31.967" Title="Do any particular exercise regimes consume excess cholesterol?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;cholesterol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13965" CreationDate="2013-09-17T22:01:48.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As has been said by other posters, the calorie estimates on machines tend to be only a very rough guess and are probably wildly inaccurate. The real question is: Do you feel you worked hard enough? Your ability to increase both intensity and duration will increase dramatically, possibly in a matter of weeks, and since the limiting factor is not how much you think you need but how much you can do, I think it's wiser to pay more attention to that. Work as hard as you can for as long as you can, and gauge how much difference it's making. If you're satisfied with progress after a few weeks or months, that's great news; otherwise, maybe ask further advice with additional knowledge of your own, or consider a personal trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastActivityDate="2013-09-17T22:01:48.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13979" CreationDate="2013-09-18T13:38:32.490" Score="7" ViewCount="5899" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I do an exercise using only one side of my body, and i can do more repetions with one side (for example: I can do more reps with my right arm), should i only do as many repetitions as my weaker side masters, or should I continue to work with the stronger side, when the weaker side already can't go on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6774" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T08:51:44.850" Title="What to do if my right arm can do more reps than my left one?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13976" CreationDate="2013-09-18T13:47:28.287" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend to use a barbell to train your both arms at the same time orient around barbell oriented compound multi-arm movements like barbell curl, preacher curl, ez-barbell curl. If you don't have access to that, get a broomstick, fill 2 identical bottles with water and tie them on to the equal ends from each end. Do a lot of high repetitions (either 2+ sets 21(7-7-7) see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hit-on-21s.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; for further reference or 3+ sets of 15 reps each till you have the feeling that the strenght is well balanced)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also please see a doctor to check whether your motoric and parasympathetic nervous system is in good order. It might also be caused by a disorder or a nerve issue in your neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@All comments below my answer: Appearently I had to re-vise this which might come due to my short-circuit explanation. After being an Olympic trainee for martial arts for  more than 8 years in my youth, and seeing hunderds of Olympic sports doctors and physicians and therapeutics who taught me thoroughly on how to observe imbalances in my body and take action to recover, I just shared my conclusions. There is not a side less stronger than the other in human body, mechanically unless there are multiple imbalances or a disturbance in nervous system or blood circulation issues..... period! And if you have mobility issues due to other reasons that I stated below, than you should find the cause and take action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of those imbalances come through irregularities in lifestyle (a Quagmire arm to Google for e.g.). Also many see symptoms for a cause which ends up in either having extra injuries on top or turning injury to inabilities. Preventing an injury does not only depend on the good form but also on the good choice of right exercise at the right time and knowing how the kinetic chain of a given exercise works to observe whether you are doing your reps in good form or not. Working out is not only fiddling around with weights, when done improperly, you end up wasting your time and money...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do I get the feeling that no one has taught you folks about the &amp;quot;human body adaption and recovery?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what's wrong with advising someone to see a doctor? are we here to give advise as professionals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case you need more thorough explanation or references in case you have the feeling that my explanation comes short, feel free to request and I'll make sure they will be added in my answer. For the sake of convinence, I'll just keep the post clear of confusing proofs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: Also, it is good to have the &amp;quot;Atlas of Human Anatomy&amp;quot; by Frank Netter, MD (3rd edition) at home if you wanna understand your body more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T08:51:44.850" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2013-09-18T14:14:49.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the most annoying question that can be asked in the fitness/wellness and bodybuilding world.... ranging between science to household magazines, the whole world has like 1 million different views about it and those supplement companies are trying to make us consume more and more while we might not need it that much in excessive amounts at all. &lt;em&gt;edited my sentence here, because my remark that I used to generalized came over differently. So I calirify :D&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My humble opionion is that you should fill those depleted glycogen depots you just used up after your workout and make sure you have enough amount of fats in your diet which will be used while your body needs the materials to create new cells. The rest is all debateble and optional. Why? Don't ask me, the whole world of experts and scientists are on a clash and noone says concludes the same- sometimes even their own in the past- twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After wasting a lot of time and money and spending extensive amounts od time to run my own qualitative research, I came to conclusion that around 75-130g protein per day for a healthy person is the average. This I discovered on my own and then I also discovered that someone else who is more skilled than me regarding nutrition- whom it appeared to be Brad Pilon- came to the same conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also check the reference papers at examine.com's &quot;Whey Protein Page&quot; and try to understand how it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly advice everyone in this thread to read &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bradpilon.com/muscle-building/how-much-protein/how-much-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THIS&lt;/a&gt;&quot; by Brad Pilon. He also has written the most unbiased view and advice as one can receive regarding this issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you are worried about your recovery, you should make sure you also nurture yourself with the right amount of macronutrients (refered as macros). Macros are the another anality of muscle nutrition in the world that also has a lot of polemics. But nevertheless, I wanted to point that you should not forget about your fat intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to know more about how it does work, please read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brinkzone.com/my-products/bodybuilding-revealed-the-interactive-muscle-building-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Will Brink's Body Building Revealed&lt;/a&gt; which to many is as a must to have in your bookcase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="6775" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T08:58:08.630" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T08:58:08.630" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13976" CreationDate="2013-09-18T14:24:26.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exaggerating imbalances is generally not something I want to do. If I can do more pistol squats with my left leg than my right, I'll do some extra pistol squats and lunges with my right leg to catch it back up to speed. The same goes for arm work like overhead presses. In practical terms, I accomplish this with extra sets on the weak side, rather than trying to eke out extra reps in the existing sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-09-18T14:24:26.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13971" CreationDate="2013-09-18T16:30:52.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that the calculator was probably referring to running &amp;lt; 10 minute miles or similar, rather than less than 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running at a given pace will have the same caloric burn, no matter how you slice it up. If you run for 30 minutes at 7 miles an hour in one shot, you will burn the same amount of calories as if you ran 3 10 minute segments at 7 miles per hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it might make a difference is in your own personal fitness. If you cannot run 30 minutes straight at a given pace, but you could run at that pace for 3 smaller segments of time, then you can get the increased calorie burn from the higher pace. This is one of the theories that HIIT is founded on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But overall, the amount of time spent at a given intensity will result in basically the same calorie expenditure despite how it is apportioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-09-18T16:30:52.357" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13984" CreationDate="2013-09-19T03:49:21.943" Score="10" ViewCount="452" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought a $2.99 Kindle book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0090UJM8W&quot;&gt;Burst Workouts&lt;/a&gt; which recommends very short workouts at high intensities.  His main program recommends timed interval training using bodyweight exercises of 30 seconds of an exercise, then 30 seconds of rest, then another 30 seconds of exercise, then another 30 seconds of rest, and so on.  You choose a push exercise, a push exercise, and leg or &quot;heart rate&quot; exercise, and you circuit through them in the above fashion.  You go through the circuit five times, so that the workout should only take between 10 and 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book seems to focus on weight loss, which is keen to my goals.  I know I need to reduce the calories I consume, and he addresses that.  But as for exercises, he prefers these burst workouts over cardio.  As a new dad without a lot of time on his hands, are these short workouts an effective program for weight loss?  I'm asking because after looking at his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theiflife.com/&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; I'm worried that I've only stumbled onto another fad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if you need to know any more of the details of the program or about what I'm asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6713" LastEditorUserId="6713" LastEditDate="2013-09-20T03:31:17.030" LastActivityDate="2013-12-14T10:31:15.813" Title="Are so-called &quot;burst workouts&quot; effective for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2866" CreationDate="2013-09-19T05:12:32.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The goal for getting started is to actually just get out there and get moving, get sweating, 4-5 days per week, every week. All you need is 30 minutes a day 4-5 times per week and you &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; get in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a beginner your goal will be to try to do 30 minutes of running straight without walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not quite that out of shape, then an excellent goal is to run 5km in 30 minutes. And/or try to do 60 minutes straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a superior athlete, then you could try 5km in 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6776" LastActivityDate="2013-09-19T05:12:32.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13981" CreationDate="2013-09-19T12:30:52.133" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;What the author refers to as Burst Workouts most other people will call HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. The reason this is highly effective, compared to say slow-poking it on an elliptical for 60 minutes, is that it generates an &quot;afterburn&quot; effect that lasts up to 24h after your workout. Multiple studies shows this and a quick search on Google Scholar will reveal this but as an example I will point to this one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jappl.org/content/111/6/1540.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High-intensity interval training for health and fitness: can less be more?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastEditorUserId="1922" LastEditDate="2013-09-24T19:34:30.987" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T19:34:30.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-19T12:58:20.930" Score="1" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;People I am working on internet and so i have to sit all day and night to do my Job. This has brought many disadvantages in me such as increase in thigh and belly weight, in activeness boredom and etc. But last but not the least i think i getting dull day by day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PLEASE I need your help with your useful suggestions that how can i work and still work but remain as healthy and fresh as I was while starting my work!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6757" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T03:36:39.077" Title="Guidance for the people who sit a lot" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-10-24T17:49:42.177" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13985" CreationDate="2013-09-19T14:25:02.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I don;t know much about you, so this may be inapropriate, but there are things called &quot;treadmill desks&quot; which allow you to work standing up and walking. Try Googling &quot;treadmill desk&quot; and you should get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=treadmill+desk&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;btnG=Google+Search&amp;amp;sourceid=Mozilla-search&amp;amp;start=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=treadmill+desk&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;btnG=Google+Search&amp;amp;sourceid=Mozilla-search&amp;amp;start=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2013-09-19T14:25:02.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-19T19:33:49.053" Score="2" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was running with low shoes (close to barefoot), I was getting a lot of injuries in my feet, but these injuries were minor; after just 3 days of recovering, my feet were much stronger. After a couple of months, I decided to try a pair of shoes with a lot of cushion but then, after just a month, I had a major pain in my hip. Now, I want to come back to my low shoes, but I would like to know if someone has used this type of shoes, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2013/08/shoes-and-gear/2014-running-trend-oversized-shoes_79859&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;maximalism&lt;/a&gt; of Hoka One One. They look very big. Can this type of shoes really be good for long distance running on hard surfaces?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T11:22:43.967" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T11:22:43.967" Title="Are maximalist shoes like Hoka good for running?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;hip&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-19T19:48:36.903" Score="5" ViewCount="910" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running with a fore foot strike and have been told and agree with it, that it is really easy to run uphill. It feels really natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how to I run down hill? Especially when the slope is really steep like the ramps in a parking garage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I strike with the heel it feels really uncomfortable from the impact. If I strike with the for foot it feels like I'm almost sliding downhill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goal is not high speed, but running comfortable without injuries or pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging from the answers so far I think I have to clarify some things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: the sliding sensation is more of the feet inside the shoes, which sit nicely in normal terrain. I pretty certain, they are of the right size, and have plenty of profile. It's just that I 'brake' so much that my feet slide forward inside the shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: If I just ran down the hill without 'braking' I would end up so fast that I wouldn't be able to properly control my steps. The hill in question is really steep and the track rather narrow and uneven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2013-09-21T15:38:42.053" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T18:05:08.133" Title="How to run down a steep hill" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13987" CreationDate="2013-09-19T20:45:06.590" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, people use this shoe: &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.militarytimes.com/pt365/2013/06/11/review-hoka-one-ones-stinson-trail-shoes-look-like-clown-shoes-but-laugh-at-punishing-terrain/&quot;&gt;http://blogs.militarytimes.com/pt365/2013/06/11/review-hoka-one-ones-stinson-trail-shoes-look-like-clown-shoes-but-laugh-at-punishing-terrain/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sara Davidson ran the Laurel Highlands 70-miler in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In total, she has run about 400 miles in them and they're starting to need replacement. So, they didn't make it to the 800 miles claimed by the manufacturer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-09-19T20:45:06.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13953" CreationDate="2013-09-19T21:06:10.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand this question, you want to be able to know how to set your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is reasonable for you is not related at all to what other people are achieving. Your goals should be based on your own motivation and capacity for growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with &quot;&lt;em&gt;How much muscle mass did you gain last month on your program?&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you did as well as you could, following your program diligently and meeting your calorie/nutrition/sleep targets, then a reasonable goal for next month would be about 60-80% of this month's gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If instead you slacked off this past month, then it's possible to break the rule I just gave, but it requires you changing your habits and getting back on your program, and eating and sleeping properly. You should be able to match or exceed this months gains if this month was a particularly undisciplined month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-09-19T21:06:10.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-19T22:00:54.513" Score="1" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing p90x for about four months now on almost a daily basis. I've noticed my pattern of eating has become more frequent and I supplement with protein every day that I work out.  However, I'm not getting the results I expected to get from having done p90x for this long.  I can curl on average about 5pounds more than I used to, I can do a single chin-up, and all together i've lost about 5pounds of fat.  I'm not sure what else I can to boost my results.  Ideally I'd like to be 180lbs (I'm 6'1&quot;), curl 35's - 40's, be able to knock out a set of pull-ups, and just look a little more trimmed.  Is there anything else I should add to my regiment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6782" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T22:24:39.087" Title="Am I doing p90x right?" Tags="&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13995" CreationDate="2013-09-20T06:19:03.990" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have some kind of sportive competition the next day, is it advisable to train?&#xA;What intensity, and what kind of training is advisable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case it's a judo competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6774" LastEditorUserId="6774" LastEditDate="2013-09-20T07:46:12.443" LastActivityDate="2013-09-21T13:00:42.797" Title="What kind of training is the best, if you hava a competition the next day?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-20T06:20:50.523" Score="6" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tracking for fitness is currently based on a 28 day (4 weeks) time window. For example, my goal is to have 3 high intensity exercises per week which means that over the four weeks, it should be 12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is for all kind of physical exercise (walks, longer bike trips etc.), recovery exericses (yoga, etc.). See the dashboard below:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lL4QW.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;Based on experience and research, is the 4 week time window too short&lt;/strong&gt;? The argument for a longer period would be that you capture longer trends, the argument against is that it if it is too long, the motivation for seeing changes decreases. Also, too long of a window might not capture the actual impact of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My overall health goal at this time of the year is not connected to a specific event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T00:08:34.883" Title="Time window for fitness tracking - four weeks or longer?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13993" CreationDate="2013-09-20T07:30:20.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very good question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It totally depends on your current status:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical fitness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Metabolism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long you take to recover.&#xA;Etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To track your fitness is an on going process. It changes with your fitness and time.&#xA;I would say &lt;code&gt;15 to 20&lt;/code&gt; days should be good enough for the activities you have mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some activities which are not measured in days, but in how many repetitions you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T07:30:20.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13992" CreationDate="2013-09-20T07:32:37.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is best to prepare mentally. Imagine the sports/activity thoroughly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the activity at lower intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T07:32:37.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13985" CreationDate="2013-09-20T07:47:19.150" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All I want is the exercises that will help me in 1- Loosing my belly&#xA;  and thigh fat 2- Stay active 3- Get rid of boredom and lazyness 4-&#xA;  Most importantly by sitting all day my senses have got dull so i would&#xA;  definitely like to know about the exercises that will help me to bring&#xA;  all these. – mirxasahib&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;1- Loosing my belly and thigh fat&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Highly unlikely you don't do any activity or with the activity level you are talking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider changing your food habit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;2- Stay active&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do something activity. (How ironic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;3- Get rid of boredom and lazyness&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read books.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get yourself interest in something and learn about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For &lt;code&gt;Lazy-ness&lt;/code&gt;, you have find inspiration. No hardcore external solution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;4- Most importantly by sitting all day my senses have got dull so i would  definitely like to know about the exercises that will help me to bring all these.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are exercises called &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/deskercise-33-ways-exercise-work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deskercise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Twinkle Toe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Stair Master&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Slog, Then Jog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Celebratory Split Squat Jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Cubicle Wanderer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most important of all make up your mind to be fit. No can make you fit. You have to become fit on your own. Without effort non of what you have asked can be achieved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T07:47:19.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13467" CreationDate="2013-09-20T10:50:46.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people don't think about making sure their barbells and dumb-bells are the same diameter. Differences in size are common as well as different diameters between barbells and also between dumbbells. There is no &quot;standard&quot; size as such, it's what you prefer. Some Olympic barbells have thicker bars but today you can simply buy bar-grips to fit any diameter bar (Olympic barbells cost an arm and a leg). Go with what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6783" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T10:50:46.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13988" CreationDate="2013-09-20T13:27:08.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your feet are sliding when you forefoot strike? That's the biggest clue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't heel strike going down hill because it hurts. It also seems very strange to put all that force into the heel and stop my motion when I can forefoot strike and keep things moving forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what's happening is that you're moving a bit too quickly for the traction offered by your shoes. I'd consider checking the tread on the ball of your shoe to make sure it's not too worn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To control traction downhill you can use techniques like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;taking shorter, faster steps where you concentrate on going up and down more than striding out (so keeping your centre of gravity more above your feet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running diagonally (or zig-zag) across the slope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when the slope is too steep for these techniques then you can turn your foot sideways.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2013-09-22T18:05:08.133" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T18:05:08.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14010" CreationDate="2013-09-20T13:32:11.563" Score="4" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a knee injury, so I cannot do things like running, cycling, jumping, or virtually anything else that puts pressure on the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are good upper-body exercises that I could use to burn fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6022" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T14:13:32.660" Title="Upper-body cardio" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2013-09-20T14:52:37.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put one foot on the floor, lift the other in front, keep your body tight and move your hips up. The level of intensity increases as you put your foot higher. Requires no fancy equipement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look also here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/ball-leg-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/ball-leg-curl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6365" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T14:52:37.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10301" CreationDate="2013-09-20T17:03:15.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do a quick search and you should be able to find a free PDF file of the Royal Canadian Air Force 5BX program such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://archive.org/details/Royl_Canadian_Air_Force_Exercise_Plans_&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. It is very similar to what you described, and was such a big hit back in the 1960's that it was sold in booklet form at supermarket check-out stands. It is a very progressive program that was meant for RCAF personel that were stationed in cold remote locations that didn't have very much in the way of fitness facilities. It was such a nice simple progressive program that the MD who came up with it extended the progression of the exercises and the standards from age group 6 to 80+. Each progression is a set of 4 bodyweight exercises (push ups, sit ups, upper back, lower back) done in a roughly 5-6 minute period, followed with a run or walk. There is a level for everyone from children to seniors to elite athletes. Tweak it to your personal needs, and it will still get the job done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6786" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T19:51:34.683" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T19:51:34.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-20T17:17:27.200" Score="5" ViewCount="2330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bike quite a lot (getting to work &quot;15km one way&quot; and general getting around) and been biking for past 12+ years, I also believe I have a relatively good sum of stamina. Unfortunately I would not be able to run same amount of kilometers as I bike. And would suffer from 30-40 minutes cooling down period from even smallest distance running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example last few times I biked 46 kilometers (to location and back), but if I tried to run I would be gasping for breath after first 40-50 meters. Now as the weather is getting colder 10-18 celsius, I find that i'm starting to see signs of oxygen depletion. And general stress on my lungs, at times it feels like the oxygen intake is not enough to keep the brain and the rest of the body going. However my body is generating great amounts of heat, so blood flow isn't being affected and is normal to keep body warm. There were few occasions where I would notice my body producing faint steam during cold weather. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to mention in regards to lungs and cold air intake, is that it feels like there is a block of concrete on my chest compressing it every so often.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At times I would feel like I am holding my breath and my brain is slowly starving, so I have to stop and give my body few moments of rest and then processed to cycling back. I'm not really sure why this is happening since as I mentioned I do bike allot and live a relatively good lifestyle, I don't smoke, drink or do drugs. I do however consume excessive amounts of coffee 8-10 cups of day (instant coffee primarily). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with that said what would be some advice to improve my ability to ride during colder weather? And get rid of the gasping for air occurrence during cold weather cycling.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6787" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T10:09:56.543" Title="Why is it hard to cycle when its cold outside?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13971" CreationDate="2013-09-20T17:28:07.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as your total duration is the same, the outcome, whether it is increases in aerobic fitness or caloric expenditure, should not matter. Both ACSM and USDHHS recommend 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week divided into bouts of at least 10 minutes. (running is vigorous activity, so USDHHS says you can get away with 75minutes/wk and ACSM says 20min 3x/wk)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional info, as long as you are running, you can run the same distance with any speed and burn almost the same number of calories. Same with walking. (but running burns more calories than walking per unit of distance) However, keep in mind that aerobic fitness is more important for your health than calories/body fat%, so the faster you can run, the better (because increases in aerobic fitness is highly related to your activity intensity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T17:28:07.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13942" CreationDate="2013-09-20T17:28:13.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just also recommended 5BX to someone in another thread, Don't be intimidated by the military title and think that it's going to exercise you into the ground very quickly. It has exercises and progressions suitable to everyone from 6 year olds to senior citizens to elite level athletes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6786" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T17:28:13.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14001" CreationDate="2013-09-20T17:40:19.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The late Dr. Leonard Schwartz's Heavyhands program dealt specifically with how the upper body and most specifically the arms were able to boost aerobic performance by taking some of the strain off the legs, ankles, and feet. As a matter of fact he developed because he was a runner and incurred a leg injury. It was huge in the 80's and still has plenty of devoted followers to this day. His book Heavyhands as well as some of the associated DVD's are available from used book sellers. There is also plenty of information about Heavyhands that is available via free search via your choice of search engine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6786" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T17:40:19.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13941" CreationDate="2013-09-20T17:46:06.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, the problem may be where your muscles attach on your bones. The ones that have more leverage is stronger but have lower range of motion. If this is the issue, your smaller chest shouldn't be weaker than the other. It happens pretty commonly actually&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if this isn't the problem, It is probably a form/technique issue. Don't just do more reps on one side. That doesnt solve the issue from the source. Lower the weight, and do exercises slowly while making sure your movements are completely symmetrical. Do this until you get used to it (maybe few weeks), and slowly add some weight. as you get used to it, you'll be able to lift heavy without bending your body in a weird way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T17:46:06.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14007" CreationDate="2013-09-20T20:13:01.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think grasping for air after 50m of running is quite normal when you never did it. I started running about a month ago, and was like running really slow for maybe 100meters, than walk a little, then run for 100 meters for a total of may 2km in 20min. Now about a month later I run over up to 40minutes and 5.5km so far. So once you start training it, you'll improve fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having problems to breath enough like you describe sounds a little like asthma to me. I think symptoms of asthma often increase in cold air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2013-09-20T20:13:01.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13988" CreationDate="2013-09-21T12:52:17.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general you should simply relax your body and let gravity &quot;pull&quot; you down the hill, and the effect will be that you'll take longer steps but without increasing energy for that. On the other hand, when facing quite steep downhills it takes a while to get used to it and it is easy to actually add more energy than necessary due to that you will speed up too fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to simply relax in my whole body and &quot;just&quot; let my legs do the movement without using the muscles too much. But in the end I would say that to be able to run downhill, you probably need to train quite some time to get well developed running legs/leg muscles etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best regards,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6791" LastActivityDate="2013-09-21T12:52:17.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13992" CreationDate="2013-09-21T13:00:42.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on what the competition is? You don't want to deplete energy resources, so it's best to &lt;code&gt;rest&lt;/code&gt; and make sure you eat properly ans &lt;code&gt;stay hydrated&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6792" LastActivityDate="2013-09-21T13:00:42.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14007" CreationDate="2013-09-21T13:09:36.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling and running are completely different exercises. When you cycle, there's is almost zero impact on the body as a whole and this allows you to concentrate on the main action which is moving your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When running, the impact on the body is far more, especially if you're not used to running.  You have to concentrate on moving your arms, legs and your core is actually working to keep the body balanced so there's a lot more going on.  Once your body gets used to the extra tension on the body, you can then concentrate on your ideal pace, distance etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue you see with cold weather could just be the body having to work harder to warm up the muscles, it might be worth you stretching a lot more before cycling in the cold to get the body warmed up and ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6792" LastActivityDate="2013-09-21T13:09:36.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14007" CreationDate="2013-09-21T19:12:39.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try to put this in layman's terms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling uses mostly legs, but running uses almost all the muscles in your body. By cycling, it trains your legs and heart to be able to deliver oxygen to the working muscles. However, it doesn't do too much good with adapting the arms/core as much as running. So when you run, your upper body and core will get tired because those muscles are not used to taking in a lot of oxygen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cold temperature should actually help your endurance. 10-18 celsius should be no problem. In warmer weather, you sweat more, which reduces blood volume, which decreases the amount of oxygen your muscles get. Also in warm weather, your body tries to get rid of body heat by delivering more blood to the skin (i.e., the outer surface of your body). When this happens, again, your muscles get less blood and therefore less oxygen. It does take a bit longer to warm up in cold weather though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ability of your lungs to take in oxygen is almost never a limiting factor to your endurance. You'd have to be in very high altitude where there is little oxygen or be an extremely elite athlete (i.e., VO2max around 68) where you have the ability to use oxygen at a crazy rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing. Coffee intake will actually increase your endurance temporarily. It contains caffeine, which increases heart rate and promotes more delivery of oxygen to muscles. In fact, many endurance competitions limit how much caffeine you are allowed to consume before the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastActivityDate="2013-09-21T19:12:39.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2013-09-22T03:23:33.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So more oxidative enzymes means you have a higher capacity for going longer and harder.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And it turns out that an initial study (16) on the effect of HIIT training on oxidative enzymes demonstrated massive increases in skeletal muscle oxidative enzymes in subjects engaging in 7 weeks of intense cycling sprints, in which subjects performed four to ten 30-second maximal cycling sprints followed by 4-minute recovery intervals, on just three days per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But what about HIIT vs. aerobic cardio?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another 6-week training study (5) compared the increase in oxidative enzymes that resulted from either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1) four to six 30-second maximal effort cycling sprints, followed by 4.5-minute recovery bouts and performed 3 days per week (this is classic HIIT training)…&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;or…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2) 40–60 minutes of steady cycling at 65% VO2 max (an easy aerobic intensity) 5 days per week.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The levels of oxidative enzymes in the mitochondria among subjects who performed the HIIT program were significantly higher – even though these folks were training at just a fraction of the volume of the aerobic group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How could this favorable endurance adaptation happen with such short exercise periods?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It turns out that the increased mitochondrial density and oxidative enzyme activity from HIIT is caused by a completely different message-signaling pathways than traditional endurance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In this alternative pathway, a “master switch” is activated that promotes the favorable endurance adaption. This master switch is known as PGC-1α (pronounce this as “pee-gee-see-one-alpha” if you want to impress your friends), which stands for “peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g coactivator-1α”. PGC-1α causes that favorable increase in mitochodnrial density and oxidative enzyme activity, but can be activated by two completely separate signaling pathways – the calcium–calmodulin kinase (CaMK) pathway or the adenosine monophosphate kinase (AMPK) pathway (15).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Continuous, voluminous endurance training seems to activate the master PGC-1α switch via the former pathway, while intense interval training activates it via the latter pathway&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/03/best-ways-to-build-endurance-2/#ixzz2faWvCBWQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6797" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-22T14:16:06.150" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T14:16:06.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14001" CreationDate="2013-09-22T05:23:29.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it is harder to burn more calories and gain aerobic fitness just from using your upper body simply because you are missing out on using the legs in the activity. But here are some suggestions that may or may not depending on your condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rowing machine without moving your knees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elliptical with no incline&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arm ergometer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI, any activity burns fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T05:23:29.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14025" CreationDate="2013-09-22T07:56:40.527" Score="7" ViewCount="31731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering how one should control the speed of running. Currently my running speed for a 'long' run goes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1st-3rd minute&lt;/strong&gt;: Starting an 9km/h going down to about 8km/h. I actually try to run slower, but find it difficult and awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-40th minute&lt;/strong&gt;: From a little over 8km/h slowly decreasing to 7km/h.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-45th minute&lt;/strong&gt;: Slightly increased speed (7.5 to almost 8km/h) due to 'end of run motivation'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate is at about 140bpm after 5minutes and increases slowly to about 150bpm after 40minutes, going to 155-160 in the last 5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;: Should I change anything on the speed profile in order to be able to run for longer time at about the same average speed or a little faster. This is not about the training effect of the pace/intensity, but about the ability to maintain the average speed for longer / increase the average speed for a given distance. Basically as if the run would be a competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Especially&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I find it a little strange that I ran so fast in the beginning, although I actively try to go slow. Is this ok, or should I try harder to go slow?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I go slower after the first 5 minutes in order to keep my speed until the end?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;: I picked up running 5 weeks ago and my longest run was (this morning) 6km in 45min as described above. My medium scope goal is to run 8km in an hour. My maximum heart rate is 180bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2013-09-22T10:29:18.777" LastActivityDate="2018-10-18T08:12:55.763" Title="At what speed should I run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2013-09-22T09:55:38.620" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been in and around the military for 25 years and I've used gym showers for more than 30. Despite this, I still have my own questions about the unwritten etiquette of showering in gym locker rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The etiquette differs greatly based on sexual orientation, but the universal rules are these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Golden Rule: Boners make public showers awkward.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Rules:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Always shower before and after using the swimming pool or sauna (wet or dry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Always wear a towel when going to and from the showers (and/or the sauna). Some guys may want to see you in the buff, but none are going to tell you. The rest of the guys simply don't want to see you naked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Wear flip flops or some other form of foot protection to protect you and others from the spread of foot fungus and other unmentionables (see rules 8 and 9).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Talking is fine, in or out of the showers. Just don't talk about sex, women, other men, or anything that is likely to cause arousal. See Golden Rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Even if someone is putting on a show for you, don't stare (especially if it arouses you -- see Golden Rule).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Keep your hands to yourself. Touch only what is yours. Sharing a bottle of shampoo or body wash is okay, but don't make physical contact with the other person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) Don't tug on your junk, not even a little. Even if it's cold and drafty in the showers and you are self-conscious about shrinkage. Even though we're not looking, per se, all guys can all tell when someone has been tugging on it to compensate for cold-air shrinkage. Don't spend any more time or attention on your junk than is required to wash and rinse it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8) Don't masturbate in the shower. Most people don't want to see you. Even those who do want to see you don't want to step in your man goo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9) Don't pee in the showers. No one wants to smell the acrid smell of your urine. And we don't want to watch it swirl down the drain with your shampoo suds. And we don't want to step in it, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10) Take all your stuff with you. If you shave in the shower or use the last of your body wash/shampoo, take your trash with you. If you're one of those peculiar types who wears his undies, jock strap, or gym shorts to the showers, make sure you take your crotch sweat-soaked clothing with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11) Dry off as much as possible in the shower and keep your butt facing the wall while you do it. Because very few guys want to sit on the bench and see your naked butt or junk at eye level while you dry yourself off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12) Don't pay compliments to others on their bodies or body parts. If a guy has great definition in his pecs, delts, quads, or (especially) glutes, keep it to yourself or mention it outside the locker room. Even as much as I enjoy having someone flirt with me, I don't want it to come from the guy next to me...in the locker room at the gym. It's creepy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a guy is straight, remember the Golden Rule. If a guy is not straight (gay, bi, curious, etc.), there are caveats to the rules, but only if it is known that the other guy is not straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the rules I have come up with based on 30 years worth of observations and experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6799" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T09:55:38.620" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14023" CreationDate="2013-09-22T10:24:16.313" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basic running concepts are as follows: Certain running intensities cause certain adaptions within your body (VO2max, lactate threshold, etc). Therefore, when training, runners often either&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run at a constant pace/intensity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run at a constant pace/intensity with breaks in between, known as &lt;strong&gt;interval training&lt;/strong&gt; (used for high intensities that can't be maintained for more than a couple of minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intensity does not necessarily correspond to a certain pace (hills, the amount of sleep you got, hydration, etc. and so on affect the intensity). But targeting a certain pace is a good point to start with, therefore I recommend tracking your running pace with a GPS device or something similar. For learning more about which training intensities cause which effects, take a look my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12273/interval-training-versus-linear-training/12275&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; question along with the linked resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that increasing the amount of time you can hold a certain pace is equivalent to increasing you average pace for a given period. If your pace decreases from 9 to 7km/h at the end of a 45min run, this just means you are not yet able to run 45mins with a 9km/h pace. If you don't want your pace to decrease at the end, you could either start with a lower pace (maybe 7.5-8km/h) pace, or run a shorter distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that it is natural that your heart rate constantly goes up during the run, even if you run at the same pace. This effect decreases for experienced runners tough. So don't go for constant heart rate, but rather for a constant pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T11:03:13.723" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14001" CreationDate="2013-09-22T18:04:30.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shadow boxing, or punching a bag would work. You've just got to be willing to punch at a pretty high frequency for long periods of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is just fat burning and you have an injury though, it might just be a good opportunity to eat a lot less and let your body burn the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2013-09-22T18:04:30.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2866" CreationDate="2013-09-23T13:01:51.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running nearly two years ago, as I hit 40. I'd never been a runner, or very fit up to then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slow. The walk-run-walk is not to be sneezed at -- I couldn't run more than 100 m at a time when I started. Think of it as interval training. Go a bit further each week, running 3-4 times a week, or whatever you can fit in. Don't over do it as you feel fitness starting to come on; you need to harden up your legs and even lower back. Better that than hurting yourself and going backward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 6-8 weeks, you should be able to do a 3-4 miles. FWIW, I find that you need to be doing around 8-9 miles every second day to really get in the zone when running (i.e. really enjoying the run, not wondering when you'll finish). Maintaining this isn't always possible -- work, travel, family, etc. But it's a buzz when you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary:&#xA;1. You have to start somewhere. It will hurt, but fitness will come.&#xA;2. Pay money for good shoes. Your whole body will thank you.&#xA;3. Get a heart rate monitor -- will let you know how hard you are really working, and if you can upload to web, great motivational tool to watch progress.&#xA;4. Mix it up -- bike ride, walk, weights.&#xA;5. Upper body weight lifting will improve your times if you get to that point.&#xA;6. OK to have a slower week every 3-4 weeks or so -- actually helps your body.&#xA;7. Start slow, build slow, and know that it will come. In three months you'll feel great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck !!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6805" LastActivityDate="2013-09-23T13:01:51.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2013-09-24T11:40:48.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sports-tracker.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sports Tracker&lt;/a&gt; for many years. There is version for Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows phone, and there is also Web service that sync with mobile application. It is free. You can connect it with Heart Rate monitor (Polar, Sports Tracker etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find it &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stt.android&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HERE&lt;/a&gt; on Google Play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6818" LastEditorUserId="6818" LastEditDate="2013-09-24T17:19:20.770" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T17:19:20.770" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-24T12:40:32.440" Score="9" ViewCount="4682" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this doubt for quiet some time now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The place where I live is quite hot &amp;amp; humid. So, I wear cotton briefs always, including while running.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While I run the half marathons or while I go for long distance cyclings, my briefs really get wet. I have got used to this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But then I am going to run my first full marathon next month and then the subsequent month, my first full Ironman.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I definitely can't use the cotton briefs for the long events.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my questions is, is there any special briefs for these purpose or is it not required to wear briefs at all? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2013-09-24T16:17:39.930" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T13:22:30.477" Title="What material of underwear should I use for running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;&lt;ironman&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13" CreationDate="2013-09-24T15:29:54.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1gyYP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really surprised &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.runtastic.android&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Runtastic&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.runtastic.android.pro2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PRO&lt;/a&gt;) hasn't been mentioned, since it's the &lt;strong&gt;second-most-downloaded&lt;/strong&gt; of its kind (after Endomondo), but the &lt;strong&gt;top rated&lt;/strong&gt; actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runtastic and Endomondo has equally useful and high-quality implementations of features, but I like Runtastic better, because it has more accurate evaluation and statistics features, both on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://runtastic.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Runtastic website&lt;/a&gt;. Runtastic also has many other fitness and helper applications, and the company makes valuable accessories, like bluetooth heart rate monitors, watches, or cadence monitor for bikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endomondo has more social features. That's all. I would consider between Endomondo and Runtastic. Just check features list and pick the right application for you. (Also check their fitness-site's capabilities.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6771" LastEditorUserId="6771" LastEditDate="2013-09-24T15:35:00.153" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T15:35:00.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-24T16:10:34.950" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to compare my progress in running with the progress of various other people that I know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that everybody uses a different mobile app for tracking their progress and there is no chance to convince them to all switch to a single app. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore I wonder if there is a website that is able to grab the information from the various  tracking apps and aggregate them in one site. Is there such an application?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T18:37:52.833" Title="Is there a website for tracking people that use different apps?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;websites&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14041" CreationDate="2013-09-24T16:40:46.577" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that there is any such website as there is no profit for these companies in sharing their data with such an aggregator. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although some sites work in cooperation with other sites, eg Fitocracy can pull your running data from Runkeeper and Runtastic does similar stuff, I don't know of a public API to access the data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if it were possible to pull the data without such an API it would be problematic as the non public data is subject each persons privacy and as such there would be legal problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I see is that people export their own data and upload it to a secondary site (which could be automated), but I am not aware of such a project and doubt that people would go through this effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T16:40:46.577" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13458" CreationDate="2013-09-24T18:04:23.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally you want the elbows flaring out a bit, as you'll be pulling with your biceps more when elbows are closer in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wider grip lets you hit the lats more (which is the point of the exercise) while taking pressure off the arms. Depending on your goal, you can adjust the grip. Supinated (palms facing towards you) grip when targeting biceps and forearms more, pronated (palms facing away from you) for engaging the back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do what feels more comfortable. You should be able to intuitively grab the bar at the right position for you and your elbows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6821" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T18:04:23.270" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14041" CreationDate="2013-09-24T20:41:11.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. I use a fitness app called &quot;MyFitnessPal&quot; which is basically a colorie tracker at heart but also interfaces to a variety of running apps to show calories consumed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can follow this link to the MyFitnessPal website for a list of the apps which it connects to.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6822" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T20:41:11.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14041" CreationDate="2013-09-24T21:04:09.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no one size fits all answer.  The various running apps may integrate with MyFitnessPal, or Fitocracy.  There are some apps that also integrate with your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.withings.com/en/bodyanalyzer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Withing's scale&lt;/a&gt; or FitBit.  So if you run, you have options available to you.  However, if you lift, there isn't anything I'm aware of that allows you to compare and contrast across apps.  There are fairly large technical issues that affect whether this is even feasible.  For example, what units does one site use vs. another?  Are the units just a label?  This second issue is what makes JEFit difficult for me to use because it doesn't really convert metric and imperial measurements, it just slaps the unit name on the end of the number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger question is whether it's healthy for you to compare yourself against others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can lend to an inflated ego if the people you are comparing against are not where you are on particular lifts.  Doesn't really help you get better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can lend to a deflated ego and lack of confidence when the people who were weaker are now stronger than you and still getting better when you stay the same.  Again, doesn't really help you get better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comparing yourself to other people doesn't help you become better at your goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do is compare your current training to your previous training.  If you are making progress, great!  Keep doing what you are doing.  If you aren't making progress towards your current goals, then use those logs to analyze why not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T21:04:09.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2013-09-24T22:18:12.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried many of the techniques described here, plus a few others (e.g., use lane divider floater coils as an abacus), but always lost track.  I purchased a SportCount Combi counter/timer for about $30 and have been very pleased.  It's small (you wear it like a ring) and easy to use: just push a button at the end of every lap (or length if you prefer) and it counts them and keeps track of the total elapsed time and the average, fastest, and slowest laps.  If you wear it with the button on the inside of your hand you can push the button with a finger of the same hand.  If you wear it with the button on the outside, you need to push it with a finger of the other hand.  It's small and light enough that it's not noticeable while swimming.  See it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportcount.com/products.php?category_id=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are fancy sensor-based watches that automatically determine when you are swimming and when you are done with each lap or length but they cost a lot more (over $100) and are larger and more obtrusive.  However, they can tell the difference between swimming and resting, and they are automatic so no button-pushing needed.  More advanced (and expensive) models can monitor your heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any of the manual techniques described here work for you, great!  If not, a technical solution can be a real aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastActivityDate="2013-09-24T22:18:12.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14246" CreationDate="2013-09-24T23:55:21.193" Score="3" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spoke with a trainer a while back and after telling him my current weight and desired weight he suggested that I eat 3500 calories per day.  I am 6'5 and at the time I was about 200lbs and I reached my goal of 220lbs.  If I want to continue to gain weight (say I want to hit 240), do I need to increate my caloric intake or will I continue to gain wait by eating 3500 calories a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was the 3500 calories a day designed to help me gain weight indefinitely, or just hit 220?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T03:05:09.790" Title="Calories needed to gain weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14039" CreationDate="2013-09-25T03:52:22.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be non-allergic to the cloth material under two condition atleast (when it is dry and when it is wet/soaked with sweat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you comfortable wearing it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it make you feel good? (Because you'd be running long distances and this(inner-wear) should be last thing in your mind bothering you.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prevent &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2321/932&quot;&gt;chafing&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-09-25T03:52:22.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12647" CreationDate="2013-09-25T08:05:15.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What kind of squat do you do (high- or low bar)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to do a low bar squat, it's naturally to lean your torso more forward in order to hit the posterior chain more (glutes, hams,...).&#xA;If it's a high bar squat then your torso is more upright and you &quot;dive&quot; in between your legs with your hips.&#xA;Regarding your style, your elbows should point down (high bar) or behind you (low bar) in order to keep your lumbar spine in a natural position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do you start your squat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to start with the hip drive first (&quot;Sit DOWN&quot;) and not to start with moving your knees. The knees come forward in the second step.&#xA;Furthermore not unimportant is the fact, that you keep your shoulderblades together or in other words: push your chest up and out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about your core?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you are going to squat, it's viable to activate your core. Make sure you take a medium breath (not a full) and turn your belly button in as far as you can before you go down.&#xA;This action stabilizes your torso and helps your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these questions are relevant to your problem.&#xA;Other questions you should ask yourself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I warmed up properly? Not only the metabolic component, also regarding the joints and the bands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I controlling the weight or is the weight controlling me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my focus enough to fulfill the repetitions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing enough supportive exercises for squats, e.g. hyper-extensions, planks...? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2013-09-25T09:51:35.187" LastActivityDate="2013-09-25T09:51:35.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14051" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-25T11:11:02.090" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing alternating dumbbell exercises where you only work one side at a time, holding only one dumbbell, eg Dumbbell Rows or Kroc Rows, which side should I start with?&#xA;I've taken a look at some videos and most people start with their right side. This confuses me. Most people are right handed and hence I assume that the right side is their stronger side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it makes sense to begin with the weaker side so that I am not too exhausted when switching to the other side.&#xA;So should I start with the weaker or stronger side?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T09:30:15.580" Title="Which side to begin with, doing alternating exercises?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-25T11:17:56.540" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have access to a standard gym in Africa, and will be here for one year.  What program or combination of programs would provide the largest physique changes for when I return to the states?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastActivityDate="2013-09-25T13:51:17.853" Title="I'll be in Africa for one year: What is the most effective combination of programs to add mass?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-10-01T11:32:17.373" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14051" CreationDate="2013-09-25T11:35:25.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't much matter. I switch it up to avoid favoring one side or the other. If always starting on the right helps you keep track of sets, then I can't see it being a tremendous problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-09-25T11:35:25.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14052" CreationDate="2013-09-25T13:51:17.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heavy compound exercises, e.g. squats, deadlifts, pullups.., are always good for building mass.&#xA;Depending on your progression it makes sense that you do a full body workout (squat/lift, pushing and pull on every training day) or a split (1 day push, 1 day legs, 1 day pull).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optionally you can add isolation exercises in order to remove imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And remember: Never skip leg exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2013-09-25T13:51:17.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14056" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-25T14:31:27.727" Score="1" ViewCount="1829" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is related to this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3900/is-it-bad-that-my-feet-turn-outward-when-i-run&quot;&gt;Is it bad that my feet turn outward when I run?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the exact experience, but my circumstances are a little different as I believe I have a physical condition that forces me to run this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't run much at the moment, due to a debilitating knee pain that running triggers. Recently, I was persuaded to undergo an assessment by a specialist running school, who videoed me and pointed out a few things wrong with my technique that were likely responsible for my discomfort. In particular the fact my feet turn out and I cross-over - this they blamed for the knee pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took some lessons, and I've mostly fixed the cross-over. However, I cannot seem to fix the turnout without causing pain. If I do what they tell me, then the outer edge of my foot is taking nearly all the load and in an extended session, results in ankle and shin pains.&#xA;I've tried explaining to them, but they seem to be used to dealing with people for whom the turnout is easily correctable - i.e. there are no physical reasons for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me explain more here - if I sit on the floor with my knees aligned vertically, my feet are turned out around 15 degrees. My feet are also turned with respect to the vertical plane by the same amount, i.e. if I sit in the same position against a wall, then I can place the outside edges against the wall, but the balls of my feet are about a finger width's distance from the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that when I walk, if I turn my feet to that they point straight ahead, I end up walking almost completely on the outside edges of my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is what should I be doing?&#xA;Is my problem correctable - i.e. If I keep trying to be straighter, eventually everything will start working better or should I aim to land with my natural turn out position?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure anymore who I should be talking to about this - the running school appear unfamiliar with how to deal with my condition. The previous &quot;specialist&quot; seemed to know very little about running and with hind-sight was useless to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having taken advice from many different people over the past few years, what I'm looking for here is info from people who are familiar with my condition, and have experience with trying to resolve it. If you don't have this experience, please don't add your two-pennyworth for the hell of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T15:05:17.230" Title="Feet turned out while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14048" CreationDate="2013-09-25T14:37:09.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to get to 240, go back on your 3500 calorie a day diet. If your weight keeps going up, then you know you are still eating a surplus of calories. If your weight doesn't go up, then you need to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;220 lbs will require more calories to maintain, and so you may not see much (if any) gain on the same diet that got you to this point. One of your better options is going to be letting the scale tell you whether you are eating enough or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-09-25T14:37:09.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-26T01:10:10.143" Score="4" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing a program that promotes warm-up sets before performing working sets at maximum weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I do 3 warm-up sets at increasingly heavier weight, and am considering changing the warm-up exercises to a similar but slightly more challenging varient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The example I'm thinking of is with back squats with 3 warmup sets. Instead of doing the back squats for the warmups I was considering doing,:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x5 reps overhead squat @ 20% * 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x5 reps overhead squat @ 40% * 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x5 reps front squat @ 60% * 5RM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3x5 reps back squat @ 100% * 5RM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I've chosen those exercises, is that I find overhead squats more challenging on my core and stability, however its much harder to perform at high weight. However, the movement is quite similar, so I assume it would still have provide an adequate warm-up for the quads/glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, front squats again are generally performed at a lower weight than back squats, and have benefits for core strength. So far, I've tried this twice and haven't noticed any impact on my working sets, nor has it prevented me increasing the weight on the following workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for performing a warm-up prior to the working sets, I'll quote &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ%3aThe_Program#How_do_I_warm_up_properly_for_my_training_sessions.3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The warmup sets serve only to prepare the lifter for the work sets; they should never interfere with the work sets. As such they should be planned with this in mind. The last warmup set before the work set should never be so heavy that it interferes with the work set, but heavy enough that it allows the lifter to feel a heavier weight before he does the work sets. It might only consist of one or two reps even though the work sets are five or more reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, while I understand the benefit of a warm-up, I feel like I need something that is at least a little challenging. For example, a 20kg (bar-only) back squat is a non-challenging movement,  however, when performed as an overhead squat, I don't feel any more strain on my quadriceps (the primary muscle of the working sets), However I feel the extra technique required for the overhead squat (which at 20kg &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; challenging) might have some positive impact in the long term - but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What, if any, medium- or long-term impacts might I see by substituting warm-up sets with a more challenging variant?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are benefits, I'll probably ask a separate, similar question that addresses bench/overhead press and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-09-28T21:25:21.007" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T15:14:24.717" Title="What happens if I substitute different exercises for my warm-up sets?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14051" CreationDate="2013-09-26T01:29:20.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When playing chess against the computer I have a trick to quickly decide if I am going to be white or black. If the date is odd (eg. July 21) I play black. If it is even (eg. July 22) I play white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ensures that you train equally as black or white player in the long term, and spares you the need of having to decide or remember which side must be first this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is any long-term effect of starting your dumbbell exercises always with the same arm, this trick will completely dilute it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T01:29:20.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14068" CreationDate="2013-09-26T05:57:39.290" Score="11" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear a lot of advocacy of squats as a method for producing testosterone and human growth hormone as part of exercise-induced muscle hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot, however, find any academic research on this question outside of anecdotal evidence.  Is there any research to suggest that squats are the most effective exercise at producing hGH and testosterone?  What other exercises do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**Note, I am not skeptical of the claim that the total work done during a particular exercise is related to hGH output-- I am skeptical of the claim that squats are significantly MORE effective than other exercises at inducing higher postexercise hGH blood levels.  I am wondering if there is evidence explicating the degree to which certain compound exercises contribute to blood-serum hGH levels.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastEditorUserId="6567" LastEditDate="2013-09-26T09:30:57.933" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T16:35:45.260" Title="What does academic research say about the relationship between squats and hGH/Testoterone?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14385" CreationDate="2013-09-26T06:17:56.183" Score="1" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am intending to start working out in the morning. I am a fan of being outdoors so would prefer not to go to a gym or use any indoor equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals are to remain fit and in shape. I am not currently overweight but extended periods (9 to 12 hours) spent sitting per day have started to affect the size of my belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what the merits are of cycling versus running as a beginner with regard to achieving the goals stated above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6834" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2013-09-26T11:22:43.167" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T20:18:37.877" Title="What are the merits of cycling vs running for a beginner?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14051" CreationDate="2013-09-26T09:30:15.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The major reason to train your weaker side first would be to ensure you're not doing extra reps on your stronger side, and potentially increasing the difference in strength between the two. However, my experience is that's only a concern when you initially begin weight training, and that provided you train each side equally they should even out over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, provided you avoid doing more work with your stronger arm, it shouldn't matter which you start with. You can do your weaker side first, then simply match repetitions with your stronger arm. Or you can do your stronger side first, then force yourself to complete that number of repetitions with your weaker arm (even if you have to take a short break before completing the final few).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5547" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T09:30:15.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14066" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-26T12:32:13.087" Score="2" ViewCount="6852" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following Nerd Fitness's bodyweight program, starting with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;beginner&lt;/a&gt; exercises and having built some muscle, now starting to add some of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/17/advanced-body-weight-workout-warning-this-will-kick-your-ass/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;advanced&lt;/a&gt; exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among the advanced exercises are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dip_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dips&lt;/a&gt;, for which I don't have any suitable equipment, or bar stools, as suggested in the exercise description.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there another exercise I can replace the Dips with to get the same workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-06-26T21:04:41.617" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T21:04:41.617" Title="Alternative to dips when no suitable &quot;equipment&quot; available to do dips?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14066" CreationDate="2013-09-26T12:50:07.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you try to reach with dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to hit the triceps, you can do some pushup variations, e.g. diamond pushups.&#xA;If you'd like to hit your chest, then it's a little bit difficult.&#xA;Maybe this video gives you some hints (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALg8W4xxmSk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALg8W4xxmSk&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for the case that you haven't thought of installing rings on your ceiling:&#xA;This would be a great improvement for your bodyweight career.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T12:50:07.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14062" CreationDate="2013-09-26T14:55:55.020" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't been able to find any research specifically targeting a squat routine versus a different muscle group routine either, so some of this will be inference. I'd theorize that squats are designated as prime exercises simply because they are some of the largest, strongest muscles in the body, so they will have the largest overall response. This is in part corroborated by some of the studies comparing both men and women, or young/old men on the same exercise protocol, which could be attributed to the generally smaller muscle size between the sexes/ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the studies that I read through, which also suggest that higher reps with less weight/rest (i.e. more total work than maximal, most compared 5 rep with 3 min rest vs 10 rep with 1 min rest, near maximal vs. 70%) produced higher differences in serum hormones. None, however, specifically address squats compared to other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thieme-connect.com/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-2007-1024673&quot;&gt;Male and female comparison&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jappl.org/content/87/3/982.short&quot;&gt;Young vs. older men&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/69/4/1442.short&quot;&gt;Total work differences&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/75/2/594.short&quot;&gt;Women only study&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/74/2/882.short&quot;&gt;Max vs. 70% work in trained athletes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T14:55:55.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14069" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-26T15:17:48.820" Score="6" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out again (including a bit of light-to-moderate weightlifting) after several years away from the activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next morning, I had the typical expected soreness&amp;hellip; except around my right elbow. The muscles local to the joint are pretty stiff and sore. There &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be a bit of swelling (hard to tell, but nothing major) but it is definitely uncomfortable to extend the elbow completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be working to stretch this area out throughout the day, or is it better to leave the arm in a &lt;em&gt;relaxed&lt;/em&gt; position until normal movement is no longer uncomfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T15:50:30.243" Title="Is it better to relax or strech a &quot;strained&quot; muscle?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14069" CreationDate="2013-09-26T15:50:30.243" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the pain is in the joint, it is likely to be an inflammation based problem known as tendinitis.  Tendinitis happens when you have bad form, inadequate warmup, poor equipment, and/or unbalanced work.  There &lt;em&gt;is likely&lt;/em&gt; some swelling, even if it's not visible on the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most immediate relief, the protocol I use is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compress the joint--should restrict but not constrict blood flow (if your fingers turn white it's too tight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the joint without weight through the full range of motion without acute pain repeatedly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove compression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of this exercise is to get blood to flow through the joint and flush out the inflammation.  It should greatly relieve the pain you have if not eliminate it; however, if you keep the same routine it will come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've had a bit of a layoff, your joints are probably not accustomed to the work you have them doing yet.  Examine your routine and make the appropriate changes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you using movements relying on the joint to stop weight?  An example would be a laying triceps extension.  I recommend choosing a different exercise if that is the case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you pushing and pulling with the joint?  The muscles around the joint need to be strengthened in a balanced manner.  If you do a lot of triceps work, the add in biceps work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are your muscles sufficiently warm before you put load on them?  Use light weights and higher reps to get blood flowing before working up to the main weight you plan to use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the equipment to blame?  Certain movements require your barbell or dumbbell to let the handle rotate while the weight does not (this is why barbells have rotating collars).  If the collars don't rotate freely, it could be the weight rotating that's adding more force to the joint that you don't want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T15:50:30.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14071" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14291" CreationDate="2013-09-26T18:37:03.263" Score="0" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently heard of several use cases of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium-chain_triglycerides&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Medium-Chain Triglycerides&lt;/a&gt; for somewhat rapid weight loss.  Seeing &lt;a href=&quot;http://paleohacks.com/questions/205035/coffee-and-mct-experiment-cant-ketosis-and-carbs-j.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this seemingly corroborated anecdote&lt;/a&gt; got me started down this thought process.  I then discovered an actual protocol on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bulletproofexec.com/rapid-fat-loss-protocol/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BulletProofExec.com&lt;/a&gt; that seems to take the cake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have experimented so far with MCT consumption and we've already verified that it does kick your body into ketosis. She had some (fascinating) serious allergic reactions in her arms where she has received allergy shots for the past couple years in the surrounding tissue / fatty stores there.  This should not have happened and the doctors had no explanation as to why it occurred, but we realized afterwards that she had just taken her first does of MCTs an hour before this kicked her butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with this kind of protocol good or bad?  And does anyone have any ideas of what kind of physical activity / exercise during this kind of protocol would be appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6837" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-09-26T23:45:08.880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T14:45:55.903" Title="Medium-Chain Triglycerides for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-26T20:26:39.997" Score="1" ViewCount="26061" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing is I have this trendy Mutant Muscle Gainer that advises me to take 4 cups of it in a day when I workout - 2 cups before the workout and 2 cups after. This goes pretty well to me. But the thing is, however, that I feel a little bit ashamed when I don't drink it during the days I'm not exercising - I'm drinking it to gain weight mass, but I'm not drinking it regularly as I'm only going to the gym 3 days a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be bothered at all? Or should I drink this thing each and every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6838" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-26T23:14:30.357" LastActivityDate="2014-12-06T16:18:16.013" Title="Should I drink muscle gainer on days when I'm not working out?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14072" CreationDate="2013-09-26T23:39:10.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle gainers, protein shakes and the like are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_supplement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;supplements&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. They are meant to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/supplement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supplement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; your diet if it is lacking in certain essential requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have investigated what your daily calorie and macro-nutrient requirements are, and you find yoruself falling short of what is neccessary to meet your goals, they yes continue to take them. However, consider that they are, again there to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodybuilding_supplement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supplement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; your nutrition and where possible the bulk of your food intake should come from food, preferably, unprocessed whole foods to ensure that you are getting a diverse variety of essential vitamins and minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-09-26T23:39:10.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14077" CreationDate="2013-09-27T06:24:35.413" Score="3" ViewCount="1201" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been dozens of questions asked about the best way to maximize muscle mass.  Consistently, the highest rated answer suggests focusing on whole-body compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and shoulder presses instead of split routines.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Routines like StrongLifts 5x5 or Starting Strength, it is argued, will produce much greater strength and mass gains than a split routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there is any actual research to confirm compound exercises are more effective at muscle hypertrophy than split routines.  I'm all for the simplicity of Starting Strength, but I always feel like I need to add in bicep curls or tricep extensions in order to feel like I'm getting the most out of my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastActivityDate="2013-09-27T09:38:57.390" Title="What does scholarly research suggest about the difference between heavy compound exercises vs. split routines for maximizing muscle mass" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14075" CreationDate="2013-09-27T09:38:57.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think this question is answerable in the scientific literature. It is fundamentally vague, and once made specific the number of relevant variables is too great to form a simple answer at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is our goal?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are we trying to measure? &quot;Mass&quot; is a useful term in casual workout-programming discussions, but are we looking to produce muscle hypertrophy in specific muscles, or all over, or all over but in some areas more than others? Lean mass or total mass? Are we concerned with how we look during this time, or at the end of the routine, or in two years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Strength&quot; is easier to measure, but it is quite distinct from mass. It's a fairly simple matter to determine strength differences over time with 1-repetition-maximum tests. I'd be quite surprised if the strength routines (3x5 and 5x5) performed worse than the bodybuilding routines (split isolation) for purposes of strength. &lt;em&gt;(One problem in running the comparison would be specialization in the measured movement. Strength of a person is amorphous and impossible to measure, but any specific test of strength is vulnerable to specialization. For instance, standard measures include a 1RM leg press or leg curl, 1RM squat (what kind? Front, back, and to what depth?), or deadlift or bench or whatever, and grip strength. Powerlifting routines would have a clear advantage in the squat and deadlift simply due to practice of the movement.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What differences are relevant?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many differences between any given 3x5 routine and any given bodybuilding routine that it's impossible to isolate and measure just one. Is it the use of compound exercises versus isolation routines? Barbells versus machines? Split versus whole-body workouts? Taking or not taking rest days between workouts? Total workout volume, total weekly volume, volume:rest ratio, volume per exercise, volume per muscle, volume per movement? Or is it intensity, not volume, in each of those? What about exercise selection, exercise order, and rest periods? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these matters at least a little bit. Some matter more than others. One of the biggest unmentioned differences is that most split or isolation routines use a different &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8239/1771&quot;&gt;number of repetitions per set&lt;/a&gt;. Another is that they do not use a linear progression of weight, which 3x5 novice routines do. That makes quite a difference in terms of strength increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The differences between these are possible to determine and in many cases have been studied. However, comparing a 3x5 strength routine to a split-and-isolation bodybuilding routine requires analyzing all of them, and how they may work together or counteract each other in parallel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note, also, that the most important factor for success in strength and mass increase has little to do with &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; of these differences. &lt;strong&gt;Compliance&lt;/strong&gt; is the biggest determining factor of success. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;Did you lift heavy weights? Did you make all your workouts? Did you eat right? Did you get enough sleep? Did you keep doing these things over several months? Years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A way forward&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since comparing &quot;3x5 to split&quot; is just not feasible in a single study, we must look at the totality of evidence and form a conclusion based on our judgment. It is also possible to form conclusions based on experiments that use the scientific method but that cannot reach scientific rigor: experiments with oneself, one's peers, one's trainees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, we're left with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heuristics&lt;/a&gt;. A 3x5 compound-exercise full-body strength routine works very well for increasing strength in novices, and mass as well if they eat enough (and correctly--which is an entirely separate bag of worms). An isolation-exercise split bodybuilding routine works very well for increasing strength and mass in novices if they eat enough and correctly. Beyond that, we're left with a slew of individual preferences that will tell us how to choose between them: is their priority athleticism or is it looking good? Strength or mass? How often can they work out, and what's their background? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question gets enormously complex. The only thing I am sure of is that praying to Science for a Single Undisputed Heavyweight Champion True Answer of the World is not the approach that will give us understanding. The truth is nuanced and comes with error bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-09-27T09:38:57.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14072" CreationDate="2013-09-27T15:34:21.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some things to think about, assuming you &quot;gainer&quot; product is one of the many whey protein (+ creatine?) powder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The manufacturer will always tell you to take too much of it (and sell more of it that way) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement taking does not gain muscle, hard work in the gym does&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra protein intake can help maximize result of the &lt;em&gt;hard work&lt;/em&gt;, and help with recovery, and is usually consumed right after exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too much protein can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19449377&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bad for your kidneys&lt;/a&gt; especially for people with pre-existing conditions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so if it was me, i would limit my intake to half the recommendation, and only right after workouts. But that's just me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastEditorUserId="6169" LastEditDate="2014-05-15T09:41:01.550" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T09:41:01.550" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14060" CreationDate="2013-09-28T11:11:39.703" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Relevance of front and overhead squats as warm-up for back squats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm-up sets are meant to prepare the entire body for the heavy challenge of the work sets. They're not used to practice other lifts, or to be challenging in themselves. Warm-ups are there to increase flexibility and blood flow, and to practice impeccable form in preparation for the challenge of the work sets. If the work sets are truly heavy, it's necessary to warm up with the same exercise in order to get the full benefits of the warm-up. Specifically, a heavy work set requires full coordination and complete adherence to proper form for &lt;em&gt;the specific kind of squat&lt;/em&gt; you're doing. This is of particular concern for novices, whose form is not as well ingrained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also of more concern when working with heavier weights, where deviation from perfect form has more dire consequences. I would advise against warming up with anything but the exact kind of squat your work sets are going to be if you're squatting more than bodyweight times 1.25. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your back squat is less than bodyweight then the only concern with using different squats to warm up is learning suboptimal movement patterns, not injury. But in that case, you would be avoiding one of the main purposes of warm-up sets for the novice, which is to practice form by accumulating volume. Throwing in other types of squat means it will take longer to learn good form in all of them, since they are similar enough skills that learning one will interfere with learning the others. Therefore I don't see any utility in doing front squats before back squats. You'll ingrain a different movement pattern from the back squat and won't be fully prepared for the work sets. If you want to front squat then add front squats to your program, but they don't do much good as a back squat preparation and they could do some harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my number one advice, the most important thing for you to read and be aware of, is that &lt;strong&gt;if the first set of back squats you do is a different kind than what you've been &quot;warming up&quot; with, you're eventually going to have a bad time if you're lifting heavy weights.&lt;/strong&gt; A 1.5x bodyweight back squat without doing &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; back squats yet in the workout is a back squat with a greatly increased risk of injury. That's because you essentially did not warm up for that back squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My experience with overhead squats in the warm-up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I've used overhead squats as part of my warm-up in the past, they weren't really part of my warm-up for the back squat. I would do them just before or just after the first warm-up set for back squats, but that was only because they were light and quick and fit in well at that spot in the workout. They were marginally useful as preparation for the back squat, but really I did them because A) I wanted to do overhead squats and B) they're a good &lt;em&gt;general&lt;/em&gt; whole-body warm-up. Therefore they went after running or skipping rope and before my squat warm-up sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard of programming alternating work sets of front and back squats, but only for lifters where the form for both is 100% unquestionably ingrained. I think that the warm-up for that included both front and back squats of moderate weight. Again, I really can't see it being a good idea to &quot;warm up&quot; one exercise by doing...a different exercise. That's like not warming up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Caveats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do want to warn you about two possible pitfalls with these exercises. One, many people, even athletes, are not physically capable of an overhead squat with proper form without specific mobility and strength work in the shoulders and back. Be careful. Two, the back squat isn't meant to have a &quot;primary muscle&quot;. If it had one, it would be a tie between the glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and quadriceps. To conceive of the warm-ups as preparing the quadriceps for work is to misunderstand the squat itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-09-21T15:14:24.717" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T15:14:24.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14088" CreationDate="2013-09-28T23:24:26.937" Score="5" ViewCount="1524" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am frequently hearing of new research finding how bad sit-ups and crunches are (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/19/the-man-who-wants-to-kill-crunches/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;). So what are safe ways to exercise the abdominal muscles? For example, are planks proven to be safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastEditorUserId="20490" LastEditDate="2016-05-28T13:51:12.690" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T18:02:23.427" Title="What are ways to exercise abdominal muscles without harming your back?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14086" CreationDate="2013-09-28T23:32:41.820" Score="9" ViewCount="519" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only do about 3 full pullups (from completely extended to head above bar).  I hear that pullups are a great way to build muscle, but I wonder if this could really be true if you can't do very many yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are pullups still a great workout if you can only do a couple at a time?  Should I build my arms in other ways, like benching and pushups, then start working out with pullups when I am strong enough to do more at once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5446" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-09-29T07:36:16.667" LastActivityDate="2013-09-29T08:38:17.833" Title="Are pullups still a good way to build muscle before you're able to do many of them?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14083" CreationDate="2013-09-28T23:52:07.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should be building your arms by doing pressing motions, like bench press and overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, they will have a negligible effect on your ability to do a pull-up. So, waiting until your bench press or overhead press is strong isn't worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you'd do pull-ups/chin-ups in a program that &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; includes bench press and overhead press movements as main lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 full pull-ups isn't a bad starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-09-28T23:52:07.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14039" CreationDate="2013-09-29T00:46:31.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, for running you should never wear cotton. Once it gets wet it chafes and that hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear nothing under your shorts. Most shorts have a liner that may be perfectly sufficient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear short running tights. This is mostly for chafing to prevent the skin of the thighs rubbing together. You don't need to wear anything underneath. Personally, I wear running shorts on top of the tights (unless it's very hot) because I don't wish to display that much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear wicking briefs. Personally I use Patagonia Men's Capilene® 1 Stretch Briefs. I wear the briefs, then tights, then shorts. The briefs mean that the tights remain somewhat hygienic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I recommend a liberal usage of some form of lubricant (I use BodyGlide) around your nether regions. This is especially important for long races, when it is wet and when it is hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important advice is to try your system out thoroughly well before the race. Race day is not the time to find out that your system chafes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-09-29T00:46:31.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14083" CreationDate="2013-09-29T07:39:36.963" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes, Pull-Ups Are Awesome Even If You Can Only Do A Few&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should do multiple sets of chin-ups, using negatives to get a larger total number for the workout. If you can only do three pull-ups in a set, then do three--strict ones, good ones, all the way down and all the way up--and then do another three as negatives (jumping to the top and lowering yourself down as slowly as possible), then wait three minutes and do it again, then wait three minutes and do it again, then wait three minutes and do it again, then wait three minutes and do it one last time. If you can't get three every time that's fine. Use the negatives to get five or so in a set, and do several sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't do even one full range of motion strict no-kipping pull-up, the lat pull-down machine, assisted pull-up machine, and bands would also be called for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also do bench press or push-ups or dips to build the opposing muscle, for both health and looking big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-09-29T08:38:17.833" LastActivityDate="2013-09-29T08:38:17.833" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14089" CreationDate="2013-09-29T14:46:19.217" Score="7" ViewCount="3371" Body="&lt;p&gt;After more than a month walking at a fast pace everyday, my body seems to be adapting and now I need to walk at a ridiculously forced high speed in order to feel it sort of challenging. So I want to start running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am doing air squats once every three or four days or so. The number of squats has steadily been increasing too, and I plan to restrict them to once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running might impose some stress on my knees, so I want to run only once a week as well, at least for the first month until I am convinced that everything goes well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question, which one the following two alternatives is best, in order to minimize the risk of knee injuries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running and squatting on the same day&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Good&lt;/em&gt;: it allows a whole week for the knees to recover. &lt;em&gt;Bad&lt;/em&gt;: the stress on the knees imposed by the two things on the same day might add up and increase the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running on, say, monday and squatting on thursday&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Good&lt;/em&gt;: Both activities don't overlap in the same day, minimizing the amount of stress within the same day. &lt;em&gt;Bad&lt;/em&gt;: only two/three recovery days between activities that put stress on the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-09-29T16:11:43.983" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T15:57:59.363" Title="How to combine running and squating within the week so that stress on the knees is reduced?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14082" CreationDate="2013-09-29T16:08:07.623" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abs can be sufficiently trained via isometric exercise. I believe the safest way to exercise the abdominals is to use them for their intended function (stabilization) under a progressively increasing load or difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The co-contraction of the abdominals with the spinal erectors that is required during heavy squats and deadlifts in order to stabilize the torso (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&lt;/a&gt;). As your squat and deadlift get heavier, your abs are forced to get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stabilization during pull-ups or chin-ups. These will leave your abs sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a rehabilitation setting, when trying to correct posture-related back-pain, isometric co-contraction is suggested over concentric abdominal work, as well as emphasizing the stabilizing role of the abdominals (&lt;a href=&quot;http://portalsaudebrasil.com/artigospsb/holist006.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://portalsaudebrasil.com/artigospsb/holist006.pdf&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise involving co-contraction of the abdominal and back muscles is also in line with stabilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simultaneous isometric co-contraction of transversus [abdominal] and multifidus [back], while maintaining the spine in a &lt;em&gt;static neutral position&lt;/em&gt;, should help re-educate the stabilizing role of these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another publication supports the use of isometric abdominal exercises in a therapeutic setting (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pitt.edu/%7Eneurolab/publications/1997/BeimGM_1997_JSportRehab_Abdominal%20strengthening%20exercise-a%20comparative%20EMG%20study.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.pitt.edu/~neurolab/publications/1997/BeimGM_1997_JSportRehab_Abdominal%20strengthening%20exercise-a%20comparative%20EMG%20study.pdf&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric abdominal exercises [...] have also been found to improve low back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-09-29T16:08:07.623" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14087" CreationDate="2013-09-29T16:16:26.290" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squatting shouldn't be putting any stress on your knees that would lead to injury under the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You perform them controlled, and unfatigued&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You mirror a low-bar squat posture even in your air squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You only squat so deep as to get the tops of your thighs below parallel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't use an excessively wide stance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will result in 0 ACL stress, low PCL stress, low tibio-femoral compression if you don't squat very heavy or very low, and low patello-femoral compression with bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should get your form checked, and then squat as much as you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, rather than continually increasing the number of squats that you're doing, I would suggest increasing the weight that you're moving. That would help keep repetitions low, which is important when avoiding doing squats in a fatigued state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-09-29T16:28:45.273" LastActivityDate="2013-09-29T16:28:45.273" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2013-09-29T19:32:02.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel exactly like you, I'm most concerned about the physical part of yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert, but I enjoyed the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.com/B0001WTWYC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Power Yoga classes&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.poweryoga.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bryan Kest&lt;/a&gt;, especially the 2nd:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An innovative series of lunge moves provides the primary activity in this workout that emphasizes finding your personal edge - the maximal yoga pose that still permits proper yogic breathing. Kest guides you and an in-studio class in a total-body regime that helps maintain flexibility and suppleness while building strength and well-being. Features comprising various poses are described so that you can add elements as you become more adept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6853" LastActivityDate="2013-09-29T19:32:02.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-30T12:56:58.093" Score="2" ViewCount="4075" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that burning fat leads to acetone odor while burning muscles leads to ammonia smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I distinguish both smells as they are very similar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T08:39:37.720" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T08:39:37.720" Title="How to distinguish acetone and ammonia odor after running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14092" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-09-30T13:21:21.240" Score="13" ViewCount="100454" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given time, proper training, and the wish to succeed, would anyone be able someday to do a 180 degree split? Or are people out there that for some reason would never be able to do it, no matter how much effort they invest in it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastEditorUserId="6634" LastEditDate="2013-10-02T16:04:35.823" LastActivityDate="2020-10-13T17:27:44.107" Title="Can anyone do the 180 degree split, if they really want to?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14092" CreationDate="2013-09-30T14:04:51.290" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stadion.com/misconceptions-on-stretching-and-flexibility-and-the-method-of-testing-your-potential-to-do-a-side-split/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tom Kurz says&lt;/a&gt; it's a misconception that most people are physically incapable of training up to a full side split:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are simple tests that show you that for the great majority of people the structure of joints and the length of ligaments are not the obstacle for doing splits. You can use these test to determine if you have the potential to do front and side splits before you start your stretching program. (Yes, there are people who cannot do side splits because of hip joint deformity called coxa vara.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the side split test: Stand beside a chair or table and put your leg on it as shown below. Make sure that both your hips and your raised leg are all in one line. Repeat this test with your other leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rPMKa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Test of Flexibility Potential: Side Split Test&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think that the length of your muscles and structure of your hips will not let you do side splits, try this test… The leg resting on the chair is in the position it would have in a split&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, what have you done? You have done “half side splits” with both your legs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have proved to yourself that both your hip joints have all the mobility (range of motion) needed for a full side split!&#xA;You have also proved that the muscles of each of your legs are already long enough for a side split. You know that no muscle or ligament runs from one inner thigh to the other (or, if you don’t know it, you can ask your doctor). So, what keeps you from doing the whole side split with both legs spread sideways at the same time? Your nervous system, that’s what!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-09-30T14:04:51.290" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11574" CreationDate="2013-09-30T19:57:01.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/09/27/fatigue-explained/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Juggernaut Training Systems discussing fatigue&lt;/a&gt; sheds some light on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training-induced fatigue has 3 primary proximate causes: substrate depletion, neuroendocrine alterations, and microtrauma.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Substrate depletion has to do with your energy systems, including: ATP, Creatine Phosphate, and glycogen.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ATP is replenished after several seconds of rest (rest between sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine Phosphate is replenished after several minutes of rest (rest between exercises)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glycogen might need several days to replenish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Microtrauma accumulates until the muscle or connective tissue is prone to injury (or until injury occurs).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Endocrine changes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As fatigue accumulates, testosterone production drops and cortisol production increases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sympathetic activity predominates (fight or flight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasympathetic activity decreases (recovery and regeneration)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nervous system displays poorer synchronicity, and intracellular signalling pathways promote catabolism (AMPk) and discourages anabolism (mTOR)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Corrective action:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core problem here is accumulating fatigue.  You can arrange your training so that fatigue doesn't accumulate past a certain point; however, most inexperienced trainees don't know enough about themselves to know how to adjust their training.  This is a big reason why beginner programs recommend whole body rest between training sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The number one culprit with cumulative fatigue is volume.  Training volume does need to be heavy enough to induce change, but varying volume can allow you to maintain strength/size while providing a relative rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defense #1:&lt;/strong&gt; vary exercises week to week.  NOTE: this can be carried too far, but the variations can strengthen smaller muscles that aren't hit by the main movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defense #2:&lt;/strong&gt; incorporate &quot;light days&quot;.  I.e. alternate between high volume and low volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defense #3:&lt;/strong&gt; incorporate a deload week.  This is a week with half the volume to allow your body to recover more, best done about every 4-6 weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defense #4:&lt;/strong&gt; incorporate &quot;active rest&quot;.  This is two weeks cutting both volume and intensity in half, best done about once a year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article doesn't differentiate between localized rest and whole body rest, and at some level your body doesn't either.  The biggest danger with localized rest is that some muscle groups are difficult to avoid.  For example, it is easy to overuse your triceps and biceps as you work your upper back, shoulders, and chest.  It can be done, but you do have to be smart about it.  Pay attention to your body, and if your muscles just don't want to work right, those muscles may very well be over fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-09-30T19:57:01.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6359" CreationDate="2013-10-01T06:41:02.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from cold New Zealand and was posted to 34 degrees C (93.2F) in Timor Leste. I found that I adapted quickly, drank lots, and made incredible gains in strength and lost fat rapidly due to the heat and ease at which my muscles warmed up. So harden up, push through, watch your hydration and enjoy the gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6863" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-01T08:10:47.827" LastActivityDate="2013-10-01T08:10:47.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12767" CreationDate="2013-10-01T16:01:41.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can put those numbers into a site like: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.linear-software.com/online.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.linear-software.com/online.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you should get a good BF% number back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure what Illioc is though?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6866" LastActivityDate="2013-10-01T16:01:41.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-01T20:05:16.420" Score="-1" ViewCount="4632" Body="&lt;p&gt;I notice that if you get two people to workout one will usually tend to get sore, overwork, or have a great deal of pain the next day while another will get a good workout and succeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is not experience based either because I know some who have worked out years and get sore if a little overworked, and some who never workout who do not get sore as easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6867" LastEditorUserId="6867" LastEditDate="2013-10-01T20:19:40.737" LastActivityDate="2013-10-02T13:54:30.757" Title="How come some people get muscle soreness so much easier than others?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-01T20:17:17.410" Score="-2" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have outlined potential reasons as to why some get stronger faster and easier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Testosterone - while it's not 100% correlated with strength, more promotes more muscle mass, which increases potential for strength. &lt;strong&gt;Perhaps I have low testosterone?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Genetics - while they are not a 100% make or break, some people have very poor genetics when it comes to proper CNS use, muscle size, efficiency, etc. &lt;strong&gt;I have poor balance as well, and lose breath running barely 50 feet, being at a healthy weight. Maybe I have bad genes for powerlifting/fitness, and should just be a lazy, weak nerd?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Biomechanics - while they again do not fully dictate things, and genetics also can cover this, some people have larger limbs, digits, hands, thickness, skeletal frame, leverage, muscle placement, recovery speeds faster, etc. &lt;strong&gt;Maybe I have poor recovery speed, and bad biomechanics as well?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4.Stress - I have constant anxiety and sleep poorly, and suffer from stress a lot due to social anxiety. &lt;strong&gt;Maybe that explains why I so poorly can improve?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, and being truthfully, aside from taking a buttload of roids, and working out, are some people just destined to fail easily at weight training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paradox notes:&#xA;I notice that after one week off or so I get dramatically weaker, but if I workout more than once a week I fatigue and overwork, and suffer from pain. I have worked out for years, but fatigue after several reps, and suffer pain for days if I do too many reps. My focus is only strength, so I do tend to stay with low reps, but I never get stronger. I even tried 5x5, but nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I've learned something in these years? Should I just throw in the towel and agree that aside from roids, I am a low-T, poor genetic mold of a person who works out years properly, with proper diet, and still can't compare to the average man, and admit that weight lifting is not for me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is there an alternative? &lt;strong&gt;And do not say working hard because I have done that all my life, used proper technique, proper diet, and have not made any gains in years.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6867" LastActivityDate="2013-10-01T22:49:31.067" Title="How come I don't built a great deal of strength quickly, yet I see countless other lifters who do?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-10-03T02:19:53.183" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14098" CreationDate="2013-10-01T22:49:31.067" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of considering what you are doing right you should be focusing on what the people you are describing are doing right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do these people actually exist?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, what are they doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've done what a lot of beginners do: Jump around with different things until you find something that makes you magically strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should instead be focusing on 3 things: Diet, your program, sleep. In that order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't get stronger if you don't eat enough, you can't get stronger if you don't stick to a program, and you can't get stronger if you don't give yourself time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted I don't know who the people you are comparing yourself to are, but I can tell you that I've countless people (myself included) throughout the years get stronger just by setting those three things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a real diet? By real I mean having calculated caloric intake and measuring it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a program that works via progressive overload? Have you stuck to a program for more than just a few months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd focus on settling into a real diet and program rather than thinking about whether you have low testosterone or need steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6868" LastActivityDate="2013-10-01T22:49:31.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14097" CreationDate="2013-10-01T22:53:49.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt;, the type of muscle soreness you get from a workout, is not an indicator of anything other than your body not being used to what you just did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If two people train together and one gets soreness and the other doesn't it just means the other person is adjusted to that routine already. It's not a negative at all and the person who is sore is not getting any extra benefit from the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the question you're asking is really sidestepping the question you want to ask, due to you implying that the person who doesn't get sore &quot;will get a good workout and succeed.&quot; This is not the case. Getting sore is nothing other than your body not being adjusted to something, and a sore body can still continue working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6868" LastActivityDate="2013-10-01T22:53:49.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14097" CreationDate="2013-10-02T13:54:30.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is that everyone is different, and every day is different, and each gym session is different. Some days I might be on my game, other days I might have a terrible workout - even if all other factors appear the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be the effect of a workout earlier in the week, or a bad sleep, or slight dehydration or any number of other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as Kasra said, sore is not a measure of a workout - it may be connected but is often orthogonal to your workout success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is wrong is expecting consistency - we are humans. We vary. That's life :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" LastActivityDate="2013-10-02T13:54:30.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14112" CreationDate="2013-10-02T22:55:23.947" Score="0" ViewCount="3107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 20 year old, 150lb male, who has been doing stronglifts for a little over a month and a half. I've been lifting weights for around two years now so I am not a &lt;em&gt;complete&lt;/em&gt; novice. I have been making great strength gains and I am really happy with doing the program. However, I have been experiencing pain in my muscles and I'm wondering if I should stop lifting for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my arms I am experiencing a dull aching pain starting from my lateral deltoids down to just before my elbow. The pain seems to be the worse when I am doing barbell rows but it has also been hurting while doing overhead presses and long after I work out. When ever I am at home and lift or pull something laterally, I feel that dull, aching pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, my lower left lats, (and just the left one), has a sharper pain that is definitely from the squatting. I am not sure why I am getting this pain. I think its due to the fact that in an effort to keep my chest up and back straight I am actually arching my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These pains are NOT muscle soreness. Currently I am just pushing through it as it is not cripplingly painful. Is this a bad idea? I suspect the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: For further clarification I work out 3 days a week per the program. For arm movements like overhead press and bench, I try to rest at a max of 1 min 30 between sets. For Squats I usually rest about 2-2.5 minutes. For each exercise I warm up with 2 sets of empty barbell, then 3, then 2 reps of increasing weight. At the end of the workout I do the assistance exercises. 3x8 sets of pullups on overhead press days, and 3x12 sets of dips on bench day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely lift on the heavier side of what my body is capable of. When I first start my work set of the squats, that first rep feels very difficult almost like I won't be able to complete even the first rep. Things get a little easier after that first set and I can usually get the whole 5x5 in. However most strength guys talk about being explosive. With the exception of my rows and deadlifts, nothing feels explosive about my workout. I'm barely making the full 5 reps with the squat and overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6877" LastEditorUserId="6877" LastEditDate="2013-10-04T06:16:10.490" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T18:15:29.230" Title="Muscles Hurt While On Stronglifts 5x5" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14111" CreationDate="2013-10-02T23:10:12.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain during a lift is indication of injury. We can't diagnose what that injury is, but you need at minimum a rest week, a 20% deload, and mandatory form checks before allowing yourself to progress to heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-10-02T23:10:12.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-02T23:58:11.333" Score="1" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know how to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculate one rep max&lt;/a&gt;. I can calculate my one rep max and compare it to its previous values to find out if I have gained strength or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to do the same thing for supersets. How can I arrive at a (scalar) metric that will allow me to compare my strength change for a superset?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am following a HIT weight training program, very low volume, low frequency, high intensity, anaerobic.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2350" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-04-14T19:03:45.647" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T17:28:07.177" Title="How to measure strength increases for supersets?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;assessment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-03T01:34:09.870" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from my poor genetics, high body fat, poor fitness,  Social Anxiety, bad sleeping patterns, and poverty I can not determine the correct approach to measuring recovery between workouts. Albeit I have no fixed workout program I do workout at least every week, and have only been gradually getting weaker and slower. I wanted to know if there's some key methods to finding recovery periods effectively, because I have tried &quot;listening to my body&quot; and,  to be honest, it doesn't tell me the indefinite truth. I have taken heed to initiate workouts when feeling fresh to suffer from delayed onset soreness right after, and intense pain. I was then instructed to lay low on exercise for a week longer, making me even weaker once again. Point is my body isn't signalling right, or I am lost here. I never find my place in measuring recovery time, often suffer from muslce pain and delayed soreness for many days, and end up weaker instead of stronger, or get a little stronger too fall back and get weaker again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never in the years I have worked out successively gotten stronger on a linear basis, and most of my rare gains came up and went down very quickly.  I am not denying ever being strong in some sense, but my issue is that I never could keep what I had, and what I had was nothing overall as good as I had hoped for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6878" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T21:59:01.783" Title="What determines recovery speed, progressiveness, and patternized approaches to falling within the compounds of a structured recovery program?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-10-14T04:53:16.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14121" CreationDate="2013-10-03T06:23:29.743" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually go out in the evening for walking to get some physical workout done as I have a sedentary lifestyle (I sit a lot in workplace as I am a computer programmer). I walk for nearly 30-40 mins or sometimes for almost 1 hr and I go for walking at around 7 pm. While walking I feel the urge to eat and drink something. Is it good to eat or drink while walking? If yes then what is the best food or fruits or supplements that I can carry along with me while walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6870" LastEditorUserId="6870" LastEditDate="2013-10-03T07:04:58.600" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T11:31:50.157" Title="What can I eat while walking?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14127" CreationDate="2013-10-03T08:40:14.940" Score="1" ViewCount="3189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should the upper body move forward and backward during the seated cable row?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was watching instructional videos and found both styles, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSVR_63eKM#t=2m05s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSVR_63eKM#t=2m05s&lt;/a&gt; — almost no movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzf_IMgQ1Zc#t=1m00s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzf_IMgQ1Zc#t=1m00s&lt;/a&gt; — fairly significant movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is right, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6022" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T17:58:34.740" Title="Body movement during the seated cable row" Tags="&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14119" CreationDate="2013-10-03T11:31:50.157" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want, take some water with you. Its not bad to eat or drink while walking, but food for a short walk is completely unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If its a short slow walk you don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to eat. And if you are a sedentary office worker, you probably meet your caloric requirements. Take a few sips to hydrate your mouth, and you'll probably notice your &quot;hunger&quot; disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T11:31:50.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14082" CreationDate="2013-10-03T12:03:09.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the exercises recommended in the article you cite (planks, bridges, leg-lifts, bird-dogs and &quot;stirring the pot&quot;), full-body exercises that rely on your core muscles are also great ways to improve abdominal fitness, and they often strengthen your back at the same time, thereby helping prevent injury instead of potentially causing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of those are swimming (especially dolphin, butterfly and other strokes that rely on the abdomen -- dolphin-kicking with fins on is one of my favorite ab workouts, possibly just because it's so fun), tai chi (choose a style appropriate to your fitness level), surfing (or skateboarding, or slacklining; anything where you have to balance your body) and rock-climbing (if done properly, focusing on balance and technique rather than just arm-strength).  You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who's a regular at any of those who doesn't have a nice strong stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just looking for one exercise to add to a workout, I'd go with planks.  The plank and exercises built on it are incredible stomach-strengtheners -- we use those on my swim-team as daily ab-exercises and they're intense.  As with all exercises, form is crucial if you want to avoid injury, so double-check and make sure you're doing it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T12:03:09.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14124" CreationDate="2013-10-03T14:13:19.810" Score="4" ViewCount="2160" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my understanding, which is based on Mehdi's video explaining how to perform the back squat, the reason why it is so important to squat to parallel is to avoid a muscle imbalance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the other words if a person only does a quarter squat or half squat he is only stimulating his quads but not his hamstrings, and this will eventually lead to a muscle imbalance which will lead to knee pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is, why can't a person avoid this imbalance by simply doing hip dominant movements such as the dead lift to balance things out? In other words, there should be no problem doing half squats so long as he is doing hip dominant work as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-10-03T15:01:44.830" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T16:15:00.777" Title="Why is it so important to squat to parallel?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14123" CreationDate="2013-10-03T14:31:36.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of the reason for squatting deep is to avoid muscle imbalance, but that's not my primary reason. Squatting to parallel or beyond uses the knee and hip joint through a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2012/08/13/how-are-partial-and-full-squats-different/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fuller range of motion than half-squats or other partial movements&lt;/a&gt;. This is good for mobility and strength for a variety of tasks. Squatting deep also protects the knee joint by progressively strengthening its tissues by training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of squatting is not to put more weight on the bar, but rather to make your body more capable of difficult tasks. The full squat, or at least the parallel squat, do that better than the partial squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T14:31:36.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14123" CreationDate="2013-10-03T16:15:00.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll address this in two ways, as the final answer really does depend on your goals.  Unless otherwise stated, when we are talking about squats, I'm assuming back squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Health Reasons for Full Squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, one of the main reasons to squat to depth (defined as the crease of the hip parallel or lower than the top of the knee) has to do with joint health.  The squat is a normal movement that is innate when we first become mobile.  When squats are performed with proper technique and to full depth, we get the following benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased posterior chain involvement, which includes calves, hamstrings, glutes, the full core.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased knee stability due to a good balance of posterior chain and quad involvement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased or maintained useful range of motion due to the mobility required to hit full depth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased strength and power generation throughout the full range of motion--important for sports performance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats really are a full body exercise.  If your goal is general health, squats are a more efficient mode of training than splitting the work between two different exercises.  If your goal is to be more powerful, then full squats help you develop that initial drive better than many other modes of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training for Aesthetics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a figure or bodybuilding competitor (or simply training for aesthetics), the only thing that matters is winning the competition.  You do need to remain healthy, but the only range of motion required is what you need to get into your poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, emphasizing quads by using partial range of motion squats, or simply just using leg presses is completely valid.  You will still be judged on your posterior muscle development, but you'll have a different set of exercises for those.  What's most important here is that you don't ruin your posture or cause your joints to not be aligned properly.  That is where injury occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some bodybuilders or athletes who are cross training will base the core of there training around big compound movements to build the general strength and size, and then zero in the details with isolation work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveats to Partial Squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Partial squats do have their uses, but typically beginners or people training for general health don't need them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partials can be used to &lt;em&gt;make the squat harder&lt;/em&gt;, by stopping just below your sticking point and reversing direction there.  This is desirable when you want to get a stronger squat, but it should used as an supplemental lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partials can be used to &lt;em&gt;perform overload work&lt;/em&gt;, essentially getting your body used to handling heavier weights.  This is useful when you are trying to get a stronger squat or a stronger deadlift (partials would be off of blocks).  Overloads should be used sparingly as they can cause fatigue that lasts for a few days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partials can &lt;em&gt;provide a false sense of strength&lt;/em&gt;.  This can hit you by getting crushed by weight you can walk out but can't control when you try to descend.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partials &lt;em&gt;might not give the results you want&lt;/em&gt;.  If your goal is quad development, you need to at least go down to where your quads are first engaged.  Otherwise you aren't getting the full benefit of even partial squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Training Modes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are glorious things.  Nothing builds back strength like picking something really heavy up off the ground.  However, full squats and deadlifts have a good synergy.  Full squats help get the bar off the ground--which for many people is the hardest part.  There are different variations of leg and core training that help maintain the joint health benefits of full squats, while emphasizing different muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High bar vs. Low bar&lt;/strong&gt;.  One of these will be more comfortable to you.  Low bar puts more training stress on your lower back, hamstrings, and hips.  High bar allows a more vertical torso which provides a fairly even training stress on all involved muscle groups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Front squats&lt;/strong&gt;.  These emphasize the quads and upper back muscles more as you keep the bar across the deltoid muscles in front of your neck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snatch grip deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;.  These emphasize glute and upper back muscles, helping to increase lockout power and the ability to get the bar off the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jumps (both for height and distance)&lt;/strong&gt;.  These help generate force more quickly.  Training jumps and squats helps both get better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prowler&lt;/strong&gt;.  Both an excellent conditioning tool, and an exercise that helps you generate starting power from a crouched position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list is far from exhaustive, and I haven't touched on pause squats, split squats, hack squats, Romanian deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, etc.  The reason full squats are used as a cornerstone exercise for many athletes is that they have much better carryover to their sport of choice than most of the alternatives.  However, most athletes incorporate different variations of the squats to address what they need.  Strength training should both increase the usable strength, and help keep the athlete healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't a competitive athlete, and your focus is general health, full depth squats provide more training efficiency than the partials plus other assistance exercises needed to hit all the areas the back squat hits--including the core muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T16:15:00.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12999" CreationDate="2013-10-03T16:47:01.557" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two elements to front-splits:  The hamstrings and the hips.  Both will need stretching to accomplish what you want.  You'll also need to strengthen the surrounding musculature, or you'll be stretchy but not strong enough to safely get into and out of the position(s) you want.  The length of time it'll take you to achieve this will depend on your body, so please be aware of your limits and don't push too hard.  As always, having a trainer assess your body and what it needs specifically is the best way to reach a difficult goal, but if you're generally fit and flexible, this should work for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, add squats to your workout,&lt;/strong&gt; if they aren't there already.  Focus on spreading your legs wide (knees point outward more than forward), and on dipping and raising smoothly.  Keep your back straight (butt under, not sticking out) and your heels on the floor.  This will build the hip and leg strength you need. The squat with the widest stance is called sumo squat, example &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdNQ51TJPZw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6AisD.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After your regular stretching, place a pillow or yoga-block in front of you, put your hands on it, and sink down into a forward split as far as you can.  Stay static and hold this posture for one full minute.  Try to RELAX your hip and leg-muscles, and let yourself sink further if you can, but don't &quot;push&quot; downwards.  (Trust me, this will hurt enough without pushing.)  You'll feel this mostly in your hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get up, shake it out, and turn to the side.  Do a deep lunge with your rear leg straight and the front leg bent.  Your knee should NOT be farther forward than your toe, however -- this is very important.  Make sure your rear leg stays perfectly straight.  Focus on keeping your upper body vertical -- even bent slightly backwards is ok if it helps you stretch -- and letting your weight sink into your forward hip as far as possible.  (This is basically a side split, but stabilized by your front foot for safety.  Once you can do a side-split, it's safe to do this hip stretch by just doing the split, with your body vertical and focusing on sinking into the hip, same as described here.)  This is to stretch your hip-flexor and tendons; again, breathe, and try to &lt;em&gt;relax&lt;/em&gt; your quads (thigh-muscles) and stomach, letting your body-weight pull you farther into the stretch.  If you're comfortable, it's safe to add a gentle dynamic stretch to this -- a few small &quot;bounces&quot; -- to encourage it to sink farther. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do the same side-split stretch on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's safe to do these stretches daily, but listen to your body and take a day off (do gentler stretches on that day, so you don't get stiff) if you become way too sore or feel unstable.  Make sure you're drinking LOTS of water during flexibility training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source:  My personal trainer in martial arts, and his sifu, both use this training sequence for teaching splits to kungfu students (including me).  While some may argue that  the dynamic and strength-building components are only necessary for jumping and kicking, we would disagree; training flexibility without strength is a recipe for future injury, which is why these exercises are all isometric and include muscle-strengthening companion exercises like squats.  We also deliberately don't train JUST hamstring flexibility, since it's easy to injure yourself if your legs are very flexible but your hips are not.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6880" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2015-03-26T14:29:53.223" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T14:29:53.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14120" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:23:19.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They both are correct, although the one with Coleman where he moves slightly doesn't really add much, and does add slightly higher risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theory is that by leaning forward on the eccentric phase you can get a greater stretch on the lats, and thus a better exercise. However, what you are really doing is simply changing the angle of the upper arm in relation to the upper body, and getting slightly more activation out of the lower back muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you watch carefully, the arms don't really start pulling in the Coleman video until his back is almost straight again, and they end in the same position, with upright back, shoulders pulled back tight, and elbows close so the grip is snugged in against the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main differences is that by allowing the flexion forward, you can get an increase in the momentum of the weight, as it is already moving by the time your arms get into the act. If you are going for high weight, this can help, but it does increase the risk of injury because of increased activity/strain on the lower back. Assisted higher weight exercises and strict form exercises both have their place/uses, definitely what you want to avoid is going past vertical away from the weight stack in either instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T17:23:19.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13153" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:29:42.787" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That isn't a bad workout per se, but there's a lot in it that won't specifically do anything for your bottom.  For example, jumping-jacks are cardio, with some leg and core-muscle elements.  That isn't to say they shouldn't be in your workout; just that they're not directly addressing the problem you've asked about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides whole-body exercises like swimming, climbing, hiking, running, etc. that use your body-weight to tone and strengthen major muscle-groups (including the legs, hips and glutes), the single best exercise I know of for rear ends -- especially to &quot;lift&quot; and round out the appearance of them -- is kettlebells.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many things you can do with a kettlebell, but the one that really works your lower-back, glutes, and the rear tops of your thighs -- the muscles that form and &quot;hold up&quot; your buttocks -- is the kettlebell swing.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0jalJ-3e7U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a video describing the form&lt;/a&gt; -- there are many more out there.  This is also a good calorie-burner exercise (due to using large muscle-groups and a whole-body motion), so don't be afraid to use light weights and do a lot of reps if you're looking to burn fat.  (Though of course, the best way to lose fat is to improve your diet; but that's another topic. ;)  Do make sure your kettlebell isn't too heavy, since you can hurt your back -- it's better to start small.  Mine is 20lb and I'm very fit, but I doubt I'll ever need a bigger one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding unevenness, the best way to address that is to focus on an exercise that forces you to use both sides evenly.  (Just be aware that your weaker side is going to be more sore at first, and make sure you don't overdo it in the beginning.)  Kettlebell swings, done properly with good form, would be great for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T17:29:42.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14129" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14132" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:31:38.800" Score="1" ViewCount="2521" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming the person is serious and workouts consistently, how do you decide how many days of rest are necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on previous research I had thought that the general idea was to rest for 1 or 2 days every week and take a complete week off every 3 months or so. After hearing about Starting Strength, it seems like a bit more is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5567" LastEditorUserId="5567" LastEditDate="2013-10-03T17:44:55.083" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T18:03:17.407" Title="What is the ideal number of days of rest to take every week for a beginner/intermediate bodybuilder/powerlifter?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14129" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:46:47.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the person and the program. I have been on programs where I workout 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days a week. It's more about which body parts you are training on which days, and making sure that you don't overwork your central nervous system. Are you lifting heavy or conditioning? Olympic style lifting? Strength training? HIIT?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would mix all these up and rest on the weekends! Just walking is sometimes all it takes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T17:46:47.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13432" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:48:48.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elliot Hulse. Read and listen to what this man has to say. He has a youtube channel and some books for your benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hulsestrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hulsestrength.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He talks about everything from intermittent fasting to central nervous system conditioning and thoracic extension. Very knowledgable. Very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T17:48:48.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14129" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:56:15.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very dependent on the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Reasoning behind rest scheduling&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're strength training, the recovery time is largely based on how much time it takes to move into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supercompensation&lt;/a&gt;. It's easiest to manage your program if you do full body workouts, so the amount of rest needed is uniform across your body, and you can schedule full rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're body building, the same principle applies, but body builders tend to work a particular set of muscle groups to exhaustion each day with higher rep ranges and multiple exercises per body part, which takes more time, and tends to prevent full-body coverage in every workout. Thus, they can come back the next day and work an alternate set of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hasty generalizations&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing a program like starting strength or stronglifts and you're going hard (new maximums) every day you're in the gym, you need a rest day between each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're a beginner body builder, you're probably doing a general strength program like starting strength or stronglifts anyway, so the advice might be the same. But it depends on the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an intermediate powerlifter, there is a different periodization approach that starts with the same number of rest days, but one of the &quot;work days&quot; is also a light day, so you really only go hard twice per week. Later on, intermediate powerlifters might add an extra work day per week into the mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Programs for intermediate bodybuilders tend to focus on body-part splits rather than full-body workouts, so don't need as many full days off, because they're not working the full body hard on any one day. They might take only one or two  days off per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Related background reading&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/who_wants_to_be_a_novice_you_do#.Uk2wDmSieLg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Who wants to be a novice — You do&lt;/a&gt;, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/incremental_increases#.Uk2wEmSieLg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Incremental increases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-10-03T18:03:17.407" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T18:03:17.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14111" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:56:32.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like it would be an upper-body/shoulder imbalance. Your loads are too heavy for your body to support. I had similar issues, my pain radiated around my elbow joints and under my arm pits at times, behind my ribs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I utilized a system called progressive overload in order to build up the strength needed to perform compound exercises with heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case you should isolate the muscles that are giving you the issues, lighten up the weight a little and do pyramid supersets to build up the strength in those muscle areas without overloading it. I wouldn't necessarily take a rest week, but reconfigure your program, and start with a lighter weight in a aesthetic based strength program. This will build you up by incorporating sarcoplasmic hypertrophy AND myofibrillar hypertrophy, oppose to just myofibrillar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T17:56:32.543" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14120" CreationDate="2013-10-03T17:58:34.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would do a weight that you know you can keep your posture as straight as possible. If your entire body is jerking too and fro, you won't be putting as much tension on the muscles, middle back, lats, biceps, and you will start incorporating &quot;helper&quot; muscles or nearby muscles to help you complete this movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isolation and good form will yield better results than poor form and creating a compound movement out of something that should remain, well significantly static.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T17:58:34.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13993" CreationDate="2013-10-03T18:07:06.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say you are trying to do is an objective analysis on your health, if there's no related...Which I would say the following describes as what you may want to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like what you want to do is record this data over a year or half of a year. Tracking your caloric intake is something that requires a much shorter duration, but for diagnostics regarding your fitness levels (i.e. fat content, and say stress levels) these can be increased or decreased in a matter of days or weeks. With fluctuation like that it's going to be hard to say my training improved this area of my life, unless it's across a broader scale. Scale out into a larger time frame, and you will be able to see conclusive trend based on the past 6-12 months of hard dedicated work, any fluctuation in the meantime would be insignificant to your overall goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T18:07:06.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13591" CreationDate="2013-10-03T18:11:19.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle memory, genetics, caloric intake, daily activities would all play a role in this. It's not JUST genetics, just like it's not just caloric intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These guys must eat enough to retain their muscle mass, whether they accumulated it 10 weeks ago or 10 years ago. You mention they are sedentary... What did they do for work, if they don't anymore? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider that there are two types of hypertrophy. Myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic. The first being that of central nervous system, deep down strength. Think Arm-Wrestling strength. Sarcoplasmic strength is just for looks, it creates an environment where more water flows to the muscles making people look big, think body building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider an individuals body type: endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph, i knwo i'm forgetting one...these all play factors in metabolism, weight gain, muscle retention, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T18:11:19.343" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13432" CreationDate="2013-10-03T18:11:49.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I linked a couple of books for you in the comments, I think the best approach is going to be looking along the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) type of path, as they look at weight training not only as a stand alone activity, but as a key component of many different athletic training programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to have an understanding of the sport that you want to apply it to, and know how to break down the motions of each sport, and understand what types of weight room activity will support those motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless you have a specific sport in mind and can look for a weight training book directed at that sport, you are probably going to want to look at books for either certification (NSCA, CSCS {Certified Strength/Conditioning Specialist}), or at kinesiology oriented textbooks (Which would also give you a lot of the physiology behind the exercises as well, which is never a bad thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T18:11:49.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14056" CreationDate="2013-10-03T18:30:32.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to be a runner, I think you should continue running, just keep in mind a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a pronation issue and a gait issue. You should focus on the roll of your foot when you run. I am flat-footed and when I run my shins always hurt afterward, because my forefoot takes the most of my overall load. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe there are two methods to overcoming running issues. You can&#xA; a. Run barefoot, or get into near-barefoot running, using low profile shoes will help your feet develop natural arches and your stance will get better as time goes on. I would caution this can be painful.&#xA; b. Purchase some shoes that are for your type of foot, under or over pronating, comfortable with a strict and thickened arch support, this will keep the pressure off each step essentially/hopefully relieving some of the pain you associate with running, and you can focus more on clean strides and landing properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If pain persists after trying some corrective methods you might want to consider doing strength training lower body specifically - squats, this will strengthen your calves quads and butt creating a pro-active environment to develop better strength patterns in your legs, which will in turn effect your running. Also in order to isolate the incident to your running try an elliptical machine, this should help establish where the pain is coming from, or try running slowly so you can see at which point in your step you are experiencing the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T18:30:32.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-03T22:20:59.487" Score="0" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I apologize for the general title question. I hope my question is specific enough to be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 6ft tall male, weighing 200lbs. About 4 months ago I weighed 180lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last 4 months I have been trying to build some muscle, doing workouts with protein shakes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout, that I have been doing for 4 days a week for most of the last 4 months was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overhead press, 3 sets of 15&#xA;Tricep curls, 3 sets of 15&#xA;Bicep curls, 3 sets of 15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dumbbells that weigh 25lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this became easy for me, I recently changed to 35lbs dumbbells, and now do 3 sets of 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet tends to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;about 8 slices of whole wheat bread&#xA;an avocado&#xA;a can of tuna&#xA;bacon&#xA;eggs&#xA;a banana&#xA;3 protein shakes with whole milk&#xA;cheese&#xA;then for dinner pasta or a wrap or a burger or something along these lines.&#xA;a creatine drink&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last 4 months I seem to have put on some muscle mass, but I also seem to have put on some stomach fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals are to get a little bit stronger/well defined in the upper body, and to minimize my body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What changes could I make that would be most conducive to these goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I sometimes get some slight lower back pain when doing overhead presses. Is this an indication that I should switch to a lighter weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6885" LastActivityDate="2013-10-04T08:41:01.633" Title="What improvements can I make to my workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14139" CreationDate="2013-10-03T23:42:19.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Lower back pain during overhead press&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two possible reasons (there may be more):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;poor form (you should upload a video and have your form checked)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;poor core stability/strength (if you add squats and deadlifts to your program, your back/abs/torso will become capable of much better stability during the overhead press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Fat gain&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you are gaining fat is that you are eating too much for the amount of work you are doing. Yes, eating a calorie surplus is helpful for strength gains, but that surplus can easily get out of hand if you are only working out small muscle groups (shoulders, triceps, biceps). You've chosen probably the smallest muscle groups possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20lbs is a huge amount of weight to gain for such relatively small increase in strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are doing zero work with the largest muscles in your body. That is, the muscles of the posterior chain: hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you added bench press, deadlifts, squats, and chin-ups/pull-ups to your program, you'll be making much better use of those calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;General program improvements&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your program is not good. It might have worked to some extent for the first few months because &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; program will work for a beginner trainee. I doubt that you'll see continued success on this program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? I've already mentioned lack of leg work, but I'll give one other reason, as an example, and there are more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt the optimal weight for your overhead press, tricep extensions, and bicep curls are all exactly the same amount. If possible, use equipment that allows you to choose the weight you're using in much smaller increments. If you overhead press 25lbs one day, you should be overhead pressing slightly more next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your goal is strength: check out this answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/6836#6836&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you also want to lose body fat, so combine that answer above with this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12046/recomposition-vs-weight-loss&quot;&gt;Recomposition vs weight loss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You should be doing a general strength program, with a carefully tailored diet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-10-03T23:47:38.667" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14139" CreationDate="2013-10-04T08:41:01.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want upper body muscle and less body fat, you need to do (1) upper body strength work and (2) whole-body conditioning work. Right now your program has some of the first and none of the second. Here's what I would add, in order of likely usefulness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running, particularly sprints, for whole-body conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups, for shoulder, arm, and back muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips, for shoulder, arm, and back muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;conditioning work like burpees, air squats, dumbbell complexes and circuits (swings, cleans, snatches, push presses) for whole-body conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups, for shoulder, arm, and back muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of work you're doing right now is pretty small. Add some more heavy lifting and hard conditioning and you'll be more in line with your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-04T08:41:01.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14146" CreationDate="2013-10-04T12:38:09.997" Score="9" ViewCount="7887" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand it seems like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodybuilding&lt;/strong&gt; is used for conditioning your body to &quot;look good&quot; via the use of a wide variety of isolation + compound exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Powerlifting&lt;/strong&gt; is used for gaining strength via the use of only compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However there does seem to be a lot of overlap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the forums online it seems like a novice should favor the powerlifts, but if you look at a program of established &quot;weightlifters&quot; such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kai%20green%20workout&amp;amp;oq=kai%20green%20workout&amp;amp;gs_l=youtube.3...8570.10759.0.10869.17.16.0.0.0.0.199.1298.14j2.16.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.Av83032E6Wc&quot;&gt;Kai Green&lt;/a&gt; they seem to favor traditional programs with lots of isolation exercises--not to mention the popular bodybuilding personalities on Youtube such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961&quot;&gt;scooby&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/twinmuscleworkout&quot;&gt;HodgeTwins&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is, for someone starting to get serious about working out, how do you determine which program to start with and in what style? Does it make sense for everyone to start with powerlifts exclusively as suggested by &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt;. Do other--completely different--programs make more sense for folks with different goals other than just amassing strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5567" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T17:30:15.743" Title="What is the difference between powerlifting and bodybuilding and how do you determine which one is right for you?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14145" CreationDate="2013-10-04T12:45:27.200" Score="7" ViewCount="941" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like the Starting Strength program lacks any sort of stretching routines. Should any form of stretching be done after the workouts or on your off days? Or is it completely unnecessary for the program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would adding a yoga session on an off day be detrimental to your progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5567" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T19:09:58.743" Title="What sort of stretching routines, if any, should be included in the Starting Strength program?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14142" CreationDate="2013-10-04T13:07:23.113" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Definitions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Powerlifting would be better called strengthlifting. It is training for strength using a barbell. It is a sport consisting of the squat, bench press, and deadlift, though powerlifting training often includes other similar exercises such as the overhead press as well as supplementary exercises such as power variants of the Olympic lifts, isolation work, bands, chains, and even track work and yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilding is a beauty contest for men. It involves a wide variety of exercises, primarily barbells, dumbbells, and machines used for hypertrophy, as well as conditioning and strict diet protocols used for cutting weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is significant overlap between the training regimes of the two, since size and strength, though different attributes, are not orthogonal. For instance, a powerlifter may use a &quot;bodybuilding&quot; routine during the off-season in order to build muscle size and give her body a rest from the low-rep, high-intensity work of one-rep-max powerlifting. Similarly, bodybuilders frequently use powerlifting exercises such as heavy, low-rep deadlifts, bench press, and back squats in order to promote whole-body growth and increase their strength so that they can lift greater volume with lighter weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Choosing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When picking an &lt;em&gt;approach&lt;/em&gt;, compare your goal to the goal of each practice. Do you want strength or to look good? It's not an entirely either-or proposition, but if health and athletics is more of a priority than looking big, it would be best to start with a powerlifting template and, if necessary, replace some parts of the program with specific elements bodybuilding exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilding has become synonymous with lifting weights in much of the world. People think of curls and the bench press when they imagine a weight room, and Arnold Schwarzennegger when they think of a lifter. This is not necessarily helpful for directing the general population to a program that fits their goals. Bodybuilding is a fine practice, but its wide array of isolation exercises performed with an emphasis on hypertrophy is not optimal for health or fitness for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When picking &lt;em&gt;tools&lt;/em&gt;, it's better to evaluate the specific exercise rather than the community or practice it comes from. Outside of bodybuilding, it's hard to justify a machine squat over a barbell squat. Outside of powerlifting, it's hard to find a reason to train strength without regard for other attributes. It's best to take what each sport does best: powerlifting's strength training, bodybuilding's conditioning and diet regimen for losing fat while retaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-04T13:07:23.113" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14143" CreationDate="2013-10-04T13:08:28.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything more strenuous than a long hike is detrimental to totally orthodox, full-focus-on-strength-and-size Starting Strength. However, I've found that daily (or less frequent) yoga is a great supplement to powerlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're capable of all the exercises in the program, there's no particular need for additional stretching. I've found that the exercises themselves provide a moderate degree of mobility work. I've also found that many people, particularly the un-athletic, are incapable of performing at least one of the lifts without specific stretching, mobility work, and copious warm-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-04T13:23:27.060" LastActivityDate="2013-10-04T13:23:27.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14142" CreationDate="2013-10-04T13:17:37.097" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's actually a number of strength sports, where people who don't compete train similarly to competitors in those sports.  A brief understanding of them will help you decide what would be a better match for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodybuilding&lt;/strong&gt; is primarily building and shaping your muscle for aesthetics.  However, there is a big nutritional component to bodybuilding that's required to get into contest shape.  Bodybuilding is characterized by volume work in hypertrophy ranges.  The higher reps per set keep the max weight down and recovery higher--provided you manage the volume correctly.  You perform your poses in front of judges, and the person with the highest score for the day wins.  There's actually a few variations of bodybuilding, and the criteria for judging are a little different for each.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Powerlifting&lt;/strong&gt; is about getting the highest total in the squat, bench press, and deadlift.  In competition, you have three attempts at each lift, and the heaviest weight for each of those lifts counts toward your total.  Powerlifting can be performed using assistive gear or &quot;raw&quot; (in most feds, raw is just a belt and singlet, sometimes with knee wraps).  The goal of powerlifting is to get very strong in those three lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strongman&lt;/strong&gt; is a strength competition where the challenges vary from competition to competition.  There is usually a weighted carry (using yokes, farmers walks, etc.), unconventional lifting (such as atlas stones, car deadlifts, etc.), overhead work, and some form of deadlift.  It stresses your cardiovascular system as well as your raw strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weightlifting&lt;/strong&gt; or as most people know it, Olympic weightlifting is about getting the heaviest snatch and clean and jerk.  It's essentially two lifts to get the heaviest total in competition.  Both weightlifting movements require you to generate a lot of force in as quickly as possible, and then catch the weight either on your shoulders or above your head (depending on the lift).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's even more than that, including events like the highland games and certain track and field events.  The four listed above can be cross trained, and many athletes do so.  Think of these disciplines as something you grow in to over time.  Even if you don't fancy competing just yet, training as if you were going to compete is very motivating and helps focus your efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people start out without any end goal in mind, all they know is that they want to get stronger/faster/jump higher/look better, etc.  The disciplines above can help you focus your efforts and give shape to that nebulous goal.  Anyone who has been consistently training for a long time has cross trained in one sport or another.  For example, there are a number of strongmen who also compete in powerlifting, one example being Chad Wesley Smith.  There are a number of powerlifters who train like bodybuilders in their off season such as Frank Zane and Dan Green.  Some bodybuilders cross train for powerlifting, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger (who trained with Frank Zane).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these disciplines have something to lend to make you a much better athlete.  Jim Wendler advocates bodybuilding your assistance work, even though he primarily focuses on powerlifting.  Brandon Lilly suggests eating like a body builder, training like a strongman, mobilizing like a weightlifter, and thinking like a powerlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lowest barrier of entry, requiring the least amount of technical skill would be bodybuilding.  I do think, at least in the beginning you should focus on getting stronger first, and worry about the size/shape later.  Starting with powerlifting movements like in Starting Strength is a good way to build that base of strength relatively quickly.  It by no means requires that you pick a discipline and stay with it for the rest of your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-04T13:17:37.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14276" CreationDate="2013-10-04T14:47:18.633" Score="0" ViewCount="8867" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started my &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;clean&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; bulking phase for the winter and the first bulking phase I have ever done. I started on August 21st and my weight that morning was 164 lbs. Currently I am weighing in at around 178 and I really haven't lost much definition (gained much fat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently though my stomach has constantly been upset. I never want to eat and have to force myself to do so. Below is a breakdown of my diet. Is there anything in my diet or any ideas as to why I'm feeling poorly so often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~5000 Calories per day&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cPEQ1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*All nuts are unsalted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A little information about my lifestyle:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink at least 1.5 gallons of water a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sit a desk all day and that's generally when it is the worst. While I'm at the gym It's never upset, but sitting down at work it is usually pretty bad. I'm happy with my gains, but eating this much food is really difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MY SUPPLEMENTS &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/sm.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Optimum Serious Mass&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/whey.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Optimum Whey&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/cas.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Optimum Casein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/cellucor/c4-extreme.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pre-workout C4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-10-04T14:52:32.157" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T14:45:55.393" Title="Recently started a bulking phase, why is my stomach always upset?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-05T01:27:09.493" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been biking for about a month and really enjoy it. However my legs just give out on me. I run 6 miles two days a week then bike 6-8 3 to 4 days a week. Any suggestions on how I can improve would be great. Oh, not sure if this matters but I'm not a big eater in the mornings before I go biking. I eat a protein bar and have water to drink. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6888" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2013-10-05T18:49:05.843" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T04:55:04.710" Title="New at mountain biking" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-05T09:23:36.433" Score="0" ViewCount="3183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does weight loss supplements containing whey protein like slim 24 pro really cut down extra inches from your body? need suggestions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6889" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T06:05:32.537" Title="weight loss supplements containing whey protein like slim 24 pro really works?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-10-14T04:52:40.710" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4697" CreationDate="2013-10-05T12:57:41.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've personally found &lt;a href=&quot;http://gymprovise.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gymprovise&lt;/a&gt; to be an excellent app for planning and tracking my weight training workouts at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6891" LastActivityDate="2013-10-05T12:57:41.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5473" CreationDate="2013-10-05T13:19:54.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with what others have suggested. In addition, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBPullover.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pullovers&lt;/a&gt; are a great exercise for both the chest and back, done with dumbbells or a barbell. I regularly incorporate them into my chest training. There are several variations - flat bench/decline bench, and bent or straight arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbbell or Kettlebell  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-floor-press&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Floor Presses&lt;/a&gt; are an oft-forgotten cousin of the much more popular bench press, and as the name suggests do not require a bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try flyes one-armed to test your stabilizing muscles and independently work both sides, personally I have found one-armed flyes to be very beneficial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6891" LastActivityDate="2013-10-05T13:19:54.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13366" CreationDate="2013-10-05T14:38:15.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although the two can be taken together, there is no merit on using them both when an adequate amount of whey protein is ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This pretty much boils down to the fact that an adequate anount of whey protein already contains enough BCAAs to reap the benefits. Of the BCAAs, leucine in particular is potent in stimulating muscle protein synthesis (MPS) due to its role in the mTOR pathway. As we know from trials, adding leucine to adequate amounts of proteins does nothing further to promote MPS. However, I'm unaware of any trials adding BCAAs to adequate amount of proteins, but on the other hand there is no reason to assume that they add something in that context&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6893" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-18T18:57:44.647" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T18:57:44.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14150" CreationDate="2013-10-05T16:28:35.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really, eating more wont help you to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some studies that suggest that a diet high in protein might be beneficial when trying to lose weight. But to make use of this, you still have to reduce your total caloric intake.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Protein supplements make it easier to reach protein levels that classify as a high-protein diet, but they still count towards your daily caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, supplements are supplements, they should not be used as substitutes for real meals. I would advise always to consume as much protein through your normal diet. Supplements are not inherently bad, but they lack nutrients present in natural food sources. (And cheap supplements might even be contaminated due to bad manufacturing conditions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-10-05T16:28:35.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14149" CreationDate="2013-10-05T17:00:02.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your legs might need some rest. While running and biking make use of different muscles in the leg, there is still some overlap between both activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to take at least two full rest days before you go biking again. Then after that ride take another day of rest before you do another activity (running or biking). Try to focus on rest days: Four days of rest, three days of activity.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While your current activity levels might be OK for you, obviously you can't improve at this level. Adding rest days should enable you to push yourself further. After some weeks high in rest days, you can add more active days. However, the fewer rest days you allow yourself, the harder it will be to improve. You need to find out for yourself how many days you can spend riding and running, how much you want and can improve on your activity level and up to which point you want to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before your ride you should consume carbohydrates (a mixture of simple and complex carbs) instead of protein to supply your muscles with energy. I personally would prefer something normal to eat, eg bread or pasta, as energy bars are quite expensive in the long term.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You should eat protein after your tour. Again, I'd prefer to just eat some meal high in protein. Even protein shakes should be cheaper than protein bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-10-05T17:00:02.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-06T05:46:20.037" Score="0" ViewCount="7780" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing a 5x5 stronglifts program. I squat below parallel and I believe I have pretty good form, but my lower left lat says otherwise. After I perform the 5 reps, I feel a sharp pain in my lower left lat, (and ONLY my LEFT lat). I am thinking this has something to do with either:&#xA;1) I am overextending my back in an effort to stay as straight as possible so that it actually arches inward.&#xA;Or&#xA;2) My hand grip position is wacky on the barbell. The other day I squatted with a much narrower grip where my hands were directly above my shoulders and it seemed to feel a little better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anybody with a common problem or suggestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6877" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T19:16:24.607" Title="Pain In Lower Left Lat From Squats" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14147" CreationDate="2013-10-06T07:54:51.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, this is &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; clean bulking (watch this video &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbPUOhmAYzU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbPUOhmAYzU&lt;/a&gt;). Eating too much higher than your resting metabolism is definitely dirty bulking. Which is not necessarily a bad thing :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are having a lot of protein in your diet. If I were you I would have increased my protein intake gradually. Maybe by 10-20 grams a day each week. Digesting protein is much harder than carbs and fat. It would also help protein digestion, if you always consume carbs when having protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine is another source of stomach issues. Try not taking it for a few days and see the difference. If that is the case, check creatine monohydrate and try having it mixed in a smoothie or with your shakes. That helps it digested better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6896" LastActivityDate="2013-10-06T07:54:51.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14166" CreationDate="2013-10-06T08:22:06.247" Score="6" ViewCount="1404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just started learning how to swim as an adult but I am feeling that one hour lesson a week is just not enough. I hardly can move forward with my arms and certainly I almost move backwards using my legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, I am already looking for a public swimming pool to practice, but still need some type of swimming aid to keep afloat. What can I do on my own outside swimming lessons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the most obvious thing to me looks like practicing my legs kick with some type of board or pullbuoy. Are both of them necessary? Would holding a pullbuoy with my hands do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if most of them are cheap, I am wondering if I should just wait a bit longer until I no longer need them. On the other hand, I wonder if people get one to improve their technique on the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastEditorUserId="6041" LastEditDate="2013-10-06T12:16:24.763" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T21:37:59.740" Title="Swimming practice for adult beginner" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14184" CreationDate="2013-10-06T12:07:11.767" Score="5" ViewCount="9025" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter, who is coming up to be 7 years old, loves swimming and has recently started race training. She is the youngest/smallest/thinnest of all the children in the group. Her technique is pretty good in all 4 strokes (better than some of the older children), but she lacks the stamina, endurance and general body strength to keep up with the others and as such she's finding the pool-training quite harsh. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She already swims as often as is reasonably possible - 3 sessions a week training plus one or two swims with me where we just have fun in the local pool. The coaches have suggested she does 5 days training , but this would a) be difficult for us logistically, and b) I think it's too much for her at this age. One of her former instructors in group lessons at our local pool advised extreme caution with pushing her too hard at this age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She plays football once a week for an hour, and does Tai-kwon-do for another hour, and generally she is quite an active child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am wondering what are the best exercises that can be done at home that would help her endurance, stamina and general physical preparedness/strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI, at the moment I just let her do what exercises she enjoys at home - which are sit-ups, press-ups, star jumps, wheel-barrows with her brother up stairs, hand stands, walking hand stands (she's just started to try this), and a few exercises with little 2.5Kg dumbbells (curls, shoulder presses, lunges and side bends) - as and when she feels like it....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6897" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T16:00:36.537" Title="What are good home-exercises for a 7-year-old swimmer to increase stamina, endurance and GPP?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3006" CreationDate="2013-10-06T12:40:19.143" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot agree with any of the above. If you want to drink and lose weight, drink wine as this has the lowest carb content of any spirit with diet soda. It is the carbs and sugar that add weight. All have low or no carbs. &#xA;It is better to eat and drink full fat products than carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6898" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T20:07:10.693" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T20:07:10.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14163" CreationDate="2013-10-06T13:21:05.940" Score="5" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work from 8 to 17, and I have to wake up at 6:30 to get to my work on time(7:45 to 7:55).and when I get home (around 18:40) I'm so tired and hungry that I lie on the couch and eat and watch TV mostly, and by the time that I want to get up and do some exercise, I feel sleepy and don't want to move!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to exercise on empty stomach, I get ill every time I do after a week or so and can't workout on a full stomach either!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gained almost 10 kg in last 6 months and I'm afraid It's gaining speed in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need some advise on when, and which kind of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 and I weight 90 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6858" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T01:36:38.990" Title="How to balance work, exercise, and life" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14162" CreationDate="2013-10-06T14:14:37.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise may help you lose weight, but much more important is a good diet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start watching what you eat. Avoid food high in calories, especially snacks, soda or other things high in (refined) sugar. If it helps you can start to calculate calories of everything you've eaten and compare them with your daily needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to change habits, but you might want to stop eating lying in front of the TV. That would make me tired, too. Let alone the tiring effect of digestion that usually follows a meal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Have you tried eating a light meal before exercising? This might replenish your energy, but doesn't make you too full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no perfect exercises for weight loss. They should be fun to keep you motivated. Doing any exercise is better than doing nothing, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-10-06T14:14:37.510" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13873" CreationDate="2013-10-06T16:30:33.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hitting yourself lightly with a stick might be a good way to start if you're not very good at handling pain. But to adequately add bone density you should be aiming to &lt;em&gt;eventually&lt;/em&gt; (emphasis on eventually) be hitting a hard surface with about 10% of the required force to fracture the bone you're training. If you ever wanted to do tiger style Kung-Fu for instance you would need strong fingers and the tips of the bone would have to be strong, dense and desensitized from pain. Shaolin monks would literally poke tree's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start punching some newspapers taped to your wall, and slowly take the newspapers away as the months go by. Eventually you can punch hard surfaces without problems. You will have rounded off knuckles and have a tough body.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's not only good for martial arts but for general injury prevention. As you age you lose bone density, but if you already have a high bone density you won't be fragile when you're old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try adding jump up knuckle push-ups to your bodyweight exercise routine. At your weight that should be an adequate impact on your knuckles to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6899" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-06T18:01:53.993" LastActivityDate="2013-10-06T18:01:53.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14143" CreationDate="2013-10-06T20:16:19.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually I've heard that stretching before a workout might be counter productive, since the stretch will decrease your ability to beat your own max load. You should focus more on a full body warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normal go for 7 minutes on the elliptical or rowing machine (full body) or just start with a combo-set of no weight barbell exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After finishing a workout I do stretch adding also some yoga poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastActivityDate="2013-10-06T20:16:19.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14159" CreationDate="2013-10-06T21:44:54.763" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kickboards and pullbuoys are certainly used as training aids by swimmers of all abilities. If you have only just started learning then a kickboard will be of more use than a pullbuoy. You might also consider using a noodle float. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to bear in mind is that if you develop bad habits, these can very easily become ingrained if you practice on your own and then quite hard to break later. So it is probably better to keep it simple for now.  In the pool you could do things as simple as regulating your breathing, getting used to having your face submerged. Unfortunately, for most people, there is no good substitute for a proper swimming instructor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which strokes are you learning ? If you are learning front crawl and/or backstroke you probably won't do much harm practicing kicks with a kickboard - but even with this you can develop bad habits quickly such as using too much knee and not enough hip; legs too far apart; not pointing the toes, which you may not be aware of. If you are learning breaststroke, there are so many things that can go wrong with the technique that I would not recommend doing much yourself for it directly. If you are going to practice kicks, try to keep the legs fairly close together, straight and let the power come from the hips, not the knees. Kicking from the knee creates a lot of drag. If you hear a lot of splashing behind you, then you are doing it wrong - the heels should just break the water, that's all. And keep your toes pointed. Finally, don't expect to be charging up and down the pool like this - most of the propulsion in front crawl comes from the arms, not the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is your overall fitness ? If it's not so good then general dryland cardio-vascular (eg cycling) and strength/conditioning exercises will be of great help. If this is the case then I would probably put this as a priority, because it may hinder your progress otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit, based on first comment to the answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;So you are learning only breaststroke ? Well, a noodle-float is a good aid for breaststroke. For one thing it helps to prevent you pulling your arms too far back. A pullbuoy on it's own will not be much use.  The propulsion from the legs comes from a whipping kind of action that might feel quite unnatural. See if you can find some youtube videos that show you how to do the leg and arm action on dryland and try to get those right first, independently before practicing on your own in the pool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6897" LastEditorUserId="6897" LastEditDate="2013-10-07T07:52:01.327" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T07:52:01.327" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14174" CreationDate="2013-10-07T01:31:34.587" Score="5" ViewCount="3085" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope this question is not considered off topic because my honour is on the line here. A few ago, my friend called me a &quot;lightweight&quot; for not being able to do as many push-ups as him. So I challenged him to competition where the person that can do two sets of 100 push-ups by the end of February wins and the person that loses has to run until they puke. Currently, I can do about 20 push-ups. I am considering doing the 7-week &quot;100 push-ups&quot; regimen along with the &quot;7 weeks to 50 pull ups&quot; program. Do you think this is the best way to win or do you think that there is a better way I can win?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T11:52:20.637" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T17:34:18.217" Title="How should I train to increase my push-up maximum from 20 to two sets of 100?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14167" CreationDate="2013-10-07T03:31:13.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your goal is to be able to maximise the number of push-ups you can do by February, I'd recommend doing lots of push-ups.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously. If that is your only goal (and there are worse goals), just &lt;strong&gt;do lots of push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;. Just push-ups. All the time, &lt;strong&gt;only push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;. So unless they are part of the challenge, no pull-ups - &lt;strong&gt;just push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the best way to go about this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leanandmuscular.org/greasing-the-groove.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the &quot;grease the groove&quot; method&lt;/a&gt;. The gist of it is, do an exercise (usually a bodyweight exercise) to well before exhaustion, several times a day, several times a week. As the link states&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, lets say you can usually do 10 pull-ups with good form. What you’d then do is perform 5-8 reps (50-80% of your best/max) 4-6 times per day, 4-6 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal behind this thinking is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the movement becomes easier and more natural, you will be able to do more and more reps. You can then GRADUALLY start adding more weight/resistance to keep the exercise challenging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aim to add about 5 push-ups per week to each set, or about 1 per session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set one day a week as your &quot;challenge day&quot; to do as many push-ups as you can, in a single set, to complete failure. Do it early in the day though, because you need the rest of the day to rest, because tomorrow - &lt;strong&gt;you're doin' push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-07T12:28:05.370" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T12:28:05.370" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14149" CreationDate="2013-10-07T04:02:41.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've only been biking for about a month; it takes time to build up cycling-specific muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How fast you spin your legs is known as &quot;cadence&quot;. You should aim for a cadence of approximately 90 RPM; you can get cyclecomputers that measure it directly or estimate it using a watch. Novices generally ride at a cadence that is too slow; that requires much more strength and can easily burn your legs out. Shift down so that you ride at a reasonable cadence and don't have to push very hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T04:02:41.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14160" CreationDate="2013-10-07T04:05:55.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds to me like you are doing what you should be doing. Seven years old is very young to start any structured training, and I would just let her do what she wants to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T04:05:55.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14191" CreationDate="2013-10-07T07:14:16.230" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My weight is &lt;strong&gt;52 KG&lt;/strong&gt; and height is &lt;strong&gt;5 feet 5 inches&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started exercises like rope skipping and brisk walking. I do &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; wish to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should be my daily diet for the same?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;When you say eat lots of protein and calories, I don't understand how much is enough.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answers with references will be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T04:22:45.973" Title="How should thin people balance the exercise and diet such that they don't lose weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14167" CreationDate="2013-10-07T08:05:39.643" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how%20many%20weeks%20are%20there%20from%20now%20until%20the%20end%20of%20february%202014&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The end of February is twenty weeks away&lt;/a&gt;. With that much time until the competition, you should periodize your training into a general preparation, specific training, and competition lead-up. Doing just push-ups might work too, but you will achieve better results with a more balanced approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;General preparation - 6 weeks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the general preparation phase, you should consider your cardiovascular ability, your level of strength, and your joint mobility. If any of these are pathological, it would make sense to deal with that issue. If you're average in each of these, then the general approach I'd use is to do some cardio and strength training each week. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/13427/1771&quot;&gt;This program&lt;/a&gt;, or any of the others on that page, would be fine. I'd make room at the beginning and end of each workout to do at least a few sets of push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this stage, in order to get yourself generally ready for physical competition, you would do something like this, three times a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Warm up with a quick jog or stationary bike, plus a set or two of push-ups to near-failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bench press, 3 sets of 12, heavy, with a spotter or dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Some kind of squat (air, goblet, barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell), two sets of five&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pull-ups, three sets to failure (with good form)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Deadlifts, one set of five to ten, heavy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Short cardio finisher (unless you want to do this, or a longer cardio session, on non-lifting days), such as two or three 100m sprints or 5 minutes of a barbell or kettlebell complex&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Two sets of push-ups to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do yoga, particularly Down Dog and Sun Salutations peppered with push-ups, every day or at least on off days. Be careful with jumping in too quickly to this training, however, lest you get injured. Take it easy the first week, a little less easy the second and third weeks, then push yourself hard in the fourth week and beyond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Specific preparation - 6 weeks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After six weeks of getting yourself generally fit and strong, it's time to narrow your training towards push-ups while still developing qualities like whole-body strength and endurance. I would focus on short-to-medium cardio efforts (which broadly match the timing of 200 pushups) and upper-body strength (which is closely related to your push-up goal). Of course I would continue with the push-ups. So, six weeks of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Warm up with a quick jog or stationary bike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Five sets of 25+ push-ups each, &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; to failure, alternated with front and side planks, push-up variations (wide, narrow, staggered), uneven push-ups using a ball or stack of books on one side, and so on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pull-ups, three sets of one-half your maximum (or if that's less than 3, then 5, using negatives), to balance the pressing work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bench press, 3 heavy sets of 10--make sure you use dumbbells or have a spotter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Either squat or deadlift, light&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Supplemental pressing work: dips, three sets to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I would be trying to increase the weight on the bar each week for the bench press. On off days, I would go for a jog and then do at least two hundred total push-ups. The five sets should be totaling around or over two hundred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Competition preparation - eight weeks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the final lead-up to the test, I would keep doing one general workout per week up until four weeks out: bench press, dips, a little squatting/deadlifting/pull-upping. At least once a week, I'd test myself: two sets of push-ups to failure, of at least fifty each, shooting for 110 or 120. All my other workouts would be specific to the competition, and I'd have at least three of them. Something like one of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Four or five hundred total push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pyramids with short rest times, starting at 10 and adding one each set until you get to 20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A set of push-ups, then run a quarter mile (or do burpees, or otherwise make yourself exhausted), then another set of push-ups without stopping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Working with diamond push-ups and wide push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should aim to be exceeding your goal by the end of January, with four weeks to spare. At that point I'd drop the general workouts entirely and just keep working on long sets of push-ups. The last week before the competition I'd barely work out at all, just rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other approaches&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plan I outlined above is rough and should be taken as a template, not a specialized plan. It is meant to show the broad strokes of a plan: get strong and fit while doing push-ups, then get really good at pushing motions, then get awesome at push-ups. You could match those broad strokes with other approaches, too. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Four times a week, run for a mile then do a circuit of push-ups, pull-ups, and air squats. Each month increase the number of push-ups you do, but keep everything else constant. Start doing extra sets of clap push-ups, one-arm push-ups, super-slow and super-fast push-ups. In the third month, run a shorter distance and do fewer pull-ups and squats. In the last month, just warm up and do push-ups exactly like you will for the competition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spend a month training yoga daily at a studio, to get your shoulders and back limber. Do push-ups at home at least three times a week. Then spend two months with dumbbells, doing high-rep bench presses, rows, and squats, finishing each workout with four sets of push-ups to failure, using a different push-up variation in each one. In the last month, stop lifting and just do huge numbers of regular push-ups every weekday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Join a gym and do a whole-body circuit on the machines, five days a week. Finish each workout with five sets of push-ups and a short jog. After two months, cut the number of exercises in the circuit in half and double the number of push-ups. In the last month, just warm up and do every kind of push-up you can think of for ninety minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is, you have plenty of time to get your entire body ready. You don't want to overtrain or get injured. So yes, absolutely do a lot of push-ups. But don't neglect other methods of getting strong, like dips and bench press, and don't forget to keep your shoulders, back, and chest healthy with pulling exercises and overhead work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Perspective&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, this competition is dumb. In particular, the part about &quot;run until you puke&quot; tells me that either someone's going to drop out before December, or everyone involved is a little juvenile. Go ahead and win it, but do it by making yourself awesome instead of valuing foolish grandstanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Really?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A skeptic might justifiably ask, &quot;why do anything other than push-ups to prepare for a push-up contest?&quot; The justification comes from experiments in sport science, which have found that general physical preparation will provide a greater and more effective training stimulus than just the target activity itself. Without putting too much credence in the exercises/sets/reps of this specific proposal, it's a well understood athletic principle that just doing the specific thing that will be tested is rarely the optimal approach for non-elite athletes. When there's time, a periodized approach of &lt;code&gt;general -&amp;gt; specific -&amp;gt; competition prep&lt;/code&gt; produces best results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see this in many sports. For instance, in running (except for extreme-distance runs like ultra-marathons), a little strength and speed work early in the season is better than just running. The same is found in football, powerlifting, judo, and so on. Squats and deadlifts (programmed with less intensity, priority, and volume than the multiple forms of pressing work) produce an enormous training effect in the novice. They develop core strength and the ability to exert maximum force that will stave off injury and--yes--improve one's ability to do large numbers of push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T17:34:18.217" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14173" CreationDate="2013-10-07T09:55:32.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you currently are in a stable condition with your diet, not losing or gaining weight and you don't have any other goals than being somewhat more active and to keep your weight, you shouldn't change much. Rope skipping and brisk walking aren't activities which increase your caloric needs by a big amount (depending on the amount of time you spend, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your goals there isn't any need for more control than just weighting yourself on a scale every week or so. If you lost some weight, eat more, if you gained too much, eat less. You could start counting calories, tracking everything you eat (and calculating the amount of calories in it), and calculate your caloric daily needs (eg with an online calculator or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate#BMR_estimation_formulas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple formula&lt;/a&gt;). However, as I said above, I doubt that's appropriate for your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to protein, depending on your diet it is likely that you already consume enough protein, at least for your goal, which isn't to build a massive amount of muscle mass. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_%28nutrient%29#Dietary_requirements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;most common value is 0.8g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day&lt;/a&gt;. A standard western diet, or any similar diet that contains a lot of meat or other animal products (eggs, milk, cheese etc), contains more than enough protein, so you normally don't have to worry about it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you are unsure, you have to track everything you eat for some days and calculate the protein content it. That means, put everything you eat on s scale and check how much protein is in it. If there are no labels on packages, eg on fruit, you can search for the protein content online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your current goals this seems like an excessive amount of work, which it probably is. However calculating your calories and protein for some weeks, combined with controlling what you eat by checking labels and contents of your food, might have the positive effect of making you more aware about the stuff you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T09:55:32.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14193" CreationDate="2013-10-07T11:07:26.333" Score="2" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1328&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1328&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things which can hamper your getting-bigger-and-stronger goal include:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Endurance exercise or high-intensity conditioning, which could include running, cycling, swimming, long hikes, snowboarding, metcons, sprinting, HIIT, ball sports...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a thin girl and am planning to skip rope regularly as it is said to increase mental alertness. I do intend to gain weight too. Now, I am worried that this exercise will &quot;stop&quot; me from getting bigger and stronger!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did I get it wrong? What's the way out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T07:54:59.423" Title="Why do high intensity exercises hamper getting bigger and stronger?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14162" CreationDate="2013-10-07T12:35:28.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you combine your daily commute to work with exercise ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you take the bus/train, can you walk for 30 mins first, take the ride from elsewhere, and then do the reverse on your way home ? A 30 min walk twice a day will do wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, can you work out at lunchtime ? Even a 30-40 min walk once a day will help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the other answer, lying on the sofa and eating is a slippery slope. I struggle with this too ! Try getting into the habit of eating at a table instead. Also, try to make your meals last longer by chewing for longer and drinking plenty water - this will have the added benefit of restricting your calorie intake.  If you are anything like me, if you have &quot;naughty&quot; foods in the house that are good for eating in front of the TV (chocolate springs to mind) then they &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; get eaten in front of the TV. So stop buying them regularly ! But don't cut them out altogether - treat yourself from time to time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6897" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T12:35:28.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14176" CreationDate="2013-10-07T12:51:18.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember, in terms of physical fitness, 'bigger' and 'stronger' are not synonymous. You can get stronger without getting much bigger, and vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your title question though, high intensity exercises altogether stop you from getting bigger and/or stronger (for the rest of this answer, I'll focus on 'bigger' rather than stronger). However, they do cause an increase in metabolism, and if you're not keeping up with the demand by taking in more calories than you burn on any given day, then your body will make up the difference by taking from your reserves. The thing to watch out for in the case of doing regular HIIT is that HIIT typically spikes your metabolism for a long time after the training, so just adding a handful of legumes or nuts to your regular diet may not cut it to gain weight, depending on your circumstance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news, however, is you can eat as much as you like if you want to gain weight, just stay away from the sweets! From the thin people I've run across, they're always surprised at how much they have to eat to gain weight! I've never had that problem so I can't relate...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you start your training, I'd advise you to keep a diet log of everything you eat for a period of time (1-2 weeks should do), and get a good caloric estimate per day of what you take in. There are Base Metabolic Rate calculators out there that will give you a decent estimate of what you burn per day, without doing any work. The # they spit out isn't set in stone, but the actual rate should be pretty close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there, add a &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt; 500-1k calories to your diet per day, &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt;, if you want to get bigger. If it's easier, you can start with an extra 250-500, and work your way up every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you have a baseline for your hiit also. Once you start jumping rope, you might find yourself more hungry even after eating your extra calories. This is your metabolism speeding up. At this point, you can choose to keep your calorie intake the same, or take in more to keep your mass the same (or even increase your mass further), it's up to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; of this will happen overnight. Do not expect to demolish a large pizza one day and be your dream size the next day, it doesn't work like that lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T12:51:18.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2013-10-07T13:26:44.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;well, I try to frequently dance during the day.  I'll dance in my chair as I work on the computer, or even just move my shoulders in circles as I type.  Dance as I lie in bed waiting to go to sleep, or again, just move different parts of my body in circles, or bellydance.  Bellydance while I wait in line at the grocery store, or while riding an elevator, or while standing at the corner waiting for the light to turn green while out for a walk.  Don't need any music, just move gracefully&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6905" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T13:26:44.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2013-10-07T14:04:28.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;CT Fletcher will make your workout more interesting...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CT Fletcher has a great story behind his going from cardiac arrest into world record holding weightlifter. Here is his channel, and a nice play list&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFyNGNl_POs&amp;amp;feature=c4-overview&amp;amp;list=UUBDWo0g9N8pL8c9QhE8Lxxw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CTFletcher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike Rashad - does work outs that are INSANE and motivating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47t0NtU5FoQ/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;200RepBench&quot;&gt;200RepBench&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really it's a matter of pushing yourself. Or finding the motivation...do you work out better with a partner? Perhaps a personal trainer can motivate you (I highly suggest interviewing first)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing, Goal Setting. If you set goals, and you can achieve them, at the end of the &quot;boring&quot; training session, you will feel the satisfaction of achieving that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make the mind/muscle connection. That is important. The natural high you speak of, comes from a mixture of mind/muscle connection + the desire to achieve + your own inner voice telling you to push. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get off the exercise bike? What the hell is that supposed to do? You sit there and pedal so you can watch TV? Get off the elliptical. Those are not fun exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go pick up some free weights, and give yourself a 4 week 8 week and 12 week goal, whether that goal is to become stronger, leaner, lose fat, complete 50 pushups, curl some weight, or a combo goal, it should be the motivating factor while yo're in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW where are you working out? Home? Gym? What equipment do you have available?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="6884" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T12:58:29.223" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:58:29.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14160" CreationDate="2013-10-07T15:29:06.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I totally agree with Eric Gunnerson.&#xA;I recently found easy &lt;a href=&quot;http://homegym-exercises.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;home exercises&lt;/a&gt; on this page... But I don't know if working out is a good thing for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6907" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T15:29:06.517" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14160" CreationDate="2013-10-07T15:49:48.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the great things about swimming is that it is very much technique based, and while muscle strength may compensate for that to some extent, once she start growing she will soon catch and surpass bigger children because of that good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until then, I would continue as you have been. Participating in many sports at her age is great, it means that she is active, enjoys exercise and activity, and in time she will find what she enjoys the most. The stuff that she is doing on her own (handstands, pressups, etc) should be sufficient to keep her developing well for both athletics and fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seven years old is not too young to start a structured training program IF (and I repeat IF) she has kind of &quot;settled&quot; on one sport as her main focus. There are many sports where children start structured training programs at young ages(Swimming, gymnastics, martial arts immediately come to mind), but that doesn't necessarily mean weights, intense training, things like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in summary, let her enjoy the sports, if she gets totally frustrated with swimming and wants to do something else, let her give that a try. If she decides that swimming is for her, then you can look at possibly working with a trainer for appropriate exercises designed around swimming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T15:49:48.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14160" CreationDate="2013-10-07T16:00:36.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I certainly don't ever train 7 year olds more than what your daughter is already doing. If she is already generally fit &lt;strong&gt;all effort and focus should be put on skill progression.&lt;/strong&gt; She can potentially get stronger than the average child but focusing on athletic training as if she were a young adult is physically and psychologically unnecessary for a few more years. There is little to gain until the onset of maturation. When comparing children of similar size and maturity, skills are by far the biggest differentiator for speed. Watch a local meet and see it play out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T16:00:36.537" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-07T18:34:26.700" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6ft, and weigh 200lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am at 22% bodyfat, according to various online calculators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is mainly to get a little bit bigger and stronger. I'm not looking to get huge, just to be generally more in shape in that department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to reduce body fat, however this is not a primary goal and from what I have been reading, I will see results through diet and burning the right amount of calories alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout for the last few months was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press, 3 sets of 15  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep curls 3 sets of 15  Bicep curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of 15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dumbbells that weigh 25lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this became easy for me, I recently changed to 35lbs dumbbells, and now do 3 sets of 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current revised workout is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With 35lb dumbbells&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curls - 3 sets of 15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep curls - 3 sets of 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With 30lb dumbbell&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell squats - 3 sets of 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press - 3 sets of 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of ten pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will do this 4 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is healthy. I get at least 150 grams of protein a day, 20 grams of fiber, and a good mixture of meat, fruits, veggies and carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm only interested in exercises I can do with dumbbells at the moment. I understand a barbell gives faster results, but it isn't an option at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen some programs suggest increasing the weight each day. I was planning on sticking to the same weight each day until it became &quot;easy&quot;, and then increasing it and repeating that process. Is this approach somehow flawed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any significant changes I should make to my program? What kind of results should I expect to see?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6885" LastEditorUserId="6885" LastEditDate="2013-10-08T17:59:39.693" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T23:14:11.357" Title="Revised workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14185" CreationDate="2013-10-07T19:11:53.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bigger and Stronger are not necessarily synonymous, you may want to get bigger looking, but you might not get stronger, and vice versa.&#xA;I think the term you're attempting to describe is like progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what you're doing now is somewhat futile in that, you need to build your muscles, and condition them to handle more weight, more reps, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight increase should be steady and progressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to try and use those 25 lb dumbbells for some higher rep pyramid sets, doing things like 5 sets 20-15-12-10 and for example supersetting standing bicep curls with tricep extensions with little to no rest will create an environment for muscular hypertrophy. and muscular endurance. Both of which will help you when you want to increase the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your interest is in Body Building or getting bigger, you will want to keep the moderate-high reps (9-12) with a somewhat heavy weight. If your interest is increasing your strength//oppose to getting bigger, you will want to increase the weight to roughly 80%+ max load, and do low reps (6 or less), pushing your central nervous system into extreme acts of strength, oppose to high consistency patterned demands on your muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say both activate a high amounts of fast twitch muscle fibers, but the high weight/low rep will activate more...&#xA;I would also not leave until you did 4 sets of at least 2 compound exercises, and then add some isolation movements to a particular muscle group for that given day of the week, whatever you want to focus on. This will create your split. If pushups are your only chest exercise, you should be doing them to failure every time and constantly increase your reps per set, even if you have to collapse in between cranking them out, same for pullups...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was planning on sticking to the same weight each day until it became &quot;easy&quot;, and then increasing it and repeating that process. Is this approach somehow flawed?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not flawed, it's just not that convenient for a progressive system, usually you want to increase the weight or the reps in order to push yourself, sometimes it's easier to do 10 reps of 200lbs oppose to 20 reps of 100lbs. It's also about time under tension which you should google. So if you can't do a bunch of push ups, you can do them slower, creating more resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there any significant changes I should make to my program? What kind of results should I expect to see?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it stands you are missing a vital part of your strength training, and that's your legs. Working out your legs will boost metabolism and burn more calories at the gym due to the size of the quads and hamstrings, glutes and more importantly the core. I would research a lot about proper form on two main compound lifts, the deadlift, and the squat. Without those, you are just training your upper body, and you would really be cutting yourself short.&#xA;Also, implement progressive overload system into each routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could expect to see fat loss within a week honestly, depending how strict your diet is, and how much you push yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body fat between 12-16% is probably ideal, so you're going to have to change it up eventually, probably have an active rest day with some HIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps some. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="6884" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T23:14:11.357" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T23:14:11.357" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14157" CreationDate="2013-10-07T19:16:24.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a number of things but I would ask myself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I lower the weight does the pain subside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pain is usually an indication of an injury, have I injured myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you perform a front squat, does the pain still occur? How about during any other exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that this happened to me during military presses. I would be able to press the weight, but under my chest almost under my armpit would have a sharp pain. It was only when the weight was too strenuous on my core it seemed. I developed my core and shoulders a little more appropriately before attempting that weight again, and the pain was gone. Just personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T19:16:24.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14200" CreationDate="2013-10-07T20:41:19.640" Score="2" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently switched to vibram five fingers and have started developing calluses under my big toe. Is this normal or is my strike wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6909" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T12:39:33.967" Title="Calluses under big toe" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;vibram&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14162" CreationDate="2013-10-07T20:51:35.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a snack in the afternoon and do your exercise directly after work. Exercising will get rid of that tired feeling you have at the end of the day, and you will also eliminate the couch trap if you train before you have your main evening meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2145" LastActivityDate="2013-10-07T20:51:35.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14162" CreationDate="2013-10-07T22:43:33.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One key point for all of those who miss it out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you enjoy lifting, it turns to a hobby which you're looking forward to, rather than a chore and a huge overhead&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of mind work involved in this sport same as any other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2016-04-06T01:36:38.990" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T01:36:38.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14173" CreationDate="2013-10-08T04:22:45.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One easy way to do this is to sign up to an account at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/a&gt;. When setting up your profile, tell it that you want to maintain your weight. There are android and iphone apps that sync to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will give you a total calorie budget for the day as well as a protein, sugar and fat budget in order to maintain your weight. As long as you track all your foods and exercise using the app, you should come very close to meeting your goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that most people use myfitnesspal to loose weight, ie the budget is set such that there is a deficit. However, myfitnesspal also supports weight gain and weight maintain modes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6910" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T04:22:45.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14176" CreationDate="2013-10-08T07:34:04.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no exercise that will stop you from getting bigger and/or stronger. What will, however, have a huge impact on your progress is your diet. Your diet will account for most of your progress and the rest will be training. The general rule of thumb is to start with 500 calories over your TDEE (*&lt;em&gt;T&lt;/em&gt;*otal *&lt;em&gt;D&lt;/em&gt;*aily *&lt;em&gt;E&lt;/em&gt;*nergy *&lt;em&gt;E&lt;/em&gt;*xpenditure) as this will work for most people. Simply adjust your calories depending on your weight gain (or loss for that matter)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a REF for doing some basic calculations: &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE Calculator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a REF with a sample diet and some general good advice: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-gain-weight-for-skinny-guys/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Gain Weight for Skinny Guys (with Weight Gain Diet)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T07:34:04.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14176" CreationDate="2013-10-08T07:54:59.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is just a trade-off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're spending your time and calories (energy) on non-strength-building activities, you have less time and calories (energy) to spend on strength building activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, skip rope may initially build a bit of strength (if you're fairly untrained), but after that, you won't get much stronger than necessary to push yourself off the ground a few inches. So, your strength gains will plateau, and you'll continue to burn calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should consider how much time you have, and decide how much time you want to devote to strength training and how much time you want to devote to conditioning. You can probably find some time for both goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T07:54:59.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4535" CreationDate="2013-10-08T10:38:35.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2008/august/running.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study/article from the Stanford School of Medicine&lt;/a&gt; looks at older runners over almost twenty years. It shows that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a paragraph that explains the methodology of the study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fries’ team began tracking 538 runners over age 50, comparing them to a similar group of nonrunners. The subjects, now in their 70s and 80s, have answered yearly questionnaires about their ability to perform everyday activities such as walking, dressing and grooming, getting out of a chair and gripping objects. The researchers have used national death records to learn which participants died, and why. Nineteen years into the study, 34 percent of the nonrunners had died, compared to only 15 percent of the runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two paragraphs describe the eventual onset of physical disabilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On average both groups in the study became more disabled after 21 years of aging, but for runners the onset of disability started later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Runners’ initial disability was 16 years later than nonrunners,’” Fries said. “By and large, the runners have stayed healthy.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T10:38:35.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2739" CreationDate="2013-10-08T12:11:12.113" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming barbells are out of the question because you don't have space, your best bets for size-and-strength exercises are pseudo-gymnastic exercises for the upper body and heavy powerlifting-style exercises for the lower body. What does that mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For your arms, upper back, and shoulders:&lt;/strong&gt; you'll want a pull-up bar and a place to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWTriDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dips&lt;/a&gt;. (A dip station is best, but two chairs or other sturdy objects can be used in a pinch.) Three sets of each, for as many reps as you can do with good form, is fine. If you can't do five in a set, then do a couple more sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For everything else:&lt;/strong&gt; with the heaviest dumbbells you can lift, do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBLunge.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lunges&lt;/a&gt;, deep &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squats&lt;/a&gt;, farmer's walks, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/DBStrBackStrLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T12:11:12.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14150" CreationDate="2013-10-08T12:55:14.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't settle for marketing hype. Supplementing with protein is good. I think there are other methods that utilize a program like this too: Herbalife for example has you drink a meal replacement shake which has 20 or so grams of protein in it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I supplement with protein when i need to meet goals for my macronutrients and calories. Soemtimes it's just easier to make a shake with 30grams of protein than it is to make a cheeseburger, and it's a much cleaner option also...If you are counting calories and monitoring your macros, the protein supplement will help you get that 30-50% protein you're going for without too much extra. If this is not the case, and you are just having a &quot;healthy shake&quot; as a snack in addition to your 3 - 6 squares...well...caloric surplus = bulking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose fat, I would look into possibly altering your lifestyle, instead of supplementing it. Perhaps give intermittent fasting a try, there are different styles to suit your needs, helped me lose 10lbs of fat, and replace with lean muscle mass at 5'6&quot; and 175 lbs. This is in a maintenance phase of 2300 calories a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, perhaps try to get into a Paleo style of eating with/without supplements, this will help you keep your overall caloric intake low (hard to eat 2000 calories worth of veggies and meat)...if you want to use supplements while on Paleo I see nothing wrong with that, other than it might not be straight Paleo. Play around with your calories and lifestyle changes. See what works best. Best of luck to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T12:55:14.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13920" CreationDate="2013-10-08T13:01:36.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like this program style. I think your volume and selection is right on. I think your ab routine is fine as well. You will have fun doing this as long as you utlize a progressive loading sequence. Your shoulders are getting worked in the following: Bench, Pec Deck, Tricep extension, incline curls, deadlift, planks...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T13:01:36.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8299" CreationDate="2013-10-08T15:27:42.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer on your first question: No, the effects remain the same. When you supplement creatine, it increases total creatine content (including phosphorylated creatine), thus directly implies having a larger energy buffer to regenerate ATP from ADP when the first is hydrolyzed during muscle contraction. This is the core 'function' of creatine and this effect does not wear off when you continue on a maintenance dose (you reach a saturated level of creatine stores in the muscles, however, there is no reason, nor evidence, to believe this effect wears off). In addition, there are some additional purposed mechanisms of action: enhancing mitochondrial respiration, upregulation of several protein kinases which are important in muscle protein synthesis regulation (p38 MAPK, ERK and Akt), proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells, small reduction in myostatin, etc. Once again, there is no evidence that these effects wear off. Moreover, it increases water retention in muscle tissue, which also might positively influence protein synthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your second question: it probably means you are a responder to creatine. Especially people who receive low amounts of creatine in their natural diet (low in [red] meat) benefit from it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6893" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T15:27:42.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14188" CreationDate="2013-10-08T19:05:08.033" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a lot of experience with the vff (3+ years personal) and from what you're telling us you most likely have girly feet that have never had a chance to develop calluses. Get barefoot more often and as long as your calluses aren't ripping off you're fine.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Look at the bottom of anyones foot who runs a lot and you will notice both the outside of the big toe, midfoot and heel are pretty callused up, something to be proud of, not worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6916" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-08T20:39:36.410" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T20:39:36.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14143" CreationDate="2013-10-08T19:09:58.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dynamic warmups are essential to get those muscles going and avoid injury, things like bodyweight lunges, pushups, light weight KB/med ball movements will get the blood flowing, and as long as you are doing these types of movements to the limits of your movements you will not have a problem. Yoga is a great tool, but because its focused on creating long lean muscle it will not help you to make stronger muscle, but it can help your recovery as long as it is used in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6916" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T19:09:58.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14142" CreationDate="2013-10-08T19:28:34.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the way your muscles are working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, there is sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. This is aesthetic. This is bodybuilding. This is when water is forced to your muscles to create a bigger fuller muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is myofibrillar hypertrophy. This is strength. This is powerlifting. This is when your muscles actually increases in thickness, and you get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you powerlift you will employ mostly myofibrillar hypertrophy. Body building is mainly aesthetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way i did it was at first quite random, I had no idea what i was doing, after researching i found a program that consisted of 4 phases. 1st phase is foundation, supersets high reps, builds muscular endurance. 2nd phase is strengthening, heavy deep lifts with a pyramid structure. 3rd phase is to build with a hybrid approach high rep/lower weight AND low rep/heavy ass weight. 4th phase is the detail phase where you go high volume/high weight (utilizing the strength you just built up), but you cut your caloric intake as well to reveal your cuts and striations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this i will take a week off and just maintain, while i research my next program which will likely be oly lifts or powerlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a foundation first, once you have that you can play with whatever works best for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="6884" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T12:46:48.743" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:46:48.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T20:07:43.490" Score="0" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not talking about muscle mass, but just strength. I know some people who never touch weights, do any exercise, have terrible diets, have poor sleeping habits, live in unsettling conditions, &lt;strong&gt;however&lt;/strong&gt; they have surprising strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them is a man who is 70 years old, and has the grip of a young athlete, yet he doesn't do absolutely any exercise ever, has a bad diet, doesn't move much, and doesn't sleep well either. Is this any crossover with grip strength/genetics, as opposed to overall body strength, or is that vagueness beyond anticipation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is that some point are just strong despite little or no work put in, and some others, like me, make it a mission to get stronger to barely compare against some others who rarely try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 70 year old man who does nothing with a grip of over 120 PSI who can over power my crushing grip threatens me - it also makes me feel very weak as I am a much younger man who works out quite regularly, and I can not seem to break such strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It pisses me off, but is it all just genetics? If so, why should the weaklings try and get stronger/more fit if some others will always dominate them with little work/ease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6918" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T01:55:23.093" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T15:16:37.677" Title="To what extent is strength/fitness genetically passed on?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T21:15:21.750" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the different approaches and pros/cons of each method of increasing the weight used in strength exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been using a certain amount, and when it becomes &quot;easy&quot; then increasing it and repeating that process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen other approaches of increasing the amount of weight in each set, or increasing each day...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a correct way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does training for size vs strength make a huge difference in the answer to this question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6885" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T22:01:25.477" Title="Different approaches of increasing weight in exercises" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14204" CreationDate="2013-10-08T21:25:46.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Josh, if I recall correctly, the reason why &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; aren't increasing every workout is because you're using dumbbells with too large of a jump between each weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is one totally legitimate reason to just increase reps for a while until it gets easy, and then to increase weight and drop reps back down to a &quot;starting&quot; number of reps at the new weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, training this way will move you between training strength (when you first make the jump to the new weight and can only do a small number of reps) to training endurance (when you have been at a weight for a while and can do many more reps), and back and forth as you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having fine control over the choice of weight that you will use in any particular workout is important to keep pushing one aspect of muscular development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to train strength, you should keep using a weight that you can just barely complete 4-6 repetitions with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to train muscular endurance, your weight increases should also be small, so that when you increase the weight, you can still do 12+ repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T21:25:46.920" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:23:47.760" Score="4" ViewCount="575" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started a new program, to generally improve strength and get a little bit bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One day sample&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curls - 3 sets of 15 - 35lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep curls - 3 sets of 10 - 35lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell squats - 3 sets of 10 - 30 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press - 3 sets of 10 - 30lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of ten pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any particular order I should be doing these exercises in, or does it not really make a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6885" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T05:43:12.257" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T05:46:35.027" Title="Does the order of exercises make a difference?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14206" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:27:30.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've just started, it doesn't make a significant difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The caveat I'd mention is that pushups engage the triceps, so a &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; random order might put them next to each other, which could have some impact. The pushup hand location modulates tricep engagement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't call this a mass-building routine, either, although again&amp;ndash;if you're just starting, it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:27:30.470" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14206" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:37:04.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the difficult ones (according to your criterion) at the beginning and the easy ones at the end. In this way you can perform them in the right form, which is essential to obtain proper results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6920" LastEditorUserId="6920" LastEditDate="2013-10-08T22:44:44.430" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:44:44.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14203" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:37:47.110" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can look at this from two different point of view. Depends what you mean by competing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If&lt;/strong&gt; by competing you mean Bodybuilding Competitions on the stage, I should say straight away, no person on earth with even super genetics have a chance to get on the stage without having 100% dedication, diet, practice and high density muscle with low fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On the other hand if&lt;/strong&gt; you mean he might be able to lift heavier in the gym and over power you. My answer for anybody in this story is that, &lt;strong&gt;Do Stimulate, Don't Annihilate!&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;You can still reach the desired point of pump with the weight which suits your strength level and still get amazing results. &lt;strong&gt;most importantly&lt;/strong&gt; you will have less risk damaging your joints and less prone to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do yourself a favor and read this article very carefully and you'll know what I am talking about when it comes from a legend like&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/are-you-stimulating-or-annihilating/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ron Harris&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work with what you have and enjoy what you do&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:37:47.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3006" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:26:01.243" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of misinformation and fear being spread about sodas of all kinds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, drinking diet soda should not have any effect on a low carb diet for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are 0 calories diet soda.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet soda is 99.8% water (Can't link to USDA reference site due to government shutdown)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main risks from diet soda are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tooth enamel decay&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bone loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these are due to the phosphoric acid. Not drinking an excessive amount, practicing good dental hygiene and getting sufficient amounts of calcium can alleviate these risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a study done in Texas, observing people over a period of time that showed that the people who drank soda were more likely to gain weight than the people who did not. These studies were observational only, so they were unable to show cause.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;WebMD has more information: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Diet Sodas Cause Weight Gain? Not so Fast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the thing you will hear most is health risks associated with aspartame. What essentially happened was that a study done on rats was picked up by the media and reported as aspartame causing cancer in people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That study was later debunked, and there are no studies linking aspartame as the cause of any harmful health condition, in the amounts served with diet soda. Wikipedia has a good summary on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;aspartame controversy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, it's fine to drink, especially if you live a healthy lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6885" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T00:42:21.193" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:42:21.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14206" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:14:21.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Big muscle groups first.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Benefits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While getting the work done, warms up the smaller muscles groups which you might train afterwards. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gets the blood pumping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then isolation movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, changing the routine is always useful to shock the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T04:14:21.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14206" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:31:39.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. The order of exercises matters. The general order of exercises should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;general warm up first, always&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;specific warm-up, leading up to the exact task of the workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skill/technique work (if that is part of this workout)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;speed work (if that is part of this workout)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strength work (if that is part of this workout)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;endurance work (if that is part of this workout)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This optimizes learning, as well as the recovery and training effect of each kind of stress. (page 14, Tom Kurz, Science of Sports Training) One should also put technically complex lifts like the squat before simpler movements like the pull-up. The fast lifts (snatch, clean, jerk) qualify as skill work and should be performed even before form-dependent slow lifts like the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The order of the exercises you perform should match the priority of those exercises. The ones that go first will get the most energy during the workout and, it seems, the most recovery resources in the days after. Put what's important, technically difficult, and heavy in the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your purposes, I'd put the squats and overhead presses earlier in the workout, but otherwise the only reason to re-order them would be to prioritize one lift over another due to your preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T05:31:39.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14091" CreationDate="2013-10-09T06:38:05.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely true, however both metabolic functions can be happening at the same time, different pathways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the suggestions I can mention,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acetone&lt;/strong&gt; smells like nail polish remover, &lt;strong&gt;ammonia&lt;/strong&gt; is a common household cleaner.  So do you smell like you had your nails done (or perhaps your girlfriend did hers) or that you've been cleaning all day?  That may help you with your answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The traces of these two smells are studied extensively on the patients with diabetes. If curious, can have a look at this article.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=653150&amp;amp;resultClick=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACIDOSIS AND ASSOCIATED CONDITIONS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T06:53:51.640" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T06:53:51.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13849" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:12:49.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer to your two different questions,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Very simple&lt;/strong&gt; answer for your first question. The more you train the more you have developed muscles. The more developed muscles the more the support you receive to keep your posture right on the spot. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had this problem with my knees when I used to cycle professionally. visiting very high ranked specialist received this advice that I need to give up cycling (on the actual bike) to manage the uncontrolled pressure. BUT keep exercising the knees on the fixed bike to increase the muscular support on the knee to decrease the pressure on the joint as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I used to suffer from the same problem on the arm muscles. Very developed shoulder and chest but fairly under developed arms with &lt;strong&gt;long bicep muscle&lt;/strong&gt;( which is very hard to bulk ). I was reading about this issue for years and the points which helped briefly were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You need to &lt;strong&gt;dedicate a day for arms&lt;/strong&gt; if you have a long bicep muscle gene. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Focus on &lt;strong&gt;isolation&lt;/strong&gt; movements. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go with high reps and giant sets until you get the extreme pump. (the way you can't reach your nose anymore :P, thats what I do)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and have it in mind. These type of bicep and triceps muscles are very hard to train BUT extremely extraordinary shape and amazing look if you succeed doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To know more about the details of what I mentioned very briefly have a look at this article which helped me alot.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/packing-on-arm-mass-a-new-angle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Packing up arms mass by Steve Holman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T07:12:49.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10337" CreationDate="2013-10-09T09:15:59.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the feeling... I have been suffering corrosion on S1 and S3 for a long time and the first thing that got me mobile was &quot;Yoga&quot;. I would give it a try. Simply start with &quot;sun salutations&quot; and simple effort and don't push it too much :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;well, the answers here also completely apply in your case, but do you also have radicular pain in below your pelvic area and your shins? In that case I would advise to make sure you strengthen your core with compund core exercises like planks on the knees, rotary exercises to strengthen your obliques. In case it radiates to your hamstrings, I would advise to strengthen your glutes and quadriceps. there are many ways to isolate those areas without putting pressure on your lumbar discs. So find out what suits you best and keep doing it till your core and key areas are strong enough to carry you further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build up good strength in balance you can use rubber bands as mentioned by @Arthlete or simply use your bodyweight. but make sure that your core is strong, which will make your further strengthening proces very bearable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also advice to do your workouts under the supervision of a medical trainer in case you can afford it and a medical training center facility is within your reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a long journey to go and I wish you good luck in getting yourself ready...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T09:15:59.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:38:26.117" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I exercise I feel a lot of strain in my neck even with very low weight. Specifically while exercising for chest, biceps and mainly shoulder. Without any intention I seem to be straining my neck.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the reason for this, what causes the stress to my neck?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6924" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T13:59:00.413" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:42:54.783" Title="restless neck while doing exercise" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T17:19:04.463" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the second week of trying P90X and after I do the plyo x workout I can barely walk afterwards. This last 3-4 days.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have a physically demanding job and spend 8-10 hours a day at work and use a elliptical machine every other day as well. I was hoping to space out the extreme factor of P90 by adding the elliptical in there but it backfired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Any suggestions as whats going wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6928" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T18:37:51.440" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T16:36:15.057" Title="New Workout Plan Causes Soreness" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14220" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:48:25.733" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;So in gym class we had to run for 12min and I did 2.3km during that time. At the end I had a really bad cramp, but when she said 1min left, I still sprinted during the hole time. At the end I had a HUGE cramp.. But now around 3 days later, it still hurts at the same spot :/ but less intense. Like it hurts a bit, but it's still bothersome. Please help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6929" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T21:10:54.183" Title="I still kinda have a cramp from when I ran" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-10-14T04:53:31.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14220" CreationDate="2013-10-09T21:10:54.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same symptoms when I started running. Take a look at this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.military.com/military-fitness/fitness-test-prep/avoiding-stomach-cramps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could have a lot of different causes. But mine went away after these precautions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not run with a full stomach or with a lot of fluids. Also I drink no more than a few sips during running. You can't breath well with a full stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I do start with a low pace and try to keep my breathing pattern when speeding up. If you pay attention to your breathing, you will breath much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching obviously helps too. If you try these and it does not go away, I would suggest talking to a physician. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6896" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T21:10:54.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14224" CreationDate="2013-10-10T04:56:39.500" Score="5" ViewCount="1778" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm unable to do push ups. I have problems balancing my weight during the exercise. What am I doing wrong?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do I have to do specific warm-ups or is there anything else I can do to improve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6923" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T09:16:09.537" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T18:14:30.740" Title="I am unable to do a push-up, how can I improve?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14222" CreationDate="2013-10-10T08:03:59.593" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If i got your question right, you can't do a single push-up and you want to change that.&#xA;There are several ways to make &quot;easier&quot; push-ups. You can try to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do them on your knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;standing/leaning against a wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with your hands in a higher position, on a chair or sth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want to be able to do push-ups, i think you can start by doing some of these exercises until you are ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6774" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T08:03:59.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2013-10-10T08:36:19.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only give an answer based on my personal experience, so this is definitively a piece of biased, unproven, good old &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Broscience&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bro'science&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: Of course its out of question that the supplement industry tries to sell their stuff, but I think most of it is just as the name suggests, a supplement, maybe improving your form by a few percent or being completely without effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you ask specifically for &quot;recovery&quot; I take that as an intentional differentiator from &quot;build up&quot;, that is, you want to reduce soreness and get back to your muscular capacity in a shorter time.&#xA;The only thing which works for me is highly processed protein, that is, whey isolate or whey hydrolysate. All other forms and types of protein do not work so well or don't work at all (compared to &quot;normal&quot; food). After a hard training (I don't work out, I train ;) ) I can decide to suffer from soreness the next day or I take around 50g of whey over the day (after training) and be more or less ok the next day. This effect is repeatable, I can document it and relate it to training volume/maximum effort and it is reliable within my universe of experience... which means that it is totally unscientific and I can not prove it. But, as is the axiomatic base of Bro'science, it works for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried BCAA's (and many other supplements) but apart from their high price it seems that the amino profile is too one-sided to reduce soreness and it seems my body demands more of the common (cheap) amino acids to recover effectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to add that I am already in my forties: I noticed a considerable difference when changing from cheap whey and casein to isolate and especially hydrolysate. This may simply be my digestive system which can no longer easily deal with lesser forms of protein - if you are younger (or have a stronger stomach), you may get away cheaper or with the protein from your diet only.&#xA;Test it - try a series of workouts lasting a few weeks where you go as hard as you can, and switch from/to additional protein and try to be honest to yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6934" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T08:36:19.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14227" CreationDate="2013-10-10T15:36:04.773" Score="2" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my understanding a hindu pushup is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start from a &quot;V&quot; pushup position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bend your elbows to lower your head towards the groud while keeping your hips locked&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as you approach the ground, straighten your body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;curl your back, while using your arms to push your chest up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;return to starting position (&lt;em&gt;in what way&lt;/em&gt;)&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuHnnh3nDJU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse the movement&lt;/a&gt; &lt;strong&gt;OR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ndOPrcoUt8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;while keeping your arms locked, raise your hips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a (more) correct way of returning to the starting position?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits of either way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T18:12:02.567" Title="What the is correct form for a Hindu Pushup" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14226" CreationDate="2013-10-10T18:12:02.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just keep my arms locked and raise my hips back to the start. Reversing the movement is much, much harder, which of course brings its own benefits but to me changes the point of the exercise. What I want to get out of it is shoulder strength and flexibility across a wide range of motion, which doing it in only one direction does. The other way isn't wrong, just a harder variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T18:12:02.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2013-10-10T19:50:04.183" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, what motivated me the most was setting goals and achieving them. Here is my little essay on why I train:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogainweightnowfast.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/why-i-train/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why I Train&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;Some things that could spice it up and motivate you:&#xA;1) Join some classes with an instructor. There you will be with other students and that and the instructor can motivate you. &#xA;2) Vary your routines from time to time&#xA;3) Listen to some motivating music. I often find that music that pumps you up lets you perform more work and the time passes without you even realizing it.&#xA;4) Set goals for each workout&#xA;5) And final and not least, seriously like the previous poster mentioned, when doing cardio and stuff (which is boring) if there is a hot girl next to me, then it motivates me. Especially if she is still on the machine, I stay on the machine! :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with the ACL surgery. I had it last month and still recovering from it. Started doing rehab. Get really prepared for it, since this injury will set you back a year in your training. You will have to rehab back to the form you were in before the injury, so basically back to zero. The first week is really painful! Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6937" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T19:50:04.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2739" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:08:41.000" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several bodyweight exercises that you can do in order to get some strength and stamina. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups (for chest) - you can vary where you position the hands in order to go for    different areas of the chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips  (for triceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight Squat (for legs) - you can have weights in hand &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wall Sit (for legs) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit Ups (for abs) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mountain Climbers (several muscle groups + stamina) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step Ups (for calves) - you can do these even with weight in hand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight Lunges (for legs) - you can have weights in hand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do these as a routine, then you should be set for very good results. You can find how to do these exercises properly on Youtube. &#xA;Here are also some more &lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogainweightnowfast.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/how-to-have-your-kid-become-more-athletic/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercises&lt;/a&gt; that can be done. It's written from the perspective of kids, however these exercises are great at any age. &#xA;Also what I find helps me when doing bodyweight exercises is yoga. Yoga has some great positions, which strengthen your body and make you healthier. Here are some yoga positions: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://howtogainweightnowfast.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/yoga-for-weight-gain-or-weight-loss-and-a-general-healthy-lifestyle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Good Yoga Positions for you to try&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a bench and dumbells then you can also do other types of exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB Presses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For triceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB Kickback&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For biceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Concentration curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For legs: squats, step ups, lunges...but all with dumbbells&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here you have exercises for all the major muscle groups. You can exercise for example 4 times a week with a day rest between exercises. You can alternative having one day doing bodyweight exercises and another day with dumbells. You can do fullbody routines or split routines (where you do different muscle groups on different days). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardio you can do jumping jacks, or some running outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6937" LastEditorUserId="6937" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T20:16:40.473" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T20:16:40.473" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15088" CreationDate="2013-10-11T03:07:15.020" Score="1" ViewCount="2196" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the end of my Pilates routine, I transition between standing for pushups and lying on my back for various ab exercises.  (In Pilates, you start pushups from standing, bend over from your waist, and walk your body forward to a standard pushup position.)  What are some correct methods to transition from lying on your back to standing up and vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a while I would lean over to one side, push off with my left arm until I got to a certain height, then lift up with my legs.  This was eventually making my left elbow sore though.  Now I do the following to stand up from lying down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sit up from lying down to a cross-legged position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lean forward and put my arms out in front of me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;raise myself up by pushing off with my legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and finally uncross my legs once I'm standing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I reverse the process to get down.  Is this a &quot;correct&quot; (i.e., safe for my knees, back, etc.) method?  Are there other methods I can try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6938" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T10:33:15.450" Title="What are some correct ways to get up to a standing position from lying down?" Tags="&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14222" CreationDate="2013-10-11T05:11:28.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your question is about how to keep your balance while doing one, spread your legs a little further apart. Hands should be shoulder width, and legs can be about the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6939" LastEditorUserId="6939" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T18:14:30.740" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T18:14:30.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13675" CreationDate="2013-10-11T06:35:22.967" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider this more as a longer comment but as an answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Physical analysis&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let my try to analyze the differences between weights and resistance bands from a &quot;physical&quot; point of view in two steps: free weights vs Cables and Cables vs Resistance bands:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Free weights vs Cables&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main difference in force production is that gravitation always points down to the earth, whereas the force produced by the cables always points into the direction of the cable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider for example a standing biceps curl. Using a weight the force you have to overcome always points to the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use a cable to do this, the angle of the cable to an vertical axis changes during the motion and such the direction of the force you have to overcome changes. This depends also on where the cable is attached to the next deflection roller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in this and almost every other exercise you have to keep in mind that the lever arm changes during the motion and such the produced torque, which seems to be more relevant when thinking about what has the muscle to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then one might try to capture so called strength curves (one axis: torque, other axis angle) which gives experts some information about how good a exercise stimulates a muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another difference between free weights and cables is that with free weight you can perform explosive movements where you also have to use forces to overcome the intertia of the free weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free weights and resistance bands have in common that they produce a constant force along the line of action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cables vs. Resistance bands&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally to the differences discussed above resistance bands do not produce a constant force, but the force increases when the band is stretched. Not that this relationship is not even linear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key factor here is the &lt;strong&gt;relative&lt;/strong&gt; and not the absolute elongation. I.e. if a resistance band is stretched by x percent of the original length it produces a particular force F(x) which does not depend on the original length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So using a resistance band the force increases during the range of motion of the exercise. However using resistance bands you can get similar strength curves as with free weights so in some cases the muscle stimulation seems to be comparable to free weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Other comments and Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training with resistance bands you should keep in mind the same points as when training with weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get a proper nutrition such that your body has the building blocks to repair and build new muscle (protein, carbs, etc). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get a proper recovery time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have a large enough training volume per muscle group&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;choose the right amount of resistance such that you can just do 8-12 reps per set &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increase the resistance in small steps over the time to keep the rep range above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last point it is important to have a resistance band set wich allows you to change and combine bands easily, such as the systems by bodylastics, lifeline-usa or gorilla-strength-gear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For certain exercises you want to decreas the effect of increasing resistance with elongation in resistance bands. For this instead of taking the band shorter you should take the band as long as possible (or even two bands in series) and choose a heavier band instead or even better use several lighter bands in parallel to get the right resistance for you. This is because the increase in resistance depends on the relative and not on the absolute elongation as stated above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example when doing squats, you can do squats with the bands at your sides, armes hanging down. Then you have a strong increase of resistance force on the way up. Contrary doing overhead squats will give you a more constant resistance because the relative elongation is smaller (though the absolute elongation will be the same). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can also be done by a sheave construction such as in the follwing patent: &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US20130035220.pdf&quot;&gt;https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US20130035220.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important factor in using resistance bands is where to anchor the band to get the correct strength curve for optimal muscle stimulation. See this paper: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21757393&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21757393&lt;/a&gt; and this blog article for a summary: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hygenicblog.com/2013/03/20/quantifying-torque-in-elastic-resistance-exercises-part-i/&quot;&gt;http://www.hygenicblog.com/2013/03/20/quantifying-torque-in-elastic-resistance-exercises-part-i/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can even think about using some sheaves to get a proper line of action of force for your exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it should be able to build mass with resistance bands alone perhaps complemented with body-weight exercises. However it seems to be more complicated since you have to control more variables and there is not much literature about it with form pointers and guides to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to buy a bodylastics set and try if it is possible to gain mass just with this and bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I also have a strong interest in this question and since this topic is not good documented in the web I give a bounty to this question to get a more in sophisticaded and more in depth answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will add further references and diagrams later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some links: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://heatrick.com/2012/09/20/resistance-bands-or-weights-to-build-strength-and-power/&quot;&gt;http://heatrick.com/2012/09/20/resistance-bands-or-weights-to-build-strength-and-power/&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hygenicblog.com/2013/07/26/is-elastic-resistance-suitable-for-high-intensity-resistance-training/&quot;&gt;http://www.hygenicblog.com/2013/07/26/is-elastic-resistance-suitable-for-high-intensity-resistance-training/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hygenicblog.com/2013/01/13/elastic-resistance-proven-as-good-as-expensive-machines-once-again/&quot;&gt;http://www.hygenicblog.com/2013/01/13/elastic-resistance-proven-as-good-as-expensive-machines-once-again/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.de/books?id=Q8K8FZyTdw8C&amp;amp;lpg=PA6&amp;amp;ots=KujCeuAbLJ&amp;amp;dq=%22elastic%20bands%22%20hughes&amp;amp;pg=PA3#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;http://books.google.de/books?id=Q8K8FZyTdw8C&amp;amp;lpg=PA6&amp;amp;ots=KujCeuAbLJ&amp;amp;dq=%22elastic%20bands%22%20hughes&amp;amp;pg=PA3#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T12:39:56.760" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T12:39:56.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-11T06:46:13.990" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner jogger/runner on a high protein diet. I am 32 years old and have a BMI of 31. I am 175cm (~5'9&quot;) tall, and weigh 96kg (211 pounds). I walked for a couple of weeks and now I can run for 2.2km at a speed of 9km/hr. I get tired at the end of my run (after 17 minutes), and my heart rate is at 180bpm. Might this 2.2km run be bad for my heart?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6940" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T10:27:06.440" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T15:01:45.417" Title="Is running safe for me" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-02-20T16:20:38.940" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-11T08:20:05.317" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;The guy do not want to get 6 packs abs or attrative musclular body. He just want to shed some weight to lead healthy , disease free life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3622" LastEditorUserId="3622" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T17:05:08.880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T17:05:08.880" Title="A guy having big belly should do cardio or weight training? if both, than in what order?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-10-11T11:59:13.680" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14222" CreationDate="2013-10-11T10:43:01.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't yet do a full push-up, I'd work on your planks (from your elbows and also from a full push-up position), trying to keep your entire trunk, abs, and butt squeezed for several sets of 30 seconds to a minute. I'd also do incline push-ups using a wall or chair, and try some Down Dog from yoga. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T10:43:01.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14233" CreationDate="2013-10-11T10:52:23.107" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;Being 32 years old your theoretical maximum heart rate should be 188(this is from 220 - age). This means you are close to reaching your maximum heart rate but this is nothing dangerous for your heart unless you got a heart disease which prevents you from reaching a high heart rate. &lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I understand you correctly you are indeed feeling very exhausted at the end of your run and as we can't know how well your heart is we can't definitely say that your working out like that is not dangerous. Should you be really concered or start to feel that something wrong you should see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW: Generally speaking it's not dangerous for your heart if your work out really hard if you have a healthy heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;To consider is the fact that your heart will be fine but you might feel nauseous reaching this level of physical stress(don't know how to put it better). Nevertheless working out like you are doing will make your assumed healthy heart even stronger.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6645" LastEditorUserId="6645" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T15:00:37.720" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T15:00:37.720" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14233" CreationDate="2013-10-11T15:01:45.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience as a personal trainer, I would say that regardless of the 180 being accurate, if you are not feeling dizzy, nauseous, or a headache then you are not overdoing your running. Most of the overweight clients who I have trained, would usually feel dizzy and or nauseous when I pushed too hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you are getting tired after only 17 minutes isn't something to worry about either. It can simply mean that you are still not very conditioned, and/or it can be that you are running at a pace that is simply too fast for a long sustainable jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing to focus on is your body's communication. The body has a way of telling you when it isn't happy and you will certainly know when that's the case. So long as you feel fine after your run and nothing more than tired then you are ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T15:01:45.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-12T05:51:47.027" Score="1" ViewCount="2957" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 20 year old Male and have been fit all my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just these past few months, I have been running approximately 3km every night for ankle and knee rehab. But I've been having an annoying chest pain (located on my right side underneath my Pectoralis). As running intensity increases I end up having to stop even though I feel like I could carry on!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain usually starts 10 minutes into running on the flat, and will get unbearable if I increase the pace to a sprint. Similar to this, If I run up stairs or an incline the pain comes on in about 30 seconds to 2 minutes and usually makes me stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weird thing about it is I'm able to do any other exercise at a very high intensity without any chest pain (Eg. Bicycle sprints and Parkour). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been looking for the source of my pain but have not found anything conclusive. My lecturer suggested it could be an issue with breathing and chest tension/shoulder tension but as I experimented with that it didn't seem to change anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated.&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6944" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T16:36:19.383" Title="What is this chest pain I get every time I run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14240" CreationDate="2013-10-12T06:04:41.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can't diagnose your pain, but you should rule out &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_stitch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;runner's stitch&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/ask-doctor-why-sudden-pain-my-chest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/ask-doctor-why-sudden-pain-my-chest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/beginners/how-do-i-get-rid-of-side-stitches&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/beginners/how-do-i-get-rid-of-side-stitches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T06:04:41.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-12T16:09:02.060" Score="-1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example some people in prison complain than they have to resort to push-ups in order to keep in shape, if they don't have access to gym equipment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I'm trying to understand why do some tools make it easier for us to gain strength vs just using our body to gain the same amount of strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6947" LastEditorUserId="6947" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T16:14:07.527" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T16:31:54.040" Title="Why does doing pushups feel more exhaustive than pulling racks?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-10-14T16:30:30.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14242" CreationDate="2013-10-12T16:31:54.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;External tools provide a simple method to apply greater resistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T16:31:54.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14048" CreationDate="2013-10-13T16:55:55.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most formulas estimate your caloric needs by age, height and weight. As your height and age don't change notably, the only variable is your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you a feeling how your calories adjust with increasing weight I plotted the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;revised Harris-Benedict equation&lt;/a&gt;. I used your height (196cm) and assumed an age of 30, as you didn't mention you age. The age does not change too much, especially not for visualization purposes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The equation only accounts for your basal metabolic rate. To reflect your exercise, I assumed moderate exercises (3–5 days per week), which adjusts the result multiplying it by 1.55.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rct9G.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you weighed 200 pounds you needed approximately 3200kcal to maintain your weight. Now, as you are 220 pounds you need 3400kcal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Continuing to eat 3500kcal would bring you (taking longer and longer) to about 230 pounds. To reach 240 pounds you would need to eat even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the math behind this makes certain assumptions (eg your body fat) and is only an approximation. Using a scale to help adjust your dietary needs is always better than simply relying on formulas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T16:55:55.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-13T19:00:45.130" Score="3" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose that you want to gain muscle mass by using a pair of dumbbells which are NOT so challenging for you anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could probably increase the resistance with heavier weights, but you train at home and don’t have heavier dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about the following strategy?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Performing every set in the 8-12 rep range till you arrive at a set (maybe the sixth-seventh one) where 8-12 is challenging and produces failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know if I am clear: I basically want to mantain the 8-12 rep range and just increase the number of sets. So, if you are well trained and the exercise would be easy for you in case of just 3 sets, you increase the set number instead of the rep number to reach the desired failure. Your first 8-12 rep sets won’t be enough for reaching failure but probably your ninth set will be challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am surprised that nobody seems to encourage this strategy I've just talked about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6951" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-13T19:47:07.050" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T20:46:21.923" Title="Why not just increase the number of sets?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14248" CreationDate="2013-10-13T19:58:45.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right, for increasing muscle mass, training at intensity that allows you to perform 8-12 reps per set is reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But note that it's not the &lt;em&gt;number of repetitions&lt;/em&gt; per set that make the muscles grow, but the &lt;em&gt;intensity&lt;/em&gt; of each repetition. If you are able to do more than 8-12 reps per set with a certain weight, the intensity of that weight has decreased for you, and training with that weight will not have the same effects than before, even if you increase the number of sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T19:58:45.000" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14248" CreationDate="2013-10-13T20:46:21.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;look up GVT (german volume training) As you start with a weight that you can easily do around 20 reps or so and do 10 sets of 10 wherein, usually at least the last two sets will challenge you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T20:46:21.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14115" CreationDate="2013-10-13T21:59:01.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I agree that more detail would be useful for composing a specific answer, I see this question as asking for help in the broader sense, from someone with many obstacles who wants to get and keep an exercise program in spite of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that, I would say this -- bearing in mind that it's all &lt;em&gt;general&lt;/em&gt; advice to answer a general question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick a low-impact type of exercise that you like (like swimming or walking), and keep it on hand for days that you can't do something else.  (When I'm too sore from something else, I do plank-based ab workouts, for example.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with cardio and/or body-weight exercises:  Those can be done as often as you like without requiring recovery times.  Save weight-lifting for when you're in better general shape.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Include something that works your core:  Swimming, dancing, jogging, etc. -- and try to do it every other day &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; -- every day would be better.  That way your body will get used to exercise, and you'll find harder workouts easier to do later without hurting yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mentally, start thinking of yourself as &lt;em&gt;someone who exercises&lt;/em&gt; (someone who swims, runs, dances, or whatever appeals to you most), and set your mind towards making it a part of your daily life.  This will help the physical and mental benefits come quickly.  It'll also get you in the right frame of mind to address things like your diet, which you'll want to do eventually; but which are much easier to tackle when you're used to thinking of yourself as a fit, athletic person.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck, and above all, no matter what else, keep your chin up!  Best exercise of all, that.  ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T21:59:01.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13991" CreationDate="2013-10-13T22:24:39.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Measure progress and eat right&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good that you know your goals, and are able to stick with a workout program -- those are both huge benefits that will get you far.  I'd suggest starting from them, as a matter of fact!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you know that you'd like to have a stronger upper-body (more pull-ups and curl weight, i.e. back and arm strength), and -- I assume since you mentioned losing fat -- be a bit more trim.  That's awesome.  Based on those goals, the best things you could be doing are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a)  eating right -- this is the best way to trim up, period&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b)  doing exercises that will strengthen your upper-body, like the pull-ups and curls you're doing, and aim to increase your reps and/or weight gradually; and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c)  add some cardio to your daily routine, to help you gain muscle overall and become more fit, plus firm/trim up a bit further due to good muscle tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, P90X (which I did for a while too) includes the cardio and upper-body work.  It doesn't include eating right -- in fact, for the ~500 calories it burns, it adds a protein supplement that can run just about the same amount, depending on how you take it, resulting in little or no weight-loss.  Also, the extra-fast sets of pull-ups may not be what you need (pull-ups tend to work better when your form is VERY careful and precise, and the fast-paced nature of programs like P90 sometimes -- sometimes!  not for everyone! -- discourages that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the &lt;strong&gt;biggest thing&lt;/strong&gt; that will help you see progress is...tracking progress.  If you didn't write down where you started before you began P90X, and where you were after 30, 60, and 90 days of it, then you might be doing a ton better than you think you are:  Gradual progress is difficult to see if you're not tracking it.  So whether you decide to change your routine or not (it could probably be a bit simpler and still work; however, if P90X is working for you in the sense that you're sticking with it and you like it, then keeping it might be better), start tracking what you lift, how many push-ups you do and your body measurements (not weight!  You're weight-training, so you're not going to lose much weight), and see if you aren't in fact making more progress than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T22:24:39.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14261" CreationDate="2013-10-14T03:24:44.440" Score="4" ViewCount="1005" Body="&lt;p&gt;When throwing a punch it's often recommended one throw ones weight into it. Does it make much of a difference with what constitutes that weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, say you have a guy with 130lbs lean mass and 10lbs fat (ie. 7% body fat) and another guy with 130lbs lean mass and 50lbs body fat (ie. 38% body fat). Would the 38% body fat guy be able to throw a more powerful punch simply because he weighs more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so than this also makes me wonder... what other &quot;exercises&quot; would being overweight be an asset? Like would the 38% body fat person in the above example be able to do better at standing med ball tosses than the 7% body fat person simply because he'd have more weight to leverage when tossing the ball?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T14:58:15.290" Title="relationship between power and body fat" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14253" CreationDate="2013-10-14T03:43:08.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lower your body fat, the faster you fatigue and also quicker you feel stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;don't take me wrong on this comment&lt;/strong&gt; Fat is a very slow release source of energy and when the protein source gets depleted in your body, the system kicks in to burn fat as a fuel to keep it up. This is the main reason for the fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in strength training having a reasonable amount of fat (Not over, Not under) will keep your joints from being damaged unless you deliberately draining your body from fat for a competition. During this period, you should watch out for the good form and controlled weight to prevent injury.&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2013/01/injury-prevention/4-eating-habits-that-reduce-injury-risk_19838/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This point comes into action in most of heavy weight lifting sports and joints are padded and lubricated by fair amount of stored fat. (and possibly can be a positive). &lt;strong&gt;However those athletes benefit from a very strong cardiovascular system and having that extra weight won't be phrased exactly as being &quot;overweight&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. Excessive fat can be the cause of lot of problems in the body and a good starting point for most issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Conclusion&#xA;A lower daily fat intake and lower percentage of total&#xA;energy from fat were associated with increased injury risk&#xA;among competitive female runners. Lower energy intake&#xA;and lower energy availability approached, but did not&#xA;reach, a significant association with overuse injury in this&#xA;study. By documenting these risk factors, it is hoped that&#xA;future research will continue to investigate their role in&#xA;injury development, thus leading to better strategies to&#xA;predict and reduce running injuries in women.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2013/01/injury-prevention/4-eating-habits-that-reduce-injury-risk_19838/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional resources for self-read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2013/01/injury-prevention/4-eating-habits-that-reduce-injury-risk_19838/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eating Habits That Reduce Injury Risk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thesportfactory.com/site/nutritionnews/Less_Fat_in_Diet_Linked_to_Injury_Risk_in_Runners_165.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LESS FAT IN DIET LINKED TO INJURY RISK IN RUNNERS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2013/01/injury-prevention/4-eating-habits-that-reduce-injury-risk_19838/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;)Gerlach, Kristen E., et al. &quot;Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.&quot; Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 5 (2008):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T05:43:54.820" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T05:43:54.820" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14230" CreationDate="2013-10-14T03:57:40.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might seem too good to be true but I had the same feeling when I read this point in the researched trusted article. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the best form and the most correct style of getting up from lied down to stand up position &lt;strong&gt;is how a child who just-learned-to-get-up does&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the physical reactions and posture figures in the babies aren't biased by the modern life and bad habits yet and our instincts apparently does the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest Googling this video and checking some of them to get the exact idea. &#xA;Meanwhile I will try to find the source of the article I have read this at and attach it to this answer for the added value of the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article below cannot be referred as a reference but worth checking. It highlights some good points. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://manbicep.com/2011/11/21/squat-form-babies-can-do-it-but-most-adults-cant/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Babies can do it, but most adults can’t&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T03:56:10.853" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T03:56:10.853" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T10:31:35.950" Score="8" ViewCount="2536" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse#Rate&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The pulse rate can be used to check overall heart health and fitness level. Generally lower is better ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus I could use my pulse, as a measurement of my fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've heard from two separate sources though, that both; a) The time it takes for the pulse rate to &quot;recover&quot; from vigorous exercise; and b); Looking at patterns of millisecond delays between the heartbeats; gives a better indication of fitness than resting pulse alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering, what method(s) gives a an accurate measurement of my fitness, without being &quot;expensive&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T14:59:12.523" Title="(How) Can I use pulse as a fitness measure?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T14:44:15.940" Score="2" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some &lt;strong&gt;free weight&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;body weight&lt;/strong&gt; exercises (and general &lt;strong&gt;guidelines&lt;/strong&gt;) to specifically bulk up the&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pectoral&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deltoid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trapezius&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and other muscles around the shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;while avoiding the arm muscles such as&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tricep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bicep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brachio radialis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-20T14:21:44.653" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T14:26:32.350" Title="What exercises will bulk up the pectorals and shoulders while avoiding the arms?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T14:46:31.473" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;What can I do to increase the range of movement in my shoulders (in any or all directions)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it even possible to significantly increase the range of movement in young adulthood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what sorts of exercises and movements should I definitely avoid that will further restrict or &quot;lock in&quot; the shoulders' range of movement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T20:09:48.137" Title="Increase range of movement in Shoulders" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14253" CreationDate="2013-10-14T14:58:15.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The person with the higher body fat may or may not be able to throw a more powerful punch. Punching is very technique driven, and a smaller person with better technique will be able to punch harder/quicker than someone with lesser technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if we assume that two individuals have the same technique, the person with the higher body fat may have a slightly more damaging punch just because of the extra weight moving with the arm. An arm is generally about 5% of total body weight, so in your example (40 lbs of difference) there would be about 2 lbs of direct extra mass on the arm, which would, in turn, make the punch slightly more effective. (Force = mass x acceleration)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it could make a bigger difference is in receiving punches, in that larger massed opponents will spread the impact out slightly, and there is more fat in between the impact point and subsurface structures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main point behind telling someone to &quot;get their weight&quot; behind a punch more addresses technique and the type of punch than anything. A jab, for example, is mainly driven by arm and shoulder muscles and doesn't (generally) cause much damage. A cross (reverse punch in martial arts) starts with the planting of the feet, torques up through the legs and hips, engages the trunk muscles, and drives all that force through the impact point. That's what is generally meant by &quot;get your weight behind it&quot;, rather than just a straight application of more mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T14:58:15.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14262" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:26:00.530" Score="3" ViewCount="1800" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train Olympic weightlifting (clean&amp;amp;jerk, snatch) as an amateur. For competitions and to be able to do the exercises properly, I need to be able to stretch my arms while they are overhead holding the bar in such a way that my arms do not look bent. Currently some people tell me my arms look a little bent when they are supposed to be straight. I feel my arms are as straight as they get with my current level of flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to stretch my biceps muscles (which I assume are preventing me from straightening my arms)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not want to stretch my biceps tendons instead of the muscle by selecting the wrong stretching exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T17:58:03.990" Title="Stretching biceps muscle" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14264" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:44:21.253" Score="7" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working overhead barbell pressing with no leg drive.  Lift the weight up and bring it back down into position and then back up.  I do this lift as my primary lift for overhead strength related to strongman.  My thought is to set up the power cage in such a fashion that I can press the barbell and then just drop it back into the rack pick it up off of the rack and then press it again.  That way I can focus more of the energy on the press up movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is training the negative an important part of building overhead strength for strongman?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T18:48:15.567" Title="Shoulder Pressing – Training the Negative" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14263" CreationDate="2013-10-14T18:48:15.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a number of friends that compete strongman, some of them just had their debut competition, and one of them recently got sponsored.  Something you have to keep in mind is that the overhead work needs to be lifted off the floor.  The individual competitions vary based on the implement used and the standard weights.  The implements might be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2009/May/Apollonxs_Wheels_Apollonxs_Axlex_Setting_the_Record_Straight.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apollon's Wheels&lt;/a&gt; (train axle), fat grip dumbbells, barbell, log, etc.  From there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean the bar/implement to the shoulders (either continental clean, or power clean)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press over head any way you can (some competitions are for weight, others are for reps with a given weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to practice the full event.  However, if you are focusing on just the overhead pressing to put in work and get stronger, working from a rack lets you put more effort into the press movement itself.  Just remember to give yourself practice with the movement from the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To directly answer your question though, the importance of the negative depends on whether the lift is for the heaviest single, or the most reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You must be able to control the implement in free space.  Do not be tempted to slide the bar along the uprights in the power rack. (the set up you described sounded like that could be a possibility if you aren't careful)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your competition is for reps, don't let the bar touch the rack until your set is over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice with the implement you'll be using in your next competition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T18:48:15.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14259" CreationDate="2013-10-15T00:45:49.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking at working the chest and shoulders &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; working the arms as well, your only choices are flys of various types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBFly.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chest flies&lt;/a&gt; of various inclinations, with either dumbbells or cables will work the pectorals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the shoulders the...&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;anterior deltoid can be worked with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBFrontRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front raises&lt;/a&gt; with either dumbbells, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBFrontRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbells&lt;/a&gt; or cables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lateral deltoid can be targeted with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/DBLateralRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lateral raises&lt;/a&gt; with either dumbbells or cables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;posterior deltoid can be argeted with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidPosterior/DBRearLateralRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rear lateral raises&lt;/a&gt;, with either dumbbells or cables and either seated or standing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The upper trapezius can be worked using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/BBShrug.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standard shrugs&lt;/a&gt;, however the arms will be worked to a small degree holding the weight. The medium trapezius is generally worked through regular shoulder work, and the lower during back exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the majority of the muscle mass around the shoulder. However, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/cuban-press&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cuban press&lt;/a&gt; is an excellent &lt;em&gt;pre-hab&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;re-hab&lt;/em&gt; exercise for strengthening many of the muscles that make up the rotator cuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T00:45:49.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14257" CreationDate="2013-10-15T02:55:42.147" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess one way would be to go for a jog, and maintain a decent heart rate zone while keeping a certain pace on the jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can maintain pace X while in heart rate zone Y, but previously could only measure pace A while in heart rate zone Y, then your fitness has improved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runkeeper pro (paid) has lots of metrics for measuring and comparing this sort of stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6910" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T02:55:42.147" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14048" CreationDate="2013-10-15T03:05:09.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/a&gt;. When setting up your profile, tell it that you want to increase or maintain your weight depending on where you are now at. It will give you a total calorie budget for the day as well as a protein, sugar and fat budget in order to increase or maintain your weight. You get a greater calorie budget if you do more exercise that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baarn's answer above is similar, but if you use myfitnesspal it will do the difficult calcuations for you, additionally allowing for exercise, and give you a good way of tracking the calories you get from food intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6910" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T03:05:09.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14262" CreationDate="2013-10-15T04:06:26.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always refer to yoga anytime I need to find a good stretching move. Please check the move below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Position&lt;/strong&gt;: Seated, legs out straight. You yogis can criss-cross-apple sauce if you want to :) .&#xA;  Place palms down, fingers backward about a foot off the hip. You can play with how it feels to pull the palms off the floor and stretch the fingers long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Motion&lt;/strong&gt;: Keep the arms straight and lean backward toward the floor. To maximize the stretch you really have to straighten the arms. If bending the arms can’t be avoided, move the hands further from the hips to increase the stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch Tip&lt;/strong&gt;: The best way to get deep into this stretch is to sit on a mat while keeping your hands on a hard surface. If you find your backside slipping out from under you, brace your feet against a wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nha0O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The illustration&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt; Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kickstandfitness.com/tag/chest-and-bicep-stretch/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stretching Chest, Back and Shoulders: Seated Shoulder Flexor Depressor Retractor Stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T11:24:43.120" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T11:24:43.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-15T07:49:22.833" Score="2" ViewCount="724" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a &quot;Polar WearLink heart rate sensor with Bluetooth&quot; while running and my smart phone with Run Keeper to monitor among other things my heart rate. I also use earphones to get information from Run Keeper during running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normaly first measurements when starting running are at about 120bpm and ramp up during a couple of minutes to 140-145 only increasing slowly up to 150 or less in the first 20 minutes, depending on training intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But during the last two exercises I was getting a heart rate of 160! This certainly is bogus because it doesn't match at the way I felt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the first run where this happened I was wearing a jacket with the cable of the earphones running under the jacket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the second occasion I noticed that the cable of my earphones was banging against my chest right where the sensor of the heart rate monitor was. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weird measurements stopped after I opend the zipper of the jacket / tucking the cable to the side away from my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my theory is: the beating of the cable against the sensor was somehow picked up as heart beats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions: Is this a reasonable theory? If not, what else might cause this wrong measurement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a reasonable theory, what could I do to prevent this from happening again, apart from keeping the wire of my chest? A patch on the sensor maybe? Or some &quot;better&quot; earphones? I'd like to avoid fiddling with the cable during running since I find it rather distracting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;In another run I saw the same effect: firstly improbable high heart rate, then after some time more reasonable measurements, which I could confirm roughly by manually measuring my pulse. The difference was that my headphones cable was tucked away behind my shoulder, so it doesn't seem to be involved ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else could yield this effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T11:11:38.483" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T11:10:43.400" Title="Weird measurements of my heart monitor" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;&lt;polar-wearlink&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14271" CreationDate="2013-10-16T13:55:15.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be a couple things going on here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The strap needs to be wet to ensure good measurement of your heart rate.  If you start dry, it takes time for sweat to do its job and the early readings can be thrown off because of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The electrical impulses from the headphone wire can be interfering with the sensors.  This is more probable if you listen to music with a steady beat with heavy bass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There can be something interfering with the Bluetooth pairing.  This is more probable if the PIN for the Bluetooth device is something that you cannot set, and is shared among all the heart rate monitors.  If you run with someone, you might be picking up their heart rate if they are using the same device.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strap has two sensor areas that align on the chest on either side of the heart.  The sensor areas need to be pre-wet, or in cases where there is some interference you might need to get some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;q=heart+rate+monitor+gel&amp;amp;oq=heart+rate+monitor+gel&amp;amp;gs_l=products-cc.3..0.3157.6766.0.7199.22.12.0.10.10.0.85.695.12.12.0...0.0...1ac.1.T58tXZ_hGDg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heart rate monitor gel&lt;/a&gt; to ensure a better contact.  The strap shouldn't slip as you run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you run with someone, make sure you aren't experiencing cross-talk.  If you can customize the PIN you use for the Bluetooth device, please do so.  That will help minimize the chance that you are picking up someone else's device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-01T11:10:43.400" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T11:10:43.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14147" CreationDate="2013-10-16T14:45:55.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some type of allergic reaction to tree nuts. This is a very specific problem and not as general as I was expecting. Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I cut the almonds and walnuts out of my diet and I haven't had any issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T14:45:55.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14262" CreationDate="2013-10-16T17:58:03.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll preface my answer by saying I'm not a weightlifting coach, and if you don't have one I highly recommend finding one while you work out your form issues.  That said, as someone who trains for strength, there's some pointed questions I have to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you sure it's a biceps inflexibility and not a triceps weakness?  If you contract the triceps you will be stretching the biceps, and vice versa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you sure it's not a shoulder inflexibility keeping the bar forward of an optimal balance position for you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand hang/power snatches are very different animals from true Snatch (with full squat).  However, the issues I've run into with hang snatches that are similar to the issues you seem to be dealing with have to do with shoulder flexibility or triceps weakness that had to be corrected.  If your shoulder is tight and you can't get the bar where it needs to be, you almost have to bend your elbows to compensate for the balance problems that causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An exercise that can help with both issues is a &lt;strong&gt;behind the neck snatch grip press&lt;/strong&gt;, or sometimes known as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLPxwuGUZBY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Klokov press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  You may have to start with just a PVC pipe while getting used to the motion--same as some coaches would start you off with as you learn the motion (such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PITbWa0eU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mike Burgener&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another exercise that can help with both issues would be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/snatch-balance-mike-burgener/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;snatch balance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  It's similar to the Klokov press, but is much more explosive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article by Dan Pope about &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnesspainfree.com/the-burgener-olympic-lifting-warm-up-for-shoulder-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mike Burgener's warmup routine&lt;/a&gt; looks like another good resource.  For Olympic weightlifting advice, both Mike Burgener and Glen Pendlay are some of my go to resources.  You'll also see that the article references the same Klokov video I linked to above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one more video I wish I could link to, but due to copyright issues I can only tell you how to get it.  There's a book called &lt;em&gt;365 Strong&lt;/em&gt; by Brandon Lilly that you can purchase at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/store/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Juggernaut Training store&lt;/a&gt;.  Brandon Lilly is a power lifter and strong man, but in the book is a link to a video you can download and watch on how to &quot;Mobilize like a Weightlifter&quot;.  The instructors are part of the Juggernaut team, but there's some good stretches that deal with both the shoulder and the arm flexibility at the same time.  The one that I'm thinking of that sounds like it would apply best for you is described below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-monster-bands.php?SID=6k1u6k2tkhv2iutuc4h69ftf21&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strength band&lt;/a&gt; and attach it to a power rack (or pull up bar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grab the band with your arm facing behind you and kneel down on one knee, keeping the shoulder in a neutral position (i.e. don't let the band pull the shoulder to the top)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold for time, and then switch arm and knee. (NOTE: the knee that is up should be on the same side as the side you are stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That particular stretch helps stretch out the lats, delts, and biceps.  There are other good mobility tips in that video, but this one should help a good amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T17:58:03.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8237" CreationDate="2013-10-16T18:23:02.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intervals 5-6 800metre efforts with 1 minute recoveries are good.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hill repeats with recoveries.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tempo runs (eg 5 mile run, 2miles@8:00 then 2miles@6:00 then 1 mile recovery)&#xA;and long easy Sunday run, also cross country.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I include all this in my weekly training and have brought my 10 mile time down from 1:04 to 1:01. Just outside 6:00 minutes per miles in about a year with some injuries along the way. Now I'm planning for sub 1:00 hour 10 mile if my ankle problem doesn't flare up again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also joined my local running club which is why I have gotten faster, so recommend that if you ain't already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6963" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T19:07:39.647" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T19:07:39.647" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14284" CreationDate="2013-10-17T09:19:33.233" Score="3" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's conventional wisdom that muscle mass is dependent on food intake.  If you don't eat big, you won't have big mass gains.  I'm wondering, however, if the same is true for strength.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I consumed the upper-limit for the daily recommended protein intake for body-builders but did not consume a lot of calories (~2500 calories) would strength gains be impeded?  I've seen skinny guys at the gym all the time lifting an incredible amount of weight, so I'm wondering the extent to which strength is attenuated due to diet restrictions.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T16:01:55.487" Title="Does muscle strength (rather than muscle mass) also depend on food consumption?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-17T10:58:40.467" Score="9" ViewCount="2790" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am finally able to do 5 pull ups. As this puts me in the optimal rep range for strength gains I thought about adding weight to stay in that rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do my exercises at home, that's why I thought about loading a backpack with dumbbell plates. I really like the effect pull ups have on my core (I often had sore abs after a day of &quot;greasing the grove&quot;-style exercise). While weights in a backpack increase the resistance on my upper body, I fear that my core training is neglected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my worries justified? How do different positions of weights (on the back, the chest, around the hip, on the feet) impact pull ups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T11:53:49.057" Title="Position of weight during weighted pull ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14280" CreationDate="2013-10-17T16:01:55.487" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/01/24/pr-smashing-nutrition/&quot;&gt;Nate Winkler&lt;/a&gt;, yes.  There are things you consume that can impair or improve your ability to perform in the gym or on the field.  A short list is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caffeine abuse.&lt;/strong&gt; A dose of caffeine before training can be an effective way of being able to do more.  However, if you consume so much caffeine that you are no longer sensitive to it, all it does is cause you to fatigue more quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrates.&lt;/strong&gt; Carbohydrates cause your body to release &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin&quot;&gt;seratonin&lt;/a&gt;, a hormone that helps you sleep, triggers IGF (insulin-like growth factor) during the night.  Please see the article by Nate Winkler for more information, not all carbohydrates help improve your ability to perform.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eggs.&lt;/strong&gt;  Eggs contain a healthy dose of both &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrosine&quot;&gt;Tysosine&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetylcholine&quot;&gt;Acetylcholine&lt;/a&gt;, both of which improve the function of your central nervous system.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, at a more basic level, there are two ways your body builds muscle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy: basically increasing the energy and support systems for the muscle.  It has a direct affect on the size of the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myophibrilar Hypertrophy: basically increasing the number of protein pairs that actually perform the contractions.  it has a direct affect on the raw strength of the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these adaptations require food to fuel the added muscular potential.  Minor reductions in food, or using poor sources for food, minimize the body's ability to create new muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger question though, is can you get stronger while consuming enough Calories to loose weight?  The short answer is yes, with a few caveats that are important to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too big a Calorie deficit will cause your strength to go backwards as your body starts catabolizing the muscle you do have to make up the energy needs--particularly if protein is in short supply.  You can lose fat on more Calories than you probably think.  The key is to use good food sources.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasize complex carbohydrates with plenty of fiber and nutrients.  The fiber helps keep you fuller on less food, as well as keep your body well regulated.  The carbohydrates also keep your glycogen stores filled so you can train hard enough to get stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you get the protein you need.  Protein has all the raw materials your body needs to build muscle, or at least repair the muscle you used during exercise.  That combined with the right amount of carbohydrates will fuel your recovery processes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you have at least the minimum amount of fat necessary for proper hormonal functions.  A good target is to aim for 30% of your calories coming from fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimize endurance activities.  Activities such as running can help burn fat, but running long distances or long times on a treadmill will deplete the energy you need to build muscle at all.  This is also not the time to try &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/20_Rep_Squats&quot;&gt;widowmakers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn to be efficient with your training.  You will have less energy, so make the most of it.  Concentrate on sport specific training and compound movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice improving your technique.  Particularly if you are a beginner or intermediate lifter, you are probably wasting energy and effort performing the exercises you have to do.  The better you get at performing them, the more you can do and the more strength you can demonstrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T16:01:55.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14286" CreationDate="2013-10-17T16:36:22.407" Score="9" ViewCount="1604" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an averagely built guy (183cm, 85kg, 20% body fat) that's looking to build a bit of muscle, lose some fat, and generally turn some heads if I ever go running topless down a beach, but I've got a bit of a problem when it comes to &lt;em&gt;constantly&lt;/em&gt; being tired after working out. How would I know if I'm training too hard? I'll try to (briefly!) illustrate what I'm doing at the moment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mondays - off day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesdays - cardio (usually stationary bike) for 60-70min @ 160BPM heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesdays - resistance training, 4 sets each exercise with max weight I can manage with 12-10-10-8 reps, doing: bench press, shoulder press, squats, pull-downs, push-ups and abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursdays - off day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fridays - same as Wednesdays, just with different exercises: bent-over barbell rows, single-arm rows, squats, pull-dows, push-ups and abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday - off day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday - super-set day, 3 rounds of 10 reps of each exercise (no rest between exercises, 3 minute rest between sets) on max weight I can complete them with doing: bent-over barbell rows, bench press, squats, pull-downs and rowing machine for 400m&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of my days at gym take about an hour, and every time I'm finished and can't function for the rest of the day as I'm so tired. I eat (honestly) 3 meals and 1 snack a day, all carbs low GI, and have a protein shake with added L-Glutamine directly after training sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal to be so tired after training? Or am I just expecting too much and should decrease the weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update (18 October)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you everyone for your thoughts, answers and comments, and I wish I could mark them all as correct as they all share valuable information and insight. I realise that there are a few questions within this one (specifically ones on nutrition and training habits) that might deserve their own question sections, but for the purposes of this question you all have given me much needed food-for-thought that has eased my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update (24 October)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned by Adam in his very insightful answer, one of the best ways to figure this out is to realise that you need to keep learning about yourself, and with this in mind here are a few things I've learnt along the way that's helping me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a rest week every 5th week works great for me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pushing myself to &quot;failure&quot; was a very bad idea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you're getting tired after working out, that's ok...if there was something seriously wrong, you'd know!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lightening the weight / resistance slightly and adding 1 or 2 reps gave me a just as satisfying workout without the &quot;kill my muscles to failure&quot; way of doing things&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nutrition is important, but when I feed myself was also just as important - eating 2 hours before working out, followed by a protein shake 30 minutes before gym, then having a low-GI carb drink on hand during my workouts has helped to keep me going a lot better&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't underestimate the effect of stress (work or otherwise) on your energy levels - a stressed mind makes a stressed body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With so many ideas and products out there, and combining it with the fact that we're all different, really gives you thousands of things to try, but when you start figuring out what works for you, that's the real reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks again for all of your truly helpful answers guys, I wish I could mark them all correct, and I also hope this post helps someone else sometime!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6970" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-11-21T02:03:21.217" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T00:50:37.790" Title="How do I know if I'm training too hard?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14285" CreationDate="2013-10-17T18:22:59.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your performance is improving week-to-week and you're not suffering any health side-effects (compromised immune system, injuries, for example) you're not overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T18:22:59.273" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14285" CreationDate="2013-10-17T22:57:18.307" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to know&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, since our friends looking at the problem in a very &quot;sports science way&quot; I will rephrase and add more details (which may not be as practical as you think. Please refer to an expirienced trainer to be the judge of the symptoms below (Self judgments can be too soft and over sensitive sometimes))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Overtraining&quot; might be to blame if your athlete has any of the following symptoms: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;elevated resting heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;loss of appetite and weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;chronic fatigue, workouts described as draining&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;an increase in colds or infections&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;inadequate sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a decrease in performance, or an inability to reach training goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;lack of enthusiasm, psychological staleness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Inadequate rest and recovery can lead to compensation and injury. If&#xA;  signs of overtraining start to occur, adjustments can be made to the&#xA;  programs acute variables, including training volume, intensity,&#xA;  duration, frequency, and/or exercise selection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;For example&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, when an athlete experiences an intense   case of&#xA;  delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), reducing the intensity and&#xA;  duration of training, or  training different muscle groups for the&#xA;  days following will give the affected muscles time to recover (1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DOMS&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If you come back to the same muscle group - say, biceps - ** it can be the sign that you may still haven't recovered from your last biceps session**; in other words if your biceps are still sore or sensitive for pushing and pulling, this could mean you need more rest period and you may need to look for the symptoms above to confirm that you're over training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lot of debates about the word &lt;strong&gt;over training&lt;/strong&gt;. I am just using it in terms of &quot;not rested enough for the load of training you've done.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What happens if...&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training before recovery isn't that constructive. If you are familiar with the muscle building process, in very simple words, you injure the muscle and you feed him properly during recovery then it recovers in a better shape. Hence if you keep injuring the muscle without letting him to recover, you're not doing great PLUS you increase the risk of long-term injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's the case, you should either give your muscle group more time to rest or boost the recovery by taking supplements and foods which help you in this case. &#xA;The keyword to do some research for this would be &lt;em&gt;recovery&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;BCAA&lt;/em&gt; (Branched Chain Amino Acid) .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)Penney, Stacey, and NASM CES. &lt;a href=&quot;http://mixperformance.vpweb.com/upload/Overtraining.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Overtraining–When There Isn’t Enough Time to Recover.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have stumbled upon this article called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/the-myth-of-overtraining/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Myth of Overtraning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; by &lt;em&gt;Vince Del Monte&lt;/em&gt; the other day in my IroMan Magazine newsfeed and thought this definitely needs to be here since it's extremely informative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2013-11-20T23:37:04.467" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T23:37:04.467" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14282" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:31:32.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flip it(the backpack) to the front, dude...hang it from your legs, be creative. Placement is going to bring in helper muscles, but if you want an emphasis on your core, just swing it around the front, it's a pulling motion, the weight will be focused on your center, and shouldn't get in the way of the exercise at all (shoulders maybe)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW 5 pull-ups in a row? Why not move on to 10? or 15?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T14:31:32.807" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14260" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:36:24.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you do military presses, the optimal way to activate the entire shoulder and even trapezius is to shrug when you're at the top of the movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you go up, you normally press the weight until your arms lock out. If you're familiar with the shrugging movement, you can do this one trick to really push your shoulders, by activating your traps with the shrug motion. Essentially when your arms are at the top, extend them maybe an inch further and pull your traps in. Guaranteed to build you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider internal and external rotations for shoulder mobility and warm-ups, this will help with your rotator cuffs during lateral and front raises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3PbNvrhFW4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;External Rotations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is also a big one for shoulders. +1 @JohnP&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay thirsty my friends&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T14:36:24.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14071" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:45:55.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yea, so currently I do something called Intermittent Fasting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an eating window of 12-1pm through 8-9pm. The rest of the time, I just drink water, coffee, a diet soda here and there, or tea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had bulletproof Coffee. A Keurig cup of coffee, a tablespoon or two of Coconut oil, throw them in a magic bullet, and blend together. AMAZING.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have received energy boosts from it in the morning, although its somewhat greasy around your mouth afterward cause of the oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is actually usually in ketosis, the question you want to consider is how many ketones your body is producing, getting Ketostix is one way to do this. I think the higher the number the more INTO ketosis you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that low-carb or extremely low-carb with carb cycling is somewhat efficient, but you have to eat carbs after 3 days, because your body will only optimally burn fat for a few days in ketosis, then it goes into starvation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The magic bullet that Berin mentioned is Intermittent Fasting. I am doing a www.leangains.com style of IF 16-fast/8-eat. Cut out snacking, make my meals count, stay on your macros, but most of all stay in a caloric deficit. I lost 8 lbs in two weeks, and retained my strength, by IF and strength training 5-6 days a week. No cardio. I have increased my insulin sensitivity, i feel great...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, Bulletproof coffee is definitely a good choice. The reason it is ok during the fast is because the fats it releases into your blood stream doesn't spike your insulin. Protein can effect your insulin, obviously carbs do too...but the MCT works great due to the caffeine and rapid fat transport activation when you ingest it, giving way to immediate energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T14:45:55.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14282" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:56:50.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The weight itself won't impact the pullup much no matter where you locate it, as even in a backpack or buckled around the hips it's still going to be close enough to the center of the body that it won't pull &quot;away&quot; from the line of motion (Unless you excessively sway or arch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you had some sort of contraption where the weight was suspended out away from your body, it would have an effect, but as long as the weight is backpack type close, the effect will be negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start adding external weight to other exercises, you want to try and keep the weight in line with the motion of the limbs. So if you add weight for pushups (as an example), you want to try to keep it as close to the upper shoulder/arm line as you can. It's anatomically safer and more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other consideration is that they make weight belts with chains/clasps specifically designed to be able to suspend weight plates, you can use these for just about any pullup/dip type exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T14:56:50.897" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-18T15:46:52.850" Score="9" ViewCount="655" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few days back, my friend (female) skipped workout for the reason being menstruation. I (male) didn't have much opinion about her working out during that period.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now my question is, can a female carry on with their normal workout during menstruation, whatever the level of fitness they are at? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T16:07:02.417" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T20:48:36.687" Title="Workout during Menstruation" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2013-10-18T16:16:03.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say absolutely no problem what so ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train barely once a week, but with a lot of walking, reflex treatment (its like training and its painfull as hell) core strengthening + the occasoinal run, A marahton is not impossible. Its hard in the end and you need a really though head but that can be trained up by mentally screaming how good it feels, the pain is beautiful, it makes you forget everything else and you one with the universe, you are meditating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first was Oslo 2012 and i finished in 5:23, as this was my first i didnt realize that i was supposed to start slow, so my first 21 k was covered in aprox 2:28, needless to say i had a hard walk the last k's but the last one went on a 3:00 pace, pure adrenaline, i regret that though as my legs stiffened up like iron, but lesson learned. By the way i was one of two representatives for the Maraton, as i won a competition on FB, so not finishing wasn't really an option&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Sunday its Amsterdam Maraton, and i feel like a joyous kid, and i know i'll be sub 5:00 without traing even once a week running. I love it, but i dont bother training too much, its just to booring. Do some 10 ks runs and Half maratons, its fun and yuo'll get the training both mentally and physically. All this on the table, you do need a good base from earlier, have a strong body, but training is overrated. If you want to go fast you'll need lots of training. But hey anyone can walk the distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6978" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T16:16:03.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14293" CreationDate="2013-10-18T18:22:37.200" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several things that affect a woman during this time, but as pertains to working out or training you can expect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greater fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greater discomfort even at rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fear of bleeding through clothes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all very real problems, and it affects women to differing degrees.  Some that I've trained with are very affected and others are seemingly slightly affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone who is affected, there are some things they can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take complete rest (as your friend did)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a deload and work at half the intensity and volume they normally do&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't do anything that requires bracing the core, perhaps running or using the elliptical might work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't make any changes but don't be surprised if they can't do what they normally can do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The choice really is up to the person exercising.  Sometimes the person can feel better after exercise, and sometimes worse.  Be understanding, and if they tell you it's enough, respect that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T18:22:37.200" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2013-10-18T20:14:01.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two weeks ago I finished a marathon in 3:25 without much effort (and two months before the marathon I finished an ultra with a great effort :-) running &lt;em&gt;once&lt;/em&gt; a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, just like &quot;jpa&quot;, I was working out 6-7 days a week (Muay-Thai four days a week, fitness/crossfit/swimming/biking two days a week). And, compared to the usual training plans, my runs were &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; harder. My usual run was about 20-24km including a lot of sprints and skips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time I worked out with a friend who finished the same marathon in 3:35 --- but he had to visit a pit-stop for something serious :-) on his 30km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So --- yes, definitely it is possible to finish a marathon running twice a week --- on condition, you also do some other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6267" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T20:14:01.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-19T06:33:35.620" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear a crackling sound under my knee cap when i walk up/down the stairs but without any pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can i do situps and cycling with this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also is there any remedial exercises for knee related problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6982" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T06:33:35.620" Title="Can i do cycling and Situps with Knee problems?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-10-20T21:20:11.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14293" CreationDate="2013-10-19T14:46:21.587" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I don't want to make my answer anything pertaining medical,  I just want to mention that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). It is a disorder which makes our hormonal system very sensitive to lifestyle choices like diet, exercises, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I can workout during periods with no issues at all. I also hear the same from many fellow cysters. Some women (also normal women) find exercising during menstruation helps relieve cramps while some find exercising increases pain, cramps, bleeding,fatigue etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as Berin mentioned above, if a woman isn't feeling at her best while on periods, she can decide best how much exercise is too much for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in my understanding, it is a very individual thing and not related to fitness level for most part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you find the info you are looking for...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastEditorUserId="6594" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T05:26:43.337" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T05:26:43.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14306" CreationDate="2013-10-20T16:57:33.610" Score="7" ViewCount="3934" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to be able to do handstand presses but can't. I can't even lift my feet off the ground or even get that close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What muscle groups do I need to develop in order to be able to do this move?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe shoulders? Maybe abs (although I can already do L-sits pretty reliably)? Maybe lower back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a specific muscle group I should be targeting what would be good exercises for that muscle group given my goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T08:03:33.203" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T19:54:48.003" Title="Can't do handstand presses" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14301" CreationDate="2013-10-21T03:54:56.550" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an extremely complicated move you got it mind and it depends how is your current physical fitness and strength level is. Handstand press needs so many factors such as great balance, the ability of standing body weight by different muscle group (proportional muscle strength) and a lot of skill factor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first matter, &lt;strong&gt;balance&lt;/strong&gt;, you need to start from practicing this move besides the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the ability of standing your body weight and lifting it up which comes to your actual question, &lt;strong&gt;shoulder and upper body strength&lt;/strong&gt; matters a lot. You can work on them by adding &lt;strong&gt;chin-ups, shoulder presses, and push-ups&lt;/strong&gt; to your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skill!! needs practice, practice, practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are great resources online to give you the gist such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Work-up-to-a-Handstand-Push-Up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Work up to a Handstand Push Up&lt;/a&gt; which gives you the step by step idea and lots of Youtube videos such as video from &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;KinoYoga&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Youtube channel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T03:54:56.550" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14282" CreationDate="2013-10-21T11:31:18.317" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preferred way to load pull-ups is with a dip belt hung around the hips. This allows for variable loading from very little weight to multiple 45 pound plates, but more relevant to this question, it centers the weight on your hips instead of the shoulders. This means it doesn't change the angle you're pulling at, it simply makes you heavier. It should maintain the stress on your abs that you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ross Enamait has &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2011/04/19/dips-and-pull-ups-homemade-belt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video instructions (and static images)&lt;/a&gt; on how to put a dip belt together from hardware store materials. It's quite a straightforward, cheap, useful tool. You can also buy a specialized dip belt, which is still useful but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prowriststraps.com/inc/sdetail/15467&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/dip-belt.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cheap&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-01-09T11:53:49.057" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T11:53:49.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7510" CreationDate="2013-10-21T13:08:21.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For other people experiencing this same issue who can't or don't want to receive help from a personal trainer - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was experiencing the same issue after squats - a sharp lower back pain that seemed to get worse if I drove for long periods of time or sat down at work all day. The thing that has helped me the most is stretching or rolling out my &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;hip flexors&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; pre and post workout. I've done a lot of research about this particular subject and it seems that if you aren't stretching out your hip flexors enough then it could definitely cause lower back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/top-6-best-squat-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Check out this article.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching/SM00043&amp;amp;slide=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip Flexor Stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T17:02:31.523" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T17:02:31.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14301" CreationDate="2013-10-21T13:48:22.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say this is mostly CORE, shoulders, lower back intensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises that would increase mobility and strength include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga - stretching flexibility core stabilization&#xA;Core work - planks, weighted crunches, leg lifts, hanging leg raises&#xA;Military presses lateral raises - work your delts and traps for stabilization to hold that position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting into position is probably the hardest part of this. You can start by standing a little less than a body length away from a wall. Get in the starting position with your head tilted down and your hands palm down on the floor. I believe you start sitting. Place your hands directly under you and practice holding yourself up, pushing up off the ground, hold and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a chair and place it behind you, or use the wall as mentioned previously. With your hands in the same position as the starting position, kick your legs up to the chair or a low point on top of the wall, hold, repeat.  This should be like the half way point, maybe a little less than half way point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your main goals for this is to get your core in shape. If those core exercises are too extreme, maybe you could try pelvic tilts, or other core activating exercises so you know what it really feels like. This is probably just a start. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T13:48:22.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14259" CreationDate="2013-10-21T13:55:31.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Man, I know that the above exercises would add definition, you would have to go heavy for bulk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the shrug suggestion (try saying that three times fast)...but I would try doing some Farmers walks man...Intense whole body movement, works the hell out of your traps, shoulders, legs, core, forearm grip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Won't work your triceps or biceps too much, mainly stabilization, but wow will you get big doing these, keep the weight around 100-160lbs and go for a long walk. You won't regret it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T13:55:31.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13337" CreationDate="2013-10-21T15:59:19.150" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are sensitive ages to develop flexibility. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/9727/1771&quot;&gt;Tom Kurz, Science of Sports Training, pages 303-305, which in turn reference Drabik 1996&lt;/a&gt;. You cannot be in this lifetime as flexible as you would be if you had trained gymnastics or ballet or whatever when you were young. Too bad. However, those limits are pretty far along the path to elite flexibility. Some are related to permanently altering tendons in your hip, for example. It shouldn't be much of a concern except to realize that in addition to never being an astronaut, you will probably never be an Olympic gold medal figure skater. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot assume &quot;unlimited&quot; flexibility, but then again you couldn't assume that before. Everyone has a genetic potential. By not training when young, you have merely squandered less than a tiny half percentage point (warning: number pulled out of thin air) of your lifetime flexibility potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T15:59:19.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14311" CreationDate="2013-10-21T18:24:43.387" Score="4" ViewCount="5562" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone please tell me which muscles are involved when dumbbell bench press is done with palms facing towards yourself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried it with my elbow tucked by my side and next day I didn't feel anything in my chest. Instead my lats were sore. Is this an exercise meant to hit the chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6995" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T20:19:07.500" Title="Benefits of dumbell bench press with palms facing towards yourself" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14322" CreationDate="2013-10-21T18:47:40.093" Score="3" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the beginning of the year, i started my own weight loss plan (eat less, move more), and it was successful in that i lost just over 3 stone (44lbs). It slowed down a lot after 4 months and i more or less gave up trying, but mostly kept the weight off (put 4 lbs back on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently decided to finish what i started and shed the last stone and have taken up running, and would like to know, when am i better eating. I am trying to both increase my fitness, and burn off some fat. So would i be better eating a hour or so before running, or right after?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6996" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T08:27:31.497" Title="Best workout time vs eating time" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14309" CreationDate="2013-10-21T20:19:07.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having the dumbbells facing each other is different from having them parallel to your shoulders.  They do hit the chest, but not as directly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your shoulders are in a more neutral and protected position, with minimal stress to the pec tendons.  It's essentially safer and easier to go heavy with this form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It emphasizes your triceps, lats, and pecs in that order.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With sufficient weight and long enough sets, you should feel it in your chest.  In fact, when you get closer to failure you'll feel it more in your chest as you struggle to keep the dumbbells from becoming a chest fly negative.  I've used 75lbs for sets of 20 and definitely felt it both in the triceps and the chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of where you feel an exercise might just be where you are weakest at the time.  If you feel it more in your lats at the moment, that's because your lats need to be made stronger to support reversing the dumbbells from the bottom position.  As you progress or add other assistance work you may find you never feel it in your lats anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T20:19:07.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14293" CreationDate="2013-10-21T20:48:36.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no reason why your friend couldn't work out during her time of the month - indeed if the advertising industry is to be believed this is the ideal time for her to go horse-riding or trampolining, preferably in a pristine white jumpsuit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However even though she CAN train, she may not feel comfortable training due to cramps, pain, bloating, fatigue and/or general discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally have found that the fitter I get the less my cycle affects me, and I will happily train through the whole month with no problem at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2145" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T20:48:36.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-22T03:36:14.560" Score="1" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have learned that during aerobic exercising the body converts different sources of energy: glucose, fat and muscle. However, different ratios are used in different situations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are the ratios by intensity? I once had a link to a page where this was explained, the Wikipedia article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_intensity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise intensity&lt;/a&gt; lacks muscle tissue as energy source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the ratio of these sources changes with time of activity. I heard that after about 30-40 min of cardio the main source of energy switches from glucose to fat. How does this affect the amount of muscles burned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7001" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T11:44:53.610" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T14:59:56.153" Title="How is energy derived from muscle, fat and glucose at different intensities?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14318" CreationDate="2013-10-22T12:32:13.407" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;This morning I started to have flu symptoms, soar throat, sneezing, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I stay home or the yoga class might improve the symptoms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4615" LastEditorUserId="4615" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T12:45:14.257" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T15:11:46.113" Title="Should I do yoga if I have flu symptoms?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-22T14:32:03.523" Score="1" ViewCount="3869" Body="&lt;p&gt;i'm currently trying a 2 workouts a day, and i want to know if it's usefull to take like 2 times BCAA , pre-workout, post-workout, ... for each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T23:11:13.573" Title="2 workouts a day, supplementation" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14316" CreationDate="2013-10-22T15:09:51.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it's useful. Or you could just eat some WHEY protein Isolate after each workout, as the frequency and in turn volume is increasing the BCAAs will help keep you from catabolizing for muscle for energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I trained fasted in the mornings, always my better workout, training on a full stomach usually leaves me sluggish and lazy. Personal opinion of course, but i hear a lot of suggestions on eating pre-workout insta-carbs, i just don't think it's all that necessary. As long as at some point before 2nd workout you refill your glycogen in your muscles. You should be fine. Your body doesnt go catabolic in 3 hours, but fill em up, burn em down, fill em up, rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T15:09:51.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14315" CreationDate="2013-10-22T15:11:46.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're contagious or think you might be, why not just attempt the yoga at your house, and skip the class, and skip possible infection of others....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'm no doctor, but for sore throats, apple cider vinegar + water + honey = quick fix for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just fast, allow your body to focus on rebuilding your immune system. Do some stretches and yoga, relax, get some herbal tea or something, and drink plenty of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you feel better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T15:11:46.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14314" CreationDate="2013-10-22T15:17:00.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your muscles and brain run on glycogen. More importantly for this question, Glycogen fuels your muscles. When you exercise with high intensity for 20 minutes or more this is when your body switches from a primarily carbohydrate based metabolism to a fat metabolism, as duration increases so does amount of fat burned for fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SO IN ADDITION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose high-intensity would be &amp;gt; 70% V02 max Carbs are used as primary fuel here, if low-intensity or under &amp;lt; 30% V02 max, fats are primary fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the total energy expenditure is relatively high, 50% from carbohydrates, 40% from fat, and 10% from muscle, which creates lactic acid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your prolong your exercise, you shift from carbohydrate dominant metabolizing toward fat metabolism. This is due to an increase in breakdown of triglycerides (cholesterol) or (glycerol + free-fatty-acids).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in reference to the muscle that is used, it actually comes from the glycogen, as the primary source of carbs (keep in mind you're also burning fat after 20min) for the first hour or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;85% V02 max and you're burning 60% muscle glycogen, 15% glucose, 20% FFA, &amp;lt;5% muscle triglycerides&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat burns in the flame of carbohydrates&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.depts.ttu.edu/hess/mccomb/documents/ess3305/ppt/chap04.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.depts.ttu.edu/hess/mccomb/documents/ess3305/ppt/chap04.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T15:58:11.870" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14219" CreationDate="2013-10-22T16:36:15.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The soreness is a result of you working your muscles in ways they are not used to. The plyo X on P90X is intense, and I felt the same way afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say if your job requires you to climb ladders or something strenuous like that, I would say save your plyo routine for the weekend or a day where you don't have to work immediately the next day. P90X is an all-inclusive workout. You're getting HIIT, strength training and warm-ups/cooldowns. You don't really NEED the elliptical, as it's probably not doing much but burning some extra calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really trying to get better at the P90X thing, I would drop the elliptical and incorporate some stretching, some lunges, some core work, maybe some shoulder work, until the plyo circuit gets easier. AND IT WILL GET EASIER. It takes consistency, so keep trying, don't give up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T16:36:15.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14260" CreationDate="2013-10-22T20:09:48.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I hear you say “lock in” that make me think of people who have had shoulder surgeries where the ligaments where intentional attached in a manner to reduce shoulder mobility in order to speed recovery and reduce the chances of injuring the shoulder again.  I know next to nothing about the topic of shoulder surgery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing the range of motion in a joint does not necessarily make it less prone to injury.  Proper flexibility should be chosen base on the fitness goals of the individual.  For my own part my shoulders need to be flexible enough to do overhead squats.  The main way I maintain this flexibility is by doing overhead squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend overhead squats for many reasons.  In order to overhead squat properly you need decent flexibility in your ankles, hips, and shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T20:09:48.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14310" CreationDate="2013-10-22T23:04:05.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running before eating will provide you with the best opportunity to burn more body fat. However, if your undernourished you will not be able to exercise well, which will defeat the purpose of going to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your trying to build your physique I'd suggest eating before. If your trying to slim down, I'd suggest exercising first. &#xA;However, this is very important. Make sure that after your work out you don't eat in excess because you're starving. Make sure to fill up on water with your meal. It'll slow you down from wanting to eat more than your body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7007" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T23:04:05.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14310" CreationDate="2013-10-23T08:27:31.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend eating at least 2 hours before your workout for showing better performance during your workout (if you re going to eat carbohydrate foods, you should consider eating 2 hrs before your workout for improving performance because body first uses these as energy source). And as Sean has also told, don't eat too much after your workout, it is generally being ignored which causes reducing benefit from your exercise. Drink one bottle of mineral water during the post workout meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6571" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T08:27:31.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14354" CreationDate="2013-10-23T08:45:13.343" Score="5" ViewCount="10007" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 YO female. Turns out, all this time I had been depending more on arm strength than using chest and core strength to do push ups. This, in addition to sloppy form in side planks, has caused some shoulder injury. Different docs say different things. The latest diagnosis is bicep tendinitis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I place hands at shoulder width distance and don't flare my elbows. I don't feel tension in the right muscles. I know it might sound very silly but I just want to know how I can correct myself in push ups. Any cue to help engage the right muscles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T17:23:38.387" Title="How to engage chest muscles" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14324" CreationDate="2013-10-23T09:20:49.560" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've missed some important things here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to bring your shoulders back and down and keep that tension over the full range of motion. Imagine that you have a chestnut between your shoulderblades and you'll have to keep it over the complete exercise.&#xA;If you doing it right, your elbow-pits are facing away from you and your hands will come close to your rip cage and NOT in the height of your shoulders when letting yourself down on the floor.&#xA;After you've pushed up, try to squeeze/contract your chest muscles and hold that position for about a second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said correctly, try not to flare out your elbows while letting your torso move towards the ground.&#xA;Position your hands shoulderwidth apart.&#xA;The closer your hands are moving toward the more you'll work your triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T09:20:49.560" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14324" CreationDate="2013-10-23T09:34:29.380" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is quite difficult to learn correct technique when you're already injured. So have a few weeks of rest first. Then start with some simple exercises. I give you some ideas grouped by joint complexes (shoulder, spine, hips, wrists etc.) but these all assume you're not injured so really wait until the pain is fully gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders: take the kneeling push-up position. With the arms fully straight, push the floor away from you. Lift between the shoulder blades. Pull your shoulders down in the direction of your hips. Relax the neck and the face. All this should make your upper back a little round and lengthened, the chest muscles engaged. The same instructions apply for the plank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hips: in the kneeling push up, make as if you want to pull your knees towards your shoulders (forward and up). Don't really move your knees, just make the effort. Breathe into your abdomen. This should lengthen the lower back and engage the core. The same instructions apply for the plank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wrists and hand: spread the fingers and push them into the ground, as if you are trying to make a fist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you progress to lifting the knee or bending the hand, you have to maintain the same activations. If you cannot, then you must make the push-up easier by using incline (eg. a chair).&#xA;When you bend the elbow, it must move backwards along your body, not to the side. Going down, the shoulder blades will move closer together, going up, move them away from each other. Keep the movement slow and controlled, only go as deep as you can control the movement. A good exercise is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kevinneeld.com/2013/teaching-proper-push-up-form&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scap push-up&lt;/a&gt;, it teaches how to work with the shoulders while the arms are passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T13:48:32.250" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T13:48:32.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-23T11:01:26.700" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/BBCurl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Biceps Barbell Curls&lt;/a&gt;. When I do them my hand is really sore around the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Brachioradialis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brachioradialis&lt;/a&gt; area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing this exercise for months now. I started having these problems  last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7010" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T11:57:42.410" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T15:16:38.193" Title="Feeling sore when working on biceps" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14328" CreationDate="2013-10-23T12:48:03.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you need to work out your Brax and possibly lighten the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience when doing barbell curls/concentration curls I would get an intense sharp pain from my brax to my elbow (yours may be to wrist). This is because I transitioned too soon into heavier weights thinking it would help define my biceps oppose to higher volume lighter weights which really would define my biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sister is a personal trainer and advised I incorporate some hammer curls into my routine. I did an alternating hammer curl style, just 4 sets of 20 with a lighter weight, maybe 25lb DBs...really works your bi's and forearms increasing your muscular endurance and strength overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would firstly do that (incorporate hammer curls into routine), then take the same weight in hammer curls and start there with your barbell curls, or as close as possible maybe a little heavier, see if the soreness goes away, should improve after a week or two of hammer curls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T12:48:03.770" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14330" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-23T12:54:42.693" Score="0" ViewCount="1292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do some weight lifting so I would like to have a fairly high protein diet. However id also like to eat a bit less meat, fish and eggs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that nuts, seeds, beans and pulses are the best non-animal sources of protein, but how they compare per calorie? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EG if you had 100 calories of chicken and 100 calories of lentils, how much less protein would the lentils contain? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From googeling this I can find lots of resources that tell you how much protein foods have per weight, but this isnt useful for me. Lentils weigh less than chicken but I would eat a larger portion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4681" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T08:07:18.733" Title="Protein to calorie ratio of beans and pulses vs meat and fish?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14328" CreationDate="2013-10-23T13:23:20.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the pain is sharp, you may have developed some tendinitis.  Sometimes it originates from the elbow and radiates down the forearm, other times it radiates up the biceps.  In either case the solution is the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce intensity on the exercise causing pain, see if you can find an alternate variation that doesn't cause pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase volume on the opposing muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternate form of curl that is easier on your elbows is the hammer curl.  It's worth doing while you are rehabing the elbow.  If you were only using the empty bar for curls before, you can load with dumbbells that below that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to increase the pressing work.  Particularly because you have both chin-ups and curls in your routine.  You should be able to press more than you curl, but keep the reps in the 15-20 range.  This has the benefit of moving more blood through the joint and flushing out the inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you alternate flat bench, incline bench, and overhead press you will hit everything from different angles.  5 sets of 15-20 reps of any pressing movement a day for 5 days in a week with relatively light weight will be a good place to start with the rehab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are weighting your chinups this is a time to do strict body weight.  Additionally, if you can I would switch to pull ups (palms away) while you are rehabbing, and then alternate chin-ups and pull ups afterwards.  If you can't do strict pull ups yet, do 4 sets of 8 pull up negatives (just a slow controlled descent).  The different orientation will help the weaker muscles in your forearm to catch up and work your grip differently than the barbell curl and chin ups do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T13:23:20.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14339" CreationDate="2013-10-23T13:54:22.633" Score="2" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 23 year old healthy male who plays squash at a national level. In 40 days, I have an important tournament coming up. I am in a good shape compared to the everyday guy, but not in a good enough shape to compete at a high level. I can run 8 miles in an hour, if that gauges where I'm standing fitness wise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently carrying easily 10 pounds more than I should (6'2&quot;, 195lbs  / 1.85m, 88kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like your opinion on how to proceed in order to improve my fitness quickly over the next month. Squash is a very anaerobic sport, with a lot of quick bursts combined with necessary muscular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have searched the internet but I can't quite wrap my head around it: Interval training, sprint training, how much of those? Should I focus more on long runs in the first 2 weeks to lose weight and then do some sprint training? Or should I hit the weights? I feel I have very little knowledge about fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you get in a killer shape in a month?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7011" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T10:39:53.320" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T10:39:53.320" Title="Get anaerobically fit for a squash tournament in a month" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14333" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14337" CreationDate="2013-10-23T14:44:53.797" Score="2" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this normal or not, also I go after I leave work at 5pm and I feel really hungry even after dinner, but this is only when I go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T18:37:04.000" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T08:03:04.933" Title="After going to the Gym I feel really hungry!" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14336" CreationDate="2013-10-23T16:11:47.293" Score="4" ViewCount="13525" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started doing planks in the hopes that stronger abs would help me with my lower back pain, however, after I started doing them my legs have become uncomfortably sore. The areas that ache are the front and back of my thighs, as well as the area right above my achilles tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a result of bad form, or is it a normal result from doing planks? I am doing the exercise in front of a mirror, and as far as I can tell, I am successfully keeping my back straight.&#xA;Are there any variations of this exercise which will allow me to strengthen my abs without being in pain when I'm walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7012" LastActivityDate="2018-06-28T14:47:45.697" Title="Extremely sore legs after plank exercise" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14301" CreationDate="2013-10-23T16:18:01.473" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the easiest form of 'handstand press' is starting with your feet on the ground, legs wide, putting your hands between the legs, and lift from there. (This version is called 'straddle press'.) There are many tutorials on youtube, see eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNGaQJmYT80&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To achieve this, you need: core strength, shoulder strength, hip and hamstring flexibility, wrist strength and flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can work on these separately of course. On putting the movement together: for me the most helpful exercise was to get in the starting position, lift off the heels, actively press on the ground, lift between the shoulder blades, pulling the knees into the chest, and just stay there. Doing this right, eventually the legs will just want to lift off. You can do the same thing with the legs close to each other, then lift off one leg, then change etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all a bit tricky because sticking up your pelvis into the air won't help, actually you need to press &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt;, and the floor will press you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T16:18:01.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14334" CreationDate="2013-10-23T17:35:57.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a result of bad form. Your butt is probably sticking up the air. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your achilles tendon and hamstrings are becoming sore because they are being stretched during your holds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all look at your body position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to start, lay down chin towards the floor, toes downward, directly downward, and rest on your elbows using your shoulder girdle to support your neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when you lift and get into positionput your weight directly on your elbows which should be ok, stick your legs straight out and remain on your tip toes, do not try and force the sole of your foot to the ground, the most that should touch is your fore-foot. Nothing more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, you should be able to set a broomstick on your back and it should remain parallel with the floor and you. Your butt should be in line with your body, and you should be bracing your core, tucking your hips in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw a similar case of the same regions being sore, when my girlfriend tried to do burpees during some HIIT for the first time. She just wasn't jumping down far enough, the result was her butt stuck up in the air, hamstrings and back of shins were sore for a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make some adjustments to your form, straighten out, brace your core, and tuck your hips, it's not just your back that needs to be straight it needs to fall in line with the rest of your body to promote thoracic extension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T17:35:57.310" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14333" CreationDate="2013-10-23T20:04:55.393" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's normal to want to eat stupendous quantities of food after a hard workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I find it's hard to eat enough food to satisfy my hunger after a really tough workout. This is particularly true, I found, when eating lots of greens and beans and other low-density, low-calorie foods. I find that a post-workout meal best defeats hunger by including nutritionally dense foods like meat, eggs, milk, fruit, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, all with plenty of butter and oil. If you're working hard and not trying to restrict food intake, then listen to your body and eat plenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I still feel hungry after dinner, have seconds, or wait an hour and snack on something dense like canned fish, a milk-and-fruit shake, peanut butter, or just leftovers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T06:03:39.337" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T06:03:39.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14285" CreationDate="2013-10-24T01:12:02.547" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this same same question and did tons of research for myself.  Some quick notes of mine to take with grain of salt as I am trying to figure this all out too...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never stop learning.  Treat your mind as a muscle and keep researching the subject.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining could be defined as exceeding your bodies ability to supercompensate (recover stronger than you started)...or doing more than you need to do to trigger maximum growth response.  Log everything you do.  Only increase effort (reps/sets/weight/decrease rest) when the current stimulus doesn't give you results over a reasonable time like a week or two (individual days are unpredictable).  Learning and tracking how your unique body responds to stimulus is really the only way to answer your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work with a trainer for a few months when you first start out.  You will get solid return on investment.  It is just so easy to do so many things wrong when you try and start alone.  I grew more in a few months with a trainer than I did for years on my own.  They will push you way harder than you would push yourself alone in the right ways, and stop you from hurting yourself with bad form and just wasting your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow a balanced comprehensive full body program.  Different rep ranges every 4 weeks or so.  Cycle through low reps (5) for strength, medium reps (8-15) for size, high reps 20+ for capillary growth/endurance.  Cycle through different speed...2s up 2d and explosiveness. Instead of just bike for cardio, try and work all your muscles into cardio and strength.  (Don't put off capillary growth because you want strength...endurance translates into more efficient use and supply of fuel, waste management, recovery nutrients, etc)     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try drinking your shake before hand.  Some studies suggest that may help recovery start quicker, give you more energy while working out.  Since I have started using 3fu3l before my workout, I have had more energy at the end of my hour workout. (Just suggested so you consider the effect of protein, carbs, fat during the workout).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get way more sleep.  Enough that you shouldn't need an alarm clock.  Lots of growth hormone released during good sleep.  &amp;lt; 8 hours and you may be spinning your wheels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't do nothing on rest day.  Practice active recovery...get muscles pumped up a bit (perhaps a few light sets at 50% max) to supply with nutrients, flush waste.  Do prehab type exercises...foam roller, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't go to failure so quickly (some people say never go to absolute failure unless you are expert and need to).  A target of 5 sets x 5 reps is might be more effective.  Look into methods like Grease the Groove where you do more sets less often.  That might help you achieve your goals while feeling less tired from using up all your body energy stores at one time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Feel free to edit anyone)   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5019" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T01:12:02.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14332" CreationDate="2013-10-24T03:43:00.527" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume that your two goals are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve your performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay healthy and uninjured&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also going to assume that you are healthy and cleared for intense activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are wanting to increase your anaerobic fitness, you are going to need to do intervals. In this case, I'd recommend all-out intervals; they will place a significant load on your system, and that will cause you to improve. I'd recommend starting with simple sprints twice a week; go out and warm up thoroughly, find a good spot, and then run as hard as you can for about 30 seconds. Recover for 3 minutes, and then repeat. When you can no longer work at the same rate, you're done with the session. Typically, this would be 4-6 efforts; if you hit 6 and still feel okay, you need to up the intensity or add a second set after a 10 minute recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few keys to having success. First off, if you are running, the sprinting will put a big load on your muscles and you could get overuse. Good shoes and a good running surface will help. Second, intervals work because you can put a large load on your system, and to do so, you must be well-recovered. Make sure you take a few days off between your sessions, and if you can't put out a good effort early in the interval set, abort the session. I would not do intervals more than twice a week, and that may even be too much. Pay attention to your body. I would not do full sets the week of the event, but it's okay to do 1-2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do these right, they will make a &lt;em&gt;significant&lt;/em&gt; difference in both your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a fan of weightlifting in general, but starting a lifting program right before an important skill competition isn't a good idea. You could injure yourself, and even if you don't, you may end up with strangely tired muscles that throw off your timing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the weight part, I'd concentrate on good nutrition. Intervals are going to be taking a lot out of you, and if you try to lose weight at the same time, you could go too far. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T03:43:00.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-24T13:05:31.460" Score="5" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am soon to move to the country and, as it is almost British winter time, I am a little concerned that my regime will be seriously affected by the lack of street lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am considering my options but have struggled to find an authoritative opinion on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="167" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T13:09:02.643" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T14:58:55.810" Title="What is the best way to light a night run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14340" CreationDate="2013-10-24T14:45:55.567" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not exactly living in the country side, but runing on tracks that basically circle around a village. What I found interesting when running outside without any own light source:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't a problem as long as there is no artificial light source. With stars or moon the eyes adapt to the low light pretty well, and I was able to see enough for my runs. But in some places strong lights from gardens and in the worst case from a sports ground where so blinding, that I basically saw nothing at all when it wasn't hit directly by the light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course is highly dependent on your surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my recommendation is: explore your new routes during the daylight and try if you actually need a light source at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T14:45:55.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5713" CreationDate="2013-10-24T14:48:02.910" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Years later but for anyone who reads this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moesef's answer is half correct but completely misleading. Why would the breakdown of protein reduce it's effectiveness? You can buy them pre mixed off the shelf, they've been sitting there way longer than a few hours. Any breakdown of the protein will just turn them into amino acids, and like moesef said that isn't gonna happen much if at all because the enzymes aren't there for that. So if there's a tiny bit of protein breakdown it isn't a problem at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milk going off is a separate issue, and if you're worried about it then just get some uht milk and bring the whey in a separate bottle unmixed, mix just before use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7015" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T14:48:02.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14340" CreationDate="2013-10-24T14:58:55.810" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few considerations when running at night:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Making yourself visible to others, i.e. motorists, cyclists, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Providing vision for yourself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where to look when running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't want to be staring down at your feet. Like mountain biking or other high speed pursuits, you want to be looking a few feet ahead so that you know what is coming for footing. So, you want a light that can shine out ahead of you as well as down, and provides enough light to illuminate the path ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal favorite combination (which is also mandatory for Ragnar events, which are 24 hour relay running event is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Headlamp - You can get ones that clip onto a hat, or you can get them mounted on head straps. Find what is comfortable, if it isn't comfortable, you won't use it. My personal preference is the Petzl series of head lamps. You also need to consider the lumens, or light output. I prefer 50 lumens, as that gives me about 10 seconds of visibility at a 7 minute mile pace. If you run faster than that, you need a brighter lamp so that you don't outrun your light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear red solid or flashing light - Almost any brand will do, you just want a light in the back for visibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reflective vest/clothing - You want something that will reflect both from the front and back - My person preference is Nathans, as you can get quite minimally structured vests that still provide a lot of reflection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you have the basic elements of a light in front for footing, a light to the rear to alert others, and some sort of front/rear reflective capability, you should be fine to run if there isn't much illumination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T14:58:55.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-24T19:31:11.597" Score="0" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to gain weight quickly.  What can i do?  Please suggest for me &lt;strong&gt;a diet that is not too expensive&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7018" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T19:34:52.457" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T19:34:52.457" Title="How can i quickly gain Weight ? i am too skinny" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-10-24T23:50:13.657" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14333" CreationDate="2013-10-25T06:15:10.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One reason for extreme hunger could be that you are doing long hours of cardiovascular exercises. For instance, running on the elliptical for long periods might really drain you of energy so much that you end up over-consuming food afterward. It's not really healthy in any way either. One way to avoid that (and get stronger and leaner in less time) could be to limit such cardio-intense long workouts to 1-2 times a week, and to do shorter, more intense HIIT style training for the remaining couple times in the week. Metabolic conditioning workouts are all the rage these days - they save time, are more effective, and won't leave you so famished as a side effect either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course my answer assumes a lot of things about the way you are currently working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4821" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T06:15:10.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14352" CreationDate="2013-10-25T07:52:05.420" Score="7" ViewCount="29568" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say on one side of the dumbbell I got 12 pounds, and on other I got 16 pounds. (I got dumbbells with 2 extra weights of 4 pounds...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it bad to add those 2 extra weights to 2 dumbbells on one of their sides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5348" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T07:31:52.403" Title="Can I use slightly unbalanced dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;balance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-25T08:24:17.147" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have been training hard for my marathons and I feel that it may not be enough to become a champion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I came up with the idea of carrying weight while running.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have got 2 dumbbells each weighing just 4 lbs. Can I carry these on my hand and swing my arms normally, the way in which I do while jogging?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Will this improve my strength and/or my speed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also please tell me, what is the extent of weight that I can carry, if at all this idea is good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T08:24:17.147" Title="Carry dumbbells while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-10-26T01:57:38.013" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-25T08:38:15.890" Score="5" ViewCount="3257" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 37, with an average body type (not skinny, not fat), but my belly requires constant attention not to pop out like a beer addict. It's not fat and it doesn't feel bloated... it simply seems like my abs are too &quot;long&quot; and I need to keep on pulling them in to keep the belly flat. It's not a lot of effort and I do it semi-automatically , but sometimes it's very annoying. Even when I was younger and quite fit (doing hundreds of abs), my belly always tended to pop out unless controlled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm just looking for a way to teach my abs to stay in when relaxed. Is there anything I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7022" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T11:55:17.270" Title="How to shorten the abs to keep belly in?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14349" CreationDate="2013-10-25T12:46:16.957" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like a variation of unilateral work.  The important aspect of unilateral work, or uneven loading, is that you switch hands and perform the same amount of work with the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you are doing shoulder presses with those weights.  You'll want to make sure of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even number of sets with the same number of reps for each pair of sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each set you switch the hand that has the heavier dumbbell (or that has a dumbbell in unilateral work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your goal is 3 sets of 8, you will end up doing 6 sets of 8.  First set the left hand has the heavy dumbbell, the second set the right has the heavy dumbbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, it's preferable to do true unilateral work than use uneven loading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dumbbell has uneven weight at each end, the applications are a bit more limited.  It can work for exercises like hammer curls, but presses of any sort may be thrown off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any exercise where the orientation of the dumbbell is perpendicular to the floor should be mostly unaffected (total weight of the dumbbell is pulling the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any exercise where the orientation of the dumbbell is parallel with the floor will be affected (total weight of the dumbbell is pulling differently).  This can affect balance issues, and potentially put more strain on your joints that wouldn't be there with a balanced dumbbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-10-25T15:47:23.460" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T15:47:23.460" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14351" CreationDate="2013-10-25T13:01:27.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do all of the ab workouts you like and never see a difference if your diet isn't in the right place. &quot;Abs are 70% diet and 30% training,&quot; unfortunately, and I believe that is the truth. Your abs are under your &quot;fat&quot; so training abs without changing your diet will help, but not nearly as much as a better diet would. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Posture may help a little bit. If you have bad posture this can &quot;teach&quot; your abs to stay relaxed in incorrect positions. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitsugar.com/Slouching-Saboteur-Flat-Abs-2837470&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See this article.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T13:01:27.590" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14324" CreationDate="2013-10-25T17:23:38.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see a couple things going on here with your question.  First to answer the headline question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The further away from your body you have your hands, the more you involve your chest.  The trade-off is more stress on the shoulders and pectoral tendons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This bit of advice also works for bench press.  To further activate your chest, concentrate on tensing the pectoral muscles while you are at the top for a second each rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dealing with Tendinitis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tendinitis is a warning that either there is something wrong with your form, or that you are not exercising the antagonist muscles enough.  For example, if you are doing lots of push ups which train your triceps, but not doing any type of rows/pull ups/flexed arm hangs to strengthen your biceps.  If you are sticking with body weight exercises, you can do body weight rows by laying on the ground and pulling yourself up to either a bar or a table.  You could even use a broom handle across two chairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By your description, you may be dealing with both a form problem and unbalanced training.  Balancing your training is easy.  Just add the antagonist work to what you are doing.  Initially, you will want to do more antagonist work than the push ups, but eventually you'll want to do equal volume on them.  The form is more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform planks to teach your body to remain rigid.  Lay on your stomach and get up on your elbows.  Tighten up your entire body, in particular your abdominal muscles.  You should be able to hold that position for at least 30 seconds at a time.  If not, work on these until you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a comfortable hand position that is slightly away from your body, but not so far as to cause discomfort in your shoulders.  The position should help you engage your pectorals and your arm muscles while keeping the body plank rigid.  Slight elbow flare is acceptable.  Just make sure you are well supported.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only perform good reps.  If you feel your body starting to fatigue and your form start falling apart, stop the set.  You can work on adding more good push ups over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T17:23:38.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14356" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14357" CreationDate="2013-10-25T18:51:50.927" Score="1" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;By sitting on the chair most of the time during work my buttocks are growing bigger.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there any warm up to reduce this effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6923" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-25T21:04:29.737" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:36:34.740" Title="How to reduce and make fit buttocks" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14356" CreationDate="2013-10-25T21:12:40.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your butt is not getting bigger because you are sitting. It grows because you are probably eating too much and it accumulates fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change your diet, as your profile says you are from India, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4851/3941&quot;&gt;this answer might help you&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have a typical Indian diet like I used to (though I don't want to typecast or stereotype here), it's probably very carbohydrate-heavy. This means a lot of wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check your drinks as well. Soda and Juice are high in calories, too. Switch to drinking water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising might help you lose weight, but a healthy and balanced diet is the most important part in achieving your goal. Don't try to invent excuses for your body fat to increase when there is a simpler explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3941" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T21:12:40.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13744" CreationDate="2013-10-26T19:27:31.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out with rubber bands for 3 years now(after 7 with weights). You should always pay attention to the distribution of the length so that it is equal indeed. Otherwise it will(how you suggested) work both sides unevenly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't much of a science behind that. A mirror in front of you will make things a lot easier but you can do it without one too. Grab the band(s) and step in the middle. If you feel the band is longer on one of the sides just make a step in that direction and even the distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Just a side hint - rubberbands will never replace weights. They work your body differently and if you are aiming to gain muscle it will be very hard. If you are aiming for that but don't want to use weights then you should consider throwing body weight exercising in your workouts as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:27:31.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14356" CreationDate="2013-10-26T19:36:34.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Baarn. The reason your butt grows is probably because that is where your body is likely to store fat. It's different for every person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you think you don't eat much it might be a lot for the energy you are using during the day. I will tell you a story - I have a friend who doesn't go out much and, like you, spends a lot of time sitting. At one point he asked to lose some weight so we spoke about a diet. However a normal diet didn't work for him, it turned out he had to cut &lt;strong&gt;DRASTICALLY&lt;/strong&gt; on carbs in order to start losing weight. Which was unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus what you should aim for is increase your physical activity - if you don't want to exercise then simply walk. Walk for at least 30 minutes everyday. The more - the better. Look at the situation this way - when you eat you consume calories. When you perform during the day you burn calories. If you burn less than you consume whatever calories are left will be stored as fat in your body(your butt in your case). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can control and limit the amount of calories you consume but you should also increase the amount of calories you burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:36:34.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14349" CreationDate="2013-10-26T19:40:53.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't advise you to exercise like that. Even if you switch hands on each set it will still be uncertain what results you will get out of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only proper solution to your problem would be to use only one dumbbell during your workout. Go for one hand at a time and then do the other. For the first 2 years of my training I had only one dumbbell at home before I started going to the gym and that's how I would workout. Yes it would take a little bit more time to finish a workout but there won't be any negative side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:40:53.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13337" CreationDate="2013-10-26T19:59:27.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will tell you several things which I believe will add up to the answer of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gymnasts start working on flexibility first thing in their career. Since the age of 4-5-6, the earlier they start working flexibility the better. After that coaches make them maintain their flexibility level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The older you get, the less flexible you will be. It goes away just like strength(hence why gymnasts start developing that first).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's all about genes. I have learnt from gymnastics coaches that flexibility is not something anybody can develop well. You either have the potential for it or you don't. Just how some kids can go down into a split without ever working on it. I on the other hand couldn't do it both when I was little and later in my teenage years even after spending hours on flexibility every day I made somewhat of an average progress. Thus if you were given flexible joints at birth even if you are older now it should not be much of a problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and 4. which is a littler irrelevant but I would like to share it with you for I feel you might need to know that. Every joint has different flexibility. For example I have seen gymnasts that could do splits but were inflexible in their shoulders. Thus they had to focus more on shoulder flexibility in order to catch up. Thus don't get discouraged right away and see how your overall flexibility develops!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:59:27.403" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14282" CreationDate="2013-10-26T20:14:04.903" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;High five for working out at home! You can achieve the superb fitness level with home exercise if you know what you are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow I remember doing pull-ups with a backpack once too. However the backpack would disbalance me since it was not tightly wrapped around my body. That's why it's much better to weighted pull yourself with a belt. The belt will distribute the attached weight's position better. Also after I passed 20kgs on the weighted pull-ups my backpack started tearing apart slowly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason why I prefer a belt to a backpack is that the backpack rests on your upper body which is working during the pull-ups. Thus if the backpack gets heavier you will find out that it prevents your shoulders and back to flex properly to their full potential during the pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know belts for weighted pull-ups can be expensive but you can avoid that with a karate belt that costs around $1-2. Also I have tested my karate belt in weighted chin-ups with 65kgs attached to me. I have written an article about using a karate belt as a substitute to expensive weight belts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T20:14:04.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14330" CreationDate="2013-10-27T08:19:52.607" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know calculating sounds like the right way to approach your question but theory is theory, de facto things are often different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't remember reading about any bodybuilder who promotes beans and lentils over meat. I have heard many times that beans and lentils are very high in protein but nothing replaces meat. Proteins from beans and proteins from meat just feel different. In my case my workouts are mainly strength based and whenever I cut on the meat I drop in strength(obviously trying to replace it with beans and lentils).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end my advice for you is to experiment and see how you feel about them. You can always go back to meat. This sounds like the only proper way to answer your question. Everybody is different and no survey can give you an ultimate answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-27T08:19:52.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14351" CreationDate="2013-10-27T09:10:09.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a controversial subject, given that it is influenced by cultural elements as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our culture tends to see the flat six-pack abs as healthy and strong, and relaxed abs unhealthy and weak. But this is not necessarily true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a physiological point of view, it is also controversial. Some will say pulling your belly in will improve your posture, and protect the spine. This is true, but it also has some negative effects (makes breathing more difficult, increases stress, digestion problems, even sexual problems). This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMe1lRpNYi8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; demonstrates many ways of how the abdomen can be drawn in or relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people have flat abs, but they're unable to relax it and actually they're quite weak under the surface. If the abdomen is relaxed, it comes out, it is a perfectly natural thing, and I don't give a damn what other people think. This is in no way a justification for not having a healthy diet and not doing exercise. It is just that it's equally important to be able to relax the abdomen and having a strong one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-10-27T09:10:09.780" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12030" CreationDate="2013-10-27T16:29:47.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody can tell you what is &quot;better&quot; when answering your question. They are different and will provide you with different results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been weightlifting for 7 years and did calisthenics for around 5. I did them separately as that would mean that nowadays I only do body weight exercising. I would say I got more definition in my muscles but lost size, volume. At the same time gaining size and volume. Same goes for strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean by this is that before I stopped weight lifting I could biceps curl with 27.5kg dumbbells per arm for 6 reps. Last year when I checked I could biceps curl with 22.5kgs only. However I gained strength on gymnastics rings. When I was biceps curling so much I couldn't do much on the rings and now I can do a gymnastics cross. So I gained some strength and lost some strength in the biceps. The cross is a complex exercise that involves the whole upperbody but I am mentioning the biceps only since that is the muscle group that I made a comparison about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now about the volume in the muscles. I will refer to my arms again. After I stopped doing weight my arms got smaller. However my biceps on their own got a lot bigger, all the biceps curling never managed to expand my biceps as much as they did expand just after one year of continuous ring workouts. They also got a lot leaner. Then last year just after one workout of biceps curling in a weight lifting gym I noticed my biceps gained more size(got thicker) but lost definition, got bulkier looking. Of course that was not too obvious for it was just one workout but I am used to noticing changes in my body after so many years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus I chose body weight training for I find it more entertaining and I like the results better(looks and strength gained). It doesn't mean it's better or worse compared to weight lifting. Nor is it going to prevent any injuries, the risk is equal with both activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-27T16:29:47.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14370" CreationDate="2013-10-28T05:33:43.927" Score="0" ViewCount="766" Body="&lt;p&gt;Previously I had asked about carrying hand weights while running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can we pull weights while running? Tie a rope to our hip and the weight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am planning to run on the beach sand nearby.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is there any use in doing this? Will I improve my speed or my strength or both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T06:20:25.817" Title="Pull weights while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14371" CreationDate="2013-10-28T05:42:33.907" Score="0" ViewCount="1001" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6R8sX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I close my eyes doing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/496&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vrikshasana&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Garudasana pose&lt;/a&gt;, I lose balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to solve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7020" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-28T10:09:31.690" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T10:47:52.930" Title="Why is it so hard balancing the Vrikshasana pose when the eyes are closed?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14368" CreationDate="2013-10-28T06:20:25.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three common ways of increasing resistance while running:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hill running - the downside is your form has to change.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Resistance parachutes - you can maintain your normal form, and the added resistance is useful for increasing your strength and power while running (although not a replacement for strength training in the gym)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushing or pulling a weighted prowler sled - this isn't really running anymore, but is a really good conditioning and endurance/strength exercise for the legs, hips, and core.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think your idea of pulling weights falls into this category.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T06:20:25.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14369" CreationDate="2013-10-28T10:47:52.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_%28ability%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;balance does not only rely on your inner ear&lt;/a&gt;, but also on your eyes making out a fix point - preferably not too close, and stable - not the other person also struggling with the pose. You can easily test this with far easier poses, like standing on one leg, with eyes open or closed. So that the pose is hard to do with eyes closed is expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your reasons for wanting to do the pose with eyes closed, you can do the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you find it distracting to have the eyes open, maybe you can change your surrounding so that there are not many distractors in your field of vision.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you need to do the pose with eyes closed (for whatever reason), you can try training your balance in simpler poses with eyers closed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm not a yogi, I don't think I could hold any one legged pose with my eyes closed, and all this is just common sense and knowledge aquired here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T10:47:52.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14351" CreationDate="2013-10-28T11:55:17.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might have a case of hyperlordosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the imbalances between antagonist muscles. In this condidtion, the pelvis is tilted downwards, stretchign the belly and making it pop out, while giving you a too deep &quot;pinch&quot; in the limbar region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Visiting a Physical Therapist will detrmine wherther thats the case for you. Im thinking that may be it, and typical ab answers focusing on showing the abs (and therefore on reducing body fat percentage) do not really apply here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think stretching the lumbar region and strenghtening the glutes and abs should help, but Id love to see an answer tackling the problem at this angle from a more competent and experienced user. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T11:55:17.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14374" CreationDate="2013-10-28T14:06:13.233" Score="1" ViewCount="572" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to a nearby park and do dips on parallel bars. I try to do them with my elbows not flared out i.e. tucked by my side. I feel my triceps getting engaged a lot but I don't feel it in my chest. Is it the width of the parallel bars? They are not too wide apart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of trying it out with my bar stools as that would allow me to adjust the width. Is it true that the more the width in the dip setup the more it engages chest? Please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6995" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T14:24:25.793" Title="Dip bar width to involve chest" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14373" CreationDate="2013-10-28T14:24:25.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to engage your chest during dips, lean forward slightly. It doesn't really have to do with the width of the bars, rather the angle of your lean. That being said, leaning forward will still work your triceps as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/all_about_dips&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for some good info on dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jVbBK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T14:24:25.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14383" CreationDate="2013-10-28T19:50:51.107" Score="3" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 22 yo, I weight 358 and 6 foot tall and I want to get in shape really fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a computer engineer student and spend a lot of time in front of a computer 8 to 14 hours a day. I want to change my eating and exercise habits to lose weight. I've got a gym membership so machines are acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without being too time consuming or extremely hard for someone of my weight, which routine should I follow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T12:34:38.390" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T06:12:59.053" Title="Workout routine for an overweight person" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14349" CreationDate="2013-10-28T21:13:31.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can. It is called Offset Loading, and you can read more about it on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/real_core_training_offset_loading&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Real Core Training: Offset Loading&quot;&gt;T-Nation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary (direct from the article linked above): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Offset loading is using a higher load on one side of the body. The&#xA;  greater the difference in resistance from one side to the other, the&#xA;  greater the offset and the greater the demands on stability. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Breakdowns occur when a weak core prevents you from applying all the&#xA;  force you can generate to the bar. The use of offset loading can help&#xA;  place a higher demand on core function.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you miss a rep or find yourself not being able to push more weight, energy is not only lost anteriorly and posteriorly, but also laterally and rotationally. Your trunk rotates and your knees buckle, causing energy to be lost and force to be dissipated before it can reach the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These lateral and rotational breakdowns aren't fully addressed through typical loading, but using offset loads can help by developing greater core stability and strength, which provides a base for more force transfer, more strength, and ultimately what we're all chasing – bigger numbers with our main lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Setting Up Offset Loads&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At its simplest, offset loading is using a higher load on one side of the body. This can be accomplished by holding a heavier weight in one hand compared to the other, holding weight only on one side of the body, or loading a bar more on one side. The greater the difference in resistance from one side to the other, the greater the offset and the greater the demands on stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to Program Offset Loads&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should still have the main lifts as your base when implementing offset loads into your program. You can decrease the intensity of the main lifts slightly and move the weight quicker (less weight, more speed), or at least not try to push a new PR right away as you introduce the offset loads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The exercises in which you use the offset loads should be the second or third exercises in your program (i.e., your B1, B2, C1, or C2 exercises). They're not meant to replace the main lifts but supplement them, and are best performed with reps in the 6-12 range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sample two-day full body program&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 1&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exercise / Sets / Reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A1. Trap-Bar Deadlift / 4 / 5-6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A2. Incline Barbell Bench / 4 / 5-6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B1. Single-Arm Dumbbell Walking Lunge / 3-4 / 8^ - Hold the dumbbell in one hand and complete 8 reps, then switch hands and complete 8 more reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B2. TRX Inverted Row / 3-4 / 8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;C1. Glute-Ham Raise / 3 / 10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;C2. Single-Arm Bent Over Dumbbell Row / 3 / 8^^ - Hinge at the hips and maintain a neutral spine as you row a dumbbell with one hand for 8 reps before switching to the other. Don't allow yourself to rotate or side bend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;D. Offset Dumbbell Farmers Walk / 3-5 / 40-50y. - Hold the heaviest weight you can in one hand and one roughly 25% lighter in the other for 40-50 yards and then switch hands and repeat for another 40-50 yards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;^ per hand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;^^ per side&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 2&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exercise / Sets / Reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A1. Front Squat to Box / 4 / 5-6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A2. Pull-Up / 4 / 5-6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B1. Offset Single Dumbbell Leg Deadlift / 3-4 / 8^ - Hold a heavier dumbbell in the hand on the opposite side of the down leg and a lighter dumbbell (roughly 25% lighter) in the hand of the same side of the down leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B2. Single-Arm Overhead Dumbbell Press / 3-4 / 8^^&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;C1. Offset Step Dumbbell Step Up / 3 / 8^^ - Hold a heavier dumbbell in the hand on the opposite side of the down leg and a lighter dumbbell (roughly 25% lighter) in the hand of the same side of the down leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;C2. Single-Leg Push Up / 3 / 6^^&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;D. Offset Dumbbell Farmers Walk / 3-5 / 40-50y. - Hold the heaviest weight you can in one hand and roughly 25% lighter in the other for 40-50 yards. Switch hands and repeat for another 40-50 yards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;^ per hand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;^^ per side&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2145" LastEditorUserId="2145" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T07:42:15.193" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T07:42:15.193" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-29T05:49:02.207" Score="5" ViewCount="1319" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the often proposed benefits of barbells over dumbbells is the ability to load a barbell in smaller increments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, dumbells often have 1-2kg minimum jumps, so for any two handed exercise using standard dumbells the minimum jump is betweem 2-4kg. Alternatively, barbells can be loaded with as little as 1kg plates, with smaller weights often available, making progressive weights smaller, e.g. 1-2kg increments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I only had access to dumbbells to work out with, how could I microload these to reduce the increments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T07:59:02.370" Title="How can I microload a dumbell?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14378" CreationDate="2013-10-29T07:59:02.370" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see three options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Magnets or Washers&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could glue together some washers or magnets in 1.25 pound (or half-pound, or whatever) increments. This could change your jumps from five pounds per dumbbell to two and a half pounds per dumbbell (or even less). This is the best method to directly replicate barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Adjustable Dumbbells&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dumbbells are like miniature barbells, with the ability to put plates on the end. This would put you in the same position as someone with a barbell, though you do have four &quot;ends&quot; to load instead of just two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Forget Microloading and Use Other Methods to Increase Strength&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is not to microload. Microloading is a method to get stronger by adding manageable increments of resistance. Since dumbbells are an inherently different tool from barbells, we might want to use a method more appropriate to this tool to achieve our goal of getting stronger by adding manageable resistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method I like is to wave-load the number of reps I do with a constant weight before a jump: three reps of 35 pound one-arm overhead press, then five in the next workout, then eight in the next workout, that turns out to stay challenging for three workouts, then ten reps in the workout after that, then I start doing three reps with the 50 pounder, then five reps in the next workout, and so on. The number of sets can remain constant or can be manipulated control total volume. I usually keep the number of sets constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that manipulating the number of reps is good for upper-body work, since my upper body seems to do better with, and even sometimes require, a higher number of reps. My squat and deadlift do better with microloading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T07:59:02.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-29T08:17:46.833" Score="1" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;After having pushed myself too hard on incorrect form and nursing multiple injuries, I want to start lifting afresh under a coach. My goal is to gain strength without gain in size, though I wouldn't mind if it comes as a natural consequence. This time, I want to be very, very particular about form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my place, trainers at commercial gym are body-building oriented and not that particular about details of correct form. I am planning to train under a powerlifting coach. However, I have a few concerns. I have come across ideas like powerlifters aren't very concerned about form, their main focus is to lift as heavy as they can. This idea probably came from a few figure-competitors and body-builders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just want to know if there is any truth in the above statement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T12:32:15.417" Title="Powerlifting and form" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14380" CreationDate="2013-10-29T08:31:34.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It'll depend on the coach. But in general, bad form gets you injured, and then you can't lift very heavy, so that wouldn't make sense, would it? It is common, however, for there to be some bad form on 1-rep-max tests or in competition, since these are all-out efforts at the limit of (or beyond) one's ability. That's different from allowing or promoting bad form in training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just go see this powerlifting coach and see how much they focus on form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T08:31:34.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14380" CreationDate="2013-10-29T12:32:15.417" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything depends on the coach; however, bad form will prevent you from lifting heavier weights.  If anything, form is more important with power lifting where the goal is to have the highest total on the platform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there is a decently wide range of what constitutes good form, and it comes down to finding a coach who can help you find your optimal form.  When shopping for a coach consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who else have they coached?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What were the results they had on the platform? (the proof is from contest to contest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the coach's athletes actually compete?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find a coach that trains competitive power lifters, and those power lifters are getting stronger from contest to contest, chances are they are a good coach.  If the athletes really aren't improving, or are only adding 5-10lbs to their totals when they are no where near elite totals, then I would pass on the coach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have multiple candidates, hire one of them for a while and see how well they work with you.  If you are unsatisfied, try the next coach.  Remember to be very patient.  It's only fair to let the coach know about your history of injuries.  They may have you doing some things that may not look like power lifting for a while to help rehab your body.  This may be mind numbing and tedious work, but it is very necessary when correcting long term pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T12:32:15.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14376" CreationDate="2013-10-29T14:02:56.583" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thinking that you can &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;...get in shape really fast...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a first step in the wrong direction.  It might take as long to get in shape as it did to get 'out of shape'.  Here's a list of steps to success:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See your Dr. about your overall health and what types of stress you can put on your body.  (make sure you can exercise without hurting yourself)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get on a good diet, see a registered nutritionist and LOG ALL OF YOUR FOOD (I recommend using myFitnessPal).  You need to get your eating under control.  Don't go on any extreme diets or TV fad stuff.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start your workout routine off slow - walk every day, EVERY DAY - hot, cold, rainy, etc...get outside and move.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after you start seeing improvement with the above, find a local personal trainer and have them show you the basic weight exercises (squat, dead lift, bench, row)...and work on a 2-3 month plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOOD LUCK, dedication and determination will get you where you want to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:02:56.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14376" CreationDate="2013-10-29T14:55:30.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also, am a computer engineer and am tied to a computer all day. I started at 185lbs and 20% body fat. Not nearly as big as you proclaim yourself to be, but in a similar position nonetheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet is very important:&lt;/strong&gt; I use a protocol called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/01/25/intermittent-fasting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intermittent Fasting&lt;/a&gt;. If you can embrace this lifestyle change you will drop fat very fast. Get in a caloric deficit, eat healthy foods, and stay away from fast and fried foods. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;, as mentioned in other answers, is a big help for tracking calories and macronutrients, add this in with IF. Supplement with protein shakes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise:&lt;/strong&gt; Unless your arms don't work, stay away from elliptical machines, and the treadmill to start. Get on a workout routine where you strength train maybe 4 days a week and do some kind of low intensity cardio, i.e brisk walks (1 hour), until you can get into some HIIT High intensity interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make your strength training a split routine, try Chest/back, arms, legs, shoulders - do not run around the gym and try every machine there is to get a full body workout. It's not going to do anything dramatic, compound movements are your friend, try to squat, bench, deadlift, etc. I used the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/get-swole-cory-gregory-muscle-building-trainer-day-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Get Swole&lt;/a&gt; program, which worked very well for me. (Nevermind the stack of musclepharm products, and the meal timing they are irrelevant)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core Development is hugely important and has been a major factor in my progress. Make sure to spend some time and do core work, maybe on your low intensity days. And I don't mean crunches I mean planks, weighted twists, resistance twists, ab rollouts (if you can), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take your time:&lt;/strong&gt; It's going to take a lot of consistency in your diet, don't get misguided. If you fall off track: get back on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also in terms of timing, I wake up eat 5:00am and get to the gym by 6:30-7:30 before I start my day. That, intermittent fasting and bulletproof coffee result in high energy, high focus, excellent fat loss results, retain lean muscle mass, and see results, which is of course the most important thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T12:28:22.613" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T12:28:22.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14063" CreationDate="2013-10-29T16:46:32.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you run, you will get a stronger forefoot, your hip flexors are called into play much more, your quads and hamstrings both have a very active role, as well as your calve muscles. You must swing your arms and bring your core into the motion. There is a huge emphasis on landing and pushing off, your shoes are important, as well as the gait of your foot, your stance, and whether your an overpronator or underpronator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say running is more taxing on your knees and joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to bike, your bike will be more important than shoes, however shoes will still serve their purpose (try laceless ones if you get serious). Your quads and hammies are both activated, as well as your calves, but not to the extent of that in running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your core is much less activated, your arms are not activated unless you're turning, even then it's minimal. You get places faster, you can cover much more ground while on a bike. It is less taxing on your knees. More cushioning for your whole body, but I would say in general less of a full body workout than running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can appreciate your love for the outdoors, and personally I found running kept that love at the forefront of my run, where as when on a bike I am more focused on not running over large objects, dodging children, and when I can I will take a minute to enjoy my surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a scientist, I can't justify my reasoning, I just know what feels right, for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="6884" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T17:36:44.217" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T17:36:44.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13914" CreationDate="2013-10-29T16:50:46.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're forcing your body into an unnatural position by using your arms so much, you should keep the push through your whole body and activate your body as one unit oppose to delegating responsibilities to your arms/shoulders then core then legs. You can make it full-body by employing all these muscle groups and increasing the resistance or volume of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The handles are safe to use unless they are broken, but by forcing your arms/shoulders to push and pull the components that are driving your legs, you're offsetting your leg's and core's responsibilities to solely your arms, and if they are sore, then they are overworked, and if they are in pain, you're injuring yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concentrate on a fluid motion throughout your whole body use your arms for support and also drive with your arms, simple as it sounds it might not be once you get into the later rounds of the elliptical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T16:50:46.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14063" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:48:11.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is going to be whichever activity you enjoy more, you will end up doing more. That being said, here are some comparisons of cycling versus running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time: You will get more out of running for the time spent. You work harder in running, so you burn more calories for about the same amount of time spent (For the same effort level. If you really crank it on the bike compared to the run you can get near the same expenditure.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cost - Cycling will have a much greater initial cost. Obviously even an entry level bike will run a few hundred, while you can get decent running shoes for under $80 (All dollar values US based).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time to be comfortable - Initially if you are not used to it, running can be very tough on the body. It takes time to build up to where you can run for 30 minutes straight at a time. Bikes you can leap on and go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weather - You can run in just about any weather. You can cycle in just about any weather with the proper clothing, but it's a lot more unsafe to cycle in a rainstorm than it is to run in one. As long as you have proper clothing, in most climates you can run or ride nearly year round. (Presuming your locale does road clearing/plowing).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle building - Cycling will bulk most of your lower body, as it engages all the muscles from where the abs connect to the ribcage down. Running does as well, but it doesn't have the type of stress on the muscles that will produce mass. Neither running or cycling will really engage the chest/arms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury rates - I have not checked this in a long time, but the last time I looked cycling ran around 5-7 injuries per 1000 hours, where running is 10-12 per 1000 hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note - This is pretty much for a road cycling perspective. If you do cyclocross or mountain/off road style biking, there will be a little more upper body engagement, and the equipment will be different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the fitness goes, any aerobic activity done consistently will help you achieve your body and weight goals, so find activities that you enjoy. If you don't like it and &quot;only do it for weight&quot;, then you will soon find excuses not to do it. If you do like it, you will find excuses to continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with the exercise, you would need to take an honest look at your dietary choices, and make sure that they support and do not hinder your fitness/weight goals. It does no good to exercise if you keep eating fast food or similar junk items. Have fun and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T20:18:37.877" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T20:18:37.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14423" CreationDate="2013-10-30T04:54:14.203" Score="5" ViewCount="7538" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am totally aware of the health benefits of having moderate amount of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;salt (Sodium)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in a balanced diet and also down sides of having too much.&#xA;However, I can see that, in so many healthy cooking recipes they mention to use &lt;strong&gt;low salt&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;no added salt&lt;/strong&gt; and similar sorts  ingredients to use for cooking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As an amateur bodybuilder what benefits I am looking for, by reducing the amount of salt intake in my diet? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I have lower salt consumption than the &lt;strong&gt;Recommended Daily Intake (RDI)&lt;/strong&gt; / &lt;strong&gt;%DV&lt;/strong&gt; as a bodybuilder who is doing regular strength training and keeps his body fat lower than approx. 10%?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/spices-and-herbs/216/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Salt Nutritional Table&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T22:49:28.680" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T22:49:28.680" Title="Benefits of having low salt diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recommended-daily-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-30T08:43:15.717" Score="1" ViewCount="2493" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6ft and 200lbs. I have some stomach fat, not too much, but enough that I would like to lose it. My Dr. recently considered me very healthy weight-wise, although he didn't get into fat percentages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been working out about 4 days a week since May, doing various exercises and having protein shakes and a creatine supplement every day. My diet is balanced and healthy, and I eat between 2000 and 2500 calories a day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My exercises at the moment consist of overhead press, push ups, chin ups, dumbbell squats, biceps curls and triceps curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to start to develop a physique close to Chris Evans in Captain America or Christian Bale in Batman Begins.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Essentially, well developed and visible chest and arm muscles, although not too huge, with visible abdominal muscles. Not necessarily a six pack like you might see on the cover of Men's Health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if it is possible to work towards that type of body type using just dumbbells or a chin-up/sit-up bar. If so what type of exercises should I be doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6885" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T12:46:54.983" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T16:17:56.320" Title="Using only dumbbells for aesthetic gains" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-30T09:10:21.520" Score="7" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gym I currently train at doesn't have equipment for Olympic lifting with barbells, so instead I'm using dumbbell Olympic lifts and box jumps (with either one leg or both) for my power/explosiveness training. However, I'm a bit lost as to how to measure my box jump progress, and how much improvement I should expect in a given period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my barbell power clean, I knew that as an average-size somewhat-athletic male new to lifting, I can expect to add roughly five pounds to my power clean every week or even every workout until I reached &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/CleanStandardsKg.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;approximately a little under my own bodyweight&lt;/a&gt;. I don't know what to add to my box jump (height? reps? weight?), or how much, or how much to expect in a month or a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current program is, roughly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light 10- to 20-rep back squats, circa 40kg, for hip mobility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of 5 front squats, circa 75kg, with 2 to 3 minute rests, &lt;strong&gt;during which I do a set of 5 box jumps at approximately hip height&lt;/strong&gt;, making for a total of 3 sets of 5 box jumps supersetted with the front squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of 5 deadlifts, circa 130kg OR 3 sets of 5 one-arm dumbbell snatches circa 24kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of pull-ups, ~10-12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of dips, ~15-20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;occasional metcons from Catalyst Athletics or Ross Enamait&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping in mind that my goal is to use it as a training tool to develop explosive power (not to improve my box jump per se), &lt;strong&gt;how should I measure progress with the box jump&lt;/strong&gt;? What kind of progress should I expect? Should I be jumping six inches higher after the first month, or an inch higher per month for the first year, or should my ability to do more reps increase while the height stays the same? Should I keep the box height constant and measure improvement with a vertical jump test? Personal experiences welcome, as are references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-19T09:57:18.443" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T07:21:07.850" Title="How do I track improvement in my box jump?" Tags="&lt;power&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;explosiveness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14390" CreationDate="2013-10-30T09:43:36.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I got your question right, you have a goal of looking ripped and want to show definition in your muscle as well as separation. I think your journey needs a couple of dynamic variables varying from your fat loss/cutting techniques to changing routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general terms, my advise would be as following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Must Do's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a plan which consists of a solid target and progress chart in a spreadsheet (your stats like weight, body-fat %, limb measurements, ratios etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create phases in training (strength-hypertrophy-endurance cycle with progressive overload 4 weeks each cycle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Learn how to be patient and consistent. Check Self-discipline videos of Brian Tracy on YouTube which will definitely help you if you incorporate a couple of his advice regarding the habits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a copy of &quot;Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle&quot; and study it. This book will definitely make you be more aware of nutrition and its effects on your gains. Also this book might teach you how to plan your diets in different seasons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a copy of &quot;The Polinquin Principles&quot; to get an impression of effective training which will give you another angle of view when it comes to plan your workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you practice on your form and focus on your form instead of weight (if you wanna get your shape in good form, you gotta do your reps in good form)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest and rest well. Make sure you sleep enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional helper: If you wanna get your body-fat lower to show what muscle you got, you can do two-a-days like cardio in fasted state in the morning and resistance training in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most important of all:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Discover what type of a body you have (are you close to an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph) and make an adherent plan on your diet and food. This will set you on the right track. And also you can look for effective training methods on which your body type responds in general. But it is different for everyone, so you will have to find that out yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learn how to measure your body fat percentage with a skinfold caliper and create a spreadsheet with your stats every week in the same situation (measure your weight daily right after waking up and visiting the toiled in your fasted state and your all-round body fat every 5 days). Also trust the mirror. Make sure you make standard pose pictures to see the differences. I would suggest use the same room in the same time of day with the same proper lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measuring progress and crunching numbers is the only way for you to get an indication on which parts you need to focus to reach your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also advise to ask your doctor to do a full range blood-test and after you have come closer to your goal and re-take the test to see whether there is anything different. This one is not mandatory but is nice to have if you want to check your hormonal mirrors and make sure you have no deficiencies on minerals, vitamins, enzymes or excess. It will also be an indicator on whether you are on the right path in terms of your stress load and journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment and find out what works out for you the best and see how you respond to nutrition and exercise. Be not afraid of new things. But don't take everything on the internet for the granted. If something is not clear, ask to those who might now, but also ask for the reason why it is so. Because what works for me might not work for you at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thing: Remember that you have a target and it will be a hell of a trip. Make sure you enjoy it, otherwise it will turn into a waste. Finish each of your workouts and every time you do a set keep the end of your set in mind. And when you hit a plateau or feel like giving up, think about where you started and see how far you actually are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T12:41:57.207" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T12:41:57.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14376" CreationDate="2013-10-30T09:52:45.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree as above to set yourself in a caloric deficit. Use [MyFitnessPal&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mfp&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.loseit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lose It!&lt;/a&gt; if you live in the states. But make sure you move enough. Instead of dieting away your fat, burn it. If you have a smartphone, use MyFitnessPal and connect it to &lt;a href=&quot;http://runkeeper.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RunKeeper&lt;/a&gt; and burn the calories away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scooby's Workshop&lt;/a&gt;. Scooby has a lot of good advice for those who can get in shape as comfortable as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best cardio for you is: Brisk to very brisk walking. Human beings are made for walking. If you have a smartphone use RunKeeper to measure your distance. Walk an hour a day and make a habit out of it. To make it more fun and rewarding: Build up your speed. Break your distance record every day if you can, which will unstress you. Also don't push yourself to death to break your daily record. Even it is just 20 meters by last record, it is still breaking the record. Biking is also good, because it has also very low impact on your knee joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what I would expect you to have is: You are doing this because you want, and not because you must. You are the one who can make it happen! Look for support, a close friend or family member to join you in your quest. You can start it alone and go on for a while, but you will hard time keeping it up alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T12:20:05.937" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T12:20:05.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11479" CreationDate="2013-10-30T10:04:31.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For felixibility you can run a 15 repetitions of Sun salutations after your resistance. It will help blood flow and can workas a nice cleansing routine :) It takes only but a sheer 5 minutes if you have master it. You can use the first 5 mins to warm up, 15 minutes resistance, 5 minutes yoga sun salutations, and 5 mins cooldown :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you train your external rotators of your shoulders, and make sure they are well in shape. supinated/neutral chin-ups should also be in your focal point of your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T10:04:31.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-30T10:09:56.977" Score="-1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 51, 6', 205 lbs and train 4-5 days a week (5/3/1 program). I'm currently taking: a Multi (GNC for old men), D3, Calcium/Magnisum/Zinc and Fish Oil and Fiber.  I also try to get to about 130-150 grams protein a day.  I'm feeling good, good recovery BUT &lt;strong&gt;want to see if there's any changes I can make to improve overall stamina/strength.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T16:37:57.817" Title="Supplements for me" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-12-09T11:47:02.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-30T10:47:20.547" Score="0" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gym for atleast one hour (+15m sometimes), 2-3 times a week. I do 10 minutes on an elliptical, 5 on a stationary cycle and 10 minutes on a treadmill. Then I do strength exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the ideal use of one hour? Am I overdoing cardio? I am 90kg/200lb, 178cm/5&quot;10' and want to lose weight as primary objective, then gain muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2338" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T13:02:26.250" Title="How much cardio for a 1 hour workout?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14396" CreationDate="2013-10-30T13:02:26.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose FAT as your primary objective, personally I would do things a little different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have an hour let's look at the best possible way to utilize that hour to maximize your fat loss and muscle growth potential:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To start&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A warm up is fine, 10 minutes on the elliptical, bike or treadmill will get your blood pumping. I would spend no more than 10 minutes warming up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The workout&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you understand that you can actually achieve better weight loss results by strength training as your primary routine without interjecting bits of cardio into the mix?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training is primarily anaerobic, which means it doesn't require a lot of oxygen or endurance necessarily to complete a routine, you're going to increase the muscle mass in your body by working out at a higher intensity, which will in turn create a more suitable environment for fat loss. The more muscle in your body the easier it will be to drop fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would incorporate a full body split for those three days (monday, wednesday, friday) (chest/back, legs, arms). 45 minutes in a solid routine, little rest, you will see results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Math - Science&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get off the elliptical and get over to those free weights, they will prove to be a better use of time, and here's why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you run a 10 minute mile @ roughly 100 calories per mile, in one hour, you would burn 600 calories, right?...RIGHT!?!? Probably...but would you gain any muscle in the process? It's possible, although it would be primarily in your legs and core. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are conditioned to do that that's great, and is what some people prefer, however if you are looking for a better physique, possibly that of Mensfitness magazine or that of a body builder, cardio is not to be your primary weight loss or strength building strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work out for 30-45 minutes you would burn between 300-500 calories with a med/high intensity. You would gain muscle, and actually work out muscles in your entire body, you would become stronger, as your strength increases running that mile would become easier, your body would condition itself, and then if running is still your goal, you can practice from there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say your goal is to lose weight and then gain muscle, but in reality, you would probably want to gain muscle first and then lose the fat. Once you have the muscle it will be much easier to drop the fat, oppose to dropping all kinds of weight, becoming a twig, and then trying to get muscle back (which in the process would put fat back on as well). Just do it all in one and strength train!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget your diet, that's actually more than half the battle, but that is not in your question so...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T13:02:26.250" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14395" CreationDate="2013-10-30T13:07:19.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the importance of carbs (post workout) is generally overlooked. If you read &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/aa081403.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; and many others like it, it explains that combining carbohydrates and protein (in a 4:1 ratio) within 30 minutes of exercising is very important. Why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Research also shows that combining protein with carbohydrate within thirty minutes of&#xA;exercise nearly doubles the insulin response, which results in more stored glycogen.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think adding a combination of protein and carbs to your post workout shake would greatly benefit you and improve recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommended Supplements - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/now/carbo.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NOW - Carbo Gain&lt;/a&gt; (Mix w/ whey)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or just drink some fruit juice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Casein&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Casein can help refuel your body when you go for long periods without food (i.e. when you are sleeping). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommended Supplements - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/100-casein-protein-p-219.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ON 100% Casein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/creatine-side-effects-what-it-what-it-does&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, creatine is always an option. It is one of the most widely used supplements and there is plenty of research out there confirming its benefits for improving recovery, thus allowing you to complete more reps to improve strength. You should definitely do a lot of research before considering creatine though because there is a lot of information needed before taking it. I'd recommend reading a &quot;beginner's guide&quot; or something similar. Something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/creatine-how-much-should-you-be-taking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommended Supplements - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/crea.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ON Micronized Creatine Monohydrate (powder)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T16:37:57.817" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T16:37:57.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14390" CreationDate="2013-10-30T16:17:56.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I would consider adding the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dumbbell presses&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a bench then do incline/flat/decline to hit your chest from various angles; otherwise there's a variation you can do on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dumbbell flies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good exercise for working your chest. Do them either on a bench or the floor variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dumbbell deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how these compare to deadlifting with a barbell, but they should give you many of the same benefits. While you'll feel it mainly in your lower back, just like squats deadlifts are good for building overall strength because everything will be involved at heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dumbbell bent-over rows&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tricep kickbacks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't even need to do every exercise each week. Varying the specific exercises you're doing - while ensuring you're still working all of the muscle groups - makes it slightly more interesting and your body won't be able to adapt to the same workout every single week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to adding exercises, experiment with how you're arranging your sets. Drop sets, negatives (rarely), very slow repetitions with low weight, medium weight sets to failure, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I found that, after the initial beginner gains phase, I noticed an improvement from different approaches for each body part. I preferred doing drop sets for my chest; got the best results from doing very slow (2-2-4 tempo) low weight repetitions for three sets on three or four tricep exercises; but my biceps gained the most from doing medium weight sets to failure on only two exercises (barbell curls and hammer curls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5547" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T16:17:56.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-30T16:19:53.357" Score="9" ViewCount="7168" Body="&lt;p&gt;My weights are out in the unheated garage. I've been on the 5/3/1 program for about 10 months and wish to continue through the winter, does anyone have any advice for training in a COLD environment?  My routine is squats, bench press, dead lift and overhead presses (plus some side exercises).  I'm expecting temps between -5 to 35f.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T23:05:50.370" Title="Training/Weight lifting in the cold" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14401" CreationDate="2013-10-30T19:46:06.980" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have my weight room in the garage.  Despite how cold it is outside, the garage doesn't reach the same extremes as the outdoor temperatures--but it is still cold.  The biggest issue is the steel bar and weights which never quite seem to warm up.  That said, there are some things you can do to deal with the cold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bring your bar(s) indoors after you are done.&lt;/strong&gt;  Since gloves affect your ability to grip effectively, this is the best option to keep your hands from getting extremely cold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get a space heater.&lt;/strong&gt;  I have a $50 space heater from the hardware store.  It's not going to make it actually warm, but it will take the edge off.  Let it run for a few minutes before training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wear layers.&lt;/strong&gt;  It's always easier to take things off than put them back on.  A good pair of sweat pants and a sweat shirt are very good at keeping you warm enough.  I've had to take the sweatshirt off before (with temperatures in the 32-35 range), but the sweat pants are a must for winter training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be prepared for the things you touch to be cold.&lt;/strong&gt;  There's no way around this one, particularly if your metal plates are out in the garage all night.  It's not practical to take those in and out like your bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep moving.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is the best time to work with higher density training (same volume of work, but lower rest times).  Not only does it keep the training shorter, but it intensifies the training effect due to fatigue.  You will want to keep moving anyway because as long as you are moving you stay relatively warm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Superset the assistance work.&lt;/strong&gt;  For the same reason as the above point, supersetting lets you get more work done in less time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spend more time warming up.&lt;/strong&gt;  Start your foam rolling indoors, but do some activation work in the garage before you put any weight on the bar.  That will help your lungs get used to the cold, and get your limbs working the way they need to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do your mobility work indoors.&lt;/strong&gt;  Save the mobility work for last, but do it indoors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take a room temperature shower afterwards.&lt;/strong&gt;  You may be tempted to crank up the heat afterwards, but trust me--room temperature water will feel almost uncomfortably warm.  It's the quickest way to get re-acclimated to indoor temperatures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be honest, training in the cold is not fun.  Keep the duration short and focused, but get everything done.  5/3/1 will probably be about 1 hour in the garage, 45 minutes if you really compress things.  Minimizing rest times will help your conditioning, so you may not have to do anything specific for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T19:46:06.980" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-30T20:53:28.370" Score="1" ViewCount="713" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an asymmetrical back, it is not really visible when relaxed, but I noticed that I can easily contract and pop up my right deltoid while the left one, is impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A doctor told me that after a while training I would do improvements on my left deltoid, but after two years I still cannot pop it up. Furthermore I noticed when deadlifting that my asymmetry starts being visible, since the contraction clearly shows more on my right side. However, during a dumbbell bench press or military press, I never noticed a clearly weak left side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always bench pressed with dumbbells, but after feeling a barbel bench press I really want to do it more often. I know that most people is not perfectly symmetrical, but I am concerned about one day having an unbalanced back when relaxed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The question is&lt;/strong&gt; How should I structure my workouts to ensure a proper balance? Is there anything I can do to improve my symmetry when contracted? Should I always avoid barbells? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T08:49:04.627" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T17:51:25.290" Title="Training despite having an unbalanced back (asymmetric)" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14401" CreationDate="2013-10-30T23:05:50.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question I will share some personal experience. There was a period of my life when I did boxing in a gym with no heating. The temperature was approximately -5 Fahrenheit outside and not much warmer inside(since there was never heating inside you can imagine how that felt). At the same time I was doing gymnastics in a gym with &lt;strong&gt;barely&lt;/strong&gt; any heating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you know boxing is a sport that keeps you very active, where you constantly move, hopping around throwing punches. I and the other athletes there would sweat a lot but we could still feel the cold. At the beginning it was fine but I started feeling stiff at one point. So one day at the boxing gym(we had dumbbells, plates and bars) I was working out my triceps and managed to injure them like never before on one of the lifts. Tendonitis. They got seriously inflamed over a weight that I had previously lifted often in my life. My biceps' tendons got inflamed as well during gymnastics training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result I had to seek medical help to get better and warm environment for my strength workouts and spend extra time warming up my elbows and shoulders. It's been 4 years now and I still have to make sure my room is very warm, that I have warmed up very good before I start getting into serious exercises on the rings. Thus I don't believe in workouts in extremely cold environment. There is a point past which no warming up will save you from the injuries cold will predispose you to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T23:05:50.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14409" CreationDate="2013-10-31T07:29:17.077" Score="5" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a computer programmer and I basically sit around for 8 hours each day just staring at the screen, coding.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I started working out for about 3 months now. I'm working out from 12:00 to 12:40 pm before lunch and eat afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my workout time okay? Or should I work out in the afternoon, after working hours (6:00 or 8:00 pm perhaps) so that I'd go straight to resting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I losing gains when I work out and don't rest afterwards, but do office work instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6973" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T10:49:47.100" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T10:49:47.100" Title="Is resting affected by office work?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14415" CreationDate="2013-10-31T07:40:58.167" Score="5" ViewCount="48532" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading about protein shakes, it's benefits and side effects. However i've used it many times as my post workout recovery drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no doubt in the benefits i get in my protein shake, i gained mass ( i was a skinny guy back then) , and i'm not talking about fat mass, i gained muscle, Now i've read that protein shakes actually damage the kidneys and the liver since the body cannot synthesize the protein very well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article i've read says it damages the kidney and liver: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19449377&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19449377&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But other articles suggest that protein only damages more those persons who have already pre-damaged their kidneys, in other words it only worsens it , but does not cause the damage itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of conflicts in what i should believe in. I'd like to ask from you, who have experienced drinking protein shakes, probably long term or short term. How true are these side effects? And can you mention how long have you been taking protein shakes?and your experiences on this. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6973" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T07:52:35.610" Title="Do protein shakes really damage the kidneys?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14407" CreationDate="2013-10-31T08:07:38.030" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between sleeping immediately after a workout and sleeping a half-workday later is negligible. The more significant difference, which is still pretty minor, is the increased energy many people feel earlier in the day. Generally speaking, most people are slightly stronger in early-day efforts than they are in late workouts. (Their mobility is greater in the evening, however, and there are other fluctuations.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best time to work out is when you have the time. Lunchtime sounds fine for you, as long as you have time to get some food after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T08:07:38.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14413" CreationDate="2013-10-31T08:48:35.737" Score="3" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been familiar with targeting a muscle group each day for example, chest for monday, legs for tuesday, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The constraint is: I can only workout 1 hour each day for 3 days a week because of my busy work schedule . and that's it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I work on chest on monday, then arms on wednesday and then legs on friday. &lt;strong&gt;I left out&lt;/strong&gt; my abs, or back or shoulders and &lt;strong&gt;that's not good.&lt;/strong&gt; They say i should at least group my workouts like targeting &lt;strong&gt;two muscle groups each workout session.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is: How do i order these workouts?what do i work on monday? and what two muscle groups should i do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; monday - biceps and triceps (they say it's good to group these two).&#xA;&#xA; wednesday - legs and abs &#xA;&#xA; friday - chest and back&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But i'm not sure it's a good ordering because i just made this up. How do i fit in a full body workout to a 3 day workout week? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6973" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T11:54:41.163" Title="Grouping and ordering workouts for a 3-day workout week" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14407" CreationDate="2013-10-31T09:14:18.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Dave, the best time is when you make it. The important moment here is to understand that you should strive to start each workout session at the same time. Thus the body will develop a habit of working out at certain hours. This way it will be &quot;prepared&quot; for a workout and your workouts will go smoother. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to workout in the morning, in the evening, at noon. Depending on what my schedule was. Last year I was also working in a software company and my work day would start at 11am. This way I made sure to workout in the mornings before work. That's when I felt most energetic, after a day in front of the computer I would feel lethargic and lazy to do much. It can be different for everybody. As long as you don't skip on your meals and don't skip your workouts you shall have no problems regardless of the schedule that you choose for your workouts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T09:14:18.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14389" CreationDate="2013-10-31T11:40:46.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Additional info: Everything on the planet can be used as a medicine and as a poison at the same time. The fine line that changes when it comes to dosage. And as we know, there is never a certain dose to anything, since every individual is different and reacts different to medication or poison. Read the post below by keeping this in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many different views on eating salt (NaCl + Iodine) in inorganic form. Please do not mix it up with Sodium in organic form as given in food fact sheets or labels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many different salt are required by your nervous system and endocrine system. Due to that, lack of it might have adverse effects on your training and recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;The most studies of salt having adverse effects and the recommended consumption amounts are mostly done on people whom already suffer a disease, are pysically inactive, old (age 45+) and on countries where people consume already enough sodium in various forms in processed foods in forms like additives, conservants and stimulants (think of why eating potato chips/crisps never ends until the bag is empty? That is due to Soduim mono-glutamate which is also given to livestock to raise their appetite when they feed them in the winter with tastless hay).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Salts in general (the molecule combination of an alkaline metal element and a chlore element) are in general used for neurol and hormonal activities and balancing your body's water levels. Because our blood must be a bit alkalined (basal instead of acidic) for the vital enzymes to work. therefore you need salts. Shortage on this can have many negative effects if you are already on a healthy bodybuilding diet- with which I am referring to eating clean which is out of this post's scope. But excess of it is bad to if you have a dirty diet and a sedentary lifestyle. Because you what you put in your body is way more than what you throw out.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing many people forget is that you need salt for more than many things. The reason that eating salt less advised is purely based on statistical average upon groups where the health risks are already high which might turn even worse by the usage of excessive salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you drink enough water (very slightly yellow pee while urinating every time except early in the morning- duh), excess salt will be thrown away either by your sweat or urine. But this does not mean that you can consume 1kg salt a day. Just use the right amount to make your meal tasty and drink enough water. It is that easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, salt won't make you sick if you are healthy and have no medical conditions threatening you which you inherited genetically like heart issues, blood pressure or blood tension issues. In those cases, consuming anything that regulates your blood osmose will be bad. /edit: By this, science has shown that people whom are prone to cardiovacular diseases are apt to get negative effects on consuming iodized table salt. For those, Potassium salts are advised in Chloride form (KaCl). To simplify it, if you suffer from a heart disease at the moment and/or it has been proved that a direct family member like father/mother/sibling has the issues with this, it is advised to get checked first before applying my advise. If your blood pressure and tension is ok (which you can measure with inexpensive devices on your own these days), than you are more likely to stay fine as long as you listen to your body, hydrate and move a bit more than you do :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in your case, very high salty and spicy diet might cause water retention and make you look a bit chubby. I would advice you to balance out your salt diet during the week. The easiest way to do it is as follows: every other day you eat salty enough that makes your meals taste just perfect, and every other day you use the half of the salt. That way you can reduce your overall during the week which will give you an indicator of how much you need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no general guideline for salt consumption. Because every single human body is unique when it comes to nutrition. You will have to check it out for yourself and experiment. Once again, as long as you keep yourself hydrated properly, you will be alright, also hydrating will make you and your muscles stronger too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I stated some of my references in the comments below. My belief of stack exchange usage depends that this is stack is a knowledge sharing community and not a prestigious peer-reviewing portal for rocket science. Therefore, if you would like to know more regarding this, let my post be an open door for you to go see the world out there and share with us what you have found in addition to what I could tell. I love giving what I have in terms of experience and wisdom and my humble apologies for not writing a scientific paper on this very area which I am no certified expert of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="6775" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T11:26:33.760" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T11:26:33.760" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14410" CreationDate="2013-10-31T11:49:11.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A commonly used three day routine is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st day - Chest and Triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd day - Legs and shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3rd day - Back and Biceps &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs - Do abs whenever you can, they aren't like other muscle groups and don't require as much recovery time. Some people even say you can work them out everyday, you might want to consider doing abs Tuesday and Thursday or whenever you can find time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason the workouts are grouped as they are is because they are all complimentary muscles. When you workout your chest, you also work triceps so it's a good idea to go ahead and hit triceps as well that day. Same with back and biceps but not so much legs and shoulders. I just threw shoulders in there with legs to fit your 3 day schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sample Routines&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/shaun--s-3-day-muscle-building-split.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shaun's 3 Day Muscle Building Split Workout&lt;/a&gt; - This routine switches triceps and biceps, but you can always just do the reverse (for a while and then maybe switch it back)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/3day-beginners-workout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3 Day Workout for Beginners&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You can find plenty of great workouts online.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T11:54:41.163" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T11:54:41.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14408" CreationDate="2013-10-31T11:55:46.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using protein shakes for a few years, not daily but perhaps 3 times a week after heavy weight training (as opposed to after cardio, for example).&#xA;I was told by a personal trainer many years back that people do damage their kidneys because they use excessive amounts. He said it's usually those entering competitions that have the mindset of &quot;if HE is taking one scoop, I'll take TWO and get bigger faster&quot;. Your kidneys can't cope with excessive amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience of a few years has, as I said, been to use it a few times a week after heavy weight work and always the amount recommended on the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T11:55:46.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14408" CreationDate="2013-10-31T12:32:29.023" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some quick research returned the following articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/06/23/Who-Knew-Preventing-Kidney-Stones-was-This-Easy.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Who Knew Preventing Kidney Stones Was this Easy?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;In the 1990s when the Atkins diet reached huge popularity, critics claimed that high&#xA;protein intake leads to kidney stones. This turned out to be a complete myth, but the&#xA;misinformation is still being circulated.&#xA;&#xA;Although protein restricted diets are helpful for people who already have kidney     &#xA;disease, eating meat does not cause kidney problems[7]. Furthermore, the fat-soluble &#xA;vitamins and saturated fat found in animal foods are pivotal for the proper functioning &#xA;of your kidneys.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/01/09/high-protein-part-one.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;High Protein Diets: Separate Fact from Fiction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The claim that protein intake leads to kidney stones is another popular myth that is         &#xA;not supported by the facts. Although protein restricted diets are helpful for people &#xA;who have kidney disease, eating meat does not cause kidney problems (10). Furthermore, &#xA;the fat-soluble vitamins and saturated fatty acids found in animal foods are pivotal &#xA;for properly functioning kidneys.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_200/229_eating_well.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cons Of High Protein Diets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at the header titled - &lt;strong&gt;Possible Kidney Damage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have concluded that while consuming a large amount of protein daily - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not drinking enough water can cause kidney stones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetic deffects can make stones more likely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not eating healthy, not getting enough fiber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some research suggested that: Large amounts of protein while cutting out carbs may increase risk of kidney problems. (Again, the previous points may prevent this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Personal opinion - I think that if you maintain a healthy diet and drink PLENTY of water you shouldn't have any problems. I'm at about 300 grams of protein a day which includes 12oz of chicken, salmon, peanuts, 2 whey protein shakes, a mass gainer shake (50g of protein) and a casein shake. I have been on this diet for 3 months now and haven't had any issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T15:06:54.897" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T15:06:54.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7120" CreationDate="2013-10-31T13:58:01.967" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finally I met someone who reads Will Brink! L-Tyrosine in general is good for your well being and is advised by him to take either before or while doing your workouts. It is a non-essential amino acid which can be synthesized by your own body, although having it in excess will only make you pay more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that they are supplements, which in general mean are not necessary but nice to have for the little addition they serve into your diet and progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beta Alanine on the other hand is called &quot;Pump&quot; supplements in jargon. It helps you bit more to reach that one-more-rep and helps your muscles to recuperate better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine.com&lt;/a&gt; for further references regarding those supplements (Beta-alanine is already in the first page - which means it is highly sought there). Read with a good eye and don't take every statement for granted. Look for more on &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Scholar&lt;/a&gt; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you get Tyrosine more than enough if you have a well balanced diet (not the nazi bodybuilding diet but an athlete diet). Beta-alanine is a would like to have if you can afford. It also gives nice tingles on your face and body, but more than that, 3 cups of strong coffee or hyphy mud (an invention of Kali) should suffice more than enough for pre-workout purpouses if you don't take them already and are not resistant/intolerant to stimulants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is, take your whey in isolate form, and use creatine in micronized creapure form. Those are the only (also bro-)scientificaly proven supplements that help you achieve any goals when it comes to building or maintaining muscle and becoming strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T14:26:01.053" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T14:26:01.053" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="883" CreationDate="2013-10-31T14:12:53.063" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you replace those BCAA doses with your Whey shake. If you aren't using whey isolate, switch to that one. The only difference between those two is, BCAA's are taken instantly while isolate might take 30-60 mins to become absorbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;generally, a 90-95% protein rate whey isolate contains 5-8 grams of BCAA and costs around the 1/4th of the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it doesn't imbalance your caloric intake, I would spend the money on the whey. but if additional 3 scoops of whey extra in your current diet to replace BCAA might hinder your diet (that is an additional 300-400kcal compared to 50kcals of BCAAs you are taking as far as I can guess), then stick to it. There is no harm in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanna add something new to your supplements I would advice adding the following to your pre-workout supplementation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;200mg caffeine (3 cups of strong coffee an hour before training)&#xA;Beta-Alanine (2-5g) in case you don't like the tingling sensation or you use beta-blockers for anti-immunogens by any chance, it is a well advised supplement for your pre-workout and allround health.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Arginine alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) is a nice synthesis and Nitric balancer for during your workouts which helps a lot in general.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Citrulline Mallate - I would take this if you can afford this instead of AKG, but it is costly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than that, I would advice not to take any supplementation except good coffee whey and creatine monohydrate in micronized creapure brand. You can do 95% as good as with those. Those pre- and pos- workout supplement blends are only for those who build muscle for work, extreme hobby or obsession of as a pure goal. If you are doing it for fun and the looks, it is not even necessary to use BCAAs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T14:27:37.777" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T14:27:37.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14422" CreationDate="2013-10-31T17:17:10.427" Score="4" ViewCount="490" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking around some information about breaststroke technique, I am seeing different information about the timing of the kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the recreational breaststroke (with head all time out) I tend to have my legs already flexed when breathing and kick when extending my arms. However I am trying to do this stroke and maintain a straight streamline as long as posible with the head under water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After looking around I see different recommendations about when to start flexing my legs preparing for the kick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When taking the head out (elbows on chest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When going down / extending arms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When arms are already extended&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is the right timing? Does it change when keeping the head out always?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far my feeling is that I should delay flexing my legs as long as posible, at least not even start flexing during the time I am taking a breath, with the kick happening only after arms are completely extended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T17:59:04.660" Title="Recreational vs Competitive Breaststroke Timing" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14418" CreationDate="2013-10-31T22:11:48.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breaststroke timing is one of the funkier things to get down, and I would suggest watching youtube videos of Olympic and World meets, as they will have some underwater shots of top level swimmers. There are also excellent instructional videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the streamline off the wall, ideally you want the arms straight out &quot;overhead&quot;, with the hands flat on one another (Palm to the back of the other hand), with your head in front of the arms, not between them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will last until you take your first underwater pull, then they will be momentarily by your side until you start your full stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the timing, when I used to teach to beginners, I described it as drawing an upside down heart (Hands out in front start what would normally be the pointy bottom in a valentine style heart), the pull &quot;draws&quot; the heart, and then the recovery &quot;cuts it up the middle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The legs should start flexing and coming up towards the body somewhere on the outer arc of the &quot;heart&quot; before it starts to curve into the middle with the hands, and then you kick at about the same time you &quot;cut&quot; the heart and shove your hands forward. If you wait until the arms are fully extended, you lose some of the propulsion, and you also work against yourself when you push the arms out. You do a little even if you extend while kicking, but it's minimized in that instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, since I swam competitively for so long, even my lazy stroke and ones where I keep my head out follow this same timing. It's uncomfortable for me to swim with my head out, so I'll almost always get at least half my face in the water during the stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice, watch the videos, and if you have a lot of problems, there is no substitute for someone actually looking at your stroke, see if there are instructors in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T22:11:48.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14389" CreationDate="2013-10-31T22:26:49.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of your requirements are going to be dependent on your own personal phsyiology. For example, I am a very heavy sweater (After a 1 hour run I will have a lot of caked salt on my hat/clothes), so I tend to have higher sodium intake on a daily basis than many people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For a bodybuilder&lt;/strong&gt;, it will probably be less than &lt;strong&gt;an endurance athlete&lt;/strong&gt;, unless you lift for long periods and/or in hot conditions. Also, where some bodybuilders run into problems is the concept that has somehow become entrenched, that you are recommended to drink a gallon of water for every workout (It isn't necessary). If you sweat heavily and consume a lot of water without supplemental electrolytes, you can run the risk of conditions such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyponatremia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the effects, with an excess of sodium you will have some increased water retention, it can raise your blood pressure (Which could be dangerous combined with the increased blood pressure (BP) during a lift), if your intake is really excessive or you deplete other electrolytes such as potassium you could have cramping and/or heart rate palpitation issues. (The sodium link to cramping is unproven and tenuous, and was dis-proven in at least one study. Sodium and potassium also control heart muscle activation). &#xA;Also, even common cardiac practices/thoughts on sodium are being challenged, as evidenced by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57321659-10391704/cutting-back-salt-may-be-worse-for-heart-health-study/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this writeup&lt;/a&gt; of a study published a couple of years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternatives&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can do if you want to lower your sodium is to use other spices in cooking (Marjoram, basil, thyme, etc etc). I would have to dig to find it again, but they did a taste preference study, and normo to hypertensive people for some reason tended to choose higher salt foods, but this was lessened when in the presence of other spices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try for a diet that is slightly less to even with the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), as you will be losing salt through sweat when working out. I know a few ultra endurance athletes who have been told their sodium intake needs to be a lot higher than RDA because of how much they lose in sweat. (Your body has no mechanism to store sodium, and about 85% of the sodium in your body is in circulating volume.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T23:01:17.353" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T23:01:17.353" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14425" CreationDate="2013-11-01T04:35:03.990" Score="4" ViewCount="733" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started doing the original Starting Strength program a couple of months ago, but swapped power cleans for chins, after failing to do power cleans numerous times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now at the stage when I can't handle doing deadlifts every second workout, so I have swapped them for the chins/back extensions, as suggested in the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that my workouts looks like this,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat&#xA;Bench / Overhead Press&#xA;Chins and Back Extension / Chins / deadlifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't seem right. Is there something else I can replace while not moving into the &quot;Your not on the program&quot; area?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T07:11:21.057" Title="Starting Strengh - how to replace power cleans when already doing chins" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14424" CreationDate="2013-11-01T07:11:21.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If deadlifts are too much to do every workout and power cleans are off the table then more chin-ups is fine. Something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=25720&amp;amp;p=304984#post304984&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the following&lt;/a&gt; would be fine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: Squat, Bench, Chin and Back extensions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B: Squat, Press, Deadlift / alternated with Chins and Back extensions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That keeps you deadlifting once a week, squatting three times a week, and chinning and doing back extensions when you aren't deadlifting. That's a fine way to proceed. It's quite close to the Onus Wunsler Beginner Program (in the back of the book, as an example of keeping notes). You could also take advice from Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=25720&amp;amp;p=305249#post305249&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wichita Falls Beginner Program&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wichita Falls Novice Program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday:&lt;/strong&gt; Squat 3x5, Bench press/press 3x5 (alternating), Chin-ups: 3 sets&#xA;to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/strong&gt; Squat 3x5, Press/bench press 3x5 (alternating), Deadlift&#xA;1x5/Powerclean 5x3 (alternating)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday:&lt;/strong&gt; Squat 3x5, Bench press/press 3x5 (alternating), Pull-ups: 3 sets&#xA;to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you would remove the power clean. Since you have chin-ups in multiple places in your program, you could switch one of them for pull-ups and glean the advantages of both styles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option is to learn to power clean. That's not such a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T07:11:21.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14391" CreationDate="2013-11-01T14:39:38.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are asking about measuring two different metrics. One is power/explosiveness, the other is endurance. Technique is a factor, but really only measurable in the initial phases, which it sounds like you are past that point already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I have no personal experience with training box jumps, other than as occasional plyometric exercises in the dojangh, I would think that you could treat it much the same as you would your 1 rep maximum on a particular lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figure out what your 1 shot, best box jump height is, and scale down from that, and establish your benchmarks. If your 1 shot best is three feet (And I'm making up the numbers), then the next time set it for two feet and establish your endurance. Train for a few months then remeasure both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the progression, I don't know if you could introduce an expected standard, simply because the genetic makeup (Fast twitch vs. slow twitch) is going to vary from individual to individual. I would expect, however, that it's much like anything else, large gains in the beginning with decreasing gains the further along the training scale you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T14:39:38.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14418" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:36:52.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Competitive and recreational breaststrokes are barely related in this regard, as they use completely different balance and kicks (whip vs. frog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have excellent balance, delaying the set-up and kick can be helpful for efficiency in competitive breaststroke as the recovering or recovered arms will provide less drag during the most propulsive phase of the stroke. Throwing forward also completes the wave and maintains excellent balance. For an excellent example, see the underwater views from the 2012 Olympic Men's 100 Breaststroke final. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g7oRASpJO0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g7oRASpJO0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T15:36:52.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-01T20:20:19.313" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a software called UltraRunner 3 for Mac, I wonder if exists something like, but for windows.&#xA;I would like to know if exists a software that given a gps route then could generate a plan for running all the route, I mean the software would split the route in small parts, then if there ir positive elevation then would say you haceto run at 10 mim/km.&#xA;Then the software would allow you to change the intensity of all the parts of the route, thas exist something like for windows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T18:15:02.313" Title="Software for planning a Ultra Marathon for Windows?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;coaching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3113" CreationDate="2013-11-02T08:03:57.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the other hand we may wonder what are the side effects of taking supplementary protein , assuming the guaranteed quality of the product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will draw your attention to this study published at &lt;strong&gt;July 2013&lt;/strong&gt; and examined the side effects of this supplement on so many different aspects. This paper answers following questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Research questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The research questions were formulated in cooperation with other&#xA;  relevant expert groups. The effects or associations marked with *&#xA;  should be reviewed in cooperation with or in the relevant expert&#xA;  groups (e.g. infants and children, elderly, pregnant and lactating&#xA;  women).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What is the dietary requirement of protein and protein of different dietary sources for adequate growth, development, and&#xA;  maintenance of body functions, mainly based on N-balance studies?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the association and what are the effects of different intake, timing, and frequency of protein and protein of different&#xA;  dietary sources, while considering the intake of other energy-giving&#xA;  nutrients at the same time, on: well-established markers or indicators&#xA;  of functional or clinical outcomes, such as serum lipids, glucose and&#xA;  insulin, blood pressure (BP), body composition, and bone mineral&#xA;  density (BMD)? functional or clinical outcomes including&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-pregnancy* or birth outcomes*, growth, development, and sarcopenia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-&lt;strong&gt;cardiovascular diseases, weight outcomes, cancer, type 2 diabetes (T2D), fractures, renal outcomes, physical training, muscular&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  strength, and mortality&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Does intake and dietary source of protein (including vegan diet)&#xA;  affect the lactation/milk production in Nordic countries in relation&#xA;  to lactation duration, infant's need, and growth?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you'll find out reading the answers for these questions specially regards to adverse effects of protein supplements on Kidney, the results are evaluated as &lt;em&gt;inconclusive&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the trustworthiness of the paper and hoping it's not bypassed or secretively funded by a supplement company I was relieved that not any significant/major side effect found &lt;strong&gt;in this level&lt;/strong&gt; on a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;healthy adult&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3730112/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Health effects of protein intake in healthy adults: a systematic literature review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pedersen, Agnes N., Jens Kondrup, and Elisabet Børsheim. &quot;Health&#xA;  effects of protein intake in healthy adults: a systematic literature&#xA;  review.&quot; Food &amp;amp; nutrition research 57 (2013).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T08:03:57.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14431" CreationDate="2013-11-02T09:06:41.440" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everywhere I read people talking about how to increase metabolism in order to improve weight loss and fitness. Be it with frequent meals, special foods, developing more muscular mass, etc. Overall people seem to have the idea that is one of the best goals for the human body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter how naive it sounds, I can never stop comparing metabolism with a very old proverb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.' &lt;strong&gt;Lao Tzu&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence on the effects of an increased metabolism on lifespan, health or wellbeing? Or just any known disadvantage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastEditorUserId="6041" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T11:09:38.463" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T18:51:26.520" Title="Disavantages of a faster metabolism" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-12-09T11:45:03.597" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14430" CreationDate="2013-11-02T11:16:56.660" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it does have the effect of lowering life span.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main argument for that hypothesis is the fact that calorie restriction has been scientifically shown to increase the life span. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens when you are on calorie restriction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your metabolism lowers due to the lower intake of energy. The less you eat, the less energy the body has to waste, in the form of heat etc. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11113597). (&#xA;&quot;FIRKO (fat insulin receptor knock-out) mouse, engineered so its fat cells lack the normal insulin receptors. The resulting animals dine on normal amounts of food, yet still grow up lean, resistant to diabetes and also live longer than usual, apparently because of altered mitochondrial metabolism.&quot; - Insulin is the main satiety hormone. With its action blocked, in just one cell population, longevity was achieved &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ellisonfoundation.org/research/metabolism-and-caloric-restriction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ellisonfoundation.org/research/metabolism-and-caloric-restriction&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foods contain substances which cause oxidative stress to cells. Exercise also creates reactive oxides. Oxidative stress damages DNA and has a correlation with cancer, and an inverse correlation with longevity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It also slows down almost all biochemical processes (aging processes as well) in the body, such as protein buildup in cells (eg. Alzheimers) (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17183154). &quot;The lifetime of mice can be extended simply by keeping them chilly. In other words, despite diet, if the animals’ core body temperature is kept slightly below normal, lifespan can be extended&quot; - lowering temperature induces a lowering of metabolism. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ellisonfoundation.org/research/metabolism-and-caloric-restriction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ellisonfoundation.org/research/metabolism-and-caloric-restriction&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By slowing down cellular biochemical processes, you also slow down the rate of their proliferation (cell division). By doing this you lower the risk of mutations during DNA replication, i.e. the risk of cancer is lower. The length of the chromosomal telomeres is also slower to shorten, which has been proven to be an excellent indicator of life span. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/traits/telomeres/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/traits/telomeres/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our definitions of health and wellbeing are mutually exclusive of life span. That is, having a long life span doesnt necessitate wellbeing in the form of fitness. Exercising is highly stressful for the body. For an as long life span as possible, your best bet is to restrict calories and to have continuous low intensity physical activity (basically, try to stay as active when you are 80 as when you were 20, without the exercise part).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arguments like these are very hard to follow up on, and it will take time before arguments like mine will be proven in humans, so this is purely speculative at the moment. They are however based on extensive knowledge and numerous scientific studies within the life sciences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to add a note on exercise. I mentioned that exercise induces oxidative stress. It indeed does, in small amounts. This is bad for the body in the acute phase, but in the long run the body becomes better adapted to dealing with those oxygen species; it increases enzymes and antioxidants, and as such helps protect the body from such stress. This is why continuous low intensity exercise, such as housework or walking, is better than an-hour-a-day high-intensity fitness training (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T18:40:39.990" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T18:40:39.990" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-02T15:55:18.557" Score="3" ViewCount="380" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current strength-training goals are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One-armed pull-ups: 4x5&#xA;One-armed chin-ups: 4x5&#xA;One-armed push-ups: 4x5&#xA;Handstand push-ups: 4x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(also training legs through running and pistol squats and abs throuh various exercises)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, once you can perform more than 5 reps of an exercise, you're starting to focus on more on hypertrophy rather than strength development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: I've read about &quot;muscle adaptation&quot; and how you should mix up your workout to prevent plateaus - am I able to continue to perform these exercises until I reach my goals or must I change the exercises in some way (change the rest time, change the number of sets etc.) to continue to develop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6458" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T13:50:32.860" Title="Does muscle adaptation occur when strength training (low reps)?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14428" CreationDate="2013-11-02T18:15:02.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm... well this sounds like a bad idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're running an ultra you need to listen to your body and know when to push it, how to feed it and how to water it. I wouldn't want to try and split a route down and plan it to that degree. You don't know what the terrain is like nor do you know if it's going to be hot or cold on the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T18:15:02.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13591" CreationDate="2013-11-02T22:27:54.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember one year when I had to stop working out for 9 months due to inflammations. During these months I would mainly visit doctors and treat my arms but would not workout AT ALL. I stayed active though, I would go out almost everyday to hang out with friends going for a walk. Surprisingly for the first 6 months, considering I was consuming just the same amount of calories as before my injury, I managed to retain my weight and size(size not muscle)! My strength was gone and my muscles were not as lean but with a shirt on there wasn't a big difference. Perhaps that is the case with your father and grandfather. Then past the 6 month I started getting frustrated about my injuries and all the stress made me lose 10 pounds within a week or two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow I was once told that the atrophy starts after day 3 of your last workout for a particular muscle group. Then during the years I have noticed that this is fairly true. I am a Meso-Ecto bodytype and once I stop working a particular muscle group it starts fading away slowly both in size and strength. Which I suppose I maintained before with a high calorie intake. My guess is that your father and grandfather kept their athletic frames(that never goes away fully) and during the years have replaced some of the muscle with fat. However due to the frame underneath it still makes them look more muscly than fat. That's a guess of course, I don't know what they look like but I have never seen anybody to keep his muscle mass after he has stopped working out especially with a sedentary lifestyle. Image of Arnold Schwarzenegger just pops up in my mind when I say this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T22:27:54.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14023" CreationDate="2013-11-02T22:37:54.000" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you should switch to referring to different pace units. Try min/km or min/mile. In the running world speed in km/h is nearly meaningless, as you'll hardly encounter these units.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you want to meet your goal, you should look for a training plan that will take you to your end goal over several weeks. Such training plan should have a combination of &lt;strong&gt;speed work&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;long slow distance (LSD)&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;easy (recovery) runs&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;tempo runs&lt;/strong&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to run faster, you need to push the threshold of your lactic acid and your cardio. If you want to run further, you need endurance. By running the same speed and same distance all the time, you might improve up to a degree, but you'll most likely stagnate without further gains. You need to try to push your heart rate by mixing your exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, if I go on a run I try to run negative split tempo. That means that you set off slower in the first half and return at a faster pace in the second half. This practise will teach you not to &quot;over-cook it&quot;, by going too fast when you feel full of energy. In fact my last mile is always the fastest. If you are keen on racing, you'll find this practice useful, when you want to &quot;kick&quot; (speed up) towards the finish. Often this technique makes the difference between beating your PR or your opponent... or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said, what I did, the best advice for novice runners is to run by &lt;strong&gt;feel&lt;/strong&gt;. Sometimes over-analysing or focusing on a certain pace, only makes your head hurt and at a worse case can lead to demotivation or an injury. So for now, forget GPS, Heart rate monitors, cadence monitors, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you cut down to about 5k and run that for 2-3 weeks, till you can run it comfortably at a easy 6:30 min/km pace. After that you might want to try and add a stride(s) to your run. That means speeding up for say 100-200 metres. Not sprinting just let's say to 5:30 min/km. Start with one stride and increase them on weekly basis up to 4-5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add miles (kilometers) to your runs, should be done gradually too. You try to quickly and you'll most likely injure yourself, as your body hasn't build the supporting structure. It is recommended to increase by 10% per week. If you stick to 3 runs per week with plenty of rest in between, perhaps some cross training (bike or swim), you'll improve dramatically over 9 weeks. I'd recommend you set a goal of 10km in an hour and with a good training plan you'll achieve that. Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good places to go for more info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot;&gt;Mcmillan Running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/&quot;&gt;Runners World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7056" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T22:37:54.000" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-02T22:40:54.817" Score="8" ViewCount="6073" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to make my legs more symmetrical to my upper body. They need to catch up slightly. I can easily achieve that with weights but I wish to achieve it with body weight exercises instead since I suffer from lower back pain and prefer not to squat with weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have been doing sprints and pistols. Both were helpful but it seems like I got the maximum out of these. Also I am not a big fan of the pistols for they really make my knees feel not right. I combine them with some easier exercises like wall squats or jump squats but I am not mentioning these for they don't do all that much. I need something that will stimulate the muscles more. If not an exercise than a different strategy of how to combine these - sets, reps, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been looking online for materials but can't really find anything good for gaining muscle mass in the legs. Any suggestions are welcome, thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T10:35:18.990" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T18:24:15.423" Title="Body weight leg exercises for mass" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14432" CreationDate="2013-11-03T17:07:57.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle adaptation is nothing more than the fact that training causes your body to adapt to the training and thereby get stronger, bigger, and better at doing the activity without tiring. Switching up a workout is good in order to avoid hyperspecialization in a specific version of a movement, but there's a misconception that one should switch workout programs entirely just for the sake of somehow &quot;confusing&quot; one's muscles. If you're still progressing with a program there's no need to switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, though fewer reps are better for training strength, the &quot;five reps&quot; recommendation is generally applied to compound barbell movements, where one can carefully control the amount of load applied to the movement. Five isn't some magical number: it's just that strength is defined as the ability to move a load once, not move it many times, so the closer you get to one maximal rep the closer you are to training for pure strength. Five reps is merely a good middle ground between grueling high-intensity maximal efforts and higher-rep work that produces strong tendons, endurance, and other desirable qualities. Don't put a cap on your training at five reps, especially with upper-body bodyweight exercises, which generally require a different approach that allows for greater volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, if you can do 15 or so pull-ups in one set, don't reduce your total pull-up volume while working on one-arm chins. You still need plenty of high-rep work in order to keep your current level of ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T13:50:32.860" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T13:50:32.860" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14432" CreationDate="2013-11-03T19:07:46.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct above 5-6 reps you start going away from strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However for a OAP you should not focus on the repetitions. Even 5 is a lot and will get you injured most likely. Take it from somebody who has been there. Actually for the OAP I am providing you to a link of a tutorial of mine: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxoLbji8ts0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One Arm Chin-Up Tutorial&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the need of a variety in your workouts. Let's take a look at the exercises you are aiming for. The one armed push up and the handstand push-ups are pretty much of the same difficulty and you should achieve fairly easy if you have some previous background body weight training. Thus I doubt you will hit a plateau with them. The One Armed Chin-Up is a different story however. Especially if you are more built rather than skinny. It takes a huge amount of strength to perform even one OAC and a lot of adaptation for the body to that skill. You will hit plateaus a lot of times and will have to switch your workouts often in order to continue progressing. Sometimes the body will need time to build strength and you won't be seeing any progress for a while since it doesn't happen overnight. It's an exercise that involves several muscle groups so what I advise you to do is to change the muscle group you are training for on every other workout. There should be one direct exercise that is a variation of the One Armed Chin-Up and several assisting exercising focusing specifically on a particular muscle group that is involved in the pull-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T19:07:46.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13463" CreationDate="2013-11-03T19:56:24.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you run and do BJJ and want to increase your strength, particularly your explosive strength, &lt;em&gt;by far&lt;/em&gt; your best bet is to start using external resistance tools: dumbbells, barbells, or kettlebells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Olympic lifts (the snatch, clean, and jerk, with any of those tools) and their adjuncts (the squat, deadlift, press, push press, and so on) are the best tools for developing strength and explosiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight methods for explosiveness include sprints, box jumps, leaps, and clapping push-ups. For general strength using bodyweight, your plan looks fine, though I'd add dips to the pull-ups, push-ups, planches, and handstands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T19:56:24.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14376" CreationDate="2013-11-03T21:20:49.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like yourself I work with computers and I put a lot of weight on sat in front of them eating chocolate bars and drinking fizzy drinks, I got to a silly weight of 320lbs and realized I needed to do something when my family and friends would make jokes (Horrible family and friends I know, haha) but it wasn't until I met someone that I really realized I had to change call her my motivation if you will. Hear are my nutritional, diet and workout plans I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is was my standard 6 week on 1 week of program for some time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6:30am &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grenade-Thermo-Detonator-100-Capsules/dp/B009M3U1I2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1383510804&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=grenade%20thermo%20detonator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2 Capsules Grenade Thermo Detonator&lt;/a&gt; with large glass of water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6:45am 2 Mile Jog/run (This would near enough kill me at first but I got better at it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7:30am 3 Mile walk to work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:30am Porridge and 2 capsules omega 3 sups with Orange juice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12:00noon At first I would have a sandwich or something but I realized pretty fast to drop bread moved onto salads with chicken breast or some sort of fish like tuna or salmon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4:30pm Gym 45 mins crosstrainer/Treadmill/Bike some sort of cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5:15pm Free weights at first I didn't see the point in doing a set weights workout I was planning on building muscle (That has since changed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6:00pm 15 minute cool down on bike.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6:15pm walk the 3 miles home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:00pm Evening meal never really had a diet for this it was whatever had been done at the time. (Yes there was the odd cheat meal, they have long gone though when I started weight training)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10:00pm bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be my standard work out when I started as you can see I didn't really have a plan except for losing weight, I did have rest days they have always been Wednesdays and Saturdays. I started in November 2012 at 320lbs and I am now 194.007lbs. Losing the weight has opened up so much for me I have since joined the Police as a Special Constable and I start 2 weeks ago Mixed Martial Arts training but some might say I might not have her but I do. We are best friends and has stood by me through thick and thin I am just not good enough for her yet.. Ok I'm getting into personal things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back on topic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since losing the weight my main focus when in the gym is now weight training so I have a routine and supplements (Protein, Creatine, etc) but since your just wanting to lose weight I'm not going into that but I read a few articles on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and hopefully they will help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't think it will happen over night/days or even weeks it is a very long drawn out process months to years. I would recommend finding something that will motivate you so when your feeling down (because you will) you can focus on mine was a girl I love, yours could be your kids, wife. But don't get into a set mind you're doing it for them it is you you're doing it for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4903" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T21:20:49.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14376" CreationDate="2013-11-04T06:41:19.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a software engineer and been already two years in a gym. As far as my experience goes, I never did really lose until I did something important&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Be active!&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most single important change I made for my fitness was just enforcing the rule of no matter what, I must move. No single day I should stay still longer than 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work from home, so I do spend a lot of time seated and get some days where I never had a reason to go outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While working I use the Pomodoro technique (work 25 min, stand up and away from screen 5 min).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being in the same position too long can harm your body in a way that no sport can repair the damage. There are studies where participants seating longer than 10h a day had 35% more chances of death, and exercise did not improve things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, sport is a great thing, just don't overdo. I never lost much hitting the gym four/three times a week. Changes appeared when I forced myself to stay active, stand up, walk for computer break, read walking around...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh wait... I ride my bike an average of 45 min every day, nordic walk 2-3 hours a week, swim 2 days, and lift weights 2 days. The only intensive thing being the 30 min of a weight training workout. I would never consider myself the sport type of guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid at all cost thinking that one single type of training can heal your body, and then continue your normal life the rest of the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T06:41:19.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2013-11-04T07:21:35.753" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to body-weight, there is one limitation and that's the fact that &lt;strong&gt;you can't increase the weight&lt;/strong&gt; to put more pressure on the muscle.&#xA;However there is one thing which most forget, and it's such a simple trick to hype up the pressure and still not to be dependent on the weights which may not be preferred from one athlete to the other. Due to issues such as back problem, limited equipment and injuries. &#xA;The key is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stay Single&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise the legs separately, one leg at a time. Such an strange feeling to start with if you haven't tried yet. I leg press 300kgs for 20 reps and I thought about it and came to conclusion I'll do 300/2=150 with one leg. I failed!! 80ks, sometimes 90 is the max. but you may ask why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do a single leg workout you lose the sturdiness and support of two legs brought to each other. You lose the center and you actually need to do some balancing. &#xA;Single leg body weight squats, and single leg with the other folded back calves are the must. Give it a go and let me know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="6884" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T17:55:01.123" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T17:55:01.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14446" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14487" CreationDate="2013-11-04T11:35:38.093" Score="7" ViewCount="10820" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can hold a plank for 20-30 seconds tops, far shorter after I have done some other work. I have a couple of ideas on how to get more volume and effect out of a session:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold until holding the perfect form becomes too hard to do, rest 20 seconds, repeat a few times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set timer to maybe 45 seconds, hold until holding the perfect form becomes too hard to do, start again holding the plank after the next beep, repeat a few times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold 10 seconds, rest 10 seconds, repeat a few times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the actual values for the times will vary. Are there other ways to achieve my goal? Which one should I pick, and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit to clarify:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to strengthen my core for health reasons and to be stronger overall. I assume that holding the plank for a short time period = little training effect. So I'm looking for a structured way to get the most effect out of my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-28T14:26:32.173" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T14:26:32.173" Title="I can't hold a plank for long - how do I get more effect out of a session?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;isometric&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14446" CreationDate="2013-11-04T11:56:03.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all why do you focus only on the plank to maximize the holding time? You can work other exercises that are going to help you with your plank. your whole body is involved in the plank - shoulders, back, legs, abs. Figure out which part of the body dies first and try to strengthen it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this is not a matter of strength as it is more a matter of endurance. You need to perform this exercise often in order for your body to get used to it. The muscles will adapt and start keeping the position for longer periods of time. Your suggestions to train for it sound good only that I don't understand why you would only hold it for as long as a good form of the exercise is present. After you start getting tired your muscles can no longer maintain a good form but they still keep pushing. Thus I believe you should aim to hold it for as long as you can rather than just until a good form is present. Why? In order to get the muscles used to holding for longer amounts of time. Your endurance strength will progressively increase. The longer you hold, the better. Thus the 10 sec hold vs 10 sec rest doesn't seem very promising to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T11:56:03.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14446" CreationDate="2013-11-04T14:13:04.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To use the plank to get stronger, you should plank for strenuous but submaximal times. In your case that would probably be sets of about 20 seconds, using multiple sets (e.g. 3-6) and resting briefly (e.g. 15 to 90 seconds) between sets. Aim for a reliable 40-second hold in a month or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with Arthlete that the only option that looks really unproductive is 10 second hold/10 second rest. The other options you present would be fine. Keep your planks challenging without demanding an all-out effort from your body in every set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T14:13:04.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14457" CreationDate="2013-11-04T15:44:15.807" Score="2" ViewCount="1777" Body="&lt;p&gt;My instructor makes a lot of use of the terms cadence and tempo in the spinning class, but I have not been able to get a satisfactory answer on what the difference between the two is. What is the difference between the two words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6765" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T16:17:16.173" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:23:17.587" Title="What is the difference between cadence and tempo in spinning?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2013-11-04T17:07:23.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as ideal weight loss rate. Although I agree with many saying that 0.5kg per week is a nice goal to avoid muscle loss and gaining all later, you should think that a good loss rate changes every 5kg of your total body weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a male past 120kg losing more than 1 kg a week should be your minimum. If you are a female trying go below 60kg, depending on your condition, 150 grams a week might be the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure that there are many complicated formulas out there, but it would be better if you think more of body fat percentage. If you are in the obese section, then any consistent and weekly weight loss, not foo far from 0.5kg/week would be great&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T17:07:23.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-04T17:13:44.223" Score="3" ViewCount="1841" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to master the standing overhead press for some time now, and every time I try to go a just a little bit heavier my lower back starts to hurt. Now I am aware that I need to brace my abs and glutes, yet I still seem to have this pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided that I will swap out the standing version for a while and instead to the seated version. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will I get strong enough from the seated version to eventually be able to perform the standing version pain free, or are these exercises too different to have any carryover? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T23:20:35.650" Title="Can I replace the overhead press with the seated version?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14452" CreationDate="2013-11-04T17:20:51.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. What's preventing you from doing the standing form correctly is not your shoulder strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing your shoulder strength in the seated version will actually make it more difficult to do the standing version properly, because your shoulders will be able to support even &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than your core is able to brace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit: I'm removing my advice to simply deload and work back up. That's &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; thing that &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; work for you. Instead, I agree with Dave's answer that we can't know what will help you without accurately diagnosing the root problem, be it form, core strength, or shoulder mobility, among other things.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T20:06:44.280" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T20:06:44.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14452" CreationDate="2013-11-04T17:26:52.383" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the problem with your (standing) overhead press is either form or maximal isometric strength in the core. Changing to an exercise that removes both of these factors and doesn't improve them does not seem like a productive way to increase your overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a lot more details on your training history (sets, reps, loads, frequency), it's difficult to know how to fix this. Maybe increased volume or frequency with the lift will help. Maybe your shoulder mobility is such that getting into proper overhead position is difficult enough that your lower back position gets mangled, and so you should work on your overhead mobility with wall slides, Hindu push-ups, handstands, and more diligent shoulder warm-ups. Maybe you need to deload. Maybe you need to do more supplemental lower-back and abdominal work. It's tough to know without a detailed log of your training as well as a form check video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, you could replace the (standing) overhead press with the seated overhead press. It just won't help your standing overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T17:26:52.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14465" CreationDate="2013-11-04T17:53:16.803" Score="5" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a vegetarian and interested in gaining muscle, bone weight, and other non-fat mass. I do eat eggs but I plan to stop eating that too and turn to complete veganism. If I exercise less and eat more definitely could I gain some fat and muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T08:51:08.670" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T14:39:46.510" Title="How do I gain lean muscle mass as a vegetarian or vegan?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3320" CreationDate="2013-11-04T18:22:03.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar things would happen to me while doing cardio in winters. For me, it happened due to sinusitis. My sinuses would burn when I inhale comparitively cold and dry air at a faster rate (as in increased rate of breathing during exercise). It causes me mild headache in addition to phlegm and runny nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that using certain specific oils (they call it 'nasya' in ayurveda, don't want to be advertising brands here) to instil in nose helped moisturize the nasal passage and my sinuses and nosy don't act up anymore. I found that doing nasya is great as expectorant and helps me 'do normal' during cardios without phlegm and stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you would want to be sure that it is due to sinusitis before you decide on trying out nasya.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;hope this helps....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T18:22:03.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14450" CreationDate="2013-11-04T18:28:26.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would have to ask your instructor to clarify for specifics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cadence is used to count the number of times one foot rotates a complete circle around the crankset. So if you are counting the right foot, to go from top to bottom to top is one. Count for a minute, and you get your cadence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tempo is very often used as a measure of intensity, especially when combined with devices that measure power, or when compared to a race pace. Something that is done &quot;at tempo&quot; is near to the same pace you would use when racing a particular distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, your instructor may be using them interchangeably or with different meanings, best is to ask him/her for an explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: This is also the same terminology used in running, you will hear references to running cadence and tempo workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T18:28:26.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2013-11-04T20:21:11.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was looking for an answer myself. I was thinking about athletes who do a lot of body weight exercises for their sport and remembered about ballet dancers. I am providing 2 photos to illustrate their lower body physique: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mMdP0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RhNor.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/19lnV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I found some exercises presented by the black guy in the middle of the second photo on this link: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yXWxzWzzk4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Christopher Cuomo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I also found one more leg workout from a male ballet dancer. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNnrOXc2JI0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tyler from RW Ballet Workout Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will try these tomorrow, they look like exercises for women. I can't imagine people gaining muscle this way but photos speak for themselves. I hope to see some other ideas as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T20:21:11.340" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-04T22:57:19.453" Score="3" ViewCount="11451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently in marathon training mode and trying to improve my running form and speed in a number of ways. Mostly by trial and error. At the moment, I'm running between 5 and 14km in training sessions, but my long runs are going to get longer as the marathon gets nearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue I'm focused on at the moment is what to do with my &quot;core&quot; (or abdominal girdle) during long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started using a slight lean forward at the shoulders to helps improve my speed. However, this changes how my body is positioned during the run and I'm not sure how to best work with this change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken to actively trying to engage or brace my abdominals (mostly the rectus abdominis) - imagine the feeling when you are at the top motion of a crunch, held for long periods and thats what I've been doing. Its worked of sorts, as I've noticed that occasionally after runs I get DOMS in my Abs. However, I'm not sure if its helping or hindering my running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does engaging like this pull blood away from other more vital areas during a run, such as the legs? Alternatively, does it help brace the spine to reduce back fatigue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basically, is it good or bad in the long run to brace the core during long runs?&lt;/strong&gt; (Pun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T09:46:09.423" Title="Is it better to engage or relax your &quot;core&quot; during long distance running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14452" CreationDate="2013-11-04T23:20:35.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question best, you need to understand why you are doing overhead press.  If you are doing Starting Strength or Strong Lifts, it's best to leave it in there and keep working on it--in those programs it's used for both core work and shoulder work.  If your goal is simply to have stronger shoulders, then there's no reason to remain standing.  If you fancy training like a strong man, then it's best to leave it in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your back is hurting during overhead press, then you are doing something wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your pelvic floor needs to be in a neutral position.&lt;/strong&gt;  When your core muscles are weak, it is common to hyper extend the lower lumbar position to force the weight up.  When you tighten your glutes and abs, it helps maintain that neutral position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Minimize your lay back.&lt;/strong&gt;  Some lay back is necessary just to clear the bar past your face, however an exaggerated lay back can put your lumbar in a bad position to support the weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Generate bar speed by pushing hard against a tight base.&lt;/strong&gt;  When your whole body is tight, you aren't robbing yourself of precious bar speed by pushing against a soft base.  That lets you put more power into the bar and less pushing your body down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some things that can prevent you from being in a favorable position, most notably shoulder mobility.  If you can't get your arms straight up over your head, you can't keep the bar in a position you can put more power into.  If you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbar_hyperlordosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyperlordosis&lt;/a&gt;, there are a number of stretches and strengthening exercises to help you correct that postural problem--which will in effect take care of the first point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T23:20:35.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14463" CreationDate="2013-11-05T03:53:49.780" Score="2" ViewCount="1267" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually bigger taller and more muscular guys are more stronger than the thinner ones.&#xA;So does it mean that to get stronger i need to build a bigger muscular body.&#xA;Is possible to have increase in strength without much muscle gain.if so how to achieve that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T06:54:48.053" Title="Does strength means more muscle gain and bigger body" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14462" CreationDate="2013-11-05T04:26:32.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is possible to increase the strength in your muscles without necessarily getting bigger. It depends on the way you exercise, the methods that you use. Gymnasts usually are very light but possess tremendous amounts of strength. A test for a gymnast's strength is to double his own body weight on all core upper body exercises - Dips, Chin-Ups, Bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example you can see on this link. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLNzd_FcThs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IronMind 1998 Training Hall: Unbelievable Bulgarians&lt;/a&gt; - Towards the end of the video you can see Galabin Boevski being 69kgs(~150lbs) squatting 250kgs(~550lbs). Most of the guys in the gyms over here way around 220lbs and are proud when they can squat their own weight. But they train to look big not to gain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T04:26:32.907" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14462" CreationDate="2013-11-05T06:54:48.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many athletes want to get stronger without getting bigger. It is common in weight-class sports like Olympic weightlifting, judo, mixed martial arts, boxing and wrestling, since the athlete wants to remain the same weight while being as strong and athletic as possible. It's also common in field sports and other competitions such as rowing, where extra weight is expensive to carry around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These athletes use weight training to get stronger, but not much bigger. Diet is a huge part of this, as is maintaining a high amount of endurance and sport training. In the weight room, they will focus on only a few repetitions of high weight. Singles, doubles, and triples (less than four reps), with a low total volume, will train maximal strength while avoiding a significant degree of muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T06:54:48.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14455" CreationDate="2013-11-05T08:57:20.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining healthy weight is the same for vegetarians as it is for omnivores: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lift heavy, eat big, prioritize getting bigger&lt;/a&gt;. The only difference is that vegetarians and vegans make it harder for themselves by not eating (or eating less of) some of the most useful foods: meat, dairy, eggs. These foods are great because high-quality versions of them contain good fats, lots of easily-absorbed protein, and they are nutritionally dense. This makes the difficult process of eating enough a little easier. If you refuse to eat those useful foods, then gaining weight is possible but necessarily some amount more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no special solutions. You'll still have to find a way to lift heavy, eat big, and prioritize getting bigger. You'll have to find a variety of healthy foods that get you the protein you need, while not making you so full that you can't eat enough total food. My advice is to at least eat ethically raised farm eggs and dairy alongside a variety of vegan protein sources like beans, soy, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T08:57:20.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14459" CreationDate="2013-11-05T09:00:56.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an expert on running, so it might be that someone more experienced will prove me wrong. But my (hopefully intelligent) guess would be that it is better to &quot;relax&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're running, the hips and shoulders move and this will activate different parts of the abdominal muscles anyway, without you needing to think about it. Conscious tensioning, in my opinion would not improve performance unless you're an expert on working with the hips and activating/relaxing the different muscles in your abdomen independently. Eg. can you activate rectus abdominis while keeping the sides fully relaxed, can you tension one side while relaxing the other side etc. If you cannot do these then you'll likely keep everything tense which would make breathing more difficult, and push blood away from the abdomen (increased pressure pushes blood away), which is not healthy maintaining for longer periods. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZAH28w4V7E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; might explain better what I'm saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T09:00:56.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-05T16:04:35.350" Score="0" ViewCount="1856" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently come accross this training, I've started it yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But i'm not sure about the number of sets. I've alway think that 3 sets of 5 rep with a lot a weight was good to bulk up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could somebody explain me this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also their is not meal plan with this, Their talking about 10 pounds of gain in 6 weeks... I know it's the best case scenario but maybe someone has a good article for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/luis13.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/luis13.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastEditorUserId="2315" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T16:23:09.323" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T18:56:44.473" Title="10 set of 10 reps not too much to bulk up" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14468" CreationDate="2013-11-05T16:44:39.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Set and rep ranges vary based on the immediate goal.  Some programs have you vary the sets and reps over the course of the program.  But assuming you have enough weight to make the work challenging, here is the rough break down of what rep ranges do for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-3 reps: primarily myofibrilar hypertrophy.  This helps you build the ability to lift heavier weights, but has minimal impact on size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4-6 reps: general purpose lifting.  This has a balance of sarcoplasmic and myofibrilar hypertrophy.  Has a some impact on both lifting heavier weights and larger muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-15 reps: primarily sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  This helps you build larger muscles by increasing the energy support systems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16+ reps: muscular endurance.  This helps your muscles endure more work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't a similar list for number of sets, so instead you are looking at the overall volume of work.  Volume is the total sets x reps x weight.  If you lift 100 lbs for 10 sets of 10, that's 10,000 lbs of volume.  You can shuffle things around and they will all be the same volume.  For example 200 lbs for 10 sets of 5.  Or 100 lbs for 5 sets of 20.  You will find that even though it's the same volume of work, you may find some arrangements very difficult or downright impossible like the last option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Volume is a measure to judge how much fatigue your body is having to deal with.  You may find that 10 x 10 at whatever you are using for the weight is difficult but you are able to do it again in a couple days.  You may find that it takes a whole week to be able to do it again and feel fresh.  As you get stronger, you can do more volume, and recover a little quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is putting on lots of muscle, 10 sets of 10 reps will definitely help you do that.  Just make sure you are eating and sleeping a lot to adjust to the work load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T16:44:39.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14459" CreationDate="2013-11-05T18:42:50.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert either, but I've been running for a long time and have experimented with different techniques. These are my findings and things I try to keep in mind when &lt;strong&gt;distance&lt;/strong&gt; running:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold your head up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breath in through nose and mouth, out through mouth only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't lean too far forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't bring the knees up too high&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend arms 90 degrees at the elbow and relax your hands (pretend like you're holding a potato chip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push your belly out when inhaling, tighten when exhaling&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (this actually answers you question). The concept here is to aide in breathing and get the most out of your lung capacity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strike on the fore-/mid- foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, these are just my personal preferences and of course you'll need to experiment to find out what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7066" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T18:42:50.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14468" CreationDate="2013-11-05T18:56:44.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 sets of five can help you get bigger. Ten sets of 10 will too, if you can handle it and don't overtrain. 100 heavy reps is an extremely high workload. Make sure your diet, sleep, and so on are dialed in if you're on this program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T18:56:44.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14488" CreationDate="2013-11-06T14:32:43.910" Score="7" ViewCount="4412" Body="&lt;p&gt;As part of a body weight circuit, I have been using the plank as the abdominal component. Additionally, I have been working on doing handstands, in preparation for doing handstand push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How well does a handstand compare to the plank for an abdominal workout? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I replace the plank with the handstand?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I am doing wall-assisted handstands, but I will progress to free-standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T12:21:53.037" Title="How does the handstand compare to the plank for abdominal training?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13923" CreationDate="2013-11-06T14:34:04.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 5 weeks have passed, so you probably already have completed your half marathon :-), but here goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of things you're not telling, so my answer is based on what info you do provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb, you can (within reasonable limit, of course) run twice the distance you think you can run, and since you &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; you can run 12 km, a half marathon should be doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you apply general running wisdom (economize and don't run too fast, eat and drink something on the way, stop if it hurts in a bad way, etc), you should be good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the comments you say you plan on going on a 15 km run before the actual half marathon. I think that's an excellent idea, and if you manage to get the feeling that you could go the extra 6 km after 15, you'll be more than ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to listen to your body, and try not to run too fast.&#xA;Your achilles tendons and calf muscles take the highest strain when running minimalist, so those are the ones to focus on; if they start to ache too much as you step up your training, you should probably wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I have been running minimalist shoes for around 18 months now, the last 8 months exclusively minimalist. I have run a number of half marathons and one single marathon in traditional running shoes. I have run 15 km in minimalist shoes as a max (since I'm focusing on the 10 km distance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T14:34:04.663" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2013-11-06T14:34:04.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14478" CreationDate="2013-11-06T14:40:59.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a handstand noob. I find that my wall-assisted handstands involve my abs to a lesser degree than planks even with good form (tight glutes, abs, straight trunk). With handstands, I find it much easier than with planks to fall into a cheating position where I'm not contracting my abs. I do not find my handstands to be a tremendous ab workout and when concerned with my abs I do other things for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T14:40:59.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-06T15:00:18.610" Score="1" ViewCount="2371" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had gastric bypass WLS earlier in the year, and now with the surgeon's encouragement, I have started weight training to preserve lean body mass. It's going well so far, and after two months, I'm about to move away from the weight machine circuit to the free-weight room. I've been reading about HMB and Creatine, and believe they can help me in my goal to preserve (or even gain!) lean mass in the form of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to take creatine for someone without a full-size stomach? I can't gulp down a lot of fluid all at once, so the powder is tricky, and I'm concerned the capsules won't digest properly. This is also my concern with HMB - can someone with WLS digest the capsules properly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I can't handle a lot of sugar - fruit juice and other sweets causes temporary but severe side effects (dizziness, nausea, intestinal distress, elevated BP, etc) plus it undermines my weight loss and needed lifestyle change to keep it off. I can and do eat fresh fruit and unsweetened applesauce daily. Is that enough take creatine effectively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7073" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T19:06:09.507" Title="Gastric Bypass Surgery and Creatine/HMB" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2013-12-16T19:46:05.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14478" CreationDate="2013-11-06T15:15:01.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't. Handstand has very little to do with abs. &lt;strong&gt;Proper&lt;/strong&gt; handstand has VERY little to do with the engagement of any muscle group. By proper I mean perfect handstand - extended elbows, straight body. But even in an imperfect handstand I doubt you can feel the abs working at all. I never did feel them, even in my beginner handstand days. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Considering the aforementioned - no both exercises are not replaceable in the essence of your questions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T15:15:01.303" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14543" CreationDate="2013-11-06T19:43:21.567" Score="12" ViewCount="77792" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I increase bicep &lt;em&gt;width&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am happy with my bicep peak, but I am having trouble increasing the width of my biceps. My arms look rather big from the side but when you look at them head on they are quite narrow/skinny. I have heard that hammer curls improve width, but I haven't seen much of an improvement in the last couple of months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I work arms once a week (as I do every muscle group) on Tuesdays. My routine usually consists of 3 bicep workouts followed by 3 tricep workouts. I don't have a set routine because I like to switch it up and hit different workouts each week. I will give a sample workout below, again, this is different each week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Biceps:&#xA;  Warmup: Alternate dbell curls, 8 reps w/ light weight&#xA;    Alternate dbell curls,       4 x 8 (to failure)&#xA;    Alternate dbell hammercurls, 4 x 8 (to failure)&#xA;    Preacher curls,              4 x 8 (to failure)&#xA;Triceps:&#xA;  Warmup: 15 bench dips&#xA;    Rope Pulldowns,   4 x 10 (to failure)&#xA;    Skull Crushers,   4 x 8  (to failure)&#xA;    Tricep Kickbacks, 4 x 10 (to failure)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: When I am doing any excercise I make sure my form is always as good as possible and my reps are generally slow and controlled with an emphasis on negative resistance (i.e. letting the weight down slowly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All sets are to failure because I am trying to build mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Elaborating on the improvement I have seen in arm growth in general - About 3 months ago my arms measured around 15.5&quot; and have increased to 16+ (They vary, sometimes up to 16.5 without a pump). My arms have been getting bigger, triceps and bicep peak are increasing, but bicep width remains stagnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-11-21T17:04:46.960" LastActivityDate="2019-10-30T17:33:26.647" Title="How can I increase bicep width?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14450" CreationDate="2013-11-06T21:58:14.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with JohnP's answer. I am also a fitness instructor, and I've been teaching indoor cycling classes for years. For me, when I say tempo (which isn't often), I tend to use these term interchangeably in my class, but that's because I always explicitly let them know what zone or intensity level I want them to target, and refer to that intensity in another manner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really need to ask the instructor to clarify his/her meaning - if they can't, that might be a sign this instructor really needs to do some more research into what he/she is talking about. Tempo is commonly used as another term for pace, whether it be running or cycling, but there tends to be an associated intensity with it (e.g. a run at 10k tempo pace or a 2-hour ride at an endurance tempo).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7076" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T21:58:14.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-06T22:10:48.503" Score="6" ViewCount="1726" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to lose 8-pds. I currently weigh 172-pds. Using the following workout and a protein diet, I've lost 10-pds so far starting from Aug-1. Ultimately, I want to do long-distance running, and so need to be lighter. anyway...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my main work-out (4-times / week):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(-) free-style with &lt;strong&gt;breathing every 3rd stroke&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(-) swim non-stop, breathing every 3rd stroke, for 15-min.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(-) get out of the pool, drink some gatorade, rest for 5-min.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(-) swim non-stop, breathing every 3rd stroke, for 15-min.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(-) done.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I breath to put oxygen into my blood. My body then creates energy by combining that oxygen with hydrocarbons that I ate and stored as fat. The process of oxidation releases carbon-dioxide in my breath and heat energy. The hydrocarbon &quot;burn&quot; is inefficient, leaving some &quot;un-burned&quot; hydrocarbons behind as solid waste. (I think that's correct?)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can breath each 3rd stroke indefinitely, and I prefer that style just because it's a fun challenge. But I'll obviously have &lt;strong&gt;more oxygen in my blood if I breath every 2nd stroke&lt;/strong&gt;. More oxygen will surely help the oxidation process. Therefore, &lt;em&gt;would breathing more frequently allow me to more efficiently burn fat while I am swimming&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) Would breathing every 2nd stroke accelerate weight loss?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(2) Might breathing every 2nd stroke help muscle strengthening? why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7075" LastEditorUserId="7075" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T12:56:32.413" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T15:12:08.363" Title="do low oxygen levels effect fat burn and/or muscle strengthening?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14485" CreationDate="2013-11-07T04:29:20.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought was no, but I looked on google scholar, and surprisingly (at least to me) there is at least one study that seems to support the theory that training in low oxygen (hypoxic) conditions can promote higher fat burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11325-007-0149-3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Low Intensity exercise with hypoxia&lt;/a&gt; - Summary: The hypoxic group lost a little over a kilogram (2.2 pounds), where the normobaric group lost very little at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few others that relate hypoxia to healing in burn patients, and a couple that suggest other complications, so I would suggest reading further before completely diving in to extreme hypoxic training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T04:29:20.313" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14446" CreationDate="2013-11-07T12:08:35.077" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you want to do is use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2012/05/prilepin-tables-for-bodyweight-strength-isometric-and-eccentric-exercises/&quot;&gt;Prilepin tables&lt;/a&gt;, which specify how many sets of which duration you should hold for optimal (or near optimal) progress. The goal is always to have about 60 seconds total hold time; once you can do this in a single set it is time to progress to a harder variation (otherwise, you are no longer doing strength work). In the case of a plank, you might consider moving on to a one-leg, then one-arm, then one-leg-one-arm variation, or just push out your arms further and further from your body. You should also consider doing other bodyline exercises, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kitlaughlin.com/docs/wrist-mobility_bodyline-exercises_handstands.pdf&quot;&gt;this pdf&lt;/a&gt; for instructions -- the 'fish' exercise is the &quot;opposite&quot; movement to the plank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your particular case, per the tables above, you should aim for a &lt;strong&gt;16-20s&lt;/strong&gt; hold time and repeat &lt;strong&gt;for 3-4 sets&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T12:08:35.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14478" CreationDate="2013-11-07T12:21:53.037" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Handstands are mostly skill work, rather than strength work (other than right at the beginning) -- you are learning to balance, to make small adjustments in order to stay upright. Therefore, it &lt;strong&gt;cannot replace the plank&lt;/strong&gt;. If you are looking for ab specific work harder than planks, consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/ab-wheel-rollout/&quot;&gt;ab wheel rollouts&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/routine/L-sit%20lifts.jpg&quot;&gt;L-sits&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you'll want to do handstands before strength training, so that you are as rested as possible. Generally, one would set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and do as many handstands as possible, rests included in the time; alternatively, spread out during the whole day. Daily handstand work will also allow for more progress -- skill work should never be too fatiguing. For more information on handstands, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/na04x/learning_the_handstand_handstand_press/&quot;&gt;this thread on Reddit&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T12:21:53.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13920" CreationDate="2013-11-07T15:28:31.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have some concerns about the volume here.  There are some really strong folks who have a bit more economy in the weight room--even if their goals are size.  Some of the guidelines that I've read from more than one source and I quite like are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No more than 5 exercises per training day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-2 main lifts for strength, with 2-3 assistance/body building lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs every training day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assistance work should be 2-5 sets with 8-15 reps each.  (lower sets with higher reps and vice versa)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For abs, planks and decline weighted sit ups are very effective.  Also would be laying leg raises to &lt;a href=&quot;http://heatrick.com/2012/10/15/candlesticks-a-true-core-strength-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;candlesticks&lt;/a&gt; progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your split you have a number of exercises that overlap considerably.  Each one on their own are perfectly fine, but the combination is likely to cause excessive fatigue.  It would be better to rotate through them week by week.  I think the routine would be better using a structure more like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press 3x5 (ramping up in weight)--you can vary the forms of overhead pressing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 3x5 (ramping up in weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin Up / Pull Up 3xF, when you get to 8 add weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps: rotate between barbell curls, hammer curls, scott curls, etc. 5x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs: rotate between planks, leg raises, decline sit ups 5x10 (or 30s for planks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press 3x5 (ramping up in weight)--you can rotate with incline press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 3x5 (ramping up in weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows 5x10: rotate with dumbbell, barbell, yates, cable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate Leg Press / Leg Curl: 5x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs: rotate between planks, leg raises, decline set ups 5x10 (or 30s for planks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When approaching your split, think about what you want to work on.  If there are several exercises that hit the same muscle groups then rotate between them.  Heavy deadlifts are great for stimulating testosterone and human growth hormone, but they don't really directly build mass and they really add to the fatigue.  That's why it's better to keep the reps lower and the weight higher on those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another variation than straight 3x5 is to do 2 all out sets to near failure.  You'd start with a weight you can do for 8-12 reps, and try to add 1 rep per week until you hit 15-20 reps on the first set.  The second set your goal is to get half the reps you did on the first set.  So if you can do bench 200lbs for a set of 8, the second set would be 4.  You would work with that until you can hit a set of 15, and attempt 7-8 reps on the second set.  Then you can increase the weight and go from there.  I made some good progress with that approach for squats and bench--and it added about an inch to my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good that you are working on getting your nutrition in order.  That's the best way to see definition in your shoulders, etc.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/11/06/become-your-own-nutrition-coach-part-ii/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; may help with the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T15:28:31.083" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14490" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T17:34:21.723" Score="3" ViewCount="2567" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 25 year old brother joined a gym two months ago. He does one hour of exercise when he goes to gym. Due to excessive office work, he can't go to the gym regularly. He takes daily, 30 gram protein shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he doesn't go to gym for a whole week, but continues to take protein shakes, is it beneficial?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, is it dangerous to take protein shakes while not going to the gym regularly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that after a workout there are two to three days of recovery. I think that there is no need for protein shakes after that recovery period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he doesn't go to the gym and continues to take protein shakes, is there a chance that it will be converted into fat? Or is it not converted into fat because it is not fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T18:27:42.313" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T18:27:42.313" Title="Is taking protein shakes without exercising beneficial or dangerous?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14490" CreationDate="2013-11-07T18:03:45.220" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, this all depends on the protein he is taking and some other life style aspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My initial answer is that this is not a problem because supplements are simply meant to supplement your diet. getting 30 grams of protein from a shake isn't really different than getting 30 grams of protein from chicken or any other source of protein for that matter. 30 grams of protein, is 30 grams of protein. Protein is necessary for muscle recovery after a workout, but it does not harm your body if you do not workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You have to look at his diet as a whole rather than just this one protein shake&lt;/em&gt;. Meaning, look at the &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt; amount of proteins, carbs, fats and calories he consumes in a day to decide whether this protein shake is beneficial or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Will his protein shake cause him to gain fat if he consumes more &quot;food&quot; than he burns?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once again, this all depends on his whole diet. It also (once again) depends on the protein shake he is taking. If he were to continue to take a mass gaining shake, which is high in carbs and calories, then he could definitely put on fat. If his shake is just pure whey protein, which is low in carbs and calories, then it probably won't make much of a difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T18:03:45.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T19:26:18.607" Score="3" ViewCount="1143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've asked a few questions on this site about, and have been doing some reading, on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle fibre types (slow twich and fast twitch)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hypertrophy (myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;energy systems (ATP-PC, anaerobic and aerobic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and I was hoping someone could tell me how the three interlink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are the following statements correct?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As more muscle fibres are recruited (starting with slow-twitch and then progressing to fast-twitch), the energy systems used go from aerobic through to ATP-PC.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Myofibrillar hypertrophy is an adaptation that allows for greater maximal strength output whereas sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an adaptation for more prolonged exercise of the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can the two different forms of hypertrophy occur in both muscle fibre types?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would seem to me as though sarcoplasmic hypertrophy predominately occurs in slow-twitch and myofibrillar only occurs in fast twitch but I know that bodybuilders aim for sarcoplasmic in fast-twitch since slow-twitch cannot get very big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6458" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T16:28:16.647" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T18:12:41.980" Title="Muscles fibres, hypertrophy and energy systems" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T20:26:11.187" Score="2" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sure this has been asked countless times before, but I seem unable to get a fulfilling workout. I focus mainly on strength training, so I do fast-twitch enabling exercises, heavier weights with fewer reps, and bodyweight exercises. It seems that anytime I do an exercise, this is the usual scenario, at any rate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't get soreness or pain, but I don't notice any improvement in strength over the week, and I never feel as if my muscles recover 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I get soreness and pain, don't notice strength gains, delay workouts for several more days, and then come to realize I have lost strength when I try to improve the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I lower the weights, focus more on reps, but adjust myself to lower weight, hence, heavier weights begin to feel heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I go very heavy to push myself, but end up getting DOMS, pain and aches, and after waiting several days/a week, I come to find that the same weight is slightly harder to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So clearly I have a few problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I workout, rest, but do not make any significant gains ever that don't revert back to what they were.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of changing routines, I either push hard, go a pinch further to drop back down to my prior strength state, or go very light, and have to work my way back heavier again from adjusting my nervous system to little weights (also why I don't like aerobic/muscle building regimens).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleep at least seven hours straight every night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat 1,900-2700 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Workout every two to five days or so.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to be stronger, but I am stuck in a plateau that never seems to end whether I rest more, change diet, exercise, etc. Either way I am not improving, and often feel weak and tired most of the day, every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know what the issue is ... does anyone here have any idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7083" LastEditorUserId="3941" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T23:38:44.297" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T00:35:03.663" Title="More fatigue, DOMS, and pain than improvement in exercise" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T20:44:04.570" Score="2" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been depressed before, but I don't believe I have any ongoing, persistent issue with it, though I wouldn't check it off my list. My most prominent issues are social anxiety disorder, which seems to have an impact in exercise due to almost constant anxiety, up and down elations of mood, and some self-image &amp;amp; self-confidence issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are bodybuilders who have said they suffer from depression with amazing results, so this kind of boggles the typical, straightforward &quot;yes&quot; answer, because some have succeeded well in exercise while being depressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to what degree does depression, anxiety/stress, etc. get in the way of results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7084" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T20:57:50.003" Title="Does depression have a big impact on an individual's exercise results?" Tags="&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14495" CreationDate="2013-11-07T20:57:50.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are depressed to the point where you just don't work out at all, or don't try, I am not aware of any negative that depression has on the effects of working out, at least by itself. Most of the studies around show that exercise has a beneficial effect on depression and can help alleviate/prevent depressive bouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where you might be getting an impact is in the anxiety disorder, which can result in increased levels of cortisol due to stress. Cortisol is catabolic in nature (Meaning it breaks down muscle rather than building it), so high levels of this from stress could be undermining your efforts. I believe cortisol is also associated with lowered levels of natural anabolic hormones in the body, but that is from memory only, I haven't looked it up yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T20:57:50.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T21:33:45.267" Score="5" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do work out for strength, but I am not a professional powerlifter. Does that mean I have the right to, and expect a respectable position so forth, to be coining/coined as a powerlifter if I just do powerlifting exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I reach some standard in achievements within powerlifting, like one reaching a desired goal, or enter a competition, i.e. and then I'll be labeled as a &quot;bonafide&quot; powerlifter? I mean I do the exercises, but I do not compete as of now, and I'm not quite strong either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is someone who writes and has gotten paid for writing a writer, despite having no degree?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many filmmakers write scripts and did not go to college, but are respected and coined as writers. I want to know at what degree I can be coined as powerlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean I can consider myself anything I want, but I want other people to respect it as well, and take me seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7085" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T22:03:42.053" Title="To what extent is someone who does &quot;powerlifting&quot; a &quot;powerlifter&quot;?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T21:45:59.537" Score="1" ViewCount="946" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often try to do cardio to get a little more &quot;in shape&quot; to not feel slobby, slow, unable to participate in physical games without fatigue, avoid embarrassment, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, running at any rate increases heart beating rate, and that causes chest discomfort, and mental strain, almost like imagining someone shoving a knife through my neck. I have tried to push harder, but all I do is get so bent out of shape that I end up with a poorer feeling of tiredness and exhaustion, and refrain from cardio for time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My heart beat is normally high, and my chest is usually sensitive, and I have an overwhelming need at times to cover it with my hands. Don't know if this is another condition or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have a lung/breathing problem? I been to doctors/etc. and none say the flip&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7085" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T23:39:03.470" Title="Very big strain on lungs/breathing when doing cardio exercise" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14497" CreationDate="2013-11-07T22:03:42.053" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ain't nobody can tell you who you are, son. Powerliftin' is three things, you see? It's the squat, the deadlift--yep, just picking it up off the floor--and the bench. Right there, that's powerliftin', ayup. You squat? Deadlift? Bench? Yeah? All right then, yer a powerlifter if you want it. Hell, I'll give y'a pass on one o' the t'ree if you got yrself some kind of injury. Still a powerlifter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me? I squat and deadlift, no bench just 'cause I don't feel like it--oh, I suppose my shoulder complains, too, but I really just prefer dips--and I say &quot;I powerlift&quot; but not &quot;I'm a powerlifter&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T22:03:42.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14498" CreationDate="2013-11-07T23:39:03.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no MD, but when I first started cardio I my chest would get tight also. However, for me the reason was simple: The diaphragm is a muscle! &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracic_diaphragm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiki&lt;/a&gt;. And, it should be trained like any other muscle. Slow and steady at first, trying to run too fast too soon (soon as in inexperience or too soon into any particle jog/run) will fatigue the diaphragm and wear the runner out prematurely. Once I slowed down, and took my time, the tightness would come back after so long, but I could tell my lungs were getting stronger. (hint, that's why products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ultrabreathe.com/us/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; are on the market). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the mental goes, It's one of those things (for me at least) when the body starts to fatigue, mental narration sets in and says it's time to quit. How hard you fight that voice is up to you, and it's that fight that separates a mediocre day in the gym from an awesome one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try running on a regular basis if I were you, to see if it goes away. Remember to only change one variable at a time: So, for example, if you're increasing running &lt;em&gt;frequency&lt;/em&gt;, don't increase duration or intensity. To build on that example: If you start running 3 times a week instead of one (frequency), don't try to run farther or longer than usual (duration), or increase your distance in any given time (intensity). Stick to one or the other, either a set amount of time, or a set distance. If the tightness continues after a few weeks, and your cardio endurance isn't increasing, there &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be something else going on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final thoughts: Make sure you eat halfway decent also, since this isn't a diet q&amp;amp;a site I have to refer you to other corners of the 'net, until the nutrition site is up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Consult a physician before participating in any exercise regimen&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T23:39:03.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14450" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:23:17.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your instructor is a cyclist, I have a possible explanation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In cycling, &quot;tempo&quot; is a pace where you are working hard but not so hard that you will be forced to stop soon. It's roughly correlated to zone 3 and pretty close to your lactate threshold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:23:17.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-08T09:40:02.643" Score="4" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to buy my first minimalistic shoe, and I've encountered some attributes of certain shoes that I understand now, but still, I don't know what footbed or drop parameters should I buy in the first place for the first 1-2 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run on mixed terrain, half the action happens on road and half on trail. I run 4 times a week, for 1 hour in each session (with regular, extremely-cushioned shoe - knee technique), and I'm not planning to run more or less with a minimalistic shoe. Running is really just an add-on for my other sport activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I or should I go for the very-minimalistic style, or should I stick with a ~6 mm drop parameter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T05:45:57.383" Title="My first minimalistic/barefoot shoe" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-08T15:21:52.317" Score="0" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;This year my wife any I dedicated the year to really getting in shape. Nutrition has become a significant topic in our lives and we're struggling to find a decent resource of nutritional information. For the most part, our diets have been developed through discovery. As our interest and focus is around Nutrition, it seems there is no end to the self help books on Dieting. When I go to Amazon or B&amp;amp;N, I can't seem to find a decent book on nutrition without finding some quacks way to eat like crap and still be fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of some good books on the science of nutrition, more the facts and less the religion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks ahead of time all!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7088" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T11:03:47.600" Title="Any authoritative references on nutrition?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-11-12T11:45:36.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14507" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-08T12:41:13.013" Score="1" ViewCount="2948" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you think about protein supplements?  I train kick boxing and some weight lifting roughly 2 - 3 times a week.  Would you suggest taking protein supplements? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, what would you look for when choosing such protein supplements?  I heard about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maximuscle.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Maximuscle&lt;/a&gt;, have you heard about it?  Any supplements you would suggest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7111" OwnerDisplayName="markcassar" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T18:42:42.200" Title="Advice on protein supplements with Kick Boxing / Weight Lifting Training" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14506" CreationDate="2013-11-08T16:03:32.920" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably one of your best options is to go to your local college, or hit up Amazon/eBay for a nutrition textbook, preferably one that has an edition that has been printed in the last year or two. As nutrition is an advancing field, anything older than 3+ years is likely to have some outdated information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the diet books in the local bookstore, your best choices will be the ones labeled pretty blandly, and are not of a particular diet (Such as Paleo, South Beach, Atkins, etc.) While these diets may have some validity, many of them are primarily created/written solely for the purpose of selling more information on the created plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T16:03:32.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14403" CreationDate="2013-11-08T17:51:25.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The symmetry problem impacts a lot of people. Anyone who has an injury generally only has it on one side of their body (a torn ACL in the right knee, a torn rotator on the left from a couple of years ago, etc). So a lot of standard training paradigms apply to you, as you noted in your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells are fantastic strength training tools, arguably the best, but if not augmented they can allow for imbalanced to persist and if you keep stacking on the weight eventually bad form will compound with high load and you'll be injury prone, or at minimum not able to advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would &lt;strong&gt;invest in a pair of gymnast rings&lt;/strong&gt; and start working on your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/front-lever/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/back-lever/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back&lt;/a&gt; (legs tucked) levers. Actually, start working on the support position, and then work on your levers. Your shoulders, individually, will need to support you through full ranges of motion and unlike using a bar, there is nowhere for an imbalance to hide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a host of other ring exercises you can do including dips, muscle ups, and if you're a true beast the iron cross which will exert ~5x your bodyweight on each shoulder. Gymnast rings will put you on a path to shoulder strength and stability that I really don't think can be rivaled in any other way. Even better, they move, so most people don't run into joint pain as your wrists can rotate around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells are great and form a platform of strength training that is (quite properly) well regarded. But don't be that person in the squat rack twisting to one side, or the guy pressing with the bar always rising a little more on one side before the other catches up. Get balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T17:51:25.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14507" CreationDate="2013-11-08T17:58:01.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people do not have enough protein in their diets. The amount you need is largely based on your goals, but anyone doing strength training will want to have more than the average person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I use Optimum Nutrition. It tastes good, is available globally, and is relatively inexpensive. Furthermore in a Consumer Reports study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/july/food/protein-drinks/whats-in-your-protein-drink/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;) it ranked as having one of the lowest levels of harmful substances in it. This is important because if you're going to be ingesting a bunch of powder over years of your life it's a decent idea to make sure there are no heavy metals and the such in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get enough protein in your diet to not need supplements, than don't get supplements. This is a very rough number, but shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body weight, per day. Use a nutritional tracking service on the Internet for a couple of weeks to see where your current diet lands you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T17:58:01.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14507" CreationDate="2013-11-08T18:42:42.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before jumping into the world of supplements, it's healthy to know a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The relative usefulness of supplements is way oversold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Certain supplements have a proven track record, with lots of research to back it up like Creatine Monohydrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other supplements have no track record, or have inflated prices.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming your diet is an athlete's diet (meat, eggs, fruit, vegetables, oats, brown rice, black beans) most of the time, you may not need supplementation at all.  There are exceptions, but this will help you decide what you need for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supplements that should be in every athlete's diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a short list of supplements every athlete should use, plus a couple that are recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Multivitamin:&lt;/strong&gt; With the demands of an active life, athletes need to make sure they get the vitamins and minerals needed.  I use Optimum Nutrition Optimen, and my daughter uses Optiwomen.  It's a good multivitamin without an elevated price.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine Monohydrate:&lt;/strong&gt; Cheap and effective, it gives you more energy to stay active longer.  It might help on that last rep that's a grinder, or last a little longer during your fight training.  This is probably the most researched supplement.  Don't be fooled by supplement providers that try to sell you something called Creatine for a lot more money.  Creatine Monohydrate is proven, and it's the same thing from every supplement provider.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that we have the recommended category.  Recommended just means it works for enough people to consider it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Omega 3 or Fish Oil:&lt;/strong&gt; This helps lower inflammation, which keeps your body working more efficiently.  If your athlete's diet is rich in grass fed land animals (chicken, beef, bison, etc.) or wild caught fish, you may be getting the Omega 3 you need.  If not, you'll probably need to supplement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ZMA:&lt;/strong&gt; Zinc, Magnesium, and Vitamin B-6.  Purportedly this helps you sleep better and recover more completely.  Some swear by it, some haven't noticed any difference.  It's not expensive so it's worth a try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supplements that depend on other factors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some supplements you may or may not need depending on your circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein:&lt;/strong&gt; If you are getting all the protein you need from your regular diet, there's no reason to buy protein supplements.  If you are losing weight, and need to increase your protein while staying under your Calorie requirements, protein can be a very good tool to use.  Just remember this: the faster absorbing the protein is, the quicker it leaves your system.  It's better to use a blend of protein sources that include both quick and longer absorbing sources of protein to keep you satiated.  For example, Whey protein absorbs pretty quickly--even more so when it is micronized.  Egg protein and Casein protein sticks with you a bit longer.  I personally use a blend of the three.  The brand I use right now is Syntrax Matrix 5, but Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex is also very good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin D3:&lt;/strong&gt; If you live in an area where the sun doesn't give you direct light most of the year, or you stay indoors most of the time your body may be short on Vitamin D.  Vitamin D helps with protein synthesis and other metabolic processes.  Basically if you live between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer and have at least 30 minutes a week outdoors with skin visible--then you won't need to supplement.  The rest of us do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Iodine:&lt;/strong&gt;  Iodine helps keep your thyroid functioning normally.  You can use iodized salts, eat seaweed (kelp is particularly high in iodine), or supplement with potassium iodide.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The big take away&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The supplement industry has very little oversight in many countries, particularly in the USA.  There is an independent resource you can use to sort through the hype: &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine.com&lt;/a&gt;.  Maximuscle may indeed be a great product, or it may be very overpriced for what it delivers.  I don't know about that product specifically, but I know about the basic supplementation that I do and why I do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few unscrupulous companies that sell banned substances under new labels as the next secret sauce so they can make a quick buck.  The problem is that it's hard for people to make sense of what really does help.  Very often the benefits, while present, are not nearly what they are sold as.  When you look up the research provided by a supplement company, it goes to an &quot;independent review&quot; that they paid for and are hosting the site for.  Essentially it's an elaborate scheme to separate you from your hard earned cash.  The examine.com folks provide a very welcome resource that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; know to see just how useful something is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T18:42:42.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-09T09:34:21.340" Score="1" ViewCount="1612" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing a lot of reading over the last few days and I've come across &quot;HIT: High Intensity Training&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I like the idea of only having to do 1 set (albeit with slow reps) and there seems to be a lot of evidence supporting this method so I think I'm going to try it for myself and test after a month of doing it by going back to my traditional routine to see if I have made any strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is, how do I emphasise strength development in HIT over hypertrophy (bodybuilding)? Do the same rep ranges apply to HIT as with traditional training (i.e. 1-5 reps for strength)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently got an answer on this site to another question I asked where it was said that rep ranges are not important, it is the time under tension that is important: 7-10seconds for strength (because this utilises the ATP-PC energy system). So this would mean that I should do 1 set and only 1 rep to get the right amount of time under tension to develop strength in HIT? Doesn't seem right...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6458" LastEditorUserId="6458" LastEditDate="2013-11-09T15:12:16.557" LastActivityDate="2013-12-25T06:16:21.023" Title="HIT training for strength (bodyweight)" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14514" CreationDate="2013-11-09T14:51:40.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please check out the book &quot;Starting Strength&quot; by Mark Rippetoe.  Rippetoe teaches five basic barbell exercises where you can linearly progress, i.e. you add weight to the barbell every time you visit the gym.  After a few months, when it's too difficult to jump in weight, you progress to the intermediate stage which typically lasts a longer duration than the novice phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Starting Strength, you typically do your heaviest weight for three sets of five reps before jumping up in weight the next workout.  This is sufficient to get stronger and be able to lift more weight.  The only exercise where you don't do three sets of five is the deadlift; in that exercise you only do one set of five reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The great thing about the book is that it's backed by physics, anatomy, etc. and it explains in great detail how to do each exercise and WHY it's done that way.  The results speak for themselves -- many people following the method have gained lots of muscle and strength; young, old, weak, strong, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T14:51:40.207" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14514" CreationDate="2013-11-09T18:40:58.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;HIT&amp;quot; you describe is a very specific kind of HIT, in that they're specifically advocating one set of as many repetitions as you can stand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all high intensity training methods involve only performing one, all-out work set per exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's contrary to the sports science definition of intensity in the context of lifting, which I've usually seen construed to mean &amp;quot;percentage of 1RM&amp;quot;. It's also not true of a variety of high-intensity training protocols, which use intervals or multiple sets to sustain high intensities of work output. Regardless, let's use Drew Baye's definition of HIT for the purposes of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article you're using as a basis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodybuilding or Strength Training?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High intensity training is not exclusively for bodybuilding or strength training or any one aspect of fitness. High intensity training may be used for a variety of exercise goals, by properly manipulating the relevant training variables. In addition to building muscular strength and size, high intensity training is highly effective for improving cardiovascular and metabolic conditioning along with numerous other measures of health and fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The relevant training variables for focusing on strength rather than bodybuilding are the weight used and the number of repetitions. I am not convinced by the idea that time under tension or energy systems are the relevant variable instead of rep ranges. Controlling the rep range to focus purely on strength rather than metabolic conditioning, endurance, or hypertrophy just means that you should do all-out sets using weights or exercises for which you can only do five or fewer reps. I don't think that's going to be enough training stimulus with bodyweight work, even if you manage to find the exact exercise that is exactly hard enough without being too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to try this approach, I would first notice that nearly all the exercises in the recommended programs on Baye's site are weighted, not bodyweight. That's because a large number of bodyweight exercises make it difficult to get enough training stimulus for continued increases in strength and size with just one set. That said, one set to failure (while maintaining impeccable form) work strike me as sufficient and productive with deadlifts and pull-ups. I would be wary of this approach with one-arm chin-ups, handstand work, and one-arm push-ups. Those exercises involve some skill work and stabilization effort, which mean a significant degree of injury risk when doing sets to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T18:40:58.420" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14518" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14533" CreationDate="2013-11-10T06:12:10.983" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first marathon is this coming weekend. Many months of training are behind me, and I'm feeling pretty good as the race approaches. But I am a little unsure as to how to prep over the next week. As far as the training goes, I'm taking it easy; the long runs are behind me. But what should I eat? What should I not eat? What other questions should I be asking? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your input!&#xA;-Nathan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7097" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T09:29:33.953" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T09:29:33.953" Title="How to train, eat and relax in the week before my first marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14520" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-10T16:18:05.550" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I work from home very long hours (9-12h) every day and do not have to conmute, I force myself to be constantly active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do swimming, bike riding and short workouts (30 min) at a gym 2-3 days a week. Normally I finish my workouts doing abs, and since I learned some moves with the exercise ball I only train them directly with the ball now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I am wondering if getting a ball for home will make a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One one side I want to replace my chair for a couple of hours, mostly to add some variety to my posture. On the other, I could forget about direct abs training at my gym and add some extra exercise. On the recovery days I could just do just some short-intense abs training separate from other exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it worth the idea? Does is sound like a good thing to do? Could I overdo abs or hinder recovery by training that way? I always disregarded the ideas of home training and ball-chair but thinking about the sitting variety and moving off direct abs training from my gym seems quite sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T01:10:10.330" Title="Exercise ball as a complement" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14521" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-10T17:20:13.117" Score="2" ViewCount="1339" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today, probably due to having a not very nutritious lunch, I was able to lift noticeably less (e.g. Benching at 55kg rather than 75kg) weight &amp;amp; reps than normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a situation like this, if your muscles at the time don't have sufficient energy, do they still adapt to get stronger, so that the next time you'd be able to lift (probably) more than the 'normal' amount, or will noticeable muscle adaptation not take effect as you aren't hitting their limit due to a lack of energy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I know this isn't a good situation to get into, but is it actually worth going through with the full routine if your goal is to just gain mass, and you're not really worried about the lower weight repetition (endurance) range, assuming your supper or whatever is 'good' meaning you get your needed calorie/protein/etc. for the day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3463" LastActivityDate="2013-11-10T19:52:30.363" Title="Do you still gain muscle even if you do less reps than last time?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14521" CreationDate="2013-11-10T19:16:15.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's times like this that your body is fatigued.  More than likely it's a cumulative affect from the training you've done up till this point, poor nutrition choices, and possibly some life stresses in there.  This is normal.  Essentially your body needs some relative rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Take a week and do deload work: half the volume, or half the volume and half the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get your nutrition back on track, rest up while doing it.  You should be ready to get back to the volume and intensity you were training at before.  It's a normal cycle for getting stronger:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Normal training stress: body builds up fatigue until you hit the next stage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overreaching: body is fatigued and the pump is primed.  Now you need some relative rest so your body can get to the next stage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supercompensation: your body adapts to the load you are putting on it, and in the process makes itself faster/bigger/stronger to deal with the increasing loads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point you need to repeat the cycle to capitalize on the supercompensation.  Now, if you completely ignore the overreaching stage for a long time and keep grinding your body down you hit over-training.  Over-training is the state where your body is getting weaker and your body is more catabolic than anabolic.  If you hit this stage you will need some time off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally think you've hit the overreaching stage, and a deload will be good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-11-10T19:16:15.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14521" CreationDate="2013-11-10T19:52:30.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're tired enough that you can only do 75% of your planned workout, then the training stimulus from that workout is going to be far less than if you had done 100% of that plan. Benching 55kg when you can usually bench 75kg won't make you much better able to bench 80kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to make the call mid-workout whether to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;finish the workout as prescribed (often difficult or impossible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scale back the workout, and just work form, and re-attempt the planned workout in your next scheduled workout day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;abort the workout entirely to focus on eating and resting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choosing between those three depends on just how burnt out you feel, and whether you think it's because of a single error (e.g. skipping lunch) or sustained overtraining (e.g. you've been training more than usual, or you're feeling sluggish in multiple workouts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-10T19:52:30.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-11T01:26:49.620" Score="4" ViewCount="13138" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Intro:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For a few months, I'm not going to have access to my gym.&lt;/strong&gt; What I do have access to is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A power tower a.k.a chin-up/dip station&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 x 8kg dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An ab roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some push-up handles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I say &amp;quot;power tower&amp;quot;, this is the kind of equipment I'm talking about. However, the one I have has two handles where the palms face each other in the middle, with no mid-section to the chin-up bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RT4WT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A power tower&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Program plan&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previously the majority of my workouts have been traditionally strength based with barbells and dumbells. While its not what I'm used to &lt;strong&gt;a body-weight only (mostly) workout for a few months seems like an interesting challenge&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning on cycling through a 3 day routine, doing a set of exercises on Mon-Wed,  repeating on Thu-Sat and then resting/running on Sunday. For the routine I'm aiming for these kinds of numbers/exercises I'm planning to build up to [reps x sets]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back&lt;/strong&gt; - Mon/Thu:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide grip pull-ups - 10 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups - 10 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neutral grip pull-ups - 10 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent-over lateral raises - 10x2 + 1 set to failure (targeting posterior deltoid) (Perhaps?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest&lt;/strong&gt; - Tue/Fri:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wall supported hand stand push-ups - 8x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips - 10 x 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide hand push-ups - 10 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral raises - 10x2 + 1 set to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs/Core&lt;/strong&gt; - Wed/Sat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol squats - 10 x 3 (per leg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab roller - 10 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging oblique crunch - 10x2 (per side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bird-dog - 10 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Limitations:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't come close to some of the rep ranges listed (except for dips). I've never done a handstand in my adult life. I don't have any posterior chain work for hamstrings/glute/lower back. I'd like a little more variety on back day just to keep everything balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goals:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintain or improve muscle mass (especially in the arms and lats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy for abs/oblique/serratus to improve 6-pack  (yes, it's mostly diet but I have that under control)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase max reps for strict pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progress to single-armed pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progress to free-standing handstands and free-standing push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I want to maintain or improve my general physique, without degrading my shoulder health or posture, how could I improve this workout plan based on my given limitations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T17:36:48.390" Title="How can I build a routine based around a power tower?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="182" CreationDate="2013-11-11T05:31:37.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently made the swap to Minimalist shoes adapting forefoot running. I had tried swapping my shoes for 4-6 hours at a time to start out with at work, since I walk all day long at work. That week was the worst because I had pushed myself too hard since I was so eager. My knees, shins, heels all screamed at me to knock it off. I took a step back into my normal trainers for more time than my minimalist shoes. I've gradually been building up to wearing minimalist shoes all day, but it has taken nearly two months to build enough strength in my feet to handle walking all day with no pain during the day. My shins still hurt terribly until last week when I was looking up postures for minimalist running and found something called &quot;Chi running&quot;. They mentioned that a slight lean forward with head and spine lifted will relieve the strain on your shins. My calves were a little sore by the end of the day, but nothing unbearable. My conclusion of what was just going to be an experiment to see if my feet feel any better is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Minimalist footwear and good posture combined have made a huge difference in the way I feel at the end of the day. I walk at least 8 miles everyday and aside from a little achyness from using my muscles I am pain free. My feet used to feel like they had broken in half. My back used to ache from high heeled trainers. My knees throbbed in pain from heel striking all day. Just take your time getting your feet used to doing more work. They've been in a coffin most of your life. Your body will thank you for it. Just remember to be patient with yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7100" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T05:31:37.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14504" CreationDate="2013-11-11T05:45:57.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To make the transition you need to slowly incorporate minimalist shoes or you'll injure yourself. Even just walking. Your body will need time to adjust to forefoot striking. Its not like just buying another pair of padded sneakers. My first pair of Minimalist shoes are the New Balance Minimus Trails. The 10v2 model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;True minimalist shoes have no heel to toe drop. These have a very small drop so these shoes are considered a transitional shoe, but I tell you they are incredibly comfortable on concrete and on dirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Haven't really tried much on grass since its getting colder and damper out. I would highly recommend them, at least to start out. Its like rehab for your feet. You can't go cold turkey off of cigarettes; its a gradual change. Its the same with high heeled trainers to minimalist shoes. It takes a lot of effort. More than you'd think, but well worth it once you get used to it! Hope this helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7100" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T05:45:57.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14528" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14534" CreationDate="2013-11-11T05:51:40.463" Score="3" ViewCount="1024" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did Starting Strength for 4 months and saw good results. I've changed to a novice bodybuilder workout, and noticed that the rep/set range has increased from 3x5 to 4x10, which makes sense for hypertrophy gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I don't understand is how and why you need to do so many different exercises per body part..And I've seen this in many bodybuilder routines... E.g. on SS, you only did 15 reps of bench press, but on a typical chest day you might have to do bench, incline bench, flys...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can you be expected to do flys property, when you have just done so many reps of bench + incline bench? How can you be expected to work your biceps or another small muscle group effectively when you have just complete one isolation exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why do you need to do flys, lateral raises etc when you already do sooo many compound movements such as shoulder presses or bench presses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T02:42:34.913" Title="Why are there so many exercises in bodybuilder workouts?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13891" CreationDate="2013-11-11T07:31:02.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, go. It's okay to work through soreness. If you're so despairingly sore that you can't lift your arms, don't go to gymnastics, see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T07:31:02.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14525" CreationDate="2013-11-11T07:54:39.353" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exercise selection looks fine, but planning &lt;em&gt;nine sets&lt;/em&gt; of 10 pull-ups in one workout--when you're not yet even at that rep range--is unproductive wishful thinking. So is planning on six days of intense work and running on your &quot;rest&quot; day. Base your rep scheme on &lt;em&gt;what you can do&lt;/em&gt;, not the workout you'd like to be able to complete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your exercise selection looks fine, except that you're jumping right into handstand push-ups instead of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4807/what-is-the-correct-plan-to-transition-from-normal-to-handstand-push-ups&quot;&gt;using a progression&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chrisstroud.net/handstand-pushups-progression-crossfit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitlondon.ca/wp/zero-to-10-handstand-pushups-hspu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/handstand-pushups-beginner/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;three&lt;/a&gt;). The shoulders need to be worked carefully and gradually into the full-ROM handstand push-up by doing handstand holds, negatives, pike push-ups, and runs first. Don't just prescribe a desired but arbitrary number of sets and reps for a high-skill exercise that requires soft-tissue prep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I don't see the need for a split. There's no reason not to do your primary exercises in every workout. In your case, that means the big muscle builders, which in my opinion means pull-ups and dips. You might need to vary the rep ranges or volume. I've heard the same for ab work. Something like this would be reasonable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A) Pull-ups, dips, pistols, handstand work, bent lat raises, ab roller, bird dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B) Handstand work, dips, pull-ups, push-ups, hanging leg raises and oblique crunches, lat raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat 3 day cycle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scheduling your days as A/B/A/rest/B/A/B/rest would probably work fine too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a lack of posterior chain work worries you, see Ross Enamait's homemade hamstring curl equipment, do sprints, leaps, jumps, and seals, and recognize that bodyweight work is inherently weak in this area. Consider buying a single pair of heavy dumbbells for cleans, swings, and snatches to target the posterior chain. Of, ignore the posterior chain if you don't care about athletics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T12:26:19.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14518" CreationDate="2013-11-11T10:43:54.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My father used to run marathons in under 3 hours, so he can be considered a successful amateur runner. I remember the weeks before his races very well. He would eat a lot of carbohydrates and drink water all the time. Especially 2-3 days before the race he walked around the house with 1.5L bottles of water, taking a couple of sips every 15-20 minutes. Take care not to drink shortly before and after meals, and never too much in one go. Water absorption is physiologically limited and drinking more just flushes valuable nutrients from your system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He often mixed alcohol-free beer with the water, or added some broth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally suggest eating several bananas a day to stock up magnesium and stretching your legs frequently. Proper hydration, salt, magnesium, and stretching are the best preventive measures against cramps during prolonged physical activities. GL&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T10:43:54.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14528" CreationDate="2013-11-11T12:48:43.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know as much about the biological makeup of muscles as I should, so my answer is going to be based on the results I and many other fitness fanatics have had from doing workouts similar to the ones you have described. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;How can you be expected to do (exercise A) properly when you have just exhausted the     &#xA;muscle group from (exercise B)?&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple - if you cannot correctly perform exercise A because you are exhausted, &lt;em&gt;decrease the weight.&lt;/em&gt; It doesn't matter how much weight you use as long as you - 1. have good form 2. are pushing yourself to your desired limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, my chest days generally consist of multiple different bench press exercises, with some flys and some serratus work. By the end of the workout I have done about 5 different exercises. The reason I can still do flys properly after I have exhausted my chest from bench press is because I use the proper weight to maintain good form during the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Why do isolation workouts after doing compound workouts?&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know quite as much about this question other than what seems like common sense. The answer is really in the question. Compound workouts are great for hitting multiple different muscles but in order to increase mass &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; definition you have to isolate different parts of those muscles which aren't necessarily worked by the compound exercises. Bench press does not work your outer chest muscles nearly as much as isolating them with flys. Still using chest as an example, your chest will not look proportional or very good in general if you only did flat bench press. Incline bench works the top of your chest while decline works the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all directly relatable to other muscle groups as well and does not just apply to chest workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion and I think most people would agree, bodybuilding is about appearance - vascularity, definition, symmetry, striations, mass etc. Strength training is simply about getting stronger. The two are very different so don't be surprised that BB requires isolation workouts as well as compound workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T12:48:43.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-11T14:46:33.160" Score="1" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was advised a few core exercises by my physical therapist to improve my postuer after a lumbago, among them the plank. As was explained to me in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14487/5544&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, I should train until I hold about 60s in one go and then add variety to increase intensity. The alternative would be to keep working on longer holding times.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I bore easily, so I will probably prefer the first option (once I get there). But what is actually better for me and my posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. I'm asking here and not the professional because the question only occured to me now, and I don't see the guy anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T15:48:13.663" Title="Planking for posture - should I go for time or intensity?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14537" CreationDate="2013-11-11T15:03:51.850" Score="1" ViewCount="2491" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a questions about what abdominal muscles I actually have, and what they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one hand, I often hear about the distinction between outer and inner abdominals: The outer abs are mostly worked by crunches, the inner ones by exercises like the plank or lying on the back and slowly lifting ones stretched legs of the ground. I feel a distinctive difference between those exercises (meaning I can do a reasonable amount of crunches, but can't plank for long) and from what my body tells me this distinction seems to make sense - but it may also be a matter of strength qualities, like power vs. endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, sources like exrx.net &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/WaistWt.html#anchor172895&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list both types of exercise as targeting the same muscle&lt;/a&gt; and I've never read or heard about the distinction in the english speaking internet or literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to understand what I read and what I'm told. So, what's happening the truth behind the inner and outer abs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T15:28:33.023" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T15:28:33.023" Title="What's the deal with 'inner' and 'outer' abdominals?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14536" CreationDate="2013-11-11T15:24:16.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are basically four muscles (In reality there are a lot of smaller muscles involved) that comprise the &quot;abdominals&quot; or &quot;core&quot; muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rectus abdominus - These are the abdominals that produce the &quot;6 pack&quot; effect. They are responsible for flexion of the lumbar spine. In reality, you may have a 4, 5, 6 or 8 pack, or other variation. This effect is produced by the connective fascia in the muscle, and is genetically determined. This is also the muscle that is probably referred to as the &quot;outer&quot; abdominal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transverse abdominus - This is the muscle that is responsible for compressing ribs and viscera (intestines), and providing thoracic and pelvic stability. It's the deepest, and you won't see it. Best exercise for this is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ms-fit5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vacuum exercise&lt;/a&gt;. This is what is probably referred to as the &quot;inner&quot; abdominal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External obliques - These are the most superficial, and located mostly along the lateral portions of the abdomen. They assist in flexion, and lateral flexion if only one is enervated. They also assist in rotation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Internal obliques - Assist in breathing by acting in opposition to the diaphragm, and it rotates and side bends the trunk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Situps, crunches, abdominal raises will all hit most of the groups in varying intensities. You will want to use a variety of abdominal exercises to ensure that you are hitting the various muscles equally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T15:24:16.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14545" CreationDate="2013-11-11T16:05:27.760" Score="0" ViewCount="7332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that &quot;Abs are 70% diet and 30% training&quot; and all of the other cliches out there about &quot;how to get a six pack&quot;. This is not the purpose of this question.&#xA;I think all of those cliche sayings have ruined my focus on abs. I went from training hard 5 days a week to decently easy ab workouts 3 days a week because people kept on saying &quot;abs are made in the kitchen&quot;. I do not want to know how to cut fat off of my abs because I don't have much as it is. I can see my abs and obliques very well and I am now working for ab depth and mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, &lt;strong&gt;how can I increase the depth of my abdominal cuts and the size of my abs&lt;/strong&gt;? I'm assuming that both are related in that - increasing ab size increases the depth of the cut. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current Ab Workout Routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I am training abs 3 days a week for about 15 minutes. I usually pick three exercises and do as many sets of 20 reps as I can in 15 minutes. I can usually complete 3 - 4 sets which (or 180 - 240 reps). I switch it up every day and make sure I target obliques, lower and upper abs. I usually take one day to focus on hanging ab workouts so I'm not always on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Current Exercise Regiment&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging leg raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ankle Biters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycle Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Static Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elbows to knee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side Twists&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bottoms up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mountain climbers to the side (Raise knees out to the side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cacoons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in and outs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Routines&lt;/em&gt; Occasionally I'll use one of these routines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;P90x Ab ripper x&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insanity cardio abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greg Plitt Ab Assault&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advice I was given&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started thinking about this because of some advice I was given recently. Yesterday I auditioned to be a model in a new fitness magazine. The interviewer said that he would like to see me increase ab depth. He said that increasing reps (to 500/day) and training abs daily would be really increase the depth of my abs to make them really &quot;pop&quot;. Does this sound like good advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T16:19:21.943" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T06:23:51.480" Title="How can I increase ab depth and size?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14544" CreationDate="2013-11-11T16:22:43.783" Score="4" ViewCount="2508" Body="&lt;p&gt;i am looking to start doing a 5x5 (stronglifts, specifically), but i have a grade 2 AC joint separation in my shoulder from a while ago. my physical therapist had me doing isolations to help strengthen the muscles supporting the joint, and has now cleared me to start doing any lift i want, just advising that i start with low weights and grow gradually, and that i keep doing the exercises he had previously prescribed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with the above said, i am unsure how to incorporate my current rehab isolations into SL 5x5. i know that full body lifts should help involve all muscles, but i want to focus on my shoulders as well to make sure i don't regress. below are my rehab exercises, and the SL 5x5 workout splits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;rehab exercises (3x10 reps, 2-4 times/wk): seated row, lat pull down, reverse pec deck, &#xA;                                           and incline chest press&#xA;workout A (5x5 reps, 3 times/wk): squat, bench press, barbell row&#xA;workout B (5x5 reps, 3 times/wk): squat, overhead press, deadlift(1x5)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my initial thought is to have barbell row replace seated row, do my lat pull down in A (opposite overhead press), and my incline chest press in B (opposite bench press); i have no idea where to put the reverse pec deck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;any advice is greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7089" LastEditorUserId="7089" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T20:22:00.683" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T08:48:27.440" Title="combining isolation exercises with a 5x5 program" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8230" CreationDate="2013-11-11T17:38:51.693" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it is called a handstand press.  It is where you are in a sort of straddle pose and you push your self up into a handstand without kicking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7104" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T17:38:51.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14481" CreationDate="2013-11-11T18:46:37.290" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some supplement manufacturers make a chewable creatine product - I purchased GNC's Creatine Complex Chew. It &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; pretty high in calories and carbs for a supplement (mostly starches), but it's low in sugar and almost fat-free. Each chew has 1000mg creatine, and they recommend three chews per serving. It tastes like a grainy and bitter lemon-flavored tootsie roll, and is small enough and digestible enough where it's easy for anyone with WLS to take over the course of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7073" LastEditorUserId="7073" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T19:06:09.507" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T19:06:09.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14483" CreationDate="2013-11-11T19:43:27.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, only genetics can increase your width. In the sense that, though there are exercise that are geared towards stimulating certain fibers in the muscle to increase its size in said area, if your genetic code does not contain the 'sequence' for bicep width, then it won't come as you may hope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am of an athletic build and i can curl 50lbs, yet I do believe my biceps are scrawny and my arms are toothpicks. I too am lacking the 'width' you desire. So its best to just do the exercises that you know will grow your arms, but you can do little about how your muscles will shape up. These articles may help to provide some more insight into 'shaping' muscles vs. Genetic code&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclebuildingshortcuts.com/mind-strength/the-role-of-genetics-in-muscle-building-and-what-to-do-if-youre-a-hardgainer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.musclebuildingshortcuts.com/mind-strength/the-role-of-genetics-in-muscle-building-and-what-to-do-if-youre-a-hardgainer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=3750561&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=3750561&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T19:43:27.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14539" CreationDate="2013-11-11T21:41:04.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you are still in the midst of rehab, and the other stuff will help you get stronger, I'd recommend starting with 3x5 instead of 5x5.  The whole reason Stronglifts has 5x5 at the beginning is really for more practice.  The problem is that it's more practice while you are still zeroing in on how your body performs the lift.  My recommendations are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place greater emphasis on warming up.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/A0ONHZmsFec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diesel Shoulder Warmup&lt;/a&gt; will help open up your shoulders for both squats and upper body work.  Foam rolling for the back and legs will help loosen them up, and doing some body weight squats before the prescribed warmup sets will also help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prioritize the rehab work.  That means do them before the heavier work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add the Strong Lifts program afterwards, but only do 3x5.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use mobility work to cool down.  If you are having problems getting to depth, you'll need to work on that after training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually your doctor will clear you from the rehab work.  That's the only thing really that should ever change from the basic structure I outlined.  The older you get, or the more injuries you have to overcome, the more you have to prepare your body to do work.  You will eventually outgrow Strong Lifts.  That's what's supposed to happen.  You can decide at that time if you want to continue pursuing a power lifting style training or if you want to branch into other types of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T21:41:04.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14538" CreationDate="2013-11-12T02:21:44.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jordan,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab hypertrophy is going to occur like any other muscle -- train them, eat a calorie surplus and rest. All of the exercises that you listed are good. I would mix up rep schemes though -- go really heavy on weighted crunches for 3x8-10. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm new around here and not really familiar with the culture or any users, but I am assuming all of this ab work is on top of your normal lifting program. Because your abs will get a ton of work from squats and deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, deadlifting heavy grew my obliques/lower abs/v(whatever that's called) more than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck man&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7107" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T02:21:44.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14528" CreationDate="2013-11-12T02:42:34.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting strength is an excellent beginner strength training program. However, bodybuilding programs are more focused on muscle hypertrophy than strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though they are obviously related, strength and hypertrophy are different. Strength training involves lower reps and longer rest periods than hypertrophy training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why so many different exercises?  There is some recent research showing that different exercises can activate different parts of a muscle. For example, a squeeze press provides greater activation of the clavicular head of the pec than a db fly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could be a reason. I'll link if I can find the study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7107" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T02:42:34.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14506" CreationDate="2013-11-12T02:47:14.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though I'm not sure how the site is on nutrition as a whole, examine.com does an amazing job with supplements. Thorough research, clear explanations and they seem to have all of them covered. I would check that out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7107" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T02:47:14.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14549" CreationDate="2013-11-12T04:16:46.240" Score="2" ViewCount="1593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started lifting a couple year ago with a friend and his dad. I never really did any research on it, but we would pretty much do the same thing, 3 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;10 reps at 135&#xA;8 reps at 155&#xA;6 reps at 175&#xA;4 reps at 195&#xA;2 reps at 215 (if you can do it all, do more weight the next day)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;3 sets 25&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend and I would work our back (Rows, Pullups) and Biceps twice a week as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, we would do the same type of workout for everything except Pullups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His dad always said this was more for building strength than size or look, but I want to know if there is really a big difference. I was in a car accident and finally got cleared to hit the weights again, but I'm wanting to explore other workout regimens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine said he does a bulking/cutting phase, and I may try that; but what is the difference, and how should I lift for each. I only have free weights if that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6939" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T23:14:19.213" Title="Is there a difference between lifting for look/size/strength?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14548" CreationDate="2013-11-12T08:26:13.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The goal when lifting for strength is to lift more weight as the weeks go by. This doesn't matter in bodybuilding, where the goal is to challenge the muscles to near-failure in order to stimulate growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't increasing the weight, you aren't training for strength. Lifting a slightly heavier dumbbell in each successive workout is a common method, as is adding five or so pounds to a barbell, though of course you can't add weight indefinitely. Adding weight to dips is possible as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T08:26:13.617" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14506" CreationDate="2013-11-12T11:03:47.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can find plenty of online resources, though some of them might actually be disguised ads. Here is one example resource -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/news-and-features/galleries/nutrition/12-laws-fat-burning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/news-and-features/galleries/nutrition/12-laws-fat-burning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really if you adopt and stick to few basic laws of nutrition you will start seeing results. You do not need to know nutrition in too much detail as that itself is an extensive field, you risk getting lost in all the jargon and calorie counts. Just knowing the basics and learning a few healthy recipes will serve your goal. That is my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T11:03:47.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14552" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14557" CreationDate="2013-11-12T14:26:32.697" Score="6" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift fairly heavy within about 15 minutes of waking up. I know I should eat something before I start, but I am not sure what or how much. I use a basic protein powder supplement after then a small meal about an hour and a half after. Any recommendations on what to eat immediately after waking up before a workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T14:54:50.443" Title="Eating before morning exercise" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14556" CreationDate="2013-11-12T14:38:25.460" Score="1" ViewCount="709" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is it possible to workout too long? If so, why?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning of this year I started really working hard at the gym and would lose track of time and would sometimes workout for almost 2.5 hours. The workouts usually consisted of 2+ hours of intense weight lifting followed by 15-20 minutes of ab workouts. I never had any negative side effects from it though. After doing some research, I noticed a lot of people thought this was too long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may need to create a separate question for this, but I've recently read that during long workouts &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1005-BRANCHED-CHAIN%20AMINO%20ACIDS.aspx?activeIngredientId=1005&amp;amp;activeIngredientName=BRANCHED-CHAIN%20AMINO%20ACIDS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BCAAs&lt;/a&gt; may be beneficial. Would adding BCAAs mid-workout allow you to increase the workout length?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1005-BRANCHED-CHAIN%20AMINO%20ACIDS.aspx?activeIngredientId=1005&amp;amp;activeIngredientName=BRANCHED-CHAIN%20AMINO%20ACIDS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is an example of some of the things I came across&lt;/a&gt;. It seems that a lot of people say things like &quot;Don't workout longer than an hour.&quot; I want to know why, and just blaming it on overtraining is not a sufficient answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jasonferruggia.com/how-long-should-your-workout-last/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; says this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;And after sixty minutes your body will start to produce less testosterone and more &#xA;cortisol, which is a hormone that eats muscle tissue and increases body fat storage.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T15:23:49.917" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T21:46:54.727" Title="Is it possible to workout too long?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2013-11-14T03:34:23.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14553" CreationDate="2013-11-12T18:15:58.407" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two questions here: First, &lt;em&gt;can you work out too long in one session?&lt;/em&gt; and Second, &lt;em&gt;was I working out too long?&lt;/em&gt;  The correct answer needs to frame the conclusion with the reasoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you work out too long in one session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will eventually reach a point where your body will be so fatigued and all your energy systems will be so depleted that you simply can't move anymore.  So in absolute terms, &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt; you can work out too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spent all day moving and carrying heavy things quite a few years ago.  While we did have some help, they left before the move was finished.  At the end of the day I could barely get my legs into the car.  That was after well over 8 hours worth of moving work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practical terms, &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; most people will not reach the level of fatigue where they need help getting to their car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Was I working out too long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you felt no adverse affects, the short answer is &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; you were not working out too long.  You were still moving as well as you normally do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where does this 1 hour threshold come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilders work very hard to keep their bodies primarily in an anabolic state, and try to avoid catabolism as much as possible.  If you train with sufficient intensity, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;after about an hour&lt;/a&gt; the training stimulus becomes more catabolic.  Since they are concerned with increasing the size and refining the shape of their muscle, that's considered a bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Power lifters on the other hand often spend a couple hours in the gym and they get stronger.  However, power lifters are not as concerned with the size and shape of their muscle.  The outlook is simply more mass moves more weight, and more muscle gives you more room to get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the end result is that the short term hormonal changes after an hour of training is catabolic, the long term effect of recovery overcomes the effects of that catabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to all of this is managing your fatigue levels and recovery to be able to do more work over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2013-11-26T21:46:54.727" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T21:46:54.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14552" CreationDate="2013-11-12T19:33:42.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of schools of thoughts surrounding the concept of when to eat (before or after) a workout, and worse, when the workout is in the morning fresh from under the linen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some 'weight-loss gurus' say it is best to not eat anything, as whatever you may eat before the workout, will be what is burned and not the fat that is already present in the body. So if weight-loss is your aim, then that is recommended, though, it is not so black and white and you are starved for energy at the time you wake up and will need some amount of fuel to support you during the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another school of thought says eat, but moderate the amounts according to the amount of time that will pass before you start the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Large meals&lt;/strong&gt; Eat these at least three to four hours before exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Small meals&lt;/strong&gt; Eat these two to three hours before exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Small snacks&lt;/strong&gt;. Eat these an hour before exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still others say, eat a snack to get started and intermittently top up during the workout with juice and bread and peanut butter, just enough to keep you going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day though, not every and anything will work for everyone. If it is that you are weak when you are lifting, then explore the option of pre-fueling. Otherwise, you might be just fine as you are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further Reading:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ00594_D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ00594_D&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/07/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-before-a-morning-workout_61735&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/07/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-before-a-morning-workout_61735&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T19:33:42.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14539" CreationDate="2013-11-13T08:48:27.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I would do the rehab exercises exactly as prescribed, perhaps after warming up and before the StrongLifts workout on days when I have that scheduled. I'd then do StrongLifts as prescribed for the lower body, but reduce the upper-body progressions to add weight every two weeks instead of every workout. Therefore my barbell row, bench press, and overhead press would take a long time to get heavy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid to go slow with your shoulder, or even take a break or deload if you're feeling something wrong in the shoulder . A number of times I've had overuse injuries where a voluntary week-long break would've prevented a much longer involuntary injury layoff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T08:48:27.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14552" CreationDate="2013-11-13T14:54:50.443" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you work out immediately after waking up and the problem is that you're hungry while working out, then it doesn't much matter what you eat. Don't over-optimize the small stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foods that are quick to prepare and aren't terribly filling are the solution. Bananas, pre-boiled eggs, or a fruit smoothie all sound fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T14:54:50.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14560" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-13T17:57:54.337" Score="2" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a desk job which involves a frankly ridiculous number of phone meetings. As a generally hyperactive person, I take advantage of my wireless headset and pace back and forth, do dips using my office chair, go to the restroom, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently had the idea that, once each meeting, I would do 10 pushups, something I can do without difficulty. My thought was that if I do this each meeting, I would end up doing somewhere between 60-120 pushups over the course of a day, with about 30-60 minutes between each &quot;set&quot;. My question is, would there be any benefit to &quot;working out&quot; like this? Given that each set doesn't stress the muscles so much, would the compounded fatigue have any benefit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T14:24:02.647" Title="Health benefits of numerous mini-exercise sessions per day" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-14T01:54:39.087" Score="1" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that if I work out frequently my muscles don't get very sore after working out, but if I do slightly more intense workouts less frequently my muscles stay sore for at least two days. With the less frequent workout schedule I do less work overall, but it's effects are more noticeable on my muscles. Which workout routine is actually building more muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6956" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T08:30:52.427" Title="How often should I work out if I want to build mass?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7223" CreationDate="2013-11-14T11:45:13.953" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Don't Sit All Day&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting hunched over a desk or laptop all day is not good for you. At a minimum, take regular breaks throughout the day: walk around the building, get some water, stretch your arms, roll out your neck and ankles, do a few lunges, sit in a third world squat for thirty seconds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TW68K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Third World Squat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Configure a standing desk, but don't stand all day either: alternate between an hour sitting upright, an hour standing, an hour sitting with your feet up reclining, and so on. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swolept.com/posts/how-to-have-a-straight-back-your-guide-to-good-posture&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Keep good posture&lt;/a&gt; while you sit and stand: chest up, shoulders back, maintaining a lumbar curve:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LXM9z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Postural comparison&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Counteract The Hunch&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your shoulders, hips, and back are all negatively affected by copious desk work. Develop and maintain good mobility with a combination of stretching and strength work. Do yoga or a similar extended stretching-and-mobility routine at least twice a week and (ideally five or more times). Make sure you can touch your toes, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ericcressey.com/train-overhead&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fully and properly reach overhead&lt;/a&gt;, and do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1856085&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;third world squat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strong back is better able to hold good posture. Start strength training with basic movements like squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, bench and overhead presses, farmer's walks, push-ups, dips, and pull-ups. Add resistance using barbells, kettlebells, or dumbbells when you are ready. Pulling exercises like rows and pull-ups will help your upper back stay in a good shoulders-back, chest-up position during the day. Heavy lifting done properly is also good practice for correct posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T12:24:32.757" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T12:24:32.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14561" CreationDate="2013-11-14T13:02:17.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One rest day between workouts is generally fine. Not taking rest days for up to five or six days in a row can work too, if you're careful. Two rest days between workouts is less common and may be less effective but but can work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soreness is not a good indicator of whether you should work out again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T13:02:17.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14257" CreationDate="2013-11-14T14:33:55.197" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of ways to use heart rate to estimate fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take it as soon as you wake up in the morning. Lower heart rates are better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take it immediately after stopping exercise (Such as a run) and then again a few minutes later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these will require tracking, so that you can get a good estimation of your heart rate over time. If you notice that your heart rate is starting to rise in the morning, then you are either becoming less fit, or there is some other stress happening in your life. If your heart rate starts taking longer to recover, then again you are either losing fitness or having other stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate is decent as a general trend detector, but you can't really use it to say &quot;Hey, heart rate of 50, I'm fit!&quot;, as there are many things (diet, hydration, stress, lack of sleep, heat, cold, etc) that can affect your heart rate. Watch you HR for trends and use that as a general guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T14:33:55.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6577" CreationDate="2013-11-14T18:09:24.420" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;hang some small kettle bells up side down from the rings. Do false grip pull ups with them. You welcome. -Ali G&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7124" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T18:09:24.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14561" CreationDate="2013-11-14T21:26:49.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How most anaerobic work outs work, as I understand them, is that they cause minor tears to the muscle this causes the process of healing to occur and strengthens the muscle adding mass to and strength to it in the process. The soreness comes from that, your body healing the small tears, so if you are getting sore less often when you are working out more frequently is probably due to the fact that your body has the necessary tools already sitting there to heal the tears, that or its getting tougher to cause the tears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build mass quickly higher intensity, lower rep exercises help, a day to rest that body part is the minimum, though some people continually hit the same body part with different exercises, not recommended because of the chance for injury. You can work out every day but just switch it up, one day upper body, one day legs. If you want to really focus your work outs, one day chest and biceps, one day shoulders and triceps, one days legs, giving each body part two days rest regardless of the intensity of the work out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go for lower reps make sure you are using proper form, bad form and heavy weight is a recipe for injuries. Also, to reduce the soreness warm up, stretch, get your body ready for what ever you are about to throw at it, stretching helps avoid injury&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7122" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T21:26:49.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14571" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-15T08:25:18.217" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since August, I've started running. I never did much of sports before with lots of movement because of my &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidermolysis_bullosa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blister forming condition&lt;/a&gt; (luckily I have the mild, simplex,  variant), but it seems that the conditioned environment in my gym is OK for running and sports in general without (much) blisters. I do this to show off to myself: Even if I have a medical condition, I can still do things I never did before because of the lame excuse of that same condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My normal workout routine, 2 to 3 days a week is a warmup (cross trainer, 10 min.), free weights (around 1h.) and then running. I started running as a cardio exercise, but more and more I feel addicted to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I progressed from nothing to under a 6:00 pace on the 5km. following a (variant of the) C25K program. My steady pace is around 6:40 (9 km/h). I am a 36 year old male, 180cm / 74kg (5'11&quot; / 163 lbs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5K under 30 min. (check)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60 minutes of running (I'm now doing 40 min @ 6:40 and feel that I can do 1 hour, but am not hurrying this too much to prevent injuries)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10K under 60 min. (effectively lowering my pace to 6:00 on the long run).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5K under 25 min. and even better, under 22 min.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I train to reach my latter two goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am now trying to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 1: long run (steady pace, but add some minutes to the former run)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 2: kind of HIIT (just restarted the same C25K program, but doing 9km/h for my slow pace and 12 km/h for sprint pace, eventually this should bring me to 5K in 25 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 3: short run (5K with 6:00 pace and increasing speed near the finish if I feel for it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a schedule I feel myself comfortable with, but maybe you can help me with improvements or advise in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6463" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T18:15:29.193" Title="How should I proceed with my runnings?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14574" CreationDate="2013-11-15T08:52:45.213" Score="3" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three days ago I did my first chest workout since around the start of the year. Today, I am experiencing extreme pain from shoulder to shoulder across my chest as far down as my sternum. It is at the point where if I try to lift my arms away from my body more than about 45 degrees, shrug, lean over or even walk down stairs, it feels like my chest is going to tear down the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to try and stretch it out a little, but the pain I get when I try is that strong that I am actually concerned about tearing something or causing some other type of similar injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure whether I can safely ignore what the pain is leading me to believe and do some stretches / use my normal range of motion where I can endure, or whether I am actually risking serious damage to the affected muscles if I try to use them as I normally would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T17:06:08.580" Title="Am I at a greater risk of injury while experiencing DOMS?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14572" CreationDate="2013-11-15T17:06:08.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;DOMS is an inflammatory reaction due to eccentric overload and structural alteration (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1317825/pdf/jathtrain00021-0031.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOMS is distinct from an acute strain. It can be treated symptomatically as an inflammatory process (ibuprofen, cold, massage). It's also been observed that high-speed, rapid concentric muscular contractions may provide relief (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1317825/pdf/jathtrain00021-0031.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;same ref&lt;/a&gt;). Anecdotally, I support this last route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common advice is that as long as your warm-up returns your range of motion to what is needed for the exercise, you should be able to exercise with no increased risk of injury. Warm-up should be full-body (bicycle) followed by movement-specific warm-up at low intensity (empty-bar bench press, followed by incrementing the weight until you reach your work weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T17:06:08.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14579" CreationDate="2013-11-15T19:55:06.033" Score="6" ViewCount="2152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know the muscles that are involved while doing a V sit Vs doing L sit. Is one a progression over the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying V sit for just 15 seconds cause my quads to ache. Is that a weakness exposed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6995" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T18:31:00.370" Title="V sit Vs L sit: Muscles involved" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14257" CreationDate="2013-11-16T08:26:24.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two main things you can keep track of are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netfit.co.uk/fitness/test/resting-heart-rate.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Resting heart rate&lt;/a&gt; - low is good &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnstonefitness.com/2011/02/14/cardiovascular-fitness-hrrest-hrmax-hrr-recovery-hr-and-vo2-max/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Heart Rate Recovery&lt;/a&gt; - high is good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T08:26:24.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14575" CreationDate="2013-11-16T18:31:00.370" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;L-sit is the progression towards &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/RyJWES4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;V-sit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, finishing with &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/z3V5DvE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manna&lt;/a&gt;, which is an advanced-level gymnastics skill (in &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArzTY8Rx2z1DdDZlaUVxa1NISlQ0RVpMYVlRaklJelE#gid=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt; of exercises taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1467933120&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overcoming Gravity&lt;/a&gt;, there are only a few skills which are rated harder than the Manna -- L-sit is a &quot;level 3&quot; skill, V-sit is 6 and Manna is a whooping 13). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg cramps are normal&lt;/strong&gt; during L-sit/V-sit work, they should get better with time. It's not a weakness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T18:31:00.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14588" CreationDate="2013-11-17T17:21:41.450" Score="2" ViewCount="3093" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am  fat, overweight (85 kg, 28 Years, 5ft 9in). &#xA;I usually eat lots of rice. I am vegetarian, do not take alcohol, sleeps at least 8 hrs daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to run 1 hr to cover 6 miles ( in order to ultimately shape up my belly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have on couple of occasions went till 4.5 miles. But i feel very tired after that (till next 2 days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now whenever i try, i give up within 30 min. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should i do in order to increase my stamina, so that I can run continuously till 1 hr?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is being overweight becoming hurder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for food (to go for, to avoid), other exercises, drinking habits, other habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I want to know, is it ok to run 30 min, daily? (I feel I am not doing justice to my legs)? In the gym, I only do running, no other exercises. Should i mix it up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7135" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T14:23:47.887" Title="What should i do to run 6 miles in 1 hour" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-17T19:13:49.073" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner with working out and I know one of the best exercises is push ups but due to steel pins in my toes I am unable to do a &quot;real&quot; push up. Are knee supported push ups just as effective or pretty close?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7139" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditDate="2013-11-17T22:40:07.363" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T22:40:07.363" Title="I need some advice on push ups due to surgery and injuries" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14581" CreationDate="2013-11-17T20:28:31.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With knee supported pushups, you lift with a shorter lever. So your arms and chest have less force to deliver. Apart from that, the exercise is identical. Depending on how fit you are, you may want to start with pushups from the knees anyway. Once you outgrow this version, you can try to place your lower legs on a padded bench to leave the weight of your toes and still do a full range pushup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T20:28:31.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-17T20:36:17.633" Score="5" ViewCount="23276" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14257/how-can-i-use-pulse-as-a-fitness-measure&quot;&gt;This question&lt;/a&gt; asked about using pulse as a measure of fitness. Resting pulse seems like a nice, simple way to do this. But I find that my resting pulse varies by a huge amount, from values as low as 63 per minute to as high as 83. How much does it normally vary based on time of day, posture (sitting or lying down), or caffeine? If it has this much variation that's hard to eliminate or account for, then it seems like maybe a different measure of fitness would be more appropriate, such as the time required to run two miles. Or if you do use heart rate, what is a better measure of fitness, the average of a series of measurements, or the lowest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6305" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T00:10:24.960" Title="How much does a resting pulse normally vary?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-17T20:48:11.883" Score="4" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I heard about one legged squats is to them like this: stand, lower yourself on one leg while the other points forward, then push yourself up. When I try to do this, I don't even get my standing leg to 90° bent before the knee with weight on it feels weird and I run into trouble lifting the other leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, today I've been doing this: squatting down (sitting on the back of my feet), and then doing a squat where I lift one leg so the other one does all the work. I think it works great and I guess I will feel my legs tomorrow. The feeling in the knees was ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I will do different the next time is to force myself to end the movement with my upper body upright. Today I cheated by leaving the torso bent forward. I think when I end the movement with my torso upright, I will also hit the posterior chain. At a later stage, I may add some weight, but before I do that I want to have more feel for the movement as I'm a bit wary for my lower back. The last time I did legwork it was 30 deep bodyweight squats, could have done more, and today I did 3 sets of 10 reps per leg. Keeping the balance was no issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've never seen this way of doing one legged squats advised anywhere and I think I read a bit about bodyweight work. So, I wonder if I'm doing something that's horribly unhealthy and I just did not notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this a good way to do one legged squats?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any risks associated with this exercise, should I be on the lookout for certain signs of trouble?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any tricks to improve the exercise?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit to add:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I do this occasionally, with 10-12 reps per set and leg. I try to be anal about form (feet pointing forward, weight on heel, tight abs) and so far my joints don't complain. When I'm not strict about form something feels wrong immediately. Possibly the pistol is inherently safer. Another possible downside is that it's easy to cheat oneself out of the full range of movement. You need to flexibility to squat deep (ass on heels), balance is easy. All in all I still think I stumbled upon a valuable exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2020-06-12T20:31:25.557" LastActivityDate="2020-06-12T20:31:25.557" Title="Is there anything wrong with doing one-legged bodyweight squats in this way and what can I improve?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;quads&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14584" CreationDate="2013-11-17T21:29:18.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you need to follow a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/one-legged-squat-the-pistol/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one-legged (pistol) squat progression&lt;/a&gt;. You shouldn't expect to just be able to do a pistol the first time you try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I achieved a bodyweight pistol squat with twice-a-week strength/skill workouts that involved:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a standard barbell squat progression in the beginning of the workout. I think it was three sets of five back squats, but it might have been front squats. I was squatting just over my own bodyweight (i.e. ~200 pounds on the bar at ~180 pounds bodyweight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pistol skill work at the end of the workout. I think I did ten total reps, or maybe ten each side. At first I stood end-on to a door, grabbing both sides of the doorknob for balance and help standing up. Gradually I relied less and less on the doorknob. I switched to rings, trying to use only the strength of one finger on each ring to get back up. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gist is to get mobile and strong in the hips while simultaneously developing skill and balance for the one-legged squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T21:29:18.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-17T22:25:32.140" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently 6'0&quot; 194 lbs. I teach martial arts, which requires me to be physically fit in almost all respects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My physical fitness goals are (in random order):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase flexibility in the hips, legs, and shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease body fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gain muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase explosive power&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what order should I focus on each area?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7142" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T03:43:39.753" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T13:20:56.300" Title="What order should I complete my goals in?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14586" CreationDate="2013-11-17T22:37:09.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only elements of these attributes that are at cross-purposes for a novice is cardio and strength/explosiveness. Even so, you'll be able to work on both simultaneously with negligible conflict. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if your mobility issues are serious, they take top priority. Cardio, strength, and muscle mass all rely on movements which require mobility. Regaining full hip and shoulder mobility should be your top priority, even if you do a concurrent strength-and-conditioning program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A basic mobility-focused strength program with a cardio finisher might work for you. Something like what is described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, with the caveat that you shouldn't worry overmuch about doing cardio work, would be appropriate for the strength work. Make sure you take into account the cardio work you get in martial arts (whether it's a little or a lot), and increase the weights slowly if the strength training is concurrent to cardio and martial arts. Mobility work might involve a longer warm-up with more dynamic stretches: leg swings, lunges, 3rd world squat practice, and so on. Yoga or a morning stretching routine could help with mobility, which does well with greater frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In six months--able to do a solid set of pull-ups, mile run, barbell squat, deadlift, and power clean--you can revisit the question with wiser eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T13:20:56.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14580" CreationDate="2013-11-18T05:10:53.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to make your legs stronger by doing squats. You should vary your routine by including some weight training exercises like squats, pushups and lunges. Also, try high intensity interval training for short duration and build up to it for increasing your stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modify your diet by balancing out carbs and bringing in more fruits and veggies. Include almonds and other protein sources, if possible eggs. Lots of rice will not do you much good. Read up on the net for healthy eating habits. As a rule of thumb, eat more after activity or when you need to be active. Eat less when you need to rest or sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a short answer to your question, but you need to research more and listen to your body. It is good to have a goal, but it is more important to change your habits for long term fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T05:10:53.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14580" CreationDate="2013-11-18T08:53:24.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excellent answer from Silverhorse btw.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I experienced as a vegetarian for over three years: Being vegetarian is not the same as being healthy. It helps a lot, but fries, pizza's,  pancakes and lots of cheese are not doing any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to reduce the rice, it is a bit limited protein source (you are eating the brown variant, are you?). Have you ever tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quinoa&lt;/a&gt;? It is a protein complete source so you don't need to worry about eating grains as well as nuts on a day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What I found a nice way to get my basic needs of proteins, fibers and vitamins is to make a large bowl of (fat free) yoghurt with muesli (the whole-food or biologic variant), mix in a spoon of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linseed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;linseed&lt;/a&gt; and put some fresh fruit in it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Stay large on the veggies and low on the potatoes, cheese and processed grains (like bread) etc.. Allthough, use a little bit of fat when preparing your veggies, because it will give a signal to your body it is eating &quot;real&quot; food (you get saturated faster; sorry, could not find my source) and some of the vitamins are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09315.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fat soluble&lt;/a&gt;, so you get an higher intake of those ones too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is great you don't take any alcohol, I really applaud that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long are you running? I just started in August and I try to slow down a little bit. Doing to much will only get you injured, you need your body to adapt especially when you are overweight (allthough, being 85 kg is just slightly overweight don't worry about that to much). Only running will eventually get you there, but with doing additional excercises you get there faster. Do some weightlifting at your gym. You have a membership there, so that must be easy. Ideally with free weights; the machines only train one muscle group and won't add the benefits of gaining a better balance and posture.&#xA;Stay away from cardio. If you are running, you don't need cardio.&#xA;Mix the way you are running. On some days you do a long run, on others a shorter with a higher pace. Do some HIIT and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/positives-negative-splits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative splits&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: This is just a laymans advise from personal experience, but being in the kind of the same process I just wanted to share it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6463" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T08:53:24.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14580" CreationDate="2013-11-18T14:23:47.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need a structured routine so that you don't give up after 30 minutes.  There are some good training programs on the web for running 10k such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51122/10K-Novice-Training-Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51122/10K-Novice-Training-Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/138.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_4/138.shtml&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for foods, get at least one gram or protein per pound of bodyweight per day. Limit refined carbohydrates like fruit juices, soda, sugars, etc.  Eat filling carbohydrates that are high in fiber such as fruits and vegetables and you'll naturally feel full while keeping your caloric intake down.  Avoid alcohol.  Eat a cheat meal once or twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T14:23:47.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14583" CreationDate="2013-11-18T18:06:02.363" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart rate is extremely variable, and can go up or down with environmental factors such as heat or cold, foods containing stimulants like caffeine or depressants such as alcohol, standing up versus lying down/sitting, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two ways that I usually use to recommend for using pulse as a gauge of fitness and/or overtraining, is to take it every morning as soon as you wake up, and after workouts, take it immediately after the workout and again 3-5 minutes later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The morning one should stay relatively the same, or even drop as your fitness gets better, and the one post workout should drop dramatically within a few minutes. If your morning pulse rate starts going up, or your post exercise rate stays elevated, then you have some factors influencing the rate. This could be dehydration, fatigue, overtraining, life stress, any number of factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, my morning pulse rate varies between 45-55, and my working heart rate will usually drop 40-50 beats within 2 minutes (Depending on intensity of workout). As long as you are consistent about when you take it, and track it over time, the trend will tell you if something might be off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23477780&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23477780&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/20/2387.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/20/2387.full.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (Some discussion of extrinsic vs intrinsic factors)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/factors-that-affect-heart-rate-2-8360/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/factors-that-affect-heart-rate-2-8360/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/courses/1230jbasey/abstracts/farah.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/courses/1230jbasey/abstracts/farah.html&lt;/a&gt; - Looking at an exciting picture raised heart rate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/jhh/journal/v16/n5/full/1001398a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nature.com/jhh/journal/v16/n5/full/1001398a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2013-11-26T21:04:44.010" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T21:04:44.010" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14571" CreationDate="2013-11-18T18:15:29.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start adding extra runs on your other days, until you are able to run 4-6 days per week easily. Running isn't as much about how hard you work (Although that is a factor to some extent), but how much you work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more intensity that you add to your running, the more you increase your chance for injury, especially if you don't have a lot of base miles/background in running. For your program, I would keep the 3 days as you have it, and add 5-10 minutes extra twice a week. Keep those extra workouts, and gradually increase the distance until you have it up to 25 minutes or so for each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've gotten to the point where you are running 5 days a week without issues, then you can start adding some speedwork to your runs, by doing short spurts at or near race pace, something like 8 x :30 seconds at race pace in the middle of a 4 or 5 mile run. You can also start gradually increasing distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best summations I ever saw for running was &quot;Run. Run lots. Mostly slow, sometimes fast.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T18:15:29.193" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13405" CreationDate="2013-11-19T06:46:20.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After breaking my resistance rope, I thought I will give my own version too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B008L61G0I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this product&lt;/a&gt; some 5 months ago.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yesterday, while sitting on a 2 feet wall and performing a shoulder exercise, the red rope (level 3 rope) broke. Not much of an injury except for a little bruises on hand &amp;amp; feet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have stretched the rope to some 10 feet approx. After having regularly used the rope for some 5 months, it could have had some wear and tear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I recommend people to buy resistance ropes, only after knowing the stretch or elastic limit.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If they aren't mentioned anywhere on the product, please don't buy. While exercising, it may lead to severe injury. You may even lose an eye. Beware!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2013-11-19T06:46:20.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-19T11:44:35.997" Score="0" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 23 years old and my height is 6 feet, my weight is 59 and I am looking very thin. What diet and exercise programme should I follow to become little fatty. I even going to the gym for 2 months but not use till now. Can anyone suggest me a better way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW I don't eat Non Veg Food (But I will eat eggs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7149" LastEditorUserId="7155" LastEditDate="2013-11-22T14:00:13.857" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T15:50:25.210" Title="How to become Fat" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2013-11-20T00:00:03.500" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a follower of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantified_Self&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quantified Self&lt;/a&gt; movement, I've tracked carefully my progress on &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.dandascalescu.com/summaries/tim_ferriss_-_the_4-hour_body/from_geek_to_freak_-_gaining_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Occam's Protocol&lt;/a&gt; (a more realistic version of From Geek to Freak by Tim Ferriss). In three weeks, I gained 2lbs of muscle and 2.2lbs of fat. This was shown by &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-energy_X-ray_absorptiometry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DXA body scans&lt;/a&gt;, the most precise and advanced technique for measuring body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back in 2011, these gains happened despite me not respecting the diet and the sleep components of the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In November 2013, I started a new trial of the Occam's Protocol, this time carefully following the diet and getting enough sleep. Yes, you do have to make muscle gain a priority and be very clear that this is what you want at this point in your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T00:00:03.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9643" CreationDate="2013-11-20T17:48:06.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before attempting some of the very good solutions proposed, be sure to get a proper sports and remedial massage with a qualified therapist. This will help to identify which muscles are causing the tightness (it can be indirectly from other, seemingly unrelated muscles), help to lengthen and soften them, before you begin to work on them yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some amazing techniques in sports massage that can immediately give you more flexibility. PNF is one of them (PROPRIOCEPTIVE NEUROMUSCULAR FACILITATION).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T17:48:06.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14595" CreationDate="2013-11-20T19:41:05.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;there is a phase were you go to gym and you should keep this in mind that every good thing happens over time, you first need to make your body strong so it can handle more pressure and more weight,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the more pressure you put on your muscles, the more you need to eat protein and more rest ofcourse, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;resting is very important part of healing and muscle making!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;basically you need to go to gym on regular basis and keep a good proteinful diet, and don't forget to consult with a good doctor and gym trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6858" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T19:41:05.307" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14595" CreationDate="2013-11-21T05:32:43.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure whether you actually want to be &quot;fat&quot; or look muscular and fit. You are actually looking towards having a more balanced and attractive physique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting muscular or getting thin, both requires effort and time and does not happen in a couple of months. You need to have patience and track your progress on a weekly basis. Diet and workout both play a role here. Give yourself at least 4 months to see a visible change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not adopt unhealthy eating habits or laziness to get fat. This will do you a lot of harm and invite diseases and weakness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat more, but eat healthy foods, full of nutrition. Like adding more protein, more fibre and fruits/veggies. Add carbs too but be balanced with sugars and fats. Add jaggery/brown sugar and olive oil to your diet. Add almonds, raisins and walnuts. Just because you want to increase your body mass, do not load yourself with sugary and fatty stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Include weight training, free body exercises to your routine. The ratio of weight training to cardio should be more in terms of time devoted, like 40 minutes of weights followed by 15 mins of cardio. Do weight training after warming up and cardio as a last exercise before cool down. Do squats and pushups as they increase total body strength. If you include whey protein in your diet it will be better, but its not mandatory if you are getting enough protein elsewhere. You should have a before and after workout diet. Before workout, have fibrous carbs and after workout have protein and fast absorbing carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps. This is from personal experience and watching other people do the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T05:32:43.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14483" CreationDate="2013-11-21T12:28:43.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have to disagree with lonecrusader1989's answer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the workout you've described you're only doing 3 bicep movements.  In my opinion this doesn't seem enough, especially when preacher is focussing on the peak rather than width. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would include some variation into your workout and include a standing barbell curl with a shoulder width grip.  Narrowing your grip (Which is quite common when doing preacher curls) will concentrate on the peak of the muscle, rather than the width. I would also include include standing cable curls and chin ups (wide grip) to focus on the width you desire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/15/muscle/biceps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/15/muscle/biceps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7155" LastEditorUserId="7155" LastEditDate="2013-11-21T12:39:04.180" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T12:39:04.180" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14595" CreationDate="2013-11-21T12:34:36.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your aim should not be to become fat, rather you should aim to gain healthy weight/build up muscle/gain some lean mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do this your body needs to be in a calorie surplus.  I.e. you eat more calories than your body actually needs.  These calories should be from a good source, i.e. oats, eggs, fish (If you are a pesco pollo vegetarian) etc. If you are eating bad calories such as crisps, fries, anything starchy etc you will gain weight, however you won't look physically fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're a hard gainer, you may want to use a weight gainer or you can try using creatine, or other products such as Cyclone (From maximuscle). You will probably need to do a creatine loading phase and then take around 5mg of creatine to maintain it in your system and consume a lot of water (Around 3 litres a day).  Using these products can help as a dietary supplement and with the correct workout will help you gain some lean muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7155" LastEditorUserId="7155" LastEditDate="2013-11-22T15:50:25.210" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T15:50:25.210" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2013-11-21T14:18:26.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;it is all relative. if you are starting with ver little muscle, you will gain muscle using a bag.  If you are a bodybuilder, then maybe youd lose some. Running or cardio, in my opinion would just define you down; take off any body fat so that your muscle build would show more. Youd  have to be doing copious amounts of cardio to have a break down effect on muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7158" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T14:18:26.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13973" CreationDate="2013-11-22T15:28:31.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt; has a positive impact on cholesterol, the full text is at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19209073&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NIH.gov study&lt;/a&gt;. The abstract, with some sections highlighted is below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This study examined the impact of an 8-week program of high-intensity interval training on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), and the atherogenic index (TC/HDL-C) in 36 untrained men ages 21-36 years. Participants were randomly assigned to an interval training group (n = 20) or a control group (n = 16). Participants in the experimental group performed &lt;strong&gt;3.2 km of interval running (1:1 work:rest ratio) 3 times a week for 8 weeks&lt;/strong&gt; at an intensity of 90% of maximal heart rate ( approximately 423 kcal per session). Results indicated significant pre- to posttraining changes in HDL-C (1.1 vs. 1.3 mmolxL, p &amp;lt; 0.0001) and TC/HDL-C (3.8 vs. 3.1, p &amp;lt; 0.0001) but no significant changes in TC (3.9 vs. 3.8 mmolxL, p &gt; 0.05) with interval training. &lt;strong&gt;It was concluded that an 8-week program of high-intensity interval training is effective in eliciting favorable changes in HDL-C and TC/HDL-C but not TC in young adult men with normal TC levels.&lt;/strong&gt; Our findings support the recommendations of high-intensity interval training as an alternative mode of exercise to improve blood lipid profiles for individuals with acceptable physical fitness levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T15:28:31.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-23T14:46:08.170" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been using the Hoist &quot;Rock-It&quot; weight machine circuit at my gym for almost three months now, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I have been making steady progress on most of the machines, in terms of progressing to heavier settings, but there are a few machines where I'm making little to no progress. In particular, the arm, shoulder and chest exercises where I push rather than pull. I appear to be stuck at a beginner setting, where on some of the leg and back exercises, I've already maxed out the machine! I find I can do 3-4 reps at very heavy settings on the machines where I'm not progressing, but I need very light settings to do a full set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Settings are not correlated with any specific weight on this equipment... on one machine, setting 1 is 10 pounds, on another, 25 pounds, but they all go from 1 to 18, with &quot;beginner&quot; from 1-6, &quot;intermediate&quot; from 6-12, and &quot;advanced&quot; from 12-18 - the machines also move you as you do the exercises, so bodyweight is a factor as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I aim to complete a minimum of 10 reps, and step up to the next weight setting when I can complete 12 reps with good form. I only do one set, except for the machines that I've progressed to the &quot;advanced&quot; settings, where I do two sets of 12 before progressing to the next setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the machines I'm not progressing on, should I do heavier settings and fewer reps, or more reps/sets and less weight, or soldier on as I am, and hope for an eventual breakthrough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7073" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T02:06:31.480" Title="Stalled progress on a particular weight machine" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;machine&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14621" CreationDate="2013-11-23T16:08:28.903" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I ran my first marathon. I had trained for months, eaten and rested well, and read Haruki Murakami's &lt;em&gt;What I Talk About When I Talk About Running&lt;/em&gt; the week before the race. Consequently, I was very pleased with my time of 3:46:23. In fact, I was even encouraged that I could become a good runner over the next few years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan on running my next marathon in March, but I wonder how to train during the winter months. Are there any seasoned runners out there with some advice in this regard? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I am considering participating in some shorter races over the remaining not-too-cold weeks of the season. Having never done this before, I would like to know how to approach the changes in regiment and mindset that (I predict) go along with the change in event. Again, I defer to the seasoned runners: what do you have to say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks so much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7097" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T16:35:32.300" Title="First marathon down. Now what? How to train over the next few months?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14612" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-23T17:54:16.853" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 46 year old male.&#xA;I mountain bike pretty hard at least one day a week.&#xA;I've been doing High Intensity Interval Training off and on for the last year and it's really improved my Vo2Max (which is my #1 constraint when mountain biking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up til now I've done about 10m/day about 5 or 6 days a week plus one hard 1.5 to 2h ride with folks much faster than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm &lt;strong&gt;considering&lt;/strong&gt; changing things up, maybe &lt;strong&gt;resting every other day but doubling the amount of HIIT I'm doing.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastEditorUserId="2148" LastEditDate="2013-11-23T18:00:30.580" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T04:31:22.833" Title="What is the best way to spend 2h/week on Cardio (Vo2) training for biking?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-23T19:50:10.607" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't find info/name for the following exercise/element done on a bar. You start by holding bar and hanging, than raising legs, bending them in knees, then pulling them above the head, and positioning them so you end up hanging on the opposite side. The same way is used to return to the beginning position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7165" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T01:35:45.430" Title="Name for an exercise on chin-up bar with body rotation" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-23T19:55:01.117" Score="5" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing HIIT for VO2 improvement and wondering if that'll help with fat loss as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read a lot of conflicting reports, including one fellow who said &quot;there a study on this that will be published soon&quot; (but no date on th article (arrggg!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T19:58:56.053" Title="Is there any research showing how effective HIIT (specifically stationary bike) is for fat loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14615" CreationDate="2013-11-23T19:58:56.053" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0026049594902593&quot;&gt;this research &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which compared Endurance Training vs. HIIT showing that relative to the energy expended, HIIT was 9x as effective in reducing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This isn't exactly the comparison I was looking for but it's a good start)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002822395001816&quot;&gt;other study contradicts that&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This study suggests that fat loss is a function of energy expended&#xA;  rather than exercise intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T19:58:56.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14612" CreationDate="2013-11-24T03:54:26.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Work out harder but less often is likely to lead to improvement. HIIT takes a lot out of you; to be able to do it well - and you need to be able to do it well for it to help you out - you need to be well rested. If you are doing it every day, you can only work out &quot;kindof hard&quot;, not really hard, and kindof hard isn't going to put enough training stress on your system to give you gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two references that you might find useful. Chris Carmichael has a book titled &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/193403083X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The time-crunched cyclist&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which is all about training without a lot of time. I'd also recommend you look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.joefrielsblog.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Joe Friel's blog&lt;/a&gt;; he has been writing a lot recently about training for older cyclist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T03:54:26.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13405" CreationDate="2013-11-24T11:32:12.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't used those resistive narrow bands meant to assist traditional barbell exercises, but I have worked as an assistant to two physical therapists, and I remember hearing the advice given to patients to not stretch a Thera band (used in occupational therapy) to over 3 times the band's length.  It is confirmed on the band usage manual too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5848" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T11:32:12.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14620" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-24T15:38:52.173" Score="2" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious as to whether intermittent fasting, like eating once a day (warrior's diet?) or eat stop eat has an impact (especially negative) on your mental performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware of a study showing during the month of Ramadan, when people fast all day, the number of traffic accidents increased. But I thought that since Ramadan is fasting of food and water, the dehydration could potentially impact your mental state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another example, children who eat breakfast tend to do better at school than those who do not. This would be a model of eat stop eat, because (I'm assuming) the children skipping breakfast eat only lunch and dinner, so thats a 16 hour fast and 8 hour feeding window. Is the result true because low income children cannot afford to eat breakfast, and they tend to do worse in school? Or is it because the feeling of hunger, (which they are not used to, which also would be almost nonexistent in a ketogenic, low carb diet) is distracting them from their school work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I am curious is that fasting-based diets are coming into vogue for weight loss and lean muscle growth, and I'd like to know the effect this might have on other aspects of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7170" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-11-27T00:43:40.000" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T00:43:40.000" Title="Are there any effects of fasting on cognition?" Tags="&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-11-25T12:18:40.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14611" CreationDate="2013-11-24T16:35:32.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, congratulations on your first marathon - that's a handy time to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, spend a week or two just doing what you please and recovering. It takes a fair bit of mental energy and time to train for a marathon and most people feel a little deflated afterwards. Take the time to recharge a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to what to do: I would run what and when you please until about 4 months before the next marathon when you would start the training again. You won't need all 4 months to train to finish so you could start a little later if you wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The what and when you please thing is crucial. You're now very fit and can run any distance up to 42.2km. If you care about entering a shorter race then do that. You could then do some short race specific training (i.e. fast, short intervals) for a few weeks and see what time you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could just link up with friends and go running during the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend trying to keep some form of weekly long run going. It keeps a nice base of fitness that you can work from without having to build up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T16:35:32.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14620" CreationDate="2013-11-24T20:17:39.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Low income children cannot really be compared with people who fast on purpose. Children of families of low-income do not have much to eat(even when they want to and therefore never fully recharge their bodies). I assume you are blessed enough to have much to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following study studies the month of Ramadan and how it affects Muslim students (in countries that do not observe/change their exam schedule for that month). &lt;a href=&quot;http://personal.vu.nl/b.vander.klaauw/ramadan.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://personal.vu.nl/b.vander.klaauw/ramadan.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The most likely explanation for the reduction in the academic achievement of Muslim &#xA;Students due to Ramadan exposure is observance of the fast. Previous research documents &#xA;that observing &quot;the Ramadan fast, leads to reduced activity, less desire to study and lower &#xA;concentration ability among a majority of the subjects.(Afifi, 1997)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience however:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the top scorers (academically) I know personally including some family members do not eat breakfast. I think it depends on the person (and you will need time to get used to it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6481" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T20:17:39.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14610" CreationDate="2013-11-25T02:06:31.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are advantages and disadvantages to both doing more reps/sets and less weights as well as to doing heavier sets and fewer reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in general, I suggest you switch from machines to free weights (&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=157022873&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=157022873&lt;/a&gt;) because of advantages such as including supporting muscles, coordination, flexibility, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7176" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T02:06:31.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14627" CreationDate="2013-11-25T13:08:47.070" Score="0" ViewCount="17584" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have bench where I can do bodyweight back extensions, nor the space to put one. What are alternatives to work out the lower back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm only aware of one - lying flat on the back, place on foot on bench or and raise lower back, works, hamstrings, glute and somewhat lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T18:30:19.793" Title="Don't have a bench for bodyweight back extensions, alternatives?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14625" CreationDate="2013-11-25T14:34:23.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can give &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hyperextensions-with-no-hyperextension-bench&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; workout a shot if you have someone that can spot you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CqE5L.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/09i3H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also consider doing some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hyperextensions-with-no-hyperextension-bench&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stiff leg dead-lifts&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standard dead-lifts&lt;/a&gt;, but these don't meet your &quot;bodyweight&quot; requirement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T14:34:23.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14625" CreationDate="2013-11-25T18:30:19.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really is no need to use a bench for any of this. The &quot;hanging&quot; part of the back raise can be handled by dead lifts, good mornings, those type of exercise where you raise to an upright position against resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only part of the exercise you describe that isn't worked can be worked satisfactorily simply by laying on your stomach, and raising your chest off of the ground, keeping your legs and hips flat on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility, although space may be an issue, is to use a Swiss ball for the same motion. Work on balance and stability first, as the ball is more mobile than a bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T18:30:19.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14613" CreationDate="2013-11-26T01:35:45.430" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your description is a little vague, but it sounds like you are describing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hanging-pike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hanging pike&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Hang from a chin-up bar with your legs and feet together using an overhand grip (palms facing away from you) that is slightly wider than shoulder width. Tip: You may use wrist wraps in order to facilitate holding on to the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Now bend your knees at a 90 degree angle and bring the upper legs forward so that the calves are perpendicular to the floor while the thighs remain parallel to it. This will be your starting position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pull your legs up as you exhale until you almost touch your shins with the bar above you. &lt;strong&gt;Tip:&lt;/strong&gt; Try to straighten your legs as much as possible while at the top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lower your legs as slowly as possible until you reach the starting position. Tip: Avoid swinging and using momentum at all times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T01:35:45.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-26T21:25:16.657" Score="5" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I run a fixed number of miles, is there any solid scientific evidence on whether running at a faster speed makes me more likely to get injured? I'm a physicist, so my tendency is to try to make models based on mechanics. Presumably injuries like plantar fasciitis are caused by strain that exceeds the elastic limit of the tissue, and strain should be proportional to the square of the speed at which I run. This suggests to me that injury should depend critically on speed: if my speed is below a certain threshold, then my tissues never go past their elastic limit, but once I get past that threshold, I suddenly start doing damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So speed kills -- true or false? Is there any good evidence-based medicine on this topic? The following is the only thing I've come across that seems possibly relevant:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/27/news/la-sn-ultra-marathon-20130627&quot;&gt;http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/27/news/la-sn-ultra-marathon-20130627&lt;/a&gt; This is a newspaper article describing research that seems to show that running very long distances may be, counterintuitively, &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; likely to cause injury, possibly because the greater distance forces the runners to go more slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, people often do get plantar fasciitis even when all they do is stand or walk around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6305" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T14:14:44.807" Title="Does running faster cause more injuries?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14635" CreationDate="2013-11-26T23:52:00.433" Score="-2" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to ask if eating only cereals at night is fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since, I spend most of my day at work and my weeknights life at home is like to eat and sleep for the next day, I thought I could just eat light meal at night. When I get home, I spend at least 4 hours watching or something before sleeping. But since diet cereals tastes booooring, I eat the Kellogg's Frosties which is pretty sweet. So I that a fine routine at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7193" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T00:54:39.107" Title="Eating Only Cereals at Night?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-07-15T19:03:45.347" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14634" CreationDate="2013-11-27T01:20:45.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to 'lose fat in a healthy way' you need to track your food energy intake (using either calories or kilojoules), and consistently eat a deficit. There are lots of questions on this site on how to calculate your energy requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are eating a deficit, and are getting enough micro- and macro-nutrient, then as long as you track your cereal intake, it is no better or worse than any other food. It might not leave you as full as other foods, and excess intake might limit your choices at meal times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T01:20:45.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-27T05:29:03.347" Score="4" ViewCount="17610" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training on and off for the past two years, but only consistently for the past 9 months and currently I'm 185lbs (6'2&quot;). However I wasn't following a specific program and I was only using a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a pull-up bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have now been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for 4 weeks while eating 1800-2200 calories, depending if its a workout day or not. I am also doing intermittent fasting, and cycle my carbs by having low carbs on off-days and high carbs on workout days. I eat 1-1.5g protein per pound of body weight. I normally have a cheat day on the weekend where I have around 4000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how I looked right before I started Stronglifts:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q0uOM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know most people would recommend a bulk for me especially on Stronglifts 5x5, but my priority is to rid myself of as much fat as possible while hopefully maintaining muscle or even building a little (since I am new to many of exercises in Stronglifts). I estimate my bodyfat at 15-16% and would like to get down to 10% before I clean bulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current lifts on Stronglifts are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat: 175lb 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench: 135lb 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift: 190lb 1x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rows: 105lb 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overhead press (seated): 85lb 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exercise that is giving me difficulty at this point are squats. I have failed to complete 5 reps in the 5th set for the last couple of workouts, but I continued to add weight since I can complete 4 sets no problem. I'm thinking that my difficulty with squats is not strength-related, but more so due to decreased stamina caused by my caloric deficit. Should I only do 3x5 for squats in this case since I am cutting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other feedback or advice cutting while doing Stronglifts? Anybody have any experience with this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7194" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-27T11:12:16.787" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T16:02:03.663" Title="Stronglifts 5x5 while on a caloric deficit?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14391" CreationDate="2013-11-27T07:11:17.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps just the max height for a single box jump/vertical jump (if you don't want technique to be a factor for improvement). I'm hoping/expecting that your setup allows you to increase height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who was box jump training for a bit, he gained a few inches over maybe 2-3 months of intensive training. But I think doubling your box jump height is a lot harder than doubling your squat weight!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastEditorUserId="4301" LastEditDate="2013-11-27T07:21:07.850" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T07:21:07.850" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14561" CreationDate="2013-11-27T08:30:52.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength and conditioning coach Kelly Baggett &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/strengthvssize.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;espouses&lt;/a&gt; a bodybuilding-style approach for short-term gains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really wanna gain 10 quick pounds, high volume and high frequency training will certainly do it. You probably won't make any strength gains but for short term optimization in hypertrophy you might try something like the old 3 on 1 off routine that every bodybuilder and their brother did in the 80's: Chest, shoulders and tris one day, back, traps and bis the next, and legs the next. Take a day off and repeat. Do about 12 sets of 8-12 reps per muscle group and eat at least 20 calories per pound of bodyweight. That will put some quick muscle size on you but long term it's an exercise in futility for the average person and here’s why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The adaptations to increased volume that contribute to growth take place relatively quickly. Your body will initially adapt to this volume with a fast increase in muscle size over the course of about 6 weeks. However, once you’ve hit the point where your muscles have adapted, you will hit a wall. In order to continue to improve you need to either train with even more volume or increase the tension (load) from your existing volume. You’re already performing 20-24 sets per muscle group per week – what are you supposed to do, increase this to 40 sets? Then 60? Then 100? Additionally, even with 24 sets per week your system will be too worn down to ever really put any weight on the bar. These factors make the chronically high volume option a poor choice for ongoing gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He advocates a mixed strength/hypertrophy approach for the long term, however. He calls this Heavy/Light training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You hit a muscle group at least twice during the week. One workout is designed to stimulate strength gains with balls to the wall all out training where the focus is on setting strength PRs. Then a few days later you hit the muscle again but with a lighter workout designed to stimulate some hypertrophy without draining all your strength. Then you wait a few more days and hit the heavy workout once again for more strength PRs.... You optimize recovery for heavy intense workouts so you can make progressively dramatic increases in strength and you also use enough frequency and volume per body-part to optimize growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T08:30:52.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14636" CreationDate="2013-11-27T11:23:33.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend following the StrongLifts protocol for not completing all prescribed reps for an exercise: if &quot;you didn't accomplish 5x5 on your Squat...you do NOT increase the weight the next workout for that exercise.&quot; Page 47. If you fail to get all the reps for that weight 3 times in a row, deload by 10%. Once deloading stops working, then switch to 3x5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not going to follow the program, the direction to stray is towards adding weight &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; frequently because you're on a cut, not &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; frequently. Repeatedly going to failure by grinding out heavy squats risks poor form and injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that matter, if you're on a cut, you might want to stop increasing the weights &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt; and instead add cardio, either on off days or with a finisher at the end of your workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, why are you doing seated instead of standing overhead press?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T11:23:33.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14001" CreationDate="2013-11-27T11:59:39.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Complexes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make a pair or set of upper-body exercises you can do, and do those with no rest between them and little or no rest between rounds. Use bodyweight exercises as well as resistance tools like dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate sets of dips and push-ups, with 0 to 90 seconds rest between rounds (pick a given rest period before you start). Each set should be a specific number between one-quarter and three-quarters of your comfortable one-set maximum. So if I can do 20 dips in a go, and I can do 12 pull-ups in a go, I might do 10 dips and 7 pull-ups each round, resting for one minute between rounds, for five rounds. That is very tiring.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With a moderately heavy dumbbell (or barbell, or kettlebell), do every exercise you can think of for five to ten minutes without stopping. If you can use your knee a little, then swings, push presses, cleans, and snatches would be useful. If not, stick to things like curls, bench presses, shrugs, overhead presses, bent-over rows, renegade rows, and front and lateral raises. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach of pairing or mixing can be extended to include any exercise you are capable of doing. For instance, I recently did 4 rounds of 10 one-arm dumbbell bench press and 10 one-arm dumbbell row. One can mix weights with bodyweight, as well: push-ups and bent-over rows, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes this so cardio-intensive? Short rests, using a moderate weight (or moderately difficult exercise), using the time spent doing one exercise to rest the muscles used in the other exercise, and doing several rounds. If you have those elements, you can get quite sweaty and out of breath with simple pairings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-11-27T14:13:32.660" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T14:13:32.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13981" CreationDate="2013-11-27T12:22:00.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Burst&quot; workouts, or high intensity interval training, can't be better than cardio. They &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; cardio! They're just stop-and-go or do-this-do-that-rest-do-this-again or do-this-now-faster-now-slow-down-now-faster-again cardio instead of &quot;steady state&quot; do-this-one-thing-at-a-constant-speed cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval cardio is definitely efficient for improving athleticism and getting work done. Paired, as any exercise modality must be, with proper diet, it is an effective method for weight loss through exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T12:22:00.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14188" CreationDate="2013-11-27T12:39:33.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can't debug your stride from just the information that a new callus formed. New calluses pop up sometimes. Probably it's because you switched footwear. Whether there's a problem is impossible to determine from what we know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T12:39:33.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14636" CreationDate="2013-11-27T14:23:55.917" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing something like StrongLifts 5x5, Starting Strength, or Madcow on a calorie deficit is like running into a headwind.  It will be harder to make good progress with the weights.  Essentially, you will run out of energy before you feel like you are really challenging your strength.  There's nothing magical about any of the programs I listed, but the lot of them together will help you figure out what's reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might plan on a weekly progression (which is still pretty quick) that incorporates all the important things.  NOTE: this is not Mehdi approved, but it's still a decent approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 3x5+ (last set as many reps as possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 3x5+ (last set as many reps as possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 minutes of cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OHP: 3x5+ (last set as many reps as possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 1x5+ (at least 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups/Chinups/Lat Pulldowns: 3xF or 3x10 (alternate pullups and chinups 3xF if you can, or just do lat pulldowns 3x10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 minutes of cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 2x5, 3 at +5 lbs, 8 at 75%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 2x5, 3 at +5 lbs, 8 at 75%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bro work of your choice 3x8 (curls, shoulder work, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 minutes of cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, use the weights you are working with now to start, on Friday you do one set at 5lbs more than you did on Monday.  The next week, you use that new weight for the squat/bench, and add 5lbs to your OHP and deadlifts.  The arrangement is inspired a bit by all three of the programs in the beginning.  The last lift on all three days is there to keep you healthy, including the bro work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach will be a sustainable pace for much longer than you can do SL5x5 as written--deficit or not.  The advantage of not trying to increase weight every single time you step in the gym is that it ingrains a pattern of patience which will serve you much better over time.  I've watched a number of people who get frustrated that they can't keep up the pace with 5x5 after they've exhausted the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a little anecdote to keep in mind.  I trained my daughter for her first power lifting competition this past year.  When we started she was able to do about half of what the federation records had for her age/weight class.  She was able to keep the pace of increasing weight every week for over three months of training before we started really preparing for the competition.  At competition, she either beat or tied the federation records with her openers.  Every lift after that was setting a new record altogether.  Even on a deficit you should be able to keep the pace for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T14:23:55.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2013-11-27T15:51:56.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running on soft surfaces helps strengthen feet muscles and tendons and that's why it is considered highly beneficial by some podiatrists (given that weak feet are one of the main causes of fallen arches) What's more, a part of the essential foot stretches for flat feet includes gripping objects and stretching your feet over them so you can see how running on sand/gravel/soil barefoot acts like a natural stretching exercise which also strengthens key muscles and tendons. However, if you over do it, it may cause more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, running on pavement gives your feet a lot more impact force to absorb, thus presenting a more straining activity to your feet. Then again, is certain cases barefoot running on hard surfaces might be more beneficial than on soft. You need to remember that there are never two identical organisms and two identical conditions. The best thing you can do is experiment and for that you need to know how your feet specifically react to running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find hard surfaces to be too painful, there are numerous brands and types of arch supporting shoes which have, once again to be picked by your personal characteristics. Here's a really long descriptive tutorial on how to do that - &lt;a href=&quot;http://happyrunningfeet.com/the-best-running-shoes-for-flat-feet-3-critical-tests/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://happyrunningfeet.com/the-best-running-shoes-for-flat-feet-3-critical-tests/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7199" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T15:51:56.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-27T16:30:27.007" Score="2" ViewCount="1245" Body="&lt;p&gt;While doing lying leg raises, I keep my hands under my head instead of keep them straight on the floor. I feel it puts more pressure on abdominal mussels. Will it have any side effect as I have not seen any one doing lying leg raises like this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This posture is like this assume a person doing lying leg raises on floor, and he doesn't puts his hand near or under its hips but puts them under their head,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7200" LastEditorUserId="7200" LastEditDate="2013-11-27T20:49:05.690" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T07:31:22.773" Title="lying Leg raises, hand under head" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14634" CreationDate="2013-11-28T10:35:11.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating cereal at night is fine, although the additional carbohydrates may get stored as fat over time if you eat too much and then sleep.  Whilst you sleep your metabolism slows down significantly and your body is not using the energy from the cereal, therefore your body may start storing this as fat.  Since your aim is weight loss, try eating 2 hours before bed and drink water to fill you up if you're still hungry.  As an additional note Frosties are full of sugar, you could try switching to cornflakes and use a calorie free sweetener such as Canderel.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7155" LastActivityDate="2013-11-28T10:35:11.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5693" CreationDate="2013-11-28T13:11:52.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am now of the opinion that for novices lacking strength and mobility, the deadlift should be replaced by bodyweight work. In order, the trainee should prove they are able to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supermans, to demonstrate and develop control over the erector spinae, then...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unweighted back extensions (if one has or can make the equipment), for hypertrophy, endurance, and strength in the glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae and so on -- starting with sets of 8-12, moving on when the trainee can do 3 sets of 12 without more than a minute or two rest between sets, then...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted back extensions - three sets of 8-20, starting with ~10 pounds and moving on when able to do sets of ~50, then...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian deadlifts, to practice the hinge movement while bracing the spine against an external load through the greatest possible range of motion for that trainee -- once significant flexibility has been reached here, the trainee can move on to the main event...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts! &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the trainee is comfortable with this exercise using greater than bodyweight loads for sets of 5, it's a good time to introduce Olympic movements like the power clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-01-08T12:36:19.400" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T12:36:19.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7630" CreationDate="2013-11-28T16:24:04.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to realize that rowing is primarily a leg exercise, it's like a horizonntle power clean, arms and back just carry through the power generated by the legs. Given the high volume of squats in the 5x5 program, intense rowing is likely to wear out your legs, but light rowing is probably ok if it is absolutely needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is from the standpoint that you want to get strong as possible and not as fast as possible rowing. There might be a way to adapt power lifts to a goal-oriented rowing program, but only after going through the full 5x5 program first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sais 2 weeks into 5x5 I did a short rowing warmup, just 5 minutes, and my easy warmup pace was magically about 15 seconds faster. My joints were loaded with kinetic energy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7203" LastActivityDate="2013-11-28T16:24:04.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6458" CreationDate="2013-11-28T16:52:03.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can stop suddenly at any stage of your workout.  No safety issues here.  But why jump on and off a moving treadmill when you can easily stop the treadmill gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7204" LastActivityDate="2013-11-28T16:52:03.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14652" CreationDate="2013-11-29T05:13:33.533" Score="1" ViewCount="1067" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing back squats I feel a little unstable coming up. The weight shifts from my heels to the side of my feet and I have to try very hard to concentrate the weight around mid foot, and not let it move forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read in other posts what the weight should always be on the heels. But from reading the starting strength, they always describe the weight as being &quot;over mid-foot&quot;. So should I feel all the pressure on my heels, all the time? Or over the mid foot? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2013-11-29T07:40:57.290" Title="should squat weight always be over the heel?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-29T06:52:36.990" Score="2" ViewCount="369" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://legendarystrength.com/hand-balancing-stands/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://legendarystrength.com/hand-balancing-stands/&lt;/a&gt; &quot;[canes] actually make balancing easier while giving the appearance of more difficulty&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T19:45:02.643" Title="hand balancing on canes" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14650" CreationDate="2013-11-29T07:40:57.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are independent variables. The barbell should remain positioned in space in the plane defined by the line between the mid-point of each foot being extended vertically upwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without changing that well-agreed fact, there is a &lt;em&gt;cue&lt;/em&gt; to keep the weight in one's heels while squatting, in order to prevent shifting onto the balls of one's feet. Notice that you can keep the bar positioned spatially over your mid-foot while shifting your footing such that more weight is on your heels, toes, outsides of the feet, and so on. The cue of &quot;squat in your heels&quot; is meant to encourage good form, including keeping the barbell over the mid-foot plane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should endeavor to push the ground through your heels while simultaneously keeping the bar tracking over the middle of your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-11-29T07:40:57.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11868" CreationDate="2013-11-29T15:46:02.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was diagnosed w/ posterior tibial tendonopathy by physician at running clinic at major university.  He sent me to their PT to learn how to tape the ankle.  For 3 mos, I applied tape as directed and did the core strengthening exercises that he prescribed, as well as ran in place learning to acquire a new running technique in which I would strike mid-foot rather than heel first.  Now, I might apply the tape as needed, no more than once every couple of months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The posterior tibial tendon receives much force when the heel strikes while running (or walking, esp with tightly laced shoes).  A proper stretch-taping job transfers some of this stress from the tendon to the tape.  This promotes healing by sparing the tendon the 2 or 3 reinjuries that it would suffer, untaped, every week.  I don't know how KT tape works on other injuries or other parts of the body, but I can assure that this is how it works with posterior tibial tendonopathy.  (I'd guess that it works the same way for posterior tibial tendonitis or tendonosis, but I don't have those conditions, so I won't write  about something I don't know.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before visiting the dr, I suffered through 4 yrs of intermittent pain.  After the initial injury, I rested 3-4 wks and returned to running w/o pain for maybe 6 mos.  Eventually, the resting had turned into months and the running weeks.  There were times I couldn't run 20 ft.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I run 3 miles 3 times a week and hope to (slowly) double the distance over the next few months.  A lot of the credit goes to KT Tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7207" LastActivityDate="2013-11-29T15:46:02.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14633" CreationDate="2013-11-30T03:38:46.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...  and strain should be proportional to the square of the speed at which I run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all the load placed on your body is a function of your vertical motion, not speed (horizontal motion). There are two running styles:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(1) fewer strides, more distance per stride, significant vertical motion. more damage.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(2) more strides, less distance per stride, minimum vertical motion. less damage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sports scientists explain this issue in full &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJWPwVF30yo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7075" LastEditorUserId="7075" LastEditDate="2013-11-30T03:52:41.870" LastActivityDate="2013-11-30T03:52:41.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-30T18:12:08.933" Score="1" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to stay fit and exercise everyday. Anyhow, I do not want to go to a Gym. What are some good exercises that I can do in home without requiring any equipments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3231" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T02:07:23.633" Title="Minimum and Sufficient Exercises that can be done at home?" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-21T09:06:21.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1052" CreationDate="2013-11-30T22:25:23.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Stiff legged deadlift and Romanian deadlift are actually two different exercises. In a Romanian deadlift, the legs are locked out and the barbell does not go all the way to the floor, as it's impossible to do so without breaking form/arching the back. I have heard a powerlifter say that this type of deadlift can be pretty dangerous due to the fact that the barbell does not touch the ground, breaking the tension on the back. So it's kind of like partial range of motion which is known to put stress on the joints. I'm in agreement that Romanian DLs are not the safest exercise and stay clear of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for stiff legged DL, I love them and have pretty much replaced the conventional DL for it. I usually do them on a different day to my squat, as I can DL much heavier than squat. I have a pretty shifty lower back and have found foam rolling and stiff legged DL has saved me A LOT of pain. The feeling of a fatigued lower back due to DLs is also a GREAT feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7212" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-12-02T11:26:49.900" LastActivityDate="2013-12-02T11:26:49.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2013-11-30T22:46:49.467" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic answer is that although there has been quite a bit of medical research on this kind of thing, research does not strongly support any specific advice for avoiding injury as a runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People used to say that it was important to use good running shoes that provided a lot of cushioning against impacts, and to replace the shoes frequently because they could lose their cushioning ability. This conflicts with the fact that humans evolved to run barefoot, and the recent popularity of barefoot running and minimal running shoes has also raised questions about this belief. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18801775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kong et al.&lt;/a&gt; found that cushioning affected comfort, but not injury. Studies with accelerometers have found that people subconsciously adjust their style to avoid the discomfort associated with large impact forces, and this is probably the reason that cushioning is not beneficial. It then seems reasonable to expect the same to hold for running on hard versus soft surfaces, and although I don't have access to the paper, apparently there is a 1992 paper by van Mechelen (cited &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runresearchjunkie.com/just-how-significant-are-heel-impacts-at-causing-injury-when-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) confirming that softer surfaces don't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People have claimed that feet were normal, pronated, or supinated, and that you should buy shoes that were matched to your style. The classification is &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportspodiatryinfo.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/choosing-running-shoes-the-evidence-behind-the-recommendations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not supported by evidence&lt;/a&gt;. A study &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/the-myth-of-pronation-and-running-injuries/?smid=pl-share&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;falsifies&lt;/a&gt; the theory that you need shoes to correct your pronation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People have claimed that to avoid injury, you shouldn't increase your mileage by more than 10% a week. Only one study has been done of the 10% rule, and it found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/health/nutrition/21best.html?_r=1&amp;amp;ref=science&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;no difference&lt;/a&gt; in injuries between those who followed it and those who didn't. In general, the evidence does not support claims that mileage is correlated with injury. In fact, there is some &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/27/news/la-sn-ultra-marathon-20130627&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;evidence&lt;/a&gt; that running very long distances is safer, possibly because the runners tend to go slower at those distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People will tell you to stretch, but static stretching before going running &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20030776&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doesn't seem to change the injury rate&lt;/a&gt;, and static stretching has a neurological effect that inhibits muscle from stretching more later. Keep in mind that for most sports, running is considered a warm-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6305" LastEditorUserId="6305" LastEditDate="2013-12-02T03:49:11.267" LastActivityDate="2013-12-02T03:49:11.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14485" CreationDate="2013-12-01T15:12:08.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;By breathing more, your heart rate will increase more, meaning you are likely to leave the aerobic zone of exercise, which allows you to burn fat, and enter the anaerobic zone. The anaerobic zone is where you are exercising too hard, and are no longer burning fat, so I'd suggest breathing every 3rd stroke, not 2nd :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7215" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T15:12:08.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14662" CreationDate="2013-12-01T18:49:40.090" Score="0" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be 21 years old in january 2014. Height=5.8 foot approx  weight= 65kg / 143.3 pound approx.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I do 100 push ups in 4 sets = 25+25+25+25 and 80 leg raises in 4 sets = 20+20+20+20 &#xA;(I complete it in 40 to 45 mins). &#xA;I do it 5 days a week, Monday to Friday and take rest on Saturday and Sunday&#xA;to relax muscles. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to build good biceps and 4 or 6 pack abs? I am a computer science student so I have to spend much time sitting in front of computer and don't get much time to walk or play any sports. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I think I walk nearly half a mile or little more than this in my daily routine.&#xA;I sleep 6 hours or 6 and a half hour every night. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7200" LastEditorUserId="7200" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T18:55:19.080" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T19:54:34.710" Title="Is my routine and exercise ok for good biceps and 4 or 6 pack abs" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14655" CreationDate="2013-12-01T19:21:13.853" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best you can do is (these 3 will keep you fit and active as well)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1. Push ups &#xA;2. Leg raises/crunches (any one)&#xA;3. Sit ups&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do as much reps as you can do easily in start and than increase reps slowly after every 2 or 3 weeks as comfortable. Don't take much rest during exercise. Do these 5 days a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7200" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T19:21:13.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14660" CreationDate="2013-12-01T19:54:34.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are not doing any bicep exercises, so &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;, this doesn't look like a good plan to get pretty biceps. Add some pulling exercises like pull-ups, chin-ups, or curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For abs, you'll need to do a little ab work (such as your leg raises), but more importantly you'll need &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/13504/1771&quot;&gt;low body fat through diet and cardio&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not part of your question, but since you're a programmer, I'd definitely recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7223/1771&quot;&gt;working on posture&lt;/a&gt;, pulling exercises, and squats to avoid a &quot;computer hunch&quot; and tight hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T19:54:34.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-02T03:23:11.750" Score="5" ViewCount="1212" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13502/how-can-i-get-more-toned&quot;&gt;While people are very quick&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2752/exercise-for-six-pack-abs&quot;&gt;to jump on the adage&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8268/abs-are-built-in-the-kitchen-but-what-about-obliques-and-lower-abs&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;abs are built in the kitchen&amp;quot;,&lt;/a&gt; there are some people for whom additional help is required.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its generally acknowledged that a healthy, low-body fat percentage is an important for showing off abs, however while you can lower your levels of body fat, you can equally increase your muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spot reducing as been shown to be a myth&lt;/a&gt;, surely altering the localised ratio of muscle to fat will show some improvement.&#xA;Consider, if you had fixed volume of fat around your arm, if your biceps and triceps grew, while this volume remained the same, the thickness of the fat around the arm should surely drop, improving the visibility of the muscles. Surely, it would be the same for your abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, while the core make be worked during other activities, such as squats and deadlifts, the extent to which the abs will be to support these activities. Again, while deadlift engage the biceps when holding the bar, I doubt people would recommend deadlifts to improve bicep size or shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.backfitpro.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Stuart McGill&lt;/a&gt; has come out with strong evidence that crunches (or activities that involve lumbar flexion) are strongly associated with poor lower back health. However, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7168/running-and-six-pack-abs&quot;&gt;advice that situps and crunches&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14538/how-can-i-increase-ab-depth-and-size&quot;&gt;(weighted crunches even)&lt;/a&gt; builds abs is still passed on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;As such, the question is this:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assuming one already had their diet in order with a reasonably low body-fat percentage,&lt;/strong&gt; what exercises and with what set and rep ranges, should one do to safely improve the size and strength of the muscles in the abdominal region, focusing specifically on the abs and obliques?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T20:21:08.330" Title="Exercises for building strong and well defined abs?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14663" CreationDate="2013-12-02T13:24:27.143" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an image which describe how to focus different parts of your abdomen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F6690.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7200" LastActivityDate="2013-12-02T13:24:27.143" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14663" CreationDate="2013-12-02T13:35:00.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If all trunk-flexing exercises are out, I think you need to ask McGill what's left. He seems to &lt;a href=&quot;http://mattsiniscalchi.com/2011/07/17/stuart-mcgills-big-3-core-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recommend&lt;/a&gt; a modified lumbar-spine-neutral crunch called the &quot;curl-up&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/core-myths/?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alongside the bird-dog and side plank&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[McGill suggests] a core exercise program should emphasize all of the major muscles that girdle the spine, including but not concentrating on the abs. Side plank (lie on your side and raise your upper body) and the “bird dog” (in which, from all fours, you raise an alternate arm and leg) exercise the important muscles embedded along the back and sides of the core. As for the abdominals, no sit-ups, McGill said; they place devastating loads on the disks. An approved crunch begins with you lying down, one knee bent, and hands positioned beneath your lower back for support. “Do not hollow your stomach or press your back against the floor,” McGill says. Gently lift your head and shoulders, hold briefly and relax back down. These three exercises, done regularly, McGill said, can provide well-rounded, thorough core stability. And they avoid the pitfalls of the all-abs core routine. “I see too many people,” McGill told me with a sigh, “who have six-pack abs and a ruined back.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;McGill's recommendation isn't designed for your purposes of hypertrophy, but that seems to be because he intentionally disagrees with your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of programming these exercises, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/~mcgill/fitnessleadersguide.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;McGill's recommendations&lt;/a&gt; tend toward the extremely easy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, we recommend that these isometric holds be held no longer than 7-8 seconds given recent evidence from near infrared spectroscopy indicating rapid loss of available oxygen in the torso muscles contracting at these levels--short relaxation of the muscle restores oxygen. The evidence supports building endurance&#xA;  with increased repetitions rather than holding time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It appears low back exercises have the most beneficial effect when performed daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see why a lack of oxygen is considered dangerous or unproductive. I also don't think you're going to see much hypertrophy from sub-10-second holds of these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really think that McGill is correct in tossing all trunk-flexing exercises, and therefore I would ask whether you think weighted sit-ups, L-sits, and leg raises are verboten. More intensive ab training (which includes McGill-forbidden lumbar flexion) seems fine to me if paired with intensive lumbar strengthening work like the always-beloved squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T12:51:54.197" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T12:51:54.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-02T14:11:19.593" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did two rounds of the MadCow 5x5 program and ending a 13 month cycle of the 5/3/1 Jim Wendler program (month 12 starts next week) - I've gotten GREAT GAINS from both.  I'm not looking to move on to another program OR restart the 5/3/1 with new max #'s.  I've looked into the Cube method and would like to hear from people who did MadCow and/or 5/3/1 what they moved on  to and what they would recommend (please only respond if you actually did either of these OR like programs).  So - what program would you recommend and why.  Current Max's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat - 315lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench - 250l bs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead Lift - 425lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press - 165 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-10-25T15:52:43.980" Title="Progressing to a new program" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14663" CreationDate="2013-12-02T14:17:43.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for lean small abs, you could do the ab exercises mentioned in Taimur's answer. If you are looking for thick block-looking abs and strong core that will pop out, I would recommend a few exercises including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wood choppers - with an emphasis on obliques this exercise is a great core-worker. Obliques core shoulders are all hit with this twisting pull/push motion. I actually enjoy this exercise and it is quite taxing on the core. I usually try and do 30 reps per side. In my initial progression I went too fast, loaded 50lbs threw out my shoulder. I would recommend a lighter weight maybe 20-25lbs on the cable initially. As you feel your core developing add weight. I didn't really progress in reps, I think 30 per side x 2 is good enough for this, especially if you follow up with one of the other exercises listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weighted crunch Machine - I am able to crank out about 100 of these in sets of 20-30 with 100lbs of resistance, and this has made my abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For variation here: Russian twists also work cores (weighted)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab wheel - huge one, excellent for core/ab work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one-arm pressing exercises or twisting exercises both force you to brace your core, which makes your core an important part of this exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-01-01T18:53:50.697" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T18:53:50.697" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14670" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14681" CreationDate="2013-12-02T22:12:31.093" Score="4" ViewCount="20465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I joined the gym 2 months ago. Today was the end of the 2nd month. As had I lost 4 kg at the end of 1st month, I was so excited to see an even smaller number on the scale today. Shockingly, I have not lost a pound in the last 4 weeks: frustrating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I  have been eating healthy {Breakfast: 2 pieces of brown bread with extra light spread and pinches of sugar + 2 egg whites, and a cup of coffee (70kcal), mid morning : an apple/orange/pears, Lunch : Veggie with salad / Cuscous with vegetable/ half cup of rice with vegetable and salad (not often) + another cup of cappuchino (3 in one); after gym  afternoon snack: a pears/an apple/a banana, Dinner : Maggie healthy thai soup- I add lots of fresh vegetables to the soup. Note: this month I started drinking green tea and obey lemon juice in the morning. }&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym at least 5 days a week! ( 1 day weight training, 1 day cardio, 2 days yoga, 1 day energy boosting class/aerobics class).This is veryfrustrating for me. I am losing motivation. What else I could do to continue my weight loss? I must lose the weight by summer! Please tell me what is going wrong here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I am female, height 5'6&amp;quot; , age 27 and current weight 76kg!My goal is 58-60 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7223" LastEditorUserId="34606" LastEditDate="2021-05-20T19:06:57.713" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T19:06:57.713" Title="Lost 4 kg after 1st month of gym, then it stopped and I did not lose a pound after that. Was my second month of training a total waste? why is that?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14670" CreationDate="2013-12-02T23:17:25.290" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A goal &lt;em&gt;weight&lt;/em&gt; is a terrible goal. If you were 58kg were mostly fat with very little muscle mass, would you be any happier that you are now? Additionally, during your last month you might have lost two pounds of fat, but gained two pounds of muscle, making you stronger, an potentially leaner without you realising. Does this make the last month a waste?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to figure out a goal, and a fitness activity you enjoy, be it lifting weights, doing yoga, running, biking, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consistently track your calories, and are eating a reasonable, healthy deficit you will lose weight. However, at the same time, its important to track your other activities - are you running faster, lifting more, becoming mroe flexible in yoga?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, one common pitfall people encounter early on is they eat more to compensate for their exercise - &lt;em&gt;don't do this&lt;/em&gt;. Calculate a reasonable daily calorie requirement, eat slightly less than that, and stick to those figures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-12-02T23:17:25.290" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-03T04:41:05.487" Score="3" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that pistol squats with are easier with your hands in front of you than they are with your hands behind you. What I don't understand is why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like with a front lever or planche or whatever straddles are easier because they're reducing your body length and thus torque. And with situps having a weight behind your neck is harder than having it in front because it seems like if it's in front you can rely on chest muscles to push it up whereas you can't if it's behind you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about pistol squats and hand placement? I just don't get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T18:18:32.613" Title="pistol squat mechanics" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14749" CreationDate="2013-12-03T04:51:00.793" Score="0" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a checklist of things I should look for when trying to see if someone's doing a perfect plank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They always say back straight. I assume that means head to glutes because, unless your legs are on something, they're gonna have to be bent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5756" LastEditorUserId="5756" LastEditDate="2013-12-11T15:46:13.507" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T16:14:33.313" Title="what to look for in planks" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14693" CreationDate="2013-12-03T09:02:25.893" Score="4" ViewCount="1439" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be the consensus that on a cut you should not change your training program and continue to lift heavy. Although it is also commonly stated that the body cannot gain muscle and loose fat at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can a 5x5 program such as starting strength or strong lifts work on a calorie deficit? In theory you shouldn't be able to progress at all since your body does not have the calories to add muscle? Do people just stay at the se weight during the cutting phase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T08:55:48.410" Title="How does a 5x5 program work on a cut?" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-03T11:08:33.303" Score="-2" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 20 and have been going to the gym for a few months now, and haven't seen much result. I find it very hard to diet, as I have a limited variety of food that I can stomach and like, I have quite unpleasant IBS which is why I attend the gym. I need advice on how to loose weight and tone up quickly, without having to jump through to any 'diet hoops' please help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7229" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T19:38:08.753" Title="Weight Loss, help!" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-19T02:23:39.620" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14670" CreationDate="2013-12-03T14:43:22.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your schedule is good, keep it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must tell you that Muscle mass is denser as compared to fat. So chances are high that you have lost some fat and gained Muscle mass, that is good. But you can't measure your progress by only measuring your weight. You should use other methods as well For example try to keep a record of your waist size and other body parts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As  I told earlier &quot;Muscle mass is denser as compared to fat&quot; so if size of your body parts decrease and your weight remains almost the same it is fine, because you have lost weight and gained muscle mass which is contributing to build more strength and on the same time your size has decreased. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A highly dense material takes less space compared to less dense material. &#xA;I hop you understood what I am trying to say.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7200" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T14:43:22.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14670" CreationDate="2013-12-03T17:46:19.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be measuring bodyfat percentage in addition to body weight. For some periods during your training, progress will only show up as a decrease in bodyfat percentage. At other times, you'll notice weight loss. Sometimes you'll notice both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to check to make sure your progress continues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you increasing the intensity of these activities that you're doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you lifting heavier weights as you adapt to the light ones?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you running harder/faster?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will adapt to the level of activity that you're asking from it, and if you don't increase that demand, your body will stop adapting. That &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be what happened during the second month. You don't have to increase the difficulty of your exercises by a lot. Just a little each workout or each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, some of your training isn't very scalable. How do you go harder at yoga, or harder in your energy boosting class? If you can, either find a way to get more out of this time, or replace one of them with an extra day of strength training or cardio (things that you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; scale up in terms of intensity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T17:46:19.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14676" CreationDate="2013-12-03T20:03:32.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well this may or may not help. But I am a huge advocate of &lt;strong&gt;Intermittent fasting&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have come to find that I also had IBS for years, not knowing the true cause of it or any way to fix it. I started intermittent fasting, and it gave my digestive system a break. I use a 16/8 Lean gains protocol. You can google it up. I have proceeded into my adventure by testing my body and discipline with not only 16 hour fasts, but 24 hour, and my longest went into today at 36 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I also spent several months in the gym at 185lbs with no weight loss, just muscular transformations. I also never liked to diet, but I started counting my calories, which led to counting my macro nutrients which led to me getting tired of eating all day long. So I watched the Hodgetwins and Low Carb Cory on youtube, and they were sharing information they previously researched and learned called Intermittent Fasting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started at 185lbs 23-25% Body fat. Overall stocky build, with a lot of bad fat around my midsection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now 168lbs 13% Body fat. V Shape Back to waist look, nice traps and a strong core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't chalk it all up to Intermittent fasting, but I followed a rigorous 4 day split workout schedule and intermittent fasted my last 3 months or so, from which I have received the best results of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some reference for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my eating schedule protocol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was my initial training protocol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/get-swole-cory-gregory-muscle-building-trainer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/get-swole-cory-gregory-muscle-building-trainer.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I do now, with lean gains in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/eat-stop-eat-brad-pilon-fasting-review/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/eat-stop-eat-brad-pilon-fasting-review/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and I am on week 2 of this program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind. People will call you stupid, people will think you're crazy, but people will also want what you have. They will want to look like you. Don't downplay it. Do your research. Work hard, Stay dedicated. When it's all done. Pass it along to a friend or family member who can also benefit from this lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PEACE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T20:03:32.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14670" CreationDate="2013-12-03T20:13:51.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would look at is your food:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;{Breakfast: 2 pieces of brown bread with extra light spread and pinches of sugar+2 egg whites,and a cup of coffee(70kcal), mid morning : an apple/orange/pears, Lunch:Veggie with salad/Cuscous with vegetable/ half cup of rice with vegetable and salad (not often)+ another cup of cappuchino (3 in one); after gym afternoon snack: a pears/an apple/a banana, Dinner:Maggie healthy thai soup- i add lots of fresh vegetables to the soup.note: this month I started drinking green tea and obey lemon juice in the morning. }&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only have the Calorie count for your breakfast (70 Cal).  There's no mention of the type of salad dressing or amount, there's not much mention of good protein sources which are necessary for proper metabolic function.  NOTE: I would suggest kelp or iodized salt to support your thyroid.  Salads can be deceptively high in calories, particularly if you purchased it from a restaurant.  &lt;em&gt;Another very real possibility is that the total amount of Calories you have are way below what you need&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you start with a reasonably good estimate for how much you need to maintain your current weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use one of the several calculators out there to help you estimate your maintenance calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the activity level choose &quot;sedentary&quot; or &quot;lightly active&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your daily Calories as close to what the Calculator gave you and see if the scale stays the same, goes up, or goes down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make small adjustments until you know what your real maintenance level is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you know your real maintenance you can cut up to 500 Calories per day from there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That at least will help you make sure you are eating enough to support your metabolic processes, and actually help you lose weight.  There are some other things I would suggest for your diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More protein.  At least 1g protein per kg body weight, preferably closer to 2g protein per kg body weight if you stay very active.  That would be at least 76g protein per day, up to 152g at your current body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your carb sources are high in fiber.  Brown rice is better than white rice for that reason.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A bit more fat.  At least use whole eggs in the morning.  Your body needs a certain amount of dietary fat to remain healthy.  This is a case where you add a little at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use low density foods to help keep you feeling full.  If you were to count the carbs in a cup of sugar vs. a cup of oatmeal, the oatmeal would have fewer carbs (and calories) for the same amount.  That's what I mean by low density.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suggestion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight on the scale is a very rough indicator of how well you are doing.  It doesn't tell you about body composition changes that are good but affect what the scale shows.  For example, if you eat a large feast one day your scale will jump a couple kilograms--but your body composition hasn't really changed much at all.  On the same token, if you get really dehydrated one day the scale will go down a couple kilograms, but your body composition is the same--and when you get rehydrated that weight will come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend taking weekly or monthly measurements, and monthly or quarterly progress pictures.  These are the real test of how well your new fitness endeavors are improving your body.  Continue to weigh yourself every day, but don't get freaked out if the scale isn't moving much at the moment.  If your body composition is changing for the better but the scale isn't moving, keep doing what you are doing.  If your body composition is staying the same, then it's time to change something.  That can be food related or it can be the types of activities you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T20:13:51.287" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-03T22:01:51.607" Score="8" ViewCount="1275" Body="&lt;p&gt;For climbers, it's important to train the antagonist muscles to our primary movers, to prevent injury. For the fingers, these are the extensors (as you're always flexing your fingers when gripping holds). How can I best train them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xQUDw.png&quot; alt=&quot;Finger flexion / extension&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T02:31:41.340" Title="How to train finger extension?" Tags="&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-03T23:32:55.547" Score="4" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I eat till my brain is really happy and is like yeasssss... i don't care about anything anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that is the amount almost twice as much as i should be eating to be in a healthy weight range. I try to work it out like walking 10 miles 2 times a week and 4 miles two other days in a week. But that's a lot of work..and there is no result that is maintained. Basically i am not trying to out work my daily diet. That is too much work and i don't think it's even healthy for bones to put so much pressure on them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what can i do. To not eat and still feel happy. I mean won't it make me feel unsatisfied broken desperate and negative to never get this feeling of calm and sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7001" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T12:19:01.157" Title="how to not over eat and still not feel desperately hungry" Tags="&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-12-16T19:47:39.547" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-03T23:43:43.753" Score="2" ViewCount="8070" Body="&lt;p&gt;this is very undesirable result of lifting heavy weights. i don't want my fingers and palm to look like a balloon. It is even making even holding a pen difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what can i do to stop this fattening of hand and specially fingers. I don't want this. It makes my hand look ugly, and make daily tasks annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would wearing glove solve this somehow. or they are for palms only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7001" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T18:17:17.923" Title="My hands becoming fat due to weight lifting" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14684" CreationDate="2013-12-04T02:48:06.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pwrwebintl.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The power web&lt;/a&gt; is a popular physiotherapy tool. You put your fingers through the holes and then just spread them out. Difficulty varies depending on the strength of the material (color-coded) and finger spacing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding training extensors to balance flexion, &lt;a href=&quot;http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/1080-6032/PIIS1080603201707016.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; suggests that it is wrist extension that is a more important focus rather than finger extension in a non-rehabilitation setting. I don't know of any evidence that suggests that training finger extension reduces the rate of injury in climbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T02:48:06.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2013-12-04T03:17:14.073" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;To put it bluntly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Deal with it.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose weight, and need to cut your calories, thats about all you can do. If you are eating twice your daily requirements, cutting back your intake by half is going to suck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The human body is realtively unintelligent, and if you've trained it to expect a large amount of food throughout the day, it will be releasing hormones (primarily &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghrelin&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ghrelin&lt;/a&gt;) to help your body process the food as it comes in. As you stop eating as much, your body will for a while still produce these hormones in the &lt;em&gt;expectation&lt;/em&gt; of food. When it doesn't come they interact with your body in various ways, including stomach grumbles and pains, low mood, hunger, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along side this, the stomach can expand to accomodate a large volume and over time will remain stretched. So again, if your stomach is expecting a certain volume of food, it will squeeze against this lack of food and leave you feeling &amp;quot;empty&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fluids spend relatively little time in the stomach when ingested, and are either quickly absorbed or quickly passed through, meaning they do little to promote &amp;quot;volume&amp;quot;. Eating high fibre (both soluble and insoluble) foods can promote bulk in the stomach and digestive tract and may create a feeling of fullness for longer. However, if you need to half your intake, you are still not going to have that fullness you are used to. Additionally, the happiness you are feeling is probably coming from the consumption of sugars and fats. If you are eating less, you will generally have less sugar and fat, meaning you won't get this happy feeling. Drinking more water won't help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to realise that you don't need as much food, and for a short time it will be hard. You can drink water or tea or coffee (black), to add volume, but the lack of calories will for a while suck. Yes, I've repeated that, and I'll keep repeating it. &lt;strong&gt;Weight loss sucks.&lt;/strong&gt; I know it, and you'll know it too. While it is as &amp;quot;easy&amp;quot; as eating less, sometimes the feeling of your body rebeling against this drastic change sucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But realise that as long as you eat a healthy amount, you aren't starving, you aren't dying, so while your body adjusts to its new normal, just learn to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Deal with it.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T12:19:01.157" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14727" CreationDate="2013-12-04T06:58:32.653" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read about the importance about resistance training(strength training). As a swimmer, I can only do 25m butter for now. I can really feel the sourness in my upper body, I can use butterfly as resistance training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7214" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T21:50:51.743" Title="Can I use butterfly as resistance training?" Tags="&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5389" CreationDate="2013-12-04T08:35:23.073" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that Nestle Hole wheat flakes with honey and almond is a balanced diet because it has carbohydrate , vitamins and proteins. i found it effective because its quite filling and i stopped craving for food after eating Nestle fitness cereals and of course it complemented weight loss without any difficulty. busy people like us can go for Nestle both for fitness and weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7236" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T08:35:23.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14675" CreationDate="2013-12-04T08:55:48.410" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Presuppositions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The presuppositions in this question are mistaken. A) It is possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time if the conditions are right. B) It's not true that one should not change one's training program while cutting--one should still do some heavy lifting, but the program should change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of heavy lifting during a cut is to maintain (or lose as little as possible of) lean muscle or one's level of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is indeed possible to gain muscle and lose fat, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/4-ways-gain-muscle-while-losing-fat/&quot;&gt;sometimes&lt;/a&gt;. Many novices do it, and some people find it possible in other training scenarios. It's hard, it can't always be made to work, but it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;5x5 While Cutting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to run a hypertrophy/strength program like SS or SL while not eating enough, you will hit walls faster than if you were eating enough to grow. That might be okay for you or it might not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T08:55:48.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-04T09:29:52.887" Score="0" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am turning 19yr nw and i have an athlete body weighting only 60kg my height is 5.8feet and nw for gaining muscle i am joining gym. my diet is almost good i eat 8 chapatis (Indian bread) per day and some rice, and also drink almost 2 normal glass of milk. i have a fear that by joining gym i will be losing more of my weight and become more thin. And here there is a rule that if u join gym one day u have to do cardio and next day weight lifting.Many people told me that cardio results in losing weight so is this true an if yes what should i do should i follw this rule or should lift every day skiping cardio –  . I want some suggestion from all the experts over here that should i join gym or not..?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7234" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2013-12-04T17:58:19.917" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T17:58:19.917" Title="should i join gym or not..?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2013-12-06T12:43:06.123" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14696" CreationDate="2013-12-04T13:20:03.360" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a way to see if one of my workouts is effective. I work on five to six day cycle where one of the days is usually done on a heavy bag with 6 rounds 2 minutes each with thirty seconds in between. I have some boxing training and experience. Is there a way to gauge the effectiveness of this workout or any other workout where an increase in weight or reps isn't entirely applicable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-12-04T14:06:50.777" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T14:07:00.793" Title="How do I gauge the effectiveness of conditioning workouts that don't involve sets and reps?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14695" CreationDate="2013-12-04T14:07:00.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Testing the efficacy of conditioning workouts usually rests on measuring the output of the workout, i.e. X per time unit, where X can be watts, miles, punches thrown, whatever. More vague methods of tracking progress include feeling fresh at the end of a workout, or being able to complete a given workout more quickly, being able to shorten rest periods, or being able to complete more rounds. Of course these all depend on maintaining a constant work output. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting heart rate is another possibility for longer-term tracking of conditioning capability. With your specific example of bag work, there's also the traditional method of testing boxing conditioning: spar a few rounds, or take a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more complex tests as well, which involve measuring heart rate or other indicators, or even looking at daily blood work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T14:07:00.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14694" CreationDate="2013-12-04T14:17:04.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you join a gym is honestly too general a question. Lifting and eating significantly will cause you to gain muscle and weight. Cardio can help you lose weight but not if you eat enough so that you gain muscle through cardio. I am 183 cm and about 83 kg (I think that's about 6' 183lbs.)  I also run 5ks fairly regularly and incorporate cardio into my workout at least once a week. It isn't that cardio causes you to lose weight it is just working out a different set of muscles (heart and lungs as well as whatever other muscles you are doing as part of the cardio) If the gym you are looking to join requires cardio look for ways to do cardio and build strength. Jump roping, heavy bag, sprints, and swimming all can increase strength and weight if you eat enough food with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T14:17:04.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-04T18:03:40.933" Score="0" ViewCount="12240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started purchasing sweat wicking clothing for use while running.This past weekend I noticed that a lot of clothing is marked either Running or Training. What is the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running Pants:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.target.com/p/c9-by-champion-men-s-advanced-duo-dry-running-pants-black/-/A-14654748&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.target.com/p/c9-by-champion-men-s-advanced-duo-dry-running-pants-black/-/A-14654748&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training Pants:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.target.com/p/c9-by-champion-32-training-pant/-/A-12957636&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.target.com/p/c9-by-champion-32-training-pant/-/A-12957636&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at these in store, both of them are made of the same material, and feel similar. The only difference I can find is the inclusion of zippers on the running pants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7240" LastEditorUserId="7240" LastEditDate="2013-12-06T15:02:43.700" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T19:15:23.797" Title="Difference between Running and Training clothing" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-04T21:46:03.873" Score="0" ViewCount="1715" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people brush off many factors by assuming person X is weaker than person Y because person X works harder(incorrect assumption). It is a fact that person X may work much harder, more thorough, have a better diet, sleep right, have a healthy system, and may be weaker than person Y who does the same things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also a fact that person Y may out perform person X, despite person X working out and person Y not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That brings me to my question ... I have noticed that, comparing myself to others, my progess is much slower. I have done consecutive push ups for weeks, and still can barely bench 135 lbs (what the average man apparently does, based on limited-testing). It is beyond disappointing to realize one is barely reaching the &quot;average&quot; while having had a regimen for the past six years. I also did do bench and never improved, only suffered DOMS, fatigue, pain, and kept at the same weight(could not increase; wasn't getting stronger). I incorporate all major muscle groups, and I stay in plateaus for weeks, get DOMS (even if doing the exercise for the 300th time), have poor lung capacity, and can't seem to improve. I have already assured myself that this is definitely genetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have witnessed people who don't do any exercise (and from which I can guarantee absolute proof thereof), and are as strong as me(I have been in strength training on and off for many years). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fitness is also lackluster ... weeks of running, jogging, cardio, etc., and I'm still gaping like a fish out of water in two seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My conclusion is that this is definitely genetic ... my testosterone levels are low and no amount of exercise helps (slowish metabolism, man boobs won't go away, trouble breathing, neuromuscularly imbalanced, have Social Anxiety and related issues, slight OCD, very thin wrists, prone to getting obese and have been very obese in the past).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like my genetic limit is that of an average man or a little beyond, while the average man is starting off where I strived to reach over big milestones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My regimen and weight chart of my biceps curl changes over the years:&#xA;Legend: AGE/MAX/BODYWEIGHTWEIGHT-HEIGHT/REPS-SETS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age 15: Biceps curl - 25 lbs x 1, 252 lbs @ 5'7&quot;, curl 2 x a week x 5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age 18: Biceps curl - 35 lbs x 4, 184 lbs @ 5'9&quot;, curl 1-2 x a week x 3-18 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age 19: Biceps curl - 35 lbs x 2, 173 lbs @ 5'9-1/2&quot;, curl 2-3 x a week x 2-6 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age 20: Biceps curl - 40 lbs x 7, 192 lbs @ 5'9-1/2&quot;, curl 1 x a week x 1-5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Present-&gt;Age 21: Biceps curl - 40 lbs x 3, 193 lbs @ 5'9-1/2&quot;, curl 1-2 x a week x 1-10 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, maintaing a tight regimen from 18-19 made me weaker, but from 19-20, not steadily working out, I got stronger, and through 21 I have gotten weaker following steady exercising again. I get strong mildy to a point, but then get weaker progressively, and start back again; I'm not linearly improving without dropping back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I scored the genetic bads ... (can't even think of a word; probably genetic failures as well). How well could my genes be holding me back, or others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7243" LastActivityDate="2018-10-03T10:06:12.450" Title="How big of a role do genes play in strength/fitness potential?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-04T21:59:18.940" Score="1" ViewCount="4925" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have started working out for the first time, using 10 pound dumbbells to build muscle on my arms and forearm for the time being. I do all the usual exercises, for example curls and hammers, etc. at decent reps (10-15) and 3-4 sets, yet I still dont get this burning feeling that people tell me I should be getting. I do feel exhausted during the exercise, but after completion I don't feel any pain or soreness in my arms. So should I increase the weight or the number of reps per set, or is that just normal to feel no soreness after a workout? I'm 16 years of age, weigh 113 pounds and am rather skinny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7244" LastEditorUserId="7073" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T01:54:23.210" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T19:29:55.673" Title="Am i suppose to feel a burn?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14701" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14730" CreationDate="2013-12-05T01:14:10.610" Score="0" ViewCount="920" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just started running, I have noticed, that whenever I run at a slow pace, I noticed that my legs feel very painful, but whenever I run like those runners on olympics(full burst) I don't feel as much stress in the legs as I have when I run slowly. What should be the proper way to run? Is it wrong for me to run like at full speed at all times? I do feel more comfortable running, it's just I look like an idiot running really fast while other runners are running at a slower pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7246" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T10:35:52.140" Title="running slow effects on legs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14702" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-05T03:34:17.720" Score="-1" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 20 year old male and have been at my current height and weight, 5'8&quot; and 190 lbs, since I was 16. I have tried dieting and exercising but see no results. This past summer I spent 3 months doing heavy weight training and cutting my calorie intake. While I increased my strength greatly I did not lose any weight or inches on my waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the hardest parts of dieting is that I need to eat, or else I get crippling migraines. Another issue is that being in college makes me at the mercy of the dining hall in terms of food options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being in College also gives me very limited time that I can spend working out. Based on my current work and class schedules I can get into the gym maybe every other day for an hour. Otherwise my exercise would need to be things I can work into by daily schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What would be the best diet and exercise plan for my situation, or what minor adjustments could I make to help me lose weight, especially mid section body fat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7248" LastActivityDate="2019-01-31T13:47:47.500" Title="Trouble losing weight, need help creating a diet and workout plan" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-05T06:14:50.457" Score="2" ViewCount="41083" Body="&lt;p&gt;My calves are felt sore after a long walk about two~three miles today. How can I reduce the uncomfortable feeling? Will warm or cold compress help? Will lifting legs higher help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In daily life, what can I do to reduce the chance of sore calves? I prefer low-level exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="163" LastActivityDate="2016-05-06T01:06:33.733" Title="Calves felt sore after long walk" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14703" CreationDate="2013-12-05T07:19:44.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are just not used to it. Icing the muscles will help the pain a little, same with deep tissue massages and stretching. I would suggest doing standing body weight calf raises several times a week. You can do them in the shower, 30 before you shampoo, 20 before you soap, 10 before you rinse. You can increase the sets/reps if you want to later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7233" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T07:19:44.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14700" CreationDate="2013-12-05T07:27:16.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you might be using weights that are too light for you, or too heavy for you and you are just swinging the weights up (assuming you just do curls), not actually engaging your muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7233" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T07:27:16.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14700" CreationDate="2013-12-05T11:11:39.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to build muscle you should probably reduce the reps and increase the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle?lq=1&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, it is probably worth getting somebody to put a full body workout program together for you and teach you some lifting technique. Some of the best weight exercises are things like squats and deadlifts which work pretty much everything, but require good technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T11:11:39.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14700" CreationDate="2013-12-05T14:19:16.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, it sounds like you need to increase the weight you are using and add some variety to the kinds of curls you are doing. Like Jaydee stated, you might want to also decrease the number of reps you are doing. Personally, I like to do about 8 reps and use a weight that only allows me to get those 8 reps (so I'm working until failure on the 8th). However, increasing weight may cause you to sacrifice your form, which is NOT a good thing. You can find hundreds of videos/tutorials/guides on proper form (here is one example - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6VMg0E9JpE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proper Form Dumbbell Bicep Curls&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overview&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase Weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease Reps (to stimulate growth)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintain Proper Form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add Variety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T14:19:16.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14699" CreationDate="2013-12-05T15:53:32.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many factors involved in determining potential, and, genetics is definitely one of them.  However, it should not be used to limit your training.  For example, genetics will predetermine the amount of fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscle fibers you have.  That does not mean you can't adapt and become stronger.  It just means you may need to go about it differently.  Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body type&lt;/a&gt; may also play a role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T15:53:32.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14699" CreationDate="2013-12-05T17:57:58.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is meant to get you to focus on what matters rather than trying to find an excuse for all the negative things you think about yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, your attitude is detrimental to your progress. You are so focused on comparisons with other people. Instead of envisioning yourself &quot;being strong&quot;, or comparing yourself with the &quot;average&quot; person, envision yourself &quot;doing the work to get strong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; progress more slowly. Women, elderly, people with poor eating and sleep habits, for example. It doesn't change the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Your misconceptions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I have done consecutive push ups for weeks, and still can barely bench 135 lbs&lt;/em&gt;. Push-ups are not the route to a stronger bench press. Bench press is the route to a stronger bench press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I have already assured myself that this is definitely genetic.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; This is probably wrong, and it doesn't matter. This is an excuse. Based on the description you've given, I can go out on a limb and assure you that your lack of progress is largely based on following an unprincipled strength program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Weeks of running, jogging, cardio, etc., and I'm still gaping like a fish out of water in two seconds.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; Cardio is always hard work. Doing &quot;weeks&quot; of running isn't following a regimen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Your success&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You used to weight 252 lbs. Now, you weight 192 lbs. 5'9&quot; and 192 lbs. That's still a bit overweight, but it's a great improvement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How to proceed&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can tell, you have never done a program that gets you lifting weights three times per week on a regular basis. Your focus on your bicep curl demonstrates that you haven't selected the right exercises for beginner strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have never done a proper novice strength training program you can't make &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; conclusions about what your potential is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get strong and fit, you need to follow a beginner strength training program for probably about a year. Read this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13425/what-novice-program-should-i-recommend-to-my-unfit-friends&quot;&gt;What novice program should I recommend to my unfit friends?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On most of those programs, you'll squat, bench press, overhead press, deadlift, and pull-up/chin-up. That is all. You'll do three of those exercises each workout. You'll do them at the heaviest weight at which you can do three sets of 5 reps. Then, the next workout, you'll do them with a bit more weight. You will do three workouts per week. You will eat well and you will sleep well. You'll be able to progress like this for many months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T17:57:58.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14686" CreationDate="2013-12-05T18:17:17.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Mayo Clinic has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hand-swelling/AN01403&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; on the topic from Dr. Edward R. Laskowski, M.D. that goes over the possible cause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hand swelling during exercise is a fairly common problem. The cause&#xA;  isn't completely clear, but hand swelling appears to be a result of&#xA;  the way your body and blood vessels respond to the increased energy&#xA;  demands of your muscles during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A possible remedy is proposed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/workouts/swollen-hands-00100000068850/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; on Real Simple, though aimed at joggers, it may apply to you - do the hand exercises between sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Raising your arms over-head and pumping your fists can help keep&#xA;  blood flowing as you jog,” says Sosena Kebede, an assistant professor&#xA;  of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in&#xA;  Baltimore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, both articles indicate the swelling should go away a few hours, not days, after you've stopped exercising. This may be something you'd want to discuss with a healthcare professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7073" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T18:17:17.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14703" CreationDate="2013-12-05T18:38:55.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being that you seem to be a novice at low-intensity exercise. Walking is a great step in the right direction. Exercise as simple as walking can improve cardiovascular health, increase mobility, and at 3 miles should have a positive metabolic response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually walking any distance is one of the easiest things a person can do but there are several factors that could bare some limitations on your little adventure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feet&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Are you flat-footed? Do you wear shoes with arch supports? Do you not have arch supports? Have you had any injury to your legs or feet that would involve overcompensation in your lower leg muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If you are carrying over 100 lbs of additional body weight this could be cumbersome on muscles when brought into practice. Calve muscles should naturally be somewhat strong unless you lead a sedentary lifestyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Terrain&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;What kind of terrain are you walking on? streets, sidewalks? trails, mud puddles? Where are you walking? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can be honest with yourself about the above issues, and do a self-analysis on how, where, and why you're walking 3 miles a day. Then you can proceed to develop those calf muscles as mentioned above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eliminate the pain&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;In order to eliminate some of the pain you are currently experiencing, you could soak in Epsom salts, half cup salt/2 quarts water is my personal recipe, works wonders on sore joints and muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some stretching of those hamstrings and calves by sitting down on a yoga mat or floor, with feet straight out in front of you, no bends at the knee, put your arms above your head, also straight up, and bring them slowly down to try and touch your feet, hold on to your shins if you can't reach toes, flex toes backwards towards your fingers to stretch the calf. You can also do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KiO0P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;StandingStretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T18:38:55.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14703" CreationDate="2013-12-05T19:00:01.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you haven't exercised at all in a while, and this is your first 2-3 mile walk, some soreness is to be expected. To reduce your discomfort, you can apply a little ice (10-15 minutes not directly to skin), stretch gently, self-massage, contrast shower (1 minute warm/hot water, 1 minute ice cold water, several times), or foam roll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do to reduce this soreness long-term is to continue being active. Your body will adapt and after a few walking sessions, the amount of soreness you experience after each walk will decrease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To distinguish this from injury, the level of soreness you experience from an identical amount of work should be decreasing over time (if you don't wait too long between sessions). That is, if in a day or two, you go for another 2-3 mile walk at about the same speed, you shouldn't feel as sore in the days following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T19:21:48.670" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T19:21:48.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14699" CreationDate="2013-12-05T19:13:47.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's easy to blame genetics, when the truth of the matter is the work you were doing wasn't the right kind of work for your goals.  The truth is nothing comes easy to everyone.  While genetics are a factor, the biggest limiting factors really don't have much to do with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SAID Principle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is subject to the SAID principle, or Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands.  If you work at performing more and more reps, you will get better at more and more reps--but at the expense of being able to lift heavier weights.  The bottom line is there are different approaches you need to take to build strength vs. building size or endurance.  Many well trained coaches and athletes are aware of this and fashion their training around periodization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/12/03/nonsense-periodization-powerlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Periodization&lt;/a&gt; is simply focusing on one aspect of your training to improve your performance in another aspect down the line.  The demands of different sports affect the order of your training so that you get the most results from your training effort.  Well organized training will always outperform haphazard or unfocused training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body Weight and Hormonal Response&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body's endocrine system (hormones and receptors) is very much impacted by your diet and levels of body fat.  Put in simple terms, it's easier for lean people to remain lean and fat people to remain fat.  In order for a naturally thin person to increase body weight requires a very large amount of effort to fight the body's desire to maintain the same weight.  On the same token, it takes a large concerted effort to remove fat if you've been overweight for a long period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more body fat you carry around, the lower the amount of Testosterone your body will naturally produce.  So, as you lose weight and keep it off, the testosterone levels increase.  Additionally, the types of foods you eat, or just as importantly don't eat also affect the amount of testosterone in your system.  Xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens (environmental and plant based respectively) also impair the body's ability to generate the normal amount of testosterone.  Again, there are environmental issues to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Genetics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that genetics affect are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proportion and size of your body--anthropromorphics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How readily you adapt and build type 1 vs type 2 muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Propensity for genetic diseases such as psoriasis, mental diseases, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone with proportionally shorter arms will have an advantage with bench press, but a disadvantage with deadlifts.  Someone with shorter femurs will have an advantage with squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what separates the successful from the unsuccessful?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The type of work they are doing.  Successful people make sure the effort they put in gives them the most results back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They type of food they eat.  Athletes have similar needs, and while certain proportions of macro-nutrients favor one sport over another, they eat what's necessary to get results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The heart they put into their work.  If you put in half-hearted work you will get half-hearted results even if the plan is good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The willingness to keep pushing themselves when most people would quit.  If it took 3 years to bench 135 lbs, a normal person might be willing to call it quits.  A successful athlete keeps working at it and after 15 years they may have a 400 lb bench press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make a long story short, it is very disingenuous to completely disregard the work that people put in to things.  Hard work trumps genetics in the long run.  In fact, the only way for an athlete with good genes to overcome an elite athlete who put in a lot of work is for the guy with good genes to put in the same amount of work.  Put any gifted high school athlete against a pro like Larry Byrd in his prime, and they will be humbled every time.  Larry Byrd was known as someone who outworked everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of athletes with disabilities of one sort or another who perform amazing feats.  One example would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/-iCxE79SN9g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lei Liu who bench pressed 498 lbs&lt;/a&gt; in competition without the use of his legs.  You could say he got a raw deal, but he put in the work despite his limitations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T19:13:47.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-06T00:49:32.727" Score="1" ViewCount="2160" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the proper pace training for a 1.5 mile run on a treadmill? When I was training for the PAT for Correction Officer in the past, I remember there being a time/speed increase at small intervals. I would like to ultimately run it in 11-12 mins. Please note, that my beginning point will be from the standpoint of not running on a treadmill at all. I'm also looking for a weekly/monthly schedule to improve this distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7259" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T08:58:38.400" Title="Need proper pace training for a 1.5 mile run on a treadmill" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2013-12-06T07:54:57.920" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course @Lego Stormtroopr is right: Loosing weight, when you are in a habit of eating way more then you need is gooing to suck. But there are things that can help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have vegatables and fruits nearby in an easy to munch way: carrot sticks, apples, cut bell pepper. So you can eat this kind of stuff when you feel a little hungry. It is relatively low in calories and needs time to digest, making it easier to stay away from calorie bombs. This kind of food also has a lot of other stuff in it that your body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat slowly. The brain needs some time to realize it has enough food in the belly. If you are eating fast, you will eat a lot although you are already full, but haven't realized it yet. A recommendation I hear often is to chew every bite at least 20 times.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay away processed sugars. They cause a steep incline in blood sugar level, followed by a surge of insuline, followed by a steep drop in blood sugar level, causing hunger ... Prefer stuff like muesli, whole grain bread.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T07:54:57.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-06T08:39:18.193" Score="0" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've come to this realization that my core has let me down (or that I've never really payed attention to my core).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I've never payed my core it's due -- 20 sit ups were a chore -- always were and I found doing sit ups boring so I neglected my core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: even in my youth I was a decent biker, fencer but I always would run into back problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had two lower back surgeries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now in my 40s as I try to get back into shape it seems my core gives out long before say my legs or other part of the body. Actually I see that I can out-cycle people 1/2 my age but when I do that getting out of bed the next day can be a chore (back stiffens)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've thought of spending six to twelve months focusing especially on my core while doing other things I like like bicycling and yoga. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So Question(s):&#xA;1. Is how I'm thinking about this problem sound?&#xA;2. I was trying to find an exercise regimen that would be suitable for supplemental core conditioning and I've not found anything that I can say I can confidently say is what looking for -- so any pointers in that direction would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7260" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T15:50:14.710" Title="Building Core Strength" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14720" CreationDate="2013-12-06T11:51:18.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can tell you what my physical therapist advised as exercises after a lumbago. If this is really adequate to your needs, I can't know. However I seem to suffer from a weak core also. I can do 100 crunches, but completely fail at a plank. I was advised to do the following exercises - Ithink they are fairly safe even with previous injuries, because there is so little movement, but I'm not remotely a medical professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Holding the plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lying on your back, legs point upwards, raise the legs towards the ceiling using no momentum and only the lower abdominals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lying on your back, legs bent, tighs pointing upward - press left hand against right knee with max. force, make sure to press you lower back flat against th floor, repeat several times for both sides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight back extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in a four-feeted position (on your hands an knees), alternately shift the weight to left-knee + right hand and alternate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to strength training, I was advised to stretch the lower back and the front tighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to trust a random stranger on the internet, look at those exercises (and others that will hopefully be suggested). A workout can be quite brief, maybe 10 minutes. Especially one and three are quite taxing, a good thing  perfect if you bore easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you may weant to talk to a professional, given your previous injuries. Your call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T11:51:18.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13138" CreationDate="2013-12-06T13:01:27.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do the same pushups (although you have me beat on reps!) for both reasons cited:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They're a lot easier on my wrists: there's no twisting, my first two knuckles carry the weight right up the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radius_%28bone%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;radius&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's good training for all sorts of hand techniques: punching, back fist, blocking, etc.  &lt;em&gt;If this is not your thing, please return to point 1.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to get a decent set of fingerless Taekwondo sparring gloves and try the pushups while wearing those.  These will do a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It gives your knuckles yet more support and / or may replace your rubber pad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on the gloves, there may be sufficient material / padding in the gripping area for your fingers to wrap around.  It shows up in some pictures as a padded crossbar right where the fingers join the palm.  This may reduce your tendency to stab yourself with your own fingernails.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some gloves have padding or webbing across the area where the fingernails naturally hit the plam.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7239" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T13:01:27.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12539" CreationDate="2013-12-06T14:05:26.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I see someone else doing push ups, it seems so easy. I have tried&#xA;  doing it myself many times, but I find it very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard.  That's why they're worth doing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a gradual step by step process to learn how to do push ups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to learn to do more pushups.  Anything that you try will almost certainly help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a (somewhat comical) technique that I've used that my students seem to enjoy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start in the pushup position.  Specifically, the pushup position that works for you.  That might be knees touching the ground or knees straight, feet together or apart.  Whatever works for you.  The important part is that you're up and using the right muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now wait for a while.  In class, this is where I blab on and on about &quot;why are you complaining?  We haven't even done a single pushup yet?&quot;  You muscles will begin to feel tired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now lower to the point where your elbows are at right angles.  This is as far as you need to go for pushups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now wait again.  In class, this is where the moaning starts.  &quot;You're complaining about doing a half a pushup?!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now return to start.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congrats!  You did a single pushup.  Big deal, right?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, yes, it is a big deal.  Here are some of the things that this teaches you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The correct &lt;strong&gt;position&lt;/strong&gt; (that works for you).  You shouldn't be falling over, you shouldn't be wrenching your back, etc.  Pushups will seem to get easier as you come to believe that you can keep your balance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;breath&lt;/strong&gt; (that's what those waiting times are for).  Holding your breath is terrible for this sort of exercise.  You have to get that carbon dioxide out.  When I'm doing this with my class, I'm yelling encouragement at them the whole time.  You should feel free to yell whatever seems appropriate (i.e., foul language is encouraged ;-).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The correct &lt;strong&gt;transition&lt;/strong&gt; (that, again, works for you).  Don't go too far as (a) it's not worth it and (b) it'll be too hard to get back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That you can do one pushup.  &lt;strong&gt;Confidence&lt;/strong&gt; is critical: if you can do one, you can do two.  Maybe not right this minute, maybe later today but it can be done (proof by existence).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat&lt;/strong&gt;: We each have our individual limitations and you'll have to find out what those are and adapt to them.  For example, I really shouldn't do the palm pushups illustrated in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/12540/7239&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.  The twisting and flexing wrists make my hands sore when I try to type and use the mouse.  Since that's how I make my living, I only rarely do palm pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7239" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T14:05:26.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14720" CreationDate="2013-12-06T14:11:34.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too have had spinal surgery. Besides constant core work, I also perform yoga type stretches twice per day.  I think it's important to add stretching into any fitness routine as you age since flexibility can limit your range of motion.  For exercises, I think it's best that you decide what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T14:11:34.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14720" CreationDate="2013-12-06T15:50:14.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sit ups can be bad for you back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/want-a-stronger-core-skip-the-sit-ups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/want-a-stronger-core-skip-the-sit-ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Planks are great. Captians Chair is good too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the number one exercise for core strength IMHO is squats. Counter intuitive perhaps, but they work for me. I have a dodgy back (hasn't needed surgery yet) and squats help quite a bit. But don't overdo the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/squat-101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/squat-101&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/strengthening-your-core-right-and-wrong-ways-to-do-lunges-squats-and-planks-201106292810&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/strengthening-your-core-right-and-wrong-ways-to-do-lunges-squats-and-planks-201106292810&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T15:50:14.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2013-12-06T20:49:05.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is all about foods with a high level of satiety, that do not spike your insulin, which makes you more hungry. For example, 300 calories of spinach is going to keep you full longer than 300 calories of soda. Even foods higher in fat, such as full fat yoghurt or meat will be more satisfying than high carbohydrate foods such as bread or pasta, and not spike your insulin. Personally, I have found that avoiding carbs means I don't have to worry about calories or counting anything, I feel full earlier and stay full longer. I sometimes even skip meals without realizing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try googling &quot;green smoothy&quot; for a good place to start to increase your intake of high satiety foods in a tasty way. Just avoid recipes with sugar, but don't be scared of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="845" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T20:49:05.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14691" CreationDate="2013-12-06T22:21:36.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note that I'm not a swimmer, but I do a reasonable amount of strength training, have a &quot;good enough&quot; foundation of knowledge, and can apply some common sense to the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As has already been noted in the comments, the water is going to provide some resistance. However, that's probably not going to be enough; even if it is enough resistance to start with it's definitely not going to stay that way for long at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fundamental principle for successful strength training is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt;. You may go to the gym for the first time ever and only be able to bench press for the desired number of sets and reps using an empty bar. That may be difficult for a few sessions, or even a few weeks, but it will eventually become easy. Once that happens, in order to continue to grow stronger, you'll need to increase the weight (resistance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's say that the water resistance is equivalent to bench pressing with the empty bar. That's fine until it becomes easy, but what then? In order to keep making gains you need to increase the resistance but there's not really any way to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your strength workouts should be supplementary to your swim workouts. The strength training will give you a decent foundation of strength to work with as well as increase your muscular endurance for the swim training, while the swim training will provide you with the specific skills and stamina you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5547" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T22:21:36.227" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-07T11:55:45.360" Score="3" ViewCount="1172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to build a PVC parallette at home and I noticed that all the parallettes are very small in height( as the diminutive french suffix ette indicates , pretty obvious , I know lol )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is : why they have to be low? and if I increased the height of the parallette would that decrease the effectiveness of the the exercises in other words which is more challenging for gymnastic exercises , lower or higher?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excuse my English as I am not a native speaker.Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7265" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T14:56:41.197" LastActivityDate="2020-03-07T15:18:38.560" Title="Why parallettes have small height?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14691" CreationDate="2013-12-07T21:50:51.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming, like literally any activity, can be a form of resistance training. However, generally in sports training the purpose of resistance training is to provide a more general stimulus than sport-specific training. That is, it's unlikely that you'll get much stronger by doing the same kind of swimming you've been doing for some time. You can absolutely gain more skill at the stroke, better conditioning for the activity, and so on, but as strength and power stimulus the sport-specific movement very quickly fades into inefficacy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, swimming can be resistance training, but if you're already pretty good at it then it won't provide the benefits of non-sport-specific resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T21:50:51.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14701" CreationDate="2013-12-09T10:35:52.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say you are new to running so first and foremost your body takes time to adapt. Your running action will also be slightly different running at slow speed than when running fast or sprinting. I find I tend to have a more slouched posture when on slow runs than I do when running at race pace. It could possibly have something to do with your trainers too. Get a gait analysis done and make sure you're wearing the correct trainers for your running style. As for 10k training, you need to vary your training as @Anthony Grist sys. Mix long slower runs with shorter, more intense intervals or speed work on a track. Bit the best advice I can give you is build up gradually. Don't do too much too soon. I was very enthusiastic when I started running so made that mistake and ended up having all sorts of problems with my knees and constantly feeling in pain. There isn't really a 'one size fits all' answer when it comes to running as everyone is different. Just listen to your body and find out what is best for you. You will soon improve over time as your body adapts and you will be able to do more without feeling tired or having aches and pains&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T10:35:52.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3406" CreationDate="2013-12-09T11:00:17.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No source since this is hearsay - apparently one japanese judo school has a yard where they tied bicycle inner tubes to trees and posts. The wrestler will cricuit between the posts and mimic throws by grabbing  pulling those tubes, to get a strhength (or strenght endurance) training very specific to their techniques.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T11:00:17.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14732" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14733" CreationDate="2013-12-09T11:05:32.123" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do muaythai and want to do something in between my (infrequent) training session to help my conditioning. I have a conceptual question about what works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On one hand, I often hear that at least 30 min. of constant work is the minimum to actually improve condition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the other hand, Ross Enamait writes that 20 min. of elevated heart rate is enough to achieve an effect, and advises to put a lot of intensity into those 20 min.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is which statement is closer to the truth? What mimimum time should I invest if I want conditioning benefits? How much active rest is allowed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T12:03:06.030" Title="What are the boundary conditions for effective conditioning?" Tags="&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14732" CreationDate="2013-12-09T12:03:06.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is false that 30 minutes of constant work is necessary to improve conditioning. It is a myth based on steady-state cardio training only, and is only true in some cases even when training in that modality. For instance, it may take a significant amount of time (circa an hour!) for an experienced long-distance runner to start challenging their conditioning in a low-intensity steady-state run. However, less experienced runners may take far less, and that long-distance runner could challenge their (general) cardio by doing shorter, faster sprints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even very short high-intensity efforts (e.g. 4 minutes) have proven to be highly effective for improving conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ross is closer to the truth. He is advocating for 20 minute high-intensity, high-density efforts with built-in rests in order to challenge all the metabolic pathways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T12:03:06.030" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14728" CreationDate="2013-12-09T15:08:45.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a higher set of parallettes, it will not increase the difficulty. A V sit done 12 inches off of the ground is not more difficult than one done 8 feet off the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it does do is increase the safety factor, in that if you try to pull through from a V sit into a vertical handstand on the bars, if you fail or lose grip then you do not have very far to fall. However, you do need to consider the stability, so when you make them be sure not to cut the cross member &quot;feet&quot; too short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T15:08:45.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-09T15:38:00.300" Score="2" ViewCount="2215" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are untrained muscles (and related tissues like ligaments and tendons) different from strong trained muscles, except for being less strong? Similarly, should “untrained” people train different in the beginning?  What would such a different kind of training look like? How much would this be more about specific exercises than the muscles themselves? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-12-09T16:59:07.070" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T16:59:07.070" Title="What is the difference between trained and untrained muscles? Should untrained people do muscular training differently?" Tags="&lt;joints&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;doms&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-09T16:24:35.027" Score="-2" ViewCount="569" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need discipline and will power for just about everything in life. Exercising really helps develop them, but are there any particular exercises, or a particular mindset, or even food that will help you master the two qualities? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7068" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T15:10:08.147" Title="How Do I increase my discipline and will power?" Tags="&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-12-16T19:46:32.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14735" CreationDate="2013-12-09T16:43:16.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only preparatory work that somebody might want to do before starting a beginner strength training program is gaining the necessary flexibility and awareness needed for maintaining form on some exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Areas that in &lt;em&gt;some people&lt;/em&gt; require a bit of preparatory work are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder flexibility for overhead work or bar positioning during the back squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring flexibility for pelvis positioning during squat and deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Awareness of lumbar extensors and learning to control lumbar position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no need to focus on these items unless form is suffering on particular lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you can complete with good form a few repetitions of the intended exercise, there is no extra preparatory work that is helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About increasing effort slowly, that &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; advocated by all novice strength training programs. These programs have you starting with something as light as the empty bar. They generally have you add a little bit of weight every workout. Depending on the person and lift, this can be as much as 15 lbs per workout, or as small as 2.5 lbs per workout. This is about giving your body time to recover and to adapt to the previously applied stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, some muscles during a movement can be weak. That is why during a novice strength training program, the starting weights are below what you're physically capable of. You shouldn't be pushing your boundaries on day one. As long as you increment by an appropriate amount every workout, you'll continue to progress within your body's ability to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/incremental_increases_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Incremental increases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user4644" LastEditorDisplayName="user4644" LastEditDate="2013-12-09T16:49:29.003" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T16:49:29.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14735" CreationDate="2013-12-09T16:51:28.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Untrained muscles are not &lt;em&gt;conditioned&lt;/em&gt; to doing hard work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really that simple.  The more hard work you do, the more conditioned your musculature and supporting systems are to doing hard work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who have physical jobs have muscles that are trained to do their jobs.  If that involves carrying heavy objects from one place to another, digging, working with concrete, etc., then the body and its connective tissues are already adapted to doing hard work.  The demands of lifting weights have the same impact on the body as working a physically demanding job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should an untrained person do differently than a trained person?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body can get acclimated to doing work pretty quickly.  Over time you'll be able to really push yourself to get stronger, more muscular, or whatever your goals happen to be.  There are a few recommendations that make a lot of sense for someone new to lifting weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on technique:&lt;/strong&gt; proper technique helps you do more work and it takes time to ingrain correct motor patterns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on proprioception:&lt;/strong&gt; understanding the position of your body while under load will help you fine tune your technique.  You should focus on making sure your body's position strengthens the movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't rush to heavy weights:&lt;/strong&gt;  It's all too easy to beat yourself up because you haven't hit some arbitrary goal by some date.  It will come, but you have to lay the foundation first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work on improving mobility:&lt;/strong&gt; particularly if you normally have a desk job, or poor posture, you will need to do some corrective exercises that will enable you to improve your technique.  This takes a lot of time, so don't rush.  Mobility is a combination of strengthening antagonist muscles to correct alignment, and stretching to improve your range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forget about optimal:&lt;/strong&gt; worrying about optimal while still a beginner is going to do nothing but get you spinning your wheels.  The point is to put in work and build a good foundation that you can build on later.  The less time you spend arguing about what's optimal (1-3 reps, 5-6 reps, 10+ reps?) and the more time you spend using all those rep ranges, the more strength you will have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest when it's time to rest:&lt;/strong&gt; goes hand in hand with not rushing to heavy weights.  Your body needs time to repair itself and make a stronger version of itself.  It's better to start with a full body template with 3 days a week than a 5 day split routine.  The purpose is to give your body a shock of work so it knows it needs to make a stronger version of itself, and the time to do it.  In the same spirit, if you are really fatigued, it's OK to do less work so your body can catch up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more work you put in, the more you'll have an idea of what goals you want to pursue.  You'll also have a better foundation to pursue those goals.  There's a reason 3 days a week works better than 5 when you are first starting out.  It's also best to start out with programs that are designed for beginners.  They are designed to help you build strength relatively quickly, but more importantly, they help build confidence as you get stronger.  They are built knowing the limitations of the average beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T16:51:28.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-09T17:15:39.977" Score="0" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have developed a habit of bringing a frozen water bottle to my &lt;code&gt;Bikram Yoga&lt;/code&gt; class.  When it gets really hellish, having a sip of still very cold water definitely neutralizes me better than drinking warm, previously not frozen water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I was wondering if that defeats the purpose?   The cold water certainly cools your body, i.e. does something opposite to what the environment you are in is conditioning you to be.  Is drinking icy cold water lessening the benefit of the hot element in my yoga class?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4592" LastActivityDate="2014-05-31T14:20:37.110" Title="Does it defeat the purpose to bring a frozen water bottle to hot yoga?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14736" CreationDate="2013-12-09T20:09:11.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are studies out there, and a lot of personal history has shown me, that heavy strength training and Olympic lifting require a tremendous amount of focus and central nervous system activity. When you are squatting (properly with a bar, please) heavy the amount of willpower you need to muster is pretty insane, as is the amount of control you need to exert over your body to make sure you move properly and don't hurt yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olympic lifting (cleans, snatch) requires a lot of focus as well, but you also need to focus nearly instantly and for most people it requires months or years of training to really nail their form, certainly if you're at a competitive level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise in general pumps dopamine as well as regulates it, and I'm sure athletes and trainees in many disciplines will report in that they achieve a tremendous amount of mental strength from the pursuit of their craft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding food, I'd focus on a balanced diet that specifically addresses the roller-coaster blood sugar cycle that many people are on. If you reduce your carbohydrate intake, especially simple carbs with high glycemic indexes you can very much regulate your mood in a positive way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are supplements and medications of course that can also impact your mental state, but that's another topic entirely and really outside the bounds of fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.joept.com/the-central-nervous-system-what-does-it-mean-for-your-training-performance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.joept.com/the-central-nervous-system-what-does-it-mean-for-your-training-performance/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_physical_exercise_on_memory#Dopamine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_physical_exercise_on_memory#Dopamine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9000155&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9000155&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T20:09:11.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14744" CreationDate="2013-12-09T22:24:05.380" Score="7" ViewCount="26952" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to improve the flexibility in arms: I want to get symmetric flexibility to the right and left. I am right-handed in writing but left-handed in most club games. The right side is becoming too strong and less flexible. I am trying to find ways to address the issue, I noticed the issue when I was doing warmup before some bench presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure which muscles are not relaxed: perhaps supraspinatus, infraspinatus and teres minor. After doing more and more trials, I can feel more stretch in the right joint -- perhaps I haven't just warmed up enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How would you improve the flexibility so that I could one day be able to do the movement touching both hands in both sides?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DdVu7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/37SDU.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2013-12-10T22:57:09.547" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T17:30:08.740" Title="Arm cross stretching behind the back, how to improve it?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14743" CreationDate="2013-12-10T23:15:13.997" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue related to bad external rotation and bad internal rotation: a reason can be that the shoulder blades are hunched together due to reasons such as too much sitting/typing work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/61xKf.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/61xKf.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the hunched shoulder blades (like too much sitting, too much benchpress) can impair the rotation movements and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WCK9k.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WCK9k.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the right arm in the internal rotation could not touch as of 2014 T7 let alone T3. The pictures are from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.orthop.washington.edu/?q=patient-care/articles/shoulder/evaluation-of-the-stiff-shoulder.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;UW Medicine Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By this material &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yinyoga.com/newsletter21_cowface.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, the arm overhead is close to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;external rotation, flexion and abduction of the right humerus in the shoulder socket&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (B in the picture &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wp1bi.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while the arm underneath is close&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;internal rotation, extension and abduction of the left humerus in the shoulder socket&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (C in the picture &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wp1bi.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so &lt;em&gt;the problem as of 2014 was likely in internal rotation, extension and abduction of the right humerus in the shoulder socket.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The collage picture below is of 2016 where the major rotational movements have been fixed. The summary below lists the techniques I used to improve the flexibility where the last one with rolling on the floor was the most effective, particularly with a soft ball for the shoulder cap and foam roller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MqTgH.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MqTgH.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary about the techniques to improve the arm cross stretching behind the back&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a test &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/FlexFunction/ShoulderMobilityOpen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (found after reading Kate's comment &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/9812/6066&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) with scoring, slightly misleading: you can also rotate the arms in the humerus that is not measured by the test&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;JohnP's suggesstion about swimming streches &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usmsswimmer.com/201001/swimmer_stretching.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; where the page 24 awesome (parcticularly the &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mLzyq.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;picture 2&lt;/a&gt; with external rotation)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;rolling on the floor, relaxing, putting arm behind the back and softly testing different directions is an effective and safe way to improve the shoulder blades flexibility and the rotational movements&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T20:40:04.183" CommentCount="8" CommunityOwnedDate="2013-12-10T23:15:13.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14745" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18000" CreationDate="2013-12-10T23:40:18.273" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9811/fitness-assessments&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; is a general question about fitness but it does not address the important features of boulderers such as strength of skin, strength of finger/arm/hand muscles and determination/discipline. The last one is a bit ambiguous but by that I am trying to measure the level of determination: perhaps some path tests with some traps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can the boulderers assess their fitness level?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q9k0j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T09:30:00.630" Title="Fitness asssesment for boulderers?" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;&lt;assesment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14788" CreationDate="2013-12-11T00:14:37.823" Score="2" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started to do workouts just recently, and I am doing weight training, but I seem to have a very busy schedule so I only get to go to the gym &lt;strong&gt;once a week&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do currently though is &lt;strong&gt;I jog around 1.5k before going to work everyday&lt;/strong&gt;(from the parking lot to the office, around 5 blocks away), but I feel it's not enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I do have some dumbbells at home&lt;/strong&gt; but I don't know which exercises should I use so I could compensate for the lack of time in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can usually have half an hour to an hour of free time when I come home from work, so I am looking for exercises that I could do before going to bed. I want to do it at night since I get home at around 8pm, and because I have to be up early morning to go to work(I leave the house at around 5:30 am).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises would be the most effective based on my schedule (gym once a week, jog every day) and resources(dumbbells at home, half an hour per day)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7246" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-12-14T13:19:55.073" LastActivityDate="2013-12-15T20:24:08.377" Title="How to have short work outs per day to compensate 1 day gym" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14736" CreationDate="2013-12-11T15:10:08.147" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try taking pre-workouts. Their entire purpose is to make you pumped to go to the gym. I won't post any links to products, but a quick google for &quot;pre-workouts&quot; will yield results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, my favorite preworkouts are banned. Jack3D original (with DMAA) and Craze (which apparently has a meth like compound, it'll be back on the market once the lab results confirm it has no such compounds)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also dendrobium. Some people swear by it, personally didn't like it. I found it just made me really dizzy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be sure to cycle on and off of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6925" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T15:10:08.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T15:30:12.467" Score="3" ViewCount="17668" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing crunches since 3 weeks. From last 1-2 days I am feeling pain in upper back/spine. The intensity of pain is not much, but i am feeling it all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing 3 sets of crunches (20 MAX in a set).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal to have pain after crunches? (or may be I am doing it wrong way)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain has just started in last 1-2 days. Should i do abondon crunches until pain is gone (or should i carry on with it)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7135" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T21:02:04.177" Title="Spine pain after crunches" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14673" CreationDate="2013-12-11T16:14:33.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a couple things, and one of them you'll have to rely on whomever you are coaching (even if it's yourself):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glutes and abs should be engaged, with no sag in the middle (i.e. the back is straight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs should be board straight.  There can be a slight bend at the hip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid excessive angling of the legs at the hip joint.  This engages the legs more than the abs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as you feel the plank in the back, it is no longer working the abs.  It is best to stop at this point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the person performing the plank can only get a few seconds in before they feel it in the back, it's better to let them rest and do multiple sets than to arbitrarily force time on them.  This article on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/trouble-with-the-tilt-correcting-apt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;correcting anterior pelvic tilt&lt;/a&gt; has some good information in it's justification of using bench planks rather than floor planks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T16:14:33.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14748" CreationDate="2013-12-11T21:41:11.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain can be an indication that something is wrong. It is not normal to have pain in your spine during or after crunches.  Abdominal muscle soreness could be normal, but not back pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper back pain from doing crunches may be caused by jerking or pulling on the head and neck with your hands to lift the head. If you tend to pull on the head, try changing your hand/finger position to lightly touching the top or sides of the head.  Avoid jerking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other ways to strengthen your abdominals without aggravating your back.  This q/a has some &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;abdominal exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; that should be better on the spine than crunches.  For example, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsqCDbiflsg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dying bug&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; will target the abs, but protect the spine. Personally, I would discontinue crunches until the pain subsides so as not to aggravate the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T21:41:11.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T22:49:20.670" Score="1" ViewCount="18369" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've decided to start weightlifting using the Starting Strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D0xXf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of a how to hold a barbell in a back squat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above image shows the barbell position for doing a back squat (the wrists are not in the correct position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am unable to to get my arms in that position.  With a narrow grip my hands are in front of my shoulders. To get my hands behind my shoulders I need to widen my grip to the point where I'm touching the weights on a 7' bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What stretches can I do to increase my flexibility so I can hold the bar correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T04:43:46.390" LastActivityDate="2018-11-17T15:11:09.467" Title="Unable to grasp bar doing a back barbell squat" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T22:54:08.610" Score="0" ViewCount="2727" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't quite understand how its supposed to work. Won't your body &quot;starve&quot; for energy due to the lack of carbohydrates in your diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7290" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T03:11:43.463" Title="Is the slow-carb diet bad in combination with exercise?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14752" CreationDate="2013-12-11T23:37:32.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reducing carbohydrates from you diet will not make you starve. Reducing them too low (server) will cause body to turn to protein for the production of ATP and Glucose to power you through the day. The problem being, that generally the MDA recommends 40grams of protein per day for normal human body function. The body will take the Amino acids that it has available (Muscle mass or any un-used Muscles in the human body) and send them off to the liver where they're converted into Glucose. The down side to this, is that it is a very slow process, and your body will start targeting un-used muscle that normally you want to use Glucose along side ATP, and Oxygen to burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2642" LastEditorUserId="2642" LastEditDate="2013-12-11T23:46:18.007" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T23:46:18.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14751" CreationDate="2013-12-12T01:57:27.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you stretch, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/&lt;/a&gt; and keep at it. It will gradually improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also checkout Rips video on the grip. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/mark-rippetoe-on-the-squat-bar-position/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.allthingsgym.com/mark-rippetoe-on-the-squat-bar-position/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T01:57:27.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14746" CreationDate="2013-12-12T05:40:54.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I miss the gym, i do around 200 squats and 100 crunches and perhaps Jogging for 15-20 mins. If you have dumbbells, then you can do some upper body exercises as well like overhead, side-bending etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7293" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T05:40:54.777" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-12T07:11:35.970" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past few years, I've worked out primarily by myself. I stay in shape, but I do not set goals, push myself, or try new workouts very often. While I have always been fairly fit, my workouts have gotten rather stale, and I find it increasingly difficult to motivate myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A workout buddy would be a step in the right direction, but probably not enough. What I really need is a recurring class or program, like CrossFit, where I can work towards fitness goals with a group and with trainers pushing me, helping me with my form, teaching me new workouts, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that where I live (SF Bay Area), CrossFit and similar programs cost anywhere from $120 - $150 a month, which is way out of my price range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do any of you have suggestions for how I could get a similar experience for a much more reasonable price?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7294" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T13:29:20.997" Title="Workout classes and training for little $$" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14717" CreationDate="2013-12-12T08:58:38.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; to work out what pace I need to be running at to hit target times. You put in your current time for a certain distance, the target time you want to do for that distance then it tell you how fast you need to be running for specific distances to hit that target time. It also tells you what pace you should be running each type of run. Easy/tempo/speed work/long run etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a short distance like 1.5 miles, I would recommend some short, sharp intervals (say, 5 or 6 reps of 0.25k hard, 0.25k/0.5k recovery) then some longer slow runs, say 3 to 5 miles. As the weeks progress then increase the speed and/or quantity of interval reps. On a treadmill you have the advantage of being able to pace and time your training very accurately. I wouldn't neglect the roads though. I find treadmill running very boring so if I were you I'd do my longer runs on the road. Each to their own though. Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T08:58:38.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14757" CreationDate="2013-12-12T10:52:02.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had pretty good success getting a few buddies together to train for an event in 6-12 months. I've trained for power lifting, Olympic lifting, and a few half marathons. With all of those I had the mental reminder that I was either going to show up and do well or show up and embarrass myself, which is decent motivation for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with each one I was also able to find like minded people. I have a few gym friends and fitness people tend to gravitate towards each other. If you have a buddy that might be up for doing some regional level competition, I'd go with signing up for something in your area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick an event, then sit down and come up with a training plan. Bill Starr 5x5 for power lifting, any number of running programs for half marathons, etc. It's not hard to find good training programs, it sounds like you mainly need a kick in the motivation pants which you might get from having a goal to shoot for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T10:52:02.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14766" CreationDate="2013-12-12T17:28:11.727" Score="2" ViewCount="1060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to finish a very successful 6 month strength training (5x5 variation) run. I went from 200 to 225 pounds with a moderate fat increase 10% to 13%. I'm about to hit 300 in Squat and already at 400 in deadlift. Doing PR in all mayor compound lifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can feel that I'm reaching my limit in terms of recovery and desired body fat. Based on your experience, what should I do next in terms of training, diet, supplements (if any) to get ready for a next strength training cycle and loose some fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider I'm 36 years, 6 foot 4 inches, not an athlete, have a full time desk job. Don't particularly like cardio but don't hate it. Love lifting heavy (for me) stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4889" LastEditorUserId="4889" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T17:48:36.130" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T13:17:04.057" Title="What to do after a successful 6 month hard strength training program?" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14761" CreationDate="2013-12-12T17:41:50.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing - take a week off.  Strength training tears down tissue before it's built back up.  Especially heavy training.  I've often heard it said that you're not really making gains while you're in the gym - you make gains while you're at home recovering from your training.  Be smart and learn to integrate &quot;time off&quot; during your training.  This will give your body and central nervous system a chance to recharge.  Try taking a break every 6 to 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T17:41:50.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14702" CreationDate="2013-12-12T18:58:40.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot spot reduce.  Losing weight in a specific area is not possible.  As Lego Stormtroopr indicates, start by tracking your calories, carbohydrate, protein, and fats.  Then, make a small adjustment in the amount of each nutrient you are consuming. Say, cut out 500 calories for the &lt;strong&gt;week&lt;/strong&gt;. Do try to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds per week.  Anything more and you may be catabolizing muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T18:58:40.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14700" CreationDate="2013-12-12T19:29:55.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burn doesn't really indicate a positive or negative stimulus. You'll often get the burning sensation if you do an exercise where the time under tension for your muscles is constant. For example, cable curls may cause more of a burning feel than dumbell curls because your muscles are contracted to some degree throughout the rep (so long as you don't deload the cable but dropping the weight all the way back to the stack).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, burn itself is not really much of an indicator of training effectiveness. When you first start out, there are really two things to key on: central nervous system strain and delayed onset muscle soreness. While these two are also not clearcut indicators of positive results, they do often correlate with intensity. So if you are stressing your muscles to a large degree, you will find that motor control degrades over the course of our workout. It's not just because your muscles are sore but also because your body itself is firing signals like crazy to coordinate muscle contractions to meet the demands you're placing on it. You're straining your CNS to train your body to recruit more muscle efficiently for future workouts. If you did a really heavy compound lift such as a squat or deadlift the systemic strain on your entire body can leave you quivering not because of muscular exhaustion but rather because your nervous system itself needs to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles soreness can be a bit scary, especially early in your training where frankly everything can hurt early and often. But it's fairly common for a very taxing workout to cause the muscles you loaded to be sore 1 to 3 days after. This again is often a good indicator that you're providing a heavy adaptive stimulus. It's not that the pain is good (and by all means, DO NOT train for pain), so much as your body is telling you it was overloaded and needs to repair and adapt. As you continue to train, the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) will become less shocking and easier to cope with if you follow a progressive loading pattern (i.e. up your weights by 5 lbs a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The burn itself doesn't really factor into you reaching your training goals. It's not something that signals a whole lot compared to you making note of your recover between workouts (CNS and muscle strain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift heavier weights for less reps. You want to stimulate your body&#xA;to grow not just to feel tired. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Concentrate on monitoring your&#xA;recovery. The higher your intensity, the much longer you need to rest&#xA;and heal between workouts. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burn really does not indicate a whole lot&#xA;in comparison.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6637" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T19:29:55.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14548" CreationDate="2013-12-12T19:59:34.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is often a difference in exercise selection between training for aesthetics or strength. The results can often be quite different even though both bodybuilding and strength training have many common elements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body building differs from pure strength training in that it emphasizes a form of hypertrophy that focuses on muscular swelling (&quot;the pump&quot;). The rep range for many exercises is thus in the 8-15 range rather than the low reps of olympic and power lifters. The weight is therefore often a bit lower too as the body builder is training for muscle growth through that effect. Combined with the need to target aesthetic weaknesses, bodybuilders tend to use many more isolation exercises than athletes who train for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most strength training outside of the body building focus consists of training the body to the use more muscle quickly. As result, an olympic lifter for example does almost exclusive compound barbell work on components of the snatch and clean and jerk. The goal is to train the body for explosiveness and thus his workout looks more akin to weight gymnastics than the careful concentration curls of body builder. The end result in physique can be quite different. A 250lb body builder will probably look much larger than an olympic lifter of similar strength. In particular, the body builder will have a far more developed chest in most cases. But if you put both in a strongman competition that tests overall strength abilities, the olympic lifter is far more likely to be able to succeed because his muscular and nervous system training was focused entirely on recruiting power output rather than aesthetics first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple rule of thumb is that a bodybuilder will look a lot more like a hollywood strongman, extremely cut with a large upperbody, but a competitive strength lifter will look far more like a classical strongman with a smaller chest and biceps but a relatively far more developed legs and back (since that's where the power in most compound lifts is generated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6637" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T19:59:34.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14761" CreationDate="2013-12-12T20:44:27.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have made solid progress. Congratulations, keep up the hard work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you I'd switch to a program that adds weight weekly or monthly, such as Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore's Texas Method from Practical Programming, or 5/3/1, or another similar program. That will keep you adding strength for quite a while longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd consider switching up exercises, to gain the benefits of variety: mobility, strength in different areas, injury and burnout prevention. For instance, switch one or two days a week from back squats to front squats, or switch entirely to front squats for eight weeks. The same goes for deadlifts (try RDLs, snatch-grip deadlifts, etc.), pressing (vary bench, overhead, dumbbell/barbell, maybe throw in some Turkish get-ups) and so on. Be careful not to add to much weight too soon on new lifts, even if they're very similar. If you get antsy working with temporarily lighter weights, keep at least one heavy workout a week using the lift you're more experienced with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd do one short cardio finisher for one to all workouts in a given week. Ross Enamait has some great material for metabolic conditioning, including his Magic 50 (5 rounds with 1 minute rest: 5 dumbbell snatches per arm, then 5 dumbbell swings per arm, then 10 burpees). I'm also partial to Glenn Pendlay's conditioning recommendations, which tend towards heavy kettlebell work for 5 to 10 minutes. Or, just run and do sprints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T20:44:27.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14752" CreationDate="2013-12-12T21:06:44.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Low-carb dieting or carbohydrate restriction is used primarily to reach ketosis. Ketosis occurs when your body is drained of liver glycogen, and it resorts to using your already or pre-existing fat stores for energy. Free Fatty Acids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can only start to burn these FFA's when your insulin levels are low, for example, when you wake up in the morning, you've been fasted for say 8 hours, you wake up insulin levels are low, you eat a bagel for breakfast, spike your insulin, it stays high for 3 hours, then you eat again, keep insulin high, repeat. If insulin is high, then fat-burning is low. Also consider, if you wake up and eat a carbohydrate laden breakfast before you work out, you must first burn through those carbohydrates (they are released as immediate energy) before you even touch any of the fat on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to popular belief your body will not &quot;starve&quot; from low-carb dieting for a minimum of 3 days, depending on size metabolism, exercise schedule, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From here, you're still not technically &quot;starving&quot; like the holocaust, but your body has now turned to catabolizing your muscle for fuel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're basically sending it a signal that food is scarce (keep in mind, 3rd day), and the human body's reaction is to go into a hibernation like mode, where it starts to eat away at the body for energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to do a carb-restricted diet, you would want to re-feed (have a high carb day) once per week to restore your bodies accustomed carbohydrate processing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially the point of low-carb is to restrict your carbohydrate intake so drastically that your body starts to burn fat, and stays in that fat burning state for a duration of time to see results. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to do unless you're very strict, and determined to do this. All you're doing is keeping your insulin low, so HGH (Human Growth Hormone) can be raised, which in turn burns fat, and creates an anabolic environment in your body. This can also be achieved by working out (burns all the glycogen, make sure you don't eat post workout to keep this fat burning going), fasting (religious or intermittent), as well as low-carb, or carb cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a fan of intermittent fasting. I don't like teasing myself with micro-meals 4-6 times per day. I don't like counting my carbs, so I just don't eat breakfast, don't eat post-workout, and I stay burning fat. It's actually working so well, I can't even bulk in a surplus. Very hard to gain weight at this point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the hard work, you're doing the right thing by searching for the answers. Good luck mate!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T21:06:44.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14752" CreationDate="2013-12-12T23:59:51.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A slow-carb diet is not necessarily a low carb diet. In a slow carb diet you are choosing low GI/GL carbs. A slow carb diet is much more compatible with exercise than a low carb one. You can have a good workout on a slow-carb diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a low carb diet your body can use fat and protein as sources of energy. That said, in my experience it is really hard to perform in your training session if you are on a low carb diet. I hear people say you can, say, lift weights on a low carb diet. However, performance is so poor I feel I'm wasting my time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4889" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T23:59:51.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T07:32:42.477" Score="-1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am girl, I am only 17 years old, soon I am going to be 18. I am only 35 kg and my height is 154 cm. I really want to gain some weight,&#xA;My body fitness is not good. I am not having proper body shape. Its becoming really hard to increase my weight. I am 35 kg from last 2 years!! I also want to increase my height.&#xA;My daily food habit-&#xA;For morning, 1/2 breads with vegetable or with eggs&#xA;For lunch, 1 plate rice with vegetable or fish or meat (depends on what is cooked )&#xA;For dinner, half plate rice with vegetable or meat or fish (depends on what is cooked )&#xA;I normally have 6 mugs of water  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please suggest me a proper diet plan, and what types of food will help me to increase my weight? &#xA;PLEASE HELP ME&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7304" LastActivityDate="2014-01-12T22:57:16.767" Title="Need to gain weight as soon as it possible" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14670" CreationDate="2013-12-13T10:38:48.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like you're really starting to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you consume more water than the first month. &lt;strong&gt;That's because the fatty acid decompose and trap water to form glucose.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, people normal drop slow, even gain an extra pound. But you still on the right track, you body taking water in and burring fat out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7214" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T10:38:48.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14761" CreationDate="2013-12-13T13:17:04.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A week off is overkill, I'd say three days at most assuming you have no injuries. Your body is tougher than you think. If you show signs of overtraining, then yes, I would agree, take time off. If you aren't, then there is no need for time off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good article on it:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fawnia33.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fawnia33.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try changing your routine up, I'd suggest drop-setting. It gives you a great combination of powerlifting and bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general jist of Drop Sets&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_set&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_set&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6925" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T13:17:04.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T14:25:14.797" Score="2" ViewCount="4049" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My situation&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 23 6'1/1m85, 188 lbs/85kg and I play squash at a national league level. I usually train twice to three times a week, always having at least a rest day inbetween. However, when there are tournaments, I often find myself having to play on 2 to 3 consecutive days. The first of these days is perfect as far as my knees go. However, on the following days, I will get sore knees while playing, with both knees being equally sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This only seems to happen with squash. I once prepared for a half-marathon and ran 10+km everyday for about 3 months, and I've never experienced trouble with my knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I've read&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently the problem I have is short quads and/or short hamstrings, or quads that are not equally strong on both sides of the knee. I don't think I have arthritis because I don't fit the symptoms. Moreover, I should've felt discomfort even when running I suppose. I've had bad posture when I was younger, where my upper thigh muscles were too short and were making my back arch inwards - this is why I think it might be a short muscle issue. Other than that, I have good shoes, and the squash floors have decent shock absorption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I've come for&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to have your take on this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you think it could be something else ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you have the same issue with high impact vs low impact sports ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How would you recommend to stretch quads and hamstrings best ? I can't seem to do it properly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What exercises would you do to strengthen the quads ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward for your advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7011" LastEditorUserId="7011" LastEditDate="2013-12-13T14:33:21.907" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T13:37:16.173" Title="Sore knees from playing squash" Tags="&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T15:39:18.783" Score="5" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a member of a competitive (Master's) rowing team and a former bodybuilder (20 years).  My coach recently announced that as a team, we need to spend more time (six to seven days per week, 45 minutes per session) training on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;indoor rower&lt;/a&gt; during our winter training for the next 4 months.  With my history in strength training, I'm a bit concerned that this amount of exercise volume affords little time for recovery.  Does anyone have references to the effects of exercise volume on recovery?  It's my belief that this new requirement may not be optimum for 50+ year old athletes looking to improve without experiencing long term injuries.  I should also add that we are expected to perform strength training with weights as part of our conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T18:48:37.353" Title="The effects of strength training volume on recovery" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T20:15:30.617" Score="2" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only lose weight keeping a certain diet (other diets, even suggested by doctors failed, also exercises don't work, doing or not exercises don't change the speed of me losing weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That diet is mostly avoiding carbohydrates, my lunch was mostly green stuff (eg: cabbage and similar things) and some protein (like egg, cheese, etc...) and for dinner a can of tuna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do that, I can lose 1kg per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I don't do that, I get back 1kg per week...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In two years I went from 126kg to 99kg to 110kg to 98kg to 119kg, if I eat tuna every dinner, I lose 1kg per week more or less, if I don't (for example if I eat tuna inside a bread, or eat a pork sandwich) then I get fat again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How I stay below 100kg without eating tuna every single day forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: From those wondering why tuna? Well, I like tuna since I was a little kid, this is why when I designed my weight loss diet I used tuna as protein source...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT2: I already eat less than the average person, weird questions relating my diet (&quot;why you eat so little? Are you sick?&quot; or &quot;why you don't eat rice like that builder dude over there? You are young, rice is good!&quot; ) are not uncommon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7307" LastEditorUserId="7307" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T11:34:57.517" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T22:06:28.253" Title="How to keep your weight from rising (after lowering it) without a strict diet forever?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T20:23:11.193" Score="6" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;For many years, I struggled to find a gym teacher willing to let me what I researched around the internet... They always looked at me, saw that I was fat (I am fat... 118kg right now, and 1.78 meters tall), and conclude I must lose weight, and give me lots of cardio or lots of machine-based exercise with lots of reps (like 3 sets of 25 reps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, to me those felt like wasting time, they rarely made a difference (ie: I would after six months use weights just a little bit higher than where I started), and every time I stopped, it undid everything 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I found a mostly shitty gym (ie: crap equipment, mediocre maintenance, no rubber flooring anywhere...) with a teacher willing to teach me free weights and serious heavy weight lifiting, it was the first time I did a squat for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that gym, I almost doubled all the weight amounts I was using in all exercises in 4 months, for example squat I went from 20kg on the first day to 80kg, that common biceps exercise I forgot the name in english, I used on my first day a 5kg dumbbell and ended using a 14kg one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I stopped (after those four months) because of perosnal problems, and did not went back for 10 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then one day I visited the gym, and did some exercises, and several of them I could do just barely less than what I could before (example, when I stopped I could do 44kg bench press, when I visited the gym, I could do 38kg, and in the next week in another visit could do 42kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Why a strength focused training you can skip almost 10 months of training and don't get much worse, but when you do the typical gym training (that I have no idea what he objective is, beside losing weight) if you skip the gym your body gets fucked up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7307" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T17:07:57.953" Title="Why typical gym programs don't work?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14770" CreationDate="2013-12-13T22:14:42.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, height is not something you'll have much control over. It basically boils down to genetics. Which brings me to my next point that you are very short so putting on a lot of a weight isn't going to be easy. However, 35kg is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; light and at your height, your ideal body weight should be around &lt;strong&gt;50 kg (range 43 to 58 kg)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Dave has pointed out, there are several other well answered questions on how to gain size/weight such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/6836#6836&quot;&gt;an answer from Dave Liepmann himself.&lt;/a&gt; If you would like to attempt to source more information from the internet, the process is typically referred to in the body-building community as 'bulking' so a simple google search of this will return a more detailed plethora of information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T22:14:42.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14776" CreationDate="2013-12-13T22:35:55.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will split my answer into two parts. Firstly answering your more specified question, and then secondly answering the question in the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What you questioned is basically, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;why did I keep my strength from&#xA;  one program yet I keep nothing from another after a long lay off?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the answer to this question is simple. With compound strength training movements, (such as the bench press which you mentioned) they are helped by good form. Someone with bad form can increase their lifts drastically over a short period of time simply by fixing common errors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it this way, the first time you get on a bike, your form is terrible and you need training wheels. Once you know how to operate the bike properly, you will be able to ride a bike for life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the flip side of this is, how fast or long can you ride the bike for? If you trained for years and were able to ride the bike 150km in a short period of time, coming back and attempting the same feat won't be possible after a long layoff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now in terms of &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;which workout works best..?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt; Now this is a much&#xA;  more difficult question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion all gym programs work. Lets face it, they all have you doing something active in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first major thing that separates all gym workouts is most of them have different goals in mind. This is the first part of picking the best gym workout for you. You have to ask yourself, &lt;strong&gt;what do you want?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasoning for this, is because, in my opinion, &lt;strong&gt;the best gym workout for you, is the one that you can commit to.&lt;/strong&gt; If you enjoy the workout, if you see results from the workout, stick with it. I can't stress this enough. The biggest downfall everybody has with excersize is consistency. There's no point doing the 'best workout in the world' if you can't convince yourself to complete it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the sounds of things in your case, you enjoy strength training. From your knowledge and the size of the lifts, I am going to assume your still a beginner. So what your going to want to do is find a strength training program that is aimed at beginners. My recomandation to you is the well-known book and program, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But by all means, as I mentioned earlier, you are encouraged to do your own research and try and find other programs which may appeal to you even more and there a vast range of other strength training programs such as &lt;strong&gt;Stronglifts 5x5.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck, and remember, stick with it. You won't have to lose your gains is you never stop training properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T22:35:55.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T22:49:55.197" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;After running, sometimes my legs muscles are stiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a way to speed up &quot;recovery&quot; when this happens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T22:12:13.923" Title="Stiff muscle recovery after running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T22:52:24.987" Score="8" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running in cold weather sure is painful, since the cold tends to burn my throat; afterward I usually am coughing some minor flem periodically for the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good way to help with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, is there anything about this that might be harmful in the long-run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T02:23:14.197" Title="Cold air on the throat and lungs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14548" CreationDate="2013-12-13T23:14:19.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my oppinion, there are several different goals people have when lifting weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have mentioned in your question, there is &lt;strong&gt;look/size/strength&lt;/strong&gt;. There are also others such as &lt;strong&gt;endurance/conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think everything can really be put into two classes; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People trying to attain 'the look'&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People trying to attain 'strength'&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: there can and will be crossover of the two.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these can be broken down even further. Before I get into that though, there is a little bit of a standard when we talk about &lt;strong&gt;rep ranges&lt;/strong&gt; (keep in mind, this is my opinion from experience and research and it is also quite a simplified look at it):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;**Rep Range**&#xA;1-5 Strength Training&#xA;6-8 Size Training (Hypertrophy)&#xA;8+ Endurance Training&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The look&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who train to look better are called body builders. You can't simply class all body builders together however, since they are also training towards different goals. Some things do remain the same in body building such as symmetry, low body fat/water during competition and higher muscle mass then the average person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At one end of the spectrum you have the Mr Olympia's (Ronnie Coleman, Arnold Schwarzenegger), these are people who are looking to put on a ridiculous amount of muscle while keeping everything symmetrical and 'proportional'. They can walk around on stage at around 135kg at 3% body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have people who want to achieve an aesthetic look and train towards a physique category (Steve Cook, Lazar Angelo). There people want to put on a lot of muscle but keep it to a level where it's not overdone. Everything needs to keep to strict proportions such as a small waste with the V taper laterals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Strength&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, strength training can be broken down by what certain people have as their goal. The one thing that remains the same however is that they all obviously want to gain strength in some form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At one end of the spectrum, you have the worlds strongest men and heavyweight power lifters. (Žydrūnas Savickas, Konstantīns Konstantinovs) These people can be 200kg monsters with ridiculously strong cores to assist the massive and heavy lifts they perform. They do not care about their body fat or proportions and only have the goal of getting as strong as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you also have people who compete in other activities, one example could be MMA, where the person has to fall into a certain weight class but still wants to gain strength in order to have the edge over opponents of the same weight. (Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones) There people keep their body fat to a minimum and while they still heavily train cardio, their lifting programs will mainly be aimed towards strength and conditioning rather than size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, there are several differences in how people train with different goals in mind. If there wasn't everyone would be training the same way. These things have been scientifically proven and tested by numerous athletes over the years so it is a known fact that certain training styles help certain goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6651" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T23:14:19.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14776" CreationDate="2013-12-13T23:47:13.463" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength is one of the physical attributes that takes longest to atrophy. Muscle endurance, cardio (particularly for a specific activity), and so on deteriorate much more rapidly. For instance, in &lt;em&gt;Science of Sports Training&lt;/em&gt;, Tom Kurz references Wilmore and Costill 1988 and 1999:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength, power, and muscular endurance can be maintained by working out once every 10-14 days, but not aerobic fitness, which requires at least three workouts per week with a training intensity of at least 70% of maximal oxygen uptake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(From page 222. Page 176 also describes strength losses with reference to the same studies.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why when you came back to exercise you experienced the results you did: much of your strength remained, but your endurance (such as fo machine exercises) almost disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T17:07:57.953" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T17:07:57.953" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14775" CreationDate="2013-12-14T00:33:47.657" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably aren't going to like this answer, but this is the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You gain weight when you eat more calories than you expend. &#xA;You lose weight when you eat fewer calories than you expend.&#xA;You maintain weight when you eat the same number of calories as you expend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to find ways of keeping your calorie count down. For me this means no snacking, and always eating small amounts of beer, bread, jam, soda, potato chips, and the like. You'll need to stop thinking of tuna and cabbage as a temporary arrangement if you want to manage your weight successfully long-term. They are real food and they are the kinds of things you have to eat if you don't want to be fat. I suggest learning how to cook more kinds of healthy food if you aren't happy with tuna every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: A few years have passed and I have seen a lot of stuff in the meantime. I am no longer sure that calories in / calories out is the whole picture of weight gain and loss. It's by far the most important factor but probably not the only one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4795" LastEditorUserId="4795" LastEditDate="2016-12-08T03:33:10.393" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T03:33:10.393" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14807" CreationDate="2013-12-14T03:54:07.113" Score="3" ViewCount="4612" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read this article &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2011/12/protein-powders-before-fasted-weight.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stating that BCAA suppliments can be substituted by consuming the whites of two hard boiled eggs prior to working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been on an intermittent fasting regimen for more than a month now but have never tried consuming BCAA prior to working out (or any kind of supplement pre/post workout for that matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would the inclusion of 2 hard boiled egg whites improve my workout, protein synthesis, etc in the long run? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm kind of afraid that by consuming the egg whites pre work out I might break my fast hours before I even want to start eating my post work out meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastEditorUserId="5997" LastEditDate="2013-12-14T08:01:20.657" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T09:04:17.770" Title="Substituting BCAA supplements with hard boiled egg whites before working out fasted" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14792" CreationDate="2013-12-14T04:38:55.010" Score="4" ViewCount="1439" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a compound free height gym, but all I find is machine gyms for bodybuilders or losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will buy that Starting Strength book, and some  equipment, I soon will move into a very spacious apartment, but how do I handle noise, and how can I avoid my weights being dangerous for floors below? Or it is a non issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7307" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-12-14T11:34:58.057" LastActivityDate="2013-12-14T23:53:42.183" Title="How to lift heavy stuff in an apartment?" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14746" CreationDate="2013-12-14T13:57:17.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your current training schedule, your basic load of low intensity training is in the recommended range of 2-3 hours (120 to 180 minutes, see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CDC recommendation&lt;/a&gt;) per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the 1.5k run takes 8-10 minutes and you do this twice a day, five days a week plus 60 minutes in the gym -&gt; 140 to 160 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic load of high intensity does not have to be that high, &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/the-4-minute-workout/?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NY times: The 4-minute workout&lt;/a&gt;, e.g. one 4 minute high intensity exercise per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the recommendation is (given that you don't have a specific goal and don't want to over train):  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once or twice a week do a 4 minute &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=tabata&quot;&gt;tabata&lt;/a&gt;, e.g. with&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYfNA_lmkHM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyeZM-_VnRc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mountain climbers&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For those days you skip the parking log jog, take a walk or slow jog&#xA;at night&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the dumbbells are too light to impact your large muscule groups and given your available limited time, they are of little use. Consider replacing them with one or two &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kettlebells&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-12-15T20:24:08.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-14T16:35:08.703" Score="4" ViewCount="1109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any trick to win in an arm wrestling or any training or exercises we can practice to excel in it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7315" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T06:54:19.413" Title="How to win in an arm wrestling?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14786" CreationDate="2013-12-14T23:53:42.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're going to follow Starting Strength, then the only equipment you'll need is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004UMM4QC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat/power rack&lt;/a&gt;. Make sure to get a rack that can support the bar on the inside AND outside, that way you can do the overhead press without the top of the rack obstructing you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing you want to address is safety: is the floor steel reinforced concrete, or is it just wooden flooring with beams? The latter is far less likely, but you should always check first just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get rid of sound there are several tricks you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell your neighbors. Telling them in advance will make them a lot less likely to report you for noise, and they can give you times to deadlift when they aren't at home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use planks to disperse load. Get a piece of wood or similar material and put it at the base.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use free carpet samples. Get a bunch of those carpet samples and use them as added padding to absorb the deadlift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy a rubber mat. Yoga mats are not very thick, so look for larger mats used in gyms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Control the bar&lt;/strong&gt;. The biggest thing you can do to minimize sound is control the bar on the way down, and never drop it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2013-12-14T23:53:42.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14796" CreationDate="2013-12-15T12:39:58.973" Score="-2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume , you are preparing for the world's toughest Examination, where a lot of Hard work is required to crack the Exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many hours of sleep would be enough to maximize your study hours but also maintaining good mental and physical health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7202" LastActivityDate="2013-12-15T16:44:47.410" Title="Sleep Hours during Heavy Hard work" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-12-16T22:40:40.213" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2013-12-15T15:05:13.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can find a deep-level answer to your question by studying D.T. Suzuki's book &lt;em&gt;Zen in Japanese Culture&lt;/em&gt; and he goes even deeper in his essay in &lt;em&gt;Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis&lt;/em&gt; (by Fromm, Suzuki, and De Martino). The picture is filled out by Eugen Herrigel in &lt;em&gt;Zen in the Art of Archery&lt;/em&gt;. Thinking to ourselves in words gets in the way of responses that have been trained into us by long practice. We need to be able to put the conceptualizing part of our minds into the deep background when a crisis-reaction demand comes up. Zhuang Zi talks about the &lt;strong&gt;fully realized human&lt;/strong&gt; with the same needs in mind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7321" LastActivityDate="2013-12-15T15:05:13.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14793" CreationDate="2013-12-15T16:44:47.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually sleeping 8 hours are good for health, but at least 6 hours are compulsory, otherwise you will feel tired after few days and may effect your studies. so sleep at least 6 hours  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7200" LastActivityDate="2013-12-15T16:44:47.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14780" CreationDate="2013-12-16T10:57:53.760" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There exists oral heat exchangers for this, see the image in the link below. I haven't found an English reference but they are easy enough to find in Sweden (where it can be very cold). I suggest you visit a store specialized towards running equipment, I'm sure they can help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that this is dangerous (unless we're talking serious cold weather), but you should always listen to your body. If it hurts you or you can feel the effects for a long time afterwards maybe you should be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/277/breathing-while-exercising-in-cold-weather&quot;&gt;Breathing while exercising in cold weather&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathon.se/sites/marathon.se/files/imagecache/650-100procent/sites/beta.marathon.se/files/images/upload/lungplus.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.marathon.se/sites/marathon.se/files/imagecache/650-100procent/sites/beta.marathon.se/files/images/upload/lungplus.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6568" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T11:30:09.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14775" CreationDate="2013-12-16T13:48:45.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a relatively simple solution would be using an app/website like myfitnesspal to keep up with your intake.  Shoot for around 160-200 grams of protein since it is the most satiating and probably the reason tuna is helping you lose weight.  As for fat and carbs, it really depends on how active you are.  If you're active, I would do more carbs.  If you're more sedentary, I would do higher fat.  You can then start playing with the macros every two weeks with the goal to take in as many calories as you can while you're still able to reach your goal loss every week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this is assuming that you don't have any autoimmune or allergy issues.  If you do, I would look into elimination/paleo/anti-inflammatory diet and still play with the intake/macros as indicated above.  There are many different approaches, it really depends on the person and also their goals.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5208" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T13:48:45.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2013-12-16T15:22:50.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there's much you can  beyond practicing (Unlime others here I'm skeptical about meditation), but make sure to practice a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice slow, or in a speed that you can execute the technique 100% correctly (so you don't drill wrong movements), and increase speed from there. Make sure your partners understand this also.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning - during sparring or other exercises, you don't want to be distracted by beeing exhausted, having aching muscle etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T15:22:50.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-16T17:48:54.587" Score="1" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to train for a marathon, but I'm getting IT band discomfort around 3 miles into my runs.  I've tried rest, specific workouts, different shoes, and KT tape, but the discomfort just isn't going away.  I can even feel it a little bit if I just touch the side of my knee where the IT band passes by.  Does anyone have a surefire cure for IT band issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7330" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T02:53:16.147" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T20:11:15.717" Title="Healing severe IT Band Issues" Tags="&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14779" CreationDate="2013-12-16T19:10:21.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rest and recovery is an essential part of any workout routine. Your after exercise recovery routine has a big impact on your fitness gains and sports performance and allows you to train much more effectively.&#xA;Some ways to go about this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch: After a tough workout, consider gentle stretching. This is a simple and fast way to help your muscles recover.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace Fluids: You lose a lot of fluid during exercise and ideally, you should be replacing it during exercise, but filling up after exercise is an easy way to boost your recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat Properly: After depleting your energy stores with exercise, you need to refuel if you expect your body to recover, repair tissues, get stronger and be ready for the next challenge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest: Time is one of the best ways to recover (or heal) from just about any illness or injury and this also works after a hard workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid Overtraining: One simple way to recovery faster is by designing a smart workout routine in the first place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are others such as getting ice baths and massage therapy, but do what is most suitable for your context. You can read/find more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/endurance/4-tips-to-speed-up-muscle-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sampleworkouts/a/After-Exercise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy recoveries!! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T19:10:21.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14775" CreationDate="2013-12-16T21:58:18.753" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To eat the things you like and still maintain a healthy weight, you should look to count calories, rather than eat specific things.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you should find out how many calories you should be eating.  There are plenty of estimators online such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.  That will give you an idea of how many calories you may need to eat per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by eating about 200 calories less than that number and observing your weight.  You should use a tool to measure your bodyfat such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002VAPHXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;skinfold calipers&lt;/a&gt;.  Try to get about one gram of protein per pound of weight (or about .5g/kg) in your diet.  This will help you maintain lean body mass and lose bodyfat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find you aren't losing weight at 200 calories below maintenance, reduce your intake by another 200 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Counting your calories is the tried and true method to control your weight.  After doing this for a while, it becomes pretty natural.  Personally I don't strictly count anymore, but I still have a pretty good idea of how many calories I eat each day, and whether or not I've hit my daily limit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T21:58:18.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14804" CreationDate="2013-12-16T23:05:54.810" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Klokov &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x522dB-4y2w#t=2m20s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;posted a video on youtube&lt;/a&gt; a while ago showing his flexibility during warmup.  He's obviously much more flexible than is necessary to reach a snatch position.  Does this degree of flexibility have any translation to strength and power?  If so, what are the physiological justifications for this?  Is there more &quot;room&quot; for muscle fibers, or something like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T16:18:14.083" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T16:39:43.230" Title="Is there any benefit to being more flexible than is necessary to reach position?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14803" CreationDate="2013-12-17T08:18:31.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having the minimum flexibility necessary to do something is suboptimal in a number of ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One's flexibility varies naturally day-to-day, so one might not be able to do something on a given day, or might be able to do it only by compromising posture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength nearer the end range of motion is reduced, at the same time that injury risk is increased.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accidental exposure to unwanted extreme positions is a reality of most sports. In weightlifting, missed lifts can go awry. In those cases, additional flexibility prevents injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T08:18:31.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14800" CreationDate="2013-12-17T09:37:49.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to regularly suffer with IT band pain whilst running. I started running in January this year and up until approx. 2-3 months ago I would get IT band pain, however it was random as to when it happened. Sometimes it would be a mile into a run, others I could run for 10 miles and have no problems at all. I tried applying a tubi-grip type support to the affected knee and this did give some respite however it did not clear up the problem altogether. I then tried doing stretching exercises specifically focussing on the IT band both before and after runs. You can see examples of such stretches &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/stretching-and-strengthening-exercises-iliotibial-band-syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Since I started doing these stretches I have had zero IT band trouble. I'm happily doing 40-50 miles a week now at a variety of intensities whereas before I would struggle to do 20 because of IT band pain. This solution may not work for you but it's definitely worth trying as it doesn't cost anything. Failing that, I would recommend consulting a physio for professional advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T09:37:49.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14791" CreationDate="2013-12-17T11:15:21.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/442511-what-muscles-are-worked-out-in-arm-wrestling/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on LiveStrong relating to arm wrestling&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I have been asked to summarise it (in case the link goes dead):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forearm strength and grip are very important. I would suggest hammer curls, barbell wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, dumbbell wrist curls and dumbbell reverse wrist curls. For your grip, you can get those hand grip exercisers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lock your elbow tight against your body after gripping your opponent. Your biceps and triceps stabilise your arm in this position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your opponent's hand is past centre (i.e. you are winning) rotate your body so it's positioned slightly outside your wrestling arm. This allows you to utilise your shoulder muscles, especially the posterior deltoid, to push down on your competitor's hand. Your (upper) back muscles contract and add force to your shoulder muscles, stabilising them as you rotate your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, this is where your chest comes in (pectoral muscles). Tightening your abs will bring stability - hence why deep-lying core muscles are important and why I suggested something like plank exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T09:49:26.150" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T09:49:26.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14785" CreationDate="2013-12-17T16:32:38.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read the article, as an advocate of Intermittent Fasting for the past 4 months or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes sense, and basically states that the inclusion of BCAA's post and pre-workout are beneficial to preventing the catabolic state that your body can go into during intense workouts without the immediate nutrition we are all so accustomed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;would the inclusion of two egg whites pre-workout improve my workout?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends, are you already supplementing with BCAA's? If not, then it's possible it will give you a slight boost in energy levels. If you are supplementing with BCAA's already and are looking for a switch, well - according to the article it's a positive one as the small amount of protein will boost your circulating insulin levels, keeping you out of any sort of catabolism, but not spiking your insulin to the point that you break your fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean I guess this is the controversial part. I don't believe that your body will go catabolic in hours. So with that in mind, I find myself asking how or why your workout would improve. According to Dr. Loren Lockman, your body will go after adipose tissue first. Which is long term fat storage, or the fat on your body. If this is the ultimate goal of your workout, then I think you would be best with BCAA's, although based on the findings, BCAA's and Egg whites are going to both give idealistic benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also point out that BCAA's are derived and produced with the intention of using during intense workouts to fuel your muscles. Egg whites are natural and not produced by anyone, so for a more natural approach I would say the Egg whites are your best bet. The BCAA's may work faster, as also mentioned in some of the comments in the article, the egg may take hours to activate protein synthesis, and it's more of a continuous process than BCAAs which enter your blood stream within a half hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're all in this for the long run. I think your choice to use intermittent fasting as a tool for weight loss and lean muscle gain is a good one. In reality, I think the change is minimal, and probably won't make too much of a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to worry about breaking your fast early, because as long as your training is intense, you will deplete glycogen anyway, and your body will raise HGH post-workout. Just don't eat any more egg whites then. BCAA's are OK though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might of rambled a bit, I apologize. This is all from personal experience, and research. I've been interested in the same types of things. Bulletproof coffee would be your best bet as a morning pre-workout/fuel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T16:32:38.787" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14803" CreationDate="2013-12-17T16:39:43.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, for example with Olympic lifts, specifically the Overhead Squat, being flexible is going to give you better form, better muscle contraction, better hand-grip positioning, where the bar travels, how far back or forward it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being flexible in the areas of your body that are ball and socket (i.e shoulder, hips) is important in any strength training protocol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle flexibility in chest and shoulders allows for greater range of motion, which correlates to more movement, which means more time under tension, which means more strength, and explosive potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a scientist or biologist or physical therapist so I'm unsure of any real science. But this is my not-so-common sense answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T16:39:43.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14821" CreationDate="2013-12-17T18:26:48.710" Score="5" ViewCount="462" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do have tight hip flexors &amp;amp; so have hyperlordosis. I have been doing many standing yoga poses (like warrior - 1\2\3 half moon pose, triangle pose) for last 2-3 months, but progress is very slow. How much time does hip flexors take to gain flexibility? I do have this tightness on left side only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it some other thigh muscle, which is causing hip flexor to loose flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any better way to understand anatomy? Is there any software which simulates muscle movements in a particular yoga pose..?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do sit for long as my job demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7338" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T07:56:49.620" Title="Yoga for tight hip flexors" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-17T21:12:30.893" Score="1" ViewCount="1062" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started to get shoulder pain from pullups.  I try to get 50+ pulls ups in once a week, but the last two weeks, after 10 the pain is enough to make me stop.  What can I do to alleviate the pain or what is a good short term replacement for pullups while my shoulder recovers.  The pain is on the pull and relieved on the descent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-09-07T13:48:11.760" Title="Shoulder pain during pull ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15330" CreationDate="2013-12-17T21:24:14.077" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about following one of Hal Higdon's programs, which includes hills. Unfortunately, Hal's definition of &quot;hill&quot; is very vague. Because there are no hills where I currently live, I am using a treadmill. I can set up to 15 degrees of incline. Currently I am running several repeats of the following: running up a 9 degree incline for 4-6 minutes, followed by 3-4 minutes of running at the same speed at zero incline. Does this make sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5107" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T17:49:27.047" Title="How to mimic hills running on treadmill?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12882" CreationDate="2013-12-17T22:24:19.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought myself a Stamina inmotion elliptical on Amazon, placed it in front of my TV, and started using it while watching movies. With the resistance set to high, it was quite a workout. My injury has healed long ago, but I still use it instead of long runs whenever it is too hot or too cold to run outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5107" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T22:24:19.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14791" CreationDate="2013-12-17T22:38:06.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what the sources say, winning in armwrestling is mostly based on, at least from the perspective of the biomechanics of your arm, your wrist, hand, forearm, biceps, and chest strength. Supporting muscles are the shoulders, lats, and even triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key aspect to winning can (and usually is) be observed as a combination of skill and strength. In professional comp. most armwrestlers try to get an edge on their opponent based on varying grip positions and fast-twitch muscle fibers to get a leverage/torque advantage over their opponent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6dKJv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Variations that can make or break good positioning can be: stance of your feet, angle of the difference between two arms(e.g. picture above clearly shows the woman on the right in a disadvantage), and body positioning(i.e. how close your arm is to your body can affect your lat's pulling ability).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While strength is key, speed seems to rule out as, if you've seen pro matches, the winner is usually faster, but may not exactly be stronger(e.g. applying torque a split-second faster, moving the arm out of comfort, and placing the opponent in a very delicate position is usually how most win). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, a good indication of strength is not done with armwrestling. As one person loads stronger than another can lose to them at armwrestling, armwrestling is not a very accurate measure of upper-body strength(especially with so many varying factors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7339" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T22:38:06.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14752" CreationDate="2013-12-18T02:59:35.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can debate it all you need. I'm going with results. I'm 56, have been obese all my life. At my highest weight I was 410lbs. A co-worker lost 65+ lbs. on the slow carb diet and got me motivated. I started religiously in the 3rd week of August 2013. It is now the 2nd week of December 2013 and I have lost 84lbs! I have more energy than ever! High blood pressure....gone!  Knee pain....gone!  Attitude....phenomenal!  Brain function and memory.....sharper than ever!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7342" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T02:59:35.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12798" CreationDate="2013-12-18T04:28:52.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;set goal for 50 200 400 800 1K while maintaing the form, what I use is Ti(&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/rJpFVvho0o4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Total Immersion&lt;/a&gt;). This style is meant to be letting you swim for a long distance and effortlessly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7214" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T04:28:52.650" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12291" CreationDate="2013-12-18T09:33:00.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whatever imbalances or omissions muay Thai creates will be washed away by the use of basic strength training. Heavy resistance is simply dramatically more effective than technique work at growing muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Correctives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that proper muay Thai technique involves a hunched upper back and frequent pushing (punching) movements. These are best balanced with pulling movements like rows (bodyweight or weighted), deadlifts, and pull-ups. Any imbalances in leg development that may be produced by training would be obviated by heavy lunges and/or squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think that core or ab work is missing in your training then that would be a good area to supplement. I'm not very knowledgeable on that topic so I would recommend looking into Ross Enamait's advice. I've found Infinite Intensity to be a good source for S&amp;amp;C advice for fighters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Optimizations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though training involves a lot of punching, push-ups, and other pushing movements it's still a good idea to improve the strength and efficacy of one's pushing movements with dips, handstand work, or weighted presses. Power training such as Olympic lifts (cleans, snatches, jerks, and their variants) with a dumbbell, barbell, or kettlebell would also be useful for improving speed and explosiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Results&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So then we're left, &lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/a/1960/347&quot;&gt;as usual&lt;/a&gt;, supplementing a combat sport with fundamental resistance training: weighted lower body work using heavy dumbbells or barbells, pseudo-gymnastic work for the upper body, and eventually power training. This is universal: there is little need to make a muay-Thai-specific approach to strength and posture training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general approach will optimize your strength and mobility for muay Thai as well as correct any imbalances that muay Thai might be producing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:49:44.007" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T09:33:00.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12291" CreationDate="2013-12-18T11:00:36.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I notice two omission from the previous well articulated answers:  2 major imbalances in muay thai are:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  Muay thai is not a seasonal sport like wrestling or baseball -- so there is a time imbalance.  There is no off-season, thus no extended unloading phase...there is not a dedicated time to do the basic strength training that @Dave recommends.  Often, in sports in general, you train hard and compete hard knowing that you will have a good 2 months, at least, to regenerate and work on re-balancing your body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  Muay thai is not physically symmetric -- once side of your body is trained to perform differently than the other.  If you are right-dominant, the sport will ask you to train your right side for power, leaving your left side for stability/speed.  Similar to pitching, practicing free-throws, etc, one side will always perform differently than the other.  This is not a bad thing, just an indicator of the exercises you may consider doing to regain balance either in between fights or during preparation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T11:00:36.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14809" CreationDate="2013-12-18T14:14:52.183" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best stretches for hip flexors are variations of the standing lunge. The basic version looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J0JW7.gif&quot; alt=&quot;standing lunge&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two main components to get the most out of it, if the goal is stretching the hip flexors, are: extension of the hip (putting the leg far behind) and flexing the back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga is great for a start. Most versions of yoga 'sun salutes' include everything you need to counterbalance the effects of prolonged sitting. I'd use every opportunity to do some stretching because 8 hours a day of sitting is a lot to compensate for. If it's not possible to do a full set of sun salutes in the office, just stand up at least once in every hour, it will make a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand the anatomy you need to know which muscles are involved, where they attach, and what they do. To stretch, the attachments must move farther away from each other.&#xA;Take for example the psoas major, it flexes the hip, extends the lumbar spine, and bends the trunk, so if you want to stretch it, do the opposite of &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt; action, ie. extend one hip, flex the spine, and bend in the opposite direction (lift the same arm as the leg extended), which will look something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DAEBT.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DAEBT.png&quot; alt=&quot;reverse lunge&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2018-03-03T23:31:15.877" LastActivityDate="2018-03-03T23:31:15.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14822" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14825" CreationDate="2013-12-18T18:21:46.803" Score="4" ViewCount="12584" Body="&lt;p&gt;After taking a 6-8 week break from Stronglifts, what is the appropriate way to get back into it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my issue, I was incredibly faithful to going to the gym 3 times per week for about three months. I progressed on Stronglifts (starting at suggested minimums) without stalling on anything except for overhead press. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right around three months into it, my wife got sick, followed by my kids getting sick, followed by a road trip with friends, etc. All in all, I have missed six weeks of going to the gym and it may be eight weeks by the time Christmas passes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I handle this? I do not want to injure myself but would prefer not to start at the beginning? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I switch to something like starting strength since (I believe) that allows you to start at something above minimum? Or should I just progress more quickly on stronglifts? Or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for all your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Related question here (I feel mine is different because I really missed a significant amount of time): &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6673/how-to-handle-a-break-from-stronglifts&quot;&gt;How to handle a break from StrongLifts?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6710" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T13:04:35.880" Title="Took a 6 week break from Stronglifts. Now what" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14823" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-18T18:25:01.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What is Intermittent Fasting?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. There's really no strict rules as to what you should eat, but rather focuses on when you should eat them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fasting has existed for many, many, many years. Ancient hunters/gatherers typically fasted between meals (though not by choice), and thus this is considered an optimal way for the body to perform. There were days where food was readily available, and other days where it wasn't available at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is most commonly used for weight loss in today's social circles, so long as you don't compensate by eating too much during your eating periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What are some common cycles?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common &lt;strong&gt;IF&lt;/strong&gt; cycles typically involve daily 16 hour fasts or fasting for 24 hours twice per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What are some common methods?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many different methods to &lt;strong&gt;IF&lt;/strong&gt;; below are some of the most common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The 16/8&lt;/strong&gt;: Also called the Leangains protocol; this method skips breakfast and restricts your daily eating period to &lt;strong&gt;8&lt;/strong&gt; hours (for example; 12-8pm). You then fast (don't eat) for 16 hours and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat-Stop-Eat&lt;/strong&gt;: With this method, you'll fast for 24 hours, once or twice a week; typically from a meal such as breakfast, to the next breakfast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The 5:2&lt;/strong&gt;: In this method, you only consume 500-600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week; you then eat normally the rest of the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people find the &lt;strong&gt;16/8&lt;/strong&gt; method the most maintainable and simplest method overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29322" LastEditorUserId="29322" LastEditDate="2018-10-03T13:25:34.803" LastActivityDate="2018-10-03T13:25:34.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14824" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-18T18:25:01.840" Score="0" Body="Intermittent fasting involves a period of fasting followed by a period of feeding" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="6884" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T02:45:14.703" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T02:45:14.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14822" CreationDate="2013-12-18T19:52:42.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First a couple of points to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6-8 weeks is not long enough to lose all of your strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is long enough to lose &lt;em&gt;a little&lt;/em&gt; of your strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will be sore the first week back doing Stronglifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer will essentially be the same as the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6675/879&quot;&gt;question you pointed to&lt;/a&gt;, it's just a matter of degree.  Nothing is more demoralizing than trying to work with weights you've used before, but now you are struggling with them.  You'll want to deload to the point where the weight feels easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A recommended starting point is to put your maximum deload numbers as 20% lower than when you left off.  Then take a day to test where the bar starts to feel heavy for your 5 rep sets.  If it feels easy all the way up to the 20% deload number then stop there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, let's say your ending numbers were something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: &lt;strong&gt;225 lb&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; 20% -&gt; 180 lb max deload weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: &lt;strong&gt;155 lb&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; 20% -&gt; 125 lb max delaod weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: &lt;strong&gt;305 lb&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; 20% -&gt; 245 lb max deload weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press: &lt;strong&gt;95 lbs&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; 20% -&gt; 75 lb max deload weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those would be reasonable starting with just the bar and working up.  Since Stronglifts is all about 5 rep sets, we care about what you can do for 5 reps.  And because you will be doing multiple sets at 5 reps we are going to be very conservative.  When you do your testing, it will always be 5 rep sets, and you will stop when the bar starts to feel heavy.  Then use the weight on the set before that as your starting weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the squat as an example, lower body strength is very resiliant.  Do your testing like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bar x5 -- should be easy, but ingrain the movement again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;105 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;120 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;135 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;160 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;180 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still felt really strong after 180, just stop and use that for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the bench as the next example, upper body strength is something most beginners have to fight for.  Do your testing like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bar x5 -- should be easy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;85 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;110 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;125 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;140 x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;155 x5 -- starts feeling heavy here&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case you would use 140 to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way you can start your training without fearing that you are going to miss reps right away.  You'll quickly regain the strength you left off at, and have to work at building new strength.  Or you can do the draconian method and just start with 50% of where you left off which is something Mehdi might advocate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T19:52:42.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-18T20:13:27.753" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;First a little background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 29 yr old 5'4 250 lb guy that is currently a web developer (so a lot of sitting...I'm definitely considered sedentary). I have a gym membership that I'm not currently using (sounds familiar, I am sure). However, my weight loss efforts have suffered previously due to not having a sound plan. (and I like food). I did use to weight lift in high school, and the lowest I've weight is 170lbs. I'd like to get down to that again (or just under 200 lbs would be amazing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as exercise, if I get past the initial pain, I enjoy running the most for cardio. I got to Week 9 on the couch to 5k running plan. I really liked the way the couch to 5k plan gave you a roadmap to follow, and I think that's why I had so much (relative) success - granted, I didn't finish, but I was really feeling the benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to start lifting again, but with a focus on trimming down rather than bulking up (I'm big enough, thanks). Lean muscle is my goal. &lt;strong&gt;Where is the best place to get a lifting regimen for the purposes of slimming down and getting lean muscle?&lt;/strong&gt; If paying for it is the best option, I am not opposed to that at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7347" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T22:13:17.253" Title="What is a recommended way to get a custom work out regimen designed?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14822" CreationDate="2013-12-18T20:33:35.353" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You were lifting for &quot;about&quot; 12 weeks and now you are taking a 6-or-more week break. That's a lot of time off compared to the amount of time lifting. It's almost as if you're doing the program for the first time. You should deload by 25 to 75 percent, then restart the program just as you were. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you followed the program exactly and had no deloads or stalls--which are all terrible assumptions--let's look at your squat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st day: 45 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One month / 12 workouts in: 105 pounds, since you added 5 pounds each workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three months / 36 workouts in: 225 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, my first squat workout getting back onto the program would be between 95 and 145 pounds. Those are massive deloads. You might be able to do more, but StrongLifts isn't about really pushing your limits in the early stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T13:04:35.880" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T13:04:35.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14826" CreationDate="2013-12-18T21:26:06.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend getting in contact with a personal trainer at your local gym. If your gym is in a small town with no personal trainers - go to another gym that has. Trust me, someone that knows their stuff really pays off in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, despite you loving to run, I would suggest eliptical machines or bicycle. The reason for this is just for your knees - they'll thank you after a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to slim down is to start in the kitchen. This is where the major gains will be made. You need proper fuel (food) for your machine (body). Perhaps just cutting down on soft drinks or chips or whatever it is you are keen on eating as snacks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get used to training and eating a little healthier, than I suggest getting a nutrition plan. Infact, depending on your motivation, I would suggest you get one now but that may impact your motives very drastically once you start craving the unhealthier sweets and snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get an evaluation with a personal trainer - make him your coach. See him for questions, tips, workouts, etc. My coach loves that I go to him for everything and most of all - he loves that I'm motivated. Show him that you're motivated and he'll be motivated to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T21:26:06.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14834" CreationDate="2013-12-19T00:10:31.960" Score="0" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to try something new so I'm doing something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bench press 2*20 2*6-8&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for each exercice, I'm doing 2 sets of light weight and 2 sets of heavy ass weight with 1 minute rest between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this kind of routine be effective compared to an only light or only heavy routine? I'm trying go gain some mass and build some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T11:21:29.070" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T13:47:42.357" Title="Light/Heavy weight in a training day" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-19T07:44:06.173" Score="1" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;After doing 'kickbacks', I have started to experience extreme pain in my elbow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know, what possibly I might have done to cause this pain. Also, I want to know how do I cure the pain? I have taken break from the gym since few days of this pain. It has reduced but it still remains&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T20:48:04.573" Title="Elbow pain due to tricep exercise" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14831" CreationDate="2013-12-19T08:59:26.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You most likely have developed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/arthritis-tendinitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tendonitis&lt;/a&gt;. Several causes for this problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bad form&lt;/strong&gt;. You should either ask someone experienced to take a look at your form or record yourself so that you can watch for any mistakes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Too heavy too often&lt;/strong&gt;. You're using too heavy weight and too often (85%+ 1RM sets 2+ days a week). While your muscles may be ready to take on the weight, your joints and CNS may not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dukehealth.org/orthopaedics/services/sports-medicine/care-guides/injury-recovery-the-rice-principles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RICE principal&lt;/a&gt; for the most optimal way to recovery. You can also try to go get acupuncture done as well for speedy recovery. You can continue to lift, just not any exercises that induce pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7351" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T08:59:26.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12567" CreationDate="2013-12-19T12:54:11.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am Swimming too, in cold water. Wearing a neoprene cap is very good, if you buy one, make sure you get your Money back, when not satisfied. It must fit very tightly, no Exchange of water!! I put a rubber ring around the cap, to avoid seepage when breaststroking. I use a cap, material thickness 2 mm.The chin-strap is not very strong, not to be overstretched! You may get them with , 4 mm. Or put two on your head. A bit thinking and Trials are recommended. I swim around 2hrs, when cold, less than 20°C, putting on a wetsuit, too. I am Swimming in a lake, if you swim in a pool  and doing a Kind of professional turn at the end of the lane, the loss of your cap could happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7353" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T12:54:11.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14829" CreationDate="2013-12-19T13:47:42.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having competed as a bodybuilder for 20 years, I can tell you that there are many approaches to stimulating muscle growth.  But, the most important one is to train &quot;smart&quot;.  Know what your body can tolerate and push it just a bit further.  This does not necessarily mean to lift &quot;heavy ass&quot; weights.  However, you must push your body past the point where your muscles adapt to the load that is placed on them.  In my opinion, I would use the first set as a fairly light warm up. Enough to achieve 10 to 15 reps. The aim being to warm and prepare the muscle for the load it will receive next.  The subsequent sets should place an increasing load on the muscle being trained.  This approach should be adjusted in subsequent weeks when you are able to lift more weight.  Additionally, you must eat correctly and sleep sufficiently to support the increased demands on your body.  Lastly, make sure to stretch the muscle being trained after each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T13:47:42.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-19T13:43:01.373" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run 3-5 times per week, averaging about 30 kilometres. My runs range from short 5-kilometre runs (at ~22 minutes) up to longer 15-kilometre runs (at ~1 hour, 20 minutes). I suppose my cardiovascular fitness is somewhere between okay and good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to my runs, I have been doing Adidas' Micoach-guided workouts, 1-2 times per week, which includes different lunges, squats, push-ups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently switched to the Nike Training Center app, which packs tougher workouts, and I am now starting to notice that my agility is pretty weak. These workouts also include different lunges, dead lifts, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;em&gt;will doing these workouts eventually increase my agility, or should I incorporate some agility exercises in my weekly routine?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Reinoud Schuijers" LastEditorUserId="33195" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T04:52:22.497" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T04:52:22.497" Title="Will doing regular workouts improve my overall agility?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14837" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14838" CreationDate="2013-12-19T15:52:39.583" Score="7" ViewCount="461" Body="&lt;p&gt;So when I exercise does it use up my testosterone, does it produce more? or none of the above. How do I use my testosterone storage and kinds of things can decrease it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7068" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T16:49:21.640" Title="Does Exercise Decrease or Increase testosterone?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14837" CreationDate="2013-12-19T16:49:21.640" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seemingly simple question is actually rather complex.  I'm going to provide a list of articles to give you a good background on what it is you are asking, and then provide some highlights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2012/09/anabolic-workouts-revisited.html&quot;&gt;Anabolic Workouts Revisited&lt;/a&gt; (anabolic means increase in testosterone, IGF-1, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://suppversity.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/intermittent-thoughts-on-building.html&quot;&gt;Zoning in on the Big &quot;T&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://suppversity.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/intermittent-thoughts-on-building_02.html&quot;&gt;Quantifying the Big &quot;T&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some highlights that will help are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not all exercise is the same.&lt;/strong&gt;  Exercise that helps you become stronger will increase your T levels more than exercise that helps you endure longer.  I.e. weight training raises T levels more than marathon running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training density and volume affect T levels.&lt;/strong&gt;  You have a bigger response with full body training with short sets, short rest, and lots of volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There's more to building muscle than raising T levels.&lt;/strong&gt;  Testosterone is a hormone that triggers other hormones and physiological processes like IGF-1, etc.  You will have a natural rise in T levels while you sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress and catabolic states can temporarily decrease T levels.&lt;/strong&gt;  Catabolism is a necessary process so you shouldn't try to eliminate it.  However, excessive catabolism due to overworking and under-recovering can depress T levels longer.  In short, you can do too much work over a short period of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of those articles has studies and further articles for you to look at and get a better picture.  Like most physiological processes, it is incredibly complex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T16:49:21.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14839" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-19T18:27:56.600" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is the correct site to ask this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say that I take a casein protein shake in the morning let's say 8 am, this will be slowly digested so I will have nutrients during several hours&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a medium-fast metabolism&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the casein shake it's supposed to last for 8 hours&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I take my second breakfast at 10 and then my lunch at 12&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So by the time I have my second breakfast and lunch the casein protein is supposed to be in the process to be digested&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what happens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does my body need to wait until the casein protein is fully digested to be able to digest something else? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does my body can start digesting my breakfast and lunch like at the same time while the casein protein is till being digested?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words does digestion work like a Queue in such a way that it has to digest the first meal before digesting the next meal or can it be digested in parallel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Yeah I'm a geek developer jaja)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking this because since I'm taking the casein protein in the morning I feel less hungry than before and this scares me because I feel I wouldn't be able to reach my calories goal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3981" LastEditorUserId="3981" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T18:43:44.763" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T01:02:09.690" Title="Slow digested meals while keep eating" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14836" CreationDate="2013-12-19T18:28:01.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agility is a term that comprises multiple assets of an exercise program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;balance - if the nike workouts incorporate any single leg or off-balance workouts you should be good, otherwise you could incorporate exercises that use those balance boards, or swiss ball work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;coordination - how do you really measure your coordination based on exercises? I think you would have to test this yourself, and see if you're as coordinated as you had hoped.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;speed - speed work, explosiveness, are both important to a sudden change in position. If you're already doing dead lifts you could do light weight deadlifts on a balance board, or explosively, by getting from start to finish position as fast as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reflex - your reflexes again are more measurements you would have to test on yourself, I don't think there's any way to tell how quick your reflexes are unless you were in some kind of martial arts program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strength - obviously you're increasing strength, as long as you're lifting an appropriate weight (are you getting sore post-workout, DOMS?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;endurance - you're greatly increasing your endurance by mixing your short and long distance runs, to be able to run 15Km is impressive nonetheless&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you trying to get specifically agile for a competition? Or just increase overall agility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say, learn your body by doing explosive plyometric work, high-box jumps, rope slams, hit a light bag as fast as you can if you have access to boxing equipment. Heavy bag work dodges and jabs, cross work. If you have no access to HIIT equipment such as the high-box or ropes, nor do you have access to boxing equip, you could do explosive plyo at home, by clap pushups, kip pull ups, cross-fit may be a big benefactor to your overall agility development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T18:28:01.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14839" CreationDate="2013-12-20T01:02:09.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, your stomach is not like a queue-dequeue data structure.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As food enters your stomach it gets disolved and decomposed by a number of enzymes that all work on micro- and macro-nutrients in different ways. Depending on the size, structure, and in some cases your genetic make-up these will all be processed at different speeds in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of this, some nutrients are absorbed in different places throughout your digestive tract. So, while they might be broken down in the stomach, they won't be absorbed until they are in the small intestine after other enzymes and digestive fluids have been secreted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body takes between 24-48 hours to excrete the waste from a meal, so given two meals eaten within a few hours of each other, it is very difficult to say which will be digested first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to meet a caloric goal, and are having trouble, look for easy to inject, high-calorie options. Drinks are especially good as they can be high-calorie, with relatively little bulk. Whole-fat milk, juice and protein drinks are all good options for high-cal drinks, depending on your macro requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T01:02:09.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-20T06:16:31.520" Score="3" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a vegetarian (though I eat eggs). I feel that there are very less items which really help in gaining weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far I know, bananas, bread, sprouts, milk are the some of the items that I have particularly included in my diet to increase weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know other items that I could include in my diet. It would be really helpful if someone could provide me the list of options that are available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T22:00:54.810" Title="Weight gaining diet for vegetarian" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14882" CreationDate="2013-12-20T06:35:17.950" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my friend said that &lt;em&gt;doing sit ups&lt;/em&gt; will &lt;strong&gt;prevent growth height&lt;/strong&gt;. Is that true or just a whispers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7359" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T03:35:52.540" Title="exercising the abdominals, height" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-01-23T04:53:29.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14831" CreationDate="2013-12-20T10:01:49.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These two points might seem pretty simple however extremely important and good to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First rule, &lt;strong&gt;STOP&lt;/strong&gt; your workout exactly when injury happened and DO NOT continue the session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the coming weeks, don't leave the injured muscle/joint isolated due to the injury. The trick is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; to directly work it directly, but to work &lt;strong&gt;around&lt;/strong&gt; it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In more details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as you feel something out of the ordinary happened and your instincts are telling you that this is not a normal pain which happens during lifting, stop what ever you you are in your plan are and go home to give the injury the attention it needs. No more reps no more sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people say, &lt;em&gt;I just started the workout and I don't want to leave it halfways&lt;/em&gt; and this costs them at best some injury which drags for a long time and at worst a permanent one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So indirect and controlled (lower than normal weights and intesity), multi-joint moves will be good for the injured part to bring him back to the normal state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have dealt with couple of fairly serious injuries including &lt;strong&gt;knee and wrists&lt;/strong&gt; and these techniques ,advised by the specialist I consulted with, worked the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T10:01:49.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14831" CreationDate="2013-12-20T16:16:02.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it hurts when you do that, don’t do that.  This answer is pragmatic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain triceps isolation exercises that I just cannot do in particular triceps kick back and skull crushers.  If I do these exercises over any period of time I will develop painful tendonitis.  If this is tendonitis the only way to help the pain is give it some time.    If you want to work your triceps try a bench variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T16:16:02.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14842" CreationDate="2013-12-20T21:45:48.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am assuming by weight gain, you mean increase lean muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked for other items on your list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I noticed you don't have &lt;strong&gt;legumes&lt;/strong&gt; (aka beans) on your list. I eat lots of beans, particularly garbanzo beans. It is not the most calorie dense food for weight gain (hence why I eat them in large quantities), but beans are super healthy and a great source of protein. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As AutomatedChaos said, &lt;strong&gt;nuts (and seeds)&lt;/strong&gt; are great.  Very nutrient dense - high fat, but it's not saturated or trans fats.  I like to snack on nuts and/or shelled sunflower seeds, and raisins at work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dried fruits&lt;/strong&gt; (like raisins).  Very high in sugars. (make sure it's no &quot;added&quot; sugar. You want the natural sugars in the fruit.  You don't want the refined sugar that gets added to some dried fruits.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avocados&lt;/strong&gt;.  High in protein.  I love them. Eat them.  Breath them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cottage cheese&lt;/strong&gt;.  High in protein.  I get the lowfat kind because it has a higher protein to fat ratio and (to me) it tastes almost as good as the &quot;full&quot; fat kind.  The fat free cottage cheese has the consistency of boogers.  Gross.  If you can stomach it, good for you - it has more protein per gram.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Greek yogurt&lt;/strong&gt;. First they gave us Archimedes, and now they give us a high protein, pro-biotic snack.  Bless them. I like the fat free, NO SUGAR ADDED PLAIN yogurt.  The sweetened greek yogurts have a ton of refined sugars in them.  Not that healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supplements&lt;/strong&gt;. If you're really serious about weight gain &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt; your diet with protein powders.  Emphasis on supplement.  While some products are sold as &quot;meal replacements&quot; you should still eat &quot;normal&quot; food, and supplement a protein shake/smoothie in between meals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And the list goes on...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On another note, eat healthy, but increase calorie intake dramatically. I find it very hard to gain weight - for example, I must eat continually, all day, high calorie foods to gain but a few pounds. Don't ever let yourself be hungry - always have a healthy snack within reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also note that I weight train regularly.  You don't want to combine a high calorie diet with a sedentary lifestyle unless you want to get really round :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastEditorUserId="7331" LastEditDate="2013-12-20T22:00:54.810" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T22:00:54.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2013-12-21T04:54:45.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body does not store complex carbs directly as fat, usually. The study you read might have been referring to a condition called &lt;strong&gt;insulin resistance&lt;/strong&gt;. For carbs to be stored as energy it requires the release of the hormone called insulin. Insulin will direct blood glucose into your cells to eventually be stored as glycogen, however if you fuel up on too many carbs for too long, your cells will begin to reject insulin and the glucose it has to offer because they are essentially &quot;full&quot; and don't want anymore glucose. This is called insulin resistance. Carbs converted to blood glucose that are not stored as glycogen end up being stored as fat, and maybe that's what you read in the study. Otherwise, carbs and fats metabolize very differently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how it relates to building muscle, understand that losing fat and gaining muscle require essentially the opposite types of nutritional strategies, if you really want to make progress in either endeavor. To build muscle, your focus is on supplying your body more than adequate calories to provide the best environment for growth. To lose fat, the focus switches to a decrease in calories, and a higher amount of protein to spare any potential muscle loss resulting from the calorie deficit. You said you want to minimize fat while you gain, and while that's certainly possible, if building muscle is your main priority, make sure most of the things you do are aimed towards that. That said, it can be extremely exhausting (both physically and mentally) to put yourself through challenging workouts day in and out without a decent amount of carbs. Unless you have a reason not to eat them, including them in your diet will certainly aid performance in the gym. As it relates to starches, starchy carbs typically carry a high glycemic index, meaning they raise blood sugar quickly, which increases insulin resistance. Try to include a higher % of lower glycemic foods, which can be found from the link below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diabetes.ca/files/Diabetes_GL_Final2_CPG03.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.diabetes.ca/files/Diabetes_GL_Final2_CPG03.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T04:54:45.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-22T12:21:10.833" Score="1" ViewCount="1396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 years old and only 5'2 and about 47kg. I can't help it anymore and I really want to get taller, as I hate seeing my friends grow to about 6'0 and i stay shorter as if i'm their kid. My dad is 5'9 and my mum is about 5'4-5'5, and i believe that i can grow taller due to my parents genetics, however it doesnt seem to make any difference as i havent nearly grown any taller in the past year. I eat all my vitamins and eat healthy and sleep for about 8 hours every night however i can see no difference. I train and exercise a lot and everyday, i do about 30 minutes jogging everyday, does this have anything to do with it? maybe too much training is stunting my growth? I also take a multi-vitamin pill everyday to help me be healthy and grow. My wrist is actually really small and skinny, does this have anything to do with it? last year i was 5'2 and i'm still 5'2 this year, just maybe slightly taller. Thanks a lot and i would be very happy with your help and guidance about what i should do to grow taller.     How many calories a day should i eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7372" LastEditorUserId="7372" LastEditDate="2013-12-28T20:01:18.250" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T12:21:51.410" Title="I want to grow taller?" Tags="&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-02-22T21:06:11.507" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-22T14:30:25.160" Score="-3" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howlifeworks.com/Article.aspx?Cat_URL=health_beauty&amp;amp;AG_URL=How_to_Quickly_Boost_Your_Testosterone_for_Increased_Performance_441&amp;amp;ag_id=1275&amp;amp;wid=8D1C83BD-80E8-471B-9187-548A78A36894&amp;amp;did=6537&amp;amp;cid=1005&amp;amp;si_id=2584&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;men experience degraded fitness under testosterone deficiency&lt;/a&gt;. There are ways to support it in norm. But what about the woman. How can they stay so vivid at much lower testosterone levels? Do they have different (muscle/brain) tissue responsiveness to the testosterone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12081" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T17:55:27.443" Title="How can women live without Testosterone" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;sex&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-12-29T02:04:26.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-22T21:07:30.900" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading a lot of uncited or badly cited popular science literature, I came across the claim that consuming red meat increases the risk of cancer. Said literature also claims in seemingly unrelated articles that being fat increases the risk of cancer. It's not really a long shot to presume that people who overindulge on red meat might also be fat. And it might be quite reasonable to presume that a lot of these people also eat too much acrylamide through the fries served with the red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any scientific evidence that states that a lean athlete who consumes red meat regularly, as a good source of lean protein, increases his risk of cancer? Maybe some kind of study that compares highly physical active people against the general population?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-08-28T17:04:15.130" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T17:43:29.853" Title="Red meat cancer risk after removing adipositas cancer risk" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14849" CreationDate="2013-12-23T17:55:27.443" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to clarify a very important point: both men and women have testosterone and estrogen, however the proportions and functions are different in each.  An article on whether &lt;a href=&quot;http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/biosignature-reviewed-hormones-key-weight-loss/&quot;&gt;&quot;BioSignature&quot; holds water against science&lt;/a&gt; had some interesting facts regarding the role of testosterone and estrogen in men and women:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In men, testosterone is the primary counterbalance to cortosol.  Additionally, the body will manufacture the estrogen it needs from testosterone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In women, estrogen is the primary counterbalance to corotosol.  Additionally, the body will manufacture the testosterone it needs from estrogen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hormonal profile between men and women are different, and the effect they have on the body is profound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women tend to handle endurance better than men&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Men tend to handle tasks that require more power output (i.e. moving heavy objects, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/07/17/do-women-need-to-train-any-differently/&quot;&gt;women also have skeletal differences&lt;/a&gt; that do affect the weight they can handle, and what constitutes proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some similarities as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle behaves the same in men and women.  Given the same cross-sectional mass of muscle, and the same neural efficiency, men and women will be able to move the same weight.  The hormonal differences prevent a woman from gaining the same cross-sectional mass of muscle with the same duration and quality of training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Women can, and should, train in much the same way as men do.  Certain movements will be easier to progress in than others.  For example, pressing is more difficult compared to deadlifting for women.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is this: both men and women's physiologies are fundamentally different.  Women simply don't need the same amount of testosterone as men to function properly from a physiological standpoint.  They aren't going to develop the same moodiness, lack of sleep, depression, and other ailments common with low testosterone in men.  Also note that all a &quot;natural testosterone booster&quot; can do is bring low testosterone closer to normal levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T17:55:27.443" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14848" CreationDate="2013-12-23T18:16:46.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very important factor here is the question: &lt;strong&gt;are you male or female?&lt;/strong&gt;  From what I've observed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Young women&lt;/em&gt; tend to stop growing taller by the time they are your age.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Young men&lt;/em&gt; tend to keep growing till their early 20s.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are exceptions in both cases, but as a general rule this is what I've observed over the years.  A friend of mine was about your height when he was your age, but by the time he was in college he grew to about 6'1&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your full stature will be regulated by your genetics&lt;/strong&gt;.  You should expect to be about the same height as your parents when you are done growing.  Expect to be closer to your mother's height if you are a young lady, or closer to your father's height if you are a young man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To support growth:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat plenty of healthy foods.  As long as you are relatively thin, eat.  Slow down when you start gaining more fat than muscle/bone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take your multivitamins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay active.  It's better to do active things you like than things you don't like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep a full 8 hours every night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That's all you can do.&lt;/em&gt;  Time and genetics will do the rest.  Some coaches have observed that when a young person takes up training with weights they grow more than kids who don't.  If this is true, then don't expect miracles from it.  At best you might get another inch of height.  Should you choose weight training, stick with full body movements and train no more than 3x a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T18:16:46.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14800" CreationDate="2013-12-23T20:11:15.717" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bone chips. Sometimes, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.footsolutions.ca&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee injury&lt;/a&gt; can break off fragments from the bone or cartilage. These pieces can get stuck in the joint, causing it to freeze up. You may also have pain and swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bursitis. A bursa is a sac of fluid that cushions and protects your joints. There are several in different parts of your knee. Overuse, a fall, or repeated bending can irritate the bursa, causing pain and swelling. Two types of bursitis are called ''housemaid's knee'' and ''preacher's knee,'' since they are often caused by kneeling. A ''Baker's cyst'' -- a swelling of one of the bursa in the back of the knee -- can also result from injuries and from conditions like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.footsolutions.ca&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;arthritis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7380" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T20:11:15.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-23T23:42:25.567" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5' 5&quot; and weight about 70kg (~154 lbs) and would like to set myself a concrete goal for weight loss, so I have two related questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do I determine a suitable target.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is an appropriate time period.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first I am aware that things like BMI are not useful but I would like some way of picking a realistic value to aim for. To use extremes as examples, aiming to 1kg would be a little pointless and aiming to lose 30kg would probably be dangerous. But 10kg? I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that weight isn't necessarily the best metric to use, but it is a simple one and at the moment is better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read that body fat percentage may be a better thing to focus on. If so, the same questions would apply: what to target and over what time range. I do not know what my current percentage is, but is on my todo list to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T02:05:59.060" Title="Determining a target for weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11835" CreationDate="2013-12-24T01:22:37.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Is adding some supplementation &quot;just in case&quot; a good idea? If so, how much should I add?&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Can the conditioning training interfere with my body recomposition program, which is based on eating pattern changes?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Can this program hinder my efforts to improve my endurance/condition?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to all these questions is... &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt;! To understand why, ill answer each question starting at 1 and ending with 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q1. Protein supplementation is typically a wise move for those using strength training to accomplish fitness or physique based goals. While whey protein powder is one of the most efficient proteins you can use (based on bio availability), it's possible to get away without supplementing with it if you can stomach eating enough protein to cover it. However, even the most dedicated individual would have a difficult time trying to eat THAT MUCH chicken (or any other protein rich food source), instead of substituting an easy to drink shake instead. In terms of how much, there isn't a &quot;one size fits all&quot; type of answer, as it depends on many individual factors. Factors such as workout intensity, and how much a person weighs, are examples of things that differ per person, and this will factor into the optimal amount of protein a person needs. The &lt;em&gt;Huntington College of Health Sciences&lt;/em&gt;, stated that 1.3-1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, is the range most authorities agree on [1]. However, this article from the &lt;em&gt;Journal of Sports Sciences&lt;/em&gt;, recommends amounts up to 1.8-2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight per day [2]. Try different amounts for 2-3 weeks and note how you feel and look, if you feel good and like your making progress, keep the amounts the same and re-evaluate in another 2-3 weeks, otherwise, bump up the amount until you get to that level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q2. The second source has a section in it titled &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Changes in body composition with nutrition and exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, and I'll bullet a few of the more important quotes from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Emerging evidence suggests that reducing the intake of dietary carbohydrates is a critically important step in promoting both greater weight loss and greater loss of body fat&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;However, following low carbohydrate, lower GI diets may be a problem for endurance athletes seeking to compete, since dietary carbohydrate intakes are recommended to be higher to allow a more rapid and full recovery of endogenous glycogen stores&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thus, at the expense of carbohydrates, a higher protein or fat intake can obviously compromise performance&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A lower carb diet can be very effective at decreasing fat levels ** (I can personally vouch for this as well) **but there's a potential for it to have an adverse effect on performance.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which leads to question 3...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q3. High intensity 90 sec bursts of activity means were talking endurance. Glycogen is an important source for creating ATP, which is a particularly important energy source for exercise bouts lasting 60-90 seconds [3]. And if you're removing carbohydrate sources as you said, it's going to be difficult to perform at the highest level possible in your fitness endeavors. On your days off, I personally believe switching to a more fats-based diet is a good way to boost insulin sensitivity which can be a powerful factor in preventing weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that clears everything up, and that it helps you become one bad-ass medieval swordsmen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hchs.edu/literature/BCAA.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hchs.edu/literature/BCAA.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204#.Urjl8fYsWpI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204#.Urjl8fYsWpI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Ba-Ca/Carbohydrates.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Ba-Ca/Carbohydrates.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T01:22:37.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14860" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-24T01:47:56.507" Score="1" ViewCount="364" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own the Fitbit Force, and wanted to know if I were to wear it while running, elliptical or stairclimber does it convert the miles/floors to calories burnt?  If I were to also use runkeeper are the miles/calories double counted?  Also, If I manually enter in an activity and wear the Fitbit does it also double count the calories.  Just wanting to see if I should wear my fitbit while on the elliptical or other activities and just manually enter in data.  Thanx!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7381" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T01:47:56.507" Title="Activity Tracker and Elliptical" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-04-24T08:14:59.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14858" CreationDate="2013-12-24T02:05:59.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first step in figuring out both questions is figuring out what weight you want to be at. From there you can figure out the difference between your current weight and your ideal weight. For example, say you want to get to 144 lbs. 154 lbs - 144 lbs = 10 lbs. Because it takes 3500 calories to burn 1 lb of fat [1], you can calculate it will take a 35,000 calorie deficit to lose 10 lbs. If you subtract 250 calories a day, it will take you around 4.6 months to reach your goal. It's important to be realistic though, and acknowledge there will be some days you eat &lt;strong&gt;over&lt;/strong&gt; your caloric budget. There will also be some days where you eat &lt;strong&gt;under&lt;/strong&gt; your caloric budget. Keeping both these things in your head, its important to gauge your progress on a weekly basis. There are a few ways you can do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Myfitness Pal is a smartphone app and website that allows you to &lt;strong&gt;count calories&lt;/strong&gt; in and out via exercise. Its not something to be used as an EXACT number of calories in and out, but it will give you an idea of how the things and amounts of things you have been eating, contribute to how you now look and feel. I left a link to the homepage of Myfitness pal below. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to &lt;strong&gt;how you look in the mirror&lt;/strong&gt;. Its very easy to be biased in a situation like this, but try to honestly take inventory of how you look compared to how you have looked before. To avoid making this subjective, look for objective sings that your making weight loss progress, for example, are you more vascular? does your skin seem/look tighter? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As time goes on and you continue evaluating yourself, continue to tweak your calorie levels according to how you look, and how you want to look. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note - Calorie counting isn't a necessary part of losing weight, but it is an extremely useful one. If you can keep track of your diet mentally then feel free to not count a single calorie. However, keeping track of food choices and quantities can without a doubt help you learn more about how your diet and body composition work together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096405/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096405/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Myfitness pal - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T02:05:59.060" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15961" CreationDate="2013-12-24T02:24:17.733" Score="3" ViewCount="1680" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did SS for around 5 months and have had pretty good success, although my BF% had gone up to 20% and I probably need to do a cut before I continue, or reboot SS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Squat 50kg -&amp;gt; 85kg&#xA;Bench 50kg -&amp;gt; 75kg&#xA;Press 30kg -&amp;gt; 45kg&#xA;Deadlift 50kg -&amp;gt; 110kg&#xA;BW 70kg -&amp;gt; 80kg&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Towards the end of the program, I had injuries, lack of motivation, and stopped making gains in both body-weight and strength, so decided it was time for a change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people (the SS crowd) suggest staying on SS while on a cut. I can't see this working without since I struggled even when trying to eat a calorie surplus.... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was going to start running 2x week and 1x heavy weights since this seems to be the middle ground. But that doesn't seem very common at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an SS equivalently routine while cutting? Or any other really popular routines? Should I be lowering weights and increasing exercises, reps and sets?? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be looking at Madcow or Texas method since they tend to be high volume less increases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T11:33:20.437" Title="What cutting routine after Starting Strengh" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14848" CreationDate="2013-12-24T07:09:57.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growth can happen late. In my case, I hit my growth spur between the ages of 22 and 26, when I went from about 5'3&quot; to 5'10&quot;. (My father is 5'3 and my mum 5'7 or so). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are 15 years old. I was slightly smaller than you at the same age and my best friend at the time was 6'3&quot;, I know all about being the small guy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So that's the first point. You have plenty of time ahead of you. You could end up being 5'2&quot; all your life, or grow another foot before you turn 30 or anything in between.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people are tall, some people are small, the same way some people are black and some white. Tall doesn't mean better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you do and what should you do to grow more? It's one of those rare cases where the best answer is probably &quot;nothing&quot;. There is nothing wrong with your height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yeah, but I don't like it, what can I do?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may or may not hit a growth spur later on. Doesn't matter. You live right now, don't wait to grow up, just work with what you got:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can pay attention to is posture. Having a good posture makes you look taller, but more importantly, it is quite good for your body. Head up, back straight. Work your back and neck muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train for agility, mobility, speed and endurance. Being smaller gives you an advantage in that department. If you ever watch fighting sports like Judo or MMA, you will notice that the smaller weight divisions always have the fastest, most dynamic fighters with the most endurance.  It's not a coincidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to find your assets and cultivate those. One way or another, there are things that will come more naturally to you. Instead of just wishing you could be big, take advantage of those things you can do better &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; you are not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don' let your size prevent you from doing what you like either. Around your age, I played Volley Ball. Being small forces you to have a different look at the game. I couldn't block, in fact I couldn't even reach the top of the net, but I got pretty good at making saves and working with the tall guys in the team. At the end of the day I was just as effective as one of my team mates who was over 6 feet, at a game where he should have been massively better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a nice little bonus is that if you do eventually grow taller, the skills you gain while being &quot;the small guy&quot; will give you a competitive advantage over people who have always been tall &lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; you have developped a technical game. At whatever sport you chose, you should always strive to be a technical/tactical player. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, don't worry, concentrate on what you have and never mind the folks who believe that them being big is somehow a huge achievement of theirs. Natural gifts only carry you so much, but as soon as you want to accomplish something meaningful, what really matters is how much quality work you put in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T07:09:57.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-24T16:54:14.803" Score="11" ViewCount="2800" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoulder strength seems to be the main factor for achieving a human flag. I was wondering if there is some number relative to the bodyweight that indicates when one's press strength is ready to try a human flag. E.g. you should start training the human flag on a bar when you can move 0.7 times your bodyweight in a standing press. Or even: You need at least 0.8 to do a human flag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5197" LastEditDate="2013-12-24T17:47:19.663" LastActivityDate="2013-12-26T21:53:52.990" Title="How much press strength for human flag?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="157" CreationDate="2013-12-24T23:41:45.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_climbing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Indoor climbing&quot;&gt;Indoor climbing&lt;/a&gt;? For a competitive couple I couldn't think of any better sport to do. It's becoming popular so there might be an indoor climbing hall in your town as well. The ones I've been to are safe, inexpensive and beginner friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since ones body mass does affect the amount of physical exertion while climbing up the wall, men and women should be even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7384" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T23:41:45.390" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2013-12-24T23:41:45.390" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14514" CreationDate="2013-12-25T06:16:21.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off slow rep training is only one method of HIT. Standard HIT (since the 70's) uses a 6 sec rep which is a 2 second positive followed by a 4 second negative. Time under tension will range from 40 seconds up to 120 seconds depending on who you talk to or which muscle groups you are working. 40-70 seconds is typical for strength and hypertrophy whereas 70-90 seconds is more for hypertrophy with less strength. Just like normal training, less reps for strength, more reps (within reason) for size. Anything beyond 90 seconds is for endurance. Typically upper body exercises use 40-70 seconds whereas lower body exercises use 70-90. There have been various rep speeds used in HIT but the key factor is time under tension. So, if doing a 2/4 or 3/3 rep speed you would be doing 8-12 reps or roughly 48-72 seconds of TUT. If doing a 5/5 rep speed which some HIT advocates use that would be a rep range of 4-7. Get the idea? Original Super Slow was a 10/5 rep speed and later was changed to 10/10. They also increased the TUT to 90-120 seconds. However, most have found that more than 90 seconds isn't ideal for either strength or hypertrophy. So, if using original 10/5 that would mean a 4-6 rep range, a 10/10 would mean a 3-5 rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to follow the original guidelines-&#xA;1 set of each exercise&#xA;2/4 rep speed&#xA;8-12 reps for upper body&#xA;12-15 reps for the lower body and core&#xA;Perform each set to momentary muscular failure&#xA;No more than 12 exercises per workout &#xA;Training no more than 3 days per week&#xA;Using full-body workouts&#xA;Using the double progression method (when you can complete the high rep range on each exercise, add 5% or more to the bar or machine- generally 5-10 pounds for compound exercises and 5 pounds for single joint exercises)&#xA;if performing bodyweight-only exercises you will need to learn how to modify the exercise to make it more progressive (changing leverage, etc) or add weight via a weight vest or something similar. Using HIT intensity techniques like pre-exhaust, rest pause, stage reps, etc can make an exercise more intense without adding weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Get A practical Approach to Strength Training&quot; by Matt Brzycki for more info on HIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7385" LastActivityDate="2013-12-25T06:16:21.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14867" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-25T07:17:23.403" Score="0" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;People have different opinions about running,jogging even walking. There are somethings I want myself to be cleared about which I looked out a lot but couldn't satisfy myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What time or days per week one should go for running with respect to evening workout schedule and for how long?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does too much running effects knees in the long run and do i need to be track specific like grass or roadside?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which exercise should be coordinated with workout after running?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A silly one rather- Is milk enough to cope up with running or extra supplements are required to prevent knee wearing and tearing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7349" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T18:15:09.113" Title="Role of jogging/running in bodybuilding regime" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1341" CreationDate="2013-12-26T12:43:39.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would answer it in simpler terms.&lt;strong&gt;It is easier for your body to store energy in the form of fat rather than muscles as it takes less amount of energy for your body to form fat rather than muscles. So , muscles are bigger source of energy for your body than fat&lt;/strong&gt;. Said that , when the body senses that it requires more energy , in situations of long period of cardio or weight lifting which cannot be fulfilled by fat as source, it starts using your muscles for its energy requirement rather than fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2013-12-26T12:43:39.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14864" CreationDate="2013-12-26T21:53:52.990" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jim Bathurst, known for his web site Beast Skills, says in his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/the-flag/&quot;&gt;human flag&lt;/a&gt; tutorial:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you can do several full range handstand pushups against the wall, then you’re well on your way to getting the flag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1467933120&quot;&gt;Overcoming Gravity&lt;/a&gt;, a popular book on gymnastic training for adults, has a chart comparing the difficulty of various skills. &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArzTY8Rx2z1DdDZlaUVxa1NISlQ0RVpMYVlRaklJelE#gid=0&quot;&gt;In the chart&lt;/a&gt;, a full human flag is a level 8 skill, which is &quot;equivalent&quot; to a press of your bodyweight, or weighted dips with 85% bodyweight added. The first progression to a flag, the tuck flag, is level 5 skill, equating a press with 0.65% of bodyweight or dips with ~37% added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these sources are at best anecdotal, so take them with a grain of salt. My suggestion, if a human flag is one of your goals, is to start training specifically for it as soon as possible. If you can hold the tuck flag for at least 10s, then add it to your routine and practice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2013-12-26T21:53:52.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14881" CreationDate="2013-12-26T22:12:07.047" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a person is hot, their skin cools them down by dissipating heat generated internally.  When the external environment is hotter than body-temperature (98.6F, 37C), this is still possible using &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler#Physical_principles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;evaporative cooling&lt;/a&gt; from sweat.  If the humidity is roughly 100%, however, sweat no longer evaporates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it possible for humans to cool down in an environment above body temperature and at roughly 100% humidity?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7397" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T15:03:54.583" Title="Limits of human cooling in hot humid environment" Tags="&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-26T22:39:29.443" Score="6" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that isolation exercises are pointless by some, and that total body workouts are to be abided by. I must digress as, for example, what if supporting muscles are strikingly weak?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed with me personally that during squats I feel like I have to &quot;bounce&quot; a little fast on the bottom because my hamstrings seem to &quot;burn up&quot; and get sore/painful if I don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some have said, &quot;Just do more squats!&quot;, but it hasn't made all the difference. That's why I figured, what can be bad about routine isolation every now and then? Why do some trainers rarely isolate and do workouts in packed &quot;units&quot; of muscle groups, rather than tackle weaker areas directly? How is that harm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, is isolation &quot;good&quot; in any sense, and would it benefit me in my insufficiently muscle-activated squats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7398" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-09T01:55:32.897" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T01:55:32.897" Title="When is isolating certain muscles beneficial?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14875" CreationDate="2013-12-27T03:56:42.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start, if you notice that you feel pain rather than a burn or soreness in your hamstrings, it may have to do with your squat stance, rather than lagging hamstrings. However, the hamstrings are more often underdeveloped compared to their quad counterparts found in front of them for most trainee's, so a muscle imbalance isn't out of the question. And while explaining proper squat form doesn't organically relate to the rest of your questions, I am just mentioning this because while the squat can be absolutely draining and downright brutal, it shouldn't feel painful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand how and if isolation exercises should be implemented into your training program, I'll go over the advantages and disadvantageous of them compared to compound exercises. But first, what is an isolation exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isolation Exercises include all exercises or movements that affect only &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; joint. For example, the movement of the bicep curl involves only the elbow joint as the forearm move over the arm, making it an effective isolation exercises for the biceps. Now, as for why and why not you'd want to include them in your own training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why Not&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation exercises recruit muscles less powerfully than compound exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation exercises are generally less effective than multi-joint exercises in increasing strength and size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle recruitment in isolation exercises does not increase as it does in compound exercises, as you increase repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation exercises use less strength and energy, making them less physically exhausting then compound exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation exercises target muscles better than multi-joint exercises. This allows for the trainee to develop a better &quot;feel&quot; for working that particular muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With compound exercises, certain muscles will take precedence over others (such as in the squat) and isolation exercises can help you maintain muscular balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your situation in particular, muscular imbalance can develop between the muscles that make up the hamstring (the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus) in two popular ways as described in &lt;em&gt;The Strength Anatomy Workout II&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The physical structure of your personal bones pushes you to use the inner or outer hamstrings more than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Faulty motor recruitment due to an inability to feel your hamstring muscles working. To improve motor recruitment, vary the (isolation) exercises you use to target the hamstrings. Hamstring exercises can be divided into 4 categories depending on the angle in which the muscle is working. &#xA;    - The first are exercises that bring the feet toward the butt (ex: lying and standing leg curls)&#xA;    - The second are exercises that lift the torso (ex: dead lifts and good mornings)&#xA;    - The third are exercises that contract the upper part of the hamstring and stretch the lower part (ex: sliding lunges)&#xA;    - The fourth are exercises  that stretch the upper part and contract the lower part (ex: seated leg curls)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book also mentions that by changing the position of your feet, you can try and change the recruitment of your hamstrings. By turning your feetoutward, it will involve the biceps femoris more, and inward will work the semi muscles. It also recommends to warm up your hamstrings before doing compound exercises for the legs (such as squats) as working cold hamstrings can cause pain in the knees and back &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wanted to note that by doing more squats, you will only compound the problem at hand. Your only repeating something that isn't working for you and expecting it to create different results, which no offense, but according to Einstein, would be considered crazy. Now a final summary of everything:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises target and work more muscles than isolation exercises, and allow more weight to be used per exercise, making them essential for a muscle building program. However, because they recruit multiple joints and muscle groups, the possibility of a one muscle group taking over and doing more of the work is very, very real. By including isolation exercises, you can bring up lagging muscle groups so that when you return to the essential compound lifts, the muscle imbalance is gone, which results in more weight lifted. Additionally, isolation exercises are less exhausting which means you'll be less tired after doing them, compared to compounds. Finally, they can also help you learn to develop a feel for working that muscle, meaning you'll be able to recruit it later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully now you can see there is no &quot;harm&quot; in including isolation exercises in your own training program. If I was unclear at all, please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1] Delavier, Frédéric, and Michael Gundill. The Strength Training Anatomy Workout. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2011. Print.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1450400957&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Workout-The/dp/1450400957&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2] Delavier, Frédéric, and Michael Gundill. The Strength Training Anatomy Workout II. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2012. Print.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1450419895&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Workout-The/dp/1450419895&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3] Bompa, Tudor, Pasquale Mauro. Di, and Lorenzo Cornacchia. Serious Strength Training.3rd ed. N.p.: Human Kinetics, 2012. Print.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1450422446&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Serious-Strength-Training-3rd-Tudor-Bompa/dp/1450422446/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1388116631&amp;amp;sr=1-1&amp;amp;keywords=serious+strength+training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T03:56:42.120" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14915" CreationDate="2013-12-27T14:50:03.570" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to keep a consistent rhythm during  sets and reps (Like 4 seconds down, hold 1s, 4 s up, pause 1s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips for how to do this? What would ideal cues look/sound like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-12-27T17:29:36.827" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T13:30:43.037" Title="How to keep a specific rhythm during sets?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-27T17:36:47.603" Score="0" ViewCount="1140" Body="&lt;p&gt;To do fitness (the Desbonnet/Rouhet method) I need foot weights from 8 to 15Kg (17 to 33lbs) per foot.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I only found 2Kg (4.5lbs) weights that you strap around your ankles. I would need to attach at least 4 of them to my ankle which would be little practical and notably more expensive.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ideally I'm looking for a special shoe onto which I could insert a bar or disks directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7401" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T13:02:05.193" Title="What solutions for heavy foot dumbbells" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14867" CreationDate="2013-12-27T18:15:09.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cardio directly detracts from weight-lifting regime.  It's generally recommended to do cardio after a workout or, even better yet, on your non-lifting days.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/members/Concurrent_Strength_And_Aerobic_Training.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This link&lt;/a&gt; has some info.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running on hard surfaces regularly is very bad for your joints as the repetitive impact of the concrete is damaging over time.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://saveyourself.ca/articles/running.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running incorporates the following muscle groups:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spryfeet.com/2010/04/05/muscles-used-when-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The quadriceps femoris, hamstring, gluteus maximus, iliopsoas, calf muscle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably not news to anyone that you've basically got the entire leg in use when running, so any leg workout done after running follows the idea of a pre-exhaustion workout.  Check this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/zaino11.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; for ideas related to pre-exhaustion workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regular exercise supplements would likely suffice.  The damage to your joints will likely be from repeated impact on a hard surface, not from lack of nutrition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7327" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T18:15:09.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2013-12-28T00:03:28.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should also be aware of your posture while running. A good posture doesn't load your weight on a certain muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Good posture involves having a reasonably straight spine with not too much straightness and not too much bend. The more you slump, the more your body's muscles need to work to hold you upright. Poor posture not only restricts the circulation of blood to your muscles and organs but also inhibits the oxygen supply to your brain.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/blog/entry/10-components-of-good-running-form&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep your head straight, chin up and look ahead naturally. Imagine there's a string attached to your head pulling it up just a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your shoulders should be low and loose - not high and tight. If your shoulders get tired, shake them to get off the tension.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your arms should swing straight forward and back, not across your body. Your elbows should be bent at about a 90-degree angle. If you feel your forearms tensing, drop your arms to your sides and shake them out for a few seconds to release the tension.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The position of your torso while running is affected by the position of your head and shoulders. If you start to slouch during a run take a deep breath and feel yourself naturally straighten. As you exhale simply maintain that upright position. Remember the string pulling your head straight up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your hips are your center of gravity, so they're key to good running posture.  If you allow your torso to hunch over or lean too far forward during a run, your pelvis will tilt forward as well, which can put pressure on your lower back and throw the rest of your lower body out of alignment. You can fix the position of your hips by running really fast for a short while, say 30 meters. That will naturally correct the position, try to maintain it after the dash.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your feet should land directly underneath your body. Don't lift your knees too high unless you're a sprinter. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg (below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use your ankles like springs. Keep your feet straight, pointed forward. With each step, your foot should hit the ground lightly - landing between your heel and midfoot - then quickly roll forward. Keep your ankle flexed as your foot rolls forward to create more force for push-off.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the exercise constantly keep thinking about these things about your posture. Have an experienced friend run with you and say if there's something wrong. You will not always see it yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7384" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T00:03:28.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14874" CreationDate="2013-12-28T01:53:30.930" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In 100% humidity in a temperature above body temperature you will die from over heating... &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspiration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sweating is one of the most biologically efficient ways of reducing body heat.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humidity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;however it is influenced by humidity&lt;/a&gt;. Sweating operates through &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooling#Physical_principles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;evaporative cooling&lt;/a&gt;, which requires a relatively low-humidity environment. As humidity goes up, less water can evaporate, leading to less loss of heat from the warm, moist object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in an environment above body temperature, like a sauna, you can be quite comfortable as long as you can sweat. As the humidity rises you will feel less comfortable, until the air reaches saturation. At this point your body will no longer be able to lose heat and you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T01:53:30.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14843" CreationDate="2013-12-28T03:35:52.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are other reasons you should probably avoid sit ups, but your friend has no idea what he's talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T03:35:52.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14883" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-29T08:22:59.420" Score="2" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am quite depressed with my overweight and lost confidence in myself. At times I feel I want to die. Can't wear what I like and wish to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me with my weight loss journey that I have started by walking daily for 2–3 kms. I am at 82 kgs with the height of 5.6, age 30 years, single lady, never married.&#xA;I want to be at 69–70kgs for my height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifestyle: very hectic with workload from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I am bit confused as to which one is more effective, workouts at gym (treadmill, elliptical...) or running outside in open grounds. I haven't started running yet, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do also help me with the exercises that I can bank on to reduce weight more effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sincerely request people to provide their valuable advice for achieving a good healthy body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7409" LastEditorUserId="333" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T16:20:28.783" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T16:20:28.783" Title="Please advise me on reducing my overweight, I am quite depressed and lost" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14888" CreationDate="2013-12-29T10:19:55.003" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do exercise daily but I don't have a plan. I use to do some push ups, crunches, etc few months ago. Nowadays I go for walking but that too not daily. I would like to plan my exercise but I really don't know how to do so. Could you help me out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6870" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2013-12-31T13:11:30.220" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T13:11:30.220" Title="How to plan exercise for the day?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2013-12-29T18:29:23.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For 11 years (age 14 to 25) I ran with typical running shoes on pavement or track surface.  Pain developed in my hip, foot, and lower shin (not shin-splints, a different pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 months ago I began running barefoot on grass (just inside the inner loop of the track).  It was the best decision I ever made.  Zero joint pain.  All kinds of foot &amp;amp; leg muscles are now exercised that I never felt before (I was quite sore for the first two weeks, but afterwards I some some serious muscle growth in my foot/ankle/lower shin region).  My stride is no longer &quot;heel-strike&quot;, but deeper and smoother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly, highly recommend you try running barefoot on soft grass.  It totally changed my idea of running for the better.  I will never go back to shoes or hard surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Watch out for broken glass or debris in the grass.  I find the inner-loop of tracks to be safe &amp;amp; clean.  Do not run barefoot on harder surfaces, you will damage your natural fat soles on the bottom of your feet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7412" LastActivityDate="2013-12-29T18:29:23.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14883" CreationDate="2013-12-29T23:12:28.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very possible for you to drop the ~12 kg's that you need to in order to reach your ideal weight. However, fat loss is best and most effectively accomplished when an increase in exercise is combined with a decrease in calories. While you exercise once or maybe twice a day, you will be eating more often, so it's important to be conscious of what you are eating. Since there isn't any info about what you eat, I'll leave the diet part alone for now, and address your other questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercise and calorie burn you get from running outside is the same as running inside the gym on a treadmill. However, because most cardio machines keep track of calories burned, it could make the case that it would be a more efficient way of losing the amount of calories you need to in order to reach your goal weight. So unless you have a way of counting calories burned while out on a run, the gym machines would make it easier to know when you've reached a goal amount of total calories burned for that session. Not sure how many calories is enough to lose for one session? Lets go over an example to give you an idea of what you do could do to try and accomplish your weight loss goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are around 7,500 calories in one kilogram, and to get to your goal weight you want to lose 12 kilograms. If through exercise and diet, you can eliminate 200 - 500 calories a day, it will take in between 1 - 1.5 months to burn 2 kilograms. If you can maintain that calorie burn for 6 - 9 months, you will reach your goal in under a year which is awesome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercises to help you lose weight, the exercises that work the most body parts will burn the most calories. If you have access to a gym, lifting weights would certainly aid helping you lose weight, but if your not into weights, there are lots of body weight exercises you can do to keep yourself in shape and looking good. Examples include: mountain climbers, push ups, burpees, planks, lunges, leg raises, and tons more you can check out here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you exercise, you want to keep your heart rate elevated to maximize calorie burn, so aim for at least 15 repetitions each time you complete an exercise. To take it to another level, create whats called a &lt;em&gt;giant set&lt;/em&gt;, and complete several exercises back to back to back. Walking is a good way to lose fat, but its not a very intense exercise, so the calorie loss won't be as big, as when you are completing other, more exhausting exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat loss can be a very rewarding goal to fulfill, and you'll get as much out of it, as you put into it. However, it's not exactly an easy goal to fulfill, so if it takes a while before you find a routine that works for you and your hectic life, don't stress, just know that with hard work and dedication, you can look anyway you want to look. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastActivityDate="2013-12-29T23:12:28.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14883" CreationDate="2013-12-30T00:44:12.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only report my personal experience, and I have never felt that I had a 'weight problem' although reducing my body fat percentage in order to look leaner would always be welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, Iam bit confused as in which one is more effective, the workouts at gym (treadmill,elliptical...) or the running outside in open grounds.Though, I haven't started running yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that the reported pace on a treadmill for the level of effort I put in is greater than that I'd find outside (this seems to contradict &lt;strong&gt;Anabolic Animal&lt;/strong&gt;'s answer, which I don't really understand). There are some advantages to treadmills:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're protected from the weather, mud, dogs, cars, uneven ground, leering teenagers and other unpleasant hazards you might find outdoors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get a precise and immediate read-out of your performance (at least from the high-tech commercial gym machines I've used)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can tailor the pace and incline you run at precisely, or use a program that will give you a variety. Personally I find that steep inclines make you feel it in the ankles; which is a good enough reason to use them for training purposes. I've never used &lt;strong&gt;decline&lt;/strong&gt; on a treadmill, but I expect some people do, to simulate conditions that will be found outside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can watch TV while you run, if the machine has one. Many I've seen do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, there are some differences to outdoor running which I see as disadvantages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outdoors you have ventilation and air movement which help keep you cool and evaporate sweat. Being sweaty is uncomfortable and even with air conditioning in a gym, I find the still air makes me overheat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running on a real surface feels different to a treadmill because ALL of your forward motion requires pushing off against the ground. A treadmill belt moves by itself, so the technique of running on one is somewhat different and to me feels like it takes less effort. A slightly uneven surface makes most of the muscles used in running work harder, particularly the ankles. Strong ankle muscles make sprains less likely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It costs nothing. Using a treadmill in a gym usually requires that you pay to be a member.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting running is &lt;strong&gt;hard work&lt;/strong&gt;, especially if you're unfit to start with. Many people starting out can't sustain a running pace for more than a few minutes without a break. This is normal and if you feel like this, an interval approach (such as repetition of 1 minute running, one minute walking) can help. In my experience and that of others I know of, &lt;strong&gt;you will improve rapidly&lt;/strong&gt; if you train &lt;strong&gt;regularly&lt;/strong&gt; (at least twice a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have very little knowledge specifically of weight loss, but &lt;strong&gt;Eric Gunnerson&lt;/strong&gt;'s point seems quite valid: expending enough calories to lose weight with plain cardio is quite difficult for a beginner because the level of effort and the amount of time required feels like hard work. I have personally found that doing a little work with weights every day has made me permanently hungry - which I take to mean that I'm in calorie deficit, and I have lost weight (only a little) even while my diet has worsened. The distinction is that resistance exercises (like weightlifting) continue to consume extra energy even when you are at rest, in order to repair and strengthen the muscles used. It also doesn't tend to require that 'breathlessness' feeling that cardio tends to, and you're allowed to (and should) rest between exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T00:44:12.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14884" CreationDate="2013-12-30T00:49:44.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't have a &lt;strong&gt;plan&lt;/strong&gt; because you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; have a &lt;strong&gt;goal&lt;/strong&gt;. Set a goal, and then create a plan to reach that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me (Goal)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I want to go from 93kg's to 70kg's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plan&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jog every day for 5km adding 5% distance every week &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calorie intake of 1200 (10% fat, 30% protein, 60% carbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Result&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Weight is currently 85Kg's and 15kg's to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2642" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T00:49:44.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14883" CreationDate="2013-12-30T01:39:35.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the same situation. I have put up almost 30kgs. But there is nothing to be disheartened, I feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From last few months, I am on right exercise track and I am sharing with you, what helped me change that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Understand where you are. Do some math about your weight and set goals.   &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14858/determining-a-target-for-weight-loss&quot;&gt;Determining a target for weight loss&lt;/a&gt; And most importantly forget those goals.  yes, I mean it !&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Create a schedule. Stick to it. This is really more important than having goals. Yes, this is going to help you in long run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Change your identity ( here there is a book ( free ) which talks about transforming habits by james clear &lt;a href=&quot;http://jamesclear.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jamesclear.com/&lt;/a&gt; ). this will help you understand yourself and what needs to be changed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Loosing weight is slow process. the first thing is, starting to feel healthy and positive. As you follow your &quot;schedule&quot; things will start changing. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Celebrate the small wins !! Use tools - like apps, pedometer etc to measure your wins. Think in terms of &quot;percentages&quot; instead of win or loss. Its good to say, &quot;I am able to follow my schedule 40% of times a week and need improve&quot; than&quot; &quot;I failed to follow my schedule&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;About kind of exercises - I do those which I enjoy the most and are &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt; to start with - walking, jogging, running. The only thing I would say, for initial few months volume of the exercise is important than type. What I mean is , e.g. walking - I make sure I walk &quot;more&quot; miles than what i used to last week.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburnedwalking.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburnedwalking.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enjoy the journey! You have to befriend your body and it always support you !!!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HTH&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7098" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T01:39:35.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14929" CreationDate="2013-12-30T04:46:50.460" Score="3" ViewCount="1869" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a racewalker and need longer legs! I am 21 years old and my height is 5'5&quot;. I am really concerned about my height. I do stretching daily and I have gained 1cm in 1 month. Can you please help me with other height gaining exercises? What should my diet? Also, can I do exercise with full stomach? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7415" LastEditorUserId="7415" LastEditDate="2014-01-04T05:47:10.867" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T00:55:17.587" Title="How to gain height after 21 years?(am racewalker)" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-11-02T14:16:22.497" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14892" CreationDate="2013-12-30T04:51:03.680" Score="0" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like everyone's saying to ditch carbs to lose weight these days. Is there any difference between cutting carbs vs cutting fats or proteins? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7414" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T12:29:43.790" Title="Are carbs the enemy?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14891" CreationDate="2013-12-30T05:31:06.757" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Enemy is a strong word, and carbohydrates can be a great fuel source for athletes and those engaged in any training program. However, as the saying goes, &lt;em&gt;Too much of a good thing...&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;When you take a bite of something that contains &lt;strong&gt;carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt;, the carbs will eventually convert to &lt;strong&gt;blood glucose&lt;/strong&gt; (blood sugar). A high level of blood sugar can be toxic, so the body, not wanting to die, tells the pancreas to release a hormone called &lt;strong&gt;insulin&lt;/strong&gt; to direct the sugar in the blood to hungry cells, where it is stored as &lt;strong&gt;glycogen&lt;/strong&gt;. A problem results however, when too many carbs are eaten because cells can only hold so much glycogen. After a while they start flipping insulin the bird, telling it that they don't want any more blood sugar directed to them. Insulin is persistent however, and refuses to take no for an answer, so it continues to try harder and harder (releases more and more insulin) to get the blood sugar into the cells. Once cells are fully and begin ignoring insulin, they are whats called &lt;em&gt;insulin resistant&lt;/em&gt;  and this not only is a hindrance to fat loss goals, but can eventually lead to diabetes. Additionally, when insulin is released, you are not as efficient at burning fat. The solution, is to mix in lower carbohydrate days with normal, and higher ones. By keeping the carb intake a variable, your system wont constantly be flooded with insulin and you'll become more of what's called &lt;em&gt;insulin sensitive&lt;/em&gt;, which means your cells are welcoming insulin and you are running efficiently. Resistance training has also been shown to increase insulin sensitivity, so including that could help increase your fat loss efforts in multiple ways, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T05:31:06.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-30T07:42:06.970" Score="1" ViewCount="1598" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hour_Fitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hour_Fitness&lt;/a&gt; 24 hour fitness serves &quot;17 U.S. states, 3 international&quot;. Where are these international locations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5758" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T02:23:13.237" Title="24 hour fitness international locations" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-03T21:59:22.363" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14903" CreationDate="2013-12-30T11:08:58.270" Score="8" ViewCount="1242" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious about this topic, because I only do swimming for fitness purpose, and I'm worrying whether the cold water blocks the sweating mechanism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7214" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T23:15:48.713" Title="Do you sweat when swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14633" CreationDate="2013-12-30T14:14:44.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3625796/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy&lt;/a&gt; by Danish researchers that concluded that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...running volume may somehow be associated to the development of PFPS, ITBS, and PT while running pace may be associated with development of AT, GI, and PF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So speed would be associated with plantar fasciitis, achilles tendinopathy, and gastrocnemius injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7361" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T14:14:44.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-30T15:31:20.313" Score="1" ViewCount="4909" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I can do leg presses with 650lbs reliably enough and probably more but idk...  putting all those 45lbs weights on the leg press machine is a bit of a hassle. Is there any exercise that works legs in the same way without requiring that much weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5758" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T17:54:33.800" Title="alternatives to leg presses" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;machine&gt;&lt;quads&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14898" CreationDate="2013-12-30T18:02:27.707" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats:&lt;/strong&gt;  Squats are a full body exercise, hitting just about every muscle group.  Front squats and Olympic style back squats (high bar, very deep squats) emphasize the quads, while low bar back squats emphasize the glutes and hamstrings more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find that you simply won't be able to handle the same amount of weight on the bar with full range of motion squats as you can with a leg press.  One of the reasons is the fact that your core and upper back can become limiting factors.  You may be humbled by how little you can squat compared to how much you can leg press at first, but with a good strategy that can be overcome in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your emphasis is with size, stick with higher rep ranges, but make sure you can maintain proper form throughout the sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T18:02:27.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14898" CreationDate="2013-12-31T02:12:32.693" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stimulus that the leg press provides is difficult to replicate for the same reason that it has become a hassle for you, it allows for a lot of weight to be used. As mentioned by Berin, the weight you use for the leg press will greatly differ from the weight used on most other leg exercises. This makes it a hard exercise to replicate in terms of muscle stimulus, however there are many other great exercises to build the same muscles that the leg press builds, the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. Here are 3 of those exercises, along with video demonstrations of them, several research-based tips for getting the most out of them, and alternative ways you could continue to include the leg press in your routine, should you find that you simply need it in your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunges&lt;/strong&gt; - As shown by study 1, &lt;strong&gt;forward lunges&lt;/strong&gt; have been found to strengthen and build the quadriceps, hamstrings, and even part of your calf. Done with either a barbell on your back, or holding dumbbells at your side, the lunge can be a great substitute for the leg press. To get a closer look at the exercise performed in action, check out this link&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-lunge&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-lunge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Study 1:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22450254&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22450254&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt; - Most lifters will agree that the barbell back squat is a contender for the title of &lt;em&gt;Most Physically Brutal and Exhausting Exercise Ever&lt;/em&gt;. Berin already mentioned squats so I won't talk it about them much more, I'll just leave you with another example video of the exercise being performed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-full-squat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-full-squat&lt;/a&gt; ,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I'll mention that when squatting, avoid throwing in the BOSU ball, or any other unstable surface that forces you to balance on top of it. While it makes sense to believe that squatting on an uneven surface would make the exercise even more challenging, rewarding, and even &amp;quot;exciting&amp;quot;, it has unsurprisingly been shown (in study 2) to greatly reduce the amount of weight able to be lifted, which is a large contributor to muscle and strength growth. This makes squatting on an uneven surface more suitable for a rehabilitation program, than a strength training program. To mix it up, you could substitute front squats with back squats, as both offer different advantages and stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Study 2:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22450254&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22450254&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goblet Squat&lt;/strong&gt; The weight used to perform the goblet squat will be marginal compared to what you use on your leg press, however the goblet squat has the benefits of reinforcing proper squatting form, and is especially helpful if you deal with any ankle, or wrist flexibility problems. And of course, here's the video demonstration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/goblet-squat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/goblet-squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Along with the above exercises, if you wanted to continue leg pressing while using a weight challenging enough to continue making progress, you could throw it in at the end of a leg workout when your most drained. Additionally, you could ditch a leg, and perform a one legged leg press, where the weight used won't be a hassle, will still be challenging, and it provides the benefits of unilateral leg training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, and happy leg training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T02:12:32.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14893" CreationDate="2013-12-31T02:23:13.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the 24 hour fitness &lt;em&gt;history&lt;/em&gt; page, there are 5 clubs in Asia in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hong Kong&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Singapore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taiwan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Malaysia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mainland China&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.24hourfitness.com/company/history/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.24hourfitness.com/company/history/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T02:23:13.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14895" CreationDate="2013-12-31T02:47:42.500" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on this article from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://students.brown.edu/Catalyst/Swimming-Mitchell.html&quot;&gt;Catalyst at Brown University&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After 295 observations, the results were in. Do you sweat when you&#xA;  swim? Sort of. Swimmers averaged a sweat rate of 123 milliliters per&#xA;  kilometer swum, but this number is significantly lower than average&#xA;  sweat rates for other types of exercise (about a third of the sweat&#xA;  rate for running and half that of cycling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article references an Australian study &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Body mass changes and voluntary fluid intakes of elite level water polo players and swimmers.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; by Cox G. R., E. M. Broad and L. M. Burke, found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/research/during_exercise#3&quot;&gt;behind this paywall&lt;/a&gt;. It claims that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The calculated average sweat rate and fluid intake rate during&#xA;  training sessions for male water polo players was 287 ml/h and 142&#xA;  ml/h, respectively, with a rate of 786 ml/h and 380 ml/h during&#xA;  matches.  During training sessions for male swimmers, the calculated&#xA;  average sweat rate and fluid intake rate per kilometre was 138 ml/km&#xA;  and 155 ml/km, respectively; and for female swimmers, 107 ml/km and 95&#xA;  ml/km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7422" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T02:47:42.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5969" CreationDate="2013-12-31T05:11:00.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is scientific research which proves that calorie restriction prevents quick recovery from illness. Here is the link:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125113102.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125113102.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7423" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T05:11:00.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14905" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-31T06:48:09.790" Score="1" ViewCount="1421" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to do what most of us want to do; build muscle and lose fat. However it seems almost impossible to do both at the same time. I know that bcaa's are good for maintaining muscle while on a low carbohydrate diet. Is it possibly that you could gain muscle and lose fat, while on a high protein/low carbohydrate diet, if you used bcaa's? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6330" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T18:05:24.937" Title="Can you build muscle when you are on a low carb diet but supplementing with branch chain amino acids?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14910" CreationDate="2013-12-31T08:57:44.827" Score="4" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im currently on a intermittent fasting regimen and my family has finally caught up to what Ive been doing. Theyre basically saying that im killing myself and this is not the way to lose weight/be healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming from a family that food and eating together 2 to 3 times a day is a center, this is tough for me. We tend to argue alot when I tell them I simply just dont eat when im not hungry and that I only eat at specific times of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive been worming out one excuse after the other but theyre calling BS now on most of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time its my mom who is going ape about it, and with good reason too (I had hyper acidity growing up, she insists that it will comeback because of fasting, while in fact deprogramming my body with IF has tremendously helped my acidity issues to the point that I dont experience hyper acidity anymore) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastEditorUserId="5997" LastEditDate="2013-12-31T09:24:19.657" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T10:30:29.453" Title="How do you explain to a family member that youre on a fitness regimen without them going bonkers about it?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14884" CreationDate="2013-12-31T13:11:07.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For &quot;general stay healthy&quot; plans (not to reduce weight or practice for an event), my suggestion is that you first set up goals in terms of &lt;strong&gt;time&lt;/strong&gt; for these three categories: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderate physical activity (MPA)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Intensity physical activity (HPA)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery activities (RA)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MPA is activities where your &lt;a href=&quot;http://fcesoftware.com/images/15_Perceived_Exertion.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;perceived effort&lt;/a&gt; is low, i.e. on a scale of 1 to 10, your effort is at most 4 to 5. Typical activities are walking, biking, slow swimming and hiking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HPA is activities where you effort is higher that 6. E.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tabata&quot;&gt;tabata&lt;/a&gt;, fast swimming and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/crossfit&quot;&gt;crossfit&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RA is activities where your effort is 1-2. E.g. Yoga, social activities and household chores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goals in time per week for a minimal &quot;general stay healthy&quot; base load should be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MPA: [150, 210] minutes, see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HPA: [15, 25] minutes, see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/the-4-minute-workout/?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; in NY Times (that refers&#xA;to research done in Norway).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RA: [60, 300] minutes, depending on overall level of stress at&#xA;work/school, see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://kops.ub.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/handle/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-opus-56948/sonnentag_JOHP_2001.pdf?sequence=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advantage of time as a basis for the goals is that you can vary the exercises and thus reduce the risk of injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general &quot;stay healthy&quot; is a life long project, see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/7258/3778&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;. To make is more manageable my experience is to plan forward 3-4 months at the time. That is, track what you do for the next three months, see if you can exceed stay in the suggested ranges for the goals and at the end of the period evaluate and adjust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T13:11:07.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14911" CreationDate="2013-12-31T15:10:13.943" Score="0" ViewCount="787" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis once. (CK levels were around 10k)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am wondering: am I more likely to get another one? Or does one's history has nothing to do with it? I wasn't able to find any information on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7361" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T19:38:56.870" Title="Are we more likely to develop rhabdomyolysis if we suffered from one before?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14905" CreationDate="2013-12-31T18:22:56.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long have you been training? If you are relatively new to training you can gain muscle mass doing pretty much anything. But energy balance is far more important to whether you will build muscle than macro split. This is done by watching caloric intake. If you are consuming more than you're expending by 10-15% then you will build muscle and an optimum rate then any more will be mostly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are consuming less then you are expending then you will lose fat and may build or lose muscle depending on how long you have been training for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to answer your question, definitely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7424" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T18:22:56.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14906" CreationDate="2013-12-31T19:13:19.447" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best you can do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gather facts about what you are doing, hopefully backed by scientific studies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gather facts on how your body is improving.  Regular physicals or blood work will arm you with how &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; body is responding to the regimen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask questions to engage in dialog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't get dogmatic.&lt;/strong&gt; Understand that your family is trying to look out for you, so this isn't something that should divide the family.  Also there is more than one right answer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are gaining facts, look at both sides of the argument.  This will help you gain a better understanding of why things work.  One example is an article on how &lt;a href=&quot;http://evidencemag.com/intermittent-fasting-weight-loss/&quot;&gt;intermittent fasting stacks up against science&lt;/a&gt;.  Also understand that there are different variations of intermittent fasting, each with their own advantages/disadvantages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that when you take proper steps toward improving your health, your body will respond in kind.  The fact that the eating protocol is helping your acidity issues is great, but do understand it might be more related to better food choices rather than just the timing of your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to disarm negative arguments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is ask, &quot;why do you think this will hurt me?&quot;  There may be something more specific than just intermittent fasting at the core of their concerns.  There might be something you can improve in your approach to intermittent fasting.  When you hear the concern, and you actually do have an answer for it, share the basis of what you are doing and how it's affecting your health.  If you don't have an answer for it, then simply answer &quot;I haven't considered that, where can I get more information?&quot;  (do your own search on the information, both pro and con trying to find information from people who actually know about nutrition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be able to arrive at a way to address your health concerns and your family's concerns at the same time.  For example, if your variant of intermittent fasting is like the Lean Gains protocol, you have an 8 hour eating window which is ample time for 3 meals a day--and you also have requirements for your macro-nutrients which will improve your overall health.  This would probably work better for your situation than a 6 days eating, 1 day fast (or worse a 5/2 day split).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is find a middle ground that is based on facts that both you and your family can be happy with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T19:13:19.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14908" CreationDate="2013-12-31T19:38:56.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on what I was able to find, the answer is &quot;it depends&quot;.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000473.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rhabdomyolosis&lt;/a&gt; can carry with it damage to the kidneys or other systemic problems.  If that is the case, then it is possible that the threshold of what caused the condition is lowered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the risk factors for Rhabdo are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alcoholism (with muscle tremors)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crush injuries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drugs, especially cocaine, amphetamines, statins, heroin, or PCP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetic muscle diseases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heatstroke&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ischemia or necrosis of the muscles (which may occur with arterial occlusion, deep venous thrombosis, or other conditions)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low phosphate levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe exertion, such as marathon running or calisthenics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shaking chills&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trauma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this site is dedicated to physical fitness, the biggest repeat risk factors would be those related to severe exertion, heatstroke, or genetic muscle diseases.  You can't do much about genetic issues, but you may still be able to exercise without rhabdomyolysis if you pay more attention to fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest defenses you will have against rhabdo (shortened form of the word) will be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proper hydration.&lt;/strong&gt;  Hydration and electrolytes are imperative for proper body function.  Both of these are lost as you perspire.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Better fatigue management.&lt;/strong&gt;  Pushing through fatigue can do more damage than it helps.  Rhabdo is a more severe consequence of overtraining, but if you recognize when your body is done for the day you can rest properly so the body can rebuild itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Sodium+Bicarbonate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sodium Bicarbonate supplementation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;  Sodium bicarbonate will lower systemic inflammation, and the bicarbonate also prevents kidney damage.  The recommended supplementation level is 300mg / KG body weight.  NOTE: if you supplement, keep your doses 3-7mg at a time split evenly throughout the day.  Also NOTE: read the linked article as there are some cautions with supplementation--particularly if you have kidney damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are going to be your best defenses, but they are not magic formulas.  Supplementing with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) doesn't make you immune to rhabdo, it simply helps your body recover from fatigue better.  The most important thing you can do is when your muscles are fatigued to the point where standing or walking is laborious your need to stop exercising and go into recovery mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also might be a good chance to evaluate your training environment.  Working with others can be a tremendous motivator, but if no-one is going to call you on over-working and instead coerce you to &quot;push through the pain&quot; then that training environment might actually be toxic for you.  It's best to be surrounded with people who work hard, but recognize the importance of recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T19:38:56.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14883" CreationDate="2014-01-01T03:03:38.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some personal experience tips that will help you in your journey:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can stay motivated 2-3 times more outside than on a treadmill. In other words,  a 2 mile&#xA;outdoor run sounds more &quot;doable&quot; than a 1 mile treadmill run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running on trails or paths with other runners passing by motivates 1.5 - 2 times more than roads with no other foot traffic. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running with a group or a friend offers the best&#xA;outcomes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train for a big race with lots of people. In a big race, there are always tons of people faster and slower than you no matter how fast or slow you are.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T03:03:38.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14905" CreationDate="2014-01-01T18:05:24.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can, but its not optimal.  Low carb is OK for fat loss, sub-optimal for muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I carb cycle so training days are relatively high carb - 150g or so.  Non-training days are low carb, 50g of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few links to help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why it is bad:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.examiner.com/article/low-carb-diets-make-it-hard-to-build-muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.examiner.com/article/low-carb-diets-make-it-hard-to-build-muscle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some links that say it works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.wellnessfx.com/2013/04/08/guest-post-can-you-build-muscle-on-a-low-carb-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.wellnessfx.com/2013/04/08/guest-post-can-you-build-muscle-on-a-low-carb-diet/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general though you never want to be in an Atikins/Zero carb diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you check out google Timothy Ferris's Slow Carb Diet from the 4 Hour Body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit of the best of both worlds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in general, if you are eating low carb and attempting muscle gain, you want to make sure you get the correct ratio of protein and fat, just like other diets need correct P/F/C ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the IIFYM calculator, and it allows you to select lower carb diets like paleo or slow carb.  Google IIFYM calculator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sky&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4647" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T18:05:24.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14877" CreationDate="2014-01-01T20:54:34.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Counting is generally best for keeping rhythm when lifting. You can say the numbers out loud, murmur them, shout or grunt them, or just count in your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T20:54:34.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14924" CreationDate="2014-01-02T00:56:31.743" Score="3" ViewCount="411" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be surprised if this is a duplicate, since the only questions I see on here similar are for &lt;em&gt;gaining&lt;/em&gt; mass or something similar. I see questions that mention hiit, but don't mention &lt;em&gt;specific&lt;/em&gt; hiit workouts or what constitutes a hiit exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Facts&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Original&lt;/strong&gt;: 5'9&quot; 260lbs, body fat &gt; %30&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After&lt;/strong&gt;: 5'9&quot; 185lbs, body fat &amp;lt; %10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After &lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: 5'9&quot; 260lbs, body fat &gt; 30%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, through a series of poor choices in life(style) I'm back @ my normal weight of ~260lbs (~118kg) from a seriously strict regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to get back fit (obviously), but with a big difference: I started that regimen the same as I am now, the difference being I didn't have as much muscle mass or strength as I do now (Thanks SS), although I did have &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt;. I didn't know what I know now, and to drop most of that weight I ran several thousand miles (over several years of course) with mostly endurance type weight training, so most of my muscle mass depleted (my pecs literally &lt;em&gt;vanished&lt;/em&gt;, I've got pics), although I was still quite strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to go down that same path because I know where it will lead. I've been at this long enough to expect some loss of lean mass when doing a cut, but I'd like to minimize that as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking for any quick fixes or overnight successes, it took a few years to get to &lt;em&gt;After&lt;/em&gt;, and it took a few years to get to &lt;em&gt;After &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What I Know&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Steady State Cardio is the best for &lt;em&gt;weight&lt;/em&gt; loss.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;High Intensity Interval Training (be it cardio or otherwise) is best for fat loss and lean mass retention (Wind Sprints, Sparring, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My Time is limited (adult life).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As far as nutrition goes, take in recommended amount of protein while limiting (&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; elminating) carbohydrates and saturated fats (whole eggs are your friend!).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Free weights are &lt;em&gt;awesome&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;So are calisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, even though I probably just answered my own question, I'm looking for some sample workouts that fall into the fat-loss-mass-preserving category. I won't be adopting much from Starting Strength on this phase because I always seem to &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt; weight for some odd reason.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that I know some decent cardio hiit workouts, wind sprints are my favorite. But, I'm drawing somewhat of a blank when it comes to &lt;strong&gt;resistance hiit workouts&lt;/strong&gt;. I know of a couple, but their no where near enough for a regimen, when you want to prevent boredom/plateaus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the question is: Given the context provided in &quot;facts&quot; &amp;amp; &quot;what I know&quot;, what are examples of &lt;strong&gt;resistance hiit workouts&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus points for sticking with calisthenic and/or free weight exercises, I have limited equipment @ home and may or may not be frequenting a gym. Cheap stuff I can acquire (medicine balls, jump ropes, etc.), but no &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.totalgym.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Total Gym&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's have @ it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-01-03T13:03:30.410" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T21:57:35.697" Title="Sample Regimen for losing body fat and retaining lean mass" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-02T05:23:43.880" Score="-2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5'10''. I weighed 193 lbs last May, now I have reduced to 164 pounds(stalling at the same weight for over 2 months) with 23% of body fat. I need to get rid of those and bring down my weight for 154, which is the cut-off for being fit for my height. I lift weights. I do legs, but I still feel my butt is kinda out of shape, my tummy has a flab(it is kinda flat though), my chest is not exactly ripped(if I don't do chest for 3-4 days, it kinda pushes out in an awkward shape). I need to fix all these(am planning with in Feb). I can do push ups but not pull ups. Since I am stalling with the same weight for too many days, I know I have change something. Right now I do weights about 3-4 days a week, alternating lower body(squats,deadlifts, kettle bell swings), upper body(SMP, pushups, shoulder, bicepts curl(25lbs)). I need to fix my body fat, tighten my butt, flat abs, curl my shoulders more. Am I doing anything wrong, would you change something on what I am dng to achieve wat I want. The trainer at the gym insists that I do the same thing, but I think I need to change something. I know there would be lots of similar threads and sorry for custom posting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3849" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T17:14:42.230" Title="Lost 30 lbs in 6-8 months. But need to bring down fat percentage" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14917" CreationDate="2014-01-02T13:22:22.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some examples of high intensity workouts that engage large muscle groups (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=posterior%20chain&quot;&gt;posterior chain&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=core&quot;&gt;core&lt;/a&gt;) are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Variants of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt;. On the wiki page there are 10+ variants and&#xA;it is easy to make up your own variants as well. A typical calisthenic exercise with its origin from the 1930s US Army.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Variants of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.se/search?q=kettlebell%20swing&amp;amp;oq=kettlebell%20swing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kettlebell swing&lt;/a&gt;. Basic russian, american, one-hand &#xA;etc. It requires one or two kettlebells which is inexpensive compared&#xA;to the Total gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the work out routine format (i.e. sets, repetition, timing, effort) for resistance high intensity training, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tabata&quot;&gt;tabatas&lt;/a&gt; are great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The great variations of the burpees and kettlebell exercises them great for avoiding boredom and plateaus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T13:22:22.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14877" CreationDate="2014-01-02T13:30:43.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be very precise with your tempo, one suggestion would be to use this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finisinc.com/tempo-trainer-pro.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tempo trainer&lt;/a&gt; or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/five-best-metronome-apps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metronome app&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can set them for different tempos which makes the counting easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T13:30:43.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14918" CreationDate="2014-01-02T16:33:51.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at what you are eating, and get real with yourself about it.  If you have to, track everything until you really know what you are eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein should be up around 1g / lb lean body weight, preferably from lean meats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be eating plenty of fibrous vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be getting roughly 1/3 of your calories from of healthy dietary fats (organic butter, coconut oil, olive oil, fat in organic meat, nuts, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The remainder of your calories should be in the form of high fiber carb sources like brown rice, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calm your sweet tooth with whole fruit (not juices)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The types of things you should be avoiding include sugar, trans fats, and foods high in manufactured food substitutes (like hamburger helper).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is great, but you will do better if you don't count the Calories you expend against what you eat.  For example, if some chart says you've burned 500 Calories from your exercise resist the temptation to eat 500 Calories more of anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If your current diet includes trips to fast food restaurants, chances are you are consuming far more Calories than you realize.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, in order to keep progressing in cutting fat you will have to reduce your Calorie intake further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note, how you track body fat may be part of the problem.  One example is the bioimpedance scale which is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=218&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;approximation built on an approximation&lt;/a&gt; which is not only inaccurate it is even worse when used for tracking change over time (by +/- 8%).  You might have lost fat and the bio impedance scale registers no change.  Part of the problem is how the scale takes its measurements and ignores subcutaneous fat.  Tape measures and simple weight measurements give a better overall picture of progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't hurt to have some low intensity steady state (LISS) cardio work in your routine.  Not only is there benefit with burning a few more calories, it also can help you recover from your exercise a little quicker and sleep better by lowering your resting heart rate.  Sleep is very important in any weight loss or muscle building endeavor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T16:33:51.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14917" CreationDate="2014-01-02T23:09:27.117" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can see examples of resistance HIIT workouts at least a couple of times a week on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit main site&lt;/a&gt;.  Aside from the &quot;strictly endurance&quot; or &quot;strictly strength&quot; workouts, nearly all CrossFit workouts are HIIT workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/009081.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Wednesday's workout&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five rounds for time of:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp; 20 Strict ring dips &lt;br&gt; &#xA;  &amp;nbsp; 135 pound Thruster, 14 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a 260 lb gentleman with 30%+ bodyfat, you may find 20 strict ring dips a challenging feat.  For that reason, sites like &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit Brand X&lt;/a&gt; exist, where a pro scales the workout for you every day. (For example, see various options for the scaled version of that same workout &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/18519/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).  You may not find it necessary to look at the scaled versions, but rather take cues from the workout and scale it yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One benefit of CrossFit workouts is that they generally require very little equipment.  If equipment is prescribed, there is likely a variation you could choose that would not require any equipment.  However, if you find you'd like to stick only to bodyweight movements, there are a number of sites available listing only bodyweight Crossfit WODs, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://cfmoncton.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/comprehensive-bodyweight-workout-list-v15.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Futhermore, it's easy to document your progress with these workouts by timing yourself.  It's enjoyable to see how far you've come by doing the same workout two weeks or a month later.  It also keeps you goal-oriented during your training, and forces you to strive for a better score during the workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are a lot of CrossFit naysayers (particularly in the bodybuilding community), and I don't want to come off as a CrossFit fanboy, so I should disclaim that I personally have no affiliation, do not visit a CrossFit gym, and don't work out in a group setting.  I simply value the enormous body of information made available by the CrossFit community.  Stripping away the stigma, one finds a great resource for varied workouts they can use to spice up their own training regimen. Depending on your goals, you may find sites like &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitfootball.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit Football&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitgymnastics.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CrossFit Gymnastics&lt;/a&gt; useful (or at least see some workouts you may enjoy on them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For conditioning, I really like CrossFit workouts because they keep me from getting bored.  I generally end up choosing a good 10 or 15 workouts, then put them on rotation during my conditioning phases.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from that, you may also enjoy the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/hardcore-look-at-jim-wendlers-5-3-1-powerlifting-system.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wendler 5/3/1 program&lt;/a&gt;.  I realize you may have limited access to free weights, so this may not be an option.  However, if you find that it is an option, I recommend acquiring the PDF, which is a pretty short read but loaded with useful information and motivation.  In any case, I've found during strength training, following Wendler's advice of doing hill sprints for 20 minutes three times a week has really melted the fat off of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it seems you're aware, diet also plays a significant role in achieving your goal.  You'll probably need to lose the sweet tooth, lay off the booze, and start adopting healthy eating practices.  I've had the most success by cooking meals for the week every weekend, measuring them out, and putting them in tupperware containers.  Not only will this get you in the habit of eating the right amount, but the meals will be convenient and it will be difficult to consciously stray from your diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to leave you with one final thought for being successful with your goal: try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEnHzV9XpL0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3/3/3 approach&lt;/a&gt;.  Set up your routine and diet and try it for three days.  After three days, you'll see how easy it would be to keep it up for three weeks.  After three weeks, you'll have easily adopted the habits, and choosing to continue for three months will be no challenge.  At the end of your three months, you'll have reached a profound change in physique, and have adopted the lifestyle you have set out to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-02T23:18:10.033" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T23:18:10.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-03T10:00:11.210" Score="0" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've searched the internet for core exercises for building abs, and I'm a little bit confused. Some say that sit-ups is great for getting well defined abs, while some say you only get better at doing sit-ups, and nothing else. I understand that doing sit-ups is better than nothing, and that it's building up the abs in some way. My question is what is the best exercise for getting as big/well defined abs as possible? And how many reps and sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7435" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T11:37:18.417" Title="What's the best exercise to get more well defined abs, a.k.a Muscle hypertrophy" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-03T22:00:05.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14925" CreationDate="2014-01-03T11:37:18.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's an old saying that Abs are built in the kitchen...and it's true.  To see well defined abs you need to have low/athletic level body fat (some say single digit some in say your body fat needs to be in the teens).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You work your abs by doing situps, planks, squats, deadlifts, etc. Unlike other muscles, abs are dense and do not GROW like your biceps, calf, back muscles...they have a different purpose, which is to support your body under tension (from what I understand they're more layered and dense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also NOT target certain body areas to reduce fat just there and everyone stores fat a little different.  SO, if you really want abs, go on a progressive weight lifting program, join myFittnessPal to get your nutrition in line and don't give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T11:37:18.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="378" CreationDate="2014-01-03T21:54:33.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A concept I've been toying with lately is the &quot;coach vs athlete mentality&quot; that Johnny Candito talks about in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J50CpVhF7f4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video.  I think it's something I've been lacking in my training for some time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often I find myself critiquing my lifts before, after, and while I am performing them.  This adds a lot of mental noise when the lift occurs and detracts from my ability to perform as an athlete.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we all know, attitude is everything.  I've found taking the &quot;athlete&quot; mentality when approaching my lifts really keeps performance in the foreground rather than the internal coaching dialog, which really doesn't help at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T21:54:33.957" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2014-01-03T21:54:33.957" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14890" CreationDate="2014-01-04T01:35:51.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be better answered if you give what is your &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; for wanting to grow taller.  Then we can address how to help you solve what you think is your &quot;problem&quot; with being short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also consider, how many inches do you think you can gain?  Suppose you could gain three inches (doubtful). Where would it come from?  Spinal lengthening?  That would reduce the integrity of your spine.  Leg lengthening?  Not really feasible at this point.   And would you be happy at 5'8&quot;?  I know people who are 5'10&quot; and want to be taller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inner character is so much more important than outward physical attributes.  Lots of people are tall and still have problems dating, getting jobs, being social, etc.  It's no panacea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7442" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T01:35:51.240" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14906" CreationDate="2014-01-04T10:30:29.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Theyre basically saying that im killing myself and this is not the way to lose weight/be healthy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really hope they are all straight-edge people who don't touch alcohol, cigarettes, or other drugs.  Otherwise, it would be very hypocritical, wouldn't it?  ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact is that working out improves not only the physical you, but the psychological self.  You will learn to self-motivate yourself at a much higher level, develop a tougher mental outlook, and start learning to break through barriers (in this case by lifting heavier weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6279" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T10:30:29.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-04T11:50:50.577" Score="0" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to gain weight and I bought a 'Rice &amp;amp; Protein' Lean Muscle Mass supplement.&#xA;I also made some healthy proteinbars which also have a bit of this supplement inside them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started a month ago at about 62Kg and i'm now 64.3Kg. I'm also 1m74. I'm 22 Years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out 2 days a week, Full body exercises (90% upper body), Mostly i'll go to the gym Wednesday or Thursday and on Sunday. Now I was wondering, should i be taking any protein shakes or bars on the days I'm resting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7449" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T02:30:01.627" Title="Should i drink proteinshakes or eat proteinbars on my chilldays?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14932" CreationDate="2014-01-04T16:01:48.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are attempting to gain lean muscle weight, supplementing your protein intake outside of your workout days is &lt;strong&gt;probably a waste&lt;/strong&gt;. You should research clean and dirty bulking to get a better understanding of the influence of diet on weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that doing only 2 sessions a week is probably going to mean slow progress after the initial easy gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T16:01:48.207" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14974" CreationDate="2014-01-04T16:11:03.743" Score="3" ViewCount="11121" Body="&lt;p&gt;just started doing pull ups again after a while as i got a straight pull up bar for home use... so when i went on it i was doing it for about 10 mins then stopped doing about ten reps each time but about an hour later it started hurting when i tried to do more pull ups or other such activities. what can i do to help it recover and what may have occurred? could it be a sprain in both wrists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i am 17, male &#xA;thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7452" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T03:51:14.663" Title="wrist/forearm pain when doing pullups" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8121" CreationDate="2014-01-04T16:39:46.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our football club we train on a routine of training on Thursdays and playing the match on Saturday in the league. This is because the gap we have from Thursday to Saturday to rest up and prepare ourselves both physically and mentally for the game, which also works in the other way as to rest from Saturday to Thursday as it gives you a good amount of recovery time both ways. We do normally do small workouts at home to make sure that our ability for the game is great but only for an hour or a bit more to ensure you don't over do it, for instance a 15 minute jog and 45 minute practice at accuracy, passing etc... this works for both football or soccer but if you mean soccer as in helmets etc... then i recommend more strength training included and breaks in between training. You should warm up and warm down to ensure you don't pick up any injuries and take it easy to recover for the game. I would personally recommend practice Friday, and if you feel like you need to do more then practice early before the game, for instance getting there early.Make sure you keep warm before the game and hopefully this should help your performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7452" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T16:39:46.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14936" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-04T19:40:32.197" Score="0" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've talked a litte bit with an old bodybuilder and he says to me : &quot;If you really want to gain weight you must stop eating 'sugar' and milk before arround 5pm,&quot; by sugar he meant fruits etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;because sugar and milk wake up your thyroid gland and it will waste your kcalorie income for keeping your facial features etc&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said that because i'm this kind of ectomorph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Someone know that and helps me to understand deeper what he meant ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T00:06:35.430" Title="thyroid gland and bodybuilding" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14917" CreationDate="2014-01-04T21:57:35.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to make a suggestion that you might not like to hear, but when I was 260 lbs I wasn't doing burpees, pull-ups, or HIIT, I was gradually getting back in shape from speed walking while inserting short runs in there.  I was more worried about putting too much of a pounding on my joints, and especially my knees.  The main difference between you and me is that I'm 6'1&quot;.  Concentrate on your diet for the most part while getting yourself in condition for more strenuous exercise.  Most of all don't deceive yourself about your physical condition, or confuse your condition with when you were in much better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also avoid workouts that involve a lot of jumping around, like burpees, because that's going to impact your joints and may cause injuries.  Also running, besides the problems you listed, is also bad on the joints.  You might want to find some kind of circuit training that uses dumb bells and body weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6713" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T21:57:35.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14932" CreationDate="2014-01-04T23:22:24.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein bars and shakes are supplements to normal food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are tracking your calorie intake and expenditure (&lt;em&gt;which you should be for weight changes&lt;/em&gt;), and you are finding your calorie intake requirements are making it hard for your regular diet to meet your macronutrient requirements, then there is no problem taking a supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is are numerous micronutrients in whole foods, such as vitamins and minerals, that are often not present in protein supplements, so only use them if you find you are not meeting your protein requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T23:22:24.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-05T01:06:54.147" Score="5" ViewCount="954" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a long-term goal of achieving a one-arm pull-up. After doing some bodyweight workouts (one arm negatives, muscle ups (sort of), various pull-ups), I decided to try out weighted pull-ups. My goal is to do a weighted pull-up with 170 lbs, which is my weight. I am doing a 5x5 workout, based off of the Stronglifts 5x5. I do weighted pull-ups every other workout (switching between this and weighted dips), and I work out 3 times a week. I'm stuck at doing 5 reps of 110 lbs weight+bodyweight pull-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get over this plateau? I can do my first set fairly well, but after 2 sets I can barely do 3 reps. (and I get about 3 min rest in between, so I'm not tiring myself out). I would greatly appreciate any tips or workout regimens that worked for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7170" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-31T17:34:27.780" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T17:34:27.780" Title="Help with getting over plateau?-weighted pull ups" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-05T04:54:28.747" Score="0" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay I'm 17 and am a sprinter on my high schools track team and we do INTENSE workouts I was thinking about taking whey protein shakes after hearing my friends suggest it . But I've heard it makes you gain weight. And I've also heard that with a lot of cardio it actually makes you lose muscle. Is that true ?  If so any protein suplents tht could benefit me ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7454" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T05:22:02.807" Title="Will whey makes me lose muscle ?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14459" CreationDate="2014-01-05T05:30:51.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to actively engage the core muscles is like trying to control your breathing. It can be done, but it's likely to hinder your progress. Unless you have such bad form that you need to think about it, you just want to run and let your core area take care of itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally for endurance running, you want things to be as relaxed as possible. Artificially leaning forward or back will place an unnatural stress on your body, unless as said you have really bad running form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vast majority of runners self select the stride length and foot strike pattern that best suits them, so unless you're having problems, just run and concentrate on the purpose of the workout rather than what your erector spinae might happen to be doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-01-05T05:30:51.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14945" CreationDate="2014-01-05T12:47:37.907" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rx6E6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I imagine this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one barbell, aprox 1,000$ with pancakes up-to 400kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two dumbbells, up-to 80kg each.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one bench.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one rack for squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plus rubber covering for floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I can see, it is very expensive pleasure. More than 1,000$.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there way to cheapening ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7456" LastActivityDate="2014-01-05T17:46:10.270" Title="What is the cheapest way to build power lifting fitness room for one person?" Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14939" CreationDate="2014-01-05T14:15:19.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be trying to improve your bicep work capacity too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to have a proper macronutrient intake. Aside from neuromuscular changes, you cannot be stronger if your muscles cannot grow, and your muscles cannot grow if you don't eat what you should eat. Muscles don't come up from nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4587" LastActivityDate="2014-01-05T14:15:19.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14942" CreationDate="2014-01-05T17:46:10.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excluding the non-powerlifting and other extraneous elements of my home gym, I spent a whole lot less than your plan. Here's how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Craiglist squat rack: 300 dollars. Took two weeks for the posting to appear. (NB: I sold the rack for just under that amount, 2 years later. Not bad.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cement floor. Piece of scrap plywood for deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell and 300 pounds of plates, found on craigslist, circa $150&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't use a bench because I don't bench, but used benches are cheap cheap cheap and making it yourself doesn't sound that hard either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you make your plan cheaper? Well, decide for yourself. Buying new is expensive. Buying 400kg worth of weight is expensive. Buying gear you don't need is expensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-05T17:46:10.270" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14939" CreationDate="2014-01-05T18:07:16.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drop weight and add reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, too, that weighted pull-ups are only one part of working to a one-arm chin. You should still be doing one-arm negatives, one-and-a-half arm chins, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-05T18:07:16.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14940" CreationDate="2014-01-06T02:21:07.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein intake is used to help with muscle growth. Muscles weigh more so yes, in that way it could be said that it might make you gain some weight. But if your workouts are that intense, I would not worry about that and read the label on back of the protein powder too - some have added sugar. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/aa081403.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; has a good guideline for how to start figuring out what your intake should be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a dairy sensitivity you might want a protein powder without whey. Some people I know have gotten over dairy sensitivity by also taking probiotics. Make sure you have enough fiber and water in your diet so the protein shake doesn't make you constipated. I would try a brand out and see if your body likes it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding lots of cardio and losing muscle: I don't think that will happen to you because you are a sprinter not a marathoner. Your work-outs are totally different. As a result, marathoners have smaller looking muscles but with greater endurance than sprinters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="569" LastEditorUserId="569" LastEditDate="2014-01-06T02:27:02.513" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T02:27:02.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14939" CreationDate="2014-01-06T05:07:56.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also consider doing two arm pullups, but shortening the length of pull on one side.  This is achieved by doing a wide grip on one side, but standard on the other.  When you shorten/contract one side partially, you hinder the amount of work it can perform, biasing the side that is performing full range-of-motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also one of my goals, and I am working towards it by executing pullups using a bar that has a gusset of 45 degrees coming off the pull up bar.  This allows me to bias one side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not have access to a pull up bar like this, but get creative by using a band or the like.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Law of diminishing returns applies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plateaus are always hard to deal with.  Given your workload, it appears as if you are concentrating on strength when considering the strength developmental continuum.  Because of that law, your body has become efficient working at the repetition range. Staying here will eventually mean a decrease in performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your choice is then to move to peak power and strength, increasing the weight and decreasing the repetitions in order to become &lt;em&gt;stronger,&lt;/em&gt; or decreasing the weight and increasing the repetitions to increase &lt;em&gt;endurance&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would move to decreasing the repetitions to focus on strength for about two weeks (more weight, less reps, closer to 4 reps than 6).  Upon that point, and depending on your results from that microcycle I would continue along either an undulating periodization program (strength one day, hypertrophy another, endurance another) or a traditional (endurance, hypertrophy, strength, power, peak strength, peak power, in that order).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The law always applies, so you've gotta switch it up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2014-01-07T03:58:19.590" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T03:58:19.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14940" CreationDate="2014-01-06T05:22:02.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a sprinter, you are using mostly anaerobic energy systems. The adaptations that your body will produce in response to your sport means an increase in fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are typically larger than slow twitch (which are higher in distance runners).  This means larger size, but may not mean heavier weight.  As a sprinter, you want fast-twitch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whey&lt;/em&gt; will not make you lose muscle.  A high caloric expenditure combined with a caloric deficit will make you lose muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey protein is typically structured to be absorbed faster than other proteins, as it is easier to break down, in contrast to something like casein protein.  Casein protein takes longer to break down, but can be beneficial if you're trying to keep your protein levels and basal metabolic rate high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember-the high caloric expenditure makes you lose muscle.  The body draws energy from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins (in that order (layman's terms)).  If it runs out of readily available energy sources, it will begin to draw from your own body, breaking down protein.  That's where the weight loss comes from.  I'm oversimplifying it, but let me know if I need to expand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, no, whey will not make you lose weight.  Not feeding yourself enough to match the amount of work you're doing will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a sprinter, you must find out how many calories you burn in an average training session.  Typically I would feed a sprinter a diet rich in carbohydrates, then protein, then fat last of all.  You're going to use carbohydrates first, but protein is absolutely necessary to build more muscle (so you can use MORE carbohydrates!).  You likely won't touch fat when sprinting.  If your body does so, you're likely training too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T05:22:02.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-06T14:44:59.727" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;My max deadlift (for now) is 435lbs, my above knee max rack lift is 605lbs, my just below knee max rack lift is 450lbs....does this indicate that my 'take off' is the weak part of the lift? and if so, what can I do to improve the bottom part of my dead lift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T01:23:08.493" Title="Deadlift and Rack Lifts" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14953" CreationDate="2014-01-06T16:44:42.893" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people are much stronger above the knee than below.  However, if you feel that the disparity is too great, there are a few potential problems you may want to check:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting position with the hips too high.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poor mobility causing low back rounding just to grab the bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Losing body tightness due to poor breath control.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simply just being weak off the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your hips are too high, you are pulling from the most mechanically inefficient position.  Additionally, it is putting a lot of strain on your back that can potentially be dangerous to your lumbar region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is get some video of yourself to see what you look like.  Take it from a couple different angles: 3/4 view on the front, and a side view.  The 3/4 view is from the front but at an angle that also lets you see your leg and back position.  A good example, as well as some professional deadlift critiquing would be in this video from Brandon Lilly: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/vdINRhBUvsM&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/vdINRhBUvsM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to breathe into your spine.  In other words when you take a deep breath, that breath should fill and brace your spinal position before you attempt a pull.  Hold that breath until you are fully erect.  Just breathing into your stomach or chest isn't going to help the spinal position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have mobility or body position issues, there are some exercises that can really help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/training/double-paused-deadlifts&quot;&gt;Double-paused deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; reinforce technique and body alignment, as well as provide more time under tension at the problem points.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_snatch_grip_deadlift&quot;&gt;Snatch grip deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; help both the power off the floor and lockout.  Use 50% of your heaviest deadlift for the day and do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.  Aim for more volume, but if you can barely make the minimums it's OK.  Your glutes and traps may be particularly challenged at first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ericcressey.com/5-how-to-deadlift-technique-strength-training-programs&quot;&gt;Speed Deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; help reinforce technique, and pulling with the intent to break the bar off the floor as fast as possible.  Essentially use 55-65% of your training max, and do 10-15 singles on a 30s clock.  In other words, every 30 seconds get into position breath in and pull.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of the above are &lt;em&gt;assistance&lt;/em&gt; exercises I've used and have produced some good results.  They shouldn't replace actually training the deadlift off the floor.  Make sure you pull the bar toward you throughout the movement, activating your lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T16:44:42.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14936" CreationDate="2014-01-06T21:25:23.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I certainly applaud anyone wanting to cut down their sugar intake to below 100 grams after 5pm, but take it from this old gym rat, I've spent my entire adult life in the gym, and nutrition like this can do more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only eat one type of carb (and that's all a eating a single complex carb is going to do for you), you're setting yourself up for different somatotypes down the road. I've seen it a hundred times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like putting a powerful engine in a stock Toyota Tercel. What will you accomplish? You'll blow out the drive train, the clutch, the transmission, etc., because those factory parts aren't designed to handle the power of an engine much more powerful than the factory installed engine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex carbs basically only fuel some of your thighroid gland and to some extent, your glycogen stores. What you really want to do is eat every type of carb, all the major carbohydrates (monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides) at the same time, over the course of the day. And don't forget your sugars too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm proud of you wanting to do this. Three cheers! Falling in love with exercise, eating right, etc., is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself. And you WILL fall in love with it if you can just force yourself to stick with it a year or two and experience the amazing progress you'll make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But do it right, okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7472" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T21:25:23.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14960" CreationDate="2014-01-07T02:05:45.617" Score="0" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I developed some patellar tendinitis from squatting (doing Staring Strength) and not keeping good form as the weights increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a break from squats (have only very slight pain now) and have started again with an empty bar. I've read fish oil is good to reduce inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much should I be taking per lb or kg of body weight, in terms of EPA and DHA. I'm around 80 kg and I'm reluctant to take 10 capsules a day as suggested by some sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T14:12:49.373" Title="How much fish oil should I take for sore knees" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-05-24T01:56:52.560" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14959" CreationDate="2014-01-07T02:43:26.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish oil will purportedly help with inflammation, but the problem lies in finding out how much is enough.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More is not necessarily better.  If you are injured, and it sounds like you are, your best friend is RICE, or Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.  Anti-inflammatory medication is sometimes included. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reduce inflammation, I see no wrong in reading the instructions on the package containing the fish oil.  Your body goes through three phases of healing.  They are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Inflammation Phase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Repair Phase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Remodeling Phase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goal regarding these phases are to go through them as fast as possible.  As long as you're in pain, it's safe to say you're staying in the inflammation phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tendinitis is indicative of overuse.  Take it easy-continuing exercise is important, but you risk greater injury given working with the injury.  If you were my client, knee flexion and extension would likely be off limits unless it was low impact, like cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dietary recommendations are outside my scope of practice, and not enough information is given for me to feel comfortable doing so.  You desire to be rid of inflammation, so in that respect I believe RICE is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The median intake of DHA is between 1.2 to 1.6g/d for an adult male.  No upper intake limit has been established, as there is no evidence stating someone's ever taken too much of it.&#xA;I got that from the National Agricultural Library: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI//DRI_Energy/422-541.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Page 478, last paragraph, USDA report on DRI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T02:43:26.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-07T03:16:03.917" Score="8" ViewCount="1065" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know several metabolic equations for estimating VO2 (and therefore calories burned) for steady state exercise, but how is VO2 and caloric expenditure estimated through exercises like power lifting and explosive exercise, like burpees?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This being said, what are the METs (metabolic equivalents) for such exercises?  All METs I have seen are for physical activity, not for specific exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know the caloric value of different exercises to estimate whether or not one is over-training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current formal education is heavily focused on health vs performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="16721" LastEditDate="2015-08-20T16:44:53.090" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T00:20:47.947" Title="Metabolic Equations for Anaerobic Exercise?" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-07T05:14:43.027" Score="0" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had hip surgery over a year ago, upshot being that I can no longer do any exercise that compresses my hips - like running, jumping, squats, lunges with weights, etc. etc. etc. I'm 43, so this is a big drag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unsurprisingly I've lost a lot of bulk in my legs (wasn't a whole lot there to begin with either). I've been doing leg extensions and hamstring curls, but I need some variety. everything I've researched seems to be a variation on a squat or lunge. Someone suggested using therabands, but I'm not sure how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I swim as well as workout and do a fair amount of kicking, but it doesn't build much muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7474" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T19:13:44.503" Title="Leg workouts without squats or lunges" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14965" CreationDate="2014-01-07T05:52:40.733" Score="-1" ViewCount="1292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious about white hair: A friend told me that drinking coffee and tea would increase the number of white hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a similar claim on the English Pravda site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among other reasons of hair graying are excessive intake of tea, coffee and alcohol, of fried and oily foods, spices and sour and acidic foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you tell me if this true or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referred from Sklivvz♦, Skeptics Moderator&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7466" LastEditorUserId="7466" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T10:55:32.973" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T10:55:32.973" Title="Will Coffee increase the growth of white hair?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-07T12:33:31.230" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14963" CreationDate="2014-01-07T09:58:02.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As much as we know about the human body, we know precious little about why and how hair turns grey (or white). The general idea appears to be that the follicles eventually stop producing pigment, leaving the resulting hairs white. When that happens, however, is a pretty complex thing, partly dependent on genetics, partly on environmental factors. A few known stressors that cause white hairs, other than psychoemotional stress, include serious illness, nutritional deficiencies to the point of starvation, protein deficiencies and some forms of chemotherapy (as opposed to folate depleting chemo, which turns hair a bit darker - I went from light-brown to almost black temporarily during high-load methotrexate treatment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine is not known (beyond folk wisdom) to cause more white hairs or depigmentation. If you are worried, potential causes to look into might be a vitamin B12 deficiency, hypothyroidism and protein deficiencies, all of which could be caught easily on a simple blood test with a thyroid and vitamin panel (which is something one should get done regularly anyway). I presume you're Caucasian -- this is the age around which your hair will start going white, although initially it's very slow, and of course you didn't tell us how much hair you have. 40, though, seems to be pretty few. I suppose the only good solution is to dye your hair, if it really bothers you, but it may do more harm than good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7410" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T09:58:02.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2014-01-07T12:54:00.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assistance by a partner can be useful and can speed up the learning process. A partner can hold your legs and watch your form, even if she is not proficient in the handstand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/RcxlRHYrIdM/hqdefault.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;handstand assist&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is only after you can hold the handstand by the wall. Also, be careful not to kick your partner accidentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One really good assistance exercise was someone holding your legs, then, putting one closed fist between your knees. You then have to squeeze your knees and use only the fist between your knees to keep yourself in balance (the other hand is then released and your only help will be the fist between your knees).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is good because squeezing the knees will activate the core right away. Also, the fist will be somewhat unstable, which is useful for learning the balancing skill. So this is kind of halfway between using a spotter and the free standing hs, and can make the transition to free standing easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.667" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T13:12:03.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14967" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-07T13:39:25.770" Score="3" ViewCount="4240" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes 1/2 day to a day after a tough workout, when I lean forward, I get a severe cramping in my chest...it feels like a bad muscle cramp in my ribs (just above the sternum on the right hand side).  What is my body trying to tell  me? and how can I stretch to stop this from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T17:17:22.143" Title="Cramping in chest after working out" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14959" CreationDate="2014-01-07T14:12:49.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that rather than looking to invest in fish oil, that you look to manage the pain and discomfort by stretching before and after each workout.  Avoid any movements that cause pain that is not tolerable.  That may mean cross training with a different activity.  Most importantly, listen to what your body is telling you.  Inflammation can become a chronic problem if not dealt with correctly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T14:12:49.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12536" CreationDate="2014-01-07T18:23:56.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;by 300 push ups u can gain little muscle and better endurance(strength).endurance exersices are so tiersome.tobe changed quicly you have to exercise with every part of your muscle. if you are interested try this schedule.&#xA;Mon-p/up=120(4varieties)&#xA;           Pull up=90(wide,narrow&amp;amp;back)&#xA;Tue-rest&#xA;Wed-abdomens &#xA;           Waist,qudriceps (leg)&#xA;Thu-biceps&amp;amp;triceps(with dumbells)&#xA;Fri- rest&#xA;sat-repeat Mon exercice(more differnt varieties)Sun-rest&#xA;The other thing is you have to eat 4-6 small meals per day not let your body fell hungry''eat more than you think.''drink 2-4liters of water.&#xA;You 'll do this ex for 2 weeks and change only the varieties on the next 2 weeks.there are 148 varieties of push ups.you can get from youtube.&#xA;Wish u a good posture thanks.&#xA;Fogot something.............................. focus on ur abdomens.         &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7480" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T18:23:56.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-07T18:56:24.547" Score="0" ViewCount="336" Body="&lt;p&gt;So im  trying a 30 day workout plan and I was wondering if this is ok it starts with the first week being 2 sets then the second 3 sets then the third week 4 sets and the 4th week being five sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It starts at 30 lunges, 30 sit ups, 30 push ups,2x30 second planks, 20 burbeeries and 10 crunches and each day I add five to each and every 4th day I rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this ok ? Im new to the whole thing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7481" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T13:41:27.290" Title="is this a good workout plan for beginners" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14971" CreationDate="2014-01-07T19:53:03.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends how healthy you are already because if you are already reasonably fit then it would be a very good routine as long as a few breaks were put in between 5-10 mins, but if your looking to get fit then i would say maybe start off with it a little easier because you may not be able to do all of this in the first week maybe build it up gradually in the first week? until you are able to do the routine better. Although i would personally try your routine on the first day if i were you to see if you are capable of it yet and if so then stick with it, but if not then it's whatever you believe you are capable of doing from what you achieved in that day. You should also warm up and warm down sometimes to ensure you don't pull something even if it's just a little work out to ensure you don't strain something. But yes i think it's  good :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7452" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T19:53:03.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14967" CreationDate="2014-01-07T21:05:22.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cramping is usually caused by dehydration.  For me the first muscle that always cramps is my LATs.  When this happens I know it is time to drink more water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is most likely dehydrated.  Drink more water.  Stretching is a short term fixed to cramping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T21:05:22.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14934" CreationDate="2014-01-08T01:18:06.700" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your biceps like to provide assistance when performing exercises for the back, however if you use a pronated grip (or &lt;em&gt;overhand grip&lt;/em&gt;)to do your back exercises it puts the biceps in a weaker position to help out. This forces the &lt;strong&gt;brachioradialis muscle&lt;/strong&gt;, to pick up the slack and aid in assisting the bigger muscle group working. The brachioradialis muscle is located on the upper, outer part of your forearm, and based on the grip you said you used, and your exercise selection, and pain felt afterwards, it sounds like you could potentially have suffered a strain in it. You mentioned you &lt;strong&gt;just&lt;/strong&gt; got back into doing pullups, so your brach muscles probably aren't used to this type of exercise stimulus. That said, in the short term &lt;strong&gt;doing more pull ups or other &quot;such activities&quot; wouldn't help the problem&lt;/strong&gt;, it will just increase the strain on the muscles. Long term, doing more and more pullups will strengthen those muscles, but just make sure you don't push too hard and cause any injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other ways to strengthen the brachioradialis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer Curls: If you have access to dumbbells, hammer curls target the brachs, biceps, and other forearm muscles. If dumbbells aren't around, look for something with a handle that you can use instead. Check out how to do hammer curls &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hammer-curls&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Demonstration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Grip Curls: These can be done with dumbbells or a barbell. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/reverse-barbell-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Demonstration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Farmer Walks: Want an easy way to get stronger forearms? Carry something that's heavy! Farmer walks are great, but if your not one for cardio, even just picking up something heavy and holding onto it for as long as you can will strengthen the forearm muscles. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/farmers-walk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Demonstration&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For advice on recovery, I felt a physical therapist is really the person you should be asking, so I found a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KJ-0XCJYHo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;youtube video&lt;/a&gt; of one, talking about how to treat the exact problem it seems like you have now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to also add that by switching to an underhand grip or &lt;em&gt;supinated grip&lt;/em&gt; to perform your back exercises, you put the biceps in a stronger position, which means you won't be recruiting your brachioradialis as much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wishing you a speedy recovery!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7366" LastEditorUserId="7366" LastEditDate="2014-01-08T03:51:14.663" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T03:51:14.663" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11846" CreationDate="2014-01-08T02:03:08.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per JohnP's answer, looking at individual GPS logs in isolation is of limited use: if you're trying to track improvements then so many other factors (fatigue, weather, stress, etc) can make it look as though you performed 'better' in one session than another. Garmin's interface isn't very helpful at examining this because (mostly) it presents each run in isolation from the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more attractive way of looking at the data is to put it into Smashrun - gives you some handy things like average speed over a month and the trailing 90 days mileage, but again, it may not be so helpful if you're doing periodisation, and (at the moment) it struggles to interpret interval training, but there's some trending. Strava is also useful for comparing your performance on particular segments, but I find the emphasis on competing with other people to be needlessly distracting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where I think it can be useful is when you're doing interval training.  Your heart rate from the half marathon is pretty flat throughout, whereas on the other two runs it moves around a lot, and (from what I can see of the elevation and your pace) I don't understand why it's moving about so much.  Compare with this track session I ran this week: &lt;a href=&quot;http://connect.garmin.com/activity/426003767&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://connect.garmin.com/activity/426003767&lt;/a&gt; - what I'm looking for is how fast my heart rate drops between each 1200m lap, and how consistent I am through the laps themselves. Very roughly speaking, the faster your heart rate goes down from the end of a period of hard exertion, the fitter you're getting, and the more consistently you can get your speed and heart rate to match up, the better you're getting at running at that particular speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I've got a foot pod, I can also track cadence - in this case, I can see that I was probably starting each interval a bit too quickly, as my cadence declines on every one.  Again, I'd be looking for ways to improve your consistency at running at a certain speed, and knowing that I tend to go out a bit too fast then becomes helpful the next time I run that session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're not running laps of consistent terrain, each log is less helpful in isolation; these tools are most helpful if you're comparing the same thing on different days, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; you have lots of different data points to compare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7483" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T02:03:08.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-08T03:53:59.630" Score="5" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently handed this book on stretching exercises by my friend. It has a set of exercises that one is supposed to do daily; starting with 7 repetitions and gradually increasing to 9, 11 and so on till one can do 25 reps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercise routine begins with a warm up consisting of:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Simple skipping for 3 minutes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Spot jogging for 3 minutes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; 20 - 25 jumping jacks &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once done with this, there are the below mentioned exercises:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Two-arm stretch:&lt;/strong&gt; Raise both arms above your head. Breathe in, stretch as high as you can. Hold for 5 counts. Slacken as you breathe out. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;One-arm stretch:&lt;/strong&gt; Raise one arm above the head. Breathe in. Hold for count of 5. Slacken as you breathe out. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Toe-touching:&lt;/strong&gt; Feet together. Bend down and touch your toes. Repeat 20 - 25 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;The Pelvic Tilt:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.recreation.ubc.ca/files/2013/11/pelvic_tilt.jpg&quot;&gt;This image shows it better&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Upward hand clasp:&lt;/strong&gt; Both the feet one foot apart. Hands raised above the head, clasp the fingers together. Bend to the left, straighten, bend to the right. breathe in when bending. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Shoulder Shrugs:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.setonspineandscoliosis.com/assets/images/exercise/neck_shrugs.jpg&quot;&gt;This image shows it better&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Lying down hamstring stretch:&lt;/strong&gt; Lie down flat, hands off to the side. Raise legs to 90 degree with body. Stretch along the thighs as much as you can. Kinda like splits. &lt;/li&gt; &#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Heel Raise:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc.net.au/health/features/img/heelraises.gif&quot;&gt;This image shows it better&lt;/a&gt; but I have to do one heel at a time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Strap assisted stretch:&lt;/strong&gt; Hang from some hooks for 3 minutes, increasing as you go on. &lt;/li&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have the following few questions:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; Is the &lt;strong&gt;Pelvic Tilt&lt;/strong&gt; 'safe' ? How does it affect the spine ?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; The same with the &lt;strong&gt;Heel Raise&lt;/strong&gt;. The book says that it changes the arch of the foot. Both these exercises make me concerned because they actually 'change' the structure of the body and I am a first-timer exercising so I do not wanna do anything stupid.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;3.&lt;/strong&gt;  I do not get to do the last exercise as I do not have hooks to suspend myself from. Will it have a detrimental effect ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 19, male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7484" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T06:16:57.507" Title="Is this a good at-home exercise routine for a beginner?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-08T08:36:54.020" Score="0" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am stuck with a knee injury since August 2013, with not much a progress then. PT's haven't been of much help. Ortho diagnosed I have chrondomalacia pattelae. I also think i have some pelvic misalignment and strength imbalances in posterior and anterior chain muscles. I have come across two PT's now who are pretty experienced - they treat competitive athletes on a regular basis. Both of them have asked me to jog for a few days even if it hurts and that body has its own way of healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my knowledge, one shouldn't exercise on the top of pain, especially when its a joint pain. And again high impact exercises when one already has leg length difference (due to pelvic misalignment?). To me, it doesn't make sense at all. Looking at their experience, I am wondering am I missing something. Are there injuries there where one has to do exercises that cause pain in the site of injury and then they really heal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid my question is a bit vague. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T14:14:28.570" Title="Run even if it pains? - chrondomalacia patellae" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14977" CreationDate="2014-01-08T15:33:26.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should distinguish between pain in fact of sore muscles due long workout or real injuries (in my experience most time you can make a difference) running injured is a bad idea. But it sounds like you need to know whats going on with your body for real. I would advise you to contact a Osteopath, its an advanced kind of physiotherapy and they have deep knowledge of how your body works and about all the mechanics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a bad injury myself, 1 ortho and 2 physiotherapist could not helped me. The Osteopath could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7488" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T15:33:26.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14979" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-08T16:03:19.503" Score="3" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;When running for long distances (42k, 65k) I have noticed that at kilometer 30, my feets comming to get a lot of pain, I think that is something normal, but I think it could be the cushion of my shoes that is not helping anymore, because of the long distance.. so this is something usual? should I change my shoes in the middle of the race so my feets don't get tired at that distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="7498" LastEditDate="2014-01-09T21:17:09.233" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T18:01:56.757" Title="Change of shoes at middle of ultra trail race for better cushion" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14988" CreationDate="2014-01-08T16:46:49.473" Score="1" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing a reverse on the one rep max formula. That is, if my one rep max in a certain exercise is 30 kg, then following the 1RM = m(30 + r)/30 formula, you get r = 30(RM - m)/m .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this would also imply that in that case the maximum number of repeats with 4 kg should be 195 while with 2 kg it should be 420 reps. However, a warm-up with 28 reps with 2 kgs followed by 26 reps of 4 kgs renders me already tired. I can push the 30 kgs once, but I see no chance to ever do 195 reps with 4 kgs (let alone 420 with 2 kgs) after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong? Where do my calculations go wrong? How can these numbers be improved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7489" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T15:32:55.997" Title="One rep max formula - why do I get tired during warm-up" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15006" CreationDate="2014-01-08T18:22:40.773" Score="1" ViewCount="864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking for a programme that is out of the ordinary so i'm currently using the heavy duty from Mike Mentzer. My main goal is to gain mass / muscle !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday - back &amp;amp; chest :&#xA;&#xA;Peck-deck 1×6-10 superseted with &#xA;incline bench (on Smith machine, if possible) : 1×1-3&#xA;&#xA;Pull over on machine, if possible : 1×6-10, superseted with&#xA;lats pulldown : 1×6-10&#xA;&#xA;deadlift : 1×6-10&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;Friday - legs :&#xA;&#xA;Leg extension : 1×6-10, superseted with&#xA;leg press : 1×6-10&#xA;&#xA;stand calves : 1×12-20&#xA;&#xA;Tuesday (next week) - Shoulders, biceps &amp;amp; triceps :&#xA;&#xA;Side Dumbbell Lateral, on machine if possible : 1×6-10&#xA;lateral raise (on pec-deck reverse, if possible) : 1×6-10&#xA;&#xA;Curl bar : 1×6-10&#xA;&#xA;Extension triceps : 1×6-10, superseted with&#xA;Dips : 1×3-5&#xA;&#xA;The form used is perfect with a tempo 4-2-4 (arround this) and each set is to the &#xA;muscle/mental failure&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And my question is : &lt;strong&gt;Is one set for each exercice enough for breaking down the muscle to grow up ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because after 2 min of rest, i feel like i can do another set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastEditorUserId="5699" LastEditDate="2014-01-09T19:39:24.587" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T23:40:51.343" Title="Mike Mentzer, Heavy duty" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-08T18:43:35.907" Score="0" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supose you can only work out for five days, and you know you won't be able to do so in a couple of weeks after. Would it be better to work out five days on a row, since you'll have a longer than usual resting period, or would it be better to work out on alternative days as usual?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5063" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T05:11:19.223" Title="Working out consecutive days with longer resting periods" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14977" CreationDate="2014-01-09T01:00:39.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a little vague, but I understand your concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your PT's concerns and recommendations are VERY valid.  They want you running because they don't want you to become sedentary.  The lack of strength, bone density, endurance, and oxygen consumption that will result from NOT running is far worse than working through the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm not with you and I can't see your data, but that's usually the logic behind that sort of thinking.  Not exercising would likely make your condition worse over time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They recommend running for the effect it has on the total body, but also the lower body itself.  What about using an arm ergometer?  Is that a good way to exercise that they would recommend, or is running the exercise that must be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T01:00:39.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-09T04:38:14.480" Score="1" ViewCount="7953" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last year or so I've been taking the deadlift seriously. Every time I near my max, we'll say my 3-rep max, I feel a what can best be described as a pressure / pain on my lower rib cage. It feels like it could be deep muscle, as the pain fades quickly (1 or 2 seconds) after I set the weight down. Anyone else experience this? Anyone know the cause/how to remedy it? Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7493" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T16:04:22.793" Title="Lower lat/ribcage pain while Deadlifting" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-09T10:17:32.173" Score="-1" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;While playing squash 4 weeks ago, I made a false step and felt a snap in my hamstring. There was no immediate pain associated to it. However, when it cooled down, it made me limp a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I read on the net, this is maybe more than a pull, but not a severe tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've rested for the past 4 weeks, and I'm not sure it has healed. When I stretch it, I feel a sort of 'knotted' muscle sensation right above the knee on the backside. The pain from stretching is a bit more acute than what I would feel while stretching my healthy hamstring. However, I can almost achieve normal mobility with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I tell the hamstring is healed, and the pain I feel is not simply coming from the fact that the leg was injured and inactive for 4 weeks, thus being harder to stretch ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7011" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T13:40:27.713" Title="Hamstring injury - has it healed?" Tags="&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-13T03:36:22.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14981" CreationDate="2014-01-09T13:13:50.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Who ever said that one-rep max calculations were reversible? They're a very rough guide for &lt;em&gt;estimating&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;predicting&lt;/em&gt; an appropriate one-rep max attempt. They're simply not designed to be inverted so that one can figure out the correct rep target for 2kg weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would probably get better results basing your workout program on an existing, proven workout program instead of extrapolating from a highly specialized and approximate mathematical tool for powerlifting guesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T13:13:50.193" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14987" CreationDate="2014-01-09T13:40:27.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't tell, and, nor can we.  Only a trained professional can advise you on the extent of the trauma to the muscle.  Having said that, you should let your pain level guide you to amount and extent of the activity as you ease back into it.  Ideally you would have progressed through some sort of rehab program to strengthen the injured area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T13:40:27.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14977" CreationDate="2014-01-09T14:14:28.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, good PTs tend to distinguish between two kinds of people. Some clients will be extremely sensitive to pain. These folks will, in general, benefit from being told to exercise even when it hurts a bit, as it will prevent muscle loss &amp;amp;c. Other clients will be significantly less sensitive to pain (case in point, I once finished a 10mi cross-country with a piece of barbed wire lodged in my calf - not because I'm so darn awesome and tough but because I simply have a reasonably low pain threshold). In my experience, having worked with some really good ones, they try to calibrate their advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, chondromalacia patellae is one of those things where there is no clear 'best treatment'. In general, there are two main schools. One teaches RICE and slow resumption of activities ('build-up'), another teaches to keep as close to your normal activity level as you can ('scale-down'). Generally, the best approach for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; will depend on two things. One, &lt;em&gt;can you, in terms of fitness, afford some downtime?&lt;/em&gt; Some people can easily sit out a few weeks and get back to where they were in weeks. Others can't get back so easily, and you know yourself better than we do, I'd wager. The other is what you have available. If you are near a good gym, this would be a great way to do some of the cross-training most athletes skip! Alternatively, a good personal trainer can create an exercise plan for you that involves all the elements of running but those that would irritate your patella. Ultimately, neither of these is curative and the question is what to do while your condition resolves itself peacefully. Diclofenac potassium and naproxen are two wonderful NSAIDs (you're going to get a lot less effect from ibuprofen and virtually none from paracetamol and aspirin) for this sort of pain that can make moderate exercise bearable. Of course, this is also a time when you ought to consider whether you're training too hard/the wrong way, since CMP is most often an overuse injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7410" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T14:14:28.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14985" CreationDate="2014-01-09T15:22:54.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be an indication of an imbalance in the supporting muscles. Namely, the core and posterior chain. You might consider some accessory work on your core and lower back to bring them up to speed with your DLs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7181" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T15:22:54.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14981" CreationDate="2014-01-09T15:32:55.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some major limitations regarding 1RM formulas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They are designed with a certain demographic in mind.&lt;/strong&gt; If you are outside that demographic, they may not be applicable.  For example, the one you listed is designed for men in their 20s.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They are designed to work within a certain rep range.&lt;/strong&gt;  For example, the one you listed becomes grossly inaccurate beyond 10 reps.  The fewer reps involved, the more accurate they become.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They are only an approximation.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is why they don't work outside of their designed parameters.  It's better to think of it in terms of equivalent effort than it is to think that just because you lifting 100kg 10 times that you can automatically lift 133kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With those disclaimers out of the way, I can say without a doubt you are using the the formula incorrectly.  The formulas become more useful when you understand about the different adaptations that happen with rep ranges.  Granted, even the rep ranges are only useful to a point--but it helps to understand how to design your work around your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1-3 reps:&lt;/strong&gt; 90+% effort, used to test strength.  Can also be used to primarily stimulate myophibrilar hypertrophy (more contractile protein pairs per muscle fiber) if used with 85-90% and more sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4-6 reps:&lt;/strong&gt; 80-90% effort, used to build a balance of strength and size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;8-12 reps:&lt;/strong&gt; 70-80% effort, used to primarily build size and commonly used by bodybuilders.  Primarily stimulates sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (more energy system support for the muscle).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;16+ reps:&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;lt;70% effort, used to build muscular endurance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Performing over 100 reps with any weight is a grueling exercise in endurance, and is very difficult.  However, that effort does not translate to increasing your ability to do work.  I.e. getting stronger or improving your energy systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Just as important:&lt;/strong&gt; warmup should just be that.  Getting your muscles warm enough to handle the work load.  Performing massive sets with a weight only 2kg from the work weight is going to pre-fatigue the muscles so that you are robbing from what you can do at the work weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T15:32:55.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14535" CreationDate="2014-01-09T15:48:13.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The goal of doing plank to improve your posture, is to strengthen your core. To do this, the variation for increased intensity will net you better results, as the increased duration will lead to diminishing returns. In short, after achieving the 60s hold, your body is sufficiently used to the move, that it doesn't force as much adaptation as it did while you were training up to the 60s, even at greater duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7181" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T15:48:13.663" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14985" CreationDate="2014-01-09T16:04:22.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting is a great exercise, but without understanding what else you are doing I'm going to be working off of assumptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm assuming you are pulling heavy (90+%) often, with 1-3 reps at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm assuming that your assistance work is probably lacking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, before I get into that, &lt;strong&gt;have you ever had chicken pox?&lt;/strong&gt;  Last year, it felt like I strained my back, only to find out it was shingles.  A combination of getting sick and training hard for competition depressed my immune system enough that I had a flare-up of shingles.  Before that after heavy 90+% pulls the same area felt like it was on the verge of a strain.  Anyone who has had chicken pox potentially has the shingles virus waiting for your immune system to get depressed enough to let it cause pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not dealing with shingles, and have never had the chicken pox, then &lt;strong&gt;you may be dealing with a minor lat strain&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you suspect this is the case, then my recommendation is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower the intensity on deadlifts for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporate high rep low weight assistance work to help you lats heal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low-weight, high rep work helps get blood flowing through the affected area which speeds recovery.  While pull ups are great at working the lats, they will likely be too heavy to get the work you want done.  Potential lat exercises can be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/straight-arm-pulldown&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Straight arm lat pull downs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/leverage-iso-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leverage ISO Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/explosive-back-10-highest-rated-lats-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;any of several alternatives&lt;/a&gt;, but you want to work with a weight you can do 3x15 (3 sets of 15 reps each).  Feel free to drop 5-10lbs each set if necessary to keep the rep work going.  If one variation of exercise causes the pain or makes it get worse, choose a different alternative or lower the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the lat work every time you are in the gym and try to increase the weight no more often than weekly.  After 2 weeks of this, you can start to slowly increase the weight on the deadlifts--staying below the weights that cause pain.  By the end of 6 weeks you can taper the lat work down to only being done after deadlifts.  By that time you will have built up the work capacity of your lats and repaired the strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that even after the 6 week rehab work is done, you don't just jump right in to 90+% work on the deadlift again.  Build up from 80-90% again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T16:04:22.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14979" CreationDate="2014-01-09T17:43:05.763" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes!&#xA;It's quite common for runners to change shoes, socks, shirts, etc. in the middle of a race. If you feel that it would be helpful for you then try it out in training and then implement it in some race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update: answering @Pacerier's question&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultras have regular aid stations where you can get water (at least) and food. Many ultras will note particular aid stations as having drop bags. You give a bag to the volunteers at the start and it will arrive at that aid station (hopefully). Alternatively, you might have crew who will drive from aid station to aid station and help you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to read the racer manual for a particular race and consider your plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="1833" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T18:01:56.757" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T18:01:56.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14779" CreationDate="2014-01-10T10:49:27.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to expand slightly on the very good answer from @lonecrusader1989, sports massages can get expensive, if you are looking for a similar, cheaper alternative then try a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam_rolling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foam roller&lt;/a&gt;. They are cheap to buy and will have a similar effect to sports massage and simple routines like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.co.uk/fitness/sports-injuries/4-foam-roller-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; can be done in your own home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T10:49:27.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15018" CreationDate="2014-01-10T17:27:14.640" Score="9" ViewCount="1705" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presently I high-bar olympic-style squat twice per week.  My one rep max is about 335 lbs with &quot;shaky&quot; form, which I think is not bad, but not excellent for my height and weight (6'1&quot;, 200 lbs).  I'm looking to start getting comfortable with doing three plates plus for reps with solid form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presently my program is Wendler 5/3/1 with an extra squat day.  I've been using it with good success for about four or five months now, but my squat gains seem to be tapering off.  I think I need to add more volume.  In the past I've tried Bulgarian style training (squatting to max at least once a day), but as a natural lifter, it became too difficult to recover for me after a couple of months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm willing to put the rest of my gains on hold in favor of increasing my squat. What would be a good program to get my squats up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-13T00:50:16.690" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T21:30:12.727" Title="What's a good intermediate/advanced squat routine?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-10T19:25:48.840" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;When switching from Machines to Free Weights (Dumbbells) what are the things you need to take into consideration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3463" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T20:14:55.853" Title="Moving from Machines to Dumbells" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15001" CreationDate="2014-01-10T19:56:07.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dumbells are &quot;heavier&quot; than machines, why ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because dumbells work on the balance and not only the weight like machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T19:56:07.817" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15001" CreationDate="2014-01-10T20:14:55.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Machines restrict your range of motion.  You are going to have less restriction on range of motion with dumbbells.  Generally this means that machines encourage good form.  With dumbbells you will have to focus on form because there is no machine to do it for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T20:14:55.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15000" CreationDate="2014-01-10T21:30:07.210" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend works like that sometimes : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you start squating arround 200lbs, maybe less, maybe more, you adapt ! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 rep&#xA;1 min rest&#xA;2 reps&#xA;1 min rest&#xA;3 reps&#xA;1 min rest&#xA;...&#xA;10 reps&#xA;30 sec rest&#xA;11 reps&#xA;30 sec rest&#xA;...&#xA;until you fail.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he only uses this exercice for &quot;leg day&quot;, there's no leg extension and whatelse.. Don't increase weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastEditorUserId="5699" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T22:00:30.130" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T22:00:30.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14982" CreationDate="2014-01-10T23:40:51.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Guidelines.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guidelines from the ACSM&lt;/a&gt;, one set is enough for strength gains. Multiple sets do add greater gains, but the additional improvement per set is small. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/LowVolumeTraining.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A longer article &lt;/a&gt; contains references to other studies showing that one set is as good as multiple sets. Note that the studies are all from 1995 - 1997.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a firm believer in doing 2 - 3 sets. However the first couple of sets are done at lighter weight (25% max, 50% max) as a warm-up. I then do 1 set of my max weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T23:40:51.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15000" CreationDate="2014-01-11T00:06:21.180" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; method of squatting a good way to increase my squats. You do a 3x5 workout and add 5 lbs each session. Emphasis is on proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's natural to hit a plateau as your body gets accustomed to the work you're doing. The solution to this is to do a reset: drop the weight by 10% and continue your workouts from there. You'll drive past the plateau in a couple of weeks. You'll end up plateauing again in the future, and can do the reset again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've done two resets and stall again then you should be squatting considerably more and will have to look into a more advanced program. I have no advice there as I haven't reached that point yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-01-11T00:06:21.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15051" CreationDate="2014-01-11T01:10:08.087" Score="5" ViewCount="5121" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pulse oximeter displays both the heart rate and O2 saturation. Heart rate readings are useful enough. But what about O2 saturation? I'm thinking of cycling in particular, but I assume any benefits would translate easily to any kind of physical exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7510" LastEditorUserId="7510" LastEditDate="2014-01-11T02:08:39.780" LastActivityDate="2018-05-15T15:18:17.010" Title="I have a pulse oximeter. Can I use the O2 readings to improve my workout?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15009" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-11T11:34:41.920" Score="1" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just read an article in bodybuilding.com about a &lt;em&gt;balanced&lt;/em&gt; shoulder workout to build shoulder muscles in a healthy and safe way. Here is the link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-science-of-shoulder-training-shoulder-workouts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-science-of-shoulder-training-shoulder-workouts.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workout consists of four exercises, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend over laterals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/movements/dribble-medicine-ball-rotator-cuff.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cuff Dribbles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;PNF D2 Flexion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to try this workout (at home) to get a balanced, healty program, but I don't have a medicine ball, and even if I had one I cannot dribble it against the wall. So what are alternatives for the Cuff dribbler exercise in this workout to get a similar balanced shoulder workout? The exercise can use dumbbells or resistance bands as equipment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2014-01-19T16:51:33.740" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T19:59:59.623" Title="Alternative exercise to &quot;Cuff dribbles&quot;" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2014-01-11T12:19:22.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to pool running, you certainly should consider flat out swimming. I do the following: 50 Yards Freestyle. 45 seconds rest. Set of 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to do adequate warm up and cool down. It is said that during the active part you should swim &quot;like the devil is chasing you&quot; This will not only give you a hell of a HIIT workout, you will build some shoulder strength as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't puke in the pool! (Famously, interval training can push you to the point of nausea). Also, be careful getting out of the pool, it can make you a bit dizzy. I think this is because the pool keeps your body temperature somewhat regulated even though your exertion level is approaching 100 percent, but I am just guessing at that part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7511" LastActivityDate="2014-01-11T12:19:22.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15011" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15021" CreationDate="2014-01-11T17:40:27.513" Score="5" ViewCount="828" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a few weeks I'm going to run my first half-marathon. I ran a lot of 10K races, but never a marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I run a marathon a couple of months later my half-marathon, without a specific training?&#xA;Or it could be better to wait more time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7498" LastActivityDate="2019-04-21T01:46:49.630" Title="Should I run a marathon without training for it if I'm training for half-marathon?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-12T01:52:08.457" Score="-1" ViewCount="679" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard time and time again that T levels are indicative of strength since muscle size is often associated with absolute strength in all respects. Since we know that strength and size are not 1:1, but are relative to each other, does testosterone influence really indicative strength implementations alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am saying is, if one can be stronger(but smaller in muscle size), is it correct to assume one can be stronger but have LESS testostetone than another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it is responsible for muscle size, but we already covered that muscle size is not always the best, fullest measure of total strength. Strength is also neuro-connected, which doesn't rely 100% on test levels alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask this because I cry watching things that emotionally touch me, and I know other males, like me, who do not. I am also flabby, out of shape,  and have more relative body fat than muscle mass. However,  I have easily overpowered men with larger muscles than me and even in better shape, more &quot;macho&quot;, refined in workouts, toned, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that I would have to have less test than these bigger guys with chiseled jaws, toned arms, low BF, less emotional. But why am I stronger? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up, is testosterone alone 100% correlated with strength? If so, why am I stronger with less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7513" LastActivityDate="2014-01-12T18:48:13.607" Title="Is muscle strength 100% correlated with testosterone levels?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15011" CreationDate="2014-01-12T13:37:41.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&#xA;Marathons are significantly harder than halves and you will need to get your long run up to around 32km in order to complete.&#xA;You mention that there is a couple of months in between. This would give you enough time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-01-12T13:37:41.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-12T14:09:22.400" Score="2" ViewCount="11283" Body="&lt;p&gt;After swimming in the sea, some amount of water drips from my nose time to time, for several hours. Normally water drips when I bend forward. Is this a medical problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7515" LastEditorUserId="7515" LastEditDate="2014-01-14T03:26:25.513" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:35:14.337" Title="Water dripping from nose after swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15012" CreationDate="2014-01-12T18:48:13.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe your assumptions are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone is associated with the ability to grow faster, recover faster, and exert oneself more. It is related to but neither indicative of nor correlated with strength. (The same goes for muscle size.) There's no reason why someone of lower testosterone couldn't be stronger than someone of greater testosterone. They're simply not that tightly associated: hormonal levels can fluctuate much more quickly than strength can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-12T18:48:13.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14748" CreationDate="2014-01-12T20:34:42.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're probably not maintaining a neutral spine as you attempt to perform your crunches. Be mindful of what you're doing with your head and upper back/cervical spine as you execute the movement. Filming yourself while you perform this exercise (from the side would probably be most beneficial) and looking at your spinal flexion will help you determine whether or not you're productively engaging your abdomen while maintaining good spinal alignment. If you're not sure what to look for, send your film clip to a fitness professional you trust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider the fact that crunches are highly controversial. Some people with very strong abdomens don't even perform crunches or any other isolating abdominal work--performing heavy compound movements such as squats and deadlifts (with an emphasis on correct abdominal engagement and breathing technique) will probably get you a lot further than crunches ever will. I have a much stronger core from powerlifting training than when I was just lifting weights in a &quot;bodybuilding split&quot; approach. Look into basic strength programs such as Starting Strength or Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 (run either of these through Google and start exploring) for an approach to building overall strength that will INCLUDE your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7519" LastActivityDate="2014-01-12T20:34:42.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15000" CreationDate="2014-01-13T04:26:01.787" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try Smolov method for squating&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Smolov Works&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Russian Smolov Squat routine is split into 3 phases for a total of 13 weeks. As always, start with a weight you're 100% sure you can Squat instead of starting too heavy and hitting plateaus. The 4 Smolov cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 1-2&lt;/strong&gt; - introduction cycle to prepare your legs. Week 1 you Squat 3 day in a row working up towards heavy singles, rest of the week is stretching to speed up leg recovery. Week 2 you Squat every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 3-6&lt;/strong&gt; - the base cycle where you'll Squat 4x/week for 3 weeks. 4 sets of 9 reps Monday, 5x7 Wednesday, 7x5 Friday, and 10x3 reps Saturday. The weight increases each workout, each week. Week 4 is a rest week where you'll only Squat once and attempt to break your PR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 7-8&lt;/strong&gt; - the switching cycle is a 2 week deload to give you a well deserved physical and mental break before the next cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 9-13&lt;/strong&gt; - the intensity cycle where you'll only Squat 3x/week, but 44% of the time it will be using weights between 81 and 90% of your maximum... and for 4 weeks on. Most guys agree this is the hardest part of Smolov. Week 5 you attempt to break your previous Squat PR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do NOT Deadlift with Smolov&lt;/strong&gt;. One, it would mess with your Squats. Two, Squats work similar muscles as Deadlifts, so it will almost always increase anyway. Just do some Bench Press, Pull-ups, band pull-aparts and lots of stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The full routine is as follows (taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/smolov&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article, which offers a lot of good advice):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Day 1 – 3 x 8 @ 65%, 1 x 5 @ 70%, 2 x 2 @ 75%, 1 x 1 @80%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Day 2 – Exactly the same as day 1&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Day 3 – 4 x 5 @ 70%, 1 x 3 @ 75%, 2 x 2 @ 80%, 1 x 1 @90%&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Day 1 – 1 x 5 @ 80%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Day 2 – 1 x 5 @ 82.5%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Day 3 – 1 x 5 @ 85%&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 3&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday – 4 x 9@ 70%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday - 5 x 7@ 75%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Friday – 7 x 5@80%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday – 10 x 3@ 85%&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday – 4 x 9@70 + 20 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday - 5 x 7@ 75% + 20 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Friday – 7 x 5@80% + 20 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday – 10 x 3@ 85% + 20 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 5&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday – 4 x 9@70 + 30 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday - 5 x 7@ 75% + 30 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Friday – 7 x 5@80% + 30 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday – 10 x 3@ 85% + 30 pound increase from Week 3&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 6&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday &amp;amp; Wednesday – Rest&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Friday – Work up to max single&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday – Work up to max single&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 7 &amp;amp; 8&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Deload with no recommended rep scheme.  Keep max loads below 60% 1RM and don't go to failure.  &lt;em&gt;Rest.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 9&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday – 1 x 3@ 65%, 1 x 4@ 75%, 3 x 4@ 85%, 1 x 5@ 90%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday – 1 x 3@ 60%, 1 x 3@ 70%, 1 x 4@ 80%, 1 x 3@ 90%, 2 x 5@ 85%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday – 1 x 4@ 65%, 1 x 4@ 70%, 5 x 4@ 80%&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 10&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday – 1 x 4@ 60%, 1 x 4@70%, 1 x 4@ 80%, 1 x 3@90%, 2 x 4@ 90%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday – 1 x 3@ 65%, 1 x 3@ 75%, 1 x 3@ 85%, 3 x 3@ 90%, 1 x 3@ 95%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday – 1 x 3@ 65%, 1 x 3@ 75%, 1 x 4@ 85%, 4 x 5@ 90%&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 11&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday – 1 x 3@ 60%, 1 x 3@ 70%, 1 x 3@ 80%, 5 x 5@ 90%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday - 1 x 3@ 60%, 1 x 3@ 70%, 1 x 3@ 80%, 2 x 3@ 95%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday - 1 x 3@ 65%, 1 x 3@ 75%, 1 x 3@ 85%, 4 x 3@ 95%&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 12&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Monday – 1 x 3@ 70%, 1 x 4@ 80%, 5 x 5@ 90%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday – 1 x 3@ 70%, 1 x 3@ 80%, 4 x 3@ 95%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Saturday – 1 x 3@ 75%, 1 x 4@ 90%, 3 x 4@ 80%&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Week 13&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Monday – 1 x 3@ 70%, 1 x 3@ 80%, 2 x 5@ 90%, 3 x 4@ 95%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Wednesday – 1 x 4@ 75%, 4 x 4@ 85%&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Sunday – Max attempt&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7522" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-13T21:30:12.727" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T21:30:12.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15011" CreationDate="2014-01-13T06:27:14.450" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A marathon is altogether different league when compared to a 10 km run. There are many things to consider... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hydration&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You should have a proper hydration plan in your long distance races. For 10 km races, you wouldn't probably have had hydration during the race course. In a marathon, I would advice you to start hydrating from the 5 km mark. From there on, every 2 or 2.5 km you are adviced to hydrate alternatively with electrolytes and water and if possible with energy gels (or other energy substances).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long distance training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  As you say, you have run many 10 km race, you would have good stamina but that need not be as good enough for a full or even a half marathon. Start running the weekend long end runs. During the weekend long runs, keep it very slow. Go for some 32 km runs at a very slow jolly pace. The idea is to keep many strides than the original race or at least equivalent to that. So, the stride length should be very less. This allows your joints to get ready for a full marathon. Also this improves blood flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interval training&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  If you are interested in improving speed, go for intervals (once per week). My favorite is Emil Zatopek's way of training. Run 400 m fast runs with rests in between. Warm-up before the intervals and cool down after the intervals are very much important. The interval training helps you reduce the resting heart rate, which is very important for long distance runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  Get your muscles ready for the long run. Go for calisthenics during most of the strength training and also weight training once in a week. Also try resistance training for your thighs like running on the sand or pulling something while running, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prepare your mind&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  The marathon is not a race in your initial stages. Make friends with runners, run with groups, enjoy your runs. More importantly, put a smile on your face while running. Most importantly, thank the volunteers while running a marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy running&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My understanding on heart rate and interval training:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Resting heart rate is calculated by counting the pulse rate or heart rate after you lie down for half hour or so. Your maximum heart rate is approximately 220 - age. The difference between max and resting heart rate is taken as diff for further calculations.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Generally long runs are run at a heart rate between 50 to 60% (resting heart rate + 50-60% of diff)comfortably. If the this percent is close to the max heart rate then the person will get tired soon. So the resting rate is to be reduced in order to reach greater speeds with ease, for long runs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For a normal man the resting heart rate is 72 bpm (beats per min). In order to reduce the resting heart rate, one does interval training, during which the heart rate is pushed close to the max heart rate (or held near the threshold limit for a long time) while sprinting (fast runs) and reduced to very low rate (as low as possible) during the resting period (or slow jog). This kind of subsequent peaking and reducing heart rate, results in lot of fat burning and over course of time reduces the resting heart rate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thus the above method of intervals reduces resting heart rate and allows us to run fast for a long period of time (distance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T18:14:30.183" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T18:14:30.183" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-13T17:48:51.863" Score="1" ViewCount="1131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will lifting weights slow my weight loss? Since muscle weighs more than fat, will I look better but weigh (on the scale) more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7517" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T16:43:38.673" Title="On weight loss diet while lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15025" CreationDate="2014-01-13T18:19:49.593" Score="-2" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the packs initially present inside the body or is it formed by exercise?If so how is it formed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7315" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T03:45:51.513" Title="How are the packs formed in the stomach?" Tags="&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-04-15T05:48:29.543" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15023" CreationDate="2014-01-13T18:45:36.457" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you are referring to the six-pack? In which case they already exist as your abdominal muscles, its up to your diet and your exercise to accentuate them. You must also consider your diet + exercise because as the old saying goes &quot;abs are made in the kitchen&quot;, meaning you must get to a very low body fat % in order to see the striations along the &quot;packs&quot;...means you have to get lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider that different ab exercises will accentuate them in different ways. For example, weighted crunches are going to give you bulky looking protruding ab packs, where-as high volume high reps or endurance ab work will trace your ab's against the skin that covers them, instead of (looking like) pushing out of them, if that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T18:45:36.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15023" CreationDate="2014-01-13T18:45:55.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_abdominis_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rectus Abdominus&lt;/a&gt; contains tendinous intersections that go across the muscle belly, dividing the rectus abdominus into 6 or 8 &quot;packs&quot;.  Whether you have a 6-pack or an 8-pack is determined by your genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A combination of diet and exercise reveal the abs.  Strengthening the rectus abdominus and surrounding musculature will improve the relative size of the packs.  If you don't see the individual packs it is likely because you have too much subcutaneous fat and will need to burn that fat to see the 6-pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T18:45:55.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15022" CreationDate="2014-01-13T19:16:18.860" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;When combining diet and weight loss, it's important to decide how you are going to measure progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your reasoning is correct.  The scale will move more slowly when you are getting stronger while losing weight.  &lt;strong&gt;You may even lose fat and gain weight!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some obvious qualifiers for that statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This all depends on your starting point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;People with low muscular development will build muscle much quicker than people with moderate or advanced muscular development.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The rate of fat loss depends on how much excess fat you have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at some of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/category/member-spotlight/&quot;&gt;body transformations&lt;/a&gt; on Fitocracy, you will find a number of women who actually added weight while their clothes fit better and looked thinner.  Naturally, if you have a lot of fat to loose, you will lose weight before you are done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Revised Goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on fat loss.&lt;/strong&gt;  The scale may or may not move the way you want in any given week and you didn't cheat once.  However, you might notice your clothes getting looser.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take regular measurements.&lt;/strong&gt;  Measure the size of your neck, arms, chest, abs, hips, legs weekly.  You should be losing inches over time, and the fattier parts of you should be getting firmer.  This is your #1 check to make sure what you are doing is working.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take quarterly progress pictures.&lt;/strong&gt;  Even 1 month is too soon to really see how progress is going, but after 3 months you should see some differences.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scale is a useful tool while loosing weight, but if it starts increasing and your clothes are fitting better, that means you've put on more muscle than you've lost fat.  If the scale is reading the same number, then the exchange is about the same.  If the scale is going down, then you are losing more fat than gaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat loss is not linear&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find some weeks where the fat seems to melt off, and then several weeks where it seems like you're never going to lose the fat.  That's why I recommend having more than one way to measure progress.  You'll also find that scales that report the body fat percentage are not that accurate.  It's easy to get depressed looking at the scale's numbers when the inches you've lost tell the real story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get leaner, you will have to adjust your diet to keep progressing.  That's because as you lose overall mass your metabolic rate will drop because it doesn't have to support all the extra fat.  That means the number of calories you needed to maintain the physical activity and lose weight will get lower over time.  That's expected, and you'll have to recalculate your requirements every 5-10 pounds you lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T19:16:18.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15023" CreationDate="2014-01-13T20:22:37.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you talking about a &quot;six pack&quot;?  That's essentially one muscle, called the Rectus Abdominus.  They are always there.  You can induce hypertrophy, an increase in size (of the muscle cells), but that's limited.  As someone stated in another post, abs are built in the kitchen before they're built in the gym.  As a strength professional, I lean away from sits ups and similar exercises because that's more hip flexion than it is core work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Planks are your friend.  You'll hit your core during EVERY exercise, and it's impossible not too.  It's essential for stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep that in mind-if you decrease stability (closer stance, bosu ball), you'll increase &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2014-01-15T03:45:51.513" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T03:45:51.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14748" CreationDate="2014-01-13T21:02:04.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason your spine hurts is because the hip flexors, typically used during sit up style exercises, are &lt;em&gt;attached to your spine.&lt;/em&gt;  Your core is hanging on for its dear life during extended sit up style exercise regimes in order to save your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over 800 newtons of force are placed on the attachment points in the spine during sit ups.  If you want to mitigate that, execute a Mcgill sit up-one leg extended, one leg bent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure that when executing a crunch, you only perform 30 degrees of flexion in the spine.  Shoulder blades should leave the deck, but at no point should you be &quot;sitting up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to agree with others here in saying that there are many exercises that utilize the core anyway-if you're doing it right you don't really need to focus on the core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ensure that when prescribing, my clients do not have too much sit up style exercises.  Planks are king, not sit ups.  Planks don't involve spinal flexion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T21:02:04.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15029" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-13T22:13:33.510" Score="1" ViewCount="915" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a 1-year long journey to hopefully prepare myself to try-out for a pro-soccer team. I was hoping to get some guidance from the community, as to training workouts that I can use to prepare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm training using once/week : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;suicide&quot; runs (aka. lines in Basketball)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x the length of the field (purpose: longer distance for endurance to running up/down field)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3X the width of the field (purpose: shorter length at 100% sprint for short distance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I rest in-between by juggling about 100x--then hit my next rep. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run for about 60mins &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also run about 60mins &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue with all this is that I have no real milestone, times that I need to meet to simulate what the pro's are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of any resources or know this type of information? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7527" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T16:08:29.173" Title="Training for Pro-Soccer Tryouts" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15053" CreationDate="2014-01-14T02:12:02.970" Score="7" ViewCount="4385" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually sleep on my sides. I do not feel comfortable on my back, plus I snore in that position. However, sometimes when laying on the side I end up putting a hand under my cheek (palm on the cheek). This twists my neck, causing neck pain when I wake up, it hurts my wrist, and it causes me to snore which makes my wife unhappy ;) I also feel less well rested when I did this than I usually do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this happens while I am asleep, how do I correct my posture and prevent me from slipping the hand under my cheek?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our bed has a firm mattress and I lay on a firm pillow that should be of correct height (my neck vertebrae are aligned with the rest of the spine when I lay on it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it matters: I always have neck pain due to facing the computer for most of the day. I am doing an hour of walking every day (30 minutes to work, 30 minutes back) these last few weeks in an effort to be more active and to ramp up to more strenuous exercise soon. I am 27, 1 meter 85 and weigh somewhat over 90 kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7530" LastEditorUserId="7530" LastEditDate="2014-01-15T13:39:35.870" LastActivityDate="2017-11-18T08:23:05.843" Title="How to correct bad sleep posture" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15029" CreationDate="2014-01-14T02:49:46.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're doing is already really terrific. This regiment helps to build your endurance and lung capacity immensely. As a normal match for soccer is 90 minutes, what your doing should suffice, but something you can do is try and increase that 60 minute marker. If you can run for a solid 90 minutes and only be a little winded by the end, this will be invaluable on the pitch. To do this, you can slowly increase how long you run by say 5 minutes each week, but train twice a week with the same marker. The gradual intensity will give your body time to adjust and become stronger. While you are covering all the bases with endurance and running, you may want to approach the topics of leg strength and core strength. These are also key things that a soccer player needs to have. Certainly different training with a medicine ball will help with your core, as well as the standard core building exercises. Legs can be worked on through squats and other derivatives of that. Hopefully this helps and I wish you luck going forward on your journey! Hope to see you out on a pitch someday! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T02:49:46.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15032" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15043" CreationDate="2014-01-14T02:56:26.190" Score="14" ViewCount="199088" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 17 year old athlete, and am trying to build muscle effectively. I workout maybe 3-4 times a week for an hour with a combination of running, pushups, crunches, lifting and chin ups in varying order. I am working to increase my endurance as well as mass and strength and I often drink whey protein after workouts, but some of my friends drink it pre workout. I wanted to ask the community if it is more effective or efficient to drink it pre or post workout to maximize muscle gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T14:02:48.173" Title="Is it better to use whey protein pre or post workout?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15032" CreationDate="2014-01-14T05:08:47.403" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Divide your dose.  Have some before and some after your workout.  Unlike fat and carbohydrates your body can't store protein.  If it doesn't get absorbed it gets passed through your digestive tract, your liver, your kidneys, etc.  This not only wastes protein/ supplements and money it also taxes your machine by forcing it to process something that it can't use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Analyse and calculate your protein needs very carefully and try to meet them without going over.  Once you've calculated what you'll need  divide that up into doses throughout the day. Use more on workout days before and after workouts.  Don't forget to include the protein in the food you consume in your calculations.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember more frequent smaller doses are better than infrequent large doses.  Why?  Because you can't store the protein!   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7531" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T05:08:47.403" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14983" CreationDate="2014-01-14T05:11:19.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body can only properly recover while resting so I would recommend sticking to alternative days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you have a two week break coming up then you have a great opportunity to change your routine up when you get back and see some quicker results.  Our bodies and minds are great at establishing patterns and if you stick to a workout routine for long enough, your body will become accustomed to it and not grow at the same rate as when the routine was started.  That's much of why people on a new diet see great results initially but then the rate at which they lose weight slows down.  Body builders sometimes break out of plateaus by changing their routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't stopped exercising, you can always finish with a bang by increasing the intensity a little bit (but remember to rest!).  Then when you get back into it, change things up.  Your body won't know what's going on and will have to compensate accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3858" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T05:11:19.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15029" CreationDate="2014-01-14T16:08:29.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I continued to try and do some more research for actual training plans and stumbled across the Stanford Soccer training program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to the full PDF: &lt;a href=&quot;http://froeberg.com/soccerunited/stanfordfitness.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://froeberg.com/soccerunited/stanfordfitness.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a snippet of the contents that I'll be using as my &quot;Bible&quot; for training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t8JYV.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7527" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T16:08:29.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15030" CreationDate="2014-01-14T17:04:17.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too get horrible neck/back pain when I sleep in any other position than on my back (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supine_position&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supine&lt;/a&gt;). I would recommend making another effort to sleep on your back, but with a twist! (How exciting! Read on!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had trouble sleeping on my back for a while because I would always turn around onto my stomach at some point in the middle of the night.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having the front of the body covered and warmed (ie, sleeping in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prone_position&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prone&lt;/a&gt; position) is more &quot;comforting&quot; (at least it is for me).  Perhaps this is some sort of subconscious desire to feel protected and safe during sleep?  I haven't done enough research on that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, to answer your question, I would suggest sleeping with a pillow or some other object on your stomach/torso while you sleep on your back.  This is what I do to prevent myself from rolling over to the prone position in my sleep.  Hugging the pillow close to my body on my stomach provides that &quot;comforting&quot; feeling I subconsciously crave.  This is (I think) the same concept of a child holding a teddy bear close as they sleep.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This helps keep me on my back while I sleep.  I hope it works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T17:04:17.117" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15032" CreationDate="2014-01-14T23:08:27.197" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a protein before your workout will allow you to have more energy, resulting in your workouts feeling stronger, but you will not burn as much fat when you workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After your workouts, it is commonly accepted that your body acts like a sponge for about an hour while your muscles attempt to collect nutrients to repair what was torn down during the workout. That is why it is important to have a quality source of protein immediately after your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would tend to say having your protein after your workouts is more important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are fat and/or you had a decent meal within the last 3 or 4 hours, that protein drink before a workout is not really needed because your body has energy stored up and ready to burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are very lean and/or cutting calories to drop some weight, then you are likely to show up at the gym with no energy. To prevent this, take 10 to 25 grams of protein 30 to 60 minutes before going to the gym. This does not need to be 100% protein, and it would even be good to have some carbs in there to help make you feel pumped in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I should probably start taking a little protein before I go to the gym in the morning because my body has fasted for 6 to 8 hours during my sleep. (Note to self...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T23:08:27.197" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15030" CreationDate="2014-01-15T00:14:01.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually start out the night on my back and move to some position that has my head turned sideways on my pillow. I usually put my hand under my face (palm to the pillow) to keep the pillow itself from covering too much of my face when I sink down. The solution I've come up with was to get a firmer pillow. This has helped with my need to sleep on my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this will be of some use to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7181" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T00:14:01.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15052" CreationDate="2014-01-15T05:59:01.083" Score="2" ViewCount="1113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 6'2 and weigh 67 kg.I am currently working out a muscle per day ,for six days.I do five exercises for each muscle . Is this ideal for gaining muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7535" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T18:10:36.687" Title="One muscle a day workout for skinny guys" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14976" CreationDate="2014-01-15T08:03:05.267" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to me it's a good to begin exercise from home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you have the some things remember, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) once visit the gym and get the idea of exercise..&#xA;2) If you want to loss weight then do only light exercise..&#xA;   Not heavy like dumbles, push up, sheet ups...&#xA;3) If you want to build body then you have to purchase dumbles, cardio, and extra equipment for long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Start first worm up excercises, jogging, straching, cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the Best&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7543" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T08:03:05.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2014-01-15T09:57:32.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't have muscles in first place,let alone working them separately,looking at your height and weight it seems that you are underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll suggest you that you should eat big and perform compound lifts like &lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Dead-lift&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Bench Press&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Overhead press&lt;/strong&gt; etc. and you'll gain in size.No exercise is going to work for you if you are not eating enough. Don't worry about gaining some fat in the process,once you gain some muscle mass its easy to cut fat later,its very hard to gain muscle without fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grab some beginner program like &lt;strong&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;Stronglifts 5X5&lt;/strong&gt; and follow it blindly without modification,It'll do wonders for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;just Remember to &lt;strong&gt;Eat Big And Lift Heavy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7522" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T09:57:32.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2014-01-15T10:08:11.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try the Kal Virtual Trainer (Home) app. it's  free and got more than 100 offline video exercises for a good home workout.. The full paid one is for the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kal-virtual-trainer/id612274902?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iOS Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.KalromSystems.KalVirtualTrainerHome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Play Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a good workout!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7545" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T10:08:11.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15008" CreationDate="2014-01-15T13:57:43.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;O2 Saturation can, for the most part, be ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your O2 Saturation levels are low, then your lungs are not getting enough oxygen to your blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you not breathing very much? You have to breath more when you exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you just complete a very hard exercise (like cycle to the top of a very large hill)? Your blood may have just used up a lot of oxygen doing that strenuous workout. Take a few moments to let your body recover by not exercising while your lungs send fresh oxygen through your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you cycling in a confined area? If you are working out of your garage (stationary bicycle) and the car is running, that is not good! There may not be enough oxygen to keep you alive, and your O2 levels are definitely going to be dropping, because you are dying! Open the garage door, turn the car off, and step outside to get some fresh air.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you notice your Oxygen Saturation Levels dropping during a workout, you should seriously consider sitting down a moment to let your body recover or step outside to get some fresh air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There could be people with medical conditions that need to monitor their blood's Oxygen levels, but for the most part this is not anything you are going to control on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T13:57:43.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2014-01-15T15:38:37.113" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your description of yourself, height, bodyweight, and the fact you are a beginner, &lt;em&gt;you should be using a beginner routine&lt;/em&gt;.  The truth of the matter is that the one muscle group per workout is an advanced body builder split.  There really needs to be a foundation of muscle for that to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training for Beginners&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jim Stoppani has a good approach to building mass taking you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beginner-to-advanced-bodybuilder-in-12-weeks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from beginner to advanced&lt;/a&gt; in 12 weeks.  It boasts some features that you should pay attention to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each phase will have you lifting heavier, and adding volume.  This is progressive overload.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You only need to introduce more variety as your work capacity increases to keep improving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You start with major compound movements like squat, bench press, rows, etc. and get more specialized over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breakdown is like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 1: full body training every session 3x per week (week 1-3)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 2: 2 day split training 4x per week (week 4-6)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 3: 3 day split training 3x per week (week 7-9)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phase 4: 4 day split training 4x per week (week 9-12)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, Jim Stoppani's program isn't the only way to gain mass, but it addresses the needs of a beginner body builder and adapts as they grow.  The truth is you won't be able to keep up with Phase 1 while you are using the weights you use in Phase 4.  This is due to recovery needs.  Your body needs to be able to rebuild itself into a stronger and bigger you after the stress of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The other side of the coin is food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of bodybuilding is to get bigger muscles, but stay lean enough that you can see them.  You need to eat like a bodybuilder to see the improvements you want.  It requires calories to build muscle, but you don't want to just blindly eat everything in sight.  Another bodybuilding article on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mass_gain_diet_tips.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mass building diet&lt;/a&gt; outlines what your diet should consist of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15-17 Calories per pound total body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1g protein per lb total body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split food into 4-7 meals a day--it really depends on what you are comfortable with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your Calories from real food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that supplements on a mass gaining diet may not really be necessary, other than multivitamins and omega-3s.  You will do better eating your carbs from rice and potatoes than you will from a tub of mass gainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hard time gaining mass, Jordan Syatt had &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jcdfitness.com/2014/01/attention-skinny-guys-learn-how-you-can-build-more-muscle-than-ever-using-this-fool-proof-system/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a good article&lt;/a&gt; covering the typical issues &quot;hard gainers&quot; have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hardgainers usually under eat.  Track calories to see how much you are really eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They may be following fad diets or misunderstanding dietary advice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not training properly.  3-4x a week is the sweet spot for mass gaining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not sleeping properly.  Most muscle building happens while you are asleep.  Sleep is precious.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack consistency in any of these areas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-01-15T18:10:36.687" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T18:10:36.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15030" CreationDate="2014-01-15T22:56:37.803" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry you are having poor sleep! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you can try that have worked for me (I also have chronic neck issues).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rolling a towel and placing it under your neck while lying on your back, and rolling a few towels to place underneath your knees.  If you feel uncomfortable on your back because your lower spine feels a pull, the rolled up towels under your knees should help with that.  What is it, specifically, that makes sleeping on your back too uncomfortable?  You can put a bolster under your mattress so your head is somewhat elevated to minimize the snoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if you cannot sleep on your back, try lying on your side with that same rolled up a towel placed under your neck and also add a feather (or a very malleable) pillow to rest under your head. Adjust the pillow and thickness of the towel until you feel your neck and spine are completely horizontal while you're are lying on your side. Then place a long body pillow between your knees to keep your arms and legs resting mostly horizontal. This will keep your shoulders and hips from being pulled down too much by gravity over the course of the night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you also add a daily (or at least weekly) yoga practice - even 10 minutes of &lt;a href=&quot;http://emmbezzle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sunsalutationfinal.jpg&quot;&gt;sun salutations&lt;/a&gt;  - it will elongate the spine and neck, reversing the chronic compression from sitting at a computer most of the day. If you have never tried yoga before, start with Downward facing dog, or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/693&quot;&gt;straddled forward fold&lt;/a&gt;, but don't let your head make any contact with the floor or it will just compress the spine more. Keep your head hanging freely, which isn't exactly demonstrated in those pictures, but you get the general posture from those pictures. Then shake your head from side to side, then up and down while you are still inverted.  This will begin to create more space between each vertebra.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also drink lots of water! Sometimes those chronic aches are exacerbated by dehydration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to use all of these tricks to help me sleep better and minimize my chronic neck pain.  I hope this helps you too. Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7550" LastEditorUserId="7550" LastEditDate="2014-01-15T23:03:44.817" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T23:03:44.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14780" CreationDate="2014-01-16T01:55:38.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had the same issue and found a solution that worked for me. I live in Chicago where we recently had the horrible cold snap. I was still running, keeping up with my winter routine, and what I do is wear a gator or face mask for skiing. As i breathed through it while I was running, it helped to moisturize the air as I breathed, keeping my lungs and throat warmer which was a big help. I haven't had this issue since, so this may be a viable solution if you are not doing something like this already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for harmful, it certainly wouldn't seem so. I know plenty of people who have had the same experience and have had no respiratory issues whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastEditorUserId="6321" LastEditDate="2014-01-16T02:06:21.213" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T02:06:21.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15030" CreationDate="2014-01-16T08:53:11.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a physiotherapist. I am not qualified to give you an answer, only my narrative, which, however, you might find useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had similar problems (extremely sore neck after sleeping). I found it almost impossible to change the way I sleep, so, yes, sleeping in another posture (on my back) might have helped, but practically I was unable to do it. I have also tried all kinds of pillows, but these methods did not really work - after some improvement, the pain always came back. I have found the anatomical pillow useful, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, I started doing mma wrestling. The training included &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0PIHfDNs84&amp;amp;list=PL7D7948C656F43C35&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lots of neck exercises&lt;/a&gt;, mostly dynamic ones, some that might even look quite scary. I definitely &lt;em&gt;do not recommend&lt;/em&gt; doing these on your own. If you are not prepared, they might make your problems much worse.  The reason I think they worked for me is because I already had a established yoga practice, so my body was prepared and I knew what I was doing. I experienced significant improvements after a few weeks, which I attribute to these dynamic neck exercises. Now the pain is fully gone, though I sleep in the same positions as before!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure how useful is to you... if pillows, other positions etc. are not working work for you, finding a good physiotherapist and/or yoga teacher might be a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T08:53:11.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15234" CreationDate="2014-01-16T15:47:52.283" Score="5" ViewCount="703" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing burpees (or actually watching others more seasoned than I) I notice that &quot;on the way up&quot; their feet are both pointing forward, however, mine always come back &quot;pigeon toed&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume this is because my hips are VERY TIGHT; is there some sort of stretching, etc I can do to help me with proper burpee form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7559" LastEditorUserId="7559" LastEditDate="2014-01-16T16:05:20.143" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T04:11:40.493" Title="Proper Burpee Form" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15066" CreationDate="2014-01-16T20:10:11.163" Score="0" ViewCount="904" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read a paper by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9219209&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Axler and McGill&lt;/a&gt; (get it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.luzimarteixeira.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/abdominal-e-dor-lombar.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) which compared 12 differend ab exercises their spinal compression force and the EMG intensity. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhG_x1bLHwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Abmat&lt;/a&gt; situps where not analyzed. Is there any paper, which analyses the abmat situp regarding spinal compression (i.e. how safe it is for the spine compared to other ab exercises)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T23:36:11.533" Title="Spinal compression in abmat situps compared to standard situps and other ab exercises" Tags="&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15022" CreationDate="2014-01-16T20:28:49.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;ah... the dreaded scale... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight is just a number it should not be a goal to make the needle move less when you step on it unless you're obese.  Even then, in order to lose weight you have to burn calories.  Weight lifting is a good additional activity to burns calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you loose fat and gain so much muscle that your weight increases, you're sitting on every body builder's dream.  I can almost promise that this will not happen w/o unnatural assistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fact is that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/metabolism/art-20046508&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;while performing daily tasks&lt;/a&gt;.  This is why it gets progressively more difficult for some people to add muscle when that is desirable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As much as we may desire change, the human body tries to remain the same or change slowly.  This is why people as they get bigger get stretch marks (from muscle or fat).  Similarly when you lose weight quickly, you'll have extra &quot;skin&quot; until your body reclaims it.  We can't let our minds be disappointed in the limitations that EVERY body has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastEditorUserId="7563" LastEditDate="2014-01-16T20:36:44.260" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T20:36:44.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15030" CreationDate="2014-01-16T21:00:32.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I gather, sleep dysfunction may be difficult to diagnose.  However, perhaps you can self-diagnose by watching a few videos. There are three videos here from Kelley Starrett (who is a DPT and is also the man), that I recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnlDTyMRRGg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnlDTyMRRGg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are two others:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq64hxZMJbc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq64hxZMJbc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rWidQgT5yo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rWidQgT5yo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T13:45:41.923" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T13:45:41.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15030" CreationDate="2014-01-16T22:48:18.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For side sleeping use &lt;strong&gt;body pillow&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to sleep on my side because of sleep apnea. I'm using two body pillows and &lt;strong&gt;Side Sleeper Pillow&lt;/strong&gt; under my check. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, it's much more comfortably to hug body pillow with your arms&lt;br&gt;&#xA;and legs. Your arms and shoulders will be completely relaxed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Second, check size of the pillow under the check. It should be&#xA;exactly match the size of your shoulder. You can add second pillow&#xA;if you have wider shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And third, I'm using second body pillow to prevent myself from&#xA;rolling on my back during the sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body pillows available in BBB and Amazon at size 20&quot; x 54&quot;. You can also find a lot of different custom shaped body pillows, but regular rectangle pillow is more than enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T22:48:18.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15061" CreationDate="2014-01-16T23:36:11.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that Dr. McGills complaints are around the spinal compression during a situp or crunch, given the similary of the movement I say a lot of the risks carry across to the Abmat situp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, consider the below image taken from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abmat.co.uk/situp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AbMat Situp page&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jqaxx.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see it encourages a forward flex of the abdominals to force the body up, and while the majority of flexion is in the thorasic spine, I'd suggest that by the nature of the movement there would be dangerous flexion in the lumbar spine as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking at ab exercises I'd recommmend following Dr. McGills advice around what constitutes safe and look at ab exercises that encourage strong static engagement of the abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your goals, deadlifts and squats will both encourage a strong core, similarly, for isolation ab rollouts, russian twists (where the spine is not flexed, but the body is rotated) or woodchoopers will all encourage sport-specific strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T23:36:11.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2413" CreationDate="2014-01-17T06:12:24.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK 3 great answers but I'm going to throw in my 2cents anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First can you burn all the calories?  Theoretically Yes.  That's already been established.  The problem is the calories are not the only &quot;effects&quot; of a crappy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you need to do all this extra exercise to burn the excess calories.  Doing too much exercise isn't great for you because exercise causes oxidation, but if you were a professional and you offset it with supplements and a high intake of antioxidants (you get a bunch of those from healthy food) there wouldn't be a problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you want to do extra exercise which, as you know, is great for stress relief, maintaining a healthy weight and building muscle and bone strength... and eat foods that cause oxidation!  So you want to do an activity that causes unhealthy reactions and eat food that causes unhealthy reactions.  The food should counteract the negative effects of the exercise so that both activities become as beneficial as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet and exercise go hand in hand.  A healthy diet by itself can still lead to excessive weight gain if you take in more calories than you burn.  Even if all the foods are &quot;healthy!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also been said here that junk food lacks nutrition.  So to get the nutrition your body needs you have to consume more, probably even more than you want to or are willing to in order to get your body what it needs to build and repair.  All this extra consuming is analogous to all the &quot;extra exercise&quot; and compare it to other machines...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine if you just let your car run in the driveway whenever you weren’t using it.  Your not putting any miles on it but your wearing the engine.  Think of your body as a machine.  Parts get worn out without care and/or excessive use. You're going to put extra food through your digestive tract and force your body process all the crap through your liver kidneys stomach intestines colon etc. Your forcing those organs to do more work for less reward.  Do you think they'll last just as long as someone's organs that eats highly nutritious food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.  I hope you find a healthy balance that works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7531" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T06:12:24.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2014-01-17T10:10:59.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that juggling is not only good for cardiovascular fitness, endurance, and muscle toning (particularly forearms, biceps, and shoulders), but also reflexes, motor skills, balance, and reaction time. It also increases brain size, creative problem solving, left-right brain coordination, concentration and focus, learning abilities, peripheral vision, neural systems, and confidence. I used to juggle basketballs continuously to get a good arm workout. I'm 21 now and looking to buy some 2 lb. weighted balls to increase all of these and really develop my Jedi skills. It's also very fun and stimulating to juggle to music you enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7566" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T10:10:59.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15008" CreationDate="2014-01-17T13:28:30.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blood oxygen saturation will go down slowly as exercise intensity goes up, then probably drop quickly to around or below 90% when you exceed maximum O2 intake (i.e. you can't breath any harder). At low spO2 values you will rapidly reach exhaustion. You can find articles on the subject on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/278796-oxygen-saturation-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Livestrong&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.3fatchicks.com/what-is-a-normal-blood-oxygen-level-during-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3fatchicks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with LED-based oximeters is that they tend to not deal very well with motion artefacts. So during exercise you may end up with bad readings, held-up values or no value at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate tends to be easier to use as a physiological parameter when monitoring effort level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T13:28:30.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-17T13:39:01.847" Score="4" ViewCount="926" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hypoventilation training, pioneered by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Z%C3%A1topek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Emil Zátopek&lt;/a&gt;, is a training method by which one first inhale, then exhale normally, then hold his breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoventilation_training#Benefits_of_the_method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; notes that hypoventilation training delays acidosis and thus delay on onset of fatigue, allowing one to improve performance during strenuous exertions of short to moderate durations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what are the disadvantages or side-effects of hypoventilation training (besides physically demanding)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, is engaging in long-term hypoventilation training hazardous to health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="1473" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T12:00:16.987" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T12:00:16.987" Title="Is hypoventilation training bad for health?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-17T15:12:08.750" Score="3" ViewCount="29382" Body="&lt;h1&gt;My question&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between now and two months from now when I'm able to see an orthopedic surgeon, what exercises can I do in a hotel room with only my body weight that will not aggravate the shoulder injury detailed below any further, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; still provide a general upper body workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Situational Background Information&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently on a business trip to France that will last up to 2 more months. While in the hotel room I have limited available means of exercise. My first morning here I did pushups upon waking and was unable to finish very many of them before experiencing shoulder pain. Throughout the rest of the day and the two days that followed my shoulder has been in a good amount of pain, and I have not done any further upper-body exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Injury Background (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hss.edu/conditions_shoulder-labrum-tears-overview.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SLAP Tear&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I injured my shoulder a number of years ago in the US Marine Corps, and the initial MRI results from the military docs was that I had bursitis in my shoulder. I rejected cortisone shots (due to the side effects explained to me by the doctor) and did some physical therapy exercises that were wholly ineffective. After that, I just dealt with the varying levels of constant mild-to-moderate pain for the next four years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the pain has been steadily increasing in intensity and frequency over the last year, I had another MRI and X-ray from a civilian doctor and was told my shoulder is in the following condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is tearing at the base of the superior, posterosuperior, and posterior labrum, extending from the 9 o'clock position of the posterior labrum to the 12 o'clock position of the superior labrum, with small para labral cyst formation along the posterosuperior and superior labrum measuring up to 3mm in size. The tear occurs completely through the base of the labrum, with focal detachment of the labrum without significant displacement. The remainder of the labrum is intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The X-ray showed no skeletal abnormalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor said, &quot;Well, I see the reason you've been complaining about all this pain,&quot; and has referred me to an orthopedic surgeon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1831" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T11:54:38.350" Title="How can I train my upper body strength with a shoulder that has a SLAP tear?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15072" CreationDate="2014-01-17T17:53:05.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Old Devil Dogs are OK in my book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, if you have a torn rotator cuff or torn muscles, I'd say stop exercising this part of your body until you can get it repaired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, I am going to guess that you have not been stretching before you &lt;em&gt;drop and give me 20&lt;/em&gt; push-ups, are you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to warm up before you slam your shoulder with weights or you are going to make that injury worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching is best. Jumping jacks afterwards would give your shoulders mild activity to help get the area warmed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of going straight to the conventional push-ups, you could try leaning forward onto a wall and doing some weenie push-ups that way. If that does not aggravate your shoulder, your next exercise can be Girl Push-ups (knees on the floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We won't laugh as long as you don't post pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doh! I should have added: Forward Raises, Lateral Raises, and Shrugs would be a great shoulder exercise while stuck in a hotel room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have dumbells, use phone books and bibles. They are almost always placed in every hotel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5WaXr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;shoulder raises&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastEditorUserId="2713" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T17:59:45.843" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T17:59:45.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15072" CreationDate="2014-01-17T22:18:09.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually any &lt;strong&gt;body weight exercises could aggravate the tear&lt;/strong&gt;. A torn labrum lessens the joint's stability. Torn tissue is not something that exercises will correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises may help to improve the position of your shoulder joint and scapula.  Exercise may help to balance and strengthen muscles around the shoulder so that they protect the shoulder from further damage.  However, these types of exercises are in the &lt;strong&gt;realm of rehabilitation&lt;/strong&gt; using light weights and resistance bands. Exercises to strengthen your shoulder would be well below body weight and in specific positions not to stress the torn area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your main goal at this point is to reduce the pain.  Pain inhibits normal muscle function further weakening the muscles.  Rest, ice, gentle range and support (taping) can help to reduce pain. You may try some of the exercises given to you in therapy to see if you tolerate them.  Checking with your health care practitioner is the best advice.  In France, you could check with a &quot;kinesitherapeute&quot;.  Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2014-01-27T20:03:34.593" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T20:03:34.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4283" CreationDate="2014-01-17T22:58:08.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at the &lt;strong&gt;Intermittent Fasting&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theiflife.com/intermittent-fasting-101-how-to-start-part-i/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intermittent Fasting 101 – How to Start Burning Fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite alternative way of nutrition and could be helpful for your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T22:58:08.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-18T00:25:46.703" Score="5" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had good results following the standard Tabata Protocol (20s &quot;max&quot; and 10s rest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I do this protocol 5 days a week and mt bike pretty hard the 6th day.&#xA;In the &quot;work&quot; cycle on the Tabata protocol I can reach &quot;max&quot; in about 15s.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I got to the point where it takes me 15s or so to reach &lt;em&gt;max&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;This is on an exercise bike &quot;out of the saddle&quot;.  I could probably go a little harder by &quot;running&quot; rather than &quot;jumping&quot; onto each pedal but I find that tough to coordinate on a bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am not meaning to humblebrag here: I'm the slowest person on my weekly group Mt. Bike rides. I cardio is my limitation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently on 25s /12s rest  x 12 Reps.&#xA;But.... I'm not completely wiped at the end (super tired for sure). And on each work rep I don't reach the &quot;poop my pants&quot; point .  And I think I should be.&#xA;On my mt. bike rides I find that I can now go &quot;all out&quot; for longer (maybe 1-2 minutes before reaching that &quot;poop point&quot;, up from about 30 s or so).  But  the guys I'm riding with can just keep at that speed for 10 minutes. (I just want to keep up so I'm not slowing everyone down :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to increase it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt; length?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease the &lt;em&gt;rest&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the # of &lt;em&gt;Reps&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And let me know whether you've measured positive results for yourself or if there is some citation of someone else who has measured it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training#Gibala_regimen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gibala Regimen&lt;/a&gt; and others I've seen which are designed to be less intensive increase the Work and rest cycle  and reps to:   60 w/ 75 r x 8-12 Reps. So &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; that's my answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastEditorUserId="2148" LastEditDate="2014-01-19T18:12:11.627" LastActivityDate="2014-01-19T18:12:11.627" Title="What is the most effective increased &quot;dosage&quot; or level of the Tabata HIIT protocol?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-18T19:02:52.550" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently been diagnosed with postural hypotension. When I stand I get very light headed and dizzy. I've seen several doctors who have struggled to find the cause or find a treatment that works. My latest doctor just yesterday put me on an experimental treatment that's not as easy to execute as it might seem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consume as much salt as possible.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're talking about 5x the daily recommended intake, or more. The doctor suggested I eat at least 5 cubes of chicken flavored bouillon dissolved in hot water every day. That's 2480 mg of sodium (104% recommended daily sodium intake), times 5. As you might imagine, this isn't very pleasant. I'd like to find some other way of consuming this much sodium, and doing so efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7573" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T19:02:52.550" Title="How to consume as much sodium as possible?" Tags="&lt;sodium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-01-19T02:23:49.857" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14676" CreationDate="2014-01-18T19:38:08.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to understand the difference between different types of workout. The only fat burning workout is an aerobic workout. To loose weight you have to choose between few known aerobic workouts: long distance running, cycling, swimming, rowing and cross country skiing. The most of the workouts in the gym are anaerobic and help to build muscle mass and as side effect build fat in the body too. The aerobic exercises in the gym are extremely boring and ineffective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get some fresh air!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T19:38:08.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15076" CreationDate="2014-01-18T20:34:27.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can go harder by &quot;running&quot; rather than &quot;jumping&quot; then you should do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything that you can do for 1 to 2 minutes isn't &quot;all out&quot;. You need to find a way to go all-out, 100%, in that 25 seconds. Messing with the edges of the protocol--5 seconds less rest or more work effort--isn't going to solve this central issue. Increase or decrease the stationary bike resistance until you find the sweet spot where you can go all-out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you absolutely can't go all-out on a bike, then try some other exercise where you are certain that you &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; go any faster or get any more reps in. Maybe that's running, maybe it's air squats, maybe it's punching a heavy bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, switch to a different protocol that understands that you won't be going at 100%. The Gibala Regimen sounds fine. But also consider non-biking modes of exercise: sport-specific abilities can actually &lt;em&gt;interfere&lt;/em&gt; with improving your cardio. If it's metabolic conditioning you want (even it it's conditioning for biking), and you can't sufficiently challenge yourself with biking, then bodyweight or dumbbell high-intensity intervals could better help you hit maximum cardio intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T20:34:27.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15084" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-19T15:08:20.923" Score="3" ViewCount="1433" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible for an Ectomorphic to build bulky muscle like the Professional  body builders ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will they be able to build body and compete in body building competitions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should an ectomorph approach weight-lifting in a different way than someone with a different body type?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7580" LastEditorUserId="7677" LastEditDate="2014-01-29T19:40:14.237" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T19:40:14.237" Title="Is it possible for an Ectomorphic to build bulky muscle like the Professional body builders ?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-19T15:25:26.647" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please refer &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.in/search?q=knee+articular+cartilage&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHMO_enIN542IN542&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=122&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=i-vbUsmbDo7krAfJroCoBQ&amp;amp;ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1280&amp;amp;bih=923#facrc=_&amp;amp;imgdii=_&amp;amp;imgrc=Q7vktxtY0UdsEM%253A%3BL_INq_VE-YAvnM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.eorthopod.com%252Fsites%252Fdefault%252Ffiles%252Fimages%252Fknee_cart_surg_anatomy01.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.eorthopod.com%252Fcontent%252Farticular-cartilage-problems-knee%3B400%3B358&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;image&lt;/a&gt; for the cartilage I am talking about.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On the outer side of my left leg I experience pain after running very long distance (marathon).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My doctor said that this pain is common for endurance athletes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A year back I got this pain after I finished my first half marathon. After some good running practice, I didn't get this pain at all for half marathons.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But then I am getting this pain for full marathons now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any specific strengthening exercise that will address this issue?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I think there will be many of you having or had the same issue, so can anyone -who overcame this- help me?&#xA;Or will I just get used to this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T14:29:23.773" Title="Knee Articular Cartilage pain" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15086" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-01-19T15:27:16.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Endurance is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. It is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T03:12:59.873" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T03:12:59.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15087" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-01-19T15:27:16.610" Score="0" Body="Endurance is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. It is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise." OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T03:13:02.343" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T03:13:02.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14230" CreationDate="2014-01-19T19:27:13.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two areas of physical culture that I'm familiar with that deal with how to stand up from lying on one's back are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turkish get-ups (TGUs), using a weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thp7ipnjyTI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;proper stand&quot;&lt;/a&gt; or &quot;technical stand&quot; used in Brazilian jiujitsu (BJJ) and judo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The TGU is an approach that is used to train strength, stability, and mobility. It is important to understand that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGRBvom4Zrw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;there are multiple ways to stand up in a Turkish get-up&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The technical stand-up is a method used to protect oneself while getting back to one's feet in a fight, and as such it aims for maximum efficiency during the process. (For your purposes, the elements of the proper stand that address throwing or avoiding strikes can be ignored.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-01-19T20:02:12.447" LastActivityDate="2014-01-19T20:02:12.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15171" CreationDate="2014-01-19T20:17:46.190" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a million things to eat/drink when working out.  When I go for a long bike ride, I've found that Gatorade and occasionally those shot bloks keep me fueled very well.  Are there similar products for getting a boost of energy and mental focus while not being physically active?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work in an office all day, and on occasion end up working 12-15 hours a day for a week or so.  This gets mentally exhausting after a couple days.  Is it advisable to use the same supplements while not doing physical activity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7582" LastActivityDate="2020-01-17T12:34:07.533" Title="Nutritional supplements for the brain" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-01-17T14:56:51.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15114" CreationDate="2014-01-19T21:58:25.647" Score="0" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume the more we do body building, the more insulin, testosterone and growth hormones are utilised in bodybuilding and the less it involves in hair growth, which in turn results in hair loss. Any ways to balance it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pardon my ignorance and correct me if wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7581" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T16:04:55.490" Title="Is Hair loss any way related to body building?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15084" CreationDate="2014-01-19T22:21:10.740" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Somatotypes are bunk that were initially used as a psychology measurement.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no documented evidence that a person is an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph and unable to change. While certain characteristics like height are fixed, things like weight and muscle/fat ratios are dictated much more by the exercise a person performs and the diet they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it could be said that becoming a professional bodybuilder is something only few can do - much like any professional elite endevour - these bounds are not based on your &quot;somatotype&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-01-19T22:21:10.740" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15104" CreationDate="2014-01-19T23:05:14.300" Score="2" ViewCount="1041" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an endurance runner, I have long runs both on Saturdays and Sundays. So far I drink either water or Gatorade. If I drink only water on a 2-4 hour run, that is supposed to burn some fat. However, I would still like to compensate for the loss of electrolytes without taking in all those calories from Gatorade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you recommend? I am somewhat experienced, completed more than 20 marathons and ultras. I am not very much concerned with speed at this time, but I would rather lose some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5107" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T13:58:32.147" Title="How to replenish only electrolytes during long distance running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6950" CreationDate="2014-01-19T23:14:55.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training exclusively with bodyweight for the past year and don't miss weights one bit. Here is some basic advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform whole body workouts and condense workout time down by alternating between muscle groups that don't fatigue each other. For instance, pair push ups with squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose an exercise variation that is right for you. If you're doing squats, consider single limb movements if you're strong enough. Split Squats with back leg raised (Bulgarian SPlit Squats) are a great intermediate exercise between normal squats and Pistol Squats (one leg, butt to heel squats).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full body explosive movements are great to mix in once or twice a week. Burpees are my favorite for this but box jumps and other intense plyometric moves are great providing you have the athletic conditioning to begin with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Innovate with what you have around you. Find overhead poles or even tree branches for Pull Ups. Inverted Rows can be performed under some chairs and small tables. You could drape a towel over a chair and use the ends as handles. Check out the creative ways on YouTube that people have devised for hotel/home workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets is often enough for a great workout. Alternate between your paired exercises until you've completed 3 sets of each and then rest if you need to. Begin the workout with the muscles you want to emphasize first (maybe you are weak in one area for instance).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some great exercises to focus on that work the body through a variety of movement patterns (look them up online if you need to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders: Push Backs, Pike Push Ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest: Push ups, Close Push Ups, Wide Push Ups, Feet Elevated Push Ups, Side-to-Side Push Ups, One arm Push Ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back: Inverted Rows, Bridges, Pull Ups, Towel Pulldowns (lie face down and perform a pulldown movement (horizontally of course) - create tension by stretching the towel hard while pulling the arms in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quads: Lunges, Reverse Lunges; Bulgarian Split Squats, Squats, Sumo Squats, Jump Squats, Pistol Squats, High Step Ups. Wall Sits are also awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glutes/Hams: Glute Bridges, Single Leg Glute Bridges, Hip Thrusts, Hip Thrust March, Single Leg Hip Thrusts (Hip Thrusts are performed with Shoulder Elevated on a bed or bench)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core: Planks, Arm/Leg Lift Planks, Plank to Push Up, Side Planks, Bicycle Crunches, Leg Raises, Dead Bugs, Figure 8s (Lift the legs and rotate through a figure 8 pattern without touching the ground the entire set).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that works well for you... There are some great exercises in there so pick the ones that give you a great workout at your level and go for it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7583" LastEditorUserId="7583" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T04:30:46.733" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T04:30:46.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15092" CreationDate="2014-01-20T00:10:34.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're running that far/long, I wouldn't be concerned with the calories from gatorade as much I would be the quantity and quality of calories from the rest of my diet. Looking at the nutrition of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0052HV6EU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bulk gatorade powder&lt;/a&gt;, a 20oz has about 134 calories in it, and @ 34g of sugar those calories are pretty much all from sugar. However, from experience, all electrolyte replenishers I've seen on the market have a high sugar content, probably to hide the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;saltiness of electrolytes&lt;/a&gt;. I'd be interested to know of any on the market that don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marathon running will burn &lt;em&gt;calories&lt;/em&gt;, not necessarily fat, at least not fat alone. It will burn calories whether you drink water or gatorade or anything else, to lose weight you require a calorie deficit. There are other questions on the site that breakdown steady state cardio and what it does for weight loss, so I'll point you here!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T00:10:34.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-20T00:24:36.573" Score="5" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife got a hairline fracture in the ball of her shoulder joint about two years ago. Unfortunately, it still hurts when she exercises that shoulder, which limits how much she can train it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she exercises each shoulder as much as she wants to, naturally the non-problematic shoulder will progress in strength faster, increasing the already-present strength disparity between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is: is there anything wrong with that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, should she train each shoulder as much as she is able? Or is there something dangerous in increasing lateral strength disparity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The single-arm exercises she does are mostly kettlebell lifts and swings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="412" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T22:15:13.023" Title="is it important to keep both shoulders at equal strength? (If so, why?)" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-20T03:51:46.987" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 17 year old female about 5'6&quot; to 5'7&quot; and weigh about 120/125 lbs, and am skinny so I don't want to lose any weight. I am active in sports, but I am not where I want to be and would like to be more successful. So how do I get get toned without losing weight? Where do I start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7584" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T03:20:05.510" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T03:20:05.510" Title="How can I get toned without losing weight?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-05-08T09:35:57.160" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-20T06:31:10.713" Score="1" ViewCount="24450" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.runtastic.com/shop/en/runtastic-libra-scale?utm_source=runtastic.com&amp;amp;utm_medium=link&amp;amp;utm_campaign=shop.runsca1&amp;amp;utm_content=run_sessions/show.footer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runtastic Libra scale&lt;/a&gt; can measure body fat and water percentages, muscle and bone mass, BMI, BMR and AMR (calories burned). That's a lot of measurements done through the skin of the feet from standing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the scientific workings behind these measurements and would the readings be accurate enough for tracking purposes after a few weeks of workouts and physical exercises? I am thinking of getting one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7585" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T08:20:09.097" Title="How can a scale measure body fat and water percentages, muscle and bone mass, BMI, BMR and AMR (calories burned)?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15096" CreationDate="2014-01-20T09:37:43.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term you're looking for is &quot;strength training.&quot; Success in sports, when excluding skill and strategy in the sport itself, is heavily dependent on your strength and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights is the primary method of strength training for sport. Ask your coaches to help you with a lifting program. If they don't know how or say it's not important, then find one yourself. Make sure to avoid programs that focus on conditioning or bodybuilding, because those are not applicable to your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T09:37:43.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15092" CreationDate="2014-01-20T11:41:08.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of brands of electrolyte drinks without many calories or sugar. Most of these are in the form of tablets, which dissolve in water.&#xA;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nuun.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nuun&lt;/a&gt; - 8 calories per 500ml&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Five Zero - zero calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SIS Go Hydro - 7 calories per 500ml&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also bulk electrolyte powder available. This is usually cheaper than tablets, but it means you have to measure it out yourself. And it may not dissolve as well in water. eg &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/electrolyte-powder/10529892.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;My Protein Electrolyte powder&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6436" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T11:41:08.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-20T12:25:16.027" Score="1" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing cycling from last 6 months for loss of fat. I have a fat belly and my friends always makes joke on this. This is the reason I started cycling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I did not get any result&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please give me some tips for fat loss.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7589" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2014-01-21T12:57:09.467" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T12:57:09.467" Title="How do I lose fat? I tried cycling but it does not work" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-04-02T11:41:54.580" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14230" CreationDate="2014-01-20T13:29:37.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a movement called &quot;Kip-up&quot;, which takes you up to standing position from supine position. You use your body to throw you up to standing position in one movement. See wikipedia article: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip-up&lt;/a&gt;. According to Parkour athlete &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/vIj0NJBslhs?t=1m5s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ryan Doyle&lt;/a&gt;, this movement has been proved to be one of the fastest ways to get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7591" LastEditorUserId="7591" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T10:33:15.450" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T10:33:15.450" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15092" CreationDate="2014-01-20T13:34:53.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard of people who train their bodies to work better burning fat on long runs by running without a sports drink. However, the fat burning metabolic system produces energy at a much slower rate than the sugar burning one. This is where 'the wall' cones from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suggestion above to use electrolyte drink is a good one. You could also consider supplementing with salt capsules. Thermolyte and S-Caps are two brands I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For sufficiently long runs in sufficiently warm weather you definitely want to do this. As you sweat and as your muscles burn you will lose sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need sodium and potassium to be balanced as you sweat them out. The concentration in your blood needs to be within a narrow range else you run the risk of such deadly conditions as hyponatremia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calcium and magnesium are used by your muscles to signal contractions. If you run out then you will cramp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why electrolyte drinks and salt tabs have this 4 minerals. The magnesium and calcium will be a much smaller amount than the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you use a salt tab be very sure to take it with lots of water. They are concentrated enough that if they dissolve by themselves in your stomach then your stomach will detect this and you will throw up. I've done this twice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.succeedscaps.com/articles/water_electrolyte_balance_table/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Karl King's water/electrolyte balance table&lt;/a&gt; is a very valuable resource to have on hand because it helps tell the difference between a number of conditions and what action to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/5518929_Statement_of_the_Second_International_Exercise-Associated_Hyponatremia_Consensus_Development_Conference_New_Zealand_2007?ev=prf_cit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Statement of the Second International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference, New Zealand, 2007.&#xA;&lt;/a&gt; is a great source for the raw science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T13:34:53.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15098" CreationDate="2014-01-20T13:35:02.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;how&quot; is briefly explained in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.runtastic.com/shop/PDF/Runtastic%20Libra%20ENG.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the instructions&lt;/a&gt; from page 14 onwards. In essence: Weight is measured; height is entered; BMI is calculated from those; body fat and water percentages, muscle and bone mass are calculated using a tiny electric current; I would guess the metabolic rates are based on average levels using all of the above plus the user's entered age and activity level(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not going to be entirely accurate, but if you're just using it for the purposes of tracking, I would say that it's &quot;accurate enough&quot;. Essentially the values may not be exact for you, but assuming you're taking measurements at the same time of day with similar conditions (e.g. every Sunday morning before breakfast) then you should be able to track a downward trend to the results and see progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't forget that numbers aren't the only side to the story. Regular progress pictures are a great way to see how you're progressing. For most people it's really less about the exact number on the scale and more about how they look and feel about the way they look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5547" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T13:35:02.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15085" CreationDate="2014-01-20T13:40:59.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain on the outside of your knee? Many possible causes and I recommend consulting a physio who is experienced with runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most common cause is IT band syndrome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The illiotibial band is a length of flesh that runs down the outside of almost your entire leg. In some runners, this gets tight with long runs. It then starts rubbing on the tightest point, the bones around your knee, and you get a blister.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treatment is rest. Prevention is lots of stretching. The web has a ton of information on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T13:40:59.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15102" CreationDate="2014-01-20T15:43:37.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The belly is probably the most 'stubborn' of all the areas to lose fat from. Even after you have trimmed down all the other body parts and toned up, its still an uphill battle to get at least a little definition in the belly area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way fat burning works in your body is determined purely by genetics. Not by the exercise you are doing or how quickly or slowly you are doing it, but rather, your genetics, activity level (in general) and diet. As it relates to your cycling, that is a good start, but it may not be adequate enough for you. Especially if you just began, it will take a while before you start seeing any results, let alone in your belly area. I would advise you to mix it up a little. Mix some cardio, with some resistance training. Go for a jog, do some circuit training and adjust your diet for complex starches, lean protein, greens, water. Cut down everything else not in those categories (moderation is key). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/cardio-fitness-challenges-4-fat-burning-workouts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are a few workouts that you can do to the tune of losing some weight and toning up the stubborn parts of your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastEditorUserId="6321" LastEditDate="2014-01-21T02:05:29.990" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T02:05:29.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15090" CreationDate="2014-01-20T15:46:01.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that more than anything hair loss is due to genetic predisposition. Whether you are doing body building avidly or not...if you are supposed to lose hair, you will. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T15:46:01.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15109" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-20T19:13:58.563" Score="1" ViewCount="6013" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started a month ago at about 62Kg and i'm now 64.3Kg. I'm also 1m74 and I'm 22 Years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated in the title, I'm trying to gain weight in a healthy way, but I'm actually also getting a bigger or bloated belly (not sure which) as a result! Is this normal? What to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to the gym 3 times a week (full body), skipping cardio (I want to GAIN weight) and going for full muscle building excercises, always pushing myself to the max. Before my makout I also drink protein shakes, and after I eat a protein bar. I'm also making sure I drink enough water during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm watching my diet and making sure I don't eat to much fat or sweat things, no more candy, sweet drinks or fat foods. I'm trying to eat more and this also divided in more eating times (I try to maintain 4-5 eat periods a day). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7449" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T09:51:17.253" Title="Trying to gain weight in a healthy way, but getting a bigger or bloated belly as a result!" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15102" CreationDate="2014-01-20T22:01:58.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Weight is lost primarily through diet, not by exercise.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, you don't say how much fat you have, how old you are, how fast or long you ride, but, the single thing we can say is that over a long enough time frame, if you eat at a calorie deficit you will lose weight, if you eat a calorie surplus you will gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/cycling-calories-burned-calculator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A 30 min ride at 13 miles/hour burns about 300 Calories&lt;/a&gt; this is mot much more than a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/coca-cola-australia-coke-600ml-25076549&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;600ml bottle of Coke which clocks in at 260 Calories&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Track your diet and weight daily, calculate you &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Total Daily Energy Expenditure&lt;/a&gt; and aim for not much more than a 100-200 Calorie deficit per day. If you are losing weight to slowly eat a little less, if you are losing more than about 1 kilogram/2 pounds per week, consider eating a little more to ensure you are eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There al pleanty of questions here on diet tracking and weight loss, so I'd suggest searching here if you have more questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T22:01:58.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15109" CreationDate="2014-01-20T22:23:39.530" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tell me about your poops. If they are big, and you poop more than once a day, you are eating too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many calories a day are you taking in? Count everything, including sticks of gum, ketchup packets, and sugary drinks. If you have a job where you sit at work and you are not taking anabolic steroids, then you should limit your total calorie intake to 2000 - 2500.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is like a leather water bag with a hole at the bottom. If you start putting a lot in there that you do not use, there will be more pressure to push &quot;stuff&quot; out the bottom. If you keep putting stuff in there, that bag is going to get big and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out 3 times a week is not much for a 22 year old. Your body is young enough that you could easily handle 6 times a week. How long are your workout sessions? 30, 45, or 60 minutes? You should be able to exhaust your body by going hard and strong for about 45-minutes or a little more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, 20 to 30 minutes of cardio a day is not going to prevent you from gaining muscle mass, but it will help you burn off some of that fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T22:23:39.530" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15090" CreationDate="2014-01-20T22:33:07.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a study once where balding men were found to have higher testosterone levels than men with a full head of hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who take supplements to boost testosterone levels (like Sust 250) report an itchy scalp (it'll freakin drive you crazy, but don't ask me how I know). This has been attributed to the higher testosterone levels that are associated with those steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It effects everyone different, and it depends on the dosage and frequency of these &quot;supplements&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would say hair loss is not related to body building per say, but rather to the levels of testosterone in the body. At a bodybuilding gym, there are going to be a higher percentage of people taking testosterone boosting supplements, hence there will be a higher percentage of balding men (or women) in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T22:33:07.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15121" CreationDate="2014-01-20T22:58:00.913" Score="2" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am finding that the weak point of my bench press is the initial push, especially when doing heavy singles/doubles/triples. If I can move the bar the first six inches or so, then I can typically lock it out with no trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What supplementary exercises can I do to target this phase of the bench press? I would prefer to avoid specialty machines, and stick with barbell-oriented exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T01:58:16.340" Title="How to Isolate Initial Push on Bench Press" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15102" CreationDate="2014-01-21T00:31:48.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to increase results is an increase volume and speed of your ride. You can ride at speed 30 km/h for two-three hours (2000-2500 kcal) couple times a week, and one hour (1000 kcal) 3-4 times a week. It will give you significant increase of calories burned at aerobic level fat burning exercise. 10000 kilo-calories burned per week will give you ability to loose 0.5-1 kg per month or more. &#xA;You need road bike for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T00:31:48.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15115" CreationDate="2014-01-21T03:25:04.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can think of is flies - making sure you get a good stretch.  Besides that maybe play with your timing with breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you thinking about the bar linearly (inches from chest) there is a lot more going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After blowing my rotorcuff getting ready for a show, I almost never did flat bench barbell anymore and I actually got a lot bigger and my shoulders took off like crazy.  However that doesn't help if you are a power lifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T03:25:04.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15084" CreationDate="2014-01-21T04:11:17.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and no.  Yes ectomorphs can get big and compete and some have done quite well.  King Kamali and Frank Zane come to mind.  Mesomorphs will always do better as it is easier to gain muscle.  However it has been my experience that endomorphs with a drive compete and do better.  I am an ectomorph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that the types have been disregarded and there is no line to state where one begins and one ends.  But we all know tall lanky people and round people and that there is a genetic disposition to look that way.  Call it what you would like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastEditorUserId="7563" LastEditDate="2014-01-21T15:51:34.333" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T15:51:34.333" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15200" CreationDate="2014-01-21T09:36:07.143" Score="0" ViewCount="1062" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't been exercising for a while, and three days ago I decided I'd go jogging outdoors. I am currently in Germany, and like most of the pavements in Germany, they are inclined towards the road to direct rain water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was jogging around a block in a counter-clockwise direction. After two days of running (45 minutes each I guess), I started to feel a pain in my left knee. I can tell that it is not just a muscle ache, and it is only in my left knee, which apparently was pressing against a higher ground of the pavement than my right one. It hurts when I extend my left leg while walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I worry about this? I thought next time I'd do it clockwise instead, is this a good idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7598" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T05:28:58.383" Title="Knee pain after jogging on an inclined pavement" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15115" CreationDate="2014-01-21T13:18:49.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use to have the same problem and one thing that really helped me out was holding the bar at the bottom of the movement for 2-3 seconds before pressing back up. At the bottom of the bench press hold the weight just barely above your chest or wherever your normally stop, do not rest it on your chest. I would recommend doing this with less weight than you normally rep because it does exhaust your muscles pretty quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T13:18:49.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15084" CreationDate="2014-01-21T13:27:47.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would hesitate comparing yourself to a professional bodybuilder unless you are planning to take anabolic steroids (which I &lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; recommend).  I trained as a drug free bodybuilder for 20 years and was able to compete at a national level.  I consider myself a mesomorph and had to work at adding competition mass.  Keep in mind there's more to bodybuilding than just pure mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T13:27:47.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-21T14:43:49.233" Score="1" ViewCount="2365" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back in the day, the bodybuilder's diet (for growth) was the infamous 40/40/20.  That is, 40% of calories from Protein, 40% of calories from Carbs, and 20% of calories from Fat.  If we look at the rule of thumb: 1.5g per lb (weight), we can work backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p3&amp;amp;chs=250x100&amp;amp;chd=t:40,40,20&amp;amp;chco=FF0000|00FF00|0000FF&amp;amp;chl=Protein|Carbs|Fat|&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Let's say my weight is 210 pounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Calculate Protein:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knowing that 1 gm of protein is 4 kcals &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&amp;amp;chl=1.5g%2a210lbs=315g&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&amp;amp;chl=315g%2a%5Cfrac%7B4kcal%7D%7B1g%7D=1260kcal&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Calculate Daily Total kcals:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Protein represents 40% of our diet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&amp;amp;chl=%5Cfrac%7B1260kcal%7D%7B.40%7D=3150kcal&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Calculate Carbs:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since carbs are the same percentage and same kcal per gram (energy) as protein, it's easy to calculate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&amp;amp;chl=carbs=protein&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Calculate Fat:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(total kcals - (Protein + Carbs)) = Fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&amp;amp;chl=3150kcal-2520kcal=630kcal&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&amp;amp;chl=3150kcal%2a.20=630kcal&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&amp;amp;chl=%5Cfrac%7B630kcal%7D%7B%5Cfrac%7B9kcal%7D%7B1g%7D%7D%5CRightarrow%20%5Cfrac%7B630kcal%7D%7B1%7D%2a%5Cfrac%7B1g%7D%7B9kcal%7D%5CRightarrow%20%5Cfrac%7B630kcal%2ag%7D%7B9kcal%7D=70g&quot; alt=&quot;Protein&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Finally:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which leaves us with &lt;strong&gt;315&lt;/strong&gt; grams of protein, &lt;strong&gt;315&lt;/strong&gt; grams of carbs, &lt;strong&gt;70&lt;/strong&gt; grams of fat per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all of that said... &lt;strong&gt;3150&lt;/strong&gt; appears to be a high number to me.  Am I missing something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastEditorUserId="7563" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T14:07:45.613" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T21:56:25.963" Title="40/40/20 Ratio and 1.5g of protein per pound still a good rule of thumb?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14316" CreationDate="2014-01-21T14:54:34.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I don't think BCAAs are worth the small, if any, boost in performance. According to examine.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) refers to three amino acids:&#xA;  Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BCAA supplementation, for people with low dietary protein intake, can&#xA;  promote muscle protein synthesis and increase muscle growth over time.&#xA;  It can also be used to prevent fatigue in novice athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Leucine plays an important role in muscle protein synthesis, while&#xA;  isoleucine induces glucose uptake into cells. Further research is&#xA;  needed to determine valine’s role in a BCAA supplement. Supplementing&#xA;  BCAAs prevents a serum decline in BCAAs, which occurs during exercise.&#xA;  A serum decline would normally cause a tryptophan influx into the&#xA;  brain, followed by serotonin production, which causes fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BCAAs are important to ingest on a daily basis, but many protein&#xA;  sources, such as meat and eggs, already provide BCAAS. Supplementation&#xA;  is unnecessary for people with a sufficiently high protein intake&#xA;  (1-1.5g/kg a day or more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Branched+Chain+Amino+Acids/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine.com BCAA Article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examine.com does a great job at consolidating a lot of research to give unbiased information related to a specific supplement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading their article on BCAAs it seems that if you have a balanced diet and would consider yourself more than a novice athelete, BCAAs in general, are not effective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Are they effective for 2-a-day workouts?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would refer to my answer  above. I don't think working out twice a day would increase the effectiveness of BCAAs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T14:54:34.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1747" CreationDate="2014-01-21T15:34:34.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Custom-fitted, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.footsolutions.ca&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;custom-crafted arch supports&lt;/a&gt; (orthotics)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over-the-counter arch supports&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add cushioned heel pads to your shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rocker bottom shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never walk barefoot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch feet and legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice and massage the foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7380" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2014-01-25T13:34:44.923" LastActivityDate="2014-01-25T13:34:44.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-21T16:20:02.843" Score="0" ViewCount="2487" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to follow a faulty workout regime that emphasised anterior chain more while stretching the posterior chain more, meaning horrendous posture and muscle strength imbalance. I'm considering yoga to ease the tightness in chest, shoulder and hip flexors. But I'm getting conflicting information about whether yoga will be able to fix the muscle strength imbalance.&#xA;Information like in order to strengthen back, glutes and hamstring, one has to lift weights and that yoga may not be a good idea for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone shed some light in this regard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T11:48:48.683" Title="Yoga for muscle imbalances?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2014-01-21T16:27:43.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga will help with balance (coordination) and stretching.  I'm almost confident that it will not &quot;fix&quot; muscle strength imbalances alone.  However there are many benefits from yoga which would enrich your life.  So, my answer is, &quot;it won't hurt but it will not fix your concern by itself.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T16:27:43.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15124" CreationDate="2014-01-21T18:41:06.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder about some of those &quot;old school&quot; ways, too. There is a spread on Arnold, showing his exercise routine and all those calories he takes in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you hit the gym HARD a couple of times a day, get lots of good daily cardio, and have a job working on the assembly line? Then 3150 calories might be what you would need to increase muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go to the gym 4 or 5 times a week, spending 30-60 minutes there, then go sit at a desk to provide sales support at your job, 3150 calories a day is likely going to make you gain fat faster over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be hard for a trainer or website to tell one person how many calories that individual needs per day, because there are simply too many unknowns in different people's lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 40/40/20 rule is good, you just need to find out how many calories &lt;strong&gt;YOUR&lt;/strong&gt; body needs at those ratios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may sound a little gross, but a good way to judge your caloric intake is to look at your daily poop content: If there is a single, tiny hard log in there per day, you should increase your calories if you want to grow. If you are making 2+ trips per day with big monsters looking back, you might consider cutting back on your total calorie count to keep from adding to your total body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people on here really don't like the personal poop inspection technique, but it is a great way for a person to learn a lot about what is going on inside their body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ASIDE: If anyone ever sees an article in Muscle Mag featuring the &lt;em&gt;Personal Poop Inspection Technique&lt;/em&gt;, please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T18:41:06.950" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15132" CreationDate="2014-01-21T20:00:34.903" Score="6" ViewCount="3571" Body="&lt;p&gt;I notice that if I work out after work (~6pm) and the intensity level is up, I sleep really poorly that evening.  It's as if I can't relax in bed and I sleep very restlessly.  What can I do to fall asleep soundly after working out in the evening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T21:18:36.680" Title="Relaxing after an evening workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15131" CreationDate="2014-01-21T20:57:31.693" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't an uncommon problem.  Doing a short burst, high intensity workout can actually help keep you awake if you're trying to cram for an exam (for example).  In your situation though, this side-effect is not desirable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various things can be going on in your body after exercising that can keep your body from properly relaxing so that you can get the rest and recovery you need.  Various hormone levels change during exercise and your heart rate will obviously be high and need to return to its resting heart level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the more helpful ways of dealing with these changes after you exercise to help you return to more &quot;normal&quot; levels that I have come across:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meditate.  Stretching, yoga, even low-intensity cardio can help your body return its heart rate and certain hormones to normal levels more quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regular aerobic exercise.  This will help improve your cardiovascular health and eventually your heart rate will lower to a resting rate more quickly after exercising.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet.  If you have a recovery meal or drink after your workout you may want to consider what's in it.  Consuming low glycemic food/drink in the evening can help your body regulate certain hormones that are important for sleeping.  In addition, if you are eating a heavy meal after your workout, this can also cause unrest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydrate.  Exercising causes you to shed water and so does sleep.  Make sure you have plenty of water for your body to replenish the amount it just used and the amount it will use while you sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other general tips for getting a good night's rest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid screens (TV, phone, tablet, computer) for 30-60 minutes before bed.  The eye strain and concentration can make it difficult for your body to quickly settle into rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid caffeine and sugars before bed.  You've probably heard all the ways these two chemicals can mess with your energy levels so I won't bother repeating them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch.  Not just after your exercise but just before bed.  A 15-30 period of stretching will help clear your mind and increase blood flow to various parts of your body that will aid in recovery and make it easier for your body to relax.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3858" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T20:57:31.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15070" CreationDate="2014-01-21T22:28:37.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No hypoventilation training is not dangerous for health if you do not try to hold your breath for as long as possible. This method must not be confused with an apnea competition!&#xA;The exhalation and the breath holdings must be well measured while running, cycling or swimming. Actually, the main side effects that can occur in some individuals are headaches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, hypoventilation training is not recommended in some people at risk. In particular individuals with moderate to severe arterial hypertension or who have, or have had, coronary issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method is not risky either over a long term period if you don't train more than twice or three (at the most) times a week with hypoventilation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should read the book &quot;hypoventilation training, push your limits&quot; (author: Xavier Woorons). You will find interesting information about this training method.&#xA;You cand find it (and other details) on this website: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hypoventilation-training.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hypoventilation-training.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7603" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T22:28:37.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15109" CreationDate="2014-01-21T22:43:32.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, this answer is made with the assumption you have a proper workout plan. If your plan sucks and doesn't promote muscle growth, then you will be putting on all fat and no muscle. If you are unsure about this, consider posting a new question re: your workout plan's efficacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, your gaining fat is normal (in small amounts).  You won't be able to perfectly 1:1 match your extra caloric needs with your intake, which means you will either grow muscle slowly if you eat barely over your maintenance level, or you will grow muscle AND fat quickly if you eat well over your maintenance level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are doing the latter and eating well above your maintenance level. This has the benefit of maximizing your muscle growth, but the downside is that you will also put on extra fat in the process. You can mitigate this by reducing your caloric intake, or you can follow the bodybuilder cycle of overloading and then cutting (so after you gain your desired muscle, do a period of cutting to reduce fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I am in the camp of eating barely over my maintenance levels (by 200-250 kcal), so that I grow small amounts of lean muscle and keep fat low. I do this because I &lt;em&gt;loathe&lt;/em&gt; fasting/cutting/dieting so I never want to deal with losing fat. How you proceed is totally up to you and is really all about personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;EDIT&lt;/em&gt;: one final note, please be sure to measure your progress with body fat calculators in addition to body weight. Body weight is misleading as it doesn't distinguish between muscle and fat, which is why BF% provides a more meaningful metric for measuring gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T22:43:32.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2010" CreationDate="2014-01-22T00:39:56.773" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, but the selected answer for this question is terribly ill-informed. It doesn't even answer the OP's question of which muscles are actually utilized for each of these activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Common myth #1:&lt;/em&gt; The pushup is merely an exercise for muscular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Common myth #2:&lt;/em&gt; The bench press is far superior to the pushup for building muscle, mainly due to the ability to quickly and easily adjust resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with the bench press is the bench itself. Your upper body is rendered immobile by the bench, preventing your core from doing any work to stabilize your body; it's all done for you, which is a bad thing. Many professional bodybuilders agree that if you don't have core strength, you have no strength at all. The pushup demands core strength, while the bench press ignores it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bench press also ignores the serratus anterior (muscle group on sides of chest from 1st to 8th ribs,) while the pushup, again, demands it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, doing a proper pushup engages every muscle between your shoulders and toes. Including abdominal, hip, thighs, etc. The bench press can certainly chisel your chest, but little else. You are conserving energy by using far less muscle groups, but you are chiseling far less of your body. So you will end up looking disproportioned if the bench is all you care about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also risks involved with the bench press that are moot with pushups. The bench press will put increased strain on ligaments and tendons (not good,) and can even damage the cartilage pads between your joints (very bad.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's also stomp the misconception in this thread about not being able to apply additional resistance to a pushup. This can easily be accomplished through stacking plates on one's back, wearing a weighted vest, wrapping chains around the torso, elevating one's feet, using one arm, well you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quick anecdote:&lt;/em&gt; I know a guy who was doing 350+ on the press, but tore a rotator cuff whilst throwing a tennis ball to his dog. Why? Because all he cared about was the bench. He believed he was far stronger than he actually was simply because of the size of his arms and chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;*EDIT*&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/139168-push-ups-vs-bench-press/&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/139168-push-ups-vs-bench-press/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://thebodyweightfiles.blogspot.com/2008/02/pushup-vs-bench-press.html&quot;&gt;http://thebodyweightfiles.blogspot.com/2008/02/pushup-vs-bench-press.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7604" LastEditorUserId="7604" LastEditDate="2014-03-25T02:25:53.367" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T02:25:53.367" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-22T07:03:34.440" Score="-2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are anabolic steroids considered supplements? Can you please provide where you found the definition of a supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7608" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T14:27:04.733" Title="Are Steroids Supplements?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2014-01-24T06:54:27.493" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-22T07:41:16.083" Score="0" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 6'3 297 lbs at 37% body fat , it's bad I know I'm only 26 and have smoked 1-2 packs a day for 14 years. As of Christmas 2013 I have stopped smoking completely no relapses or cravings. I was diagnosed with asthma at age 2 and was a chronic asthmatic by age 3, but this has tapered off pretty good even with the smoking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have decided to join the police academy. But I have to run 1.5 miles in under 15.55mins. I marked it out and gave it a shot made it in 22.32mins thought I was gonna die trying. Please help me. I have 2 months before enrollment test and I have no idea how to build cardio for sombody in my condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7609" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-01-24T01:34:41.880" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T01:54:17.603" Title="Building cardio and lungs" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15137" CreationDate="2014-01-22T09:39:48.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can relate to your story here. I'm a former smoker, and I have completely quit smoking now. Stamina is one thing, speed is another. Before you try to hit speed, try to improve your stamina.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to struggle to do 1K, but now I do 5K (which roughly 3.1 miles) in under 30 minutes. It's something which comes with practice. I would say start practicing twice at day (AM/PM). Start with a treadmill, and push yourself as hard as you can. Try hitting 6.5mph consistently. It's okay to reward yourself with short breaks during these practice runs. For instance, run at 6.5mph for a mile, and then walk at 3.1mph for 200 meters or so. You should still be able to hit 1.5 miles in under 15min mark with this rhythm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get apps which let you track your progress and give you feedback while on the move. I use Nike+, but you can use just about anything you like: Runkeeper, ARGUS are some popular ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6077" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T09:39:48.643" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15131" CreationDate="2014-01-22T09:49:56.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest consulting your doctor. Heart rate usually returns to normal after about 15 - 20 minutes after workout, even with no yoga or stretching. In Humans, pineal gland  secretes melatonin to control the sleep–wake cycle. Blue light, around 460 to 480 nm suppress production of melatonin in your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is exactly the reason why you don't feel sleepy if spend too much time with computers or tube lights in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Melatonin supplements are available over the counter in most countries, but I think it would be a good idea to check with your doctor before you get on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drsquat8.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drsquat8.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6077" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T09:49:56.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15136" CreationDate="2014-01-22T14:27:04.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a big &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emsworld.com/article/10324212/performance-enhancing-drugs-and-supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;difference between anabolic steroids and supplements&lt;/a&gt; both from a regulatory standpoint and from potential risk to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/DietarySupplements-HealthProfessional/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;By definition&lt;/a&gt;, a supplement is taken orally and contains at least one dietary ingredient, such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, botanicals or amino acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are regulated as food.  However, anabolic steroids are hormones and are considered drugs.  Drugs are regulated much more stringently, and excessive doses typically are much more damaging to the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best resource to see available studies and the have a good summary of the quality of the study and affect of the supplement you are considering, I highly recommend looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://examine.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple additional points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not all supplements have been thoroughly studied with truly independent verification.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some unscrupulous supplement vendors will include dangerous or banned chemical compounds, lying about what's inside.  Only buy from reputable vendors who are forthright about the contents of their supplements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always find independent verification for the safety and efficacy of a supplement before you buy.  This includes clearly understanding what is the recommended and safe dosage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T14:27:04.733" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-22T19:26:12.953" Score="0" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following this schedules for a few weeks already and seeing improvements on upper body strength, stamina and losing stubborn belly fat, which is my main goal right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;REST &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30' running &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;upper body, abs, neck &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30' running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30' running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;REST&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing very few reps (10 at most) on strength training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I'm seeing progress, I would like to have some advices if is there any way to improve it. Some issues that comes to my mind that I would love to see addressed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am I punishing to much my knees when I run, have a strength training day, then run again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I have a day with higher reps for upper body, would it improve my endurance without interfere on strength gains?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any issues training fasted, first thing in the morning? That's how I'm doing and feels great.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7617" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T23:28:08.133" Title="Running + Strength (main goal: lose fat)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15167" CreationDate="2014-01-22T20:41:47.703" Score="1" ViewCount="1641" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm on a diet for a month now. It consist of 5 meals with a sum of 1700 calories per day (2000 is the stable calorie intake per day for me). My diet has a high amount of protein (3 times body mass) and a moderate amount of carbohydrates(1,5 times body mass) in it. I lose around 0,75 kilograms per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to work out 3 times a week. A workout consists of weightlifting (bench press, squats and other assorted exercises to move every muscle in my body) and an aerobic part when I do stair stepping for at least 45 minutes. The strength training part is for preserving muscle mass and the aerobic part is for losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've kept my heart beat rate in the aerobic range so far but after doing a research in this topic I've been conflicted by the results. I've read that in order to effectively lose fat I need to push my heart rate up to the anaerobic range but some say that it will lead to muscle mass loss because anaerobic exercise needs more energy then my system can can mobilize from burning fat. According to my research anaerobic exercise is important because it speeds up my metabolism and I can keep burning more fat even after the exercise. Aerobic exercise in the other hand only burns fat while I do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what kind of exercise should I combine to the other part of my workout to burn the most possible fat while losing the least possible muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1824" LastEditorUserId="1824" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T20:48:48.313" LastActivityDate="2014-01-25T02:37:06.230" Title="Do I lose muscle mass if I do anaerobic exercises throughout my diet?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15124" CreationDate="2014-01-22T21:56:25.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep the protein at around 1 gram per lb. I think 1.5 is too much and costs alot. I also keep fats at around 30% of total calories, where fats are 9 calories. So If I am on a 2200 calorie diet my fats would be at most 70 grams when cutting around 50 grams. The rest are carbs. So I weight around 180 lbs, my protein is around 200 grams. I think the most important part of calculating macros is finding out where your maintenance levels are at an appropriate level of body fat. What I found to be the most beneficial for me was to be on a caloric deficit while tracking my body weight. Once I plateaued at a certain level of around 15% body fat, I kept everything the same but introduced cardio. After I get down to a certain body weight, slow bulking will be easier because I can track the muscle instead of getting confused on how much fat I am accumulating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7619" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T21:56:25.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-23T05:27:25.840" Score="6" ViewCount="50446" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I decide to start taking protein shakes, I am very active at work I am always on the move and I take long walks but I am no doing a real work out. How good or bad can it be for me to take the 35 grams of protein shake everyday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7607" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-01-25T01:02:12.213" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T02:06:18.400" Title="Is it bad for me to taking protein shakes without working out?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15131" CreationDate="2014-01-23T09:43:08.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only have Problems relaxing or sleeping after a workout if i had taken a Pre workout supplement. &#xA;My body would be destroyed whilst my mind will be racing . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're not getting too much Caffeine or NO sups in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7622" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T09:43:08.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15109" CreationDate="2014-01-23T09:51:17.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Th answer to you problem is that you dont actually know what you're getting in .&#xA;You're workout routine is one thing . &#xA;But if you dont know exactly how mant calories you're getting in every day , you just really dont know .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also , you have to track your macro nutrients .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use Myfitnesspal.com . it's a free handy website that tracks everything by the exact food that you eat . &#xA;I'm not sponsored or anything to say this . &#xA;It just works well . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was in your situation a while ago ( 175 62 KG  Ectomorph )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7622" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T09:51:17.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15146" CreationDate="2014-01-23T11:28:02.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question actually depends on the number of meals you are taking. But then again, I personally think you don't need it, as your muscle tissues are not put into any heavy stress, which require you to supply it with protein supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you can definitely use protein shakes as a meal replacement. But take care that the protein shake is a meal &quot;replacement&quot; and not consumed pre/post any of your meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7623" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T11:28:02.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-23T11:56:53.647" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that my friend recently had a toe nail peeled off and the other leg's big toe nail is also about to peel off.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He asked me why does it peel off, for which I didn't have any answer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also the long distant cyclist have this complaint. Their toe nails peel off after a very long trip.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they peel off?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What are the precautionary steps that can be taken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T17:21:20.773" Title="Toe nails damaged after marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15146" CreationDate="2014-01-23T13:06:20.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is definitely not bad for someone to drink a protein shake without working out. It is very similar to eating a chicken breast that has 35 grams of protein in it. 35 grams of protein is 35 grams of protein, no matter where you get it from. Some proteins are different, such as casein (slow release) and whey (quick release), but it is still protein. As Freakyuser said in his comment, if your diet is good enough you shouldn't need the shake. In your case though it sounds like you are simply using it as a meal replacement, which is totally fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is all dependent on the rest of your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2014-01-23T16:42:20.163" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T16:42:20.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-23T13:46:53.353" Score="7" ViewCount="1273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just failed a 455lb dead lift, tried to down scale to a 405lb which I've been able to pull 5 of previously and failed at that too.  How long do I rest prior to reattempting a previous max (405lb at 5 reps) and then reattempt the 455 level lift? Is it a week? or more? or less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2019-12-11T06:10:37.627" Title="How long do I wait after a failed lift?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15182" CreationDate="2014-01-23T13:36:23.490" Score="2" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are activities where I consider my fitness above average:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long-term stamina (hiking or cycling for several hours)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going up a hill, or going up stairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have friends (same sex, same age as me) who have less stamina in these areas, meaning they are either slower than me, or they show more (or sooner) signs of fatigue (sweating, breathing) than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are other activities where they have much more stamina than me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playing tennis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running for 5-15 minutes, trying to get as far as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling up a hill (3 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running to catch a train&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, these are mostly areas where you have to give maximal performance for a short time (&amp;lt; 15 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;These acitivities feel like pain to me.&lt;/strong&gt; When playing tennis, I often feel the strong urge to take a break. However, I enjoy doing the long-term activities listed at the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could be the reasons for this difference?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. do I have smaller lungs, less hemoglobin, or maybe more stamina-instead-of-power genes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What sorts of training methods could I do to improve my short-term stamina?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing training sets of 12 minutes on a stationary bicyle (in the gym) for over a year now. The reason I'm doing them is because I want to get better short-term stamina, and I hope that playing tennis will be more enjoyable if I have more short-term stamina. During these 12-minutes workouts, I'm trying to get as much performance as possible. My pulse rate goes to 170 BPM (now higher than 175) during such a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I don't see any improvement. I currently don't get more performance on the stationary bicycle than when I began doing these workouts, and I don't see any change in the activities listed above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grateful for any ideas and suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7626" OwnerDisplayName="Bastian Treichler" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T08:58:32.450" Title="How to train general stamina (e.g. 12 minutes running)" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15158" CreationDate="2014-01-23T17:05:14.117" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I had a really intensive training session (weights), the day after I'm so exhausted that I can't do anything the whole day. &lt;strong&gt;I can't even concentrate&lt;/strong&gt;, so my work performance (desk job) degrades to such a level that I am thinking about avoiding those sessions during the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I don't see any improvement at all in that matter. I train for about a year now and although I definitely made progress in my workout, I'm still exhausted on the following day as on day one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As other people don't seem to suffer from this as much as I do, I wonder if I do something wrong with my after-workout nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally I go for high protein food, and if I did cardio, something isotonic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing something wrong? Or do I just need to increase the amount or duration I take supplements (protein/isotonic/etc.) afterwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food&lt;/strong&gt;: I don't have a strict nutrition plan, but post-workout I mostly eat chicken, salmon, steak, vegetables + supplements (protein shake/bar, isotonic)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;: Basically everything strength related (back, arms, chest, neck, legs...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7627" LastEditorUserId="7627" LastEditDate="2014-01-23T17:35:38.207" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T20:29:42.913" Title="Mitigate workout exhaustion" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15151" CreationDate="2014-01-23T17:21:20.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that the toe nail is too long and the toe box of the shoe is too small. This means that the nail is constantly banged into the wall of the shoe. This physical trauma eventually causes the nailbed to lose adhesion with the nail and the nail will fall off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fix:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure that your shoes fit and that the toe box is roomy enough for your toes without being so large that your foot moves around too much inside the shoe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your toe nails short - the edge of the toe nail should not hang over the toe. Then use a nail file and file your toe nails so there are no rough edges hanging out to catch on socks. You file in the direction of the toe from the top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all the information you ever wanted to know about foot care for long-distance athletic events read &lt;em&gt;Fixing your Feet&lt;/em&gt; by Jon Vonhof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T17:21:20.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15155" CreationDate="2014-01-23T19:01:24.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would focus on tracking your nutrition for a week, determining what your input should be and seeing what the differences are and adjusting as needed.  I've had the same issue and have adjusted my overall intake and while trying to maintain my protein intake to 1gram per lb of body weight - also increased my carbs.  I've taken creatine with a lot of benefit in regards to strength gain and energy improvements.  Try myFitnessPal (its free) and see what nutritional issues you have (we all have them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T19:01:24.827" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15155" CreationDate="2014-01-23T20:29:42.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Managing fatigue can be challenging at times, but the following three items may be contributing factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insufficient Carbs.&lt;/strong&gt;  Carbohydrates are part of the fuel needed to replenish and repair muscle.  This is with the assumption that your protein and fat intake is high enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insufficient Calories.&lt;/strong&gt;  You might not be eating enough calories to fuel muscle growth, and on very high volume days where your body is depleted of its energy it's even more important.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insufficient Sleep.&lt;/strong&gt;  Sleep is where most of the work of rebuilding and getting stronger really happens.  It is the time when your testosterone and IGF-1 levels are naturally higher, which is why 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is even more important.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally struggle with the last item on the list, and when sleep isn't restful I have problems with concentration the next day.  It's on the same level as the fatigue fog you are describing in your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowledge of the training plan you have, you may just be doing too much in one session.  For example, if you have several variations of working the same muscle groups you may want to consolidate to just one of those variations in any given training session.  If you have one very heavy volume day and one low volume day, you might consider a more even distribution of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a wide variety of nutrient breakdowns that work for different people, but some basic understanding of the recommendations will give you something to work with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories should be close to maintenance, even when bulking or cutting.  Ballpark recommendations would be 12-13 Calories per pound for cutting, 15-16 Calories per pound for bulking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein should be at least 1 gram per pound lean body mass.  You can go with total body weight because it's easier figure out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates replenish the lost glycogen in your muscles, and are most directly transformed into the blood sugar your brain needs to function properly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat should be at least .35 grams per pound lean body mass.  This helps your normal metabolic functions work optimally--and provides the raw materials to manufacture more testosterone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to use carb sources that are relatively high in fiber both for satiety, and to slow down digestion enough to absorb more nutrients from your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T20:29:42.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15154" CreationDate="2014-01-24T01:30:43.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Theres not really such a thing as &quot;short-term stamina&quot; or &quot;long-term stamina&quot;, more just activity specific adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the extremes, consider a 100m sprinter and a marathon runner both at their peak. Both of these atheletes are &quot;running&quot; however, the sprinter would beat a marathoner on a short course, but thats not to say the sprinter is fitter, but more adapted for that task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can say adaptation, as the 100m sprint and marathon exist on an easy to visualise continuum of running activities. As we paired out two runners again on longer courses, the difference between them would become less pronounced, with the marathon runners long-distance adaptations probably giving them the edge as soon by the 5km mark (if not eariler) - when the excess bulk of the sprint and difference in optimum stride would make it more difficult for the sprinter to maintain form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, sports and general activity aren't as simple as our continuum of running. Lets now see what might happen if we pit a &lt;strong&gt;team&lt;/strong&gt; of sprinters against a &lt;strong&gt;team&lt;/strong&gt; of marathon runners in a game of soccer. Here the different adaptations start to cause more interesting differences. The speed of the sprinters would give them the ability to quickly break past marathoners, however the marathoners ability to go for longer distances would benefit them as the game wore on. However, neither has trained for the sports specific adaptations of soccer that require quick changes in direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer, is &lt;strong&gt;identify activities that you wish to perform well in and practise those&lt;/strong&gt;. In your case, you are looking at quick aerobic activies where there is a lot of overlap between the skills required, in this case mostly quick short runs and bursts of speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For these, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_4473323_perform-suicide-drill.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suicide runs&lt;/a&gt;, sessions of hill runs and repeated short-distance (1-2km) runs for time will help. Hill runs basically consist of finding a decent sized hill, running up as fast as possible, walking back down and repeating. As for tennis, again while the prior activities may help with your cardiovascular capabilities, remember that tennis requires the ability to move and change direction quickly, and often laterally or backwards, which isn't done during regular runs. So while the above may help you &quot;last longer&quot; you may still find yourself tiring as the activity is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T01:30:43.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15137" CreationDate="2014-01-24T01:54:17.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You sound pretty dedicated, so no sugar coating this - at +30% body fat as a male, you are pretty big and thats going to make this hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To achieve your goal there are two things you need to get in order - &lt;strong&gt;your diet and your running&lt;/strong&gt;. Now, I'm assuming your goal is &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; hitting that timeframe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of resources here and elsewhere that cover diets, must first and foremost, start tracking it. Calculate your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Total Daily Energy Expenditure&lt;/a&gt;, and aim for at least a 100-200 Calorie deficit &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt;. Every pound you carry that isn't in your legs will make your running harder. The easiest way to drop your Calorie intake is to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12901/how-do-i-stop-drinking-soda/12903#12903&quot;&gt;minimise your sugar intake&lt;/a&gt;. It sucks, but you need to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now some good news, your target 1.5 miles in 15 minutes is relatively &quot;easy&quot; by running standards - you're aiming for a 10 minute/mile, whereas peak runners do it in under half this. Normally, I'd recommend a nice Couch25K program, but you don't need to run 5Km you need to run about half that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need is milage and consistancy. If you are doing 12 minute/miles there is a good chance you are walking some of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a week do a 1.5 miles continuous, no breaks. The aim of this isn't to be fast, but to be consistant. Record your time each week and that becomes your pace to beat. You need to shed 8 minutes off your time in 2 months, which is about 30 seconds per week which is certainly achievable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, three days a week do a the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;0.5 mile run (fast as possible) / 0.5 mile walk (recovery) * 3 for a total of 1.5 miles of running and 1.5 miles of walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aim of this is to get you used to running &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt;, so make your runs &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt;, faster than the pace of your long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to have a day of recovery before your long run, so a program like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday -  Sprints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday - Sprints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday - Sprints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday - Long run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will give your body time to recover and cope with the new stress of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an argument that running clubs can be handy for motivation, but motivation is mostly an interalised concept. If you want to achieve your goal, you really &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;need to want it&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Tracking your runs and weight, will help reenforce your behaviour and build a good habit to ensure that your training is consist, even on rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T01:54:17.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15146" CreationDate="2014-01-24T08:05:54.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As crazy stated this depends on how much protein you're getting from you're diet.  Have you noticed since the Atkins diet that the fad diets have been super high protein and super low carb?  Do you know why this works for weight loss?  Because your body can't store protein.  It stores fat in the form of fat and it converts unused carbs to fat and stores those as well but protein... well if your body can't use it as it's passing through then out it goes... Only it isn't that simple.  Your body still has to send that protein through your digestive tract, your liver and kidneys need to do some extra work, and for what?  To waste protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm not saying you're wasting protein but many first world people are, simply by eating too much in one sitting, and they're not aware of the impact that all that extra work might have on their internal organs.  Ideally you'll figure out how much protein you really need and get it from healthy foods that are also nutrient dense and spread that out throughout your day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit begins here.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/how_much_dietary_protein_to_consume/views.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Consuming excess protein in the diet (over 35% of total calories), especially with carbohydrate restriction, can lead to the buildup of toxic ketones, substances made when the body uses its own fat cells for fuel in the absence of sufficient carbohydrates. Ketones can harm the kidneys as they try to excrete these substances. This is accompanied by a corresponding loss of water through the kidneys, leading to dehydration. Symptoms of consuming a ketogenic diet can include fatigue, headache, dizziness, heart palpitations, and bad breath. There is excess stress on the heart, and muscle mass and bone calcium both decline. The American Heart Association does not recommend high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets because they often contain high-fat foods and can lead to deficiencies in some nutrients like fiber and certain vitamins.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/nutrition/8-side-effects-of-too-much-protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8 side effects of too much protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitnesshers.com/nutrition/ask-our-expert-there-such-thing-eating-too-much-protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;there is definitely such a thing as eating too much protein. Experts say that the pitfalls of excessive protein include dangerous or even life threatening conditions such as hyperaminoacidemia (excess amino acids), hyperammonemia (excess ammonia), hyperinsulinemia (excess insulin), not to mention uncomfortable symptoms like nausea and diarrhea. Excess protein is defined as getting more than 35% of your total daily calories from protein. Bodybuilders and hardcore fitness competitors most often recommend taking in one gram per pound of bodyweight. Interestingly, researchers who have studied low-carb/ high-protein diets also agree that one gram per pound of body weight is the max one should ingest.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2013/07/02/the-truth-about-high-protein-food-products/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Too much protein, especially when that amount includes animal and dairy protein, is also extremely acidic and has an aging effect on the body. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000302.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hepatic encephalopathy may be triggered by:&#xA;    Eating too much protein&#xA;Hepatic encephalopathy is a worsening of brain function that occurs when the liver is no longer able to remove toxic substances in the blood. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16779921&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dangers of excessive protein, defined as when protein constitutes &gt; 35% of total energy intake, include hyperaminoacidemia, hyperammonemia, hyperinsulinemia nausea, diarrhea, and even death&lt;/a&gt;  This one is from a peer reviewed research paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I'm not suggesting that one shake/day is a health issue for you or even lacks benefits.  There are way too many variables to take into account.  My edit is merely to point out that there are risks to overdoing protein and I'd hardly call 40% in active people morbidly excessive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7531" LastEditorUserId="7531" LastEditDate="2014-01-24T19:03:30.140" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T19:03:30.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15146" CreationDate="2014-01-24T11:31:01.373" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is so much disinformation (&quot;bro-science&quot;) in the answers and comments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will start with answering the question: &lt;strong&gt;Yes, a protein shake once a day as meal replacement is completely safe&lt;/strong&gt;. This shouldn't worry you. Do you need the extra protein? Probably not, unless you actually do resistance training (and for long term health you should) it will do very little for you. However, is it unhealthy? No, it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein bad for kidneys&lt;/strong&gt; myth: If you already&#xA;have a pre-existing kidney disease then you should consult your&#xA;doctor and a low protein diet might be sensible. However, if your kidneys are&#xA;healthy there is no danger or harm in &quot;too much&quot; protein. Of course, the only reason for super high protein in take (250g+/day) is if you are on anabolics.&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1262767/&quot;&gt;Dietary protein intake and renal function&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10722779&quot;&gt;Do regular high protein diets have potential health risks on kidney function in athletes?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There is so much protein your body can use per meal&lt;/strong&gt; myth: Your body isn't stupid, protein is very important for survival, do you really believe your body is limited to 20-30g per seating, and the rest is &quot;wasted&quot;? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/is-there-a-limit-to-how-much-protein-the-body-can-use-in-a-single-meal/&quot;&gt;You can eat as much as needed per seating&lt;/a&gt;, stop worrying about it. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Excess protein doesn't get &quot;wasted&quot;, as someone stated here. Most amino acids are glucogenic amino acid, meaning they can be converted to glucose via Gluconeogenesis in the liver. Other amino acids are ketogenic, so they can be converted to ketones. And yes, while this process isn't very efficient, you can get fat from protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meal frequency&lt;/strong&gt; myth: Practically, the only affect meal frequency has is triggering protein synthesis (leucine signalling mTOR pathway), this should matter to pro bodybuilders only, in which case meals should be spaced at least 2 hours apart. Up to 3-4 big meals per day. For everybody else &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html#more-1389&quot;&gt;meal frequency doesn't matter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985&quot;&gt;Increased meal frequency does not promote greater weight loss in subjects who were prescribed an 8-week equi-energetic energy-restricted diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494&quot;&gt;Meal frequency and energy balance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4749" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T11:31:01.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15144" CreationDate="2014-01-24T12:07:56.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lose around 0,75 kilograms per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a bit high. You will probably lose some muscle. Personally, I believe in slower bulk/cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to work out 3 times a week. A workout consists of&#xA;weightlifting (bench press, squats and other assorted exercises to&#xA;move every muscle in my body) and an aerobic part when I do stair&#xA;stepping for at least 45 minutes. The strength training part is for&#xA;preserving muscle mass and the aerobic part is for losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio doesn't burn fat per se. All activity burns calories, which helps you stay at a calorie deficit, but it is the calorie deficit that reduces fat storage, not cardio. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Also, there is research that shows that for best results, cardio should always be done in a seperate session, or at least before weight training. Cardio after weights interferes with the very beneficial hormonal response of weight training. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've kept my heart beat rate in the aerobic range so far but after&#xA;doing a research in this topic I've been conflicted by the results.&#xA;I've read that in order to effectively lose fat I need to push my&#xA;heart rate up to the anaerobic range but some say that it will lead to&#xA;muscle mass loss because anaerobic exercise needs more energy then my&#xA;system can can mobilize from burning fat. According to my research&#xA;anaerobic exercise is important because it speeds up my metabolism and&#xA;I can keep burning more fat even after the exercise. Aerobic exercise&#xA;in the other hand only burns fat while I do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher intensity is almost always better. You don't need cardio for weight loss (unless you like it). Weight training creates the &amp;quot;anabolic&amp;quot; hormonal environment for all the fat loss you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what kind of exercise should I combine to the other part of my&#xA;workout to burn the most possible fat while losing the least possible&#xA;muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patience. You are doing fine, you will usually lose some muscle and even some strength when cutting, it is normal. Just keep it slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tips: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biolayne.com/contest-prep/best-form-of-cardio-for-bodybuilding/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.biolayne.com/contest-prep/best-form-of-cardio-for-bodybuilding/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcM8HablpZk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcM8HablpZk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;jp2code: &lt;br/&gt; After about 30 minutes of cardio, your body has burned&#xA;out of the sugars stored in your blood. Then, it gets energy where it&#xA;can. That can come from converting fat or muscle to energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, that is why you have glycogen stores...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4749" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T12:07:56.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-24T14:04:20.677" Score="0" ViewCount="2000" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_sit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall sit&lt;/a&gt;, or Roman chair, is an exercise designed to strengthen the quadriceps. As such, it should increase muscle mass. However, how will doing such an exercise consistently affect my running? I.e. will it slow me down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3165" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T19:27:42.133" Title="Will doing wall sits slow down my running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15166" CreationDate="2014-01-24T16:15:52.287" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lost a good amount of weight, but now it is time to tone up and get ready for swim suit season.Not only toning up but i need to build some strength as well. What kind of exercises can help me with toning up but also help me build up some strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7635" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T16:25:01.937" Title="Needing some tips on toning up" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-04-02T16:22:55.860" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15165" CreationDate="2014-01-24T16:25:01.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll get to the answer quickly - lift weights!  Find a good gym, a good strength coach/personal trainer or do a lot of research on a weight lifting program that will not only get you strong, but keep you lean and get you in the shape you want.  Here's a great resource: www.bodybuilding.com - take a look around.  If you can't afford a gym or personal trainer get ready to do a lot of research - read anything from Dan John or Jim Wendler.  Want more advice? let me know - good luck!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T16:25:01.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15144" CreationDate="2014-01-24T21:59:27.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do I lose muscle mass if I do anaerobic exercises throughout my diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily.  In fact, typical anaerobic exercises that use your muscle, such as lifting weights as you mention in your question actually helps to preserve the muscle.  It's a signal to your body that you need that muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You lose muscle when you don't eat enough protein and other energy sources to rebuild the muscle after training.  This is a reason that severe calorie restrictions cause loss of muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm on a diet for a month now. It consist of 5 meals with a sum of 1700 calories per day (2000 is the stable calorie intake per day for me). My diet has a high amount of protein (3 times body mass) and a moderate amount of carbohydrates(1,5 times body mass) in it. I lose around 0,75 kilograms per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming this is grams protein or carbohydrates per kilogram total body mass?  For the purpose of discussion, let's assume you are 80kg (~175 lbs)--that would be 240g protein and 120g carbohydrates.  That would leave you with about 29g of fat for the remainder of your diet at that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a couple observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;.75kg / ~1.5lb per week weight loss is really good, and within the safe range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With the example we have here, fat intake would be what would be the minimum necessary for proper hormonal function (roughly .35g fat / kg total body mass).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's working, keep at it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have trouble keeping up with the work, you may want to trade some of the protein for carbohydrates.  As long as you keep 2g protein per kg total body mass you will have enough to preserve muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So what kind of exercise should I combine to the other part of my workout to burn the most possible fat while losing the least possible muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, what you are doing is just fine.  Lifting weights with big compound movements do wonders for your hormonal profile, the diet is good, and the aerobic work helps lower your resting heart rate.  The only things I would worry about are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How are your measurements changing?  Measuring your body parts with a tape measure provides a better picture of how your body is changing than a scale could ever tell you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you get 7-8 hours &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose-weight-while-sleeping&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sleep per day&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relax.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://facstaff.unca.edu/cschrade/BF_anabolic_and_catabolic_states.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Avoid unnecessary stress&lt;/a&gt; that only serves to throw your hormones in a catabolic state.  Some stress is necessary and healthy (such as the stress of training), but continual worry and anxiety keeps your body in a more catabolic state.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-01-25T02:37:06.230" LastActivityDate="2014-01-25T02:37:06.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5288" CreationDate="2014-01-24T22:32:26.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like most things, yes and no, and some of it is individual. Personally, I find running outside to be much more physically challenging. Part of it is that, as your question notes, the treadmill does create a &quot;pulling&quot; effect, though I suspect that the majority of the difference is the basic and often minor variation of terrain that your muscles constantly adjust to. My experience is that I can hit impossibly fast mile times (for my own fitness level) on treadmills than outdoors. On the other hand, though, treadmills don't just pull your feet; they also &lt;em&gt;force&lt;/em&gt; you to run faster than you would generally push yourself on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7638" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T22:32:26.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15146" CreationDate="2014-01-24T22:55:58.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is reasonable to expect that taking too much could cause any of the usual whey protein side effects, such as headaches or bloating. Chronic overconsumption of any protein (including whey protein) can be unhealthy, as it can stress the kidneys and may even lead to kidney damage. Treatment for a Whey Protein Overdose.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://weight-loss.emedtv.com/whey-protein/whey-protein-overdose.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://weight-loss.emedtv.com/whey-protein/whey-protein-overdose.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Protein toxicity occurs when the body is unable to get rid of the potentially toxic wastes that are generated as a result of protein metabolism.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_toxicity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_toxicity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Although &quot;overdosing&quot; or consuming more protein than your body can process is not fatal, consuming excess protein does have side effects that you should be aware of.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/428420-can-you-overdose-on-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/428420-can-you-overdose-on-protein/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And many more here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=protein+overdose+symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?q=protein+overdose+symptoms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T22:55:58.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15178" CreationDate="2014-01-25T06:27:16.323" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;i always say i not a runner, I'm a swimmer! i really am not much of a runner and used to be a competitive swimmer and thinking maybe it is time to slowly get into running. How do i get into running without over doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7635" LastActivityDate="2014-01-26T14:07:26.510" Title="What are the basics to slowly becoming a runner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15089" CreationDate="2014-01-25T07:04:39.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water, fish, eggs, Antioxidant-Rich Fruits and Vegetables, green tea, and complex carbs are suppose to be good for the brain providing: omega-3, mental alertness as well as build-up of plaque in brains from amyloid deposits, and among others &lt;a href=&quot;http://unfrazzledcare.com/10-best-foods-supplements-for-brain-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://unfrazzledcare.com/10-best-foods-supplements-for-brain-health/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7635" LastActivityDate="2014-01-25T07:04:39.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15894" CreationDate="2014-01-25T12:36:34.357" Score="2" ViewCount="8698" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im constantly looking for deadlift alternatives for my home workout program (or for home workouts in general, not only for me). This time I stumbled over an exercise called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/pull-through&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cable pull throughs&lt;/a&gt; (you can also do this with resistance bands). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VOhrM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pull throughs&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With bodybuilding aims in mind, how does this exercise compare to a tradidional deadlift in training effects and safety? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How far can it be a substitude for a deadlift? What other exercises do you suggest to make the cable pull through together with those other exercises a good deadlift alternative? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also intersted in biomechanical details. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T17:36:58.270" Title="Cable pull throughs as alternatives to traditional deadlifts" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-25T20:10:54.570" Score="2" ViewCount="7006" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I was reading the description on the back of a gaming mouse carton, &quot;50g of acceleration&quot;, I was thinking: &quot;A human hand cannot possibly get close to this kind of acceleration!&quot; The ensuing google-search only came up with results as to how much acceleration the human body can withstand, not how much it can produce, so that is why I decided to ask here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much acceleration can an average human being generate? (Even if it is just a short burst)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What body part generates the most? How much is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much can the elbow/wrist (whatever is involved in moving a computer mouse) generate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7643" LastActivityDate="2019-05-14T00:18:25.670" Title="What is the maximum acceleration a human can generate? With which body part?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15204" CreationDate="2014-01-26T05:57:02.357" Score="0" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok so i am needing some help, it is not that I'm fat or anything but i have noticed my eating habits has gone a little out of hand the thing is that i have a medical issue and that the medication I'm taking suppresses my appetite. So everyone i am around is feeding me just whatever (more like fast food type). I have gotten to the point where i don't need to lose anymore weight, but would like to tone up a bit. But  for me the first step is to eating healthier. So my question is: Is there a way for me to be more motivated so that way i can start eating healthier? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7635" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T17:58:49.323" Title="How can i be more motivated to eat healthier?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11689" CreationDate="2014-01-26T06:16:22.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be a swimmer and what my team did was that we had a set schedule from monday through friday; monday, wednesdays, and friday we would be in the pool working on building endurance and tuesdays and thursdays we would do on-land workouts such as running, ab workouts, push-ups stuff like that we did not use any weights when we worked out. That was basically our rest days from swimming. Having a set schedule does help, I've lost a good amount of weight, toned my body and it's a great cardio workout!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7635" LastActivityDate="2014-01-26T06:16:22.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15175" CreationDate="2014-01-26T06:44:34.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is really tough to answer without knowing what motivates you?  Do you want a longer life?  Do you want a higher quality of life while you're alive?  Do you care about the environment?  Are you an animal lover?  Do you have a child/nephew/niece or special someone that would give you more of a reason to care about these things? Without knowing what motivates you it's tough to come up with a reason for you to eat healthier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making a drastic change is hard.  To make it easier make a list of all the unhealthy things you eat and all the healthy things (maybe with some recipes you'd like to try for each item) you know you should eat.  Then commit on a calendar to eliminating one of the bad things and adding more of one of the good things every week.  You will gradually make yourself healthier and you won't overwhelmed by all the changes at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7531" LastActivityDate="2014-01-26T06:44:34.677" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15170" CreationDate="2014-01-26T14:07:26.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best advice I have is to set a goal to compete in some type of a race a few months from now. You can then leverage training programs such as Couch 2 5k in order to set a plan to reach that race goal. From there you can decide if you want to increase your distance or decrease your time and find a new plan to meet that goal as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few resources for creating run training plans:&#xA;Couch 2 5k,&#xA;Endomondo,&#xA;Training Peaks,&#xA;Runners World&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide not to use a predefined plan, then I would suggest starting out by running/jogging a couple kilometers per day and slowly increase your mileage. By slowly, I mean less than a 10% increase per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7240" LastActivityDate="2014-01-26T14:07:26.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15188" CreationDate="2014-01-27T00:36:33.330" Score="5" ViewCount="466" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 23 years old (150 lbs, 5'-7&quot;) and in pretty bad physical shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been smoking/drinking for the past 7 years and also been living a very sedentary lifestyle. I spend about 8 hours on the computer at work and then 4-5 more at home. That's pretty much what I do 90% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've made the decision tonight to quit smoking and get into shape. My posture is poor, I feel tired most of the time, and my endurance &amp;amp; strength are at an all time low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How you would recommend I go about this given my history?  (I really want to focus on cardiovascular health &amp;amp; posture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also is anything (exercise/diet related) proven to help outdo some of the damage from smoking? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7647" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T15:54:19.913" Title="Outdoing years of bad habits and getting into shape" Tags="&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15180" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-27T00:45:47.540" Score="-1" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was having a debate with someone around this on which is healthier having egg whites on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A piece of whole wheat toast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3aANd9GcQEfooXGBkZRRj4z6uQrvzhBB1XRtYuVdfhm36ya0M0fM_aEi_z&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scooped out&lt;/a&gt; whole wheat bagel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought the toast was still much healthier still but couldn't find anything to back it up.  There are a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/bagels-vs-bread-9332.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bagel versus bread articles&lt;/a&gt; out there but none factoring the value of the scooped out bagel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T19:52:22.853" Title="What is better for you - a whole wheat piece of toast or a scooped out whole wheat bagel?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-01-27T23:49:32.730" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15154" CreationDate="2014-01-27T08:58:32.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you're not as good at tennis as your friends are.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;From personal experience, my father can wipe the floor with me when we're playing tennis.  When we played regularly, he was in his mid-60s, had had a sedentary job for all of his life and played for an hour once a week.  I was in my mid-30s, go to the gym and run a lot, and usually ride at least 4 hours per week on a bike for my commute. In short, I'm whippet thin and consider myself pretty fit, and yet I'd never be able to beat him.  This is partly from a lifetime of playing (and so being aware of tactics) and also from greater efficiency of movement: he might have less energy than me, but he'd be spending it more wisely. You could go and do a lot of interval training and still find that you struggled with tennis, because you hadn't done enough sport-specific movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if you can serve an ace every time or break a serve with a volley every time, aerobic fitness doesn't mean a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you could train a lot harder, and more effectively&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;12 minutes sounds like a long time to exercise at a high rate. To me, that sounds &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; long; you're sacrificing some intensity for duration, which (given you can hike for hours) isn't optimal. Instead of 12 minutes as hard as you can, try doing a minute as hard as you can, half a minute at easy recovery pace, another minute hard, half a minute recovery, and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different people react differently to that sort of training. I'm fragile and if I do hard interval work more than once a week, pretty rapidly I fall apart like a cheap watch. So concentrate on doing hard sessions like that infrequently: if you're going hard enough, you may not need more than once a week.  Conversely, if you can do that session several times a week, you're not going hard enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;heart rate is only a proxy for effort&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;It's a fairly good way to tell if you're pushing yourself, but it's not perfect. Also, I assume your goal isn't to be able to sustain a 175bpm heart rate for 12 minutes: you want to be good at performing some other, more complicated activity. So practise that activity, or break it down into simpler components and do those.  Again (and without having a perfect window into your situation, so this is a generality), specific training is going to help you more than general aerobic fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7483" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T08:58:32.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15194" CreationDate="2014-01-27T09:39:40.437" Score="2" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently working on my body building. I found that it is good to do some small exercises like weight lift and thandal on morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m waking at 5:30 am since I need to do some official work on that time (send an update mail to my US team) and I’ll drink a cup of water and then a cup of milk in empty stomach. Then, I’ll do the above exercise for 15 to 20 minutes. But, my office time starts at 10:am. So I’ll go for a small sleep after the excercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it good for health? Does it affect my weight gain process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7652" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T08:17:54.420" Title="May I take a sleep immedietely after doing exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15201" CreationDate="2014-01-27T10:15:15.790" Score="3" ViewCount="77306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m currently working on gaining weight to my body. I just want to know, adding honey to milk will helps for gaining weight or not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some said, adding honey with hot milk and cold milk differs from each other and adding natural honey is differ from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liondates.com/product_lion_honey.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;packaged ones&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My scenario is adding Packed honey with boiled milk. Does it helps gaining weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7652" LastEditorUserId="7652" LastEditDate="2014-01-27T10:21:26.707" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T18:59:44.360" Title="Milk+honey helps gain weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;milk&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15190" CreationDate="2014-01-27T11:55:40.563" Score="-2" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 1.83m (6 feet) tall and my weight is 100kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running from last month and now I can run 2 miles with a 10 Min walking gap in between. One week ago I joined a gym. The problem is that on the first day I was asked to do push-ups 10 reps 3 set. I did it. On the second day I tried to do that again but felt as I had torn my tissues and was in excruciating pain. Then on the next day again  I tried to do push ups and couldn’t do even one. It is the sixth day today (with a one day gap in between ) and I still cant do even a single push-up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am ashamed of me now, embarrassed, what is wrong ? it feels as if its all locked. I just cant do push-up. everything else is happening. I don’t have any more pain in my body but still no push-ups, I am now reluctant to go to gym as I feel bad about myself. what to do ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4816" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-01-27T14:57:48.723" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T04:51:02.207" Title="cant do push-ups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15179" CreationDate="2014-01-27T13:31:51.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, congrats on deciding to live a healthy lifestyle.  Given that decision and your past history, you should consider getting a physical exam to ensure you are able to begin an exercise program designed for improving your cardio health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T13:31:51.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15189" CreationDate="2014-01-27T14:09:46.707" Score="1" ViewCount="1298" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any scientific evidence showing that ZMA (Zinc monomethionine and aspartate and Magnesium Aspartate) is effective as a supplement for training? It is supposed to help in muscle recovery and sleep. I was suggested to try ZMA, but I can't see any real difference. I searched here, and elsewhere on the web, but I am still unsure what to believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7361" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T16:13:30.287" Title="Is ZMA really effective?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15179" CreationDate="2014-01-27T15:54:19.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's great that you are making this choice to change your health for the better.  There are a few things that you can do to really improve your chances of success:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Understand this is going to take a long time&lt;/strong&gt;, be patient with yourself.  Your goal is to be a better version of yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get support.&lt;/strong&gt;  Quitting smoking is not easy, so it helps to get the support of people who know how to help you achieve that goal.  Same with changing the way you eat or move.  There will be days you feel like giving up, days where you fall back to old habits.  The right support will help you pick yourself up and get back on track.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get routine physicals.&lt;/strong&gt; Once a year should be good, but I do recommend getting one before you jump in with moving more.  It will let you know what your overall health is like, and how the changes you are making are affecting your health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Find your bliss.&lt;/strong&gt;  There's many ways of improving your cardiovascular health, and you may enjoy one over another.  You might enjoy running, or you may enjoy biking or swimming.  Sometimes team sports are another way to do something that you'll want to get better at.  The more you see physical activity as having fun, the more likely you are to keep doing it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the good news for where you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small changes are going to make big improvements in the beginning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Devoting 15-20 minutes a day to mobility work (strengthening weak muscles and stretching tight muscles) will improve your posture.  That's not too bad, and you can do that kind of work anywhere with just body weight exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just quitting smoking alone will help your body &lt;a href=&quot;http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Benefits_Time_Table.html&quot;&gt;undo a lot of the damage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then the not so good news for where you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1819144,00.html&quot;&gt;smoking has impaired your lungs&lt;/a&gt;, so you are going to get tired faster and work harder than someone who has never smoked.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slideshare.net/2stopsmokingtips/improving-lung-function-after-smoking-cessation&quot;&gt;Ramp up your activity a little at a time&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can be difficult to sift through diet advice, but the first step is going to be easy to understand: eat out less, and eat real food more.  Real food includes lean meats or fish, fibrous vegetables and fruits, eggs, and nuts.  This probably means you are going to have to make your lunches and bring them to work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might find being healthy more expensive than not being healthy.  That expense may go up because you need the help of a coach, personal trainer, and/or the support needed to quit smoking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of it is choosing to make healthier food choices, and finding something active that you like doing.  You may choose to start with 5 minutes of physical activity a day, and that's fine.  Next week make it six, then seven, until you are doing something for at least 20 minutes a day.  You may choose to seek out a coach or personal trainer, and they will help you by regulating the work you do every time you work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T15:54:19.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15187" CreationDate="2014-01-27T16:13:30.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The amount of information about &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/ZMA/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ZMA on Examine.com&lt;/a&gt; is pretty minimal.  However if you break down a couple of the individual components you will get a better picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Zinc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zinc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has minor effects on many things from depression to skin diseases (like rosacia, psoriasis, and acne).  In each of these cases it does move in the more positive direction, but it's not a major affect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Magnesium/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Magnesium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has notable affects on reducing blood pressure.  If blood pressure is not a problem then it may not really do much for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB6-QuickFacts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vitamin B6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has some effects with skin diseases and depression.  It supposedly also helps you relax, but it is present in decent portions in poultry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, in the anecdotal reports of people who use ZMA you will have mixed results.  This leads me to believe that some people are non-responders, are not suffering from the things that ZMA addresses, or simply get enough of the components from the food they eat.  I happen to fall in to the range of people where ZMA doesn't really help me.  In fact, I happen to find that ZMA makes my sleep a little more restless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to help your sleep, then a better supplement would be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Melatonin/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Melatonin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; at a dose of 3mg an hour before bed time.  I find this to be immensely helpful with getting a good night's rest.  Sleep is more restorative to your whole body than ZMA would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T16:13:30.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15185" CreationDate="2014-01-27T17:11:57.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off - stop feeling bad for yourself or embarrassed.  No one cares that you can't do a push up but you.  See a Dr. about the pain, sounds like you pulled or tore something (if it was just muscle soreness it would be gone within a couple of days).  Don't wait for it to get better - if it hasn't by day 3, it won't on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second - get back to the gym and walk on a treadmill, or do what ever you can do without further hurting the injured area.  Working out is 90% mental - you need to be consistent in your efforts. Work through the pain - but don't further injure yourself.  You have a lot of muscles and - I'm sure - can find some other exercise to do while you're healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T17:11:57.910" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15192" CreationDate="2014-01-27T17:55:52.593" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a new client who informed that both of his rotater cuffs are torn. From My understanding, it seems as though I should avoid all upper body exercises so that I don't injure them further. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know that external rotations are used for prehab to strengthen the shoulders before they get hurt, but can this exercise be used once the damage has been done?&#xA;Can I help this client gain some strength in his shoulders using external rotaions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T19:48:21.187" Title="Can external rotations help an already torn rotator cuff?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15191" CreationDate="2014-01-27T19:42:24.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to caveat this answer by informing you I am not a physical therapist.  The routine I'm linking to is from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons: &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00663&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rotator Cuff Shoulder Conditioning Program&lt;/a&gt;.  Some high points are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The rotator cuff needs to heal.  If your client has pain dealing with any of the exercises outlined, don't do them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthening all the muscles surrounding the rotator cuff will help the shoulder stability and prevent the rotator cuff from having to bear the weight it bore when it tore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep any resistance light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's a lot more movement patterns than external rotation needed to rehabilitate the rotator cuff--though external rotation is certainly in the selection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really do need to interact with your client's doctor (with your client's permission) to determine the extent of the damage, and the doctor's recommendations.  How soon the client can resume exercise and the type of exercise really depends on how bad the tear is.  If it's a minor tear, then rehabilitation can start pretty soon.  However, if it's a major tear you may need to just rest it for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mikereinold.com/2013/11/can-physical-therapy-rotator-cuff-tears-prevent-surgery.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another article&lt;/a&gt; that may be useful discusses whether physical therapy can prevent the need for surgery in bad cases.  NOTE: in many cases it can (even full thickness tears).  Good rehabilitation requires the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restore shoulder mobility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restore shoulder stability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the impact of the kinetic chain (i.e. correct any impingement or dysfunction in the shoulder). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-01-27T19:48:21.187" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T19:48:21.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15180" CreationDate="2014-01-27T19:52:22.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The scooped out bagel is the dumbest thing I've ever seen (Why not just cut it in half again instead of scooping out the middle? Are you stuffing it with something after scooping it out?). People are way too concerned with the &lt;em&gt;amount&lt;/em&gt; of calories they are eating when they should be concerned about the &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of calories they are eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned about too many calories, then you've reduced some by scooping out the middle of the bagel. But the quality of the nutrients in either the toast or the bagel (which is &quot;healthier&quot;) has nothing to do with the quantity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compare the ingredients in both if you want to know which is healthier.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T19:52:22.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15183" CreationDate="2014-01-27T20:24:28.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't do you any harm at all. If anything, it will probably be quite beneficial. Providing your nutrition is in check that is. After your workout, make sure you refuel your body/muscles with some good quality food containing proteins, carbs and fats. Then sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T20:24:28.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15164" CreationDate="2014-01-27T22:39:17.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing wall sits alone probably isn't going to be enough to increase lean muscle mass. If it does, it will be minimal. It may provide extra strength/endurance though which in turn should make you faster and possibly run for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, no, I can't see it slowing you down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T22:39:17.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2679" CreationDate="2014-01-27T23:19:05.703" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can overtrain.&#xA;The main theory of the training is a overcompensation/supercompensation theory:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/08/theory-of-supercompensation-strength.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/08/theory-of-supercompensation-strength.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lRKv1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tr3HK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is a training when you body can't compensate and overcompensate damage made by workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an example of the thee different workouts, where the first is a result of overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/srBNx.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastEditorUserId="7420" LastEditDate="2014-01-29T20:23:41.577" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T20:23:41.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15143" CreationDate="2014-01-27T23:28:08.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You said your main goal is &quot;losing stubborn belly fat&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you can't spot burn fat, if what you're doing now is achieving that goal for you (fat loss in general), and you are overall happy with the results you are getting and the training routine, don't change anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio combined with strength/weight training is a great way to burn fat while maintaining lean muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When that main goal changes to something else, perhaps building lean muscle mass, then re-evaluate your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you putting too much preasure on your knee's you asked? Only you can answer this. If you are experiencing any kind of pain or discomfort, perhaps you are and you might need to see your doctor before doing more damage. Otherwise, I'd say no. Just make sure you're using good form performing the exercises - for example, if doing squats, make sure your knees are tracking the same direction your toes are pointing. Also make sure you are wearing a good quality pair of sneakers when running - preferably fitted by someone who knows what they're doing. It may also be beneficial to look at getting some Orthotics made specifically for your feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher reps will improve endurance to some degree but it's not going to do a lot for building lean muscle mass - if that's what you want out of it. It's good to mix it up every now and then though. It certainly shouldn't have any negative effect providing you're not doing it every day - assuming you are actually trying to build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fasted training works for some people, not for others. Personally, I can't train on an empty stomach - I feel sick. About 30-45 minutes before training, I have something to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone is different though. If you can train on an empty, it may work for you. In a very basic sense, without going into the intricacies being it, if you've got little fat to lose, I'd be eating. Eating will signal to your body to release/use body fat for energy. If you're not eating, your body will hold onto fat - your bodies own survival countermeasures will be working against you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why some people find it very hard to lose those last few kilos/lbs - they don't eat as much in the hope it will help burn off the extra fat when in fact, they should be eating slightly more. Not only that, but if you go too far, your body may start breaking down lean muscle for use as energy. This is not good! I personally know a couple of people who have pushed themselves to far by not eating. They get sick very easily and they have no muscle tone/definition to their bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully some of this information is useful to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T23:28:08.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15120" CreationDate="2014-01-28T01:04:11.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really understand your logic with your running direction; however, what you have is called runners knee. Its a very common knee injury where basically its inflammed from over use. There are tons of stretches you can do to be prevent this. Having a good muscular balance between your quadriceps and your hamstrings is crucial for runners to have if they're going to be doing it a lot so the knee cap is kept in place. Here is a youtube channel/video that can help you out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDhKVtkfnsg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDhKVtkfnsg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7656" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T01:04:11.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14520" CreationDate="2014-01-28T01:10:10.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this answer is way too late to help you at all but extra exercise in this form is certainly not going to hurt your goals. Having an exercise ball is definitely going to complement your physique with loads of exercises to do such as planks/crunches etc. I would recommend still hitting abs though as its going to get important as you progress more with deadlifts/squats if you do those exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7656" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T01:10:10.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15120" CreationDate="2014-01-28T03:55:14.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should worry. I'd go see a doctor who may refer you to physio - not sure how it works in Germany sorry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, due to the slant in the pavement, you've been putting one knee (leg) under more abnormal pressure then the other. Running in reverse around the block is probably going to cause the same pain in the other knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I'd find a flat surface to run on. If need be, use a treadmill. Boring I know, but at least you can run without having to worry about causing damage to your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will end up doing some serious damage to your knee(s) by continuing to run on this slanted ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing stretches as suggested by @DizzyDrakefL0w I wouldn't recommend. You don't &quot;stretch&quot; joint pains!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T03:55:14.007" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15184" CreationDate="2014-01-28T04:07:26.470" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might help you gain weight, but you would have to drink a lot of it. Not to mention that weight would probably be fat - not muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, why Milk and Honey? Drinking 5 bottles of Coke a day will help you gain weight as well - doesn't mean you should do it or that it's the correct or smartest thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why don't eat some food - lean beef, with pasta - chicken and rice - lots of vegetables, salads, fatty fish like salmon and trout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're in a position where you have the opportunity to eat lots of nutritious foods which will benefit more then you know but you've chosen milk and honey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doesn't make sense to me. Each to their own though I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T04:07:26.470" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15120" CreationDate="2014-01-28T05:28:58.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should worry a bit. It could be because you are exercising after a while, but then, one must not take any risks or assumptions when it comes to health. Go and consult your physician. Till then you should try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KshXMXS90Pg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee extension&lt;/a&gt; for a quick relief&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7293" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T05:28:58.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15175" CreationDate="2014-01-28T09:23:10.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've got a goal already - so that's a great start. You want to tone up. Excellent!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I tell all my clients in similar situations is to be patient. Nothing will happen over night - it will take hard work, dedication and commitment to achieving your goal. It all happens in small steps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your motivation should be your goal. If your goal doesn't give you all the motivation you need to achieve it, maybe you need to reconsider your goal, or be more specific about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, instead of just wanting to tone up, put a date to it. For example, you want to tone up by 1st of June 2014. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've now got a goal, and a date. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now break that main goal down into smaller goals. What do you need to do each month and week in order to achieve you main goal by 1st of June 2014?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, and this is a really rough example!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within 1 week I will create a basic meal plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within 1 week I will attend gym at least once a week and do 15 minutes cardio and 15 minutes weight training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within 3 weeks I will have refined that meal plan further.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within 3 weeks I will be attending gym at least twice a week and doing 20 minutes cardio and 20 minutes weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within 6 weeks I will be attending gym at least 4 times a week and on two of those occasions do 30 minutes cardio and 30 minutes weight training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you get the picture now. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Write down these small goals in the order of which you need to achieve them with your main goal at the bottom. Be specific. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've got a main goal. You've got a date. You've broken that main goal down into smaller goals. Each time you achieve one of the smaller goals, tick it off the list and watch yourself get closer and closer to achieving your main goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully as you tick each one of the list, it gives you that little more motivation to keep pushing yourself - because remember, you've also set yourself a date. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of tips:- &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your date needs to be realistic. Saying you wont to tone up within 1 month is not realistic. Saying one year is allowing way more time then is needed and wont promote motivation at all. It's needs to be realistic for the goal, achievable, but also forces you to stay focused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this helps you achieve your goal. If nothing else, maybe it points you in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T09:23:10.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-28T17:45:41.843" Score="-1" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 23 old male and in weigh 62 kg at a height of 5.1. I want to lose weight; how can I alter my diet to better accomplish this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My food intake and exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: a few grams of chickpeas with 2 chapati&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At 11:30am: Lemon tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: 2 egg whites, 5 chapati, vegetable salads (carrot,radish)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4pm: Lemon tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6pm: workout - aerobics, crunches, skipping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After workout: 1 apple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: 5 chapati with dal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7666" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2014-01-29T17:07:57.813" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T11:54:51.647" Title="Is this a suitable diet for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2679" CreationDate="2014-01-28T18:13:15.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, the question is, Is there such a thing as over-training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnesshealth101.com/injuries/overtraining-syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  You can push yourself further and further into fatigue that you start getting weaker the more work you put in.  Over training will have signs of depression, negative affects on health markers like blood pressure, total body inflammation, increase in body fat, and more.  In the worst cases you may experience &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhabdomyolysis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How difficult is it to over-train?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually something that people should be concerned about.  Many &lt;em&gt;novices&lt;/em&gt; are quick to worry about over training when they really can't train hard enough to get there.  Some people confuse fatigue with true over training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The folks over at Juggernaut Training Systems are fond of using the analogy that your &lt;em&gt;work capacity is like a cup&lt;/em&gt;.  The work that you put in fills the cup with fatigue.  The things you do for recovery empties that cup.  Over training happens when you over-fill the cup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article entitled &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/09/27/fatigue-explained/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fatigue Explained&lt;/a&gt;&quot; discusses a number of the physiological issues surrounding fatigue and what you can do about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Substrate depletion--the depleting of energy available for your muscles to function.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscles use ATP directly, and that can be replenished within several seconds as the body uses creatine phosphate (CP) to convert ADP to ATP.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your CP levels are depleted, it takes several minutes for your body to generate more from glycogen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, when the glycogen is depleted, you may need several days of eating carbs to replenish them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neuroendocrine alterations--As fatigue goes unabated for weeks:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Testosterone production goes down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cortisol levels rise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sympathetic activity becomes more prominent (fight or flight hormones), which catabolize muscle to create fuel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Microtrauma--High intensity (heavy weight) and high volume training create microtears or rips in the muscle and connective tissue.  In the short term this is not a problem, but long term:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rips can be re-ripped and made larger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large rips can become pulls and strains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most tears recover within a week, but continued high volume or high intensity training without a break will increase the number of tears that carry over into the next week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are an elite athlete, it takes most trainees a long time of pushing very hard to truly get into a place where you could say they are over-trained.  There are several ways of managing fatigue, and well written training programs will build some of these features in for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat well.  Enjoy your carbs after training, as this helps your body get ready for the next training session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest well.  This includes sleep and rest between reps, sets, training days.  You should have enough rest to get the next bit of work done you need to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vary your volume.  Training volume is the number one contributor to cumulative fatigue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use deloads to allow your body a more full recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many successful programs vary both volume and intensity.  You start out with lower intensities and higher volume, and each week increase the intensity while doing fewer reps overall.  After the heaviest week is usually a deload of sorts to allow your body time to more fully recover and essentially create a bigger cup.  When the next cycle starts, you are using slightly heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T18:13:15.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15164" CreationDate="2014-01-28T19:27:42.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no reason why that exercise will make you slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, doing that exercise which affects Quadriceps (and a bit of Hamstrings), will make you faster on hills.! You should make it in the mornings! or for warm-up !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7577" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T19:27:42.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-29T03:30:23.730" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm running 12 400m repeats on a track, with 3 minutes for each repeat: so roughly a minute and a half of recovery between each lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What constitutes 'good' quality for these intervals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eg should I be aiming to hit exactly the same lap time throughout the session, or would that mean that I was going out too easy for the first few?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should I be doing less repeats?  Increasing the recovery time between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Currently I'm doing the first 4 in about 1:22, the next four at about 1:30, and the remainder fluctuating between 1:25 and 1:35)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7483" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T16:27:17.667" Title="What should I be doing to improve the quality of my interval training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-29T03:48:43.893" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I follow a plant-based diet - basically Joel Furhman's diet as outlined in his books.  No oils, no processed foods.  I'm a very active female, 27 years old and working out on average 1-2 hours a day, 5'5&quot;, 108 lbs.  I have an old left knee injury (dislocation) and had right ACL reconstruction surgery a few months ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that I don't seem to have a sufficient appetite to get enough calories to fuel all my activities following Furhman's diet.  I have read his articles on this topic such as &quot;Fueling the Vegan Diet&quot; which provide sample menus but I am not able to eat that quantity of food.  I have tried adding hempseed powder to smoothies, using plenty of nuts, avocados, etc, but still can't consume more than about 1200 calories a day without forcing myself to the point of feeling nauseous or ill.  The issue seems to have to do with appetite; I've always had a modest appetite and never prone to over-eating. Even when I used to eat junk foods I would feel satiated after, say, one or two cookies, or one scoop of ice cream.  I have a very petite frame (waist size about 22&quot;) and probably have a small stomach capacity.  The only thing that allows me to eat larger quantities of food is cannabis, but I'd prefer not to use that regularly as an appetite stimulant.  I also don't want to add animal foods, processed foods, etc, because I am pre-diabetic.  If I can I'd prefer to stick to a completely plant based diet.  Besides having slightly high A1C levels my bloodwork is all normal, though I do have hypermobility/laxity in my joints which predisposes me to sports injuries.  Any ideas? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7672" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T14:27:39.240" Title="How to solve major calorie deficiency problem for very active person on plant-based diet with insufficient appetite?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-05-24T01:54:03.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15213" CreationDate="2014-01-29T06:56:49.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not juices and smoothies?  Juices are probably what you're looking for since juicing will remove a lot of the fiber from a vegetable combo and allow you to get the concentrated nutrition as well as carbs without filling you up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For smoothies maybe use almond milk home made or store bought as your smoothie base.  Then add fruit, like berries, apples, nuts, cherries, raw coconut oil ( a healthy vegan fat,) and any powders or supplements you like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For juice, I use a slow juicer to reduce oxidation and allow for the extended storage of the juice.  This way I can make enough for just a day or a few if  I like... Freeze them into single servings...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Celery, apple, ginger, cucumber is a good start.  Throw some kale in or other high nutrient green.  Adjust to taste.  You can get a great deal of food in this way minus the fibre. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been many juice and smoothie recipe books written, even for vegans, and many recipes can be found online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps a little&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7531" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T06:56:49.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15014" CreationDate="2014-01-29T08:46:59.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you sure it's definitely &quot;water&quot; and not just watery mucous? Pool swimming used to do that to me - now I wear a nose clip, and no longer have the problem (plus as a bonus I look super-attractive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7673" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T08:46:59.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2014-01-29T12:03:45.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Proper diet is hard to define as such for each and every individual. If you are too lazy, you can use this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm&lt;/a&gt;. It will just tell you if you are overweight or not. &#xA;I believe its best to have a trainer/instructor to guide you properly if you are loosing your form while doing any exercise or use a mirror. And, have a dietician suggest you what to eat as per your work life balance and the amount of workout you do. &#xA;When I had begun gym training, I used Kris Gethin's book as my guide [The Bodybuilding.com: Guide to Your Best Body] and here n there took help from the trainers, which is quite good since it also suggests variations of diet plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7636" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T12:03:45.920" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15213" CreationDate="2014-01-29T14:27:39.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When under-eating is a problem, there's two strategies you can take:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split the calories into more, smaller meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporate more calorie dense foods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you are eating 3 times a day, then split the required food into 5-7 meals a day.  You may have to start small, but then ramp up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example would be to incorporate more fats into your diet from olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, etc.  The idea is to pack more calories in less volume of food.  While processed food is great at doing that, the impact on your health is bad.  You can add a tablespoon of coconut oil to brown rice, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These strategies work whether you are vegan or not.  You may have to combine both strategies until you get the right balance.  As strange as it seems, I know a guy who is in pretty much the same boat as you.  While he is not vegan, he does feel sick to his stomach if he eats too much at one sitting.  Find out what you can do, and build off of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T14:27:39.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15222" CreationDate="2014-01-29T14:50:06.093" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I just finished a bulk phase and I'm entering a cutting program. I've been losing weight so far, but my question is does it really matter if I don't reach my calorie deficit target? It's at 2700 calories, but I only reach about 2000 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My protein intake is very high at about 210 grams, but my carbs is lower than what those calculators tell me I should be eating. Does it really matter to reach that carb amount? I mean I understand I need energy but I dont have any energy problems in the gym. As a matter of fact I've been increasing weight. New lifter gains but still, I'm really confused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those calculators give me such a high protein and carb level that I have to make. As long as I keep my protein and fat right its ok? I dont have to follow carbs that much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7676" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-01-29T14:58:53.520" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T16:58:34.660" Title="Off a bulk and now cutting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15212" CreationDate="2014-01-29T16:27:17.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well that depends on what your goal is. Your intervals should be less than whatever your goal distance is - perhaps 50-75% of whatever the goal is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want the pace of the intervals to be consistent throughout the workout. The first ones will be easy but the last ones will be hard. As you get better, you want to reduce the rest time between intervals - or increase the number of intervals you do (not both at the same time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goal is to run your goal distance at the pace of your intervals - so you want to start joining your intervals together to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can increase the pace of your interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T16:27:17.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33905" CreationDate="2014-01-29T16:43:35.623" Score="1" ViewCount="12111" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I &quot;push it&quot; on the treadmill or during a race, for a sustained amount of time (as little as, say, 10 minutes), I will likely experience something that is a little hard to describe but I will attempt to do so. It is basically a metallic &quot;taste&quot;, although it seems to be originating from my head, and it's more like a general sense of metal rather than a taste. If my brain had tastebuds, this would be what I'm experiencing. This may sound ridiculous to you or you may say &quot;that's it!&quot;, I suppose your mileage may vary (pun intended).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought it might be blood, which would account for the metal sense, but I never see any blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am taking no drugs and do not have any diagnosed medical conditions, and I'm 40 years old. I think this has been happening ever since I had the ability to run, so pretty much since tykehood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an interesting link but I'm still not satisfied. The mention of &quot;taste phantoms&quot; seems like a possible jumping-off point, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.allexperts.com/q/Medical-Research-Internet-1426/METALLIC-TASTE-MOUTH.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.allexperts.com/q/Medical-Research-Internet-1426/METALLIC-TASTE-MOUTH.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7677" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T23:04:09.400" Title="Metallic taste/smell with exertion" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15218" CreationDate="2014-01-29T16:58:34.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listen to your body. As long as your energy level is staying high and you're hitting your workouts, then you're fine. Fewer carbs/calories will mean faster results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is to keep listening to your body - you may feel energetic on those 2000 calories during the first week, but if that deficit starts to catch up with you and your energy levels decrease as you continue to cut, then increase the carbs until you can function well. Keep testing, keep adjusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T16:58:34.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15175" CreationDate="2014-01-29T17:58:49.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jessica,&#xA;Remember the idea is Not to eliminate foods. The process involves Reducing the empty&#xA;calorie items e.g. soft drinks, etc.  As an example; if you are consuming 2-12 oz soft drinks&#xA;per day. Cut it down to 1 per day or better yet replace those soft drink scenarios with &#xA;fresh fruits. Be sure to hydrate with H2O.  When you acclimate to your new [ healthy ] diet.  You will see a change in your physical appearance.  Also, you will not miss the bad items you have reduced or eliminated [ depending on your plan ] from your new nutritional intake.  3 things to remember to balance exercise, diet and rest.  Good luck and Have Fun!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7679" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T17:58:49.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3069" CreationDate="2014-01-29T18:21:21.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the result of simple oxygen deprivation and a little bit to do with posture. Try leaning forward a bit when running. To help with the oxygen problem, breathe in deeply once in a while when you're on your run. This will stretch out your diaphragm, your lungs, and your muscles along your pecs and collarbone. Also, it helps to keep your breathing controlled and patternized. Picture your breathes as a pendulum, it just goes back and forth, back and forth. Hope it feels better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7680" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T18:21:21.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15072" CreationDate="2014-01-29T18:22:21.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bryson,&#xA;Whenever our bodies experience muscle or joint Pain. It is a warning signal to stop the particular activity. &#xA;Remember one thing, the law of physics. Any land based body weight exercises i.e. jogging, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. involve gravity and our body weight.  If you insist on performing&#xA;body weight exercises, reduce body weight [ aerobics and less calories per day ].  By&#xA;losing 5% to 10% body weight and see if this allows you to continue performing push-ups&#xA;without pain.  The other alternative is to perform resistance exercises similar to the &#xA;posted photography. With the exception of less weight on the injured side.&#xA;Good luck and Have Fun!!!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7679" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T18:22:21.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15227" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16180" CreationDate="2014-01-29T21:16:32.903" Score="3" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like an approach to use the data heart rate + pace from a run to give me a factor that will help me see my improvements on different runs.&#xA;For example, if I have run at a pace of 5:30 with an average heart rate of 160, I think it is better than if I have run at a pace of 5:14 with an average heart rate of 185. And a pace of 5:14 with a heart rate of 160 would be the best of the three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any formyla or do you have any suggestion on how to assess this? Something more elaborate than 1/(pace+(heart rate*2))?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7685" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T23:48:04.580" Title="Fitness measurement based on pace and average heart rate" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15059" CreationDate="2014-01-29T22:26:58.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dynammic Stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tomkurz.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/benefits-of-stretching-not-and-more/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tom Kurz&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used this when training in martial arts many years ago. To this day, if asked, I can still kick above my head from cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7684" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T22:26:58.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15230" CreationDate="2014-01-29T23:09:11.547" Score="4" ViewCount="22905" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was going through this article in the benefits of rest-pause exercise and seen this recommendation which I need a bit of help to interpret.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;New to rest-pause? Try this chest routine to ... &#xA;Exercise                       Load     Sets        Reps/Rest(seconds)&#xA;Incline Bench Press            5RM       4          2/15-20, 2/15-20, 2/15-20, 2&#xA;Smith-Machine Bench Press      7RM       4          3/15-20, 3/15-20, 3/15-20, 3&#xA;Cable Crossover                --        3          15&#xA;Push-Up                        --        3          To Failure&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am quite familiar with the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;One-Rep-Max&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; terminology but have a problem of understanding what &lt;strong&gt;5RM&lt;/strong&gt; as a load would mean. Is this the way to represent, per say, 50% of One-Rep-Max or ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T03:26:19.010" Title="One Rep Max related terminology - What 5RM mean?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;&lt;rest-pause&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15229" CreationDate="2014-01-29T23:32:32.897" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5RM = 5 rep max&lt;/strong&gt;. So, the heaviest weight that you can do 5 times, without re-racking the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you could have done it &lt;strong&gt;6 times&lt;/strong&gt;, then it wasn't your 5RM. There are several calculators online that can estimate given your 1RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastEditorUserId="6869" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T03:26:19.010" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T03:26:19.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-29T23:45:27.370" Score="0" ViewCount="8347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to lose weight but at the same time I don't want to gain any more muscle mass than what I already have. However, whenever I research exercises I could do the results always seem to show more defined muscles gained from their increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what kind of exercises can one do to just lose weight without gaining muscles? [Preferably ones that don't require any special equipment]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7687" LastEditorUserId="7483" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T14:48:06.837" LastActivityDate="2018-02-17T20:03:38.373" Title="What kind of exercises can one do to just lose weight but not gain muscles?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15237" CreationDate="2014-01-30T01:13:23.073" Score="4" ViewCount="1291" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several well known routines Texas Method, Madcows, All Pros contain &quot;light&quot; or &quot;medium&quot; days. If the goal of these days is to rest and recovery, wouldn't someone be better off doing no exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these sessions still build muscle when your exercising at 90% or 80% of your &quot;heavy&quot; days? Or are they just to practice form? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T11:21:07.207" Title="What is the purpose of &quot;light&quot; days in a lifting routine" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19042" CreationDate="2014-01-30T02:19:34.357" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;How intense should training sessions in order to produce enough stress on the body, to have a reaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. If I know what my 10RM is on 7 exercises, who I always train at those values and increase where I can? Or should aim at 90% or 80%...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training at 10RM all the time means that there is a good chance I will miss all planned reps (simply because the order of the exercises or recovery from the last session). This means that of 7 exercises I would fail at 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T16:04:43.970" Title="When training on a weight lifting routine, how close to failure is optimal" Tags="&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15059" CreationDate="2014-01-30T05:10:18.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For burpees I believe they are supposed to be forward our slightly toed out as you should be in a squat stance. See Crossfit - How Do I Burpee (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html#Exercises8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html#Exercises8&lt;/a&gt;) for explanation of their standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For tight hips I think this article does a good job of covering some ways to work on this. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-regain-and-maintain-hip-mobility/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-regain-and-maintain-hip-mobility/&lt;/a&gt;)&#xA;Personally I find foam rolling my IT band (runs down outside of thighs) as well as leg swings(hold onto something and swing one leg at a time front to back, then side to side) and hip thrusts(hold hands on hips and push out) are fairly easy and do a good job. Also note that a lot of time spent sitting will negatively impact your hip mobility, so less time in a chair should help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the hip mobility doesn't fix your form have a trainer watch you to see if there is anything you aren't noticing or other possible corrections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastEditorUserId="7660" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T04:11:40.493" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T04:11:40.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-30T05:23:30.337" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;From last 6 months, I started with a knee issue and I find gradually more and more joints  like hips, shoulder, ankle becoming noisy (as in popping/ snapping /noises like rubbing of cartilage) and sometimes accompanied by pain and it is becoming scary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have ortho/PT specializing in sports medicine in my place and the rest haven't been of much help. One PT however did tell I have muscle imbalance, which I realize I do because of thoroughly unbalanced training and neglect in stretching.  But again he didn't mention which muscles and said I can do all kind of exercises I want, that I actually can't. I can't do exercises involves running, twisting and jumping and fast movements as in martial arts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if starting a balanced barbell training under a trainer and stretching sufficiently a good idea. I mean is that what people with joint issues do when they can't get medical help due to whatever reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might look like paralysis by analysis but I started treatment with a PT with open mind and ended up worsening pain in my knees. This has made a skeptic out of me... I'm not sure if this kind (unspecific?) question is entertained is this forum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T03:01:54.947" Title="weight training and Muscle imbalance (?)" Tags="&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15231" CreationDate="2014-01-30T09:23:37.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best answer for you is a healthy and nutritious diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can achieve what you want simply by putting the right foods and drinks in your mouth and you won't have to lift a single weight or walk a single mile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of veggies, salads, some fruit, lean meats (chicken, Turkey, beef), fatty fish like salmon and trout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get rid of or at least cut down (significantly) on sugary drinks, alcohol, fast foods, anything high in carbohydrates -  especially high GI carbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cooking, use extra virgin olive oil, butter, or coconut oil. Avoid margarine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat loss is made in the kitchen. You can't out train a crap diet. First and foremost, get your diet in check, and then worry about exercising if you wish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T09:23:37.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15232" CreationDate="2014-01-30T11:21:07.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The goal of light days is not recovery. They may sometimes be light enough to allow some limited recovery from the previous workout, or they may not. The goal is to lift and gain the benefits of lifting without triggering the drawbacks associated with working close to one's maximum volume or intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Volume days are taxing because they require a great deal of muscle and soft tissue recovery. One needs substantial food and rest after such a workout. That's the trade-off for the strength and muscle growth that high volume triggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High-intensity days are taxing to the central nervous system and come with increased risk of injury. One often needs multiple days off after efforts close to 1RM. That's the trade-off for the perspective and strength gain that high intensity work brings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Light days are still lifting days, in that they provide a degree of volume (and thus muscle growth), form practice (and thus improved motor patterns), while avoiding the pitfalls of high-volume or high-intensity work. Just because one isn't operating above 80 or 90% of one's volume or intensity maximum doesn't mean that the workout is unproductive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T11:21:07.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15229" CreationDate="2014-01-30T11:25:37.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;XRM is your X rep max, or the maximum weight that you can lift X many times. I've found that above 1 or 2 the terminology gets fuzzier: a 1RM allows for some form degradation because the test is simply &quot;can you lift it?&quot;, whereas a 5RM is often colloquially used to mean &quot;can you do 5 reps with proper form?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This program is telling you to pick a weight for incline bench press that you would normally be able to lift no more than five times. That will make &lt;code&gt;two reps / miniscule rest / two more reps / another miniscule rest / two final reps&lt;/code&gt; very challenging but yet allow you to get a 'bonus' rep in above what would (without rest-pause) be a maximum of five reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T11:25:37.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15229" CreationDate="2014-01-30T14:12:55.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common way to shorten one-rep-max is to use the label 1RM.  The same goes for any number before the rep max.  That means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1RM = 1 rep max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5RM = 5 rep max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7RM = 7 rep max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know your 1RM, but not your 5 or 7 RM you can figure it out a good number to use pretty easily.  The most common formula used for calculating 1RM I've seen is acceptable for use up to 10 reps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1RM = (W * R) / 30 + W&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W = Weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R = Reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it a bit quicker, many programs/trainers use some common percentages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1RM = 100%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3RM = 90%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5RM = 85%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7RM comes out to somewhere around 80-81%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using those percentages, if you know your 3RM you can estimate your 1RM by dividing by the percent.  If you know your 1RM you can estimate your 5RM by multiplying by 85%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T14:12:55.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-30T14:14:28.940" Score="0" ViewCount="1102" Body="&lt;p&gt;While playing Handball,pain starts to develop in my right elbow due to sudden jerks on the right hand,whenever there is a sudden jerk in my elbow  continuously, pain develops and at times it becomes so severe that my hand doesn't lifts up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does it happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7694" LastEditorUserId="7694" LastEditDate="2014-01-30T19:46:30.417" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T22:06:05.010" Title="elbow pain due to jerks" Tags="&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-01-31T03:27:35.830" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15242" CreationDate="2014-01-30T14:16:17.480" Score="0" ViewCount="727" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are my legs cramping in cold weather the day that I work them out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, after I workout my legs, usually pretty intense workouts that range from high intensity to low rep high weight, they will start to cramp if I am outside in cold weather. Yesterday was particularly bad after a particularly intense leg workout. I got home, stepped out of my car, the temperature was probably around 28F and my quads immediately cramped up. I had to practically crawl to my house and then sit on the floor until they warmed up. From past experience, if I stretch them out when this happens, my hamstrings will start to cramp and then it's just a vicious cycle of leg cramps. Also, I usually eat two bananas every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I prevent this from happeneing in the future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, the general consensus seems to be drink more water. I should have stated in the question originally that that should not be the issue because I drink at least a gallon of water every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="5159" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T12:13:04.850" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T20:17:07.387" Title="Legs cramping in cold weather after leg workouts" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15241" CreationDate="2014-01-30T17:33:18.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a matter of vasoconstriction of blood vessels. Usually your blood vessels constricts during cold and it reduces the blood flow.( Its actually the reverse of increased blood flow when using hot water bags in the inflammated or painful areas of your body). Its a normal mechanism in our body!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may prevent this by warm clothes or leg bandages! It will be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7697" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T17:33:18.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15241" CreationDate="2014-01-30T17:50:16.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had cramps recently after spinning on bike trainer in cold basement. The problem was a hydration. I stopped using electrolytes, because I thought I'm not sweating as much as on warm weather and drank clean water alone. After I started using sport drinks again, problem disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T17:50:16.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15231" CreationDate="2014-01-30T18:10:33.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try endurance sports to loose fat. To lose fat you need to do aerobic exercise for long time. The fat metabolism can't start fast. It slowly started after 30-40 minutes after the endurance exercise began. The single aerobic exercise must be one hour or more. You are going gain some muscles, but it's not going to be a lot. Mostly your muscles going to take just good athletic shape. To burn fat during endurance exercise you need to have good amount of the carbs in your blood, muscles and liver. The good news is, you are not going to be too hungry after aerobic exercise correctly done. Anaerobic exercise mostly useless for weight lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T18:10:33.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15231" CreationDate="2014-01-30T19:29:20.840" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your question and the the answers you gave in the comments, it sounds like you might want to look into aerobic and endurance based exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q9Pqc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your diet goes, you'll want to be in a healthy body fat range, but not so low as to show off definition in your muscles.  While 10-15% body fat is probably the sweet zone for how your homones behave, you'll want to be closer to the 15-20% range (normal for men in their 20s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's actually a few different types of endurance related exercise, so don't think that running is your only option.  You might enjoy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running (5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling both in races or just to enjoy the countryside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cross country skiing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triathlons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Endurance_sports&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;And many others&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the nature of endurance related athletics, you will experience the &lt;a href=&quot;http://my.moxymonitor.com/blog/bid/258422/The-Role-of-Physiological-Adaptation-in-Endurance-Performance&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;following transformations&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lower heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More aerobically efficient cardiovascular system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher VO2 Max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher lactate threshold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Development of &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;slow twitch&lt;/a&gt; (type 1) muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that a great number of endurance athletes do not have large arms, and six packs are rarely noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T19:29:20.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15240" CreationDate="2014-01-30T20:34:34.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tendinitis/basics/definition/con-20020309&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;variation&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/arthritis-information/conditions/elbow-pain/specific-conditions.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inflammation&lt;/a&gt; in the elbow.  That can be due to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repetitive stress involved in handball or other non-sport related activities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General inflammation in combination with the stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury due to hyper-extension or impact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, for inflammation based injuries the solutions are fairly similar for acute (one-off) injuries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice the joint to at least numb the area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compress the joint and move it through it's full range of motion--don't forget internal and external rotation as you do this.  NOTE: start with small movements and increase range of motion as pain allows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove the compression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest the joint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deal with chronic (re-)injuries you'll have to adjust some other things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use light strength training with high reps to get blood to flush out the inflammation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Modify your exercise to routinely incorporate &quot;pre-hab&quot; (corrective action before inflammation sets in)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Modify your technique if the technique is to blame&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Light strength training to rehabilitate your elbow would include both elbow flexion (some form of curl) and extension (press or cable triceps extensions).  Use a light weight that won't aggravate the joint, and that you can use for 3 or 4 sets of 10-15 reps.  After doing this 3x a week for a couple weeks or so, you should notice the joint feeling better.  Give more emphasis to the action that you use less.  Also, do not lock the elbows during extension related exercise because your goal is to flush blood through the joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IMPORTANT:&lt;/strong&gt;  If your injury is due to a known injury during the sport, do get it checked out to make sure there isn't any non-inflammation related damage.  If there is traumatic injury in addition to inflammation, the protocol I outlined will make things worse until the trauma has been remedied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T20:34:34.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15240" CreationDate="2014-01-30T22:06:05.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very similar problem in my left elbow. There are 3 things that I do to alleviate/mitigate the pain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roll out the soft tissue of the forearm with a lacrosse ball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://glennpendlay.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/got-tendonitis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wrapping the elbow tightly with a band or cut up bike tire&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T22:06:05.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15231" CreationDate="2014-01-30T22:08:05.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight gain (and especially muscle gain) is mostly a function of caloric intake. So if you exercise a lot and don't eat much you won't gain much weight or muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T22:08:05.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15258" CreationDate="2014-01-31T11:52:59.303" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have trained a variety of sports such as soccer, swimming, skiing -- and later in the university got interested in weight-lifting. I do 6 months' fat-burning training such as marathon etc (summer) and 6 months' mass-fat-muscle-increasing training (winter). My mass doubles during the weight-lifting session. I just do what feels good: I try to train as symmetric muscle groups as possible and not overdo any muscle. My age is 25 currently, height about 175cm. The last cycle my mass increased from 70kg to 100kg so 30/70, 43% increase in mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is just to maintain a healthy fitness profile, I am feeling far better when decided to invest in training. Now I would like to understand its planning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it normal that mass doubles 6 months for a healthy man from marathon training to weight training? Is there any suggestions for this kind of training schedule for the mass?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Profile&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;heavy soccer training, 65kg (2007)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;stop heavy soccer training, 55kg (2008)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;university, little training, 70kg (2010-2012)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;university, running, swimming, bicycling etc 65-70kg (summer 2012)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;weight lifting: biceps, abs, hamstrings, flexor digitorum communis, 100kg (winter 2012-2013)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;marathon running, trekking, canoeing, packrafting, travelling: 74 kg (2013 summer + december)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;weight lifting (pectoralis major, trapezius, deltoids, triceps), 82kg--&amp;gt;(est. 120kg) 2014&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-02-16T02:50:16.067" Title="Mass doubling for a healthy man from marathon training (summer) to weight training (winter)? Normal?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15254" CreationDate="2014-01-31T14:11:33.897" Score="4" ViewCount="10414" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I'd like to supplement with general info about SL 5x5 so I can put my question into context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes in the newsletter emails I get from Mehdi where people ask him random questions about stuff like plateaus, he'll reply and say &quot;you'll be amazed that you can add weight effortlessly after every workout. That is, if you didn't start too heavy to impress people in the gym&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there are a few things he could be implying. He could either be implying that people start too heavy and have bad form, thus legitimately limiting their ability to properly lift a heavier load. He could also be implying that if you can comfortable squat with 150lb as a starting point that you shouldn't do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the whole starting with the empty bar actually enter into anything significantly if you actually CAN start some of the workouts with good form at a comfortably higher weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T14:41:17.007" Title="Does not starting with the empty bar in StrongLifts 5x5 really hinder your ability to add weight every workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15253" CreationDate="2014-01-31T14:41:17.007" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now, today, I could back squat 100kg for five. But if I were starting a per-workout linear progression like StrongLifts, it would be a terrible idea to start with 100kg. Even 90kg would be ill-advised. I don't want to start lifting at my 5RM or even a high percentage of it. I want to leave some space as a buffer so that I can continue to add weight. That's for a few reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The strength increase might be smaller than the weight increase. Lifting 100kg 5x5 doesn't guarantee that next session I'll be able to squat 102.5kg 5x5. Or, maybe I'll be able to squat 102.5kg, but it'll be harder and with slightly worse form. I want to avoid that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle grows and gets stronger faster than bone and soft tissue like ligaments and tendons. Starting well below your muscular capabilities gives these other tissues time to catch up with your muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x5 is a lot of volume for a strength program. Even moderate percentages (e.g. 50%, 70%) of your 5RM will stimulate some strength and muscle growth when you do so much of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal of starting light in SL is to make absolutely sure that the trainee will have a sustained linear progression. If the trainee starts too heavy, there are more possibilities for the progression to get stuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already have some strength training background then starting with the bar is deload overkill. But the point is not to have one's eyes be bigger than one's belly: start a little light, leave some room to progress, and by spending less time bashing your central nervous system against your 5RM you'll be stronger faster in the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T14:41:17.007" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-31T16:33:18.927" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have built a routine which main goal is hypertrophy, and goes with the following strategy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;large muscles groups (back, legs, chest)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;are trained with 3-4 X 8 supersets, usually isolation + compound&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I.E.: chest is trained with 8 cable flys + 8 barbell bench presses back to back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;small muscle groups (arms, shoulders)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;are trained in 3x8 sets, intervals, with the last set usually being an intensive dropset&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I.E.: biceps are trained with 3x8 inclined dumbbell curls, third set drops until exhaustion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen substantial size gains utilizing this protocol and I would like to re-use the template's structure in future, when I will bulk again, but with different exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to fall short on alternatives to isolate lats muscles for pre-fatiguing purposes: so far I have used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.criticalbench.com/exercises/pics/straight-arm-pulldown1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;straight arms pulldowns&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thumbs.ifood.tv/files/imagecache/600x500/back_workout_--_t-bar_row_db_rows_lat_pull_downs_shrugs.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lat horizontal shrugs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other good options to isolate lats so that they don't get much help from other groups (I.E. biceps)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more options, the better. Many thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dario&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7709" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T07:11:29.170" Title="Isolation exercises for back training" Tags="&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15255" CreationDate="2014-01-31T18:26:54.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think of a couple: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/one-arm-dumbbell-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one arm dumbell row&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/smith-machine-bent-over-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bent over barbell row on a smith machine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T18:26:54.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15252" CreationDate="2014-01-31T18:36:26.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to restructure your question a little bit to help you understand what's going on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it normal for mass to increase substantially going from marathon training to a hypertrophy based resistance training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer is: &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt;.  The longer answer has to do with the specific adaptations your body is going through in response to the training.  Ignoring all cardiovascular changes (and there are many in this category), the primary difference from a body composition standpoint is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurance based training develops type I muscle fibers (AKA slow twitch).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy based resistance training develops type II muscle fibers, primarily type II-B (AKA fast twitch).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is not uncommon to add fat mass while intentionally bulking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;differences between slow and fast twich&lt;/a&gt; muscle fibers.  Much of those differences have to do with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_systems&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;energy systems&lt;/a&gt; they are designed for.  Slow twitch muscle is optimized to work from the aerobic metabolic pathways.  They fire more slowly and use oxygen and ATP to fuel work.  Fast twitch muscle is optimized to work from anaerobic metabolic pathways.  They fire quickly to produce force and use glycogen and ATP (with lactic acid byproducts), or the phosphogen system (using creatine phosphate to replenish energy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally there are two primary types of hypertrophy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcoplasm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sarcoplasmic&lt;/a&gt; hypertrophy--energy support systems (glycogen reserves)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofibril&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Myofibrilar&lt;/a&gt; hypertrophy--muscle contractile protein pairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you perform hypertrophy based resistance training (typically emphasizing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy), your body makes adaptations to increase the potential energy your muscles can store, and then fills those energy reserves.  All of this increases your mass.  Resistance training is also more anabolic than catabolic.  Essentially it's telling your body to get bigger and stronger for short bursts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you perform endurance based training, your body makes opposite adaptations.  Since endurance uses the oxygen based energy systems, it no longer needs the same glycogen reserves in the sarcoplasm.  Additionally, since the body wants to be efficient for the job at hand it needs to reduce mass.  Your type II muscle loses its sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and starts getting converted to type I muscle which takes up less mass.  Endurance training is more catabolic than anabolic.  Essentially it's telling your body to get lighter move longer distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming your body fat stays the same year round, you will still have more mass after extended hypertrophy based resistance training than extended endurance based training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T18:36:26.263" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15255" CreationDate="2014-01-31T18:41:33.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you want to avoid biceps, but I would suggest pull-ups/chin-ups, specifically wide grip the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/arnold-back-training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;way Arnold did them&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go as wide as I can and stare straight up at the ceiling with my back arched as much as possible.  I do as many as I can.  I always get a serious pump in my lats after I do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that the wider I go, the less I use my biceps and the more I use my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T18:41:33.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15255" CreationDate="2014-01-31T20:12:24.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chest supported rows are my favorite upper back exercise. They don't isolate your lats, but I've never been able to &quot;isolate&quot; the lat muscle effectively. They do a good job of keeping you from cheating the lift, which is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T20:12:24.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15241" CreationDate="2014-01-31T20:17:07.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get similar kinds of cramps in my calves. I have a 2 part solution that's worked well for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a banana pre- or post-workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy a stick massager (below) and roll your muscles with it. It works best if the muscle is constricted while being massaged. This puts you at risk of cramping, and makes it extremely painful, but it does wonders for loosening up my muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QpMnt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T20:17:07.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15267" CreationDate="2014-02-01T12:53:09.637" Score="1" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done crunches for one month regularly in the gym and after that I stopped exercising. And my stomach came out after two months. So is it because I stop doing crunches ?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What should I do in order to maintain the same abdomen structure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7716" LastEditorUserId="7720" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T02:35:28.890" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T01:19:17.333" Title="Doing crunches for month and after that stop doing it effect body shape?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15265" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-01T18:03:15.210" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;when trying to workout the lats/ lower-lats, does using a reverse grip actually provide any utility in honing in on the lower lats?  Or is the reverse grip just a strategy to have a stronger grip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for mid-lower lat workouts, is an extremely narrow grip useful, or should you use shoulder width?  Or, does it depend on your physique?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7718" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T21:56:58.493" Title="reverse grip lateral pulldown" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15265" CreationDate="2014-02-01T21:56:58.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In doing lat pulldowns when using a reverse grip (palms up I presume) as long as you are focusing on not pulling down with your biceps and focusing on your lats. You are using more of your lower lats. WHY? well if you think about it, with a reverse grip it allows your elbows to be closer to your body allowing for that bigger contraction in your lower/mid lat range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T21:56:58.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15264" CreationDate="2014-02-01T22:00:16.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now the crunches themselves have very little to do with the overall bulging of your stomach. That would be called spot reducing, which does not exist. The fact that your stomach came back is due to the fact that you stopped going to the gym and exercising. You want to be at a caloric deficit to be able to lose body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T22:00:16.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15231" CreationDate="2014-02-01T22:14:19.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any exercise, aerobic mostly for example swimming, running, or playing sports. Now even these will increase muscle size generally speaking but not comparably to weight training because you are using your muscles in everything you do here. But the key to not putting on size is time under tension and eating at a caloric surplus to supply the muscle with to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T22:14:19.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2014-02-02T18:52:35.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would reiterate what some people have said about addressing your diet first before going gungho on exclusively burpees. I know for myself I used to run a couple miles every day (not super regularly but often enough I thought should have made a difference). Nothing really changed for me until I made dietary changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience the following holds true: (Whatever amount of exercise you normally do) + (However much you normally eat) = (Your body weight equilibrium).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dietary changes that worked for me was cutting out (most) sugar and carbohydrates (wheat, rice, potatoes, etc.) Sugar and carbohydrates have a high Glycemic index which basically means they turn to glucose readily which turns into fat if it isn't used right away. By not taking in these foods in the first place, you force your body to burn the fat. Don't starve yourself, just don't eat sugar and carbs, you still have meat, fruit and veg, and dairy. You don't have to be psychotic about it but the more you stick to it the more successful you'll be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if you don't make any dietary changes and you are currently eating a lot of sugar and carbohydrates, you won't be able to outrun your intake by doing burpees and like other contributors have mentioned, as you become more fit you will have to do more burpees to get the same effect. You'll become more fit but you won't lose the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for finding exercise boring, maybe you just haven't found the one that isn't boring for you. I starting cycling more consistently lately and I've found it to be great exercise. I try to keep up with the cars, so I am essentially sprinting between stop lights. I lost a few pounds just by cycling back and forth commuting. Keep trying till you find something you enjoy doing and then it won't be so loathsome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7728" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T18:52:35.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27299" CreationDate="2014-02-02T23:11:44.597" Score="7" ViewCount="4517" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do about an hour or so of high-intensity cardio each day, usually on an arch trainer or elliptical, depending on what's available. I find that I sweat &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;. The workout itself doesn't feel amazingly strenuous to me but I usually soak all my clothes, and additionally I generally soak through at least &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; gym towels (not the full-sized ones, but maybe 16&quot; x 25&quot; face towels) in every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I find it mildly annoying to have sweat all over my body, so I wipe it off with the towels - which is why I soak two of them every day - but I'm wondering if, on balance, this is doing more harm than good. When I'm running outside I usually don't bring a towel and I just assume that the sweat is performing its function and cooling me down, but the gym I go to doesn't have any fans pointed directly at me, and the arch trainer's built-in fan is pathetic and barely noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I basically causing myself more trouble by wiping off my sweat? Does the sweat I wipe off just get immediately replaced anyway? Could this be hurting my workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I usually drink 1L of Powerade Zero during my workout, which seems to replace my electrolytes OK. Years ago I used to just drink water and I'd feel ill after 1-2 hours of cardio, but since switching to Powerade that's not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7730" LastEditorUserId="7730" LastEditDate="2014-02-03T01:18:14.440" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T12:08:43.270" Title="Is wiping off sweat during &quot;indoor&quot; cardio counterproductive?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-03T05:22:28.507" Score="8" ViewCount="603" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much muscle/strength could I really expect to gain over age 50? I'm lifting on a regular basis, eating healthy, taking in a lot of protein, have been tested for testosterone levels (at 480 which is avg/high for my age) - so, can I make great gains? no gains? or expect to lose as I age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-02-08T15:02:59.577" Title="Gaining Muscle/Strength over age 50" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15275" CreationDate="2014-02-03T06:29:50.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer - I'd say No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer - Wiping off the sweat itself isn't going to cause any issues. If it's annoying you and affecting your performance, then wipe it off. When you're outside running, the air does basically the same thing for you anyway which is generally why you may not find it quite so annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sweat a lot myself and train in a gym with only a few fans. It's a horrible feeling having sweat pouring down your arms, legs and face - so I too regularly wipe it off. Leaving the sweat on me just annoys the hell out of me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are stopping your running completely to wipe off sweat, then maybe - and it's a big maybe - but I doubt it. If you're stopping every couple of minutes to wipe off sweat and then getting straight back into it, it's almost interval training - which according to many people is better then doing one huge, non-stop stint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it may actually be doing you good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-02-03T06:29:50.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15277" CreationDate="2014-02-03T13:19:01.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a 50+ athlete, I can tell you that gains are still possible.  However, they are harder to achieve and less frequent.  It's just part of the aging process.  That doesn't mean you can't train with gains in mind.  You just need to train smarter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-03T13:19:01.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15284" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-03T22:39:28.490" Score="0" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad has been having a lot of chest pain lately. He went to the doctor, and got tested for a few things. The tests were all negative (the good kind), and the doctor told him that the pain must be muscular, i.e. from sitting in a chair too long, from inactivity, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to buy some weights, like the ones below, that he can use to strengthen his chest muscles. For example, by doing some dumbbell presses, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dWo1I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dumbbells&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend some workouts that would be good for him to do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T15:40:39.050" Title="Chest workout to decrease muscular chest pain" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15255" CreationDate="2014-02-04T07:11:29.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/front-lever/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Front Lever&lt;/a&gt; progressions have really help me to really isolate my lats and make them grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My progressions initially was to be able to hang on to a pull-up bar for at least a minute without feeling too much muscle fatigue (which i had a lot before). Then I'd start with tucked front levers, progress to straddle front levers, then single leg front levers and finally front levers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Straight arms pulldowns are in a way similar to doing front levers, but personally having to fight gravity seems to give me better results in my lats and serratus. Having to lock out the elbows takes the biceps out of the equation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4789" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T07:11:29.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-04T10:30:45.537" Score="2" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 16 year old a little fat girl and I have some problems with my body shape. I have a pear shaped body shape and I want to get rid of that as much as it's possible. I want to be fit and healthy. So I'm preparing a workout plan for myself by researching but I couldn't decide which one is the best for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be very happy if you guys help me figure out which one is the best for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't to be like the girls who have big muscles and heavy thighs and big triceps. I just want to look fit. You know like this girl:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://data1.whicdn.com/images/45317953/large.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://data1.whicdn.com/images/45317953/large.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here are my questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- Which exercises do I need to do and how many days in a week should i do? (Like squats, crunches etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- Should I make a plan like&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Monday- leg day&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wednesday-abs day&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Saturday- arm day     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or should I mix them and do the same exercises everyday like&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Everyday- squats, bike crunches, wall sit,arm lifts etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can recommend anything that can be beneficial for me please do because I really need help from somebody that knows this stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.s. I'm gonna start working out regularly for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7749" LastEditorUserId="6218" LastEditDate="2014-02-08T21:00:09.040" LastActivityDate="2019-11-08T09:01:45.207" Title="Planning My Workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15284" CreationDate="2014-02-04T14:59:58.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first is to take an assessment of your father.  Typical problems of inactive people who spend a long time sitting include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak upper back (rear delts, traps, rhomboids)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight chest muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slumped forward shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight hip flexers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretched glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak lower back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mobility focused work such as strengthening weak muscles and stretching the joints that are tight will help correct postural problems.  While that won't necessarily remove all pain, it will improve quality of life and make it possible for him to do more.  There may be an inflammation component to the pain, which suggests he may need dietary changes as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of the work to fix postural problems will involve some form of strength training, but you'll need to focus more effort on proper spinal and shoulder alignment at the beginning.  Anything to get your dad moving more will be a good thing.  The trick is finding something he will enjoy.  Just getting outside and walking around can be an improvement.  A key to reducing inflammation is to get your blood flowing--and making sure you are not adding to the inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good PT will be able to perform the assessment and design a training program around correcting the issues your dad has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T14:59:58.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-04T15:03:59.340" Score="0" ViewCount="371" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with a polydac jumprope?  They seem to range from 1 inch to 2 inches and from 2lbs to 7lbs? I'm use to using a standard and speed jump rope, but these look like an interesting add to my routine (nothing like adding something new!).  I'm assuming the timing/speed work of a traditional jump rope is gone, but the cardio part would increase...? Thoughts? experiences? Any potential injury to the shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/71p9D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;PolydacJumpRope&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T15:34:55.650" Title="thick/jumbo jump ropes" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15289" CreationDate="2014-02-04T15:34:55.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When skipping quickly with a standard rope, it's easiest to lift your feet no more than an inch off the ground, especially if you're skipping quickly. The benefit of this type of skipping is that it minimizes the impact on your ankle and knees joints. If you've been stung in the back of your ankles or legs by a weighted rope, it might make you jump higher. Over time, the higher jumps can cause pain in your leg joints, especially if you already have issues in those areas. Repetitive strain injuries are caused by making repeated movements, often with the shoulders, arms and wrists. Because using a weighted rope provides more resistance to your arms, shoulders and even your back, it's possible to injure one of these areas if they're not properly warmed up, if you have a pre-existing injury or you exercise too much. Avoid overuse of the weighted rope and if your body is excessively sore, switch to a lighter rope or avoid skipping altogether until the injury clears up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T15:34:55.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15284" CreationDate="2014-02-04T15:40:39.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you should do to get him started is to get him on a good stretch routine every day to combat the inactivity, and get the muscles being used to being stretched before adding weights. After I would say a week or two of just this stretch routine I would go on and but 10-35 lb weights depending on the physical level of your dad. If the only issue is the chest then a few exercises to do with dumbbells would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell chest press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell flye&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated shoulder press (not chest but when pressing for chest you use a lot of front delts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups (Now I would use these to strengthen the core muscles as well as the chest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T15:40:39.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15277" CreationDate="2014-02-04T19:04:21.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to make gains like a 20 year old, you'll have to have the testosterone and estrogen levels of a 20 year old.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the surface, this doesn't answer your question... but it does, please follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first question is, &quot;How much muscle/strength could I really expect to gain over age 50?&quot;  I am not sure that this is answerable.  In what way would you like to measure it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second question is, &quot;can I make great gains?&quot;  This is also an opinion question, I believe you'll make great gains but will you believe that they're great gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third question is, &quot;no gains?&quot;  This one I can answer, YOU WILL MAKE GAINS.  As @rrirower pointed out, gains will be slower than you remembered but they will happen.  I know bodybuilders who NEVER competed or took the sport seriously until they were eligible for the masters class - and they did well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fourth question is, &quot;expect to lose as I age?&quot;  If you maintain an active lifestyle, your body will be forced to maintain as well.  You'll only &quot;lose&quot; when your body doesn't feel that it needs the muscle anymore (because you're not lifting) which it will then burn for energy, just as we burn fat and muscle for energy in a caloric deficit (diet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, you will make gains.  I hope you will be patient enough to accept them as great gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastEditorUserId="7563" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T19:28:15.880" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T19:28:15.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-04T19:34:21.333" Score="0" ViewCount="1969" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, basically the question says it all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question pop out today at work, a colleague is trying to increase muscle definition and thought at this... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read it can lead to undernourishment and dehydration, but could drinking it for a period (3, 5, 10 days?) be of any help with definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;Will drinking distilled water improve muscle definition?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also, &lt;strong&gt;How much time one can drink it while being healthy?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastEditorUserId="5238" LastEditDate="2014-02-05T13:01:28.683" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T13:01:28.683" Title="Will drinking distilled water improve muscle definition?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15294" CreationDate="2014-02-04T19:48:18.113" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm often amazed at the misinformation that's out there.  If you're talking about definition in the sense of being able to see well defined muscle groups, then, that is a by-product of a proper diet and genetics.  And, if it were true, why would you want to risk &quot;undernourishment and dehydration&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T19:48:18.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15294" CreationDate="2014-02-04T20:47:54.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;distilled water&lt;/a&gt; is water that had its impurities removed by distilling.  Essentially boiling the water to produce water vapor, gathering the vapor and re-condensing it into a new vessel.  So let's &lt;strong&gt;start with health implications:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydration is all about water absorption in your body--drinking low salinity water can't make you dehydrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might be at risk of not replenishing electrolytes your body needs after vigorous exercise--but that risk existed before the water was distilled.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your primary source of nutrition should be from the food you eat--this includes vitamins and minerals in addition to the macronutrients your body needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lack of minerals in your water also comes with a lack of chlorine which is used in the purification process to kill bacteria.  Basically, it's a draw here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In short: distilled water presents no inherent risk assuming you already use multivitamins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, regarding the claim that it will improve muscle definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first barrier to seeing muscle definition is body fat.  With enough body fat (above 10% in men), you will never see muscle definition no matter how much water you drink.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/zaino15.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hydration&lt;/a&gt; is very important to fat loss and building muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.houseofbodybuilding.com/competitors_guide/carb_loading_chris_aceto.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intentional dehydration&lt;/a&gt; for contests is always a temporary thing and rehydration either happens after weigh ins (for power lifting, weightlifting, and strong man events) or after the contest (for bodybuilding events).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the interest of fairness, there are two opposing articles surrounding distilled water intake listed below.  One is written by a distiller manufacturer and so biased in that way, and the other is about as equally suspect in the way they present the information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.durastill.com/myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Distilled water myths&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mercola.com/article/water/distilled_water.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Distilled water dangers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that if you don't rely on your water for minerals, and you take care of your electrolyte needs outside the water consumption then it doesn't really matter.  Regarding the acidity claim in the second article, with few exceptions &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.okpure.com/article_005en.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;distilled water has a PH of 6.8 to 7&lt;/a&gt;--which is essentially neutral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T20:47:54.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-05T01:16:48.760" Score="1" ViewCount="1926" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a new father (7 months in), and sometimes struggling to pick up and carry my child (previously trained mostly for marathons, so I'm not blessed with copious upper body strength).  As of now, the child weighs 16 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I don't have a gym membership or any free weights lying around, but I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; have a convenient 16 pound weight in the form of my child (with the bonus that as she gets heavier, my workout weights will naturally adjust to demand higher load, rather than having to buy heavier dumbbells), will lifting her provide a good, baby-wrangling-specific workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many reps and sets would be recommended? What exercises in particular are suited to lifting a (generally) cooperative baby?  I'm not trying to bulk up, just have sufficient strength to be able to deal with the child on a day-to-day basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7483" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T01:11:26.403" Title="Lifting babies for strength" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15299" CreationDate="2014-02-05T03:55:44.757" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise to not use your child for weight resistance training.  Who will spot you?  How about just play with your kid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T03:55:44.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15275" CreationDate="2014-02-05T05:33:10.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about personal preference, there is no right or wrong answer here. If you want to wipe it off then wipe it off. A suggestion might be trying head bands to just keep the sweat out of your eyes which might keep you from wiping your face all together. Personally I will wipe the sweat of of my forehead if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T05:33:10.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2014-02-05T05:39:08.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't mix hot liquid with protein powder, from my experience it &quot;cooks&quot; and or becomes very very messy and separates. What I have found to be very tasty is mixing room temperature coffee with chocolate protein powder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T05:39:08.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15306" CreationDate="2014-02-05T06:53:43.457" Score="0" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the combination of Bulletproof coffee and green tea a good one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently fast and have green tea supplements as a morning supplement and maybe a cup or two of breakfast tea during the day, on workout days I use BCAA pre workout. I have read about the benefits of Bulletproof coffee pre workout but think it may be overdoing it on the caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently just recovered from a tonsillectomy with a two week recovery of no physical exertion and I have come back firing on all cylinders but have noticed I have lost strength on mostly my presses [BP and OHP]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The green tea is indeed used used for fat burning [taken in tablet form of a morning] whilst fasting and I have a couple of cups of breakfast tea leading up to breaking my fast&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/879/berin-loritsch&quot;&gt;Berin Loritsch&lt;/a&gt; for the great reply it looks like it may not affect my sleep with the amounts I'm taking but it's still a concern regarding recovery post w/o&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are any alternatives that I could use instead of Bulletproof Coffee I'm welcome to suggestions &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7755" LastEditorUserId="7755" LastEditDate="2014-02-05T21:20:55.047" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T21:20:55.047" Title="Bulletproof coffee and green tea" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2014-08-13T21:43:10.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15299" CreationDate="2014-02-05T08:06:02.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question might be more suited for the &lt;a href=&quot;https://parenting.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;parenting stack exchange&lt;/a&gt;, however there are a few things you can try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, holding and moving a baby (or any deadweight) relies less on raw strength and more on static holds of a load and leg and core strength. Also, this will be one of the more ridiculous things I've written, ever...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note : Always use slow controlled movements, never go to failure, &lt;em&gt;always have a smile on your face.&lt;/em&gt; Hold by the torso or under the arms.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Baby presses&lt;/strong&gt; - Perform a standard military press with your baby, at the peak of the movement, hold the baby at the top for 3-5 seconds and wiggle the baby and make silly faces, return baby to your face, kiss the baby. Thats one rep. Perform in sets of 5-8, until your child gets bored or your arms get tired. Alternatively, lay on the floor and do floor presses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Baby push presses&lt;/strong&gt; - In a safe area. Standing up, hold the baby at chest level, bend slightly at the knees, hold this position while count down the rocketship from 10 to 1, as you stand-up fire your hips (while saying blast-off) and launch the baby 2-3 inches above your hands. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toddler kettlebell swings&lt;/strong&gt; - As the child gets older, the push press will become harder, and will morph into a full on kettlebell swing. I did this with my 4 year old niece recently for a half hour and it killed my glutes. Again, countdowns and blast offs are necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't a good book on babies for fitness, but in a pinch there is a highly reviewed book on Amazon that covers using &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0898159407&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats for fitness&lt;/a&gt;. Not identical, but the principle is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:41:15.947" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T23:04:28.323" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15304" CreationDate="2014-02-05T13:59:16.397" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproof-and-your-morning-too/&quot;&gt;Bulletproof coffee&lt;/a&gt; has an appreciable amount of fat from the butter or ghee, so make sure you count the macros from this cup of coffee for your daily food.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/recipe/2603984/2&quot;&gt;23g of fat&lt;/a&gt; per oz of ghee (2 tbsp).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Tea+%28Camellia+Sinensis%29/&quot;&gt;Green Tea&lt;/a&gt;, and more specifically the &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Green+Tea+Catechins/&quot;&gt;catechins&lt;/a&gt;, have a minor effect on fat burning and oxidation.  While there are numerous benefits, the affects are all minor with a range of studies backing up that claim (available in the links).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caffeine can be good when used appropriately&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nate Winkler had a good article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/01/24/pr-smashing-nutrition/&quot;&gt;PR Smashing Nutrition&lt;/a&gt; which covered the use of caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight instinct)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Making use of the stimulant when you are training is good, however when you are not it can be bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine abuse reduces your sensitivity to the caffeine.  This means higher doses are required for the same effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on that article, I cut my caffeine down to one 16 oz of coffee per day.  I find that I'm plenty stimulated by that one cup now, where before I would need several cups throughout the day.  When I get within a month competition I'll drop even that amount of coffee and not have any until the day of competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The combination of Bulletproof Coffee and Green Tea&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any stats on how much caffeine was in the Bulletproof Upgraded coffee, but I did find some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/caffeine/art-20049372&quot;&gt;general stats on coffee and tea&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8oz drip coffee has 90-200mg caffeine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8oz green tea has 24-40mg caffeine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Green tea does have caffeine, but not so much as to be particularly worrisome.  However coffee does have a lot of caffeine.  If we use the 16oz threshold from my personal experience, we'd be looking at 180-400mg caffeine daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The equivalent mix would be 3-4 cups of green tea and one cup of bulletproof coffee.  I would save the coffee as a pre-workout, and use the green tea throughout the day as you see fit.  The important thing is that you don't overdo it, and scale back when you need to.  I'm in excess of 250 lbs at the moment, so you may have to scale the total caffeine intake to account for differences in body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T13:59:16.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15309" CreationDate="2014-02-05T18:36:16.383" Score="5" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a house call personal trainer. I go to my clients' homes and train them there. I bring along the equipment which consists of a foam roller, a mat, valslides and resistance bands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I would have my clients use the bands to perform overhead presses to work the shoulders. The problem is that they would always complain about the buckle or clip is irritating them on their backs and upper arms. This is a valid complaint. I also noticed that the bands do not make a good substitute for free weights for this particular exercise. I have tried it myself and it felt all wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead I decided to work their shoulders by doing side and front raises. I figured that since I have them doing rows and pull downs which work their rear delts, plus I have them doing push ups which work their front delts, I can have them do side raises to work the sides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently stumbled upon an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnesseducationseminars.com/front-and-lateral-raises-good-exercises&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; that stated that these exercises cause more harm than good. I am at a loss really, and not really sure how to proceed with training the shoulders of my clients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would really go a long way! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T01:08:34.717" Title="What is an effective and safe way to train shoulders out of the gym?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-05T19:09:49.603" Score="5" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does lifting to failure mean when you can't do a set with good form, or you can't lift at all?&#xA;Also, what does &quot;good form&quot; mean? Let's say for bench press - if may arms shake and move sideways, but it gets up, does that &quot;count&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7517" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T21:11:33.340" Title="Lifting to failure - good form?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15307" CreationDate="2014-02-05T19:24:10.117" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the most versatile shoulder exercise is the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWHandstandPressBench.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;handstand push-up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  (HSPU) or a variation of it.  The benefit of this movement is that no equipment is required.  I understand that as a personal trainer, your clientele may not have the ability to perform this exercise, so there are quite a few options for scaling based on the fitness level of the trainee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likely the most accessible variation of the HSPU is a &lt;strong&gt;pike push-up with knees on a box&lt;/strong&gt; (or couch, chair, etc): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UxaTD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ubxl2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;**Note that this exercise can be modified to either decrease or increase the range of motion (see subsequent exercises for ideas)*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another variation that may be a bit more difficult is the &lt;strong&gt;pike push-up&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fFi85.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SNoaA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;handstand hold&lt;/strong&gt; is another option.  In this exercise, the athlete kicks up onto a wall and holds the handstand for time, for a number of sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zrCrk.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there are a number of ways to scale the HSPU itself, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Partial range HSPUs&lt;/strong&gt;, where a block or pad is placed under the head:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aA4D0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defecit HSPUs&lt;/strong&gt;, where the range of motion is greater:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bfSe1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kipping HSPU&lt;/strong&gt;, where the hips and legs are involved in order to involve momentum with the movement, which propels the athlete upward:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SSdYt.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T19:24:10.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15316" CreationDate="2014-02-05T19:56:26.873" Score="9" ViewCount="1453" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you're of an average weight, not really fat, just skinny and want to put on pounds. People who want to add muscle but are not yet serious bodybuilders(if that's even their goal)are advised to consume 1 gram per lb of body weight to bulk. Bodybuilders are typically advised 1.5-2g/lb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, even overweight people who are trying to lose fat weight are also told the same thing:1g/lb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one thing that always intrigues me when I see it(StrongLifts report comes to mind)is when someone claims that consuming excess protein isn't necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One common argument that comes from that stance is that people way back in the olden days(think 1100-1800s) didn't need 1g/lb of protein to put on mass or to get cut. Hell, who even knows if they knew anything about cutting or bulking. Most men were just naturally lean, probably from daily physical labor that was just apart of living back then, and probably due to a lot of natural and unprocessed foods(well, this could still be another question of credibility but it's not the purpose of this post).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then the assertion is followed up with some drivel about how the ratios are just propagated through things like marketing and broscience to increase the volume of sales of whey and other protein powders. The skeptic in me wants to be like &quot;Yeah, that does make sense actually, these industries are huge cash cows, etc., etc.&quot;, but, I'd rather have an informed opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering, if you want to add on lean weight or lose fat weight is there really any credible research or studies showing that consuming 1gb of protein per pound of body weight has any significant impact on trying to reach your goals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And how much protein should an individual who is resistance training for fat loss consume per lb of body weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="7705" LastEditDate="2014-02-05T20:06:03.507" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T21:27:36.050" Title="What credibility or scientific backing does 1g protein per 1lb of body weight have for its applications?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15308" CreationDate="2014-02-05T20:08:48.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Failure generally means being unable to lift the weight at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for good form, each exercise has a safe way to be performed. If you are performing an exercise and you achieve the end result of completing the lift, but in doing so put yourself in harms way, you have broken form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example of this is the bicep curl. The goal is to get the weight up by flexing the elbow. In many cases when the lifter is tired, or lifting a weight that is simply too heavy, he may bend back in an attempt to aide his biceps in lifting the weight. This hyper-extension of the back can lead to a severe back injury, so ultimately that is a case of broken form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general rule of thumb: If the exercise is hurting you in areas that are not the designated area you are breaking from. Muscle aches are ok, but joint pain is always a red flag. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T20:08:48.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15299" CreationDate="2014-02-05T20:37:05.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working out using a baby isn't going to get you very strong or in condition or flexible. Human babies don't grow fast enough to be a challenging resistance tool. Also they aren't equipped with good handles. It's a bummer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I vote for age-appropriate pre-walking/crawling activities, wrestling, and ball games instead. Also, go running with the kid in a jogging stroller. Take long walks with the kid attached, then while they're napping do some kettlebell swings or back squats in the home gym you bought for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T20:37:05.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15308" CreationDate="2014-02-05T21:01:49.347" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting to failure means different things to different people at different times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilders and scientists use the phrase to mean &quot;momentary muscle failure&quot;, that is, you have to actually try and fail, because that's what's maximally useful for stimulating growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Powerlifters and other physical culturists often use &quot;to failure&quot; to mean &quot;as many as you can with good form&quot; or &quot;as many as you can, but leave one 'in the tank'&quot;. This is sometimes rephrased as &quot;failure minus one&quot;, because it isn't true failure. When I make a lifting program and tell myself, &quot;three sets of pull-ups to failure&quot;, this is what I mean. In each set I stop when the next one would be iffy, or would require form breakdown. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good form means lots of things too. If you're shaking all over the place, that's not good form, but it's also not necessarily problematic form. Sometimes &quot;good form&quot; means shaking is OK, and only excludes breaches of form that affect safety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to decide yourself what you mean with these phrases. If someone else is using them with you, you have to guess or ask which version they mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T21:01:49.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15307" CreationDate="2014-02-05T21:06:55.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do you want to &quot;train shoulders&quot;? Are your clients bodybuilding? If they're doing movements that involve the shoulders, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups (with hands on a chair or stool if regular push-ups are too hard)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups (with assistance if necessary),&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...then why the need to hit yet another deltoid? Unless they're bodybuilding clients (in which case I question their use of tools), I would find it unnecessary and an odd thing to make a priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also buy a kettlebell or dumbbell to take with you. Even just one 25 or 35 pound KB is sufficient for just about all the resistance you'd need for a beginner to work their upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T21:06:55.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15308" CreationDate="2014-02-05T21:11:33.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good form is a phrase most commonly used to describe the optimal mechanical functions of the body to perform a lift by maximizing muscular efficiency targeted by a particular exercise and minimizing if not eliminating the potential for injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using your bench press for example, which primarily hits the outer chest first and the triceps secondarily, would be completely disastrous for example if your elbows were too flared out, taking much of your chest fibers out of the lift and bringing in your shoulders, creating the potential for severe injury. That is just one aspect of maintaining good form on a bench though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T21:11:33.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15310" CreationDate="2014-02-05T21:27:36.050" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you've kind of asked the million dollar question, as there haven't been any really definitive studies (That I am aware of) specifying exactly how much protein is needed for training, and especially when related to fat loss, as that can be highly individual specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/64/1/187.short&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; examined nitrogen balance and lean body mass preservation related to protein intake, and found that when not training, bodybuilders needed little more than sedentary to maintain mass, while protein needs did increase during training, and endurance athletes needed more than bodybuilders, being 1.12 x sedentary control levels for bodybuilders, and 1.67 x sedentary control for endurance training. (They do not note sedentary levels in the summary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=182114&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;An article in JAMA&lt;/a&gt; talks about the protein needs from the RDA perspective, which does not include training needs, concluded .8g per kilogram for adults older than 18. This somewhat fails, however, in that it doesn't consider females vs. males, and elderly and/or middle aged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do note, however, that there is no upper limit for protein intake (i.e. more won't necessarily hurt you), so if you take their .8g/kg rate, and multiply that by the 1.12, you come out just shy of .9g/kg. So 1g/kg should easily put you in the ballpark, and you could consume a little more without repercussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/h06-035&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; (Sorry, but it is behind a paywall) discusses metabolic needs of athletes, and suggests that a diet that is at 30-35% of calories from protein (compared to the general recommendation of 15%) should be sufficient. (It also suggests greater fat loss and a couple of other effects, but again, many of these are not yet proven.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some evidence to suggest that 1.0g/kg is a good target, and more than that probably won't hurt in any way, with addition of endurance exercise or very intense activity increasing the need for protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T21:27:36.050" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15318" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-05T22:29:04.727" Score="4" ViewCount="546" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a long hiatus, I've decided it's time to get my fat ass back in shape.  To this end, I'm getting up a couple hours early every morning and doing a some Cardio, weights four times a week, and a strenuous (for me) hike once a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It breaks out like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M - Lower Body + A Little Cardio &lt;br&gt;&#xA;T - Upper Body + A Little Cardio  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;W - Hike (Big Cardio and Leg Workout.)  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;H - Upper Body + A Little Cardio   &lt;br&gt;&#xA;F - Lower Body + A Little Cardio  &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing this for just over two weeks now, and it's feeling good so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that it's Wednesday, so I should be at the gym tomorrow doing upper, and everything is still pretty sore.  The same thing happened last week, so I just went in and did some light reps, and tried to find muscles to work that weren't sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping my soreness will taper off a bit as my body gets back in the habit, so this may not be an ongoing issue.  For now though, I don't want to skip any morning gym visits, because I'm trying to keep up the schedule daily for 3 months to turn it back into a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what do you do when everything is sore?  I don't want to work things that are still sore, I don't know if I will really be able to find anything that's not sore, I don't want to skip my session, and I don't want to go in and just stand around looking at the weights =o)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7762" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T23:25:13.940" Title="Good exercise for when all your muscles are sore?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15318" CreationDate="2014-02-05T23:25:23.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think, for first few month you can't do anything about pain until your body adapt to this level of exercise. If you have too much pain, the ibuprofen will help a lot. &#xA;Try to use recovery drinks like Hummer Nutrition Recoverite after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, please drink more water with electrolytes. Many untrained people having lover level of the electrolytes in their bodies. Low level of the electrolytes can cause muscle pain and cramps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastEditorUserId="7420" LastEditDate="2014-02-06T20:53:59.027" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T20:53:59.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15318" CreationDate="2014-02-06T01:41:06.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are always some muscles that won't be sore due to the sheer number of muscles in your body. Just think about what muscles didnt you work and work on those. Now if you are truly sore everywhere doing something like biking, treadmill, or other cardio is really good to get blood flowing into those muscles to help with your recovery on the days where you are too sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T01:41:06.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-06T04:09:18.893" Score="1" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Facts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need carbs (preferebaly fast absorbing type) after a full on gym session to fuel the muscle and stop the body from losing muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's always recomended not to take carbs before sleep. (I am gonna assume to maximise the  fat-loss process)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need at least 8hrs, and recomneded up to 10 hours (for pro bodybuilders with intense training) of good sleep to recover and balance out the hormones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you're a person who goes to gym after finishing from work and possibly finishing the gym session by 9 or even later and need to be in bed by 10:30 to be able to have the minimum amount of recomended sleep, this feeding time can be extrememly complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I think lots of people fall into this catagory I felt the need to verify following facts in more details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long of the rest period you need to give for the food with high carbs content to digest?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long before sleep you should consider not taking foods with high carbs content?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the instance of finishing the workout and being required to go to bed straight away, what to do not to deprive the body over-night (from carbs point of view. I don't want to touch on the Casein protein topic) and stop the muscle loss?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T09:44:54.377" Title="No carbs before sleep. But how long before?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2014-02-06T09:44:54.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first 2 so called 'facts' you've listed I think you may find that with a little more research are not actually FACT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't believe it matters when you eat. If 30 minutes before you go to bed is when you eat your last meal, then that's exactly when you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole 'no carbs before bed' thing is a bit of a myth based on everything I've read. I'm actually yet to come across an article backed by some kind of science that proves that carbs before bed are actually bad for you or will have adverse/negative affects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So long as you don't consume more than daily intake of carbs / calories in total (or the rest of your macros for that matter) whether you eat them all in the morning, all at night, or divide them up evenly throughout the day makes no difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally drink 300-350ml of full-fat milk, a scoop of protein powder, huge handful of blueberries, cocoa, cinnamon and spirulina about 20-30 minutes before bed (sometimes I will throw in a banana also). I've been doing this for a &quot;long&quot; time and wouldn't change it for the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, try it. Have your last meal as soon as you can after your workout - and then go to bed. I think you'll find it makes no difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T09:44:54.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15328" CreationDate="2014-02-06T13:47:56.453" Score="5" ViewCount="14535" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 23 and god only knows how this could've happened. It could either be from the other day when I got trigger happy and evacuated my bowels quickly(I wasn't bearing down hard I just push it all out relatively quickly and with ease)or from squatting and deadlifting. I've been doing stronglifts 5x5 for a few months and had some trouble making gains until I really started to push myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that the extra exertion I've been putting into my lifts has played a role in the formation of this. But should I continue to lift tomorrow? I want to say that I put a lot of pressure in my ass as I exert the force on the squat, because everyone always says to squeeze your glutes. Could that have been the cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My lifting stats really aren't even that high:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OHP: 100&#xA;Squat: 225&#xA;DL: 225&#xA;BP: 180&#xA;Rows: 100&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T19:32:48.270" Title="Just found a hemorrhoid. Should I lift this friday?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-06T15:14:20.717" Score="-2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that tennis is not a good sport to lose weight, that someone who plays tennis just loses sugar in the blood. Is it maybe because the style of this sport, that we don't need endurance to play it? For instance, in running we need to have a kind of a constant speed, in tennis we don't have a balanced physical exertion because most of the time we sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7770" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-02-06T18:32:36.147" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T22:36:19.013" Title="Tennis is good to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15329" CreationDate="2014-02-06T15:32:29.130" Score="0" ViewCount="814" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how can I achieve defined muscles. I am not really after gaining tons of muscles, instead I'd like to be somehow &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sgfitness.com/members/1388195/uploaded/6_pack_abs.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;this guy&quot;&gt;like this guy&lt;/a&gt;, having my muscles defined. Can you please tell me a good workout plan for achieving this? Can this be achieved with compound movements? I heard that a good strategy would be to perform exercises with lighter weights than usual, but in many reps? Should I first build mass and then define it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym for around 2 months now. Since starting, I focused on compound exercises (deadlifts, squats etc), as I've read they are better for your health and also for building bigger mass. I heard they are also good for starters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 1.79m tall (5.87ft) and weigh 73kg (161p), so you can probably imagine I'm not fat but a bit skinny actually (although I do have a bit of belly fat :D)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T17:22:38.853" Title="The best workout for defining muscles" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-02-08T02:43:42.003" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15325" CreationDate="2014-02-06T16:49:15.733" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1:&lt;/strong&gt; consult a doctor to determine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's really &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/hemorrhoids-topic-overview&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;hemorrhoids&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The severity if it is&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And the protocol to remedy it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the hemorrhoid was caused by lifting, then know it won't get any better if you continue lifting the way you do.  You can work through minor hemorrhoids, but refine your technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2:&lt;/strong&gt; fix your form&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that you need to keep a rigid body to perform the lifts well.  However, you may be misunderstanding the intent behind the cues you hear or read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Squeeze the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluteus_maximus_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Glutes&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cue is not talking about squeezing the cheeks together.  It is referring to engaging the gluteal muscles for the purpose of standing back up with a loaded bar.  It's more about hip extension than it is sphincter control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a better cue for you would be to &quot;get tight&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase overall tightness&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to master is how to breath for lifting.  A proper breath will help brace your body better and complete the lift without endangering yourself.  The following steps are applicable to squat and bench press, with only slight modifications needed for deadlift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unrack the bar (not necessary on deadlifts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inhale into your spine.  You should have equal pressure all the way around your core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold that breath until exertion is over.  For the squat and bench, that's down and up.  For deadlift that's until you are in the upright position or when the bar is back on the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of that breath is to provide core stability.  It not only helps you lift more weight, it also helps the rest of your musculature do what it is supposed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting tight also affects your posture.  The upper back is braced and ready for the pull, squat, or press.  Same with the abs, legs, hip muscles, etc.  The more rigid you can make your body in a good posture, the more you'll be able to lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T16:49:15.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15327" CreationDate="2014-02-06T17:22:38.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's so many correct answers to your question.  You can get closer to that guy's physique, but understand that it's going to look a bit different on your body.  There are two major components to building a great physique, and you can't skip either one: nutrition and training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition is composed of total calories, macro nutrients and micro nutrients in the correct balance to help you cut fat and increase muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a target body fat percentage of 8-12% to achieve the definition of the model you linked to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You also need to increase your muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting to 8-12% body fat is all about nutrition.  You need to eat enough protein and carbs to support the testosterone levels needed and at least preserve muscle mass while cutting.  You can use the chart below to estimate where you are in your journey.  The way you describe yourself leads me to believe that you are somewhere around 20% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MEa31.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises are a great way to build mass.  You will do better starting with someone else's program before you start tailoring things to your individual needs.  You can start with this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beginner-to-advanced-bodybuilder-in-12-weeks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;beginner program&lt;/a&gt;.  It should give you some structure and help you grow as a lifter.  I would start by not deviating from it, but after you are done with the prescribed 12 weeks you can begin tailoring your work around what you perceive are problem areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend finding a good support group that can help you troubleshoot what might not be working as well as you like.  The last bit of advice I have for you is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as &quot;best&quot; or &quot;optimal&quot; in fitness.  There is only &quot;better&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's so easy to get stuck on trying to find the best way or the most optimal way to cut fat, build muscle, etc.  Every one of us responds differently to the same stimulus.  All that means is that what works better for one person might not work better for you.  Even when you find something that works, you may discover a better way later on.  At the end of the day, you need to be working towards a better you, however you define it.  Real world transformations take months to years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T17:22:38.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14811" CreationDate="2014-02-06T17:49:27.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;hill&quot; does tend to be vague simply because it depends on nature to create those hills, usually.  Like running outside, they will be inconsistent from one hill to the next.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.racewithpurpose.org/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.15&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, a hill can be mimicked on a treadmill at between 4-7%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7772" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T17:49:27.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10337" CreationDate="2014-02-06T18:38:36.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had L5-S1 disc protrusion at 11 y.o. My doctors told me I can do only the swimming without risk of the secondary injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7420" LastEditorUserId="7420" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T01:50:36.760" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T01:50:36.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14774" CreationDate="2014-02-06T18:48:37.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With an indoor rower, it's going to be much the same as cycling on a trainer or swimming. They will all be low impact, so presuming that you have a history of endurance training, you shouldn't have a problem adding in the 45 minute workouts 6-7 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two things that really affect recovery are impact and intensity. Since you are on an indoor rower, impact is negligible, so you would just need to watch intensity. I would structure it much the same as an endurance running program, to where the majority of your time on the trainer is spent at stead state to increase your endurance, and 2-3 times a week throw in some more up tempo, higher intensity rowing for brief periods during the workout. (Such as 45 mins, 15 minutes build from easy to moderate pace, 5-8 minutes of :30 sprint, :30 recovery, 20 minutes zone 3 (on the lighter side of moderate), 5 minutes cooldown.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with this, nutrition and getting your muscles refueled will be important, so be sure to keep a healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are expected to do weights as well, I would suggest (if possible) that on the days you do both workouts, you split them apart. I would also try to not do a really high intensity workout either same day or day after weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T18:48:37.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14743" CreationDate="2014-02-06T18:51:51.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend looking at safe swimming stretches, such as the ones &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usmsswimmer.com/201001/swimmer_stretching.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;detailed here&lt;/a&gt;. I would stay away from many of the older swimming stretches and the partner assisted arm stretches, as they have been shown to increase looseness in the shoulder and are associated with a higher incidence of injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T18:51:51.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15287" CreationDate="2014-02-06T20:40:23.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to know is that there are as many workout routines and philosophies as there are people working out, so everybody's going to have a different opinion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing you need to know is that getting heavy thighs and triceps should be very low on your list of concerns. It's just not likely, and if it ever happens then you've got a better problem to deal with than being fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really serious about this, then I'm not really going to be able to cover everything you need to know in this answer, but I would recommend that you grab the following book to learn the fundamentals of weight training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, you're not going to reach your goal without a combination of exercise and diet. However,  what I want to stress is please do not go on a crazy crash diet. The crazier and more difficult your diet, the higher the likelihood that you're going to fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slow. Take a month and pick one of the most unhealthy things that you eat on a regular basis and then stop eating it. Focus on sweets (esp soft drinks or fruit juice) and really high calorie things. That's it... Don't change anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, if you're successful in the next few months pick a few more things and do those.  For everything else, don't stress too much. Just make little deals with yourself. If you really want the bacon cheeseburger, then compromise on just a regular burger.  Or if you have a really unhealthy lunch, try to eat something healthy for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing people don't realize is that dieting is really permanent behavior change. If you stop drinking soft drinks, then after six months or a year you'll stop wanting soft drinks, and after more than a year you'll probably think they taste gross.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just don't overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, on to the strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll read about this in the book, but you'll probably want to target your workouts to 12 rep sets for a good combination of muscle growth and endurance. You do want muscle growth, because that's what burns calories. After six months or so, I would bump up the reps to 15 or maybe a tad more to focus more on endurance than muscle growth.  At that point you could also look at circuit training to get more cardio involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the book there is a very simple workout routine. Just keep it simple. Focus on big exercises and not isolations. Along the same vein, it's a myth that you can isolate problem areas (like fat thighs) with thigh specific exercises. The fat's going to come off where it wants to, and the large whole body exercises are going to be more effective at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make up your mind that you're going to be in it for the long haul. The first couple of months are going to be horrible. You will be tired, sore, and you will have less energy. All of this changes after about two or three months, and you'll start to have more energy and you will feel stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, every week try to increase your weight by a small amount on your exercises. This is where the motivation comes in. When you come back in two months and you're now lifting 30% more than you did when you started, that's motivating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always warm up with a mile or so on the cardio machine or elliptical or you'll hurt yourself&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pay lots of attention to the proper way to do exercises or you'll end up with tendinitis because of disproportionate joint loading and other things. You do not want this.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5605" LastEditorUserId="5605" LastEditDate="2014-02-06T23:05:21.917" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T23:05:21.917" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15337" CreationDate="2014-02-06T21:06:40.427" Score="0" ViewCount="1022" Body="&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, when I stand up after laying flat on a bed or couch I will take a few steps and then start to have tunnel/ darkened vision, a slight headache, and sometimes lose some balance, once falling down and only keeping from hitting the ground by instinct, and then I forgot how I had left my bed for a few seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I am not to worried about this, I would like to know what might be causing this, so I can try to avoid a more serious accident. Could dehydration cause this? I have some friends who report similar experiences but others deny having them. Are some people more inclined to dizziness from this? I don't think it is from exertion or anything, as I am resonably get and recently completed a weeklong backpacking trip, although it is not something I usually do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7774" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T21:30:39.543" Title="Standing up suddenly causes tunnel vision?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;dehydration&gt;&lt;balance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-02-07T03:59:41.513" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15335" CreationDate="2014-02-06T21:30:39.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the human body goes from laying prone to standing up there is a rapid, and brief, change in blood pressure. This is the likely cause. Some people are more susceptible than others, and it's called orthostatic hypotension, or sometimes, &quot;vertigo.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3029466/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“He's Dizzy when he Stands Up.” An Introduction to Initial orthostatic Hypotension&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/orthostatic-hypotension/basics/definition/con-20031255&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Orthostatic hypotension&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T21:30:39.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15326" CreationDate="2014-02-06T22:36:19.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Combined with a healthy diet, any physical activity can help with weight loss.&lt;/strong&gt; However the key is to ensure your diet is in order first. Eating whole foods, minimising sugar and refined carbohydrates and a calroie deficit are all necessary for good health. There are plenty of questions on this site that cover dietary changes for weight loss that are worth reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of reasons to workout, however exercise without a change in diet rarely leads directly to weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, tennis has a lot of other good aspects. It requires flexibility, hand eye coordination and the ability to change direction. It emphasises quick explosive bursts of energy, not unlike High Intensity Interval Trainning. But your assertion that it doesn't require endurance is not true. Professional level tennis matches can last for hours, and even at the amateur level, even though you have periods where you are standing still your body will still be in a heightened state both attempting to recover from the last burst and getting ready for the next one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T22:36:19.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15341" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15381" CreationDate="2014-02-07T10:15:15.787" Score="2" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have spent so many years at the computer.  I work out and run so I am toned.  Weights once a week (deadlift, squats, just started shrugs).  I run 1-3 times a week, 3 miles.  Three times a week I do either planks or pull-ups (hand forward), three times a week I do glute bridges (for anterior pelvic tilt) and push ups.  On the days I work out I do conditioning: various stretches, psoas with a tennis ball, cobra, stretching hip flexors, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite all this, I still have a 'geek body'.  My anterior pelvic tilt, resulting in its pushing my butt and stomach out, as well as snapping in my hip flexors when I do sit ups for flutter kicks, isn't going away.  My shoulders seem to go forward too much, and if I roll my shoulders back to loosen them up, they click a lot.  My scapula go out a bit too much, with the right one going out much further, though that's probably due to a very mild scoliosis on that side.  My elbows click.  The backs of my hands face forward.  My bicep femoris muscles in the legs are very tight, and begin to hurt if I walk all day; I try to massage them with 'the stick' a couple of times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do?  The above exercises haven't done much for me.  Even in the old days, when people were so active and healthy, they didn't move 16 hours a day.  Why isn't my frequent breaks througout the day, workout schedule 3 times a week, and getting out and about a couple of times a day fixing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I squat I go to around parallel.  My heels stay on the ground.  I squat between 180 and 200 lbs.  I squat normally once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7781" LastEditorUserId="10306" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T13:48:35.050" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T13:48:35.050" Title="How can I fix my 'computer body'?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15221" CreationDate="2014-02-07T17:34:26.217" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barring any unknown medical issues, it's possible that you're simply exerting beyond your heart's ability to keep up, so to speak.  The fact that you mention that this occurs when you push yourself.  At rest, your heart pumps out as much blood as it pumps in.  Blood from the body comes into the heart via the right side (atrium to ventricle) which is then pumped to the lungs for reoxygenation.  That reoxygenated blood then goes back to the heart (the left side) to be sent to the rest of the body (and then that spent blood goes back to the heart via the right, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the left side isn't efficiently able to keep up with the demands of your body, fluid starts collecting in minute traces in your lungs, sort of as a backlog.  And since you're breathing, you're catching the scent and a small amount of the taste (which is tied to smell anyway) of the hemoglobins in your blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you rest, your heart begins to catch back up to the body's slowly decreasing demand and the smell likely goes away at that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersgoal.com/why-do-i-have-a-metallic-taste-in-my-mouth-during-strenuous-exercise/&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersgoal.com/why-do-i-have-a-metallic-taste-in-my-mouth-during-strenuous-exercise/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/322820-metallic-taste-in-the-mouth-during-exercise/&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/322820-metallic-taste-in-the-mouth-during-exercise/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7772" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T17:34:26.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-07T22:25:35.237" Score="3" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have done a lot of cycling and stopped a few months back, any exercise (such as squats, lunges etc.) just give me huge thighs and what I do not understand is, everyone else seems to look really nice and toned in that area, I feel like I just bulge out and makes me look way too curvy. I'm a normal size (size 6 upper, size 8 and 5ft 3). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7784" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T10:18:13.247" Title="How can I make my thighs and calfs slimmer?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15277" CreationDate="2014-02-08T15:02:59.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sarcopenia. A five syllable word, a fancy way of saying 'use em or lose em'. Fact is, people who do not exercise past the age of 35 can expect to lose 1% or so of their body muscle mass on an annual basis. Weightlifting and jogging are not options. Weight lifting and jogging as you age will keep you out of wheel chairs and assisted living centers until the moment comes when you meet your maker.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6215" LastActivityDate="2014-02-08T15:02:59.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15378" CreationDate="2014-02-09T00:29:20.333" Score="0" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the person who is doing a resistance training with a spot on diet with all the meals weighed and protein and Carb proportions balanced, can grains be the main source of complex carbs, if weight loss is the goal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always noticed the recommend complex carbs for people in this situation are brown rice, pumpkin, sweet potato and similar foods. However I've came across this paragraph in one my readings which says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;The current Paleo craze has demonized grains, which isn’t fair, or rooted in solid science. Still, most people get and stay leaner when they limit their intake. This is partly due to grains being readily available and easy to overeat. A wise move is to save your grains for just one meal a day, either at breakfast, in the hours before or after you lift weights, or as part of your last meal of the day.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean grains such as wholemeal bread can be problematic and hindering the weight loss process if used as the main carbohydrates source in the daily diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T23:14:50.943" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T23:14:50.943" Title="Wholegrains considered as slow digesting carbs?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-09T11:10:04.250" Score="2" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I worked out with 10lb dumbbells and now I feel that burning sensation in my arms. I have heard that this means it's time to get heavier weights. I do reps of 60 to feel the burn, and I believe this is a waste of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What weight should I use and how many repetitions and sets should I do? What does the burning mean, and how should I feel when I do the workout correctly with dumbbells of the correct weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7793" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2014-02-09T22:40:36.477" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T17:03:40.300" Title="Burning biceps productive?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15353" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-10T10:09:48.750" Score="-2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saturday I was on soccer training, during a shot on goal from left leg I felt slight unpleasant sensation in left knee (right side of the knee). And it's all, but three hours after the game dull pain in the same left knee began. Already two days have passed, but the pain still remains. The same dull,unpleasant and pulsating, but not very strong. I can bend knee ok and can walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7800" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T13:55:35.683" Title="Knee: dull pain after the game" Tags="&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-02-11T02:42:37.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15353" CreationDate="2014-02-10T13:55:35.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have it checked by a knee specialist.  Could be a meniscus tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T13:55:35.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14271" CreationDate="2014-02-10T14:04:25.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't discount outside interference.  I wear a Polar heart rate monitor and it sometimes has problems when someone with an electronic device comes close to it.  It's anecdotal evidence, but, when dealing with devices that are not hard wired, I think it's plausible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T14:04:25.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-10T14:17:36.493" Score="4" ViewCount="52350" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any real experience with using FitBit or any other monitor for weight lifting. I'm interested in tracking calories burned without guessing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T20:50:35.130" Title="Is FitBit useful for weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2014-02-18T02:14:15.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15362" CreationDate="2014-02-10T16:05:11.693" Score="0" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have grip issues... I know sounds interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I need to improve my ability to hold on to something longer than just a few minutes without hurting myself. I'm going to undertake a long obstacle course and I don't want to whip out a few miles in because I don't have sufficient strength or grip. I'm building my strength, I just need help on my grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2723" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T02:19:02.097" Title="How do I improve my grip?" Tags="&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15356" CreationDate="2014-02-10T18:19:53.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your specific task (calculating burned cals), no matter what fitness band you choose, it's still a calculation to figure out how many calories you've burnt.  With any calculation, there's a level of tolerance and you need to be able to accept the tolerance.  If you're just worried about the number of calories burned, you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/lookup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculate it yourself&lt;/a&gt; and be pretty close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, a fitness band is an awesome accessory to help you reach your goals.  But what are your expectations?  Your question is regarding weight lifting, but your inner question is about calculating calories burned.  For weight lifting, you'll find almost no benefit from the FitBit Flex or Force - but they may be helpful for overall fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the most important metrics (IMHO) are missing in a lot of them - such as temperature and heart rate.  Buying a band &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;later&lt;/em&gt; may mean that you're just going to buy one later as well as you'll want the features of the newer models.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't try to regurgitate the information in some REALLY good blog posts about the subject, so I'll link them here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/41556-best-fitness-trackers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LifeScience&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.technologyreview.com/news/521931/fitness-trackers-still-need-to-work-out-kinks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Technology Review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t3.com/features/best-fitness-tracker-best-fitness-band&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in my comment, I'm extremely excited and waiting for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/amiigo-fitness-bracelet-for-iphone-and-android&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amigo&lt;/a&gt; - probably to the point that I won't buy one until this comes out or one comes out with these features.&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Added 2/27/14&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to point to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2014/02/27/moov-fitness-band/5840797/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Moov&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://moov.cc/getmoov/04EBAD938C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COMPANY LINK HERE&lt;/a&gt;, Amigo, move over! :)  The Moov is awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastEditorUserId="7563" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T20:50:35.130" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T20:50:35.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15357" CreationDate="2014-02-10T19:02:27.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's just your grip strength (forearms giving out), you could always try to incorporate some forearm exercises into the end of your routine.  I always try to do some Farmer Walks (with heavyish dumbbells) and some bending the back wrist curls.  I sometimes try to reverse the motion of the curls and do it over a bench instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's your fingers (hands) giving out on you, you might want to invest in a gripmaster/grip exerciser.  They are typically used for guitar players, but I've had pretty good luck with them in the past.  They usually run about $10 at most.  Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7807" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T19:02:27.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15356" CreationDate="2014-02-10T20:02:13.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think critically about the activities you perform during weightlifting, and the &lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/917789-what-does-fitbit-flex-track-&quot;&gt;activities&lt;/a&gt; that the fitbit &lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/176113-does-the-fitbit-tracker-accurately-track-calories-from-cycling-&quot;&gt;tracks&lt;/a&gt;, you'll understand why.  Let's dig in a little deeper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fitbit tracks steps taken (i.e. pedometer)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It estimates calories burned probably by the cadence of those steps and the total number taken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/176105-what-else-can-i-track-on-my-fitbit-dashboard-&quot;&gt;track heart rate&lt;/a&gt;.  While you can enter that information in the tracker, fitbit does not sell any device that tracks it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are weightlifting, the following is true most of the time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are standing/sitting/laying down in one place as you lift the barbell, dumbbells or kettlebells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In some cases you are performing a static hold--which while it takes tremendous effort and burns more calories than at rest--will show up as 0 activity on the fitbit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When performing farmer's walks, suitcase carries, waiter's walks, fitbit will only record the steps taken--it cannot account for the extra effort required to hold the heavy implements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long story short, a pedometer is very ill suited for strength training.  You can get a better picture of energy expenditure and calories burned by using a heart rate monitor.  While this does have it's own challenges, particularly when the bar comes in contact with your chest, the information you get from the heart rate monitor is much more useful.  You do need it calibrated for your current level of fitness, but even with the rough ballpark estimates it will be much closer than a pedometer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote about &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/118-using-a-heart-rate-monitor/&quot;&gt;using a heart rate monitor&lt;/a&gt; back in 2011 for weight training.  While it is useful, I only break it out now when I have target heart rate ranges I'm aiming for during training.  For example, if I want to build my aerobic performance while weight training I will try to maintain a heart rate of 120-150 bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-02-10T20:11:31.920" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T20:11:31.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15357" CreationDate="2014-02-10T20:27:56.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's two main types of grip: pinch grip and crushing grip.  The exercises you use are different depending on what you need to develop.  It will also help to know what you need to carry and for how long.  That will determine if the problem is really technique related or strength related.  There's a decent article with &lt;a href=&quot;http://performancecenter.stack.com/article_detail.jsp?id=64538&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;7 grip exercises&lt;/a&gt; to get you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Developing Pinch Grip&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell pinches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plate pinches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rice grabs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Developing Crushing Grip&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts (I threw this in)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thick grip dumbbell holds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free hang holds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Farmer's walks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How you program your grip strength can really depend on the improvements you need.  In general, I would pick three of each of these exercises and do them once a week.  Try to beat time, or increase weight with the same time.  Again, it really depends on the load you have to carry and how long you have to carry it.  I'd taper off the grip training at least 2-3 weeks before your obstacle course.  You may do it 6 weeks out and work on carry technique for 3 weeks.  You want your forearms pretty rested and ready to go when you finally race.  Last thing is that you may reach a point where your grip seems to be getting weaker.  If that's the case, skip grip training one week and see how that goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T20:27:56.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-11T02:02:42.930" Score="3" ViewCount="950" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do squats on the smith machine, I start with my legs a few feet out in front of me and go down until I am in a sitting position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that some people go down until they are almost touching the ground.  Does this form work different muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7809" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T15:47:00.257" Title="Squats with the Smith Machine" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15351" CreationDate="2014-02-11T04:38:43.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The burn is actually a good thing and you should always strive for the burn. If you're not feeling the burn then you're either lifting too light or heavy. 60 reps might be not the best rep scheme IMO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best rep range for biceps is around 8-15 reps depending on your goal. 8 for mass building and the higher reps for definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="487" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T04:38:43.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-11T11:18:00.830" Score="5" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out with the goal of weight loss for about a month and a half now (after falling apart due to circumstances beyond my control for a couple of months) and specifically my first 5k for about 3 weeks, and I have about 2 months left before the race, so I'm looking at longer term preparation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I do some kind of structured exercise every day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), I run, currently on a treadmill due to the weather. When it's warmer and the weather isn't bad, I do tend to run outside. My runs are typically for ~30 minutes, with a ~5 minute cooldown period of light jogging transitioning into walking. In each running session (the 30 minute block), I always cover at least a 5k, more recently getting consistently into the 3.3-3.5 mile distance. My current comfortable pace for a 5k distance is about 9:50/mile, but I've gotten to 8:30/mile if I push myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days a week (Tuesday, Thursday), I use an elliptical on high resistance for 15 minutes and then do light weight lifting (biceps curls, chest press, triceps curls, lat pulldown, crunches, shoulder press) for 3 sets of 10 each, adjusting weight as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On weekends, I walk (on a treadmill, incline of 9-15 randomized for 30 seconds at a level) for 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, this has been working out really well for me. I've taken almost two minutes off my 5k time and lost something like 18lbs since mid-December. However, I'm wondering if I should change things up as I get closer to my 5k in order to focus on that particular goal and then switch back to this more generic workout after the race. Perhaps two months out is still too early to change, so my question is three-fold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I make changes my exercise to meet a short-term goal, especially when I have a routine that's working well for my long-term goals? Right now, that goal is a 5k. But I'm also thinking for other things as well (such as other 5ks or a potential future 10k a year from this summer).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I should change, when should I change? Should it be a change sooner or closer to the race day?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I should change, what should my routine look like in the weeks and days leading up to the 5k?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastEditorUserId="1867" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T15:01:50.233" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T13:36:48.590" Title="Should I change my workout as I get closer to a 5k (or any other short-term goal) when I have a routine that's helping me meet my long-term goals?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15364" CreationDate="2014-02-11T11:33:45.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It works on your hamstrings if you go deep (more than sitted position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually never go deeper than sitted because sometimes it hurts my knees...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T11:33:45.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15287" CreationDate="2014-02-11T12:05:09.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First : &quot;I don't to be like the girls who have big muscles and heavy thighs and big triceps&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will never happen unless you're 100% dedicated and wanted to be like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As has been said before, you'll need to exercise and eat right if you want results. Because I have my daily 4,000 calories at McDonald's I will never be able to get in shape and I will probably be getting fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't over-eat salad, please don't be this girl - &quot;I want to lose weight I eat healthy and balanced so I only eat salad.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The girl that you've linked a photo is probably never lifting weights, on maybe like 1kg biceps curl doing &quot;swinging bowling lifting&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_hiit_revolution_for_fat_burning_success&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There's an article who talks about HIIT training&lt;/a&gt; for fat burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be like this girl skip the following, because nutrition and HIIT training is enough to be like her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid to lift &quot;heavy&quot; weights (but still keeping good form) because you'll not gain 25 cm of biceps in 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you workout in a fitness center, you can ask for a workout plan and explain your wish. Otherwise, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=475aEW2KV_8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a workout with your bodyweight&lt;/a&gt; is enough! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you are not going to a gym, write a workout plan like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday : upper body&#xA;Tuesday : lower body&#xA;Wednesday : rest&#xA;Thursday : rest&#xA;Friday : full body&#xA;saturday : rest&#xA;sunday : rest&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And add some HIIT training after the workout or on a rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun ! =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T17:32:29.557" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T17:32:29.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15373" CreationDate="2014-02-11T12:31:02.320" Score="2" ViewCount="10049" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whilst playing any sort of indoor sports, a number of people have commented on how loudly I run, it's like I'm stomping around the hall and I'm especially noisy when trying to slow myself down - to quote someone yesterday I run a little bit like &quot;dogs run in cartoons&quot; :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is obviously something I really need to sort out, and I think is possibly a big contributing factor to my fairly severe Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for the sake of my knees, and for the sake of the eardrums of people I play sports with (as well as improving my overall game etc) can anyone please give me some basic advice on what I could be doing wrong please? I think I generally run quite flat-footed, but looking around I've found many people advising you should run almost on your tip toes, but just as many people saying to land on on the ball of your foot underneath your heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I do not do any sort of long, or even medium distance running - the only time I run is when playing sports (football/badminton)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7813" LastEditorUserId="7813" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T14:22:33.360" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T01:55:29.770" Title="I'm a very loud runner - how do I improve my running technique?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2014-02-11T13:28:20.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Conventionally, when training for a specific race, that's what your training is for: &lt;em&gt;that race&lt;/em&gt;.  Don't fall into the trap of changing things for the sake of change or assuming that what you're doing isn't giving you results fast enough for your liking.  For any distance, the steady, consistent, and measured approach is always best, whether it's a 5K or full marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note in Jeff Galloway's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/5k10kschedules/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training recommendation for 5Ks and 10Ks&lt;/a&gt;, the schedule is very consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are currently doing is working, so there is no real need to &quot;up your game,&quot; especially since you've never run a sanctioned race before.  From personal experience, race day is a different animal from training days -- the excitement of the event, the adrenaline of anticipation, and the camaraderie of being surrounded by fellow runners who &quot;get it,&quot; just as you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, that sense of accomplishment at having worked so hard to even be in the starting chute is quite a thrill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, training at speeds &lt;strong&gt;slower&lt;/strong&gt; than you hope to achieve at race day will help you avoid that single mistake that many runners -- even experienced ones -- make on race day: starting too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Galloway notes in his second point on the link I provided, start slow to conserve energy.  This applies to any distance, but the forward momentum and rush of the starting horn will make that difficult.  It'll be tempting to attempt to beat the runners ahead of you who you think you should beat, or to catch up to the ones who just passed you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pace and crowd will even out after the first mile and everyone will settle into a rhythm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there is an old adage to running that is applicable here: &quot;train to race, don't race to train.&quot;  In other words, use your training time to improve your overall performance.  Don't treat your workouts as races themselves.  That is a fast track to injury and burn-out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and most of all, &lt;strong&gt;have fun!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7772" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T13:28:20.730" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15371" CreationDate="2014-02-11T13:48:56.740" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a certain technique of foot strike that runners use for distance running, and that's known as midfoot striking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your issue, commonly known as runner's knee, seems to be likely from the biomechanical issue discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioworks.com.au/injuries-conditions-1/patellofemoral-kneecap-pain-syndrome&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.  In essence, if your footfalls are striking hard on the heel, then the entire shock of the impact is traveling directly up your shin to the first flexible part that can dissipate that energy: your knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodformrunning.com/learn-good-form-videos/166-forefoot-versus-midfoot-versus-heel-strike&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; explains the difference between three running styles.  Beginners tend to gravitate toward heel-striking, because that's what we're used to, from the time we're children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By striking at the midfoot instead, the shock is distributed more evenly and dissipated before it gets to your knee.  But posture alone won't always be the solution.  Sometimes, we do have to rely on proper equipment, and that means the right shoes for the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html&quot;&gt;Some advocate barefoot or minimal-shoe&lt;/a&gt; running because it more closely mimics our ancestral method of running.  I am personally not a barefoot/minimal runner for various reasons, so I wear a particular style of shoe that fits my running style.  This is just an illustration that running shoes and styles are individualized preferences, but that finding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/how-to-buy-running-shoes-tips-to-treat-your-feet-right&quot;&gt;the right shoes for your style&lt;/a&gt; can make a world of difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was running with the wrong shoes, I could barely get a mile and a half before one of my knees would start throbbing in excruciating pain.  I felt disheartened because I was training for my first half-marathon.  I visited a running store and got fitted for the proper shoes and miraculously, I was better.  My knees didn't hurt, and while I had to skip that half-marathon, I did manage to complete one that followed later in the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem was that I was wearing shoes that were too lightweight and also fitted exactly to my regular size, rather than a size and a half larger to allow for room for the toes to move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend running on your toes, but for indoor sports that require a lot of twists, turns, starts, and stops, making the primary point of impact the ball of your foot may provide more performance gains.  There will be more flexibility and quickness, less energy wasted in starting and stopping as with heel-strike styles, less wear and tear on your joints by allowing your feet to absorb the impact rather than your knees, and most definitely quieter!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the form recommendations in the links I provided focus more on distance running, the mechanics and theories can be translated fairly easily to your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7772" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T13:48:56.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2014-02-11T14:57:54.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your routine is fine for general weight loss and fitness, but I don't think (other than being able to complete the distance comfortably) that it is optimal for 5k training. I would recommend adding in a lot more running between now and then, being careful to not overdo the distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now you are running 3 days a week, although you don't detail how much you run on those three days. I would start by adding in two more days of running, even if it is 10 minutes each of those days. Get to the point where you are consistently running 5-6 days a week, again, even if it is only 10-15 minutes on a couple of those days. (A 15 minute run makes a great circuit warmup).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple things that will work in your favor. One is day in, day out consistency. The second is weight. Apocryphal lore is that you are 2-3 seconds faster per mile for every pound of weight you lose. My experience (with many years of running cross country and triathlons) is that I get about 3-4 seconds gain for every pound I lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the week or so before the race, I'd recommend light running, no more than 15ish minutes per session. You can add a few 30 second increased pace segments (Commonly called strides), but overall the week should just be a relaxer. The day of the race, get in 10 minutes or so of warmup as near to the start as you can (But don't miss the start, I've done that a couple times and it sucks). Ignore the field and just run your own pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are done with the race, then you can reassess your training regimen and set some new goals for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T16:14:18.240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T16:14:18.240" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15364" CreationDate="2014-02-11T14:59:53.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two articles here about squat depth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/should-i-squat-deep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://greatist.com/fitness/should-i-squat-deep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journal.crossfit.com/2006/09/going-deep-by-mark-rippetoe-se.tpl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://journal.crossfit.com/2006/09/going-deep-by-mark-rippetoe-se.tpl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say the 'jury is back' on squat depth and the results show the deeper you go the better it is for you, given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you have good squat form (practice a lot)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you don't go to heavy to fast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to feel the difference is squat down 1/4 way - and feel the pressure in your knees.  Squat butt-to-ground and the pressure is on your legs and butt.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0OswR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;squat depth&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T14:59:53.293" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15364" CreationDate="2014-02-11T15:47:00.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would completely advise against going further than 90 degrees as this will put extreme strain on the knees and although you may not feel it at the time, over time you will slowly wear down the joints which will lead to issues in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evidence wise - well i think if you search on the internet you will find arguments for both sides - some saying it is a myth and others swearing by it wearing the joints down...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so really the best answer is your won opinion of how it feels for you. The gain for going further than 90degrees is little and if you wanted to push your hamstrings or other muscle groups there are plenty of alternative exercises available to achieve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7815" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T15:47:00.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15350" CreationDate="2014-02-11T16:20:12.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to determine if a carb source is going to be slow digesting or not is to look at the fiber content.  Not all whole grains are particularly high in fiber.  When looking at the list of foods you find recommended over and over again, most are relatively high fiber foods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brown rice: 3.5g / cup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sweet potato: 4g / cup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pumpkin: 3g / cup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oatmeal: 4g / cup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find other grains or breads that have relatively high fiber content, and that's what slows down the digestion as well as provide other benefits to the body.  Make sure to examine the labels.  You might see claims like 13g of whole grains per slice of bread--which tells you nothing.  The same label has barely 2g of dietary fiber per slice.  Another loaf may have as much as 5g of fiber per slice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T16:20:12.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15345" CreationDate="2014-02-11T16:47:00.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a coworker who is a cyclist, and she complains about fitting in normal jeans because of muscle volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In such a case, there's not much you can do but stop cycling so much, and switch to other forms of exercise like running.  There will be some atrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your thighs are fat, then you just have to burn the fat either through diet or exercise. This issue comes up quite a bit, but I highly doubt you could gain so much muscle that your thighs end up being bigger than they were when they were &quot;fat&quot;. If you end up doing weight training, then keep your reps above 12 per set to avoid muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7816" LastEditorUserId="5605" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T22:30:09.717" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T22:30:09.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15351" CreationDate="2014-02-11T18:57:31.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of body builders uses an excelent technique to build muscles, i use that too and got great results. So, you apply the first rule of 6-12 Reps. When you get to between 8 and 10 rep, you should be nearly falling on the lifting, yeah! Thats a &lt;strong&gt;FAILURE&lt;/strong&gt;, you have to reach that &lt;strong&gt;failure&lt;/strong&gt;, because you exhaust your fibers, but no all of them!, so you go 2-4 reps after the failure, doesnt matter if you cant do the whole motion , if you got the half of it, you count it! So, go to the failure and then you count 4 more reps after the failure! And with that my friend, you will recruit the other fibers that we didnt work at the &quot;&lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt;&quot; part of the exercise! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice, why should you watch body builders training/routines/ techniques?? They live &quot;fitness/Weight training&quot; 24 hours/ 7 days per week! So they will give you, really good advices, and techniques, study them! Nutrition/Training/Routine, but put a filter on that! Apply everything you want to try or learn, with a supervision of a &lt;strong&gt;professional&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7817" LastEditorUserId="7817" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T16:07:18.020" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T16:07:18.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15341" CreationDate="2014-02-11T21:58:01.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically to the hip flexors problem. I have the exact same problem, and I have significantly improved it with some intense hip flexor stretching. The kinds of stretches that you find on the Internet don't help all that much, so I designed my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I basically just work on doing a front split, while supporting my upper body on both sides with a couple of chairs.  I just slowly sink into the split while keeping my abs flexed and while leaning back at the pelvis (not the waist).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also saw a trigger point massage therapist for a while which resulted in definite temporary improvement, but I didn't notice anything permanent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering an assisted stretching therapist, but &lt;strike&gt;have not tried it yet&lt;/strike&gt; my old trigger point therapist did do some assisted stretching on me, and it was pretty amazing how much easier it was with the second person and some leverage. Admittedly, we only tried this a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5605" LastEditorUserId="5605" LastEditDate="2014-02-13T16:49:20.687" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T16:49:20.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9626" CreationDate="2014-02-12T03:46:40.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;it is important to wear this while exercising. you never know what movement will cause a problem.&quot;Langot&quot; has been used by wrestlers for as long as the sport has been on earth. If you are over weight (even a little) and using your own body weight for training and doing movements like squats, push ups and/or other leg movements, or anything that puts pressure ofyour abdominal muscles, it can trigger Hernia or other issues with your reproductive system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doctors will always tell you things to make you not &quot;worry&quot;. They will not be held accountable if something happens. Do you think you can argue with the doctor with &quot;you said it&quot;. ???? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So take precaution by wearing langot or buy a supporter from a sports shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be safe. Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7821" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T03:46:40.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15385" CreationDate="2014-02-12T04:20:43.247" Score="1" ViewCount="1226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never come close to a score of 247, but want to know why the test ends at that point. Does a person running for that long and speed reach a maximum heart rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7822" LastEditorUserId="7822" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T16:27:05.000" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T16:27:05.000" Title="Why doesn't the PACER Test go beyond 247 laps?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-12T09:10:05.260" Score="0" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my 1st question in this site.I work in an IT company and as you all know no physical work at all.I sit almost 11-12 hours a day and hence my stomach has been grown up similar like the image given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was in school I used to flat stomach and abes also as I was going to gym.But now after working in company I left going to gym due to lack of time.Within a year My stomach has grown up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest some exercises that can be done at home&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw some videos in youtube and doing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQF2jzZwlC8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to make flat stomach within a month?If yes please suggest me exercises and diets as well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7825" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T23:04:08.513" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T23:04:08.513" Title="How to make a flat stomach within a month" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-02-14T00:34:37.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15383" CreationDate="2014-02-12T09:19:14.923" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reasoning behind this question comes down to a statistical standpoint moreso than a physiological standpoint. This is a &quot;normative test&quot; in which score values are only compared with others taking the test under the same protocol either within the current assessment, statewide, nationwide, etc. A score of 247 in my experience will indicate a value in the 99th percentile, hence therefore there is no purpose to exceed that max value since the majority can not reach that value. The value of 247 has probably been set through a natural process of math logistics that ellicited a &quot;best fit&quot; value to assess and compare athletic performance. Physiologically, a max heart rate will be reached within 5 to 10 minutes of this graded exercise test and remain at that level until the relative intensity decreases, so that reasoning is out the window. In respect to accreditation, I am a senior in my final semester of an exercise physiology program. Hope I answered your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7823" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T09:19:14.923" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15410" CreationDate="2014-02-12T09:36:05.880" Score="0" ViewCount="6895" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of a person who is not interested in bodybuilding and fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say that he didn't change anything in his life style (still no fitness, no diet, no cardio) but only started to do abs workout regularly. What will be the results, can you achieve a visible six pack ? What is the visible changes ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; After 2 answers recieved, I want to make my point more clear-&gt;&#xA;I need to know if abs workout alone helps fat burning?, is it possible to burn all the fat by just abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7826" LastEditorUserId="7826" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T08:21:25.947" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T16:26:14.627" Title="What is the effect of abs workout, without diet and cardio?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15384" CreationDate="2014-02-12T09:48:15.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I am a senior student in an accredited University in Florida in an exercise physiology program. Trust me when I say this, ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN. Contrastingly, a majority of the population believe that they dont possess abdominal muscularity, but in fact we do. How else is our lumbar spinal column supported throughout anterior sagittal motion? Lets say our hand is encompassed by this huge ball of candle wax. You know your hand is there, so in order to reveal it, you must melt the wax. You technically have a ripped six pack at this very moment, it is just hidden. The question we all should be asking ourselves in your situation is....how do we reveal them? Well, first we must understand that there is a layer of adiposity (fat) on top of our abdominal structure. Secondly, you must realize how to manipulate the thickness of that layer of adiposity. Ultimately, fat accumulation comes down to caloric intake. If you are intaking more calories as you burn through out the day, you gain adipose and vice versa. It doesnt really matter what you eat, but the understanding that this principle is as simple as adding and subtracting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my proposed solution. Start by calculating your basal metabolic rate. This value can be found on countless sites by simply inputting a couple of height, weight, and level of activity values. this will give you the amount of calories that you burn in a day given your physiologic background and activity level. Then learn how to count your calories and eat at a 500 calorie defecit each day for healthy fat loss until you have reached your dream. My professor always emphasizes that it is significantly easier to achieve fat loss through diet alone.  It is easier to simply not eat 600 calories than to spend 3 hours in a gym burning 600 calories. Although a combo of exercise and diet will get you there faster. But if you maintain your current eating habits and just use exercise to achieve abdominal visuality, then most likely it will take much longer and be that much harder to achieve. But the most important aspect of course is motivation and perseverance, which many people are challenged with.  Well .... hope you found what you were looking for in a general sense and good luck on your journey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7823" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T09:48:15.050" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15345" CreationDate="2014-02-12T10:18:13.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I study exercise physiology at a university in florida. The answer to your question comes down to the physiology and nature of not just the muscle, but caloric accumulation. In order to achieve those&quot;slimmer legs&quot; you must not only tone the muscle, but burn the fat surrounding the muscles. Tracking your diet is important if you want to manipulate the visuality of any body part. The muscle will usually grow and &quot;bulge out&quot; as you say if you are eating more calories than you burn. The nature of the muscle in this situation is to &quot;get bigger&quot; and maybe even put on more fat if that caloric excess is significant. On the other hand. If you are burning more calories than you eat, then the nature of the body part is to burn and utilize fat as an energy source. Also, in addition to exercising, you are simultaneously giving definition to the muscle itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the reality is...the girls that you see in the gym may have different eating habits than you do or maybe they are just genetically predisposed.  But you should never compare yourself to anyone else. Instead start to understand the science behind it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, more aerobic workouts will help decrease muscle size, so I advise going back into cycling or any other endurance activity. Imagine a kenyan marathon runner and compare them with the body structure of an olympic weightlifter. The kenyan of course is much more slimmer in the legs, even the whole body. Why, you may ask? Because when the body is engaged in long durative events, it needs to preserve as much energy as possible, therefore there is an adaptation in muscle to decrease cross-sectional area which will help expend less energy per unit of time. This is an adaptive survival mechanism suited for that particular species lifestyle. How many times do you see those with bodybuilder physiques on a bicycle or running marathons? Its not a matter of whether they hate endurance activity or not, but how their exercise lifestyle has influenced the composition of their body. You dont have to worry about becoming too skinny though, since marathon running is not your occupation. Well, I hope I gave you a general sense of the direction you should be taking in order to achieve your goal and good luck! If you are persistent, you should see significant results starting on the 3rd week of your journey. Once you reach a satisfied composition of the lower body, then just adjust your caloric intake equal to your caloric expenditure to maintain that visuality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7823" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T10:18:13.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-12T10:57:08.863" Score="2" ViewCount="673" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once i heard, that a our calves have fast recovery time! And they are &quot;&lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt;&quot; to grow, so some professionals defend the ideia of training it &lt;strong&gt;3 times per week&lt;/strong&gt;, what do you think? Someone have another method for calf training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7817" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T14:12:19.943" Title="Should we train calves 3 times per week?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15395" CreationDate="2014-02-12T14:59:06.537" Score="0" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently experimented with low carbing, calorie reduction and fasting. I think I messed it up for the past two weeks and have lost most of the muscle mass Ive gained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a novice, started getting into calorie counting, macronutrient partitioning, fasting and weight lifting (with starting strength) at around october of 2013. Ive gained mass and lost some due to my erroneous dieting schemes. I tended to binge on some days then fast for 40 hours afterwards to keep up with my binges. I recently found out that my fear of carbs, while helping me lose body fat for a few days, ultimately led me to a downward spiral of binging after days of deprivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To cut things short, my last binge and fast afterwards episode has left me with muscle mass that is close to what I had when I was starting out and the body fat I have now has started to bounce back to levels I so dreaded to keep it away from. Is there anyway I can recover my muscle mass? My strength hasnt diminished yet but my muscle mass did. Ot are things too late for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T15:25:53.993" Title="Is there anyway you can recover muscle mass that you've lost due to improper dieting?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15390" CreationDate="2014-02-12T15:11:26.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is one of those questions that must be addressed individually.  Most people who weight train have a body part that does not respond to training as effectively as other body parts.  Given that, you should adjust your training to accommodate those types of body parts.  I, for one, get plenty of indirect work on my calves through other leg work.  This allows me to work calves twice per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T15:11:26.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15393" CreationDate="2014-02-12T15:25:53.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you only had a couple of weeks worth of muscle mass gain, two weeks is not enough time to lose &quot;all the mass you had&quot; and see bodyfat levels change that dramatically. Most likely all that you lost was some of the fluid in the muscle cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, all is not lost. All that you need to do is get on track with a consistent diet plan that supports your workouts. Carbs are not evil, despite what paleo and other people will tell you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plan for 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, keep your fat intake to a 15-20% range from healthy fats and oils, and get the rest from high quality carbs and you should be fine. Work out an eating schedule to where you don't binge, and if you do binge, you don't need to fast. Calories are like working out, it's not the single big day that makes or breaks you, it's the day in day out consistent efforts that yield results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T15:25:53.993" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15386" CreationDate="2014-02-12T16:17:36.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abs are made in the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results for doing only abdominal workouts will be different per person, depending on the way they are built, metabolism et cetera. But getting visible results like a six pack by only doing ab workouts will be extremely hard. The visibility of a six pack is not defined by the muscles itself but more by the surrounding fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A visible change that might occur is a change in posture, because of stronger core muscles. This could result in less slouching and standing more straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5978" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T16:17:36.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15351" CreationDate="2014-02-12T17:51:57.213" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once attended a trade show for Health and Fitness as an exhibitor.  I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Olympia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Haney&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lee Haney&lt;/a&gt;.  We briefly spoke about training.  The one comment that stayed with me the most was Lee's assertion that the number of reps is not nearly as important as trying to recruit the most muscle fibers during each rep.  He suggested squeezing the muscle for a count of 3 for each rep.  Yup, when Mr. Olympia gives advice, those things tend to stick with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T17:51:57.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15386" CreationDate="2014-02-12T21:52:02.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the response above alluded to, noticing visible differences will depend on the individual's baseline body characteristics since abdominal exercise alone most likely won't result in significant changes. For those who have a substantial amount of body fat and store it centrally in the abdomen, muscle definition will usually be hidden by the  superficial fat. For those who are naturally leaner and don't store fat in the mid section as much, there may be noticeable, however slight,  development of the abdominal muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7831" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T21:52:02.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-13T08:23:56.710" Score="1" ViewCount="1612" Body="&lt;p&gt;Marfan syndrome is a weakness on the connective tissues, this means that numerous if not all tissues of the body are weak and is very easily to get injured, but I wonder, does Marfan syndrome prevents the grow of muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7580" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T20:03:28.410" Title="Can a person who has Marfan Syndrome grow muscle?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15405" CreationDate="2014-02-14T08:24:08.353" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old. Ht. 5'6&quot;, Wt. 60-67kg. The first time i did weight training, it lasted two months, the second time I tried it, it lasted 3-4 weeks. I have noted the following things which i believe worked against me being regular at gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I was not sure about the kind of body i was working for. I did not had a proper plan and  was impatient. I don't want to be bulky, i want to remain flexible and still increase my strength. Should Circuit training be a better option than weight training. How is it different?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When i work out, i feel tired but i don't feel any tension in my muscles. Is it because i am not doing the exercises right.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I get headaches in the middle of workouts. Is this because of insufficient diet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest some references / links which i can study to prepare a workout plan for me, which could give me insight into the muscle groups. Basically something to guide a beginner like me. I don't find bodybuilding.com particularly helpful for a beginner. Am i wrong here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7839" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T00:45:46.057" Title="How to find the correct workout plan for myself" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15404" CreationDate="2014-02-14T10:09:29.760" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start with simple excercises and learn how to execute those well and learn to feel muscles. I don't think you need to know muscle groups because there are basic excerscises for arms/core/legs which are easy, don't overthink it. It goes along with feeling the muscles, you can read all the internet but unless you spend a lot of time doing actuall work you know nothing. I think 3-4 weeks should be enough to see how excercises are affecting you and pick those that you don't like because those are probably where you have weak points. If you feel weak, eat more and sleep more or excersice less, skip day or two or make two week vacations from gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really scientific answer but &quot;how to find workout for yourself&quot; is about going to gym and trying what works and what not. By searching for plan on internet you will not get stronger by trying out different things on gym you will, which will prepare you for further better workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5943" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T10:09:29.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2014-02-14T13:36:48.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, congrats on a great start into running!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: I don't think changing your workout for the 5k will harm your long-term goal of losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand you are doing pretty much the same run three times a week. That's fine for beginners, so you don't &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to change anything. But, with two months until your 5k race, now is a good time to look for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/training/5k-training-plans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training plan&lt;/a&gt; suitable for you. These plans (depending on time goal) typically include a longer, slower run and possibly a tempo run or intervals. You don't necessarily have to (or even should) run more than three times a week, but a bit more variety is generally good. The most important thing to remember is that your musculoskeletal system needs way more time to adapt and get stronger than your cardiovascular system, so listen to your body and don't do too much too soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: nothing wrong with changing your routine specifically for your 5k, but don't overdo it, you have plenty of time for other races. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7561" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T13:36:48.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15409" CreationDate="2014-02-14T14:29:14.703" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately I've been hearing a lot about hormonal cycles and how they change throughout the day.  From what I've heard, testosterone seems to be lowest in the afternoon and highest in the morning and evening.  I would think hormones like insulin, growth hormone, and cortisol could have some effects as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the purpose of gaining strength and muscle, what is the optimal time of day to lift weights and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;  not sure why this is getting downvotes.  Any feedback?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-04-28T04:27:26.330" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T04:27:26.330" Title="When is the best time of day to work out in order to take advantage of hormonal cycles?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15408" CreationDate="2014-02-14T15:51:45.387" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The time of day that is most beneficial to lift weights is the time of day &lt;strong&gt;you can do it consistently&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a few things that you need to know about circadian rhythms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The effects of hormonal cycles during waking hours are minimal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They adapt to your pattern of life&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can more consistently train in the afternoon, your body will adjust to make it so you can more effectively train in the afternoon.  The key is that you do it &lt;strong&gt;consistently&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are those that swear by different times of the day, but the bottom line is that their bodies adapted to that time schedule.  Consistency trumps hormonal cycles when it comes to the chronic (i.e. cumulative) effect of training even though acute (i.e. one time) effects might favor something different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T15:51:45.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15386" CreationDate="2014-02-14T16:26:14.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The effect of an ab workout without diet and cardio is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;stronger abs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it.  If you already have low body fat (8-12% for men), you will begin to see better definition in the abdominal region.  However, if you have significantly more body fat, the only thing you have to show for your work is the strength you developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason the trite saying &quot;abs are made in the kitchen&quot; is so true is because you have to lose body fat to reveal the abs you have underneath the layers of fat.  The number one tool to lose fat is a proper diet.  Diet is so important that it trumps cardio and other physical activities to burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can never out work a bad diet.  Period.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A proper diet improves your hormonal profile, and reduces systemic inflammation--meaning it gets easier to burn fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isolation exercises burn far fewer calories than full body exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T16:26:14.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15746" CreationDate="2014-02-14T20:58:34.403" Score="2" ViewCount="895" Body="&lt;p&gt;Allow me to inject some context. I'm sure some of you saw my post about the hemorrhoid. I went and found out that it was thrombosed and this morning I had the blood clot removed. The doctors said that I didn't have to stop lifting today but did say of course lifting could cause another hemorrhoid(I'm assuming I got it from strenuous pressure on my rear while squatting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel fine but my ass is a little sore. I still want to continue to lift but I don't want to go in and do random isolations and I want to be cautious of going right back to my working sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now my stats are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat: 225lb&#xA;Deadlift: 225lb Bench: 180 Row: 105 OHP: 105&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now there are a few reasons I do StrongLifts as opposed to splits and other routines. It's easy to follow and adhere to. It doesn't take me as long in the gym. It's pretty exhaustive and the strength gains are incredible. One of the biggest reasons I like it is for how effective it is in a short amount of time spent(e.g. calorie expenditure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can the intensity(weight) be lessened and the volume per set(reps) increased to give me the same sort of calories expended or the same intensity that a workout where I do everything at my working weight would be so I don't strain myself or put unnecessary pressure on my ass while it heals from being sliced open?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is only a temporary modification until I feel more confident to return to my working sets. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T13:27:21.307" Title="Can StrongLifts be modified to be just as effective with light weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15390" CreationDate="2014-02-14T21:49:00.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calf are a small enough muscle group that no matter how many times you work them you are not going to run into over training issue by working them.  So work them as much as you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the question that you want to ask is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m a novice lifter and I want bigger calves.  Should I work my calves 3 times a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can’t hurt might not help.  It might sound like rhetoric but the squat is king.  Squat heavy ass weights, sleep plenty as night and eat a calorie surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastEditorUserId="6711" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T14:12:19.943" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T14:12:19.943" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15371" CreationDate="2014-02-15T00:54:26.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;most probably your using to much of your heel like i used to, when you run or even walk for that matter, always pounce off from cushioned part of the foot underneath the toes (i know you understand what i mean), trust me its nothing to do with some knee syndrome or anything like  that, thats simply finding a complicated answer for a simple question. just don't use your heel as the first point of contact when your foot comes down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T00:54:26.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15357" CreationDate="2014-02-15T00:58:46.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't listen to the idiocy of the weight lifters around here who buy 8 dollar supplements thinking it helps them. It's pretty simple to build wrist strength (wrist is where we get grip power). Knuckle push ups are amazing to build your wrist, knuckles, and forearm strength. Boxers and Martial arts do this exercise to build muscles in order to punch harder and make your hands use to such an unusual position. Also, hitting a punching bag will grow your wrist strength a lot but you will hurt for about 2 weeks after. Get through the hurt by doing normal pushups (like 60 a day). All in all, I would say do knuckle pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastEditorUserId="2723" LastEditDate="2014-02-15T02:19:02.097" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T02:19:02.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15264" CreationDate="2014-02-15T01:19:17.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;yeh, you can't spot reduce its a myth, the first place you gain fat will be the last place u lose it,but targeting certain areas does compress the fat thus making it look slimmer or flatter so yeh if your going to the gym but not doing crèches and your stomach seems noticeably larger it is because your not doing crunches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T01:19:17.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2014-02-15T19:30:13.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using the shower at the gym ultimately depends on what type of environment it is. For example, my gym has a separate stalls for every shower. Between the stall door and the shower is a changing area. I keep all my belongings in a bag and hang them on the door. Once the door is closed and the shower area is concealed, it's up to me how I wish to conduct myself behind that door. I wear flipflops and give the shower time to rinse itself for a minute or so before I step in. I try not to touch any surfaces. I walk into the stall dressed and I exit the stall dressed. I don't care to have any accidental mental images of other gym members naked, so I return the courtesy. Some people walk around entirely naked - I feel that's rude in an environment that is designed for modesty. But, hey - that's me - plenty of people are entirely ok with public nudity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I know, it's more comfortable getting into my car all fresh and clean than dirty and sweaty. I don't think I'd use the shower area if it was entirely open at the gym - it would be one thing, perhaps, if I was on a sports team and it was a team-shower - but with the general public of which there are no relationships? I just think it's creepy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7851" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T19:30:13.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2014-02-15T23:09:34.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started a nutrition plan based on very low carbs and low calorie with daily vigorous exercise, so it has made me curious about these body processes (fat and protein metablolism/catabolism). One thing is definite, it is a very complicated process and apparently not completely or widely understood, even by &quot;experts&quot;--so opinions abound.  In addition, everyone has slightly varying metabolic responses, a part of genetics, so there may not be one correct model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One simple fact is sure.  It takes more energy for the body to break down muscle (not glycogen) than to breakdown stored fats for energy. Your body nets less energy breaking down muscle. It does not make sense for the body to &quot;use&quot; muscle protein energy when stored fats are available. This assumes you maintain a full-body workout to maintain overall muscle tone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my part, I have definitely lost belly fat and increased strength and tone in the six weeks since I have started this nutrition plan. It might be harder to maintain as stored fat is used, but I can't see how this would affect the metabolic cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T23:09:34.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-16T15:09:47.500" Score="4" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just walked a couple of miles on a hike and my feet are really sore. I'm wondering if there were any good feet stretching exercises that I could do without any specialized exercise equipment. Anyone have any tips? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7860" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T11:47:48.200" Title="what are some great foot stretching exercises" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-17T02:44:21.153" Score="3" ViewCount="1974" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long distance runner with very high arches. In the past, I've occasionally had arch pains, but they went away when I got good shoes and inserts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, I got new shoes and the arch pain came back. I've tried to fix it by getting another pair of shoes, high-quality running inserts, and putting athletic tape around my feet. The pain hasn't gone away, though. What else can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should say that I've only tried running with the new inserts, shoes, and tape once. Is it worth trying to run in them for a few times before giving up on them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7866" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T20:16:36.570" Title="Arch pain that won't go away" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15443" CreationDate="2014-02-17T14:07:13.203" Score="4" ViewCount="7240" Body="&lt;p&gt;My squat is currently 235 (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTfCRlAqWkE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;form check video&lt;/a&gt;) but my deadlift is suffering badly. Before I went on a 2 week vacation at work (where my gym is) I was pulling 225 with pretty good form but now I'm struggling to pull 185 without a little rounding (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukRK6kY_ZTo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;form check video of 185&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjARGcWxRdU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;form check video of 205&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for a deadlift to lag behind the squat like this and what are some ways that I can improve deadlift strength capability? In what way would I be weak that would cause my deadlift to suffer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T18:51:57.873" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T19:03:03.430" Title="Deadlift relatively low compared to squat. Where am I weak?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15439" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:16:30.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically you should be able to deadlift more than you squat BUT there are many reasons why you wouldn't be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Form - either a bad form in the deadlift where you're not lifting what you could OR a bad squat form where you think you ARE lifting more than you actually are (how deep are you going, etc.).  Be honest with both and provide video if you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;body shape - shorter/stout people squat better - we're all shaped differently and have different benefits because of it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;length of training - it takes time and a good program to progress the way you should.  If you're randomly approaching your lift program, you'll get random results&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;past injuries - if you've been injured previously and favoring some part of your body you could be stunting your lifting ability - most times it's more mental than physical&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggested next steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a knowledgeable trainer/friend to watch you squat/deadlift and critic your form (or provide video here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put a realistic plan together so you can see on-going gains (look into starting strength or 5/3/1 or madcow)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T15:16:30.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15456" CreationDate="2014-02-17T18:05:49.723" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that if I do anaerobic exercise it can trigger an &quot;afterburn&quot; effect which lasts for at most 48 hours. Suppose I do this every other day which means that the afterburn effect is quasi-constant. The question is how can I calculate or approximate the calories burned by this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1824" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T23:54:10.253" Title="Is there a way to approximate the change in the metabolic rate caused by anaerobic exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-05-03T20:56:24.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15434" CreationDate="2014-02-17T18:35:55.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After I did some research, this is my current plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One simple thing I can do is freeze a water bottle, then roll it underneath my arches for 5 minutes several times a day. This both massages and ices he painful arches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It looks like I might have &lt;a href=&quot;http://foothealth.about.com/od/plantarfasciitis/a/PlantarFasciits.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plantar fasciitis&lt;/a&gt;, which often goes away in three to four months. I'm planning on using elliptical trainers and riding my bike, which are similar to running but don't stress my arches, until the pain goes away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm also planning on talking to a podiatrist about the pain. At this point, since new shoes, inserts, and athletic tape haven't helped, I think medical attention might be necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7866" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T18:35:55.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15439" CreationDate="2014-02-17T19:03:03.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's one thing that happened:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I went on a 2 week vacation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're doing a novice progression, a 2-week break can set you way, way back. I think you should be working at around 175. Don't try 205 again without working your way back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are some things. &#xA;Your first squat rep was a tad high but the rest were okay. Good job! Yes, it's weird for your deadlift to be so low compared to your squat. Why might that be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, your setup for the deadlift is simply not correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have no good reason to alternate your grip. Use a double overhand hook grip with chalk. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are jerking the bar off the floor. That's an advanced technique. Instead, squeeeeeeeze the bar off the floor after you're already tight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're letting the bar get in your head. Walk up to it with PURPOSE. Get your feet set, your grip set, your back set, take a big breath, lock everything tight in place, and squeeze the bar up your legs. Accept no rounding. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fix those things, you might find yourself advancing normally with the deadlift. If you feel weird having a disproportionate squat:deadlift ratio, which you don't need to feel, you could (if you want) stay at 230 for an extra couple sessions to make your form perfect. In particular, make sure you get all the way down below parallel in every rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T19:03:03.430" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15444" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-17T20:27:16.557" Score="0" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a person is highly muscular, does the accuracy of 'less than 17% Body Fat and you should be relatively healthy' change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, it's possible for a person to be say 6'3 and 70kg or 6'3 and 110kg, and so saying 17% body fat would workout to a noticeably different actual masses of fat in the body. However, does the added muscle mean the fat is more 'spread around', or should men aim to always have no more than say 13.6kg of Fat in their Body (17% of the Average Weight for Men of ~80kg)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3463" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T20:52:42.397" Title="Effect of High Muscle on 'Bands' of Body Fat" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15444" CreationDate="2014-02-17T20:52:42.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have 17% body fat, then you will have the same percentage of fat whether you are 60kg or 100kg. If you are 60kg and 17% bodyfat, then you have 10.2 kg of fat. (In generic terms, actual measurements will be different, as you just can't lump it all into &quot;bodyfat&quot; and call it good). If you are 100kg and 17%, then you will have 17kg of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also can't really control where it goes. If your bodies preference is to store it on your hips/waist first, then your butt, it will do so regardless of the rest of the body composition. Fat is also stored in a LIFO (Last In First Out) method, so the last place it went on will be the first place it comes off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T20:52:42.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15446" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15447" CreationDate="2014-02-18T02:10:05.357" Score="2" ViewCount="945" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has a set of three racks in a corner: one squat rack sandwiched between two power racks. Both of the power racks have their platform continue behind the back of the rack itself, allowing two people to use the rack simultaneously. I have seen people using them that way, but they usually know each other and are working together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last time I was at the gym, I was doing static lunges with a 45 pound bar in one of these power racks. A guy walked up to the other bar sitting on the platform behind me, said nothing to me, and started preparing to lift it. I asked him not to. It came out a little harshly, because I was a little annoyed about something else. The guy working next to me chastised me for this, saying something to the effect of, &quot;We share here.&quot; I said I would be done in less than five minutes (I had one set left, so it was actually about 2 minutes), and they left it at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very much a beginning lifter, and I am not very confident of my form. So I feel uncomfortable with someone working that closely behind me unless I know them and trust them. But it seems like I might have broken some etiquette rule I don't know about. Am I being paranoid here about safety? Or was my request reasonable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7874" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T09:57:53.533" Title="What is the etiquette for sharing a power rack?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15446" CreationDate="2014-02-18T09:57:53.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's going to vary from gym to gym and from person to person, but I'd say the other person was in the wrong. Sharing equipment is great, and I alternate sets with people I don't know at all or very well all the time if we both need to use a certain piece of equipment, but I wouldn't be happy if they just walked up and did it without asking me first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not confident about your form, and you're concerned about having somebody else in that close proximity and you think there's a chance of one or both of you getting injured as a result, you have every right to ask them to wait for you to finish. You have enough to worry about just getting your form right for your lifts, you don't need the added distraction of worrying about another person's safety while doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody should ever be walking up to a piece of equipment somebody else is using and starting to train on it, taking weights from it - I once had somebody walk up and take a plate from the bar in between my sets, while I was sat on the bench - or anything else without asking that person first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, general etiquette is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I'm unsure if somebody is using the equipment, ask somebody working nearby if anybody is using it. This shouldn't be an issue if you train in a gym where everybody racks their weights and tidies up behind themselves when they're done, but that's not always the case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If somebody is using the equipment that I need to use, I ask them how many sets they have left.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they only have a few sets to go then I'll just wait.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they have a lot more sets to do then I'll ask if they mind alternating sets. Most of the time people will say yes, but they don't have to. They might have specific rest times they need to keep to for their training, for example, and therefore can't have me taking an unknown amount of time for my set in between.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are alternating sets, and you're using different weights, help out with unloading and loading the bar. I usually do a side of the bar each if I'm alternating with somebody because it just gets things done faster, but you could also take it in turns to do the full unloading and loading between each of your sets. Either way, make sure you're at least doing your fair share.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put your weights back &lt;em&gt;in the right place&lt;/em&gt; afterwards. Note that in the right place doesn't necessarily mean where you found them. Again, this varies from gym to gym; mine has numbers painted on the racks so you know which size/weight plates go where. If I pick up a 10kg plate from the 5kg section, it goes back in the 10kg section, not where I got it from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5547" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T09:57:53.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15449" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-18T14:34:24.700" Score="1" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have spent 7 years doing practically no exercise at all and eating all the crap I wanted. Weird thing is that during all this time I have been pretty muscular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I started doing some cycling and the following day after the first session (which lasted like 8 minutes and left me exhausted) I noted that my muscles where like soother, like if they had gotten bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I Have continued exercising, and I have kept seeing this. After cardio I am more toned, if I do no exercise like for 5 days or so muscle tone drops, but after another session it gets toned back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had always heard that cardio wasn't good for muscle building. So, why does this happen to me and until when will my over-all muscle tone improve with solely cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7882" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T15:32:58.560" Title="Cardio and muscle growth" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15452" CreationDate="2014-02-18T14:54:54.247" Score="2" ViewCount="3194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 years old and 1.73m tall. In my teenage I was really fat (95KG), then at the age of 22 I decided to lose weight. Currently I'm 75KG which means I'm still 5KG fat I would say. My problem is that when I was fat I had a lower belly that grew just below the navel area because of wearing high jeans I would guess. At that time I thought that I will lose this ugly belly if I lose weight. But until now I still have this lower belly and even more I have a circle on my body just on the place of wear I wear jeans. I really have no idea how to lose this. I sketched a picture for the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also causing me problems with clothes especially with shirts. Because when I wear shirts I can close all the buttons, except the last three buttons!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope if you can provide me with exercises or even English keywords terms for this case so I can search also on the web for videos or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry but I'm not a native English speaker, so I'm not sure if this question is asked before because I don't know the English terms for this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oaMRu.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2014-08-03T21:07:54.393" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T09:22:14.170" Title="Losing fat on upper pubic area (FUPA)?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15449" CreationDate="2014-02-18T16:23:29.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Resistance training for toning (aka endurance lifting) is used for toning muscles. There may exist a formal definition somewhere, but I like to think of it as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;low resistance, high repetitions. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when a person runs marathons, lifts low amounts of weight with high repetitions, or &lt;em&gt;uses an exercise bike&lt;/em&gt; on a light setting for a long time, they are toning. Yes, cardio is the primary workout for running the marathon and exercise bike, but they are still toning the muscles that are being worked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was a practical example. I left my physiological definition of what happens to slow twitch and fast twitch fibers in my other pants pocket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising is a hobby of patience, so if you want to stay 'toned' for longer than a week your going to have to keep up a lifestyle of exercising for quite some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T16:23:29.683" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15450" CreationDate="2014-02-18T17:37:21.300" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really isn't a way to loose fat in a specific area - despite what commercials want to sell you.  Unlike making muscles larger, where you can focus on specific areas, fat is determined by genetics.  The only way to remove fat from the area mentioned would be liposuction.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, you can decrease the fat percentage in your body until this goes away.  If you want it gone first and right now, surgery is the only way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Also, if you have recently lost a lot of weight, you may have extra skin.  This will eventually tighten over time.  However this is another reason people get plastic surgery - because they're impatient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastEditorUserId="7563" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T15:19:26.623" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T15:19:26.623" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-18T21:25:24.510" Score="2" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;My main goal is to increase muscle mass through strength / heavy lifting. I am considering taking a Glutamine supplement and was wondering if doing so will result in quicker and more complete recovery which may yield better muscle growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, do I risk not getting the most out of my workouts in terms of gains due to having only one days rest between workouts and not allowing my body sufficient time to recover? If yes, will taking a glutamine supplement help reduce the effects of this problem and allow a more complete recovery with better gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure it makes a difference, but I am currently on a creatine supplement which seems to work great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7884" LastEditorUserId="7884" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T01:00:40.810" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T04:34:10.600" Title="Glutamine to increase muscle mass through better recovery" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;l-glutamine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15450" CreationDate="2014-02-18T23:17:53.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very common question, and what you're asking about is spot reduction.  Bottom line is, spot reduction is a myth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You likely have more KG of fat than you think-5kg equates to .06 percent, which is extremely low-that's venturing on hospitalization if true.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will echo others here-trim bodies are built in the kitchen just as much as they are in the gym.  Have faith and remained disciplined about your diet and exercise, as long as they are realistic and healthy.  You can lose that fat, but only if you remain diligent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T23:17:53.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15434" CreationDate="2014-02-18T23:26:57.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will not diagnose, but it certainly sounds like plantar fascitis, or inflammation of the plantaris.  This is likely due to over use.  You can also try a tennis ball in the same fashion as the water bottle, and try pulling a towel with your toes until it's past the toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To heal microtrauma from over-use, you have to let the plantaris rest.  Because you have a high arch, I believe seeing a podiatrist (and conversely a pedorthist) will be in your best interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Store bought solutions are typically not a great solution, unless your feet are in perfect biomechanical condition (most people aren't).  Be sure to seek proper &lt;strong&gt;custom&lt;/strong&gt; (made for you, and you alone) orthotics, and from a pedorthist who makes insoles in house-be wary, as many pedorthists send their stuff out.  Custom orthotics aren't typically cheap, but your feet will thank you.  Your podiatrist should have pedorthists to recommend, but once again, be wary-I've heard horror stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper footwear should feel better right away-you typically shouldn't have to adjust to it unless there is something else going on, like you're trying out Fivefingers (safe to say those are contraindicated for you; more for those who have perfect feet again)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full disclosure, my father is a pedorthist.  He makes his stuff in house. That is not where I'm getting the majority of my data though-I am a professional in exercise science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T01:23:59.397" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T01:23:59.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15441" CreationDate="2014-02-18T23:54:10.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Afterburn is the layman's term for EPOC, or Excess Post exercise Oxygen Consumption.  EPOC is your body converting from higher yield energy systems back to lower yield energy systems.  Think of your energy systems as a series of dimmer switches-you can't turn any of them off completely, so they're running all the time, but you can tweak the settings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the level of epoc is completely dependent on intensity of exercise-the more vigorous the exercise, the higher and longer the level of epoc.  For example, I did a high intensity conditioning test yesterday, and my heart rate stayed elevated for about an hour afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High level EPOC is uncomfortable, and higher elevated heart rate only lasts for about two hours-it's hard to say when the cut off is, as there are many factors in play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EPOC is a downward slope, and will continue for many hours, but that afterburn only continues for so long.  Because you're pursuing anaroebic training (EPOC can happen with either aerobic or anaroebic, it's all intensity), I believe it would be very difficult to calculate accurately without a heart rate monitor.  You must estimate your average heart rate at rest, and plug that into an estimated VO2 calculator or formula.  After exercise, record your heart rate, and get the VO2 for that value.  Subtract the two, and plug the difference into a VO2 to kcal converter or formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not particularly user friendly, and it wouldn't give you real time data.  I use a Suunto Quest (NOT PLUGGING THIS PRODUCT), and it gives me EPOC and heart rate.  I believe the HR is more valuable on telling me my post exercise state than the EPOC calculator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in summary, monitor your heart rate before exercise, and post exercise.  Note the difference, and how long it takes you to get back to normal.  Greater intensities mean greater EPOC, which means more calories burned, although not a massive amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T23:54:10.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-19T00:03:19.290" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my increasing weight is causing problems (and I am at high risk of getting problems, e.g. cardiovascular, my doctor said) - what are the fastest, most effective and most &quot;urgent&quot; steps to take to reverse the weight gain and become healthy again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are lots of things like &quot;do steadily&quot;, but I am in a great health scare, I have symptoms in the heart... I really want to get healthy and fit again as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7886" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T20:40:37.537" Title="If I am at risk for health condition caused by overweight/obesity, what's the fastest way to cure myself (reduce weight/fat/etc)?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-05-02T15:54:31.187" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15453" CreationDate="2014-02-19T04:02:21.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Edgar has a point about the BCAAs, but taking Glutamine &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; not do much for you if you don't take it properly, and still may not help if you take enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing about glutamine is that a vast majority of what you take is absorbed by the gut. So, if you want some to make it to the 'muscles of the day', You're going to have to take a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt;, and by a lot I mean 20+ grams in a setting, to get past the GI Tract since it has been observed to absorb up to %40 of the ingested glutamine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, glutamine can be produced by the body, and during intense physical stress (such as a high resistance workout or &lt;em&gt;surgery&lt;/em&gt;) glutamine levels in the blood stream can be depleted. The debate is whether or not it helps as much as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/cytosport-muscle-milk-light-vanilla-creme-1-65-lb-powder/cy-1071?sourceType=sc&amp;amp;source=FG&amp;amp;adGroup=0-20&amp;amp;keyword=CY-1071&amp;amp;cm_mmc=Google+Shopping-_-Product+Listing+Ads-_-0-20-_-CY-1071&amp;amp;gclid=COuM_vmm17wCFY07MgodxFUALw&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds#.UwQsePldXtU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;its following claims it does&lt;/a&gt;. Check out the active ingredient in that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Years of bodybuilding (partly taking glutamine along the way, 20+ grams daily), and extensive reading on the subject. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_supplements/glutamine_destroying_the_dogma_part_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Case in point here&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_supplements/glutamine_destroying_the_dogma_part_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;part 2 of that same article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5013" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T04:02:21.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15464" CreationDate="2014-02-19T05:12:33.283" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually workout at 12pm, take a PWO afterwards, and then lunch. It just occurred to me that I'm taking PWO 50 grams of protein + 30 in a meal in a very close proximity, and the body can probably absort only so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say that taking protein pre workout give your body an hour to digest the protein, so it reaches the body stream right then you finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any benefits in taking a PWO shake pre workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T17:21:04.903" Title="Are there benefits in having a post workout shake before a workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15457" CreationDate="2014-02-19T05:33:19.543" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure why this is getting downvoted, but there is no surefire, fast, &quot;urgent&quot; way to get healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are no shortcuts to becoming healthy or fit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking otherwise is dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also a very difficult question to answer, because it's vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the bottom line is, eat healthy, and become more active.  Learn more about healthy nutrition from reliable (Not Dr. Oz) sources.  Learn what your body should be consuming-remember that it doesn't have to be bland to be good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you're sitting on the couch for more than an hour a day without budging, for the love of Pete get up and start walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting is the new smoking.  Keep that in mind.  Sedentarism kills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find an evidenced-based personal trainer that focuses on health.  Trainers that focus on &quot;feeling the burn&quot; may not be a good choice for you.  Talk to cardiac rehab centers for references.  Talk to local community colleges.  Try out the YMCA-health based training is better than most for your particular situation.  You need quality help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T05:33:19.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15467" CreationDate="2014-02-19T14:12:35.497" Score="1" ViewCount="3590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really think that my core is being worked enough when performing the compound lifts of strong lifts, as the rest of my body has caught up while my stomach and waist are still really flabby and have no real firmness comparatively. I'm not asking &quot;what exercise do I do to reduce stomach fat&quot;, I'm asking if I can add in some cable crunches and another auxiliary exercise to strengthen and firm my core for other lifts and if so what would you suggest? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand exercises like sit ups and laying crunches and other variations(leg raises) are limited mostly by the inability to use weight above your body weight effectively so weighted exercises for abs/core are recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T18:14:40.963" Title="Can I add in some core exercises to SL 5x5 and what do you suggest if so?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15461" CreationDate="2014-02-19T14:54:01.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally what's known scientifically is that before or after a workout, your body can't differentiate between such states where it somehow arbitrarily &quot;needs&quot; something and can utilize it better just because it's in this mythical state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;e.g.1&lt;/strong&gt; your body thinks it can somehow better utilize the protein it gets right after a workout &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;e.g.2&lt;/strong&gt; this guy just worked out and now his body &quot;thinks&quot; it's in a state where it &quot;requires&quot; a post workout shake to get gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really just a myth and has no scientific grounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What most modern studies have indicated is that the post/preworkout craze is really just that, a craze conceived from &quot;bro-science&quot;, and, that it's actually the average protein intake over a given period of time that really has the most impact on things like recovery, strength gains, hypertrophy, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T14:54:01.810" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15461" CreationDate="2014-02-19T15:25:39.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a very good series of articles called &quot;The Protein Bible&quot; over at schwartzeneggar.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/the-protein-bible-part-1-introduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 1&lt;/a&gt;: General info and protein sources&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/the-protein-bible-part-2-protein-powders&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 2&lt;/a&gt;: Protein Powders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/The-Protein-Bible-Part-3-Protein-Requirements-for-Goals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 3&lt;/a&gt;: Protein, and suiting it to your goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/the-protein-bible-part-4-protein-and-amino-acid-timing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 4&lt;/a&gt;: Protein and Amino Acid Timing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article is written by the founders of Examine.com, which independently reviews research about a number of supplements.  It is consequently well researched and fairly easy to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the section on protein timing, they made a couple very good points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This post workout ‘window’ definitely does apply for the purpose of glycogen replenishment (carbs), but does not apply to muscle protein synthesis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The majority of the research on post workout shakes was conducted in fasted training, not fed training (and as will soon be explained, even if you do train ‘fasted’ there is a better option than a post workout shake).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a fed state, there were no significant differences found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19478342&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20977582&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole article is worth a read, because it helps dispel myths that supplement manufacturers want to keep going so you spend more money (hopefully on their stuff).  It also helps you understand realistically what your body needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T15:25:39.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15457" CreationDate="2014-02-19T15:26:12.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, talk to your doctor. You need to know what your current health state is before deciding what kind of exercises you can perform. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Second, update your nutrition. There are lots of nutritional information on the Internet; however, essentially, it's &lt;strong&gt;vegetables&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;fruits&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;lean meats&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;lots of water&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Finally, the exercises; those are vital for your weight-loss and overall well-being. You can start with basic walking. Make walking part of your daily routine. Use the elevators and cars less (unless it's not a walking distance). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You might need to join a fitness group also, mainly for moral support (because you'll likely need it). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Don't join a gym; it's a waste of time and funds; make your home a gym (not with equipment and such, but with knowing that every object in it is a potential weight lifting object for you). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you can, volunteer as well (especially for manual labor duties). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Lastly, it's a marathon....not a sprint. You won't lose the weight in one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T15:26:12.293" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15463" CreationDate="2014-02-19T15:31:24.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to believe the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3933/1771&quot;&gt;spot reduction myth&lt;/a&gt;. Cable crunches and other ab work for strength and endurance will have &lt;strong&gt;no measurable effect&lt;/strong&gt; on your belly and waist flabbiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, the squat, deadlift, and overhead press are all core exercises, and quite good ones. If you're not getting enough work now, you will soon, because you're adding weight each workout. It's not possible to have a weak core and squat or deadlift heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore I recommend adding no additional core exercises to StrongLifts 5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T15:31:24.873" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15461" CreationDate="2014-02-19T17:16:23.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually workout at 12pm, take a PWO afterwards, and then lunch. It just occurred to me that I'm taking PWO 50 grams of protein + 30 in a meal in a very close proximity, and the body can probably absort only so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say that taking protein pre workout give your body an hour to digest the protein, so it reaches the body stream right then you finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any benefits in taking a PWO shake pre workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you define &lt;strong&gt;PWO&lt;/strong&gt;? Is that &lt;strong&gt;PRE-Workout&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;POST-Workout&lt;/strong&gt;? I can still provide some information, I just do not know the context of your definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are definitely taking too much protein at one time. Your body is likely convert that extra protein into fat so it can store it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits of a pre-workout shake vary with what state your body is going to be in before you get to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have not had any food for a long time, a pre-workout shake with &amp;quot;simple carbs&amp;quot; (i.e. sugar) and protein will help you not feel &amp;quot;dead&amp;quot; during your workout. You need to give the carbs time to absorb. The protein will be there simply because you have not had any in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want an energy boost, there are things like Ripped Fuel that may or may not contain protein. I think these are what most people refer to when talking about a pre-workout drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is simply to increase the amount of protein you are taking in a day, a good rule of thumb is to only take in about 20-30 grams of protein per hour, depending on your size and the kind of workout you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally always try to have a good, easily absorbed protein shake within an hour of ending my workout (contrary to comments on Christopher Bruce's answer). My personal favorite is this low calorie, low cost, whey protein isolate: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B009K6XH9Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009K6XH9Q&lt;/a&gt; It is cheaper than drinking the same amount of protein in a glass of milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T17:16:23.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-19T17:48:18.933" Score="-3" ViewCount="53339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am male (23) , i was normal like all the boys in my age group until my 16th year ,One day i felt small pain on my nipples  after that i could able to see my size of nipples increasing , And now i have almost &lt;strong&gt;2cm big puffy nipples&lt;/strong&gt;  , the weird thing here is the size of my nipple is temporarily reducing on these occasions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After bath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever i feel cold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From last month i am doing push-ups , i can notice change in chest , but no change in nipples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to this , I always have to wear any dress in top, i don't like me , please help me &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 1 :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't have man boops , My nipples are puffy  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't have any  habits like smoking , drinking , sniff and drugs &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am a pure   vegetarian and i didn't take any noticeable amount of soy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which doctor i have to consult for this problem ? a normal physician ? Skin doctor ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dear friends,&#xA;As per your advice , i visited a primary physician , he asked me to consult a general surgeon,,i did that ,Surgeon said to me that almost 10% of people have this problem , It happened  to me because of harmone imbalance.There is no cure for this by medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to get rid of this is a cosmetic surgery , which cost around 30,000 INR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this info will help many others who are all have this problem .And finally i understood that why this question is off topic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7897" LastEditorUserId="7897" LastEditDate="2014-04-22T17:58:08.187" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T17:58:08.187" Title="How to get reduce the size of my nipples?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;male&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-02-20T03:14:59.190" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15469" CreationDate="2014-02-19T18:11:01.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is probably off topic. However if what you're having is gynecomastia brought on by puberty you should talk to your doctor, instead of asking for advice on the internet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T18:11:01.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15463" CreationDate="2014-02-19T18:14:40.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the best core exercise is a prone bridge. You can also do side bridges for more emphasis on the obliques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T18:14:40.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15469" CreationDate="2014-02-19T19:19:04.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you have high estrogen/low testosterone. I'm no doctor, but you might consider looking into ways to increase your test levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you should see a doctor to determine if you really have low testosterone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will get blood work to confirm the findings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, if your doctor says you do have low test levels, you may consider finding natural solutions to the issue. But you're young so there are going to be several options. I would increase your test levels, work out, stay away from soy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how it turns out for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T19:19:04.960" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15474" CreationDate="2014-02-19T21:52:34.760" Score="2" ViewCount="7530" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware of what the report says but was advised to post the question. I am also interested in the responses more so that I can figure out how to proceed with my own gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the main draws I had to SL 5x5 was the 45 minute workout time, but now since things are getting a little tough, the rest time between heavy(relatively)sets is really drawing out the length of the workout to 1.5 hours easily. I was just advised recently by Dave Liepmann that this was normal and he also said that he changes the programming when this occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if it's &quot;time&quot; to switch to SL 3x5 even though my lifts aren't THAT high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Squat: 230 DL: 175 Bench: 185 OHP: 110 Rows: 110&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to alter the programming so I can get in and out but I'm not sure I'm at the &quot;level&quot; to be doing SL 3x5 yet? Or could I be wrong? If it's not necessary I'm willing to continue putting in the long hour at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, as far as rest times are concerned I typically don't need 5 minutes until my 4th or 5th squat, and the OHP has been incredibly hard. One day I'll pump out the sets easily and then when I go to increase the weight, the 5lb minimal increase will be extremely challenging in comparison. I'll try 2-3 minute rests but sometimes I feel that even that isn't enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a typical squat for me I'll do &lt;code&gt;final warmup-2-min-Set1-2min-Set2-3min-Set3-4min-Set4-5min-Set5.&lt;/code&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T17:53:40.747" Title="If StrongLifts takes longer should you reduce volume?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15473" CreationDate="2014-02-19T22:02:41.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The StrongLifts report, page 48, says the 5x5-to-3x5 switch often occurs around a squat of 200 pounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My own analysis of hundreds of training logs and surveys of StrongLifts Members shows that most guys usually need to switch from 5x5 to 3x5 once they hit the 200lbs mark on the Squat. Now before you fix on this number – many StrongLifts Members got way past that.... Instead of fixating on that 200lbs mark, use the deloads to figure out when to switch from StrongLifts 5x5 to StrongLifts 3x5. You should switch to 3x5 after you deload 2x on a lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you're almost, but not quite, at the point where orthodox SL says to do three work sets instead of five. (This change does not affect the warm-up sets.) But 3x5 is a fine program, and there's nothing wrong with switching now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I like workouts that last 1.5 hours. However two hours can be draining, as can 5x5. In the past I've solved this by switching to 3x5 and/or further splitting the workouts, roughly like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A: squat/pull-ups (in your case, barbell rows)/accessory work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B: deadlift/overhead press/accessory work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat. Note this breaks the A/rest/B/rest/A pattern!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two side notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it's generally not advised to take a 2-minute rest between the final warm-up and the first work set. Warm-ups are generally &lt;em&gt;bang-bang-bang&lt;/em&gt;, taking only the time necessary to switch plates. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if there's any way to make a 2.5 pound increase for the overhead press, do it. It makes progression in that lift so, so, so much easier. I filled socks with 1.25 pounds of sand and taped them closed in a loop. Other people use magnets and washers. Find a way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T22:02:41.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15461" CreationDate="2014-02-19T22:26:18.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of this myth regarding protein replacement after workouts is coming from the endurance athletic sector.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endurance workouts can run anywhere from 30 minutes to 6+ hours (With the longer workouts needing supplemental food/fluids during training to avoid complete depletion, aka &quot;the bonk&quot; {which is another very misapplied term/concept}). Once you are finished with this, you need to replace basic electrolyte stores as well as muscle glycogen and fluid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to heightened insulin sensitivity, there is a 30 minute time frame post workout where the body will most readily move nutrients into the cells for replacement. Usually an easily digested carbohydrate of some sort is recommended. Studies have been done showing that milk, with a 3:1 carbohydrate/protein ratio is ideal, and easily matches or outperforms every recovery drink on the market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you stress the muscle fibers for repair, your body generally has everything it needs to repair and improve the muscle fibers damaged during the workout. As Berin stated and answered, this is a longer process than just the hour after a workout, and can easily be supplemented by a healthy diet and protein intake over the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T22:26:18.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15477" CreationDate="2014-02-16T08:18:28.140" Score="12" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran an extremely windy half-marathon yesterday, and this got me thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In medium- to long-distance races (say 10km to a marathon), what are good strategies for dealing with strong headwind and crosswind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, would running in a pack have helped?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7891" OwnerDisplayName="NPE" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T01:10:21.337" Title="Running in strong wind" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15476" CreationDate="2014-02-18T00:28:43.307" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two main tips (note that I used to run in Wellington, NZ which is famed for both its hills and its wind).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, a headwind is basically a hill you can't see - treat it that way. Techniques like small, quick steps to preserve momentum are most useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, for a sufficiently strong wind you can draft off people. Tuck in behind someone in front and let them tack the brunt of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, I don't think a pack would have helped. Packs are about water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside, I once did the headwind trick in a race. It was the 10km of a tri and I'm very much a back-of-the-packer. I was tussling with one guy with the lead changing a lot. This was in Wellington and very windy that day so I gave up and just huddled behind him until we rounded the last headland. Then I just pulled past him and cross the line in front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" OwnerDisplayName="Sarge" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T19:37:48.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15480" CreationDate="2014-02-20T02:24:56.600" Score="4" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing interval training on a treadmill and I've realized that when I'm running at my peak,  I can either raise my thighs to go faster, or try to keep my thighs low and swing my feet forward at a faster rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I be concentrating on to ensure I can run for a longer amount of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T10:01:28.380" Title="To run faster should you concentrate on raising your thighs or keeping them low" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15478" CreationDate="2014-02-20T10:01:28.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key thing here is your cadence - the number of strides per minute you are taking. To run for a longer amount of time then as well as your fitness level being the main factor, you can help this by running more efficiently. This can be achieved by running with a high cadence and shortening your stride length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a read of &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2013/08/training/make-a-high-stride-rate-work-for-you_54957&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; about cadence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A distance running coach I've worked with in the past used to stress the technique he called 'high hips, short levers' was key to having a high cadence. In other words, keep your hips high then at the end of your stride, rapidly bring the heel of your trailing leg up to your backside and rapidly follow through with your knee ready to take your next stride. In other words, spend the least amount of time possible between your trailing leg becoming your leading leg (I know it sounds obvious but try the technique. It keeps your strides relatively short and leg speed high). In relation to your question,  this tends to lend itself to your thighs raising more but it also lends itself to your feet moving faster, so in essence, do both. Concentrate on running efficiently and you will start to  see speed and endurance results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T10:01:28.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15551" CreationDate="2014-02-20T10:38:23.967" Score="4" ViewCount="19154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm on StrongLifts 5x5 program about 4 months now. I'm not a novice to strenght training. I used to do kalisthenics (I've completed convict conditioning program), gymnastics, kettlebell RKC, marathon and half marathon running and some bodybuilding. Now I really enjoy doing SL5x5. My plan is to focus only on strenght traing (4life).&#xA;My body weight is 78kg (172lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my problem.&#xA;2 weeks ago I got squeezed by the 142.5kg (314lbs) barbell while doing squats. Nothing really bad happened because I have squat rack, but I felt a little needle pinch in my left upper belly (just under my ribs). I ignored it. But it made me think &quot;Maybe It's time to buy a powerlift belt&quot;. So I bought it. Two next trainings went pretty easy due to the belt, but the pain appeared. My last left rib was hurting really bad and worsens. I couldn't complete next training 147.5kg (325lbs) due to excessive pain and breathing problems. I should stop then, but I thought it would heal itself faster since I will be training. It was big mistake. I decided to keep going on training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three days ago (17 february 2014) I was mentally prepeared for pain and psyched up to heavy lifts. I managed to complete that day - Squat 5x5 147.5kg (325lbs), Overhead Press 5x5 70kg (154lbs), Deadlift 1x5 175kg (386lbs) and it all felt surprisingly light, like I could lift more. One minute after the training the pain was unbearable. I couldn't take deep breath, I couldn't move my left arm, I couldn't change clothes, change shoes, bend, reach, turn. When I pressed my lower left chest with my right hand, it felt like knife stab, when I've released pressure the pain was a lot worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few hours later, at home, I took Paracetamol. It didn't help. Massaging and doing warm compresses helped a little. I couldn't sleep that night due to excessive pain. Today (20 february 2014) it's a little better. I still have problems with dressing up, changing shoes, lifting bag with my left arm, reaching with my left arm and I can breathe only shallow I can't take a big deep breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to the doctor (a fat one of course) and he said I should quit lifting weight and rest (of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My plan is to take a 1 week break and after that 20% deload on all lifts&lt;/strong&gt; (whether it will hurt or not). But I'm afraid the whole story will happen again. I don't want the situation to repeat.&#xA;What should I do. I do not think the long rest (for month for example) is good.&#xA;I train to be strong and healthy not to be cripple and StrongLifts 5x5 is really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my form is good (I had previous experience). I do not use any steroids, I don't use even any supplements. Only normal simple food. I don't have any heart issues, I do not party, I don't drink any alcohol, I do not smoke. I have low body fat. I'm 173cm (5 foot 8), 72kg (172lbs) and 34 years old. I can't imagine myself not training. I train to be strong and healthy not to be cripple. What should I do. Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7906" LastActivityDate="2019-07-25T01:01:47.487" Title="Sharp rib pain after squats in StrongLifts 5x5, breathe problems" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-07-25T13:29:54.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15481" CreationDate="2014-02-20T13:54:50.110" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing that concerns me is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here is my problem. 2 weeks ago I got squeezed by the 142.5kg (314lbs) barbell while doing squats. Nothing really bad happened because I have squat rack, but I felt a little needle pinch in my left upper belly (just under my ribs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a mental picture of your upper body folding forward creating an impingement.  That impingement likely bruised your intercostal muscles thanks to the force being transferred through your rib cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's the case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have an injury that needs to heal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a form problem that needs to be fixed or you will simply keep re-injuring yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate to tell you this, but you're going to have to lay off of squats and deadlifts for about 4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use these exercises instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest supported rows 3 sets of 8-15 reps, it should start feeling light and should not hurt.  If it does you went too heavy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull downs for 3 sets of 8-15.  same comments about intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Face pulls 3 sets of 10 reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this work is to strengthen your upper back and lats so that you can better support the weight of the bar when you get back to bigger squats without the upper body collapsing forward under the weight of the bar.  When the 4 weeks is up, start with a weight that does not cause any pain whatsoever.  If you feel even the slightest twinge of pain, take weight off the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For when the injury heals, I highly recommend you get the help of a coach near you.  You can look for Starting Strength certified coaches, or gyms with a power lifting team.  There are usually one or two just about anywhere you live--you may have to drive a bit though.  Have them look at what's going on and prescribe the remedies to your squat.  It might be as simple as not having proper breath control under the bar (in fact, I would not be surprised if this was not at least a part of your problems).  There are likely other form issues that I can't diagnose from text alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T13:54:50.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15484" CreationDate="2014-02-20T14:37:26.870" Score="2" ViewCount="1051" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to live a sedentary life behind the desk. This year, I decided to change my lifestyle. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'm 6ft; I started with 236lbs on January 1st and currently weigh about 215lbs.&#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;What I do is simple: do 30 minutes of Insanity every morning and in the evening, do an hour (or thereabout) of P90X. Or just an hour of regular weightlifting (bars, dumbbells, crunches, etc); I'm not really following any specific routine.&#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, I decided to move my body as much as possible. So, I use the stairs a lot, sit upright in chairs, do crunches in chairs, and try standing on one leg at every chance I get.&#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Because my work is about an hour drive and there's usually traffic (in the mornings and evenings), I carry a 35lbs dumbbell with me, and when in traffic, I lift it or do crunches. I do this every workweek day. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I mainly do this as a way to bypass the boredom associated with staying in traffic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I currently don't feel any pain anywhere (I feel great, in fact); however, I want to know if I'm in anyway creating a problem in my body that might come bite me later. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, since muscles need time to relax and heal, does all these daily weightlifting negatively impact my body in anyway? &#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T20:40:53.083" Title="Is it okay to lift weights daily?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2014-02-20T15:16:29.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your muscles need recovery time.  However, that varies from person to person.  Person A may only be able to lift 3x a week, while Person B can lift everyday.  You should probably incorporate 2 days a week with just some light lifting (or muscle groups you don't target) and some cardio, then lift the other days.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably shouldn't lift the same muscle groups on back-to-back days either.  For instance, if you are hitting triceps/chest, you shouldn't target those groups the next day.  I like to do triceps/chest, biceps/back, rest day, traps/shoulders, legs/core, rest day, then repeat.  Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7807" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T15:16:29.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2014-02-20T16:27:10.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that in addition to regulating the muscle groups accordingly you make sure you warm up properly and stretch too, very important so you do not get hurt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise lifting weights is good for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://muscleandfitness.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscleandfitness.com&lt;/a&gt; for some good workouts and do them carefully and safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7912" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T16:27:10.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15490" CreationDate="2014-02-20T17:02:14.787" Score="-1" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently bought Whey protein supplement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I not fond of eating much. I wish to know what kinds food should I consume regularily to gain weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is Whey protein helpful in gaining weight? I also eat eggs, but those propeins are different than Whey proteins? Which proteins would be helpful in gaining weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other foods need to be eaten &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;in what proportion&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to gain weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am 5 foot 5 inches tall and I weigh 50 KG.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T07:20:04.550" Title="What food should be preferred for gaining weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-02-22T03:41:20.517" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-20T17:51:18.987" Score="2" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past 2 months I have drastically changed my eating habits.  I have gone from eating 1 or 2 meals a day of semi healthy sprinkled with cocktails, fried food, and desserts on the weekends to now eating 5 small meals concentrated around lean protein and greens.  I have also gone from not drinking anything except coffee to now consuming 50 oz of water daily.&#xA;I no longer eat out, and portion my meals out accordingly.  I understand that I need to add some physical activity to my day.  However, with such drastic changes I was expecting more than just the 5lbs I lost the first week.  Am I missing something?&#xA;I'm 44, 5'4&quot; weighing 210.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7914" LastEditorUserId="7914" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T18:18:29.823" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T19:29:28.793" Title="I've changed so much...but nothings changed" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15488" CreationDate="2014-02-20T18:07:07.197" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;5 lbs lost could be 5 lbs lost all over your body. If you're pretty overweight it's going to take much longer than 2 months for you to start seeing SIGNIFICANT(keyword) differences in composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As harsh as the reality is, I like to repeat the one thing that I read at one time that was also told to someone else: It took a long time for you to allow your body to become the way it is now(presumably overweight)and it's going to take as much time to reverse. And it won't be quick and easy. Well it might be easy depending on your point of view. But, it will never be quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general tip to overcome mental hurdles like this is to pick an activity, for example strength training, and to focus on making strength gains because this is something you can much more easily track and see progress in. It is a lot easier to let motivation dwindle when you're fixated on appearances which honestly don't change much even over 2 months unless you're already at the point where you're carb cycling and cutting drastically for competitions(and even that's just an extreme example for the average person). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you follow a program like StrongLifts 5x5 for example, which advocates 5 sets of 5 reps involving compound movements, you'll make significant progress in many different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the program requires that you start with an empty barbell for all exercises to get form down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;improving your form leads to an increase in flexibility and mobility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;additionally, starting with incredibly light weight gets your central nervous system ready to perform the lifts with proper technique without much thought later on as you begin to lift heavier weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SL 5x5 is a program where you add weight every day you lift, so you can see just from this example alone that it would be easy to make significant &quot;newb gains&quot; as they are called in a short amount of time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just doing the math shows that squatting 3 times a week and increasing the weight by 5lb each session shows you can increase your squat from 45lb(standard olympic barbell) to 225lb in theoretically 12 weeks or 3 months(hopefully I did that math right), and yes, it is possible. 225lb is a lot of weight to be moving especially if you've never squatted in your life. Focusing on stuff like this is an easy way to keep your progress moving forward instead of, as I said, being fixated on appearances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let the strength and technique come first and the appearance will follow. I hope this helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="7705" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T19:29:28.793" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T19:29:28.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15486" CreationDate="2014-02-20T18:16:37.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're not fond of eating much, it's going to be hard to gain weight. Period. You're going to have to get over that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey is no better than other kinds of protein at gaining weight. Whey is fine. Eggs are fine. But you should be focusing on eating large amounts of actual &lt;strong&gt;food&lt;/strong&gt; rather than trying to solve your problems with supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should eat food. Food that is proteiny: meat, eggs, milk, yogurt, kefir, eggs, lentils. Food that is carby: potatoes, rice, lentils. Food with good fats: olive oil, avocado, coconut. You should be eating a lot of all these things and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lifting heavy weights too&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T18:16:37.897" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15486" CreationDate="2014-02-20T19:31:08.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thinking about what proportion of food you should be eating is fine tuning.  How to gain weight? Put butter on everything and fast food.  I find consuming simple sugars (soda or tang or juice) will help me keep my appetite up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real problem is your lack of appetite.  Are you hungry a couple hour or so after you work out?  If you are not you might not be lifting heavy enough.  Is stress killing your appetite?  You need to not be stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T19:31:08.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2014-02-20T19:48:54.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had great success lifting every day. However you need to give your body time to adapt. You can't start lifting as hard as you can every day, you will only hurt yourself. Start with 4 days then slowly add another day as you get used to the stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be mindful that your diet and sleeping are on point, they become much more important when you exert yourself that often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T19:48:54.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15457" CreationDate="2014-02-21T04:24:56.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't get to where you are overnight.  Why do you think that it is possible to reverse the damage quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most dangerous things you can do to your health is to make sudden and drastic changes in your level of physical activity in an attempt to compensate for years of poor habits.  Engaging in a strenuous exercise regimen without physician supervision is a significant risk factor for acute or life-threatening injuries (e.g., stroke, heart attack).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that is not to say you should not make any changes:  clearly, you do have to break your bad habits, become more active, and improve your diet.  Push yourself, but not too hard:  lasting weight loss takes time, contrary to the reality TV messages that Americans are bombarded with on a daily basis.  Why does it take time?  Because weight loss is fundamentally about making lasting lifestyle changes, and habits are not things you can break in a month or two and consider yourself &quot;cured.&quot;  It takes &lt;em&gt;years&lt;/em&gt; of consistency to demonstrate you've overcome them, and put in their place healthier coping mechanisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is always the first thing to look at when dealing with obesity.  Eliminate--and I really do mean &lt;strong&gt;eliminate&lt;/strong&gt;, as in zero, none--&lt;strong&gt;all refined sugar&lt;/strong&gt;, especially anything that contains high fructose corn syrup.  You cannot have anything that has sugar added to it (aka cane sugar, HFCS, fructose, sucrose).  Any sugars you do eat must occur naturally in the food itself; e.g., fruits, vegetables, milk.  Absolutely NO soda, diet or otherwise.  No fruit juices!  Drink water instead.  First thing in the morning after you wake up, drink two glasses of water.  Some degree of caloric restriction is necessary, but it is difficult to do this unless you count your calories.  Cutting out carbohydrates in general (aka &quot;Atkins&quot; or &quot;Paleo&quot;) is not needed.  You can have bread and pasta--as long as it doesn't have added sugar.  Eat more &lt;em&gt;fiber&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising in a gym is actually not important in the beginning stages.  Just walking a few miles a day would be enough exertion to get you to increase your metabolism.  The mistake that a lot of people make at the beginning is that they think they need to hit the gym &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt;--but they burn out, injure themselves, and suffer pain, all the while ignoring the fact they're consuming so many calories they would need to exercise for 8 hours a day every day to offset that caloric surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you need regular medical supervision.  This process will suck at first, and you will probably feel really crappy, tired, and irritable, but that will last only a few weeks until your body adjusts.  Make it past that initial adjustment period and you will find you'll have more energy, and you will have lost weight.  Then ramp up the difficulty and walk longer distances, keep up your diet with the goal of eliminating processed foods, and your body will figure out that it needs to continually adapt by losing more and more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T04:24:56.773" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15486" CreationDate="2014-02-21T07:20:04.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For general tips on nutrition and gaining weight, see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2195/what-can-i-do-to-start-gaining-weight?rq=1&quot;&gt;What can I do to start gaining weight?&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt; or have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size-nutrition.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a sample workout/nutrition plan&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some evidence that Whey protein may be more potent than others(you can google for a paper entitled &quot;Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men&quot;, unfortunately i can only post a limited number of links)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your BMI (18.3) suggests you are slightly underweight and should indeed eat more. &#xA;Nutrition supplements like Whey and other protein shakes (By the way, Nutritional supplements specifically designed for gaining weigth are called &lt;em&gt;weight gainers&lt;/em&gt;) can &lt;strong&gt;help&lt;/strong&gt; you gain weight, but they alone will not suffice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion: Read up on the links above, but take it from me as someone who for years has had a BMI of 17.3: If you are not already doing so, you need to start working out and do some kind of physical activity. Monitor your weight and fat gain closely, make sure you gain (mostly) in muscle, not in fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR: Start eating (more and healthy!) and lifting ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7907" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T07:20:04.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-21T22:42:45.323" Score="1" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've been working on shoulders for quite some time. I often only do either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Dumbbell or barbell shoulder presses (overhead, full extension).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Wall presses or press ups (push ups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Chest and static weight holding with medicine ball out in front of chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I see no noticeable improvements in shoulder strength per se. I used to do bench presses, and it made virtually no difference either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is maybe I'm doing it wrong, so I'll demonstrate my form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to let the bar/dumbbell go down low enough for it to touch my clavicle/delts, and then push back up (no leaning back, etc.) with no jerking/momentum pushes (well, sometimes I will, but that's just for getting the most weight up for like a one-rep max).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, I either don't see any improvement in strength over doing this about once or twice a week over several weeks/months, and I'm guessing that the problem is possibly in lack of variation, perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I let the bar/dumbbell go down as far as possible, or should I stop almost near the bottom and go back up? Also, what are the best exercises for shoulder strength improvements (to increase shoulder/overhead presses, clean and jerk, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7925" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T10:59:41.907" Title="Problem with shoulder workouts" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15500" CreationDate="2014-02-22T00:44:43.210" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past week I have been eating about 200 calories a day to lose weight for a wrestling meet tomorrow. As a result I have dropped 5 pounds in the last week but do not feel at my full strength. I am 17 and weigh about 140 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I eat tomorrow after weigh ins (Exactly one hour before wrestling) to have the most strength possible and feel good during the match?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7927" LastEditorUserId="7927" LastEditDate="2014-02-22T00:54:18.203" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T08:29:46.653" Title="What to eat to gain strength in one hour to compensate for going hungry for a week?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15499" CreationDate="2014-02-22T02:29:30.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are likely to be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dehydrated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;glycogen depleted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in hyperketonemia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short term solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat sugar and other carbohydrates that are rapidly metabolized.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not eat protein or fat--it won't help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'll be exerting yourself for several hours, you should keep eating small amounts throughout that time period.  For several days after the match, you will need to eat full, balanced meals.  Needless to say I don't think that fasting for a week is a good idea, health-wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T02:29:30.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15499" CreationDate="2014-02-22T08:29:46.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My after-weigh-in package included a small grilled chicken breast and a well-cooked sweet potato with butter, eaten slowly. That worked pretty great. I also drank plenty of water, though juices would also be reasonable. Dairy would be ill-advised, as would any fried foods or other foods that give you difficulty with digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T08:29:46.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-22T12:31:40.150" Score="1" ViewCount="1204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I' m busy with my work routine and I don't have time to go to a Gym. But I want to have a ripped body. So I m thinking to buy a Total Gym product. I have seen it have no effect like a real GYM. But I don't want to be a body builder so Will it be a good exercise equipment for men ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7682" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T16:13:28.190" Title="Total Gym To Get A Ripped Body" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15502" CreationDate="2014-02-22T16:13:28.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;None of the exercise you do or the equipment you use matters for acquiring a &quot;ripped&quot; body. A ripped body is just a body that has a low percentage of body fat. You can be ripped but still be emaciated or malnourished. Of course, I am just illustrating a point to make my initial claim more clear. If you wish to lose weight you can do so by creating a caloric deficit through your diet. This means weighing foods and counting calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course doing so through diet alone will take a long time and if you're overweight will result in loose skin so typically what people do is they combine a diet with exercise. What exercise doesn't really matter but studies show that low to regular intensity cardio doesn't aid as much to the efforts as resistance training or high intensity interval training(HIIT) do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're overweight you should combine a caloric deficit with resistance training. If you have a normal BMI and aren't carrying anything like a belly or love handles and have a &quot;normal&quot; yet undefined composition and just want to get ripped you would probably benefit more from cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One important thing: you can't outrun a bad diet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T16:13:28.190" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15498" CreationDate="2014-02-22T16:20:33.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to get better at a particular exercise you'll just have to continue practicing it. This is a common colloquialism when people ask &quot;how can I improve my bench press?&quot;. More advanced lifters will say &quot;bench more&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase shoulder strength you're going to need to find the deficiency in your form or nutrition to help you overcome it or you just need to practice it more. There could be other factors involved such as your recovery, the sleep you are or are not getting, alcohol consumption, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're overhead pressing you don't want to rotate your wrists too far back. You should be keeping your knees locked because if you don't you'll find that you have a tendency to perform what is actually called a push pres which takes work away from your shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good tip for performing the overhead press is to squeeze your shoulder blades and lats back together as hard as you can and bring your elbows in front of the bar a little more. This gives you a more stable platform to push off from. Your entire body needs to be tight as well. I don't think you would get much benefit by performing accessory exercises on the lats or triceps (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;if you're not already doing them, that is&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;) that would translate over to the OHP. It's just something you're going to need to work at. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep in mind the OHP tends to be explosive but do not let momentum take over.&lt;/strong&gt; You should be bringing the bar back down below your chin to the point that you're having to pivot your head back and forth each time it travels up and down to clear the bar. The area where the bar returns to is typically referred to as your &lt;strong&gt;shelf.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good video illustrating form: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWeRuB9uWNE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWeRuB9uWNE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="7705" LastEditDate="2014-02-22T16:25:40.240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T16:25:40.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15517" CreationDate="2014-02-23T02:54:33.713" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be a long distance runner and cyclist about a year and a half or so ago (~10-15 mi/day) at 6:30 pace. Weighed 118 lbs 5'6&quot; 18 y/o male. I joined engineering school and lost that running ability, now I'm here looking for some help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently started cycling again and am wanting to become fit, but want to make sure I am eating correctly. I'm currently at about ~150 miles/wk going at about 18.5 mph to 19.4 mph for every workout. I weigh ~134 lbs 5'8&quot; 19 y/o male and am wondering what my daily caloric intake should be. My calorie calculator estimates 5.5k - 6k+ calories burned per week on my current track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know barely anything about proper nutrition and want to make sure I am getting enough protein, carbs etc to maximize my efficiency as a rider. Are there any tips anyone can give me?&#xA;Thanks a lot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7931" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T00:26:08.687" Title="Cycling, fitness and nutrition help?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15520" CreationDate="2014-02-23T05:42:30.503" Score="7" ViewCount="61016" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started exercising a month ago. I do a two hour workout starting with 20 Min of cardio and then weights. I sweat a lot, and by a lot I mean wetting the floor kind of sweat. I weigh 600-700 grams less after a workout. I keep drinking water during this, a guy from the gym told me that I should mix something like Glucose or anything else to keep the strength up for the whole session. I also feel like I am totally exhausted after the first half hour, Is that a good Idea to do ? cause I think glucose have sugar and sugar is bad. right ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4816" LastActivityDate="2018-03-01T19:34:08.183" Title="is it OK to drink glucose water during workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15523" CreationDate="2014-02-23T17:19:40.520" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know how many calories I lose per day. Tracking amount of calorie I take wouldn't be a problem if I read labels in food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how do I know how much calorie I'm loosing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the weekdays,&#xA;I ride bicycle 10 mins for home to station for train. &#xA;Then 20 mins from the train station to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;same when I come back, 20 mins then 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it is like 1 hr of bicycle ride per day. But not continuous.&#xA;I also workout but number of days are not fixed yet. It is somewhere in the range from 2-4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My BF is around 17% and I want to reach at the level of 10% by the end of June.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips of hints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastEditorUserId="2888" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T12:24:22.240" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T08:06:37.100" Title="How can I track how many calories I'm losing in a day?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15513" CreationDate="2014-02-23T17:37:57.233" Score="0" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't often go to the gym for many factors (weather, time and other matters). Although, I want to continue working out in my apartment instead. Since I'm new in working out to the gym, I am not sure what equipment I should store at home that would help me in working out. Can you advice what equipment should I buy as an alternative equipment to what I used in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Equipment I used at the Gym:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Press&lt;/strong&gt; - My room is really small, so, I can't store the bench and the barbel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt; - I use the cage and the barbel in the gym; And can't store them again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cable Row&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abdominal Crunch Machine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assisted Pull up Machine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treadmill&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of this machine are really big and expensive at the same time. I'm looking for an affordable alternatives where I can easily store them under my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6228" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T11:44:10.590" Title="Working out indoor, I need advice what equipment to use as replacement to gym equipment" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15510" CreationDate="2014-02-23T17:49:13.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sites like myfitnesspal.com (which I use) have exercise logs which you can use to track amount of calories burned. Maybe you should check one of those out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;As mentioned in @rrirower answer, food logging is equally important. Sites like www.noom.com or myfitnesspal.com have both food and exercise logging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7936" LastEditorUserId="7936" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T13:50:40.660" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T13:50:40.660" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15511" CreationDate="2014-02-23T17:59:56.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Calisthenics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you look youtube you will find loads of alternatives&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look at this for a start&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X88VqEgMpsY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Introduction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEtBsY8b5Xw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some workout alternatives for gym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also for &lt;strong&gt;Treadmill&lt;/strong&gt; you can use &lt;strong&gt;Jump Ropes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T22:31:53.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15457" CreationDate="2014-02-23T20:28:47.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a start, take a look at your diet, track the amount of calorie you intake. You need to make a diet plan, and make sure you stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can start this by avoiding &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;junk foods&lt;/a&gt;(McDonalds, KFC, BurgerKing, chips, fries, cola, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ever time you buy a food make sure you read the label. For now just keep in mind that food you  buy (per 100g) should not contain more than 10g fat and 10g added sugar. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, make sure you drink plenty of water. At least 3 litres a day. See benefits [here].&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/make-most-your-metabolism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And, the key to loosing fat is speeding up your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/make-most-your-metabolism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metabolism&lt;/a&gt;. So, make sure you eat at around 6 meals a day, about the size of a fist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure you stay active, start this by walking around half an hour a day. After you feel comfortable start jogging, you can also join a gym nearby and start working with light weights.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastEditorUserId="7916" LastEditDate="2014-02-23T20:40:37.537" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T20:40:37.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15507" CreationDate="2014-02-23T23:05:04.667" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, avoid sugar (glucose) at all times. Sugar is a bad thing for your health. There are better sources of carbohydrates. If your goal is to cut (loose fat) then the answer is NO. If you are an athlete and your goal is to improve muscle mass or endurance then sugar (and other simple cabs)  have some place in your diet. But this last doses not seem to be the case for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4889" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T23:05:04.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15507" CreationDate="2014-02-23T23:50:10.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;600-700 grams of weight loss isn't anything to be concerned about; you can easily make it up after the workout. You could go with glucose, though you don't need to replace calories for that short of a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to replenish more water, I'd recommend something with electrolytes in it. That will allow you to absorb the water more quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T23:50:10.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15505" CreationDate="2014-02-24T00:26:08.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a huge and complex question. I can share a few thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is lots of data out there on eating healthily, and following most of it will put you on the right track. In general, avoiding processed foods and refined carbs is a good idea. You can - and, in fact, should - consider refined carbs during your workouts if they are fairly long. Also, look up &quot;recovery nutrition&quot;, and follow that; how you recover has a huge impact. If you want a book, &quot;food for fitness&quot; by Carmichael, and &quot;Feed zone cookbook&quot; (I think that's the name) are good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most calorie calculators aren't very good; there are too many variables and they don't do a very good job. If you have a lot of extra money, you can get a power meter and track things that way, but honestly, that's overkill. Instead, just eat sensibly and weigh yourself every few days. If you are gaining weight, you are eating more than you need; if you are losing weight, you are eating less than you need. If you do want to reduce weight, I'd aim for a pound per week max; if you lose more it will compromise your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I would look to varying your workout so that it is faster on some days, slower on others. If you search for &quot;cycling intervals&quot;, you should find some good stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T00:26:08.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15507" CreationDate="2014-02-24T08:18:10.280" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not all sugars are the same.  Glucose is a monosaccharide, and is easily utilized by nearly all cells of the body for energy.  Fructose, also a monosaccharide, is not:  it is almost exclusively metabolized by the liver.  Excess consumption of fructose causes a variety of problems that would not occur with glucose consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sucrose (&quot;table sugar&quot; or &quot;cane sugar&quot;) is a disaccharide composed of a glucose and fructose molecule.  Similarly, lactose (milk sugar) is a disaccharide.  Polysaccharides are long-chain polymers consisting of monosaccharide units--these are found in various complex carbohydrates (e.g., starches and certain dietary fibers such as cellulose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &quot;sugar&quot; and &quot;carbohydrate&quot; are very broad terms.  If we say &quot;glucose,&quot; that is a specific molecule whose biochemistry is distinct from other simple sugars.  To say &quot;sugar is bad&quot; is a gross oversimplification.  If we're talking about refined sugars that are added to processed foods, then yes, it's best to avoid these, especially fructose.  But not only is glucose unavoidable in our diet, our own bodies synthesize glucose from non-carbohydrate foods, including fat (gluconeogenesis).  In fact, this is how our bodies &quot;burn fat.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that glucose is not harmful.  Whether your body &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt; it during exercise is another question entirely, one that depends on the duration of physical exertion and the energy demands of your activities.  If you're running a marathon, you would be ill-advised to not consume any kind of nutrition during the entire race.  If you're just running a mile or two, your body has plenty of stored energy available to do that.  Where that transition occurs also depends on the shape you're in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T08:18:10.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15524" CreationDate="2014-02-24T12:13:20.700" Score="2" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to abs exercises. I am doing this exercise &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkKCVCZe474&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8-Min Abs Workout&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;for past two days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing exercise i am feeling lot of stress in my neck and abdomen. Today i am getting neck pain (front side) while gently pressing along sides of the food pipe.&#xA; Am i doing anything wrong ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7946" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T19:30:23.607" Title="Neck Started paining after abs workout" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15510" CreationDate="2014-02-24T13:30:05.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would keep a food journal.  It's free and you can record every aspect of your nutritional intake including protein, carbs, fats, calories etc.  All that is required is that you read food labels and/or buy a calorie counter.  Knowing what you're currently consuming will allow you to plan much better than guessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T13:30:05.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15522" CreationDate="2014-02-24T13:33:54.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first impression of viewing that video was how could you not get a sore neck from that movement?  The movement shown appeared to put a lot of stress on the neck and trap muscles.  Maybe you should try supporting your neck with your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T13:33:54.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15542" CreationDate="2014-02-24T15:47:47.003" Score="2" ViewCount="1296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been growing my hair out to donate it to either &quot;Locks of Love&quot; or &quot;Pantene Beautiful Lengths&quot;.  I'd like to start &quot;re-learning&quot; how to swim so that I can take part in a sprint triathlon next year, but feel as though I'll need a swim cap.  Does anyone have any good recommendations?  I'm new to this type of equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Larry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T19:33:23.520" Title="Swim cap for men's long hair" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15525" CreationDate="2014-02-24T15:59:20.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has long hair as well. She is using just regular swimming cap and she usually do something like a bun with her hair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bun_%28hairstyle%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bun_%28hairstyle%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not a male lion, you should be ok with a regular swimming cap. You just need to use something to tight your hair to be able to put it under your cap comfortably. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6011" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T15:59:20.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15511" CreationDate="2014-02-24T17:40:50.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how big/motivated you are, you might have to modify your workout. If your room is too small for a bench, you cannot perform bench-related exercises; however, you can perform other exercises that should compensate for those. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Benchpress&lt;/strong&gt; focuses on the chest; &lt;strong&gt;pushups&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(unsure what the name is, but you lie on your back and lift dumbbells from your sides)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are alternatives. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt; can be done anywhere, with or without dumbbells. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Abdominal crunches&lt;/strong&gt; can be done on the floor. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Pull ups&lt;/strong&gt; can be done on doors.  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Treadmill&lt;/strong&gt; (to me is a waste of time); get videos such as &lt;strong&gt;Insanity&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;P90X&lt;/strong&gt; for high intensity exercises. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In this day and age, gym going isn't a necessity for staying in shape. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;And always try to read more and staying motivated :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T17:40:50.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15522" CreationDate="2014-02-24T17:43:14.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many of the exercises in that video are also available on Insanity or P90X and they are done in ways that don't put pressure on the neck. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;Modify your exercises or search for those videos and see how they are done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T17:43:14.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15522" CreationDate="2014-02-24T19:30:23.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is because you aren't really doing proper crunches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your problem is you are raising your head through your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your head is being lifted up via your hand. This is not how you should do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather, keep your head stable, and let your abs squeeze and do the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, is how you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKmrqcoCZ-M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to do proper crunches&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See how the tension is constantly on abs and head is always stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T19:30:23.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15498" CreationDate="2014-02-24T23:26:37.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chirstopher’s answer is great.  I will just add a couple of my thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that might be holding you back are muscle groups other than your shoulders and triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core strength – is your core strong enough that that you don’t shake or wiggle around when overhead pressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back strength –a common muscle imbalance that I see in lifters is that the pressing (bench / overhead) is much stronger than there pulling (rows, pull-up, chin ups.)  This can be caused by the muscle imbalances inherent in all new lifters and the over emphasis on the pressing exercises.  This will limit your ability to control the weight when it is over your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T23:26:37.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15536" CreationDate="2014-02-25T10:11:13.417" Score="7" ViewCount="45602" Body="&lt;p&gt;My father is over 60 years old and now retired due to problems with his eyesight (amblyopia, glaucoma, cataract). Other than that he's always been fairly healthy and active. However I am concerned because since the retirement he tends to just lay in bed all day (we live in the same apartment and based on my observations I'd guess he spends at least 18 hours in bed on average). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to find out more about the situation in question. What are the possible effects of this? I'm having a hard time finding respectable sources because &quot;bedridden&quot; does not seem to be a correct term here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7953" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T21:44:15.863" Title="What happens when you tend to lay in bed all day?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15534" CreationDate="2014-02-25T17:21:36.523" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are asking about the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.  This is certainly related to physical fitness, or rather a lack thereof, contrary to what some of my fellow members here feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of physiological adaptations that will result from too much inactivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to say that our bodies are built to be as lazy as possible.  Efficiency is the driving force behind survival-if you're not going to use muscle, why spend energy maintaining it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The effects of inactivity are &lt;em&gt;wide&lt;/em&gt; and very &lt;strong&gt;detrimental&lt;/strong&gt; to health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your father is going to experience the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased Muscle Mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased Immune System function&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased Bone Density&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased Oxygen Consumption (VO2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now keep in mind that all the said functions are intertwined with each other-the effects experienced from inactivity go &lt;em&gt;far deeper&lt;/em&gt; than most people realize.  There are a myriad number of effects that I'm not listing, both because I don't know them all (no one does), and that the human body's system is so well tied together that it's hard to pinpoint any one thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real killer is that last one.  Because your father isn't placing a load on his systems to sustain life, his ability to consume oxygen is going to drop.  This is an adaptation to his inactivity.  Why would the body want to spend more energy maintaining what isn't used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the time comes to move and labor intensely, it's going to be that much harder for his heart and lungs to adapt.  This is where the risk lies in contracting any sort of cardiac condition (especially heart attack).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also why so many elderly die when shoveling their driveways.  By decreasing his muscle mass, he's also decreasing his ability to move, and therefore increasing his risk for breaking bones, because there's not enough muscle to counteract imbalances.  This doesn't include decreased sensitivity to insulin (prediabetes or diabetes).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also is why many people die soon after breaking a hip-they're too inactive, so they have no muscle, and in turn they fall and break a hip.  They're now bedridden.  Because their VO2 is so low and decreases even further, their heart eventually fails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your (and your father's) body was not designed to take it easy all the time.  It was designed to work-and work efficiently.  Our bodies were designed &lt;em&gt;to strive&lt;/em&gt; towards being lazy, but &lt;strong&gt;not actually be lazy&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he wants to live longer, he has to move.  That's the bottom line.  He's going to die if he doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T17:21:36.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11689" CreationDate="2014-02-25T19:29:06.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Increase the duration and reduce the number of days; that should give you the most result, just like in any other exercise. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You'll build endurance and burn more fat this way. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T19:29:06.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-25T19:46:57.333" Score="3" ViewCount="1768" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at exrx for the Dumbell Front Squat, it says &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBFrontSquat.html&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Preparation&#xA;  Stand with dumbbells grasped to sides. Clean dumbbells up to shoulders so side of each dumbbell rests on top of each shoulder. Balance dumbbells on shoulder by holding on to dumbbells with elbows flaring outward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having trouble lifting the dumbbells without arching my back, which seems unsafe.&#xA;Does anyone have any advice or experience with how to &quot;clean&quot; the dumbbells up to the shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7517" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-02-26T20:48:24.777" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T20:48:24.777" Title="Dumbell Front Squat - preparation - how to get the dumbells up with good form" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15538" CreationDate="2014-02-25T21:11:49.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its always important to have good form while you do Squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already have proper form and have no problem doing squats with barbells, then you can try this with dumbell. But I'd still suggest using barbell with weights to do squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can try is, first sit on bench, then have each dumbells above your thighs, like in the image below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xtaEB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are in this position, you can push the weight with your thigh while also lifting the weight with your hand above your shoulders. The push motion you generate from legs should give momentum to lift the weight. You can then stand up and do your squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same, can be done while doing heavy shoulder presses, if you are facing problem of lifting the weight initially above your shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T21:11:49.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15538" CreationDate="2014-02-25T22:38:18.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should get the dumbbells in place by using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/DBHangClean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbbell hang power clean, described here on exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;. The back remains locked in a neutral, naturally arched or flat position during the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, you should figure out a way to squat with a barbell. One's squat is naturally greater than one's clean, and a dumbbell squat doesn't take long to become challenging in ways that are not useful in the ways that squatting is supposed to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T22:38:18.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15538" CreationDate="2014-02-26T00:25:05.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally, I'm a big fan of dumbbells, however this might be a point where you might consider switching to barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I suggest is if you have access to 40lb and 45lb dumbbells, I'm assume you are at a gym. As such, I assume you probably have access to a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While dumbbells are great for addressing imbalances, especially in upper body lifts, there is less carry over for lower body lifts. Depending on your circumstances there are two possible options for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Investigate barbells&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When holding the dumbells, your arms are going to be doing the majority of the stabilsation work, however they will be fixed to your hips. Similarly, the major muscles in the squat are working to push the hips up, and less stabilisation will be required by these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless you have a particular reason against switching to a barbell, which will likely be easier and safer to handle at this weight, that might be and alternative option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Try a different exercise&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't access a barbell, look at what other exercises might fit your needs. People often overlook single-leg squats or similar alternatives that allow you to still work your legs with leg weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An excellent option is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/bulgarian_split_squats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bulgarian Split Squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, while not a completely uni-lateral exercise, it gets many of the benefits of them single.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence, you stand in front of a bench, with one foot resting on the bench, while you squat with the other upright leg. Perform for the desired lot of sets and switch legs. The benefits of this exercise over dumbbell front quats include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since you hang your arms to your sides, you don't need to raise them into position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improved progression potential, as you move less weight. Since its a near single-leg movement, don't be surprised if you drop to 50-60% of the weight you were move previously.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excellent stabilisers training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Short exercise times, since one leg is &amp;quot;resting&amp;quot; while the other is working, you reuqire less gaps between sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T00:55:15.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15525" CreationDate="2014-02-26T02:41:49.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swim Outlet has a nice &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimoutlet.com/guides/how-to-choose-a-swim-cap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;discussion on swim caps&lt;/a&gt;.  Different swim cap materials for swimming include: latex, silicon or neoprene. For water jogging or water aerobics where your face and head are not necessarily in the water, they suggest that a lycra cap is cooler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For medium or long hair they recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have medium to long hair, then a silicone cap will suit you best. Silicone caps outlast their latex counterpart, are more tear resistant, and don't tug at your hair. Typically softer to the touch, a silicone cap is gentler on the hair and easier to get on and off after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For open water swims, they suggest bright colors to help make you more visible.  They also suggest that neoprene and silicone caps give more &quot;insulation and floatation&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any sensitivity or are allergic to latex, be sure to opt for an alternate material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T02:41:49.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15543" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-26T06:24:24.083" Score="0" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually run for an hour in hot weather every Saturday (I'm in the tropics, so it's usually 30 degrees or above, with around 90% humidity). I weigh myself before and afterwards, and usually I'll lose about a kilo in weight in that time - which I assume is mostly water - I sweat like a pig.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Currently I'll drink about 600 ml of water while running, plus another 400 ml when I'm done, so I guess I'm actually losing about 2 kilos through dehydration during that hour.  I weigh about 75 kg, so that's roughly 2.5% of my body weight that I've lost in that time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The people I run with don't drink &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; while running. They're possibly better habituated to the environment than I am (mostly locals, while I've only been out here for a couple of years) - what could I do to reduce my fluid intake while I'm running? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7483" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T14:30:56.397" Title="Training to not drink in hot weather" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15549" CreationDate="2014-02-26T07:14:16.243" Score="4" ViewCount="2798" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't work out with a partner and I don't want to, so that's not an option. Is there a general method I can use to check my own form during moves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me this is specifically about bodybuilding exercises, but I suppose the same would apply for other exercises as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7963" LastActivityDate="2018-09-22T03:06:17.893" Title="How do I check my own form doing weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15543" CreationDate="2014-02-26T10:16:33.677" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about reducing my water intake during a run in hot weather. Just because your fellow runners don't drink anything doesn't mean it is a good idea for you (or them). Particularly under the conditions you are describing I would recommend you keep drinking water. It will help you perform better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the weight loss during the run: are you using a medical scale? If not, do no trust the numbers. If you want to track that, weigh several times. To give you an example of what a non-medical scale can do against you, I tracked my weight every morning when awaking for nearly a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that often stepping off then on would vary by half to a full kilo, sometimes more. If I moved the scale a few inches I could get the same effect. I could weigh, go back to bed for twenty minutes, then weigh again and suddenly &quot;gain&quot; weight - to the tune of 2% or more of my bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, the first barometer to use is how you feel. If you cut back on the water does your performance suffer? How does your recovery change, if at all? In every group I've been in  (in and out of the military) where significant physical activity took place in hot conditions (dry or humid), those who hydrated performed and recovered better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go with recording your metrics, adding subjective such as how you felt during and after the run for a baseline of two weeks. Then increase by 50% and repeat for two weeks. Then go 50% below baseline for another two weeks. Then compare how each phase worked for or against you. From there make changes and track the results until you arrive at what seems to be optimal for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T10:16:33.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15599" CreationDate="2014-02-26T12:03:29.347" Score="0" ViewCount="828" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train a lot every week and sometimes after a very intensive training, when I hold my breath, I start to become dizzy. I did that about 3 times in the past, and the last time I did it I completely passed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was quite scarry, mainly because I never passed out before. Is this an extreme case of something like thumb-tripping enhanced by the intensive training? Or is there something wrong with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Needless to say, I haven't repeated it since then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also, I become dizzy after 10 seconds, but in normal conditions I can hold my breath over 2 minutes...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7964" LastEditorUserId="7964" LastEditDate="2014-02-26T12:11:14.627" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T20:04:11.190" Title="passing out when holding breath" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2014-08-10T15:51:08.163" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15544" CreationDate="2014-02-26T13:29:21.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try using mirrors.  That's what we did in the &quot;old&quot; days before video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T13:29:21.767" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15543" CreationDate="2014-02-26T14:30:56.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why would you want to cut your water intake? The sweating is your body attempting to shed heat and cool itself. If you deliberately cut your water intake, you are short circuiting your cooling efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you are not only losing water weight. You are also using up glycogen, which has a weight to it. An hour run is long enough you will see a significant change in your weight due to both water and glycogen use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get more adapted to the climate, your need for water may diminish as a natural consequence, but don't try to force the issue. You may just end up introducing heat exhaustion/stroke instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T14:30:56.397" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15544" CreationDate="2014-02-26T15:10:53.173" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short of getting coached directly, the best tool for the job is taking video.  There are a number of digital video recorders that have at least an hour of video available on the device.  When you are training by yourself, you want a video recorder that can stable enough for you to stand up and trust that it won't fall over while you are lifting.  You may need a mini tripod if that's going to be difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You won't be able to get your full body in the shot, so decide what's the most critical part and position the camera so you will capture that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Experiment and find the best angle and distance to capture the video.  You might be constrained by the environment (i.e. where equipment is placed, high traffic areas, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Review the video after every set.  It should at least tell you if you are getting deep enough on squats, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the training is done, take the video off the device and do a bit of post processing.  At the very simplest, you'll want to remove all the dead time.  There's even some free software that can help you analyze your movement patterns called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kinovea.org/&quot;&gt;Kinovea&lt;/a&gt;.  There's a pretty steep learning curve with that, but you'll be able to tell if the bar is moving in a straight line, and it will help you understand where you need to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never train with a partner either, mostly due to logistics.  However I've found that using video, I can see and correct things myself, and my coach who is in another state can review my technique and progress.  He's been able to identify supplemental work I needed to do to enable better technique at some of my lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T15:10:53.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15546" CreationDate="2014-02-26T18:55:39.617" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same thing happens to me when I haven't eaten or slept properly before a strenuous lifting session. It will also happen to me when working with heavy singles. The only trick I've found to deal with the light-headedness is to take very quick, shallow breaths and try not to move. This trick also works for me when doing clean&amp;amp;jerk if I have to pause after the clean and before I attempt the jerk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T18:55:39.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15481" CreationDate="2014-02-26T19:32:26.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have dealt with this exact same injury (on the left side).  I stopped doing all squats and dead-lifts for 2 month and waited for it to be back to 100%.  Berin answer is spot on from my experience. During the 2 month hiatuses I focused on chest supported rowing, (non-chest supported rowing like bent rows caused a similar pain to squatting) LAT pulls, chin up, and more abdominal work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used the 2 month to focus on my overhead lifts and made more gains in the 2 month than the previous 6.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T19:32:26.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15552" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15819" CreationDate="2014-02-26T22:22:15.147" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Underwent a gait analysis for a sports conditioning class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We found that my gait is &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; too long/wide.  I'm heel striking like it's going out of style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rear leg is consistently way too far back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, I am not bringing up the forward leg high enough or fast enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My upper body is also too tight, but that's not what I'm primarily concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also supinate too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We plan on undergoing drills and other training modalities to fix these types of errors, but I wanted to ask here to get more input:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already regularly resistance train, but what can I focus on strengthening to counteract these multiple errors, and why?  I also suspect I have inflexibility (earlier testing, not related to running), but this wasn't immediately obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T02:24:09.190" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T00:50:36.110" Title="Any input on fixing running form with resistance training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15554" CreationDate="2014-02-27T01:31:23.700" Score="1" ViewCount="674" Body="&lt;p&gt;This Monday I squat a PR of 245lb for 3x5 and honestly felt great doing it. Today was a total disaster. This past weekend I loaded up on carbs from breads(and had other foods, hamburgers a couple of times, angus meat home cooked of course) and today I had a lot of chicken split between 2 meals before I went to lift at 5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping that maybe if I give enough information about what happened between monday and today, someone might be able to point me in the direction of why I couldn't even squat 245lb without struggling insanely on the 2nd rep, and even going back down to 240 wasn't easy either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is one major thing that might be playing a part in this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ever since I came back from a 2 week vacation my deadlift just sank. I deloaded and asked you guys for advice and adjusted my form to &quot;squeeze&quot; the bar against my body. This has greatly improved my form and kept everything tight but I also feel like it hit my hips HARD because this is probably the first time I'd done a deadlift and actually used my hips more to lock out instead of anything else. I deadlifted 195lb on this previous monday with my 245 squat using the squeeze method. Today when I went to squat my hips were feeling pretty sore and tight. I did my warm up sets of 45x2, 100x5, 150x3, and 200x2. I was also playing around with form a little today. I kept my stance width the same and pointed my feet in a little more and tried to open up my hips a bit. I also was going for a low bar squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible factor might include sleep on monday and tuesday. I had coffee around 6-7pm but had no issues getting to sleep. However, I understand that even if you can get to sleep while under the influence of caffeine that receptors in your brain are still haywire and this prevents you from getting GOOD sleep. Other than that my diet has been the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T07:54:38.193" Title="Total weakness in squats today. What does this mean? Not enough rest? Bad food choices? Etc" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15553" CreationDate="2014-02-27T07:54:38.193" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My checklist, roughly in order, of what to look for when I have a bad workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food.&lt;/strong&gt; Am I hungry? Was I hungry yesterday? Did I eat enough protein after my last lifting session? Did I eat enough carbs today? Have I been eating enough fats the past few days? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other exercise.&lt;/strong&gt; Was my warm-up really long today, or did I muck with the order I do my lifts? Did I go to judo last night? Did I go for a jog this morning? Did I finally fix my front squat shoulder position/deadlifting pattern/back squat stance, which could stimulate greater demand on my recovery? (This is what I think happened to you here.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep.&lt;/strong&gt; How has the last week of sleep been? It's cumulative, so just last night isn't enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress.&lt;/strong&gt; Am I pressured at work? Did I have a tiff with my lady friend? Is my friend Bill going through tough times and I'm distracted thinking about it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Luck.&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes we just don't know the reason for bad workouts. They just happen. In these instances I let Ecclesiastes 9:11 comfort me:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I returned, and saw under the sun that the race goes not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but that time and chance happeneth to them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T07:54:38.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T10:14:15.753" Score="0" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming back from a car crash injury, was going to the gym a lot but had dropped deadlifts, recently re added to routine on light weights just as I know they are essential. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The injury was me shattering my kneecap, been advised to do leg extensions and things to strengthen my leg, however my gym does not have the leg machine. Find squats easy currently&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two questions for you all:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1: I did a light set two days ago (3x5 @70kg) on my upper day, Today I am doing lower, with squats, Should I do another light set of deads today on lower?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: I did them the other day, and since them my metabolism seems to have gone through the roof, after one set is this correct? I usually drink 3 x 2L bottles of water over the space of work and the day, I find that my body feels always thirsty and that I want to consume them a lot quicker. (Not diabetic, blood sugar of 3.1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7969" LastEditorUserId="7969" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T11:17:08.127" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T20:05:05.487" Title="Coming back from injury, advise on deadlifts" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15555" CreationDate="2014-02-27T11:30:34.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you feel you could squat then I see no issues. Obviously best to be careful with your knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No problem deadlifting twice a week either as far as I'm concerned, it all boils down to your recovery capacity (nutrition and recovery). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7970" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T11:30:34.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T13:12:30.870" Score="1" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hit the gym yesterday after I found a &quot;3 day split&quot; routine which I feel like it sounds good, but I want to ask whether should I do like, what I know as general/full body training for certain period of time-could be two weeks to a month-before I set my self to follow that routine..&#xA;or Just follow the routine and I would be fine &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is the routine workout to check it &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jcdfitness.com/jcdfitness-beginners-muscle-building-routine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.jcdfitness.com/jcdfitness-beginners-muscle-building-routine/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and also this one, but now I follow the former: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/the-beginner-weight-training-workout-routine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/the-beginner-weight-training-workout-routine/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7972" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T00:35:39.397" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T03:51:34.673" Title="Do I need to do a full body routine before I follow beginners' routines" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T15:27:12.370" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 5'10, 160lbs I was an athletic build.  After I started rock climbing 6 months ago (4 hrs every other day with hard training ie sit ups, push ups, campus board...) I jumped to 170lbs in the first month with noticeable muscle mass increase.  In the past three months I am down to 155lbs with visible abs and even more muscle definition/mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This prompted me to take a look at my caloric intake vs output and I found soemthing that may be of concern.  According to many online calculators they gave me a result of 3800-4200 calories burned for 1 hr hard cycling per day and 4hrs rock climbing with training and all the normal daily tasks like walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After inputting the food I eat( all extremely healthy, no processed, almost gluten free and vegan except for eggs), the calculators say I consume 1600 calories!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the ramifications of having such a low intake to output ratio?  Can this be sustained? If not how does one fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7440" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T16:03:10.173" Title="Risks of having a low caloric intake and high activity" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15559" CreationDate="2014-02-27T16:03:10.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lack of energy/motivation or general fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle/strength loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hormone imbalance/low testosterone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two fixes which come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;decrease activity level (# of days of activity or # of hours per session)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increase cals to around maintenance (+200 or -200 should be a good range)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally #2 sounds like the more attractive option, it's not that hard (even for a vegan) if you add in extra virgin olive oil, nuts/seeds, avocados, almond/coconut milk, and by drinking a caloric sports drink during training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't rely too heavily on the online calculator, just do a weekly weigh-in (preferably at the same time of day, e.g. first thing in the morning), see what the difference is, adjust what you're eating accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be patient and pay close attention to how you feel; it may take a while to find the right energy balance to support your level of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7066" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T16:03:10.173" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15575" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:49:15.450" Score="2" ViewCount="1251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im currently on starting strength, been doing it since the 3rd week of December (prior to that Ive been doing some dumbbell lifting, which was from October to November). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat is at 155lbs Deadlift at 175lbs Bench at 115lbs Overhead press at 90lbs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive made what I think are significant advances to my lifts but have injured myself a bit from time to time because of terrible form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive managed to fix some of my form issues for the past 3 weeks but have found that while I continue to relearn the lifts by fixing form, I struggle to handle the increasing lift load demanded by the program. Im unsure if its because of my diet or just my form (I believe its both though) that I struggle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, to cut to the chase, I want to do SS again by resetting my weights (i.e. starting with just 45lbs for all exercises) for a month and then moving up to my current PRs again, this time with proper form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However Im unsure of what might happen to my PRs and my muscle gains if I do this. But I really feel this deload is crucial for me to move forward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im planning to continue my IF with a 4 hr feeding window, and then doing a -30% on rest days while maintenance on training days. The reason behind the deficit is because Ive recently upped my bf% to around 16% and would like to at least go down to 12% in 2 months or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr: Would deloading for a week to fix form issues work for me or would it be counter productive? I will do -30% cals on rest days and maintenance on training days since Im at around 16% bf and would like to be at 12% bf in 2 months time with intermittent fasting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T15:26:48.330" Title="Would deloading for a month in order to help fix my lifting form ultimately detrain me?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15563" CreationDate="2014-02-27T18:09:44.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For one thing, I don't think a single week is going to do much for either your form or your overall fitness. So short answer: no, deloading for a week isn't going to make you measurably weaker. But I'm not sure this solves your problem, fixing technical issues is a long term project (read: forever). There will always be something with your technique you'd like to fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T18:09:44.333" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15563" CreationDate="2014-02-27T20:29:57.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you truly injured? If you are get better and then get back to lifting. Otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I reset my weights for a month? &#xA;No, not if you are following the plan in starting strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read starting strength and it says nothing about a novice lifter de-loading for a month to practice your form.  If you are only 2 month into a progressive overload regimented and you are not getting stronger every work out you need to look at your sleep, food, and hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get your 3x5 on the bench press at 115lb what weight are you doing next session?  120lb or 125lb.  That would be a huge jump.  In starting strength they would advocate moving up by 2lb.  Does your gym have 1lb weights? Use them.  If not wedge some 1lb dumbbells that the aerobic classes use under the clips or go to Walmart and buy 2 1lb dumbbells and bring them to the gym with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don’t get ahead of yourself.  Putting 5lb on your lifts a month is good progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T20:29:57.707" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15552" CreationDate="2014-02-28T00:41:42.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try taking your shoes off. Or, probably better, buying some zero-drop, low-stack-height shoes (the Merrell Vapor Glove is my personal favorite). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will provide immediate feedback on over-striding and the accompanying heel-striking because it will hurt. As you build up strength in your feet, ankles, and calves, it will probably also help with the excessive supination. Also, stubbing the ball of your foot on sidewalk cracks, curbs, etc. a few times will also help with getting your feet high enough off the ground fast enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT: please don't expect to keep whatever volume of running you're currently doing if you do switch to barefoot running or running in minimalist shoes. Start off &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; small and work your way up &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; slowly. It will take longer than you might think to build your atrophied foot architecture up to the appropriate level of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T00:41:42.703" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15558" CreationDate="2014-02-28T03:51:34.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have found a routine that meets your goals - be those strength, aesthetics, endurance or just one that interests you - there is nothing that says you can't go straight into that program, &lt;em&gt;if you do it safely&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start at a low weight, focus on form, and gradually increase the weight in accordance with your routines programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no reason not to start a program if you can do it constantly, in a controlled manner for a enough time to see the required changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While some programs may be more optimal for some goals, if you are unable or unwilling to do them as prescribed for whatever reason, they will be less suitbale than a program you can follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T03:51:34.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15570" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-28T06:21:48.250" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_factors_and_ergonomics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term ergonomics, from Greek ἔργον, meaning &quot;work&quot;, and νόμος, meaning &quot;natural laws&quot; first entered the modern lexicon when Polish scientist Wojciech Jastrzębowski used the word in his 1857 article Rys ergonomji czyli nauki o pracy, opartej na prawdach poczerpniętych z Nauki Przyrody (The Outline of Ergonomics; i.e. Science of Work, Based on the Truths Taken from the Natural Science).[4] The introduction of the term to the English lexicon is widely attributed to British psychologist Hywel Murrell, at the 1949 meeting at the UK's Admiralty, which led to the foundation of The Ergonomics Society. He used it to encompass the studies in which he had been engaged during and after World War II.[5]&#xA;The expression human factors is a North American term which has been adopted to emphasise the application of the same methods to non work-related situations. A &quot;human factor&quot; is a physical or cognitive property of an individual or social behavior specific to humans that may influence the functioning of technological systems. The terms &quot;human factors&quot; and &quot;ergonomics&quot; are essentially synonymous.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_factors_and_ergonomics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Several international standards, such as ISO 6385, treat the terms ergonomics and human factors as synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T09:10:19.987" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T09:10:19.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15571" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-28T06:21:48.250" Score="0" Body="Ergonomics is concerned with human anatomy, and some of the anthropometric, physiological and bio mechanical characteristics as they relate to physical activity." OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T09:10:15.283" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T09:10:15.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15578" CreationDate="2014-02-28T14:21:58.443" Score="1" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the StrongLifts report there's a section where the author discusses being able to easily run and jog with moderate endurance if you can squat heavy weight such as 300lb. But I don't buy it. I am sure he is not the only one to have purported this but I'm curious as to if there's any truth to it, given a subject who has never trained in any type of running, and if there's not how people simply believe it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T17:01:51.727" Title="Where does the myth come from that doing heavy squats means you have high cardiovascular endurance?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16011" CreationDate="2014-02-28T15:19:22.777" Score="3" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;What benefits, if any, does Glutamine have on an experienced athlete? Given that the athlete has a balanced diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In past research, mostly based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;examine.com&lt;/a&gt;, I have come to the conclusion that Glutamine does not have any significant benefits on exercise performance on an individual. Given that this individual is an experienced, healthy athlete who has a balanced diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Glutamine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine.com's Glutamine Article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently though I was told thought that this is not true. The person that told me I was incorrect was basing his argument on information he had read in a textbook on nutrition. I have never been able to get a completely confident answer. That being said, I am looking for answers that are backed by scientific information and verified and unbiased sources. Meaning, I am not looking for the first article on Glutamine from bodybuilding.com. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T21:04:09.520" Title="Is supplementing with Glutamine beneficial to exercise performance?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;l-glutamine&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15563" CreationDate="2014-02-28T15:26:48.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you absolutely can't do the required reps with good form I'd argue that you're not truly following the program. It's not &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; about lifting X weight for Y sets of Z reps, you also have to be doing the lifts correctly and safely. The weights you're lifting aren't big enough right now that I'd expect it to have an effect on your form, so the likely answer is that you haven't yet learnt to do them correctly (not surprising, this can take a lot of time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your form is definitely incorrect, and you definitely can't fix that while continuing to increase the weight, you need to stop increasing the weight - or even deload - while you fix that. Poor form means you're more likely to get injured, especially as the weight on your lifts goes up. It's also generally easier to do the lifts with heavier weights when you're using good form, so there are still gains to be had from fixing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easier to learn to do them correctly now, even if that means you're not necessarily increasing the weight you lift each session, than it is to fix bad habits later or recover from an injury caused by poor form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if it's just a matter of &lt;em&gt;struggling&lt;/em&gt; to do the required reps with good form, but you are able to do them while keeping your form correct, then that's nothing to worry about. It's expected that you won't necessarily find it to be a breeze, and that the rate at which you're increasing the weight will begin to exceed the strength gains you're actually making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5547" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T15:26:48.330" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15574" CreationDate="2014-02-28T15:31:37.213" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's really nothing worth supplementing except for creatine which even that in itself doesn't have awesome out of this world results. Okay, to be fair, it can give pretty decent results and it has an actual effect that isn't just placebo. And you can literally feel it. But the extent to which it helps is maybe 1 or 2 extra reps. Unless you know you're actually deficient(such as taurine which can cause muscle cramps while lifting) in something I wouldn't bother worrying about it. Most of these products just want to be sold to you, that's all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T15:31:37.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15032" CreationDate="2014-02-28T15:34:41.757" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question specifically: it doesn't matter. Studies show that the average amount of protein taken in over a given period of time(days, weeks)is what matters far more than getting your whey in before or after. The body does not really become magically more efficient at using protein after a workout. As long as you're hitting your daily intake spread out amongst reasonable servings(instead of trying to consume 80g of protein all at once)each day you'll be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remember the 80/20 rule. 80% of the results actually come from 20% of the things that matter.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 1 hour post workout window is actually a thinly substantiated myth. If you ACTUALLY want to focus on getting your protein in after a work out then just make sure you get it in at some point in the following 24 hours. I'm not kidding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://easacademy.org/research-news/article/enhanced-amino-acid-sensitivity-of-myofibrillar-protein-synthesis-persists-for-up-to-24-h-after-resi&quot;&gt;http://easacademy.org/research-news/article/enhanced-amino-acid-sensitivity-of-myofibrillar-protein-synthesis-persists-for-up-to-24-h-after-resi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good reason dispelling some myths:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_nutrition/the_top_10_post_workout_nutrition_myths&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_nutrition/the_top_10_post_workout_nutrition_myths&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T15:34:41.757" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15573" CreationDate="2014-02-28T16:56:32.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anaroebic training does have a positive effect on VO2, or oxygen consumption.  The body adapts in this way for a few reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, intravascular pressure increases during heavy lifts, like when performing squats.  Because you have to hold your breath (pretty much) and engage your core, your cardiovascular system responds by increasing blood pressure and increasing the force of the contraction of the left ventricle of the heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This results in hypertrophy of the walls of the heart.  The official condition is called athlete's heart.  This can be bad when extreme (poor electrical conduction of the heart) but problems are rare for most.  It's natural and beneficial for most-only a problem if you have a defect or dangerously high cholesterol levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body responds to aerobic training in a similar manner, although the hypertrophy of the heart isn't as drastic (more likely with sprinters or short distance runners). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now both types of athletes' bodies have adapted to the overload being placed on the body-it's just a question of how much, and what systems are responding more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that lifter going to be as good as that runner at running a 5K, if all he does is lift?  No.  But he'll certainly be better off than someone who doesn't exercise at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, that runner isn't going to be able to lift as much, but he'll certainly be better off (cardiovascularly speaking anyway) than a beginning athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that I'm limiting the answer to just the cardiovascular system adaptations for simplicity's sake.  There's always more going on!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should finish off by saying that one must consider what &quot;high endurance&quot; really means.  High endurance to a lifter is much different than high endurance to a marathon runner.  Remember that our energy systems were built to allow for long distance running (aerobic glycolysis, sweating)-the limitations lie in not knowing where your lactate threshold is (in other words, knowing how to pace yourself), and mechanical inefficiencies (bad form, poor musculoskeletal structure, lack of nutrients).  Anybody can run for miles if they know how to pace themselves and are generally healthy.  It's how our ancestors hunted after all-keep that in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T17:01:51.727" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T17:01:51.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15574" CreationDate="2014-02-28T17:08:24.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;L-Glutamine is used to prevent (or limit) Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It is also used by the body's immune system as an energy source. So in taking it on a regular basis you should find that you are less susceptible to catching colds etc. and you shouldn't feel too sore if you are, say, doing heavy weight work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is from my own experience of heavy weight training and working in an open office environment (with people and their germs!). For me, I would not be without it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of scientific articles out there. I'm not an expert (most of us here are not) so cannot give you a detailed response to how exactly it works, but from my own experience it is worth taking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T17:08:24.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15590" CreationDate="2014-02-28T17:14:38.247" Score="1" ViewCount="1606" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing squats with a light weight (25% of max) I find no problem, but once I go to 50% of max (barbell i.e. not in a smith machine) and get to my third set of 20, I feel a dull pain in my lower back at the insertion point for the hamstrings. It's not my muscles that cause me to stop, it is this pain. Working at a higher weight is the same, so it appears to be fatigue.&#xA;Going to the leg press machine (sat down) there is no pain in the lower back at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had thought that tight hamstrings might be the cause of this, given where the pain is, but can anyone give me some advice as to how I can be certain? Or what I can do to alleviate this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T15:18:28.343" Title="Lower back pain during heavy squats" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15628" CreationDate="2014-02-28T19:05:19.660" Score="1" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that when I am running at race or tempo pace (between 5:30/mile and 7:00/mile) I find it easy to engage into good form and settle into comfortable running. However when I slow it down towards easy run pace (circa 8:00/mile) I find it hard to keep up good form. I tend to find myself slouching and I generally feel uncomfortable, tense and end up with lower back pain and the run ends up feeling laborious rather than easy. If I consciously make an effort to run with good form I just end up speeding up and ending up back at tempo pace which completely defeats the point of an easy run. Does anyone have any tips on how I can keep good form and still maintain easy run pace? Are the any techniques I could adopt etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T17:54:37.610" Title="Poor form at lower pace" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15434" CreationDate="2014-02-28T20:16:36.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a podiatrist, who said that I have unusually high arches. He suggested I look for even higher arch support inserts and to come back for custom orthotics if those don't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked him about plantar fasciitis specifically. He described the pain that condition causes as a sharp, intense pain near the back of the foot that's most noticeable when you first wake up but goes away somewhat throughout the day. In contrast, my pain is a sharp ache in middle of the bottom of my foot, in the middle of my arch. So it looks like instead of having plantar fasciitis, I just don't have proper arch support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7866" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T20:16:36.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-28T22:48:48.817" Score="1" ViewCount="600" Body="&lt;p&gt;What to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when squatting without weight, I just  feel like the quads are doing 99.8% of the work. Lately I've been having some discomfort while squatting with higher weights. Is there a way to   target specifically those muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7983" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T15:00:33.633" Title="Next to no glute / hamstring activation when squatting" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15588" CreationDate="2014-02-28T23:07:06.460" Score="1" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following a random weightloss/fitness plan since January 1st and it seemed to be working. I started with &lt;strong&gt;236 lbs&lt;/strong&gt; and by the first week of February, my weight fluctuated around &lt;strong&gt;215 lbs.&lt;/strong&gt; I also lost about &lt;strong&gt;6 inches&lt;/strong&gt; off my waist. My weight goal is &lt;strong&gt;175 lbs&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Previous Regimen&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt; 2 boiled eggs and a juice blend (I blend them myself: a tablespoon scoop of whey protein, spinach, grapes, strawberry, and blueberries with orange juice) on M/W/F, cereal &lt;em&gt;(the ones with fiber and raisins)&lt;/em&gt; on Tue/Thur. Weekend breakfast revolves around these as well. &lt;em&gt;Eating breakfast was not a daily activity until I started the program&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt; This varies, but it revolves around brown rice or sandwiches. While the calorie content isn't always known (for the rice), I try to keep it under 600 calories. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt; It varies around salad (romaine, raisins, lettuce, honey mustard sauce with about one tablespoon of cooked chicken) or brown rice / cereal; small portions used as well. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Snacks:&lt;/strong&gt; Apples and nuts; I'm usually not hungry. I indulged in some hamburgers twice in that period.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise:&lt;/strong&gt; 30 - 45 mins of Insanity videos every week morning. On weekends, I played &lt;em&gt;(sometimes)&lt;/em&gt; tennis, soccer, or dumbbell lifting &lt;em&gt;(25 lbs each)&lt;/em&gt; and crunches for about an hour or two. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I followed that program until about 3 weeks when I heard about &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lift&lt;/a&gt; and read about being fit and strong. By this time, I had already lost 20 pounds. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My current regimen&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is still the same (with minor adjustment such as eating chicken wraps for lunch/dinner or skipping dinner when full). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise:&lt;/strong&gt; This has significantly improved. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;On weekdays, I start the day with 3 exercises for 15 mins: pushups, v-rollups, chair dips. Then, I have a 30 mins Insanity workout (Insanity Abs and P90X Abs on Mondays/Fridays, any other cardio on other days). &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In the evenings, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt; On Mon/Wed/Fri, I do 3X5 weight-squat, deadlift, and bench press (current weight is 90 lbs). Then, I perform some non-traditional workouts such as pushing heavy items (about 80-100 lbs) for about 15-20 mins and abs strengthening workout (lying on the ground, putting two 70 lbs on my stomach for about 5-10 mins). Basically, I try to do as much strength exercises as possible for about an hour and half.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Tue/Thur are for cardio; Insanity videos and P90X are used; I add abs workout to the mix sometimes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Saturday is a free-for-all when I try to do as much of everything as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Sunday's a free day when I don't have to workout; however, I might do some bicep or abs workout if I want&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;I also carry a 35lbs dumbbell to work that I lift during traffic; I perform some crunches on my desk whenever possible, and even some more pushups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal isn't to lose weight anymore; it's to have an athlete's body: strong, fast, and flexible.&#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'm seeing more changes to my body as it's becoming more taut; I'm having more energy to do daily activities and such. However, it seems that it's not reflecting on the scales. Since the time I started the new regimen, I've only lost about 3lbs and about 0.5 inches &lt;em&gt;(in 3 weeks!)&lt;/em&gt;. It's a little depressing because I still want the scales to go down. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I seemed to lose more weight when I wasn't doing heavy exercises than now. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Am I doing something wrong that's reducing the amount of weight lost? Body exhaustion? Is there any reason my body would be trying to conserve its fat?  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;BTW, I don't really feel exhausted at night; body soreness usually lasts for a few mins. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I believe I'm exercising and eating right; however, the scales have stopped showing the results and although I'm looking and feeling better, I'm still not seeing as much result as I would have loved (I still have some pouch that's got to go).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-04-20T08:06:32.970" LastActivityDate="2014-04-20T08:06:32.970" Title="Weightloss seems stagnant despite much efforts" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15584" CreationDate="2014-03-01T06:30:18.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are doing a *&amp;amp;$%@-ton of exercise and barely eating anything. Where's the protein? Where's the rest and recovery to let your body change in response to the many stimuli that you're giving it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But more importantly, be aware: you can't focus on scale weight while you're doing strength work. Muscle weighs more than fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem to be throwing everything at the wall and hoping something will stick. Maybe you feel like you need to do it all today, right now? You don't. You can do fewer things, focus on them, do them harder and heavier. Doing more things means you can't go as hard, heavy, or intense with the things that are really productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try doing &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;. Pick a few things--StrongLifts plus daily Insanity maybe?--and just do those. Stop lifting dumbbells in your car. Stop doing weird odd-object stuff after your lifting session. Stop preceding your Insanity workouts with calisthenics. Drop all these extras and try to do a better job at the fundamentals: hard, heavy lifting (squat, bench, deadlift, pull-ups) and hard, intense cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T06:30:18.657" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15583" CreationDate="2014-03-01T15:00:33.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several things you can do, just know that in a raw squat (no squat suit or compression briefs) the glute involvement is primarily at the bottom, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/01/23/hamstrings-the-most-overrated-muscle-group-for-the-squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the hamstrings are only moderately used&lt;/a&gt;.  With a squat suit, the leverages change and loading the hamstrings is more important.  That said, the glute and hamstring activity is still important--particularly for deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hamstring Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/ball-leg-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercise ball leg curls&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/romanian-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Romanian Deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/good-morning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Good Mornings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/glute-ham-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glute-Ham Raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glute Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-glute-bridge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glute Bridges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-hip-thrust&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Hip Thrust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/single-leg-glute-bridge-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Single Leg Glute Bridge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I recommend doing deadlifts if you don't already.  It is the ultimate posterior chain movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T15:00:33.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15580" CreationDate="2014-03-01T15:18:28.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How sharp is the pain?  If we are talking about a dull feeling of pressure in the lower lumbar pressure that is quite uncomfortable then we are probably talking about &lt;strong&gt;back pump&lt;/strong&gt;.  Any muscle can get a pump, and after 20 rep sets it's pretty much a given.  However, if the pain is sharp, then we might be looking at a strain or tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dealing with Back Pump&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back pump is just the same phenomenon as when your biceps get pumped after doing a lot of curls.  The only difference is that the location of the pump is very uncomfortable.  Just as 20 minutes away from the bar will clear up a bicep pump, the same is generally true for the back pump.  The only difference is that the muscles are larger so it can take a little longer for that discomfort to dissipate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back pump is only uncomfortable, but it is associated with fatigue.  Considering that 20 rep squats are very fatiguing to the body, you may want to focus on rep ranges between 6-12 and just do more sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dealing with Back Strain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strain in your muscle is a very sharp pain, that occurs whenever you cause damage to the muscle.  Here's the important thing: a damaged muscle needs time to repair.  That means you'll have to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest--compression, cold and hot compresses, etc will help the muscle relax&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train around the injured muscle (i.e. don't do exercises that aggravate it, but try to find something that you can do)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start light to test the waters when you feel confident enough about resuming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other things you can do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do recommend working with someone who knows barbell movements to see if they can find anything wrong with your technique.  We all have things we can work on.  In my case, my coach diagnosed some anterior pelvic tilt and gave me some stretching exercises to help correct that problem.  I was able to squat better after applying the advice.  He also suggested some tweaks to my squat form that made it work with my leverages better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T15:18:28.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15630" CreationDate="2014-03-01T17:40:40.147" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now I'm lifting relatively heavy weight in the squat, sometimes on the way up my knees cave in. I've already googled the common causes and found that this can be due to weak hip muscles causing others to compensate thus bringing your knees in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what would be more beneficial for stretching out and strengthening these muscles, adding an assistance exercise or dropping the weight and focusing on really opening my hips up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="7705" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T17:49:28.603" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T13:21:07.140" Title="Should I add an assistance exercise or drop the weight on my squats to work my adductors?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15591" CreationDate="2014-03-01T22:01:20.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found it helpful to drop the weight and focus on good form and after a short while you can try to put on more weight. Some ligaments and muscles just need more time to adapt. An assistance exercise can not work the weak link the way your main exercise would and if you already can do this exercise in good form with less weight I see no reason why to train all or some of the involved muscles in less complex exercises. The muscles will adapt and you will get an equilibrium in muscle strength for this exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7992" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-03-02T03:49:33.190" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T03:49:33.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9959" CreationDate="2014-03-01T23:05:08.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like another answer has already mentioned, SmartWool cycling or running socks are great and will help your feet to &quot;breathe&quot; while exercising. Another sock brand is Lululemon. They have very high quality socks and I have personally used both their &quot;Lululemon No Show Ultimate Run Sock&quot; and the &quot;Ultimate Low-Pro Run Sock&quot;. They can easily run you about $20 a pair though, but their outlets have awesome deals and people sell them online too for &lt;a href=&quot;http://queencheap.com/blog/lululemon-for-cheap-2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;way cheap&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another brand I could recommend is the DryMax available at e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zappos.com/drymax-sport-socks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zappos&lt;/a&gt;. Seemingly pricy but well worth the $35 - $40 to keep thoes toes dry and warm!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7993" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T23:05:08.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-02T09:13:12.880" Score="-2" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to workout a lot(once two hours a day) for a whole week and people keep warning me on my height and growth because I'm 17. Which exercise will cause growth retardation and height loss on my body..?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7997" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T10:32:35.563" Title="What type of exercise will cause growth retardation on my body.?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15595" CreationDate="2014-03-02T10:32:35.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking there is not &quot;one exercise&quot; that will cause &quot;growth retardation&quot;. It is merely the type of training that you are doing that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; influence the body in his development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are young your bonestructure is not as solid as it will be when you are grown up and its prone to alter its form and direktion to grow with acting and repeating force. &#xA;The fact that young bones are more flexible and mellow, is also the reason why children don't get fractures that easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The higher the force on the bone and more frequent it occurs the more it will create a reaktion of change in the structure. You have to imagine that the muscle is connected to the bone by tendons. And when the muscle is flexed it puls the tendon which pulls the bone. If this is repeated often with heavy force and the bone is still not fully grown it will adapt to this new environment and purpose in different ways that may inhibit the growth potential eg. in hight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why people should not lift too heavy weights until they are almost fully grown. If you want to work out at a younger age you should train the muscular endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not scientificly said at what age you are save to start with heavy weight exercises. 18 is the average number that is promoted when you can work out heavy but it differs in reality and depends on how fast you develope. Also it is said that you are fully grown when you are 21...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope i could help you.&#xA;Best regards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7992" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T10:32:35.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15574" CreationDate="2014-03-02T19:24:42.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, if I have to give a one line answer: Glutamine will help your muscle recover much faster, and won't let you loose muscle easily. So, no it won't help your performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However this read might be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based upon &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/all-about-glutamine-your-expert-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyBuilding site&lt;/a&gt;, which I totally second upon here are essential things about Glutamine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Is Glutamine&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glutamine is created in the human body when the non-essential amino acid glutamate (or glutamic acid) is broken down and binds with nitrogen-containing ammonia molecules. Think of glutamine as a kind of nitrogen sponge. It mops up ammonia and shuttles nitrogen between tissues, where it can be used for cell growth and tissue repair, among many other functions. It's been reported that some 30-35 percent of all nitrogen derived from protein breakdown is transported in the form of glutamine. Glutamine can also be broken down to re-synthesize glutamate, which makes glutamine a critical source of ammonia and nitrogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Approximately 70 percent of your body's internal glutamine is produced in skeletal muscle, from where it travels to the small intestine, kidneys, and white blood cells. These are the dominant sites of glutamine usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Internal levels of this amino acid depend on various factors. Pregnancy and lactation significantly deplete the body's glutamine stores, as do exhaustive exercise, illness, disease, starvation or fasting, rapid growth and development, and other conditions of extreme physiological stress. These are some of the conditions where increasing your glutamine intake or considering supplementation is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Does It Do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glutamine—like other alpha-amino acids—is involved in regulating protein synthesis and breakdown. However, there's far more to it than that. Glutamine significantly affects BCAA metabolism, gut barrier maintenance, normal immune function, glucose formation, water transport, neurotransmission, and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your kidneys are a primary consumer of glutamine use that's where the ammonia cleaved from glutamine works to maintain your body's acid-base balance. Anywhere you find ammonia, you'll find glutamine. As metabolic acidosis increases—as in response to intense training or a high-protein diet—renal uptake of glutamine soars. In fact, one study found that just four days of a high-protein, high-fat diet, was enough to cause a 25 percent drop in glutamine levels in the plasma and muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all of these competing uses begin to outpace your body's ability to produce glutamine, then you may start to show signs of deficiency, including muscle wasting, depleted energy, and increased susceptibility to infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Are the Performance and Physique Applications&lt;/strong&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite glutamine's various functions, little evidence suggests it will directly result in increased muscle mass, reduced body fat, or gains in muscle strength or power in normal, healthy people. However, given how stressful intense training is on the human body, athletes may see certain benefits from supplementing with significant levels of glutamine, or from stacking it with other supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One study found that when athletes suffered from mild dehydration, supplemental glutamine increased exercise performance and enhanced fluid and electrolyte uptake when combined with a glucose and electrolyte beverage. Supplementation has also been shown to raise levels of growth hormone in response to cycling to exhaustion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extracellular concentrations of glutamine have also been shown to activate the signaling pathway mTOR, which is known to be responsible for increasing muscle size. However, here again, the benefits of glutamine supplementation required that other conditions be met: in this case, mTOR signaling appeared to require the presence of BCAAs (leucine, most importantly), as well as some threshold level of cellular hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another case, collegiate track and field athletes who consumed four grams of glutamine per day for eight weeks, along with a loading and maintenance dose of creatine, saw greater gains in lean body mass than those who used creatine alone. This may sound significant, but it's hard to draw conclusions over a mere eight weeks at such a low dosage. Whether higher doses or a longer study would have resulted in significant differences is anyone's guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T19:24:42.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15546" CreationDate="2014-03-02T20:04:11.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you work out, your body needs to produce more energy to accommodate you. To do this, it begins to undergo the process of aerobic respiration. This process requires oxygen, so the more you work out, the more oxygen you need to use. When you stop working out, you don't immediately stop producing the most energy you can, and your body is trying to make up for the deficit you caused, so you keep respiring and consuming lots of oxygen. When you then deny your body oxygen, you can't make enough energy for organs like your brain to function, so your brain, in a &quot;why the &lt;strong&gt;hell&lt;/strong&gt; are you doing this&quot; type response, stops you from not breathing by forcing you to cease whatever exercise in stupidity you happen to be engaging in at the moment (in this case, holding your breath). There is something wrong with you, but it's only that you decided to hold your breath when you most required oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8000" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T20:04:11.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15603" CreationDate="2014-03-03T04:05:09.393" Score="7" ViewCount="856" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are lots of us who aren't so clear on the distinction &quot;aerobic&quot; and &quot;anaerobic&quot;: exercise, running, conditions, and so on. So: what is the difference between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8004" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T14:30:10.177" Title="What do we mean by &quot;aerobic&quot; and &quot;anaerobic&quot;?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-03T04:37:06.163" Score="4" ViewCount="1600" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a difficult surf session this morning and exited the waters with burning lungs, similar in feeling to after running long distance or multiple sprints. I'm an avid weightlifter, so I'm well aware of the necessity of giving your muscles ample time to repair before working them again. Do you lungs also undergo damage and need time to repair like your muscles do after a hard workout? I'm wondering if after this surf session, I should avoid swimming or running hard for another day. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8006" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T23:08:13.870" Title="After a strenuous workout, do your lungs need time to rest and repair? If so, what is being repaired in your lungs as you rest them?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15600" CreationDate="2014-03-03T06:36:03.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aerobic means you're burning fatty acids as your primary fuel source, along side oxygen and small amounts of ATP in the muscle's. Anaerobic means you're burning ATP, and Oxygen as your primary fuel source. The latter being limited but more explosive in muscle contractions than the former.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2642" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T06:36:03.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15600" CreationDate="2014-03-03T09:07:31.597" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body uses two different energy systems to fuel the body’s activity or exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anaerobic&lt;/strong&gt; - First the body uses the anaerobic system which has energy ready to go as soon as you start to use your muscles.  Anaerobic means without oxygen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic&lt;/strong&gt; - The second energy system, the aerobic system,  kicks in when your short term, initial energy from the anaerobic system is used up.  Aerobic exercise requires oxygen to produce energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An exercise is determined to be &lt;strong&gt;aerobic vs anaerobic&lt;/strong&gt; depending on which system is used to generate the energy needed for a particular exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using running as an example, sprints are anaerobic and longer runs are aerobic exercise.  When you sprint, you need explosive, quick energy to get going, so you use the anaerobic system. Readily available stores of ATP,  glucose and glycogen provide energy quickly, but also deplete quickly.  As these stores of ATP,  glucose and glycogen deplete, you need a different system to produce ongoing energy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you run longer distances, you generally lower the intensity so that you can keep going.  You need endurance and a system that produces energy as long as you need it. The aerobic system uses oxygen and  produces ongoing energy needed for endurance activities, exercises and sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To exercise aerobically, you  generally workout within a target exercise heart rate of  between 60 to 85% of your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Maximum-Heart-Rate&quot;&gt;maximum heart rate&lt;/a&gt;. Aerobic exercise trains your heart and lungs to become more efficient.  Aerobic exercise is sometimes referred to as cardio.  Examples of aerobic exercises are walking, running, cycling, hiking, swimming, water aerobics, aerobic dance, singles tennis etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To exercise anaerobically, you generally work at a higher intensity for a shorter durations or intervals.  Examples of anaerobic exercise are sprinting, strength training, and doubles tennis. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more detailed information on how energy is produced, you may want to check into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparknotes.com/health/carbohydrates/section3.rhtml&quot;&gt;Glycolysis, Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation and Cori cycle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T09:07:31.597" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-03T10:58:00.970" Score="3" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run regularly for about 6 KM. I have completed multiple 10 K runs. I am targeting a half marathon this September. But when I run distances like 10 K + i get pain in my left calf muscle. I believe I need to strengthen my calf muscle. Please suggest exercises to strengthen the calf muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8007" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T22:36:39.330" Title="How to strengthen calf muscles?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2983" CreationDate="2014-03-03T12:14:57.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should have some gel sole of padding which helps a lot as it cushions your feet which helps your feet feel easy to run and so that your feet are comfortable while playing a sport &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8010" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T12:14:57.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15604" CreationDate="2014-03-03T12:29:35.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, you need to be sure that this pain isn't caused by some underlying problem that could result in injury. Does it only occur when you do a specific run at a specific pace etc? Does it feel like a 'pull' pain or just an overuse pain/ache? If in doubt, see a physio and get professional advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sure it's just a general overuse pain then try the below as well as strengthening exercises (which I am sure someone more knowledgeable in this area will be able to provide you with details of). I used to suffer badly with overuse pain in my calves. These couple of things made a huge difference for me and I no longer suffer excessively with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compression Socks or Calf Guards&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try them. They help stimulate blood flow in your muscles thus (in theory) removing by-products of exercise away from the muscle more efficiently resulting in less discomfort in the muscle. I found these really helped for me and I almost never run without them now. There are lots of brands out there to choose from. I use both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wiggle.co.uk/asics-compression-sock-aw13/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these compression socks&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wiggle.co.uk/compressport-r2-race-recovery-calf-guard/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these calf guards&lt;/a&gt; and find them both very good value and good quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Foam Roller&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cheaper alternative to sports massage. Using a foam roller 3 times a week or so will give a similar effect to a sports massage and will help the muscle recover from running quicker than just resting. Have a read of &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/what-is-a-foam-roller-how-do-i-use-it-and-why-does-it-hurt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for more detailed information about the foam roller and what it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this has given you some other things to consider alongside strengthening the muscles. I know how frustrating this kind of pain can be!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastEditorUserId="7276" LastEditDate="2014-03-03T14:37:00.487" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T14:37:00.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25564" CreationDate="2014-03-03T16:53:57.910" Score="12" ViewCount="17673" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are numerous online calorie calculators for running (e.g. from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;runners world&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;strong&gt;What is the underlying formula for calculating energy expenditure while running?&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/942/estimated-calories-you-burn-throughout-day&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; has an excellent answer for the analog of calories burned throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7397" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T14:25:36.647" Title="Energy expenditure (calories burned) equation for running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15601" CreationDate="2014-03-03T16:55:21.190" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're not damaged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A really simplified way of thinking about your lungs burning is that you are using parts of your lungs that are not accustomed to being so exposed to an outside environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have an abundant amount of what are called aveoli and bronchioles that make up your lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When running, you expose those normally mucus-lined areas to air, which dries them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This elicits an inflammation response, and is the source of the burning sensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The inflammation in turn results in more mucus production.  As you get better with cardiovascular activity, your body learns how to respond with that mucousal production much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no need to &quot;rest up&quot; your lungs.  I'd argue it's better for them to get exposed more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2014-03-03T23:08:13.870" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T23:08:13.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2014-03-03T17:07:26.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends, there are quite a few different formulas available, depending on who was doing the research, and when it was performed. To some extent, the method used to determine the calories burned can have an effect on the formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/Run_Walk2004a.rtf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/Run_Walk2004a.rtf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a link to a published study from Syracuse University, comparing several different methods of calculating calorie burn. If you are looking at a watch, treadmill or other device that is measuring it for you, somewhere in their literature they should be describing what method they are using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T17:07:26.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15619" CreationDate="2014-03-03T18:48:57.367" Score="4" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to find some universal yoga complex for every day, for 30-45 min. to do it at home to make it a habit. I wached a lot of videos, read a lot, even loaded a mobile app. with different sessions and now i fell myself lost in all the information. Can you help me somehow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8011" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T15:45:08.567" Title="Daily Yoga routine" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15612" CreationDate="2014-03-03T18:59:25.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can get your hand on P90X Yoga, give it a try; it's an hour and half though.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It has all the yoga moves you've seen in other programs, and the movements are slow and steady. The instructor also shows you modified versions of the moves, just in case you are not strong enough to perform the hard ones. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It also has some extra exercises, specifically designed for the core/abs, as well as stretch exercises.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The only downside is the duration; it's too long (an hour and half); but you can always forward it to the specific exercises you want or perform it on the days you have ample time. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The video really helps with your flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-04T15:30:33.463" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T15:30:33.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2983" CreationDate="2014-03-04T06:21:17.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best recommendation to prevent blisters is to use a little bit of Vaseline on the part of your foot that normally get them. The Vasaline will help keep the area dry, and also provide lubrication. Also thick socks help too, to prevent friction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vasaline also helps with runners rash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2642" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T06:21:17.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15799" CreationDate="2014-03-04T07:10:12.833" Score="-1" ViewCount="830" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is specifically about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-bizzy-diet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bizzy diet&lt;/a&gt;. But I guess it could pertain to any other diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to &lt;strong&gt;lose the 8 kgs of mostly fat&lt;/strong&gt; I've accumulated all over my body the past year. I want to go back to the 12% body fat I had when I used to be a swimmer/cyclist.&#xA;A gist of the diet is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout A - Upper Body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout B - Lower Body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And every week you do Workout A, then B then A then rest a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workouts go like this in a circuit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT cardio 20 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio 10 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some more weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in a circuit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I only have a pool for the Cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Besides dumbells I don't have a gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(I know how it sounds but unfortunately it will be this way for a month)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question&lt;/strong&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Exercise&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I change it up a little where I do a resistance circuit from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nike-training-club/id301521403?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nike Training App&lt;/a&gt;, it goes like this for &lt;strong&gt;30 mins&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 min light jog &#xA;1 min high knee runs &#xA;1 min recovery &#xA;1 min alternating ball pushups&#xA;2 min of squat jumps&#xA;2 min ski jump to cross back lunge&#xA;...&#xA;... Final 8 mins is stretching  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AND then immediately I go do the HIIT in the pool?&#xA;OR should I look at the Workouts and replace them with upper and lower body workouts that do no need equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already do yoga 2-4 times a week in the morning before work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Diet&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know how important diet is, but here again I'm in pickle. I will have to buy cooked food from outside for some time (1-2 weeks). I have all the supplements listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lunch and dinner I'll have cooked veggies (indian style, so spicy) And boiled eggs. The 9PM meal I plan to have Curd?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you guys evaluate whether my substitutions are sound? Will it be as effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1470" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T19:45:02.047" Title="help me adapt the bizzy diet to my needs" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15621" CreationDate="2014-03-04T12:22:11.450" Score="3" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;A guy in my gym suggested not to work for abs after regular/other body part workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason was that, if you do abs after regular workout, muscles get loose and your workout will go waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How true it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorUserId="8020" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T11:05:17.733" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:05:17.733" Title="Working abs after regular workout" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15612" CreationDate="2014-03-04T12:23:28.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not easy to build your own practice, but it is well worth the effort. Once established, you'll have much more benefit compared to someone who occasionally visits yoga classes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things that need to be addressed when building the practice of your own:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discipline: you need to get on the mat, day in, day out. This doesn't just mean perseverance, you need to figure yourself out - what you want, what motivates you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Correct execution of poses: understand how each pose works anatomically and how to do them correctly. The poses are not supposed to look like you see it on the pictures, often you need to adapt them for your own body. This is the hardest part to do by yourself, so at least occasionally try to visit a teacher to check your form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remembering the sequence: learn sequences by heart. It takes some time to memorize, prints, videos come in handy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping up the flow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping it challenging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest to start with a system which has fixed sequences. It helps with the discipline, and there's less to think about. Ashtanga yoga has fixed sequences, but the ashtanga sequences are long (up to 90-120 min). David Swenson has a number of  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailycupofyoga.com/2011/03/08/ashtanga-yoga-short-forms-with-david-swenson/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;15, 30, 45 minute routines&lt;/a&gt; which are cut-down versions of the ashtanga series, designed for people short on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably need to start practicing along with a book or dvd until you remember the poses. There's an ocean of material out there, just a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1844831132&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Total Ashtanga by Tara Fraser&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0006I036C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series by Mark Darby&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1891252089&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice Manual by David Swenson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2014-03-04T12:32:39.760" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T12:32:39.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15618" CreationDate="2014-03-04T13:38:12.103" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like that guy doesn't know what he's talking about.  There's nothing wrong with working abs after another body part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T13:38:12.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-04T13:54:37.390" Score="5" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;My main focus is on weight lifting - the big five: deadlift, squat, press, bench and row - I also add in accessory exercises and try (really I do) to get 1-2 cardio workouts in.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;current approach&lt;/strong&gt; to keeping a journal is writing down what my daily workout routine was, the temp, what I ate prior/during and how I felt afterwards.  I'm following Wendler's 5/3/1 program - currently on 15 months of it (really getting great results).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: &lt;strong&gt;is there a better way to track my workouts than a notebook and pen&lt;/strong&gt; - I tried various phone apps and they all take more time/effort than the notebook.  I'd like to be able to view progress, mine temps, subjective info I track, etc.......any ideas? I will need to be portable, easy to use, able to be in the very cold, withstand a drop, etc........&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - what information should I keep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-03-05T18:13:52.553" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T10:18:37.150" Title="Best information to keep in a exercise journal and how to keep it" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-04T15:11:22.920" Score="2" ViewCount="807" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing HIIT running. I push myself to 85-90% of my maximum heart rate in the high intensity interval. In the rest phase, my heart rate usually stays high for a while, then quickly drops. I jog between the intervals. What is the optimal heart rate for the rest phase? Or in other words, what should be my heart rate when I start the next high intensity interval?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5944" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T09:19:17.060" Title="What is the optimal heart rate in the rest phase of high intensity interval training?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15622" CreationDate="2014-03-04T15:36:00.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am of the opinion that keeping minimal information is best. I track which exercises I did, and that's about it. I might add a few words of comment if it's really meaningful, but really it's just to track numbers and tonnage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T15:36:00.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15618" CreationDate="2014-03-04T15:58:58.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The guy is wrong; depending on the exercises you've performed, your abs might already have been worked. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; However, if you need to perform abs exercises along with your regular workout, they (abs exercises) should come last; otherwise, the soreness might affect your ability to perform your regular workout. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T15:58:58.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15622" CreationDate="2014-03-04T16:17:14.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use an Excel file; this way, you can add as many columns as you prefer and as many rows as you want as well. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It's portable and you can open it on most platforms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T16:17:14.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15622" CreationDate="2014-03-04T18:59:59.547" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tracking information is always a pain, because there really aren't any good apps for during, as you always have to be interrupting your workout to enter your weights, reps, etc. What I ended up doing was tracking food and sleep along with workouts in just a regular notebook or datebook, and then adding notes about how I felt if I had a particularly good or bad workout. I've had good success with the &quot;at a glance&quot; books that have a day per page for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every few months, I'll go through and review things, and try and correlate any workouts with what happened the previous few days. &quot;Oh, my 10 mile run sucked, but I only got 6 hours sleep the two nights before&quot;, that kind of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I either like hand writing it or putting it down in an excel spreadsheet as Kneel suggests, but I rarely update anything but a throwaway notebook at the gym. I don't like sweating all over a touchscreen trying to update # of reps, worrying about a weight dropping on it, etc. A small (3x2) spiral is great, as that can get trashed and it's no big deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the sports I do (Such as cycling) I use a powermeter which is great, and it records in a downloadable format with loads of data, and they have it for running as well, but nothing really great yet for lifting purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T18:59:59.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15581" CreationDate="2014-03-04T19:38:48.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to shorten my stride when consciously trying to slow down.  While my paces aren't nearly at your level (my strenuous effort is near your easy pace!), I do find that it's far too easy to speed up before I want to.  With a deliberately shorter stride, the only way I can maintain the same faster pace is to speed up my footfalls, which feels more awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also try to keep my hands and arms down and loose.  I focus vividly on keeping my shoulders relaxed (mostly because during a HM last year, when I passed a friend on the course, she yelled at me to relax my shoulders and drop my arms because I was apparently too tense and clenched).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7772" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T19:38:48.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15591" CreationDate="2014-03-05T05:30:29.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; think you should drop the weights down and “&lt;em&gt;focusing on really opening my hips up.&lt;/em&gt;”  As long as you are not bowing the knees in to much I believe that this is somewhat of a natural progression once someone move beyond being a novice and really has to grind and work for every pound.  Bowing the knees in slightly help you get out of the hole (the bottom of the squat.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video was made by one of the strongest people on the plant and he talks about the very issue that this question is in regards to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBnMjeMYY40&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBnMjeMYY40&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T05:30:29.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15623" CreationDate="2014-03-05T09:19:17.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your heart rate will stay quite high for a while after your high intensity interval, this is perfectly normal. The period of time it stays high will reduce as your fitness improves. When i do interval training I will be looking for my heart rate to settle back down to around 65-70% of maximum before starting another high intensity interval. Basically at the lower end of your aerobic zone. If I drop down any lower I find that i have effectively &quot;warmed down&quot; and too much of the high intensity interval is wasted getting my HR back up into the anaerobic zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this makes sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7276" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T09:19:17.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15591" CreationDate="2014-03-05T13:21:07.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your depth is fine and the knee cave is moderate then don't worry about it. Maybe stay for a few extra sessions at this weight so you feel more comfortable with it. But a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; knee cave isn't too much to worry about if everything else is copacetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you deload then ten or twenty pounds and working back up is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T13:21:07.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15646" CreationDate="2014-03-05T14:00:51.640" Score="1" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is really general and doesn't pertain to any one specific individual but seeing the question about the Bizzy diet on here makes me question. Its workout plans instructs individuals to perform high intensity interval training to 'melt the fat'. But, can HIIT even be performed effectively by people who haven't practiced any cardio at all in a long time? Say a couch potato who has only lifted weights and never actually run? Situations like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T07:16:18.913" Title="Is HIIT really even a good recommendation for people who aren't acclimated to cardio?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-05T14:27:19.227" Score="-2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bascially you gain weight if you intake more calorie than what you actually burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if I take cola zero, which has 1 kcal per can, does that make me fat or gain weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the disadvantages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-05T18:43:09.067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T18:43:09.067" Title="Cola Zero: What are the effects" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-03-06T02:26:59.457" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15634" CreationDate="2014-03-05T14:58:12.043" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you drink enough cans to put you in a ~3500 calorie surplus over the span of a few days you won't gain fat weight. It's really the poor dieting habits that people who drink diet sodas still undertake that causes them to continue to gain or not lose weight, rather than the drink itself. This is referred to as the &quot;big mac and diet coke&quot; phenomenon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, it doesn't mean that diet soda is any better off as a drink that you would want to consume or should feel safe consuming. It's still just as highly processed and packed with chemicals the body doesn't need, doesn't want, and chemicals that can cause health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T14:58:12.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15633" CreationDate="2014-03-05T15:02:20.567" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the specific set of exercises, &lt;strong&gt;yes!&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It is recommended that they know about it and try it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;What is not recommended is asking them to go at the same intensity as someone who's familiar with it. They should go at the pace their bodies allow. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As they continue on the exercises, they'll get better and stronger. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you are a couch potato or someone who doesn't do cardio, you've never be able to perform some exercises unless you start at some point. Then, the stronger you become, the better you are. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A huge benefit is the dramatic result they'll begin to experience in the bodies &lt;em&gt;(if they stick with the program for long)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T15:02:20.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6195" CreationDate="2014-03-05T15:07:45.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Qualified personal trainer here. Post-training, your body has depleted its glycogen stores. In order to replenish them, it must utilise a macronutrient; carbohydrates, proteins, and fats (absorbed in that order). Your body's metabolism receives a serious boost after intense weight-training, so macronutrients are absorbed as an accelerated level. Since the first macro to be absorbed is carbohydrates, consuming them in conjunction with protein will feed your muscles extremely quickly and effectively, helping them to repair and build. It is advisable to consume a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein (e.g. 40g of carbohydrates to 20g of protein). Don't be concerned about packing on extra weight - your body will burn this fuel at an astonishing rate. Hope this helped clarify any issues. I wish you all the very best for your fitness goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8031" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T15:07:45.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15634" CreationDate="2014-03-05T16:39:04.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting something clear: you can gain weight either by &lt;em&gt;the accumulation of fat&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;the accumulation of muscle mass.&lt;/em&gt; So, if you accumulate fat, you'll gain weight. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, it seems the actual question is &lt;em&gt;if one can gain weight by drinking cola zero.&lt;/em&gt; The answer is this: &lt;strong&gt;It depends on how many cans you drink and how often.&lt;/strong&gt; While you won't gain weight from drinking a single can, you might begin to feel &lt;em&gt;pudgy&lt;/em&gt; after consuming it on a regular basis. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This is because while the advertised calorie is 1 kcal per can, we know that it might actually contain more than that, based on past experiences. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;Also, you are consuming other chemicals that might allow your other food intake to increase your fat mass. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Personally,&lt;/strong&gt; I see no reason to drink such drinks. If you want to indulge, go for the regular soda. That way, at least, you know what you are getting and you know what you need to do to burn it off. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The jury is still out on the actual negative effects of these diet drinks. But &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;, you cannot gain fat weight from drinking a single can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T16:39:04.413" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15581" CreationDate="2014-03-05T17:54:37.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing you want to do is have good form, that way you are not hurting yourself in anyway. Thats the first and foremost thing. The second would that good form means you are working the muscles well and optimally. So try keep you form at its best as that will work out better for you in any run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you could do is try do technique (form) exercises that could help you get the movement right at very slow place, and then getting it more intense as you go along, hopefully to the point where it becomes second nature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember learning to run, and we had to keep our arms at about 90 degrees locked, straight back, head up right, and strive for high knee (but not too high).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7912" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T17:54:37.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3505" CreationDate="2014-03-05T18:00:01.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to listen to my own music. I have a particular playlist that is just for gym, tune in and focus. When I am resting I stare at the mirror straight into my very own eyes, counting 60 seconds at least before I start my next set. I also tend to keep the weight as high as possible, while making sure I get to at least 6 reps if the pain is a lot, or 8 if I can manage, with 10 being the max, but 6 is the bare minimum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also try to keep to one area in the gym without moving around too much and avoid talking to other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7912" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T18:00:01.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15622" CreationDate="2014-03-05T18:36:16.017" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;notebook &amp;amp; pen&quot; is great from a &quot;in use&quot; perspective. As John says, the notebook or - as I prefer - index cards do better in the gym than smartphone/tablets. Both for the training program itself and for taking notes on weights, reps and effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for the other perspective, when you capture the context (sleep, food, subjective info) and want to analyze the training, I find the &quot;Excel&quot; like solutions to be superior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combining the two in a seamless way is difficult. My own solution is to capture the context in a Google spreadsheet combined with Google Forms and a dashboard, see below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eCzvi.png&quot; alt=&quot;Activity Dashboard&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and to capture the actual workout through taking pictures of the index card or similar (see &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DhFnk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Notes from a Swim wo&quot;&gt;  a picture of notes from a swim workout) and combining the two in a system like &lt;a href=&quot;https://evernote.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Evernote&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way I can analyze unlimited by the constraints of paper (e.g. moving averages is tedious when done manually) and still have the raw data for individual workouts available if needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-03-06T10:18:37.150" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T10:18:37.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15633" CreationDate="2014-03-06T02:06:16.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is my input on &lt;strong&gt;HIIT and the Couch Potato&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Although I am not well informed about the bizzy diet, I am familiar enough with HIIT to say that it is &lt;em&gt;not for beginners&lt;/em&gt;.  Anyone who is considering HIIT (high intensity interval training) should be in good health and good condition. HIIT implies an all out, maximal effort.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your body needs to be in good enough physical condition to avoid musculoskeletal and cardiovascular injuries that could be caused by an &lt;em&gt;all out high intensity workout interval&lt;/em&gt;.  By putting in the ground work first, gradually increasing from walking to running, you condition your muscles, joints, ligaments, heart and lungs.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would not classify someone who lifts weights as a couch potato just because they do not run. Your example of someone who lifts weights should be able to build up to HIIT.   Although sprints and cycling are generally thought of with HIIT, running and cycling are not the only way to achieve HIIT. Many types of exercises can follow an interval protocol. Bodyweight circuits and &lt;a href=&quot;http://kettlebellsworkouts.com/tabata-wokouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kettlebells&lt;/a&gt; swings, are examples of exercises that can achieve good HIIT workouts. So if a person has conditioned their body sufficiently with other forms of exercise, they could incorporate HIIT.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The safest way to begin interval training for a couch potato is with LIIT (low intensity interval training) where you increase the intensity level from your base level, but without going all out as implied with HIIT.  Walk/jog would be an example.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T02:06:16.213" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15633" CreationDate="2014-03-06T03:12:49.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are in bad shape then your high intensity will be adequately lower that that of a trained person. Just use a stationary bike your risk of injury is basically zero. If you still have doubts about it then just stay under your perceived limit at the beginning and slowly work up towards it. I would say it's not necessary though. Keep in mind those intervals are usually under a minute and there is recovery.&#xA;If this had a risk do physical damage to an individual then taking the stairs for 3 floors in a swift manner would do the same. This is actually one way to do HIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr Michael Mosley has quoted some scientific sources in his book &quot;Fast Exercise&quot; that looked closer at the issue of untrained individuals doing HIT training and they came to the conclusion that there is no additional risk involved. Read his book if you haven't done it yet. It's really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8033" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T03:12:49.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15604" CreationDate="2014-03-06T03:22:38.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barefoot running is very good calf muscle training. Indoors is probably the best idea, outdoors i would suggest to run on soft surface if possible. There are specific barefoot style minimalist shoes but you don't need shoes if you have the right environment. Keep the distances low when you start cause the intensity is rather high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8033" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T03:22:38.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15633" CreationDate="2014-03-06T07:16:18.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;YES!! YES! YES!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT is now the industry standard for safe and highly effective fat loss whilst conserving muscle mass. Any strength coach worth his salt will prescribe it to natural athletes looking to lose fat without going through the stupidity and pointlessness of regular cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couch potato's initial &quot;high&quot;-intensity in the first week will be the laughing stock of his/her future self. Your first &quot;high&quot; intensity session will be you lumbering along wheezing and panting. The good news is that our body is an amazing adaptive organism. Your heart rate will be more or less the same even as you get more and more powerful and strong. Thats the beauty of HIIT cardio. As your body adapts to be a more efficient powerful machine, you get more out of your hearts BPM. If your BPM is dropping over the coming weeks, then your intensity (speed) isn't building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a stretch of ground at least 80 meters (yards) or so long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a 5 minute stretch with special focus on calves hams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up with a few jogs back and forth to warm up the muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1, start with 'sprinting' 5 80-100 meter lengths&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add another length every week (or every few days) until you get to 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do your sprint session 2 or 3 times a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your body adapts, your 100% will become faster and stronger. Your body will drop fat and you will build muscle in your upper and lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T07:16:18.913" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15647" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-06T07:22:13.623" Score="2" ViewCount="694" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do lunges or when I run, when I have one leg in front I cannot get back into a standing position.  I have actually fallen down running because I couldn't get my leg to straighten up to move my other leg forward.  It's really hard to explain.  I do a lot of biking and have no problems with that.  I can do squats with no trouble.  I know I need to strengthen certain muscles.  When I was going to a gym the trainer was explaining how the wrong muscles were trying to do the job and the muscles that should be doing it were weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I strengthen the correct muscles when other muscles keep&#xA;taking over? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do I get back to a standing position when lunging or running?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8036" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-03-06T17:16:03.530" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T17:19:32.263" Title="Help standing back up from lunge position" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-06T08:02:12.833" Score="0" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 46 year old male (Height 170 cms and Weight 179.7 lbs) and I have just been diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic two months back and put on a mild oral medication by my doctor. I prefer exercising outdoors and my daily routine (6 days a week) includes 5 mins of stretching, 30 mins of brisk walk, 25 mins of bicycling, 10 mins of skipping and 10 mins of breathing exercises. However, despite of my following this routine for last few months I am unable to loose weight below my current weight. I have lost inches around the waist but I still need to loose some weight. I am a vegetarian and I follow a controlled diet with no sugars. Really would appreciate if someone can help me on this...Thanks..         &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8037" LastEditorUserId="8037" LastEditDate="2014-03-06T10:40:06.840" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T22:57:40.247" Title="Weight Loss after reaching a plateau" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-08-09T19:48:09.567" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15401" CreationDate="2014-03-06T12:45:48.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It certainly does not completely prevent it. One of my roommates had Marfan's and, while lean, he had enough strength to be able to hurl a 200-lb male across the room (he also had a bit of a temper on him). He did not have a workout regimen, but had grown up on a farm, so he probably grew up with a fair amount of physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that someone with Marfans would have to be careful about over-stressing their tendons, but could still develop muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-31T20:03:28.410" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T20:03:28.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15647" CreationDate="2014-03-06T12:52:34.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd probably need more information on how exactly you're falling here (I'll admit that I'm getting all kinds of amusing mental images of someone running just fine, then flopping over at the end because they can't get to a standing position), but my suspicion is that your body weight isn't over your bent knee. For a front lunge, I know of two ways to more or less rise directly up. One is the shift all of one's weight over the bent knee and then to slide up the back leg, turning it essentially into a slightly staggered squat position from which you can rise. The second is to rock backwards so that you've got both legs straight, one staggered in front of the other, than choosing to move one or the other up (or, optionally, pushing up and jumping, then bringing the legs together. Frankly, if you're not used to either motion, it will take some practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option which I learned when doing capoeira was to avoid going straight in any direction or to rely on just your balance. For example, if you put the hand on the same side of your bent leg down, that gives you two points of contact to bring your back leg up and in. Or, alternately, you can do the same and swing the back leg in a quarter circle to go into a straddle position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But ultimately, the most important thing, in my mind, is to be aware of where your balance and body weight are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T12:52:34.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-06T13:53:01.683" Score="9" ViewCount="1401" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for the best home gym/equipment to replace going to an actual gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a severely disabled child who needs a lot of care, thus interfering with my gym sessions. I would really like to increase my strength for both my own health and my child will always need a caregiver and he's already passed me in weight and height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now my home gym consists of a TRX which I love but since it uses your own body weight there's only so much you can do, and a commercial model stepper that I use for cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 28 year old woman, 5'0 (1.52m), 100lbs (45gk)  and almost no muscle tone (aka &quot;skinny fat&quot;). I've been debating between an all-in-one gym or a barbell set with bench and squat rack. Right now I'm terrified of using free weights bc of how tiny and uncoordinated I am. Thank you so much, I really appreciate any advice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8044" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-03-06T19:23:07.353" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T11:48:31.233" Title="Best home gym to replace going to the gym" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-06T14:44:37.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can, look into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt; program. WIth that, all you need is a barbell and other free weights. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you're not interested in building a lot of muscles, you can look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/p90x.do?code=BDL_P90X_P90X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;P90X&lt;/a&gt;. It doesn't require a lot of equipment and you can begin to see and feel results as soon as possible. It has flexibility, strength, and agility sections. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do?e=166015&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insanity&lt;/a&gt; is another great cardio program that works every part of your body. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You can check out the programs at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beachbody.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Beachbody&lt;/a&gt; to determine which ones work for you. In all of them, you don't need a gym membership or much equipment to work your whole body. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The main disadvantage to these programs is that you must be ready to push yourself; otherwise, you might not perform them as hard as you ought. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It's also fun when you do it together with someone; it makes the time go faster and the pain more bearable. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T14:44:37.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-06T14:48:38.193" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rule #1: keep it simple&#xA;Rule #2: make a plan and stick with it (at least for 2-3 months)&#xA;Rule #3: don't hurt yourself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using a combination of my home gym and the local YMCA for many years AND actually get more of a workout at home.  I tend to go to the Y for more 'social' aspects.  Given that, I think you need to include some 'social' aspects to your training to ensure you stay motivated. (it could be once a month get together boot camp).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to home training - keep the the 3 rules above.  I highly recommend you first purchasing 2 books:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0051GOM66&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning&lt;/a&gt; by Dan John&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/infiniteintensity.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Infinite Intensity by Ross Enamiant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What ever you do buy - buy quality, but buy cheap (look on craigslist or garage sales or ask friends).  I would recommend a weight bench and dumbbells.  With those two items you can create a significant workout routine that will keep you going for a year or so.  Make sure the bench is good/sturdy (I always look on amazon for reviews) and for the dumbbells, keep them simple (pic below), don't get the dial-in adjusting ones. In total (for these two items) you'll probably spend under $90.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - steps to take:&#xA;1 - buy the books and read them&#xA;2 - get a good bench and dumbbells&#xA;3 - build a simple plan and stick to it - if you train 2-3 times a week OR 3-4 hours a week over multiple training times&#xA;4 - stay at it for 3-6 weeks min. and evaluate where you are and if you're making progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you, what you're doing is amazing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qmfNv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;simple dumbbells&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T14:48:38.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-06T16:17:53.897" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd go with either a dumbbell set or a squat rack and barbell. Those give the most bang for your buck. Free weights are manageable. You can do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research basic &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt; programs. A good sign that you've accidentally found a &lt;em&gt;bodybuilding&lt;/em&gt; program (which you don't want) is if you're doing three variations of the same movement (EZ-bar curl...and a concentration curl...and a dumbbell curl...), or if you're doing exercises like lateral raises or curls instead of whole-body fundamental movements like lunges, squats, overhead presses, and rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;StrongLifts is a good place to start with the basics of using a squat rack and bench. So are Starting Strength and Primal Fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T16:17:53.897" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15659" CreationDate="2014-03-06T16:46:01.863" Score="1" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Should you replace calories burned after exercise (specifically when you already take exercise levels into account while calculating your food goals)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I calculate my food/macro-nutrient goals by calculating my BMR using my LBM and use an activity level multiplier to come up with my TDEE which I consume 80% of in order to create a calorie deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I am 5' 9&quot;, 150 lbs with about 16% body fat, my BMR comes out to be 1607 calories. I multiply that by 1.35 since I go to the gym five days a week to lift weights and consider that to be moderately active. That makes my TDEE equal 2169 calories. I multiply it by .8 to only take 80% of it and so, in total, I try to consume around 1735 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, I want to know if I started doing cardio of some sort on any of those days (maybe high intensity interval training), would it be wise to increase my calorie intake at all if my goal is to lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anecdote:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;My mom uses an app on her smartphone to track exercise and food intake. She wants to follow a consistent meal plan every week, but her app tells her after a cardio session the approximate amount of calories she's burned. She thinks she should replace all of those calories with whatever she can find, but I'm skeptical. How could one possibly plan for the exact number of calories the app is going to calculate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8042" LastEditorUserId="8042" LastEditDate="2014-03-06T17:16:51.790" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T03:36:32.593" Title="Should one replace burned calories?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-06T17:17:10.150" Score="3" ViewCount="778" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner at calisthenics and was wondering if someone could tell me the most basic workouts, along with their workouts and rest routine. I was able to do about 6-7 chin ups, 15-17 push ups 30-40 crunches, 20-25 windshield wipers etc, in good form couple of weeks back, but now the reps have decreased. Is it because my muscles are too sore? If so, what do I need to do? I currently have a knee injury, so I'm looking for upper body strengthening alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8048" LastEditorUserId="11903" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T17:39:16.620" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T07:36:13.107" Title="How do I arrange a beginner calisthenics workout and rest schedule?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15657" CreationDate="2014-03-06T18:03:54.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always considered it good practice to do calisthenics every day, if being good at calisthenics is your goal. Generally speaking calisthenics are useful for improving cardiovascular endurance, and the best practice for that is doing them often. Maybe you break up which exercises you do which day, ie chinups and prone bridge one day, pushups leg raises another, and do one group every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T18:03:54.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15656" CreationDate="2014-03-06T19:04:33.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your answer is both yes and no. Yes, you should replace burned calories, but no, you shouldn't go above and beyond your estimated levels if you've already accounted for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that I mean you have calculated out your BMR, added in your exercise levels and come out to an estimate of how many calories you should be at for a daily intake. You can adjust up or down from that number to get your weight gain/loss or to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, calories are NOT a zero sum game. If you eat an extra 300 calories today, that doesn't mean you're going to gain 1/5 of a pound. It's a day to day consistency that produces results. Weigh yourself at the same time under the same conditions each day, and note the trends. If the trend is going in the direction you want, keep it up. If it isn't where you want, adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T19:04:33.007" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-06T19:38:27.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your context (child, disabilities, beginner), I would aim for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kettlebell&lt;/a&gt;(s) combined with focused, timeboxed workout routines, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=tabatas&quot;&gt;tabatas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A kettlebell is simple, robust and can be used for a variety of functional exercises that match your need in terms of a relatively heavy disabled child. No moving parts, can be left outside and inexpensive compared to dumbbells and barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4GWUx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Kettlebells&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a wide range of exercises and workout routines (besides tabatas) that can be done with a kettlebell. Some examples of exercises are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_XjJjLc7NE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kettlebell swing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAXt7YyGe0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Turkish get up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvy3DFrHP8o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Balance exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Meade writes, you should find a simple program and stick with it for 2-3 months. For example, find a 15 workout program that you can do 3 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T19:38:27.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-06T20:01:40.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All good suggestions, I like to use a mini trampoline for running/walking since its like running on the beach and does not eat up much space and portable.  To maximize your time you should try combining the weight bearing movements without much rest and mix things up as much as possible.  I have found Youtube a great resource for home workout routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8050" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T20:01:40.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2014-03-06T20:07:27.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been a right-leg AKA for over 33 years now, and have developed lower back problems. My workout routines include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ALWAYS start with a 30 minute stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming - while you can swim with just your arms, your shoulder and arm movements on your injured side compensate greatly for balance, and you end up tiring quickly. So, get a flotation device that wraps around your waist and a swim fin. While you can swim without such devices, they help greatly with your balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handcycling - awesome exercise. Just be careful out on the streets. I usually just ride on bicycle-only trails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weightlifting - I use machines that allow me to stretch and pull (rowers, pull downs, etc...). Light weight high reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking - treadmill or outside (either with a cane, hiking poles or a walker)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boxing - I have boxing gear, including a BOB in my garage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8051" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T20:07:27.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-07T03:44:01.967" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing my first triathlon and I'm wondering what to have in my water bottle during the bike ride. People will be handing out plain water during the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's this weekend 1500m Swim, 40km Cycle, 10km Run. I am skinny and weight 132 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: for the people saying use whatever I use in training, how does this even make sense? I don't do a full triathlon each training session so the needs are different. Also it would be a bit expensive to use a gel pack each work out (considering technically there's more than 7 a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastEditorUserId="4900" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T08:07:37.097" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T10:03:24.077" Title="What to drink during a triathlon" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15618" CreationDate="2014-03-07T08:58:58.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously there is no harm working out on abs everyday, as you stress it by your own bodyweight. But it is advisable to give a days rest to the abs incase you target the abdomianl area with external weights. for eg standing pulley crunches or crunches with weights on the chest, leg raises with weight pads etc &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8059" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T08:58:58.527" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15664" CreationDate="2014-03-07T15:04:18.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this point, recommending anything specific is just as likely to cause bad effects as it is good. By this I mean that you have no time to test during a race type workout that a drink with additives (Such as electrolytes, calories) won't give you an upset stomach or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By now you should have been on several training rides of at least the same distance as the race, so whatever you have been using during those rides is what you should use during the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you have only been using water during training rides, you may need some supplemental calories, as an Olympic distance race will likely take you 2.5 - 3 hours or more. I have had good success with Gu (100 calorie gel packs) and Clif Shot Bloks. However, if you have never eaten either of these, be warned that it may give you stomach upset. I usually chase the Gu with water as well, since for me it has a strong aftertaste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T15:04:18.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-07T16:23:50.180" Score="2" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for an aerobic training system for the living room:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should be possible to start with low aerobic load and gradually increase to high intensity, like HIIT or interval training.  Ideally fine-grained  control of aerobic intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low impact, little &quot;noise&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Little equipment (by volume).  (Game consoles OK).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Load on muscles, joints and tendons should be low in the beginning.  This might increase gradually, like the aerobic intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy to adopt according to how much time I have available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2014-03-11T14:20:28.357" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T14:20:28.357" Title="HIIT in the living room" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15670" CreationDate="2014-03-07T18:54:29.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given you have restricted basically every parameter, I think your best bet is to get a rowing machine, stationary bike, or elliptical machine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T18:54:29.317" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15682" CreationDate="2014-03-07T22:24:10.533" Score="3" ViewCount="1008" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live a sedentary life. 12 hours+ on the computer, as its my job and I am a gamer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately I have been fed up with this lifestyle and have decided to make gradual changes to a healthier state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider myself to have a varied diet of foods and vegetables are never missing from my meals, so food is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing how its getting warmer outside and I have some place to jogg (also considering freeletics but I have no support for this) but I have health concerns regarding my heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing how I am out of shape and overweight, I fear the stress on my heart might cause problems, either instant or long term wear and tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Had a physical and doctor said it would be fine, but the paranoia is strong in me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8066" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T03:24:42.343" Title="What are the dangers of starting cardio as an overweight 25 year old male?" Tags="&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15676" CreationDate="2014-03-08T00:05:11.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's little danger in performing cardio at any adult age as long as the safety standards are followed. Every exercise you perform has a proper way of it being executed; do it that way and you would not have any exercise-related injury. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Since the doctor already told you there's nothing wrong with you, you have no reason to fear. The paranoia in you is just the fat talking trash because it knows that once you start this journey, you are gonna turn into a lean, mean powerhouse. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Because you are young and healthy, I would not advise you to start with walking &lt;em&gt;(that's for those with joint problems or old people)&lt;/em&gt;. Start with light jogging to test the waters and see what you are capable of. If that's too much, reduce it to power-walking. &lt;strong&gt;If that's too much, you should get a coach since you are too lazy to do it by yourself&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Once you've tested the waters and you're beginning to like it, start lifting weights; there are many programs online to help you. Add cardio to your routines as well. Alternating your exercise days between cardio and strength training has been shown to be most effective for weight loss &lt;em&gt;(specifically fat burning)&lt;/em&gt; programs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Equally, stay in touch with people who exercise; if you don't have any around you, you can join online communities; they'll be able to motivate you and hold you accountable. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Lastly, see the whole weight loss/exercising as a new experience, an adventure that you are interested in exploring. That'll keep the motivation up and the weight down. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hope I stayed on course with the answer and it helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-08T01:53:29.943" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T01:53:29.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15676" CreationDate="2014-03-08T04:16:54.053" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice is that controlling one's diet trumps any level of physical exercise you can do, unless you are already physically fit.  That is to say, for inactive to moderately active individuals, one's diet has much more influence on health than how much one exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, this is not a rationale to &lt;em&gt;avoid&lt;/em&gt; exercise.  Quite the contrary:  it is essential to be physically active.  But in my experience, one of the most common pitfalls that people make when first starting out is that they go gangbusters on the exercise without scrutinizing their dietary/lifestyle habits.  Then they suffer pain or injury, and they end up gaining &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; weight because of reduced mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, I would limit physical activity to &lt;strong&gt;walking.&lt;/strong&gt;  Whether on flat pavement, up hills, or up stairs, it's all good.  Walking at a brisk pace for a sustained amount of time (60-90 minutes per day) is an excellent, safe way to improve cardiovascular health for beginners.  It is easy to increase the difficulty level, and it increases muscular and skeletal strength in preparation for higher impact activities.  But you have to be consistent to see results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your extra body weight, at this stage, is actually working in your favor.  People who are already athletic often fail to realize that overweight people are constantly bearing that extra weight, which automatically increases the difficulty level.  You don't see runners going for their 5k or 10k jog with 150 pounds of weight hoisted onto their shoulders, do you?  Even an extra 50 pounds makes a huge difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But back to what really matters:  diet.  The biggest thing you can do is eliminate refined sugars.  Nothing with high fructose corn syrup, or sucrose/cane sugar.  Eat more fiber.  You don't need to cut out fat or meat or complex carbohydrates, but do avoid things like soda (diet or otherwise) and fruit juice.  Count your calories.  If you ran 5 miles in 1 hour, you would maybe burn 600-900 calories.  You could &lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt; 2-3x that amount in a single meal, let alone drink that amount in soda.  So you can see that exercise at this point is not going to be the primary controlling factor for weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T04:16:54.053" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4269" CreationDate="2014-03-08T07:03:08.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Really not trying to anger anyone, but some of what I'm seeing doesn't make any sense. Think for a second why would hips make someone not be able to keep their heels on the ground why wouldn't that be the tendon. I've taught plenty of trainers what to look for and have corrected a lot of squats over the years. Here's just a typical example of what I've seen and done, lady's who wear high heels or males who wear shoes with big heels train their Achilles tendon and calf muscle to stay short, so I advise not to wear the shoes as much and do loaded stretching on the calf and tendon to really force it back where it should be, 9 out of ten times after loaded calf stretching they can squat without their heels coming off. The other 1 person is always a fear of falling backwards. I've never seen any other reason for it, period. I suggest get a partner try some pnf stretching on your hamstring flexibility, then do 3x 15 second loaded stretches on a standing calf machine increasing the weight to something uncomfortable and really pulling those heels down. Then do your squats, if magically you can do them, the answer all along was your tendon was trying to stay short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8070" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T07:03:08.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15184" CreationDate="2014-03-08T12:20:41.643" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to be careful what type of calories to take &quot;WHEN&quot;. Honey are sugars, fast carbs. If you use fast carb prior to your workout or during your workout, they will feed your muscles, help them to perform better and have a more effective workout that helps you gain muscle mass. If however you take any fast carbs post-workout, most of the excess carbs will help you gain the wrong kind of weight: fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The base rule for gaining weight in the most desirable distribution (high muscle-mass gain, low fat-mass gain) is to concentrate your carb intake into the period starting 1.5 hours prior to workout and ending half an hour prior to ending your workout. Concentrate protein intake to the few hours after your workout. Finally, concentrate fat intake in the period starting a few hours after workout and ending a few hours before the increased carb intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you should get most of your resting calories from fat, most of your working out calories from fast carbs (lactose and honey are fine, but fructose might also be a good option) and have your protein intake set on 2g/kg body weight. Play around a bit with the amount of carb calories you take in before and during workout. You will want to have excess carbs so you can finish your workout at full throttle, but don't overshoot by to much or you will be gaining more fat than muscles. Your proteins are for repairing and growing your muscles post-workout and during the night. Finaly given that you wnat most of your resting calories from fat, you need to make sure your insulin levels have recovered from the pre-workout carb induces sugar rush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T12:20:41.643" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15676" CreationDate="2014-03-08T13:34:47.283" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people believe that food is not an issue while in fact for many people it is. I would suggest you have your body fat percentage measured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If its in the 'overweight' range, keep your diet as it is, maybe cut down a bit on sugar rich foods and gradualy add more physical activity. If its above in the 'obese'or 'morbidly obese' range, and if you are confident you are eating moderately and healthy, than unlike what you may think, most definitely your diet, most likely your carb intake is still a major factor and exercise alone won't help you much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case I would suggest going low-carb (to loose fat) and going for a strength first program (to gain lean body mass) instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, first step is to find out what your starting position is, and once you know that pick the best road for you. And try to keep yourself from the number one mistake that people make when starting to work out: focus on body weight. Throw away your scale and get a measuring tape. If things go well your weight will probably go up a bit but your belly should be shrinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T13:34:47.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15676" CreationDate="2014-03-08T14:10:02.400" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've had a physical, gotten the green light and made the determination to get healthier. The next thing to do is just..well, get out there and start doing it. This doesn't mean that you have to go out tomorrow and jog 4 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start small and work your way up. Tonight, go for a 1/2 mile walk. Do it again tomorrow. And again the next day. Keep going, gradually increasing your distance. Go for a swim. Go for a bike ride. Try a martial arts class. Yoga. Yeah, you might be sore, and you might feel miserable a few times, but trust me, we've all been there. It goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do a whole bunch of stuff, and figure out what really motivates you. Many people hate jogging. Others can't swim. Whatever. Just find an activity where you enjoy what you are doing and who you are doing it with. Just like gaming takes a long time to get good at it, you aren't going to jump out of bed tomorrow and be able to run a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat healthy, don't follow any of the &quot;fad&quot; or named diets (i.e. Paleo, north beach, grapefruit), work your way up to 30 minutes (or more) of vigorous activity a day, and let the mirror and a once a day weighing be your guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T14:10:02.400" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15184" CreationDate="2014-03-08T16:44:10.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will milk and honey help you gain weight? The simplest answer is &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;. Unless you are drinking them in large quantities frequently &lt;em&gt;(which wouldn't be healthy)&lt;/em&gt;, you wouldn't gain longterm weight from them. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You should drink those for their nutritious benefits and not as a weight-gaining gimmick. Lowfat milk contains protein and calcium, which can build your body and strengthen your bones. Honey is a natural sugar that has a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-health-benefits-of-honey.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;medicinal and nutritional benefits&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To gain weight, do the same thing a weight-loss person would: Eat lean protein, vegetables, and fruits. Include complex carbohydrates in your diet and some protein shakes &lt;em&gt;(every now and then)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Then, &lt;strong&gt;lift weights&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;em&gt;(your goal is to gain muscle weight and not fat weight, right?)&lt;/em&gt;. There are many weightlifting programs online that you can follow &lt;em&gt;(check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't perform much cardio&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; as they are meant for weight-loss, not weight-gain &lt;em&gt;(I would prefer you perform some cardio from time to time because they're good for your lungs and heart)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This way, you can increase your weight without increasing your fat size; you really don't want to gain fat weight. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T16:44:10.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14459" CreationDate="2014-03-08T22:06:45.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Big tip! Focusing on lifting your legs with your core helps me when doing half or full marathons.  It is really hard to begin doing it, but after a couple of runs, it became natural to me.  Also, doing what feels comfortable during long runs is usually what you should be doing.  GOOD LUCK!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8072" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T22:06:45.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15604" CreationDate="2014-03-08T23:36:12.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Jimsan said compression calf sleeves are great way to help to ease the pain quicker than leaving it to settle on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often have pain in my right calf muscle and both techniques as Jimsan points out help. My calf muscle pain comes from my stride technique and only if I fore-foot strike during my stride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to change my technique to attenuate the problem and land more mid-foot and it works. For me it's easier to land mid-foot on long runs, but with speed workouts and tempo runs, I'm usually on my toes... and the pain is back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7056" LastActivityDate="2014-03-08T23:36:12.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11590" CreationDate="2014-03-09T08:11:41.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a proffesional bodybuilder , I do not advise anyone to sit in steam room or souna as they deflate ur muscles after workout. Give it some time after workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8079" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T08:11:41.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14459" CreationDate="2014-03-09T11:41:42.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your core mucles and visceral fat exist to protect your organs. To run and deliberately ignore your body's natural reaction to tighten up your abdominals would be like stripping your car of its shocks/struts. You want the brace of the muscles, but it also gives you traction move forward. Aim for maximum strides AND height if you can do both. Propelling power and the ability to land your foot farther is more distance travelled (and equals win!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: me - ex hardcore distance runner for my stature (5' competing against individuals with large advantage in stride due to their longer legs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8080" LastEditorUserId="8080" LastEditDate="2014-03-09T11:53:38.623" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T11:53:38.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13126" CreationDate="2014-03-09T12:23:48.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not loosing weight could mean different things. It could mean that your body fat mass isn't decreasing (and you may want to look at your diet), but it could also mean that while your fat mass is decreasing, your muscle mass is increasing. In the second scenario, you are actually doing better than loosing weight, you are changing your body weight composition to one that is much healthier, and in that case, loosing weight should no longer be your goal. I would suggest to, before changing your diet, to not look at your scale for two months or so and instead only use a measuring tape to track your progress or lack of progress. If the measuring tape sais you are getting thinner, than throw away your scale and forget about your weight. If the measuring tape doesn't say you are getting thinner, (only  than) have a good look at your diet. Don't start cutting calories for lack of 'weight' loss from exercise, increased muscle weight is good and if that's what is keeping your total weight from going down, thats a good thing that you definitely wont want to counteract by somehow starving yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T12:23:48.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-09T13:36:55.507" Score="7" ViewCount="1398" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a pair of Nike Hyperfeel shoes and they are amazing to run in, but I now have huge blisters on my both of my ankles and a small one on the ball of my left foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got the impression that the point of these shoes was that you didn't need socks, am I wrong should I have worn socks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The irritating thing is I think the blisters are from the periods I was walking between intervals rather than when I was running in the shoes as I toe strike rather than heel strike and the blisters only hurt when I was walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't my first pair of minimalist shoes I previously had a pair of Kinvara 4s but I wore socks with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1607" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T03:46:30.350" Title="Should I be wearing socks with the Nike Hyperfeel?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15692" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15702" CreationDate="2014-03-09T17:22:52.980" Score="3" ViewCount="625" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am looking to start working out regularly, and I need some recommendations on exercises to do/weight lifting techniques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 17 and consider myself athletic. I play lacrosse, soccer, and hockey, and am looking to increase my strength and muscle. Anything would be a help since I am rather new to the world of working out in a gym. I usually just run or bike a lot and do training sport specific.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specs: 6 foot (1.82m) and 210 lbs (95kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just feel like I am larger than I should be when it comes to fat and want to build more muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastEditorUserId="6321" LastEditDate="2014-03-14T19:12:24.633" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T10:11:14.780" Title="Good workout regimen for building muscle and losing fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13126" CreationDate="2014-03-09T17:41:13.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting with the most obvious: &lt;strong&gt;how long have you been on this food and training regimen&lt;/strong&gt;? If it's been less than a week, that's a short time to observe any discernable result &lt;em&gt;(except for the frustrating daily up and downs)&lt;/em&gt;. You need to give yourself ample time to see the results you deserve.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important problem is your diet. As others have stated, you don't seem to have given your body good nutrition to encourage weight-loss; you seem to have put it in a &lt;strong&gt;starvation mode&lt;/strong&gt;, which might actually make your body conserve its fats instead of burning it up. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You need to increase your food intake. Add &lt;strong&gt;lean protein&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(eggs, nuts, legumes, lean meat such as chicken, turkey, etc)&lt;/em&gt; into your diet. Then, &lt;strong&gt;add more vegetables and fruits&lt;/strong&gt;. You can actually increase your food consumption, but ensure they are healthy food and not junk. &lt;strong&gt;Don't starve yourself;&lt;/strong&gt; your goal is to be a lean, mean powerhouse, not a malnourished person. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Your water intake is okay; you don't have to increase or reduce it &lt;em&gt;(the recommended is 8-10 cups though)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Lastly, the exercise part. &lt;strong&gt;All Yoga exercises are not created equal&lt;/strong&gt;. After finishing your yoga workout, does it make you sweat? Does it make you feel that you just stretched every part of your body? If you didn't feel much after the exercise, search for other yoga exercises. My favorite is P90X yoga. It's an hour and half of yoga exercises that work every part of your body. Your body will feel the glorious soreness once you're done. You can also search the web or ask others. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For the &lt;em&gt;30 min aerobics&lt;/em&gt; you mentioned, does it increase your heart rate? Is it high or low intensity? Is it consistent? How hard or easy is it for you to complete? Do you go at the same pace all the time or vary it? If your cardio is low intensity, you need to increase it. You should be sweating and panting by the time you're done. And increase the time, if you can; 30 minutes doesn't give you enough calories burns for a noticeable weight-loss. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Turn the 30 minutes walk into power walks or jogging. Don't just go through the motion; make your body work for it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;That being said, there are more things you can incorporate into your daily activities: &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Do you take elevators? Use the stairs? Do you park closest to the stores? Park at the farthest parking lot from the stores and walk the rest. Do you sit at a desk all day? Every hour or two, get up and take a walk, run, or perform some lunges for some quick fat burn. Do you like to dance? Put in some music and burst some moves. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Losing weight doesn't have to be through programmed exercises alone. By adding activities to your regular daily routines, your metabolism will begin to rise and you'll begin to notice the changes: increased energy levels, clothes becoming bigger on you, people complimenting your size, etc. Even if the scales still stay the same, you'll know that something good is already happening. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Lastly, try to join a fitness group &lt;em&gt;(or friends)&lt;/em&gt;. The encouragement and accountability they provide will ensure you keep it up for a long time. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T17:41:13.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15692" CreationDate="2014-03-09T17:47:10.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For building muscle and losing weight, a combination of cardio and weightlifting will be the fastest way to see the results you desire. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For muscle building, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; are the most popular and recommended exercises. Make sure that whatever weightlifting program you follow works your whole body and not just specific parts.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Combining them with a good diet that comprises lean protein, complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits, you should begin to gain muscles in a short time. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For cardio, High Intensity Interval Training is the most recommended. I don't know of any specific HIIT program, but P90X and Insanity videos are mainly HIIT programs. So, if you don't find any program worth doing online, give one of those &lt;em&gt;(particularly the Insanity videos)&lt;/em&gt; a try. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Most weightlifting and cardio programs follow a routine of 3 alternating days of weightlifting and 2/3 alternating days of cardio. So, weightlifting could be on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays while cardio is on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Try to have enough rest as much as possible too. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Good luck on your new adventure :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-09T17:54:48.627" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T17:54:48.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15692" CreationDate="2014-03-09T21:47:15.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building muscle will mean you will 'gain' weight. If you want to substantially gain muscle mass, you will need sufficient nutrients during your workouts and during recovery. Importantly, consume plenty of carbs before and during your workout and extra proteine post workout. You will need to do heavy reps in short sets, giving each muscle group at least two days of rest between workout. Doing so you will gain muscle mass and likely slightly gain some fat mass, overall you will get heavier, but as your muscles gain more than your fat, your body composition would still be leaner. You might be able to tune your diet in such a way that you don't gain any fat mass or even have a slight decrease in fat mass, but however you turn it, if you want good muscle building results, you will need to accept an overall gain in total weight. This should not be a real concern though, when you look in the mirror you will look leaner, when you use a measuring tape, your waist will get leaner, your weight should not concern you really when you are out to build muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If in contrast your first concern is to loose fat, as it might be if you happen to have health issue, or just want to look ripped when your on the beach, than you need to abandon rapid muscle increase goals. You should do lots of cardio, drasticaly limit your carb intake to almost zero, do long sets of relatively light reps, etc. You will be loosing your fat mass relatively quickly, and if you tune your diet and training program carefully you may manage to do so without loosing muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to find some kind of middle road, but it doesn't seem to give half the result of what I'm about to suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start off with 18 months 'strength first', get some real strength into those muscles, gain muscle mass, gain some weight in the process but try to find the balance as to at least not gain any more fat mass. Keep your far-mass gain in check. If you are gaining less than 1kg of body fat for every 5kg of FFBM increase than you're doing fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go on the ripping program for 6 months. Keep your FFBM in check. If you're loosing less than  1 kg of FFBM for every 4 kg of body weight your doing fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Determine the goal for your FFBM and your fat percentage. Go on a muscle building program until your FFBM has overshot your ideal FFBM by about 5%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go back on the ripping program until your FFBM drops below the desired value, than continue at 3.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as for nutrition, as Barin suggests, 1g proteins per pound of body mass is a good starting point. His suggestion for carb versus fat is really of though. I would suggest the following during your muscle building periods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 gram of protein per pound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.5 gram of carbs per pound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;for the rest of your calories: fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During your ripping phase, cut your carbs even further:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 gram of protein per pound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.5 gram of carbs per pound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;for the rest of your calories: fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="8067" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T22:41:26.737" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T22:41:26.737" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-09T22:07:32.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could consider free weights program with bodyweight exercisers. There are several relatively cheep racks to complement free weights training with bodyweight training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hICo6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T22:07:32.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15648" CreationDate="2014-03-09T22:57:40.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have lost inches around the waist but I still need to loose some weight&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've lost inches, you've lost fat mass, what is good. If you've lost fat mass and haven’t lost weight than you've gained muscle mass, what is also good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do you believe you need to loose 'weight'? is it something you convinced yourself of, or did your doctor tell you to? If you are to fat, than you are on the right track, you're exchanging fat for muscle and your waist measurements combined with your stable weight are evidence of that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your doctor tells you to lose weight and he/she knows you started doing almost a full hour of exercise on average per day, he/she should know that your total body weight at this moment isn't a reliable indicator of how your fat percentage is doing. If he/she doesn't realise that and tells you to loose 'weight' rather than 'fat mass', than its time you look around for an other doctor who understands you can get leaner and healthier from doing exercise while not loosing or even actually gaining weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A controlled diet without sugars is always good, even if you weren’t a diabetes. Being a vegetarian kinda complicates things there though. The best diet for loosing fat, especially as you have type 2 diabetes is a low-carb diet. How strict a vegetarian are you? If you do eat fish, you may want to consider going for a low-carb or even a keto diet. If you don't eat fish, keto might be impossible and low-carb difficult, but I'm not quite sure there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T22:57:40.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15676" CreationDate="2014-03-10T03:24:42.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The health benefits from being active are just too big to ignore; not only will you feel better, but you will age slower than those who are more sedentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend against jogging; it can be hard on the joints, especially for those with some extra weight, but more importantly, it's hard to do, and the harder the activity is, the more likely you are to stop doing it. Walking is simple to do, requires no equipment, and can be done anywhere. Cycling is also a good choice, though I'd recommend walking first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd start with just doing that, and perhaps paying a bit more attention on your diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, you'll be able to walk farther and faster. I'd keep this up for a month or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are used to that, I'd look at some weight training; those who do cardio and weight training have considerably more success at losing weight than those who just do cardio. I don't know anything about freeletics, but a quick look suggests that it might be a reasonable next step. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, one more thought. If you're a console gamer, some of the Kinect games on the Xbox 360 or Xbox One can be a nice way to get a little physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T03:24:42.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15656" CreationDate="2014-03-10T03:36:32.593" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people don't really need any calorie replacement after workouts, and if you are trying to lose weight, it would go against maintaining a deficit. If you are really hungry a day after a workout, you could eat a little more that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exceptions - If you are working out hard - and by hard I mean a long workout where you are working hard (say, 800 real calories or perhaps 1200 my most gym machines) - then a replacement drink to refill your glycogen stores is a good idea. You aren't working that hard, so I wouldn't bother.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T03:36:32.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15670" CreationDate="2014-03-10T09:17:51.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you own a smartphone/tablet? &#xA;If it's available then get yourself an app for Tabata/HIIT. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally use „Bodyweight Training by Mark Lauren“ (also available as book), which is progressive, customizeable and has a ton of exercises (and video descriptions for the iPad).&#xA;A timer for tabata and a sample HIIT workout is also built-in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you get the idea...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T09:17:51.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15692" CreationDate="2014-03-10T12:21:49.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers touched on strength training, and I agree that working with a barbell is going to give you the best bang for your buck.  The four exercises that are going to give you the most bang for your buck are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several programs that help you get started.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; is an excellent book and beginner program.  It will provide you with a lot of the foundational knowledge you kneed.  However, as an athlete, you might want to seriously consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/store/the-juggernaut-method-2-0/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Juggernaut Method 2.0&lt;/a&gt;.  The Juggernaut Method is built for athletes, building explosive strength, etc.  I have the book, and it allows you to adjust your training maxes based on your current performance.  That means you'll take advantage of your beginner gains.  You may want to get the Starting Strength book and the Juggernaut Method book at the same time.  Starting Strength provides probably one of the best breakdowns of the main lifts you'll see.  It also provides some really good basic knowledge that will help you understand the other book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't Forget Nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big part of performing your best as an athlete is eating like an athlete.  That doesn't mean eat everything under the sun.  It means you need to eat good foods in the right amounts.  One area where I think Starting Strength does a disservice is it's emphasis on eating your way out of a plateau.  It's really easy to eat a bunch of crap and get really fat if you follow that advice.  As you mentioned, that's not going to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find a lot of conflicting advice about nutrition, and it conflicts because the eating protocols work better for some people than others.  The basics are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat plenty of protein from lean meats (chicken, beef, seafood).  0.75g per pound minimum, 1g per pound is typically recommended.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat at least .35g per pound fat.  You will need a combination of saturated and unsaturated fats.  Try to choose sources that are low in inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill up the rest of your calorie requirements with carbohydrates.  Choose sources high in fiber, as that helps keep you satisfied longer and supports other body functions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement with a multivitamin, omega-3s, and creatine monohydrate (accept no substitutes, 5g per day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over at the Juggernaut Training Systems site you'll find examples of minor nutrition conflicts.  But if you understand why they are there it does make sense.  Powerlifter Brandon Lilly prefers a more carb heavy diet, while powerlifter/strong man Chad Wesley Smith prefers a more fat heavy diet.  It really just boils down to how their bodies deal with the macros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with fixing the sources of food, then work on finding your maintenance calories.  Once you have that, you can adjust up or down to fit your training needs at the time.  The minimums I provided above are there to support normal metabolic function as best possible.  If you find that getting the protein you need starts breaking your calories for loosing weight, first make sure you aren't trying to be too aggressive, then consider supplementing with whey/casein.  Avoid the mass gainers that are loaded with sugar and dextrose, but get the regular whey/casein.  That helps you keep the protein up even though your diet requires fewer calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T12:21:49.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2014-03-10T22:54:03.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At most gyms they can measure your body fat percentage for you using the 7-Site skin fold test. Have them do a measurement ones every four to 6 weeks to keep track of your progress. Likely you are gaining both muscle mass and fat mass, but unlike other suggested, the fat 'mass' isn't really that important, its the fat 'percentage' that counts. If you weigh 100kg at 35% and you gain 5kg of muscle and 2 kg of fat, than you haven’t gotten 2kg fatter, you'd have gotten 0.4% leaner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T22:54:03.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15670" CreationDate="2014-03-11T02:23:52.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could just do burpees, pushups, situps, air squats, etc. with various rep schemes (e.g., 5 rounds of 10 pushups, 25 situps, 30 airsquats for time, or as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of 20 burpees, 100 unders with a jump-rope, 15 v-ups).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a great guide for no-equipment HIIT workouts: &lt;a href=&quot;http://reebokcrossfitone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Travel-WODs.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://reebokcrossfitone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Travel-WODs.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T02:23:52.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15714" CreationDate="2014-03-11T06:06:48.447" Score="7" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anyone got experience swimming in the sea?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I live in India and the sea near my house is Bay of Bengal. This sea is madly violent. Crossing the initial waves is really tough. Being the first day today, I crossed them successfully but then suffered a lot.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After crossing the initial waves, it was a little calm comparatively. So I feel I can do swim practice in the run up for my International triathlon coming up in Malaysia this Sep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please suggest some good swim drills for sea swimming?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or is it necessary that I practice in the pool for speed rather than sea and that the sea swimming is just to get the feel not for speed training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T14:40:14.673" Title="Drills for sea swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;sea-swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-11T10:27:46.443" Score="0" ViewCount="3701" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed this years ago and it's always intrigued me. When I drink water after an exhausting workout the water tastes different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1607" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T20:36:04.643" Title="Why does water taste different after a workout?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-03-12T02:03:06.543" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15710" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15711" CreationDate="2014-03-11T10:32:42.217" Score="3" ViewCount="1374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been taking my strength seriously the last 4 months and managed to get my deadlift from 55kg to 117.5kg. I have also ditched wrist straps and &lt;em&gt;use alternating grip&lt;/em&gt; as it allows me to actually lift that weight with my tiny hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that &lt;em&gt;I always use underhand grip in my left and and overhand in my right hand&lt;/em&gt;. I tried a couple of repetitions the other way around and it felt really uncomfortable, and now I am concerned that I may have developed a muscle imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not 100% sure if this is the case and I should force myself to alternate between the two hand positions, or whether this is just natural (like with writing) and such a small thing isn't actually something I should be concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T11:09:54.347" Title="Can alternating grip result in muscle imbalances?" Tags="&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15710" CreationDate="2014-03-11T11:09:54.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really isn't that big of a concern.  The biggest difference in stress on the back is that the shoulders are hit slightly differently.  The overhand grip spreads the weight of the bar across the whole shoulder, and the suppinated grip hits between the spine and shoulder blade.  So yes, there is a slight imbalance.  But a big part of it is just like your natural handedness.  It's just going to feel more natural pulling with one hand suppinated than the other, just like it will feel more natural writing with one hand than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people it's not that big of a deal.  As you get stronger, you will have to use different variations of the main lifts to build more strength.  It's not uncommon for people with 300kg+ deadlifts to pull with straps with the bar just below the knee as one of the variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really concerned over the slight imbalance, or you develop some pain in the suppinated hand's shoulder, then I recommend the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add specific work for your shoulders, including external rotation exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull double overhand on the warmups, and don't switch to mixed grip until it's really necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull heavier warmups off-handed, but keep the work set(s) with your strong side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I employ the first two bullets routinely, but only occasionally do I switch my grip.  Last competition my deadlift was 230 kg, and I'm stronger than that now.  It wasn't until I got my deadlift over 200kg that I noticed any imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T11:09:54.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15709" CreationDate="2014-03-11T11:45:06.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an exercise specialist, so this is somewhat speculation, but I suspect that it's a combination of a) after exercise, you really feel like you need the water, so you're much more aware of it and your body tries to prompt you to drink more by making it a more pleasurable sensation and b) after working out, your body is flush with blood, including inside your mouth, where the constant flow of air has stimulated the tissues there, which means you're simply more sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T11:45:06.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15708" CreationDate="2014-03-11T14:40:14.673" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should definitely do at least some of your training in the sea to get used to conditions, as well as being able to sight (Look for markers) to be able to swim in a straight line. There are also some tricks to it, such as being able to dive &quot;under&quot; oncoming large waves rather than swimming up and over the top of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High turnover of your arms will help, as will working on good body positioning. A wetsuit (Unless the water is very warm) will also help, especially in the sea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the rest of your workouts, the pool is fine. The vast majority of swim workouts by triathletes (From novice to professional) are done in pools. What many do is their speed workouts in the pool, and their long distance swim in open water to work on specific skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T14:40:14.673" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-11T19:12:09.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've have good success personally with workout videos like P90X (versions 1, 2, or 3), Focus T25, and the Biggest Loser DVD series.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of these require -- prefer? -- a few basic pieces of equipment such as a $20 in-door pull-up bar, 1 or 2 sets of dumbbells, or an elastic band (e.g. P90X strength days).  Others have videos that require no equipment (e.g. several of the P90 and T25 workouts), and simply would use your body weight for strength training and/or offer you a good cardio workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also worth noting that the videos are targeted at both men and women as well as at people of any fitness level, which is done by offering alterations to different moves (e.g. using a chair for pull-ups). If your only familiarity with some of these videos is with how &quot;extreme&quot; they are, don't let that deter you from trying them because I find they can be as light (or as intense) as you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="390" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T19:12:09.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12367" CreationDate="2014-03-11T20:33:45.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason running shoes are not great for rock climbing is because they tend to fit a little loose (since your foot swells when you run), they don't have hard soles, and to be durable enough for heavy road use, the rubber is not very sticky.  Climbing shoes typically have sticky rubber, are form fitting, and have fairly rigid soles so you can stick to smaller features.  If you have any other shoes that fix one of the problems I mentioned with running shoes, they'll be better.  Often times hiking boots are much easier to climb in than running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a shoe that you can climb in but still use as an &quot;everyday&quot; shoe, you could buy a climbing approach shoe. It's basically a specially designed trail shoe that can be used for some climbing/scrambling.  I'll occasionally use these when I'm climbing v2 boulder problems or 5.8 routes outside instead of changing into my climbing shoes.  Unfortunately, approach shoes can cost almost as much (and sometimes more) than shoes specifically designed for climbing.  Although they provide a nice compromise between climbing shoes and shoes you can use elsewhere, they aren't a replacement for climbing shoes.  It's just hard to beat the confidence you gain when using a climbing specific shoe, especially when you're starting out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be rent climbing shoes if you can; they give you the best experience and idea of what climbing is like.  Plus, you won't be destroying your running shoes while your getting into the sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7956" LastEditorUserId="7956" LastEditDate="2014-03-12T02:10:01.067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T02:10:01.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15709" CreationDate="2014-03-11T20:36:04.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't mention if there is a specific taste you notice; I taste metal during and after an intense workout which apparently is caused by the heart not being able to keep up &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/322820-metallic-taste-in-the-mouth-during-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/322820-metallic-taste-in-the-mouth-during-exercise/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8095" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T20:36:04.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14684" CreationDate="2014-03-12T02:31:41.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cheap and effective way is to put your hand in a bucket full of rice while making a fist.  Once you have done that, open your hand.  The deeper you put your hand in the bucket, the harder it will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, Metolius makes the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/grip_saver_plus.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grip Saver&lt;/a&gt; which is a much more portable method and allows you to work both flexion and extension.  This is what I use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dynaflexpro.com/store/powerball-sports-pro-gyro-exerciser-with-training-cd.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gyro Exerciser&lt;/a&gt;.  I'm not sure how well it works the extensors, but they say it does.  I've only briefly used one of these, but I can tell you this, it does feel like it's working everything in your hand and arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7956" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T02:31:41.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-12T05:30:50.493" Score="4" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an ectomorph, looking to increase muscle and mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My previous leg workout was,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smith Squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell lunges&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg extension&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg curls &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and Calf raises&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New workout is,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leg Press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg Extension&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg curls&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;calf raises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;hip adduction and abduction&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel this workout doesn't really fire my legs as it used to in the old one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q1- Which exercise should I add to this new regime?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q2- I tried doing barbell squats with a plain barbell and had hard time balancing it, plus my knees went past the toes all the time, is that ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q3- In my previous workout the trainer told me to leave glutes (with the machine), while this new trainer says do abduction and adduction, are they beneficial for me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T12:05:55.703" Title="The leg workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15723" CreationDate="2014-03-12T09:00:46.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried doing squats about 3 years ago for the first time and experienced the same problem as you - couldn't balance, knee position, etc. I posted a couple questions with exceptional answers on the topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles&quot;&gt;Is it normal when starting squats to not have flexible enough ankles?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12404/excercises-to-try-correct-knees-pointing-inward&quot;&gt;Excercises to try correct knees pointing inward&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I avoided them for another year and did a routine &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; similar to your first one with minimal results - especially my squat, which almost didn't budge at all on the smith machine (made it to about 25kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually I gave into the advice given to me in the above questions, and corrected some flexibility issues that were really holding me back. After that, I realized that I actually lacked almost all strength and mobility in my hips and glutes - I physically couldn't move my legs away from my body (out to the left and right). I did what your trainer is saying now and worked on the abductors / adductors around my hips and glutes and almost immediately was able to perform a squat (within 2 weeks). It has been about 4 months since then and I have seen considerable improvement in both the size and strength of my legs, starting on 30kg and now able to squat 75kg (both including bar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for my current routine, I work my legs in the same day as shoulders (which I'll leave out here):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Squat&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x8 warmup set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 working sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x3 where I go as heavy as I can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press Machine&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x8 working sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x set to failure on as heavy as I can for 3-5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x20 calf extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges w/ barbell&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not 100% sure on reps - I walk the length of the gym and back per set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Superset leg extension with leg curl&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x8 drop sets (start as heavy as I can, drop when needed to meet the 8 repetitions).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I move onto shoulders, I'll do 10-20 body weight squats between most sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said, the barbell squat is what has really made me start seeing the strength and size gains. It is responsible for the development of a lot of muscles in my legs that I don't even think existed beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: Bringing my deadlift to a more serious level seems to have helped a lot as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T09:00:46.713" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-12T18:07:22.310" Score="4" ViewCount="2725" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know I won't lose or gain weight if I lift and eat my exact calorie requirement (including the calories burnt during a workout) - but what will happen to my bodyfat percentage? Will no muscle grow and no fat be burnt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7517" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T15:31:48.467" Title="If I lift weights and eat exactly my calorie requirements, what will happen to my body?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15727" CreationDate="2014-03-12T19:13:57.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll probably firm up a bit and lose some fat over time. But re-composition takes a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T19:13:57.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15727" CreationDate="2014-03-12T20:05:01.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll lose fat, gain muscle, maybe get heavier because muscle is more dense than fat, look better, become stronger and more able to do things, walk taller, achieve better posture, sleep more soundly, reduce stress, and feel more confident. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all the hullabaloo about bulking and cutting, people forget that just working out with reasonably constant food intake will improve their lives in a jillion different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T20:05:01.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15727" CreationDate="2014-03-12T22:52:36.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on genetics, hormones and your exact diet. You cloud find equilibrium. Or your body may use fat and produce muscles, or than again it may starve your muscles and feed your fat cells and leave you vulnerable to injuries.  No simple answer here. There are many variables at play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T22:52:36.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15723" CreationDate="2014-03-12T23:15:19.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No leg schedule is complete without at least some kind of squat at least every second legs day. You could try front squat or maybe hack squat. If you didnt do so already, make leg day exclusively leg day. No other muscle groups and most definetely no cardio on leg day. At least untill you strengthen up significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T23:15:19.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6679" CreationDate="2014-03-12T23:32:11.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience loosing fat quickly at the expense of muscle mass is doable but is an extremely bad idea. Better aim for a moderate speed of 1% minimum and 2% maximum of your body mass per month of fat made.  That way you keep your muscle mass and you wont bounce back that easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T23:32:11.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15727" CreationDate="2014-03-13T03:23:19.163" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer would be that you do not give sufficient information on your diet to tell what will happen to your body either good or bad. Here is why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that by controlling your calorie intake and exercising you want to achieve good figure and/or stay fit and healthy which is great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure your body needs a daily source of energy which is provided by each of the main so called macronutrient classes: protein (4 calorie/g), fat (9 calorie/g) and carbohydrate (4 calorie/g). However keep in mind that calorie is simply a unit of energy which applies to food without specifying the actual nutrient class or nutrition value of it. Remember that a healthy diet should balance the relative amount of these macronutrients classes. Balance is needed to meet not only your energy needs for physical and brain activities but also to provide the right amount of constitutive molecular bricks to maintain your body healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also of high importance are classes of nutrient not directly related to energy. The micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals are required for your body to keep working properly. Remember the story of sailors sailing accross oceans for months suffering from atrocious tooth decay because of lack of vitamin. Vitamins and minerals though sold as chemical supplements occur naturally in meat, dairy products, vegetables and fruit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An other advantage of consuming fruits and vegetables is they contain fibers. Fibers provide optimal bowel movement which in turn reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other components present in food which have nothing to do with energy should be on the contrary avoided or their intake reasonabily limited. This is the case for salt which excess of consumption has been demonstrated to enhance the risk of heart desease. Moreover a list of undesired chemicals which are added or develop during the making of processed food are also regarded as unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a conclusion do not think of your body as only a calorie burner. Staying healthy and fit is at least in part a matter of nutrition which means you should actively choose the right food to eat. There is a lot of good books written by nutritionists to help you choose based on science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me eating healthy can also be guided by common sense. It is reasonable to think that the body we have inherited from our hunter-gatherer ancestors has not been shaped to eat extra sugar- and fat-rich chocolate bars off trees! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8108" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T03:23:19.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-13T08:24:35.590" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do cardiovascular work for two reasons of equal importance...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the betterment of my fitness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the post-workout increase in mental energy and well being&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually do some intervallic type stationary bike work. I feel like if I push myself as hard as I naturally tend to, I'll be very tired afterwards... I feel like that's what you need to do to improve your fitness, but I'm missing out on the mental boost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is how to ensure that I'm staying within a proper range to improve my fitness, and still get the mental boost... Or at least within a range, where my body will eventually adapt and I will start getting the boost again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only do an hour of cardio, usually every other day, but would like to eventually start every day like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8109" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T21:45:47.833" Title="Cardio: Energy boost and improved fitness" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15760" CreationDate="2014-03-13T11:41:16.963" Score="3" ViewCount="947" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently joined a gym, with the sole purpose of getting fit. In my induction I had a checkup and had a resting heart-rate of 99. After a few months I'm down to 64, which is far more normal of course. However, when I'm exercising it shoots up incredibly high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cycling or on the cross trainer I can work pretty hard with it remaining about 150-160, which is probably still a bit high, but considering I was told around 140 as an ideal rate, I'm hoping as my fitness improves I can remedy that. But I started doing a couch to 5k program, and that's where the bigger figures came from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I am only in to week two, currently running (it's not flat out, 9kph on the treadmill), where I have to run for 90 seconds then rest for 120. After the run, my heart rate is way up above 180, once almost 190. After resting for the two minutes it's usually back down to the mid 160s. I told this to my advisor and he said that's too much, especially considering my family actually has a history of heart problems (my dad had a heart attack in his 30s, angina, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 28, 6'2&quot; and 250lbs, so obviously I need to lose around 50lbs, but while running I don't feel I can't manage it. Yes it's quite hard work, but I can do it. But obviously I don't want to wreck my heart! I read this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5263/is-this-heart-rate-too-high-for-a-beginner-runner&quot;&gt;Is this heart rate too high for a beginner runner?&lt;/a&gt; and read about how in some schools of thought it should be between 60% and 90%, so I'm wondering if it's still possible to run, as the couch to 5k program only last about 20 minutes per session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: I trust my advisor, and I will probably take him up on the offer of some personal training for some more in-depth advice on how to best push myself without hurting my heart, but has anyone else been in, and overcome, a similar situation before? Is it a case of dieting and doing exercises that don't max my heart out for a while until I'm fitter so that I have less weight and can run without it peaking so much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing I think that's confusing me is that when I stick to the heart-rates suggested to me, I just don't feel like I'm working hard at all. I don't want to be a body-builder, I just want to lose weight and improve my fitness, with a long-term goal of being able to run 10k in one go. Any advice or links to reading so I can further expand my (admittedly minimal) knowledge before I fork out for PT would be most gratefully accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3139" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T10:27:46.273" Title="Is my heart rate too high to run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7942" CreationDate="2014-03-13T11:46:24.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-carb (high-fiber carbs only), no bread, pasta or sugar period.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High-water/low-salt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High-protein (including animal proteins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High-fat (healthy non-animal fats only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't starve yourself,loosing 2kg of fat a month is plenty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sufficient sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 two hour training sessions a week (both heavy lifting and cardio)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only trust your measuring tape. Throw away your scale, it will lie to you,&#xA;it will tell you you'r not getting leaner or even that your getting fatter&#xA;while your belly is getting smaller.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="8067" LastEditDate="2014-03-13T18:05:21.823" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T18:05:21.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15734" CreationDate="2014-03-13T12:04:33.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To ensure a proper heart rate range, I would invest in a heart rate monitor.  There are several, but, since you ride a bike for the most part, you should look at a chest band with an accompanying watch.  A heart rate monitor can assist you in maintaining a heart rate to reach your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T12:04:33.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15723" CreationDate="2014-03-13T12:05:55.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you're already pretty big, I'd ditch all these leg exercises. Just pick one hard squat (back, front) and do that heavy. Add leg press and some sort of calf work if you really feel the need. But if you aren't squatting at least your own bodyweight on the bar for reps then squats are going to be more efficient at growing mass than combining a bunch of isolation work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With back squats do three sets of 10, as heavy as possible, adding five pounds every week or two. With front squats do the same with sets of 5. Leave the Smith machine alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T12:05:55.703" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15736" CreationDate="2014-03-13T15:00:00.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you may be overdoing the run, even considering your weight and training history. When they say run in the typical couch to 5k (c25k) program, they merely mean a jogging pace. If you ARE doing nothing more than a jogging pace and still hitting heart rates that are that high, I would go for an actual clinical stress test. (That's probably not a bad idea anyway, with the family history).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, I am not a fan of training by heart rate. I don't believe that people should base training on a metric that can change dramatically by what you ate or drank the day before. If your heart rate is elevated 10 beats because of stress and dehydration, you aren't working as hard as you think you are. I much prefer perceived exertion, i.e. how hard you feel like you are working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your advisor, I would be interested in his clinical background, to where he can confidently assert that he can train you without hurting your heart. If you haven't already, I would highly encourage you to get a physical and talk over your concerns and family history with a medical doctor. That way you KNOW you have a clean bill of health to be working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T15:00:00.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13053" CreationDate="2014-03-14T10:26:31.547" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing you could probably do would be to find a dedicated runner's shop. We've got one where I live and they are really specializing in running shoes.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good runner's shop should be able to do several things for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There should be trained employees, who are themselves runners (or do&#xA;sports at least) and know what they do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can assess your current fitness status,&#xA;pronation/supination issues, intended running surface etc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some even have a treadmill analysis, where your running style is examined&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be hard to find a shop like that, but it's really worth it once you do.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And don't skimp on it just because the shoes cost a bit more, your joints will thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T10:26:31.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15411" CreationDate="2014-03-14T10:45:07.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you're going for, really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't just alter your workout and expect the exact same results. &#xA;With that said, you can of course keep the overall &lt;em&gt;volume&lt;/em&gt; by dropping weight and adding reps. But due to the change in rep-range you would be focussing not on maximum strength anymore, but on hypertrophy (8-12 reps) or endurance (12-25 reps). That in itself is not bad and might be quite beneficial, especially if you don't change rep-ranges that often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, a changed program may not provide the exact same stimulus as before, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. The calorie expenditure and overall training effect should be sustainable if you alter your workouts accordingly. So at least you won't regress, but will more likely still see gains (although they might differ from what you're used to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-14T11:38:17.100" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T11:38:17.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15411" CreationDate="2014-03-14T11:31:55.467" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When rehabing after an injury it's always smarter to drop the weight and work back up.  You had a procedure done, and while it was minimally invasive, your body still needs to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stronglifts program isn't really flexible.  It's designed for beginners, so the only flexibility is in dropping volume as the weights get heavier.  If you are after slower strength gains that allow you to put in a lot of work and expend some energy, then I recommend a 5/3/1 variant called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/training/8-6-3-for-size-and-strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8-6-3&lt;/a&gt;.  Your intensity (heaviest amount you lift) only goes up monthly, but you put in a lot of work with the main lift and assistance work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler 5/3/1 is built around the principle of getting a lot of work done in as little time as possible.  According to Wendler, a balanced program will take care of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength--more weight on the bar over time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy--more muscle on your body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility--ability to move with correct body alignment and perform the exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning--aerobic capacity so you aren't out of breath just going up stairs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strength portion of the program is one major lift a day (Bench Press, Deadlift, Squat, Military Press), and you cycle the reps week by week.  You only have one set at the top weight for the day.  The hypertrophy portion is taken care of by the assistance work which is typically 5x10 (weight should be light enough you can do 5x10, but heavy enough that you actually do some work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mobility is taken care of as you warm up, and conditioning is either done on off days or after training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, when I ran 5/3/1 I was done with the lifting in about 45 minutes--which was less time than I was spending on Starting Strength/Stronglifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T11:31:55.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15747" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15750" CreationDate="2014-03-14T12:31:57.443" Score="7" ViewCount="33578" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bikes at my gym show your current power output in Watts and I'm trying to figure out what this means in some tangible form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know 1 Watt = 1 Joule / second.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know 1 Joule = 0.239 calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example, if I average 200 Watts over an hour ride, what does this mean of these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I pushed 200 Watts for the whole 60 minutes burning a total of&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(200 * 0.239) = 47.8 calories (seems very low!), or&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I was pushing 200 Watts every second giving me:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(200 Watts * 0.239 calories per Watt) * 60 seconds * 60 Minutes = 172080 calories per hour (seem ridiculous), or&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was 200 Watts per minute&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(200 Watts * 0.239) * 60 Minutes = 2868 calories per hour which still seems really high.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2173" LastEditorUserId="23370" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T15:10:09.930" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T15:10:09.930" Title="What do Watts really mean on an exercise bike?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15747" CreationDate="2014-03-14T12:44:52.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I calculated a bit and your second calculation should be right. It only seems ridiculous, because you've got 172080 &lt;em&gt;calories&lt;/em&gt;, which is 172.08 kcal. It still is really low for an hour of biking, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Some notes on my calculation: 200 Watts for 1h is 0.2kwH = 0,72 MJ = 172 kcal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.advancedconverter.com/unit-conversions/energy-conversion/watts-per-hour-to-kilocalories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this calculator&lt;/a&gt; for future calculations, as it's quite easy to use and just much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T12:44:52.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15411" CreationDate="2014-03-14T13:27:21.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is no. The program is a take off Starting Strength and it is specifically designed as an introductory program for a strength athlete. The purpose is purely to get you stronger. If your goal is to be more fit, then you can take the program and only use light weight and probably do well by yourself. But you will not be doing the StrongLifts program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T13:27:21.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15747" CreationDate="2014-03-14T14:05:14.330" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, given the mechanical efficiency compared to human efficiency, you can multiply your watts x 4 and get your calories burned. It's going to vary some, as some people are more efficient than others, but that is a good way to get pretty close. It's based on both human and mechanical efficiency of the bike being around 20-25%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The math:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;200 watts at the powermeter x 3600 (seconds in an hour) = 720,000 joules = 720 kJ (kiloJoules)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 kCal (A food Calorie is actually 1000 calories, small c, or 1 kCal) = 4.18 kJ&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 720 / 4.18 = 172.24 kCal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, take that and divide by the efficiency factor, which is around 19-26% depending on the person. Take the middle, 23%, and you get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;172.24 / .23 = 748.9 kCals for your hour of work, which is right around 4*200. You may burn slightly less or slightly more depending on your own efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T14:05:14.330" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-14T14:46:19.520" Score="2" ViewCount="2227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have replaced them with shrugs in my new workout, but after reading, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/ss/slideshow-9-least-effective-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Slideshow: 7 Risky Exercises and Better Bets (Slide 6)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/5-exercises-you-must-avoid-if-you-want-to-stay-injury-free.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5 Exercises You Must Avoid If You Want To Stay Injury-Free&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a bit concerned about the impact on my shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastEditorUserId="31284" LastEditDate="2020-04-14T14:43:15.470" LastActivityDate="2020-04-14T14:43:15.470" Title="Is upright row bad for the shoulder?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15754" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15756" CreationDate="2014-03-15T08:14:24.180" Score="2" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;So let's say you're running 30 minutes to one hour each day, under what category is that?&#xA;It certainly isn't warm-up, cause it's pretty long. Is that considered long distance running?&#xA;Or is long distance running for dozens of miles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just love running but want to keep things in moderation also, sometimes I actually go twice a day. That's how much I love it. It's like a drug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5348" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T11:56:07.363" Title="What is long distance running? How much is too much?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15751" CreationDate="2014-03-15T09:58:19.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are certainly much better exercises you could be doing. I don't waste my time with upright rows nor do I ever get any of my clients to do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bent over rows, deadlifts, dumbbell shoulder presses, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As one of the articles say, instead of upright rows, do dumbbell lateral raises instead - and I'd agree with this. Dumbbell front raises will also be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell shrugs (keeping the dumbbells by your side) aren't that bad either. It is a good isolation exercise to do and it doesn't put your body into any compromising position that I can imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-03-15T09:58:19.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15754" CreationDate="2014-03-15T10:05:04.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you enjoy doing it, keep doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure you eat plenty of healthy, nutrient dense foods, drink plenty of water and have some quality, well fitted running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether or not you would classify 30-60 minutes as long distance, I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somewhere over and above 15 to 20km's I'd call long distance running. But I guess it's open to interpretation to some degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-03-15T10:05:04.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-15T22:48:44.923" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training to climb Mt. McKinley where I will be pulling uphill a 60lb sled with a 60lb pack on my back for 8-9 hours. I would like to know, other than actually pulling a sled, what exercises should I engage in that will prove beneficial?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I climb the 20 floor stairwell at work with a 60lb pack during lunch and I cycle everywhere, approx. 250km a week, on a fixie with a hard ratio.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is cycling working the same muscles that would be used during sled pulling?&#xA;How can I prepare/improve for an endurance based sled pull?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the information I can find is heavy sled pulls to improve acceleration, nothing geared towards literally pulling a sled...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7440" LastEditorUserId="7440" LastEditDate="2014-03-16T01:46:51.990" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T19:17:57.350" Title="Improve Sled Pull for Mountaineering" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15747" CreationDate="2014-03-16T01:39:53.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;JohnP gave a good explanation of the calculations involved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that wattages and calories on exercise equipment are generally inflated, and often inflated significantly. 200 watts/hour is a pretty hard effort; I ride about 3000 miles/year, and my best hour effort for last year was about 215 watts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T01:39:53.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12445" CreationDate="2014-03-16T01:43:32.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI does not work well for people with significant muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go out and get your body fat measured (DEXA or hydrostatic weighing are the best methods). That will give you another bit of data. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T01:43:32.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15736" CreationDate="2014-03-16T02:16:24.717" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not clear what training your advisor has, but it would be a great idea to consult with your physician, especially if there is a family history of heart problems. If you physician has concerns, she might order an exercise stress test to look for possible cardiac issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your question, if you are just starting an exercise program, it's a good idea not to work out too hard when you start out. If your heart is healthy, you aren't in danger of hurting your heart, but you can easily overuse the rest of your body. I'd also be careful about run hard / walk intervals when you are just starting out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you have said that when you are exercising at the suggested heart rate, you don't feel like you are working hard. That suggests to me that your maximum heart rate may be higher than average. A lot of exercise programs are based on a perceived exertion scale instead of heart rate to avoid this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the others on the values of typical equations for heart rate training. The best way to set heart rate ranges is through an actual field test (something like a 20-minute all-out effort), but that's overkill for what you are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is just to see your doctor, and then stop overthinking about your heart rate and go based on how you feel. People did that for a &lt;em&gt;long&lt;/em&gt; time with good results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T02:16:24.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15734" CreationDate="2014-03-16T02:38:37.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are supposed to be tired after an interval workout. It should take you a few days to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval workouts are great, but to get the best benefit from them you need to give yourself enough time between workouts to really recover. I recommend only twice a week at the most to give yourself ample time to recover. If you switch to working out every day, I'd still recommend only twice a week. Don't work out too hard the remaining days or you won't recover well enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another note about intervals - the workouts should be really high intensity, but short. If you have an hour, I'd say 15 minute warmup, 20 minute interval workout, and then a 15 minute cooldown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach seems counter-intuitive at first, but it does work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T02:38:37.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-16T14:39:07.773" Score="6" ViewCount="1186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read an article that states that one way to improve overhead press'ing is first to clean the bar, this would better tighten the lats/core as opposed to pressing directly off of a rack.  Does anyone have any experience with this approach?  My current press is 155 for 5 reps or a single of 175lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/feqae.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(link to discussion of cleaning first: &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/friday-technique-video-overhead-press/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/friday-technique-video-overhead-press/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T20:04:03.590" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T20:04:03.590" Title="Improve overhead press with cleans" Tags="&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15754" CreationDate="2014-03-16T20:24:52.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be useful to have a little more info here to give a more helpful reply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your reason for running, what is your age, and are you planning to race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a long run really depends on the distance you are training to run.  If you are training for a 5k, a 5 mile run may be considered a long run.  If you are training for a marathon anything between about 13-20 miles would be considered a long run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to whether 30 minutes to an hour is over doing it.  It again depends on your fitness level/age and goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just doing it for fitness and you are enjoying it, I would say what you are doing is fine, unless you are really young.  If you are looking to get faster, it maybe worth adding some interval training.  Happy to answer further if you can provide more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T20:24:52.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12445" CreationDate="2014-03-17T01:58:50.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm going to buck the trend here and say you need to lose weight - you are not in great shape.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets look at a couple of facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You are off the scale. Literally. The image &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; included doesn't go past 250 lbs, you are 262.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jay Cutler, professional body builder and competes at 274 lb with an off season weight of 310 lb. You are close to these figures, but I somehow doubt you are a professional body builder.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You were 195 lb at 10% body fat. This gives you about 175 pounds of muscle. You say you've been pretty lax with your diet and exercise, so lets assume this has stayed the same. At your current weight that makes you about &lt;strong&gt;33% body fat&lt;/strong&gt;. Assuming you grew muscle up to 195 pounds, thats still &lt;strong&gt;25% body fat&lt;/strong&gt;. In either case, these are far too high.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI works as a diagnostic tool, and while it underreports at low fat it usually very accurate at determining high body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;: Based on &lt;em&gt;your own self-reported data&lt;/em&gt; you are overweight and are not in great shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T01:58:50.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-17T02:07:12.243" Score="5" ViewCount="540" Body="&lt;p&gt;While &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body-Mass Index&lt;/a&gt; isn't the worlds most accurate indicator, it does correlate quite nicely with body fat, as the graph below shows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BHyx4.png&quot; alt=&quot;BMI vs Body Fat %&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the uses of BMI in this case, is that a high BMI is generally considered to be correlated with poor health outcomes, especially cardiac problems. However, it is common for people to point to athletic outliers as an indication that BMI is flawed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, even with a high-weight and a low body fat, the heart still has to do more work to pump body through a larger frame. As such, is there any research that looks at the link between individuals with a high-BMI and low body fat, and health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2019-05-15T07:09:55.750" Title="Is there a correlation between a heart risks and high BMI for someone with a low body fat percentage?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2014-03-17T02:12:17.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty much a classic ectomorph myself, and so are all the men on my dad's side of the family. &#xA;Both my uncle and my dad rode long distance cycle tours when they were younger. My uncle just completed a tour of 108 km in seering heat and stiff winds at the age of 60 in a time of 3:40. Considering the winners, much younger, better trained and with better equipment did the same race in 2:50, that's not bad. &#xA;I have always found that while not brilliant at short distances, once I got into my stride, I could run for an hour and recover without problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big thing however is the gym. It has been very hard for me to gain muscle (though I have), BUT I feel like without gaining much or any weight, I have seriously increased my reps, weights, etc in all exercises in the gym. At 77.5 kg and 1.73 m, I can deadlift 150, and probably hit 160 if I tried. For example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, I think ecto's definitely have an advantage in endurance sports, but also gaining strength pound for pound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8129" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T02:12:17.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15318" CreationDate="2014-03-17T05:16:51.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try to adjust your schedule so that every muscle group gets at least two and at most 4 days of rest between workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M - Chest + Triceps + A Little Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;T - Back + Shoulders + A Little Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;W - Legs + Abs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;H - Chest + Triceps + A Little Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;F - Back + Shoulders + A Little Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;S - Legs + Abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you give each muscle sufficient time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="8067" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T12:12:38.920" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T12:12:38.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-17T07:45:39.743" Score="3" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;My back is stiff and it hurts after sleep. What can I do to reduce the pain? I sit in the office most of the day. I don't have an exercise program but I cycle to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8081" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T10:37:17.127" Title="How to reduce stiff back when waking up?" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-18T17:27:23.843" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2014-03-17T08:50:51.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people who do Yoga says morning stiffness is reduced after some years of practice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also perhaps Yoga/stretching late in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The above relates to a general tendency of getting stiff during the night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2014-03-18T08:55:48.113" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T08:55:48.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15692" CreationDate="2014-03-17T09:56:43.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two activities people rarely talk about when the subject falls under bodybuilding. Calisthenics and stretching. They will benefit you greatly. It forces less worked muscles to work and tear and grow in ways you cannot achieve through the typical muscle building routine nonacrobatic type athletes or the standard newb will follow. If you want to grow even faster and stronger (and bigger), I can't stress the importance of those two categories enough. Eg. Gymnasts, martial artists. But I know this from first hand experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8080" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T09:56:43.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2014-03-17T13:47:13.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had the same sorts of issue with my back some time ago. I really don't know what is wrong with your back, and can thus only speak from my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used an exercise ball at work for some years and it has helped a lot. I also have a height-adjustable desk and stand up approximately 50% of the day - I do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; have a regular office chair any more! Just the exercise ball and the height-adjustable desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every morning, I use 10 minutes for some (very light) core training and stretching which I also think has helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no ideas how long it will take before you will see any real difference, but I will guess that a few weeks should make some difference (at least, that is how I remember my case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T13:47:13.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15793" CreationDate="2014-03-17T13:58:37.807" Score="13" ViewCount="1665" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good morning,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an avid lurker here and I try to answers that I feel confidently knowledgeable about to answer but after much reading between answers to my own questions, other questions, and comments, I am more unsure than ever of how I should proceed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let me put my goal into focus: to lose fat weight.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I am not interested really in strength training even though I've been doing stronglifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the biggest thing I'm skeptical or unsure about is what ACTIVITY I should be doing(cardio? HIIT cardio?)to most effectively lose fat weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love the relative efficiency of StrongLifts but as I said I am a skeptic of what it claims. The biggest ones are &quot;gain muscle while burning fat&quot;, &quot;your body will be forced to pack on muscle to squat 300lb&quot; , &quot;more strength = more muscle&quot;. I'm not going to lie; the latter two claims sound like total broscience and yes I know that SL 5x5 is a sort of derivative of other 5x5s like Starting Strength. I have hit a 250lb PR squat doing it, but, at weight this heavy, my lifts seem to stall and plateau all over the place even though I have deloaded and plateaued. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, it doesn't scientifically make sense that one could actually gain strength on SL 5x5 that isn't just a vast amount of &quot;newb gains&quot; since you technically don't actually pack on weight, whether it's muscle or fat, unless you eat over maintenance. So if you're not eating over maintenance how can you reasonably sustain any kind of strength gaining progression? &#xA;I feel like my diet is what has really hindered my progress on SL 5x5, since, to be totally honest I just don't eat that much. But now that I recognize that my primary goal right now is to lose fat weight, is a restricted diet with a strength training program even really the most efficient way to go if I'm not even really setting myself up to gain that strength?&#xA;I understand the principals of intensity and volume but just don't feel like they apply the same to individuals who actually are primarily concerned with losing fat weight if you take into consideration the actual science behind weight gain and weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my other issues is my diet I believe. My TDEE is calculated to be 2439 calories/day, which if you take off 20% makes it 1952. I eat below 1952 every day but don't see any weight loss and I think it's because my body is used to what I eat. I consume around 1500 calories a day if I'm lucky. I tend to only eat when I'm hungry and I don't really load up much on junk food. But I'm still quite chunky. So this + the fact that my gains on SL continuously stall and plateau makes me wonder if I should be switching to HIIT cardio to reduce fat weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you guys think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do appreciate both answers so far and they make sense but I guess I'm just looking for something more grounded as maybe an acceptable method. I keep googling and googling and googling things like &quot;stronglifts fat loss&quot; and &quot;5/3/1 fat loss&quot; and keep seeing posts from guys who say: &lt;strong&gt;&quot;No offense man but aiming for strength while losing fat is just going to be an exercise in futility in both areas&quot; or &quot;If you're going to cut, then cut, if you're going to bulk, bulk&quot; or &quot;trying to add strength while cutting sounds like a bad idea to me&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. So I just don't know what really to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I'm so focused on finding something more grounded is because I keep reading that you need the intensity. Well I can't get stronger if I'm mostly attempting to cut which undermines the intensity. So does that mean I should cut and focus on HIIT cardio 5xWeek and then bulk up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="7705" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T20:20:41.867" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T14:31:37.927" Title="Information overload makes me unsure of how to lose fat weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2014-03-17T14:08:34.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make stretching part of your daily routine. Try the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder_shrug&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;shrug exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(without any weight)&lt;/em&gt; everyday. It can done anywhere and everywhere (even at your seat at work). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The beauty of stretching exercises is that most of them can be done randomly and anywhere, even at your seat. Not everyone has the option of seating on a ball at work; however, stretching your back &lt;em&gt;(and generally your whole body)&lt;/em&gt; at intervals &lt;em&gt;(every hour or two)&lt;/em&gt; will reduce stiffness in any part of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T14:08:34.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15727" CreationDate="2014-03-17T15:31:48.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you going to increase your caloric intake to make up for the calories that you'd burn by working out?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the same level of physical activity but eat the exact amount of calories as required, nothing would happen.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you increase physical activity and increase the calories to the exact amount, you would gain muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you increase physical activity and maintain the calories that you average now, you would lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, nobody can predict exactly what is required.  So then, that's why bodybuilders consume too many calories and gain fat during &quot;bulking&quot;.  It's better to eat too much than to not eat enough and end up burning muscle as energy.  The human body wants to store fat reserves for the winter and times w/o food.  It will burn muscle that it decides are not necessary when in times of depleted caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T15:31:48.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15775" CreationDate="2014-03-17T15:35:54.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a very overarching question, but I'll do my best to answer it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, the activity you do does not matter that much if your goal is to lose fat weight. Although it does matter if you want to keep lean body mass (i.e. muscle weight), so let's dive a bit deeper into this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, every diet is calories in vs. calories out. If you use up more than you provide you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; lose weight. Whether you save those calories by eating less, doing more cardio or doing more heavy lifts doesn't really matter.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Although, if you can't train more (or just don't want to) or eat less, adding cardio is a good way to increase your caloric deficit and in turn lose weight faster. HIIT cardio would be my pick, because it's time-efficient, less catabolic and less boring than steady-state cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On to muscles: I assumed you'd want to keep muscles, for a simple reason. Every pound of muscle burns an amount of calories (opinions on the exact figure vary), just by being there. &#xA;So by adding muscle before, you increased your TDEE, which you'll want to keep high in order to lose that fat fast.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For keeping the muscle mass while dieting, it is important to challenge those muscles. Let your body know that they are needed, so your body won't burn those, but fat, instead. If you have to choose between number of reps and intensity, choose intensity. &lt;br&gt;A high protein diet may also aid in repairing damage done by workouts and in turn keep those muscles healthy and alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you mentioned having problems with losing weight, although you're well under your calculated TDEE. This might be due to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fat-loss-blunders-8-reasons-youre-not-losing-body-fat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;number of reasons&lt;/a&gt;, some of which are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your caloric deficit is too low. Your TDEE may be calculated wrong (e.g. due to body type). Try increasing your calorie deficit (with cardio or eating less) by another 200-300kcal and observe your weight for at least 3 weeks. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're too stressed/don't sleep enough/overtrain. Stress/too little sleep/overtraining increases cortisol production, which is associated with increased fat storage and has many other adverse effects. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your caloric deficit is too great (although I doubt it). If you eat much less than you need, your body will panic and enter &quot;starvation mode&quot; (actually, it's called metabolic damage). This will seriously slow down metabolism, hamper weight loss and decrease performance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T15:41:17.743" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T15:41:17.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15775" CreationDate="2014-03-17T15:58:40.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen you ask and answer questions, so I'm certain you have most of the theoretical answers you seek. Now, to make them realistic &lt;em&gt;(aka broscience that's working for me)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Don't eat when you are hungry. &lt;strong&gt;Eat when it's appropriate.&lt;/strong&gt; Don't eat because you feel like it; eat because you don't want your body clinging to the fat you have. &lt;em&gt;It's not just about eating lower calories; consistency is equally important. &lt;/em&gt;Even if you are eating lower calories but they are inconsistent, that won't help much. Protein-and-fiber-filled breakfast, protein-and-fiber-filled lunch, and light dinner.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'm just about to start StrongLifts &lt;em&gt;(because I just got all the needed equipment: bench, rack, etc)&lt;/em&gt;; however, I currently lift weights constantly. I like well-defined muscles. &lt;em&gt;The accepted theory is to not lift weights daily.&lt;/em&gt; However, I ensure I lift something daily. On my weight days, I lift heavier weights for definitions and strength; on other days, I lift regular weights &lt;em&gt;(usually dumbbells)&lt;/em&gt; because they also burn fat. Those extra weightlifting are just to increase my metabolism, make me perform some work, and burn fat. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, I perform cardio every other day.&lt;strong&gt;Perform as much cardio or HIIT exercises as much as you can.&lt;/strong&gt; I use Insanity and P90X; so, I know that they are HIIT-oriented. They help me burn fat; also, they help with my flexibility too. If you can get a similar program, use it. You want to burn as much fat as you want; so, you need to increase your consistency. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, you need to move about more. I used to be sedentary. I work in an office; so, sitting 8 hours a day is normal for me. However, I perform crunches everyday in my seat; other times, I'll go into the breakroom and perform some burpees, high jumps, pushups, or planks. I try not to sit for 3 hours without performing some exercise &lt;em&gt;(even if it's just stretching).&lt;/em&gt; Don't just think you'll do HIIT exercises and that's it. Or you'll lift weights and be done. &lt;strong&gt;No!&lt;/strong&gt; Move your body as much as you can. Park your car and walk &lt;em&gt;(power walk when you can)&lt;/em&gt; to stores. Or run. Work that heart at every chance you get. Jump. Dance to music. Sit tall in your chair &lt;em&gt;(instead of slouching).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Add pull-ups, chin-ups, and legs-ups to your repertoire. This should be for strength purposes. I should be able to lift myself &lt;strong&gt;(I don't care how strong a person is, if they cannot perform pull-ups, they aren't strong enough).&lt;/strong&gt; Build up your strength by lifting yourself. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This might seem like a lot &lt;em&gt;(someone commented in one of my questions that I was throwing everything at the fat....lol)&lt;/em&gt;, but it's not really a lot. Pullups, chinups, legs-ups take about 2 mins or less. Same as for pushups, reverse crunches, and other calisthenics. You shouldn't think of them as exercises, just as normal daily activities &lt;em&gt;(my pullup bars are on my bedroom or bathroom doors; this ensures I see them daily and constantly)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;The more active you are, the more active you'll want to become.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Now that you are doing all these: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Have a weekly journal. Measure your weight, chest, and waist sizes. &lt;em&gt;Many people advocate measuring yourself once or twice a month.&lt;/em&gt; I don't buy that. Measure yourself weekly and record your lowest weight that week &lt;em&gt;(not what you lost, but your actual measurements)&lt;/em&gt;. This allows you to know the numbers to beat. I just completed week 10 of my weight-loss program and I've lost almost 30 lbs, about 7 inches off my waist, and gained about 3 inches on chest size &lt;em&gt;(due to weightlifting). If I don't see any changes in a week, I simply modify the following week's exercise routine.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Based on the numbers you see above, your clothes should tell you similar stories. Chest should initially shrink and then increase. Your belt size should change. Your face should become leaner &lt;em&gt;(meaning your sunglasses should feel different).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Invest in some tight shirts too; if you've got them, flaunt 'em :). The more you like your new body, the more you'll want to maintain it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Take multivitamins &lt;em&gt;(if possible, daily).&lt;/em&gt; You just don't want to lose weight; you still want to be healthy too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that these are anecdotal, but they work for me. And I know one person that it's working for as well. And these aren't hard to follow. Once I see them as normal daily activities or some new adventure, they just fit into my life. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hope this broscience tips help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T15:58:40.913" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15318" CreationDate="2014-03-17T17:22:23.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your goal is losing fat, I think you should modify your routine. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you workout 5 days a week, perform cardio/HIIT &lt;em&gt;(at least 50 minutes)&lt;/em&gt; three times a week and weightlifting &lt;em&gt;(about an hour)&lt;/em&gt; every 2 days. Let all the days be alternating i.e.&lt;em&gt;(Mon/We/Fri and Tue/Thur)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This should prevent soreness &lt;em&gt;(unless you're lifting above your capacity)&lt;/em&gt;. However, to answer your question: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perform stretches&lt;/strong&gt; if you are really sore. Yoga is a very good stretching exercises you can perform&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perform calisthenics&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(pullups, pushups, chinups, reverse crunches, etc)&lt;/em&gt; if you are lightly sore; they will actually increase your strength as you do them frequently &lt;em&gt;(daily, if possible)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt; &#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you do, ensure you don't go 2 days without performing some form of intense exercises; otherwise, you're going to stop without realizing it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If possible, find a workout buddy too.; the encouragement &lt;em&gt;(or challenge)&lt;/em&gt; helps. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T17:22:23.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15318" CreationDate="2014-03-17T19:12:26.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case I usually go for some sort of cardio that involves using the muscles that are sore but lightly. Something like a long slow distance run or playing sports. This can work the lactic acid out of your muscles (the cause of your soreness) and can be a fun break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T19:12:26.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15757" CreationDate="2014-03-17T19:17:57.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems like a reasonable way of preparing. Cycling is good cardio which will be very important for the altitude. I have in the past completed a NOLS (mostly above 10,000 ft.) backpacking trip and spent some time in Peru (~12000-14000 ft.) and the most important was cardio and lung strength. Doing some backpacking before and strength work will be very helpful particularly stairs but you should be huffing and puffing while doing them. Stadium runs may be a good idea but short of sled work you seem to be pretty much on the right track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T19:17:57.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15775" CreationDate="2014-03-17T20:52:24.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not the answer you will want to hear, but the answer is: it depends.&#xA;It depends on multiple genetic factors, it depends on your diet, it depends on your current muscle mass, it depends on medicines you may be taking that may affect your hormone balance, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many people (including me) trying to add strength or even trying to maintain power stats while cutting is simply impossible. For others its possible to get stronger fast without increasing fat mass, or to loose fat fast without loosing power stats, or yes to improve power stats while loosing fat mass. &#xA;Some seem able to get stronger on a low-carb cutting diet while others seem able to be able to actually get leaner on a high-carb bulking diet. If you fall in one of these lucky groups, great, go for it. If you are like me however, you will have to interleave between longer cutting and bulking periods. And to make things more complex, as your body type and composition changes, the rules for your body may change with it. For me there seems to be some magic switch around 80 kg .. 84 kg FFBM (if my FFBM drops below 80kg, my body seems to completely stop burning fat no matter what program and diet I follow, above 84 kg FFBM, my body seems to go into some kind of fat burning mode if I drop my carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand its not the answer you want to have, but you need to figure out what works for you. Find out your best bulking diet and program, find out your best cutting diet and program, find out how much you can cut your carbs while bulking and how much you can increase your carbs while cutting and than see if there is a way for you to combine cutting and bulking. I you feel like its reasonable to assume you can combine the two, interleave power training days and cardio days.Don't do cardio on your power training days.&#xA;If you are unable to combine the two or you get bad results doing so, try to get a division of your training year so that you will bulk an amount of months and than cut for the remaining months. For me the 9/3 division seems to work best, but again that depends on multiple factors also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T20:52:24.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15734" CreationDate="2014-03-17T21:45:47.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a warm shower after your interval training. Spend time in the shower, soaking your tired aching muscles. That will reduce the tiredness and increase your alertness. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Once done, have a light snack. And then, drink some herbal/green tea. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Some also take multivitamins after all that&lt;em&gt;(depending on the time of the day).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You should be refreshed to continue your day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T21:45:47.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15775" CreationDate="2014-03-18T04:55:33.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of my other issues is my diet I believe. My TDEE is calculated to&#xA;  be 2439 calories/day, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you know that?  What source?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;which if you take off 20% makes it 1952. I eat&#xA;  below 1952 every day but don't see any weight loss and I think it's&#xA;  because &lt;strong&gt;my body is used to what I eat.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it works that way. If you are not getting enough calories, your body can't just &quot;get used to that&quot;--it has to get the calories from somewhere.  If you are suggesting your metabolic rate slowed down, then your first statement about TDEE is no longer correct. But my guess is this is probably not the issue...see below...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I consume around 1500 calories a day if I'm lucky. I tend to only eat when I'm hungry and I don't really load up much on junk food. But I'm still quite chunky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Key questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long have you been on this calorie restriction?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is your method of weighing yourself?  (Is it super consistent?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do you know your daily calorie intake is &quot;around 1500 calories&quot;?  Have you very carefully monitored your calories?  Are you sure you are not making any mistakes, such as confusing how much a serving size is?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the fact that my gains on SL continuously stall and plateau makes me wonder if I should be switching to HIIT cardio to reduce fat weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is you are looking for a magic technique, and, as you said, getting overwhelmed with contrary information and info overload.  The first thing I would try is simply answering the above and then, depending on what you say, honing, and, ultimately &lt;strong&gt;reducing your calorie intake further&lt;/strong&gt;.  I'd bet you are just still eating too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, your statement, &quot;I tend to only eat when I'm hungry&quot;, is a red flag for me:  although a good plan for maintaining weight, is not, in my experience (I lost 60 lbs of fat) consistent with &lt;em&gt;losing&lt;/em&gt; weight.  Generally, when one is losing weight, one feels hungry and during those times cannot allow oneself to eat (one of the key reasons many people don't stick with it).  I remember being quite hungry many nights (some worse than others) and just had to suck it up and go to bed that way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastEditorUserId="1789" LastEditDate="2014-03-18T14:24:39.810" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T14:24:39.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15754" CreationDate="2014-03-18T11:56:07.363" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;official&quot; distance for long distance running - as used by IAAF and IOC - is 3 km (1.86 miles) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-distance_track_event&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)- but having said that most runners equate &quot;long distance running&quot; and &quot;endurance running&quot; and thus consider 3-15 km as middle distance and only longer distances as long-distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my running mates - who run 20-25 marathons plus a couple of 100 km races every year(!!) - considers everything less than 42 km as middle distance, whereas his wife considers everything over 3 km as an impossible long distance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;long distance running&quot; is what you want it to be. If you run 10 km a couple of times every week and consider that long, then it is long distance to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T11:56:07.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15788" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-18T12:49:11.350" Score="2" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2258/will-wearing-ankle-weights-all-day-long-make-any-difference&quot;&gt;In this question, there's some discussion of the effect of wearing ankle weights all day&lt;/a&gt;. Some answers also go into health risks, sadly without citing sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the risks when wearing ankle weights during 'normal' activities such as walking, taking stairs, walking some more, sitting at a desk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T14:57:19.113" Title="What are the risks of wearing ankle weights during normal activity?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15788" CreationDate="2014-03-18T14:44:38.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advantages and risks have been highlighted in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/218721-pros-cons-of-ankle-weights/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;. And &lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ankle-wrist-weights-pump-pain/story?id=16824588&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;. And countless others. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Yes, you'll burn more calories wearing it. How much you'll burn depends on &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The weight of the ankle weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;How long it's worn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The frequency of walking around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, because you are placing weights on your joints, you might experience joint problems later in life. On the other hand, your body might adjust to accommodate it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It's not advisable for large weights and for extended periods of times. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;But everything depends on the context and you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T14:44:38.550" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-18T14:47:41.487" Score="5" ViewCount="6746" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for the past 5 months and gains have been moderate (I am an ectomorph, very skinny), have gained around 5 Kg following a workout plan given to me by a trainer. I select weights to which I can do the desired repetitions with full range of motion, usually to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, a personal trainer approached me and started selling me the benefits of personal training, we did the same routine I follow but he pushed me very hard with weights almost 70% more than I usually do, he was like supporting me after 6-7 reps of the second set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is which is better, to self train with weight you can do comfortably or start pushing yourself with help of a trainer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T11:34:50.060" Title="Self Training vs Personal Training at the gym" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-18T15:12:21.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a big fan of freeweights, but I recently picked up a set of resistance bands from Amazon and I have been very impressed. You can get up to 200 pounds of resistance for very low cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What got me interested in looking at resistance bands is their use by trainers of professional athletes. I have seen videos on youtube of football players, who weigh far more than I do, using resistance bands with their full body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While athletes often use resistance bands as supplements to their weight-training program, I use them for my 3x/week lifting program as my sole means of providing resistance. I have been truly amazed and have come to understand that your body really doesn't care where the resistance is coming from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been faithfully using only resistance bands for two months coupled with intermittent fasting and cardio 3x/week. For weight lifting, I am going for building mass and my routine has me doing a full-body workout each week. After 8 weeks I am here to tell you that you can most definitely tone up, improve strength, and even make impressive gains using only resistance bands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I am using the heavy-duty variety of resistance bands, not the ones you might think of at first - not the ones that look like jump ropes with handles that you would typically find at Walmart or Dick's. These look like thick, flat rubber bands - resistance 'bands.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you pick up a pack of 5 bands, the bands can be used individually or together to provide more than enough resistance to keep your program going forward for a long time. If you learn how to leverage your body, how to isolate each muscle, and how to lift with control, I doubt you will 'outgrow' the total resistance poundage provided by a set of bands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One great example is this - when going bicep curls, lift from the down position to the halfway point 5x, then from the halfway point to the top of the lift 5x, then a final 5x with full range of motion. For guys, you might want to research Serge Nubret for an example of what is possible using lower resistance, controlled motion, and higher-rep count techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007M42EYW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Example set of resistance bands&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8113" LastEditorUserId="8148" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T05:48:00.493" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T05:48:00.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15790" CreationDate="2014-03-18T15:23:57.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can afford the help of a personal trainer, go for one. A good one should be able to motivate and help you perform better. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;However, if you cannot afford one or your time schedule doesn't allow you to have one, you can continue your self-training; however, you might need to join a fitness community &lt;em&gt;(online or in person)&lt;/em&gt;. It's much easier and cheaper to have workout buddies who motivate and challenge you. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So, everything deals with the cost &lt;em&gt;(time, effort, and money).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Whatever you do, just ensure you don't stop working out. Ensure 2 days doesn't pass without working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T15:23:57.557" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15775" CreationDate="2014-03-18T15:24:09.737" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, I can help you sort through some of the information.  I think you have every right to be skeptical of the claims on the Stronglifts site, Medhi does tend to overstate things and not dig deep at all.  However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/02/12/science-bro-science-and-real-world-application/&quot;&gt;broscience is still useful when actual science doesn't have any information&lt;/a&gt; on the subject.  The good news is that there is still some science to help sort through some of the information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, broscience and my experience:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lose fat and gain muscle:&lt;/em&gt; This is strictly during newbie gains or for very obese people, and it is important to note that it is losing fat not weight.  I went from 210 to 235 during Stronglifts training but my clothes fit better.  Basically your body is making up the energy deficit from stored fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lose fat and gain strength:&lt;/em&gt; Unfortunately I did allow myself to gain too much weight over the past couple years.  I'm working with a coach to help me lose the fat while still getting stronger.  It's possible, but the fat loss is moving pretty slowly, but strength gains are moving at the rate they always have.  I'm not exactly adding muscle, but I'm making better use of the muscle I have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/category/lose-fat/&quot;&gt;few articles on the subject&lt;/a&gt; at Juggernaut Training Systems from varied authors.  A couple key concepts is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/11/18/devil-details-little-things-make-big-difference/&quot;&gt;details matter&lt;/a&gt; both in training and in nutrition; and recovery through other methods than eating through a plateau is paramount.  That means you need to get your sleep and external stress under control.  You'll find some of the authors are big proponents of nutrient timing (Nate Winkler), and others not so much.  My opinion is that it is just something to experiment with once you've got the main bits on nutrition working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second, Science:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Combination of strength training and aerobic training helps:&lt;/em&gt; My coach &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/03/cardio-and-lifting-cardio-wont-hugely-impact-your-gains-in-the-short-run-and-may-be-beneficial-for-strength-and-size-in-the-long-run/&quot;&gt;wrote an article&lt;/a&gt; inspired by some scientific studies on the subject.  He has links, but if some don't work just email him.  Strength training raises metabolic rate, while aerobic training suppresses appetite.  A guest post by Alex Veda details &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/10/practical-considerations-for-combining-cardiovascular-training-and-lifting/&quot;&gt;practical guidance&lt;/a&gt; for doing this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Carbs are an important part of fat loss:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/09/02/carbs-at-night-make-you-lean-so-do-big-breakfasts/&quot;&gt;Article covering&lt;/a&gt; a few scientific studies shows that a big breakfast can help improve fat loss, and carbs at night can do the same.  My coach has me doing both, but we're fine tuning things all the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thyroid function is an important part of fat loss:&lt;/em&gt;  Many diets cause thyroid function to be severely compromised.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/08/19/optimizing-thyroid-function-for-fat-loss-and-health/&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; provides information to keep it happy (note: studies are referenced in the articles referenced by the one I linked to).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Putting it all together:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more lean you get, &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/07/10/the-rich-get-richer/&quot;&gt;the easier it is to get leaner&lt;/a&gt;.  The most effective way to get about getting thinner is to do things in this order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your nutrition in order.  Be honest and truthful with yourself while you are correcting things.  Log every single thing that passes your lips, and see where you can trade some things you eat for others.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add cardio to your training.  Low intensity steady state (LISS) cardio is effective for burning fat, and lowering your resting heart rate.  That also improves your sleep and ability to recover more quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust programming as necessary.  You may hit the end of what you can do with Stronglifts sooner due to the fact you aren't eating what's necessary to gain muscle.  That's OK.  You'll need something you can recover better from, and Wendler 5/3/1 is a pretty decent fit for that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be prepared to take breaks from trying to lose fat and intentionally stay on maintenance for a couple months.  This lets your body get used to the new body composition before trying to cut fat again.  Do this when strength progress stalls or goes backwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take measurements, that's a better indication of whether you lose fat or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T15:24:09.737" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15790" CreationDate="2014-03-18T16:31:53.533" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If cost is an issue, Why not see a Personnal Trainer once a month when your program needs changing, or every other week.  If you get a good one, you will benefit greatly, not only from their motivation, but from their vast knowledge bank.  Personal trainers vary greatly,(some are definitely better than others, and may specialise in areas of training you are interested in) and if you find one that suits you, it will help no end.  Make sure when you have a session, you ask all the questions you want to know re diet training methods etc...  Most strength program's would need changing after 4-5 weeks otherwise your progress will level off...   Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T16:31:53.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15790" CreationDate="2014-03-18T16:46:54.553" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will give you the same answer that I give people when they ask me if they should hire a coach for [insert sport here].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are progressing towards your goals, and you are happy with your progress, then there is no real need to hire a coach/trainer. Now, that being said, even if you are progressing, then there are some valid reasons to hire a coach/trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time/Expertise: You may not want to spend the time to review past workouts, come up with new workouts, exercises and changes to existing routines. You may not have the anatomy/physiology knowledge to know WHAT needs changing to get better results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Motivation: Many people get better motivation if there is someone else involved in the workout process, either indirectly (planning), directly (assisting), or both.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accountability: For some, just the fact that you are spending extra $$ makes more of a commitment level, and you may be more likely to either do the workout or try harder during.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effectiveness: You may be progressing well, but it's possible that working with a coach/trainer may boost your workouts, and you can get to your goals faster. Not guaranteed, but a possibility.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a personal example, I have a background in exercise kinesiology, and have coached/trained for many years. I still hire an outside coach for some of my sports, simply because I don't have the experience in that area, and I find that having that outside accountability makes me less likely to skip a workout when I'm tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if money is not a constraint, and you want to give it a try, you can certainly give it a go and then reassess in a few months to gauge your progress. If you aren't really increasing any faster than you were on your own, you can save the $$ and move on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T16:46:54.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15552" CreationDate="2014-03-18T17:00:04.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds as if you should incorporate some stretching(holding for 30 seconds to try and increase your flexibility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running drills will be the best thing to improve your running style.&#xA;Also doing some short fast intervals, whilst thinking about your running form will help get your knees up.  Ie coming off toes, driving with arms, head up looking forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest specialised running shoes for the supination. If you get your gait analysed at a good running shop they should be able to advise.  I wouldn't be too worried about hill striking unless you are a sprinter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are already doing resistance training, and have a strong core, I don't see any benefits to adding any more resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T17:00:04.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13293" CreationDate="2014-03-18T17:27:02.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What abs exercises are you performing? How does your abs feel after every workout? &lt;em&gt;(I know that Insanity videos come with at least one abs video and in many of the other videos, you are advised to always contract your stomach).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you are seeing the abs under the &quot;flab&quot;, that shows that your abs exercises are working. You do indeed have the abs muscles, but they are still covered by the layers of fat. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Do you know how many inches you've lost around your waist? It's important in order to determine how fast you are losing the gut. For example, I do P90X and Insanity &lt;em&gt;(more Insanity than P90X)&lt;/em&gt; and over the past 10 weeks, I've lost over 7 inches off my waist. My abs aren't well-defined yet but they are already showing, even without flexing. I can tell that my flabs are almost gone because I cant even pull them anymore. So, measuring yours is equally important too.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In addition to those exercises, do as much calisthenics as possible. They strengthen your core as well as burn calories. Perform pull-ups, chin-ups, legs up, and reverse crunches. Perform exercises that require you to contract your core &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; those that require you to raise your legs &lt;em&gt;(such as knee jumping, squatting, burpees, and various plank exercises)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;While I don't believe in spot-reduction exercises, personal experiences reveal that some exercises target some areas than others. Do more of those exercises that target your core. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You can also lift weights. Deadlifting and weight-squatting target your core too when done properly. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In conclusion, take weekly measurements of your waist. That's the best evidence that something's happening or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T17:27:02.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15616" CreationDate="2014-03-18T19:45:02.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gideon, &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; As mentioned in the comments above, the Bizzy Diet isn't really a diet program; it's a quick fitness program &lt;em&gt;(unlike Insanity or P90X);&lt;/em&gt; the main difference is that it guarantees result in 21 days. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nutrition&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cooking is recommended &lt;em&gt;(because it's cheaper and you have more control)&lt;/em&gt;, you are free to purchase cooked meals. Even some fast food restaurants are offering health-conscious meals now. There are low-calorie chicken wraps from Chick Fila &lt;em&gt;(about 250 calories, I believe)&lt;/em&gt; and some healthy burgers from Wendys &lt;em&gt;(about 400 calories).&lt;/em&gt; You can also purchase home-style meals from other restaurants as well as visit health-conscious restaurants for their options. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The biggest problem you'll have with these pre-cooked options is the quantity of sodium. Most of them are high in salt, so you have to watch out for them. Your current food choices consist of only vegetables and fruits; you need lots of protein too. So basically, your food choices should consist of at least protein and fiber. Eggs, cereal, milk, turkey, chicken, etc are options you can look into. But yes, you can modify the food to match what is currently available to you. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the exercises in &lt;strong&gt;Workout A&lt;/strong&gt; are exercises you can do in your living room; you don't need a gym to accomplish them. Since you already have dumbbells, you can use them instead of barbells. If you happen to have a pullup bar &lt;em&gt;(which you can get at Walmart for about $30 or less)&lt;/em&gt;, you can perform all the remaining presses. Just ensure you workout on a mat, carpet or something soft so you don't apply too much pressure to your joints. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You don't need a pool for the cardio &lt;em&gt;(although you can use it too)&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;strong&gt;run&lt;/strong&gt;. You can run around the neighborhood, up and down stairs, or just in a single room. No treadmill is needed. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Workout B mainly uses your body weight and some light dumbbells, which you already have. You can do those as well without additional equipment. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you're afraid of the intensity, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;go at your own pace and take breaks.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Unless you have health issues that might prevent you from performing the program, you have everything &lt;em&gt;(and can get the rest)&lt;/em&gt; to perform the exercises almost as recommended. &#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In the end, your goal is to lose the weight, not complete some program. And adjusting programs into something that fits your schedule and capacity will help you much more than following it strictly. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The only option you don't have is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not working out.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now, go burn some goo&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T19:45:02.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14493" CreationDate="2014-03-19T00:08:31.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I  am  unable to  add comments as i  do  not  have enough reputation ,  but  i am  still able to answer. Weird.&#xA;Anyway, &#xA;I wanted to add that if you would specify  your results plus  your  age , height and weight and your experience, it could  help to  answer your question.  Hardly this is your case,  but  it is possible to be near your genetic limits. Sometimes people expect too much looking at (chemically enhanced) sports icons  and bodybuilders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T00:08:31.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2014-03-19T00:22:21.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer -  it  depends.&#xA;The longer answer - the  most important principles are : &#xA;weight progression and nutrition.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As long  as your working weight is becoming larger and you eat and sleep so your muscles get bigger - it is ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are reasons why beginner programs exist. &#xA;This is because they are the  easiest to do to get results(for beginners),  having  progression and nutrition is taken care of.&#xA;So the answer by maxywb is completely useful  and correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T00:22:21.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15552" CreationDate="2014-03-19T01:01:28.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that not all &quot;heel striking&quot; is necessarily bad. It depends on how you're actually landing. Some notables land more incidentally towards the front part of the heel with bent knees and then roll forward.[1][2]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the rear leg going too far back, again it depends. What is the driving mechanism being employed? Are the quads coming into play too much in a long, drawn-out pushoff motion? Or are the hips being extended to provide more airtime between steps?[3]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one extends backwards using the hip extensors, then like a rubberband the leg snaps back underneath for the next step with minimal effort by means of elastic recoil. When you watch the video clips, note that extending the hips is not the same as rotating the pelvis around the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some exercises to strengthen the hip extensors and flexors.[4]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxA2PidZp64&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Marathoner Meb Keflezighi - look at around 3:15&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kky1ufm0uyQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Desiree Davila - around 0:15&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastEditorUserId="8148" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T01:14:28.463" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T01:14:28.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15371" CreationDate="2014-03-19T01:55:29.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have played around with this subject too, especially when I run in my huarache sandals. They slap the ground quite loudly and you can hear me coming a mile away. I read a good tip to combat this problem. When you're running, try to imagine that you are running on delicate rice paper. Land as if you're trying your best not to tear the paper - run softly, no paw-back, minimal contact time. I can tell a big difference in my running form when I run with this imagery in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T01:55:29.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="405" CreationDate="2014-03-19T02:12:59.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing that has helped me the most with my running form is running with as minimal of footwear as I can stand. I usually run in either water shoes (like you wear on the beach) or huarache sandals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that when I run in shoes, I fatigue quicker, don't seem to run as freely, and my steps have less spring in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running minimalist makes me realize how many muscles in my legs, calves, and feet are weak and underutilized. Perhaps bad running form is the body's way of compensating for these weaknesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that improved running form comes more naturally when I run closest to barefoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T02:12:59.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2014-03-19T06:56:36.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb, you should rest each muscle group for two days after hitting it with heavy weights. Thet means that if you pack it all in one day. This basically means that if you do more than two workouts a week, you should split your workouts to only address part of your muscle groups each time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you're at it for 7 months now, you will have gotten a good feel for what your strengths and weaknesses are. Best split at this stage is to put your weakest two (or one if one of them is legs) muscle groups in even days and pack the rest of them into the odd days. You might want to try to go for 4 workouts a week if you can, so you still hit each muscle group twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T06:56:36.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14493" CreationDate="2014-03-19T09:28:02.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taco Jones,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, unless you are physically active, it seems your daily calorie intake might be too much for you to see the results you were hoping to obtain from these exercises. Barring a physically active lifestyle, you might want to reduce the range to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.choosemyplate.gov/weight-management-calories/calories/empty-calories-amount.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1900 - 2300&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;Second, what do you mean by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;workout every two to five days&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;? Does it mean you work out every two or five days? If you're working out every five days, you shouldn't expect any result because with the calories you are consuming, you aren't burning calories fast enough for those results. You need to increase the frequency. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Third, don't go too heavy. Every exercise has a good way of performing it and you should only use a heavy weight that allows you to perform it well. If you cannot perform it well, it's too heavy for you. Reduce the weight and try again. This will also help your muscles recover faster. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Since your goal is to build strength, I wouldn't recommend you exercising with light weights. You can start with light weights, but you need to increase them constantly. You also need to perform these exercises every other day; this allows your body to obtain just the needed rest without losing the strength obtained in the previous workouts. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If your body is still constantly sore after a few weeks of exercising, you'll need to add cardio and calisthenics to your routine. These can be done everyday &lt;em&gt;(recommended)&lt;/em&gt; or on non-weightlifting days. Calisthenics exercises allow you to use your body weight  and cardio helps your heart and lungs &lt;em&gt;(as well as provides endurance)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You might also need to obtain a personal trainer, join a gym, or join fitness communities &lt;em&gt;online or in person&lt;/em&gt;; sometimes, we need external help to blast through the barriers. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;One thing you cannot afford to do is &lt;em&gt;doing nothing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T07:31:10.550" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T07:31:10.550" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-19T10:00:06.250" Score="4" ViewCount="3490" Body="&lt;p&gt;With my new workout, my trainer has kept a whole day for the chest. Before this I used to decline dumbbell press and do incline smith bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current workout has, Decline, Flat and Incline presses with Fly on machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is how to decide between dumbbells, barbell and smith machine. What I have heard till now is dumbbells offer more range of motion and barbells allow lifting more weight, while the smith machine is useless and one should avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true? Does Smith machine leave out shoulders altogether? Can doing flat bench press be troublesome for the shoulders? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is this video which gives tips to bench press and states to keep your traps tight to take the load off shoulder, is that correct? Should I apply it all all my chest workouts? (tip 2 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaFVV3y-Fr8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaFVV3y-Fr8&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T16:28:46.927" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T02:17:39.607" Title="For bench press, should I use dumbbells, a barbell, or the Smith machine?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15318" CreationDate="2014-03-19T11:20:42.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with some of the other posts here, that say soreness doesn't  necessarily mean you shouldn't train.  However, if you really feel you can't, swimming would be a good option.  It would get the blood flowing which would help to relieve the DOMS, without putting stress on already tired/sore muscles.  Also, gentle stretching is good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T11:20:42.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15807" CreationDate="2014-03-19T11:52:17.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason the Smiths Machine is the least effective is because the machine stabalises the bar for you.  The chest press works your chest, shoulders and Triceps.  chest Press with Barbell and dumbbells will also recruit many other stabalising muscles.  The barbells need the most stabalising as you can imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Smiths machine will still work your shoulders, but for the above reason dumbbells or barbell may be a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard that doing chest press flat would be troublesome to shoulders, providing your tecnique is correct.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also haven't heard about the technique for keeping traps tight, but this exercise is for your chest and shoulders, so there seems little point in using the traps to take the weight off of a muscle you are trying to work.  Just add another exercise for traps if you want to work those too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T11:52:17.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15807" CreationDate="2014-03-19T13:51:20.497" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to understand how to pick the implements, you need to know what they are doing for you.  I'll rank the implements in order of difficulty--assuming you have the same total weight, they will feel progressively less difficult:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kettlebells (KB):&lt;/strong&gt; Because each hand is loaded separately, you have to work harder to stabilize the KB.  Additionally, the KB works the forearms more as you have to work to keep your wrists straight.  KBs will force your chest to work harder as the weight wants to pull your arms apart more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dumbbells (DB):&lt;/strong&gt; Has all the challenges of KB, but without the uneven loading of your hands.  Your chest is still challenged, and the even loading of the DBs only affects this aspect a little bit.  Because you can load this a bit heavier than KBs, you'll find this really the best option for truly working the chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell (BB):&lt;/strong&gt; The barbell loads both arms at the same time, so the chest doesn't have to work as hard to stabilize the bar.  Additionally, if you have a dominant arm, it will be doing a bit more work than the non-dominant arm--ensuring it stays dominant.  The chest is worked, but to a lesser degree because it is keeping the bar as a whole centered over your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Smith or Bench Machine:&lt;/strong&gt; The smith machine takes out the stabilization work of even what the BB forces you to do.  In essence the only way to hit your chest is to play with the arm placement until you feel it.  If your goal is to work the chest, this will be the least effective tool.  If your goal is to work the triceps, this will be the most effective tool (for bench or overhead press variations).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many variations of pressing, and the specific recommendations for good form vary for each one as well as for your emphasis.  However, there are some common guidelines that apply in each case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tightness:&lt;/strong&gt; The more stable you can make your body, the more effective you make the exercise.  You'll be able to lift more, and work longer.  For bench press, you want to make sure your shoulders and hips are in contact with the bench at all times.  Whether you worry about an arch or leg drive or not really depends on whether you are aiming for the heaviest bench you can do or you are just trying to get work in.  The guy in the video you linked to talked about engaging your lats to keep the shoulders tight.  That provides a more stable base to bench from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power Path:&lt;/strong&gt; Gravity pulls the bar straight down, so you want your elbows under the bar.  Your hand placement will determine where on your chest the bar comes in contact, as long as the line drawn from the bar through your elbows is perpendicular to the floor.  If the elbows are in front of the bar or behind the bar you are losing power.  NOTE: You'll probably find that the bar will hit the chest around the nipple line, and finish over the shoulders.  This is not what your video was referring to when he said don't press into the rack.  Finish the rep in the power position, then rack the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulders:&lt;/strong&gt; Raising your shoulders is a good way to tear your rotator cuff.  It destabilizes your shoulder and places it in danger.  It also makes your base less stable, violating the first bullet point.  Keep the shoulders packed in a neutral position (i.e. by engaging the lats).  That lets you use the larger muscles that were intended to handle heavier weights to lift rather than the small rotator cuffs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hand Position:&lt;/strong&gt; The exact placement is going to be a personal thing, but it should be the position you get the most benefit from.  If you are trying to hit your chest, experiment to find what hand position you feel it in your chest most.  Contrary to popular recommendations, I found better chest involvement with a closer grip.  If your goal is to work with heavier weights, you need to find the position you feel strongest with.  For me this was with a slightly wider grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grip recommendations are also a very personal thing.  A false (AKA suicide) grip allows you to get your hands positioned wider, but becomes dangerous when you are getting more fatigued.  If the bar slips out of your hand, you better have some safeties to protect your chest or you will have some very serious injuries (broken ribs, crushed lung, etc.).  A thumbs around grip is more stable, but you won't be able to bench as wide.  I personally prefer a thumbs around grip, and still bench in a rack with safeties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find a couple methods of DB benching: palms facing each other, and arms open (as if the DBs were forming a complete bar).  Some people start with the DBs with arms open and then turn them so the palms are facing at the end.  In either case, you still need to protect your shoulders, so don't raise them during the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T15:26:10.973" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T15:26:10.973" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15811" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-19T15:30:01.300" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out 4 times a week. 20 minutes running 40 minutes weight. Usually from 7pm to 8pm. I just want to eat healthy food, not supplements. I have heard that chocolate an coconut are good and healthy in a diet of someone practicing sport. Is it true? If so, in what way should I eat them and when?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8154" LastEditorUserId="8154" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T17:38:23.197" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T17:18:33.010" Title="Chocolate and coconut" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-06-19T10:12:04.170" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15807" CreationDate="2014-03-19T20:20:26.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is, &quot;Yes.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should use all of the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest mistake people make when training is assuming one technique is better than another. In reality, it's typically the combination of different techniques that yields the best results. For example, my experience as a fitness trainer was that someone who rotated between dumbbell, barbell, and smith machine would have far more success increasing strength and building muscle than someone who simply focused on one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each has trade-offs. A beginner or someone training without a spotter may want to use the Smith machine. It is the most stable solution and many models are self-spotting. The trade-off is that it locks you into an unnatural range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The barbell is a free weight but as a bilateral movement requires less stabilization than the dumbbells. You can typically load a heavier weight and experiment with various grips. The exercise will focus on the core movement of pressing the weight, unlike the dumbbells that require far more stabilization and coordination/balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dumbbells work well and will involve different muscles. You are likely to engage your core more to maintain balance and stability and typically involve more shoulder as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what you do, I HIGHLY recommend hiring a trainer even if just for a single session to train proper form. You can read and watch all of the videos you like, but there is no substitute for someone there who can evaluate your level of fitness and watch your form and provide feedback. I strongly urge this because if you guess and try to do your best there is a chance you could be doing it wrong and creating a bad habit that can set you up for injury later. As for the technique, it is important to learn proper benching technique including how to engage your scapulae because failure to stabilize correctly can lead to rotator cuff injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T20:20:26.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2014-03-19T20:32:10.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your selection of exercises looks good. I would further categorize them like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts (2 work sets of 4 reps) - hamstring-centric &#xA;Press (3 work sets of 5) - upper vertical push&#xA;Ring Dips (3 work sets of 9) - upper horizontal push&#xA;1-Legged Squats (3 work sets of 7) - quad-centric &#xA;Pull Ups/Chin Ups (3 work sets of 8-10) - upper vertical pull &#xA;Inverted Rows (3 work sets of 8-10) - upper horizontal pull&#xA;Dumbbell Bench Press (3 work sets of 6-8) - upper horizontal push &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So looking at that, first glance shows a classic error in prioritizing push over pull. I'd balance out your pushing with pulling. Perhaps eliminate the extra horizontal push, or add another horizontal pull to counterbalance it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty ways to split it, but typically you'll want to have sufficient time between workouts. A few common splits are legs (quad/hamstring), push, and pull. You could also do legs, horizontal push/pull, vertical push/pull. If you only have two workouts, do something like dead-lift and upper pull, then squat and upper push. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You noted this is strength/hypertrophy training, however those are two different goals. You can gain strength without necessarily gaining muscle mass simply by improving your neurological efficiency. In fact, the most common response to training is strength which is why building muscle is so hard. Strength training will typically focus on generating as much force as possible, so either heavy reps (high mass, slower acceleration), or moderate reps with higher acceleration (i.e. speed). If hypertrophy is your goal, then increasing load and changing exercises should be your focus. You might consider something like Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) and consider swapping out your exercises for new ones every few sessions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two guidelines I typically use for changing exercises is either plateau (i.e. the first time you can no longer add weight and hit your rep target, then it's time to change the training) or frequency (i.e. every 3rd or 4th workout - 3 is good number because the first workout you learn the exercise, the 2nd you are comfortable with it and the 3rd you can then push past the previous load before moving onto something new). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The frequency during the week looks fine. I would never train with weights more than two or three consecutive days without having a day with either full rest or a different activity like cardio. I know some people like to train daily with splits but every workout taxes the central nervous system and it needs to rest and recharge as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of success with your training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T20:32:10.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2014-03-19T20:40:45.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've slowly pieced together my home gym and have a few recommendations. Although my wife has had major back surgery and is fused from neck to sacrum she is able to use the same set up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the easiest way to get started is to invest in a simple adjustable bench and some dumbbells. You can train every body part, load different sets and reps and even use the bench for things like sit-ups and hyper-extensions (yes, I use a regular bench for these, although a special hyperextension machine is preferred you can lock your legs on the bench and hang off the end). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you move to another, I do NOT recommend a smith machine. Although it can provide some security and a sense of safety for beginners, it tends to lock you into an unnatural range of motion. Instead, I would get either a squat cage with bars or a free weight device that has &quot;hooks.&quot; These are adjustable bars that can capture the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a cage: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessexchange.com/images/bigfit_1999_5306554.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fitnessexchange.com/images/bigfit_1999_5306554.jpg&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the example with hooks: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://xtcfitness.ca/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/_/5/_585_smith-half_cage_chin_up_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://xtcfitness.ca/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/_/5/_585_smith-half_cage_chin_up_.jpg&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way you get the benefit of a free weight workout, but can adjust the bars or hooks so that they will catch the bar if you lose control. Using this technique I've trained successfully by myself for 10 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can afford it, investing in a machine with pulleys will add options like pull-down, row, curls, push-downs, etc. but not necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My set-up consists of a cage with a built-in pec deck, high and low pulley, free weights, adjustable bench, dumbbells, and a dip station that I use for dips, leg raises, and pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The great news is that you can put it together piecemeal over time. You should look at places that sell used equipment. Last I checked, there is no difference in weight between a 10 pound used dumbbell and a 10 pound new one, and the used one can be as much as 50 - 75 percent less expensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to do any Olympic style lifts (jerk, snatch, etc.) be sure to look into weights that you can drop and that bounce rather than metal weights. I go with the metal weights but I have to always make sure I'm in control, which is not a bad thing. Crossfit for example encourages lifts that end with dropping the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="208" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T20:40:45.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6635" CreationDate="2014-03-19T21:57:11.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my understanding, which is admittedly basic, your body is producing new enzymes to more effectively mobilize lipids as an energy source during that two to four week period. Regardless of how much fat you put in before you have the necessary enzymes, your body can only process and use the fat at a certain rate. This is why it can be pretty horrible subjectively. You're basically running on empty during this period. Once the enzymes are generated, they are not totally abolished during short periods of high carbohydrate intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please correct anything I've got wrong up there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; So as it turns out the information above is mechanistically incorrect. Lipase is active pretty consistently in most healthy people (primarily during sleeping hours), the big shift is when your body/brain tissues decide to start using the products of lipolysis as their primary energy source, which only occurs when it doesn't have an alternative. The body's very stubborn about its preference for sugars, as their breakdown and use is simple and effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry about my confusion. Here are links as requested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis#Diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis#Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8158" LastEditorUserId="8158" LastEditDate="2014-08-15T15:50:23.520" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T15:50:23.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15095" CreationDate="2014-03-19T22:15:13.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always train them together. Naturally most people have a muscle imbalance, right arm stronger than left arm is a common one but as long as you train them together they'll eventually even out even if physical appearance may be slightly different. Just because you don't feel as though you've pushed to the limit doesn’t mean you haven’t made an impact, tell her to try dropping her weight down for a period of time to see how she deals with it and if her shoulder begins to level off start going up agian. If it however continues to hurt and so on she should seek medical advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8159" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T22:15:13.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15790" CreationDate="2014-03-19T22:31:01.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mentioned in one of your comment responses that after being reviewed by a personal trainer, you were found to be &quot;mostly doing everything right.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That tells me you are an effective self-learner and self-researcher. You are able to correctly grasp what you read or see in videos and you are able to translate that knowledge into correct physical actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have in mind competing at some professional level, where no doubt a keen eye for personal refinement would most definitely be beneficial, I would not bother with a personal trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you may be weak in the area of really pushing yourself. In that case, perhaps writing down certain goals that you want to achieve would be helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, keep a journal of how many reps and the amount of weight lifted, and set goals to beat your last mark during your next workout. In other words, compete with yourself. Aim for a better, stronger, faster you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also helpful to have a training partner. There's nothing like a good training partner to push you harder. I realize that a personal trainer would be similar to a paid partner, but I'm talking about someone else who shares similar goals who could spot you and push you during your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can make good gains on my own, but working out with a friend definitely amps things up even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T22:31:01.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15552" CreationDate="2014-03-20T00:50:36.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So continuing with my education, I've learned that resistance training isn't really going to help, unless I was unfamiliar with running in general, and I was blatantly weak in many areas.  That is not the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance training and training with tools will not help, at least not at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically tools aren't used to fix running form-they're used to make you more efficient.  This means that I have to fix my running form first, before resistance training or use of tools will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is done through running drills.  In my case, I desire to be faster in middle distance running (5k).  My problem is lack of knee drive and dorsiflexion.  I move my foot too far forward of my center of gravity, and when reaching the desired position, let it fall, rather than drive it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T00:50:36.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15807" CreationDate="2014-03-20T02:17:39.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've been given an extensive answer above. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Since your goal is to spend the least time to achieve the best results, the suggestion will be to alternate between the barbell and dumbbells, starting with the dumbbell. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Starting with the dumbbell prepares your arms' co-ordination. Also, if you get tired during a rep, it would be easier for you to drop them individually. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As you get stronger, you can incorporate barbell into your workout. Why barbell? Well, it's &lt;strong&gt;the indisputable king of weight equipment&lt;/strong&gt;. You need barbells to increase the intensity of the workout. Although the risk of injuring yourself is higher, you'll obtain more bang for your time. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Kettle-bells should be incorporated last into your workout. Because of the uneven placement of the weight &lt;em&gt;(compared to dumbbells and barbells)&lt;/em&gt;, you'll expend more energy for the same level of weight. If you start with this equipment and can handle large weights with it &lt;em&gt;(without quitting the program)&lt;/em&gt;, this should provide you the best results on your forearms and comparable results on your chest. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Smith machine? Don't waste your time on it &lt;em&gt;(unless the others are not available, in which case it might be time to subscribe to another gym)&lt;/em&gt;. The benefits of free weights over machines are numerous and highlighted all over the Internet: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/trainingstation3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_100/141_fitness_tip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://magazine.foxnews.com/food-wellness/free-weights-vs-weight-machines-which-more-effective&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; are just examples. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Now go burn some goo :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T02:17:39.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-20T07:17:04.587" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any general guidelines (not hard rules), on how long you should sit vs. stand at an adjustable desk? Especially as you begin to adjust to one. This is in part following up on the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/7785/7660&quot;&gt;Should I get rid of my office chair?&lt;/a&gt;. I can see how it will be vary based on personal fitness and situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are there any recommendations on foot position and stance while standing? I'm very new to sit-stand desks, and so far I've taken to a squat stance. Part of my issue has been hip mobility and pelvic tilt &quot;butt wink&quot; when performing barbell squats in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T01:54:06.763" Title="Length of sit vs. stand at adjustable desk?" Tags="&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;foot-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15811" CreationDate="2014-03-20T07:51:10.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When people talk about chocolate as a health food they are usually talking about dark chocolate, and in limited amounts. The current trend in coconut is around coconut water and coconut oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to dark chocolate, the health benefits in one study for example indicated that &quot;Dark, but not white, chocolate decreases blood pressure and improves insulin sensitivity in healthy persons.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For coconut oil and water it is largely around changing to a more (good) fat heavy diet and to add lauric acid to the diet which is tied to various health benefits. One is the increase of HDL (good cholesterol). See &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/77/5/1146.full?ijkey=846a72387ebc0d82545acd5442a0c3a9e9fc3566&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; abstract from another study from the same journal&lt;/a&gt;. Coconut water is generally sometimes seen as a replacement for sports drinks, or for having high potassium content. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/18/155115477/is-the-coconut-water-craze-all-its-cracked-up-to-be&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; this news piece&lt;/a&gt; for a brief summary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are generally associated with fat heavy diets, and attempts to keep a more even keeled insulin response in the body. This is all in terms of high quality, limited amounts of the foods, and not just mountains of desserts. For the dark chocolate it is still a dessert, just a better option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T07:51:10.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-20T09:37:09.660" Score="3" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go climbing on Sundays (starting at 2-3PM). Climbing is a very energy-consuming process and I need to have my body filled with energy, so I don't feel irresistable urge to eat after couple of hours doing climbing (no way you can fix a grip on rock handle after you've eaten steak with potatoes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is when and what should I eat to get lots of lasting energy for my activities? When should I consume proteins to help my muscles grow a bit? (Hands are just wasted after you spend 4-5 hours climbing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8165" LastEditorUserId="8165" LastEditDate="2014-03-20T09:46:47.840" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T05:05:58.537" Title="How to fill body with energy before climbing?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15833" CreationDate="2014-03-20T13:22:29.203" Score="4" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training to run my first half-marathon, which will take place roughly 8 months from now. The majority of the races that I have seen advertised all seem to begin early in the day, usually in the early morning. This particular half-marathon is different, in that the run does not begin until 10:00 PM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any special considerations or preparations that I should make for running a race in the evening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7189" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T07:30:40.827" Title="Are there special considerations to be made when training for a night race?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15823" CreationDate="2014-03-20T13:49:23.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the available articles online aren't specific about the specific foods you can eat right before climbing; however, they all advocate a mixture of lean protein and carbohydrates and staying hydrated of course. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In addition to those, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pacifichealthlabs.com/blog/climbers-listen-up-this-is-climbing-nutrition-sraight-up/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; mentions having coffee &lt;em&gt;(or caffeine-based drink)&lt;/em&gt; and ciwujia &lt;em&gt;(a chinese herb)&lt;/em&gt; before the climb. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rockclimberlife.com/daily-diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This writer&lt;/a&gt; simply indicates his regular meal plan; so, it's not specific towards climbing alone. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Energy bars, granola bars, and banana are also part of the recommendation. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Consume protein supplements as soon as possible. Most supplements advocate consuming them about an hour or two after exercising the muscles so they can have the fastest impact on muscle cell regeneration. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The answer will be updated with more information as more's found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T13:49:23.460" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-20T15:04:56.850" Score="4" ViewCount="554" Body="&lt;p&gt;DOMS or Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness, everyone who trains regularly has to suffer from it. But very recently I came across an article that says muscle growth isn't at all related to muscle soreness. So the ideology of certain trainers 'No pain No again' goes down the drain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions, If DOMS is not a good indicator then how do we tell if the workouts we are doing are enough to grow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, is it bad to workout when you are seriously hit by DOMS? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some DOMS treatments are hot/cold showers and massage, I'd love to hear your variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T19:47:04.183" Title="DOMS: Good or Bad?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15811" CreationDate="2014-03-20T17:18:33.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chocolate and coconut do not help or hinder in muscle definition. While they are both nutritious and healthy to be eaten in moderation, they will not assist you in your stated goal. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For muscle definition, &lt;strong&gt;protein food &lt;em&gt;(and supplements)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is your best bet. As long as you exercise the muscles constantly and eat nutritious meals &lt;em&gt;(protein, fibers, fruits, and complex carbohydrates)&lt;/em&gt;, your muscles should be defined. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Too much of chocolate and coconut might be detrimental though because they are still fatty food. So again, eat them in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T17:18:33.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15826" CreationDate="2014-03-20T17:55:31.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;DOMS doesn't cause muscle growth&lt;/em&gt;; both are simply unrelated effects that occur from a single source: &lt;em&gt;working the muscles harder than they are used to&lt;/em&gt;. Other effects include reduced range of motion, swelling, and immediate reduced strength &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;DOMS varies amongst individuals; some recover fast while others recover slower. And yes, a warm shower, sauna, or massage &lt;em&gt;(if you can afford it)&lt;/em&gt; after such workout reduce the DOMS effect. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;How do you tell if the workout is enough to grow? A program such as Strong Lift believes that as long as you increase the weights you are carrying &lt;em&gt;(great recommendation)&lt;/em&gt;, you'll grow muscles. If you are using lower weights and higher repetitions, you should grow your muscles as well. So basically, your muscle growth isn't determined by how sore your muscles were. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you are seriously hit by DOMS, chances are your muscles are sore and your strength will be lower. As a result, your risk of injury is higher. Also, you might not be able to work your muscles as hard as they need. So, the benefit might not be much. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Personally, a warm shower usually cures most soreness after an exercise session. And of course, resting the muscles the following day. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Now, go burn some goo :)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T17:55:31.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15821" CreationDate="2014-03-20T18:20:15.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there are rules &lt;em&gt;(I'm not even sure that people would follow them)&lt;/em&gt; concerning those; however, my goal is to keep moving as much as possible. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First, &lt;em&gt;as best as your back allows&lt;/em&gt;try to sit straight always. Even if you rest your back on the chair, always try to be straight and not slouched. Sitting straight improves your posture as well as works your core muscles. So, my stomach naturally feels contracted without exercising it.  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sometimes, I rock &lt;em&gt;(sideways sometimes, back and forth on others)&lt;/em&gt; on my chair. Every hour, I do some crunches as well on my seat. Or I can lift both legs &lt;em&gt;(or alternate them)&lt;/em&gt; for a few seconds to work my thighs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Squatting is good; however, it shouldn't be for an extended period. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Whatever you do, ensure to move your body as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T18:20:15.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15826" CreationDate="2014-03-20T18:25:19.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing DOMS has indicated routinely is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm working my muscles differently than I have before (usually a new variation of exercise)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've significantly increased either the intensity or volume of my training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It only comes while your body is getting used to doing work.  When you gradually increase volume or intensity, you may not get any DOMS or it is very mild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building muscle or strength is related to the &lt;em&gt;training stress&lt;/em&gt; you impose on your body.  As you gradually build intensity and volume, your body will respond by getting bigger and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I know if I did enough?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a few modes of strength training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/02/18/increasing-work-capacity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Work Capacity Training&lt;/a&gt; -- a mode that is employed by many body builders in some form or another.  Essentially, body builders stay away from their 1RM and work by adding reps or sets, or playing with the timing of the lifts (i.e. the speed in which they move the bar and whether they pause).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Building Strength -- a mode that is featured by many canned programs such as Strong Lifts, Wendler 5/3/1, etc.  The focus is on lifting heavier and heavier weights over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peaking -- a mode that prepares a strength athlete to demonstrate their strength in competition.  It is designed to make the strength athlete ready to handle weights heavier than they normally train with, but still be fully recovered and ready to demonstrate strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For people who don't train for a competition, they can be served very well by cycling between building work capacity and building strength.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myosynthesis.com/workouts/doug-hepburn-routines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Doug Hepburn&lt;/a&gt; was a power lifter who had two routines that he used to get stronger, one was focused on adding more volume (work capacity), and the other was focused on getting stronger.  His basic advice was to use one program until you couldn't make any more improvements on it, then switch and use the other program until your progress stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice that there is only mention of the weight, sets, and reps you need to perform.  There is no mention of DOMS.  This is because the combination of the training stress and recovery from the training stress is what builds strength and size over time.  There's a pretty good treatment of the concepts in the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522754&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Programming for Strength Training&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Rippetoe and Dr. Lon Kilgore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training with severe DOMS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no reason to skip training just because you are really sore with DOMS.  I've found that training even though I'm sore will help flush blood through the sore muscles and cause the DOMS to dissipate during your training (and sometimes afterwards).  Many times I've had no loss of strength or ability just because I was sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find your ability to do work is diminished, then your muscles are fatigued.  This is related to the energy stored in the muscle being depleted or the muscle needing more time to completely recover.  In this case, temporarily lowering the volume (called a deload) can help you get the blood flowing and keep practice up while still allowing your body to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;No Pain No Gain&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This really came about as a rallying cry for trainers and coaches to get their clients to push through the way they feel and do the work they need to get done.  It's more about motivation than any guiding aspect to know when you've trained hard enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with training until you feel pain all the time is that you end up &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/09/27/fatigue-explained/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compounding fatigue&lt;/a&gt;, which not only causes your technique to break down, but puts your body into a state where it is prime for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T18:25:19.973" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15826" CreationDate="2014-03-20T19:47:04.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle growth actually occurs during the recover phase.  Ie when you work a muscle hard, you create small tears In the muscle fibre.  When it recovers, it recovers a bit stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe DOMS is a good indicator of a good workout.&#xA;It's okay to train whilst suffering with DOMS, but try to work a different muscle group to allow for the recovery repair stage to happen.  Getting the blood flowing round the body is good to help sore muscles, as is gentle stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, do make sure you incorporate 1 rest day a week into your programme.  For mental and physical recovery, and for growth to occur&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T19:47:04.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15318" CreationDate="2014-03-20T23:25:13.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm trying to keep up the schedule daily for 3 months to turn it back&#xA;  into a habit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is brilliant.&#xA;soreness will pass. the more often you train the sooner it will pass.&#xA;But one thing  to  note is :&#xA;Do not   try  to  make records before you  are adapted.&#xA;start  small.&#xA;If you  can do it 15  times ,  do it 8  times.&#xA;Leave early. less sets. One set is enough.&#xA;For two  weeks  make it easy.&#xA;Add weight every  session though.&#xA;good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T23:25:13.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15824" CreationDate="2014-03-21T00:34:38.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest at least a few of your longer runs be at night, around the same time as the race will be. Most of the time, the reason for the early morning start times is a combination of it being cooler in the morning, plus there is (usually) less traffic to have to reroute for a half marathon route than during a race that occurs closer to mid-day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, you shouldn't have too many problems, unless you happen to be a morning person. If that is the case, or you are an early sleeper, then I would recommend a nap midafternoon or so, then when you get up do your normal prerace routine, including the normal food that you eat before an early morning long run, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to check the race rules. If it is a night run, they may be requiring headlamps, tail lights and possibly running vests. If that is the case, I would recommend the Petzl line of head lamps, at least 30 lumens, and I really like the minimalist Nathan running vests. Get them early, as local stores may run out close to the race time (If the race is local) and get some runs in using them, so you know what the lighting is like and what the vest and light headband feel like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T00:34:38.477" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15824" CreationDate="2014-03-21T07:30:40.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considerations should be for when to eat.   You need to be fuelled for the race, but not so full you are uncomfortable to race.  YOu will need to see what works best for you.  Whether to eat your last meal later or whether to fuel the race with snacks or a carbohydrate drink.  The only way to know this is to practise during training.   If it was me I could probably manage a couple of slices of toast and honey about 2 hours before, but everyone is different.  Enjoy your race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T07:30:40.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14493" CreationDate="2014-03-21T11:03:00.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I think you need to start working out more consistently. Every 2 to 5 days is not consistent and if you expect to get results from that, you probably won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training and muscle gain both require a lot of commitment to both your workout/training and your diet. It varies from person to person but expect 45 to 60 minute high intensity sessions at least 4 to 5 times a week. Use that as a guide to build on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be consuming 2700 calories a day but not all calories are equal. You need high quality, nutrient dense calories - lots of proteins, fats and carbs from good quality natural foods. Stay away from that packaged garbage that is full of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the topic of calories, consume the same every day while trying to gain strength. When you want to cut/drop fat, then you can start cycling your calorie intake. You need to fuel your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sore, tough it up and train through it anyway. If it really is that bad, try taking some magnesium each day. It will help with recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look at split routines so you aren't directly training the same muscles each day. Do chest and triceps one day, front half of legs the next, back and biceps the next, rear half of legs next, then do core and bodyweight exercises - that's just a quick guide anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope some of that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastEditorUserId="7654" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T21:39:58.473" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T21:39:58.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15837" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15842" CreationDate="2014-03-21T13:50:57.183" Score="2" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today finally I did the barbell squats, I called a trainer to check out my form, but turned out he himself didn't know the correct form: his knees were going way forward his toes and he was holding the barbell almost on this shoulders, I told him that and he started 'you do squats on the smith machine'. After telling him it is bad for you, the position of legs and straight back can be dangerous etc, he bluntly disagreed and started telling me 'these machines are made for a reason, they can't be wrong, and if you don't want to exercise on machines then why are you using leg press, extension etc'. I shooed him away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I was doing squats, I kept looking straight, chest up, neutral spine, tight core. Starting with hips going back, I was able to do almost 10 perfect repetitions, but on the 13-15th ones my toes were coming up, and I was sort of falling backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Question: how do I stabilize my feet so the toes don't go up and at the same time knees don't pass the toes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt some tightness in my lower back and I was slightly bent forward, is that normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T20:43:41.593" Title="Barbell Squats: Maintaing correct form" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15841" CreationDate="2014-03-21T14:22:38.743" Score="2" ViewCount="8663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been recently training for muscle gain - less reps, more weight, lean proteins, complex carbs, no processed food...and all that jazz. I have been also taking some supplements (protein, creatine). I have measured muscle gain around chest and arms and some definition in my abs. Yet, the scale, while showing the same weight (+1 kg actually) shows more and more body fat percentage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I am not sure whether the scale is just broken (Withings), or maybe creatine fools the scale by retaining water in the muscles that it thinks it's body fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8172" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T16:15:04.253" Title="Gaining muscle but scale showing more body fat percentage?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15843" CreationDate="2014-03-21T14:42:57.890" Score="5" ViewCount="11748" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm by no means the fittest person in the world, I've had a few false starts on a couch to 5k mainly due to finding it difficult to find the time to get out and run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason, assuming that I'm not sore from the previous day's run that I can't go for another run the next day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that at the moment I'm doing run/walk intervals and am at about 50/50 running walking for half an hour at the moment so it's nothing too intense, although I'm not going to lie it feels like it is towards the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1607" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T13:00:59.537" Title="Is there any reason I shouldn't run two days in a row as a beginner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15846" CreationDate="2014-03-21T15:13:51.413" Score="1" ViewCount="1069" Body="&lt;p&gt;to make a long question short, I'm currently doing Wendler's 5/3/1 with the Triumvirate assistance. I'm following the exercises he has in his book as part of the triumvirate because I am interested in getting stronger in some areas(like chin ups, good mornings, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program is recommended for 4 times a week so I'm doing the 4 main lifts on Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri and 30 minutes of just HIIT cardio on a stationary bike on the Wednesday I'm off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However right now since the first week of 5/3/1 is relatively light, I've been able to power through the main lifts, my two accessory exercises, and still get 20 minutes of HIIT cardio in after lifting all in about an hour. I wonder if this will simply be too much later on and if I should replace the accessory exercises with the cardio completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T21:58:25.287" Title="Is 20 minutes of HIIT cardio on a stationary bike going to kill recovery on 5/3/1 + Trimuvirate?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15838" CreationDate="2014-03-21T16:15:04.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of primary importance, we need to understand the &lt;a href=&quot;http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=218&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;limitations of bio-impedance measurements&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's an approximation based on an approximation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more outside the population they built their formulas on, the more inaccurate it is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that your hydration levels can seriously affect the outcome, as well as whether you skin is dry or wet.  The gist of it is that the more resistance the scale sees, the more body fat it registers.  Being bloated with lots of water weight or stepping on the scale after your morning shower skews the results toward lean mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know much about Withings scales, or what their track record is, but bio-impedance measurements are like trying to hit a bulls-eye throwing darts in the dark.  Manufacturers do there best to make sure the dart hits the dartboard, but they can't account for everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cheap ways of measuring progress:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flexible tape measure: grab one of these from a sewing store, and measure everything you want to track.  As you add muscle and reduce fat you should see the measurements adjust accordingly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mirror or monthly progress pics: compare with pictures of others in your activity range (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;examples&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, you should like what you see.  If your abs are starting to have more definition, then you have lost fat mass.  That doesn't happen as you gain fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are gaining more than 1/4&quot; (1/2 cm) a week at the abdominal area you are gaining more fat than muscle.  At or below that amount is a comfortable rate to increase muscle while keeping as much fat off as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss for cutting should be about 1 lb (1/2 kg) a week to make sure you are preserving as much muscle as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight gain for bulking should be about 3/4 lb (.34 kg) a week to make sure you aren't adding too much fat with the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those guidelines are basically there to keep a reality check.  Your body can only build muscle so fast.  When you are obese (abs are covered by layers and layers of fat), you can lose weight faster and not have problems.  When you are fairly lean, all you need to do is adjust your diet about 200-300 calories a week until you are within this rate of gain/loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T16:15:04.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15837" CreationDate="2014-03-21T19:42:24.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are worrying too much. Even babies can do squats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kMjBk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I agree that the correct form is required, it sounds like you are fixating on that fact and overcompensating on a few things. For example, you are falling backwards because your center of gravity is behind your heals. I would guess that you're worrying too much about your knees not going over your toes that you're deliberately leaning backwards. This isn't obvious in your first 10 reps because your muscles are strong enough to compensate, but when they get tired your form suffers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some trainers are really good at their job, some just have a certificate and a bank account. I would suggest asking some of the other squatters at the gym to watch you do squats and get their feedback. They at least know how to do them and want to do them somewhere other than the smith machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T19:42:24.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15839" CreationDate="2014-03-21T20:13:12.963" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say 2 consecutive days would be fine, but don't be surprised if the second day feels much harder.  If you are doing 30 minutes the first day, do 20 the next.  Make sure the following day you rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say the most important thing here is to listen to your body.  Beginner runners often get injured in the first 6 months due to over doing it, and not giving the body time to adapt.  So do be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T20:13:12.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15839" CreationDate="2014-03-21T20:15:50.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as your not sore from the exercises from the previous day or days or feel any sort of fatigue, then I really think you should just go ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you move from run/walk to just running and longer distances, then you should begin to take restitution more serious by looking at the training effect or a similar metric. Or just follow one of the many training plans as they are usually quite balanced in terms of effect and restitution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T20:15:50.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15837" CreationDate="2014-03-21T20:43:41.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to say for sure without watching you, but it sounds as if you could be stiff in the lumber spine.  You are keeping your heels down and sitting back, but because you are stiff in the lumber spine,  you need to lean your shoulders further forward than you should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue to work on your form.  Try not to lean so far forward, and work on your flexibility.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T20:43:41.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15840" CreationDate="2014-03-21T21:58:25.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=3163852&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5/3/1 article by Jim Wendler on T-Nation&lt;/a&gt;, you're supposed to have supplemental cardio two or three times a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Triumvirate uses three exercises per workout, one of which is a core lift. Before each workout, do a warm-up that includes mobility, flexibility, something to raise your core temperature and heart rate (like rope jumping), and foam rolling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend adding two or three conditioning sessions per week, using hill sprints, Prowler pushes, or whatever else works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing some cardio shouldn't be a problem in general. Then again, any amount of work might be too much for a given person. Twenty or thirty minutes of intervals can also be a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, replacing the accessories with the cardio is Not Doing The Program and should be avoided unless you know what you're doing with program design.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T21:58:25.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15647" CreationDate="2014-03-22T07:18:18.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me as of you have weak glutes.&#xA;This is a common problem for runners.&#xA;What tends to happen is the hamstrings take over.  You need to do exercises that activate them.  Dead lifts are quite good for this.  Or balancing on one leg and touching the floor in different positions. These 2 exercises exercise the maximus glutes.  You can also, stand on one leg, keeping hips in line squeeze buttocks muscle and raise other leg to side(foot slightly turned in.  This will engage the glutes medius.  As will good mornings, and kb swings(when performed properly)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T17:02:59.960" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T17:02:59.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15839" CreationDate="2014-03-22T16:56:17.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend against this.&#xA;When you're just starting out - follow the plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that your joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles are not yet adapted to running. The training plan is what does this - most of them are scientifically evaluated to do this with the lowest risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to start with, follow the plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've got some training under the belt then go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-03-23T13:00:59.537" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T13:00:59.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15852" CreationDate="2014-03-22T20:34:15.467" Score="33" ViewCount="17048" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a bit confused about the correct breathing technique in lifts that require core strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the squat as example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; Some people say that it is very important to breathe in at the top of the movement, then hold the breath until when you go down until you come up again to the straight position. Then you should breath out. The air should go into the stomach and you should contract the abs at the same time. The reason for this is that the air and the ab contraction increases the intra-abdominal pressure. This leads to a thight core which protects the spine. Additionally this gives you a bit more power for your lift (I guess about 10 percent). However doing this also increases the blood pressure which in turn can lead to cerebrovascular accident or hemorrhoids and simliar things concerning the blood vessels. It can also lead to oxygen deficit in the brain...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this risks, the general advice in training is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; breathe in on relaxion and breathe out under load. I also found this advice in the german book &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/3437470523&quot;&gt;Differenzierte Kraftraining&lt;/a&gt;&quot; by Axel Gottlob. Where also squats and deadlifts are discussed in depth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes the variant is suggested to hold the breathe on the bottom and very slowly breath out on the way up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4)&lt;/strong&gt; Another variant is to breathe into your stomach as you are standing straight, tighten your abs and let some air go out again, then hold it until you are up again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5)&lt;/strong&gt; The last advice I have heared is just not to think about it but breathe just naturally. If I try this, I end up in breathing multiple times during the lift which feels to be wrong. However I can keep my abs contracted while breathing, so my spine should still be protected, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am very confused about this topic and need an authorative answer &lt;strong&gt;how to do it in detail&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt;. And what is about the concerns I have with the different kinds of breathing technique: Better spine protection but higher blood pressure or vice versa...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that the first method is the best for professional power- or weightlifters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am interested in training for hypertropy for general health and just for fun. So if you don't lift your 1rep max and choose instead of it a weight where you can do 8-15 reps (and 4 sets), which technique would be the most healthy one and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does the risk for the spine increases in this case when I don't hold the breath during the lift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: To understand the subject completely: How does the recommended speed of execution relates to the breathing technique and to the possible dangerous. For example if you hold your breath, it may be better to execute the lift quickly since this seems to me to reduce the risks associated with holding the breath during the lift...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="3634" LastEditDate="2014-03-23T12:41:44.597" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T19:33:41.877" Title="How to breathe in lifts requiring tight core (squats, deadlifts)" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15850" CreationDate="2014-03-22T21:27:28.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only give an anecdotal answer: I find that the tightness of the core from the intra-abdominal pressure added by a full breath becomes negligible once one develops a very strong squat.  I think that for a strong squatter, the ability to move the same amount of weight likely exists regardless of breathing method.  In my experience of trying many different breathing methods, I feel as though I should be able to inhale and exhale fully during any phase of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a philosophical note, I think that it is common for an athlete to pick a preferred method of breathing for their squat, but I don't believe it is necessarily what gives them the strength to perform the squat.  To be the strongest at squatting one can be, it is probably best for one not to subscribe to any of these theories, but for one to master a theory that works for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T21:27:28.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15850" CreationDate="2014-03-22T22:42:25.030" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very well thought out question.  First, the technical term for holding your breath is called the &lt;em&gt;Valsalva maneuver&lt;/em&gt;.  In the world of weight lifting it has a distinct purpose: to increase the body's ability to protect the spine under heavy load.  The Valsalva maneuver does not work alone.  There's a pretty fair treatment of the subject on a Rebock Crossfit site (&lt;a href=&quot;http://reebokcrossfitnuernberg.com/breathing-techniques-how-the-valsalva-maneuver-can-save-your-back-while-helping-you-nab-your-next-pr/&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;).  It's important to note that crossfiters are not trying to be power lifters or Olympic weightlifters.  They are focused on multiple reps at any given weight.  Lift Big Eat Big has an article about what the body does to compensate while lifting (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liftbigeatbig.com/2012/04/valsalva-maneuver.html&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While both those articles address why we do the Valsalva Maneuver, they don't address it from the bigger picture of how to minimize risk or how to approach the subject.  Are there risks? Yes.  If you already have high blood pressure, it's probably not for you.  However, lifting does help to correct elevated resting blood pressure over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When performing squats, deadlifts, bench press, or just about any compound lift that can put stress on the spine it is imperative to protect your spine during exertion.  This will help you finish your long sets, and protect you from injury.  However, you do need to breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body will naturally brace itself during exertion.  This is both normal and desired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't need to brace when you aren't exerting yourself.  (more on this later)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more you progress as someone who trains with weights, the more important it is that you learn how to manage using the Valsalva maneuver.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Understanding when to apply Valsalva&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are using machines which isolate your arms or legs so that there is no appreciable load on the spine, there is absolutely no reason you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to use the Valsalva maneuver.  However, if you are using a machine or a barbell that does place load on your spine you need to protect your spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats&lt;/strong&gt;: Breath between reps, but use the valsalva maneuver during your descent and ascent.  This works very well for me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Press&lt;/strong&gt;: If you use an arch, it's a full body lift so the same rules apply for squats.  If you don't use an arch it's an isolation lift for the chest and arms, breath as it comes natural to you.  (don't overthink it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift&lt;/strong&gt;: You only need to brace during exertion.  Use the Valsalva from the time you initiate the lift to the time you are standing.  You can catch your breath at the top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/strong&gt;: Same as deadlifts.  It's very hard to make this an isolation exercise, so you can breath at the bottom and breath at the top, but during the lift brace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any lift where your spine is in a neutral or supported position&lt;/strong&gt;: breath however is natural for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some variations of exercises where you intentionally violate the guidelines above.  For example, breathing paused squats.  Breathing paused squats are where you pause at the bottom of the squat and breath while at the bottom.  Then you have to exert yourself to get standing back up.  They really cause your core muscles to work hard to support the weight, but you can only do them with relatively light weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I've matured as a lifter, I've found ways to keep air in my lungs during some long sets.  The guidelines above will help you sort out when you need to apply the Valsalva maneuver and when you can do what you need without it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Using the Valsalva&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, and foremost don't grab too big of a breath.  Your goal is to stabilize your core, not make your head explode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breath into your spine:&lt;/strong&gt; At least this mental image will help you control how big a breath you get and where to hold it.  You don't want to puff your chest or your belly out with air, leaving your spine with less support.  This is the same way that singers and cheerleaders are trained to breath so they can sing or cheer loudly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get &quot;just enough&quot; breath:&lt;/strong&gt; Once your spine is supported, you don't need to keep taking in air.  It should be only moderate pressure on your glottis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hold it during exertion:&lt;/strong&gt; Once your spine is in a naturally supported position (straight up and down) you can release your breath.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easy to overthink it or scare yourself silly with the many articles out there.  It's also just as easy to overdo the Valsalva maneuver with all the macho brovado and overstating it's usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember, if the spine perpendicular to the ground, it is supported by it's natural geometry.  Performing certain conditioning work like farmers walks and suitcase carries, you are free to breath naturally.  In fact it's really important that you do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-03-22T22:48:54.280" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T22:48:54.280" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14316" CreationDate="2014-03-22T23:11:13.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks to a great answer by @JordanCarroll you have a very good reason why BCAAs are not that great for the purpose of combating fatigue.  However, there are a couple rather cheap supplements with excellent research behind them to help you deal with fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cells use a molecule known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for energy, which, upon its own exhaustion, gets converted into ADP or AMP. While the protein known as adenosine monophosphate kinase (AMPK) tends to promote AMP to ADP conversions, the form of creatine that acts as the reservoir (creatine phosphate or phosphocreatine) regenerates ADP to ATP so it can be used once again to fuel metabolic processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Examine.com Article&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical dose is 5g per day.  The author's comments mentioned that this is a very safe and useful compound for any athlete.  Also, the most studied and useful variation of creatine is just plain &lt;em&gt;Creatine Monohydrate&lt;/em&gt;.  Any other variation hasn't had the body of scientific research behind it, and in most cases is not as useful to your body.  Creatine monohydrate is very inexpensive, and pretty standard so there is no reason to spend more just because it comes from another company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sodium Bicarbonate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is a supplement that provides dietary bicarbonate, which can increase serum levels of bicarbonate (normally produced by the kidneys) and subsequently buffer acid production in the body. The main mechanism of action of sodium bicarbonate is in negating the effects of acidosis. It provides benefits both in situations of chronic mild acidosis, commonly seen in metabolic ailments or during aging as kidney function slowly declines, and in exercise-induced acidosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In athletes, the standard doses of sodium bicarbonate supplementation (200-300 mg/kg) tend to reliably benefit performance when failure on the exercise is associated with metabolic acidosis, aka “the burn.” Sports where failure occurs due to the cardiorespiratory system or due to force production by the central nervous system (e.g., single sprints or rowing in elite rowers) do not appear to reliably benefit from supplemental bicarbonate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Sodium+Bicarbonate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Examine.com Article&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The commonly recommended dose is listed above: 200-300 mg / kg.  I highly recommend splitting that dose up throughout the day.  Yes, sodium bicarbonate is just the scientific name for plain old baking soda.  You can get it at your local grocery store.  Baking soda is not a pleasant taste, so it might be best to mix some in a shot glass of water and just swallow fast.  It washes down well when you grab a glass of fresh water and drink that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T23:11:13.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15235" CreationDate="2014-03-23T01:42:48.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it would be a good idea for a physio to have a look at you to see if you truly have a muscle imbalance.  If you can afford to pay, see if you can find a sports physio. If not, go to the doctors, and explain that it has been suggested that you have a muscle imbalance and ask them to refer you to a physio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have an imbalance the physio would be able to tell you the exercises to do to strengthen the muscles that need strengthening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T01:42:48.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2014-03-23T04:08:30.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take off all your clothing at your locker, putting all dirty/sweaty clothing in a plastic bag (keeps other things from getting soiled/smelly), lock it, then head for the showers with perhaps only a washcloth (or scrub puff or similar) and possibly a towel...  I say possibly, as towels get picked-up &amp;amp; moved, and often used or stolen by others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DO NOT &quot;wear&quot; a towel!  You'll be getting your towel nearly as soiled (sweaty at least) by your un-clean body, plus it really sends the wrong message that nudity is somehow wrong, immoral, improper, or whatever.  (Did you know &quot;gym&quot; comes from the Greek word &quot;gymnos&quot;, which means &quot;place of nudity&quot;?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take a towel or other stuff, see if you cannot keep it on a hook, or as needed, over the pipe behind the showerhead and/or shower handle(s).  -If your shower is in a partitioned stall of some kind, you may (if not too high) be able to keep items on top of a panel, but DO NOT flop/fling them over, as you'll be spraying the guy next to you if you do!  (That's rude, and might get in the guy's eyes or give him a rash or something depending on the presence of soap/shampoo.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearing a swimsuit is not really proper...  It really just tells guys you're ashamed of your penis/genitals, and will cause some to pay you even more attention, wondering if what you have is really worth looking at.  -Not to mention you cannot wash covered parts and rinse them adequately, AND the fact that soap that's good for you is bad for your clothing - it will cause fabrics to fade and fall apart more quickly.  (This is no joke!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for valuables, don't bring things you do not need...  If you're out only for the gym and returning home immediately, leave the phone, music player, etc at home if at all possible.  -Some gyms may have more secure coin-op lockers up front, near the desk or near the workout area, where break-ins are less likely to happen.  Some gyms will also allow you to have the desk employees hold things in a drawer there, but this is not really secure at all and it's dependent on you remembering things and keeping the employees honest.  -If you &quot;have&quot; to have the items in the gym, then keep them in your locker and use a more secure lock that can't be picked (no keys), is tempered/hardened, and preferably uses combination wheels (4 or more is best) or a magnetic key.  Taking a shorter shower so you can check back on your locker quicker may be best, as well as drying lightly in the shower area and more thoroughly at your locker so you can keep an eye on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(BTW, DO NOT take electronics into the sauna or steam room, as you will slowly damage them...  It's too hot and/or humid and they are not normally made for such!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearing plastic slide sandals is best in a locker room environment, not just in the shower or wet areas, but in the locker room itself.  -Floors there are usually not cleaned well, and certainly not enough to keep much dirt off it, not to mention keep mold/fungus and bacteria from growing!  DO NOT step on the floor anywhere there if you have the slightest issue with &quot;athlete's fungus&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also on the same note, ALWAYS put CLEAN socks on before your underwear and/or pants/shorts.  If you don't, you can transfer athlete's fungus from your ft. to your crotch area, which then gives you &quot;jock itch&quot;.  -This is the best idea, no matter where you are dressing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many shave before or during a shower, no mater where they shower, to give anyone they may meet (to them) a better appearance of them, or to rid themselves of that &quot;5 o'clock shadow&quot;.  However, IMHO, brushing your teeth is a bit much...  After all, if you didn't recently have a meal (elsewhere, presumable) and not brush afterwards, why wait until showering to correct the oversight?  Perhaps if you're leaving there for a date, you might want to, but otherwise is there a need to do it there???  I feel likewise on body shaving.  -Take the time to do this in a more private space (at home) if you must do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run a forum for guys on Yahoo Groups for guys that have trouble with body-shyness issues and help for same, so if you're in that kind of position at all or looking to help those with same, check it out:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/WHYP/info&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/WHYP/info&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8181" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T04:08:30.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6083" CreationDate="2014-03-23T14:49:33.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going out to buy shoes I would definitely go for walking shoes.  For the following reasons:-&#xA;They are more supportive all round.&#xA;They will last longer&#xA;They will keep your foot drier in a downpour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T14:49:33.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15860" CreationDate="2014-03-23T15:08:35.783" Score="2" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in a big IT company and it's really hard to keep yourself fit when sitting in front of your monitor for 10 hours per day (I'm doing even more than 8 hours per day to get a permanent position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to do some simple weight-lifting with two 4-Kg handles I bought during the week at evening and go to run for an hour or so on Saturday and Sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that this is not enough to keep yourself fit and I'd like to ask what kind of body-building-like exercises could I do with my two 4-Kg handles, as the only gear available, during the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I usually do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-2 series of 60 abs each&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-2 series of 100 lifts per arm (4 Kg per arm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20-25 series of deltoids (lateral lifting)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60 push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~40 pectorals by lying down on two chairs (adapted as a bench)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8185" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T02:27:28.803" Title="Keeping in shape with a terrible sitting-job" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15858" CreationDate="2014-03-23T16:23:12.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I presume from the tone of your question that you are normally pretty active and that you are getting frustrated with lack of time to train?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presuming that this is the case.  There are a few things I can suggested that will maximise the training effect with the time and equipment that you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your weight sessions, it sounds as if the weights you are using are too light for you.  Generally the maximum of one exercise you would do is 25, and then you would increase the weight.  So an ideal scenario would be for you to buy heavier weight, but if this isn't an option, I would suggest change to more advanced versions of the press ups - you could put your feet on a chair(whilst maintaining a good position). This will bring the weight over your shoulders and thus make the exercise harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you could do, is Keep all the exercises using the same muscle together, so muscles are tired before starting next exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your overall training the week, I would add some Tabata training once or twice a week(not consecutive days).  This is very high intensive circuit style training with very strict timed work/recovery.  You need to select 3-4 (preferably multi-muscle exercises, ones that are not dangerous if you start to lose form.  Burpees would be a good example. You could also do lateral lunges.  Lunge to one side bring feet together and shoulder press, then lunge to the otherside(repeat). Tuck jumps, and lunges(alt legs)with or without weights.  The 4 exercises make 1 round.  You need to do between 4-8 rounds.  I would suggest 30 seconds work/followed by 10 seconds recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would change the running long run on Saturday to be interval training.  This could be fartlek or something like the following:- warmup for 10 minutes.  Run 1 minute hard/followed by 1 minute jog.  Repeat 6-10 times. Then do 10 minutes cool down jog.&#xA;There are many different sessions you can do like this.  I would stick with Sunday 1 hour run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think these small changes could have a big impact on your training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-03-23T18:05:06.193" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T18:05:06.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15858" CreationDate="2014-03-23T16:30:31.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you work 10 hours a day, time isn't your friend. As a result, you want to achieve maximum result in the shortest time. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The goal is to perform as many whole body exercises as possible.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; As a result, do something similar to this: &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001EJMS6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull up bar&lt;/a&gt; and place it on your home bathroom door. Everyday &lt;em&gt;(preferably before work)&lt;/em&gt;, perform pull ups, chinups, and legs up on them. &lt;em&gt;Do as many as you can and try to increase the numbers frequently.&lt;/em&gt; That should take you about 5 minutes in all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you drive to work, park at a far distance from your office and &lt;strong&gt;jog/power-walk&lt;/strong&gt; to your office. &lt;em&gt;(If you can sprint, that would be awesome!)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you get to work, &lt;em&gt;(preferably in an isolated location)&lt;/em&gt;, perform about 10 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf7wZvraWV0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;em&gt;Again, try to increase the numbers as you get stronger.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purchase higher weight dumbbells &lt;em&gt;(your goal is maximum result in shortest time and your current weights won't do that).&lt;/em&gt;You don't have to lift the weights at work; you can lift them at home after work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During your break or your normal time, perform your pushups and any other exercises that time allows you to perform. For abs exercises, I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlTvnfOr6_Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse crunches&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(about 40 reps)&lt;/em&gt; and/or standing crunches. I would ditch the 100 lifts and lateral lifting  &lt;em&gt;(all the previous exercises mentioned would have worked those muscles by now).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;While sitting, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;do not slouch. Sit straight up&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and your core muscles will be engaged. You can rest your back on the chair time and again, but endeavor to sit straight for most of the time to strengthen those core muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All those exercises should be part of your daily routine and you'll actually notice changes in your chest, shoulders, arms, back, and legs in a few weeks. However, you still need to create time &lt;em&gt;(probably 3 times a week) to exercise. There are many exercises online to choose from, but the following seem to be the most popular as well as provide much results.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wendel's 5-3-1 strength program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do that and you'll see a transformation in your physique and energy levels. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Since you work in an IT office, if yours is similar to mine, avoid these as much as possible. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Doughnuts; you'll always find some lying around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Energy drinks. Too much bad stuff in it for you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Drink coffee, but with little/no sugar and creamer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to eat as healthy as possible. If your diet sucks, your physique won't be good. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Rest as much as your time allows. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Incorporate exercising as part of your lifestyle; that way, it doesn't seem like exercising at all (and it actually becomes fun). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Join some fitness community to help you achieve those goals as well. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Never stop exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T16:30:31.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15863" CreationDate="2014-03-24T00:12:48.147" Score="6" ViewCount="1121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym around 3 - 5 times a week for 2 solid months now. I do a variety of weight training exercises and up to 20 minutes of running on a treadmill. I have a fairly balanced diet and consume a lot of protein through solid food and shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After my first month of training, I decided to pay to use the electronic weighing machine at my gym. After analysing the print out from the machine I noticed that my BMI is above what it should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I used the electronic weighing machine again to see if my BMI had gone down. To my surprise, it had gone down by 0.1% - I wasn't sure if I should be happy about this or not as it's not really that much of a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Results comparison:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/14560_10202863048912502_829773703_n.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/14560_10202863048912502_829773703_n.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QXldK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have suspisions that the machine is reading my height incorrectly, so I really don't know if I should trust this machine or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I really care about my BMI? I'm losing fat and gaining muscle (from what I understand from the results), so what's the deal breaker here as my BMI is still over :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8177" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T16:15:33.820" Title="Does BMI really matter?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14493" CreationDate="2014-03-24T00:35:03.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a thought seen as none of the other answers have suggested this... Do you take any vitamins or supplements? Before I started training I used to have anything from 5 to 10 hours of sleep a night. This meant that I was always too tired to do anything. After a visit to the doctor and a few blood tests I finally got told that my thyroxine levels were low. I now take multivitamins and I feel a lot better than I used to as I have a flow of B vitamins in me to last through the day. Maybe this is what your diet needs to increase recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8177" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T00:35:03.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15861" CreationDate="2014-03-24T01:31:51.080" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI simply measures the relationship between your weight and height and doesn't care if the weight is muscle-based or fat-based. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You're focusing on the wrong thing: your body fat in the first measurement was 16.3% and it changed to 13.3% in the second. The second value fell within the range of your ideal body fat. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You also lost over 2-kg in body fat, all within two weeks. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;That's a big improvement! And you should certainly continue what you've been doing as it clearly works. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;If the BMI value bothers you so much, try another machine after another two weeks. &lt;/em&gt; However, you shouldn't worry much about it because your body fat percentage is much more important than your BMI and that's going down. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Congratulations on burning the goo. Now, go burn some more :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T01:37:13.233" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T01:37:13.233" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-24T03:24:40.287" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember glancing at an article saying that exercise can counteract the negative effects of diet. I was wondering if anyone has the links to that body of research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8170" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T01:25:18.167" Title="Research that says exercise counteracts bad diet" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15866" CreationDate="2014-03-24T04:17:40.947" Score="5" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that by running comfortably on a treadmill for 30 minutes, I average 9 km/h, and I've tested this on several different treadmills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I go running outside, RunKeeper or some other tracking device tell me my pace is closer to 11 km/h , 12 km/h.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what the likely reason for this? Perceived difficulty is different between the two, device(s) are not accurate, having to propel yourself forwards means you naturally go faster??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T07:20:31.023" Title="Running speed - treadmill vs outdoor" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15865" CreationDate="2014-03-24T05:02:42.537" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that outside running utilizes different terrains, some steeper than others, it's possible that your terrain slopes downhill or you usually run with the wind, thus making your speed faster. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It could also be that the mechanics by which each device measures speed varies slightly &lt;em&gt;(due to the materials used)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Lastly, given that on a treadmill, you are actually exerting more speed to counteract the backward movement of the belt &lt;em&gt;(running outdoors doesn't have that)&lt;/em&gt;, it's possible that your net speed is reduced, thus the values shown on the treadmills. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T05:02:42.537" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15864" CreationDate="2014-03-24T05:42:37.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if such a research exists, you should discard it because it's likely based on inaccurate data. While exercises can counteract the negative effects of diet on the short term, it cannot do so on the long run. This is because&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;1. Unless you're an athlete or someone who does extreme manual daily, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you will not burn more calories than you consume&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; daily. Those extra calories will increase your size over time. Even athletes &lt;em&gt;(such as basketball and football players)&lt;/em&gt; who consume bad diets feel the effect months later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;2. Bad diets are not usually loaded with good nutrients. As a result, the body is constantly deprived of its needed nutrients. Either you'll have to obtain the nutrients as supplementary pills or your body will have to do without it, which will put it in a vulnerable state.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;3. Unless your career depends on exercising, you're likely to stop exercising because your body will not reflect the effects of the exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;4. Given the combination of 1 and 2 above, you're likely to develop some high risk diseases &lt;em&gt;(your body is being pummeled through exercises but it's not obtaining the required nutrients)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat:&lt;/strong&gt; If you're young &lt;em&gt;(14 - 22)&lt;/em&gt;, it's possible to counteract bad diet with exercises because your body's still developing and your metabolism is high; however, it still won't be sustainable over time. Although there are articles about ectomorphs that claim they can eat anything without gaining weight, many are being debunked. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To answer your question, I cannot find the article &lt;em&gt;(it probably was taken offline because it's inaccurate :))&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T05:42:37.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15861" CreationDate="2014-03-24T06:09:37.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possible explanation for the height discrepancy: consider that throughout the day, your precise height is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; constant.  In the morning after you wake up, you are actually slightly taller than you are in the evening when you go to bed.  Another explanation is variability in posture, as well as measurement imprecision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As has been mentioned elsewhere, BMI is not a suitable diagnostic measure for medical problems.  Its simplicity and ease of calculation, however, has resulted in its widespread use as a proxy for medical conditions (e.g., in insurance underwriting).  The more important measure in the printout you have is the body fat percentage--in fact, it is this value that is what BMI was originally intended to correlate with (but this correlation is weak).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also bear in mind that body fat percentage can be measured and calculated in a variety of ways, and certain methods are imprecise, inaccurate, and/or unreliable.  Bioelectrical impedance analysis is less accurate than hydrostatic submersion.  Given the numbers in the printout, it is unlikely that the body fat percentage was calculated from the BMI (this, of course, is a wildly inaccurate method and is almost meaningless).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T06:09:37.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15870" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-24T12:08:53.290" Score="0" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of consuming alcohol my cheeks are getting bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And i feel my weight is getting increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to overcome this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8187" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T12:25:27.600" Title="Because of alcohol consuming, cheeks are getting bigger. Is there a way to reduce it?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-03-25T03:55:15.857" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2014-03-24T12:20:03.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Yoga would be a great idea to help stretch out your tightness.  However, I would suggest that you also, need to do back, chest and glutes specific strengthening exercises to address the imbalance. As Dan Andrew said Yoga alone will not fix your imbalance problem. You have to stretch the shortened(tight muscle) and strengthen the weaker muscle to get things back in balance.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T12:20:03.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15876" CreationDate="2014-03-24T12:21:41.340" Score="2" ViewCount="1203" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I start exercising two months before my marriage?&#xA;Some of them telling, stop exercising before two months of your marriage.&#xA;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8187" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T12:51:40.217" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T04:55:52.643" Title="Can i start exercising two months before my marriage?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15870" CreationDate="2014-03-24T12:25:27.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think alcohol consumption directly causes cheeks to &quot;get bigger&quot;.  You may have gained weight because while drinking alcohol people tend to consume extra calories.  Try consuming less alcohol and following a more sensible diet with exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T12:25:27.600" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15872" CreationDate="2014-03-24T12:59:51.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no reason to stop exercising/not starting exercising before your marriage. Infact, many people start around this time to make sure they are looking their best for the big day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I exercised right up to my wedding day, including a run on the actual day! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about muscle aches, stop a couple of days before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other thing to keep an eye on, if you are fairly inactive now, is that you may lose weight before your wedding.  Just make sure that the wedding outfit still fits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T12:59:51.393" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15872" CreationDate="2014-03-24T16:37:56.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how much you're planning on losing and the intensity of the exercises, you might not achieve your goal before your wedding day; however, that shouldn't stop you from exercising. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Some people use exercises as a stress reliever; when they run, lift weights, do yoga, etc, the whole world &lt;em&gt;(including their stress)&lt;/em&gt; disappears from their minds. They obtain relief using these activities. Others basically take walks to clear their minds. So, exercising can help you in these areas. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You can start exercising almost anytime &lt;strong&gt;as long as you aren't having unrealistic expectations &lt;em&gt;(such as losing 20 lbs in 40 days)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Just start small and improve on it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;More importantly, try to have fun with it; you'll lose weight easier this way :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Now, go burn some goo :). &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T16:37:56.743" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4772" CreationDate="2014-03-24T18:21:48.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the best articles I've found on this topic, though I am not a supplement fan. Eat whole foods to get the recommended nutrients and leave the powders alone.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/890/Top_Ten_Nutrition_Tips_for_Best_Results_with_Twice-A-Day_Training_.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/890/Top_Ten_Nutrition_Tips_for_Best_Results_with_Twice-A-Day_Training_.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8191" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T18:21:48.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15861" CreationDate="2014-03-24T19:58:49.847" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A difference of 0.3&quot; (a little more than a quarter of an inch) is within acceptable measurement error on something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BMI does not matter for &lt;strong&gt;individuals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A perfect example for the reason why is with the two tickets you included in your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On Mar 4 2014 you had BF% of 16.2% and BMI 25.5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On Mar 23 2014 you had BF% of 13.3% and BIM of 25.4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a difference of only 1 kg of body weight, that's a rather impressive transformation.  &lt;em&gt;Congratulations!&lt;/em&gt;  Problem is the BMI didn't reflect the hard work you put in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI was designed as a statistical device to determine the &lt;em&gt;average&lt;/em&gt; obesity of a population.  It was never intended to be applied specifically to a population of one.  The problem is that body fat is very difficult to measure or even estimate (accurately), and BMI requires only junior high school math skills to calculate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately insurance companies and doctors tend to use this simple measure because it really doesn't require any thought.  They are just trying to determine risk, and for most people BMI is good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T19:58:49.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14408" CreationDate="2014-03-24T22:50:15.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;@muffin, the responses from Dan Andrews and backinshapebuddy are the most important things to continue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, the signs of kidney damage really are that subtle that you'll think you are healthy until your kidneys have finally had enough.  Also, the foods you eat most likely have more than adequate protein.  I was active, ate relatively well, and was pretty fit.  However, lack of portion control and too many protein shacks overworked my kidneys causing the damage you're talking about. This was between high school and college, so it was really unexpected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is mainly consuming too much protein which is very easy to do.  Most foods naturally contain more protein than you'd expect per serving.  If you live in the US or similar countries, the portions you're used to eating can be multiple servings.  The same goes for drinks.  Most serving sizes are an 8 ounce cup, but most glasses hold much more than 8 oz. So, you might be getting even more protein through shakes, milk, etc than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, it's recommended that bodybuilders get ~1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Again, that's kilogram not pound. So, for a 160 pound person that would be about 73 to 109.5 grams.  Depending on your level of activity, you'll probably only need that 73 which is really easy to get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest limiting the shakes to days when you actually lift.  And even then, just one shake tops.  And of course, see a doctor if it really worries that much.  A general practitioner could probably order you blood work and refer you to a nephrologist if there actually is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Edited: you can have kidney damage without ever getting a kidney stone!!! I have never had a kidney stone in my life, yet my kidney function is extremely impaired.  I'm not so bad that I have to be on dialysis, but I have to closely monitor my diet to prevent it from getting worse.  it won't get much better, but if I monitor my diet(which sucks) I can avoid dialysis and kidney transplantation(which would suck worse)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tl;dr:  It's very easy for bodybuilders to ingest too much protein.  Lots of steaks, chicken breasts, plus protein can be overkill if you don't monitor your portions.  See a doctor if it really concerns you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8195" LastEditorUserId="8195" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T22:55:50.167" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T22:55:50.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15864" CreationDate="2014-03-25T01:25:18.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Excerise absoultely cannot counteract a &amp;quot;bad diet&amp;quot;.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A bad diet is more than just consuming more calories than required.&lt;/strong&gt; Yes, in that single case exercise would be beneficial. However, a bad diet can also include not consuming enough of the right foods. Chronically low intake of good foods, or chronically high intake of bad foods will lead to health issues, and exercise cannot counter act this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not consuming enough fresh fruit and vegetables, leads to poor vitamin C levels. Chronically, this would result in scurvey, and surprisingly, this has happened in recent times. Exercise cannot counter act this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same with low calcium levels leading to brittle bones. Chronically low-fat consumption would lead to decreased absoption of fat-soluble vitamins. A diet low in protein (or complete proteins) would lead to slower muscle growth. A diet very high in apex fish such as tuna can lead to mercury build-up. None of these are health states to be in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A good diet, based on a varied intake of whole foods is fundamental to good health and fitness. Where required supplements help, but should be just that, &lt;em&gt;supplementary&lt;/em&gt; to a good diet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T01:25:18.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15881" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-25T03:36:37.980" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dr. David Perlmutter states that one must eat a high fat/low carb diet in order to protect his brain: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJIJ0gyCoRY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJIJ0gyCoRY&lt;/a&gt;. I was wondering if there is any research that shows that there is a causal link between high carbohydrate intake and diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia. How can we trust these studies if the experimental designs behind them are faulty? Is any diet right? Should we apply Ockham's Razor and state that one can eat anything in moderation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8170" LastEditorUserId="7660" LastEditDate="2014-03-25T14:02:15.413" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T07:22:11.807" Title="Are too many carbohydrates proven to be the cause of many diseases?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-04-16T03:33:20.560" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15153" CreationDate="2014-03-25T04:47:54.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're following a regular weightlifting plan, you're likely weightlifting every other day. As a result, you should simply resume on your next workout day. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Since your most successful lift was 435 lbs, you can start with 440 or 445 lbs. This way, the increment isn't too large to throw your body into a panic  or lose your self-confidence. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Just ease yourself into it and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T04:47:54.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14645" CreationDate="2014-03-25T05:25:25.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keeping your hands by your side during leg raises &lt;em&gt;(while lying on your back)&lt;/em&gt; or reverse crunches allows your hands to support your abs and that reduces the efficacy of the exercise. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Putting your hands behind your head allows only your abs muscles &lt;em&gt;(along with your thigh muscles)&lt;/em&gt; to perform the exercises. This is much more effective; however, it's harder to perform. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As far as I know, there isn't any side effect to doing it that way and &lt;em&gt;(assuming you use proper forms)&lt;/em&gt; you should feel the effect much better than supporting the abs muscles with your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T05:25:25.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14560" CreationDate="2014-03-25T06:27:46.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds a lot like Greasing the Groove by Pavel Tsatsouline to be. As explained at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leanandmuscular.org/greasing-the-groove.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt;, it is about training the movement patterns and efficiency, especially around bodyweight exercises. If 10 push-ups is 50-80% and you're not going to failure or overtraining you should be good. I'm not sure if the compounded fatigue is supposed to have any benefit, but I could see how training movement patterns could provide significant benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T06:27:46.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14645" CreationDate="2014-03-25T07:31:22.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, daily I do leg raises but on a bench with hands holding head end of the bench (almost same as lying on floor). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never felt it uncomfortable and there are no side effects AFAIK (I am doing it from quite a long time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I felt it more comfortable than lying on floor version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T07:31:22.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15887" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15893" CreationDate="2014-03-25T12:05:06.897" Score="-1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a plethora of options so I'm asking for help in choosing one, every time I search the web I'm lost in the number of search results. I want a tracker which will be best overall for tracking the things I personally care about. Those are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day-to-day activities - not actual exercises - like walking, climbing stairs, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep (with alarm, preferably smart alarm which will wake me during the appropriate phase but definitely before set time).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roller-blading&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym/Weight lifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jogging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;water resistant (down to 10 meters/30 feet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;syncs with Android &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the tracker conforms to the above I don't care for form factor, stylishness, screen type (or even its existence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8199" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T11:24:27.013" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T11:24:27.013" Title="Which activity tracker to get?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-04-07T01:21:31.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15888" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-25T13:13:19.723" Score="0" ViewCount="1866" Body="&lt;p&gt;My workout includes exercises to increase muscle strength. I am trying to gain weight by following a specified diet and working out as instructed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My muscles are growing slowly but I don't have any issue with that. The problem is I am a Computer Engineer and I have to sit all through the day programming. Probably, due to this, I have a slight increase in belly size at the end of the day. Why is it so? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To maintain a flat belly through out the day in the case where I have to sit in a single place for a long time, is there any way I can achieve that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I want to know, what causes the increase in belly size temporarily and what are ways to keep a flattened belly throughout the day (the way it looks after workout)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T19:47:16.720" Title="Increase in Belly size after workout" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15888" CreationDate="2014-03-25T13:56:34.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geeky, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you sit all day, you'll develop a big waistline &lt;em&gt;(sources: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/9262-smaller-waist-breaks-sitting.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Live Science&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135575490/sitting-all-day-worse-for-you-than-you-might-think&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NPR&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3114490/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;US National Library of Medicine&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;. The main way to prevent that is to move around often, &lt;em&gt;even if it's just for a few mins &lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Many of us are in similar situation as you &lt;em&gt;(sitting for an extended period)&lt;/em&gt;; so, we have an idea what you are going through. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To keep a flattened belly all day, try the following tricks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Sit straight in your seat all day. Try not to rest your back on the chair's seat or pull it forward. By doing this, you naturally engage your abs muscles. If you're sitting straight, you should feel the muscles contracting. Rest whenever you can, but try to get back in that position as much as you can. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whatever you do, resist the urge to slouch your back. It's bad for your back and waist line.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every hour or two, take a break and stretch your legs and back. If possible, perform at least 10 knee jumps to keep your juice flowing and work your abs muscles &lt;em&gt;(at least once a day)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, you can do sitting crunches on your chair. Rest your back on the chair (make sure your back doesn't actually touch the seat's back), stretch your legs &lt;em&gt;(ensuring they don't touch the ground), put your hands behind your head, and do about 10 or more crunches.&lt;/em&gt; Do this as often as you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you get up &lt;em&gt;(during break, rest, or lunch)&lt;/em&gt;, perform &lt;em&gt;(at least 20)&lt;/em&gt; standing crunches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're strong enough and not tired, you can perform some crunches, planks, or reverse crunches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do all those exercises intermittently during the day and your stomach will feel tight all day. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Tidbit: if you can add bodyweight exercises &lt;em&gt;(planks, pull-ups, chin-ups, knee-ups, push-ups, reverse crunches,)&lt;/em&gt; to your weightlifting sessions, you should feel your abs muscles tightening more and more. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-25T17:38:38.133" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T17:38:38.133" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14560" CreationDate="2014-03-25T14:21:13.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Absolutely yes!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;One, it constantly elevates your heart rate, burning more calories. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Two, the pushups work your entire body &lt;em&gt;(increasing the reps over time will be ideal as it allows your body to get stronger)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Three, do that everyday and people will start thinking you're on steroids because of the consistent energy level you'll develop. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Four, as long as you're not pushing your body to the max every time, you shouldn't feel any &lt;em&gt;(much)&lt;/em&gt; fatigue. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Five, this will allow you to incorporate the exercises in your regular workout sessions and train your body to want to workout constantly. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Awesome! Go for it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Mind your nutrition as doing that doesn't give you the license to have a bad diet. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, don't make them substitutes for your regular workout sessions. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Now, drop down and give me 10 push-ups :).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T14:21:13.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15881" CreationDate="2014-03-25T14:43:22.293" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only studies to my knowledge that have any correlation between carbohydrates and Alzheimers are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology&quot;&gt;epidemiological&lt;/a&gt;.  In short they use survey data to find areas of study where more controlled studies should be performed to see if there is a true cause and effect relationship.  The problem is that many people assume that &lt;em&gt;correlation&lt;/em&gt; is the same thing as &lt;em&gt;causation&lt;/em&gt;, and the distinction is not made clear by the media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401276/Can-Carbs-Cause-Alzheimers.html&quot;&gt;Dr. Wiel has some thoughts on the epidemiological study&lt;/a&gt;.  In that, he highlights the fact that there are no studies that provide a direct link or causation between carbs and Alzheimers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alzheimers is influenced by high systemic inflammation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some carbs (particularly sugar and high fructose corn syrup) increase inflammation dietarily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are other foods that increase inflammation that do not carry high carbs (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot;&gt;Self Nutrition Data&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep deprivation has a stronger link to Alzheimers based on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/brains-flush-toxic-waste-in-sleep-including-alzheimers-linked-protein-study-of-mice-finds/2013/10/19/9af49e40-377a-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html&quot;&gt;a controlled rat study&lt;/a&gt;.  Sleep flushes the metabolic waste in the brain, including the proteins associated with Alzheimers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar studies have been used to try and promote whatever pet doctrine or diet that someone wants to sell.  It is very important to understand what kind of study is being performed that the person is referencing, and whether the supposed mechanisms are the conjecture of the researchers or the result of a focused and controlled study.  Many times epidemiology has provided a strong &lt;em&gt;correlation&lt;/em&gt;, and then further controlled studies both with rats/mice and with humans have proven that there is no &lt;em&gt;causal&lt;/em&gt; relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more infamous example is the &quot;lipid theory&quot; which is the foundation of the USDA dietary recommendations to this day.  The study which started it all was poorly done even from epidemiological standards, and data was thrown out to support the researcher's hypothesis.  Several studies have come along later showing higher fat diets do not have a causal relationship with heart disease.  The long story short: dietary fat does not have a causal relationship but body fat does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat the correct amount of food, with a proper mix of macro nutrients to support healthy metabolic function, your body will be able to take care of itself just fine--even if you indulge in sugar laden foods occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: carbs are neither angels nor demons.  Due to the &quot;lipid theory&quot; being proven inaccurate in controlled studies, there are a number of people who want to throw the pendulum the opposite direction.  There are a number of epidemiological studies trying to vilify carbs that were once held as the number one thing you should eat.  They are looking at insulin response or affect on growth hormone, both of which are useful when training as an athlete.  Just in case you stumble across it: insulin and human growth hormone do not &lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; cancer, but they can assist it spreading faster.  If you already have cancer, you may want to reduce carb intake.  If you do not, then you should eat to give your body the energy it needs to do it's job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T14:43:22.293" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15887" CreationDate="2014-03-25T17:30:27.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is asking a bit much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question is also a bit vague....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to specify how much you are prepared to spend, and what activities are the most important to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't find a gadget that will be really good at all of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the 2 that spring to mind are:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Fitbit - measures sleep and counts number of steps.  It comes with software, not sure if you could manually enter other activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Garmin - will measure distance covered, and I believe if you get the right one you can use for bike and in the pool, jogging and non sport activities. It will record distance covered and pace. &#xA;You can upload data to garmin software and manually input the rest.  However, it will not record sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T17:30:27.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15172" CreationDate="2014-03-25T17:36:58.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the cable pull will not be a perfect substitute for a deadlift. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Looking at the pictures above, it's very clear that the angle of the cable pull is much different than that of a typical deadlift. As a result, the effects on the engaged muscles will be different from those engaged in deadlift. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A traditional deadlift engages your thigh and arms' muscles during the lifting and dropping movements and then your core, shoulder, and leg muscles for stability once the lifter is standing erect. Also, there's a downward vertical pull from the weight, which is balanced by your entire body. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The cable pull, on the other hand, works at an angle. Your pivot point isn't your leg but your waist. There's a backward pull on your body, which you have to counteract.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The cable pull seems to be a substitute for the kettlebell swing; even the movements seem similar &lt;em&gt;(at least from the pictures)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If a home is big enough for a cable pull exercise &lt;em&gt;(which requires a big equipment)&lt;/em&gt;, it should be sufficiently big for a barbell and weights. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, obtain the proper equipment and perform the exercises right :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T17:36:58.270" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15009" CreationDate="2014-03-25T17:56:04.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;P90X and Insanity both have some moves for working the shoulder muscles. I don't know the names but I can describe the moves. They can be completed without any additional weight &lt;em&gt;(add weights at your own risk)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Exercise 1&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You spread your arms in a wing-like position. You then rotate the shoulders forward for about 30 seconds; repeat the rotation in a backward movement. You then repeat the forward motion while increasing the diameter of the rotation. Repeat  the same using the backward rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Exercise 2&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the wing-like position in Exercise 1, bring your arms together so that they clap each other above your head. Then, return to the initial position. Repeat for about a minute. Then, from the initial position, bring the arms together in front of your chest. Then, return to the initial position. Repeat for about 30 seconds.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Exercise 3&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works both the shoulders and thighs. Hold an imaginary basketball. Squat for a second and then jump as if you're shooting the ball into a net. Your arms should be extended when throwing the ball &lt;em&gt;(if the movement is confusing, watch a basketball game on Youtube)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;There are probably other shoulder exercises out there, but those are the main ones I know and use &lt;em&gt;(apart from body-weight exercises)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T17:56:04.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14651" CreationDate="2014-03-25T19:45:02.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't done any of those exercises; however, based on the design of the canes, it seems very plausible that balancing will be easier. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;From observation, the base of the cane is much wider than the height &lt;em&gt;( or human palms)&lt;/em&gt;; as a result, it provides a solid balancing base for the user. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Equally important is the width of the cane's top; the design is flat and as wide as a human palm, which makes it easy to balance onto. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The only two concerns are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The metal frame must be strong enough to handle the user's weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The user's height is further increased, which might be inconvenient for some people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these concerns are addressed, I don't see any reason why balancing shouldn't be easier with the cane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T19:45:02.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15858" CreationDate="2014-03-25T20:26:34.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest getting some ankle weights to do leg lifts while sitting at your desk.  I use the 1lb weights I ordered from Beachbody, and they are great because I can wear them under my pants and you can't even tell I have them on.  I also try to park far from my office to get more walking in, and lunch breaks I spend outside (when its nice) and walk around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2014-03-26T02:27:28.803" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T02:27:28.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15922" CreationDate="2014-03-26T02:14:06.577" Score="2" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going for long jogs (around 7 km - the length of a local track), but I can only jog around 5km, which means I spend a lot of time walking as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if how to choose to spend the 2km worth of walking effects my overall time. E.g. it is better to jog without stopping completely, and then walk another 2km, or is it better to run 1km, walk a little, run another 1km etc ??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or does 5 minutes jog / 5 minutes walk make more sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T04:22:01.137" Title="Fastest walk / jog ratio" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15900" CreationDate="2014-03-26T07:03:33.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presuming that your goal is to eventually run the whole way I would start with a five minute fast walk.  Then run for 5 minutes(if that's the most you can currently do). Then walk, then run.  Use a stop watch though, and try to be strict with yourself.&#xA;Start with five minutes walk, 5 minutes jog, on your next run start to reduce the time you walk do 5 minutes jog, 4 minutes walk and gradually decrease the walking time every time you go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find you need to slow the pace of the run to be able to run more of it.  Going too fast is a very common problem with beginners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other reason why I think this is a better approach, is because your heart rate will be raised for more of the walk/run, and you will get fitter quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible try to walk at a reasonable pace on the walking section.  This will all become much easier, the fitter you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T07:03:33.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15865" CreationDate="2014-03-26T07:20:31.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treadmill running is much easier, unless it it one of the running road, and would be the reason for the difference in pace.  The reason I say this, is because the treadmill does all of the work.  All you are doing is keeping up with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other reason, is outside the gradient naturally changes even under foot.  Your body has to work more to move in a forward direction than on a treadmill.  (ouside is like working on an unstable base in the gym - its harder) you also have the weather to contend with.  Even a flat route outside would greatly use more muscles and effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would only use a treadmill to warm up, or for a run when the outside option was not available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running road treadmills are manually propelled ie you do the work. I think this could be more closely compared to outside running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T07:20:31.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15881" CreationDate="2014-03-26T07:22:11.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that, lacking definite proof of causality, basing advice on strong correlations would qualify in any way as bad advice or as &quot;extremist&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know there are strong correlations at a populations level between eating relatively 'much' sugar, 'much' refined grains and relatively little lipids and many diseases. We don't have any data indicating that eating very low levels of grains and sugars are correlated with any negative consequences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correlations can be misleading and arn't  definite proof, its the difference between being a suspect and being a convict. But the idea is that its not unwise to incarcerate the suspect while you continue to look for definite proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this moment, given the available data, reducing sugar and grain intake seems like a safe bet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T07:22:11.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10168" CreationDate="2014-03-26T08:18:25.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the research - exercising before eating is the best for fat burning:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've been doing 40 minutes medium intensity workout every day before breakfast for several years. I am very fit, though I consume a lot of sweets, however, if I for some reason don't have time in the morning, I feel very sleepy and need at least ten push-ups to wake up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8203" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T20:16:13.260" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T20:16:13.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15906" CreationDate="2014-03-26T10:12:24.600" Score="0" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume you your weight is 75 kg (standard).&#xA;You practised 5 days in a row by the schedule&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each day 1.5 h&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 x 15 min (cardio)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1h long movement trainings, series practise &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x15 for pushups, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-downs/ups, mostly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breakfast (15 proteins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lunch (10-20 proteins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;midday (10-20 proteins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think 55 gram of proteins (about 0.73 g/kg is not enough proteins) during rest because at least I feel weak with only 55 gram of proteins.&#xA;For me, I think adding a few eggs (30 g) and/or some whey protein (30g) can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that body builders should eat like 2.5 gram of proteins per kilogram.&#xA;I am interested how much this should be during rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the body builder have allergies, I think the intake of proteins should be little higher.&#xA;However, I cannot confirm this hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much proteins is good during rest days?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T14:14:42.347" Title="How much proteins during rest day?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15905" CreationDate="2014-03-26T13:57:33.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, you shouldn't eat less protein on rest days. The muscles get damaged during workout, but they get &lt;em&gt;repaired&lt;/em&gt; during rest, so you need the protein for that, as well as for building new muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said 1g per pound of lean body mass would be good if you want to keep all your muscle. With 75kg and a presumed 15% bodyfat you'd have ~64kg (141lbs) of lean body mass. So you'd eat  around 141g of protein a day, which is much more than in your example. Many bodybuilders eat 200g or more just to be safe, although the need to do it is heavily debated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was actually quite taken aback by that example btw. How would you do that, if you're not on a hardcore diet? With 75kg you'd eat at least 2000 kcal for maintenance with 55g protein only making up 220kcal (11%), that's much too low, and not just for athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also let's talk about some myths that &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; always come up when someone suggests higher protein intake:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you consume more protein than you need, it &lt;em&gt;does not&lt;/em&gt; turn into fat automatically. Too much calories and too little exercise make you fat, not a high protein intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kidney failure will &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; happen with a high protein diet, if your drink enough (2-3 liters a day, minimum).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a high protein diet is not more likely to cause cancer (as suggested by that study some weeks ago).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that I have a strength-training/bodybuilding background and this could be vastly inaccurate for endurance sports, which depend on a higher carb intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-26T14:14:42.347" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T14:14:42.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15861" CreationDate="2014-03-26T16:15:33.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, your BMI is something you can safely ignore given that you have ways to determine your body fat. BMI is an easy 'statistical' tool for getting rough 'population' obesity numbers. BMI for individuals does not have a dependable relationship to obesity and/or to obesity related health issues. Your body fat percentage is what matters, and looking at that, you are at a great level there, and at this stage you should actually not allow it to go down much more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going from these two measurements, you've lost an amount of body fat equal to 3% of your body weight in less than 3 weeks. At that rate you will be in the under-fat range very soon, and that will mess up your hormone levels in such a way that you will likely feel it in your power stats. First, these are just two measurements, so keep measuring, but if this trend continues and you continue loosing fat at this rate, you need to seriously look at your diet and take in considerably more calories to avoid disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So don't listen to the comments above stating these numbers show you are on the right track, if you continue at this rate you will end up somewhere you definitely don't want to be, at least not at this stage. Its way to early to think about getting a ripped beach body, you should gain strength and mass first, so in a year or so (2 or 3 years would be even better) you may want to consider getting ripped occasionally. For now, don't let your body fat get below something like 10% and focus on strength. Forget about doing cardio for now, go strength first untill you are convident all your muscles are in good shape and at acceptable strength levels. Only than you may want to loose a few more percent, but even than 7% should probably be the lower limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T16:15:33.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-26T17:11:14.037" Score="6" ViewCount="1588" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was wondering if there are formulas to calculate the energy expenditure of common lifts, like deadlifts, bench press, squat etc.&#xA;I know that every formula could only be an approximation, due to differing technique, execution speed etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was just curious if such formulas exist and if so, how accurate they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they don't exist, why is that? Did just noone care to find out? Is it not feasible due to one of the factors mentioned above (or other factors), if so which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-26T17:45:54.910" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T22:04:18.243" Title="Can one calculate the energy expenditure of specific lifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15461" CreationDate="2014-03-26T17:21:04.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an article on muscleforlife.com that references a lot of studies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... They took 6, normal untrained men and intravenously infused them with a balanced amino acid mixture both at rest, and after a leg workout. The post-workout infusion resulted in 30-100% more protein synthesis than the at-rest infusion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is enough benefit in post-workout nutrition to want to utilize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8042" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T17:21:04.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-26T18:39:20.903" Score="0" ViewCount="464" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to flat feet and leg length asymmetry I have , my right piriformis and iliopsoas is almost always stiff. I discovered this issue at an age of 29 and the issue is being solved by foot insoles which already help tremendously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I visit my physician once in 2 to 3 weeks for a dry needling session to loosen the gluteal area. After each session, my hips are somehow re-stationed well. After a year of treatment till now, my deadlift sessions (started at 4 reps 22,5kg of 1RM: 30kg) end up with a PR at 90% of my 1RM (8 reps of 102,5kg 1RM: 142,5kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to loosen those trigger points in the problem area with a- foamroll, 8kg medicine ball, lacrosse ball, golf ball, large marble and etc... but somehow no matter how hard try, doesn't work as well as dry needling. Sometimes the muscles don't even budge even after 20 minutes of focussed pressure. Of course I make sure to react to pain when necessary and stop the attempt when it is uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I always do my release attempt symmetrical, so whenever I attempt to release, I try it on both sides to prevent future imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas how to cope with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://thelowback.com/fix.htm#exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Don Tigny's SIJ exercises&lt;/a&gt; and as refered in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12705/hip-stretches-recover-from-piriformis-syndrome-and-hard-gluteal-muscles&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, and also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRMlfbDZGgE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PNF stretch&lt;/a&gt; for a while and it helped me maintain the status quo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to give a try to Pavel Tsatsouline's beyond stretching, but I wanna prepare for it first and don't want to go further while I am having this annoying challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T06:53:41.597" Title="How can I loosen stiff piriformis and iliopsoas using a myofascial release technique without dry needling?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15920" CreationDate="2014-03-26T18:41:40.680" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume you want to go to the gym 0700 am. &#xA;Should you drink proteins the evening before the morning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to take something very short carbohydrates before training like break with sugar and some milk.&#xA;Eating too much makes the training inefficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can you prepare for the morning training during the evening before?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T04:05:10.873" Title="Dietary Preparing for Morning Training" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15912" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15915" CreationDate="2014-03-26T19:52:08.373" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my family members suffers from hypertension. This person is generally concerned about their health, and has agreed to commit to a workout regimen. The doctors have not raised any flags about working out, however I would like some advice as to how a typical workout should be altered in light of hypertension (if it needs to be altered at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5049" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T03:54:57.280" Title="How to design a workout for someone with hypertension?" Tags="&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13892" CreationDate="2014-03-26T19:57:50.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be able to throw some light on the calves, but not the upper body.  It is possible that when you are running, that as your foot comes through, you are kicking your other calf. I do this myself sometimes.  If the bruises are always on the inside of the calves.  I think this could be your answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wouldn't necessarily be aware that you are doing it, as it's lots of small kicks over the period of the run.  Since I've known I do it, I am sometimes aware of it when I run, but normally not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, I'm not sure about the ones on your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T19:57:50.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15912" CreationDate="2014-03-26T20:55:39.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how high the blood pressure is?&#xA;I would be very cautious about starting a exercise programme without clearance from the gp.  If the high number of the blood pressure if over 145, a gym will refer you to the Doctor and they will require a letter back from your gp to say it is safe for you to train.  I would not recommend weights, as this can elevate the blood pressure further.   Definitely, no weights above head height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all clear is given by the gp, I would start them on walking programme, and swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst exercise will help to bring the blood pressure down.  It may need to be brought down with medication before an exercise programme can begin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot stress enough how dangerous it can be to workout with a very high blood pressure!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T20:55:39.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2014-03-26T21:15:48.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also suffer with periformis tightness due to an imbalance, and I find if I sit on the foam roller with legs bent. I take 1 foot across the other knee and can usually wriggle about on the roller to get to the spot that hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you tried in this position?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qBFIS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRldKujh8zIOsR3-wX2xtTO2-QHVo7JA8Wa3lnmPYR0X7PpAD0w&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-03-26T22:49:35.497" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T22:49:35.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10168" CreationDate="2014-03-27T02:17:00.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'm not completely certain the goal of this question as the order is largely dependent on the individual. To effectively answer the question, one has to make some assumptions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The person had a light/no dinner which makes the person naturally hungry in the morning. Some have heavy dinners in order to skip breakfast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The person needs to empty their bowel in the mornings; not everyone does that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the proper order &lt;em&gt;(as I see it)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Bathroom call; you can't &lt;em&gt;(or shouldn't)&lt;/em&gt; really do anything else if you have the urge to do this. No eating, drinking, or exercising if this needs to be done.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Unless very hungry &lt;em&gt;(or too hungry to effectively exercise)&lt;/em&gt;, exercise before breakfast. The Internet is rife with articles on why exercising before breakfast is more effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Shower &lt;em&gt;(if possible, with warm water to reduce the exercise's fatigue)&lt;/em&gt; after your exercise. Yes, it's pointless to shower before exercising; just ensure you shower after.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Have a healthy breakfast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Repeat the sequence tomorrow morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think most people will agree to this order; however, this largely depends on individuals and their preferences. The main thing is to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;find whatever works for you and stick with it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T02:17:00.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15911" CreationDate="2014-03-27T03:18:14.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is better to drink after the exercise. In my experience if I drink anything but water before the exercise it makes me little sloppy and less focused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T03:18:14.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15912" CreationDate="2014-03-27T03:54:57.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mr Fox, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First, ensure that the person has seen a doctor to certify that he/she can perform some strenuous activities. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Second, one needs to be aware of the medication the person's taking and the pills' effects on him/her. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If all medical concerns have been dealt with, here are activities that the person can partake it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga!&lt;/strong&gt; Yoga has been &lt;strike&gt;certified&lt;/strike&gt; (recommended) as a stress reliever exercise. It can be done at any time of the day and almost anywhere. While I wouldn't recommend P90X-style yoga because it's highly strenuous, a daily 10- or 15-min yoga session can do wonders for the body and mind. There are many yoga videos online; check them out and find one to follow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching.&lt;/strong&gt; If yoga seems too strenuous, a daily stretching session can tone the body as well. It's good for the limbs, body, and mind. There are many online videos on stretching as well. P90X also has a whole video dedicated to stretch movements &lt;em&gt;(check it out if you can)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Power walking.&lt;/strong&gt; No one can go wrong with this exercise. Increase/decrease the intensity as you see fit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunges and Squats.&lt;/strong&gt; These will tone the legs without incurring undue stress on the body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;If you're gonna do some weightlifting &lt;em&gt;(which I do not recommend unless a doctor recommends it)&lt;/em&gt;, go light and increase the reps. Pushups are also options in this category.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be more heart-friendly exercises that can be performed; however, these readily come to mind and shouldn't require extra equipment. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Whatever your decision, ensure that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The person exercises regularly; this is good for the body and mind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Reduce salt intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Takes time to appreciate life; this helps reduce stress and heart-related problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T03:54:57.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15911" CreationDate="2014-03-27T04:05:10.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drink the protein before &lt;em&gt;(on the same day)&lt;/em&gt; the exercise. Recent studies are beginning to show that pre-workout protein intake is more effective than post-workout protein intake &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-macro-manager-pre-post-workout-shakes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(source)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Wake up about an hour earlier, ingest your shake and go have fun :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;What you can do the evening before?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Get your gears ready. Don't wait till you wake up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Set your alarm clock; if you don't wake up in time, you cannot do anything :).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Sleep early to refreshen your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Don't forget your water bottle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Determine to wake up and do it. It's hard for many people to make that commitment early in the morning. Some wake up and simply go back to sleep. Tell yourself it's something you must do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I think of anything else, I'll update the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T04:05:10.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15498" CreationDate="2014-03-27T04:12:18.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Increase the weights frequently. You won't get stronger lifting the same weight all the time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Increase your workout frequency. Once or twice a week isn't enough to generate the strength you desire. Make it about 3 &lt;em&gt;(alternating)&lt;/em&gt; days a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Perform your pushups daily. Add pullups &lt;em&gt;(and some other body weight exercises)&lt;/em&gt; to it and increase the repetition as you see fit. Those will work your core, back and shoulder muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Include cardio in your workout; increase your endurance and put those heart and lungs to work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Have fun with it :).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T04:12:18.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15900" CreationDate="2014-03-27T04:22:01.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're sprinting, breaking the routine into intermittent sprinting and walking is a great idea. It's similar to a High Intensity Interval Training exercise. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, if you're jogging, perform your jog first before walking. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your goal is to increase your endurance so that you can jog all the way without walking.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This accomplishes that goal for you. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As your endurance increases, you can simply extend your jogging distance. &lt;em&gt;The only thing walking's good for is to enable you to catch your breath.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Now, go jog some more :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T04:22:01.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11692" CreationDate="2014-03-27T05:22:03.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shorter answer is &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Dumbbells, by design, exercise only an arm. Barbells, by design, exercise both arms. Since deadlift is a 2-arm exercise, it cannot be completely and effectively done by dumbbells. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This doesn't indicate that you cannot use dumbbells; you can use the same dumbbells for various exercises. And you can even use it for &lt;em&gt;deadlift-like&lt;/em&gt; exercises; you just cannot call those exercises deadlifts and you certainly will not obtain the benefits of deadlifting. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Use whatever you have around you, till when you have access to your beloved barbells :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Whatever you do, don't stop exercising. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Now, go lift some weights :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T05:22:03.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15944" CreationDate="2014-03-27T07:00:00.437" Score="4" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;People do ask questions about supplements whether they are healthy or do they harm the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know how the human body responds after taking &quot;fitness&quot; supplements with creatine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's hard to generalize the effects, as our bodies differ from person to person. But again, I'm really interested in this subject and I want to study it more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead of asking a book recommendation, I'm asking where to begin to study the subject. Keep in mind that I want to study the theoretical part of the substances before taking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3623" LastEditorUserId="3623" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T09:08:01.413" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T00:04:18.673" Title="How does the human body respond to creatine?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-27T07:27:02.307" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 6 years ago, after having been a couch-potato for about a decade (following a knee injury) I've picked up strength training once more, and for the most part I'm already back at about 80% of my pre-injury strength stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press:  120kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press:     140kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat      :     260kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead lift  :     200kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press-down :     100kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg-press  :     600kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curls      :     60kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg extensions : 110kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull-down :  75kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current body weight is 108kg, so these stats for me are pretty satisfactory for the most part for a 43 year old guy I think. I'm not where I was prior to my knee injury, but I'm not a twenty something anymore so I'm quite happy with where I'm currently at, especially as my stats are still improving over time.  With this much regained strength, one would expect that doing a few pull ups wouldn't be any problem, right? Unfortunately for me they are. I can still not even do one clean (broad) pull-up. In fact, with the lat pull down I've been stuck at about 75kg for a few years now. Progress has completely halted on my lat-pull-down, and at 108kg body weight that's just to much of a gap to even try to do pull ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really like to be able to do pull-ups like I used to do in my twenties.&#xA;My last attempt at changing my schedule ended in disaster. I moved shoulders from back/biceps day to chest/triceps day so I would have more room to focus on my upper back, but doing so ended me up with a shoulder injury that took me two months to recover from, so I had to move shoulders back to back/biceps day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any ways to somehow get myself out of this stagnated lat-pull-down situation and somehow work to doing clean broad bodyweight pull-ups, or should I just accept that I won't ever be able to do pull-ups again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T12:06:17.703" Title="Handling a single stagnating exercise?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15925" CreationDate="2014-03-27T09:01:12.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say you're stuck at your lat-pulldown, but you want to be able to do chinups. Well, lat-pulldowns don't make good pull ups, pull ups do. So let's just take a look at the bigger picture and concentrate on your upper back instead of just lats. With that said here are some ideas on how to overcome your plateau:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plan for a dedicated 'upper back day' and do it first in the week, when you're well  rested from the weekend.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use compound exercises first and add isolation after that. For example do pull-ups first, then add dumbbell rows, lat-pulldowns etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set your rep-range to about 3-5 reps and use a very high intensity. Max-effort training will make you stronger faster than the 8-12 bodybuilding rep-range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you said you can't do a straight clean pull up, but there are some techniques to get there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try doing assisted pull ups. There are machines for that, but you could also use resistance bands or a training buddy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Negative reps (jumping up and then coming down slowly) are also helpful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can do chin ups, do those instead. They work the same muscles for the most part, so there's a significant carry-over between those (and all other pull-up variations). This is also a good way to prevent injury by shifting the stress ever so slightly around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're able to do some repetitions start clustering. Set a goal and reach it in as few sets of as much reps as you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T12:06:17.703" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T12:06:17.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15924" CreationDate="2014-03-27T09:14:56.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to read up on supplements, what they do, how they work and how well they are researched, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbmainsupp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; (scroll down) might help you. There's pretty much information about every supplement you could think of. Most of the articles, especially those by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jim-stoppani.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jim Stoppani&lt;/a&gt; (scroll down for his articles), are very well researched and cite numerous studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do consider the fact, that the site is in the business of selling supplements though, and almost every author is associated with supplement companies, so their views are probably biased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T09:14:56.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-27T09:19:56.197" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know are there any forumla for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The formula should better take the &lt;strong&gt;age, weight, height, gender &#xA;running disatance, time&lt;/strong&gt; for the calcuation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ref calcuator&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mapmyrun.com/improve/calorie_calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mapmyrun.com/improve/calorie_calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any forumla can get the calories burned? Thanks for helping&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8219" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T09:19:56.197" Title="How to calcuate the calories burned during running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-03-27T11:15:13.950" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11692" CreationDate="2014-03-27T09:29:35.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isometric exercises do have their place in training, but can &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; replace the lift itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with isometric exercises is, that you don't have any range of motion, you just hold the weight there and contract your muscles. While that surely has a positive effect on the muscles &lt;em&gt;in that position&lt;/em&gt;, it doesn't help much in other parts of the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you're doing an isometric deadlift at knee-height, that won't really help you at lockout. Neither will it improve your ability to get the weight of the ground much.&#xA;It would provide some benefits though, as you'd strengthen your core and probably get better at the knee-high part of the deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, basically no, isometric exercises are not good at &lt;em&gt;replacing&lt;/em&gt; a lift, but they are a tool to &lt;em&gt;improve&lt;/em&gt; certain parts of a lift. If you can identify weak points in your deadlift, you might still improve it that way, even without a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T09:29:35.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2014-03-27T10:13:46.223" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I googled a bit and stumbled upon the following formula. &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnowtraining.com/2012/01/formula-for-calories-burned/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The source&lt;/a&gt; claims it's from Journal of Sports Sciences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men use the following formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) + (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x&#xA;  0.6309) -- 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women use the following formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) -- (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x&#xA;  0.4472) -- 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Calculation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, here’s my formula  based on a 49 year old male weighing&#xA;  155 for a workout where my heart rate averages about 148 bpm&#xA;  throughout a 60-minute FitCamp workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[(49 x 0.2017) + (155 x 0.09036) + (148 x 0.6309) – 55.0969] x&#xA;  60/4.184 =&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[9.8833 + 14.0058 + 93.3792 – 55.0969] x 14.3403 = 891.47 calories (or&#xA;  15 kcal/min)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the most comprehensive (and quite recent) formula I could find, which takes in account many factors that others don't (age, heart rate etc.). Hope it helps :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T10:13:46.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15934" CreationDate="2014-03-27T11:02:27.060" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on an intermediate level when you talk about workouts. I am working out from last two years but on/off as I get time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 72kgs right now and with an atheletic body type but looks skinny too. You can say Ectomorph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have now started workout again since two months and planning for a good protein supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am concerned about is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gain weight upto 80-85 kgs to get rid of that skinny look&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase muscle size at the same time without getting extra fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do this in span of 6 months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am consistent at workout and do it 5 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone pls suggest me a good protein supplement that increases my weight as well as my muscle size and boost my workouts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8221" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T12:45:29.287" Title="Gain Muscle Mass with Weight" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15937" CreationDate="2014-03-27T11:07:17.657" Score="3" ViewCount="48687" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, I do yoga (pranayam and some asnas) around 1 hour and immediate after this I also do some set of workouts like leg raise, push ups, mountain climbers etc. Is that okay or should I have some time gap between these two activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T15:02:46.333" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T02:43:31.483" Title="Is it okay to do workouts immediately after doing yoga?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15931" CreationDate="2014-03-27T12:00:16.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, get rid of the idea of putting on 10kg in 6 months without gaining fat. A six-pack-neurosis is not your friend when you're trying to build muscle. No biggie though, fat is easily cut once you've got the muscle base to work it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, your stats are very atypical for an intermediate lifter (see my comment above). If you don't hit the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intermediate benchmarks&lt;/a&gt;, you'd fare quite well with &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; (or any other beginner's strength routine, but I don't know much about them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your lifts are strong already you should be able to build upon that with Starting Strength, given the mass gains you will get. You &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; have to eat like a beast, though (about 4000kcal a day), and you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; get fat along with the muscle gains.&lt;br&gt;That said, with the muscle base you build you will be able to get rid of the fat quite fast. If you follow the program for 4 months and cut for 2 months, you'd even meet your 6 month deadline. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding supplementation there's one thing you should consider: Supplements won't fix your diet for you. If you don't get your nutrition in order supplements won't help you much. With that said, there are some supplements which can help you achieve your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whey: The most readily available protein supplement. If you're not getting enough protein with your food, this is a good supplement. A shake with 40g of whey after workout is adequate. Getting all your protein from shakes &lt;em&gt;is not&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine: may help increase strength (bolsters ATP production) and muscle size (volumizes cells). Take 5g a day for up to four weeks (loading phase), then drop to 2-3g a day. Take whenever you want, no cycling necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the two things I'd recommend. If you want to get the maximum out of your workouts you could think about pre- and post-workout formulas, which contain all sorts of fancy chemicals (beta-alanine, caffein etc.). A word on weight gainers: Most of them are glorified Sugar-shakes, and I highly dislike them for that. If you absolutely have to get half of your 4000kcal in liquid form, drink milk instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T12:45:29.287" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T12:45:29.287" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15932" CreationDate="2014-03-27T12:03:18.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It won't do you any harm, but I would say it would be far more beneficial to do it the other way round.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there isn't enough time before yoga, maybe you could do cardio first, then yoga, and finish with press ups and abs work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T12:03:18.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15931" CreationDate="2014-03-27T12:06:34.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult one. You're basically both somewhat under-weight and somewhat over-fat. You want to gain about 2kg a month without gaining fat mass. There are very few people who can manage that, no matter what diet they are on. Given your low FFBM (55 .. 58 kg at 1m90 is pretty low) and given the fact that you are only slightly (if at all depending on your age) over-fat, my advice would be to abandon the 'without getting extra fat' for a while. You have given yourself 6 months (26 weeks), and thats a prety short period, but if you want to go for it, I'dd suggest you try and go for a 20 week bulking period followed by 6 weeks of cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the 20 week for bulking we are going to have to get you to gain more than half a kg a week, its pretty high but if you focus on the largest muscle groups it might be doable. Forget your biceps and your shoulders for a while and focus on chest, triceps, upper back but most importantly your legs. Give your legs their own day and give them hell. No cardio during bulking, just 8..10 rep sets as heavy as you can manage, taking at least two resting days for each muscle group, if possible 3 resting days for your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we've sketched the settings, about your nutritional question. You need to take care of getting sufficient protein. At your weight about 150g a day.&#xA;Now for the protein source, its important that you take in all essential amino acids in sufficient amounts, and animal proteine are the easyest way to do thar. Next to this, you need to look at sources rich in leucine, L-isoleucine L-arginine. I could list some of them, but a quick Google will show you what you can choose from. If you don't want to over complicate things, go for the foods with highest levels of these acids that arn't from plants, but try to limite your carnitine intake and try to aim at the 150g mark for your dayly proteine intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last 6 weeks you are going to be cutting, at that point you will want to add l-carnitine to the mix. You may want to cut down on the leucine, and L-isoleucine levels in your food, but thats just theoretcally, personaly I've not seen any difference during cutting, but some people claim you should limit bulking acids while cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally an other controversial one, it does wonders for some and works disasters for others, but after about 6 weeks into your bulking program you may try to add CLA capsules to your diet. Stay on top of your body fat and body mass and see what it does for you. If you see yourself getting fatter faster than in the first 6 weeks, stop, CLA is not for you, you do not want to make your final 6 weeks impossible, but otherwise continue taking the capsules to your diet as they likely help you in your bulking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T12:06:34.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15932" CreationDate="2014-03-27T13:13:50.903" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, it's okay to perform other body weight exercises right after yoga. P90X has a video on cardio; the video starts with about 15 mins of yoga &lt;em&gt;(as warmup exercises)&lt;/em&gt;, after which it moves into Kempo moves for about 15 mins. It then goes into cardio section and finally ends the session with 15 mins of body core exercises. That basically answers your question. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, an hour of yoga followed by body weight exercises seems to be backward. Since those yoga exercises are designed to have a calming effect on the body, it makes more sense to start heavy &lt;em&gt;(body weight exercises)&lt;/em&gt; and finish light &lt;em&gt;(yoga)&lt;/em&gt;. This should give you a better workout than your current situation.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hopefully, this helps. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Now, give me some ashtanga salutations :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T16:16:24.200" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T16:16:24.200" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15956" CreationDate="2014-03-27T15:37:41.150" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;T-Nation has an article about metabolic damage on their site, shown here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short it basically talks how your weight loss progress can stall if you do some extreme things. However, it makes me wonder about my own progress. I'm on my second week of 5/3/1 and trying to go all out pushing myself as hard as I can with the exercise each day(I'm doing cardio every day and after every session)and I'm worried that I'll succumb to something in the article if I haven't already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the author isn't technically selling anything, and it's well sourced, but still, it makes me feel a little fear mongered. For example it talks about how if you fall into one of the stages you'll need 2-3 months to get back on track which doesn't sound good. I want to lose weight as soon as possible and I'm absolutely dedicated to putting in the work to doing it, but, should I really give this article much thought?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T19:06:19.113" Title="Is &quot;the truth about metabolic damage&quot; fear mongering?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15751" CreationDate="2014-03-27T19:49:38.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hadn't previously considered upright row to be dangerous, but I guess if you are using heavy weights and you don't have good technique, impingement could be a consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many option when exercising muscles, it's easy to avoid 1 exercise -  you could do Reverse flye, shrugs, bent over row, they will all work the same muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned with protecting your shoulders it would be advisable to incorporate some work on your rotary cuff muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are small muscles that help to stabalise the shoulder and will definitely help to reduce injury risk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T19:49:38.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14698" CreationDate="2014-03-27T21:19:18.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main difference you will find will be in the fabric and the fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running pants are usually closer fitting, its more comfortable not to have lots of loose fabric when you run. They are usually made of a quick drying fabric, so you dry quickly if you get caught in a downpour.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training pants would be looser, probably still made of a stretch fabric, but more than likely made of a slightly thicker fabric.  If you got wet in training pants, they wouldn't be great to run in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T21:19:18.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-27T21:31:45.917" Score="2" ViewCount="4914" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm slowly starting to increase my running frequency (average distance of 5-7km) after a sporadic couple of months with injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm noticing that my calves are always sore and very tight/pumped when running. I'm not new to running but am finding that my soleus stays very sore for 5+ days after a run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stretch a little afterwards and occasionally use a foam roller. It's most painful going down stairs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8227" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T10:12:16.597" Title="How to ease tight soleus" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15942" CreationDate="2014-03-27T22:14:59.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first question is why are your calves getting so tight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you have increased your runs,  by how much quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was the injury also calf related?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be worth checking your trainers, do they need changing?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How many miles have you done in them and did you get have your gait analysis done  at a specialist running shop when you purchased them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are happy that your trainers are fine, there are a number of things you can try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An ice bath after your run, will help reduce soreness.&#xA;Foam roller after all runs.&#xA;You could try running in compression socks, which would help with blood flow and aid recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of the above work, I would suggest you either ease off and increase again more slowly, or see a sports physio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T22:14:59.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15924" CreationDate="2014-03-27T23:58:18.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend you check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine&lt;/a&gt;. It's a supplement encyclopedia, and is a great jumping off point for understanding what a particular supplement is and how it works. Importantly, all of their information is based on the best available research, which is extensively linked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're interested in how the body responds to a particular supplement, you may find their &quot;Human Effect Matrix&quot; particularly interesting. It shows the extent of various bodily effects as seen in actual human studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt; is just one of the many supplements that they provide information on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Creatine is a molecule in an energy system (creatine phosphate) that can rapidly produce energy (ATP) to support cellular function. This underlies the performance enhancing and neuroprotective properties of creatine. Creatine is remarkably safe for most people and is a well-researched supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr/&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not as friendly to the layman but &lt;a href=&quot;http://pubmed.gov&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt; is also a great place to find information (i.e. research) about various topics including supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1456" LastEditorUserId="1456" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T00:04:18.673" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T00:04:18.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15945" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-28T07:42:07.420" Score="-1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to speed up the healing process and if so how? For example: I have recently pulled a muscle in my shoulder and a little while after that twisted my ankle, what is the best way to a speedy recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8231" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T08:48:36.207" Title="Healing process" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-04-01T11:19:59.800" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15945" CreationDate="2014-03-28T08:33:55.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Injury sucks and it can never heal quick enough. To let it heal completely, you will need to have patience, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all - and yes, I'm being preachy, bear with me - see a specialist. A trip to your physician is never really wasted time, even if he just tells you to slow down. In the worst case scenario you're really hurt and doing nothing can lead to much more problems. I had a broken finger some years ago. I didn't get it looked at and I can't move it as well as my other fingers now.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;Listen to your physician first. If you don't like what he's telling you, get a second opinion if you must. But don't assume you know better, chances are you don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for lighter injuries that don't need a specialist's intervention I like to follow some simple rules: Don't exercise until you are fully healed. Do not 'warm up thoroughly' and do not 'work out lightly', chances are you'll overdo it. Try not to use the injured limb in everyday activities as much (don't walk to work with a sprained ankle). Also, when in doubt, don't assume you have healed already. Better be safe than sorry, as an incompletely healed injury can quickly become as bad as on the first day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, Some things you can do to might help speeding up recovery:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat right: Don't diet. Your body needs to rebuild stuff now, don't deprive it of building blocks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep enough: Recovery is most efficiently done during sleep. Try to get at least eight hours a day, preferably more. If you can't seem to manage that, afternoon naps might be an option.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try not to get sick: The flu will most definitely not speed up your recovery. Keep away from long walks in the rain, showering with an open window etc. Sounds stupid, but it happened to me once, not funny.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7134/do-nsaids-ibuprofen-etc-actually-speed-up-healing-or-do-they-just-mask-pain?rq=1&quot;&gt;Here's a question regarding ibuprofen&lt;/a&gt; and it's effects on healing. It touches upon other medicine, too. Always consult someone who knows their stuff (general physician, pharmacist) before taking anything, though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T08:48:36.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15953" CreationDate="2014-03-28T13:47:37.127" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started rigorous exercise for last one week only - 30 minutes treadmill jog burning around 260 calories + 10 minutes of cycling burning around 30-40 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However despite that, my weight is not reducing. I am also drinking lot of water (1 liter) and having subway in both meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest what I am doing wrong - thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8234" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T17:27:13.883" Title="Why I am not losing weight?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15948" CreationDate="2014-03-28T15:47:18.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming an active lifestyle, you need to start with knowing how many calories you need to maintain your weight.  The easiest way to do that is to maintain a food diary.  Record everything you eat and drink.  The simple act of recording your caloric intake will remove all guess work.  Once you've established how many calories you need to maintain, simply cut back (while maintaining the same activity level, or, increased activity level) on your daily calories.  This method is not perfect, but, it is better than guessing at what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also watch my intake of &quot;Subway&quot; as others have noted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T15:47:18.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15948" CreationDate="2014-03-28T16:12:40.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't be dis-heartened,  you may have started to tone, and may of actually started to lose inches, so you should take measurements as well as using the scales.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often find that clients have lost no weight, yet they have lost 2 inches around their waist.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per previous comments, a week is a very short time to see a difference.  When you exercise more your body requires more calories just to maintain weight.  Therefore, if you exercise more and eat the same you will loose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your journey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T16:12:40.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15959" CreationDate="2014-03-28T16:54:18.677" Score="3" ViewCount="920" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a rather skinny guy (1m88 for 74 kg). My goal is to gain muscle mass, with a focus on my upper body. I work out 2 times a week (sometimes 3). I also do 1 hour of badminton each week (but usually no cardio when I work out). I've been doing this for approximately 6 months now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm giving more details below but in short my question is this: I was advised by a trainer at my gym to work out less than I currently do. Is this sensible advice ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My current workout&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have followed internet advice (including from here), and my intuition in order to create my workout, which usually takes from 1 hour to 1:45 depending on my motivation. I usually do &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~ 8 exercises, 4 sets per exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 repetitions &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45 seconds break between sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has given me results I'm happy with so far. I have only gained about 3 kg in 6 months. But my musculature is clearly more defined and my muscles are bigger. I have no idea if I could've had much better results than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Advice I got from a trainer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today as part of my gym membership I had a trainer create a workout program with me. I basically just told her what I have written in my first paragraph above (focus on gaining volume in the upper body). She proposed a workout based on &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 exercises, &lt;strong&gt;only 1 set&lt;/strong&gt; per exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aim for 6 to 9 repetitions in each exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing the exercises slowly (4 seconds extension, 2 seconds pause, 4 seconds contraction)&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is slower than I usually do, and probably the most useful part of what she told me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She didn't suggest taking breaks between exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing this takes me only about 45 minutes. I thought this was not a lot, and asked her if she suggested doing the routine twice when I felt like it, and she said it wasn't necessary. To compare roughly, her proposed routine is around 100 reps in total, whereas mine is about 3 times more (although easier ones). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to summarize: my gut feeling is that what she proposed will not give me better results than what I'm currently doing, as it's just so much less effort. &lt;strong&gt;Is there a good reason to do less ?&lt;/strong&gt; Or should I go ahead and keep doing what I was doing before (or maybe double up on what she proposed) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit: answer from the trainer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After asking here, I went back to the gym and did the suggested new routine. As I was dissatisfied at the end (feeling like I had it in me to do more) I went and asked another trainer what he thought of this. I'm adding his answer here too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically he said that the single serie I had to do in each exercise had to be so hard that I wouldn't be able to do even one more rep for the rest of the whole session. This means that if I still have energy like I do, I'm not pushing myself hard enough on that single serie. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also said the goal with this program was to improve form and &quot;learn&quot; to use my muscles properly. Something that is easier to learn by doing 10 reps well than 40 bad reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also one thing that I hadn't been explained properly is that this program is only for the first 6 to 8 weeks, and that it would change afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8236" LastEditorUserId="8236" LastEditDate="2014-03-29T19:02:33.563" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T13:45:31.757" Title="Can less exercise give better results?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15938" CreationDate="2014-03-28T17:05:11.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I see people in my work succumb to &quot;metabolic damage&quot; in the sense that stress takes a toll on their physical/mental health. And I skimmed the article, from what I gather, the whoe &quot;eat less exercise more&quot; paradigm taken to the extreme can cause the same. The high cortisol and sympathetic stimulation can lower testosterone, mess with the thyroid, and mess with neurotransmitter levels that will take time to recover from . So yes, one should not only focus on the action at hand (such as working out), but should also focus on proper recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, when I see metabolic damage, I think of people who cycle their weights up and down on large calorie deficits and surpluses. What we know from studies of individuals who do this is that the BMR rate is lower, meaning, not that it is &quot;slower&quot; per se, but that scaled to LBM(kg) the rate is lower because lean mass is lower, because organ mass has been lost. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T17:05:11.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15948" CreationDate="2014-03-28T17:27:13.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ali, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;your current exercise routine goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;30 mins treadmill jogging - 260 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;10 mins cycling - 40 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Subway both times - daily lunch/dinner from Subway &lt;em&gt;(correct me if the assumption is wrong)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Questions:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Apart from Subway meals, do you consume any other snacks or meals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Did you perform your exercises everyday?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;What's your current weight? Above 200 lbs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;What's your weight-loss goal &lt;em&gt;(how many lbs do you desire to lose)&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Male or female?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your exercise level isn't high enough to give you the results you desire. According to your exercise log, you burn only 300 calories daily from your exercises. &lt;em&gt;That's less than the calories from one meal at Subway!&lt;/em&gt; If you continue this particular plan, it'll take a while for you to lose the weight &lt;em&gt;(from exercise alone)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you don't snack and the above are the only food intake you have, you should begin to see results very soon &lt;em&gt;(although you should switch from Subway to something more healthy)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To take your exercise level more seriously, extend the time spent on cycling &lt;em&gt;(to at least 30 minutes)&lt;/em&gt;. If possible, switch from jogging to sprinting and jogging and do it at least 45 minutes. Doing these daily &lt;em&gt;(or frequently)&lt;/em&gt; should allow you to see more result. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, if you need to lose more than 50 pounds and you're getting impatient &lt;em&gt;(don't worry, you're not the only impatient one)&lt;/em&gt;, you'll have to increase your exercise level &lt;em&gt;(again)&lt;/em&gt;. You might need to add body-weight exercises as well as weightlifting. There are many recommendations but I don't need to bother you with them at the moment. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, ensure you aren't starving yourself. You can't lose weight by going hungry all the time. Cut calories intake without being unnecessarily hungry. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;BTW, don't forget to join some fitness community too; it would be easier for you to lose weight in the community. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Let us know how it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T17:27:13.883" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15951" CreationDate="2014-03-28T17:44:45.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arrg, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To gain muscle mass, you need to consume lots of protein, either through meals or through meals and shakes &lt;em&gt;(my recommendation)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'm not certain what exercises you're doing, but hopefully, they are weightlifting. You won't bulk up with cardio exercises. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The most popular programs that focus on gaining strength &lt;em&gt;(and mass)&lt;/em&gt; through weightlifting require you to increase the weights you lift constantly. They also require you to weightlift about 3 days a week. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Less exercises, in some cases, can be beneficial. However, what she's proposing doesn't seem to be beneficial. Even if the advice came with increase in weights lifted, the repetitions/sets are too small to see much benefit in a short time. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Taking breaks between exercises are only necessary &lt;em&gt;(my opinion)&lt;/em&gt; if you're exhausted from each exercise; there's no need to take breaks if you aren't breaking a sweat. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A good reason to do less is &lt;em&gt;if the body's being overworked and overstressed&lt;/em&gt;. For example, doing 3+ hours in a gym everyday lifting higher volumes with higher repetitions/sets and no rest is excessive. However, with what you seem to be doing, it doesn't seem to be too much. You might need to ask her why she felt it's not necessary &lt;em&gt;(it could be that she was referring to specific exercises and not the overall exercises)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Overall, consume lots of protein, lift higher volumes, perform cardio &lt;em&gt;(to give your lungs/heart more endurance)&lt;/em&gt;, and rest your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the new information added into the question, I'm need to add a few information: &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Based on the answer the second trainer gave you, there are two possibilities for what's going on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;You perform those exercises using bad forms. This is possible, especially when you don't have a spotter. It could also be the reason you don't get tired after completing the exercises. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;Solution:&lt;/strong&gt; Either make a video of you performing those exercises and compare your forms with online videos of people completing the exercises perfectly. This will let you know if your form is right or not. Or get a trainer &lt;em&gt;(possibly from a different gym - see 2nd theory for the reason)&lt;/em&gt; to spot you and tell you if your forms are off. If you find out your forms are off, you can complete the workout chart you've been given using  the proper forms. This will help you on the long term. If your form is perfect to begin with, then, simply tell your trainer to move you to a higher level. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your muscles need to be challenged; otherwise, all your current gains and strength will be reduced.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The second possibility is that the trainers might simply want to start you off with the basic level, the same level given to someone working out for the first time. This is done to increase the time you'll spend with them in the gym, which translate to more money for them. &lt;em&gt;After all, the gym's running a business to make a profit.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Solution:&lt;/strong&gt; If your form is already fine &lt;em&gt;(after confirmation)&lt;/em&gt;, you don't need to start from the basic level. Simply demonstrate your form to them as proof that you need a higher level. &lt;em&gt;If they insist, despite the fact that your form is fine, it might be time to find another gym.&lt;/em&gt; You shouldn't waste time and money on things you already can do perfectly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep challenging your body and it'll get stronger, faster, and more agile. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Keep the good work up! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-30T19:57:39.773" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T19:57:39.773" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15958" CreationDate="2014-03-28T18:20:42.250" Score="1" ViewCount="7271" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting about a week ago, whenever I'd come back from working out, I'd have this sensation in my right hand, especially my fingers (palm side) and not so much on the palm, and the pressure was greatest on the tips of my fingers. Weird thing was my left hand didn't have this problem. It would usually disappear when I would wake up from sleep, or after 6 hours. This would only happen on days I worked out. However, it came up again about 3 days ago, on a day where I don't workout. Ever since then, it has become permanent. I isolated the cause of the problem to be the screwing wrench thing for the barbell since it applies great pressure between my palm and fingers when i squeeze it. I, without thinking, used my left hand to squeeze it, and sure enough, now my left hand has the same problem too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sensation can be described as: when you wrap a rubber band around a finger and squeeze it, the part thats red and full of blood (the numbness), that's how my fingers are. When your foot falls asleep, u touch it, and you KNOW that you're touching it, but u can barely feel it. The feeling is super blunted. So my sense of touch and feeling in my finger is very blunted. I can move my fingers perfectly without problem; it's just the sense of feeling, especially on the tips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made a doctor's appointment, but I have to wait about 3 weeks because I wanted to go to the doctors for other things too, but should i make ASAP appointment with different doctor if this is too dangerous? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8238" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T22:29:43.237" Title="Nerve damage in fingers and hands?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15938" CreationDate="2014-03-28T19:06:19.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep the article at the back of your mind as a caution to not to under-feed yourself; besides that, there's little reason to think about it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you exercise your body to a fatigue level, your body'll alert you before reaching this stage. If you pay attention to your body, you can easily identify when you've overworked it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you do happen to fall into this state &lt;em&gt;(very unlikely if you pay attention)&lt;/em&gt;, it certainly wouldn't take 3 months for your body to return to its natural state. With enough nutrition, rest, and lower exercise, your equilibrium should return in about 2 weeks. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Continue your routine &lt;em&gt;(be more concerned about the safety of your exercises)&lt;/em&gt;, have enough nutrition, and take plenty of rest. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Your lean, mean self is around the corner :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T19:06:19.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14698" CreationDate="2014-03-28T19:15:23.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;LWhitson2, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It's mainly a marketing gimmick. You don't need different clothing for different exercises. I'd say that a lot of people exercise using the same clothings. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, if you're engaged in competitive sports or performance-based activities, that's when the type of clothing might make a difference. The fabric, texture, and feel of the clothing might help/hinder the appropriate movement for the specific sports. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, notice that your footwear might depend on the specific exercise being done. Running shoes are different from biking shoes, which might be different from weightlifting shoes. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In general, any clothing that's light and stretchy should be alright for most exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T19:15:23.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15955" CreationDate="2014-03-28T22:29:43.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you go see a doctor ASAP. When it comes to neurological issues, the faster you understand the problem and solution, the faster you can breathe easier. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;While finger numbness is normal, what you've described above seems very unusual and it seemed to be escalating. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I would suggest seeing a specialist very soon and resolving the issue. If it happens to be no big deal, at least, you'll be at peace faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T22:29:43.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15951" CreationDate="2014-03-29T09:53:09.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I do agree with the trainer that your plan is very convoluted, I do not agree with her idea of a better plan. Also, what Kneel-Before-ZOD said is quite right, but I feel like I could add something worthwhile. Now brace yourself, this got much lengthier than I first intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, what you're doing is volume training. 32 sets per workout is much. Very much. Taking into account that you're a beginner, and a very light one at that, it makes absolutely no sense to train that much. I know it's counterintuitive, and training half as long is not very fulfilling psychologically, but adjusting your plan will probably benefit you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, scrap your plan. It probably has too many isolation exercises (curls, leg press, lat pulldown), that won't benefit you much. The problem with these exercises is, that they use very few muscles at once, which in turn only stimulates growth in very few of them. This is cool to work on weak points, but as a beginner your whole body is a weak point.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That's why I'd suggest doing compound exercises, which use many muscles throughout the whole body. Every single one of those muscles will have to do it's share of the work. This stimulates growth in all of them, &lt;em&gt;at once&lt;/em&gt;. It's basically like doing 3-4 isolation exercises at the same time. Compounds also have the added benefit of your body learning to coordinate the majority of your muscles in a natural movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To conclude this point, you can - and should imho - reduce your workout time, not by reducing sets, but by changing up your exercises in a smart way. Using compound exercises, you can workout much more efficiently, without losing any training effect. I actually do believe, that switching to compounds will actually be &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; effective than doing 32 sets of isolation movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll give you an &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example programm&lt;/a&gt; which is often used to great effect. It's not the be all, end all of programms, as similar programms yield similar results, but it's the one I know. You will notice that a workout takes about 40-60 minutes, but you should be pretty exhausted at the end, so there's no need to work any longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some final words on to nutrition (as that seems to be a problem, too). You say you want to build mass, but only gained 3kg in 6 months, which can only mean one thing: You're eating waaaaay to little. Some possible reasons for that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't want to get fat. Well, muscle gains will seldom happen without fat gains. They almost &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; happen at a satisfactory pace without gaining some fat too. Say goodbye to your six-pack for a few months, build some mass and cut the fat later. Your temporary sacrifice will yield a much more stunning physique in the future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; that you eat too little. Most people have a very wrong idea of what they eat, actually. Monitor your food intake (kcal, protein, carbs, fat) for a week or two and get an idea of what you actually eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you know the reason why you're eating too little you can work on eating enough. How much is enough? About 4000kcal, probably more. When I first heard that number, I was shocked. But as I came to accept it, I found ways to make it happen. Some tipps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink milk: A litre of skim milk will add ~400kcal to your diet. If you drink it instead of water, that adds up quickly. It's quite healthy too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat calorie dense foods: Peanut butter, nuts and seeds, dark chocolate. Eaten in moderation, these will bolster you intake considerably.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat healthy: Yes, you have to eat much, but that doesn't mean 3 Big Macs should become your standard lunch. Also vegetables and fruits should not be ignored, as you will need the vitamins and the fiber to stay healthy and perform well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat protein: Protein, being the building blocks of your muscles should be consumed in sufficient amounts. Opinions on what 'sufficient' really means differ, but 2g per kg of body weight is pretty much on the safe side. A high protein intake won't cause kidney failure, cancer or any other bad stuff btw. Just drink enough (3 litres a day, minimum) and everything's fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all that information, it's of course up to you if you use it. You say you're happy with what you achieved so far. In my opinion you could reach much more, much faster. But if you don't want to turn your programm around and eat everything that can't run away quick enough, that's okay, too. I hope I could help anyway :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-03-29T10:14:20.847" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T10:14:20.847" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14862" CreationDate="2014-03-29T11:33:20.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing Starting Strength myself right now and naturally, I did think about how to get rid of the fat I'll gain during the next few months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Calvin pointed out in his comment, the workout programm you do is not really important &lt;em&gt;for weight loss&lt;/em&gt;. If you want to stay strong while losing fat, though, you should continue lifting heavy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when dieting your recovery is of course not as good, so you might want to start at 80% of your current working sets and cut back on accessory exercises. &lt;em&gt;If recovery is good&lt;/em&gt;, you can add weight and/or accessory exercises back in. If your recovery seems to suffer, scale back again. You're cutting now, get rid of the idea of actually progressing on your lifts. A standstill is probably the best one could manage, but don't count on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice I'm one of the 'SS-crowd' and I'm quite opposed to changing programms between bulking/cutting cycles. The reason being, if you go for volume &lt;em&gt;because you're cutting&lt;/em&gt; you're basically bastardizing your workout to do cardio's job. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of cardio, I wouldn't do it at the expense of weightlifting. Weightlifting itself (especially SS-style) consists of short bursts of high intensity. Sound like HIIT much? If you absolutely have to add cardio, make sure it doesn't interfere with recovery from lifting. Super-Low-Intensity cardio (aka taking a nice long walk) would probably be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for nutrition, you should of course cut back on calories. 500kcal under maintenance is normally recommended. Yes, it is slow, but the faster you go, the more muscle you will lose. You should still keep your protein intake high, though, so cut back on carbs mostly, maybe a bit on fat (assuming you were eating right already, to begin with).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T11:33:20.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15968" CreationDate="2014-03-29T13:01:21.887" Score="1" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bit of pretext: I've been having sporadic knee pains (left side) for the last 6 years now. I could never do any leg cardio like running or cycling. I went to four physicians/orthopedics, was x-rayed 2 times and went through 2 MRTs, with no results other then &quot;you're still young and untrained, take it slow&quot;. The problem was no matter how slow I took it, my knee would hurt after, but seldom during, the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, some months ago I decided to screw it and go all out. Recklessly, I loaded up my barbell and started squatting. A funny thing happened, as my knees actually felt very healthy during the movement. What's more, my knees felt better the day &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the squats too, and even more so as I progressed in weight lifted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Six months later, I'm still having the occasional knee pain, but much less then before. Also, if I have this pain and do 3-5 bodyweight squats with good form, it goes away and stays away for several hours. It also works with back pain (from sleeping on a sofa, for example). Now there has to be some explanation, some physiological effect that I do not yet understand. If anyone could help me out and explain to me &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; squatting helps alleviate knee and back pain, I could probably use that effect more efficiently in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T12:29:40.953" Title="What physiological effect takes away my knee pain when squatting?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15964" CreationDate="2014-03-29T15:46:20.730" Score="0" ViewCount="9125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 15 and will turn 16 in two months. I am 5'2&quot; and I'm much shorter than all of the relatives. However everyone on my paternal side is about my height or shorter. My mum is 5'4&quot; and my Dad is 5'7&quot;. I have started doing aerobics for 1 hour every day. I'm not sure what kind of aerobics its called, but it involve a lot of stretching of the arms and calves and things like that. Do you think I can expect to reasonably gain some height and maybe lose some wight as well. Do I still have time to grow and if so, how much? How do I know if my bones are still &quot;grow-able&quot;? I'll probably do aerobics for a year or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8244" LastEditorUserId="8244" LastEditDate="2014-03-29T17:55:02.510" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T13:06:07.713" Title="Can aerobics make you grow taller?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15963" CreationDate="2014-03-29T18:43:03.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aerobics won't make you taller, however at age 15/16 you are still growing. Girls are still growing until around 18 and boys i believe is early 20's.   it's hard to say how much more you will grow and when, as everyone is different.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A combination of eating a good diet and exercise will help you lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T18:43:03.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15932" CreationDate="2014-03-29T19:39:51.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also add the same caution people have started making in regards to stretching before running, namely that if you over-stretch, you may make the tendons and muscles looser and more likely to be injured if you heavily exert them. Proper yoga, I am sure, does not strain the muscles and joints, but many people get competitive about getting deeper into the pose than the person beside them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T19:39:51.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6473" CreationDate="2014-03-29T22:07:15.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Boris_yo, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Congratulations on your transformation! You're one of the people who should frequent this site and help answer more questions. Since you've had personal experience with weight-loss, your anecdotal stories can motivate others to keep shedding the goo. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Although I'm not &lt;strike&gt;certified&lt;/strike&gt; qualified to give a fitness/nutrition critique, I will give some advice based on my observations, readings, studies, and anecdotal experiences. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Make it fun&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you're doing for your weight-loss, make it fun. As long as you're having fun with it, you'll be able to continue your journey as well as motivate others. Even if/when you mess up &lt;em&gt;(on a routine, food, exercise, whatever)&lt;/em&gt;, smile about it and try again. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Food isn't your enemy&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't starve your body. Unless you're doing a program such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intermittent Fasting&lt;/a&gt;, eat at the appropriate time. Instead of using coffee to keep yourself steady at work, eat some light breakfast:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cereal &lt;em&gt;(with skimmed milk)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. If you chose a fiber-filled cereal with milk, your body is nourished with protein, calcium, and essential nutrients in the morning. The whole thing should be about 200 calories or less and with that, you get enough energy, nutrition, and strength without resorting to coffee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein shakes&lt;/strong&gt; will keep your body busy as well. Similar calories content as the cereal option and similar strength and energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Boiled eggs&lt;/strong&gt;: a boiled egg has about 70 calories. Taking it with skimmed milk is less than 200 calories and that's a full breakfast. Again, you get the proper nutrition and energy for fewer calories and no need for coffee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fruit juices&lt;/strong&gt;: Blend fruits together and drink them. A typical blending can contain less than 150 calories and in exchange, you obtain full breakfast as well as awesome nutrition for your exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fiber bars and/or shakes&lt;/strong&gt;: these are usually lower calories and they are packed with the essential nutrients that your body needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Eat a fruit daily as snacks. As the saying goes, &lt;em&gt;&quot;an apple a day keeps the doctor away&quot;&lt;/em&gt; :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other options and you can read up on them; the point simply is that you shouldn't skip breakfast all the time and make up with coffee. That won't do your body any good and might lower your energy on the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Get Stronger&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you've lost weight, you need to get stronger. Your &lt;em&gt;13 pushups&lt;/em&gt; need to increase. Since you can't run much because of your aching knees &lt;em&gt;(drinking skimmed milk daily might help with that)&lt;/em&gt;, perform some body-weight exercises while you heal up &lt;em&gt;(I can guarantee you won't stop them even when your knees heal up)&lt;/em&gt;. Follow a routine such as this &lt;em&gt;(BTW, this isn't part of your regular exercises; it's just part of your daily routine)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;On waking up, do as many pull-ups as you can &lt;em&gt;(get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001EJMS6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull-up bar if you don't have one&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Before you go out to work, do 20 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/knee-tuck-jump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee-jumping&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;During lunch, perform 10-15 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf7wZvraWV0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;After work &lt;em&gt;(at home, office, or wherever)&lt;/em&gt; perform jumping jacks for 1 minute.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this daily for a month and compare your energy afterwards. When you see the improvement in your energy and strength, you can continue by increasing the repetitions &lt;em&gt;(and adding more exercises to those above)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Add Weightlifting To Your Exercises&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try performing full body weightlifting exercises. I highly recommend deadlifting, squatting, overhead presses, bench presses, and barbell rows. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've talked too much. But I think that it's worth it. You want to have a balanced low-calorie nutrition without starving yourself. And you want to have a strong, muscular body that's both agile and fast. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Do this and watch your body transformation rise. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Good job, good luck, and &lt;em&gt;keep making exercising fun&lt;/em&gt; :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T22:07:15.803" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15872" CreationDate="2014-03-29T22:30:37.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question you may want to take up with your tailor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have been cutting, try to go to a maintenance workout/diet a few weeks before your final measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main point is that you don't want your wedding suit/dress to be anything other than a perfect fit. With most tailor arrangements this will mean you will need to maintain stable measurements during a number of weeks prior to your wedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T22:30:37.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15962" CreationDate="2014-03-29T22:39:51.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;LarissaGodzilla, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Reading and anecdotal experiences have shown that weight squatting helps with knee pains. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;While i can't give a resource-backed answer at the moment, my theory is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Squatting improves the strength of your body, including your thighs, overall legs, and body. Because the legs are now stronger, the muscles are more able to sustain the weight of the  legs and that reduces the pressure on the knee joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If i can find a resource to back up the theory, i will update my answer with it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Keep squatting :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T12:29:40.953" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T12:29:40.953" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15963" CreationDate="2014-03-30T00:10:42.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will aerobics make you taller? &lt;strong&gt;No, it won't.&lt;/strong&gt; It'll strengthen your heart and lungs; it'll also tone your body and increase your energy. But it will not make you taller. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;That being said, some studies reveal that &lt;em&gt;performing exercises that stretch your back and spine (such as hanging from a bar) can increase your height.&lt;/em&gt; Also &lt;em&gt;(purely my observation with no resources whatsoever)&lt;/em&gt;, it seems that most people who perform certain jumping/stretching sports such as basketball, tennis, and swimming tend to be taller. So &lt;em&gt;(if you're already interested in those sports and need a reason to try them out)&lt;/em&gt;, you can give them a shot.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You still have many years until your growing peak. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Consume food that can help your body grow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Milk&lt;/strong&gt; Drink this daily to strengthen your bones and teeth. It might also give you some boost in height &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/amazing-foods-and-diet-for-increasing-height/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(source)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein:&lt;/strong&gt; Meat, cheese, and eggs are examples of protein food that you should consume regularly. The protein's job is to repair your body and replenishes it. With good genes, this can cause an increase in height &lt;em&gt;(not a guarantee)&lt;/em&gt;. However, those food are still necessary for your body &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slideshare.net/goldkingdomhome/discover-mind-blowing-ways-to-increase-your-height-naturally&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(source)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Some cultures believe that &lt;strong&gt;eating beans and certain legumes regularly&lt;/strong&gt; makes one grow taller. Again, researches haven't absolutely confirmed those studies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for losing weight, ditch fatty food, eat more nutritious meals and exercise regularly. You still have a natural metabolism that should make weight-loss easier for you. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Discuss these ideas with your parents &lt;em&gt;(PE or nutrition teacher)&lt;/em&gt; and see if you can try these ideas out. They certainly won't hurt you and would be good for you. Also &lt;em&gt;(if you're fortunate)&lt;/em&gt;, they'll increase your height as well. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;EDIT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually found some sources that corroborate the above theory about people performing certain sports growing taller than average &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.indiacurry.com/faqhealth/heightdietexercise.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(this)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://tarin.hubpages.com/hub/Can-you-really-grow-taller-with-basketball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. If a legitimate source is found, the answer will be updated with it.&#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Good luck. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-03-30T06:47:46.840" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T06:47:46.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15972" CreationDate="2014-03-30T00:42:31.697" Score="4" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just getting into running, and got my first proper pair of running shoes last night.  I got to try them out today.  They felt great for the first 20 minutes or so, but then I noticed they were chafing my big toes.  (On top, right at the first knuckle.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something that can be corrected by something simple, like, say, tightening my laces?  Or is this a sign my shoes don't quite fit?  (If it's the latter, the place I got them from has a very generous return policy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8245" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T06:10:50.867" Title="New running shoes chafing toes" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2014-03-30T00:58:08.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think as long as you eat three regular meals and actually worry about pushing yourself during PT eater than worrying about how much protein you need to drink you will quickly realize that the body takes care of itself and doesn't need as much as you think it might to build muscle&#xA;And be strong. I'm a firm believer that you can naturally eat healthy and attain muscle mass without being swayed by muscle magazines to buy a ton of powder supplements to spew into your system. A little dedication and tenacity will take you a long way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8246" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T00:58:08.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15970" CreationDate="2014-03-30T04:11:40.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is they don't quite fit. You might need a slightly bigger shoe, most places recommend a half size larger as your feet tend to swell(which is probably why it hurt after 20 mins). The other general recommendation is to have about a thumbs width between big toe and top of shoe (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/health/23patient.html?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NYTimes, 2010&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your store has a generous return policy(as you indicated) I would take them back and let them know what happened. Most specialized running shoe stores will give you a pretty thorough review including looking at your feet, watching your gait, and having you try on a few pairs to fit you properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastEditorUserId="7660" LastEditDate="2014-03-30T06:10:50.867" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T06:10:50.867" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15963" CreationDate="2014-03-30T12:42:49.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't make any claims to having tried this for growing taller, but I wish I had known this information when I was younger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval training has been found to increase human growth hormone by a significant amount. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growth hormone is sometimes given to kids to help them grow taller. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can draw possible conclusions from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would not recommend increasing HGH levels synthetically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/02/10/phil-campbell-interview.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1. Effects of interval training on HGH&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/children/news/20081106/growth-hormone-therapy-ups-kids-height&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2. Growth hormone increases height&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T12:42:49.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-30T14:22:04.500" Score="3" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to do abdomen exercise daily. As a result I got some strong muscles under the skin. But still my stomach is protruded like something filled in it like air or water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest some tips to reduce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8247" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T11:30:43.893" Title="why six packs are in front of protruded stomach?" Tags="&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15932" CreationDate="2014-03-30T17:54:10.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer very much depends on what exactly your asana practice consists of, and what your goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga asana practices usually consist of active static stretching and passive stretching. There is very little dynamic stretching in yoga. This is important for you, because passive stretching does not fit into the beginning of a workout. So if your asana practice consists of mainly passive stretching, then it is better to do your asana practice after your conditioning routine. However, if active static stretching is the main focus of your asana practice, then, it may not hurt to do it in the very beginning. However, dynamic stretches fit much better to the beginning of a workout, which a usual asana practice can not provide. For further reading on the types of stretching and their effect, refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0940149451&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength wise, asana styles can vary a lot, from very light practices to really hard ones. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1921080000&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the primary aim of asana practice is to enjoy all the benefits of increased circulation, without putting extreme stress on the body&lt;/a&gt;. So after a yogi has finished with his/her asana practice, he or she is well prepared for pranayama practice and long kumbakhas (breath retention exercises). You may not be able to perform long breath retentions after an exhausting workout (either asana or conditioning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To conclude: as you can see, if you are serious about both yoga practice and conditioning, it is better to put them in completely different workouts (different days, or morning/evening splits are fine). Otherwise, it may be ok to do them together, but note, that 1. asana will probably reduce the efficiency of conditioning, and 2. very high intensity conditioning will make pranayama more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the best option for you depends on whether you want to focus more on your conditioning, or yoga goals. If yoga is more important to you, then do that first, but try to do more active stretching than passive in your asana. If you want to focus more on conditioning, do that first, go as hard as you can, then follow up with asanas of mainly passive stretching, then some very easy pranayama.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2014-03-30T18:24:24.853" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T18:24:24.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11479" CreationDate="2014-03-30T20:55:01.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've been given some great advice in the comments. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In addition to those, you can perform&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull ups:&lt;/strong&gt; Those strengthen your shoulders, arms, and back muscles, muscles you really need for climbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bar hanging:&lt;/strong&gt; This is like a chin up, the main difference being that instead of coming down like a chin up, you stay in the upward position for as long as you can. This beastly exercise works every part of your core, as well as your arms. The more stable your arms and core are, the easier the climbing will be for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg up or leg hanging:&lt;/strong&gt; This improves the strength of your thighs and legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Burpee &lt;em&gt;(yes, including the jump)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; The squats and plank develop your core, the jumping increases your agility and flexibility.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Include these for a month and determine if there's an improvement in your strength, endurance, and performance. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T20:55:01.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-31T00:44:54.423" Score="1" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know someone who is very fit, and what he does is eat 12 eggs without the yellow part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's too many eggs for me but i can try. However, i don't feel wasting the most nutritious part, sadly also most cholesterol full part, is a good use of resources and fair to people who are poorer than me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so what other things can be just as good source of protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7001" LastEditorUserId="7660" LastEditDate="2014-03-31T01:45:24.573" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T01:57:35.043" Title="How to get more protein without wasting food" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15978" CreationDate="2014-03-31T01:34:58.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muhammad,&#xA;Eat the yolk part &lt;em&gt;(yellow part)&lt;/em&gt; of the eggs; it's very good for you. The yolk actually increases the &lt;strong&gt;good cholesterol&lt;/strong&gt; in your body &lt;em&gt;( &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/30/health-benefits-of-eggs-yolks_n_2966554.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Egg_Yolk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt; as well as provide a host of other nutrients such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin A&lt;/strong&gt;, which helps your eye sight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin B&lt;/strong&gt;, which is good for your brain, energy, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin D&lt;/strong&gt; for strong bones and good skin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin K&lt;/strong&gt; which helps your blood clot better&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin.... &lt;em&gt;(you get the point).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless the yolk's being used for something else, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;tell your friend to stop wasting food.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; You don't need to eat 12 eggs to be fit. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Just eat 2 or 3 full eggs &lt;em&gt;(preferably boiled)&lt;/em&gt; and you obtain the proper nutrition you need from it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Remember that you still need fiber, carbs, and other nutrients that cannot be gotten from eggs alone. So, try to eat a balanced diet meal. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Eat fruits daily &lt;em&gt;(if possible)&lt;/em&gt;; they satisfy you and provide you the fiber and nutrients your body needs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;More importantly, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you don't need to eat like your friend to be fit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Just eat right and exercise right. If you've got the time to eat, you've got the time to exercise. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Perform cardio, lift weights, and have fun with your life :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Other good sources of protein include: &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Fish such as salmon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Lean meat such as chicken, turkey, and beef&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Nuts such as pistachio, cashew, and nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Legumes such as beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Yogurt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Milk and cheese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just some of the protein-rich food items. Search google for more options. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Eat right and exercise and you'll be as fit as your friend :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T01:34:58.740" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15978" CreationDate="2014-03-31T01:43:44.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The yellow part is referred to as the yolk. It's actually not as bad as the rap it gets, although eating 12 egg whites at a time is bit high. But I'll leave that alone for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A google search for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=cheap+sources+of+protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;cheap sources of protein&quot;&lt;/a&gt; will give you a whole flood of answers, pretty much all of which are cheap in part because they are whole or less wasteful. &lt;a href=&quot;https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/8332/24110&quot;&gt;A post from sister site seasoned advice&lt;/a&gt; also covers it. Here are some common ones just for reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canned Tuna - 25 g protein/100 g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Powdered Whey - 15 g/20 g although not a whole food, still cheap and effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ground beef - 25 g/100 g (cooked) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ground turkey - 27 g/100 g (cooked)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken Breast - 29 g/100 g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver(beef) - 20 g/100 g&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Almond butter -15 g/100 g - high in good dietary fat, but also high in protein. More expensive, but may avoid problems with legumes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk 2% - 3 g/ 100 g - again, high in dietary fat, but also cheap protein source&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peanut butter - 25 g/ 100 g - same as with almond butter (high fat), but also a legume some might people do not tolerate as well.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of this is compiled based on a quick review of &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/build-muscle-on-a-budget-the-10-cheapest-sources-of-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Stronglifts, 2008)&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/top-ten-protein-sources/#axzz2xPxeVrvO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Mark's daily apple, 2007)&lt;/a&gt;. The calorie values are pulled from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fatsecret.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FatSecret.com&lt;/a&gt;, which will also give you the full nutritional info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also worth noting previous questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/792/7660&quot;&gt;Protein: How much is too much&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/6362/7660&quot;&gt;Is there a maximum amount of protein the human body can absorb a day?&lt;/a&gt;, and a general stroll through the whole protein category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T01:57:35.043" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15978" CreationDate="2014-03-31T01:54:37.257" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eggs are a decent source of protein, and there is no reason to throw away the yellow part, certainly not the cholesterol in there. Egg yolk is one of the few foods naturally containing vitamin D and dietary cholesterol has been shown to play a neglectable part in cholesterol levels. But next to that, the whole theory that claimed a causal effect from high cholesterol to heart disease has been falsified. Want to reduce your risks on heart disease: &quot;No more sugar!&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But anyhow, next to eggs, most animal protein sources are pretty good. If you have a specific goal in mind you may want to look for animal protein sources rich in specific amino acids.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to aim for about 2g of protein a day per 1kg of body weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T01:54:37.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16012" CreationDate="2014-03-31T06:57:24.933" Score="11" ViewCount="3864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am &quot;&lt;strong&gt;software programmer&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. I recently noticed that i am victim of forward neck posture. I know my computer realated job is reason for this. I am trying to correct my posture. but while doing this i feeling more pain in neck and behind neck muscle. Please help me &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8253" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T12:28:42.103" Title="how to correct forward neck posture?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2987" CreationDate="2014-03-31T08:06:01.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The amount for different people varies, but if you can afford to train each body part once a week, there is strong evidence to suggest that this is more than enough to see gains over an extended period of time, well into old age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you pick compound exercises you can further reduce the time needed by training multiple bodyparts at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example of a workout I've used for some years &lt;a href=&quot;https://gist.github.com/iolloyd/9805781&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://gist.github.com/iolloyd/9805781&lt;/a&gt; and seen plenty of gains. This has helped me to train for 100 metres and to play professional level rugby at the same time and see strength gains throughout the season. I'm now almost 44 and still improving. After some injuries and layoffs I've effectively used an abbreviated workout to lift 165 kilograms in the deadlift for 5 reps and improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caveat: I'm not young and considered a hard-gainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8255" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T08:06:01.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-31T10:57:21.580" Score="1" ViewCount="645" Body="&lt;p&gt;While answering &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/15608/energy-expenditure-calories-burned-equation-for-running&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, I researched some formulas for energy expenditure when running. None of the formulas I found took into account the factor of exhaustion when calculating calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To explain what I mean: If you start running, you feel fresh, you know your running technique and you have the fine-motor-skills to use it. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;And so you run for an hour, you get exhausted, your legs ache and feel heavy. With this exhaustion your fine-motor-skills decrease. Your technique is inferior compared to when you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, that should have an impact on calorie expenditure, as inefficient technique should burn more calories. Why is this not adressed in most (if any) formulas on energy expenditure? Is the effect just this small? Is it too complicated? Maybe it is indirectly considered when using heart rate as a factor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I feel I might have narrowed the focus of this question by using a running example. I'm interested in the general impact of exhaustion on calories burned &lt;em&gt;in all sports&lt;/em&gt;, including running, weight lifting, climbing etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T18:02:40.367" Title="How does exhaustion impact calorie expenditure?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15974" CreationDate="2014-03-31T12:33:52.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two likely hypotheses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visceral fat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Massive abdominal and lower back muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's visceral fat, chances are you can't do anything about it without hitting underfat levels. If it's massive abdominal and lower back muscles, I would suggest you cherish these and consider seriously picking up powerlifting. It's possible to have your body decimate muscles, but it's such a waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T11:30:43.893" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T11:30:43.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15987" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15990" CreationDate="2014-03-31T12:38:36.227" Score="2" ViewCount="8628" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have hurt my shoulder so for the next 2-4 weeks I have to be a little careful with my training. The daily running is properly OK as long as I keep away from the most challenging trail runs, but the daily dose of the plank has to be replaced for the duration with something a little more gentle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what are the good alternatives to the plank if it a part of a daily morning exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T10:29:51.523" Title="Alternatives to the plank" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2987" CreationDate="2014-03-31T13:36:09.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the good answers given have touched on the exercises &lt;em&gt;(and repetitions)&lt;/em&gt; you need to build muscles and strength. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;That being said, none of the answers have touched on these: &lt;strong&gt;body weight exercises &lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull ups and chin ups:&lt;/strong&gt; Do 20 of these daily and in one month, you should noticeably see bulges on your lateral muscles &lt;em&gt;(the upper part of your V-shape)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg up:&lt;/strong&gt; Do 20 of these daily and in a month, you should see a decrease in your waistline.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing crunches:&lt;/strong&gt; Do 40 of these daily for 2 months and you should begin to feel your pelvic muscles &lt;em&gt;(with a low body fat, you should begin to see the V-shape on your lower abs)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Planks: &lt;/strong&gt; A 1 minute plank a day will strengthen your core and relieve your back pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add these to the suggestions given above and you will notice your muscles bulge in a relatively short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T13:36:09.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15985" CreationDate="2014-03-31T13:55:53.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the body will burn more calories &lt;strong&gt;(or at least, the same amount)&lt;/strong&gt; during exhaustion. This is because the body is actually doing more work &lt;em&gt;(thus, expending more energy)&lt;/em&gt; while in this state. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Although the body might not be moving as fast as it was or as intense, the whole body is firing on all its cinders, the heart is desperately working to keep up with the blood circulation, the lungs are overworking themselves to provide the body with the needed oxygen, and all the muscles are fighting to take as much energy as they can find. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As a result of this phenomenon, the entire body becomes stronger and its endurance is longer. A lot of calories ends up being burnt as well. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This is why a lot of marathon runners or those that partake in endurance sports have lean bodies. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'll update this answer once supporting sources are found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T13:55:53.333" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15987" CreationDate="2014-03-31T14:02:18.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tonny, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sorry about the shoulder injury. There are &lt;em&gt;minor&lt;/em&gt; alternatives to planks; however, they all involve shoulder usage. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In my opinion, if you cannot perform plank &lt;em&gt;(an exercise that requires no movement)&lt;/em&gt; due to shoulder issues, no other single exercise exists as a substitute. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trihardist.com/2009/04/eight-great-alternatives-to-plank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt; highlights some exercises that can be done to replace planks; however, they still won't give as much benefits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T14:02:18.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15982" CreationDate="2014-03-31T17:37:50.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To correct your posture will take time; however, it's a possible and easy thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Equipment needed&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;A full length mirror or reflective surface&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;A chair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Procedure&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Google &quot;proper standing posture&quot; and &quot;proper sitting posture&quot; and download some of the images&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Stand in front of the mirror, mimicking the proper posture in the &quot;proper standing posture&quot; images&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Practise the posture a few times in front of the mirror.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Practise the posture a few times without the mirror.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Practise Steps 2 - 4 using the &quot;proper sitting posture&quot; images&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Take the images with you wherever you go, trying as best as possible to mimick the positions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Within a few days, you'll begin to get a hang of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely, you'll begin to feel some pain in your back after a while. This is due to weak lower back muscles. You need strong back muscles for a good posture. To strengthen your back muscles, perform&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;pull ups or chin ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Planks &lt;em&gt;(also called bridge)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;knee ups too &lt;em&gt;(if you can)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to practise frequent walking in good posture. Your back muscles will strengthen after a while. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You might need to re-adjust your work chair/desk to match the proper posture. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sit straight at work; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;do not slouch.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;All these will correct your posture and any current pain you experience will be gone in a relatively short time. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Now, go download those pictures :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T17:37:50.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14672" CreationDate="2014-03-31T18:18:32.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think about it for a second: once the movement starts, the weight of the body is being balanced by the leg on the floor; to maintain a good posture for the exercise, the body's weight shifts backwards. If the force generated by the leg on the floor can counteract the body's weight, the hands can be placed anywhere. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, for most people &lt;em&gt;(or beginners)&lt;/em&gt;, the leg isn't strong enough to balance the whole body; therefore, the arms are needed in front to tilt the weight forward and thus, help the foot balance the overall weight. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So basically, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Weight by arms &lt;em&gt;(in front)&lt;/em&gt; + force generated by the standing leg = total body weight &lt;em&gt;(in the back)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Again, if the leg is strong enough to generate enough force to counteract the body's weight, the arms can be placed anywhere. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T18:18:32.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14962" CreationDate="2014-03-31T20:15:56.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yardage, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Unfortunately, the legs are tied to the hips and there aren't many leg workouts that would really strengthen the legs without some form of squats or lunges. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You might try some Yoga moves; they might not give your legs the bulk you need, but they might be able to tone them or give them more flexibility. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T20:15:56.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-31T21:01:19.020" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently punched someone, and now my right wrist is not as flexible as the left one. I can bend it to around 45 degrees but then it becomes painful, so I have to stop. I need to make it more flexible so I can start doing push-ups again. Do you have any good ideas for stretches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8260" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-31T20:05:39.357" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T01:08:21.407" Title="Stretches to make my wrist more flexible" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15987" CreationDate="2014-03-31T23:01:11.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some core workouts I can think of that shouldn't use the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Superman (without arms extended)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Crunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side Crunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: I hurt my shoulder back in January and did a lot of these instead of the plank family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8261" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T23:01:11.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15997" CreationDate="2014-04-01T07:17:08.083" Score="3" ViewCount="1478" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purely strength-wise, what is the difference between taking a deload week (where work is done in the range of  around 40% of 1 rep max), compared to taking a complete break from weightlifting for the same period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assumption: Intermediate lifter, trains 4 times a week, in a cycle of 3 weeks of work (60-90% of 1 RM), 1 week deload rutine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T13:08:29.587" Title="Deload or Rest in weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15996" CreationDate="2014-04-01T08:29:07.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deload and rest weeks are two very different ways of giving your body, and your central nervous system (henceforth CNS) some time-out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example you'd go pretty much all out on 3 weeks out of 4. So naturally, you'd want to cut yourself some slack during the fourth week, so the CNS doesn't break down and you don't go into overtraining (joints will thank you, too). What exactly you do during that week depends mainly on your training status, though. Let's look at two extreme examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a newbie lifter decides to start with what you suggested. He doesn't really have the technique to reach his maximum muscular performance, nor does he have sufficient CNS recruitment. He probably feels like it, but he'll never go all out. &lt;br&gt;For this case, a deload (about 50% of 1RM at normal rep/set-count) would probably be best. As the lifter is not really experienced and neither his body, nor his CNS adapted to lifting, he is prone to 'unlearning' form and losing CNS recruitment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a seasoned powerlifter works hard on a 5/3/1 plan to prepare for a meet. He'll probably go all out on every lift, as he has the physical capabilities, the CNS recruitment and the technique to force the last bit out of him. &lt;br&gt;In this case, an off-week would probably make sense, as he'd probably be able to exhaust himself enough to invite injury and/or overtraining if he just kept going.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, those are extreme examples, so most of us are probably somewhere in the mix. With that considered, I'd say one should mostly just deload. The decreased intensity and/or volume should provide sufficient recovery for any non-pro lifter, &lt;em&gt;given you've got everything else in order&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to consider to further decrease load or really take some off-days/an off-week if you suffer from sleep deprivation, heightened stress or other problems that further impede recovery. This goes in reverse, too. If you feel you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; an off-week every month, you should consider brushing up on your lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really looking forward to spending a week on the couch though, don't sweat it. If you don't do it every month (i.e. every fourth week of your programm) you won't suffer any critical setbacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T08:42:49.107" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T08:42:49.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-01T09:10:14.767" Score="0" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may not be a good fit for the Q&amp;amp;A format of Physical Fitnes, but I'll try anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running for a decade or so, and despite trying lots of different running shoes in specialist running shops, I've never been offered a pair of Nike trainers to try. Marketing and presence in the shops leads me to believe Nike must be one of the biggest running shoe manufacturers, if not the biggest, so I find this surprising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked a shop once and they said &quot;Nike shoes are kind of different. They tend to be very padded at the front&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a moderate to heavy overponator who only runs up to half-marathon distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of three possible answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nike don't make shoe suitable for runners like me, either&#xA;because &quot;they are kind of different&quot; or maybe they just don't make a&#xA;model that matches my description &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nike aren't as big in the&#xA;running world as I think; they're just another running shoe&#xA;manufacturer who happen to have a lot of marketing. I probably&#xA;wouldn't be posting this if I'd never tried as Asics or Saucony. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, it is odd (you don't need to speculate on the reason if this the answer)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6049" LastEditorUserId="6049" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T09:26:03.823" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T10:03:03.530" Title="Is it &quot;odd&quot; that I've never tried on Nike Running shoes in a running shop?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2014-04-01T10:25:44.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like you, I have been running a number of years and have tried various brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion there are a couple of reasons you won't be offered Nike running shoes in a running shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but sometimes with big brands like Nike they can be very fussy about where their shoes are sold.  They may say to shops they they will only take an order from them if they spend a certain amount of money(a large amount).  Given that most Running Shops are small independant shops rather than a chain.  I suspect most can't afford to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my early days of running I used Air Pegusus(an entry level shoe that is still around now), but I do also feel that a lot of their shoes are aimed more at the fashion market, more than specialised running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T10:25:44.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16004" CreationDate="2014-04-01T10:30:23.267" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of strength and weight training i have always been wondering how a trainer or physiotherapy determines when a training program is well prepared. Which parameters decide that exercises go well together and here i'm primarily talking in terms of multiple muscle groups. Some exercises create overhead, which is not always desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these questions arises hence i am trying to figure out how to formalize a description of how one can describe the quality rating of a training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T18:14:37.107" Title="How to determine the quality of a training program" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15974" CreationDate="2014-04-01T11:00:30.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may have problems with posture. Check if you dont have a case of hyperlordosis. People with hyperlordosis have their lower back muscles picnched too tightly, causing the pelvis to tilt forward, stretching the abdomen and making it stand out and look round, regardless of the amounts of fat on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its hard to say if this is your case, especially without o photo, you should see a physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T11:00:30.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16000" CreationDate="2014-04-01T11:06:53.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good program is one that meets the intended objective. As long as the processes can be replicated to &lt;strong&gt;obtain the expected result&lt;/strong&gt;, that's a good program. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your question deals specifically with strength and weight training, a good training program is one that emphasizes &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;working the entire body.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Weightlifting and strength programs should emphasize both the upper and lower parts of the body. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-bizzy-diet-workout-a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Bizzy Diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is designed to work the upper and lower body on alternate days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; emphasize whole body workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the program works the whole body and covers almost all the body's muscles, the program should be good. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;How each program might differ is in repetitions, sets, and the frequency of the exercises. Also, the diet might be different as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T18:14:37.107" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T18:14:37.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15994" CreationDate="2014-04-01T11:32:21.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the pain is that bad, I do highly recommend a doctor, as badly healed injuries in something as mobile as a wrist can be bad news. As regards stretching, I advise looking at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA0Urm6WVCU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aikido wrist stretches&lt;/a&gt;. They cover a fairly wide range of movement and are easy to adjust to your current flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I had something like this happen to me a few years back. I let my wrist relax too much while hitting the punching bag. I made a full recovery and it turned out to be nothing worse than a sprain. I wore a wrist guard for a while, and found that pushups were much less painful when I did them on my fists, as it involves a straight wrist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T11:32:21.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16000" CreationDate="2014-04-01T11:42:36.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a Personal Trainer, and to determine whether a programme is any good or not.  There are a number of things you need to find out about the client first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly what is the clients goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A programme written for weight loss would look very different for one written to increase muscle size.  Again someone who was deconditioned against a sports person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One programme, most definitely does not fit all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even 2 people with the same goal, may need different programmes depending on their fitness level and lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a good programme is one that is client specific.&#xA;It's important to help the client set SMART goals specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time framed.   This is the starting point of any decent programme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding muscle groups, it still comes back to the goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weight loss, you need to work the larger muscles, for full body workout.  Working opposite muscles works quite well.  Doing less reps heavier weights, or more reps lighter weight, it all comes back to, why are you doing it, and what do you want to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifestyle, hobbies, age and more are all consideration when writing a programme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this goes some way to answering your question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T11:42:36.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15996" CreationDate="2014-04-01T13:08:29.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lasse, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The difference between deloading or resting is this: the former&lt;strong&gt; allows your body to rest &lt;em&gt;(with lighter loads, thus increasing endurance and strength)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; while the latter &lt;strong&gt;allows your body to rest completely (something you don't want to do often) &lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Given that strength training is hard, taking rests &lt;em&gt;(especially for a beginner)&lt;/em&gt; doesn't increase your endurance and make your body give reasons why you should quit the program. The more often you lift heavier weights &lt;em&gt;(without passing your optimal frequency)&lt;/em&gt;, the stronger you'll be. More rests will reduce your strength growth. Or you might finally give in to your body and quit the entire program. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So, plan your weightlifting on non-consecutive days, lift heavy, and rest on your non-lifting days. If you really need a rest &lt;em&gt;(absent of any illness, injury, or doctor's recommendation)&lt;/em&gt;, deload instead and re-structure your weightlifting plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T13:08:29.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14740" CreationDate="2014-04-01T13:26:04.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drinking your cold water is fine. And no, it doesn't defeat the purpose of the exercise. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The purpose of the exercises &lt;em&gt;(and the heat)&lt;/em&gt;, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bikramyoga.com/BikramYoga/about_bikram_yoga.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bikram Yoga&lt;/a&gt; is : &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;&lt;em&gt;&#xA;Yoga changes the construction of the body from the inside out, from bones to skin and from fingertips to toes. So before you change it, you have to heat it up to soften it, because a warm body is a flexible body. Then you can reshape the body any way you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hatha Yoga flushes away the waste products, the toxins of all the glands and organs of your body. It provides a natural irrigation of the body through the circulatory system, with the help of the respiratory system. It brings nourishments to every cell of your body so that each one can perform its function and keep your body healthy. Bikram Yoga also employs heat to further that cleaning process: When you sweat, impurities are flushed out of the body through the skin.&#xA;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;However, with such exercises in the heated room and for that duration, you're bound to feel dehydrated. Without the water, you might not be able to perform optimally and your exercises might be in vain. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Obviously, you want to drink as infrequently as possible while maintaining your hydration. But drinking the cold water seems necessary. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;So yes, listen to your body and respond appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T13:26:04.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16028" CreationDate="2014-04-01T14:15:27.417" Score="7" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having some doubts for quite some years ! &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Used to play basketball for some years and i was always a guy who could jump quite well(over 38 inch), i am 6 feet tall and dunking was an easy task.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;We all know when we are prone to something like :&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some guys have the shooting ability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some guys have the speed and agility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some guys have the court awareness&lt;br&gt;&#xA;etc...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is my point ? Well - When training to be a better basketball player you need to work on all part of your game ? right !&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So which exercise for all can stop you from improving you vertical leap even thou they are basketball drills that might help you ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this doubts of mine can seem kind strange but from my experience i can say the yes there are exercises that will stop you from jumping better.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Example :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Doing 5 mile runs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Running with wights.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Doing plyos when you shouldn't.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on... &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Basically &lt;strong&gt;What drills interfere with vertical training ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just what to know if others fell the same way and if so share the experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8266" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T17:09:34.997" Title="Vertical Leap Improvement Plan?" Tags="&lt;vertical-jump&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2014-04-01T14:34:00.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a lot of people unconsciously stress their necks during exercises &lt;em&gt;(especially weightlifting)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It takes practice to relax the neck during these exercises. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If possible, exercise in front of a mirror and you'll see that your neck is being unconsciously stretched when lifting. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fix the issue by consciously relaxing your neck once you realize it's being stretched. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;After some time, you'll be able to lift without stretching your neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T14:34:00.003" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14962" CreationDate="2014-04-01T19:13:44.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, and foremost, I recommend you see a physical therapist and work with your physician to reclaim at least some use from your hip.  Your primary focus should be on rehabilitation.  43 is far too young to have such limitations.  As such I recommend you run these suggestions and any others you receive across your physio to make sure they make sense in the grander scheme of rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg Press:&lt;/strong&gt; The amount of hip involvement is different depending on your foot placement and range of motion.  Set it up so that your range of motion is just before the hips would start to hurt to full extension.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise Ball Leg Curls:&lt;/strong&gt; These are a change of pace, and really challenging.  They hit the hamstrings well, your hips will not be compressed at all, and add a stability challenge to the exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat Partials:&lt;/strong&gt; The same concept as the leg press for range of motion, but stick with weights you can control while not going to full ROM.  Make up for it with reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Farmer's/Yolk Walks:&lt;/strong&gt; Low impact, and limited range of motion.  Most of it is whole body being tense, kind of like isometric exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts:&lt;/strong&gt; These might require some finesse to find a variation and set up that doesn't hurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These might give you enough variation that you can build size.  It might be worth using the leg press to determine if you can increase the usable range of motion over time.  As with any time you are dealing with an injury or post-surgery take your time getting back in the gym.  Start much lighter than you normally would, and build up weight even more slowly than you would normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Reiteration:&lt;/em&gt; Please seek the advice of someone who really knows their stuff with hip related problems.  A good physical therapist can help you regain as much use of your hip as is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T19:13:44.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15574" CreationDate="2014-04-01T21:04:09.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You aren't going to get more authoritative answers than what you already researched.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Glutamine/#main_clinical_results&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glutamine's&lt;/a&gt; response has several studies, and the quality of the studies have been graded (A-D) and magnitude of response for &lt;em&gt;humans&lt;/em&gt; have been given a 3 star rating.  Each of the studies are available in a link on the last column.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that for humans, there is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Minor&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; good affects for recovery and reduction of DOMS post training.  There is a noticeable affect, however &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be rat studies that show much better response to glutamine, but Examine.com does not consider those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The questions I have are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What studies did this book on nutrition use?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who was the author?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What was the context of the book?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all relevant to your friend's position.  If the author is fitness trainer, they may be repeating information they've heard from other fitness trainers.  It happens often, and it's not malicious--they just may have bad information.  If the context of the book is sports nutrition then it has a little more weight.  If the book cites its references, and there are human studies that show a greater affect, then letting the Examine.com folks know might be a good thing.  They try to keep things up to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T21:04:09.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15982" CreationDate="2014-04-01T21:05:11.663" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forward head posture (called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/Posture.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;gravity induced kyphosis&lt;/a&gt;) is pretty common nowadays.  The first thing you should do is begin stretching your neck with an exercise called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Sternocleidomastoid/NeckRetraction.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;neck retraction&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Msdpo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll be amazed at how great this exercise feels.  If you've been stuck in forward head posture for a long time, you'll feel as though your entire upper spine is waking up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've developed some &quot;normal&quot; flexibility in your neck, you can start to strengthen the muscles so that they are more balanced.  This will help keep your head upright.  The exercises you'll want to incorporate to your workout routine are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Spine.html#anchor160581&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cervical flexion&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7dAaT.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Spine.html#anchor161500&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cervical extension&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fmHYV.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Spine.html#anchor162283&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lateral cervical flexion&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NULDW.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a machine, you can use free weights to perform these exercises.  For instance, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Splenius/WtNeckHarnessExt.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;neck harness&lt;/a&gt; may be used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xq83d.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have a neck harness, plates or dumbbells may be used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Sternocleidomastoid/WtNeckFlx.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;like so&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pBRE7.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/NeckWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;neck exercise index&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx&lt;/a&gt; for some other ideas.  I also found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHuB1jKY59g&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video to be worth watching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to these neck exercises, you should consider adding some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; to your routine to balance the muscles of the upper back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T12:28:42.103" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T12:28:42.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16015" CreationDate="2014-04-02T08:10:24.510" Score="2" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read in a number of places (magazines and some online) that when training for things like a 10K run, half marathon or cycling event doing HIIT training can help but you should not do too much of it as it takes a lot out of you.  For example 10-15% of your training should be HIIT while the rest should not get your heart constantly above 70/75% of max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what is the 10-15% of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Number of times worked out in a week?&#xA;2) Time worked out that week?&#xA;3) Distance achieved that week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For times that would suggest I only do HIIT training once ever other week, which doesn't seem like a lot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time or distance seem more like it but not sure which is more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2336" LastEditorUserId="2336" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T08:21:36.183" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T04:31:31.747" Title="10-15% high intensity training - what is the % of" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16014" CreationDate="2014-04-02T09:39:28.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can see why this sounds confusing, but most runners record there training in miles or kilometres per week.  So if you were to take 10-15% of your weeks running miles, I would think that's what it means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if your target is to improve your 10k, you may be better to do 10-15% high intensity running.  Personally, I would think this will be more specific to your goal.  Although, obviously if you were looking to work your whole body HIT may suit your needs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sessions you could try for high intensity running:- warm up 5-10 jog (run fast for 1 min/jog 1 minute) - repeat up to 10 times then 5-10 minutes jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try fartlek, select a route (maybe 5-6 miles), start with a jog warmup, then run faster as you feel.  Efforts can be anything from 20 seconds up to a couple of minutes.  You can run the hills hard.  It's up to you.  a great session to do with a training partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These kind of training will make you fitter and faster for running.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck for your 10K&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T09:45:05.823" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T09:45:05.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-02T14:50:01.523" Score="7" ViewCount="101272" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was doing a 5x5 based workout a year or so ago, I had issues when trying to push the weight on the overhead press. Even though the weight felt comfortable in the sense that I could do at least 5 reps with a minimum of a few sets, twice on separate occasions I pulled a muscle in my upper-back/neck which prevented me from working out again for 2-3 days before it healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I switched to doing seated press and haven't had an issue with it until recently. While doing a higher yet still comfortable weight on bench-press, I pulled the same muscle and am baffled as to how it could happen doing such an exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what am I doing wrong on both exercises that could be putting so much strain in an area that isn't a main muscle for the workout (especially in the bp case)? And what could I change in my form to help prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Form description&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a spotter on both instances, during ohp they didn't mention anything about my form being wrong, and I followed the head movement described for most ohp forms when lifting the weight up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bp, I arch my back and assume typical bp form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Injury description:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevents me from turning my head left or right to the normal maximum degree without straining/pain in the pulled muscle area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below I've circled where I feel the most strain from the pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pcmr9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8278" LastEditorUserId="8278" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T15:00:39.250" LastActivityDate="2019-08-24T02:47:40.900" Title="Recurring muscle pull in Upper-back/Neck when doing overhead press/bench press - form advice" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="792" CreationDate="2014-04-02T15:35:00.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a need to consume more protein during fat loss to spare muscle protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is especially  true for Very Low Caloric Diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But anything more then 3g per kilogram of body weight seems unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2-3g/kg +a couple of  sessions of intensive weight training a week   could save  your muscles while dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend books by Lyle McDonald to understand  this issue in all the  complexity.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note ,  that  despite  being often mentioned,  there are zero  researches confirming  kidney  damage by high protein intake for &lt;em&gt;healthy&lt;/em&gt; people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T15:35:00.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15351" CreationDate="2014-04-02T15:51:16.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to become stronger and/or bigger (muscle-wice) you do not need to do 60 reps.&#xA;6-12 reps per set is about right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burn feeling means little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you  are a beginner , you  might  find &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/&lt;/a&gt; program  usefull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T15:51:16.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16016" CreationDate="2014-04-02T15:51:45.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like you've got a strain in your trap and rhomboid muscles as a result of a muscle imbalance.  The first thing I would do is not arch my back when doing bench presses.  Try keeping your legs up on the bench with your feet flat.  Also, make sure you are lowering the bar to your sternum and not the upper chest.  Otherwise, you may be offloading the workload to your upper shoulder/neck area.  As for shoulder presses, I would not perform the press from behind my neck (if that's what you're doing) until you've worked on strengthening your traps.  Try performing the shoulder press from in front of your neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T15:51:45.590" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-02T17:10:16.753" Score="2" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://muscleandbrawn.com/bulldozer-bodybuilding-bulking-system/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bulldozer Bulking&lt;/a&gt;&quot; workout in an attempt to gain muscle with minimum fat gain. So far it has been working well, but I'm looking to optimize the actual workout I do depending on if I'm in a &quot;cut&quot; cycle or a &quot;bulk&quot; cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm doing a power/strength based workout during the bulk week and a more hypertrophy oriented one during the cut weeks. Is this the optimal match for such a diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4004/what-is-the-optimal-bulking-cutting-rotation-schedule&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; already but I'm looking for something that will more address this study in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T00:43:25.463" Title="Bulldoze bulking - optimizing workout" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-03T04:24:26.260" Score="5" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have searched extensively for all sorts of different name combinations for latex-free jump stretch/exercise bands. I see that there are Theraband-style light bands that are latex-free, but all of the more heavy-duty bands for stretching seem to be rubber latex. Is there some better name for these bands I should be using to search for them? Does someone sell latex-free ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example of a latex one:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yb5ab.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0064DPLMY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/SeriousSteel-Single-Pull-Up-CrossFit-Power-Lifting/dp/B0064DPLMY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8284" LastEditorUserId="8284" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T15:03:05.137" LastActivityDate="2021-04-08T11:35:44.870" Title="Does someone sell latex-free jump stretch/exercise looped bands?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-03T06:06:20.277" Score="1" ViewCount="548" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was doing regular jog for about 6-7 KM for two weeks. One day decided to do interval training and started running fast. After about 400m my left lower leg started to hurt. I continued slow run for another half a KM. Since then I cannot run as my left lower leg starts paining within 100 m. I believe it is shin splint. I have been resting since then. Wearing a crepe bandage to support my lower leg. It has been 15 days. How long does it take to heal. By lower leg I mean, front part of the calf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8007" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T15:51:29.433" Title="How long does it take to heal shin splint?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;shins&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16024" CreationDate="2014-04-03T09:53:14.030" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like others have suggested, you need to see a medical person,  I would suggest a physio or osteopath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is unlikely to be shin splints, and more likely to be chronic compartment syndrome. &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00204&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00204&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;This is when you increase exercise volume and the muscles grows faster than the muscle facia.  It can be extremely painful.  But the good news is you can recover much quicker than from shin splints.  A series of very deep massage, will help a lot.  An Osteopath really helped with mine.   This is not to be confused with acute compartment syndrome which is a medical emergency.  See the above link for a better explanation.  I have a lot of running/run coaching experience, but I'm not medically trained, so please do get some expert advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T15:51:29.433" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T15:51:29.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16021" CreationDate="2014-04-03T14:22:22.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know the specifics of you  routine, but there are general rules  to  consider on training  while cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) lower volume as you  are unable to  recover when calories are low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) High intensity to still promote muscle protein synthesis and prevent unused muscle wasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks more like power workout than hypertrophy to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually  do  full-body  workouts with compound movements and heavy weights when cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or switch to  Blade's  routine  &lt;a href=&quot;http://borgefagerli.com/myo-reps-in-english/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://borgefagerli.com/myo-reps-in-english/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastEditorUserId="8149" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T17:46:09.970" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T17:46:09.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16007" CreationDate="2014-04-03T16:53:04.163" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the question of what drills undermine vertical leap ability, we need to first discuss what's needed for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/02/14/effective-vertical-jump-training/&quot;&gt;a good vertical jump&lt;/a&gt;.  First, there's two types of vertical jumpers: standing and running.  A standing vertical jump is when you are stationary on the ground and leap up with all your strength, useful in football and weightlifting.  A running vertical jump is when you need to get high while you are running such as volleyball and basketball style vertical.  Since you're question is about basketball, you want to focus on the following drills or activities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training is useful, but you don't want to push for maximal strength or bulk.  I.e. you want a high strength relative to your body mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything that increases the ability of your hip to generate power&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything that makes you leaner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything that may make you lose a bit of starting speed or acceleration won't hurt the vertical.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything that increases your top speed (both in jumping and in running), sprints for example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything that increases your reactive strength, for example certain types of plyometric training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anything that improves your stretch reflex (the body's ability to spring back resisting being stretched)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Need great calf and tendon output&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training&lt;/strong&gt; can help you improve your relative strength, which is more important than your absolute strength for a running vertical--if you focus around the exercises that facilitate good jumping and don't get lost in the quest for heavier numbers.  Rough guidelines would be to focus on things like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kettlebell swings (improves the power generation at the hip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raises (improves your calf output, can help with tendons in the ankle as well)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats need to be deep enough to hit the stretch reflex in your glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push press involves the hips as well as improving your shoulder strength.  Overhead work will be more beneficial in general to a basketball player than bench pressing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on more sets with low reps using moderate weight (example 6x3 @ 70% intensity): the goal is to build strength without too much bulk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic weightlifting: builds hip power, and calf power through triple extension under load&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list is not complete, but it should give you an idea of things that can help a vertical and compliment basketball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the opposite end of the spectrum we want to avoid strength activities like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General bodybuilding (increasing muscle mass for looks more than function)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power lifting (aiming for the heaviest squat/bench/deadlift you can)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything where you are slowly grinding out reps through great effort&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those activities can benefit a football player, but basketball players have different demands on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plyometric Work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest factor with plyometric work is the type of plyo you employ, followed closely by the frequency.  You want to focus on reactive strength, not standing strength&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid standing box jumps (from a lower to higher platform)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform depth jumps (from an 18&quot; box to the floor and immediately jump when you land)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform running jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform quick jump shots (helps your game, and your reactive power at the same time--double win)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to frequency, it might be best to have one day a week devoted to explosive work that gives you enough time to recover for a game later that week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one where you may or may not agree with me.  It turns out cardio work's &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/03/cardio-and-lifting-cardio-wont-hugely-impact-your-gains-in-the-short-run-and-may-be-beneficial-for-strength-and-size-in-the-long-run/&quot;&gt;interference with power output is exaggerated&lt;/a&gt;.  In short, while there are mild acute affects (i.e. short term) in the long term, long slow cardio will make you a better athlete.  My high school basketball coach always had us run a couple miles before practice even started.  In retrospect it was a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some low intensity steady state (LISS) cardio work (running, cycling, etc) will help your recovery from difficult training and improve basic health factors.  20 minutes a day is plenty for this purpose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprints are great&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Suicides are also great, particularly since it also reinforces that stretch reflex in your calves as you change directions quickly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skill Work&lt;/strong&gt; is always important.  The more you work at a skill the better you get at it.  Your coach will have you running drills that are designed to bring the best out of you as a player.  You'll always have to do what your coach says--or you won't be on a team and your vertical will be pointless.  The coach should have his pulse on what makes his system work, and where his team needs more work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest challenge you'll have is to make sure anything you do outside of practice doesn't interfere with practice, or worse the game.  If you play once a week, load the week so you do the bulk of your strength and plyometric work a day or two after your game and then taper off the closer to your next game (perhaps doing no outside work the day before a game).  If you play twice a week, that's even more challenging but the same principles apply.  You just might have one strength day and one plyo day a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T16:53:04.163" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16052" CreationDate="2014-04-04T00:36:04.573" Score="17" ViewCount="3224" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background Information&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started exercising a few months ago, I started with P90X and Insanity &lt;em&gt;(Insanity for the mornings and P90X for the evenings)&lt;/em&gt;. As a result, I'm getting used to high intensity exercises. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;During researches on exercises to perform, I came across the CrossFit program and it seemed to be a huge trend. Checking the exercises, I saw that a lot of the exercises have already been implemented in the videos that I used. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I also noticed that a lot of articles on CrossFit declared it to be a horrible exercise program. These articles were written by either former CrossFitters or non-CrossFitters. Many of the complaints were&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Monthly fee is exorbitant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;It's a cult.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The exercises are performed wrong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;It can result in a disease called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis&quot;&gt;Rhabdomyolysis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the arguments I've read against the program revolve around those 4. Also, many of these articles are on fitness/exercise websites. &lt;em&gt;So, I can't assume that these authors simply hated exercising.&lt;/em&gt; &#xA;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;On the flip side, many articles were read defending the program. These articles were written by current CrossFitters.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;I haven't been able to find an article that provides the pros and cons of the program in such a rational, clear-headed way.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't plan to join CrossFit &lt;em&gt;(or any conventional gym)&lt;/em&gt;; however, I like a lot of the exercises and plan to incorporate them into my workout routine. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As a result, I need to know the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Does anyone know of any articles that highlight the &lt;strong&gt;pros&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;cons&lt;/strong&gt; of the program? I would like an article that's not hate-based or fan-based.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;What exactly is wrong with the program? The exercises? The intensity? The Rhabdomyolysis issue? The performers' forms? I have a problem with the cost &lt;em&gt;(all the articles indicated members pay upwards of USD150 monthly)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Given that all exercises have inherent risks and everyone has their preferences, what makes this program receive more vitriol than programs such as Insanity/P90X?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal of the question isn't to create tensions based on opinions; &lt;em&gt;rather, it's for me to obtain enough information and experience to determine if it's worth my time&lt;/em&gt;. I believe it is, but maybe those more experienced than I am see issues that newcomers can't easily see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T18:39:38.890" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T04:40:25.953" Title="What is wrong with CrossFit?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16034" CreationDate="2014-04-04T04:13:21.877" Score="1" ViewCount="996" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that for any given exercise, the rep range for power is 1-3, strength is around 5, hypertrophy is around 8, and 12+ is for endurance. How does this related to planks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. how long should I be able to hold a plank position before adding weights? 30 seconds? 1 minute? 2 minutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T15:56:20.803" Title="When does plank during stop working for aesthetic purposes?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16014" CreationDate="2014-04-04T04:31:31.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's some theory for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get better when you put stress on your system. Intervals have the potential to put a lot of stress on your system, and therefore give you lots of improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, they only work if you can work &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; hard at them, and you can only do that if you are very well rested. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do intervals when you are not well rested, they will feel hard, but you won't go hard enough to get the benefit from them. You will be wasting your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T04:31:31.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16029" CreationDate="2014-04-04T05:00:45.097" Score="10" Body="&lt;h1&gt;In short: An emphasis on optimising reps over time for long periods, with lower emphaisis on correct form.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crossfit isn't inherintly bad because of the exercises it emphasises.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of questions here that cover the idea that there is no one best way to exercise. People can have preferences, there are programs that are good at reaching goals with an otpimum approach, but exercise is by and large a personal thing. If someone enjoys one-legged pistol squats and tireflipping more than other exercises then that isn't a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, some exercises &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; problematic and good form is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; important&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, exercises can be done with correct and incorrect form, and this is something that can be backed up with biomedical sciences. Performing a back squat or deadlift with an overly rounded back will but excess stress on parts of the spine and its discs and risk long term or even immediate damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, without a slow buildup some exercises can put too much stress on the body. The classic example from crossfit is the kip pullup - while an exercise in its own right, it is different to a strict deadhang pull-up. This requires additional stress on the shoulder joints through an explosive movement that is more than some peoples shoulders are capable of handling. While some people can perform these exercises safely, some can work up to them, some never can. What is true is that some exercises can, without appropraite training, be dangerous for some bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Form will breakdown as reps increase&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your body works harder without rest, it does get more sloppy. Muscle fibers are no longer able to fire correctly and as such, the body get weak in some areas and compensates in ways that can lead to poor form. For example, as people approach their 4th rep in the 3rd set of a 5 max rep weighted squat their back may not be as strong as on the first rep, and will need additional support. The squatter may then decide to stop at the 4th rep rather than complete a final rep with poor form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crossfit encourages long, intense uniform workouts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While workouts are different everyday, they are performed in a group setting, where people are encouraged to work at the same pace and harder than they would under other conditions. This leads to people lifting heavier weights for longer times and leads to break down of form. In the extreme if they continue to push their bodies muscular breakdown leading to rhabdomyolysis can occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Group pressure encourages people has been shown to push people beyond their potential. Sometimes this can be helpful to push people beyond a mental barrier, sometimes however it pushes people beyond this into dangerous territory. Rather being encouraged to identify people who are physically struggling and stop them, &amp;quot;boxes&amp;quot; are taught to see this as a &amp;quot;mental' weakness that the practitioner needs to push through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Poor training for boxes in general&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The certification for Crossfit is a very short requirement, and covers the brand and the &amp;quot;workout-of-the-day&amp;quot; programs over biomechanical safety. It doesn't cover identifying client needs, and covers little of the health, safety and risks of exercise. There are very good &amp;quot;boxes&amp;quot; out there, but often these are run by qualfied trainers who have been running gyms and personal training studios long before crossfit existed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the good boxes are good because of prior training and development, and are getting visibility because of the Crossfit brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find a Crossfit box that has good trainers, and you enjoy the workouts. Crossfit will work for you. But that is very dependant on finding a &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T05:00:45.097" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2014-04-04T06:09:10.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can do a standard plank for 1 minute.  It's time to make it harder.&#xA;Move to a Swiss ball.  Put your feet on an upside down bosu.  Lots of options...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T06:09:10.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2014-04-04T06:12:39.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, you're referring to &lt;em&gt;reps&lt;/em&gt;, but the plank is an isometric exercise. For that reason, a single plank might better be seen as a &lt;em&gt;set&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another view I'd like to offer is that the actual time you do the plank might be more suited to be likened to reps. Rough example of what I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;120s bodyweight plank would improve mainly endurance -&gt; low intensity (like high reps, low weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10s plank with 30kg of weight would improve mainly strength -&gt; high intensity (like low reps, high weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So since you're going for looks/hypertrophy you should probably be able to hold the plank for ~1min before you add weight. Otherwise you'd train more for short-term strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T06:23:37.180" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T06:23:37.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16055" CreationDate="2014-04-04T07:01:33.890" Score="8" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a pair of minimalistic running shoes. As I did some &quot;research&quot; beforehand, I came to the conclusion that whether barefoot running is considered &quot;good&quot; or &quot;healthy&quot; is mainly based on opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided for myself that I really want to try barefoot running. Many articles I read pointed out that it is really important to start slow (and I take that seriously), and to learn the correct form for running barefoot (forefoot / midfoot running). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: How can I learn the correct form for barefoot running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6774" LastEditorUserId="5547" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T18:39:36.543" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T01:46:59.280" Title="Barefoot Running: What is the right form?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16037" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-04T12:44:37.887" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to the office timings (1 to 10 PM) i do workout/yoga late in the morning around 10:00 AM and also go to bed late in the night around 1or 2 AM. So does this time slot has any impact on the physical fitness or make workout less effective? If there is an impact on the mentioned things then what can be the ideal/best time to performing these activitis to get best out of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T22:57:46.980" Title="Due to the office timings (1 to 10 PM) doing workout late in the morning 10:00 AM has any impact on fitness?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16037" CreationDate="2014-04-04T13:14:23.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Himanshu, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First, congratulations on taking your health and fitness seriously. Taking the time to exercise is a big deal and I hope you make it a long term goal. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Many &lt;em&gt;experts&lt;/em&gt; recommend morning exercises as the best, especially before breakfast. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Personally though, I don't believe that the time of the day matters. What matters is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;the consistency and intensity.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; 1000 calories burned during the day is the same as 1000 calories burned at night. If night workout fits with your schedule and you're consistent with it, you'll see optimal results. If day workout's your thing, you'll see identical results too. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I haven't read any article about the body's ability to lose calories based on the time of the day. However, a lot of people exercise in the evenings because it's much comfortable for them to do so. They are more relaxed, have more time, or have difficulty exercising in the mornings.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So, as long as you're consistent in your workout routines and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;maintain a good nutrition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, you should be healthy and strong. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Equally important, don't make your workout time the only time you exercise. Try to incorporate exercising into your daily routine. A quick 10-rep squats after sitting in a chair for a while can give your body a quick calorie burn &lt;em&gt;(in less than 20 seconds)&lt;/em&gt;. So is a quick 10-rep push up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T22:57:46.980" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T22:57:46.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16035" CreationDate="2014-04-04T13:43:44.997" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're going to run outdoors, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;please, don't run barefoot.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your joints will thank you &lt;em&gt;(less impact on the joints)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You've avoid dangerous objects on the ground &lt;em&gt;(broken bottles, glasses, etc.) wearing minimalist shoes can reduce/solve this problem.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Without safety worries on your mind, you can focus on doing what you love to do: &lt;em&gt;running&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;And other reasons I cannot currently think of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're running indoors, it's still safer to run with some shoes. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;That being said, &lt;a href=&quot;http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/running/training/5-ways-to-improve-running-form.htm#page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt; details how to improve your running, barefooted or not. The highlights are simply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your Stride:&lt;/strong&gt; Covering more distance with each stride is optimal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your Footstrike:&lt;/strong&gt; Landing on your forefoot is better for your performance, but it might be hard on your calves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your Posture:&lt;/strong&gt; Looking ahead of you and not on the ground is optimal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your Arm Posture:&lt;/strong&gt; Less arms swing is optimal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your Bounce:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA; Reduce your bounce between each stride to reduce the energy expended and to conserve your energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/barefoot-running-can-cause-injuries-too/?_php=true&amp;amp;_type=blogs&amp;amp;_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/barefoot-running-injuries_n_1536017.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shape.com/fitness/cardio/barefoot-running-worth-risks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; are just three resources out of many that are showing that barefooted running can indeed cause injuries. &lt;em&gt;And frankly, anyone who has run with and without shoes knows that there's a difference on the pressure on joints (especially on hard surfaces).&lt;/em&gt; The trick to reducing the pressure on joints take time and practise to master. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hopefully, these tips help. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Keep running :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T22:54:03.380" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T22:54:03.380" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2014-04-04T13:51:01.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard measurement for fitness is 60 - 90 seconds. If you can consistently perform plank &lt;em&gt;(with good form)&lt;/em&gt; for this duration without breaking a sweat, it's time to increase the pressure. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you can really perform 120 seconds without breaking a sweat, it's time to bring out the big guns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Adding weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Using instability balls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T13:51:01.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16046" CreationDate="2014-04-04T15:06:56.043" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading about various diets, and I keep seeing this language: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;XX% caloric restriction&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does that mean, in practical terms? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restriction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; article for some examples of the language in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1278" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T15:58:15.427" Title="What does the term &quot;30% caloric restriction&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16050" CreationDate="2014-04-04T15:28:43.577" Score="4" ViewCount="29396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a full body workout (legs, chest, back, biceps, triceps, abs).  The next day I always feel a bit sore in general.  However, nowhere whenever I train have I felt sore in my biceps or triceps.  For the workout, I do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straightleg deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Benchpress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Lat Pull Down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep Cable push down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Curls (biceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is my basic routine.  I do 3 sets of 8 reps of each exercise.  In the case of bicep/triceps, I can never barely go past my 8th rep of the 3rd set, so I think I'm using enough weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I've never seen good increase in arm size.  I somehow link this to the fact that I never feel sore, so I am not training enough.  Does this make sense?  Should I do somethinig different?  Is there anything 'bad' in my routine, or which can be improved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5811" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T15:36:46.493" Title="arms (biceps &amp; triceps) are never sore the next day following workout" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16042" CreationDate="2014-04-04T15:35:11.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you should try to switch up your routine, and focus muscle groups instead of all over workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps 4 days a week training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example of...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Chest &amp;amp; Triceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Back &amp;amp; Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Shoulders + Core&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday: Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you should try to focus more on each muscle group in an intense and short workout for about 40-60 minutes. Try different excersises instead of just the one for each muscle group. Personally when i train chest i will tend to do the following excersises...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flat barbell press - 3 sets&#xA;incline dumbell press - 3 sets&#xA;Flat flies - 3/4 sets&#xA;Cable crossovers - 2 sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 or 4 excersises on each muscle group tend to work very well for me... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps for me have been very difficult to train, as i never used to put the same effort in as any other muscle groups. This is a mistake. You should take just as long training your biceps as you would a larger muscle group like your chest or back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try out some different routines, and over time i am sure you will see some improvements :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8297" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T15:35:11.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16035" CreationDate="2014-04-04T15:54:07.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be some good info in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/293/experiences-with-barefoot-running/386#386&quot;&gt;Experiences with &amp;#39;barefoot&amp;#39; running&lt;/a&gt; for this. I'm going to disagree with Kneel Before Zod, at least partially. I am agreed that running actually barefooted can be dangerous unless you've put some time into conditioning your feet. That said, the use of minimalist running shoes means the only thing you're losing from the experience is a minor amount of tactile feedback and some toughening of the skin of your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience with running barefoot is a) your stride will be different. Traditional running has your foot extending out further in front of you, usually landing on your heel. Barefoot running, try to land your foot closer to your body and absorb the shock more from front to back than back to front, b) Start slow, and listen to your feet if they start hurting, particularly if you're doing actual barefoot versus minimalist shoes, c) when wearing minimalist shoes, don't assume that they'll remove all risks of blistering, etc. Minimalist shoes are still shoes and you'll still have rub points, especially at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updating with responses on stride length:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's going to be shorter, more of a rapid series of pumping pushes than more separated bounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You want your foot to land under your body, or only slightly in front.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The running should not feel like you're &quot;pulling&quot;, using the friction of your feet against the ground to pull yourself forward on your front foot. Instead, you should feel like you're always pushing off of your feet to provide the motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a fairly good (if mildly vague) set of tips &lt;a href=&quot;http://xeroshoes.com/barefoot-running-tips/how-to-run-barefoot/#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T17:13:47.583" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2014-04-04T15:56:20.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen the minute figure pretty consistently. What to do next depends on who you talk to, but a lot of people seem to be suggesting &lt;a href=&quot;http://q.equinox.com/articles/2013/09/plank-workout%E2%80%8E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dynamic plank techniques&lt;/a&gt; where you start in a plank or plank-like position and transition back and forth using different movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T15:56:20.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16041" CreationDate="2014-04-04T15:58:15.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;XX% caloric restriction&lt;/strong&gt; means reducing your BMR &lt;em&gt;(Basal Metabolic Rate)&lt;/em&gt; by the &lt;strong&gt;XX%&lt;/strong&gt; amount. BMR is basically the minimum calories your body needs to maintain all its natural process. So, if you do nothing at all in a day, your body will burn the calories equivalent to your BMR. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Basal-Metabolic-Rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; details how you can calculate it. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So if you're using a program that requires 30% calorie reduction and your BMR is 2000, your daily calorie intake has to be 1400. If you're active, the total calories your body uses will increase, which will lead to a higher calorie deficit. That's basically how weight-loss through dieting works. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hope this works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T15:58:15.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16042" CreationDate="2014-04-04T18:55:08.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy occurs when you push the muscle past what it is used to.  Muscles thrive on regularity.  In order for them to grow you need to change things up occasionally.  I recommend varying a routine every 6 to 8 weeks of training.  That may mean a number of things.  For example, varying the sets, reps, or weight.  Changing the order of body parts or exercises in a routine.  Or, changing the intensity (eg. super sets).  Getting 'sore' muscles is not a requirement for increasing mass.  Neither is adding extra training days.  However, training smart with consistency will lead to gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T18:55:08.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16042" CreationDate="2014-04-04T20:00:51.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you're not seeing muscle increase in your arms, it's either &lt;em&gt;you're not working the muscles hard enough&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;you're using bad forms&lt;/em&gt;. You don't necessarily need to change your routine. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First, check your forms and ensure that you're lifting the weights appropriately. That might require you watching a lot of videos and practise in order to use the proper forms. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Second, increase the weights you currently lift and try to complete the same sets/repetitions. With good forms, your muscles will be more challenged and they'll reciprocate by getting bigger. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Third, whole body exercises are better than isolation ones. So, keep doing those ones. &lt;em&gt;If you can find free weight equivalent to the machines, use them.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fourth, ditch the crunches; they're a waste of time. Replace the crunches with standing crunches and reverse crunches. Do at least 20 reps of each.  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fifth, embrace body weight exercises. Do pull-ups and chin-ups to build your lat, shoulders, triceps, and biceps. Do planks &lt;em&gt;(bridges)&lt;/em&gt; and push-ups to build your core and biceps. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sixth, definitely increase the weights of your barbell curls and bench presses. Those directly affect your biceps. Perform goblet squats &lt;em&gt;(with weights of course)&lt;/em&gt; to increase your triceps, biceps, and thighs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Seventh, progressively increase the weights as you realize your body's adapted to the new weights. Bigger weights will both help you to be strong as well as build muscles. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Eighth, eat protein meals often. If possible, drink protein supplements after your workouts. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Ninth, don't do all these at once. Mix and match as desired. Do them as frequently as possible. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Tenth, never stop exercising :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T20:00:51.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16029" CreationDate="2014-04-04T20:13:33.420" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem with Crossfit really isn't Crossfit.  It's the licensing model, and how quickly someone with no prior experience training people can open up their own Crossfit gym (or box as they like to call it).  However, more on that later as it pertains to selecting a particular Crossfit gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise Selection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With Crossfit you will experience a large variety of exercises and training.  You will never attain expert status in any of them, as that's not the point of Crossfit.  The point is becoming a general athlete that can engage in just about any physical activity at a moment's notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have only had experience with body weight exercise or aerobic training classes (P90X applies here), then you'll quickly find out how challenging a Crossfit class can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Crossfit has done more to introduce the barbell to gym goers than any other sport or activity before it.&lt;/em&gt;  Thanks to Crossfit, you can easily get a good pair of weightlifting shoes, and a good pair of Powerlifting shoes both by Rebock.  It's made the barbell mainstream and I think that's a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Programming and Coaching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find quite the range of experience from one Crossfit gym to another depending on the real experience of the trainers present.  This is where the largest body of criticism is laid against Crossfit.  Some of it is simply unfair, but some is also warranted.  The more real life experience the Crossfit trainers have, the more likely your programming (exercise selection over time) is going to help you keep progressing as an athlete.  Unfortunately, you never know what you are going to get until you show up and start doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cases where Crossfitters contracted rhabdomyolysis are due in large part to the inexperience of the trainers who didn't catch the early warning signs and bar the person from exercising.  Another contributing factor is the culture in many Crossfit gyms is one where everyone is very encouraging and tries to push each other to do more.  In most cases that's a good thing, however when someone is pushing past severe fatigue it becomes dangerous.  A good coach will be able to control the culture enough so that someone who needs to take it easy can actually do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Crossfit gyms have very good reputations, even from people who don't do Crossfit.  Some gyms are both Crossfit gyms and Starting Strength certified gyms.  The Starting Strength certification is much more stringent than the Crossfit certifications, so these are going to be a pretty good bet that they have good coaches and trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cost&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you pay a monthly fee to a Crossfit gym, you aren't just getting access to a top notch training facility.  Most of these gyms have some great equipment you will never see in a commercial gym ranging from strongman implements to olympic lifting tools to gymnastic exercise equipment.  You are also getting access to the group training.  In a typical commercial gym both of those are two different levels of payment.  If you don't want the class you can choose to just pay for access to the commercial gym.  In a Crossfit gym, they are one and the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a crossfit gym has some good trainers, you might get some personal training/coaching so that you can learn a new technique.  For example, a local Crossfit gym to me has a decent Olympic lifting coach.  The personal training/coaching includes access to the gym for the time you are getting trained in most cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, because there is a wide variety of gyms, it doesn't hurt to ask a Crossfit gym if they have a different price if you just want to use their facilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where does the bad rep come from?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It comes from a number of sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;People who train in a more traditional strength sport are sometimes resentful of the attention that Crossfit gets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; examples of trainers having well meaning people do stupid things.  Not all Crossfit gyms are the same. &lt;em&gt;Editorial note: not everything you don't understand is stupid.  Stupid is a high risk exercise for results that are better obtained using different means, like weighted squats on a bosu ball.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crossfitters in general seem a little more susceptible to fitness hype and they enthusiastically share it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Crossfit games have gone a long way toward legitimizing Crossfit both in the minds of strength athletes and in the minds of the general populous.  The looseness of the certification process has done two things: made Crossfit much more easily available do to the lower barrier of entry, and made it more likely for inexperienced coaches to try to train people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crossfit gyms are a mixed bag.  There are a number of really good gyms and a number of really bad gyms.  What makes them good or bad is the staff that is training the crossfitters or providing their programming.  The more certifications the staff that run a Crossfit gym have the more likely it's going to be a good place to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most gyms have a &quot;try before you buy&quot; package.  You might have to purchase a day pass or two, but that is well worth the investment when you are trying to figure out if a particular gym is a good one or a bad one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a good gym, the trainers will educate you on what is fitness hype and fitness fact.  Whether you have a good gym or not, you owe it to yourself to learn how to detect what is hype and what is real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-10-28T14:41:25.207" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T14:41:25.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-04T20:17:04.443" Score="3" ViewCount="1239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gather that bodyweight training is superior to weight training for gymnastics (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2010/03/the-fundamentals-of-bodyweight-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2010/03/the-fundamentals-of-bodyweight-strength-training/&lt;/a&gt;).  However, I enjoy weight training more at the moment.  Is there any danger that following something like this (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&lt;/a&gt;) would actually be destructive to my long-term goals of gymnastics/parkour, or would it merely be nonoptimal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8301" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T01:54:09.540" Title="Would weightlifting conflict with gymnastics/parkour?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16035" CreationDate="2014-04-04T22:39:40.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm also going to disagree with Kneel-Before-ZOD. There's nothing wrong with running completely barefoot outdoors. You just need to look where you're running, stay relaxed, and run properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of whether you're running actually barefoot or with minimal shoes, the keys to remember are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorten your stride. Traditional running shoes make it easy to feel like you should stretch out such that your foot lands heel-first well ahead of your center of gravity. This produces a braking force with every step, and has been shown to create a high impact transient which really does increase the impact on your joints. The reason traditional shoes are so thick and cushy is so this doesn't hurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't lean forward from the waist. Stand up straight with head up and shoulders back. A slight lean forward from the ankles is probably ok but don't overdo it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend your knees. When you first start running barefoot, a lot of the time there's a tendency to soak up all the impact with your calves. This greatly increases the tendency among first-time barefoot runners toward overtraining injury. Use your whole leg, especially when running downhill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This will seem obvious, but a fore-or-midfoot landing will allow your natural architecture (the arch of your foot, achilles tendon, calves, quads etc) to absorb the impact and return it to forward motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's ok if your heel touches the ground. Try to keep it light, you don't want to go clomping down such that you feel an actual impact on your heel. But allowing your heel to lightly touch down reduces the tendency to overuse injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to practice good form is to run in place. Start with about 5 minutes max of just running in place 3 or 4 times per week. Even less if your feet start to feel tired. Focus on lifting your foot about 4-6&quot; off the floor and keeping your knees bent to keep the impact of your heel light. This helps get the hang of a relaxed, easy landing and helps you get used to standing up straight to run. Add about 1 minute every week, but not until 5 minutes doesn't result in your feet feeling tired or sore muscles in your feet/calves the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've already noticed the warnings about overdoing it, but I'll add this: a major factor in learning to run comfortably/properly (mostly interchangeable IMO) barefoot is to pay attention to how your feet feel. If your feet start to feel tired, numb, or sore your form will suffer and you're cruising straight for an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of all, have fun. It took me almost a year to return to the running volume I was doing before I switched to minimalist shoes and just plain barefoot running. But the result is truly enjoyable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T22:39:40.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16053" CreationDate="2014-04-04T23:12:35.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joshua, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Weight training is awesome. So is body weight training. If you're lifting below 300 lbs in a weight program such as Strong Lifts, it shouldn't interfere with your bodyweight training. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, once you start lifting really heavy weights, you might begin to see a decrease in your mobility and flexibility, which might hamper your bodyweight training. This is because the core principle of programs such as Strong Lifts is that your muscles need to get big in order to lift big. Bodyweight exercises depend on how strong your limbs &lt;em&gt;(as well as your heart and lungs)&lt;/em&gt; can support your body. The bigger your body gets, the more you'll have to exercise in order to be strong enough. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you search around the Internet for pictures of guys lifting heavy &lt;em&gt;(400+)&lt;/em&gt;, most of them do not have the strength to lift themselves in bodyweight exercises. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'll conduct more searches on the topic and see if I can find articles to back up this theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T23:12:35.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-05T00:00:53.870" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 27 and soon to be approaching my 3rd marathon, this time in London. I'm not a competitive runner but enjoy the physical and mental challenge that a marathon brings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've spoken to a fellow marathon runners, many of whom have recorded their PB's in their mid-late 30's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wondered whether there was an optimum age when the body was most prepared to deal with the demands of covering 26.2 miles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8304" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T19:24:07.147" Title="What is the optimum age for running a marathon for men?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16057" CreationDate="2014-04-05T00:25:36.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It very much depends on how long you have been running, but for someone who has been running a number of years.  Yes I'd agree that early to mid 30's you are likely to see your best performances regarding the marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you do hear very good performances even in to later 30's.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, it very much depends on your running background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T00:25:36.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16035" CreationDate="2014-04-05T01:31:01.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found that running minimalist/barefoot corrected my running form pretty quickly and naturally without any special effort on my part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You body just won't let you slam your heel into the ground like you can when you're wearing regular shoes. If you do, you'll feel the bone-jolt all the way up your body and it will shake your fillings loose!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, running minimalist/barefoot makes you land your foot softer almost intuitively. You frequently read about 'running soft' as a form goal and minimalist/barefoot running seems to help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a bit of time before all the sissy-weak-shoe-atrophied-muscles (yes, that's a real word!) strengthen, but once they do you'll be amazed at how many muscles you weren't using before when your feet were trapped in laced-up foot coffins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although not directly related to your question on running form, I would suggest that the next step after minimalist running shoes is some kind of ultra-minimalist footwear. Two of my favorites are a $6 pair of water socks from Walmart and huarache sandals with a 4mm sole. It feels fantastic when the wind blows across your bare foot. In the winter I usually run in the water socks with an additional pair of cotton socks on my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all the muscles in your feet and legs have strengthened, then you'll be in better shape for the final push to barefoot, where all you'll have to worry about is toughening up the bottoms of your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do that, pop the footwear off near the end of a run and run the rest barefoot. Or pop the footwear off after the run and walk barefoot during your cooldown walk. Just take it easy because asphalt/concrete can blister you up pretty quickly until your feet toughen up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastEditorUserId="8148" LastEditDate="2014-04-05T01:46:59.280" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T01:46:59.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-05T04:22:44.230" Score="1" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 49 yrs old and I am in very good shape. While taking a cycling class at the gym today someone commented on how much I was sweating. The instructor chimed in ad made the comment that I need to lose fat to keep from seating so much. Is this true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said I am in very good shape and I am not fat by any strtch of the imagination. I am 6'1 and 201 lbs. I exercise 5 to 6 days a week, and do a lot of cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8305" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T12:59:53.930" Title="sweating and body fat" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16060" CreationDate="2014-04-05T05:38:33.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of reasons you may of been sweating more.&#xA;One, you could simply of been working harder than others.  If you are fit, you probably know how to push yourself harder in training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too much Caffine or alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat is the bodies natural insulator, and sweating is the bodies means of cooling you down.  So in some cases what the instructor said could be true.  However, if you don't carry extra fat, this sounds like a very irresponsible thing for the instructor to of said.  In your case it seems unlikely to be the course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned then seek medical advice.  It never hurts to get these things checked out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T05:38:33.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15908" CreationDate="2014-04-05T09:55:04.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A= m*a*s;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mass*acceleration*s-distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A=F*s&#xA;Force;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_(physics)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_(physics)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think  it is very easy to calculate force though. when  i do  the  math  i  usually  estimate force as gravity force and acceleration as Gravitational acceleration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why it is not very important is : energy  expenditure  during  the  lift is not  important (very  small compared to daily non exercising  expenditure). This is because of small distance of the  movement. I once calculated that to burn a kilogram of fat i need to  carry 100kg of iron to the  distance of 36 kilometers (maybe i  am  mistaken  here  but  not  by  too much) which is  ridiculous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This formula is important for aerobics(aka cardio). Moving your body(50 -100kg) over long distance does the trick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastEditorUserId="8149" LastEditDate="2014-04-05T10:02:39.903" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T10:02:39.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-05T10:57:39.033" Score="1" ViewCount="2253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering to buy a barbell set (max. ~120kg) to train at home (2nd floor). However I am not sure about how dangerous this would be to the floor pavement, and how loud this could be to the neighbors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now considering the main exercises with barbells targeting lower or total body, I want to know which of them I could do safely (concerning loudness and floor safety) without any additional floor protection or with some mats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess the following classification: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Without any further protection&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulgarian split squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zercher squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell thrusters &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front and Back squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overhead squats (with relatively light weight) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;all of them by sure not in the max rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;With some mats like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.megafitness-shop.info/Crossfit/Bodenschutzmatten-belaege/Abwurfplatte-Fallschutzplatte-fuer-Hantelbereiche-Gewichtheben-MAX-500--2335.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.megafitness-shop.info/Crossfit/Bodenschutzmatten-belaege/Puzzle-Vollgummiplatte--2664.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted glute briges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weighted hip thrusts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Not possible at all in an appartement&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;regular Deadlifts (because the slight dropping of the weight at the end of the movement)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dynamic movements where it is the probability higher that one has to let go the barbell at a significant height: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snatches &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push jerks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean and Jerks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I don't really know it. For some exercises like overhead squat the bar is pretty high and if you let it go, mats wouldn't help so much because of the height. Even is the weight was not too high. Same may be even true for back and front-squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For hip-thrusts and regular deadlifts you may for both have the problem that the weight drops a bit to the ground. However I feel it is easier to control this in weighted hip-thrusts than in deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would be great if someone with more experience could clarify which exercises would be safe at home without protection, which would be safe with some mats like linked above and which would be unsafe in all cases.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T19:54:02.933" Title="Which barbell exercises can be done in an appartement?" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2014-04-05T12:47:48.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The mats are a good idea even if you are in a single family home on the ground floor.  They will help protect both the floor and your equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any lift where there is a risk of dropping the weight can't be done in an apartment.&lt;/strong&gt;  It's for the same reason you can't run and jump without bothering your neighbors.  Impact noise travels through ceilings and walls even when you take sound-proofing measures.  Also in this category would be deadlifts and barbell rows.  While the mats do absorb some of the impact, the noise will be something frightful when the bar hits the ground in an apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend doing Romanian Deadlifts on a raised platform (2&quot; should be enough) so that when you are at the full stretch reflex there is no chance of the bar touching the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure your ceilings are high enough.&lt;/strong&gt; Measure the ceilings in the room you intend to put the weights (they do vary), and the distance between your fingertips and the ceiling.  If you don't have another 450mm / 17.75&quot; then chances are you will hit the ceiling with overhead movements (push press, jerk, strict press, overhead squats).  The reason I had you measure from your fingertips is because the bar might go up a little uneven, and this should give you enough extra room so you don't hit the ceiling and bother your upstairs neighbors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Apartments and weight training don't mix very well.&lt;/strong&gt;  There's a lot you have to consider, and there is very little you can do about impact noise other than build a room inside a room with proper air space and suspended floors.  That is not going to be permitted in an apartment.  Having a home gym is certainly convenient, but if your home is over someone else's home that does limit what you can do a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T12:47:48.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16060" CreationDate="2014-04-05T12:59:53.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweating is what your body does when it needs to cool down.  There can be many causes of having more relative sweat than others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive body fat--we're talking 30% or more for men&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More muscle mass--muscles use more energy and as it burns energy it gets warmer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetics--some people just sweat more when all other factors are the same&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no one definitive reason why one person would sweat more than another.  The more mass you have the harder your body has to work to move it.  That's the same whether you have excess fat or more muscle than the other person.  Stimulants like caffeine can cause your body to burn nervous energy, which might increase the sweat a little, but if the cause of sweat is exercise it's likely differences in mass and genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T12:59:53.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16066" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-05T13:32:49.397" Score="0" ViewCount="885" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not accumulated muscles (5-6 times training per week) two months without burning fat because I do not want to lose muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some say I should eat little BCAA before sleeping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weekly program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assume no running in weekly program for half marathon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assume only 1.5 hour weekly cardio which is divided steadily to the weekly program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gym program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 x 1.5 hour muscular training&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;#1 day: biceps, delts, pectoralis major, rectus abdominis    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;#2-3 days: latissimus dorsi, back, rectus, rectus abdominis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rest day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4(5)th day: triceps, rectus abdominis, trapezoideus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rest day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;by which I have tried to minimise the overtraining of muscles of one organ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not training biceps and triceps at the same day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not training trapezoideus and latissimus dorsi at the same time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gym exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups 30 x 3 for biceps brachii, triceps brachii, delts, stomach, ... with different hand levels relative to the shoulders and with changing rhythm of one leg etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flanks - 60s - 30 s - rectus abdominis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups (50kg - 40kg - 30 kg) x 3 for triceps, latissimus dorsi&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rectus abdominis - on the bench (40 angle), foot up 15 x 3 left, middle, right&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps machine - 55 kg - 45 kg - 35 kg - 15x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dents machine - 10 kg x 3, 5 kg x 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weights sideways with one hand, supporting spine with another hand to keep spine straight - 10-20kg x 5 for biceps brachii and triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which are divided according to muscles for different days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a good way to burn fat after extensive muscle training?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastEditorUserId="2169" LastEditDate="2014-04-06T13:21:18.617" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T16:13:18.700" Title="What is a good way to dry out extra fat after extensive muscle training program?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2014-04-05T19:46:08.593" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One point I should mention is that the 'bulking &amp;amp; cutting' method to building muscle is actually quite an inefficient one. Not that it doesn't work, it does and has done for decades but it is far easier for the body for you to eat sensibly but not intensely strict for 12 months a year than it is to pig out for 6-8 months and then cut for 3-4 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'bulking' phase of muscle building as you are aware, usually involves ingesting extreme excesses of calories. Now, unless everything you eat is basically steak, eggs, chicken for example and wholegrains &amp;amp; veg, then it is going to be hard to not put on excess fat. Your body can only synthesis muscle so quickly. No matter how many calories you eat or protein you eat, there will be a point when the body physically cannot build anymore muscle and when this point is reached, it will convert excess calories as fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By bulking, you are also then losing the amount of muscle you can gain in a year as you then have to spend several months 'cutting' which is essentially dieting. Real strict eating restricting calories is going to hinder muscle building. It may help you burn a lot of fat, but it isn't beneficial to continue building muscle. You may still be ingesting more calories than you are burning but after a significant period of bulking, high insulin release, fat cell hyperplasia (the expansion of fat cells due to extreme eating) then it will be really hard to build muscle, whilst you cut enough calories and consume enough nutrients to encourage muscle growth. It's not impossible, not at all, but it makes it more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're honestly really better just addressing your diet all year round and having treat food every now and then and a couple cheat meals a week and just maintaining an excessive calorie intake but not going 100% bulking and then 100% cutting. Two extremes are difficult for the body to adjust to and means you have to waste time burning fat when you could be building muscle. Unless you're a bodybuilder and looking to compete, then bulking and cutting isn't really the best way to get in shape. There is a host of scientific reasons you should avoid this method but I won't bore you with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you have bulked, then a very high protein diet is the best way forward (higher than you would usually consume). Protein contains the least calories per gram in 4 compared to 7 &amp;amp; 9 in carbs and fat respectively. Protein is also a food that is difficult to break down and digest in the body and has been shown to enhance the body's metabolism due to the effort it takes to break down etc. although that is a very simplistic look at the whole process. It's best to work out your lean body mass in pounds (use a bio-impedance scale for a good measure) and consume between 1-1.5g of protein per pound of lean muscle mass. Keep wholegrain carbohydrates to the size of a clenched fist and then pack up on veg. to get your vitamins etc. Obviously not forgetting water! Cut down your sugar intake a lot too and increase your fat intake through butter, whole milk, natural Greek yoghurt etc. consuming naturally occurring fats stimulates the release of Glucagon, a hormone that stimulates the body to BURN fat and things like milk and yoghurt are usually high in protein too! While it is true that Insulin is important to increase muscle growth, insulin is also the primary hormone that stimulates fat storing and seeing as insulin isn't the most important part of building muscle, I'd focusing on reducing the secretion of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other tip is regular HIIT. Cardio is another inefficient way to burn fat etc. but mainly it trains slow oxidative muscle fibres which are the less bulky fibres such as on distance runners like Mo Farrah. By doing high intensity exercises like sprints etc. you are stimulating the Fast Oxidative/Fast Glycolytic fibres which are the bulkier muscle fibres associated with sprinters and bodybuilders! By doing sprints etc. you are building bulkier muscles and burning the same number of calories in a shorter space of time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can build muscle by bulking and cutting, but it is a lot easier for the body to just continuously build muscle year round! I've not gone into the hormone responses to exercise/bulking/cutting but if you want any info or any studies to back up what I said then feel free to ask! Sorry that turned into a bit of an essay!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8306" LastEditorUserId="8306" LastEditDate="2014-04-05T19:54:50.843" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T19:54:50.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16066" CreationDate="2014-04-06T16:13:18.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you're indeed doing the above exercises consistently &lt;em&gt;(hopefully you take time to rest)&lt;/em&gt;, you should not need any other exercise to burn fat. Those will torch your fat for you. What you might want to do is consistently track your body fat percentage. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;There are tools on the market for measuring your body fat percentage. Get one and measure your fat percentage. Get a tape to measure your waistline too consistently. If there isn't a consistent decline in your fat percentage every 2 weeks &lt;em&gt;(along with a decline in your waistline)&lt;/em&gt;, you need to revamp your routine. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Happy exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T16:13:18.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18567" CreationDate="2014-04-06T18:30:08.613" Score="4" ViewCount="1289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to start taking Olympic lifting classes. Since I want to take it seriously, I wanted to makes sure I am geared properly. Currently, I am using orthotics due to the leg length discrepancy (longer left leg) and flat feet which is combined with hyper-mobile feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the collapsing of my arches on my feet, my feet have naturally gotten wider than average and it is sometimes a pain to find proper shoes also. I would love to do all my power lifts bare-feet but experience shows me that it is best to do it with orthotic intervention. So I need some sort of vessel to house the correction insoles and make sure there is no intra-foot movement, because I once tried dead-lift only with the soles, and that turned into a fiasco due to lack of traction... even Steve Wonder saw that coming!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gear I currently use are:&#xA;- Chuck taylors for powerlifting excersizes&#xA;- Asic Gel Nimbus 15 for running&#xA;- Adidas Supernova Glide for running, walking with anti-pronation support for walking&#xA;- Adidas Samba classics from the 90's with a tough rubber sole for when I need a change of gear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a couple of questions regarding this. I hope you folks can help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which brands do you use? (I was thinking of Adidas Adipower or Adidas power perfect 2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What type of materials should I ask my podiatrist to use in case new insoles need to be cast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What else can I do or use to make sure that learning Olympic lifts will be more fun than rather concentrating on corrections and deficits all the time? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a big bunch!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T09:06:18.930" Title="Wearing orthotics in lifting shoes" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16057" CreationDate="2014-04-06T19:24:07.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Human's physical performances usually peak in their prime; this age can range from 18 till 35+. So, biologically speaking, our physical performance best will be a number between that range.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;However, just like many things in human life, we improve the more we practise and gain experience. As a result, the optimal age doesn't really matter. What matters is &lt;em&gt;practising and improving upon the current numbers&lt;/em&gt;. If you start running at 40 and you practise very well, you can reach a personal best that many in their 20s or 30s cannot reach. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So, as the cliché usually goes, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;age ain't nothing but a number&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Keep practising and improving and you'll surprise yourself everytime :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T19:24:07.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16074" CreationDate="2014-04-06T21:03:14.550" Score="1" ViewCount="661" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I read about something called 'Newbie Gains', which is essentially how new people starting a workout routine will see themselves gaining a lot of muscle mass in the initial first few weeks of training. A good example is my friend who spends all his days on the computer, very unfit and skinny, however upon starting a 5x5 training routine and sticking to it, found himself dead lifting 60kg very easily after about 4-5 weeks (though after that he stayed in the 60-70kg weight range for a good few months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question being, since I have no access to a gym (but do have dumbbells at home), will I end up sacrificing any gains by doing low weight exercises such as dumbbell dead lifts with only about 12kg weights max on each hand? I imagine 12kg is going to become extremely easy to dead lift very fast, so could the unavailability of higher weights end up making me miss out on my 'newbie gains'? If it helps at all, my intention with all this is to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8312" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T23:08:43.123" Title="Question about Newbie Gains" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4480" CreationDate="2014-04-06T21:18:09.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a very recent convert to knuckle push ups so I can't really comment on them yet. One thing about push ups in general is too keep a good form- body perfectly straight and rigid, head slightly raised and upper arms kept in close to the body for less stress on shoulders and elbows.&#xA;Did push ups for years and at my peak I would bust out over 500 daily but didn't realise my technique was for sh#t, which led to shoulder problems.&#xA;Also got long term hand injuries from turning my hands too far inwards (fingers pointing toward each other - a BIG no no) when doing push ups so knuckles really appeal to me.&#xA;As has been said already, do them on carpet or an exercise mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8313" LastEditorUserId="8313" LastEditDate="2014-04-06T21:24:08.393" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T21:24:08.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16072" CreationDate="2014-04-06T22:51:00.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Jimmyk &lt;em&gt;(and welcome)&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First and foremost, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you should not deadlift with dumbbells.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Deadlifting 60-lbs on each arm is completely different from deadlifting a 120-lb barbell. Please, if you're interested in deadlifting and/or weight squatting, purchase a barbell &lt;em&gt;(preferably an olympic-sized one).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Second, you'll find &lt;em&gt;newbie gains&lt;/em&gt; in almost everything in life, including exercises. If you start a diet program, you'll lose your weight faster in the beginning and then stall/reduce at some point. &lt;strong&gt;This is normal; don't obsess over it&lt;/strong&gt;. As long as you continue the intensity, your gains &lt;em&gt;(fat loss, muscle gain, etc)&lt;/em&gt; will continue. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Again, if you're ready to gain muscles, you'll need more than 12-lbs dumbbells. You can't be good at cycling by riding a tricycle. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You need the right equipment for the right result.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Want to get ripped? Either join a gym that has the equipment or purchase your own equipment. Then, start a program such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2011/09/531-for-a-beginner/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wendel's 5-3-1&lt;/a&gt;. Their core principle is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;progressively increasing the weights being lifted&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Pick any of the programs, follow it for at least 2 months and observe the result for yourself :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Happy exercising :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T22:51:00.987" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16072" CreationDate="2014-04-06T23:08:43.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;what newbie gains are not: when you start working out you have 2 months to workout every day as hard as possible and eat all the food in the world because if you don't you will have wasted an opportunity window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what newbie gains are: you start with a 45 bar squat and add 15 lbs every week and in 12 weeks your are squatting 225 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;essentially newbie gains is the term for the fact that new trainees don't and shouldn't use a super complicated Russian program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;newbie gains are in part due to quick strenght increse due to practice not muscle as bret contreras put it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In Neuromechanics of Human Movement, Roger Enoka (Enoka, 2008) lists eight potential neurological areas for non-hypertrophy related strength gains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enhanced output from supraspinal centers as suggested by findings with imagined contractions&#xA;Reduced coactivation of antagonist muscles&#xA;Greater activation of agonist and synergist muscles&#xA;Enhanced coupling of spinal interneurons that produces cross-education&#xA;Changes in descending drive that reduce the bilateral deficit&#xA;Shared input to motor neurons that increases motor unit synchronization&#xA;Greater muscle activation (EMG)&#xA;Heightened excitability and altered connections into motor neurons&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;will I end up sacrificing any gains by doing low weight exercises such as dumbbell dead lifts with only about 12kg weights max on each hand&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;no. please dont use that as an excuse. just start lifting and try your best to get a bar or gym equipment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8315" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T23:08:43.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16053" CreationDate="2014-04-07T06:07:54.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joshua,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think doing some weights a couple of times a week would be fine.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My concern would be if you are lifting heavy weights every day and you bulk up too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For gymnastics/Parkour you need to be strong, agile and flexible.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Being too big will reduce your flexibility(range of movement) which could affect your agility.  Having said that done in moderation, it will help with strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to take care, as at 17 you are still growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in answer to your question, mix it up.  Some body weight exercises, some weights.  Do what you enjoy, but keep an eye on why you are doing it, and keep it in moderation.  Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T06:07:54.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2014-04-07T13:12:09.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stumbled upon this late, but, there's actually an indirect way of guesstimating that muscle is being catabolized.  I'm probably going to show my age in this question, but, back in the &quot;old&quot; bodybuilding days, we would use Ketostix to check the urine for the presence of Ketones.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ketosis&lt;/a&gt; indicates a high level of ketones in the body.  Ketones appear in the urine when there is an insufficient supply of carbohydrates available for energy.  Fat is then used to provide the energy slack.  However, if fat stores are low, as would be the case for someone in a &quot;cutting&quot; phase, the next choice for energy would be lean protein (eg. muscle).  It's a fine line to walk to make sure you have enough carbohydrate to maintain energy, while at the same time, trying to reduce calories to reveal muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T13:12:09.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2014-04-07T14:53:59.227" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good morning.  I work as an athletic therapist for the US Army currently and was with the USMC for 4 years prior to that in the same capacity.  Anterior tibialis pain/tightening is usually caused by tight calves.  As your foot dorsiflexes the calf muscles have to allow that motion to occur.  If your calf muscles are tight the anterior tibialis and other dorsiflexors have to work much harder to lift your foot and may feel tight, painful, or inflammed during and sometimes following running.  Work on stretching your calfs.  There are 2 muscles that must be stretched: gastrocnemius and soleus.  This is accomplished by stretching with the knee exteneded and the knee flexed.  Hold each stretch for a minimum of 90 seconds and as long as 5 minutes per stretch at least 3 times a day.  This helped every Marine and Soldier I have worked with with this issue and there were many.  Good luck to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8320" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T14:53:59.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-07T17:55:56.687" Score="2" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since heavy barbells may be &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/16063/3634&quot;&gt;problematic in an appartement&lt;/a&gt; I am constantly looking find some alternatives to traditional barbell exercises which I can do at home. This time I want to ask, what possibilities I would gain by using a (heavy) weighted vest and if there are any risks in doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example one could consider doing squats with a weighted vest (perhaps &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; with dumbbells and possibly also one legged). However a weighted vest provides a characteristic mass distribution, so the forces, especially shearing forces on the spine may be different from using the barbell. Same may be true for the knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what can I do using a weigted vest (with respect to find alternatives to classical barbell exercises) and how perform the suggested exercises with respect to spine and knee safety compared to the corresponding barbell exercise (done with the same weight for comparison reasons).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T05:35:24.780" Title="Weigted vest exercises for bodybuilding at home" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-07T17:56:05.493" Score="5" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be doing a triathlon next Sunday with the beginning of the race at 8:00 am.&#xA;I'm going there as an amateur, but I've always been a competitive guy so I'll do my best to perform well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been training over the past two weeks and feel fit but haven't considered the importance of the nutrition aspect at all. Furthermore, due to work schedules I haven't been able to train at the same time as the race will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially, I'm concerned with the breakfast of the morning race. My plan is to wake up at 5 am and have breakfast immediately after with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hot tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 slices of toasted bread and jam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;small cup of fruit salad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a series of questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waking 3 hours before the race is enough to digest what kind of breakfast?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will my suggestion be too little or too much? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the caloric intake of the indicated breakfast and what are the best options for a race day?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I add remove something?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8324" LastEditorUserId="8324" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T01:32:41.630" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T21:00:56.560" Title="Breakfast on Morning of Race" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-07T19:08:35.783" Score="9" ViewCount="2918" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a runner. I've been using a Garmin with GPS to track my runs, which I enjoy. I have issues with the chest strap, though. (Not just Garmin's.) I find chest straps to be very uncomfortable to wear; they get stuck under the band of my bra and chafe, or they twist, or they slip. It doesn't matter how well-adjusted it is, I just don't like them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried the FitBit and a few other gadgets, but they estimate calorie burn based on weight and age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there such a thing as an accurate heart rate monitor that doesn't use a chest strap? I know there are some watches that have sensors that sit against your wrist pulse. Are these anywhere close to accurate? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I'm not looking for continuous monitoring; I only want an HRM to use during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2293" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T22:49:21.820" Title="Do accurate strapless heart rate monitors exist?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-07T20:03:18.067" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;My shoulder posture is somehow incorrect. My shoulders and neck are leaned forward and scapulae are pointing out. I think that the shoulders are also a little rotated forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think some of my muscles are shortened because I can't achieve correct posture even when I'm trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you recommend me some gym exercises or stretching exercises which will help me to correct the posture of the shoulders and whole upper back in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8164" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T14:27:37.217" Title="Exercises to correct bad shoulder posture" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2014-04-07T20:04:00.937" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ideal scenario is to test your breakfast during training, as the last thing you need is to eat something that upsets your stomach.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a triathlete, but have run several marathons.  For me porridge with honey worked well, with a banana nearer the start time.  Personally I wouldn't have the fruit salad, but everyone is different.   If you have tried carbohydrate drinks prior to training, I'd also sip that prior to the race, but trying something new on race day, is not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your race&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-07T21:34:03.520" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T21:34:03.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16085" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16087" CreationDate="2014-04-07T20:50:25.373" Score="1" ViewCount="600" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read about this so called &quot;afterburn&quot; effect resulting from high intensity workouts. For up to the next 24 hours, your body is supposed to burn more calories than it normally would. I always exercise around 10pm-midnight, so I go to sleep within an hour of my workout. Does this mean that I lose the afterburn effect, or does it continue into the next day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, is it true that there are benefits to working out in the morning as opposed to the evening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T21:52:28.603" Title="Does exercising late at night kill your &quot;afterburn&quot;" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16085" CreationDate="2014-04-07T21:44:02.860" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advantage of training first thing, is that you have started to speed up your metabolism for the day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No problems with training later in the day, and you would still get the after burn.  Depending on how late you go, I think getting to sleep may be more difficult, as normally the metabolism slows when you go to sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T21:44:02.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16085" CreationDate="2014-04-07T21:52:28.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The &lt;em&gt;Afterburn effect&lt;/em&gt;, aka &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; occurs regardless of the time of day the exercise happened. The main thing it depends on is &lt;em&gt;the intensity of the exercise&lt;/em&gt;. So, whether you exercised in the morning or evening, your EPOC should be similar as long as the intensity applied is similar. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Are there benefits to exercising in the morning?  Although that varies by individuals, on average, the answer is &lt;strong&gt;Yes!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-eat/breakfast-before-or-after-a-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/?_php=true&amp;amp;_type=blogs&amp;amp;_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; articles, exercising before breakfast results in more fat loss than later in the day. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, exercising in the morning reduces procrastination. When you workout in the evening, there's the tendency to skip because of many reasons: tiredness, laziness, emergencies, etc. An exercise missed is an exercise that cannot be recovered back. Working out in the morning reduces that possibility. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Morning exercises gives you an energy boost throughout the day, thus resulting in even higher calorie burn. If you've had the experience of exercising before work, you'll notice an increase in energy throughout the day &lt;em&gt;(as long as you didn't exhaust yourself)&lt;/em&gt;. Also, morning exercises allow you to increase your intensity &lt;em&gt;(because your energy hasn't been used for other daily issues).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat:&lt;/strong&gt; Exercising in the morning, by itself, will not yield more benefits than in the evening. If the same intensity were applied, both morning and evening exercises should generate similar results. But when the related effects of morning exercises are added, it makes exercising in the morning a better option than in the evenings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T21:52:28.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16100" CreationDate="2014-04-08T00:02:02.947" Score="12" ViewCount="27729" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I get ripped without going to the gym ?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know it sounds lazy but I live in an area where there is no gyms at all. And going to the gym even twice a week can be really tedious for me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So .. Can bodyweight exercises do the job for me ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T13:35:21.047" Title="I want to get ripped. Can bodyweight exercises do the job?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16088" CreationDate="2014-04-08T00:34:48.130" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The answer is a resounding &lt;strong&gt;YES.&lt;/strong&gt; Body weight exercises can bulk up your body with muscles, give you six pack, strong arms, and legs. It can even get you a babe &lt;em&gt;(okay, that last part isn't true :))&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Tons of body exercises exist to sculpt your body. Variations of pull ups, chin ups, and plank exist. &lt;strong&gt;Push up&lt;/strong&gt; is one of the most popular body weight exercises and can be done anywhere. There's L-sit and knee up to work your lower abs. In many cases, all you need is a pull up bar unless you are close to a public park with swings. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;That being said, if you don't have access to a gym, you can purchase your own equipment. All you need is a barbell and discs, as well as dumbbells. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You don't have to go to a gym to have a great workout.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sample Routine to practice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Get a pull up bar and put it on your bathroom/bedroom door.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Every morning after waking up, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;perform 15 push ups.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Every time you pass through the door, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;perform 10 pullups, chin-ups, or L-sit. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;During break &lt;em&gt;(at work or school)&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;perform 20 standing crunches.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When you get back home &lt;em&gt;(tired and weak)&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;perform 20 reverse crunches.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Before dinner, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;perform 10 pullups, chin-ups, or L-sit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Before getting in bed, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;perform 15 push ups.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If you can, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;add 30-second plank into the mix.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Increase the numbers and frequency as you see fit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Check your body weekly and notice the changes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now, go burn some goo :).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T03:49:37.767" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T03:49:37.767" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15433" CreationDate="2014-04-08T01:09:31.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have struggled with foot inflexibility for years. The best stretch that I have found for it is downward facing dog, particularly when focusing in one foot at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T01:09:31.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16029" CreationDate="2014-04-08T01:51:14.210" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another issue, which hasn't been discussed above, but which is the reason why I stopped doing crossfit, is the fact that cross fit focuses on exercise and not on goal-oriented training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lack of emphasis on goal oriented training makes it hard for beginners to learn and work up to the more difficult and complex movements, potentially leading to injury. It also makes it hard for more advanced practitioners to make consistent improvement once they've mastered the movements. I can recall having both problems simultaneously. I was unable to do a pistol squat and had no idea how to progress towards one. On the other hand, i had good snatch form but was having a hard time increasing weight due to the randomness of the workout of the day and the sparse appearance of snatching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark rippetoe goes into more detail here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/training/crossfit-the-good-bad-and-the-ugly&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/training/crossfit-the-good-bad-and-the-ugly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T01:51:14.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14971" CreationDate="2014-04-08T03:40:19.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That workout is a good start to get your body used to moving and get you in the habit of incorporating exercise into your life permanently, which is vital for any long-term benefit. Find movements that challenge you but are also enjoyable in some way at least, and which can fit into your life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8331" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T11:51:53.977" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T11:51:53.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2014-04-08T06:05:40.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Performing a triathlon &lt;em&gt;(running, biking, and swimming)&lt;/em&gt; requires skill, endurance, and lots of energy. Hopefully, you've honed your skill and endurance with your training. However, to actually complete your race, you need lots of energy. That's carbohydrate and fat. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Forget about the caloric intake for that day; you should burn everything during the race. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Your EPOC should burn the rest. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First, you want to ensure that your breakfast is something your stomach is used to. The last thing you want to focus on is your tummy disagreeing with you &lt;em&gt;(or cramping)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Second, as I mentioned in the comments, you need lots of carbohydrate. Carbohydrates will provide you the energy you need. At the same time, you don't want to eat too heavy &lt;em&gt;(remember you'll be swimming too)&lt;/em&gt;. You have a few days before the race; experiment with portions to determine the optimal portion you'll need. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Third, ditch the hot tea. Your body's going to be hot during the race; there's no reason for a hot tea. Some people might take coffee &lt;em&gt;(caffeine for the alertness)&lt;/em&gt;; others take orange juice or blend some juice. Take anything that's keep you hydrated without filling you up. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fourth, race day isn't one for a fruit salad; rather blend the fruits into a juice for the nutrients. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fifth, increase the number of slices if you need to eat bread. But I would rather ditch those for something else with more carbs and fat. Depending on your location, this shouldn't be hard. Again, ensure that the food will sit well with your tummy and the portion isn't too much. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sixth, get energy bars and banana handy. The banana is for the start of the race; the energy bars are for when you feel your energy depleting &lt;em&gt;(although I'm not completely sure how you'll hold onto them during the race)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Seventh, stay hydrated. That doesn't need any explanation :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Eating 3 or 4 hours before the race isn't bad; again, ensure this agrees with your tummy. Don't eat too close to the race &lt;em&gt;(except the banana)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You'll do fine. Let us know how it went.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T06:05:40.533" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16095" CreationDate="2014-04-08T07:02:24.290" Score="-1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 22 I'm normal in height almost 5.9 but my weight is around 56kgs, I'm looking lean. How can I be stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8333" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T07:24:21.987" Title="How to be strong and fit?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-04-10T02:31:20.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16094" CreationDate="2014-04-08T07:24:21.987" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now, you're underweight, so the first advice has to be that you should eat more. For this you might want to track everything you eat for a week or two, to find out how much you do eat right now. From there, you will most likely want to increase your calorie consumption to provide a caloric surplus (depending on what work/sports you do that could be 2500-4500kcal per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you will want to start a training program. I like to suggest &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, which is a weight training routine. If you have access to a studio, I'd go with that, since &#xA;it works and it works fast.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only have your home, you might think about a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16088/i-want-to-get-ripped-can-bodyweight-exercises-do-the-job&quot;&gt;bodyweight routine&lt;/a&gt;. You won't need any equipment for that and you can add in exercises whenever you want to (lunch breaks or whatever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whichever you choose (there's much more out there, so maybe you choose a completely different program) you have to &lt;em&gt;eat more&lt;/em&gt;. You cannot build muscle or strength without a caloric surplus. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also might want to get rid of the idea of a six-pack for the next 12 months. When you build muscle, you will inevitably build fat, too. You can lose that fat later, but in the beginning it's better to eat much, train hard and worry about the fat later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T07:24:21.987" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2014-04-08T07:45:43.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can say one thing: DONT Experiment !!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't mention lenght, I will assume a sprint (750m/20/5)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The race (if it's your first) is hard enough. Training for it, should have made you used to some kind of energy usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal should NOT be on day race, it's happening few days before&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drinking a lot of fluids on the 3-4 days before the race&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating on the night before - mostly easy to digest carbs - Pasta - no souce, no cheese, no meet. NO Salad - vegs take long time to digest - you need to get easy on the stomach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On morning race 1-2 slices of bread with Jam/other-sugar or 1 banana should be enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the fruit salad - it's a lot about quantities. If you take 1/2 a cup - it can suffice and replace the banana. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy and have fun !!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T07:45:43.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2014-04-08T15:12:32.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar to the answers above - you should not experiment on the morning of your triathlon. Practice in the week leading as to what your stomach can handle with foods that are predominantly carbohydrates based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at some of the links below that support the answers mentioned (they aren't all triathlon specific but give a good indication of pre-race nutrition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/what-do-i-eat-my-race&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/what-do-i-eat-my-race&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2013/06/race-day-fueling.aspx#axzz2yJ9StW1T&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2013/06/race-day-fueling.aspx#axzz2yJ9StW1T&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8304" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T15:12:32.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11595" CreationDate="2014-04-08T16:39:33.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have that problem too. It started after a kidney operation. The bottom fat from my belly began hardening. In fact if I begin to rub it it softens again like it becomes moldable. Also my skin in that particular area changed color as it had been burned like a huge beauty mark and some parts like aroing the edges like a rash reddish but it doesn't hurt nor ich. I cannot understand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8341" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T16:39:33.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16088" CreationDate="2014-04-08T19:06:08.660" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you certainly can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zod's routine is a good starting point, and is a great workout. But the progressions in that routine are in numbers and frequency, which means that you'll eventually plateau on strength. In order to get ripped with bodyweight exercise, you'll need a true strength training program that progresses in difficulty as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many bodyweight training programs that focus on strength. One that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of is the Convict Conditioning (CC) program from Dragondoor publications (cheatsheet available &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/zw13Y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, book available &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004XIZN5M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). It's not without flaws, but it provides a good general framework to start from. So, based on CC, this has what has worked for me as far as using bodyweight to get stronger and look better. Take what you like, leave what you don't:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Define long-term goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Convict conditioning has some good long-term bodyweight strength goals, like the one-armed pushup, one-legged squat, and one-armed pullup. Just as an example, my current goals are to do one-armed pushups, one-legged squats, and dragon flags by the end of this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Figure out where you are now&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rule of thumb that I've seen for CC is to start at level 2 in any of the progressions that interest you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Define progressions to get to your goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that I really like about the CC program is the emphasis on regular progressions to gradually improve strength, similar to the way you add weight to a barbell. Unfortunately, the CC progressions are highly artificial, and limited to ten steps, with step 5 being the 'standard' movement. This leads to massive jumps in the later progressions. Instead, I find that having many small-increment progressions is more likely to lead to success. For example, I am currently working on one-armed pushups by doing kneeling one-armed pushups with a stack of thin books under my chest, which I remove one at a time. After I am out of books, I will put the stack back and do non-kneeling one-armed pushups. So I've expanded what are two progressions in CC into 30+ smaller progressions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Keep Volume low and Intensity high&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most bodyweight workout programs focus on high numbers of movements such as pullups or pushups. Most barbell workout programs focus on small numbers of movements with regularly increasing weight. Combining low volume with incremental progression provides a strength training program closer to a barbell strength program. Sets of 5, 8, or 10 should be plenty. I tend to start with 2-4 sets of 5 reps, and increase reps in every set. Once I have achieved 10 reps in all sets, I move to the next incremental progression.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Maintain good form&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poor form leads to injury, so make sure that your form is good enough before you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;But don't sacrifice progress for form&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But at the same time, CC recommends staying at one level until form is perfect on each and every rep. This I find actually inhibits progress. For example, when training pullups, I find it more productive to add a few kipping pullups at the end of a set instead of stopping when I can no longer do perfect form. I will also get bored and quit if I feel like I'm not making progress. If the incremental progressions are small, I'm not going to get hurt if the last few reps in the last set are crappy and I skip to the next progression, but I might get bored in the time it takes to iron the kinks out of those last few reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Consistency is key&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training only works if you stay at it day in and day out over long periods of time. Skipping training days or bouncing from bodyweight to barbell to kettlebell will make it harder or impossible to progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;But don't overtrain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found it very hard to progress once down into the one-armed and one-legged movements if I train any specific movement more than twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My workout program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train M/W/F, and alternate between two routines. So one week I'll do Day A on M/F and Day B on W, and the next week I'll do Day B on M/F and Day A on Wed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-up progression (2 sets per side, 5-10 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-up progression (2 sets per side, 5-10 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squat progression (2 sets per side, 5-20 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_dragon_flag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dragon flag&lt;/a&gt; progression (4 sets, 5-10 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;calf raise progression (2 sets per side, 30-50 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grip training progression (2 sets per side, 1 min per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/an_unnamed_single_leg_gem_of_an_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;skater squats&lt;/a&gt; (2 sets per side, 10 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/kettlebell-one-legged-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;single-leg deadlift&lt;/a&gt; (2 sets per side, 10 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;handstand push-up progression (4 sets, 5-10 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-sit progression (4 sets, 1 min per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;calf raise progression (2 sets per side, 30-50 reps per set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CC cheatsheet:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uWLZP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cheatsheet&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastEditorUserId="8330" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T19:56:08.293" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T19:56:08.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11595" CreationDate="2014-04-08T20:35:04.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually I have to disagree with Baarn. There is such a thing as &quot;omentum fat&quot; which is visceral fat located near the stomach. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_omentum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_omentum&lt;/a&gt;. It is not terribly uncommon among men to have larger fat deposits here, which is actually underneath the abdominal muscles, which is why the belly seems harder. A more thorough answer can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.yahoo.com/what-causes-man-hard-fat-belly-12121676.html?cat=51&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question about whether subcutaneous fat &quot;hardens&quot;, it's probably not true in the way you're thinking but yes it can develop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8277" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T20:35:04.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16103" CreationDate="2014-04-08T22:19:11.053" Score="4" ViewCount="1050" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Earlier topics such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/792/protein-how-much-is-too-much&quot;&gt;Protein: How much is too much?&lt;/a&gt; acknowledge body mass but not muscle mass. I want to steer attention from recommendations in terms of body mass to muscle mass.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot understand figures such as 1.5-2grams protein per each kilogram in your body. Suppose twin bodybuilders/crossfiters A and B with the same physical profile except differences in the amount of muscles and fat. Suppose a guy A with 90kg weight and 30kg muscle mass. Suppose a guy B with 70kg weight and 35kg muscle mass. I cannot understand why A should take more protein (i.e. 90*2=180grams) than B (i.e. 70*2=140grams)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cLSDI.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pinterest.com/pin/484066659920764944/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source of the image&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where B being a guy with 7-8% fat body percentage requires far less protein than the guy A with 20-30% fat body percentage. My pre-assumption was that more muscle requires far more maintenance so B should take more protein than A in order to maximise muscle growth and keep the metabolism with a lot of muscles running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very skeptical with statements that suggest to take protein according to body mass. I find that muscle mass is far more important to protein synthesis than the mass containing muscle mass, fat mass, liquids and bones. So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much protein per muscle mass? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why is protein usually suggested in terms of body mass and not in terms of muscle mass? (there are tools today to find the body profile with muscle mass and fat mass precisely enough)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T13:16:37.063" Title="How much protein per muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16102" CreationDate="2014-04-09T13:16:37.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple articles I can recommend, one is a nice summary article by &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/12/the-three-laws-of-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Greg Nuckols&lt;/a&gt; and a more in-depth article by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/the-protein-bible-part-1-introduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine.com guys&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll still see recommendations in terms of body mass--or technically speaking &lt;em&gt;desired&lt;/em&gt; body mass.  Greg Nuckols recommends .82g / lb or 1.8g / kg body weight based on studies sited in &lt;a href=&quot;http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.  The examine.com guys have a range:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;.5 g / kg is the USRDA and is the absolute minimum you should consider (keeps you alive and in general health but that's about it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;.5-1g / kg is for people new to exercise and more health conscious.  Works for the initial stages of building muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-1.5g / kg is for people working to build muscle and reaching athletic goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.5-2.2g / kg is a very under-researched recommendation based on anecdotal evidence--examine.com does not recommend going over 1.8g/kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the problems of recommending protein ratios off of lean mass is the difficulty of measuring the lean mass.  Even more so if we are talking muscle mass specifically.  Bio-impedance scales can have as much as 2% variance in it's measurements day to day--there is no way someone looses or gains that much lean mass or muscle mass that quickly.  That's why the ratios are usually for overall body mass.  Also note, if your goal is a change in body composition, the protein intake should be based on your &lt;em&gt;target&lt;/em&gt; body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what happens to excess protein?  The rates of protein synthesis and breakdown increase at the same rate--so your body simply doesn't use the excess protein.  The major caveat is that you are not taking anything that alters your body's rate of protein synthesis such as steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T13:16:37.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16385" CreationDate="2014-04-01T12:44:25.857" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;What fundamental exercises are done in order to develop a good vertical leap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there one exercise that is the base foundation in maximizing your overall vertical leap? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8266" OwnerDisplayName="Up_One" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:44:13.310" Title="What is the most important exercise one would do for Vertical Leap Improvements?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16105" CreationDate="2014-04-03T02:19:15.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd rec'm Plyrometrics / Jump Training.  And to also be in the most optimum shape possible (cardio + weights).  Something like P90X would be a good program because you're getting the complete body workout as well as doing Plyrometrics every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16670" OwnerDisplayName="A D" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T02:19:15.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11595" CreationDate="2014-04-09T20:36:49.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But my question stems from my perception that my belly fat has been very apparently &quot;hardening&quot; over the past few weeks. I don't know if it's the fat actually hardening or some other phenomenon, but I wanted to know if subcutaneous fat ACTUALLY hardens? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know this for absolute sure, but I would be very surprised if there were usual any way for &lt;em&gt;the fat itself&lt;/em&gt; to &quot;harden&quot;.  Body fat is lipocytes packed with triglcyerides.  Even those with melting temperatures higher than body temperature will still not be &quot;hard&quot;; consider what beef fat is like even when refrigerated--it's rather soft, and it should be softer still if warmed to body temperature.  Same with human abdominal fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps what you are noticing is really &quot;tautness&quot;--the increased abdominal fat you've put on is stretching your skin and underlying tissue tighter, like a drum head, and so it is less pliable when you depress it.  Your skin can stretch a lot over time, but if you're recently put in weight quickly, it may not have had time to accommodate and it will seem particularly taut.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In either case, this strikes me as a solid indicator--pardon the pun--to get serious about losing some of that abdominal fat through diet and exercise.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T20:36:49.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2014-04-09T21:00:56.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several types of triathlons, and as you state &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've been training over the past two weeks and feel fit...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to assume that it is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; one of the longer triathlons, but more like a sprint and thus something you can finish in less than 1 1/2 hour (correct me if I am wrong here :-)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As described in this answer - &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/3516/1664&quot;&gt;What to do before a 5k? Race day advice&lt;/a&gt; - I would just avoid spicy and greasy food the day before and have some very light breakfast when you wake up on race day... So in my view, you plan is fine (maybe I would wait until 6 am, if the starting point isn't too far away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm wrong about the triathlon, then it is far too late to make any sort of changes. As noted by others, the race day procedures should all be well-known and well-tested before any longer race. There are absolutely no room for experiments! All your energy should go into the race itself and not into the support for the race like gear and food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T21:00:56.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11595" CreationDate="2014-04-09T21:49:26.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may find this article of interest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://getfit.jillianmichaels.com/causes-hard-belly-fat-2223.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://getfit.jillianmichaels.com/causes-hard-belly-fat-2223.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T21:49:26.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16080" CreationDate="2014-04-10T05:35:24.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think in answer to your question, it's going come down to what is your starting point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you new to lifting or been lifting for some time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you had any joint weaknesses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article seems quite useful:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.symptomfind.com/healthy-living/weighted-vest-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.symptomfind.com/healthy-living/weighted-vest-training/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, have you considered resistance bands for working out at home?  There's lots of exersises you can do, and they come in different strengths.  Perfect for working out, when space is limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are various websites that stock them but here's one&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elastitone.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.elastitone.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative you may consider is TRX&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.escapefitness.com/uk/trx-home-kit.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.escapefitness.com/uk/trx-home-kit.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;all you need is a door frame.  Mainly, useful to make body weight exercises more challenging, but TRX, plus weighted vest could give you an awesome workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T05:35:24.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16121" CreationDate="2014-04-10T13:03:08.017" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been getting fit an healthy the last couple of months. I have been toying with the idea of doing 10 reps x 5 exercises (set) as many times in a given session as I can. My thinking here is that I should see an increase in sets over time as my endurance increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, assuming I am doing my exercises correctly, does this sort of endurance training have any long term negative effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reasoning for doing this is that I find I stick to exercising more when I don't try to over track it. By following the routine above I can just go until I cannot complete a full set. At this stage I cool down and stop, regardless of the number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8357" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T20:38:35.240" Title="Simplified endurance training" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16119" CreationDate="2014-04-10T13:17:52.007" Score="14" ViewCount="2096" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read in multiple locations (including fitness se) that the recommended protein intake is a minimum of 0.8g/kg, and 2g/kg is a better target for fitness training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this seems outrageously high. I feel there's no way I could feasibly consume that every day. This makes me think I must be misunderstanding the recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my understanding of it: I weigh 92kg (BMI 23.5), and do regular cardio and weight training, so apparently I should aim for 184g of protein a day. That's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About 37 eggs (6g protein each), or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About 6 chicken breasts (30g protein each), or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About 9 scoops of protein power (20g protein each)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't physically or financially manage to consume any of those (or combinations of), every day, indefinitely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I missing or not understanding? Or do athletes really just consume that much stuff every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8358" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T22:30:34.163" Title="Am I misunderstanding the recommended daily protein intake? I find it impossibly high" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16114" CreationDate="2014-04-10T13:27:28.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard a good starting point for building muscle is 1g protein per lb of lean body mass (or about 2.2g/kg).  Lean body mass is your percentage of bodyfat subtracted from your weight.  Take this with a grain of salt, however, because some people may have higher protein needs than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, take a 200lb (91kg) man with 20% BF for example.  He would have 40lbs of fat, making his LBM 160lbs.  That equates to about 50-55g of protein per meal, which is pretty manageable.  Or, maybe 30g per meal and a couple of scoops of powder during the day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think about it, that's not even that much food for a 200lb man.  1g of protein = 4 calories.  160g protein * 4 calories = 640 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T18:55:55.597" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T18:55:55.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16088" CreationDate="2014-04-10T13:35:21.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally went from overweight to gaining muscle using jogging twice a week and bodyweight exercises three times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The run was a C25k program. Once I hit 5K I focused on improving my time slightly but haven't gone any further as it suits my schedule (25 mins)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the bodyweight exercises, I went with using a suspension system (TRX) for safety purposes. This is because I was far to obese to safely carry my own weight through a program safely. The exercises is a mix of 5 exercises; Pushup, Pullup, Squat, Lunch, Plank. I do these for 10 reps for as many sets as I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all I don't do a large amount of exercise but have noticed a massive amount of muscle build. This could be due to having a good big frame. I suspect it has more to do with consistency though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8357" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T13:35:21.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16114" CreationDate="2014-04-10T15:46:26.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've also seen numbers in that range, there are a couple things you may consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM (lean body mass) is a much better number to base calculations from because fat tissue has a tiny fraction of the protein needs that muscle has. LBM is not really correlated to BMI. So for an example, if we imagine you have a body fat % of 20% you have LBM = 73.6kg which gives 147g protein/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read/used 1g/lbLBM = 2.2g/kgLBM as a &lt;em&gt;maximum&lt;/em&gt; protein intake. That is to say that more than that you are not really seeing much additional benefit to eating the protein; it is probably being converted to glucose. Furthermore, depending on context in your body, this could be counterproductive (increasing blood sugar). So the 2 you've read is probably for the high end, you do not &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; this intake to get to where you want to be. The ideal will be a matter of opinion, my personal target is .8g/lbLBM = 1.76g/kgLBM which, for example at your weight and 20% LBM (of course you need to calculate your own LBM) would get 118g per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @JohnP mentions, protein comes from plenty of places and you do not need to get it all from your protein powder. If you supplement with 2 scoops of a good protein powder, giving you 50g of protein, you're down to 68g from food (again using my 20% body fat example with .8g/lb target) and that can be taken care of with a chicken breast, a few eggs and a glass of milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, yes, I know big serious lifters that will eat 10+ eggs/day, 4 scoops of whey protein and have meat for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8277" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T15:46:26.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16114" CreationDate="2014-04-10T17:23:18.080" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;184g of Protein does not sound unreasonable to me for someone who is actively exercising.  It can be a lot, but it only amounts to ~740 Cal of your daily consumption.  So you will need to be eating more than that overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I would check your math.  Most &lt;em&gt;lean meat&lt;/em&gt; has about 25g / 4oz serving--or as much space on your plate as a closed fist.  A chicken breast is commonly 8-9oz and in some cases as much as 10oz.  That translates to about 3.5 chicken breasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next we can look at low cost sources of protein:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 large egg has about 8g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 can of Tuna has about 42g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 chicken breast (8oz) has about 50g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could easily break down your protein needs into the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: 3 large eggs (24g) + 3oz Chicken (20g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: 1 can of tuna (42g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snacks: 2 scoops protein powder (~50g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: 8oz chicken breast (50g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you can mix and match.  There's also a number of other ideas for high protein foods on a budget:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.co.uk/nutrition/muscle-building-meals/3466/low-cost-protein-rich-foods&quot;&gt;Men's Fitness: Low Cost Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/build-muscle-on-a-budget-the-10-cheapest-sources-of-protein/&quot;&gt;Stronglifts: Build Muscle on a Budget&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/penny-protein-protein-rich-meals-for-bodybuilders-on-a-budget.html&quot;&gt;BodyBuilding.com: Penny Pinching Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you search around you can find other recommendations.  Check the nutrition information, and pay attention to the serving size!  You may find you have the wrong idea in your head about how much food 180-200g protein really is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T17:23:18.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16023" CreationDate="2014-04-10T17:45:52.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://rubberbanditz.com/product/all-products/power-resistance-band/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RubberBanditz Power Resistance Bands&lt;/a&gt;.  According to their site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;NOTE: Colors may vary. All circular exercise bands are 41in (104 cm) in length and come in three sizes with varying resistances. &lt;strong&gt;Our natural rubber latex is over 99.998% free of soluble proteins (latex allergens).&lt;/strong&gt; Effects of use by people with latex sensitivity is unknown and not recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also find them under the name &quot;Power Bands&quot; or &quot;Strength Bands&quot;, and they are used often enough in power lifting.  You are correct though, latex seems to provide more robust bands for heavy duty work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T17:45:52.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16113" CreationDate="2014-04-10T20:38:35.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing particularly wrong with what you're planning to do, but the normal when working for endurance would be 3 sets of 12-20.  Then, when you can complete the 3 sets, you increase the weight and go back to 2 sets.  You would only really do so many sets if you were training for strength/power, heavy weight, few reps but lots of sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like Kneel-before-ZOD says, I can't think of any long term negative affects&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T20:38:35.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16134" CreationDate="2014-04-10T20:39:18.837" Score="6" ViewCount="6179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen both 'Practical Programming (2nd Ed) Novice Program' and 'The Practical Programming Advanced Novice Program' prescribe chin-ups/pull-ups to be performed to failure on each set. Each of the respective programs affects different energetic pathways , the first strength-endurance (3 x Failure (15 max) * Chin-ups/Pull-ups (alternating)) , and the second strength (Chin-ups: 3 sets, weight added so failure occurs at 5 to 7 reps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to understand what the logic is behind this approach (making each series to muscle failure) as I am currently considering the possibility of either performing only one set to muscular failure (the first or the last set) or doing any of them to muscle failure (1-2 reps short to failure). I perform chin-ups and pull-ups 3-4 times per week (I´m a climber).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw a section 'Should I take all my sets to failure' in &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program&lt;/a&gt;, where Rippetoe contradicts itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8365" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-02-13T14:31:09.373" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T14:31:09.373" Title="Why perform chin-ups/pull-ups to failure on Starting Strength?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16123" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:10:05.807" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know whether this book will help me getting ripped or I'll just gain muscle endurance without mass.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I do want to be gain strength but I also want to be in a good shape and I don't have gyms anywhere near my home so I was advised to read this book as it depends on bodyweight exercises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;any thoughts ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:10:05.807" Title="Will convict conditioning book help me getting ripped" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-04-15T05:52:45.513" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:17:05.040" Score="1" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually run 7 km in 50 minutes roughly 3 days a week. On some days I experience tight calves&#xA;muscle which makes me stop running and even walking becomes painful. I get a this tingling toes before this occur. This is despite stretching and warm up I do before my run. Any suggestions and what should I lookout for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8366" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T03:44:02.330" Title="Tight calves and tingling toes when running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4585" CreationDate="2014-04-11T00:52:56.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;People over think this. I mean use whatever excercises that allow you to progress over time. Ex. Of compound iso second. Chest. Flat bench db incline press then db flyes. All you need and decline too but you can only make a muscle grow or shrink. You can't shape a muscle. Iso can isolate a muscle better. If your lagging on a muscle or are advanced yea they are just as important to do but the average person or intermediate should use isolation dominate workouts. In the end I admire anyone who is active or wants to look better and something is better then nothing in the end&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8367" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T00:52:56.143" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-11T01:24:06.647" Score="7" ViewCount="8403" Body="&lt;p&gt;Question: what kind of doctor should I see to assess whether or not my body fat can be reduced through further diet and exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background:&#xA;I've been an avid CrossFitter for over 2 years. I work out about 5 times a week. I eat healthy (mostly paleo plus dairy with occasional cheat meals). In February I started measuring and tracking my food intake via the Zone Diet simply so I can make sure to eat enough food and get enough fat/protein/carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was fat from elementary school through college due to bad diet and lack of exercise. Now I'm &quot;skinny fat&quot; and no matter how I adjust my diet or activity level, my level of &quot;flab&quot; does not change. I got down to 165 lbs at 6'1&quot; and still had flab despite a somewhat gaunt appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My primary doctor examined me and said I would never be able to lose it naturally – I'm stuck with it. While I believe she's right, I'd like to get a 2nd opinion from someone with expertise in body composition. Any direction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8368" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T04:08:30.273" Title="What doctor/specialist can assess fat and body composition?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4585" CreationDate="2014-04-11T01:49:33.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So how is it possible that the compound exercise is going to get you bigger arms than the isolation exercise? It wont. As Berin L stated &quot; it's not an either/or proposition&quot;. You must use both for bigger arms. Now in terms of time efficiency, compound would win if you used nearly identical stressors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing i want to clear up:&#xA;Compounds will make you bigger simply because the main compounds (squats and deadlifts) work the legs. So the &quot;biggness&quot; will come from the legs. You will weight more because your legs weight more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8315" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T01:49:33.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16053" CreationDate="2014-04-11T01:54:09.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking specifically from a training for Parkour angle weight training (up to a point) would not be destructive to your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many advanced coaches and traceurs with exceptional jumping power recommend using squats to improve both impact absorption on landing and power output. With that said, if you're serious about Parkour or gymnastics you can lift weights, but treat lifting as supplemental conditioning. Working towards a 1.5x to 2x bodyweight back squat is definitely useful in the context of landing and jumping, which makes it valuable for Parkour. With that said, the SAID (specific adaptation to imposed demand, pun not intended) principle rules here, so spend most of your time improving the specific movement skills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8369" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T01:54:09.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16131" CreationDate="2014-04-11T05:49:18.333" Score="1" ViewCount="2645" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was basically very thin but started putting on weight recently by doing regular exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do exercises for my biceps as well.  Although I do same number of repetitions for both hands, recently I have observed that my right biceps is a 0.5 to 0.6 inch bigger than the left one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really worried about this and I am not quite sure as to continue with exercises or just stop it!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion is greatly appreciated!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8371" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T06:07:46.970" Title="Right biceps is bigger than left biceps!" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16130" CreationDate="2014-04-11T06:07:46.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't stop.  It's not unusual to have one side of your body to be slightly stronger than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is likely to be true, even if you don't workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about it, if you are right haned, you will automatically use your right hand for most tasks you do.  Therefore you are likely to be slightly stronger on that side of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When working out, always use the same weight for both sides of your body.  Ie don't use a heavier weight for your stronger arm.  Always work at the weight level of the weaker arm, and hopefully things will level out a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T06:07:46.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-11T11:17:54.417" Score="3" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just stumbled over the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trainingmask.com/products/TRAINING-MASK-2.0.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elevation Training Mask&lt;/a&gt;, which strives to simulate high altitude training by restricting air flow. Now I'm wondering how much sense such a device would make. Some question that I'm asking myself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this device effective? Does it provide a similar training effect than high altitude training? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who should use it? Is it made for long distance runners, sprinters, powerlifters, all of the above? Who should not use it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When should one use it? Beginners will probably fall flat on their faces when using it, so how advanced should one be to use it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there negative side effects? What could possibly go wrong (short term and long term)when using such a device? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personal experience and anecdotal evidence is fine, although I would like to see some research if possible :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T11:40:31.433" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T23:29:24.447" Title="How effective are respiratory training devices" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16124" CreationDate="2014-04-11T12:22:18.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a WAG, but, if I were you, I'd pay close attention to your symptoms.  What you describe may be the onset of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Piriformis syndrome&lt;/a&gt; which is common in runners.  I would include a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=piriformis+stretch&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS470US470&amp;amp;es_sm=122&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=Fd5HU6y4KdSysQSw6IDwCA&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CCUQsAQ&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=955&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;piriformis stretch&lt;/a&gt; in your routine if you are not already doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T20:25:48.967" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T20:25:48.967" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16122" CreationDate="2014-04-11T16:11:32.733" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what's missing in the discussion area is a bit more context.  Taking all sets to failure would include the barbell sets.  Taking your barbell sets to failure is not part of starting strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why take body weight exercises to failure?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body weight exercises don't cause near the stress on your body as the barbell work.  Essentially, you can recover from them with more than enough time before you do them again.  This approach increases the hypertrophy response and lets you get in some body image type training without spoiling the Starting Strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defining Failure&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my personal belief that what Rippetoe intended was what Wendler calls AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible).  AMRAP sets are until form starts breaking down, or you only have one more rep left in the tank.  If you were to run that by Rippetoe, I'm sure he'd say something like &quot;sounds good to me&quot;.  He might have some wise cracks to throw in as well, but bottom line is that is in the spirit of what he wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilders who train to failure truly train a muscle group until it fails to produce any more force.  The thought process is that it causes a greater hypertrophy response, although I'm not aware whether that has been proven scientifically or not.  This level of training is definitely far beyond what Rippetoe intended.  It can take over a week for those muscles to be recover and do that grueling work again.  This is also definitely &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; what you want when you are training for performance as opposed to aesthetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; Train Pull Ups to Failure?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where you take a look at all the training work you are doing as a whole.  If you are a climber, then the climbing work is a part of &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; overall program.  If you already do pull-ups 3-4x per week, and you have decent volume (10-15 reps overall per session) then there is no reason to do additional pull ups over what you are already doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think that if you can hit 15 reps in a set, you do need to be adding some weight to make it more challenging.  Just don't get in the thought process that you have to keep increasing weight all the time.  As a climber I would work on adding weight until you have 10 lbs over the max amount of gear you are going to take as you climb.  Then just keep adding reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind those changes are that you stay stronger than you need for the climb, and you build your endurance so you can keep doing what you need for the climb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T16:11:32.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16152" CreationDate="2014-04-11T19:40:17.203" Score="2" ViewCount="1169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently switched jobs and now the hours are pretty long and stressful. I still make time to workout in the morning for about a half hour every morning before I go to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only things I really have access to are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45LB Weight Plate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x 25lb Dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have come a long way as far as strength, to the point that I'm not sure how much use I can get out of the dbs, so I'd like to focus on the 45lb Plate...&#xA;I was curious if anyone had any ideas on a solid full body workout routine that I could do maybe 3-4 times a week. I plan on mixing in HIIT on the days I don't strength train...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am used to 5 x 5 powerbuilding programs which is nice but I think working with a 45LB plate will give me more functional strength oppose to just strength in those movements...so maybe stick to compound movements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts or ideas would be more than appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T21:13:17.697" Title="45lb Plate - At home workout Ideas" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;plates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-12T02:18:05.663" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I am not new to the world of fitness and bodybuilding. I have been training for 4 years straight. I've missed days here and there, but never been away for more than 3-4 days. I can lift a lot and I've always done it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have recently started to lose a significant amount of my energy half way through my workout (after an hour of working out since I usually work out for 2 hours 5-6 days a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point you can assume I have NEVER had any energy drinks in my whole life. I honestly am not aware of what they are and how they accomplish their task, and I don't take anything I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am trying to find out is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what should I consider doing (whether using energy boosters or anything else)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the side effects of those energy drinks advertised here and there?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I consider taking any?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if my age matters, but in case it does, I am 24 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6796" LastEditorUserId="1664" LastEditDate="2014-04-12T10:26:17.990" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T04:21:58.503" Title="What are Some Energy Boosters" Tags="&lt;energy-drinks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16137" CreationDate="2014-04-12T06:26:21.343" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of things here that are worth looking at further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, obviously, you are very keen on working out.  I am pleased to see that you are having a day off a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you have been working out day in, day out over a long period, it maybe that you need a few days off.  Any decent training program will have hard easy weeks, and even hard easy months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you heard of periodisation?(regarding training plans)&#xA;You may find this interesting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/designing-training-routines-using-periodization.html&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/designing-training-routines-using-periodization.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would start with having 2-3 days off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next I would look at your diet - you say you have stress in your life at the moment.  Is it causing you not to eat so well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember food is fuel - 2 hours is a longtime to workout if you are not eating properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If after a few days off, and checking your diet, things still haven't improved, I would consider a trip to the doctor for a blood test.  It could simply be that you are low in iron.  (you didn't mention if you eat red meat?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the energy drinks, I personally would not suggest you go down this route.  You need to find the cause of your problem, and not mask the problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-12T06:33:34.500" LastActivityDate="2014-04-12T06:33:34.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16137" CreationDate="2014-04-12T10:46:58.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fadi Hanna AL-Kass, &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You said you've been training for 4 years straight. Have you been performing the same routine or mixing them up? &lt;em&gt;Many times, people get bored after performing the same routines for a very long time.&lt;/em&gt; So, if you notice that you've been performing the same routine for a while, that could be the reason for your lackluster energy. Go online, obtain new exercises, and incorporate them into your routines. That might renew your energy and enthusiasm.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; Second, &lt;em&gt;do you train because you love doing it&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;has it become a chore?&lt;/em&gt; If you feel that it's becoming a duty, it's time to take a break for a few days. Go have fun with something else. Let your body relax and crave the training. When you come back, your body'll just lap it up :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; Third, you mentioned &lt;em&gt;(in the comments)&lt;/em&gt; that you're stressed in a few areas of your life. Have you noticed this low energy in other areas of your life? If you have, your stressful state of mind could also be the reason for this low energy. Again, the solution is to take some time off to resolve these issues. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To answer your questions, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you should not consider taking energy boosters.&lt;/em&gt; These drinks have too much sugar or chemicals with adverse effects on the body.&lt;/strong&gt; Rather, you should improve your nutrition and &lt;em&gt;take supplements.&lt;/em&gt; While there are many supplements in the market, take multi-vitamins that are rich in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Vitamin B complex (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, Biotin)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Iron&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Magnesium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Zinc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also consume food that contain these vitamins; they include spinach, watermelon, broccoli, milk, potatoes, bananas, lean meats, lentils, etc. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Eat right, take time off, and enjoy life :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-12T10:46:58.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16135" CreationDate="2014-04-12T11:11:24.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you've undergone strength building programs such as Strong Lift's 5X5, then, the only way you'll derive much benefits from a 45-lb plate is through high intensity and high repetitions/sets. While compound exercises are highly recommended, a lot of high repetitions/sets exercises are isolation movements &lt;em&gt;(which allows some parts of the body to rest while others are being activated)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;While there are many exercises that I can recommend, it would be better to follow a program. If you can lay your hands on P90X videos, there are many routines in it that you can perform with 25-lb dumbbells which will effectively work your muscles. Another program I've seen &lt;em&gt;(but haven't tried)&lt;/em&gt; is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-bizzy-diet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bizzy Diet&lt;/a&gt;. The intensity and reps of the program should work your muscles. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;And of course, my favorite exercises: body weight exercises. The only equipment you need is a pull up bar. Those can be done anywhere and are guaranteed to give you a very intense workout. Push ups, pull ups, chin ups, L-sit, legs up, reverse crunches, standing crunches, regular crunches, planks, etc. They are numerous and are guaranteed to give your body the workout of its life. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Whatever you do, ensure you keep exercising ;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-12T11:11:24.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16124" CreationDate="2014-04-13T03:44:02.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;sorry this is so brief but i need to workout but dont want anyone to suffer  :&#xA;make sure it is not simply a trigger point&#xA;essentially a ball on your muscle you can deep massage with a ball&#xA;check out the trigger point therapy workbook &#xA;it might be a trigger point on the piriformis&#xA;in which case dont stretch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;will edit later&#xA;if anyone can help please edit for me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8315" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T03:44:02.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16162" CreationDate="2014-04-13T05:27:38.663" Score="1" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any activity tracker (For the wrist, like FitBit or JawBone) which measures the heart rate in addition to all the other measurements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They all seem just to measure insignificant statistics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank You.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4837" LastEditorUserId="4837" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T05:41:05.093" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T11:18:11.297" Title="Is There a Fitness / Activity Tracker which Measures Heart Beat Rate?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;fitbit&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-22T14:09:07.600" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-13T09:23:27.203" Score="4" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I have just started doing regular cardiovascular exercise but I have found that I am sometimes struggling to feel satisfied when taking breaths and need to really breathe deeply or yawn but it still does not always feel satisfying.&#xA;Please note this is not during or even just after exercise, only when I have stopped exercise after many hours and have fully recovered.&#xA;Could it be due to the exercise or a coincidence and something unrelated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8383" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T11:35:40.170" Title="Can starting regular exercise cause a breathing issue?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16149" CreationDate="2014-04-13T11:35:40.170" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both my wife and my daughter have &lt;em&gt;exercise induced asthma&lt;/em&gt;, and what you are describing sounds like what they deal with.  Go to a doctor to determine exactly what the problem you are experiencing truly is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it does happen to be exercise induced asthma, the doctor will give you an inhaler so that you can use it when your chest begins to tighten up.  That will allow you to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the short answer is that is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; normal to have breathing &lt;em&gt;problems&lt;/em&gt; during exercise.  The typical shortness of breath that comes from vigorous exercise returns to normal rather quickly after rest.  Much sooner than the hours you are referring to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T11:35:40.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-13T18:54:27.673" Score="6" ViewCount="2177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently do a 1:2 ratio of high to low intensity. My high intensity interval lasts 60 seconds, and my low intensity one lasts 120 seconds. I do this on either the elliptical or the heavy bag (I'm forced to shorten the intervals on the heavy bag due to the large amount of energy exerted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that over time, you should increase the ratio until you hit 2:1 high to low, which is generally agreed to be the sweet spot for HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I'm having is figuring out how long the intervals should be. I've seen suggestions as low as 20:10 seconds (known as &lt;em&gt;Tabata&lt;/em&gt;) or as high as 120:60 seconds (intervals higher than that don't appear to be considered HIIT). Is the length of the interval simply not as important as the ratio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastEditorUserId="8325" LastEditDate="2014-04-14T03:35:06.120" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T16:50:42.320" Title="When doing HIIT, how long should your intervals be?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16135" CreationDate="2014-04-13T21:02:14.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the equipment, you can do a lot of brutal Complexes. They won't get your strength up like real strength workouts will, but you can build some muscle and drop a lot of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuminello's weight plate complex is a good one to throw in your rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perform the complex five times with only 90 seconds rest between each round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6-8 Overhead Squat&#xA;6-8 Kettlebell-like Swings&#xA;8-10 Bentover Row&#xA;4-5 per side Reverse Lunge and Twist&#xA;6-8 per side Diagonal Chops &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several Complexes, with videos at the below link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/screw_cardio_four_complexes_for_a_shredded_physique&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/screw_cardio_four_complexes_for_a_shredded_physique&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also do most barbell Complexes with the dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I second the recommendation for bodyweight strength training. Both zod and I make some recommendations here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16088/i-want-to-get-ripped-can-bodyweight-exercises-do-the-job&quot;&gt;I want to get ripped. Can bodyweight exercises do the job?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T21:13:17.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16114" CreationDate="2014-04-13T22:30:34.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you stop your focus on total amounts and have a look at your protein intake relative to your intake of other macro nutrients (fat and carbohydrates). When you are concerned with how much you can eat in a day, it may be worth noting that fat holds much more calories per gram (9) than protein (4) or carbohydrates (4), so moving calories from carbohydrates to fats would reduce the amount of macro nutrients you need to physically consume in number of grams.&#xA; You won't want to reduce your carb intake to much, especialy your pre-workout carbs are essential to get the most out of your work-outs, but the following might be a good way to chop up the grams of your macro nutrients that you consume over the day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30% carbohydrate (about 20% of the calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30% fat (about 50% of the calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40% protein (about 30% of the calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are more of a low-fat person, an alternative may be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50% carbohydrate (about 40% of the calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15% fat (about 30% of the calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;35% protein ( about 30% of the calories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't force feed or starve yourself, just try to listen to your body and make sure you get between 25% and 35% of your calories from protein. If you wish you can play around with the carbs/fat portion of your calories, but don't go either all 'low-fat' or all 'low-carb', the above examples are probably the most extreme you should go on the fat/carb balance. The first is probably best if you are worried that you may not be able to eat enough given that you will need significantly less grams of macro nutrients for the same caloric intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T22:30:34.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-13T22:46:49.427" Score="1" ViewCount="568" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am over weight and I need to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to hit back to Gym soon and work hard on the Cardio. Of course Diet is really important and I need to be careful what I am eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a supplement (for pre-workout) to help to increase my metabolism and extra energy to lose weight faster when I am on the Cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been researching through the Internet and it seem Jack3d Micro can do the job?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8386" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T15:09:41.537" Title="Does Jack3d Micro increase Metabolism?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16151" CreationDate="2014-04-14T01:50:18.083" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Don't focus on the specific ratios; &lt;em&gt;they don't matter much.&lt;/em&gt; As long as the ratio is in favor of the high intensity exercises, you have little to worry about. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Your goal is to keep &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;increasing the duration of the high intensity per exercise.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This strengthens your stamina, endurance, heart, and lungs. &lt;em&gt;Of course, it also burns calories like crazy!&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The 20:10 ratio is too low for a reachable goal. Many exercises in P90X and Insanity videos use 60:30 seconds ratio; this is because the whole video lasts between 45 mins and 60 mins. Depending on the total time allotted for the exercises, you might want to aim for 120:45 seconds ratio &lt;em&gt;(yes, it's tough, but that's why it's a goal :))&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The length of the interval is much more important than the ratios. The calories you'll burn &lt;em&gt;(and all the benefits you'll derive from the program)&lt;/em&gt; depend on how much time &lt;em&gt;(and the intensity)&lt;/em&gt; you apply to them; the ratio's simply a way to measure if you're improving or not. A 30:60 ratio indicates that you aren't pushing yourself enough &lt;em&gt;(indicating your body needs more strength and stamina)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;However, as long as you're getting up there and giving it your best, that's great and the numbers will improve.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Oh, one more thing: &lt;strong&gt;keep being awesome through exercises.&lt;/strong&gt; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T01:50:18.083" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16154" CreationDate="2014-04-14T02:22:31.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;congratulations for recognizing that you need to lose weight.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; You've taken the first step. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Second, &lt;em&gt;don't plan to &quot;hit back to gym soon and work hard on the cardio.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; That doesn't usually work. If you can go for a walk right now, go for a 30 mins walk. If not, perform 10 squats. If possible, do jumping jacks &lt;em&gt;(modify it if you cannot lift yourself)&lt;/em&gt; for 15 seconds. That's not planning; that's doing. Countless people plan to lose weight without actually doing something. Don't waste time planning; jump in and start doing something. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Third, diet is an integral part and I'm glad you realize that. Starting tomorrow &lt;em&gt;(or today, depending on the time)&lt;/em&gt; start your day with a protein-filled and fiber-filled breakfast. Make them low calories as best as possible; incorporate vegetables, lean meat, fruits, and nuts in your daily intake &lt;em&gt;(both as food and snack)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fourth, the most effective metabolism-increasing supplements contain &lt;strong&gt;green tea.&lt;/strong&gt; So, rather than seeking a particular brand, seek supplements that contain green tea. They naturally increase your metabolism and provide you with the energy to be more active. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fifth, take &lt;strong&gt;supplements that are rich in Vitamins B-complex.&lt;/strong&gt; The vitamins naturally increase your energy level and allow you to be more active. You can also just go to a pharmacy and ask them to give you supplements that increase your energy level; they should provide you with supplements that have Vitamins B along with other nutrients. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In summary, to lose weight: eat right, exercise often &lt;em&gt;(and be active)&lt;/em&gt;, and take the right supplements &lt;em&gt;(not a requirement, but supplements provide many nutrients that aren't accessible through food alone)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Welcome on your new journey to sculpt your body. Stay in touch for motivation, encouragement, and information on how others are faring on this wonderful journey. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T02:22:31.960" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16161" CreationDate="2014-04-14T11:06:27.943" Score="0" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, my question is &quot;How actually calorie calculation works?&quot; &#xA;Now, I will try to describe my question in detail. While surfing net I found a calculator which claimed that it can identify my minimum calorie requirement. By reverse engineering I found the formula was nothing but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My Weight * 24 = Total amount of calorie required for my body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Total amount of calorie required - 500 = minimum intake for my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[which truly doesn't applicable for people having 0-45 Kg] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I have two question,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much minimum amount of calorie required for my body when I am doing cardio + normal gym routine + daily home and office work? I doubt about the above formula.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the best way to reduce weight via calorie control without damaging body. &#xA;Ex. If my daily intake is 1200 cal , so do I have to burn more than 1200 cal everyday to reduce my fat? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from my knowledge, more muscle consume more calorie (just like car engine, more  horse power more consumption of gas), so limiting calorie intake can cause damage to my muscle growth?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sorry for my bad English&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2321" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T13:31:44.703" Title="Calorie calculation, consumption and side effects of minimum intake" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16154" CreationDate="2014-04-14T12:10:37.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be very cautious. The key chemical of Jack3d was DMAA, which was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/dmaa-efficacious-but-is-it-safe/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pulled off of the market when it was marketed as a nasal decongestant due to &quot;headaches, tremors, and increased blood pressure&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. The chemical structure is similar to amphetamines and. And no, they don't extract it from geraniums. At the level of the compound in geraniums, they'd have to crush a few tons of geraniums for each dose. Like many &quot;natural&quot; supplements, it's a chemical that's dodging around the rules the FDA has established to keep people from marketing drugs as supplements. The FDA has a website specifically warning of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/QADietarySupplements/ucm346576.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the dangers of Jack3d&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;code&gt;Berin Loritsch&lt;/code&gt; has pointed out, &lt;em&gt;Jack3d Micro&lt;/em&gt; is supposed to be a reformulated mix that lacks the dangerous chemicals, but I'd still advise caution. If I get food poisoning at a restaurant, the food might be perfectly fine the next time I go there because it was a one-off, but it could also be that there's something wrong systematically, such that the problem will return in a different way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll agree with Kneel Before ZOD that your primary steps will be slowly increasing your amount of exercise and eating a better diet. I disagree with him on green tea extract &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19906797?dopt=Abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;which has consistently shown no effect in reputable studies&lt;/a&gt;. In general, any time someone claims that there's one substance that helps you lose weight, they're generally talking through their hat unless they're discussing amphetamines which have their usual issues (you know, addiction, high blood pressure, sudden death). Diet and exercise are the only proven methods short of radical surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2014-04-18T15:09:41.537" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T15:09:41.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16157" CreationDate="2014-04-14T12:32:19.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of formulas for calculating required calories.  Some are even based on science.  However, since every individual has different requirements based upon lifestyle, etc., I find that the best way to control and monitor calories is to become knowledgeable on serving sizes and food content.  So, to answer your first question, I would not use a specific formula.  Rather, I would keep a food journal that tracked the amount of calories and nutrients being consumed over a baseline period of time (say two weeks for example).  With all things being equal, if you are able to maintain your current weight during that time, that should provide your maintenance calorie and nutrient totals.  Now, for the second question.  Having loosely calculated your maintenance calories, it's easy to make &lt;strong&gt;small&lt;/strong&gt; (eg. 250 to 500 calories) adjustments to raise/lower your calorie intake based upon your goals.  I would repeat this process on a regular (6 month?) basis, again, based upon your specific goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important concept to grasp is do not &lt;strong&gt;guess&lt;/strong&gt; at what you are consuming for nutrients.  Most people guess on the low side and underestimate their calorie consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T12:32:19.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16148" CreationDate="2014-04-14T12:36:14.547" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As ZOD has indicated, for a more accurate record of heart rate, the standard practice is to wear a heart rate monitor belt paired with a wrist watch receiver.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polar.com/us-en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Polar&lt;/a&gt; heart rate monitors are a leader in that industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T12:36:14.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16157" CreationDate="2014-04-14T13:31:44.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that having at least calculated a few of your baseline TDEE values can be beneficial if you're overweight and have gotten your body &quot;used&quot; to under consuming calories based on something like say, willpower for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body weight x 24 is an absurd amount, for me that means my body would require roughly 4200 calories for maintenance. My actual calculated TDEE is ~2536. Just google TDEE calculator and you'll find the ones that are based off scientific values and even ones that let you adjust based on activity level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to reduce weight without sustaining metabolic damage is to reduce your calories by 500 of your TDEE and then readjusting your TDEE for weight lost. If you go into a severe deficit you'll lose weight for a short amount of time and then plateau. A lot of the times when someone can't lose weight even through intense exercise they're either eating too much(e.g. surpassing their caloric maintenance) or just plain not eating enough(eating enough to reach their calculated TDEE MINUS the caloric deficit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T13:31:44.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16148" CreationDate="2014-04-14T16:01:15.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are quite a few heart rate monitor fitness trackers coming soon to the market.  I'm sure many of us (including me) are anxiously awaiting something that can accurately measure calorie expenditure, rather than relying on a pedometer.  Obviously, nobody wants to have to inconveniently strap a heart rate monitor around their chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some options you may keep your eye on for releases in the near future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://uncrate.com/stuff/atlas-fitness-tracker/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Atlas Fitness Tracker&lt;/a&gt; $160 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://amiigo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amiigo Fitness Band&lt;/a&gt; $99 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hellobragi/the-dash-wireless-smart-in-ear-headphones&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Dash In-Ear Smart Headphones&lt;/a&gt; $199 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/gear/gearfit_features.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Fit&lt;/a&gt; $199 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Already on the market (or almost on the market) are some other watches/wristbands that might suit your needs, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mioglobal.com/Mio-LINK-White--Heart-Rate-Wristband/Product.aspx?ProductID=15&amp;amp;DeptID=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mio LINK Wristband&lt;/a&gt; $99 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bestbuy.com/site/basis-health-tracker-for-fitness-sleep-stress-carbon-steel/3487007.p&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Basis Carbon Steel Edition&lt;/a&gt; $199 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tomtom.com/en_us/products/your-sports/running/tomtom-runner-cardio-gps-watch/white/index.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TomTom Runner Cardio&lt;/a&gt; $270 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cursory google search should yield quite a few other options in this department.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is the Withings Pulse, which is a little widget that doesn't really fall into any of these categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vitrine.withings.com/us/withings-pulse.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Withings Pulse&lt;/a&gt; $86 USD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And maybe somewhere way down the line, you'll be able to have a smart contact lens that watches your heart rate as well, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/introducing-our-smart-contact-lens.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Smart Contact Lens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-04-14T18:30:41.587" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T18:30:41.587" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16167" CreationDate="2014-04-14T16:31:05.140" Score="2" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently working on weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 years old, and work most of the day in the front of the computer(work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: 183cm, weight: 89kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing 3x15 pushups and 3x25 crunches every day. In addition, once per week/two weeks I'm running ~7km (1 hour long run). Here's my idea for diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast: 1 vanilla yoghurt, 1 banana, 1 banana (~1hour breaks between each meal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Midday meal: Cesar salad/chicken with rice (alternately each day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supper: 2 sandwitches with white cheese and cucumber&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one (1.5L) bottle of water and couple cups of tea (green, no sugar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whad do You think? Is it good to loss weight fast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8389" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T04:24:46.453" Title="Diet plan - looking for feedback" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-14T18:59:55.950" Score="1" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;After doing much extensive reading and self learning I've always been under the assumption that the only things that can genuinely give you &quot;energy&quot; are macro nutrients since the body can utilize them for energy through the process of gluconeogenesis. And I know that creatine provides a little bit of extra oomph by sparing ATP when you're used up all your stores for the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what exactly do more pre workouts do that provide energy? A lot of the time people associate words like &quot;buzz&quot; and &quot;jittery&quot; with them, increased body temperature, among other things. But most of the time there really aren't any direct compounds in them that are responsible for giving you USABLE energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to guess I'd say the primary actor in most pre workout energy powders are psychoactive stimulants(such as caffeine and taurine) with dosages multiplied to exponential amounts combined with current trending blends of &quot;bodybuilding cocktails&quot; e.g. BCAA's, in essence giving consumers a greatly increased feeling of anxiety. Anxiety in the sense of &quot;I feel like I ought to do something&quot; but greatly amplified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what do you guys think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T13:16:27.427" Title="How do pre workouts provide energy?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2184" CreationDate="2014-04-14T19:04:08.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems from your description that you (your brain) has especially the fear from falling. You know rationally that the mattress is very soft, but your brain seem not to believe that. Maybe you haven't fall on it enough times? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you could benefit from training judo falling techniques for a while. The more time you fall, the more your brain will be comfortable with the idea of falling, the less your fear will be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T19:04:08.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16163" CreationDate="2014-04-14T22:52:34.043" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;With the statistics you've given, you're about 6ft weighing 195lbs. You aren't really overweight &lt;em&gt;(based on recommended height/weight from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthchecksystems.com/heightweightchart.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthstatus.com/perl/calculator.cgi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; sources )&lt;/em&gt;. My recommendation is that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;rather than focusing on losing weight, focus on building muscles.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Based on that, I'll criticize a few things: &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;First, your breakfast isn't completely balanced. Yogurt should be a snack &lt;em&gt;(or an addition to a good breakfast)&lt;/em&gt;. There are better low calorie alternatives. Even a wheat-based cereal and skimmed milk should give you a complete diet. Always try to have a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;protein- and fiber-based diet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(Yeah,  I know that yogurt has protein; it just doesn't have enough fiber; also, just yogurt for breakfast? That's not sustainable on the long run)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Get more meal options. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Also, replace one banana with an apple. Apple has lower calories and provide more benefits than banana. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;Your lunch and dinner options are alright. You still need more variety though &lt;em&gt;(unless you're one of those who don't get tired from eating the same thing for a long time).&lt;/em&gt; Also, &lt;strong&gt;drink more water.&lt;/strong&gt; 8 cups are recommended daily. Try to get as close to the quota as much as possible. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Second, you need to calculate your BMR &lt;em&gt;(Basal Metabolism Rate)&lt;/em&gt; to determine how much calories you consume. As long as you consume lower than your BMR &lt;em&gt;(or increase your daily activities)&lt;/em&gt;, you should lose weight. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Third, your exercise regimen is low; your current exercise choices cannot give you a fast weight loss. Increase the running to twice a week. Increase the push up reps periodically &lt;em&gt;(weekly, monthly, etc.)&lt;/em&gt; or vary its intensity. Your body'll get used to the same rep/sets and your muscle building will stall. Also, get a pull-up bar and do pull-ups, chin-ups, and/or knee-up daily &lt;em&gt;(increase their reps as you get stronger)&lt;/em&gt;. Add reverse crunches, standing crunches, and/or planks to your daily routine. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Not afraid of weightlifting? Try &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2011/09/531-for-a-beginner/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5-3-1 Wendel's Program&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;em&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;Spoiler alert:&lt;/strong&gt; they are all based on incremental weightlifting :))&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Because you don't have a lot of fat to lose &lt;em&gt;(to begin with)&lt;/em&gt;, you might not see a huge loss difference on the scale. My advice is for you to &lt;strong&gt;purchase a body fat percentage measurement&lt;/strong&gt;. So, even if the scale isn't going down &lt;em&gt;(or worse, increasing)&lt;/em&gt;, your body fat percentage will constantly reduce. Oh yeah, your pants will start falling too. &lt;em&gt;You might need to purchase a mirror to start checking out your new body :) &lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;BTW, don't focus on fast weight loss; focus on a sustainable one....and enjoy exercising; the fat will naturally shed off your body to reveal the muscles they've been hiding for a while. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Hopefully, this rant helps :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T11:57:15.107" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T11:57:15.107" CommentCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16171" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-15T15:39:05.873" Score="0" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some help with my workout routine, supplement guide, and nutrition program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Current:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight: 151&#xA;BF: 19.4%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Target:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight: 160&#xA;BF: 10-12%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Workout:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out by my self for the last 2 years, mostly working with Kris Gethin's routine.&#xA;What kind of workout should I follow to achieve good cuts and a six pack. You can see my pic &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6826923&amp;amp;d=1397576104&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;How much cardio do I need to do in a week, and what exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Supplements:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of supplements and protein are good for me for times such as: pre-workout, post workout, and intra-workout?&#xA;Which one is required to help me make my goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Nutrition:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am vegetarian.&#xA;What kind of foods should I to avoid and what kind of food is good?&#xA;How much do I need to eat and how often should I need to eat? Many people say like 8 times a day.&#xA;Can you suggest me good nutrition plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8400" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2014-05-02T15:15:34.803" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T19:36:36.900" Title="Need help for workout, supplement and nutrition" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-05-08T11:46:51.620" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16183" CreationDate="2014-04-15T17:24:48.397" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have few doubt about calories. (3 questions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My measurement : Height 5 feet 11 inches Weight: 75 Kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than at my lower belly, I have not much visible fat in my body. Lets for an example, I limit myself to 1200 calories per day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have to burn &gt; 1200 calories per day to reduce my belly fat? Is it practically possible to loose &gt; 1200 calories per day for about a month or two, shouldn't that can affect my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have started doing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat (100 at a time - once in a day )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rope jumping (75 at a time - twice a day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushup (inner, outer, wide = 30 at a time - once in a day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regular abs exercise (different type of crunches = 40 - once in a day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Normal routine work (like walking for about 10-15 min, working on computer for about 6-7 hours, normal house work for about 20 min per day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet includes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Morning: 1 liter milk (6% fat) with multi grain oats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: some vegetables and pulses (Indian food) - sum up to 300-400 calories &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Afternoon : Apple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Night: 1 Apple, 1 Orange, 2 Banana and 1 nutrilite multivitamin and multimineral tablet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started doing this for a week and I can see a little progress on my upper belly (seems like a part of six pack - which aren't very strange because I don't have much fat over there)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen people has transformed completely in 30-60 days program. What am I missing in my exercise or in my diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is it true that more muscle burns more calorie? Like a car with 1000 horse power engine burn more gas than 200 horse power engine..&#xA;Do I have to really hit the gym and to do intense workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2321" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T10:37:55.790" Title="How to maintain calorie with exercise" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;recommended-daily-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16171" CreationDate="2014-04-15T17:39:30.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout&lt;/strong&gt;: Given your target weight and current physique I would look into Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 strength training program and do HIIT cardio 2-3 days out of the weeks and only after you've lifted weights. 5/3/1 is awesome for both beginners and advanced lifters alike, and it focuses on starting light first to build confidence and momentum into the program. It might be easy with lighter weight but will definitely get much harder as you hit the 5+/3+/1+ sets and as you gain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5/3/1 is often referred to as a &quot;long-term&quot; sustained strength program. While an alternative workout program like StrongLifts 5x5 does &quot;work&quot;(basically thanks to &quot;newb gains&quot;) it is easy to bash your CNS(as Dave Liepmann would put it)against your 5RM and burn out or plateau quickly on relatively lighter weight if you're adding weight every workout to your maxes and not eating over maintenance, at least from my experience. Gaining the strength to squat 250lb is really not that easy if you've A. never really squatted and B. don't eat much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5/3/1 is a cycled program in that you have 3 weeks of working sets with 1 week built in as the deload which gives you a week to practice form and give your CNS/body/mind a break. At the end of each cycle you increase the numbers for your 1RM(1 rep max)on the spreadsheet to get your new work weights for the next cycle. This is how you gain strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about the philosophies of this training program and how to use it here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The principals of 5/3/1 are centered around the 4 major compound lifts: the deadlift, bench press, back squat, and overhead press. After you complete these in a work day you can follow up with assistance programs/exercises as seen below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the Wendler's 5/3/1 book, the following assistance plans are&#xA;  presented:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Boring But Big:&lt;/strong&gt; Main lift, the main lift again @ 5x10 (50% 1RM), and another accessory exercise for 5 sets.&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Triumvirate:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  Main lift, and two assistance exercises - 5 sets each.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;I'm Not Doing Jack Shit:&lt;/strong&gt;  Main lift, and nothing else.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Periodization Bible by Dave Tate:&lt;/strong&gt;  Main lift, and 3 exercises - 5 x 10-20 reps each.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Bodyweight:&lt;/strong&gt;  Main lift, and 2 bodyweight exercises such as the pull up, sit ups, dips, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line about assistance exercises are that they can be ANYTHING you want as long as they help you reach your goals. So don't think too hard on these, get some good volume in, but don't kill yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a google doc spreadsheet that already has all of the formulas and weekly work outs in place. So once you've read the above article you can use this to start plugging in your numbers. START LIGHT and start with the empty bar if you have to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Click File &gt; Make a Copy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj5Edflz4F5_dG56ZW5IWUhkWTlxTks4bHd2VU91Y1E&amp;amp;usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj5Edflz4F5_dG56ZW5IWUhkWTlxTks4bHd2VU91Y1E&amp;amp;usp=sharing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supplements&lt;/strong&gt;: You really don't need to supplement anything besides maybe some oils and fatty acids(fish/flaxseed oils), creatine monohydrate, multi vitamins if you're deficient in any of them, and POSSIBLY BCAAs(branch chain amino acids)if your protein intake is low. BCAAs are found in whole foods such as cottage cheese but the volume isn't up there like it is in a BCAA blend nor are they as readily bioavailable since the BCAAs in typical blends are free floating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like many others I don't consider whey protein powder to really be a supplement since it's technically a dairy byproduct, however, you can supplement WITH IT out of convenience. If you choose to supplement with protein powder I would take no more than 0.8g/lb a day(and you don't even have to worry about hitting that max). Also, if you supplement with whey protein powder you do NOT need to supplement with BCAAs since most whey powders contain the same amino acid blends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;: This is a tough one. I can't recommend any specific diet but since your goal is to get significantly leaner without packing on much weight, I would recommend that you plan out your daily caloric intake to be 500 less than your calculated TDEE(total daily energy expenditure). To cut to such a relatively low body fat percentage you'll need to accurately count your calories and weigh foods. Don't get caught up on fad diets, just watch your macros and don't go too overboard. &lt;strong&gt;Carbs are not your enemy.&lt;/strong&gt; You will need to be sure to readjust this using updated TDEE values as you gain weight from the newb muscle gains you'll get from starting a strength training program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The key to any diet is moderation and diversity.&lt;/strong&gt; Don't let yourself get caught up on the organic vs processed paradigm as studies show that GMOs(genetically modified organisms) are not anymore harmful that natural ones. You won't be doing yourself any favors by following any severely restricted diets and studies show that dietary restrictions often lead to behavioral regressions after fitness goals are achieved. Alan Aragon suggests that you adjust your caloric intake to favor more solid foods versus liquid ones(solid calories vs liquid calories has a lot to do with the quality of calories, the satiety, and the tendency/relative ease to overdrink calories). Just keep this in mind but don't take it too too seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to plan your meals around particular timing patterns. Plenty of research indicates that meal timing is a hugely irrelevant factor as far as metabolic efficiency is concerned and has no real bearing on it. This is actually a GOOD thing because it means that you can make your meal timings accomodate YOUR schedule. If you find that eating 5 times a day at specific times works the best for you then that's what you should do as long as you keep it in line with your caloric intake requirements, but, just keep in mind that there's no scientific or health benefit to doing such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="7705" LastEditDate="2014-04-15T18:10:07.153" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T18:10:07.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-15T20:59:42.190" Score="1" ViewCount="1090" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that I fatigue and develop a swollen or &quot;tight&quot; feeling in my muscles from doing too many reps. The amount of reps defined as &quot;too many&quot; is any over about 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice that even if I'm just squatting without any weight (using only my bodyweight) I get the same effect ... tightness, swollen feeling, fatigue, and usually DOMS if I continue sets like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is: why is this? I mean I tend to almost always stay in the 1-5 rep range, but that's for strength building. I don't have a serious regimen, but that shouldn't explain why any amount of reps causes this sensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say I squat 135 lbs. for 3 ... sure, it takes decent work, but if I were to do 3 reps without the weight, I'd still get that swollen, tired sensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my muscles just lazy (is that possible)? Am I unconditioned for reps so bad that any endurance is off-tracking for my nervous system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't care for many reps, but I am just wondering why I get this aftermath from simply trying a few more reps here and there with varying weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Yes, even after stretching of any kind it's the same problem. I try to get several days between workouts, but that &quot;tired, aching&quot; sensation lasts for days or even weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8404" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T19:08:01.237" Title="Fatigue after a certain amount of reps, no matter what the weight is!" Tags="&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-15T21:33:29.330" Score="2" ViewCount="2015" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am asking this because I read a post jokingly titled, &quot;Why fat people will hurt you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It mentioned there that, because heavier or obese people tend to eat more, they tend to store more energy. With more energy stored they have &quot;reserved&quot; capabilities to unleash bigger bolts of strength, even without exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, myself, used to be quite obese, about 100 lbs. overweight. I never weight trained but felt random bolts of energy, and I ate anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000+ calories a day. I ate junk mostly, drank soda, etc. I basically never did any weight training or the related such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did notice peaks in energy and strength just from the excess of calories, and I slight urge to release the energy sometimes (run a little, climb up stuff, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, is it true that heightened caloric intake stores more energy ... and this energy can be attributed to more strength in some heavier people (or anyone who just eats a lot), regardless of training?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, what can explain the &quot;caloric surplus controversy&quot; over eating more and having more strength/energy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8405" LastActivityDate="2015-12-19T14:04:43.873" Title="Is it true that more calories give more energy, plain and simple?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16177" CreationDate="2014-04-15T22:01:06.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calories in/calories out relates very well to the first law of thermodynamics. You consume calories, but they're never created or destroyed, they can only change forms. If you don't use that energy when its available, it gets stored as fat. At other times, it converts into the heat that each of our bodies give off. Think TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure. Your body needs energy to do the things it needs to survive and the main product is survival; a byproduct is heat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing about eating over maintenance and not actually gaining muscular weight is that you're not using glycogen stored in your muscle for contractile force. When your bloodstream has too much glucose floating around in it from excess energy(macronutrients)is when it gets stored as fat. I highly doubt that there are any studies showing a positive correlation between untrained individuals that are highly overweight having excessive amounts of strength compared to leaner/trained individuals. But that's just my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastEditorUserId="7705" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T01:09:04.567" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T01:09:04.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16132" CreationDate="2014-04-15T23:29:24.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any personal experience with the mask, but I recently heard a podcast on the subject of respiratory training devices. The guest was Greg Wells, Ph.D., who spoke about a couple of these products. Here's a link to the podcast: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2014/03/how-to-increase-your-vo2-max/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ben Greenfield Fitness: How to Increase your V02 max&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The podcast will probably answer most of your questions in more detail, but here's a brief answer for each:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The altitude mask does not create the same physiological response that training at altitude does, because it does not reduce the %O2 in the air you're breathing (which is what causes mitochondrial development and other adaptations to altitude training). Instead it restricts the flow of air into your lungs. That said, preliminary studies have shown that resistance devices like this can provide performance benefits by making your diaphragm stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;These benefits are relevant to all athletes, but are especially beneficial to middle-distance athletes such as 5k-10k runners. Interestingly, the Powerlung (one of the first devices in this category) was originally invented for rehab purposes, and was later discovered by athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should begin by practicing breathing through the device (mask or Powerlung) in short intervals throughout the day. Like any new exercise, your body will take time to adjust. Training masks should only be worn for short workouts at first, and then you can increase the duration over time. The Powerlung devices have variable resistance settings, so you should start easy and slowly increase the resistance as your lungs develop.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't recall hearing of any negative side effects, beyond the dizziness that might happen at first. Of course, if you really overexerted yourself, you could faint, but this is not unique to respiratory training devices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for research, there was one study linked in the podcast's show notes. You can also read a digest on Greg Wells' website: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drgregwells.com/blog/2008/10/25/to-breathe-or-not-to-breathe.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;To Breathe or Not to Breathe&lt;/a&gt;. This references a few other studies as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T23:29:24.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15227" CreationDate="2014-04-15T23:48:04.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no simple formula, since both examples you provided could tell you different information about your current fitness level. You could probably run much longer at a HR of 160 than you could at 185. At 160, you may have the fitness to run a marathon. At 185, you may not be able to run much farther than a 5k. Is one &quot;better&quot; than the other? No. It just depends on your goals as an athlete. Due to that fact, it's hard to derive one formula to &quot;normalize&quot; your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a great primer on this topic, you may want to read this article on training zones from Greg McMillan &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/article/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;McMillan Running - Six Steps to Success&lt;/a&gt;. In very simple terms, he explains the physiological changes that occur as you run at various paces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use heart rate to measure improvements in your fitness, keep two of the three  variables (pace, distance or time, and HR) constant. For example, set a target heart rate (let's say 160) and fixed distance (let's say 5k). Time how long it takes to run the 5k while maintaining a heart rate below 160. Perform this same test weekly or monthly. If your time improves while your heart rate and distance remain the same, you will know that your fitness is improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a version of this test called the MAF (Maximal Aerobic Fitness) test that's somewhat popular with endurance athletes. You can learn more from this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://philmaffetone.com/maf-test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phil Maffetone - MAF Test&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T23:48:04.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16177" CreationDate="2014-04-15T23:52:44.637" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It's a fallacy that &lt;em&gt;fat people unleash bigger bolts of strength.&lt;/em&gt; Can fat people hurt you? &lt;strong&gt;Absolutely!&lt;/strong&gt; Why? Because &lt;strong&gt;Force = mass X acceleration&lt;/strong&gt; and fat people have a higher mass; with a decent speed, the force generated can hurt you. It's the same reason why a fat person will injure you if they sit on you; the force &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(weight = mass X gravity)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; the weight exerts causes the hurt. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Strength comes from activity&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;plain and simple&lt;/em&gt;. If a fat person &lt;em&gt;(which is a result of more calories consumption than expenditure)&lt;/em&gt; is active &lt;em&gt;(due to work, lifestyle, etc.)&lt;/em&gt;, they will be stronger than they seem. While such a person might not be fit, they'll be strong because they actively use the muscles. If a skinny/fit person doesn't lift weights &lt;em&gt;(or heavy items, either in exercise or daily routine)&lt;/em&gt;, such a person won't be physically capable of lifting a heavy load. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This is why people who were bedridden &lt;em&gt;(or in a coma)&lt;/em&gt; need therapy to exercise the muscles before they could move about normally. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The muscles simply became dormant due to lack of use. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In summary, your body size doesn't determine how strong you are, your level of activity/training does. And a heavier person will hurt you if all that body mass is aimed at you at a decent speed. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Of course, make yourself faster, more flexible, and stronger by performing the proper exercises and you can sidestep, parry, jump over, flip, jab, tap, punch &lt;em&gt;(or whatever action your training tells you to perform)&lt;/em&gt; faster than they can move. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T23:52:44.637" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16177" CreationDate="2014-04-16T02:57:23.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carlories are &quot;energy&quot;, yes. They do NOT equate to strength; strength is a function of how well the muscles are converting that energy into force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stored calories &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; affect stamina, if you have trained your body to access the stored energy (eg, if you've learned to ignore the discomfort that comes from starting to relatively rapidly metabolize fat). Of course carrying fat also means more weight, which means you have to work harder to move, and there are limits to how much fat you can break down how quickly, so this very quickly reaches a point of diminishing returns, even if you're planning on running ultramarathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Athletes will sometimes &quot;carb load&quot; to make sure they have the required energy available to them for extended efforts -- but they're careful not to overdo it. They want the energy stored primarily in the most easily accessed forms, not as longterm fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a very-short-term effect of rapidly absorbed carbs. Sugar in particular starts being absorbed into the bloodstream long before it hits the gut -- which is why you get the immediate &quot;sugar high&quot; -- and it's possible to use that to briefly suppress some kinds of fatigue. But that doesn't last very long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: If you are already on the verge of falling over, a shot of sugar MAY get you back on your feet briefly. But they don't equate to strength in any other sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pouring more fuel into a car will not make it go faster. Dragging a trailer full of gasoline will make it go slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8406" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T02:57:23.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16172" CreationDate="2014-04-16T10:27:58.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basics:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yes, you do have to burn more calories than you eat to lose weight. This doesn't mean you'll have to do sports until you burn up 1200kcal, as your body burns a certain amount every day anyway. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;The calories burned this way is your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;basal metabolic rate (BMR)&lt;/a&gt;. This would be your total energy expenditure for one day if you just lay around doing absolutely nothing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The amount of calories you're &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; burning per day is your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which includes all the walking, getting up, working and sports.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now, to lose weight you want to stay below your TDEE. For this you can eat less, exercise more, or both. &lt;em&gt;Which&lt;/em&gt; you do doesn't matter as it's basically calories in vs. calorie out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To answer your question: It &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; possible to have a deficit of 1200kcal for a month or two, but it's not recommended, as it's not very healthy and/or counter-productive (read up on 'starvation mode'/'metabolic damage').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already see progress after a single week, stick to it. In the beginning much of it will be water weight, which is why your progress will probably slow down over time. In general weight loss is a very slow process, but the slower you take it, the more sustainable it is. Granted, there are some amazing 30-60 days transformations, but those are the exception to the rule. For most people, slow weight loss is best, as you're not as likely to yoyo back to eating unhealthy, getting fat again (and repeat the whole cycle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sports:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your sports program could use some improvement. You'd probably fare better with a dedicated bodyweight exercise program, which focusses on progression to get stronger and add a bit of definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really only want to lose weight, you don't have to do strength training though. If you choose to do only cardio, though, I'd recommend high intensity intervall cardio (HIIT). It's basically a short period of high intensity work with an even shorter period of rest (e.g. 40s work, 20s rest for 12 rounds). This form of cardio won't burn much calories &lt;em&gt;itself&lt;/em&gt; but will raise your metabolism for hours after the workout, resulting in more effective fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More muscle mass &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; burn more calories, though, even when doing &lt;em&gt;absolutely nothing&lt;/em&gt; with it. That's why I'd recommend a strength training program anyway. However, to build build muscle with a strength program you'd need a caloric surplus (and eat different, too), which might put you off. In the long run it's a great foundation for losing weight, though. You'll also look much better (lean, instead of starved/skinny fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T10:37:55.790" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T10:37:55.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16186" CreationDate="2014-04-16T10:33:01.860" Score="5" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just completed the London Marathon and am now at a stage where I want to keep running and bring down my mileage gradually rather than just stop. Are there any plans to follow for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8304" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T17:57:29.420" Title="What is a suitable post-marathon training plan?" Tags="&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16171" CreationDate="2014-04-16T11:07:19.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I agree with some points on @ChristopherBruce's answer, I do have a kinda different view of how to reach your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While 5/3/1 isn't a bad program, I wouldn't recommend it to beginners, which you seem to be, at least physique-wise. If you deadlift 200lbs, you can skip the following:&#xA;Why would I not recommend 5/3/1? because it is &lt;em&gt;slow&lt;/em&gt;. Granted, you will not bust your central nervous system (CNS) as quickly, because you won't progress much. You're basically only adding 10lbs per month. In the beginning, you'll be able to progress 10lbs &lt;em&gt;per workout&lt;/em&gt;, which means 5/3/1 would really limit your progress. Also, to bust CNS, you'd need to be able to recruit it in a sufficent manner, which you probably can't until you're lifting quite heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said 5/3/1 is great for intermediate lifters. Keep in mind, lifting for 2 years does not make you intermediate, your strength does. So if you're able to squat your bodyweight and deadlift 1.5x as much, go for it. Until then, I think it would be a waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what would I recommend? That would be Starting Strength, which focusses on workout to workout progression to build a strong foundation &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt;. It's not the be all, end all of programs though, so consider Stronglifts 5x5, the Westside Barbell workouts or any other fast progressing routine that focusses on compound movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Programming:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'd strongly advise you to build muscle first and work on definition later. Building muscles in the beginning will give you a strong foundation to lose weight later on. So while you might not like it, if you want a 'ripped' physique, it's easier to get muscles first and lose fat later. Sure, you'll look fatter at first, but once you diet down, it'll go much faster and you've already got the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't advise you to gain 40lbs and diet down again. I'm all for slow gains (500kcal surplus), which will add less fat to your frame. A similarily slow diet (500kcal deficit) will get you rid of fat, while conserving muscle mass. You can also micro-cycle these, building muscle for a month, then dieting for a month and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Regarding food, you should eat a high protein diet, which might be a bit harder on vegetarians. If you eat eggs and milk (and cheese) though, you should be good. Other options would be lentils, soy beans and the like. There's huge lists on the web, so I'll spare you for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important side note: Don't worry about kidney failure or cancer. There's no conclussive evidence that you'll develop any of that from a high protein intake &lt;em&gt;alone&lt;/em&gt;. If you drink enough, and do not have a predisposition for those conditions, you're safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supplements:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; any. Some can be helpful, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whey protein may help you reach your protein goals, but is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a substitution for real food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamins/Minerals might prevent deficiencies. I have a better-safe-than-sorry politic on those, as they can't do much harm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish Oil is important and can prevent inflammation. Definitely recommended.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BCAAs are a great pick if you're dieting. If you eat a normal high protein diet, though, they aren't necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine/Green Tea Extract/Thermo Stacks are supposed to help you on a diet by raising your metabolism. I haven't found one that works yet, so I'd advise you against buying them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beta-Alanine/L-Carnitine/Other fancy bodybuilder's stuff is in most cases just wasted money. If you're ever looking to gain a 2% performance increase you could consider these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T11:07:19.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16184" CreationDate="2014-04-16T12:46:10.457" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly congratulations on your marathon, and I hope you are pleased with your result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm going to suggest is hard for marathon runners to do, but honestly it is the best thing to prevent injury and help you recover quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing for you to do, is to stop running for 2-3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what people like Paula Radcliffe do, and we all know how hard she trains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of running, you should walk or swim.  This will help pump the blood round your body to speed the recovery process without taxing already sore muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So many people I see get injured in that first month after a marathon, because they are on a marathon high, and continue to pound out the miles.  Enjoy your rest, spend more time with family and friends, then return to running slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T12:55:15.023" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T12:55:15.023" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-16T14:07:40.423" Score="2" ViewCount="5906" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I do exercises like hanging leg raises or cable crunches, or just generally any crunch or ab exercise, I don't really feel like I'm getting any good abdominal/core activation and so after I've done 3 sets I just feel like I wasted energy since I don't really feel anything in my abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get different activation in my core when I'm doing the compound lifts like deadlift, squat, bench, and ohp. I take a moderate breath of air in, not too much, and can feel my core braced and tight to keep everything stable, but this is about all I really feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like my sitting and standard posture is excellent already and I mention that because I've read that if you force yourself to have good posture then your core will support it. Well my posture is fine I just can't really seem to activate or contract my abs that well during normal exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips or advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2014-04-19T17:02:58.880" Title="I can't get any abdominal activation, how to fix?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16190" CreationDate="2014-04-14T11:36:16.503" Score="2" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using Nike+SportBand (a pedometer) and I got about 262 nikeFuel per kilometer.&#xA;My friend has Nike+Running App (tracking using GPS) in his android phone and he gets 207 nikefuel per kilometer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has different weight (I'm by 20% heavier) and he's running faster (by 20%).&#xA;I have tried today to set different weight and run faster and I got the same nikefuel points as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes the difference? (I'm just curious and confused).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8412" OwnerDisplayName="V-X" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T15:40:05.057" Title="Why am I earning more nikefuel than other people?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16187" CreationDate="2014-04-16T16:00:50.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/strong&gt; This answer is based on my experience with the exercises. Verify that it works for you &lt;em&gt;(and adapt as necessary)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I haven't done the cable crunches before; as a result, I'm not certain how effective it is. But based on the videos, the range of motion indicate &lt;em&gt;(to me)&lt;/em&gt; that the effects will be felt most on the arms and not the abs &lt;em&gt;(I'd like someone experienced to validate or nullify this theory)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I used to perform the hanging leg raises daily until I realized that it wasn't really effective for the abs; it's more effective for the lower hips and thighs. So, I switched it to a &lt;em&gt;different type of hanging leg raises&lt;/em&gt;. The posture is still the same as the regular leg raises, but instead of lifting your knees, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you lift your legs together into a L-sit position&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. The slower I go, the more intense I feel my core tighten. You can start with 5 reps and increase it if you still have the energy to continue. I've been doing that daily ever since &lt;em&gt;(I still perform the regular hanging leg raises if I have time for them)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In addition to the above, I perform reverse crunches. Make sure your butts are lifted off the floor and your hands are clasped behind your head &lt;em&gt;(this ensures that only the abs are involved in the activities)&lt;/em&gt;. Start with 20 reps and you should feel the effects on every part of your abs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, I perform standing crunches &lt;em&gt;(the one in which your right elbow touches your left knee and vice versa)&lt;/em&gt;. Try to keep your torso as straight as possible &lt;em&gt;(without bending)&lt;/em&gt;. Starting with 30 reps should make an impact on the abs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I also perform leg raises. It's similar to the hanging leg raise described above but your back is on the floor. Lift both legs together and lower them together. Also, ensure that the only time your legs touch the ground is after you've completed the set. &lt;em&gt;Some people put their legs down after every rep, but I don't encourage that as it reduces the effect.&lt;/em&gt;. Start with 10-15 reps and work your way up. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &#xA;I don't know what this exercise is called, but I recently added it to my list. Adjusting a regular bench press such that the torso region is lower than the sitting region and starting from a lying position, &lt;em&gt;I perform regular crunches by lifting the whole torso from the depressed region to a full sitting position. Then, I gently go back down to the starting position. 15-20 reps of this can be tried. This certainly gives me the same effect as the reverse crunches.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I finish with the easiest crunches of all, the regular crunches. I noticed that this mainly works my upper abs only. So, I don't usually feel the effect all over the abs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you try these exercises and see the effects you want, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ensure that you increase the reps periodically.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Mix and match them as you desire &lt;em&gt;(I still do them daily)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Result&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I do regular weightlifting, I haven't lifted enough weights (Deadlift PR is currently 270lbs - 1 X 5, Squat is 220lbs - 5 X 5, Bench Press is 160 - 5 X 5)&lt;/em&gt; to claim that my abs came from weightlifting. I only do them 3 days a week vs my daily crunch-aton. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Using the pictures on this &lt;a href=&quot;http://athleanx.com/blog/workout-tips/body-fat-percentage-where-are-you-at-and-whats-your-goal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;, my current abs is closer to the guy in the 11-12% body fat than the one on his right. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So, I can testify that it works for me. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T20:30:52.690" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T20:30:52.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16188" CreationDate="2014-04-16T18:30:51.283" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I don't use any Nike products and can therefore not verify my answer myself.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;All information is taken from the Nike+ Support page, though, so I'm pretty confident it's correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely reason for your differing nikefuel gains is the device type. If you are using the SportsBand and your friend is using the RunningApp, your nikefuel is most likely calculated differently, as each device is optimized to track a certain type of activity.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As per &lt;a href=&quot;https://support-en-us.nikeplus.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/38261/p/3169,3178/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzk3NjcyNDUxL3NpZC9ya1IxYllSbA==&quot;&gt;the specific support page:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you use multiple Nike+ devices, you may receive a different&#xA;  NikeFuel amounts on each device for the same workout. That's because&#xA;  each Nike+ device uses different technologies and are optimized for&#xA;  different experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, the SportWatch GPS is optimized for pace and distance and&#xA;  is the best device for measuring those metrics if you are a runner or&#xA;  walker, while the Nike+ FuelBand or FuelBand SE is optimized to&#xA;  capture your everyday activity as NikeFuel and is the best option for&#xA;  measuring your overall athletic life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Feel free to wear both devices at once if you're interested in both&#xA;  your sport-specific workout data and your overall activity data. Some&#xA;  variation between the two is to be expected and shouldn't be cause for&#xA;  concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If my citation is violating any kind of copyright please edit it and/or let me know.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T18:30:51.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16187" CreationDate="2014-04-17T07:36:40.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To activate your abdominals you need to make sure your torso is bending.  As other people have said, with hanging leg lifts its likely that you are working your hip flexors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, from what you say, it sounds as if you have fairly strong abs anyway.  So it may be time to move to more advanced moves.  Have you tried crunches on a Swiss ball?  Adding in the stabalising factor will make the same exercises harder.   Here is a website with sample exercises you can try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ball-exercises.com/exercises/abs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ball-exercises.com/exercises/abs/&lt;/a&gt;.  There are many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-19T17:02:58.880" LastActivityDate="2014-04-19T17:02:58.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16165" CreationDate="2014-04-17T13:16:27.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The mechanism for specific preworkout supplements will vary based on the supplement in question.  It helps to frame the question around certain preworkout supplements specifically.  I can go down a common list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Branched+Chain+Amino+Acids/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BCAAs&lt;/a&gt; can help with protein synthesis and uptake for people with low protein in their diet (below 1g/kg body weight).  In novices it can help lower the intensity of DOMS.  However, for people who consume over 1-1.5g/kg protein they already get enough BCAAs in their normal diet and supplementation does nothing more than provide a placebo effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Caffeine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Caffeine&lt;/a&gt; is a nootropic stimulant with well studied affects for increasing physical strength and endurance.  Continued use causes you to be tolerant to the substance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt; is a well studied supplement that increases your pool of creatine phosphates, allowing you to regain ATP more quickly.  It increases power output, available muscle creatine content, and water retention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Taurine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Taurine&lt;/a&gt; is a semi-essential amino acid that assists in anti-oxidant defense systems.  It's primary benefit is increasing blood flow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other pre-workout supplements and supplement stacks, but research is still being compiled.  For example &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/topics/Nitric+Oxide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nitric Oxide (NO)&lt;/a&gt; has a lot of marketing behind it, and is supposed to improve blood flow--however independent research is still being compiled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One component not yet covered that is present in many pre-workout stacks is dextrose or glucose.  This is simply a form of sugar and works by providing a direct source of quickly metabolized energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: do not use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/food/dietarysupplements/qadietarysupplements/ucm346576.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;any pre-workout that contains DMAA&lt;/a&gt; as this is considered harmful by the FDA, and has been implicated in psychiatric disorders, heart problems, nervous system disorders, and death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unsure of how any supplement works, check out Examine.com.  They compile independent research and grade how useful the research is and the amount of effect the supplement had.  There are a number of supplements that simply don't do much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, it is not uncommon for the placebo affect to affect many friend's recommendations.  They hear it's supposed to do something, so they make it true.  One such example is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/02/26/steroids-dosage-and-the-placebo-effect/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pair of studies&lt;/a&gt; where all the participants were told that there were going to be two groups: those taking steroids and those not taking steroids.  All the participants were administered a placebo and told they were in the steroid group.  All the participants saw increases in ability in line with steroid use.  Then one group was informed that they really weren't in the steroid group and they were getting a placebo all along.  That group dropped back to their pre-study capabilities.  This was in face of the fact that the participants saw real improvements without steroids.  The placebo affect can be very strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T13:16:27.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-17T18:05:26.383" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 38 year old male, 5 ft 10in weighing 82 kg. I started going to the gym regularly about 5 months ago - 4 or 5 days a week, each day doing 1000kcal worth of cardio plus some weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After approx 3 months I was down from 83kg to approx 77kg, however I then got ill and didn't go to the gym for two weeks. I was slightly horrified to see when I did go back that in those 2 weeks I had regained all the weight that I'd lost in the previous 3 months. I was back to nearly 83kg!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have since been doing the same regimen for the past month and a half or so and my weight has hovered around 82-83kg. My diet has been pretty much the same both before and after I started going to the gym regularly, maybe improved a little since I started - I aim for around 2000-2500 kcal per day (though that usually falls down at the weekend).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea how this could happen? And how to remedy? It's slightly depressing...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8419" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T13:48:09.797" Title="Initial weight loss, followed by 2 weeks of inactivity" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16176" CreationDate="2014-04-17T22:27:44.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What aerobic exercise do you do? What exercises get you heart rate within target range for 20+ min. My guess would be a lack of general fitness. If your heart and lungs aren't strong enough to get oxygenated blood to your muscles, then you wont be able to build strength as effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No, I virtually never see &quot;medical practitioners.&quot; I certainly wouldn't waste time to see one for such a menial concern over fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the love of god I hope this is a joke. Doctors aren't just for the sick. See a doc in order to keep yourself healthy and safe. Be thankful if the visit is a &quot;waste&quot; of your time, because it means that you don't have more serious problems looming over the horizon. Go see a doc, go see a doc, ......... go see a doc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8421" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T22:27:44.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2014-04-18T06:16:03.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me try to have a stab at answering your questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nike makes a pretty good range of shoes and I'm sure you can find one that will suit. Look for LunarGlide that are fairly light, not tons of cushioning, but more than Saucony Kinvara. They also use the Flywire design (knitted top). In also supernator and find them great for both short and longer distances.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a lot of snobbery in the running world. And because Nike have been focusing for years at the fashion end of the market they might not have been taken seriously. But they have some great products, a lot of innovative technology and probably the largest budget on R&amp;amp;D and testing.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wonder whether the smaller brands offer cash incentives to shops to carry their product, or possibly higher margins. This way the shop owners are more likely to push Saucony, Asics, Mizuno,etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I started with Nike Free run. They fitted very well, but then I thought, let's give a smaller brand a shot. Sadly I found the Kinvara lacking in longevity, so I'm back to Nike for another pair of road runners and am not regretting. I still have for other pairs from different brands, so have a good means for comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7056" LastEditorUserId="6463" LastEditDate="2014-05-19T09:11:35.877" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T09:11:35.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16188" CreationDate="2014-04-18T15:40:05.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with NikeFuel is that it isn't truly a direct measure of your activity.  In other words, it's an approximation based on oxygen use as &lt;a href=&quot;http://mashable.com/2013/01/31/nike-fuelband/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;per Mashable&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The partnerships with Arizona State and other partners were critical in developing the foundation for NikeFuel. Oxygen kinetics is the most universal way to understand the level of exertion to perform a core movement,&quot; says Ricky Engelberg, Experience Director of Digital Sport at Nike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://support-en-us.nikeplus.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/38261/p/3169,3178/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzk3NjcyNDUxL3NpZC9ya1IxYllSbA==&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Per Nike Support&lt;/a&gt;, the algorithm for NikeFuel points is different based on the device used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you use multiple Nike+ devices, you may receive a different NikeFuel amounts on each device for the same workout. That's because each Nike+ device uses different technologies and are optimized for different experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And things can be very inconsistent when you use the Nike FuelBand as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/technology/nike-fuelband-tracks-physical-activity-inconsistently.html?_r=1&amp;amp;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;per the NY Times&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One lazy Sunday, I lounged around my apartment with my iPad and an endless pot of coffee, barely moving. But the band delivered a cheery message: I’d hit my goal for the day. Huh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem in that case is that there is nothing that helps you change and correct for the better in any consistent manner.  Some people have gotten more points from eating pizza than climbing stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T15:40:05.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-18T16:20:06.997" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accordign to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/715/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ace Fitness&lt;/a&gt;, it is a myth that potassium deficiency causes cramps, since there isn't enough potassium in sweat to deplete potassium. Sodium deficiency is blamed instead. Is this true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1064" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:33:40.773" Title="Does Potassium Deficiency Really Cause Cramps?" Tags="&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16176" CreationDate="2014-04-18T19:08:01.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to rule out worst-case scenarios, do you have any issues with eye movement as the day goes on? There's a nasty auto-immune disease called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasthenia_gravis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Myasthenia Gravis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; where the primary symptoms are loss of muscular control with use. Almost always, it's characterized by often-used muscles such as the eyes and the jaw, but there are rare cases just involving major muscle groups. The signature field test involves having the person being tested do a squeeze test about 4-5 times in a row with the diagnosis coming if the person's strength consistently falls with each squeeze. This is sounding dangerously similar. I would definitely recommend seeing a doctor. Yes, it is an investment of time and money (when you consider lost wages, even with health insurance, the average medical visit costs a cool $100 for many professions), but the amount you'll save if this is something major is enough to justify the cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T19:08:01.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14408" CreationDate="2014-04-18T19:40:57.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a doctor, I have studied different causes of renal failure but supplement proteins were not amongs them I have used different protein supplement for the past couple of years and I am not concerned abou it. But if sombdy who already have a kidney problem should avoid it bcs it may aggravate their problem. Keep drinking keep drinking keep drinking plenty of water alongside your protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8425" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T19:40:57.570" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16200" CreationDate="2014-04-18T19:55:15.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no single cause of cramps, but there are several known causes.  Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/muscle-spasms-cramps-charley-horse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ask.com/wiki/Cramp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ask.com&lt;/a&gt; have overlapping reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poor blood circulation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overexertion of a muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercising in the heat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potassium/Magnesium deficiency&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Malfunctioning nerves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember reading a long time ago that it's less about a potassium/magnesium deficiency and more about an imbalance between those minerals and sodium.  What the article you linked to fails to recognize is the involvement of those minerals in the muscle itself.  It's not sweated out because it is used as your muscles work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-18T19:55:15.800" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16205" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16206" CreationDate="2014-04-19T19:37:20.173" Score="5" ViewCount="3151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to begin with the strong lifts 5x5 program. The only problem I have is the lack of a spotter or power rack for the bench press. Would it be a good idea to do dumbell bench press instead? The reason is safety. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8429" LastActivityDate="2014-04-20T08:04:34.903" Title="Substituting dumbell bench press for barbell bench press" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16205" CreationDate="2014-04-19T20:23:31.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;First&lt;/strong&gt;, congratulations for taking the time to exercise. It's an achievement by itself &lt;em&gt;(considering many people want to, but don't end up doing it)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Second&lt;/strong&gt;, If you really want to follow the StrongLifts 5X5 program, no, you cannot use dumbbells. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You need to use a barbell and weights.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Why? &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For one, you cannot squat with dumbbells. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The core of the program is progressively increasing your lifting weights by adding 2.5 lbs at every workout.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; You cannot do that with dumbbells. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For two, have you tried squatting &lt;em&gt;(or bench pressing)&lt;/em&gt; with two 50-lbs dumbbells before? Have you tried the barbell equivalent? Which is harder? Yes, the dumbbells are much harder to do. So, it'll be impossible for you to follow the program with dumbbells. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Third&lt;/strong&gt;, depending on your starting weight, you might not need a spotter initially. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You're recommended to start with the empty barbell.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Because you're increasing the weights in small increments, it's relatively hard to really injure yourself, unless you aren't paying attention to your body. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Fourth&lt;/strong&gt;, as the weights you lift increase, the chance of injuring yourself increases as well. This is the time to worry about a spotter or a rack. You have a few options. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Invest in a power rack. You can get something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B006CW02ZS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; that doesn't take much space. Yes, it might seem a little expensive, but considering the potential health cost if you hurt yourself, this is a pittance. And it can be used for all the 5X5 exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Join a gym that has a rack. Although the initial cost of this is lower than the first option, this cost adds up over time. &lt;em&gt;The good news is that you'll usually have someone available to spot you, if you ask nicely :).&lt;/em&gt; Also, this option gives you access to a wider range of weights, so you don't have to purchase weight discs as you exhaust your current limit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Get any of your friends involved in the program. This way, they can spot you and you can spot them. Both of you reap the benefits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, if you decide to skip Strong Lifts, there are other compound exercise programs you can follow such as Starting Strength or Wendel's 5-3-1. &lt;em&gt;However, they all require barbells and incremental weights.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Safety is very important and you should ensure you have the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;proper equipment and form&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for each exercise; otherwise, you can really injure yourself. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Whatever you decide to do, doing nothing is the worst injury you can inflict on yourself.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Go get stronger :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-19T20:23:31.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16205" CreationDate="2014-04-20T08:04:34.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a barbell for the other lifts (particularly squat and deadlift), then yes, dumbbell bench is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most lifts, dumbbells are too difficult to properly load the movement. Bench press is a special case where the dumbbell version...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;can be made just as heavy as the barbell version for most people&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doesn't require a spotter, which the barbell version does, and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is actually slightly &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; useful for athletics than the barbell version&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, getting into position with the dumbbell bench is a little more difficult when the weight gets heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you still need a squat or power rack for the squats, and you still need a barbell for the squats and deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-04-20T08:04:34.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16209" CreationDate="2014-04-20T10:10:29.490" Score="4" ViewCount="4116" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much faster can I expect to run my 10 K races when I've lost 10 kg (18 lbs) per September 1 this year, compared to when I weighed 80 kg, in March of this year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an experienced runner (16 years of more or less continuous training), male, 54 years old, who got injured in 2010 and gained a lot of weight, which I'm slowly trying to lose over the years (about 10 kg, 22 lbs, per year, started in 2013). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current weight is 78 kg, 174 cm long, which gives me a BMI of 25.8. My current fastest recent 10 K race result is 46:02 minutes, half marathon 1:45 hours. That was when I still weighed 80 kg (176 lbs), BMI 26.4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm training daily, around 60 km (37 mi) per week, one interval session, one intensive training run between 10 en 15 km, several easier sessions (for recovery), and a race or test run every week. I don't feel tired or over-trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastEditorUserId="8430" LastEditDate="2014-04-20T11:23:45.510" LastActivityDate="2014-04-20T11:32:22.937" Title="How much faster can I expect to run with less body weight?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16208" CreationDate="2014-04-20T11:32:22.937" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/224566-how-much-will-my-running-pace-improve-if-i-lose-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;multiple&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-does-weight-loss-affect-my-running-speed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sources&lt;/a&gt; a good &lt;strong&gt;estimate&lt;/strong&gt; is about 2 seconds per pound per mile (This is something around 2.7 seconds per kg per km). Note that it is not a linear formula, there is a point where losing more weight will result in loss in muscle mass, which is likely going to hinder performance. Unfortunately I couldn't find any scholarly research on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this number of 2.7 seconds per kg per km and that you have lost 10 kg and are running a 10k that evaluates to: 2.7 * 10 * 10 = 270 seconds! &#xA;And that time is based on weight loss alone, so with additional training you could expect to do better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8261" LastActivityDate="2014-04-20T11:32:22.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16210" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-21T08:02:08.823" Score="10" ViewCount="740" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any other runners out there who have bunions on their feet? If so, has running led to any long-term or short-term health problems? Is it worthwhile to get a special pair of shoes to accommodate the bunions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard conflicting answers on this, from both professionals and well-meaning people who don't necessarily have bunions themselves. I don't think my bunions have affected my running, though I've been told that I walk on the outside of my feet, and when I run, my feet roll towards the inside, onto my bunions. I've also been told that my bunions raise the risk of hurting my arch, or cause me to run flat-footed. I was told this by a running-shoe salesman, however; in reality, how bad is it to be running flat-footed? Having read &lt;i&gt;Born To Run&lt;/i&gt;, the jury's still out for me there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bunions are the type where the joint where my big toe meets my metatarsus (the inside edge of the balls of my feet) protrudes outwards significantly more than usual. The bones of my feet have just grown that way; it's not a case of chafing leading to calluses, as I originally thought bunions were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also, for reference, I'm just an amateur runner; I don't work on any particular goals except for continuous running, and I usually just toss on my shoes and go without planning much beforehand.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8434" LastActivityDate="2017-12-31T17:44:00.177" Title="Running with bunions: technique, shoes, etc" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;feet&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-21T09:48:57.350" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per my daily schdule i do exercise around 1 hour daily which includes yoga and some basic workouts then eat a small bowl nuts then after ghis i have heavy breakfast which generally includes smoothies with cornflakes/museli or oats. Then in office i avoid lunch as it makes me little sleepy and out of focus. I drink 2-3 times green tea and in evening i have some snacks. Then after coming from office i have my dinner mostly focus on vegetables, grains and salad.&#xA;So my questions is if i skip my lunch daily, is bad for Fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T07:42:28.893" Title="Is it okay if i skip lunch or has any adverse effect on Fitness?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16211" CreationDate="2014-04-21T10:33:14.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it will have an adverse affect on your fitness, but it will cause a dip in your energy levels, and make you more likely to reach for the wrong type of foods later, as you will be so hungry.   What foods have you tried at lunchtime that are making you sleepy?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pasta, or anything that is too heavy is likely to have this affect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try A salad, a wrap or a bagel these shouldn't have the affect of making you sleepy, and will keep your energy levels more consistent throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-21T10:33:14.993" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16184" CreationDate="2014-04-21T13:03:42.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that taking a break for weeks is a bit radical for non-elite runners. What I see others do in my track &amp;amp; field club (and did myself, after my 2 marathons so far) is rest for 2 or 3 days, and then see if you are able to do some jogging or recovery training. Then, after a week or so, you can slowly get back to a regular training schedule. How long it will take completely depends on how you feel. Don't be afraid to break off a training session if you are feeling tired or light in the head. A marathon is tough on the body and you need to take care of your body afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm backed up by &lt;a href=&quot;http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/how-to-recover-after-a-marathon/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;, which has a more specific training plan, but the giste of it is that you need to keep listening to your body, and act on it. There is no sure way to recover from a marathon, not even for the same person. Every race is different and sometimes you feel very tired, other times you feel on top of the world, and are able to run your next marathon two weeks later. There is no way of telling what will be the case. Just take things as they develop and enjoy the recovery process, because it's really marvelous that your body can recuperate so rapidly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastActivityDate="2014-04-21T13:03:42.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15011" CreationDate="2014-04-21T13:34:21.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say no. The marathon distance requires another approach to running than the shorter distances. Because glycogen stored in the muscles lasts for no more than 35 km, even in elite runners, you need to train your body to conserve glycogen and use fat burning instead. This requires another kind of training than you would do for shorter distances, not necessarily easier (although it may seem like it, initially), but different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying it's impossible to do (I've done it), but it's rather unlikely, unless you are very careful not to go for any time goal, just to finish. The trick is to keep your heart rate very low, between 60 and 65 percent of your maximum heart rate, and even then there is no guarantee you will finish. At this low pace you will mainly burn fat, and almost no glycogen. The disadvantage is that it will feel like totally non-competitive, not very worth doing during a race. I did it as a training challenge to myself, to see if it is even possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastActivityDate="2014-04-21T13:34:21.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15011" CreationDate="2014-04-21T15:17:22.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, you can't do a marathon on half marathon training.  But if the marathon is say 3 months after, you could use the half as part of your build up to the marathon.   You need to teach your body to use fat for fuel,which is learnt during the long training runs.  Your body cannot store enough energy through carbohydrates for the duration of the marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The marathon is to be respected, don't do it until you have trained specifically for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-21T15:17:22.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-21T21:18:56.107" Score="2" ViewCount="771" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a desk job and I notice quite a bit of stiffness around the upper spine.  I remember hearing in an episode of Barbell Shrugged that the number one reason people end up in nursing homes is loss of thoracic spine mobility (because they can no longer clean up after using the restroom).  Of course I'd like to avoid that, but I'd also like to increase the mobility and strength in that area, and hopefully combat the stiffness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For mobility, I do upper-spine foam rolling for stretching, and also some spinal rotation stretches, but I imagine having stronger surrounding musculature would improve the situation.  For strength training, I do deadlifts occasionally, and squats and cleans frequently, but I'm not sure if there's something else I could add to my routine to improve on the thoracic area of the spine.  Any recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T02:31:06.233" Title="What exercises can I do to improve the muscles supporting the thoracic spine?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-22T00:38:08.363" Score="3" ViewCount="2364" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I stretch for a few minutes, I seem to be more flexible than before. But, after a few hours of resting, the flexibility gained seems to be lost again and my flexibility is back where I started before the first stretching, meaning I gained little/nothing. How do I prevent this from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8439" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2014-04-22T01:09:31.890" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T19:12:10.010" Title="Why do I lose the flexibility gained from stretching?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16220" CreationDate="2014-04-22T08:25:28.203" Score="2" ViewCount="7193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a strength imbalance in both side of my hips as well as obliques. For this reason, I tend to descend somewhere towards left (my stronger side) and not in the middle during squats. I also find step ups more difficult on my weaker side. I have been to PT's, they couldn't fix it despite lots of sessions. Also, I can't afford for more. And trying to address obliques directly (like side planks) causes a lower back pain - it's more like pinching sensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that treating it as problem in form may be a solution. Meaning reducing load to one in which I can maintain proper form and then working upwards should resolve the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this how it really works?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been very sedentary  due to lots of unresolved injuries for long. Looks like I'm a starter again and starting with very low weights now...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2018-05-10T11:06:01.497" Title="hip and oblique muscle imbalance" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16216" CreationDate="2014-04-22T12:34:06.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to try dumbbell pull overs as they work the serratus muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T12:34:06.720" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16218" CreationDate="2014-04-22T13:02:48.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm willing to bet you don't do single leg work at all.  It's not fun, but it is necessary to deal with things like this.  Single leg work that supports squats include things like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single leg press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulgarian split squats (one leg elevated on a bench)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistols&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to do as many reps as you can with the strong leg, then try to match the reps with the weak leg.  If the weak leg gets fewer reps, rest a bit, and then keep going with that leg until you get 1-2 reps more than the strong leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are performing your regular squats, mentally tell yourself to put the weight on the weak side.  What ends up happening is that you end up in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with never doing single limb work is that your body will automatically compensate with the strong muscles so the relative strength stays the same.  By forcing the weak side to work harder, you will help it catch up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Incorporating Single Leg Work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Single leg work is an assistance exercise.  Do your main squats first.  Afterwards, do your single leg work for 3 sets.  You want to aim for a weight you can do 10 reps with on your strong leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to form, and make sure the reps you do are quality reps--particularly on the weak leg.  If quality suffers, cut the set short.  If you can't get 10 quality reps on your strong leg, you have too much weight on the bar.  As usual, it's better to start light and build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get 10 quality reps per set each leg for all 3 sets, then increase weight.  5 lbs or 2.5 kg is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T13:02:48.390" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6711" CreationDate="2014-04-22T14:08:52.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main idea is  to  have two phases.&#xA;Short period of carbs restrictions to lower insulin production and thus heightened lipolysys.&#xA;At that time high protein content  of  the  nutrition along  with  weight training must  pre-serve muscles from wasting even  despite lower caloric income.&#xA;Then in the second phase carb  refeed comes in raising metabolic rate, hormones production and&lt;br&gt;&#xA;improving  metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the idea.&#xA;detailed discussion may be found in UUD2 book  by  Lyle McDonald.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally i found this approach to  be too difficult for the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However  the diet (UUD2,  which  is a detailed plan  based on  carb cycling combined with very  special  training) is quite effective to minimize fat gains during  bulking  or maintain muscles during  fat loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T14:08:52.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11595" CreationDate="2014-04-23T00:17:20.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, I just came from the doctor TODAY where I was examined for the EXACT SAME PROBLEM.  I gained a lot of weight from an illness, which I am now losing (down 65 pounds so far!).  As I lose weight, the omentum (belly fat that now hangs down) has hung down more, so instead of my belly sticky out, it now sags down.  About two months ago, I started noticing a hardened area at the bottom of my belly.  It has been growing (the hardened parts), and that was examined at the doctor today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fat that has &quot;settled&quot; or re-distributed to that location, and it IS HARDENED FAT -- everyone else commenting here that it's not, you are all mis-informed, sorry to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMPORTANT:  This hardened stomach fat can, according to my doctor,  a) get infected, and/or  b)develop into necrosis (dead tissue).  Both of those conditions are VERY SERIOUS and require surgery to excise the infected/dead tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WHAT TO DO:  Massage the hardened area frequently, and not too hard (do not cause an abrasion on yourself!).  Use body oil or lotion when massaging.. This moisturizes the skin and allows you to work the hardened area.  Definitely go to the doctor and start monitoring it closely.  It can turn ugly, but from the sounds of it you have caught it early enough.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep massaging it, and if you are also dropping some weight, you can soften up the tissue enough that it doesn't get infected or necrotic.  Then later, when you are nearer to your goal weight, you can get a tummy tuck if the omentum is still a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, and best of luck with it -- I am starting my massaging tonight!!!  xox&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS to the person who has discoloration around the hardened belly fat -- Please, please, get to a doctor IMMEDIATELY.  Discoloration is a sign that there is a more serious problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastEditorUserId="8446" LastEditDate="2014-04-23T00:24:52.467" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T00:24:52.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16246" CreationDate="2014-04-23T03:10:06.730" Score="2" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just increased my barbell weight from 18kg to 24kg for when I am doing bicep curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that I am getting a slight pain in my forearm (closer to my elbow) as I raise the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an indication I might be attempting to lift too much? Or do you think after some more training the pain may subside (increase in strength)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already read this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11710/pain-in-forearm-while-doing-bicep-curls&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; but my pain is during the lift rather than after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7528" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T13:32:07.387" Title="My forearm hurts, should I lower my barbell weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16241" CreationDate="2014-04-23T03:51:06.227" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to think I workout every day but in reality I might workout every other day, on a good week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now my routine consists of around 3 sets of between 15 and 20 push ups, around 30 reps with two 10 pound dumbbells and around 20 to 25 crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's definitely not what I would describe as an intense workout by a long shot but I'm just wondering what other easy things I can throw into my routine that could help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I don't necessarily have any specific goals other than to be &quot;in shape&quot; I'm not too out of shape, I weigh around 140 lbs and I'm able to run on a treadmill for about a half hour without dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8447" LastEditorUserId="8447" LastEditDate="2014-04-23T22:09:54.193" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T09:41:07.103" Title="What easy exercises can I add to my routine?" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16227" CreationDate="2014-04-23T09:57:35.897" Score="0" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for more than a year now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As there are multiple exercises for a particular body part, is there any order one needs to follow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say for example, for chest, people generally do the bench press first, then go for respective upper or lower chest workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it OK to break the order or do I need to follow the same order?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-04-23T11:19:49.140" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T11:19:49.140" Title="Exercise order for a particular body part?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16226" CreationDate="2014-04-23T10:51:41.970" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, you want to do compound exercises &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; isolation exercises. Why? Because compounds give you the most 'bang for your buck'. You &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; do 5 isolation exercises for your legs, or you just squat and hit all the muscles at once. Compounds also have a much better effect on the release of anabolic hormones and central nervous system activation.&#xA;Some other reasons for going from bigger muscles to smaller ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Form/Safety: Compound exercises are generally harder to do than isolation exercises, as they are using multiple joints and are normally not guided by machines. As such, you want to do them while you're still fresh to keep good form, as bad form &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; get you injured. Isolation exercises are normally done with lighter weight, and are often guided through the particular machine, so you don't have to concentrate on form that much.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Performance: Since compound exercises use many muscles instead of just one, you don't want to pre-exhaust certain smaller muscles before attempting a compound lift, as that diminishes overall performance (see comment below).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, isolation exercises aren't even strictly necessary. If you're bodybuilding/powerlifting though, you will want to adress specific weak points sooner or later, though. That's when isolation exercises should be used, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; as the 'bread and butter' of your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-04-23T10:59:23.710" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T10:59:23.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16224" CreationDate="2014-04-23T12:36:27.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Tracy stated, your choice of exercises depends on the goals you hope to achieve. It also depends on your current fitness level when compared to your genetic potential. In other words, if you want your body to change, you have to continue to increase intensity to force change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, the tag implies that you're looking for exercises to add to a home workout (I read that as exercises with minimal or no equipment). I would look into adding the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-up Variations. Different variations can add something to your workout, such as better stability or an increase of upper-body power. You can Google for variations, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness/top-10-push-up-pro-variations.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is just one example&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-up Variations. Same logic and reasoning as push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat and Plyometrics exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list would easily change based on multiple factors, including your health and medical history, available equipment, and &lt;strong&gt;goals&lt;/strong&gt;. So I recommend understanding those factors first, then creating a routine to meet those goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8450" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T12:36:27.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16230" CreationDate="2014-04-23T14:03:46.910" Score="5" ViewCount="433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can normally do a 10 kilometer in one hour, but when I try hard, I can do it in 50 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can exercises like swimming, push-ups and other body weight exercises, doing exercise with an ab roller, doing ball Jackknife, and Ball Ab Rollout, help me in improving my running speed or increasing distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to increase my running distance to more than 10k and here's what happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of increasing my speed as well as distance of run (normally it is 10 km) so after a break of two weeks (I had some work so i had to take break from running) I ran for about 14 kilometers and it caused pain in my left knee. I went to a physiotherapist, he gave me some kind of ultrasonic massage, and now I am fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-04-01T19:26:57.907" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T19:26:57.907" Title="Does exercises other than running help in improving the distance or speed of running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16229" CreationDate="2014-04-23T17:37:41.313" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah you should rarely, if ever, plan on adding more than 10% in either distance or speed per week as a general rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More to the point of your question is whether you want to increase aerobic speed (how fast can you run 10k) or burst speed (how fast can you run &amp;lt; 1k).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the latter, then yes, bodyweight exercises like squats, one-legged squats, box jumps, dead lifts (maybe with slightly more than body weight), etc can definitely help. Running stairs, hills, and/or intervals will also help here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase aerobic speed then those same exercises can help, but not nearly as much as building your aerobic base. There are lots of theories on base building, but the basis of most of them is a lot of steady mileage below your anaerobic threshold. A good way of determining this is your max heart rate (usually 180-200) minus your age. This keeps you much more in fat-burning mode than sugar/glycogen burning mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train at this level, you will eventually (60 days? 90 days?) notice that you can run for the same amount of time and a faster pace at the same heart rate. This is because you will have increased your ability to convert fat to fuel. This will increase your 10k speed, as well as increase the distance you can run at the same pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: If you train at a given heart rate for a given duration, it will mostly likely result in having to slow down, sometimes significantly, for a while as most of us run with a higher than mostly aerobic heart rate. But over time, your long-distance speed will increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T17:37:41.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-23T18:34:23.823" Score="0" ViewCount="491" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5 ft 6 around 56 kilograms. I have some belly fat. i am a programmer so i sit / lie on a bean bag for 8-10 hours everyday. I have started working out. I walk on a treadmill for 3 times for 10 minutes. Between the walks i do exercises for a flat stomach (crunches, windmill, 3/4 situps, alternate heel touches).  What's the best work routine for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8451" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T22:43:07.807" Title="I am 5 ft 6 and 56 kilos. best work out routine for me to get a flat stomach" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-04-26T01:51:56.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16217" CreationDate="2014-04-23T19:12:10.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to gain &quot;permanent&quot; flexibility is to stretch chronically. Every time you stretch you will be giving your muscles an insignificantly small amount more length, that'll revert if you don't stretch often enough, but stretching chronically you will be able to add up those extremely small lengths into noticeable flexibility that lasts. You will need to continue stretching to maintain that though, as the body is always working to return to a &quot;neutral&quot; position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qYYhkfu_vc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is a great resource on the subject if you have 45 minutes to spare, and will describe everything far more sufficiently than I could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8452" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T19:12:10.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-23T19:20:58.780" Score="9" ViewCount="2961" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read Convict conditioning book and in the workout routines part the author put a routine for beginners in which trainees workout an exercise only once per week.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I've read on the internet that beginners should train 3 times per week.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, is once per week for bodyweight exercises like pushups and pullups enough for building muscle ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8453" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T18:34:29.317" Title="Is once-per-week training enough for building muscle" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-23T20:45:36.393" Score="-3" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arnold Schwarzenegger is 66 years old now, and I know you can see all recent videos of him working out, his arm size still is up, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a young guy, 22 years old. I do not do bodybuilding, and workout for strength only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that I can beat Arnold Schwarzenegger in arm wrestling, and I would like to hear your opinion on whether or not you think I could. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can currently do this, although not ideal, not too bad:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press 135 lbs. x 1 rep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 135 lbs. x 1 rep, ATG.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps curl 40 lbs. for single (left; 45 lbs. for single in right), 80 lbs. for double, several reps (about 3-5), dead-hang form (arms hanging completely straight, no jerk, momentum, leaning back, etc.; 100% strict).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can do 3 dead-hang chin-ups and weigh 195 lbs.; can't do a single dead-hang pull-up though, but can come close.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can deadlift about 315 lbs. max, and I feel I could at least give him a run for his money in a full-on, full-force, no holds barred arm wrestling match.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Remember, we're talking Arnold right now, not Arnold in his heyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8454" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-29T12:11:51.230" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T12:11:51.230" Title="Can I beat Arnold in arm wrestling?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2014-04-24T11:24:07.917" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16233" CreationDate="2014-04-23T21:48:37.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will probably see an initial benefit, but I doubt it'd take you far. 3x Week will be more efficient and will allow you to see benefit much further down the road assuming you follow proper progression and eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8452" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T21:48:37.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16233" CreationDate="2014-04-23T22:08:33.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Peter,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Assuming you aren't performing any other muscle building or weightlifting exercises,&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;one day exercise is not enough.&lt;/strong&gt; The 6-day rest period is too large to make any significant progress, especially if you're just starting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any benefit you see in a day will have eroded by the 4th to 5th day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't read the book, but it's likely that the author was talking about &lt;em&gt;performing a specific exercise per day.&lt;/em&gt; So, Day 1 could be pull-ups, Day 2 could be bicep curls, Day 3 is push ups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my assumption is wrong and the author was actually talking about exercising once a week, you can update your question with the reasons he gave for such a recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, no, you won't really see much (permanent) benefits (if any at all). &lt;em&gt;However, you're equally more likely to quit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just find a way to include your routines into your daily life and it'll be easier to do them. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T22:08:33.053" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16243" CreationDate="2014-04-24T09:06:52.087" Score="1" ViewCount="690" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually I do flat skull crushers for Triceps but I have seen some guys doing it in incline and decline way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between incline, decline and flat modes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it same as we do incline/decline (dumbbell/barbell) press for chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorUserId="8020" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T09:38:06.917" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T12:26:36.393" Title="Skull crusher exercise positions" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16231" CreationDate="2014-04-24T09:32:16.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot spot reduce fat in a particular area. If you do a great deal of abdominal exercise you will end up with great abs, still hidden under your fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to great visible abs is to reduce overall fat and the way to do that is to eat less calories than you expend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As 'they' say &quot;Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8462" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T09:32:16.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16224" CreationDate="2014-04-24T09:41:07.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your current exercises are all quite 'isolational'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodyweight squats&lt;/a&gt; which work all of your big leg and ass muscles.&#xA;When they get easy you can start holding your dumbbells in a '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/grab-sit-repeat-the-simple-power-of-the-goblet-squat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;goblet squat&lt;/a&gt;' style to increase the load. Eventually you may even consider a barbell and weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alongside that something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/Exercises/Burpee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt; will get you sweating, and can be made &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/Exercises/BurpeeAdvanced.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;harder&lt;/a&gt; when they become too easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8462" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T09:41:07.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16234" CreationDate="2014-04-24T10:35:55.877" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only is he bigger than you: you're weak, he's strong. You delineate exactly zero qualifications for victory. You have no chance except his charity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T10:35:55.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16238" CreationDate="2014-04-24T12:26:36.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main difference in the various forms of the 'Skull Crusher' or Triceps Extension (or indeed the Bench Press) is the involvement different muscles. As you change your position relative to the direction of gravity, some muscles will have to work more, while others have to work less.&lt;br&gt;Those are notably the chest muscles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neutral Lying Triceps Extension: Both, upper and lower chest have to do some of the work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Triceps Extension: This variant works mostly the upper chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decline Triceps Extension: This variant works mostly the lower chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how the neutral position works all the muscles already. So if you don't feel like either your lower or upper chest needs some extra work to get rid of disbalances, there's no need to do all of these exercises, as some bodybuilders might suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you could also use different grip width, or an inverted grip to achieve similar effects without a variable bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T12:26:36.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16233" CreationDate="2014-04-24T12:59:45.813" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you will see improvements, but they will be slow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The residual training effect table on exrx.net (found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/ResidualTraining.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, screenshot below) describes how the body retains changes in body state and motor control after ceasing to exercise for a certain time period:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fBkFr.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The table shows a &lt;strong&gt;15 day (+/- 5 day) retention period on strength endurance&lt;/strong&gt;.  This is defined as: slow twitch fiber hypertrophy, aerobic/anaerobic enzyme activity, local blood circulation, lactate tolerance. Also shown is a &lt;strong&gt;30 day (+/- 5 day) retention on maximal strength.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of medical references on the webpage for further reading. See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/Detraining.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;detraining muscle mass&lt;/a&gt;, which states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Squat strength of Olympic Weightlifters declined approximately 10% in after 4 weeks of cessation of weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle mass returned to pretraining levels after 5 months of detraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can logically presume that, given the residual effect window, you should be able to progressively overload (and thus build strength and muscle).  However, due to the limited training volume and stimulus you can receive in a single day of training, your progress would obviously be slower than a more rigorous routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T18:34:29.317" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T18:34:29.317" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16231" CreationDate="2014-04-24T13:23:34.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would attack it in two ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the amount of food the same, but increase your protein intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start doing full body exercises to increase your muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the food about the same ensures your body isn't going to substantially increase mass.  Increasing the amount of protein you eat provides more raw material for your body to increase the muscle mass.  However, to take advantage of the increased protein you have to do some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full body strength work, even using nothing but body weight exercises will take advantage of the protein.  Since you are demanding more strength from your body, it will build muscle to meet those demands.  Since you are maintaining the same amount of food (calories), your body has to balance things out which will get rid of the excess fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, if you really start to enjoy the strength work, you may look at increasing your body mass slowly.  56 kg (123 lb) is rather light for a man.  To do that, you work on eating a little more while increasing the intensity of your exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body weight exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't a full exercise plan, but it should be well rounded enough for you to get what you want:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3g4wAsu0R4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body weight squats&lt;/a&gt;: 3xAMAP (As Many As Possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh00_rniF8E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;push ups&lt;/a&gt;: 3xAMAP, feel free to vary the hand positions, but keep your torso rigid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRznU6pzez0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull ups/chin ups&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t97EjUsCFNw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inverted rows&lt;/a&gt;: 3xAMAP (more on this below)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw4qGJLnMyg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;candlesticks&lt;/a&gt;: 3xAMAP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this routine 3x a week, and do something cardiovascular for 20 minutes a day.  That can be running on a treadmill, riding a bike, swimming, running outside, playing basketball, doing some form of aerobics.  The choice really is yours, and having a variety of activities will help you from getting bored with one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the pullups: you might not be able to do them right away.  If you can, great.  However, if you can't do a pull up, start with the inverted rows until you can do 3 sets of 15 reps (3x15).  From there, you should be able to follow Scooby's advice on building up your first sets of pull ups and chin ups.  If you don't have a bar you can hang from, you can at least do inverted rows using a table--just make sure it can support your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind the full body work to get rid of belly fat is the fact you have to get rid of overall fat.  The best way to do that is to increase your muscle mass.  At only 56 kg, your belly fat shouldn't be too bad so a recomposition like this should be very possible.  Strength training has also been shown to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/RTandMentalHealth.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;improve mental health&lt;/a&gt;, so that should help with programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T13:23:34.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16223" CreationDate="2014-04-24T13:32:07.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually hate the idea of answering questions with comments as well as questions not having a real answer, so this might be a bit OCD, but here we go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I pointed out in the comments, you probably did raise your working weight too fast. While different programs use a wide range of progressions, most agree on raising the working weight by a maximum of 10% of what you managed to do the last workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean you have to raise your weigths super-slowly, though. In fact, as long as you manage your target set and rep count &lt;em&gt;with good form&lt;/em&gt;, you can raise you weight each workout. This requires top-notch regeneration, though (calorie surplus, enough sleep, no stress etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T13:32:07.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16216" CreationDate="2014-04-24T14:05:26.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Foam rolling and streching is a good beginning, but strengthening the back can go a long way to reducing discomfort/pain in the back area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the thoracic spine, you'd want to strengthen your middle/upper back. Some exercises that would help in doing so are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest Supported Rows: Work the Serratus Anterior, Lower Trapezius and Latissimus dorsi. Probably the go-to exercise for upper back stability. Proper form is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; important, though, else you'll do more harm than good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull Ups: Another exercise that works most of the back muscles, especially the Latissiumus Dorsi. If you don't want to row, this is the next best thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: Mostly works quads, but also the lower and upper back. More of an allround exercise, but still very useful for building back musculature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above are not mutually exclusive, of course, so you can do all of those on a back day, should you plan on having one. Recommended order would be Deadlift -&gt; Rows -&gt; Pull Ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, form is the key. You can &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; mess up your back if you do these with bad form. An instructor would probably be advisable, but most people won't have access to one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you'd want to consider is muscular balance. I had (and still have) some back problems, which got a good bit better once I started adding dedicated ab exercises. The heightened core tension seems to stabilize my spine where my back can not, so you might want to work on core stability too (planks, reverse crunches etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T14:05:26.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16265" CreationDate="2014-04-24T17:20:49.747" Score="5" ViewCount="2980" Body="&lt;p&gt;My coworkers and I decided to start doing a 30 second max effort &quot;workout&quot; every hour to help us keep from getting too &quot;desk bound&quot; and to add a little bit more volume to our normal workout routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We only have bodyweight for these movements, so we're thinking of doing things like push up variations, inverted rows (on the sides of our desks), squats, situps, that sort of thing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not sure if we should pick a body part per day and do variations on it, or if we should do a different body part per 30 second session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're trying to think of a routine for hourly exercises.  We'd need eight exercises (one for each hour that we'll all be here).  Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T17:34:44.913" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T22:05:26.947" Title="Hourly 30 second workouts for the workday?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16233" CreationDate="2014-04-24T17:55:30.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You must have misunderstood the author about this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've read the book and the workout routines was at least twice a week in the routine &quot;New Blood&quot; He also includes more intense routines but he advises not to use them until you reach level 7 of each of the big six movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you're planning to workout just once a week, You will hardly see any results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/training-each-muscle-group-once-per-week/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/training-each-muscle-group-once-per-week/&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;This website is really helpful when it comes to building your own routine &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T17:55:30.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15009" CreationDate="2014-04-24T19:59:59.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would do internal and external rotation exercises with a resistance band.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For internal - Fix a band around a fixed point.  Start side on to band. With arm closest to band, fix elbow into waist.  Take hand/forearm across body and back, keeping elbow at 90 degrees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;External rotation - again fix band. With arm furtherest from band.  Start with elbow fixed to waist and across stomach.  Stretch resistant band, keeping elbow at 90 degrees and into elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a YouTube example here. I have only watched first 2 exercises mentioned here, so can't comment on the rest of the clip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY2tNBOmvGs&amp;amp;feature=youtube_gdata_player&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY2tNBOmvGs&amp;amp;feature=youtube_gdata_player&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T19:59:59.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16251" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-24T22:20:49.653" Score="2" ViewCount="4028" Body="&lt;p&gt;For about a year now I've been doing the StrongLifts 5x5 weight lifting program. It was about 6 months in that I started to have to pause occasionally while I got over a minor cold - I thought it was just a seasonal thing as winter was setting in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while I'd recover, go back to the gym for a couple of weeks and the situation would repeat. Upon realising the link I'd take a prolonged break from the gym altogether and restart with a big deload (~20%) but within a month or two my immune system would weaken to the point where the process started again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently seeking medical advice but after some initial blood tests, and a physical examination there's nothing obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I'm being sensible when I exercise, incrementing in 2.5kg stages only after successfully lifted 5 sets of 5 reps, ensuring 48hrs between gym visits and eating extra protein after workouts, extra carbs before, and fruit and vegetables all the time. I'm not even lifting particularly heavy loads - 60kg bench, 110kg dead lift, and 80kg squats are my personal bests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone advise on how to strengthen my immune system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT (to address comments):&#xA;Sleep - I work out late when the gym is less busy, say 9-10. I get on average 8 or more hours sleep a night, never less than 7. Never had a problem sleeping.&#xA;Diet - Breakfast is weetabix or other whole grain cereal and whole milk, often a mandarin or similar small orange like fruit. Lunch is usually soup and bread. Evening meal mainly meat, veg and pasta/rice/potatoes. On days where I'm working out I'll eat larger portions than usual. Days after a workout I'll eat additional chicken/tuna throughout the day i.e. as well as normal meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do I think working out is making me ill? I've gone through the same cycle too many times to realise it's not a coincidence. I wait until I'm well before returning but I'll be run down again after only a few sessions. My previous health regime was football and running and this never happened after physically demanding games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8467" LastEditorUserId="8470" LastEditDate="2014-04-25T14:12:35.270" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T04:13:57.830" Title="Weight lifting always leading to illness" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16251" CreationDate="2014-04-24T22:37:48.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You aren't telling us about your diet or sleep schedule. Both these factors are important when considering illness. [This part should be a comment, but I can't comment yet]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer:&#xA;If it is directly related to going to the gym you might want to make sure you are washing your hands thoroughly after a gym session. The gym is a great place for germs to spread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm glad you got blood tests and are seeking medical advice, that is probably your best course of action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8261" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T22:37:48.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16231" CreationDate="2014-04-24T22:43:07.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;56 kilograms is already pretty thin. If you don't already have a flat stomach then I would guess you are skinny-fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am the same height as you and I am also a programmer. I was surprised to find that diet alone, while important, made very little difference in altering my body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a vegetarian and I also practice the fine art of intermittent fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did not see the fat coming off until I added in aerobics. I now run 3x per week. I absolutely &lt;em&gt;hated&lt;/em&gt; running when I started but now I enjoy it. Look for a Couch to 5K app.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three tips:&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add aerobics of some kind. Casually walking on the treadmill ain't gonna cut it. If you're not getting your heart rate up and working up a sweat, it's not enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add some sort of weight training, even if it's something like exercise bands. Fat burns in the presence of muscles. Aerobics + weight training act as a double-whammy against fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are using calorie restriction to lose fat, do not do so for more than 2 days in a row. After about 2 days your body starts to think you're in some sort of trouble and goes into 'starvation' mode; it will try to store everything it can as fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T22:43:07.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16254" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16269" CreationDate="2014-04-24T23:42:45.317" Score="1" ViewCount="514" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is a frequently asked question and it has a a lot of answers on various websites. However, I couldn't get a specific answer for my routine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in bodyweight training and I was told to read Convict conditioning. I did and it was good but the workout routines part got me confused. The routine which was written for the beginners of calisthenics was like that:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Monday:    (A) push ups &amp;amp; leg raises   3 sets for each exercise&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Tuesday:   off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Wednesday: (B) pull ups &amp;amp; squats  3 sets for each exercise&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Thursday:  off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Friday:    (A) push ups &amp;amp; leg raises   3 sets for each exercise&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Saturday:  off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Sunday:    off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Alternating between A &amp;amp; B.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Will I actually gain any muscle if I followed this routine ? I'm not an expert but I feel that it's not enough.&#xA;Any thoughts ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-04-26T03:45:40.520" Title="How often to train to get muscle mass" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16248" CreationDate="2014-04-25T00:27:00.243" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Doc,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; I did something similar a while back and I think you're unlikely to continue the process for a long time. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; First reason is because the time frame is too short. You have limited &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;effective&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; exercises to complete within 30 seconds. You're more likely to quit after realizing it isn't that effective and seems like a waste of time. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second reason &lt;em&gt;(and this is much more important than the first)&lt;/em&gt; is that you're at work and cannot predict how each day &lt;em&gt;(or hours of the day)&lt;/em&gt; will go. One day, you might have meetings all day and the next, be free all day. Another day, you might be so busy and buried in work that you don't even remember making a plan to work out. Before you realize it, you're skipping a lot of these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Here's what currently works for me:&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; I scheduled a time at work &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(12 noon to be exact)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and allocated a location to it. Once it's 12 noon, I simply set aside whatever I'm doing, go into this location and work up a huge sweat for 20 - 30 minutes. Most of my exercises involve body-weight exercises in cardio form &lt;em&gt;(completed as fast as possible)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;This is done every workday.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On days that I cannot do it at 12noon because of a busy schedule or room availability, I simply continue with my work till it's finished (or the room is available) and I go in to pleasure myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always come out drenched and with a smile on my face &lt;em&gt;(with the feeling that I've accomplished something for the day)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Here are the exercises I perform &lt;em&gt;(I sometimes add more, but I ensure these are a must):&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Starting with a 2-min plank &lt;em&gt;(I started with 1-min and worked my way to 2+ mins)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;45+ seconds each of side planks for my obliques.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;20 burpees &lt;em&gt;(yes, including the jumps)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;50 reverse crunches &lt;em&gt;(with my arms behind my head and not by my side)&lt;/em&gt;. I use straight legs &lt;em&gt;(forming an L)&lt;/em&gt; instead of bent knees to increase the pressure on the abs. Also, my calves and legs never touch the ground until the reps are finished &lt;em&gt;(or I'm resting)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;50 regular crunches. I raise my upper chest as high as possible without putting strain on my neck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Not sure what the name is, but I'll describe it. Starting from the regular crunches position described above, I make my right elbow touch my left knees &lt;em&gt;(and vice versa)&lt;/em&gt; in an oblique fashion. I currently do 20 of those.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;40 reverse crunches &lt;em&gt;(this time, with bent knees).&lt;/em&gt; Again, the legs don't touch the ground until the reps are over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;I don't know the name of this exercise, but anyone familiar with P90X Core video knows the move. Perform one push-up, then pull your leg knee towards your stomach, &lt;em&gt;(touching it if possible)&lt;/em&gt;. Return the knee back to its pushup position. Then, another push-up and same pull the second knee towards the stomach. A third push-up and then jump into a squat (similar to burpees move) and stand up. That completes one routine. I currently perform 7 of those.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;50 standing crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;I end the session with 1-min handstand &lt;em&gt;(currently against the wall)&lt;/em&gt; (I sometimes perform more than one set, if I'm not too exhausted).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; I add some other exercises to it time and again, and always try to increase the intensity/reps.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works for me and I usually burn about 450 calories at the end of the session. &lt;em&gt;The afterburn is just icing on the cake :).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you increase the frequency of the daily workouts, you'll likely burn out after a few sessions or quit. But if you allocate specific times of the day and a location, you're likely to progress farther.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have other daily routines I perform, besides those described above. But apart from my regular workout sessions, that is the most intense session I currently use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That's my routine. Find yours and stick to it.&lt;/strong&gt; If you do so, you'll derive much benefits from doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Only Update To This Answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't touched my original answer, which is everything above this update.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've received some flak from some users because &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;they believe I was wrong to suggest that the program is unlikely to progress long-term.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; I've tried explaining my reasoning to them, but they wouldn't hear none of it. So, I'm updating this answer with a challenge &lt;em&gt;(mainly for scientific curiosity)&lt;/em&gt; for the practical minds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For 2 whole months, perform the accepted answer &lt;em&gt;(given by Doc)&lt;/em&gt;, 30 seconds every work hour &lt;em&gt;(8 times for an 8-hr shift, 4 times for a 4-hr shift, etc.)&lt;/em&gt;. If possible, measure the calories burned during the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the period, reflect on how many times you missed the sessions &lt;em&gt;(if any)&lt;/em&gt; and the reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then perform my answer &lt;em&gt;(or a related routine that consists of High Intensity exercises for about 20 minutes once a day at work)&lt;/em&gt; for 2 months. Again, if possible, measure the calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the period, reflect on the sessions and determine how many sessions missed, total calories burned, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the comparison of the two routines, answer the following answers: &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;Which routine are you likely to stick with? &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; Why was the unchosen routine not chosen? &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; Based on your work schedule and location, which of the routines allow you the flexibility to be in shape without sacrificing work productivity? &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; If possible, can you share your experiences with both routines?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, the purpose of this challenge isn't to prove that my answer is valid &lt;em&gt;(although it might be a byproduct),&lt;/em&gt; it's to determine how practical both routines are in various work disciplines. &lt;em&gt;Also, to satisfy scientific curiosity.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another equally important reason is this:&lt;/strong&gt; A lot of people follow exercise routines with flawed designs &lt;em&gt;(without their knowledge)&lt;/em&gt;. And if/when they end up quitting, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;they blamed themselves for failing, without realizing that the fault lies with the program itself.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; When we advise users on routines, our goal is to ensure they are well designed so that the users would be helped on the long run. &lt;em&gt;I don't see a point in giving users routines that they'll abandon after 2 weeks.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please, if you participate in this challenge, share your experiences so we can all benefit from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T22:05:26.947" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16256" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16263" CreationDate="2014-04-25T00:44:29.347" Score="-1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;They say sitting to much is our generation's smoking but what about for someone like me who has a disability that hinders their ability to stand for long periods or just plain move?  I have a physical disability known amyoplasia which is a common form of arthrogryposis. In my case I cannot bend my knees fully (about 45-60 degree angle). I tend to hunch but I could straighten my back. My right foot is turned outward a bit and my balance is ok but not great. From what I have been told, unless I have more surgeries or get in a bad accident, I should not deteriorate like those with MS. My condition makes it difficult for me to move, although I can walk fine if I fall I cannot get up. However if I fall at home I could always use furniture to crawl up and get back up to stand. So because of that I don't walk as much as I probably should. Recently in the past few years I have taken a interest in technology but I'm worried because of all the recent studies and reports about sitting that I am sitting too much. Using a standing desk may help but my feet start to hurt after a few hours of too much standing. Any ideas to help counteract the problem of sitting too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8468" LastEditorUserId="8468" LastEditDate="2014-04-26T03:50:30.527" LastActivityDate="2014-04-26T03:50:30.527" Title="They say sitting is our generation's smoking but what about people with disabilities like me?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" ClosedDate="2014-04-26T01:51:24.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16251" CreationDate="2014-04-25T01:59:33.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Hi Iain,&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Do you take multi-vitamins? If not, you need to add multi-vitamins to your daily intake. &lt;strong&gt;Vitamin C is especially needed for immune system boost.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Since you've already sought medical help and nothing obvious could be found, I would start with taking the multi-vitamins. Our bodies can't produce all the nutrients it needs; that's why multi-vitamins are needed. Vitamins rich in B-complex, manganese, zinc, and iron are also recommended daily.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Also, look out for things that can cause allergies. Your symptoms could be the results of allergies. You can try switching gyms, equipment, or clothings to determine if your situation is allergy-related.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try other exercise programs to determine if these particular exercises are too strenuous for your body to handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't exactly tell you what the problem is, but by changing a few things and observing the results, you might be able to determine where the problem lies and then fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T01:59:33.100" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-25T02:16:05.313" Score="1" ViewCount="812" Body="&lt;p&gt;People commonly increase the difficulty of dips by either adding weight around the neck or waist as shown below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AkA3B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dips weighted around the neck&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SmYpE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dips weighted around the waist&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less commonly are using a weighted vest or backpack to add resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, how does changing the position of weights during a dip change the exercise?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Specifically, does it alter which muscles are used or increase the risk of injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T08:58:56.553" Title="What is the impact of changes in weight placement during weighted dips?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16216" CreationDate="2014-04-25T02:24:01.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/16247/2861&quot;&gt;Larissa's answer&lt;/a&gt; covers almost all of the bases, however in addition if you are concerned about thoracic strength, I'd recommend shoulder depressions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, they don't have a dedicated page on ExRx, however they are mentioned under the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Scapula.html#anchor71475&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scapula articulations page&lt;/a&gt;. While people often work out their upper and middle trapezius, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusLower.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lower fibers&lt;/a&gt; are a deeper, less aesthetic, muscle and are often underworked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where the upper trapezius is used in raising the shoulders, the lower is used in pulling them lower, as shown in the image below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LJkpt.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence, you can work these out by mounting a dip bar as shown, keeping the arms locked lowering the body and concentrating on raising the body again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if you do chest or triceps dips you can focus on doing a &lt;em&gt;complete range of motion&lt;/em&gt; and raising the body as high as possible before lowering back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T02:31:06.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16258" CreationDate="2014-04-25T06:43:13.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One difference would be the angle you body is in, relative to the pull of gravity.&#xA;This can be compared to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16238/skull-crusher-exercise-positions/16243#16243&quot;&gt;incline/neutral/decline bench presses/tricep extensions&lt;/a&gt;, where similar changes of position are used.&#xA;By changing the way your body is positioned, you will have to use different stabilising muscles (mostly the upper/lower chest in varying degrees).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason for changing weight placement is that the moment arms change:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When hanging the weight from a dip belt, it's directly under your body, your arms etc.&#xA;You won't have to fight any swinging motions, as there are no moment arms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When hanging the weight from neck region (like in your first picture), you'll have a considerable moment arm, that constantly tries to pull you over. To avoid toppling off the dip station, you'll have to actively work against that moment arm and stabilize your position. This will add additional stress on your stabilizing muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An extreme example: When putting on weighted cuffs on your ankles and extending your feet in front of you, this becomes much clearer. With this variation, you'd work your abs much more than normal, in addition to your arms, chest etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other positions might influence body position, moment arms and stabilizing needs differently, using different muscles to varying degrees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all of these will put a different stress on the body than the 'basic dip', so an injury risk is definitely there, as the muscles haven't been used in that way before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider that the longer the moment arm between the weight and your shoulders, the more strain is put on your shoulders. So most variations put additional stress on the shoulders, which might heighten the injury risk if you lose form or overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T08:58:56.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16262" CreationDate="2014-04-25T06:56:33.320" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current workout routine is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday : Chest&#xA;Tuesday : Triceps&#xA;Wednesday : Lat's/Back&#xA;Thursday : Biceps&#xA;Friday : Shoulder&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday, whole day I go to play cricket and Sunday is rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing Chest workout, I feel more pressure on shoulders as most of the chest workouts involve Shoulder movement (Chest workout comes after Shoulder in my routine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I am thinking to interchange Lats/Back workout with Shoulder which seems fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know your thoughts about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorUserId="8020" LastEditDate="2014-04-25T07:11:55.083" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:49:45.730" Title="Interchanging Workouts" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16261" CreationDate="2014-04-25T08:56:37.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, most routines are not created for one person specifically, so they won't address that person's specific needs, prior injuries, disbalances etc. So some adjustments will most likely have to be made by each individual person to suit their needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, your shoulder takes probably more time to regenerate than the creator of your routine anticipated. Switching your back-day with your shoulder-day might very well solve that problem, giving your shoulder more time before it is used again. It might also introduce new problems, though, as split-programming is a very complex issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the exercises you do, you might introduce other problems, since most exercises use more than one muscle group. Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're doing the Overhead Press for shoulders, your performance may go down as your triceps might still be sore from the day before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Putting back-day after biceps-day might also impede your performance on heavy Pull-Ups, should you do those.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above are just two examples for your specific case. Depending on your individual genetics and your regeneration of certain muscles, you might not even experience those. Make sure to check your performance on all your exercises to make sure you're not overlooking anything, and adjust accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T08:56:37.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16256" CreationDate="2014-04-25T12:41:45.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to preface this with the fact that I am not a physical therapist, nor am I a personal trainer.  Before embarking on any type of exercise regimen, I do recommend you talk to your doctor and quite possibly get a physical therapist if you (or your family) can afford it.  The good news is that it seems like your condition is not degenerative.  My daughter's friend has a rare form of MS that inhibits the body's ability to rebuild muscle after exercise.  He also needs help getting up if he falls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the general description of what you have, and a quick reading of what Amyoplasia is, working the lower body is going to be a challenge.  This is why I recommend a physical therapist.  They may be able to help you compensate better for the limitations in your range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like several forms of aerobic training just aren't going to work for you.  That means you'll have to be a lot more creative.  Here's the good news: the heart doesn't know whether you are using your legs or your arms to move.  It just knows it has to pump more blood.  You just need to get your heart rate up, but still be able to talk while exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple possibilities would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming (legs are typically straight in most forms)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything where the bulk of your movement is in the upper body.  I believe there are some exercise bike variations where you pedal with your hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here your options are a bit more open, particularly since you are going to be supported in some capacity.  If the disability is strictly in the lower body, I recommend the use of machines for exercising the legs.  While I love exercises like squats and deadlifts, those aren't going to work for you.  (You &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be able to do sumo deadlifts, but I'd wait a bit before you attempt them).  If your upper body is not afflicted by the amyoplasia, then I would attempt to use free weights while in a seated or laying position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press (dumbbells or barbells)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated overhead press (dumbbells or barbells)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell rows (kneeling on a bench)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull downs (machine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press (machine, as much range of motion as you can safely handle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curls (machine, same as leg press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any abdominal work (planks, sit ups, candlesticks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of the machines with something to sit on or lay on should be quite safe for you.  You'll at least want to get strong enough so that you can have more independence.  You might need some forearm crutches to move around in the gym, and you can use them to help you get up and down.  Don't be scared of the weight room.  Most everyone there is just trying to get stronger or look better.  You can make some good friends there.  Your initial goal would be to be able to stand up and sit down at will--even if you are using something to help you to transition.  If you spend enough time there just putting in work, people will come to respect you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Final Thoughts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disabilities just means some things are harder for you than they are for other people.  The challenge is to find what you can do, and what you enjoy doing.  Physical therapists help you either regain lost mobility, or make better use of the body you have.  Finding a good one will help you be as independent as you can be, and help you live your life as fully as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you have some physical limitations, the biggest limitation &lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt; has is what they allow themselves to do.  Everyone is capable of improving themselves in some way.  The more you understand what your limitations truly are, the smarter you can be about improving yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that moving regularly in some fashion is going to help your heart work better, use your calories better, keep your blood pressure down, and in general improve your overall health.  Find what you can do now, and look to improve on that over time.  You might not ever be on the basketball team, but you'll be a more confident person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T12:41:45.817" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16251" CreationDate="2014-04-25T12:59:25.260" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, understand that stress in any form depresses your immune system.  Lifting weights is a training stress, and in particular deadlifts can really push you over the edge.  The goal is that when the stress is lifted and you recover you are at a stronger position.  I have no idea what your current stats are with the squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press, and barbell rows.  A year is a long time to be on that beginner program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps it's environmental.  Some place where you go regularly might be a breeding ground for colds.  The training stress just makes you more susceptible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps it's time to move on from StrongLifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts is a beginner program, a typical run with it would be 3-6 months.  A whole year running the program is probably putting more stress on your body than it can handle.  Moving to a different program with a slower regular progression could help your recovery a lot.  You might consider Texas Method, or Wendler 5/3/1, the Cube method, or Juggernaut 2.0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that it sounds like your training is outpacing your body's ability to recover.  Doing 5x5 in every lift (save the deadlift) with any appreciable weight is a tremendous amount of stress on your body.  By spreading that out over a week or a month, or even longer you can really help your body recover from the training stress and stay above that threshold of getting sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T12:59:25.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16248" CreationDate="2014-04-25T14:16:52.583" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;We came up with a push / pull / legs routine with some pretty standard stuff:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Monday, Wednesday, Friday:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;9AM (push)&lt;/strong&gt;: Clapping pushup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10AM (pull)&lt;/strong&gt;: Inverted row (under a desk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;11AM (legs)&lt;/strong&gt;: Bulgarian split squat (foot on chair)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1PM (push)&lt;/strong&gt;: Chest dips in (facing) corner of desk / counter top &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2PM (pull)&lt;/strong&gt;: Inverted row (feet elevated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3PM (legs)&lt;/strong&gt;: Sissy squat or single leg squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4PM (push)&lt;/strong&gt;: Pike pushup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5PM (abs)&lt;/strong&gt;: Plank (for time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tuesday, Thursday:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;9AM (push)&lt;/strong&gt;: Decline pushup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10AM (pull)&lt;/strong&gt;: Inverted row (under a desk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;11AM (legs)&lt;/strong&gt;: Wall sit (for time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1PM (push)&lt;/strong&gt;: Reverse dips (feet elevated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2PM (pull)&lt;/strong&gt;: Inverted row (feet elevated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3PM (legs)&lt;/strong&gt;: Sissy squat or single leg squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4PM (push)&lt;/strong&gt;: Pike pushup or handstand hold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5PM (abs)&lt;/strong&gt;: V-Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a table:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OwBM5.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to go with maximum intensity for 30 seconds (unless otherwise stated).  We're finding that it gets the heart rate going a little bit but doesn't make us sweat, exhausts the muscle a little bit, gets us out of our chairs every hour, and is fun because it builds some team morale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-04-25T17:19:33.410" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T17:19:33.410" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16251" CreationDate="2014-04-25T15:29:21.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many years ago I had a similar problem to this.  I was a marathon runner, and was used to pushing my body hard.  I had some blood tests done.  Nothing showed up re iron or the normal things they test for, but the white blood count was low which meant my immune system was suppressed.  I found it really hard to step back from training, but training hard just makes the situation worse, and prolongs the problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest reducing training significantly for a few months.  And have at least one days rest between training days, also take a tonic to try and help with your recovery.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Berin loritsch suggests changing your program which I think is a good suggestion.  Also, as Berin said, do be aware that other things causing stress in your life will suppress your immune system.  Good luck on your recovery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T15:29:21.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16229" CreationDate="2014-04-25T17:34:05.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercises that require increased cardiovascular activity should all help improve stamina, and exercises that require explosive muscle movements should all help improve power, acceleration and speed.  For instance, swimming is a great total-body exercise that can improve both.  It's worthwhile to note, however, that other exercises probably can't help you improve things that might be specific to running, such as your stride, posture, breathing rhythms, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A type of training I recommend you look into is High-Intensity Interval Training.  Studies have shown it to have numerous benefits.  For instance, if you go for long, slower jogs of great distance, you will improve endurance but not speed.  Strangely, the opposite is not true: if you do a series of fast bursts of sprinting to exhaustion, then resting, then sprinting again, etc., you will improve both speed AND endurance, and in much shorter workouts than long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100311123639.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100311123639.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8474" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T17:34:05.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16254" CreationDate="2014-04-25T19:18:26.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably will gain some muscle if you are new to working out, but I don't think it will be too long before you outgrow this routine. &#xA;If you feel it's not intense enough, feel free to add extra sets, exercises, or different muscle groups. I think the number one ingredient for success is to push yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8362" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T19:18:26.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16254" CreationDate="2014-04-25T19:42:33.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I answer I just want to point out that when I was in high school (long ago) I was 5 foot 11 and weighed between 85 and 95lbs. Now I weigh between 180 and 190. I've tried a lot of things over the years. Some worked, some didn't. Bodyweight did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Mark Rippetoe says, training doesn't help you build muscle, recovering from training builds muscle. Starting strength is a barbell strength and mass program that is based on 3 sets of 5 reps at 3 exercises 3 days a week. Texas method is even more sparse, with one day at 5 sets of 5 reps of 3 exercises and one day of 1 set of 5 reps of 3 exercises per week. If you are really pushing yourself at your strength training, you will need a lot of time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This routine is probably a little light. You could do all four of those exercises on Monday Wednesday and Friday without difficulty to start with. You will eventually outgrow this routine, but there's a more advanced one, developed based on my experiences with Starting Strength and Texas Method in my answer to your previous question (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16088/i-want-to-get-ripped-can-bodyweight-exercises-do-the-job/16100#16100&quot;&gt;I want to get ripped. Can bodyweight exercises do the job?&lt;/a&gt;) which will go a long ways towards helping you build muscle using bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular I'd like to reiterate that you need to keep volume low and intensity high and maintain consistency over long periods of time. Another thing that I'll point out is that in order to build muscle, you'll need to be eating more. Adding large amounts of whole milk and eggs to your diet, and remembering the rule &quot;meat with every meal&quot; is a simple way to add sufficient protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that bodyweight routines will take longer to build muscle mass than barbell routines will. However, you can build a lot of muscle with body weight. It's time to just get started. I'd like to see your next question on bodyweight strength/convict conditioning be on a specific point that you're struggling to get past, instead of trying to make sure that it will work before you start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when in doubt, listen to Goku.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j8R8V.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-04-26T03:45:40.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-26T14:42:20.143" Score="4" ViewCount="915" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got serious leg flexibility problems and have some lateral knee clicking and knee pain and tendonitis. Basically too much driving and cycling with no stretching i think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I try and get into the Lotus position my first leg/knee will be pointing near vertical. Its comical and feel like I'm falling backwards. I'm better than before though with stretching but still feel discomfort when just sitting cross legged on the floor for 10 minutes. I did months of strengthening the glutes and stretching the hip flexors but still have clicking knees. I'm now concentrating on stretching the piriformis more and the adductors/groin. I'm in Asia, out of the way abit from physios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a tight piriformis the most likely culprit for first knee high in the air when trying to get into the lotus position? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8482" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2014-04-27T18:54:54.283" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T18:54:54.283" Title="How to safely approach the lotus position for someone with tight hips?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-26T17:21:54.597" Score="1" ViewCount="1017" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym does not have a squat rack, and I can't seem to find any beginner strength routines without squats. Any suggestions? Is it possible to do something like strong lifts with split squats instead? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8483" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:43:44.110" Title="Beginner full body routine without squats" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16271" CreationDate="2014-04-26T18:47:32.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most often, it is tightness in the lateral rotators that prevent people from safely getting into the lotus position. So yes, a tight piriformis is likely a culprit. The adductors are usually not the issue for lotus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, if you have acute knee pain, you should not even attempt a lotus, or do any of the preparation exercises. If you are pain free at rest, then you can start working on lotus, but any time you feel the slightest pain or even discomfort in the knees, back off. Never leave your bent knee unsupported in the air, put a block or pillow under your knee/thigh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double pigeon pose is a great preparation for lotus, it is great for stretching muscles in the buttocks including the lateral rotators. In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8irfsWq0w&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;, David Keil, yoga anatomy expert, explains how to approach lotus safely. In addition, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Tn7wWvr7U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;using a foam roller&lt;/a&gt; might help to massage and stretch the buttocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a personal note, I was able to do the lotus a few years back, but stopped practising it. I just find it too risky for my knees. Our western lifestyle (sitting on chairs especially) create a lot of tightness in the hips, and no amount of stretching and exercise can fully compensate for that. Leslie Kaminoff, another yoga anatomy expert, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrJGMigsDGw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;argues&lt;/a&gt; that, with lotus, the risk-benefit ratio is way on the side of risk, and I agree with him. You can approach lotus in the safest, most anatomically correct way possible and still risk damage to your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2014-04-26T18:47:32.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16272" CreationDate="2014-04-26T22:23:41.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can just do bodyweight squats. If it seems too easy, try one-leg squats or you can hold free weights while squatting.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Split squats are also a good alternative.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Always add more weight to your squats when you can do 10-15 reps because if you do higher reps, your squats will just increase endurance without gaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-04-26T22:23:41.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2014-04-27T03:23:44.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree my weight differs greatly when I weigh myself.  a few hours after dinner and drinking while exercising I weigh most.  I tend to drink a lot when dieting so that has to be taken in consideration.  I weigh myself at the time everyday when I believe I get the most accurate reading. If I change up activities before weighing myself my weight is affected.  After jogging I weigh less, working out I weigh more.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8487" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T03:23:44.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16276" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-27T08:41:03.300" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a basketball player that I am beginning to train.  He was doing distance running and strained his outer arch in one of his feet.  Looking for some recommendations on exercises or anything that he can do to help the issue.  He will continue to play basketball on this no matter what so &quot;rest&quot; isn't a good answer here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also he did this a couple of days ago and he said his foot felt better after playing for a bit but not 100% but then after he is in a lot of pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2014-04-27T09:15:01.687" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T16:50:13.937" Title="What exercises can help relieve outter arch strain?" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29640" CreationDate="2014-04-27T16:58:43.613" Score="1" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the symptoms of anterior pelvic tilt, and measured it roughly by standing back and feet against a door and measuring the gap between my lower back and the door.  I did the corrective exercises (glute bridges, hip flexor stretches, etc.) and that gap narrowed significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I corrected this anterior pelvic tilt, I get lower back pain (a sudden pull during the lift and then 'strain' type pain that lasts for days) when I squat and deadlift.  I used to be able to squat and deadlift a good amount of weight.  Now even after lowering my weight significantly, I hurt myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long will it take to get back up to normal?  I assume this is from my body having to use new (more appropriate) muscles in the lift.  Any more advice on getting back to normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T15:02:47.827" Title="Difficulty adjusting to body after I fixed anterior pelvic tilt" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16282" CreationDate="2014-04-27T22:36:47.757" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been heavily involved in running over the past few years and now want to bulk up and increase strength and weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read some questions on here about weight training for beginners however I really wanted to ask - how I should construct a suitable training plan to ensure I am working the key areas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially I am 185cm and 74kg. I would like to get up to 80kg in a healthy and natural manner. With this I have a strong lower body but a rather week upper body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many times a week should I be training? Realistically how long will it take to increase to that weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8304" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T23:18:25.557" Title="Weight training programs" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;weighttraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16280" CreationDate="2014-04-27T22:48:50.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5 are good ready made routines. If you want to design your own, Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe (also the author of Starting Strength) is an often recommended resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T22:48:50.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16280" CreationDate="2014-04-27T23:10:47.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How long will it take to increase to that weight ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Well, that is not a question anyone can answer. It depends on various considerations like genetics, nutrition and workout intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How many times a week should I be training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For a beginner, most experts advises 3 times per week for each muscle group. But it also depends on your workout intensity and your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Constructing a workout plan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can find good workout plans on the internet like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; which is nearly the most effective online workout plan.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to develop your own routine then you may want to check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Workout Routine&lt;/a&gt;. This site is really helpful when it comes to building your own routine. It will lead you step by step to build a perfect routine that fits your goals and your current level of fitness. And it will help you to decide how many times a week you should train and how many sets and reps you should do per exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastEditorUserId="8329" LastEditDate="2014-04-27T23:18:25.557" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T23:18:25.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-28T00:30:46.177" Score="0" ViewCount="530" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been seeing a personal trainer for a few weeks, and he recommended I start trying to get my diet under control if I want to see any serious weight loss. He suggested I shoot for the following targets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1700 calories, at least 100 grams of protein per day, at least 50 grams of fat, and whatever's left over can one of those two macros, or carbs as long as it's not too refined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get that proteins are good for satiety, as are complex carbs, and fats are necessary for some other bodily functions and sanity, but I still just have no idea where to start. I program for a living, and it feels like trying to learn a framework before learning the language it's coded in. It's overwhelming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My attempts so far have been to log what I'm eating into lose-it or one of the other calorie trackers, but it doesn't help that what I habitually buy at the grocery store tends to have a lot of carbs, so I'm left to find out I shouldn't be eating what I own, and I quickly revert back to my habits as soon as I walk into the grocery store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improving my self control is an obvious answer here, but &lt;strong&gt;is there any one-stop-shop for clueless people to get a grip on macro tracking?&lt;/strong&gt; Having some kind of a meal plan could be another easy solution, but putting one together has been incredibly tedious and I'm left with the same issue of not know where to start. Any tips are appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8496" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T21:54:52.870" Title="What's the easiest way to hit your macros?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16284" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-28T08:05:45.820" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to calculate calories burnt whilst exercising, mainly running without the use of a website or app. I am looking for a formula, it only needs to be an estimate. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8460" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T16:05:01.917" Title="Calories Burnt whilst excercising" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-04-30T01:42:30.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-28T09:48:35.280" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that after breaking your muscles apart (f.e. by working out) they start to repair until the muscles reach their new maximum volume/strentgh.&#xA;All information which is not new for me, but then the author said something interresting in my opinium. He/she said that after reaching the maximum volume/strength the muscles start to decrease again, I figured the body would probably be consuming the muscle, if it lacks on protein. So he/she implied that one should workout again at that moment, not earlier and not later, in order to experience optimal progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, seems all very logical to me, but I still have a few questions about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this true?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If one is following a strict nutrition program, will the muscles still descrease? Or just slower? And what approximate period does it take to get back to the old level (I know this differs per person, but I would like to make a approximation)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do you know you are at your optimal interval to workout again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8502" LastEditorUserId="8502" LastEditDate="2014-04-28T10:09:45.367" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T10:09:45.367" Title="Optimal interval between workouts" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-04-28T11:40:15.720" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16289" CreationDate="2014-04-28T14:24:24.290" Score="1" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to lose some body fat and get stronger. I've always tried to stay active, but due to a bad diet (result of stress) I haven't managed to lose weight as much as I would like. But I think I have found a routine which would work for me (i.e. I would enjoy it):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Joyful Routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mon/Wed/Fri - early mornings - Strength Training (5x5 by Mark Rippetoe). No cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mon/Wed - evenings - 2 hours active dance (similar to Zumba but more intense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tue/Thu - evenings - 1.5 hours Muay Thai.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday - 2 hours volleyball. Very light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Me&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'9&quot; (175cm), 185lbs (84kg), 26 y.o. Reasonably active with some previous weightlifting, martial arts and Zumba experience. Also I cycle daily 16km (10 miles) to work 4 days per week (but I will probably give up cycling if I continue with my plan)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have checked similar questions on this site and google, and I know about sleeping requirements and I have created my diet plan. But given my specific workout plan and my health in general, would it be too much stress for the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware that due to my weight and intense routine I might need to take extra care with my joints, proper warm up and stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate your views on this subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8322" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T07:34:37.903" Title="Goal - lose weight but get stronger. Is weightlifting + dance + martial arts overkill?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16287" CreationDate="2014-04-28T14:34:38.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't find that routine to be too stressful, so long as you give yourself adequate time to adapt.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many athletes work out at much higher intensities multiple times per day, and there's no reason why anyone couldn't do the same -- given they follow healthy adaptation habits (like you mentioned: warming up, cooling down, stretching, myofascial release, active recovery, sleeping).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the most common mistake people make when starting a new routine is biting off more than they can chew.  Take it easy for a 2-4 weeks to give your body enough time to ramp up, and you should be fine.  Listen to your body:  if you feel as though you're approaching injury, dial it back a bit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T14:34:38.890" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16287" CreationDate="2014-04-28T14:39:48.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Mark,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Apart from the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday sessions, the routines shouldn't impose any special difficulty for your body.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern, though is if your body would have recovered enough from the Muay Thai exercises before lifting heavy weights the following morning. You might not be able to perform your best on that. Maybe switching the dance with the weightlifting sessions &lt;em&gt;(if time allows you)&lt;/em&gt; would do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, it's not a bad routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Start it and adjust as you see fit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, the dance/Muay Thai sessions should torch your body fat pretty fast. Awesome idea :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T14:39:48.583" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16284" CreationDate="2014-04-28T16:05:01.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In its simplest form, I would say very roughly 100 caloies per mile run&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T16:05:01.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16294" CreationDate="2014-04-28T16:46:16.280" Score="1" ViewCount="2097" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a part of a good workout I'm struggling between floor presses with dumbbells and basic pushups. What are the pros/cons of choosing one over the other? Both seem similar compound movements that involve the chest quite a bit, so it's hard to choose one for my routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is muscle mass gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7963" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T23:58:00.973" Title="Which one to choose for a home routine: pushups vs floor dumbbell presses?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16276" CreationDate="2014-04-28T16:50:13.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he's playing at that level, getting an X-ray done shouldn't be an issue, and would be worth doing in the first instance, best to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than the normal advice of ice, and taking anti inflamatories.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you have assess to a floatation belt, running in water is great, especially if used along with a heart rate monitor to keep the heart rate up.  It will really help to maintain fitness without stressing the injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T16:50:13.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16291" CreationDate="2014-04-28T17:00:27.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say there isn't too much difference.  You probably go slightly lower on the press using dumbbells.  So arguably this could be deemed harder.  Personally, I think you would get more gain from putting your feet on a raised platform which will bring your weight more forward(this would be harder than normal or dumbbell presses)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T17:00:27.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16291" CreationDate="2014-04-28T17:52:00.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go with the basic pushup. Because of the angle of the arms, if you do a floor press with dumbbell (Assuming you mean a bench press type of movement) then you are missing almost half of the available range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need more resistance on the traditional pushup, you can wear weighted vests, elevate your feet on stairs or chairs, things like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about doing pushups while on dumbbells instead of the floor, then Tracy is correct, there isn't going to be a big difference until you start elevating the feet and varying the angle of the pushup (Which will do the same with or without dumbbells involved).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T17:52:00.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16467" CreationDate="2014-04-28T17:54:18.043" Score="3" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm am doing body building as a hobby with 4 training sessions a week lasting for 60 to 90 minutes. I had good results with an intake of around 3.500 calories per day, the usual low carb diet. My goal is to build lean muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to play a game called Ingress a while ago, which requires to travel around town a lot and the fastest way for me is doing this on inline skates. Such an Ingress session can take really long, sometimes more than 6 hours constantly skating around. I mostly play on my off-days, but sometimes even some hours before or after the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the summer approaches, especially when I am on vacation and have even more time to spare, I expect these sessions to expand further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I do not see any negative impact on my body building progress, but I guess sooner or later those extended cardio sessions will lead to exhaustion or cut too much into my energy reserves which will decrease my potential for muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I compensate for this? I don't want to reduce my Ingress playing time but I also want to progress with body building. Is it enough to add more calories to my diet to compensate for the calories burned during cardio? Which types of food are recommended for this? And do I also need to increase the amount of sleep I get if I don't feel tired during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T13:42:59.390" Title="How to compensate for extended cardio as body builder" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16304" CreationDate="2014-04-28T20:10:36.977" Score="3" ViewCount="5069" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was quite bad day today in the gym and that too my first day. I vomited after doing just 20 sit ups in the final session of the day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm newbie in fitness and don't know too much terms and i don't exercised previously. I am programmer by profession.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did few lifts, presses, push ups, pull ups, stretching. Which affected nothing to me apart from little muscle pain due reason being first day in gym i believe. I had done gym 4years back for only 4months approx. Now i thought to start again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise followed:&#xA;In weight based: 3 sets with increasing weight by one slab. Like as below&#xA;1st set: 15kg 15times&#xA;2nd set: 30-40kg 12times&#xA;3rd set: same or more 10times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other: 20times Like 20 Sit ups or stretching variations.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As i was exhausted after almost 50 min of exercises, i asked trainer to leave and he instructed me to do last two things, 20 sit ups and hand crunches (for fist strengthening) but after doing sit ups my body started weird feeling. I felt faints and un easy breathing. After few minutes of rest i felt like vomit and after vomiting all was well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In vomit, it was water and few food particles from dinner yesterday.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question are:&#xA; 1. Why it happened after sit ups only?&#xA; 2. What precaution i must take so if my trainer is going wrong i can prevent hurting myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8505" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T03:52:17.640" Title="Precautions for difficulty faced on first day of gym" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16283" CreationDate="2014-04-28T21:54:52.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone just showed me this site, and it's probably the closest thing I've seen yet to the one-stop-shop for dieting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatthismuch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat This Much, the automatic meal planner&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It basically just spits out some random meals that match your preferences (after you enter a calorie amount and get the first meal plans, you can click the &quot;Meal options&quot; button and customize everything). Some of the recipes are a little wacky, but it's really easy to randomize things until everything looks good. It also doesn't include very many vegetables on its own, but in the FAQ there's a suggestion to just eat as many lean, non-starchy vegetables as you like because their calorie contribution will be mostly negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a heads up to anyone else that looks at it, there's a paid version of the site, but the free version is still 100x better than the &quot;guess and check&quot; meal planning I was trying to do before. So far, I've just made a few free meal plans and added up the grocery list by hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm just bad at feeding myself and I'm probably not the only one. I grew up with fast food and prepackaged meals because my family never took the time to cook, and I feel like all I really need is someone to hold my hand through the baby steps until I can walk (/cook) on my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8496" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T21:54:52.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16305" CreationDate="2014-04-28T22:38:43.820" Score="1" ViewCount="577" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we all know the best is to have fixed bed time and fixed waking up time in order not to feel tired. However life does not always allow this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to reduce your sleeping time (or at the opposite increase your sleep time during the weekend in order to catch up) is it better to shift the time your going to bed or the waking up time ?&#xA;Is one of the two options better in handling these variation of sleeping time or does it make no difference ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit : This question is asked because I have intensive sport trainings (dance+gym(acrobatics)) at fixed time several days and I have to work a given amount of hours (amount which can vary) for my job but I'm free to adjust my timetable (bed/waking up time) as long as I do my job hours. That's why I'm asking when I have a variation of working hour, is one of the two option better in order to be the less tired for sport training.&#xA;(However it's true that it may also be applied in general outside of Physical Fitness so maybe it's off topic)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8508" LastEditorUserId="8508" LastEditDate="2014-04-29T09:35:03.053" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:37:19.673" Title="Is it better to keep a fixed bed time or waking up time?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16272" CreationDate="2014-04-28T23:02:40.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how strong you are you can also clean and press a bar and lower it on your back..  Be careful though and start with low weight until you get the hang of it..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8509" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T23:02:40.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6970" CreationDate="2014-04-29T12:54:21.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons for your tremor, ranging from Parkinson's (for which you, according to incidence statistics, are too young) and cerebellar ataxia (unlikely without other neurological deficits or a previous history of trauma) to benign muscular apraxia. The only way to know would be to perform a physical examination. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say that your whole body shakes, and that is, in its literal sense, a neurological symptom. However, seeing that you just started working out after a long period without physical activity, the most likely etiology is that you have poor inter- and intramuscular coordination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, your brain and muscles aren't used to performing those movements smoothly and efficiently. This always happens during the initial phases of training, even for experienced athletes after years of training with a short detraining period, but also when doing a new exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case your tremor does not subside within the next 5-6 training sessions, or at least improve, then it is likely something else. If it does, then you have nothing to worry about, there is no need to control it, and it will go away on its own once you get more used to performing those movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T12:54:21.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16296" CreationDate="2014-04-29T13:19:44.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you were pushed just that little bit too hard, but like others have said, it shouldn't be anything to worry about.  Maybe you could get to the gym a few times without the trainer, to help increase your fitness. I'm sure after a few weeks of training this sickness will ease off.  For a beginner it's ideal if you can train 3 times a week. Even if a couple of sessions are just 20-30 minutes. It all helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T13:19:44.373" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16298" CreationDate="2014-04-29T20:33:31.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's best to get 8 hours sleep a night, and having consistent times you go to bed and wake up help that happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/04/09/sleep-pt-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Poor sleep can undermine any body composition&lt;/a&gt; changes you are trying to make.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/04/28/poor-recovery-and-increased-muscle-breakdown-insufficient-sleep-part-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Poor sleep causes bad recovery&lt;/a&gt; and increased muscle break down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an &lt;em&gt;ideal&lt;/em&gt; world, you would be able to go to bed at a consistent time every night, and naturally get up on time in the morning.  Unfortunately, life does have a way of not being ideal.  If you have to keep odd hours because of work, try to minimize the damage.  This is when you have to prioritize things.  You won't always be able to do everything.  Top priority for working individuals is to get work done.  That means depending on how worn down you are, you may have to skip a training session to get sleep in--or you may have to adjust sleep to get your training in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This much is true, you can't compromise sleep for long stretches of time.  Whether you keep a consistent bed time or a consistent wake time, if you aren't getting enough sleep you will be just as tired.  It's a lose-lose situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T20:33:31.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-30T04:28:44.603" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a complete beginner. I have started with the cardio exercises in the gym. The treadmill, the elliptical stepper and the cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the treadmill I run at 10kmph for 10 minutes. On the cycle I burn 100 calories, and on the elliptical stepper with 70 rpm around I burn 100 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the regime. I am about 20 kgs overweight (that would essentially make me class 1/2 obese). Since I can't control/change my diet (tiffin service for food, I can reduce the intake of food but can't essentially change it) what changes/additions do I need to make for weight-loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8520" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T08:09:58.030" Title="Correct workout regime" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16307" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-30T04:39:04.420" Score="5" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of recovery, is there a difference between lying in bed watching TV / reading and actually sleeping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T11:47:02.970" Title="Is sleep necessary for recovery?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16307" CreationDate="2014-04-30T06:03:36.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are reading, or watching tv your body isn't completely switched off.  This is resting, which is beneficial, but in no way can or should it replace sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T06:03:36.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16307" CreationDate="2014-04-30T08:16:45.617" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is a difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the this &lt;a href=&quot;http://psychology.nd.edu/faculty/faculty-by-alpha/jessica-payne-ph-d/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lecture&lt;/a&gt;, sleep scientist Jessica Payne from University of Notre Dame talks about the importance of sleep in the context of fitness (not only fitness). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleep is different from just inactivity, see for example the wikipedia article on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;topic&lt;/a&gt;. In contrast to rest, during sleep the body grows and repairs itself and the brain builds new neural connection much more than when you are awake, which are key to improve physical fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal level, I have started to track sleep as well as workouts and to me it is clear how it impacts how hard I can/should practise and how likely I am to catch a cold. I.e. if I know I will sleep little (travel etc) -&gt; plan to do high intensity training another day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, here is my sleep data for the last 28 days is included. After the night with very little sleep (a long flight), I only focused on very light training (walk/yoga).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mOPv4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T08:13:20.927" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T08:13:20.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16306" CreationDate="2014-04-30T09:31:31.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as it's actually physically taxing (i.e. you get sweaty and winded) and not dangerous, there is really no &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; way to exercise if weight loss is your goal (well, some will tend to replace fat with muscle rather than reducing weight, but I doubt you would mind that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your biggest challenge will be to keep motivated in the long run. That's where most people who decide to &quot;exercise more&quot; fail. Instead of what workout is &quot;correct&quot;, think about what workout you're most likely to &lt;em&gt;stick to&lt;/em&gt; every week, even when you're stressed and unmotivated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is different for everyone, but in general: do things that are fun (team sports!) or useful (cycling to work). Eliminate barriers to exercise (a 20 minute drive to the gym = bad), add barriers to skipping exercise (fixed appointments). Inside the gym, regular classes (Pilates, Zumba, whatever the fad of the week is) are good, as is working out with others instead of alone. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitocracy.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gamification&lt;/a&gt; may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, diet is a huge factor in losing weight. If cooking is the issue, you could at least augment or partially substitute an unhealthy diet with fruit and snackable vegetables. If you can change your habits so that e.g. you'll eat an apple, banana or carrot instead of a chocolate bar as a snack between meals once a day, that makes a big difference in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8522" LastEditorUserId="8522" LastEditDate="2014-04-30T11:53:11.527" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T11:53:11.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-30T09:48:02.753" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not found anything on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to strengthen muscles which help rotate the ski (i.e. point the skis left or right - for snow-plough turns and so on)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What exercises would be best for this?&lt;/strong&gt; Preferably just using bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I assume the usual of 20-30 reps, but how often?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking perhaps standing on one leg, and rotating my body left and right, but it sounds like it's asking for an injury!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it matters, the reason I need this is when I had my last (beginners') ski lesson (3 hours) I just didn't have the strength to do snowploughing. I wasn't aching afterwards though which is weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5950" LastEditorUserId="5950" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T13:42:19.353" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T00:40:56.723" Title="Exercises for strengthening foot twisting" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16306" CreationDate="2014-04-30T13:31:09.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Prakhar,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Before addressing your workout regimen, I will talk about your diet. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You must take your diet seriously or you'll be wasting your time at the gym.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Your calorie intake needs to be controlled.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Cooking your own food is encouraged because it allows you to control what goes in it and the quantity; &lt;em&gt;however, it's not a requirement.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you cook your meal or purchase pre-made, you want to ensure the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Protein should be a core part of your meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Fiber should be a core part of your meal; your veggies should be close to raw as much as possible &lt;em&gt;(so, no over-boiling or over-cooking)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Endeavor to make your snacks fruits or vegetables; it fills you up while reducing your calorie intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Drink lots of water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduce your sodium &lt;em&gt;(salt)&lt;/em&gt; intake.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Reduce your fats intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Reduce your carbs intake &lt;em&gt;(unless needed on high-energy exercise days)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people have lost weight by controlling their diet and just minimal exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;endeavor to be physically active.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The more active you are, the less gym time you'll need to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your current regimen is too light &lt;em&gt;(it's okay as a beginner)&lt;/em&gt;; you need to start ramping it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I'll personally go a different route, here's what you can do to your current regimen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Gradually increase your treadmill to about 20-30 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Gradually increase the cycling to burn about 200-300 calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Replace the elliptical with skipping . Jumping exercises allow you to burn more calories in a shorter timeframe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Endeavor to do this at least 3 days a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Endeavor to add weightlifting to your regimen; it'll help your short-term and long-term weightloss goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Above all, persevere and continue challenging yourself. &lt;em&gt;Oh, you need to be patient too; otherwise, you might give up fast because the weight isn't dropping as fast as possible.&lt;/em&gt; As long as you keep working at it, you'll see results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun at the gym, buddy :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T13:31:09.767" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16314" CreationDate="2014-04-30T15:02:46.113" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run and i think that i am running properly but who knows if someone takes a video with a good camera , may find some fault with my running(overpronation, underpronation etc).&#xA;   Is there any way to check or are there any experts who could help if I pay them.&#xA;Are there any shoes specific to these that can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T11:23:11.553" Title="How do i determine that i am running properly?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16313" CreationDate="2014-04-30T15:37:42.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you go to a decent running shop they will be able to analyse your gait and whether or not you under or over pronate.  They will also be able to recommend the best shoes for you. This is usually done on a treadmill with a camera, and you won't have to pay extra for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are a top level or shorter distance track runner (where running style can affect speed) I wouldn't worry too much about your style, unless it is causing you to get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-04-30T19:14:31.647" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T19:14:31.647" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16272" CreationDate="2014-04-30T19:15:20.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably want to find a new gym. Failing that, cleaning the weight and front squatting it will most likely result in larger quads anyway. Will just have to find other exercises to help hit the glutes and hamstrings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8526" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T19:15:20.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16319" CreationDate="2014-04-30T21:21:07.023" Score="3" ViewCount="861" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working to get my six packs and as per the saying &quot;it starts from kitchen&quot;, so I started looking into diet plans on Google. Amazing to know that different sites have different diet plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weighttraining.com/blog/wanna-get-6-pack-abs-fast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; claims, that eggs, whey protein, and boiled vegetables are enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While another &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodyforlife.com/library/articles/training/12-deadly-workout-sins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; claims:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But if you don’t eat enough during the day, your body goes into starvation mode and slows down its metabolism, making it even harder to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am confused which diet plan is good to lose fat as well help me to sync up with my gym workout to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what is the correct diet to reduce fat and gain muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat less and concentrate more on protein (as per site link 1)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough so that body metabolism can work properly ( as per site link 2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am adding the below section, if someone can help me identify the right plan for me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am a vegetarian, I am open for vegetables, fruits and dairy products. but not to eggs [reason: &lt;strong&gt;it is not vegetarian&lt;/strong&gt; - from my &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/9621/white-eggs-can-be-considered-as-non-vegetarian&quot;&gt;previous question]&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2321" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:15.357" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T14:38:26.393" Title="Eat more or less to lose fat and gain muscle" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16317" CreationDate="2014-05-01T01:00:00.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; will leave you malnourished, lacking vitamins and essential minerals et cetera.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; will leave you over nourished, extra fat, insulin spikes et cetera.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating in &lt;em&gt;moderate&lt;/em&gt; proportions is what every human should aim for.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201302/too-much-anything-is-bad-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Too much of anything is bad for you.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the link I have refereed to you is not fitness/strength based. I like to view things differently. I feel focusing on a balanced diet where you consume foods in moderate proportions leads to a healthier and better life. The same goes for work, life, relationships and training to become a stronger you..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training to get a &quot;six pack&quot; then I'm you will get what you want if you stay consistent and work hard. But ask yourself what happens when you get the six pack? Do you return to your old eating habits? Do you stop training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitness is a lifestyle, not a quick fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ 1 ] Statements made are based on personal experience and extensive research, that is still ongoing, trying to figure out if diets truly work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ Edit ] I saw that you stated that you are a vegetarian. There are plenty of good resources online that talk about dieting.Most of the things you ask, may have already been asked and answered by somebody else. Spend time searching on Google and this board to avoid duplicating questions. An example of a popular fitness individual &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefrankmedrano.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Frank Medrano&lt;/a&gt; is vegan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8528" LastEditorUserId="8528" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T01:08:44.783" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T01:08:44.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16317" CreationDate="2014-05-01T02:32:53.503" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Zerotoinfinite,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;Look at this picture &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lpsuT.jpg&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see in the picture, the biggest contributor to gaining six pack is &lt;strong&gt;lower body fat percentages&lt;/strong&gt;. As you can see, the six pack becomes more visible as the body fat percentage reduces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, reduce your body fat percentage and your six pack will become visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to your specific question about &lt;em&gt;eating less and concentrating on protein&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;eating enough so that the body metabolism can function&lt;/em&gt;, here's my opinion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat enough so that your body metabolism can function&lt;/strong&gt;; you'll not get your six pack if your body metabolism cannot function properly. You won't have the energy and strength for the exercises required to torch your body fat. Because of lack of energy, you're likely to feel miserable, which will further reduce your energy levels. Basically, it's a lose-lose situation for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Your calorie consumption should depend on mainly two things: your BMR and daily activities. If your daily activity is very small, the recommended calorie intake revolves around the BMR calorie burn; if your daily activity is very high, your calorie consumption requirement will be high as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Regarding the first article, the guy worked with a professional trainer &lt;em&gt;(who gave him the diet needed to achieve his goal within that time frame)&lt;/em&gt;. Also, although he didn't eat much regular food, he took lots of supplements and multivitamins, which acts like food. &lt;em&gt;If you've taken any of the protein supplements before, you'll realize that they fill you up like regular food; the only difference being it's packed with protein-based nutrients more than most foods.&lt;/em&gt; So, if you add up all his food intake, you'll realize that he wasn't depriving his body of food. That's why he could have the energy to perform all the required exercises he needed to complete.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the Internet is packed with specific food items for anyone to consume, your primary food intake will contain both &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;protein and fiber&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, both sites tell you to consume enough calories for your body to function. Fat loss &lt;em&gt;(and ultimately six pack)&lt;/em&gt; is impossible if you don't have the energy to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T02:32:53.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-01T06:47:23.190" Score="3" ViewCount="571" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running every day since a month and now I'm pondering about how to add more running sessions in a week. However, I want to do it safely, without getting injured. My current weekly distance is around 60 km (37 mi).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current schedule is like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: recovery (8 km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: interval (6 km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wednesday: progressive pace (5 - 7 km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: long run, moderate pace (15 km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: easy pace (8 km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: pre-race preparation (8 km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: race (5 - 15 km), or test run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the race is on Saturday, I do my pre-race prep on Friday, an 8 km recovery training on Sunday and an easy pace 8 km on Monday. Two days to recover from a 15 km run seems short, but I managed to recover enough to run a proper race. The moderate pace comes down to a time that is 5 minutes more than I would need in a 15 km race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm anxious to add more speed training, like High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and my goals lie between 10 km and the half marathon distance, though I run shorter (5 km) to support my 10 km goal. My recent best times on the 10 km is 45:22 minutes, and the half marathon 1:41 hours. I'm 54 years old, male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional information&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an experienced runner (16 years of continuous practice, lots of injuries, and have recovered from all of them). Since January this year I've been on a regiment of 60 - 70 km in 4 - 5 sessions per week to support half marathon racing, and I've switched to daily sessions to support 10 km racing since April of this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for the mid-week long run is that while raw speed is not much of an issue (2:55 min/km I can do easily in bursts of 30 s), endurance at speed is. While I know the cause is probably bad running economy (which I'm working on with daily exercises to increase my strength and agility of my legs), I still need to push my body to maintain the target pace, and not to speed up when I get fatigued, only to be forced to slow down before the finish because I'm spent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastEditorUserId="8430" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T10:40:25.417" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T11:49:14.097" Title="How can I add more running sessions per week safely?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16317" CreationDate="2014-05-01T07:56:42.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that you can gain muscle and at the same time you lose fat.To gain muscle you have to gain some fat,but if you are already fat then you just loose your weight and gain muscle.Eating less and loosing fat and gaining muscle is not the proper way of making the physic.If you eat less than its very dangerous for your body,your body have to suffer from lack of vitamins,proteins and minerals.Eat everything but don't eat junk and oily food it will raise your weight.Eat the diet full of proteins,minerals and carbohydrate.Body metabolism can function properly only if you eat enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8531" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T07:56:42.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16306" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:09:58.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going to start the workout regime.You thought about the perfect exercise routine.It is not very hard to begin the exercise.There are the few things which you have to follow before starting the workout.First set the time,how much time you will give to your exercise. Join a cardio center or fitness center for the workout.Find out the proper time for the workout it doesn't matter which time it is.Make a proper time table for the perfect workout regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8531" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T08:09:58.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6970" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:23:42.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While workout your body shakes,it has two reasons.First is that may your body shaking means you are working and strengthening your muscle.Second is the negative point it must be due to the weakness and deficiency of vitamins or water in your body.If your doing some exercise to the first time like stretching and strengthening then it was sure that your body will shake.But if the muscle starts shaking in the beginning of the exercise then it is a warning that the exercise is too difficult for your body to handle.There are things that effect accordingly so you have to prepare yourself for the effects of exercise in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8531" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T08:23:42.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16307" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:30:33.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes sleep is necessary for the recovery,but if your lying in bed and watching tv and reading book is not the actual rest you are taking.If you have to recover yourself fast then you must take the proper sleep and rest that your body wants.Watching TV and reading book is not the proper rest of the body in this situation your body is lying on the bed but your mind is not at the stage of rest.So for both the rest of mind and body  you must have to take the actual sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8531" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T08:30:33.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16296" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:38:07.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lot of precaution you have to take for the first day of gym.When you are going to join the gym after a long time then you have take care of some precaution.You have to try less weight dumbles. Go slowly when you walking in the trade mill.Do the less workout and exercise in the first day.If you decided to do the one hour workout then you go slow towards all your exercise your doing.Don't eat too much water and food before going to gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8531" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T08:38:07.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:51:24.123" Score="4" ViewCount="1947" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to switch from Starting Strength to a 2-day-split because of recovery. The new routine is a push/pull split, done 4 times a week, which looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday/Wednesday:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Squat 3x5&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bench Press 3x5&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shoulder Press 3x5&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dips 3x12&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Abs 3xF (to failure)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday/Thursday:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Deadlift 1x5&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pullups 3x12&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pendlay Rows 3x5&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reverse Flyes 3x12&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Curls 3x12&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the split does involve dips and pullups, both of which I can't do many reps. Right now, I'm using resistance bands to lift me up a bit, so I can get to ~12 reps per exercise, but I feel like progress is very slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question would be, how can I progress faster on pullups/dips without influencing my strength routine in a negative way? As most programs to increase pullup/dip reps require 5 days per week, I'm not sure if that wouldn't mess up my other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Additional information:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm 25 years old, 6' tall, ~160lbs, female, strength training for about 6 months. &lt;br&gt;My main goal is to get stronger and build some muscle.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2017-12-02T02:52:23.077" Title="How to increase reps on pullups/dips while doing a 2-day-split?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16320" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:55:14.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's quite a lot of training for some one who has only been training for a month.&#xA;However, you are doing well and to be running 45 minutes for 10k already is very respectable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be able to add more quality training to your week, I would change the structure slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday easy run/shorter distance&#xA;Tuesday. Hard/ intervals&#xA;Wednesday longer&#xA;Thursday intervals but not as hard as Tuesday - maybe progressive run day&#xA;Fri.   Rest or easy&#xA;Sat.  Intervals &#xA;Sunday long run or race&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to incorporate a rest day every 7-10 days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T08:55:14.163" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16342" CreationDate="2014-05-01T09:24:56.357" Score="2" ViewCount="48856" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last 6 months I have been doing a 3 day routine twice per week in the following structure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs and shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest and triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back and biceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen very good results with this routine (I'm fairly certain it is quite a common plan) but lately I haven been reading a lot about doing chest and back on the same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering changing my routine to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs and shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest and back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps and triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am very skeptical of having two large muscle groups (chest and back) on the same day. I have always been under the impression that recovery doesn't yield good results if you hit multiple large areas. I did previously train biceps and triceps on the same day with better results than I am currently experiencing, but my current routine overall is working better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this change have better results than my current routine? What are some pros and cons of what I am doing now vs the proposed routine? I've touched on some material talking about lactic acid moving around in a beneficial way during your workout if you alternate chest and back sets, but I'm not sure what is true and what's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My goal is mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="3113" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T09:32:26.850" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T17:42:13.900" Title="How well do chest and back go together in the same workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16326" CreationDate="2014-05-01T11:47:41.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't program dips and pull-ups like barbell or dumbbell presses, with a set number of reps. Instead, do a predetermined number of sets (e.g. 3 or 5 or 6) to failure. If that doesn't give you very many total reps, pick a target number of total reps (e.g. 50) and take as many sets as necessary to get there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use negatives if you have to, but I recommend nixing the bands too. Sometimes they help too much in the wrong portion of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also consider not putting dips after shoulder presses. They're very similar movements and picking one or the other would probably allow for better progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T11:47:41.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16340" CreationDate="2014-05-01T12:17:33.783" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started working out 5 / 6 days a week since December previous. My routine involves alternating days of bodyweight training and running. All in all I am happy with my routine and see noticeable consistent results. Unfortunately as my strength improves, I am beginning to hit the limits of my body's flexibility when attempting more complex movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These issues stem from being grossly overweight for many years (23 stone @ 6ft) but I know they can be fixed since I my bodyweight and running training routine has done wonders for my general health and fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been researching yoga as a way to improve my flexibility, would yoga be a good match? Is there a specific type of yoga I should look to, or are there other forms of flex training people have experience with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have included my current routine below. I would like to incorporate flex training into all 6 days if possible. Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodyweight Routine (3 Days)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 x Atomic Pushups (TRX)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 x Lunges (Free Standing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 x Spiderman Pushups (Free Standing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 x Unweighted Squats (Free Standing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 x Pullups (TRX)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Repeated as a set until the first non conforming rep of any exercise&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running Routine (3 Days)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 : 5K under 35 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 : 5K any pace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 : 5k under 35 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8357" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T13:19:15.690" Title="Is Yoga a good synergy for my routine to improve flexibility?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16357" CreationDate="2014-05-01T12:36:50.347" Score="0" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose fat so I'm creating a 500 calorie deficit per day. I want my calorie intake to be pretty accurate, but the problem is that I'm in college and I can't cook my own foods. Which means I have to visually estimate how many calories I eat. Should I use a food scale to measure my food before I eat? I know the basic tricks to visually measuring food servings, (like a deck of cards=3 oz meat) but it can be innacurate. For example, if I eat 4 pieces of chicken, and I think its 3 oz each, but turns out to be 3.5 oz, I'm off by 2 oz or about 100 calories. If I miscalculate for other foods as well, I could be off by hundreds of calories by the end of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7170" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T04:30:30.647" Title="calorie counting?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16330" CreationDate="2014-05-01T13:24:06.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you would like to develop flexibility while continuing to burn body fat, I can highly recommend Hot (Bikram) yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried gymnastics for adults and capoeira to develop flexibility, but the fastest results I have achieved were while doing Bikram yoga. (I've heard that due to the heat you can push your body to the limits, but it can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/yoga/hot-yoga-the-dangers-and-myths-you-need-to-know&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dangerous&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also burnt a lot of fat while doing Bikram because you sweat continuously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8322" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T13:24:06.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16326" CreationDate="2014-05-01T13:47:57.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I work the Starting Strength program, I always include pullups. A few suggestions for increasing reps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I would also suggest ditching the band. I find the bands helpful for working up to a single rep of a pullup variant, but after that I find that greasing the groove and speed variation are better for actually adding reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To move up from a single rep to say 2-3 reps, I find &quot;greasing the groove&quot; most helpful. Do your single rep, but do it a lot. 10+ times per day throughout the day for several days, after which it should be possible to do 2-3 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To move up from 2-3 reps, the most useful thing that I've found is speed variation. When I was working on getting to ten pullups and I hit a plateau, I would start doing each individual pullup as slowly as I could. This would cause a drop in the number of reps per set, but after a few weeks of slow pullups, I would be able to come back and do more reps than I had before starting the slow pullup phase - and if I really wanted to feel awesome, I'd do slow pullups for a few weeks and then crack out a few sets of pullups as fast as I could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that doing pullups twice per week is the best way to increase reps. When I tried to do them 5 days/week I didn't have enough time to recover, and had a very hard time increasing the number of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another suggestion would be to move the pullups to the front of the workout. When I was working Starting Strength, I always started off my workout with a set of pullups. It didn't seem to affect the other lifts negatively, but I found it very hard to progress in pullups if I did them after a set of heavy squats or deadlifts. I'd just be too drained to really hit them hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T13:47:57.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16331" CreationDate="2014-05-01T14:05:37.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your health conscious then you have to be very careful towards the calorie that your taken daily.First of all you have to know that how many calories you need on each day to maintain your health.Its an old saying that Health is Wealth.So you need to be raise your awareness about what your body needs.You have to keep the knowledge of how much calorie are in the food and drinks taken by you in each day.The weight loss resources have the tools to count the calorie you needed in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8534" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:05:37.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16330" CreationDate="2014-05-01T14:15:16.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes yoga is a good synergy for your routine to improve flexibility of your body.Synergy health is a exercise program run by an organization to improve your lifestyle.Yoga classes can be better option for everyone or all body for their fitness levels.Yoga can improve your health and strength of your body.To maintain the weight,health,stay fit,be active,for better immunity of the body you have to do the regular yoga and meditation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8534" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:15:16.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16320" CreationDate="2014-05-01T14:22:40.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add more running session per week for pounding your weight and it should be safe also,then you have to do hard work for this.In the initial stage when you start running please cover less distance.Increase the running area slowly,so due to that you are able to add more running session per week very easily.Running is the best way for shading the pounds gained by you.So add the session to your running but in the slow process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8534" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:22:40.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16298" CreationDate="2014-05-01T14:37:19.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes its the best idea to keep a fixed bed time or waking up time.But due to our busy schedule it cant be possible for everyone.Taking enough sleep is very important for our health.It is very hard to main the sleep but we have to do it.Sometimes it is very hard to us to go for sleep at least eight hours because of work tension or personal tension.To fix all these problem you have to do meditation and fix your time of  early to bed and early to rise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8534" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:37:19.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16272" CreationDate="2014-05-01T14:43:44.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are not going to change your gym,I would suggest you to go for lite exercise.Don't go for strong lifts if you are new to gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8534" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:43:44.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16261" CreationDate="2014-05-01T14:49:45.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is recommended that you do your back and shoulder after biceps and triceps.The reason you are feeling pressure on your shoulders because your upper front part of the body is already tired.&#xA;Try this&#xA;Monday : Chest&#xA;Tuesday : Biceps&#xA;Wednesday : Tricep&#xA;Thursday : Back&#xA;Friday : Shoulder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8534" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T14:49:45.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16330" CreationDate="2014-05-01T16:04:46.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga can - among other things - improve your flexibility, for example, see this article in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/209&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;YogaJournal&lt;/a&gt;. The article argues that yoga both addresses the physical side of flexibility (muscle, ligaments, joints etc) and the neuro system part of flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience of yoga is that is has helped me to be more flexible(for example, no problems with third world &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWqYRMcAp0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat&lt;/a&gt; now, big problems before), better balance (for example, no knee problems any longer when down hill skiing) and more aware of posture (less problems with my back). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get started, find a yoga &quot;dojo&quot; that fits your style/perspective and take some classes regularly for a few months. For me, I liked the ones that focus on the physical side better than the ones focusing on the spiritual side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga is then quite easy to integrate in daily training routines and also a way of &quot;going to gym&quot; training that is easy to bring your spouse too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you could do a short yoga routine as a warm-up for both your Body weight routing and your Running routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-05-02T13:19:15.690" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T13:19:15.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16328" CreationDate="2014-05-01T16:54:40.463" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a former competitive bodybuilder, I can tell you that there is no one recipe for gaining mass.  My &quot;pros&quot; and &quot;cons&quot; for a routine would not be the same for you.  That's because everyone is an individual.  It's all about forcing your muscles to overcome their desire to adapt to workload.  One sure way to help that is to change up your training routine as you've proposed.  That may mean switching the order of body parts, days, etc. In the &quot;old&quot; days, we would switch up the routine every 6 to 8 weeks in order to not become &quot;stale&quot;. As there are with diets, there are many &quot;fad&quot; training routines.  Pick the one(s) that work for you and make small adjustments.  Just be mindful of getting proper nutrition and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T16:54:40.463" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16320" CreationDate="2014-05-01T16:58:23.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than adding more sessions, I would start adding more time to your current runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, pay attention to your pacing. Most of your running should be fairly easy, distance running is a sport that relies more on volume than it does intensity, so I would look at increasing your distance in the current sessions. Even in your longer, easy runs, you can add some pickups/strides in small amounts. However, the biggest problem with runners is that they go too hard on their easy days, and not hard enough on their hard days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have two higher intensity sessions a week, one of threshold type work, and one of interval type work. Intervals are at or faster than race pace, with long rest so that you can make the time interval, and threshold is slightly slower than race pace on shorter rest. Both of these done as part of a workout program will both increase your top end speed (intervals) and increase the time that you can spend at race pace (threshold). Separate them by a couple days each with easy effort runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T16:58:23.347" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-01T19:32:40.767" Score="9" ViewCount="2286" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently I can hold on to heavier dumbbells than others, but they can crush my hand much harder in a handshake. This tells me that support grip and crush grip can be very much apart. I believe there's not really a carryover from gripping strength to bar holding strength. I can only close the Trainer gripper, about 100 lbs. for a few reps, and my hands and forearms are dead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can, however, hold on to a 200 lb. dumbbell for a few seconds (one-handed). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can also hang from a bar with almost my bodyweight added (200 lbs. + 200 lbs. = 400 lbs. of hanging support).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I know a guy who can't do either of the prior feats, but his grip in a handshake is quite impressive (overpowers mine). He also can't close much more than me in a gripper, but has a strong crushing grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main question is, how does crushing grip differ from support in a muscular sense? Aren't they both the same recruitment of muscles used to close the hand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is it supposed to make sense that I can barely squeeze together a 100 lb. gripper spring, but can hold on to a 200 lb. dumbbell handle? Or support 200% of my weight hanging freely from a bar, but fail to crush an apple with my dominant hand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always hear people telling me I'm not too strong with my hands in handshakes for some reason (my grip strength is about average for an adult male in crush PSI), but average men can't hold a 200 lb. dumbbell in one hand. Anyone here could explain how the hand strength varies so much in different lifts (e.g. crush 200 lb. gripper, can't hold on to a 200 lb. bar, or hang with 200 lbs. added to bodyweight, but can't open a jar of pickles)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8540" LastActivityDate="2017-04-16T08:03:58.600" Title="How does support grip strength and crush grip strength differ so much?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16348" CreationDate="2014-04-29T10:39:37.150" Score="0" ViewCount="914" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used Endomondo now many years for sports such as skiing, running and racewalking. It has my training plan for half-marathon and a lot of results showing progress but I feel very alone in using it. I would like to find some active users of it, competitive athletics and some champions. It would be cool to associate with other professional athletes there or just wannabes. Most of my local professional friends are not using this service while some less-active people are using it. Basically, I don't care where they are -- it would be cool to find athletes with similar progress and results so competition with them even virtually would make some sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do you find active training partners through Endomondo?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" OwnerDisplayName="hhh" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2014-07-29T12:22:44.813" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T12:22:44.813" Title="How to find active training partners through Endomondo?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16349" CreationDate="2014-05-01T22:41:56.507" Score="4" ViewCount="1065" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past I've felt faster after a month or two of marching with a backpack at a fast pace like +4 mph. Now I'm interested in actually being fast in a 5k and quickly expand it to a marathon distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will speed walking help me pick up my cadence and strengthen those small muscles that I need to be able to run fast in contrast to interval training or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to win a 5k though Im just approaching 21 min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T17:26:19.133" Title="Can walking fast help run fast?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16346" CreationDate="2014-05-02T01:13:29.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to www.endomondo.com and hit the Friends option. It'll allow you to search for people you may know and also has teams, challenges, and events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm training for Pikes Peak Marathon but cant even get my own family to use it or even friend me :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T01:13:29.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16347" CreationDate="2014-05-02T01:27:18.433" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to win a 5k, walking is a great start, but will probably not get you there on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast walking will help you build a strong base level of aerobic fitness. Your heart and lungs will develop and improve your capacity for running. After you build this base, your cardiovascular system needs to learn to function efficiently as you approach (or exceed) your Lactate Threshold. Your muscles need to develop enough power and speed to propel you to the front of the pack, and enough stamina to sustain the effort for the 5k distance. There is no better way to do this than to get out and run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 5k, you will want to spend time training with intervals, sprints, strides, fartlek runs, and on hills. These will help you develop the power, leg turnover, and stamina you need to be competitive. If you keep these sessions focused and intense, you shouldn't need more than three a week. On the remaining days, you can mix it up with slower and longer runs, walking, cycling, yoga, and other light forms of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you mentioned wanting to run a marathon, keep in mind that competitive marathon training and 5k training are very different. If you focus on 5k training, prepare for a very different challenge if you attempt a marathon. If you train for a marathon, you won't necessarily have a very competitive 5k time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A popular approach with many amateur and regionally-competive athletes is to train and race shorter distances earlier in the season (spring) and then use the summer months to prepare for a fall marathon. If you tried this approach you would probably find that your walking regimen would be far more helpful in marathon training than 5k training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to dig into the science behind this answer, or need specific training advice, here are a couple of great books on the subject:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1620304422&quot;&gt;You (Only Faster) by Greg McMillan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1450431836&quot;&gt;&quot;Daniels' Running Formula&quot; by Jack Daniels&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T01:27:18.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-02T07:54:36.230" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have very little experience with running, actually last X year I was running only to catch a bus. But I walk a lot, I make 40 km without a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I've tried to run, I've finished after 5 km. Without a breath, with a pain in my legs (lower parts). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I train running under that circumstances? Making a distance is not a problem for me. The problem is trying to make a distance faster as usually (typically, I make 40 km in 8-10 hours walk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8548" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T04:28:46.077" Title="How to train for marathon if I haven't been running, but walking a lot?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16331" CreationDate="2014-05-02T09:04:31.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a scale certainly helps, both to improve accuracy when you use it, and to improve your estimations when you can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry too much about accuracy. If you estimate honestly, you'll err on both sides with equal likelihood, and the errors should cancel out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8522" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T09:04:31.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16351" CreationDate="2014-05-02T10:11:14.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of things I would look at.&#xA;Firstly, are your trainers suitable for running?&#xA;If you are running in walking shoes it maybe worth investing in a pair of running trainers, as it maybe ths that this is the cause of the lower leg problem.  Go to a proper running shop and they will help you choose the right pair for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once that is sorted, I'd start by gradually increase the length of your run.  You say you can run 5k, but no further,  try reducing your speed, and maybe you could go a little further.  If not, run the 5k,  then run/walk another couple of kilometres.(run a lamp post then walk a lamp post).  Then gradually you should be able to increase to 6k running etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally you should be running or run/walking at least 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you have an event in mind, I presume, it's not about running a marathon in training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T10:11:14.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16320" CreationDate="2014-05-02T11:49:14.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the information you provide, you are doing the correct mileage to be competitive in 10k races already. You say that you become fatigued before the finish and need to slow down. This (in my experience) is due to not having the cardiovascular fitness you need i.e. your body is not yet efficient enough at converting the O2 in your lungs to energy in your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would keep your running distance the same (or even slightly reduce it) and consider two things. First, I would add swimming (or possibly cycling - but this will be less useful in my experience) to your weekly regime. Swimming for 45 minutes (front crawl) 3 or more times a week (combine this with a run by running to and from the pool for maximum effect) will improve your cardiovascular fitness without increasing the risk of injury. Second I would find a hill to use to increase the intensity of one or more of your runs without increasing mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to consider your nutrition. Ensure you are taking on board sufficient carbohydrates and fluids throughout the week to support the energy expenditure and a avoid &quot;hitting the wall&quot; too early. Finally, make sure you are eating enough protein to support muscle growth and repair to reduce chance of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: my own experience. I have previously run a 38 minute 10k and that was not at my peak performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8549" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T11:49:14.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-02T17:44:38.107" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 26 and it's about 5 years that i have SLE. I wander what is good martial art for not only gain fitness and good for my health but be good for self-defense?&#xA;thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8551" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T17:44:38.107" Title="martial arts for SLE Patient" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11920" CreationDate="2014-05-02T19:17:14.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play tournament badminton and having fever after a tournament or even longer games is standard for me. I get high body temperature, sore throat, clogged nose and all flu-like symptoms. Have to get under a warm blanket or wear a pullover cos of the cold. The symptoms stay only until night, and next morning they're gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat properly during longer game sessions and take sugary drinks, as it is a must to be able to play for over 2 hours. The elevated temperature is something that simply seems to follow, hasn't changed during my level has gone higher, rather the opposite, things get more and more intense. Badminton is very intense exercise where you go with maximum intensity and cardio almost all the time, and a really aching body is another steady reward. Sometimes can hardly walk to the bus, it can be so heavy on the feet and also the back, the arm... often feel like the whole body is on fire, and in addition get the fever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A doctor told me it is normal and a result from micro damages to the muscles in intense training. The body sort of thinks that muscles are damaged and raises the temperature to fight microbes. I haven't gotten any muscle damages, apart a torn tendon that was recently operated but that's a different story. Otherwise my muscles are doing fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8552" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T19:17:14.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16331" CreationDate="2014-05-02T20:45:04.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the question you ask, yes, weighing your food is a good idea if you're serious. More than accuracy, the knowledge of the amounts that you are eating is important when you later inevitably revisit and reevaluate your plan. You will &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; if it's the plan that needs changing if you're not getting the desired results, shedding doubt that the blame lies in your estimation skills. &lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, doing this for every meal for the foreseeable future is not going to be fun. Therefore I suggest making a game out of guessing the amounts before measuring them for the first week or two, while you're enthusiastic, such that you calibrate your own estimations. If you just measure you'll get better at estimating too but it'll take longer. At any rate, once you're getting within your acceptable margin of error you can quit using the scale. This is particularly effective if there are only a handful of dishes at your dining hall which you frequent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also something to consider outside the direct question:&#xA;&quot;A Calorie's a Calorie&quot; to an extent yes but this is an incomplete way to devise an eating plan. Make sure to do your research on meal timings (intermittent fasting vs 6 meals/day) and caloric intake composition (this is extremely important). These affect both your body's adaptations to caloric restriction and your psychology (keeping you full &amp;amp; content). I won't provide an essay of unsolicited advice but do look into these if you haven't already and if you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; want my advice on it just ask :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8277" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T20:45:04.727" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16358" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16361" CreationDate="2014-05-03T04:14:27.740" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to qualify for Boston or break 3 hours in a marathon with only weekend training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently running +10 miles twice a week on the weekend and I am wondering how far that might take me to breaking or approaching a 3 hour marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not marathon then what about getting a 1:20 min or better half marathon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T07:47:01.617" Title="Is it possible to qualify for Boston or break 3 hours in a marathon with only weekend training?" Tags="&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16351" CreationDate="2014-05-03T04:28:46.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to say you should see a doctor about this or at least a trainer who helps people with running injuries. I've never known anyone with this kind of problem, so I may be over reacting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your walking is not too fast perhaps you should focus on walking at a brisk pace so that you walk about 40 km in approximately 6 hours. If you can do 3 hours at this pace then you should be able to run with short strides and a quick cadence without really picking up your knees (like a shuffle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a trainer, but I think you should talk to a doctor or nurse or someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T04:28:46.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18138" CreationDate="2014-05-03T07:25:22.643" Score="4" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;After three months I will be moving to a new country, and according to travel tips the period of adjustment may take as long as six months especially if I am used to a humid climate, and that I might experience nosebleeds, dry skin, or watery eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently living in a semi-dry (700 meter = 2297 feet) above sea level, and I will be moving to a (1300 meter = 4265 feet) above sea level very dry place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is there any certain set of exercises that I might practice for three months (or less) to make my adjustment easier and faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8554" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T23:35:34.217" Title="Training exercises for a change in climate" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16358" CreationDate="2014-05-03T07:47:01.617" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think breaking 3 hours or better for a marathon or 1.20 for half is very unlikely on training just at the weekends.  Of course it depends on your starting point, and if you do lots of other cardio work during the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you are extremely talented, you still have to train to get the good results.  I know many people who run sub 3 hour marathons, and have done so myself on a number of occasions.  All train hard with a minimum or 4-5 training days a week.  The marathon is to be respected, you can't just turn up and expect it to be ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T07:47:01.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2014-05-03T14:51:04.667" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone who tried to refute RICE will fail miserably. There is an insane amount of scientific research behind it. Whereas voodoo floss is a dangerous gimmick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, it's not RICE anymore. If you refer to it as RICE, then you are dating yourself. It's PRICES (protect, rest, ice, compression, elevation, and stability). Even with the old acronym, you are still using compression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Voodoo flossing, is really just gauged rubber used as you would a properly wrapped ACE bandage. Then people have had the idea to incorporate ROM or stretching. This is nothing new. If I have a lot of calf work to do, I'll wear an ace wrap around my calf or compression socks to aid in the muscle pump activity that reduces the inflammation to the area by enhancing the return of blood flow to the heart and lymphatics for filtration. Using voodoo flossing is dangerous because you are using a high-gauge rubber tubbing essentially as a tourniquet which leads to reperfusion injuries and will in essence decrease tissue extensibility by reducing oxygen supply to those tissues. Yes, causing ischemia will reduce tone which allows for stretch and pressure reduction but you are damaging the tissue rather than giving it healthy extensibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is you need to know when to do stuff like this. If you are in a boxing match and need a quick fix then yes, maybe voodoo flossing will work for you if done correctly.But for the average person, regardless of how much they train, this is a totally unnecessary technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8556" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T14:51:04.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-03T17:26:54.627" Score="0" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;My workout routine is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest/Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back/Triceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and Legs again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to include some good core/ab exercises, please recommend some and tell me on which routines should I add them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a skinny person, looking to build mass. I weigh 57 Kgs and am 180 cm tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past I have been doing planks, crunches, decline board sit up, leg raises. Also is it possible for me have those engraved ab muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2020-02-06T14:26:07.450" Title="Adding Core/Abs exercises to my routine" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16364" CreationDate="2014-05-03T18:10:17.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are skinny.  It's possible to have defined abs, as usually it's the layer of fat that causes the problem.  You need to make sure all ab muscles are worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plank works the transverse abdominus.   Leg raises and crunches the rectus abdominus.  You could do with adding something for obliques, depending on your level I would go for a russian twist, side plank or lateral crunches.  It would also be worth adding some back raises to make sure you are working the whole of your truck and don't become unbalanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T18:10:17.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16171" CreationDate="2014-05-03T19:36:36.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'l make this really simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain muscle gradually increase your calories every one or two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get lean do the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing your still a beginner so you can do both at the same time by eating enough calories to maintain your weight while training hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements: They aren't needed but since your vegetarian you should take whey protein. Absolutely any is fine. Avoid mass gainers though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition: you can eat whatever you want as long as it fits in your calorie range and as long as you're getting a good amount of protein. about 1g per lbs of body weight. (doesn't have to be exact)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout: Make sure you do mainly compound movements, plus isolation for arms. And MAKE SURE you make progress with your weights/ reps every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its literally that simple. Dont get serious about all the little details and all that scientific crap. Just follow the simple guidelines and you'll make great progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8557" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T19:36:36.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-03T22:45:18.530" Score="2" ViewCount="4159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started doing cardio from one Youtube channel which is showing that in 84 min I can burn around 1000 calories (but 1000 is not my goal). I do gym also so I want to burn till 400-500 calories.&#xA;While searching on youtube I found these tutorials for tabata &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFt3iRT5ueg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Burn fat in 4 min&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLfb54HUtuA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;4 min jump around tabata&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;by searching it on google I found that it burn around 15 calorie per minute (assuming that it has been performed with 100% effort)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but some of the website users claim that they have burned around 200 calories, which is astonishing because he didn't mention after burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions are,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As there are many 4 minutes video available online for Tabata. Does all pattern burn same amount of calorie per minute? Do I have to worry about which exercise pattern I choose?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assuming that Tabata burns 15 calorie per minute so total would be 15*4 = 60 calorie. &#xA;Do I have to repeat the set or after burn can help me reducing more calorie?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I know this may be hard to calculate but I would appreciate if you can guide me with the approximate calorie reduce (after burn) when a person do only 4 min Tabata routine&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2321" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T17:09:43.880" Title="Tabata calorie burn with 4 minute excersie" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16369" CreationDate="2014-05-04T12:09:39.260" Score="0" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a big day coming up after 13 weeks. I think its plenty of time for me to loose my belly fat, i am 35 inches waist, with a baby bear belly. I resumed gym, after 3 months just 2 days ago and burning 400 cal on tredmill and doing chest, abs (short of mix) exercises everyday. I have removed sugar from my food and bread. So i eat 4-9 eggs (boiled n white part) and rest of day try to eat chicken, lightly fried and from my last instructor what i got supplements list, which are &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u8kKN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;these&quot;&gt;, having said that someone told me, that is too much of supplements. Which now confuses me, to take or not. As i spend good amount of money, just to add it to my routine to loose belly fat and gain mass.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So my question is, how much should i working out everday and what diet should i take, not that i loss mass, but to loss my belly and have somewhat flat tummy (if not good abs), and what should i be eating and avoiding and if i should continue with supplements? When will i start seeing some results.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorUserId="8561" LastEditDate="2014-05-04T12:24:27.500" LastActivityDate="2014-05-04T13:10:15.237" Title="Workout and Supplments for fast results" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-05-08T11:47:03.230" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16368" CreationDate="2014-05-04T12:55:52.943" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that the word &quot;Supplement&quot; means to supply what the primary food does not.  I agree that you are taking too many supplements, and if you are not careful it will be at a level which might cause detrimental effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition / Supplementation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There needs to be a proper balance.  First, let's look at your description of dietary changes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Removing sugar: good move.  It provides nothing of value and is just extra calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Removing bread: verdict is out on this one.  A good high fiber bread can be a convenient way to eat lunch on the go without causing too much detriment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating eggs: good move.  They are like nature's multivitamin.  Nothing wrong with 4-9 eggs a day, but you'll have to watch the fat content if you eat the yolk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating chicken, lightly fried: Not a great move.  Chicken is a great food to eat when you trying to get rid of some fat, but frying it adds fat and if you aren't careful will cause you to have more calories than you think.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary goal for your diet is to make sure you are eating good things in the right amounts to achieve your goals.  To lose weight, you need to know roughly how many calories you burn normally.  After that, you adjust by dropping a couple hundred calories at a time until you are losing roughly 1-2 pounds a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein should be reasonably high: 1.8g per kg target body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat should be at least: .35g per kg target body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates make up the rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number I gave for fat content is the minimum amount to maintain health.  Keep in mind that there is 9 calories for every gram of fat.  Compare that to both protein and carbohydrates which is only 4 calories per gram.  You have to eat the minimum amount of fat your body needs to maintain proper function to burn fat and not muscle.  After that, you have to find the right balance between fat and carbohydrates where you feel satisfied from your food but are still losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as supplements go, you really should keep it simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A sports multivitamin, take the dose on the package (example: Opti-Men by Optimum Nutrition)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About 3g Omega-3 (look at the package, mg of fish oil is not the same thing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you live outside the tropical belt, Vitamin D3, 2500 IU a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can spread the supplements out as you see fit throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hard time getting your protein in while cutting calories, you may consider a whey protein supplement.  Make sure you look at the package so you aren't getting one with lots of sugar or dextrose in it (i.e. not a bulking protein mix).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all, get your sleep.  About 8 hours sleep a night will make sure you are burning as much fat as you can while preserving as much muscle as you can.  Not getting enough sleep causes your body to hold on to fat and burn more muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training should be about 3 times a week.  If you do about 20 minutes of cardio work per day it should help with health, recovery, and burning fat.  However you do need to challenge yourself during strength training.  If you are beginner, you want to hit the following areas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest/Arms/Shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good beginner program would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Workout A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-up/Chin-up: 3xAMAP (as many as possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Workout B&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 1xAMAP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When 3x8 gets too tough to keep adding 5 lbs each time you go in, switch to 5x5, then 3x5, and finally 3x3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't used to free weight and feel more comfortable with machines, then swap out squats for leg press and leg curl and add in core specific work.  By working bigger muscles, your body transformation will go better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-05-04T13:10:15.237" LastActivityDate="2014-05-04T13:10:15.237" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18288" CreationDate="2014-05-04T19:26:08.747" Score="8" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just came home from a daylong (amateur) archery tournament with aching back and shoulders. I regularly do strength exercises with a Theraband™ but now I thought that I should probably do some exercises that stress the &quot;archery muscle agonists&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which muscles would that be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which (Theraband) exercises would be appropriate?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8563" OwnerDisplayName="Florian" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-06-11T12:48:31.550" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T12:48:31.550" Title="What exercises to do for archery antagonists?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16367" CreationDate="2014-05-05T14:50:40.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have done some research on internet on my question and I would try to answer my own question, but I will not accept this as an official answers until this gets an appropriate amount of up votes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tabata work out burns around 12 calorie/min to 16 calorie/min.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A common formula involves a 2:1 ratio of work to recovery periods, for example, 30–40 seconds of hard sprinting alternated with 15–20 seconds of jogging or walking. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Few sample tabata workout routine are mention below, it really doesn't effect too much on what type of exercise you choose it is about how much effort you put into it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TABF0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;based on the intensity of the workout, calorie burning effect appears more at &quot;after burn&quot;, this is the actually similar to any HIIT workout training.&#xA;an additional 150 calories are being burned up to 12 hours after you do 4 min Tabata.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so, mathematically (assuming an average scenario) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;4 *15 = 60 (4 min workout)&#xA;     + 150 &#xA;------------&#xA;       210 calories&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vSBHV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The style of workout can take between 4-20 minutes. It is noteworthy that Tabata should not be perform for long period of time (i.e. &gt; 20 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I would still be looking for someone who can post the real calorie measurement, measured via equipment like HRM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Not related to question]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just because I read about it and I feel responsible to post it in my answer which might be useful for a beginner and will help them to avoid unnecessary injury and loss&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whatever the case, you should get clearance from a doctor prior to starting full-blown Tabata training, or any form of HIIT for that matter, if any of the following apply to you:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You’re over 40 years of age&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You’re a smoker&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You have high blood pressure&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You or someone in your family has a history of any type of&#xA;cardiovascular disease&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You have asthma&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You have a history of any type of breathing problems&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2321" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T14:50:40.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16380" CreationDate="2014-05-05T16:54:58.577" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing a strength training program, like stronglifts 5x5. I squat 3 times per week, my upper body exercises include bench, overhead press, weighted pullups, and barbell rows. I used to do track and field in high school, and I could just about anything without gaining fat. Now, I have to count my calories otherwise I start to gain weight. What are good workouts that can burn a lot of calories but not hinder my strength training? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Some ideas: swimming, running, sprints, cycling. But I'm afraid doing too much will hurt my strength gains. Is it better to not exercise on rest days to actually rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7170" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T08:19:23.893" Title="good recovery workout to burn a lot of calories during strength training?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2014-05-06T00:30:54.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is possible train to run a marathon by training only on the weekends, but running fast is a still a question for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done it several times this winter and finished three marathons, but I have not been improving much. Finished races at 5:50 Nov 14?, 4:32 Jan 19, 4:22 Feb 16, and a recent 4:08 training run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mind you that Feb 1 2014 I ran a half in 1:43 and do have a strong base for 4-6 miles with one 2 miler at 12 min but stopped running regularly for 4-5 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So finally, the time it takes to go from 6-8 miles to marathon distance is definitely at least 6-8 months with most if not all being hard training sessions. It took me about that much time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you I bet it was 3-4 months to do it without being dizzy :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T00:30:54.487" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16382" CreationDate="2014-05-06T00:36:14.020" Score="4" ViewCount="13653" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to time myself at 100m sprint, does anyone know of a bit of kit or app that does this? I'm not a member of a running club, I'd just be curious as to what my time would be. I know that there are a few GPS watches and such available, and I wondered if anyone had had any experiences with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8566" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:28.803" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T20:46:28.853" Title="Time yourself at 100m sprint?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;&lt;timing&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16486" CreationDate="2014-05-06T00:45:50.767" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it better to run 3 ten mile runs with food breaks or one 24-26 mile run when training for a marathon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would this translate to a race time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T01:57:54.550" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T12:52:47.920" Title="Is it better to run 3 ten mile runs with food breaks or one 24-26 mile run when training for a marathon?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16374" CreationDate="2014-05-06T08:19:23.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two ways of losing calories without raising recovery needs much that I can think of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eccentric-less training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One of the best ways to burn calories (or get additional training volume) while minimising recovery needs is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maloneyperformance.com/Blog/?p=1055&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eccentric-less training&lt;/a&gt;. The eccentric portion of a lift (or any exercise) puts far more strain on your central nervous system and your muscle tissue. By omiting that portion, you can regenerate way faster from exercise and not impede your main lifts that much. Some great exercises that only use concentric load:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hill sprints (walking down)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cycling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sled-pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prowler-push&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;olympic lifts (drop the weight at the top).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Super low impact cardio:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is basically anything you can do for hours, without really getting tired. I myself like walking to work and back (2x40min) which burns ~300kcal and doesn't really impede my lifts in any way. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/get_ripped_get_walking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; goes into a bit more detail on the benefits of walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T08:19:23.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16082" CreationDate="2014-05-06T10:02:04.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using one called Mio Link, and I'm liking it a lot.  It's new tech, so I've kept my Polar Beat handy in case I have issues, but so far so good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8571" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T10:02:04.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16376" CreationDate="2014-05-06T10:55:17.580" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hold a stopwatch in your hand, press it at the moment when you start sprinting, stop at the finish line, and then add 0.2-0.25s to simulate a reaction time as in a real start. If you are uncomfortable running with a stopwatch in your hand, then have someone else time you; start timing nce the first foot hits the ground, and at the end add about 0.6s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the only cost effective strategy for someone who is &quot;just curious&quot;. There are also laser gates, force sensitive starting blocks etc., but each cost hundreds of dollars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T10:55:17.580" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16345" CreationDate="2014-05-06T11:13:50.167" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;For support grip and crush grip you use two different muscles (both are used, but in either movement, there is a different main muscle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the support grip, you flex the distant part of your phalanges (fingers) by the action of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://gestaltreality.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Flexor-digitorum-profundus-300x226.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;flexor digitorum profundus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the crush grip, you flex the proximal part of your phalanges by the action of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://teachmeanatomy.info/wp-content/uploads/Intermediate-Compartment-Flexor-Digitorum-Superificialis-Anterior-Forearm..jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;flexor digitorum superficialis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several explanations why the support grip is stronger. The simplest one would be that flex. dig. profundus is stronger. However, since they are of roughly equal size, the more likely explanation is a biomechanical one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the position of the muscles' tendons, with one (profundus) going under and through the other (superficialis), there is a better leverage for the profundus muscle. Also, the greater thickness allows for greater force production. This makes sense in evolutionary terms since we have done more &quot;hanging&quot; than &quot;crushing&quot; with our hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.raddaily.com/data/articles/msk/fingertendons.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a visual&lt;/a&gt; of the position of the tendons as they insert onto the phalanges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-22T20:59:13.120" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T20:59:13.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16105" CreationDate="2014-05-06T11:33:55.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two main factors which influence your leaping ability: maximal force production (MFP) and explosiveness (EXP). MFP denotes how much weight you can lift. EXP denotes how quickly that force can be produced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maximal force production is increased by doing heavy lifts. (Also, in accordance with periodization, and depending on your current fitness status, it would be wise to start of with a phase of hypertrophy. The bigger the crossection of the muscle, the more force can be produced) Heavy lifts implies lifting heavier than 80% of your one repetition maximum (1RM) for 1-4 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For maximal transferral of force gains to vertical leaping, it is important to do axial exercises. They are the ones in which the feet are planted, and the torso moves vertically. Examples include squats, half squats, dead lifts, romanian dead lifts etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explosiveness is trained by doing quick movements with lighter loads. Plyometrics and ballistic training are the prime examples. However there are more complicated types of training, such as Maxex and the french contrast method, that possibly yield better results, but are not advisable unless you are perfectly healthy and a professional athlete due to the high intensity and risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plyometrics involves hopping and jumping over, and from, various heights. Examples include standing vertical jump, standing long jump, drop jumps, hurdle hops. The higher the weight (of you and your gear) and the higher the jump, the higher the intensity of the training and the better the results.&#xA;Ballistics involves doing fast movements while accelerating throughout the whole movement. Examples include front and back medicine ball throws, squat jumps and half squat jumps (with up to 40% 1RM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are an experienced athlete, then you can incorporate these two types of training at the same time, even during the same practice. However, if you have less than 2-3 years of training experience, then i suggest you start of with basic strength training, then move on to maximal force training and finally do explosive training. That progression is needed in order for your connective tissue (tendons and ligaments) to adapt and strengthen so it can endure the high stress of plyometrics and ballistics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your second question, I would suggest the half squat. Biomechanically it is the most similar movement to vertical leaping, and thus has the highest transferability of force production. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2014-05-09T13:44:13.310" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:44:13.310" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14492" CreationDate="2014-05-06T12:01:25.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both correct, however, the way they are stated is the source of confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) There is no correlation between the number of fibers and the energy system used. There is actually an exogenous explanation. The increased recruitment of muscle fibers occurs due to an increase in tension of the muscle. I.e. the force production is increased. When you are performing an explosive exercise, or moving a heavy weight, you need a high fiber recruitment. But what happens is that the fast twitch fibers are more selectively recruited, and they use the ATP-PC system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers utilize all of the energy systems; the difference is that the fast twitch fibers get more of their energy from the ATP-PC system than from oxidation or glycolysis for example. And vice versa for the slow twitch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Yes, both types of hypertrophy occur in both fiber types. But again there is a correlation between fiber type and type of hypertrophy. When exercising with high weights and low to medium reps, the ATP-PC system is primarily activated, and the muscle is stressed so as to induce myofibrillar hypertrophy. On the other hand, when doing high reps, the anaerobic, glycolytic, and oxidative pathways stimulate the muscle to undergo sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when performing low rep/high weights, the slow twitch that get activated are stimulated to undergo myofibrillar hypertrophy. But due to the fact that they contract weakly, and utilize a different energy system, the extent of their myofibrillar hypertrophy is lower than in fast twitch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When discussing fast twitch fibers, it is interesting to note that they have a higher potential for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy than slow twitch have for myofibrillar hypertrophy. This is the explanation why performing cardio is detrimental to explosiveness; it induces a fiber type change, from fast twitch to slow twitch, which is in practice irreversible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T12:01:25.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7235" CreationDate="2014-05-06T12:44:29.877" Score="10" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Question 1: Does hypertrophy training assist for a greater eventual neural output?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy training probably does not help to increase neural drive. That is because of the anatomical properties of the muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TsyU7.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle fibers are innervated in groups, called motor units, by a single motor neuron (above figure shows a single motor unit). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By doing hypertrophy-type training, the neural output is fairly low (as compared to power training) and is not sufficient to simulate the motor neurons to &quot;bud&quot; (increase the number of muscle fibers in the motor unit they innervate). In simple terms, hypertrophy-type training doesn't increase the number of muscles fibers in a motor unit. Comparing to sedentary individuals, I would guess that there is an increased neural drive, however, this effect in later training is negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is interesting, however, is if we flip the coin and ask ourselves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can training to increase neural output, influence the effect of hypertrophy training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;indeed that is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When beginners start going to the gym, their intramuscular coordination is fairly low. The contractions that the muscles produce are inefficient, and few motor units are activated. After months and years of power training, such as in professional athletes, that coordination is much better, the motor units are bigger (more fibers are innervated by each motor neuron) and more motor units are activated. What does this mean for the athlete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine a muscle of a beginner: 100 muscle fibers; it consists of 10 motor units, each consisting of 10 muscle fibers. During a contraction (of set intensity), only 3 motor units are activated (the muscle tension equals that produced by 30 muscle fibers; 3*10). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through power training, the size of the motor units increases (from 10 to 15 in this case) (there is overlap between motor units; one muscle fiber can be innervated by more than one motor neurn), and the number of activated motor units is increased as well (from 3 to 5).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These changes lead to the activation of 75 muscle fibers (15*5), instead of the original 30.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Automatically, the 1RM is higher. And when you then perform hypertrophy training, the training stimulus is more than double the original. This is the reason why power lifters and sprinters gain mass extremely quickly when entering a hypertrophy phase at the beginning of their macrocycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your second question, your genetic makeup only determines your potential. For example, if your parents have 60% and 70% fast twitch fibers on average, then your genetic potential is in the range of 55-75%. By doing long distance aerobic training for 30 years, you will end up with 55% slow twitch fibers, not less. The same goes for explosive training; you will never get the 80-85% fast twitch muscles needed to become an Olympic sprinter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that all figures stated are artificial for explanatory value. It could very well be that your genetic potential in the above case is 30-90%; to my knowledge there is no research yet on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2019-11-10T15:52:50.987" LastActivityDate="2019-11-10T15:52:50.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13852" CreationDate="2014-05-06T13:25:11.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your system might have &quot;learned&quot; to tolerate acutely high levels of CO2 during training, but it is not normal during rest. As your cardiovascular fitness increases, you become more efficient at using O2 and excreting CO2, and as such your ventilation rate falls to maintain a normal blood PH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many reasons for an increased CO2, many of which should be examined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A ventilation perfusion mismatch can be caused by bronchitis, asthma, pulmonary edema, hepatopulmonary syndrome. In case you are a smoker, it can be due do emphysema or COPD. Infections such as TB. Almost any pathological process in the lungs can increase the CO2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming your other values are fine since you did not mention them. That includes the blood PH. Your ventilation rate can decrease to compensate for a high PH caused by kidney problems; compensated metabolic alkalosis. This has many reasons, with the most frequent one being diabetic nephropathy in case you are diabetic. You can also have overtraining syndrome, which increases cortisol, which in term damages the kidneys, but that is hard to diagnose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you go to your doctor to check your kidney function (urinalysis and bloodwork), and pulmonary status (spirometry etc.). In case they turn up negative, try lowering the intensity of your workouts for some time to decrease cortisol levels. It is obviously a chronic change, so there is no need to worry about dropping dead at practice, however, I would recommend that you stop practicing until you know the etiology so as not to stress your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T13:25:11.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15449" CreationDate="2014-05-06T13:46:12.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The acute effect of exercising (any type of exercise) is that the muscles become engorced with blood. This serves to increase oxygenation, remove metabolites, deliver nutrients and anabolic hormones. A muscle that is engorged is, obviously, larger and tighter than one that is not. This is the reason behind your &quot;toned&quot; muscles&quot;. &#xA;Another thing that happens during muscle contractions is that the neural imput it recieves increases. This has the effect of an increased post-exercise tonus; tonus is when a proportion of the muscle is contraccting, even in the absense of force production. This is another reason why your muscles feel harder after exercising, but this effect also disappears after a couple of days (even faster with warm showers and massages).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, there is no change in the structure of your muscles the way you train. You exercise, and then wait for the effects to completely disappear before training again. In order to progress, you must stress your body. I would suggest you read up on &quot;supercompensation&quot;. This is called the one-factor model of training and is kind of outdated, but still very similar to the more accepted two-factor model of training. However, unless you plan on becoming a professional, there is a minimal difference as far as results go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On another note, I see that there are a couple comments about toning for the previous answer to this question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Toning is a myth&quot; - Yes, in the sense that people portray it. Toning will not increase your fitness markedly, nor will it get your muscles stronger or harder. What people refer to when talking about toning is when slow twitch muscle fibers undergo sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. So, in one way, performing low weight/high rep exercise can increase muscle cross section area. It will not however increase strength. Also, the hypertrophic potential of slow twitch muscle fibers is much lower than that of fast twitch fibers. Aiming to get &quot;toned&quot;, in the sense that people do, is a waste of time. Classical body building methods, medium weight/medium reps, are more efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T13:46:12.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-06T15:45:45.300" Score="4" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a study based on data from the Minnesota Starvation experiment that says that the maximum rate of fat loss is about 31.4 calories of fat per body fat per day. So, If you are a 200lb man with 15% body fat, you have 30lbs of body fat and can afford a 900 calorie deficit per day which your fat stores can provide. But I don't understand how this fits in with low intensity exercise, which primarily uses energy from fat. For example, suppose that same person walks for 5 hours (suppose he's at an amusement park, mall, etc) and he burns 1200 calories, with 60% of it coming from fat. He burned 720 calories of fat, but that's not even considering a caloric deficit. What if he was at 10% bodyfat so he could burn at most 600 calories of fat per day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some problems with the study:&#xA;-I read some articles that analyzed the study, and the subjects performed &quot;moderate exercise&quot; which doesn't tell me whether or not they did a weightlifting program to preserve muscle mass and urge more calories to be burned from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-The subjects were fed food similar to what soldiers would eat in WWII, so bread, potatoes, other starchy foods that were low in protein. This would lead to muscle wasting, and potentially less fat burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heres the link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15615615&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15615615&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7170" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T03:01:19.383" Title="Maximum fat loss and fat burning workouts?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11994" CreationDate="2014-05-06T17:06:19.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Classic studies usually link air pollution with lung conditions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this recent study extremely interesting though: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium split a group&#xA;  of 24 runners into two groups: those from urban areas and those from&#xA;  rural areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During a 12-week period, the two groups were asked to run three days a&#xA;  week around noon. One group exercised in a rural area, the other group&#xA;  in a busy urban setting. Then, researchers gave the subjects a test to&#xA;  measure their response time and attention span.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They found that those that ran in the city had lower IQ scores and had&#xA;  a higher risk of brain inflammation, according to the Daily Mail.&#xA;  Says &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/1212/jogging-outside-could-make-you-dumber-6432.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/1212/jogging-outside-could-make-you-dumber-6432.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original study can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://viper.rma.ac.be/pub/Nathalie/bos12.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bos, Inge, et al. &quot;Subclinical effects of aerobic training in urban environment.&quot; Med Sci Sports Exerc 45.3 (2013): 439-47.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we check the references of this article, we can find some other interesting ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;os I, Jacobs L, Nawrot TS, et al. No exercise-induced increase in serum BDNF after&#xA;cycling near a major traffic road. Neurosci Lett.2011; 500(2):129-32.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Int Panis L, de Geus B, Vandenbulcke G, et al. Exposure to particulate matter in traffic: A comparison of cyclists and car passengers. Atmos Environ. 2010. 44...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8574" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T17:06:19.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17812" CreationDate="2014-05-06T20:31:12.510" Score="5" ViewCount="855" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Update]&lt;/strong&gt; Thanks to the answer, I acknowledge now that I am heading towards &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnar_nerve_entrapment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;ulnar nerve entrapment&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; where one injury is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnar_claw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ulnar claw&lt;/a&gt; -- more common with males particularly training in gym with large weights and tennis players. This is due to stronger muscles blocking the ulnar nerve. The Wikipedia picture below at rest resembles the situation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0cBgb.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been under intensive training such as CFT, weight-lifting, tennis and climbing which all require a massive amount of effort on hands and fingers. On the morning I can feel that my fingers are not relaxed enough: particularly little finger and ring fingers which get an extra effort in dead-lifting, tennis volleys and tennis servings. This is a problem in tennis where non-relaxation can easily turn into pain due to fast swings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Helper questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Which methods to prepare fingers for intensive sports requiring hands a lot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How to recover from ulnar claw and possible Ulnar nerve entrapment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T18:17:17.897" Title="Fingers for intensive sports requiring hands a lot? Recoving from ulnar claw?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;&lt;relaxation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2014-05-06T23:35:58.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We only bought our mountain bikes yesterday, we rode 8 miles and was fine this morning &quot;BUT&quot; may have pushed myself too far today by doing 20 miles and ive got a horrible feeling that my legs will refuse to get back on it tomorrow lol. My backside, my legs, my arms and my shoulders are aching like mad. So I defo think 20 miles is too far...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8576" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T23:35:58.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-07T02:13:15.663" Score="2" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone happen to know some sources or ideas regarding &lt;strong&gt;the biochemistry of working out while under socially-caused stress?&lt;/strong&gt;  This is a more in-depth follow-up, and focusing on the biochemistry, to a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/4601/1789&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt;, and so I think it deserves its own question--particularly since nothing like what I am seeking was answered in that one. (For example, I am completely uninterested here in the accepted answer there, which was to improve general health behaviors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elaboration:&lt;/strong&gt;  I exercised today during a period of several days of very intense and lasting socially-caused stress/anger.  At the time of exercising, I was still actively angry, and quite aware of that...and thought that perhaps the exercise would do me some good to &lt;em&gt;relieve&lt;/em&gt; some of my tension as well as just hit my regular exercise goal. The workout was a challenging (mostly inclined) treadmill workout of one hour, one that I have done a few times recently with no serious bad feelings afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tonight, though, after the workout, around dinner, I started to feel rather unwell.  It was almost like coming down with a flu, just really out of sorts, warm, tired, odd feelings in my head, etc.  I've felt &quot;run over by a truck&quot; before after hard workouts, but they are usually in the beginning of the process of getting back into shape. I know this workout is one my body was already mostly adapted to, but tonight it (possibly...maybe it was some other factor) made me feel quite unwell.  I am beginning to recover now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Question&lt;/strong&gt;:  What is known about the biochemistry of the interaction between stress, particularly socially caused anger/frustration, and hard aerobic exercise or exercise generally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first pass hypothesis is that the exercise itself raises cortisol levels, but the anger/stress has already raised the basal cortisol significantly, and so the exercise-induced cortisol spike is riding on top of the social-stress caused basal level of cortisol, so the resulting cortisol levels are &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; high, and the poor feeling I have been having for some hours is the result of this. It may be any other biochemical molecule or molecule class, though--cytokines also come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A corollary question&lt;/strong&gt; is whether it is unwise to exercise at these times, because of the catabolic effects of cortisol, let alone the potentially harmful effects of sustained elevated levels of glucocorticoids generally (cf. Sapolsky).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T22:08:48.273" Title="Biochemistry of working out while under psychosocial stress" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-07T07:10:58.020" Score="3" ViewCount="651" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been told to have hypermobility of joints and I'm not comfortable with the idea of doing any kind of stretches unless it is about stretching a tight muscle after a workout. My joints tend to have higher ROM making me vulnerable to injury even in normal activity and strengthening muscles will likely help me cope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I can do warm up for a weight training regime without having to do dynamic stretches, especially anything pertaining backward bending or twisting of spine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastEditorUserId="7706" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T11:58:58.410" LastActivityDate="2020-02-20T09:48:35.580" Title="Warm up streches with diagnosed hypermobility of joints" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16392" CreationDate="2014-05-07T09:18:11.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[May 2016]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Michael asked whether the ulnar claw healed in comment. A short answer is Yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better analysis is that ulnar claw will probably never fully heal, the thing is precaution. You can feel the symptoms of ulnar claws in situations having excessive loss of minerals (nerve damage impairs the transportation of minerals in the arms) such as excessive sauna or tiresome tennis match: crucial thing is to have proper hydration with proper salts to avoid cramps and strain on nerves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before symptoms of ulnar claw reoccur, you can stop the activity or change the technique for less intensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I attribute the original ulnar claw to things such as bad blood circulation in shoulder and overtraining changing the biomechanics over the torso. Tennis requires asymmetric swings and excessive needs over whole body due to the swings, any imbalance can worse your technique a lot. Things that I have fixed contain armspan and legspan so far-better crossing shots, topspins and less injury-prone in games because the blood flow is not blocked by imbalances over the body. The following threads contain some of my development&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14743/arm-cross-stretching-behind-the-back-how-to-improve-it&quot;&gt;Arm cross stretching behind the back, how to improve it?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29718/legspan-requirements-for-different-running-styles&quot;&gt;Legspan requirements for different running styles?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where a good diagnosis technique or red alert observation is to acknowledge whether your arm after sleep feels like dead (blood blocked somewhere in the shoulder likely) or other symptoms. They can be triggered by multiple factors such as bad training, bad recovery and bad hydration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms of ulnar claw can also be triggered without training such as in stressful situations. Things contain bad posture over excessive amount of time and lack of variety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My case worked out without any surgery and I have had now no symptoms at least over year, almost forgetting the whole thing. I do carry things such as BandIt and sufficient stretching tools in my training bag and I have developed techniques to alleviate the symptoms. Precaution is the best thing: things such as bruises or painful small bruise-like things with white center in the joints of arms are red alerts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope best of luck to everyone dealing with ulnar claw, it is an opportunity to make you far better in things you enjoy the most :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Januaray 2015]&lt;/strong&gt; long time until symptoms back after intensive sauna and swimming which I attribute to losing minerals and somehow softening the myofascia, softening muscles, nerves and skin and losing minerals at the same time backfiring, awesome relaxation but symptoms getting back such as paresthesia and losing the range of motion in fingers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[10th November 2014]&lt;/strong&gt; symptoms back after playing hours piano, treatment techniques &lt;a href=&quot;https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/24929/proper-warm-up-before-playing-piano-for-little-finger-and-ring-finger&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[24th June 2014] general doctor order me 2 weeks of rest with anti-inflamatory painkillers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Slow process of diagnosing this: information here is a summary of my treatment and helped by top neurosurgeons, physiotherapists, couches and other professionals. You can read my diary below. We are trying to get me back to games fast.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am doubtful about this because I cannot see inflammation. I try it and fingers developing some pain after being in the mold 1-2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NPhKH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[26th June] no inflamation whatsoever so my couch instructs me to prepare me to use the hand normally&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stiffness in the little finger and ringer finger and pain in the little finger when trying to put into fist after being a long time in alu mold. Too stiff shoulders: cold in shoulders relaxes the ring finger. Hot in hand relaxes the stiffness in little finger and ring finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/17996/stiffnesses-cured-by-different-methods-such-as-cold-bath-hot-bath-massage-and&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/17996/stiffnesses-cured-by-different-methods-such-as-cold-bath-hot-bath-massage-and&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am feeling totally normal again and sleeping with alumium fold again so the fingers get oxygen during sleeping. Goal is to get better in one week like pros. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;28th June&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bandit-style device made my fingers feel stiff. Cold makes my little and ring finger feel stiff. So I got compression socks to hands which increase the blood flow and makes the forearm feel more warm, feels good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LVk6W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;29th June&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Having the aluminium mold on during the night can make the extensor digitorum in the little finger darker after night. After relaxing it, the darkness go away and this stiffness get lessened but the spring-feeling stays. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/I1P8Q.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;30th June: little finger starting to feel normal after adding exteremely strong compression to forearm&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I realised that I can get away with the jumpiness/springiness/stiffiness/powerlessness of the little-finger by pressing tight at certain points of the hand. So I tested a rubber band: the blood-flow gets totally intercepted but the little finger started to work like normal for a while! Wohoo! The colour of my hand changed and oddly my middle finger started to feel odd, I don't know how this can work -- somehow extremely tight compression in the forearm released some tension or something like that and you need to be careful not damaging other fingers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3OUWh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2th July: BandIt arrived&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rubber band method and BandIt are about the same method but BandIt does not block your blood flow that much, fingers staying white i.e. not getting red/black with BandIt. The coordination of my little finger has returned back due to playing with rubber band and I believe BandIt is the safer method equivalent to rubber band that can be used during any sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vAxX8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Misc information&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different Stretching Methods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1st method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;      &lt;p&gt;Push-ups with fingers feel very very good to the fingers, this is because deadlifts with about 90kg require a proper warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2rd method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;      &lt;p&gt;Rise-bowl-scrutching-method suggested &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/15722/6066&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; warms up the&#xA;      whole hand and actually simulates the handles of different sized rackets -- unfortunately the shape of crutching rice and crutching&#xA;      handles of rackets are not the same so not specific to the&#xA;      ring-finger-little-finger-area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3th method: Static stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;      &lt;p&gt;Stretching like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPO-zST-7EE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; but at least 30&#xA;      seconds' interval so it takes at least 20 minutes to stretch just one&#xA;      hand. Excellent stretching also&#xA;      &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE_-UD9fRLo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; by a rock climber,&#xA;      it feels excellent!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different relaxation methods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I. method: resting during rock climbing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;      &lt;p&gt;A rock climber shows &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaT189zC-GI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; advanced resting&#xA;      techniques for hands. It may be possible to adjust to other sports:&#xA;      hands slowly down and then hand up here crutching hand push the fresh&#xA;      blood back to the hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different coordination methods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A. method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;      &lt;p&gt;Powerball is not sufficiently powerful/large to train my fingers on my serving hand. It certainly makes fingers a bit more flexible in&#xA;      the&#xA;      left but I think the main thing it helps with is coordination, it actives areas of hands which may not be under normal usage during day&#xA;      and sporadic spinning requires proper coordination or bad sounding&#xA;      noise generated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related Threads and material&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16477/how-to-develop-sensitivity-of-hands-and-arms&quot;&gt;How to develop sensitivity of hands and arms?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.complete-strength-training.com/how-to-treat-tennis-elbow.html#section4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to treat tennis elbow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rehabilitation for Ulnar nerve, awesome stretching movements in the video &lt;em&gt;&quot;Ulnar Nerve Flossing Exercise - Amazing Results - Kinetic&#xA;    Health&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d85QKyWvrbI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T18:17:17.897" CommentCount="22" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-07T09:58:18.083" Score="0" ViewCount="2762" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find the taste of Whey protein unnatural and was wondering if I could supplement workouts with sprouts, apparently they contain 35% protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-reasons-to-eat-sprouts.html?page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-reasons-to-eat-sprouts.html?page=1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would 200g a day of sprouts allow a 160 pound trainer enough protein to maintain lean muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8579" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T14:12:26.167" Title="Are sprouts a good replacement for animal/whey protein?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16401" CreationDate="2014-05-07T10:47:58.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't find what I would consider a reliable reference for the 35% figure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can make out, (mung) Bean Sprouts are about 3% protein. So 200 grams would give you about 6 grams. Alfalfa sprouts have slightly more perhaps 4% protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Guideline Daily Amount or protein for a man would be 55grams and 45 grams for a woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd have to say no, 200g of sprouts would not be enough protein on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/602335/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/602335/2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2302/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2302/2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gdalabel.org.uk/gda/gda_values.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.gdalabel.org.uk/gda/gda_values.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T10:47:58.933" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16401" CreationDate="2014-05-07T13:44:11.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too was in a similar dilemma when I gave up protein shakes. I tried eating way too much protein from a specific source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A protein shake is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/supplement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supplement&lt;/a&gt;, a thing that makes up for a deficiency. The thing is that in today's world, especially in first world countries, protein is everywhere and its easily obtainable through eating whole nutrition dense foods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating large quantities of bean sprouts will lead to certain mineral and vitamin deficiencies. In general, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;too much of anything is bad for you, even if its a healthy food&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on a eating a well balanced diet for an active individual with different foods. Eat &lt;em&gt;enough/moderate&lt;/em&gt; proportions, &lt;em&gt;not too much&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are still struggling to meet your protein requirements, try out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJWTbjeEvVY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full fat whole milk or raw milk&lt;/a&gt; if its &lt;strong&gt;legally available&lt;/strong&gt; in your country/state and you are &lt;strong&gt;not allergic to milk&lt;/strong&gt;. Milk is a great way to make good healthy muscle gains that stay with you. But remember consume it in moderation and that goes for everything else you eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps. Lastly, &lt;strong&gt;Keep on learning&lt;/strong&gt; about eating a well balanced nutritious diet. There is still so much stuff we don't know about the food we eat and how it affects our body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8528" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T13:44:11.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16401" CreationDate="2014-05-07T14:12:26.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very good source of proteins is uncooked nuts, though they are acidic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also super good: green leaves, one of the best things you can eat and to help digestions: make a green smoothie out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprouts are certainly good, I can't confirm the quality, as it depends on a lot of other factors, such as: how much do you workout, what do you eat for the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8574" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T14:12:26.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16407" CreationDate="2014-05-07T15:45:07.583" Score="5" ViewCount="666" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any benefits on running soaked in water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been to a half-marathon length race recently. Temperature was high, above 25 ºC. There were runners who, in the provisioning sites (I'm not sure about the correct word, sorry, I mean the intermediate points where the organization offers you liquid or solid refreshments), took several bottles of water, emptying the first ones on themselves and drinking from the last one, looking like they just fell in the pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if doing that provides a real benefit (like improved refrigeration, less sweating and minor loss of hydration). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm more likely to think it is abusive and can lead to running out of water for the other racers, but I'm interested in the physiologic and performance parts rather than in the ethics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: probable benefits are the cooling &quot;sensation&quot; and some extra help with thermoregulation. But, does it provide a lasting thermoregulation or is it counterproductive soon? I'm thinking of water nebulization in fire fighting, which is more effective than drenching for dropping the room temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: after the discussion and rethinking what words to use in searches I've found some contradictory related information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/tc/dehydration-prevention&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dehydration prevention tips&lt;/a&gt;: Change into dry clothing as soon as you can if your clothes get soaked with sweat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/dehydration.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dehydration and Heat Injury&lt;/a&gt;: Clothing that is dry slows down evaporation of sweat, but once wet, cooling continues. Thus, changing into dry clothes during transitions is not a good idea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastEditorUserId="8580" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T16:46:03.300" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T17:19:58.917" Title="Benefits on running completely soaked?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16412" CreationDate="2014-05-07T16:20:27.500" Score="1" ViewCount="1506" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatus_hernia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hiatus hernia&lt;/a&gt; and lumbar hernia so the doctor forbade me to do situps. Is there a way to work my abs, having these conditions? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8581" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T02:46:36.210" Title="What is the best way to strengthen your abs?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;hernia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16405" CreationDate="2014-05-07T17:32:26.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cooling of the body largely happens via evaporation of water, whether it's the water in your sweat or an external source. There's an additional cooling that happens when doused with water in that some of the heat is likely to be transferred to the water, which then drips away. On the other hand, you're increasing the amount of weight you're carrying, particularly if you've got absorbent clothing on, and you're increasing the risk of chafing from the wet clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, and partially addressing your edit to include commentary of where you start getting negative effects, sweating works via evaporation. Contrary to the belief of many, being soaked in sweat is not a good thing, because it means that your body can't keep up with the cooling. Ideally, the sweat is evaporating as fast as it comes off of your skin, so you wind up with a faint sheen at worst. Wearing clothing complicates the process because the cloth can trap the moisture and, when you have enough water in the clothing, it acts as insulation, trapping heat in the water on the inner layers. Your body will react to this perceived extra heat by sweating more. If your clothes are already saturated, the water will just drip away, providing some small benefit, but preventing the natural cooling through evaporation. In colder weather, as per your second link, it will also mean loss of proper thermoregulation, and thus an increase of risk of hypothermia, because your body will stop sweating, but the cooling process will continue to occur water is evaporated off of the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, soaking yourself in water when clothed is a bad idea. Soaking yourself in water where you don't have clothes (c.f. topless runners) might have some minor benefit, but will largely be wasted water. If you're training to run completely soaked (say, someone training for a Tough Mudder-type event, or a soldier training for operations in bad weather), then you get the minor effect of learning to live with the side effects, but that's like discussing the benefits of running with bruised feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a postscript, there's a voice in the back of my head saying that pouring water over yourself might also mess with protective oil in your skin, increasing the risk of sunburn and chapping in much the same way that swimming or licking your lips can increase the risk. I don't think that would apply here, since it's a relatively small amount of water that's going down the surface (versus prolonged immersion as in swimming or the pressure of licking one's lips), but it's something to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T17:19:58.917" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T17:19:58.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16409" CreationDate="2014-05-07T17:58:30.617" Score="4" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of my coworkers and I are trying out a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16248/hourly-30-second-workouts-for-the-workday&quot;&gt;30 second per hour workout routine&lt;/a&gt;.  We're having a hard time finding bodyweight exercises for the legs that really tax the system.  I'd like it if we could start doing pistol squats, but some of the participants aren't able to perform them yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a simple progression for pistol squats that can give my coworkers some efficacy for this advanced movement (and hopefully get them performing them before too long)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T18:46:59.740" Title="Pistol Squat Progression?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16408" CreationDate="2014-05-07T18:18:20.077" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer assisted pistol squats using both ends of a doorknob (facing the door end-on) or rings. I've also used cubicle walls (again, facing them end-on), for what it's worth. Lean on the rings or backwards away from the doorknob for support, and gradually try to use less assistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heeled shoes make pistols a lot easier for most people, due to ankle dorsiflexion incapability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility for those with troublesome anterior hip mobility is to &quot;remove the floor&quot; and do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ0I7_icG-M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pistols standing on a box&lt;/a&gt;, letting the non-squatting leg swing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2017-02-23T16:04:11.500" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T16:04:11.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16405" CreationDate="2014-05-07T21:01:56.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreed with Sean on weight increase due to the water and possible chaffing.There is a good reason why our bodies sweat. Its a cooling mechanism. You should be more worried about keeping your self hydrated rather than drenching yourself in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An arbitrary example;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Imagine a water-cooling system for a high performance computer that is number crunching complex computations. You need to cool down the hot water generated by the components of the computer. This is done by slowly pushing the water through a radiators fins with the assistance of fans (if necessary) and then pumping back cool water to cool the components again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The same goes for your body. Your body will pump hot blood to the external veins (radiators fins) under your skin, thus allowing you to sweat and wind (fans) will remove heat off your skin allowing the blood in the veins to cool down. After this has been done,cooler blood is then transferred to areas where cooling is required.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting water on yourself externally will only give temporary results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some advice I think you already know, but I am stating some points for the other members interested in this board;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep yourself hydrated with &lt;strong&gt;water&lt;/strong&gt;. Sugar sports drinks are good for instant energy like 100m 200m, 400m dashes, once your blood sugar levels drop after the instant rise, you will feel tired and sluggish. For a marathon runner, I believe that hydration with only water is essential before(the day before), during and after the race.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/lung-power?page=single&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;breathing technique&lt;/a&gt;, an efficient marathon runner who has the right breathing technique can have a better chance at winning a race. You will also be able to control your heart rate better thus less chances of you dehydrating &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best with your races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8528" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T21:01:56.743" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15664" CreationDate="2014-05-07T21:09:25.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coconut water will be a good choice. It is full of natural electrolytes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/27/coconut-water-ultimate-rehydrator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; article gives a number of advantages of using it as a sports drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6R3Mr.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8574" LastEditorUserId="8574" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T10:03:24.077" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T10:03:24.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16406" CreationDate="2014-05-07T21:32:45.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something I learned from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCbf2wqE4Gw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Elliott Hulse&lt;/a&gt; that actually made me stop doing silly abdominal exercises that gave minimal results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stomach vacuum exercise&lt;/a&gt;. This exercise involves contracting your &lt;strong&gt;internal&lt;/strong&gt; abdominal muscles by breathing out all the air in your lungs momentarily thus creating a vacuum and then breathing back in. Not the external ones. If you watch Elliott Hulse video at 5.47  you can see how the exercise is performed. Ever wonder why you see some professional bodybuilders with an amazing physique and bloated abs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fine example of what I mean; bloated vs flat &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8b3T6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This exercise is a forgotten simple way to promote healthier, stronger internal abdominal. As a fitness community, we have become obsessed with external results that we forget about our insides and internal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fine example of a great legendary bodybuilder who has strong internal abs;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FRTQr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This exercise will not only give you strength in your abs but it will improve your posterior chain and in turn may help with your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Patience is key with this exercise&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't expect immediate results after doing this and make sure you take your time doing it. &lt;strong&gt;Less is more&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you get better soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8528" LastEditorUserId="8528" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T02:33:28.980" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T02:33:28.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16405" CreationDate="2014-05-07T22:32:48.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm running in a hot race then I'll dump a glass of water over the back of my head (targetting the area just where my neck meets my head).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? I want to reduce the risk of heat stroke and other heat related problems. If that area of the brain gets too hot then I have a very serious problem. More than that, I find that sense of relief it brings to be very useful. It helps me convince my body that things are under control and it should just keep on going a bit longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't do it for a half-marathon - why waste the time when you're only out for two hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T22:32:48.627" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16408" CreationDate="2014-05-07T22:35:14.800" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Convict conditioning book presents very effective progressions for multiple exercises including pistol squats.The first progression is always pretty easy, even the weakest athletes can perform it without trouble. As you progress you will move to a harder progression. The 10th step in every exercise is called the master step. In squats the master step is the pistol squats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This book is really helpful in bodyweight training. Cheatsheet available &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/zw13Y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, book available &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004XIZN5M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What step to start with ?&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This depends on your level of fitness and the strength of your muscles and joints. Just  begin with a challenging exercise that you can perform and keep adding reps until you meet the progression standard in the book then move to the next step in the series.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-05-07T22:35:14.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-08T01:53:23.267" Score="4" ViewCount="1148" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the book by Martin Koban &quot;Beating Patellar Tendonitis&quot; the correct form for eccentric squats on a slant board for treating patellar tendonitis involves having the shins as vertical as possible with little to no forward movement.  However, all of the videos of this exercise I can find on the internet show quite a bit of forward knee motion, for example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-4tQxO8_QU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-4tQxO8_QU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the correct form for eccentric squats on a slant board for patellar tendonitis, should the shin bone remain vertical or does it not really matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8589" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T01:06:58.663" Title="Correct form for eccentric squats on slant board for treating patellar tendonitis" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-08T03:15:09.700" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of dumbbells and access to a few machines. I can do the following exercises with proper form and I can't have a trainer to learn newer exercises now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower body: Lunges, Bulgarian split squat, step up, hamstring curls&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs and back: Back extension, plank, side plank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper body: bench press / push up, chest flies, shoulder press, shoulder front and lateral raise, rear delt flies, rows (not sure about form though), lat pull&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not able to figure out which pair of exercises balance each other and if all muscle groups get hit with the above exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T13:56:46.313" Title="Help me balance my weight training routine" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16416" CreationDate="2014-05-08T04:27:40.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about traps, biceps, triceps,forearms and calves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you can add variety for your other muscles as well, if you remember muscle confusion is a very important principle - our muscles tend to adapt to familiar kind of stress and load we put on them so it is important to change things up from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: when I say time to time I mean a period of months, depends on what you're trying to achieve with your current workout scheme. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition I think that there are many many options for exercises that you can do with dumbells and body weight even at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some options for you to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps - Biceps curls (alternating hands or not), Zottman curls, concentration curls, maybe you could use your machines for preacher or spider curls?, hammer raise (front or side), drag curl...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Triceps - Kickbacks, overhead triceps extensions (one hand or two), lying triceps extensions, tate press, bench dips maybe if you have, diamonds push up...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forearms - wrist curls, wrist extensions, plate pinch, farmers walk...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traps - shrugs(front,side,back,overhead), Y\L\W\T raises (even without dumbells)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you can try to add some more variety by using explosive bodyweight exercises like burpess, squat jumps, mountain climbers etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for rows, dumbell rows are a great option for you also take in mind that you can vary your grip to hit different muscles (overhand, underhand and neutral grips) also for lats you can do dumbell pullovers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also for quads you can add front squats as well for hams romanian deadlifts are nice or hamstrings bridges with a bench or chair. For calves try seated or standing calf raises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take in mind that you can change your reps and sets as well...do super sets,trisets giant sets...go for 100 reps in a single exercises, just mix it around, make sure you hit every muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8590" LastEditorUserId="8590" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T08:24:35.823" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T08:24:35.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-08T11:35:59.137" Score="2" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello and thanks for reading my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like using the following type of skiing like machines in the gym which I'll describe, I couldn't find a name for it: I have to rest my both hands leaning slightly on the machines or just hold on the handles and move my legs side wise: each leg goes from the top position to the bottom position, but not at the same time; when the left leg comes to the top position the right leg attains the bottom position and vice versa. But there is no protruding handle which I've to handhold. It kinda feels like skiing, except the hands are not moving, but just resting on the machine. There are 25 different levels on it. I'm not sure what they call this cardio machine. I'd appreciate if you give me their names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always use it at the level 25 (supposed to be the highest level as far as my observation of calorie consumption goes), and it shows to burn 20 to 22 calories, mostly just using the quick start option. I've used these machines in more than one gyms in the US and France, the observation is the same. Generally, I know that the calories shown by cardio machines are not factual, but my question is: are these particular machines way off the actual calories that I burn or they are somewhat close? Burning 20 calories a minute seems to good to be true, but same kind of machines from at least 4 gyms in the US and France gave me same results over the last 2 years! I'm 30, male, about 5'6&quot;, 152 pounds (=68.95 kilograms) and muscular built, have 19.1% body fat, 8.1% bone mass as my weight scale shows, work out 3 times a week with cardio and different kind of weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did anyone test themselves on the machines I'm talking about and tell me whether I'm seeing the right amount of calories burnt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8098" LastEditorUserId="8098" LastEditDate="2014-05-11T10:49:58.847" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T10:26:13.417" Title="Calories measured by these skiing like cardio machines in the gym?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9387" CreationDate="2014-05-08T16:56:47.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suffered the same when I first started with running. Inhaling and exhaling also takes energy, so you want to control it. I was told to train that by holding my breath for one more step than what my untrained breathing was asking me to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably not something to do during a whole session, but to dedicate some minutes to it, as for other elements of running technique. At least, it worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T16:56:47.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16347" CreationDate="2014-05-08T17:26:19.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried some sort of speed walking (~8km/h, 5mph) as a complement or substitute for training. Up to the point of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chacha.com/question/why-does-my-tibialis-anterior-hurt-when-i-speed-walk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;making some muscles hurt&lt;/a&gt;. And there is definitely a relation between &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailyrunningtips.com/fitness-exercise/tibialis-anterior-most-active-muscle-when-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that muscles and running&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just walking should strengthen that muscle and improve your general running, but I doubt that it is a time-efficient training for either 5k or even marathon. Nonetheless, for mountain races, where steep hills that are almost impossible to run over are common and most people just walk them, a good walking pace may make you earn significant time. At least, it has worked for me in ultra-marathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T17:26:19.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-08T19:20:45.573" Score="1" ViewCount="336" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just wondering why I speed walk so much and have plenty of endurance to walk at good paces for long times, but anytime I endure running I lose breath instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't speedwalking the same pressure on the heart as running? I mean to a somewhat degree the exercise makes the heart pump blood more and increase oxygen need right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why does running, even running slower than speed walking, tire me out more than speedwalking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8594" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-05-08T21:03:19.560" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T06:03:08.527" Title="I can speedwalk and not get tired, but any form of running kills me" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16425" CreationDate="2014-05-08T21:51:07.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the same boat myself. I don't have an authoritative answer to it, but I think it really just boils down to any given form of exercise targets a different form of muscular and cardiovascular exertion and performing a particular set of motions has an aggregate positive effect, but doesn't necessarily apply to the next set of motions. Walking is a different form of exercise than running with a different motion and impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for me, the primary thing that I've found works for me is slowly transitioning into the exercise. It feels really awkward at first, but start with jogging slowly, and not for very long. I know that, for me, I assumed running was more or less a slower sprint, but there's a difference in gait. Starting slow lets you more gradually accustom your body to this different form of movement. Additionally, starting slow decreases the impact. I walk very fluidly, but I'm still working on running and not feeling like I'm jolting myself at every step. Pay attention to how your gait feels. If it feels like you're literally pounding the pavement, you're probably not doing it right. Pull back a bit more on the speed and consider how you can land and push off on your feet to make maximum use of the elastic properties of your foot structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't lie... running is not easy to get into for some of us. But I can assure you that, if you take things only as fast as you're comfortable, it is possible to transition into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, general caveat, if you're instantly out of breath, especially if your chest and throat get really tight, get yourself checked for asthma. Walking might not be triggering it because you've naturally adjusted to never push yourself past that threshold of effort, but the unfamiliar action of running, the stress of it, can serve as a trigger for a breathing problem you never knew you had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-05-08T21:51:07.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9387" CreationDate="2014-05-09T01:18:50.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;During long runs and slow jogs, I inhale for 3 steps and exhale for 2. For sprinting, it's 2:1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you exhale, your body's muscles relax and are more prone to injury, so alternating which side you exhale on decreases the imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8599" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T01:18:50.797" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16425" CreationDate="2014-05-09T06:03:08.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct that speed walking and running are both working your heart and lungs.  However, the muscles used are slightly different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see you say you find running difficult whatever the pace, but what I would suggest, is for you to start the transition slowly.  Run a lamp post then walk a lamp post.  Then run 2 walk 1 etc.  the other thing you could try is the Couch to 5k app.  As you are pretty fit, I'm sure you will move through the stages rapidly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if none of the above works, and you are getting tightness in your chest, as Sean said get yourself checked out for asthma&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T06:03:08.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16313" CreationDate="2014-05-09T11:23:11.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not only about over/underpronation. There are other subjects for running technique where actual experts can help you: if you don't step right under your vertical, if you have a leg shorter than the other (most probably everyone has, it may be significant enough or not), if you bend your feet to the interior, and so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injuries aren't gentlemen, they tend to appear in the last weeks of your marathon training and stay for long. If you can afford profesional advice in a sports medicine clinic go for it. If doing it saves you just one injury in all your sport life and a pair of sessions of physiotherapy, it paid both in headaches and cash. And I would not rely in the advice you can get in a shop: even if they provide some sort of advice, they may be at most &quot;technicians&quot; with a crash course in the most obvious things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T11:23:11.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16346" CreationDate="2014-05-09T11:51:38.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sign up to a local race, run at your rithm, look who run at your rithm and join their clubs. Then you can convince them to use Endomondo and befriend you. Don't let the technology choose your friends :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit more seriously, I used Endomondo barely. In RunGPS you can locate people with ease, but in the years I've been using it I have never contacted or been contacted spontaenously by other people. I don't think it is for the program, but for the runner's culture. Then, I don't think befriending people through software like these is the best approach to finding running mates. So I'd suggest you again to check the local clubs and asking them to let you train with them before joining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T11:51:38.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16432" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16434" CreationDate="2014-05-09T12:49:04.933" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard of different ways of how to handle weight increase (and decrease) when doing exercises for muscle training. I wondered which technique is the most efficient one when trying to train muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance me and my buddy currently train after the following principle, any muscle group/exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 KG x 15 repeats to begin with&lt;br&gt;&#xA;wait 60 seconds&lt;br&gt;&#xA;25 KG (= next possibly higher weight) x 15 repeats&lt;br&gt;&#xA;wait 60 seconds&lt;br&gt;&#xA;30 KG (= next possibly higher weight) x 15 repeats&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(where the weight of course varies among the different muscle groups and exercises)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It often happens that you cant complete the third one (i.e. second repeat) because your muscles get limb. If so, we try to make it next time, i.e. a few days later starting again at 20 KG.&#xA;If you can make it, next time (a few days later) we try to start with 25 KG in the first place, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So much to what we do. I've seen also people training like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start at a weight where you can barely make 15 repeats, let's say 60 KG. Wait 60 seconds. Lower the weight by minimum possible value (eg. 5 KG) and make &lt;strong&gt;as many&lt;/strong&gt; repeats as possible with that weight, so 55 KG. As many as you can. Then, wait 60 seconds and start over. And repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there significant differences in those methods? Which is better? And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8602" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T17:56:50.197" Title="How to change the weight during an exercise in order to train muscles more efficiently?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16377" CreationDate="2014-05-09T13:07:44.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each one would have a different effect on fitness, but in theory both would be good options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One long 24-26 mile run would help ensure you go the distance on race day. Three ten mile runs with breaks would allow you to run at a slightly faster training pace for the overall mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what your marathon goals are (i.e. crossing the finish line, setting a PR, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to drop your time, the main thing is to spend time at marathon pace. One of the best marathon training runs I know of is a 20+ mile run with the first half easy and the second half at marathon goal pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8597" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:07:44.107" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16432" CreationDate="2014-05-09T17:56:50.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different variations out there. It depends on your goals, how your body works, what kind of training program you're doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, some people can go straight to their repitition weight whereas people like me, need to warm-up to it. This is where the variation of the weights come into play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I am unsure of your goal, I'll take my goals as an example. My goal is to gain strength and mass. Therefore I warm up for two sets. One set with light weight at first for 15 reps (60kg) and another with more moderate weight for 12 reps (84kg). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I get into my real sets (aka no more warm ups) then I will put on 100kg and and go for 6-8. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference with my kind of method is that I will gain mass and strength. I doubt there is a &quot;better&quot; method for &lt;strong&gt;everyone&lt;/strong&gt;. What I mean by this is, everyone is different and everyone may find something works better for them. You need to figure this out on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the differences in methods, the higher reps you go to with short amount of rest - you tend to work the endurance muscle fibers. Whereas the shorter reps with longer rest periods will get you more into the strength and mass portion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many different ways to &quot;tear&quot; your muscles in order to make them grow during your rest periods (days off). Someone who starts high and gradually lowers their weight may work better for them. As I said, this is a subject with many different variables. The human body works in magnificiant ways and not everyone's body works in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my honest opinion, you will have to go out there, train your butt off and see what works for you. It took me 5 years to realise what worked for me - hopefully you'll figure out sooner than I did!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T17:56:50.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16442" CreationDate="2014-05-09T21:09:32.397" Score="4" ViewCount="1951" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was just thinking I got a home gym set up, and I can't really approach the bar under a power-rack as of yet...so I just clean it up over my head. I was interested in doing a back squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this got me thinking - I know it's much easier to unrack the bar from a standing position, but would there be any benefit to having your starting position being at the bottom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it would help activate your glutes and really force you to use those muscles and really &quot;find&quot; your hole...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you guys think? Any benefit? Any negatives? Other than the trouble with unracking the weight in a hole?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T02:46:45.910" Title="Benefits of Squatting from bottom position as rest position" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16436" CreationDate="2014-05-09T21:48:28.560" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there are any benefits. The up and down cycle is still being performed. I think it is advisable to unrack the weights from a standing position. That way, you can make sure you have a right and stable posture before starting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8606" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T21:48:28.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16436" CreationDate="2014-05-10T09:21:45.707" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting from the bottom position is quite differen from 'normal' squats, as you're not using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretch_shortening_cycle&quot;&gt;stretch-shortening cycle&lt;/a&gt;. This means your muscles and tendons are not already pre-loaded when you're going up, which will result in the getting up being much harder than it normally would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main benefit of starting from the bottom position is that you'll be forced to 'get out of the hole' without the stretch-reflex. So if the bottom position is your weak spot when squatting, this would be a good way to train that exact portion of the squat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only negative I can think of is that you won't be able to use as much weight, when starting from the bottom position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, starting from the bottom position is a very specialized variant of the squat that is commonly used by advanced lifters to adress a specific weak spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-05-10T09:28:20.347" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T09:28:20.347" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14810" CreationDate="2014-05-10T11:59:32.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had some pretty bad rotator cuff problems in the past and doing pull-ups (palms in) was definitely one of the exercises which aggrevated the injury.  When you go from full extension to pull-up with chin over the bar you can impinge (think pinch) the rotator cuff.  The immediate solution is to stop pull ups and begin an alternate exercises which will allow you to work on your lats and back without mashing the rotator cuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercise I learned from a physical therapist who is also a shoulder expert is the close grip lat pull down.  Take two free handles and attach to the cable on the lat pull down machine.  When you do reps, keep your hands close to your body and pull DOWN and IN.  You should complete each pull down with your hands pulling into your stomach and your upper arms completely vertical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It turns out that doing this kind of pull down not only will allow you to continue building strength but it is also THERAPEUTIC for the rotator cuff.  It releases the cuff and helps you train your shoulder to move in a safe way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the pain starts to subside after a number of weeks, or months for a bad shoulder injury, you can return to pull ups.  But be sure to gradually build yourself up.  You need to find out exactly what your shoulder will let you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T11:59:32.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16445" CreationDate="2014-05-10T16:05:58.980" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm taking a testosterone test via blood on Monday for free and total testosterone. I'm wondering, is there anything I should do or not do prior to taking the test to get the best and clearest reading? I already know taking it in the morning is the best time to take it, since that's when it will be at it's highest, but what else should I do or not do? Will not eating prior to taking the test help? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8238" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T17:00:43.237" Title="What should I do to get a clear reading on testosterone?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16444" CreationDate="2014-05-10T17:00:43.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating will not affect your result&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting inadequate sleep might give a lower result since testo is synthesized more during sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refrain from heavy exercise in the days before since that might increase cortisol and give an unfavorable testosterone/cortisol ratio and a lower reading; in overtraining syndrome, one of the worst signs is a lowered testosterone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Research has shown that testosterone increases acutely following a bout of strength training, and from my own experience I can say that doing a few sets of push ups and squats before getting tested increases the result more often than not&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sexual abstinence increases testosterone (however, the effect is reversed and after about 10-14 days its starts decreasing). Also, physically being away from your partner increases testosterone. Being surrounded by other women also. But beware, research has shown that testosterone falls when we are with our friend's partner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat 2-3 Brazilian walnuts and eggs before going to bed (they contain many nutrients necessary for testosterone production, many of which a large proportion of the population is deficient)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zinc supplements, 25-50mg/day, can help due to the same reason as above. Athletes and sexually active men are especially likely to be zinc deficient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are some factors that alter the magnitude of the reading. However, there is nothing you can do to get a &quot;clearer&quot; reading. Just be yourself :) If you are interested in any particular reference, I might be able to dig it up, however, googling testosterone will give you plenty more ideas about what affects testosterone levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T17:00:43.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16449" CreationDate="2014-05-10T23:42:19.297" Score="1" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mapmyrun.com/maps/courses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;courses page&lt;/a&gt; says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once a course is created, it acts like a virtual race. You can compete against other users for a spot on the public course leaderboard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are even achievements for being the fastest to complete a course. But... there's no way to search for courses other users have entered, so how am I supposed to run them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T16:57:32.493" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T16:57:32.493" Title="How can I find courses on MapMyRun?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-18T10:10:54.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16448" CreationDate="2014-05-10T23:42:19.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the founders wrote in the comments on &lt;a href=&quot;https://support.mapmyfitness.com/hc/en-us/articles/200717065-Courses-FAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; (as of April 17, 2014): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Re: finding Courses. We are planning to add this functionality. For now, the best way to do this is by navigating to the City page for the area you are searching (Home menu/My City). Once on the city page there is a tab on the map that can be changed from routes to Courses. There is also a list of popular courses at the bottom of the page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T23:42:19.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-10T23:49:32.513" Score="3" ViewCount="9507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am confused on what the two are. I know the concept is working out without equipment in a high intensity fashion, but more than that, I am lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8066" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T07:00:55.230" Title="Are Freeletics and Crossfit the same thing?" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11994" CreationDate="2014-05-11T11:10:04.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me suggest you these articles for a start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://encontroaaarl.com.br/upload/File/Air_Pollution_and_Sports_Performance_in_Beijing.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;G Lippi, GC Guidi, N Maffulli. Air pollution and sports performance in&#xA;Beijing&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;There is little doubt that the presence of several air pollutants might be detrimental to athletic performance due to the marked increase (up to 20-fold) in&#xA;ventilatory rate and concomitant nasal and oral breathing. Moreover, mouth breathing often bypasses the nose during strenuous exercise, increasing the deleterious effects of pollutants on health and athletic performance.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/3088377&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WE Pierson, DS Covert, JQ Koenig…. Implications of air&#xA;pollution effects on athletic performance&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;The combination of exercise and pollutant exposure (SO2 or O3) caused a marked bronchoconstriction and reduced ventilatory flow when compared to pollution exposure at rest. In a situation like the Olympic Games where milliseconds and millimeters often determine the success of athletes, air pollution can be an important factor in affecting their performance.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/35/4/214.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AJ Carlisle, NCC Sharp. Exercise and outdoor ambient air pollution&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;Athletes and exercisers should avoid exercising by the road side even though levels of the more noxious air pollutants have been controlled in the United Kingdom. O3 is particularly damaging to athletes.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-198704060-00002&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WC Adams. Effects of ozone exposure at ambient air pollution episode levels on exercise performance&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;It appears that factors associated with ventilatory limitation impair both V̇O2max and prolonged heavy exercise (&amp;gt; 65% V̇O2max) performance. The observation that ozone exposure, which induces significant pulmonary function impairment, also incurs an increased perceived exertion during submaximal exercise strongly supports this contention.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not classics, I think they are some of the most cited articles in the subject. Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T11:10:04.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20853" CreationDate="2014-05-11T22:56:04.960" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My baby finger has not become relaxed enough due to wrong technique in tennis, too much stress on it and more &lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/4609/safe-volley-grip-and-serving-grip-in-tennis&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The only moment I can feel the toughness is when I am totally relaxed like after sleeping so it does not limit my activities at all but I don't want to get it bad neither so important to learn to get it more relaxed. So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How can I improve baby finger's extension and flexion? How to relax it and how to stretch it?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hand's 2-5 fingers flexion/extension&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAztG_tRWVY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, normal ROM values are 85-105 degrees for the flexion and 20-30 degrees for the extension. In contrast, my ROM values are 85 for the flexion and 70 degrees for the extension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VTEO6.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OqFQe.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tBeux.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related threads&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16392/preparing-fingers-for-intensive-sports-requiring-hands-a-lot&quot;&gt;Preparing fingers for intensive sports requiring hands a lot?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/4609/safe-volley-grip-and-serving-grip-in-tennis&quot;&gt;Safe volley grip and serving grip in tennis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:55:24.100" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T01:52:10.687" Title="How to improve baby finger's extension and flexion? How to relax it? How to stretch it?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;&lt;relaxation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16459" CreationDate="2014-05-12T02:12:47.637" Score="0" ViewCount="1216" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can run one mile in 5:30 then are you guaranteed to be able to extend that pace to 5k, 10k, half marathon, or marathon distance? &#xA;Ignoring time needed for exercising and building up for the distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a year of running and learning more about it I can verify the two answers below are true. No you cant automatically extend the pace further unless you have the potential to run the shorter distance faster. In some cases I think training for longer distances help build you up for the shorter ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-09-07T23:04:07.177" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T23:04:07.177" Title="If you can run short distance fast then can it be extended for longer distances without dropping off?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16455" CreationDate="2014-05-12T06:33:56.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. If your fastest pace for 1 mile is 5.30. Unfortunately the further you go the pace will drop off. There's various websites that will predict your race times based on other distances, ie I guess it works out your potential. Here's one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/4/4_1/96.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/4/4_1/96.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can help reduce the drop of pace by interval training and a long run a week, but you can't stop it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T06:33:56.580" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16460" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T06:38:23.500" Score="3" ViewCount="917" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there standard workout programs available for all-compound exercises using dumbbells? My goal is to improve functional strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T15:07:10.800" Title="Compound exercise routine using dumbell" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T11:38:39.337" Score="1" ViewCount="553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out and I'm doing only bodyweight exercises with progressions from convict conditioning book. The workout routine in this book was not intense enough for me. I read on many websites that I, as a beginner, should train each muscle group 3 times per week. So, I alternate between muscle groups every other day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout routine is as follows:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;M/W/F: Pull ups &amp;amp; squats 3 sets per exercise&lt;br&gt;&#xA;T/T/S: Push ups &amp;amp; leg raises 3 sets per exercises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;and sunday is off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, does this routine overtrain my body ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T23:12:51.273" Title="Can overtraining occur when I'm alternating muscle groups?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16462" CreationDate="2014-05-12T11:43:19.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One. Overtraining is person-specific. Most given routines could overtrain one person while leaving another atrophying from insufficient effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two. In general, alternating muscle groups doesn't prevent overtraining. You can absolutely overtrain while using such a method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T11:43:19.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16466" CreationDate="2014-05-12T11:56:15.260" Score="1" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;So recently I started working out in the mornings at home. I'm wondering what kind of &quot;gains&quot; I will be able to witness from these types of workouts, if any. and not &quot;witness&quot; as in aesthetic necessarily but &quot;witness&quot; as in functional strength perhaps, aesthetics, health, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worked out for a couple years prior, 1 year consistently. 5x5 program was most recent where I hit some PRs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift - 325lb &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench - 225lb &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 245lb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Went on vacation came back and started a new job that requires additional travel time, which keeps me out of the gym. put about a month in between my &quot;real&quot; workouts and any strength training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to start building up my home gym. Here's what I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25lb Dumbbells &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x 45lb Plates &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long ez-curl bar (I know some people&#xA;see the really curved one, this one is not like that it's longer and&#xA;not as dramatic curves) Total weight with plates = 125lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-up bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a typical workout consists of about 15-20 minutes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 x 10 pushups// superset 5 x 5 pullups as a warmup to get the blood&#xA;flowing &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets of 25 dumbbell curls one side at a time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets of 10&#xA;bent over rows &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets of 10 deadlifts &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets of 10 floor press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of 12-15 clean and press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 mile jog/run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean Idk.. I generally pick like 3-4 of these aforementioned exercises and break a sweat. keep in mind this is between 5:30am and 6 so my time is limited. I'll work out like this 3 times a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am I going to see any benefits from this? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Specifically with the compound movements will this keep me in good enough shape to go back to the gym and hit my previous PRs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I increase the amount of workouts I do per week?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any other good exercises I'm not taking advantage of with the equipment I have?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance guys, really appreciate it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and for all you goal-chasers out there. My main goal would probably be to just drop body fat, lean out, stay lean for the summer, and then get back in the gym or get a power rack and more weights this winter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T13:56:19.500" Title="Is this enough?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16464" CreationDate="2014-05-12T12:35:15.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have an inconsistent program, vague goals, and not enough weights to challenge your old strength levels. So...no, you won't be able to match your old PRs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; benefit? Sure, any activity is beneficial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this gear, I'd focus on clean-and-presses and seeing how much improvement I could make in how many pull-ups I could do in one set. Since you can't really do true non-gymnastic strength work, I'd work out a lot more frequently than 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T12:35:15.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16464" CreationDate="2014-05-12T12:38:41.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I get you right, you can't go to the studio, don't have much time but want to keep as much in form as possible. Also, your equipment is quite sub-optimal. But let's look at the workout first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To stay in form and keep your strength you need &lt;em&gt;intensity&lt;/em&gt; (and consistency) much more than volume. So your lack of time isn't really a concern right now. You would want to do big weigths at low reps, so you're at maximum intensity. You'd probably lose some strength and muscle, especially if losing weight/fat at the same time. But if the overall intensity is still high, you should keep a good level of strength. A simple (and time effective) full body workout I would propose would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Front) Squats: 3x5 (3 sets of 5 repetitions). Back Squats would be better, but you'd need a rack to load substantial weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Floor Press/Shoulder Press: 3x5, do either/or and alternate the next time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 1x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the minimum I would do, three times per week (every week, as consistency matters). Those four lifts train your whole body in as short a time as possible. But they will be difficult to do without the right equipment...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Equipment:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The first and most important thing for a home gym (imho) is a barbell (second is a power rack). The barbell enables you to do all of the compound lifts in their regular form, without compensating for dumbbell-wobble or weird wrist angles (looking at you, ez-bar). I'd strongly recommend you to get a barbell as soon as possible and a power rack next, as you'll have a hard time to do any meaningful squat and/or deadlift work without one. If you absolutely have to, sell your other equipment or trade it in, as you'll get a much better 'bang for your buck' from a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you for some reason not be willing/able to get your hands on a barbell, you can try to compensate for the low weights by doing harder variants of the exercises. The Clean and Press is already a good start, the Snatch would probably also work (if you can get the form right). For Squats, you could try one-legged variants, while a wider grip makes the Deadlift harder to perform. If you're able to max out on these exercises with your current equipment you can still raise the repetitions per set to work your muscles harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T12:55:19.073" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T12:55:19.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16295" CreationDate="2014-05-12T13:30:16.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like recovery could become a problem for you sooner or later. So let's look at what you can do to keep exhaustion as little as possible and maybe improve recovery along the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Minimizing exhaustion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You say you don't want to cut your cardio/Ingress sessions short, so those are off limits. The next thing to work on would be your strength-building routine. There're some things you can do to minimize recovery demands while still creating a stimulus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eccentric-less training: By omitting (or limiting) the eccentric phase of a lift, you can work the muscle without increasing recovery demands that much. Olympic lifters do that (they always drop the weight) and they're able to train the same lift every day without overtraining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Omitting accesory exercises: &gt;ou said you're a bodybuilder, but depending on where you are in your 'career' you can cut out some accessory work and still make good progress. If you're doing 3 types of curls, one alone would probably also be good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get rid of leg work: Don't get me wrong, leg work is important. But if you're skating for hours on end, it's probably not necessary to do 3 Squat/Calf Raise sessions per week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't do any other cardio: Probably obvious, but additional cardio has no benefit if you want to gain/maintain weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all depends on your workout program and your current level, of course, so my advice is pretty general. If you provide a bit more information (full workout plan with exercises, sets, reps, weight used etc.) I could give much more detailed advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improving Recovery:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As JohnP already mentioned, carbs are not bad, so I don't know why you would bulk with a low-carb diet. Not only are carbs important for short term energy, but they are also building blocks that should not be left out if you want the best recovery you can get. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, eating more would be a good idea. Track your weight and see if you're still making acceptable gains. Once your weight gain slows you might want to eat more to compensate for that. If you've ever done a prolonged cutting phase you'll know how bad recovery suffers once you're not eating enough. If eating more is hard for you, think about substituting a litre of water with a litre of milk. Provided you're not allergic, that's a quick 400kcal fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point you mentioned is sleep. Normally, 8 hours of sleep a night should be sufficient, but the more you tax your body, the more sleep you need. If you can manage it, try to sleep 9 hours and see how that goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there's supplementation. Most people will tell you you don't need it and I'd say they're right. If you've got your nutrition under control you certainly won't need any pills or powder to recover from your workouts. Should you want to try anything though, make sure to try one product at a time and assess its effects on your body. Don't do a supplemental equivalent of a roundhouse kick or you'll never know what worked. Things to try would be fast carbs during Ingress sessions, glutamine as an additional component of your post-workout-shake or ZMA for better sleep. I myself supplement carbs, found glutamine to be a waste of money and have never tried ZMA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T13:42:59.390" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T13:42:59.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T14:47:57.787" Score="0" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a few years now I have had patella-formal pain syndrome in my right knee. I have been to the doctors and received physiotherapy but this does not seem to have had any positive impact on my knees despite doing the exercises regularly. One thing I was told would improve my knee is cycling - I sold my car a few months ago and bought a bike instead. My right knee hasn't got any better, but my left knee has got a whole lot worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's embarrasing but I actually cannot sit down or stand up without a lot of support, and I have to lower/raise myself using my arms. The pain in both knees are very different though...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Right knee&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hurts if doing a single legged squat with foot planted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grinds and crunches regularly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incredible pain when sat for long periods - it needs to be stretched&#xA;and extended&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain whilst going between sitting/standing positions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Left knee&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hurts if doing a single legged squat with heel raised&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sharp inner pain - no clicking, grinding or crunching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feels fine after sitting for long periods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain whilst going between sitting/standing positions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the thing I really don't get though - I cycle to work and back 5 times a week, I play badminton 3 times a week, and I play football (soccer) 2 or 3 times a week - and apart from the opening couple of minutes, whilst doing these things I feel absolutely no pain at all, and indeed both during and afterwards my knees feel a lot better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physio has told me that with the knee problems I have, doing exercise (playing football/badminton) shouldn't hurt it at all, and in fact may help strengthen it, especially the cycling. But after 3+ years of having these troubles now with no improvement I am starting to wonder if I should start taking it easier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome, thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7813" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T02:40:41.480" Title="Knee pain, but not whilst doing exercise" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-06-13T02:25:44.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2014-05-12T15:07:10.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many standard workout programs that use compound lifts, but I have yet to find one that uses dumbbells as default equipment. The reason is simple: A barbell would be just so much better. But I know you don't have one right now, so let's see how we can alter a simple all-compound programm to work with dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For simplicity's sake I'm going to concentrate on the simplest workout program I know, which is Starting Strength. It consists of 4 compound lifts, that are doable with dumbbells to varying degrees. It looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: 3x5 (3 sets of 5 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press/Shoulder Press: 3x5, these should be alternated, so if you bench pressed last time, do shoulder press today and so on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 1x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should be done 3 times a week, as it's a full-body workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Modifications:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The above program relies on a barbell in its original form, so to use it with dumbbells some alterations will have to be made. I'll go from easiest modification to most severe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench and Shoulder Press:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The bench press and the shoulder/overhead/military press can be done with dumbbells just as it can be done with a barbell. The side effect you get from using dumbbells, however, is a certain 'wobble' that you'll have to compensate. You will also have to use both arms independently, so you can't compensate for a weak arm with a strong one. Both side-effects may be viewed as beneficial, as the wobble increases coordination, while using two weights prevents muscle imbalances. Those side-effects will also make the lift harder to execute, form will be more likely to suffer and you won't be able to use as much weight. In general, you should be fine if you start slowly and work your way up as long as you use good form through &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of your sets, on &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of your reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The dumbbell squat is a bit more controversial, as the squat variants are very different exercises, depending on where you put the weight. Now you can't reasonably put it on your back when using dumbbells, so you'll have to find another way. I used to do dumbbell squats myself when I didn't have a barbell and found that I could handle them best with the weight on both sides. I just let my arms (with the dumbbells) hang and performed a squat. This worked for up to 88lbs (40kg) for me, before the weights hindered my range of motion. The dangers are leaning forward/backward to much and compensating with the dumbbells. Try to keep them beside you and don't move them back or forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift: &lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is the one lift most people wouldn't do with dumbbells, as I have often been warned. The regular deadlift is a very rigid motion and the aforementioned dumbbell 'wobble' would seriously compromise form. So when I started out, I tried the stiff-legged dumbbell deadlift, which requires a lot less rigidity. I managed to work my way up to 88lbs (40kg) with this deadlift variant, but could probably have lifted even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That's pretty much all there is to it. With the modifications mentioned above it should be possible to do an all-compound program with dumbbells only. While it isn't the most effective workout ever, it should be enough for a beginner to make considerable gains until a barbell becomes available. I myself did a very similar program for several months and progressed just fine, so it's not a two-week quick fix either, but can work for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T15:07:10.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T15:13:32.097" Score="2" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need help on this topic. &#xA;I get up at 4am and come back home at 11pm which means im in bed at 12am and getting up at 4 am again ( and the cycle repeats) &#xA;Im want to start working out at a local gym but im afraid that the lack of sleep time will affect anything ( gains, fatloss, etc). &#xA;What can i do in order to max gains and fatloss? or shouldnt even start working outat a gym? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8626" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T15:34:35.833" Title="Lack of sleep and gym working out" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16470" CreationDate="2014-05-12T15:29:33.810" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;With your current lifestyle and the resulting sleeping pattern, your recovery is probably severely compromised. You will most likely not be able to work as hard as you should, will not recover as fast as you could and will feel the soreness much more than other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that working out can still be beneficial though. As a beginner you can do pretty much anything and get better, no matter how sub-optimal your program or recovery. Until these 'newb gains' taper off, you should be fine even with only a few hours of sleep. After that you can just continue and see how it goes. Too little sleep surely isn't the best way to make gains, but it's not the killer of all progress either. If you do it right (and smart), you can work out enough to keep making gains while still recovering okay-ish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also answered some similar questions already, so I'll just link you to those questions. Maybe you will find something helpful there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16464/is-this-enough&quot;&gt;The minimum program I would recommend if you have no time (or have bad recovery, as you will probably have)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16295/how-to-compensate-for-extended-cardio-as-body-builder&quot;&gt;Advice on minimising exhaustion and maximizing recovery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T15:34:35.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T18:27:30.303" Score="-1" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been interested in the strength world for a long time. While I don't limit myself to any specific muscle groups, I never gain much strength. And when I do gain strength, I tend to lose it very quickly, even despite continuation and progression. In other words I will get a tiny burst of strength increase some days, but it fades away and I go back to &quot;neutral&quot; very soon (few days). I also have no balance of strength, as some days I'll feel much stronger and energetic in lifts, and other days I'll fatigue from almost nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Factors that could be considered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.I breathe through my mouth, not nose; very little breathing through nose. For this reason I don't breathe much, meaning I have adapted myself to breathe less to avoid gaping like a fish for breath out of my mouth, which looks stupid. Also, I have been made fun of for doing it, so I've learned to do it much less often, and in smaller amounts, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.I have no endurance and never train for it. Since I don't have any goals in the fitness world, it is pointless to me to consider doing reps since my only goals are strength, power, and ability to apply large loads of force. Fitness isn't crucial, but I don't know how &quot;not important&quot; it may be in the long run, since I see hugely fat and obese, out of shape, lazy people that can lift 600 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often I'll slowly try to increase the weight over every week or so, but I'll just do a few reps. If I lower the weight I do too much sarcoplasmic training, which I don't care for and doesn't show strength results. If I &quot;moderate' the weight I just fatigue moderately, but don't see long-term gains. I've tried mixing the exercises around, changing types of weight, angles, doing bodyweight exercises, etc. There's no real improvement no matter what I do. I see people lift a weight twice a week and they're gaining strength instantly, and I do it for months and there's no noticeable progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat what I can, but roughly 2,000+ calories a day at 5'9&quot; tall. Probably 60-100 grams of protein, decent nutrients, but diet could improve if I had the option to improve it. I get 6-8 hours of decent sleep every night; sleep isn't great, but it's decent. I do static/dynamic stretching, warm-ups, have normal levels of testosterone, start with light weights to get a good &quot;feel&quot;, then work up. What could be wrong here? I was advised to consult a physician by some people, but it sounds kind of stupid since there's no noticeable problems with me that would impede strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Programs? I don't follow any, but any decent regimen of training should increase strength. People got stronger before &quot;strength programs&quot; existed, so I will not consider any, including Starting Strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8631" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T19:07:21.213" Title="Not gaining strength, even after following routine, diet, exercise, sleep, etc" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2014-05-20T01:08:14.597" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16473" CreationDate="2014-05-12T19:07:21.213" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Programs? I don't follow any, but any decent regimen of training should increase strength. People got stronger before &quot;strength programs&quot; existed, so I will not consider any.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Welp, have fun then!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you refuse to train in a successful manner then I expect you will keep seeing the results you have been seeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T19:07:21.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T19:10:40.047" Score="1" ViewCount="2401" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a freshman in highschool I was 6'1 and 170 ( I had no fat in my stomach and had a 6 pack) and that was my ideal weight. I gained more weight up to 230 or maybe 240. I went on a diet and worked out and am now down to 160 and 23 years old and and can see my ribs but I still have a pouch of fat around my belly button that makes me look fat and it leans down over my pants when I sit down. I don't know what to do at this point and need some help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8633" LastEditorUserId="8633" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T22:03:40.993" LastActivityDate="2019-01-12T11:52:01.983" Title="I still have stomach fat despite losing so much weight I can see my ribs. How can I get rid of it?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16497" CreationDate="2014-05-12T22:35:22.367" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to develop the sensitivity of my hands/arms particularly for tennis. I feel this is essential to get  more controlled spins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I develop sensitity of hands/arms?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:15:55.560" Title="How to develop sensitivity of hands and arms?" Tags="&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2014-05-12T22:35:22.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sensitivity has different factors all of which I am not even aware of. I have listed some below. In circus, you may have seen glass ball performing such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av0tAyxxUic&amp;amp;t=2m0s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; which definitely requires good focus and hand manouvering, perhaps useful for tennis player.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warming up also the small muscles handling the small weights&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gym training with small weights such as 1kg and 2kg.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Better relaxation such as cold paths.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Playing with smaller balls and balls of different weights&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Better hand-eye-coordination&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;recommended tennis-specific drills &lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/50/recommended-drills-to-help-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;eye-coordination also essential in other sports such as football &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSL-gPMPVXI&amp;amp;t=17m50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (Pro player expert in keeping eyes on the ball and then every-now-and-then checks surroundings)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:55:24.100" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T23:30:05.353" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2014-05-12T22:35:22.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3320" CreationDate="2014-05-13T01:35:35.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I think that phlegm production is normal in cardio workouts, the variance being: a) the individual, and b) the amount produced.  My girlfriend did a lot of heavy duty cardio routines and she was tormented with tons of phlegm from it, and now that I have started doing them myself, I also have found I have the same problem, while others I know seem to have little problem this this issue. I also found that if I abstain from dairy products the amount of mucus is diminished. It may be, since we are all different physiologically, that our bodies respond in a unique way to exercise.  But basically, even with the annoyance of excess mucus production, cardio is well worth the effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8634" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T01:35:35.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16487" CreationDate="2014-05-13T05:33:10.103" Score="1" ViewCount="2176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested to see how my heart rate responds while I'm doing Crossfit workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not interested in seeing my heart rate during workouts, but more post-hoc to see what the profile was, and to see how fast I recover afterwards. Even so, this presents a number of problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While I'm waiting for the 3-2-1 count down I'd rather not be messing about pressing buttons to start recording.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When working with a bar (e.g. multiple cleans) I run the bar down very close to my chest which knocks the sensor of a regular HR monitor off. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Issue 1. could be overcome by cropping the data or injecting markers so that it could be seen afterwards. 2. is more tricky, and might not be a problem for everyone, but it would be nice to know if there is a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is initially just to satisfy my curiosity, but it would also be interesting to see it used in competitions to improve the spectator experience. It would also be interesting to see if there is much correlation between HR derived work amounts and the work amounts derived from weight and distance moved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4460" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T13:25:33.017" Title="Heart rate monitoring for crossfit" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16455" CreationDate="2014-05-13T07:16:26.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first, it is possible, though not guaranteed. I did it for my 5KM and 10KM pace, not half and marathon. It comes down to training, and this is a lot of hard training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets start off - a 5:30 mile is a strong pace, compare to your average runner, that is 3:25KMs or 17.56KM/h (10.9Miles/h).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I managed to build my pace over two years. When I started my 1 mile was close to yours, in November my 5 and 10KM pace was faster then my old 1 Mile pace. This was more an accident than a destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My journey started by going longer distances. By the time I did a few half marathons and marathons, a 5KM was very simple. I wanted to improve my half and full marathons pace. As such I used the 5KM and 10KM as chances to go hard. I would set the treadmill as high as possible and just go for as far as I could go. This translated to much faster road running. My half and marathon times dramatically improved but no-where near what my 5KM speed is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately a 5:30 mile is a good pace to keep for a half marathon-even a 10KM. It would put you in the top 5% for big fun runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say train really hard and eat clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8635" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T07:16:26.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-13T10:36:08.953" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;In September, I (35 y/old male, 72kg, 1.80m) will attend an organized Obstacle Run (7.5 km) with some friends. We do it for the fun of it, but I want to prepare myself for the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a long period of a sedentary living, last year I picked up fitness training and a healthier life. My current routine is:&#xA;2 to 3 days a week in the gym where I do weightlifting. I cycle through a shoulders/arms day, a chest/back day and and legs day. &#xA;3 days a week I try to do outside training: running (5k to 10k), mountainbiking or just cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this scheme, all my exercises are isolated. Should I try to emulate the Race conditions more, like combining sprints with lifting, combine running with body weight exercises or should I be fine with my normal routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also other tips are very welcome, this is my first race ever and like to be prepared for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6463" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T19:50:51.317" Title="How to train for an Obstacle Run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16484" CreationDate="2014-05-13T11:03:38.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, your training is fine. But, as you say, you have to try to emulate the obstacles, the terrain and the conditions that you're going to find in the race, as much as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind your sportswear. Try to train with the same equipment that you're going to wear in the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do your best and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7498" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T11:03:38.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16377" CreationDate="2014-05-13T12:47:33.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the furthest I would go in training pre marathon is about 22 miles.  And I would only do 1 of these.  The rest of the long runs I would suggest should be between 18-20 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I say this, is that running the full 26 miles takes a lot out of you, and I think would have a negative affect on the actual marathon rather than a positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a 22 is okay, as it's in the last few miles that you would hit the wall(if you were going to).  You definitely don't want this to happen in training.  Doing a 22 will give you the confidence that you can do the distance, which is why I would suggest you do one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't see any reason for doing 3 x's 10 miles.   Do you really have the time to do that in one day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a reason for not doing 3 x 10 is that when you do the very long runs your body has to learn to use fat as fuel.  If you do 3 x's 10 you wouldn't get this benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw I don't understand the last bit of your question - how does this translate to race time?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T12:52:47.920" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T12:52:47.920" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2014-05-13T13:25:33.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I'm not as familiar with how Crossfit classes are structured, I am familiar with using a heart rate monitor for barbell training.  I used to use it to time when I should start the next set so that I could keep the training pretty dense, but be relatively assured that I would hit the required reps.  I'm getting back to using it to time when to do the next round in my supersets.  As a result, I do have &lt;a href=&quot;http://ironstrong.org/index.php?/topic/118-using-a-heart-rate-monitor/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some insights&lt;/a&gt; that apply here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While I'm waiting for the 3-2-1 count down I'd rather not be messing about pressing buttons to start recording.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be solved relatively easily by using the &quot;lap&quot; feature on the heart rate monitor.  Just start the heart rate monitor before class, but just before and after an exercise starts hit the &quot;lap&quot; button.  The analysis software remembers these so you can easily see what's happening during a set and the rest period between.  On my wristwatch, the same button that starts recording the heart rate doubles as the lap button.  Just tapping it is enough.  Most other HRM watches should behave similarly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking at the charts afterwards, it's actually pretty easy to see the difference between work and rest, so I started only hitting the lap button when starting a new exercise.  You should see a sustained spike in heart rate while you work, and then it return to a higher baseline while you rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When working with a bar (e.g. multiple cleans) I run the bar down very close to my chest which knocks the sensor of a regular HR monitor off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a tougher challenge.  It's essentially the choice between good technique and measuring the heart rate.  Unfortunately none of the wrist-only heart rate monitors keep a stable enough contact during the dynamic movements required by weight training.  Otherwise they would be ideal.  Hopefully in a couple years that can get worked out since it is relatively new technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your options boil down to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try and find the lowest profile HRM puck you can for your chest.  The smaller the target, the less likely it will get hit.  You also would have the hope of growing the chest enough to have it protrude more than the HRM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allow the bar to come up a little farther from the chest, and really focus on the shrug to pull yourself under the bar once it is level with the HRM.  It's not as ideal as letting the bar stay skimming your chest as you focus on that shrug to get under the bar, but sometimes it's the only option.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on the wrist only HRM options over the next couple of years.  Right now, they are good tools for runners, and the manufacturers are aware of the challenges with using them for other activities.  The technology will catch up, it's just a question of how soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T13:25:33.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-13T15:31:54.493" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training fitness generally and a big part of that for me is running, I noticed that the hardest part was breathing fast enough and at some point I'd usually lose a breathing rhythm and sputter. after looking at breathing techniques from multiple sources I found out that I am a 'chest-breather' and would be better served breathing from my stomach. However, I have found that no matter how long I concentrate on developing my 'stomach-breathing' as soon as I stop being conscious of my breathing I revert to the chest, and especially if I am running, I can't get enough oxygen with the more diaphragmatic approach. I also find it difficult to breath with my stomach when full and i was asking for any advice on how to change my breathing habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8638" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T15:31:54.493" Title="difficulty with deep breathing, should I persevere?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16484" CreationDate="2014-05-13T18:18:09.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you're already in good shape for someone who had a sedentary lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your training is good as is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only advice (what I have tried and tested) is that you focus on cadence in all your workouts. Try to reduce the cycle times of your workouts. The reduction would be gradual. At some point, your routines would feel like 'second nature'. Then you may increase weights, combine routines and go crazy with your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Edit: bout tempos...&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most work outs have a tempo. They usually include four digits. Consider this example which I just made up: let us say the tempo for Bench presses is &lt;code&gt;3110&lt;/code&gt; (I am not sure if this is the standard). The first number &lt;code&gt;3&lt;/code&gt; is the &lt;strong&gt;eccentric, or lowering,&lt;/strong&gt; component of the lift. The second number &lt;code&gt;1&lt;/code&gt; denotes &lt;strong&gt;any pause at the midpoint&lt;/strong&gt;. The third number &lt;code&gt;1&lt;/code&gt; is the &lt;strong&gt;concentric, or lifting,&lt;/strong&gt; component. Finally, the fourth number &lt;code&gt;0&lt;/code&gt; denotes &lt;strong&gt;any pause at the top&lt;/strong&gt;. Some tempos have been standardizes but you can always work with the tempo which best suits your build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8606" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T19:50:51.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16491" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-13T19:04:08.280" Score="8" ViewCount="523" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I want to say I know absolutely nothing about food or nutrition. So please write in terms I can understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 18 years old and I exercise in order to help in building muscle. My weight is 53 killograms. I am also a vegan (well actually a vegetarian since I do eat some milk and eggs, but little so most of my protein I get from plants). I know that in order to build muscle, I have to get enough protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm able to get protein from foods like beans, lentils, nuts, (I think) grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However I'm really not sure how much daily protein is plenty enough to help build muscle. I'm also not sure how much vegan food I need to eat daily in order to get this amount of protein.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some numbers will be very helpful: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the amount of protein I need to eat daily in order to help&#xA;build muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What vegan foods can I eat that have plenty of protein, and how much&#xA;of these foods should I eat daily in order to build muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of amounts, I'm really not sure what I'm doing. So help will be great. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8642" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T17:47:51.430" Title="Vegan trying to build muscle: how much protein should I eat and how can I get it?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16491" CreationDate="2014-05-13T19:44:30.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you eat milk and eggs, then whey protein supplements/powders are permissible. As far as amount, you want between 1-2g of protein per kg of body weight, leaning more towards the higher side. So I would recommend 75-100g of protein per day. (Not all at one time, but spread out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quinoa is an excellent grain source, it's 18g protein per cooked cup, beans/lentils are another good source. Tofu/Soy, as well as many nuts/nut butters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the rest, that's a really broad subject. I would recommend getting a nutrition primer and reading through it, as there are other considerations for vegetarians (Such as B vitamins, B12 in particular) that you need to be aware of. Vegetarian/vegan is not &quot;automatically&quot; a healthy diet, it needs just as much planning as a non vegetarian diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T19:44:30.753" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16491" CreationDate="2014-05-13T19:56:07.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes protein from beans, pulses, lentils and nuts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't sure on the amount, but found this link &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/how-to-build-muscle-mass-on-a-plant-based-diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/how-to-build-muscle-mass-on-a-plant-based-diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which I think you may find useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It says about 1 gram per pound of body weight for example a 200lb bodybuilder requires 200gms of protein a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not my area of expertise, so it would be great if someone could comment, and confirm if this sounds about right. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-05-14T16:05:31.753" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T16:05:31.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16502" CreationDate="2014-05-13T20:43:34.993" Score="4" ViewCount="433" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it necessary for a vegan who wants to build muscle to take a protein supplement, or can they get enough protein from diet alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-05-14T06:06:48.800" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T06:06:48.800" Title="Is it necessary for a vegan to supplement protein?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2014-05-13T21:22:13.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specificity of Exercise:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get more controlled spins in tennis, practice hitting lots of tennis balls with topspin and backspin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work on accuracy of your spins using different targets and depths. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a ball machine or have someone  consistently feed you tennis balls until you have the mechanics of the stroke mastered.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then add spin shots into your game.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your goal is acquiring a certain skill, training with specificity of exercise will get you closer to your goal faster than doing different types of unrelated exercise.  Repetition will give you the sensitivity of touch that you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2014-06-17T20:15:55.560" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:15:55.560" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16475" CreationDate="2014-05-13T21:23:18.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From both personal experience and things I've read, losing belly fat is more about diet than exercise.  Sugar intake, specifically, is something that should be severely limited when trying to lose belly fat.  For most adults (myself included), alcohol is a major contributor of sugar intake.  The point in my life during which I had the least amount of stomach fat was when I was drinking the least -- 2 times a week, &lt;em&gt;max.&lt;/em&gt;  That being said, I was also exercising regularly at the time (4-6 times per week), rotating weight lifting and cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following Medical article has some good suggestions under the question on tricks to losing belly fat: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1298330047559.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1298330047559.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8640" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T21:23:18.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13649" CreationDate="2014-05-13T21:36:52.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started practicing yoga regularly (2-4 times a week) a little over a year ago, and quickly found that &lt;em&gt;Warm&lt;/em&gt; Vinyasa Flow Yoga was the best for me when it came to increasing flexibility.  The warmer temperature allows me to loosen up a bit quicker, and the quicker, repeated flows allow me to notice a difference in my flexibility between the start and finish of class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As BKE mentioned above, all instructors have different styles, so it's important to try a few different teachers to see which techniques are most beneficial for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8640" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T21:36:52.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16503" CreationDate="2014-05-13T22:05:37.667" Score="3" ViewCount="1986" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've already mastered leg raises on the floor and I was advised to progress to a harder variation of leg raises which is the hanging knee raises.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The problem is that my shoulders and lats give up before my abs do. So, after about 8 reps of hanging knee raises I give up due to pain in my shoulders and lats despite keeping my shoulders tight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't do pull ups yet but I'm working on it. Can the lack of strength in my lats and biceps cause this issue ? and if not, then, What causes this pain and how can I overcome this issue ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T05:07:53.600" Title="Shoulders and lats give up before abs during hanging leg raises" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16496" CreationDate="2014-05-14T00:12:50.250" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; to build muscle without supplementation on a vegan diet?  I suppose anything is theoretically possible.  But is it going to be easy, or even practical?  No, despite what some vegans might claim.  The quantities of protein needed for muscle building, especially at the bodybuilding level, is just too high.  Even non-vegans have a difficult time achieving their protein goals, and that's with animal proteins and supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as for supplementation, there certainly are ways to do this while adhering to a vegan diet, such as with soy or hemp based protein powders, rather than whey.  So I don't see why there should be any objection on the part of vegans with the above.  It's not like I'm saying you can't be a vegan and build muscle.  I'm just saying that it's not realistic to do it without supplementation--as I said, even non-vegans have a really hard time with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T00:12:50.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16496" CreationDate="2014-05-14T00:56:58.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be fair, it would be very difficult.  The challenge is to keep protein up, but not overshoot your overall calorie requirements.  Many vegetarian bodybuilders are pesca-vegetarian (eat fish) or ova-vegetarian (eat eggs), neither of which qualify for a vegan diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want your macros to be somewhere around these numbers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.8g protein per kg body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;.35g fat per kg body weight (minimum to keep your body functioning)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs making up the rest of the Calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories high enough to gain 3/4 a pound per week or 3 pounds per month&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle won't grow faster than 3/4 a pound a week, and that is a reasonable target to keep from adding too much fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there are several articles out there that can help you make some good food choices.  A good starting point would be &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/vegetarian-bodybuilding.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vegetarian Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  Unfortunately even in this article it does suggest considering going lacto (milk)/ovo-vegetarian as both of those have good sources of protein (particularly yogurts and keifer).  There's some good options for you in that article that would help you hit your goals with food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem you'll run into is that plant based meals are typically high in carbs and fiber, which can actually cause you to not get all the Calories you need to grow muscle.  Probably the best strategy is to break up the meals into several smaller meals until you get all of the required food in.  You'll also want to incorporate foods with higher fat to help the the Calories up, such as avocados.  If you consume plenty of soybeans, you might be able to hit your target macros decently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T00:56:58.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16500" CreationDate="2014-05-14T05:07:53.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey Peter,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, check your form and ensure it's good. If your form is bad, that isn't good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, &lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, the undeveloped strength in your arms could also be a factor. &lt;em&gt;Your whole body is being supported by your arms; if they don't have enough strength, you should feel the soreness in your shoulders, lats, and arms.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Solutions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Keep working on it; the more you do it, the faster your arms will gain the necessary strength. &lt;em&gt;(Don't forget to take rests when required.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Increase the strength of your arms by performing dips as well. &lt;em&gt;I highly recommend other body weight exercises too.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;You can purchase one of these &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0000BV0Z9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gut Blaster Slings&lt;/a&gt;. They'll support your arms while performing the exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T05:07:53.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-14T09:08:02.737" Score="0" ViewCount="1112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be orange. Have an orange skin to look tanned without exposing myself to the sun. I read that it is possible to get orange color of skin by drinking lots of carrot juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much carrot juice should I drink to be orange? And how often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8648" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T12:37:07.203" Title="How much carrot juice should I drink to get orange?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;juice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-05-14T13:31:46.373" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16504" CreationDate="2014-05-14T09:28:12.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shz.de/nachrichten/ratgeber/ernaehrung-gesundheit/und-ploetzlich-war-ich-orange-id278490.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's an article&lt;/a&gt; about a man who had this happen, but it's in German.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the article, he drank 2 bottles of carrot juice per day over a period of three months. However, it only affected his hands and feet, not the whole body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, the color is really &lt;em&gt;orange&lt;/em&gt;, not brown. At best it will look like a really bad fake tan. If you're contant with that, why not use actual fake tan products? Much quicker and more reliable...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8522" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T09:28:12.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-14T10:27:40.520" Score="4" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to run faster ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to improve my running speed... my fastest time for 400 m is 1 minute 30 seconds... &#xA;I am trying to break this time since 1 month but I cant... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What technique I should use to run and what diet should I take to increase the energy ? &#xA;what is the most scientific way to run ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8523" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T19:15:05.027" Title="How to run faster every time without injuries ?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16151" CreationDate="2014-05-14T10:45:29.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long enough that you're pushing against your limits, short enough that you're doing it the whole time.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find yourself feeling/thinking at the end of a high intensity inveral &quot;hey, I could have gone on a little longer!&quot;, then it's too short. Same if, at the end of the last interval, you're not &lt;em&gt;thoroughly&lt;/em&gt; exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you you find that you're pacing yourself or slackening towards the end of an interval, i.e. you can't keep it at full intensity throughout, then it's too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8522" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T10:45:29.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16504" CreationDate="2014-05-14T12:37:07.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an alternative, you should consider using a tanning stain product that bodybuilders use.  It typically lasts 3 weeks and wears off.  It will not wash off.  It's usually applied with a small foam brush.  The advantage to this approach is that you don't have to consume anything to get the look you want, and, you don't need to sit in the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T12:37:07.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-14T21:04:33.803" Score="0" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I started my diet I was at &lt;strong&gt;82kg&lt;/strong&gt; now my weight oscillates between &lt;strong&gt;74&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;75kg&lt;/strong&gt;. I've read that I should target &lt;strong&gt;0.5-1kg&lt;/strong&gt; weekly weight loss. I tried out a diet with &lt;strong&gt;0.75&lt;/strong&gt;. I've calculated that my &lt;strong&gt;BMR&lt;/strong&gt; is 1,659 Calories/day and my diet contains food equals to 1600 Calories/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine who is a dietitian said that I should not decrease my daily calorie intake below my &lt;strong&gt;BMR&lt;/strong&gt; since it can result in an unfavorable response from my body: it can adapt to prolonged decrease in calorie intake and lower its energy needs. I am not a dietitian but I'm stuck with &lt;strong&gt;75kg&lt;/strong&gt; while my diet in theory should result in a &lt;strong&gt;0.75kg&lt;/strong&gt; weight loss per week. What could be the problem? Can it be the case described above? If yes what can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I always calculate the weight loss into my daily calorie needs so for example when I was &lt;em&gt;82kg&lt;/em&gt; I was eating something around &lt;em&gt;1700&lt;/em&gt; calories and now it is around &lt;em&gt;1600&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing resistance training (2 times per week) and HIIT (2-3 times a week) on different days of each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: My height is 168cm and my parameters did not change significantly in the past several weeks (waist/shoulder/etc size)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1824" LastEditorUserId="1824" LastEditDate="2014-05-19T13:20:43.967" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T09:53:56.350" Title="What can I do if weight decreasing stopped after I reached half of my goal?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16484" CreationDate="2014-05-14T21:13:05.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best option to train for an obstacle race is to run obstacle courses. :) Now, this does not necessarily mean replicating the target course in your backyard. Instead, take a walk around your neighborhood and look for items that might resemble what you're going for in terms of obstacles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Playground equipment can be particularly good for this. Fixed park benches (rooted in concrete) are good for practicing vaults. Most neighborhoods have at least one waist-height wall. There are various sources for poles to go over and under, although unfortunately, many of them are either relatively flimsy or in high-traffic areas such as in front of super-markets. Once you have your obstacles, include them in a run. Try to maintain speed, navigate the obstacle, then get right back to running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the obstacles are not likely all in one place, your best bet will be doing the same obstacle repeatedly. For example, let's say that you've found that your local park has a section of ground with a steep drop-off of about four feet and about 15 feet of open space on either side. Run the 50 feet, hop up the embankment, trying to go in a smooth motion from bottom to top, and run the other side. Pivot and go back the other way, hopping down the embankment and landing smoothly, and run the distance. Pivot and return. When you find yourself tiring on that obstacle, use the walk between that and the next obstacle to recover and to determine whether you're up to the next one (a period of just walking can do wonders to help you decide whether that twinge in your calf is just muscle soreness or something more serious).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend looking into Parkour for navigating the obstacles. There are plentiful YouTube videos on how to correctly perform the movements, in particular the landings. Amos Rendao has what I think is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.universalparkour.com/1084/amos-rendaos-roll-tutorials/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one of the best rolling tutorials out there&lt;/a&gt; (fair warning, the intermediate roll tutorial video typically has, as its preview image, his demonstration on the back of a comely &lt;em&gt;traceuse&lt;/em&gt;, not actually nudity but appearing similar on a quick glance on a work computer). For the rest of the movements, that's contentious, but I've enjoyed the LaFlair set on vaults. If you're curious about the actual science of it, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/ParkourScience&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Parkour Science&lt;/a&gt; provides all of the equations that you might ever want to demonstrate, for example, why rolling on impact works, or what the maximum distance one can precision jump is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T21:13:05.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16484" CreationDate="2014-05-14T21:25:27.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try exercises that emulate both cardiovascular and strength training. Think burpees, mountain climbers, squat jumps, etc; anything that will get your heart rate up while also building the strength needed to complete some of those obstacles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try out some of these: &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/cardio-bodyweight-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://greatist.com/fitness/cardio-bodyweight-exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8640" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T21:25:27.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16523" CreationDate="2014-05-14T21:32:44.563" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I practice yoga fairly frequently -- a minimum of 2 times per week, usually Warm Vinyasa flow.  One pose that I have been unable to get comfortable in is half-pigeon, despite increased flexibility over the past year.  It's not just uncomfortable either, it's often painful in my knee and upper-hamstring area.  Could this be a problem with my leg positioning or something technical I'm doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8640" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T10:44:55.637" Title="How to eliminate pain while performing half-pigeon?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-15T01:37:42.687" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training on weights for 3 alternative days in a week on Mon, Wed and Fri for about an hour and on Tuesday and Thursday I am doing cardio on tread mill for an hour. I am not sure if this is ok to train like this. I can really use a expert opinion on this. Hope you will get back to me with an answer soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards&#xA;Zack&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8650" LastEditorUserId="363" LastEditDate="2014-05-17T22:11:54.033" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T22:11:54.033" Title="Weight training and cardio" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17809" CreationDate="2014-05-15T05:09:11.507" Score="4" ViewCount="1649" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite sport is climbing staircases by foot, then going down by elevator and going up again by feet, etc. I feel it hurts the legs much less than jogging, since I don't 'fall' on my legs while climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, I would like to do if there are any risks of leg injuries when climbing stairs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, what kind of shoes are best suited for this kind of sport? Currently I use simple walking shoes (not running shoes), is this good enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8652" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T17:23:54.647" Title="How to keep the legs healthy when climbing stairs" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16518" CreationDate="2014-05-15T07:53:30.533" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let me say that your program seems reasonable enough. It's pretty common to do cardio on off days, with many people doing a similar program as you. There are some things you might want to consider, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical exhaustion:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Weight training at a high intensity can exhaust your body to a degree where cardio becomes harmful. This is especially true if you have any weak spots or previous injuries. I myself, for example, can not do heavy squats on monday and do cardio on a bike on tuesday, as my knee is quite weak and won't support that workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Psychological exhaustion:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Training every day can be very rewarding, but it can also put you under a lot of stress. This is highly individual and depends on many factors, like how it's going at work, family troubles or just pushin youself too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Make sure your recovery is good enough for you to be able to take 5 days of sports a week. If you're on a diet, you might recover slower and need to adjust. Also sleep enough. Aim for 8 hours or more a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the end, your training program will have to fit &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, no expert's opinion will make it work, if for some reason it doesn't fit you. Try it, and if it doesn't work, adust it to your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T07:53:30.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6679" CreationDate="2014-05-15T10:26:49.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your dedication and the time spent on doing some exercises. i was weighing almost 94kgs in 2013, i started exercising at a gym near my home i used to walk to and fro and work out for 60mins before breakfast. and sticked to meal plan or diet with no alcohol and meat. i am now 78 kgs. it almost took 6 months to be at 80.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8636" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T10:26:49.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16517" CreationDate="2014-05-15T10:44:55.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few adjustments you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;elevate the pelvis, this will take some pressure off the knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bend the knees to full flexion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;move knee outwards if comfortable (bring the knee outside the line of the body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still have pain or discomfort, try different versions/similar poses, &lt;a href=&quot;https://yogainternational.com/assets/content/articles/Y165_11.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standing supported&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.110pounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/WL-STANDING-PIGEON-210x164.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standing resting on other leg&lt;/a&gt;, standing bent leg lift etc. Modify the pose so that less external force (bodyweight in this case) is applied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T10:44:55.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16525" CreationDate="2014-05-15T11:11:58.767" Score="2" ViewCount="1286" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is ample discussion on the internet suggesting that we need carbs after exercise (for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roadbikerider.com/health-matters/what-should-i-do-post-ride-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2787/post-workout-carbs/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). The second link also shows contradicting answers: complex carbs vs simple sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roadbikerider.com/health-matters/what-should-i-do-post-ride-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;suggestions&lt;/a&gt; to drink milk chocolate or home-made recovery drink (water, sugar, salt and lime). Both of these drinks contain sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am cycling daily to my work (about 10km each way) and I am starting weight-lifting next week. I also have healthy and big breakfasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided my goal is to burn fat and recover my muscles after cycling, can I drink coffee with sugar as a post cycling drink? Or as a post jogging drink on the weekends? I am more concerned about the white sugar aspect, rather than caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't give up on coffee, but I can easily give up on sugar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8322" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T16:36:23.783" Title="Coffee with sugar after cycling (or any cardio)?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16524" CreationDate="2014-05-15T11:35:05.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very complex matter, but let me try to wrap my head around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you need simple carbs after a workout?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;Well, it depends. After a workout, your glycogen stores are depleted, so your body will want to refill those to work optimally. If there's no glycogen stored in your muscles, your body will have to resort to other sources of energy. Extremely simplified, one could say that you'd burn more fat as long as your glycogen stores are empty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to utilize that, don't eat carbs, but mind the disadvantages. You might feel tired, be more sore than usual and not recover as fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For optimal recovery, though, you will want to refill your glycogen stores, which is most easily done with fast acting (high-gylcemic) carbs. Refined sugar may not be the best pick, though, especially if it's only in a coffee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So how much then?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've seen it recommended to take in 30g of simple carbs post-workout to completely restore glycogen stores. Your coffee probably hasn't as much, so you'll likely only partially refill your stores with that. A big glass of chocolate milk might be enough to refill your stores completely, though, so you'll have to consider. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T11:35:05.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16524" CreationDate="2014-05-15T11:51:56.360" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be careful drinking caffine after exercise, particularly if it's a coffee to go. Think about this. You have just exercised and your heart rate is already high, then you have caffine which elevates your heart rate even higher. I know this wasn't your question, but I wouldn't recommend coffee or any drink with caffine as a post recover drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milk based drinks are fine, as are complex carbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Science in sport offer a great range of recovery drinks.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/science-in-sport-go-energy-sports-fuel-1-6kg/rp-prod31230&quot;&gt;http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/science-in-sport-go-energy-sports-fuel-1-6kg/rp-prod31230&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also one called Rego, which I have heard is very good(chocolate flavour)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, Chocolate milk would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the weather you may want to look at isotonic drinks that will replace the electrolytes lost through sweat, as in the summer this could be more of an issue than the carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T11:51:56.360" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13729" CreationDate="2014-05-15T14:05:53.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling has been shown to shorten the rectus femoris. This happens because its range of motion is smaller than in for example running. The same thing happens to any muscle that is used across a shorter range of motion, so I presume that the exact same thing happens to the hamstring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another factor that plays a role there as well. The hamstring has two functions (and thus two distinct parts, at least the biceps femoris). One part of the biceps femoris only bends the knee, the other part both bends the knee and extends the hip. When cycling, the knee-bending part works at shorter ranges, while the hip-extending part is stretched because we reach forward for the handles. This can eventually lead to impalances, as one part of the muscle becomes tighter than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T14:05:53.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-15T14:25:28.570" Score="0" ViewCount="1323" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have my left soleus muscle more stronger than my other soleus,  you can see it with no effort, I think it must be because of my form of running,  my right leg is shorter so maybe that could be the problem,  I'm asking just to know if is normal to have a soleus muscle more stronger than other.. &#xA;Im trainning just running btw.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T17:00:24.323" Title="why one leg soleus muscle can be bigger than the other leg?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16535" CreationDate="2014-05-15T15:29:41.563" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get back into running. The main reason I stopped last time was due to shin splints. I have been taking it much easier this time, reducing pace, time between runs, and distances. This has worked so far but I'm starting to feel pain in my shins again, is there a good way to prevent this? (Or at least reduce it) I have been wondering whether strapping them up, or getting a support would help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8592" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T20:49:38.213" Title="Preventing leg injury when running" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12567" CreationDate="2014-05-15T15:35:26.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried swimming with a rubber cap at the start of this season, and it really does help! It didn't keep me much warmer overall, but it did help avoid the ice-cream feeling. The reflex to gasp when cold water hits your head had been a problem for me when starting a cold swim, but I didn't feel it at all with the cap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A neoprene cap might help more for even colder water, or might keep you warmer overall, but I found the rubber one quite adequate for 14℃ water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T15:35:26.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16524" CreationDate="2014-05-15T16:36:23.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The heart rate issue is Vital. Even though they say a &quot;fit&quot; heart comes down to Resting Rate within minutes after the stop of exercise, MANY still normal hearts don't. In this case coffee is doing you harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, if you need the caffeine in the morning at a job requiring good mental output (which job nowadays isn't in this category LOL), then take a MILD (reduced caffeine, like a half shot espresso or less steeped TEA etc) coffee BEFORE you set out on that bike for 10k. It will improve your athletic performance and leave you good for the office work ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8656" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T16:36:23.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16530" CreationDate="2014-05-15T17:00:24.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The human body is not perfectly symmetrical.  One side tends to be more dominant than the other.  Having said that, and, barring any consideration for preexisting injuries, there's no reason why you can't train the right calf to bring it up to the level of your left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T17:00:24.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16531" CreationDate="2014-05-15T20:49:38.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be any number of things causing pain and shin splints. Worn-out/improperly fitted shoes, bad running form, foot-strike, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I would look into a proper shoe fit at a local and reputable running store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, most stores in that category should have a treadmill and video equipment setup that will allow you to review your running form/strike.If your running form is the culprit, possibly causing you to landing too hard on your feet or just at a bad angle, doing core work can help improve. Maybe you're a heel-striker and a forefoot or midfoot strike would serve you better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at this link &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/articles/shin-splints-101-treatment-and-prevention-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.active.com/running/articles/shin-splints-101-treatment-and-prevention-tips&lt;/a&gt; for a number of good articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8597" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T20:49:38.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-16T02:36:24.530" Score="0" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;To replace the barbell back or front squat, I stand a heavy (80lb+) dumbell end-on on the floor, grasp the upper weights, and stand up. Is this a good alternative to the chalice squat? (Much more below!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing my best to follow a Starting Strength regimen - but the barbell exercises (except, oddly enough, the deadlift) have all caused injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've switched to dumbbells for the overhead and bench press, and assisted dips/chins/pulls in place of the clean-and-jerk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is now with an adequate squat replacement. Back squats gave me no-kidding nerve damage that's only now healed after four months. (I couldn't feel my left arm for a while... I apparently have vertebrae that are incompatible with a heavy steel bar across even the meatiest part of my back.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The injury from the bench-press means front squats are out - I don't have the shoulder mobility to heave that much weight up front with my arms like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chalice squat is difficult but do-able, but I'm worried it taxes my lower back too much to raise a heavy dumbbell (80lbs) chest-high, and that holding the dumbbell like that means I can't squat as deeply as I like as my elbows and the dumbbell itself interferes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I tried a variation on it, where I stand the dumb-bell on-end on the floor, squat down to grasp the upper weights, and do the squat exercise beginning with &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt;. It feels natural, I can manage heavier weights, squat deep, and my thighs are still on fire a day later (a good thing, I couldn't get DOMS going with the traditional chalice squat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this exercise a good replacement for a barbell squat? Am I risking another injury doing it this way rather than lifting the weight up to my chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7073" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T14:15:37.770" Title="Chalice Squat Variation - Safe and Effective?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16536" CreationDate="2014-05-16T14:15:37.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you considered trying a hip belt squat?  My wife has mild scoliosis, and the barbell back squat was also too much for her nerve wise.  Hip belt squat has worked out well for her.  Has the advantage of being more incrementally loadable, and not really having a weight limit, compared to what you are doing.  You will need something like this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/belt-squat-belt.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.roguefitness.com/belt-squat-belt.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and eventually a loading pin like this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-loading-pin.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-loading-pin.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would want to squat on boxes so you can get a full range of motion with the weights hanging below you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T14:15:37.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-16T17:14:24.233" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for 2 weeks and I have noticed that I am very lazy. Even though I take supplements I tend to stay so lazy that except for gym time, I don't get off the couch. Except the gym, I have no physical activity. The reason is I feel too lazy and down. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;I had my test and I am fine. Sometimes I feel so tired that workout too feels like a burden. It's like i am wasting or wasted. I am 29 and i am 78.5 kg. What can the problem be? Can it be genetic? As my mother sleeps too much or where I was bought up? What should i do to make myself feel energetic and powerful? &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even when I wake up, I feel too down or wasted energy. Any test or routine changes I can make?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorUserId="8672" LastEditDate="2014-05-17T22:12:49.640" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T17:35:45.183" Title="Exhuastion before and after workout" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-09-28T17:30:14.220" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16544" CreationDate="2014-05-16T22:59:54.910" Score="1" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question that although I exercise (calesthenics, sometimes weightlifting, running) I can't seem to be attaining any vascularity. I have read on the net about the water intake, genes playing a role, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do I reduce fat in my diet or do what to achieve some vascularity? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8664" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T10:36:15.193" Title="vascularity in males" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16509" CreationDate="2014-05-17T00:24:10.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many different possibilities.&#xA;Cross train to build up your overall athletic ability since sprinting seems from my view relies on your whole body and it will allow your muscles a break from training while still improving your cardio or other strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run intervals and run further to improve speed and your base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train in different locations so that you are not training to stop at the finish line which may mean your slowing down before you cross it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use Endomondo or something similar to track your speeds so that you can focus on effort in place of time, distance, results while your running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For sprinting I've had some help with my form by running down hill but do this at your own risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at your cadence and stride and how they compare to professionals. One way to run faster for longer distances is by focusing on a faster cadence and shorter steps because it is easier to lengthen your stride then to increase your cadence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thats my sum knowledge on that and I hope it helps :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T00:24:10.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16543" CreationDate="2014-05-17T01:35:31.900" Score="4" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I am not obese I tend to get very exhausted after 2-3 minutes of running (max). So how can I increase the stamina for running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I take healthy diet but still get exhausted easily. I have no heart condition either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8664" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T22:33:16.617" Title="Stamina for running long" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16542" CreationDate="2014-05-17T05:27:26.467" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You just need to build it up gradually, and not start too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by running from one lamp post to the next. Then walking the next one.  When you can manage that ok, run 2 lamp posts and walk one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to start at a pace that feels easy, that you can maintain for the distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an app you can get for iPhones called couch to 5k which is very good.  A run/walk program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slowly, with a run walk program and I'm sure you will see progress fairly quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck on your journey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T05:27:26.467" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16540" CreationDate="2014-05-17T09:12:38.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vascularity (I assume this to be the visibility of veins) can be improved, or indeed hindered, by several factors. Some you could change are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body fat percentage: The veins are already there, but like abs, they are hidden by a layer of fat. If you reduce body fat, that subcutaneous layer of fat will get thinner and reveal more veins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water retention: Similar to body fat, retained water can make you look (and feel) soft, which isn't very good for vasularity. By minimising water retention (drinking much helps), your veins will be much more visible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscularity: The harder your muscles are able to contract, the more they will press against the veins from the inside. This means, you can literally push your veins out by contracting hard. Trained muscles also have a better tone, which means they are harder without you doing anything, further aiding vascularity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperature: Ever noticed, how veins are much more likely to stick out in summer? I don't quite know if it's indeed the temperature having this effect or other temperature related effects, though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, there's also some factors you can't change, which also make a difference. Some people just happen to have the weirdest amount of clearly visible veins on their arms, while other haven't. So genetics clearly are involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T09:12:38.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16540" CreationDate="2014-05-17T10:20:37.860" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer by LarissaGodzilla is very good. But I would like to add one thing that you can do that actually increases your vascularity, independent of genetics (which nevertheless influences the extent of this effect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing interval training, such as HIIT, increases vasogenic factors into the blood, which subsequently causes blood vessels to proliferate. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8790589, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19258658) When doing long distance running, this effect is somewhat lower, and occurs more centrally in the muscle (in order to supply more blood and oxygen for energy). However, in intensive interval training you activate the muscles forcefully, which presses the blood from the muscles to the superficial veins. That increases the pressure inside them, which acts as a stimulant for vasodilation and vasogenesis in itself. But it also increases the delivery of vasogenic factors specifically to those veins, which leads to further vasogenesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to add an explanation to LarissaGodzillas argument on temperature. It is indeed the temperature that causes the vasodilation. That is why it is bad for people with varicose veins to shower with hot water. When the temperature is increased, the body responds by vasodilation. This moves the blood superficially, so it can emit more heat and as such prevent overheating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2014-05-20T10:36:15.193" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T10:36:15.193" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16720" CreationDate="2014-05-17T15:15:11.553" Score="3" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;My biggest problem with front-crawl (freestyle) swimming is that I naturally kick four times per cycle (i.e. twice per hand), such that I'm always kicking with the same foot when a hand enters the water. This makes my body roll worse on the left side, and I find it very hard to breathe on that side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that learning to kick two or six times per cycle (i.e. once or thrice per hand) could improve my technique a lot, but I'm finding it very hard to get the hang of it. I can start out fine, but after a few strokes, I'll take a breath and then either go back to two kicks without realising, or lose my rhythm entirely and start waggling my feet in an unco-ordinated way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With two kicks per stroke, I feel like it's making me speed up my strokes to keep my legs from sinking between kicks; OTOH, with six I feel like I don't have time to fit all the kicks in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from &quot;just keep practising&quot;, how can I change my kick pattern?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T22:59:02.650" Title="How can I learn to kick with a different pattern?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16509" CreationDate="2014-05-17T19:08:53.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't say what training you are currently doing, or where you are losing time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it towards the end of the 400m?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you happen to know your 200m split?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a race or during training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can supply a little more information, I will try to make the answer specific to you, but with the information that I have, here is my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To run a good 400m you need speed/endurance.  This means that you need to run a good speed for the whole distance, but it is too far to sprint, therefore you need some endurance as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would recommend is to train once a week, under distance. Say 200m, but do lots of them, making sure your pace is faster than that of half of the 400m.  So for you I would suggest around 40 seconds or there abouts.  Do 5-6 200 metres with no more than a minutes rest(maximum) in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then in the same week I would train over distance:  3 times 600 metres or 800metres&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first session will make you faster,  the 2nd session will help you maintain pace.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very common problem for 400m is to fade badly in the last 100m, this is caused either by lack of endurance training or starting too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you running the 400m on you own in training,you may find if you bring someone to training with you that you are able to beat your time now.  There's nothing like a bit of competition to get the best out of yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding technique, in the last 100m or so, when you are getting tired, concentrate on keeping your running form, make sure you are pumping your arms.  You could definitely gain a few seconds if you do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, and good luck with your goal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-05-17T19:15:05.027" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T19:15:05.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16538" CreationDate="2014-05-17T19:33:10.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provided that your hormone levels, etc are all normal, caffeine may help to get you going before a workout. I find that when I have to do a workout when I'm worn out or not motivated, a bit of caffeine will help me get going (though at some point you have to be able to motivate yourself to keep going). There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/caffeineandexercise.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;studies&lt;/a&gt; showing that caffeine can help to increase performance and endurance as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8672" LastEditorUserId="8672" LastEditDate="2014-05-26T17:35:45.183" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T17:35:45.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16538" CreationDate="2014-05-18T06:53:42.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well done on getting to the gym if you are feeling like this. &#xA;I would suggest a couple of things.&#xA;Try to get out for a daily walk, getting some fresh air will make you feel more energised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't say whether of not you are working, if not, try to find a hobby, or set yourself a goal for fitness or something else you can be working towards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this doesn't improve soon, go back to your Doctor. It's not normal to feel like this all the time.  I'm no Doctor, but you could be depressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to help yourself, and if that doesn't work, keep going back to the doctors until you get some answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T06:53:42.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16559" CreationDate="2014-05-18T17:51:14.930" Score="-2" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is something that other people experience or it's just me but I tend to be way less &quot;physically active&quot; at home during weekends rather than when I go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except the fact that I can use the machines the gym has, at home I have some pretty basic stuff like 4 Kg handles and a carpet where to do push-ups, abs and other stuff, but I find myself being lazy even on the exercises that really don't need machines at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus I noticed that I get fatigued earlier at home when during repetitions, could it be the small room + my sweat + hot air? I really don't know but I'm nowhere as active as when I go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else that might play a role is the &quot;competition factor&quot;. At home I'm alone and I can watch a die-hard movie or put up some metal music but I'll never be as &quot;competitive&quot; as when I go to the gym. I'm a highly competitive person and I think something that greatly motivates me is to &quot;compete against the others&quot; when doing exercises. It might be silly but it's an hypothesis on something else that might stack up when doing exercises at home vs going to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8680" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T14:38:18.580" Title="How come home gym is less productive than going to the real gym?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-05-19T20:27:19.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16556" CreationDate="2014-05-18T17:59:46.927" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mentally-stressful work (engineering) and sometimes I find myself thinking/mulling over a problem even when work's over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried many times concentrating while exercising (both repetitive weightlifting or mid-running) but turns out I really can't. I can be productive after workout when I recovered, but there's no way for me to &quot;mentally focus&quot; while exercising (whatever I do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to &quot;parallelize&quot; exercise and mental work/study at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8680" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T21:09:29.580" Title="Is it possible to be mentally active while exercising?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16558" CreationDate="2014-05-18T20:55:18.193" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that the perfect form of bodyweight exercises need to be slow. For instance, in pull ups, I have to go up in 2 seconds, pause a second at the top position and then go down in 2 seconds.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which goal does that technique help, muscle gain or endurance ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another words, If I can do 20 fast movement push ups and I want to build more muscle using push ups. Will I gain muscle if I used the technique mentioned above ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T10:23:41.350" Title="Does slowing negative and positive movements of exercises build muscle" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16554" CreationDate="2014-05-18T21:09:29.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, there are multiple evidence suggesting that your mind keeps processing problem at hand on subconscious level even when you do something else. If anything, change of activity is often advised as a way to resolve dead-ends in engineering problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a software developer, I've seen this effect on quite a few occasions, when solutions came to me on a treadmill or in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running for periods of over 10 minutes is very good for meditative thinking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for weight lifting - you can have bursts of mental activity between exercises, but I would try to put all concentration into muscle work while you are in a set. Putting all my effort into it causes a micro-reboot for that particular problem case in the brain and allows me to tackle the problem at different angles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short - exercise are very good for solving engineering problems, but the kind of approach you take during them is very different to normal approach. And do mind the safety - you are working metal in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8681" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T21:09:29.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-18T17:51:13.987" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I skipped one half marathon because of my too high levels of IgE in blood.&#xA;The reason was that I was not sure if I can do it under such condition.&#xA;I was also not sure about when to stop if something comes.&#xA;Last year, I did run under allergic symptoms but my recovery time was exceptionally very long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt very good during running however.&#xA;When I stopped, I felt exhausted and after it in recovering.&#xA;The marathon also put my immune system little down and caused me some opportunistic diseases which I do not normally get. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in how you can support your immune system in running and in recovering from running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took pseudoefedrine before running and decreased the antihistamine load.&#xA;I think I ate too little days after running which may be one reason for long recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a good strategy for endurance sport with allergic symptoms before and after the attempt?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" OwnerDisplayName="Masi" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T03:02:45.397" Title="How to know when to stop practice under symptomatic allergic rhinitis" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16555" CreationDate="2014-05-19T10:23:41.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that 2 seconds up, 2 seconds down is good technique, and should be followed in most exercises.  If you need momentum to complete the set or to do the exercise then the weight should be reduced, as this is not good form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to whether it's for muscle gain or endurance, good form should be for both.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To look at muscle growth/endurance you need to look at the number of reps and weights&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T10:23:41.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16553" CreationDate="2014-05-19T14:38:18.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on the individual. There is some research into these topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right about the &quot;competition factor&quot;. There were some studies proving &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011339025532&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason is how our brain reacts to the environment. Just like each room has a purpose (i.e. bedroom, kitchen, etc.) and our brain reacts differently (i.e. prepare for sleep, food).&#xA;We show some certain physiological, psychological and sociological responses. You can read more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gautamshah.in/PDF/BehJUN08.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly in the fitness environment, our mind prepares us for the physical exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also gyms are usually (always?) designed by interior designers, where light, colours and even &lt;a href=&quot;http://emilyanthes.com/data/uploads/anthes-building-around-the-mind.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;round curves&lt;/a&gt; contribute to your workout/rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8322" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T14:38:18.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-19T23:34:09.303" Score="0" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a good all-purpose fitness routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past I have followed training plans for triathlons, power lifting, and P90X.  At the moment I'm not training for anything specific, but would like to stay in good shape.  The areas I would like to cover are strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, balance, and coordination.  I exercise for one hour a day, every day of the week.  I would also like to occasionally incorporate sports and outdoor activities.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas on how to organize these in a week or a month, and in each session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8688" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:46:47.683" Title="What is a good general fitness routine?" Tags="&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-07-29T12:18:30.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16565" CreationDate="2014-05-20T03:14:06.923" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to swim laps as it is not only healthy, but a sort of meditation.  Most days, I will swim a mile or so late (because that's when the pool is open).  I noticed that as I do this every day, I tend to need more sleep.  Normally, I sleep around 7-7.5 hours but after working out like this every day for 3-4+ days, it seems like I need 8-9 to just function.  Is this normal?  I thought working out was supposed to give you energy.  Also, I do have mild insomnia (part of the reason I started swimming in the first place).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I realize there are simillar posts, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11999/proper-sleeping-time-after-tough-workouts&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, but I haven't found one specific to this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8689" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T06:06:50.423" Title="Sleep longer the night after workout" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16564" CreationDate="2014-05-20T06:06:50.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normal to need more sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were swimming 20-30 minutes yes you will feel energised, but if you are swimming for an hour it's pretty normal to feel tired and need more sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you should mix things up a bit.  Some days a shorter swim, some days longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are some swimmers out there.  That could suggest some interval sessions.  But depending in your goal, I would just mix the distances up a bit. Ie hard easy days, to help you recover, and for you to feel more energised on the shorter recovery days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T06:06:50.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16514" CreationDate="2014-05-20T09:53:56.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't lower your calorie intake, maybe you should try increasing your workouts a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I find 0.5 kg/week already very taxing on my body, especially when I do it several months, as I'm doing right now. In my experience, 0.5 kg/2 weeks is much more doable, while 2 kg/month is easy. But then, I run more than 60 km per week, requiring over 4000 kcal/day. All I have to do is keep my daily intake slightly below 3600 kcal or so, in other words, eat normal, but no more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so, I don't loose weight gradually. It goes in fits and starts. I expect that might be happening to you as well. Be more patient with the results and don't focus on the day-by-day development too much. It's better to see the bigger picture, by putting your weight in a year graph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T09:53:56.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15767" CreationDate="2014-05-20T10:03:17.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the best of my ability, I've not been able to find a study that thoroughly looks into this issue. However, BMI is a poor indicator in and of itself for a multitude of reasons. I'll enumerate some of them: (a) visceral fat is far worse than subcutaneous fat in terms of health. (b) too little fat is also bad for your health, but the odds of your BF% entering the into the essential fat levels is rather small and requires extreme effort or starvation. (c) heart health depends on more than just body fat, Cholesterol levels, stress and cortisol levels, additionally, the amount of cardio that you do has a profound effect on heart health. So, you could have a high BMI a 10% body fat and be a high risk of heart attack. Furthermore, regardless of what the tissue is, any addition of vascular tissue results in greater strain and work that the heart must overcome in order to pump blood through your body. In terms of heart health, BMI is poor indicator as it tells you little more than what you could learn from a mirror. If you're concerned about health, and heart health, consult a physician to have them do a cardiac stress test and run bloodwork. For example, congestive heart failure occurs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for orthopedic health, BMI correlates better and has a great possibility of causation due to the fact that body mass is among the largest contributors to orthopedic issues after diet, exercise, and genetics (Joint problems). Too much mass and your body will be overstressed, too little mass and your bones will be weaker due to decreased stress loads resulting in less calcium being transferred into the bones (Osteoporosis). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL::DR: regardless of composition, increased mass results in greater work on the body. Greater persistent work causes greater stress, greater waste, etc. The problem comes with finding balance between exercise and muscle gains (hypertrophy) and inactivity (atrophy). Generally, inactivity is worse for your health than too much body mass. Ultimately, any concerns you have regarding health is best suited for a doctor who can run tests and make objective evaluations in addition to subjective evaluation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is based largely off of my experience as a paramedic and being a biomedical engineering student with a minor in pre-med. I apologize for not being able to come up with a definitive study, but I suspect there aren't many since high muscle low fat people aren't nearly the health concern as obesity and high fat people.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8691" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T10:03:17.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16421" CreationDate="2014-05-20T10:26:13.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They aren't particularly accurate, however, it is not out of the realm of possibility. It largely depends on the type of exercise you're doing and the intensity at which you're doing it. 1200 calories/hr isn't insane for a rowing machine (I personally have gone to around 1500 calories/hr on a concept2 rowing machine, however this was during HIIT training and I couldn't sustain such a rate for more than a minute. From your description, it sounds like you're talking about a lateral trainer of some sort that simulates what I think of as being a cross country skiing style motion&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GxzJl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;. Regardless, due to the recoil speed of the stepping machine and the limited amount of resistance (body weight) and the fact that your legs aren't really lifting your body if there isn't enough resistance to overcome your weight and if you're using too much resistance your range of motion suffers due to the machine moving your body instead of your body moving the machine. So while 1200 cal/hr is not absurd on it's face, based on the machine description, I'm going to have to say it's not a fair representation as I just can't see you being able to get the proper combination of cadence and resistance that is required for high caloric consumption. From my personal experience, the best cardio in terms of cardiopulmonary health and caloric consumption, comes from swimming, rowing, or a stair machine (&lt;a href=&quot;http://s4.hubimg.com/u/4846263_f260.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://s4.hubimg.com/u/4846263_f260.jpg&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U2JNU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;) Additionally, sprints, especially loaded sprints, will burn more calories per unit of time (HIIT also has the added perk of burning calories for about 24 hrs after exercise.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: Be wary of using charts to base your caloric consumption. (a) people's metabolisms are different (b) time based caloric consumption values are rate and weight based (the former being highly variable and the latter being dependant on how much weight is supported by something other than your body and how your body moves said weight.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8691" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T10:26:13.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15908" CreationDate="2014-05-20T11:33:52.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While work does equal force times distance, the rest of Sergey's commentary is rather absurd. His calculation presumes 1 dimensional motion and forces, people don't move in one dimension first off. Secondly, carrying 100kg involves gravitational force and simply standing still with 100kg on your back will result in increased caloric consumption due to the 981N pushing down on your body and requiring muscle activation to not fall over from carrying the weight (your muscles are contracting and causing mass to move over distance). Additionally there is the calories burned from travel  (100kg≈1000N 7700Cal/kg  0.000238845896627 calories/N•m, this equates to about 32.23km to burn 1kg of fat along the x-axis only) This does not account for calories burned in stabilization, calories burned due to metabolic processes such as converting ATP to and from ADP among other things, metabolic efficiency, anaerobic threshold, etc. Also, HIIT cardio and weightlifting also result in excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Since O2 is a required for cellular respiration (anaerobic exercise doesn't excrete waste effectively until you stop working and permit the respiratory system to blow off CO2, the other other pH regulatory systems don't act fast enough to be relevant) it is the primary indicator of caloric consumption. This effectively means that while lifting weights on it's own doesn't burn as much calories during a workout, they burn more calories post workout (this doesn't count increased caloric consumption due to increased muscle mass.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short story: if you're trying to calculate work done based off of your estimated range of motion, you're wasting your time. While the fundamental point of Sergey's post was correct, it left out some pertinent details. As I don't really feel like getting into the physics of all of it in any deeper fashion than I already have, I'll ask that you take my word, as an engineering student, that between the lack of precision of measurement and the sheer amount of calculations required to figure it out would take time that would be better spent working out, resting, eating, or any number of things. So yes, there are formulas that you could use to figure it ou should you have sufficiently precise measurements, but the benefit of figuring it out doesn't even remotely come close to justifying the effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8691" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-05-20T12:04:51.080" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T12:04:51.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15433" CreationDate="2014-05-20T11:47:48.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ankle is a gliding joint and only really operates along 2 axes of movement. This limits your options for movement. Ultimately, the stretch you want to do is determined by what muscles you want to stretch. If you want to stretch the muscles in the inferior aspect of your foot (sole), you're options are pretty much limited to dorsiflexion (pointing your toes toward your head.) How you go about doing it doesn't really matter so long as you're actually stretching it fully (i.e. you can't simply just flex your tibialis anterior muscle (shin muscle) and expect it to be effective. Additionally you need to apply pressure on your toes in order to get your muscles to stretch.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you're arches are stupidly sore and hurting within a couple miles, there is a very real possibility that your shoes aren't providing proper arch support or your shoes are tied too tightly and you're applying pressure against the top of your foot resulting in the flattening of your arch and the stretching of the muscles in the arch of your foot. In this case, stretching won't help you as excessive stretching for excessive time frames will result in pain. (A lesson I've learned from years in the infantry and snowboarding. Your shoes must be snug but not overly tight. If you feel pain again while hiking, loosen hte laces directly over your arches and see what happens. If that's the problem the pain should improve rather quickly.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8691" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T11:47:48.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16572" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-20T12:32:56.777" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope this question doesn't feel like a get-rich-quick scheme for fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am struggling to get/stay fit for skiing. (Leisure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not been able to find any coaches which focus on fitness for skiing (rather than general fitness or skiing technique). So I am thinking about buying a whole load of books on various aspects, but obviously, physical fitness is an incredibly large topic which spans many professions, so I am wondering if teaching myself what I need to know is feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, I want to know what exercises a professional skier would embark on in a comprehensive regime. I have not found any books on this particular subject unfortunately. While I could get books on general aspects such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joint mobility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stamina&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be an awful lot of learning and reading. Especially if I want to know which of the above exercises would/wouldn't help with skiing, to avoid spending time working out on unnecessary exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend a learning path that cuts to the chase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5950" LastActivityDate="2014-10-23T06:57:06.177" Title="Learning about fitness for skiing" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-20T13:43:44.457" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have plantar fasciitis and I have come to notice off gait when i walk. When I say off I mean I can feel that when I pay attention to my stride I lean more on the left and more specifically I tend to lean more on the left into the heel of my toes as I step down and press off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love to walk and do so every day, in totality about 4 miles a day, every day I walk at least for 1.5 miles non stop after I eat lunch. I recently bought a pair of Nike Air Max sneakers and notice that within 2-3 months that the padding on the left shoe under the balls of my toes the padding is completely flat, no memory left at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, and hopefully enough information was provided, what would be a good sneaker to get and would a generic Dr. Scholls insert do the trick to help with the discomfort in my feet during the day and at night. Also the more I walk, the more my plantar fasciitis acts up, I want to get back to about 10 miles a day, but I always paid for it the following morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank  you,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8694" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T17:30:21.233" Title="Good walking Shoe and Insert" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16572" CreationDate="2014-05-20T16:31:46.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/od/healthinjuries/a/skiing.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good summary&lt;/a&gt; of muscles involved in skiing (in my experience, it is based on importance):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadriceps. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstrings and Glutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inner and Outer Thighs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs and Back. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arms. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like to get/stay fit for skiing you should target these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on personal experience, the following exercises prepare me the best for the skiing season and build the aforementioned muscles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling, roller-blading - fun, similar to skiing experience. Also perfect exercises for improving joint mobility and stamina. If you do some uphill cycling, you could also work on your muscle strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats, deadlifts - I'm personally following Starting Strength program. Very good exercises for developing your legs and your body overall.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs - any abs exercise will do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups, bench presses - for developing your arms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jogging - just to stay fit and develop your stamina.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From get-rich-quick perspective, I picked up skiing very quickly thanks to two exercises: roller-blading and squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few more useful links: &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/special_events/winter_sport/newsid_3249000/3249116.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Building up your skiing muscles&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://iglimpse.co.uk/wp_how_to_prevent_back_pain/2012/12/23/the-best-stretches-and-exercices-for-skiing-and-snowboarding/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Best Stretches And Exercices For Skiing And Snowboarding&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8322" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T16:31:46.550" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16582" CreationDate="2014-05-21T06:09:11.837" Score="0" ViewCount="711" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, I do skull crusher exercise (1st or 2nd exercise of Triceps day and neutral position with an EZ bar) 3 sets with following weights (8-11 reps range).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Earlier I used to do 20kg max (for 3rd set). Increasing weight in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 : 15kg (7.5kg each side)&#xA;2 : 20kg (10kg each side)&#xA;3 : 25kg (12.5kg each side)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing 3rd set, around 7th or 8th rep, I feel sudden loss of strength in my arms and I feel like dropping weight on my forehead or nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It only happens with skull crusher and that too with 3rd set (that too at 7/8th rep!), not with any other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its happening from last 3-4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TIA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorUserId="8020" LastEditDate="2014-05-21T08:54:44.810" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T10:23:23.107" Title="Skull crusher workout issue" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13403" CreationDate="2014-05-21T06:20:19.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to eat a lot of dietary fat, in the absence of carbohydrates. No need to cut calories, you will lose weight. You will need to eat 70-80% fats,20-25% protein, and 5% carbs, (if you feel you need to eat vegetables). If you believe saturated fats are harmful, then make most of your fat intake mono-unsaturated, olive oil, avocado, but remember the lipid theory has been proven as based on lies and deceit, and will be proven wrong in the near future.&#xA;Check out Dr James Carlson, for some good, expert insight, into your low carb journey. Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8700" LastEditorUserId="26631" LastEditDate="2018-01-22T13:46:45.413" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T13:46:45.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16579" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16608" CreationDate="2014-05-21T08:54:16.413" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious how to best execute the two parts of an interval training session, as mentioned on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Interval training can be described as short periods of work followed by rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I assume a constant pace is important in each short period of work, as is an exact distance, but how do you get to that pace as soon as possible, and how do you slow down quickly? What techniques are best? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself do the speeding up with a hop and a firm swing of my arms for the first step, followed by another firm swing with the arms in the next step, after which I'm on my target pace, more or less. I have no technique for quickly slowing down, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do you need to do to maintain the target pace?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find looking on my watch very distracting, but how else would one know if one's pace is constant? On the track, I know how many seconds I need per 100 m, and look on my watch when I pass the next 100 m mark, and calculate in my head when I should pass the next 100 m. Doing this math while a group of people is behind me, depending on me for running at a constant pace is somewhat stressful, especially in the first 100 m of a 800 m workout between intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the recovery part, is walking—as I see many of my peers do in intensive interval training—even an option, or should one continue running, be it at a slower pace? And if walking is a viable option, what would be the rationale behind that option?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T04:50:35.530" Title="How exactly does one execute an interval training properly?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16574" CreationDate="2014-05-21T10:07:40.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how much your gait is off, you will require that much support. If its only minor and you usually walk, then you dont have any serious concerns, but if you are having discomfort or you jog often, then you need to buy a shoe specifically designed for your gait.&#xA;In fact i have the same issue with a slight gait and i often run and sprint too. I recommend a Adidas Super nova if you jog, and Adidas F50 2 (running) if you Sprint. along with this, Use a Spenco Insole. They have various solutions from gel to thin insoles. &#xA;I hope this solves your issue, Have a great and Healthy Day!&#xA;and keep running ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T10:07:40.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16082" CreationDate="2014-05-21T10:19:10.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are a true sports enthusiast and you require accurate results, I recommend you to consider the Adidas miCoach Seamless Sports Bra, it has an in built strap and hence wont be uncomfortable. The two buttons in front on the outside is where the miCoach HRM can be attached. This HRM supports Ant+ and hence can be used with various devices including Suunto, Garmin, etc&#xA;Here is a reference link:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shop.numetrex.com/product/adidas-micoach-seamless-sports-bra/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://shop.numetrex.com/product/adidas-micoach-seamless-sports-bra/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T10:19:10.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16577" CreationDate="2014-05-21T10:23:23.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just googled a bit and stumbled over &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_much_can_you_lift_wimp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, that tries to scale several exercises to the big 3 lifts. I did some quick calculating in my head and came up with a bench press to skull crusher ratio. Most lifters seem to be able to do ~40% of their bench press weight on skull crushers, e.g. 100kg bench press -&gt; 40kg skull crusher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your ratio seems to be much higher, I would recommend to scale back on the skull crushers for a bit, as your bench press seems to lack in comparison. By concentrating on the compound movements like the bench press and the dips, you should be able to increase your strength further. This should have a carryover to your skull crushers, eventually allowing for greater weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T10:23:23.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16584" CreationDate="2014-05-21T11:10:18.223" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some months ago, I started performing semi-regular press-ups with the intention of building a bit of upper-body strength, endurance and tone. I'm 39 years old, and male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing three sets, with a thirty second break between each, and a &quot;set&quot; basically comprising performing repetitions until I feel I physically can't manage any more. I've been managing to do this a minimum of every other day, but frequently I can do it more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I managed to push out sets of about 2-2-1. That increased very rapidly at first, adding a total of 3-4 repetitions to the total every week that passed, then the rate of improvement began to slow, which is to be expected&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it stands I can manage sets of about 15-4-2. But I've been stuck at around that level for weeks now, with only tiny, incremental improvements which often don't last (i.e. I manage an extra rep one day, and lose it the next).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to improve the rate at which I'm gaining strength? I want to keep this relatively informal: so no special diet or gym membership or anything like that. But should I being doing my little routine more or less often? Increasing the break between sets? Doing more sets? Or given my thin, wiry physique, am I simply reaching my physical limit without much more intensive training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8702" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T12:47:14.460" Title="How to maintain rate of improvement from light excercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16583" CreationDate="2014-05-21T11:31:45.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me, that you're limiting your progress by going to failure. To improve with bodyweight exercises quickly, that's not the best way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method I'd propose would be one called 'Greasing the groove'. You'd spread a number of sub-maximal sets (say 10 reps) through your day, increasing your overall volume and training frequency. If you do this for a week and test your 3 sets on sunday again, I'm sure you will have improved by a fair bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you manage to do 3x12 consistently, I'd suggest stepping it up a bit to progress. This can be done by placing your toes on a small box, for example. Once you manage 3x12 with that box, take a bigger one. Advanced progressions include one-armed pushups or handstand pushups, if you want to go crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This answer assumes you're going for overall fitness, hence the 3x12 limit. If you're going more for endurance you can work up to 50 in a row using the same method just as easily.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T11:31:45.273" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16593" CreationDate="2014-05-21T11:39:35.237" Score="0" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;All, I have been trying to improve my breakfast situation from no breakfast or a really crappy breakfast. Because I changed by diet and cleaned it up a bit, I no longer binge eat at night. This of course leaves me legitimately hungry in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After attempting a few different ideas and taking into account travel and other factors I have found self made smoothies fill me up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is this a reasonably healthy meal to have in the mornings? Sometimes I also add a slice of brown toast with some natural peanut butter if I am really hungry but on average it does me right till lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smoothie consists of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 small banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 handful raspberries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 handful blueberries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 handful blackberries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30g Protein Powder Mix&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 small glass orange juice &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 dessert spoons live natural yoghurt &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of my physical make up, I am currently 17st down from 23st. I work out 6 days per week, a mix of body weight training and jogging. My goals are simply to improve my diet in line with my exercise regime. Ultimately I just want to be fit and healthy, no specific training goals or the like in mind. My previous diet consisted of pastries and other fat laden goodies that shouldn't really be eaten at all, never mind for breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the down voter. I would have thought physical fitness and nutrition go hand in hand? While I am new to this it does seem one without the other is not a good idea? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8357" LastEditorUserId="8357" LastEditDate="2014-05-22T15:54:25.007" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T15:54:25.007" Title="Is this breakfast reasonably healthy (new to all this)" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16585" CreationDate="2014-05-21T12:19:29.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, remove many kinds of fruits but just choose a couple of them, and take extra carbs in your breakfast. You can eat normal oatmeal or your can easily cook a porridge if you have the opportunity, which I always eat with proteins in my breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080617142920.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; about taking low carbs in breakfast, which is not a good thing to do for either of muscle gain and weight loss:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers have found a possible way to overcome the common problem&#xA;  of dieters eventually abandoning their diet and regaining the weight&#xA;  they lost. Eat a big breakfast packed with carbohydrates and protein,&#xA;  then follow a low-carb, low-calorie diet the rest of the day, the&#xA;  authors of a new study recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6571" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T12:19:29.963" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-21T12:35:07.100" Score="2" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's assume the following for a moment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a person grows up as a man, with the matching hormonal profile for his first 20 years&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that person then decides to undergo hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for several years&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the hormonal profile stabilizes to resemble that of a typical female, are there any physiological reasons why that person should not compete in a women's weightlifting competition?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could imagine that the muscle fibers are already developed during puberty to a certain extent, which would make this unfair for the other competitors, since males probably develop 'better' that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there's the fact that the male hormone profile influences growth much better than the female profile, making all 'gains' prior to the HRT also an unfair advantage. Although, biological women can take steroids, so that's not a good reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note: I do see why the sexes should compete seperately and I'm not fighting that notion right now. I'm also aware of several &lt;em&gt;practical&lt;/em&gt; reasons for not allowing this. Please refrain from answers citing those reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T14:43:44.437" Title="Is there a physiological reason why male to female transsexuals can't compete in women's weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16572" CreationDate="2014-05-21T13:03:04.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ski in Austria and Italy with quite a bit of off piste / black run fun. I generally keep pretty fit, but in the 6 to 8 weeks before I go skiing I shift a couple of my workouts to favour squats, dead lifts and box jumps (with ankle weights when possible). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T13:03:04.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16587" CreationDate="2014-05-21T13:16:47.327" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, biological women can take steroids, but technically, most of the body-building competitions do drug testing and ban steroids. It's followed about as seriously as it is for professional wrestling entertainers, but it's on the books. Thus, they cannot allow MTF competitors because there's really no way those people would pass the test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T13:16:47.327" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16587" CreationDate="2014-05-21T14:43:44.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question that has been addressed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.transathlete.com/#!policies-by-organization/c1vyj&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many governing bodies&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4335-ncaa-inclusion-of-transgender-student-athletes.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NCAA policy&lt;/a&gt; (page 13) is that MTF transgender athletes can compete after a year of living with their new, lowered-testosterone hormonal profile:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trans female (MTF) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for the purposes of NCAA competition may continue to compete on a men's team but may not compete on a women's team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trans female (MTF) transgender student-athlete who is not taking hormone treatments related to gender transition may not compete on a women’s team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The International Olympic Committee has a similar but more stringent &lt;a href=&quot;http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/05/17/olympics.transsexual/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;policy&lt;/a&gt;, extending the hormone-transition requirement to two years and requiring surgery and political recognition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The IOC advisory group recommended that individuals undergoing sex reassignment after puberty could compete, but only under certain conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Surgical changes must have been completed, including external genitalia changes and removal of gonads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legal recognition of their assigned sex must have been conferred by appropriate official authorities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hormone therapy -- for the assigned sex -- must have been given for long enough to minimize any gender-related advantages in sport competitions, a period that must be at least two years after gonadectomy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T14:43:44.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-21T16:49:16.753" Score="3" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while ago I asked whether &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6392/is-running-with-hand-weights-a-bad-idea&quot;&gt;it was beneficial to run with hand weights&lt;/a&gt;. As a result, I pretty much stopped using them, and forgot all about them. Today I found my old hand weights in my closet, and so now my question is slightly different - what &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; people do with them? Is there some kind of exercise that is widely recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z8sWX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T19:36:19.977" Title="What can you do with &quot;running&quot; hand weights?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-02-16T00:26:34.910" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16585" CreationDate="2014-05-21T18:04:33.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a good start but like others have mentioned, the biggest fault is that it's pretty high in carbs and particularly fast-acting carbs (fructose, despite being from &quot;healthy&quot; fruit, is the worst in this regard).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be toss the orange juice. It's the worst offender to the above point and won't fill you up at all since there's very little or no fiber. Next to go would be the banana but it's not bad (the berries are quite nutrient and fiber dense and don't have as much sugar either). To make it more filling, add some fats. The PB isn't a bad idea, you could also consider adding coconut oil (my personal recommendation) or, if your yogurt is full-fat (I recommend it always should be) then have some more of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8277" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T18:04:33.887" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2014-05-21T20:01:49.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main difference you will find is that barbells are a much more intense and &quot;explosive&quot; workout that uses more weight than most comparable dumbbells. In addition, you will change your form depending on if you do a barbell or a dumbbell squat. I recommend starting with barbells and perhaps experimenting with dumbbells if you find that you want to change up your workout. Check out this article on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestbarbells.com/barbell-squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Squat&lt;/a&gt; and decide for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of Luck- Neil Cook&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8706" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T20:01:49.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7927" CreationDate="2014-05-21T20:08:29.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am glad that you are venturing into the world of barbell rows. They are a great row in my opinion. To address your question, I have to go with the overhand grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To support my answer, I recommend taking a look at the video presented in this article &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestbarbells.com/what-is-a-bent-over-barbell-row/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Bent Over Barbell Row&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice that during the bent over barbell row you lean over the bar and lift up, so using an overhand grip gives you a sturdier hold and a better angle to lift upwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps you- Neil Cook&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8706" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T20:08:29.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16599" CreationDate="2014-05-21T20:15:50.960" Score="2" ViewCount="1203" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gym that I am a member of does not have any barbell free weight equipment, only dumbbells and the bar in the Smith machine (as well as other equipment such as cable machines, machines for specific exercises, etc). I realize that the advantage of using free weights over machines is greater use of stabilizing muscles, but I also realize that some lifts are much different when performed with dumbbells vs a barbell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: Since no loose barbells are available, is it better to perform lifts like chest presses, dead lifts, etc with the Smith machine or with dumbbells? I already use the Smith machine for squats, but it seems very awkward for a lot of other lifts, and if it's not giving me the advantage of using stabilizing muscles, I'd just as soon use either a specific machine or dumbbells (both of which are in much less demand). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR: Which is more advantageous, the ability to use heavier weights in a Smith machine, or the added stabilizing needed for dumbbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8672" LastEditorUserId="8672" LastEditDate="2014-05-21T23:02:31.507" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:26:28.190" Title="Dumbbell lifts vs Smith Machine lifts" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-21T21:33:35.413" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I struggle with a constant fatigue throughout my days.  I feel my diet is good and balanced, I drink lots of water, and I &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16564/sleep-longer-the-night-after-workout/16565#16565&quot;&gt;exercise regularly&lt;/a&gt;.  I also constantly have a tired and foggy mind, which is unfortunate, as I am a good student and plan on going to work with my mind.  I am still going to be fine, I just think I could do much better without this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple things to note are that I recently (2 weeks ago today) stopped drinking soda and caffeine; I drank &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;, but 2 weeks should be enough that it doesn't still affect me, right?  I'm also not active now; I'm home from school for a couple weeks before starting an internship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't think these two could affect it that much.  First, it's been 2 weeks since I drank caffeine last.  Second, I'm still working some, and I still feel this constant fatigue even when I am quite busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to struggle with bad insomnia (not so much anymore), and I am on no medicines other than Sam-E, which I take every other day to help with my mood.  I keep a consistent sleep schedule and sleep 7-8 hours a night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a vitamin I could be deficient in or maybe something specific I could ask the doctor about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8689" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-05-23T00:07:08.163" Title="Constant fatigue" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-05-24T01:54:39.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16583" CreationDate="2014-05-21T21:52:46.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try more sets, or more rest between sets, or not going to failure in each set, or some combination of those strategies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rep schemes, you could try shooting for a certain number of sets of a certain number of reps. For instance, 5 sets of 10, which would be double your current volume. Once you accomplish that, try shortening the rest periods, adding sets, or increasing the target number of reps. You could also try ladders (10, 9, 8, 7, 6... or 1, 2, 3...9, 10, 9, 8...2, 1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three sets to max with thirty seconds rest is getting stagnant. Start playing with the dials on your workout: total volume, per-set volume, rest times, number of sets, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T21:52:46.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2014-05-21T21:53:20.353" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dumbbells are an excellent choice for bench and overhead pressing. For deadlifts they're kind of not great, because it gets awkward as soon as it gets heavy. I'd do lots of Romanian dumbbell deadlifts, or dumbbell power cleans, instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squats, I'd do lunges with dumbbells before I'd do the Smith machine. That his is just not right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T21:53:20.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16601" CreationDate="2014-05-22T00:48:48.920" Score="0" ViewCount="1951" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I strech (toe touching), my back seems to be at a bit of strain, and my spine seems to be  sticking out. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8707" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T02:01:21.020" Title="Is it normal for my spine to be sticking out when I'm touching my toes?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-05-23T16:47:45.687" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16600" CreationDate="2014-05-22T02:01:21.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you mean specifically when you say strain. Likely you just have a lack of flexibility in your spine/back.  Consistent stretching and strengthening of your back will likely reduce or possibly even eliminate any significant straining. However, if you're already &quot;in shape&quot; and experiencing strain or the strain is acute/sudden it would be indicative of an injury of some degree.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your spine sticking out, I would consider that normal.  Anatomically speaking, for a person of average to low body fat percentage there is nothing between your spine and skin to hide or cover it. The leaner a person is the more muscles and bone become visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8708" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T02:01:21.020" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16597" CreationDate="2014-05-22T02:21:17.220" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, for sake of a good answer, this could be so many different things.  I'll try to highlight/mention as many as I can. To start, my best advice would talking with a good MD and ask about blood testing. That being said when the results come back I would recommend asking lots of questions and even consider having multiple MD's look at the results of nothing stands out. For example, you may have something in the &quot;normal&quot; range but be barely inside the low or high end. While one doc might not pick up on it, another may have another opinion or have previous experience with a similar case. That would be a good start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things you might consider: mild food allergies or intolerances, low quality sleep, or hormone imbalances. A variety of things could change or fix some of these issues, like diet alterations, exercise changes, prescriptions(not my favorite option), acupuncture, supplements, etc.  All are things to consider, research, and most importantly talk to a health professional about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8708" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T02:21:17.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16583" CreationDate="2014-05-22T04:54:31.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you doing pressups every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, it may be that the muscles are fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles actually become stronger during the recovery process. So if you haven't had a day off for awhile, try that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, I'd agree with @LarrisaGodzilla&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T04:54:31.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16592" CreationDate="2014-05-22T10:13:48.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The added weight would definitely aid your workout,These can be used for all sorts of mild to moderate exercises, You could wear them and jog on the treadmill, hence it would help you in balance and forearm and hand muscles. The alternative is that you hold small dumbbells in each hand, but that looks awfully awkward.&#xA;Enjoy your workouts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T10:13:48.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16548" CreationDate="2014-05-22T10:20:26.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to use a kick Board to practice your kicks. You have to completely focus on your kicks, and hence the kick-board can help. After you feel that you have achieved the desired kick pattern. Start practicing short bursts without breathing, all the while focusing on matching your strokes to your kicks. once that is under control then include breathing from right or left.&#xA;Essentially remember that since you are trying to change your 'habit'(your kicking pattern) , take things step by step. focusing on each section at a time.&#xA;and of course, Enjoy your swim!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T10:20:26.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16597" CreationDate="2014-05-22T12:26:08.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This probably ought to go without saying, but prioritize doctor advice over nostrums offered by coaches, friends, random internet people, etc. There's a lot of confusion out there between &quot;needs supplementation because deficient in this specific nutrient&quot; and &quot;MOAR SUPPLEMENTS! AND GREEN TEA!&quot; Most people are getting sufficient nutrients in their diet and, as with any sort of medicine, blindly taking substances without any indication of need seldom ends well whether it's a chemically purified substance where you know the dosage or a random herb with variable levels and extra chemicals with unknown side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, doctor. There are a lot of conditions, some potentially serious, that this could be a symptom for. Even if something we recommend helps temporarily, it could just be masking the symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T12:26:08.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16583" CreationDate="2014-05-22T12:47:14.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand correctly you are currently doing 15+4+2 = &lt;strong&gt;21 press-ups every other day&lt;/strong&gt;, which equates to less than 80/week and probably around 10 minutes of exercise. This is probably simply not enough to progress past the very begginer gain and you'll have to just do more. Like all other contributors suggested, maybe &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; going to failure will allow you to &lt;strong&gt;increase you overall volume&lt;/strong&gt;. Dedicating more than 10 minutes a week is likely required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T12:47:14.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16579" CreationDate="2014-05-22T15:02:38.697" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;True interval training is short bursts of very high intensity, followed by enough rest to allow you to complete the next interval at the target pace. Once you cannot meet the required time, you should stop the intervals for the day (Even if you have more to do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose behind interval training in running is to increase your top speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, say that your normal race pace for a 10k is 6:00 / mile, or 1:30 per 400. An interval training session might be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1-2 mile warmup&#xA;10x400 @ 1:10, 3:00 rest.&#xA;1-2 mile cooldown&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest is up to you, many people like to walk, others stand or sit or lie down. As long as you aren't walking at a pace that would impact the next interval, it's pretty much individual preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as pacing, that just takes practice. One thing that we used to do in track was pick a pace (such as 1:15 for a quarter mile), and try to be within 3-4 seconds of that pace. If you were way off, then you got to do it again until you could be consistently within a short range of your goal. After a while you get used to it, and you can &quot;tell&quot; what kind of pace you are running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T15:02:38.697" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-22T15:12:44.620" Score="3" ViewCount="8988" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just started using FitBit.  I am not much of a runner but I do kayak a lot.  I was just curious whether anyone has experience using it while paddling and whether it clock each paddle stroke as a step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4592" LastActivityDate="2019-07-21T16:53:03.787" Title="FitBit and kayaking" Tags="&lt;fitbit&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16611" CreationDate="2014-05-22T15:23:27.477" Score="1" ViewCount="428" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to loose my belly fat, around my waist and i came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kris's 12 week program&lt;/a&gt;, I eat like 5-6 meals a day. But i don't get the science of eating so much, when eating so much is the reason you get fat. Its been 2 weeks and i have seen my weight got down 4.5 kg but my waist is 35. I am 5.8 and age 29. I guess in BMI i am under overweight. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;So my question is, how should i know, i should eat this much. Like i make 0.5kg of chicken breasts but how do i know how much to eat in each meal? And what if someone who can't make steaks, find broccoli or sweet potato. What else should i eat as i am eating whole lots of chicken every meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T16:17:18.790" Title="Eating 7-8 meals for build muscle but loose fat. How?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16610" CreationDate="2014-05-22T16:09:48.570" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question you should ask yourself is not 'how?' but 'why?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'science of eating so much', as you put it, is non-existing. Whatever you put into your body will be digested and used as your body sees fit. Everything your body can't use right away, will be 'queued' and used later on. So it doesn't matter if you eat 8 fistfuls of food each day or if you have on huge meal every evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is supported by many people losing weight (or building muscle) using an intermitten fasting (IF) diet. During an IF-diet you're basically fasting 16 hours and only eat during an 8-hour window. So ask yourself, if your body could only use up so much during 8 hours, how do these people reach their goals? They do, because meal timing &lt;em&gt;doesn't matter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So back to the question you should ask yourself: Why would I want to eat 6-8 meals a day?&#xA;Well, it depends mostly on lifestyle. If you &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; eating 6-8 meals a day, by all means, go ahead. If you want to eat 3, 4 or 5 meals a day, that's also cool. The takeaway point here is to make it work &lt;em&gt;for you&lt;/em&gt;. While 6-8 meals the size of a fist might work for Kris Gethin, it might not work for you. So find what works and stick to it, because the only diet that works is the on that you can pull through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On to meal preparation: The portion size should be more obvious to you once you adjust the meal frequency to what you're used to, so I'll not go into that as much. Considering you're eating 'whole lots' of chicken meat every meal, there are some alternatives you could use. Some foods I wouldn't want to miss on a diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High protein: Chicken, poultry, fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complex carbs: Brown rice, whole-grain pasta, sweet potatoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Healthy fats: Almonds, nuts, vegetable oils, fish (again)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you can always add vegetables like carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers and also fruit in reasonable amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some last words on the workout. A 5-day-split is suboptimal for most people, as you're training each muscle group only once per week. For that to be effective, you'd have to have a very high-intensity only a few people can keep up. I'd rather to 2-3 full body workouts per week and add in some cardio, but that's just me. In the end it has to (again) work for you. Just wanted to mention it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-05-22T16:17:18.790" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T16:17:18.790" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16614" CreationDate="2014-05-22T16:37:47.203" Score="6" ViewCount="1795" Body="&lt;p&gt;About myself: I am a high school freshman and in the past months it has dawned on me that exercise is way to important to ignore as I did for the ~8 months prior when I was struggling with anxiety issues and my grandmother dying.  My dad is a Cross-Country coach for 20+ years, and his healthy lifestyle has shown me that exercise really helps with life's stresses. I began doing primarily running for normally 1.5 miles, 2 or 2.5 on a good day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My issue is that my core and upper body strength is relatively weak, and this is one of the main issues I would like to work on this summer. The problem is, I don't know/can't find an ideal balanced routine for a high school student.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who should I consult for a balanced fitness plan? Is this one of those things that is simple enough to be achieved by the fine people here?  My dad primarily just runs, He has a bench set in the basement but I have never seen him use it once. His advice for me was that most body workouts can be accomplished with your own weight (mines ~110 lbs), and after each run he does 2 sets each of: 20 pushups, 30 situps, 20 of something where you lay down on your feet and elbows, and the take turns holding your weight on each arm (its a core workout), and 20 lunges. Is this a 'good-enough' plan for a high-academic achieving young student?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I primarily want to exercise over the summer to be ready for getting back into sports next year, as this year I didnt do any due to anxiety, and presently ive caught up with myself after counseling and time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my future goals for myself is to be able to run atleast a half-marathon before I graduate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8715" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:29:55.243" Title="Fitness plan for an achieving high school freshman" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16597" CreationDate="2014-05-22T17:54:50.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be a number of issues at work here, and to really understand what's going on, you'll need to talk to your doctor.  It's not normal to always be fatigued in the way you are describing.  There are a number of things you need to be asking yourself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I sleeping enough?&lt;/strong&gt; Insufficient sleep causes a multitude of problems including fatigue.  NOTE: hours in bed don't necessarily mean all that time is restful sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I eating enough?&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes the diet may be balanced, but not enough to support your size and activity levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I doing too much?&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes your activities are demanding more of you than you can keep up with--demanding more food and sleep to keep up if it's physical activity.  Sometimes you just need to scale the activity back a bit before going back with full intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I dealing with a major life change?&lt;/strong&gt; Major life changes take their toll on you until you readjust.  Moving to a new town, major upheaval of your normal schedule, losing someone important to you.  All of these can push you into depression, which is normal and nothing to be ashamed of.  You should pull out of it eventually.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I sick?&lt;/strong&gt; Some diseases take a lot of energy out of you with only minor symptoms like mono.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I breathing well?&lt;/strong&gt; Allergy season can play havoc with your lungs, and some people do develop asthma later in life.  If you can't get a full breath into your lungs, you may need some help here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are any meds I'm on causing fatigue?&lt;/strong&gt;  It's possible that your Sam-E might be causing the fatigue.  Not being a doctor I can't say for sure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to your question, I have to take your word that your food and sleep are in order, and you are no longer doing any physical activities.  That knocks out the first three major areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go to your doctor, just tell him the symptoms you know, and what you've done about it.  They may pry deeper into what you mean by &quot;balanced diet&quot;, and ask how restful your sleep is, or whether you have headaches when you wake up.  These questions are there to figure out which direction they will have to go with tests to figure out what is going on.  It might be that you have an easily treatable disease, or temporary depression.  It might be that you have a sleep disorder that is robbing you of quality sleep (I've dealt with that).  It might be you've developed asthma (I have family who's dealt with that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T17:54:50.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16612" CreationDate="2014-05-22T18:53:44.840" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jim Wendler, a big strong weight lifter, &lt;a href=&quot;http://asp.elitefts.net/qa/default.asp?qid=24571&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;says this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe [high schoolers] should be at least to do the following before they even lift weights;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;50 push-ups with proper form (no A-Frame or saggy ass)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;10 strict pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;100 sit-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;25 parallel dips&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be able to hold various bridging positions for at least 30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have some kind of running base with emphasis on conditioning and HOW to run properly. I'm sorry but if you are 12 or 13 years old and can't run a 7:00 minute mile than something is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, those are one set of goals to work on. In terms of resources, you could look around for coaches you'd trust with your training, or you could do some reading. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ross Enamait&lt;/a&gt; wouldn't be a bad place to start on the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T18:53:44.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16621" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-23T12:25:09.800" Score="3" ViewCount="660" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;History&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I started a strength program I found I could slowly lose a bit of fat during training. Training partner stopped, so did I and I lost a lot of fat (and bit of muscle). Looked good. Training partner ready to go again a year later so I've started lifting again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current Problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 2 months, I'm just turning into the Barney Rubble type - a tank - strong and solid but the fat's coming on too. There's no way the 12 pounds I've put on in 2 months is all muscle. My training partner is finding the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My uninformed opinion is that my body is demanding a quantity of protein for muscle recovery and because I'm not taking supplements or focusing on high protein foods, it's making me eat more food to get enough protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wish&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train because I enjoy it. I don't wish to start taking supplements, special diets or counting grams of protein. But I don't want to pile the fat on because my appetite's gone up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm the classic endomorph with wide hips, narrow shoulders so focus more on hypertrophy of upper body doing 8-12 reps for smaller muscle groups. I enjoy squats and deadlifts for the full body workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current program&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greyskull LP, 3x5+, Bench (150lbs), shoulder press (125lbs), squat (290lbs), deadlifts (330lbs), V-grip pulldowns, barbell curls and pull throughs. 5-6 trainings per fortnight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking 10-12 miles a day, 5-6 days a week, which when I'm not strength training, tends to keep the weight coming off slowly but surely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 foot tall, 45 years, currently about 235 pounds, ideal weight 210, get anorexic looking under 200.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I start modifying my training or even have spells to allow me to cut some weight off? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Followup to comments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet: very well read on nutrition and base diet pretty good, just not a bodybuilder's diet. I'd only get about 100g protein a day. Carbs are not excessive unless I go all day without eating due to task urgency, and end up binging. I know I shouldn't, stopping it has proved very hard though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training turns me into an eating monster. I suspect hill sprints will also cause me to eat more but I will try those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I've been able to avoid becoming what I call 'Rippetoned' is by not training, where walking all day on the treadmill desk slowly but surely knocks off weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1FWyn.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="3427" LastEditDate="2014-05-25T10:23:18.030" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T20:30:46.237" Title="Weight training without putting on fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16626" CreationDate="2014-05-23T14:21:09.363" Score="2" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often have knee pain. I`ve been to the doctor already and luckily I don´t have any serious disorder. But I do need to strengthen my muscles around the knee to avoid injuries and pain. What are the best exercises to do so? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also, in a related question, what are the exercises that I should avoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8699" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-05-24T07:57:14.203" LastActivityDate="2014-05-24T11:54:14.960" Title="What are good knee strengthening exercises to avoid knee injury?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16621" CreationDate="2014-05-24T00:08:48.700" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Food plus lifting equals get bigger&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like you're saying that when you walk a lot, eat moderately, and do nothing else that you lose a little bit of weight--likely fat, but perhaps also muscle. It also seems like you're saying that when you add heavy lifting and a lot of eating that you gain weight. Nothing about that is surprising:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Lots of low-grade activity) + (Moderate food)= lose fat, probably lose a bit of muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Lots of low-grade activity) + (Strength training) + (LOTS OF FOOD) = gain weight, mostly muscle but also some fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you want to lose weight while getting stronger. So, try the third or fourth option:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Lots of low-grade activity) + (Strength training) + (Moderate food, mostly protein) = retain muscle, lose fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Lots of low-grade activity) + (Strength training) + (Moderate food, mostly protein) + (Short, high-intensity cardio) = retain muscle, lose fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to do cardio, I'd put it at the end of your lifting workouts as a short finisher. Say, fifty burpees, or kettlebell swings and farmer's walks and burpees. Five to ten minutes of intense work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without more detail on your diet, there's not much more to say than generalities: eat right, eat less, strength train and do cardio. It's kind of to be expected that when you strength train and eat a lot that you're going to gain at least a little of both muscle and fat. That's how it works. But if you don't eat a lot, then strength training merely makes you stronger, not bigger. Your scale weight might go up, since muscle is heavier than fat, but you'll be engaging in body recomposition. (You'll look and feel better but weigh as much or more.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-05-25T08:05:49.423" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T08:05:49.423" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16622" CreationDate="2014-05-24T08:03:54.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your knee problems.  If you are able to do squats as Larissa says then great.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know people who would be able to do squats, but would suffer for at least a week after.  I would suggest slow controlled step overs, to start to build the vastus medius muscle, which will help take the pressure off of the knee.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step overs.  Take a bench.  Step up and over touching the free leg to the other side.  Do this slowly, then return, build to 30 repeats  This maybe too easy, so raise the height.  If this is done in a controlled manner it will help strengthen the supporting muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cycling may help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just depends, the extent of the problem.  Find what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-24T08:03:54.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16390" CreationDate="2014-05-24T09:14:59.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with all research, the aim is to isolate variables, which can then be analyzed and compared to other parameters, without the effect of extraneous variables. This study investigated energy contribution from fat while maintaining exercise intensity at a fixed level. So actually, the type of exercise and intensity, are unimportant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this research shows is that maximum speed at which fat can supply the body with energy in times of famine (hypophagia). Every process has its upper speed limit, and that speed limit was the aim of this study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with this study, and with all of science, is that the results need not apply to other situations, with altered variables. If the participants would instead have engaged in intense exercise, or have been sedentary, then the speed limit of fat energy supply could be different. So a discussion of the type of exercise is not needed, but further studies have to be done with altered variables. What is interesting, however, is what you mentioned about body fat percentage. They did not discuss the effect that fat percentage has on the fat energy supply. They only kind of titrated the caloric deficit to test the average speed of fat utilization in a population. To follow up on this, they should do the same thing, but for people of different fat percentages. Two possibilities arise: 1) either the maximum speed of fat breakdown is regulated extrinsically: through enzymes. Then this would be less dependent on body fat percentage. Or 2) it is regulated intrinsically: determined by the volume of fat. Or more specifically, the surface area of fat that is in contact with blood vessels. If this is the case, then body fat percentage would have a direct correlation to the maximal speed limit of energy utilization of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, to answer your question about weight lifting and muscle sparing. You cannot measure the energy contribution by fat directly. You can only measure it indirectly. I'm assuming they quantitatively measured fat metabolites in the blood of the participants, and by that calculated the energy supply. What they say in the study is that if you eat slightly less, then you will have a caloric deficit that will be covered through you fat stores. If you eat much less, then your fat stores can't cover the energy demands, and your body starts breaking down muscle tissue. Im assuming they did not do weight lifting during the study, as that would have added an unneccesary variable (since it would have antagonized the muscle wasting in greater hypophagia); first you have to examine how the body functions in isolation, it is only later that you can alter variables and check how they affect results for for example athletes performing weight lifting, or sedentary people eating junk food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I cleared your confusion at least slightly; I'm sorry if I didn't answer exactly what you were wondering about, but from what I understand, you wanted an explanation of the design and results of the study. If there is something else or if something wasn't adequately explained, then comment and I will try a different approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-24T09:14:59.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16622" CreationDate="2014-05-24T11:54:14.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The knee is very complex and it can be difficult to say what is good/bad for yours specifically. What is good/bad entirely depends on your condition and strength level. To make matters worse, even physios can disagree (depending on where and when they learnt, and how much they keep up with their science). For example, I've been told by some doctors and physios that cycling would be good for my knee (I had chondromalacia patellae) when in fact it has been detrimental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt;: If you can do a full bodyweight squat pain free, then this is what you should do. Evidence shows that people who squat have stronger knees and have less injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot do a full bodyweight squat, work towards that goal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can start with lying (straight) leg raises. There are a bunch of exercises for VMO activation which can be beneficial, eg. squeezing a soft ball between the knees and raise the hips. Also, there are a couple of nuances, pressing the ball of the feet forward and turning the feet a little outside to activate the inside of the thigh.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then, work on the seated leg press in full range of motion, and gradually increase weight and reps. Work on weights that are easy enough so that you can do 3x10 reps without pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can squat deep enough so that your hips are under the top of your knees, then slowly start adding weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stretching, mobility and relaxation: work on hip and ankle mobility and flexibility. The mobility of the surrounding joints is very important for healthy knees. Foam rolling the stiffer leg muscles might be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not stick with preparatory exercises, work up progressively to the full bodyweight squat. But always work pain free. Avoid exercises which do not work the full range of motion. For example, I've been told by some physios to squat but don't bend the knees less than 90 degrees, and don't let the knees over the ankles. Such partial squats, together with cycling, have been major contributors to my knee pain. Since I'm working on full squats, my knee problems have completely went away. My knee feels the best after back squatting with 80kg!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2014-05-24T11:54:14.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16628" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-24T12:54:46.053" Score="4" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started to see the potential that I have in running after I came third in Division cross country with only 1 week of training beforehand and having no previous sport experience. I want to start training and see where that takes me and I know others will too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a good spread out training plan with a span of around 10-30 weeks (with both running [not on all days] and weight training). My personal best for the 1.6km/1mile run is 5:34 and I want to make it to the 3km cross country U15 boys state team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am quite fit and am able to run all days except Tuesday. If any coaches or experienced runners have a good, hard training plan/program that I can use, please feel free to post it down below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8728" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T21:22:10.650" Title="Training Plan for High School 3-5km cross-country Run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16630" CreationDate="2014-05-24T17:25:24.183" Score="7" ViewCount="557" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately, I have started doing push ups at home. I have started this a year ago, paused and resumed it recently. In-order to maintain and keep of track of it, I am using an Android application. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having no knowledge of fitness rules to be followed when doing push ups, often I get confused  regarding the position when doing push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should be the distance between my two palms when put on the floor? How wide should I keep my foot? I believe, I am not following this as I am dong it at home. Also, I am not using any equipment. I am just making use of my flat floor. How can I correct this and do it properly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4797" LastEditorUserId="4797" LastEditDate="2014-05-24T17:40:51.907" LastActivityDate="2014-05-24T18:08:56.877" Title="What are the rules to be followed while doing push ups at home" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16629" CreationDate="2014-05-24T18:08:56.877" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Palms under your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back straight from your head to your heels. Don't sag or A-frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feet together or shoulder width apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Touch the ground on every rep at the bottom. Extend elbows fully at the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pack the shoulders and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKLvNCxNtwU&quot;&gt;crush the armpit trolls&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-24T18:08:56.877" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-24T23:30:14.713" Score="5" ViewCount="1660" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I train in sauna for something like Maraton des Sables, can this have side effects on the long run? What about steam room?&#xA;By training, I mean stretching, push-ups, squats, abs - aprox 10 reps every 30 or 60 seconds.&#xA;Of course the time spent in will depend on everyone's stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5070" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T07:58:05.620" Title="Is it fine to train in the sauna?" Tags="&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16621" CreationDate="2014-05-25T07:31:28.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everybody loves anecdotes so I'll start with one.  I got to pick the brain of this great bodybuilder named Bernie Cooper once on Christmas Eve in a bar in Edinburgh.  The man obviously did have some &quot;assistance&quot;, but he told me the only thing he ever changed when &quot;cutting&quot; was that he added some cardio to his routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the fact is this: &lt;strong&gt;You'll only be able to be so strong (myofibrillar), so sizable (sarcoplasmic), and so lean (body fat).  The only limit is your &lt;em&gt;genes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, because they dictate how your endocrine system responds to the physical stresses you throw at it. The limiting factor in physique (aesthetics, strength, whatever) is how well &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; -- every system in your body -- responds to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;stress&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  The better you respond to stress, the better the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find you are not responding to stress in a way that is satisfactory, there are ways to eliminate stress.  These may aid in giving you the discipline you need to achieve your goal.  People choose various methods (steroids, meditation, alcohol, various cocktails of these things, etc), and the choice impacts the outcome.  Some obviously have different consequences than others.  You may not choose any of these things.  Find what works for you to achieve stress-elimination if this is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to be absolutely scientific about a solution, you'll either need to have a scientist do the work for you, or be your own scientist.  All of these variables (strength, size, body fat, caloric intake, macronutrients, workout duration, even caloric expenditure), are measurable.  You can take all of these things and plot them on a chart on a week-to-week basis and make minor adjustments until you approach perfection.  That's what star athletes do (or someone does for them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to choose a role model who has the strength/size/body fat/whatever you want and do exactly what he does.  It is unlikely that what works for others who are in the top of their sport will get you on the podium next to them, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the answer nobody wants to hear (though we know it to be true) because it means we have to work for it.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:30:46.237" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T20:30:46.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12162" CreationDate="2014-05-25T15:09:29.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, effort is the best &quot;pace&quot; with easy quick cadence upto 12-15 miles, medium effort upto ~22 miles, and then hard effort (with ape-like curled lips).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general it is definitely dependent on your fitness, attitude, and the race atmosphere. This answer is opinion but McMillian does state in YOU (only faster) that their predictions depend on proper fitness. I think this may be true in general for the other methods&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are well trained or a veteran marathoner then all those methods mentioned will work for you. The main difference from my point of view is that you chose one that will impact your training the least, and this I think is one reason for Yasso 800 being so popular (plus it easily to push hard for a shorter amount of time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont like any of these predictors much because I'm not well trained for a marathon distance, and every attempt to meet those times is a nightmare for a marathon compared to a half marathon when I can meet the McMillian calculator prediction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T15:09:29.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-25T16:26:33.230" Score="4" ViewCount="411" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if exercise only leads to more capillary bloodvessels, or if on the long term you can also grow more of the larger bloodvessels (e.g. if smaller bloodvessels grow wider).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8732" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T19:07:31.103" Title="Angiogenesis due to exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16579" CreationDate="2014-05-26T04:50:35.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are overthinking this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that you be reasonably close at the pace at which you run, but a little variation up and down will not have a big impact on the effectiveness of the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as speeding up and slowing down, don't worry too much about that either. I would aim to start up at the same speed that you can easily slow down; that preserves the overall duration of the interval. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for rest, active rest (moving at a reduced pace) is preferable to sitting down. Whether you walk or jog is up to you. The pace should be low enough that you recover to a low heart rate before the next interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of interval training is that by doing short workouts, you can &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;not wikipedia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T04:50:35.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16317" CreationDate="2014-05-26T18:12:32.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After doing this for a while, I learned that it comes down to the calories. Its pretty simple when you think about it. All calories are is energy. If you take in more energy than you body expends, you gain weight. If you take in less energy than your body expends, you lose weight. As long as you are in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. I guarantee it :) Now for the meal plan part, you can eat whatever you want as long as you keep yourself in a caloric deficit. If you want to stick to a vegetarian diet, then take a look at this link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/vegetarian-diet/art-20046446&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/vegetarian-diet/art-20046446&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important part of any diet is the micro nutrients. Being deficient in any important micro nutrients can and will be detrimental to your health! Supplements can be useful, but they will never EVER be a meal replacement. So don't over do it! Try to get your nutrition as much as possible from whole, nutrient dense, foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire idea of a metabolism slow down is rubbish. Check any credible study done on it and you will see for yourself. It is promoted by the supplement industry so that you can buy more products since we all know bodybuilders will buy ANYTHING. There is no magical weight loss food, no herb that can help you sweat it all out or something like that. Any product you see online or on tv that claims you will lose weight is garbage. The trick is simply hard work. Stay active, track your progress and be persistent. The results will follow :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8738" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T18:12:32.887" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16643" CreationDate="2014-05-26T19:05:48.573" Score="7" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand this very well. Some repetitive actions - lifting weights, for example - develop our muscles. And other actions can lead to long-term injuries. My old hockey coach told me how lorry drivers are often at risk of injuring their neck from the way they turn it every time they get out of the lorry. How does this work? Why doesn't the lorry driver repeatedly turning his neck &lt;em&gt;strengthen&lt;/em&gt; his neck instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8739" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T20:58:12.293" Title="Why do some actions benefit us and others injure us in the long term?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16642" CreationDate="2014-05-26T20:49:24.627" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nature of those two movements is different. The lorry driver performs continous, non-changing movements which wear out the cartilage of the joints and the tendons and ligaments. Every movement induces slight inflammation in the structures involved. One difference is that the lorry driver performs the same movement every day, without the possibility of rest. While weight lifting utilizes different movements for different exercises, and they are not as repetitive and long lasting, with long recovery breaks between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for tennis players for example, who are performing high intensity exercise when playing. They strain the ligaments and muscles of their arms the same way in every stroke, and for long periods of time, and this causes &quot;tennis elbow&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This slightly medical explanation, explains why continuous movement induces injuries. However, the strength-part can be explained in physiological terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, for strength to increase you need to strain your muscle intensely (high force), for a short period of time (up to about 30s), while allowing the muscle adequate rest between periods of straining (at least 30s), and long rest between training sessions (about a day). Roughly speaking :) Unless the movement fulfils at least 2-3 of these parameters, then strength will not increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your Q, the lorry driver will not increase strength (maybe a tiny bit though) since he doesnt produce much force in the movement, and he will be more prone to injury due to the repetitive nature of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T20:49:24.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16642" CreationDate="2014-05-26T20:49:57.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of it is person dependent, but it's not the muscles that generally get injured. The things that tend to deteriorate are the joints, cartilage and bursa. These wear down over time, and can lead to injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every sport/activity when practiced for a long time has its own &quot;signature&quot; injuries due to long time, repetitive motion. Golf, for example, has a long history of lower back injuries in later careers, due to the continued rotation under stress. Swimmers have shoulder problems, tennis/pitchers have elbow problems, etc etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certainly acute injuries that occur, but the chronic and overuse/long time injuries are just due to the same wear and tear over and over. You can think of it as a hinge that gets opened and closed many many times, eventually the pieces just wear out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-05-26T20:58:12.293" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T20:58:12.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16654" CreationDate="2014-05-26T21:26:42.013" Score="3" ViewCount="1395" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment, am in decent physical conditions, have done 4 straight months of workouts with dumbbells and body-weight exercises. I'm looking to move to simple barbell workouts to see where it gets me, including squats and bench presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Towards this end, I'm interested to learn whether I could store a squat rack and bench in the space I have available, and what options I would have for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that squat racks exist which may be more easily stored than most, such as:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forcefitnessequipment.com/force-usa-squat-stands.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.forcefitnessequipment.com/force-usa-squat-stands.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that the highest quality equipment would be welded and not adjustable, but has anyone had any experience with this kind of equipment and can offer information regarding how safe and reliable it would be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same would go for benches, though I've only &lt;em&gt;heard&lt;/em&gt; so far of benches which may be folded to be place under a bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If&lt;/em&gt; such equipment does exist, or the closest thing to it, and is reliable to be used for a beginner in weight training, where could quality equipment be bought from to be delivered to Romania?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8705" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T17:03:39.760" Title="How reliable are compact squat racks and foldable benches" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7221" CreationDate="2014-05-27T00:27:18.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct John, one should never stretch out ligaments. Also, taking NSAIDs on a regular basis is not a good idea, NSAIDs (most scientists state) promote a condition called Leaky Gut Syndrome,  given their ability to alter intestinal terrain. &#xA;Now from the brief postings and of course not examining you, I would have to say your problem stems, in part from compound muscle imbalances (meaning not just one muscle group). You should have a qualified specialist perform a full muscle testing examine to find your weaknesses and work with you to correct them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this has helped you in some way.&#xA;Dr.K &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8741" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T00:27:18.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16646" CreationDate="2014-05-27T07:12:56.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary concern to keep in mind with squat stands for squatting and benching is that you have to &lt;em&gt;place&lt;/em&gt; the bar back in them carefully. This is different from squat racks and power racks used for benching, which allow you to slam the bar into a resting place with next to zero control at the end of a set. This would make it hard to go truly heavy, since you can't drop the weights and you need to save a bit of energy for putting the bar away safely. That doesn't rule these out as a solution, because it could still be a big improvement over your current situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T07:12:56.297" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16631" CreationDate="2014-05-27T07:38:25.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from the strange looks you would get from other users(unless sauna is private). I can't imagine this would be overly useful. I suspect you would need to come out of the sauna long before it would be really useful for heart and lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have trained for hot overseas marathons in the past.  Admittedly through a Uk summer.  I trained by wearing thermal top and legging. Ie overdressing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My race was in Greece and it worked for me.  Although I guess Marathon de Sables would be hotter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T07:38:25.923" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2014-05-27T12:54:40.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Smith Machine is a controversial device. It offers several advantages, as well as the more well-known disadvantages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advantages&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Self-spotting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance &amp;amp; stability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides a transition to free weights for some&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Confidence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constant tension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle isolation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Limited) range of motion (good for some specific situations)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disadvantages &amp;amp; Limitations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fixed plane of motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of stabilization muscle activation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does not improve coordination and balance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimal transfer of skills&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Smith Machine should only be used as an adjunct to free weight training, behind barbells, dumbbells and cables. Common arguments concerning issues with squatting or pressing in the Smith Machine can often be nullified by slight derivations in setup or performance--if no other free weight or cable alternatives are available. It's also a very useful device for rehab, in certain situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, keep an open mind to the possibilities of all training devices, systems, and methodologies. The astute and successful weight trainer knows when to use each as part of a holistic system over a lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Craig&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0984741429&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Complete Smith Machine: Exercises and Workouts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8746" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T12:54:40.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16636" CreationDate="2014-05-27T15:19:04.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's mostly an increase in the capillary system, as the primary function of angiogenesis is to increase the capability to deliver nutrients and oxygen to the working muscle. You don't need larger blood vessels for that, you need more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are changes to the larger blood vessels (called arteriogenesis) where the larger blood vessels will increase in diameter, and thus allow them to carry more blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Both angio and arteriogenesis may or may not happen, it's not a guarantee that if you exercise both will occur. You may get some of one, the other or both, depending on how your body reacts to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-05-27T18:18:46.087" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T18:18:46.087" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16631" CreationDate="2014-05-27T15:58:39.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey Adrian, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't know about Maraton des Sables, so I had to google it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marathondessables.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the information gathered, I don't think that any of those exercises will help your preparation for that competition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal of the competition is to be able &lt;em&gt;to withstand the heat with as less water as possible&lt;/em&gt;. Sauna is basically steam; so, while it might dehydrate you, it doesn't give your body the same experience as what'll be experienced in the actual competition. If you have a way to simulate the dry heat, that would have been your best option; if not, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;sauna seems like the next best thing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the bodyweight exercises, I don't think those are necessary as they wouldn't help your body conserve its usage of water, a highly needed requirement in the contest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercise to perform in it? None, except being able to withstand the heat as long as possible with limited water consumption. You probably need to consume less water daily as the contest approaches too, so that your body begins to adjust to the new water requirement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck on that and do let us know how it works out :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T15:58:39.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16646" CreationDate="2014-05-27T16:59:03.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Dirk,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That rack you mentioned in your question is great, especially for people who have limited space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use it for both squat and bench presses. It also comes with a safety hook towards the bottom portion that keeps you safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's mainly useful for low weights. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The recommended load weight for these equipment is between 200 and 250 pounds.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; So, once you start lifting more than those, it won't really be beneficial for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the bench press, here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002QJZAE4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recommended equipment&lt;/a&gt; also. It doesn't take much space and can even be stored vertically against the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought my equipment on Amazon and I believe they can be shipped to Romania; however, you might need to confirm that before making your purchases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T16:59:03.880" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2014-05-27T17:26:28.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it all depends on what you are trying to emphasize during your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a Bicep Workout can be completed in fine fashion using dumbbells. &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestbarbells.com/dumbbell-curls-bicep-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Single/Double Dumbbell Curls&lt;/a&gt; as well as variations of this base workout are great (for example, changing up the grip or adding something like Fat Gripz so as to thicken the bar and emphasize forearms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the calves (for example) can be worked very easily and effectively using the Smith Machine. Simply place a platform under the barbell and lift up using your heels for a great isolationist workout. I would post a link, but I can't post more than 2 in my answer. You can find the article on the site I linked to previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you are concerned about doing a barbell deadlift using the Smith Machine, then check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestbarbells.com/smith-machine-deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; explaining how it is done using the machine and decide if that looks like something you can do, because it is a great workout when proper form is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that I have addressed some of your concerns and I wish you the best with your personal fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8706" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:26:28.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16612" CreationDate="2014-05-27T17:29:55.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest it really depends on your goals. Do you want to look a certain way, lift a certain weight, or run a certain distance? You mention that you want to increase your upper body strength in the summer, but also want to run a half marathon before you graduate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets start with the running part first! I'm not a runner (in fact I've hated it for as long as i cant remember), but I used to be extremely involved in soccer.. And in soccer, you need to run. A lot. So getting to the point, training for running is just like training for anything else. Try setting small goals for yourself such as running an extra 1-2 kilometers on a day by the end of the week, then increase for next week. You'll find some days are better than others, whether it be emotions getting in your way or a lack of energy, but just keep the goal in mind and stay disciplined. A half marathon is a extremely good goal for somebody in your age group and is certainly achievable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on the the upper-body strength. You're going to hear a lot of myths saying it will stunt your growth blah blah. Don't listen to any of them. Strengthening your body will not negatively impact your physical ability. Height is purely genetics. When/if you go to a gym, I highly recommend that you do NOT do the typical curls/bodybuilder type exercises. The most important thing at your age is for you to develop your structural integrity. To be strong AND functional at the same time. I agree with Dave Liepmann's post (above) as a bench mark to start lifting in the weight room. Those numbers should be your first goal. Once you reach that, I suggest you look into a program called &quot;Stronglifts 5x5&quot;. Its a program I used when I started lifting and it gave me an incredible strength base. As you get more experienced you'll figure out what works for you, after all, you're just beginning :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8738" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:29:55.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16563" CreationDate="2014-05-27T17:46:47.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems as though you're looking for the entire package! To do this you're going to have to take things phase by phase and just repeat it over time. Take a look at a program by a guy named Elliot Hulse. It's called &quot;Lean Hybrid Muscle&quot;. It mixes strength training, hypertrophy training and athletic training all into one. It works in 2 phases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phase 1:&#xA;Power building &amp;amp;&#xA;Athletic Training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phase 2:&#xA;Strength Training &amp;amp;&#xA;Athletic Training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now each phase is 3 weeks (intense training) + 1 deload week (3 days of High intensity Interval Training but no weights). The program is 5 days a week, so on your off days you can participate in your outdoor sportive activities (a game of ball, or a simple hike in the woods), and on the deload week you can focus on your coordination and flexibility. repeat Phase 1 about three times (takes 3 months), then do the same for phase 2 (also 3 months)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have done this program myself and have gotten great results in my athletic performance and physical appearance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A functional body will always look good, but a good looking body may not be functional&quot; - No Idea...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8738" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:46:47.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16542" CreationDate="2014-05-27T22:33:16.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about pacing yourself. To improve your stamina, start your run at a pace that feels extremely easy to maintain. As the minutes pass, your perceived effort will go up. Gradually increase your run time, while gradually decreasing the time of your walk breaks. Once you hit 30 minutes of continuous running, you can start some short interval work. Run shorter segments at faster, uncomfortable pace. Take walking breaks in between each interval. These faster segments will improve your overall cardiovascular fitness and make your normal pace feel easier, thereby increasing both your endurance and speed.  Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8749" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T22:33:16.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-27T22:40:34.900" Score="2" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be a competitive runner -- my best 5k is 17:10.  For years, I was able to train hard, push myself, and rarely felt like running was ever &quot;too hard&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In recent years, running has become more and more difficult, but mostly mentally. I get discouraged by even the most mild discomfort, and take walk breaks often. I still run a decent pace -- and can sometimes run with ease. But I just don't seem able to push past the discomfort like I used to be able to.  Then, I get discouraged and the cycle continues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some tricks I can try to get past these barriers? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8749" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T19:56:03.867" Title="How does one get past mental running barriers?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-28T08:28:06.223" Score="2" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;EDIT: I have edited it to add in based on the helpful advice given in the answer by user &lt;strong&gt;meanderingmoose&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing weightlifting for a while now, staying mainly to well know routines(stronglifts-&gt;madcows, greyskull LP, 5/3/1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic information(Possibly relevant):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height 6ft&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight 77kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench 1RM 105kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift 1RM 150kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat 150kg(330lb)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell rows 1RM 80kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OHP 1RM 70kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not making progress on any normal routines anymore, even though I am eating 500 calories excess a day now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine I wanted to try I made up on the spot by taking all main lifts, and putting them in an order that stops them from impacting one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Not including warm up single set)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1: Clean and press 5x5 Deadlift 1x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day off&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3: Barbell rows 5x5,Bench 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4: Overhead 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 5: Squats 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 6: Bench 5x5, Barbell rows 5x5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day off&#xA;Repeat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So they are all done with no gap except for the repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So would this work?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8753" LastEditorUserId="8753" LastEditDate="2014-08-04T23:10:23.910" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T23:10:23.910" Title="Would this routine work?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-28T12:27:44.507" Score="1" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started going to a gym a week ago because I want to build lean muscle and stay healthy, I'm 5'6&quot; and 75kg. The coach gave me a beginner's plan, but I'm skeptical about it. I'm not sure if I'm on the right path. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a vegetarian, well, a type of vegetarian that can consume dairy products except egg, I don't know the specific name you call such a person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current diet is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 meals of brown rice (2 1/2 cups of rice per meal) with dhal, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, and various beans. I usually serve myself three types of vegetables per meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 min interval running on treadmill (2 min run, 1 min walk).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 min on elliptical trainer (L2).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press (54kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Curls (30kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extensions (30kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumb Bell Pull Overs (10kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press (10kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side Raises (4kg x2, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder Pull Down (20kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preacher Curls (20kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps machine push down (20kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forearms (20kg, 15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf raises (15 reps, 3 sets).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it. Please tell me if anything is wrong with this. Btw, I just got started, it's still a week since I started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8756" LastEditorUserId="8322" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T16:11:13.613" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T16:11:13.613" Title="Is this routine and diet good and should I continue doing it?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16662" CreationDate="2014-05-28T13:04:53.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;First off, strength training should be done before cardio, as you don't want to be fatigued when lifting weights. With increasing fatigue, your technique begins to suffer and you're more likely to get injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also why you should do compound exercises before isolation exercises, as compounds use multiple muscle groups and are therefore more difficult to perform right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think you have too much isolation exercises in your program, which leads to a much too high volume. When training each muscle seperately you won't have the energy to give it your all across 52 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, a good beginner's full body workout should be done on 3 non-consecutive days per week and might look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm Up (this can be &lt;em&gt;light&lt;/em&gt; cardio for 15min max)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats/Front Squats, 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press/Overhead Press, 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift/Power Clean, 1x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups, 3x12 (optional)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Rows, 3x12 (optional)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio (running, elliptical etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The warm up is more or less optional, as you'll be doing warm up sets before each compound exercise. It's good to get the core temperature up, though, and just warm up the body as a whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the first portion of the actual program are compound movements, which you can alternate between from workout to workout. These are the most important exercises, as they train almost your whole body and will lead to more strength (and thus muscle) most efficiently. Since you're concentrating on technique and gaining strength, 3x5 reps would be optimal, hopefully allowing you to raise weight by 2,5kg (5lbs) per workout for some weeks.&lt;br&gt;I've found that alternating reduces the repetitive strain on certain muscles/joints and also shifts the work to muscles that would otherwise be underused. (Also note this is almost the basic &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; program, which I can only recommend to beginners)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second portion are auxilliary exercises. These are used to train weak spots that the compounds didn't cover. Once you progress and notice weak spots, you can customize these to react to shortcomings (Flyes for chest, Calf Raises for calves etc.). They are done to add volume to your workout, so 3x12 reps should be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio is last, as it's not really that important if you're already exhausted when running. I assume you're doing this to burn additional calories and increase your cardiovascular performance. Thus, as long as you're not doing a running-technique session, being tired is okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I can't say much about nutrition, but if you want to build muscle (lean or not) you need to have a caloric surplus (eat more than you use). While beginners are to a certain degree able to lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously, that process won't last forever and it's inefficient. With a &lt;em&gt;slight&lt;/em&gt; caloric surplus (~500kcal) you should be able to build muscle and gain strength fast, while keeping fat gains pretty low. Just try not to gain more than 0,5kg (1lb) per week and you should be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T13:23:54.627" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T13:23:54.627" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16669" CreationDate="2014-05-28T15:42:24.810" Score="7" ViewCount="8817" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing progression to reach the handstand push up. One of the progressions is the pike push up. I've read on a website that those exercises only works the anterior and lateral delts.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is that true ? and if so, what bodyweight exercise should I do to target the posterior deltoid  ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T14:21:15.937" Title="Do handstand push ups and pike push ups work the posterior deltoid" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16662" CreationDate="2014-05-28T15:43:20.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a couple of pointers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When first getting started, it's best to have a simple full body program to build strength so you can have enough stimulus to build muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are several good beginner programs, but a smart rep progression can make them better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greg Nuckols had a good article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/04/21/making-your-novice-strength-training-routine-more-effective-two-quick-tips/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;making your novice training program more effective&lt;/a&gt;.  There were two major tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Periodize.&lt;/strong&gt;  All that means is having defined times in your training where you emphasize a specific goal.  An example would be, I'm going to improve my strength for 3 months, then I'm going to emphasize hypertrophy for 3 months, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When you plateau, add volume.&lt;/strong&gt;  He has a link in the article to scientific studies that explain why.  The long and short of it, volume helps you get bigger and stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the article he has a simple set/rep progression for your first periodization.  The idea is that you take a basic program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthvillain.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&amp;amp;t=89&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Greyskull&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, or even the outline that @LarrissaGodzilla gave you.  Basically, you change the sets/reps when you stall (can't finish the prescribed work).  Then you change the sets reps to Greg's progression to help lay a good foundation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when you can't get that 5x3, you'll drop the weight to where you changed from 3x8 to 5x5 and add volume:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By this time you should be very strong for your frame, and you can branch out and focus on whatever it is that you want to focus on next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general you want to figure out what your maintenance calories are (the amount of food you need to eat to maintain your weight).  There's several calculators that will help you get in the ballpark, so you don't have to worry too much about it.  Don't forget to adjust for your activity.  If you are training 3 days a week, use &quot;Lightly Active&quot;.  If you are training more than that (i.e. with cardio session on off days), use &quot;Moderately Active&quot; as a starting point.  If you want to gain muscle, adjust it so that you are gaining an average of 0.75 lb (.35 kg) per week.  Muscle isn't going to grow faster than that naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: 1.8 g/kg (0.8 g/lb).  This gives you the raw materials to repair and build new muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: at least .35 g/kg (.75 g/lb).  That's the bare minimum to keep your body functioning properly.  More is good, but a target around 20-30% of everything you eat will help keep it from being the bulk of everything you eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates: all the rest of your calories come from this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a vegetarian, this might work well considering that plant based diets are typically high in complex carbohydrates.  The hard part is to get all your protein in without blowing your calorie limit, so you might have to supplement with a whey protein (milk based).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of relatively high protein foods that are friendly to vegetarians such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qinoa&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oatmeal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cottage Cheese/Yogurt/Keifer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pumpkin seeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Black beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peanut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the list goes on.  Some of those foods have a decent amount of fat in them, like most of your nut butters.  If you figure out a menu that fits your target macros once you can keep eating the same things.  If you need some variety, you can use tools like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatthismuch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eat This Much&lt;/a&gt; which has meal plan options for vegetarians and vegans.  You can also remove ingredients from the list for foods you know you don't like.  There are some other meal planners, but that one is designed by bodybuilders so it typically works better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T15:43:20.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16660" CreationDate="2014-05-28T16:32:38.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the &quot;correct&quot; answer backed by research, but I'll share three of my tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use other people as motivators. This can include actually running with another individual or a group, preferably running the pace you are striving for. If you cannot find a partner or group, you can find a populated path with other runners, skaters, and cyclists and chase them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Run a common route where you can begin to use landmarks as checkpoints, and instead of mentally wrapping your run around the entire distance, focus on each individual checkpoint and treat each checkpoint as a new run. I also like to mix this with a favorite album or playlist and use an individual song as my &quot;mini&quot; race. I start associating landmarks and songs together, and I get a good benchmark on my pace depending when I pass the landmark during a given song or playlist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find objects on your running route that repeat, such as a fence or broken center lines on a paved tracked or less traveled road, and use them to get into and maintain a running speed and gate. Focus on maintaining the same number of steps for a given interval of objects you pass.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T16:32:38.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16666" CreationDate="2014-05-28T16:34:59.377" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct, in that the pike and handstand pushups will not involve the rear deltoids to the extent that the front and medial heads are utilized. If you do get overdeveloped, the anterior deltoids will tend to overpower the rear, pulling the shoulder forward and giving you a hunched type look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For body weight exercises, there are very limited options. The best one is some sort of a supine row, where you pull your body up towards something (Think of a pushup position on your back, pulling your upper body towards the bar). Even this requires some sort of a bar and place to prop your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things you can do at home are bent over lateral raises. Since they are not large, powerful muscles it doesn't take a lot of weight to stress them. You can save a couple of gallon milk jugs and fill them with water, that gets you to ~ 8-9 lbs (A gallon of water is 8.8 lbs). After that you can start filling them with sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic function of the rear delt is transverse extension. If you raise your hands straight out in front of you at shoulder height, and then swing them out wide (like a big T) that is transverse extension. Any motion like that with stress/weight will work the rear deltoids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a set of gymnastic rings you can get some fantastic bodyweight work throughout the shoulder area, but again, that requires some external equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T19:52:15.893" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T19:52:15.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7806" CreationDate="2014-05-28T19:39:13.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say that you see it when sitting on a chair. Most probably, what you are seeing is skin. And maybe several layers of subcutaneous fat. That is normal, even for skinny people. Everyone has excess skin on the stomach. That allows the body freedom of movement so you can extend your spine. If you were to have less, your skin would stretch and not allow you to extend backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those recordings that you do on yourself are not entirely reliable, especially if you perform only one measurement. However, assuming you do have 8% BF, then what you are seeing when flexed at the hip is actually mostly skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T19:39:13.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16671" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-28T23:50:14.997" Score="1" ViewCount="4665" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today was my fourth or fifth time using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/thigh-abductor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thigh abductors&lt;/a&gt; at the gym, and since I began, my inner thighs tremble. I found a similar question &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/thigh-abductor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, which has a good explanation of the different muscles used for stabilizing free weights, however it's not quite what I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tremble is apparently a normal thing, but when I use the machine, I don't need to do all the balancing and stabilizing I would without a machine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why does the tremble still happen? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any way to correct this&#xA;or does my body just need to become accustomed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't noticed any tremble like this on any other weight types I try for the first time, so why is just my thighs? Also, leg adductors cause no tremble in my legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8760" LastEditorUserId="8760" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T23:57:56.390" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T03:03:56.393" Title="Leg Abductor Tremble" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16680" CreationDate="2014-05-28T23:59:54.697" Score="0" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before yesterday and yesterday. I sat for long hours and now my back hurts me. However, I have a running schedule I must follow. Can I run ? or running would makes it worse ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7172" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T21:28:49.263" Title="I have a back pain from sitting. Can I still run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-05-30T02:27:24.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16672" CreationDate="2014-05-29T12:04:48.327" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal experience is that running actually helps a lot to reduce back pain. I've experienced this on multiple occasions, so it's probably not some fluke effect. I suspect that what is going on here is that when you are running, your brain has a large degree of freedom in how it controls the muscles in your back (for balance etc.). While your focus is on where you are heading what pace want to run, the brain is going to implement that by controlling a large number of muscles that you are not consciously aware of. The brain can then take into account the new pain signals from your back and find a workaround way to control the motion of your back. But you may not even consciously feel much back pain when running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are done running, you will notice that your back hurts a lot less, simply because whenever you move, your back muscles are controlled differently now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T12:04:48.327" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="715" CreationDate="2014-05-29T12:25:14.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For any given fitness level, you can burn more energy the better you can dump the waste heat into the environment. The amount of energy you can burn on the long run is going to by determined by the heat transfer coefficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your maximum body temperature, the temperature of the environment, the thermal properties of your clothes, and your body area define a maximum sustainable rate at which you can dump heat into the environment (taking also in to account how much sweat can still evaporate from your clothes). The more clothes you are going to wear, the less heat per unit time you'll be able to dump into the environment. The amount of work you can perform will then also drop, so the total amount of energy you can burn per unit time will go down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T12:25:14.610" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16660" CreationDate="2014-05-29T14:27:58.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened to me and could be the symptom of a physiological change related to poor diet which is manifesting itself as a lack of mental fortitude. I don't adhere to the pseudoscience of &quot;finding&quot; a motivation, because in reality your motivations today will quickly fade. For me personally, when I was heavily training for endurance this happened  within a 6 month period. I completely lost mental fortitude and slight pain would cause me to stop or slowdown completely. It almost seemed like a physical depression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I massively increased my post-workout carbohydrate intake, which consisted of around 4-5 large peaches and other fruits. This is essentially when I learned the importance of post-workout nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion it comes down to the neurotransmitters in your brain and the physical resources your body has, not a lack of motivation or fortitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps increase your carbohydrate intake pre and post-workout, or increase supplementation with vitamins and minerals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T14:27:58.633" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16666" CreationDate="2014-05-29T14:42:31.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;JohnP is correct that the posterior deltoid is not really used in those exercises. I would add that most upper body exercises (bodyweight or not) tend to overuse shoulder internal rotators vs external rotators. This is a big factor in people ending up with the hunched-shoulder look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big movers of the gleno-humeral joint all act to internally rotate your shoulder (i.e. pec major, latissimus dorsi, teres major). When you do push-ups, hand-stands, and even pull-ups, you tend toward internal rotation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are only a few smaller muscles to aid in external rotation (teres minor, infraspinatus) and I would definitely suggest an exercise targeting those muscles for postural balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like a mix of this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7EAWF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vmrP1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-05-29T15:31:02.473" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T15:31:02.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="715" CreationDate="2014-05-29T15:13:17.333" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently there is not a lot of research in human studies on the effects of high ambient temperature and increased energy expenditure. As is pointed out in another answer, the artificial inhibition of the cooling mechanisms of the body by wearing either many layers or heat trapping clothing will negatively impact the length and quality of exercise sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a study (With the caveat that it was funded by an energy drink company) that shows an unnamed commercially available thermogenic drink (Monster/Rockstar type) does have an effect on lipolysis, attributable to the already known effects of caffeine and EGCG (The active ingredient in green tea). That study can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jissn.com/content/5/1/6&quot;&gt;found here&lt;/a&gt;. (Also of interest, near the end of the first paragraph in the discussion is a suggestion that EGCG also alters food digestability).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two studies that I found suggesting that high ambient temperatures actually slow down, rather than speed up metabolisms and subsequent energy expenditure. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1199264/&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; using Zucker rats (Lab rats specially bred for obesity research) shows in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1199264/?page=7&quot;&gt;this graph&lt;/a&gt; that metabolism and energy expenditure markedly drop with increases in ambient temperature, for both obese and non obese rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072646&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; on male weasels shows a similar curve. There is an associated decrease with both low and high ambient temperatures, with a peak in the &quot;nominal&quot; range, falling off even below the lower temperature curve as the temperature increases. There is also a suggestion &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01689.x/abstract;jsessionid=D51089BDAB22E9942A8FB3B28A027506.f03t02&quot;&gt;found here&lt;/a&gt; that in endothermic animals, being unable to dissipate body heat is a limiting factor as well, which is a new theory called Head Dissipation Limit. This theory suggests that energy expenditure is limited by the ability of the subject to dissipate heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The HDL hypothesis has somewhat been validated, as there have been studies on the effects of cold on energy expenditure, and as &lt;a href=&quot;http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/9895020&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; shows, cold environments tend to increase lipolysis in humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common misconception that wearing lots of clothing increases weight loss is a correlation error, in that people wear a ton of clothes, sweat a lot, and mistakenly think that the water weight they have lost is equivalent to fat weight lost. This is reinforced by the common practice of boxers, wrestlers and other athletes that need to make weight being shown exercising in many layers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there has not been a definitive study on high heat environments and the effects on lipolysis in humans, there is quite a bit of evidence that metabolism and energy expenditure both decrease in response to high heat environments, which is the opposite of what you want when trying to reduce fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-05-29T17:21:18.097" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T17:21:18.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16660" CreationDate="2014-05-29T19:03:02.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be due to your vitamin D levels not being high enough. As pointed out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.omega3galil.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Athletic-Performance-and-Vitamin-D.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt; and numerous other articles, there is probably a link between having high vitamin D levels (calcidiol levels above 100 nmol/l) and athletic performance. My personal experience is that I have made great progress in improving my fitness levels after taking 10,000 IU/day of vitamin D. My calcidiol levels have been consistently above 200 nmol/l in the last few years and I've gone from struggeling to maintain a routine of running 20 minutes, 3 times per week to running 50 minutes, 5 times per week. My resting heart rate has gone down from about 46 bpm to 37 bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T19:03:02.620" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16672" CreationDate="2014-05-29T20:08:59.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, back pain that occurs due to sitting is linked to either tight hip flexors, tight thoracic spine or both. The best way to remedy these is by going through some mobility drill during your warm. An example would be doing some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYYiIBF1oGE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thoracic rotations&lt;/a&gt; for your tight upper back, and some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQmpO9VT2X4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hip flexor stretches&lt;/a&gt; for your tight hips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also adivse you to do some core activation exercises during your warm up. This can be achieveed by doing a 30 second plank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this is that when your hips get tight, your core becomes more mobile than it should in order to pick up the slack of the tight hips, so be simply doing the hip stretch you still wont tighten the core, and this can lead to tight hips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, yes you can and should run, but not without going through a good warm up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more in depth explanation on this approach known as the joint by joint approach, click on this &lt;a href=&quot;http://graycookmovement.com/?p=118&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T20:08:59.190" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16672" CreationDate="2014-05-29T21:28:49.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start with stretching as @usedtobefat suggested, then I'd try swimming.  This should help loosen everything up, then hopefully you should be good to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try swimming over running as its non weight bearing, and there is no jaring,  so hopefully will be kinder so a sore back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get caught up in, &quot;it's on the schedule I have to do it&quot;.  Listen to your body, and hopefully you'll be back to running in no time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T21:28:49.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-30T02:19:13.560" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use one type of lateral trainer for thighs for cardio. The gym I go to have two such machines. After each minute or so, one of the machines shows me: 'you've to maintain 280 spm speed' (what's spm in the context of speed, by the way?) and shows a certain amount (say x) of calories being burnt per minute. However, I almost never (unless I push myself extremely hard), can attain 280 spm speed, I stick around 140 spm speed normally, which is just half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my question: since I'm sticking to a speed which is merely half of 280 spm, the recommended speed, does it mean I'm actually burning half of the calories shown? That is, is it really x/2 calories I'm burning per minute when the machine shows I'm burning x calories per minute?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what is spm in the context of speed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8098" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T11:51:14.917" Title="Machine's direction 'maintain certain speed' and calories shown on the machine" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16685" CreationDate="2014-05-30T06:38:53.070" Score="6" ViewCount="1514" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally I run 1 hour every day without taking breaks. After reading posts about overtraining, I am worried that I am doing that. How long can we run without over training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4872" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-18T14:15:24.753" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T16:38:43.470" Title="I run one hour without a break everyday. Am I over training?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16684" CreationDate="2014-05-30T08:07:50.163" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one can say how much you can train before you become overtrained. Firstly, there are too many factors involved, such as nutrition, weather conditions, your cardiovascular fitness, your fat percentage, your strength and explosiveness, the presence of any diseases (in particular autoimmune or inflammatory). Even if science knew how all those factors affected training capacity, and how much, there is still the individual factor. Your personal biochemical profile; level of cortisol and how quickly it rises, testosterone and growth hormone, enzymes and proteins at the cellular level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the big problem with the overtraining syndrome; no one can really know beforehand how much he/she can train. It is only when you start experiencing symptoms of overtraining that you can begin to titer your training down to maximal, but safe, levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One simple thing thing that you can do is to measure your morning heart rate. It's simple, and everyone has the equipment for it. Keep track of your morning pulse every day, and if it starts going up about 10 beats on average for 3-4 days, then it's time to rest or decrease training intensity (I speak from my own experience. For you the numbers may be different, however the principle is the same). I had overtraining syndrome a couple of years ago, and of all the symptoms, the most objective one, that I could gauge, was my morning heart rate which was around 80 instead of the previous 40-45. Since then I have kept track of my HR every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum up: you can't know how much you can train before becoming overtrained. What you can do however is to keep track of your fitness and recovery levels. This is most easily and objectively done by measuring changes in the morning heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2015-02-19T16:38:43.470" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T16:38:43.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16686" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16690" CreationDate="2014-05-30T11:06:13.427" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware of that per kg protein intake and all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AFA my routine is concerned, I workout in the evening (around 8 - 9.30 p.m).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before workout, I take 1 scoop of protein (25gm protein) and after workout 1 scoop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with a scoop of protein after workout, I also take 2 boiled eggs (10gm protein) and a glass of milk (mixed with protein, around 8gm protein) + whatever I get from my dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this all counts around 70gm of protein in a time span of around 1.5 - 2 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that its of no use to take more amount of protein at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorUserId="8020" LastEditDate="2014-05-30T12:06:58.007" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T21:25:20.540" Title="High protein intake at a time" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16682" CreationDate="2014-05-30T11:51:14.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;SPM stands for &quot;Strides per minute&quot;. And, within &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2762/8039&quot;&gt;the limits of the exercise machine's approximation abilities&lt;/a&gt;, it adjusts for what your actual effort is. If it has a pulse-rate monitor, that's actually going to be more useful to you to judge burning of calories, whether you're in that &quot;target zone&quot; for your age and weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T11:51:14.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13084" CreationDate="2014-05-30T16:15:43.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have the same problem, and everywhere I looked people and science suggested one crucial exercise; short foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article about it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.evidencebasedfitnessacademy.com/2012/10/03/evidence-based-exercise--short-foot.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.evidencebasedfitnessacademy.com/2012/10/03/evidence-based-exercise--short-foot.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another exercise usually prescribed is the toe curl, however, research has shown that the short foot exercise is more efficient at increasing the strength of the muscles supporting the arch. Here is a video showing both exercises: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1su-x0E6U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1su-x0E6U&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main things you need to do are to increase intrinsic foot strength (by performing the short foot exercise) and to relax the muscles that are chronically strained as a compensatory mechanism for the dropped arch (foam rolling, or rolling a tennis ball under the foot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem with fallen arches is that the feet start pronating, and this causes the knees to go inwards when, for example, squatting. The risks here are a nonfavorable position of the joints in knees and hips, with an increased risk of injury. Unless you can maintain posture, so that your knees go parallel to your feet when squatting, I recommend you either lower the weight or skip squats until you starts seeing progress in foot strength. The same goes for deadlifts etc. and especially plyometrics such as drop jumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T16:15:43.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13084" CreationDate="2014-05-30T20:43:28.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really recommend watching the videos of &quot;the gait guys&quot;, starting with this one: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyRE9dReVTE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyRE9dReVTE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above video includes an explanation of the anatomy of the foot, which muscles are involved in &quot;holding the arch&quot;, and includes an exercise for strengthening these muscles, and learning to isolate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastEditorUserId="4106" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T01:07:50.180" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T01:07:50.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16686" CreationDate="2014-05-30T21:25:20.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea that there is a certain amount of protein a person can absorb with in a set period of time is false according to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/protein-will-not-make-you-fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, the author points out that if it is true that we can only absorb 30g of protein in one sitting, as is widely accepted to be true by many, we would all be excreting the excess amount of food undigested. Since that is not the case, it is pretty clear that your body can absorb all the protein you eat in one siting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T21:25:20.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-31T18:29:05.127" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that my results are poorer when I'm stressed. I have S.A.D. and this very much impedes performance for a variety of reasons, among other reasons. I wanted to ask and see how stress, hormones, and other related issues affect results and performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I've heard studies show that stress lowers testosterone, anxiety lowers efficiency, and depression often lingers in, a solid workout may not show well in those who have a lot of stress/anxiety on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To what extent does stress/anxiety impede results, and should I be blaming that on my poor progression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8776" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T18:56:41.293" Title="How does stress affect results?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16694" CreationDate="2014-06-02T18:11:37.790" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three main divisions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_nervous_system&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sympathetic&lt;/a&gt; - governs your stressed state which includes fight/flight/freeze reactions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasympathetic_nervous_system&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parasympathetic&lt;/a&gt; - governs your &quot;at rest&quot; or restorative operations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_nervous_system&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Enteric&lt;/a&gt;: governs your gastrointestinal system--not really relevant to the discussion but included for completeness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your sympathetic nervous system is dominant, your body automatically makes the following adjustments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dilates the pupil (and inhibits sleep)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increases heart rate and force of contraction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dilates blood vessels in the heart and brain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constricts blood vessels in skeletal muscle and gastrointestinal organs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activates sweat secretion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inhibits the normal processing of food in the digestive tract&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that blood, which carries oxygen and nutrients is constricted to skeletal muscle while you are in a stressed condition explains a great deal about why your performance is impeded.  The body is designed to handle short durations of your sympathetic nervous system being dominant, which would coincide with training stress or the stress of a physical job.  In fact, if you had no stress you could never get stronger due to the body never receiving any demands that it needs to be stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant, the following changes occur:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relaxes the pupil and allows for normal sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relaxes the blood flow to the heart and brain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increases the blood flow to skeletal muscle and the digestive system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowers the heart rate and production force&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stops sweat secretion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Re-establishes normal digestive processes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all the restorative functions that are necessary to allow your body to repair itself in a stronger state, clear out built up waste products, etc.  Your body is designed to have a bit more time in the parasympathetic state particularly during sleep.  Sleep is probably one of the most restorative things your body can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does all this mean?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, when you are in a stressed state, your sympathetic nervous system is in control.  Practically this means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More food goes to fat because it's easier to process&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscles are are unable to repair themselves, or perform to their full potential&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can't sleep well, which has a host of other health related problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left unchecked, it can escalate to nervousness, paranoia, depression, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are in a relaxed state, the parasympathetic nervous system is in control.  Practically this means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More fat is burned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle is rebuilt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can sleep well, which prevents and corrects a number of health problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important take away is to learn how to get your body to go into the parasympathetic mode as much as possible.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;S.A.D.&lt;/a&gt; (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is something that has to be managed.  You may also adjust your expectations for when S.A.D. is in effect and only push yourself when it is done for the year.  If it can be managed with light therapy, timed doses of melatonin, etc. then by all means do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a generally stressful job, try to find ways to manage the stress naturally if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T18:11:37.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-02T19:50:29.727" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there some combination of exercises that &quot;automatically&quot; will improve on front/back imbalances in the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How important is form for improvement of front/back imbalances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T09:59:38.487" Title="Front/Back imbalances" Tags="&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16700" CreationDate="2014-06-02T21:50:49.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No exercises will automatically improve imbalances. It is important to work on the specific imbalance one might have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if someone is kyphotic they should certainly put more of an emphasis on rowing type movements to improve the strength of the back muscles. Doing the same amount of pushing and pulling work will not yield any change in the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Form also plays a huge role in the fixing of muscle imbalances. Two examples where this point can really be seen would be the row and squat. If a person performs a row while in flexion, they will not be helping their body get back to extension as it should be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the squat, not hitting parallel would not help the imbalance between the quads and hamstrings. Since only when the lifter is squatting down to parallel do the hamstrings really come in to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T21:50:49.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-03T09:20:19.410" Score="0" ViewCount="2236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be acceptable and/or effective to do Wendler 5/3/1 daily rather than Mon-Wed-Thur-Fri?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't necessarily mean more effective, I merely want to do it for enjoyment sake. But I need to know if it would likely stop improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8753" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T22:37:35.503" Title="Doing wendler 5/3/1 daily" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16700" CreationDate="2014-06-03T09:59:38.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not entirely clear from the question as to whether you are looking for a program to correct an imbalance or prevent one?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are trying to prevent one you could use supersets.  This is where instead of having a rest inbetween sets.  You work the opposite muscle.  For a muscle to be working, the opposing muscle must be at rest.  So for example. You could work biceps immediately followed by triceps.  Back followed by chest.  That way you can make sure you are working back and front equally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to correct an imbalance you would need to be more specific in your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Form is very important for many reasons.  To prevent an imbalance, to get the most benefit from the exercise and to prevent injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T09:59:38.487" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16703" CreationDate="2014-06-03T10:54:36.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;5/3/1 is a very specific program with a very specific goal. If you want to build strength consistently it's one of the go-to-programs. Wendler himself &lt;em&gt;expressly forbids&lt;/em&gt; you to tinker with it, though, and for good reason. Once you start increasing frequency, you will probably not be able to keep up with the intensity, which was the whole point of 5/3/1 to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would say no, you cannot do 5/3/1 daily. Well, maybe you could, but it would have to be a watered down, half-assed version of it, as you will not keep up the required intensity if you lift 7 days per week. (Also Wendler hates it when people change the program and call it 5/3/1, so you'd have to give it another name if you change it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you enjoy training daily, however, there's other programs out there that might be a bit more up your alley. Christian Thibaudeau is a big advocate of high frequency training. Most of his programs (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/look_like_a_bodybuilder_perform_like_an_athlete&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) utilize 5-7 brief workouts per week that are tailored to work at that high frequency. There're probably more, but those are the ones I know about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T10:54:36.157" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16703" CreationDate="2014-06-03T16:57:01.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wendler 5/3/1 is designed around certain assumptions, and until you know how your body responds to the stimulus that the program provides you really don't have a foundation of knowledge of what the program isn't doing for you.  There's already a great deal of flexibility in the program, but training 7 days a week is not within those constraints.  Wendler recommends you do the program as written for at least 4-5 cycles before you start making it your own.  He has a book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1467580309&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Beyond 5/3/1&quot;&lt;/a&gt; that is a collection of variations for different goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, an option that is very much compatible with the tenants of 5/3/1 that would have you doing something every day would be something along the following schedule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x per week: 5/3/1 strength training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x per week: conditioning (after squat and deadlift)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x per week: active recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conditioning might be doing a barbell complex, using a prowler, running hill sprints, etc.  This is heavy conditioning, and it should be short in duration.  For example, 20-30 minutes would be more than plenty.  If strength training suffers, dial down the intensity of the conditioning work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active recovery is doing light activity that raises your heart rate a little, but keeps it low.  For example, a relaxed walk around the neighborhood where the heart rate doesn't go much above 120 BPM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why 5/3/1 Strength Training Doesn't Work 7x a Week&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with taking something designed for 4 days a week max and then applying it to 7 days a week is that it throws off the overall volume of work for the week you need to do.  If you do too much volume, your body will get too fatigued and you'll likely see your progress going backwards.  This is particularly true because 5/3/1 has you doing AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) on the heaviest set.  That means you'll be maximizing volume every session.  It's designed to let you recover properly with 4 training days a week, but not more than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training 7 days a week is fairly common for Olympic weightlifters, and is one of the tenants of the Bulgarian Method.  It's important to manage the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overall volume for the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your recovery (eating, sleeping, rest, hydration)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your minimum and maximum goals for the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very easy to start to become fatigued training every day.  When you start having to psyche yourself up to get in the gym (which will happen), you need to do a planned minimum day.  You need to keep doing minimum days until you are mentally refreshed and looking forward to getting in the gym again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T16:57:01.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-03T20:08:41.290" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually the recommendations for HIIT workouts involve 20 second high intensity work followed by an equivalent or greater rest period. Or Tabata, which invoves 20 second work followed by a 10 second rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it still be considered HIIT if you are working at &gt;95% HR for 4-5min, then rest for a couple of minutes, and repeat for several cycles? I read everywhere that if you can keep going for more than a minute then it's not really hugh intensity, but what if my heart monitor marks more than 95% for a continuous 5 minutes or more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5767" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T13:44:39.420" Title="How long can the work periods in HIIT be?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16708" CreationDate="2014-06-03T21:59:47.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body doesn't respond to numbers. Tabata and other HIIT exercises are meant to exhaust you faster than that; assuming you want to get the benefit from these and not just 'do' them you might need to find a way to increase intensity such that 4-5 minutes of continuous activity is simply not possible. Those 10 second breaks should quickly become something you are really looking forward to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important take-away here is you should not live and die by an HR monitor, they can be useful but they don't provide the full picture. Also, do double check where these numbers are coming from, they sound awfully suspicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8277" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T21:59:47.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16708" CreationDate="2014-06-04T01:26:22.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are your goals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience (anecdotal and exercise physiology knowledge) says that for more broad ranging adaptions, 4-6 minute intervals are superior to very short term (i.e. 20 seconds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 minute intervals (at the highest relative intensities you would be able to maintain) largely stimulate both anaerobic (first 2-3 min) and aerobic pathways (last 2 -4 min). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Benefits of anaerobic training: Large glycolytic rates, adrenaline response, etc... which also help burn fatty acids post-workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Benefits of aerobic training: Improved cardiovascular conditioning, ability to burn more calories, improves ratio of calories burned from fat vs. carbs at given work rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tabata intervals provide some of the former, but not much of the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T13:44:39.420" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T13:44:39.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-04T04:07:29.343" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to train for a 10km run. My running plan starts with walking really fast and then gradually start to jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, doing so burns my front lower leg muscles which then makes it really hard for me to continue running. This is because I have never worked on these muscles. Instead, when I do an activity I run instead, e.g. play soccer with friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would exercising these muscles help me with my 10km run or should I change my running plan to start with jogging instead of walking ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7172" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-06-04T11:23:10.323" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T05:14:32.177" Title="Trying to run 10km, should I work on my lower legs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16716" CreationDate="2014-06-04T06:27:59.477" Score="1" ViewCount="7788" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the Final Fantasy VII games Zack and Cloud seem to imply that the squats they do are like the ultimate form of exercise with Zack claiming that's really the only exercise he does (ofcause excluding all the work he does on missions for SOLDIER).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if in real life what what impact their exercise actually has on the body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QadtQqdCZzw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII (Squatting Minigame at 7:15)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7687" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T17:19:06.250" Title="Do the squats Zack and Cloud do actually do anything in real life" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16718" CreationDate="2014-06-04T12:41:26.200" Score="1" ViewCount="1455" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I am doing a program similar too 5x5 stronglift, which contains squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The squats are getting heavier each week and are making my muscles sore(in a good way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every week day i cycle to work for about 20 minutes and that can get pretty nasty when I did squat the day or even 2 days before. I am noticing the muscle soreness sticks around way longer in my legs than in my chest or back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my legs not getting enough rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7973" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T19:48:08.493" Title="Cycling the day after squatting" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16714" CreationDate="2014-06-04T17:19:06.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Memor-X,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you squat like the video you mentioned, you'll develop knee problems pretty fast. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;So please, don't perform it like that&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, squat is an awesome body-weight exercise that mainly works the legs. However, there are variations of squats that can work the entire body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, it can be used as a form of cardio exercise by increasing the speed of the repetition. That will increase your heart and lungs' endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also include jumping to it. Instead of standing up from the squat position, you jump into the air as high as you can. That increases the intensity and works your heart and lungs as well &lt;em&gt;(P90X participants should already be aware of that modification)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it can also be modified into a burpee by including planking and jumping to the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you can include barbell and weights with it; that works your entire body as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T17:19:06.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2014-06-04T18:27:16.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're doing a good thing by warming up first with a walk or slower paced run.  Nothing wrong with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to improve your running, simple as it sounds, is to run more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consistency is your best friend.  The way to be consistent is to slowly increase your training load.  If you go out and run hard one day, then require several days of rest, you probably need to back off your pace or distance a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concentrate on getting into a &lt;strong&gt;routine&lt;/strong&gt;.  I'd suggest around 3 days per week if you're just starting out.  More experienced runners can bump that up.  Work on some short or medium distance runs during the weekdays and a longer run on the weekend.  You're building up to the 10km, not running the whole thing right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly bump up the distance of each of those, maybe +1 mile every week or two.  The idea is to build a progressive training load that your body will adapt to.  Walking part of the time is fine if you need to.  You should be able to carry on a conversation.  Breathing too hard to talk = running too hard.  The reason is that you're working on your aerobic engine.  Harder efforts get more into your anaerobic capacity which is not what you need for 10km.  Hard efforts also increase the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. [source = me, 6x Ironman finisher]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8801" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T18:27:16.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16715" CreationDate="2014-06-04T19:48:08.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In one word, &lt;strong&gt;yes.&lt;/strong&gt; If you receive StrongLift's periodic emails, Mehdi, the program's creator usually advises that cardio or leg exercises should be reduced on resting days because that'll prevent the legs from obtaining their required rests, especially as the weights increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you're cycling 40 mins daily, your legs will have a harder time recovering as the weights increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it would be unrealistic to tell you not to bike to work or to stop your current program, you might want to research more on ways to increase the resting period given to your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T19:48:08.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16548" CreationDate="2014-06-04T22:59:02.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6 beat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on a smaller range of motion in your kick.  If your legs are moving too much you're not going to get all the kicks in time, like you said.  Work on a smooth stroke and try not to be thrashy with the kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;2 beat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is good for distance swimming but it will &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt; reveal body position issues.  You want to concentrate on &quot;swimming downhill&quot; (think pushing your chest down and trying to keep your legs level with your upper body).  And you may need to increase your stroke rate somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do a drill by swimming with a band around your ankles (cut a piece of an old inner tube or something)  This is very &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt; but it forces you to work on level body position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To work on the 2 beat timing, zoomer fins can be helpful.  They'll give you extra propulsion at first, and get your legs to make the whipping motion that is correct for this kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Finally&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Watch video of good swimmers using both of these techniques.  Get a friend to video you.  Compare and learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good 2-beat:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAkzF7fPWv4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAkzF7fPWv4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll try to find some others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4-beat is sometimes ok (in a 1-3 variation where the swimmer breathes to one side -- ex: Grant Hackett).  But often it indicates a stroke imbalance.  Which is a good reason to get yourself videoed and find out what you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8801" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T22:59:02.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2014-06-05T05:14:32.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the same when I first started running, it was specifically my Tibialis Anterior muscle. I did some simple 30s stretches and found I would not experience the pain. Try stretching that part of your leg during your warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some detailed here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/stretch-front-calf-6657.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Stretch the Front of the Calf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8806" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T05:14:32.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16729" CreationDate="2014-06-05T05:31:03.700" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to run regularly (15-18km on the long run day) and then had to take a 3 month break in between. This time, I started running in the minimalist shoes (since I suffer from over-pronation and wanted to correct my landing/form etc). I also wanted to explore this style of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, I got the vibrams bikila and started out with less distance/ slow speed / trying to absorb the change. I kept my distance to under 5 kms for about 3 weeks. However, after my last run of about 3kms, I noticed I have pain in the lower part of my (inner side) ankle on the right foot, below the bone. I gave it a day's rest and the next day when I went running again, I could barely complete 1 km. I have stopped running after that and giving it some rest now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the situation:&#xA;- I have pain in my ankle only when I wake up in the morning ? Is that common - do any of you folks have also gone through this ?&#xA;- During the day, the ankle doesn't hurt unless, sometimes when I am climbing up or down the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wary of injuries and hate it when I can't run for days due to injuries. I am trying to figure out if I should run or not ? If so, how much is &quot;ok&quot; ? Is there anything I can do to help my ankle (and in general, barefoot running).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8805" LastEditorUserId="8805" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T06:18:21.533" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T11:24:09.237" Title="Should I run with this ankle pain?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-06-11T10:43:47.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-05T06:05:32.927" Score="3" ViewCount="4475" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have six eight years of trial-and-error evidence to show that I am incapable of building strength to any measurable degree from any form of exercise. I do not show results and I have become tired of working out for no reason. I have put it all to an end and I am seeking alternative ways to build strength. One person told me he can genetically-alter my muscle cells and fibers to enable more strength without exercise - is this possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method I heard is heavily taking anabolic steroids,  which supposedly can build strength even without exercise. At this point I am considering steroid-abuse if it means possible results I can appreciate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never appreciated or have been satisfied with results from any workout program or routine over any period of time, and do not progress no matter what. I do not even wish to seek an expert as alternative approaches is what I am looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know on any other possible ways that strength can be increased without exercise, since exercise does not work for me -- I have tried everything you can think of and after 8 years I am still where I started at 14.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 22 year old man who is out lifted by small teenagers who barely workout ... I am a shame of a man and person overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8807" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T14:57:00.440" Title="How to build muscle strength without exercise?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-06-13T02:22:17.770" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16731" CreationDate="2014-06-05T07:32:37.777" Score="1" ViewCount="2628" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a tip on bodybuilding.com. The tip was to not keep your calorie intake consistent. So basically have it always be different in order to lose weight by changing your leptin levels and your metabolism. Strait up I'll be honest. I am lazy. I'm 5'11, my weight is consistent around 170. I eat when I am hungry and only then. I wouldn't be interested in spending time to count calories and hassle myself with it. So the question is, can I benefit myself in weight-loss perspective by having 3 large meals in one day, then drink water all day next day? I am just curious if that would break the objective. Again the objective is to lose weight by manipulating leptin and metabolic levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8809" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T23:11:46.130" Title="Losing weight by fasting every other day?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16723" CreationDate="2014-06-05T07:42:21.413" Score="36" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Stop Making Excuses&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I have six [to] eight years of trial-and-error evidence to show that I am incapable of building strength to any measurable degree from any form of exercise.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either you have a serious medical issue or I call bullshit. I bet the reason you're not getting results is that you &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;have [never] been satisfied with results from any workout program or routine over any period of time&amp;quot;.&lt;/em&gt; You try something halfheartedly for a little while, then stop, right? You just lift what you feel like and then go home? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_biggest_training_fallacy_of_all&amp;amp;cr=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;That's not going to work.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think you have a serious medical issue then see a doctor about your health, particularly any possible hormone issues. Stop making up reasons not to see a medical professional. Address your problem head-on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lift, Eat, Repeat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lift and eat&lt;/a&gt; if you want to be big and strong. You must work hard. You must be consistent. There is no other way. There are no excuses. There are no alternative methods. Buck up and be serious about your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop being concerned about other people's success and focus on your own progress. You know nothing about what they do. What they do has nothing to do with your own success or failure. Stop distracting yourself with fantasies about other people's supposedly quick and easy results and focus on working out hard and consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Follow a Program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Originally I asked the OP to detail their workouts. (&amp;quot;If you want help on how to make your workouts effective, describe what you've been doing in as much detail as you possibly can: programs, lifts, sets, reps, rest periods, weights, frequency per week, diet, sleep. If you can't be bothered to even write a short description of your lifting then I seriously doubt your commitment to your project.&amp;quot;) They have since responded:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not really follow any programs; I just lift stuff. Plenty get strong this way, so what is wrong with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fuckarounditis&lt;/a&gt;. I would sympathize, but it's hard when you seem more interested in whinging about other people than actually doing something productive. There are genetic freaks who can sit on a couch for ten years and still lift 400 pounds. They aren't me, so why would I do what they do? I am me. I do what works for me. You are you. You can do what would work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people can get away with not doing a program. Most people can't. Stop making excuses and pick a program. StrongLifts would be fine, as would Starting Strength, as would 5/3/1 or GreySkull Linear Progression. Pick one of those four--it really doesn't matter which--and follow it unerringly for six months. Keep a workout log. Eat and sleep right. If you do that and it doesn't work, then you will &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; why it didn't work, because you will see it in the log. Skipped workouts or failed lifts will be quite evident in the log.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in results--and that's a big &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt;--then you'll pick a program, follow it, focus on quality sleep, and eat plenty of good food. (You have not described your diet so we can't yet help on that front.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2020-08-17T14:57:00.440" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T14:57:00.440" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16723" CreationDate="2014-06-05T09:18:58.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Genetically engineering your muscles? Not in the next decade or two.&#xA;Steroids without exercise? No. Steroids increase the protein available to cells, which effectively allows you to work your muscles harder so they grow more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A 22 year old man who is out lifted by small teenagers who barely workout ... I am a shame of a man and person overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your worth is not measured by how much you can lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ”&#xA;― M. Scott Peck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect your barrier to change is not physical, but in your head. No, I don't think you're crazy, but (speaking from personal experience here) many people believe things about themselves that are not true and cause them to limit themselves drastically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T09:18:58.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-05T10:16:48.620" Score="2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;My workout is divided as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest/Biceps, Legs, Back/Triceps and Shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout 4-6 days a week, depending on my week's schedule. I have been off work lately for these past 15 days and working out with full swing. Although I have noticed that even when I get 8 hour sleep at night, I am very sleepy even after I wake up. What is causing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness occurs after a day of first 3 workouts, but its tolerable, only slightly more than before because of increased weights. I am getting the same nutrition, only a bit better than before. What should I do to avoid this sleepiness and feel energized once I am awake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T13:10:43.657" Title="Does strength training cause an increase in sleep?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16722" CreationDate="2014-06-05T11:24:09.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, I don't think it's ok to continue running barefoot or minimalistic. The ankle pains are a clear indication you still need better footwear at this point. It could be that your calf muscles aren't strong enough, or even that you don't have the build to run without proper protection of conventional running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to temporarily stop all running until you don't experience any discomfort climbing up and down the stairs. If the cause was weak calf muscles, try and work on that first. Go stand on one leg for a period of time (say 30 s), then the other leg; repeat daily. If that's not a problem anymore, do 20 - 40 reps of standing on your toes, then back on your flat foot (one-sided), also daily for each side. Only then return to jogging short distances, recovering with walk breaks in between, on proper running shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will ease you back into running without any nasty injuries, like ankle pains. After that, you might try some barefoot running, but no more than a few hundred meters/yards per sessions at first, and gradually increase the distance to a mile or so over the weeks (or months). If you are able to run continuously for 3 miles (5 km) barefoot or on minimalistic shoes after half a year of gradually increasing your running distance, you are doing very well indeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, it all takes time, and you need to be very patient with your body and its lack of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T11:24:09.237" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16730" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-05T12:25:34.907" Score="2" ViewCount="7806" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoes have this wear pattern: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vsLfT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a sign that something might be wrong with the gait? and if so what sort of symptoms might be expected or solutions might be worth trying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8810" LastActivityDate="2019-02-16T23:03:15.253" Title="Does this wear pattern on shoes indicate there is something wrong with gait?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16725" CreationDate="2014-06-05T13:10:35.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Results are mixed, even within the same experiment. One of the most common studies to be cited, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC156352&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Intermittent fasting dissociates beneficial effects of dietary restriction on glucose metabolism and neuronal resistance to injury from calorie intake&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, found that, in lab rats, the opposite seemed to be happening. They had rats on a regular feeding schedule, rats on an overall reduced caloric intake, and rat who were fed the same number of calories as the second case but with intermittent fasting periods. The greatest weight loss was in the consistent reduction with the intermittently fasting rats gaining weight at the same rate as the rats who were being consistently fed more calories. The researchers involved quickly backpedaled, claiming that this must be a result of the rat's gorging behavior and that the results aren't applicable to humans, but it seems consistent with the dieting data for the last several decades which seem to show that fasting makes the body conserve calories rather than burn them faster, and the more often you bounce between reduced and normal caloric intake, the less effect the periods of reduced caloric intake have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yeah, no magic shortcuts when it comes to dieting, just consistently taking in fewer calories at a reasonable rate. Sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T13:10:35.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16728" CreationDate="2014-06-05T13:10:43.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you increase your strength training, you have more demands on recovery.  Recovery includes the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep (Number 1 recovery tool)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition (Number 2 recovery tool)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myofacial release/stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light movement to get blood flowing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are saying that you are still fatigued after you get 8 hours of sleep, there are a few possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The sleep is not restful.&lt;/strong&gt;  It could be the fatigue preventing a good restful sleep, or other outside stress factors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You need to change your nutrition.&lt;/strong&gt;  With increased demands on your body come increased demands for the raw materials (i.e. food) to rebuild your muscle into a stronger self.  You might need to increase your food, or at least certain portions of it.  If you aren't taking a multivitamin, it might be worth starting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You might need to change your approach to training.&lt;/strong&gt; If the training is pushing your further and further into a fatigue deficit, you need to build in some recovery options.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do a cool down after training.&lt;/strong&gt;  5 minutes of walking at a light pace to bring down your heart rate and keep blood flowing with more oxygen can help clear out some of that fatigue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all likelihood you have more than one of these things at work at the same time.  8 hours of sleep is a good starting point.  You also may want to increase the food a little--just be careful to make small changes at a time here.  In all likelihood you'll need three types of training days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume: this is where you use moderate weight (75-85%) for longer sets.  3-5 sets of 6-15 reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed: this is where you use light weight (60-70%) for a number of short sets trying to keep the speed of your movement as fast as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy: this is where you lift in the 90% range for 3-4 sets of 2-3 reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The volume day will be the toughest to recover from, but it's where you really build a foundation of strength.  The speed work is an active recovery day, so you'll do as many sets of 2-3 reps as you can while keeping the bar speed the same.  As soon as the bar speed slows down you stop.  The heavy day is where you get to to test out your strength a bit, and get used to heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This general approach helps you recover better from your exercise over time and really helps you progress in strength at a steady pace.  If you stagger the work so that you have three main exercises, in any one week your volume, speed, and heavy days are on the different main exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T13:10:43.657" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16733" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16749" CreationDate="2014-06-05T13:58:21.267" Score="2" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am &lt;code&gt;25&lt;/code&gt; now. I kind of felt like I was too slim and weak; so joined the nearest gym in &lt;code&gt;Feb 2014&lt;/code&gt;. I really feel good. The gym trainer gave me diet schedules and as a part of it, I take &lt;code&gt;4 eggs&lt;/code&gt; a day. I go to gym &lt;code&gt;6 days&lt;/code&gt; in a week and my trainer gives anyone of the following workouts; &lt;code&gt;chest&lt;/code&gt;,&lt;code&gt;shoulders&lt;/code&gt;,&lt;code&gt;back&lt;/code&gt;,&lt;code&gt;triceps&lt;/code&gt;,&lt;code&gt;biceps&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;legs&lt;/code&gt;. The following are the changes after gyming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;       Before       Now&#xA;Biceps 9 inches     12 inches&#xA;Waist  30           33&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I feel better in biceps and chest areas, my belly and waist is too big now. My gym trainer told to just take egg whites and skip egg yolks. I asked my trainer to give me &lt;code&gt;cardio&lt;/code&gt; too, as I read in some blogs that we should combine &lt;code&gt;cardio&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;weights&lt;/code&gt;. But my trainer says that since I am currently building muscles, doing cardio may lead to muscle loss and he doesn't want me to do cardio. He just wants me to do weights. He says it will be alright soon. I am really bothered about this and thought of getting suggestions from the experts  here. Please suggest whether I should be just doing weights or add cardio too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8812" LastEditorUserId="31080" LastEditDate="2019-06-05T16:34:00.163" LastActivityDate="2019-06-05T16:34:00.163" Title="Should i be just doing weights or add cardio too" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16723" CreationDate="2014-06-05T16:22:14.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be a medical condition like growth hormone deficiency or testosteron deficiency, which you probably won't be able to get confirmed by a normal doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the mental problems you have with it, feeling unworthy etc, can also stem from there, so balancing your body hormones would be a good first start. (assuming there is a medical condition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find doctors specialized in so called anti-aging (e.g. Dr. Hertoghe and colleagues from Belgium) or men medicine who can help you diagnose and treat such a deficiency, but they will only supply the body with the hormones it is lacking, so usually get you on the level a &quot;normal&quot; person of your age would have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking steroids en masse will open up a new world full of problems which you really don't wanna have, so I would strongly suggest to not follow this path, especially if you want to have children one day or don't want to have early heart attacks, etc. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the specialist can't detect a deficiency, you will probably have to live with the fact that your body is just not as strong as you want it to be. Every body is different in it's limits and that's definitely nothing to be ashamed of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8815" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T16:22:14.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16730" CreationDate="2014-06-05T18:50:32.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-shoes/whats-your-wear-pattern&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Extra wear on the heel may suggest overstriding and the edge wear suggests that you may not be rotating your foot enough&lt;/a&gt;. Although, are these your running shoes? They look more like leather business casual. If you have a picture of the front, it would let us know whether the wear on the heels is simply emblematic of general wear, although the wears on the back suggest either the overstriding or a tendency to shed your shoes by pushing down on the back with the opposite foot. Either way, it looks like you're essentially a) overstriding such that the heel is taking a lot more of the impact and b) rolling your feet inwards such that it's wearing more at an angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T18:50:32.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1895" CreationDate="2014-06-05T19:00:00.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think they'll really give you all that much in weightlifting. For the biking, you'll theoretically get more feedback on foot pressure on the pedal, but that will be balanced out by not holding rigid in the toe clip or other strap. For the most part, VFFs are good for better awareness of movement (I have friends who swear by them for sword-fighting). They provide very little protection against impact on the top, so you lose out on the small amount of protection from dropping a weight on your foot that shoes normally give you. There's a minor benefit from letting your toes naturally spread in terms of stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, they're expensive, the durability is a bit iffy, they're not waterproof, and they're far from the miracle work that people propose them as (which is the reason for the current class-action lawsuit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I own a set myself, and I much prefer my thinsoled huarache sandals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T19:00:00.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16730" CreationDate="2014-06-05T19:25:32.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens with my shoes too. I believe that this has to do with my &lt;strong&gt;habit&lt;/strong&gt; of lifting and placing my feet rather than any imperfection in my body balance or my 'gait' ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know, I walk in an under-pronation gait. As a result the outer heel&#xA;  of all my shoes always wear down much faster than any other part of&#xA;  the sole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is under-pronation/supination?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An individual who &lt;em&gt;under-pronates&lt;/em&gt; initially strikes the ground on the &lt;em&gt;lateral(outer)&lt;/em&gt; side of the heel. As the individual transfers weight from the heel to the metatarsus, the foot will not roll far enough in a &lt;em&gt;medial(inner/central)&lt;/em&gt; direction. The weight is distributed unevenly across the metatarsus, with excessive weight borne on the fifth metatarsal, &lt;em&gt;towards the lateral side of the foot&lt;/em&gt;. In this stage of the gait, the knee will generally, but not always, track laterally of the hallux.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In simple words, when I walk or run, my knees tend to stay far from&#xA;  each other rather than being in close proximate making a visible gap&#xA;  in between my legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remedy:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy a new pair of running shoes that help prevent excessive supination. Get a pair that have a &lt;em&gt;curved last&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;they curve inward at the insole&lt;/em&gt;, and that offer good shock absorption when you run in them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make an appointment with a podiatrist to be fitted for &lt;em&gt;orthotics&lt;/em&gt;, which will offer additional support. A cast will be made of your foot, the orthotic will be designed based off of this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch the back of your legs to relieve underpronation&lt;/strong&gt;. One such stretch is a downward-facing dog yoga stretch. Lie on your stomach with your hands under your shoulders. Curl your toes under your feet and push yourself up in the air. Walk your hands back as you lift your hips up in the air and push your weight back toward your heels. Keep your knees straight the whole time. Your body should form a 90-degree angle at this point. Hold the stretch for 30 to 45 seconds, release and repeat three to four times. Do this three times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can always google it and get furthermore information about underpronation and find remedies yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8820" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T19:25:32.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2014-06-05T20:35:17.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been very happy with my &lt;a href=&quot;http://xeroshoes.com/shop/diy-kits/diy-feeltrue/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;XeroShoes&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;huarache&lt;/em&gt; sandals. They take a little bit of adjustment, particularly finding a tying style that fits your range of movement and is easy to tie, untie, and adjust, but I think they're the next best thing to being barefoot. The only catch is that their flagship product is DIY, which can lead to spotty results and the occasional bit of buyer's remorse when you speculate on whether you could have done the same thing yourself for cheaper. That said, whatever they use for the soles is very durable without sacrificing feeling, so I've ultimately weighed it as worth the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T20:35:17.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-06T02:45:36.253" Score="2" ViewCount="546" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for the fastest way to burn calories. So far my research turned up that sprinting is the fastest way to burn calories. Is there anything more calorie consuming then sprinting? anything at all? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8809" LastActivityDate="2014-07-20T10:57:37.533" Title="fastest way to burn calories?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16723" CreationDate="2014-06-06T03:48:35.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a problem with the confidence and energy(visible as enthusiasm) which allow me to exercise and feel good until recently and I believe it was diet and sleep related. Because it sounds as though confidence and enthusiasm are likely a large part of your problem, I suggest getting at least 30 grams of protein (even better, the US government's recommended 50 grams per day) and try to sleep eight hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separately, it sounds like you might have a shame issue with working out so that you don't exhaust your muscles fully(to failure) in public. Perhaps you are embarrassed to be seen struggling with what you consider light weight? To remedy this issue, you can do exercises that no one can see you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples include pushups, tricep extensions, curls, and shrugs. Try these with 20lbs. or less and marvel at how your arms shape up. This can be a ten minute super-set every day before you shower in the privacy of your home. If you've tried for eight years, what's the harm in another month with a new tactic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: A super set is one which alternates muscle-groups between sets, thereby letting lactic acid flush from one muscle group while working other muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8826" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T03:48:35.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16739" CreationDate="2014-06-06T05:06:21.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running is generally a good exercise for burning calories as the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) is &lt;em&gt;relatively&lt;/em&gt; low for a given workload, so you can sustain a high rate of calories burned per minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, say you have 30 min to exercise. What's the way to run to burn the most calories? Basically a constant speed that you can just barely sustain for 30 minutes will burn the most calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intermittent sprinting and resting will not burn as many calories in the same amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T05:06:21.873" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16739" CreationDate="2014-06-06T06:34:57.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that stand-up paddle boarding is also a great way to burn calories. You can burn upto 800 calories/hr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It mimics the motion for paddleboarding and helps strenghthen your core. However, it is a total-body workout that targets your core, back, shoulders, and legs. Legs to help ensure that you keep standing. Core is strengthened while you ensure that you are paddling while keeping yourself stable. Shoulders will be strengthened while paddling itself. You will feel the burn within minutes of starting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8827" LastEditorUserId="8827" LastEditDate="2014-06-08T15:51:58.600" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T15:51:58.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16739" CreationDate="2014-06-06T06:46:39.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd propose biking, as most 'How much calories do I burn with...?'-lists claim that (depending on intensity) it burns 600~1200 per hour. This is about as much as running (again depending on intensity), but much more scalable and much less exerting, at least for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the one side, you can bike for short periods of time with a very high intensity. Provided you can keep up 30km/h for half an hour, you'd burn up to 600kcal in that time, making it very time-efficient. If you can only keep the speed up for a short time, interval training would be an option. It doesn't burn as much calories initially, but the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (commonly referred to as afterburn) will compensate for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other side, you can bike slowly for hours on end, enabling you to easily burn 1000kcal (or more) per day, while keeping exertion relatively low. This is incredibly scalable as you can just alter the duration, speed, ride some hills etc. to adjust it to your schedule and/or goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, biking is an 'eccentric-less' exercise, which keeps muscle tear and wear to a minimum. You also don't have the impact of every single step shaking your joints, as you'd have with running, making this a much healthier alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other alternatives that might require additional equipment would be cross-trainers, rowing or swimming. All of these are highly scalable and you can also do interval training with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T06:46:39.133" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16723" CreationDate="2014-06-06T08:52:03.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disregarding the fact that I agree with Dave Liepmann (either you are not training properly or you have a medical condition inhibiting your performance), I will give you a constructive answer. There is one thing you can do to increase strength without training. It is something that elite athletes use, and is one of the main factors that separates the best athletes from the mediocre ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mental imagery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mental imagery is the use of imagination to visualize certain movements. Science has shown that visualization of a movement increases activity in those areas of the brain, potentiation through the corticospinal tract (motor neuron axons), and activity of the EMG. All these effects lead to gains in strength (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24133427&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24133427&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22127572&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22127572&lt;/a&gt; etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The increase in strength comes about by two factors. Firstly, there is increased intra- and intermuscular coordination. That is, by visualizing a movement, your brain is getting used to the sequence of contractions between the muscles and inside them. Secondly, the areas of the brain controlling that movement get increased activity, and this leads to long term changes in activity (sort of like learning to ride a bike, and then remembering; someone who has squatted 300 pounds in their youth will be a stronger squatter than the average person even in old age).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T08:52:03.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16723" CreationDate="2014-06-06T13:46:35.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A 22 year old man who is out lifted by small teenagers who barely&#xA;  workout ... I am a shame of a man and person overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that attitude, what you are experiencing is not that strange. When thoughts of that kind manifest in your mind, notice that they don't serve you, and are not even logical (why would your worthiness/value have anything to do with people you don't even know?). They are not even your ideas, but someone else's. Your environment (culture) has implanted detri-mental ideas into your unconscious. So why give them credence? The more you believe your negative thoughts, the more negative results you will experience. I suggest you get rid of your TV and learn to meditate. And then, if you still experience negative thoughts of self-doubt, perhaps have an entheogenic experience that might help you shed the baggage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addressing your perception of (what you have defined as) your problem should be your primary focus. Without addressing your negative thoughts (i.e. your state of being), you will continue to experience a negative reality, no matter what exercises you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, thinking about exogenous steroids is a very bad idea in your case, I think. You want to read about endogenous growth factors instead (HGH, BDNF, etc). Consider supplements that decrease metabolic rate and increase growth factors. You'll have to spend the time to research this though; you ought to understand how they work. There is no single magical pill. Consider also meditation, as mentioned, and high-intensity exercises, like HIIT. There is no better way to make your body grow (via HGH) than HIIT (followed by a high-quality whey protein shake), and it requires very little of your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider also steering your diet toward a high-fat low-carb diet. It may seem contradictory but that's because of the failure to understand the metabolic role of fructose, and the falsehoods spread long ago by one Dr. Ancel Keys that began the baseless demonization of dietary fats (particularly saturated fats), which are actually your body's preferred source of fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I only began to gain weight/muscle when slowing my metabolism and increasing growth factors using the methods above. I didn't include any links because if you really are determined you can simply google everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8837" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T13:46:35.063" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16739" CreationDate="2014-06-06T14:34:42.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're fit enough to do interval training.  Either running, or on the bike or rowing are all good.  However, don't forget to add some resistance training.  Choose to work the larger muscles, as muscles burn calories.  Ie if you change body fat into muscle you will burn more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T14:34:42.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16723" CreationDate="2014-06-06T17:01:40.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If exercise really would not work then your muscles should have wasted away by now and you would not be able to get out of bed. Astronauts who stay on board the ISS for more than a few weeks  have to work very hard to compensate for not having to carry their body weights all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your muscles are able to repair themselves and maintain the strength needed to do your daily tasks. But it would be an enormous coincidence if this would be precisely the limit of your maximum muscle strength. Given your age (you are not 90 years old), that would be extremely unlikely anyway. So, you will get stronger if you do some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T17:01:40.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16733" CreationDate="2014-06-06T17:32:58.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it is true that doing cardio may lead to muscle loss, there needs to be a distinction between steady state cardio and HIIT. Steady state carddio such as running on the treadmill for a longer period of time at one steady pace may in fact lead to muscle loss. HIIT on the other hand, is the sort of cardio that blends muscle stimulation with cardio work together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that needs to be pointed out here is the fact that you need to really be sure what your exact goal is. If your primary goal is to build muscle, then for now your trainer may be right in his approach. Although there is some talk about being able to build muscle and lose or maintain your body fat at the same time,  this seems to be the opinion of the minority. Building muscle ultimately comes down to being in a caloric surplus and losing fat boils down to being a in a caloric deficit, so combining the 2 goals seems highly unlikely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately if you want to build muscle then you should continue with your approach till you reach your goal at which point you may want to start a cutting phase. During this time you may want to add some HIIT training along with your weight training all while being in a caloric deficit. This will allow you to MAINTAIN your hard earned muscle while losing the fat you gained while bulking up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the approach I take with my clients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T17:32:58.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16751" CreationDate="2014-06-06T19:04:08.823" Score="1" ViewCount="8690" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 23 years old male (75 KG) never exercised before, I only walk from time to time and I have a physical fitness test in a couple of weeks (2 to 4) and I'm looking for a training program that will help me improve fast without injuring myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the test includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 2 KM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80 Push ups (40 to pass)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90 Sit ups (45 to pass)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm already doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking in the morning for longer distances, to prepare for running (today walked about 1.7 KM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing knee push ups (about 20 each set)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing 20 sit ups each set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how can I improve faster ? and what program should I follow for a total beginner like me ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8844" LastEditorUserId="8844" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T07:16:02.997" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T20:52:57.077" Title="How to prepare for a physical fitness test in a couple of weeks?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16750" CreationDate="2014-06-06T20:01:29.577" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bottom Line Up Front: 2-4 weeks is a very short amount of time to get from walking time-to-time and knee pushups to a 2k* run and 80 pushups.  You can &lt;em&gt;exhaust&lt;/em&gt; yourself quickly, but your body needs &lt;strong&gt;time&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;rest&lt;/strong&gt; to get faster and stronger.  I'm going to ignore your schedule, and just talk about how I think you can get to your goals the fastest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;You'll definitely do better if you find yourself a personal trainer that understands&#xA;your goals and can adjust your routine to keep up with your progress.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start by giving myself the test I'm preparing for, and finding out exactly where I'm at.  I'd do the run (don't just walk a distance I'm comfortable with), do strict pushups (even though it will be fewer than knee pushups) and do as many situps as I can.  This can help determine how much we focus on preparing for peak performance during the test, vs building strength and closing gaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do a daily warm-up routine.  Even on rest days, do the warm-up routine.  This should include walking, stretching and some body-weight movements to keep things moving and help reduce stiffness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend adding some sprints to your routine.  When I say sprint, I mean as hard as you can.  It is VERY easy to burn out here by doing this too frequently and your body starts breaking down rather than building up.  Give your body plenty of time to rest between sprint days.  I would usually say have one sprint day every 7 to 10 days or so.  If you look up tabata intervals, that's a place to start.  These are a mental challenge too.  After the first 2, you'll probably stop trying as hard.  For myself, I reverse the time sets (10s sprint, 20s rest) and find that I can push myself much harder that way.  Tabatas are a proven, efficient way to increase speed and endurance quickly.  BTW: sprints don't just make you a better runner, they teach your body how to work harder and send signals telling your body it needs to get stronger (possibly even releasing natural HGH).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 knee pushups means you're ready for strict pushups, and more importantly: bench-press.  It can be hard to control your loading using body weight (e.g. pushups).  You can build strength faster buy using a bench.  Find the weight that you can do about 10 reps, then do 3 sets of 6-8 reps.  Only rest about 1 minute between sets.  You are doing this right if you can't always complete the last rep of your last set, so make sure you have a spotter.  Again, your body needs rest to become stronger, so take 3 days off between these workout days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I'm going to assume &quot;2000KM&quot; really means &quot;2 kilometers&quot; right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8845" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T20:01:29.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16733" CreationDate="2014-06-06T20:28:42.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your comments, I'd say that I am a more experienced gym bunny than you, having been in and around the weights for about 12 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last couple of years, I found my waist increasing and my general muscle definition declining. This was due to slightly overeating regularly and losing the regularity of my training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About two months ago, I decided to change the decline and seek to regain my formerly fit physique. To lose a little weight, sure. But most importantly to reduce my bodyfat level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the website I have been updating to track my progress: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simple-steps.co.uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.simple-steps.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm on Day 40 of 90 at the moment - though I lag the site by about 5 days to allow me to arrange the photos and collate my data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said... let me try to answer the question more directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you've made great physical gains in size, based on the limited info you gave us. You are training at a high regularity. But you're not happy with the shape of your physique - and that's the most important thing as it's YOUR body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would say that you should introduce some cardio - HIIT is most efficient for fat loss. More importantly though, I'd be militant with your nutrition tracking for a month and see how much you really are eating, and of what. This is my motivation. I don't eat 100% clean, not even 80% clean, but at least everything that goes in my mouth is a conscious decision. That's why you have a 33-inch waist, not just from eggs and weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition. Add some cardio. Keep lifting heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth losing a little muscle mass to lose a lot of fat. And the new V shape might actually make you look MORE muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8847" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T20:28:42.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16725" CreationDate="2014-06-06T20:37:04.297" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out this site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A weightlifting doctor tried different types of Intermittent Fasting, using himself as a guinea pig. No better evidence in my humble opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI, I tried variations myself. Settled on not eating on Saturdays each week. Lost weight initially then gained it back over a total 8 week period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating better generally is much more effective, though I would suggest missing one day per month of eating. Humans are animals after all and it's good to remind the body of real hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A worthwhile experiment may be: Eat intentionally clean, have a (reasonable) cheat day once per week and fast for one day per month.  I can see that being a long-term strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8847" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T20:37:04.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16725" CreationDate="2014-06-06T21:02:54.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Healthy is sexy.  Being a lighter weight isn't.  I think you'll be much happier with your results if you focus on health rather than weight.  Everyone knows* that muscle weighs more than fat.  If you're not happy with how lean you appear, you can get great results by eating &lt;strong&gt;low carb&lt;/strong&gt; (around 100g/day) and &lt;strong&gt;plenty of calories&lt;/strong&gt; (2000+).  When you reduce your carbs, you body manages stored fat much more easily.  If you're eating more carbs, your body will tend to store it off as fat (not to mention all the glycemic load/insulin issues).  When you keep carbs under control, the extra calories don't hang around as fat.  Your body uses what it needs and doesn't store the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other responses about fasting are spot-on.  Long fasts and caloric restriction teach your body that food is hard to come-by and it should store all the fat it can, just in case tomorrow turns out to be another fast day.  Teach your body that there is plenty of good food available, and it won't work so hard to store extra!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Unfortunately, most people don't really &lt;em&gt;believe&lt;/em&gt; that getting sexier by trading fat for muscle results in bigger numbers on the scale. They kind of think that it applies to most people, but not me and not right now.  &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; just need to lose wieght.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://eplifefit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jason Seib&lt;/a&gt; has some great examples of people who appeared flabby at a &lt;em&gt;lower&lt;/em&gt; weight, then got healthier, leaner and &lt;em&gt;heavier&lt;/em&gt; to appear much more fit and trim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8845" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T21:02:54.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16759" CreationDate="2014-06-06T21:11:13.190" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a person feels that s/he is &quot;out of shape&quot;.  Should the goal be to lose weight, or to improve health regardless of what that does to the number on the scale?  Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8845" LastEditorUserId="8845" LastEditDate="2014-06-06T22:29:10.947" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T23:19:51.950" Title="What is the correct physical fitness path here?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-06-07T02:02:40.510" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-06T22:20:34.667" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have any sort of injury I immediately stop training until it has recovered to a certain point. However, once I start training again, the injury often feels better after a session than it had done before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly if you're in pain when you train with an injury, this is bad but there seems to be some middle ground where training can actually aid recovery. I'm guessing it must be increased blood flow or something, I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what do you guys do? Train what isn't injured, train thru the pain, rest or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8848" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T20:12:44.350" Title="What are your views on weight training while injured?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16756" CreationDate="2014-06-06T22:51:16.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only &quot;injuries&quot; I even consider training through are minor muscle strain type of injuries.  These remind me to re-focus on form, lower the weight drastically, and keep everything else in place: nutrition, rest/recovery, sleep, mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a short time --usually less than 2 weeks-- I'm back to tip-top and ready to start loading up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW: When I strain a muscle, it is from doing something knuckleheaded &lt;em&gt;outside of the gym&lt;/em&gt;.  If you're injuring yourself often, especially during your workouts, it is probably a good idea to recruit someone that can monitor your movements to see if there is a movement-pattern issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8845" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T22:51:16.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16725" CreationDate="2014-06-06T23:11:46.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an increasing amount of evidence that this approach is both beneficial to weight control and to your health. Without the calories to store as fat or burn as fuel the body starts to target injured parts of the body to optimise survival whilst food is scarce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As well as weight control (and saving money), there is also a decrease in blood sugar, blood pressure and an improved sense of well being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myself, I've only tried the 5:2 diet, but the benefits are undeniable IMHO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had high blood pressure and this sorted it out pretty much straight away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8848" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T23:11:46.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16755" CreationDate="2014-06-06T23:19:51.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The goal should never be weight loss. Body weight can vary from day to day, time of the day and many other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do whatever you like, but do something. Some people swear by running but this has always ruined my knees. It should be something they are motivated to do, be it walking the dog, going for a swim or pounding a heavy bag down the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat right&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will tell you if you're feeding it crap. If you feel bad after eating it, this a pretty good sign it isn't doing you any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, this isn't my favourite meal, but it makes me feel I could take on Mike Tyson!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boiled rice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steamed white fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Corn fed chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spinach (or some other green leafy vegetable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chinese tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8848" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T23:19:51.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-07T00:27:23.963" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without a specific sport in mind, are there good general-purpose exercises or movements that can show me &lt;strong&gt;what muscle groups or areas need more work&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to make sure that my overall strength is in balance, to maximize it's practical usefulness in solving everyday problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whats the basic procedure for testing things like this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there tests-to-failure that can expose these (e.g. lifts or movements)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="371" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T20:43:48.723" Title="How to find what muscle groups to strengthen?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17772" CreationDate="2014-06-07T02:35:35.040" Score="4" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;For years, I've always played around doing fartlek training and never pushed myself to run fast (7-min/miles is fast for me) for more than one mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, I decided to run 7-min/miles for as long as possible. At mile 1.8, I felt good but my quads completely shut down. I had to start walking. To my absolute shock, after about 1-minute I was able start running again (but a much slower 10-min/mile pace which I can run at for several miles with no problems).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you really clear enough lactic acid in just 1-minutes out of quadriceps to go from just being able to walk to being able to run again? That does surprise me. Or, maybe something else is happening to make my quads tap-out. The issue is simply my quads are not strong enough to support my body weight which builds up the lactic acid, right? My quads don't &quot;hurt&quot;, somehow I just know/sense they cannot absorb any more impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8737" LastEditorUserId="8737" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T03:06:32.183" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T17:34:27.710" Title="How quickly can a runner drain lactic acid out of his quads?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16760" CreationDate="2014-06-07T14:44:48.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're looking for are strength or fitness standards. Generally these fall into two broad groups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength-biased evaluations, which will generally look at things like your back squat, deadlift, bench and overhead press, and maybe chin-ups. Many examples of this will delve into evaluating power or athleticism by including exercises like the Olympic lifts (e.g. the power clean) or vertical jump. See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/files/standards.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength Standards (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General physical preparedness evaluations (which are not as focused on strength), which will include all of the above as well as feats like kettlebell work, pistols, handstands, muscle-ups, mile run times, 100m dash times, 2000m row times, and so on. They can get quite extensive. CrossFit Seattle's &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitseattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Skill-Levels-poster.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Athletic Skill Levels&lt;/a&gt; is a good example. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of the first approach is that it's simple. If your basic lifts aren't wildly out of proportion, then you can be confident that you don't have any major areas lagging. The drawback is that its evaluation is confined to strength in major movements, which can lead trainees into &quot;teaching to the test&quot;. For example, the back squat is a good metric, but one should also be able to front squat and do heavy lunges. The trap is becoming overspecialized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of the second approach is that it's comprehensive. It covers many different aspects of fitness (conditioning, strength, mobility...) and many variations of similar movements (e.g. dips, push-ups, military press). The drawback is that it's quite a wide variety of skills, which can diffuse the effectiveness of one's training. Having so many goals is often counterproductive. The trap is chasing too many rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just concerned with strength for basic tasks, then I recommend getting beyond the &quot;novice&quot; level with some kind of deep squat (front or back), a deadlift, and some kind of pushing and pulling (e.g. dips and pull-ups), then chasing &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of the items from GPP lists like the Athletic Skill Levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get a more specific evaluation than these too approaches would require a personal evaluation by a trainer or coach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T20:43:48.723" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T20:43:48.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16756" CreationDate="2014-06-07T16:49:00.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It very much depends on the injury and the extent, but, I normally find there is something I can do.  If I can't run, maybe I can cycle or swim.  Maybe, I can only do upper body weights, and abs.  There are usually alternatives, but you do need to listen to your body, and medical advice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, it's nice to be a little imaginative, and try something you haven't tried before, it also depends on how you feel about missing weeks of training.  If you're okay with it, then enjoy the rest.  For me, I'd rather do something else, than missing lots of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastEditorUserId="8101" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T20:12:44.350" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T20:12:44.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16750" CreationDate="2014-06-07T20:52:57.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't get better at running by walking. If you can't run 2km then at least run for 30 seconds, then rest while walking, then run again, and so on. Look up &quot;couch to 5k&quot; schedules to see examples of regimented programs for this kind of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the push-ups, do negative push-ups instead of knee push-ups. Lower yourself to the ground, rest for a moment, then get to the top any way you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to get to 100 total sit-ups in as few sets as possible. Don't stop at 20.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that this is quite a short period to go from your current abilities to the abilities the test requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T20:52:57.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13084" CreationDate="2014-06-08T02:33:02.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a bit anecdotal, but I have always had wide &amp;amp; nearly flat feet. I used to get pain in my arches, and for a while I required insoles and extra supports in my shoes. I started weightlifting and squatting, particularly I was taught to curl my toes as I squatted to keep weight on the heels. Over the course of a year or two, my foot pain went away completely, and I actually went down slightly in shoe sizes. At best its a correlation, but this correlated well with the time I spent squatting. Now I am able to wear Chuck Taylor's all the time, something that I never would have dreamed of years ago (narrow shoes, almost no padding).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8854" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T02:33:02.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-08T09:56:04.403" Score="0" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have hit a weight loss plateau.&#xA;I have noticed that I have started drinking far less water than when I started my workout plan, and even a bit more sugar. So could it be that because of my lower water intake I have hit this weight loss plateau?&#xA;Thank you for your help.:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8856" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T05:40:11.160" Title="I have hit a weight loss plateau. Could my lower water intake have something to do with this?" Tags="&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-08T10:01:57.867" Score="0" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;A girl, 16 and BMI is 16.8. I'm underweight and I really blank what to do since I cant really gain weight even if I eat A LOT, all that it does is making my belly bloat. I have a really tiny frames and my wrist size is just as big as my little finger (exactly). I have this problem when I only have appetite only and only if I'm surrounded by a lot of people, which makes it harder. I'm a muslim, so I cant really go to the gym. I have a bar but I cant even do one pull up :( Limited time and fasting month is just around, lesser energy :/ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8857" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T22:18:10.717" Title="Underweight. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-06-09T16:35:37.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17778" CreationDate="2014-06-08T10:14:24.913" Score="1" ViewCount="444" Body="&lt;p&gt;Routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead-lifts (Traditional) 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Squats 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Military Press 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upright Rows 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Bench Press 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups 1x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Curls 1x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell French Press 1x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips 1x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Calf Extensions 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches 1x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always trained using split routines that work two or three muscles each day, I've had progress but not much on the side of muscle mass gain. I find this routine to be quite peculiar because it works the whole body 3 days a week (every other day), however I find it suspicious that only one set of each exercise is performed, my worry is that the muscle won't be stimulated enough to grow (assuming a proper nutrition of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone used a routine similar to this one and observed progress?, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or that has tried and had success with a routine with more basic exercises with more sets in each one? (similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4100" LastEditorUserId="4100" LastEditDate="2014-06-18T05:49:34.147" LastActivityDate="2018-05-06T21:24:37.807" Title="Will a full-body routine like this be effective for muscle mass gain?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2014-06-08T14:37:13.660" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start with doing a lot of cardio exercise. According to recent research, underweight people tend to have a larger fat percentage than average people, in some cases they are actually as fat as mildly obese people. This fat is hidden in the body as visceral fat (fat that surrounds the organs). The person is then underweight because he/she has smaller organs. This puts these people at a greater risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is therefore recommended to build up cardio fitness and work toward being able to run fast for more than half an hour, 4 to 5 times per week. At the same time the diet should be adjusted to limit any weight loss, but you will lose a bit of weight due to losing excess visceral fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about a year you should have made a lot of progress in building up cardio fitness. Only then should you start doing strength training. Your body will then be better adapted to doing heavy lifting work. Even though you'll still have to build up your muscles, your heart rate won't go up nearly as much as if you were to do this right away; you'll feel less exhausted after heavy exercise. The problem with getting tired after exericise is that your body will  tend to keep the fat reserves. So, the food you eat is then used in a less efficent way to build a stronger body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T14:37:13.660" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16739" CreationDate="2014-06-08T21:12:13.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to tell you a secret. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Other exercises might burn more calories but HIIT(high intensity interval training) can be better for beginners as it burns more calories &lt;i&gt;overall&lt;/i&gt;. Here's why:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;--it can be done without practising too much. To do run miles you need to practice for weeks.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;--it increases you metabolism MUCH more than other exercises. It means that if you do HIIT and then go home and sleep you will be burning more calories while doing nothing for next 48 hours.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Here is how to do it:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;After usual warm-up walk and stretched you will run &lt;i&gt;very&lt;/i&gt; fast for something like 40s-60s and then slow down to moderate walk for about 3 minutes. Then again run very fast. This way you will get rest within high intensity running and you will run more fast and more distance than you would if you were running without any breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9860" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T21:12:13.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16767" CreationDate="2014-06-08T21:23:12.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look you need to get more weight or add more mass to your body but it must not come from fat. Fats are terrible for you health. Muscles are great for your health, give you more strength and make you look better. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You will need both exercise and diet to get healthy weight: &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To gain healthy weight you must start eating healthy. Eat more protein fibre and good carbohydrates. Eat fruits and veggies, and a lot of meat. expecially in Ramadan when you are not eating anything during day. waking up more at night and eating at night is good. Try napping during day and waking up much more early during ramadan. Eat some healthy food and then do some exercise like jogging before morning supper and then eat a lot of meat during morning meal.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You must do little running or walking to increase your metabolism and improve your bowel movements so you can eat more. And then you need to do a lot of exercises. Buy light dumbles, around 2 KG and do the exercises to target different muscles at home. You can find many videos on youtube showing easy/beginners' exercises to get beefed up.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;n.b: I am talking about all-day long fast. During fast the asker can not eat anything during day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9860" LastEditorUserId="9860" LastEditDate="2014-06-08T22:18:10.717" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T22:18:10.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4095" CreationDate="2014-06-08T21:30:23.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following calculator leverages more recent studies on determining the relationship between incline gradient, velocity, and calories in addition to in the field experiment data: &lt;a href=&quot;http://hikingscience.blogspot.com/p/calculate-calories-burned_22.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calcuator.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T21:30:23.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16761" CreationDate="2014-06-09T04:50:09.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is &quot;sure&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a given capacity - based on training - to buffer lactic acid out of your system. To do so requires oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are running at a rate that generates lactic acid faster than you can buffer it out, you will accumulate it, and after a while, you'll have to slow down. When your aerobic system cleans up enough of the lactic acid, you'll be able to exercise again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T04:50:09.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16766" CreationDate="2014-06-09T05:40:11.160" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1.Well first of we must realize that our body does not want us to lose weight. Fat accumulation is the body's Survival mechanism. Back in stone age, accumulation of Fat was vital for survival(Who knew when was the next meal!). So now all you have to do to lose that fat is to CHEAT the body!&#xA;Yes, Cheat. Which means that once you follow some routine for some time, the body gets adjusted to it and tries to minimize fat loss. You have to keep changing your Workouts at least every two months to continue getting results. If you:&#xA;gym: change the type of exercises for the same muscle groups&#xA;Cycle/Running/Cardio: Mix Fast and endurance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Another thing to Note is that if one has excess of fat, then workouts without strict diets will easily help in initial fat loss... but as you progress, you HAVE to maintain a good Diet.&#xA;Good Diet + great Workouts = Healthy Body!!&#xA;and do change the diet patterns every two months so as to not quit due to boredom!:) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Regarding the water intake, Water is a prime resource for recovery. After Workouts , while resting, The body recovers all the muscles and it needs the Water. Besides, Water has never harmed any one so Drink up! ;)&#xA;Enjoy Your training and do comment if you have any queries!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T05:40:11.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14967" CreationDate="2014-06-09T05:58:12.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It clearly is a sign that your upper body is not in par with your lower, which means that over time you have become accustomed to work out heavily for your lower body but not the upper body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution to this is very easy. Start focusing on upper body workouts, preferably bench presses (and all its variations) and also incorporate exercises that work your core such as planks, abs and back extensions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perform dynamic stretches when possible and start using a foam roller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and also stay well hydrated, and of course enjoy your workouts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2014-06-14T02:58:12.653" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T02:58:12.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2014-06-09T07:15:37.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The routine you posted, as well as the one in the link you provided in the comments, take some ideas of High Intensity Training (HIT) to make single sets work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general idea behind HIT is going as hard as you can, often using intensity techniques. Once the set is done, you gave it your all and there's nothing more to do, so you move on to the next exercise. This gives you maximum results in minimum time, or so the pitch goes, but it's also very hard on your body and mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I've heard from people making progress on such a routine I've never seen a full-body routine in that vein. Keep in mind, the purpose of HIT is to go as intense as possible, making recovery long and hard. A full body routine, however, is designed to be done 3 days a week, so recovery is only 48-72 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, it feels like a bit of both (HIT and full body), without utilizing the strengths of any one fully. I'd probably stick to a more conventional full-body routine, as I think it may be hard to make HIT intense enough to work and at the same time keep the frequency up (due to slow recovery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you decide to give the proposed routine a try, though, I'd suggest researching HIT beforehand, as it's a completely different approach than normal weight training. The use of intensity techniques with HIT can be hard to do right and is very taxing both on your body and the central nervous system, so you should really know what you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-06-09T07:21:22.140" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T07:21:22.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17777" CreationDate="2014-06-09T07:38:09.367" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an abdomen plan for a month with steadily increasing amount of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;situps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to replace &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fbU_MkV7NE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slow&lt;/a&gt; situps by fast ones by doing half indians (both hands and legs fast moving up; trying to do full indians).&#xA;I have to do normal situps very slowly without losing balance, which is irritating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, I like to replace also crunches with fast crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am not sure if these are good changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the significance of speed doing abdomen exercises?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T08:13:47.990" Title="Speed of abdomen exercises" Tags="&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17776" CreationDate="2014-06-09T08:13:47.990" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For esthetical reasons, there is no point in doing fast abdominals. It might increase the reflex arc, and as such give you a higher tonus and firmer abs though; I've noticed a slight difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason for doing fast abdominals is to gain functionality and speed. If you are playing any sports then it will better your performance. I am a professional sprinter and since I started doing fast abdominals my performance has gone up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens is that they learn to contract faster. So when you run for example, then in every stride your iliopsoas forces your spine into lordosis. That is an unfavorable position running because it inhibits the glutes and does not transmit the forces from your upper body and as such makes you less stable. If your abdominals can contract quickly enough, as fast as the iliopsoas pulls the spine forward, then you will lessen the lordosis. The same goes for sidewards movements such as in most team sports and tennis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite being a stabilizatory muscle which demands long isometric contractions to provide stability, there is some function in doing fast abdominals so that your performance increases. I personally do isometric exercises on the days when i aim for hypertrophy in the gym, and explosive ones when I sprint and do max lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T08:13:47.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2014-06-09T13:44:37.547" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your training really depends on your goals.  There are several factors that program writers have to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training effect:&lt;/strong&gt; will this help you achieve goal X?  In this case increase in muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery:&lt;/strong&gt; how quickly can someone train again if they do this routine once.  Or what can they do while the body is recovering from some earlier work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the person performing the work, there are some considerations that you have to ensure are correct to meet your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition:&lt;/strong&gt; are you eating in line with your goals?  To gain mass you need to eat more than if you are trying to maintain mass or lose mass.  However, you don't want to gain mass too quickly or most of it will be fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep/Stress:&lt;/strong&gt;  these are flip sides of the same coin.  The more external stress the less likely you'll be able to keep up with a tough program.  The more sleep you can get the more you can do in the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The full body routine you have can work, but it's not immediately obvious as to why.  On the surface it's one set each in the 8-12 rep range which doesn't look like a lot of volume.  However, there are 12 different exercises, so most of the major muscle groups are getting hit several times, but with different exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs: squats, lunges, deadlifts, calf extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back: deadlifts, pull-ups, squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps: french press, bench press, military press, triceps press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps: pull-ups, barbell curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest: bench press, pull-overs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs: pull-overs, crunches, deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I missed any major muscle groups, I apologize.  When I focus on hypertrophy work I'm only partially in bodybuilder mode and I think more in terms of what helps me perform better at my sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine has a combination of compound movements and isolation exercises.  It's definitely designed with bodybuilders in mind.  In order to make this work as well as possible, my recommendations are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maximize your effort:&lt;/strong&gt; These should be 8,10,12 rep maxes you are working with.  Just stay with a weight until you feel confident you can push out all reps after adding weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep the training dense:&lt;/strong&gt; Building mass is where you want to put a big stress on your body to force adaptation.  You don't have to sprint from station to station, but don't sit on a bench for 10 minutes resting from your maxes.  NOTE: this can affect your rep maxes for subsequent exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat well:&lt;/strong&gt; You want to gain about a pound every 3 weeks, but you also want to eat as healthy as possible.  Muscles like carbs, so I would bias your diet more toward carbs than fat--but definitely at least get at least the minimum fat to keep your body happy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep well:&lt;/strong&gt; Muscle building happens at night when you are asleep.  Insufficient sleep undermines your efforts to build muscle more than anything else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T13:44:37.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-09T19:01:47.313" Score="1" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran a 5000 m on the track on Saturday, and two days later, on Monday, I ran a 5 km road race. The results are almost the same (21:44 and 21:48), and I could push my body really hard in both cases, in warm weather no less. Doing races feels easy to me right now. I train every day, race at least once a week. It's all easy peasy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from my weight (75 kg, 1.74 m, BMI 24,8), which has to drop even further, does this mean I am currently in what one would call a &quot;good running form&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, how would I know when my performance is peaking and I should start thinking about taking it easier in a few weeks time to let my body recover from the hardships of training and racing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional information:&lt;/strong&gt; I've been actively training for more than 16 years, mostly to support my running habit. Since April 1st, except for weekly race days, I've been training daily, and racing between 5 and 15 km. Aside from the races (6 - 19 % of weekly distance), my training consists mainly of endurance runs (70 - 80%), with some interval training (10 - 15 %). My current weekly distance is around 80 km (50 mi).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastEditorUserId="8430" LastEditDate="2014-06-11T08:25:36.917" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T14:50:27.487" Title="Am I in a so-called &quot;good running form&quot;?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;performance&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-09T21:04:08.087" Score="4" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;My name is Frederico Azevedo and I'm new here in stack exchange. &#xA;First of all, I'm sorry for my English. It is not my first language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am overweight and I really need to lose some weight, not just because I want to be healthier but also because I want to look good and feel the confidence in meeting and approaching new people like I used to.&#xA;I have a really really problem getting motivated to start working out (I used to and I want to start insanity fitness program again). In the night before I feel like I really want to do exercise and that tomorrow will be the day I do it, but then it fades away and I don't feel like working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any tips you guys can give me about motivation? What motivates you to work out and where do you get the strength to do it everyday (or almost everyday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot for your time and appreciation!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9865" LastEditorUserId="31080" LastEditDate="2019-06-05T16:33:26.080" LastActivityDate="2019-06-05T16:33:26.080" Title="How can I get some motivation for re-starting my workouts?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17791" CreationDate="2014-06-09T21:12:28.803" Score="8" ViewCount="362" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cycle a lot, I run a bit, and I swim once per week. I have been training once per week for 5 months now. When I started, I could barely swim a length of freestyle. Now I can swim a lap with ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am struggling to swim more than a single lap without stopping at one end. Now I know what you're all thinking: form and efficiency. I don't think this is the primary reason for my poor swimming performance, as I have focused on efficient form from day 1, and have had others verify that my freestyle technique is smooth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is swimming fitness that much different to cycling and running fitness? Is this normal, and why is this the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3462" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T13:44:17.693" Title="Why is my swimming fitness so much worse than my cycling and running fitness?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-10T06:06:41.663" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have there ever been any academic studies on how slowly increasing calories vs quickly increasing calories effects muscle gain and body fat for people who weight train / body build? By slowly increasing calories, I mean around 25 to 50 calories every 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that slowly increasing calories is an effective method of putting on lean mass, where should the extra calories be coming from (protein, or fats, or carbs) and how long will it take to put on 1 lbs of weight? Should cardio be limited if you're increasing calories this slowly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9869" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T00:52:34.657" Title="Does slowly increasing calories mean lean gains?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17780" CreationDate="2014-06-10T08:34:27.050" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you seem to have more of a longterm motivation problem, I'll focus on building a base motivation. The examples I give are diet related, as that's what I'm working on right now. They do apply to training (and all other things) as well, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal Setting:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;First of all, to make a lasting difference you need a goal to work towards. If you don't have a goal, then why do it anyway? So, before setting your goal you need to know some important rules of goal setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make it measurable:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While &quot;Looking good&quot; and &quot;being healthy&quot; might in effect be your goal, they're weak ones to strive for. There's absolutely no way to know how far off you still are, so you wouldn't know your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better goal would be &quot;to lose 20lbs&quot;. This gives you a concrete goal to strive for, a number that you can measure. Other good goals would be &quot;to be able to bench press 100lbs&quot;, &quot;Completely eliminate soda from my diet&quot; etc. Just make sure there's a way to &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; say when you've reached your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Set a deadline:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So &quot;losing 20lbs&quot; is a measurable goal, but it doesn't really hold you accountable. After all, if you reach that goal in 2 months or 6 months is not really an issue. This is why you need a deadline on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Losing 20lbs until my vacation&quot; would be a much better goal, as you'll really have to work to achieve that goal until your vacation comes up. This deadline will keep you accountable, which'll make it much less likely that you'll skip a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Split it up:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A great big goal can be very intimidating to reach and the bigger it is the more frustrating the way will be. By splitting goals into smaller sub-goals, you allow yourself to go one step at a time instead of the whole way at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's stay with &quot;Losing 20lbs until my vacation&quot;. By setting milestones you can make sure to be on track and split those intimidating 20lbs into smaller portions. By splitting your goal like this, it will become much easier to keep track and really keep at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lose 5lbs over the next two weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lose 10lbs (total) over the next four weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and so on...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also find new sub goals, that aid your bigger goals, even if they're not at first glance a sub-goal. &quot;Only drinking soda on weekends until my vacation&quot;, would be one such supporting sub-goal, as would be everything else that aids you in reaching the bigger goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make it realistic:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A good goal has to be reachable, of course. I just mention this for completeness's sake, as I'm sure you wouldn't try to &quot;lose 10lbs by friday&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't overdo it:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Try to set your goals so you have a bit of wiggling room. If you have to refuse your grandma's birthday cake to reach your goal, then maybe you set it the pace a bit too steep. You don't want to become a social outcast in the process of reaching goals, so plan accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By utilizing the above guidelines you should be able to work your way from a big goal to several smaller goals. This can end in a (very very) long list of small steps to take, but don't be intimidated. Done right, every single sub-goal should be relatively easy to reach, giving you a sense of achievement as it's completed. This should keep you motivated, as you've &quot;already achieved so much&quot; after a short while. Also, the next deadline is just around the corner, so you'll be much less likely to skip workouts or fall for the fast food trap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-06-10T12:40:42.570" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T12:40:42.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17788" CreationDate="2014-06-10T10:55:55.900" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does insulin is secreted all the time (even when i eat tiny amounts of carbs/sugar) or only when blood sugar reaches a certain treshold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot find any good info on the net about this thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9874" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T11:07:29.567" Title="Insulin secretion treshold" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-06-12T02:53:06.970" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17787" CreationDate="2014-06-10T11:07:29.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Insulin is secreted in two ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Continuously&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;There is always a baseline secretion of insulin. It is generally rather low amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In spikes&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;After a meal, the insulin levels spike to high levels, and as glucose gets cleared from the blood, slowly falls back to baseline levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the reason why insulin-dependent diabetics (at least type 1) need two types of insulin . They take one slow-acting insulin which will be in the blood for a longer period of time to simulate the baseline secretion. They also take a fast-acting insulin, which gets cleared very quickly, to simulate the insulin-spikes that occur after meals so the glucose enters the tissues where it is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a graph that shows the levels of insulin and glucose in healthy people. It also shows their erratic behavior after intake of sweets&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4d/Suckale08_fig3_glucose_insulin_day.png/270px-Suckale08_fig3_glucose_insulin_day.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4d/Suckale08_fig3_glucose_insulin_day.png/270px-Suckale08_fig3_glucose_insulin_day.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T11:07:29.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17780" CreationDate="2014-06-10T12:34:51.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motivation can also come from a training partner.  Find someone that has similar health and fitness goals.  Choose someone that can encourage you even when you don't want to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T12:34:51.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17781" CreationDate="2014-06-10T13:44:17.693" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming fitness is a little different because your arms are the predominant power source and your breathing is controlled instead of natural. If you are having trouble with a length, however, the dominant issue is likely to be efficiency. Form drag, friction, rotational drag, etc. will nearly stop you outright if you are not balanced and smooth. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamline_%28swimming%29&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, resistance is exponentially related to velocity and is also related to surface area, so good technique is essential. I suggest instruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T13:44:17.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-10T15:43:17.010" Score="1" ViewCount="1956" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is involved in energy expenditure as it drives the body to respond to stress. So when one is lifting weight or doing a pullup or pushup and is about to finish the repetition specially during last two the jaw bone locks,  the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), acts as the calming, energy-conserving and healing branch of the ANS. Balancing out this locking of the jaw after the session is over. However when the balance between the two is lost, the jaw stays locks up for more then 30 secs after the stress is released. Does anybody have idea of the direct this response to other area so the jaw is released after at the end of the repetition. ? Or how to restore the balance ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9878" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T22:14:37.657" Title="Locking of the jaw during workout related stress" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-10T16:59:47.940" Score="0" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently been on a mission to lose weight and have successfully managed to lose 20 kgs in 4 and a half months via circuit training thrice a week and 8K runs twice a week. I have gone down from 105 kgs to 85 kgs. I have recently started playing tennis again, which I used to do years ago before I was unfit. I have started noticing that along with my diet, in which I try to contain my calorie intake to under 1700 cals per day, I am starting to feel extremely light headed and very fatigued during tennis games. I understand that compared to my normal workout in the last four months ( 45 minute circuit training or an 8K run which lasts the same amount of time ), my tennis games can last anywhere between 1.5 hours to 3 hours. I seem to notice an above normal reduction in weight since I started playing tennis ( 1.5 kgs in a week  over the past couple of weeks). I am worried that I am burning more muscle now that fat and was wondering what is the best way to ensure that I can continue to play tennis while maintaining the same weight loss rate. Would I need to ensure a slightly higher calorie consumption on days that I play tennis. Today, I have just had 160g of ice cream which constitute around 400 to 600 calories one hour before a game and feel extremely guilty about doing so as I normally have tried to stay away from sweets/high cal foods). Any advice is greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1862" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T17:08:30.113" Title="Food prior to intense cardio" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16761" CreationDate="2014-06-10T17:34:27.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind lactic acid generation itself is actually a good thing - it's just directly correlated with other fatiguing mechanisms. Lactic acid (via the &quot;lactate shuttle&quot;) allows for eventual further extraction of ATP via aerobic mechanisms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do hard cardio, you generate ATP anaerobically, which produces lactate as by product of breaking down glycogen anaerobically. That lactate actually still hold energy potential, but your body has to get good at using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, a large of getting in better cardiovascular &quot;shape&quot; is improving your body's ability to breakdown lactate aerobically into ATP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that aside, there are diagrams out there that illustrate the rate of lactate removal as a function of exercise intensity over time. The &quot;optimal&quot; recovery intensity is about 40% of your VO2max. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking would be below 40% of your max, but still aid in removal vs. just standing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeling better in 1 minute is definitely possible as long as your lactate build up is not very large (i.e. near VO2max efforts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T17:34:27.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17795" CreationDate="2014-06-10T18:13:28.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should eat a normal diet with a normal amount of calories. The weight loss toward an ideal weight should come from gains in physical fitness. Suppose in the future you weigh 70 kg, you are eating 2500 Kcal/day and you are physically very fit. If you then have equilibrium between consumed energy and energy expenditure at 2500 Kcal/day, then why can't such an equilibrium be reached now? So, clearly, you should be able to eat a lot more and yet stay at your present way or even lose some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T18:13:28.453" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16730" CreationDate="2014-06-10T18:22:46.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost everybody wears their shoes like this, your shoes are just more worn than others, possibly because the sole is made out of a softer/less durable material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because most people rotate their feet slightly outwards, it's called your foot progression angle (between 2-17 degrees or so):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tUEdF.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tUEdF.gif&quot; alt=&quot;FPA&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://bestpractice.bmj.com/best-practice/images/bp/en-gb/748-6-iline_default.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bmj.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you swing your leg forward, the lateral side of your heel is the first thing to hit the ground. Given that the heel of a shoe often has a sharp edge, which while aesthetically pleasing, is not very useful for allowing the foot to &amp;quot;roll&amp;quot; onto the rest of the heel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you shave it off, bit by bit, until you're left with something you see on your shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you experience any problems with your shoes because of it, either replace the heel or buy new shoes if they are generally worn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-02-16T23:03:15.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17795" CreationDate="2014-06-10T23:53:02.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't want too large of a calorie deficit, especially for intense cardio training. I don't know about tennis, but for long distance running, you want a combination of simple and complex carbohydrates before a long workout. Avoid too much fiber. Refuel afterwards with protein-carb ratio (chocolate milk is the standard example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9883" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T23:53:02.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17940" CreationDate="2014-06-11T00:32:49.423" Score="1" ViewCount="5127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I haven't had much time to go to the gym so I decided to buy my own dumbells. I quickly realized adjustable dumbells are more cheaper than normal dumbells. I came across this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/marcy-40-lb-eco-dumbbell-set/6000132108842&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/marcy-40-lb-eco-dumbbell-set/6000132108842&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is, is there a maximum weight which each handle can take? As you can see, the link above comes with 4-5lbs, 4-3lbs and 2-4lb handles. I was thinking about putting all the weight on one handle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By this, I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one handle, put 2-5lb weights on each side (that makes 20lbs), then put 1-3lb weight on each side (so 26lbs) and with the handle weighing 4 lbs, in total it would be 30lbs (which is a good start off for me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After, I plan on buying two more weighted plates, each weighing 10lbs. That way, on one dumbell handle, I can have: 2-5lbs and 1-10lb weight on each side, which would make 40lbs of weight on the dumbell handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how do I know if the handle is made to take 40lbs on one handle? Last thing I want is the handle breaking and the weights falling on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9884" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T04:29:56.433" Title="What is the maximum weight which adjustable dumbell handles can take?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;plates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17803" CreationDate="2014-06-11T01:24:11.530" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I kept on observing it. If I sleep for 6-7 hours, I will feel sleepy all throughout the day. I tried sleeping 11pm for a change, then I woke up 9am. I still feel sleepy. I can't work on my homeworks and thesis because of this persistence sleepiness.. Maybe there is something wrong with my health. What might that be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9885" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T02:20:47.400" Title="Persistence sleepiness" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-06-12T18:27:22.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17802" CreationDate="2014-06-11T02:20:47.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, if you have concerns about your health, you need to go to your doctor. Assuming that your doctor says that this isn't due to some disease, then it's reasonable to assume that you need more sleep; 6 to 7 hours isn't all that much. If you don't want to feel sleepy, you'll need about 8 hours of sleep and a bit more if you are below the age of 25. Most people who say that they need only 6 hours of sleep actually need more sleep, but they are better than average at tolerating the effects of sleep deprivation. Recent research showed that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/news/health-21572686&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The activity of hundreds of genes was altered when people's sleep was cut to less than six hours a day for a week&lt;/a&gt; . So, you're better of feeling sleepy if you sleep less than 8 hours so that you are forced to sleep more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T02:20:47.400" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17779" CreationDate="2014-06-11T13:14:34.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good running form is definitely subjective. That much is inescapable. I would really pose it as how do you feel after your runs? No one here can really say if your 5k time is &quot;good&quot;. In general that seems to me like a reasonably in shape time but it is dependent on your weight, goals, and body type. Your training seems pretty standard. How I would see if I could train harder would be to increase the amount of speed and interval training you do leading up to a race and see how you feel during the race and if your time improves. Maybe switch to doing speed work every other day for a couple of weeks then a slower run the day before the race and seeing if your time improves. Also 80 km a week seems like a lot for 5k training. Maybe work in some shorter faster runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T13:14:34.863" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17811" CreationDate="2014-06-11T15:15:07.733" Score="1" ViewCount="655" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to a change of workplace, and a tight work routine, I don't have time to go the gym when I'm out of work anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make things worse, I have a knee injury that makes almost impossible to jog. After ten minutes of a mid-pace jogging, the knee feels like something is stabbing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the workplace switch, I was able to go to the gym and exercise. Specifically about the knee, I was told not to run, do squats or use the leg press at all, but to use the static bike and do leg extensions, taking care of not using too much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is if there are any exercises that I can do after work that would help me get into shape again without damaging anymore my knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9888" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T14:04:09.187" Title="I don't have time to go to the gym" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17806" CreationDate="2014-06-11T15:40:36.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought  would be to use kettle bells and create a light routine, but kettle bells require knees to be used in almost all movements. Depending on how tight your work schedule is and how bad your knee injury is I would recommend kettle bells. They provide a full body workout in less than 20 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try yoga. You may think yoga is easy and not a 'real' workout, but it can be very intense depending on the routine and length of the routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your knee injury is bad you should focus on recovering rather than simply avoiding exercises which place stress on your knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T15:40:36.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17795" CreationDate="2014-06-11T17:08:30.113" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have mentioned that your games last anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. During such long games,  it is not enough to hydrate yourself with water...  You need to replenish the electrolytes that your body needs to go on, thus explaining the light headed feeling. I would recommend gatorade for such intense matches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pre-workout food must be eaten atleast before 45 minutes to your workout. And should be something that digests quickly like simple carbs. Dont over eat and keep in mind that your body has glycogen stored before any Pre-workout snack. &#xA;Post-workout recovery is the most important aspect for you to perform so have some protein and carb rich food in 30 minutes after workout. And dont compromise on the hydration.  Drink gatorade or orange juice(natural source of electrolytes). &#xA;Best if luck and keep training! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T17:08:30.113" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16520" CreationDate="2014-06-11T17:23:54.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its great that you love running up the stairs. You are correct that coming down has a slight negative effect on the legs specifically the knees. &#xA;Running up for that matter,  has very less impact on your joints,  unless you stomp. The majority of the pressure is on your calf muscles, which is obviously a good thing... Over time your muscles grow stronger. &#xA;You should also check out competitive stair climbing called &quot;tower running&quot;. Where athletes from all over the world compete in climbing famous towers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the shoes,  there is no specific standard but i would recommend a flat sole with powerful grip so as to avoid any accidents due to tripping. &#xA;Best of luck and enjoy the climb! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T17:23:54.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17818" CreationDate="2014-06-11T20:35:23.440" Score="2" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an athlete (competitive running accompanied by yoga, calisthenics, and swimming) seeking the ideal diet. I've been advised to adopt diet plans ranging from Veganism to Paleo, Whole Food Plant Based, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vegan camp claims humans are essential herbivorous, the paleo camp insists animal protein and fats allowed early hominids to develop into current humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vegans cite low disease levels among vegans, while meat-eaters claim the Maasai, who eat a diet of raw meat and blood, have virtually no Western disease either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an authoritative answer to the question of the ideal human diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9892" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T22:10:43.597" Title="Ideal Human Nutrition for athletic ability and longevity" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17806" CreationDate="2014-06-11T21:52:32.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would look into pilates. There are a lot of great free work outs on youtube that would be helpful for you with an injured knee. you could try POPpilates, she has a lot of free work outs on youtube. Or you can try Nike training club. its a free app in the itunes store. Very similar to insanity or p90x. but you can break it down into areas to work. You could avoid the exercises that would hurt your knee. good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9893" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T21:52:32.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16392" CreationDate="2014-06-12T02:16:22.477" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, if your fingers are constantly under stress and they are not recovering properly, this can lead to nerve damage in the wrist and elbow which is known as a repetitive stress injury. Much of your 'finger' strength in rock-climbing and tennis is generated by your forearm. So increasing forearm strength will increase the strength of your fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allow your fingers and arms to recover. You do not want a repetitive stress injury. I had ulnar nerve entrapment due to intense training with professional tennis players. I didn't touch a tennis racquet for one year and I still have slight discomfort in my wrist and elbow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are an amateur tennis player, I do not recommend intense weight training as it will tighten your body significantly. If you are a serious player, you must balance weight training with yoga or a HIIT. I usually box, as this trains hip rotation, speed, and legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also as you must constantly stretch your fingers and forearms in order to prevent tight muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember fitness and training is a marathon, not a sprint. Unfortunately, I had to learn this the hard way from intense over-training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T02:16:22.477" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16468" CreationDate="2014-06-12T02:40:41.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're going through sounds similar to an experience that I had. I was a college athlete, I played basketball and tennis every day of the week and lifted multiple times a week. I had very bad pain in both of my knees and it was due to tendonitis above and below the knee cap. I was treated for this but the pain consisted. I finally went in and got my feet checked out. The doctor found that I was folding inward slightly on my left foot and so this was misaligning my entire lower torso. This was due to the constant change in direction on the basketball court and tennis court, much like what you do when you play soccer or tennis. I received inserts for my shoes and the pain has decreased significantly. I would suggest going and getting your feet checked out because the solution may be as simple as getting inserts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9894" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T02:40:41.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17898" CreationDate="2014-06-12T06:59:12.707" Score="3" ViewCount="1814" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just been reading about the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days&quot;&gt;importance of rest days&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3717/is-it-bad-to-workout-when-you-arent-sleeping-a-lot&quot;&gt;why sleep is important&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/2861/lego-stormtroopr&quot;&gt;Lego Stormtroopr&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13039/if-i-cant-get-plenty-of-sleep-should-i-be-doing-anything-different-when-trying&quot;&gt;sleep is something you can't work around&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work at a desk in an office all day. Is this considered resting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I get less sleep one night, is it at least beneficial that I'm sedentary during the day? What effect does being at work have on my body? Are my muscles regenerating and, if so, would they be doing as much regenerating as if I were sleeping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sources I've read don't specifically say whether rest and sleep can or cannot be substituted or what the body is doing during each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9886" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T11:33:36.227" Title="What is the difference between rest and sleep? Can inactivity replace sleep?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17806" CreationDate="2014-06-12T14:04:09.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would avoid the leg extension machine entirely, and focus on doing simple bodyweight exercises for the legs that you can find in books.  Pilates is an excellent suggestion.  But you should definitely find some way of getting some cardiovascular activity.  If you can, take the stairs.  Negotiate with your employer to make time: if they are really having you work so much you don't have time to maintain your physical fitness, then they are taking a short view of your value to the company and compromising your health for their financial benefit.  Is that really the kind of company you want to work for?  If you get sick more frequently or are more tired and stressed because you can't exercise, then will you be as productive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T14:04:09.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17779" CreationDate="2014-06-12T14:50:27.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted, &quot;good running form&quot; is subjective. Being in the 21:40 range for a 5k is nothing to sneeze at, as you are looking at slightly over a 7:00/mile pace which is not bad. Can it be improved? Maybe, and that is where the subjective comes in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to say without seeing a typical week for you, but I would suspect that you are just kind of running without any real goal or plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things that I would recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Structure - Structure your runs. You should be getting in 2-3 short distance runs, 2-3 mid and 1 long run per week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In run speed work - By this I mean periods of the run where you increase to race pace for :30 seconds and then drop down to very easy for :30, repeat 5-10 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight speed work - Mile or two warmup, 400's or 800's on the track for time. Should be faster (substantially faster if you can manage it) than your race pace. Couple mile warmdown. Do this only once, maybe twice in a hard week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hills/terrain - Incorporate hill work, and run on different terrain such as dirt, sand, trails, running paths, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is to pay attention to pace. Many time people derail themselves by going too easy on their hard days, and too hard on their easy days. MacMillan has an excellent running calculator that will show you training paces and other information based on current race times and where you want to get to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T14:50:27.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17810" CreationDate="2014-06-12T15:10:07.693" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question seems to be based on what the person giving the answer - is &lt;em&gt;selling&lt;/em&gt;. There are so many varied responses from doctors alone that it is shocking. I suspect that diet has a lot to do with environment so though raw meat may work for the Masai folks, maybe it is their nomadic lifestyle that supports it. Similarly, the Chinese consume a lot of soy but the debate about soy is still on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend experimenting on yourself, much like Tim Ferris did in the 4-hour body (you can get a summary of the book or video online for free) and decide which works best for your genetics and environment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8326" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T15:10:07.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17810" CreationDate="2014-06-12T16:40:20.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no authoritative answer. Science and authority don't mix very well, but you can still have an authoritative answer to some question when the vast majority of scientists have come to the same conclusion. This happens when the known facts leave no room for other answers. In case of nutrition this is certainly not the case. Therefore the best you can do is read the peer reviewed journals like e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AJCN&lt;/a&gt;, many of their articles are free to read. This way you can shape your ideas more based on hard facts rather than vague opnions.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T16:40:20.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-13T00:17:38.770" Score="2" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a rather weird situation here. I've been doing weights for about a year; it's been going well due to a good trainer (my brother), good attitude and suchlike. I've been able to keep going 4 days a week with very few hitches other than intense work periods such as examinations. I do my whole body, chest &amp;amp; arms, legs, shoulders, back, over the week. For brevity purposes, I normally do about 8-10 reps of whatever exercise, and i have definitely gotten stronger - for instance, going from ~40kg to about 70kg on bench over the past few months. Tone has increased, pectorals now visible, adonis' belt, toned legs etc. It's going well... Or rather, has been up until recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is that I've been having some gender issues for quite a while. They've been skulking in the background since a few years ago, but they've really snowballed this year (since around July 2013), even more so in the past couple of months. I started my weight training in September last year. It's helped considerably with my depression; I've always wanted to be able to train, but when i was younger i had massive psychological trouble doing it, and now it's easy for me. However, despite my growing desire to look like a girl, I've kept up the upper-body exercises which don't exactly help with that (I'm not terribly girly naturally), because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to undo my hard work, even though I'm not sure if I want it any more... Strength is helpful (I do other sports like boxing and fencing), and even though it's not how i want to look now, it does look good on a guy, and I was definitely proud of it. I'm aware this is probably a good example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sunk cost fallacy&lt;/a&gt;, but still, it's interfering with my decision making.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's only been recently (i.e. within the past couple of months) that I've really felt a very strong dissatisfaction with my body. Last year, I wanted to feel girly, but I didn't mind my arms as much. I just liked dressing in girl's clothing and using makeup and things like that. I didn't really think about trying to pass as much as now, since I still very much thought of myself as a guy, and I wasn't sure if this was just a phase or if I was serious about this or whether I was going to be more serious about this in the future; I did plan on getting a corset so my waist would be narrower, but I didn't dare consider dropping my arm workout because I was already in a very good - but rigid - routine, and I felt it didn't affect my appearance that much anyway (compared to other things). However, now I keep looking at photographs of myself and getting upset at how my upper body looks; my arms look bulky, chest too large, it just doesn't look girly at all. And that's even before I think about my face, but that's another issue entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm also currently training with my brother (he wasn't here for most of the year, but he's back now), and I don't want to drop half my workout entirely in front of him; I wouldn't want him to feel disappointed or something.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is starting to become really stressful for me, partially because it involves such a hard decision, as one can see above. As time goes on, any sort of transition will become harder, other things may come up, and in any case there will be more progress wasted if i do stop it (the upper body workout that is) entirely. I'd rather start making progress towards my preferred look as soon as possible, but it's deadlocked by this indecision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, further research has shown me that muscle strength without increasing bulk is possible (low reps, high weight). Personally I think this would be a good compromise for now; I wouldn't feel as if I'd lost progress if I kept up my strength, and I need my arms to be in good shape anyway (for boxing). I've asked around and apparently if i were to start going for entirely strength building - i.e. building muscle itself rather than sarcoplasm, which is what increases the size iirc - my exterior would simply cease to grow, rather than becoming smaller... Which is of course undesirable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also point out that I will probably be going on hormonal treatment at some time in the future which will of course inhibit muscle growth (reducing testosterone), but I'm not sure what effect it'll have on current muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does my idea about reducing size while retaining some strength hold water? Are there any other ways of reducing size while keeping some progress? Am I going about this the complete wrong way? Do I need to just stop everything entirely? Am I just another victim of sunk cost fallacy? Please help, I am getting very stressed about this and I really don't know enough about the ins-and-outs of this to make a decision in a timeframe I'd like, especially since it's a rather quaint situation created by rapid change of circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9889" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T08:04:04.950" Title="Muscle size reduction sans loss" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17833" CreationDate="2014-06-13T00:43:16.713" Score="1" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;My situation is I am really trying to get very fit and loose weight. When I am home, I am doing really well. I follow a pretty extreme diet, which basically has become a lifestyle. All is well, and that works really well, and I can maintain the weight I want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, problem is I travel a lot. This year it is more than 2.5 months, distributed over multiple times a year. And you can do &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; of damage in 3-4 days (trust me, I am an expert).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I travel I will consistently eat unhealthy. Extremely unhealthy. Yes, we are talking donuts, sandwiches, ice cream, burgers, pasta and even orange juice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem arises in the following ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I find it extremely difficult to find low-carb / slow-carb food in most cities (sitting in New York airport right now - one **** of a sandwich town!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I find it extremely difficult to eat healthy in airports, especially because I hate being hungry. This is also a problem when travelling 16-20 hours+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I enjoy the plane food quite a lot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The second I enter a plane, my brain suddenly goes: &lt;em&gt;ahh, you are away from home, let's go buy a donut! make it two!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conferences and similar: breakfast buffet full of bread, danishes and cake.. simply to tempting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is both a problem when visiting a city for some days for a conference, but also when I am sitting 3 weeks on a beach in the Philippines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a difficult question, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any best practice, on how to maintain a healthy diet and even loose weight on a vacation?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any best practice to stop the brain from thinking &quot;Yay, vacation!&quot;, every time I enter an airplane?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9897" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T10:16:26.173" Title="How to eat healthy and maintain weight while travelling / being on vacation?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-13T01:53:38.853" Score="5" ViewCount="1882" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for a while now and I realized that my muscles shake whenever I lift weight.  It doesn't seem like it's because of the weight.  I could halve the weight on a bench press bar and I would still shake.  I still always get through the work out but the shaking is always there.  What could be an explanation of this?  Is it a low blood sugar problem as a result of not eating enough?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9898" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T22:01:01.873" Title="Muscles shake irregularly during workout?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2014-06-13T13:12:35.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be because you are feeling weak because you haven't had anything for a long time before going to the gym. Quick solution is have something sweet full of sugar. Chocolate or something. But the best thing is to eat an hour or 1.5 hours before as your pre workout meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had this before as well. No side affects but the risk of dropping the weight on yourself. I have a banana in between. So if I'm working on my back and biceps then I will finish my back work out then have a banana before starting biceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9901" LastActivityDate="2014-06-13T13:12:35.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17825" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-13T14:18:39.953" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some background - Its been around 8 months since I have been exercising regularly, I am 178 cm tall, used to weigh 52.4 Kg when I had started, I have increased to 57.8 till date. Though I was advised about whey protein all along in the beginning I ignored it thinking it was a supplement, it affects kidneys, I can consume that much protein in chicken and fish etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now at this point, I think the gains have not been as much as I had anticipated, mainly because of not reaching the daily protein intake on some days as I don't eat meat daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it a good idea to consider taking whey protein? How much, which brand? Or just keep on going as it is and reach my goal of 64? Also, once I decide to stop taking it, will it affect my weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T17:54:42.457" Title="Adding Whey Protein to fitness goal" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17825" CreationDate="2014-06-14T11:52:43.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a good Whey protein shake can be a great way to supplement your protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can check bodybuilding.com and read-up about good reputable brands &amp;amp; their products,, a few that come to mind are Muscletech, Optimum Nutrion, BSN, Gaspari etc... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow the instructions on the container. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since your natural &amp;amp; this IS NOT DRUGS, as long as you keep training &amp;amp; keep eating after you stop using it, you weight wont/shouldn't drop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9906" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T11:52:43.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17828" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17829" CreationDate="2014-06-14T18:34:50.890" Score="3" ViewCount="3475" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though I do moderate weightlifting, bar pullups, monkey bars and things, my wrists are quite small (more like a lady's!) and so I want to build them up to be thicker (I would imagine this is a weak point for arm exercises e.g. I could have a big bicep and curl a heavy weight, but if my wrist is small I could injure it easily).&#xA;Anyway looking at questions on here people have suggested pressups on all five fingers, which I am beginning to do. My concern is of course that my fingers are not be used to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I going to do more harm than good by doing pressups this way, like give myself arthritis? What precautions should I take?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any advice. If anybody can recommend other wrist exercises that might be more beneficial, that would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Would it be better to do the pressups on my knuckles i.e. with a closed fist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2014-06-17T08:21:55.717" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T08:21:55.717" Title="Pressups on fingers to get bigger wrists - am I doing more harm than good? What precautions to take?" Tags="&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17828" CreationDate="2014-06-14T22:00:03.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pressups on fingers are great to strengthen your fingers besides thickening your wrists and forearms. They won't cause any form of arthritis if you do them properly. The only precaution to take is to be completely sure that your fingers are strong enough to let you attempt the exercise. If not, try doing an easier exercise like kneeling pressups or incline pressups.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the right hand position (The image is taken from Convict conditioning 2 ) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sTmMQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had the same issue before. And by doing fingertip pressups and hanging exercises that I found in Convict conditioning 2 book, I made my entire forearm thicker and more muscular.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I really recommend having a look at these exercises in the book mentioned above.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source : Personal experience :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastEditorUserId="8329" LastEditDate="2014-06-14T22:14:54.260" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T22:14:54.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17820" CreationDate="2014-06-15T01:04:48.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lars, while I have the opposite problem &lt;a href=&quot;https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/27832/what-hotels-will-prepare-dinner-as-specified-by-the-customer&quot;&gt;see here&lt;/a&gt;, I think you could do what I (try) to do when travelling. Try to stay in hotels that can prepare dinner according to your specification. At breakfast pack your food for lunch. You can also buy food from local shops and prepare your food. I am forced to do this everytime I travel, otherwise I would get problems with my energy levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:52:01.947" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T01:04:48.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17834" CreationDate="2014-06-15T01:34:48.720" Score="0" ViewCount="2295" Body="&lt;p&gt;So these past couple weekends, a couple and friends and I have gotten together and played soccer. Somehow, I always manage to run into someone, and injuring (bruising?) my knee. The inside of my knee is tender, and I feel it when at the bottom of bodyweight squats. Last time this happened, I just skipped squats completely for the next workout or two, then it seemed to be fine. However, I don't really want to hinder my squat progress too much, so I was wondering if it is still okay to squat with a bruised knee (at a lighter weight). I am deloading from 140 to around 95, as per suggestion of a form check I posted, to make sure I fix my major buttwink. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So real question, skip squats due to minor knee bruising? Or will I be fine, especially since I am deloading 30% to work on form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(the program I am following is Ice Cream Fitness at the moment, in case it may be of use)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9910" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T11:12:17.660" Title="Squatting with bruised knee" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9690" CreationDate="2014-06-15T03:52:20.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're just starting out, technique and greasing the groove is more important than weight used. Doing 4 lighter sets before 1 &quot;work&quot; set allows you to practice the lift. This is what Andy Bolton recommends in &quot;Deadlift Dynamite&quot;. As for the &quot;work&quot; set, I tend to recommend to pick a weight which can be handled somewhat comfortably for 5 or 6 reps and stopping at 5; and wait until it feels like there is 3-4 reps in the tank before moving up (but then by 10 lbs). I precisely started out a year ago this way: from a light set at 125 to a &quot;work&quot; set at 175, which became 185, 195... so on. At this stage, I didn't bother with changing weights too often and did 3 sets at 155 before the last one at 175, the focus being greasing the groove. As for frequency, I could handle this workload three times a week (I weighted 220 then, so the barbell was lighter than me, which is a big factor - I also only knew about the old Reg Park programs, so it felt pretty normal to me - soreness vanished after two weeks!). At that frequency, I found I could progress without going all-out in intensity. As the working weight got past 300, I scaled the frequency back to twice weekly, but added more work sets. Right now, after one year of steady progress, my sessions have gradually evolved to something like 375 for 3 sets of 5 followed by 2-3 sets of 3 at the same weight (after a warm-up sequence like 135 x 5 reps, 225 x 3, 275 x 3, 315 x 1, 335 x 1, 355 x 1). I did some heavy singles, hitting 435 once, and 4 reps at 405, but this seems more like strength testing than strength building. Despite strength being my focus, I've put on some muscle in the process and now weight in at 240 (6'1&quot; tall). My best progress still comes from multiple sets twice weekly using a heavy but feasible weight (It gets VERY challenging as sets go on one after the other -- I &quot;graduated&quot; to 375 after pulling 355 for 7 x 5). This builds what John Davis called &quot;durable power&quot; and many natty guys (me obviously) respond pretty well to such type of work. I love training in this style so I'm usually very energetic and motivated. That said, I'm still a beginner and learning...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9911" LastEditorUserId="9911" LastEditDate="2014-06-15T04:01:04.470" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T04:01:04.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17820" CreationDate="2014-06-15T07:08:18.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the answer is goal setting.  If you have a goal of losing 8 pound by the end of a month, and at the time agreed that it was realistic.  You will be focused on your goal, and will think a little more before reaching for the donuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are things you can do to help yourself.  When you know that healthy food isn't readily available, take yourself some health food, snacks.  Look at menus before you are ready to eat, to see if there is a healthy option, if not try somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally wouldn't try to lose weight on holiday, but if you eat healthily whilst you're away, and have the occasional ice-cream and a couple of glasses of wine each night, you shouldn't put yourself back too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think my message is this.  Set a goal, to keep your focus.  Plan what you will eat, when and where, and limit the alcohol on business trips, as it's full of empty caloies.  I'm not saying it's easy when you are training, but it does come down to you, and how much you want to achieve your goal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T07:08:18.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17831" CreationDate="2014-06-15T11:12:17.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as it's just bruising, and you have full range of motion you should be OK.  Just don't get in too big a hurry with progressing your lifts to the point where you lift in a very injured state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working around an injured body part for a day or two really isn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T11:12:17.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17828" CreationDate="2014-06-15T15:50:13.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoiding Joint Injuries&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small joints like those in the fingers are designed for dexterity and manipulation, not  to support your full body weight.  In this (&lt;a href=&quot;http://chionline.com/anatomy/anat4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;image&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) you can see just how small the distal joint actually is.  Protecting these small joints for the long term for all the things your hands need to do is better than using them to do pushups - imo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increasing the Size of your Wrists&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Size of the wrists and strength of the wrists are not necessarily the same.  The size of your wrist joint is primarily dependent on the size of your bones, not muscles.  The muscles that control the wrist are forearm muscles.  Exercises specific to the wrist and forearm can increase both bone and muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increasing the Strength of your Wrists&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your wrist strength is the weak link in your biceps curls or other arm exercises, strengthening your forearm muscles will help to strengthen and protect the wrist joint.  Isolating the wrist with exercises that target the wrist flexors/extensor, radial/ulnar derviators and pronator/supinator muscles will increase wrist strength by working the muscles with tendons that cross the wrist joint. These exercises will specifically allow you to address your weakest link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristFlexors/BBWristCurl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wrist curls&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristExtensors/BBReverseWristCurl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse wrist curls&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristExtensors/CBRollerWristExtention.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wrist roller&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristExtensors/DBRadialFlexion.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;radial&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristFlexors/DBUlnarFlexion.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ulnar&lt;/a&gt; deviation, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Pronators/DBSeatedPronation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pronation&lt;/a&gt;/ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Supinators/DBSeatedSupination.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supination&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;isometrics will help to add stability.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as increasing the bone growth (size and density), bones respond to stress loads with weight bearing or resistance exercise.  Assuming you have adequate nutrition including calcium and vitamin D, by gradually increasing the amount of stress to your wrist bones with increasing weight bearing or resistance loads the small wrist and arm bones will adapt by increasing bone density. Body weight exercises such as Yoga's  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/491&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;downward dog&lt;/a&gt; apply body weight thru your arms and wrists with your wrist in good alignment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T15:50:13.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17820" CreationDate="2014-06-15T17:43:55.667" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have the same problem and have unfortunately never been able to control on my diet while travelling, But i have a nice fix for that, you must workout during your travel.&#xA;You could use stuff around you in a room to do body-weight exercises. A few examples are:&#xA;planks, dips using the sides of the bed, squats, lunges, and deadlifts using your bag. You could also carry a very portable set of resistance bands/tubes with you. If you seriously practice on these workouts(three sets of each ), you can at least ensure no extra gains from vacation indulgence. so workout hard and of course, enjoy your vacation!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T17:43:55.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17825" CreationDate="2014-06-15T17:54:42.457" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whey protein is used to gain muscle mass fast. Its a supplement and has very little side effects. The Brand is important because some people see more improvement with diffirent brands(needs to be verified). But &lt;strong&gt;ON&lt;/strong&gt; is the leading provider by far, having the most reputation among bodybuilders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much: There is no universal answer to this particular question since everybody's protein needs vary. Protein requirements vary depending on an individual's age, gender, weight, medical conditions and the nature of the workout one does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When: The best results can be seen when Whey protein is consumed in the morning, after a workout. If you exercise regularly, it may be best to consume a Whey protein shake immediately following a workout. A report published by the National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends consuming at least 15g of protein after each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is highly sensitive to insulin after exercise and shuttles carbohydrates and proteins into muscle cells instead of fat cells. This sensitivity declines post-workout until ~2 hours at which point it reaches baseline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T17:54:42.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2014-06-15T18:05:13.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;New Gym Users often experience their arm 'vibrating', this is normal. the arm consists of not only biceps,triceps or deltoids(shoulders), it also contains many small muscles that give the arm overall stability. while working out with free weights such as bench press with barbel, all these muscles are also activated, and since they are weak, your arm vibrates. give it a few more weeks in training and it should go away. If it doesn't then you must consult a physician. Just remember to add 5 kg when you are able to do 5x5 with your current weight and not more unless under supervision. Request your gym instructor to spot you during your workouts. Enjoy Lifting!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastEditorUserId="7706" LastEditDate="2014-06-15T19:39:11.590" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T19:39:11.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17844" CreationDate="2014-06-16T08:17:50.767" Score="0" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for 1.5 years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chest bench press(with a barbell), I do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;10(rep)x30(kg)&#xA;10(rep)x40(kg)&#xA;8(rep)x50(kg)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel quite a pain in my front delts while doing and for 2 days after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, if I do the it with a chest machine as shown in the picture, I can lift more weight also (can go around 70-80 kg for 3rd set) and I don't feel any pain(soreness) in delts later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, can I continue doing it with machine itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's wrong with my barbell bench press?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vzfkh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorUserId="8020" LastEditDate="2014-06-17T07:11:43.463" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T07:11:43.463" Title="Chest bench press using a machine" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12241" CreationDate="2014-06-16T10:38:29.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why would you want to do any specialized training at this point? If you are progressing with two runs a week, then it seems to me there really is no need to do anything else beside it. Enjoy your runs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to consider doing one of your weekly runs short and fast(er), and the other long(er) and slow. This way you vary your training during the week, giving your body more stimuli to improve performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have suggested, interval training comes on top of the bulk of your training, which should be at a leisurely pace, mostly, with some moderate accelerations during those runs. In my opinion you need to do at least three weekly training sessions before even considering anything else than just running a certain distance, roughly at a constant and appropriate speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are other approaches (as there always are). For instance, by doing extensive intervals with walk breaks (in the beginning, slow paced running if you're more advanced). However, these all assume you already have a race result, giving you a target running speed between the breaks (which &quot;breaks&quot; are the &quot;intervals&quot; in interval training, BTW). You do these extensive interval training sessions instead of your weekly runs, changing your training method altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several possible variants to this approach, but discussing them doesn't really answer your question, I guess. You may want to know about those anyway, so that's why I mention them. If you are interested, look into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;run-walk-run&lt;/a&gt; method by Jeff Galloway and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.posetech.com/library/oa-HL-0001.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Verheul&lt;/a&gt; method by Dutch running coaches Klaas Lok and Joost Borm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are many more similar approaches, and knowing about them is good, even if you don't plan on using them at this point. It puts things into perspective, and more knowledge about your favorite subject is good, never bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastEditorUserId="8430" LastEditDate="2014-06-16T17:51:03.437" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T17:51:03.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17842" CreationDate="2014-06-16T11:31:39.503" Score="2" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh about 95 kilograms. Is it advisable to jog/run for 20 minutes a day? Do i risk injuring my knees?&#xA;The idea behind runnning is to loose weight and gain a lot of endurance and stamina. &#xA;I have been doing squats and lunges to strengthen my leg muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I would like to ask the similar question about skipping/jump ropes. Would jumping for about 2 minutes every day (about 100 jumps) cause serious longterm injuries? I find jumping ropes very enjoyable exercise, but I sometimes get dull ache (stiffness) just above the knees and hence the question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9917" LastEditorUserId="9917" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T10:47:03.743" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T10:47:03.743" Title="How much running is advisable for over weight person?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17841" CreationDate="2014-06-16T12:17:35.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you run ensure you got to a trusted running shop to get the right shoes. Then walk and jog, maybe 5 minutes on day one. Then slowly build up. It may take you longer to get to your distance/time but it is quicker than getting an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure you warm up and warm down correctly, practice makes perfect but do not over do it. If you pull a muscle, stop, rest and recover. Look for something like Park Run and a local running group/club there is often clubs or groups for beginners to get help with starting out. Nothing beats someone going out with you to help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly try to swim to, it will burn more fat and helps your body recover from the run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8279" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T12:17:35.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17887" CreationDate="2014-06-16T12:40:18.413" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;When almond bread breaks down in my body, do the carbohydrates turn into sugar? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that any grain based bread when breaking down in my body, will turn the carbohydrates into sugar in my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7608" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T02:56:08.823" Title="Almond Bread vs Gain Based Bread" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-06-19T02:40:04.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17839" CreationDate="2014-06-16T12:41:38.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing your form, it's difficult to provide an answer.  However, from what you described, I would guess that when doing barbell bench press, you lower the bar closer to your neck instead of closer to your sternum.  That would put added pressure on your deltoids.  Machines typically make it impossible to perform an exercise with bad from.  I would also recommend you have someone watch your form from the side and provide advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T12:41:38.417" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17859" CreationDate="2014-06-16T13:25:28.787" Score="0" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been a long time since I last spent any serious time working out. And the skinny and fit kid I used to be is now a lightly overweight and unfit man. I weigh 12st (at 5' 7'') and have had to buy new clothes recently because my old ones don't fit any more :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I finally started again, and I'm doing quite a bit (four equimentless workouts a week, 2 strength, 2 HIIT, cycling half an hour twice a day, and working my way through a 50 push ups challenge)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm suddenly finding myself hungry all the time. I'm not eating &quot;bad&quot; food, as far as I know; I've been having nuts and bananas and lots of water, so I think this is natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to know is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I try and avoid eating sometimes? (Keep in mind I'm looking to loose quite a bit of weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I restrict what I eat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will this go away or should I get used to it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Following comments regarding overtraining, I thought it best to mention that my excercises had at first left me sore and stiff but that has now gone. I'm working hard but I don't feel (physically) like I'm overdoing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://neilarey.com/challenges/50-push-ups.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neila Rey's 50 push up challenge&lt;/a&gt; and I'm definitely making progress (plus my shirt collar doesn't do up any more :( ) Progress is good, my concern is in telling the difference between hungry because I &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to eat and hungry because my body doesn’t want to use up its fat cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9877" LastEditorUserId="9877" LastEditDate="2014-06-17T12:32:37.240" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T12:44:00.607" Title="How much should I worry about eating more when exercising?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17845" CreationDate="2014-06-16T16:32:59.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your body sends an SOS because you worrk too hard. You have to consider your age and state of health. If you are under 40 and have no chronic health problems then just slow down and start slowly again - with 2-3 workouts a week, but go on steadily for a long time. Remember, your body has to get used to exercise, if it doesn't you'll gain weight again when you have a break from exersices. The same with the diet! Slowly and steadily are the key words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8203" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T16:32:59.677" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17841" CreationDate="2014-06-16T17:21:08.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoes are a good place to start but the key is to find a goal and then look at a plan to meet that goal. A reasonably good goal for a beginner is to finish a 5k. There are myriad good plans for &quot;couch to 5k&quot; and they are all just a google search away. I would recommend looking at something like active.com or something similar. The key when you start is to remember that the hardest part of running can often be the first two minutes aka. getting out of the door and getting going. You should be running at a pace where you can hold a conversation but not too easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T17:21:08.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-16T20:40:49.667" Score="1" ViewCount="11896" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a medical/health question; this is a question on why doing squats is causing me a burning/painful sensation in my quadriceps. I normally work my legs using squats only for now ... I just did a few reps yesterday with a 50 lb. barbell on my shoulders, full depth, and my quadriceps have a burning, swollen feel ... but this probably has always been. If I do more than, like, 5 reps in a single set I get tremendous pain in the muscles, usually D.O.M.S. If I do low reps it's fine, and I only care for strength and nothing else as part of my workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would my muscles be getting a swollen, burning like sensation? I have been doing squats for many years (6) and this problem always endues; also similar with other major muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could there be a good reason why something I've been doing years and have experience with (good form as well, etc.) be causing me displeasure from throwing in a few more reps here and there? I mean I walk a lot, but that's a necessity. Most leg work I get is walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8807" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T21:29:25.067" Title="Squatting is causing pain in my quadriceps" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;doms&gt;&lt;quads&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17848" CreationDate="2014-06-16T23:53:41.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles &lt;strong&gt;several hours to days&lt;/strong&gt; after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your claim that you get &quot;DOMS&quot; after a set of 5 reps is incorrect, unless you have actually squatted already in less than 5 days. (The soreness generally leaves after 5 days.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you been doing your squats inconsistently? My workout regime, for example, involves me doing squats MWF, for 3 sets of 5; increasing 5 lbs/workout. I only get sore for the first week when I take a break longer than a week; it goes away after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7373" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T23:53:41.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17839" CreationDate="2014-06-17T00:55:57.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be more clear about the pain you experience. Is it dull pain that persists throughout the day? If so, it is just DOMS, which is what you get when you don't work out for a week or longer and then work out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a sharp, it has to do with your joints and/or tendons. But from what you have described, you don't get pain when you do the machine press. So I would assume the machine does not work out your deltoids as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7373" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T00:55:57.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17864" CreationDate="2014-06-17T07:06:28.280" Score="3" ViewCount="1335" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to achieve &quot;one goggle in the water&quot; side breathing, but even using flippers and three kick boards to keep my body as high as humanly possible, basic face anatomy dictates that if my eye is underwater, half of my mouth is underwater. Now I read that &quot;Your arms create pockets of air near your armpits as you reach ahead and stroke. Swimming coaches teach students to turn their heads to one side and draw a breath from the pocket.&quot; Does this mean that the kick board approach is impossible and the only way to practice side breathing is while you are doing strokes? I had thought it was the wake from your head that created the air pocket, which is why I was using flippers to move forward as fast as possible while holding the kick board.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T16:31:22.873" Title="Is it possible to practice freestyle breathing with a kick board?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;crawl&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17870" CreationDate="2014-06-17T07:08:51.240" Score="4" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 24 year old male in decent shape, and I want to include workouts in my weekly schedule as a part of my life. Currently my goal is to gain strength, and I'm not interested in gaining muscle mass or losing fat outside of what comes with strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that I work overtime on a regular basis, and going to a gym is not an option because of the extra time it involves beside the actual workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in getting the best results I can with what I have available, so I'm searching for a workout that I could do at home. I live in an appartment and have adjustable dumbbells, a pull up bar, a quality jump rope, and am willing to buy whatever other equipment would be needed that can fit and be stored in my home, even punching a hook through my ceiling and buying TRX bands if it's suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On my own I've found several commercial workout programs or rom various websites, but I thought I'd see what suggestions I would get from posting here, relative to my objectives, since there is no real way to review such programs without actually truing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8705" LastEditorUserId="8705" LastEditDate="2014-06-17T15:42:10.613" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:40:01.813" Title="Tried and true at home workout?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17845" CreationDate="2014-06-17T08:54:14.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people live under the assumption that there must be some sort of caloric defecit and/or starvation scheme in order to lose weight. The case just isn't so. In september of last year i weighed in at around 253 lbs 24-26% bf. I am now 205 @ 15% bf. I did this by eating MORE. Obviously not shit, but healthy foods and a low carbohydrate intake, high protein, healthy fats..etc. Look, the key to your (FAT)loss is your metabolism. Now look at your metabolism as a fire. In order to keep the fire burning you must keep feeding it.(good foods)&#xA;Enough shitty metaphors for today, but i hope i gave you a different look at it all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THBKenQZOhg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THBKenQZOhg&lt;/a&gt;  -WATCH&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T08:54:14.417" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2014-06-17T08:56:11.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimmers develop sensitivity in their hands so they can hold water more effectively, by using the feel of water pressure to determine the pitch of their hand. Three tips I have seen are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;press the fingertips of one hand hard against the fingertips of the other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;press your fingertips against the pool deck while resting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rub your hands together or on the pool deck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing these activities just before your serve could make you more aware of sensations in your fingers so you can better learn from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T08:56:11.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2014-06-17T09:01:23.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This all depends on what you consider lifting for a &quot;while&quot;. Now every human being is built differently. I have some friends who i have trained and they had these neuro-responses from the get go, others not so much. The common denominator between the two where that it went away after consistent time and training. I don't think diet has much to do with it unless you are going EXTREMELY heavy in respects to your own strength, or are starving yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way keep at it and best of luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T09:01:23.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17852" CreationDate="2014-06-17T11:53:44.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are various breathing exercises for beginners with the kickboard:&#xA;If you are right handed and prefer breathing from the right,  then keep your left hand outstretched to the front of the board and the right hand bent and on the bottom side, then breathe from the right with normal kicking patterns by twisting your head to the right. The key here is to try to not tilt the heard upwards, only twist it to the right,  at that time, half of your face will be outside the water and you can then slowly breathe. If you're left handed,  then just switch sides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T11:53:44.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17853" CreationDate="2014-06-17T12:38:15.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to make appreciable strength gains, you need to add weight incrementally.  Without a barbell, or machines (eek!), this is difficult.  Your adjustable dumbells will stop generating training adaptations in a very short amount of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the best thing you could do is go to a gym.  Just make it a priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next best thing would be to buy a barbell and a squat rack, and do a program like Starting Strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot fit a squat rack into your apartment, maybe you could still do an Olympic lifting program, using a light enough weight that you do not have to ever drop the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a barbell it will be very difficult to train your lower body.  You can still gain quite a bit of upper body strength just by doing weighted pull ups and dips.  These two exercises alone give a fairly complete upper body strength program.  I would recommend increasing reps until you can do 3 sets of 8, then increasing the weight by 2.5 pounds and do 3 sets of 5.  Work your way back up and repeat the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is bodyweight training, where instead of adding weight you put yourself into increasingly mechanically disadvantageous positions. For instance, to train your chest, anterior delts, and triceps you can do pushups.  To make pushups harder, you can do psuedo planche  pushups, then the planche, then planche pushups.  You may also gain considerable satisfaction from the mastery of cool skills like this, in addition to the increase in strength.  This still has the problem of not effectively training the low body. I recommend the bodyweight fitness subreddit as a source of information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T12:38:15.167" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17845" CreationDate="2014-06-17T12:44:00.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should have a plan for weight loss that has the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your target weight--this is the weight you believe you should be healthy for your height.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milestone weights--every 5 lbs is good here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An estimated amount of how many calories your body burns with your current activity level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without defining these things you'll be constantly wondering whether you need to eat more/less/etc.  Every milestone you'll be re-evaluating your estimated calorie expenditure at your then current activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you increase activity, your body burns more calories.  Also, as your lean mass increases, your body burns more calories at rest.  As you become more athletic your body responds by doing what's necessary to keep up that activity--which includes getting rid of the fat stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what, you will never lose weight unless you have a moderate deficit.  By moderate, I'm talking about eating enough to lose 1-2 lbs a week.  2 lbs is OK if you have a lot to lose, but 1 lb if you are within 10 lbs of your goal.  Too aggressive a deficit can actually work against you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Figure out your calorie plan, if you choose to eat more on training days and less on rest days then make sure the weekly deficit is 1-2 lbs a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep protein intake constant: .85g / lb if you are exercising&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough fat for healthy metabolism: .35g / lb minimum (preferably healthy fats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make up the rest in carbs: choose carbs that also have fiber to improve satiety and support an active lifestyle, but a minimum of 125g / day on average.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exact balance of fat to carbs is a very individual thing.  Some people deal better with more fat, and others deal better with more carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that a well designed diet will:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;support your activity levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not leave you feeling deprived&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and improve your metabolic health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is very achievable as long as you pick foods that are high in nutritional value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T12:44:00.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17860" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-17T12:46:16.357" Score="3" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing Wendler's routine, and am still in my first mesocycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't progressed on other routines for six months, doing them properly, such as Stronglifts, mad cow, greyskull and a few others, I am clearly progressing now, but I feel like my set that is meant to be my one rep max being done for 15 reps is ridiculous. Especially considering I am meant to do another of these one rep max things in ~26 days at only 5 kg heavier than what I can already do for 15 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TL:DR: I am doing really well on Wendler, should I increase the weights even though it is my first cycle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attached is my current progress(In KG):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ajhCe.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, the final set in Wendler is as many reps as possible, the number of reps achieved is in blue for each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, I am gaining reps on the final set while increasing the weight, which means it is likely too easy for me(?), and am thus unsure what to do. Following the routine properly I would be doing 120kg as my 1 rep max on Mon 14th of July, which is only 5kg heavier than I did 15 reps for in one set yesterday(16th of June). I feel like I could easily do 13ish reps for 120 already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do? Apparently I should not change his routine until the fourth cycle atleast, but this seems like a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 2: I am following every aspect of the conventional routine, including 3x5 LS AMRAP, 3x3 LS AMRAP, 1x5 1x3 1x1 LS AMRAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for long post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8753" LastEditorUserId="8753" LastEditDate="2014-06-18T01:45:49.910" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T22:46:40.290" Title="Wendler's routine, should I adjust? (KG)" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7504" CreationDate="2014-06-17T14:40:19.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a low tech solution, use a curb. :) Pavement is rough enough to rub them away, and it's easy enough, every time you're sitting somewhere, waiting for a bus or for your ride, to gently rub away at it bit by bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T14:40:19.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17852" CreationDate="2014-06-17T16:31:22.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What the coaches mean, is that when you turn your head to the side, water forms kind of a &quot;bow wave&quot; coming off of your head/forehead, which causes a small trough (area of lower water) to form near your nose/chin, and it's in this pocket that you breathe. Yes, your eye will be underwater, but the bow wave moves the water away from the rest of your face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed does help, but once you get used to it, you can have your mouth half full of water and still be able to breathe. As you get faster and faster, the bow wave effect is easier to do and clears your nose/mouth much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use one kick board, and when you want to breathe, drop your hand off the board on that side, pull, then breathe during the arm recovery. This will help to develop your timing and encourage the body roll. You don't want to just turn your head only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T16:31:22.873" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-17T16:33:52.403" Score="1" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm doing standing bar curls for a high rep-count (and especially during the 21-rep challenge), my shoulders are absolutely burning by the time I get close to finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm focusing on keeping my shoulders back, chest out and up, and keeping my elbows static at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure of the name of the shoulder muscle here, but it's the one located at the front, and flexes if you push your elbow diagonally forward/up. I know this should indicate what I'm doing wrong during the curl, but it's like I can't help but tighten it when curling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, this does not happen during concentrated curls or hammer curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips on correcting the issue, or alternative measures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T17:04:22.437" Title="Shoulders tire during EZ-bar curls" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17820" CreationDate="2014-06-17T17:12:14.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;well, probably the best thing you can do and i do it is to keep in mind your goal&#xA;i visit every weekend my mom and she likes to to cook things that aren't exactly healthy, what i do is basically i limit myself and try to take the healthier part of what she cook (chicken, broccoli, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when i can't apply my diet for vacation or different circunstancies i apply this to myself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot; if it grows or you can kill it, you can burn it &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9926" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T17:12:14.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17868" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-17T19:38:51.983" Score="2" ViewCount="14062" Body="&lt;p&gt;first of all I just want to say that I have an Excessive Anterior Pelvic Tilt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I am working out my abs I don't feel anything except when I do crunches on the machine. any other workout just makes my lower back arch and I don't feel anything in my abdominal... when I had lost about 21 kg I was feeling my abs working out but my anterior pelvic tilt was a little bit less. After 1 year I gained 16 kg because of bad diet I now have a lot of lower belly fat :( can the fat hold me back from feeling any of the workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, I really need help with this. In order to fix my anterior pelvic tilt I need to train my abs, and without feeling anything at all in my abs while working out will hold me back from fixing my tilt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9928" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T03:47:38.663" Title="not feeling abs working out" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17792" CreationDate="2014-06-17T20:36:17.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a chat with your dentist they will be able to guide you. My jaw used to lock when I ran and we traced it back to eating apples before running! Good to eat them but the extra stress on the jaw before exercise was the cause. To relax my jaw I massaged the side of my jaw, gently, on both sides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the best thing is your dentist, they are specialists and everyone is different. The teeth/jaw symptoms are sometimes misleading. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8279" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:36:17.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17853" CreationDate="2014-06-17T20:40:01.813" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;With your goal of everyday strength, bodyweight exercises are sufficient, provided that you work the right muscles with the right exercises. Here is what i would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper body:&#xA;Buy a set of resistance tubes,  they are very affordable and help you work muscles such as the biceps, triceps. Then of course all variations of the pushup, with and without inclination, use furniture or a bed to achieve the desired inclination. Dips for the triceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core: &#xA;core musles comprise of all the muscles between your chest and hip. &#xA;Core muscles are often ignored but are very important for overall strength, if your core is strong,  you have more stability and hence reduced risk for injury due to heavy lifting. I would recommend planks, and various ab workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs:many people believe that legs cant be workout out without hitting the gym,  but there are ways by which you can boost their strength tremendously. Apart from the usual squats and calf raises, Incorporate plyometric exercises, where you jump hard and then jump again as soon as you touch back down...  All the variations of the above can give you very satisfactory results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay motivated and enjoy your home workouts! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:40:01.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17868" CreationDate="2014-06-17T20:49:42.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not feeling anything in your abs means that your abs arent getting the workout that they are supposed to . The key to developing strong abs is to perform the crunches slowly, let the muscles slowly expand and then contract, even on the negative rep where you are going back down. If you work them out well then you should feel a subtle burning sensation in your abs by the 12th rep. You may also increase the inclination for further toughness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:49:42.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17873" CreationDate="2014-06-17T21:21:46.850" Score="2" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old male. I exercise, run etc but my chubbiness wont just go especially from the face as you can see. Any good suggestions? So I can look more rugged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8664" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T13:56:14.590" Title="Chubbyness from the face and body" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17872" CreationDate="2014-06-17T21:36:35.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be one of many things. Overall if your body fat % is high, your face will be a obvious representation of that no matter how much you run, workout etc. Also it could be your diet. More specifically the sodium/carb intake within your diet and hydration. Cut back on the salts and increase you're hydration and see if that can't take off some of the water weight in your face. Also if you are experimenting with AAS (prob not), then this will also add to water bloat in the face. More so in aromatizing compounds such as Testosterones, and other non DHT derived compounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want a rugged face ? Lose fat. Lose the salt. Lose the carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T21:36:35.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17819" CreationDate="2014-06-17T22:31:22.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best of luck with everything. The first problem I see is that you have your idea of increasing strength without building bulk is skewed. Low reps and high weight is for powerlifting. You WILL get bigger. If you want to sculpt your muscles try pushing out 12-15 reps or even 15-20 depending on the exercise and body part. You can increase your strength withoutI used adding size. I used to be a competitive bodybuilder and changing the reps and weight is one way to work on your body proportions leading up to a competition. Once you start hormone therapy I am sure that will have an affect on your looks as well.&#xA;I hope this helps. It has always worked for me. I don't compete any more, but I do still work out and use this technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9929" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T22:31:22.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17875" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17876" CreationDate="2014-06-18T02:48:38.350" Score="0" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the end of each mesocycle, how does one calculate next cycles weights? Do I test my one rep max at the end of each cycle? It seems that you are meant to test your one rep max at the start of the program, and progress only 10kg per month for the rest of the year, or at least that is how the spreadsheet that was made for it is configured, but that doesn't seem to take into account doing better or worse than expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8753" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T22:54:02.483" Title="Wendlers(5/3/1), how is each future mesocycles weight calculated?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17875" CreationDate="2014-06-18T07:16:51.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, if you managed to complete one cycle, you'd just increase the weight by the recommended amount (10kg) and start a new one. There will be a point where you won't be able to complete all reps on a cycle and, as far as I understand Wendler's philosophy, there's no point in rushing there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wendler also adressed the speed of progress on 5/3/1 in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, that reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pursuit of strength is not a six-month or one-year pursuit. It's a 30-year pursuit for me. You gotta be smart about it. But everyone wants everything right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's kinda his thing to view &lt;em&gt;any progress at all&lt;/em&gt; as sufficient, as in the longterm it adds up. That's a philosophical debate to some degree, but slow and steady does have its merits. Mainly that you won't overtrain and thus not hit a plateau as likely. He says something like that in the article, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tell guys that the longer your stride, the quicker you'll tear a hamstring. But the problem is, people live for today's workout. No one seems to have the vision anymore to look beyond just what they're doing today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan my training for a year. I know exactly what I want to do, and what I want to accomplish 12 months in advance. And I know what 5 or 10 pounds a month adds up to over the course of a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself have always viewed 5/3/1 as and advanced lifters program for that reason. On an intermediate level progress happens too fast to plan ahead for years, which is why progress might seem &lt;em&gt;too slow&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case, it's up to you if you want to raise weight by more than the recommended amount. If you overdo it, you will have to repeat the cycle and go a bit slower about it the next time. Do keep in mind though, that quicker progress also means your body and central nervous system won't adapt as smoothly. Like I said, kinda philosophical and both sides have their merits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T07:25:23.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17819" CreationDate="2014-06-18T07:49:11.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, it's possible to get stronger without building muscle once you reach a certain point. The problem is, to reach that point, you'd probably still build muscle and get bigger. Also, please view this answer as a theoretical rambling instead of a recommended course of action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Theoretical ramblings:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;First off, you don't need to gain size to gain strength. Strength depends on multiple factors of which muscle size (and therefore amount of muscle fibers) is only one. Others are intra-muscular coordination and motor unit recruitment among others. This is why even if you keep muscle size constant, your ability to lift heavy stuff &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; increase. It's much harder to do, obviously and progress will slow down considerably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other problem with that approach is that your body &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; want to build more muscle to be able to meet the stress you put it under. This can only be prevented by not giving your body the building blocks it'd need to do that. So if you don't provide a caloric surplus your body can't possibly build anything in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short term, your body can however utilize stored body fat to a certain degree. Your body would have to decide what's more important and would, to a certain degree, build muscle from fat until you reach a point where it decides that both are equally important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that point on, you wouldn't be able to build new muscle without a caloric surplus. However, do keep in mind that at that point you'd be considerably lean and muscular, which is probably exactly the one thing you wouldn't want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ways to get there:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The first approach would be starting from zero. You could lose muscle first, by not working out for a few months and keep a quite strict diet, which would maybe, just maybe, allow you to get stronger &lt;em&gt;from there&lt;/em&gt; without building much muscle in the process. You'd start pretty much from the beginning, though, with no guarantee that you'd not get huge again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second approach I can think of is dieting down without losing much strength. This will, even more than the first approach, get rid of body fat first and muscle later. It would allow you to keep your strength, to a certain degree. This is basically a normal bodybuilding diet, but you'd accept the muscle loss instead of seeking to prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If by &quot;looking girly&quot; you mean soft, without much &lt;em&gt;visible&lt;/em&gt; muscles, I fear that can't be done while keeping and/or gaining strength. If you look up some of the top CrossFit ladies, though, you'll notice they do look athletic (and are strong) without sacrificing much of their femininity, in my opionion. Depending on genetics and how HRT is laid out, it could be possible to get close to that look. It won't be easy, though, and there's no guarantee that it'll work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-06-18T08:04:04.950" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T08:04:04.950" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2014-06-18T08:34:22.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could come down to a few simple things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overexertion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;....your form&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been lifting now for eight solid years and am now prepping for NJ amateur show later this year. I have lifted for strength (football in hs) quickness (wrestling) and now physique and aesthetic preparedness in college for a show. All the way throughout my years of training i have only experience the pain you are describing in the beginning.. way back 8 years. Frankly my form was complete shit then, i was going too heavy, and i didn't give a rats ass about flexibility.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what i understand you are talking about standing curls with free bar ? Wear a sleeveless shirt the nextime you do them and analyze your shoulders. If your bf% is low enough you will see the striations in your shoulder whilst doing these... indicating that they are indeed being worked during this exercise. What i did to mitigate this issue was&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lower the weight and make sure your stance is completely stagnant throughout the movement. After a while the shoulder will grow accustom to the weight and movement and will go away. Allowing you to move up in weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And stretch that shit... This allowed me to completely get rid of the shoulder pain... haven't felt it in years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what do i know lol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-06-18T17:04:22.437" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T17:04:22.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17879" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17890" CreationDate="2014-06-18T08:38:46.287" Score="0" ViewCount="562" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to lose my tummy, I am following a plan. I eat accordingly and stay away from sugar, I do have protein shake post workout, and in work out have my BCAA. It's been a month, I take 1-2 days off from gym also I try to swim (although I'm learning), my weight has been fixated on 80 kg.&#xA;The program I am following make sure you lose 2-3 pounds per week. Given everyone's body is different and what the person can lift weight I cannot. Can I blame protein shake or BCAA from keeping me shedding the weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-06-19T20:44:38.133" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T17:17:40.337" Title="Can protein shake be blamed for not losing weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2014-06-18T08:40:56.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shoulder muscle which you are referring to is the front deltiod.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EZ bar curls require a good deal of form in comparison to dumbbell curls. If you are assuming correct form when doing this exercise you should have have feet shoulder width apart with your back straight. Also try to bend your knees slightly while doing this - I found it helped when I started training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that I wouldn't know exactly how to correct it - but just with anything (almost) in the fitness world you can overcome it. To build on your front delts try to do kettle bell presses on a flat bench, this completely isolates the area and if done correctly you should see results soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9931" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T08:40:56.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17879" CreationDate="2014-06-18T08:52:39.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its not a simple as following a plan because someone says so, and expecting it to work perfectly. This isn't a movie. What worked for them might not work for you, and you are intelligent enough to realize this I see. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Staying away from sugar will not be the defining factor in your weight loss goals, what will aid you in your weight loss goals are ACTUALLY working out, which i didn't even see you mention.. and listening to what @LarissaGodzilla just told you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-06-18T14:41:05.117" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T14:41:05.117" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-18T08:58:29.727" Score="1" ViewCount="3382" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hoping someone can help me out on this,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand glycolysis is the breakdown of glucose(sugars) into pyruvic acid which is then oxidized further down a series of reactions to produce what we know as ATP (Adenosine Tri Phosphate), or the energetic &quot;currency&quot; of biological systems. The original sugar molecule is obviously derived from carbohydrates (if i remember correctly), which won't be in much abundance due to a ketogenic diet which I plan on starting tomorrow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is while being on a ketogenic diet, can I supplement the initial glucose 4-carbons by taking d-ribose throughout my diet? This would in theory keep the advantages of a ketogenic diet, along with promoting ATP synthesis and significantly increasing my bodies anabolic potential and muscle growth that would normally be there if I had adequate carbohydrate intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effects of Keto on weight training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of &quot;pump&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depleted Glycogen stores in muscle Fibers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of Endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General Muscle loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can D-Ribose help get rid of these issues ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastEditorUserId="9922" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T00:24:05.187" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T11:35:05.543" Title="D-Ribose and keto" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17868" CreationDate="2014-06-18T15:30:33.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try crunches on a Gym ball . Doing crunches on a Gym ball requires more stability and let you arch more , than doing on a bench or flat surface, which restrict your movement . Start with doing small range , and as you progress or become more comfortable increase the range of extension. Doing crunches on Gym ball also puts less tension on your back.&#xA;Other thing you can try and surely works is Power wheel . Done correctly, they really focus on abs and you can really feel the effect . There are many videos on Youtube explaining how to use power wheel properly. You can start with placing yourself in front of a wall and with shorter distance between you and the wall. Slowly increase the distance , and thus working your abs more. But be cautious with the power wheel , as it puts greater tension on lower back as well.There are range of power wheels available in the market, choose which best suits you. There are some models which you can hook to your feet as well and can perform more exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T15:30:33.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17843" CreationDate="2014-06-18T19:10:36.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it breaks down according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_almond_bread_breaks_down_in_your_body_do_the_carbohydrates_turn_into_sugar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; I asked at answers.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes, in general. However, not all can be used right away and so the excess will be stored in adipose tissue.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7608" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2014-06-19T02:56:08.823" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T02:56:08.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17868" CreationDate="2014-06-18T23:06:03.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anterior pelvic tilt or ATP &quot;could be due to a number of reasons such as &lt;strong&gt;increased&lt;/strong&gt; erector spinae and &lt;strong&gt;hip flexor strength relative&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;gluteal and abdominal strength&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your main goal based on your question is to fix your excessive anterior pelvic tilt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To accomplish this you must address basic principals in the specified order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Posture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Corrective Exercise &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The most important factor to address is proper posture.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article describes a way to have correct posture just using your body:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sit-better-live-better-excerpt-from-becoming-a-supple-leopard.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sit-better-live-better-excerpt-from-becoming-a-supple-leopard.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is called the bracing sequence; To simplify the sequence I just think about it this way &quot;the butt sets the posture but you cant walk with your but squeezed&quot; so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squeeze the butt as hard as you can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get you abs tight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Release the butt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Show your chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First master the original bracing sequence and then simplify it.&#xA;Obviously, simply doing this once will not fix your posture. You must make it a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Once you understand proper posture you can work on fixing muscle imbalances.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To mobilize correctly we must first address&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joint mechanics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sliding surfaces &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dont stretch&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Joint mechanics&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;We have to put the joints in a correct position before we work the tissues(muscle)&#xA;&#xA;We must first fix the&#xA;&#xA;**Spine**&#xA;&#xA;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu0MFghKjqY&#xA;&#xA;**Hips** (if you are double jointed, seek professional advice. for now skip this and work on sliding surfaces)&#xA;&#xA; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVcQuaM-OSo&#xA;&#xA;*I know this is very general but there are many more mobility videos on Kelly Starret's youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/sanfranciscocrossfit/videos*&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sliding surface&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;When a muscle gets tight it makes the opposing muscle weak.&#xA;&#xA;Once you set the hips in their proper position your hip flexors should be less tight.&#xA;&#xA;You can continue to work on them by addressing both the hip flexors and glutes.&#xA;&#xA;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZaiBeNrsfQ&#xA;&#xA;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c7iKglr6J8&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Corrective Exersice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not crunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To crunch or not to crunch is very controversial. One scare tactic is the limited flexion cycles of the spine. You can decide for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/to_crunch_or_not_to_crunch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/to_crunch_or_not_to_crunch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to fix your ATP we must focus on exercises that give you a big ROI and the crunch is not one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you're in excessive APT, strengthen the hell out of PPT.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have correct posture and have fixed your muscle imbalances you can begin to focus on reinforcing proper movment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alot are described on this article on the second page.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/dont_be_like_donald_duck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/dont_be_like_donald_duck&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally like the hip trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you go and read more of Kelly Starrets and Bret Contreras work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had writen this for myself a while back and thought it could help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8315" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T23:06:03.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17879" CreationDate="2014-06-19T00:47:55.737" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are not losing weight because you your calorie intake is greater than your calorie expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this isn't directly attributable to your workout shake, they still have calories - albeit nearly 100% protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you which to lose weight but arent, you need to adjust it so you use more calories than you consume. This can either be done by additional exercise in the day &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; increasing your calories to compensate&lt;/em&gt; or by reducing your calories further. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the protein shake may seem like an easy target for reducing your calories, as mentioned in the comments, protein is important when eating at a &lt;em&gt;calorie deficit&lt;/em&gt;. Instead,  &lt;strong&gt;look at reducing your consumption of hidden sugars&lt;/strong&gt; in your day such as soda, fruit juice or overly sugary caffeine drinks. Also consider slight decreases in your portion sizes and reducing snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T00:47:55.737" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17848" CreationDate="2014-06-19T07:05:07.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your muscles are getting a burning sensation because the fibers are being stimulated and are being forced to do work. This is what exercise (muscle building at least) is all about. You break your body down to build it back up, with proper rest and nutrition, so that it is stronger than it was before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, inadequate rest and nutrition will delay your progression with weights and your body's ability to recover. A possible explanation as to why this workout &quot;hurts&quot; still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squatting should be limited to once a week &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Overall examination of your Macronutrient intake. Since this is a problem with all of your major muscle groups this seems as the most obvious culprit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and keep at it !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastEditorUserId="9922" LastEditDate="2014-06-19T07:21:18.657" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T07:21:18.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17893" CreationDate="2014-06-19T10:35:18.370" Score="0" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 year old male weighing 72.5 kg and height 169cm, I have started working out(Mostly of weight training and bit of cardio) since a month and have reduced from 74.5kg. There is improvement in muscle definition, reduction is tummy a bit. But I am not satisfied with the results. My diet does not contain much protein though i consume 4 egg whites almost daily. Have I made a good progress or should I include whey protein supplement in my diet or should I wait for a few more months of workout and then consider a protein supplement.? I have worked out before as well, but was never consistent.Now I have been consistent since a month.My goal is to reduce weight and to get a good muscle definition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7812" LastActivityDate="2014-07-20T10:53:41.357" Title="How long should i wait to see fat reduction in my body?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17892" CreationDate="2014-06-19T10:58:53.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dieting Speed:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You lost about 0.5kg (1lb) per week, which is generally recommended for slower diets. The benefits of dieting slowly are that there's virtually no muscle loss (you really only lose fat) and better carryover of good habits to the time after the diet. Also, it's easier to stay sane and keep going, as you're probably not starving throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So seeing how you're not really that much overweight I wouldn't recommend losing weight any faster, as that's when detrimental effects set in. You'd begin to lose muscle along with fat, performance drops, comes to a standstill or at least progresses slower. Also, a faster diet is not as sustainable and won't have that much carryover of good habits for after the diet, as faster diets don't work with good habits normally (think 'starving').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein Consumption:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You say you're not eating much protein, which could become a problem. Protein is very important to build and maintain muscle mass. No matter if you want to get better at your workouts or just not get worse while losing more weight, you will need sufficient protein. Opinions on what is 'sufficient' differ greatly and depend on what kind of activity you're doing, so it's a bit hard to say right now. If your were weightlifting, I'd recommend 2g/kg (1g/lb) per day. If you're 'only' doing cardio you might get away with less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding protein supplements: Seeing how you seem to have problems getting enough protein in, this could be worth a try. Generally, you should be able to get everything you need from whole foods, though. Should you for some reason not be able to meet your protein goals, a supplement can help. Keep in mind that it still has calories, however (~120kcal for 30g whey), which you'd have to compensate by either eating less or working out more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-06-19T11:23:21.810" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T11:23:21.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2014-06-19T11:54:51.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since i have also started working out in gym since few months and have lost few kgs so here is my opinion. You have not mentioned properly about workout.In order to burn fat you need to have more muscle, the amount of muscle you have is directly proportional to calories you burn. Add weight training to your routine and food which has good amount of lean protein(egg whites, paneer, chicken breast, fish etc) which help in muscle building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always focus on building muscle to loose weight. Have a mix of weight training and cardio.Crunches will help you grow abdominal muscle but will not reduce your belly fat if you have beleived so.You should include more of compound exercises like deadlift,squats etc... to burn more fat.Avoid completely junk food and reduce the sugar intake.You can ask for more questions if you have any particular doubts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7812" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T11:54:51.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17915" CreationDate="2014-06-19T17:14:16.270" Score="0" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an early 20s fairly active person and volunteer firefighter. I am looking to increase strength and speed as an amateur athlete and be a more effective fireman. I have been lifting for 6 years now and I am now about 83 kg at 1.83m and can squat 225x3x10 comfortably and bench 185x3x10 comfortably as well. I am currently in a position where anything other than a home gym would be highly inconvenient. Would the TRX system be an effective way to meet these goals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:48:08.987" Title="Effectiveness of TRX System" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-19T17:36:03.080" Score="1" ViewCount="3912" Body="&lt;p&gt;After doing around 8 months of bodybuilding routines with little gains I finally decided to switch to a powerlifting workout, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLift 5.5 by Mehdi&lt;/a&gt;, I am 178 cm tall, weight around 57.4 Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before this I had only done high bar squat and bench press. But after looking at the SL videos I found that my form was poor, e.g. I wasn't going parallel on squats, my shoulders were coming off in bench press, hell I wasn't even holding the bar properly (not on the palm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After completing two workout days - I noticed lower back pain on first day, especially after the row, I thought my form was still not 100% and there has to be some soreness. It was better after a day of rest but the second workout of OHP and Deadlift brought the pain back. Although its better after a days rest, it has me worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to know how to prevent this pain in my next workouts, exactly what to look out for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T15:33:38.990" Title="StrongLift 5x5 and lower back pain" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2014-06-19T18:28:27.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A TRX could be useful at home. It has a place as assistance work. However, I'd be cautious of making up a whole routine out of it. Wherever you currently lift (have have recorded your current rep PRs), in addition to some TRX at home, certainly isn't a bad idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T18:28:27.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17814" CreationDate="2014-06-19T18:33:03.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/sleep-why-its-essential/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tim Ferriss discusses how there needs to be more of a reason than tissue regeneration for sleep. According to Sapolsky (2004), many scientists and doctors believe we need sleep so the brain can replenish its energy supplies. The brain weighs only about three percent of our total body weight, yet it consumes 25 percent of the total body energy expenditure! Deep wave sleep is when energy restoration occurs (stages three and four REM).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It’s very important that you don’t watch television or do things right before bed that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Once in a while, you might stay up for a late game, but you will have no shot at entering deep wave sleep while the SNS is cranking. I always have my athletes stretch, meditate, go for a light walk, or listen to some soothing music before bed. These types of activities help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). In order for recovery to take place, you must be in PNS dominant mode.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you or your athletes are depriving themselves of sleep, a decrease in stress hormones doesn’t occur. Instead, they increase. To make matters worse, a lack of sleep will cause both growth hormones and sex hormones to decrease.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/sleep-strategies-for-strength-speed-and-size/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;As sleep is divided into stages, the roles of sleep likely depend upon the stage in question. Non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep appears to play a role in the restoration of the nervous system and energy conservation. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep seems to be important in local brain regeneration and modulating emotions. REM sleep appears to prepare animals for waking behavior; animals awakened from NREM sleep demonstrate impaired sensorimotor function in comparison to those awakened from REM sleep (Horner et al. 1997).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Early work suggested that sleep deprivation could impact variables associated with body composition. One to two nights of complete sleep deprivation was associated with elevated 24-hour urinary nitrogen excretion (Scrimshaw et al. 1966), which might be expected to impair lean body mass accrual. Sleep deprivation also appears to elicit changes in appetite-related hormones that could influence food intake and body composition.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Four days of sleep extension to ten hours per night reduced daytime sleepiness (Carskadon and Dement 1982), which might be expected to hinder performance. Kamdar and colleagues (2004) also found this as well as faster reaction times and improved moods after sleep extension.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sleep deprivation has been shown to impair the immune and endocrine systems (Reilly and Edwards 2007), which are crucial to recovery from exercise. Acute sleep deprivation has been shown to lower testosterone and aggression in men (Cote et al. 2012), which could reduce motivation in training and blunt adaptations due to the stimulatory effect of testosterone on muscle protein synthesis. Disrupted sleep has been associated with reductions in resting heart rate and core temperature (Vaara et al. 2009), aerobic capacity, and aerobic enzyme activity (Vondra et al. 2001).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The National Sleep Foundation provides the following generic recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•Ages 1–3 years old, 12–14 hours per night&#xA;•Ages 3–5 years old, 11–13 hours per night&#xA;•Ages 5–10 years old, 10–11 hours per night&#xA;•Ages 10-19 years old, 8.5–9.25 hours of sleep per night&#xA;•Adults, 7–9 hours of sleep per night&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look up Chad Aichs. He has written a lot on sleep and lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the second article closes the best, &quot;Sleep is something that we should all strive to improve if we value our health and performance.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastEditorDisplayName="user9941" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T11:33:36.227" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T11:33:36.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15908" CreationDate="2014-06-19T22:04:18.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One additional factor that none of the other answers factor in is that power lifting not only requires the energy expenditure to rebuild the muscles after a lift. I don't know exact numbers but your body burns a significant number of calories rebuilding muscles. Add on to that the fact that muscles need to burn calories just to maintain themselves having more muscle means your body will be burning more calories while you go about your life. Long story short actually measuring a Joule or KCal energy expenditure is more or less useless but strength training does lead to a large amount of caloric expenditure both during the activity and after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T22:04:18.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17904" CreationDate="2014-06-20T08:29:39.227" Score="2" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to try using front squats in my workouts. They always seemed technically tough to me and a bit intimidating, does anyone have good tips on how to perform them properly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For front squats, I want to use the clean type grip and wanted to know about a good stretching exercise for my wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8590" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T09:53:28.560" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T11:54:57.350" Title="I want to incorporate barbell front squats into my workouts, does anyone have good tips for doing it correctly?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17903" CreationDate="2014-06-20T09:49:41.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Front Squat is an amazing exercise that I like to do regularly. It's a bit difficult to do at first, but if you start low enough and work your way up, it's actually not that hard. I started at about 50% of my back squat and worked up to ~75%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for technique, I'll try to give you some cues I've learned over time, which have helped me a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's still a squat...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While you're placing the weight in another position, your back and legs should about do the same thing as with a back squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knees should still be above your feet, but not over them. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The weight should still be above your mid-foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should still go below parallel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your back should still be straight (although more upright).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;...but it's also different&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since the front squat uses places the bar in a completely new position, you might want to look out for what your upper body does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The weight is resting on your front deltoids, not your chest, your arms or your collarbones. This can hurt at first, depending on how puffy your deltoids are. If you're strangling yourself, you went too far.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your back upright and straight (again). This prevents dropping the weight and nasty back injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your elbows up. This is even more important to not fall over. Keep them as high as possible and don't let them sag once you get tired. This is by far the one thing that helped me most, as you'll almost automatically hold your whole body in the right position once the elbows are up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As for grip:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The bad news is, I'm not sure what stretches would be advisable to get to clean grip, but there're already some question on that topic on this site (I think someone recommended aikido strechtes, go look it up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news, however, is that you can use a 'clean grip' even if you're not flexible enough. For this, one uses straps, like in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVTkbggmxR0#t=42&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; (at the start, but the rest is good, too). Like Thibs says in the video, straps can also be used instead of a 'real' clean grip to prevent elbow strain, but that's personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T10:06:25.560" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T10:06:25.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16307" CreationDate="2014-06-20T11:47:02.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/sleep-why-its-essential/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tim Ferriss discusses how there needs to be more of a reason than tissue regeneration for sleep. According to Sapolsky (2004), many scientists and doctors believe we need sleep so the brain can replenish its energy supplies. The brain weighs only about three percent of our total body weight, yet it consumes 25 percent of the total body energy expenditure! Deep wave sleep is when energy restoration occurs (stages three and four REM).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It’s very important that you don’t watch television or do things right before bed that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Once in a while, you might stay up for a late game, but you will have no shot at entering deep wave sleep while the SNS is cranking. I always have my athletes stretch, meditate, go for a light walk, or listen to some soothing music before bed. These types of activities help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). In order for recovery to take place, you must be in PNS dominant mode.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you or your athletes are depriving themselves of sleep, a decrease in stress hormones doesn’t occur. Instead, they increase. To make matters worse, a lack of sleep will cause both growth hormones and sex hormones to decrease.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/sleep-strategies-for-strength-speed-and-size/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;As sleep is divided into stages, the roles of sleep likely depend upon the stage in question. Non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep appears to play a role in the restoration of the nervous system and energy conservation. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep seems to be important in local brain regeneration and modulating emotions. REM sleep appears to prepare animals for waking behavior; animals awakened from NREM sleep demonstrate impaired sensorimotor function in comparison to those awakened from REM sleep (Horner et al. 1997).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Early work suggested that sleep deprivation could impact variables associated with body composition. One to two nights of complete sleep deprivation was associated with elevated 24-hour urinary nitrogen excretion (Scrimshaw et al. 1966), which might be expected to impair lean body mass accrual. Sleep deprivation also appears to elicit changes in appetite-related hormones that could influence food intake and body composition.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Four days of sleep extension to ten hours per night reduced daytime sleepiness (Carskadon and Dement 1982), which might be expected to hinder performance. Kamdar and colleagues (2004) also found this as well as faster reaction times and improved moods after sleep extension.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sleep deprivation has been shown to impair the immune and endocrine systems (Reilly and Edwards 2007), which are crucial to recovery from exercise. Acute sleep deprivation has been shown to lower testosterone and aggression in men (Cote et al. 2012), which could reduce motivation in training and blunt adaptations due to the stimulatory effect of testosterone on muscle protein synthesis. Disrupted sleep has been associated with reductions in resting heart rate and core temperature (Vaara et al. 2009), aerobic capacity, and aerobic enzyme activity (Vondra et al. 2001).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The National Sleep Foundation provides the following generic recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•Ages 1–3 years old, 12–14 hours per night&#xA;•Ages 3–5 years old, 11–13 hours per night&#xA;•Ages 5–10 years old, 10–11 hours per night&#xA;•Ages 10-19 years old, 8.5–9.25 hours of sleep per night&#xA;•Adults, 7–9 hours of sleep per night&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look up Chad Aichs. He has written a lot on sleep and lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the second article closes the best, &quot;Sleep is something that we should all strive to improve if we value our health and performance.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T11:47:02.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17868" CreationDate="2014-06-20T14:00:46.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check your form. Make sure you are doing the workouts properly. Then repeat until you feel the burn in your abs. It may be that you have a better core than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you gained weight and you think you arent feeling the abs workout, take time out and go running. Do some three miles, rest for two to three minutes and crunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, vary the ab workouts you go. crunches only serve to fine-tune the top abdominal muscles at best. Ulisses has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.ng/watch?v=w2Y5376lgtU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;variation of ab workouts&lt;/a&gt; which may interest you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8606" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T14:00:46.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-17T19:21:44.203" Score="6" ViewCount="488" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is well known that the performance of athletes who suddenly move to a location at a higher altitude than they are used to will suffer; when sports events such as the Olympics are held in a high altitude location, athletes often move to the area much earlier in order to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question I haven't been able to find an answer to is: How big of an altitude difference is significant? E.g. Will a sprinter who lives and trains at sea level feel any different competing at 200 - 300 m above sea level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="David" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T22:48:46.940" Title="Effects of altitude on athletic performance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2014-06-20T17:06:11.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some great exercises you can do with TRX.  In particular you can put your feet in the stirrups, bringing your weight more over your hands, and giving an unstable base, to do pressups, up and down planks etc..  Lots to do, but think you would still need the weights.  A great piece of kit to enhance a home workout though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T17:06:11.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17907" CreationDate="2014-06-20T17:11:08.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;300m should not make that much of an effect for average sports,  but higher than that,  the effect grows gradually, there are reports of people suffering from altitude sickness when ventured higher than 2400m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Altitude training has been used by athletes from many years now. At higher altitudes,  due to the reduced pressure, it becomes harder for the lungs to diffuse oxygen into the blood. Hence in order to compensate,  the blood inturn increases its hemoglobin capacity to try to absorb more oxygen. Hence when you train at higher altitudes,  your body will then be able to perform better at lower altitudes immediately after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your questions when athletes have to compete at higher altitudes, there is a slight effect depending on the altitude, hence for their body to adapt and perform at those altitudes, they shift and start training at that altitude before the event. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T17:11:08.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17879" CreationDate="2014-06-20T17:17:40.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should start to see weight lose within a week, if you are doing it properly.  A couple of pound a week, is realistic.  Look at your diet, and exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are app that will help you count calories, and help you workout how many calories you require to lose weight.  Myfitnesspal is pretty good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't go lower than recommended, otherwise your metabolism will slow, as your body will think its being starved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T17:17:40.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17896" CreationDate="2014-06-20T17:20:07.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Judging by your height and weight,  you seem like you require a more beginners approach to weight lifting and power lifting is not recommended. Since you dont have a solid base,  it will be very tough for you to mantain a proper form.  I recommend you to start using machines for all the mentioned exercises,  the machines prevent unwanted injuries and also help mantain your form, work on the free weights only with an instructor spotting you and looking out for your form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly progress increasing your strength and know your limits,  as excessive weight can severely harm your back or cause troublesome injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T17:20:07.450" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17903" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:07:10.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will add some cues to Larissa's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you are in the hole (the bottom position of the squat) don't strain your neck by looking up and leading with the head when rising to the standing position.  Lead with your chest, not your head.  This will help you maintain your upright position and mitigate the tendency of your butt rising faster than you chest when moving heavy weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Point your toes out, up to 30 degress.  Knees track over toes.  &quot;Shove your knees out&quot; on the descent, as Mark Rippetoe says. &#xA;Depending on your individual anthropometry, your knees may well be past your toes in the bottom position.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of stretching, I always found simply doing the movements helps to create the necessary mobility.  If you don't quite have the wrist flexibility yet to support bigger weights for your work sets, warm up with the clean grip, then use the straps for your work sets. &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/Un1PDhrU3h0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kelly Starrett has a ton of mobility drills, here is one specific to the front rack.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a good video for learning form: &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/video/platform_the_front_squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/video/platform_the_front_squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:07:10.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17848" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:23:47.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Walking is not leg work (unless you are morbidly obese) and getting sore after squatting a 50lb barbell would imply you need to develop more strength in your legs.  If this is all you can squat - which would be weird considering you said &quot;I only care for strength and nothing else as part of my workout&quot; - I have to disagree with Macedon93.  You should be squatting 3x a week and increasing the poundage each session.  The squat is perhaps the single best driver of overall strength, and doing them consistently is a must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't speak to how eating different foods affect your body (except that eating bacon makes you happy) but I can say that soreness caused by a certain movement is most often alleviated by doing that exact same movement.  While your condition is not D.O.M.S. as stated above, if the sensation is similar, you simply need to keep squatting.  Do goblet squats, sit in the bottom position and push your knees out with your elbows.  Try stretching your quads in different ways, ice baths, hot tubs, and take an Ibuprofen before lifting. That can reduce swelling and help you work through any pain that may still exist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:23:47.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17860" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:44:55.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, likely too easy for you...but it's working, right?  Strength training is usually conducted with long-term goals in mind.  You are progressing nicely, even if the weight feels too light.  Work on nailing down your form during this time, because if you stick with it, you will be moving large weights down the line, and probably will look back on this time with amusement, when every deadlift didn't make your eyes feel like they are popping out of your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, imporatant considerations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you eating better?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you sleeping better?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added any supplementation? (Wendler has quite the supplementation regime for beyond 5/3/1.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, getting at least 8hrs of uninterupted sleep and eating like you want it are the keys to moving the weight. If you improved upon these two variables, that could well explain your sudden onset of herculean strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:44:55.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:48:08.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's effective for what it does, but if you're looking for pure strength, it's not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great at working core, stabilizers, and bodyweight exercises, and IMO they're worth having.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to increase raw strength, though, you'll need to lift heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was faced with very limited space the Bowflex Selecttechs worked great, then I augmented that with a small set of heavy-ish kettlebells and two good sandbags. Since you have to lug gear around, a weight vest might also be nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, I'm a pretty firm believer in bodyweight and functional exercises for jobs like that; while Navy SEALs lift heavy and hard, the core of their training is exactly like you see in the TV: pushups, situps and other core work, pullups, running, and carrying around heavy shit. It works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:48:08.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17848" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:48:31.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a week is not very much squatting, and fifty pounds is not a very heavy squat. If you squat more, and more often, your legs will get stronger and stop getting sore from normal workouts like what you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:48:31.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7504" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:51:52.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Soak you hands in hot water for a few minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;gently&lt;/em&gt; shave the callus off with a shaver.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apply cornhuskers. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:51:52.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17810" CreationDate="2014-06-20T22:10:43.597" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever seen a strong vegan?  Or met one you didn't annoy you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are an athlete, I highly doubt you will succumb to the &quot;diseases of civilization&quot; unless you stop your athletic practice.  You need the animal protein to stay strong (read: healthy) and you need all that good green stuff present in vegetables.  And, I'd argue, you need a 1/2 pound cheeseburger and some pizza and beer (or whatever) every once in a while to maintain your &quot;mental wellness.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also have to ask, do you feel that your current diet is inferior to something else?  If the answer to this is yes, then find out what top athletes in your sport are eating, and dig in!  Good food drives athleticism, and a powerlifter in a bench shirt can eat himself into a heart attack and be the best at what he does.  Eat for performance, and keep performing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T22:10:43.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17907" CreationDate="2014-06-21T03:32:48.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purely based on the density of oxygen, the usual rule is that you lose 2.5% of the oxygen for every 1000 feet (304 meters) of altitude. That probably isn't significant for recreational athletes, but to world-class athletes it may be significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T03:32:48.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-21T03:47:22.000" Score="1" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to crossfit everyday of the week except on sunday (because there is no class on sunday). I weigh 220 lbs and considered over weight, so I struggle a lot to complete the workout. I am not sure, if resting couple of days would help. I tried resting this week by not going yesterday and today, but I feel more tired than days I workout. what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T03:34:14.623" Title="How many times can one do crossfit in a week?" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-21T04:46:41.920" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing crossfit for past 4 months, but I haven't lost any weight. I saw Rich Froning video on youtube and starting taking some amino acids drink. Other than that, I don't consume any other protein mix. I don't have breakfast, and have salad for lunch. For dinner, I eat brown rice and boiled eggs. I did bikram yoga for couple of weeks. Finally, I don't see much difference in weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of my friends suggested running, but I was never a big fan of it. Should I take up running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T15:46:38.667" Title="How to reduce belly?" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-06-24T01:59:07.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17921" CreationDate="2014-06-21T11:20:55.407" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would be much better off lifting three days a week (full body workouts using compound lifts) and walking (perhaps briskly) for one or two other days of the week. If weight loss is your goal I would also suggest looking at your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you're describing with you and CrossFit it sounds like your body cannot recover from what you are doing there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T11:20:55.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17903" CreationDate="2014-06-21T11:54:57.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brandon Smitley of EliteFTS has put out a great series on the front squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/so-you-think-you-can-front-squat-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/so-you-think-you-can-front-squat-part-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/so-you-think-you-can-front-squat-part-3/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He covers everthing from technique and the kind of shoes to wear to how to incorporate it into your program. I would try and summarize the information, but it wouldn't do it justice. Go check it out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T11:54:57.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17896" CreationDate="2014-06-21T15:33:38.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lower back pain is commonly caused by improper form.  Squats, DL's, and rows will do this to you if you allow your lumbar to go into flexion during any parts of the lifts.  Film yourself when squatting, deadlifting, etc, and see if you are maintaining extension or going into flexion.  My experience is this is why low back pain persists.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, word to the wise: don't listen to people talking about &quot;building a solid base first,&quot; or &quot;use machines&quot; or other such nonsense.  How do you think you build a solid base?  By moving weight.  You simply won't get strong using machines, and they are a great way to force your body into an unnatural movement pattern.  Too many personal trainers are adult baby-sitters.  Take their advice for what it is worth as well (generally not much).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deload, &lt;em&gt;practice&lt;/em&gt; with the empty bar, maybe more than you like, and lock in your form.  Some stretching, foam rolling may help you ease into the proper position for each lift. Doing some easy stretching after your session may help as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the pain persists, deload completely and just use the bar to hone your technique.  Watch and rewatch all the videos you can find.  Keep filming yourself do each and every lift, try and connect what you see in the video with the way it feels when doing to movement.  If you really can't stop the pain, you'll need to find an &lt;em&gt;experiened&lt;/em&gt; trainer.  If you are in the US, attend a Starting Strength seminar: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/seminars#ssl1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/seminars#ssl1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  Spend the money to work with someone serious, if you are serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T15:33:38.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-21T18:43:24.833" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 years old (soon will be 26), height 174cm and weight is 77KGs. After reading some questions here I realized that in order to achieve my dream body shape (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/17932/achieving-the-perfect-body-shape&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;) I need to lose as much fat as I can. My questions are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- How much fat I should lose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- It seems there is a difference between fat and weight, so how can I measure how much fat I have now?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T23:09:38.567" Title="How much fat I can safely lose?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-06-24T01:58:53.540" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17922" CreationDate="2014-06-22T15:46:38.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got news for you: Rich Fronning, Dan Bailey, and all the other elite men and women of crossfit did not get where they are in their athletic careers by doing crossfit.  They all got strong first, doing squats, deadlifts, etc.  They didn't do more weight than they could handle for time (at least not at first) with crappy form while not eating.  To poorly summarize an analogy from Dan John, strength is a glass that holds all your other athletic ability.  The stronger you are, the bigger the glass, and the more potential you have.  The stronger you get, the better you will be at crossfit, and crossfit will not get you as strong as you can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another answered a similar question of yours &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/17921/how-many-times-can-one-do-crossfit-in-a-week&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and answered it well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you need to keep eating good food.  Chicken breast isn't fatty, and is full of protein.  Eat that if you're worried about fat in meat.  It's fine to supplement with amino acid whatever and protein shakes, but the main meat of your meals needs to come from, well, meat.  You can't live off vitamins or supplements, it's not healthy and won't help you achieve your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The jury is still out on running.  T-nation, while certainly biased towards the strength and meathead crowd, has a few recent articles on running and other LSD (long, slow distanec) workouts.  People who run will tell you running is great.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/training/death-of-steady-state-cardio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Death of Steady State Cardio&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/training/regular-cardio-will-make-you-fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Regular Cardio will Make you Fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do take whatever anybody says with a grain of salt.  Try some things yourself and give them time to work.  Clearly crossfit isn't doing it for you.  Take time off from crossfit and focus on getting strong.  Come back after a few months, and I'll bet you will see that you are better at crossfit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T15:46:38.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-23T00:54:40.060" Score="4" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Playing Dance Dance Revolution requires a lot of pivoting in place, and the friction between my shoes and the dancepad causes torsional stresses on my knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how one's knees fight such a stress. What can I do to strengthen my knees against torsional stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9959" LastEditorUserId="9959" LastEditDate="2015-07-08T02:41:41.690" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T02:41:41.690" Title="Dealing with torsional knee stress during Dance Dance Revolution" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17801" CreationDate="2014-06-23T04:29:56.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most fitness equipment will coming with a safety rating stating clearly and legally the maximum safe weight the product can hold when used in a normal fashion.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it doesn't give you a maximum weight, don't buy it as it is probably not very high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T04:29:56.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2014-06-23T05:35:56.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga can help a lot in fixing imbalances as any stretching routine would do. But, you really need to observe yourself in front of a mirror or better yet, another knowledgeable person to help you. We get imbalances from when we train one muscle group too hard and not bothering to release the tension built up after lifting weights. I suggest to completely stretch your whole body after every workout and make sure to focus on the spot that seems tight for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9960" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T05:35:56.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17933" CreationDate="2014-06-23T05:39:09.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A weight loss of one pound a week is safe. It is safe in terms of nutrition and you without yoyoing back to your original weight. You could go beyond that but be careful of being not able to keep up with your diet and going back to your previous weight, this is yoyoing back to your previous weight. I've seen this with people, get near their wanted body to fit into a dress or a bikini and after that, get fat once again. It's supposed to be a change in your lifestyle not just a diet which you go on and go off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One pound of weight loss a week is safe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to get a fat caliper to measure your body fat percentage and multiply it by your bodyweight to get how much your fat weigh. Body fat percentage is a much better information than Body Mass Index (BMI) which just uses your weight-height ratio.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9960" LastEditorUserId="9960" LastEditDate="2014-06-23T23:09:38.567" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T23:09:38.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-23T11:22:31.690" Score="0" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want a great physique, instead of good, for this I need a lot of hard work, good food &amp;amp; Strength. But the problem is that my stamina is not so good, because of that i am unable to lift weight &amp;amp; work hard, because doing this causes weakness &amp;amp; BLACKOUT. Dark circles also occurs under eyes. I eat 10-12 chapati(s) in a meal or 400-500gm of rice with veggies or cereals. But the problem is same. Can you tell me something to gain strength, stamina &amp;amp; muscles..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9963" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T12:59:32.897" Title="Weakness &amp; Lack of Strength" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17944" CreationDate="2014-06-23T12:31:18.770" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to change your habits gradually and start from some reasonable level of strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should never come even close to blackout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should eat each 2 - 3 hours, you should sleap enough and have enough rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should add to your food also a lot of meat - you should eat balanced food full of proteins, sugars and fats and plenty of vitamins and minerals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8412" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T12:31:18.770" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17944" CreationDate="2014-06-23T12:59:32.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If that's your whole diet, then that's the reason you are having problems.  The diet is very unbalanced, and does not support your desire to get strong and have a great physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/12/the-three-laws-of-protein/&quot;&gt;Eat enough Protein&lt;/a&gt;: 1.8g/kg body weight.  If you are vegetarian, you'll have to get creative.  Oats and quinoa have a decent amount of protein in them.  If you can eat meat and eggs, I recommend it highly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat fruits and vegetables: many of your micronutrients you kneed are contained in these.  Fruits and green vegetables are very nutrient rich.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough fat to support metabolism, but not much more than that: .16g / kg absolute minimum.  A little more than that would be good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The rest of your food from carbohydrates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that your food should be coming from a variety of different sources.  Just chapati and rice robs your body of what it needs to function properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you'll have to be ramp up your activity a little slower so that your body has a chance to catch up.  Do not neglect conditioning work as well.  In fact, it might be a good idea to get a physical to see where you are starting from.  For your sake, I might suggest starting with conditioning work so that your heart and lungs can get used to working harder before you transition to weights.  The last thing you want to do is black out with a bar over your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A question for you: did your heart race uncontrollably at any time during exercise?  If so, that is a sign something a bit more concerning is going on and might require you to get that checked out by a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T12:59:32.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17947" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-23T13:27:43.920" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last Friday I did my first running race: 6.2km I ran 35.58min (35.10 netto time), which is my personal best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I found rather strange is, that although I was already running faster than I ever did before on that distance, I was able to speed up a little for the last 800m or so, and even getting seriously fast (by my standards) on the last 200m. Therefore I was able to overtake many other runners, who weren't willing or weren't able to speed up at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering: Should I have run a little faster during the complete race thus reaching an even better total time? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or was everybody else just taking it easy, not bother to sprint in the end? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or did I just hit it perfect and most others were just going to fast during the race and couldn't speed up in at the end anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's rephrase it to make it independent from my personal race:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to achieve the best possible time should we &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) run at a speed that allows us to just barely finish at almost constant speed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) run slightly slower and sprint at the end toward the finish and total exhaustion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T09:09:58.110" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T00:30:01.333" Title="Should I have run faster during the race, or was I just more motivated than the others" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17947" CreationDate="2014-06-23T13:55:53.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I sprint the last 100m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the race, I run at the pace I'm comfortable with. When the race is in the last third, I try to keep up and run faster than an opponent running at my pace because beating him would mean an increase in my PR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the big picture is there is no one else to race with but yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7373" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T13:55:53.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-24T07:21:55.377" Score="5" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vibepersonaltraining.co.uk/bury-personal-training&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;training&lt;/a&gt; for a triathlon and wondered what the best approach is when starting out with open water swimming? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also would you recommend buying a wetsuit straight away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it tend to be a lot harder when swimming outdoors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9970" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T12:24:20.960" Title="What is the best way of getting into open water swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;sea-swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14560" CreationDate="2014-06-24T07:31:24.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are factors to consider and you could vary when exercising. These are intensity, volume and rest between each set. You are doing a low-intensity workout because you said that you could do them without difficulty. You are doing a lot of sets, seeing that you target to do 6-12 sets of 10 pushups each day but you're giving yourself too much rest in between that you won't be able achieve the area where you're pushing yourself. If you want to get stronger in the sense that you'll be able to do more push-ups per set, I advice you to change this routine and go for more reps each set or shorten the rest in between sets to maybe about two minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My question is, would there be any benefit to &quot;working out&quot; like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are benefits, yes. You'll burn a bit more calories just from doing the movement itself but the added benefit is that you raise your heart rate for a bit. This also trains the connection between muscle and your brain but a simple pushup is a simple movement unlike more compound movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Given that each set doesn't stress the muscles so much, would the compounded fatigue have any benefit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're not really pushing yourself even for the first six sets of 10 pushups with about 30-minute rests in-between, I'd say that you won't grow that much stronger. If you want to get stronger, you have to get out of the comfortable zone and strive to increase pushups for the last sets until you can't do them anymore. I'd advise you to do the last set of pushups for the day with increased reps up to the point where you'll just drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9960" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditDate="2014-06-25T14:24:02.647" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T14:24:02.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17954" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17958" CreationDate="2014-06-24T07:54:43.597" Score="0" ViewCount="533" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some background: I'm doing push-ups now, around 100-200 push-ups a day, 2-3 times a week, each day i'll do it in around 4-5 groups, each group 40-50 push-ups.&#xA;I'm also doing plank, for the core muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i'd like to do some work-out for build leg's muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i hope it will not require additional equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also i hope it's not hurting the knee, as i'm approaching 40... preferable something like plank, that is static. I used to run, about 12 km in 1 hour, but it's a bit long and i heard running hurt the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;hope this question is valid to the forum. cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9972" LastEditorUserId="9972" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T08:46:16.753" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T14:49:35.957" Title="Please recommend some exercise on legs" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-24T08:48:52.333" Score="0" ViewCount="680" Body="&lt;p&gt;My age is 21. I am 5' 4&quot; (162 cm) and weighed 42kgs when I started hitting the gym back in the first week of May. A couple weeks later, as recommended by my dietitian, I started consuming the &lt;strong&gt;Dymatize Elite&lt;/strong&gt; whey protein in the following doses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half scoop with milk 45 minutes before workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full scoop with water just after workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another half scoop with milk anytime during the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scoop size is 36g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've been noticing the following symptoms since then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe constipation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stomach feeling bloated, as if its gonna burst even if I inhale&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sudden rise in my weight. I now weigh 49kgs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rashes on my skin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A sudden increase in my appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched the internet to find that these symptoms are of Celiac disease. I want to know if the powder really is the cause of the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4430" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T12:51:31.953" Title="Whey protein consumption leading to Celiac disease?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-06-30T01:52:23.333" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2014-06-24T10:28:16.553" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I faced the same challenge about 2 1/2 years ago. That is, no swimming background but wanted to try open water swimming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my own trial and error path, I would recommend the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Learn to swim without a wetsuit first. It is a non trivial task since swimming is a technically demanding sport (contrary to what I thought initially). The big upside is with a good technique in a triathlon context, you will spend much less energy on the swim part and be in better shape for the biking and running. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a technical trainer for the swimming. Not a coach that only tells you to swim &quot;10x100m&quot; etc. If you are new, there are a lot of small details that are important in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a friend to practice with. You can then work on both the distances, e.g. the &quot;10X100 etc&quot; and the technique together. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Swimming outdoors is different from indoors (waves, sounds, objects in water, temperature, lack of sight etc). But with a good technique and lots of practice, it is less stressful.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wetsuits can be difficult to put on and swim with initially. Try it out before - preferable in the water - you buy it. Some shops will let you do this, for example, at swim camps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-06-30T12:24:20.960" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T12:24:20.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17954" CreationDate="2014-06-24T12:32:58.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several great workouts you can do at home to workout legs. Now, keep in mind, running is not so much about building leg muscle, but a more cardio related activity. I'm not saying you won't work the muscles, but most people don't run to build leg muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, on to leg workouts. There are plenty of good body weight leg workouts out there and generally (in my experience) I've only ever had knee pain from weighted leg workouts (besides running). I'll keep that in mind when I recommend workouts though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Squats&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats are a great exercise for working legs. Keep in mind, they do sometimes cause knee problems, so if you start feeling pain STOP. Squats will work the quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bous8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Lunges&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunges are another great leg exercise. They work glutes and hamstrings. Again, keep in mind, these may cause knee pain, but generally only with weight. STOP if you feel pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nD8a4.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Wall Sits&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good stationary workout (that shouldn't cause any knee pain) would be wall sits. These are definitely not easy and will work quads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LmLXM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://workoutdojo.com/bodyweight-exercise/bodyweight-leg-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Click here for many more good leg workouts.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Knee Pain&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone is different when it comes to injuries. Some of these exercises may give you pain in your knees, while it may not for other people. The safest way to avoid injury is always maintain good form and if you feel any joint pain STOP what you are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T12:32:58.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17955" CreationDate="2014-06-24T12:51:31.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/celiac-disease/basics/definition/con-20030410&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;celiac disease&lt;/a&gt; is an autoimmune response to consuming gluten which is found in wheat flour and certain other grains.  Whey protein, eggs, casein etc. do not contain any gluten whatsoever.  By definition it can't be celiac disease.  However, your symptoms are consistent with an allergic reaction to something in the ingredients for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allstarhealth.com/f/dymatize_nutrition-elite_whey_protein_isolate_%28all_natural%29.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dymatize Elite&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely culprit would be the whey protein itself (concentrate still contains a decent amount of lactic acid which many people have problems processing).  I would recommend discontinuing use of whey protein immediately.  Try to get your protein requirements from regular food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still need a supplement, then consider the following alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Egg protein (albumen): pretty decent tasting alternative to whey, excellent source of protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Casein: much slower absorption, but typically does not have lactic acid so it should have a much lower incidence of allergic reaction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soy protein: plant based protein is very complete, contains no gluten or lactic acid.  Also compatible with vegetarian and vegan needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100% Whey isolate: isolate is much more processed than concentrate, and faster absorbing.  Isolate is also more expensive, but enough of the lactic acid should be processed out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very important to understand that protein &lt;strong&gt;supplements&lt;/strong&gt; are not required to get strong or increase muscle mass.  They are useful when you need to keep your calories down while maintaining your protein intake.  There are also several alternatives to whey that should not cause any allergic reaction.  While trying to find something that works, I recommend only buying the smallest portion and see how that works for you.  However, before trying another protein go 2 weeks without any supplements so that your body can go back to being normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T12:51:31.953" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-24T13:28:56.920" Score="6" ViewCount="1080" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leaving aside the health risks (As per Wikipedia, &quot;Some argue that situps can be dangerous due to high compressive lumbar load&quot;), &lt;strong&gt;is there any benefit to doing crunches as opposed to sit-ups?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Wikipedia description sounds like sit-ups excercise more muscles than sit-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If specifics matter: Person is a beginner, with no history of extensive fitness or training. Age 35, with slight amount of abdominal fat and 22.8 BMI. No history of back pain but slight scoliosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excercise goal: overall fitness, increase abdominal muscle to look better&lt;sup&gt;[1]&lt;/sup&gt;, anecdotal advice that improved abdominal muscle tone helps improve posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[1] - Yes I'm aware that fat burning through calorie deficit is ALSO required as far as getting anything approximating a six-pack. But obviously developing abdominal muscles is needed just as much as fat burning&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5065" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T02:08:58.053" Title="Is there a benefit to doing crunches over sit-ups?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17882" CreationDate="2014-06-24T13:41:11.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read a study on d-ribose and how it raises insulin after injested and lowers blood glucose in a fasted state. So if your on alow/very low carb plan maybe take it with a fast acting whey after working out with weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9974" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T15:47:28.150" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T15:47:28.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17954" CreationDate="2014-06-24T14:06:56.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats, squats, squats, squats, squats, squats, squats, squats, squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, lunges and hill or stair sprints. But squats. Your desire for static exercises is wrong. Squat. It's good for your knees. Squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T14:06:56.907" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-24T14:13:11.883" Score="0" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a product called &lt;a href=&quot;http://refirm.completenutrition.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ReFirm by Complete Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot find it on their website, but the commercials on the radio claim that this stuff works by &quot;shrinking your fat cells.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know in nutrition, Fat grams have about 8 calories whereas Protein and Carbohydrates each run roughly 4 calories per gram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;So, if a Fat Cell stored in the body were to shrink, does that Fat Cell still have the same properties as a Fat Cell that has not been shrunk?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What has changed? Was water removed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The commercial continues on to say that you can lose inches and fit into those clothes you no longer fit in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking all of the fat is still there and the person weighs about the same - their Fat Cells are just smaller. Now they are, what, more dense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the ReFirm program has ended, do these smaller Fat Cells regain their regular size the next time you have a glass of water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T17:12:54.777" Title="ReFirm - Shrinking Fat Cells" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-09-26T08:26:08.940" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17963" CreationDate="2014-06-24T14:42:47.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my knowledge, I believe it is not possible to reduce the size of fat cells unless you get some form of &lt;strong&gt;surgery&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surgery will actually not &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reduce the size, but the number of fat cells.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the body accumulates an excess of resources, adipocyte cells (fat cells) start to reproduce in order to take the extra amount of food that you consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These fat cells stick around, but they can be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;emptied through excercise&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; which depletes glycogen (energy storage)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem I see with the product you mentioned is that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;they do not go into detail what the ingredients are&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Green bean coffee extract is being touted as some god like ingredient for losing weight from my perspective. Maybe their other ingredients work, maybe not. I cannot be the judge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you need to lose weight is organic food and a lot of exercise. There is no getting around this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T17:12:54.777" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T17:12:54.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17954" CreationDate="2014-06-24T14:49:35.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;-40 meter dash x 3 sets - take a 3 minute rest inbetween&#xA;-hill sprints for 30 seconds&#xA;-Power leap (from a full squat position, leap as high as you can, as far as you can for 15 reps) for 3 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can all be done outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T14:49:35.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14056" CreationDate="2014-06-24T15:05:17.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have exactly the same issue, but without the pain. Essentially my lower leg is slightly rotated meaning that if i align my legs so my knees are pointing directly forward my feet, particularly my left foot, points slightly out. Its a physical deformity that cannot be &quot;corrected&quot;. However, i discovered that running in stability shoes improves my gait and stops the excessive roll-in. I dont get any knee pain, have had no major injuries and regularly run marathons in under 2:50. Dont let it stop you!! Try some stability shoes and see if that helps (i run in Nike Structure 17) and stay well away from anything minimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9977" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T15:05:17.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17882" CreationDate="2014-06-24T15:14:00.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;D-Ribose is a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;5-chain carbon&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; that has been proven to provide medicinal support to those people who suffer from &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;chronic fatigue, fybromyaglia and lack of energy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5-10 grams 3x weekly seems to be the most &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;widely accepted dose&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for this supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food does not actually contain D-Ribose so I can understand that this would be an addition to a great diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider whether it would be more advantageous to supply the body with a more organic/natural form of carbohydrate such as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;beans/quinoa/brown rice/legumes/potatoes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or take a substance such as D-Ribose to replace the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;absence of carbohydrates&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to keep the ketogenic state of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2018-05-21T11:35:05.543" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T11:35:05.543" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17960" CreationDate="2014-06-24T15:38:38.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crunches overdevelop the top 4 ( or crown ) of your 8 pack abdominal muscles, unless you are compensating by doing a lot of lower abdominal exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sit up is also not the best abdominal exercise for core strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try V-Ups, Jack knifes, Leg Raises, Weighted Planks, Front Levers, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T15:38:38.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17960" CreationDate="2014-06-24T16:05:30.917" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rectus abdominus works to curl the torso, and bring the lower part of the ribcage forward and down. It is one muscle, and as such, any exercise that curls the body works the entire muscle. The &quot;upper and lower&quot; abdominal belief is pretty much a myth. Whether you curl down towards your legs or up towards your head, the entire muscle is contracting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between a situp and a crunch, is that the situp does very little active abdominal work unless the torso is curling at the same time. Situps put much more emphasis on the leg flexors. Anything where the body bends and the torso doesn't works the flexors, and the abdominal muscle is a stabilizer more than anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T16:05:30.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17970" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-24T16:22:34.920" Score="3" ViewCount="590" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cellular hypoxia leads to reduced ATP, resulting in Na/K ATPase down regulation reducing the activity of the Na/K pump.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Since I'm limited to two hyperlinks in a question currently, this first one is plain text since the newly added link is more relevant)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypoxia Leads to Na,K-ATPase Downregulation via Ca2+ Release-Activated   Ca2+ Channels and AMPK Activation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3165547&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resulting in increased cellular Na, which attract water into the cell which would lead to cellular hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Without sufficient supplies of ATP the plasma membrane of the cell can&#xA;  no longer maintain normal ionic gradients across the cell membranes&#xA;  and the sodium potassium pump can no longer function. This changes the&#xA;  ionic concentration of potassium and sodium. Potassium leaks into the&#xA;  extracellular space and sodium followed by water will move into the&#xA;  cell, causing cellular oedema and an increased intracellular osmotic&#xA;  pressure (Edwards, 2001). The cell may eventually burst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The high [extracellular] potassium and low intracellular sodium and&#xA;  calcium concentration are maintained by active transport systems.&#xA;  Thus, one of the most rapid effects of hypoxia, and a shortage of ATP,&#xA;  is perturbation of the normal ionic gradients across the cell&#xA;  membrane, with a rapid efflux of potassium from the cell, and movement&#xA;  of sodium and calcium into the cell (Gosling, 1999).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Increased sodium in the interior of cells result in water also&#xA;  entering the cell, driven by osmotic forces causing cellular swelling&#xA;  and distortion, which may interfere with organelle function (Buckman&#xA;  et al, 1992).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nursingtimes.net/cellular-pathophysiology-part-2-responses-following-hypoxia/200091.article&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nursingtimes.net/cellular-pathophysiology-part-2-responses-following-hypoxia/200091.article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always heard other explanations for the 'pump' after workout, with the most frequent explanation being along the lines of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;during intense muscular contraction, this force inward momentarily&#xA;  occludes the vasculature, backing up blood flow through that&#xA;  particular muscle group. A compensatory increase of blood pressure&#xA;  forces plasma from the congested capillaries into the interstitial&#xA;  spaces of the muscle cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/PumpBurn.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/PumpBurn.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the above seems like it should be a significant factor that I've never heard mentioned in sports physiology texts and papers.  I can't find information on the time course for reversing cellular oedema - ie would it be maintained long enough after exercise to account for the 'pump'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9978" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T08:08:00.967" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T08:08:00.967" Title="Is the muscle pump after exercise due to increased cellular Na (due to reduced ATP availability)?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17970" CreationDate="2014-06-24T16:42:23.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably won't see this addressed in the texts and papers as it is a somewhat rare occurrence that doesn't affect the general sporting population. In this study, they address alveolar hypoxia due to lung injury and/or climbing at high altitudes (Everest type altitudes) that causes pulmonary edema. Both of these would impair the gas exchange at the alveolar level (Lungs) which in turn deprives the tissues since you are delivering less than O2 saturated blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The net effect of this, however, isn't an accumulation of more plasma (Blood wouldn't get trapped in a cell), it results in more Ca++ (Calcium ions) being trapped in the cell. Basically the Na+ gradient decreases across the sarcolemma, so there is less movement, and the Ca++ ions don't get transported out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The net effect would be to increase lactate production, as you are increasingly working in an anaerobic environment, and the resulting acidosis would eventually start inhibit muscular contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T17:51:29.117" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T17:51:29.117" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2014-06-24T17:33:20.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a swimming background, then you need to learn to swim in a controlled environment before you move to open water. This may mean lessons, or if you had lessons as a child, then getting into swimming shape. I would recommend swimming in a pool until you can swim (at a minimum) 1.5 - 2x the distance of the triathlon in a single session. For example, if your triathlon swim is 500m, then you should be able to swim 750-1000m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the wetsuit, it's important to know if your triathlon has a history of not being wetsuit legal. Over a certain temperate (78F/25.5C in the US), you are not allowed to wear a wetsuit. If it is generally a wetsuit legal swim, a wetsuit is a very good aid, even for experienced swimmers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the open water acclimation, get with a buddy either swimming with you or in a support boat of some kind. The water will have poor visibility, taste funny, move independent of you, have waves, etc. It can be intimidating the first couple of times. Go in small increments close to shore before moving further out into the water. Be aware that if you are in a recreational area, there may be restricted swimming areas and/or motorized watercraft zipping around that may not see you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice, practice, practice. The biggest thing I see in triathletes that are not good swimmers is that they tend to wander side to side and get way off course. A way to test this is to swim in a lane with ropes, and close your eyes. If you keep hitting one of the ropes, you have a stroke imbalance somewhere. Also learn/practice sighting, or looking ahead on the course to pick out your target. You should be able to do this while still swimming, you shouldn't have to stop. If you do tend to wander, you may have to sight more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A proper fit on the wetsuit is critical, as if it doesn't fit then it can hamper your swim, chafe, bind, etc. Also, some people tend to feel claustrophobic the first couple times in a suit as they are very restrictive. If this is the case, you can look at overall (bib john) type suits, or leg only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T17:33:20.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17973" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-24T19:56:06.083" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing I struggle most with when trying to lap swim is getting the breathing right. After blowing my air out underwater, the breath I take in above water feels very shallow and I don't get much actual air out of it. After two or three inhales, I usually have to stop swimming and catch my breath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I make sure I'm exhaling properly underwater? What is it I might be doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2429" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T19:56:06.083" Title="Exhaling properly underwater?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-06-30T01:52:32.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17960" CreationDate="2014-06-25T02:08:58.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://uwaterloo.ca/applied-health-sciences/hes-got-our-backs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crunches won't destroy your spine, situps will.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't hearsay or 'broscience', this is based on the extensive research of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.backfitpro.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. Stuart McGill&lt;/a&gt; who has made his living studying abdominal movements from the frail to elite sports people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Situps require an unnatural flexing of the spine under tension that dramatically increases the risk of spinal damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole abdominal girdle is there primarily for support, and situps are a biomechanically unsafe and unnatural movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like some replacement movements that safely strengthen the abdomen (which with a proper diet will improve your chances of a six-pack), he recommends the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/happy_healthy_long_life/2009/06/situps.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bird Dog, Side Bridge, &amp;amp; Stir the Pot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T02:08:58.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15942" CreationDate="2014-06-26T08:21:48.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretches&lt;/strong&gt; - Here are two q/a about stretching your calves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles/6600#6600&quot;&gt;Gastroc and Soleus with links&lt;/a&gt; and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4192/reducing-tightness-in-calf-and-soleus/5667#5667&quot;&gt;Gastroc Soleus with pictures&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you have to put the gastrocnemius on slack to stretch the soleus.  Also, make sure to keep your heal in line with your forefoot to avoid pronating or collapsing the arch instead of isolating the stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Massage and Foam Rolling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular use of the foam roller after your runs should help. You can also raise your leg higher than your heart and do some massage from the ankle towards the knee. However, given that you've had an injury (anywhere on the body can affect your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anatomytrains.com/fascia/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fascial system&lt;/a&gt;), an evaluation and treatment from a sports or orthopedic physical therapist may help. Proper hydration is also important to the fascia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, take a look at @Ivo's information about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/938/how-to-run-without-damaging-your-feet-knees-or-hips/965#965&quot;&gt;intrinsic and extrinsic factors&lt;/a&gt; which may help you isolate the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A common intrinsic factor that leads to lower leg injuries is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/04/us-leg-injuries-idUSTRE54342G20090504&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;weak hip musculature&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your recent injury and lack of conditioning would also be factors to consider.  You may benefit from alternative exercises like running in a pool or swimming to help increase your conditioning until your calves and post injury fitness level are in better shape.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extrinsic factors include your shoes and running surfaces.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running Form -&#xA;Some runners find that transitioning to minimalist shoes and a more anterior footstrike reduces injuries.  See my answer here for the links to the study - &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11858/stretches-and-muscle-work-for-supination-or-underpronation/11862#11862&quot;&gt;Stretches and muscle work for Supination or Underpronation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T08:27:20.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18031" CreationDate="2014-06-26T08:25:20.837" Score="-2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile I was working 2 months ago, I saw change in my bicep part of arm change, the girth change and it seems bigger, I was taking supplements,but I was told by many it's too many. While I saw changes and I was amazed. Should I be taking it. My aim is build muscle and loose fat.&#xA;The supp was provided me from a trainer I hired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jssQT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;list of supp I took during one month&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-06-26T11:39:39.037" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T15:56:48.843" Title="Arm size growth and halt" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2014-08-15T03:25:01.370" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17983" CreationDate="2014-06-26T09:50:30.067" Score="2" ViewCount="1454" Body="&lt;p&gt;So when I started training I felt my muscles extremely hardened immediately after a workout, my abs were like touching a wall and my biceps looked at least 10% bigger (I'm not bragging).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately however I get to the point where I feel complete full body exhaustion before I reach the point where I feel the extreme muscle hardening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout using free weights, usually 6 exercises, each exercise in 4 sets of 5 reps. It usually takes about an hour, with my main goal being building strength. I've been doing this 3 times a week for a little over an year and a half now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My nutrition is standard low carb diet (about 40% protein / 60% fats, I eat cake/sweets max 2 times a week no more than 100g).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is can change my workout or diet somehow to increase my endurance or should I increase weights or is this simply &quot;normal&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing: pull-ups (with a 9kg dumbbell in my feet), standing curl to Arnold press with 15kg dumbbells, squats with 90kg, lunges with 2x24 kettle bells, renegade rows with 2x25 dumbbells etc. usually exercises including multiple muscle groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't remember what I started with exactly, but I remember I couldn't to a single pull-up with my body weight only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rest a minute and a half between sets or 2 mins max if I'm extremely tired or am feeling slugish, but that rarely happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and I weigh 67kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9996" LastEditorUserId="9996" LastEditDate="2014-06-26T12:08:40.667" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T13:25:04.757" Title="Running out of energy before feeling muscle stress" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17981" CreationDate="2014-06-26T11:09:29.367" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My nutrition is standard low carb diet (about 40% protein / 60% fats, I eat cake/sweets max 2 times a week no more than 100g).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ding ding ding! We've found the culprit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body relies on carbohydrate for most of its energy. If you go low-carb, you're relying on transitioning from using carbs to ketosis, where you're using fats. Many people report being low-energy when in ketosis, and even those who have plenty of energy while in a ketogenic state usually report being low-energy during the &lt;em&gt;transition&lt;/em&gt; into and out of ketosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, being low carb is probably the problem. But just as important, being low-carb and then sometimes giving yourself carbs means that you're taking yourself out of ketosis, then relying on your body to notice that the carbs are gone before transitioning back to ketosis. During those transitions you're almost certainly deprived of energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd advise either going full low-carb with absolutely no sweets, or giving up low-carb and eating moderate amounts of carbs (sweet potato, potato, rice, fruit), with particular attention towards eating enough carbohydrate before working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T11:09:29.367" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1013" CreationDate="2014-06-26T13:11:35.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cheap good shoe to start in - Adidas Spezial. It is close to the ground, is very sturdy and does not cost a whole lot, like specialized shoes do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T13:11:35.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-26T14:31:52.820" Score="-3" ViewCount="2189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I lift on earth I will obviously build muscles, but what if I were to lift on the moon? Since objects are lighter on the moon I would be able to lift more weight thus I would get stronger faster? Right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10000" LastActivityDate="2019-11-25T22:41:51.907" Title="If I lift on the moon will I get stronger?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17981" CreationDate="2014-06-26T15:18:06.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;+1&#xA;zero carbs kills your energy and your mental capacity/health (your brain is the largest consumer of glucose). In the short term this is OK for gains like boot camp weight loss or training for an event, but it's no way to live well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid the soda and candy, but make room in your life for &quot;good carbs&quot; (longer chain) like almonds, sweet potatoes, kidney beans, cauliflower. I don't think I could live without beer, but soda is a rarity for me. Fried fish doesn't seem to add weight to me, but that and beer are about the extent of my bread intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: interval training/tabata. Your body produces different types of glucose based on how you've conditioned it (which is why sprinting is not training for a marathon and vice versa). I'd suggest borrowing a few workouts from crossfit.com (or just go to a box, I do). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10001" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T15:18:06.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17987" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17989" CreationDate="2014-06-26T16:30:18.143" Score="1" ViewCount="3517" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am generally healthy. Just wondering if it is safe to do pull-ups within 10-15 min of having lunch. I am trying to avoid any exercises that might affect digestion. Are pull-ups &quot;safe&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, I am not trying to a lot of reps right after meals. My intention is to keep myself awake/alert. Going for a walk is not an option (small office, little space outside)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull-up_%28exercise%29#Safety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; wikipedia article, which does not say anything on my query.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10002" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-06-27T06:42:34.650" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T07:18:42.760" Title="Can one do pull-ups right after a meal?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17991" CreationDate="2014-06-26T16:47:31.597" Score="0" ViewCount="371" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm allergic to Coco (I can't eat chocolate or coffee ) if I take any whey Protein or anything like SSN OR any kinda powdered supplements within 2days my Asthama gets high, I get lots of cough and cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing gym since last 4.5yrs &#xA;I have a perfect fit lean body with muscles. I'm 5'9ft weight 67kg. 27yrs male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please suggest me how can I get more muscle and gain more weight. And any Protein diet. I don't eat much nonveg except eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10003" LastEditorUserId="10003" LastEditDate="2014-07-08T05:05:23.997" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T05:05:23.997" Title="Allergic to Protein supplements" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17987" CreationDate="2014-06-26T17:01:00.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After meal assuming you did not drink much water after finishing meal.  You should take 20mins rest. &#xA;Since our digestion process starts and and doing max 10 (no reps) pull ups / chin ups after rest would be fine, since you said you don't want to go for walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10003" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T17:01:00.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17987" CreationDate="2014-06-26T17:33:57.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a general rule I try to wait 30 mins after a meal before doing any type of lifting (45-60mins before I attempt cardio)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I workout any time less than this I can feel quite sickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also depends what you have ate, a light sandwich is no problem, give it 15-20 mins, if your having a hefty meal you probably want close to an hour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9931" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T17:33:57.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17988" CreationDate="2014-06-26T17:44:02.223" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining mass is a product of a excess food and lifting regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining lean muscle is slightly harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My top tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat regular small meals: 4-6 moderate meals a day, try to stack up on protein (egg, meat, fish), carbs (potatoes (baked preferrably - not deep fried) rice and pasta (opt for wholemeal)) + VEGGIES (yes you need them, the nutrients from veg is essential, try boiling carrots etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust your training program, try regular (4/5 times p/w), add variety (change the way you train), for size go for a rep range of 6-8 on a challenging weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9931" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T17:44:02.223" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17988" CreationDate="2014-06-26T17:45:50.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To gain weight generally requires you to gain both fat and muscle.  The body generally doesn't partition all calories to the muscle (unless you are in your teens with a very lucky hormonal profile or you are taking steroids).  The general rule is 1 lb of fat for 1 lb of muscle (1:1 partitioning), also you will probably gain a lb of water and glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't allergic to dairy - you might want to do 'gallon of milk a day' or 'half gallon of milk a day' - that can bump up your calories to ensure you can gain weight, ensures adequate protein, and is easy to adhere to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good article on maximum potential weight gain here and how much muscle you can expect to gain per month based on how much training you've done previously, age, gender and other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9978" LastEditorUserId="9978" LastEditDate="2014-06-28T01:59:54.400" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T01:59:54.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17985" CreationDate="2014-06-26T18:30:41.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is not true. In fact, most astronauts suffer from severe muscular atrophy and struggle to put the mass back on once they get back. This is because, without the constant gravity, your overall workload is so lessened that your body does not need to maintain much muscular mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if you lifted on the moon, you would get weaker and smaller..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T18:30:41.917" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17985" CreationDate="2014-06-26T19:07:13.660" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Moon Lifting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a big project, and I don't think it's going to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the thing: &lt;strong&gt;resistance is resistance&lt;/strong&gt;. Whether you're lifting your bodyweight, a barbell, or a barbell on the moon, the amount of resistance determines the amount you get stronger. On Earth, a barbell loaded with many kilograms of mass provides excellent resistance for you to work against and thereby get stronger. In places where there is less gravity (like the moon), you'll be able to lift many more kilos. But in order to get stronger instead of weaker in reduced-gravity environments you'd need to increase the amount of resistance you're working against in proportion to the decrease in gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moon's gravity is approximately one-sixth that of Earth's. Therefore you would need to make or bring six times the weights (in kilograms) you would use here on Earth. For example, say you can deadlift 100kg at Planet Fitness here on Planet Earth. You would need 600kg* to challenge your deadlift on the moon. My barbell can't even fit that many weight plates! But if you had 600kg on the moon, it would be the same as 100kg here. Except you have other problems...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about finding protein on the moon? Astronauts pack freeze-dried food to save mass while escaping the atmosphere. I doubt you'll be able to hit your macros on that stuff: there's a limited amount of it, it's not too appetizing, and I doubt it's particularly high-protein. Come to think of it, they probably wouldn't let you pack more than a few kilos worth of personal effects. For instance, on the Apollo missions, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.collectspace.com/resources/flown_apollo_apk.html&quot;&gt;astronauts were only afforded 5 pounds of personal baggage&lt;/a&gt;. 5 pounds isn't much resistance on Earth; on the moon it would be the equivalent of 1 pound on Earth. That's not really worth bringing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your trip there (and presumably back) is also going to include a bunch of time spent in microgravity, both in high Earth orbit and in transit to the moon. Living in the absence of full gravity has been shown to decrease muscle mass and bone density rather quickly. Spending time on the moon you're going to experience a similar issue to a slightly lesser extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what about your spacesuit? Good luck achieving a good squat in that thing. At this point, along with the food and weight-plate issues, you would be better off investing in a permanent moon weight room. Pressurize it so you don't have to wear the suit and make some special lifting bars that can be loaded with moon rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Well, 602.5kg if you're following a standard linear progression.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-06-26T22:18:38.337" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T22:18:38.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17987" CreationDate="2014-06-27T07:18:42.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercising after eating is safe. The other answers here are based on personal opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you eat, the process of digestion is aided by the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). When you exercise your sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline, which inhibits the peristaltis in your gut. This in terms makes the food move more slowly through your intestines and causes indigestion. Some of the effects of this are heartburn, bloating and diarrhea. However, this is very individual, as it depends on the ratio of activation of your sympathetic versus your parasympathetic nervous system when exercising. Some people can eat right before and not feel anything, while others need at least 2h before practice. Just doing pull ups will not get your adrenaline pumping as much as doing whole body training such as sprinting or doing contact sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try doing pull ups after your meal and see how you feel. Purely medically there are no dangers of doing pull ups after eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T07:18:42.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-27T08:55:15.150" Score="0" ViewCount="364" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for taking the time to read. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have joined my local gym and am currently on a mission to lose weight whilst also building core strength and fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like bodyweight exercises, free weights, boxing and classes such as spin and circuits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things I do not enjoy so much are the treadmill, rowing machines and most cardio. I have given them all a good effort, but I find them tedious and boring so decided to find other means of working out in order maintain my interest by doing things I enjoy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My daily diet is vastly improved, a typical day used to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Breakfast: Nothing or coco pops.&#xA;Lunch: Can of Coca Cola, bag of crisps and meal out with colleagues or high fat prepackaged sandwich. &#xA;Dinner: Anything from Chips with burgers to pizza.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An typical example of my current diet after my lifestyle changes is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Breakfast: Cornflakes, or a breakfast pot with red berries, fat free yogurt and granola&#xA;Lunch: Water and soup or fresh salad chicken and hummus wrap made fresh.&#xA;Dinner: Stir fry or chicken and veg and potatoes&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I admit this is a relatively new change, only a couple of months, but I already feel great for it, and I'm told I look better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5 feet 8 inches tall. I used to weight 14st 4lbs and I now weight 13st 11lbs, so only slight progress but its progress. My target is to reach 13st. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current workout is typically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday: &#xA;Bodyweight squats – 8-10 reps&#xA;Push-ups (or knee-push ups) – 5-8 reps&#xA;Plank – hold for 15 seconds&#xA;Jumping Jacks – 15 reps&#xA;Bodyweight Reverse Lunges – 6 reps per leg&#xA;Lying Hip Raise (double or single leg) – 10 reps&#xA;&#xA;I do 2 x the above, then I hit the heavy boxing bag for two 1 minute rounds then and another 2 sets of the above&#xA;&#xA;Wednesday: Circuits class&#xA;&#xA;Friday: Same as Monday.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I was contemplating is taking multi vitamins and incorporating a protein shake after every workout.&#xA;How can I improve this/add to/take away from all of the above to maximise my weight loss efforts whilst still enjoying myself? Plus and other tips greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9998" LastEditorUserId="24470" LastEditDate="2017-03-22T08:03:06.580" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T08:03:06.580" Title="How to improve my weight loss efforts?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17998" CreationDate="2014-06-27T09:21:56.957" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're eating plenty of vegetables then a multi-vitamin is a waste of money in general, especially with your level of activity.  You will just end up passing them out in your urine, it will be bright yellow though so that is a noticeable effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of protein shakes, I used to take them a lot in my early training career but have since found that whole foods are all around a much better alternative, you will be better sated and have generally better results getting your proteins from meat and dairy.  I also have seen no greater or lesser effect from ingesting protein directly after training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't actually known why whole foods have a much greater effect on our bodies but research is ongoing, more and more information is available in the form of facts backed up by scientific study rather than dietary dogma that someone thought up in the 70's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your schedule if you're looking for a sustainable lifestyle change that would result in a better weight loss performance then I would suggest skipping breakfast and eating lunch and dinner only, with the larger meal being directly after your gym sessions (but still ingesting the same amount of calories daily).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I base my advice on years of trial and error with my own training and diet as well as extensive research done on scientific studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any more specific questions I'd be happy to answer any of them, the subject is so vast that I would be here for hours otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10008" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T09:21:56.957" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14745" CreationDate="2014-06-27T09:30:00.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Jamar hand dynamometer can be used to measure grip strength and I believe was used last year during the selection of the British bouldering team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10008" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T09:30:00.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18002" CreationDate="2014-06-27T09:37:02.787" Score="5" ViewCount="14318" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming from a Body Building background I have started experimenting with powerlifting recently. I especially like deadlifting a lot and want to improve my maximum weight for singles and doubles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I improved my technique during the last weeks it became obvious, that my grip strength is my main sticking point. I can lift 140kg twice, but the second time I almost drop the weight because my grip is too weak. Especially the hand where the fingers point towards me fails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also able to do a single lift with 150kg using grip support, but could not do it without.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I train my grip strength to align it with the rest of my body? My goal is to lift as much weight as possible without grip support. My only add-on are lifting gloves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-26T13:06:39.570" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T02:47:16.123" Title="How to overcome grip strength as sticking point for deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18001" CreationDate="2014-06-27T12:33:58.023" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several methods of increasing grip strength, and some of the principles that work the best you should already be familiar with due to the bodybuilding background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, let's look at what causes grip to fail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sweat.&lt;/strong&gt; The sweatier your hands, the more the bar wants to slip out of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Effective bar thickness.&lt;/strong&gt; The thicker your bar, the tougher it is to grip.  When specifically training the grip you want to take advantage of it.  However, when you are trying to test your strength you want something as close to competition thickness as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not changing to a stronger grip technique.&lt;/strong&gt; There are three main ways to grip the bar for deadlifts that are competition legal: overhand (weakest), hook grip (rough on the thumbs), and mixed grip (one hand suppinated, strongest).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weak fingers.&lt;/strong&gt; The first thing to fail in your deadlift grip is your pinky finger.  If your fingers get stronger, then your grip will also get stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With just the first two bullets, we have a good reason to ditch the weightlifting gloves for deadlifts.  Gloves cause your hands to sweat more, and they increase the effective bar thickness.  They also can allow the bar to shift in your hand, making it harder to hold on to.  In short, gloves are hurting your deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, let's look at things you can do to increase your ability to grip the bar immediately (i.e. no strengthening required):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use chalk.&lt;/strong&gt;  Many big gym chains don't allow chalk because it's messy, but there is also liquid chalk and the Eco-Ball by Metolius (climbing company) that have less messy alternatives.  Chalk soaks up your sweat and allows you to have a more firm grip on the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No gloves.&lt;/strong&gt; For the reasons we mentioned just above.  In fact, avoid anything that will increase the thickness of the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use hook or mixed grip.&lt;/strong&gt;  The hook grip is very uncomfortable when starting out, but there are some power lifters who can use it to lift over 360 kg (~800 lbs).  Mixed grip is what you'll see most powerlifters use.  Both are much stronger than double overhand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there are several strategies that work very well to strengthen your grip:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Paper binder clips:&lt;/strong&gt; by squeezing the paper binder clips between your thumb and each of your fingers, you can work on increasing the strength of your fingers.  You can do this pretty much anywhere and any time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Static holds:&lt;/strong&gt; on your last set of deadlifts for the day, hold the bar as long as you can when you finish your last rep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Farmer's walks:&lt;/strong&gt; you can kill two birds with one stone and get your conditioning in while working on your grip.  If you have farmer's implements, great.  Otherwise, use the heaviest dumbbells you can handle, grip them tight, and walk with them for distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perform lighter, longer sets double overhand:&lt;/strong&gt; when performing barbell rows, or some other lift where you pick the bar off the ground, do them without any grip assistance other than chalk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use the alternate deadlift form for volume work:&lt;/strong&gt; Either conventional or sumo style deadlifts will feel more natural to you.  That's the one you'll be trying to get stronger.  However, use the one that feels less natural to you to do a more bodybuilding style training.  3x8 at 50-60% of your strong deadlift form max, done on your weak deadlift.  That builds some of the supporting musculature, and puts more time under tension for your forearms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't use straps.&lt;/strong&gt;  When grip is your limiting factor, you need to have more time under tension in your grip.  The straps allow your grip to rest a little.  Straps do have their place, and are useful tools when your upper back becomes the limiting factor.  The straps will allow you to pull a bit heavier to build the back.  Just understand where your weakness really is at the moment.  NOTE: no powerlifting federation allows the use of straps, but they are perfectly legal in strongman competitions.  This advice assumes you have aspirations of competing in a local powerlifting competition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the age old bodybuilding concept of time under tension really does apply to grip strength.  It seems to be the best way to train it.  Just understand that grip training like this can be pretty taxing.  I would cycle it in and out of your training so that your forearms get a chance to rest and build themselves up stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T12:33:58.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18007" CreationDate="2014-06-27T12:44:37.473" Score="5" ViewCount="3118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner in swimming and it's been just 5 days into instructor lead coaching in the pool. I have mastered floating and classes are focused on freestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still don't know if I am kicking right. Here are the problems I face:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am confused when someone says to kick straight leg, since my research on the internet and youtube is that everyone bends their knees to some extent&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When I start kicking I do move forward at very slow pace ( may be 8 kicks to get distance of 8 feet covered), but at some point of time i feel am unable to even lift my leg( sort of feels numb and then disappears as though nothing happened)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should my foot come outside the surface of water?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I push the water surface when kicking(that might push me forward) ?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a video, resource or anything that shows me how to kick properly with a illustration (may be in slow motion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="493" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T12:12:53.543" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T03:19:04.853" Title="How do I kick properly while swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17970" CreationDate="2014-06-27T13:04:54.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cellular oedema would reverse rather quickly after exercise. As far as pump goes, there is one simple explanation, and one complicated one. Cellular oedema due to an influx of Na and H2O probably contribute, but not as much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple one is that while exercising, there is local hypoxia and hypertension. This causes the vascular resistance to decrease, due to vasodilatory substances such as NO, leading to vascular congestion. After exercising, there is an overshoot of production of vasodilatory substances due to which the pump doesn't go away immideately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The complicated one I can't really go into depth about, because there are many factors involved. But generally, during and after exercise there is an increased influx of nutrients, such as glucose/glycogen, amino acids etc. (also some electrolytes as you mentioned). There are also some waste products still present. All of those substances by themselves have an osmotic pressure (like sodium) which makes water enter the cells (not to the point of bursting though). That is the reason why creatine supplementation makes muscles larger (engorge with water); despite not increasing sodium, it goes into the muscles and the increased number of molecules inside the cells draws in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum up, I personally think that the vasogenic effects are the main actors in &quot;pump&quot;. More so than the osmotic due to how pump behaves (how long it lasts and why it occurs). It is hard to find anything on the topic because it is extremely hard to study. The vasogenic and osmotic effects go hand in hand after training. We can't really test their individual effects in humans on particular muscles. From what i've heard and read, people who use NO supplements get an increased pump that lasts longer, speaking in favor of blood engorgement being the cause. But people who use creatine get a similar effect, speaking in favor of an osmotic effect and water engorgement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I see this question as a mere curiosity. I'm still to think of anything we could use the knowledge about &quot;pump&quot; for. Mostly because it is a byproduct of training (that is, the &quot;pump&quot; is not what causes sarcoplasmic or myofibrillar hypertrophy in the long run. However, it could be an actor in the acute phase, which initiates the anabolism that occurs after). If anyone can think of any way we could use the knowledge about the etiology of &quot;pump&quot; for (assuming it has a benefitial effect in training, other than the psychological one when you look in the mirror), please write it in the comments :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T13:04:54.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18001" CreationDate="2014-06-27T13:06:25.527" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting gloves get in the way and make your job harder. I recommend going without.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chalk helps enormously to prevent sweat from making the bar hard to grip. Buy a block of rock climber's chalk for a buck. Before each set, use the chalk to &quot;paint&quot; your fingers and the inside of your palm where it meets your fingers. Rub your hands together to work it into your calluses and to spread the chalk around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a double overhand hook grip:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pMnEg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hook grip instructions&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A chalked ungloved hook grip should allow you to lift at least double bodyweight for reps without straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other variable to consider is bouncing. I don't mean to impugn your technique but I've seen many bodybuilders come from the land of forced reps and sets to failure and therefore bounce their deadlifts vigorously off the floor. This makes it hard to maintain a solid hold on the bar. If you're doing touch-and-go deadlifts, then make sure the plates are meeting the floor gently. If you're doing full-stop deadlifts, then make sure to reset your grip for each rep, and consider extra chalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-06-27T13:13:51.680" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T13:13:51.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16631" CreationDate="2014-06-27T16:11:01.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is going to sound counterintuitive, but hear it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get better at performing in the heat, train in the cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost training in the cold is a more rigorous workout. Every aspect of improved performance depends on your body becoming more proficient and efficient. The more effective your body becomes at exertion, the less resources it needs to do the same effort. The way the body responds to heat and cold are not terribly different in terms of thermal dynamics. You want your body to be able to move heat, and the more heat it can move the better you are at withstanding heat or cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding heat load increases risk, and does not work the same as adding weights to a bar. The thermal environment of a sauna versus a desert are too dissimilar to be effective. Indeed I'd surmise the result to be negative. Running in desert heat involves a lovely ballet of air currents you do not find in a sauna. The type of heat is dramatically different - no sun in the sauna. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve your body's ability to handle heat, raise it through more strenuous effort. Sprints instead of hours long runs, for example. If possible, do these in colder temperatures, not warmer ones. In the long run, pun unintended, improving your body's native thermal transfer and heat dynamics such as breathing as well as decreasing the time and effort it takes to cross the same distance will serve you better, and without the added risk of heat stroke and decreased rebound and recovery capacity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still feel you must train in a hotter climate, wear layered clothing. Indeed in my experience wearing more clothing rather than less in the desert reduced water loss. While I don't fully understand it, the body does seem to sweat more when more skin is exposed. I suspect it is a dynamic local calculation in order to redirect heat to where it can be whisked away. You might be surprised to learn a lot of desert racers wear full length clothing during the race. Some use &quot;space blankets&quot; even. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking a smaller amount of water will not improve your ability to operate on lower amounts of water. The body needs the same amount of water for the same expenditure of effort. Water is also essential to recover, and going into a deficit will increase your recovery time, thus decreasing your overall training time and increasing the risk of overtraining. Indeed you want to drink often while training to develop the habit. Drink like you should in the desert, not less. How much you drink in the desert will be determined initially by your habit of drinking water. If you habitually drink less, you will automatically drink too little in the event and suffer for it. Learn to drink when it is less critical, not when your life is on the line. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a matter of biochemistry, not practice. What you seek is to expend less effort, only in that way can you stand a chance at lower water requirements. Even then, the difference will be negligible. When it comes to sweating how much you sweat is up to your body. Some people are profuse sweaters and others are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally the more effort is required, the higher the sweat level becomes. The phrase &quot;without breaking a sweat&quot; exists for a reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to learn what nutrients and electrolytes your body needs and when. How much do you plan to carry? How much will you decide you really need after the first hour? ;) These are questions you need to answer before the event. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why train in the cold? In addition to the increased effort, it stresses the body to transfer heat. In a hot climate the body is trying to push heat out into a hot environment. It has no options. In cold it is trying to move heat around the body to get where it needs to be. This thermal dynamic improves your ability to shed heat. When I was in the desert, those who came from hot climates always did worse than those from cold ones when it came to handling exertion in the heat. Sure, they didn't view the heat the same way, but they didn't handle it as well either. Maybe they didn't respect it, or maybe they were physiologically unprepared for it, I don't know. Just that they didn't handle it as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, your other preparation will be more important, and is often overlooked. Consider what you need to do to protect your body on the dunes. Heavy sunscreen. This includes clothing as well as pastes. Sand. Lots and lots of sand. Ever run with sand in your shoes?  Know how to handle that? These will be greater impacts than you realize. Many think the heat is their greatest opponent in the desert. They are wrong. You need to learn to move and run while minimizing the entire environment. Direct sunlight is your opponent, sandy shoes are your opponent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it sounds crazy, but take it from someone who spent crazy amounts of time in deserts while ending to do high intensity activities. You won't be defeated because you didn't train in the heat. You'll be defeated because you didn't plan for the rest of the environment. Run in leggings, paste, full body protection, gaiters, sunglasses, gear on, etc. Do these things not because they might make you better, but to create the habit of wearing these items as extensions of your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers, and good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T16:11:01.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18003" CreationDate="2014-06-27T18:41:30.327" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason why your instructor stresses on you keeping your leg straight is because most beginners bend their leg too much while kicking,  so if beginners concentrate on keeping their legs straight, then they can start kicking with minor bends. &#xA;There are a few pointers to keep in mind while learning freestyle kicking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate your legs while kicking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dont strech your legs too wide vertically &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dont spread them too wide horizontally &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extend your toes behind you. &#xA;The above three pointers will help reduce drag in the water. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start practicing with a kick board.&#xA;Don't get anxious, as some beginners can't even move forward when kicking with a kickboard (yet do develop power and technique) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to position your body as parallel to the water surface as possible. &#xA;If you angle yourself downwards then your kicks will loose the efficiency. &#xA;Its ok if your feet hit the surface. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During actual freestyle swimming, keep your head under the water when not breathing,  this will promote your body to float upwards and align itself parallel to the surface hence increasing efficiency. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, practice, practice and practice.  Enjoy your swim! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T03:19:04.853" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T03:19:04.853" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18001" CreationDate="2014-06-27T19:46:09.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite that you're asking for advice which does not involve grip support, let me give one that does. Sorry, but if as you say you are really looking for &lt;em&gt;maximum&lt;/em&gt; weight in singles, there is no way you can avoid grip support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Competitive powerlifters use mixed grip to overcome this problem, because other equipment is usually not allowed. But, &lt;strong&gt;you can not use mixed grip for usual daily workouts&lt;/strong&gt;, as it is dangerous for your spine. Powerlifters only participate in competitions once, maybe two times a year, which means they do just several mixed-grip deadlift reps &lt;em&gt;a year&lt;/em&gt;, so whatever negative effect there is is negated by recovery time they get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other time they use &lt;strong&gt;wrist wraps&lt;/strong&gt;. Which is what you have to use. Of course, you should develop your grip (by delaying using wraps as long as you can, and maybe by employing specialized exercises), but no one can overcome the fact that deadlift weight grows way faster than grip. Sooner or later you will &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; use either wraps or mixed grip — and the second one is really not a good choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend this simple strategy: go bare hands during warmup sets and maybe first couple of working sets, as long as you can; but as soon as you feel your hands are failing you, start using wraps. This way you will keep developing your grip to its limits, and at the same time your deadlift will not be held back by weaker hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8583" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T19:46:09.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18012" CreationDate="2014-06-27T21:18:16.793" Score="0" ViewCount="407" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 173cm 67kg male, eating less and fast-walking 5 km(about an hour) everyday but doesn't seems to losing any fat. so should I double walking or decrease what I eat(which is about nothing)? If I decrease my food intake I am afraid to make my metabolism in fasting mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(also I stopped taking any caffeine for unrelated health care)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its been a month I do this,&#xA;I checked what I am eating is approximately;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;morning 500 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;lunch 750 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dinner 500 calories (sometimes I don't eat dinner, some nuts or fruits)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat this in the morning &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simit&lt;/a&gt;, 1 egg omelet, some cheese and juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;lunch kids burger menu (65 gr. meat) or popeyes fried chicken menu (I eat half of it) with a sprite or water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and dinner I eat this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guneytantuni.com/_img/slide_1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guneytantuni.com/_img/slide_1.png&lt;/a&gt; (meat wrap) with water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastEditorUserId="10012" LastEditDate="2014-06-28T06:48:41.173" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T12:36:03.133" Title="eat almost nothing but keep metabolism awake" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18011" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18013" CreationDate="2014-06-27T23:07:36.027" Score="2" ViewCount="4366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following a bodyweight training routine for 2 months now and I'm satisfied with the gains until now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am training to improve how I look, and I've succeeded till now except for my shoulder. My collar bone is very visible and it makes me look very skinny despite being in a good shape.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people told me that my upper chest needs some workout. I don't know if it was true. So, what muscle do I have to train to make it less visible ?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please, suggest some workouts for the upper chest if it was the muscle that I have to train. I do only bodyweight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T22:53:58.563" Title="Collar bone visibility issue" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18009" CreationDate="2014-06-28T08:08:00.920" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;67kg at 173cm gives you a BMI of 22, which is right in the &quot;normal&quot; range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So direct weight loss is probably not in your best interest.&lt;/strong&gt; What you more than likely want is to reduce your body fat percentage, which can be done either by losing body fat, increasing muscle mass, or some combination of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At your weight, focus on introducing some form of weight training to increase your muscle mass, either with weights, such as barbell, dumbell or kettlebell training, or with bodyweight training, such as push-ups, pull ups, or bodyweight squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look at introducing exercises to improve your muscle mass&lt;/strong&gt;, and it will reduce your body fat percentage, which will likely meet your goals of &lt;em&gt;looking&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;feeling&lt;/em&gt; fitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T08:08:00.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18011" CreationDate="2014-06-28T22:53:58.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is more muscle you are looking for then bodyweight exercises are probably not the best idea. You will gain size, but only to a point. If you want results then going to the gym is your best option. A combination of overhead pressing and bench pressing will give you the upper chest development that you seek. I would suggest a barbell based strength program to achieve best results in the shortest space of time. Lift big to get big. There is no easy option unfortunately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10019" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T22:53:58.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18017" CreationDate="2014-06-29T04:23:23.467" Score="1" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can feel twin bumps on either side of my lower spine which I believe are protrusions from the iliac crest -- approximately where the erector spinae appear to originate. I can generate pain in this region by sitting with my legs straight out in front of me and rotating one toe toward the other. Does this match the function of any specific muscle or tendon? I am unable to search for stretching exercises because I can't name the body part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T20:57:54.143" Title="What lower back muscle or tendon is located near the inside of the iliac crest and helps rotate the femur?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18015" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-29T10:23:40.033" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know several different methods of how to load a bulgarian split squat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use dumbbells or kettlebells by your sides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a dumbbell or a kettlebell in goblet position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a barbell in front squat position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a barbell in back squat position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a barbell between your legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does those loading techniques compare with respect to: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which muscles are involved more or less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;functional training effects&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;safety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which joints are stressed more or less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any good reasons to prefer one of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any points in technique which changes significantly with the loading technique?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T12:00:29.253" Title="How does the different loading techniques in bulagrian split squats compare?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;technique&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18015" CreationDate="2014-06-29T12:00:29.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're already doing things like squats (back/front), deadlifts, and other barbell movements, then go ahead and reduce the stress for BSS. Thus, go with dumbbells/kettelbells for them. Dumbbells/kettlebells will tax your central nervous system less because of their nature. They will also be safter than placing a loaded barbell on your back (or wherever) as getting into position for BSS is already difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for DB/kettelbell placement, try both and see how you like it. I've always found that putting them by my sides challenges me to stay upright more, requiring me to balance as I go through the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final thought (something many mentors have taught me in the iron game), remember not to major in the minor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T12:00:29.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18014" CreationDate="2014-06-29T12:03:33.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is the &quot;glute-med&quot; as is colloquially referred to, more formally it is the gluteus medius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To loosen this area try getting a &quot;bumpy ball&quot; and rolling it around there. Try not to use something like a lacrosse ball. This muscle is too small to safely withstand a lot of pressure from a single point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated in a comment above, the issue may actually be with the SI joint and a professional should be consulted for further aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastEditorDisplayName="user9941" LastEditDate="2014-06-29T16:19:03.157" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T16:19:03.157" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17980" CreationDate="2014-06-29T12:06:53.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The photo you put up looks like a fine thing to do, but taking 'magic pills' your trainer gave to you sounds pretty risky to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give some thought to what Dave commented though, JUST EAT. That list looks like it could get pretty expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go check these out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/integrative-bodybuilding-peri-workout-recovery-supplementation-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/integrative-bodybuilding-peri-workout-recovery-supplementation-part-1/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/integrative-bodybuilding-peri-workout-recovery-supplementation-part-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/integrative-bodybuilding-peri-workout-recovery-supplementation-part-2/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/integrative-bodybuilding-peri-workout-recovery-supplementation-part-3/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/integrative-bodybuilding-peri-workout-recovery-supplementation-part-3/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastEditorDisplayName="user9941" LastEditDate="2014-06-29T12:13:58.300" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T12:13:58.300" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18019" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18024" CreationDate="2014-06-29T12:47:18.687" Score="1" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been 6-7 months since I am trying to make stamina to run, but I can only run for 1 min and rest I walk. I force myself by my ankle hurts. What is the exercise I should do to make stamina? I been told by Nike people that I have wide foot. Don't know if that account for the pain in my ankle. How can I focus when I am on tredmill that I don't focus on time, because my mind also play with me when it sees 1 min is done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-06-29T21:54:32.253" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T22:16:17.807" Title="Making stamina for running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18020" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-29T15:44:15.763" Score="1" ViewCount="1087" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startingstrengthtraining.com/diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This link&lt;/a&gt; gives a nice outline of the diet on a training day - but I can't find any reference to what one should eat on a rest day (i.e. since SS is a 3-day workout, what to eat on the other 4 days?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it the same stuff minus the pre/post workout meals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2018" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T09:39:03.703" Title="Diet on Starting Strength - Should I eat the same on my rest days as on my workout days?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18020" CreationDate="2014-06-29T16:15:58.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can take many approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating the same on rest days will help you get bigger and stronger, but you might put on some fat with the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the pre/post meals out as you suggest will promote &quot;slower&quot; progress, but should help it be &quot;lean gainz.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some would suggest altering carbohydrate levels on training/nontraining days, but that requires a bit more thinking. A great resource on this is Carb-Backloading by John Kiefer. I have been &quot;backloading&quot; for a while now and I like it a lot, as I have been able to adapt it to my training needs and current goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I think that website is way behind on the &quot;science&quot; of performance nutrition. It would be wise for you to look into people like John Meadows and John Kiefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding links like poster asked in comments (no summaries):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EliteFTS article on CBL: &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/carb-back-loading/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/carb-back-loading/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John Kiefer's site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://athlete.io/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://athlete.io/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John Meadows's site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mountaindogdiet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mountaindogdiet.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9941" LastEditorDisplayName="user9941" LastEditDate="2014-06-29T17:01:10.827" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T17:01:10.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18020" CreationDate="2014-06-29T17:00:47.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On off days, eat just the same as your lifting days, just without pre- and post-workout meals. There are more complicated ways to approach things, but don't worry about it. The biggest change I make on non-lifting days is just to eat more and more frequently, since I don't have to worry about a full stomach during my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T17:00:47.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18014" CreationDate="2014-06-29T20:57:54.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would probably benefit from having a physical therapist's or chiropractic evaluation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you prefer to try to figure it out on your own search the site for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=piriformis&quot;&gt;piriformis&lt;/a&gt; for more information.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've identified the bumps as the PSISs, and you reproduce your pain by rotating your foot (actually the hip into internal or medial rotation), look at the muscles that attach to the sacrum (which is part of the SI joint).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will see that there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/HipExernalRotators.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;6 muscles that laterally (externally) rotate the hip&lt;/a&gt; (toes out away from each other) with the piriformis attaching to the sacrum.  If these are tight and you try to turn your toes inward, you pull on the lateral rotators that attach to the sacrum and can put a stress on the SI joint. The muscles work differently if the hip is flexed or extended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can stretch these muscles.  You can massage these muscles. However, it is worth seeing a professional to have an evaluation and to set you up with appropriate stretches, strengthening exercises, and massage techniques with either a tennis ball/and or foam roller.  A professional would be able check your alignments and isolate which muscles are weak and which are tight and decide if you need any stabilization.  Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T20:57:54.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18019" CreationDate="2014-06-29T21:56:52.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the best and easiest beginners running plan is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; (or more commonly Couch25k).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its a well tested plan for taking you from no running at all to running a continuous 5 kilometers (or about 3 mile). There are numerous official and unofficial apps for your phone that help you keep pace with the plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking at building running stamina, it is probably your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T21:56:52.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18019" CreationDate="2014-06-29T22:16:17.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running and Ankle Pain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diagnosis - You really should have your ankle pain diagnosed by your doctor so you know what the problem is and how to correct it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Alternatives to running on a treadmill - You said on another question that you are learning to swim so you have access to a pool.  Since your ankle hurts when on the treadmill, you may want to try &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6894/what-is-the-a-proper-way-to-pool-run&quot;&gt;running in the pool.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;You can get a good cardio workout in the pool without having to bear weight on your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do intervals where you alternate moving slowly (walking), and moving fast (running). When you get tired running, walk until you recover and then try running again.  Alternate walk, run, walk, run etc. For a specific progression the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/podcasts.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch to 5K program&lt;/a&gt; is a good way to go.  You listen to the program and walk and run according to the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling or a stationary cycle may also be easier on your ankle.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Motivation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for motivation, set goals.  A good goal gives a specific action and a specific time frame. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I will run 5, one minute intervals today.&quot; - This is a process goal saying what you will do in order to reach a specific outcome. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In 9 weeks I will be able to run 30 minutes without stopping.&quot; - This is an outcome goal.  It states what you want to be able to achieve within a given time frame.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make your goals realistic so that you can feel good about accomplishing your goal.  Making too difficult a goal can result in failure.  Once you have met an easy goal, gradually increase the difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a log of your process and plot it on a graph to see your improvement.  Seeing how far you have come is good motivation.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T22:16:17.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18020" CreationDate="2014-06-30T09:39:03.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article suggests getting most of your carbs throughout the day and than adding some pre-workout. If you do a normal sized high intensity workout, you will:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Need to be carbed-upp prior to workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replenish during workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both require a relative shitload of carbs, that you should probably get as 'fast' carbs from fruit and isotonic drinks. Given the amount of carbs taken this way on workout days, I would suggest that its probably best to make the rest of your work-out days basically low-carb. You can than get your low-sugar slow carbs (taters, pasta, rice, bread, etc) on resting day and have equal amounts of carbs every day. That is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout day: get most of your carbs from fruit (fructose) and isotonic drinks (glucose) and time it to only be (pre-)workout.&#xA;Resting day: get most of your carbs from starches (vegies, taters, pasta, rice, bread, etc) and time it to spread it across all meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T09:39:03.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18009" CreationDate="2014-06-30T12:36:03.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are to fat at 67kg/173cm, that means you will have very little muscle mass. Startving yourself, if you are not loosing fat, may actually be making it worse. You may be eating the very little muscle mass you have left. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to loose weight, its probably wiser to instead start a strength-first program and get your FFBM to a level more suitable for your stature. Stop the low intensity cardio, stop starving yourself, pick up strength training and eat. Don't even consider under eating, at least not just yet. Do try to go relatively low-carb so you don't gain to much fat while eating sufficient to gain muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More muscle mass will help increase your BMR and will give you a more balanced body composition with a lower body fat 'percentage'.Ones you have a FFBM of something like 55 kg to 65 kg (pick a gym with a body composition measuring device) you might choose to start working on your body fat mass second. That is, you may try to loose fat by doing cardio and low caloric dieting and things like that. But than, if your tape measure agrees, you may not even have to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T12:36:03.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17998" CreationDate="2014-06-30T13:06:43.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks prety decent, but I'm worried about the granola. It depends greatly on the brand, but granola can have an extremely high amount of sugar in it. If you want to build core strength, make sure you don't under eat. Make sure to get sufficient protein (approximately your fat free body weight in kg times 2.5 in grams), and most of your remaining callories from fat. Sugar should be limited to (pre)workout, and other carbs are OK as long as you take small portions. I would suggest going for full fat yoghurt with nuts rather than low fat yoghurt with granola. For dinner, it looks good, don't overdo the taters, use sufficient healthy oil while cooking (peanut oil or olive oil) and stack up on the chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T13:06:43.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15994" CreationDate="2014-06-30T13:23:34.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to visit a doctor to get a thorough diagnosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could have two types of injuries as you punched. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The direct bone to bone punch could have got you a hairline fracture, (checkout the boxers fracture aswell) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or it could be a sprain. This is more likely, but be careful, stretching a sprained ligament only aggravates the problem, if it is a minor sprain, then you have to wear wrist support till the sprain heals itself. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T13:23:34.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17981" CreationDate="2014-06-30T13:25:04.757" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Low carb is indeed a very good basis to start of from. Its however not directly suitable for doing high intensity workouts. Your body is perfectly capable of producing sugar from fat and protein and will happily store that in your liver and muscles to fuel short bursts of strength. Ones your stores are exausted however, your body won't be able to produce new sugar fast enough for you to finish your workout. With a bit of timing there is quite a lot you can do however. On workout days, try to concentrate as much as possible of your carb intake into your (pre)workout time slot. For example eat berries prior to your workout and take a liter of coconut water that you consume during your workout. On non-workout days, try to add some slow carbs to your day, as that will help to refill your muscles and liver sugar stores. Having some taters on your rest day is more than sufficient. Next to that, make sure to eat plenty of vegies to your diet. There are relatively little carbs in vegies, but there is much added vallue to adding large amounts of vegetables to a low carb diet. Half a kg of broccoli has the same amount of carbs as half a glass of orange juice for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T13:25:04.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17980" CreationDate="2014-06-30T15:56:48.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you trainer gave you these supplements, that gives you reason to be skeptical (even suspicious) about his knowledge of the body, its mechanisms, and diet &amp;amp; nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's go over a couple of his recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin C 3000mg per day - &lt;strong&gt;Recommended daily intake of vitamin C is about 90mg for an adult male&lt;/strong&gt; but many athletes can require upwards of 100mg per day. (Ultra endurance athletes may require as much as 500mg per day- marathon runners and the like). Since vitamin C is water soluble, any more than what your body uses is urinated out. AND since many juices and foods in our diets contain vitamin C, you may be getting more like 3500 mg per day. Essentially all your trainer is doing is giving you expensive urine, and REALLY stressing your kidneys, since the kidneys have to filter all this out. &lt;strong&gt;High doses of vitamin C supplementation have been linked to kidney stones, and Mayo Clinic recommends not exceeding 2000mg as an upper limit.&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/high-dose-vitamin-c-linked-to-kidney-stones-in-men-201302055854&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/high-dose-vitamin-c-linked-to-kidney-stones-in-men-201302055854&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/vitamin-c/dosing/hrb-20060322&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/vitamin-c/dosing/hrb-20060322&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cinnamon Extract- Supplementation of &lt;strong&gt;cinnamon extract has been shown to help blood glucose levels in DIABETICS&lt;/strong&gt;, however, (much like above) the dose your trainer is giving you is absurd. In &lt;em&gt;&quot;Cinnamon extract improves fasting blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin level in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes., by Lu T1, Sheng H, Wu J, Cheng Y, Zhu J, Chen Y.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;subjects were given 360mg per day as a maximum dose&lt;/strong&gt;. Let's assume cinnamon extract DOES help non-diabetics as well. If so, a small dose might not be a bad thing. However, 2000mg per day is bad news- most cinnamon extracts have coumarin (which gives it the strong flavor), and coumarin has been shown to have negative effects on both kidney and liver function. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glutamine, BCAA's, Arginine, and individual Amino Acids - Your body creates muscle by taking protein (amino acids) and using it to help satellite cells fuse to muscle fibers. Since you need all amino acids to make muscle, &lt;strong&gt;taking one or two amino acids, or just BCAA's will do little to nothing to build muscle- but again, and this is why I have been critical of your trainer, all this extra protein and amino acid will have to be filtered by the kidneys. bad bad bad.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multivitamin - Same reasons as above (kidney stress, unnecessary levels/doses, you probably get most of it from your diet anyway...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom Line:&#xA;Unfortunately, there are no real requirements to be a trainer (most can simply pay $100, take a test and then dispense whatever bad information they want to people who will listen). It is an unfortunate part of the business but it is a reality, like trying to be a race car instructor after taking your 16 year old driver's test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ultimately, if you are eating a good diet of about 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein, 20% fat (and avoiding trans-fats, saturated fats, etc) your diet will cover all of your nutritional needs.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;If you are sitting all day except for the gym, try adding some more exercise to your day (walking before or to work, climbing stairs instead of elevators, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10029" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T15:56:48.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16397" CreationDate="2014-06-30T17:27:16.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question- according to the American College of Sports Medicine, a good warm up will get your heart rate to about 50-60% of maximum. This increase in HR will increase blood flow to skeletal muscle and joints (and to address your question in the comments, if you are doing almost any kind of warm up, that should put your joints through plenty of ROM... getting more ROM is not a good strategy for you). &lt;strong&gt;For someone who has hypermobile joints, I would do a longer warm up (try 20 minutes), and definitely avoid stretching (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theptdc.com/2013/10/why-you-must-not-stretch-hypermobile-clients/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theptdc.com/2013/10/why-you-must-not-stretch-hypermobile-clients/&lt;/a&gt;). With hypermobile joints, make sure not to lock your knees or elbows during movements such as stepping or jogging, and do not exaggerate ROM during exercise. Closed chain exercises (where feet are on the ground) are  recommended. I would also avoid plyometric exercises like jumping, leaping, etc.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good warm up for you might be closed chain exercises that keep you in your mid-range of motion, like step-ups, light bodyweight squats, wallsits, throwing in a little arm movement such as clapping or flapping motions, &lt;strong&gt;keeping good control of your ROM, staying low, and avoiding aggressive movements.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are definitely right to be wary of stretching- the myth of stretching before and after workouts is unfortunately widespread throughout the fitness industry. In many of my classes in preventing athletic injuries, the consensus was that &lt;strong&gt;stretching is only necessary to achieve a ROM which allows you to perform necessary activities to YOUR life.&lt;/strong&gt; Meaning, if you're a cyclist and you don't need to get your arms behind your back, there is no need to stretch that way. &lt;strong&gt;You can actually do more harm than good by overstretching and stretching more than necessary.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: &lt;strong&gt;if it doesn't feel right, don't do it!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10029" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T17:27:16.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2014-06-30T19:14:51.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The USA is the only country I've been in where nudity in men's locker rooms is almost seen as obscenity and it's totally ridiculous. Locker rooms are meant for changing clothes, showering, taking a sauna, etc. There will be nudity and a nude body is nothing to be ashamed of or frightened by. Every man has a penis I don't care one bit what yours looks like or its size. Neither do I care one iota if you see mine. For God's sake- it's a locker room and there will be nudity. Don't fret about it. Enjoy your time at the gym, please shower before going into the pool or hot tub. If you are that upset about seeing another man nude then work out at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10034" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T19:14:51.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-30T19:29:32.793" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fist of all:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 175 cm  (5´9´´)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 65.3 kg (143 lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age:    15 years&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well my workout is split in three days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday  //  TRICEPS and BACK&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Pull-ups:                        8 reps&#xA;Bent-Over One Arm Dumbbell Rows: 8 reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(No rest between exercises) Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 previous exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Narrow Grip Seated Cable Rows:   8 reps&#xA;Dumbbell Pullovers:              8 reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(No rest between exercises) Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 previous exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Close grip Dumbbells press:      8 reps&#xA;Bench Dips:                      8 reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(No rest between exercises) Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 previous exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Diamond push-ups:                8 reps&#xA;Triceps Machine:                 8 reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(No rest between exercises) Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 previous exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday //  LEGS and SHOULDERS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Similar&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday //  BICEPS and  CHEST&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Similar&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;( At the end of every workout, I perform ABDS/CORE exercises )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;First week:    3 sets /  10 reps&#xA;Second week:   4 sets /  10 reps&#xA;Third week:    3 sets /  12 reps&#xA;Fourth week:   4 sets /  12 reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I go and back to gym in bike in 30 minutes total&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 hour of work out and then 30 min of ABDS / CORE exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Properly warm-up before start&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanna focus on build muscle, so tell me if Im in the right way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I´m gonna move to CALISHTENICS training, I´ll build a pull-up and parallel bars in my house next month so, Do u think this model will be the best for it? if not, please suggest me one, thanks for all&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10035" LastEditorUserId="10035" LastEditDate="2014-06-30T20:49:54.153" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T12:21:37.080" Title="Is my routine okay?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18035" CreationDate="2014-07-01T12:21:37.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First point I see is that you should set your expectations well.  At 15, your body is just beginning to be at a place where you can see muscular development.  Everybody is a little different, so it may be a year or two before you see any appreciable muscle mass being built.  However, keep at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all honesty, what you have outlined is too much variation for a beginner workout.  Things you'll want to make sure you have in your beginner routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3-6 different exercises max.  Having more doesn't build more muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your nutrition in line.  You will have to eat more food to build muscle, but you don't want to gain weight too fast or it's just fat.  Eat good food, and try to gain no more than 3/4 lb a week.  If you don't like the way you look (too pudgy), then focus on loosing a couple pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you are in bed for 8 hours straight per night.  You build muscle while you sleep, and it's the most anabolic thing you can do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimize partying.  I'm not saying avoid all parties, but they do keep you up late and you end up eating and drinking things that don't help you build muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Periodize.  That just means you'll cycle between trying to add muscle and trying to get stronger.  In the very beginning you'll probably add both easily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use compound lifts to do the major work, and isolation exercises to dial it in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your focus is on muscle, I would have an A and B workout that you focus on and just trade them off the 3 days a week you train.  Basically, on week 1 you would go ABA and on week 2 you would go BAB.  What I'm about to outline is just a general beginner routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout A:&lt;/strong&gt; full body, chest and arm emphasis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: 3x8 (try to get hips below parallel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press: 3x8 (use a spotter but don't let them touch the bar except for handoffs or if you truly do get stuck)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-Ups: 3x8 (work up to 3x8 BW pull ups if you can)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curls: 3x8 (pick one variation for the day and do it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB Flies: 3x8 (flat, incline or decline, but one variation for the day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout B:&lt;/strong&gt; full body, shoulders and leg emphasis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press: 3x8 (pick one variation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian Deadlift: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Row: 3x8 (alternate days between elbows tucked and elbows out, be strict)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB Front Raise: 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free exercise slot: 3x8 (whatever you feel like needs more attention, isolation exercise of your choice)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 3 exercises in each day, keep adding weight week to week until you can't get all 3 sets of 8.  When that happens you'll be changing the rep scheme like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x8 to 5x5 (remember the weight you made the switch here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x5 to 8x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8x3 to 5x8 (use the weight from the first bullet point)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x8 to 7x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7x5 to 12x3 (after this you are no longer a beginner and you need more advanced templates)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last 2-3 exercises (your isolation work), start with 3x8 and just try to add one more rep each time you do them until you hit 3x12.  Then add weight and start over with 3x8.  The change in rep schemes is all you need to do for periodization.  When the sets get shorter you are focusing more on strength and less on size, however the volume is there to maintain the size you've already acquired.  When you drop back down in weight, you add more volume which will help build more size.  Just as you can't ignore size when you are building strength, you can't ignore strength when you are building size.  Sets of 8 primarily build size, sets of 5 are balanced between size and strength, and sets of 3 are primarily for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what weight to start with, I would much rather start too light and build momentum than start too heavy and feel overwhelmed by it all.  I personally started with just the bar on all the major exercises.  When you increase weight by just 5 lbs every time you get in the gym it doesn't take long for the weight to start feeling heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T12:21:37.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-01T13:04:16.307" Score="0" ViewCount="1172" Body="&lt;p&gt;About me:&#xA; Height:- 179cms&#xA; Weight:- 71kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 20 years old guy with a maximum of 2 months of gym experience. Lately I have been thinking of following a routine for body transformation and muscle building, but am having trouble finding some good routines online. There a lot of options and most of them different from each other which is making me confused over which to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was advised by my friend to follow Kris Gethin's 12 week body transformation routine. Is it good if not than can anyone point me to a right routine for a beginner like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10046" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T14:03:41.513" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T14:03:41.513" Title="Is Kris Gethin's 12 week body transformation a good program for a novice?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5308" CreationDate="2014-07-01T15:02:20.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like everyone's answer, but you don't have to work your abs and calves every day. It takes a lot of time to work on them, and doing it with a day of rest in between will help improve your core without possibly over-training. A lot of articles that you can read will display the human anatomy and give you the ability to realize that your tricep is the bigger part of your arm. Isolation of the bicep to one day will not in the long run develop bigger arms, so I believe leaving that day to another body part or just pushing the other days up replacing tuesdays like what James South has displayed for you above in a clear manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'd be beneficial if you were to include biceps with your back day, so that chest and back could be just back and biceps. Shoulders and triceps could include chest. Then, only include one day like friday is already biceps and triceps. It will help because there's always the possibility of a torn muscle from lack of proper rest. Personally, I have enjoyed a three day split and four day split in terms of resistance training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this could be achieved with compound exercises since you have a time limit...if you can include more time for your workouts, then isolation exercises could be thrown in as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone else also stressed the importance of nutrition and sleep, but I will state it as well. Most of your body replenishment and development results from proper nutrition and sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10048" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T15:02:20.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-01T15:45:42.110" Score="4" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started learning to spin poi (it's not important; you may think about dancing) and found that my left hand requires a great deal more attention to follow the trajectory I have in mind than my right one. This is extremely pronounced before I form some muscle memory, and becomes somewhat less severe after. Obviously, the only way to get better is a lot of practice, and that's what I intend to do. However, while thinking about this problem I visited quite a few websites with the advice on how to improve the coordination of non-dominant hand. Some of them recommended writing by that hand. I doubt that developing fine motor skills will help me with the complex hand movements heavily involving elbow and shoulder. So I decided to ask for a reference, preferably to some scientific paper (this hypothesis looks easily testable, so such papers probably do exist). I was unable to find anything on this topic, but maybe you could give at least a personal story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10049" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T13:50:04.170" Title="Does writing with the non-dominant hand help the general coordination?" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7538" CreationDate="2014-07-01T18:08:42.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bar diameter can make a significant difference in performance at pull ups, muscle ups, etc. I have a 2&quot; bar at home and I often struggle to get a muscle up done but at my crossfit gym where the bar is 1.25&quot; I can fly up with no problem. The argument for using a wider bar is building greater forearm strength but, at least for me, I'm extremely confident that it lessens what I can do, at least for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10051" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2014-07-03T07:44:18.940" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T07:44:18.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-02T12:06:31.557" Score="0" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing standing shoulder presses, I'm very cautious not to learn backwards during the lift. My training partner and I specifically watch each other for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However even without weights when my upper body is upright, my lumbar region is already hyperlordotic. It's something I've been working on eliminating lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days ago during my second standing press workset, something popped under my left shoulder blade on a rep I was having trouble completing and pushing too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It didn't hurt but it didn't feel right so I stopped the workout. That night was agony though, as was the next day, but it's getting better now two days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During overhead presses, I can feel my core under enormous pressure, like it's trying so hard to stop that lordotic curve increasing. I'm currently shoulder pressing 125 pounds, which I've slowly worked up to in a 3x5 fashion, increasing 2.5 pounds each time. I failed to do three sets of five the previous week at the same weight, managing only 3, 5 and 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I warm up before lifting with about 15 minutes of Cressey/Robertson's Magnificent Mobility mixed in with some hip flexor stretches and foam rolling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I go to seated presses, fix the hyperlordosis or strengthen something else before doing presses again? Or simply not strain too hard to finish a tough rep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T16:56:29.567" Title="Overhead presses when hyperlordotic" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-02T14:41:07.917" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got some lower back pain 5 months ago when squatting heavy (with bad form) as well as doing weighted pullups and relaxing my back. In particular, relaxing my back with weights started the back pain; I guess the pulling force of the weights was too much for my spine. I have avoided squats and made sure to keep my back tight when doing weighted pullups (my back feels fine if I keep it tight), and I thought I recovered but last week I started doing squats and the pain came back. I kept good form, did not round my back, and even had a lifting belt, but I think my back cannot handle compression forces very well. Is there any way I can train for this, or do I need more rest? Are there any back exercises I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7170" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T15:07:09.047" Title="chronic lower back pain treatment?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-10-24T11:56:11.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18046" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-02T15:03:22.857" Score="4" ViewCount="920" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the effects on the body due to alcohol? Should I simply consider it as a carb in my macros or is it different (worse?) than that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve been bodybuilding for a year and a half and I haven’t been wasted since, but maybe this weekend I will. I want to know how much I can consume without affecting my gains too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3343" LastEditorUserId="6582" LastEditDate="2014-07-02T21:42:11.940" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T22:09:53.747" Title="What is the effect of alcohol on the body?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18046" CreationDate="2014-07-02T15:48:32.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alcohol consumption slows your body's mechanisms for metabolizing fatty acids by interfering with the citric acid cycle (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/87483&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/87483&lt;/a&gt;). It essentially bumps fatty acid metabolism down the priority list. &lt;em&gt;This mostly applied to chronic alcohol use, however&lt;/em&gt;. So it doesn't just increase in carbohydrates in your diet, but it also slows fat metabolism in long term drinkers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not a drinker, in the short term (like this weekend) my guess is the only effect you will see is the increase in calories from adding more carbohydrates to your diet. But in aggregate, especially for a body builder where the goal is to essentially metabolize as much fat as possible, alcohol consumption may make your bodybuilding a little tougher than it has to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10029" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T15:48:32.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18046" CreationDate="2014-07-02T15:56:01.447" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alcohol has many detrimental effects in the body, and you cannot replace carbs with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowers Growth Hormone and Testosterone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inhibits recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Causes dehydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowers muscle glycogen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreases aerobic capacity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is caloric, but non-nutrient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alcohol has a catabolic effect on protein synthesis; the result is lower muscle mass/smaller gains, but it also inhibits other proteins in the body. One effect is that neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons) in the hippocampus is shut off for 4-5 days after alcohol consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One huge effect this has is that it decreases the synthesis and release of the peptide (protein based) growth hormone. This is reason enough to abstain from alcohol if you are exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides his fact, it also decreases testosterone release, so that less is available to increase muscle mass. This eventually leads to a decreased lean muscle mass as well. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24658221&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24658221&lt;/a&gt;) - Some research shoes that testosterone increases following low doses of alcohol, and decreases with moderate and high doses. However, the synthesis is inhibited, leading to long-term effects. Alcohol inhibits gonadotropin-releasing hormone which otherwise stimulates the production of sex hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alcohol also slows down recovery. This happens because energy expenditure is increased for the detoxification from alcohol, and as such less energy is used for muscle regeneration. As far as research goes, this effect depends on the type of training performed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another effect is that it functions as a diuretic. This leads to a state of dehydration which induces fatigue, lowers performance and decreases ATP levels. Also, dehydration in itself causes an increase in the heart rate. This makes aerobic training less effective and harder to perform. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alcohol decreases glycogen levels in the muscles. When doing medium to high intensity training, muscle glycogen is the main energy source; depletion results in premature ending of training, with subsequent lower gains than otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, alcohol is pretty caloric, but is rather low on nutritive value. There are better options to increase calorie intake both during gains and cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056249/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056249/&lt;/a&gt; - This review sums up many of the effects I mentioned above concerning hormonal function. I will try to find studies on the other aspects as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2015-12-01T22:09:53.747" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T22:09:53.747" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18043" CreationDate="2014-07-02T16:56:29.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, it sounds like you also need to be working on your upper thoracic mobility.  This should also help with the hyperlordosis as the two areas are connected.  Between them both, you can really correct your posture.  When you warm up, also make sure your shoulders are properly warmed up as well.  A couple warmup routines include (just pick one to use):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/XjY0uUU7tGU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strongman shoulder warmup&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/xCp-YynBEvE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diesel Shoulder Rehab Warm Up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/235RWW0Ih9Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diesel 3m Shoulder Warm Up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time, I would forgo pressing of any kind (bench and overhead) at the moment.  If the pain doesn't subside after 4-5 days, see a doctor and follow their rehab advice.  Otherwise, once the pain subsides, I recommend performing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/A0ONHZmsFec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diesel Shoulder Rehab protocol&lt;/a&gt;.  After the rehab protocol, take some weight off the bar and build back up (perhaps down to 105).  Focus on the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get as tight as you possibly can.  Abs, glutes, quads, lats, etc. all work together to provide a stable platform to press from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initiate the lift with your lats.  Essentially, I'm using my back muscles to get the bar off my shoulder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let the elbows flare out.  This helps protect the shoulders, and results in a stronger lift (also engages the pecs a bit).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; layback is fine.  Just don't overdo it to the point where your back is in a weaker position.  The only competition that has restrictions on how the bar gets overhead would be Olympic lifting.  Everything else allows you to use whatever form you need to get it up.  The important thing is that you do it in a way where you don't cause yourself injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are following the Starting Strength protocol, which is typically a good program for healthy person.  Unfortunately, you'll probably have to alter some things to help your shoulders out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the overhead press day, add in the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front raises, 5x20 (build up to it if necessary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear delt raises, 5x20 (build up to it if necessary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the bench press day, add in the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell rows, 3x8-12 with the elbows out (should be a minor challenge)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises will help strengthen and stabilize the shoulder area.  I've seen some really great improvement in my overhead pressing by applying Kalle Beck's shoulder warmup (Starting Strongman), and the assistance exercises I've listed.  Don't major on the minors, these are here just to assist your shoulder health and upper back strength.  Both of those will help in bigger pressing and feeling a lot better after training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T16:56:29.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18045" CreationDate="2014-07-02T17:16:36.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like all your attention is on your upper body and lower body exercises, try developing the core muscles as well, developing your core will increase balance/stability and will reduce the chances of injury.&#xA;Try Planks(All variations), crunches and back extensions. Running/jogging also builds up your core. If the chronic pain is too much or is consistently there even after exercises, then you might as well get diagnosed by a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T17:16:36.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-02T20:35:34.450" Score="-2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wandering through the site and playing with tag search I've not found any link and/or table listing a good workout for mass building, strength growing or body ripping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry if I've not used the search function properly, but I would be very grateful to you if you could suggest me a good workout with the following features:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 training sessions per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;each training session duration: about 1 hour (or less)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 ~ 4 months keeping up this training before switching to a different workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;main goal: making muscles very visible burning fat (focus on six pack is very appreciated, albeit I know that localized burning is just an illusion and that you have to burn fat all over your body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the fact that my request is likely to be too specific, it could be easily generalized asking what are the best workout repositories on the web.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9919" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T13:10:50.887" Title="Suggestion for ripping workout: any good workout repositories on the web?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-07-07T11:48:01.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18056" CreationDate="2014-07-02T21:24:43.533" Score="0" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any of you probably now, that if you want a good muscles, then you need a good supply (it's an pretty obvious truth), so to gain mass it is probably good to eat six or even more times a day (I meet this advice on literally every site devoted to training and mass gaining).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No problem with that advice, I agree, this is probably the right requirement for those who wants to gain mass and muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, where do I find such a lump of time?&#xA;I'm a working man. I can't afford to spend a 4 hours in a kitchen each day preparing 6 different portions of food which contain different fixings and 3 different types of meat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you deal with this problem?&#xA;Are you have someone who cooks for you, or...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10067" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T15:20:37.833" Title="Eating 6 time a day, how?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-07-07T11:47:47.933" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18046" CreationDate="2014-07-02T22:48:48.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A different take on the matter: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html&lt;/a&gt; . Not an expert by any means so would be great with some comment on that particular article since it paints alcohol in a different light than what seems to be commonplace among the fitness community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10069" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T22:48:48.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18053" CreationDate="2014-07-02T22:59:18.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really a case of an individuals schedule. I pack myself plastic containers each night filled with my food (e.g. grilled chicken/ rice). It really doesn't take that long, around 45 minutes to be packed. And in the morning I just pack it and leave, I can easily find a microwave at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, your time may be even further contained and I would advice you to maybe take out a couple of hours out of you Sunday night and prepare your food for the week ahead. I find that if it is packed and refrigerated (in the plastic container) it can last quite a lot of time. It also appears that the actual cooking process is time heavy for you. I'd advice you to go for things such as bulk frozen produce, such as frozen Chicken breast. Throwing that in a grill can only take 15-20 minutes depending on the temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10070" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T22:59:18.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18053" CreationDate="2014-07-02T23:54:23.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lets examine your argument:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you want a good muscles, then you need a good supply (it's an pretty obvious truth)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pretty obvious yes, if you want to be healthy, you need to eat well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so to gain mass it is probably good to eat six or even more times a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, those two statements are completely unrelated. A good supply doesn't necessarily imply a continuous supply. You body is much more complex that you understand, and the idea that you can only consume and use a certain amount of food in one sitting is a myth - &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-can-i-eat-in-one-sitting.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;especially with regards to protein absorption&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the latest fad in dieting is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermittent fasting&lt;/a&gt;* where you only eat in a specific continuous window - usually a short as 4-8 hours a day, and not eating the rest of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact of the matter is that your body is extraordinarily flexible about how it gets its energy - its what makes humans so resilient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;If you really want to eat multiple mini meals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on foods that are easily transportable. You state that for 6 meals in a day you'd need 3 different types of meat. Meat is great, but not necessary at every meal. Perhaps consider altering your diet to match your requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, realise that when people talk about 6 meals a day, they need to be small enough that 6 meals don't go over your daily calorie limit. A &amp;quot;meal&amp;quot; might actually just consist of a correctly timed piece of fruit or handful of nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;In short, when you eat isn't as important as what you eat.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt; * As an anecdote, when I was losing weight I used this method, not because its implicitly healthier, but because its easier to comply with if you go - &amp;quot;oh its not between 2pm and 8pm, well I better not eat then.&amp;quot;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T23:54:23.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18052" CreationDate="2014-07-03T01:35:05.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Read it and follow the program exactly, adding assistance exercises such as curls only on the Friday.You will have to bulk so leave the abs on the sideline for a few months and just cut afterwards. You will get big doing this, trust me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10019" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T01:35:05.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18053" CreationDate="2014-07-03T01:40:42.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I eat 4000 kcal per day and only one meal is a hot meal that I prepare at home. I eat breakfast at home, then I pack my bread meals for the rest of the day (about 500 grams of whole grain bread bread). Then at home I cook dinner. Today I had 300 grams (uncooked) of brown rice with 500 grams of vegetables baked in 60 grams of olive oil with some meat. And I'm already feeling quite hungry again, I'll eat a few sandwiches, some fruit and yoghurt and then go to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T01:40:42.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18045" CreationDate="2014-07-03T01:51:24.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drop the weight on your squats and learn how to breath properly. Before each rep take a sharp breath of air pushing your stomach out, not in and hold it, contract and tighten your abdominals. Hold this throughout the whole rep. Only breath out once the rep is finished. This should help brace your spine and stop your torso from collapsing under heavy loads. I say this assuming your form is good. If the pain persists I'd recommend a physio.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10019" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T01:51:24.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18052" CreationDate="2014-07-03T13:10:50.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; specific type of routine for getting &quot;ripped&quot;.  It's generally agreed in the bobybuilding circles that the formula for getting ripped is an increase in exercise volume with a corresponding decrease in calories.  Each part of this equation should be done &lt;strong&gt;gradually&lt;/strong&gt;.  For example, remove 250 to 500 calories from your total caloric intake over a period of a few weeks.  Evaluate the results and continue the process.  On the exercise side of the equation, this may mean performing more reps, or, more sets with the goal to burn more calories.  Regardless of the approach, getting &quot;ripped&quot; should be a gradual process.  You need to give your body a chance to adapt to its new restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T13:10:50.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1489" CreationDate="2014-07-03T14:47:36.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should probably ask yourself &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - ( Am I getting &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;enough sleep, in general&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't sleeping at least &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;8 hours a night&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, then yes the body tends to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;overcompensate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; by sleeping more when it has the opportunity to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it isn't about the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;quantity of the sleep either.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;quality&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is actually more if not equal importance which means getting sleep in a complete dark room, as light can have an adverse effect on &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;melatonin&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - the hormone secreted by the pineal gland which controls your sleep cycles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been studies where &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;even a crack of light&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; can affect how your body produces melatonin and in a world where we are constantly surrounded by light be it our phones, night lights, computers and lamps, it affects our sleep considerably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my suggestion would be to completely black out your room the days you have to stay up late to artificially create a night time environment and also take 2 hour naps if you lack sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T14:47:36.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18046" CreationDate="2014-07-03T14:55:34.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the major things you will notice with alcohol consumption (more specifically liquor) is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease/Lack of appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will destroy your gains considerably if you think importantly about nutrient timing. If you are dedicated to your craft, you know that eating every 2.5-3 hours is optimal to maintain metabolism. Once you start missing your mark, your body realizes that it is expecting resources, but is not receiving resources due to the destroyed protein synthesis process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, cannibalism of muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastEditorUserId="9976" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T13:44:32.880" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T13:44:32.880" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18045" CreationDate="2014-07-03T15:07:09.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like an imbalance of core to back strength, aka gods weight belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically when doing any kind of multi joint or compound exercise, you need to think about engaging the core because it is the anterior wall to the lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens during a squat, when someone does not engage the core is that the back and quads over-compensates for the movement and the hamstrings and abs get weaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about how much load/force is being put onto the back if you completely relax your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over many years the back becomes tight and overworked and eventually becomes prone to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learn to balance your body, focus on front lever, body lever, leg lifts, saxon side bends, to strengthen your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T15:07:09.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18081" CreationDate="2014-07-03T15:07:51.850" Score="1" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've slept only 5 hours and slept poorly due to anger ans stress. &#xA;Today feels like a bad day and I feel like I have no energy and im not motivated. &#xA;I do workout 6 days a week, but what can I do physically and mentally to boost myself up today and give the best even if I still feel tired?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3343" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T13:12:46.927" Title="How to workout on a bad day" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18053" CreationDate="2014-07-03T15:20:37.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem is, where do I find such a lump of time? I'm a working&#xA;  man. I can't afford to spend a 4 hours in a kitchen each day preparing&#xA;  6 different portions of food which contain different fixings and 3&#xA;  different types of meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Welcome to hard work. It's what we do in order to be healthy and be fit. You know exactly what you need to do, yet you rationalize that you don't have time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are people that have full time jobs and still go to the gym, prepare and cook their meals and do their cardio every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start cooking your meals ahead of the week. Use tupperware and pack all of your meals. Plan at least 2 meals in advance every day. Cook in large quantities and batch make all your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T15:20:37.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-04T13:53:32.977" Score="3" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read somewhere that ultra running is bad for your body, and that even marathons take their toll. Does this mean that if I don't care about the glory of finishing marathons and ultramarathons I could just as well never (or seldom) participate in such events?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background information… I'm not an elite runner, so my main reasons to run are to stay healthy for as long as possible and to enjoy the physical exercise. In most of my 200 races so far I've pretty much run in the middle of the pack, and only won twice in my life (through lack of competition, though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only run two marathon races in the past 15 years (10 and 5 years ago), both of which I didn't really enjoy. I'm much more comfortable doing races up to the half marathon distance, since, for me, they never last longer than two hours. I occasionally do longer training runs (28km), but find those utterly boring, not fun to do, and my experience is that they are rather stressful on my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional information:&lt;/strong&gt; Many blog posts I found on this subject seem to be based on this study by the Mayo Clinic from 2012, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196%2812%2900473-9/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Potential Adverse Cardiovascular Effects From Excessive Endurance Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm not a sports scientist, I cannot judge how valid this study is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I supposed that since how much distance is too much depends on the person, no blanketed statement can be made above what weekly distance running becomes a health issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, one can find articles that claim athletes can prepare for ultras with a modest weekly mileage, based on the philosophy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitendurance.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crossfit Endurance&lt;/a&gt;. It seems that the high volume of training distance in preparation is what makes marathons and ultra-marathons such a health risk, though I haven't seen any scientific studies backing up this claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastEditorUserId="8430" LastEditDate="2014-07-05T09:09:13.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T15:49:30.550" Title="Should I stay away from racing long distances if my main concern is health?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18071" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-04T14:55:18.747" Score="1" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the pro's and con's of a bench which is softer (i.e. has more cusions) than one with a harder surface?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7973" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T19:45:25.423" Title="Different benches in bench press" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-04T18:38:21.347" Score="0" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been intense weight-lifting for 6-7 years and I have stopped doing so for almost a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 32yrs old, 1.86m tall and I weight (now)88kgr. I have never been fat or slim and I can say that I am I have a bit better than the average man body. Since I ended my gym subscription (lack of money..) I have been doing other forms of exercise: running, doing home stuff (pushups-situps-abs etc.), cycling and climbing. I have been also having healthy eating habits, trying always to go with the 30-50-20 rule and eat always home, not fried foods etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also got a job and I am working too many hours on a chair. I want to stay fit and healthy as more as I can for the rest of my life, but it seems that some things have come to a wall and I need some help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year I did a low-carb diet for 4 months which did great results to me but nothing extreme. I decided to begin again just about 1 month ago and so far I have lost 4kgr (I was 92kgr) which is a nice achievement but not close to what I want. I want to build a six-pack for the first time of my life and that's a goal. I followed  a Ketogenic diet instructions and eating only rich in protein foods and clean fat except the &quot;binge day&quot; which is on Sunday and I fall on carbs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My exercise routine is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running at least 3 times a week for ~4.5km/3miles with a heart rate monitor to be sure that I am in a fat burning zone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycle for ~40km/3.30' once a week on the high carb day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk and live on a diy kind of way of doing things&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a series of 15*4 pushups on hand grips, 15*4 situps, 30*5 ab crunches every other day from running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My eating routine is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;half lemon in a glass of water, a bowl of yoghurt with 4 prunes in the morning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a can of tuna or 12 almonds in three hours &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a small amount of lentiles and chicken or pork and lettuce, spinach and beef etc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an omelette with two eggs some cheese, half tomato and two slices of pork or yoghurt as in the morning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dinner like the lunch one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to understand what can I improve to lose more fat and get six-packed. I am starting to feel like my metabolism is stuck in the Keto and I think to change the nutrition plan to cycle carb (low-med-high-low-med-high-low).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6386" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T19:27:18.990" Title="How to proceed with my nutrition and exercise plans to get better results?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18071" CreationDate="2014-07-04T19:45:25.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A softer bench would absorb more energy, this would mean less power transfer. The soft surface would basically be a barrier between you and the bench, and at heavier weights would cause you to lift less. Maybe not to an extreme but less weight none the less. Always choose a firm bench. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10019" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T19:45:25.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18070" CreationDate="2014-07-04T23:08:55.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I've read somewhere that ultra running is bad for your body&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From where? Is the source credible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, I think there's a perception that long distance running is bad for you. However, I've never seen any credible science backing this up - and I keep an eye on the science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that there's solid evidence that running long distance was how our ancestors got to eat I find it difficult to believe that it does serious damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T23:08:55.590" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18085" CreationDate="2014-07-05T05:23:34.350" Score="-1" ViewCount="549" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question was not well received originally, so I will rephrase it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a hypertrophy routine that stands above the others in terms of size gain, given that infinite motivation and resources(no steroids) are available?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am trying to ask is: Is there a routine that most people couldn't put the effort in to stay consistent, that someone who has exceptional discipline would benefit more than any other on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8753" LastEditorUserId="8753" LastEditDate="2014-07-06T08:45:37.560" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T13:04:59.420" Title="Is there a routine for hypertrophy that is incredibly intense but effective(no steroids)?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-10-24T19:28:12.583" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18070" CreationDate="2014-07-05T15:49:30.550" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the most part, the science is still unclear on the long term effects of things like long distance running on the body. Some studies have suggested that it can be bad for knee cartilage (in beginners), but goes on to say that their findings were likely not clinically relevant due to experimental error (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24045919&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24045919&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other studies suggest that activities like marathon running, or ultramarathoning, over the long term, can have negative effects on the heart such as arrhythmias and patchy myocardial fibrosis (thickening of the heart muscle in a bad way) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196%2812%2900473-9/abstract&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(12)00473-9/abstract&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt; both studies essentially were inconclusive and made a point to note that life long exercisers generally have lower mortality rates (although some other trials have shown that marathon runners are at a higher risk for calcium deposits in their arteries). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;Exercise in Cardiovascular Disease: Cardiovascular Effects of Exercise Training- Molecular Mechanisms (Stephan Gielen, MD; Gerhard Schuler, MD; Volker Adams, PhD)&lt;/em&gt; there is even note that &quot;lifelong physical activity prevents the development of diastolic [left ventricle] dysfunction in older age.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen studies that investigate lower back pain in runners, and find that runners have fewer instances of lower back pain than the regular population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Here would be my take-away from much of the science that's out there at the moment&lt;/em&gt;: most of the consensus is that exercise is a net positive for health over the long term (unless you are acutely overloading the heart/ body's systems so much that it causes injury- meaning if you hop into an ultramarathon after no training, there is potential for serious injury. That could be what many of the studies are eluding towards, remember that the 1st one I talked about only tested &lt;strong&gt;beginning runners&lt;/strong&gt;). The way to mitigate that risk would be to progressively increase training intensity over time, giving yourself enough time to work up to where you want to be. With that in mind, it's not clear that ultra-long distance events are bad for health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you enjoy running, I would continue to enjoy the sport, and some positive health benefits as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10029" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T15:49:30.550" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18077" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18079" CreationDate="2014-07-05T17:56:32.793" Score="2" ViewCount="768" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally recover from lower back pain just going to run. &#xA;It results from studying too much and sitting - skipping gym and sport during exam weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It alleviates normally after one hour running. &#xA;This time however I tried to alleviate it in interval running (2 x 15 min) and see try again tomorrow (15 min x 2) and see during 3rd day how is the pain.&#xA;Very cold water (for whole body, about 30-45 seconds) in Spa centers (colder than from tab) also causes very good burning sensation there in the lower back region. &#xA;Repeating it, shows that the pain sensation gets weaker.&#xA;After this the pain also disappears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary methods of alleviating lower back pain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-1.5h hour running (usually requires longer time to relieve)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interval running during three days (2 x 15 min, 2nd day 2 x 15 min, 3rd day 2 x 15 min)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;very cold water to alleviate it (30-45 seconds for whole body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not found any stretching technique how to alleviate the lower back pain or to increase the blood circulation there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can you stretch the lower back?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to understand better what is causing the lower back pain to plan better recovery and prevention programs from such pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the mechanism causing the lower back pain?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a good way of alleviating the lower back pain?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T19:50:23.473" Title="Mechanism and recovery of lower back pain?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18078" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18318" CreationDate="2014-07-05T18:35:12.487" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I calculated in [here][1] as it says 65kg male 175cm 29 yo, needs 3000 calories a day with following Activities every day. and I eat 500-1000 Calories everyday It means I lose 2000 Calories every day. 1 kg mean 7700 Calories(theoretically) so I need to lose 1kg every 4 days? Is that right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1   Walking &gt;&gt; 5.5 km/hour 336 Calories Burnt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2   Sitting &gt;&gt; 720 minutes (12 hours)   1080 Calories Burnt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastEditorUserId="8528" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T06:48:00.700" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T06:48:00.700" Title="My daily calorie intake" Tags="&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18077" CreationDate="2014-07-05T19:50:23.473" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your Lower back Pain seems to emerge from you studying too much, which means that you don't have a correct posture or proper seat with support. Although you can alleviate the pain, i recommend checking in your posture to prevent future problems such as chronic back pains.&#xA;Exercise increases blood flow and boosts muscle activity , hence alleviating pain. You can perform the following stretches to further alleviate and build a stronger back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back Extensions&lt;/strong&gt; - These are great for building strong back muscles which will inturn boost your overall posture.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BB00m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Back Extensions&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Various Core Exercises&lt;/strong&gt; - You have to improve your core muscles to have overall stability and balance while doing your Daily activities, stronger core muscles can even prevent further back pains. I recommend all variations of Planks and also all variations of crunches.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TYDI6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Planks&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back Stretches&lt;/strong&gt; - The muscle gets stiff after being inactive in a chair all day, stretches help increase blood flow and also release of lactic acid after workouts.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TOLcc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Back Streches&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Foam roller&lt;/strong&gt; - This is the ultimate self massage tool. Its my personal favourite and lets you give yourself a deep muscle massage. With the foam roller, you can also massage any muscle. You will also increase your core stability while doing so. The picture below is a popular foam roller by Trigger Point&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUD0I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Grid Foam Roller&quot;&gt;&#xA;Enjoy your workouts!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T19:50:23.473" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18075" CreationDate="2014-07-05T23:19:15.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best routines for natural lifters are 5x5 routines for the most part. Stronglifts, starting strength and bill starr routines all stand out above the rest for achieving maximal results in the shortest time. If you  are a natural lifter make sure to stay away from body part splits, these are useless in my opinion. As for gaining size a caloric surplus is necessary in my opinion, but if you are careful you will be able to do this with minimal fat gain. It is possible for a beginner to gain muscle on a deficit but only to a point and I would not recommend it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10019" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T23:19:15.820" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18065" CreationDate="2014-07-05T23:33:37.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are already angry then use that. Aggression can be a brilliant tool in the weight room to induce adrenaline. You would be amazed at what you can do in the gym when you are pissed off. Don't stay angry forever though, use it as a stress release to calm yourself and set you up for the day. It really can work wonders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10019" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T23:33:37.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-05T23:36:24.760" Score="2" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume you practice 4 times per week in gym regularly and running once (30 minutes) per week. &#xA;Each training gym session is from 45 minutes to 1h 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in the mass building phase.&#xA;I often forgot to eat enough food during day because I am studying too. &#xA;Therefore, I eat mostly during evenings and just before going to sleep.&#xA;There are two problems when going to sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if I eat whey proteins (which have little creatine inside) or bread with proteins, my stomach swells and I feel pain in the transversum duodenum in the supine position but not in slightly elevated position. &#xA;The creatine may cause the symptom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;so sometimes I decide not to eat before going to sleep but then I have to wake up and eat during night because I am so hungry and feel weak.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in how to regulate the diet in the evening and how to prepare for sleep. &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;What are good nutrients and how much and when exactly?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When you should eat creatine?&lt;/strong&gt; I think not before going to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastEditorUserId="2169" LastEditDate="2014-07-08T07:10:27.927" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T23:59:22.480" Title="Nutrition before sleeping during intensive training program" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18084" CreationDate="2014-07-06T06:36:09.410" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;After running Just 5 minutes or so,(even while running very slowly) I get pain in lower frontal part of my leg. In fact, I get this pain even if I walk fast. It might be the bones or the muscles attached with the bones (I am not sure whether it's tibia or fibula). This pain gradually goes away if I rest half an hour or so!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me point out that I am not a regular &quot;runner&quot; and just started few weeks back. I run only during weekends but as I said earlier, the cause of pain does not seem to be running fast, as I get the pain even after walking fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did anyone experience similar thing before? Do you have any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10091" LastEditorUserId="10091" LastEditDate="2014-07-06T06:42:55.463" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T12:22:21.900" Title="Pain in Front Part of Leg" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18083" CreationDate="2014-07-06T12:22:21.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds possible that you have shin splits &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_splints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_splints&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will go away with some time off.   This is common with individuals who are new to the level of training that are taking on.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to rest for 3 days and start again (rest means you don't have to stop training,  just don't do what you have been) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you become better conditioned you won't have this problem anymore.  Stick with it,  you'll get there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10052" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T12:22:21.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18075" CreationDate="2014-07-06T13:04:59.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to start off with that there is no universally best routine.  Only what is most appropriate for you given your level of training, physical development, and your goals.  Advice in the world of bodybuilding (i.e. hypertrophy work), opinions are so severely divided that it's even hard to compile a list of routines.  That's probably due to the fact a number of bodybuilders go to the gym with a rough idea of what they want to accomplish, and the rest kind of falls into place after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing I can recommend is hire a coach who has had good results from his clients, and see if you can get 3rd party opinions about his coaching results and style.  They will help you figure out exactly what is going to work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, to that end I do have to outline a couple of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x5 routines are a decent compromise for getting stronger and a little bigger.  However, they are general programs and you will get general results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most people only see quick results when they are beginners, so doing just about anything will give them results.  There are some people who don't see this, but after years of hard work they still get results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more you train, you will need more variation to your training stimulus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even if your emphasis is hypertrophy, you will need to do blocks of emphasizing strength so that you can build more mass later.  The reverse is also true.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that to develop a routine that works for you, you'll need to be really smart:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Log your work, sets/reps/timing/type of work, as well as how you are feeling (fatigue levels), scale and measurements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you get more results with a style of training, keep at it until you start to stall.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you stall, change the focus of your training to emphasize a different aspect.  I.e. if you have been training for size, start training for strength.  This is called periodization.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Approach any new claims you hear with a healthy skepticism.  If the arguments seem sound and don't conflict with anything concrete you already know, you may decide to give it a try.  Just make sure it fits your current goals, and feel free to make modifications to make it work best for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no best.  That concept is a marketing ploy in the fitness industry.  There's what's best for you give your training maturity and how you respond to exercise, but there is no unequivocal best approach to training for everyone.  You might find that what works very well for someone else doesn't really do anything for you.  There can be any number of reasons for it ranging from training maturity to personal genetics.  Just train, and make minor tweaks as you go along.  After a decade or so, you'll have a very good idea of how to train yourself better than anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T13:04:59.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18065" CreationDate="2014-07-06T13:12:46.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rate my training days on a scale of 1-4.  This helps me address what I need to do.  First the scale:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm trash.  No energy, very diminished capability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bad side of average.  Shouldn't have too many of these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The good side of average.  Most training days should be here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm superman.  Nothing can stop me, better than normal capability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 1 days and the 4 days should be pretty spread apart.  However, if you actually hit a 1 day, the most productive thing you can do is take the day off and get some rest.  If you absolutely must train, do something very light weight to get your blood moving.  Perhaps just make it a light cardio day and go home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a 2 day, just back off the assistance work a bit to help you recover.  On a 3 day just train per normal.  You can really push yourself on a 4 day, but expect a couple 2 days after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T13:12:46.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18091" CreationDate="2014-07-06T15:00:55.020" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;This muscle or tendon feels maximum stress when supporting body weight with the knees flexed 90 degrees or more, but flexing the quadriceps with the leg straight doesn't involve it at all. It can become weak when pedaling a bicycle on hills. It seems like all the tendons from the quadriceps are supposed to cross the knee joint, but this is an inch or two above the patella toward the medial side so I can't identify it. It feels like it attaches to the top of the large knob at the end of the femur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T20:20:01.750" Title="Which muscle or tendon inserts on the front of the thigh and bears more load when the knees are flexed than extended?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18092" CreationDate="2014-07-06T16:03:14.627" Score="0" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I basically do 20-25 dips which is slightly inclined towards the wall and then some push ups of 20-25 for starting. The height is 5Ft 11 and weight 69.1kgs Male for which  i am underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what kind of muscle is being targeted when doing the inclined dip and the push ups.My goal is to remove fatigue and weight gain.&#xA;Is it the appropriate kind of exercise that i do or i need to bring in some changes.Willing to give commitment for it.Images or links would be helpful for correct technique&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time and space are my constraints please suggest accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T09:33:44.223" Title="What muscles are targeted when doing inclined dips and push ups" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16450" CreationDate="2014-07-06T20:17:22.973" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Freeletics is basically CrossFit for the bodyweight exercises. It doesn't have as big of a following, but Freeletics originated in Germany. Instead of it being a lifestyle as CF is, the program is for generally 15 weeks of hard exercises. If you get the Coach, it will tell you what to do throughout the week. If not and you want all the exercises, I recommend buying the Freeletics Pro app, which is about 5 bucks. Well worth it, since you can work out anywhere and not have to pay the expensive gym fees that CF is known for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10094" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T20:17:22.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18087" CreationDate="2014-07-06T20:20:01.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;vastus medialis&lt;/strong&gt; is made up of two parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It has a long part called the &lt;strong&gt;VML&lt;/strong&gt; - vastus medialis longus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And it has a more distal part closer to the knee which you appear to be describing called the &lt;strong&gt;VMO&lt;/strong&gt; - vastus medialis obliquus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Whether or not they are actually &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19090000&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one muscle&lt;/a&gt; or separate is not fully known.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90-0dsG51-I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VMO video&lt;/a&gt; explains why the muscle may not work at full extension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video shows two exercises to help &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5BDi8Oj5eM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strengthen the VMO.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T20:20:01.750" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18089" CreationDate="2014-07-06T21:12:02.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A number of muscles are being trained when doing forward tilted dips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rd25n.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medial head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Deltoid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectoral major (generally the lower pectoral area )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push ups are excellent for core conditioning and also target the same general muscles as the dip but in a slightly different variation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hBZLJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The push up also focus more on:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectoral major&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectoral clavicle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anconeus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10052" LastEditorUserId="10052" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T09:33:44.223" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T09:33:44.223" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18093" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18097" CreationDate="2014-07-06T22:29:03.923" Score="1" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have much time to work out for long time session, so I'm just training according to HiiT protocol four times a week, it takes me up to 15mins per session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is Ok for the body to take HiiT as the only training routine without weightlifting or running, how many time a week should I workout ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10096" LastEditorUserId="10096" LastEditDate="2015-10-15T19:16:30.633" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T19:16:30.633" Title="If HiiT only, How many times a week?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18093" CreationDate="2014-07-07T01:04:57.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have completed and trained a number of people in several High-intensity interval training (HIIT) programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on what you are training for or what your goals are only training using HIIT programs may meet your needs.  The programs I have used, and my clients use, we train 6 days a week about 30 minutes a session.  A sound protocol should include body weight exercises that work a range of muscles, and provides some variation across each day within the program to keep your mind and body interested and always working new muscles / muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because you are not weightlifting or running does not mean you cannot incorporate strength training type exercises within your routine ( think push-ups, pull-ups, planks, plank-walks etc.. )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT programs are an excellent way to get a great full body workout.  15 minute sessions is far better then nothing, I personally would shoot for a bit longer but it sounds like you are doing great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the great work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10052" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T01:04:57.880" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18116" CreationDate="2014-07-07T05:32:49.083" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last year, I've been on programs which require 3 non consecutive days. Starting Strength, Stronglifts, AllPros&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment my life is so hectic that sometimes I can only make it to the gym once or two a week, and sometime it has to be on consecutive days. Apart from changing my programming on a weekly basis, e.g. sometime a upper / lower split to allow for consecutive days, and sometimes heavy full body , to make up for only two times a week. Is there anything else I should be trying which would work well with the randomness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7050" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T21:32:57.237" Title="How to lift regularly, without training" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T08:21:18.523" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I am a girl and I weigh 61kg and I'm about 160cm and I'm just need your help to see if I'm doing anything right all wrong. So every morning I have raw egg and milk for breakfast a salad or for lunch and meat for dinner, I do about 10 min of cardio and core workouts and weights and work on my legs, I'm not sure if you know who jen selter is but I want a body like that. &#xA;Anyway my main question is what do I do different to get a body like hers and around how long would it take me &#xA;Appreciate it so much!!! THANKYOU&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10098" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T08:21:18.523" Title="Dieting and exercise" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-07-08T03:28:24.477" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18093" CreationDate="2014-07-07T13:14:21.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to some research, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/the-4-minute-workout/?_php=true&amp;amp;_type=blogs&amp;amp;_r=1&amp;amp;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NY Times- 4 minute workout &lt;/a&gt;once  a week of 4 minutes high intensity training is enough to improve. Similar as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2538858/Can-exercising-just-60-seconds-week-transform-health-The-BBCs-Dr-Michael-Mosley-says-fast-exercise-powerful-experts-thought.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mosley&lt;/a&gt; of BBC recommends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience is that if you fill the high intensity training sessions with full body exercises that engage all of your posterior chain, (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_XjJjLc7NE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kettlebell&lt;/a&gt; swings) you will also improve/sustain your strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way the other workouts can be focused on improving specific skills, e.g. swimming, running, or team sports such as football, basketball, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T13:14:21.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T16:55:42.257" Score="2" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have thick legs since young (I am 29 now) and play soccer once a week. After my soccer workout I feel my legs get very thick for at least 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is that happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am hoping to make my legs slimmer but sport seems to do the opposite. What is recommended to slim legs and butt? And when it comes to diet, what should I get rid of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I am 5.10 and weight around 182 pounds. My complexion is athletic, barely no belly and I tend to generate muscle easily. My legs are muscled, not fatty, but I don't work out every day, I just play soccer once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10106" LastEditorUserId="10106" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T19:02:35.493" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T02:07:49.187" Title="Slimming legs with exercise and diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T17:07:03.363" Score="-2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother uses the elliptical machine.  Once he gets to 30 minutes he is unable to go any further.  He just says he is physically exhausted.  What can he do to help himself over this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10107" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T19:45:51.450" Title="Hi, I am unable to go further in my workouts. I mean physically unable to go on. What should I do" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-07-09T04:25:37.617" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18099" CreationDate="2014-07-07T17:26:14.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The real question is what's going with your brother, why is unable to continue to perform, and what makes him physically exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are his joints beat, muscles sore, dehydrated and shutting down, or is working outside of his optimal heart rate zone and over exerting himself etc.. there are so many variables to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience most people reach the breaking point because they are over exerting them self and need to to learn to pace themselves.  The only tool I know of to insure individuals are working within their range for this type of activity and getting the most out of their workouts is a heart rate monitor (HRM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learning to use a HRM will allow him to learn when his body is asking for a rest, this will allow him to train just below his breaking point and allow him to build up his heart and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he doesn’t have one I recommend finding a quality one form your local store or online.  Consider it a necessary tool for working out, similar to having a quality pair of shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10052" LastEditorUserId="10052" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T19:45:51.450" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T19:45:51.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18098" CreationDate="2014-07-07T19:09:31.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like you personally prefer your legs to be slim, but you legs are obviously healthy and have muscle mass. Soccer Players have large legs because all they have to use in the game are their legs! Most people would always prefer muscle to slim legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you still feel dissatisfied by your legs(visually), then you could do some upper body weight training to even out the body shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7706" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T19:09:31.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17872" CreationDate="2014-07-07T19:28:19.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like what you are really asking is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do I lose 'that stubborn weight'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Let’s start off with a simple fact:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no magic pill  to weight loss or to looking great and being fit,  it takes hard work, dedication and commitment. The dedication and commitment extend far beyond just going to the gym and working hard, fitness is a lifestyle, remember abs are made in the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Eat Clean:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The focus of eating foods without preservatives and artificial sweeteners.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being 26 years old up until this point you most likely were able to consume just about anything and maintain a decent figure, now things are starting to change, and your desk job is working its magic... &lt;em&gt;it's time to start to change yourself.&lt;/em&gt;  It's unlikely that your exercise program will overcome any bad stuff you put in your body throughout the day so change the way you eat, eat clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great rule of thumb is try to do the majority of your shopping on the  outside perimeter of the grocery store.  Most of the time the items in the isles are filled with all sorts of artificial sweeteners and are highly processed.  When you do have to visit the isles, take the extra minute to make good selections, you will thank yourself later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Eat more frequently:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this sounds a bit counterproductive the idea is simple.  Eat at least 5 -6 small meals per day.  Your meals should be well balanced and spaced evenly, which lends itself to you eating about every 2-3 hours daily.  When you incorporate this into your daily dietary regimen, your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_dynamic_action&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TEF&lt;/a&gt; increases, which in turn,  results in an increased metabolism, reduced hunger, more energy and essentially converts to weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don’t confuse eating more frequently with eating more though, your meals need to be smaller. You are basically eat the same amount you did before but spreading it out across the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Portion Control:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“The understanding how much a serving size of food is and how many calories or how much food energy a serving contains”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By understanding and applying the proper portions to each meal you won't over eat.  That’s right - even by eating your fruits and vegetables you can have to much of a good thing.  There are a number of online &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculators&lt;/a&gt; you can use to help you with determining the proper amount of cabs, protein, fiber, calories etc you should be receiving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Exercise:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are doing well in this area, but for other readers of this post: Weight training and regular exercise are just as important to incorporate in your daily routine as clean eating, portion control, and keeping hydrated .  Regular exercise has shown to have a number of health advantages, but let’s just focus on burning excess calories.  When you exercise you exert some amount of energy. This energy comes from the fuel you put in your body ( we gotta have good fuel ), or the stored fuel, also known as fat, that we carry around.  So by carefully crafting a diet plan so we don’t consume too many calories, and adding regular 30 minute workouts into our day, we are able to call on those fat cells to keep us going, in turn helping us lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10052" LastEditorUserId="2888" LastEditDate="2015-02-23T13:56:14.590" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T13:56:14.590" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-08T02:04:26.037" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once heard that it is possible to reduce ligament pain by taking supplements (eg: glucosamine). I am looking for exercises to perform to strengthen the knees and avoid ligament injuries. Which exercises could help faster and better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3623" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-08T12:06:49.903" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T14:47:11.037" Title="Is it possible to avoid ligaments injuries by doing leg and knee excercises?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18106" CreationDate="2014-07-08T02:26:08.633" Score="14" ViewCount="2083" Body="&lt;p&gt;If an olympic bar is in a rack where the rack is touching approximately where the arrows are in the following picture, how more much weight has to be added to one side before that side will fall to the ground if the other side isn't held?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jp9Cf.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just looking for an approximate and practical number. By practical I mean that I wouldn't want to get close to the point where it is tipping either since removing a weight at that point might upset the balance. I have never removed more than 45 from one side at a time and I don't think my gym would appreciate any experimentation :-P &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8790" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T03:11:46.360" Title="What weight difference will tip an Olympic bar on a rack?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18105" CreationDate="2014-07-08T03:11:46.360" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is directly sourced from reddit, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1aaqg9/how_much_weight_can_be_loaded_on_one_side_of_a/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;its about 3x 45lb plates&lt;/a&gt; or approximately 60kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U3SpU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a safety perspective, unrack no more than 2 plates per side... and always unrack your weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T03:11:46.360" CommentCount="5" CommunityOwnedDate="2014-07-08T03:11:46.360" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18104" CreationDate="2014-07-08T12:32:04.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is only anecdotal evidence to support the claim that taking supplements can help with joint pain.  It appears to work for some people, and, not for others.  There is, as yet, no scientific proof it works.  As for exercises, I've had the unfortunate experience to rehab a torn ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament).  As part of that rehab, I was instructed by  the PT to perform certain movements with exercise bands.  These exercises were designed to improve balance, stability, and strength of the supporting tissues. For example, I performed one legged squats with a resistance band.  A simple web search should find more exercises for  you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T12:32:04.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18111" CreationDate="2014-07-06T19:31:32.083" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to an injury, I can no longer run, however, I would like to use my road bicycles to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming I have the discipline, and I use a trainer for the training sessions, What type of sessions should i have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High cadence? ~110+?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time based?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I aim for a certain Heart Rate Zone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" OwnerDisplayName="Saariko" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T15:14:40.707" Title="Road bicycles for weight loss" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18109" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-08T14:21:26.953" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have moved to a different city and joined the gym yesterday, last night my workout consisted of 15 minutes running on the treadmill at 10 mph with a 3% incline and 3 sets of leg presses, 35 repetitions per set at 110lbs where 1 set is fast push out and slow in (for power). I forgot to add that the rest time in between each set is 15 seconds, I wanted to max out my heart rate, it worked, I could hear it more than the music playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;now the thing is I am at work and my eyes are drooping...I haven't had nutrition after working out, I have had a lot of water. But for breakfast I had oats and that is about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;these are my questions at the moment, sorry if I have bunched too many in to one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I take things like Coconut water post workout for electrolyte replenishment?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I take those electrolyte supplements during my workout? because I sweat very heavily and loose a lot during my workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I save taking things like protein supplements for the next morning or take them sometime after my workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do I immediately need replenishing after my workout to lower fatigue, water being the obvious and minerals etc.. I know the body acts as a sponge for sometime after working out so it is better during that time to take things like protein, but I would really like to stop/lower my fatigue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sleep for 6 hours a day, usually no more and definitely no less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read articles on these questions, but here I can describe my workouts and get a more suitable answer, thank you all in advance for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T11:35:40.390" Title="Post workout supplements?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18164" CreationDate="2014-07-08T14:30:50.943" Score="12" ViewCount="33201" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note: I know that this is not enough time for muscles to fully recover, please read my entire question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have participated in weightlifting for over 6 years now, and from the start I've constantly heard not to work out the same muscle group two days in a row. The reasoning makes sense, and I've followed this strategy with all of my lifting, up until now. I recently started the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/how-to-add-100-pounds-to-your-squat-smolov/&quot;&gt;Smolov squat program&lt;/a&gt;, which as part of the routine involves squatting two days in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether, for more experienced weightlifters, there can be a benefit to stressing the muscle while it is still mid-recovery, perhaps due to a different sort of response from the body. Could a potential different kind of response make up for the fact that the workout from day 1 of 2 is not fully recovered from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastEditorUserId="10114" LastEditDate="2014-07-10T15:54:32.073" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T14:53:34.517" Title="Working out same muscle group two days in a row (or before full recovery)" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18108" CreationDate="2014-07-08T15:14:40.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling can be a very effective method for fat and weight loss. If you are going to be primarily using a trainer, then you will probably want to go with a time based method rather than distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are serious about this, I would look at investing in a powermeter of some kind. I would recommend a wheel based meter with ANT+ technology (Almost all powermeters anymore are ANT+), with a paired computer. The reason I state this is that power in watts x 4 is almost exactly equal to calories burned, due to the efficiency conversion of human power to bike speed/time. So if you cycle at 200 watts for 1 hour, you've burned ~ 800 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other advantage to this is that you can also pair your powermeter with an online program such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trainerroad.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trainer Road&lt;/a&gt; and get somewhat personalized training plans. (Note, I am not affiliated with TR, just a fan).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the actual program, initially I would just aim for TITS (Time In The Saddle), and not worry about intensity. Get on the bike for at least 30 mins a day, more if you can stand it. After a couple months, you can start adding some intervals and speed work, and higher intensity/cadence work. The nice advantage is that cycling is much less impact than running, so you can do higher intensity more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find after a while that the trainer becomes boring, so don't be afraid to grab a helmet and head out on the road occasionally to keep things interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T15:14:40.707" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18115" CreationDate="2014-07-08T19:05:21.500" Score="5" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm disabled, not like Roy from the IT crowd :) I can walk on crutches or walker, and I can swim for few minutes. I realize that kicking my legs is what makes me float, using my arms is just to move around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can swim on my back but it's boring :) besides, I still need to use my legs at some point, and it feels awkward :) I asked my friend who has the same physical condition, he told me that he use life jacket! That's not the answer I wanted to hear! I don't want to buy anything, I could, but that's not the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep  seeing people with no legs on youtube swimming, how do they do it? My legs gets tired if I kick for so long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to swim using minimum effort with my legs? do they use a technique that I don't know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5909" LastEditorUserId="5909" LastEditDate="2014-07-08T19:41:10.573" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T21:15:45.960" Title="How do the disabled swim? How do they use their legs?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18114" CreationDate="2014-07-08T21:15:45.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be surprised at how well you can remain afloat swimming a stroke like the front crawl with just your arms once you've better developed the upper body swimming muscles :). I see the local YMCA team at the gym every morning, and these kids (aged anywhere from 10-18) all are able to perform the stroke without using their legs. The legs may sink down somewhat, but not enough to inhibit movement through the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these kids may not be elite swimmers, they all are experienced, and so swimming in this manner might not be possible for you yet. To get to this point, I recommend purchasing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_buoy&quot;&gt;pull buoy&lt;/a&gt; to use to help you keep your legs afloat while you swim. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T21:15:45.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18095" CreationDate="2014-07-08T21:32:57.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing I could think of would be to try to regulate your routine by adding in bodyweight exercises when you can at home. If you shower in the morning, do them when you wake up if you can't make it to the gym that day; if at night, do them before dinner. While getting to a gym can be time consuming, these types of exercises can be constant, and help to alleviate the stress of missing a workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a vast assortment of body weight exercises that would work well here, but the simplest ones are likely push-ups, sit-ups, and squats, to offer ones for an assortment of muscles. Jumping squats could also be an option if body weight squats seem too easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the intensity, you could do these exercises either every day in conjunction with your programs, or just on days when you didn't have time for the gym, as a way of keeping your routine in line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T21:32:57.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-08T21:42:07.510" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm searching around for answers to various fitness questions as I try to figure out how to incorporate exercise into my life, but I grow frustrated with all the fads, conjectures and ideologies out there. Can anyone suggest some sourced, critical information out there about fitness and exercise? It would be great if it also fact-checked many of the ideas out there...for example, whether compound exercises improve functional fitness better than isolation exercises, or if there really is a difference between training for size compared to training for strength? While a lot of the ideas make sense, I want to know how well they've been tested. I think a lot of the information out there may be based on limited scientific data and then extrapolated audaciously (or seems to the few times I had the time to look for supporting studies). There also seem to be &quot;cults of personality&quot; out there, like Pavel (with the kettle bells), who seem to provide fine information on a practical basis, but these personalities also seem to have a power to bless a conjecture as true in the &quot;fitness world&quot; without going through the scientific process. Additionally, fitness seems to go through as many fads and trends as nutritional information. For instance, there is HIIT, functional fitness, cross-training (Crossfit), core training, Olympic lifts, yoga, pilattes, stability exercises, and I'm just mentioning some of the things that seem to make more sense to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the point is that perhaps too much searching on the web and reading lame pop fitness books has filled my head with too many ideas that I now question. Can anyone recommend anything that will help me weed out all this cruft?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6713" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T20:34:15.353" Title="Can anyone recommend science-based skeptical literature or media about exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2014-07-10T02:06:26.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18104" CreationDate="2014-07-09T06:30:09.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; will help you to strengthen your knee. Try it and do workout regularly and improve your diet and stay healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10121" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T06:30:09.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18120" CreationDate="2014-07-09T12:13:35.230" Score="2" ViewCount="763" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing 3x week strength training using New Rules of Lifting: Supercharged workouts which promote full body training approach. My plan is to add running training to it in order to improve cardiovascular endurance, lack of which I feel both in daily activity and during strength workouts. Having a strength training as a first priority, question is how to combine both. Some of my thoughts follow, I would appreciate your help to sort things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the very first stage (first 2-3 weeks, probably), running workouts will probably look more like learning to run rather than any serious load that could affect other training, so I suppose that I could keep 3 strength workouts per week and combine them with 3 short (15-20 minute max) running workouts. Is it better to have 6 days of trainings, with just one type of activity at each day, or to have two workouts per day sometimes in order to get more days of rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, I suppose, running could start to affect the recovery between strength workouts and more options arise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep full body strength workouts but reduce load to 2x per week, alternate with 2-3 running workouts with higher intensity than on first stage;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep strength workouts at 3x per week, but change to lower/upper body split - train legs 1x per week and upper body 2x per week - should give legs a chance to recover better and compensate the load on upper body;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave strength training unchanged but have less running workouts than on first stage - 1-2 per week but with higher intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, all these options are legit and I should probably try them all, but I'd like to receive some feedback on how this works if someone has tried it, or some other options that I could use, or, also appreciated, some advice on what I definitely should not do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10119" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T12:50:12.223" Title="Integrating running into strength training schedule" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18119" CreationDate="2014-07-09T12:50:12.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have the right idea for the first couple weeks, especially if you have never done much running previously. It will take a little while for running to feel smooth and natural in a manner which allows for longer time and distance runs. Depending on your fitness level, it may make sense to break these early runs into parts, e.g. do 3x5 minutes, as a way of easing into the running routine. If you have the time, adding these runs in on your off days should not hamper your recovery and will allow for you to more fully focus on improving your running ability. Once you find that you can run for 20-30 minutes at around 8:00 mile pace, you will be nearing the point you mentioned where your running could impact your lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When trying to figure out how to mix together your running and lifting, the most important thing is to eat. Eat enough food to compensate for the cardio you are doing, and you should be able to limit its interference with your lifing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you do the activity you are focusing on (weightlifting) first, as going into it fresh allows for a full workout, compared to a more tired effort on the second activity. There are exceptions to this order, but the main time I see these is when people are training at a high level for a specific activity, and incorporate a reverse order as a way to hit their muscles in a different way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to your three options, option 3 will likely be the best for your lifting goals, as the decrease in workouts with the others would make it harder to continue progress. Someone who knows far better than I do how to manage lifting and running, Alex Viada, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.atlargenutrition.com/blog/2012/11/hybrid-athlete-alex-viada-so-you-want-to-run-and-be-strong/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recommends a routine like this however, which is option 2 with added lifts:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Day 1: ME upper body/bench, light recovery run&#xA;Day 2: REST&#xA;Day 3: ME lower body, speed/interval work&#xA;Day 4: Short race pace run&#xA;Day 5: DE upper body, running form drills&#xA;Day 6: DE lower body&#xA;Day 7: Long slow distance run&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading his full article can give you a better picture on the do's and don'ts of combining lifting and running, and I've seen his strategies work on many high level athletes. You'll notice he mentions avoiding &quot;junk&quot; miles, or miles without a specific focus or goal, in his article, but at this point in your running development, essentially any mile has a purpose, as these early runs are imperative in developing the basic form and muscles for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T12:50:12.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-09T13:38:07.150" Score="0" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been 2 weeks of me working out in strength and transformation change. I don't see any much difference expect my body fat is 4 percent less. And weight has reduced. But pictures don't lie. So I took with a 35 days difference. And I see is my tummy hanging out. &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YnBpm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;left one 35 days old and right one is latest (after 35 days)&quot;&gt;&#xA;My question is, &#xA;1.does the fat hangs like in my picture prior to getting burned away and going away?&#xA;2.If I see body fat and weight changes, why doesn't if show in picture?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T14:30:56.143" Title="Does belly fat hangs before getting less?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18121" CreationDate="2014-07-09T13:47:15.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For men, the stomach is often the last place that fat is lost. It changes from person to person, but you'll lose fat in a particular order, pretty much the opposite of the order in which you put it on. Most men put on belly fat first and lose it last. If you've lost fat, look at other places first: your arms, back, thighs, chest, face, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8659" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T13:47:15.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18121" CreationDate="2014-07-09T14:30:56.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When fat is burned, it just goes away. What could be hanging out is excessive skin that is left if you lose fat very fast and/or have skin elasticity issues, but it's not your case. The effect of &quot;hanging out&quot; on 2nd picture could be explained by different level of tension in you ABS, the position that you would feel as &quot;relaxed&quot; is nonetheless different depending on how did you exercise lately, what time of day it is, how much did you eat etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As it was said in previous answer, belly is usually the last thing to go away. How much did your weight reduce? You should probably just give it some more time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10119" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T14:30:56.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8044" CreationDate="2014-07-09T16:00:56.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/straight-arm-pulldown&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Straight arm pulldowns&lt;/a&gt; work the lats without the biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rear delt flies with the elbows bent at 90 degrees work the traps... or you could just do shrugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T16:00:56.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18134" CreationDate="2014-07-09T16:08:52.830" Score="1" ViewCount="7944" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you gain five pounds in one day people always say &quot;water retention from sodium&quot; and undigested food. To see if this is plausible, I want to get a sense for the scale of the effect. Suppose you consumed an additional 2300 mg of sodium (one US RDA, also the amount of sodium in one 11-ounce bag of Doritos, so it's a common real-world scenario for me). How many pounds of water would this cause the average person to retain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T14:56:02.377" Title="How many pounds of water retention will be caused by 2300 mg of sodium?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;sodium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-10-10T18:17:52.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13084" CreationDate="2014-07-09T16:50:54.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, think about all the articulated movements you can do with your ankle / toes, and practice those with progressively increasing resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In specific, one good arch exercise is to take something like pieces of newspaper or a towel, lay them under your feet, and scrunch them up into a ball using only your feet &amp;amp; toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T16:50:54.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18098" CreationDate="2014-07-09T16:57:29.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your legs have significant lean tissue mass (and not excess fat). If that is the case, the solution is a bit more extreme. I normally wouldn't suggest it to anyone but if you really want to try to reduce leg muscle mass then you need to stimulate muscle atrophy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce leg activity. No intense leg exercise only really low steady state. The extreme example of this is put your legs in casts for a few months, and you will get muscle atrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce protein intake, as this causes the body to break down lean body tissue when amino acids are lacking. Honestly &lt;strong&gt;I strongly urge you not to take this route&lt;/strong&gt; as you don't want to break down other important tissues because of lack of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastEditorUserId="4549" LastEditDate="2014-07-10T02:07:49.187" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T02:07:49.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18129" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18132" CreationDate="2014-07-09T17:48:26.090" Score="3" ViewCount="2049" Body="&lt;p&gt;I worked out with some guys at my gym last night that introduced me to wearing a band just above the elbows (on the humerus) Below is a picture that partially resembles how I wore the band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine the band is slid down just passed the elbows on the humerus, and that is how I was wearing the band as I benched.  We had the bench at the smallest incline setting possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They told me wearing the band would keep the shoulders healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never heard of this.  I actually felt that there was MORE stress on my shoulders with the band, because I could not go as wide as I wanted (I usually bench very wide).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this does infact preserve the shoulders as they say, then how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or a refuting argument I would be happy to hear as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cECi7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T18:29:38.370" Title="Effect of band around arms when bench pressing" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18133" CreationDate="2014-07-09T18:18:41.277" Score="0" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;a Month ago I've started working out. 5 times a week. Each session: 25 min weights, 25 min cardio (running/fast walking in 5 min intervals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel leaner. I definitely see a &quot;change&quot; in slightly beefier muscles (even after one month), But I gained 10 pounds!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can that be? I'm still considered overweight. 6ft over 215 pounds. I don't eat flour. Cut back on sugars. Lots of Proteins. Yes, still a diet soda addict, but how can I work out so much and still gain weight without any change in waist size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10130" LastEditorUserId="10130" LastEditDate="2014-07-09T18:25:14.360" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T18:32:40.590" Title="Started working out -- Gaining weight?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18129" CreationDate="2014-07-09T18:29:38.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This strategy looks like an emulation of the effect of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howmuchyabench.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slingshot&lt;/a&gt;, a device which mainly sees use with people benching heavier weights (300+). I have not used this device, but I've spoken with users and they recommended it, mainly for dealing with shoulder injuries. When a shoulder injury occurs, especially for people benching these sorts of weights, it becomes difficult to do heavy reps as part of a workout, and the shoulder injury can become the limiting factor rather than the person's strength. According to the about section of the linked website, the slingshot (and presumably the band)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;work by stretching with you as you lower the weight to your chest, then when you are at the bottom of the lift, the Sling Shot gives you a little extra spring that allows you to get the weight moving again and complete the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the users I spoke with benches 450+, and he said he doubted the product at first, but then stated that it allowed him to work through a shoulder injury which had limited him to reps at 225. Assuming that this band strategy is as effective as the slingshot, I would say that it makes sense for use when dealing with heavy reps, especially when recently injured, but in other scenarios may unnecessarily change parts of the motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T18:29:38.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18131" CreationDate="2014-07-09T18:32:40.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does your diet look like? How much are you eating? Weight loss is 90% diet, 10% exercise. You can exercise all day long but if you eat those calories back it's for naught. If you're not tracking your calories, do that. Keep track of everything you eat, everything you drink. And be careful about portion sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also highly recommend weighing your food, at least for a little while. Misjudging how much you're eating can lead you wildly off course, especially with oily or fatty foods like peanut butter. Being off by a few tablespoons can add a couple hundred calories!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8659" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T18:32:40.590" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18125" CreationDate="2014-07-09T19:51:28.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I agree with Greg, I did some digging and came up with this information:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-sodium-per-day-lose-weight-7850.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;An extra 400 milligrams of sodium in your body results in a 2-pound weight increase.&lt;/a&gt; Now, to me, this statistic is questionable, as the author does not site a source, and 2 pounds seems like a lot for that amount, but I cannot find any other discussion which offers a number, so take from it what you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really curious, conduct a test yourself, where you maintain a constant diet for a couple days taking frequent weight measurements, then add some sodium to the diet and take more measurements. While this might not be exact, it will be adjusted to your body type, and will give you the best idea of how your body responds to additional sodium. Make sure to hydrate well before starting the experiment, as all the sources I came across say fulfilling your hydration needs results in a loss of the excess water weight, and so this would allow you a clean slate from which to gather results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T19:51:28.940" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18117" CreationDate="2014-07-09T20:16:08.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Evidence-based books written for popular audiences include Gina Kolata's &lt;em&gt;Ultimate Fitness&lt;/em&gt; and Gretchen Reynolds' &lt;em&gt;The First 20 Minutes&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both writers are science reporters for the New York Times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kolata's book is older (2007); she researches the origins of common fitness beliefs such as the &quot;fat burning zone&quot;. Her book is part &quot;debunking&quot; and part research into questions like &quot;where did that 220 minus your age heart-rate formula come from anyway&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reynolds book was published more recently (2012) and it is written to help people figure out if they are exercising in the most effective way. e.g., &quot;should I stretch before my workout?&quot; &quot;what should I eat/drink after my workout?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10131" LastEditorUserId="10131" LastEditDate="2014-07-10T20:34:15.353" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T20:34:15.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18098" CreationDate="2014-07-09T21:47:38.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might not appeal to everyone, but swimming is a solid cardio activity that will burn fat and won't build your legs much.  It's mostly about back, shoulders and core.  It isn't weight bearing or impact-centric like running or soccer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not a strong swimmer already and you're interested, I &lt;em&gt;highly&lt;/em&gt; recommend getting some lessons for awhile.  Once you're swimming laps with confidence, consider joining a masters group so you can really push yourself during each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8801" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T21:47:38.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16360" CreationDate="2014-07-09T23:35:34.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, first of all, I'm sorry to get to this so late, as with less than a month left it will likely be difficult to gain much from any sort of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the best type of exercise for adjustment of this sort would be running, ideally with a sauna visit directly afterwards to simulate the dry environment. Running serves two purposes here. The first is to strengthen your leg muscles, in an effort to make motion easier for your body. Easing the effort of actions like walking will help with the transition, as if your body is stressed you will be more likely to experience the noted symptoms. The second purpose of running is to induce fatigue, so as to make the sauna trip more effective. If you can get adjusted to a very dry, hot sauna, while fatigued, then the new country should feel comfortable in comparison, which will also help with the symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While exercising in this manner may help, you will still experience these symptoms to some degree after the move. My recommendation unrelated to exercise is to find a nasal spray and moisturizer you like, and then make use a habit. With such a short time until the move, these items will probably be your most effective tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T23:35:34.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18143" CreationDate="2014-07-09T23:46:28.200" Score="5" ViewCount="734" Body="&lt;p&gt;26 years old, 160 lb, roughly 20% body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat a pretty normal vegetarian diet. I avoid soda, fruit juice, anything with sugar. Maybe one can of soda or a candy bar per week at the most. I do eat quite a bit of cheese though, so definitely getting some fat from that. I'm not sure how many calories I get per day, but I would estimate somewhere around 2500. I try and eat carrots, broccoli, spinach, and kale every day. I usually eat quite a bit of peanut butter toast, always on whole wheat bread, eggs, and greek yogurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also ride my bike every day. I have a bike computer to keep track, and it comes out to 5 miles per day for the past four months, every single day. I usually bike at 12-15 mph. Sometimes up to 20 mph on flat ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really noticing any fat loss, but my quads are huge now. My main goal is fat loss though. How much do I need to increase my cardio? Should I bike 10 miles per day, or should I do jogging as well? Is biking really cardio? It sort of feels like weight training just for my legs. Do I need to cut cheese out altogether? How much should I cut out in terms of calories? If I do cut calories out, is it normal to feel hungry all the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wow!! Thank you so much to everyone who responded. I've been keeping very careful track of all my calories. Juice has way more calories than I thought possible. Time to switch to decaf tea. (Caffine makes me feel sick) And I didn't know how much an ounce of cheese was, I had to weigh it out, haha! Today I ate 1800 calories, and added 20 minutes of jogging to my fitness routine. I figure biking 20 minutes at 15 mph is about 200 calories burned, so I am shooting for a daily &quot;deficit&quot; of 600 calories. I'll eat 1800 calories, jog for 200, and bike for 200 more. That way I am 4200 calories short per week, which I am guessing is around 1.25 lbs lost per week. I'm also adding in: 100 push ups per day, 10 pull ups, 10 chin ups, and if possible, doing weight training at the gym 3 days a week. I know it's not cardio, but I'm bound to burn some calories with that extra exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only question now: will I be losing purely fat? Or some muscle with that fat as well? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks again folks! Now it's just a matter of sticking to my routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7923" LastEditorUserId="7923" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T07:22:16.540" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T07:22:16.540" Title="How much more cardio for fat loss?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18082" CreationDate="2014-07-09T23:59:22.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to tackle the issues of creatine timing, general eating, and bedtime eating separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should take your creatine sometime around when you work out, either before, after, or both. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/before-after-or-whenever-the-best-time-to-take-creatine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; offers a write-up about a study, and this study found some evidence pointing towards achieving better results when taking creatine after a workout, but the article highlights the fact that before or after is not of extreme importance. There is nothing explicitly wrong with taking your creatine before going to bed, but it appears to be causing problems for you, so I highly recommend moving your intake time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your general eating, you should make a strong effort to space your meals out throughout the day, especially if trying to build mass. Your stomach problems could also be linked to eating too much in a short period of time at night, as going to a full state straight from a completely empty stomach state can cause issues. Eating right during the day will help you to avoid this problem of getting up at night for food. If you're waking up during the night, you are not getting the rest you need to recover, and are also setting yourself up for sleep problems by creating an unsustainable sleep cycle. While it may require setting alarms or some other measure, eating throughout the day is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before bed, if you want to eat something, ideally it should be something small with protein. It may be that the problems you are associating with protein are a result of overeating before bed, or, as you mentioned, the creatine. I recommend trying small snacks like slices of turkey, a glass of milk, or a greek yogurt before bed. If those continue to bother your stomach, I would switch to fruits or vegetables, and also see a doctor to try and identify any food allergies. As I mentioned, however, a pre-bed snack is not a necessity, and not eating post-dinner may help to rectify your issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T23:59:22.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16661" CreationDate="2014-07-10T00:26:59.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Allowing the lifts to impact each other does not necessarily mean decreased productivity. You mentioned that you have stalled in your lifts; reducing the number of times you perform a certain lift to 1 will make it difficult to get out of this stall. With a caloric surplus like you mentioned, you have the ability to recover enough to perform each lift 2+ times a week. This means you will need to do multiple main lifts a day, which means you will need to pick one to do first while you're fresh. The others will be done while fatigued which, while it may decrease your numbers for the day, will help you to increase them over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, barbell rows and bench press are two of your body lifts here, so instead of having separate days for them, lets do both exercises on both Day 3 and Day 6. The benefit here is that on Day 3, you can row fresh then bench while tired, and on Day 6 do the opposite. You will still hit the same initial workout you would have on your program, but now you have the added benefit of a second piece of work. As you work at it, you will see the weights you can lift in the fatigued workouts increase, and as these numbers go up, your numbers for lifting fresh will increase as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the more intensive lifts in your program, deadlifts and squats, I would be careful with doing both in one day. You can (especially if you decide to keep deadlift at 1x5), but if you feel your body tell you no, don't force it. Especially when trying to do deadlifts after squatting, I sometimes can tell I have nothing, and find myself struggling at &amp;lt;50% of my max. At this point you can recognize that you had an excellent initial workout and avoid potential injury with an additional main set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T00:26:59.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16311" CreationDate="2014-07-10T00:40:56.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If sticking to body weight exercises, I see your strategy as the best way to work the muscles you are aiming for. If you're willing to branch out into relatively basic equipment, resistance bands will allow for a less risky workout and better isolation of the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the band, you could tie it around the bottom of a rack or something similarly sturdy, and then line up to the side of it, wrap the band around your foot, and work on twisting your foot away from the rack. This strategy would allow for you to be balanced while exercising, and also allow for a range of difficulty depending on how taut you make the band at the initial position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a lower impact exercise like this one, you could really do it every day if you wanted, to get into the routine of it, and a few sets of 20-30 reps should be good for the strength you are looking for. If you decide to use a band and are using a weaker one, you could always increase the reps, as while skiing this is a motion you conduct a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T00:40:56.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18139" CreationDate="2014-07-10T01:10:07.710" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fat loss will come from eating less calories you consume, and the easiest way to create a deficit is through your diet. The biking is a great supplementary activity, but it will be extremely difficult to add mileage or begin additional jogging without consuming more calories to make up for those activities. Adjusting your diet while maintaining your current physical activity means you know eating less than you currently are will produce a deficit; if you add in additional exercise, the uncertainty of the correct amount to eat will make losing weight more difficult (Increasing mileage and decreasing food intake &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; work if you can manage it, but I've found it to be very difficult to maintain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to how to change your diet, yes, eliminating cheese would likely get you to the necessary caloric deficit, but it is not the only way to get to this point. Besides the cheese, everything you are eating looks healthy, but healthy food items still have calories. If you don't want to cut out cheese completely, try limiting slightly the amount of the other foods you eat. With a caloric deficit, you may indeed feel a constant hunger, but over time you will adjust, and when you first begin to observe a difference in your body, fighting the hunger pangs will be that much easier. In terms of how much to cut out in calories, dropping ~300 a day to start should feel somewhat OK, and as you adjust to that you can work on taking that number down further, with an end goal of 2000 or so total calories (based on your body type).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, biking is cardio, unless you've set the resistance far too high :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T01:10:07.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18149" CreationDate="2014-07-10T08:09:59.410" Score="3" ViewCount="2202" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intro:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a 3-day split, and work out 3-4 times per week, meaning if I work out 4 days one week, I will have repeated the workout I started with. That is, no auxiliary routine for extra days, just back on the rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My leg days have usually consisted of squats, then deadlift, then some auxiliary exercises. I then decided to alternate which exercise I stared with. Meaning, on the first leg day, I'd do squats then deadlift, and on the next leg day, I'd do deadlift then squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've noticed that whatever I do second is going to be remarkably diminished, because my nervous system is already fried from the previous exercise, and I'll outright fail on reps at 70-80% of my max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My new idea, which I need input on&lt;/strong&gt; is maybe I should just do one of them, each leg day. Meaning if I do squats the first leg day, then I'll do deadlift on the next one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My reasoning&lt;/strong&gt; is that the two exercises both engage the lower back and legs, so it's not as if these two muscle groups are going to be resting for 2 weeks in any case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've considered maybe just separating squats and deadlifts into separate days in the split all together, but I've found that working these areas twice a week is too much, when I'm lifting weights this close to my max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any feedback or other ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T14:18:23.643" Title="Alternating squats and deadlift" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18139" CreationDate="2014-07-10T08:51:56.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;More cardio for fat loss: &lt;strong&gt;Not really in your situation&lt;/strong&gt;. You should focus on your diet and your exercise choice. It seems you work out every day, and that should be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet: Cut the bread. Eat fruits after you train, otherwise try to scale back on carbohydrates. Eat more protein (eggs), and understand a calorie is not just a calorie and that nutrient timing matters a great deal. Got some money? Get some professional help from a nutrition expert - they don't need to follow you the rest of your life, but even a few session can help a great deal. Find someone with a real degree, and not something pseudo-science. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training: Start lifting some weights. If you do 3 days of cardio and 3 days of weight training and eat proper, the fat should melt of you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T08:51:56.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18139" CreationDate="2014-07-10T09:29:27.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling 5 miles per day at 12-15mph equate to &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; 20 minutes of cardio per day. It's good but not great and unless you're always climbing hills it is unlikely to be very high intensity at that speed. Mind you speed numbers are not all that useful for your fat burning goal because they depend so much on road elevation profile and wind conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could invest in a heart rate monitor and target zone 3 for your cardio instead of the 'fat-burning' Zone 2 (read up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2013/04/01/fat-burning-zone-myth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HR zones and fat burning&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T09:29:27.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18144" CreationDate="2014-07-10T13:37:17.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do a three-day push/pull/legs split, I do squats on leg day and deadlifts on pull day. It's for exactly the reason you're asking about. Squats and deadlifts on the same day would be too much. This way, each of the three days is anchored by a big compound lift at the start: bench press on push day, deadlift on pull day, and squat on leg day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a two-day split I still like to keep them separate. There's so much overlap between them and I want to have maximum energy for each, so they belong on separate days. I'd rather combine bench or overhead press with squats since the overlap between them is much less and I can still get good results on bench after killing myself with heavy squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8659" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T13:37:17.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18139" CreationDate="2014-07-10T14:12:25.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For you to obtain your fat loss goal is simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to alter your diet too much since from what you have quoted it seems like you have quite a decent diet that is not overloading on the wrong food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is ensure you do a minimum of &lt;strong&gt;40minutes&lt;/strong&gt; of cardiovascular activity a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; the cardio you do must elevate your heart rate above a certain amount for the exercise to actually make a difference.&#xA;This will depend on your age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are say &lt;strong&gt;20-25years old&lt;/strong&gt; then you should aim to elevate your heart rate to about &lt;strong&gt;170-190bpm&lt;/strong&gt; throughout the exercise period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a workout make sure you re-fill yourself with nutrients and some complex carbs so you are not running on no energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Summary, a 20minute bike ride will not be sufficient exercise to guarantee loss of fat. It may be good for maintaining your current condition but will not help you burn the fat you want. If you can increase this to 40Mintues of intense cardio then I am sure you will start to see some results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;SOURCE: Personal experience and training other people to get the most out of their workouts.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7815" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T14:12:25.390" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18144" CreationDate="2014-07-10T14:18:23.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the weight you can lift on the second exercise of the day will be &quot;remarkably diminished&quot;, the effect of these lighter lifts will not be. Performing these lifts in a fatigued state is a good way to focus on endurance and technique (as LarissaGodzilla mentioned), and is far better than not performing the second lift at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another added benefit I have found is that as you work up to higher weights on the second lift, it provides a mental advantage when trying to hit higher weights on days when you perform that lift fresh. For example, say at the start of this program you do deadlifts first on Day 1 and squats first on Day 2. At the beginning, you can only squat at 70% Day 1 due to deadlift fatigue. After a couple weeks, lets say you manage to do a workout at 75%. Going into your Day 2 squat session that week, you will be extremely mentally prepared to make progress, as the secondary session already confirmed for you an increase in strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T14:18:23.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18125" CreationDate="2014-07-10T14:56:02.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once again, people mistake correlation for causation. Your body is very capable of adjusting, and you won't &quot;retain&quot; water for any longer than it takes the body to process the extra sodium out of the body. It's a very transitory process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like to read some literature, here are two studies, one on &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/47/6/1025.full.pdf?origin=publication_detail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;acute ingestion of sodium and phosphate&lt;/a&gt;, and one on how &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/apnm-2012-0342&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;acute ingestion affects thirst&lt;/a&gt;. These suggest that while acute ingestion causes blood Na levels to rise, it has little to no effect on thirst, and that it gets processed out by the kidneys in very short order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have a heavy sodium intake day, you may retain some water over the next 8-24 hours as the body processes and establishes equilibrium (This is done by receptors in the hypothalamus, by the way), but unless you have a disease state of some sort, the body restores order in a short amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the chronic, not acute, ingestion of excess Na that causes so many problems as far as edema, health, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T14:56:02.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18139" CreationDate="2014-07-10T16:11:48.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the spirit of cocojay's answer but I favor a more moderate approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardio you should increase the speed a bit, I would recommend that you measure your heart rate while you exercise and make sure it is around 150 bpm or a bit higher. Before you do that you should make sure there are no medical issues here, if you are not sure you should first check with your doctor. Then, you may find that you can only do this for ten minutes. You should then try to increase the exercise time, e.g. via interval training or simply by sticking to the ten minutes for a while until you feel that you exercise for longer. The rule of thumb is that you should not increase the time by more than 10% in one go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get fitter, you will not only be able to cycle for longer, but you will also be able to cycle faster at the same heart rate. The rule of thumb for good cardio-fitness is the power to weight ratio. If you divide the amount of sustained power you can deliver (say for 20 minutes) in Watts divided by your weight in Kg, then this ratio should be 3 or higher. But then you are doing a maximum effort while in exercise sessions you should go slower. For you this amounts to about 220 Watt of power. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another measure is the heart rate recovery rate. If you exercise for, say, 20 minutes at a heart rate of 150 bpm, then you can measure how fast your heart rate goes down if you significantly reduce the effort. It should drop by at least 30 bpm per minute in the first minute, so after one minute you should be below 120 bpm. Your resting heart rate should also get lower over time, but this is a less reliable measure for fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do this and you keep good track of your cardio fitness, then as you gain experience with increasing your cardio fitness, you should work toward increasing this to about an hour per day. You will likely only start to lose weight when you are exercising more than half an hour per day at high intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend dieting, as that will interfere with building your fitness up to top level. It is far better to become stronger first which then will lead to an increase in your base metabolic rate to above 3000 Kcal/day. You will then gradually lose a bit of weight as your body reconfigures itself. So, you will actually start to eat a lot more and still lose a bit of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lost a bit of weight from about 62 kg to 57 kg over the course of about 6 years. I gradually increased my fitness from running 20 minutes per day 3 times per week to 50 minuted 5 times per week now. But I eat a lot more than I did 6 years ago. Had I restricted my calory intake 6 years ago, I would have lost a bit of weight, but I would not have been physically much fitter. Also, it is likely that visceral fat around the organs could have increased due to dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you tell your body that it is ok not to be superfit and that it can't always count on enough calories, then what is the logical response? Compare that to telling your body that unless it is superfit it may not survive (that's a lie but the cells in your body dont know that you are only exercising hard for fun), but that it can always count on enough calories. Obviously your body will respond differently in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T16:11:48.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18110" CreationDate="2014-07-10T18:00:47.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason why people recommend that you do not workout the same muscle group 2 days in a row is to lower the risk of you damaging your muscles whilst they are rebuilding and strengthening from your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said this... this is a &lt;strong&gt;recommendation&lt;/strong&gt; not a rule. Therefore, workouts such as your &#xA;&lt;em&gt;Smolov squat program&lt;/em&gt; are perfectly okay to attempt baring in mind you are risking the chance of damaging your muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself workout the same muscle group 2 days in a row but in a way that lowers the risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1&lt;/strong&gt; - Intense leg workout (Full weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2&lt;/strong&gt; - Mild leg workout (Half weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I workout the same muscle group is to enable my muscles to react more aggressively. By this I mean - usually we rest our muscle groups after one workout. But by continuing with the same muscle group the next day you shock your muscles in to pushing more out of them, albeit a slightly less intense workout you will gain twice as much as they are fatigued from yesterdays workout but not in full swing of the recovery mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever felt the &lt;strong&gt;DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)&lt;/strong&gt; worse on the 2nd day? after the workout not the 1st? This is because on the day after workout the muscles are not quite in full swing of recovering...by day 2 they are in full swing and will ache the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I would recommend a similar workout as I do. Having a slightly less intense 2nd day if working out the same muscle group.&#xA;BUT do not attempt to workout the same muscle group if your DOMS is extremely painful. &#xA;This is a clear sign that your body is in full recovery and you will only damage your muscles and gain less than you started with.&#xA;Since you are a seasoned trainer I feel you will have no issues with doubling your muscle group training to maximise the results!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7815" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T18:00:47.853" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17907" CreationDate="2014-07-10T22:48:46.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bicycling can easily quantify this with modern power meters.  This site has a calculator that lets you see the loss in power and speed as altitude increases.  And you can compare acclimatized versus non-acclimatized athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cyclingpowerlab.com/effectsofaltitude.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.cyclingpowerlab.com/effectsofaltitude.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see by the chart, the change is fairly insignificant at 500m or less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly in cycling, you actually gain speed at altitude because the thinner air offers reduced drag, which more than makes up for your reduced power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8801" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T22:48:46.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-11T04:06:36.320" Score="5" ViewCount="613" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the strong points about my physique has always been my biceps, but unfortunately last week I injured my right one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last Friday, I was doing single arm preacher curls with 75lb (34 kg) dumbbells (nothing new for me, have been doing this weight for months). I guess my form was a little off and I felt a really sharp pain in my bicep on the second rep, I dropped the weight immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain was not at the shoulder or at the elbow, but in the middle of my bicep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It hurt to flex or extend my arm, so I left the gym immediately. The second day, I could extend my arm but it hurt to flex. Fast forward a few days and all pain is gone. I re-entered the gym on Monday and did exercises without a pulling motion. Today, I worked back and I was fine for most of the workout, until I attempted a heavy deadlift set (I know, stupid). My bicep is hurting a little when I flex, but not as bad as the original pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I need to rest it more, this just seems like a Grade 1 sprain, and I think I'm going to take the whole week off next week (I haven't taken a break in over a year, it's probably long needed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is this just a sprain? And will my bicep now be susceptible to injury/tear more often? Or will it heal back 100% after sufficient rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10143" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T10:28:50.440" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T14:33:55.843" Title="Injured bicep, will it now be susceptible to future injury?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-11T09:38:39.253" Score="5" ViewCount="2586" Body="&lt;p&gt;UK health guidelines suggest that adults should aim to take 10,000 &quot;steps&quot; per day, and that less than 5,000 should be considered a sedentary lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walk and cycle rather than take the car for most journeys and assumed I'd make this target easily. Some months ago I got some pedometer software included in a new smartphone and was shocked to discover I only averaged about 7,000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then I've been making up the shortfall by running on the spot when I have nothing else productive to do - waiting for the kettle to boil, or cleaning my teeth for instance. I feel better for it too: I've lost weight, and my aerobic capacity has improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a friend who is a bit of a fitness fanatic recently told me this was &quot;cheating&quot; and &quot;didn't count&quot;. She was unable to elucidate as to why when challenged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems patently absurd: while running on the spot lacks the accelerative component of actual running and is obviously less exercise, you're still lifting the legs and working the aerobic system to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: am I right in thinking running on the spot is valuable exercise? Is it more or less of a workout than an equivalent amount of rapid walking? And, if these things are true, where might someone get the idea that it's &quot;cheating&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8702" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T12:08:45.753" Title="Running on the spot vs walking" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18162" CreationDate="2014-07-11T11:01:38.910" Score="1" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am running to loose weight, I like using the treadmill, I put it on 2% incline and set the speed to 10.0 mph. Now the thing is, I think this is more of a mental barrier than a physical one, I always get off around 300 calories/15 minutes...I noticed that I am doing this, there has been the odd occasion where I go longer but usually for some reason I just get off, it is a mental barrier, it isn't boredom, I just feel more mentally inept than physically because despite breathing really hard I can go for longer... I am 5&quot;9 and weigh 180 lbs.&#xA;I have a lot of muscle underneath my fat.&#xA;The same goes for when I am interval training, I will do 12mph-14mph for 2 minutes and 5mph for 1 minute for 15 minutes and get off...does anyone have any suggestions for this mental barrier problem I am facing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2014-07-13T14:47:16.853" Title="Sticking it out for longer" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18159" CreationDate="2014-07-11T11:20:17.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One suggestion could be to swap to another form of cardio following the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do 30 minutes on a rowing machine at the start of my workout and 30 minutes on the treadmill at the end of the session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to alternate between two machines, doing your 15-20 minutes on each, would that be enough to stave off the boredom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I listen to podcasts or music which stops me clock-watching too much. The time passes quickly listening to spoken word podcasts, more slowly with music I find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8847" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T11:20:17.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18158" CreationDate="2014-07-11T12:08:45.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've seen benefits from it, keep doing it. Regardless of how it compares to other sorts of exercises, if it is working for you, then it is most definitely &quot;valuable exercise&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only point I could attempt to make in support of your friend would be to say that running in place likely will not be as beneficial if you're trying to build up endurance directly applicable to running races, but in terms of general fitness you certainly are not cheating. As to where she might get the idea of cheating, I would say its because of what you said yourself, that running in place is &quot;obviously less exercise&quot;. If you stick with the hard number of 10,000, then 10,000 steps of running in place &lt;strong&gt;will not&lt;/strong&gt; equal 10,000 steps of running forward. She likely doesn't want you to think that you've done the equivalent of 10,000 steps forward, as in reality you have not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, keep doing your running in place, and continue to enjoy the benefits of it. Tell your friend that you're aware running in place is different than running forward, but that its beneficial for you; I would think as a fitness fanatic she would appreciate that people do what works for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T12:08:45.753" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18159" CreationDate="2014-07-11T12:20:16.683" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've acknowledged that it is a mental barrier you are facing. The most effective strategy here is going to be to break through it mentally. You say you &quot;usually for some reason...just get off&quot;, well, in all honesty, my advice is simply to not get off. Recognize when you are approaching this point that there will be pressure from your body to stop, then respond to that and continue to push forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With endurance exercises, mental fitness is a much larger component of ability than with weightlifting. Training your mind to recognize points of greater and greater fatigue as your breaking point can usually be just as effective, to a point, as increasing your physical fitness. Once you begin to push through this 15 minute point on a regular basis, you'll find it easier to push through, and will move on to a later breaking point for the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For how you can help yourself decide to push through, my strongest recommendation is to find a person or group to run with. Competition makes it much easier to reach your physical limits, as its much harder to give up when you see others continuing onward. Another option, as Chris mentioned, is to incorporate other exercises right after 15 minutes, as a way to prove to yourself you have energy left. If one day you run for 15 minutes, then bike for another 10 right after, the next time you run you will be more aware of the remaining energy you have at the end of 15 minutes, and can use that knowledge to push on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T12:20:16.683" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18157" CreationDate="2014-07-11T14:33:55.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle strains can be tricky to heal, mostly because people won't take the proper amount of time to let them heal properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given a full healing cycle, then you shouldn't have any more risk of reinjuring the bicep than any other muscle in the body. You note that the pain is in the center of the bicep, which almost precludes any tendon involvement, so it's most likely all muscle fiber. (It's possible that you could have injured the tendon and had referred pain, but we will discount that for the moment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't note any bruising, and you also mention grade, which means that you've at least looked at a chart and compared your symptoms, so we'll go with your thoughts that it's a grade 1. Most treatments are RICE, (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) based, but you're already pretty much past the point where the ice will help, that's more for the 24-48 hours immediately following. Rest is going to be your biggest friend, along with elevation if you notice continued swelling in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you start back, I would reduce the loads that you have been doing. 1 week isn't long enough to really start detraining, and easing back at say 60-70% of load should give you an indication of where you are at in healing. You can also consider a bicep sleeve. I'm not a big fan, but I know people that swear by it, and at worst, it won't do any more damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you're on the right track, so take the time, relax and then ease back into training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T14:33:55.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18110" CreationDate="2014-07-11T14:53:34.517" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The underlying basic principle to exercise is the concept that in order to force your body to get stronger, you have to demand more from your body than you have in the past.  This same principle is at work whether you are a beginner or very advanced.  When the body adapts to the increased demands, it does so with a little room to spare.  This is called supercompensation.  The following chart provides a visual and helps with the understanding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sJr9w.png&quot; alt=&quot;Supercompensation theory&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll note that there is no timeline on this curve, because that changes as you get stronger.  As a beginner, those changes happened daily or every other day.  As you progress those changes can be weekly, biweekly, monthly, or over the span of multiple months.  However, the basic mechanisms are the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to provide enough training stimulus to force adaptation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you overdo the training stimulus, you get into overtraining and end up weaker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The training stimulus is the &lt;strong&gt;overall volume of work&lt;/strong&gt; you do&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to provide enough &lt;em&gt;time/nutrition/rest&lt;/em&gt; to recover from that training stimulus to realize the strength gains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Smolov squat program is a peaking program, which means it's goal is to help you demonstrate strength, not build strength.  If you are not used to the volume of this program, I don't recommend it.  Mehdi overhypes the program, but some people do respond well to it.  When I attempted it my squat was 405 lbs--and no I did not squat 500 when it was done.  That said, let's break down the program a little bit to help you understand how it works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Base Microcycle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is essentially &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/02/18/increasing-work-capacity/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;work capacity training&lt;/a&gt;.  The goal is to get the volume in, and slowly increase the volume by adding weight each week.  The volume for the first 3 days (every other day) is fairly constant (35-36 reps).  The last day is the heaviest, but it is lower volume (30 reps).  This provides a little rest as your body gets used to heavier and heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, the base microcycle worked very well.  You gain a lot of confidence in your squat by doing it so much.  Just make sure you don't cheat yourself on depth--particularly if you compete in powerlifting.  While the last day was hard, I didn't feel as beat up as the earlier days.  When the next week starts, the weight is much lighter than the 10x3 day, but a little heavier than last week.  By the end of 3 weeks of this I was pretty beat up and enjoyed the week off afterword.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That week off of no squatting until you test your max is very important.  Don't do anything that week.  Essentially you've been working yourself deeper into the fatigue part of the supercompensation curve, and a week of nothing allows your body to finally catch up and do it's recovery work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I did squat 440 lb (twice) at the end of this stage, the reps were high and I didn't have the humility to use a lower number to plug in for the the remainder.  Don't make that same mistake.  Use the strongest legal squat you can.  This program rewards humility and punishes the proud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Switching Microcycle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name of the game during this short stretch is speed.  You are working with lighter weights, and allowing your body some more relative rest.  However, you are also training yourself to perform movements more quickly.  In the real write-up on Smolov, there aren't any set exercises for this 2 week period.  Power cleans are great, as are any Olympic lifts if you can do them.  Speed squats are also a decent choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might feel like this is too easy, particularly after the first part.  Just resist the urge to overdo it and work too heavy.  This microcycle is about recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intense Microcycle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where things fell apart for me.  The intensity phase is all about peaking.  You will be putting in a lot of work, and if you aren't careful you'll fall into the &quot;training too hard&quot; curve like I did.  Just as a sanity check, if the 5x5 assigned during the last two weeks is the same as your current 1RM, you were way too aggressive for the numbers you put in for this phase.  I managed to get through 5x5 at 405 lbs (my previous max before starting the program), and then couldn't finish the program.  I had to dump the bar anytime I got close to 405 lbs.  This is why I recommend being very conservative with this program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, as you are building up the volume earlier in the week, you are working towards higher intensities with lower volume later in the week.  The idea is to help you get used to heavier weights and demonstrate strength later on.  The same thing happens at the end of this microcycle as it did in the base microcycle.  You have a week off, and then you compete (or test your new 1RM).  If you were smart and played it very conservative, you should be presented with a new 1RM.  If not, you might have your squat fall apart and you'll need some time to regain confidence in it as happened for me.  That said, don't expect to hit that squat every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Understanding Training in the Broader Sense&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several training protocols where you squat every day (for example the Bulgarian method).  The problem isn't so much the frequency, but managing fatigue and allowing for supercompensation to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several components to fatigue, but training too heavy all the time or burying yourself in volume does make you more prone to injury.  You'll find that a lot of standard strength building programs either incorporate a planned recovery week (like Wendler 5-3-1) or they have light weight with many reps ramping up to relatively heavy weight with a few reps, and starting over a little heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article on increasing work capacity also helps understand a lot of the basics of training theory in a way that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My final parting thoughts are good luck, and be humble with Smolov.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T14:53:34.517" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18159" CreationDate="2014-07-11T14:56:59.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another suggestion that has worked for me specifically when running on a treadmill (although I am certainly not running at the speeds you indicate) is to remove the time indicator from your frame of reference. Just block the time indicator so that you are not obsessing over the time (be this lay a towel over the treadmill time, or remove the clock from your line of sight, etc.). &lt;p&gt;If you do not have other distractions, just focus on your movements and your breathing to try and streamline your form. Alternatively, as running on a treadmill can be boring (for me at least), having the tv or radio on may help. If you get absorbed in a show/broadcast you may find that the mental block is easier to overcome as the time you have spent running is no longer the primary focus. &lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you are comfortable running outside, the extra visual inputs and attention from your surroundings can often allow you to push further... plus, unlike the treadmill if you run for 10 minutes out, you will have to return (and why not run all the way back instead of walking :) ). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10147" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T14:56:59.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18159" CreationDate="2014-07-11T16:16:54.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three very simple things you need to know for losing weight: EAT LESS--DRINK MORE WATER--EXERCISE MORE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is a great way to lose weight but you won't only be losing fat you'll lose water weight at first; then you'll be losing both fat and muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran on 5.4 for 25-30min with 1min walking before 1min walking after so I would get off at 27-32 or longer if I could. I would try to do it for 3 days a week. I lost 20lbs in two months and it was great I was happy with where I was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;check out this website for a very good calorie calculator: &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/&lt;/a&gt; it's not dieting and whatever bad stuff people do; it tells you the calories your body uses and how many you need to lose weight. It's not saying you can only eat this and that. It doesn't care if you eat 2000 calories of mcdonalds or 2000 calories of ice cream or 2000 calories of spinach...2000 calories is 2000 calories....its only to help you. Also another great website is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&lt;/a&gt; it tells you the calories in foods to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a great tool, but remember don't give up and don't eat extra...you're not tricking me or your mom or your neighbor, only yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't pay for anything that people on the internet sell...don't think about juicing...don't do the no carb diet unless you're already 6 or less % body fat and you want to be less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole thing is just do it, it is hard and it will take time...it took me two months to get rid of the 20lbs but look how long it took me to put it on prolly a year maybe more. It's all well worth the work, be consistant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10149" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T16:16:54.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8044" CreationDate="2014-07-11T16:55:43.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For lat activation without biceps involvement try stiff (straight) arm pushdowns using a cable machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For trap activation, mostly Trapezius III and IV (the &quot;lower&quot; traps) try lying face down on an incline bench and performing dumbbell or barbell raises with the arms straight. Lift the weights until your arms as completely in line with your upper body (arms will be straight over your head). You can also perform this on the Smith machine, using the arms as &quot;hooks&quot;, keeping the completely straight and lifting the shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Craig&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0984741453&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding: From Heavy Duty to SuperSlow&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8746" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T16:55:43.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18173" CreationDate="2014-07-10T20:28:25.450" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was playing table tennis with an empty stomach today and I wasn't concentrated and my game lacked accuracy. Is there a link?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10150" OwnerDisplayName="chaosflaws" LastEditorUserId="10150" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T20:33:20.527" LastActivityDate="2014-07-12T02:13:31.787" Title="Does energy intake before training influence motor skills and concentration?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18172" CreationDate="2014-07-11T18:10:48.227" Score="1" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe I have pulled some muscle in my shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know what muscle it is, but it feels &quot;small&quot; - the pain is very localized, and I can feel the pain when I massage the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the muscle is the anterior deltoid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel pain when doing any chest pushing exercises - more pain when doing incline bench, least pain when doing decline bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of pain when doing shoulder press, I can't even do this exercise because of the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have so far been limiting myself to decline bench and pec fly machine (the pec fly machine seems to keep the pain at bay because it restricts my form and isolates my pecs exclusively, no arm muscles at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was aggressively exercising chest, and seeing results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get back into that, but I cannot with this shoulder pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave it one full week of rest - no gym for 7 days.  I returned to the gym after the time off, benched, and the pain is back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other chest exercises can I do without aggravating the (I think) anterior deltoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T18:45:48.013" Title="How to train pectorals with shoulder injury?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18171" CreationDate="2014-07-11T18:45:48.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, you really can't do much with the pecs without involving the anterior deltoid. The anterior delt works with transverse flexion (Any kind of movement bringing the upper arm from the side towards the center) and as a stabilizer of the shoulder girdle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any kind of pressing motion will aggravate this. As you've noticed, the more emphasis towards the shoulder (upper lifts) as opposed to the decline lifts increases the aggravation. Given that you've had 7 days of rest and still have pain (Enough that you can't function doing certain lifts), I would see a doctor. It may be more than a muscle strain, you may have tendon and/or bone involvement as well, but in any case you need it to be diagnosed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T18:45:48.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18169" CreationDate="2014-07-12T02:13:31.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For sure there is a correlation. Whenever you are participating in any physical activity from a 5k to table tennis, energy for your body is a must. Even though table tennis isn't the most demanding sport, it still requires a lot of energy for your body to maintain its ability and focus. The energy gained from food helps you keep your mind sharp and your body fueled, so there definitely is a link there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-07-12T02:13:31.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18204" CreationDate="2014-07-12T14:00:13.023" Score="7" ViewCount="3058" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Research&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0809247151&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ultimate Bodybuilding: The Master Blaster's Principles of Training and Nutrition&lt;/a&gt; Joe Weider says the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I learned that the best repetition range for building muscle mass is&#xA;  5-8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;muscle hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt;, the recommended rep range is 8-12 reps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength training typically produces a combination of the two different types of hypertrophy: contraction against 80 to 90% of the one-repetition maximum for 2–6 repetitions (reps) causes myofibrillated hypertrophy to dominate (as in powerlifters, Olympic lifters and strength athletes), whereas several repetitions (generally 8–12 for bodybuilding or 12 or more for muscular endurance) against a submaximal load facilitates mainly sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (professional bodybuilders and endurance athletes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, the training program &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Shortcut to Size&lt;/a&gt; by Jim Stoppani on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; uses reps in the 12-15 range:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip&#xA;4 sets of 12-15 reps&#xA;Rest-pause on final set&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On stackexchange itself, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8238/what-are-the-trade-offs-of-weight-versus-repetition/8239#8239&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; links to a chart that recommends 6-12 reps for muscle growth. The confusion here is that the Wikipedia article above mentions 2-6 reps for strength improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels as though trainers, bodybuilders, and sport scientists cannot agree on the ideal rep range for muscle growth. This could be attributed to the mantra that &lt;em&gt;&quot;every body is different&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, but that's not very scientific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there an ideal rep range for increasing muscle mass, and if so, what is it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much difference does the rep range make?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why is there so much contradiction between sources?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't remember the name, but I read a book a couple of years back that contradicts the mantra that &quot;every body is different&quot; using the premise that human physiology is for the most part the same for all people, which feels plausible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the comments got me thinking about another mantra: &lt;em&gt;&quot;You gotta lift big to get big.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; It follows that by increasing the reps you decrease the weight, which eventually will mean you break that mantra. I suppose the truth of that mantra is for another question, but my feeling in this question is that Joe Stoppani's plan breaks it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 3&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An answer has caused me to question why rep ranges get so much focus. I started thinking about training intensity, which is often cited as needing to be high. I've started wondering if the reason rep ranges get so much focus is because it's easy to understand and measure when compared to intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10156" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T17:19:51.997" Title="How many reps are ideal for increasing muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-12T21:27:38.897" Score="2" ViewCount="723" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read on &lt;a href=&quot;https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/banzai/ocean/feature/-/9563725/why-an-ocean-plunge-is-good-for-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; the phrase, 'Treading water – great all round body conditioner'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean, to condition the body? I've heard of 'conditioning' before (when reading fitness how-to's), but have never understood it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to give an example, what would be its application in this context, of treading water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5581" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T12:58:32.063" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T12:58:32.063" Title="What does it mean to 'condition the body'?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18174" CreationDate="2014-07-12T21:41:58.163" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there an ideal rep range for increasing muscle mass, and if so, what is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't ideal, but generally there is wide range, like 4-15. You must understand that everybody is different, for one low rep training will be the best and for other high reps will be good even on those complex exercises like bench presses and squats. Anyway for most people it's best to do less reps on multi-part complex exercises (presses, squats etc) and more reps on isolated exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How much difference does the rep range make?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why is there so much contradiction between sources?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understanding your own body is the answer for many fitness questions :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not native English speaker, so if I wrote something wrong, please,let me know in comments :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10158" LastEditorUserId="10156" LastEditDate="2014-07-13T12:45:41.393" LastActivityDate="2014-07-13T12:45:41.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-12T22:46:10.847" Score="1" ViewCount="3122" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the potential benefits of using inclined push-up bars vs the flat push-up bars?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way of holding and exercising with this kind of bars?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10160" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T12:13:44.593" Title="What are the potential benefits of using inclined push-up bars?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18177" CreationDate="2014-07-13T14:07:35.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Conditioning exercises attempt to increase athletic ability and capacity, but may also help reduce the likelihood of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose you're a marathon runner, you don't just run marathons to train. You'd do shorter runs, some strength training etc and this will improve your marathon 'ability' even though your program does not include marathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what the application of treading water might be. The water provides resistance, and you need to coordinate all your limbs, it's low impact, and it gets tiring, so it may have value as a general exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2014-07-13T14:07:35.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-13T14:26:35.983" Score="3" ViewCount="3357" Body="&lt;p&gt;During last autumn I had a pain caused by hemorrhoids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got meds from a doctor and changed my lifestyle a bit. I changed my diet and started to run. I actually found running awesome sport, as I can do it both alone and with other people, both in park nearby and new places. I lost 10 kg, started to feel happier (endorfines!) and less sleepy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a half year period with no pain at all and suddently it came back. It happened to me after more intensive training (a track with many ascents), followed by quite intensive walk in the mountains. I've also drunk much coffee during the walk which presumably increased blood pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently following my doctor advice to rest from intensive sport, to let my hemorrhoids turn back from 3rd degree. I'm taking meds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then I would like to come back to running and wonder how can I avoid similar problems in the future. I've read hemorrhoids are quite common issue for runners but despite this issue they still are actively running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you advice me? Are there any exercises to make me more resistent to such issues? Will exercises for core stability help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've been doing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;removed coffee and tea completely from my diet to avoid high blood pressure &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;limited spicy stuff from my diet like pepper or onion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;removed beer and any other alcohol almost completely &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stopped reading books in a toilet :-)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high fiber diet (plums, peaches, etc.) and supplements with fiber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drink more water and linseed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;taking sitz baths with camomile and oak bark&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10163" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T12:12:22.697" Title="How to run with hemorrhoids?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18159" CreationDate="2014-07-13T14:47:16.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel meanderingmoose's answer is too vague to be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that you should &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set a long term goal &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set several intermediate goals that are realistic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Record your progress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Revise your goals every say 2-4 weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, you might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ultimate goal&lt;/strong&gt; Lose 20lbs by Summer 2015&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermediate Goal:&lt;/strong&gt; I want to be able to run until the counter says 600 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current capacity:&lt;/strong&gt; 300 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermediate-intermediate goal:&lt;/strong&gt; Every other sessions I will increase that count by 10 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So say you run twice a week, try and hit 310 calories twice. If you go for 1 month you should be at 340 calories. Write down your progress and how you feel if that helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the month ask yourself, was that too easy? Too hard? Have you hit a plateau and need to do something else for a while? Are you on track to lose that weight? Then revise your intermediate goals and go for another month, then revise again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be specific and realistic with your intermediate goals. If you set yourself something well beyond your ability, you may lose confidence, lose interest, get injured, over train etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be able to constantly chip away towards your goal, form good habits, and show yourself that you can in-fact push slightly beyond your perceived limits and still be OK at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2014-07-13T14:47:16.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18186" CreationDate="2014-07-13T18:46:08.597" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 45, 5'10 (178cm) and 77kg, live in the French alps and I'm into skiing and mountain biking, and I'm trying to raise my overall fitness, though not for any competitive purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a huge amount of time, so I have a usual circuit which is a 12-15k loop with around 500-700m of climbs varying from a 7% cruise to a 40% grind (there's no such thing as a small hill around here!). This usually takes me 45mins to an hour. I track all my rides on Strava and I've started using an HRM to see what that's doing. I usually find my heart rate sits at around 165 during the climbs and I can sustain that without it being a problem. Since April I've done about 38 such rides, plus a couple of longer ones. I did a 50k event with 2500m of climbs last weekend and essentially came last. I'm not feeling that my efforts are producing any results at all - my personal best ride this year was my second ride of the season while I had a cold and a hangover! Since then my results have essentially all been average - I don't appear to be making any improvement at all, even though I'm riding almost twice as much as I did in the previous two years. I can see I've built a fair amount of muscle, but it's not having any impression on my performance or how I feel about it. On Strava my position on leaderboards (admittedly, just about everyone else is on road bikes, not 15kg of full-sus rig!) is forever dropping - it looks like everyone else is getting better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat pretty well - lots of fresh fruit and veg - and I limit myself to 1 caffeinated drink a day, and generally don't eat any desserts or sweet drinks. I tried moving to a slightly more protein-heavy diet (eggs instead of cereal for breakfast) for a month, but I generally felt worse on that and it didn't seem to make any difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really, really hate running and have no interest in taking that up! I could do more road cycling, but I don't have a road bike, and I'm not really interested in a having a faster bike just to make my averages look better without actually being any fitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think would be my best approach to improving overall fitness? Persevere with more of the same, or would you recommend I do something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10164" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T05:06:52.810" Title="Training not having any apparent effect" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18174" CreationDate="2014-07-14T07:25:21.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A research paper entitled &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22518835&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; written in 2012 showed that a weight as low as 30% of 1RM can contribute to muscle growth, as long as you work to failure, which is around +30 reps and for &gt;2 sets: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was no correlation between phosphorylation of any signaling protein and hypertrophy. In accordance with our previous acute measurements of muscle protein synthetic rates a lower load lifted to failure resulted in similar hypertrophy as a heavy load lifted to failure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to provide any hard guide-lines as you can see from this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastEditorUserId="10156" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T11:49:27.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T11:49:27.740" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18183" CreationDate="2014-07-14T12:45:25.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To some extent it depends what you mean by &amp;quot;fitness&amp;quot;. To ride your circuit faster for example, you could try some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). You can make up HIIT session for yourself on the bike. THis kind of training can, apparently, help to improve your VO2max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A HIIT session often consists of a warm up period of exercise, followed by three to ten repetitions of high intensity exercise, separated by medium intensity exercise for recovery, and ending with a period of cool down exercise. The high intensity exercise should be done at near maximum intensity. The medium exercise should be about 50% intensity. The number of repetitions and length of each depends on the exercise, but may be as little as three repetitions with just 20 seconds of intense exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no specific formula to HIIT. Depending on one's level of cardiovascular development, the moderate-level intensity can be as slow as walking.[4] A common formula involves a 2:1 ratio of work to recovery periods, for example, 30–40 seconds of hard sprinting alternated with 15–20 seconds of jogging or walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire HIIT session may last between four and thirty minutes, meaning that it is considered to be an excellent way to maximize a workout that is limited on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, I'm 51 and am starting to find it harder to keep my fitness at a level I think of as very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T12:51:53.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12324" CreationDate="2014-07-14T14:39:40.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've picked up this as &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/6008/seeking-photographs-of-climbers-hunch&quot;&gt;it was mentioned on another SE site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think this is true. I do not think that climbers suffer from muscle imbalances, in fact this type of imbalance would be very detrimental to climbing ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost every climber I know has better posture than the average person. Most climbers work hard on posture, it's very important as part of climbing itself. The ability to maintain your balance and core rigidity under strain is key to lot's of aspects of the sport. The core muscles are probably the most important muscles you have when climbing and climbers generally understand that the key to this is balance (no point have a strong stomach if your lower back is weak, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10169" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:01.620" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T14:39:40.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-14T15:27:35.090" Score="5" ViewCount="1291" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing a Starting Strength-like powerlifting routine and want to continue to improve my strength in the big lifts in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two months ago, I had a wrist injury from which I apparently did not recover completely. I still have mild pain on some of the lifts, and heavy pain in the rack position of a clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To remedy this, I want to avoid any more damage to my wrist until it is fully healed. Thus, I realize I have to stop all powerlifting aside from deadlifts for some time. &lt;strong&gt;What are the best substitute exercises I can do that limit my strength loss within the big lifts while allowing for wrist recovery?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Edit:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nature of injury:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I acquired the injury doing low bar squats at a familiar weight back in April. If I recall correctly, the orthopedist I went to classified it as a non-serious sprain. It sharply hurts when applying force to the wrist with a lever, such as when pushing with the palm of the hand. It does not hurt at all at rest or when there is a pushing or pulling force on the wrist that is parallel to my forearm, i.e. if there is no leverage involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Accessible Equipment:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in a commercial gym, so I have the standard stuff available, but nothing too fancy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight plates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat / power racks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EZ curl bars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-up bars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other machines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not available:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strongman equipment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyo boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spider bars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6753" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T16:51:56.643" Title="Substitute powerlifting exercises for healing wrist injury" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-14T17:11:02.493" Score="0" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on a 12 weeks transformation program and I passed 6 weeks. Vascularity has started to kick in, weight loss is happening, legs muscles can be felt esp quads and claves. So I guess belly fat is last. &#xA;I have big day coming up in matter of weeks and I am getting a lot of comments that I am getting weak which can be bad coz I might loose fitting of my clothes. So my problem is I wanna get muscle or mass along with getting leaner. What should I do? &#xA;Should I eat a lot? That will make the weight more or should I lift heavy? As I was going through program's, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;shortcut to size&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw change in food and added supplements. So if I increase my food my current program will not work. As it's size of fist portion of protein and crabs. So what should I do,&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT : I want to gain muscle and get fuller look. While not getting weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorUserId="8561" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T17:41:37.020" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T22:58:01.513" Title="Getting leaner but staying healthy" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18190" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-14T18:10:07.413" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess I have multiple questions stemming from this one question actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example scenario:&#xA;Let's say a bodybuilder needs 2500 calories to be in a caloric surplus. Of his daily calorie intake, 15% comes from simple sugars and most are taken every morning. He worksout at 6pm 3-4 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the calories from the morning sugars count toward his calorie surplus even though they were not timed closer to the workout?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similarly, since his simpler carbs were taken so many hours before the 6pm workout, is there a good chance those would have had enough time for some of them to go towards fat storage rather than waiting around in the bloodstream for his 6pm workout (because they're not complex carbs)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6175" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T12:28:03.047" Title="Do the calories from high-GI foods eaten in the morning count towards the energy you have in your evening workout?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12324" CreationDate="2014-07-14T21:57:15.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm super surprised no one has mentioned the major source of muscle imbalance in climbers: climbing is a pulling sport more than a pushing sport.  This results in overdevelopment of upper-body pulling muscles (biceps and back) relative to pushing muscles (chest and triceps).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally have a friend who climbs 5.14 and yet has terrible back pain that keeps him from sleeping at night.  That is, until we got in the weight room together and I had him start doing some bench presses for basically the first time in his life.  We also did some squats to help strengthen his lower back, and some stiff-leg deadlifts for lower back and hamstrings (i.e. &quot;posterior chain&quot;).  After a few weeks of this he started feeling dramatically better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suggestions in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12324/muscle-imbalances-related-to-indoor-rock-climbing-bouldering-and-ways-to-fix-the/12325#12325&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to do more upper body pulling work are likely to exacerbate the issue of &quot;climber's hunch&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other suggestions in that answer about finger inflammation are good but incomplete.  It is true that working the opposing muscle (same principle as the bench press above) is helpful.  But you also have to realize that during climbing, you are working the forearm flexors (i.e. grip muscles) through only a very short part of their full range of motion (ROM).  It's like if you did bicep curls, but you only ever moved the weight 6 inches, over and over and over again.  That is what rock climbing is like for your grip.  Try (gently!) applying pressure to your fingers while leaning against a wall with your hand out in front against the wall in a &quot;Stop!&quot; gesture.  Gradually increase the angle to increase the ROM.  Don't try to do an aggressive stretch and flex the muscles at the same time - that won't work.  A little stretch, and a little flex is all you want.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I should add that these suggestions are not from &quot;some quick googling around&quot; but rather extensive personal experience with both climbing and physical training for sports (including training for climbing).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10172" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T00:28:15.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-15T07:27:09.133" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was an ectomorph. After a coupe of years of weightlifting I have gained some muscle as well as body fat. Now I am planning to lose body fat without sacrificing muscle. Is HIIT suitable for my goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10168" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T07:35:38.930" Title="Does HIIT induce weight loss without loss of muscle" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18174" CreationDate="2014-07-15T08:22:41.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength Endurance Continuum&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsscience.co/strength/the-strength-endurance-continuum/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength endurance continuum&lt;/a&gt; shows that strength and endurance are at opposing ends of a spectrum. Focusing on one end of the spectrum (for example strength) sacrifices the other (endurance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vCwI9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;strength endurance continuum&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People tend to view this scale as being a trade-off between strength and size, but as you'll see in a bit, this isn't entirely true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low Repetitions vs High Repetitions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a paper entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12436270&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscular adaptations in response to three different resistance-training regimens: specificity of repetition maximum training zones&lt;/a&gt;, the authors concluded that only low-repetition (3-5 reps) and intermediate-repetition (9-11 reps) groups hypertrophied, with no significant increases shown in the high-repetition (20-28) group:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All three major fiber types (types I, IIA, and IIB) hypertrophied for the Low Rep and Int Rep groups, whereas no significant increases were demonstrated for either the High Rep or Con groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, the high-repetition group were shown to improve aerobic power and stamina:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The High Rep group, however, appeared better adapted for submaximal, prolonged contractions, with significant increases after training in aerobic power and time to exhaustion. Thus, low and intermediate RM training appears to induce similar muscular adaptations, at least after short-term training in previously untrained subjects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance Training Load&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paper shown in another answer entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22518835&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men&lt;/a&gt; came to the conclusion that training load (percentage of 1RM, from 30% to 80%) in combination with training volume (1 or 3 repetitions) had no affect on hypertrophic gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In accordance with our previous acute measurements of muscle protein synthetic rates a lower load lifted to failure resulted in similar hypertrophy as a heavy load lifted to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High vs Low Intensity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update: This section is removed in response to comments as it's not related to the discussion and only misleads.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;&#xA;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15574075&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscular adaptations to combinations of high- and low-intensity resistance exercises&lt;/a&gt;, the authors performed the following experiment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Acute and long-term effects of resistance-training regimens with varied combinations of high- and low-intensity exercises were studied. Acute changes in the serum growth hormone (GH) concentration were initially measured after 3 types of regimens for knee extension exercise: a medium intensity (approximately 10 repetition maximum [RM]) short interset rest period (30 s) with progressively decreasing load (&quot;hypertrophy type&quot;); 5 sets of a high-intensity (90% of 1RM) and low-repetition exercise (&quot;strength type&quot;); and a single set of low-intensity and high-repetition exercise added immediately after the strength-type regimen (&quot;combi-type&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They concluded that a combination of high and low intensity was more effective for optimizing the strength adaptation.&#xA;&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answers to Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there an ideal rep range for increasing muscle mass, and if so, what is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low to intermediate rep ranges (3-11 repetitions) have been shown to be more effective than high repetition ranges (20-28 repetitions). What happens between 11-20 repetitions isn't covered in the papers I was able to find, but I suspect that going as high as the 15 repetitions in Joe Stoppani's program will not be detrimental to gaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's important to get out of the mindset that rep range alone is the only factor to consider to increase muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How much difference does the rep range make?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big difference. Regardless of the rep range your body will change, be it for strength/mass or endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why is there so much contradiction between sources?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest contradiction for me is that 8-12 repetitions is &quot;best&quot;. This falls within the low to intermediate range, but there is no evidence (that I could find) to suggest that 8-12 is better than 5-8. Likewise, I suspect that same for Joe Stoppani's  12-15 rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only imagine that, as in Joe Weider's case, people have anecdotally reported better results, and they have been taken as fact. This is a huge assumption of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Considerations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other variables that aren't covered in this answer. For example, the age and sex of the person training, and the amount of training experience someone has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only read the abstracts of the papers, because I'm not qualified to understand a lot of what's in the paper, so take it with a pinch of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10156" LastEditorUserId="10156" LastEditDate="2014-07-15T13:07:28.163" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T13:07:28.163" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18199" CreationDate="2014-07-15T11:38:21.010" Score="4" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;My apartment complex gym got a new hip machine that supports four types of hip exercises - flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction. I'm primarily a runner (I run 3.5+ miles three days a week, low impact cardio usually on an elliptical on the weekends), but I do strength training two days a week (3 sets of 10 reps, 70% of max) and recalibrate my max once a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the four hip exercises that this machine supports, which one(s) should I be doing to best support my running? A few quick searches suggests exercising (stretching and strengthening) flexors and adductors more frequently than others, but it's kind of vague. Should I do all four, or just a subset? And would be 3 sets of 10 reps at 70% of max be suitable for this type of exercise as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T19:58:29.313" Title="What types of hip exercises are best suited for a runner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;hip&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18198" CreationDate="2014-07-15T15:43:30.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for the number of sets and reps, that depends on what your goal is, and what part of periodization you are in. If you are aiming at increasing strength and speed in running i suggest you do 1-4 reps at above 85% for all exercises. I am a sprinter and this is what I do. It will increase your speed potential, so that you exert less force when you run at X m/s than before. Doing high force/low reps increases neural output and muscular force production, which will make any subsequent training easier and more efficient. For example, if you get 10% faster, you will run 10% faster (or longer in the same time period) in your distance training, and as such increase intensity/volume and fitness. There might be some merit in doing high reps, &gt;20-30, in long distance running. However, the main aspect of increasing performance in long distance running should be running itself. With strength training being an add-on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the type of exercise, the prime movers in running are the hip extensors (glutes and hamstrings). Adductors also play a role in extending the hip, but not as much for long distance as compared to sprinting. Abductors are mainly stabilizers in running. It makes sense to strengthen them in case your hip tilts when you run; they only need to be adequately strong; if you don't tilt your hip toward the end of the runs you have no need for extra strength there. Hip flexors are secondary movers in running; very important for sprinting, but not so much in long distance running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are aiming at maximizing performance in your long distance running with minimal time investment, then focus on hip extensors. If you have time, then you can add flexors, adductors and abductors to your regimen, in that order. For more efficient training, look up &quot;periodization&quot;. I would recommend Periodization for Sports by Tudor O. Bompa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2014-07-16T08:34:35.400" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T08:34:35.400" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18218" CreationDate="2014-07-15T23:32:15.410" Score="-2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I know some people are allergic to gluten, so in that scenario, a gluten free diet makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I know a lot of people who goes on the gluten free diet and I know most of them are not allergic to gluten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any legitimate health reasons for a gluten free diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10184" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T15:58:02.227" Title="Is gluten free diet a fad or does it have legitimate health reasons?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-07-18T01:30:52.780" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18202" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18398" CreationDate="2014-07-16T04:04:54.493" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;After receiving help with &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18014/what-lower-back-muscle-or-tendon-is-located-near-the-inside-of-the-iliac-crest-a/18023?noredirect=1#comment31607_18023&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; I began working out my weak gluteus medius. Very rapidly I became able to do the exercises without pain or losing balance, and no longer feel pain while walking backwards or rotating my toe inwards. So... can I remove those exercises from my daily workout? Or is there a chance that my body will once again stop using the gluteus medius if I don't remind it how? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same question goes for clam shells. I don't have as much proof that the exercise is working, but I gather that almost everyone gets results from clam shells as long as they actually do the exercise. So can I stop doing them and spend my limited workout time on other body parts instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T18:52:44.460" Title="Once I have activated a muscle, can I stop exercising it or will it forget to fire again?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="51" CreationDate="2014-07-16T04:16:45.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try this calories burned calculator at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.totaldailyenergyexpenditure.com/calories-burned-calculator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.totaldailyenergyexpenditure.com/calories-burned-calculator&lt;/a&gt;.  It allows you to figure out one sessions worth of burned calories for any exercise, then add them up into a grand total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10186" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T04:16:45.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18174" CreationDate="2014-07-16T09:23:27.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A comment pointer me to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://lookgreatnaked.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;website of Dr. Brad Schoenfeld&lt;/a&gt;, an apparent expert in the effects of training on muscle hypertrophy. He wrote an article for T-Nation in 2012 entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/4_reasons_youre_not_gaining_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Four Reasons You're Not Gaining Muscle&lt;/a&gt; which provides a much better answer to this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mistake #1: You're not varying your rep range.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The optimal number of repetitions for hypertrophy-oriented training is a source of ongoing debate in the fitness field. Although the research is by no means conclusive, evidence indicates that a moderate rep range (approximately 6-12 reps per set) is generally best for maximizing muscle growth.(1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is often referred to as &quot;bodybuilding-style training&quot; as it seems to provide the ideal combination of mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress – the three primary factors involved in hypertrophic gains.(2) The problem is, most lifters seem to think this means all training should be carried out in this rep range and thus they rigidly adhere to the same loading patterns. Wrong assumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Understand that maximal muscular development is built on a foundation of strength. This mandates that at least some of your sets need to be carried out in the lower rep ranges (1-5 reps per set).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stronger muscles allow you to use heavier weights, and thus generate greater muscular tension in the moderate repetition ranges that optimally stimulate hypertrophy. By increasing muscle tension without compromising metabolic stress, you're setting the stage for enhanced growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On the other end of the spectrum, high rep sets (in the range of 15 to 20 reps per set) also have a place in a hypertrophy-oriented routine. Provided that training is carried out at or near your sub-rep max, lower intensity sets help to increase your lactate threshold, the point at which lactic acid rapidly begins to accumulate in working muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem with lactic acid is that beyond a certain point its accumulation interferes with muscle contraction, reducing the number of reps you can perform.(3) (Technical note: it's actually the H+ component of lactic acid that hastens the onset of muscular fatigue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here's the good news: Higher rep training increases capillary density and improves muscle buffering capacity, both of which help to delay lactic buildup. The upshot is, you're able to maintain a greater time under tension at a given hypertrophy-oriented workload. In addition, you develop a greater tolerance for higher volumes of work–an important component for maximizing hypertrophy (see Mistake #2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Take home message: Optimal muscle development is achieved by varying your rep range over time. This is best carried out in a structured, periodized program. Both undulating and linear periodized approaches can work, depending on your goals. Whatever scheme you employ, though, make sure you include the full spectrum of loading ranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sure, hypertrophy training is probably best achieved with moderate rep sets, but higher and lower intensities are nevertheless important for optimizing muscular development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10156" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T09:23:27.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18205" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18391" CreationDate="2014-07-16T11:29:36.617" Score="0" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a few guides concerning push up programs and training the belly muscles and started my own routine, based on what I read. However I also read in this SE that an unbalanced training (e.g. only push ups) can be unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a fairly active person, I try to run 5-7 km once or twice o week. The idea of my training is just to keep in shape, not to achieve any particular weight loss/muscle building goals. My morning routine consists of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weider's Series for the belly everyday:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.300situps.com/additional-information/various-types-training/weider-6-pack-training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.300situps.com/additional-information/various-types-training/weider-6-pack-training&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(but not the whole program - just the idea of the exercises, &#xA;which I progressively prolong if I get used to a previous setting - right now I'm doing 8 series) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Push ups every other day:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 push ups | 1 min holding in &quot;down&quot; push up position | 1 min break |&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 push ups | 1 min holding in the &quot;up&quot; push up position | 1 min break |&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 push ups | 1 min holding in the &quot;down&quot; push up position | 1 min break |&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 push ups | 1 min holding in the &quot;up&quot; push up position | 1 min break |&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 push ups | 1 min holding in the &quot;down&quot; push up position | 1 min break |&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'll get comfortable with this setting, I plan on adding +1 push up to every series.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: is this an OK training routine and should I be worried of any balance/spine/general health issues? If yes, then what do you suggest I should change/add? I'll be very grateful for any suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10174" LastEditorUserId="10174" LastEditDate="2014-07-16T11:52:36.813" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T10:40:32.413" Title="Is my exercise routine healthy?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-16T14:41:37.147" Score="-1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually walk 3 miles a day (other than at gym), whereas at the gym I stay on treadmill for 20 minutes juggling between walk, jog and sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I run quite for some time, I get a shooting pain at the right side of my abdomen! Not just this, at times when I walk quite a lot in any environment I get the same kinda pain.&#xA;Also, the issue is not steady, it happens only when I breathe IN. And only till I am breathing little heavier than normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what might be the cause? What precautions should I take to not let this increase? Above all how do I make it right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S - I don't remember this happening even once when I lift weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stats -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight - 95 kg.&#xA;Height - 185 cm.&#xA;Been working out irregularly for 4-5 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10189" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T15:31:00.153" Title="Walking/jogging/sprinting causes pain in the abdomen?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18206" CreationDate="2014-07-16T15:31:00.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your description this sounds like a very common side stitch (see the wiki entry here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_stitch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_stitch&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As explained in the article (which was informative for me even though I have experienced these off and on when exercising for as long as I can remember) there can be a few factors causing this. For me, it generally related to dehydration, or pushing too hard on my runs after not having run for some time). When this occurs for me stretching my right side (placing my right arm over my head, grabbing with my left arm and slowly leaning/pulling left so my entire right side is stretched), regulating my breathing, and drinking water have helped to relieve. Although sometimes the wait for recovery made it so that my running session was over for that period in time (If I wait 5-10 minutes, all was usually good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could be completely different causes for you, but read up on side stitches and see if this is indeed what is occurring and if any of the recommended preventions help you out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10191" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T15:31:00.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-16T18:25:25.473" Score="1" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen pulsometers that work only with smartphones with Android 4.3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which pulsometers will work with smartphone with an older Android 4.1.2, via Bluetooth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Preferably on Samsung S3 mini).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10193" OwnerDisplayName="dzieciou" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T21:19:01.550" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T21:19:01.550" Title="Pulsometer for Android 4.1.2" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18198" CreationDate="2014-07-16T19:58:29.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Importance of Equal Hip Strength Bilaterally&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445255/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clinical Review&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; found weaknesses in &lt;strong&gt;hip abductors&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;external rotators&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;hip flexors&lt;/strong&gt; on the involved side as compared to the uninvolved side in runners with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) and iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS).&#xA; So an important factor is the strength of one hip relative to the other, making sure that you strengthen both sides equally. And I would emphasize abduction over adduction. I was surprised at the hip flexors weakness vs the extensors in the review.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your machines address flexion/extension and abd/adduction.  The hip abduction machine will also target some of the lateral (external rotators). To further target your lateral (external) rotators you can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipExternalRotator/CBLyingHipExternalRotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cables&lt;/a&gt; to isolate or to address both internal and external muscles &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Power/CBPushPull.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;functionally in standing&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T19:58:29.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18210" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-16T20:02:58.520" Score="7" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been swimming lengths for about a year and usually swim 2000 metres during workouts. I structure my swims into different intervals and they are long distances, fast pace and sprints. What I find is during these fast pace lengths(100m), my swimming technique falls apart in the final 35-40 metres. How can I keep my stroke more consistent and stop my stroke from falling apart? Any help would by greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10195" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T12:01:14.510" Title="How to keep swimming stroke consistent while swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18210" CreationDate="2014-07-16T21:21:45.477" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Practice, practice and more practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally your form will fall apart in almost any sport once you start getting fatigued. If it happens every time on your fast 100's, then you are going too fast for your fitness. If you have been swimming for a year and showing very little improvement in your overall times, then you may have some stroke flaws that need work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stroke flaws may also play a part in the breakdown, if you are having to fight your stroke, that will fatigue you faster than swimming with good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is a sport that is almost entirely form based, so the better your form the faster you will go for the same effort. This is due to more efficiency in the water, less drag, better breathing and reduced fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dividing line is around 2:00/100m. Assuming that fitness itself is not a limiter, if you can go 2:00/100m or faster for a 400m or longer swim, then more hard work is probably what you need to get faster. If you are slower than 2:00/100m for that distance, then you probably have some form problems that needs attention. Obviously in the middle, you could have a little bit of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as an N=1 sample, I was a competitive swimmer for many years, and I have not been in a pool for a workout in close to 3 years. I can still get in a pool and be able to do 100m in under 1:30, under 1:15 if I really push it. That's all from form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T21:21:45.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18215" CreationDate="2014-07-17T04:55:25.083" Score="3" ViewCount="4179" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hot outside and I want to exercise after dinner, when it is a little cooler. Typically, I jog for a couple of miles or play one hour of tennis or basketball. I'm wondering how long I should wait after dinner to start these exercises. I did quite some search and the answers are all over the map, from no waiting at all to 3-4 hours. Can someone please give me some definitive and reliable hints, especially supported by research studies? Or there is no trivial answer because it depends on so many factors such as the amount of food taken in dinner and the intensity of exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10202" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T17:13:38.943" Title="How long should I wait after dinner before I start exercising?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18216" CreationDate="2014-07-17T06:54:58.263" Score="1" ViewCount="2146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been resuming exercising in GYM, after a long time (approx 3 years). I started with mix light weight exercise including, Biceps, Triceps, Chest, Shoulder+Back. Now after two weeks (10 days, Saturday and Sunday rest), I was feeling strong and I have started, separate work routine for separate body part. Monday Biceps, Tuesday-Triceps, Wednesday-Chest and Thursday-Shoulder Back.Its been two weeks, I have been repeating this schedule. I set weights so that I can do 3 sets, and each set should have these many reps 12-10-8 (I will increase eventually after month or two).&lt;p&gt; Today, when I was doing shoulder press, I have felt pain in my left shoulder blade (as per my experience it will go but will take so much time). Pain comes only when I am lifting the rod up.But when I simply leave rod on shoulder or coming down from top, pain is very minute. Also when I don't have weights (I am relaxing ), I squeezing my back or say contracting/joining both blades together I don't feel any pain. &#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand whats the reason of this pain and how to get rid of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10100" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T14:06:22.050" Title="why its paining in the shoulder blade after shoulder press, how to get rid of it?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18212" CreationDate="2014-07-17T11:33:33.997" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion this would be a personal preference, based on the amount of food consumed, and any discomfort experienced while running. Seeing that you actually eat while running when doing long endurance events, your body is adapted to exercise with food in your stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1378" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T11:33:33.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18212" CreationDate="2014-07-17T12:42:13.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As baldy mentioned, this really comes down to what you feel comfortable with. If you feel fine exercising with food in your stomach, then exercise right after dinner if that works best for you, as you will enjoy the same benefits. The reality is, however, that most people aren't able to exercise at full capacity right after eating. The guidelines the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20045506&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt; sets are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Large meals. Eat these at least three to four hours before exercising.&#xA;Small meals. Eat these two to three hours before exercising.&#xA;Small snacks. Eat these an hour before exercising.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They list the sluggishness caused by eating as the primary reason for this wait. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have reasons to worry about heart disease, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mycurves.com/uploads/health_articles/188/8_30_Exercise_after_highfat_meal.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://todayiwill.com/2013/03/light-exercise-following-a-meal-has-tremendous-impact-on-triglyceride-levels/#.U8fCNfldVy4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;studies&lt;/a&gt; show that exercising soon after a heavy dinner is best, as it helps to clear your arteries. Depending on the reason for your exercise, this may weigh more heavily on which time you choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, if you're exercising to improve in a particular area, you should wait until whatever time you are capable of performing your exercise at full capacity. If you are exercising for general fitness, then exercise whenever works best, with a preference for soon after the workout if you ate a large, fatty meal. As always, the most important thing is that you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; exercising, and the time you choose to do so is a secondary issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T12:42:13.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18213" CreationDate="2014-07-17T14:06:22.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain in the shoulder blade can be indicative of many types of problems ranging from a simple muscle strain to a torn rotator cuff. From your description, the pain is not yet problematic, so, I would continue to monitor it and avoid movements (eg. behind the neck press) that can exacerbate the problem. Try doing other movements for shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T14:06:22.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2014-07-17T15:42:53.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some quick research, and it appears your best bet is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://zephyranywhere.com/products/hxm-bluetooth-heart-rate-monitor/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zephyr HxM monitor&lt;/a&gt;. Most of the apps which it lists as compatible should work with your version of android, as should the Bluetooth connection. To be sure about compatibility, I recommend calling or emailing Zephyr before you purchase, as I could not find specific requirements listed anywhere, although some statements implied it should work on android 2.x and later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T15:42:53.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18201" CreationDate="2014-07-17T15:58:02.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're getting more into diet than a fitness question, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/is-gluten-the-new-candida/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the evidence is pretty clear currently that &quot;gluten insensitivity&quot; either does not exist or cannot be tested for&lt;/a&gt;. The only scientifically determined problem with gluten is celiac disease. Everything past that is a mix of marketers taking advantage of the panic and misinformed people advocating the &quot;try it and see&quot; diet. Much like any other fad diet, including paleo, Atkins, etc, it can help people because junk food just happens to typically include gluten, but there is no real evidence for gluten insensitivity, just the gluten intolerance that leads to celiac disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T15:58:02.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18212" CreationDate="2014-07-17T17:13:38.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would add some warnings - you may avoid very strenuous cardio or abs workout just after you have had a big meal. Though it may not do any harm as such, but it may interfere with digestion or make you feel queasy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T17:13:38.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18174" CreationDate="2014-07-17T17:19:51.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very short answer : Low reps with high weights build muscle mass. High reps with low weights build endurance/stamina. Ideal reps ~ 8. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you must try it with heavier weights and keep increasing the weight little by little over time. If you don't increase weight, you will not get results. When you keep on doing the same weights you get into maintenance zone. So be daring and believe that you can indeed lift more than you can imagine. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T17:19:51.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18183" CreationDate="2014-07-17T17:29:30.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you explore weight training. It does improve body fitness and composition more than any cardio activity. Though you may want to get in touch with a trainer for this if you are a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5540" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T17:29:30.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18230" CreationDate="2014-07-17T22:54:00.933" Score="1" ViewCount="2909" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry, this might be a dumb question, but I'm a 20 year-old male, only 170cm, I know I only have 1-2 years left for growing, and I've been trying everything to help me to grow height. Recently I just started to workout in gym, and I'm wondering is there any possible equipment/method that can help me to grow a little bit more?&#xA;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10206" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T19:01:59.493" Title="Is there any equipment/method that might help growing height?(20 yo male)" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-11-02T14:16:44.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18183" CreationDate="2014-07-18T05:06:52.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fitness improves when you put training stress on your body and then give your body time to recover. You are doing the same workout over and over, and your body has gotten used to it, so it no longer produces any training stress, and you don't get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what you need to do is provide focused times where you can work harder, thereby providing training stress and leading to improved results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This generally involves intervals. There are a lot of structured ways to do training on a bicycle involving heart rate monitors and power meters. If you want to try those, I recommend the programs by Friel or Carmichael. In particular, Carmichael has one that is design for those who don't have a lot of time to spend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be more casual about it, that's okay; you can still see results with more of a do-it-yourself approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you need to split your workout into sections where you ride easy, and sections where you ride hard. You may also need to have some workouts where you ride easy the whole time; the high-intensity workouts only work if you are rested enough to work our really hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest starting with something like 2 minute intervals. Find a consistent section, and then alternate between riding at a pace you can only maintain for 2 minutes, and then riding at a pace where your heart rate recovers (I aim to get down below 120) for 3 minutes. Repeat this 4 times, take 10 minutes off, and then repeat for another set of 4 intervals. This will definitely help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of other structured training approaches; you can do lactic threshold intervals, peak intervals, over/unders, etc. The key is to make sure you are rested enough to do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T05:06:52.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="51" CreationDate="2014-07-18T05:10:19.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is not a good way to get an estimate of how much you burn. Most machine estimates aren't very good, and they tend to be overly optimistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only decent way to calculate energy burn is on a bicycle with a power meter, which is actually measuring the work that you are doing directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no, it doesn't really matter if you are doing intervals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T05:10:19.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18181" CreationDate="2014-07-18T05:17:26.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few thoughts...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration is a common trigger, and it's easy for that to happen if you work out for long periods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk of magnesia is your friend. It works by changing the osmotic balance of your intestines and keeping more water in the intestinal tract, making things softer. Great when you are having issues.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I cycled regularly with hemmorhoids and not many issues. I think it would be harder to keep them reduced with running because of the impact. If cycling is an option, I recommend it. I did it even with 3rd grade ones. Exercise is good at getting the blood flowing and that helps. If you can't run or cycle, walking is pretty good as well. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Banding is mostly painless if done right and has a pretty good track record. I don't think they work well with 3rd grade, but if they reduce back to 2nd you are a good candidate. You can help this along with direct pressure and trying to (gently) push them back inside. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have access to a hot tub, that really helps. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastEditorUserId="10193" LastEditDate="2014-07-22T12:12:22.697" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T12:12:22.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18224" CreationDate="2014-07-18T09:05:19.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;No. Height is purely genetic.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There aren't any exercises you can do that will influence your height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T09:05:19.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18224" CreationDate="2014-07-18T09:38:16.540" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, height is &lt;strong&gt;largely&lt;/strong&gt; genetic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, nutrition is what impacts it from en environmental standpoint, and not exercise (it has a slight effect, assuming you are not a professional powerlifter, marathon runner or the like). So no, you cannot increase height by doing certain exercises. The notion that training basketball or volleyball makes you taller is wrong; professional basketball players are an artificially selected population, that is, if you are tall, you are more likely to play ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, doing heavy weight training in adolescence can negatively impact growth as nutrients are directed away from bone growth and toward muscle growth and maintenance. Chronic diseases affect growth similarly, by affecting nutrient supply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your height is determined as your parents' average +7cm for males, -7cm for females. There is some wiggle-room; in case your &quot;genetic potential&quot; is 170cm, then your resulting height will be a couple of cm's above or below, depending on external factors. In case you have a large supply of calories, and all necessary nutrients, then you can reach your maximal genetic potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T09:38:16.540" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18224" CreationDate="2014-07-18T12:21:26.813" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you won't be able to do much to impact the actual height of your body through exercise, to help make use of what you do have for height you can do exercises to strengthen your back and shoulders, leading to a more upright natural position which appears taller. Deadlifts are a great exercise to accomplish this; within a few months you should notice a difference in your posture while standing up. For cardio exercises, rowing is a great way to achieve similar results. The below image demonstrates how posture can add to perceived height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MAtk4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Comparison of postures&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Darko mentioned, the most important thing for real height is to make sure you're eating a healthy diet, which will maximize the amount of growth which you have left. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T12:21:26.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18233" CreationDate="2014-07-18T13:17:24.340" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to my new job, which is 9 hours of sitting and staring at the computer from  10 AM to 7PM I am going to miss my usual 5 PM gym workout. I want to get started with StrongLift 5*5 again but do it in the morning for two days. Tuesday and Thursday 7.30 to 8.30 AM and Saturday 5 to 6 PM. Because I haven't done a workout in the mornings before I'd like to know about correct eating in the morning before and after workout, plus any additional tips you guys want to share. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10209" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T13:58:07.813" Title="How to change workout time effectively?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2014-07-18T13:58:07.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In regards to before the workout, you will want to eat something; the question is whether to eat a full breakfast or a smaller snack. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20045506&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt; recommends to leave enough time in the morning to finish your breakfast an hour before you begin your workout, and if that time allotment fits into your schedule, eat a normal to small sized breakfast. If you're waking up closer to 7AM, and don't have that free hour, eating something small like a granola bar, english muffin, or fruit will help you to avoid the feelings of sluggishness and queasiness that a large breakfast brings close to a workout. If you go the snack route, you can follow that up with another snack or small breakfast after your workout to help give your body energy for the day. If you have something now that you eat between the end of your workout and dinner, you will be fine to move that to the time between the end of your workout and work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you'll already have worked out by the time you get to work, you'll likely be more hungry throughout the day, and bringing in snacks can help with that. Whereas before you were timing your eating to be ready to workout at the end of the day, you'll now be ending work around dinner time, and so you'll have to figure out what works for you in terms of when to eat during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another difference with a morning workout is you'll feel the aftereffects (soreness, tiredness, etc.) while you are at work, and so you may want to structure your day in a way that allows you some breaks throughout to move around and stretch. I've found that taking a quick 5 minute walk and stretching every couple hours is extremely beneficial when trying to remain focused for long periods of time at work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, adequate sleep will be of more importance now, both to ensure you have a successful workout and to make sure you don't sleep too late and miss it. You're used to working out at night, when you have the whole day to ward off those morning feelings of sleepiness. Especially at the beginning, its going to be more difficult to get yourself to the gym, and not sleeping enough only makes that harder. One thing I've found helpful is to prepare all your clothes and snacks for the next day the night before. Its far easier to wake up, eat, then workout, than to wake up, eat, make lunch, look for work clothes, look for workout clothes, make sure you didn't forget anything in your tired morning state, and &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; go to the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with the new job, its great that you're finding a way to keep up your routine with the new hours!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T13:58:07.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18236" CreationDate="2014-07-18T15:12:44.357" Score="2" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want this settled once and for all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past few years, I have heard (and read) almost a perfect 50/50 split on what the best technique is for gaining muscle mass (bulking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some sources say that if you want to put on muscle mass, drop the weight down a little and do many repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other sources say the opposite - do high weight and low number of repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot quote any of these sources specifically - collectively these are articles I have read online and people I have talked to over the past few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I have noticed some success in the past with low weight and high rep for bulking (but I quickly reached a plateau after putting on about 20 pounds (~ 9 kg). Good, but I wanted to keep bulking.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ignoring diet&lt;/strong&gt; (I already know about this half of &quot;the gym game&quot;), can anyone provide a definitive answer on which of the two lifting techniques I have described is best for bulking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T17:48:08.977" Title="Gain Mass: High weight and low reps OR low weight and high reps" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18234" CreationDate="2014-07-18T17:48:08.977" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem you are running into is one of context.  The answer to the problem depends on what's causing the progress to stall.  Neither answer is inherently wrong, nor is either answer more correct.  For a better answer to your question, I have to introduce the concept of &lt;em&gt;periodization&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At it's simplest definition, periodization is the process of focusing on one aspect of strength for a period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is understanding what is causing you problems at the moment.  A good primer is a couple articles by Greg Nuckols:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rippedbody.jp/2014/07/18/intermediate-training-greg-nuckols/&quot;&gt;&quot;Progressing to Intermediate Training&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (on RippedBody.jp)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/02/18/increasing-work-capacity/&quot;&gt;&quot;Increasing Work Capacity&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (on his blog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does a good job of breaking down otherwise complex topics and making them understandable.  Here's some of the pertinent highlights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In order to improve strength or size you have to increase the training stress over time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may run out of the ability to recover from the training stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When that happens you need a new type of training stress to keep progressing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The mechanism behind achieving these goals is to periodize.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The simplest method of periodization is simply switching between moderate weight/high volume and high weight/moderate volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can get more complicated than that depending on your long term goals, but you have to remove whatever the roadblock is.  If you've pretty much stalled progress working with multiple sets of 8-12, you might need some time with reps in the 2-4 range and really push the intensity (weight on the bar) for a few weeks.  When you come back to working with the volume, you will invariably be able to use heavier work weights.  That helps with increasing the training stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I believe that the 8-12 rep range does help with time under tension and the ability to add useful mass.  However, you can't live in that and keep progressing just as you can't live in the low rep world and keep progressing.  In the first case, you never get accustomed to holding heavy weights which limits how much volume you can practically handle.  In the latter case, you never improve your work capacity and can't recover completely in time for your next training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find advanced bodybuilders and power lifters train very similarly when you look at the big picture.  The main difference is the amount of emphasis size and single rep strength have in the training.  My primary emphasis has been strength performance, but I've found that bodybuilding style work has helped me stay healthy, improve my work capacity, and build a more useful frame to use for strength performance.  I'm confident the reverse would also be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T17:48:08.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18224" CreationDate="2014-07-18T19:01:59.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the obvious Eat, Sleep, and be healthy advice…..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight Training my help you grow a little with the added production of hGH but the extra height would be negligible and it would be impossible to know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growth Hormone Treatment is the only real option to affect your height.  This is a big step as a specialized doctor needs to closely monitor the Hormone regiment.  Given that you are (assumption) an otherwise health 20 year old I doubt if you could find a doctor willing to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T19:01:59.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18239" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-18T23:51:26.417" Score="-3" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a posterior labral tear. What lifts shouldn't I do with it? Can I do curls, pull ups, triceps extentions,  pullovers... etc? I have been benching on the floor, as I hear the elbow shouldn't go behind the back with the tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2597" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T04:46:34.740" Title="What lifts shouldn't I do with a posterior labrum tear?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-08-02T02:02:35.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18210" CreationDate="2014-07-19T15:48:43.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One tool that can help you to control the frequency of your strokes is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finisinc.com/equipment/electronics/tempo-trainer-pro.html?___store=default&amp;amp;___from_store=eu_en&amp;amp;regionchange=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tempo&lt;/a&gt; trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Controlling the frequency would let you to gradually increase it until you reach a point where you feel that the technique fails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g swim 50m with a time between strokes of 1:25. If you that the technique is ok, decrease it to 1:15, swim 50m, etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you find a frequency that works for a short distance, increase the distance for the interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T15:48:43.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18243" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-19T22:59:04.303" Score="5" ViewCount="362" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that steroids and growth hormone etc. are taken by both male and female bodybuilders, why are the male bodybuilders always more muscular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably women's doses aren't lower than men's. Also, although men naturally have more testosterone than women, I've read that taking artificial hormones causes all natural testosterone production to stop, due to negative feedback. So natural testosterone can't be the explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10224" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T09:05:08.057" Title="Why are female steroid-using bodybuilders less muscular than male ones?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18239" CreationDate="2014-07-20T05:59:52.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What lifts shouldn't you do when suffering a muscle tear, cartilage tear, soft tissue damage, hard tissue damage or broken bone?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, until your doctor says otherwise, I'd stay away from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadricep curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The frequently unheard of Quinrecp, Hexacep and Septecep curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running, jogging, walking faster than an elderly person with a zimmer frame&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also steer clear of Barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells and churchbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe just stick to bench squats, preferably performed on your couch, at a cadence of 5-seconds down, the length of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Pumping Iron in the low position and 5-seconds back to the starting position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-07-24T04:46:34.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T04:46:34.740" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18254" CreationDate="2014-07-20T21:09:49.260" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a soccer player I try to keep up and develop my stamina all year round, in particular during &quot;off-season&quot; by running 5/10 km twice a week. In the first weeks and up until a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a steady linear development that now has stabilized to 19:30/45:00 minutes and I am unable to progress anymore, although I've included two more sessions per week. Same time +-30s every time although I try to push myself to the limit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the causes to the lack of progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6144" LastEditorUserId="6144" LastEditDate="2014-07-20T22:54:25.743" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T04:52:51.380" Title="Development of stamina for long distance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16082" CreationDate="2014-07-20T21:20:55.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is relatively new technology, which others have linked to, called optical heart rate monitoring.  Examples of products that use it include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/mio-link-first-look.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mio Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/04/tomtom-cardio.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TomTom Cardio Runner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a few others.  Based on the customer reviews from the early adopters of these devices, and the product testing that the device manufacturers say about the limitations of the devices, here's a quick summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When they are working, they are every bit as accurate as the generic strap HRM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They typically work best when there is no wrist rotation, i.e. best for running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activities that will have problems include weightlifting, swimming, and possibly cycling (particularly if you change how you grip the handlebars).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The technology is still very new, so they are working on addressing those limitations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got my eye on these devices, as it's difficult to keep from hitting your chest with certain movements in the weight room.  Unfortunately for me, the technology isn't ready for what I do.  Fortunately for you, it should handle running quite well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-20T21:20:55.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18252" CreationDate="2014-07-21T04:52:51.380" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a concept known as &quot;training stress&quot;. When you put stress on your system and then give your body time to recover, you will improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you started, it was easy for you to put stress on your system, but over time, your body adapted, and now you only put enough stress on your system to stay where you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is to change up what you are doing, to once again provide training stress. To do this, you will need to increase the intensity of the work that you are doing. You can't do this with your current workout, so you will need to change your workout to be harder (during the high-intensity parts) and then easier during the rest of the workout. I'd also start by reducing the number of workouts back to twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find lots of good running interval workouts online. I would also suggest that you consider fartlek workouts; they will likely to be more interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the interval workouts for a couple of weeks, do one easy workout to make sure you're well-rested, and then retest the runs you are doing now. You will see an improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T04:52:51.380" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-21T08:25:00.563" Score="-1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to eat healthier lately. And over all I am. But I know I could be doing far better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what 'mind tricks' could one play on their self to start getting into better habits of eating better. Such as to stop making excuses to ones self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1272" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T19:08:32.490" Title="What are some mind tricks to eat better" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-10-09T21:01:21.867" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9880" CreationDate="2014-07-21T12:36:11.237" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I walk 2 - 3 miles on treadmill.  Wearing Fitbit it calculates only about half of that.  Returned because there is no way I am going to count the steps and input manually on computer. This is very accurate when walking outdoors, but living in the North I need to use treadmill.  Not worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10235" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T12:36:11.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2014-07-21T13:18:44.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the tree analogy. Spot on. There is no right or wrong answer. Everyone has their own way. Some work better then others. I train arms with legs. Sort of an upper lower. I also do a push pull routine. Change my routine every two months. I go heavy on compound movements then meduim to light on isolation movements such as arm work etc.  just work hard not too long and use good form and things will be fine. Some parts can be stubborn for growth. Experiment with reason&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10205" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T13:18:44.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18255" CreationDate="2014-07-21T16:21:06.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll list a few things that could help, but at the end of the day it really comes down to your own ability to decide to eat a certain way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Log your meals/snacks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Writing down what you eat makes it easy to figure out a total calorie count at the end of the day, and will also help you to gain a sense of how much you should be eating throughout the day. If you write things down right before you eat them, the desire to not have to write something unhealthy can sometimes be enough to prevent yourself from eating it. Over time, a log can help you see long term trends in your diet and better identify areas you might wish to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat at home&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go out to eat, whether for fast food or restaurant style, its much easier to convince yourself to splurge. Also, even when you purchase something &lt;em&gt;healthy&lt;/em&gt;, its likely to be much less healthy than a meal you made yourself. When you go grocery shopping, make sure to go in with the mindset of prepping yourself to make healthy meals; if you don't purchase unhealthy foods there, you prevent yourself from eating poorly at home. Also, shopping while full can help keep your mind on the healthiest foods, rather than the ones you'd like to eat at that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Establish short-term, reachable goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shorter term goals (reachable within a couple weeks) can help motivate you while working out, but they also serve a purpose in maintaining a healthy diet. When a goal is within reach, you will likely be able to more easily mentally associate a healthy meal with achievement of that goal. This association can give you the mental strength to turn down an unhealthy meal, as your desire to achieve your goal outweighs your cravings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tell people your goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one can backfire if you tell the wrong people (ie ones who don't want you to succeed) but sharing a goal with a friend or coach can give you a stronger reason not to cheat. If you tell a friend you're trying to eat healthy, your desire to not appear a hypocrite will help you not order those fries or that smoothie. Even better, if your confidant is dieting as well, you two can work to push each other in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned at the top, these things may help, but regardless of what you do to ease the effort, eating healthy comes down to your mindset. Take some time to identify the reasons you want to eat healthy, and make sure you remember those reasons. If you still have trouble, try writing them down and posting them on your wall or keeping them in your pocket. At the end of the day, these reasons are what will keep you on track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastEditorUserId="10114" LastEditDate="2014-07-21T17:01:35.103" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T17:01:35.103" CommentCount="5" CommunityOwnedDate="2014-07-21T17:01:35.103" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18255" CreationDate="2014-07-21T16:38:08.980" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to actually respond to one idea  I actually use my self. And that is to go to the store after you have your meals and are filled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going before a meal when getting hungry, can for one hurt your wallet. But it seems to be far easier to get junk food when doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going after eating not only makes me look at things much picker at the store, such as &quot;that doesn't sound good&quot;, I've also noticed that when I do this, I tend to shop better with a planned set of meals. Since I don't feel as much getting anything else. I think more about what goes into a meal I need to eat, rather than what looks tasty. When I'm hungry, everything looks tasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1272" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T16:38:08.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-21T17:33:07.937" Score="9" ViewCount="520" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if, assuming one gains lots of muscle while not stretching regularly, the process of stretching is more difficult or at least more painful after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't about the benefits of stretching, just the question if the calves, say, will be more difficult to stretch the same distance after muscle has build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3998" LastActivityDate="2018-08-02T19:24:07.057" Title="Is stretching more difficult once the muscle mass is bigger?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18255" CreationDate="2014-07-21T19:08:32.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA;  I enjoy the answers already provided; I think I have a few more that personally worked for me.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Invest in a calorie-counting device.&lt;/strong&gt; There are many calorie-counting devices in the market; purchase one of them. This allows you to know your average calorie expenditure. &lt;em&gt;If you log your calorie intake without logging your calorie expenditure, you're only getting half of the answers.&lt;/em&gt; I believe that knowing your calorie expenditure is much more important. If your daily calorie consumption is 3,000 calories and your expenditure is 4,000 calories, you can theoretically lose about 2 pounds of fat a week. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your calorie consumption should depend on your calorie expenditure.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have a constant calorie ceiling.&lt;/strong&gt; Based on your calorie expenditure, put a limit on your calorie consumption. Use an actual value or a short range &lt;em&gt;(between 2,000 and 2,200 calories)&lt;/em&gt; daily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pay attention to the calories in front of you&lt;/strong&gt;. Based on your calorie expenditure, pay attention to the food in front of you. If your daily cap is 2,000 calories and you've already consumed 1,500 calories, this lets you realize that your current food should be less than 500 calories. Over time, this will allow you to develop a calorie-consumption pattern.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Invest in a full length mirror&lt;/strong&gt; As cheesy as this sounds, it does work. Strip yourself naked and check yourself out every now and then. Seeing your current state staring back at you gives you more motivation/energy to get rid of excess fat. Or bulk up &lt;em&gt;(if that is what your body needs)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise constantly.&lt;/strong&gt; There's a strong incentive to reduce calorie consumption when you realize that you have to work hard to burn those calories. Imagine if you're about to have a 2,000 calorie dinner and you realized that your high intensity, heart-pumping, &quot;oh-my-gosh, I'm gonna pass out&quot; exercise schedule will only burn 700 calories. Unless you love punishing yourself, you're more likely to bypass that dinner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure there are more options out there and would welcome more answers from others. But these have helped me so far and I know of a few people that have been helped as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T19:08:32.490" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18265" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-21T19:58:36.320" Score="2" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6.5 feet and only weight about 160-170lbs. My nutrition is very healthy and I eat a lot - seriously a lot. I found some good websites with good recipes for a healthy way of life. Fish, Meat, Milk, Egg all important things are included.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm not able to gain weight. This might be due to my endurance training, which sums up to a lot.&#xA;I usually go running once/twice a week (10km-15km) - not because I need to but I want to. I also go swimming (once a week, sometimes every two weeks) and play football/badminton and other sports. I also cycle to and from work and so on...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't want to stop this endurance training but I don't want to look skinny anymore. I go to the gym on regulary base (2-split, twice a week = 4 times a week) and prefer doing excercices with a lot of weights and less reputations. This increases my strength, but neither am I gaining weight nor do I get bigger muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I really need to stop eating healthy or doing endurance training for getting some weight? Should I start to eat like a pig? Box of eggs every day, 20 fruits, kg of pasta or what can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10243" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2014-07-22T12:17:12.560" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T13:26:13.667" Title="How to gain weight despite doing lots of endurance training" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18366" CreationDate="2014-07-21T21:55:21.060" Score="1" ViewCount="1917" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to do weight lifting sets through the day, instead of the one after another.&#xA;Does this have any difference? As i understand the pause between sets needed for the muscles to recharge energy. &#xA;So maybe having longer pauses actually have some benefits? Or at least there is no difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10246" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T20:23:53.320" Title="Does having long pauses (several hours vs minutes) between weight lifting sets reduce or improve the exercise results?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18351" CreationDate="2014-07-21T22:36:59.010" Score="1" ViewCount="1631" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've come to the conclusion that an excessive overpronation partly is a problem related to the weakness of the foot muscles and in particular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intrinsic foot muscles (abductor hallucis, flexor digitorum brevis etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak posterior tibialis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak anterior tibialis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak peroneus longus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak extrinsic foot muscles (flexor hallucis longus, flexor digitorum longus)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I need some guidance with exercises that strengthens these muscles. So far my plan is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transition to minimalist shoes for everyday wear(already made but haven't run in them yet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Various balance plate exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Balancing, throw a ball to a wall, squats, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Short foot exercises(But right now these are VERY hard to do(unable to))&#xA;Links:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6izsrcUZ0k&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6izsrcUZ0k&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n01CTSYfowA(this&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n01CTSYfowA(this&lt;/a&gt; is easier)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Calf raises&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this enough to tackle all of the muscles mentioned above or do I need additional exercises/techniques?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6144" LastEditorUserId="6144" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T18:05:53.927" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T08:30:32.600" Title="Foot muscle weakness related to overpronation" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;barefoot&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18281" CreationDate="2014-07-22T02:00:26.280" Score="2" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are not lactose intolerant, does milk have any specific negative effects on you during heavy exertion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not talking about milk calories or fat related to weight loss.  Does milk itself contain components that would affect your performance, to an extent that milk should be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, say someone participates in a high-school marching band where they practice drills outdoors for 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week during practice season.  This is outdoors during the summer, with temperatures in the 80s-90s Fahrenheit.  I've heard that milk &quot;curdles&quot; in your stomach during long periods of heavy exertion and can cause nausea.  This seems implausible to me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10247" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T19:36:18.330" Title="Should cows milk be avoided during periods of heavy exertion?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18265" CreationDate="2014-07-22T05:03:42.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are you eating after you long/hard workouts? It's really important to replace the glycogen that you burned; if you do not, your body will tear down your muscle to help build back your glycogen stores. The earlier after the long/hard workouts, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chocolate milk is a good choice if you tolerate dairy products well. I like a recovery drink called &quot;Endurox&quot;. Or you can eat small snack/meal that is mostly carbs but with some protein as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give that a try and see if it helps...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T05:03:42.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-22T11:30:34.633" Score="2" ViewCount="694" Body="&lt;p&gt;Next month I'll be having a one week vacation in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bieszczady_Mountains&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bieszczady Montains.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;We plan to spend the time actively, trekking/hiking up to 40km/day, but I've never been trekking in the mountains before, and I'm afraid im not physically ready to do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running a bit in the past, but last year my university and my job made me let go of myself and I've put on a lot of weight. Right now I am completely out of shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is - how can I get as ready as possible for my trip in one month?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T13:42:48.250" Title="How to prepare for trekking/hiking in one month?" Tags="&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18265" CreationDate="2014-07-22T13:26:13.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will gain weight by eating more calories than you take in. Right now, it appears that you are eating healthy, lower calories foods, and due to this even with your large intake you still come out even. While its very reasonable to put on weight with the amount of cardio you are doing, right now your diet is preventing any gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping a log can be a great way to identify the actual amount of calories you eat during the day. You can also use this log to track protein, although from the foods you eat it sounds as though you get plenty. Once you have a number that represents your average, try adding 500-1000 to it each day, preferably with high carb foods, as it looks like thats a weak point in your diet. One way you could do this is to cook up a large bowl of pasta after your workout each day. Once you start eating more, you may also find you have more energy during your lifting sessions, which will allow for more intense workouts, and thereby more gains in musculature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally healthy eaters have a good sense of how much they should eat in a day, and find it difficult to go beyond that amount. Eating enough to put on weight will require you to potentially eat more than you'll feel comfortable with, and types of foods which may not be ones generally recognized as 'healthy' for a diet. The log will help assure you that you are indeed eating the correct amount to gain muscle, and not overeating in a manner which will lead to fat gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T13:26:13.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18272" CreationDate="2014-07-22T13:42:48.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Run. Keep running. Run again. Run again. Run again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your prior running experience, you'll likely be surprised at how quickly you're able to return to running, even with your current state. It'll be tough the first couple weeks, but (especially with the past experience) you'll be able to reach a point where a slow jog feels easy. This slow jog has a comparable exertion level to hiking; the easier you can make jogging, the better your vacation in the mountains will go. Gaining proficiency with other cardio exercises would also help, but running will provide the most benefits, both because it targets the same muscles as hiking and because you've done it before. A few weeks of running can dramatically change how light you feel on your feet; this change will help both physically and mentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how to start running again, take it slow. It's important not to try to reach too far and disappoint yourself. The feeling of wanting more after a short run is dramatically more beneficial than detesting the activity after a failed longer run. The exact distance to start with really depends on how out of shape you are, but trying for 20% of the distance you used to do, and at a slower pace, should work well. The next day, if 20% felt good, try 30%, or do 20% at a faster pace. Work your way up this way, keeping the running doable. As I mentioned before, you'll likely be surprised at how quickly you can get back into shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T13:42:48.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18290" CreationDate="2014-07-22T16:06:58.107" Score="3" ViewCount="1086" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently stopped doing front squats due to bicep tendonitis in my left arm and I peaked at 215 for 5 reps. So now since I am unable to do front squats due to this tendonitis I have picked up pistol squats. Currently I am able to do 30 lbs for 5 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are pistol squats as good for leg strength gains and muscular hypertrophy as front or back squats are as it requires far more balance so not as much weight can be used.&#xA;Reason I ask is I don't feel any DOMs the next day after doing them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are weighted pistol squats safe for the knee? Sometimes I worry I might tear something in my knee as I go ass to grass.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Would doing pistol squats improve my front or back squat max if I were ever to do these exercises again? If so is there formula to find my front/back max from my pistol max?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10000" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T23:46:46.150" Title="Questions on the effectiveness and safety of weighted pistol squats" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2014-07-22T17:41:37.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of all the destructive habits that anyone can have, smoking is considered the worst. Almost all organs of the body are affected by the action of toxic compounds from cigarette. Learn how they can seriously harm your gains in the gym and why you should use this as an incentive to quit smoking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are targeting a remarkable change in the composition of your body, you better get used to the idea of quitting sooner. Smoking may be more harmful than using other drugs like alcohol and marijuana, for those who train with weights. Learn why: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 - Smoking causes irreversible damage to the respiratory system &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Damage to the respiratory system have a direct connection with the performance within the academy, either weights or cardio. The damage caused by smoking, causes the body can not absorb oxygen into the blood, affecting muscle oxygenation, ie you do not get to train with the same intensity that a person can not smoke. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 - The heartbeat of a smoker is 30% faster than a non smoker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This forces the body of a smoker to expend more energy than usual. This acceleration in heart rate is due to the stimulating effect of nicotine, the resulting change in blood pressure is paradoxically decreases the flow of blood in vessels, which consequently reduces the physical performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 - Smokers produce twice phlegm &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The change can disrupt production of phlegm in breathing that can affect physical performance. The habit also causes a chronic swelling in the mucus glands that can frame the problem worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 - Smoking significantly reduces oxygen available for muscles &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbon monoxide present in the cigarette has a higher affinity for hemoglobin (a molecule that carries oxygen in the blood) than oxygen itself. The act of smoking encourages the body to exchange oxygen for carbon monoxide, causing less oxygen is available to the muscles which in turn will also affect performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;conclusion &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smoking is clearly a destructive habit. It is difficult to understand why someone starts to smoke, knowing all its evils, especially for those who train with weights attached and the quality of the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is extremely difficult to stop smoking, aiming to build muscle mass and try to always take the body beyond the limit itself is the perfect inspiration to drop this destructive hábido forever. Think about it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10256" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T17:41:37.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17868" CreationDate="2014-07-22T18:00:14.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need up and down, up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just hold in contract position for 30 seconds.&#xA;Do this 3 times, 30 seconds each exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will see your body transformation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10256" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T18:00:14.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16370" CreationDate="2014-07-22T18:41:13.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted in the comments, increasing your Theraband repetitions and doing more archery will both be beneficial in strengthening your upper lats. To supplement this training, however, I recommend incorporating weighted exercises as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the adjustable tricep pulldown machine found at many gyms, you can set up an exercise which closely mimics that of archery. If you adjust the pulley so that it falls in line under your shoulder where the bow would go, you can line up facing the machine, and then do weighted pullbacks. You can also do a pullback and hold, just like you would with archery. The increased weight will help you to more quickly gain the strength you need to shoot off arrows for an entire day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T18:41:13.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18269" CreationDate="2014-07-22T19:36:18.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possible risk is that milk can thicken your phlegm (although &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/phlegm/faq-20058015&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it doesn't actually make you produce more&lt;/a&gt;), which may create difficulty as you begin to breathe more heavily, because you'll have to either breathe through the phlegm or cough it up and spit it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More speculative, while I don't see the milk simply &quot;curdling&quot; in your stomach, you might run into mild symptoms similar to lactose intolerance due to your body directing blood away from your stomach, meaning less of the milk is being digested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T19:36:18.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18285" CreationDate="2014-07-22T20:23:37.573" Score="2" ViewCount="2734" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lot of fat lose. I weigh 210 pounds, and I was hoping to start losing weight (42 pounds of fat to be precise). According to my calculations, to do this in 14 weeks I need to lose 3 pounds per week with a 1500 calorie/day deficit (750 less intake + 500 cardio + 250 weightlifting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But people keep saying that if you want to lose only fat and not muscle, the most you can lose is 2 pounds/week (MAX).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Is it &lt;em&gt;theoretically&lt;/em&gt; possible to lose 3 pounds of &lt;strong&gt;fat&lt;/strong&gt; per week? Or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I do it over 14 weeks (3 per week) or will I have to increase the duration to 21 weeks (2 per week) or even more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm male, 5&quot;8', 210 lbs with more than 23% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10260" LastEditorUserId="8659" LastEditDate="2014-07-22T23:30:04.830" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T16:37:22.193" Title="Is it possible to lose 3 pounds of FAT per week?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18282" CreationDate="2014-07-22T21:14:54.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, its theoretically possible. Are you going to be able to do it? No. It looks like you're deciding to, at the same time, start cutting calories, add in cardio, and begin weightlifting. Even with a will of steel, you aren't going to have the energy to add in these new activities once you're on a deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, start by maintaining your current diet, and adding in the cardio and weightlifting. See how you handle this. You may feel weak; if you need to add 250-500 calories a day, you can do so, and still maintain a deficit. Over time, as you become accustomed to these activities, you can begin to drop your daily caloric intake. A strategy like this is especially important as you have long term goals, ones which could not be reached by busting your ass for a week on the plan you drafted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With these changes, you'll only see a loss of a pound or so a week to start, but as you become more accustomed to the lifestyle changes you can work to bring that number to 2+. The most important thing here is to set yourself on a maintainable track where you can continue to lose weight for a while, as this is how you will drop those 42 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastEditorUserId="10114" LastEditDate="2014-07-24T14:07:10.980" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T14:07:10.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-22T23:03:56.030" Score="0" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, I'm comfortable with my diet. The one thing I'm conscious of is the fact that I eat the same chocolate breakfast cereal (Weetos) every day (and I mean &lt;strong&gt;every&lt;/strong&gt; day.) It's been like that for as long as I can remember (I'm 18.) I'd like to wean myself off it eventually so I'm eating healthier breakfasts. The problem isn't just willpower, but culinary - I don't know what else is good to eat in the morning because I invariably eat sugary cereal. So I'm asking two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) How can I make myself eat less of this cereal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) What are healthy, tasty, minimum effort alternatives for breakfast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8739" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T09:54:41.483" Title="Weaning myself off unhealthy cereal" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-07-23T11:56:52.827" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18286" CreationDate="2014-07-22T23:29:31.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The good news is that you can't really eat a worse (as in worse for you) breakfast. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're eating sugary cereals it will probably take a while to get your brain used to the idea that it's not getting a sugar bomb when you wake up, but there are a lot of things you can eat for breakfast that taste sweet, but have some benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stay away from sugary cereals but still have something sweet try eating yogurt, fruit, toast with some form of jam (eat it with peanut butter to get a little fat and protein in your breakfast), or cereal that's better for you but also a little bit sweetened (any number of flavored Cheerios, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are willing to put a little bit more effort into your breakfast, a scrambled egg with a handful of cheese (and maybe some shredded ham or pre-cooked sausage) only takes 5-10 minutes to prepare and is a much more solid breakfast. It will make you feel more satisfied than sugary foods and will stick with you longer though the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T23:29:31.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16370" CreationDate="2014-07-23T02:15:16.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was shooting in college, improving archery stamina involved a lot of shooting and something we called SPT or Specific Physical training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's not much to increasing shooting capacity. You need to shoot a lot. A standard FITA is 144 arrows + warm up + maybe sighting rounds. So practice for competition should included at least 200 arrows as often as you can manage. I could only ever manage 1200 - 1600 arrows a month and that is fairly low. Your aim here is to be comfortable shooting significantly more arrows than a tournament in a single session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In between shooting you can do SPT. This involves drawing your bow with &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; arrow and holding your form correctly for 30 - 60 sec (or as long as you can). Then rest for double the hold time. Go again. Try and do this for 30 mins. This is pretty hard so slowly build up to it. Don't expect to complete the exercise as prescribed initially. You may want to do the other arm just to keep things even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ki Sik Lee's website and book Total Archery are also worth reading.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kslinternationalarchery.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.kslinternationalarchery.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also want to do some general physical fitness to even out all that pulling and also cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T02:15:16.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-23T02:35:57.017" Score="1" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am about average weight (145 pounds, 170cm tall) and about 2 months ago I joined gym and doing 1 hour cardio (pretty intense) then 1 hour lifting (targeting each different muscle group, really push myself) about 5 times a week,I try to eat around 1200-1400 cals everyday with 80-100g of protein. my primary aim is to lose weight and gain muscle and have that sexy shredded look. I haven't been weighing myself to avoid disappointment but have noticed ive lost weight and gained some muscle. However ive read limiting calories makes it nearly impossible to gain muscle, I reliase I am gaining muscle now as im new to it so its easy to gain muscle but how long will this last for? how can I continue to gain muscle &amp;amp; lose weight without increasing my calories then leading to weight gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T18:10:31.983" Title="calorie restriction connection to muscle building" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18276" CreationDate="2014-07-23T05:43:33.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;DOMS is not directly indicative of how effective a workout is, so because you don't feel them doesn't mean its not an effective workout. As for how good pistol squats are for hypertrophy, they obviously won't be as effective as regular squats as you are moving much less weight, however you will likely see more &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt; in your accessory muscles than you otherwise might.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It depend on how you define &quot;knee&quot;. Since pistol squats will be done with less weight on a per knee basis the joint itself will under go less stress that during a regular squat. However, there will be more rotational and side-to-side forces as you have a less stable base to balance on, meaning more work and stress on underworked or accessory muscles that support the knee. If you start pistol squats form low or no loading and slowly work up to higher weights (just like any other exercise) your knees and the muscles around it should be in no more danger than any other squat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Given that pistol squats require significantly more work from your assistance muscles to maintain balance its very hard to estimate who your front or back squat numbers would be for a pistol squat. However it would probably be at least in the order of 3 times if not significantly more (2 times for each leg plus some more).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-07-23T23:46:46.150" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T23:46:46.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18286" CreationDate="2014-07-23T09:54:41.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of the cereals loaded with chocolate you could opt for the Cornflakes kind of breakfast and top it with fruits which you like the most(do not mix sugar again in the milk). Go for muesli if fresh fruits are not available but make sure the muesli contain the fruit but not the  added flavour and very less sugar content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will definitely wean you off your cereal habit and also give your body the required energy for the day plus the taste of the fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow this breakfast regime for atleast 2-3 weeks and you will see the result for your self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T09:54:41.483" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18297" CreationDate="2014-07-23T10:06:59.460" Score="5" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;After going through this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/the-fit-list/Sitting-Doesnt-Kill.html?utm_campaign=rss&amp;amp;utm_source=rss&amp;amp;utm_medium=xmlfeed&amp;amp;utm_source=howtogeek&amp;amp;utm_medium=email&amp;amp;utm_campaign=newsletter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; I am confused about whether to believe what the link claims. If it's true then most of us are affected already because most of us are doing desk jobs from 9-5 or simply sitting in front of the system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this site it says sitting for longer hours reduces the positive effect on the muscles even after going to the gym. By that logic, aren't we to the risk of accumulating a lot of bad fat in the body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all its true then what are the ways to overcome it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastEditorUserId="5028" LastEditDate="2014-07-28T16:44:52.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T17:26:23.927" Title="Does sitting for longer hours really have an effect on the body?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-23T11:16:33.903" Score="-1" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know I probably have misunderstood something about the whole digestive process, but one concept still remains unclear to me about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say that chewing is good, as it predigests your food into small pieces and partially liquefies it, making it easier to digest and break down your food faster. It is also particularly essential for getting all the vitamins and nutrients from the food. OK, makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, we have highly processed, refined grains, for which they say the body absorbs them very fast, which means all the carbohydrates are quickly digested, blood sugar quickly peaks, and a lot of the unused sugars get stored as fat. Thus, less-processed starchy foods come more recommended, as they're more filling than refined ones and it takes longer to digest, so more of the sugars get used and not converted into fat for storage. Makes a lot of sense as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, does it all mean that if there are no nutrients to be gained, and food contains a lot of carbohydrates (I know we shouldn't really eat such foods), it actually makes sense to not to chew that food so much? For instance, if we do eat highly processed grains, like pasta from refined white flour, would it make sense to actually skip a lot chewing - would it result in gaining less calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10268" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T15:55:27.597" Title="Chewing refined grains - good or bad?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-07-29T12:23:38.223" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18298" CreationDate="2014-07-23T11:45:29.343" Score="-2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that different exercise suits for different body types. Different diet ,proteins etc. are good for one body type and may not be good for the other. But how can one identify their build or type of body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to me the first step in Body building or having a healthy body is identifying your body type. After identifying one's body only can one have the desired progress in the stipulated or expected time(as one can clearly follow his/her given exercises ) and then maintain a strict diet for his/her particular body.(could be fat, lean, athletic etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also please clarify how and based on what is the body classified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T13:27:02.910" Title="How to identify what type of body is yours" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18293" CreationDate="2014-07-23T12:30:36.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears that this article is aimed more at conditioning activities like running or biking, and for those sorts of activities it appears that research confirms the reduction in training benefit. Towards the end of the article, it mentions that the effect on strength gains is minimal, especially if you get up every once in a while for a quick walk and stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To overcome the effects on the conditioning activities, getting up for breaks will be the best thing you can do within your normal routine. Extreme measures could be taken, such as working while standing or biking, but these fall beyond the range of feasible for most people. By taking a quick break to walk or stretch every hour, you'll likely be able to minimize most of the mentioned losses, but that comes with a loss of working productivity, as the breaks will interrupt your workflow. Its always going to be a tradeoff between work and fitness gains, and comes down to what balance you decide is best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T12:30:36.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18296" CreationDate="2014-07-23T13:27:02.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop. Drop this idea that you 'have a body type' and need to work a certain way based on this predisposed attribute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture the ideal body, the one you wish you had. This is where the variation is; some people will picture an Arnold, some a LeBron, some a Phelps, others a Froning. When you choose your workouts, you will want to adjust them based on &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; body type, your goal. Obviously your potential is limited to some degree by your height, but in terms of muscle size and appearance you can seek to achieve whatever you view as best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not mean it will be equally easy to fit the mold of every body type. A skinny 6 footer will have a much easier time looking like Phelps than Arnold, because his body is currently closer to that point. This &lt;strong&gt;does not&lt;/strong&gt; mean that he can't eventually achieve a very muscular body, just that the distance to this point is greater. Don't limit yourself by classifying your body to be of a certain type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T13:27:02.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18295" CreationDate="2014-07-23T14:57:17.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might burn slightly more calories in the digestion process, as your body will need to do more work to fully break it down, but the amount will be negligible. Likely the calories you would have burned by moving your jaw to chew the food would be equal to, if not greater, than the extra amount burned in the digestion process. Not chewing your food is going to be an extremely ineffective method of cutting calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T14:57:17.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18300" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-23T15:47:48.073" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently learned about Kleiber's law describing how metabolic rate is related to an animal's mass.  One way this law gets (over)simplified is by saying that all animals have the same number of heartbeats and small animals just use them up faster than large animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This got me wondering- how does exercise rate affect this?  If I exercise a lot do I use up my total number of heartbeats faster or slower?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, phrased a bit more scientifically, does exercise increase or decrease my total average lifetime heartrate?  I know that exercise causes it to increase during exercise and decrease during rest compared to someone who doesn't exercise. Does the increase on one side cancel out the decrease on the other side or does it on average increase or decrease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect there is some good academic research on this but I couldn't find it.  Hopefully one of you with more expertise in the field will have a better idea of what terms to throw into Google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10271" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T17:27:28.153" Title="Effect of exercise on overall heart rate" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18295" CreationDate="2014-07-23T15:55:27.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've learned a lot over the past couple years, including what I previously held as true and now have learned is very incomplete.  So let's start with the big picture, and get down to a more specific answer to your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the very core of understanding how the body makes use of nutrients is identifying what the nutrients are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Micronutrients: vitamins and minerals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we have to understand what our body can manufacture, vs. what it needs you to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Essential nutrients: those your body &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; consume from outside sources, and cannot manufacture at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditionally essential nutrients: those that your body manufactures, but might not be able to keep up with demand when you exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unessential nutrients: those that your body can manufacture from other resources, and does so without falling behind&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 9 &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;essential amino acids&lt;/a&gt; and 8 conditionally essential amino acids.  As well as 21 total amino acids that your body uses on a day to day basis.  You really only need to concern yourself with the breakdown if you are barely eating enough protein for survival.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://1stholistic.com/nutrition/hol_nutrition-RDA.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;USRDA&lt;/a&gt; only lists the minimum amount of protein for survival, which is not sufficient for people who exercise (due to the 8 conditionally essential amino acids).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;essential fatty acids&lt;/a&gt; which include your omega-3s and omega-6s.  A Western diet is very heavy on omega-6s, and light on omega-3s.  Additionally, it is also excessively high in fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no essential carbohydrates (carbs for short) for survival; however, they become very important for active people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll avoid recommended amounts for each of these due to the fact it's not really part of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good Carb / Bad Carb&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've learned that this is really a false dichotomy.  Your body does not see carbohydrates very differently whether it's from high fructose corn syrup, grains, or plants (fruits and vegetables).  The difference that matters is in the amount of micronutrients, satiety, and quantity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, most people understand &quot;bad carbs&quot; as coming from highly processed sources such as white flour, sugar, etc.  Processing does the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Removes many micronutrients through processing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Removes fiber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowers the satiety you would normally get&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you gain the bulk of your carbs from fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains (like brown rice) you get more of everything.  More micronutrients, more fiber, more satiety--i.e. keeps you full longer.  NOTE: I'm avoiding the topic that some articles have discussed saying that whole grains have what are essentially anti-nutrients and remove micronutrients that your body needs.  That would muddy the waters, and I personally believe that if you take multivitamins it will exceed the damage that those anti-nutrients can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So are refined grains good or bad?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither.  They are amoral.  If you're dietary requirements include 320g of carbohydrates a day (an example from my current diet), it really doesn't matter that 100g came from refined grains.  It really only matters that you don't exceed the total goal for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following are true:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refined carbs can leave you hungrier than when you consumed them in the short term.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs from whole foods contain more fiber, which in turn keeps you full longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our bodies sometimes crave sweets, and as long as all your dietary goals have been met, you can indulge a little.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It matters more that you stick to a diet plan&lt;/strong&gt; than it does the specific details of those diet plans.  (Assuming the diet plan was made by someone who knows what they are doing).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of scaremongering by people who appear to know what they are talking about.  I find that it is more useful to understand the what is meant by labeling carbs &quot;good&quot; or &quot;bad&quot; and what the end result is.  The truth is that if I consume most of my carbohydrates using &quot;good&quot; sources (fruits, veggies, etc.) I will stay full longer and be less tempted to snack.  However, if I consume nothing but &quot;good&quot; sources, I still get cravings for things that are typically considered &quot;bad&quot;.  At the end of the day it really matters that you find the right balance that helps you stay true to your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T15:55:27.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18300" CreationDate="2014-07-23T17:17:32.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same thought when I watched some documentary about that. Unfortunately I couldn't find any references either. What I did, though, was to start studying medicine, and things started to make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you exercise there is an acute increase in heart rate. That increase is short lasting, and depends on your oxygen debt (thats what exercise physiologists call it) during and after training. Once that oxygen debt has been repaid, there is a slight increase above baseline as the body is in a higher metabolic state (anabolism to repair and to build muscles, organelles and the like).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you compare the total number of increased heart beats during exercise and after to the lower number of heart beats throughout the day and night, due to increased fitness and oxygen utilization efficiency, the result is a lower total number of heart beats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have any studies to back this up. However, you can read about these phenomena in exercise physiology books. For one side of the coin you can compare heart rates of athlete populations and sedentary individuals (I did just that; kind of like a meta-study), and for the other you can yourself measure (with a pulsmeter) your total increased heart beats, from baseline, for a training session, and you will see that it adds up. Furthermore, the last 6 years I have been recording my heart rate several times per day, together with every kilogram I've lifted in the gym, and every meter I have run or sprinted. Having gone through periods of both maximal fitness and injury periods with total rest, I have found the total number of heart beats to indeed be lower the more you exercise (unless you become overtrained as I was for about 3 months). This could be a good study to publish. However, since athletes differ widely in their physiologies and types of training, a case study wouldn't be as good as a prospective study with at least 10 participants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T17:17:32.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18300" CreationDate="2014-07-23T17:27:28.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your gross oversimplification is roughly OK when you are comparing one species against another.  It breaks down completely when you try to apply it individually.  To provide a parallel, BMI correlates to body fat in a way that is &lt;em&gt;statistically&lt;/em&gt; significant, but when applied individually may give the wrong impression about the amount of fat someone carries.  In other words, BMI works for producing statistices of the number of obese people state by state, but when applied to just you can paint a picture that is very wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is, people have a wide range of life spans (since this is what you are concerned about):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Life spans can be cut short due to disease, accident, or intentional actions (by the person or someone else).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even when comparing people who die of old age, there are a number of factors that have a big impact on longevity that it is near impossible to accurately predict how many &quot;heartbeats&quot; a given person has.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using the oversimplification, a person with class III &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;obesity&lt;/a&gt; would outlive an average height person with normal body fat.  Obesity carries with it greater risk of health complications and ultimately shortens your life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exercise and active lifestyles improve almost all health markers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some caveats, as exercise can be taken too far and people can get too lean to be healthy.  However, any activity that improves your health will in turn improve your lifespan.  NOTE: exercise won't improve your health if you have pre-existing medical conditions and you exceed your body's ability to handle exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T17:27:28.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18289" CreationDate="2014-07-23T18:10:31.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the information provided and your name, I'm going to make some assumptions (required to provide a wild guess at maintenance Calories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumptions used to fill in the blanks for a calorie calculator are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Female (based on name, body weight, adjectives used in the question)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About 25 years old (default on the calculator, calorie requirements go down the older you get)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;170 cm / 5' 6&quot; (provided above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;145 lbs / 66 kg (provided above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderately active (based off of exercise only 5 days/week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can correct the numbers and enter it in for yourself &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results I get back from those numbers are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2,200 Calories to maintain weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1,700 Calories to lose 1lb / week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1,200 Calories to lose 2lb / week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on that information, the numbers you listed aren't too crazy, but long term they will hurt you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are working primarily on your physique.  In that case, it's better to think in terms of body fat rather than pounds gain/loss.  I've seen a number of transformation stories (mostly women) where the person actually gained weight and lost inches.  I've also seen some where the end weight was the same, but they looked and felt better.  Based on your starting weight (only 145 lbs), you might be in the same boat as the women I mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would focus on the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start by finding what really is your maintenance Calories.  This is where you neither gain nor lose weight.  It's your starting position.  Adjust your calories up or down by 100-200 a week until your weight stabilizes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since your starting point is what I would imagine very normal size and body fat, focus on getting stronger while maintaining that weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't really have 2 hours a day to burn at the gym then I would start with a slightly different plan.  3 days a week should be in the weight room to get stronger, with 20 minutes tops for cardio those days.  The two in-between days can be cardio days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find an approach you enjoy.  Nothing will help you stick with the plan more than really liking what you are doing.  Try different approaches, and then focus on the one you like the best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After 3 months of really improving your strength and activity decide if you need to change your weight.  You may find yourself very happy at 145 and a different body composition.  Whatever you choose, only make minor modifications at a time.  No more than a pound a week (and if trying to gain weight no more than 3/4 pound per week).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would increase your protein a little bit.  Your macros should be something along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.8g / kg protein (118g based on the information given)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20-30% of total calories as fat (48-73g on a 2200 Calorie diet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all the rest as carbs (~1000g based on this example)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just a rough starting point that can be adjusted to something that works better for you.  If you eat 4 times a day, that's only 30g of protein in a meal or just over 4oz of meat.  Adjust the fat and carbs until it's something you are comfortable with, but don't go under 20% total calories as fat to keep your body happy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T18:10:31.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15763" CreationDate="2014-07-23T21:02:00.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you do the clean, stop and hold the position, then do the press, you will not see any advantage over entering that position directly. If you do the clean then transition directly into the press, however, you may see an increase in the amount you can lift, but this will be due to using the momentum of the clean for your lift. The same stationary position will take the same amount of force, regardless of how you got there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend trying for some higher weight presses by doing cleans first, and carefully keeping track of the set position the clean brings you to. If you can do more weight by cleaning first, it is likely you need to shift your normal press starting position to the position you reach from cleaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T21:02:00.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-24T05:03:59.133" Score="0" ViewCount="827" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my form checked by a trainer today, he made a couple of good points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- Don't arch your lower back too much while coming down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked up online, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/back-pain/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article kind of supports it, although I have no back pain right now, increasing the weights may cause it in future. How can I maintain a neutral spine throughout? There is no uneven loading, and I am not leaning forward, but I compared my form with his on the mirror, what I noticed was he was a bit straighter than me. I will try the big breath technique next time though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- Keep a slight bend on your knees when you come up, or it will cause excess load on the knees. Is that even true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- Your elbows are coming back, this may be the cause of pain, though I have noticed my right elbow is a bit forward than the left elbow. How do I improve this? Right now I am using a medium grip with elbows pushing down and forward (but I goes away when I squat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking forward to improving my form on the next workout, all your suggestions are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10209" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T16:17:55.180" Title="Low bar Squat: Hyper arched back, slight bend in knees and arm position" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22363" CreationDate="2014-07-24T05:15:32.163" Score="2" ViewCount="2258" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last summer I didn't have a job and had a lot of free time so I often was at the gym and achieved some results there. But in March things changed and I am waking up at 5:45 am and coming home at 8 pm or so. And I just gain more fat etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever, I decided to buy dumbbells - I don't have a lot of space in my room so that's why I thinking about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand how I can make some exercises for hands (in the gym I never was doing exercises for hands only btw), some chess exercises and abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is there a good base exercise for legs and back? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-25T15:56:45.823" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T10:49:13.573" Title="Muscle mass with dumbbells only" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12324" CreationDate="2014-07-24T09:07:11.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the wide group of people I climb with, the opposite is true. I'd have to agree with Liam - these days, climbing training is incredibly well balanced, with most folks combining a high degree of cardio workout with core strength, and isometrics, along with weights for extension and flexion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunches seem to have been an issue earlier than ten years ago, when people didn't really recognise the wider fitness aspects, but now everyone knows the exercises to use - they are well publicised on the internet (and Berin's answer has a reasonable starter list)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real problems tend to stem from things like finger damage, rather than imbalance. Jamming fingers causes damage buildup that is very difficult to alleviate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T09:07:11.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18311" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18314" CreationDate="2014-07-24T09:17:15.590" Score="3" ViewCount="1002" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen so many people, Including me, that when they start running for a couple of minutes, the sides of their waist hurt. I've heard that it's because they drank water before running and I've also heard that it's because they haven't drunk water during or before running. I think that may also be due to bad breathing, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't happen every time I start running. For instance, I do workouts 3 times a week and sometimes this happens to me once or twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10279" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2014-08-20T02:26:35.257" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T02:26:35.257" Title="why the sides of the waist hurt when running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18316" CreationDate="2014-07-24T09:43:32.620" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suffer anxiety attacks sometimes and it hurts when I can't stop crying and I feel it's hard to breathe. Lately I can't breathe well and I don't know what to do. My doctor said it is for the anxiety but he didn't tell me what to do when I feel it. Can someone advise me something to feel better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10280" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-07-24T10:53:26.433" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T14:25:39.360" Title="What can I do to breathe well?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-10-10T18:26:39.397" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18311" CreationDate="2014-07-24T13:15:27.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per LarissaGodzilla's comment, this is likely an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_stitch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercise related transient abdominal pain&lt;/a&gt;, commonly known as a &quot;Side stitch&quot;. Surprisingly enough, no one knows for certain why they happen, but the Wikipedia article linked above gives some advice for how to avoid them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1258/what-causes-side-stitches&quot;&gt;What causes side stitches?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3192/what-to-do-against-side-stitch&quot;&gt;What to do against side stitch?&lt;/a&gt; on this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T19:00:44.467" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15763" CreationDate="2014-07-24T13:23:24.323" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our strength levels on the overhead press are currently about the same.  I've always struggled with it, but recently have started seeing some steady progress.  There are some differences from cleaning the bar first and lifting out of the rack:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The clean catch position is a bit wider than out of the rack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A clean catch is better suited to finishing with a push press or jerk rather than a strict press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance can greatly affect the amount of force you need to produce.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that for me, the following technique points have helped me perform better with the strict press:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use a false grip.&lt;/strong&gt;  The bar should be sitting across the palm with the thumb outside the bar.  I find it helps transfer power better; but I do need to use wrist wraps to support the grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Initiate the lift with the lats.&lt;/strong&gt;  This provides the force to get the bar off my shoulders to about eye level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get under the bar as soon as possible.&lt;/strong&gt;  With the bar over the crown of my head, I have better leverages to lock out the lift--and it consumes less energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all things you can do directly out of the rack.  With the second bullet point, it should take care of what cleaning is supposed to do before you press.  One thing you do want to be careful of is that cleaning the bar first does require a lot of energy.  If you do enough sets, you run the risk of fatiguing more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need to work on work capacity rather than strength.  Work capacity training takes what you can do for 3x5 (about 70%) and expands it to 5x8 or something along those lines.  The first three weeks you would increase one rep per set, and the next couple weeks you would add a new set.  After you give yourself a little rest, you should be able to drop the volume and increase the weight over the next few weeks until you hit a new PR or two.  My coach usually works this into my training at different stages, and I find it really does help.  The added reps also really help you fine tune your technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I find I really have to increase the volume on this lift to get it stronger.  There's a number of strongmen (like Kalle Beck and Bryan Hildebrand) who also echo this sentiment.  In one of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/americanstrongmanradio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Strongman Radio&lt;/a&gt; webcasts, Hildebrand would work up to a top set As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP), and as he took weight off the bar he would keep doing AMRAP sets until it was just the bar.  By the time it was there, he was so fatigued he could only get around maybe 12 reps.  It can't be done every training session, but the massive volume day really helped keep driving his press up more than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: in strongman you have to clean whatever implement in any way you can during competition.  Many strongman do train a clean to get the bar in position and then press for reps.  However, just as many also train the press separately.  They also train both a strict press and a push press/jerk.  The push press would be used for competition, but the strict press is there to build strength throughout the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T13:23:24.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18312" CreationDate="2014-07-24T14:25:39.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your in a tough situation with doctors, so I'll suggest some options, but keep in mind that if you get the chance to see another doctor you should do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never suffered from anxiety attacks, but I do have exercise induced asthma, and before my diagnosis had some pretty scary situations where I couldn't breathe. For me, the best response to an attack was to try and calm down; I understand that's likely not possible with an anxiety attack. Therefore, the best way you'll be able to improve your response is by strengthening your general ability to breathe, as this will translate into a somewhat easier time dealing with an attack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/lung/copd/copd-and-exercise-breathing-and-exercise-programs-for-copd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breathing Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Web MD offers two examples of breathing exercises, both centered around breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth in specific intervals. You can customize a breathing program to what you feel comfortable with; almost any sort of structured practice will hold benefits. Depending on how you feel with these sorts of programs, you could move on to longer intervals, and over time work to increase the amount of time you can hold your breath. Exercises like these will increase the confidence you have in your breathing, and will make it easier to find air during those periods of anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This type of exercise, in the long run, holds more benefits, but is also more difficult to do due to your breathing difficulties. If you're worried about experiencing an inability to breathe during exercise, stick to the breathing exercises until you're more comfortable. Once you're able to do aerobic exercises, start slowly, keeping your heart rate &amp;lt;120bpm. As you grow comfortable with that level of exercise, you can work on increasing intensity, but always make careful note of how you feel breathing, and don't push things too far. In the long run, exercise will help make breathing easier, and will lessen the difficulties you feel during an anxiety attack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned at the beginning, these are suggestions from an athlete, not a doctor, and if you can you should definitely seek out a second opinion. If you have asthma or a breathing condition, the correct medicine will be orders of magnitude more effective than the strategies I listed. Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T14:25:39.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18078" CreationDate="2014-07-24T22:11:31.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This kind of extreme weight loss program, as Larissa mentions, will have a negative impact on your body, and additionally will not be very sustainable. Based on your weight, and your description of your body, a far better path to achieve your goals will be starting a weightlifting program with a controlled diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your main goal may be a flat stomach, you'll find that you see the greatest improvements with lifts that incorporate many muscles, such as deadlifts, squats, or bench press. I won't outline a weightlifting plan here since you didn't ask for one, but know that these sorts of exercises will lead you to the results you seek. If you definitely need to lose weight, then keep your diet at a normal level as you begin to exercise; the deficit created by working out will lead to lost weight. I'd recommend, however, with your weight, that the best strategy would be to eat a little bit more, add some protein to your diet, and focus on muscle gains, as these will bring you closer to the body I think you're looking for than pure weight loss will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, you may have a normal amount of fat on your but just lack muscle underneath. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-belly-fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Web MD&lt;/a&gt; offers a good summary of the role of stomach fat and explains how everyone has fat there to some degree. If you're in this situation, weightlifting is definitely the strategy to follow :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T22:11:31.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18109" CreationDate="2014-07-24T22:23:49.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you enjoy coconut water, feel free to drink it after your workout. It's a nice post-workout snack, as are drinks like Gatorade and Powerade, but these can all be substituted with a small meal instead. From your description of your fatigue, it sounds like a small meal would better suit your needs. There's a wide variety of options; I'm partial to a protein drink and a small bowl of pasta, but more oats could work, or energy bars, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you can hold them down alright while working out, try them out and see if you feel better. Unless you're working out for substantially longer than your described workout the benefits won't hit in time, but you may find a sort of placebo effect kicks in when you eat. Generally it won't matter if you wait until after your workout though.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A protein supplement will be best to take in proximity to your workout, but make sure you are also eating enough protein from others foods throughout the next day, to further aid your body in recovering. Depending on your diet, you may find it useful to drink another protein shake the next day to make sure you're meeting your requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You need to eat. As I mentioned in part 1, a small meal will be a great help in preventing your fatigue, although you'll always have a certain degree of fatigue after a tough workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T22:23:49.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-24T23:42:19.570" Score="-2" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 145 pounds and 170 cm tall &amp;amp; female.&#xA;Before I started the gym 2 months ago I already had a decent body (no exercise except an occasional walk and used to eat junk food all the time - I was slowly gaining 1 kg a month though) however for the past 2 months I have been doing 1 hour cardiovascular sessions (burn about 500 calories) then 1 hour weight training (pretty intense, really push my limits, target all major muscles etc) - 5 times a week &amp;amp; have been taking a fat burning pre-workout, and a low calorie high protein shake right after, as-well as getting 100g protein a day (trying to add more) and eating about 1500 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I'm feeling a little skinnier and added some muscle...if I'm eating a calorie deficit, weight training and intense cardiovascular exercise, the weight should be falling off me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to lower my body fat and gain muscle. Some people say its because your damaging your metabolism because your not eating enough. However I'm already not losing enough as it is let alone adding more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastEditorUserId="8528" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T08:00:08.953" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T08:00:08.953" Title="Why is the weight not falling off me?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-07-28T22:21:31.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-24T23:51:01.687" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started gym 2 months ago and nearly every day except maybe 1 one rest day I will complete 1 hour cardio (about 500 calories, some days even 600-700) and an hour intense weight training targeting all major muscle groups (leg Monday, abs Tuesday etc).&#xA;However lately (past 2 weeks) I burn about 80 and I am WORN out and over it and no energy (however push through it and just have more breaks &amp;amp; rests until I can atleast reach 300)&#xA;What could be some causes for this?&#xA;I weigh 145 pounds, 170 tall.&#xA;Am female &amp;amp; eat around 1500 cals.&#xA;Take a pre workout fat burner everyday and post workout whey protein.&#xA;This still happens even if I go not fasted &amp;amp; eat before.&#xA;Happens even after rest day and adequate sleep.&#xA;Could this be because of eating a calorie restriction for so long whilst straining my body?&#xA;My calorie defecit is only 500 less than what it should be to try and lose weight.&#xA;Any suggestions or advice?&#xA;and no I don't over train my muscles and get adequate sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T23:51:01.687" Title="why am i suddently so worn out in cardio?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18320" CreationDate="2014-07-25T01:25:43.790" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I give out pointers, I quickly calculated your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body Mass Index&lt;/a&gt; and it came out with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;22.7&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; which is in the &lt;strong&gt;Normal Weight range&lt;/strong&gt;. Personally, your weight to height ratio sounds just about right, I don't think you are actually overweight as how you justified in your question. But I will go ahead and give you advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two months is not a long time&lt;/strong&gt; - Everybody has different body shapes and different genes, that's what makes us unique. You have to understand that some people can easily make weight &quot;fall off&quot; themselves in a couple of weeks whilst others may take six months to see meaningful progress. Our bodies react to change differently and sometimes it takes time for the body to adjust. Judging from your question, you have probably been watching too many commercials that promise X body in X amount of weeks. What they don't tell you is that the fitness models in the commercials have been &lt;em&gt;working hard&lt;/em&gt; to get that body &lt;strong&gt;for years.&lt;/strong&gt; not weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't starve yourself&lt;/strong&gt; - Going to bed, not feeling comfortably nourished will automatically put your body into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_response&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;famine mode&lt;/a&gt; and consequently hold onto all the body fat it can  for it to prevent you from getting ill or infections. Being in a caloric deficit is fine, but its not natural to be in a caloric deficit all year round. Eat whole natural food, cut out junk food and sugars (but don't be a square about it, its okay to go out with friends and have a some KFC, just do it in &lt;strong&gt;moderation&lt;/strong&gt;). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supplements are supposed to aid in a diet which is lacking specific nutrients&lt;/strong&gt; - I can tell you that the &quot;fat burning pre-workout&quot; is probably doing you more harm than good. If you &lt;strong&gt;eat enough and have a well balanced diet&lt;/strong&gt;, there is no need for protein shakes and supplements. There is so much protein in our food these days its completely unnecessary to add some more. Probably a subjective view I am going to point out but I think people who &lt;em&gt;depend&lt;/em&gt; on supplements simply have a poorly structured diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You are doing too much&lt;/strong&gt; - Unless your a professional bodybuilder training for a contest and who has a team taking care of you then you shouldn't be doing weight lifting and intense cardiovascular exercises. This is probably depleting all your energy stores in your body spiking up your cortisol levels because your body is under stress. Weight lifting is a strenuous activity, cardiovascular exercises can be thrown into the same category too. Balance your workout routine, Do weight lifting on one day, and cardio on the other (with a gap day between each training day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this answer may become useful for you. The only supplements you will ever need is &lt;strong&gt;hardwork and rest&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For future reference, when asking questions, please go and read the information in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/help&quot;&gt;help centre page&lt;/a&gt; and structure your questions correctly before posting. This not only helps the people trying to help you,but also people who may find this thread useful in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8528" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T01:25:43.790" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18329" CreationDate="2014-07-25T06:44:11.100" Score="3" ViewCount="6811" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was expecting to get a bit more cardio from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BodyPump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyPump&lt;/a&gt; but experience was different. I felt like I have done a full body strength session. Should I go for less weights? And do I need a rest day between the two. Lastly if I am already doing weights, would it be more effective to replace Body pump with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BodyAttack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyAttack&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8366" LastEditorUserId="10308" LastEditDate="2014-08-04T12:13:52.787" LastActivityDate="2016-04-30T01:39:55.733" Title="Can I do both weight training and BodyPump?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;rest-pause&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18326" CreationDate="2014-07-25T06:51:32.653" Score="5" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;After the advancement of technology we have hell number of Gadgets with various types of Display(led, lcd, amoled etc.). Due to which we mostly tend to be glued to the screens and are straining the eyes &#xA;Eye is the most important part of the body which gets neglected by everyone(In Gym we target only the particular body muscle which gets improved  but what about the eyes ,a pity for those whose Job demands eyes to see their screens). Isn't there any exercise to get relief from the strained eyes and improved our ability of the eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pictorial exercise for the eyes would be an added advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;:-Please avoid giving medications as this question is strictly restrticted to eyes and its improvement and not a medication issue. I purely want exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastEditorUserId="10087" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T10:02:38.153" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T15:31:05.290" Title="How to relax our strained eyes" Tags="&lt;relaxation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18352" CreationDate="2014-07-25T09:32:59.080" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I've never been good at is eating very healthily, but I work out a lot, cycling 15 miles a day and circuit training or weights most evenings. However, I'm struggling to lose that last bit of fat around my abdomen, which is really bugging me seeing as I do so much exercise. I'm assuming this is coming vastly from my diet. Looking more closely at it, I'm eating a lot more sugar than I should. I need to eat carbs a lot because I'm a rower, and they are critical fuel for the sport. But when I'm at work, I don't get time to make proper lunches, so always end up eating crappy food that I know isn't particularly good for me. Can anyone recommend any quick things that I can pick up from the supermarket, that I don't have to cook, that can help me reduce the amount of sugar in my diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10087" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T14:15:47.063" Title="Low sugar diets" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18324" CreationDate="2014-07-25T10:52:24.787" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;To help keep your eyes in top shape, there's a large number of exercises you can do while working on electronic screens. I grabbed these ideas &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lifehacker.co.in/jugaad/Relax-Your-Eyes-to-Improve-Eyesight-in-A-Natural-Way/articleshow/28505810.cms&quot;&gt;from&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.yahoo.com/five-great-tips-relax-eyes-while-working-on-2423852.html&quot;&gt;some&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Protect-Your-Eyes-when-Using-a-Computer&quot;&gt;quick&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogeek.com/54872/how-to-avoid-computer-eye-strain-and-keep-your-eyes-healthy/&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Roll your eyes.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This will help both by removing the strain of looking at the screen and by giving the muscles controlling your eye a slight workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Close your eyes.&lt;/strong&gt; This break will allow your eyes to reset, reducing the load of a long day of looking at a screen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus your eyes.&lt;/strong&gt; You can focus on your nose, then focus on something far away, and repeat; this will help reduce the impact of looking at a screen a set distance away for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, there are a number of strategies you can follow which, while not eye exercises, will make a day of looking at a screen far easier on your eyes. (same sources)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take breaks.&lt;/strong&gt; Whether taking a break to do one of the above exercises, or just to walk around, a break gives your eyes a chance to relax. Try to break at least for a minute or two once an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Position monitor correctly.&lt;/strong&gt; Your monitor should be between 1.5-2.5 feet from your eyes, and 1/2-1 foot lower than the plane of your eyesight. This positioning will help with refraction and will make it easier on your eyes to view the screen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enlarge text.&lt;/strong&gt; Moving to a higher text size on editors or a higher zoom level on browsers will reduce the strain on your eyes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fix lighting.&lt;/strong&gt; Make sure that your computer screen is set to a brightness level that feels comfortable on your eyes, and try to position external light sources so that they don't interfere with your view of the screen. Lighting can have a big impact on how hard your eyes are working to see the screen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best strategy here is to limit screen time, but with many jobs, that's not an option. When viewing a screen for many hours a day is necessary, these exercises and habits will help to reduce the impact on your eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T10:52:24.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2014-07-25T11:39:10.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got back from a 10k kayak session, but my Fitbit logged is as ~5k. It was in a calm lake with hardly any wind any obviously no water streams. I had the Fitbit on my non-dominant hand as per usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how they log it exactly, but it does not seem to have any explicit kayaking support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10287" LastEditorUserId="10287" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T15:33:09.560" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T15:33:09.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2014-07-25T13:03:12.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/1276472-how-does-my-tracker-count-steps-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FitBit website&lt;/a&gt;, it appears that the device goes to great lengths to solely detect steps, rather than other motion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fitbit trackers have a finely tuned algorithm for step counting. The algorithm is designed to look for motion patterns most indicative of people walking. One condition for a motion pattern to be recognized as a step is the motion must be large enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They website makes mention of a 3-axis accelerometer used for detection - this tool, in conjunction with the &quot;finely tuned algorithm&quot;, make it unlikely that kayaking will register as steps, especially where the kayaking motion is &quot;smaller&quot; than most steps. It appears that this is the case, as vidstige documented in his answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to have the kayaking register, a normal pedometer, with a 1-axis accelerometer, would likely work better, as it will log most motion rather than calculating whether that motion was a step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastEditorUserId="10114" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T15:18:03.617" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T15:18:03.617" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18323" CreationDate="2014-07-25T13:16:53.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For future viewers-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BodyPump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyPump&lt;/a&gt;: 60 minute program aimed at high repetitions on common weighted exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BodyAttack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyAttack&lt;/a&gt;: 45-55 minute class focused on cardio exercises and done without weights&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your feeling after the BodyPump session is congruent with the types of exercises; you'd have to drop the weight a significant amount to see the workout shift towards cardio. If you're already doing weights, and enjoy your program, dropping BodyPump for BodyAttack will give you the cardio you're seeking. If you like the BodyPump program more than your lifting program, you could consider dropping your own program and then switching off between BodyPump and BodyAttack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure which &quot;two&quot; you're talking about regarding the rest day. In regards to your own program and BodyPump, it would be best to take a rest day in between, as BodyPump hits most major muscles and almost certainly would have overlap with your weight-training plan. If you switch to BodyAttack, you could lift and then do the program the next day, as BodyAttack does not involve weights, and therefore you won't have much overlap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T13:16:53.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18040" CreationDate="2014-07-25T13:24:58.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The carryover from one activity to another is generally better the more similar the activities are. In sports, this is know as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://athletics.wikia.com/wiki/Specificity_Principle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Specificity Principle&lt;/a&gt; which states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;exercising a (...) particular skill primarily develops that (...) skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to get better at one thing, you should preferably do that exact thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean that you won't benefit from &lt;em&gt;similar&lt;/em&gt; activities, though. Generally, the more similar the activity is, the greater the carryover. Do keep in mind though, that similar activities put similar strain on similar structures, so they can actually be harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to answer your question, is writing with your weak hand similar to spin poi moves with your weak hand? As far as I understood spin poi, not really. Writing is slow and deliberate and you're holding the pen in your hand in a fixed position. This is significantly different to spin poi with its dynamic motions and frequent finger twirling, so at least mechanically there's practically no benefit I can think of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neurologically, though, both activities may activate similar parts of your brain, which could mean that there's at least a neurological carryover. Although I doubt it, as spin poi is about coordination of both hands (even arms) at once, while writing is about coordination of the muscles in &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; hand. Anyway, I'm not near smart enough to answer that question, so I guess the jury's still out on that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T13:50:04.170" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T13:50:04.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16195" CreationDate="2014-07-25T13:48:09.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like you were dehydrated when you stopped exercising, and then regained that water weight over the two weeks. It would have required an enormous calorie surplus to gain back all that weight as fat, and unless you dramatically changed your eating habits, this would not be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that the muscle you gained from your workouts added up to roughly the amount you lost in fat; the good news is that this change is a great one to undergo. As you continue to work out, make sure to maintain a constant state of hydration; this will allow you to learn more from looking at the scale. While fully hydrated, if the scale shows a lower number, you will know that represents fat you lost, rather than simply lost water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned, it looks like you didn't lose a great deal of weight over those 3 months, as your lost fat was replaced with muscle. This situation will be remedied naturally as you continue to work out; your body will stop building muscle at such a quick rate, and your weight will begin to drop more from the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've been doing great to keep up this routine, don't let your setback get to you. It looks like you've got a great mindset, and that will take you far in your weight loss journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T13:48:09.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18338" CreationDate="2014-07-25T15:54:36.350" Score="2" ViewCount="4074" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get back into doing longer runs, having done up to marathon distances in the past. One thing I used to do was wrap a fabric plaster around the smallest toe on each foot, as after a while I would feel the shoes rubbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is happening now with some new shoes, so I'm putting the plasters back on but I am having the same problems I used to of the plasters coming away with sweat or general movement.&#xA;I used to use fabric plasters, cutting strips off and applying a couple with cotton wool on the toe to help pad it more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was wondering if there is a better way of preventing the rubbing?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Yes I am wearing socks. Usually just thick(ish) white ones, but recently using ones for running with padding in the heel and prevent blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-07-26T00:37:01.960" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T06:42:31.337" Title="How do I minimise or preventing rubbing between toes on Long distance run?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-25T21:31:36.120" Score="0" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is total contradiction to this very domain name: &lt;strong&gt;fitness&lt;/strong&gt;.stackexchange, but hear me out. Plenty of people come here asking for advice about foods, routines, muscle types, other neuro-bio stuff, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am here asking how I can gain strength without increasing fitness&lt;/strong&gt;. It is my goal to become strong enough to deadlift 600 lbs. at a bodyweight no greater than 200 lbs. for a one-rep max. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While, yes, I do generally want a bit more fitness, what I only real care about is the ability to exert more force: strength. So this is why I want advice on strength-only, power-only routines that are not part of any program like Starting Strength (personal reasons related to Mark Rippetoe). Can someone give me some advice who is out there in the power world? Any programs (besides the latter), any tips, any other info I should know, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated, I can deadlift about 300 lbs. max now (and I'm in no workout routine, program, fixed diet, etc., etc.). I want to one day reach 600 lbs., preferably within 12 years, and will use no enhancements, steroids, h.g.h., etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some information for those who'll make assumptions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a &quot;noob&quot; here, and I have lots of experience. I have just never stuck with anything and never made results that I wanted. I have lots of neuro-efficiency training (ability to exert myself as hard as possible), some explosive training like with cleans, etc. (although a lot of it has diminished), and I am quite neuro-effective (I can incorporate a lot of strength without any muscle tone/mass). I do not care about mass either, and strength, power, etc. are my goals, not endurance, long lasting, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T22:34:37.550" Title="How to get stronger without increasing fitness?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18334" CreationDate="2014-07-25T22:34:37.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The specificity of your goal makes it easy to offer a workout plan here. You want a more powerful deadlift, so deadlifting is going to be your path to this goal. There are plenty of 5-15 week programs out there, pick one that seems right for you, work it through completion, then begin another program. Deadlifting every other day for the long term will be the best way to move towards your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, many muscles are involved in a deadlift, and these muscles may not all progress at the same rate. If you find one part of your deadlift is holding you back, you can take some time in between programs to focus on that particular muscle. In the long run, this will help prevent stalls due to a singular muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for keeping your weight under 200 pounds, you don't list your current weight, so its hard to say what strategy you should follow. If you're close to 200 now, you're going to need to increase your general fitness, as you'll need to add on muscle in this quest for 600. If you're farther away, then it's less of a concern, but you should still focus on eating well, as it will be a serious barrier if you hit 200 pounds when you still have 100+ pounds to go. After you exhaust the quick gains you'll see from beginning a program, you should see slower, but relatively steady gains as you put on weight - once you hit 200 pounds, however, it will become much more of a battle to increase strength without gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://tsampa.org/training/scripts/coan_phillipi_deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coan-Phillipi&lt;/a&gt; routine has worked well for me in the past; for the first time, go with an increase of 10-15%, if you choose to do it again right after you'll need to go with a much more conservative amount. As Steve Gubkin mentioned, it could be good to start off with one of the linear progression routines, and see where you can get from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, the most important thing will be to keep deadlifting often. You'll need to change up your routine as you hit stalls, but make sure to keep going even if you're having a tough time hitting your marks. Best of luck, it's admirable to have such a specific goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T22:34:37.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18332" CreationDate="2014-07-26T00:43:35.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rubbing is generally only a concern when chaffing occurs, so unless you are finding your toes red and sore after a run I wouldn't be too concerned yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you have noticed chaffing is a problem, rather than a barrier solution like plasters which can move and possibly increasing chaffing, why not aim for a lubrication solution instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chaffing occurs when skin rubs continuously against each other. Plasters minimise this by putting a barrier in place, so the plaster rubs together, rather than the skin. However, this make just &lt;em&gt;move&lt;/em&gt; the points of friction to the edges of the plaster, or if the plasters aren't adhesive enough they may move and bunch up causing increased pressure in areas between toes, potentially increasing friction and chaffing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A better alternative is to apply a lubricant to the toes where rubbing occurs&lt;/strong&gt; to reduce friction when the toes rub against each other. Investing in a good quality runners lubricant is well worth it as it can be used to prevent all of the common chaffing problems in runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-07-26T00:43:35.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-26T02:21:55.020" Score="0" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I havent taken any whey protein, but now im planning to try and i just need to be clear with the instruction on how should i consume them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have several questions regarding with whey protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; 1. How often do i need to take whey protein?&#xA; 2. How many scoops/grams per day?&#xA; 3. If i take whey protein everyday will it cause anything with my&#xA;    kidney?&#xA; 4. Is taking whey protein good for getting cuts?&#xA; 5. Is whey protein + oats good?&#xA; 6. is it good if i just eat just oats for every meal of the day?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks in advance for the answers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T05:29:52.437" Title="Whey protein intake and side effects" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-09-24T17:48:43.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4324" CreationDate="2014-07-26T03:54:51.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to lose weight by running while you are that much overweight is a bad idea because your joints will be under way too much stress, try swimming for cardio combined with some mild weight lifting to encourage muscle gain and a lower calorie diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you drop your weight below 27 BMI get &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000ASB66O&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Roman Chair&lt;/a&gt; (Hyper Extension Bench). That will cost you approximately $100 and will really help extend and strengthen your lower back. When you become comfortable working with the Roman Chair and sufficiently strengthen your lower back you can start doing the extensions while holding the sandbag behind your neck. That will really push all your back muscles and give you some really good results fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do get the sandbag there are lots of additional sandbag exercises for your back so you can experiment with that too to see if that helps as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10296" LastEditorUserId="10296" LastEditDate="2016-03-25T18:40:57.500" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T18:40:57.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18343" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18347" CreationDate="2014-07-26T16:48:04.617" Score="1" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you eat above your calorie maintenance level every day and don't use up those extra calories, it's very likely they go to fat stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is that the only reason people get fat (being in a caloric surplus and not burning off the extra calories through physical activity)? Or is it possible for the body to still get fat even in a caloric maintenance or defecit in some other way (and how?)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6175" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T05:44:41.363" Title="Is being in a caloric surplus the only way to get fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-26T21:29:06.157" Score="3" ViewCount="41654" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work at a desk 10 hours per day.  I'm also 45 years old.  Not suprisingly, the backs if my legs are chronically tight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What seems unusual is that when exercising or stretching I always feel the tightness/pain directly behind my knees.  I'm not sure if the problem is tight hamstrings (upper leg) terminating in the knee, or the calf muscles (lower leg) terminating at the knee.  Or if the tightness is from neither. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do traditional hamstring stretches I feel the stretch most acutely behind the knee (not under my butt), likewise with traditional calf stretches, I feel behind the knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question:  am I feeling tightness behind the knee tight hamstrings/calves and I just happen to feel it behind the knees?  Or is it something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any good stretches to relieve behind the knee tightness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10300" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T06:47:32.633" Title="Help understand chronic tightness behind knees" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18343" CreationDate="2014-07-27T03:41:28.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you mean by &quot;get fat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking strictly about weight, then the only way that you put on weight is with a calorie surplus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about size, however, fat is much less dense than muscle, so it's possible to lose muscle and gain fat - and therefore size - even if you have a calorie deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T03:41:28.337" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18343" CreationDate="2014-07-27T05:44:41.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Yes. Fat storage is a well understood phenomena. If you eat too much you will gain weight.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat above a caloric surplus over an extended period of time you adipose tissues will expand to retain the caloric surplus. If you eat too much you will get &amp;quot;fat&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What defines a caloric surplus is different for every individual, some sedentary people can survive on 1800 Cal/day, some require much more. Furthermore, while you might see a chocolate bar has 200 Cal of energy this is under perfect laboratory conditions, so in reality you might take in less (but never more) of this caloric energy by virtue of the energy your body requires to digest the food. Unfortunately, nutrition is largely observational, and if you fix your intake at a specific number and and find you keep gaining weight you are eating too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are very rare conditions where individuals are unable to release energy from fat deposits, however the only way for these fat deposits to grow is by having previously eaten a caloric surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also hormones, drugs or chemicals that might cause your body to retain water. A well known example is creatine which (among other things) holds water in the muscles. However these cause body wide water weight gain, and you might look bigger, but it doesn't carry the same medical risks as excess adipose tissue so it doesn't count as making you &amp;quot;fat&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T05:44:41.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18332" CreationDate="2014-07-27T06:42:31.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baby powder.  Blow it in your socks, blow it on your toes, and you will be good for at least a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T06:42:31.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18344" CreationDate="2014-07-27T06:47:32.633" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the gastronemius and the hamstrings cross the back of the knee joint, so both can be tight from sitting 10 hours per day. Muscles can tighten, but the fascia can also become stuck and stop gliding well.  Hydration is important for fascial mobility.  Here are some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gastroc&lt;/strong&gt; - The simple &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall stretch&lt;/a&gt; will target the muscle. Make sure to align your heel with your toes to prevent your arch from collapsing as you lean into the wall. The stretch should be felt behind the knee or in the upper calf.  You can also use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthygh.org/files/PDF%20Files/Worksite%20Wellness/Calf%20stretch%20on%20stairs.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stair stretch&lt;/a&gt; where you drop your heel over the edge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hamstrings&lt;/strong&gt; - The hamstrings are a two joint muscle meaning that they cross the hip and the knee.  When you stretch the hamstrings you may feel tightness anywhere along the muscle.  Try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stretching-exercises-guide.com/hamstring-stretches.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;different hamstring stretches&lt;/a&gt; to find the one(s) that best isolate where you want the stretch. You can stretch them with your leg out straight on a step or bench as you lean forward.  You can stretch them lying on your back or sitting using a towel or strap to assist the stretch.  Or you can stretch them in by bending forward in standing with one leg crossed in front of the other, or on the floor with your leg(s) stretched out.  Adding a contraction of the muscle for a few seconds can then help you stretch further as you release the contraction (PNF - contract/relax).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Popliteus&lt;/strong&gt; - There is also a smaller muscle called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popliteus_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;popliteus&lt;/a&gt; that can restrict full knee extension. This muscle will stretch somewhat as you stretch the hamstrings.  However, if it is symptomatic you may need a massage or physical therapist to work on it as it is deep and near nerves and arteries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Massaging&lt;/strong&gt; tight muscles can be done with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WErpKRJFQ3A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foam roller for hamstrings&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBJ4UHUUUoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gastrocs&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prevention&lt;/strong&gt; is important. Straighten out your knee as often as you can while working. If your desk has a back to it, place your foot up on the back and do a quick hamstring stretch. Then do the other.  Or you can use a stretching strap or towel to do a stretch sitting at your desk.  You can roll a small ball back and forth under your desk to keep the muscles and joints lubricated.  Try to avoid a static position for prolonged periods and get up and walk when you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T06:47:32.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2014-07-27T07:07:43.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did about 500 per day combined with a restricted food intake over some period of time and lost about 25 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the deal. I went to prison &amp;amp; only had muscle&amp;amp;fitness mags &amp;amp; men's health to study. This was my formula I discovered that worked four me...&#xA;200lbs 6`0=over weight now 173 &amp;amp; nicely baring a cut/tone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your body weight &amp;amp;multiply by 15 = how many calories your body needs/uses to maintain. Okay, pick a goal weight &amp;amp;multiply it w/that same formula. There. You've established exactly the very most calorie intake for one day. Now for myself I wanted to shred quicker than most people choose...so I multiplied my goal weight by 12.5 and that's all I would consume calorie wise in a 8~10 hour day divided into 5 or 6 small meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost CUT OUT the WHITE CARBS I.e potatoes, bread, flour,rice. Think green and protein. Wheat or oatmeal only minimal EARLY in the day. Plus make sure you leave at least 11 hrs total of fasting before,during, and after you sleep. This is when your metabolism resets itself and goes into repair fat burn mode ( so get SLEEP!! Schedule it as you would a work out). Okay people will argue me but I am simply presenting a sure fire routine that worked for me; however, I did 250 burpees right out of bed, no food or water. Fat burn galore that'll go all day. It's a fasted HIIT (look up HIIT if your lost) regimen. Okay I did 250 in the morning &amp;amp; 250 at night before my last meal, the workout kills any appetite or late munchies while you train your bod into not eating after a set time at night. For me it was 6pm. Now sometimes if I was not sore I would do 250 too in the afternoon. Now Mens Health says if you run a 10 minute mile which is about 85% max heart rate you'd burn roughly 100 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now HIIT BURPEES will be in the realm of 400~500 calories at a minimum if you do them right w/adequate seconds of rest to play the interval aspect to your heart rate. I cut up w/ a quickness nicely, it's remained off &amp;amp; make strip priority to eat as much protein w/ that allowed calorie figure because your body burns so quickly w/ this method that you have got to keep your muscles fed so your body doesn't turn on burning them....because remember it's a full body work out, especially w/me because I did various styles of push ups incorporated w/ my burpees; wide, diamond, thrusting off the ground, commandos, what ever change I could think of &amp;amp; it showed itself in my chest,tris,bis, and shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SO EAT PROTEIN GRADUALLY THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY! And good luck. Have a good day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10305" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-07-27T13:21:23.753" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T13:21:23.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2014-07-27T08:30:32.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although weakness or limited mobility anywhere in the kinetic chain may lead to excessive pronation as a compensation, limited ankle dorsi-flexion is often a prime culprit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To test your &lt;strong&gt;dorsi-flexion range&lt;/strong&gt; you can see if you can fully squat without lifting your heels or losing your balance. Or another quick &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.somastruct.com/ankle-stiffness-and-its-relationship-to-flat-feet-and-overpronation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lunge test&lt;/a&gt; uses a ruler and the wall.&#xA;If you find limitation in ankle dorsi-flexion, here are some good exercises to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.somastruct.com/increasing-ankle-dorsiflexion-mobility/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stretch your muscles and mobilize the joint&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your short foot exercise video you linked to is good, as is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEqqyyCRHbA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;towel pleating&lt;/a&gt; which will help you target toe flexors. (Sorry for the long winded video.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To specifically target your requested muscles you can use resistance bands:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;anterior tibialis&lt;/strong&gt; dorsi-flexes and inverts (pulls the foot up and in).  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffpStkCs4ZQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; shows how to isolate it with rubber tubing or resistance band or with standing at the wall for support. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;posterior tibialis&lt;/strong&gt; also inverts the foot (turns it in) but it plantar flexes rather than dorsi-flexion, so you would use the band to resist pointing the foot down and in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;peroneus longus&lt;/strong&gt; and brevis evert (turn the foot out) and the longus helps to plantar flex (point the foot down).  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-1YS7kis3s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rubber tubing or theraband&lt;/a&gt; linked around the feet while you point and push your feet out against the resistance of the band will strengthen these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9o9BVLlQrQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quick video&lt;/a&gt; shows dorsi-flexion, plantar-flexion, eversion and inversion with a resistance band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T08:30:32.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18325" CreationDate="2014-07-27T14:15:47.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0% or 2% Fage Greek Yogurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grilled chicken.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steamed/baked veggies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whey, water, and a blender bottle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuna fish, just you, the can, and the fork.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's really no easy way to have very low body fat. For me anyway, when I start getting near 10%, my willpower goes out the window. But I also don't care that much and 10-15% is fine for me. It's just not worth it (to me) to shave those remaining pounds off knowing what I'd have to give up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find someone with a lot of muscle mass that's sub 10%, you'll find someone who's done &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; of lifestyle modifications to make that work. It's a bit age and individual dependent as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider looking into a keto diet (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&lt;/a&gt;). Long term it's the most successful dietary habit I know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T14:15:47.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18308" CreationDate="2014-07-27T14:26:08.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Some people (especially women) seem to have much more pronounced arches even when trying to be neutral. Bret Contreras has linked that a bit to more of an illusion resulting from differences in body composition (larger hips, larger butts, usually less back muscle tissue). But it's pretty common to see these crazy arched backs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try standing up &quot;straight&quot; with a slight bend in your knees. Focus on just having your back straight (neutral). Abs tight, back tight, straight. Put your weight on your heels, wiggle your toes off the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that posture you'll hold the bar and from that posture you'll drop down into a squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A huge aspect of the squat is to maintain that back form while loaded up with a bunch of weight on top of you, so don't think it's just you with the problem. Keeping your back straight during the squat is part of the exercise. A big part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it's more important to drive through my heels and focus on my hips, glutes, and hamstrings. My back figures it out from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Not sure how you couldn't keep your knees bent when squatting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I don't really understand that one. Your elbows should be trying to touch and jamming back, causing your upper back muscles to tense, making a shelf for the barbell to sit on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video should serve as a good guide, and I'd recommend picking up Rippetoe's book Starting Strength (v3).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-07-28T05:32:18.123" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T05:32:18.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18339" CreationDate="2014-07-28T05:29:52.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;6: No, it it is not good if you eat oats every meal of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Whey&quot; protein is nothing magical. It's just a particular food that has a rather decent nutritional profile and there happens to be a ton of the stuff because of dairy production overall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ballpark you should shoot for 1 gram or so per pound of body weight. Some folks say half as much, some people double it. Most calculations you'll hear are per pound of &lt;em&gt;lean&lt;/em&gt; body weight, which is less than your normal body weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should have enough protein in your diet every day. I'm not aware of any evidence that says you need to have more at the end of a workout in particular. Your muscles get repaired over multiple days, little by little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just to throw this out there, there's a lot more to a healthy diet than simply your macros. Fresh plants and nutrients from other sources are also required to patch your muscles up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T05:29:52.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18363" CreationDate="2014-07-28T11:37:18.727" Score="3" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to try a triathlon, and in preparation I've started swimming at a local 25/50m pool (lane lines put in different ways on different days). The triathlon swim is 800m; I've done that distance in the 25m pool in ~13 minutes and ~15 minutes in the 50m pool. Does anyone have a rough sense of how pool times convert to open water swim times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also could anyone with experience in both environments comment on the differences between pool swims and open water swims? I read somewhere about 'drafting' in open water, how effective is this technique?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T16:56:34.980" Title="Adjustment from pool to lake for triathlon" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18362" CreationDate="2014-07-28T14:25:59.003" Score="2" ViewCount="3006" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it has been a week since I have been working and eating healthy. I weighed 14.5 stones and now I weigh 13 stones. My question is, what are the repercussions (if any) of losing weight quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I here that it is &quot;wear and tear&quot; on the body, what does this mean? it seems to be a very common expression used by people, but I have no idea what kind of wear and tear on the body it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T16:26:51.837" Title="Losing 1.5 stones in a week healthy?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13722" CreationDate="2014-07-28T15:19:26.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had been having ankle sprains and twists regularly, once every 1 to 2 years, until I changed my running  to the barefoot-midsole style (at first, actually running barefoot).  My motivation was knee pain, although in the 5 years since, I haven't twisted my ankle once. I attribute this to foot awareness -- with the cushioned shoes I wasn't 'feeling' the ground,  and the stronger ankle muscles that developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10319" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T15:19:26.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18360" CreationDate="2014-07-28T16:54:51.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;1.5 stones is about 21 lbs (I had to look it up).  That's a lot of weight, but not completely impossible.  The danger that comes from extreme calorie drops has to do with making sure your body has enough of the right stuff to keep itself happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will typically lose a lot more weight when you first start off, and then the progress will begin to taper.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To answer whether it is healthy really depends on what you did to get there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, one week isn't going to make or break you from a health standpoint.  However, you can't sustain that pace for too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your diet includes the following bare minimums:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.5g protein per pound lean body mass (estimated is fine); 0.8g protein per pound if exercise is a big component&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.35g fat per pound lean body mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruits and veggies for micronutrients&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without those bare minimums, your body runs the risk of going into metabolic shutdown.  Practically, that means no more fat loss, and you run the risk of burning your muscles and organs for energy.  Those goals are easy to accomplish when you are only trying to lose 1-2 lbs a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of that initial weight loss was water weight, some was fat, but some could also be lean mass and that's where the danger lies.  Again, 1 week isn't going to cause major lasting damage, but prolonged periods like that can cause other problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Celebrate the 21 lbs you lost!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust the diet so you aren't losing quite as fast.  Many dieters skimp on protein, and protein is what helps protect lean mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you are getting all your essential nutrients.  Take supplements if necessary to meet them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the diet is something you can handle long term.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last bullet point is really important.  Once your body gets used to eating a certain way, and you suddenly increase the amount you eat, you are likely to regain the weight you lost.  However, when you make small adjustments to lose what you need to lose, you only have to keep eating at the new amounts to maintain your new weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T16:54:51.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18359" CreationDate="2014-07-28T16:56:34.980" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to compare pool times to open water because there are a lot of differences in the environment that change (such as wind, waves, current, temperature, etc). For the pointy end swimmers (The ones that will be first out of the water), there isn't that much of a dropoff in the actual swimming time. The difference in a pool swim is mostly due to being able to push off the walls at the 25/50 mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The less experienced you are, the greater the difference will be. Since you have ~ a 15 min swim time for an 800 (Which is a decent time), I would guesstimate you will be able to do the swim in a lake environment in about 18-20 minutes. The variance will be on how well you swim without lane lines, how well you sight, and if you get nervous/tense in the open water (As well as weather conditions race day such as wind/waves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The major differences will be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperature: Most of the time the lake/ocean will be much colder than a typical pool. If you swim in a competitive temperature pool then the difference will be much less. Most commercial pools are 80+ for degrees, competitive down around 75 degrees, and lakes usually run between 65-80 depending on depth, time of year and geographic location. (For example, the shallow, man made lake near me in Arizona that hosts a lot of triathlons is not wet suit legal for most summer events, as it is too hot).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visibility - You will rarely ever have as much visibility in a lake/ocean as you do a pool. Most of the time it will be in the range of a few feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waves - Even a lake swim will have wavelets and/or waves, especially if there is a wind. These will tend to push you off course, can interfere with breathing, and require a lot more effort if they are of any size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sighting - You will need to do a modified stroke every so often to make sure that you are still swimming in a straight line. Very few swimmers can swim straight without guides. One way to check your tendency is to swim in a lane with your eyes closed. Count how many strokes before you hit a lane line. That's how many strokes you want to take between picking your head up to look. The better you are at this technique, the less time you will lose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as drafting, it's very effective. You want to be more to the side than directly behind, because of the bow wave effect, but even following toes can help. However, if you find yourself constantly tapping their feet, you need to get out of the draft and find faster feet. Even in a pool, if you watch high level competitions, competitors will hug the lane line to get as much draft effect as they can if they are behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend getting out and doing open water swims as practice, and seriously consider a wetsuit. A wetsuit is like legal cheating for swimming. However, don't do it for the first time on a race day. A swimming wetsuit (Don't borrow a surfing one) fits very tight, and can produce hyperventilation and claustrophobia if you're not used to it). As far as workouts, practice doing a short 100m sprint, and then the rest of the distance straight, with occasional sprint surges of 10-15m every so often. This will simulate your race environment, with the start, surging to find feet or drop people, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T16:56:34.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18293" CreationDate="2014-07-28T17:26:23.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the marvelous options provided by meanderingmoose, here are a few things to try as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Alternate between standing/sitting at work. This will work for some people and not for others.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Sit on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=exercise+ball&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=pYXWU6TkMOPB8QGSqYF4&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&amp;biw=1455&amp;bih=726&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an exercise ball&lt;/a&gt; at work instead of on a regular chair. This activates your balance muscles and keeps you moving constantly &lt;em&gt;(not to mention you can quickly perform some crunches on it as well).&lt;/em&gt; Even if you can't sit on it for long, resting your legs on it helps your balance over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Perform an HIIT exercise for about 5 minutes before starting work. Perform another one at lunch-time &lt;em&gt;(or at half-time).&lt;/em&gt; Perform it again once your work is over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;All these will activate your muscles, keep your metabolism up, and reduce the effects of sitting. And they shouldn't really affect your work performance.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T17:26:23.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-28T18:47:39.017" Score="0" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a fair amount of cycling over what some would consider long distance - ~40 mile rides every 2-3 weeks and shorter rides more frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to consume a fair quantity of high GI carbs while on the bike or I will most certainly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bonk&lt;/a&gt; somewhere round the 120 minute mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to understand is how this consumption affects fat burning.  How does the body &quot;select&quot; what energy sources to draw on while exercising.  Does the exercise trigger the body to continually burn fat (and everything else it can find), or is low blood glucose needed to force this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please note this is NOT a generic fat loss question. I'm not looking for &quot;how to maximise fat loss&quot;.  I'm looking to understand the science.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read the heart rate during exercises is linked to the proportion of calories drawn from glycogen and fat.  I've seen significant disagreement about weather this means fat burning drops off at high heart rates or not.  But lets presume for the sake of argument that I'm exercising at a rate which does burn significant quantities of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also understood that taking in carbs during very long rides will increase endurance by allowing your body to burn the carbs you're eating / drinking before burning the glycogen and thus increase the time before glycogen is depleted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm really asking here is whether the carbs I eat during the ride affect fat burned and glycogen burned evenly (leaving the proportions unchanged).  Or does or is this affect asymmetric?  Does it significantly affect one more than the other and thus change the proportions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10232" LastEditorUserId="10232" LastEditDate="2014-08-28T07:40:29.013" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T17:43:10.807" Title="What is the effect of carb consumption on fat burning during exercise?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18267" CreationDate="2014-07-28T20:23:53.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends what you want to get from your workouts. Here's a general way of thinking about it: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you increase time you have between exercises (up to, say, 5 minutes) your muscles can perform better in consecutive exercises because they have recovered more from the stresses of the previous exercise. This may mean that your muscles can gain more from each individual exercise &lt;em&gt;in terms of strength gains&lt;/em&gt;, because you were able to work harder in each one. However, you lose the benefit of cardiovascular training because you're allowing your cardio system to relax more with higher rest intervals. You will also not make great gains in terms of muscular endurance, or lose much weight. (Here, the muscles will mostly rely on muscle glycogen as their fuel for exercise, not fatty acids like you would want if you're trying to lose weight. Glycogen is usually easiest for the muscles to use for shorter duration exercises like chin-ups, sit-ups, etc. When you rest more, like a few hours, you're allowing the body to replenish muscle glycogen stores, electrolytes, and flush lactic acid, which will allow you to perform short term exercise again).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you decrease rest intervals, your muscles get less of a chance to recover, and you cannot exert as much in each exercise compared to having more rest time. Here you would see more gains in muscular endurance, but less-so in pure muscular strength. However, you cardiovascular system is working harder, and therefore benefits more from shorter rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a balance of muscle hypertrophy (gains in muscle &quot;size&quot;), cardiovascular ability, weight loss, and muscular endurance, I would shoot for rest intervals to 30-60 seconds between sets. These intervals have also been shown to have an effect on the release of human growth hormone during exercise, which will help you out a little bit as well (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19691365&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19691365&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you would design your rest intervals would essentially hinge on what you want from your workouts. From the comments, &lt;strong&gt;if you're looking for weight loss&lt;/strong&gt; (fatty acid mobilization &amp;amp; metabolism) &lt;strong&gt;and general fitness&lt;/strong&gt;, I would shoot for 30-60 seconds of rest between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10029" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T20:23:53.320" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18365" CreationDate="2014-07-28T21:01:45.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that the science is not completely understood, as every individual has a unique physiology and no 2 people respond to fat/carb intake the same way as far as what their body is burning for fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rough estimate that works for most people is that somewhere around the max aerobic heart rate (180 - your age is a pretty good estimate) your body switches proportions from mostly fat to mostly carbs. As far as I know there are no concrete data showing just how much &quot;mostly fat&quot; and &quot;mostly carbs&quot; are, again mostly likely because the body's choice of fuel at any given time is not fully understood. But you can probably figure that if you're well below that heart rate your body will be burning mostly fat stores, and if you're well above it your body will be burning glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have access to some form of heart rate monitoring while you're out riding, it may well be that if you're bonking at 60-90 minutes, your heart rate is higher than optimal and you're burning through your glycogen stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T21:01:45.830" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-29T02:37:44.093" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;So this question comes as I lie in bed, legs aching, incapable of falling asleep. I worked out in the evening today since I couldn't get to the gym in the morning, and had a successful deadlift and squat session. My legs still hurt, however, and it's noticeable enough that I can't get comfortable in bed. Any suggestions for how to get to sleep after an evening workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T16:53:54.430" Title="How to sleep while sore" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18371" CreationDate="2014-07-29T03:39:49.340" Score="-2" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;My height is 155cm and weight is 36.5kg. i posted it if someone can help me out. I need to know how much weight i can lift given that data or their any other app that calculate it. I am underweight and they say 5lbs is most starting point. So can i start on 5lbs or lighter weights( I want to start using dumbells only)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I dont want to test based on what can i lift but on scientific/mathematical calculation based on my weight and height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i saw this&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/521/how-do-i-know-how-much-weight-i-should-be-lifting-with-dumbells&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;,but this doesnt answer my question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10324" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T04:05:56.017" Title="How much dumbell weight will i lift?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-11-04T23:26:14.190" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18370" CreationDate="2014-07-29T04:05:56.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no calculation for how much you will lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start lifting small weights for a specific number of repetitions. When that becomes to easy, add more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, 36kg is technically underweight according to your BMI, so try and add some mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T04:05:56.017" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-29T05:48:40.783" Score="5" ViewCount="14489" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a part of the StrongLift 5*5 Program, where one workout is Squats, Bench Press, Pendlay Row and the other is Squats, OHP and Deadlift.The weight increases by 5 pounds on every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing the pendlay row I noticed that I am basically rowing with my arms and as the weight was a bit heavier for me, I felt a twitch in the lower back too. had to leave it after 4 reps in the last two sets. Another problem is, no one at my gym knows about these rows so no one can check my form, all they say is this is bad for your lower back, stop doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I improve my row technique myself so it connects better? Or is there any alternative that I can fit into this program from my back development?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10209" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T10:46:34.320" Title="Pendlay Row: It doesnt connect the lats" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18374" CreationDate="2014-07-29T08:09:34.893" Score="2" ViewCount="5127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to gain weight, but im confused what to eat before and after exercise(gain weight).Can someone name healthy foods or snacks? And also do i need to eat more on before or after exercise?&#xA;Also want to know if its advisable to exercise early in the morning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10324" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T11:31:17.127" Title="What to eat before and after gain weight workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18373" CreationDate="2014-07-29T11:31:17.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your strategy depends on whether you're looking to put on muscle, or just general weight. If you're looking to simply become heavier, its pretty simple; you just need to eat more calories than you're burning. Since you're exercising with it, however, it looks like you're looking to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important part to gaining muscle mass will be eating an adequate amount of protein throughout the day. You should shoot for something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22150425&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1.8g/kg&lt;/a&gt;, as this ratio will allow your body to make the most of your workouts in terms of muscle gains. You'll want to eat enough carbs to give you the energy to effectively do your workouts; if you're doing cardio work that amount will be higher. &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/recommended-amount-percent-carbohydrates-per-day-7287.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;60-70%&lt;/a&gt; of your daily calories (every carb is 4 calories) should come from carbohydrates if you're looking to gain weight. Cutting out deserts and fast foods will help to ensure that a significant portion of the weight you put on will be muscle, as these strategies will help keep your total Calorie intake from ballooning too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a number of different types of food which will work well for your goals; I'll list some here, but really anything that fits into the mold of high protein and lower fat/calories will suit your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cold cut meats (Turkey, ham, chicken) - These types of meats all will provide you with a lot of protein, while very low in fat and calories. Throwing them into a sandwich can be a great way to include some carbs as well; just make sure not to go too heavy on the mayo.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eggs - A couple eggs a day provides many nutrients and protein, if you're looking to eat more than that, you may want to consider egg whites to avoid consuming too much cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Red meats - While these have more fat than the cold cut meats, in your effort to gain weight you don't need to be as concerned with fat. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fish - Another great source of protein and very low in fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Greek yogurt, skim milk - These types of dairy products provide protein without the fat of regular yogurt or whole milk. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Beans - Certain types of beans (soy, kidney, white, lima) have lots of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nuts - While generally higher in fat, these still provide great protein benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to these sorts of foods for protein, incorporate grains into your meals for the carbs, and you can include fruits and vegetables for their nutritional benefits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding when to eat these foods, it really depends on what works for you. If your stomach is comfortable with you eating before a workout, that works fine; generally, however, it works best to keep the meal before a workout light, and then consume more protein after. If you're working out at 5pm, this might mean eating a larger lunch and then nothing until after your workout; if you're working out at 2pm, you could eat a light lunch then an early dinner after. The important thing will be to be working out and consuming the right amounts of protein and carbs; the timing is of significantly less importance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out in the morning can be a great way to kick off the day, but in terms of whether its best for you, it again depends on what you're comfortable with. If you have enough energy in the morning to hit your numbers and work out with intensity, then go for it; if you're dragging yourself to the gym and performing a sluggish workout, it might be best to wait until the afternoon. The effective workout is what's important, not the timing of it. In addition, sleep is also important, so if workout out early will impact your sleep, it'd be best to wait until later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T11:31:17.127" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18379" CreationDate="2014-07-29T11:59:58.563" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;At work my lunch usually consists of chicken/fish (mackerel/tuna) and a filler in the form of pasta/brown rice. I want to start cutting out more carbs out of my diet as my dinners in most cases consists of carbs in the form of potatoes and vegetables. I am currently on a training schedule to lose body fat while gaining muscle. Is there a healthy low-carb alternative to the traditional pasta and rice that you can recommend that is preferably common in supermarkets and not too expensive? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10326" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T14:47:49.050" Title="Alternatives for high-carb foods" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18369" CreationDate="2014-07-29T12:44:53.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know that there's a secret formula, but, I tend to reach for ice or heat and an NSAID.  But, then again, I'm 50+ !  The point is, treat it like an injury.  A hard workout is like receiving micro trauma to the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T12:44:53.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18372" CreationDate="2014-07-29T13:29:03.977" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bent over rows are not bad for your back when you are used to handling the weight.  However, when your bent over row (AKA Pendlay Row) is pretty close to your deadlift weight, as happens on SL5x5, then it's hard to balance it all out.  For example, I'm an over 500 lbs deadlifter and can comfortably row 200 lbs for reps.  Get too much over that and and I'm prone to hurt my lats as the bar comes down too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a couple ways to address the row, but first it's important to know that it is truly an &lt;em&gt;assistance&lt;/em&gt; exercise.  That means a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assistance work is there to build strength for the primary work (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assistance work does better with higher reps and moderate weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's perfectly fine to swap out assistance work for something else that's equivalent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Staying &quot;Strict&quot; with SL5x5&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this choice, we're going to change the progression on rows, and adjust the technique a bit.  This means you are going to have to drop the weight to get used to it.  The following technique points are for the Pendlay row (which is simply a strict bent over row):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend your knees a little to allow your hips to act as a cantilever (this is for better balance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the bar up to your chest, &lt;strong&gt;and hold for a second&lt;/strong&gt;.  NOTE: the bar should be touching your sternum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Control the bar all the way to the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are off balance with the bar at that position on your chest, you are too far forward and need to bring your hips back.  The hold is the main modification we are making, and should help you feel it more in your lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to programming this, I would make the following changes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a weight you can do 3x8 strict reps with the above technique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every time you do the row, increase the reps on each set by one.  (3x9, 3x10, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After you do 3x12, increase 5lbs and start over with 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That slows the progression on the rows, but gives you more volume with it.  That will build some back muscle, and help with your body's ability to endure back work.  This is also the rep ranges that seem to work better for assistance exercises in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternative to Pendlay Rows&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to pick my personal favorite row variation, it would be the &lt;strong&gt;dumbbell row&lt;/strong&gt;.  More specifically, it's the kneeling single arm dumbbell row also known as Kroc rows.  They help build your grip for deadlifts, hit the lats better, harder to cheat at, and are just better supported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kneel on the bench so that one arm and one knee are in contact (same side), the other leg is on the ground, and the other arm is holding the dumbbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the dumbbell up to your chest, hold for a quick pause&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower the dumbbell under control and repeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the set is over, repeat with the other arm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can't match the reps on one arm, set the dumbbell down and when you are ready finish the set with 1 more rep than the stronger arm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: your torso should remain in a neutral position, if you feel like you need to twist it to get the weight up then you started too heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For programming this, I would use the &quot;350&quot; style of progression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have 3 sets to try and get 50 reps (each arm).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only give yourself 1 minute rest between sets.  One set is done with left arm and right arm done consecutively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you fall short, just repeat the weight and try to add reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you hit 50 or more reps after the 3rd set, next time you increase 5lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't expect all three sets to be the same number&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One advantage of the one armed dumbbell row is that it is unilateral work and it's easier to correct left/right imbalances with them.  Start with a weight you are pretty confident you can get 12-15 reps in the first set.  If you start &quot;too light&quot;, you'll catch up pretty quickly.  As a rough guide I would pick a weight that is roughly 30% of your bench press to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-07-29T13:34:43.473" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T13:34:43.473" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18382" CreationDate="2014-07-29T14:04:00.143" Score="2" ViewCount="3344" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious I regularly do 225 front squats and was wondering what are the long term effects on the spine with this exercise or any squats for that matter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the bar is placed in the front and racked on the shoulders I always thought there was more pressure on the core to stabilize the body under load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will they significantly compress the spine long term or is the same amount of compression one experiences through out the day from standing/walking? If its the former, what type of stretches would be advised to decompress the spine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10000" LastEditorUserId="10000" LastEditDate="2014-07-29T15:00:19.627" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T17:40:39.933" Title="Do front squats compress the spine?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18375" CreationDate="2014-07-29T14:47:49.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the best alternatives to traditional carbs (rice, pasta, bread) is quinoa and beans, which is what I call &quot;the completely balanced foods&quot;, because it possess a good amount of carbohydrates, proteins variety of nutrients which makes it a great food if you want to slowly wean out how much carbs you are eating.\&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any time I want to cut a little bit more I eat more beans and quinoa instead of heavy starchy carbs such as rice, pasta, bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T14:47:49.050" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18202" CreationDate="2014-07-29T15:27:57.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you train for high resistance, your body will gain a mind-muscle connection to the specific movement. If you don't train that particular movement for a long period of time, those motor neurons used to fire those muscles will not be as strong as they were before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9976" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T15:27:57.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18369" CreationDate="2014-07-29T16:53:54.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome back to Leg workouts.  Especially among former athletes and former lifters who take some time off it is extremely easy to overdo your first few (leg) workouts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about 10 workouts you will notice that this post workout suffering will be much more manageable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some ideas&#xA;Hot and Cold Tubs right after a workout will help out greatly&#xA;Prescription and Over the Counter drugs may help in the short term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T16:53:54.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18378" CreationDate="2014-07-29T17:40:39.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's going to happen with front squats is that your upper back and quads will get stronger when compared to a back squat (high or low bar).  That is due to the slightly different leverages involved with the lift.  225 lb front squats are really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to spine compression, consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The musculature you build up braces your spine in addition to lifting the weight.  That means the weight is distributed so that the spine is not supporting all the weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The spine is comprised of disks separating the vertebrae which are designed to handle a certain amount of compression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That said, there is some compression, but it should only be of concern if your spine is not healthy or your technique is wrong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to clarify what I mean by incorrect technique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No two squats will be identical, as individual leverages affect how they look.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad technique is where the load is transferred to the spine rather than being supported by the musculature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad technique is when due to how you muscle the bar you cause stretching or compression of the discs beyond normal operation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The front squat has the following advantages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The back is in a more neutral position, which is advantageous for bearing load.  The more the back is vertical, the lower the chance for injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar will fall off your shoulders before you get in a position where the back would be in danger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, as long as you are maintaining good form (which is quite necessary for a 225 lb front squat), there really isn't much to worry about from a long term perspective.  Elite level weightlifters are able to front squat over 500 lbs without ill effects.  The number of spine related injuries vary based on strength sports.  The greatest risk being sports that deadlift, both due to the weight lifted and what it does if the lifter's back buckles at all due to fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T17:40:39.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-29T23:26:08.920" Score="2" ViewCount="575" Body="&lt;p&gt;145 pounds, 170cm tall, female.&#xA;been doing cardio &amp;amp; weight lifting for 2 months with good diet, goal is to lose body fat and gain muscle.&#xA;what is the science behind doing weights before/after cardio?&#xA;will it really affect my gains/weight loss either way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T16:50:03.553" Title="cardio before or after weights?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-29T23:33:17.237" Score="0" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wake up at about 11am and head off to the gym an hour later.&#xA;I do 1 hour cardio 1 hour weights...&#xA;I am 145 pounds 170cm tall and female....&#xA;I sometimes do fasted cardio to burn from direct fat (aim is to lose weight and gain muscle), however want to know science behind it? like is fasted cardio bad for muscle gain? if I do eat breakfast ill eat a protein shake, banana and some mixed berries. is this okay&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T23:47:34.050" Title="eating before or after working out?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-30T00:15:47.907" Score="0" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;Started gym 2 months ago - 5 days a week (1 hour cardio, 1 hour weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;145 pounds, 170cm, female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am eating a calorie deficit and realize my gains are only newbie gains..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will forever be eating a calorie deficit as I cant see myself ever being happy with my body until I'm shredded as (eat about 1500 cals a day) so, when these newbie gains wear off, is it pointless me still lifting weights as it's impossible to gain muscle while in calorie deficit? or not pointless as it's important to maintain it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditDate="2014-07-30T13:03:05.107" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T13:17:45.827" Title="Do I just have to forget about lifting weights?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18386" CreationDate="2014-07-30T02:07:45.100" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is necessary not to give up. Keep on with your weight lifting. However do not forget about a good cardio exercise. Even if your goal is to gain some muscle weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10331" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T02:07:45.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18384" CreationDate="2014-07-30T02:13:09.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your breakfast sounds well. Some berries, banana and a protein shake sound excellent as in right proportions it won't make you feel too full, but will give you the energy for the most part of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try not to eat at least an hour before and after a work out. I might have a small portion of a protein shake right after a work out as it helps muscle to rehabilitate. So I can do the same work out routine the very next day and won't feel sore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10331" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T02:13:09.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18386" CreationDate="2014-07-30T04:52:09.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/living-with-osteoporosis-7/weight-training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Load bearing exercises combined with a proper diet have been demonstrated to reduce and in some cases reverse bone density losses&lt;/a&gt;. Women especially need to be aware of this as decreased bone density can lead to osteoporosis, which impacts women much more than men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/can-you-do-simple-sitting-test-predicts-longevity-f1C7588565&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one of the biggest predictors of hospitalisation and poor health in later life is the ability to stand unaided from the floor&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So for your health alone resistance training is vital to good health.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, getting &quot;ripped&quot; requires more than just low body fat but also for muscles to show off. Resistance exercise is the only reliable way to promote muscle growth. Even at a calorie deficit you will grow muscle, it will just happen very, very slowly. Eating at a surplus will grow your muscles fast, but the human body is a very complex system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you enjoy weight training, continue at it. Remember changes won't happen in days or weeks. but long-term perseverance with help you reach your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T04:52:09.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18205" CreationDate="2014-07-30T06:34:35.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your routine could probably use more cardio exercise.  5-7 km once or twice a week-while better than nothing-isn't much and does very little to improve or maintain your fitness.  A decent running routine for maintaining fitness might be to work on doing 30 minutes a day 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of your routine looks better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10336" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T06:34:35.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18205" CreationDate="2014-07-30T10:22:18.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with that, maybe you should run more often, and around 20 or 30 minutes...&#xA;I personnally love jumping rope because not everybody can run everywhere, and in the city it's not always good with car pollution &amp;amp; co...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else : rather than &quot;old up at the up phase&quot; on some series, clap in your hands at the up &quot;push-up position&quot; seems to me a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I explain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Old up is not going to really work something, while clap in your hands gonna work your cardio, your pectoral muscles and triceps at your landing with your inertia.. But not only that ! That will work your back too if you contract it (latissimus dorsi and quadratus lumborum)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10337" LastEditorUserId="10337" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T10:40:32.413" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T10:40:32.413" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18386" CreationDate="2014-07-30T13:17:45.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I am able to understand from your question is that you want to be shredded, and if that is correct then I think your approach is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will forever be eating a calorie deficit as I cant see myself ever&#xA;  being happy with my body until I'm shredded as (eat about 1500 cals a&#xA;  day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get calories to perform daily activities let alone for strength training. My advice would be to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do not give up training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increase protein in your diet and as well as good carbs such as from whole wheat pasta , sweet potato and raw eggs.Do not eliminate fat from your diet.Add fats from fish in your diet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start with light weight and intense training (less time , more training). You might not be able to perform high intensity training right away but with time as stamina develops , you will be able to . &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My personal belief is that to build good physique these are the contributing factors along with their weight: food : 60% , form : 15% , rest : 15 %, exercise : 10 %. Cutting short on any of these will result in incomplete results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T13:17:45.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18383" CreationDate="2014-07-30T14:02:42.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, you should identify which exercise is more in line with your goals, and do that one first. For instance, as rowers, my team will row first, and lift after. This allows us to perform the row at 100%, while the lift, performed while tired, lacks some intensity and focus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, it would seem like lifting is more in line with your goals, as you don't state a desire to improve cardio capacity, only to lose weight and make muscle gains. By lifting first, you will maximize the amount of muscle you gain, and can adjust to any decreased cardio intensity with a diet change. In the reverse scenario, you wouldn't be able to adjust your diet to make up for a reduced lifting intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor the order depends on is the general intensity of your cardio work. Above, I'm assuming it tires you out enough that it would impact your ability to lift; however, this may not be the case. If you feel that you can still perform the lift at full capacity after cardio, then the cardio could serve as a great warm-up for the lift, and you might be better off doing cardio first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T14:02:42.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18202" CreationDate="2014-07-30T18:52:44.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to ask what caused this neurologically inhibited muscle and whether it still exists. Some say the cause is an antagonist that will not relax, which keeps the muscle from contracting completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the body “forgets” how to use the gluteal muscles because it’s more efficient in the short-term to divert the neural signal intended for them to a stronger muscle close by to do the job instead. &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2013/08/training/why-strength-work-isnt-enough_81473#rKCPPTqL5syCW5kI.99&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case the tight antagonist and strong surrounding muscles still exist so your body may come to rely on them again. In the case of the gluteus medius you would need to stretch the hip adductors to prevent this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others say the cause is an overloaded muscle which becomes too fatigued to fully contract, but that this is a cause rather than an effect of tight supporting muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;as an inhibited muscle moves into its shortened position it becomes very inefficient and less able to contract. This results in instability at the associated joint, particularly when placed in an extreme range of motion. When the body recognizes this instability, the opposite muscles tighten up in order to protect the joint from being moved into the extreme range. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanmovement.us/muscle/faq.php#q14&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case once the muscle is no longer inhibited the joint should become stable and not require further intervention. That's just my take from Google, I could be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T18:52:44.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-30T19:23:12.800" Score="1" ViewCount="3087" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do intervals of 2 minutes of jump rope with a 1 minute break in between each interval, during which I walk around briskly. Will this improve my long distance running time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10339" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T18:27:20.993" Title="Will 20 minutes of jump rope per day improve long distance running?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15994" CreationDate="2014-07-30T20:52:19.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It worth for doc to take a look at it. But if you want to stretch it then take a pencil in your hand and bend it till one side till the point it gets uncomfortable, NOT PAINFUL, keep it in this position for 20-30 seconds. Then the same to the other side. Keep doing it left, right, up, down and diagonals as much as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what my doctor told me to do to recover after a surgery on my wrist. You can do this exercise anywhere(home, public transport, lecture, during a meal) it does not take your attention and helps to get back the flexibility fairly quick if you do not forget to do this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10331" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T20:52:19.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18372" CreationDate="2014-07-30T21:14:25.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some tips for Rowing Exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have your back fully arced and shoulder blades pinned back as far as you can.  There should not be any flexion in your back when you lift whether it is Rows, Squats, or Deadlift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limit your Bicep involvement in back exercises.  Hold the weight with just your fingers and NOT in your palms.  Do not fully extend your arms to the bottom.  Biceps should not be tired or pumped when you are done rowing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are deadlifting and squatting heavy in the same week do chest supported rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not bend over so far and just do bent rows.  Pull up and chin up are great for back development also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T21:14:25.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-30T22:39:25.803" Score="1" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just found out about P90x and it seems they use the muscle confusion theory. But how does it work neurologically and as far as creating muscle mass is concerned? What would a typical routine be? Examples please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T12:39:37.993" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T20:37:28.380" Title="How does muscle confusion work?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13675" CreationDate="2014-07-30T23:12:57.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen lots of answers for questions like these that say, &quot;good for warmups or small muscles, but not good for gaining mass in larger muscles.&quot;  Ha ha, dude, get some real weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like these answers assume that you're using one skimpy band, like the kind they use for physical therapy.  Yes, for those single bands, the resistance is limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for other types of bands, where you can connect as many bands as you want to one handle or to a bar, the potential resistance is literally unlimited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the base Gorilla Strength kit can give you a max resistances of 200+ pounds.  Are you currently curling 350 on one arm?  Well, in that case, buy two kits and combine bands from both.  Or buy one of the bigger kits, which goes up into the 700+ pound range.  Are you benching 900?  Then buy two of those kits and combine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodylastics also sells a kit with a total resistance in the 400+ range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would pressing 250 against gravity be different than pressing 250 against rubber?  Why would 250 pounds of gravity build muscle while 250 pounds of rubber would just &quot;warm you up?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you short rep to failure with both, it's reasonable to assume that the effect on muscle growth would be similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if power lifters are putting rubber bands on their bench press barbells anyway to improve the resistance curve at the top of their movements, then it starts to sound like 250 pounds of rubber is better than 250 pounds of lead to begin with.  You know, if you have to add rubber to the lead to improve it, why not just use rubber?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10343" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T23:12:57.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18412" CreationDate="2014-07-31T02:52:28.773" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running 5 minute repeats on a track, with a rest after each one of a minute, and I've been told to run them consistently, rather than going out fast on the first one and then getting increasingly slow over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm aiming for 1:38 per lap of the track, what counts as 'consistent'? I suppose ideally you'd do every single lap at exactly 1:38, but that seems impossible (if nothing else, from inconsistent timing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how close should each lap be to the ideal lap time?  Is within 1 second good enough, or should I be more stringent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a graph of the last two times I did this; the first time is less consistent than the second (well, I did get consistently slower quicker the first time I attempted this) but I'm not sure where I should be aiming to tighten things up - when does it appear I stopped being consistent enough on the second attempt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FvmYM.png&quot; alt=&quot;Graphed lap times, 400m laps&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7483" LastEditorUserId="7483" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T07:00:15.680" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T07:00:15.680" Title="Threshold consistency - how consistent is consistent enough?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18405" CreationDate="2014-07-31T04:54:02.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are doing intervals to put an intense load on your system. It's important to keep that load relatively constant to get the best benefit from them. You can also use this to tell if you need to stop early; when an interval gets lots slower than the previous one, you are done for the set (and perhaps for the day if you're doing multiple sets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't do running intervals, but when I do intervals on my bike, I see a 5% variance in power often. I wouldn't worry too much about small variances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T04:54:02.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6509" CreationDate="2014-07-31T04:59:56.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bigger the muscles you are using - and the more of them you are using - the quicker you can get your heart rate up. That generally means using your leg muscles, and using them to move your body weight up and down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, something like deep squat jumps or running stairs are the ticket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T04:59:56.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-31T08:24:08.357" Score="8" ViewCount="684" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we all know, cardio and strength training have completely different effects on your muscles, and your body's response to them. Strength training trains the body to make those big anaerobic muscle fibres, giving you the body-builder look, but cardio builds endurance muscles without hypertrophy. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11636/why-does-cardio-aerobic-exercise-lead-to-muscle-loss&quot;&gt;Why does cardio/aerobic exercise lead to muscle loss?&lt;/a&gt; has a fuller explanation for anyone new to the site.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I swim, my breathing is restricted because of the water (let's say my technique is poor), so an intensity of exercise that's normally aerobic for me becomes anaerobic instead. I feel out of breath (the sign of an oxygen deficit) after a sprint that doesn't tire out my muscles: if I were on the bike instead, I'd be able to keep up that level of activity for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is this: how does an anaerobic exercise (my swim sprint) compare to an aerobic exercise &lt;strong&gt;of the same intensity&lt;/strong&gt; (my bike ride)? I'm looking in particular for the effect it has on the muscle profile: the fat-burning effects are already covered by &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14485/do-low-oxygen-levels-effect-fat-burn-and-or-muscle-strengthening&quot;&gt;do low oxygen levels effect fat burn and/or muscle strengthening?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5904/does-the-amount-of-breathing-holding-breath-breathing-fast-affect-the-calories&quot;&gt;Does the amount of breathing (holding breath/breathing fast) affect the calories burned during a workout (not heavylifting)?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T04:46:38.677" Title="What effect does restricted oxygen in cardio have on muscle damage &amp; repair?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-31T11:40:38.307" Score="-1" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I made a contract with a gym to lose fat and become fit. My goal is something like this &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xnUuX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm over weight so I need to lose fat (I think something like 14KG). I told the trainer in the gym about my goals and that I don't want big muscles or so. So the program he gave to me is to do exercises with some weight machines in the gym: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- a machine that trains the legs muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- another the trains the back, and chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- then an exercise with TRX for my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp; that was it. Then I was so confused that he didn't assign me any cardio exercises like running machine or cycling! His argument was that when I train my muscles, then the body needs to burn fat and that's how the fat will be burned. But then I insisted to go on the running machine and then he asked me to run one minute fast and then one minute slow. I found that I had a lot of sweat with the running machine than with the weight machines!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trainer said that I should do many repetitions with low weights on the machines and that's how I achieve my goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- Is the trainer correct? Is it better to use the weight machines for fat burning than with cardio machines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried because I don't want big muscles! I want to be fit and lose fat quickly! I don't want to work hard and then find out that it's not the bodyshape that I want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T15:22:40.033" Title="Cardio or gym machines for best fat burning?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-10-10T18:23:02.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18405" CreationDate="2014-07-31T14:21:12.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your times, I'd recommend moving your goal to 1:40 per lap, and then go no faster than 1:38 on any lap. The idea of shooting for a specific time works because as you get tired, you still have that goal in mind, and can work harder to reach it for each interval. You start out well under your goal on July 30th, but even by the 3rd interval you're missing your splits. This type of pattern can lead to an acceptance of slower times on later repetitions, which makes it difficult to push yourself and get faster. By keeping your splits all at a constant pace, you'll have a better idea of how hard you need to go on the later intervals, and can adjust accordingly, rather than simply going at a pace which feels doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also try to bring down your times more on the last 1-2 intervals, when the workout is close to being over. Shoot for a 5th interval at least as fast as any previous interval, and then shoot to beat that time on the 6th. These are the pieces you should be pushing on, not the 1st and 2nd ones. The last lap especially should be significantly faster; practicing this speed increase at the end will help to give you confidence in your overall endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T14:21:12.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18405" CreationDate="2014-07-31T15:17:03.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be aiming to hold a specific pace. It's not &quot;impossible&quot; to hold within a second or two for every lap, just about any decent college runner can run 4 laps and tell you his time (without a watch) within a couple seconds for each one. This is just pacing experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the intervals you describe, you want the entire effort to be as consistent as possible, the entire time. If you can easily make the pace at the first one as well as the last, then your target is a bit too easy. If you can't make any, it's a bit too hard. It will take time to get this pacing correct, but once you do you can easily adjust subsequent workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eric refers to training with power, one of the seminal books on bike training (Training and Racing with a Powermeter) suggests that if you are doing intervals and your pace/power begins to drop, that you stop the intervals. Trying to complete the intervals at a lower level defeats the purpose of the workout, and that you are better served by redoing the workout at a later date at a more appropriate pace. Conversely, if you make all the intervals at the goal pace, then you should add intervals until you can't hold the pace and then the next time, adjust from the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T18:26:17.283" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T18:26:17.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18411" CreationDate="2014-07-31T15:22:40.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Achieving any kind of goal includes hard work. Doing a lot of reps with low weights is exactly what you have to do to be 'toned' not over muscly. If you feel like running is good for you no one will hold you not to do it. However saying that you planning on loosing about 14kg you should really considering your diet. You can loose a lot of weight by speeding up your metabolism. Try to drink a lot of water and eat quick digestible foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10331" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T15:22:40.033" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18419" CreationDate="2014-07-31T18:36:22.643" Score="2" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see advices that we shouldn't go to gym every day. But is it for everybody? or for the people that do serious stuff?  or if I just go run 1 mile in 13 minutes, do I still need to take a brake?&#xA;Does 1 mile even count? Or I should run at least 2 or 3 miles? Every day? &#xA;I am 173lb and 5'8&quot; tall and 31 years old male, So do I need to run more? faster? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it is not for special events like 5K or marathon training, just to lose some weight, be healthy and get it shape.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10352" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T11:46:42.383" Title="Running, how many times a week? With what average speed? For how long?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18416" CreationDate="2014-07-31T23:57:54.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless your legs feel sore, I think it is ok to go without a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your legs are sore, take a day break and catch up with rest :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no, that isn't really enough to see results. Rather going on distance, go on calories burnt, which your treadmill will tell you. Try to shoot at 300 calories minimum, and if you like mix it up with different machines such as elliptical, bike etc :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you just want to run and increase calories burnt, you should turn incline to max, and run for longer/faster. If that's too intense, have a break when you normally do, for a few minutes, have drink etc., then try run another mile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2014-08-02T15:36:27.747" LastActivityDate="2014-08-02T15:36:27.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18428" CreationDate="2014-08-01T03:27:20.980" Score="2" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5'8 and 84kgs. I used to do all regular sets of exercises like biceps, triceps, chests etc. Yesterday, my GYM trainer walked up to me and said that i need to reduce my belly and do nothing else. Here is what he has advised me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling for 10 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 SitUps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;200 PushUps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50 Chinups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All the Abs exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this  a fine routine to follow for next 3 months. There is no provision for any weight training here. Will I be reducing belly as well as making a strong chest, biceps etc with the above routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7032" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T11:10:59.193" Title="Doing Strength training everyday" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-01T03:53:02.753" Score="-1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, to start off, my stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Age : 22&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Height : 172cm&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Weight : 95kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to lose wieght in the most effective way. Currently I'm working out (at least 3-4 times a week). I skip meals every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need advice on how to do this in the fastest but right way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is what i'm doing correct? If not, what are the proper methods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also.. can you give me targets? (example, how many weight should one loss in a week/month)&#xA;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10357" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T09:07:59.760" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T12:41:38.977" Title="Losing Weight ASAP but in the right way" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-08-02T02:01:14.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-01T04:30:17.953" Score="0" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current weigth-training-plan is roughly like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;arm-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;2min pause&#xA;arm-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;2min pause&#xA;arm-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;2min pause&#xA;arm-exercise-B 10-reps&#xA;...&#xA;2min pause&#xA;leg-exercise-B 10-reps&#xA;2min pause&#xA;leg-exercise-B 10-reps&#xA;2min pause&#xA;leg-exercise-B 10-reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately it takes far too much time, and there is esentially nothing useful nor fun I can do in those 2 min pauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: Would the workout be &lt;em&gt;less effective&lt;/em&gt; if I would intertwine the exercises of different muscle groups such that I fill the 2min pauses but there is still 2mins between the exercises of the same muscle-group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example (assuming that a 10-rep session takes about a minute):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;arm-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;    leg-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;        1min pause&#xA;arm-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;    leg-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;        1min pause&#xA;arm-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;    leg-exercise-A 10-reps&#xA;        1min pause&#xA;...&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will such a workout in your opinion be less effective in causing muscle growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10358" LastEditorUserId="10358" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T18:22:20.067" LastActivityDate="2019-11-11T21:51:25.623" Title="effectiveness when interleaving parts of workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5695" CreationDate="2014-08-01T07:09:51.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider doing each movement at less than 100% of failure and then your conditioning improves increase you can levels. Also use longer breaks in between movement as need but not to long. These breaks will also reduce inverse to the increase in stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have a structure routine that will do overall body or groups of muscles. If you only can do the first two or three movement of ten for your program you are not getting the designed full routine targeted area worked done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So by going less than 100% for each movement to start and getting through whole routine should be much better for overall body and muscle development than 100% of just a few exercises within a daily routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slow, listen to your body, not your EGO. Work on getting through a daily routines and add as you go. Keep good journals of your progress. There is nothing that says after completing a daily routine if you are still feeling energized you can't add in a few more reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps you getting started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10361" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T07:09:51.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18421" CreationDate="2014-08-01T07:26:03.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing abs exercises will not 'reduce' your belly.  Targeted exercises don't magically burn more fat in a particular body part.  However, it will build abdominal muscles.  If you're looking to lose weight in your stomach then you simply need to find a way to burn more calories than you take in so you lose weight in general.  Typically cardio exercises are good for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good routine? That depends on your fitness goals.  This routine looks like it would be good for building upper body strength, but seems to ignore the cardiovascular system and lower body muscles completely.  Also committing to the same routine for three months may get repetitive and lead to plateaus in which you no longer improve as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I would like to note that this sounds like your trainer's goals.  Do the trainer's goals match your own?  A good trainer should work with the athlete to determine goals since it is &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; body after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10336" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T07:26:03.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18421" CreationDate="2014-08-01T09:20:33.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are seeking to reduce your &amp;quot;belly&amp;quot; then the workout you have been given will not be enough to achieve your objective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what you want to achieve. Cardio alone will help you achieve your objective of losing the &amp;quot;belly&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the most effective way to &lt;strong&gt;gain strength and muscle&lt;/strong&gt; whilst losing the fat is to do circuit training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must do at least &lt;strong&gt;40 minutes of mid-high intensity workout&lt;/strong&gt; that elevates your heart rate up to &lt;strong&gt;80%&lt;/strong&gt; of your Max Heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To work out your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.digifit.com/heartratezones/maximum-heart-rate.asp?Age=25#table&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Max Heart Rate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - Subtract your age from 220.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. For a 25 year-old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;220 - 25 = 195 (Max Heart Rate) - therefore, my target workout heart rate should be:&#xA;195 * 0.8 = 156bpm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally tend to push my heart rate to about 160-170 for my workouts. But if you are not used to intense workouts then i would suggest you keep to the target heart rate which you can workout from the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a workout. My suggested circuit workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10min run/jog at 5 degree incline and 10.5kmph&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10min cross trainer at level 15 and 18 speed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Circuit Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should be repeated at least 5 times with 60 second rest between each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Box Jumps&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CfW8j.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Pull-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AY9Xl.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Suspended Leg Raises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2hnVX.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Kettlebell Swing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OlTKD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why this type or workout?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I suggest something similar to this workout above is because it will engage almost all of your muscles whilst elevating your heart rate. This will give you a well rounded workout and you should see great results within a couple months of this routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make your own version guidelines&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make your own version of this just ensure that the exercises you choose are motion based. By this I mean exercises that require you to move a lot. So something like the plank doesn't really get you moving. But something like burpees is very good for getting you to move and engage many muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weights are good as you get stronger but make sure you can do at least 5 sets of the workout you make to ensure that it is sustainable. if you cannot then reduce the weight or change the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this and see how you get on a couple months later...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7815" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T09:20:33.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18422" CreationDate="2014-08-01T10:54:04.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;in a first time, we cannot tell you how much you can / should loss in a week / month, that depend of many variables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, one of the best way is this :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove sodas of your alimentation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove all candy or sweet bar if there is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restrict the sugar intake (remind that, all things containing flour, is a glucose intake, pasta and rice too)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Privilegied, sometimes, wholemeal bread (we need some glucide anyway, and slow sugar is good too bring all along the day some glucide, you can eat wholemeal bread in the morning, and no more)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peanut butter without added sugar is nice too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meat one time a day, or one time for two day if you can have some products to bring you the protein intake..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salads with fish (with tuna) is really good, personally i love that (and with olive oil is interesting)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can, some sardines or mackerel is good too for protein intake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat vegetables and fruits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to don't skip meal but the breakfast if you have just sweet things, otherwise you can eat cottage cheese (i've forgot, this is really good to eat)&#xA;and some fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10337" LastEditorUserId="10337" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T11:00:59.987" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T11:00:59.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18421" CreationDate="2014-08-01T11:10:59.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's look at the positives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very high rep work will get you strong, and burn fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High frequency training (5 days in a row) also accelerate burning fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin ups build great lats, and are a great compound exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;200 push ups will build solid triceps, chest, and shoulders (front delts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, the negatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only 10 minutes of cycling for the lower body?  This definitely needs more throughout the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit ups build your hip flexors more than the abs, but there's nothing to balance that out like Romanian Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's not very balanced, and it really is missing some major pieces.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that you currently do a lot of isolation exercises, and I assume you are doing those for aesthetic or bodybuilding purposes.  What I don't know is whether this new program is an even replacement for the amount of work you've been doing or whether it's an increase or decrease in the overall amount of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is the gym trainer is a personal trainer at the gym you go to.  If you are paying him for his services, I would be more demanding in keeping focused on the type of work you want to do.  If you are not paying him for his advice, then you are free to disregard it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your diet in order.  You can't out exercise a bad diet, and that's where you are going to melt away the most fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do conditioning work &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; day.  20 minutes of cycling would be perfect.  Cycling is all concentric movement, which means there's very little to recover from and it won't affect you as much as running will.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the bulk of your work with compound exercises.  These do more to burn fat and build muscle than isolation work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill in the details with the isolation work to bring up the parts you feel are lacking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight training every day requires fatigue management.  A decent approach is to have 3 heavy days that feature compound exercises and 2-3 light days that only have isolation work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T11:10:59.193" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18434" CreationDate="2014-08-01T11:44:23.637" Score="0" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently assisting my dad in losing a significant amount of weight. He's 60, 6'0&quot;, weighs 230lbs (104kg) and eats very healthily, maintaining a well balanced diet. The trouble is he doesn't exercise at all, but he has recently decided he wants to cut body fat, which is a big problem for him, and reach a goal weight of around 204-208lbs. I see a lot of similar questions about this sort of thing on the site, but none of them are very suited to his situation. He has some trouble supporting his weight on his wrists, so things like push-ups, burpees etc aren't really an option until he loses weight. Another thing I was worried about is that his family has a very slight history of heart problems, so I don't want him to have excess fat building up around his heart anyway. I was interested in finding him a cardio/circuits program that would help his lose weight quickly (his main motivation is his wedding anniversary holiday in 5 weeks time) and to reduce his overall body fat content. A lot of it is centred around his waist, with a stereotypical 'beer belly', but I fully understand there isn't a way to target that specifically. Any help would be appreciated. I'm a rower, so I train everyday, so motivating him to come with me isn't a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10087" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T14:21:21.100" Title="Losing body fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18435" CreationDate="2014-08-01T12:25:34.690" Score="0" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;So yesterday I did 55 minutes on the treadmill, the settings were 30 minutes at 9mph and 25 minutes at 8mph, all 55 minutes were done at 2% incline...&#xA;then I did some squats, nothing heavy, it was 50kg and I was doing them slow and keeping good form. I did 2 sets of 30 repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I went back on the treadmill to some HIIT, then thing is when I was running I kept throwing up a little in my mouth, it didn't stop for the 30 minutes I was doing HIIT, my settings were 15mph for 1 minute, walk for 1 minute, all at 2% incline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why was this happening? Is there a reason my body was throwing up all this stuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T16:37:41.990" Title="Regurgitating during exercise" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18422" CreationDate="2014-08-01T12:41:38.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, if you need to lose weight, don't plan on doing it quickly as that approach typically ends in yo-yo dieting  where you lose then gain it all back.  Rather, plan on a change in lifestyle that includes sensible eating and exercise for the &lt;strong&gt;long term&lt;/strong&gt;.  Losing more than 1 to 2 pounds per week can be excessive and result in muscle loss as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T12:41:38.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18423" CreationDate="2014-08-01T12:50:18.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are describing is typically referred to as &quot;super setting&quot;.  There's nothing inherently wrong with that approach, and, it's typically used to try and invoke more muscle growth/strength.  However, super setting is usually a fairly high intensity type of routine that should not be followed indefinitely.  It can be used effectively if it's cycled with other approaches to training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T12:50:18.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18423" CreationDate="2014-08-01T13:21:56.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you describe is called &quot;super-setting&quot; and sometimes a &quot;barbell complex&quot;.  It's a tried and true approach to training, particularly when working with assistance exercises or focusing on conditioning.  There are a few things to consider with super-sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a major conditioning component to them, which can cause you to fatigue faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planning super-sets requires you to have local rest, for example following lower body work with upper body work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planning barbell complexes require that you have a smooth progression from one movement to another.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conditioning aspect allows you to use your barbell training for metabolic conditioning which is a great way to economize time in the gym.  However, because your heart rate gets up and you don't have much rest between exercises you'll find you can't do as much work as if you were to do the exercise in isolation.  There are approaches to manage this as well.  Since my coach is having me focus on conditioning, he has me super-setting all my work twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Managing super-sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Super-sets usually have rest between sets.  You can use time, or if you use a heart rate monitor you can use a minimum heart rate to dictate when you do the next set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes super-sets have rest between exercises.  Again, you can use time or a minimum heart rate.  The idea is to keep the rest between exercises much smaller than the rest between sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell complexes have a rep progression and goal time for the whole thing to be done.  For example, the &quot;Evil 8&quot; complex has you performing sets of 6 on the first round, and working down to only 1 rep per set--90 seconds rest between sets.  If you manage to do the whole thing in 12 minutes or less, you can increase weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super-sets do allow you to condense your time in the gym, which is why they are a very effective way of doing your assistance work.  Due to the fatigue component, they do have a greater training stimulus than if you performed the same weight and reps individually.  Also, due to the fatigue component, they can interfere with the primary lift.  It's best to save them until after your primary work, or use them as conditioning tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T13:21:56.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18429" CreationDate="2014-08-01T14:21:21.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is a case where some strength work on the machines can help your dad build up enough basic strength to support his weight to the point where he can do push-ups.  The thing is he is going to have to start a bit slower and build up momentum from there.  60 isn't that old, but if he's completely detrained he will likely fatigue pretty quickly.  For the goal of dropping about 25 lbs / 10-12 kg you're going to have the best bet to attack it on multiple fronts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet.&lt;/strong&gt;  Eating healthy is the first part of the battle, but he needs to eat less if he wants to weigh less.  Losing 1 lb / 0.5 kg a week would be a good pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conditioning.&lt;/strong&gt;  A humble start like walking 20-30 minutes a day would be a very good start.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength Training.&lt;/strong&gt;  Since he's unable to do a lot of body-weight exercises at the moment, this is a good application of using the machines for lighter-than-body-weight work.  This will also help improve his overall quality of life when he can get up and down at will without having to think about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal here isn't making an athlete, but helping him move more and move better.  We also don't know how well he is going to adapt to exercise, or if he has any heart problems lingering.  The way I'd have him progress would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start diet and walking immediately&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After a couple weeks, if he deals well with the walking, add in some light strength work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over the next few weeks, if he can hit body weight loads he can start body-weight training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The light strength training should have the following components:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat movement.  Start with the leg press doing 3 sets of 5 reps and adding 5 lbs every time until he can leg press his body weight.  After that he can progress to body-weight squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull or hip/hinge movement.  These can be Romanian deadlifts with an empty bar, kettlebell swings, or back extensions (body weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press movement.  Start with the incline press machine, and use the same approach as the squat movement until he can press 70% of his body weight for a set of 5.  That's roughly what would be needed to support push ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he can do the body weight movements, work on increasing reps with them and adding some variety to them.  He will be pretty fit if he can hit 50 body weight squats, 30 push ups, and 50 back extensions all in the same day (with multiple sets).  He'll also be able to move around pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T14:21:21.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18430" CreationDate="2014-08-01T14:30:17.397" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You overtrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is your body conditioned for such exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, with my 2 years of experience in bodybuilding, I find such workout far too stressful. A few guidelines you should follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never combine squats, cardio and HIIT in one workout.You can do them in one day (squats in the morning and cardio in the evening), but never in one workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't exercise more than 1 hour unless you have the needed condition of your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No FOOD at least an hour before exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are taking any supplements such as Yohimbine or anything that can upset your stomach - make sure you've had a meal in the last 2-3 hours. If you are taking ANY supplements, please check their expiration date. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I was helpful. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10362" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T14:30:17.397" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18430" CreationDate="2014-08-01T16:37:41.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason that you were regurgitating slightly is mostly because of the slow squats. As you exercise, especially with exercises that require tight abdominal muscles, you increase the pressure in the abdomen. Slow squats will do this, especially after an hour of running (which also engages the muscles in the abdominal area).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has the effect of decreasing the volume of space available for the internal organs, which can start pushing items in the stomach in various directions until you stop compressing the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While no food may be a recommendation, a lot of items will empty out of the stomach within an hour, some foods in much less time, so you will need to determine what and how soon before exercise you can eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T16:37:41.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7889" CreationDate="2014-08-01T21:51:16.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 20kg Olympic bar is thicker and hence ensures better grip. Olympic weights have no torque. if you are looking for a black OR white answer it would be to get an Olympic set period!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10365" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T21:51:16.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18440" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18834" CreationDate="2014-08-02T13:32:56.633" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started doing push-up at home, after discontinuing from the regular gym. But, these days, I am leaving home early in the morning at 7:00 AM for work, I couldn't find time for push-ups in the morning. So, I just want to ask if its okay to do push-ups in the night at 8:30 PM?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a mandate kinda thing that it must be done in the morning only. Or is it a common myth? I have seen some Fitness centers around, which display : &quot;Open in morning: 5-9 AM and Evening:6-9 PM&quot; on their shop boards. And, In some of the movies that I have seen, actors does push-ups at work or whenever they feel like, this may be a bad example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I do push-ups at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4797" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T11:48:14.840" Title="Is there any specific time to do push-ups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2014-08-02T14:15:15.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I wear them for a couple of reasons, and I think they are certainly worth the investment.  One, I have very bad bulging veins due to multiple pregnancies.  Wearing the compression leggings, it not only helps keep the blood flowing as it should, it eases the pain.  They also seem to have help in my recovery time.  Body temperature control is also helpful to get out the door when the temperatures drop.   Also, as we age and if getting back into fitness is where you're at, you may not be as firm as you'd like and lets face it.  No one wants to go work out, when it shows, that you need to work out.  Unfortunately, this reason is out of vanity, but you look better in them.  And when you look like you know what your doing, your mind thinks it can do anything!  Good luck in your search.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10371" LastActivityDate="2014-08-02T14:15:15.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-02T18:48:15.647" Score="2" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out at the gym today. I'm 25 year old, 173cm, 78kg. I'm overweight and I need to lose weight. I'm doing one hour of cardio and I lift weights as well. In the gym there is a boxing bag and i feel I want to try boxing and maybe reduce some of the cardio for the boxing or alternating. So I will see later how I will tune this. But I never tried boxing before and I really have no idea what to do with the boxing bag. Can you suggest some good exercises that build strength and lose fat with boxing? If you can post some good videos for that, it would be great. Also if you have some advise for my routine at the gym with the boxing and other stuff I'm doing, that also would even better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastEditorUserId="7883" LastEditDate="2014-08-02T19:17:56.447" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T17:48:02.267" Title="Boxing workout for losing fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18498" CreationDate="2014-08-02T21:11:31.587" Score="12" ViewCount="1054" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is bugging me for few weeks now. Its not that I didn't try to look up. I never found a complete answer in an understandable language. From the articles I read over internet I could just pick up bits and pieces. Its still is incomplete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training#Realization_of_training_goals&quot;&gt;As mentioned here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Variable                   |                    Training goal                         |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;|                            | Strength      | Power  | Hypertrophy | Endurance | Speed |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Load (% of 1RM)            | 80-90         | 45-60  | 60-80       | 40-60     | 30    |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Reps per set               | 1-5           | 1-5    | 6-12        | 13-60     | 1-5   |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Sets per exercise          | 4-7           | 3-5    | 4-8         | 2-4       | 3-5   |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Rest between sets (mins)   | 2-6           | 2-6    | 2-5         | 1-2       | 2-5   |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Duration (seconds per set) | 5-10          | 4-8    | 20-60       | 80-150    | 20-40 |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Speed per rep (% of max)   | 60-100        | 90-100 | 60-90       | 60-80     | 100   |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;| Training sessions per week | 3-6           | 3-6    | 5-7         | 8-14      | 3-6   |&#xA;+----------------------------+---------------+--------+-------------+-----------+-------+&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As can be seen from above table, different Load, Reps and Rest period between sets, give different results. Training for Strength, Hypertrophy (bulking or building mass), Endurance, Speed and Power are completely different (even though not mutually exclusive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question&lt;/strong&gt; is what are the structural (anatomical) or physiological changes that can be seen if 5 identical persons, each train for Strength, Hypertrophy, Endurance, Power &amp;amp; Speed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;PS: I've basic understanding of muscular structure.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For readers who want to understand muscles properly:&lt;/em&gt; Watch these videos&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqTetbgey0affe0NJj8huznnoLtxo_Jys&quot;&gt;Myology&lt;/a&gt; (4 videos) by Armando Hasudungan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMT4PtXRCVA&quot;&gt;Muscle Contraction Process: Molecular Mechanism [3D Animation]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5yMz2lFgx0&quot;&gt;Type 1 and type 2 muscle fibers&lt;/a&gt; by Khan Academy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2018-08-15T16:56:50.140" Title="What differences in the muscle structure can be seen when trained for Strength vs Hypertrophy vs Endurance?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18465" CreationDate="2014-08-02T21:29:19.410" Score="1" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aim is to build body. I've been working out in gym for past 2-3 weeks now. I train my full body hard thrice a week and 2 hours per workout day. Considering myself &quot;very active&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Interactive DRI for health professionals&lt;/a&gt; recommends:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Daily Caloric Needs: 3199 kcal/day&#xA;Carbohydrate    360 - 520 grams&#xA;Protein 48 grams&#xA;Fat 71 - 124 grams &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've no problem meeting my Carbohydrate requirement. I'm trying my best to meet protien requirement but some how I'm missing out on meeting Fat. I've quite a bit of Fat in my body so I'm not consuming more than 30-40 grams of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens if I don't consume enough fat? Should I increase my Fat intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-03T05:45:35.890" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T03:39:05.627" Title="What happens if don't consume enough fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T02:12:20.980" Score="6" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 60-year-old male.  I'm a professional whitewater kayaking instructor, and I like to compete in kayak surfing.  My goal is to get in as good a shape for those sports as my limited time allows.  While I've always been very active, I am not and never really have been a top-flight competitor/athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of joint issues I've had to stop hard weight training, but paddling hard is still within my abilities.  Between an injury and an operation, I'm still getting back into decent condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Tabata intervals with the kayak between one and three times a week.  While they feel great, and they do give me a serious workout-- my paddling stamina is far better and I can feel my lats bumping up against my triceps lately -- I know that running would be an even better cardio workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that Tabata should not be an everyday thing.  However, should it be considered as separate types of workout for completely different muscle groups?  In other words, if I do my kayaking Tabata workout on M-W-F, and on one or two of the alternate days I do a running Tabata, is that too much stress on the aerobic system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I consider each Tabata day as if all of them were the same, and only do three a week no matter which one I do?  Or maybe max out at two Tabata days/week for each muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10374" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T14:51:13.177" Title="Tabata Training-- should I separate upper and lower body?" Tags="&lt;tabata&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18464" CreationDate="2014-08-03T06:59:48.960" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to lose fat because I'm overweight. My excercise routine at the gym involves lifting and cardio. But I always wonder, which one to do first? Should I do lifting and then cardio or the opposite? And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T23:50:30.293" Title="Lifting then cardio or vice versa for better fat burning?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18455" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T16:33:50.693" Score="2" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm overweight and I'm trying to lose weight. My question is: does the over fat turn into muscles with training? Because I was wondering if doing cardio and some lifting will just get me lose weight only and not build muscles. I.e. I thought maybe after losing the overweight, then I should completely left to only lifting with a specified diet in order to get some muscles. I don't want big muscles, but just nice looking body for the beach. So is my over fat going to be muscles with the training or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T22:39:57.803" Title="Does fat turn into muscles?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4324" CreationDate="2014-08-03T16:57:35.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer in one word. DEAD LIFT!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lose weight quickly and effectively try high intensity work outs. Try sprinting to assist with that, should work wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7912" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T16:57:35.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T17:34:10.690" Score="1" ViewCount="25758" Body="&lt;p&gt;Preparing chicken breasts is very time consuming, and also expensive. Is there another alternative that is cheap, easy and quick to make, and has the same amount of protein?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a student so time and money are my primary problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T11:39:12.263" Title="Replacement for chicken breast for high protein?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T18:20:22.530" Score="3" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically started with the low bar squat (following &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLift 5*5&lt;/a&gt;) but being very skinny (179 cm, 58 KG) the bar doesn't rest at the shelf created in scapula as described by Mark Rippetoe in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2tyOLvArw0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt;. If I try going that low, the bone hurts there. This led me to squat with the bar a little up, somewhere on the traps, which qualifies for the high bar squat. Things went smoothly till now, when for the last couple of workouts I noticed a mild knee pain afterwards, its just some sensation that I know goes away with rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly as the weight has got a bit heavier the current bar placement also feels on the bone, which I guess causes the thumb to go numb after the workout. Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuM6kyVqrOA&amp;amp;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; I shot today to check my form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advice me for these two issues and point out things that I can do to improve my squats and bear more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T17:20:05.440" Title="Correcting squat form, mild knee pain, numb thumb" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T19:59:11.083" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have started cycling on a new route. About half of it is road but the other half is sort of a gravel path. It is not bumpy (I'm on a road bike here) but it is certainly not smooth like a road- it is still listed as a cycle route. How much do you reckon that this will take of my speed if I am cycling say around 30km/h?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10380" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T19:59:11.083" Title="Road Cycling on a Gravel Path" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-08-06T10:06:47.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18455" CreationDate="2014-08-03T22:39:57.803" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, fat does not directly turn into muscle.  The body breaks down your fat, as well as your food, into usable energy to fuel your daily activities and your exercise.   If you eat too much food, your body does not bother to break down the fat.  It just uses the food you have eaten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If however you do more activity or exercise than your food (calories) can supply, then the body will break down your fat stores into usable energy.  That is why to lose fat you need to address your diet and increase your activity or exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your exercise loads your muscles causing them to become stronger, then your muscle will develop more.  You increase your muscles when you load them or stress them thru exercise or work.  They respond to the stress by getting stronger in preparation to meet the need for the next time you work them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cardio and lifting weights will burn calories.  When your body is ready to handle more intense exercise, you can increase the intensity and achieve more &quot;calorie burn&quot; even after you have finished exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T22:39:57.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T23:24:51.980" Score="5" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About me:&lt;/strong&gt; 145 pounds, 170cm tall &amp;amp; female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aim:&lt;/strong&gt; build muscle and &amp;amp; lose body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Currently:&lt;/strong&gt; training 5 times a week (1 hour cardio, 1 hour weight training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Would &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branched-chain_amino_acid&quot;&gt;BCAA's&lt;/a&gt; only help with protein synthesis and muscle gain or do they help with weight loss as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-08-03T23:37:36.107" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T17:02:33.807" Title="Do BCAA's only help with muscle gain or do they help with weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18450" CreationDate="2014-08-03T23:50:30.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the same boat and after much research I have found that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if your more concerned about fat loss do cardio first as you will be to tired after lifting if you do lifting first and cut your cardio workout short... cardio first is also good for warming up the muscle &amp;amp; getting blood into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if your more concerned about gaining muscle, do cardio after as it will give you more energy to complete your lifting routine 100%, also more growth hormone is let off when cardio is done after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I have also read that cardio first also increases growth hormone and your body temp is heightened when lifting, so either way... not really much difference... but I would recommend cardio first :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T23:50:30.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18444" CreationDate="2014-08-04T03:39:05.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;40 grams of fat would be 360 calories, which is a little more than 10% of your 3200 calories. That's not a bad range to be in, although it might be a little bit on the low side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat serves a lot of different purposes in the body, including insulation, shock absorption and energy storage. The most important thing about fat, however, is that the vitamins A, D, E and K are what are called fat soluble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the only way those vitamins can be transported into the body is via fat transport, so if you have too little fat then you run the risk of developing vitamin deficiencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T03:39:05.627" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-04T09:05:27.130" Score="1" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been getting better and better at doing chinups/pullups but I'm only able to do the &quot;easy&quot; ones, the ones with supinated grip, palms facing me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm overweight but not enormous (185cm, 100+kg) and not known for my fitness, but it's improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway the &quot;hard&quot; chinups/pullups with pronated grip, palms facing away, are so much harder for me that I can still barely do one even though I can do up to fifty &quot;easy&quot; ones if I spread out the sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some techniques especially for progressing from &quot;easy&quot; to &quot;hard&quot; chinups? Anything that should be taken into account when overweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm just using local outdoor gym equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5220" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T10:25:28.193" Title="Progressing from supinated to pronated chinups/pullups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18468" CreationDate="2014-08-04T10:25:28.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a thick rubber band, and do them a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem as you, but I started doing crossfit, and there they are the standard movement. I did not really get that much stronger, but I just did them a lot, with a band to begin with. I think it is mainly a motor skill, where you need to practise activation other muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't feel bad if it is hard, a body weight over +100 and doing around 50 pull ups is impressive! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T10:25:28.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2014-08-04T12:11:28.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Preparing chicken breasts are probably the fastest thing ever, and I really do not think anything is much cheaper. But other good sources are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cottage cheese, skim milk, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyr&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Skyr&lt;/a&gt;, eggs and tuna (stolen from other answers). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From (Berin Loritsch) you could look into local sources of cheap and good protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back to the breasts!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy a bunch of breasts. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wrap them in bacon/thinly sliced ham. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place them on a baking tray, with some baking paper under. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cook them for 20 minutes a 180-200 degrees (around 380-400 fahrenheit?). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cool off, and store in fridge. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really does not get any cheaper or faster than that. You can slice them open and stuff things like cheese and spices in, to get some variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastEditorUserId="8264" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T11:39:12.263" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T11:39:12.263" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2014-08-04T14:49:10.510" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend a low fat, low carb whey protein isolate drink in place of the chicken breast if you are OK with switching to a drink. I work at a health food store and we help many people supplement their diets/lifestyles with whey protein. It is not just used for body builders or people trying to get buff, protein is something your body needs and most people don't get enough or get proteins high in fat (some animal proteins). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also a student so for breakfast, I drink a 30 gm protein shake, have a low carb bar (&gt;100 cal) and multivitamins, and stay lean and healthy during the semester to follow. You will also feel better getting protein early in the day and most likely it will carry you through to lunch with your appetite in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10387" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T14:49:10.510" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2014-08-04T17:34:32.267" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chicken has per 100g (3.5 oz):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;165 Calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4g fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0g Carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;31g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that what is cheap really depends on what is most common where you live.  In other words, if you live in a country or town where seafood is plentiful it may very well be a cheaper form of protein.  Unfortunately, some areas of the world it seems that all food is expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most seafood will have a little more protein per ounce than a chicken breast, and be leaner..  This includes canned tuna.  For example from the nutrition for a can of tuna stored in water (165g / 5.8oz):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;191 Calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1g fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0g carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;42g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to go to the grocery store and look at the labels.  You are wanting to compare fat/carbs/protein from one type of meat/seafood to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prep Time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to consider in your search is that you can save money if you get your chicken with the skin and bones still attached.  You pay for the convenience of having that removed for you.  Of course, that does increase your prep time if you don't want that in the final meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things that I do to keep prep times down is to cook off a week's worth of chicken and keep it in the refrigerator.  In the morning all I have to do is take a serving of chicken out of the fridge and pack it for lunch.  At work we have a microwave, and only have to reheat the chicken for 1.5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T17:34:32.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-04T18:28:07.113" Score="1" ViewCount="547" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following a couple of stellar reviews, I decided to end a period of indecisiveness, got myself &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.marklauren.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt;, read through the explainy part and started the Basic Program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder why YAYOG never once speaks about stretching after the workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it so obvious that you should do them that omission is not an issue? That sounds wrong, given how the book seems to be written with absolute beginners in mind (some basic points are made over and over again). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it that you don't need to stretch? Today I did back lunges which certainly strain and stretch the same muscles alternatingly, but other exercises don't seem to have this property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I am new to the whole fitness workout thing, I used to play team handball competitively so I have some concept (however inaccurate they may be) about of how to approach doing sports. We always stretched, and after these workouts I sure feel like I should stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, was is the general doctrine/consensus on stretching after bodyweight workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10388" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T20:09:23.227" Title="Do you need streching after bodyweight workouts?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18541" CreationDate="2014-08-04T19:42:30.663" Score="3" ViewCount="900" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can put my legs in the position for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/10-best-exercises-women/slide/5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ballet wide plie&lt;/a&gt;, but when I'm squatting up and down in that position in the context of a fast-paced Zumba-like dance class, I feel like my hips are going to fall out of their sockets. What's a safe way to develop a range of motion for this move, with flexibility and muscle control? I'm not sure if I need a new stretch I don't know, strengthening exercises, or some kind of ballet dance drill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T03:49:48.803" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T16:27:29.827" Title="How can I build up the flexibility to do a ballet wide plie?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;ballet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18475" CreationDate="2014-08-04T20:09:23.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched some more and found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.marklauren.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&amp;amp;t=18&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Lauren, the author of YAYOG, himself (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;key components&lt;/strong&gt; that an effective workout should contain. Among these is a &lt;strong&gt;proper warm-up&lt;/strong&gt;.The intent of a warm-up is to prepare the body for the physical activity that is about to follow. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;cool-down&lt;/strong&gt; is often neglected despite its &lt;strong&gt;vital role&lt;/strong&gt; in an effective training program. Just as the warm-up gradually takes the body from a state of inactivity to a state of moderate or heavy activity, the cool-down reverses the process, taking the body gradually back to a state of rest. [...] An &lt;strong&gt;excellent addition&lt;/strong&gt; to the cooling-down process is &lt;strong&gt;static stretching&lt;/strong&gt;. Static stretching improves overall flexibility, mainly static, but most importantly, it is a great tool to promote relaxation, improve recovery time, and increase blood flow. A cool-down that includes static stretches will prevent the negative effects of an abrupt stop in activity while promoting improved recovery time, greater relaxation, stress reduction, and static flexibility (limited dynamic flexibility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So even though there no mention of warm-up or cool-down in the book -- presumably because they add to the advertised 30 minutes a day -- both are clearly recommended and stretching is mentioned as being very valuable (if not strictly necessary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10388" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T20:09:23.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18491" CreationDate="2014-08-05T01:24:58.270" Score="3" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I plan on doing some weight training and want to know if we should drink protein shakes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My plan is to eat dinner around 6pm and around 7:30pm start riding elliptical and after the elliptical, do some weights.  My wife plans on doing the same, just late morning or early afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone told me if I do weights, I should also start drinking protein shakes and they recommended Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I have a protein shake before or after (or both) weight training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also does this protein shake have chemicals in it?  Or is there a better protein shake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also on the days I just do elliptical or nothing, should I still drink protein shake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for anyone’s help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;**Edit 1**&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Ok, maybe I wasn't clear on what I was asking.  Let me try again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not really looking for nutrition fountain of youth.  My wife and I want to start lifting weights, her for toning and me to bulk up a bit.  I really don't think we get a enough protein, even though I really don't know how much is enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'm not sure when I should drink it, how many times a day I should drink it, when I should drink them or if I should based on my diet.  I'm really clueless when it comes to most of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10356" LastEditorUserId="10356" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T13:23:56.020" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T15:22:52.343" Title="Would I benefit from protein shakes?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18481" CreationDate="2014-08-05T02:57:56.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes are a food &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt;, not a weight loss or muscle growth magic potion. They are only useful if you are not meeting your protein requirements through other methods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes do not contain vitamins, minerals or fibre, which is contained in other whole food sources of protein and all of which are vital for good health. What they do contain in abundance is calories, all protein nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Accurately track your caloric and macronutrient requirement, and &lt;em&gt;only if&lt;/em&gt; you aren't meeting your protein requirements through other means should you consider protein shakes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T02:57:56.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T05:40:02.727" Score="1" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went for a 4-mile run today and monitored my heart rate much more closely than usual. What I found was surprising. For the first 10-15 minutes of the run, which was gently uphill, my heart rate was only around 88-90 bpm. But, on the slightly downhill trip home (the last 10 min of the run), my heart rate was strangely high – in the mid-160s. Normally, my HR doesn't seem to break 170 even during bouts of intense cardio, such as HIIT on the stationary. Throughout the run, I maintained a pretty steady pace and perceived exertion (not intense, a bit faster than comfortable), averaging 7:45 min/mi. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I first suspected that the heart rate monitor was initially only picking up every other heartbeat, since the initial readings were roughly half the later readings. But I verified many of these readings by checking my pulse manually, so I know they're real. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I've had something similar happen occasionally with other cardio activities. Once I manually took my pulse several times after challenging sets of burpees and was shocked to get languid pulses in the 50s given how hard I felt I was working.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's relevant, I am not a runner. I do steady-pace running only infrequently – say, 3-4X/month – although I am otherwise quite active. My resting pulse is around 45 bpm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T04:55:31.267" Title="Bizarre heart rate while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-06-23T14:38:46.087" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18486" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T05:56:21.373" Score="0" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im 5'11&quot; and weighs 65kg, age is 25.&#xA;I regularly hit gym.After a 20 minutes warm-up session, I do the concentrated exercises chest(monday), lats(tuesday) and so on. I follow the below diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning:&#xA;*BCAA (ON - gold)- post workout&#xA;*2 bananas, few dry fruits, milk (1 glass), two eggs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afternoon:&#xA;*Roti (made of wheat flour), sometimes rice with dal&#xA;* 1 banana&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evening:&#xA;* 2 boiled eggs&#xA;* 1 fruit juice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Night:&#xA;* Chicken &amp;amp; rice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the above diet and physical activity, I have gained around 4kgs in 1.5months.&#xA;I want to put on more weight with nice body shape.Please comment.&#xA;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10395" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T02:37:45.380" Title="Diet and compound exercises for mass gain" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-10-10T18:17:27.333" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2014-08-05T07:37:52.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eggs are probably the best source of proteins out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Price : $&#xA;Cooking time : fast&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can be a bodybuilder only eating sweet potatoes and eggs white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastEditorUserId="5699" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T11:04:39.593" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T11:04:39.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18486" CreationDate="2014-08-05T07:54:27.513" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually if you gained 4kg with this, you can follow it until you stop gaining weight. At this time you can add some carbs (oats in morning, ...) until you gain more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T07:54:27.513" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T11:15:04.287" Score="2" ViewCount="1102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started training about 3 months ago. I had neglected my lower back training for a while before starting to train it again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now, my body fat percentage is about 10% and my spine is very visible in the middle of my back .&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is this due to the lack of muscle mass in the lower back ? if not,what muscle do I have to train to get rid of that skinny look ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I do pullups, bodyweight rows and arch ups to train the entire back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastEditorUserId="8329" LastEditDate="2014-08-10T14:28:06.430" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T23:14:23.943" Title="Spine standing out in the middle of the back" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18481" CreationDate="2014-08-05T15:22:52.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The choice of whether to use protein shakes, how much, and how often is &lt;em&gt;primarily&lt;/em&gt; a nutrition question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training does increase your need for protein, however there are several recommendations that are simply overkill.  I recommend reading a good primer on protein requirements called &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/12/the-three-laws-of-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;The Three Laws of Protein&quot;&lt;/a&gt;--which is designed for people who lift.  The summary is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough protein: .82g / lb (1.8g / kg), and rounding up to 1g / lb is just easier to remember.  Your body simply won't use any more to rebuild muscle no matter how elite you are.  The only way your body will use more protein is if you took steroids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Space the protein throughout the day: it's better to have equal portions of protein across 3-7 meals than get it all at once.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your protein from high quality sources: meat, poultry, and seafood are all preferable to vegetables and most protein supplements.  Using a whey protein &lt;em&gt;isolate&lt;/em&gt; is also a high quality way to get protein without much extra.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you weigh 185 lbs.  According to the advice above, you would need somewhere between 150-185g of protein every day.  If you eat 4 times a day, that's 37-46g per meal.  That's equivalent to 6-8 ounces of meat per meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to keep your Calories down and still meet the protein requirements, then a whey protein supplement is definitely a good way to do that.  Replace one of the meals with a 2 scoop protein shake and you've got 40-56g of protein (depending on the supplement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's admirable you want to start lifting weights.  There will be many well meaning people who will say something that they heard from someone else, and have lost the original context--or never knew it.  Protein supplement dose and frequency depends on your current dietary goals, which in turn are based on your current activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T15:22:52.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18492" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18496" CreationDate="2014-08-05T15:34:02.857" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just looking to mix it up on the treadmill, Right now I do 50 minutes running at 8.5mph at 2% incline and then 15 minutes of HIIT 1 minute at 13mph and 1 minute at 5mph alternating at 2% incline, I was just wondering if people could mention some other ways of doing HIIT that I could try out for fun, just to stimulate myself really. Much appreciated and I can't wait to try out some your suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T02:00:43.290" Title="what kinds of HIIT do/can you do on the treadmill" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T17:23:54.707" Score="3" ViewCount="796" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question has two parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have very muscular thighs and legs coming from years of swimming and running since I was younger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, both my thighs and legs are pretty jiggly when I don't flex them. If I flex/tighten them, they look nice and muscular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) What really is going on here ? Is it muscle laced with fat, or just muscle yet to be toned ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) Can I work to tightening them up? Is it even possibly or is it just part of my physique? How do I tighten or tone them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For last 3 months, I have been on a workout program for upper and lower body.My lower body workout consists of lunges, squats and other compound trainings) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1470" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-12-21T00:53:20.933" LastActivityDate="2018-05-26T20:38:15.963" Title="Toning jiggly loose muscle" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T17:53:28.557" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run approximately 10 - 12 miles every few weekends and then the odd 5 mile run in between. I have misjudged time and agreed to run a 24 mile run in just over 10 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone advise me on a training plan to follow? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10399" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T21:02:42.180" Title="I have 10 weeks to go from running 12 miles once every few weeks to running a 24 mile race/run. Can anyone advise me on a training plan?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18492" CreationDate="2014-08-05T20:42:56.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could likely see greater improvements by moving your HIIT workout to before your long run, and by shortening your HIIT intervals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving the HIIT training to before the longer run will allow you to attack it with a greater intensity, which works well, as intensity is the key component of the HIIT strategy. A 50 minute run at 8.5mph is tiring for the vast majority of people, and afterwards it will be difficult to fully commit to sprints. Moving the longer run to the end will also serve as a good cool-down for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shortening your HIIT intervals will also allow you to increase your intensity, as your can run faster for a shorter period of time. Start off with something like 20 seconds on, 40 seconds off x 10 and aim for a pace of 15mph or so (if your treadmill doesn't go this high, you may want to consider moving to a track). If this feels easy, try bringing it up to 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off x  10, or try increasing your speed. Keeping a shorter interval will allow you to push harder on each effort, and will maximize your benefits from HIIT. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to make the switch to an outdoor track, it will be far easier to divide the intervals by distance than by time. Instead of 30 seconds, you could run for 200 meters; you may also find it's easier to push yourself when running for distance, as &quot;the faster you run, the quicker you're done&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastEditorUserId="10114" LastEditDate="2014-08-06T08:50:10.440" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T08:50:10.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18494" CreationDate="2014-08-05T21:02:42.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll be able to complete this marathon - you just won't be able to complete it fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key for you right now is to start getting comfortable with running longer distances. You didn't mention what pace you typically run at, so I'm going to assume it's 8mph for the sake of calculations (you can adjust depending on what it actually is). If you feel good after those 5-6 mile runs, take this first week and try to increase those runs to 7-8 miles, and see how that goes. Once you find a point where you're very tired after the run (or now, if you're very tired after 5-6 miles), drop your pace to 6mph and try to add on 3-4 miles. This pace should feel very easy at the beginning - you'll likely want to bring it up. It's critical that you gain a feeling for how to not bring it up and to keep it consistent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should feel good at the end of your longer, slower run; if you don't, try to slow the pace even further. Once you've found a comfortable speed where you can do ~10 miles (aim to find this by week 3), start adding on a mile to each weekend run. You can keep the odd run shorter, as this will help the slow runs to feel easier. If the runs ever feel exceedingly difficult, drop the pace a little bit. Assuming you start adding on the miles week 3, you'll be right at 24 miles in the 10th week. However, once you hit 20 miles, I'd recommend remaining at that distance, and instead trying to bring the pace back up somewhat and go for 10-12 mile runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the end of 10 weeks, you'll have a far better understanding of the limitations of your body, and will know what pace to attack the 24 mile run at. You'll have to avoid the desire to increase the pace on raceday - while the adrenaline will help, it's not going to be enough for a huge speed increase. If you stick with it, you should be able to complete the final run at a few mph slower than your current 5 mile pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T21:02:42.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18443" CreationDate="2014-08-05T22:01:06.110" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is considerable overlap between these modalities; the physiological changes that occur are very similar, however, the effects differ slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From an &lt;strong&gt;anatomical&lt;/strong&gt; point of view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy training is the only modality that stands out when it comes to an increase in the muscle cross sectional area. Training power (slightly) and strength (more so) can give a stimulus high enough for hypertrophy to occur. The main difference between them and hypertrophy is the time under tension. Since the sets last a shorter period of time, there is less of a metabolic demand on the muscle. As far as I've seen (sort of like an average from different studies), low volume/high intensity training (power and strength) leads to about a third of the hypertrophy that you get from doing medium volume/medium intensity (hypertrophy) training. Since the effect most probably isn't from metabolic stress, I guess it can be due to the fact that the high tension in the muscles (more so from eccentric training) acts as a stimulus for satellite cells to proliferate and differentiate. By doing that, the muscle cells get a higher number of nuclei (and RER/ribosomes), which leads to a higher protein synthesis rate. Satellite cells are very interesting when it comes to muscle physiology, but to explain everything would be outside the scope of this question (I'll post a question about it and answer it for those that are curious: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18499/what-is-the-function-of-myosatellite-cells-and-how-do-they-relate-to-performanc&quot;&gt;What is the function of myosatellite cells, and how do they relate to performance?&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another aspect, that could be mentioned under the anatomical point of view, is that of toning. There are many misconceptions about toning in the general population. I'm not sure if there is an accepted definition (it probably depends on if you ask women's fitness magazines or athletes), but my definition would be that of an increased reflex arc. That is, the resting tension of the muscle is higher, due to a greater stimulation of the muscles through the reflex arc, which gives them a firmer appearance (from an esthetical point of view) and faster response rate (from a functional point of view). Contrary to women's magazines that say that one increases tonus by doing hundreds of reps at low weight, performing high intensity power-based activities increase the resting state firing of the reflex arc, giving firmer muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From a &lt;strong&gt;histological&lt;/strong&gt; point of view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength, power and speed training (being high intensity, but of varying volume), all induce a fiber type change toward fast-twitch fibers. This effect takes a longer time and is of a lower magnitude than that of the opposite; a fiber-type switch from fast to slow. Generally, muscle fibers more easily assume a slow-twitch configuration, and the effect is more chronic (once your fast-twitch fibers become slow-twitch, it is hard or near impossible to get them back to the original fast-twitch percentage). To relate this to the anatomical point of view, having a higher percentage of fast-twitch fibers (because they hypertrophy more than slow-twitch) allows for a greater cross-sectional area of the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy training on the other hand induces a fast-to slow switch (because of the slower speed of repetition and longer time under tension). Body builders (which are the ones who spend the most time doing pure hypertrophy training) have a small percentage of fast-twitch fibers (about 35-40% on average), compared with powerlifters and sprinters (75-80%), and almost as low as marathon runners (20-30%).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endurance training, as can be seen in the above example, causes the greatest fast-to-slow switch, for reasons that are self-evident. Another histological aspect of endurance training is that of capillarization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endurance training, which utilizes slow-twitch fibers, relies heavily on oxygen and as such require a larger capillary network. That is the reason why this type of training is the only one (with some overlap with hypertrophy training, depending on the set duration) to have a vasogenic effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roughly, we can say that the muscle that trains intensively (high tension or rate of force development) becomes fast-twitch, and also increases its levels of creatine phosphokinase and glycolytic enzymes, while a mucle that exercises for longer periods of time become slow-twitch and have higher levels of mitochondria and myoglobin etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From a &lt;strong&gt;physiological&lt;/strong&gt; point of view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength, power and speed all more or less have the same effect on the output of alpha motor neurons; the frequency of firing increases and motor units grow (each motor neuron innervates a larger number of muscle fibers). These training modalities can all be classified under neural adaptation training, which is further explained here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7235/neural-adaptation-training-vs-hypertrophy-training/16387#16387&quot;&gt;Neural Adaptation Training vs. Hypertrophy Training?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy training, and endurance training more so, have the opposite effects. That is because a large portion of the muscle remains at rest (lower tension) and slow-twitch fibers are specifically activated (they are part of smaller motor units and have a lower force production).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several more aspects which can be defined within the &quot;physiology&quot;, such as VO2Max and resting heart rate, bone formation and strengthening, blood pressure changes etc., but explaining all those aspects would require a couple of more pages, and they are not as interesting when it comes to fitness and performance as the aspects I have explained above. If there is anything I've forgotten, please comment and I will add it to the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2018-08-15T16:56:50.140" LastActivityDate="2018-08-15T16:56:50.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18499" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T22:05:14.367" Score="5" ViewCount="1544" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three questions pertaining to myosatellite cells:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are myosatellite cells? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What function do they have in the muscles?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do they relate to performance?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T02:10:58.860" Title="What is the function of myosatellite cells, and how do they relate to performance?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-06T01:01:07.543" Score="3" ViewCount="1203" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know the benefits of explosive exercise like clapping push ups, changing grip pull up, Bulgarian split squats. That is, they help increase power and speed. So if I do these with endurance rep ranges, such as 15+ reps, will it increase my strength or will it increase my endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8693" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-27T12:56:48.533" LastActivityDate="2015-03-28T03:19:11.337" Title="High reps of explosive exercises?" Tags="&lt;explosiveness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18499" CreationDate="2014-08-06T02:10:58.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Myosatellite cells are basically inactive structures that are found in mature muscle cells. Depending on the stimulus, they can develop into different things in the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, they have a couple of functions. They can increase the number of nuclei, create new muscle fiber or spawn off daughter cells. The increase in muscle fiber content is fairly obvious as far as benefits, but the increase in nuclei helps with protein production in long, fused muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both an increase in muscle fiber and an increase in the nuclei will lend themselves to increased performance. It's been suggested that the initial response to stimulus is to increase the number of nuclei, and if the pattern of stress continues, to then start creating new muscle fibers. While muscle fiber may shrink and disappear with detraining, there are some studies that suggest that the number of nuclei do not diminish with detraining, even past the 90 day mark. This may help explain why someone that has performed at a certain level in the past has an easier time returning to that level. (Which has been termed muscle memory).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1665027/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Heavy resistance and detraining in human muscle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.1091700405/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Satellite cells and nuclei growth in rats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pnas.org/content/107/34/15111.full.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nuclei gained are not lost on detraining&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T02:10:58.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-06T06:11:30.657" Score="0" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple months ago I decided to stop drinking soda beverages that contained sugar, because despite cycling often and living a somewhat physically active lifestyle,  I wanted to avoid Diabetes and the other side affects of sugar that may negatively impact me. I still wanted to drink these beverages, so I have since opted to purchase the variety of these beverages that substitutes sugar with aspertame. More recently, I have read from many sources that Aspertame is significantly worse than sugar as it causes mainly cancer and weight gain, among other things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know Aspertame does not cause weight loss, at least not in any significant way, and that Diet soda, contradictory to its name, is not the key to having a successful diet. I do not drink diet soda to loose weight, as I do not have to worry about beng overweight in any way.  I drink diet soda purely because I was under the impression that it was better than regular sugar soda, however now I am unsure of which is better now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, Are the claims that aspartame has severe negative effects true? should I go back to drinking non-diet soda? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry if this question does not fit here- This seemed like the best StackExchange site for my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10403" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T16:56:49.257" Title="Sugar vs. Aspertame" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-08-08T02:20:40.890" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18864" CreationDate="2014-08-06T09:43:50.663" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work at 8.5 km from home. I often take my bicycle (about 30-35 minutes), but when the weather itself looks like it would rain, I take the bus or get a lift from my parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bus on the way home stops about halfway, 4 km from my home, which I can and have walked before. the path goes via a pretty busy road, but it has a sidewalk for about 90% of the way, and a cycling lane for the remaining 10%, and every busy intersection I need to cross has traffic lights. the road itself is mostly level, although the last KM has a slight decline. I've made a google maps that shows the path (not quite to my house, I'm not that stupid): &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.be/maps/dir/51.1571561,4.4154346/51.146091,4.4465674/@51.1521886,4.4352632,15z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d4.44544!2d51.15539!3s0x47c3f0982c5624f9:0x31820bda1d367bae!1m0!3e2?hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.google.be/maps/dir/51.1571561,4.4154346/51.146091,4.4465674/@51.1521886,4.4352632,15z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d4.44544!2d51.15539!3s0x47c3f0982c5624f9:0x31820bda1d367bae!1m0!3e2?hl=en&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bus stops at the hospital. I can make a transfer there to a bus that follows the same trajectory, but depending on the time I arrive at the hospital, it's often just as fast to walk. However, I'm thinking jogging might even be a feasible alternative, given the relatively short distance and acceptable road conditions. What I'm wondering about is if I would need any special equipment or training to jog this part. Do I need special shoes and clothes or can I do this in my normal working clothes (button-down shirt, jeans or other comfortable pants, pretty casual shoes)? Would I need any particular training or excercise before I do this (I don't have an amazing or even great condition, but I can do multi hour bicycle rides of 40-50 km)? Is it sane to start with a 4 km jog right away or should I start with taking the bus and going from somewhere partway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10404" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T13:27:01.527" Title="How would I go about jogging part of my commute back to home?" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18503" CreationDate="2014-08-06T12:24:47.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6996/is-diet-soda-less-healthy-than-regular-soda&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Is diet soda less healthy than regular soda?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hysteria around the aspartame in diet drinks is not justified by the evidence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite hard to prove a negative but the simple observation that hundreds of millions of people take aspartame containing drinks every day without apparently causing any notable &lt;em&gt;epidemiological&lt;/em&gt; evidence of all the effects should be of some significance. As far as I can tell no such evidence has ever been presented and most of the &amp;quot;evidence&amp;quot; is merely anecdotal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/369/does-the-artificial-sweetener-aspartame-cause-cancer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Does aspartame cause cancer?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/aspartame&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;According to the National Health Institute&lt;/a&gt;, there is no evidence suggesting aspartame causes cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/15543/does-aspartame-eat-holes-in-your-cellular-membranes&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Does aspartame eat holes in your cellular membranes?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no compelling scientific evidence that normal use of Aspartame as a sweetener in foods causes problems of the kinds suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allegations against Aspartame have been made since the 1970s. Scientific investigations of the evidence in total do not support claims that Aspartame is demonstrably harmful in the way suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8659" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T12:24:47.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16416" CreationDate="2014-08-06T13:56:46.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great way to think about program balance is to balance out push and pull movements. It's fairly contrived, but it works.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push&lt;/strong&gt;: moving the weight away from your center of gravity. Examples: bench press, overhead press, squats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull&lt;/strong&gt;: moving the weight toward your center of gravity. Examples: rows, pull-ups, deadlifts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For every push exercise, you should have a pull movement &lt;em&gt;in the same plane of movement.&lt;/em&gt; Bench press is a push exercise in the horizontal plane. You should balance it with a pull movement in the horizontal plane, e.g. rows. A list of good complimentary exercises follows:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press, Rows  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead (shoulder) Press, Pull-ups  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats, Deadlifts  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, your program looks fairly complete. I would balance out your lower body push movements (lunge, split squat) with a lower body pull, like straight-leg deadlifts. This will ensure that your lower back and hamstrings get hit well enough.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that the push-pull idiom gets fuzzy when you're talking about isolation exercises. Unless your physique is unbalanced, if you work out one muscle in isolation, you should also add in the opposing muscle. For every bicep exercise, have a tricep exercise. For every quad exercise, have a hamstring exercise. This gets complicated anywhere but the arms and legs. The shoulders in particular are very complicated. In my opinion, your front deltoids are hit heavily on bench press and shoulder press. I would recommend removing front raises from your program. Good on you for programming lateral and rear delt work to compliment bench and shoulder press.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great resource for programming and exercise instruction is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10406" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T13:56:46.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18503" CreationDate="2014-08-06T16:56:49.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Contrary to John's answer, I've also heard that aspertame is bad for constant consumption. Your question made me search more on the topic and came up with the following sources&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: Excerpts from the source:&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Aspartate (and Glutamate) Cause Damage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartate or glutamate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is why they are referred to as &quot;excitotoxins.&quot; They &quot;excite&quot; or stimulate the neural cells to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Taken in its free form (unbound to proteins), it significantly raises the blood plasma level of aspartate and glutamate. The excess aspartate and glutamate in the blood plasma shortly after ingesting aspartame or products with free glutamic acid (glutamate precursor) leads to a high level of those neurotransmitters in certain areas of the brain.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;The risk to infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly and persons with certain chronic health problems from excitotoxins are great. Even the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), which usually understates problems and mimics the FDA party-line, recently stated in a review that glutamic acid should be avoided by women of childbearing age.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/aspartame&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/aspartame&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Conclusion from this link is that there's no conclusive evidence that aspertame is carcinogenic &lt;em&gt;(matching John's answer)&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Right now, there's no conclusive evidence against aspertame. That being said, I personally avoid all diet drinks. I drink water most of the time and if/when I need soda, I go for the real, full-caloried versions. That way,  &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;I ration what I drink. And if/when I drink in excess, I know I have to burn it off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;I know what I'm consuming. And more importantly, I enjoy it. I don't want to put synthetic sugar/whatever into my body that might have repercussions later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;I remind myself of the purpose of the drink and act accordingly. I know a few guys who drink these &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;diet drinks&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; constantly because they presume they are low-caloried. And I see their body fats increasing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When something is inconclusive &lt;em&gt;(and even when it is)&lt;/em&gt;, it's always your personal choice to determine if you want it or not. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;For me, there's time to indulge and there's time to abstain.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T16:56:49.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18519" CreationDate="2014-08-06T17:14:35.600" Score="2" ViewCount="3872" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the gym, I stick to 3 to 4 sets (4 sets for compound exercies and 3 sets for isolation exercises) of 10 reps each. But the problem is I'm unable to maintain 10 reps in 2nd and 3rd sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm taking around 2min rest between the sets. During the 10th rep of the 1st set, I feel that I could do 2-3 more reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, in order to reach my target 10 reps, at the end, I'm trying to cheat the reps by improper technique (using other muscle groups, using momentum etc.) or by doing incomplete reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which one is better for hypertrophy, to do 10 reps in the 1st set, 8 in 2nd &amp;amp; 6-7 in 3rd (or) 10 through out all the sets?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I decrease my resistance (weight)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another problem during my workout in gym is there is significant drop in my performance in later exercises. Let me explain this with an example: &#xA;I do pulls/chinups first (3 sets of 10 but I won't be able to maintain 10 reps through all three sets) then after doing non upper body exercies when I do standing barbell presses, the weight I could press drops dramatically. Its because of those chinups/pull ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to maintain good performance through out all the exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T08:20:46.643" Title="Unable to maintain same reps through all the sets of an exercise" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-06T17:16:11.607" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 16 yo girl that has gained abit of weight the last year. I am a dancer and dance very often, but quite as I said, a year ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 1.58 (5'2.5) and weight 53kg (120 lbs). I am not overweight but I am as I like to call it, skinnyfat. I have extra body fat I would lik to lose! I'm usually a 110 - 115 lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running everyday for 9 days and I've seen great result on my belly but I still weight the same! I also have very strong calves and thighs, but they've always been very muscular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how can I change my diet to lose body fat? I love love love bread, rice and pasta and have atleast a slice of bread everyday. But I tried cutting out fatty meat, bread and such for about two months now. This does not work out with my hair and nails. I lose alot of hair in the shower, and my nails have been splitting and breaking for weeks now. &#xA;My hair is usually very strong and silky, and my nails are also very very strong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And how do I teach myself to eat smaller portions? I tend to over eat alot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10408" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T17:16:11.607" Title="Losing body fat" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18508" CreationDate="2014-08-06T20:19:14.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are describing is a pretty common occurrence.  Couple that with how easy the body adapts to physical stress (ie. weight training) and the result is the dreaded training plateau.  One of the best ways to maintain performance and possibly improve is to not let your body adapt to the physical demands placed on it.  You can accomplish that by occasionally changing the reps, sets, and order of exercises.  Variety is important in making strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T20:19:14.467" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18514" CreationDate="2014-08-06T23:54:45.883" Score="2" ViewCount="688" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to increase my number of consecutive pushups from about 13 to at least 25. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard of basically two competing approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do sets all at once a few times a week, as in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One Hundred Pushups&lt;/a&gt; program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Grease the groove&quot; by doing sets of pushups spread out throughout the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly the second approach gets you more pushups overall, but the muscles would have more time to rest between sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pluses and minuses of each approach? Are they suited to different fitness goals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T01:04:13.997" Title="Sets all at once vs. &quot;grease the groove&quot;" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18513" CreationDate="2014-08-07T01:04:13.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they are suited to different fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your goal is to &lt;em&gt;increase the number of consecutive pushups,&lt;/em&gt; I would recommend option 2. This&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;removes the fear of performing pushups over time &lt;em&gt;(personal experience).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;conditions your body to performing pushups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;allows your body to maintain relatively high metabolism throughout the day &lt;em&gt;(if done at strategic times of the day).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &#xA; &lt;li&gt;allows your body to maintain some form of agility/springiness throughout the day, which might be good for your daily activities or warmups to your exercise regimen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; That being said, I don't think that both options will achieve your goal without this caveat: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;increasing the number of reps periodically.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA; If you perform 5 pushups ten times a day, your body will adapt to only performing 5 pushups. If you perform 5 pushups once every other day &lt;em&gt;(or everyday),&lt;/em&gt; your body will adapt to just that repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you periodically increase the repetition &lt;em&gt;(which is basically the concept behind most successful exercise programs),&lt;/em&gt; you'll be able to perform as many reps as you desire over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spreading 100 repetitions into 4 sets throughout the day will burn more calories over time than performing them all at once &lt;em&gt;(personal experience supports this, would be glad if someone can validate or deny the claim)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, spreading it throughout the day will make it easier for you to have an adequate exercise regimen. It might even lead you into performing more exercises within that time-frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been my experience so far. Hopeful it's the same with most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T01:04:13.997" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-07T07:53:07.067" Score="0" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing some analysis about the body deriving energy from ketones vs glycogen. I'm looking for data about how much more/less (I'm guessing less) ketone use is vs glycogen in terms of oxygen consumption. I know our body's RQ when running off fat (i.e, ketone bodies) is .70 vs 1 on glycogen, but how does the cycle look? How do ketones actually turn into ATP? How much oxygen is consumed in that process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T07:53:07.067" Title="Ketone bodies vs glycogen cycle" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-07T08:03:24.507" Score="3" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been following the below mentioned regime since June&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper Body (A) - Dumbbell Shoulder press, Incline Push ups, Barbell rows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower body (B) - Goblet squat, Barbell deadlift, dumbbell lunges&#xA;Rest (X)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ABXABX, 10 reps and 3 sets for each lift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also used to do elbow planks, side plank and wrist curls (for wrist pain pain due to hypermobility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since mid-July, I have stopped doing planks and my workout is like&#xA;ABXABXX&#xA;with wrist curls on upper body day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a beginner who has hypermobile joints, I am lifting less weights and going very slow with progressions. I start each workout session with a bit a mobility work followed by 3 warm up sets, then 3 working sets, with 3-5 minutes of relevant stretches at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For not being able to complete reps, I had been doing shoulder presses to failure until a few days back when I got to know that as a beginner, I should avoid training to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sleep for 6-8 hours at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been reaping the benefits of lifting like better pain management for joints, increased weight, increased appetite. However, I have one major point of concern. I have a hormonal disorder that apparently gets aggravated due to mental or excess physical stress.&#xA;And my symptoms are all over the place within a few days since I started lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started feeling anxious (and racing thoughts) without much reasons. My immunity is also off the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also get bruxism (teeth grinding) due to excess physical/mental stress - that has also come into picture now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking back, I somehow reach at lifting weights as a possible cause, although I'm not sure of it. I have tried taking 5-7 days off about 2-3 times but to no effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I pay a visit to a doctor, I want to rule out overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could my workout schedule be possibly too much for a beginner in strength training? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastEditorUserId="6594" LastEditDate="2014-08-07T08:15:15.007" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T16:10:44.407" Title="Possible overtraining" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;weighttraining&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18508" CreationDate="2014-08-07T08:20:46.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no set rule that how many reps or how many sets will work for you . You have to listen to your body for your rest, reps, sets , hydration , diet, exercise etc and go for what best works for you. Getting fatigued as you spend more time in the gym training is normal . Now said that, what you can do is go for pyramid style of training . You start with one or two warm up sets with weight you can do 10-12 reps, and then go to working set , with max weight you can do 6-8 reps , and then decrease the weight from set to set . You will find the same weight more challenging , with which you were comfortable earlier. Don't hold yourself back if you can get few more reps in a set. Also cheating is allowed only in the last set of a particular exercise. Following this way you will be able to do exercises with more weight , get out of your comfort zone and develop those muscles. Also my advice would be to try reducing your rest period between sets , and also scrutinize your diet and water intake. The key here is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this may come in the form of your reps , resistance or diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T08:20:46.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18518" CreationDate="2014-08-07T12:06:24.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The volume of your workout is not enough for overtraining, and the fact that you took time off confirms your problems are not due to your lifting. See a doctor. Especially due to the fact that you have a preexisting hormonal disorder, your doctor will be the best source of information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T12:06:24.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18521" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-07T09:38:45.060" Score="3" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I started running (never ran before for longer than 1 or 2 kilometers, or maybe just few times). After 2 weeks of 3x5 Km plus last time 8 km my right knee started hurting so I stopped. The pain disappeared after few weeks of no running but directly came back when I ran again once for 4 km. Then I discovered that the shoes I had caused that pain even when I used them for walking to the next convenience store. So I went to an Asics shop, made a foot test and discovered that I had a severe &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzM0-9vILcA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overpronation&lt;/a&gt; combined with heel strike. I bought stabilizing shoes and tried them once but some of the pain came back during the running. 2 days later I tried to run and focus on landing on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J-7beA-daw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Midfoot&lt;/a&gt; . The result was great, ran for 3 km and no pain at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to adopt this running style, but when I run with it, I can't control my speed and start running a little bit faster, which makes me tired faster. So how is it possible to change one's running style without having to focus on it during running. And is there a way to reduce the overpronation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 187 cm tall and my weight is 91 kilos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10472" OwnerDisplayName="Mehdi" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T13:24:10.973" Title="Improve running style" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18525" CreationDate="2014-08-08T01:37:23.610" Score="-1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now, I know that this video is for pure comedy, but the man in the white shirt doing an effective workout at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGR960H1Jmw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGR960H1Jmw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, then why so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10431" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T04:51:52.813" Title="Is this an effective workout?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-10-04T00:03:37.847" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18872" CreationDate="2014-08-08T02:57:59.160" Score="2" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to reduce my body fat back to healthy levels.  The general condition is not nice either (overweight, not well trained...), but I am focussing on the body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that just doing some simple but intensive muscle training (eg. crunches) has far better short term effects than cardio training.  As far as I understand this strategy is not generally bad, as additional muscles help to burn more fat in the long run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have read somewhere, that crunches are less efficient, as the muscles trained are relatively small and that one should train larger muscle groups.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;: Given the same training intensity and duration, can I achieve higher fat burning by focussing on certain muscle groups?  And if so, which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10432" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T00:05:24.413" Title="Which muscle training is most effective to burn fat on an untrained person?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18523" CreationDate="2014-08-08T04:51:52.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those were parodies of real exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If those exercises were done with perfect form &lt;em&gt;(and seriousness)&lt;/em&gt;, they are very effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are examples of &lt;strong&gt;body weight exercises&lt;/strong&gt; and they are very good for the body.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T04:51:52.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18524" CreationDate="2014-08-08T11:17:22.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to get healthy, the only valid approach is increasing your fat to muscle ratio. To prevent any bad side effects, you should aim at a full-body-workout. If you over-train one side of you body, it might lead to bad posture etc. &#xA;A good workout for beginners is stronglifts 5x5 (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&lt;/a&gt;). Its focus is building strength - if you're stronger, you burn more fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7505" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T11:17:22.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18521" CreationDate="2014-08-08T14:29:33.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not easy to change your running style, and you will have to focus on it for a while. In time, the change will begin to feel natural, and you can transition back to focusing more on your speed, but for the time being you will need to focus to induce a change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10114" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T14:29:33.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18403" CreationDate="2014-08-08T20:10:27.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is a marketing slogan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it is based on the principle that if you do the same thing time and time again, your gains will plateau at some point. By varying what you are doing and targeting the muscles in different ways, it will take your body longer to &quot;get used&quot; to a particular routine/exercise, which results in plateauing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-26T20:37:28.380" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T20:37:28.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-08T20:49:22.603" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to think that best way to train a muscle is to do reps very slowly, but from the ACSM's manual I learned that it is a myth. Now that made me wonder about controlled release of muscle contraction (the latter half of a repetition). i.e. lowering your body down in controlled manner in a pullup/chinup, lowering the dumbell in a controlled way in dumbbell curls, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is controlled release of muscle contraction more beneficial (what ever your training goal may be) than free release? If it is beneficial, how beneficial would it be? Because, there will be a trade off between no. of reps &amp;amp; this controlled release technique. I mean for any weight training exercise, you'll be able to perform less no. of reps if you are doing this controlled release thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T01:56:43.257" Title="Is controlled release of muscle contraction more beneficial than free release?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18534" CreationDate="2014-08-09T00:02:55.623" Score="2" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started weight training and I'm in my 4th week now. I'm seeing big improvements. Now I want to start tracking my workouts &amp;amp; diet. Is there a software or a website which allows me to do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2018-02-11T23:29:57.803" Title="How to track my weight training?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18492" CreationDate="2014-08-09T02:00:43.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe try a steep incline for some of the high intensity intervals. I find that ~5 mph at 15% incline is quite intense by 2 minutes, but if it is not enough for you, pick up the speed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tough one is stepping (slightly hopping) sideways on an incline.  I do 15% with a 3.4 mph speed for one minute per side, resting in between.  Again, pick up speed if you need more intensity.  Be careful with tripping (takes some coordination).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, walking up incline backwards.  Harder to get intensity for heart here, though, but good leg burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you really doing a 4.6 min mile for 1 minute?  That's impressive!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T02:00:43.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18532" CreationDate="2014-08-09T02:06:02.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a variety of apps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitocracy.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt; is good for tracking workouts. It's gameified (you get points and levels for your workouts, and there are achievements) which can be fun and motivating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; is good for tracking your diet. It has a large database of nutritional info of food, so the hardest part is recording an accurate portion size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do a lot of running/cycling/rowing, then Runkeeper may also be useful. It plugs in to Fitocracy and MyFitnessPal nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10436" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T02:06:02.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-09T05:24:10.817" Score="2" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an on and off runner and this summer I took up running again. After chest pain began to show up, I saw a doctor to get it checked out. Heart issues were ruled out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain is kind of a sore feeling across the top of my chest and is accompanied by muscle knots in my shoulders and sometimes in my pecs. For this reason, the doc thinks it's musculoskeletal in nature. It sometimes lasts for several days (though the pain fluctuates a good bit during the day) and is exacerbated by running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had a similar kind of problem or could shed light on what might be causing it? Could running form be the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10416" LastEditorUserId="10416" LastEditDate="2014-08-13T22:13:05.693" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T22:13:05.693" Title="Chest/shoulder pain while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-11-04T22:17:43.673" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-09T15:33:59.513" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have injured knees due to a cycling accident last year in October. If I run for a significant distance, I can get a pain in my knee or back that forces me to stop. I'm pretty sedentary apart from this kind of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that I already have the injury is it a good idea to do weight exercises to strengthen my legs or should I rest entirely until my knees are fully healed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10440" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T13:52:26.207" Title="Does muscle strength reduce the risk and problems of injury?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18476" CreationDate="2014-08-09T16:27:29.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked about this on Reddit. Ballet dancers call your ability to rotate your hips like this &quot;turnout&quot;. Suggestions for improving your turnout include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur9sK81oFUU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frog stretch&lt;/a&gt; (there are many variations of this by the same name, pick your poison)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying clam shells with a band to strengthen your external hip rotators&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dancespirit.com/2010/10/the_truth_about_turnout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; describes an exercise from the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kneel and place a pillow under your left knee. If needed, hold a barre or chair to maintain balance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With both legs turned in, lunge forward on your right leg until your right knee forms a 90-degree angle. Rest your hands on your right knee. Keep your hips level and tuck your tailbone under.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue to push forward into the right leg until you feel a gentle stretch in the outer front part of your left hip, and/or in your left thigh. Be sure to keep your back upright and your hips square.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold this position, keeping your buttocks tight, for 15 seconds. Repeat three to four times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat the stretch on the right knee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also received this recommendation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only go down as far as you can keep your tailbone going straight down (as opposed to swaying). You won't go down as far initially, but you'll be working the correct muscles, which when developed will let you go further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T16:27:29.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2014-08-09T16:39:38.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe believes that DOMS is caused by &lt;a href=&quot;http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/06/19/why-being-sore-doesnt-mean-youre-getting-stronger/?singlepage=true&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eccentric muscle contraction, volume, and lack of adaptation&lt;/a&gt;. If working out more frequently doesn't help you adapt, then try doing leg exercises with no eccentric component, such as sled pushes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T16:39:38.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18550" CreationDate="2014-08-09T18:12:19.403" Score="-1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing a body weight workout that I found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.nerdfitness.com&lt;/a&gt; regularly for a while now (scaling it up as needed), the workout in its current state is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 circuits with ~1-2 min rest in between&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 circuit is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;20 body weight squats  &#xA;15 push-ups   &#xA;20 standing lunges (10 each leg)   &#xA;20 dumbbell rows   (with each arm)   &#xA;~50-60 sec plank   (but I probably count slow)     &#xA;30 jumping jacks   &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for an exercise to replace the dumbbell rows, I only have a 10 lb bell and its too easy also, the bench I have to use for it is uneven and my form is always effed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am looking for a replacement for that exercise, but also just general critiques of the routine and what I could do better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone wants to let me know exactly what muscle-groups these exercises target and If there's anything I'm neglecting; that'd be awesome aswell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Available resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a chin up bar, near my workout area, there is something I can use, but its not near my workout area, but If I just try to do pullups/chinups whenever I think of it, but I also work out that muscle group during my workout, that isn't like to much is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am working out outside on the grass, no tables or anything like that around just that uneven bench I mentioned earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a barbell with some weights, but Is mixing that with body weight a good idea? like the idea is a bunch of exercises quickly, but if i swap out, say the squats, with weighted squats, I can't just go right into whatever weight I want to use right? I have to like work up to it, which would mess the flow up and just take to much time imo. IDK i'm a beginner here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-09-13T21:25:33.350" Title="How can I improve this workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2014-08-09T23:12:07.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The row works your back and shoulders. What sort of equipment do you have available? Pullups and bodyweight inverted rows would be the bodyweight exercises that I'd consider, but you'd still need some equipment to do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10436" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T23:12:07.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2014-08-09T23:20:17.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a period where DOMS seemed to go on all week, and the answer was a little scary. I was on statins for cholesterol control at the time. One of the side effects is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/statin-side-effects/art-20046013&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle pain&lt;/a&gt; through &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhabdomyolysis&lt;/a&gt;. Doctor confirmed this was happening with a blood test - creatine kinase were off the charts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My doctor took me off the meds, I was told to take it easy at the gym and seriously increase my water consumption -- especially if exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of this may apply to you, but the moral of the story is that if something does not feel right, see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10436" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T23:20:17.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-10T01:28:18.823" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that breathing with the diaphragm is the &quot;proper&quot; way to breathe. How can I make sure I breathe with my diaphragm while running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10416" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T02:53:24.670" Title="How do I breathe with my diaphragm while running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18546" CreationDate="2014-08-10T02:53:24.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Runner's World has got this completely covered &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.runnersworld.com/running-tips/lung-power?page=single&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The gist of it: Run until you're breathing hard, then put one hand on your belly and one on your chest, and breathe so the bottom hand moves and the top hand doesn't. I also found two of their three exercises helpful: the &quot;Hundred&quot;, where you lie on your back with legs raised slightly and pump your arms with each breath, and the chest expansion, where you inhale while sweeping your arms overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T02:53:24.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18540" CreationDate="2014-08-10T03:15:10.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recovering from injury is a tricky thing, especially for active people who want to get moving again. Strength exercises can definitely help with injury recovery, but not knowing the specifics of your situation, I'd definitely suggest seeing a professional, like a physiotherapist, for an assessment and recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that you'll need to start with bodyweight exercises, and look to strengthening your hips and your glutes in order to support you knees better. You should also make sure that you're stretching out those muscles. I've definitely found that keeping my posterior chain stretched helps with back pain associated with running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: you can't actually strengthen your ITB. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10436" LastEditorUserId="10436" LastEditDate="2014-08-12T13:52:26.207" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T13:52:26.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18554" CreationDate="2014-08-10T05:22:54.577" Score="2" ViewCount="605" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 9 months ago I noticed a pain in my lower abdomen whenever I was doing sit ups. It felt similar to the hernia I had the year before, but since there was nothing bulging through, the doctors suggested that it was a groin pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pretty much ignored it and went about my routine of working out, running, and playing basketball. Of course none of that helped and it gradually got worse. Instead of just being in my lower abdomen, I also feel it in my groin and sometimes back further toward my butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped working out about 3 months ago and started doing physical therapy (with a physical therapist, not just doing it myself). We do all sorts of stretches and some light strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only been doing it for about 6 weeks (which is how long the doctor suggested I should do it), but at this point it hasn't helped at all. I do the training I was told to do at home and meet with them twice a week, but the pain hasn't improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The therapist said that the doctor might want to do a plasma-rich blood injection. In theory, that should stimulate healing in my groin. From what I have read, it is kind of up in the air whether or not that is a real solution or if it is just a theory being put in to practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had a plasma injection before? Did it help? Is there anything else I should be doing to fix this problem? What should I expect from the doctor if PT hasnt helped? This has really been causing me a lot of problems and I don't feel like im any closer to fixing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10444" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T20:52:27.227" Title="What is the next step if physical therapy isnt helping my groin problem" Tags="&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-10-10T18:27:02.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2014-08-10T14:27:36.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a chin up bar, you can do bodyweight rows. You can make them harder by elevating your feet on a box or doing front lever rows (tuck, straddle or full). That's for rows.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This routine is neglecting the lower back. So, I recommend doing back extensions and reverse leg raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your goal is strength or muscle hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You won't gain much strength or muscle if you do more than 15 rep per set.&#xA;So, I think you'll have to do some changes to this routine to make it harder. You'll have to progress further with each exercise to continue gaining strength and/or muscle. I recommend following a chain of progressive exercises for each muscle group.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try reading &quot;Building the gymnastic body&quot; or &quot;Convict conditioning&quot;. These books represent progressive exercises for each muscle group. They're very helpful when it comes to bodyweight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T14:27:36.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11510" CreationDate="2014-08-10T18:44:38.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most true &quot;opposite&quot; exercise to the push-up is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/11/06/inverted-row-are-you-missing-out-on-this-great-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;let me up&lt;/a&gt;, or inverted row. These preserve the posture, bodyweight aspect, and arm positioning of push-ups for a true mirror-image exercise. The barbell row's different form (arched back, pulling toward lower ribs) works muscles farther down the back that are silent in push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T18:44:38.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18549" CreationDate="2014-08-10T20:52:27.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't give you medical advice - (not a doc), but I can give you some links to hopefully help answer some of your questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some information on &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00648&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)&lt;/a&gt;.  The treatment is relatively new so &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worksafebc.com/health_care_providers/Assets/PDF/PlateletRichPlasmaForTendinopathies.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;evidence for its outcomes&lt;/a&gt; is still being collected.  For example, using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130321081459.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PRP for elbow tendinitis (tennis elbow)&lt;/a&gt; has shown clinical significance, but other studies for other sites are equivocal or lack sufficient controls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesportsphysiotherapist.com/athletic-pubalgia-sports-hernia-evidence-based-diagnosis-and-management/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; has some good information on groin pain and the athlete. It points out that there are a &quot;number of potential differential diagnoses for athletes with chronic pain in the groin and lower abdominal region&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article discusses &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physicaltherapy.com/articles/management-of-lower-extremity-tendinopathy-2179&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;therapy for adductor injuries&lt;/a&gt; and points out that &quot;by the time patients are getting into the clinic to have something taking care of, they have had multiple strains of the same area&quot;; and as far a treatment, &quot;many of those protocols are at minimum 12 weeks duration to start to see changes within the tendon itself&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I don't have any direct info for you and I've never had a plasma injection.  If it were me I'd be sure to have an MRI to see what all was involved given that your pain is spreading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, here are a couple of videos that you can run by your therapist.  The first is with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCPTBKwBsUk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;voodoo floss&lt;/a&gt; and addresses the soft tissue. (You mentioned exercise but no soft tissue or manual therapy work.)  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/04/super-sumo-groin-mob/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The second video&lt;/a&gt; is by Kelly Starrett, a physical therapist.  It is more for gaining range than for treating an injury, but it does speak to the joint capsule as well as the soft tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize this does not really answer your question, but hopefully it provides some help in gathering information.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T20:52:27.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-11T00:45:40.760" Score="0" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) I've read that your heart rate is lower in the pool. Why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Also how does the lower heart rate impact your cardiovascular health? Is it good or bad to that the pool lowers your heart rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10447" LastEditorUserId="10447" LastEditDate="2014-08-11T01:01:52.443" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T04:42:34.460" Title="Why do you have a lower heart rate while training in the pool?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;blood-flow&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-11T01:29:05.423" Score="2" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never really eaten many vegetables; maybe a few every fortnight (two weeks). I do always manage about 3 pieces of fruit every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently changed my life style and now eating healthy and exercising and have daily smoothies with kale, spinach, blue berries, strawberries, black berries, raspberries, banana, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What health benefits would I see from increasing my fruit and veg intake? and what are the consequences of not eating fruit &amp;amp; vegetables?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-08-11T14:39:43.810" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T19:58:53.143" Title="Consequences of Not Eating Enough Fruits and Vegtables?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;fruit&gt;&lt;vegetables&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-08-13T02:30:12.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18556" CreationDate="2014-08-11T03:07:10.260" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would be because when your training outdoors or in gym, your heart rate is faster due to your body temperature being so raised, where as when you swim the water keeps your body temp regulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is neither good nor bad, it is just what happens. Swimming is an extremely good and beneficial exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T03:07:10.260" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18556" CreationDate="2014-08-11T04:42:34.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart rates can trend lower in a pool, because your body is horizontal and your heart is not fighting gravity to get blood back up from the extremities. It's along the same principle as your heart rate is lower when lying down than when standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the cardiovascular, a high heart rate does not automatically increase your cardio fitness. It's function of the work you are doing, not how fast your heart rate gets. If anything, it's possibly that swimming (in general) is better for cardio, as one of the biggest limiters in cardiovascular exercise is being able to get rid of heat. (Aside from the benefits of non impact exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T04:42:34.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13446" CreationDate="2014-08-11T13:25:36.287" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dunk tests are the best (and in my opinion) only valid way to assess BF%. All of the others seem highly inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T13:25:36.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13446" CreationDate="2014-08-11T19:52:32.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; If I understand your question properly, you're asking &lt;strong&gt;if there's a point in measuring the whole body fat when the body is disproportionate&lt;/strong&gt;, right?&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; While there are devices that focus more of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B000FYZMYK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;upper limbs than lower limbs&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0020MMCDE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vice versa &lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(based on the entry point for the bio-electrical impedance used for the measurement)&lt;/em&gt;, it doesn't make much sense to have different measurements for different sections of the body.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; How would this sound: &quot;I have a 18% upper body fat measurement and a 24% lower body fat measurement&quot;? Not only is it weird, but &lt;em&gt;it's also hard to accurately measure since the measurements have to take the entire body into account.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; So yeah, there's a point to whole body measurement. If you feel you want a proportionate body, focus on the areas that need more work so that everything can be even.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Thank you.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T19:52:32.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18557" CreationDate="2014-08-11T19:58:53.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; You can simply google the health benefit of each of the fruits/vegetables. Those would be the benefits of consuming those fruits/vegetables.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; About the consequences of not eating them, &lt;em&gt;(assuming you aren't obtaining the same nutrients from other sources)&lt;/em&gt;, you'll be deficient in those nutrients as well.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;em&gt;I would tell you the health benefits of each fruit, but that would just spoil the fun; wouldn't you agree? &lt;/em&gt; :)&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T19:58:53.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18587" CreationDate="2014-08-12T02:18:31.220" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the store, bags of different types of rice or beans are sold by a number of companies.  For a particular type (e.g. black beans), the companies will all usually list the same nutritional information.  However, a few companies will occasionally have a variation in the number of calories of the amount of protein, with everything else remaining the same, including the serving size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that information the result of laboratory work?  Is there a way to explain why a few companies would list slightly different information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10455" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T17:31:47.650" Title="Explaining the difference in nutritional information between very similar bags of rice or beans" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-08-14T02:18:22.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18571" CreationDate="2014-08-12T03:27:04.303" Score="1" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;i'm looking for an equivalent workout to this shoulder workout i've been practicing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to stop practicing this because my wrists hurt! (both my wrists were broken when i was a kid) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is greatly appreciated ! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MdMut.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10456" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-12T06:00:09.600" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T12:16:05.043" Title="Looking for equivalent workout to Upright Barbell Row excersie" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18572" CreationDate="2014-08-12T05:40:39.597" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go on 30 minute walks every day during work (apart from weekends) and every night at home i do 100 situps (including on weekends).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in the begining during my walks my calves would ache like hell and with the sit ups i struggled past 50 (being very difficult to sit up each time but still pushing though), there's no scales at home for me to check and i don't look as if i lost any weight (i have a but of a gut on me) however i can easily walk the 30 minutes and could keep going if it wasn't for the fact i was doing it during work hours and 100 pushups aren't all that hard having just closed my eyes and counted to one hundred and not feeling nearly as drained as i once thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering, does the fact i no longer feel any pain to these mean i have lost weight or is it just my body has adapted to the pain and i may not actually be loosing any weight from this anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10457" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T06:00:17.220" Title="Does a lack of aching means i've lost weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16070" CreationDate="2014-08-12T06:49:17.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two options for those who have wide feet when it comes to oly lifting shoes. Nike Romaleos 2 (interchangeable soles in the shoes which is a big +) and Adidas power perfect 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find adidas power perfect 2 pretty affordable and had to rip the glued soles out of the shoes. Orthotics fit perfectly and my toes can move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the material of the insoles, my podiatrist is waiting for the new material which is being tested by her vendors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T06:49:17.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2014-08-12T06:53:41.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bought a Supernova from Rogue sports and it bears wonders. Also cleaning up the hamstring insertions to glutes and and glutes themselves helped much more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T06:53:41.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3185" CreationDate="2014-08-12T09:04:17.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having some trouble stopping too, but my mentor taught me the snowplow method, which is super easy. You bend down whilst gliding, and go pigeon toed, then scrape the ice with your left or right foot until you stop! Hope it helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10459" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T09:04:17.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18574" CreationDate="2014-08-12T12:11:01.687" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was anemic few years back though I used to take lots of greens and iron rich food. Someone told me that Iron  and calcium if taken together, only one will get absorbed and for me Iron was not absorbed. &#xA;I used to take greens with curd and dates with milk. Is that the real reason? &#xA;Is it true that calcium and iron should not be taken together ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10458" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T15:22:58.230" Title="calcium and Iron" Tags="&lt;calcium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-08-13T02:30:49.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18565" CreationDate="2014-08-12T12:16:05.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since upright rows stress the traps and the shoulders, I would switch to using barbell or dumbbell shrugs.  Your shoulders won't get as much work, but, if done correctly, the traps should benefit.  Additionally, either exercise should reduce any strain on your wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T12:16:05.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18566" CreationDate="2014-08-12T12:19:51.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to know if you've lost weight is to actually measure your weight.  The fact that you're no longer experiencing pain does not equate to weight loss.  As you've said, it simply means that your body is adapting to the exercise stress it has been under.  Keep up the good work, and you will lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T12:19:51.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18576" CreationDate="2014-08-12T14:15:48.760" Score="4" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past 3 years I have gone from a solid 185 lbs that surfed several times a week, ran 4 miles daily &amp;amp; ran marathons to a 215 lb sedentary desk jockey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to get back on the wagon for the past several months but my recovery is nil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at a loss on how to create a calorie deficit. I consume about 1500 calories a day. The rest I need to burn via exercise but if I do anything strenuous more than twice a week I am sore &amp;amp; weary for days at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thought I'd start slow with long walks but its been weeks. If I try to run or bike I will be sore &amp;amp; weary for days afterwards killing any sense of continuity. Even the daily strolls give me knee aches after a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems in my old age (39) I am falling apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are resources with tips to aid in recovery (for a working family man)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cant do specialized training programs or diets. I have a narrow timebox in the morning &amp;amp; evening before/after family &amp;amp; work take over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7267" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T19:43:12.050" Title="How to aid recovery as I get older (&amp; try to get fit again)" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18570" CreationDate="2014-08-12T15:22:58.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search for «taking iron and calcium supplements together» turns up a lot of results that agree with each other on this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/912.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/912.html&lt;/a&gt; says: Calcium makes it harder for the body to absorb iron either from food or supplements. However, in people who have enough stored iron, this probably isn't a problem. But if you are iron deficiWait at least two hours before or after your iron supplement before taking your calcium supplement, if you take iron. ent or might become iron deficient, minimize this interaction by separating your intake of calcium and iron. Don't take calcium supplements at mealtime or when you take iron supplements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Best-Absorb-Calcium-Supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Best-Absorb-Calcium-Supplements&lt;/a&gt; says: Wait at least two hours before or after your iron supplement before taking your calcium supplement, if you take iron. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/iron-supplement-oral-route-parenteral-route/precautions/drg-20070148&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/iron-supplement-oral-route-parenteral-route/precautions/drg-20070148&lt;/a&gt; says: Do not take iron supplements and antacids or calcium supplements at the same time. It is best to space doses of these 2 products 1 to 2 hours apart, to get the full benefit from each medicine or dietary supplement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, Mayo Clinic is a very reputable source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T15:22:58.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18573" CreationDate="2014-08-12T15:53:14.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best natural supplement I can recommend is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16531187&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OMG-3&lt;/a&gt; (3 gr/day). This would help you out to reduce the inflammation, and the sore of your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a former athlete, you would know ice therapy is your best friend. Do not forget to put some ice at your knees after exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, try to do mobility sessions. Focus on core balance and flexibility. Even if you can do sole mobility sessions, try to spent the last 10-15min training your skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8585" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T15:53:14.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18573" CreationDate="2014-08-12T17:07:03.560" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a 42 year old man myself, I can relate.  One thing about getting older is that you have to manage your recovery better, and be more strict on how you address your exercise and nutrition regimen.  You need to start by figuring out what the first thing you want to address is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with what your desire is--lose fat, get &quot;fit&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decide how to measure your current fitness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set short term realistic goals to help you improve the measurements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, losing 5 lbs of fat is a good short term goal if you have a way of measuring body fat.  If not, go by total body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that as I got older and heavier, high impact activities like running/jogging are really not going to work for me.  Some tips from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completehumanperformance.com/alex-viada.html&quot;&gt;Alex Viada&lt;/a&gt; for guys over 185 lbs include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forget barefoot running and minimalist shoes.  Body weight alone requires well cushioned soles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to run, get outfitted with proper running shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run on pavement or grass, not sidewalks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biking can work, but build it up a little at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For myself, I found that strength training allows me to improve all my health markers, is remarkably low impact, and helps increase my work capacity.  I started strength training at around 39.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that you have some unrealistic expectations of what you can do right now--particularly on a severe Calorie deficit.  You're 3 years away from your former endurance exercise self (arguably with a much younger body).  You are going to have to rebuild a little at a time.  Don't try to rush back to where you were.  You may or may not be able to get back to your former athletic abilities, but it's definitely not going to be overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Figure out how much a 215 lb man at your height needs to eat for exercising 3 days a week.  NOTE: you are going for lightly active to start with.  There's several Calorie calculators out there, just pick one to get started with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take 500 calories off of that number (aim to average 1 lb a week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat the same amount every day no matter how much you exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your protein up at .82 g per pound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep fat at 20-30% of your overall food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All the rest of your calories go to carbs (preferably with a decent amount of fiber)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Readjust every 10 lbs you lose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is going to be a lot more sensible than going all the way down to 1500 calories.  By a rough guestimate using 5'10&quot; (average for the US) as your height I came up with 2608 calories to maintain, and 2108 Calories to lose a pound a week.  Using that you would see a dietary plan that looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2100 Calories a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;175g of protein a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50g of fat a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;235g of carbs a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That will help fuel your exercise better.  Carbs are pretty important to keep your energy up so you aren't digging a deeper fatigue hole than you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, choose your activities.  I highly recommend doing some strength training and some cardiovascular work.  Done intelligently, they can help each other out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first week, keep the cardio down at 5 minutes at a work pace.  Use a form that is fairly low impact at first, or get the proper shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each week, add 5 minutes until you get to 20-30.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x a week do strength work.  Focus on one major compound exercise, and 2 assistance exercises.  Each week just try to add 5 lbs until you get to a satisfactory level of strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A reasonable goal for someone who just wants to be fit is to be able to squat and bench press their body weight, and deadlift 1.5x their body weight.  More than this isn't going to make you better at running or whatever other exercise you want to emphasize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice, how we start off very light, and build on it from there.  The older you get, the more sensitive your joints are going to be to impact.  That means you're going to have to be a lot more conservative in building up your activity levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T17:07:03.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18573" CreationDate="2014-08-12T19:18:29.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Berin has given you a very good answer so I will just add that this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2044/how-can-an-overweight-engineer-get-back-in-shape&quot;&gt;question/answer about getting back in shape&lt;/a&gt;  will give you some additional information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your knee pain, you may find that a pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nordic Walking Poles&lt;/a&gt; can help to lessen the impact on your knees. They can also increase your calorie burn by about 20% over regular walking. Aquatic exercises can give you either cardio or resistance workouts (or both) without stressing your knees.  Cycling is another way to get a good workout without impact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A regular &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness/2941#2941&quot;&gt;daily stretching program&lt;/a&gt; will go a long way toward reducing your aches and pains. The consistency of the program makes gradual changes over time.  If you have specific areas of tightness or aching, using a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2362/using-a-foam-roller&quot;&gt;foam roller&lt;/a&gt; after exercise can be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, as has already been pointed out start slowly and keep up the effort.  You may also want to journal what you are eating and how it affects the way you feel.  For me, reducing carbs/sugars made a big difference in how my body feels.  And as far as family, try to combine your efforts with a healthy lifestyle for your family with active outdoor and indoor activities.  Sports, an exercise ball, wii-fit, or xbox fitness games can make fun and active family time.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T19:43:12.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19275" CreationDate="2014-08-12T23:18:17.750" Score="4" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once someone reaches a certain muscle state, if they undergo muscular atrophy and lose it, is it easier to get back to it than if they had never reached it. Is this a biological effect and if so is there a name for it? Any scholarly sources would also be really appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10467" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T18:14:03.080" Title="Periodicity of Muscle Mass" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-13T02:20:02.853" Score="4" ViewCount="879" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence that walking/running up and down the stairs is bad for your knees? The &quot;folk-logic&quot; being that particularly when you go down the stairs, each time you land, there is more of an impact on your knees (than when you are say walking or running on a flat surface).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8491" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T15:23:00.267" Title="Doing stairs: Detrimental to your knees?" Tags="&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18582" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-13T02:25:31.980" Score="8" ViewCount="6238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are my back-of-the-envelope calculations. I account only for the energy expended in pulling your body mass up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you are 70kg (approx 155lbs) and a pull up raises your mass up by 60cm (approx 2ft). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then one pull up increases your gravitational potential energy by m × g × h = 70 × 9.81 × 0.6 = 412.02 Joules, which is very nearly 0.1 kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the human body is inefficient. If its efficiency is 10%, then one pull-up would burn about 1 kcal. If its efficiency is 20%, then one pull-up burns 0.5 kcal. 10% and 20% are some of the numbers I have seen on some webpages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a more precise account of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8491" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T21:33:55.807" Title="Roughly how many calories does one pull-up burn?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18566" CreationDate="2014-08-13T06:00:17.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To elaborate further on @rrirower, I think that it means that your body is no longer stressed as intensely as it was when you begun doing the exercise. You've probably gained or 'toned' muscle to help you with your routine. Adding more muscle mass does tend to add a little weight, but you will definitely lose some body fat as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lack of soreness probably means you've gained muscle mass, I only imagine you've lost a bit of body fat doing those exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In short. If your weight has been stagnant before you started your workouts, then these exercise will likely take off a few pounds.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had an experience similar to yours. I started a routine when I was morbidly obese. After a few years of dedicated exercise, I weighed the same as I always have but my body is thinner and muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps weight loss won't always be your goal if you want to be healthier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10469" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T06:00:17.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18581" CreationDate="2014-08-13T15:23:00.267" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Generic Answer:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any activity that is done too much too quickly can result in injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, many activities - that are slowly built up over time - can be done for an entire lifespan without messing up your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body is an amazingly adaptive specimen, full of biological tissues that can be altered acutely and chronically from a given stress stimulus, &lt;strong&gt;provided they are then given time for recovery and remodeling&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, high-rate impact forces are good for bone. They signal the bone to go remodel and make denser tissue. But if you too much too soon, you'll get a stress fracture instead. Studies have shown that long distance runners aren't more likely to have knee issues say in life than sedentary folk. The runners who do are ones that have sustained injuries and kept on running with full recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Specific Answer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. With stair descent, there is loading place on the cartilage areas in the  menisci and also between the patella (knee cap) and femur (patellafemoral pain). But as mentioned above, these tissues are dynamic, and can be remodeled to handle those pounded forces just fine as long as you progress carefully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An anecdotal example - I've hiked down mountain trails with more than 10,000 ft elevation loss (think 10 skyscraper descents) in a day, and my knees were fine. There is absolutely no way they would have been fine if I did that with no previous training, building up from a few hundred feet, 500 ft, 1000 ft, 2000 ft, etc... over the course of months and years (there are various time scales for adaptations to occur). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you could do stair descents all day without worry, provided you have conditioned your musculoskeletal system for it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8761" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T15:23:00.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18564" CreationDate="2014-08-13T17:31:47.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To make this pretty simple.  There are a lot of allowances allowed by the FDA and in other countries it can be even more lax.   First the companies can use basically who ever they want to do calorie/analytical analysis.  They can choose from 1 of 10 reports they get to best serve their target audience.  To take it another step there are also rounding considerations that they get.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have BLACKBEAN A vs BLACKBEAN B they are probably exact the same unless they have sugar/additives in the &quot;sauce&quot;.  But If BLACKBEAN B is targeting the protein crowd then they will obviously use the report that calculates the most (amount of protein) that they can round up to.  But at the same time the amount of total calories has to be correlated with the amount of protein too (and fat/carbs).  So by reporting more protein they are now the higher caloric choice.  Just marketing.  BLACKBEAN A gets the lower calorie target audience by reporting less protein.  Same beans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens if a company is wrong?  Not much.  If a consumer group or FDA comes in and says calorie info is wrong they just have to change it - if they don't they get fined.  Really companies don't go too far off because of the bad press they would get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The FDA is really concerned about the ingredients and accuracy there.  It is really the most regulated part of the information that you get from packaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T17:31:47.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-13T20:15:29.380" Score="-1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I've hurt my right shoulder. I don't know what caused it but it is painful. I noticed it today while taking bath. I clean my back by applying soap with my hands somewhat like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nvKQy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I when I do whats shown above, with my left hand, my fingers reach my right spine of scapula. But when I try to do the same with my right hand, it hurts in the shoulder joint. This is the only motion (orientation of right hand) in which its hurting. That is the reason why it went unnoticed in the gym. I don't do any such motion in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do? What should I avoid in the gym? How to cure it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T19:45:58.497" Title="How to take care of the hurting shoulder joint?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-10-24T11:54:46.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18648" CreationDate="2014-08-13T20:58:51.313" Score="3" ViewCount="2150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a novice bodybuilder (getting converted into strength trainer). Its been 3 weeks since I'm hitting gym. All my ego is shattered in past couple of weeks. I used to think I was strong but I'm so wrong. That is why, I decided to go for strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming to the point, while I made some progress in terms of strength &amp;amp; gaining muscle (increased weight by 5kgs and my body looks little bulked up). But I feel that I'm not doing it right. Bit by this increase weight in each workout bug (probably to satisfy my ego) I've been adding weight but my form is getting compromised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in t-bar rows, initially I was able to reps with 15kgs in proper form (no rounded back, chest up, tight core, weights touching chest) but now I'm doing it with 25kgs my current form is (no rounded back, chest up, tight core,  I use momentum from the jerky start to lift weight and even then weights don't touch the chest). I'm still doing reps this way by making myself believe that I'm pushing muscles to extreme &amp;amp; hence creating strong stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With bent-over barbell rows, I do it with 15kg but my back is not as straight as I maintain in squats &amp;amp; presses (I try to keep it straight but I just can't with this weight &amp;amp; in this position) and the bar doesn't touch my abs. I just bring it some what half way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With Press (standing), I do it with 25kg but I'll be hardly able to do 4-5 reps (I need to do 8 reps) so rest 3 reps I try really really hard but I tend to use my right side of the body more to this push the weight up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a voice in me telling me that my technique is deteriorating. But I'm unable to convince myself to stop it. I'm afraid inside that if I reduce weight, I wouldn't be creating required stimulus and moreover it means I'd be doing same weight through out week or two which means no progress. Can some one give strong reasons why technique (proper form) should be preferred over weight &amp;amp; no. of reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T15:52:54.657" Title="Is technique or form more important than progress in weight or reps?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="484" CreationDate="2014-08-13T21:33:02.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inverted Row&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really best exercise for beginners who can't do a single pull-up or chin-up. One can adjust the inclination (angle of the body w.r.t ground) to adjust the difficulty of the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following picture shows Inverted row (for pull-ups) just use palms facing toward you (supinated grip) you'll have exercise for improving chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5wcQo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T21:33:02.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-13T22:03:10.277" Score="0" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to build muscle, but don't have access (or time to go to) to a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to neglect anything here, but legs obviously aren't AS important to me as Abdominals / Upperbody. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not fat but I need to burn some belly fat to get any ab muscles to show i'm sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, my current routine is a  3x circut, each consisting of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;     20 bodyweight squats&#xA;     15 pushups&#xA;     20 standing lunges&#xA;     kerfuffels &amp;lt;-- explanation below&#xA;     ~60 sec plank (relies on my in-head counting which i bet is slow)&#xA;     30 jumping jacks&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;kerfuffels explanation: I used to be doing 20 dumbell rows with each hand with a 10 lb weight, but the bench I had to use was uneven/not sturdy and my form was always bad and they weren't really challenging/working for me. What I switched to was 15-20 seconds of holding the dumbells parallel to the floor in front of me and 15-20 seconds of holding the dumbells parallel to the floor to the side. I don't think these are real exercises but they burn but i think they may be doing more harm than good.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionals:&#xA;  pushups are still a good workout since i'm doing them 3 times total, plank is workout too the other stuff isn't as challenging anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for an alternative workout plan that includes 3 workouts a week, (could be same full body all 3 days or different with 1/2 groups a day). My current workout still kicks my ass, but its more of endurance training than building muscle i think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My equipment: I might be able to get a pull up bar soon, but don't have one now. I have that 10 lb dumbell and an old barbell + weights and 2 trash cans I can turn upside down to set them on. So, I can use that to do weighted squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give me workout routine suggestions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T03:08:09.303" Title="building Muscle with Body Weight training" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-08-15T21:18:43.843" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18942" CreationDate="2014-08-13T22:14:29.813" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title is little ambiguous. But my situation puts that into context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight 60kgs &amp;amp; height 5'6&quot;. &#xA;I've started weight training for body building for past 3 weeks. Its written every where to eat huge. So I started eating huge. My typical diet contains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Chicken 150-200gms&#xA;Rice 400-500gms&#xA;Eggs 1-2&#xA;Milk 250ml&#xA;Oil/Butter/Fat 30-40gms&#xA;Some Vegetable (100gms)&#xA;Multivitamin capsules (covers 30%-70% of different vitamins &amp;amp; minerals)&#xA;Calcium supplement (500mgx2)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This amounts to around 2800-3000 calories. &#xA;I work 3 days a week in gym (for 2-2.5hrs) and otherwise I just sit infront of desk (so other 4 days is strictly sitting at desk). Here is my workout of past 4 workout days: &lt;a href=&quot;http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=2Q2be3Th&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=2Q2be3Th&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good thing is that, I've gained weight. My arms, chest, lats thighs (credit goes to squats) got bulked up. I'm happy but I've accumulated quite a bit of fat around my belly. Even though I've very thin body, I've quite a bit of fat around my abodmen, especially in lower abdomen area (hereditary). Now in this past 3 weeks this increased quite a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is raising doubts about my diet. Am I eating too much? Should I reduce my carbs? Am I eating enough? How many calories should I exactly eat for building body? Also because I'm not doing anything except sitting, during 4 days a week should I eat less during these rest days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-13T22:25:50.027" LastActivityDate="2014-09-14T22:21:33.140" Title="How many calories should I exactly eat for building body?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18593" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-13T22:27:56.110" Score="1" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 years old and 173cm height. I was fat almost all my life until the age of 23 when I decided to lose fat. At that time I was 88 KG. Then in 6 months I lost until I became 72KGs. What I did was just diet with walking for 2 hours. However at that time I wasn't happy with the result of my body because I still saw ugly loose skin. But then my studies started and I got so busy with it. Because of stress I gained fat, so now I'm 77KGs. So I decided to go to the gym now and do one hour of cardio. I do intensive running on the machine for 1 hour (I run at 10K/h for 1.5 minute, and 0.5 minute walking at 5.5/K/h). I burn with this hour 600 calories. Of course I'm controlling my diet now. Not the same difficult diet that I did in the past, but I only reduced my food intake a little and cut sweets and sugar completely. I guess I eat around 2000 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started training at the gym I was 78KG, now I'm 77KG after 1.5 week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I'm really concerned about the excessive/loose skin that I might get since my plan is to loose weight until I become 65 KGs. After that my plan is to start lifting weights to get a &lt;em&gt;toned fit&lt;/em&gt; body (I &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13502/how-can-i-get-more-toned&quot;&gt;read this question&lt;/a&gt; so I'm aware of it, but this is my goal). My biggest concern now is the loose skin. Can you please recommend for me excercises/machines to use to help me tighten my skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to note that in the gym we have those vibrating machines. A guy told me that these help to tighten the skin, so what do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T20:55:29.837" Title="Exercises to Tighten My Body During Weight Loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-13T23:06:41.980" Score="1" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt; For past 3 years my weight was 55-58kgs. 3 years ago, I was able to do 25+ pushups w/o break, 10 pull ups (from dead hang to chest over bar), 10 dips. For past three years I survived on bare minimum diet (with hardly 10gms of protein per day and less than 1500 calorie diet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its been three weeks since I joined gym and having proper diet. My weight is 63kgs. I'm still able to do around 20 pushups w/o break. Not a single pullup and 1-2 dips (but my elbows hurt). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the saying goes &lt;code&gt;A chain is only as strong as its weakest link&lt;/code&gt;. I suspect my inability to do pullups &amp;amp; dips is even though my gained muscle mass, my tendons &amp;amp; ligaments are not strong enough. I want to incorporate joint training exercises into my everyday workout. What joint conditioning exercises (esp. for upper body joints) can I incorporate in to my workouts? Probably I'll train them everyday for better reults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-14T04:55:12.153" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T19:23:15.500" Title="What workout regimen is appropriate for the recently malnourished?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18589" CreationDate="2014-08-14T05:29:55.793" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How about hurting yourself and be unable to exercise for a long time &lt;em&gt;(possibly never again)&lt;/em&gt;? Is that a good reason?&lt;/strong&gt; And yes, bad forms can easily lead to short/long-term injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Programs such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt; advocate starting the weightlifting program with an empty bar. This allows you to focus on the form. Then, you increment the weight periodically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, they advocate warming up with incremental weights during a session. For example, if your weightlifting session for the day is 80 lbs, you perform a few reps with the empty bar. Then, you add 5-10 lbs and another set of reps. You continue the process till you reach your required weight. &lt;em&gt;Of course, you can increment with higher weights than 5-10 lbs if you're working towards a very high weight.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using these processes, you focus more on your form/technique, and you naturally get stronger as the weights increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, you might initially feel silly using an empty bar; however, the benefit is immense on the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T05:29:55.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-14T09:27:38.623" Score="3" ViewCount="963" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I aim to do X pullups, and I try to do as many pullups as I can during sets, in an attempt to increase the number of pullups I can do in a single set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reach X pull ups, I might end up doing 5 sets like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Y + 2) + (Y + 1) + Y + Y + Y&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering now, if there's a reason why I would want to instead try to do an equal amount of pullups in each set, rather than going all in from the beginning, and then being to tired to maintain the same level across the other sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T07:27:10.747" Title="Should I aim to do an equal number of reps across my sets?" Tags="&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18598" CreationDate="2014-08-14T11:36:25.100" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience, each set is defined by failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because your muscle really works when it burns and if you aim 10 reps and your 10th rep didn't even burn you... &quot;you've wasted a set&quot;. That's from my experience only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T11:36:25.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18620" CreationDate="2014-08-14T12:30:43.527" Score="3" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think many have heard this question before, and it is still something that in my opinion seems a bit unclear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fitness training program consisting of 5-8 compound exercises is considered to be a great foundation for any strength-training, but what defines a well-balanced training program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own approach to this is to choose exercises that affects almost all muscles in the body, especially exercises that stimulates numerous synergists are qualified for this task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets ignore training frequency, load, reps and other details, and just focus on strength-training in its essence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="5199" LastEditDate="2014-08-15T07:00:45.253" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T14:08:53.833" Title="Which parameters define a well-balanced full-body strength training program?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18670" CreationDate="2014-08-14T12:57:50.870" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I went for a 6 Km run in Tokyo, the temperature was 27 degrees Celsius and the humidity 92%. It was much harder than usual today even though I am used to run the same distance 3 times a week at 75% humidity. I was sweating a lot and my tshirt was all wet but I also felt more tired somehow. Can it also be dangerous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10472" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T06:07:47.817" Title="Does humidity reduce oxygene absorption?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18598" CreationDate="2014-08-14T13:01:03.690" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you should not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A key to any good training program is variation. You can vary number of reps, sets, weights or exercise choice. Don't do the same thing everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T13:01:03.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18592" CreationDate="2014-08-14T13:34:03.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should focus less on the number of calories, and more on &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; foods your eating, and &lt;strong&gt;when&lt;/strong&gt; your are eating them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After training, eat some proteins and some complex carbonhydrates, such as rice, bread, fruits, etc. If you work out for 2 hours a time, try to grab a banana or something during training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, stick to meats and vegetables. &lt;strong&gt;You don't want to eat a lot of carbohydrates on days your not training, try to stick to a few pieces of fruit.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a huge and complex area, but try to look into more information about nutritional timing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T13:34:03.183" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18605" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-08-14T14:19:11.363" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-08-14T14:19:11.363" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T14:19:11.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18606" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-08-14T14:19:11.363" Score="0" Body="T'ai chi is a Chinese martial art that emphasizes health benefits and defensive techniques.  " OwnerUserId="399" LastEditorUserId="399" LastEditDate="2014-08-15T21:18:55.220" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T21:18:55.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18594" CreationDate="2014-08-14T15:14:57.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now I feel bad, my suggestion for the question wording was kind of rude and changed its focus. A BMI calculation shows your diet wasn't minimal in calories -- you weren't underweight -- just in protein. If the joint pain is a result of your body consuming the proteins stored in synovial fluid, it should get better within a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your original question, any exercise that does not hurt your joints helps them, because stronger surrounding tissue supports the joints. If elbows hurt doing push-ups, find an arm exercise that doesn't. And make sure you're not causing your own joint pain through Will Brink's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/willbrink1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of common mistakes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rarely warm up adequately &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;train too long and/or too often&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use overly heavy weights/low reps more often than they should, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't take time off to allow their joints, tendons, muscles, etc., to recuperate from heavy workouts,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use less than perfect form during heavy lifts,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't take in adequate nutrients, or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all of the above! &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T15:14:57.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18609" CreationDate="2014-08-14T15:43:23.273" Score="4" ViewCount="2432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that drinking room temperature water is easier for you body to absorb but I'm not sure if that is true or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I am wondering, after a hard workout, will ice water hydrate you more effectively because it will also cool you down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10473" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T18:16:37.707" Title="Will drinking room temperature water or drinking ice cold water hydrate you more effectively?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18608" CreationDate="2014-08-14T18:16:37.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't any significant difference between both options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, cold water hydrates more effectively than room temperature. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/better-drink-warm-rather-cold-water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;During intense physical activity, the body's core temperature rises above the normal 98.6°F (37°C). Drinking cool water lowers the body's temperature and helps it settle back to its normal range. Studies have also shown that cold water 41°F (5°C) is absorbed more quickly from the stomach than warm, abating dehydration and allowing you to play harder and enjoy your game of soccer even more.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/cold-vs-room-temperature-water-during-workouts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another source&lt;/a&gt; conducted a study with participants drinking cold and room temperature water; the conclusion being&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The participants who had consumed the cold water during rest periods had a significantly smaller rise in core temperature compared to those who consumed the room temperature water.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, while cold water hydrates better, warm water relaxes the muscles better and makes it ready for more exercises:&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Subjects participating in the room temperature condition were able to perform significantly more bench press reps to failure than when they participated in the cold condition.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, cold water caused a slight performance hit, according to the study. Also, given that Olympic swimmers/divers shower in warm water before their races in order to prepare their muscles, I consider the study to be accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I would still choose cold water over room temperature while exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T18:16:37.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18588" CreationDate="2014-08-14T19:45:58.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoulder injuries are one of the most difficult injuries to overcome.  They are right up there with knee and neck injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation to you is to stop all weight exercises that involve the shoulder immediately.  Allow the joint to rest properly for at least a month before returning to using weight and begin slowly.  Low weight, low reps.  In the meantime, you can do some light swimming and stretching to allow oxigen and nutrients to nurture the muscles and joints and help it heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If after that month of rest you still have issues and show no progress, I suggest visiting a Physical Therapist that specializes in shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last thing you want is to incurr a serious shoulder injury that will require surgery and at least a year of recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T19:45:58.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18593" CreationDate="2014-08-14T19:56:43.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, there are no exercises for skin tightening but you can use products such as coconut oil, aloe vera and other such topical products to regain elasticity in the epidermis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, proper hydration, good eating habits in terms of nutrients and avoidance of direct sunlight will help to maintain your collagen levels high so that the skin will respond quicker to the weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the worse case scenario, there are cosmetic surgery procedures to remove excess skin due to rapid weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is take the long road.  Remember that it took you a while to get to the weight you have...  losing it in a healthy way should take a while too.  Thought thankfully, not as long as it took you to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T19:56:43.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18621" CreationDate="2014-08-14T20:35:36.117" Score="1" ViewCount="575" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am building mass and drinking about 3-5 liters water daily. &#xA;I sweat much so I lose much minerals particularly when doing any sport. &#xA;If I drink tap water during sport, I start to feel very weak. &#xA;So I drink isotonic water instead (3 tea spoons of salt and 4 tea spoon of sugar per liter of water). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to think if isotonic water is also better to start your metabolism and support your immune system. &#xA;I drink every morning normally one liter of tap water, take 400 mg magnesium, take 20 mg proteins, and walk 15-25 minutes in nature before doing anything else.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have an intuition that isotonic water can also be better in starting your morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what is the appropriate type of water for you depends on your amount of sweating generally. &#xA;So I think for me isotonic water is better in the morning too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is isotonic water better in a person sweating much generally?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do you think about isotonic water in starting your morning?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T11:32:03.193" Title="Isotonic water in the morning?" Tags="&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2014-08-14T20:48:37.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to make small variations to the workout each time.  This way you will work slightly different muscle groups each time to increase your overall results AND not get bored with doing the same thing all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggested variation:&#xA;-15 squat jumps (body weight squat with a jump at the end)&#xA;-15 incline or decline push ups - (put feet or hand on a box or bench)&#xA;-20 walking lunges&#xA;-20 pull ups (can you run to the pull up area for extra exercise?  Or buy some bands to tie to a tree for seated rows?)&#xA;-60sec of abs - crunches, leg lifts, twists, etc&#xA;-30sec-1min of aerobic activity - jump rope, run, square jumps, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this is helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10473" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T20:48:37.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18598" CreationDate="2014-08-15T03:00:27.810" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To reach &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; reps, you don't need to perform multiple sets; you only need a single set of incrementing &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Y&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Performing multiple sets will only condition your body against fatigue and will increase your endurance. But if you must perform multiple sets &lt;em&gt;(which I recommend)&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reduce the number of sets to a maximum of 3.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This will allow you to focus on increasing your reps without worrying about completing all the sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you must complete 5 sets, don't worry too much about the unequal number of sets; just ensure that on each set, you perform same or higher reps than your previous session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T03:00:27.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18591" CreationDate="2014-08-15T03:08:09.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brent is correct.  The goal here is progressive overload, which with bodyweight training is achieved by changing the mechanics of the exercise.  An example would be going from squats, to deep squats, to one legged or pistol squats.  These will also give you good CNS gains as well.  If you're looking to gain muscle mass for appearance, you will be better served with getting some weights and a bench and building mass that way, however, if you stick to bodyweight, legs included, and supplement weight training into your routine, you will be overall more fit and will still gain the appearance that you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a couple of the resources I've been using:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startbodyweight.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StartBodyWeight.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alkavadlo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AlKavadlo.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will likely want to do 3-4 sets of 8 starting out, and if you're looking for hypertrophy, then doing 3-4 sets of 12 with 90 seconds or less of break in between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also recommend a running routine too.  You don't have to go long distance, but 30min/day, 3 days a week will help with getting fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember this.  &quot;Appearance is a consequence of fitness.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10478" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T03:08:09.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18598" CreationDate="2014-08-15T03:19:46.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean to always to an even number of reps per set for every workout, than no.  If you're doing strength training and working in sets, you should work to achieve the same number of reps in a set, and once you achieve that goal, you can either A) increase the number of reps you want to achieve across all sets, or B) change the mechanics of the workout as to increase the amount of stress on your muscles and then try to achieve the same number of reps across sets as your previous exercise progression.  For pull-ups, I recommend looking up archer pull-ups, one arm pull-ups, or muscle ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10478" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T03:19:46.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18634" CreationDate="2014-08-15T04:59:53.030" Score="1" ViewCount="9064" Body="&lt;p&gt;i've never been able to touch my toes without bending my knees.  from the research that i've done, i believe that improved flexibility in the hamstrings and lower back is the best way to reach this goal.  I was wondering what the key stretches are in order to promote this. i've been having trouble finding some goods one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8223" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T18:29:31.653" Title="touching toes without bending knees exercises" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18624" CreationDate="2014-08-15T05:09:16.883" Score="2" ViewCount="1876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very eager to start StrongLifts 5X5, but am apprehensive about how to balance it with my other physical activities. I know that recovery is key to the program’s success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a fit female in my 20s. My goal is to build a better base of functional strength, but I have no insane lifting aspirations. I’m a novice recreational boxer and avid longtime equestrian, so my workouts need to fit those athletic goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the proposed schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sun&lt;/strong&gt;: Core (~30 min)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mon&lt;/strong&gt;: Box &amp;amp; intervals (~60 min)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tues&lt;/strong&gt;: StrongLifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wed&lt;/strong&gt;: Core (~20 min)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thurs&lt;/strong&gt;: StrongLifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fri&lt;/strong&gt;: Box (~50-80 min)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sat&lt;/strong&gt;: StrongLifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of core work is needed for my riding. So far I’ve been using those days as “recovery” because, while quite difficult, those workouts no longer wear me out. Boxing is a challenging mix of circuit conditioning and actual punch work, but I am reasonably accustomed to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This schedule is not any more “workout time” than I’m currently doing (and I’d be dropping steady-state cardio and dumbbell work that I now realize was a bit pointless), but still I wonder if there’s not enough recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this schedule unreasonable?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I drop StrongLifts to twice weekly in light of all these other activities?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Currently, I’m also doing a lot of pushup and chin-up work every other day (basically greasing the groove) and am unsure of how to combine that with this already rather packed schedule. Would it be crazy to add pushups and chin-ups to StrongLifts? Should I wait until I’m satisfied with my strength in those exercises to start StrongLifts? 3.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-05T01:12:41.883" Title="Balancing StrongLifts with other workouts" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18600" CreationDate="2014-08-15T11:26:30.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A well-balanced full-body strength training program has to take in several factors, so it will look a little different for everyone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your current training level:&lt;/strong&gt; dictates the length of the training cycle, as well as influences set/rep/weight decisions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fatigue management:&lt;/strong&gt; depending on external life stressors, as well as being able to perform the work that causes adaptation, your body needs to be able to recover enough to do the next set of work.  I.e. planning rest/nutrition/etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training Emphasis:&lt;/strong&gt; this affects the main exercises you employ, the assistance work, as well as influences the set/rep/weight decisions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are all the things that many people skip over when figuring out what to do.  Either they already know what program that someone else set up they want to use, or they just jump into training.  You'll notice that I didn't touch on exercise balance just yet, but I will get to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example of a good approach for beginner to early advanced trainees would be the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One main compound exercise per training day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-4 assistance exercises per training day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight determined off of an every day or training max (one you could hit even if the universe aligned against you).  NOTE: this does not mean you will be hitting your every day max every day.  It just means when you use a percentage it's against that every day max.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assistance work can be isolation work, but focused on strengthening weaknesses in the main exercise, or providing stability in your joints.  (example, pain in the elbows and you do a lot of pressing work, so you need to add in curls to stabilize the elbow joint).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A beginner to intermediate lifter can follow this approach with a week long training cycle and training 3x a week.  That will keep them busy for quite some time.  I started my daughter on a program like that focused on power lifting.  The set rep scheme was 6x4 at about 85% of a training max.  That training max increased by 5 lbs every week.  She happened to set some federation records when she competed a few months later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Main exercise: the compound exercise that is the main focus for your training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assistance exercises: either compound or isolation exercises that support the main exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that you need a focus for getting stronger.  That dictates the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically assistance work is done for high sets/reps and low weight.  It stimulates them in a more constructive way to assist the main work.  The assistance work can be cycled as necessary depending on your current weaknesses or provide stability to joints by working antagonist muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically your primary work is based off of a main goal.  If you don't have a competition focus, like power lifting, strongman, or Olympic weightlifting, then you'll need some form of squat, some form of pull, and some form of pressing work in your main training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A note about &amp;quot;optimal&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All too often, lifters get this notion in there head that there is some golden approach that is better than all others.  Unfortunately, due to all the contributing factors (see the first set of bullets for some examples, and add your own personal genetics) it's impossible to define the optimal way for any given person to train.  To make matters worse, what's optimal today won't be as you mature as a lifter.  Building strength is not a linear process.  Troubleshooting your program is a very different topic and too big of a subject to include in this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chasing after the mythical &amp;quot;optimal&amp;quot; approach to training, a lot of guys can be sold on the idea that they need specialty barbells, or some supplement stack, or use the golden way to train.  People who sell all these things bank on that.  While there is a time and place for all these things, it's very rare that they are absolutely necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of worrying about &amp;quot;optimal&amp;quot; training, take notes and evaluate your progress.  If you start having problems and your training stalls, those notes are invaluable for planning how to address those problems in future training.  Your notes should have at the very least:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sets and reps performed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time in the gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rough indication of how you felt going in to the gym.  I have a scale of 1-4 where 1 is abysmal and 4 is outstanding.  It's kind of like a gauge of how you perceive the training went.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Freehand notes about the training.  Did you have problems holding on to the bar?  Is a joint hurting?  Any place where you felt week during a lift?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that you are running the bad side of average for a few training sessions in a row, it's probably time to back off the volume a little before you head into a really bad training session.  If you are running on the good side of average, that's the perfect place to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to have to take the steps of planning, performing, and evaluating continually throughout your training.  It's the only way to tell if you are making progress and how to correct things as you go along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T14:08:53.833" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18612" CreationDate="2014-08-15T11:32:03.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isotonic drinks really have nothing to do with your metabolism or immune system. It's just water with solutes in it. As you noted above, salt and sugar are the two most common. The salt helps you retain the water. The sugar provides calories and, by some reports, produces a slight performance boost due to the taste of sugar (studies seem to indicate that it works even with artificial sweeteners or with people who swish the sugar water around and then spit it out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isotonic water can be useful if you're sweating heavily, as it can replace the salts you're losing at the same time that you're also hydrating yourself. Good on you for not buying into the pseudoscience hokum of the sports drinks companies. That said, I see no particular need for it unless you're heavily exerting yourself in a situation where you're sweating heavily. Most mornings, I haven't had a chance to do that yet, and I've done nothing to dehydrate myself overnight, so a small glass of tap water does just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T11:32:03.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18618" CreationDate="2014-08-15T11:38:49.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, the best training for touching your toes is just doing it. Stand with your legs straight (although not with your knees bent inwards) and lower yourself as far as you can. Then, stay in that position for a few seconds, try to relax and stretch just a little bit further. When coming back up, again, do it slowly (the general advice people call out is to &quot;feel every vertebra go back in place&quot;) and return to standing. Repeat whenever you have a spare moment. If you find that your back hurts from it, try adding a slight backwards bend after each stretch to stretch your back out in the other direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with most stretches, it takes time and patient effort. There are all sorts of theories about &quot;bouncing&quot; to get a further stretch (generally not recommended) and &quot;dynamic&quot; versus &quot;static&quot; stretching (the latter is what most people think of for a stretch, just moving to that furthest extension and holding for a few seconds. The former involves going to about 90% and then flexing the muscles involved while holding it), but the prime part is to just do it day after day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T11:38:49.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18619" CreationDate="2014-08-15T15:10:46.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;pass,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your goal is to develop functional strength, StrongLifts is a great program for that. To get the best of StrongLifts, it's recommended to perform them 3 times a week. One of the reasons is because since you're starting with a low weight &lt;em&gt;(empty bar)&lt;/em&gt;, it would take a longer time for you to start lifting heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;strong&gt;core&lt;/strong&gt; days are recovery days for you &lt;em&gt;(your schedule will be out of whack if this assumption is false)&lt;/em&gt;, your schedule should be fine, at least temporarily. As the weights get heavier, your bottleneck regions will be your legs, arms, and shoulders. Keep those in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the initial stages of StrongLifts, you might be able to add pushups and pull ups to the mix. However, as the load gets heavier, you might not have enough juice for pushups and pullups. In any case, start it and if/when you reach that bridge, adjust accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T15:10:46.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6540" CreationDate="2014-08-15T15:29:33.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's what I do and why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: some links are down below due to low reputation. Sorry for the inconvenience.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt; - I do HIIT directly after my SL workout (1). This approach--along with details on sustained, moderate-intensity cardio--is outlined on the StrongLifts site (2). If I start to hit walls with my strength, I will switch to sustained, lower-intensity cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dietary minimaxing&lt;/strong&gt; - I start with a moderate caloric deficit and will continue my training regimen as normal. When it gets to the point where I need to deload (after the third unsuccessful attempt at a weight 5x5) I will also add a few hundred calories to my diet (~200 kCal, though you can use more/less; experiment). This method will slow down your strength gains a bit as you will be hitting walls that wouldn't be there if you were at a constant surplus. The advantage is that you will be consistently losing weight during this process, which is my current goal. Lowering your carbohydrate intake can have a positive effect on weight loss also. I'd suggest a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ruled.me/3-ketogogenic-diets-skd-ckd-tkd/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SKD or TKD&lt;/a&gt; if you want to get hardcore about it (the TKD generally works better for strength gains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermittent Fasting&lt;/strong&gt; - There's a lot out there on this eating pattern so I won't harp on it too much (3), but I highly recommend giving it a try. Once your body adjusts to the new rhythms there are a lot of hormonal and overall health benefits to this and almost no downside in most healthy people. I follow a protocol similar to the one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;outlined here&lt;/a&gt;, but my carbohydrate consumption is considerably lower. I will most likely add more carbs as I start stalling out more frequently in my SL program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment with this stuff and see what works for you. A lot of people like Paleo with SL, HIIT, and IF, and it definitely works. I prefer a more strictly ketogenic approach for the sustained energy levels the diet provides. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-ripped-dude-cardio-before-or-after-weights.html&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stronglifts.com/cardio-fat-loss-hiit-vs-long-duratio-cardio/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;www.leangains.com/2011/03/intermittent-fasting-for-weight-loss.html&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8158" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T15:29:33.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18637" CreationDate="2014-08-15T15:32:44.077" Score="2" ViewCount="53764" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I do leg raises I feel a slight pop around where my right leg connects to my pelvic region.  It's been this way for years. It doesn't hurt and this exercise is the only thing that causes it. In general, I tend to avoid leg raises so this isn't a big issue, but I'm wondering if it's something I should be worried about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10430" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T22:10:53.977" Title="Should I be worried that my pelvis pops during leg raises?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18619" CreationDate="2014-08-15T15:56:36.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This schedule looks pretty good! On the SL site he discusses how to break up rest when adding in intense cardio &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/cardio-fat-loss-hiit-vs-long-duratio-cardio/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Assuming your core days are not too much, everything looks in order, though I'm a little curious about what that work consists of. Your core strength will be tremendously increased if you follow the SL plan with correct form. Just don't wear those muscles out before your weight training as having a stable core is essential for good lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8158" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T15:56:36.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18628" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-15T16:00:14.283" Score="3" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;at home I have a york fitness bar and york weight plates...the bar is 5kg I believe...I stack 4x10kg plates and 2x5kg plates on there for a total of 50kg.&#xA;Now at the gym the bar is 20kg, but it is quite long and thicker. When I add just two 5kg plates, it feels heavier than the ones I have at home, why is this? surely the fact that it is thicker requiring stronger grip doesn't make that much of a difference, if I add 2 10kg plates, it gets really hard, yet at home it is easy...why is it like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T18:12:10.100" Title="difference between gym weights and home weights" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18626" CreationDate="2014-08-15T16:06:13.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is no pain or obvious weirdness surrounding the phenomenon other than a popping noise, you should be in the clear. I have this with my knees and my doctor said it's no problem unless there's pain. Any sort of stress or pressure on a joint can cause popping, but this isn't necessarily an indicator of damage on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have some links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/434645-why-do-my-joints-crack-when-im-lifting-weights/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/434645-why-do-my-joints-crack-when-im-lifting-weights/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracking_joints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracking_joints&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squats-cracking-joints-knees-healthy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/squats-cracking-joints-knees-healthy/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8158" LastEditorUserId="10430" LastEditDate="2014-08-15T21:19:02.523" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T21:19:02.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18628" CreationDate="2014-08-15T16:16:52.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you certain about the unloaded bar weights for your home and your gym? Look up the specs on your bar and the bar at the gym. Grip also makes a difference, but should not be that profound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't look like York puts up specs on most of their bars (which is bad practice IMO) but you can probably send them an e-mail. Don't know what brand or model the gym bar is, but 20kg is pretty standard. Are you sure the plates at home are weighted properly? That's a pretty strange phenomenon. 55 kg should definitely feel heavier than 40 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8158" LastEditorUserId="8158" LastEditDate="2014-08-15T18:12:10.100" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T18:12:10.100" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-15T17:30:04.617" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for about 11 years (I am 37) but the past five years have been harder Crossfit Style workouts. I was the leanest and strongest that I have ever been and LOVED them....but a naggig back pain caused me to stop about six weeks ago from those workouts. Since then I have been doing cardio stuff (biking, swimming) and trying to get some weight classses in at the gym but I am gaining weight, feeling sore and sluggish all the time and not sleeping as well. I am eating really clean right now to combat the drop in exercise. Could I have worked out my body so much in the past 11 years that now that I stopped it just doesn't want to do anything else? I am worried that I am still young and have my whole life ahead of me but can't find anything that I can do right now. Any thoughts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T17:35:10.947" Title="Can working out hard for a few years ruin your mucles/joints" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18618" CreationDate="2014-08-15T17:34:54.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a huge growth spurt in high school and my muscles never lengthened out. Trying to touch my toes with straight knees and back led to excruciating pain around the back of the knee and upper calves. The way I got through my stiffness problems was actually with several support stretches. Once I had loosened the muscles connected to my hamstrings, I got much more out of straight legged stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the ones I used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/CrF2iMnn09w?t=40s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bent leg hamstring stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/3WJam-pECBo?t=48s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Half pidgeon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/KXtKt9-gCo8?t=1m2s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip adductor stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/hpaYIbDYuCI?t=20s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Standing curb/stairs calf stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I started practicing these, I could much more easily get into the proper position for the standard toe-touch stretch and didn't experience as much pain around my knees. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8158" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T17:34:54.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18631" CreationDate="2014-08-15T17:49:49.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, if you haven't already, go and see a professional about your back. Even minor back injury is very serious and can cause further damage if it's not properly dealt with. You should really get advice from an MD or physical therapist to prevent any further injury. Even if you have to really baby your spine, there's a lot you can still do in terms of strength and cardio without aggravating it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sorts of cardio are you doing? If you were in crossfit before the back pain, you might enjoy &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/complete-guide-interval-training-infographic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tabata or other forms of HIIT&lt;/a&gt;. More isolated weight training is probably advisable, avoiding those big compound movements (squats, deadlifts, etc). Think about leg presses on a machine rather than squats and keep that back straight when using free weights in any position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you'll be able to figure out a satisfactory routine with time! Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; You mentioned you are &quot;eating clean&quot; and still gaining weight. Can I see your macro breakdown, calorie count, and meal timing? A lot of people swear by the IIFYM approach (if it fits your macros), but I've come to really believe in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2011/03/intermittent-fasting-for-weight-loss.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intermittent fasting protocol&lt;/a&gt;. There are several approaches to IF but regardless of which one you choose you will get some major hormonal benefits. There's even some research into increased longevity and cancer prevention using a fasting protocol. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-intermittent-fasting-might-help-you-live-longer-healthier-life/?page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a Scientific American summary of the research&lt;/a&gt; which has some of the potential downsides listed as well. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leangains&lt;/a&gt; has been great for me while training, though I keep the carbs more limited than Martin Berkhan suggests. It's really helped my body composition without detracting from my training. Some people respond negatively though, so keep an eye on yourself and if you don't feel awesome after a week or two, try something else. There's a bit of a transition period, but after that my energy levels in the morning actually &lt;em&gt;increased significantly&lt;/em&gt; and I now train exclusively in a fasted state. Your mileage may vary!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8158" LastEditorUserId="8158" LastEditDate="2014-08-15T18:01:02.823" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T18:01:02.823" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18618" CreationDate="2014-08-15T18:29:31.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best stretch I've found for the posterior chain (touching your toes) is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dynamic stretch&lt;/a&gt; called the flexibility rollover or half reverse roll.  It's fun and really gets you deep into the stretch.  You'll be able to touch your toes in no time.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5qWzS_Uxg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a video&lt;/a&gt; of the stretch in action (another video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGadR9xMxHU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Dm7T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ending position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sE4Rs.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T18:29:31.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3351" CreationDate="2014-08-15T19:28:23.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see you have written this post some time ago, but am wondering how you are doing with it now? It's really weird seeing ALL your struggles as if &quot;I&quot; wrote it, having had the same struggles. One thing that has really helped me that no one ever mentions is sunlight therapy. This changes the body clock to be what time you choose to wake and sleep even if you are a night owl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to wake every day an hour earlier than planned until you reach the time you wish to wake and go sit in the sun for one hour and do this for 2 weeks. By only a few days in, it's amazing how your body will wake at that same time on it's own. So for example, you set 6:00 am as your wake time, go get in the sunlight as fast as possible, then faithfully go to bed at the same time every night to &quot;train&quot; your body on when it is to sleep and when to wake. After a few days of this, you will fall asleep faster and better. Two weeks should set the body clock and sleep/wake time straight. If there is no sun, people have used a sun clock, but is not the best results. There's something really powerful about the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there is all the other 100 things about caffeine and nutritional elements that help, but this sunlight therapy is the huge problem solver mostly. I am finally gathering all my sleep info to write a book, but wanted to know if this might help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10485" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T19:28:23.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18626" CreationDate="2014-08-16T02:25:20.223" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it sounds to you like you have a snapping hip you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;read more here&lt;/a&gt; and see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4096/snapping-hip-syndrome-and-running&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for more answers.   Tightness and repetitive motions can cause the tendons or hip to snap quite loudly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have pain or weakness be sure to have it checked out by your doctor and/or physical therapist.  Since you say that you don't have any pain with the snapping, you could try  stretches and foam rolling to help reduce the tightness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Front of Hip&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the snapping is in the front of your hip, you would want to stretch your hip flexors:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6076/could-someone-explain-this-psoas-stretch/6078#6078&quot;&gt;Psoas&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/X7K9YUuhygM?t=35s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rectus Femoris&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/FGBjcu8yycg?t=1m50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;foam roll the front of your thigh&lt;/a&gt; and hip.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Outer Side of Hip&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the snapping is on the outer side, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3337/how-to-properly-stretch-your-iliotibial-band/3404#3404&quot;&gt;ITB&lt;/a&gt; stretches and foam rolling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back of Hip&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the snapping is in the back of the hip, you would stretch and foam roll the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/576/how-can-i-stretch-hamstrings-in-isolation/3940#3940&quot;&gt;hamstrings&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have swelling or tenderness you can consider rest, ice and an over the counter anti-inflammatory if appropriate for you. Also if you feel you have alignment problems, tightness or weakness of the pelvic, hip, thigh or core muscles, you could have an evaluation from an orthopedic or sports physical therapist to get specific exercise recommendations to address your imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-08-16T02:25:20.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-16T14:58:28.990" Score="-2" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout has been updated&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to create a fitness routine, using body weight movements. I really like the idea of calisthenics. &#xA;Right now, I am doing 3 circuits of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   Push-ups (semi-close grip)  : 15&#xA;   squats (full)               : 15&#xA;   plank                       : 1-2 min&#xA;   Pull-ups (regular)          : to failure (5 if i'm lucky lol, I didn't get pull-up bar till recently)&#xA;   Chin-ups (regular)          : to failure (5 if i'm lucky lol, I didn't get pull-up bar till recently)&#xA;   deadlifts&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I should have stated this earlier, but I am NOT using a gym. I DO have a barbell with weights for it, so I could do dead lifts but I can't do squats with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: the reason the planks are so high is because I have been upping my rest periods because I have been running on my off days and I'm training for strength. If you want to assert the soundness of this idea, please answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18711/optimal-resting-period-for-strength&quot;&gt;my post about it&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running on my offdays, so now I have 3 run days a week, 3 workout days and one rest day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone want to critique my workout/suggest alternative exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T09:51:12.237" Title="How to improve this Workout" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18643" CreationDate="2014-08-16T19:26:59.720" Score="2" ViewCount="680" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just finished my first GPS-tracked bicycle workout. I tracked my &quot;achievements&quot; using two different sport trackers -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.endomondo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endomondo&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.runtastic.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runastic&lt;/a&gt; (I'm using both in the same time purely for testing purposes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Results reported by both sport trackers (distance, time, speeds) are nearly the same, except for number of calories, that I burned. Endomondo shows value twice as big, claiming that I burned 609 calories, while Runastic reports only 328.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I expected to find some differences, as calories burnout is a value, that can't be measured with high precise (at least in these circumstances), but having these values twice as big actually surprised me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout was 45 minutes cycling, on 10,5 km distance. I'm 181 cm and my weight is 120 kg (metric).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is not releated to some problems in any of these sport trackers software. I'm precisely asking, which of these two presented values is (should be) more close to reality? Basing on above workout parameters, how many calories should I burn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10493" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T16:19:35.630" Title="Actual amount of calories, I'm burning when riding bike" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;burn&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18640" CreationDate="2014-08-17T04:48:36.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do work on a bicycle to overcome wind resistance and to lift you and the bike up hills. If you do a slow flat ride, you will burn fewer calories; if you do a fast hilly ride, you will burn more. Converting the two values you give to calories per hour would be 440-810 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a fairly serious recreational cyclist; I ride a few thousand miles a year, and do specific training. I ride with a power meter, which directly measures how much work I do, which can be (fairly accurately) converted to calories burned. Riding all out I can put out around 800 calories/hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention what sort of fitness state you are in or how hard you were riding. If you are a highly-trained athlete and you've been riding for a while, 600 cal/hour might be reasonable. If you aren't very trained and you weren't riding for a while, 300 cal/hour may be a better estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T04:48:36.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-17T05:30:35.127" Score="1" ViewCount="1464" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on stronglift 5*5 and as the weight is increasing with each workout, squats are getting challenging, while the program is really good, I want to keep doing it and avoid any injuries. The other day after squatting I felt some pain in my left shoulder, it got me worried about my form. After watching a few videos, I think my bar position might be causing this pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2tyOLvArw0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Ripetoe Video&lt;/a&gt; says that the elbows should come back to create that shelf with the posterior deltoid, while t&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMFHgVN_pcg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;his video by OmarIsuf&lt;/a&gt; very clearly demonstrates that elbows should be inline with the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is how do I figure out what is the correct bar position for me? And how does it feel when the bar is correctly positioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another complication is that guys in these videos have fully developed deltoids so they can create that shelf very easily, I am very skinny with almost no deltoids, so it hurts my bones with the weight gets heavy and is wrongly placed. As it had happened while doing high bar on local trainers advice. So please tell me how to perfect the low bar squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T02:06:15.107" Title="Mild left shoulder pain while squatting low bar" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18640" CreationDate="2014-08-17T16:19:35.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While cycling you need to overcome inertia, wind resistance and gravity. Inertia is related to moving weight, wind resistance to your speed and gravity come into play when you climb uphill. Various things will influence the amount of work produced on your bike, and calories burnt as a result&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Course elevation profile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wind conditions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bike you ride (road, hybrid, MTB?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effort distribution (are you going at a steady pace or doing intervals?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a lot of useful information regarding power calculation for cycling in this wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cycling performance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T16:19:35.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18631" CreationDate="2014-08-17T17:35:10.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many professional athletes have life-long injuries from their training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a good physical therapist who can help you - it sounds like your having some im-balances that can be solved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T17:35:10.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18589" CreationDate="2014-08-17T19:17:56.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm the one who asked this question. I'm answering my own question after 4 days. What changed in these 4 days? I've hurt my shoulder and my back. I'm unable to sit properly. My shoulder is hurting badly. Proper form is far most important than stupid increase in weights or reps. If I'm unable to maintain proper form implies that our body (bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments) doesn't have enough strength to maintain that form. I should have listened to my god damn body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now probably have to rest my body for a month without weight training :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT after 1 year+:&lt;/strong&gt; After recovering from above injury, after a while, I couldn't still  keep my ego in check. I just wanted to do more. I mistook Dead Lift to any other exercise. Using the weight that would give me single set of only 5 reps, I did 3 sets. I didn't feel anything then. The next day my back was so painful, I was unable to sit for 2 min continously. Back pain was so severe, I visited doctor and took bed rest of 15 days while taking medicines. After couple of months of such suffering without any improvement, I went to a weightlifting coach and he suggested a weightless exercise program for a month. The pain started decreasing gradually. My back is to perfectly normal state. Lesson learnt again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward few months, now I'm Strength Training again. My squat has crossed my Body Weight and I'm consistently making pain-free progress towards my squat at double the body weight. Now, when I miss even a single rep in a set, I repeat the same weight in next workouts, until I can do it without too much effort. My prime focus is on form and technique rather than weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important reason why everyone, especially novices, should focus primarily on technique/form is, because it prepares you for heavier weights. At heavier weights, &lt;em&gt;every small mistake&lt;/em&gt; is going to be a costlier mistake and can do irreparable damage to the body. Even though my weights are not as heavy, I can feel the potentiality of injury due to lack of form. Clearly, we want to build body not break it. Right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T15:52:54.657" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T15:52:54.657" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18649" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-18T03:22:08.273" Score="1" ViewCount="3326" Body="&lt;p&gt;This year I've been running much more than years past, and I have my first trail half marathon (with 2500' of elevation gain) coming up in 1 week. 3 weeks ago I was running a hilly training run and my Achilles got really tight and painful.  I took it easy for a week, but it keeps flaring up on training runs. I've found lots of ice, and Ibuprofen seems to help some, as well as rolling my calves seems to help... and i've resorted to cross training only these last 2 weeks to give it some rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm to stubborn to not run my race, and so my question(s) is(are): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will wearing compression sleeves or socks help with this issue? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are some brands better for the Achilles tendon than others? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are socks better than sleeves?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any chance wearing compression socks/sleeves would make the issue worse?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10500" LastEditorUserId="10500" LastEditDate="2014-08-19T22:53:32.007" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T19:46:03.513" Title="Compression Sleeves/Socks for Achilles Tendonitis" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;compression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18653" CreationDate="2014-08-18T03:34:58.873" Score="0" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 MALE, Height 6 FT, and my weight is 105LBS. I have been skinny my whole life. I gone through a lot in my life. alot of insults, everybody laughs at me. I want to end all of this now. I want to gain weight quickly. I am going to marry in next 2 years. Suggest me. I can spend any amount of money. Money is not a problem for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10501" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T12:30:51.987" Title="26 old 6 height 105 LBS. Worried about my weight" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2014-10-28T15:28:00.903" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18416" CreationDate="2014-08-18T11:46:42.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that while your muscles ache after training too much, your tendons, joints and bones will not. You won't notice that you're gradually working yourself into an injury, it will surprise you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that we all should &quot;rest&quot; more than we think we should, but definitely not &quot;rest&quot; by sitting in a chair or lying on the sofa. Just not exercise as intensely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you probably don't have to run faster. A quote from Born to Run (said by running coach Ken Mierke):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nearly all runners do their slow runs too fast&lt;/em&gt;, and their fast runs too slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, quoting Arthur Lydiard:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only go as fast as you can while holding a conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was in the news a few weeks ago (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2014/07/28/running-any-amount-is-good-and-more-may-not-be-better/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Forbes&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that even a small amount of exercise, even running for as little as 5 minutes a day, may be just as healthful as more exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10504" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T11:46:42.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18650" CreationDate="2014-08-18T12:30:51.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can understand what you are feeling. What I am able to understand are the following points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wants to gain weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have two years time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first suggestion would be to get a membership of a gym having adequate free weights and machines. There are few important things that you should look for : squat machine, Olympic rod, flat bench , incline bench, leg press machine, pull up bar, parallel bar for dips. The idea is to start with compound movements that target multiple joints/body parts. Three primary large body parts that constitute majority of the body are chest , back and legs. Training these would produce more testosterone and help you in gain more mass, but said that small body parts like biceps , triceps , shoulders  and trapezius are of equal importance and should not be neglected. Exercises that you should be focusing are : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press, flat and incline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leg press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps Extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead military press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it goes without saying that these are to be performed with absolute form and without any cheating . With time good form will become habit and that will define your gains.Body weight exercise like pull ups won't be easy in the beginning , so perform lat pull down on machine , and as you progress in this exercise you should be able to perform more number of pull ups.Get at least six months of membership of the gym, and be patient, you will be able to see the changes.Limit your cardio , but do not completely eliminate them. Once or twice should be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second suggestion to increase the number of carbohydrates, protein, and fats in your diet.Include whole eggs ,milk, fish, sweet potato , chicken, brown rice, legumes , nuts, fruits like pomegranate, banana , cottage cheese and you can also include red meat like beef in your diet.Make sure that you are having meat at least once in your daily diet . Considering that the fact that you are taller , you have to really focus on the diet and if you get this correctly , then you have won the war. Introduce changes to your diet slowly and not in one go, so that your body can get adapted to it.I won't recommend supplements so early in your diet , but later on , like after five six months later you can go for mass gainer, one that I would personally recommend is the Ultimate nutrition iso mass gainer , which I believe is one of the best mass gainer. Alcohol and processed foods should be limited and are allowed only once or twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly make sure you are getting eight hours of sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fourth , be patient,and don't give up , with hard work and proper nutrition you will be able to achieve your goals.Focus on proper diet from day one , and you will be able to see the results.Remember that what you are doing , is doing for your self and not for anyone else , so don't compare with others and don't get intimidated by others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T12:30:51.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18682" CreationDate="2014-08-18T14:31:54.520" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will have &lt;strong&gt;a lot of time available for one week&lt;/strong&gt; and I am thinking how to use this for strength training most effectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am used to three training sessions (Mo-Wed-Fri) with weights and gym rings per week (1-2h), with one day in between for recovery. Now that I have a lot of time available for this week, I would like to do more, but I wonder how I can do this most effectively without risking injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My understanding is that the muscles need the recovery time - does it even make sense to train more?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would it make sense to distribute the training over the whole day into short sessions or is training in one go the better option?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10506" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T00:23:46.860" Title="High intensity training schedule during vacation" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-18T18:17:53.973" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoulder pain is caused by the assisting movement of tennis when you os humerus moves 2 cm outward from the normal position in each assist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rubber band is my first choice. &#xA;However, I do not have it many times in my training trips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do push-ups with hands close to the body often. &#xA;This feels good in the shoulder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there any other movements which you can do recover from tennis shoulder without the rubber band?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastEditorUserId="2169" LastEditDate="2014-08-19T12:47:29.680" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T03:22:11.747" Title="Recovery plan from tennis shoulder" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-18T18:51:04.100" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if you lose stamina when you workout and gain size. And Can you tell me if there is a way to increase your stamina while getting bigger and heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10013" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T14:42:35.443" Title="Do you lose stamina when you workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18779" CreationDate="2014-08-18T21:49:25.027" Score="0" ViewCount="2993" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cheese is low in carbohydrates and according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://getfit.jillianmichaels.com/low-glycemic-foods-cheese-2008.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one site it has almost no glycemic effect&lt;/a&gt; (b/c it's so low in carbs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.4hbtalk.com/blog/cheese-slow-carb-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sources&lt;/a&gt; say most Cheese (except for Cottage Cheese and Feta and Parmesan)  is not allowed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cottage cheese has been mentioned by Tim Ferriss, and others, to be OK&#xA;  as a last resort, or backup. This doesn’t mean relying on it every&#xA;  day...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Feta cheese has been argued by some people as being OK,...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Parmesan has been mentioned, in some recipes, .... Other than the 3&#xA;  above, most other &lt;strong&gt;cheese should be avoided&lt;/strong&gt;. In general, cheese packs a&#xA;  lot of fat, a small to moderate amount of protein, and the potential&#xA;  to delivery a lot more energy than you’ll notice, making it easier to&#xA;  overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that rational &quot;too much energy&quot; seems a bit counter to the &quot;slow carb&quot; diet.&#xA;So I'm confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastEditorUserId="2148" LastEditDate="2014-08-19T21:19:42.650" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T11:48:55.407" Title="Why is cheese not allowed on the slow carb diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-10-12T01:56:57.570" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18644" CreationDate="2014-08-19T02:06:15.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Rippetoe video is fairly comprehensive, and I use it as the basis of my setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bar should feel almost like it's locked into your back when you find the spot.  When you squeeze the shoulders together and get the bar in the right spot, there's sort of a groove that forms (or will form after some delt development).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take my grip, squeeze my shoulders together and down as hard as I can, get under the bar way too low, and slide the bar up my back until I feel it lock into place.  Then I unrack and squat.  You can sort of see me doing that at 1:02 in &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/rzOlmCd-4_A?t=1m2s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;my video here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The variables you have to play with are the bar position and the position of your hands on the bar.  I'd watch the videos you linked to, put some light weight on the bar, and experiment using the setup I describe with various grip widths and bar positions, trying to get one where your wrists are straight and the bar feels really locked in.  Videotaping yourself will be very helpful here, as you can compare yourself to the reference videos and/or post a question in a forum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within the StrongLifts universe, another useful resource is the StrongLifts &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat-bar-position/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat setup page&lt;/a&gt;.  An even more useful resource is the SL Inner Circle but that costs a fair bit of money.  I'm a member and I feel it's worth it, but I can see that it's not for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4351" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T02:06:15.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18677" CreationDate="2014-08-19T04:37:29.663" Score="7" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;My other half is a total newbie in Fitness activities. She has had a tough time to even get through a single set of 5 Pull-Ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whats the best way to get started with Pull-Ups? And, How do I support her in early days of exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6345" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-08-22T14:50:41.007" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T14:50:41.007" Title="How to get started with Pull-Ups?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-08-23T03:17:22.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18660" CreationDate="2014-08-19T06:25:29.210" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull ups are much harder for women, than for men. Males have significant more muscle mass on their upper bodies than women does, so it is natural, it is hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, focus on assisted exercises to begin with. Grip strength also plays a role, but should come quite quickly for beginners.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rubber-bands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assisted Pull-ups - lift her up by her feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that pull-ups are brutal and very hard for newbies, and try to start easy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T06:25:29.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18663" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18681" CreationDate="2014-08-19T14:28:10.920" Score="0" ViewCount="1955" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was working out yesterday, I have recently increased the pace at which I run at yesterday, for the first time my legs were sweating more than my upper body, usually it is my upper body that does the sweating, but for some reason my thighs were sweating rigorously. This has never happened before, could someone explain why we sweat more in some places than in others? why it isn't all round? and perhaps explain why that happened yesterday? it was only a treadmill workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2015-03-29T05:50:35.553" Title="Legs sweating during exercise" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17998" CreationDate="2014-08-19T14:39:04.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Studies have consistently shown that when it comes to a nutrition plan (Note: I do not say diet. Diet implies a close ended, limited lifespan process), calorie restriction is king when it comes to weight loss. Don't buy into paleo, atkins, .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Track all the food you eat for three days. Even if you eat a spoonful of peanut butter, write it down. Weigh and measure your food so you know you are eating specific portion sizes. (For example, I used to think that my 2 cups of morning cereal was actually 1 cup). Once you know your daily calorie intake, then you can compare it to your daily basic and activity level needs, and see where you need to either increase exercise or decrease intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend the $10 (US dollars) or so and run your diet through an analysis calculator, that will give you how much protein, fat, and micronutrients (Vitamins, minerals, etc) you are consuming. This will show you where your diet has weak points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have all that information, take one day a week, plan all your meals and shop for them. Allow yourself some treats. I usually go on the 80/20 (ish) rule, that if 80% of what I eat is good and healthy, I'm ok with 20% being not so healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T14:39:04.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17998" CreationDate="2014-08-19T17:34:01.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that I would like to add is not depending on only one source of protein , as over time your body will form allergies to it, not like you will start having stomach pain or anything like that , but you won't be getting the full benefit of it . From the diet you mentioned if seems to constitute only of chicken as protein source , so would advice to add fish or beef to your diet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another advice would be not to go for protein powders so early in your transformation. Do so only if you think that it is absolute necessary and you are not getting enough of protein from actual food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thirdly as your goal is to loose fat , you can supplement caffeine before workout . Most of the fat burners and pre-workouts have caffeine . Caffeine increases fat oxidation, and will also help with alertness in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Word of caution : caffeine is very potent , and overdosing can cause&#xA;  serious problems, even death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in US then there is this company called BulkSupplements which manufacture good quality supplements and have heard a lot about their caffeine supplement. 250 mg of caffeine is enough for one workout , and can be increased if you are caffeine tolerant due to consuming caffeine through coffee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T17:34:01.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18660" CreationDate="2014-08-19T17:48:04.637" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull ups require good development of the back muscles , and you are lifting your body weight. So to increase the number of pull ups you can start doing lat pull downs on machine . These pull downs are to be performed with strict form , with no or least bent in the spine, and bringing the bar to your chins.As you progress and reach about 80-90 % of your body weight on the machine , you will be able to do more number of pullups. I myself was unable to do many pullups , still cannot do more than ten, but have increase the number really fast by focusing on lat pull down. Also doing pull ups on flat rod are more easy then doing pull ups on rod with some angle as they target more of inner middle back muscles .The idea of slow negatives also work very well, and I have started incorporating them in most of my exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T17:48:04.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18673" CreationDate="2014-08-20T00:57:30.913" Score="1" ViewCount="700" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am starting a (mainly) body-weight fitness routine and I have found squats to be WAY to easy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two progressions I can try that I know of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can try to work towards pistol squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR I can use a backpack and keep adding weights to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits/downsides of each approach? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommend any alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastEditorUserId="10441" LastEditDate="2014-08-20T12:36:48.883" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T00:05:55.257" Title="Squat progressions" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18660" CreationDate="2014-08-20T02:18:38.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a chair to do assisted pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place a chair under the pull-up bar, place one leg on the chair and push against it to assist in your pull-up motion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this method, you can choose how much assistance you want, and increase a bit with each pull-up.  This enables you to do many more reps than would be possible without the assist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6536" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T02:18:38.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18601" CreationDate="2014-08-20T05:35:33.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Runners are cooled by the surrouding air (when cooler than the body temperature), and by sweat vaporization. The higher the air temperature, the more we rely on vaporization for keeping cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the humidity is high, the air is more saturated with water, and vaporization becomes less effective. The body responds by sweating more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both temperature and humidity are high, you get dehydrated faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trick in these situations, besides drinking a lot of water, is to pour cool water over your head and body. Then your body won't have to sweat as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10504" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T05:35:33.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18683" CreationDate="2014-08-20T11:42:02.020" Score="0" ViewCount="12577" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tricep Dumbbell Kickback&quot; is my favorite exercise to work on triceps but fatigue pain (Not a pain because I am hurt). I can't hold weight with elbow at 90 degree position. The position that I chose to work on triceps is shown in edited picture, also I marked where I feel pain. It started paining before I feel pumped up (worked out) triceps. I do 3 sets/each arm, each sets has 12-10-8 reps, with gradually increasing weight. I take rest for 10-12 seconds between each set, though I want to rest lesser but I am afraid that fatigue pain would not let me complete the next set, so I rest longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Question is, this pain is normal for every body builder(expert or beginner) and no alternative to it or is it with me only, I am doing it the wrong way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tdFSq.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10100" LastEditorUserId="10100" LastEditDate="2014-08-20T12:29:49.600" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T17:52:53.910" Title="&quot;Tricep Dumbbell Kickback&quot; causing fatigue pain in back side of shoulder" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18671" CreationDate="2014-08-20T13:07:15.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not uncommon to develop joint pain that is inflammation related during weightlifting, however inflammation doesn't go away if you keep doing the same things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some possibilities as to what's causing the inflammation in the order of likelihood:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overuse of that movement pattern (tension in the rear delt with the arm held close to the body)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insufficient strength in surrounding or antagonist musculature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improper warmup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the time being, you'll have to stop the triceps kickbacks to let the shoulder recover.  See if there are other triceps exercises that don't cause pain such as standing triceps extensions on the machine with the rope attachment, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help the shoulder recover, you'll have to use it in different ways to build up the surrounding musculature:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dieselcrew.com/how-to-shoulder-rehab&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diesel Shoulder Rehab&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, examine your programming (exercise selection and volume).  Look at what you are doing, or not doing, that can cause your shoulders to come out of alignment and cause inflammation problems.  It could be that you are simply doing too much volume on certain muscles, but not enough on the ones you are trying to target.  Selecting different exercises can help do what you want without overworking things you don't want.  Ensure that you have antagonist muscles hit with sufficient volume to keep everything balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T13:07:15.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18668" CreationDate="2014-08-20T13:26:54.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An excellent squat variation is the &lt;strong&gt;goblet squat&lt;/strong&gt;.  This helps build the upper back as well as your legs.  Holding a dumbbell or kettlebell in front of you, perform your squats while keeping the implement up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XMtKp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it much easier to keep the weight over your center of gravity, which will be your major limitation on using a backpack to weight the squats.  Should you ever want to venture into barbell exercises, these are an excellent preparatory exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some variations to increase difficulty is to perform pause squats of varying lengths.  For example pause for 3 seconds at the bottom before coming back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pistol squats&lt;/strong&gt; are very good, but they require a lot of coordination and mobility to perform.  I do think it's worthwhile to develop the skill to do pistol squats, but the goblet squats will help you get the work in while you develop that skill.  They can also be yet another variation once pistols are at the same place that bodyweight squats are (goblet pistols).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T13:26:54.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1258" CreationDate="2014-08-20T17:50:13.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general consensus in the athlete population, and between trainers as well, is that the cause is unknown. However, in med-school I was told that it is, at least in the medical community, known. And in my pathology book, which was in Serbian though (but translated from an American one; I don't remember which one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that classical side stitch (that which affects the right side) occurs due to stretching of the liver capsule (fibrous covering), which is highly innervated by pain receptors. When exercising, a larger volume of blood has to be transported at every given instant. A large portion of that blood gets directed back to the heart via the liver (entering via the large portal vein, and exiting via smaller hepatic veins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is a larger volume of blood coming into the liver, which has to be drained into the heart, there are two factors which counteract that: the fixed and narrow lumen of the hepatic veins, and the output of the heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We cant do much about the width of the hepatic veins. The heart is, in this respect, much more interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to remove the blood that is pooling within the liver, so as to relieve the tension on the capsule, the heart must have a higher output than input. If the output is not higher than the input, then there is an increase in pressure in the venous system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be seen in cardiac patients, which have a higher proportion of liver cirrhosis and varicose veins. And I can only assume, side stitches from minor activity (unless the receptors have become desensitized from prolonged stimulation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One simple thing you can do is to exhale when you step on your left foot. When stepping on your right foot, there is a higher tension in the ligaments (which are part of the capsule) than when you step on the left foot. Also, exhaling brings the diaphragm up and away from the liver, and this puts increased tension on the ligaments and capsule. Exhaling when stepping on your left foot thus decreases the tension on the capsule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another, less comfortable thing, is to put your hand below the rib cage on your right side, and press upwards. This increases the pressure on the liver and thus forces more blood into the heart and out into circulation, relieving the tension on the capsule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that stretching of the capsule causes the side stitch explains why it occurs when you start running quickly without having warmed up or increase the tempo during longer runs too steeply: it increases the circulation, without an accompanying increase in adrenaline to stimulate the heart. It also explains why it can help to bend forward, and why extending your back hurts more: extension stretches the capsule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people mention getting side stitches if they eat right before exercising. This can be due to distension of the stomach on the left side. However, if the pain is localized on the right side, then that can, indirectly, be because eating increases parasympathetic stimulation (it counteracts the effect of adrenaline), but also, directly, because of an increase in blood flow to the digestive organs (including the stomach) which all drain into the liver, thus, again, increasing the pressure on the capsule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T17:50:13.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18671" CreationDate="2014-08-20T20:01:35.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a common issue. Your posterior delts need more training. I suggest doing:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rows:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SviXl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or bent over lateral raise:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s2pHx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you may want to increase you rest time as follows:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If your goal is muscle endurance: 30-45 seconds&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If your goal is muscle hypertrophy: 60-90 seconds&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If your goal is strength: 3-5 minutes   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T20:01:35.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18660" CreationDate="2014-08-20T22:39:06.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was finally able to do pull-ups starting last year.  I had previously tried assisted pull-ups and was never able to get up to body weight pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What finally helped me do pull-ups were a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) instead of assisted pull-ups, try negative pull-ups.  You start at the top of the bar and lower yourself down in a slow, controlled motion, lasting 4-5 seconds.  Do 4-5 sets of 5 of this, with 1-2 minutes rest in between&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Inverted rows: find a bar or unused smith machine, get under the bar hanging free with your body at around a 45 degree angle to the floor, and pull yourself so your chest touches the bar.  Try to be explosive during the pull portion and a slow controlled negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Lose weight.  At some point in doing 1-2 above, and losing ~10 lbs through diet/exercise, I was finally able to do my first unassisted pull-ups/chin-ups.  From there within a few weeks I was able to do 4-5 in a row, and now I can do 15 in a row, or multiple sets of 25lb weighted pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4647" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T22:39:06.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15032" CreationDate="2014-08-20T22:50:38.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agree Christopher, pre/post doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are eating enough protein, you will likely still be digesting protein when you workout and for the next few hours after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do what makes you feel better.  Pre will give you more energy, but I personally do IF and lift fasted, waiting till after I workout for my first meal.  Sometimes its a shake, sometimes its chicken or shake.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also prefer to get as much of my nutrients, including protein, in as close to whole form as possible.  This means if I can meet my protein requirements of 240g/day eating meat, there is no benefit at all to taking whey.  If I have enough carbs/fat in my macros, I may drink a whole quart of whole or skim milk.  Only if I am too busy to cook or too full do I use whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4647" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T22:50:38.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18671" CreationDate="2014-08-20T22:52:35.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody here can tell you &quot;yes, that's normal for you&quot; or &quot;everyone feels that&quot;. Simply can't be done over the intertubes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one thing that hasn't been mentioned is your form. If you are a little wild/loose with your form, you could be using the rear deltoid to lift your arm/shoulder slightly as you do the kickback. As the rear deltoid is easily fatigued, this can be causing the fatigue you are feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a proper kickback, the only joint that should be bending/straightening is your elbow. If your shoulder is moving around, you've got form issues. Not only will it fatigue the muscles but it could also lead to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your shoulder is not moving, and is still fatiguing, then you just need more time and exercise on that area as Peter suggests, and you can do other exercises (Such as tricep pulldowns with a rope) to target the triceps muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T22:52:35.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18668" CreationDate="2014-08-21T00:05:55.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question really depends on your goals and available resources, so I'll give a few answers depending on some possible scenarios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assuming, for some reason, you can only (or only want to) do bodyweight exercises and are stuck indoors:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Any/all of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jump squats&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pistol squats&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Burpees&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weighted vest (backpack may result in a weird/injury-prone squat position)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assuming you want to improve leg strength, over-all fitness and body composition, but can't use a gym&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;See above, but also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;SPRINTS - can't recommend these enough. And I mean proper sprinting that you couldn't imagine keeping up for more than 150m&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plyometrics (jumps, hops, etcetera)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stair/hill running (sprint up an incline/steps (two at a time if 'normal'-sized steps) repeatedly)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assuming you want increased fitness, leg strength, body composition, etcetera, but don't fancy using a gym or think a barbell will hurt your back&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just go to the gym, try hard and always try to improve your form, knowledge etc, and remember that it will get easier and less 'intimidating', if that's your issue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barbell squats, deadlifts and power cleans can't really be replaced by bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, sprinting is king (but I may be slightly biased).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10521" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T00:05:55.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18663" CreationDate="2014-08-21T00:17:07.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of some common reasons that lead to excessive sweating at various sites of the body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low blood sugar levels, &#xA;Metabolism related issues, &#xA;Hyperthyroidism, &#xA;Any disorder of the nerves or injury to the spinal cord, &#xA;Stress or paranoia, &#xA;Panic or anxiety attacks, &#xA;Disease or infection of the liver, &#xA;Hot flashes (especially in post menopausal women), &#xA;Lymphoma,&#xA;Parasitic infection,&#xA;Diseases or disorders of the deeper dermal layer such as vitiligo,&#xA;Side effects of certain medications - especially those administered for treating ,cancers, AIDS and also s,ome antibiotics and paracetamols,&#xA;Heart disease,&#xA;Diabetes Mellitus,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T00:17:07.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18654" CreationDate="2014-08-21T00:23:46.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a whole week to strength train and really wanna push yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train a different muscle every day of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: back and biceps, shoulders&#xA;Tuesday: legs and abs&#xA;Wednesday: chest, tris&#xA;Thursday: break&#xA;then repreat and break again on sunday,&#xA;do 30 minutes of cardio before and after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;make sure while your doing these to real push your limits, if you normally only do about 3 sets for one muscle.. do 5 exercises, 3 sets each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T00:23:46.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18671" CreationDate="2014-08-21T07:35:13.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel the same when doing Triceps dumbbell kickbacks , and feel that is because you need to control the weight from going down , you are working against the gravity.As one increases the weight , more tension can be felt in the shoulders and the focus shifts from triceps to shoulders. I found this video/suggestion by noah siegel , an optimum nutrition athlete and one of my idol . In this video he is using ropes instead of dumbbells in the same triceps kickback movement.&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev55Q7eTSVY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Triceps Kickback using ropes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This movement focuses only on triceps and there is no tension on the shoulders .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T07:35:13.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-21T10:41:02.290" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I kayaked last week and found out that I can't do a normal stroke on the left side. Exercising on dry land showed that I have some stiffness and pain when I do the paddling movement, which includes putting my fist forward (holding the paddle), elbow bent, and pulling the bent arm backwards, close to the body. I discovered that I somehow move my shoulder up and make an exaggerated circle with it, because doing it with the shoulder in its normal position causes pulling and slight muscle pain (not joint or bone) in the upper arm and chest. The same pain appears when I try to try a straight punch with the left fist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about the cause, but eight weeks ago I had a bad bruise on the second rip on this side, and I suspect that I might have held the side mostly immobilized for 3 weeks or so until the pain subsided. I massaged myself a bit, and found mild to mid-strong trigger points in the scalenes, supraspinatus, subclavicus, anterior deltoid and lateral pectoral major. The massage reduced the pain and stiffness, but did not eliminate it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any exercises, with stretching or similar, which will help these muscles go back to normal motion without feeling stiff or painful? A coach suggested shoulder circling and push ups, but I neither feel the stiffnes when I do these, nor do they seem to help. It is a thing which really happens only when the shoulder is down and the arm moves back and forth with bent elbow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1365" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T10:41:02.290" Title="Exercises for stiffened shoulder?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18484" CreationDate="2014-08-21T15:31:43.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are times when your heart rate monitor will not measure the correct rate. For example if you chest is too dry or two wet or it is moving around and you loose connection. My Garmin HR monitor will often read my initial heart rate at 225 bpm for the first couple of minutes. I know my HR is not that high. (Actually physically counted it once when it read that amount).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try another monitor and compare the two. In addition I would think that 90 bpm is a little low for a run rate, especially on an uphill section. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T15:31:43.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18399" CreationDate="2014-08-21T15:49:43.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a cross training activity jumping rope is a fantastic activity. It will give you some cardio benefit as well as calf and leg strengthening. However this alone will not get you to the end of a long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to train for a long run is to run. You should schedule one long run each week at 60-90 slower than you anticipated race pace. The idea behind this is to build you aerobic stamina while also getting your legs used to the time and distance you will be running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T15:49:43.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18399" CreationDate="2014-08-21T15:56:56.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible that it will improve your time, but not because you are getting in better running shape. Rather, you are working on your calf strength and rebound ability. This in turn should result in a slightly more efficient running stride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as brent points out, it's not a substitute for running, and any gains that you might make are at best going to be 1-2 seconds off of your current pace. The best advice I've ever seen for endurance running is &quot;Run. Run lots. Mostly slow, sometimes fast&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest mistake that amateur runners make is their easy runs are often at too hard a pace, and their hard runs are not hard enough. I would recommend using the Macmillan running calculator or similar, and figuring out what your goal paces and distances should be, based off of any events that you might be training for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T15:56:56.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-21T16:54:20.283" Score="2" ViewCount="789" Body="&lt;p&gt;I walk, on average, a 15 minute mile and on flat terrain. I weight 150 lbs and I'm about 5' 7&quot; with a medium build. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to manage my overall health and want to ensure my exercise is balancing my food intake properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10473" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-07-04T00:00:15.640" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T12:16:03.083" Title="How many calories will I burn walking one mile?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2014-08-21T18:52:14.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if a Calf sleeve is going to solve your problem, it certainly won't hurt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretch before you run&#xA;Ice after and often during the day&#xA;Take Ibuprofen to reduce the swelling&#xA;Avoid hills if you can: The strain on your achilles is greater as you ascend a hill&#xA;Slow down, the less strain you put on your achilles the less likely you will damage it.&#xA;If it is persistently sore - STOP RUNNING &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important part is REST&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/inside-doctors-office-keep-achilles-tendinitis-away&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/inside-doctors-office-keep-achilles-tendinitis-away&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't stop running and I have had some scar tissue that is annoying and sore. If you rest and let it heal now, you will save yourself weeks of recovery in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T18:52:14.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-21T22:18:46.903" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious what explains the difference between perceived effort and absolute effort for different types of movements. For example pull-ups and burpees always &lt;em&gt;feel hard&lt;/em&gt;, while a 1RM snatch sometimes feels just effortless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there are concentric, isometric, eccentric movements. Is there a different neurological mechanism behind these that result in different perception, and if yes, how does that work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed might be a factor as well. Are exertion of different muscle fiber types perceived differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the factors which determine the perceived effort of muscle movement, and how do they work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T22:18:46.903" Title="Why do good lifts feel effortless?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T21:57:16.687" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-21T22:28:10.840" Score="0" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 8 months ago I started my internship at a software firm. Its a 9-4 stationary job. Ever since then I been slowly putting on fat around my waist. This has been very new to me since I always worked my core through compounds and have always been active so I was surprised to see a pair of infantile lovehandles when I took off my shirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My calorie intake is around 2k and have lowered it to around 1.8k due to my internship. If I lower it anymore, I run the risk of losing strength since I'm lifting 3-5 times a week. I'm not exactly sure what the culprit is since my calorie intake is at the bare tdee and I haven't put on any weight in any other areas of my body such as face, legs, or arms. I'm thinking its due to poor posture or high estrogen. The latter which is possible but I doubt due to the fact I'm constantly seeing strength gains in the gym. The former which is true (My sitting posture sucks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do other than cardio, and more core work? Cutting calories isn't an option for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 years old, 6'0 180 lbs. Lift 3-5 times a week, mostly strength work (Candito's).&#xA;Big three: 190 incline bench, 240 front squat, and 50lb pullup (can't do deadlifts due to bad back)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie intake varies a bit but mostly 40% carbs 40% fats 20% protein. Get around 90 to 120g of protein a day. Cutting carbs and upping protein isn't an option since carbs are very cheap unlike protein, unless someone can kindly point out cheap sources of protein besides whey and chicken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10000" LastEditorUserId="10000" LastEditDate="2014-08-22T13:38:05.900" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T23:03:19.420" Title="Put on love handles since picking up internship. Advice?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-21T22:40:25.930" Score="2" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently: 145 pounds, 170cm tall, female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Been working out for 3 months doing cardio &amp;amp; intense weight lifting 5 times  week with a good diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: it is believed that you cannot lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, hence bulking and cutting cycles... however.... if I was to eat high protein (150g), enough vitamins and minerals &amp;amp; low cal (1400 calorie) and doing intense weight lifting. Would I still see muscle growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-10-11T07:30:33.827" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T07:30:33.827" Title="building muscle on a calorie defecit?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18692" CreationDate="2014-08-21T23:25:19.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. When you're in a calorie deficit, your body must burn fuel to make up for that deficit. That fuel can be muscle or fat. When you lift weights, you are signalling your body not to burn muscle, and to burn fat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will not create new muscle in a deficit. That would simply be counterproductive, using up more calories and creating an even &lt;em&gt;bigger&lt;/em&gt; deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of lifting is to trigger body recomposition. Instead of losing both fat and muscle as you lose weight, lifting shifts the balance so you burn more fat and less lean muscle. That is the real purpose of lifting on a cut: to retain the muscle you have, so proportionally speaking, you are more muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, while you won't build muscle on a cut, you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; gain strength. And lots of it. These strength gains are due to improved CNS functioning and muscle utilization rather than added muscle mass. You gain strength by way of your body learning how to lift weights better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8659" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T23:25:19.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18692" CreationDate="2014-08-22T01:11:08.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it is not entirely true as it's not scientifically proven that you can not gain muscle and loose fat at the same time. It could be possible through proper planning and very intense diet regime. I personally managed to stay at 160 lbs while lowering my BF percentage to 8%. You just need proper planning and determination. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10536" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T01:11:08.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18698" CreationDate="2014-08-22T03:04:46.067" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to train only one arm in this day and then next day the other arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking because now I am training left and right biceps for example in the same day and feel rather tired in the end of this training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already splitted exercises. For example if I train biceps today, then I don't train any other muscle in this day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I decided to split arms by days: one day left biceps, next day right biceps for example. Or maybe left biceps - in the morning, right - in the evening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: is it wrong to train each arm (or leg) in different days. Can it cause asymmetry in muscles or any other bad results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am training at home without couch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4751" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T08:41:49.703" Title="one day - left arm, next day - right arm" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18655" CreationDate="2014-08-22T03:22:11.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try &quot;foam roller&quot;, I have used it personally for my shoulder injury (caused by a gym accident, and had to rest it for a whole month before I actually start doing any type of athletic activities) with tremendous results.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10536" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T03:22:11.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18688" CreationDate="2014-08-22T06:48:32.440" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calorie burn calculator&lt;/a&gt; (Shapesense.com) for walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walk a lot and I have a walking tracker with calorie counting on the phone but I never use it. Calories burnt just don't tell me anything. I use the holes on my belt as a measure, seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking alone is not that great to lose calories, unless you walk really a lot. A relatively easy way is to stop eating some types of food, for example all dairy or all sweats and such, and to eat whole-grain bread and vegetables, which prevents food craving a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10526" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T06:48:32.440" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18695" CreationDate="2014-08-22T08:41:49.703" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly possible, but IMO has very little practical value as working your arms separately limits you to a couple of exercises.  Plus, it &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be harder to keep the load balanced so that your arms progress at the same pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you eat well and get enough sleep.  Fatigue builds up quickly if either of those is missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T08:41:49.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-22T12:43:25.183" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to increase my strength and ability in more gymnastic areas of fitness, but I also don't want to have long-term pain, either now or when I'm older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've put my whole body weight on my wrist joints before, and I've had no long-term issues. And I see gymnasts with great strength in their wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have had no facts to support whether I could develop my wrist strength for (as an example) regular handsprings, without causing longer-term attrition and pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess something that would help me understand would be anecdotal evidence of people not having long-term wrist issues, or even better some credible statistics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10540" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T12:43:25.183" Title="Developing strength and ability, versus attrition" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-22T13:17:09.060" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a high school cross country runner, and after several races and runs I've noticed that my right calf is almost always more tired after a run, and then more sore the next day. My right leg is not any weaker than my left and others on my team do not have this same problem, so I am led to believe it is correlated to my form. What am I doing wrong to cause this imbalance, and how can it be fixed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6076" LastActivityDate="2014-09-07T08:07:43.117" Title="Unequally sore muscles" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18656" CreationDate="2014-08-22T13:19:41.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best to increase or at least keep your stamina for long distance running would be to make sure you are doing at least one long slow distance run, one medium distance run and 2-3 regular &quot;easy&quot; run in-between them. Don't get me wrong, weight is your enemy and there is a reason why runners are light and small, but there are runner who are 200+ lbs. that will finish a Marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weekly schedule would look something like this:&#xA;Mon -Rest&#xA;Tues Easy -(4-5 miles)&#xA;Wed Medium distance run (7ish or speed)&#xA;Thurs - Easy&#xA;Fri - Rest&#xA;Sat LSD - 10-20 miles&#xA;Sun Recovery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there are a number of different goals for distance, time and injury prevention. I ran a Marathon this summer and noticed guys running with my who were much larger than me who also finished ahead of me. The key will be to consistently run every week and put that base milage in. The big factor for heavier people is how to do that without getting injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T13:19:41.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18702" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-22T13:37:38.103" Score="2" ViewCount="2028" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ask further to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/40/is-there-any-benefit-of-real-running-outdoors-vs-running-on-a-treadmill-in-gym&quot;&gt;Is there any benefit of &amp;quot;real&amp;quot; running outdoors vs running on a treadmill in gym?&lt;/a&gt;. I consulted &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/499092-the-advantages-of-stationary-jogging/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/499092-the-advantages-of-stationary-jogging/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does stationary jogging compare to treadmill running? Sadly, due to time constraints, I probably can't run outdoors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, here's my routine. Every day, I run for around 13 minutes, but hovering around a small spot. I use a musical metronome and set it to 250 beats/minute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10541" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T22:50:44.087" Title="Is there any benefit of stationary running indoors?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-22T13:46:40.770" Score="-1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;﻿&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quora.com/Can-taking-calcium-supplements-increase-the-risk-of-a-heart-attack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Can taking calcium supplements increase the risk of a heart attack?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;advises against calcium supplements,  contrary to&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quora.com/Calcium-Supplements/Is-there-any-good-and-no-harmful-calcium-supplement-out-there&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calcium Supplements: Is there any good and no harmful calcium supplement out there?&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if the food recommendations below yield sufficient calcium: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quora.com/Veganism-1/How-can-one-get-enough-Calcium-on-a-vegan-diet-without-taking-supplements-or-eating-drinking-fortified-food-drinks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Veganism: How can one get enough Calcium on a vegan diet without taking supplements or eating/drinking fortified food/drinks?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and 4. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quora.com/Veganism-1/Ethical-moral-and-environmental-concerns-aside-what-is-the-scientific-basis-of-a-vegan-diet-How-do-the-human-bodys-need-for-calcium-protien-etc-get-taken-care-of-in-a-diet-devoid-of-dairy-and-meat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Veganism: Ethical, moral and environmental concerns aside, what is the scientific basis of a vegan diet? How do the human body's need for calcium, protien etc get taken care of in a diet devoid of dairy and meat?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only ask about calcium citrate, and not other calcium supplements (like calcium carbonate), because &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/What_you_need_to_know_about_calcium.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Research shows that they are absorbed equally well with meals, but calcium carbonate is harder to digest than calcium citrate. People are usually advised to take calcium carbonate with or soon after a meal. Calcium citrate can be taken at any time.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10541" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T18:54:16.190" Title="Is calcium citrate safe to consume for vegans?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-08-23T03:17:37.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18691" CreationDate="2014-08-22T13:57:32.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having seen your updated post, I think your problem may stem from your distribution of calories.  First, I don't think your problem is due to estrogen or sitting posture.  The location you describe (love handles around the waist) is a common area to deposit fat.  If possible, I would look to see if you made any dietary changes around the time you started your  internship.  Keep in mind that any excess calories that are not burned will be stored as fat.  Given that, I would suggest you adjust your nutrition percentages gradually.  Since you are training 3 to 5 days per week, I would recommend you switch to 50% carbs, 30% fats, and 20% protein.  If that does not help, then, you should try to reduce the fat even more.  Remember, a gram of fat is going to provide 9 calories versus a gram of carb or protein (4 calories each).  You may not be getting the right kind of calories to support your lifestyle.  Of course, the other alternative is to increase the cardio to burn more calories.  But, that doesn't sound like what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T13:57:32.073" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18702" CreationDate="2014-08-22T13:58:08.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There will certainly be a benefit from stationary running as compared to sitting and doing nothing. Of course Treadmill running gives you the advantage of moving forward and actually setting a speed pace. If you can't use a treadmill and you don't want to go outside then stationary running is a good alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T13:58:08.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18700" CreationDate="2014-08-22T14:51:01.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would tell your coach where you are sore then have them give you specifically watch your form during your training and during your races. It could be that your form is great when you are strong but as you tire it degrades and you are overcompensating on one leg. This will cause your other leg to work less. This would explain the imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also add that many high school runner start in August and sometimes will over train. If you haven't run all summer then I would tell your coach so they know that you need to build some base to get ready for you season this fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T14:51:01.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="245" CreationDate="2014-08-22T16:46:45.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out in early morning (around 4.30 am) on empty stomach for past 6 months. I have yet to see negative effects on my body, but I have seen huge improvement in my strength, stamina and look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually start with 20 minutes cardio which usually take care of everything (stiff body, hydration yada yada yada) and then I start hitting weights for about 45 min to an hour depending on body part I'm training. I drink a regular shaker bottle full of water and a 200mg caffeine pill right after I wake up and before I start getting ready for the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybody has their different opinion about everything, what matters most is what is working out for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10536" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T16:46:45.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18703" CreationDate="2014-08-22T18:54:16.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last I heard, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/calcium-supplements-and-heart-attacks-more-data-more-questions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calcium supplements are still associated with an increased risk of heart attacks&lt;/a&gt;, but no increased risk of strokes or, oddly enough, death from cardiac arrest. This seems to happen regardless of the form of supplementation (citrate has slightly better uptake than carbonate, but still creates increased cardiac risk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vegan sources of calcium&lt;/a&gt;, but you're going to be eating a lot of vegetables to get to the proper amount. Somewhere upwards of 10 cups of kale, for example. Only 3 of collard greens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As regards the scientific basis of veganism, frankly, there really isn't one; it's a philosophical thing. Humans are omnivorous creatures. That's what our body is built for. Agriculture and our massive transport network for food means veganism is survivable, but it really is not natural or scientific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T18:54:16.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18702" CreationDate="2014-08-22T22:50:44.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm starting running again after a long hiatus (I don't run much when we have a new baby so as to help my wife out) I do stationary barefoot running at a low (130-140 bpm) heart rate for 2 or 3 weeks both to build up the strength in my feet and to start conditioning my respiratory system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I start with 15 minutes every other day for a week or so, then move up to 20 for a few times, then 25, then 30 for maybe 3 times. By then I'm usually ready to run 2 miles (ish) outdoors without completely overcooking myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can get boring, I usually run in place in front of BBC Earth documentaries to ease the monotony, but I've found it to be very effective. It's (for me) no more boring than running on a treadmill, and you don't have to go anywhere to get a noticeable health benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T22:50:44.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18691" CreationDate="2014-08-22T23:03:19.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the same situation. I just started working as a software engineer. It's a 9 to 6 stationary job like yours. I can't tell you what you should do as everybody is different, what I can tell you though is what I do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing first .. I lowered my calories (I know you don't wanna do that) but I started eating most of my carbs before workout so I don't loose my strength. (It worked) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, more protein and less carbs - cheap source? Egg white cartoons at costco, one cartoon has about 50g of protein, no carbs and will cost you a dollar &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also started drinking more coffee, so I can up my metabolism even when I'm sitting on a desk .. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More cardio is another thing you might wanna try as it usually helps strengthening your core  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are my .2 cents but than again, it entirely up to you how you wanna make it work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10536" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T23:03:19.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18821" CreationDate="2014-08-23T01:07:16.953" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing a (mainly) body-weight routine that involves 3 circuits of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;15 close grip push ups&#xA;15 squats&#xA;plank 1-2 min&#xA;5 chin-ups&#xA;5 pull-ups&#xA;(just started the *ups lagging behind in that dept)&#xA;dead-lifts&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to try to rest as little as possible, but I recently started running on my off days, so I'm getting my cardio in that regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is as follows; If my goal is strength/muscle mass, can I rest as long as I need to between sets(not just circuits, but the actual sets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I let my heart rate go all the way back to normal, Not only does it make my workout more bearable, but I can crank out extra reps and work myself harder. For example, In just the past week, I progressed from 1 min planks to 2 min planks and made a lot of progress in the other areas as well. Does this benefit outweigh the benefit from the low-rest intervals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an optimal rest period I should shoot for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T13:47:54.920" Title="optimal resting period for strength" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;circuit-training&gt;&lt;rest-pause&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18521" CreationDate="2014-08-23T12:32:58.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a great question and one that I went through a number of years ago. The first thing I would do is caution you on the amount of mid-foot running you try to do. If you don't slowly adjust to doing this you will get many new injuries. Calf, Solious, Achilles, Plantar fascia. It needs to be a slow systematic approach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you can do is concentrate on running slow and keeping track of your form. The first exercise that I would do is practice leaning forward then stepping. Let your feet catch you. This will force you to land on the balls of your feet (or midfoot). You can do this for 25-50m at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get used to this sensation you can try 1km runs by making yourself run on your midfoot. Again, keep them slow. The slower you go, the less impact you will have on the other parts of your body that you haven't been using very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you have your hips under your body, you should be slightly forward but not much. Concentrate on landing smooth and don't worry if you hit your heel a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing is shoes. If you have a running store that will give you a gait test you can have them video you. Make sure you tell them your goals. You can try running once a week in something like Vibrams, or it maybe safer to run in Newtons. Newtons will give you the cushion when you do heel strike while also forcing you to the balls of your feet. Once you get your technique down you can choose a shoe with very little heel to toe drop. Maybe 4mm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be a slow process, concentrate on form first, then speed. If you are running out of breath to soon then take walk breaks. Eventually your walk breaks will become fewer and fewer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this article was helpful on changing your running form&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2010/09/changing-running-form-my-journey-to.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://runblogger.com/2010/09/changing-running-form-my-journey-to.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-23T12:32:58.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18718" CreationDate="2014-08-23T13:05:44.850" Score="0" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to run fast. Sub (7.5-min / mile) at a marathon distance. I am trying to figure out why I can't run that pace for even 1-mile. I am not interested in &lt;em&gt;endurance&lt;/em&gt; yet. Building endurance at a slow pace is not the way I want to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any of the following bullet points wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; variables that influence speed are (1)cadence (2) stride length.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cadence has a very low upper bound. (170 strides / min) seems as high as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a stride causes you to be propelled forward, and lifted upward. And, this &quot;lifting upward&quot; side-effect is the real limiting factor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, a runner who wants to go as fast as possible need &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; work on minimizing the ratio of (body weight) / (leg strength), right? Gravity is slowing me down. Is there anything other variable that could possibly make me run fast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I already eat an good diet. And, I can't believe hydration matters for runs of just 3 miles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8737" LastEditorUserId="8737" LastEditDate="2014-08-23T13:27:41.413" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T09:12:34.690" Title="is running speed only a (body weight) / (leg strength) ratio?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-23T13:48:32.403" Score="0" ViewCount="669" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 17 year old guy, 190 lb, 5'11&quot;, work out six days a week after school targeting various muscle groups each day (legs, arms, chest, etc.). I have been working primarily on gaining strength, not mass, and have been achieving that. I feel that my arms in general are lacking. I have no definition to my biceps at all. Any ideas on how to achieve this effectively? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T16:19:34.900" Title="How to gain definition on my biceps?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-23T15:28:27.647" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;17 year old athlete, 190lb 5'11&quot;&#xA;I want to really gain some definition and strength for my forearms but don't really know how to go about it. Any recommendations on good exercises to do or other methods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T01:57:06.030" Title="How to strengthen my forearms?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;definition&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-23T17:10:06.963" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;This week I started doing 1 hour of yoga and 30 minutes of mixed exercises every morning. I also started a diet but am a little confused regarding my food intake. Could I get a second opinion? Does this look okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(10:00 AM) Mixed nuts (almonds, dates, cloves, walnuts, sunflower seeds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(11:00 AM) Milk shakes with cereals (Toned milk, Protein one table spoon, Tulsa leave, one spoon turmeric powder, honey, cardamom, 8 to 10 spoons cereals (like muesli, cornflakes or oats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(2:00 PM) 1 cup espresso coffee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(3:00 PM) Sprouts or fruits (1 bowl sprouts or 2 apple or 1 small bowl pomegranate)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(4:00 PM) 1 cup green tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(5:00 PM) 2 medium size sandwich of peanut butter, spread, jam or raw cucumber, tomato&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(9:00 PM) Proper Indian food as a Dinner which includes lots of veggies, grain, sum rice and lentils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I am desk jockey I spend most of my time in front of computer. I am a vegetarian and my goal is to get a balanced diet with good nutrition and lose some weight if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastEditorUserId="8659" LastEditDate="2014-09-02T00:34:41.990" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T00:34:41.990" Title="Need advice on current food intake" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;recommended-daily-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18714" CreationDate="2014-08-23T20:40:19.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;the only variables that influence speed are (1)cadence (2) stride length.&quot; Yes these two variables define your speed. But how to achieve high cadence of a longer time is a complex issue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;cadence has a very low upper bound. (170 strides / min) seems as high as possible.&quot; Wrong. Many recommend 180, so 170 isn't considered a very high cadence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;a stride causes you to be propelled forward, and lifted upward. And, this &quot;lifting upward&quot; side-effect is the real limiting factor.&quot; I don't think so. While it probably eats up a serious part of the energy, I don't think it is the limiting factor (see below)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your conclusion is more or less right, if we are taking very short distances. Very short. Like ... kicking. And even in that case there are different factors to consider. There are different kind of muscle cell (look up fast twitch for example); Your tendons store energy from the impact on the ground and release it for the next step, so how good that works has an effect as well. These are just two examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want to run fast, congratulation, you are probably done. I'm sure you can run 100m in below 7.5min/mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to run longer, you'll have to train endurance. But you don't want that, so there is nothing to add to this answer...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2014-08-24T09:12:34.690" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T09:12:34.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-23T20:45:03.473" Score="6" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything you read about training tells you: Resting is just as important as training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that if I train to much I get a negative training result. But do we really have to rest like running one day and taking a day off? How is that different from just running every day but half the distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the biological or biomechanical background for the need of actual rest periods. Or references that demonstrate that training less intense with out rest days is ok too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm primary interested in running, but kind a hope the same principles apply for all kinds of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days&quot;&gt;Importance of Rest Days&lt;/a&gt; is similar yet different. It's answers don't talk about what is actually happening inside the body and cells, except for some &quot;supercompensation&quot; handwaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T10:41:16.510" Title="Why do we need a resting period?" Tags="&lt;rest&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-24T10:37:36.097" Score="2" ViewCount="1908" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am interested in using Greasing the Groove(GtG) to increase my number of pullups and pushups. I am a beginner at strength training, so I figured I would post my question here.  My goal is more to increase strength rather than going for muscle size. I am trying to figure out how to balance GtG with regular strength workouts. In other words, If I continue doing strength training 3 days a week, would I just add short GtG sessions throughout the day on both workout days and rest days? Also, can I exercise the same muscles in my GtG sessions as in my full body workout sessions? In other words, if I do GtG pullups throughout the day or week, can I still do back rows or similar exercises during my regular workout sessions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I dont' want to overtrain. I figure it might just be a process of trial and error to see what works for me. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9909" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T19:17:41.240" Title="combining Greasing the Groove with regular strength workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-24T13:53:40.870" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I used to be an avid runner (though never much good), but after a lung infection I got out of the routine and now just don't have the passion to start all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to get back into good shape again -- and so thought of a course: karate, kickboxing, even rock-climbing to do it (though there's no wall in my area so this last one is out). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a good course to get fit, learn a new skill, and get into shape?&#xA;I don't mind paying for a course, but online tutorials or podcasts work fine too (and given my schedule are even preferable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10549" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T15:08:46.533" Title="Recommendations for a good fitness course for a 30+ newbie" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18716" CreationDate="2014-08-24T16:30:59.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Behind the back wrist curls have always been a favorite of mine. Just hold a straight bar behind you with both hands, wrists faces away from you, and curls your wrists up towards your forearms, hold for a sec and release.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10550" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T16:30:59.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19014" CreationDate="2014-08-25T00:29:54.870" Score="5" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does the physical fitness tend to decline around the age of 30-35? It is obvious that many athletes(football, sprint etc.) tend to stagnate and 'lose' the physical fitness regarding speed, stamina and so on compared to their mid 20s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to reduce this effect or even push it years ahead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6144" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T18:05:58.403" Title="Relation of physical fitness and age" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;age&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18716" CreationDate="2014-08-25T01:57:06.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm partial to hammer curls with a dumbbell. If you've never done them, they're called hammer curls because they mimic the feel of grabbing a hammer. They're great for working the top of the forearm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T01:57:06.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18715" CreationDate="2014-08-25T02:04:22.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you perform exercises that isolate the biceps. For example, one arm dumbbell curls. There are many other exercises you can perform, but, the point is to try and isolate the muscle.  Try to do 10 to 12 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T02:04:22.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11659" CreationDate="2014-08-25T07:51:48.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in this sport too, I am a team captain of a german club, from Berlin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So eveyone is always thinking about what is the best way to train and get better. Since I am studying fitness, I began to ask what sort of training would be the best, I talked to some of my professors and to collegues. I've been reading and thinking about it a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first conclusions are, in sport, espacially when you look at 1v1 in Poland or Russia, you are using your core. Just have a look at some famous fighters, like the Szatecki brothers from Poland, Ukolov from Russia, Panzerbär from Germany, those guys are using their ability to flex and give more powerful hits from the core of the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore it's necessary to traing the lumbar, the latissimus, the stomach at all sides and straight, because those are very important for the movement you need while fighting 1v1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's more about how long you can keep up and giving many hits. There are small chances to win by knockout in 1v1 - I just saw it once. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess u should train craftcondition. You njeed to train your muscles to last longer in fighting situations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 5v5 IO think there are some specific differences, you getting more hits, the fights are heavier and uglier, and you have to finish your opponent very fast, as fast as possible, because the next one isnt far away, even more so in 21v21 or 16v16. Here it's all about hypertrophy and maximum strentgh, all those things you can easily train in a gym, just improve your muscles and usual strength, but it should be a wholebody workout, because thats what bohurt is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If u want to talk about more about this topic, please feel free to add me on facebook, my name is Jonas Freese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10555" LastEditorUserId="4457" LastEditDate="2014-08-29T06:37:21.147" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T06:37:21.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18729" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18767" CreationDate="2014-08-25T08:52:31.840" Score="3" ViewCount="1746" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will be starting ICF 5x5 next month, however, If the only place you can store your power rack is outside, and consequently do your workouts, what would you say are 'must do's' for such a setup ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could one do to keep the equipment in decent shape considering midwestern weather ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any health risks, precautions to take, etc., on lifting weights outside during winter ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10556" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T12:07:05.037" Title="Power rack outside / 5x5 workout during winter" Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18731" CreationDate="2014-08-25T12:20:47.997" Score="5" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many online calculators for measuring walking/running/bicycling calories burn rate. They differ in input parameters like some might need my weight as well as height and some don't. Almost none take into account duration of the exercise (and this is crucial in my opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question here is: Where are these formulas (used in these calculators) coming from? Any scientific studies perhaps? Are they reliable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I would like to know what is the most accurate method available for measuring the burn rate (I'm only interested in the scientific part, not going to do this myself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10557" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2016-06-13T22:36:28.583" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T22:36:28.583" Title="Calories burn rate calculation -- scientific studies" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18730" CreationDate="2014-08-25T14:57:45.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most accurate method is direct calorimetry. This is basically a measurement (usually for 24 hours) of the heat produced by the human body. This is usually done in a sealed chamber to fully capture all heat produced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next up is indirect calorimetry, where the amount of oxygen consumed and CO2 produced is directly measured, which you can then use to get calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other equations that can estimate calorie burn as as follows (For the major ones, there are other minor ones available):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Harris-Benedict (Original)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Harris-Benedict (Revised)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cunningham&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Katch-McArdle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mifflin St Jeour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These were derived using testing and direct measurements to come up with broad based formulae. While probably not 100% accurate for everyone, they come pretty close. Most of your calorie burn calculators in various treadmills, etc., rely on one of these equations as their base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The formulae themselves are backed by a lot of research and refinement, however because no two people are alike, they may over or under represent calories burned on an individual basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I like the Katch-McArdle, with the Mifflin equation being nearly equal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These represent BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which accounts for 60-70% of the calories burned in a day. The other values for exercise have been usually pulled from a table, of which there are a few available. These are also somewhat generic, but they have been collated by using indirect calorimetry of individuals during various exercise bouts. So while they are general (like the BMR equations) they have been derived from direct sampling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T14:57:45.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18721" CreationDate="2014-08-25T15:08:46.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you enjoy, or what looks most appealing to you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing something you enjoy, whatever it is, means you will be much more likely to stick with it over the long term. If you don't know what you enjoy, try short courses of a bunch of different things. Most will help you get in better shape, and when you find something you really like, stick with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T15:08:46.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18733" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-25T15:50:11.547" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits of using ice for recovery? I have heard that you should not use ice, if the goal is to recover faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Sportdude" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T02:41:28.510" Title="Ice for recovery?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18715" CreationDate="2014-08-25T16:42:33.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definition comes from lowering your Body fat.  Chalking up my hands and doing heavy Deadlifting has given me more strength in my forearms than any isolated movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T16:42:33.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18733" CreationDate="2014-08-25T17:51:03.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The jury is currently out, so the best answer right now is either &quot;it depends&quot; or &quot;we don't know&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common lore is that it does three things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flushes waste items out of the muscles due to the restriction/release of the cold and then warming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce swelling and tissue impacts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow down the post trauma metabolic effects.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies on the subject have been mixed. One study on cyclists doing stage races (high intensity efforts over several consecutive days) showed increased recovery and benefits, another study on weightlifters reported increased second day pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There hasn't been a conclusive study one way or the other yet, so what I would do is find any studies done on icing and your particular sport, and/or try it out yourself to see how it works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My n=1 is that I used it quite extensively when rehabbing a ruptured Achille's, and it helped a lot with keeping swelling down and high mobility following sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T17:51:03.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25220" CreationDate="2014-08-25T19:02:41.643" Score="2" ViewCount="1172" Body="&lt;p&gt;During dead-lifts, when the barbell is in its highest position (off the ground), I'm loosing my grip. I try my best to hold tight, but I can't stop my fingers from uncurling from around the bar. During this, my right hand grip is still tight enough. It's because of this deficiency in grip strength that I'm unable to add more weight to the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I improve my grip strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="20490" LastEditDate="2019-03-18T07:59:06.870" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T07:59:06.870" Title="How can someone improve grip strength?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18720" CreationDate="2014-08-25T19:17:41.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;John Scheaffer, in his e-book &quot;The Greyskull LP,&quot; suggests that frequency method bodyweight exercise can be added to a linear progression (LP) with good result. Most importantly, the higher volume of bodyweight exercise can help with upper body hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scheaffer suggests never getting close to failure on frequency method bodyweight exercise. For example, if you can do seven good pull-ups, do six sets of four throughout the day. These are to be done every day, with one rest day per week. That should answer your first question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your second question, frequency method exercises are supplementary to your lifting program. In &quot;The Greyskull LP,&quot; they are add-ins to the barbell-focused LP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10406" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T19:17:41.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18639" CreationDate="2014-08-25T20:20:48.717" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I will give you an example of a good program: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes this program better than yours?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progression.&lt;/strong&gt; Your program does not specify how you will progress on the exercises. The routine I provided tells you to slowly add reps until you can do 3x8, then move to the next exercise in the progression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle balance.&lt;/strong&gt; Your program does not have a vertical push movement (shoulders) nor does it have a horizontal pull movement. The program above is more balanced with the addition of a handstand pushup progression and a horizontal row progression.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do like your program because of its simplicity. You probably don't &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; any different movements, but you will definitely need some clear concept of progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10406" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T20:20:48.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18749" CreationDate="2014-08-25T20:36:32.130" Score="0" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been getting into Nordic Skate skiing the last few years and have my first ski marathon coming up this winter.  I am looking for a book, website, magazine, etc that can help me prepare.  In particular I am looking for a resource to cover 1 or all of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-workouts&#xA;-nutrition&#xA;-advanced technique&#xA;-overall training program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does any one have any good suggestions of a resource I can use to guide my training?  Most books I have found so far are over 30 years old and therefore I'm not sure if they are still relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10473" LastEditorUserId="10532" LastEditDate="2014-08-28T13:14:29.717" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T13:14:29.717" Title="Nordic Skiing training program?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;books&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18715" CreationDate="2014-08-25T22:32:45.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well basically to build muscle you need to be lifting HEAVY, if you can do more than 10 reps, go up weight. to really tear the muscle and make it grow, train biceps twixce a week. do isolation exefcises such as bicep curls, do 5 sets of 10 reps, then continue with other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the main reason people who lift don't gain muscle is because they don't eat enough protein... not enough protein.. impossible for new musxcle to grow? as you are 190lbs you need to be eating 190 g of protein MINIMUM... tuna Is 17g, a cup of milk is 8.5g.... as you can see it is hard to meet the requiements, try a protein shake to assist this. and make sure you have it directly after you train. go up weighr every 3 weeks and always change routines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T22:32:45.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18639" CreationDate="2014-08-25T22:41:10.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long have you been performing those exercises? Are they intense for you? The reason I asked is &lt;em&gt;if you want to add new routines to the mix&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;want something different.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, &lt;strong&gt;YES!&lt;/strong&gt; Do include a running program also. None of your current exercises include &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;pure cardio exercises&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. You can also replace running with some plyometric exercises. Skipping, knee jumping, etc are good examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going by your current list, I would switch the order of the exercises to this:&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Planks.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Doing this first will warm your body towards the remaining of your exercises. Also, if your sessions are as intense as they ought, you certainly shouldn't be able to handle 1-2 mins plank session because the arms, chest, and core should be sore &lt;em&gt;(unless you have tons of rests in between)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squats.&lt;/strong&gt; Well, if you're performing this with the proper form &lt;em&gt;(and progressively increasing the weights)&lt;/em&gt;, this should increase your legs and shoulder mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push ups.&lt;/strong&gt; Since you're performing a shorter rep than the next exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chin ups.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(There's a difference between chin ups and push ups though. Performing them separately will greatly benefit you as well. Anecdotally, pull ups work your lats and shoulders more than chin ups). Since it's to failure.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(progressively increasing the weights)&lt;/em&gt;. Because until you start lifting higher weights, you won't really feel this exercise. But when you do, it feels good to know that rest is within sight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a new routine, I simply have 2 for starters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; It's free and you can perform it at home &lt;em&gt;(of course, it's always safe to have a spotter as your lifting weight increase. Or you can purchase a squatting rack)&lt;/em&gt;. All you need is a barbell, weights, bench-press bench, and a squatting rack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assistance bodyweight exercises&lt;/strong&gt;. If you're not exhausted from the above exercises, add bodyweight exercises to the mix. Again, include some plyometrics exercise into the mix as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm certain there are numerous exercises that can be suggested. But keeping the number of exercises to a minimum will vastly allow you to focus on a few exercises to reach your goal faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T22:41:10.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18742" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18743" CreationDate="2014-08-25T22:56:03.793" Score="3" ViewCount="29782" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes enjoy sitting in the sauna after my workout. But it seems whenever I do, I get a headache later in the evening. I use the sauna in the evening. I think I'm drinking enough water but maybe not? What else could be the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4052" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T23:37:16.050" Title="What causes headaches after using the sauna?" Tags="&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18742" CreationDate="2014-08-26T01:04:16.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert, but lack of hydration is usually the reason given for headaches after sauna.  Here are some points to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid alcohol and caffeine before and after a sauna.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water before, after and maybe even during a sauna.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replenish electrolytes. When you re-hydrate remember that it isn't just water that is lost but electrolytes also. Recommendations that I found include coconut water, fruit or fruit juice, sea salt and regular vitamin/mineral supplements to help replenish your electrolytes like sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try any of those to see if it makes a difference. Build up slowly and cool off with a cool shower afterwards. If those don't make a difference, check with your doctor. Heat can be a trigger for some people who have migraines.  Also it may not just be a factor of the heat and hydration, it may be the type of sauna that is affecting you. Check on the type of sauna you are using - &quot;wet vs dry&quot;, or &quot;conventional vs infrared&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T01:04:16.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18747" CreationDate="2014-08-26T06:09:53.247" Score="8" ViewCount="19708" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to lift my girlfriend in arms and hold her while walking for a while. It of course shouldn't seem struggling and I should be able to talk, laugh or even kiss while doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEOlo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises should I focus on? I'm already squatting (80% my bodyweight) and deadlifting (little more than my bodyweight) as part of Starting Strength program. What else should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T17:44:47.683" Title="How to become good at lifting and holding my girlfriend in arms?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18744" CreationDate="2014-08-26T06:41:14.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An idea would be to just start lifting your girlfriend already in addition to your current weight work. Keep lifting her until your have the strength to hold the lift with some stability for a good period of time - perhaps 10-20 seconds would be a good start. Then start adding in the movements such as walking while holding, walking and kissing while holding and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all progression work and will take time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you're at it, do some core work as well which will help with stability. Planks, weighted planks, hanging leg raies, sit ups, crunches, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T06:41:14.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18744" CreationDate="2014-08-26T08:45:02.743" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats and deadlifts target the lower body, not upper, which is what you need to focus on in order to develop the arm strength to carry a person like that.  Bicep curls, pull-ups, overhead shoulder press, rows, bench press...these develop upper body strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, lifting a person is not at all like lifting a rigid weight.  People are soft, lumpy, amorphous--and a lot more difficult to grip and carry, unlike a barbell.  So you'll need to practice on a real person in addition to weight training.  There are a lot of stabilizing muscles that you'll engage when practicing on a real person as opposed to a barbell; however, you will need to develop enough strength in the primary muscles first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, it all depends on how much your girlfriend actually weighs.  A 110 lb. person will be a lot easier to work with than a 170 lb. person.  It also depends on how much &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; helps you out by holding on to you.  A person who goes limp is a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt; harder to carry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T08:45:02.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18744" CreationDate="2014-08-26T11:11:21.670" Score="11" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm already squatting (80% my bodyweight) and deadlifting (little more than my bodyweight) as part of Starting Strength program. What else should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely nothing. Keep squatting until you're squatting 150% of your bodyweight. Keep deadlifting until you're lifting twice your bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you reach those goals it would be reasonable to consider adding activity-specific training like farmer's walks, Atlas stone lifting, and odd-object carries. Until then, trying to find additional work will only distract from getting strong in the basics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T12:13:11.423" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T12:13:11.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-26T06:38:21.070" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Climbing strongly trains your upper back, your forearms, biceps, legs and upper back. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/muscles-worked-during-rock-climbing-3416.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/muscles-worked-during-rock-climbing-3416.html&lt;/a&gt;) However,&#xA;if you don't pay any attention to your training effort you might get a &lt;em&gt;climber's back&lt;/em&gt; or suffer other injuries due to an unbalanced muscle structure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which muscles you need to train additionally for climbing to avoid unbalances?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7661" OwnerDisplayName="Jon" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T14:47:37.130" Title="Which muscles you need to train additionally for climbing to avoid unbalances?" Tags="&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-08-27T02:03:31.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18739" CreationDate="2014-08-26T13:36:52.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start off you should be doing a lot of dry land training now. i.e. running, if you have roller skies you should be using them now. For a 42-50k Ski race I would consider running at least a half-marathon running race. You should be cross training throughout the summer months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought a pair V2 and OneWay roller skies here &lt;a href=&quot;http://xcski.gearwest.com/category/skate-roller-skis/400465/393504/394270&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://xcski.gearwest.com/category/skate-roller-skis/400465/393504/394270&lt;/a&gt; You can also rent roller skies for the season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a great resource for training ideas&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nordicskiracer.com/training101.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nordicskiracer.com/training101.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More resources&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skipost.com/training.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.skipost.com/training.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are training programs.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.xczone.com/skifitnesstrg.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.xczone.com/skifitnesstrg.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For advanced technique I would consider taking some ski lessons. We live in the Twin Cities and there are some great coaches and teachers along with groups you can join. We have a number of groups that meet on Meetup.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T13:36:52.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18750" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-26T13:52:56.987" Score="6" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use to work out 5-6days a week, 80-90mins, where I did weight training. I have a good physique, however I never had well defined abs. Now I'm working hard towards abs. I do abs workout every other day and cardio after workout. Also started swimming once a week. My diet is healthy as well. Eating less carbs and more high protein foods. Protein shake after workout and early morning. I can notice the difference on my body with the abs workout and cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout other body parts as well but not as often. Because I'm spending more time on my abs than other body parts and doing more cardio (25mins), I'm worried I will loss the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any tips on how I could schedule my routine so I could keep my body muscles and have a good visible six-pack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food I should eat before going bed or any time during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9901" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-06-24T10:47:51.430" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T10:47:51.430" Title="Tips on having six packs and losing fat and keeping the muscles I have" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1813" CreationDate="2014-08-26T14:40:42.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same thing happen and what I had to do was I found out what my one rep regular max was then I took 50% of that to do my slow motion workout. then I kept records and whenever I would stall I would do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10562" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T14:40:42.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18748" CreationDate="2014-08-26T14:47:37.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always train antagonizing muscle groups for best attempts at maintaining balance. In other words, if you are training a muscle that moves your body in one direction, train the muscles that will move it back into the original position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps flex your arm - Triceps extend them.&#xA;Forearms flex your wrists - your Extensors raise them back into place.&#xA;Etcetera. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This opposing force strength training will keep certain imbalances in check. However, you should also stretch all of your muscle groups well. This will prevent injuries and imbalances also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T14:47:37.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18757" CreationDate="2014-08-26T15:42:50.320" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very sorry for the title, please help me correct it, can't figure a better one! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been practicing this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voVahaOGp-4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shoulder workout&lt;/a&gt; of Mike Chang, and getting some positive results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder can i apply this &quot;rythm&quot; for other workout, i mean in the above link, the workout follows this order : 12 reps - 8 reps - 6 reps - 4 reps - 2 reps , 10 seconds rest between,  while i normally follow this order : 4 rounds, 12 reps each round, 1 minute rest between &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10456" LastEditorUserId="10456" LastEditDate="2014-08-26T16:26:47.243" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T18:59:55.620" Title="Wondering about workout &quot;rythm&quot;" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18761" CreationDate="2014-08-26T17:18:11.347" Score="3" ViewCount="27361" Body="&lt;p&gt;why can't I do a push up or pull up??I am not a fat  guy but I can't do a single push up or pull up,I can lift pair  of dumbbell of 20 kg and do 3 sets of 20 but I can't do more than 5 push up or pull ups why??It has been a  month now but still I can't do it &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10564" LastEditorUserId="10564" LastEditDate="2014-08-26T18:10:24.520" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T02:27:37.757" Title="why can't I do push up or pull up?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18753" CreationDate="2014-08-26T18:59:55.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are describing is a classic pyramid style rep scheme.  The fact that Chang is using minimal rest times is what's a little different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Classic pyramid rep scheme usually goes up in weight each set, but rest times are longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chang's pyramid rep scheme uses &lt;em&gt;fatigue&lt;/em&gt; for the increased challenge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Combines training and conditioning into the workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you apply the approach to other exercises?  Absolutely.  You may have to adjust the between set time based on how much time it takes to get into position, but it's not a bad way to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just understand that no training style will work forever.  When you stop getting results change to a different approach.  When that stops working you might be able to come back to this and start seeing results again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T18:59:55.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18729" CreationDate="2014-08-26T19:12:55.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Starting Strengh website has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/training_in_cold_weather#.U_zaKGcWlc4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bill Starr article on the subject&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He basically says that it's no big deal and the body will adapt.  There's a bit on the second page about warmups, where he recommends doing some cardio, followed by some dynamic stretching, and extra warmup sets on the lifts.  Muscle rub is also recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a bit about diet, making sure you get your fluids and vitamins, and also drinking some warm liquid during training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't mention much about equipment, but I suppose that would depend a lot on the nature of the particular equipment and how damp it's going to get.  Rubberized plates would probably be fine in any environment, etc.  Perhaps another answerer will be able to give more input here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4351" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T19:12:55.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18755" CreationDate="2014-08-26T19:16:11.983" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first question I would have to ask you is are you 40 kg or less?  The reason you have a hard time with these body weight exercises is because the resistance of your body is more than you are currently used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get stronger, you will be able to do more.  Before I started losing weight, I could barely get 5 push ups at 138 kg body weight, but now I can do 20 at 130 kg body weight.  I've been working at both losing weight and the pushups since the spring (it's late summer now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some exercises are just very difficult to do, but even more so if you are a woman.  Pull ups are very difficult for me, but I do know a number of guys who can do them well.  The number of women I know who can do pull ups I can count on one hand.  It takes a lot of dedicated work to build up the strength needed to do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some tips that will help you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work on a progression.&lt;/strong&gt;  You can start with an easier variation until you can do 4 sets of 8 with that variation.  Then change to a more strict variation and work back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Add more sets in the beginning.&lt;/strong&gt;  You might only be able to do a couple repetitions at a time.  However, you get stronger by doing more, so do multiple sets of the reps when you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to increase the total repetitions over time.&lt;/strong&gt;  When you add up all the repetitions you've done on any given day, try to add at least one rep every week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's several approaches that can help you, but one that I've seen help a number of people is called &quot;ladders&quot;.  The idea is that you are working with a partner, and you only rest for the time it takes your partner to finish their set.  If you are by yourself, try to rest about the same time that you were working.  With that in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first set is just one rep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each set you try to add a rep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you can't add any more reps, start subtracting a rep each set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning you might only be able to work up to a set of 3.  But you've done 1+2+3+3+2+1 = 12 reps total that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you practice it at least once or twice a week, you'll be surprised at how soon you'll be able to perform the push ups and pull ups at a level you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T19:16:11.983" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18755" CreationDate="2014-08-26T21:11:34.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight exercises depend on, well, your body weight--specifically, how much strength you have relative to the weight you are moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it makes you feel better, when I started out I couldn't do more than five push-ups nor more than one pull-up.  Now I can do at least 20 push-ups in a set (I have not actually tried doing them until exhaustion) and about 10 pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did I make this change?  Simple:  I didn't do those exercises.  Instead, I did exercises that worked similar muscle groups but at less weight than what my body weight would require.  So for example, I did bench presses, both with dumbbells and the barbell.  Started out real light, somewhere around 60 lbs, and worked my way up.  I also did lat pulldowns with the cable machine, again starting somewhere around 60 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bicep curls are fun but they don't hit all the required muscle groups for push-ups or pull-ups, which are primarily chest and back exercises with arm involvement in the shoulder, biceps, and triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more general point is that bodyweight exercises are great because you don't necessarily need a lot of equipment to do them, but the downside is that their difficulty level is not easily quantified as in the case with barbell, dumbbell, or cable weight exercises.  I'd encourage you to focus on compound lifts like the bench press, squats, deadlifts, and rows, rather than isolating exercises like curls.  Progression of difficulty is also an important factor.  If you are not increasing weight steadily, you won't continue to adapt and gain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T21:11:34.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18775" CreationDate="2014-08-26T23:48:05.780" Score="3" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been climbing for a little while now, strength is improving thanks to gym sessions to top up climbing sessions but the campus board seems to be to beginner climbers like the sun to Icarus.  It's safe to look from afar, but don't get too close!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what do I need to be able to do before I can safely start to work on a campus board?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming a good, safe progression would be hanging, then statically walking up one and down one, increasing that number before looking at the dynamic\plyometric training I see the grown-ups doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5347" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T22:19:27.607" Title="When\how to start to train on a campus board" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;&lt;plyometrics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18768" CreationDate="2014-08-27T01:23:22.117" Score="2" ViewCount="1152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been sedentary for a long time and am currently working on becoming healthier. I'm lifting (SL 5x5) to increase my muscle mass while still losing small amounts of fat. But as part of getting healthier overall, I'd like to increase my cardiovascular fitness. Is my lifting routine sufficient to reach a reasonable level of cardio fitness or should I supplement with cardio specific training? (Which, if I have to, will probably be HIIT in the form of sprints, because I hate endurance running.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be a dumb question, but Medhi, the SL guy, basically says that SL is enough for cardio fitness. To me, that seems a little dubious and counter to common knowledge, so I thought I'd ask just to see. Not that common knowledge in fitness is often correct...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me: My BF is about 20 and my BMI is about 29. Down from about 25 and 33, respectively, 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2014-08-27T01:33:38.883" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T12:56:21.453" Title="Is heavy compound lifting enough for cardio fitness?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18763" CreationDate="2014-08-27T05:05:28.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is certainly some cardiovascular benefit to lifting weights, but it isn't a whole lot compared to sustained aerobic exercise.  The other thing is that each person's response to exercise is different--it depends on hormone levels, genetics, diet, age, prior experience with exercise, etc.  So what works for one person may not work the same for another.  You have to find out what works for you, not what someone claims should work for anyone or most anybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning stages of exercise after a sedentary period, it is relatively easy to see gains.  Almost anything is going to have a positive impact and that's good.  This is what you're seeing in your measurement changes.  Also keep in mind there is a certain amount of...imprecision in body fat and BMI measurements depending on the method used to calculate these numbers.  If you are lifting, a better measure of your progress is to measure body dimensions using a tape measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardiovascular exercise, I wouldn't go crazy with it:  unless your goal is to run triathlons (which are pretty rough on the body), endurance training is not necessarily a good way to achieve your fitness goals.  If what you want is actual cardiovascular fitness--and by this I mean lowered resting heart rate, pulse, BP, higher VO2max, higher RBC count--then that develops with aerobic exercise in all its forms, just as increased strength and muscle development comes with weight training in all its forms.  If weight loss is you goal, &lt;strong&gt;proper diet&lt;/strong&gt; is the key.  In fact, I would say proper diet is the key for ANY fitness goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T05:05:28.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18763" CreationDate="2014-08-27T09:52:25.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength training will improve your cardio fitness above no training at all, but it won't be very good compared to actual cardio training. In order to improve your cardio fitness you need to push your pulmonary/cardiovascular system past its comfort zone just like you push your muscular/skeletal system to improve your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The problem with strength training is that you do not sustain higher heart rates for very long periods of time&lt;/strong&gt; (during the lifting) and allow too much rest in between while you allow your muscle to recover. You can convince yourself of that by wearing a heart rate monitor during training. You'll probably discover that your average rate during a session is not very high and that your rate only spikes for very short periods during lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To really improve your cardio fitness you need to sustain high heart rate for reasonable periods of time&lt;/strong&gt;. HIIT is a good way to maximize the return of any time spent doing cardio work. Keep in mind that cardio work might require you to adjust your diet a bit to ensure you replenish your glycogen levels adequately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T09:52:25.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18729" CreationDate="2014-08-27T12:07:05.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train in my garage, so the only thing I have to worry about is humidity.  On the eastern seaboard of the US, that's a big concern in the summer.  So with that, I can say the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You do adapt to the weather, hot or cold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can heat up quicker in the summer, so make sure you have plenty of water on hand, and if possible a fan to keep air moving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar can be hard to hold at first in the winter, but it will warm up.  If you can use a space heater, it should take the edge off--although it won't ever be truly warm.  You can start with a sweat shirt, and remove it if you need to after you get warmed up.  Even in the dead of winter I haven't needed anything warmer than that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest enemy of metal in the outdoors is moisture.  That can come in the form of humidity, rain, dew, sweat, etc.  When storing equipment outside you'll want to do your best to protect it from the elements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get tarps to cover the equipment when you aren't using it.  That should help protect from the rain, and possibly dew.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wipe down the equipment before and after use if it is damp at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you see rust start to appear, treat it immediately.  The bar should be treated with 3-in-1 oil and a wire brush (wipe down to remove excess oil and rust particles).  You can use any rust removal product on the rack or plates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Occasionally, you'll have to re-treat metal plates.  After dealing with the rust, apply a fresh coat of Rustoleum spray paint (or any brand that has rust protection in the formula).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical security for your training equipment is also something worth considering.  I know of someone who had a bunch of equipment stolen out of their barn.  At the very least, bring your bar indoors after training, and see if you can get some cable locks for the rack.  You might be able to fashion a wooden storage box with a lock on it for the plates when they are not in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T12:07:05.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18763" CreationDate="2014-08-27T12:56:21.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quick answer is: it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be if you approach it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This may be a dumb question, but Medhi, the SL guy, basically says that SL is enough for cardio fitness. To me, that seems a little dubious and counter to common knowledge, so I thought I'd ask just to see. Not that common knowledge in fitness is often correct...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medhi's basic program is good for building strength, but he markets it like an infomercial.  He promises everything to everyone, so either he knows better and is purposefully writing click bait or he doesn't know better and doesn't want to learn.  This is my biggest problem with the StrongLifts site.  I got my start using StrongLifts, so I know that it works and what it's limitations are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to use barbell exercises to train cardiovascularly, then you need to change your approach.  StrongLifts won't be the right tool, particularly if you need long rest times to recover enough to do the next set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use a heart rate monitor:&lt;/strong&gt;  you need to know how hard your heart is working, and keep it within a certain range most of the time.  When I train with cardio in mind, I'm trying to keep my heart rate between 120 and 150 BPM most of the time.  During a hard exercise it might go over, but I'll at least let it come back down to 150 BPM before I move on to the next exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;User circuit training or barbell complexes:&lt;/strong&gt;  these two tools are very similar in nature, but vary a little in mindset.  Both have 2 or more exercises in a full set.  You'll do one set of each exercise before resting for the next super-set.  The main difference between them is that a barbell complex has the concept that you pick the barbell up and don't set it down until you finish with the whole superset.  That means you are using the same weight as you flow from one exercise to the next.  Circuit training lets you change tools and weights, but you still need to keep it moving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plan your overall training to balance cardio and strength:&lt;/strong&gt; you can do primary movements normally and then use circuit training for your assistance work.  Or you can have one or two days devoted to cardio training and one or two days devoted to strength work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things I'm not crazy about with both StrongLifts and Starting Strength is that the programs breed impatience in the people doing them.  You get so used to increasing weight every time you do an exercise that when it's no longer possible you're in a quandary as to what to do about it.  Even as a beginner, training to progress once a week will keep you going a lot longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to balance your approach a bit and train for weekly progression in the beginning.  If you are training 3x a week, then a reasonable shell of a program would be something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Main lift, then use circuit training for the 2-4 assistance exercises and train 3x a week.  Goal is to add 5lbs a week to each of the main lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats 24-25 reps (any set/rep scheme will work, try for longer sets at first and shorten the length of each set as you need to)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Circuit: Romanian Deadlifts (3x8), pushups (3x as many as possible [AMAP]), hip thrusts (3x12)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press 24-25 reps, same set/rep requirements as squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Circuit: Front squats (3x5), Push Press (3x5), Pull Ups (3x AMAP)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts: 5-6 reps, same set/rep requirements as squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Circuit: Pause squats (3x5), close grip bench press (3x8), Farmer's walk 3x30 ft&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The approach above is similar in spirit to SL and SS, but the work is spread out and incorporates circuit training after the main lift.  With the circuit training, wait until your heart rate gets down to about 120 BPM before starting the next super-set.  If you need a breather between each exercise (something I need at over 40 years old) then wait till the heart rate goes down to about 150 BPM before starting the next exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The assistance exercises listed above are more guidelines.  Feel free to change out parts or add an exercise or two to build up weaknesses.  Just focus on higher reps and lighter weights with the assistance work and don't increase weight on them until what you are using just feels too light all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rough outline I gave you is more focused on building strength and cardio using barbells/dumbbells/machines, etc.  If one of the exercises proves too difficult (like pull ups) feel free to substitute for something that hits the same muscle groups or do partials or use assistance.  Your approach to training will evolve over time, particularly as you change the focus of your training.  The outline I gave is also centered around the power lifting focus that SL/SS both employ.  If you want to incorporate work that's inspired by a different strength sport, feel free.  The only caveat is that the main exercises should be compound lifts that work the whole body if possible.  If you want to substitute the military press instead of bench press, there is no harm or foul.  If you are fatigued one day, cut down on the reps for the assistance work but try to keep the main work the same.  If the fatigue is really bad, drop the assistance work altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T12:56:21.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-27T19:48:27.353" Score="17" ViewCount="3358" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose I want to do 50 pushups. I could do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 sets of 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 sets of 25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of 50&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Each option is more difficult than the last. But is it more beneficial?&lt;/strong&gt; Is it &quot;more pain, more gain&quot;, or would I benefit just as much from the easier sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Clarification&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As one user pointed out, from a physics perspective, the total amount of work is the same in each case, which is why I asked this question. But my understanding is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html&quot;&gt;building muscle requires damaging it via exercise&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When muscles undergo intense exercise, as from a resistance training&#xA;  bout, there is trauma to the muscle fibers that is referred to as&#xA;  muscle injury or damage in scientific investigations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is essentially: &lt;strong&gt;&quot;doing more pushups in a row hurts more - does that mean it causes more damage and thus stimulates more growth?&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; For example, does a buildup of lactic acid contribute to damaging the muscle fibers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10578" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-09-11T02:34:28.710" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T02:34:28.710" Title="For the same number of repetitions, does it build more muscle to do fewer sets?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18771" CreationDate="2014-08-27T19:55:46.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more repetitions you can do, the more you are moving towards endurance training. That is to say, you will develop muscles that can perform the same motion over and over without tiring as easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heavier weight with fewer repetitions is more for building muscle mass. That being said, just performing 10 sets of push-ups for 5 repetitions will not build muscle mass unless your body perceives your body weight as &quot;heavy&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can perform 5 push ups and feel like you've done nothing, you would not build muscle or move toward that endurance state. So really, it is relative to how your body responds to the stress placed upon it. For comparison sake, look at endurance runner's legs (think 1 set of 50 repetitions) versus a sprinter's legs (think 1 set of 5 reps). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T19:55:46.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-27T21:55:26.630" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a cyclist and love the longer rides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days I'm pretty careful on nutrition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKhkvSRQZYo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;avoid hitting the wall&lt;/a&gt; and if I'm honest haven't actually hit the wall in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm informed that endurance can be increased to allow you to go &quot;longer on less&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What training techniques are specifically good at increasing this kind of endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10232" LastEditorUserId="10232" LastEditDate="2014-08-28T10:25:20.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T05:32:49.167" Title="What is good training to extend endurance before hitting the wall" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18365" CreationDate="2014-08-27T22:02:01.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body &quot;selects&quot; the substrate for fuel on the amount of time that it has to provide energy to sustain the exercise, and the amount of oxygen available to use in the conversion process. At lower intensities, fat (both stored and circulating ffa {free fatty acids}) is the preferred source, with carbohydrates in minimal proportions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get higher in intensity and heart rate, the proportions start to switch, until at all out maximal levels (anaerobic), you are getting 100% from stored glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone want's to know what their &quot;fat burning zone&quot; is, and the answer is that it's all of them. Exercise for 30 minutes at X level and you will get 75% from fat. However, if you exercise for the same amount of time at Z level, you will get 45% from fat, but because of the oddities of percentages and training and calories, you may burn slightly more fat calories with the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line, however, is that fat reduction is a function of calorie intake compared to calorie burn, and quality calorie intake (Rather than junk food). Study after study has proven that it's not the specific type of diet (paleo, atkins, etc) that makes as much difference as simple calorie reduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also depends some on the type of exercise. For example, running at a 10 met level will burn more calories than cycling at a 10 met level (MET = metabolic equivalent, it's used to figure out energy burned during exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you want to maximize fat loss, figure out your goal weight, eat a clean diet and burn more calories than you consume. Lather rinse repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-08-27T22:09:53.133" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T22:09:53.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18762" CreationDate="2014-08-28T00:44:39.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the campus board setup. Nice setups often have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The campus boards on an over hang with wooden slats underneath for your feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And various sets of grips. The easiest is very positive and the hardest probably has nothing to wrap your fingers around at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The slats help you scale down the exercises so you don't have to do them legless. So you can start using them now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you really just do patterns. Starting with both hands on the same rung:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One hand up, match, other hand up. Go as high as possible, remembering to have enough energy to come back down. Come back down the reverse way. One hand down, match, other hand down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One hand up, match. First hand down, match. Repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep one hand on the same rung. Move the opposite hand up one rung. Keep moving the same hand up until you can't go any higher. At your limit, cut loose with your feet and then put your feet back on the same rung. Match your top hand with the lower hand directly. Do other side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reach up with one hand as high as possible. Then campus down with that same hand until you match on the starting rung. Do other hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lots of other ideas and patterns ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can just add variations as you get better. For example, with the first pattern, go up 2 rungs or go up in a pattern 1 - 2 - 3. When you are even stronger, go legless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good resource is the book &quot;Gimme Kraft&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kraft is german for strength or power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="284" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T00:44:39.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18771" CreationDate="2014-08-28T09:07:40.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a recent article written by Jerry Brainum(a golden era body builder and researcher) , he talks exactly about this . The effect of repetitions on muscle growth . &lt;a href=&quot;http://appliedergogenics.blogspot.in/2014/08/one-set-three-sets-or-more-which-is.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One set, three sets, or more: Which is best for strength and muscle gains? by Jerry Brainum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What he states in the article is that, the effect of lesser number of sets and more number of sets are almost equal . He mentions the studies that were conducted supporting this.But in no way he says that one should do only lesser number of sets as such is not concluded by science and more studies need to be conducted.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So I would say that more sets or less , is still debatable and you need to see what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastEditorUserId="4449" LastEditDate="2014-08-31T17:41:05.137" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T17:41:05.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6193" CreationDate="2014-08-28T10:04:23.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Increase in height is not an issue if you really like your body and accept it. Although in some cases like sports/ work(armed forces) requires you to have a min height which is different based on their rules and regulations to which you cannot avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally the height of the body grows during the period of 13-19 years of age approx.(Depending on the gender Male or Female) During this age period if the body get's the required supplements as well as the exercise then the body starts to grow in height. Sometimes even if your hereditary genes lack growth by proper excise in this time you can even overcome the height limit which was not seen in your previous generations.( i.e. you tend to be taller then your old generations)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the height of the person is also limited based on the region which they were born.(not meant to be racial but like for region's In the eastern side of the world  it's just the kind of proteins or the supplements which is abundant in the area through food and water which your body absorbs correct me if I am wrong ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might increase the height  of the body up to the age of 22 or 24 max only if it's a matter of few inches like in 5Ft 4inch can be increased to 5Ft 7inch or even 5Ft 8 inch.Although that's not a huge difference but still in the end you have gained / improved your height which matter's the most for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just follow the above exercises properly and maintain an healthy diet for your bones and your body as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T10:04:23.613" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18657" CreationDate="2014-08-28T11:48:55.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main reason for avoiding high glycemic foods, is to avoid the risk of high triglycerides, which tends to result in accumulation of body fat (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11602065&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11602065&lt;/a&gt;). Foods that are high in fat, also lead to an increase in blood triglycerides (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/lowering-triglyceride-levels&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/lowering-triglyceride-levels&lt;/a&gt;). Accordingly, if you're avoiding high glycemic foods, it makes sense to also avoid high fat foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10583" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T11:48:55.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14850" CreationDate="2014-08-28T15:58:58.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My search results cannot produce any scientific studies of the kind you seek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the best explanations for the link between red meat and cancer (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Red-meat-and-colon-cancer.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Red-meat-and-colon-cancer.shtml&lt;/a&gt;), suggest that the link is not body fat. Eating lean portions would not make much difference. Fibre seems to moderate the cancerous effect of red meat. I speculate that exercising might help a bit, because it speeds up peristalsis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10583" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T15:58:58.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14850" CreationDate="2014-08-28T17:36:59.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though this is a bit off topic, I was interested so I did some research.  There are a number of scholarly articles on the subject (actually, this is a just a small subset -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=nlm%20red%20meat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;look for yourself&lt;/a&gt;).  Let me summarize some for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Red meat consumption and mortality: results from 2 prospective cohort studies:&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22412075&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total, CVD, and cancer mortality. Substitution of other healthy protein sources for red meat is associated with a lower mortality risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dietary lean red meat and human evolution:&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10918988&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lean meat is a healthy and beneficial component of any well-balanced diet as long as it is fat trimmed and consumed as part of a varied diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Red meat intake and cancer risk: a study in Italy:&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10760833&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For none of the neoplasms considered was there a significant inverse&#xA;  relationship with red meat intake. Thus, reducing red meat intake&#xA;  might lower the risk for several common neoplasms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meat intake and cause-specific mortality: a pooled analysis of Asian prospective cohort studies:&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23902788&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ecological data indicate an increase in meat intake in Asian&#xA;  countries; however, our pooled analysis did not provide evidence of a&#xA;  higher risk of mortality for total meat intake and provided evidence&#xA;  of an inverse association with red meat, poultry, and fish/seafood.&#xA;  Red meat intake was inversely associated with CVD mortality in men and&#xA;  with cancer mortality in women in Asian countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Red meat and colorectal cancer: a critical summary of prospective epidemiologic studies:&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20663065&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Colinearity between red meat intake and other dietary factors (e.g.&#xA;  Western lifestyle, high intake of refined sugars and alcohol, low&#xA;  intake of fruits, vegetables and fibre) and behavioural factors (e.g.&#xA;  low physical activity, high smoking prevalence, high body mass index)&#xA;  limit the ability to analytically isolate the independent effects of&#xA;  red meat consumption. Because of these factors, the currently&#xA;  available epidemiologic evidence is not sufficient to support an&#xA;  independent positive association between red meat consumption and&#xA;  colorectal cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My Conclusions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what you're getting at is summarized well in the last excerpt.  Unfortunately, it's very difficult to get a control group for a study that would conclusively answer your question. The evidence presented in the &quot;Asian&quot; and &quot;Italian&quot; studies seems to suggest there is no correlation.  I chose these articles because of their geographical elements. It seems like European and Asian lifestyles don't correlate as strongly to diet-related cancers as American lifestyles (as the studies suggest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be too little evidence to really draw any absolute conclusions.  As the saying goes: correlation does not infer causation.  It seems that lifestyle is the real killer here.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-08-28T17:43:29.853" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T17:43:29.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-28T20:10:01.687" Score="1" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/basics/definition/con-20019948&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;peripheral neuropathy&lt;/a&gt; in my feet and can't feel anything touching my skin. I can feel pressure when it is applied. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What extra safety precautions should I take when starting a running program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-09-02T07:26:50.553" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T07:26:50.553" Title="How to prevent injuries when running with peripheral neuropathy?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-09-02T00:35:53.620" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-28T22:50:37.473" Score="1" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a female, 145 pounds, 170cm tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out 5 days a week doing 1 hour cardio &amp;amp; 1 hour lifting.&#xA;I began this training program about 2.5 months ago...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am having trouble developing muscle in my biceps, although I have a little amount of muscle, I want more for the amount of work I do...&#xA;Any tips on how to accelerate my growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently do about 4x10 of biceps curls&#xA;3x10 standing barbell curls&#xA;and 3x10 of when you have a straight arm and left it in towards your boob (not sure what its called)&#xA;&amp;amp; some for back with use biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usally use about 5kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would it better to try and do 8 reps of 6kg, and then15 reps of 4 kg, then 20 reps of 2kg... without resting. I have heard this is really good for tearing muscles? I have enough protein &amp;amp; sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T16:09:39.880" Title="Advice for training biceps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18784" CreationDate="2014-08-28T23:25:15.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your biceps are not going to grow if you're in a caloric deficit. You can only &lt;strong&gt;preserve&lt;/strong&gt; the muscle you already have while your body sheds fat. Eventually your biceps will appear more toned as you lose fat and retain the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to &lt;strong&gt;grow&lt;/strong&gt; your biceps, you'll need to stop cutting and go on a bulk. Eat at a caloric surplus and lift heavy and you'll put on muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't do both, though. You can't lose fat and grow muscle. It's one or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, you'd do well not to obsess too much about particular body parts. 2.5 months isn't that much time in the grand scheme of things where people spend years in the gym honing their bodies. Be patient. Don't fall into the trap of continually adjusting your routine because you're yearning for quicker results. There's only so much you can do in a short time period. Ultimately you have to just put in the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8659" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T23:25:15.400" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18787" CreationDate="2014-08-29T03:16:18.817" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm naturally built and toned, and I was a swimmer. My arms have retained that, but through college my stomach has put on some weight. I'm now around 200 pounds at 5'10&quot;. Some is probably due to muscle, but I want to take off 30 pounds (that's my goal, if I get my body back before that I'll stop).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ate out twice a day for the past five years and didn't eat breakfast (mostly McD, Chick fil a, etc..). Now, as of three days ago, my diet is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breakfast: two boiled eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lunch and dinner: a store-bought salad, a carrot, an orange, some cheese, and some type of meat (tonight I had 1.5 burgers). I drink water. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I read a low carb diet was good, so I cut out all wheat / starch, including bread.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I allow some wine in moderation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm usually starving by dinner time (though today, because of exceptional reasons at work, I didn't eat lunch, and I seemed to be mostly fine until dinner). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to start swimming (an hour of intense swimming) in the mornings again. I want to know how this will affect my diet. Should I add more sugars / starches / calories to my diet to keep up the energy level? I can't always wake up (practice is at 5:30 AM), so is it best to just eat the extra food the day of swimming, or should I eat it the night before and hope I wake up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had to watch what I eat, so this whole dieting thing seems complex. For the record, I had swam at this same place for about 2 months (average 3 times a week), and I would guess I lost about half my weight (gained it all back). During this time, I continued to eat out but occasionally was forced to go to Walmart because my exercise made me not want fast food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Comments on my diet in general are welcome as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10586" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T23:11:10.603" Title="How to Change My Diet When I Add Exercise" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18786" CreationDate="2014-08-29T03:52:50.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm now around 200 pounds at 5'10&quot;... but I want to take off 30 pounds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds like a reasonable goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to start swimming (an hour of intense swimming) in the mornings again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds like a reasonable way to achieve that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I add more calories to my diet to keep up the energy level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Danger!&lt;/strong&gt; Your diet looks fine as it is, you want to lose weight, not maintain it. So adding more calories will only slow your progress. Go online and calculate your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;total daily energy expenditure&lt;/a&gt;, then track what you are eating and make sure your daily calorie intake is less than your energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating to compensate for exercise is usually counter-productive as people overestimate the calories expended by exercise and underestimate the calories in what they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T03:52:50.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18784" CreationDate="2014-08-29T03:59:20.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Lift big to get big&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This goes for every muscle, biceps, quads, triceps, back, front, and side-to-side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aim for 3-5 set of 8-12 reps at least twice a week, and try to increase the amount you lift consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/BicepsBrachii.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the biceps are responsible for more than just elbow flexion, but also for wrist supination&lt;/a&gt;. So I'd recommend doing dumbbells biceps curls, holding the dumbbell so your palms face your thighs at the bottom of the movement and as you raise them twist your wrist so your palm faces your shoulders at the top of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T03:59:20.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18789" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31703" CreationDate="2014-08-29T06:44:03.500" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a video of a guy catastrophically fail at benching and drop the bar from an almost locked position. I also learned that he later died of internal injuries. He even had 3 spotters, so I no longer consider spotters to be a reliable fail safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I always knew this was a possibility if one fails in an uncontrolled manner, but I'd always assumed that when someone stalls they can just slowly lower the bar back to their chest, then do the &quot;roll of shame&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key difference between what he was doing and what I do is that I never max at bench. I always work in the 5 rep range. So my question is: how concerned do I need to be about catastrophically failing like that in a submaximal rep range? Will one always be able to slowly lower a stalled lift in higher ranges or should one lift in a power rack if they want 100% safety?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T09:01:30.753" Title="Submaximal benching: are failed reps always controlled?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18783" CreationDate="2014-08-29T07:47:20.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with everyone's comments above - check with your doctor to see if walking and/or running would be appropriate for your condition.  And working with a physical therapist would help you establish an appropriate exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without good sensation, one of the biggest problems you could face is skin problems. Even a simple blister can turn into a big problem if you can't feel the irritation. Also lack of sensation may lead to balance problems, risk of injury and increased risk of falling.  You would certainly need your doctor's clearance before even trying running because depending on the cause or your neuropathy, you could make matters worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your doctor gives you the go ahead here are some things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you haven't already started a good walking program, you may want to start with that to see how you do.  You would need to start gradually, beginning with short walks to see how your feet respond.  Check your skin carefully to look for any irritation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wearing appropriate socks (absorbent, not too tight, soft, cotton) and shoes that fit well with enough padding would be important.  If balance is a problem, walking with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;walking poles&lt;/a&gt; could give you more stability and give you a better workout because they add more trunk and arm muscles to your exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If walking is a problem, you may want to consider alternative exercises like a stationary cycle, swimming, yoga or tai chi.  Best of luck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T07:47:20.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18789" CreationDate="2014-08-29T11:43:30.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a tough question to answer.  It depends on many &lt;strong&gt;individual&lt;/strong&gt; factors, for example, fatigue as one.  There's nothing wrong with using a power rack if you are not 100% confident of making a lift.  I wouldn't rely on it all the time though.  Additionally, although it tends to get a bad rep (no pun intended), the Smith machine can afford a sense of security as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T11:43:30.120" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18771" CreationDate="2014-08-30T03:25:13.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on pure physics, whether it is 10 sets of 5 or one set of 50, the total amount of work done is more or less the same. The only difference is the time you took to complete the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you spend longer time to do 10 sets of 5 with breaks in between, your muscles would have time to partially recover from lactic acid build up. On the other hand, doing more reps per set will help to train your muscles to cope with soreness. So, doing more reps per set is definitely beneficial for building your muscle endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, based on pure physics, if you are doing the same amount of work in lesser time, then you body must be able to generate more power. Compare a sprinter who complete one lap around the track in 1 minute to a marathon runner who do the same lap in 2 minutes. Both do the similar amount of work, but to be able to complete the lap in 1 minute, you need to build up more muscles to generate more power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is definitely some marginal benefit in building up muscles with quicker reps, however, the more effective way to do this is to increase the load by perhaps changing to dips (100% body weight) instead of pushups (60% body weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4086" LastEditorUserId="4086" LastEditDate="2014-08-30T03:33:23.367" LastActivityDate="2014-08-30T03:33:23.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18801" CreationDate="2014-08-31T05:35:14.653" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a high school student, and from few days my regular schedule is disturbed. Means sometimes i need to wake up early while some time I sleep  more than I need.That has affected directly to my physical health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will not able to follow any schedule for a month as my exams are coming. So can I be physically healthy in my irregular schedule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10597" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:01:31.337" Title="How to be healthy in irregular schedule?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-31T09:09:19.313" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are protein shakes healthy and safe? Because they look as medicine to me. Powder that you mix with water. This seems un-natural like pills or so. I'm actually very hesitant to use them, so I'm thinking to only use natural food that are rich in protein like tuna or chicken breasts. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T14:54:16.043" Title="Are protein shakes healthy and safe?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-11-05T03:54:31.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18799" CreationDate="2014-08-31T14:54:16.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I felt the same way when I started to drink protein. I wasn't sure if it was safe or effective to use these supplements. I actually consulted my doctor regarding them and she said that used in moderation there is no health risk for them unless you are allergic to the ingredients. That was about a year and a half ago, and now every time I finish a workout I will drink a single shake with usually 60 grams of protein in it. Very often whey protein is used to help build lean muscle or mass. If you are really concerned about using these products, there are all natural protein mixes out there that can be combined with fruit or vegetables to make shakes with the same amount of protein. Blender Bottle has a whole list of different shakes that all for whey protein with natural things such as yogurt or fruit:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blenderbottle.com/recipe/protein-shake-recipes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.blenderbottle.com/recipe/protein-shake-recipes/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T14:54:16.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18797" CreationDate="2014-08-31T15:01:31.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the same situation actually as a high school student. I wake up at 4:30 in the morning sometimes to get to school and don't get home until 6 just to start my homework. I certainly find that eating healthier is a must. I know it is easy to succumb to the temptation of a bag of chips or a soda on the way home from school just to get some food into you, but grab an apple or a banana instead. If workouts are not going to be possible, then watch what you eat. Even for half an hour find a way to run or bike for a little while. Not only does it help with your physical fitness, it also helps you mentally and keeps you focused and relieves stress. THe gym I usually go to is open late so I will usually study from 7:00-9:00 then go to the gym until 10, returning home to study for another hour. If a gym isn't an option or you just don't have time, there are plenty of at home workouts you can do before or after school to take a  break from the books. This is one of my personal favorite at home workouts:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/home-work-no-equipment-home-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/home-work-no-equipment-home-workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:01:31.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-31T16:34:01.157" Score="4" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current body weight is 57 KG (125.6 pounds) and am 179 cms tall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am on stronglift 5*5 and my squat weight has reached 110 pounds and deadlift at 155 pounds, while the weights for other exercises are comparatively lower than my body weight, I'd like to know what would be the correct weight to start wearing a belt while squatting and deadlifting or even consider wearing a belt at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea of wearing a belt came to my mind because I noticed some lower back soreness today, which has never happened before. Also I am wondering if the belt provides some support to the back, all I know is that it gives your abs something to push to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T14:28:24.563" Title="What should be the correct time to wear a belt (if any)?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-01T03:28:52.987" Score="3" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I began gym 2/3 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go about 5 days a week and my routine is as follows:&#xA;30-60 min cardio, 45 minute weight lifting (targeting each muscle group on a different day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently: female, 145 pounds, 170cm tall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goals: lose body fat &amp;amp; gain muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: I realise you can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. So if I continue doing this (cardio &amp;amp; lifting) and eat under maintenance calorie on some days and over maintenance calorie on other days, getting adequate sleep and protein, what will happen? Will I gain any muscles or is it all just a waste of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also what would happen if I alternate between a week of hard training and resting? And one week eating over maintenance and another week eating under maintenance? Would this allow me to lose weight and grow muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastEditorUserId="4086" LastEditDate="2014-09-03T19:24:38.290" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T21:25:43.760" Title="Building muscle and trimming fat at same time? bulking/cutting phases?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-01T03:41:23.057" Score="5" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I vaguely remember being told that there are two kind of soreness after exercise, one indicate good things (e.g. your muscle is being trained) and the other bad (e.g. you didn't warm up or cool down properly), and both have their fancy name and acronyms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is such distinction accurate? Do they differ in a way that I can notice, e.g. can I tell by the duration, the &quot;feel&quot;, or the location of the soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10603" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T07:41:55.947" Title="Is there a good and bad kind of soreness after exercise?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18805" CreationDate="2014-09-01T07:41:55.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Good&quot; Pain: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bad&quot; Pain: &lt;strong&gt;It is hard to quantify.&lt;/strong&gt; But for me, when you hurt the muscle or ligaments, it feels more stiff. It is a lot more sore in a way that will make you flinch when touched, and you will try very hard not to put any significant strain on the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, just this morning I pulled my upper back doing some bad snatches. My neck is stiff and sore, and I can clearly tell the difference from this, and the DOMS I have in my thighs from squatting heavy two days ago. My legs might be sore when I walk up or down stairs, or when I biked to work, but it doesn't &quot;hurt&quot; in the same way my neck does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T07:41:55.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18804" CreationDate="2014-09-01T12:49:26.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't gain muscles and loose weight at the same time. Thats right. But it is so misunderstood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time is continuous. Your not always in a calorie deficit. Your are not always in a calorie surplus situation either. You do not eat 24-7. You do not exercise 24-7. Your body goes through all kind of phases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over a longer time horizon, lets say a month, it is more than possible to loose both fat, and build up muscles. Mind you, it might not be the most efficient approach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train hard. &lt;strong&gt;Eat clean&lt;/strong&gt;. And eat at the right times. You will loose fat, and build muscles in no time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T12:49:26.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18771" CreationDate="2014-09-01T14:25:47.523" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bodyweight training addict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my point of view doing 1 x 50 is better than doing 10 x 5 because you have the same volume but in less time, you have more intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first commandments in a post of Paul &quot;Coach&quot; Wade about calisthenics mass is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Embrace Reps&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and the 4th is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Limit sets&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://pccblog.dragondoor.com/ten-commandments-calisthenics-mass/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://pccblog.dragondoor.com/ten-commandments-calisthenics-mass/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But doing 1 x 50 can be boring and not the perfect range of intensity. Obviously if you can do 50 pushups the body don't really need to adapte (and cause hypertrophy). See the 2nd commandment in the same blog post &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Work Hard!&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can increase intensity with harder version of pushup, like have one foot elevated, feet elevated on a box, side to side pushup, push up with some iso hold (I think pushup is the exercice with the most variations) ... and the ultimate step one-arm push-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another great exercice is dips (many variations too). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10609" LastEditorUserId="10609" LastEditDate="2014-09-03T02:52:02.557" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T02:52:02.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18717" CreationDate="2014-09-01T14:26:05.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your diet doesn't look too bad, but extra care has to be taken by vegetarians, especially since you are using a protein powder. Traditional vegetarian diets normally include fermented products, for example yogurt, to ensure an adquate supply of B12. I recommend you join one of the many websites which provide dietary analysis (eg nutritiondata.com), and enter full details of what you eat in a typical day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10583" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T14:26:05.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-01T15:53:35.320" Score="2" ViewCount="854" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realized that my breathing pattern is very shallow, sometimes almost lacking. As a programmer I spend a lot of time at the computer. I do exercise regularly, although maybe not intensely enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some issues, that might or might not be associated with it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I get somewhat frequently sick &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;few times a year, always the same thing - mucous flowing from nose down the throat. This is somewhat permanent, even when I am not sick - I get sick when it flows in bigger amounts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had been examined - no allergies, frontal and nasal cavities are clear, empty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I tend to imagine bad things happening and get sad with bad thoughts - now I realized that I tend to stop breathing, when this happens. Also this works around. Thinking bad things tends to shallow my breath and that leads to more thoughts.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am glad that I at least realized this to happen and am now more focused on breathing immediately when I feel down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had a conversation with a friend who told me, that a doctor asked her, if she does not experience being slow in social situations, not being able to follow what is happening. On her answering yes, she told her, that it might be caused by her breathing too shallow, which lead to brain lacking oxygen and thus not working effeciently and fast enough.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This can be applied to me too. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that I need to work on my breath, make it more deep, but this is a task I do not know how to execute - breathing is completely subconscious, unless you make it conscious and I do not think I am able to focus on breathing 24/7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that can be done to fix this condition? To teach subconscious to breath deeply in an uninterrupted manner on its own?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10610" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T20:54:48.520" Title="Not breathing enough, lack of continuous breath, shallow breath - what to do to fix it?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18815" CreationDate="2014-09-01T18:57:32.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try setting a reminder every thirty minutes or so to take some time to practice taking slow deep breaths.  Also if you catch yourself taking shallow breaths or not breathing, correct yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not be able to focus on breathing all the time, but you can practice good habits to reinforce a healthy breathing pattern.  This may help you improve over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10336" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T18:57:32.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-02T00:37:34.717" Score="3" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my second week of vo2max training where each week has 2 rest days. I train the whole body during the week. I need to eat a lot. If I am not eating enough, catabolism wakes me up. I already took 2 times more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnesstukku.fi/5/fi/artiklar/only-one-60-tabletter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vitamins&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0aROM.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where minerals are Mg, Fe, Zn, Mangane, Copper, Selen, Crome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;than usually and doubled casein for the night -- after that muscles started to feel nice again. When I feel stiffness, taking more vitamins relaxes the body: it works, I don't know why. It is almost impossible to know which is enough: I train by feeling -- as large weights as possible, long pauses and as many times as possible. I train in gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there any guidelines how much more vitamins, nutrition etc should a healthy athletic person take during vo2max week?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T18:41:48.560" Title="How does Vo2max dieting differ from normal gym more endurance-training dieting? How much intake is enough?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recommended-daily-intake&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18771" CreationDate="2014-09-02T02:07:57.587" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nathan, first, please check out this answer on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11531/recommended-workout-duration-vs-working-out-with-a-partner/11534#11534&quot;&gt;myofibril vs sarcoplasmic hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With muscular endurance, you are dealing with (to simplify things greatly) three variables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Myofibril&lt;/strong&gt;: how many contracting fibers you have in the muscle (e.g., one elastic band vs a bunch of elastic); how strong you are&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sarcoplasm&lt;/strong&gt;: how much stored energy your muscle fibers have to contract in an anaerobic state; how much strength endurance you have&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic cellular respiration&lt;/strong&gt;: how well you are able to provide energy to your muscles in an aerobic state&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three are important in relation to your question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every exercise is both aerobic and anaerobic to some degree, meaning your body will contract your muscles using energy that is both stored as ATP in the sarcoplasm, and energy that is stored as glucose in the blood.  Depending on your concentration of myofibril (the contracting part of the muscle), you may not need to tap into your sarcoplasmic ATP stores very often if you are not performing a particularly taxing exercise.  Instead, there is adequate myofibril surface area for receiving the necessary energy from the blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you spend some time watching videos of men doing high volume push-ups, you will notice that their chests generally are not that large.  This is because a push-up is not a &quot;highly&quot; anaerobic exercise once a person is able to do them in numbers.  In a well-trained individual, more energy comes from the blood than the sarcoplasm per push-up.  This means that the body will prioritize getting better at glucose uptake from the blood than sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (storing more energy in the muscle).  Consequently, muscle size will probably not increase much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &lt;strong&gt;I think what you're getting at is this&lt;/strong&gt;: is it better to do 10x5 push-ups because I've read this rep scheme is good for muscle gain, or is it better to do 50x1 push-ups because it hurts a lot and hurting builds muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 10 rep range is ideal for gaining muscle size if you are at near maximal loads.  10 reps is the right amount of time under tension (for average lifting tempo) to promote progressive overload in anaerobic conditions.  However, if you are at lighter loads, there is less anaerobic demand, and more ATP comes from the blood instead of the sarcoplasm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, once you start getting good at push-ups, the exercise will be too easy for you to gain much sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T02:07:57.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18755" CreationDate="2014-09-02T12:36:04.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A really interressing book about bodyweight exercice for strength is &lt;em&gt;Naked Warrior&lt;/em&gt; by Pavel Tsatsouline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In quick, if you want to be good with pullup and pushup, do lot of pullup and pushup, increase the volume for train your &lt;strong&gt;nervous system&lt;/strong&gt;. Nerver train for failure, do  1 to 5 reps range of a challenging variation but do it many time by day, for more information look around about &lt;strong&gt;Grease the Groove&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point of view if you want to be good with bodyweight exercices train with bodyweight forget about free weight or machine, if you can't do pushup or pullup begin with a variation you can do but challenging enougth for build strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10609" LastEditorUserId="10609" LastEditDate="2014-09-02T12:47:38.380" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T12:47:38.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18711" CreationDate="2014-09-02T13:47:54.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength and muscle mass can be two thinks different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can archieve very good strength without increase your mass. But you can build more mass with good strength. It is good to train all aspect of fitness with some form of periodization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it is you current goal ? Try to stick to a goal and when your archieve this goal take another, don't switch too soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you train with litle rest beetween set you have more intensity and you drain more energy in your muscle cells. If you take more rest you have more energy but you train more your skill and your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10609" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T13:47:54.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-02T18:19:48.030" Score="4" ViewCount="557" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm practicing a martial art and I'd like to work on my cardio. To do that most people run, but I've had knee problems so I'd rather pick up swimming instead (I also enjoy it more to be honest...). I'd say I already have a decent swimming technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this : how should I train ? Should I go for interval training with short, fast distances in crawl with recuperation periods, or just swim long distances in crawl ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearing in mind that my main goal isn't to progress in swimming itself, but rather to work on my cardio (primarily) and maybe along the way buff a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I'll be doing besides swimming two, maybe three practicing sessions of my martial art in a week, and if I have the time go to the gym once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you guys recommend ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Hal" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T18:25:30.090" Title="Cardio in swimming : long distances or interval training?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18802" CreationDate="2014-09-02T21:16:34.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, a belt shouldn't be necessary until you get to a weight about 2 times your bodyweight, if even then. Fix your form, don't try to patch the problem with a belt. If your back is hurting, you're probably leaning forward and rounding your back to compensate for tight hip flexors or limited ankle dorsiflexion. Video or have someone else video you while you squat and examine your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And remember that a rep with bad form doesn't count and that on SL, you don't go up unless you complete all your reps. So don't go up until you fix the problem. I suppose it could be a problem of your legs outpacing your core. But SL's method of slowing down or deloading should give your core time to catch up, if you're honest with yourself when you miss a rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the end, it's all about you and your body. If it turns out that your form is impeccable and you still have pain and repeating the weight or deloading didn't help, then by all means, use the belt. But try to limit it to only when it's absolutely necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2014-09-03T12:18:26.537" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T12:18:26.537" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18817" CreationDate="2014-09-03T01:40:44.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A normal multivitamin is enough. You should be more concerned with your caloric intake and your macronutrient split. Your caloric intake should be at least the number of calories you burn. (There are calculators for that on the internet.) And your macronutrient split is the percentage of calories that come from protein, carbs (sugar), and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you burn 2700 calories a day (typical for an active young male) and you choose a 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat split (typical split for those looking to bulk), then you would need 1080 cal from carbs, 1080 from protein, and 540 from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of training won't change much because the underlying principle is the same: replace what nutrients you use while training so you can train again. With vo2max training, you may be burning more carbs and fats and you'll probably build less muscle, so you might take 10% away from protein and add it to carbs. In general, if the exercise is intense, then favor more carbs. If more aerobic/endurance, then increase carbs and fat about equally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2015-06-30T12:17:50.790" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T12:17:50.790" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-03T02:26:33.557" Score="2" ViewCount="2659" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that one's basal metabolic rate is for when you are inactive. Of course, when you are asleep, you are not moving. But I would guess there are differences in how the body metabolizes when you are awake but deliberately lying prone, and when you are asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Near as I can figure, my BMR is roughly 1700, not including exercise or daily activity. Which means, that if I sleep for 8 hours, I should burn about 560 calories, give or take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it reasonable to assume the same BMR for sleeping hours, or should one adjust up or down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2053" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T17:02:38.120" Title="Does the amount of calories burned during sleep differ from your basal metabolic rate?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18771" CreationDate="2014-09-03T02:46:52.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can do 50 push ups in one set, then none of the above will build strength. Doing 50 push ups in one set will build endurance, and doing sets of 5 push ups is only useful as a warm up exercise before doing something you actually find challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond around 15 or so reps (aka well before 50) in a set, you are shifting in to training endurance over strength. And to build strength, you need to be challenging your muscles by getting close to your limit of how many repetitions of the exercise you can do with good form in any given set. You won't find an exact optimal answer, but the ballpark that most strength programs are in is 3-15 reps for 1-5 sets (where lower reps tends to go with higher sets), with an exercise that is challenging for you to complete all sets of. E.g. 5 sets of 5 reps, or 3 sets of 15 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you can do 50 push ups in one go and you want to build strength, you need to find an exercise that you can't do more than 15 of (and quite possibly less), and work on that. There are a number of harder push up variations (e.g. decline push ups). If you want to gain endurance (e.g. you are practicing for a military test which involves doing lots of push ups), then do a few sets to not quite exhaustion with rest in between (take a look at the One Hundred Pushups program).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2238" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T02:46:52.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-03T06:51:28.490" Score="1" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt; I wasn't the fittest kid -- still not as an adult -- and I wasn't fond of running, as I'd get exhausted quickly and/or get a side-ache/stitch. In general I avoided exerting myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one occasion, when I was about 10 years old, I remember running home from school and not getting exhausted at all. This was about 1 mile. Normally, I could only get to maybe a 1/3 of a mile before I was out of breath and had to walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This really surprised me and I tried repeating it multiple times without success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It felt as though my stride + heart + respiration were all in &quot;sync&quot;, figuratively. But I couldn't figure out how to &quot;resync&quot; them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Is there a term for this? And/or training to improve it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4261" LastEditorUserId="4261" LastEditDate="2014-10-13T02:02:35.040" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T02:02:35.040" Title="Stride, heart, respiration in sync when running... What's this called?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18802" CreationDate="2014-09-03T07:35:41.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, and most importantly - A belt should not be a fix for bad form!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, a sore back is common when deadlifting. You should get a professional - a real professional - not your local gym-head or 5 $ a hour trainer to coach you. Good form is crucial, especially on heavy exercises. The money you invest in learning the basics will come back hundreds of fold in regards to injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend a belt to someone who has trained less than a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fine to use a belt, as long as you &lt;strong&gt;don't use it every time.&lt;/strong&gt; Use it &lt;strong&gt;sometimes&lt;/strong&gt; on your last set if you feel you need a little extra, but don't do this everytime you go over 80% &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only use it for big lifts. Squat or deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T07:35:41.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18804" CreationDate="2014-09-03T10:24:29.260" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you have stated your weight and height, why not calculate your own BMI (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Wikipedia link to Body Mass Index&quot;&gt;body mass index&lt;/a&gt;) to know where you stand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Weight: 145lbs = 65.77kg&#xA;Height: 170cm = 1.7m&#xA;BMI = Weight/Height² = 22.8&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A BMI of 22.8 is in the &lt;strong&gt;normal healthy&lt;/strong&gt; range but near the &lt;em&gt;overweight&lt;/em&gt; category. If you do not have a muscular physique, then it can mean that you may have excess body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore it is entirely possible, &lt;em&gt;in your particular case&lt;/em&gt;, to trim down your body weight by reducing your caloric intake and at the same time converting some of your body fat to muscles by working out in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4086" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T10:24:29.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18440" CreationDate="2014-09-03T11:48:14.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically you can workout any time in the day. But it is best before eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During night you can be tired too. Found the moment it is best for you when you have no stress and ready to have a good workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, push-ups is a really good exercise but try to do some pull exercises (pull-ups, Australian pull-ups ...)  and legs exercices (squat, lunge ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10609" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T11:48:14.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18804" CreationDate="2014-09-03T12:52:53.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely, you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. In fact, the more you gain the muscle; the more you're able to burn the fat. The catch? you've to consider your diet and how your body responds to certain types of diet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Protein and amino acids are essential so you're going to take them anyways. But you've to keep in check how your body responds to 1) starchy carbohydrates 2) Saturated fat. If starchy carbohydrates make you &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; fat and bulky then you're most probably going to benefit from a low (not zero) carbs diet and saturated fats (coconut oil, refined butter etc) are going to benefit you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also look into the routine called carb-clcying. Summary of carb-cycling: You divide your whole week's workout into high-cardio--low-weight and high-weight--low-cardio days. On low cardio days, you consume carbs that are good for you and on high cardio days you do not consume carbs (consume saturated fat and protein).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is a long subject which I've just started learning AND have seen tremendous results from. It is like replacing your fat (around shoulders and chest) with muscles. Following this routine, you might observe that your weight isn't decreasing as much you &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt;, that's because you might be gaining muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one very important thing, don't ever starve yourself. Keep eating and have a healthy metabolism. Do not rely on BMI because it doesn't take body composition into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: The one and only, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0804137846&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Burn the fat feed the muscle by Tom Venuto&lt;/a&gt;. You can never go wrong with what's in this book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I'm not associated with Tom in any way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8725" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T12:52:53.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18824" CreationDate="2014-09-03T13:15:50.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who's been a competitive swimmer for many years, my input is this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You state that you're doing 3x martial arts and 1x gym workouts per week, which can be plenty or not enough depending on your physical fitness level. It's up to you how much swimming you want to incorporate into your busy schedule, but one way to approach your situation (to avoid further knee problems for now, at least) is to make swimming a bigger priority than the other two. This means swimming 3-4 times/week, starting each following day with a warm-up of 100 &lt;strong&gt;extra&lt;/strong&gt; yards and working down a ladder at a slow to medium pace, before getting to the high intensity part of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example... if you swim on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday... slow to medium pace warm-up would be like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st Monday: 100 yds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st Tuesday: 200 yds then 100 yds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st Thursday: 300 yds then 200 yds then 100 yds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st Friday: 400 yds then 200 yds then 100 yds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;..........&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd Monday (cut back 100): 300 yds then 200 yds then 100 yds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd Tuesday: 400 yds then 200 yds then 100 yds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd Thursday: 500 yds then 200 yds then 100 yds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd Friday: 600 yds then 200 yds then 100 yds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;..........   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3rd Monday (cut back 100): 500 yds then 200 yds then 100 yds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and so on...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always use freestyle (the crawl) for the first rep in the warmup set, and after that you can mix strokes for the remaining reps of the warmup set if you want. I find this works extremely well for me. After the warm up set, on days when I'm up for it I will throw in plenty of short burst, short distance HIIT (high intensity interval training) reps using my favorite strokes. You can do the same. By doing this, it's possible to get cardio to a comfortable zone all around and eventually swim miles nonstop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember that muscle recovery and eating well is just as important, and you'll do great with cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10623" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T13:15:50.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18802" CreationDate="2014-09-03T14:28:24.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice will be a bit different, but there's some preliminary things to understand first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Determine the nature of your soreness first:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back pump (where there is an uncomfortable tightness in the lower back) is normal and nothing to be concerned about.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sharp pain, or even a dull pain that is different from general tightness is a symptom of bad form which needs to be fixed before you consider getting a belt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even small changes to your set up can make a big change in the amount you can lift, and the relative comfort of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A belt does not directly lend support, it merely provides something for you to brace against.  It is the bracing that protects your back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no right or wrong answer on when you decide to use a belt, but there is a right and wrong way to use it.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2013/12/04/should-you-wear-a-belt-or-not-study-write-up/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Based on studies&lt;/a&gt;, you can lift more with a belt, and core strength is similarly engaged both with and without the belt.  &lt;strong&gt;Eventually, you should wear a belt for the work sets.&lt;/strong&gt;  The important thing is that you learn how to use it properly as a training tool, and don't think of it as a safety net.  The truth is, you can get injured wearing a belt and those injuries will be worse mostly because you can lift more than you can without it.  You need a strong core either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When shopping for a belt, look for these things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Same width all the way around (about 3-4&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10mm thick should be enough for all but the strongest people (greater than 600 lb squats/deadlifts).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single prong or lever belt makes it easier to fasten and remove by yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will see belts that are wider in the back, but they do not lend any more support.  They also tend not to be as thick as belts that are made for performance such as what I described above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before buying a belt, make sure of the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your lower back is not excessively rounding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For Deadlift:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your shoulders are in front of the bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your hips are between your shoulders and your knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You breath into your spine and brace your back before you pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You hold that breath until you are fully upright&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get a new breath or keep holding the one you stood up with when you put the bar back down.  (don't go slow, but keep it controlled)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For Squat:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar is across your shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You breath into your spine and brace your back before unracking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can catch a new breath when you are fully upright, but keep bracing while the bar is on your back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You breath into your spine and brace your back during the squat.  The cue &quot;bend the bar&quot; can help with keeping the tightness you need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that changes when you add a belt is that you are trying to fill the belt with your breath--you still have a responsibility to brace your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything you can do to strengthen your core will also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T14:28:24.563" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18463" CreationDate="2014-09-03T16:07:11.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;BCAAs contain 4 Calories per gram, just like proteins, so they don't likely promote weight loss. Also, BCAAs are used as appetite stimulants in patients on hemodialysis and in cancer patients.&#xA;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutrientsreview.com/proteins/amino-acids/branched-chain-bcaa.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrientsreview.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also found no quality studies that would show that BCAAs help in muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exercise-related effect of BCAAs seem to be reduced muscle soreness after training.&#xA;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20087302&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10526" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T16:07:11.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18824" CreationDate="2014-09-03T16:53:09.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as both a long time (30 yr) martial artist and a former (17 yrs) competitive swimmer, there are a few considerations when using swimming as your sole cardio support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming: I would first progress until you have a solid endurance type base for swimming. Since you do martial arts 3x and gym 1x per week, you initially don't want to be adding in a lot of intensity on top of your other training. I would recommend a program such as Ruth Kazez's &lt;a href=&quot;http://ruthkazez.com/swimming/ZeroTo1mile.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;0 to 1650&lt;/a&gt; program (1 mile). While this is 3 more workouts per week, as a decent swimmer you should be able to complete the full distances each workout in 1/2 hour or less. It's also very minimal impact, so it shouldn't interfere with other training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get to that base level, you can start adding in short (50's to no more than 200's) fast intervals on short rests, such as 10x50, :15 rest hard effort. That is swimmer speak for do 10 intervals of 50 meters/yards at a high effort level, with 15 seconds rest in between each 50. Aim for around 1200-1800 meters per workout, with one high intensity day, one distance day (such as 2x600 or 3x400) and one mix day. This should support both the endurance and short burst cardio that you will need when doing sparring and long days at tournaments or testings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that you will need to consider and make sure that you get in your martial arts training is the agility/balance type work that you need to support sparring. Swimming will work the engine, but won't do much for footwork and short burst attack type activity, especially for the legs. I would get a book on agility drills or download some of the available PDF's and add a few of those each week. Those can be done in short 10 minute segments 2-3x per week. This is only if you need it as a supplement, if you are covering that in your classes, then no need to add the extra.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T16:53:09.127" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18463" CreationDate="2014-09-03T17:02:33.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can read more than you care to in &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Branched+Chain+Amino+Acids/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;examine.com's article on BCAAs&lt;/a&gt;.  There seems to be some aid to endurance if taken when fasting before training, but not much else.  Effects are minor all around, regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4351" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T17:02:33.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18828" CreationDate="2014-09-03T17:02:38.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMR is basically an average over the day, and there isn't a whole lot of difference between waking and laying on a couch than sleeping. You're basically still just sitting there moving air in and out. Any differences between the two are minimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The average sleep figure for calories burned is around 80 per hour, which may vary from individual to individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also isn't really necessary to track intake/expenditure by hour or specific time frame, since it's a long term process. Make sure that you track what you eat for a day until you have a handle on your caloric intake, and let the scale over time set your trends. If you aren't losing weight, you either need to exercise a bit more or eat a bit less. Over time, it really is that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T17:02:38.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18824" CreationDate="2014-09-03T18:25:30.090" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you're about 17? Think about what you really..  Truly are seeking out of this life of cardiovascular health and ninjitsu. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't already,  pick up Tao of Jeet Kune Do by the none other than the formless form, Bruce Lee.  Also,  for perspective, getting pumped up for sparring or just totally living please watch Dragon:The Bruce Lee story&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking vigorously out of the question for you ninja? If hiking up 45 degree grades isn't enough for you, try farmers walks. Just carry a bunch of water on both sides, more than you need. That's very low impact compared to all out running but if you're intent on swimming it's hard to fault you... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the only completely total body anaerobic and aerobic exercise I know of, and certainly the only one that is comparatively, zero impact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the specifics of your knee or other malladies but I will give you the best investment of your life for free- high tech health far infra-red sauna.  Look em up,  buy a single person one and watch the magic happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10626" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T18:25:30.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8007" CreationDate="2014-09-04T13:18:49.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to disagree with the answer provided even though it is mostly factually correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should try and maintain &lt;strong&gt;as high a pace as you can during your commute, while staying in you aerobic range&lt;/strong&gt;. The easiest way to find the correct pace is to &lt;strong&gt;wear a heart rate monitor while riding and target a particular HR Zone&lt;/strong&gt; (read-up on heart rate training zones first &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/heart-rate-monitor-training-for-cyclists-28838/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;there&lt;/a&gt;). Make allowance for the availability of showers at work, otherwise your co-workers will not like your sweaty arrivals much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is your legs might hurt on Fridays right now, but give it a few weeks or months, and you'll be able to do this really easily with no residual soreness. As you get faster on your bike with repetition, you should &lt;strong&gt;start taking little detours in order to keep you commute above 20 or 25 minutes duration&lt;/strong&gt;. If you can fit 40 to 60 minutes of medium to high intensity cardio in you daily schedule that way, I believe you will see significant results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T13:18:49.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18486" CreationDate="2014-09-05T01:44:55.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting on 4kg of muscle in 1.5 months sounds like &lt;strong&gt;too much, too fast&lt;/strong&gt; to me. It may not be what you want to hear, but you ought to take it slower and aim to put on nothing but clean, lean muscle mass. You can always put on more &lt;em&gt;weight&lt;/em&gt;. Sure, just eat more. Pretty simple, right? The sky's the limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't give you a nice body shape, though. &lt;em&gt;Weight&lt;/em&gt; doesn't mean &lt;em&gt;muscle&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you put on weight too fast it's going to be a lot of fat. The body can only manufacture about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-build-naturally/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;0.5-1kg of muscle per month&lt;/a&gt;. After that, any weight you gain is just fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a long term process. Be the tortoise. Slow and easy is the best way to win the race. Don't try to put on more than &lt;strong&gt;1kg/month&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8659" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T01:44:55.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8007" CreationDate="2014-09-05T08:46:59.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to loose weight, you should do intervals. Go all out for 20-30 seconds, than go slow for 30-60 seconds. Repeat this 5-10 times, depending on your energy expenditure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High Interval training is by far the most effective way to loose weight - except eating clean off course. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T08:46:59.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-05T13:39:54.453" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been building muscles half a year successfully. &#xA;I today run first time for a long time 1.5 hours. &#xA;I feel a kind of good tension or gentle pain at my middle back (T10). &#xA;I have not had a similar feeling although played now about 20 tennis matches this summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that foam roller would be enough to keep the back in good shape while building mass. &#xA;Apparently, it is not enough. &#xA;I play also tennis but its effects to the back are not similar to those in running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to think what is a good training program for lower back while building muscles. &#xA;At the moment, I have &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some elastic thing to do squats and other stretching movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;foam roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am already using the stretching gum and gymnastics daily. &#xA;However, the feeling of running and effect of thumbing on the back is something I cannot achieve other ways. &#xA;Probably, I should add more rapid pushes to my stretching movements. &#xA;However, I have tried to avoid these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a good lower back strength-training program when building muscles?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastEditorUserId="2169" LastEditDate="2014-09-05T14:45:53.713" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T20:06:17.153" Title="Lower back strength-training and running for tennis" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18804" CreationDate="2014-09-05T21:25:43.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll start with an anecdote.  I've been working with a coach to help me get strong and cut the fat at the same time.  I've been working with him for nearly a year now, and I've lost a total of 20 lbs, 22 lbs of which were fat.  NOTE: that's not a typo.  I've gained 2 lbs of lean mass and lost 22 lbs of fat.  I've also lost several inches.  During that time, I've also increased my strength steadily.  In the first few months I increased my power lifting total 70 lbs while weighing in several pounds lighter (just not enough to get into a new weight class).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process required two things to work together in concert:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had to eat enough to support the training I had to do, but still lose fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had to work hard enough to keep building strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the guidance of a coach, they can make the adjustments to the plans as necessary over time.  For example, my diet has been tweaked about every other month to keep progress moving forward.  He also kept an eye on my training to see how I responded and made some adjustments on the fly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the absence of a coach, I can give you some general principles to work with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to eat your protein.  While 1 g / lb is easy to remember, you don't need quite that much to keep building strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep fat low, but still have it.  Fat should make up roughly 20% of your diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to eat your carbs.  In fact, carbs become even more necessary as that's what fuels your training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use carbs that have a good amount of fiber in them.  They keep you satisfied longer, and they tend to minimize inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In fact, eat whole foods and foods known to lower systemic inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your training will already have some inflammation involved, as that's part of getting stronger and building muscle.  However, uncontrolled systemic inflammation from fast food and highly processed foods create a hostile environment and triggers your body to keep storing the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With training, keep in mind the mantra &quot;no junk miles&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your plan for what you do in the gym, and do that plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't try to max out in the gym or fatigue your muscles to the point of exhaustion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasize recovery--both active and passive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your training plan should allow some wiggle room for having a bad day.  They will happen more often when you are losing weight, but if you can get the planned work done even on a bad day you will do well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shortcut is to hire a coach and have them do the hard thinking for you.  But also keep in mind my progress.  I lost on average 1-2 lbs of fat per month, and gained a pound of lean mass every 6 months.  The transformation will be slow.  Slower than if you pursued either goal wholeheartedly.  I'm still not done yet.  I personally will continue this route, as I'm very healthy and simply have too much fat.  Since I do compete from time to time, performance is more important to me than how I look.  That said, I'm very pleased at how my transformation is progressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T21:25:43.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18875" CreationDate="2014-09-05T21:33:36.837" Score="4" ViewCount="3388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing a jogging training program for four weeks now and I can easily jog for 30 minutes. I would guess than walking at my normal speed would be fine but if there is a slope I start breathing really heavily after about two or three blocks and I can barely can finish a sentence without gasping for air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Could anyone explain why this happens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10642" LastActivityDate="2014-09-09T14:38:31.860" Title="Why do I get more tired by walking than by running" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12712" CreationDate="2014-09-05T21:36:12.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have that problem and it went away after two or three weeks of doing squats, just three sets of 12 reps without any weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10642" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T21:36:12.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2014-09-05T21:56:33.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So much bro science in here :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guy who thinks sugars are different to carbohydrates lol?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just need to have eaten before your workout so you have readily usable blood sugar and protein (*BCAAs broken down protein) then your body will use these instead of going catabolic and using its internal stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also maintaining high BCAA* levels always will ensure your body doesn't break down its own stores to move out for healing damaged areas or to use for energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10643" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T21:56:33.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17868" CreationDate="2014-09-06T03:47:38.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your doing crunches and your feeling it in your lower back, stop and watch some videos. Your focus needs to be on the contraction. Tense your stomach and then perform the crunch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://deadliftworkouts.com/strengthen-middle-effective-abdominal-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://deadliftworkouts.com/strengthen-middle-effective-abdominal-workout/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10646" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T03:47:38.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-06T12:05:10.797" Score="-1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an boy of age 17, weight 92KG (200 lbs) and height 5'6&quot; these are the exercises I perform currently&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1-25 knee pushups (5 sets 5 reps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2-5 min on the spot running(1 min Marching 30 sec jogging and running).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- Stretching &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4- 50 cupboard pushups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cannot control my diet (but only homemade food no junk food either)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be adding any exercises?if yes then which ones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10650" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T11:54:26.073" Title="How to lose weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-12-01T13:18:16.540" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18857" CreationDate="2014-09-06T15:54:43.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is really unclear.&#xA;It depends on whether you are going for fat loss, or body building, or in general physical fitness.&#xA;Since your weight/height ratio is a bit high I am assuming you are going for fat loss.&#xA;If that is the case you should definitely incorporate a 3 Km run in your exercise schedule which can later be scaled up to a 5 Km run and so on. Be sure to stretch before you run though.&#xA;I would also recommend scaling up the push ups to a minimum of 50, 5 sets of 10 pushups &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10651" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T15:54:43.047" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18518" CreationDate="2014-09-06T15:58:48.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your program looks well designed and well followed, and none of what you've mentioned suggests overtraining in the normal sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, working out is literally a form of stress. It's supposed to be a manageable stress. If you're concerned about the physiological stress of working out affecting your condition, or if you're worried about overtraining, I'd focus on getting more sleep. Six to eight hours is frankly not that much for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T15:58:48.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18518" CreationDate="2014-09-06T16:10:44.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have cortisol deficiency (as an example) and get treated with hydrocortison, you need to increase your dose, lets say 5 mg for normal training or 10 mg for heavy. If you are not diagnosed, it might be you are just producing enough cortisol yourself, but not enough extra for training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this was just an example, there are over 10 other hormones like thyroid hormones that have similar effects, so you should consult your doctor or a specialist for hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With medical problems it is usually recommended to do lighter training so you avoid taking more hormones because those have side effects too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note to the &quot;cortisol is bad&quot; people: Your body is probably producing more than 5-10 mg when you excercise, with the same side effects, so excessive stress is always bad for the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10652" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T16:10:44.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2014-09-06T19:26:15.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nate: Here is what I would do.&#xA;Bring your running clothes to work along with your running shoes. On the days you plan on running home you can change into your running cloth before you leave and then run any distance or section that you want. If you are already riding 40-50km you should be able to run/walk 4k. As you get more used to running this distance you can increase your pace and change your route around a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to bring cloths home then you could get a running backpack which would allow you to carry some limited items. You want to get a back that sits high on your back and has a strap across your chest and your waist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For shoes you should go to a running store and have them fitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T19:26:15.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18862" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-07T07:07:14.520" Score="0" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the body break other muscles (ex, legs, chest, etc) to get the needed protein to repair the microdamage ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very interesting question that has always been on my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10656" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T08:56:17.793" Title="What happens when you train one specific muscle (ex, biceps), and you don't eat enough protein?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18700" CreationDate="2014-09-07T08:07:43.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Run trails.  Become comfortable at agility training.  I am guessing that part of the problem is nerve/reflex from a flat pavement mixed with constricted hips from sitting/driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mountain trail running has proved to relieve my leg imbalances and rejuvenate my musculoskelatal system.  If trails are difficult to get to, I recommend agility training to compliment the long slow distance of forward momentum.  Merely playing soccer might suffice.  Football agility (i.e. rope ladder) might help to better understand the problem.  Basketball should add a gentle explosive agility. Without mountain trails the imbalance may not entirely go away, but the complete muscle development would do wonders toward insuring a longer, competitive running life.  Also consider swimming and cycling to compliment and provide an active rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also a physical therapist, chiropractor, orthopedist, massage therapist might diagnose a &quot;pinched nerve&quot; (probably from the chair) and they might be able to make the feeling go away.  However, I doubt the underlying cause will be conquered.  Still these professionals will provide valuable insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try to improve your form and there are several books I would recommend, but fundamentally, running in a straight line on a flat road everyday- is for expensive robots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10657" LastActivityDate="2014-09-07T08:07:43.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2014-09-07T13:00:54.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;TL;DR Don't start with 4K right away; Don't run in your work clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started running about a year ago and jog part of my commute on some days, so I guess my experience might be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get started on something you can control nicely. Although you can ride a bike for quite some distance, running is just different. So I'd recommend running around the block until you get a feeling what distance you can cover and at what speed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get started slowly. Start with something like 30min. Jogg as much as you can, walk the rest. Try reducing the time you are walking until it is zero.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get proper clothing, especially shoes. Of course you can do your first trips in what ever feels comfortable. But once you start to sweat, anything suitable for work will become uncomfortable. Shoes will get completely soaked from sweat alone. So as soon as you get sure that you will continue running/jogging for some time. Get some micro fibre shirt, running pants and running shoes. Go to a specialized shop for the shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the actual running home part: Bring your running clothes to work. After work, change clothes. You can take your working cloths home on the next day. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Makes sure you take as little weight as possible, because anything bouncing up and down in your pockets, becomes really annoying really fast. Also make sure it is water proof When I plan to run home I take a little zipper bag for: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My key, only the key(s) I absolutely need, no keychain&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;credit card or a 10Euro note (it feels better to have some money, just in case)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;bus ticket &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you carry make sure it is close and tight to your body. Again you don't want it bouncing around. I got myself an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spibelt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SPI belt&lt;/a&gt; for this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2014-09-07T13:00:54.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18869" CreationDate="2014-09-08T12:05:02.497" Score="1" ViewCount="7423" Body="&lt;p&gt;It turns out that, while I'm working out at a elliptical trainer, it much comfortable to me to be barefoot than to wear any kind of footwear. So this is something completely different from treadmill - I mean, you definitely need sneakers not to feel uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is - is it ethical to use public elliptical trainer barefoot, in socks only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it sounds pretty strange, but I regret hadn't I ask. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5091" OwnerDisplayName="shabunc" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T15:06:37.290" Title="Is it ok to use elliptical trainer barefoot?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18868" CreationDate="2014-09-08T15:06:37.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most commercial gyms require you to wear shoes of some sort while on the exercise floor.  A big part of it is health regulations, as well as insurance related.  Don't be surprised if one of the people who works at the gym asks you to put shoes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you own the equipment, you can do what you want.  However, do check the rules of your gym.  Also consider that you would be placing yourself at a greater risk of athlete's foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T15:06:37.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18524" CreationDate="2014-09-08T18:24:08.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;in   general weight (own or external ) training does not burn much  calories.&#xA;1) Adjust  your diet accordingly .&#xA;2) Walk/run/bike  around a hour  to  burn additional calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not telling  you that weight training  is bad , i am only telling  you that to burn  fat ,  you need to  spend more calories than you  consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However as you  did not  told your weight/height  i  am  not even  sure  you  need fat loss at all. Maybe you do not see your abs as there are no  much abs there. &#xA;I do not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T18:24:08.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18524" CreationDate="2014-09-08T20:56:56.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no spot exercises that will help you reduce fat percentages in your body.  The only way to lose fat (notice I did not say &quot;lose weight&quot;) is through cardiovascular exercise and a diet low in calories.  Basically, you should burn more calories than you consume.  Cardiovascular exercise will first burn your immediate sugars and calories and then, after it has consumed the sugars, it will burn fat.  However, you have to be careful because there comes a moment, if you do too much cardio, where you will stop burning fat and your body will start to target muscle mass for energy.  This will severly deteriorate your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, regarding what I said above (losing fat and not weight), fat is much lighter in weight than muscle.  So you might find that if you do cardio and muscle training, your weight might actually increase.  This is ok because the ultimate goal is to reduce the fat to muscle ratio.  You will be at less risk of heart disease and you will look better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the larger muscle groups, yes.  Larger muscles consume more energy and thus help to raise your metabolism (the amount of energy you burn under normal conditions) but this is truly a minimal amount compared to what you burn through cardio exercise.  Personally, I do not do many crunches during my work out.  At most I will do 3 sets of 20 crunches, twice a week.  I make sure I use proper alignment during all other exercises and I notice that doing this engages my core sufficiently to have marked abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T20:56:56.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18857" CreationDate="2014-09-08T21:09:45.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your goals, you need to lose fat and that means only two things... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More cardio exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less calorie consumption&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pushups are ok if you feel you need some upper body strength but in as so far as your stated goals are concerned, they do absolutely nothing towards losing fat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say that you cannot control your diet.  I cannot see how that is possible.  Everyone can control their diet.  If you cannot change the actual food you are eating because someone else is cooking it, then you can at least reduce the portions of the food you eat and that will reduce your calorie consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incorporate some cardio into your workout.  Start with a nice 30 minute walk at least three times a week.  After a couple of weeks, speed up the pace and keep doing that until you feel comfortable running for 30 minutes three times a week.  By that time, you will be lean and healthy and you can move on to heavier training if you want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T21:09:45.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18852" CreationDate="2014-09-08T21:18:53.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The human body is a very adaptable machine.  In no time at all it can adapt to most any kind of condition it is put through.  This is why exercise becomes easier over time.  The body becomes more efficient at the particular exercise because it expects it and makes the required changes to perform the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body has gotten used to the 30 minute jog so when you do the jog, it regulates your blood oxigen levels, your heart rate, your muscle contractions, etc to suit the task.  When you walk up a hill, your body is confronted with a task it is not prepared for so you fatigue much more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is essential to keeping in shape.  This is why it is good practice to switch things up every few weeks when you exercise regularly.  Never let the body get used to a particular movement.  Keep it confused all the time and you will see results much quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sources regarding workout plateaus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fit/lose-weight/myth-same-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link 1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightloss/a/weightplateaus_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link 2&lt;/a&gt; *See &quot;Problem 4&quot; and &quot;problem 5&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note:  A simple Google search can provide you with any number of references to workout plateaus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastEditorUserId="10389" LastEditDate="2014-09-09T14:38:31.860" LastActivityDate="2014-09-09T14:38:31.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18876" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-09T01:27:01.003" Score="3" ViewCount="5242" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does stretching muscles (both right after a workout but also very much throughout the day afterwards, when you still often feel they could do with a good stretch), actually play a role in helping to build them, (whether a direct positive effect on muscle fibre multiplication / growth, or an indirect effect such as fostering greater muscle health in general which in turn translates to more muscle / better growth - just like sleep plays a role in that way), or does it mostly just beneficial for preventing injury and muscle pulling etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5581" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T01:21:25.547" Title="Does stretching muscles help build / tone them?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18876" CreationDate="2014-09-09T02:31:38.100" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training builds muscle.&lt;/strong&gt;  In other words, the forcible contraction of your muscles against resistance is what stimulates them to get stronger or more firm.  While stretching has a role, it's not to build or tone muscle.  NOTE: the amount of body fat you have can accentuate or hide muscularity, so a certain amount of &quot;toning&quot; is done in the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more complete picture is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training stimulus.&lt;/strong&gt;  When done with the proper intensity and effort, causes a hormonal chain of events that tells the body it needs to be stronger to meet the demands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is where your body actually does the work so that it can handle the next training stimulus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training you go in cycles of demanding more work of your muscles, and allowing the body to catch up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what good is stretching?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching comes into play in one of two ways: you have a problem using full range of motion, or you need to get blood flowing through the muscle body to speed recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When correcting mobility problems, typically there is a muscle group that is too tight, and an antagonist muscle group that is not properly activating.  Fully correcting a range of motion problem requires learning how to activate and correct the malfunctioning muscles, as well as relieve the tightness that is pulling the joint out of it's normal functional range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using stretching to get blood moving, we are typically using dynamic stretching.  This form usually works much better to loosen the body to better prepare to move.  However, it also helps flush out general soreness as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-09-15T12:49:22.930" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T12:49:22.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18913" CreationDate="2014-09-09T11:35:04.553" Score="4" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that lifting heavy helps with pain in my joints. As such I have no particular goal like muscle gain or endurance, etc. Its just that I don't go for too low reps and rapid progression so that my joints have enough time to adapt to higher resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting heavy increases my appetite. I don't eat a lot, only as per my appetite. So, I have gained some amount of muscle but also some disproportionate fat deposition around my lower abs and hips (because of a certain medical condition I have) which I am supposed to avoid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do compound lifts 4 days a week, 3 sets of 10 reps. I don't have much time or equipment for cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way I can tweak my workout regime in terms of reps, etc. so that it causes greater fat burn and I can do without much cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T17:22:02.900" Title="How to lose fat while lifting weights and not doing any cardio?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18878" CreationDate="2014-09-09T11:48:09.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite uses of weights for cardio are heavy twenty-rep squats, dumbbell/kettlebell swings, and complexes. Essentially, more reps with less weight and continuous effort. Making circuits using weights plus bodyweight (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/themagic50.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the magic 50&lt;/a&gt;) works well too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting five to fifteen minutes of high-intensity cardio at the end of the workout doesn't take much time or equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, though, the best method for controlling fat gain while lifting is to control diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-09-09T11:48:09.367" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18881" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-09T19:59:46.907" Score="1" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;My knees are on the weak side. When I bend, they make snap, crackle, pop. I eat healthy and portioned control because the extra weight would worsen my knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told that 30 minutes recumbent biking (legs are bent at no less than 90 degree angle) will strengthen knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about elliptical? I heard that it gives a full body workout without impacting joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10671" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T00:22:09.353" Title="Weak knees - recumbent bike VS elliptical" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;elliptical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18524" CreationDate="2014-09-10T00:05:24.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello basically I would recemond doing 40 mins of intense cardio and then 30 mins of weights- do compound ones as they burn more fat (squats, lunges, benchpress, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing both allows you to have dlouble the fat burn (during from cardio and hours after from the weights) lifting weights also means you realease growth hormone when you sleep which shred fat! &#xA;If you keep your calories under 1300 and eat and lift and do cardio you will loss it in no time :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T00:05:24.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18881" CreationDate="2014-09-10T00:22:09.353" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking knees can't be weak - your knee, anatomically doesn't even exist, but is a joint where a number of bones, ligaments and muscles all join and interact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People commonly feel that they have &quot;weak knees&quot; because the muscles that support the knee joint are undertrained.&lt;/strong&gt; To compensate this lack of strength, they hyperextend the knee joint so the thigh is directly over the tibia, putting pressure directly on the soft tissue between the bones that acts as a buffer. This causes stress and pain on the soft tissue around the knee joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to improve this is to fix the problem - a lack of strength in the muscles around knee joint and movements to reduce the stress on the soft tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any weight baring cardiovascular exercise - such as elliptical or cycling - will help&lt;/strong&gt;, as will running, as long as you use a mid- to fore-foot stride. Heel strikes are biomechanically inefficiently and again put extra stress on the ankle and knee. These exercises will improve you ability to perform these motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;it is probably also worth recommending looking into some traditional strength training as well.&lt;/strong&gt; At the least, incorporating bodyweight squats will improve your legs ability to work through this range of motion. Start by doing repetitions starting from a standing positions with feet shoulder-wide apart and lowering until your thighs are parallel, then gradually work until you have the strength to lower your self until your rear touches your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, &lt;strong&gt;your weight has a direct relation to the amount of pressure on your knees, so make sure you are eating a healthy diet and your height is as near to your ideal weight as possible.&lt;/strong&gt; While BMI can be a flawed metric, working to fall within the &quot;normal&quot; range is a good place to start. Unless you quite tall or are actively weight-training, its unlikely that you are an outlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T00:22:09.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-10T01:21:39.903" Score="-1" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how many calories im meant to be eating a day to lose weight...&#xA;Some calculators tell me my maintence is 1400, some 1600 and some even 2200!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am female, 141 pounds (63kg), 168cm tall, 19 years old. Have only been lifting for 2-3 months so prob have about 5kg muscle built. (if that's help you determine my body composition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goal: lose weight, gain muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regimine: cardio and weight lift, about 4 times a week, but have been slacking off since cutting as I worry I will just eat away at my muscle by working them out so hard and not feeding them enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet: mainly bread, protein shakes, tuna, yogurt, weight watcher lasagnes, etc. Sometimes smoothies in morn. About 1500 cal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get enough protein and sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone tell me my maintence for training days and non training days?&#xA;Like non training would it be about 1300? and training days 1600? does that sound right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T16:24:45.767" Title="what is my rmr?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9525" CreationDate="2014-09-10T04:44:28.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically if you are gaining size and not mass that means you are either lacking calories or protein, or not doing a workout strong enough to produce the micro tears and re build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The token amount of protein to have in building muscle is 1g per pound of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weight 145 pounds, so to build muscle I have to aim for 145.&#xA;It is very hard to reach this hence many people who train don't grow as much as they would like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eg cup of milk has 8g, tuna is 18g etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is good that you are taking the protein straight after training as after you lift weights there is a 20 monute &quot;window&quot; as they call it where the body acts as sponge and needs protein ASAP. hence a protein shake with about 30g after training is good. Use whey protein for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you know protein lets cover calories.&#xA;If you are quite a skinny guy it will be VERY hard for you to calculate how many calories you eat and I doubt you want to anyway...&#xA;Basically unless you have a far bit of body fat.. if you want to gain muscle you have to eat! eat every 3-4 hours with protein based meals. If you want to look at your calorie daily need though for boys is about 2000-3000 and girls about 1500-2200. you can put your name and age and everything into calculations in google and it will figure it out for you.&#xA;and with the lifting do it so on your 8th or 9th rep you COULD NOT do another rep for your life, feel the burn! and make sure you keep up with your water in take :) hope I could help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already are lifting as hard as you can and going up weights every few weeks then your doing fine. when I am not strong enough to go up weights but want a killer workout. I will do this: (say its for biceps- eg bicep curl)..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;start at absoulute max weight (for me is 7kg- im a girl)&#xA;I do 5 of them, or even 3 (whatever I can do) then without a break pick up a 5kg weight, do 10 reps then pick up a 3kg weight and do 15 reps. hence the musxcle is under tension a LONG time, and you have varied the rep/weighjt range for muscle confusion and lifted heavier than usual! its called super sets really good for muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T04:44:28.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18857" CreationDate="2014-09-10T11:54:26.073" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would challenge the premise of your question. Is your goal to lose weight or to be healthy? Exercise is a small portion of weight loss. Diet is the biggest factor. Focus on the quality of the food you eat more so than the quantity. You do need a calorie deficit to lose weight, but you could get that on of those fad diets like the cookie diet, etc... You would be in a calorie deficit but you wouldn't be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10584" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T11:54:26.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18887" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-10T12:46:46.183" Score="0" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run a lot and skip a lot, I also weight lift, I have been losing weight rapidly and I am happy about it. But I really want to loose weight around my side and lower back,  it isn't directly my lower back it is like on the side coming onto my lower back if that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From working out I know that I can't spot reduce it, eating good and lots of long long cardio is what is doing the trick, that is the hard honest truth. I also recently killed my chocolate eating habits that all of a sudden came out of nowhere, I found out that it was a magnesium deficiency and solved it with Epsom bath salts and magnesium spray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can also appreciate that genetically, the belly, the side and back is genetically where my fat is prone to accumulate the most first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But are there any tips and tricks, diet or exercise wise that people could suggest that would help me keep it off those areas, they don't have to be orthodox and I don't mind if some suggestions sound skeptical, I am open to new things, idc how far out they sound. For example, I found out recently that I am an endomorphic body type, I put muscle on fast and fat...so I have kept the weight training to lower weights because I just put mass on so quickly, it is a little annoying, perhaps there are things that work best for that body type?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also love some articles and things just to educate myself about these areas of the body and food etc.. if people think I would find them helpful, even if they are basic ::)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastEditorUserId="10112" LastEditDate="2014-09-10T12:57:02.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T12:31:23.310" Title="losing side and back fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18884" CreationDate="2014-09-10T15:15:57.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please understand that online calculators get you in the ballpark, but not much more than that.  You will always have to fine-tune the numbers based on trial and error.  However, the process is not that scary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) or more accurately RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) is a measure of how many calories your body uses when doing nothing at all.  I.e. sleeping or laying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where everyone needs to start.  The truth is, unless you are a paraplegic, you are going to use more than the basic RMR throughout the day.  The way online calculators make the adjustment is based off of an &lt;strong&gt;activity multiplier&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An activity multiplier is an estimated increase in calories needed to support your normal activities.  When thinking about this multiplier, it's all about your average for the whole week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the information you provided and this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calorie calculator&lt;/a&gt;, we can start to zero in on what is a more reasonable number of Calories to hit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR (activity multiplier set to 1) comes out to 1424 Cal/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using &quot;Lightly Active&quot;* the Calories to &lt;em&gt;maintain weight&lt;/em&gt; are 1958 Cal/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In order to lose 0.5kg / week (healthy rate) you would need to have an average of 1458 Cal/day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's discuss why we picked these numbers, so it's more helpful in the long run:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I chose &quot;Lightly Active&quot; over &quot;Moderately Active&quot; because you are new to strength training, so you aren't using as many calories as someone who has been at it a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are 3500 Calories in a pound of fat (just under 0.5 kg), so when you average that over a week, you need to drop &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; 500 Calories a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So using the numbers we are working with, a reasonable starting point to preserve muscle mass and emphasize fat burning would be this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total Calories: 1450 Cal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.83 g protein per lb body weight: 115 g (doesn't have to be exact)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20% calories from fat: 32 g (20% of 1450 is 290 Cal, 9 Cal / gram fat = 32 g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All the rest as carbs: 187 g carbohydrates (4 Cal / gram protein + calories in fat leaves 748 Cal, 4 Cal / gram carbs is 187)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat this every day, it will average out to about 0.5 kg lost a week.  There are some strategies that help.  For example, emphasize carbs and protein before, during and after training (15-20g protein each, with 3-4x as many carbs).  This should give you energy for your training when you need it, and better prevent more fat storage.  (Based on information from the Sport Nutrition Encyclopedia by Josh Thigpen et al).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some recent studies show that cardio does not burn muscle as much as previously thought, and it really depends on the mode of cardio.  For example, the high impact of running has more affect on muscle building than riding a bike.  Swimming, ellipticals, stationary bikes, or even going outside and riding a bike are all great ways to do the long slow cardio in a way that &lt;em&gt;complements&lt;/em&gt; strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adjusting as you lose&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are losing weight at a comfortable rate, you can keep up the status quo.  However below are a few guidelines on how to adjust if weight loss is too fast or not fast enough:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are losing weight too fast, or you are done with the fat loss increase your diet by 100-200 Calories and re-evaluate at the end of the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take measurements in addition to weighing yourself on a scale.  You might not lose weight, or even gain a little one week, but lose inches.  That's your body building some lean mass and burning fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If measurements are going up and the scale is going up/staying the same, decrease your diet by 100-200 Calories and re-evaluate at the end of the week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find that you might need to shuffle the macros a little to keep momentum where you want it.  When you are satisfied with your progress, gradually increase to maintenance levels and keep the exercise up.  You shouldn't make jumps any more than 200 Calories at a time, and no more frequently than once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food choices make a big difference&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, try to aim for foods that are not very inflammatory.  This happens to work out well for what we understand as &quot;healthy foods&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruits and Vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High fiber carb sources like oatmeal and quinoa&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meats and eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Generally anything that's not highly processed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that many of these foods are low density.  In other words, not a lot of Calories for the portion you are eating.  That's a great thing when you are on a diet since it helps prevent the feeling of being &quot;punished&quot;, and you actually may feel like you could never eat all the food you have outlined for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend keeping things simple.  Don't try to adjust up or down for training/non-training days.  However, if you choose to do that, keep in mind the average for the week should be hitting the targets for your calories and macros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of right answers, but the &lt;strong&gt;best answer&lt;/strong&gt; is something you can do habitually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-09-10T15:25:52.477" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T15:25:52.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18894" CreationDate="2014-09-10T15:39:04.927" Score="2" ViewCount="758" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought that this might be something someone has asked before but I cannot find it so here it goes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 46 year old male.  Weight 180 and height 5'10.  According to every chart out there, I am overweight.  However, I physically do not look overweight since I have been working out for over 20 years and have pure muscle.  Not a body buider, mind you, but athletic and elongated muscles.  I work out 6 days a week doing all kinds of interval, cardio and weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been times when I dropped the weight to the supposed ideal (I have dropped to 165-175 on occassions througout my life) just to see how it looked on me and what I have found is that not only do I lose strength but I also look extremely thin.  And by extremely I mean EXTREMELY thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it that these charts are just plain wrong or is there some way to remain strong (and by this I mean, as an example, to continue to bench 205 lbs, etc.) and still maintain the ideal weight according to the chart?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T20:27:42.060" Title="Ideal body weight for medium frame" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18878" CreationDate="2014-09-10T15:42:46.727" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the words of every trainer out there: cardio, cardio, cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training will give you strength but only cardio will burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T15:42:46.727" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-10T17:29:08.543" Score="1" ViewCount="915" Body="&lt;p&gt;For several weeks now, I have noticed a mild pain on my right knee after squats, I am on strong lifts 5*5, 57Kg/179cm/M.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My squats weight reached 115 lbs but for the last two sessions have brought it down to 95 lbs to see if the pain is still there. Although its nothing like a pain that stops me from daily activities, but its more kind of a sensation that occurs during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon searching about the form, I did the following things, I squat like I am about to sit on a chair, I discarded tennis shoes and used flat shoes, I keep my feet at 30 degrees and shoulder width apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advice me what can I do to avoid this pain and keep increasing weight seamlessly, thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T19:10:47.613" Title="what is causing knee pain after squats?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18892" CreationDate="2014-09-10T18:44:14.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be joint fatigue from the repetitive movement.  Without X-rays and a proper check it is hard to tell.  I would try using knee wraps to keep the knee joint aligned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check them out here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drsquat12.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drsquat12.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T18:44:14.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18890" CreationDate="2014-09-10T19:43:37.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Screw BMI&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body Mass Index (BMI) charts are wrong and useless and should be ignored. They're only used because they're easy: plug in height and weight, compare to The Chart Of Truth, and you're done. But they aren't useful for individuals to predict the bad health outcomes we want to avoid. BMI causes so many false &quot;healthy&quot; and false &quot;unhealthy&quot; results that &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-valid-is-bmi-as-a-measure-of-health-and-obesity.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it's simply not trustworthy&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI was designed to be used for populations. If you're basing your workout, diet, or health goals on BMI, you've done something wrong. It's only a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2223095/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mistake of history&lt;/a&gt; that we still use BMI. It should be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439&amp;amp;sc=fb&amp;amp;cc=fp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;discarded&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Screw IBW&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ideal Body Weight&quot; calculations come with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.manuelsweb.com/IBW.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;disclaimer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The IBW and ABW are used to calculate medication dosages when the patient is obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Body_weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alternatively&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ideal Body Weight, specifically the Devine Formula, is used clinically for multiple reasons, most commonly in estimating renal function in drug dosing, and predicting pharmacokinetics in morbidly obese patients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So-called &quot;ideal&quot; body weight calculations are not in any way supposed to be used as a guideline for how much weight to lose. Do not allow them any power over your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Superior Alternatives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using BMI or IBW to measure how much you should weigh is pointing your efforts at the wrong goal. If you want to be lean, work on your body fat percentage. If you want to be healthy, work on strength, conditioning, and mobility goals. (If you're tremendously overweight, picking a goal weight for your initial weight loss can work, but there's absolutely no reason to bring BMI into it, and once that goal weight is reached, it's better to target more useful numbers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of targeting a specific BMI goal, measure what you want to improve. Want to look better? Get a camera and a tape measure and track how you look (with consistent clothing, pose and lighting) and measurements of your arms, legs, hips, and waist. Or set a performance goal, like &quot;finish a 5k&quot; or &quot;squat twenty times with a barbell as heavy as I am&quot;. Want to be healthy? Develop a strength and conditioning program to work towards your desired health markers, like body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closest useful analogue to BMI is the &lt;strong&gt;Body Shape Index&lt;/strong&gt;, which &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2012/07/25/the-body-shape-index/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;seems to be a better predictor of one's risk of death&lt;/a&gt;. Keep in mind that while it takes belly fat into account, it still does not keep track of muscle or actual markers of physical health, like mobility, strength, inflammation, diabetic state, or cardiovascular disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Body Shape Index= Waist Circumference/[(BMI^(2/3))*(height^(1/2))]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-09-11T20:27:42.060" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T20:27:42.060" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18876" CreationDate="2014-09-10T20:41:52.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This topic is still quite debatable and personally, I tend to gravitate more towards the &quot;avoid injury and keep muscle oxigenated&quot; school of thought but I recently read a publication by UT researchers J. Antonio and W. J. Gonyea called Muscle Hypertrophy vs Hyperplasia.  They conducted some very interesting experiments with birds.  An excerpt of this paper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;DOES STRETCH INDUCE FIBER HYPERPLASIA? &#xA;  This animal model was first used by Sola et al. (38) in 1973. In essence, you put a weight on one wing of a bird (usually a chicken or quail) and leave the other wing alone. By putting a weight on one wing (usually equal to 10% of the bird's weight), a weight-induced stretch is imposed on the back muscles. The muscle which is usually examined is the anterior latissimus dorsi or ALD (unlike humans, birds have an anterior and posterior latissimus dorsi). Besides the expected observation that the individual fibers grew under this stress, Sola et al. found that this method of overload resulted in a 16% increase in ALD muscle fiber number. Since the work of Sola, numerous investigators have used this model (1,2,4-8,10,19,26,28,32,43,44). For example, Alway et al. (1) showed that 30 days of chronic stretch (i.e., 30 days with the weight on with NO REST) resulted in a 172% increase in ALD muscle mass and a 52-75% increase in muscle fiber number! Imagine if humans could grow that fast! &#xA;  More recently, I performed a study using the same stretch model. In addition, I used a progressive overload scheme whereby the bird was initally loaded with a weight equal to 10% of the its weight followed by increments of 15%, 20%, 25%, and 35% of its weight (5). Each weight increment was interspersed with a 2 day rest. The total number of stretch days was 28. Using this approach produced the greatest gains in muscle mass EVER recorded in an animal or human model of tension-induced overload, up to a 334% increase in muscle mass with up to a 90% increase in fiber number (5,8)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, according to this experiment, yes.  It most certainly does help with muscle growth.  But who wants to tie weights to themselves for 30 days?  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T20:41:52.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18931" CreationDate="2014-09-11T09:03:40.833" Score="-1" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vo2max training result into transparent urea, not sure why perhaps not enough eating things and getting/absorbing minerals -- apparently particularly Zinc. I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukonychia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leukonychia&lt;/a&gt; (white spots in nails). It is caused either by the lack of minerals or body not absorbing things enough aka &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoalbuminemia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hypoalbuminemia&lt;/a&gt;. I take this multivitamin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnesstukku.fi/5/fi/artiklar/only-one-60-tabletter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; containing: Magnesium 100mg (27%), Kalium 200mg (10%), Zinc 10mg (100%), Iron 14mg (100%), Copper 1mg (100%), Mangan 2mg (100%), Iodine 150µg (100%), Chromium 40µg (100%) and Selen 55 µg (100%). I feel so much better on the morning when I take minerals, it wakes me up (not D-vitamin doing this). This means that my body is lacking minerals apparently or they are not absorbed or my intensity of training requires even more minerals. You can see that I am trying to take 100% RDA/RDI of all necessary vitamins/minerals. It looks that I need more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to treat Leukonychia with an athletic person?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T17:52:30.477" Title="Leukonychia with an athletic person, how to treat it? Zinc?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-09-15T03:01:01.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18887" CreationDate="2014-09-11T09:08:05.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides visceral fat vs subcutaneous fat, there is no way of changing what fat is burned, but there are ways of changing how you look anyway, by building muscle. 5 kg of fat on your arm will look worse with 2 kg of muscle than with 5 kg of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, build your core muscles or lose more fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T09:08:05.827" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18928" CreationDate="2014-09-11T09:19:17.273" Score="2" ViewCount="413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift weights about three times a week, I don't do splits, always full-body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what a typical lifting sessions looks like for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 min warmup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4*5 pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10*3 or 5*5 bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3+3+1+1+1+3 heavy deadlifts, shifting hands, increasing weight from 100 kg to 130 to about 150 at most, then back down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10*3 cable rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10*3 Either squats or leg curls + knee extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some ab exercise, like leg raises or folded knee dragon flags.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some isolation exercise I feel like doing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then we usually do some boxing on pads, maybe 5 min.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time-wise, this will usually be about 60-80 minutes depending on how crowded the gym is, I don't rest a lot  between sets, rarely more than one minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see some programs like starting strength recommending doing 3 out of 6 basic exercises at 5x5 at each session, but this seems too little to me. I also see a lot of people saying you &quot;can't&quot; do squats and dead lifts in the same session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been weight lifting a few years so I guess I can't expect incredible amounts of gains, but I'm still a bit dissapointed by my meager gains. Should I cut down a bit on my volume? I'm 28 years old btw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T13:17:33.913" Title="Is my training volume too large for optimal gains" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2014-09-11T09:35:10.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My claim: Night eating by itself does result in more weight gain than daytime eating. Night eating often means you eat something additional, more than you need, which can result in weight gain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Study 1. Night eating and weight change in middle-aged men and women.&#xA; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15278102&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pubmed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Night eating was not associated with later weight gain, except among already obese women, suggesting that getting up at night to eat may be a contributor to further weight gain among the obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Study 2. The night-eating syndrome and obesity.&#xA; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22222118&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pubmed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Night eating syndrome does not always lead to weight gain...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10526" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T09:35:10.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2014-09-11T09:46:16.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He can gain excess because of insulin.  And of course the way insulin works has been exploited by bodybuilders seeking to increase muscle mass.  So where one wishing to reduce their weight may want to eat their last meal several hours prior to entering REM sleep, a bodybuilder may actually consume two pre-retirment meals (setting an alarm clock four hours in to a rest period to get another protein window)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10657" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T09:46:16.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18898" CreationDate="2014-09-11T12:06:56.800" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, micronutrient deficiency is very rare, it's mostly something that vitamin pill manufacturers are scaring people with. But it can't hurt, right? Except that in total, we are wasting billions of dollars on something has most often has no effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are possible exceptions though, people with very bad eating habits (like only eating pasta), uninformed vegans and women who get too little iron. Not sure if being very active actually leads to deficiencies, havn't seen any studies on it at least. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not underestimate the power of placebo, it probably causes your good mornings, enjoy it while it lasts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afaik, there is also quite a lot of dispute about the bioavailability of minerals and vitamins in supplements. Perhaps you could try eating better food with higher mineral levels? Some foods containing zinc are red meat, liver in particular, celery, beans and nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;Zinc supplements should only be ingested when there is zinc deficiency or increased zinc necessity (e.g. after surgeries, traumata or burns). [181] [182] Persistent intake of high doses of zinc can cause copper deficiency.&quot; According to wikipedia. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to a doctor and check if you actually have any deficiencies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T12:06:56.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18930" CreationDate="2014-09-11T12:31:35.920" Score="3" ViewCount="1822" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am after some exercises which work the fast twitch fibre muscles, both isometric and weight training wise. Could you guys please suggest some?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wanted to know, when I curl a dumbell I pull it up faster and drop slower and when I bench I push up faster and come down slower, what type of training is this? I am trying exposive movements, but does it train the fast twitch fibres in any way? or if there is a special name for this type of training I would like to know the name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be grateful if you suggest more isometric exercises than ones that require weights simply because isometrics are new to me and I would love to try a whole bunch out, thank you :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of wanting these if to be able to punch to and kick faster (if the context helps make more accurate/relevant suggestions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2014-09-13T20:12:00.430" Title="Training the twitch fibre muscles for faster punching and kicking" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2014-09-11T14:35:07.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you burn 2000 calories a day and eat 2000 calories a day, 1500 of which you eat before bed, your body composition will remain constant.  There's no fooling thermodynamics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T14:35:07.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18892" CreationDate="2014-09-11T15:12:38.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What helped for me were two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go a little deeper on the squats (just below parallel). It tends to relieve the pressure on the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take longer rests between sets. I used to rest about 30 sec. to 1 minute between sets, but after having some pain in my knees I took 2-3 minutes of rest between sets &amp;amp; noticed to experience less pain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And most importantly: if the pain continues, consider taking a break until the pain is gone. I know it's incredibly hard to do so (especially if you're doing 5x5), but it's worth it in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10687" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T15:12:38.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18910" CreationDate="2014-09-11T15:31:45.170" Score="5" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I see this machine in the gym and I see a lot of people using it, but I never understood its purpose or its importance. Why and for what to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U2Su3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T15:14:43.373" Title="Purpose of this machine?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18911" CreationDate="2014-09-11T15:36:00.967" Score="-2" ViewCount="708" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wearing a copper ring in my left hand for more than 2 years and I my friend recently asked me to remove it,saying it will add some toxins into me .Is it true? Or is he is seriously kidding? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10688" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T16:27:49.150" Title="would wearing copper rings cause any toxicity?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-09-15T02:57:06.893" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18878" CreationDate="2014-09-11T15:51:53.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add an extra set or two, increase your reps for all sets except the heaviest one.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shorten rest times between sets.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shift to an even stricter diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find that a little cardio is worth not going on a very strict diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have the time, having the equipment or not doesn't matter.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you don't have the equipment, I'm sure there are some questions out there on cardio without tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T15:51:53.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18907" CreationDate="2014-09-11T16:13:13.720" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a rowing machine.  You sit on the chair and push with your legs against the pads while at the same time pulling the bar with your arms.  The round part you see in front is the resistance wheel which you can adjust so that the movement is more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a full body workout that incorporates a great deal of cardio.  Some people even say that it is one of the most efficient body workouts.  I have used it mostly for warm up before a session of weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0r_ZPXJLtg&quot;&gt;Proper way to use a rowing machine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T16:13:13.720" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18908" CreationDate="2014-09-11T16:27:49.150" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your friend is misinformed.  Copper jewelry will not cause copper toxity.  The actual exposure to copper by using a ring is quite minimal and will not cause you any trouble.  Copper toxity comes mostly from ingesting copper.  So if you eat the ring, then you might be looking at some copper related issues.  But by just wearing it the most you will have deal with is a green finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://drlwilson.com/articles/copper_toxicity_syndrome.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Information on copper toxicity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T16:27:49.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18878" CreationDate="2014-09-11T17:22:02.900" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number one defense against body fat is controlling your diet.  Everything else supplements a proper diet.  Most recommendations on diet are fundamentally the same, and the differences are often overstated.  One thing is true: you can't out-exercise a bad diet.  Always start with how much you eat, and then the types of things you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to use exercise when you are emphasizing burning fat.  Here are a few examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Minimize rest between sets.&lt;/strong&gt;  If you normally take 2-3 minutes resting between each set, try to get down to 30 seconds to 1 minute.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use circuit training.&lt;/strong&gt;  High reps with moderate weight will work best.  Try to involve lunges and push ups in your circuit if you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do something outdoors.&lt;/strong&gt;  Walking a couple miles in your neighborhood can help give you a time to think and clear your mind as well as provide some active recovery.  Swimming and bicycling are other options if it is available to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do loaded carries.&lt;/strong&gt;  Strongman has activities like farmer's walks, sandbag carries, etc.  All you have to do is carry something heavy and try to cover 30-50 feet as quickly as possible, and repeat a few times.  Short quick steps usually work best for these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these get your heart rate up, and the goal is to maintain an elevated heart rate for 30 minutes to an hour.  The time for rest between circuits can be from when you are breathing really heavy to when you can speak in sentences again.  If you have a heart rate monitor you can keep your heart rate up between 120-150 BPM for most of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that by being creative you can balance conditioning work and strength work well.   You can do your main work normally in the beginning of a training session, then superset all the assistance work.  You can also choose to take the stairs instead of elevators or escalators when you can.  All these options pack a lot of work in a little time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T17:22:02.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-11T20:05:33.503" Score="2" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;low carb Atkins type diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; really work when it comes to losing fat? Is it better and easier to do than the &lt;strong&gt;low fat&lt;/strong&gt; diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long does it take to enter &lt;strong&gt;ketosis&lt;/strong&gt; (nutritional) while on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LCHF&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; diet with 50-100 gm of carb per day? Any way to measure it w/o using any device?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10684" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-10-13T12:00:21.663" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T12:00:21.663" Title="Is LCHF diet the best and easy way to loose fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-10-13T18:45:20.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2014-09-11T20:28:26.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body has to convert calories to something it can use, whether that be glucose or fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If calories are converted to glucose, your body is going to burn it off (or it goes to the toilet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When calories are stored as fat, it takes longer for your body to access that energy because it now has to convert stored fat to glucose. This makes a person feel tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating before bed is going to result in more calories being stored as fat because the body does not need that energy while in shutdown mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body burns 2000 calories a day and you eat 2000 calories a day, eating shortly before bed will result in you feeling more sluggish during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take in 2000 calories a day now and you made it a point to take in that fuel early enough for your body to process more of it into glucose, you are likely to burn &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than 2000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I eat at 6 PM and go to bed at 9 PM, that should be equivalent to you eating at 10 PM and going to bed at 1 AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T20:28:26.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-11T20:39:28.113" Score="0" ViewCount="1275" Body="&lt;p&gt;My left forearm is slightly smaller than my right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any bodyweight exercises I could do to even these out a little? I don't know how noticeable it is to others, but to me it is very noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10689" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T19:32:42.403" Title="Slight uneven forearms" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-12T10:14:29.213" Score="2" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to ask whats the quickest way to regain energy or maintain energy levels after an upset stomach. Assume that the upset stomach is a one off thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question has to do with preventing muscle loss after an upset stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10694" LastActivityDate="2014-11-22T19:17:51.343" Title="preventing muscle and energy level loss after an upset stomach" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18920" CreationDate="2014-09-12T10:29:50.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly do you mean by energy levels? Accept the fact that your body will sometimes fail you, just let it rest and get back to work as soon as you feel well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any muscle loss due to not being able to eat and train properly for such a short while is miniscule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T10:29:50.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18914" CreationDate="2014-09-12T10:34:16.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people find it easy to lose weight with a keto (lchf) diet, but it doesn't work for everyone, you'll have to find what works best for you. The type of people that seems to have most luck eating keto are the ones with disturbed carbohydrate metabolism, i.e. those with high insulin resistance, i.e. often those with lots of visceral fat, those who are pre-diabetic (or diabetic) (only type-2 diabetes applies btw!), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sort of makes sense to me that if your permanent, non-acute insulin levels are high, eating more carbs will tend to lead to fat accumulation, but I'm neither a doctor nor a dietician so I don't know for sure wether that is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketosis is not really that important imo, some people put things like coconut fat in their coffee to increase their amount of ketones (a by-product of fat metabolism when you avoid eating carbs), what a surprise their ketones increase when they eat more fat! Ketone levels are not a sign of fat loss, it's a sign of fat metabolism, which may be due to burning your own fat or ingested fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main point of keto diets is to decrease your glycochemic load and replace it with other foods, which might have metabolic advantages for insulin resistant people, and to give you a good reason to not eat crappy carb-loaded foods like cookies, white bread and soda, which saves you quite a lot of calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T10:34:16.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18900" CreationDate="2014-09-12T11:31:43.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you have a wrong perspective , like many, that gains come from exercise, which is to great extent wrong. Exercising in the gym is only simulating the muscles , the growth comes from providing enough nutrients to the muscles to grow, and from resting enough for the muscle to repair . In the end muscular development boils down to only two things , break and repair . Said that , if you are providing enough food, carbohydrates , protein to the body to support full body exercise three times a week , please continue with this program . What you can do to increase the gains , is to increase your diet, have more protein . Or if you think that you are not having enough nutrients, then please decrease the volume . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally , I think that doing one body part is better than multiple body parts , or whole body in the same session , as I believe its better to concentrate on one body part at a time , achieve maximum stimulation, and after that I don't really have enough energy to do any other body part, and if I do have energy to do any other body part, then I am not training the intended body part correctly . You can try splitting body parts on different days for some time , and see how that works for you . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T11:31:43.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18914" CreationDate="2014-09-12T13:00:04.107" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our mind doesn't know that we live in a time when getting food isn't an issue. It still believes there is a good chance for famine. Because of this your body wants to store fat for when the inevitable famine arrives. Your body prefers to use the quick energy provided by sugar(processed carbs). We have to train our body to use fat for energy by reducing the intake of processed carbs. Many people will feel physically &quot;bad&quot; for a few days because the body really wants those carbs and isn't used to not having them. We want to get our bodies into a state of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180858.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ketosis.&lt;/a&gt; Luckly, there has been a very recent large study about the effects of eating less carbs and more fat. You can read about it &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/05/new-answers-about-carbs-and-fat/?_php=true&amp;amp;_type=blogs&amp;amp;_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are trying to do with Ketosis is get your body to burn your stored body fat for fuel. Your body wants to have the quick fuel, sugar/simple carbs. You want to train your body to use stored fat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10584" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-09-16T21:04:40.350" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T21:04:40.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18900" CreationDate="2014-09-12T13:17:33.913" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your program seems like a decent beginner strength training program.  You'll find that different approaches to programming involve trade-offs to emphasize one aspect of training over another.  Programs like Starting Strength are designed around the philosophy of taking someone who hasn't really worked with a barbell to reasonably strong in as short a period of time as possible.  Every time the trainee does an exercise on that program they have to increase weight.  That doesn't match training to emphasize hypertrophy for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tell-tale signs that the volume is starting to get too much (for now):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difficulty concentrating on tasks throughout the day due to &quot;fatigue fog&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Energy levels and motivation are down as you go in the gym.  A general sense of dreading the training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting to miss reps you would normally make.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not experiencing any of these symptoms, then the training volume is something you can adequately recover from.  The truth of the matter is that whether your goal is strength or size, over time you need to keep increasing the volume of work you are doing.  There's several strategies to doing this, and that's where the concept of training splits come in.  A training split can be concentrated around muscle groups (bodybuilding emphasis) or specific primary compound movements (strength emphasis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several training tools that you can use when your current plan starts to no longer work.  However, it's a good idea to keep doing something that's working as long as possible.  A few things to consider for your training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have a plan for progression.&lt;/strong&gt;  This can be more weight on the bar, more reps per set, doing the same amount of work in less time, etc.  If it feels like adding more weight is going to cause you to start failing, then work on reps for a little bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have a schedule for progression.&lt;/strong&gt;  It's perfectly valid to increase weight when you feel like you &quot;own&quot; the weight.  It's also valid to say you'll increase it weekly or monthly.  The idea is that you don't plan on staying with the same weight/sets/reps forever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have a backup plan for when you have a bad day.&lt;/strong&gt;  These happen from time to time.  You might be dealing with a lot of outside stress, poor sleep for too many nights, no food due to a hectic schedule, etc.  If you are having trouble finishing your primary work, you might want to skip the assistance.  Or you might want to work with a 5-10% lighter load for the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best thing is not to over-think the training, which is easy to do with many opinions out there that seem to conflict on the surface, when in fact they are arguing about very minor details.  If what you are doing is helping you achieve your goals, and you enjoy the process, keep at it.  If you aren't progressing toward your goals any longer, then change something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T13:17:33.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18904" CreationDate="2014-09-13T04:51:14.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt if isometric exercises could improve punching speed – maybe you meant bodyweight exercises? Isometric exercises are ones where the muscle that's working is being held in a constant state of contraction, as in a plank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some exercises to improve punching speed and power that we use in my boxing class:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push jabs&lt;/strong&gt;: Hold a medicine ball so it is touching your chest. Then quickly push it out horizontally with the same fast, snapping arm motion you'd use when throwing a punch. Build up to several minutes of this. You can also work on your footwork at the same time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance punching&lt;/strong&gt;: Attach a resistance band to an A-frame or similar at around shoulder height. Face away from the point of attachment. Hold the handle in one hand and throw fast, snapping punches against the resistance. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explosive pushups&lt;/strong&gt;: Like normal pushups, but you explosively push yourself up off the ground at the end of each rep. The badasses (not me) manage to clap while airborne.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heavy bag training&lt;/strong&gt;: We do intervals, alternating a longer period of lightly hitting at fast as possible with a much shorter period of hitting as hard as possible. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lower body (kicking):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuck jumps&lt;/strong&gt;: Jump vertically, trying to bring your knees to your chest. Repeat. Great for tabata training. If you have a plyo box, you&#xA;could jump onto that instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mini hurdle jumps&lt;/strong&gt;: We use small hurdles (about 12 inches) for this, but imaginary hurdles would work just as well. Set 4 or 5 hurdles in a line and hop through with both feet at once. These should be clean, strong hop-jumps with no pauses or running steps in between.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Burpees&lt;/strong&gt;: Just awesome all around. If you do them with an explosive push-up at the bottom and a tuck jump at the top, that's a pretty solid workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastEditorUserId="10391" LastEditDate="2014-09-13T18:26:39.820" LastActivityDate="2014-09-13T18:26:39.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18898" CreationDate="2014-09-13T09:10:51.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal urea color differs between transparent to yellow. &#xA;The color of the urea is not relevant in the yellow perspective.&#xA;Red, blue, purple, brown/orange, black are all urine colors denoting some sort of disease/injury process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just drink much if you have transparent urea - good thing! &#xA;Your kidneys are working well.&#xA;If you suspect you have some problem with your kidneys, monitor the urination amounts during night time vs day time. &#xA;If those two amounts equal, then you have some problem in your kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leuconychia is completely normal thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I discussed with you, your Zinc deficiency is caused by other things related in your gastrointestinal system (celiac disease). &#xA;To recover from it, requires 100% gluten-free diet and takes time even one year if bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow balanced training plan (example below) with physical training and specific sport training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-3 training (tennis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swimming/stretching once per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;power training 1-2 per week (decrease this if other heavy sessions)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the appropriate amounts depends on your exercise level during your life (childhood, ...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do power training when you do not have difficult training plan. &#xA;Do enough recovery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;always enough pulling and push movements - use those metallic/rubber coils or strings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put legs to the air next the wall sometimes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gymnastics of legs (stepping on your feet - little movements)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do have enough &lt;strong&gt;nutrition fiber&lt;/strong&gt; and vitamin B in your diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;water melon, orange, porridge (oats) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gluten-free diet can lead to vitamin B deficiency so take your multivitamin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recovery of the nervous system takes much time (many months). &#xA;Please, pay attention to terms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overtraining syndrome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ibuprofen + exercise (if you take this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;supercompensation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and particularly Womba training periodisation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not fast when doing sport&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ca2+ is the most important buffer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ketone bodies accumulate in our body if you fast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;our body buffers this by Calcium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;our body takes it from bones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you break your bones if you do sport and fast at the same time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to ask private more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastEditorUserId="2169" LastEditDate="2014-09-16T17:52:30.477" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T17:52:30.477" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18954" CreationDate="2014-09-13T09:13:16.360" Score="9" ViewCount="14230" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain why when you eat a rich meal at dinner or knowingly eat too much, you you wake up with massive hunger pangs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night was my cheat meal but i over did it (most of an XXL pizza when my normal diet is usually fish and peas for dinner)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10607" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T21:26:36.583" Title="Starving the morning after a massive meal" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18936" CreationDate="2014-09-13T14:16:26.850" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have whey protein which is almost expired but some still left. Is that bad idea to consume anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;English is not my first language, please edit for clarity, then remove this comment!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T20:04:46.180" Title="Protein about to expire" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20947" CreationDate="2014-09-13T15:51:59.040" Score="0" ViewCount="3741" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, some words on my fitness history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was quite a scrawny kid growing up but in high school I joined the high school's Cross-Country team and started running regularly for part of the year.  I found that each year as the season started and I worked on getting back into competition shape I would gain about 10 lbs. and my legs (specifically my thighs) would increase in size.  I thought this was unusual, since distance running is usually associated with toning muscle rather than building it, but building muscle is what happened.  This may be in part due to the fact that I lived in a mountainous part of the country where some of my training runs would often have elevation gains of one hundred to several hundred feet.  We would also incorporate hills into our speed workouts.  Particularly for me, I enjoyed running hills and so would seek them out on my own personal runs.  This may have contributed to the increase in muscle size.  I also lived in a higher-altitude environment (about 4500 - 5000 feet) so the air was thinner.&#xA;To be more specific:&#xA;2005 started Cross-Country, ran summer and fall&#xA;2006, spring, tried out lacrosse for a season, wasn't very good.&#xA;2006, summer and fall, Cross-Country again&#xA;2007, spring, track (1600 m and 3200 m)&#xA;2007, summer and fall, Cross-Country again (I sprained my ankle shortly before the season started so I was out of commission for a little while).&#xA;2008, spring, track again (1600 m and 3200 m).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then ran a little bit in spring of 2009 recreationally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summer 2009- summer 2011 spent two years in a humid sea-level environment where I did a lot of walking but little running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't start running again until summer 2013, but didn't get to run very long or very often because I was dealing with shin splints.  There was nowhere flat where I lived so every run consisted of at least a 40 foot elevation change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, from spring 2012 to spring 2014 I started biking regularly to school, which I lived about a mile away from and had a significant downhill one way and a significant hill the other way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe my thighs and buttox are disproportionately bigger than the rest of my body.  For instance, I have to buy relaxed fit jeans that are at least 2 inches too big for my hip size just to fit my butt and thighs comfortably into them.  For instance, my thighs measure 27 inches EACH while my hip measures at 36 inches and my waist measures at 35 inches.  I do have some stomach fat, but since my legs increase in size while I was in good physical condition and had almost no fat on my body I am sure that most of my leg size is coming from muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of this leg volume was developed running Cross-Country in high school but I believe some more leg volume has been developed in my exercises since and possibly even gained some fat since the beginning of 2012 (that's when my face and body started looking less scrawny and I started getting some stomach fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been afraid to take up any sort of exercise again in fear that it would again increase my leg size and I would need to buy pants way larger that my waist/hip size just to get my upper leg to fit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First question: how did my legs get so big?  Was it any particular exercise I did or am I just a genetic anomaly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second question:  I now live in a flatter part of the country but I still am planning on biking to school most every day and there is a little bit of a hill.  How should I approach this biking to keep my leg muscle size from increasing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third question:  What kind of exercise can I do with my bike that will allow me to burn fat and build strength/endurance without increasing my leg muscle size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fourth question: What kind of exercise can I do IN GENERAL that will allow me to burn fat and build strength/endurance without increasing my leg muscle size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 24 year old male.  I would also prefer exercises that don't take a lot of time (whether in preparation or implementation) since I am in a busy stage of life (aren't we all :)?  ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T20:43:41.953" Title="How to keep my leg muscle from increasing in volume while still exercising?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2014-09-13T16:21:43.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't see it mentioned, but diet is very important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The saying &quot;Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.&quot; applies here too, if you eat less calories than calories burned, you won't gain unwanted weight!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastActivityDate="2014-09-13T16:21:43.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18933" CreationDate="2014-09-13T16:27:51.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be OK to use it, it's not expired YET right? :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are even places that sell almost expired protein&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bestpricenutrition.com/clearance.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bestpricenutrition.com/clearance.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so you should be fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastActivityDate="2014-09-13T16:27:51.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18937" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-13T16:52:43.223" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read many times here about repetition ranges but I never understood their idea. Why are there different ranges? What are they? And for what purpose should one do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also how much weight should one lift for each range?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T15:57:42.407" Title="What are the different repetition ranges and for what use?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18904" CreationDate="2014-09-13T20:12:00.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lowering a weight slowly then explosively curling it is doing a &quot;slow negative&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For fast punches and kicks you should be working on your basic barbell lifts: squat, deadlift, power clean, overhead press, push press. These are the best method for developing a high power output. Add in some fighter-oriented bodyweight and dumbbell work from Ross Enamait and you've covered all the bases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-09-13T20:12:00.430" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-14T13:30:28.107" Score="1" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 years old and will become 26 in few months. I'm 173cm, is it possible to still get height with certain exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I'm 75KGs with 7KGs as extra weight and now I'm working out to lose that fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T10:42:58.590" Title="Is it possible to get taller after 25?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-10-11T10:57:23.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18937" CreationDate="2014-09-14T22:14:49.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi basically anything below 8 is meant to train strength, anywhere between 8-12 reps trains gaining size/mass, and anything 12 and above trains endurance.&#xA;And how much weight should you lift for each? to the point were the 9th rep is basically impossible to finish...always train to failure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-14T22:14:49.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18592" CreationDate="2014-09-14T22:21:33.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;it has protein, carbs, and vegetables and nutritiance! not gaining minimal fat whilst gaining muscle is impossible... don't stress :) per pound of muscle you gain your body burns an extra 80 cal per day... so don't stress about weight just keep lifting and eating big and the weight will sort it self out :) if not go on a cutting phase in a few weeks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-14T22:21:33.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9902" CreationDate="2014-09-14T23:34:43.567" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an endomorph and beginner using the 5x5 routine, the best thing you can do is work out early. I start at 5:00am at the gym because of my work schedule and commute but before work rather than after. Your metabolism will be churning in your favor that way throughout the day. Fruits, nuts, or all natural items like canned Tonino Tuna in olive oil, eat something every 2-3 hours or so. A larger healthy lunch is ok but stay away from sodas and anything processed that comes in a box. Drink full glass of water before bed always. Also when you wake up right after your first piss of the day. Have at least a few ounces of water every hour. Do not eat heavy twice in one day. Ideally you eat a bigger lunch and then do not eat past nightfall. Counting calories is arduous and unnecesary because genetics are different for everyone. That is the way as a beginner to see the muscle-strength gains while also slimming down. Forget what you weigh, that will fluctuate all the time and it doesn't mean much unless you are a boxer or wrestler who needs to make a certain weight. Clinically I am an alcoholic (beer) but even then the results of the 5x5 are amazing as long as you work it hard in the gym (proper form is crucial) and stay to a healthy diet. This is for endomorph to lose weight using stronglifts as a beginner or dormant ex-high school athlete. Again ones genes is first and second diet, third hard gym work and proper form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10705" LastActivityDate="2014-09-14T23:34:43.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-15T00:13:15.093" Score="1" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am female, 145 pounds and 170cm tall.&#xA;I go to gym 4 times a week and do split training.&#xA;I have noticed quite some gains on my legs but not really my ass.&#xA;Here is my workout: (I am not sure of what weight I use, hence if I don't mention it... I don't know- but its heavy to the point where my 9th or 10th rep is basically impossible)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seated leg press (100kg, 3 sets, 10 reps per set)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats (20kg- cant go up as I find it to hard to get the bar over my head, 3 sets, 10 reps per set)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg extension (3 sets, 10 reps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg Press (5 sets, begin at 70kg and go up to 100kg and then back down again- is called doing a pyramid)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then go onto do calves....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my butt just taking its time to grow? or are these exercises not adequately working my butt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get enough protein, sleep and nutrition :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T19:51:23.620" Title="ways to improve a glute/leg workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-15T01:09:18.057" Score="2" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I began tranining split training 3 months ago, about 4 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am normally SO SORE after every workout and have been making gains in strength and size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took about 2 weeks off from the gym and ever since getting back into it...&#xA;I do not get sore?&#xA;And I am doing basically the quantity and duration as what ive always done.&#xA;about 4 exercises with 3 sets per exercise about 10 reps.&#xA;Yesterday I did a killer ab workout, so many different exercises and even an ab circuit, and trained shoulders pretty hard (which I don't train that often) and feel nothing today? same has been happening lately when I train abs and such?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ab workout is quite lengthy and do incorporate increasing weight to my ab workout.... Am I just getting used to it or do I need to switch up my workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10264" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T22:44:18.807" Title="Suddenly not sore anymore?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2014-09-15T06:50:49.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this is a bit off-topic but I'd just like to share something as a heavy, flat-footed person. I'm 216 pounds at 5'10 and pretty much completely flat-footed, needless to say, running with regular shoes just doesn't work, I'll get some really intense pain in my lower legs after just a few km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although very skeptical about the shoe business and their claims, I eventually bought a pair of running shoes with plenty of support and also insoles with high arch for flatfooted people, and it actually worked very well, I finished a 10 km race without too much pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know about the &quot;you should strengthen your feet to overcome it&quot; argument, but I just don't think that always works, there are limits to what the body can overcome and if you are heavy like me, those limits aren't as generous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T06:50:49.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2014-09-15T07:34:20.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt; I would agree with your doctor's assessment &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; you already have healthy, strong feet. These would probably be able to take (and perhaps even profit from) hard concrete surfaces. If your feet are not in their best of health, do foot strengthening exercises, and/or walk on softer, natural, rugged surfaces to get your feet into shape first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer:&lt;/strong&gt; (See also sources below.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have already said, walking on hard surfaces without any shoes (i.e. cushioning under your foot soles) means an additional impact shock force on your body every time you land one of your feet on the ground. Our bodies apparently need some kind of feedback from taking a step, so that impact force isn't all bad; but it probably shouldn't get too strong. If you hit the ground on your heels, that force will be felt all the way up to your neck; that is, it travels unhindered across all the bony structures and joints in your legs and spine. It's virtually not absorbed by your body at all. That's probably going to give you some back pain very soon, so I would advise you avoid this kind of walking step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people who start to walk barefoot soon automatically develop a different kind of step pattern: They strike the ground with the forefoot, or mid-foot. Because the foot has two arch structures (one along the length of the foot, one across the forefoot, both held in place by ligaments and muscles), these will help absorb the impact shock force. Another place where the shock gets absorbed with this kind of stepping is in the ankle joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Try the difference between walking on your heels and forefoot for yourself: Walk barefoot on a hard surface right now, and you will notice that with a forefoot walking pattern, you don't feel, and hear, each step you're taking nearly as much (perhaps not at all) as the &quot;bump&quot;, &quot;bump&quot; of heel walking.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, assuming you've adopted a forefoot step pattern, and that your feet aren't in best health &amp;mdash; let's say you have splayfeet (i.e. the arch across your forefoot has collapsed) and an unstable/weak ankle joint, then walking on hard surfaces like pavement could easily lead to problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Because of the splayfoot, the forefoot won't be able to absorb much of the step impact, and your ankle joint will have to do more of that work. This could easily lead to an overworked angle, and from there to ankle pain and inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Again, with splay feet, meaning the forefoot arch won't absorb any of the impact force of a step, this might not just overload the ankle, but also other structures in your forefoot. You might start to feel pain in your foot &quot;knuckles&quot; (sorry, I don't know the proper word for it). When you've been walking barefoot for a while, when you take a look at your foot soles, you should notice that your skin is more used, and therefore thicker, right beneath the big toe &quot;knuckle&quot; and beneach the pinky toe &quot;knuckle&quot;. That's how it should be for healthy feet. However, if you also notice considerably thicker skin (pads) beneath the middle toe &quot;knuckles&quot; (which is likely with splayfeet), that might indicate problems to come.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Listen to your doctor and exercise your feet mostly on natural, rugged surfaces. (Flat stone doesn't count, even when it's not concrete. :-) Walk on grass, in forests, on sand (but build it up slowly here!); if the terrain is uneven and you have to go up and down, that's even better (but again don't overdo sloped terrain in the beginning).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps do some foot muscle, ankle, and lower leg strengthening exercises. Strong muscles help relieve and protect your ligaments and joints. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do go walking on pavement and other hard surfaces, but let your feet get used to it &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Myself. I have been walking barefoot, at some time in the past, for approx. 1 1/2 years non-stop. This included lots of walking in cities, forest walks, climbing a volcano, and some other strange locations. And I've experienced all of the problems I described above.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A wonderful book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chrismcdougall.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Author&amp;#39;s home page&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Born to Run&quot;&lt;/em&gt; by Christopher McDougall&lt;/a&gt;. This is quite likely the best book on barefoot running outside the academic world. It's both well-researched and some good story telling. You can't go wrong with that book.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10710" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T07:34:20.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18944" CreationDate="2014-09-15T08:35:33.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only the squats are heavily focused on your glutes, the others are more focused on quads, which would explain your gains on legs but not glutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How come you have to get the bar above your head to do squats? No squat rack or such? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend squats or lunges with dumbbells to increase weight if you don't have a squat rack. There are also exercises that isolate the glutes that you could use, like standing hip extensions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T08:35:33.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18946" CreationDate="2014-09-15T08:38:31.100" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soreness does not mean that you had a good workout (or vice versa), it means you had a workout you weren't used to. I've been lifting for a few years and I never feel sore, except for when I've had a long time off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T08:38:31.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18932" CreationDate="2014-09-15T08:41:57.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating large volumes of food will increase the size of your stomach temporarily, one of the many things that affect hunger is stomach emptiness, which will be the state of your stomach after eating a lot the night before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T08:41:57.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18932" CreationDate="2014-09-15T10:28:19.977" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this was a one-off, perhaps you don't need to do worry about it. However, if situations like these repeat themselves, it might be a good idea to simply observe, for a time, your eating habits and think about what might trigger these hunger attacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(What follows are two observations of my own. They might or might not fit your sitation; please judge for yourself.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maybe it's &lt;em&gt;how much&lt;/em&gt; you eat.&lt;/strong&gt; The more I eat, the more my body requests food via a feeling of hunger... even in the short term. Apparently it doesn't take my body much time to adapt to a higher level of food supply. This is especially noticeable around Christmas time, when there are regular opportunities for over-eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could have something to do with the stomach being temporarily stretched beyond its normal size... You wouldn't feel hungry again on the same evening because it takes some time until the food you've eaten would be digested, and the stomach empty again. But I'm not sure at all here, I never researched this because once I return to eating normal amounts of food, the hunger pangs usually soon disappear (in the course of a half a wek or so), too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Source of information: myself.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maybe it's &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; you eat.&lt;/strong&gt; You said you ate most of a large pizza, which made me think of carbohydrates, and blood sugar. When I turned 25 years or so, I noticed that eating pasta in the evening, especially a big serving of it, would make me very hungry right afterward. I would know that I was full, but still have a weird, distinct empty feeling in my stomach and aesophagus. When I researched this I learnt (IIRC) that high-carb foods like pasta can trigger a strong insulin response, which can lead to low blood sugar, which triggers that uncomfortable feeling of hunger. (If you regularly experience this, it could mean that you're hypoglycemic. A more protein-rich diet or eating carbohydrates with a low glycemic index (GI) can help stabilize insulin response and blood sugar.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your usual dinner (fish and peas) and the pizza you ate seem quite a contrast to me regarding macronutrient constitution (protein vs. carbohydrates&amp;amp;fat) and glycemic index, so perhaps your body was simply not prepared and over-reacted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Source of information: A book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-047012170X.html&quot;&gt;Hypoglycemia for Dummies&lt;/a&gt;. Despite the terrible title, it's actually a decent source of information.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10710" LastEditorUserId="10710" LastEditDate="2014-09-15T15:44:34.827" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T15:44:34.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18939" CreationDate="2014-09-15T10:42:58.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems unlikely to me that your body would actually still grow vertically at that age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you have bad posture (such as a hunched back, or a office-job crooked neck), and you target this issue by doing exercises, you might eventually find yourself standing more upright than before, and therefore appear to be taller, even though your body hasn't actually grown taller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10710" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T10:42:58.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18944" CreationDate="2014-09-15T17:24:06.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hip thrusts and glute bridges are glute (butt) specific. I suggest checking out &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brett Contreras aka The Glute Guy&lt;/a&gt; for training advice based on both appearance and performance goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T17:24:06.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3069" CreationDate="2014-09-15T20:48:05.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get shoulder pain on hilly runs, always my left shoulder, and sometimes it sent me into a panic because I thought I was getting a heart attack! My physio suggested it could be 'referred pain' due to the intense pounding my body was going through when running down steep hills, interestingly it only happened at the bottom of a really sharp hill. Apparently your internal organs (intestines etc) are attached to the same nerve that travels up to the shoulder area, and any jolting/disturbance in the abdomen area can cause pain in the shoulder. I've had my shoulder checked and no one can find anything wrong with it, so it makes sense to me! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10714" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T20:48:05.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-16T02:10:38.097" Score="0" ViewCount="1028" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BcTkU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hack squat machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a hack squat machine (see figure above), does it matter if I put more washers on one side? May this asymmetry cause an asymmetry of my effort in performing this exercise? For example, if I put 60.6 kg on one side and 0.9 kg on the other side, may this harm my spine, shoulders, or my legs by forcing one side of my body to do more than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10716" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T04:06:51.973" Title="Effect of an asymmetric weight distribution on a hack squat machine" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18960" CreationDate="2014-09-16T04:06:51.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the rails restrict the sled to a single degree of freedom, I would think not:  loading the machine asymmetrically should not result in any noticeable change in the forces on the user or the effort needed to perform the exercise.  This, of course, assumes that the friction of the sled on the rails is not significantly altered by the asymmetrical loading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could perform an experiment fairly easily.  Simply load one side with two or three 45-lb. weights and the other with no weight.  The machine itself is too heavy to tip over for such a small difference, and the total weight is not enough to make the exercise particularly risky or difficult for an adult male of average strength.  You could even enlist the assistance of a friend and perform the experiment blinded:  ask a friend to load the machine symmetrically or asymmetrically, without your knowledge.  See if you can tell the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there may be other reasons to not do this:  for one, very large imbalances might risk premature wear of the machine (so for example, I wouldn't try loading one side with 360 lbs. and zero on the other).  For this reason, it might be frowned upon by gym management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T04:06:51.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18937" CreationDate="2014-09-16T08:33:12.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;People implement different rep ranges because they have different goals. An Olympic lifter who is only concerned with lifting the largest amount of weight possible would train in very low rep ranges (eg. multiple sets of 1-3 reps). Due to the low number of reps completed in each set, heavier weights can be used. This form of training is highly intensive on the Central Nervous System, and you are essentially training it to fire more efficiently. If your goal is to become faster/stronger/more explosive, heavier weight with lower rep range is the range for you. While gaining size is not the primary focus of this rep range it may occur incidentally, though not as dramatically as would happen with a higher rep range. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For muscular hypertrophy (growing the size of your muscles) more volume is required, and rep ranges of 8-10 reps are best for this goal. It might help to focus on really contracting your muscles with each rep, feeling the squeeze in the muscle group you are training. This rep range will also build strength, though not as rapidly as a lower rep range would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An endurance athlete may perform 12-30+ reps of a certain exercise. Training in this range raises cortisol levels, and this can actually result in the loss of muscle mass. Less mass on your frame means less mass you have to move, which can be beneficial for long distance runners/triathletes/crossfitters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is a mix of the above, by all means mix up the rep ranges implemented in your workout. It is not uncommon for people to perform low rep strength sets (e.g 5x5) followed by sets in the hypertrophy range as they are looking to gain strength and size simultaneously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should use a weight heavy enough so on the last few reps of your later sets your spotter has to help you. Don't sacrifice good form for reps. &#xA;Good luck with your training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10717" LastEditorUserId="10717" LastEditDate="2014-09-16T08:42:37.723" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T08:42:37.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6653" CreationDate="2014-09-16T09:50:01.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bcaas are good before, during, or after. Depending if you are having intense training a little carb meal ie 6-7 oz of sweet potatoe preworkout works exceptional. Gatorade powder and maltodextrin powder (or waxymaize) intraworkout while keep strength and performance higher do to streamline energy source, preferrably on longer workouts. Bcaas are good during workouts, if you want to get most optimal use would be 10-15 grams 10-15 minutes before your postworkout to act as a primer for protein synthesis (since priming protein synthesis is the main benefit of bcaas). You can add more to your postworkout drink if the protein powder doesnt have enough and definitely have more carbs than protein (gatorade powder alone or also with one of the others i mentioned). Optimal bcaas preworkout sip on 10 grams sometime before your 60-90 minute preworkout meal (assuming you eat with proper timing) if you actually want to notice a difference, taking them right before your workout with any sort of preworkout your not going to see or feel any difference. So optimally if you get enough through postworkout drink already would be nearing the end of your workout and priming the preworking meal protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the no carb hours before workout, thats those anticarb people that love to feel shitty during their workouts. Bcaas lower insulin (based on studies) which would increase insulin sensitivity which training also does so dont fear carbs when building muscle optimally. Fyi I've seen a pro bodybuilder say not to do carbs preworkout and he does 50-60 grams of carbs from gatorade and another 50 grams of maltodextrin intraworkout, I'm just going to go on a limb and assume thats one of his follwers, which NEVER have the whole story, you never know what drugs they are taking and therefore why they avoid things at certain times. I do full preps for bodybuilders for shows (that means nutrition included) and they all stick loosely to what i wrote out. Keep in mind that you always want to tweak things when the benefits dimish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10719" LastEditorUserId="10719" LastEditDate="2014-09-18T00:05:24.240" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T00:05:24.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18210" CreationDate="2014-09-16T12:01:14.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to pick up a copy of the book Total Immersion, it specializes in teaching about good form with some interesting concepts thrown in. One thing I think I recall reading from it is that when you feel your form falter during a rep, stop! Or the bad form becomes habitual. Swim only when the form is good, and build up distance and speed at the same time as long as form remains good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming only when form is good makes a habit out of good form and trains your body to remain consistent in good form even if you get tired and have a hard time keeping good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go slow at first while you work on form. The surest sign of weak form is if you can't do it correctly when you go slow. It's like a balancing act, unlike when you go fast and bad form doesn't throw you off balance as easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, you can do some High Interval Intensity Training (HIIT) from time to time and for only as long as form stays good, with 80-100% effort. That will boost your endurance for short distance sprints and you'll eventually increase the distance you can sprint using good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10623" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T12:01:14.510" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2014-09-16T18:21:23.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask Healthy Living calls this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/muscle-shaking-causes_n_2140397.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle quaking&lt;/a&gt; and lists three causes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dehydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;insufficient recovery time since last workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the brain not being able to control the muscles via the nervous system:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If you are not controlling your activation of your muscles with the proper nerve recruitment and there still is a load on those muscles then control will be compromised,&quot; Goldfarb, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, told HuffPost Healthy Living. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a solution for the last problem, have someone massage the muscles for you or do it yourself. Providing the brain with feedback from the nerves that innervate the skin can make it easier for it to send nerve signals to the muscles there, instead of signalling other ones it has a stronger connection to and has come to rely on. Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://muscleactivation.com/faq/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle Activation Techniques&lt;/a&gt; therapy. When it works, it only takes one try for you to go from shaky motion (due to stabilizing with incorrect muscles) to smooth motion (like flexing a bicep). It may work better with a therapist testing exactly which muscles are not being recruited correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The massage also helps get blood flowing through the muscles, like a warmup set would if you were actually using those muscles when you did the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you are quaking on the negative portion of the rep, try actively controlling the motion with your antagonist muscles rather than letting the weight push your limbs down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2014-10-31T22:01:01.873" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T22:01:01.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18177" CreationDate="2014-09-16T19:34:07.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Megasaur has the perfect answer to your question about what it means to &quot;condition the body&quot;. My answer below is meant to be supplementary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your question on the application of treading water, I can answer that since my water polo practices in high school required treading water as an exercise in itself. Have you ever tried to tread water for 5-10 minutes without stopping? It can tire the legs very fast. It has a similar effect as doing leg squats. Your legs will feel numb after several minutes if you're not used to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, treading water is often accompanied by sculling water with the arms to make it easier on the legs; this works as a full body workout (the application in this context of treading water). That's what those divers likely do at the ocean surface level while chatting with their friends. Treading can be done in other ways too. My high school water polo practices had everyone tread water with arms raised above water for several minutes, to maximize conditioning benefits. Even if arms are kept down and not used to scull water, it is still a great workout for the entire body. Your upper body gets respiratory benefits, plus the upper chest muscles and abs muscles are used too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kick-wise, treading water can be done using a flutter kick or by kicking like a frog one leg after another. Divers regularly use flutter kick to navigate through the depths... so treading water using flutter kick shouldn't be hard for them, although most people probably find the frog version of the tread kick easier. However, each type of kick also targets different leg muscles for conditioning so both can be alternated if one type of kick wears out your legs. As indicated by the article, treading water is great for conditioning the entire body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10623" LastEditorUserId="10623" LastEditDate="2014-09-16T19:43:03.627" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T19:43:03.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18177" CreationDate="2014-09-16T20:08:56.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Conditioning&quot; in this context means &quot;preparing&quot; or &quot;getting used to&quot;. Here, it's used as to describe treading water as a general physical preparedness (GPP) exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many other fitness contexts, &quot;conditioning&quot; means &quot;cardio conditioning&quot; or &quot;metabolic conditioning&quot;, which means training to resist fatigue from physical effort. There is task- or sport-specific conditioning as well as general conditioning. This meaning of the word places conditioning alongside other fitness domains such as strength training or flexibility training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T20:08:56.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-17T05:16:17.943" Score="2" ViewCount="820" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never ran in an organization or on a team before. I've ran the mile once in 5th grade and once in 8th grade. I've been skateboarding 1+ hrs per session, 5+ times per week for the last ten years. Tonight I tried running and ran 5 miles at an easy pace to see how I'd do. It turns out this is also considered an &quot;8k&quot; and I ran it in 42 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to run an 8k again, tomorrow morning, is it &quot;safe&quot; for me to ramp up my speed so I finish at the 30-minute mark? I don't want to have a heart attack or injure myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 17 years old, between 5'8&quot; and 5'11&quot;, and weigh just under 120 pounds. I eat a lot of grains and red meat, which I understand do not contribute to a good runner's diet. I'm also male if that affects anything at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10726" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T12:43:05.640" Title="Is it safe for me to run an 8k in 30 minutes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18972" CreationDate="2014-09-17T05:51:42.940" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just give it a try, but don't do it just the next day. Give your body at least one day to recover before doing a high intensive training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start running with a speed you think you can run the whole distance. &#xA;If you feel good after the first half you can go a little bit faster.&#xA;If you feel bad, run slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &lt;strong&gt;Most important thing is to listen to your own body!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to become faster, try a training schedule (&lt;a href=&quot;http://running.about.com/od/racetraining/a/10Kadvbeginner.htm&quot;&gt;just as an example&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10721" LastEditorUserId="10721" LastEditDate="2014-09-17T06:00:10.130" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T06:00:10.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-17T06:17:32.640" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read an answer here suggesting that two muscles be stretched to avoid shin tightening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how that works. How do I correctly stretch these muscles to avoid shin tightening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10727" LastEditorUserId="10710" LastEditDate="2014-09-17T17:21:53.353" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T17:33:50.490" Title="How do I stretch the shin muscles?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;shins&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2014-09-17T12:15:31.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually it happens when muscles are used without warming up with too high weight or are too tired after heavy exercise and are screaming for glucose.&#xA;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;Warm them up prior workout - with low weight / high rep approach to pump some blood in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10732" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T12:15:31.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1857" CreationDate="2014-09-17T12:38:36.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any diet you'll adopt just to lose fat (in given time) eventually will fail. &lt;BR&gt; The only way out of this is to work on your own habits which include both food and lifestyle changes, not temporary but for good! &lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt; Your body needs calories, but needs the right type. Mediterranean diet (or lifestyle) includes multiples of good (vegetables) and bad food (e.g. pasta - simple carbs) and surely it can be adopted if you like it and can introduce few changes e.g. pasta =&gt; brown rice. &lt;BR&gt; Your body needs exercise - a walk outside where lungs can enjoy with fresh air is beneficial to overall health and/or whatever other activity you're enjoying most. &lt;BR&gt; With new sport your body will require more food, give it what it asks for and do not worry about it too much. If you supply it with good food, saturation will come naturally (this under assumption you do not treat eating as a reward / comforting activity and recognize that the only purpose of it is to fuel your body with nutrition it requires to live).&#xA;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt; Word of caution on protein diet, as it is proven to increase acidity in your body which body will try to balance by flushing it using your calcium reservoir. &lt;BR&gt;Generally, any awesome diet works wonders in a limited time but the real worry is - what collateral, internal damages where done in that time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10732" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T12:38:36.820" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18974" CreationDate="2014-09-17T17:33:50.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the &quot;shin&quot; muscle everybody usually refers to is the anterior tibialis. Here are some stretches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/od/stretching/a/shinstretch.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://walking.about.com/od/stretching/a/shinstretch.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/stretch-anterior-tibialis-muscle-8489.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/stretch-anterior-tibialis-muscle-8489.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10029" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T17:33:50.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18981" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-18T11:48:32.647" Score="0" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this is something idiosyncratic or just something that everyone deals with, but I have a difficult time breathing when my diaphragm is compressed, such as when I'm crouching (which makes things a good bit more difficult for Capoeira) or when I'm bent over as in a pike stretch or doing the yoga plough position. I get a lesser effect when in a deep lunge. I think that what's happening is that, in those situations, my legs are pressing into my diaphragm, compromising how well it can work, but the best I can manage is shallow breathing, not exactly conducive to remaining long in the position, particularly since I have a hard time shaking the idea that I'm just not getting enough oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any tricks to improving this other than just continuing to do these exercises and hoping that my body catches on that it needs to adapt? I'm in reasonable shape for someone in a sedentary position. I can climb several flights of stairs at a brisk pace without losing my breath and I have not tested positive for exercise-induced asthma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T20:20:20.977" Title="Improving breathing in a deeply bent leg situation (diaphragm compression?)" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;capoeira&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18972" CreationDate="2014-09-18T12:43:05.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Dad of two cross country runners I have seen the late summer enthusiasm turn to shin splints and stress fractures. I would recommend slowing adding onto your running volume. Remember that speed is a small part of your workout routine and running fast alone is not the only thing. You should have easy days following your hard days as well as one day were you spend sometime doing a long slow distance. This will get your body used to the volume and help to prevent injury in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should ask your Cross Country coach if you can join the team now, they should give you some guidance and structure to help you ramp up and you will also get to compete! If you already do 8k in 30 minutes you will do 5k in 18 minutes which means you will also letter!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T12:43:05.640" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-19T08:52:41.940" Score="2" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally lift dumb bells of about 7-8 kg(5 sets with 10 each) and later do pull-ups (2 sets of 25 with a gap in between)and later the chest press(2 sets of 25 with upto 20 kgs).Although in all these exercises the palm plays a vital role in grip it also causes blisters in the hand (the area just below the fingers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These blisters are worsened by the automotive breaking.I would like to know is there any sort of exercise to reduce it or avoid it if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;:-&#xA;Is wearing gym glove a better alternative to chalking the hands.(Chalking may cause some dust allergies to my hands or to others nearby)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastEditorUserId="10092" LastEditDate="2014-09-19T10:25:29.963" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T17:00:30.620" Title="How to prevent blisters on plam during normal excercises such as dumb bells" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;gloves&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18983" CreationDate="2014-09-19T10:13:53.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trim your blisters with a nail clipper. There is no quick fix to this being difficult: either wait for the blister to heal or deal with the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy a brick of chalk. (It should be a buck or two for something the size of your fist.) Chalk your hands, particularly your fingers and the spots that blister. Chalk keeps your hand dry and prevents folds in your grip, both of which cause blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see the point of gym gloves. Chalk works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-09-19T10:44:28.350" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T10:44:28.350" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17998" CreationDate="2014-09-19T10:26:16.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find your diet and workout are fine. However keep in mind that body weight can be contributed by body fat, water in your body and muscles. I suggest you to focus not just on losing weight but also burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to your question. I suggest you to switch your workouts and diet every 2 or 4 weeks. If you're doing the same workouts or having the same diet your body will hit into plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about your exact body figure but I assume you're an endomorph based on your self description. As an endomorph it is best that you include cardio in every workout. It's boring but it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you haven not started doing it. Knowing your BMR, DCR and calorie counting is definitely helpful too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10728" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T10:26:16.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18983" CreationDate="2014-09-19T11:23:54.557" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two main hazards for your hands when gripping things: developing callouses and blisters.  If you have blisters (area of skin covering a pocket of puss), it is because you are letting the implement move in your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to &lt;em&gt;minimize&lt;/em&gt; callouses and &lt;em&gt;prevent&lt;/em&gt; blisters is to learn how to grip the implement so it doesn't move in your hand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are performing a pulling movement, place the hand on the implement so the pad (area of the palm where your fingers are attached) is in contact.  Wrap the fingers and rest of the grip around the bar in such a way that you are compressing, but not pinching the pad of your hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are performing a pushing movement, place the implement in the palm of your hand so that it rests in the crook of your thumb and the base of the palm.  Wrap your fingers and grip the implement so that the bar, dumbbell, handle is fully supported by palm where it connects to the wrist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In either case, grip the implement &lt;strong&gt;tightly&lt;/strong&gt; so that it does not move around in your hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even without chalk, just learning to properly grip the implements can prevent blisters altogether and minimize callouses.  That said, anything to help your hands remain dry during exercise will improve your grip, and consequently further reduce callouses and blisters.  In the order of preference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chalk.  This is the gold standard used by gymnasts, Olympic weightlifters, power lifters, and just about any sport where strength over your own body and other implements is required.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eco ball by Metoleus.  It's a chalk alternative that produces less mess.  It works, but not as well as chalk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liquid chalk.  It's a chalk alternative that doesn't leave any residue behind.  It does keep your hands nice and dry though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Athletic tape.  Tape works well when you have raw areas that need to be protected, but it doesn't do much for a sweaty hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A stack of fresh towels.  You're going to sweat if you are doing things right, which means you'll have to keep drying your hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice that gloves are not on this list.  Gloves actually make the situation worse:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gloves make your hands sweat more, causing the bar to move more in your palm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gloves make gripping harder in general, causing the conditions that make blisters and callouses happen more often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gloves introduce new points of friction, meaning new places you can get blisters that you couldn't get if you didn't wear them.  A prime example would be the area between your fingers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blisters have to be removed.  The best thing to do is to pop the blister, clean it, and use athletic tape while you train.  Then clean it again and cover it with a band aid.  They should heal pretty quickly as long as it doesn't get infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Callouses just have to be controlled.  When they start getting too big, take a pumice stone to grind off the excess but don't completely remove it.  Applying lotion after you clean up from exercise can also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-09-19T17:00:30.620" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T17:00:30.620" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18987" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18988" CreationDate="2014-09-19T13:15:08.173" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a shoulder operation a little while back, and now I'm barely allowed to use my arm the coming 6 months. This is standard procedure for this type of surgery, as it needs time to heal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a triathlete doing sprint distances and Ironman 70.3, on an amateur level. I won't do any triathlons until next spring / summer, but I need to keep in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My biggest problem is I can't swim. As that is my weakest discipline, that is a problem. I don't expect to do any technique training the coming 6 months, but is there anything I can do to keep my upper body strength and core muscles in tact, without using my arm(s)? I would prefer if it doesn't require a gym membership, but if that's what it takes I'll get one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now I can't run as the movements are not good for my shoulder. I guess I can start doing easy runs in a month or two, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can bike, as long as it's indoors on a spinning bike and I keep my body as if I'm on a chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10745" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T21:44:36.177" Title="Train for triathlon without moving arm" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18987" CreationDate="2014-09-19T14:49:38.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not much you can do. If you are restricted enough that you can't run, and can't even lean on the bars (Much less get into aero position), its going to be just trying to keep in the best shape you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would honestly do (Especially considering swim is your weakest point), is do the trainer for now. Sign up for Trainerroad, or get some of the Sufferfest videos, and work the bike as much as possible with the restrictions. When you can add the run, do that as well. Get a lot of base work in that you can build on later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For upper body, you'll probably just have to take your lumps. See how your doctor feels about situps on a bench where your feet are anchored, and make sure that you don't use your upper body at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are cleared to swim, I would get with a good swim stroke instructor (Which may or may not be a masters coach, they are not always one and the same), and work drills and distance in a 8 week(ish) swim focus, while doing maintenance work on the bike/run. A bad swim stroke can be very hard on the shoulders, so if you can correct technique now and drop your times for the swim leg at the same time, it's win/win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-09-19T16:42:38.660" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T16:42:38.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19297" CreationDate="2014-09-19T16:00:00.513" Score="6" ViewCount="945" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have been doing workout routine for a while now. IDK exactly how effective it is, but it certainly seems effective for me and I like it because each exercise is something I can scale up(by either adding weight or changing my form in some way) as I get stronger and its nice and simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, 15 pushups may seem easy, but I do them very slowly on the way down with a close grip and for now, that is definitely challenging enough.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand why I do the exercises I do, you should understand that I am working out at home. I have a bar/weights but no bench, so currently, I am only using the bar for the deadlifts, and I can hold the weights them selves like a kettle bell for squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;3 circuits of:&#xA;    2 minute plank&#xA;    15 pushups&#xA;    15 squats&#xA;    pullups/chinups&#xA;    deadlifts&#xA;3 days a week&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is with the planks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am at the point now where I can consistently hold the planks with my arms touching each other and elbows a bit in front of me ( I read this is harder variation due to additional stability work from the abs) for 2 mins on all 3 circuits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think the planks are benefiting me as much anymore, now that I can do them easier, and I don't want to just try to keep holding them longer, because I don't think that would benefit me as much as switching the exercise or doing a harder variation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I am looking for advice on what my next step should be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should I:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A.) keep holding the planks for longer and longer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B.) do some new variation (maybe one legg or something IDK)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C.) start a new exercise (maybe dragon flags or something, those look fun)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastEditorUserId="10441" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T15:56:09.037" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T12:49:34.540" Title="Plank Progressions" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18946" CreationDate="2014-09-19T22:44:18.807" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soreness has to do with micro tears in the muscle fibers themselves. Strenuous activity, whether it is purposefully done via  exercise or through another manner is not relevant. Once these tears occur, you take in macronutrients and rest to rebuild the muscle and bind these micro-tears. With time and dedication via diet and exercise your muscles will get stronger and larger. However, as common sense dictates, you will have to increase your workload [reps, weight, etc] to keep the tears coming and the cycle going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9922" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T22:44:18.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-20T08:04:31.047" Score="0" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing plank hold in good form since atleast 2-3 months. I get shakey after 10 seconds even though I can hold it between 60-75 seconds. I don't see any improvement in shakiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean? Is it Weak core?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T14:02:22.417" Title="plank shakes - what does it mean?" Tags="&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-10-02T05:00:24.950" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-20T14:53:31.193" Score="5" ViewCount="594" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently considering getting a body fat scale that uses electrical impedance for my home. I understand about how body fat scales are a better measure of progress between measurements than absolute measurements, and how one needs to measure with consistent conditions for meaningful comparisons. I've been using a body fat scale at my gym for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that while prices vary widely, there are essentially three levels of price. The very low end ones you just stand on, and have simple LCD displays. Next up from that are the ones that have a retractable handle to hold onto so that the electrical signal goes through your arms as well as your legs. The third level is for a full stand unit, with large video screens and the ability to connect to printers and other peripherals. There are also some other features that can be found at any level, like Bluetooth connectivity to one's phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At their core, if you strip away the screens and peripherals, they're all essentially the same thing: a set of electrically conductive pads along with a chip for measuring the electrical signals transmitted through one's body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that perspective, is there any reason to believe that these devices get meaningfully better as you go up in price? Or are you just paying for the housing and fancy screens? Is there anything about the strength of signal or the quality of the conductive surfaces that would be important in terms of quality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that it would be good to get a unit with hand sensors as well, but beyond that, is there anything else about one of these devices that I should be looking for in order to get the most accuracy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2053" LastActivityDate="2019-01-26T05:58:01.683" Title="Do body fat scales get more accurate with price, and if so, how exactly?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18989" CreationDate="2014-09-20T17:57:39.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The next step is probably dynamic planks. There's a number of them, some of which can be seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://q.equinox.com/articles/2013/09/plank-workout/ArticleSlideshow/slide1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but the idea is that you're working on maintaining core stability while moving in various directions. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TloJa.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TloJa.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Plank with hip flexion&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an exercise that combines the regular plank position with extending the hips up and down in sort of a combination of Cobra and Downward Dog poses from yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tbRBX.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tbRBX.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Plank with left and right lateral flexion&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, in this one, you're working on moving the hips left and right without moving your hands and toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&#xA;There are about 13 of these variations at the article I linked, but essentially, the idea is to learn to engage your core as you through positions rather than training it in a static position. I personally hold my plank for a minute and a half, and then move through these variations, as I feel the static strength is also important, plus I feel like I get more benefit by fatiguing those muscles first with static position, then stretching them out with dynamic movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-17T12:44:49.397" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T12:44:49.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18692" CreationDate="2014-09-21T06:53:45.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This paper indicates that ketogenic diet preserves muscle mass during weight loss by using fat as the main source of energy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1743-7075-3-9.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1743-7075-3-9.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By doing strength training it is possible to lose weight on a calorie deficit ketogenic diet and still maintain your muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I don't know if you will build more muscle (looking for papers as we speak), strength training will definitely make your existing muscles more efficient and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5376" LastEditorDisplayName="user5376" LastEditDate="2014-09-21T06:59:58.793" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T06:59:58.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-21T07:03:55.663" Score="1" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find my right foot arch tends to flatten during lunges. How can I hold my arches? Any cues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no pain associated with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have imbalance of strength in both hips and legs. So, I incorporated single leg exercises in addition to squats and deadlifts....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastEditorUserId="6594" LastEditDate="2014-09-23T12:45:20.953" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T17:00:37.340" Title="Foot arches flatten during lunges" Tags="&lt;foot&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18987" CreationDate="2014-09-21T07:43:28.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can probably try and work around the restrictions your doctor has set and train in the coming months and do this triathlon - and maybe you'll do ok, but maybe training too early will weaken it, and you'll do irreparable damage and never do a triathlon again. Maybe you'll injure your arm so bad that you can never lift anything heavier than a paper cup overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not trying to scare you, but this is the risk you are facing. I understand the desire to stay in shape, but if you aren't even allowed to run, your body is in a state where it needs to repair. Training causes microtears and requires energy, which moves vital nutrients from where your body needs it most - healing that shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really, &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt;, want to keep training speak with a physical therapist who specialises in sports injury and recovery. Your doctor may not be a fitness enthusiast, and might have been overly cautious based on his knowledge of the general populous, and there might be shortcuts, but to do it well you need professional advice. It might be expensive, but its the only way to do it safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T07:43:28.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19001" CreationDate="2014-09-21T18:48:34.087" Score="8" ViewCount="789" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started powerlifting (Starting Strength), and I have a rather frivolous concern. What if I drop a weight plate on my feet? Between warming up and work sets, there is a lot of loading/unloading and carrying weight plates around. I've been lifting barefoot and am willing to invest in shoes, but in a battle between a 25-lb plate and a pair of Chuck Taylors, I'm sure the plate would still win hands-down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I being a total wuss? Do people actually drop plates on their feet? Would weightlifting shoes provide any real protection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T13:58:12.273" Title="Afraid of dropping weight plates on feet" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19000" CreationDate="2014-09-21T19:19:18.190" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Moving around a weight room has caused more injuries than training has, for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can trip, people leave crap strewn about, and as you mentioned it's easy to drop a plate. Shoes won't protect you from a falling 45lb but they'll probably prevent or at least greatly minimize a stubbed toe. Something stupid like that can sideline you for a week. Walking around a squat rack all woozy from heavy lifts is just begging for smacking your foot into something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically related to moving plates around though, &lt;strong&gt;I try to approach heavy plates like I would any serious lift.&lt;/strong&gt; Keep the plate close to your body, grab it with two hands, and don't get lazy-tough-guy trying to hold two 45's. Take your time. Keep things organized and clean. If you're strength training you have enough time between sets to straighten up the plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pro-tip for unloading deadlift plates: use a fractional or 2.5lb tiny plate as a &quot;speed bump&quot;, rolling the inner plate onto it, which will lift the outer plates in the air. Repeat for the other side until you're just left with the interior plates (135lb if they're 45's). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good question though. Similar problems develop when people finish squatting then lazily walk back to the pins and lean forward at the waist with ~300lbs on their back, trashing their lower backs. People take the lift seriously, but then revert right back to lazy-dangerous mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually find stuff like this a side (and real world) benefit to strength training: you learn how to move heavy things around. I tried to pick something up the other day and nudging it around figured it was about ~150lbs, something I would never try to lift unless I had my game face on and was in proper form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T19:19:18.190" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18916" CreationDate="2014-09-21T19:32:42.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle imbalances are normal, nearly every adult has them, usually all over their body. People get injuries and don't recover perfectly, favor one side of their body, or via their vocations end up with weird body stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be some more acute answer but if I were you I'd focus on regular strength training that promotes a balanced body. There are plenty of forearm strengthening exercises, notably anything that requires you to grab something and pull it up and down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good video that goes over bodyweight forearm exercises, showing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Finger hangs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Finger pullups / pushups. (Sounds harder than it is, just adjust your angle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Wrist pushes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H8S7PgLVwg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H8S7PgLVwg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T19:32:42.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18849" CreationDate="2014-09-21T20:06:17.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a barbell and rack, do some of the recommended items of back squats and deadlifts. Those alone will make a phenomenal difference in your back strength. They're tremendously valuable compound lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're also somewhat technical so find some good tutorials or books (Rippetoe is someone I personally recommend). Start with lighter weights, initially just the bar, and work up from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to a gym (and even if you do) you might want to consider some bodyweight &quot;lifts&quot;. Two of my favorites for lower back and hamstrings are single leg Romanian deadlifts and supermans. Bret Contreras is another name (along with Rippetoe) that you can reliably count on for good information that thousands of athletes have sworn by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyV3rwv62AE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyV3rwv62AE&lt;/a&gt; (SLRDL)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc6UVRS7PW4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc6UVRS7PW4&lt;/a&gt; (Superman)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ&lt;/a&gt; (Squat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWRTHOMq-n8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWRTHOMq-n8&lt;/a&gt; (Deadlift)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T20:06:17.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18725" CreationDate="2014-09-21T20:24:15.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physical fitness tends to decline in &quot;normal&quot; people because normal people are not trained athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at professional athletes however, you'll note some big differences. Most winners of the Tour de France (racing nearly every day for a month straight) are in their  30's. Numerous power lifting athletes have continued to pull gold medals into their 40's (drug tested ones included). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other sports, notably the NFL, have an average age of ~26 because the abuse the players suffer is not sustainable long term for most people. It's simply too easy to sustain career ending injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously age has certain problems: reduced growth hormone, increased time on earth to sustain injuries, and usually a more sedentary life. But that's very much talking in averages. If you are 25 and have been seriously training since 20, you will likely get clobbered by someone 35 who's also been training since 20 (all other variables being equal). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotaly I hear plenty of locker-room talk from some of the younger guys talking about trashed shoulders and tweaked knees, because they lack long term training experience and are trying to push weight that they are years away from doing safely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a couple of references:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bloggingthebeast.com/2012/09/01/ranking-the-nfl-teams-by-age-rams-and-eagles-have-the-two-youngest-teams-in-the-nfl-chargers-are-the-oldest/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bloggingthebeast.com/2012/09/01/ranking-the-nfl-teams-by-age-rams-and-eagles-have-the-two-youngest-teams-in-the-nfl-chargers-are-the-oldest/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/23/tour-de-france-winner-list-garin-wiggins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/23/tour-de-france-winner-list-garin-wiggins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T20:24:15.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2014-09-22T02:27:26.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I trained 2 times a week, one fast 10 mile run and one long run on weekend increasing 1 mile every time on long runs till i get to 22 a week before a marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I finished a marathon in 3 hours 50 minutes. It was hard at last 4 miles but i did with training twice a week. I felt running more often doesn't give me enough recuperation and wears me out feeling weak and injury prone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, you can train twice a week and still run under four hours  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10755" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-09T21:11:09.737" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T21:11:09.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19010" CreationDate="2014-09-22T08:14:12.310" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went over on my ankle (inversion) about halfway through a 5k run. Seemed ok at the time but 24h later I can feel the muscle 'pang' when I walk on it. Currently it's not overly sore but I know that if I keep putting weight on it, it will get worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken the day off work, but it got me thinking. Should I try and do light stretches or just rest the ankle completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10607" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T11:30:23.803" Title="Gently stretching a lightly sprained ankle" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19013" CreationDate="2014-09-22T08:47:19.770" Score="0" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was using the punchbag at the gym early on Saturday morning, just jab-straight combinations and trying to work on power for the second punch. What I experienced was a pain in my head when I hit the bag full force each time.&#xA;It was early but I don't think I was dehydrated, and I was just using weightlifting gloves rather than boxing gloves. I wasn't whipping back the second punch, trying to follow through instead with my body weight going forwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anybody else has experienced anything similar to this. Am I absorbing some of the impact somehow, like a recoil? Would boxing gloves be a more sensible idea for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: No issues this weekend. I would say it was down to dehydration that morning. Exhaling as the punch lands, as suggested, worked great. I'm pretty sure I was doing that previously, so it must have been dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks again!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2014-09-29T07:47:29.893" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T07:47:29.893" Title="Punchbag without boxing gloves, getting a headache" Tags="&lt;power&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19007" CreationDate="2014-09-22T11:30:23.803" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NO!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sprain is when the connective tissue is damaged, or over-stretched, but not broken.  It takes time for a sprain to properly heal, and until it does your joint stability is compromised.  Stretching, light or otherwise, will only make matters worse and prolong the healing time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do for a sprain is to let it heal.  Ice it, compress it, and stay off of it.  I've found that a light compression brace worn all day can be very helpful for getting through the work day and helping the joint heal a little quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T11:30:23.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18992" CreationDate="2014-09-22T12:59:59.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to get any sort of professional review because the general agreement among the consumer review sites is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/product-reviews/health-products/bathroom-scale-reviews/bathroom-scales-tested-2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body fat scales are inaccurate as a rule&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.... our results proved that it is probably inaccurate no matter what the manufacturers say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/diet-weight-loss/article/body-fat-scales-step-right&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in general, higher-priced scales are more likely to look nicer than actually perform better&lt;/a&gt; although they do mention offhand that &quot;Devices that also have hand electrodes tend to fare somewhat better.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One problem with body-fat scales is that they are often inaccurate .... Studies have found that different body-fat scales produce widely varying readings and that these often differ from standard methods of fat measurement. (Devices that also have hand electrodes tend to fare somewhat better.) In a study published in Obesity Facts in 2008, scales with only foot electrodes underestimated body fat in people with lots of body fat and overestimated it in leaner people. Even the manuals say the devices may be less accurate for elderly people, highly trained athletes, children and people with osteoporosis, among others. Consumer Reports no longer tests body-fat scales because of their inaccuracies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T11:55:47.650" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T11:55:47.650" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19008" CreationDate="2014-09-22T13:04:06.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Standard comment when people complain about pain when performing their exercise, especially when it involves your head or chest, schedule an appointment with your doctor to be sure it's not a health problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the idea of recoil is a decent guess. If this is a one-time thing, it's possible that you had a headache that was only becoming evident when you got some shock into your system. Outside of that, are you breathing correctly, either breathing normally or exhaling sharply with the hits? My experience is that many people either hold their breath or try to release it at a constant rate through the punching. That can raise your blood pressure and heart rate, which can cause headaches. Usually, you'll also get a bit more of a flush to your face from the strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T13:04:06.107" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18725" CreationDate="2014-09-22T18:05:58.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general consensus is that testosterone levels start to decline around age 30, with the average being about 1.5% per year. This is one possible reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with this, consider the likely life scenarios. In your 20's, especially for professional athletes, you are in the &quot;hungry&quot; phase, where you are trying for that next contract, pay raise, endorsement deal, etc. As you secure these, especially in the high profile, higher impact sports (basketball, football, hockey), many players tend to ease off a bit and focus more on their families and life outside of the sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the lower impact sports (baseball, cycling, golf, archery), many top competitors remain so for longer times, as their body doesn't have the wear and tear on it that other sports do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you are not a professional, those same life impacts (career and families) tend to negatively affect training and athletic achievement. However, this can be fended off by adhering to a regular training schedule. For example, in triathlon, often the most competitive age segments overall are the 35-39 and 40-45 age groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also somewhat disputing the age=testosterone reduction theory is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20110607/testosterone-decline-not-inevitable-with-age&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;preliminary study&lt;/a&gt; (As far as I know it has not been peer reviewed/published yet) done in Australia with older, self identified good health participants that shows no reduction in testosterone with age for healthy, non obese individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T18:05:58.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2014-09-22T19:39:35.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a man who had the same problem - let me tell you my findings on the matter. Muscle gain is very dependent on your biological makeup. Any weight gain is. What works for 80% may not work for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at 180 cm height and had 62-65 kg most of my life while force feeding myself and hitting gym 3 times a week (not slacking there, I don't have time to waste).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final solution for me turned out to be fully changing the approach - I now choose a muscle group and concentrate on it for two consecutive days working it out till total exhaustion. For example - bench press with a dumbbell. I start with two weights of 27 kg each (limit of my home dumbbells), do 3-4 sets of 10-20-15-X repetitions (I warm-up with 10 on the first set and then do as much repetitions per every set as I can push out). Every time I fail to perform 8 repetitions in a set, I remove some weight. So, after the first sets, I reduce each weight to 25 kg and continue, till I cant lift them 8 times again. Then I reduce weight to 23 and so on, usually, each weight stage gets 1-3 sets in it. I do it till each dumbbell drops to just 12-10 kg. At about 14 kg I have to do repetitions at a very slow rate, making it more of a static load (or else it doesn't exhaust the muscles enough). I stop when I can't lift even 10 kg in each hand 8 times. All in all - I do 24+ sets of the same exercise slowly reducing the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The very next day I repeat the entire process, except that starting sets are more like 10-15-X, since muscles haven't completely restored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such training sessions are long - usually 1.5 hours - if you consider that all that time is spent on just one type of exercise. It is important to keep yourself hydrated, have good cardio and at least some stamina on the muscles involved before you load them fully. Also, only major muscles can be worked like that, but I assume that where you want the growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my approach for years was - training every other day, 4-6 exercise types that don't repeat till next week, 3-5 sets per type, weight growing - they kept me fit, but I saw no muscle growth;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I switched to concentrating on one muscle group - 2 sessions on consecutive days, one exercise type for both, 24+ sets each with warmup -&gt; max weight -&gt; slowly reducing weight to keep muscles at the limit. Third session each week is whatever you like. Concentrate on one major muscle group for a month, then switch to another. If time and cardio permits - have 4 sessions for two muscle groups (i.e. Tuesday + Wednesday for bench press and Friday + Sunday for legs). Month of such training should be enough for you to see, does your body react to it. If it does, you will see visual results (and a weight loads increase).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope my experience helps you.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8681" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T19:39:35.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18580" CreationDate="2014-09-23T02:35:08.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think so, based on my own personal experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of training is about forging neural pathways (which is fairly well documented) and learning the movements. Those stick with you for a long time, in addition to the knowledge of how to successfully train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So specifically from a &quot;muscle&quot; standpoint I don't know if any research has been done. But I've seen people who stopped training go back to the weight room and they rapidly advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, and I remember reading up on this in Practical Programming (Rippetoe) a major problem with folks who re-enter training after a significant absence can actually pick up a lot of injuries because their CNS/muscles/connective-tissue are totally of balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-18T16:29:54.357" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T16:29:54.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18920" CreationDate="2014-09-23T02:53:51.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that Olympic level lifters will see a 10% loss in performance after 4 weeks of no training. To put that in prospective, that's going from squatting 300 to 270, and it's not going to take those folks a long amount of time to regain that (barring other injuries or problems).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exact numbers are hard to peg because of various factors that go into muscle atrophy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you fully immobalized or just not training hard?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you still using your body (or the affected area) for any activity?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you suffering from any illnesses?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you maintained sufficient calories and protein?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One-off short duration issues like a cold or stomach bug aren't going to do much other than disrupt your normal workout schedule. Whenever you come back from an illness, ramp back up. Your body's glucose and ATP capacity is probably on the ropes because you've been calorie restricted or just not eating right (normal for being sick). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T02:53:51.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16671" CreationDate="2014-09-23T03:03:56.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle tremble is a sign of muscular weakness, or &quot;system&quot; weakness since even on isolation machines there are multiple muscles involved to perform anything. If you put your palms together directly in front of your chest, your arms don't shake. If you start pushing them together, you'll probably get some shakes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body was designed to work as a total unit, not as isolated parts. A big advantage to free weights is that all of the little unsung-hero muscles that assist in stabilizing get brought up to speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T03:03:56.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-23T11:14:42.077" Score="5" ViewCount="2149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing starting strength for a couple of weeks now and have a friend who has been training me in the technique and spotting me on the bench press. This last training session he didn't pitch up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I'm confident that my technique is good enough to train on my own, I wasn't so sure about benching without a spotter and didn't really know if it's OK to ask someone randomly in the vicinity to give me a hand. Yesterday I asked one of the gym staff and they organised someone to give me a hand, but it brought up the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to just randomly ask someone to spot me and how do I go about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5376" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T11:51:31.690" Title="Is it ok to just randomly ask someone to spot me?" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19023" CreationDate="2014-09-23T11:19:19.740" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe so, but unless the person in question is benching themselves, you can't expect them to stay around to spot you for more than one or possibly two sets, so your best bet is to find someone else who is benching at a similar weight and take turns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T11:19:19.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18109" CreationDate="2014-09-23T11:35:40.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;1, 2: &quot;Electrolytes&quot; is just a fancier word for salts, which you will get in large amounts through your diet, especially if you eat a typical western diet. Unless you're exercising for two hours or more, the only one who's benefiting from your electrolyte drink consumption are the companies who sell them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3,4: Total amount and distribution throughout the day is much more important when it comes to protein intake, than proximity to your workout. Some people consider EAA and BCAA (protein components) to be worth consuming before, during and/or after a workout, but afaik there isn't really much science on wether it helps or not. If you eat protein in all your meals, you will most likely always have amino acids at the ready to re-build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend eating something more than just oats (a few eggs perhaps?) for breakfast, and make sure the other meals are good as well. I would also try getting some more sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, be critical when reading articles about fitness online, most of it is either unfounded bullshit or only applies to professional athletes. Follow the money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all like to think that there is some quick fix to solve our problems (feeling tired, sore, not getting the gains you hoped for, etc), or to get significantly better results, by spending money. In reality, as long as you have a gym to go to, healthy food to eat and a good bed to sleep in, you will get 90-95% of the results you could ever get. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T11:35:40.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19023" CreationDate="2014-09-23T13:19:07.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around here (Russia) it is very common to ask random people who are resting nearby to spot you.  If you are training with a partner, it is of course proper to first ask them, and only turn to other people if your partner is unable to spot you, e. g. due to being busy with their own exercises which allow for no pause or having temporary arm disability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just ask the nearest resting person if they mind spotting me.  Nobody ever refuses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T13:19:07.440" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18991" CreationDate="2014-09-23T14:02:22.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different reasons you start shaking when performing an exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Imbalance of power.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough muscle power.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of oxygen to the muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/13389/8606&quot;&gt;Read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8606" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T14:02:22.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19031" CreationDate="2014-09-23T14:11:41.963" Score="0" ViewCount="1427" Body="&lt;p&gt;How fast might an average, not-particularly-fit human be expected to move over uneven ground in short (~50ft) distances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10768" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T18:30:26.600" Title="Average speed of the general population over uneven ground" Tags="&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-01-19T12:45:50.457" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19029" CreationDate="2014-09-23T14:45:47.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For backpacking on trails we used these values:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 mph, you're plodding around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 mph, you're walking at a leisurely pace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 mph, you're walking at a &quot;good pace&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 mph, you're doing some serious hustle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some high end speed hikers have done the 2,600 mile Pacific Crest Trail averaging ~40 miles a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to take a wild guess, irrespective of fitness, elevation gain, and pack weight, I'd guess &lt;strong&gt;2.5 MPH&lt;/strong&gt;. That's generally what I've used for planning trips with novice backpackers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T14:45:47.750" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19029" CreationDate="2014-09-23T18:19:01.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The speeds provided by @radpin seem to be slow for short distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pedestrian without training and on even ground should be able to walk 4-6km per hour for at least an hour. Compare &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_walking_speed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_walking_speed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for short distances one would sprint if the ground allows. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_metres&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World record for 100m is a little below 10 seconds&lt;/a&gt; (36km/h). So an average persons should be able to do this in 20-30seconds. 50 ft are about a sixths of that distance so 3-6seconds (12-18km/h). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the last factor is the ground. Speeds mentioned above are on even ground. If the ground is uneven enough (e.g. a pile of lumber or deep snow) speed can be reduced as low as you want, and also depends on the risk you are willing to take. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On somewhat usable ground (trail in the woods, loose sand on the beach) I'd expect about half the speed on normal ground, so about 6-12 seconds for 50ft or 6-9km/h. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Which the first roleplaying page I found for the topic agrees with (look for the Table: Hampered Movement)&lt;/a&gt; Be careful with the absolute speeds in role playing games. They often assume a combat situations, where you don't run as fast as you can, but also try to stay alife and/or kill other people. Goals not so common in real life for most of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditDate="2014-09-23T18:30:26.600" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T18:30:26.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19000" CreationDate="2014-09-23T21:23:10.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What if I drop a weight plate on my feet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will hurt. It may injure you. It's possible it will injure you severely and permanently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've been lifting barefoot...Do people actually drop plates on their feet? Would weightlifting shoes provide any real protection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People drop plates, rarely. I've dropped a five pound plate from hip height and let a fifty-pounder slip and fall flat from upright. The fiver hit my toes in Converse and it hurt but that's it. The fifty missed, and boy am I glad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoes help a little, but sometimes a little is a big difference. FiveFingers and Chucks are minimal protection; bulkier weightlifting-specific shoes might help more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T21:23:10.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-24T07:43:48.320" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I myself am a rock/metal guitarist and vocalist, and after a rehersal (more so a concert) that can last for more than an hour and half I really do feel exhausted sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this isn't my job and calorie calculators don't include hobbies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should one up his calorie intake if he/she is doing live performances on stage that spend a lot of calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strenuous singing or an act can really get you sweating a lot, and get your heart pumping really fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5348" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T09:12:12.197" Title="Musical or theatre performance - should a performer up his calories?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19033" CreationDate="2014-09-24T08:32:33.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't necessarily a direct connection between sweating or feeling tired, and having spent a lot of calories, but it surely spends more than just resting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personaly, I prefer using a general calorie consumption level that takes into account all my activities. I have two reasons for this. First, activities increase your calorie usage over a long time, weight lifting increases it for at least 24 hours. So then you'd have to ask yourself wether to add the activity to today, tomorrow or both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, it invites you to cheat yourself by giving you a larger energy budget than you really have. &quot;Oh but I lifted weights today so I can eat 500 kcal more&quot;, and then the next day you're more hungry due to the lifting and you'll have a harder time staying strict to your energy budget. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T08:32:33.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19039" CreationDate="2014-09-24T08:51:33.647" Score="1" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to choose BarBell for power lifting training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldfitness.com.au/images/72-Barbell.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.worldfitness.com.au/images/72-Barbell.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking you as a specialists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know, there are top brands everywhere, when you buying something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Technics - it is Bosch en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smartphones - it is Apple Inc. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snowboards - it is K2 Snowboards of K2 Sports en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2_Sports&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbells - ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know similar for Barbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10771" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T11:37:57.360" Title="I'm trying to choose BarBell for power lifting training." Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19044" CreationDate="2014-09-24T09:21:37.527" Score="0" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read in many articles that the key for flat abs is weight training. Such as squats and other stuffs and the nutrition too. But I have been doing the weight training for a while (approximately 6 months). I wouldn't expect a 6 pack, because this might be a short time period and my diet wasn't that clean enough. But there should be a noticable change. That didn't happen for me. It says pretty much same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is does Yoga has an effect on abs? I mean i beleive that we dont sweat much or reaches faling point in doing Yoga like weight training (Am I wrong ?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does Yoga burns fat as much as weight training do ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10767" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T15:43:29.080" Title="Yoga for Flat abdomen" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19036" CreationDate="2014-09-24T11:30:12.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get visible abs, you need a combination of strong abs and low bodyfat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying that weight lifting or diet affects burns fat is like saying a high salary or low costs leads to wealth accumulation. If your calorie balance is below 0, you are burning fat, it's that simple, it applies to all diets. So if you want to know if you're making steps forward, use a scale. Fat loss almost always come with weight loss. If you're not losing weight, you're probably not losing fat either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding ab size, it works exactly like other muscles, do ab exercises you can barely do for 10-12 reps, 3 sets. If you only want visible abs, isolation exercises are the most effective, if you want other qualities as well, do other exercises. Squats and deadlifts will hit your core, but not as intensely as pure ab exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga might work, if it's hard and you are pushing your ab muscles toward their limit strength-wise. If not, it will not be very efficient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T11:30:12.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19035" CreationDate="2014-09-24T11:37:02.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there aren't always top brands, sometimes it's a matter of taste (some people prefer Samsung smartphones), sometimes you don't get what you pay for and very often, peoples perceived idea of the top brand is far off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A barbell is not a very complicated piece of equipment, it's basically a steel rod with ends that match the size of plates. Just make sure it's standard size and weight, and that it's certified to hold enough weight for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incredibly enough, weights for barbells and plates don't always match their marked weight, so make sure you don't buy plates that are lying to you :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T11:37:02.270" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19035" CreationDate="2014-09-24T11:37:57.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm judging by your tag that you want a power lifting barbell.  I have no idea what your budget is, so I'll give you some brand names and some things to look at when comparing barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, brand names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eleiko - their first love is Olympic weightlifting, but they make world renowned barbells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ivanko - their first love is powerlifting, and they also make world renouwned barbells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rogue - their first love is crossfit, but they have some very good barbells for better prices&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pendlay Elite - first love is Olympic weightlifting, but also very good barbells for reasonable prices&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other companies, but these will get you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, what to look for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You want barbells where the shaft is somewhere between 28.5 mm and 29.5 mm.  Thicker barbells make it more difficult to get in a good position on squats and tax your grip more on deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The loading area should be 50 mm (roughly 2 inches), and it should spin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For powerlifting, bushings are sufficient and for Olympic weightlifting, needle bearings are best&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to choose a barbell with the highest tensile strength you can afford (ability to snap back to true after the bar bends).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look for IPF or IWF compliance.  Basically, they dictate what constitutes legal weight and knurl markings for the respective competitions.  (IPF is for powerlifting and IWF is for Olympic weightlifting).  All bars compliant will weigh 20 kg (about 45 lbs) and have compatible knurling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tensile strength is usually measured in PSI (pounds per square inch).  Look for barbells with at least 155,000 PSI and if you can afford it, over 185,000 PSI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in America, the best value for your money is going to be from Rogue.  They have a number of bushing bars with 185,000 PSI or better and a price range of around $250-375 USD for those barbells.  Because of the volume of business they do and the fact that they are situated in the middle of the US, their shipping prices are among the best you can get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, mid-range barbells typically cost $250-$400 for bushing bars and $500-650 for bearing bars.  If the Clean &amp;amp; Jerk, and Snatch are not your primary lifts, then consider bearing bars a luxury.  However, if they are your primary lifts, consider it a necessity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the UK, it seems like the cost of all gym equipment has the same numbers, but it's in Euros or Great British Pounds.  That means they cost twice as much as they would in America.  It's not fair, but they guys I know who live over there have all reported the same things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are elsewhere in the world, hopefully you can use this information to judge between the brands available to you where you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T11:37:57.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19023" CreationDate="2014-09-24T11:51:31.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is OK, but understand that you need to communicate your expectations very clearly.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who don't know how to spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If all you need is a lift off, ask them to give you a lift off and don't touch the bar until you ask for help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really stretching yourself and going for a personal max, I recommend doing your lift inside a power rack with safeties.  As well meaning as random spotters are, I just can't trust them to be able to catch the bar before it hits my chest.  If you set the safeties so that you can slide out under the bar without an arch, but the bar doesn't touch the safeties when you have an arch, that will be the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T11:51:31.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-24T13:22:56.643" Score="-4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend suggests me that  Red wine makes me fairer.&#xA;Please suggest your advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10772" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T16:32:44.087" Title="Does Red wine makes my color fairer?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-09-25T02:55:22.887" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15233" CreationDate="2014-09-24T16:04:43.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hate answering with a question, but you really should have a solid answer to &lt;strong&gt;what are your goals?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you want to stress your system enough to cause adaptation. The four cycles go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initial fitness (what you walk into the weight room with).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training (weakening your body through targeted stress).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery (your body is actively repairing you through active and passive rest).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supercompensation (your body is bigger/faster/stronger by a small margin).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PmN7J.png&quot; alt=&quot;Supercompensation chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general rep-range data looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z5CYh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to really determine &quot;how close to failure&quot;, you really need to know what you're looking to accomplish. In general though training to failure consistently is a poor idea especially in the lower rep ranges. Right before &quot;failure&quot; happens your form deteriorates and exposes you to serious risk if you have sufficient load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing bicep curls to failure is one thing, doing deadlifts to failure is another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An overarching thing you might want to consider is getting on a good program. You'll find a lot of love towards Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. If you don't want to buy the book, you can find enough info online to cobble together the right ingredients but the ~$30 the book will cost is far more than worth the amount of time, injuries, and frustration you'll save.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Progressive Overload&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your main goal should be to progressively overload your body, causing you to routinely go into supercompensation throughout the week. It's these small incremental increases (think: filling up a bathtub one tablespoon at a time) that add up to strength and mass increases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To systematically and predictably do that, you can't just head into the gym and toss weight around. You should be entering a gym knowing (a) what you're going to do and (b) how much of it you're going to do, and those should be calculated values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get strong by randomly lifting weights, but if you want to get past the novice stage and progressive as an intermediate athlete you'll need to have solid programming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T16:04:43.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19041" CreationDate="2014-09-24T16:32:44.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This really is a cosmetic question and nothing related to fitness, but I did some checking in on it before I dismissed it out of hand. It turns out that your friend is somewhat right based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3936427/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;January 2014 study&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our study suggests that resveratrol significantly inhibits melanin&#xA;  synthesis in vitro and in vivo. These results also support the fact&#xA;  that resveratrol may be a potential skin whitening agent for&#xA;  pharmaceutical and cosmetic use. Further studies are required for&#xA;  clinical and toxicological investigation of resveratrol in the field&#xA;  of skin depigmentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The compound being discussed, resveratrol, is found in the skin of red grapes and as such ends up in red (and other) wines. It's also found in blueberries, peanut butter, and dark chocolate. A glass of red wine might have 0.2mg - 2mg of resveratrol, as where a resveratrol supplement pill can have 100x that amount. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your friend probably saw a boiled down headline about the study I'm referencing, but put some things in context. In this study guinea pigs (not humans) were used, the compound was issued topically (spread across the skin), and alcohol was not added. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; wary of relying on alcoholic beverages as a long term net-positive health product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T16:32:44.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19036" CreationDate="2014-09-24T16:54:05.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answering the question directly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Generally speaking effective weight training increases your metabolic rate and yoga will decrease it.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga is primarily an aerobic activity and can be strenuous or easy, and it can be for short or long intervals. Weight training can target multiple large muscles several times a week, or it can be a hodge-podge of random exercises in a gym (which is unfortunately very common). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large advantage in weight training (resistance training) is that your basal metabolic rate will increase, you can read up on it in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/85/2/695&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1998 study&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In summary, the findings of this study show that 10 wk of concurrent&#xA;  resistance and endurance training have beneficial effects on energy&#xA;  expenditure and weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly enough, and this has been found in two different peer-reviewed studies (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564415/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2006&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829281&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2008&lt;/a&gt;), yoga decreases metabolic rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The BMR of the yoga practitioners was significantly lower than that of&#xA;  the non-yoga group, and was lower by about 13 % when adjusted for body&#xA;  weight (P &amp;lt; 0.001). This difference persisted when the groups were&#xA;  stratified by gender; however, the difference in BMR adjusted for body&#xA;  weight was greater in women than men (about 8 and 18% respectively).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This doesn't mean that weight training will make you ripped and yoga will make you fat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga is a terrific activity, and additional research will probably show reduced appetite and other factors that come into play from yoga (although I'm being entirely speculative). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than demonizing yoga, these studies to me show the effectiveness in strength training. By increasing the amount of calories that your body needs to just &quot;keep the lights on&quot;, and shifting your diet towards protein and fat and away from carbohydrates, you will be on a great path towards reducing total body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spot reduction (removing fat from some particular area of your body) is a myth.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For flat/4-pack/6-pack/toned abs you need low body fat, and secondarily well developed ab muscles. Put your primary focus on reducing body fat, and as the evidence shows strength training is a great way to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T16:54:05.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19051" CreationDate="2014-09-24T17:07:20.660" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to buy a trainer to start the indoor season on the bike. Different trainers come with a different maximum resistance, commonly ranging from 800-950 Watts. My main goal is finishing the Ironman 70.3 as fast as possible. Currently I'm doing the 90 km in a little less than 3 hours if it's a bit hilly, faster if flat. I want to increase my climbing abilities as well as the overall speed on a flat course (one of the triathlons is &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; hilly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is 800 Watts resistance enough, or should I go for one with 950 Watts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10745" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T21:55:25.247" Title="Recommended max resistance on cycletrainers" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;ironman70.3&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19621" CreationDate="2014-09-24T17:12:40.120" Score="4" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been squatting for several years and have done regional level competitions and some quasi-formal training and coaching. Normally I can get any additional answers I need from other fitness friends books by guys like Pendlay and Rippetoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I've started getting a pain-less popping sensation in my adductor magnus area. No idea if that's the muscle it's really coming from, but it's in the triangle between my hamstring, adductor, and glute, one just one side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels a bit like some muscles are moving around on top of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't happen constantly, it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't seem to affect anything. It only happens in the bottom of the squat (&quot;the hole&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any references to a common fitness injury or mobility issue that could be going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T18:51:38.047" Title="adductor / hamstring weirdness in the bottom of squat" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19047" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-09-24T17:28:29.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A triathlon is a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance disciplines. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10745" LastEditorUserId="10745" LastEditDate="2014-09-25T02:56:59.927" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T02:56:59.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19048" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-09-24T17:28:29.453" Score="0" Body="A triathlon is a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance disciplines. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances." OwnerUserId="10745" LastEditorUserId="10745" LastEditDate="2014-09-25T02:56:57.190" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T02:56:57.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16394" CreationDate="2014-09-24T17:44:33.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a really interesting question and I think I stumbled across at least part of the answer when I was reading Daniel Kahnamen's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0374533555&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thinking Fast and Slow&lt;/a&gt;. Although not about fitness per say, the author referenced numerous studies throughout the book, a series of which I perked my ears up at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Baumeister’s group has repeatedly found that an effort of will or&#xA;  selfcontrol is tiring; if you have had to force yourself to do&#xA;  something, you are less willing or less able to exert self-control&#xA;  when the next challenge comes around. The phenomenon has been named&#xA;  ego depletion. In a typical demo thypical denstration, participants&#xA;  who are instructed to stifle their emotional reaction to an&#xA;  emotionally charged film will later perform poorly on a test of&#xA;  physical stamina—how long they can maintain a strong grip on a&#xA;  dynamometer in spite of increasing discomfort. The emotional effort in&#xA;  the first phase of the experiment reduces the ability to withstand the&#xA;  pain of sustained muscle contraction, and ego-depleted people&#xA;  therefore succumb more quickly to the urge to quit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a long book with a lot of good information, but related to your question he does a lot to expose the physiology of thought. In athletics we are quick to recognize (or at least respect) the neurology required to move our bodies, but it's a relatively new concept to award our cognition the same respect: it consumes physical resources when it has to work hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Baumeister&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baumeister's research&lt;/a&gt;, the same pool is drawn from for you to fire impulses to your muscles to squat heavy as it is for you to handle an emotionally taxing event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most surprising discovery made by Baumeister’s group shows, as he&#xA;  puts it, that the idea of mental energy is more than a mere metaphor.&#xA;  The nervous system consumes more glucose than most other parts of the&#xA;  body, and effortful mental activity appears to be especially expensive&#xA;  in the currency of glucose. When you are actively involved in&#xA;  difficult cognitive reasoning or engaged in a task that requires&#xA;  self-control, your blood glucose level drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are other things at work as well, like stress released cortisol you mentioned, and those certainly have a documented catabolic and inflammatory result. What I found so remarkable about Kahnman's work however is the direct linkage between &quot;a hard day at the office&quot; resulting in poor athletic performance that same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T17:44:33.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18072" CreationDate="2014-09-24T18:07:58.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're not really doing any type of strength training. The pushups, situps, and crunches are certainly better than nothing but they are a far cry from an effective strength training plan. If you want to stick with body weight activities you can, and there are some great books ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1v01hXz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://amzn.to/1v01hXz&lt;/a&gt; ) that you can check out to get you on the right path. I'd also spring ~$40 for a pair of gymnastic rings. That will allow you to do dips, pullups, rows, levers, l-sits, butterflies, muscle ups, roll outs, and probably a dozen other high quality exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your breakfast should be more substantial. I don't know how big that bowl is you're eating, but it sounds like you're getting a couple of hundred calories. I'd bump that up to maybe 600. Use a site like dailyburn.com or myfitnesspal.com to track your calories for a week and get some insight into your macros.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lentils/chicken/pork/spinach/beef sounds good, but you really need to have an overall view into your macro nutrients. Aim for (roughly) 1g of protein per 1kg of bodyweight. Highly active training people will double that, but at minimum go for 1g to 1kg. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training will increase your basal metabolic rate, but you honestly might be in starvation mode considering your limited calories. Monitor everything you eat for a week, get a benchmark of what you're eating, and go from there. Find some calculators online that can give you some guidance as to how many calories and how much protein/fat/carbs you should ingest daily. This is a good calculator: &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T18:07:58.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19045" CreationDate="2014-09-24T21:55:25.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either one will suit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to sustain the maximum wattage for more than a few minutes, and if you can, your wattage meter is lying to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://intern.srm.de/index.php/us/srm-blog/tour-de-france/427-analyse-der-20-etappe-mont-ventoux-tdf-09&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is a link&lt;/a&gt; to an SRM (crank based power meter) power analysis from Mont Ventoux, one of the final stages of the Tour de France. The first part of the graph shows the &quot;leadout&quot; (Usually refers to the lead of a final sprint), which is where the domestiques (support riders) tried to crush it hard to eliminate anyone not ready for the climb. During this portion, they were averaging between 400-450 watts up a 6-7% grade, at about 30km per hour. The rest of the time they are around 350-375 watts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When sprinting, you can hit 1000-1500 watts (Or at least the top pro sprinters can), but these are short burst segments, sustained no longer than 30 seconds at the very most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as an n=1, I am usually right around an hour for the 40k, and I average 230ish watts, for about 3 w/kg. They average 5-6 w/kg. Your position on the bike and overall aerodynamics are going to matter much more than how much you can stomp on the pedals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T21:55:25.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16394" CreationDate="2014-09-24T22:08:48.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a combination of things, actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anger causes the amygdala in the brain to go a little crazy, and it triggers the response of dumping adrenaline and noradrenaline into the body. This is similar to what happens when the &quot;fight or flight&quot; response is triggered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this time, you are generally capable of greater physical feats than normal, driven by the excess exciter chemicals in your system. (This is commonly called an &quot;adrenaline dump&quot; or adrenaline rush). Part of this, however, means that your body uses itself harder than normal without you really realizing it, and you use up energy at a higher rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once this passes, your body basically kind of shuts down, and you get the fatigue, trembling, transient blackouts, and things of this nature (Depending on the nature and length of the emergency/adrenaline rush). Do a few searches on the effect of anger and adrenaline, and you will find many descriptions similar to yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T22:08:48.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19036" CreationDate="2014-09-25T05:55:49.073" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are yogasanas(exercises) for toning the belly. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogawiz.com/yoga-poses/restorative-yoga-poses/revolved-abdomen-pose.html#continued&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jathara Parivartanasana&lt;/a&gt; (Revolved Abdomen Pose) is one such exercise. Yoga is more useful for general body fitness and it will take long time to achieve flat abs using yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If done properly yoga can burn as much fat as a gym workout but a gym workout is much better for burning fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10777" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T05:55:49.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19057" CreationDate="2014-09-25T06:44:42.683" Score="2" ViewCount="731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder, if there's a way to work out the arms similar to pull-up exercise, but without using pull-up bars?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor exercises are convenient. I could just do push-ups in the living room. However, there's no bar in my flat and also cannot use pull-up bars due to the limit of the doors. I'm afraid only doing push-ups will make my arms unbalanced developed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to work out those &quot;pull-up muscles&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9972" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T13:52:21.553" Title="exercise that can replace Pull-up?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19055" CreationDate="2014-09-25T12:51:40.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're referring to doing reverse pull-ups to work the biceps.  If so, purchasing a dumbbell set would provide you with more opportunity to expand your workouts. Additionally, exercise bands can work for you. If your budget is a concern, then, find a heavy can of food that you can grip with your hand.  That's a free substitute for a dumbbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T12:51:40.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19055" CreationDate="2014-09-25T13:52:21.553" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a table, you can do inverted rows. Get into a lying position under the table, hands holding the edge of the table. Pull yourself up to the table and repeat. It's easier than an actual pull-up (in fact, it's usually recommended for people who can't do pull-ups yet), but it exercises many of the same muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information is available in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3157/how-to-practice-pull-ups-without-equipment?rq=1&quot;&gt;How to Practice Pull-ups without Equipment&lt;/a&gt; on this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T13:52:21.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19059" CreationDate="2014-09-25T15:14:38.137" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play basketball, and I would like to improve my running speed and resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I obviously own a pair of basketball shoes, but I wouldn't like to use them outside the pitch to avoid degrading them quickly. I love low shoes and I own a pair of white Onitsuka Tiger, but now I use them only to play football on grass since they won't be clean anymore. I was thinking: can I use them to go running? Would my foot/ankle/leg be hurt if I do this? I'm asking because lots of people said me it's no good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went running with them once, but only for 20 minutes since it started raining so I don't know if it is good.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1n6iI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10780" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T17:44:09.577" Title="Are low shoes suitable for running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19058" CreationDate="2014-09-25T17:44:09.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of factors that go into choosing a pair of running shoes. Running in &quot;Low&quot; shoes means you will not have any support. This means if you heal plant you will most likely get injured at some point. The longer you run the more you will find how you run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running on hard surfaces also will play a factor, if you run on grass it will be easier on your feet then running on concrete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you run longer you will also become more tired and more apt to heal plant. If you don't heal plant you will be running on the balls of your feet and the longer you run the more prone you will be to shin and achilles injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can go to any good running store and they will evaluate your running gait. From this you will find out if you pronate or supinate. If you run on your heal, toes or balls of your feet. From there you can decide if you can run in the shoes that you show in your picture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to summarize:&#xA;1) Have someone at a running store evaluate your gait&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Don't start with two many miles. Ease into it so you don't get injured&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Remember to take days off&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) If you really like running you will discover you want to get a pair of running shoes for running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T17:44:09.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3714" CreationDate="2014-09-25T19:31:23.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the above information, I would recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/7245456313/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resistance bands&lt;/a&gt;. You can get those for a good price and they increase the variations you can do with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj6kgsxaUGg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body weight exercises&lt;/a&gt;. As a bonus, they are light enough that you can take 1 or 2 of them if you travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10584" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T19:31:23.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18992" CreationDate="2014-09-25T19:34:37.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For just about any body fat scale what you want to judge is the progress over time. It isn't giving you a very accurate number, but it will be able to show you a trend. I don't believe buying a high-end Fat % scale is going to give you more than 1 or 2 % more accuracy then a mid-tier Fat % scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10584" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T19:34:37.840" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19069" CreationDate="2014-09-26T09:31:00.190" Score="0" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will sound a little silly but: is there any training I can do for climbing stairs... that does not actually include just climbing them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in terrible shape (yes, I should change that... personal stuff happened), and am really struggling with anything longer than 2 floors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most like &quot;climb those stairs a few times a day&quot; would help but... I have to admit, I am beginning to totally HATE stairways of any kind because I have to climb a really long one once a day anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also take hints on how to motivate to love stairs again ^^.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10786" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T19:37:12.387" Title="Practice for climbing stairs?" Tags="&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19068" CreationDate="2014-09-26T12:01:45.043" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working guy, I want to increase my weight, but the thing is I won't be able to do workout due to the work. But I have dumbbells and iron bar for regular exercise. Should I take a weight gainer without going to a gym ? Please help me out to increase my weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10788" LastActivityDate="2014-09-26T12:44:57.633" Title="Should I take a wight gainer without doing workout?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19066" CreationDate="2014-09-26T12:44:57.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are a hard training athlete, I would caution about using weight gain powders.  They typically contain more calories than you need, and, people tend to use them to substitute for a meal because it is much easier to make a quick drink than prepare a nutritious meal.  They can also be quite expensive.  Instead, try to increase your calories by eating a sensible diet.  There are plenty of posts on this forum where people have asked how to gain weight with proper nutrition.  I would also track my current calories in a food journal so that you can increase them gradually.  Good luck and don't expect results over night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-09-26T12:44:57.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19064" CreationDate="2014-09-26T13:53:24.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on what you're looking for in terms of what to include or not include about the stair-climbing experience. If it's things like the stairwells themselves, there are machines ranging from the omnipresent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shape.com/blogs/fit-list-jay-cardiello/truth-about-stair-climber&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StairMaster&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitsugar.com/Steppin-Out-Pros-Cons-Stair-Climber-5451922&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stepmills&lt;/a&gt;. If you're looking to avoid machines and stairwells, there's also simple box routines. Put a box out. Step up on it. Step down. Repeat &lt;em&gt;ad nauseam&lt;/em&gt;. That will get you some similar benefits in terms of building your leg muscles and cardio-vascular health without putting you on actual stairs or hitting the gym. If it's the resistance of lifting your body, &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/lying-down-bicycle-exercise-lose-belly-fat-5019.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bicycles&lt;/a&gt; exercise some of the same muscles and will help with the cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's just the monotony of the stairs, I'd advise doing something to break up that monotony. Music can help. Some people have no problem reading or listening to a book while doing the stair-climbing. And, of course, there's always doing variations such as skipping steps whether going up or down, hopping up and down the steps, or changing your body orientation while traversing them (these, of course, start to shade into changing your type of exercise entirely, especially if you get into more exotic variations such as quadrupedal movement up and down stairs, head up or down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-09-26T13:53:24.300" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19071" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-27T18:16:11.103" Score="-3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often go into a public toilet, and over the taps is a sign saying &quot;Do not drink this water&quot; owtte. I have occasionally drunk water from non-drinkable taps, and needless to say I didn't die. What's the risk, and what's wrong with water that you aren't supposed to drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8739" LastActivityDate="2014-09-27T19:26:51.987" Title="What's wrong with non-drinkable water in public toilets?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-10-04T00:03:19.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19071" CreationDate="2014-09-27T19:26:51.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be marked as non-potable for a variety of reasons. It could be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reclaimed_water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reclaimed water&lt;/a&gt;, as defined:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;water that is not used for drinking, but is safe to use for irrigation&#xA;  or industrial purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I worked in a building that marked a lot of sources as non-potable because the pipes were leeching minerals into the water that were higher than what was considered safe for human consumption. In that building the water fountains were pulled and filtration systems were put into the lounge and kitchen areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically speaking, the risk is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) You are ingesting pathogens via untreated water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) You are ingesting chemicals, particularly heavy metals, in greater concentrations than are considered safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first case you might get away with it every now and then, in the second case long term exposure can be dangerous depending on how much you're ingesting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-27T19:26:51.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19064" CreationDate="2014-09-28T19:37:12.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stairs are usually pretty boring, and stair machines are even worse. One thing you could try is getting outside and walking up and down a hill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not as convenient as stairs, but walking uphill will give you many of the same benefits, plus the added environmental stimulation. It can also do good things for your ankles, since your feet are falling on an incline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that the hill requires less muscular force than stairs, so you'll be working your cardiovascular system more, with less muscle soreness. Since you actually want to work both, alternating hills and stairs could be a good option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10800" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T19:37:12.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-29T02:50:58.113" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does floor wipers help in getting rid of fat on hips? Especially the fat that the guy is holding as shown in the figure? Or is there any specific exercise for the fat present at this region? My upper abs and lower abs are fine,But I am unable to lose fat present at this region.My height is 5.7 Feet and my weight is 131 pounds.I used to weigh 153.6 pounds but due to bit of control in my diet and daily exercise I got to 131 pounds.Not sure that it is fat or loose skin hanging after the fat loss.How to tone it up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01528/fat_1528616c.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01528/fat_1528616c.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10803" LastEditorUserId="10803" LastEditDate="2014-09-29T03:07:29.240" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T06:25:08.400" Title="Does floor wipers help in getting rid of fat on hips?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-11-04T23:24:16.843" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19077" CreationDate="2014-09-29T06:25:08.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're referring to is &quot;spot reduction&quot;, which is the idea that you can reduce fat in one particular area. This is a myth, and proven to be untrue in numerous studies (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21804427&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2011 study&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/.Ugnr2JLVCSo#.VCj5uPldV8E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1983 study&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was no significant effect of abdominal exercises on body weight,&#xA;  body fat percentage, android fat percentage, android fat, abdominal&#xA;  circumference, abdominal skinfold and suprailiac skinfold&#xA;  measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle growth &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; localized, in that if you just exercised your arms only your arms would have increased muscle mass and strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But fat loss is across your body. &lt;strong&gt;As such the most effective way at reducing body fat, wherever it is, is via proper nutrition.&lt;/strong&gt; If you can find it, I would recommend watching a movie called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=fed%20up%20movie%20streaming&amp;amp;oq=fed%20up%20movie%20streaming&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.6155j0j4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#q=fed%20up%20movie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fed Up&lt;/a&gt; that recently came out. It does a decent job of explaining the fat storage mechanisms going on in your body, and the largest culprit to obesity (refined sugars in nearly every aspect of a &quot;modern&quot; diet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T06:25:08.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18784" CreationDate="2014-09-29T15:44:20.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of decreasing the weight, increase it and your rep range will decrease automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vary your workout to choke your muscle each week like (you switch between A and B)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;biceps workout A :&#xA;&#xA; - barbell curl&#xA; - isolation ez-bar curl&#xA; - seated alternated curl&#xA;&#xA;biceps workout B :&#xA;&#xA; - low pulley curl&#xA; - isolation dumbell curl&#xA; - seated inclinate curl&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also like to read some tips on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=Biceps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; (the link goes on biceps training tip)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T15:44:20.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18715" CreationDate="2014-09-29T16:19:34.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want definition in your biceps, you need to train them like a body builder would: lots of isolation work, moderate to high rep range, and lots of volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I can't stand training that way and although I don't have studies in front of me to prove it, anecdotal I know it causes a lot of injuries. Isolation work is a terrific way to develop tendinitis and overuse injuries and imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said you are strength training, so I would pick from strength training exercises. Specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/WtUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Palms-toward-you weighted pullups&lt;/a&gt;. If you can do 5x5 with a 45lb hanging off of you, you will have developed biceps. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts and cleans. These train the bicep primarily via isometrics but as a staple for strength training they are hard to beat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your biceps, measured by force or size, are tiny compared to the &quot;big movers&quot;, and as such should lag behind them. Further, you want to develop them as part of your overall body. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20231742&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Check this study&lt;/a&gt; on what was found out about baseball players who have biceps that are more than 76% the strength of their triceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These findings suggest that the ratio of biceps concentric to triceps&#xA;  concentric functional strength strongly predicts elbow-injury status&#xA;  in baseball players. Assessment of this ratio may prove useful in a&#xA;  practical setting for training purposes and both injury diagnosis and&#xA;  rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stick with whole body compound work. To be honest at 17 you shouldn't have big biceps. What you should be doing is laying the foundation of fitness that will have you with shocking athleticism in the next 5-10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T16:19:34.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19086" CreationDate="2014-09-29T18:18:29.660" Score="2" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can run a 10K in 50 minutes if I try hard but I typically run it in one hour. I used to run a 10K each morning. I haven't tried to go farther than 10K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to compete in a 10K after 2 months of training. Given my current time, I'm wondering how to improve speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I should run a 10k everyday for the next 60 - 65 days without any break, but then take 2 or 3 days break before the race. I do a little cycling also but I'm not sure if that helps. Also, should I try increasing my distance up to 20k or so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-07-13T18:13:30.703" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T18:13:30.703" Title="How much can i improve for a marathon in 2 months?" Tags="&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7010" CreationDate="2014-09-29T20:50:19.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran ambulances for a period, and also spent 3 years working primary ambulance response in an Air Force ER.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answers are good but kind of need to be all combined, since for first responder type of ambulance work, the correct answer is that you need an overall body weightlifting and conditioning program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a normal year, and depending on where you live (Age of the city is one consideration, as for example many homes in Boston differ in shape/configuration than newer cities further west), you will be standing, walking, running. You will be hauling large, heavy oxygen tanks to install, portable medical units and treatment packs, stretchers, lifting patients from floors, beds, couches, cars, ponds, pools, etc. You may need to take down doors, be able to gain access to mangled car carriages, get into very tight spaces, things like this. You can run into an incredible variety of odd situations that you can't really prepare for, other than making sure you are both physically and mentally fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above may differ if you live in a large, urban area as often ambulance response in these areas is secondary to a local fire department being the first responder. However, as you get more outlying/rural, or if you are attached to a fire department, then you may be the first response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you don't have access to a gym, I would invest in a doorway pullup bar. Lots of pullups, chip ups (different hand positions), dead arm hangs, chair dips, abdominal and oblique work, lower back extensors, squats, duck/farmer walks, calf raises, lunges, and variants of all of the above. Add this to a sensible aerobic fitness regimen (If you are stuck in the field doing chest compressions, this is a very taxing exercise when properly done. You need to be able to last as long as possible, especially if you are part of a two man unit with no backup readily available).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be a very challenging job with little thanks, but it is very rewarding work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-09-29T20:57:45.663" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T20:57:45.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19084" CreationDate="2014-09-30T00:26:07.000" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A general rule of running is to gradually increase your miles by no more than 10% per week. So a 10 mile week can turn into an 11 mile week. There are a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourtrainingcalendar.com/&quot;&gt;marathon training calendars&lt;/a&gt; you can find online that will give you the day-by-day schedule. Often these require shorter (and faster) days on Monday and Wednesday, with a longer and slower run (aimed for distance) on Saturday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I'd really ask yourself is: &lt;strong&gt;What Are Your Expectations For Your Marathon?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you trying to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simply complete it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complete it without stopping?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put in a &amp;lt; 4 Hour time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qualify for some higher level event (Boston Martahon, etc)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These create very different training requirements. I know several people who've simply shown up, rather out of shape, and &quot;finished&quot; a marathon. The closer you get to wanting to put in an aggressive time, the harder you will train. And honestly, &lt;em&gt;training to be competitive at marathon running is very time intensive.&lt;/em&gt; Your life will revolve around your training for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T00:26:07.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18619" CreationDate="2014-09-30T01:27:41.410" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to continue with push up/pull up's also, a lot of people have found gains supplementing their normal workout routines with a &lt;strong&gt;PLP&lt;/strong&gt; routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting at 10 reps each, do your push ups, lunge, pull ups, and each day increment the number of reps by one. So &quot;Day One&quot; do 10 pushups, 10 pull ups, 10 lunges (each leg), &quot;Day Two&quot; do 11 of each, &quot;Day 30&quot; you're doing 40 reps of each. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/03/13/that-time-i-did-2440-pull-ups-the-60-day-plp-challenge/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NerdFitness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/training/plp-the-60-day-challenge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T-Nation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;google&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8791" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T01:27:41.410" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18992" CreationDate="2014-09-30T02:37:20.483" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Waste of time and money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really that interested in your body fat % and want something that is going to be as accurate as possible, have a DEXA scan done or hydrostatic weighing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T02:37:20.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18384" CreationDate="2014-09-30T14:44:50.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body basically uses three things for energy: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, in that order. The way it works ideally: when you run low on carbohydrates, the body burns fat for fuel. When you run low on fat, it moves on to protein, aka muscle loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, your body uses a combination of the 3 for energy at any given time, and there are ways to optimize fat loss and reduce muscle loss (high protein intake, weight-training, reduced carbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you sleep, or you're in a fasted state, your body uses up its stored carbohydrates for energy. As well as amino acids and glucose. This is great for fat-loss, and studies show an increase of about 20% fat loss in a fastest state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem: the lack of amino acids can make gaining muscle more difficult. It's important to consume protein after cardio (about 30 grams within 30 minutes), particularly a fast-acting protein like whey or egg. This will replenish your store of amino acids and improve your recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go straight from cardio to weightlifting without consuming enough protein, your muscle gains will be poor. I recommend alternating the days that you do cardio and weights, or opting for weights before cardio if possible. Your muscles act like a sponge after a workout, which also makes it important to consume protein (any any supplements you might take) immediately after weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be a good idea to also alternate fasting cardio with non-fasted cardio. If you take in some carbs/protein before your cardio, you'll likely have improved performance at the cost of some fat loss. Use the opportunity to do some HIIT - more bang for your buck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastEditorUserId="8325" LastEditDate="2014-12-30T16:02:46.573" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T16:02:46.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19090" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-30T15:53:00.443" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been gradually losing weight and building strength after a leg injury a few years ago.  I've been running long distances well and feel like I'm toned and ready for something more challenging, like a bootcamp.  What types of bootcamps will help me improve endurance?  Is a tabata bootcamp best for this or is there another kind of bootcamp that is better, like maybe a kick boxing bootcamp?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10812" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T15:53:00.443" Title="What types of bootcamps are best for endurance?" Tags="&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-01T03:33:31.477" Score="1" ViewCount="7508" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not the butt or crotch area but the groin muscles, left upper inner thigh. Could be borderline hamstring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really weird issue for me because I have a long background in bike racing. I no longer race but still ride a lot, do some hard group rides and play ice hockey 2-3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fit in general. I do LOADS of various leg exercises so my groin is solid for hockey. I still ride lots in the summer so my legs are still strong and I'm used to the miles. But as soon as I try to ride longer than 30 minutes on my bike in a trainer, my left groin muscles start to really bunch up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think this is a bike fit issue, this is the bike I use on the road. It's not a seat issue. Yes, there is a thick book underneath my front wheel. I stretch a decent bit so I don't think this is a flexibility issue, but maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's such an odd issue to have and I've had it for the past few years. I always assumed it was from bearing down on the seat in a weird way but I don't really feel uncomfortable. (Although all cyclists have a loose relationship with the concept of comfort.) Certainly doesn't feel different than riding on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just at the point where I want to try to sort it out so I can put in some solid basement miles this winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6120" LastActivityDate="2017-04-07T16:42:58.277" Title="Upper groin hurts when riding stationary bike (Experienced cyclist)" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19096" CreationDate="2014-10-01T16:50:16.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like its your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adductor_muscles_of_the_hip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hip adductors&lt;/a&gt;, which consists of several muscles that make everything tick. In regards to doing &quot;LOADS&quot; of leg exercises, I see guys who do a lot of by-the-science strength training, but I also see a lot of guys hanging out on isolation machines doing various things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VrUKJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I raced USCF category 2 back in the day, and I'm assuming you're not talking about general pressure from the seat itself and are using normal high end cycling shorts/pants/bibs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I would ensure that I'm able to do barbell squats for my bodyweight (the weight on the bar totalling your bodyweight) comfortably with a good stance. That puts a lot of load on your adductors: if you haven't trained up your barbell squat you definitely want to start at a lighter weight and dial it up over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progression wise I'd try something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Just your body weight squat&lt;/a&gt; (3 reps of 8).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Empty bar back squat&lt;/a&gt; (45lb bar) (3 reps of 8).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ramping up to at least &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;novice level strength standards&lt;/a&gt;. Maybe you're already at this level. If you are and have sufficient strength at this level, but are still having a problem, you're a good candidate for professional evaluation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's certainly nothing wrong with going and seeing a doctor or physical therapist, but I think it's a little ridiculous to imagine that every athlete that encounters anything greater than &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; should go get professionally evaluated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T16:50:16.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17998" CreationDate="2014-10-01T17:16:46.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An typical example of my current diet after my lifestyle changes is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast: Cornflakes, or a breakfast pot with red berries, fat free yoghurt and granola&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch: Water and soup or fresh salad chicken and humous wrap made fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner: Stir fry or chicken and veg and potatoes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trade out the processed food for more whole food.  Lower calorie, higher nutrition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cornflakes, yoghurt, granola - replace with banana/other fruit, nuts - or a green smoothie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn your wrap into a salad, skipping the wrap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner looks great eat several colors of vegetables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can eat as much raw vegetable and fruit as you want.  Variety is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If greatly increasing raw vegetable volume, take a probiotic with your food to help digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10669" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T17:16:46.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18815" CreationDate="2014-10-01T20:54:48.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way to learn to breathe deeper is to learn how to breathe differently on purpose: place one hand on the center of your chest and the other hand on your stomach, with your little finger touching your navel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When lot of people who have shallow breaths take a breath, it only moves their top hand (a &quot;chest breath,&quot;) which is fast, doesn't use very many muscles, but doesn't use the whole lung capacity. My boxing teacher called it &quot;a good one to know but a bad one to rely on.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To take deeper, more relaxed and full breath, you want to keep your chest hand steady and take a breath that moves your lower hand, instead. This is called a &quot;belly breath&quot; and its a much fuller, stronger breath that moves a lot more oxygen since you're involving muscles from all over your trunk, especially on the exhale. This is how you want to do most of your breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've got the hang of switching from hand to hand at will, you might want to play with breaths that move both hands at once, called &quot;bellows breaths.&quot; This is great for stress relief, recovering from getting the wind knocked out of you, and catching your breath when &quot;winded,&quot; but it's also quite easy to get light-headed from it, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who spends a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of time on computers, a large part of my learning to breathe better was working on fixing my posture, as well. I suffered from a staggering amount of hip tightness that was making it hard for me to move well enough to breathe when I was sitting down. More help on this available at &lt;a href=&quot;http://kaasplateau.com/stretches.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://kaasplateau.com/stretches.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1345" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T20:54:48.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18876" CreationDate="2014-10-02T01:21:25.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretching doesn't build muscle.  But it does have an important effect on your muscles that makes it useful both post workout and after any period of being still (sitting, sleeping, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscle spindles are accustomed being at a &quot;resting length&quot;. Say, if you sit in a chair for hours on end, your hamstrings become accustomed to being shortened.   The effects of this is that the shortened muscle will have a harder time relaxing or letting go of tension (hypertonic), and, the antagonistic muscles will become accustomed to being at a lengthened, or stretched out state (hypotonic).  These things can produce slowed responses, muscle cramps, strains, joint instability and tendon issues if you need to do something active while the muscles are still in this state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of it is that when you attempt to lengthen a muscle too fast compared to what it's accustomed to, it will attempt to lock up as a &quot;braking&quot; action - this is part of your body's method to prevent joint damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching is the way you remind the muscles of their full length and reset muscle spindles.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a solid workout, the muscles are primed to be set into new resting states, so failing to stretch, and say, going to sit for several hours, basically sets your muscles into those positions, instead of neutral ones.  This is why people will feel a stiffness and tightness in the day or two after resistance training - the muscles have set into their new length resting state and going beyond/outside it takes a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The flip side is that the antagonist muscles which are left overextended, become weak relative to their actual muscle mass, simply because the muscle fibers are stretched in such a way that the chemical reaction that causes contraction can't operate efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7485" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T01:21:25.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19121" CreationDate="2014-10-02T04:43:31.123" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;A trail race may have hills that are too steep to run up easily. Or, one may choose a strategy to hike all significant climbs early on in a long distance race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When choosing to hike up a hill in a running race, is there a specific form or technique that is optimal? For example, what sort of posture should one have? Is there a specific stride length/cadence to aim for? Should you brace your hands on your knees to &quot;push&quot; uphill? etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a simple rule to determine when it is better to hike rather than run up a given hill (in terms of energy conservation/recovery/not wasting time)? Or if there are multiple hiking techniques or speeds that apply to different situations, is there a strategy for knowing which to use in a given situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6391" LastEditorUserId="6391" LastEditDate="2014-10-03T00:53:49.960" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T22:49:31.213" Title="Technique or strategy for un-runnable steep climbs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19000" CreationDate="2014-10-02T13:58:12.273" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you are being a total wuss, but it is curable. Keep training, get comfortable around heavier objects, and soon you will be handling the big plates with ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T13:58:12.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18365" CreationDate="2014-10-02T14:00:45.580" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fat burning zones are foolish. &#xA;Sprinters never train in the fat burning zone and are ripped. Higher intensity exercise can raise your metabolism long after you are done training.&#xA;The shortest answer is, eating carbs when training stops burning fats, as eating carbs generally stops burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T14:00:45.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-02T20:06:33.323" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an adult male endurance runner, and earlier this year took on a moderately low-carb diet and became fat-adapted. My runs at first were your predictable sufferfest but after 6-8 weeks I got to a point where I ran a 50k ultra without taking in any calories. In previous 50k races I needed to eat carbohydrates to continue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, after a couple of months of this, summer and vacations and stuff happened, and I discontinued the diet. Now it's October, and I'm resuming the low-carb - but my runs are, once again, suffer-fests. Which got me to thinking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long did the fat adaptation last after stopping the diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the fat-adaptation is apparently lost, should I expect it to take another 6-8 weeks to regain it, or will the process be faster the second time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10826" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T23:59:17.810" Title="Longevity of Fat Adaptation for Endurance Athlete" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19106" CreationDate="2014-10-02T20:09:12.077" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;This morning (Thursday) I was running intervals on the treadmill, 4 minutes running - 1 minute walking, and I did them just a little faster than I usually do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the fourth interval I started feeling a very mild pain in the left hamstring which became more intense I kept going so I stopped. I stretched, took a shower and went to work but it hurt while I was walking, not enough to make me limp but it was uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 hours later it does not hurt anymore, I took some Advil, but I am a little concerned that it might have pulled it a little bit and I have a 5k race on Sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I tell if I can run the race without the risk of severely injuring myself or if I should forfeit it altogether?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10642" LastEditorUserId="10642" LastEditDate="2014-10-02T21:10:02.847" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T22:31:16.563" Title="Could these symptoms be of a pulled hamstring?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-01-11T22:53:14.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19105" CreationDate="2014-10-02T22:31:16.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone is going to be able to give you a concrete answer as to whether or not you will be injury free in your race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaking down your question a bit, the things I notice are here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This morning (Thursday) I was &lt;strong&gt;running intervals&lt;/strong&gt; on the treadmill, 4&#xA;  minutes running - 1 minute walking, and I did them just a little&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;faster than I usually do them&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval training is very effective form of training because it's hard. So you were doing one of the harder forms of running and doing it a little harder then you normally do it, and then you started getting some pain from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My history of competitive running, at least with my body, has shown me that training for running is essentially managing over-use injuries. If you could simply keep ratcheting up distance and speed forever at a constant rate, everyone would run sub 4 minute miles and hop around like gazelles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I encountered what you did, I would do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Throttle down your run distances and speed between now and your race. You're not going to get any faster or better by training harder at this point. You've got what you've got, and that's it. Honestly, you shouldn't have been doing intensive interval work within a week of a race anyway. Once you're in the ~10 day window of a race, you should really be just keeping yourself fresh and uninjured. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do a ~30 minute light run a couple of days before hand (Friday at the latest, not Saturday). Keep the pace light, avoid big hills. If you feel good, do the race and push it. If you feel the injury coming back, maybe do the race but tell yourself to not push it and not run at full race pace. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think every competitive runner is aware of a few injuries that they've recently dealt with. Keeping them in check, not aggravating them, and knowing how hard you can push yourself without injury is a huge component to long term competitive running success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T22:31:16.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19107" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19111" CreationDate="2014-10-02T22:45:37.073" Score="6" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;Standing on one foot, other foot above the head, back arched, hands reach over the head, grasping the foot. So legs are in a 'splits' position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanna look into how to progress into such a position, but I need the name first. I see cheerleaders on Instagram doing it all the time, if they can do it... lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T20:06:16.743" Title="What is this exercise/pose called?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19104" CreationDate="2014-10-02T22:55:54.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about entering ketosis via a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ketogenic diet&lt;/a&gt; that's pretty interesting that you felt problems lasting for weeks. Most research I've seen, and my own experience, shows ketones consumption happening ~48 hours after carbohydrate restriction. I'm sure there's a huge variety in there, but 7 weeks seems excessively long. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC524027/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;In this 2004 study&lt;/a&gt; that does some other analysis, you can see a lot of references that entire studies are done in less time than 6-7 weeks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most obvious of these is the time allotted (or not) for&#xA;  keto-adaptation. In this context, the prescient observation of&#xA;  Schwatka (that adaptation to &quot;a diet of reindeer meat&quot; takes 2–3&#xA;  weeks) says it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless though to answer your question I've felt the same problems dropping in and out of ketosis although what I have found is that (for me) if I manage to have most of my days with long spells of extremely low carbs, and the carbs I take in tend to be higher GI, the re-adjustment is minimal if at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rough number is ~50grams of carbohydrates per day, persisted for a few days, to switch your body into ketosis. Some folks are lower and some are higher. I'm at a loss to explain the time lag for ketosis with your results unless your carbs were much higher than you thought, your body is much different than most studied, or some other variables are going on (and since we're talking about human biology, that's entirely possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T22:55:54.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19109" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-02T23:13:32.473" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best method to get to full recovery here so I can race?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last Saturday, I ran a 5k race, your typical high school race. After proper cool down for 30 minutes, later that night I biked 30 miles with clips on my road bike. I went fairly easy (only about 13mph avg.) so I thought that this would be like a cooldown or recovery ride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday I didn't feel too bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Monday, we did a weight workout in the morning with exercises like box jumps, deadlift, (and core). I noticed my calves were a bit clinchy, but nothing bad at all. Pretty typical. Later in the day, we ran a speed workout. I was able to do the speeds but on the recovery jogs, I could hardly get my legs to move, I could really feel the pain in the upper part of the calves. I figured I would just get through this one workout, then I could back it down after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next day, waking up my calves were so sore, I couldn't move my leg in any way that used my calf muscle. I went onto bike the next day instead of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day after, I skipped a meet, and took the day off. Coaches advice was to ice them and take ibuprofen 4x12hours. So I iced 2xs the rest of the night &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now today, I biked again, didn't feel as bad, but the pain was still there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tomorrow (Friday) to take easy also...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Saturday I have one of the bigger races of the season, and I would like to run it, any advice to get me to and through this race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10829" LastEditorUserId="10829" LastEditDate="2014-10-03T01:41:51.097" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T16:50:15.673" Title="Should I run the next race? Or stay out because of my calves?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;racing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18733" CreationDate="2014-10-03T02:41:28.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only studies I've seen not in support of icing injuries typically are inconclusive, but the other side of the coin is that there is documented and anecdotal evidence in favor. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11510876&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A 2001 study&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is concluded that ice is effective, but should be applied in&#xA;  repeated application of 10 minutes to be most effective, avoid side&#xA;  effects, and prevent possible further injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's important, because &quot;icing the injury&quot; isn't simply about putting ice on it all the time. The current advice I operate under is to ice sprains and strains as much as you can in the first 48 hours after an injury, for roughly ten minutes (not exceeding 15), and re-applying after the area has achieved normal body temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of the studies I read seem to indicate that there simply aren't good double blind peer reviewed looks at cryotherapy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal, as to your question, is to reduce inflammation and ease pain. As referenced by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Bursitis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NIH&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How Are Bursitis and Tendinitis Treated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Treatment focuses on healing the injured bursa or tendon. The first&#xA;  step in treating both of these conditions is to reduce pain and&#xA;  inflammation with rest, compression, elevation, and anti-inflammatory&#xA;  medicines such as aspirin, naproxen, or ibuprofen. &lt;strong&gt;Ice may also be&#xA;  used in acute injuries&lt;/strong&gt;, but most cases of bursitis or tendinitis are&#xA;  considered chronic, and ice is not helpful. When ice is needed, an ice&#xA;  pack can be applied to the affected area for 15 to 20 minutes every 4&#xA;  to 6 hours for 3 to 5 days. Longer use of ice and a stretching program&#xA;  may be recommended by a health care provider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T02:41:28.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19107" CreationDate="2014-10-03T02:53:09.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a variation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natarajasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dancer's pose (Natarajasana)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/brDkX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;that is often called &lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/kingdancer.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;king dancer's pose&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bbIwk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T02:53:09.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18719" CreationDate="2014-10-03T10:41:16.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are training to produce adaptations, and through those adaptations we become more capable. There are a lot of different adaptations that happen as a result of training; for example, in aerobic training the heart's stroke volume increases and Haemoglobin levels in blood rise. In muscular training, muscle fibers get stronger. In the case of muscles, working them hard breaks down muscles - that is why we get sore - and we need rest so that there is time for them to rebuild. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For aerobic training it's more complex. The response of our bodies - how much we improve - is related to how hard we work out (often known as &quot;training stress&quot;). But how hard we work out depends upon how well-rested we are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we run every day, we will become good at running every day - our bodies will adapt quite well - but we will never be fully rested, so we will be limited on the amount of stress we put on our bodies. On the other hand, if we run every other day, we will be more rested and therefore be able to put more training stress on our system, leading to more improvement during our next rest day. Another way to look at it is that your body adapts to the peak effort that you using during training, not the total amount of effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the whole principle behind High-Intensity training, or interval training. It works very well, but only if you have enough time between interval sessions so that you can recover enough. If you don't recover enough, you won't be able to increase your peak effort in future workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more information on specific adaptations, a search of &quot;physiological adaptations to exercise&quot; should find you good info. A search on &quot;science of interval training&quot; (or hit training) should find good info there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to recovery days is that you aren't putting additional training stress on your system, as that will compromise your recovery. In general, active recovery - working out lightly - is superior to pure rest, as long as you work out very lightly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T10:41:16.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11636" CreationDate="2014-10-03T11:08:38.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of the difference that you are noting is genetic; some people are naturally better at aerobic sports, and some are better at putting muscle on. In running for example, you don't see sprinters become marathoners, nor do you see marathoners become sprinters, no matter how hard they train. They don't have the genetics for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a given person, however, the answer to your question is that your body will optimize to keep muscles that are being used and eliminate muscle that is not being used. You see that in strength training regardless of whether you do aerobic training or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long-period aerobic exercise - such as long-distance running or cycling - is uniquely good at tearing down unused muscle. This is mostly because of the nutritional requirements of those sports; you are in the aerobic zone for a long time and burning lots of calories, and some of those will come from protein. Also, after the exercise is over, your body will want to rebuild carbohydrate stores and it may tear down muscle mass to get there. Good nutrition - especially recovery nutrition - will help with this, but as a long-cyclist who also lifts weights, it's hard to do both. You can, however, hit a balance, and if you don't do a ton of cardio, the effect isn't that big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will note, however, that pure steady-state cardio isn't the most effective use of training time for most people; HIT training will give them both a larger cardio training effect and improve their anaerobic fitness as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also note that in long-distance running and cycling, lightness is an advantage; in running it's more efficient to have lighter legs, and in both you have less weight to carry up hills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T11:08:38.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19117" CreationDate="2014-10-03T13:47:12.343" Score="11" ViewCount="3037" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read in this forum about aerobic and anaerobic training but i can't get an answer for my particular situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 35 years, male, 175cm , with 79kg, doing 3 or 4 exercises (2xrunning 5km/500 kcal each and 1xsoccer 1hour/980 kcal) per week, i have some belly fat and overall fat that i want to loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat rather well, and try to keep a log of the calories that i intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to understand what's the best way to train so i can loose belly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what i understand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aerobic, will decrease more fat but only during the exercise, after that calorie &quot;spending&quot; will decrease and also the metabolism, so i would be spending less calories just on doing my regular daily things.&#xA;Also aerobic will make me lose some muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anaerobic will decrease less fat, but after the exercise i will be spending more calories, gain more muscle and increase my metabolism.&#xA;Downside is that anaerobic training would take more time to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best training for losing fat? Aerobic or anaerobic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing running and soccer for losing fat, are there better exercises for losing fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of training plan do you guys recommend? Mine is obviously failing, in 1 month i lost 1 kg, i decreased my fat percentage by 1,5% and gain 2kg of muscle, which doesn't seem that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First i tried running 5km at 150 bpm (average), during 2 weeks and didn't lost 1 kg, right now i'm trying HIIT, in which i run 5km do 7 sprints of 30seconds and another 7 sprints of 15s, but i don't see much results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10833" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T20:02:24.727" Title="Aerobic vs anaerobic for better fat loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14314" CreationDate="2014-10-03T14:59:56.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ratios do not change based on duration, the ratios change based on the intensity of the exercise. At low intensities, you can get nearly all of your energy from fat, but the amount of power that can be generated by fat is limited, so as you increase your intensity, you will need to start burning more carbohydrate, and therefore the ratio of carbohydrate to fat will increase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might help to think of fat metabolism as a furnace that is very efficient but can't put out much heat; if you need to get the house warmer you might need to turn on the electric heater (carb metabolism) to produce extra heat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is somewhat related to duration because long-duration events are generally at a lower intensity than short-duration events, and therefore will depend more on fat as an energy source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T14:59:56.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19114" CreationDate="2014-10-03T16:00:50.033" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, you should do both types of training without expecting to spot reduce.  You can't direct your body to draw fat from a specific location for energy.  Losing weight healthfully takes time.  If what you tried has not been working, mix things up.  Add some weight training to your workouts.  The idea is to try and burn more calories than you consume, while keeping in mind, you're in it for the &quot;long haul&quot;.  I'd also take a closer look at the food log you mentioned and possibly cut some calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T16:00:50.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19114" CreationDate="2014-10-03T16:57:32.467" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any conversation that doesn't directly address the overarching signifigance of your diet and nutrition would be incorrect. It is far easier to not eat 200 calories than it is to burn them off. As an example, a 6 minute mile will burn (for a 180lb person) roughly 190 calories: that's a tremendous amount of work for relatively a relatively small caloric drain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically answering your question though, I would look at it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training has shown, especially for men, a very high change in RMR (resting metabolic rate)&lt;/strong&gt; as seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11283427&quot;&gt;this 2001 study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;RMR with men increasing RMR by 9%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your RMR was 1500 calories, it's now 1650 because of strength training. This effect persists: &lt;em&gt;it happens even on days when you are not strength training, all day and night&lt;/em&gt;. Provided you at least maintain your strength levels, the RMR increase is maintained.  This is further backed up by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8175496&quot;&gt;a 1994 study&lt;/a&gt; which had a slightly lower rate of increase, but it also had different study parameters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;RMR, measured by indirect calorimetry, increased 7.7% with strength&#xA;  training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The math around aerobic activity is much more straight forward: your body is actively consuming energy resource because of increased load.&lt;/strong&gt; Anecdotally I would add in that heavy aerobic activity tends to make most people quite hungry, negating many benefits of whatever calories might have been consumed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another chink in the &quot;aerobics for fat loss&quot; armor is the recent knock against the long held theory of EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) resulting in your body entering a &quot;pro-longed period of fat loss following aerobic activity&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/research-review-effects-of-exercise-intensity-and-duration-on-the-excess-post-exercise-oxygen-consumption.html/&quot;&gt;2006 study&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Notwithstanding the aforementioned, the earlier research optimism&#xA;  regarding an important role for the EPOC in weight loss is generally&#xA;  unfounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summarized, I'd make these points:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is clear that aerobic activity results in higher caloric consumption than being at rest, &lt;em&gt;while performing the activity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training results in higher resting metabolic rates, which results in higher caloric consumption, &lt;em&gt;during and after the activity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your diet has the largest impact on your body composition. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-03T18:44:44.813" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T18:44:44.813" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19114" CreationDate="2014-10-03T19:26:47.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the points made above, HIIT also has the added benefit of EPOC to recover from oxygen deficit during the anaerobic &quot;sprinting&quot; stage. That can increase your metabolic rate up to 13% for up to 48 hours (decreasing over time). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The optimal way to lose fat is a good combination of aerobic, anaerobic, and HIIT exercises. HIIT will give you the most bang for your buck and result in a  heightened metabolic rate long after your workout. Strength training will have a similar effect, due to the added stress on the body of repairing muscle tissue. The real benefit from strength training is that it helps prevent muscle loss while you're at a calorie deficit. Strength training will also increase your levels of Human Growth Hormone and Insulin Growth Factor. Deficiencies in HGH/IGF have been shown to cause excess fat, and increasing them will help burn fat especially around the abdominal area (belly fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like HIIT, cardio/aerobic exercise will burn extra calories and increase your metabolism during the exercise and for a shorter time afterward. HOWEVER the true benefit of cardio is that it increases your metabolic efficiency over time. In other words, the more cardio you do, the more efficient your body becomes at using fat for energy. You could technically lose weight without doing any cardio at all, but it's important for maintaining the calorie deficit and getting the most effect out of your exercise routine over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT: immediate results and constantly increased metabolic rate if&#xA;cycled every 48 hours. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength-training: prevents muscle loss and&#xA;increases your BMR. Increases HGH/IGF to burn belly-fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio: helps maintain a calorie deficit and&#xA;increases metabolic efficiency (aka fat-burning). More benefits than HIIT in the long term.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is all dependent on your diet as well. The benefits of increased hormones and metabolic efficiency may take some time before their effect becomes clear. In the mean time, you'll get the most immediate results out of HIIT, but they should all be treated as equally important.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastEditorUserId="8325" LastEditDate="2014-10-05T20:02:24.727" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T20:02:24.727" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-03T21:35:38.510" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm recovering from dengue and chikungunya. My neck is very stiff also my shoulders, my back is tense. Swallowing is difficult. I'm having muscle/joint weakness and pain. It's hard to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: What exercises should I start with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10836" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T22:04:11.887" Title="What exercises should I start with?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;stiffness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19119" CreationDate="2014-10-03T22:04:11.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you do anything, you should ask your doctor if there's anything you should avoid doing or anything you should specifically do. I'm not sure if there's anyone here with the training to speak to this specific circumstance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, it's usually not a bad idea to start with walking, stretching, and manipulating extremely light weights. The most reliable indicator that something is wrong is pain, so you want to feel loose and challenged, not hurt. When something starts feeling too easy replace it with something slightly more challenging, and go from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck on your further recovery!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1345" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T22:04:11.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19101" CreationDate="2014-10-03T22:49:31.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many trail races have un-runnable hills (except for elites - and even for them. Ellie Greenwood (WS100 course record holder, current Comrades champ, etc.) is known for a spectactularly fast speed hiking style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like most things in running it's down to what works for you. I would consider keeping upright so that your lungs get maximum air. You lean into the hill from your ankles. I try and keep the cadence fairly high and take small steps where I can. However, I avoid too much zig-zagging; I prefer going straight up the hill and will take a big step if I have to. I have to gain that elevation anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T22:49:31.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19123" CreationDate="2014-10-04T01:19:02.177" Score="3" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cross team strongly promotes loading on carbohydrates the night before our 5k meets. I understand that carbo-loading is great before a marathon, where endurance is very important, but, with a 5k being so short, &lt;strong&gt;how much does carbo-loading really benefit a 5k runner?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point is, typically, what you eat the night before, will still be in your stomach when you race, so filling too much on carbs can have a negative consequence by adding extra weight, correct me if I'm wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Large portions before a race can, however, decrease race-day&#xA;  performance if the digestive system has not had the time to process&#xA;  the food regimen. — Wikipedia (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_loading&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_loading&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10829" LastActivityDate="2014-10-04T03:43:15.830" Title="5k Carbo-Loading Benifits?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;racing&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19122" CreationDate="2014-10-04T02:54:10.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/content/carbohydrate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Iowa State University&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A well-nourished adult can store approximately 500 grams or 2000 kcal&#xA;  of carbohydrates. Of this, approximately 400 grams are stored as&#xA;  muscle glycogen, 90-110 grams as liver glycogen, and 25 grams&#xA;  circulate in the blood as glucose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think the weight is very relevant. Answering your question directly, the goal for carboloading is to ensure that you have sufficient glycogen for your event. Running 3.1 miles at ~6-minute-miles would take something like ~700 calories (depending heavily on a variety of factors such as your body weight, training, the terrain, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So having 2,000 calories stored might be a bit overkill, but to get to that number you'd need to do depletion in advance and eat lot of lower-GI foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-04T02:54:10.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19122" CreationDate="2014-10-04T03:25:22.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carbo loading is generally recommended for endurance events - anything longer than 90 minutes at a moderate pace. In addition, carbo-loading typically has to be done several days in advance. It's possible to glean benefits from carbo-loading the day before, but only if you've been actively maintaining your glycogen stores by replenishing them after excercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, a 5k run isn't long enough to use up your glycogen stores unless you're really not getting enough carbs in your diet, so the carbo-loading is kind of pointless. It also depends on the type of foods that you're using for your carbohydrates. Grains can negatively impact your performance, especially wheat glutens which create inflammation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general recommendation for eating before a 5k is simply to eat a good meal 3-4 hours before the event. Something with complex-carbohydrates - e.g. fruit and whole grains - not simple carbs like sugar, as this can spike your insulin levels and make you sluggish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to feel what it's like to run out of glycogen during a run, I'd suggest doing a 20k (or half-marathon). Without carbo-loading beforehand, you'll likely deplete your energy stores and enter a state of low blood-sugar (aka &quot;hitting the wall&quot;) about 15km or 90 minutes into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, endurance training increases the amount of glycogen that your body can store, so you can run longer before hitting the wall, as long as your glycogen stores are full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastEditorUserId="8325" LastEditDate="2014-10-04T03:43:15.830" LastActivityDate="2014-10-04T03:43:15.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19125" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-04T13:10:43.487" Score="0" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just completed the 0 to 1 mile swim program (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ruthkazez.com/swimming/ZeroTo1mile.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ruthkazez.com/swimming/ZeroTo1mile.html&lt;/a&gt;). Now I am planning to follow the workouts in &lt;a href=&quot;http://ruthkazez.com/swimming/IntroToSwimWorkouts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ruthkazez.com/swimming/IntroToSwimWorkouts.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;for a couple of months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am not quite sure how to interpret the last item of the various workouts. For example, for workout 1, it says&#xA;Backstroke  5x50 swim, kick, drill, swim. Big hip roll.&#xA;Does this mean 50m of swimming backstroke, 50m of backstroke kick, 50m of a backstroke drill of my choice and 50m of backstroke swim again? thats only 4x50. is the last 50 of &quot;big hip roll&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For workout 2. its&#xA;Breaststroke 400 drills, swim, pull, kick&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is that 100m of each, i.e. one drill, then 100 swim 100 pull 100 kick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps there is a general logic to the last part of these workouts that I fail to see. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4794" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:44:41.467" Title="swim workouts from swim-a-mile website" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19128" CreationDate="2014-10-05T03:27:36.323" Score="1" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in exercising first thing in the morning when before I eat due to my schedule. I have always heard that this causes damage to your body due to the nature of fasting while sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone shed some light on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2667" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T10:12:19.340" Title="Does exercising on an empty stomach cause muscle damage?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19127" CreationDate="2014-10-05T04:09:10.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is no. The long answer is maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic &quot;model&quot; of the body's energy supply is that it holds a certain amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood if the number gets too high, it binds the blood sugar with insulin and stores it in fat cells. If the number gets too low, the body uses glucagon to un-bind the sugar and return it to usability in the bloodstream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body can also store glucose in the liver and muscles by turning it into glycogen, instead. So when you need sugar you don't have you dip into your stores, and when you have too much you store it for later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all a drastic oversimplification, bordering on lies-told-to-children, but it's a good enough model. And it shows that in a normal person it doesn't really matter if you exercise on an empty stomach or not: your body can make energy for you and replenish it later. It's not going to attack itself just because you don't have something in your stomach. If you're trying to build muscle, you'll want to have protein available to build with and the best way to have it available is to eat it before or just after you work out, but that's more adding muscle and less avoiding damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have no worries, your body is smart. It will happily maintain your blood sugar sparing you trying to exactly match eating to your expenditures&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;--unless--&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body isn't that smart. Some people have metabolic illnesses, including but not limited to diabetes, that can alter this process and result in them needing to follow special instructions from their doctor regarding diet and exercise. For these people, it is drastically important to follow this because their body is not doing the same things as everyone else's. If and only if you are in this group does it matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr Unless told otherwise by a doctor, it doesn't matter so workout whenever makes sense for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1345" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T04:09:10.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19125" CreationDate="2014-10-05T05:09:03.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the 5x50 is either a typo, or has a missing element. It should be (as you guess) 5x50, 1 50 of swim, 1 50 of kick, 1 50 of drill and 1 50 of swim. The &quot;Big hip roll&quot; is to make sure that you emphasize the hip roll when you are doing all of this. I would suspect that the missing 50 is probably a 50 of pull (Arms only).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, on the second workout, it is 100 each of the segment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T05:09:03.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-05T08:56:39.317" Score="0" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to start taking classes of &quot;Tae Kwon Do&quot;, but I have braces on my teeth which will last 6 months more.&#xA;So can a person with braces learn it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cant afford even a single punch on my cheeks or chin for next 6 to 9 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9947" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T09:04:54.147" Title="Should a person with dental braces take classes of Tae Kwon Do?" Tags="&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19130" CreationDate="2014-10-05T09:04:54.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask the teacher. Some styles of TKD require you to start sparring immediately, some may not have you doing any sparring for the first few months to start with. Even if it's a sparring-heavy school, they still may be able to accommodate you until the braces come off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1345" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T09:04:54.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-05T13:15:34.727" Score="0" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I plan to drink Honey as my source of glycogen for a Ultra Marathon of 80 Kilometers and 4400 meters D+, I'm planning to do it between 12 and 14 hours, so my question is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;How much milliliters of Honey would I need?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T21:36:44.353" Title="How many Honey do I need for a UltraMarathon 80K and 4400meters D+?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2014-12-11T13:40:40.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19135" CreationDate="2014-10-05T20:25:48.477" Score="0" ViewCount="2771" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me begin by saying this is not about an injury. There is no pain during or after my workout (apart from the normal feeling of a muscle straining to lift heavy weights). It's simply that my inner thigh seems to be working a lot harder than it used to 20lbs ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The feeling runs along my inner thigh as if it could be my sartorius or adductors, but I don't see how either of those are related enough to the squat to be staining during the lift. This makes me wonder if maybe my form is somehow incorrect and as a result an inordinate proportion of the load is being offloaded onto those muscle when it should be on the more major muscles (VM, VL, glutes, etc.). Is there any common form mistake that would result in a load transfer from the prime movers to the sartorius or hip adductors? Or is it that the sartorius or hip adductors are more vital to the squat than I suspected; meaning it is to be expected that they feel strained under a heavy load?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I'm aiming for a wide stance, low-bar squat. And when I say wide stance I mean like an inch or two more than shoulder width and with feet pointed out 30°.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2014-10-05T20:35:52.453" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T21:07:22.280" Title="Inner thigh strain while squatting" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19134" CreationDate="2014-10-05T21:07:22.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For reference, here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2013/05/08/stance-width-squats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 2013 meta analysis from Chris Beardley on the various muscle recruitments (checked by EMG) during squats&lt;/a&gt;. There's not much there that really answers your question directly, but it's still a worthwhile read on the topic, especially because it graphs different levels of involvement across individual muscles in different squat stances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/repeated-adductor-strain-during-squats-a-case-study/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a pretty good article from Bret Contreras on helping a squatter out that had a lot of single-leg-adductor problems&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ericcressey.com/fixing-the-flaws-a-look-at-the-ten-most-common-biomechanical-weak-links-in-athletes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eric Cressey indicates that weak adductors (grouping all ~9 muscles into the pile here) is the single most common weakness for athletes&lt;/a&gt;, not just the general deconditioned public:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, weakness of the hip abductors – most notably the&#xA;  gluteus medius and minimus – is the primary culprit...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how long you've been squatting or what your routine is, but I think it's fairly normal to have new challenges as your weight and/or volume increases. My own experience has shown me that when your training exposes a new problem (imbalance, weakness, inflexibility, etc), that's when it's time to move into assistance exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If everyone could just keep increasing their weekly weight 1.5% we'd all be squatting 800lbs in a few years. Instead you go sideways sometimes, needing to heal up or tackle some type of challenges that get exposed via higher levels of training. 20 pounds can be a huge difference when you're getting near your 1RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my actual answer would be these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Video your squat from a few angles, at weight. Look for knee tracking issues, particular shaking or movement, which is a pretty good indicator of adductor issues.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start up doing some adductor assistance exercises such as sumo deadlift, shifting angle lunges, or even direct adductor work with bands. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T21:07:22.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19133" CreationDate="2014-10-05T21:36:44.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So that's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~50 miles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.8 mph (50/3.8 = 13.2) &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; 16 minutes/mile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;792 minutes (13.2 * 60) = 4,391 calories (for a 170lb average person)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tracker.dailyburn.com/nutrition/generic_honey_5ml_calories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Honey &lt;em&gt;generally&lt;/em&gt; has 21 calories per 5ml&lt;/a&gt;, so that's 3 calories per ml.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4,391 (total calories) / 3 (calories per ml) = &lt;strong&gt;1,463 ml&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to double check my math on all of that, and it's based entirely on the average of a 170lb person. Training, altitude, terrain, weight, temperature, and other factors affect this greatly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is also capable of storing, with &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19122/5k-carbo-loading-benifits/19123&quot;&gt;carboloading&lt;/a&gt;, roughly 2,000 calories so theoretically you don't need to ingest 4,391 additional. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T21:36:44.353" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-05T23:31:10.430" Score="2" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came to realize that my back routine is rather insufficient for my goals. I would like to improve it and put emphasis on wide v-shaped lats, but I am not sure if it is better to focus on wide grip pullups/pulldowns or heavy rows on a machine where you are firmly seated and you can support your chest on a cushioned surface(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/articleimages/826/Seated-Row-Machine1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/articleimages/826/Seated-Row-Machine1.jpg&lt;/a&gt;).&#xA;My initial thoughts were that there would not be that much difference in lat activation, so I should just choose the more comfortable one, which was the row. I also liked the fact that it would be good for the rear delts and the traps. On top of that, I felt that the firm seated possition helps me do a good concentrated high intensity pull. The problem is, I never really feel the lats on the next day even if i go hard, whereas one set of body weight pullups (about 15 reps with about 85 Kg) is enough to really make me feel my lats on the day after. This makes me wonder if the pullups/pulldowns are not the better choice. Not because it hurts more the next day, but because with one set only, i can tell it taxed the lats a lot more than my whole row routine. Yet, oddly enough, I remember reading about some experiment with electrodes, which showed that rows tend to activate the lats more than pulldowns. This makes me quite confused. Whatever is better, i would also like to know why. I reckon the pulldowns/ups might have a bit more range of motion, and the direction of arm abduction might reduce trap and rear delt involvement which would likely put more load on the lats alone, but then again, it would seem that the pulldowns activate a lot more of the pecs.&#xA;Sorry for the long post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10849" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T12:22:51.447" Title="Are Rows or Pulldowns/Pullups Better for a Wide V-shape Back" Tags="&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19127" CreationDate="2014-10-05T23:59:15.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that working out on an empty stomach will not damage your muscles, but if I may offer my personal experience, working out on an empty stomach is no good....and obviously training when you are stuffed is also no good, unless you want to make yourself vomit. The best thing would be to have a  carb rich meal about 2 hours before working out, and then go for it. You would not believe how much of a difference it makes and how much more you will be able to lift. I dont know exactly why though. I reckon it is the period when you are digesting the food and the body is consistently supplied with energy and you are using it immediately, which is more efficient than breaking down stored energy, but I am not sure about the exact mechanism.&#xA;Another reason to avoid first thing in the morning workouts would be the lack of concentration. Obviously, it depends on how long it takes you to wake up, but being a bit drowsy can really make for a bad workout, and just because you feel awake, it doesnt mean your are awake enough to start for example bench-pressing. You may find that you are less sensitive to this, but if I was to workout first thing in the morning, my workout would be severely suboptimal.&#xA;But even if this was the same case with you, a morning workout is still better than no workout, so if you have no other options, go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10849" LastEditorUserId="10849" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T00:23:38.543" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T00:23:38.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19127" CreationDate="2014-10-06T09:03:07.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;J.T. Hurley's comments about having protein available for muscle growth to occur can absolutely NOT be overstated. If you're intentions for working out are to gain muscle mass and increase your overall strength, you would be doing yourself a tremendous disservice by not having plenty of protein, calories, and water readily available before, during, and after your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're thinking of more of an aerobic workout in the morning with more endurance activities to decrease your body fat parentage, then its slightly less important but only for roughly the next six months or so. After this grace period your body will begin to adapt and store more body fat in response to the excess calories that you are now consistently burning. So, inevitably you'll be forced to engage in more intense physical activities such as sprinting and resistance training which will essentially force your body to burn calories in the  post-workout period as it repairs and creates new muscle fibers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what your short term goal is, to continue to see improvements in your physique and/or your over all health then you are going to have to build muscle. And to do that most efficiently will require a steady supply of nutrients before, during, and after your workout. Unless its completely impossible, I would seriously consider altering your schedule so that you can consume some form of nutrients and plenty of water at least 15-30 minutes before your workout for optimal gains, and to reduce any chances of hypoglycemia or dehydration from occurring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which to answer your question directly would be your two greatest dangers from a metabolic perspective. Your CNS is not going to be firing on all cylinders, but as long as you do a thorough warm up that shouldn't be a problem, as you'll adapt to being up and exercising that early over time barring any sleep/anxiety disorders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10854" LastEditorUserId="10854" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T10:12:19.340" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T10:12:19.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19188" CreationDate="2014-10-06T11:12:01.417" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been noticing recently that my abdominal area (over the stomach) has been getting really firm.&#xA;I think it is the abdominal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been bycycling fairly hard for about an hour every weekday for the least 18 months.&#xA;Its about the only serious exercise I get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't expect it to strengthen my abs.&#xA;I have been getting the expected thigh muscles, and had noticeable change in &amp;lt;6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting slightly concerned about the firmness.&#xA;If it isn't exercise improving the muscles it may be some kind of medical issue, which warrants looking into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10749" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-10-10T11:42:09.223" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T11:42:09.223" Title="Does bicycling improve abs?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19138" CreationDate="2014-10-06T12:22:51.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you'll find over the long term, that one exercise is no better than the other at building the &quot;V&quot; shape you're after.  Having said that, I'd add that we all tend to have one or more exercises that tends to really work for a particular body part.  That's just part of genetics and being an individual.  I would stick with what works for you while cautioning you to make sure to add variety into your training.  It's far to easy to plateau doing the same movements day after day.  If you cycle your routine on a regular basis, you may find you'll make the gains you're after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T12:22:51.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19144" CreationDate="2014-10-06T13:06:22.313" Score="-1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been overweight before, and over the past year or so, I have 'controlled' my eating habits, by cutting down on processed and junk food and eating food that's better for my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've lost quite a lot of weight now, and I recently started working out. And by workout, I mean body-weight workouts. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been sticking to it for a while now, but people are still saying that I'm losing weight (although I do notice a little more muscles on my bicep and more veins on my arms etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought it might be because I always work out before breakfast (and I eat afterwards). I did a little Googling, and it is said that working out on an empty stomach can lose more calories. Does this mean it is better for me to exercise after my breakfast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and yes, I am still on my healthy eating habit. Eating greens, fruits, proper meals (no fast food) and less sugary stuff. May I also add that I'm currently 18, and have a small physique, so I really want to know what's the best plan for me - if I want to get a little bigger - should I continue my healthy eating but instead, eat more? And also that part on the working out before or after eating my breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for my really long question, and thanks for reading!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10857" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T17:08:46.990" Title="Best time to workout without losing weight? (weird question, I know)" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19143" CreationDate="2014-10-06T17:08:46.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, great work on getting your nutrition squared away. The habits you've developed will put on you a lifelong trajectory of health: it's really not an overstatement to say that it's one of the most important things you could have done for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll try to answer your direct question first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;May I also add that I'm currently 18, and have a small physique, so I&#xA;  really want to know what's the best plan for me - if I want to get a&#xA;  little bigger - should I continue my healthy eating but instead, eat&#xA;  more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can imagine that when you say &quot;bigger&quot; you mean more lean muscle mass, not fatter. Getting fatter is pretty easy, adding lean muscle mass is more challenging but fortunately much more rewarding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to address the term &quot;tone&quot;, &quot;toned&quot; is simply lower body fat and increased muscle definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find a lot of commentary online that says &quot;if you want to build muscle size (hyper trophy) you need to be in caloric surplus&quot;. There isn't any hard science on this that I'm aware of, but it's certainly supported by most people's experience, especially when you get to lower body fat levels. At higher body fat levels, even in a caloric deficit, your body has a lot of fat stores to tap into. But if you're at a phase now where you can see veins in your arms, you're likely getting into the zone where sizeable muscle gains will happen only with eating more calories than you need. This will increase your muscle size, but you will also gain fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary Recommenation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure you have your strength training dialed in. Use a program like Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength (the book is worth the money), and start weight training. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The body weight training you're doing is great, but minute-for-minute you're not going to find a more effective strength training system than a barbell. Your body only weighs so much and we really are designed to handle pretty impressive loads: barbells let you do that safely and effectively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure that you're getting enough lean protein. Whey protein supplementation is tried and true, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18090657&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plenty of research to back it up&lt;/a&gt;. Shoot for at least 0.5 grams (or so) of your total body weight in protein every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The time of day doesn't really matter, other than your own circadian rhythm. You'll be able to push harder and smarter when your body and mind is ready. Some people can do that at 5pm, others at 5am. If you've got a time that works for you, you're set. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep going with your nutrition plan, add in strength training, and ensure you have enough lean high quality protein. You'll be in phenomenal shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T17:08:46.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-06T18:53:57.697" Score="5" ViewCount="1341" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just starting off and have made a 3 days per week routine with body weight and dumbbell exercises. I am not seeing much of a progress in terms of fat loss two weeks into the routine.(I do 16-20 sets) It might be too early to decide, but I am thinking of doing some light exercise on the rest days also to burn some calories. Can I do cardio etc taking care not to use the muscles that recover the from previous days workout, to lose fat faster? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10858" LastEditorUserId="10858" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T06:22:56.053" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T06:22:56.053" Title="Can light activity on recovery days accelerate progress?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19150" CreationDate="2014-10-06T21:53:06.313" Score="2" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;My main question is the title, but I have a couple of details I would like to add. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to be able to buy these shoes in person, because I have a hard time finding shoes that fit and want to try them before purchasing. This probably means that they need to be available from an American chain store, not only sold online or in Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, I would also like to use these shoes as general walking shoes for shopping and similar activities. They won't get much use in this manner because I have specific shoes for running and work, but I thought it was worth mentioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10430" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T22:06:47.447" Title="How to find good parkour shoes" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-06T22:38:17.467" Score="3" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want an app that will visualize my heart rate on a graph real-time while I do exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heart rate information will be coming from a smart bluetooth (4.0) sensor.   Preferably, the software would be running on either android, or some windows OS.   I'd relegate myself to using IOS only if there were no options for the other OSs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endomondo and Strava don't appear to have integrated this feature into their apps, but I can't imagine that plotting some points on a graph is beyond their skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone identify for me an app that will do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8603" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:38.237" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:38.237" Title="real time visualization of heart rate data on a graph" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-11-21T21:54:52.560" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19147" CreationDate="2014-10-06T23:59:55.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alright so what I use when I do parkour or free running are adidas classic samba shoes. They are very soft and after some wearing form to your foot in a good manner. I really like them as they have enough support for my arch yet enough grip for vaults and other moves. I have had 2 pairs and neither have ever ripped, i just out grew them. I would highly recommend them for parkour if you like this type of shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T23:59:55.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19145" CreationDate="2014-10-07T00:02:39.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually this would be called an active rest day, and is something that I find very effective. I lift 6 days a week then do cardio whether it be riding my bike, jogging, running, or soccer drills. I find it quite helpful. It gives your muscles time to recover but you are still getting your daily dose of exercise. As you said, it is important to avoid using the muscles you just trained. This is why I often do my leg day first day of the week or mid week, so my cardio day is not back to back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T00:02:39.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19145" CreationDate="2014-10-07T03:27:50.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Days off from lifting, known as &quot;rest days&quot;, are designed to let your body heal from the damage you do during training. Oddly enough, the more progress you make in strength training the less frequently you can train at maximum because you get very good at damaging your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting it another way, the cumulative exercise (a.k.a. damage) a trained athlete can do to their body is much higher than a novice. As such, a new weight lifter can perform at maximum nearly every day, with no rest days, because they simply don't need that much time to recover. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EXRX has some good definitions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Untrained&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Expected level of strength in a healthy individual who has not trained&#xA;  on the exercise before but can performit correctly. This represents&#xA;  the minimum level of strength required to maintain a reasonable&#xA;  quality of life in a sedentary individual. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Novice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A person training regularly for a period of 3-9 months. This strength&#xA;  level supports the demands of vigorous recreational activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermediate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A person who has engaged in regular training for up to two years. The&#xA;  intermediate level indicates some degree of specialization in the&#xA;  exercises and a high level of performance at the recreational level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An individual with multi-year training experience with definite goals&#xA;  in the higher levels of competitive athletics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elite&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Refers specifically to athletes competing in strength sports. Less&#xA;  than 1% of the weight training population will attain this level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being honest with the category you're in is important: training programs are optimized for certain categories. Those programs seek to maximize the benefits of the category and minimize risk. Related to Untrained, here's another excerpt from EXRX:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Untrained participants (less than 1 year of consistent training)&#xA;  experience maximal strength gains with an average training intensity&#xA;  of 60% of their 1 RM or approximately a 12 RM, training each muscle&#xA;  group 3 days per week. Novices weight training 2 times per week may&#xA;  make approximately 80% of the strength gains as compared to training 3&#xA;  times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means you should be doing a full body routine, three days a week, hanging out in the 12 rep range. Each time you workout you should be hitting all major muscle groups, focusing on compound lifts. You should notice strength increases weekly, sometimes more frequently; in other words you should be regularly and gradually increasing your weights. Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is a program you'll see referenced a lot for good reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So on your rest days, which is every other day, you can do whatever you like but make sure you're not adding a lot of physical stress. Yoga, light cardio, sports, and things of that nature are good. You definitely don't want to be sedentary (at all, ever), but don't steal the recovery time that your body needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That type of discipline gets more important the stronger you get. A lot of people are on perpetual plateaus because they don't have a proper program that maximizes work effort and rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T03:27:50.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19096" CreationDate="2014-10-07T13:10:27.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So Eric's response was excellent and thorough and appreciated. But I don't think that's the problem since I've spent a lot of effort working on sorting out my adductors/gluts and I don't run into this problem when skating or cycling outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer dawned on me the other day. My basement floor is slightly tilted and once I shimmed my trainer, I have had zero groin discomfort after riding the past two nights. Such a small little variation but I really think that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6120" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T13:10:27.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19155" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-07T15:40:39.457" Score="11" ViewCount="2602" Body="&lt;p&gt;They say muscles ache after a workout because the workout causes wear and tear of the muscles. Why doesn't the pain start asap ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4201" LastEditorUserId="22004" LastEditDate="2016-07-25T11:28:25.153" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T11:28:25.153" Title="Why do my muscles ache the day after I lift ? How come not asap after my workout or during?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-07T15:52:03.017" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 25 years old. I am 6 feet and 2 inches. I weigh 111 kgs. or 244 pounds. I have been exercising on and off for 2 years. I have lost 30 kgs in the mean time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I can run fartleks for 30 minutes covering about 5 kilometers (yeah, I know that's still woefully bad). I can bench press about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) (3 sets of each type - I do 3 types - Each set is of 10 reps). I lift similar weight in my squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, with this type of strength and stamina, what would be the best workout for me ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many on the internet. It is really confusing. What are the metrics on which I must choose a workout plan from the internet ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to lose weight and develop super human strength. I don't really care about beautiful muscles. I want to be strong enough to fight bears - not that I would. I think they are magnificent creatures.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4201" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T17:27:03.027" Title="How to select a workout plan?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19155" CreationDate="2014-10-07T17:18:55.823" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)&lt;/a&gt;, but you'll note the Delayed word there. The pain usually shows up 24 hours later and is gone around 72 hours. It's actually not fully understood (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12617692&quot;&gt;2003 analysis in Sports Medicine&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Up to six hypothesised theories have been proposed for the mechanism&#xA;  of DOMS, namely: lactic acid, muscle spasm, connective tissue damage,&#xA;  muscle damage, inflammation and the enzyme efflux theories. However,&#xA;  an integration of two or more theories is likely to explain muscle&#xA;  soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certain types of activity, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Eccentric_contraction&quot;&gt;particularly lengthening (eccentric)&lt;/a&gt;, are much more likely to cause DOMS. DOMS is also more likely to be caused by new exercises and new load. On the supplementation side, &lt;a href=&quot;http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/Suppl_1/i43.2.abstract&quot;&gt;L-Glutatmine has been shown to reduce the severity of DOMS&lt;/a&gt; (but not eliminate it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last note is that DOMS is not a good indicator of your workout. As an example, isometric muscle movements are unlikely to cause DOMS, and nearly all heavy back lifts train the lower back muscles isometrically (like the deadlift). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell flies will give almost anyone DOMS, and deadlifts will probably not give you much in your back: that doesn't mean that dumbbell flies are better than deadlifts because they make you more sore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T17:18:55.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19156" CreationDate="2014-10-07T17:27:03.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It gets referenced a lot, but for good reason: check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. The book and the program is, from my prospective, the most effective short and long term path to human strength. Whether you decide to be a Rippetoe fan for the rest of your life is up to you, but the things you learn from it and the path it puts you on really can be life changing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The specific components, summarized, in Starting Strength consists of this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compound barbell lifts. Back squats, overhead press, deadlift, cleans, barbell rows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effective body weight. Dips, pullups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prioritizing strength over body building.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prioritizing effectiveness of exercises, and accurate form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really recommend you follow the Starting Strength path almost exactly. Everyone wants to futz with a program and add things in: don't. Do it for six months at least by the book. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T17:27:03.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19160" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-07T18:17:48.070" Score="0" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;For males and females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this example, I am male, so let's focus on males. First of all, &lt;em&gt;assumptions&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle size is not important to me&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't feel as though I have to build muscle to be attractive, and I'm fine with my own size, so any benefits/assumptions aside, &lt;strong&gt;muscle mass means virtually nada to me&lt;/strong&gt;. Including this in this mix, a certain figure of testosterone in any &lt;em&gt;assumptions&lt;/em&gt; would not hinder goals since building size is not a priority to me, so all figures representing T-levels in this regard are not relevant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be wise not to assume building X specific amount of muscle is a top-priority to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is my priority, you ask? &lt;em&gt;Strength&lt;/em&gt;. Studies correlate testosterone with muscle strength in regards to muscle size, yes, &lt;em&gt;but there's no hard evidence that both must go perfectly hand-in-hand to improve one&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, there's no 100% correlation from muscle strength potential to muscle size and mass. Pre-pubescent children have built phenomenal strength with low-testosterone. People who have undergone gonadectomies have not been doomed to succeed in building strength either, although can be very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, assuming I have low-testosterone, how limited would I be in building purely strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength is not just muscle mass but potential: myofibril execution, nervous system, mind/body control, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current routines/maxes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat: 1 time a week, 3 reps, 50-80 lbs., 100% deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps curl: 50-80 lbs., 1-3 reps, 100% perfect form, once or twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift max: 280 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat max: 120 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift max: 600 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat max: 300 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I have absolutely no sexual dysfunction symptoms associated with low-T (but could still have it). Consider this question, to some degree, hypothetical, because I'm assuming I have low-T based on failure to improve much strength. I'm not seeing any physicians/doctors/etc., so don't bother telling me to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10864" LastEditorUserId="10864" LastEditDate="2014-10-07T18:22:55.783" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T19:15:51.363" Title="How badly would lower-than-average testosterone affect strength-only gains?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;goals&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19160" CreationDate="2014-10-07T19:15:51.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't want to hear it, but it's a reality that anyone who's messed around with steroids and hormones can attest to: the only way you verify test levels is medically. There are saliva testosterone tests you can buy online (amazon, etc) without a physician's reference but honestly you can't &quot;eyeball&quot; your testosterone levels: it needs to come from a test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not seeing any physicians/doctors/etc., so don't bother telling me&#xA;  to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically looking at research though, there is evidence that testosterone is directly linked with strength (amongst other composition changes). From a 2001 study in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11701431&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We conclude that changes in circulating testosterone concentrations,&#xA;  induced by GnRH agonist and testosterone administration, are&#xA;  associated with testosterone dose- and concentration-dependent changes&#xA;  in fat-free mass, muscle size, &lt;strong&gt;strength and power&lt;/strong&gt;, fat mass,&#xA;  hemoglobin, HDL cholesterol, and IGF-I levels, in conformity with a&#xA;  single linear dose-response relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199607043350101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this 1996 study&lt;/a&gt; shows an increase of strength with an increase of testosterone, even with no exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Among the men in the no-exercise groups, those given testosterone had&#xA;  greater increases than those given placebo in muscle size in their&#xA;  arms (mean [±SE] change in triceps area, 424±104 vs. -81±109 mm2;&#xA;  P&amp;lt;0.05) and legs (change in quadriceps area, 607±123 vs. -131±111 mm2;&#xA;  P&amp;lt;0.05) &lt;strong&gt;and greater increases in strength&lt;/strong&gt; in the bench-press (9±4 vs.&#xA;  -1±1 kg, P&amp;lt;0.05) and squatting exercises (16±4 vs. 3±1 kg, P&amp;lt;0.05). The men assigned to testosterone and exercise had greater increases in&#xA;  fat-free mass (6.1±0.6 kg) and muscle size (triceps area, 501±104 mm2;&#xA;  quadriceps area, 1174±91 mm2) than those assigned to either&#xA;  no-exercise group, and &lt;strong&gt;greater increases in muscle strength&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  (bench-press strength, 22±2 kg; squatting-exercise capacity, 38±4 kg)&#xA;  than either no-exercise group. Neither mood nor behavior was altered&#xA;  in any group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at this part of your question, I'm not sure what you mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pre-pubescent children have built phenomenal strength with&#xA;  low-testosterone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goheavy.net/records/viewrecordsetgroup.aspx?recordsetgroupguid=6de22027-43ee-447d-b3ab-d0eb29677fd0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;youth squat records hang out in the ~300lb range (for ~220lb+ people)&lt;/a&gt;, while certainly strong (and that's post puberty), the compounding effect of training and a healthy endocrine system over the years are what have people moving triple that around on their backs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T19:15:51.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13163" CreationDate="2014-10-08T04:40:02.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am no expert, @Michał, so you are warned in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three remarks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could consider a threadmill. This will give you any desired angle, your muscles may get proper training. Running up and down the staircase should be good too, certainly, but it wouldn't position your foot the way a steep road would.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running the staircase should be helpful also to train running down the hill. Running up and down the staircase should help your jumping ability(&lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt;) (&lt;em&gt;skoczność&lt;/em&gt;). Here one should be careful. I got a lot of practice running up and down several times a day about five floors about every day during my childhood and teens. I would run 2-3 steps at the time, very fast, especially down (:-). This my be hazardous when one is not a youngster though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was given an advice, and followed it, to run down the hill like you were about to fall on your face. I could feel that this way one is just rolling down the hill virtually without wasting any energy. The ordinary folks, when they run down the hill they actually resist going down, they apply their internal breaks. It's wasteful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two weeks of sailing, spent on a (relatively large) boat (on &lt;em&gt;Mazuras&lt;/em&gt;) made me stable on feet in a way that I could only dream about before the trip. You learn to walk easily on a about 1.5'' (3-4cm) wide edge of a boat, doing all kind of chores, and you never worry about falling into water, you don't think about it, you get full confidence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy yourself, good luck,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10866" LastEditorUserId="10866" LastEditDate="2014-10-13T22:55:11.553" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T22:55:11.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19191" CreationDate="2014-10-08T05:06:11.257" Score="0" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very skinny boy ( Height 5'11&quot; weight 65kgs ) . I'm daily eating only 2 meals a day due to work . Is there any alternative solution for transforming to athletic or physically fit body??  I can't exercise regularly also !! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10867" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T22:46:39.757" Title="Advice needed for Skinny to Muscular" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-10-18T13:30:01.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19164" CreationDate="2014-10-08T05:56:26.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't eat properly and exercise then no, there is no chance you'll transform to an athletic or physically fit body. I try to be helpful and supportive but aside from diet and nutrition, what other options do you have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not having time really isn't much of an excuse. You could have decent progress with a commitment of this level:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training 3 times a week for ~45 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 minutes a day prepping some decent meals for yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A marginal increase in grocery shopping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But no, if you are going to eat two (probably bad) meals a day and not exercise, you will remain deconditioned. Hopefully you won't suffer health problems, but you might.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T05:56:26.027" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-08T08:17:15.427" Score="2" ViewCount="477" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard many times that warming up lower the risk for injury, but I have no idea &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; that is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the tag &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/warmup&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;warmup&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;warmup&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A warm-up is light exercise usually performed before participating in technical sports or exercising. Warm-ups are intended to to get blood flowing to relevant muscles and to &quot;prime&quot; muscle memory for technical movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering in more detail what it means to warm up. Surely blow is already flowing into all my body parts at any one time, or cells would quickly die from hypoxia. And &quot;priming&quot; muscles doesn't mean anything to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what does warming up actually mean? How does one know if one warms up correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T12:21:39.640" Title="What exactly does it mean to warm up?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13163" CreationDate="2014-10-08T08:56:55.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the answers already received, I would suggest you to do weight training for your legs in the gym. It develops mitochondria in your muscle cells, which play important role in (up)hill running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10869" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-09T21:06:43.760" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T21:06:43.760" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19187" CreationDate="2014-10-08T10:51:35.230" Score="1" ViewCount="1843" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this question (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/41/how-do-you-motivate-yourself-to-keep-exercising&quot;&gt;How do you motivate yourself to keep exercising?&lt;/a&gt;) I read it's good practice to set fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I kept losing motivation and my goal was just to get more muscle, I wanted to set real measurable goals for my fitness gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like some short term goals and 1 long term goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to measure these goals for the first excersize I am doing each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups (currently 4 clean reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench-press (currently max 60 kg, 5 clean reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (currently max 80 kg, 5 clean reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh approx 78 kg and I split my work-out threeway at the moment and my aim is to go too the gym 4 times a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back- biceps&#xA;chest - tricep&#xA;shoulder - legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to switch these around after 6 weeks of excersize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good algorithm to set some goals, so I can stay motivated? (getting married in may, suit will be measured on in april)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7973" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T15:53:23.280" Title="What are realistic strength goals?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19166" CreationDate="2014-10-08T11:05:25.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A warm up is often dependent on the sport. For instance, before I play soccer,i specifically warm up my legs because I know I will be using them the most. I wouldn't warm up my arms. As you stated, warming up is getting the blood flowing, and this is exactly right. Your muscles do not receive as much blood flow when they are not in extreme use, so doing some light exercises such as jogging or lunges would help to &quot;prime&quot; your muscles. This light activity raises the athletes pulse, which pumps more blood to the target area and helps it to sustain physical activity for longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you perform physical activity, your cells require more oxygen to keep going, and this is why you warm up. It prepares your system for the intense activity you are about to perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T11:05:25.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19168" CreationDate="2014-10-08T12:51:29.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is very &lt;strong&gt;subjective&lt;/strong&gt;.  The short answer is, there is no magic formula for setting goals.  However, there are guidelines.  Try to be &lt;strong&gt;realistic&lt;/strong&gt;.  For example, if at the moment, you can't bench press 300 lbs, don't set that as a goal.  Rather, set the goal to be increasing the amount you can currently lift.  Sometimes, goals have nothing to do with the act of working out.  In fact, I believe you've stated a goal in your post: &lt;em&gt;making sure your suit fits in April&lt;/em&gt;.  The most important thing to remember is that goals imply a long term commitment to the process of fitness.  Once you reach a goal, set another.  That's how you keep improving.  Otherwise, what would you do when you reached your goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T12:51:29.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19168" CreationDate="2014-10-08T14:30:12.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt; out there that define the progression from untrained to novice to intermediate to advanced to elite. Just as an example, at your body weight &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;your squat needs to go up to 113 kilos (1RM) to hit intermediate&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to do the conversion to kilos, but these give pretty clear numbers on what you should be able to do. Even better, they keep you honest as far as favoring one type of lift and letting others fall. It can be pretty sobering to know that (strict) overhead pressing your bodyweight is actually realistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nice thing about being on the earlier side of the strength standards is that you'll have more rapid improvement and it's an easier program. You can do full body compound barbell work three days a week for an hour a day, have your diet in check, and increase load weekly if not more often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dump the isolation work you're doing. Your body can handle handle way more load right now and &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=118920551&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;big compound lifts fit the bill&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read up on Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T14:30:12.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19166" CreationDate="2014-10-08T17:38:15.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; If you've watched track competitions, you would have noticed that the athletes jump around, run a few steps forth and back before their actual races. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; You've probably seen swimmers flapping their arms around their bodies, rotating them above their heads, etc before a big competition.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; You've seen soccer players jog near the field, tossing balls around, etc right before they get into the game.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;  You've seen people stretch their bodies, legs, arms, etc before jogging or running.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Those are examples of warming up.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;To prepare the muscles for the intense activities they're about to undergo. Without these preparations, the muscles' performance will be lower, which will reduce the athletes' performances.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;To prevent/reduce injuries. If you lift weights without warming up your muscles, your chance of injuring yourself is much greater. Without warming up, you're more likely to pull a muscle, develop cramps, over-extend your limbs, strain/sprain your joints, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although all muscles constantly receive blood, they're rarely active unless they're used. So, warming up is like sending a message to the muscles: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Get ready to work hard!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T17:38:15.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-08T18:55:00.793" Score="2" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heavy sickness and tiredness and distant/faint feeling lasted one whole hour - feeling a little faint is normal for squats on a heavy weight &lt;em&gt;obviously&lt;/em&gt;, but slightly concerned about length of time this lasted - it felt serious for about 30 mins &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems really strange. At first wondered if it might be heart attack but no pain in chest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10sets x 10 reps x 90kg rest:60s&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it hit me half way through 3rd set of bench-presses straight after which are normally never any trouble&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting to feel ok now, but confused as to what just happened and if this is normal. Has anyone else experienced it? I've not experienced anything so severe before and I've done weights in much lower set-numbers 3x8, 3x10 for a long while and go running 1-2 times a week for an hour. Wasn't expecting this. Not sure if I should be concerned or what, literally felt like curling up and going to sleep and like I was close to being sick a lot. Anyone experienced this? Probably not a heart attack since now I feel way better. Just puzzled as to how this feels&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also can find lots of posts of people saying they felt sick - fine, but none for the length of time involved here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to feel a lot better now since starting to write this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added: 1RM squats is probably ~120kg&#xA;       I just went back and completed workout this morning and was fine - have to assume since I'm stil typing was not heart attack. But weirdest thing. Wonder if could have been lactic acid overload or something weird making me sick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10874" LastEditorUserId="10874" LastEditDate="2014-10-09T12:29:58.993" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T12:29:58.993" Title="Concerned after many squats and suddenly felt sick / super-sleepy / light-headed for 1 whole hour?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19173" CreationDate="2014-10-08T20:25:19.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what the rest of your workout looked like, and how close you were to your 1RM max, and those matter. 90 kilos doesn't mean much, since that might be 80% or 40% of your max, which is much more relevant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, 10 sets of 10 reps is a lot of volume. That's 100 weighted squats, whereby most programs that are volume heavy will come in around maybe 1/3 - 1/2 of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of variables at play but some things I would consider or monitor:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bonk&lt;/a&gt;? It's entirely possible that you consumed all of your blood sugar and the feeling of nausea and wooziness is normal in that area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you remember your heart rate? Record your heart rate when you're fine and working out, then take it again if you feel similar symptoms. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is a diet thing, consider sipping on some &quot;intra-workout&quot; stuff, which can be as simple as gatorade (or similar), maybe cut down with some water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://cancer.unm.edu/cancer/cancer-info/cancer-treatment/side-effects-of-cancer-treatment/less-common-side-effects/blood-test-abnormalities/electrolyte-imbalance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;electrolyte imbalances&lt;/a&gt;. This can be addressed (in the short term) with some of the &quot;intra-workout&quot; products. Personally I've had this, and heat cramps, when working out in hot humid areas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And not as a cop-out answer but being honest: you should run this past your doctor. If you ever have a concern of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At first wondered if it might be heart attack&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, it's worth the doctor's visit to at least establish a baseline. Odds are it's nothing serious, but I had a (very fit) friend with a similar feeling one day and it ended up being a heart rhythm issue. He required an electrical shock to reset his heart and follow up monitoring, definitely not the the kind of thing you want to tough out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T20:25:19.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-08T23:41:03.107" Score="6" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am really new to this and realize this question may not fit here but couldn't find a great fit, so please let me know and I can move it.  (Also, I'm posting on my husband's account, I'm not really a bald guy.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I absolutely love running but recently I have found that I have been tying a lot of my self-worth to my ability to run.  Over the last few years my sister-in-law has picked up running and I feel threatened.  For some reason it feels that if she is also a runner then...what makes me special?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate this feeling.  I know that I should just be happy for her wanting to run more but anytime she brings it up I instantly feel unhappy and angry.  I really feel like we could have a great relationship if it wasn't for these feelings that I have been having.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So...is this a normal feeling?  And are there any good steps that could be taken to help me overcome it?  I've addressed it with her and tried to be open but it still weighs heavily upon me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T14:45:29.927" Title="How do I separate my self-worth from physical achievement?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19164" CreationDate="2014-10-09T02:19:49.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're willing to workout and eat a lot (as you said you could in the comments on Eric's answer), you'll get bigger, barring rare metabolic conditions. Just get a beginner strength program like Starting Strength and eat &gt;2800 calories a day with 40% of that being protein (and protein powder is acceptable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also mentioned &quot;medical treatments&quot; in the comments. There are no medical treatments that will make you look more athletic without exercising. Even illegal steroids require you to lift weights to see any benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T02:19:49.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3714" CreationDate="2014-10-09T05:53:42.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best bodyweight book I've read is Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade, this is the book that got me into calisthenics in the first place. I can also recommend all of Al Kavadlo's books as well as the Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://pccblog.dragondoor.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PCC blog&lt;/a&gt; has some excellent tutorials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out my own website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mpcalisthenics.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Maximum Potential Calisthenics&lt;/a&gt; which features a number of tutorials including a beginners guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T05:53:42.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16408" CreationDate="2014-10-09T06:00:08.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I teach my students using a mixture of wall pistol squats and partner assisted pistol squats. With wall pistols, simply squat down onto a low object such as a wall, once you can do 5x5, go a little lower. Partner assisted you simply hold your partners hand, and then use them to assist pulling yourself up, try to use as little assistance as you require.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, make sure you're keeping good form. Your knee should track along the line of your toes and not fall inwards and your body should remain upright, not leaning to one side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T06:00:08.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13485" CreationDate="2014-10-09T07:55:39.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To strengthen your grip for pull-ups, I'd keep it simple. Hang from a bar for as long as you can or a minute, whichever comes first. Repeat for up to 4 sets. This will improve your pull-ups no end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your wrist, take it easy and if it gets worse go see a specialist. I've trained a number of people who have had wrist pain when they first start calisthenics, make sure you do some wrist circles before you start to warm-up. Usually it clears up after a few weeks once they start to adapt to the exercises, but as I say if not then drop it back and go see a specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more help on getting your first pull-up, check out my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mpcalisthenics.com/2014/09/pull-up-tutorial.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tutorial&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T07:55:39.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19180" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-09T08:11:10.513" Score="0" ViewCount="1370" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does Technoshape Equipment work? Has any one tried it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard it is very expensive and the machine uses pressure pause therapy for stomach sculpting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is an alternative to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://technoshape.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://technoshape.net/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10803" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T20:04:31.067" Title="Does Technoshape Equipment work?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19182" CreationDate="2014-10-09T11:09:41.857" Score="3" ViewCount="1855" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to go my office using a bicycle. My office is 10 km away from my home. Half of the road is almost packed with motor cycles, diesel cars and buses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would like to know if this air pollution will make any negative impacts my lungs and/or overall body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or I can go ahead and start cycling to my office?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5037" LastEditorUserId="10881" LastEditDate="2014-10-09T21:00:28.783" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T12:06:05.410" Title="What will be the impact of cycling 20 km a day in a city on my lungs?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19181" CreationDate="2014-10-09T12:13:49.587" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2920084/?_escaped_fragment_=po=29.5455&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;there is a health risk from increased intake of polluted air, but the health benefits outweigh the risk&lt;/a&gt;. Funnily enough, you are exposed to a higher concentration of pollutants driving, but for a shorter amount of time and at a lower respiratory rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Overall, air pollution exposures experienced by car drivers were modestly higher than those experienced by cyclists, with mean ratios of 1.16 for PM2.5, 1.01 for UFP, and 1.65 for elemental carbon or soot. However, increased physical activity results in higher minute ventilation (volume of air inhaled in one minute) for cyclists than for car drivers, with estimates from two Dutch studies reporting that the minute ventilation of cyclists was 2.3 times (van Wijnen et al. 1995) and 2.1 times (Zuurbier et al. 2009) higher than that of car drivers. Therefore, inhaled doses of PM2.5 and, to a lesser extent, elemental carbon may be higher in cyclists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More worrying is the potential increase in mortality due to accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These data suggest that there are about 5.5 times more traffic deaths per kilometer traveled by bicycle than by car for all ages, and that cycling is riskier than travel by car for all age groups except young adults (15–30 years of age), with about 9 times more deaths among those &amp;lt; 15 years of age, and 17 times more deaths among those &gt; 80 years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, it's overall worthwhile if you're willing to put the effort into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The estimated gain in life expectancy per person from an increase in physical activity ranged from 3 to 14 months (Table 6). The estimated life expectancy lost because of air pollution (0.8–40 days) and traffic accidents (5–9 days) was much smaller. On average, the benefits of cycling were about 9 times larger than the risks of cycling, compared with car driving for the individuals making the shift, calculated as 337,896/(28,135 + 9,639). The estimated number of life years gained still exceeded the losses when the lowest estimate for physical activity was compared with the highest estimate for air pollution and traffic accidents (benefits/risks ratio of 2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a slightly more worrying note, you can find the short-term results of exposure mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11994/is-there-any-scientific-info-about-effects-of-air-pollution-during-exercise&quot;&gt;Is there any scientific info about effects of air pollution during exercise?&lt;/a&gt; where it's been found that, immediately after exercise, results of cognition tests may be lower due to inhaled pollution although the results are more a comparison of joggers in the country versus joggers in the city, and seem to be about short-term effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T12:13:49.587" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-09T13:28:34.173" Score="5" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 42 yr old male. About a month ago I finished a running program that has me now well adapted to running 3 times a week for half an hour (the famous C25K, non-commercial and freely available at www.nhs.uk). I have done no other exercise in the last year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My body seems to be craving more physical exercise and I have started mixing different activities that (hopefully) don't overlap: swimming (above 700 m in each session) and callisthenics (twice a week, a simple pull/push routine called &quot;New Blood&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am afraid of injuring my heart or something. Is it bad to exercise almost everyday at my age? This has been my last week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1: I swam 750 metres&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2: Calisthenics (Push)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3: Again 750 metres&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4: Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 5  30 minutes run&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 6: Calisthenics (Pull)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 7: Swimming 750 m again&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sudden increase in exercise has me sleeping well, with good appetite and very good humor (yep, endorphins release or something). But I don't know if I am risking a heart attack or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I had a cardiologist check about a year ago and everything was fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10878" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T23:02:15.263" Title="Safe weekly amount of crosstraining for over 40 healthy adults" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;age&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19164" CreationDate="2014-10-09T14:18:08.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't eat during work or you don't have time to, I suggest you to prepare your shaker with everything you need for a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check this out :&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy-dRa9nhz4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Youtube&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://muscleandbrawn.com/1000-calorie-homemade-weight-gainer-shake/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle and Brawn&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T14:18:08.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19180" CreationDate="2014-10-09T15:16:17.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only found two reviews not by the company selling the Technoshape equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/well-being/do-these-products-make-trimming-down-easy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The National&lt;/a&gt; — &quot;After one session, my stomach felt slightly more taut, although this may have been because I skipped breakfast that morning. Like the Hypoxi, some scientists are dubious to its claims of success. After all, a dozen sessions of any intensive exercise is bound to knock a bit of weight off.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/12/how-to-get-a-flat-tummy_n_3695172.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Huffington Post&lt;/a&gt; — &quot;I lost 2.3cm from my waist and 2.5cm from my stomach. BUT I gained 2.4cm on my hips .... Although I'm sceptical it will give you a six-pack – you need to build up muscles for that – Technoshape did seem to tone and slim my stomach and if you’re not easily bored it is certainly an option worth trying to shift that stubborn stomach fat.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T15:16:17.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19205" CreationDate="2014-10-09T15:42:50.910" Score="2" ViewCount="369" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently been reading about leptin and leptin resistance and I have a question that has been nagging me.  It seems like one of the first things that researchers tried after the discovery of leptin was leptin injections in rats to see if it would suppress hunger.  Instead, the rats get hungrier and that led people to believe that large amounts of leptin could lead to leptin resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, why do steroids (which increase testosterone) work while leptin injections do not work?  From my understanding, steroid users cycle usage to avoid resistance; why can't the same be done with leptin injections?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I don't use steroids or advocate for them.  I'm simply wondering why increasing a given hormone seems to work in one situation, but not in another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2059" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T03:07:11.087" Title="Why do artificial steroids build muscle while artificial leptin does nothing to prevent hunger?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-10-18T13:32:14.183" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19168" CreationDate="2014-10-09T15:53:23.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding 5% weight (rounding-up to the nearest 5 kilos) every 8 weeks of training to any given lift for any given rep-range is a &lt;strong&gt;reasonable goal&lt;/strong&gt;. 10% would be aggressive, but do-able. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These numbers assume you're past the novice/untrained stage of gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple other bits of unsolicited advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.) Don't forget that weighted pull-ups is a good way to measure things rather than number of reps. Keep track of your body-weight if you do drop some weight. Use a backpack or a weighted vest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.) I would add Deadlifts to your routine. Otherwise you might see hamstring and low-back development lacking. Don't neglect core-strength either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T15:53:23.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19141" CreationDate="2014-10-09T18:45:24.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes - for two reasons (probably).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.) Biking will burn calories and unless you're eating more calories to compensate, you'll be losing fat, thus feeling more tight in your stomach area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.) Your core muscles (aka your abs and others) are involved in practically EVERY movement you do to varying degrees. If you haven't exercised much in the past, you'll probably see some growth in your core-strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T18:45:24.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18944" CreationDate="2014-10-09T19:51:23.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifting and Lunges are good go-tos for glute-development&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look if your gym has a Roman Chair available: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_chair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_chair&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T19:51:23.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18933" CreationDate="2014-10-09T20:04:46.180" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a 'Expiration Date' or a &quot;Best Consumed By&quot; or a &quot;Sell by&quot; date? If it is past it's expiration date I would try to consume it quickly, but it should be generally safe to use for a month or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T20:04:46.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19164" CreationDate="2014-10-09T22:46:39.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same issue - 6 foot 150 and although this isn't &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; skinny, I can't gain a pound for the life of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to attain what you are asking without essentially destroying your health which, in my opinion, is not worth it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Methods I've tried:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Non healthy&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;- weight gainers&#xA;- pre workout supplements &#xA;- lift 3 to 4 x a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Healthy&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;- Eat often and generously of all kinds of healthy foods (3 large meals)&#xA;- lift 3 to 4 x a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I've never had any luck gaining weight. Although, I did get pretty toned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe in our situation and others alike, it is necessary to hit the weight room HARD for minimum of 5 days a week while eating as much as possible (4 generous meals and snacks in between). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, everyone takes slightly different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, you don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; a bigger body. You're good as you are. If someone thinks otherwise , they are no good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10884" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T22:46:39.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19199" CreationDate="2014-10-09T22:47:12.067" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started tennis 1 year ago and now I started fencing. I successfully recovered from Ulnar claw &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16392/fingers-for-intensive-sports-requiring-hands-a-lot-recoving-from-ulnar-claw&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; by strengthening forearms. Now I have poor blood circulation in shoulder cuff (reasons can be too stiffness, too muscular and poor warmups) that results into fatigue, low reaction speed and powerless activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What kind of warmup do you suggest for shoulder cuff after/before training?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T20:09:39.470" Title="Warmups and trainings for Shoulder cuff?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;&lt;fencing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19197" CreationDate="2014-10-10T02:50:57.437" Score="3" ViewCount="16986" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started weightlifting a couple of weeks ago. Right now, I'm deadlifting 65 lbs for 3 sets of 15. When I'm done deadlifting, I usually breathe heavily and have a high heart rate, like I had just sprinted for a couple minutes. Is this normal for weightlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7866" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T22:24:16.180" Title="I get out of breath, like doing cardio, while deadlifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-10T03:14:13.117" Score="0" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from India. My problem is that my left hand is quite bent, so weight is not acting properly on my left hand. My left bicep looks a bit smaller and looser than the right one. When i do chin ups, my left hand goes outwards, which is the reason for no action of weight. Please suggest some tips so that I can straighten up my hand and do workouts without any worry. I need exercises which add effect on my left bicep and make both the biceps even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10887" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2014-10-10T18:09:37.100" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T00:02:38.280" Title="i'm getting out of shape left bicep cause weight is not acting on my left bicep" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-12-10T02:47:10.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19195" CreationDate="2014-10-10T05:17:26.950" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to say nothing's wrong with you. I'm not a doctor. If you have medical concerns, see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that aside, I would say it is normal to be out of breath after a hard set of any compound lift. Heavy squats (for 5 reps) almost always leave me feeling somewhere between out of breath and about to pass out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are things that can make post-set exhaustion worse, like low blood glucose, dehydration, or electrolyte imbalance. So make sure you're eating enough carbs, staying hydrated, and getting enough sodium/potassium/calcium. And like Dave Liepmann said, make sure you're breathing. That sounds obvious, but it's instinctive to hold your breath when you're straining and it's easy not to notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2014-10-11T23:15:29.267" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T23:15:29.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6268" CreationDate="2014-10-10T08:03:58.217" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In reference to the original question;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that you may have a valid point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I had rhinoplasty, I used to sweat mildly. It was never an issue. The rhinoplasty didn't go to plan due to a knock I received while still wearing the splint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lead to a 2nd rhinoplasty which has now made the structure of my nose quite weak and has lead to breathing problems through my nose. I may have a slightly deviated septum on which I'm currently consulting doctors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now a mouth breather and like yourself, I am in shape, exercise regulary and there is about 12% body fat on me, just like before I had the surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only now, as I can't take in large if any amounts of air through the nose, after purposefully trying to breath through my nose, I then turn to automatic mouth breathing. Like you, within minutes I begin to sweat and by the end of for example an hours 5 a side football, my shirt is drenched, front to back. I sweat profusley, others even notice it and can't believe how much I sweat, it even happens in night clubs if I'm dancing. The only difference being that I can now not breathe properly through my nose, so it must be that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm told that when you breathe through your nose, that the turbinates warm up, clean and humidify the air as it passes through the nasal passage into the lungs. If you are breathing directly through your mouth then the air isn't being warmed up or humidified. The body must then counteract the cooler air by increasing the body temparature, that and with the already increased body temperature through exercising must cause the body to overheat, which then leads the body to sweat profusely in order to cool down. It seems to me like a vicious cycle and again tells me the importance of the nose and why you shouldn't mess with it if the breathing is already ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nose is vital to everday comfort, breathing, smell, taste and mucus production that helps to keep the nose, throat and mouth moist as well as fight off infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can honestly say that having had rhinoplasty over a slightly bent nose due to a sporting injury was the worst decision I have made as it now affects my life daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully the ENT specialist will be able to identify and sort the problem which I suspect is due to a deviated septum blocking the left nasal passage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10888" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-10-18T04:35:13.127" LastActivityDate="2014-10-18T04:35:13.127" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19192" CreationDate="2014-10-10T18:31:03.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rotator cuff weaknesses do not translate into fatigue and low reaction speed. You might be confusing terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel your arms react slowly and your shoulders feel fatigued too early, you are talking about the big muscles that raise and move your arms: rear, lateral and front deltoid in your shoulders, lats and other back muscles and so on. Those big muscles pull the humerus so that it changes its angle in space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The head of the humerus is not perfectly spherical, but it is a complex surface with areas of different curvature radii. For the arm movement to take place correctly, simultaneously to the pull exerted by the big muscles there is a fine mechanism in action that puts the humeral head in exactly the right position, so that the pull from the big muscles does not result in a displacement of the bone or an impingement of soft tissues, but rather a smooth turn around a curvature center. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That group of small muscles deep inside your shoulders and back, not noticeables from the outside, are the rotator cuff. You never feel them (fatigued or whatever) unless they are injured. The less undesirable symptom you feel is usually that your shoulders make popping noises, but usually the result of weak or injured cuff is soft tissues impingement that causes pain and tendon injuries in the upper part of the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture is simplified (the cuff muscles are known to assist in part of the range of motion when you move your arms in certain directions) but I think it is enough to give an idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are probably looking for shoulder strengthening exercises. Dumbbell shoulder press with natural grip (palms facing each other) and elbows pointing slightly bent forwards (the so-called scapular plane) are quite safe as long as you start with very light weights and build up slowly. Avoid behind-the-neck presses at all cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are young and your shoulders don't hurt and you haven't noticed strange popping noises when you move them, you probably don't need any additional work for the rotator cuff. But if you insist on looking for rotator cuff exercises around the internet, please be careful. Those internal and external rotations with 90 deg elbows that you will find everywhere are meant to powerfully isolate the small muscles of the cuff in an artificial way, and it is &lt;strong&gt;extremely easy&lt;/strong&gt; that you do a lot of damage to your shoulders if you don't do them properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The right way to do that internal and external rotations (provided that you insist in giving a separate workout to your rotator cuff) is using &lt;strong&gt;very light resistance&lt;/strong&gt; and high rep sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10878" LastEditorUserId="10878" LastEditDate="2014-10-10T20:09:39.470" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T20:09:39.470" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19196" CreationDate="2014-10-10T22:40:47.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a reference handy, but somewhere in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0751515752&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder&lt;/a&gt;, Arnold noticed that though he was doing the same volume on both arms, his left arm was lagging, so he would do unilateral exercises for it, e.g. one day a week do dumbbell curls with just the left arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would doing extra left-arm curls work for you, or is there something about your left hand that would prevent that from being effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4351" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T22:40:47.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19206" CreationDate="2014-10-11T02:26:33.510" Score="9" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6cU2d6kKO0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; is the example I'm talking about in particular. But outside this, I've heard of and seen people having trouble at the top of a deadlift while &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; having such trouble at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To provide some background, I'm 6' 0&quot; (183 cm) and 175 lbs (80 kg) at 18% bodyfat. This is my &quot;fat weight&quot;. I have been working out for 15 months. I'm definitely on the weak side; my recent deadlift max is 315 totally raw. Of all the primitive movement patterns, I focus on the deadlift the most to aid in posture correction as well as building a strong base for future powerlifting or strongman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a few deadlift here and there who have trouble at the top of a deadlift, &lt;em&gt;yet not at the bottom.&lt;/em&gt; At the bottom such a lifter exhibits proper thoracic extension, but it decays before he reaches the top, typically by a flexed (kyphotic) upper thorax, or rolled-forward shoulders. It seems as if he fails to &quot;lock&quot; his shoulders back before it's too late to do so. I don't understand, because I would think &lt;em&gt;upper&lt;/em&gt; thoracic extension would be the most difficult at the bottom of the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, when I deadlift, I always have the highest difficulty until I have lifted the bar some eight inches (20 cm). I have a computer-nerd life background, so I tend toward a thoracic flexion (kyphosis) in my upper thorax that I still struggle with. I concentrate strongly on throacic extension particularly in my upper thorax, and especially at the bottom of the lift. But whatever I lift, I know if I can lift it 6-8 inches, I can grind through the rest of the movement, even if slowly, and complete the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always I have a buddy with years more experience than me spot my form during heavy lifts. For my heaviest lifts they say my thoracic extension (particularly the lordosis I put in my lumbar spine) degrades somewhat as I load my spine but it evens out, the weight moves, and my form remains pretty good for that lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply said, I don't understand how the top of a deadlift can be harder than the bottom. I also don't understand (as the short guy states in the above video) how one can deadlift more with a deficit than without. Can someone explain this to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10894" LastEditorUserId="10894" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T16:14:43.033" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T17:03:22.993" Title="How can the conventional deadlift be harder at the top than the bottom?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18830" CreationDate="2014-10-11T11:13:11.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's doubtful your heart rate was in sync; you can't really state that without monitoring. You can measure your stride: it's usually around 160 (strides per minute), with a lot of conventional running gurus touting 180 as better for a variety of reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your breathing and stride can be matched up and this whole thing is known as &lt;strong&gt;locomotor-respiratory coupling patterns&lt;/strong&gt;, and the strides go by PSF (preferred stride frequency).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21701846&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a study in 2012 that analyzed this a bit&lt;/a&gt;, and one of the interesting findings is that you're not that efficient at any particular coupling pattern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Variability in coupling was the greatest during PSF, indicating an&#xA;  exploration of coupling strategies to search for the coupling&#xA;  frequency strategy with the least oxygen consumption. Contrary to the&#xA;  belief that increased strength of frequency coupling would decrease&#xA;  oxygen consumption; these results conclude that it is the increased&#xA;  variability of frequency coupling that results in lower oxygen&#xA;  consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, that study was with walkers, but I think it still holds weight. The net of it for me is that there's more than one coupling, and moving between them is where the best results are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, the better your base of fitness the easier it will be for you to change up your stride, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17414804&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;increase your VO2 max&lt;/a&gt;, and overall have an easier time of shifting your couplings around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T11:13:11.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19195" CreationDate="2014-10-11T23:12:41.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're supposed to breath a bit heavy after deadlifting. 65 pounds is a bit light for this to happen, but it's fine. (Maybe you're holding your breath?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting is hard work. If you're not breathing hard with a pounding heart and maybe some sweat after a long deadlift set, something is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T23:12:41.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19186" CreationDate="2014-10-11T23:51:28.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hormones get over simplified sometimes. The broscience would go something like this: &quot;If you want to get bigger, inject testosterone. If you want to get skinnier, inject leptin.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reality is that your endocrine system is way more complicated than that, and leptin is a good example. This is an excerpt from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Atkinson%20RL%5Bauth%5D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr Richard Atkinson (endocrinologist)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Leptin] is made by fat tissue, and as you get fatter, you make more&#xA;  of it. That was quite a shock because everybody thought that obese&#xA;  people were going to be deficient in leptin. With the more recent&#xA;  understanding of leptin resistance, it makes no sense to give people&#xA;  leptin if they have an impaired response. The resistance is still&#xA;  there. No amount of leptin is going to overcome that resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Giving leptin only helps in a few extremely rare cases in the world in&#xA;  which people make no leptin at all, which causes them to overeat and&#xA;  become obese. When those people received leptin by injection, they&#xA;  stopped overeating and lost weight. But for the vast majority of&#xA;  people, the treatment won't work, nor is leptin approved as a medical&#xA;  treatment for weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the problem isn't a lack of leptin but rather an insensitivity to it (which is caused by obesity). &lt;strong&gt;So rather than looking to leptin to reverse obesity, obesity needs to be reversed so that leptin can function normally.&lt;/strong&gt; From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17339026&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 2007 study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lastly, we show that by decreasing the fat content of the mouse's&#xA;  diet, leptin responsiveness of NPY/AgRP and POMC neurons recovered&#xA;  simultaneously, with mice regaining normal leptin sensitivity and&#xA;  glycemic control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leptin does work, but you only need enough. And for folks who need it to lose weight, they have to lose weight for the leptin to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-12T03:07:11.087" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T03:07:11.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19201" CreationDate="2014-10-12T03:05:04.790" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was coached for the deadlift, I was advised that the first inch is the most important, followed by the distance up to the knee line. Past that you're generally in the clear. That's anecdotal, but it's been true for me and most people I've talked to. Answering your question showed me that at (or around) that point, the quads become less dominant and the load is transferred to the hamstrings and glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx's page on the deadlift&lt;/a&gt;, they list a pile of muscles that are involved, and rightly so. But the recruitment and involvement changes as the bar moves north. This is a borrowed graph &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sweatpit.com/studybase/dados_Artigos_Educacao%20Fisica_Treinamento%20Desportivo_Electromyographic%20Activity%20of%20the%20Hamstrings.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;from a 1999 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research&lt;/a&gt; showing the electromyograph results of a stiff-leg deadlift. The top box is the recruitment of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biceps_femoris_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bicep femoris&lt;/a&gt;, the bottom is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitendinosus_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;semitendinosus&lt;/a&gt; (a.k.a. hamstrings). Each vertical line grid is half a second, so that's roughly a five second deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6RxFU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then here's this from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.asep.org/asep/asep/JEPonlineJUNE2013_Miranda.doc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;June 2013 Journal of Exercise Physiology&lt;/a&gt; (VL being &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vastus_lateralis_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vastus lateralis&lt;/a&gt;, a.k.a. quads):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The VL muscle had a peak of activity during the first 20° of the&#xA;  ascent phase due to its role in knee extension and indirectly hip&#xA;  extension (in that the movement is a closed kinetic chain exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is graph is from the same study, but when reading it realize that the midpoint is the upright and completed deadlift, the far right end tracks the descent and placement of the weight back on the floor. It clearly shows that the VL (quads) are engaging heavily when the hip angle is widest (the first several inches), and tapers off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Ev4b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, I think you need to realize that the muscle engagement is very different and shifts dramatically as the bar moves. Your glutes and hamstrings are working throughout the lift, but in the beginning it's your quads and lumbar as the primary movers. Knowing that it's an exercise that changes its primary movers (in a big way) throughout the lift, it makes complete sense that certain aspects of the lift are going to be more challenging than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a safety prospective I still would advise anyone to focus on the first inch, if for no other reason than to lock in form and alignment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T03:05:04.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-12T18:49:08.603" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I train fingers, I tend to do low rep and too high weights -- this is probably the wrong way to do it! Then next day I can feel some little pain or easily get blisters when skin so sore. I have a lot of climbing buddies whose fingers are like steel (not soft). How to get that kind of fingers? What is the number of reps and the weights and duration of exercises meant to increase the muscles of fingers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16392/fingers-for-intensive-sports-requiring-hands-a-lot-recoving-from-ulnar-claw&quot;&gt;Fingers for intensive sports requiring hands a lot? Recoving from ulnar claw?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19192/warmups-and-trainings-for-shoulder-cuff&quot;&gt;Warmups and trainings for Shoulder cuff?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19233/how-to-make-scar-tissue-due-to-blisters-heal-faster-in-hands-after-tennis-fencin&quot;&gt;Recovering from scar tissues due to blisters in hands?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:00:32.060" Title="How to train the muscles of fingers?" Tags="&lt;fingers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19215" CreationDate="2014-10-12T20:19:51.467" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to ask how do you count the calories for example of something with undefined calories like a soup or some new sort of home made sandwiches. Also I would like to know how can I calculate my calories limit ( 91kg, 176cm ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11898" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T21:51:45.680" Title="Counting calories and following the limit" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-12-26T16:06:41.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19214" CreationDate="2014-10-12T21:16:52.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When calories are not available from a label, you have to do the next best thing.  Break down what's in the food and consult a nutrition guide.  For example, for soup, if you knew the amount of chicken, veggies, etc. you can come up with a &lt;strong&gt;rough estimate&lt;/strong&gt; of the caloric count.  In order to estimate, you'll need to become proficient on serving sizes.  Most nutrition guides will define calorie counts in terms of common serving sizes.  As for calorie limits, that would depend upon what your goals are.  For example, losing, gaining, or, maintaining weight.  Again, the &quot;limit&quot; would be an estimation and not a hard number.  It would need to be adjusted based on your activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T21:16:52.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-13T04:51:40.607" Score="0" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand why my FitBit will record &quot;Active Minutes&quot; when I workout and then when I log my &quot;exercise&quot; to get the calories closer, it subtracts out the time from &quot;Active Minutes.&quot;  It's very strange to have 3 hours of being active with a sport ( like curling where I'm moving back and forth up and down the ice and sweeping a lot) and my total active minutes will read 12 minutes. Why is this? Please explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11902" LastActivityDate="2018-01-12T12:21:58.850" Title="FitBit Flex Active Minutes" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-01-12T20:56:11.820" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19212" CreationDate="2014-10-13T11:24:26.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;you can train muscles of finger by these five tips &#xA;1)  Bouldering&#xA;2) Fingerboard Repeaters &#xA;3) Hypergravity Bouldering&#xA;4) Feet-on Lunging Exercises&#xA;5)  Campus Training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11904" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T11:24:26.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19181" CreationDate="2014-10-13T12:06:05.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Air pollution can affect your lungs by causing coughing, sneezing, watering eyes, shortness of breath and actual asthma attacks. In an asthma attack, your lungs become swollen and your airways shrink, which lessens the amount of oxygen getting to your lungs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11904" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T12:06:05.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19166" CreationDate="2014-10-13T12:21:39.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warming up has many benefits. The main benefit to warming up is injury prevention because the blood will be pumping to an area, lowering the chance of a muscle pull or joint injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11904" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T12:21:39.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-12T10:38:10.137" Score="1" ViewCount="6733" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I run for 8-10 minutes my heart rate goes to 195-200 bpm, I have used several calculators online to determine my maximum heart rate but they all seem to say to my maximum heart rate should be about ~190 bpm. But I keep hitting this high heart rate very quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should this 195-200 bpm I keep seeing lower the more I run/workout? or should I avoid reaching this high a heart rate because it can be dangerous? Is the max something my body shouldnt be able to go over? And what is an ideal heart rate to train my heart / condition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read a lot of conflicting things online and hope someone here can answer these questions or point me in the right direction to help my understanding and workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully the question is clear enough and well placed on this website. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some info about me, I am 24 years old, 1.9m tall, weigh 75kg and have been a non-smoker for over a year now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="1337" LastActivityDate="2017-09-14T04:00:14.787" Title="What should my heart rate be while running / working out?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19223" CreationDate="2014-10-13T16:58:07.293" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A better definition for maximum heart rate is &lt;em&gt;the maximum heart rate your body can withstanding without causing damage&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC99308/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2002 study&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll frequently see the reference to &quot;220bpm - your age = your max heart rate&quot;. So for you that's 196, but of course that implies that every single 24 year old in the world has the exact same physiology which is untrue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To really determine your maximum heart rate, you need to have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_stress_test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cardiac stress test&lt;/a&gt; performed. A qualified professional will monitor your heart while you huff and puff on a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I personally knew someone that 8-10 minutes of running put them well above the rule-of-thumb marker for their max heart rate, I would very much recommend they have a cardiac stress test performed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T16:58:07.293" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-13T17:53:52.657" Score="3" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to start running because someone told me that I can minimize my belly by running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not very trained so I am asking how far I should start running in the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11907" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-13T17:58:25.900" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T18:05:04.030" Title="How far to run at the beginning?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19225" CreationDate="2014-10-13T18:05:04.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually advise people to &lt;strong&gt;start by aiming for time, not distance&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoot for 30 minutes, every other day. Run as much as you can, walk the rest, and try to run again. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't push it too hard in the beginning: you'll likely be very sore which can make you miss workouts. You're filling up a bathtub one spoonful at a time, you can't rush the process.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After a few weeks if you think you can run two days in a row, give it a shot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you can comfortably run for 20-30 minutes without stopping, you should evaluate what your running goals are and possibly pursue a more structured program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;strong&gt;if you're looking for fat loss&lt;/strong&gt;, consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;reading this question and answer which discusses strength training vs aerobic training&lt;/a&gt; in that regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T18:05:04.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2014-10-13T18:18:00.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you seen cyclists?  They generally have legs that are much larger than their upper bodies, especially those that do time trials.  So, I don't recommend cycling if your goal is to prevent thicker legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's going on here is almost entirely genetic and won't be significantly affected by controlling diet.  My advice is to focus on upper body compound exercises, such as chest presses, rows, and core workouts.  This at least will help balance your proportions, and it may possibly help divert your body's tendency to build muscle in the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With diet and cardio, you can burn fat and get more lean, but it is my opinion that this isn't going to do a whole lot for your leg size, and it definitely will not correct the proportional appearance, &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; your exercise focuses on upper body development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T18:18:00.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-13T18:22:11.820" Score="5" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am asking myself, how does an optimized sleep schedule for a good fitness life look like. What is so &quot;optimized&quot; and how important the sleep schedule is? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11898" LastEditorUserId="11898" LastEditDate="2014-10-15T19:32:11.740" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T19:19:49.757" Title="Optimized sleep schedule and how important is it ?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-13T19:01:41.793" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have taken a running lesson with a pro and his comment was that I should be running inclined more forward. The way it is now (as I've found after the fact) is that I run pretty much perpendicular to the surface. Not that it bothers me, I have successfully finished two half-marathons, but still wonder if I should give my posture extra time in training or if this is something individual to every runner and some people just naturally run like I do. It definitely looks a bit strange on video, but doesn't seem to be a problem in practice. If possible, add some tips to help me self-correct my posture (preferably without someone taking video of my running, so that I can do a quick check everytime I run.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6744" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T20:37:20.643" Title="Is not running inclined forward necessarily bad form?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24060" CreationDate="2014-10-13T20:20:37.617" Score="4" ViewCount="620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to ask what is the appropriate length for a heavy bag. I understand that the heavy bag weight should be approximately half the trainee's weight, but I have not found any sources about the length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that the height should be chosen in relevance of ones training and measurements (eg. kicks or no kicks and height) but I have found no source that refers specifically to heavy bag height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone please provide a simple beginners guide for choosing the height of a heavy bag?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11910" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T15:05:38.563" Title="Heavy Bag appropriate length" Tags="&lt;boxing&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19229" CreationDate="2014-10-13T20:37:20.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try &lt;a href=&quot;http://socowellness.com/soleus-muscle-stretch/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stretching your soleus out a bit&lt;/a&gt;. The correct angle I've been taught is roughly 5-10% forward lean. It affects a lot, from heal strike to minimizing vertical bob. I'm not sure if you're bobbing around a lot but any energy sending you up and down is basically wasted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The catch is you don't want to lean forward at the waist or back, you want to lean forward at the ankles. This can frequently be a problem for folks with weaker glutes and hamstrings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if you do any types of strength training, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19124245&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;check out this study's findings&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, a significant positive correlation was found between hip&#xA;  extension and anterior pelvic tilt during both walking and running,&#xA;  indicating that anterior pelvic tilt was greater in subjects that&#xA;  displayed reduced utilized peak hip extension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best things I know for dealing with anterior &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvic_tilt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pelvic tilt&lt;/a&gt; is strength training (or never sitting in chairs ever again). You want your glutes, abs, and hamstrings tight. Check out something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4359/starting-strength-a-practical-program&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. I don't know if your running coach advised any training for helping your posture; there's far too wide of a chasm between running and the weight room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T20:37:20.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19398" CreationDate="2014-10-14T01:29:38.400" Score="1" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7LHaa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got blister just to the point that holds a foil i.e. index finger. It irritates me in tennis, fencing and climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are best methods to recover from scar tissue due to blister?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T22:41:38.720" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T22:44:16.307" Title="How to make scar tissue due to blisters heal faster in hands after tennis/fencing/climbing?" Tags="&lt;tennis&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;fencing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9566" CreationDate="2014-10-14T02:41:59.137" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Completely agree with the above. Clean presses however do positively impact your deadlift strength and performance, so it is always good to include both in your routine. Here is some possible benefits of the clean exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://deadliftworkouts.com/benefits-clean-press/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://deadliftworkouts.com/benefits-clean-press/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11911" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T02:41:59.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5002" CreationDate="2014-10-14T02:52:50.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use everything above as mentioned. Deadlift is not easy to learn and should be done with light weight first. Otherwise, one wrong move can mean a major injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://deadliftworkouts.com/deadlift-perform-it/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://deadliftworkouts.com/deadlift-perform-it/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11911" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T02:52:50.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5000" CreationDate="2014-10-14T03:00:53.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A belt should only be worn if you having issues keeping your back flat. Using a belt all the time can wreck your core strength pretty badly. Most lifters use the belt on their heavy lifts to ensure compression. To some, they are like a safety blanket just like wrist wraps and knee wraps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://deadliftworkouts.com/choosing-the-best-deadlift-belt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://deadliftworkouts.com/choosing-the-best-deadlift-belt/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11911" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T03:00:53.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19223" CreationDate="2014-10-14T03:40:45.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like many simplistic calculations, the typical estimate for maximum heart rate is just that, an estimate. It will work well for some people and not for other people. If you have a heart that is smaller than average, you will likely have a higher maximum heart rate. This is why many exercise programs use a perceived exertion scale rather than a heart rate measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question of whether you should work out at your maximum heart rate is a question for you to bring up with your physician and is not directly tied to what that maximum rate might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the optimal heart rate to exercise, it depends totally on what your goals are and how much you have been training. If you are just getting into exercise, then exercising at a level where you are just starting to get out of breath is a good place to start. On the other hand, if you are an experienced athlete, doing maximal effort intervals may be part of your regular training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T03:40:45.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19239" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-14T03:59:27.580" Score="2" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts on creatine supplementation (quick release capsules 4,000 mg) for weightlifting? I caveat this request with the fact that I am trying to limit my intake of animal products to a minimum and rely on plant-based protein sources. There is a fair amount of research in the public domain about creatine deficiencies in vegetarians although some say the human body can produce all it needs. Is oversupplementation a potential danger? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11913" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T04:03:15.110" Title="Creatine supplementation for a Vegan athlete" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15657" CreationDate="2014-10-14T08:05:40.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mpcalisthenics.com/p/beginners.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beginners guide to calisthenics&lt;/a&gt; on my site a couple of months ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit to add the workout)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The basic format is 5 sets x 5 reps of the following exercises:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Incline Push-ups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Inverted Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bodyweight Squats&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Lying Leg Raises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Short Bridges&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if you can do chin-ups you're possibly a bit ahead of this. I do recommend you train for bridges though, they'll work your legs in a way that shouldn't put too much pressure on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for rest periods, that depends on your goals and training plan. If you're training for strength over muscle, then keep your reps low and your sets high. This will allow you to train more often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're training for muscle mass then make sure you have good rest periods to let your muscles recover. You should also train higher reps, 10-15 is a good amount, with only 2-3 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, unless you're looking to build stamina, I wouldn't go over 20 reps. Once you can do this amount then perform a harder exercise instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastEditorUserId="10876" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T07:36:13.107" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T07:36:13.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19247" CreationDate="2014-10-14T13:52:44.560" Score="-2" ViewCount="3774" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the reasons that support the point that porridge is easy to digest ? Why a sick person is advised to eat porridge instead of rice ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11918" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T23:42:29.563" Title="Why is porridge easy to digest?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-10-18T13:35:23.760" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19243" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-14T17:06:38.970" Score="4" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard various powerlifters on youtube to use the leg drive(1) and keep your shoulder blades tucked in or together throughout the rep(2) (just as we do on the low bar squats) while doing the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am on stronglift 5*5, 22/M/58Kg/179CM, and as the weight is increasing gradually I want to learn how to use the legs as stabilizers on the bench press, even though I have them in correct position I am not able to generate any force with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, a common recommendation is to keep your hips glued to the bench, back arched and shoulder blades as tucked as possible to prevent unnecessary shoulder use, I have been trying this but it seems I loose this tension mid way. But today I noticed this all the more because I felt some abnormal sensation in my right shoulder (maybe the rotator cuff).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me achieve 1 and 2 effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-15T18:16:17.590" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T18:19:22.507" Title="How to create the leg drive and keep shoulder blades together while bench pressing?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;stability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19223" CreationDate="2014-10-14T17:38:25.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are widely varying stances on optimal exercise heart rate, but there is some common ground that most people agree on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you perform any kind of activity at maximal (or close to it) heart rates, your exercise duration will necessarily be brief, as your body simply can't store and use enough glycogen to support this kind of effort for long durations. While you can increase your ability to store and use glycogen, there is a hard upper limit on how long you can go at these types of intensities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you work out at too low an intensity, you don't really do a lot with regard to increasing fitness or burning calories unless you work out for a long duration, which if you're just beginning may not even be within your capabilities for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence, the suggestion of intervals is a good one. This allows you to burn and recover (somewhat) in turns and increase your workout duration beyond what you could do if you're close to your maximal heart rate all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, there is the notion of base building, where you just slow down until you're exercising in a mid-range heart rate and go longer. Many athletes perform this type of exercise in the &quot;off season&quot;. The idea being that you're performing at a level where your body can still acquire some of its energy by converting and burning fat, but high enough that you're training your body to work a bit harder. The goal of this type of exercise, then, is to increase the duration for which you can perform at a given heart rate (say 60-75 percent of max) and also increase the speed at which you can perform at that same heart rate. Then, once you've built up a larger aerobic base capability, you can add intervals, hills, speed work, etc. to add power and speed to your ability to &quot;go long&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good estimate for the sort of base building heart rate you may want (give or take a bit) is 180 - your age. Staying within 5 or 10 bpm of this will provide a bit of flexibility, especially when starting out as it's hard to measure effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to note is that this requires a lot of patience. If you're just starting out and running for 8-10 minutes ramps you immediately into 190-200 bpm, you may find that to keep your heart rate in base building range you have to go at not much more than a slow shuffle, or walk 100 yards and run 50, or some such. This can be pretty frustrating, but in my experience has been well worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T17:38:25.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19239" CreationDate="2014-10-14T19:30:56.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;3-5 grams of creatine per day (1 of your pills) is generally considered a safe amount. There has been evidence of liver/kidney damage as a result of taking too much Creatine, but seems to only be the case with people who already have kidney/liver problems. Studies have shown that as much as 20 grams of creatine per day is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real downside is water retention (i.e., bloating). Taking a lot of creatine will cause an average person to gain around 5 lbs in water-weight (which will only go away when you stop taking creatine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans typically get half of their Creatine from meat, specifically red meat, so it's definitely more important for vegetarians. You may choose to do an initial &quot;loading phase&quot; where you take 2-3 of those pills per day for 1-2 weeks to build up your initial stores. Then you can maintain your Creatine stores on 1 of those pills per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flipside, you may want to consider doing your maintenance on only half a pill per day. 2 grams is shown to still be effective, while minimizing water retention. A lot of bodybuilders choose to &quot;cycle&quot; their Creatine. They may only use it for a month, and then not use it again for 2 months. They use it professionally as a supplement for beating personal plateaus. But whether you want to cycle it or use it daily is up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T19:30:56.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19243" CreationDate="2014-10-14T22:17:31.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a little hard to write this out, but when benching &quot;power lifter style&quot;, I usually approach like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to drive your shoulder blades into the bench. You want lots of positive and balanced contact between your upper back and the pad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will be on the toes / balls of your feet, which helps to arch your back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your feet will be nearly under your butt, certainly your upper hamstrings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your head hovering over the mat, don't let your head rest on the mat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty good image:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dNaE3.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big part about doing this power lifter style is to reduce the distance the bar has to travel. By pushing your chest up you shrink the distance from bar to chest, which when you're at 1RM makes a difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For training I wouldn't arch quite so hard until you're getting near your 2RM of somewhere in that neighborhood. Be tight, but don't &quot;cheat&quot; with power lifter style if you're really training and supposed to lift full ROM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your legs are stabilizing your body, keeping you from moving about on the pad as the bar goes up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not comfortable, natural, or even a great way to train the bench, but all in it's the most effective way to push the most weight in a contest. In powerlifting the bar needs to stop on the chest and the judge will tell you when to push. If your chest is 2&quot; higher, that's 2&quot; less of a lift you have to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-15T18:19:22.507" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T18:19:22.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19241" CreationDate="2014-10-14T23:42:29.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason porridge is thought of as an easy to digest food, is that it has no large pieces for the body's digestive system to have to process. Just like eating mashed potatoes vs. home fries, or yogurt vs. cottage cheese. You don't even need to CHEW porridge. It just slides on down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as providing much nutrition, though, that's the catch. Depending on what you make the porridge from, you may be just getting some carbs and empty calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be much better to give a sick person a really nutrition-packed shake, smoothie, or blended soup. Or, at least stir a scoop or two of powdered greens and protein into the porridge to boost it's nutritional profile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11921" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T23:42:29.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18243" CreationDate="2014-10-14T23:48:22.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although we'd like to think the sexes are equal, when it comes to physiology, we are in fact quite different from one another. So the same nutrient or supplement may not have the exact same response in the body, primarily due to our hormonal differences (testosterone, estrogen, etc.). I highly recommend reading the mars/venus diet solution written by Dr. John Gray for a really user-friendly look at how different the sexes are both mentally and physically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11921" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T23:48:22.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14936" CreationDate="2014-10-15T00:06:35.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The clue in your question is &quot;old bodybuilder&quot; = old ideas about nutrition based on old science. However, modern nutrition does support some reasons you may not want to eat sugars (and milk also has lots of natural sugar) after 5pm, as high-sugar foods affect your insulin levels and high-insulin levels are shown to affect the body's hormones (the thyroid being the producer of the thyroid hormone). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an athlete, you definitely want to make sure you are eating healthy, BALANCED meals and snacks that include the right kind of protein, carbs and fats in the proper proportion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do that, you won't have to worry about old-(bodybuilder)-tales when it comes to nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11921" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T00:06:35.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19239" CreationDate="2014-10-15T04:03:15.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I am just going to straight up copy the pertinant information from examine.com's site on Creatine&lt;/a&gt; which has links to hundres of studies and breaks down exactly the benefits of creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the answer is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Creatine is safe, but just buy the cheapest form you can find.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts on creatine supplementation (quick release capsules 4,000 mg) for weightlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;I honestly see no reason why somebody shouldn't supplement creatine, nor do I see any logical basis for the seeming 'fear' of this compound in society.&#xA;    It's safe, it's healthy, it's cheap, and for most people, it just works. Get some Creatine Monohydrate, take 5g a day, and you're good to go.&#xA;    If humans didn't make any in the body, this thing would be a vitamin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;-Kurtis Frank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is oversupplementation a potential danger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Creatine is one of the most thoroughly researched compounds, and no adverse side effects have been noted through supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/is-creatine-safe.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Is creatine safe?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Side effects of creatine include stomach cramping, which can occur if creatine is supplemented with insufficient water, and diarrhea, if too much creatine is supplemented at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are quick release capsules better than anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best form of creatine is basic Creatine Monohydrate, which is the cheapest, yet on par with many other forms. No other form has enough evidence to claim it is better than Monohydrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/what-is-the-best-form-of-creatine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What is the best form of creatine?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T04:03:15.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-15T16:52:18.427" Score="6" ViewCount="1194" Body="&lt;p&gt;It started happening a while ago and has been getting worse. I usually workout from 6-7 in the evening (unfortunately can't workout any time before that due to my schedule) and go to bed around 10:30 (3-3:30 hour rest period). My body is very tired but I can't fall asleep. It's a weird feeling, I start to become unconscious but immediately after that I wake up and my body is on full alert (my pulse rate goes up too). This happens several times and could last from minutes to a few hours. &lt;strong&gt;But once I do fall asleep, it stays uninterrupted and I don't wake up until the morning after.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought the reason could be my high pulse rate, so I went to the cardiologist and they ran several tests including an electrocardiogram as well as ecocardiogram. They were both normal and the doctor said it's probably not the heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for a while now (mostly weight lifting, rarely any cardio), but it recently started happening as I tried to increase the intensity of my workout. I should probably mention that if I don't workout for a few days, my sleep routine goes back to normal and I don't have any troubles at all falling asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw many different articles regarding exercise-induced insomnia but not really sure what else to do at this point. Could it be that maybe my body is low on some particular nutrients? Has anybody else experienced this? It's starting to become an issue for me since it's impacting my school and work life. Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11926" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-15T18:50:34.913" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T23:37:53.073" Title="Trouble falling asleep after a workout at night" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19253" CreationDate="2014-10-15T17:10:02.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only speak from experience as someone else that usually works out a few hours before going to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often have the same problem, particularly after cardio due to the elevated heartrate, but sometimes after weightlifting too. The best thing you can do for yourself is to establish a night-routine that will help relax your body between a workout and sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I just read for an hour before I go to bed (preferably fiction, not a technical book). This should bring down all of your vitals and allow you to fall asleep more easily. A cup of decaf tea/coffee also helps. Try to avoid carbs right before bed if you have a post-workout snack/meal. I fall asleep easier if I just eat something with protein like nuts or edamame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles will likely be tense after a workout, which can also prevent sleep. To help this, I'd recommend self-massage, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYS_Yme2_M0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;otherwise known as myofascial release&lt;/a&gt;. This works EXTREMELY well for me, and it's quite relaxing (a bit painful). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your gym likely has some of these foam rollers in stock. If not, you can purchase one cheap on Amazon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T17:10:02.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19253" CreationDate="2014-10-15T18:14:10.423" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had this before and although I'm a little cautious to throw the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overtraining flag&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7894955&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;research suggests there is correlation if not causation&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These individuals became acutely overtrained as indicated by&#xA;  significant reductions in running performance from day 1 to day 11.&#xA;  The overtrained state was accompanied by severe fatigue, immune system&#xA;  deficits, mood disturbance, physical complaints, &lt;strong&gt;sleep difficulties&lt;/strong&gt;,&#xA;  and reduced appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what kind of routine you're on, and overtraining is hard to nail down as it presents itself at different levels. The threshold of overtaining gets closer and closer to your target volume as you progress in fitness. At the novice level overtraining doesn't really matter, the effects don't last that long, and you'll recover quickly. At the advanced level it can sideline you for weeks. The line between overtraining and your target goals gets very thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've been working out for a while and you're not already on &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a solid progression program&lt;/a&gt;, you may want to consider moving to one. It maximizes your strength training gains and minimizes your chances of falling into overtraining. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It could be a lot of things, but if the only thing you've modified is intensity and you never had problems working out in the evenings previously, overtraining is at least worth considering.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the short term you could try using a small (start around 0.5mg) amount of melatonin an hour or so before you want to go to sleep, but that's duck tape on the leak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't stumbled across Mark Rippeteo's &lt;em&gt;Practical Programming&lt;/em&gt; book I'd recommend it; it offers some excellent insight into this physiology. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-15T20:07:01.880" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T20:07:01.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-15T19:36:07.337" Score="0" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does a cup of tea with 2-3 cubes of sugar affect the body? What if I drink 5 cups of tea with sugar? What are the disadvantages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11898" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T13:54:12.430" Title="Tea ( w/ &amp; w/o sugar ) and Calories" Tags="&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-10-18T13:34:01.203" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18459" CreationDate="2014-10-16T00:02:56.153" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do Goblet Squats (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WrvQ2LEyGw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WrvQ2LEyGw&lt;/a&gt;) until your scapula is resistant enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7176" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T00:02:56.153" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19256" CreationDate="2014-10-16T06:08:07.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To help put it in perspective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your average 8oz cup of tea contains 26mg of caffeine; about the same as a 12oz can of soda, which contains 29mg of caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 sugar cubes is about 7g of sugar (27 cals), while a can of soda has about 33g of sugar (138 cals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, 5 cups of tea with 3 cubes of sugar each would be about the equivalent of a single can of soda's worth of sugar and 5 cans of sodas' worth of caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's generally recommended that you eat no more than 25g of added-sugar per day (or 5% of your daily caloric intake, whichever comes first), but it's best to limit it as much as possible. High blood sugar will cause insulin spikes which can cause your body to store extra fat and prevent muscle gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best time to consume sugar is after a workout, since it helps restore glycogen levels. It also helps optimize the absorption of creatine if you take supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A single cup of tea with 2-3 sugar cubes after a workout should be relatively harmless and may even help your recovery, but if you're going to be drinking a lot of tea throughout the day, I would recommend using less sweetener or calorie-free sweeteners such as stevia (i.e., Truvia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the contrary, if you're trying to lose weight, a cup of tea (preferably green tea with no added sugar) right BEFORE your workout is shown to raise your metabolism and aide in fat-burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastEditorUserId="8325" LastEditDate="2014-10-16T13:54:12.430" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T13:54:12.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-16T11:01:43.930" Score="3" ViewCount="1401" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pulled a muscle directly under my shoulder blade (dorsal muscles?) a couple of months ago while carrying something heavy - not as I picked it up but as I was walking with it, I felt the muscle &quot;go&quot;.&#xA;It recovered well but since then about once a week that muscle will spontaneously start to hurt, as if it has been pulled again. Often, I'm not doing &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; at the time, I can just be sitting there and suddenly it &quot;goes&quot; again. When it is not sore, I can exercise just fine (pull-ups, press ups, etc, not heavy weights) and this doesn't seem to trigger it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, the pain will suddenly stop just as suddenly, rather than gradually fade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume I've hurt the muscle in the original pull but should I do anything about it? Or is it just taking a long time to heal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11931" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T02:36:01.760" Title="I keep pulling/getting pain in the same muscle even when I don't exercise it" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-17T10:54:43.113" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I exercise 5 times a week by lifting weights as well as 30 mins of cardio and some stretching every day. I still find myself running out of breath when walking uphill during my daily commute, for example, even though I'm in fairly good shape. My resting bpm is 57, for example, which is fairly low for a 205 lb 6 ft 1, 20 year old male. I'm a pretty big guy. Any suggestions for what the reason might be for running out of breath?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11935" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T04:39:57.127" Title="Work out 5 times a week, out of breath" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-17T20:33:29.760" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fluctuate in my weight very regularly. I can gain 5 lbs in 1-2 days, no problem. But if I don't workout and or eat the same amount as I did the day before, the 5 lbs magically disappears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's frustrating trying to gain mass when I have no ability to hold my weight for more than a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any tips/tricks to possibly slow down a metabolism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11930" LastActivityDate="2014-10-18T04:14:20.470" Title="High metabolism problems" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2014-10-18T02:29:45.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also recommend an expert to look at it. I would probably start with a PT instead of a doctor, but either should work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back muscles are weird. You can have cases where a muscle is persistently tight but not painful, and then some occurrence will trigger it to get painful. The fix will likely be some combination of massage, pressure-point therapy, ultrasound, stretching, and exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-10-18T02:29:45.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19266" CreationDate="2014-10-18T04:14:20.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The weight you're gaining and losing is water weight. Water binds to glucose and salt, amongst other things in your diet. It's simply not possible to remove 5lbs of fat, muscle, or bone from someone (without a knife) in 1-2 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain muscle and be fit, you should &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/6836#6836&quot;&gt;look into an effective strength training program like Starting Strength and ensure you're eating enough protein&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/6836#6836&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-10-18T04:14:20.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19274" CreationDate="2014-10-18T04:33:17.500" Score="4" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bar tends to slip down until my fingers are like hooks and the bar is barely touching my palm. Should I be gripping tighter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T03:07:57.777" Title="In double overhand grip for the deadlift, do the fingertips touch the palm?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19273" CreationDate="2014-10-18T07:20:48.643" Score="2" ViewCount="2680" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm following a calorie count + elliptical routine for about two weeks now. My average calorie deficit should be about 500, but I don't see ~1 kg weight loss I expected. I'm very accurate at measuring my food intake, so the problem must be the elliptical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm using Torneo Stella C-507M. I'm 25 years old, 1.90 meters height, currently at 125 kg. I use mid-to-high settings with slowly varying programs for about 30-60 minutes, and the calorie burn it shows is correspondingly about 430-760. I usually don't use the handles, but occasionally I do when doing the harder parts if my legs are getting cramped. Is it likely that the machine is overestimating my calorie burn? How do I correct it so that I could get on the track?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11939" LastEditorUserId="11939" LastEditDate="2014-10-18T07:44:06.970" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T08:05:34.713" Title="Overestimated calorie burn on an elliptical" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;elliptical&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19270" CreationDate="2014-10-18T07:47:38.713" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the bar is slipping from your grip that's generally a sign that you need to grip the bar better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could mean gripping tighter, which is always helpful, but it could also mean using chalk or, if the weight is heavy enough to justify it, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_grip&quot;&gt;hook grip&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-10-18T07:47:38.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19271" CreationDate="2014-10-18T15:38:13.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is yes, it's overestimating your calorie burn. But it's unlikely the sole reason that you're having trouble losing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most exercise machines overestimate calorie burn, and ellipticals are among the worst offenders. Studies have shown that they can overestimate calorie burn by as much as 40%. A more reasonable expectation for someone of your weight might be 100 calories burned per 10 minutes (assuming a moderate pace).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it's difficult to precisely know how many calories you burn throughout the day (BMR and exercise machines are not 100% accurate), it may be a good idea to give yourself wiggle room when it comes to your calorie intake. These calculations have a lot more room for error at body weights approaching 135kg and higher, especially if you have a high body-fat ratio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to aim for a calorie deficit of 1000 instead of 500, and estimate 300 calories burned for 30 minutes on the elliptical. If this is too difficult and/or you lose more than 1kg per week, you can adjust it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastEditorUserId="8325" LastEditDate="2014-10-18T15:43:25.543" LastActivityDate="2014-10-18T15:43:25.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19270" CreationDate="2014-10-18T21:24:35.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to strengthen your grip. Eventually when getting near 1RM (usually around 3RM) most people will need to flip to a &quot;mixed grip&quot;, where one grip is overhand and the other is underhand. But it's a bad way to train and studies show that it doesn't develop you symmetrically (can't find the study at the moment). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullups, chin ups, farmer's walks, and heavy kettlebell work is a great way to start. Deadlifting works great too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answering your question directly, yes, you should be gripping tighter. The stronger your grip gets, the easier it will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-18T21:24:35.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18580" CreationDate="2014-10-19T09:35:04.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20713720&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20713720&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myonuclei acquired by overload exercise precede hypertrophy and are not lost on detraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bruusgaard JC1, Johansen IB, Egner IM, Rana ZA, Gundersen K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abstract&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effects of previous strength training can be long-lived, even after prolonged subsequent inactivity, and retraining is facilitated by a previous training episode. Traditionally, such &quot;muscle memory&quot; has been attributed to neural factors in the absence of any identified local memory mechanism in the muscle tissue. We have used in vivo imaging techniques to study live myonuclei belonging to distinct muscle fibers and observe that new myonuclei are added before any major increase in size during overload. The old and newly acquired nuclei are retained during severe atrophy caused by subsequent denervation lasting for a considerable period of the animal's lifespan. The myonuclei seem to be protected from the high apoptotic activity found in inactive muscle tissue. A hypertrophy episode leading to a lasting elevated number of myonuclei retarded disuse atrophy, and the nuclei could serve as a cell biological substrate for such memory. Because the ability to create myonuclei is impaired in the elderly, individuals may benefit from strength training at an early age, and because anabolic steroids facilitate more myonuclei, nuclear permanency may also have implications for exclusion periods after a doping offense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastEditorUserId="8149" LastEditDate="2014-12-20T18:14:03.080" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T18:14:03.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9795" CreationDate="2014-10-19T09:43:19.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The real answer is oxygen debt during the set. It is the same effect  as with  sprinting all-out. &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/oxygen+debt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/oxygen+debt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T09:43:19.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-19T17:09:18.300" Score="3" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because I'm a &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/SHakG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;web developer&lt;/a&gt; I usually work about 9-12 hours per day. 2 months ago I was 108kg(238 pounds) and after a hard eating plan and some exercise now I'm 97kg(213 pounds). My height is 1.83m (72.05 in). I'm usually eating about 1500-1800 calories per day and I'm working out about 30-40 minutes with some fitness blender workout kickboxing videos. I'm trying to drop some more kilos but I stucked at 97kg. I've read somewhere that if I'm working on a standing desk I'll lose more calories. Is it true? I can't workout for longer time because of my schedule. I've seen some calculators which showed me that if I'm standing lets say for one hour I'll lose about 250 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And my main question is: Should I invest in a standing desk? Or this is an another marketing viral scam? What else can I do if this isn't true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11944" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T20:24:30.140" Title="Standing desk while working" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15473" CreationDate="2014-10-19T17:53:40.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started 5x5 in May 2014, and the workouts have lengthened to 1.5--2 hours depending on which workout I'm on (shorter for Deadlift day). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, my current lifts: Squat: 240 Bench: 160 OH Press: 95 Deadlift: 285&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I switched to 3x5 on squats on 10/1. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be 62 in December.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've deloaded three times on squats, 4 times on OH press, but not on deadlifts. Using the 5x5 app to check my progress, I will slightly modify the deadlift warmup routine--it calls for 5 warmup sets for a 295 work weight, but I'm going to cut out one of the warmup sets. I tend to think that was the only reason I missed one rep on my last workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trainers at my gym are extremely competent and are always willing to spot to check for good form. And I can say with confidence that only a very small percentage of people in my gym are lifting anywhere near what I am--and I'm one of the oldest members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that expecting the workouts to stay at 45 minutes is unrealistic when the weights get heavier. Alter the program as you need to cut down on the time, and try not to rest between warmup sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the app suggests waiting 3 minutes between you last warmup set and the work sets. I play it by ear depending on how I feel after the last warmup set--sometimes I have to wait as much as 5 minutes, just because I want to ensure I have maximum energy available for the work sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11946" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T17:53:40.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-19T19:30:02.050" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does massage really help muscle soreness? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I would like to know how fast can a man recover from muscle soreness and what methods exist that really help preventing/recovering from muscle soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11898" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T17:41:21.210" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T17:57:53.393" Title="Does massage really help recovering from muscle soreness" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19277" CreationDate="2014-10-19T20:24:30.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let me say I haven't used a standing desk, however I'm in the software development field and know where you're coming from with sitting long hours. I'm also a personal trainer and see a lot of clients with bad backs due to poor posture from sitting long hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A standing desk will help you lose a few calories, however I cant vouch for how many and if its really worth the cost. The desk will also make sure you keep a good posture when working so that's another positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would look into desk that mounts to a wall and slides up or down, allowing you to stand or sit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11947" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T20:24:30.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19279" CreationDate="2014-10-19T21:53:50.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness is a symptom of small damages within your muscle fibres. For &lt;strong&gt;treatment&lt;/strong&gt;, it may helps to &lt;strong&gt;increase blood flow&lt;/strong&gt; in order to supply the damaged muscle fibers with nutrients. Blood flow can be increased by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;massages (that was your question)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low-intensity activity (like walking or easy running, if you have sore leg muscles, for example)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hot showers/bath/sauna (warmth)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, there's nothing you can do for &lt;strong&gt;preventing&lt;/strong&gt; muscle soreness. But as soon as you get accustomed to the exercise, it should get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it basically boils down to providing nutrients to your muscle fibers, the &lt;strong&gt;quality of your nutrition&lt;/strong&gt; matters as well, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastEditorUserId="4800" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T06:50:59.137" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T06:50:59.137" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19212" CreationDate="2014-10-20T02:33:55.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything grip related pretty much. Most of that comes from your forearm. Since my background is powerlifting I find any barbell or dumbbell work tends to improve it. Chinups and variations of that will help a lot, and help with climbing in general I'd imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again this isn't as applicable to climbing directly as general grip strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11949" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T02:33:55.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19195" CreationDate="2014-10-20T02:38:02.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would reccomend upping the deadlift weight and only doing 3-8 reps max. Deadlifts seem to help when they're heavier. Most people are gonna feel pretty out of breath when they do any compound movement for that kind of rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11949" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T02:38:02.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19271" CreationDate="2014-10-20T08:59:42.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, as TonyArra says, these machines always overstimate the amount of calories burnt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you have to take in account that if you start your workout with the elliptical, this is, you don't do muscle workout first, you won't start burning fat until the first 30 min. So if you workout for 60min, you will burn fat for 30min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you will be really burning around 200 calories from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit - Calories meassurement&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you should calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This tells you how much calories do you burn just doing normal life (these values are just an aproximation). But this is a dificult value to meassure, as you need to be in a dark room, after sleeping for 8 hours, etc... So you can measure your resting metabolic rate (RMR) which will tell you almost the same and it's easier to meassure. You can use one of these 2 equations for male:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Harris-Benedict:&lt;/strong&gt; (13.75*weight(kg))+(5*size(cm))-(6.75*age)+66&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mufflin:&lt;/strong&gt;(10*weight(kg))+(6.25*size(cm))-(5*age)+5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this, you should apply the &lt;strong&gt;activity factor&lt;/strong&gt;, which indicates your daiary activity value (not exercise):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.2-1.3 for very light (bed rest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.5-1.6 for light (office work/watch tv)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.6-1.7 for moderate (some activity during day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.9-2.1 for heavy (labor type work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then do: &lt;strong&gt;Diary activity cost = RMR * Activity factor&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally we apply the &lt;strong&gt;phisical activity factor&lt;/strong&gt; in Mets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high impact aerobics: 7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low impact aerobics: 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high intensity cycling: 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low intensity cycling: 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high intensity walking: 6.5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low intensity walking: 2.5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high intensity running: 18&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low intensity running: 7&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;circuit-type training: 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intense free weight lifting: 6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;moderate machine training: 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then do: &lt;strong&gt;Diary exercise cost = Weight(kg)*duration of exercise(hours)*Mets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finally: Total exercise cost = Diary activity cost*Diary exercise cost&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will give you an aproximation of the amount of calories that you burn in a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10057" LastEditorUserId="10057" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T08:05:34.713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T08:05:34.713" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19290" CreationDate="2014-10-20T14:36:32.143" Score="3" ViewCount="8529" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an ex-smoker (for roughly 8 years) and have recently, in the last 4 months, started a fairly intense cardio regimen that I'm doing twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed while running that I'm having to constantly clear my throat. There is no phlem or mucus and I'm not coughing but I have to &quot;clear it&quot; and once I do it comes back a minute or two later and I'm having to do the same thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this sound like my lungs cleaning/repairing themselves or could this be indicative of something else? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else experienced this before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user7647" LastEditorDisplayName="user7647" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T14:42:49.113" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T05:59:21.657" Title="Having to clear throat constantly while running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19288" CreationDate="2014-10-20T15:25:14.417" Score="4" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running for fun in the early-mid summer this year. I am relatively healthy, average BMI, late 20's, healthy eating guy. I generally run on pavements, roads and tracks. I have relatively good footwear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I am having is, although I started running small distances and gradually building up over the weeks, I am stuck at running non stop for longer than 15 minutes a time. The main cause of stopping is my legs become too tired to continue. Although my breathing at this point has become heavier I don't think this is the main cause of stopping. I can stop for a few minutes of walking then start up again but I can never maintain the previous pace I was achieving in the first 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ultimate goal is to reach 5km without stopping. I am currently managing between 2km and 2.5km without stopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to ensure I can run for longer periods of time without stopping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11950" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T16:36:51.373" Title="Beginner Runner. Cannot go any further" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-20T15:46:58.960" Score="6" ViewCount="38285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a reasonably fit male with an athletic background, but can't sit cross-legged. Whenever I do, my knees stay really high and I have to really bend my ankles to get into the position at all. When I went to a yoga class, simply sitting cross-legged during the &quot;rests&quot; was way harder than any of the actual poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; What stretches or exercises can I do to open my hips up so that I can sit cross-legged?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few websites and forum threads on the topic suggest doing deep squats/third world squats, except these are already very easy and natural for me to do, so the problem has to be something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10774" LastActivityDate="2019-08-21T22:44:06.377" Title="Stretches/exercises to sit cross legged" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19286" CreationDate="2014-10-20T17:24:57.590" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, it's a great question. Let me dissect a few things first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;healthy eating guy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very few people really have this one dialed in. Maybe you do, but odds are you don't. There's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/a-primer-on-nutrition-part-1/&quot;&gt;a great website I've used called Body Recomposition&lt;/a&gt; and the writer is a pretty qualified guy who goes into nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed and endurance are the two primary levers you can play with as a runner. And when training, you are generally tackling one or the other. You combine them both on race day, but that tends to beat your body up pretty hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 5k distance range, you have three types of training that come into play:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurance (Long Slow Distance): the idea here is simply to subject your body to a bit longer than your longest event, as it relates to &lt;strong&gt;time, not distance&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Race-pace: you're going to run at your actual race pace for your actual distance. This tends to be very hard on your body and is reserved generally only for race days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interval training. This can come in multiple formats, but hill sprints and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek&quot;&gt;fartleks&lt;/a&gt; are common. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running really can be pretty grueling, and &quot;getting your legs&quot; (have the endurance and speed you need to feel comfortable at your level) takes some time, there's really no shortcuts on that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you try two strategies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a wrist watch, and every week try to have one day where you dedicate it to increasing your non-stopping time, maybe just by a single minute. In 6 months that's roughly an extra half hour of running, so although it's incremental it's certainly do-able.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick another day, and try some intervals. Crank up the speed for a minute, then drop down to the slowest jog you possibly can, then crank it back up again, rinse, repeat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although &quot;speed work&quot; doesn't seem like it will help your endurance goals, it's actually anaerobic threshold training by another name. The ability to cross back and forth between aerobic and anaerobic activity isn't classically thought of as endurance but it's critical to increasing your anaerobic threshold and real-world stamina. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T17:24:57.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19287" CreationDate="2014-10-20T17:29:46.187" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deep squats performed properly with decent weight will open up your hips. Your squat stance ends up being wide, and the weight causes your &quot;hip&quot; muscles (hamstrings, adductors, etc) to get pulled on like a rubber band, which stretches them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back squats really are just that magical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T17:29:46.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19285" CreationDate="2014-10-20T17:39:48.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't really understand how you need to clear your throat though if you don't have phlegm; what exactly are you clearing? Is it just a dry cough response (cold air?), or are you actually spitting something up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phlegm production when doing cardio-type activities is pretty normal. Most cyclists and runners are hocking lugies everywhere. When I was running a lot, I used to look forward to coming back from a head cold because I knew I would spitting up a quart of grossness on the streets. Effective &quot;snot rocket&quot; management is typical, and most cycling gloves even have terry cloth patches on them which primarily get used for wiping the residue off from a misfired rocket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little gross, but it's true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people can do things &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3320/lots-of-phlegm-while-doing-cardio-workouts&quot;&gt;like reducing their dairy consumption to cut down on phlegm&lt;/a&gt;, but personally I don't care that much and have just gotten used to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On days where I figured it would be worse than normal (like coming back from a head cold) I would tuck a couple of folded paper towels into my waist band. Ten minutes into my run I'd blow all that crap out of me, clean up, and keep charging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T17:39:48.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19279" CreationDate="2014-10-20T17:57:53.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout/19157#19157&quot;&gt;there's this question and answer that might help you out&lt;/a&gt;. Specifically to answer your question though with DOMS you need to break it into prevention and then management once it shows up. Specifically related to massage though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does massage really help muscle soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1250256/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2005 study&lt;/a&gt; says yes, as it comes to swelling. If you look at the study design though, you'll note that this was with regular massage, not just a one time thing. It was also for a rather small muscle group (arm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Massage was effective in alleviating DOMS by approximately 30% and&#xA;  reducing swelling, but it had no effects on muscle function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12617692&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2003 study&lt;/a&gt; is also quasi-supporting massage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Similarly, massage has shown varying results that may be attributed to&#xA;  the time of massage application and the type of massage technique&#xA;  used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's a little incorrect to say &quot;massage helps DOMS&quot; since there are a lot of variables. The severity of damage, the muscle group(s), the type of massage, the frequency of massage, other training factors, and the massage practitioner are all variables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOMS is not fully understood, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout/19157#19157&quot;&gt;as it's understood right now you can use the following tips for management (before and after)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eccentric exercises (lengthening) are notorious providers are DOMS. Good mornings, skull crushers, and anything where you are lowering weights in a controlled manner will nearly always provide DOMS.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-Glutamine, a relatively cheap supplement, has been shown to reduce severity of DOMS.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Big jumps in volume and particularly new exercises are likely to cause DOMS.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most management techniques (after the fact) are temporary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provided you can keep a good form, it shouldn't keep you from training, although you may need to increase your warmups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long term the best way to deal with DOMS is to use a proper strength training program, stick with the most important (and valuable) exercises, and know that eccentric lifts will leave you sore for a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T17:57:53.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19296" CreationDate="2014-10-20T18:07:12.563" Score="7" ViewCount="407" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm familiar with the general idea of adaptation and super compensation, and the loss of strength if your body doesn't feel you need it anymore because the increased load isn't present. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been strength training for a while, and have generally rolled my eyes at body builders doing isolation work on machines. I joke with my friends that &quot;every day is bicep and chest day&quot; for those guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm about to hop off a 12 week 5x5 Bill Starr program and would like to mix in something else just to break up the routine a bit. I was considering doing the compound lifts in the hypertrophy rep-range as opposed to the strength/power range. I don't want to make it a main stay of my training, but I thought it would be a fun way to train different with different goals and results for a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If I train for hypertrophy for a few months, do I lose that size (eventually) when switching back to strength/power?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personal experience would be fine, but if there's any research available that would be great too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T10:26:09.247" Title="Does hypertrophy need to be maintained?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19212" CreationDate="2014-10-20T18:54:19.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have such specific hobbies that I list here tailored training for each muscle group, many of them are hardly known within practioners. I am working on this and trying to find proper anatomic names to each muscle(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I use wrist supports (you can find in MMA shops) when my wrist may get irritated, this has helped me to train my arms and fingers and not injuring wrists!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sports&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Golf&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back-swing muscle training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;behind-back traditional-tricep-training bar-over-head with inverse grip: does not train tricep but the small twisting muscle (use&#xA;    very small weights!) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;....... I fixed a backhand pain with this exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;....... TRAINS: grip, little muscle used in backswing/forearm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tennis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Forearm strengthening for forehand: barber curl (thumbs up/down) and general forearm training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;........ I alleviated my Ulnar Nerve by this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fencing, Hockey, Boxing -- sports where pain easily in the top of the hand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;String tensions for hands&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;String tensions for fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;........ before starting training, they remove pain by increasing the blood flow and make sure you are not injured. There are very very&#xA;    small string tensions for fingers that I like a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:00:32.060" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:00:32.060" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2014-10-20T18:54:19.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-20T19:49:24.463" Score="-1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common scenario for those who telecommute while traveling: You have to do extended office work in a hotel room, or in a rented apartment. Often there is no office chair, only a simple table and a standard chair, plus sometimes a couch and pillows. Back problems come quickly, sometimes already after a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there any remedy, such as a certain sitting posture?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, one could just rent a desk in a coworking space, but not everybody likes the hustle and bustle in some of these places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11953" LastEditorUserId="11953" LastEditDate="2014-10-21T15:00:53.510" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T18:29:48.673" Title="Prevent back issues on the go, i.e. without office chair?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-11-05T03:51:13.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19294" CreationDate="2014-10-20T21:40:59.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some ideas you might want to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit in the aforementioned hideous chair but put a lumbar support of some type in there. A pillow wedged between the small of your back and the chair will help to some degree. If you google &quot;Lumbar Support Pad&quot; you'll see commercial versions you may want to consider purchasing; they're better than pillows that never seem to work well. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lay on the ground and work. Lay on your stomach with a pillow under your belly, lay on your back with your knees popped up, move around. Sit cross legged and type with your laptop in front of you. The idea is that for an hour you'll end up moving around three or four different times to get comfortable which is arguably better than being comfortable in one position for an hour straight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T21:40:59.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19292" CreationDate="2014-10-21T00:55:46.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;YES&lt;/strong&gt;, both muscle size and strength need to be maintained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you need to provide much less stimulus to maintain said size/strength gains than you needed to grow them initially. E.g. going from a 5x5 protocol to a 3x10 or vice-versa shouldn't see any kind of strength or size loss, so long as you're keeping the same intensity and eating properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That all said, for most lifters switching between hypertrophy and strength-focused programs is a great way to advance. I.e. grow some new muscle-fibers with a body-builder style protocol and then train your nervous-system to use them with a strength-focused setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T00:55:46.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18989" CreationDate="2014-10-21T02:17:56.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWKneelingWheelRollout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;abdominal rollouts&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xlytF.gif&quot; alt=&quot;kneeling ab rollout&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the space you do them with a barbell (provided the weights can freely rotate), or you can pickup an &quot;ab roller' like the one shown above. They are quite cheap (I picked mine up for ~$5), light and compact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once kneeling rollouts become too easy, its a matter of progressing to standing rollouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C866B.gif&quot; alt=&quot;standing ab rollout&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T02:17:56.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19292" CreationDate="2014-10-21T05:07:46.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To an extent. As long as you're progressing in volume it would be hard for you to lose mass when going back to low rep/heavy weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I enjoy doing both. So for instance training 5x5 on a monday. Doing high rep work on a wed and then heavy weight, low rep on friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11949" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T05:07:46.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18243" CreationDate="2014-10-21T05:11:39.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some women get really big, and are biggest than 90% of males in the fitness industry. However just adding testosterone isn't enough to eliminate the physiological difference between the sexes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11949" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T05:11:39.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18243" CreationDate="2014-10-21T08:32:00.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The natural testosterone level in male, is around 200-1200ng/dl, while in women is around 15-70ng/dl. There is a significant diference here, and this is the reason why women have it quite dificult to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, using steroids as you say, stops the endogenous testosterone production. Here is where a woman has to consider if she wants to mantain some femininity, or if she doesn't care about that. Usually the steroids doses in women are much lower than in men, to not lose this femeninity, but you can also find women who look like real men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10057" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T08:32:00.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18530" CreationDate="2014-10-21T09:33:49.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you say about the release of muscle contraction is called eccentric contraction. It is proved that when controlling this eccentric contraction is when more miofibrills are damaged  and as we know, this is what we want to achieve to get the muscle gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as @Peter says, when doing the eccentric contraction slowly (between 2-4 seconds) you increment the time under tension of the exercise and this is one of the factors that boost the hypertrophy effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10057" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T01:41:19.103" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T01:41:19.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18750" CreationDate="2014-10-21T10:02:06.183" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you should have clear some concepts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You don't burn fat on belly by doing abs, nor do you make ab muscles visible by doing abs. As it's said, abs are made in the kitchen. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Doing abs workout, what you do is make them bigger, as with other muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should focus your routine almost the same way you focus it for muscle gain, but introduce some more cardio. The really important part is the diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you to read about basic nutrition and find established diets to take as reference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit - Info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As additional info, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yalescientific.org/2011/04/targeted-fat-loss-myth-or-reality/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is a link to an article that talks about burning localized fat, and that quotes some studies, also providing the reason why fat can't be burnt locally. Here is a small quote from the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More recently, in a 2007 study led by the University of Connecticut, 104 participants completed a twelve-week supervised resistance-training program in which their non-dominant arm was selectively exercised. MRI assessments of subcutaneous fat before and after the program revealed that fat loss tended to be generalized, rather than only occurring in the trained arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It turns out that there are a few basic physiological reasons why targeted fat loss does not work. The fat contained in fat cells exists in a form known as triglycerides. Muscle cells, however, cannot directly use triglycerides as fuel; it would be analogous to trying to run a car on crude oil. Instead, the fat must be broken down into glycerol and free fatty acids, which then enter the bloodstream. As a result, the fat broken down to be used as fuel during prolonged exercise can come from anywhere in your body, not just the part that is being worked the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2 - Additional info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After providing this info that shows how burning localized fat is not possible, I have to clarify and also give part of reason to @DMoore, because in real terms, spot reduction is possible. This contradicts what I've just posted above, true? Yes and no. Spot reduction is possible but in a very very low way, let's say something around a 0.1%. So even this happens and even few people could have the genetics to burn a bit more localized fat, in general terms, this value is negligible to say that localized fat burn happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10057" LastEditorUserId="5296" LastEditDate="2015-06-24T10:10:03.763" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T10:10:03.763" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19305" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19310" CreationDate="2014-10-21T10:11:44.617" Score="2" ViewCount="1313" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current workout routine is as follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday : Chest and Biceps&#xA;Tuesday : Shoulder and Triceps&#xA;Wednesday : Back and Legs.&#xA;Repeat Mon and Tues for Thursday and Friday&#xA;Saturday : Cricket (morning to evening)&#xA;Sunday : Rest.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing Chest and Biceps, is it Ok to do 1 Chest exercise followed by 1 Biceps again Chest and so on (which I am following now) or is it necessary to complete the Chest cycle first and then go for the Biceps? Same for all other day exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8020" LastEditorUserId="8020" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T06:08:46.357" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T06:08:46.357" Title="Mixing exercises with multiple muscle groups" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18862" CreationDate="2014-10-21T10:16:00.420" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep, if you don't eat enough protein it's likely that the body will get protein from other less used muscles, also if you eat enough calories but not enough protein you can still improve your strength but you won't improve your size much(you could even get fatter).&#xA;Strength improvements are much faster with a bigger protein intake though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11956" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T10:16:00.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18750" CreationDate="2014-10-21T10:22:03.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To make abs visible, the most important factor (and the faster one) is to lower your caloric intake but keep or even raise your protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also long term usage of the muscle improves local circulation and improves fuel efficiency making your abs more &quot;defined&quot;, local fat loss is possible but it's more of a long term thing, thus negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11956" LastEditorUserId="5296" LastEditDate="2015-06-24T10:45:00.307" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T10:45:00.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19292" CreationDate="2014-10-21T10:26:09.247" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends, yes, it has to be mantained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer you have been working on that muscle the more difficult it will be to lose it and the faster you will regain it by training after you've lost it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about it as a habit, you do something many times and it becomes automatic and an addiction, it's difficult to stop doing it, for your cells it's the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11956" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T10:26:09.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18750" CreationDate="2014-10-21T11:14:06.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to weight training, one of the best ways to keep mass/strength as much as possible is to lift with less volume but try to keep up intensity. I'm cutting at the moment so I'm dropping the overall sets that I'm doing but trying to lift as heavy as I reasonably can. It's hard to progress on anything or get bigger on a cut unless you've just started trying to get fit, but you can do a bit to maintain what you currently have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11949" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T11:14:06.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19305" CreationDate="2014-10-21T12:50:15.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with the order of exercises you're currently performing.  However, to avoid a training plateau, you should consider changing up your routine on a regular basis.  Typically, that's every 6 to 8 weeks.  For example, as you've asked, perform all chest exercises first, then biceps.  Or, perform biceps first, then chest.  You should base it on what you think you need improvement on so that you can perform those exercises early on in your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T12:50:15.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19305" CreationDate="2014-10-21T14:58:50.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ditch your routine and go with the Starting Strength program. It will be much more effective in the short and long term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the book&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Become strong and powerful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're wasting time doing isolation exercises, missing out on hormone bumps that come from compound lifts, getting yourself out of muscular balance, not on any kind of predictable load increase, and lining yourself up for injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T14:58:50.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19287" CreationDate="2014-10-21T17:08:23.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it may fall under the obvious, sitting cross-legged is a good way to work on sitting cross-legged. From what you state, you can get into the position with, at worst, some difficulty. From there, gently push your knees down until you feel the stretch, but aren't in pain. Hold it there for several seconds. Relax. Repeat. That would be a static stretch for it. Dynamic stretching may not be a bad idea as an addition. Basically, it's the same, except that you only push until you feel a partial stretch, then you activate the muscles that you're stretching for several seconds (either by just contracting the muscles or by pushing back on resistance, such as your hands pushing on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're genuinely having trouble just getting into the position at all, consider easing into it from a location where you can hold yourself from going fully down, something like a very low dip where you can support yourself with your arms as you settle into the cross-legged position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T17:08:23.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6129" CreationDate="2014-10-21T21:11:52.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your trainer is recommending them because he has to. I worked for gym that required me to sell 200 dollars of dot fit bars in order for me to reach my goal, failure to do so can result in termination. &#xA;I wouldn't recommend dot fit to anyone, there are many better products out there.&#xA;Just make sure your following your recommended caloric intake and getting your recommended amount of protein &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11959" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T21:11:52.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2014-10-22T01:40:04.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think they will help the achilles problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to stop running necessarily, but you don't want it to get any worse. Start with active stretching (running drills), start running slowly and work up to the pace you are aiming for. You could also try heating your achilles up before you go run as well. Afterwards check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNF_stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PNF Stretching&lt;/a&gt;, or basic static stretching, foam roller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go see a physical therapist, start working on stretching out the achilles as well as the calf. If the physical therapist has it and is trained to use it, have him/her use kinesio tape on your achilles. If you cannot afford a PT, check out Rock Tape, you can find it from $15 to $20 depending on the website. The stuff works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11962" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T01:40:04.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19316" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19319" CreationDate="2014-10-22T12:56:55.447" Score="3" ViewCount="360" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming your aim is to get better at martial arts not bodybuilding (hence strength training: lets take Rippetoe's 3x5). Which would improve performance? Also can they be done side by side? because I know that after lifting heavy you have to wait a day and train on alternate days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11964" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T13:13:14.750" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T14:37:07.690" Title="Lifting Iron (strength training) vs pushups ( knuckle)+ body weight squats+situps" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19316" CreationDate="2014-10-22T13:17:18.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knuckle pushups, bodyweight squats, and sit-ups, as a program, would mostly increase muscular endurance and cardio. A 3x5 program like Rippetoe's Starting Strength would actually increase your strength and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscular endurance is great for fighting, but A) you're probably already doing those exercises in class and B) if you're stronger you have better muscular endurance anyway. So &lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/1753/how-should-a-novice-train-if-unable-to-join-a-dojo-yet/1756#1756&quot;&gt;rational general strength and power training&lt;/a&gt; is better for martial arts than bodyweight work chosen because it's bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can lift alongside martial arts training, but you have to take care for lifting not to interfere with skill development. Generally this just means 1) scheduling your lifting so you're not beat down when you go to class, and 2) adding weight less frequently than recommended for someone not playing a sport. With a T/W/Th/Sat karate schedule, I'd definitely lift either after class on Saturday, or on Sunday. If I managed to lift on Saturday then I'd try to lift on Monday too. If I were feeling good about my training, not feeling overworked or under-recovered, then I wouldn't mind lifting Friday and Monday (but not Saturday or Sunday). I'd add 2.5 or 5 pounds to each exercise every two or three workout sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were feeling &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; good about training, full of energy even after lifting twice a week and doing karate 4x/week for a few months, I'd try adding a third lifting session. I wouldn't really care where it went.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:49:44.007" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T13:30:45.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19316" CreationDate="2014-10-22T15:56:29.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a lot of success doing bodyweight training for the couple of years that I was more-or-less forced to, living in a developing nation with no real gym options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go the bodyweight route, I'd recommend these strategies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Realize that &quot;some pushups and pullups&quot; isn't going to cut it. Just like most people in a gym have no idea what they're doing, most people doing bodyweight training are wasting time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to effectively target your major muscle groups, maintain a balance of development, and progress through more and more challenging movements. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lot of people view bodyweight training as more simplistic then weights, but in reality they both have similar challenges: maximizing (in your case) power and force production throughout your body in an effective way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight training, for me, includes such things as gymnastic rings and plyometrics. The increased power work doing plyometrics and the increased leverage with rings really is a game changer over just you and your body. No matter how you slice it, hamstring and back development is poor at best with bodyweight training alone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1450429297&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is one of my preferred bodyweight books&lt;/a&gt;. For rings, and really other great sources of gym-less activities, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beastskills.com&lt;/a&gt; is regarded by pretty much any athlete as a terrific resource.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go the barbell route, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't start something like Starting Strength's novice program. If you're past that, the Texas method is a template you can eventually modify, and it was designed for Olympic lifters originally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say to jump right into Olympic lifts, but the background months of properly performing big barbell movements is really necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, you're going to want to aim for power and strength. Olympic lifts, box jumps, shoulder stability, pistol squats with a jump at the end, etc. There's a lot of range in there to pick from, but whichever way you go make sure you're targeting power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T15:56:29.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18750" CreationDate="2014-10-22T20:29:19.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I would question your ab routine.  Basically there are two ways to target abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;1 - Using a high amount of resistance.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;2 - Doing a lot of reps at high intensity.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your abs are small muscles, especially if you have not worked them out very long.  Every other day is probably a good routine amount.  If you are in the beginning phases of ab workouts (first 2-3 months) then you should be a little sore to very sore the next day.  Another tip for abs - if you are doing an exercise where your feet are on the floor or attached to something then a good amount of work is probably being done by other muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's talk about some of the other things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;targeting a muscle group won't burn fat in that region.   WRONG.  Maybe not for everyone but for many people I have trained and targeted core they saw a higher decrease in body fat and inches from that region.   If this weren't true then why does the phenomenon exist of the overweight biker with toned/skinny legs.  This may take an amount of time but if you constantly work out a region more than others your body will change more in that region than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;you are talking about your protein shakes and what you need to eat before bed.  Quit eating as much.  You will probably need to shed a few pounds before the abs come in.  I am a former boxer and have had a 6 pack since 16 years old - highly visible when I went as high as 250 (6'3&amp;quot;) and when I drop to 200 it turns into a 10 pack.  Long-term if you hit your abs hard enough you could probably see a 6 pack at your current weight but this is very long-term.  I mean you are asking an ab question yet talking about extra calories everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;you need time and the right workout.  You won't start to see a noticeable difference until 3-4 months of 4 days a week.  At 8-12 months you can see &amp;quot;good results&amp;quot;.  The abs are barely used in everyday life so you can't expect too much growth from them right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;there aren't a ton of things beyond core workouts to help your abs but there are some thing and you should be doing them.  Squats put a great strain on your ab region, deadlifts not as much but a good second.  Good mornings strengthen your lower back.  Your ab workouts will get better as your lower back gets stronger.  Side planks from a 45 degree bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;cardio doesn't make abs.  I got people jogging by my house all day long in all shapes and sizes.  I bet hardly any of them have &amp;quot;6 packs&amp;quot;.  Low resistance cardio is great for your heart but does very little for your abs.  There are two exercises that I have had great success with when working with people to shed ab fat.  First ... sprinting... 60-80 yard dashes.  Lots of them.  Second ... jumping rope.  Two feet up, two feet down (no skipping).  Also I will mention if you are engaged in long cardio workouts it does burn a lot of calories but don't fail to understand the cardio deficit.  In that your body after being adequately depleted from resources will crave to not only get those back but to refuel for the next session.  So lets say you burn 600 calories on a stair stepper in 30 mins.  You have one of those 400 calorie protein shakes.  Then later on that night your body is wiped and you eat an extra 400.  So now you did this work to cancel calories but you actually gained weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T20:29:19.937" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19322" CreationDate="2014-10-23T00:34:50.863" Score="9" ViewCount="1844" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift weights to get stronger and to look better, I wonder how long does it take for muscle to recover after workout. I do typical workout routine for every muscle group, I work out every muscle group two times a week, would it be beneficial to do 3 times a week for every muscle group or even more? I can work out hard almost everyday and never get muscle soreness, pain whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does recovery time differs a lot for advanced lifter and beginner?&#xA;Is it possible that all my muscle groups can recover as fast as 12 hours after workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for the information you can provide me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11969" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T15:27:16.813" Title="How long does it take for muscles to recover?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19321" CreationDate="2014-10-23T02:41:56.873" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no easy answer. It depends on a few variables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The stress you've exposed your muscles to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How close you are to your genetic potential.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How good your recovery is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You (probably, based on your fitness as explained) could do 20 pushups a day, every day, and have no problems. However if you tried to push your 1RM (single maximum effort) bench press, you would not be able to do it again tomorrow. If you can, after you lift enough and get strong enough, you won't be able to. Eventually if you continue to get your strength high enough, you won't be able to repeat your maximum lift twice in a single week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the stronger you get, the more damage you can inflict on your body. Granted you get better at adapting, but not at the same rate. This diagram below shows it a bit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sxqtV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stronger you get, the harder you are training overall, and the heavier you work, the longer it will take to recover and achieve overcompensation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the biggest reason folks use real training programs (Starting Strength, Madcow, Texas, 5/3/1, etc) are because they attempt to thread the needle on lifting as much as possible while never exceeding your recovery (basically). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're on a structured program you'll know if you haven't recovered: you simply won't be able to lift the weights as prescribed. If you can, congratulations, you're stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, soreness is a terribly inaccurate measure of workout effectiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T02:03:21.723" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T02:03:21.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18530" CreationDate="2014-10-23T18:59:48.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The eccentric phase of a lift is classically part of mass gaining but there are other practices which skip almost all eccentric training and produce large mass gain. &#xA;One group are Olympic Weightlifters, who drop the majority of their lifts. They do not lack for mass! &lt;a href=&quot;http://assets1.tribesports.com/system/challenges/images/000/035/655/original/20130128140347-klokov-complex-50kg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://assets1.tribesports.com/system/challenges/images/000/035/655/original/20130128140347-klokov-complex-50kg.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Another practice is the eccentric-less extra workouts done by Westside styles powerlifters.&#xA;Skipping the eccentric phase can allow more total work done b/c as noted above, it is the most damaging.&#xA;For one take on how concentric-only has produced great mass (and strength!!!!!!!!) gains, here is a take from Glenn Pendlay, training of many of America's best weightlifters:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bastardolifters.blogspot.com/2010/03/mass-gain-theory-by-glenn-pendlay.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bastardolifters.blogspot.com/2010/03/mass-gain-theory-by-glenn-pendlay.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-23T18:59:48.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18920" CreationDate="2014-10-23T19:08:23.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plenty of people have make training on an empty stomach a regular practice - see leangains.com&#xA;An illness induced fast of a day or less will have little effect on your muscle mass. Fast actually increase Growth Hormone secretion.&#xA;Besides, do you really think people are so fragile? How would humans have survived our past with the many times where food was scarce?&#xA;I myself have had excellent workouts the day after a stomach illness and no food ~20 hours. It was very mentally focusing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-23T19:08:23.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18989" CreationDate="2014-10-23T19:14:00.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Progression in planks can take the form of added resistance, like you would with other muscles.&#xA;AKA, add load.&#xA;Weighted planks. Or weighted reverse planks. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Weighted-Reverse-Plank-Chinese-Weightlifting.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.allthingsgym.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Weighted-Reverse-Plank-Chinese-Weightlifting.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-23T19:14:00.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="42582" CreationDate="2014-10-23T19:54:04.037" Score="7" ViewCount="509" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen several references to situps being harmful due to &quot;high compressive lumbar load&quot; and recommending crunches. When researching where the quote came from, it looks like every reference quotes the same paper by a &lt;a href=&quot;https://uwaterloo.ca/kinesiology/people-profiles/stuart-mcgill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. Stuart M. McGill&lt;/a&gt; named &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2485366/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stability: from biomechanical concept to chiropractic practice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. The author being a chiropractor pricked my ears since this is a profession which had sponsored beliefs ranging from &quot;vertical subluxations&quot; that can harm everything from backs to your brain to your liver to your chi (and, in the lab, any given pair of chiropractors will identify completely different &quot;vertical subluxations&quot; for the same patient). I don't know if Dr. McGill has a degree in any form of science-based medicine — his various biography pages are coy as to what he has other than a &quot;PhD&quot; — but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, has there been an supporting or opposing research on his claims? Is there any proof other than a 1999 paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="33195" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T12:41:46.587" LastActivityDate="2020-08-06T08:16:26.953" Title="Are sit-ups actually harmful?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19327" CreationDate="2014-10-23T23:24:24.067" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Yes, situps are incredibly harmful.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? Dr. Stuart McGill said so. Why is that important...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stuart McGill is a respected academic on spinal mechanics, and most definitely &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a chiropractor!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at that his profile which you linked, he is the Director of the University of Waterloo's Spine Biomechanics Laboratory. &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?cites=15022115215902929406&amp;amp;as_sdt=2005&amp;amp;sciodt=0,5&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The paper you mentioned is peer-reviewed and cited by 39 articles&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://uwaterloo.ca/kinesiology/sites/ca.kinesiology/files/uploads/files/mcgill_full_refereed_journal_papers.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;he is one of the most published&lt;/a&gt; and cited authors on spine biomechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of pure interest I have read one of his more recent paper on core strength and back stability, and he is pretty methodical about his work and his paper are filled with actual statistics and descriptions scientific methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From a pure broscience perspective, he has been interviewed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/training/interview-with-dr-stuart-mcgill-part-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T-Nation&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/transcribed-interview-with-stu-mcgill/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bret Contras&lt;/a&gt; and they are look like they lift, so you gotta trust them bro.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are few names I trust in fitness, and when it comes to core exercises and strength Stuart McGill is one of them. If he says sit-ups are bad (which he does, and backs up with actual peer-reviewed science) then I'd believe him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T03:08:30.647" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T03:08:30.647" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18530" CreationDate="2014-10-24T01:56:43.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eccentric (lengthening of a muscle) causes strength increases, but if it was more valuable than the concentric (tightening) activities people would just sit around doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_repetition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negatives&lt;/a&gt; all day and then show up and bench 1000lbs without ever having pushed the bar off their chest before: it's ridiculous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd answer your question by saying that there are three ways that eccentric exercises have a clear place:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing pullups. For some folks who can't do a single pullup, doing negatives is a great way to accustomed yourself to the movement and build some strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not dropping like a stone and putting a tremendous amount of shock load on your body. Completely releasing your muscle tension at the top of a pullup, as an example, will cause severely damaging load to your joints and connective tissues. You need to have concentrated eccentric movements there to make your pullup downward movement controlled and safe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes the eccentric load is really desired like in the bottom of a squat which can give you a bit of a bounce. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other areas where although not primarily an eccentric movement, there's a large eccentric component (ie: skull crushers and good mornings) where eccentric lengthening (and DOMS) is just going to be part of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But barring those types of examples, I don't see why you'd purposefully rob yourself of pushing more weight by &quot;training&quot; your eccentric abilities more than are required for successfully performing the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T01:56:43.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-24T14:12:58.753" Score="0" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tight glutes and have been stretching using several poses, mainly pretzel and figure 4. However I have been getting pain in the outside of my knees doing these stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stretch my glutes without hurting my knees?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11981" LastActivityDate="2014-10-25T15:21:09.483" Title="Stretch glute without injuring knee" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19327" CreationDate="2014-10-24T14:58:33.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well to get away from vague statements, what do you mean by harmful?&#xA;Are you asking if situps are inherently bad to your health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If situps are harmful if you have injuries to the areas involved in a situp?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal reasoning is that situps are not harmful. Claims to compressive loading don't make sense as you do them supine - you are under a constant compressive load when you stand. So any loading would have to add up to that level and surpass the max weight you can comfortably carry. (You don't twist do you?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you normally do a few situps and suddenly decide a 100 situps is what &quot;strong&quot; people do, I would say that is harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overusing your core muscles (abs) would lead to trunk instability as they would be excessively fatigued and you may injure yourself during or after the exercise as they would be unable to do their role in stability, or in a reduced fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, just because a little is good, doesn't mean a lot is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T14:58:33.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19332" CreationDate="2014-10-24T19:43:02.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to ask a trainer or physical therapist type person. Even just asking a personal trainer for 30 seconds of free advice in a gym would probably be fine. I'll hit those guys up sometimes when I need someone to check my form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally when you feel pain in your knee during a stretch it's because you're performing it incorrectly. Some very subtle differences in angles and form can be all that's needed. But trying to describe that in writing is tough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-25T15:21:09.483" LastActivityDate="2014-10-25T15:21:09.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1113" CreationDate="2014-10-25T05:31:14.430" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do a few steps (5-7 so not to tired)  do a high hurdle and swing your back leg over really fast. Keep trying it may come quick or may take a year or more but but keep practicing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drills- dive cartwheel, hop cartwheel, high cartwheel and super fast cart wheel!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOOD LUCK BESTIE &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11986" LastActivityDate="2014-10-25T05:31:14.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14666" CreationDate="2014-10-25T15:52:43.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since this question is a bit old, I'd be interested to hear where you went. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answering the question for anyone else out there who sees this, I think the Texas method is my particular favorite to move onto. Bill Starr / Madcow / 5/3/1 tend to be very structured and by the numbers which is great because intermediate lifters need to ditch the idea of just showing up to the gym and doing whatever they feel like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Texas method I like because it's more of a framework than a fixed program. As it sits it's great on its own, but you can plug exercises in and out if you want to and even add a fourth day. That's not for folks who aren't experienced intermediate lifters, but if you know your body and watch your training like a hawk you can squeeze a little more results that way and target things better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never been at the &quot;advanced&quot; or &quot;elite&quot; levels of lifting before, and probably never will, but I imagine Texas is a good gateway to that as well because it has you owning more complexity rather than just following an Excel spreadsheet for 12 weeks after you plug in four numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practical Programming has ~100 pages dedicated to the Texas method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-25T15:52:43.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9778" CreationDate="2014-10-26T02:29:55.910" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I don't have the algorithm, I do have a pretty decent sized library of .sdf files of exercises. From which someone could almost certainly reverse engineer something very close to the energy expenditure model. I have a strong suspicion it is mostly exponential smoothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11993" LastActivityDate="2014-10-26T02:29:55.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18309" CreationDate="2014-10-26T08:41:09.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you're ready to buy serious dumbbells, you won't find an exercise that would make holding a couple of extra 1-4kg toys provide growth stimuli anyhow comparable to your previous gym workouts. Your legs are already strong enough to lift 60-90kg of the body for many reps — extra little is only better than nothing, it does not really count as lifting weights and can not provide same muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today one can buy dumbbells adjustable up to 40-50kg each, and perform deadlifts which are similar to trap-bar lifts. Those will allow to maintain the principle of progressive overload for many months while staying in rep range that is still sensible for building muscle (less than 20-25 repetitions in one set). Using only one leg will extend that for even longer, so one pair of such dumbbells may serve an average-weight male for a year of simple lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible to perform Snatch, Clean and Jerk with dumbbells. Explosiveness makes each kg count as more than two, and makes exercise overall harder and lot more exhaustive. 20 reps of 80kg clean&amp;amp;jerk is challenging goal which will take average-weight person few years of consistent effort to accomplish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8583" LastEditorUserId="8583" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T11:21:22.660" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T11:21:22.660" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-26T17:07:43.607" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have pain (not too bad) in the right shoulder.  Annoying pain.  I believe it could be rotator cuff related, and there is some soreness.  I have had a shoulder cuff injury there before but it cleared up.  This was years ago though and i've been fine since.  I have noticed the last6 months that after working out my upper half (shoulders and pecs) my right shoulder is a lot higher than the left.  It takes effort and time (about an hour) for them to level out again.  I am not sure why I let this go but there you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this indicate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also this is around the time I started squats.  Could it be squat related?  Nerves etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and my right side has always been weaker than my left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11996" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T22:07:54.253" Title="Shoulder pain, around the cuff. Any help?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-01-26T22:10:31.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19347" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-26T18:16:10.430" Score="5" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking to start working out to get a nice muscular body, but is it worth it considering I'm 32 years old already? Is it too late?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11997" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T12:18:05.723" Title="Getting in shape after age 30+" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19347" CreationDate="2014-10-26T23:02:29.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's never too late to improve your health and fitness. You may not be able to get the exact physique you want due to reduced testosterone, but, that doesn't mean you can't improve on what you already have. As we age we don't produce the same amount of hormones as we did early in life.  All that means is that fitness gains may be harder to achieve. It does not mean you can't make gains. And more importantly, the improvement in your quality of life as a result of a health and fitness lifestyle certainly outweighs a muscular physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-26T23:02:29.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19347" CreationDate="2014-10-27T00:17:25.230" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really didn't get serious about strength training until thirty, and if you look around you'll see people setting records and being incredibly fit in their 40's (and beyond). A good friend of mine is a spokes-model for a supplement company, and his &amp;lt;5% bodyfat shirtless image is on posters in a lot of supplement chain stores. He's 46 this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, it's is absolutely not too late. You have, probably, several decades left of strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd really recommend starting with a program like Starting Strength. Grab the book, it will the best money you ever spend in fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T00:17:25.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19353" CreationDate="2014-10-27T01:17:55.827" Score="4" ViewCount="6443" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can a shredded body like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.azizshavershian.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zyzz&lt;/a&gt; had be attained without the use of steroids?&#xA;Actually can you get shredded at all without steroids? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0B4lH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11999" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-03-25T16:49:30.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:26:34.717" Title="Zyzz body without steroids" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-12-20T07:24:15.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19351" CreationDate="2014-10-27T03:13:06.523" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If by shredded you mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lot of muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&amp;lt;5% body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can do it naturally, but it's rare. It also depends on whether you expand your definition to &quot;illegal substances&quot; like off-label ephedra use or clenbuterol. Most folks (natural or otherwise) who want to look shredded do so for competition times and go through cycles of &quot;bulking&quot; and &quot;cutting&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lower your body fat gets the more insulin sensitive you become, and the quicker your body is to absorb fat. Maintaining an extremely low body fat (&amp;lt;5%) along with highly developed muscles, year round, is borderline impossible without illegal substances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~10% body fat and a rather &quot;jacked&quot; figure? Totally do-able naturally with a lot of work and maintenance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address some of the comments regarding insulin and body fat, I'll extend this answer out a little further. First, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15824752&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;peer reviewed research of a large study group&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Conclusion: &lt;strong&gt;Lower-body fat mass is positively associated with an&#xA;  estimate of insulin sensitivity&lt;/strong&gt; independently of trunkal fat mass in&#xA;  both lean and obese middle-aged men and this effect could partly be&#xA;  statistically explained by variations in serum adiponectin levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of insulin's largest jobs is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Physiological_effects&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;signaling to fat (adipose) tissue to open the doors and allow fat storage to occur&lt;/a&gt;. On the surface it seems like being less resistant to insulin (not storing fat) would be a good thing, but indeed this is far from the case. That free floating fat that is not being absorbed properly is now being stored around organs. It is also clinging to the blood pathways, forcing smooth muscles to contract more which increases blood pressure, loading a heart that is by now wrapped in fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The field of endocrinology is vastly complicated. For anyone interested in further reading I'd recommend Sapolsky's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Zebras_Don%27t_Get_Ulcers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-01T16:15:20.680" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T16:15:20.680" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19346" CreationDate="2014-10-27T12:37:32.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, there's no way for any of us to diagnose what's wrong.  However, as someone who has had a surgical repair of the rotator cuff, I might be able to provide some insight into what you're experiencing.  The rotator cuff is a somewhat complicated bundle of four muscles, tendons and ligaments, of which any one, can be injured.  And, I don't think performing squats would cause it.  Weakness may indicate nerve involvement.  One thing I would suggest is to grab a handheld mirror and position yourself with your back facing a larger wall mirror.  Take a look at your upper back in the handheld mirror.  Do you see anything out of the ordinary?  Do you notice any atrophy? Particularly around the shoulder blade? If you answered yes, I'd have the shoulder evaluated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T12:37:32.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19316" CreationDate="2014-10-27T14:37:07.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you split your routine up (chest one day, back another, biceps another day) etc, then you don't have to gym on alternating days, you could train daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't necessarily bulk huge by going to gym but you will get that strength and core that you won't by just doing pushups and exercises that use your own body weight.  It just won't happen, your stabilising muscles won't develop as much as you aren't putting as much strain on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People are often afraid to join a gym because they don't want to look like a bodybuilder but those guys dedicate years and thousands into the right diets to look like that, it doesnt happen easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12008" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T14:37:07.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-27T16:56:18.160" Score="6" ViewCount="23608" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have Shoulder / Arm pain when doing certain lifts. For over a year now i have experienced pain in my upper arm when doing overhead lifts. The location of the pain is show in the image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hJgpb.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA; I thought this might be an issue with mobility but i have been doing stretches for the past months with no improvement. Any clue what this may be caused from or ways I can fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another time I can feel pain in the area is when using the butterfly fly machine at this position&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1muGA.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12009" LastEditorUserId="12009" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T19:24:58.250" LastActivityDate="2016-11-10T19:50:48.530" Title="Shoulder / Arm pain during overhead lifts" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2016-11-14T01:01:12.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19362" CreationDate="2014-10-27T18:31:49.233" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, I'm not looking to go into tiny barbells or anything like that. When I'm walking, particularly when I'm angling to a side, I find that I have a slightly tendency for the weight to go to the outside of my foot in the direction I'm angling towards. My little toe takes a fair amount of my weight. I get kind of a &quot;crunching&quot; feeling and a moment of pain before I reflexively shift my weight back again. For whatever reason, it very seldom happens when running, although it occasionally comes up in martial arts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the best of my knowledge, I've never broken or dislocated any toes, although not all of them are rotated completely upright, so I've occasionally speculated to my wife that I may have damaged them in the past and just not realized it (something which I'm given to understand is fairly common). Is there any sort of good exercise I can do to strengthen it up so that, when I incidentally put more weight on it, it doesn't hurt as much? My guess would be that this is something which has come up before, perhaps in dancing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T19:50:22.460" Title="Are there exercises to help strengthen my little toe?" Tags="&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19360" CreationDate="2014-10-27T19:50:22.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what you're really asking is how to prevent your ankle to roll outwards (or known as inverting) causing a increased amount of weight to go onto the lateral (outside) of the foot, no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good exercise for that is to take a wobble board of some sort with the foot placed in the middle and roll it in a circle and move in different directions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To finally directly answer the questions, your little toe often operates only with the other toes (not big toe) due to nerve location, and only does flexion/extension + abd/adduction (flexor/extensor digtitorum longus muscles. So doing resistive flexion and extension to the little toe will increase the strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T19:50:22.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19365" CreationDate="2014-10-27T23:17:13.193" Score="5" ViewCount="6421" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom has gained so much weight over the last few years that she's having a really hard time getting around. She's a really great mom, so I don't want to make it sound like she's not as good of a mom just because of the weight. But Because of her weight right now my sister has to do more and more things for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom is 44 years old, 5'4&quot; and &lt;strong&gt;more than 550 pounds at this point&lt;/strong&gt;. She started to gain weight about 10 years ago (she used to be 165lbs) when my dad died in a really terrible car accident. She was already getting pretty big (375-400lbs?) when I left for college 3 years ago, but I feel like her weight has gotten so out of control since then. Left alone with my little sister, my gorgeous mom is heavier and heavier and heavier every time I come home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm home I see all this crap that she is busy eating, and she claims that its just because I'm back. Before I left she used to eat a lot, but now its just crazy. This last time I was home my sister hinted that she actually &quot;tones it down&quot; for when I'm around &quot;because I give her such a hard time about her weight.&quot; I can't imagine the crap she's ingesting while I'm away!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that she's so big right now that she can't fit behind the wheel of the car, so my sister has to drive her everywhere. I tell my sister not to go pick up food for her all the time, and she mostly denies it, but I know that she's probably too embarrassed to tell the truth. My sister has to help her with countless &quot;other things&quot; around the house too, since my mom is having such a hard time standing, getting up, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried everything with her, but she has somehow found away to diffuse every suggestion I make. Ugh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She can barely make it from one room to the other without getting super out of breath and needing to rest for a while before making it to the next one. She hasn't been up the stairs in who knows how long. She's not disabled, just that between being out of shape and her weight being so high right now, she can't do most things. My sister is talking about trying to get her one of those mobility scooters so that she can get around despite the state she's in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is probably selfish of me, but I have such mixed feelings now about my college graduation at the end of the year. I know that part of the reason she hasn't come out to visit me yet is because it's getting harder to get her on a plane. She says she'll come out for my graduation--apparently planning on &lt;strong&gt;buying a row seats and renting a scooter to make it around campus&lt;/strong&gt;--but I'm not entirely sure she will brave the embarrassment. And quite frankly, there is part of me (shallow, I know) that is scared of showing off an immobile 600lb mom in a scooter to all my friends on my big day. On the other hand, I'd be heartbroken if my mom never made it to my college graduation because simply she got too fat to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can a girl in my position do? What should I do? What the heck is going on? Or am I being selfish here? How is it fair that she gets to eat like this, and we have to manage all with the consequences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DX1XA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My gorgeous mom when I was growing up&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AK8BL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My mom getting so big when I was in high school&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/areTl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Me out with my mom this summer, she can barely walk. You can see why I&amp;#39;m feeling embarrassed...&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12011" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T03:57:33.723" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T14:51:25.833" Title="Mom Losing Her Mobility Because of her Weight Gain" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-11-20T23:05:04.423" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19363" CreationDate="2014-10-28T01:48:18.570" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your mother is in a seriously dangerous place, and this really is in the realm of nutrition and medicine more than physical fitness (as far as priorities go). Her endocrine, cardiovascular, muscular, and skeletal systems have to be off-the-charts bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a good movie that came out recently called &lt;a href=&quot;http://fedupmovie.com/&quot;&gt;Fed Up&lt;/a&gt;: it lays out a lot of the more horrible aspects of western diets that contribute to obesity and diabetes. You may want to sit down and watch it with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has some incredible distance between a healthy diet and where she is now, and honestly a physician should really be involved to help manage that weight loss. She's very likely a clear candidate for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000259.htm&quot;&gt;weight loss surgery&lt;/a&gt;, and a physician friend of mine has told me of cases of extreme obesity (which your mother has) where removing the weight needs to be carefully tracked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really not out of line to make the clear case that her life is quite literally at stake. People that are ~400 pounds overweight don't last very long and her quality of life has to be extremely compromised at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, the embarrassment you feel at the idea of your mother attending your graduation is understandable. A sobering aspect of growing up is that you need to care for the people who once cared for you. If you can imagine how heart broken you would be to hear your mother say that she was embarrassed for you to be somewhere with her, I'm sure it would hurt her likewise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on helping her. Talk to her doctor, get the point across to other family members: you don't have a lot of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T04:06:49.847" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T04:06:49.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9406" CreationDate="2014-10-28T10:41:03.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;aerobic exercise should be considered a viable option for combating the decline of aerobic capacity and loss of muscle mass that occurs with the normal aging process. Until then, you and I will have to stick with good old weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12015" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T10:41:03.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19351" CreationDate="2014-10-28T12:04:37.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I partially agree with Eric. Zyzz wasn't at a level of &amp;lt;5% bf, he was around a 8%. You can achieve that level of definition without taking steroids. As Eric says, being in a 8-10% bf is totally possible with hard work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But first you have to consider two different things. One is your bf level and the other your muscle development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As said, you can achieve a 8%-10% bf level without steroids, but if you want to be under a 6% probably you would have to take something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same with muscle development. This depends more on your genetics and the ability of your body to gain muscle, but you would probably reach a limit where if you want more muscle you would have to take something too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zyzz's body wasn't a highly muscle developed body, his strength was his genetics, which provided him a really good looking body with a very nice shape. But Zyzz was an ectomorph and had it very difficult to gain muscle. Someone with better disposal to gain muscle as a mesomorph and with also good genetics could achieve that body without taking steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, asking to your question now. If you refer with &quot;shredded&quot; to the low bf level, yes, it's possible. But if you refer to the entire body looking, you have to consider what I've said about muscle development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10057" LastEditorUserId="10879" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T07:59:12.987" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T07:59:12.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19321" CreationDate="2014-10-28T14:08:37.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all we should know what you workout looks like. The muscle recovery time depends on your genetics, your experience and your training program. Of course, a beginner will take some more time to recover from a workout. Also, If you are able to recover from a workout in 12 hours, for sure you haven't trained with the correct intensity. This doesn't mean that you have to feel muscle soreness, but you have to feel them tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To have an aproximation of how much time does a muscle need to recover from workout, you first need to indetify your workout type, this is, you train at low reps for strengh, at middle reps for hipertrophy, or at high reps for resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strengh:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual workout program for strengh are full-body like programs, or programs where you train with basic exercises multiple muscles in a session. Here you could train each muscle 2-3 times a week, as the training volume for each muscle is low. The resting time for each muscle between session should be about 3-4 days, because in this type of workout you involve a lot the nervous system and it takes time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hipertrophy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the most common workout type, also known as the bodybuilder wourkout. Here you specialize more in each muscle, traning one or two muscles each day. In consecuence the training volumen for each muscle is higher than for strengh. This way you should only train each muscle one a week, maximum twice a week. As you involve less the nervous system than in a strengh routine, the recovery days for each muscle are less, so you should let each muscle rest for 2-3 days between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you see, it basically depends on your workout type and how hard you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10057" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T14:08:37.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19321" CreationDate="2014-10-28T15:27:16.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be aware you do not need to fully recover from one training to benefit from additional training, especially if it is different in nature.&#xA;Dual factor training takes this into for advanced lifters (example &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Programming#What_is_dual_factor_periodization.3F_I_don.27t_understand_this_stuff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Programming#What_is_dual_factor_periodization.3F_I_don.27t_understand_this_stuff&lt;/a&gt;. ) &#xA;You may not need to worry about this yet. But be aware you body can adapt into recovering better, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T15:27:16.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-28T18:38:40.130" Score="-2" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 years old, 5'6&quot; and I weigh 140, and want to be 120. Would that be healthy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12017" LastEditorUserId="2510" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T17:45:28.930" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T17:45:28.930" Title="What is the best thing to lose belly fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-12-11T13:35:48.993" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19374" CreationDate="2014-10-28T19:29:05.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many experts consider it to be impossible to lose fat from a single part of your body (called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_reduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;spot reduction&quot;&gt;spot reduction&lt;/a&gt;). You can't only &quot;lose belly fat&quot;. You have to reduce your overall body fat percentage, and replace the lost weight with muscle (because losing enough weight to see a significant reduction in &quot;belly fat&quot; will put you at significant health risks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to reduce body-fat percentage. All of them involve a healthy, balanced diet and regular exercise. One good resource is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.4hourlife.com/2011/04/09/4-hour-body-composition-body-fat-calculator-how-do-you-measure-up/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The 4-Hour Body&lt;/a&gt;; the author recommends eating a diet with minimal grains and sugar. He also prescribes a stripped-down exercise routine that (he claims) only takes 4 hours of gym time per month. This is not the only way to lose body fat but, in my opinion, it's one of the simplest, and keeping it simple is very important when you are starting something new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2510" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T19:29:05.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-28T19:34:47.717" Score="3" ViewCount="365" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in my early 40s, BMI=27, and my primary goal in exercising is to be healthy:  to live as long and as ably/comfortably as I can. My secondary goals are to maintain a reasonably good weight (preferably BMI &amp;lt; 25) and physique, and to elevate my mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The problem is that I am finding that my workouts have a significant drain on my energy afterward&lt;/strong&gt;, such that I get much less done in the hours following a workout, and I generally feel achy and slightly unwell. Some of that may be due to factors within my control: meal and hydration timing, good nutrition, good sleep, etc. I'm not perfect on any of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think that most of the after-effect is simply due to being &lt;em&gt;tired from the workout&lt;/em&gt;. What I've considered is that maybe I am overdoing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the more fit I am, the less this happens (and I posted a similar question abou tthat long ago), but even feeling relatively fit (resting heart rate often under 60), these workouts often really knock me out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of this was inspired by leafing through a book about 80/20 running, and how for improvements in running performance, one should do 4 moderate runs for every 1 hard run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is:  &lt;strong&gt;How much exercise should I do to fulfill my health goals while minimizing the after-workout brownout?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you an idea of my intensity, to see if it is maybe too much, my current workout is this (almost all inclined treadmill), three times a week on Sun, Tue, Thu:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walk to Gym (1.6 miles) carrying gear (10 lbs), 15 min mile pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inclined treadmill (not holding onto the bar other than 1 min rests), ~55 minutes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15% grade @ 4.1 mph for up to 22 minutes. (This is pretty fierce, at least for me. When I started, 4 min was my maximum time for it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15% grade @ 4.1 mph for up to 1 minute, holding onto bar. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15% grade @ 3.5 mph for 5 min&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15% grade @ 5.1 mph for 2 to 2.5 min (heart rate gets to 170+ for this!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15% grade @ 2.0 mph for 2-3 min, holding on as a cool-down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15% grade @ 3.6 mph for 15 min&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flat treadmill (5 min)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 min run, alternating between 8 min mile and 6:58 min mile.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preacher bench/machine bicep curls (5-10 min):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;35 x 15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 x 15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45 x 15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50 x 15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walk back from Gym (1.6 miles) carrying gear (10 lbs), 15 min mile pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also done other weight lifting but lately I am a little more pressed for time and am just limiting it to arms for now. Lame, I know, but really my focus is cardio and general systemic fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?  Am I overdoing it for my goals?  Or should I just accept that three days a week I'm going to feel like the air has been let out of my tires?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1789" LastEditorUserId="1789" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T19:53:24.880" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T04:06:17.353" Title="How much exercise is &quot;just enough&quot;?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19392" CreationDate="2014-10-28T21:31:40.997" Score="0" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love beer but I want to get muscles too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok if I drink 2 x 0.33 L cans per day? Beer has 5% alc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12012" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T16:35:33.920" Title="How much beer can i drink?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-12-11T13:39:20.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19378" CreationDate="2014-10-28T21:39:55.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's OK, but certainly not good for you&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're not getting plastered-drunk on two cans of beer, you're not impeding muscle-growth much. Beer does have plenty of calories, and they are liquid calories, so your hunger-levels don't notice them as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend keeping the beer-drinking to weekends - an everyday habit can add-up in calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a detailed guide from Testosterone Nation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/lifters-guide-to-alcohol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/lifters-guide-to-alcohol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastEditorUserId="10879" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T21:49:13.227" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T21:49:13.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19376" CreationDate="2014-10-28T21:59:59.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The amount of exercise that hits the Goldilocks Window is different for different people, or even the same person at different times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an hour of inclined treadmill walking plus a 5-minute run plus a bit of bicep work is leaving you drained then either it's too much work for your capabilities right now or you're not eating and recovering well enough to handle that kind of work right now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Better Programming&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your primary goal is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to live as long and as ably/comfortably as I can &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and your secondary goals are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to maintain a reasonably good weight (preferably BMI &amp;lt; 25) and physique, and to elevate my mood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then you're doing way, way less than you should. Living well is a big goal. Huge. I'd say it requires close to full-time investment in strength, mobility, and cardio. Right now you're doing just about zero strength training, a lot of one form of steady-state cardio but not much else, and a smidge of vanity work. That doesn't comport with your stated goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength is important for long-term health, since it is a strong predictor of all-cause mortality (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12242311&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21527158&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443114/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;three&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2453303/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;four&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938886/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;five&lt;/a&gt;) and keeps you able to do a variety of tasks yourself. It works together with flexibility and mobility, which have obvious quality-of-life benefits with regards to daily tasks. Cardiorespiratory fitness is of course important as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To meet your goals, I'd do three or four strength workouts a week, plus as much cardio as you feel like doing. The cardio would not be unimodal but would vary between long steady-state work like your incline treadmilling and short, higher-intensity work, perhaps with intervals but definitely with different tools (swimming, sprinting with full rests in between, dumbbell swings, et cetera). It is important to vary the conditioning work so that you don't get too good any any one activity and thereby decrease the cardio benefits of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, don't base your workout goals on BMI. It's a terrible metric. Be honest and stick with visual goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-06T09:22:09.613" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T09:22:09.613" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3006" CreationDate="2014-10-28T23:00:11.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get keto sticks at any pharmacy/grocery store. Vodka and your favorite diet drink will not take you out of ketosis. Wine will take you out of ketosis. So if you want to continue to process your stored carbs( fat) Stay away from wine. Once again, get some ketosis sticks and test yourself throughout the day,perhaps your matabolism is different ( I doubt it) but you will see what effects the process, and what does not. I know I lost 70lbs on a low carb diet. Google &quot;Carbs in wine&quot; and google &quot;carbs in vodka&quot; . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12022" LastEditorUserId="12022" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T23:07:33.993" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T23:07:33.993" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19376" CreationDate="2014-10-29T01:44:15.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you might be asking the wrong question. Your stated goal is here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;my primary goal in exercising is to be healthy: to live as long and as&#xA;  ably/comfortably as I can. My secondary goals are to maintain a&#xA;  reasonably good weight (preferably BMI &amp;lt; 25) and physique, and to&#xA;  elevate my mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd back up a little bit and ask the question: &lt;em&gt;what's the best way for me to achieve that goal in the time I have, which is two hours three days a week&lt;/em&gt;. The walk back and forth is terrific, but the aerobic work you're doing really isn't the best thing for your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You currently have a &lt;strong&gt;routine&lt;/strong&gt;, but you need a &lt;strong&gt;program&lt;/strong&gt;. It might seem like a distinction without a difference, but a program is very different from what you're doing now. Properly designed programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are designed by professional coaches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have tens of thousands of successful people backing them up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are designed to give you the most results possible in the shortest amount of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will prevent over training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A routine is some random collection of various activities one performs that doesn't have any testable results or real theory behind it. Lots of people have routines, effective people have programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your BMI, grams come off at the gym and pounds come off in the kitchen. So regarding your bodyfat, you need to focus on the nutritional component. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;And strength training has been shown to generally have a more profound effect on weight loss than aerobic activity anyway&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your longevity, there is a lot of evidence in favor of free-weight strength training when it comes to bone density, balance, connective tissue toughness, and hormonal balance. Even neural pathways get better defined. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take a full overhaul of your fitness activities and give something like Starting Strength a spin. Coupled with good nutrition, I don't think anyone can argue that there's a more balanced way to achieve overall physical fitness for a novice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T08:57:28.487" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T08:57:28.487" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19390" CreationDate="2014-10-29T06:54:58.167" Score="-3" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is about my body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5'9 height&#xA;60Kg (~130lb)&#xA;don't have much fat on tummy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Schedule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wakeup&#xA;work&#xA;work&#xA;eat&#xA;work&#xA;work&#xA;workout&#xA;eat&#xA;sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;diet: vegetarian&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;made a bet with friend and need 6 pack abs in 1.5 month&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I followed some youtube tutorials to do abs and crunches, don't see any effect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need a fool proof way to achieve this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12026" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T22:41:12.973" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T22:41:12.973" Title="how to get 6 pack abs in 1.5 month" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-21T22:43:45.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19384" CreationDate="2014-10-29T07:53:09.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abs are made in the kitchen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do like Serge Nubret, 2000 crunchs per day, but if you have a poor/unbalanced diet, they'll never appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to review your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bobybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; for some example, tips etc for fat loss/shred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T13:54:36.787" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T13:54:36.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19384" CreationDate="2014-10-29T10:34:49.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The smart money is on your friend and here's why. &quot;Six pack abs&quot; are a result of hard work, genetics, dedication, consistency, diet and smart training. See where I'm going with this?  Like any other body part it takes time to sculpt it. So, unless you're predisposed to great abs, your chances are pretty slim given the time frame and the fact there's no &quot;fool proof&quot; method to achieve them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T10:34:49.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19384" CreationDate="2014-10-29T12:41:10.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Visible abs are achievable in this time. Question is, how much are you willing to sacrifice / give away to reach this goal?&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apply intensive [insert any diet name] diet.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apply any specific training program designed to decrease overall body fat.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get tempted and buy fat burners.&#xA;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;Quick gains achieved by following magic supplements / super diets / training regimes usually do not last for very long and for a good reason. Body itself won't allow them to inflict this kind of damage to their bodies over extend period of time. At some point it will burn out one way or another (read: injury/ get ill / losing motivation, inspiration and etc).&#xA;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;It might be fun trying something out and you can even catch the bug! But to achieve long standing results the 'time' variable might go out from the equation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10732" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T12:41:10.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19378" CreationDate="2014-10-29T16:13:34.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But I just have two glasses per day, that's healthy, right?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For all these conditions [colorectum, liver and breast cancers, essential hypertension and chronic pancreatitis], low intakes, corresponding to daily&#xA;  consumption of two drinks or two glasses of wine (25 g/day), have&#xA;  shown significant risks. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10790907&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10790907&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;two-per-day is fine&quot; notion that has somehow proliferated through society is a fallacy.  (Not to be cynical, but the notion is probably perpetuated by the alcohol industry.  If anyone can find the study that suggests two drinks per day isn't harmful, I'm interested in seeing it -- but see &quot;Positive Effects of Alcohol Consumption&quot; section &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64412/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; first.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DACH_ARDI/Default/Report.aspx?T=AAM&amp;amp;P=f6d7eda7-036e-4553-9968-9b17ffad620e&amp;amp;R=d7a9b303-48e9-4440-bf47-070a4827e1fd&amp;amp;M=AD96A9C1-285A-44D2-B76D-BA2AE037FC56&amp;amp;L=&amp;amp;F=AAMCauseAgeGroupAllNew&amp;amp;D=H&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these reports from the CDC&lt;/a&gt;.  They're terrible.  Every one of those deaths is undoubtedly a sob story. In 2001, the CDC estimated 2.3 million years of potential life were lost due to adverse health consequences from alcohol (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15385917&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But it helps me fall asleep:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In low to moderate doses, alcohol initially promotes sleep. However, scientific consensus maintains that chronic use ultimately disrupts sleep-related physiology–even among those who do not meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775419/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775419/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Low doses of alcohol may partially improve sleep, but there are reductions in slow wave activity, and disturbances in REM sleep are likely above 0.32 g/kg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6155259&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6155259&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alcohol increased the duration and frequency of the occlusive episodes in five patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, and resulted in a marked increase in the degree of hypoxaemia in the first hour of sleep. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7077345&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7077345&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Decreased pancreas function means an impact on insulin, which means an impact on muscle growth.  Decreased sleep means an impact on cortisol, insulin, and growth hormone, which means an impact on muscle growth&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC297368/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC297368/&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just a couple of examples of physiological effects.  There is a font of information out there proving alcohol does the body or the mind absolutely no good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking anecdotally, I know that nothing tastes better after a tough workout than an ice cold beer.  I've been there.  Two or three beers every night after a workout -- and I worked out every day.  Nobody needs convincing that it's bad.  You can feel the negative effects after the buzz wears off.  Personally I feel the negative effects for a few days after drinking.  It really screws with the hormones.  I wasn't able to make serious progress with my training until I gave it up, and I imagine it's the same for most people.  You won't find any olympians who drink regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T16:35:33.920" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T16:35:33.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19397" CreationDate="2014-10-29T17:33:54.077" Score="15" ViewCount="86141" Body="&lt;p&gt;My impression given what I read on the internet about it was that steroids help your body recover much faster after workout. So for the recovering to work, you still have to damage your body in the gym, right? But I heard people saying that you don't even have to work out to get the muscles if you're on roids. Is there any truth in that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12012" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T18:31:44.213" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T20:52:25.093" Title="Can someone who takes steroids get muscle mass even without lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2014-10-29T18:28:10.070" Score="13" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But I heard people saying that you don't even have to work out to get&#xA;  the muscles if you're on roids. Is there any truth in that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steroids don't change the basic paradigm of muscle training. Juicing yourself to increase your hormones (effectively) will allow you to carry more muscle than your body would allow otherwise. You will recover faster as well, and can subject your body to more load allowing increased super compensation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you need to train, and most heavy steroid users with massive muscles spend a lot of time in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond increased training capacity the other advantage is that because your recovery is so much better you can be sloppier with your program than a natural athlete. Walking the knife edge of overtraining becomes wider because you can exceed your genetic potential. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is all well and good except for those small problems related to your testicles shrinking, baldness, excess estrogen, illegal drug use, injections, and knowing that the only way to maintain more muscle than your genetic capacity is with the continued use of those steroids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also expensive, mood altering, and I'd be impressed if you could find a single medical professional who would tell you it's anything other than incredibly short sighted. You'll have your body for decades: don't treat it like a child's chemistry experiment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T18:28:10.070" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2014-10-29T22:11:04.770" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199607043350101&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;documented tests&lt;/a&gt; that show steroid use without weight training will still increase your muscle mass just as someone who workouts and doesn't use steroids. However, if you're thinking you can get huge and jacked by just taking steroids alone you're sadly mistaken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/362r1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Changes from Base Line in Mean (±SE) Fat-free Mass, Triceps and Quadriceps Cross-Sectional Areas, and Muscle Strength in the Bench-Press and Squatting Exercises over the 10 Weeks of Treatment&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The P values shown are for the comparison between the change indicated&#xA;  and a change of zero. The asterisks indicate P&amp;lt;0.05 for the comparison&#xA;  between the change indicated and that in either no-exercise group; the&#xA;  daggers, P&amp;lt;0.05 for the comparison between the change indicated and&#xA;  that in the group assigned to placebo with no exercise; and the double&#xA;  daggers, P&amp;lt;0.05 for the comparison between the change indicated and&#xA;  the changes in all three other groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12038" LastEditorUserId="12012" LastEditDate="2014-10-30T19:48:39.817" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T19:48:39.817" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19233" CreationDate="2014-10-29T22:44:16.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different methods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parafin-style thing such as ClimbOn (as shown in question) acts as a good massage tool and protection&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;different lotions such as Nivea lotions to heal it faster: getting the fats/ingredients externally around the injured area, the skin will absorb it and it can heal faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Irritating/massaging: merging scar tissue with healthy tissue, instructions &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYs_UXKvjIE&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Please notice that the scar tissue heals far slower with older people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise more: you can increase the recovery rate by exercising more (more blood flow)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T22:44:16.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19405" CreationDate="2014-10-30T00:00:57.897" Score="1" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I attended one beginner course in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitlauttasaari.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CFT Lauttasaari&lt;/a&gt; where they said that this is a common problem with guys and recommended stick/bar training to improve flexibility and range of motion. This is necessary for safe training for technical manoeuvres such as clean and jerk. I want to hear your opinion about this, I think inflexibility can be a serious flaw and all power training should be done so that it does not get worse. My goals are to get such flexibility that I can safely train basic weight-lifting movements and play tennis without compromising power (and still having the range of motion). I made a little video showing how bad the inflexibility is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zMWkWKZiM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which muscles and which movements do I need to address the inflexibility problem with hands straight behind back?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2yat2.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps Related&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14743/arm-cross-stretching-behind-the-back-how-to-improve-it&quot;&gt;Arm cross stretching behind the back, how to improve it?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T15:43:16.743" Title="How to improve mobility of shoulders where arms straight together behind back?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-30T00:42:30.000" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently following the Paleo Diet for a few months now, and I've skipping on the carbohydrates, although I give myself some &quot;free&quot; days to let myself eat fries or rice maybe once to twice a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm feeling good, yes. But what I might not be seeing is the long-term effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any long-term effects to not eating carbohydrates? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12042" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T16:38:13.677" Title="Can I skip carbohydrates altogether?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-12-04T20:30:04.040" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-30T00:49:22.733" Score="1" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now, I'm currently doing light exercises every other day, and I am following the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paleo Diet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By light exercises, I mean :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 arm lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat for 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the months that I have practiced this, I have seen the overall difference. However, right now, I think I've plateaued. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do to maintain my overall weight, while losing body fat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe my current weight (around 67kg?) is optimal already for my height (5'10&quot;), so I'm pushing to maintain it while reducing my body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12042" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T02:18:16.373" Title="How do I lose body fat without losing body weight?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19400" CreationDate="2014-10-30T01:08:51.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lyle McDonald wrote a while back that he doesn't feel carbohydrates are necessary at all, because glycogen can be provided by fat and protein. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/how-many-carbohydrates-do-you-need.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The second criterion is the reason that dietary carbohydrate is not an&#xA;  essential nutrient: the body is able to make as much glucose as the&#xA;  brain and the few other tissues need on a day-to-day basis from other&#xA;  sources. I should mention that the body is not able to provide&#xA;  sufficient carbohydrate to fuel high intensity exercise such as&#xA;  sprinting or weight training and carbs might be considered essential&#xA;  for individuals who want to do that type of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it depends a bit on your activity level. You won't find many high level athletes who don't eat a single carb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expanding a bit, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gluconeogenesis&lt;/a&gt; allows for glucose to be created from fat and protein. &quot;&lt;em&gt;Do I need carbs?&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is a very different question from &quot;&lt;em&gt;Do I need glucose?&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, eating truly zero carbohydrates is nearly impossible. Most foods, including whey protein powders, have trace amounts. You're asking a theoretical question (which is fine), but outside of laboratory conditions it's not really going to happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-30T16:38:13.677" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T16:38:13.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19401" CreationDate="2014-10-30T01:21:11.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I wouldn't sweat your body weight. You'll find most muscular people will end up on the &quot;obese&quot; side of a basic BMI chart. Muscle weighs a lot more than fat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZwkXS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd make these adjustments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flip to &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a solid program&lt;/a&gt;, away from a routine. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; gets a lot of love and is considered by many to be the most effective strength training program when it comes to gains in a given amount of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body fat is primarily controlled by your diet. Reducing calories is by far the most effective way to reduce body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;Strength training, especially following a progressive loading program, will increase your metabolism by ~10%, which increases your caloric burn 24/7&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would break your plateau, address your body fat, and put you on a solid path to strength and fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T01:21:11.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19399" CreationDate="2014-10-30T01:39:39.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got an answer in the facebook group of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/aaltofitness/posts/321416431394036&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Aalto Fitness&lt;/a&gt; (sport organisation in Aalto University). An answerer recommended the the video in Finnish after point 17.00 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDHeyIlmRok&amp;amp;t=17m0s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (Finnish) and other answer pointed out the problem &amp;quot;Venytystä liikkeessä vastustavat hauis, etuolkapää ja rintalihas&amp;quot; (trans. &amp;quot;stretching movement is blocked by bicep, front shoulder muscle and breast muscle&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Movements in English&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;front shoulder(?)/elbow muscle &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCmY_HxrqWs&amp;amp;t=2m48s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OPvzo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;bicep, how to get that more flexible(?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;breast muscle, how to get that more flexible(?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T09:53:27.467" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2014-10-30T01:39:39.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19399" CreationDate="2014-10-30T01:41:56.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You honestly don't look &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; inflexible to me. It was a long video but I don't think I saw any front squats in the rack position which is really the weight lifting move that requires the most flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard of folks getting shoulder injuries actually from them being too loose (i.e. too much stretching), but I don't have any data to back that up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of things I'd consider though, just for good shoulder health related to barbell training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do standing overhead presses, in a progressive lifting program (Strong Lifts, Starting Strength, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do overhead squats. Start with a broom stick before you have the Olympic bar up there. These are terrific for shoulder stability, and you'll need to learn them to do a snatch anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'll interlace my fingers, put my hands behind my back through a gymnast ring that's about waist high, drop on my knees, and that will bring my arms high up and stretch out my front deltoids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also do a door frame stretch. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T01:41:56.870" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2014-10-30T03:30:32.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a link because the study was about 25 years ago but Harvard Med did a test study on three groups for 4 months:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. Steroids + 4 days working out per week (same regimen)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. Steroids + No workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C. Placebo + 4 days working out per week (same regimen)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. 6% gain in muscle mass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. 4% gain in muscle mass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C. 2% gain in muscle mass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if this is as repeatable for later cycles but obviously if people are risking their life to take something there has to be a payoff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T03:30:32.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17921" CreationDate="2014-10-30T03:34:14.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely agree with user9941 about diet -- as cliched as it is, &quot;you can't out train a bad diet&quot;, applies to the majority of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, it's really an individual answer and there isn't one right answer for everyone regarding how many days they can do CrossFit. You need to listen to your body. Are you getting 8+ hours of sleep every night? Is your nutrition dialed in? Are you in your 20s, 30s, 40s, or older? What intensity level are you exerting at each workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are 50+, getting 4 hours of sleep per night, eating a standard American diet (and/or trying to starve yourself to lose weight), and are ending each CrossFit workout having pushed yourself to the limit (i.e. laying on the floor in a puddle of sweat trying not to throw up and get an exercise induced headache), then 6 days per week is way too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're in your 20s, getting 9+ hours of sleep per night, eating clean (with plenty of good pre and post workout carbs), and you're only going all out for 2-3 of the workouts, and really focusing on skill progressions/strength/form on the other 3-4, then you're probably going to do great with 6 days per week (and could potentially handle even more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you're somewhere in between, you have to listen to your own body about how you're recovering. If you feel beat up, then you probably are, and you should scale back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to you coach(es) and see what they think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11974" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T03:34:14.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-30T04:32:41.143" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is doing 10 times 10 pull-ups during ~1 hour 5-6 time a week too often? &#xA;Is it good for keeping current muscle level, combined with the right diet?&#xA;Is it necessary to add weight to grow muscles?&#xA;What will decreasing frequency and increasing the amount per exercise change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="12044" LastEditDate="2014-10-31T03:41:47.313" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T11:14:00.503" Title="Exercise frequency" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-30T09:50:43.697" Score="4" ViewCount="702" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been weight lifting for two months (squat, bench and deadlift), and while I have been very happy with the short term benefits of my new routine, I'm concerned about the negative long term effects of weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What measures can I take to ensure that I'm lifting safely and not pushing myself too hard, minimising the risk of injuries in the long term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, I'm currently deadlifting 80kg. My family (who knows nothing about weight lifting) are concerned that this is too heavy and that I could be hurting myself, if not now then in the long term. While I'm sure that this isn't the case at this particular weight, It makes me wonder what that threshold is and how I can reassure my family and lift as safely as possible so that I minimise injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that poor form can definitely cause issues in the short and long term, so I'm rather interested in the case where the exercise is performed with correct form. I have absolutely no issue with taking as long as necessary to get my form correct before adding weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5376" LastEditorDisplayName="user5376" LastEditDate="2014-10-30T17:26:16.197" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T17:26:16.197" Title="As a recreational weight lifter, how do I ensure that I minimise long term health issues?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-30T11:36:15.400" Score="2" ViewCount="449" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started weight lifting training again after a pause of 5 years. I started really slowly, always did a good warm up (10 min cardio + first sets with reduced weight). After two months of training I now had shoulder pain after the push day (bench press, dips). It gets better after two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did some research and found out that I probably have to train my shoulder rotators separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my questions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I completely pause my training for some time? Or could I do exercises that do not stress the shoulders that much like pull-ups (if the pain is gone of course).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I start the rotator training immediately with very light weights? Or should I wait until the pain is completely gone?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12048" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-30T16:42:16.390" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T21:23:45.057" Title="Shoulder pain after training - How to continue?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2014-10-30T12:10:50.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the limited research I've done on this I concluded that you'll still keep some of the muscle gained but not necessarily the same mass. The idea is the steroids increase the number of muscle fibres. It is one of the reasons why some are against athletes that have tested positive being allowed to compete even after serving their bans. It could be argued that they have gained an advantage that will stay with them for a long time even after going clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12049" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T12:10:50.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19423" CreationDate="2014-10-30T12:20:12.463" Score="0" ViewCount="1123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been having a hard time increasing my protein intake. I live in a university dormitory where we are not allowed to cook. Cafeterias don't offer a lot of healthy options either (I'm from the Philippines, by the way, and Filipino food is usually loaded with grease). On the other hand, I am also lactose intolerant, has GERD and possibly IBS. I have tried various brands of whey protein before, including those with whey protein isolate as main ingredient but I tend to become bloated after taking them. One thing that doesn't upset my stomach are eggs. Then I learned that there is such a thing as egg white powder (the kind used in baking) and it's pretty cheap. A kilo (~2.2lbs) costs only PhP1000 (~US$22), more than half the price of most whey protein sold here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it a good idea to make shakes using egg white powder? I can imagine that adding water will reconstitute it into its original, slimy form. Will it cause stomach troubles? I've never tried raw eggs before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the difference between the egg white powder used in baking and egg protein powder?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it safe to store egg white powder without refrigeration?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12043" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T18:37:26.023" Title="Is egg white powder a good alternative to whey protein?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-01-11T22:48:42.033" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19400" CreationDate="2014-10-30T13:25:21.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates have gotten a &quot;bad rap&quot; in the last several years.  For every article or non-standard diet that demonizes carbohydrates, you'll find an equal number that doesn't.  Notice the &lt;a href=&quot;http://learn.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;discrepancy&lt;/a&gt; with the first answer posted here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Except under conditions of starvation, it was thought that the brain&#xA;  always had an ample supply of glucose. &quot;While this is the case in&#xA;  terms of consciousness, the new findings suggest that glucose is not&#xA;  always present in ample amounts to optimally support learning and&#xA;  memory functions,&quot; said Gold, who is director of the Medical Scholars&#xA;  Program in the University of Illinois College of Medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any Registered Dietician will tell you that removing &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; carbohydrates from your diet is not a good thing because carbs are an essential nutrient.  Not only do they provide energy, but, they assist in brain functioning.  And, while there's no agreement on the long term efficacy of zero carbohydrate diets, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.atkinsexposed.org/atkins/133/low_carb_diets:_potential_short_and_long-term_health_implications.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;potential implications&lt;/a&gt; are widely known.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best that you can do for yourself is to become knowledgeable on how certain foods affect you because, regardless of popular opinion,  there's no such thing as a universal diet that meets the needs of &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T13:25:21.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-30T14:02:51.703" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I notice that I am losing fat and gaining muscle while doing cardio (running 6.1 mph at a 1% incline). Why is this? I am already very lean (6'2&quot;, 9% bf male).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12051" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T17:16:01.540" Title="Gaining LBM while doing cardio" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19413" CreationDate="2014-10-30T14:57:47.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eggs - both whites and whole eggs - have a long and storied role in the muscle building history. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Google egg white powder and you can see it sold as a supplement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This will probably be product specific.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The product itself will probably have storage instructions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your question is largely about personal digestion issues, it seems you will need to try it yourself to see how your body responds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T14:57:47.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19415" CreationDate="2014-10-30T15:00:38.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you really 9% ?&#xA;Here's one verification: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Also you don't mention if you are also doing any other training besides the cardio. Are you?&#xA;Note that training can increase water retention which would increase bodyweight without gaining fat, giving the impression of an increase in LBM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T15:00:38.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19411" CreationDate="2014-10-30T15:06:49.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it hurts, don't do it.&#xA;Here's document on treating your rotator cuffs&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2484936/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2484936/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, if it hurts you, don't do it. &#xA;Benching with a barbell and dips commonly hurt people's shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't need to do those lifts, switch to exercises that don't hurt. Dumbbell benches, presses, etc. are more often pain free movements for people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T15:06:49.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19409" CreationDate="2014-10-30T15:10:24.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You get stronger, and likely bigger if you eat more. Anything more is speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a overly general question and can't really be answered concisely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many forms of pursuing lifting - for competition in Weightlifting or Powerlifting, for Aesthetics - Bodybuilding, for general health/fun, or other reasons too numerous to list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any sport pursued long enough will change your body, and yes, risk injury, but look at long term lifters in your gym, online and see how they are doing. They will show you the many paths your lifting can take you towards. Have fun while working hard and you will be rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10713" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T15:10:24.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19409" CreationDate="2014-10-30T15:56:18.427" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your family's concern is misplaced. Deadlifting 80kg is perfectly reasonable, as is deadlifting 100kg, 120kg, or 160kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's dangerous with lifting weights isn't the amount lifted, but whether you're advancing carefully with additional weight, being judicious with one-rep-max attempts, warming up sufficiently, managing minor injuries, and acting preemptively on mobility and inflamed joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What, then, will convince your family of this? It's impossible to know. Are they convinced by evidence? Show them &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Safety.html&quot;&gt;injury rates compared across sports&lt;/a&gt;, which shows weightlifting to be extremely safe. Are they convinced by reading regular women who lift? Show them &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blisstree.com/2011/08/23/fitness/i-heart-powerlifting-and-im-not-bulky-or-masculine/&quot;&gt;a quick blog post&lt;/a&gt;. Might they be convinced by seeing women lift competitively, to broaden their conception of women's capabulities? Show them, say, &lt;a href=&quot;http://sweatforit.com/fit-girls/german-olympic-weightlifter-julia-rohde/&quot;&gt;Julia&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubjIf5keO4A&quot;&gt;Rhode&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T15:56:18.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19415" CreationDate="2014-10-30T16:49:02.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cardio&quot; still requires more muscle use than a sedentary life style. Sure, it's not squatting heavy weights, and sure it's very high repetitions of the same movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But look at a competitive cyclist who doesn't do anything but ride: you will see incredibly powerful legs. Big &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vastus_medialis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vastus medialis&lt;/a&gt; muscles hanging by the knee that looks like they're smuggling avocados. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will eventually compensate sufficiently to handle your running load and your muscle gain will flatline: distance running is well outside the effective bounds of hypertrophy (muscle mass increases). You'll gain enough to run, and that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful though about assigning any particular weight increases to water, fat, or muscle. I'll weigh myself once a month or so just for the heck of it. More important is my strength standards, conditioning, and performance in chosen athletic field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T16:49:02.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19413" CreationDate="2014-10-30T17:05:03.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea to make shakes using egg white powder? I can imagine&#xA;  that adding water will reconstitute it into its original, slimy form.&#xA;  Will it cause stomach troubles? I've never tried raw eggs before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Egg whites also go by the name albumen, by which the fatty yolks have been filtered away. Most people who use egg protein powder are like you: they want a quick protein source but can't handle whey. Egg protein really has a quite decent nutritional profile and contains a lot of leucine, but whey has more. Whether it's enough to make a difference is up for debate but for those who can handle whey, they go with it because it's &quot;better&quot; and there are a lot more flavor options. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the egg white powder used in baking and&#xA;  egg protein powder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kind designed for baking may have additional gelling agents, might not be as refined, and probably won't mix as well. One is designed to be baked into other food, the other for direct mixing with water and consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it safe to store egg white powder without refrigeration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. It has an expiration date like everything else. Egg protein is filtered, sterilized, and dried. It will &quot;go bad&quot; like any other food product, starting with a degradation in taste and mixing ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T17:05:03.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19411" CreationDate="2014-10-30T17:23:29.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting for several years and my shoulders always feel great. My answer is anecdotal, but my habits are based on listening to smart coaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do a 1:1 mix of standing overhead press and bench presses. My primary pushing movement is the overhead press, and I don't let my bench get out-of-control strong without training my shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everything is compound. I haven't touched a machine in over six years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No isolation work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can dip with weights on a belt, do ring dips, and ring muscle ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training the tiny rotator cuff muscles in in the realm of physical therapy. The bigger picture (to me) is having a balanced training program that ensures your shoulder gets strong in the right way. Natural compound movements (like the standing overhead press) work the shoulder through a normal range of motion and promote balanced muscle and connective tissue growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I completely pause my training for some time? Or could I do&#xA;  exercises that do not stress the shoulders that much like pull-ups (if&#xA;  the pain is gone of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good time to take up running. Shoulders, elbows, and knees: when they hurt, you need to hit the pause button until you go from the ouch-pain to the sore-pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T17:23:29.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19426" CreationDate="2014-10-30T21:54:06.227" Score="2" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all my excuses if this question seems stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 19 years old and have a friend who is the same age as I do. He has been going to the gym for about 1,5 year, where he is mainly lifting weights, bench press, squats etc. I on the other hand have been exercising from a young age mainly with bodyweight exercises and started gym some months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm around 5ft10, ~60kg. My friend is a little shorter and a little heavier. When I do bench press I use almost 3-times less weight. Same story with the smith machine. However, my friend, who lifts so much more weight than I do, can do only manage &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; complete pull up(from full hand extension to chin at the top of the bar) and &lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt; chin ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I on the contrary do around 20 pullups and 25 chinups and started doing pullups with a 20kg weight belt(manage around 5 full repetitions). Due to not having enough spare time I nearly abstain from the machines and make my workout program on the pull up bar (pull ups, chin ups, typewriters, toes on top, leg curls, muscle up dips etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my friend, who lifts 3 times more weight than I do, stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he manages to lift so much weight, why he only manages so few repetitions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why can't I lift as much weight if I can lift, without any problem my own 60kg weight plus 20kg more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12054" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T03:09:43.257" Title="Pullup Bar &amp; Bodyweight exercises" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19425" CreationDate="2014-10-31T03:09:43.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is my friend, who lifts 3 times more weight than I do, stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's stronger than you at certain things. There is no universal single benchmark for strength. Numerous things can be used: squats, snatches, atlas stones, deadlifts, overhead press, pulling a car up a hill, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body adapts to what you do it. Your friend doesn't concentrate on pullups and doesn't train on them, so he's terrible at them. You're also lighter than him, which is actually pretty significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effective strength training is all about doing exercises that develop you in a balanced, complete, and safe manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If he manages to lift so much weight, why he only manages so few&#xA;  repetitions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's not that strong in the pullup/chinup department. You can knock out a ton of reps in easier weights. For example I bet he could do circles all day benching your weight: not a problem. He may have overdeveloped his chest and left his back untouched which is fairly normal (and sad), but I have no data to support that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why can't I lift as much weight if I can lift, without any problem my&#xA;  own 60kg weight plus 20kg more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to train for the specific exercise. Your body has &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;specific&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; adaptation. If you train at high reps, it will develop endurance because you're not using full strength. If you work at full strength, your body will develop strength and not endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullups will not have a lot of bearing on your bench. The two are related and you absolutely need to develop your body in a balanced way, but if you want to bench more you need to bench more: no way around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two pieces of advice I'd give you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't ever use the Smith machine again. It's dangerous, ineffective, and develops bad habits. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your bodyweight training is fine, but it will not allow you to achieve very high strength goals, and certainly not in a timely manner. I'm a huge fan of bodyweight training but barbells are easily the best way to build strength. Look up &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, and follow that program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T03:09:43.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-31T03:29:30.670" Score="-2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I look at my '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calorie counter app&lt;/a&gt;' it says that two slices of Peanut Butter Toast (assuming 200g) are roughly 1427 kJ of energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then when &lt;a href=&quot;http://possiblywrong.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/calories-in-calories-out/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I look at this post&lt;/a&gt; - I see a rule&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are a couple of useful observations at this point. First, the “3500 calories per pound” rule of thumb is perfectly valid… as long as it is applied correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=3500%20calories%20per%20pound%20to%20kJ%2Fkg&amp;amp;cad=h&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;we convert that to metric&lt;/a&gt; we get&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;32.3 kJ / kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So very roughly - if I have a 32KJ deficit at the end of the day - that should correspond to a 1 Kg weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now perhaps the answer is energy density, peanut butter toast has a high energy density per gram and stored body fat has a low energy density per gram. But something still seems fishy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my mathematics completely incorrect? My question is: &lt;strong&gt;How does 200g of toast relate to 500g of weight loss?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11979" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T04:19:21.473" Title="How does 200g of toast relate to 500g of weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-11-05T12:05:57.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19408" CreationDate="2014-10-31T11:14:00.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not harmful. You can workout 7 days a week, twice a day if you really feel like it. Just make sure you use good form and if you feel you're getting tired/fatigued really easily and struggling with the workout, take a day or two off to recover/relax. Listen to your body. Make sure you consume enough food and water. High intensity, regular exercise can take its toll on some people - some much quicker than others. Everyone is different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7654" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T11:14:00.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19427" CreationDate="2014-10-31T14:45:21.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your math is way off, because it's not being applied properly.  First, a pound of fat contains 3500 Calories.  Most healthy individuals do not eat that in a day unless they are high level athletes who use all of those calories.  Never think you are going to lose a pound of fat a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we have 1 pound which is roughly equivalent to 454 grams of body weight.  An equal mass of fat will require 3500 Calories to sustain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain or lose that amount, you have to remove or add that amount to your &lt;em&gt;weekly&lt;/em&gt; net energy expenditure.  To understand this, you have to know how many calories are required to maintain your current body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have an active person with a decent build, no six pack, and weighs around 80 kg (176 lbs).  After some experimentation they find that it takes 2400 Calories a day to maintain their body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to figure out how much they need to adjust their diet to lose 454 g (1 lb) you need to look at things over the week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2400 Calories &lt;strong&gt;X&lt;/strong&gt; 7 days &lt;strong&gt;=&lt;/strong&gt; 16,800 Calories a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To lose 454 g (1 lb) you need to take away 3500 Calories for the week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16,800 Calories &lt;strong&gt;-&lt;/strong&gt; 3,500 Calories &lt;strong&gt;=&lt;/strong&gt; 13,300 Calories for the week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To find out what that means each day, we have to divide by 7 again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,300 Calories &lt;strong&gt;/&lt;/strong&gt; 7 days &lt;strong&gt;=&lt;/strong&gt; 1,900 Calories a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To simplify that, taking 500 Calories out of your daily diet will have you losing 1 lb a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your conversion is flawed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_calories.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, one calorie (note the small 'C') contains 4.184 Joules.  One kcal, or more commonly written as a Calorie (note the capital 'C') contains 4.184 kJ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1427 kJ &lt;strong&gt;/&lt;/strong&gt; 4.184 kJ/kcal &lt;strong&gt;=&lt;/strong&gt; 341 kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: from chemistry conversions we learn that units matter and when we divide units they cancel out.  To simplify this the progression gets expanded like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; kJ &lt;strong&gt;/&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt; kJ/kcal &lt;strong&gt;=&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; kJ &lt;strong&gt;X&lt;/strong&gt; 1/&lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt; kcal/kJ&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the kJ units cancel out, leaving&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;X&lt;/strong&gt; 1/&lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt; kcal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how unit conversions work.  Of course you do need the conversion factors to do this properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about food, Calories are always kcal in scientific terms.  Not everyone is careful enough to handle the capitalization correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The body is a complex system&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When everything is operating normally, the calories in vs calories out model works well enough.  It's when you get to extreme cases of trying to lose massive amounts of weight that your body doesn't get enough to survive that we run into problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many things work together, so we need an appropriate amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates to function well.  Completely disregarding one of these macronutrients can cause health problems in the long term.  A short term (6-8 weeks) ketogenic diet (no or very little carbs) can work very well if you have enough protein, but any longer than that and weight loss slows to a crawl as other hormones come into play.  A long term plan always ensures your necessary nutrition is present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't starve yourself, and don't engorge yourself.  Small changes over time add up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: you may want to check out this article which provides the number of Calories and kJ in a pound and a kilogram of fat: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_pound.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_pound.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T04:19:21.473" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T04:19:21.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13722" CreationDate="2014-10-31T17:48:10.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You often see people looking at the bottom of a running shoe to see if it needs replacing, for example by seeing whether it has much “tread” left.  This is not the right test of whether a shoe is finished: the main determinant of the longevity of a shoe is not the extent of wear to the outer sole, it is the compression of the mid-sole, which is the spongy layer between the outer sole and your feet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most running shoes today have an EVA mid-sole.  EVA is light and absorbs shock well, but it gradually compacts as it is used, which reduces its shock absorbency and gradually distorts the shoe. As a result of the compression of the mid-sole, most running shoes have an average life expectancy of about 300-600 miles.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very heavy or uneven runners might wear out part of the outer sole before the mid-sole is too compressed, but this is unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual life of your shoes depends on your weight and your running style.  You can see whether your shoes are past their best by looking at the compression lines along the side of the shoe, and seeing whether the mid-sole can be compressed with pressure from your thumb.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can no longer compress the mid-sole, then it is time to replace the shoes.  If you begin to get any kind of ache or pain in your ankle or knee, check that your running shoes don’t need replacing.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12056" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-10-31T19:07:23.667" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T19:07:23.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19434" CreationDate="2014-10-31T18:03:14.330" Score="5" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently on calories deficit and my weight is decreasing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do some exercises 5-6 days a week (mainly pullups). I try to eat enough protein, but didn't count the exact amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make sure I'm keeping my muscle level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T17:56:21.667" Title="How to effectively determine whether I am losing muscle or not" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19433" CreationDate="2014-10-31T18:24:16.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only really accurate way to determine if you're gaining (or losing) fat is with a water tank. Fat floats, bones and muscle sink, and fluids don't really have much of a difference. Armed with that folks can figure out pretty accurately how much fat you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That of course is incredibly unrealistic for 99.9% of the population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the only exercise you're doing is pullups, and you're losing weight, there's a very good chance you're losing a bit of muscle. Pullups are a terrific exercise, really one of the best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you also have legs, a butt, hips, abs, triceps, pecs, and a bunch of other muscles that you're really not putting under considerable strain when doing pullups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is always adapting to what you're currently doing. Since you're not exercising your entire body and requiring a lot of whole-body strength, there's no reason for it to maintain muscle tissue in those areas beyond the minimum amount required for walking around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I make sure I'm keeping my muscle level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a real training program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. This focuses on big compound movements which will make your body build muscle in a balanced, powerful, and safe way. I'm not aware of a faster or more effective way for novices to build strength and muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough food. Long term if you want to build muscle and strength you can't be in a calorie deficit the whole time. Trimming up every now and then to shed some fat is one thing, but most of your life you should be roughly calorie neutral. Some people &quot;bulk&quot; and &quot;cut&quot;, a never-ended seesaw of building mass and then removing fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T18:24:16.627" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19413" CreationDate="2014-10-31T18:37:26.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes definitely it's a better alternative.&#xA;I myself was talking egg white but there is a major problem associated which is hair loss as far as my research the eh white contains a component which binds biotin exclusively and after long time there can be deficiency of biotin in the body which create problem&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really egg white is good alternative and the results are also good.&#xA;I personally have experienced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12059" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T18:37:26.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19438" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-31T18:56:45.373" Score="4" ViewCount="744" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've searched this forum and can't find anything similar to what I'm about to ask, so will go ahead and do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have a bodyweight snatch, so I don't think I&quot;m doing too badly with the way I'm lifting at the moment, but whenever I'm about to initiate that big pull from the hips (the second pull?), the bar is never in my hips! It's actually in the lower portion of my thigh (i.e. close to my knees, sometimes mid-thigh).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I stand up tall/straight with the bar in my snatch grip, it isn't in my hip crease, but mid-thigh somewhere. However, if I was to widen my grip so that the bar was in my hips, I just don't feel very stable in the overhead squat position and feel that the bar is too close to my head, and I don't think my wrists like the strain (as it is a particularly wide!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a case of getting my wrists accustomed to a wider grip? Or would it be a case of a premature arm bend before that final pull so that the bar gets into the hips? Or should I just continue snatching as I am? I just feel that the way I'm currently snatching is actually not making the most of the potential power I can generate if that bar was in my hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much for reading and for any advice/guidance :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12061" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T09:14:32.007" Title="Arms are too long to snatch? Advice, please!" Tags="&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19440" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19442" CreationDate="2014-11-01T07:20:53.027" Score="0" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going for a long vacation to a different time zone (around 8 hours difference with what I live in now). How to change my day regimen in a proper way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I start to gradually shift my wake up and morning exercise time before I go? Or is it better to just arrive there and switch right on the spot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8203" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-11-01T09:53:16.640" LastActivityDate="2014-11-01T09:53:16.640" Title="How to change your morning and workout routine when moving new time zone?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19440" CreationDate="2014-11-01T09:52:24.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally I try not to answer people's questions with pills, but in this case you really should consider using melatonin. It's been fairly well studied. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12076414&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 2002 study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Melatonin is remarkably effective in preventing or reducing jet-lag,&#xA;  and occasional short-term use appears to be safe. It should be&#xA;  recommended to adult travellers flying across five or more time zones,&#xA;  particularly in an easterly direction, and especially if they have&#xA;  experienced jet-lag on previous journeys. Travellers crossing 2-4 time&#xA;  zones can also use it if need be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommendation is to take it before you leave. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18342269&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 2008 study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although post-flight melatonin administration works efficiently in&#xA;  transmeridian flights across less than 7-8 times zones, in the case&#xA;  longer distances, melatonin should be given by 2-3 days in advance to&#xA;  the flight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided you're in a country with access to melatonin, you should consider buying some before you leave. Worst case scenario is you're flying to a county that sells it, and then you can take it once there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other advice I can offer up is just to be gentle to yourself in the first week. Your sleep will likely be jeopardized, so you'll be operating on reduced testosterone, growth hormone, and general concentration. Not a great time to really be hitting your maximums. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-01T09:52:24.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18448" CreationDate="2014-11-01T10:22:16.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In other words, if I do my kayaking Tabata workout on M-W-F, and on&#xA;  one or two of the alternate days I do a running Tabata, is that too&#xA;  much stress on the aerobic system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think so. You're only taxing your system for four minutes, which really isn't a lot of load on your aerobic system. Personally I'd be more worried about the stress caused by doing sprint work (you'll be running that fast) three days a week. Sprints are terrific, but hard on the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth mentioning too that Tabata (the guy) didn't set out to design a long-term program that would help you incrementally improve. If you're looking for that, you're much more in the realm of traditional strength and conditioning programs that have controlled parameters, balancing stress (exercise) and over-compensation (gains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or should I consider each Tabata day as if all of them were the same,&#xA;  and only do three a week no matter which one I do? Or maybe max out at&#xA;  two Tabata days/week for each muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth pointing out too that in the original study that Dr Tabata did, he had his high intensity group working out four days a week, so he had back-to-back days on there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the recovery capacity for it, I would really look at mixing in kettlebells or bodyweight strength training. Additionally, I would add them on the days you're doing tabata. Do your classic strength training + tabata (runs or kayaks) on the same days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like having complete rest days, and given your job it sounds like even on rest days you're still moving around a bit (which is great). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-01T18:28:22.483" LastActivityDate="2014-11-01T18:28:22.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19445" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-01T22:03:46.157" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;My doctor has recommended cycling to heal from a leg injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is working, but, unfortunately, another problem is arising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My right leg was injured (in the Adductor) and I seem to compensate it by making more effort with the left leg. I end up with a stiff calf after 20 minutes of heavy-ish cycling. To avoid a new injury, I have to wait a couple of days before going back to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I reduce this stiffness ? Should I drink more liquids ? Eat bananas ? (they are cheap here, I am from Brazil. And I remember hearing something about cramps and bananas) Do some sort of warm up exercise ? (which ?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3920" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-11-03T00:21:59.053" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T00:21:59.053" Title="Stiff calf after 20 minutes of cycling" Tags="&lt;calf&gt;&lt;stiffness&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-02T04:36:21.770" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;19 yr old female 5'8&quot; 137 lbs. 22% +/-3% BF (caliper test), mesomorph, pear shape&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Want to get to about 130 and have reasonably taut abdominal muscles. Getting ready for a friend's wedding, and I have to deliver a dance performance (the outfit exposes the midriff and more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always had loose areas, but my upper body is definitely better than my lower body. I strive to eat as clean as I can and apparently am very paranoid and strict about what I eat according to others. But I don't get to working out as much as I intend to (I go once a week..also eat 5-6 small meals a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I can't spot-reduce but for ONCE in my life, I want to have a stomach that looks decently flat, and one that doesn't have noticeable rolls when I sit down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I'm like this now: &lt;a href=&quot;http://myhealthtips.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/7-Day-Flat-Belly-Diet-Plan.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://myhealthtips.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/7-Day-Flat-Belly-Diet-Plan.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my goal: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.womenfitness.net/img2012/articleimages/aug/Trim-Torsos.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.womenfitness.net/img2012/articleimages/aug/Trim-Torsos.jpg&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you recommend more cardio or more strength training? I always thought I should do more S.T. since I don't have too much weight to lose and I've heard ST increases EPOC. Also I thought to do heavier weight, reps til exhaustion, but a trainer told me women should do lower weight, more reps...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice is appreciated. Thanks so much! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12068" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T17:20:44.107" Title="Goal...in 10 months" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-16T21:53:40.953" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19446" CreationDate="2014-11-02T08:45:35.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at that picture, you must not only lose fat, but build a fair amount of muscle as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;but a trainer told me women should do lower weight, more reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is absolute nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cardio is certainly beneficial as well, you need to start lifting heavy if you want to look like her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12067" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T08:45:35.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-02T11:50:00.947" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 35 and have essentially no prior training experience (only done walking and cycling).  I've just started trying to work out more systematically to make my body more fit; I've been pretty out of shape due to illness and other problems.  I also want an increase in upper body strength, though not by much; just enough to be 'normal.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've struggled with starting exercising for the usual reasons.  I've read most of the questions here for beginners.  I've now found a  new trick to encourage me to continue, and have started with the routine given &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/americaswalking/health/quickfit.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The program talks of doing some basic exercises with dumbbells.  But I'd always heard (in my complete ignorance) that you should not do weight exercises every day, but should take breaks between days.  Would that apply even to these basic exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Generally, what problems might occur with these exercises?  Should I watch out for strains from the dumbbells?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12069" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T17:03:26.053" Title="When starting weights, do I need to take breaks?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19448" CreationDate="2014-11-02T16:54:02.727" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, excellent choice on taking charge of your physical fitness. 6-9 months can seem daunting, but really if you dial your nutrition in coupled with an effective training program you will see remarkable results. I'll try to chop up your question a bit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But I'd always heard (in my complete ignorance) that you should not do&#xA;  weight exercises every day, but should take breaks between days. Would&#xA;  that apply even to these basic exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19321/how-long-does-it-take-for-muscles-to-recover/19322#19322&quot;&gt;There is a stress-adaptation cycle that's happening&lt;/a&gt;. Exercise that's just ever-so-slightly more than you can handle will break your body tissues down a bit (stress) and then then your body will repair the damage plus add a bit of margin on to be safe (adaptation). Adaptation is specific, it's small, but it's the key to all physical fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So specifically to answer your question you'd initially need to workout every other day, probably just because &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout/19157#19157&quot;&gt;you'll be sore&lt;/a&gt;. If you stayed on that routine you linked, your body will catch up, and it will never need to adapt because you're not challenging it anymore. And since you don't need to adapt, you don't need any rest in between. It's the same reason you can walk x distance every day, day after day. It's a stress your body can handle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally, what problems might occur with these exercises? Should I&#xA;  watch out for strains from the dumbbells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem is that the &quot;routine&quot; they put together is woefully ineffective. I did some poking around on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ricksquickfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rick Bradley's QuickFit program (LLC)&lt;/a&gt;. You can believe me or not right now, but in 6-9 months when you're wondering why any progress you've made is barely detectable at best, please come back to this answer and read the next paragraph. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a program. Not a &quot;routine&quot;, which is some marketed garbage spewed out by &quot;fitness industry experts&quot; to make money. You need to embrace the fact that your body was designed to do amazing things and you really can, quite rapidly, become incredibly fit. It doesn't take a ton of time but the things it does require are not up for modification. Compound lifts, good nutrition, and progressive loading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm roughly your same age (actually older), I have a family with small children, a full time job, and the regular trappings of life. I went through this path myself, I've helped others, and I promise if you do it you'll be kicking yourself for not doing it ten years earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a gym membership with a squat rack, or buy/build one. No &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_machine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;smith machines&lt;/a&gt;: you need an actual free-standing squat rack that holds a barbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow either &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength's novice program&lt;/a&gt;. Both are excellent. I prefer Starting Strength because it's coupled with the rest of Mark Rippetoe's excellent training paradigm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your nutrition dialed in. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/a-primer-on-nutrition-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyle McDonald's bodyrecomposition.com is a great resource&lt;/a&gt;. Your body fat is ~80% controlled (or more) by what you eat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't need to be an all day affair. Good nutrition and solid training will have you exercising three days a week for maybe an hour tops: that's the equivalent of watching a long-ish movie every week. Except that one is mindless entertainment and the other makes you stronger, healthier, and increases the enjoyment of every aspect of your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T17:03:26.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19446" CreationDate="2014-11-02T17:20:44.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should have no problem doing that in 10 months.  I don't agree that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19447/5071&quot;&gt;her physique is a heavy-lifter's physique&lt;/a&gt;.  Women who lift heavy are generally much more curvy (bigger butt, trunk).  I would say that she probably runs and does high intensity interval training (HIIT) type exercises -- and that's what I'd recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a 20-30 minute run every day and follow it up with a session of HIIT.  Exercises from &lt;a href=&quot;http://reebokcrossfitone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Travel-WODs.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; are a good place to start (obviously omitting ones that are too difficult, or include running).  Pick one to do for every day of the week, time it, then try to beat your time next week. If it only takes you 8 minutes to do a workout, do it twice: target 15-20 minutes of HIIT. You'll get in seriously good shape, and the fat will melt right off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;adaptive thermogenesis&lt;/a&gt; will be your biggest opponent. It's what makes losing weight so difficult. Your body is in homeostasis and wants to stay that way, so your hormones and brain chemistry will be telling you and your body to stay the way it is.  That means your brain will tell you to make poor food choices, and your hormones will tell your body to utilize foods differently.  That's why diet is very important.  Make a spreadsheet, count calories, use fitday, eat strictly paleo, whatever you have to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, get busy!  You'll be spectacular at the wedding.  Best of luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T17:20:44.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19451" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-02T17:38:44.357" Score="3" ViewCount="7633" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength recommends&lt;/a&gt; that when you fail to get all 3 X 5 reps for 3 workouts in a row on a given exercise, you do a &quot;minor reset&quot; in which you drop the weight of the work set to 90% of the stalled amount and then work back up to the stalled weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's tempting to instead continue doing the stalled weight but make up for any missed reps by doing them at a lower (doable) weight, since dropping 10% feels like a step backward. Obviously I won't do this because I'm sure Rippetoe has a good reason for using the resets, but I'm curious what this reason is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T20:08:45.547" Title="Why does Starting Strength prescribe minor resets?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19451" CreationDate="2014-11-02T17:49:14.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess would be that you're bumping into &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19253/trouble-falling-asleep-after-a-workout-at-night/19255#19255&quot;&gt;overtraining&lt;/a&gt;. The increases prescribed in the program are based on maximizing the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19321/how-long-does-it-take-for-muscles-to-recover/19322#19322&quot;&gt;stress-&gt;recovery-&gt;adaptation cycle&lt;/a&gt;. If you're not adapting (able to hit your numbers) then you're either over-training or under-training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On intermediate programs if you don't hit your numbers (and you've been lifting on schedule reliably), the first suspect is insufficient recovery and/or overtraining. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you reliably are knocking into overtraining on the novice level programs and have been lifting for 6-12 months, you might need to move onto an intermediate program. But definitely hang out in the novice range as long as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T17:49:14.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-02T17:54:01.180" Score="-1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 24 y.o. male, 173cm, 86kg, currently trying to lose fat and not lose muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;/ means OR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current diet is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast (~7.00):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oatmeal / cottage cheese / eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(~10.00 - 11.00):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some fruits (apples/pears/tangerines)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch (~14.00):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;meat/chicken + rice/buckwheat/potatoes/noodles, sometimes + vegetable salad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner (~19.00-20.00)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;varies (vegetable salad + nuts + brown bread / something like lunch but less amount)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink 2-3 liters of water daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises include pull-ups ( 10 times 10 ) / Parallel bars push-up (12 x 10 ) + some abs exercises, legs exercises once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm losing weight, but I suppose(visually) that I'm losing some muscles to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does that mean I'm not getting enough protein?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are some tips on my diet and what are some good alternatives on the meals?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T04:10:17.337" Title="diet alternatives" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T22:02:28.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19451" CreationDate="2014-11-02T18:53:06.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Missing a given weight for 3 workouts in a row is a symptom of a significant (though not major) problem. Maybe you're not doing a good enough job at recovery, or maybe you added weight in bigger chunks than was appropriate, or maybe your body simply isn't getting stronger fast enough. Dropping 10% feels like a step backward, but really it gives you some room to continue your linear progression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, missing the same weight 3 workouts in a row means you're too weak for that weight right now and you should be working with a lesser weight, in order to confidently finish your 3 sets of 5. Those sets will still be challenging, but you won't be risking injury and overtraining by insisting on working on a weight you've proven you can't do. You'll be blasting through that 10% in no time. (Actually, that's precisely true. Consider an example of someone stalling at 300 pounds, say for their deadlift. Minus 10% = 270. Adding five pounds per workout, they'll be back at 270 in a mere six workouts—a mere two weeks to blast through their previous one-week plateau. That's often better than dawdling at 300, not going up or going down.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T18:53:06.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19438" CreationDate="2014-11-03T00:26:48.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main issue is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the bar is never in my hips! It's actually in the lower portion of my thigh&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are hold the bar too narrow, its not just wrist strength and flexibility, but also shoulder flexibility that you need to work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to a good snatch is having a wide enough grip that the bar sits in your hip crease at the end of the first pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As ridiculous as it sounds, start practising with a long enough broomstick just to get the movement down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look at doing snatch grip deadlifts to practise holding heavier weights though the first movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T00:26:48.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-03T03:29:39.583" Score="0" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an intense soccer game coming on this Sunday, it's now Monday in my time and I have around 6 days to prepare for the game. A couple of things about my current situation which I need your advice on how to best get my body ready:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do jog and the last time I jog was 4 days ago.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My last soccer game was 3 weeks ago. That means I'm not in the best condition for the game unless I start some simple training for myself now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's no game + training from now until that day (Sunday).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm generally fit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, what I'm trying to do is to best use this 5-6 days period to improve my chance of having a good performance. What would you advice me to do? Which strategies should I use? Any good diet advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12077" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T02:01:57.623" Title="Pre intense soccer game preparation strategies" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19468" CreationDate="2014-11-03T09:49:52.850" Score="1" ViewCount="953" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to make my legs strong and hard. Currently I do 60 Squats daily, and have done so for the last 7 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are squats a healthy/safe/effective way to build stronger leg muscles? Please keep in mind my gender is male. If they are effective, at what timing/frequency will they be most effective for my goal of stronger muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12080" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T19:37:33.127" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T19:53:44.957" Title="Will squats help me build stronger legs" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19466" CreationDate="2014-11-03T12:57:12.587" Score="4" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is entranced into our minds that physical training improves your fitness and health and you live longer and brighter lives. However, it is also known, though less widespread, that taking more calories has opposite effects, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.science.gu.se/english/News/News_detail/live-longer-with-fewer-calories.cid1045149&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2011 research&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are able to show that caloric restriction slows down ageing by&#xA;preventing an enzyme, peroxiredoxin, from being inactivated. This&#xA;enzyme is also extremely important in counteracting damage to our&#xA;genetic material,&amp;quot; says Mikael Molin of the Department of Cell and&#xA;Molecular Biology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By gradually reducing the intake of sugar and proteins, without&#xA;reducing vitamins and minerals, researchers have previously shown that&#xA;monkeys can live several years longer than expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that we should eat less, which implies that we should have less activity (we are not talking about balanced diet rather than burning fats). What am I doing wrong? I cannot understand if I should take more activity and calories or less food and minimal activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see that there is a similar question, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4535&quot;&gt;Do fit or muscular people age better?&lt;/a&gt;. But, it is a bit vague (as answers confirm), and thus did not receive any consideration of the key controversy. I want sharp answer on the sharp question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12081" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T13:48:47.403" Title="Less fitness for longer and healthier life" Tags="&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;age&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19460" CreationDate="2014-11-03T16:38:43.093" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I would look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm&quot;&gt;leading causes of death&lt;/a&gt; in (my case) the United States:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heart disease: 596,577&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cancer: 576,691&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 142,943&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 128,932&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accidents (unintentional injuries): 126,438&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alzheimer's disease: 84,974&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diabetes: 73,831&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Influenza and Pneumonia: 53,826&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,591&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intentional self-harm (suicide): 39,518&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;General old age&quot; isn't marked up there, and although those monkeys managed to hold on to a few more years, I don't think they're plagued by the same diseases that human beings are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of those times where I think the difference between humans and apes becomes clear. Monkeys don't work office jobs, don't drive cars, don't sit on sofas, and didn't have a more than &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy&quot;&gt;2x increase in their life expectancy&lt;/a&gt; in the last two thousand years. Medical care has allowed us to far surpass our old average life expectancy of ~30 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the more important question, and it's assumptive to think the monkey-calorie study answers it, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does a reduced calorie diet mean a human being will live longer, given that the leading causes of death are completely different in humans and monkeys?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You and I have a completely different set of challenges then a monkey does, so the mechanisms we need to employ for our health are likewise very different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all the primary causes of death except for nephritis, exercise has been shown to seriously reduce your chances of ending up with one of them (it even addresses depression which is linked to suicide). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Alzheimer's (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20182027&quot;&gt;2010 study&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although extensive studies are required to understand the mechanism,&#xA;  it is clear that physical exercise is beneficial in the prevention of&#xA;  AD and other age-associated neurodegenerative disorders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For heart disease (&lt;a href=&quot;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/107/1/e2.full&quot;&gt;2003 study&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although the effect of an exercise program on any single risk factor&#xA;  may generally be small, the effect of continued, moderate exercise on&#xA;  overall cardiovascular risk, when combined with other lifestyle&#xA;  modifications (such as proper nutrition, smoking cessation,and&#xA;  medication use), can be dramatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strokes (&lt;a href=&quot;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/16/2031.full&quot;&gt;2004 study&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Moreover, data from studies involving stroke and able-bodied subjects&#xA;  have documented the beneficial impact of regular physical activity on&#xA;  multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors and provided evidence&#xA;  that such benefits are likely to translate into a reduced risk for&#xA;  mortality from stroke and cardiac events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cancers are too numerous to make sweeping statements about, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/physicalactivity&quot;&gt;National Cancer Institute has demonstrable evidence of exercise playing a significant role in reducing multiple cancer risks&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diabetes is clearly reduced by nutrition and exercise, and half of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm&quot;&gt;accident deaths&lt;/a&gt;&quot; are from falls, many of which in the elderly although perhaps not fatal start a chain reaction of events through broken hips and then lack of physical movement. Increasing balance and coordination reduces falls, and this has been demonstrated with fitness as well (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16456197&quot;&gt;2006 study&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Power training improves balance, particularly using a low load, high&#xA;  velocity regimen, in older adults with initial lower muscle power and&#xA;  slower contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study on the monkeys did not show a reduction in the primary (or even secondary) causes of death in humans. As such I think it's quite a leap to think it applies to humans in any material way as the challenges to our mortality are fundamentally different than that of a monkey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T16:38:43.093" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19474" CreationDate="2014-11-03T20:31:52.003" Score="3" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm out of shape. I'm the kind of person who usually spends almost 10 to 16h a day in front of the computer nowadays but in the past I at least experienced or practiced about 10 different martial arts styles and tons of other sports. Thanks to my sedentarism nowadays, besides losing most of my muscles, I lost elasticity and good part of my health. As I was also a smoker during this period (thankfully I stopped this April and now have an aversion towards cigars) I have no stamina whatsoever thanks to that, a few problems with my joints, specially the knees that hurt even when idle, there are not many exercises or routines I know of that I could do without feeling like I'm about to die in a few seconds after I start, besides dizziness and a lot of nausea, sometimes even vomit (yeah, it's that bad and that's just the start). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, does anyone know of really low impact exercises with a slow progression routine towards more normal ones? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My objectives are to develop strength, speed, stamina, and elasticity. I don't care about growing muscle; I want to be able to practice and perform the martial techniques I remember, and to learn a bit of &quot;tricking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12083" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-03T21:10:23.403" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T05:09:34.310" Title="What is a low-impact exercise routine that slowly progresses towards more normal exercises?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19463" CreationDate="2014-11-03T21:30:40.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking and Weightlifting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking is a fine starting point for overall fitness, and to combat the problems associated with sitting at a desk for long periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're completely new, just about ANY sort of resistance training is going to get you results. Once you've been at it for a few dozen sessions, you can start looking into more complete lifting programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastEditorUserId="10879" LastEditDate="2014-11-03T22:01:11.000" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T22:01:11.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19463" CreationDate="2014-11-03T21:46:34.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try something like Couch to 5k or hiring a trainer at a gym. You need a lot of guidance. Progressing from not-fit to a serious routine takes a lot of knowledge and a willingness to pay for your mistakes in injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T21:46:34.960" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19460" CreationDate="2014-11-04T05:03:54.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://nih.gov/news/health/aug2012/nia-29.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recent study&lt;/a&gt; suggests that things are more complex, and it's not clear whether caloric restriction works or doesn't work. We do know that fit people live longer and have fewer health issues. Seems like an easy decision to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T08:44:41.123" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T08:44:41.123" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2014-11-04T09:31:20.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;i ve been building up my pace for 6 months, i started at 34 mins for 5k. i am 39 and weighed 217lb when i started. I read a lot of stuff from the web,(there is loads of it) took on board what i thought was relevant and now i can run it in 25 mins and weigh 185lbs. The most improtant thing is to keep it up, you don t want to be trying to do your best run every time you go out, mix up the distances, pace and routes. It helped me to set short and long term goals and use my slower days to work on my form which in my opinion is very improtant if you are going to try and run faster. Keep going, remember you are going to have off days, don't let slip ups become excuses to stop. Most of all enjoy it!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12085" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T09:31:20.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19459" CreationDate="2014-11-04T19:53:44.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to make your legs strong, then squats are without a doubt the best exercise you can do to achieve that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats are a universal exercise that both men and women can do with equivalent results and success, so there is no reason to be worried about results depending on your gender. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, any exercise is better than none, so it's good that you're doing daily squats. That being said, it is definitely not the most optimal solution to building &quot;strong&quot; leg muscles.  Here are a few takeaways for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High rep + low intensity exercise is more equivalent to cardio and endurance training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training requires low reps (3 - 5 is the sweet spot) and high intensity (use weights).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To ensure safety, use good form (especially with regard to squatting to parallel).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lastly, to build strength, you need to facilitate muscle growth. This means eating enough calories and getting sufficient rest. If you're on a diet, or if you're getting inadequate sleep, or if you're doing loaded squats every day, then you're actually hurting your muscle growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're very committed and have a squat or power rack with olympic barbell, then this is the best approach for you: use an olympic barbell and do back-squats, then progressively load the bar each exercise to increase intensity. This has been demonstrated to be the most effective way to increase strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to a barbell, then the next best alternative would be to do goblet squats using a dumbbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether using a barbell or dumbbell, I suggest the same timing frequency, which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 times a week with rest day in-between (e.g. M-W-F)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps (your choice)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with light weight (empty barbell, light dumbbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progressively add weight more each workout (go in 2.5 or 5 lb increments)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T19:53:44.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19451" CreationDate="2014-11-04T20:08:45.547" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers from Dave and Eric cover the various physiological reasons for resets, being overtraining, rest, etc. I won't go into that. Instead, I'll address the often overlooked psychological factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time you plateau, you fail. You are failing to get to that next weight and bypass the roadblock. Sometimes this is just a speed bump, and next week you get back on track and eek out more progress. But when you have failure, after failure, after failure, after failure, then mentally you start taking as much of a beating as your muscles. After enough failures, you start expecting to fail instead of expecting success. This is called psyching yourself out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to avoid mentally handicapping your progress is by taking those resets as Rippetoe prescribes. Resets allow you to put some distance between your roadblock, build up momentum by getting some small &quot;wins&quot; under your belt, and the next time you get to that roadblock you will hopefully have enough speed to break on through to the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T20:08:45.547" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19453" CreationDate="2014-11-05T04:10:17.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you noted, you are not consuming enough protein. You only have one real source a day being the meat at lunch), with small amounts coming from the nuts at dinner or dairy at breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, having large amounts of protein is not enough to build or maintain muscles on its own... you need calories for that. And when you're dieting, you don't have calories to spare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put simply, muscles require calories to build and maintain themselves. When you diet, you are forcing your body to cannibalize itself (fat stores, muscles) to compensate for the lack of calories it received. Therefore, it is common to have small to moderate muscle loss when on a heavy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3402/1803&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; for more information on losing fat while building or maintaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T04:10:17.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19463" CreationDate="2014-11-05T05:09:34.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are making a good effort to get back in shape.  Quitting smoking was a good start.  You say that you have seen the orthopedist, but you may also want to have a general checkup and discuss your health with your doctor - you know what they say about checking with your doctor before starting any exercise program.  Given that you have joint problems, here are some ideas to get your conditioning back without aggravating your knees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aquatic Exercise&lt;/strong&gt; - If you have access to a pool, aquatic exercise can be a great way to start getting back into exercise.  You can get a good cardio workout, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6894/what-is-the-a-proper-way-to-pool-run/6909#6909&quot;&gt;run in water&lt;/a&gt;, swim, stretch, do martial arts and strengthen with water exercises.  The water reduces the impact on your joints and can provide resistance for gentle strengthening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking&lt;/strong&gt; -  Walking should be a basic part of your program.  As @Dave points out, Couch to 5k is a good way to go.  If your knees are a problem, try a pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nordic Walking&lt;/a&gt; poles as they can help relieve some of the stress on your joints while giving you a better workout.  A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Pedometers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pedometer&lt;/a&gt; can add some motivation.  Your goal would be a minimum of 10,000 steps per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cycling or Stationary Cycles&lt;/strong&gt; - Cycling is a good exercise to get a cardio workout without impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength or Resistance Training&lt;/strong&gt; - I understand that &amp;quot;growing muscles&amp;quot; is not one of your priorities.  However, some of your joint pain may improve with better strength. For example, if you strengthen your hip muscles they can lessen the stress on your knee joints. This answer gives some specific exercises to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2942/sport-that-is-less-stressful-to-knees/2955#2955&quot;&gt;strengthen the hips&lt;/a&gt; without aggravating the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do&quot;&gt;strengthen your core muscles&lt;/a&gt;.  Prolonged sitting causes a combination of muscle tightness and weakness.  Body weight and resistance band exercises are easy to add during short breaks. Once you have good basic core strength back, you can add weights. The good news is that you have been active in sports and martial arts in the past so your muscles will respond well and enjoy being used again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt; - Yoga is a great way to regain your flexibility.  Put together a short routine that takes your body thru full ranges that you can do daily. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gaiamtv.com/pose/child-pose-balasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Child's Pose&lt;/a&gt; for flexion,  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gaiamtv.com/pose/cobra-pose-bhujangasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cobra&lt;/a&gt; for extension of the spine, and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gaiamtv.com/pose/two-knee-spinal-twist-pose-supta-matsyendrasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spinal Twist&lt;/a&gt; will help you gain and maintain overall flexibility. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gaiamtv.com/pose/standing-wide-legged-forward-bend-pose-prasarita-padottanasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This stretch&lt;/a&gt; will help with your hamstrings and hip muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.  Go slowly. You will make more progress if you don't overdo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T05:09:34.310" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-05T07:53:09.987" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not really sleep-deprived, but lately I've tried taking coffee before working out. I find that my performance was considerably better than without coffee and that I generally feel good afterwards. I have GERD, however, and I shouldn't really be taking anything with caffeine because it triggers an acid reflux. Are there caffeine-free alternatives to coffee that are safe for those with GERD?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12043" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T16:12:49.710" Title="Alternative to coffee" Tags="&lt;energy-drinks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19483" CreationDate="2014-11-05T16:12:10.000" Score="1" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I am gaining strength (and muscle) with a 3-way split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back- biceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest - triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs - Shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This however is my concern, I am getting married in 6 months and bought a suit which has room for gaining muscle, but not too much in the upperleg area. I'd like to be more muscled when I am getting married, but due to my suit restrictions I cannot get too muscled in the upperleg area. While I don't want to have skinny legs and a muscular upper body, I don't want to buy another suit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I have just toned down the excersices I am doing for my legs to squats, lunges and an excersize for my calves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7973" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T18:37:57.057" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T18:37:57.057" Title="Never skip leg day?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19475" CreationDate="2014-11-05T16:12:49.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are pre-workout supplements that are non-stimulant (Magnum's Opus comes to mind). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most pre-workout formulations rely on trying to stave off CNS fatigue (which is not a thoroughly understood topic). CNS fatigue is prevented (in varying degrees) by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carbohydrates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;amphetamines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;caffeine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be a little wary of &quot;I drank a cup of coffee before some workouts, and they didn't go well, so coffee before workouts is bad for me.&quot; It's terribly anecdotal you're not controlling for other variables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you don't want caffeine, and you're smart enough to not use amphetamines, then you're left with non-stimulant stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to try something with creatine and beta alanine. Beta alanine tends to give people tingles all over their skin which feels a lot like a stimulant (but isn't, that I'm aware of). And creatine actually does help: arguably the most documented safe performance enhancer out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T16:12:49.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13722" CreationDate="2014-11-05T16:58:16.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;EVA is fine in moderation, and as others have said it wears/compresses relatively quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part shoes are just tools. There are different types of shoes for different jobs; and any shoe/tool used improperly is going to be less efficient if not destructive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is an interesting sport in that everyone assumes they already know how to run. &quot;I know how to run, it's instinct, it's like walking but way faster.&quot; The average person doesn't seek out instruction on how to run they just go do it, but if they want to learn tennis or golf they hire an instructor. Unfortunately, most people don't instinctively know how to run, and when you factor in bad habits, poor posture, gait altering shoes, and sedentary lifestyles you get a recipe for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I look for in shoes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Do they fit properly?&#xA;Your toes should have plenty of room at the ends and on the sides. If your toes are scrunched at the end or squeezed together you need a larger size, or very likely a shoe with a different toe box shape.&#xA;Make sure that there aren't any weird points of pressure on your feet and that none of the overlays (the sturdier material often incorporated into the styling of the upper) rub your foot. (for example: if an overlay meets the midsole at your pinkie toe, it may rub and cause blisters during runs)&#xA;Your feet should not significantly overhang the sides of the sole. If they do you need a wider shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Do they interfere with the function of your foot?&#xA;Your feet flex for a reason, and stiff shoes that restrict the flexion of your foot will then displace that stress on to other muscles and tendons. Your shoe should allow your foot to move naturally. Not only will this help to strengthen your foot but it allows you to react to the surface you're running on better and avoid rolling your ankles (think top heavy SUV).&#xA;NOTE: Another responder indicated that there is a higher injury rate among barefoot/minimalist adopters. For one thing, I'm not necessarily promoting barefoot/minimalism though I think it has its place; I am promoting allowing your foot to move instead of more or less hinging at the ankle.&#xA;As with any fad, many people enthusiastically dove into barefoot/minimalist running despite the adamant warnings of specialists to take it VERY slow. The fact is, the combination of poor footwear that will literally change the shape of your foot over time, poor posture, long periods of sitting, simply not knowing proper running form, and on top of all that diving in too quickly (not to mention those who neglect strength training and stretching) all contribute to an unsurprising injury rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Do they have a 6mm drop or less? The 6mm number is pretty arbitrary, but you do want a pretty low if not flat heel on your shoe. The reason is that an elevated heel on your shoe will simply get in the way of a proper running stride. It encourages you to land hard on your heel as the rest of your foot flops uselessly down. Instead of artificially encouraging a forward body lean, people instead reach farther forward with their feet and increases plantarflexion. It's not necessarily bad if your heel hits first as long as it lands under your center of mass (which is achieved with a slight forward lean hinging at the ankles) and it is a soft landing followed quickly by your midfoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Do they fit their purpose? Greater tread an durability for a trail shoe, etc. Don't trail run in a Nike Free, the flexible upper and tall narrow sole will let your foot slide off the side and roll off the edge of the sole, in turn rolling your ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will develop footwear preferences over time. I would encourage some minimalist running periodically for short distances to improve your foot strength. However, it is not the only way to run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12095" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T16:58:16.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19478" CreationDate="2014-11-05T18:12:39.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Six months is really not a long time.  You can get to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;advanced level&lt;/a&gt; in 2-3 years (with proper programming) and spend six months just to put on 5-10kg to your lifts after that. By taking six months off, you might miss out on &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; 3-4 pounds of muscle gain.  Obviously you don't want to go backwards on your legs, so keep in mind the detraining rates outlined in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16233/is-once-per-week-training-enough-for-building-muscle/16244#16244&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it might be a good opportunity to work strictly on strength (myofibril hypertrophy -- see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11531/recommended-workout-duration-vs-working-out-with-a-partner/11534#11534&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; if that's &quot;Greek&quot; to you) which won't add much mass. You'd be keeping your reps at singles, doubles, and triples.  That will set a foundation for more rapid sarcoplasmic hypertrophy once you're ready to gain mass.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T18:12:39.143" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-05T21:14:22.737" Score="2" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play basketball and I want to increase my vertical jump but at the moment my arms are still skinny so would I be able to gain muscle mass on my arms as well as get my vertical jump higher?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10013" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-06T11:37:00.050" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T11:39:27.950" Title="Vertical jump and muscle mass" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;vertical-jump&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-02-16T07:44:30.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19484" CreationDate="2014-11-06T01:28:33.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle mass on your arms will help you create momentum when you throw them up.  Also don't neglect core strength.  You can impart lots of force with your legs,  but go nowhere if your back isn't strong enough to transfer it to your arms, chest,  shoulders and arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12098" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T01:28:33.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15174" CreationDate="2014-11-06T06:58:34.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My arm is ~84 cm long.  Earlier this evening, I timed myself doing arm swings at 20 circles/(10 seconds). That's 2 revs/second.  With a 84 cm radius, my fingertips were therefore moving &#xA;    2*[2*pi*(0.84m)]/sec ~ 10 m/s.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Centripetal acceleration = v^2/radius.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    (7.54m/s)^2/(0.6m) ~ 120 m/s^2 ==&gt; 12 G.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fingertips were being accelerated back to my shoulder at almost 12 G!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although that seems impossibly high, my fingertips felt like they were going to burst while I was doing it, and 3 hours later, as I type, that hand still feels puffy and slightly bruised - after only 20 seconds of swinging.  If my head had felt that kind of pressure I would have passed out, guaranteed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12098" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T06:58:34.533" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19484" CreationDate="2014-11-06T11:15:57.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't put to much work into getting your arms big ! The arms serve to give you momentum and create the required balance once you get into the jumping position.&#xA; You have to understand one aspect of the strength training for track &amp;amp; field or speed sports in general. &#xA; If you are center, yes you will need to get some weight on those arms, if you are a forward the same thing but not to much if you are a pg you don't need strong heavy arms muscles.&#xA; As for jumping purpose just make sure you have good elasticity in your shoulders with a full range of motion.&#xA; Most important when working &quot;arms&quot; in basketball the exercises must be done simulating the game ! - like passing drills with heavy balls or ball awareness drills.&#xA; For the vertical jump once you master the movement of  clean box jump your arm will learn how to create the required momentum, also you can use light rubber bands to simulate the arms jumping extension. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8266" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T11:15:57.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19484" CreationDate="2014-11-06T11:39:27.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering that &lt;a href=&quot;http://msuathletics.ru/books/bible/vert_jump_bible.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one of the biggest improvements you can make for improving your vertical jump is to get strong&lt;/a&gt; (PDF), I'd say there's no problem with gaining upper body muscle mass at the same time as you improve lower body strength. Get started squatting, deadlifting, chin-upping, and dipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T11:39:27.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15174" CreationDate="2014-11-06T12:51:07.540" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the fastest movements and possibly the biggest acceleration are due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccade#Timing_and_kinematics&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;eye saccades&lt;/a&gt;, that is rapid movements of the eye as it scans the environment. Those are involuntary and have to do with perception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia quotes the speed at 900 degrees/second (2.5 revolutions, for comparison with ADAM). As for acceleration, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.journalofvision.org/content/14/2/18.full&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Unsupervised clustering method to detect microsaccades&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (graph cut-out below) puts peak angular acceleration at cca 7000 degrees/second^2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q6JvO.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12103" LastEditorUserId="12103" LastEditDate="2014-11-06T13:00:58.880" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T13:00:58.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19490" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-06T15:23:34.330" Score="5" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for suggestions for a 60-90 minute session, complete with exercises, sets, weight, rep, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My primary goal is to build speed for 5k trail races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12105" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T16:46:02.663" Title="What are some good strength training routines for runners?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13439" CreationDate="2014-11-06T15:43:13.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of top endurance athletes facing similar problems, whether it's local resources or simply time to train.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasingly they're maintain speed through interval work, not longer sessions.  Would training on the course or at elevation help you?  Certainly... but you can still be extremely competitive with your current scenario.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keith Kelly is an example of this - amazing runner-turned-cyclist.  He maintains a full time job so doesn't have time to do 6+ hours/day on the bike the way many other athletes do.  How does he do it?  Short, intense workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One interval session, maybe on a Tuesday, and it’s like running&#xA;  intervals, it’s 8 x 3 minutes or it’s 4 x 5 minutes and I do them&#xA;  pretty much max effort with short enough recovery in between. Then I&#xA;  do a tempo ride, where I do 30 minutes tempo or 40 minutes tempo like&#xA;  we would running. And then I do a long ride, and then the other days&#xA;  are easy days. I’ve even done some double days, so I’ll get up in the&#xA;  morning do 45 minutes on the trainer, then do 45 minutes on the&#xA;  trainer at night. This is really short for biking but it’s working for&#xA;  me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ref: &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2012/04/interviews/the-big-engine-that-could-exclusive-interview-with-keith-kelly_50439&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://running.competitor.com/2012/04/interviews/the-big-engine-that-could-exclusive-interview-with-keith-kelly_50439&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point being, you can certainly use a smaller hill for training - just try running it harder and/or adding a weighted vest.  I'd also mix in some strength training (e.g. squats) and a longer run on weekends.  That way you're adding both endurance and power into your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12105" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T15:43:13.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-06T15:57:36.023" Score="1" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;For every day off, for example, what percentage of your overall fitness level decreases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12105" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T16:19:47.733" Title="How quickly does fitness depreciate?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19492" CreationDate="2014-11-06T16:14:40.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's going to vary from individual to individual. Most people can take 7-10 days off with no appreciable drop in fitness. After that, the general rule of thumb that I learned in college and has been borne out in experience, is that you lose 2 for 1 after that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you are out three days past whatever your particular threshold is, it will take you 6 to get back to your original starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, (And again, this is personally dependent), if you are out for 30+ days, you are generally considered to be detrained, and starting over somewhat from scratch. You will progress more rapidly back to fitness than someone that hasn't been fit, however, and the length of time that you originally did whatever sport you are in also reduces that. So if you have been a runner for 15 years, and take a few months off, you will get back to your baseline much faster than someone that has never been a runner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age also plays a factor, in that as you get older, it takes a bit longer to get back to where you were, and depending on length of time out, how old you are, injuries, etc., you may not get back completely to your original starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there is a question on the site that addresses it both from a fitness and a neuromuscular standpoint, if I can find it I will link it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not completely the one I was looking for, but: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/57/for-how-long-can-i-stop-doing-cardio-training-before-losing-my-endurance/117#117&quot;&gt;For how long can I stop doing cardio training before losing my endurance?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T16:19:47.733" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-06T18:22:24.597" Score="7" ViewCount="4261" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a very small percentage of body fat definitely helps, but even so, how is it possible to do backflips etc. being so slim, while people with huge muscles can't even lift off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of exercise routines do they employ and why do they not gain muscle? Do the existing muscles become stonger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12107" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T00:01:23.137" Title="How do gymnasts and dancers remain so slim, yet so agile and strong?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-06T21:38:00.977" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I am assisting in collecting data for a study on movement patterns and coaching at a small fitness facility.  The nature of my work does not provide consistent time to train, so I find myself participating in 20 to 30 minute sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They look something like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower Body Push (today was front squat) 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Body Pull (Bent over dumbbell row) 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core (Half Kneeling Stability Lift)3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally I would have the time for a complementary half, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Body Push&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower Body Pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I typically run out of time, and suspect to catch the second half later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits to shorter bouts like this?  What about cons?  Time between sessions is going to look something like 2 to 3 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be emphasizing strength or hypertrophy with splits like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any knowledge is appreciated, if there's any research, please point me in the right direction.  Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2019-11-21T09:31:55.147" Title="What are the strengths and weaknesses of shorter bouts of resistance training?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19497" CreationDate="2014-11-06T22:23:39.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two problems I had with such an approach were 1) the difficulty in properly warming up for each session and 2) a slight increase managing workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Split workouts mean that you either spend a lot of time warming up for each separate session, or you don't fully warm up sometimes. It's easy to skip a full warm-up in such a situation, but it's still a potential problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found that splitting my workouts meant I had to more explicitly keep track of how much volume I was getting in, and when. It was common for me to over- or under-work myself because either I would plan for a workout that wouldn't happen or I would work out more than I could recover from and not notice because I recuperated my energy between sessions. This lead to minor overuse injuries in my joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T22:23:39.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19494" CreationDate="2014-11-07T03:37:21.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different variables at play here, and it's not just restricted to exercise routines...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight:&lt;/strong&gt; It takes less effort to push a 110 lb body off the mat than it does a 200 lb body, so by having a leaner body they are more efficient with their muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practice:&lt;/strong&gt; It takes practice to do complex moves, and flips are certainly no exception. Simply having an identical body type to gymnast does not mean you can backflip. More than anything you need to practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle Density:&lt;/strong&gt; I like to compare bodybuilder muscles to that of a peacock... large, beautiful, intimidating, but really just a facade. Contrast this with a strength trainer's muscles which are more akin to a leopard... lean, not very large,  but powerful and deadly. Gymnasts fall into the latter category of having muscle that is small, but incredibly dense and powerful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for actual exercise routines? That I cannot attest to, having never been professionally trained as a gymnast. That said, it should adhere to a few basic principles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Functional strength. You want to build a base amount of strength that is functional. For example, low rep high intensity squats/deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power. Strength is not enough to do gymnastic moves, you also need explosive power. Examples of good exercises to improve your power are push press and clean and jerks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice. You need to practice the actual movements, the flips and the tricks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would place practice as the most important part of the regimen and certainly requiring the most time and effort. That said, strength and power are very important as they create the foundation upon which your moves rely upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2014-11-08T00:01:23.137" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T00:01:23.137" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19494" CreationDate="2014-11-07T16:24:59.953" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no idea where you're getting your body image from of male ballet performers (as an example) being anything other than powerhouses. They don't train for hypertrophy, but plenty of male dancers (contemporary, ballet, etc) have very muscular physiques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd venture to guess that the guy below (a contemporary dancer) has far better strength performance and lean body mass then your typical goofball in the gym with a baseball cap on. Pound for pound, athletes that require lots of strength in various positions will generally optimize their power-to-weight as much as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KtM4A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most male gymnasts are short, but muscle and strength wise they are phenomenal. If you hang out with some contemporary dance guys you'll start noticing that the good ones are pretty damn ripped. Aesthetics matter in that field, so being fat-strong doesn't work, they dance for hours a day, and if they screw up a move they can hurt themselves or someone else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QhEtf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T16:24:59.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19490" CreationDate="2014-11-07T16:46:02.663" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only offer this as to what worked for me. I ran 5k and 800m competitively in high school and college, and then moved onto half marathons before getting out of competitive running entirely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started strength training during running I felt a lot more &quot;stable&quot; on my runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that endurance and speed increase by running longer and running faster, but I anecdotally I found increases in my overall leg control and stability. When coming down on a weird landing, or just basically anything other than a simple straight forward stride, my legs tended to be a lot more solid. If you can imagine that legs-crumble feeling you get at the end of a race or when landing weird, I was able to delay/minimize that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With no particular evidence to back up why, I was doing this (half marathon training):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: Run, 3-6 miles, trails or on street intervals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back squats, ~135lb, 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press, 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups, 3 x failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good mornings, 2 x 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Run, 3-6 miles, road.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back squats 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips 3 x faulire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups 3 x failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: nothing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: distance run, 10-20 miles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: yoga.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So boiled down I was lifting twice a week, running thrice a week, and still managing one full day off and one day of yoga. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also experimented with doing my lifts after my runs (same day), which actually worked out better. If my legs were fried from running I wouldn't hit the squats that hard, but because I was keeping the weight fairly light I never really had any problems meeting it. I opted to combine my running and lifting days once the mileage/speed got to the point that I needed more dedicated days off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One big piece of advice I can offer though is to use the time now to learn the proper compound barbell lifts. Fundamentally a proper back squat is a proper back squat, regardless of whether it's high reps and low weight for a runner's training or it's some huge monster pushing 900lb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you're not doing a &quot;real strength training program&quot; (which are awesome, honestly), it doesn't mean you can't use the same movements and get them dialed in. At some point in your life you'll be really happy you have dialed in form on the &quot;big lifts&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as you near race day, cut the weights out the week in advance. Drop the mileage, drop the speed, and keep fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T16:46:02.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-07T17:32:18.377" Score="4" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work from home quite often so don't get enough natural exercise, recently I decided to take a fast paced walk early in the morning to simulate the usual walk to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I should have breakfast before or after my walk, here are the facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I walk 3.8 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes 55 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast is 1 hot cross bun and butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I walk at the same speed, and same distance in either case&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking is that if I have breakfast first, then my body won't burn any fat, only the calories from my breakfast. However, if I have breakfast after, then my body should be burning fat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I google this subject the results are just concerning stomach upsets and getting the most out of your workout, neither apply to my case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10635" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T19:02:37.090" Title="Should I eat before or after my exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19502" CreationDate="2014-11-07T19:02:37.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zoomed out a bit, I'd look at the other 23 hours a day and realize that your 14 minute/mile walk (while certainly better than nothing) isn't really going to have a huge dent on your daily caloric intake. Additionally, a sugar laced mound of carbohydrates doesn't really fit into a solid nutrition plan on a daily basis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That bun, because of the sugar and refined carbohydrates, is causing your insulin levels to spike, which is causing your fat cells to accelerate their grabbing-fuel-from-the-blood process and pack it away in your fatty tissues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forgetting about all of that for a minute, and answering your question directly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, if I have breakfast after, then my body should be burning&#xA;  fat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body can store several thousand calories worth of sugar in your blood and liver. If you have a typical high carbohydrate (and high calorie) diet like most of the western world, your body has very little reason to use up its fat reserves because you're constantly supplying it with a steady stream of sugar/carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go for a walk in the morning, you are using up some fat, no doubt. But the bulk of your energy demands are being met (probably) by the glycogen reserves that are sitting in your blood and liver from dinner and lunch the day before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T19:02:37.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19180" CreationDate="2014-11-08T20:04:31.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like a newly hashed quack exercise product. In the 1950's there was the infamous &quot;butt jigglers&quot; which made the interesting claim that by &quot;breaking up&quot; the fat it could thereby cause it to go away. Vita Master was a popular product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OMt13.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only scientific evidence I found on their site consists of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15910955&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a non applicable study done on rats&lt;/a&gt; talking about a barely-evident increase in fat metabolism due to increased blood flow. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15910955&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The study&lt;/a&gt; was looking at the muscles of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arteriole&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;arterioles&lt;/a&gt;, and the quack-product technoshape marketers then extrapolated out to say that it works the same in your abdomen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if that was true by any significant margin, you're able to increase blood flow to your abdomen by nearly any exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The product is a gimmick. If you want to be strong and lean look to nutrition and strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T20:04:31.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-09T01:38:45.697" Score="9" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know some people may argue: &quot;I actually love eating unsalted tuna with broccoli&quot;, but the sad truth is that most people don't. If I had to choose between a &lt;a href=&quot;http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jXhUBIt8nos/TWMFi5CnccI/AAAAAAAAAGw/U5Wott3LJ9I/s1600/Flickr_hellochris_202508906--In-N-Out_triple_cheeseburger_fries.jpg&quot;&gt;cheese burger with fries&lt;/a&gt; and unsalted &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sohowsittaste.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/HoneyMustardChicken.jpg&quot;&gt;chicken breast with carrots&lt;/a&gt;, I would certainly go for the burger. I bet most people would do the same, at least statistics say so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: why do our brains prefer unhealthy, fat, food instead of healthier food such as steamed vegetables and some sort of meat?  Are there some evolutionary facts that make us prefer this kind of food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12119" LastEditorUserId="12119" LastEditDate="2014-11-09T11:01:25.407" LastActivityDate="2019-11-02T13:24:00.367" Title="Why on Earth do most people enjoy unhealthy food?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19506" CreationDate="2014-11-09T02:02:27.597" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15987666&quot;&gt;2005 study&lt;/a&gt;, and plenty of others, that show a clear dopamine release when sugar is ingested. This one shows that (in rats) it's on par with addictive narcotics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These results suggest another neurochemical similarity between&#xA;  intermittent bingeing on [sugar] and drugs of abuse: both can&#xA;  repeatedly increase extracellular [dopamine].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v37/n9/full/ijo2012197a.html&quot;&gt;2013 study&lt;/a&gt; shows that high fat foods aren't necassarily more enjoyable so much as removing them from your diet causes physical withdrawl symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Removal of [high fat diet from people accustomed to it] enhances&#xA;  stress responses and heightens vulnerability for palatable foods by&#xA;  increasing food-motivated behaviour. Lasting changes in dopamine and&#xA;  plasticity-related signals in reward circuitry may promote negative&#xA;  emotional states, overeating and palatable food relapse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crummy thing about that one above is that &quot;lasting changes&quot; can be created by poor diet even in childhood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cycle of (bad diet in kids) -&gt; (lasting changes in physiology) -&gt; (increased risk of health problems + increased desire for bad diet) is happening to a sickening percentage of humanity at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally from my own experience high sugar foods (like candy, or even pie) will give me a splitting headache in minutes. And although I love In-n-Out burgers (w/ fries) there's enough consequence in my mind to keep it from being something I'd want to over-indulge in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-11-09T02:09:00.300" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T02:09:00.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13485" CreationDate="2014-11-09T17:24:10.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than a year has passed. This is what eventually worked for me: isometric exercises with tennis balls. I built up slowly each third day, from two to four sets of five to ten &quot;reps&quot;, where a &quot;rep&quot; here means five seconds squeezing hard a tennis ball in each hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that approach to anyone in the same situation as me. Maybe it worked well because isometric exercises for grip training resemble much better how your grip is meant to work in real life: you hang from a bar or pick up a dumbbell by squeezing it hard, but the radius of the object remains constant all along the exercise - the same goes for a stone you pick up in your hand or a tree branch our ancestors hanged from. The same cannot be stated about other muscles, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2014-11-09T19:58:50.663" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T19:58:50.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13485" CreationDate="2014-11-09T18:35:40.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are currently placing a pulling load on a muscle system and seeing which part of the system fails first.  It's easy to forget that strength training involves more than training just the muscle.  It also involves load on the tendons, ligaments, and bones.  Since you are experiencing what feels like inflammation of the tendons, it seems logical that the tendon is the weakest link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Eccentric_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eccentric contractions&lt;/a&gt; are much more taxing on the system, especially when performed with more resistance than can be moved concentrically.  You should train the full range of motion (concentric and eccentric) to be sure that your muscles aren't applying more load than the tendons can handle.  Do deadlifts, assisted chins, cable pulldowns, rows, shrugs in a 5x5 rep scheme, and you'll strengthen at a rate your body can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-09T22:09:50.113" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T22:09:50.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14087" CreationDate="2014-11-09T20:28:36.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than a year has passed since I wrote the question. In the meantime I became a serious runner (basically because a shoulder surgery forced me to either running or staying a couch potato). My experience now is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is running (and NOT squatting) what puts stress on my knees (Kate was right, I now know). In fact I often have to insert some extra non-running day in my schedule until small pain signals that arise after a running session completely disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strictly correct squats (I mean slow bodyweight squats) seem to be harmless to my knees, and I do them regularly. BUT:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The tiniest deviation from perfect form causes a lot of damage, specially near the bottom squat position. Until I learnt to squat properly I was really scared and had to stop all leg activity and wait a couple of days very often.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My strength training days now are just the day before running, and not the opposite. For instance, I do the squats on monday and run on tuesday. There is no problem in running after squatting, but conversely I don't dare squatting after running. I notice nearly always some tiny quantity of damage to the knee joint the day after running, which disappears in ~24 hours. I don't like squatting during that time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T15:57:59.363" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T15:57:59.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19506" CreationDate="2014-11-09T21:11:19.023" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We evolved to find calorie-dense foods very tasty, and we don't have taste-receptors for micro-nutrients&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When humans (and most of their predecessors) did most of our evolving, low-calorie plants were plentiful. Sweet fruit wasn't usually around all year. Meat could be hunted, but it required plenty of energy and effort, and was usually quite lean. (Much like wild game caught today.) Even the plant we know of today as broccoli had fewer calories and probably more nutrition. We probably ate piles and piles of plants that had LOADS of vitamins just to get enough calories to live. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that end we have greatly modified our food supply to be both more delicious, more calorie-dense, but unfortunately less nutrient-dense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look into the now trendy &quot;Paleo-Diet&quot; - which attempts to mimic the diet of our ancestors in order to be more healthy. (Mind you, there's plenty of debate about it's effectiveness.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T21:11:19.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19513" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-09T22:33:42.403" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I drink a lot of water. Easily 4 liters pure liquid on normal days, 5+ when exercising (5 days a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard as a child, that salt and water are stored and produce compartments similar to fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that really true? Is there such a thing as water weight and could I reduce my body size, by cutting back my water intake to 2 liters of liquid a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12124" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T05:38:11.280" Title="Can drinking too much water lead to looking bloated?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-02-16T07:47:57.790" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19513" CreationDate="2014-11-10T02:42:13.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can retain water, but since you are exercising 5+ days a week you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; that water to help you hydrate and will not retain much of it at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you exercise, you force the veins to carry back waste products&#xA;  and used-up blood to the heart, which, in turn, cleans that blood,&#xA;  with the aid of other organs. This aids in the secretion (much of it&#xA;  through the bladder) of excess fluids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People who don’t exercise, on the other hand, often develop swollen&#xA;  limbs, over-burdened organs, and weight gain. Exercise is, in fact,&#xA;  one of your best defenses against water retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_health/health1/top-five-reasons-people-retain-water.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6738" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T02:42:13.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19513" CreationDate="2014-11-10T04:27:35.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have sufficient sodium, your body will do a good job regulating your water level; if you drink too much, you will excrete it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T04:27:35.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-10T11:26:21.870" Score="3" ViewCount="695" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are trying to find an off the shelf system that we can attach to existing fitness machines in a gym that tracks machine usage on a user basis. So the idea would be to attach them to all machines and provide all users with a login of some form (PIN number/RF tag etc) and then it can automatically track their usage and ideally provide real time feedback as relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand there are quite a few companies who make their own fitness machines where this is possible. However we need to retrofit this to existing machines so wanted to see if anyone knew of any companies that offer this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only one we can currently find it FitLinxx (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitlinxx.net/fitlinxx-professional-overview.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fitlinxx.net/fitlinxx-professional-overview.htm&lt;/a&gt;), does anyone know of any others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12131" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T00:02:06.473" Title="What products are available that attach to existing fitness machines (weights/treadmills/cardio etc) to track usage?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9690" CreationDate="2014-11-10T11:52:10.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With stronglifts or starting strength you are also squatting 3 times per week so when you are lifting decent weight you are severely taxing your cns, you will be glad to only pull 1x5!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12132" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-11-11T01:08:37.287" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T01:08:37.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19520" CreationDate="2014-11-10T13:04:06.687" Score="6" ViewCount="6882" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found different ways to add smaller increments to certain equipment in our gym. For example, for cables (where each plate weighs 15 lbs), I place a 5 lb or 10lb dumbbell above the first plate. For fixed barbells, I tape a dumbbell in the middle of the bar with a kind of stretchable band with velcro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dumbbells in our gym have fixed weights at 5 lbs increments from 10 lbs to 30 lbs, and 10 lb increments for heavier dumbbells. Is there a way to add just 2.5 lbs or 5 lbs? I'm thinking about something which can be worn in the hands (weighted gloves?), wrist or forearms, and I don't know if there is even such a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12043" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-11-10T19:32:30.933" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T13:26:58.860" Title="Hack for fixed dumbbells" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19519" CreationDate="2014-11-10T14:25:04.983" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=dumbbell%20magnets&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;aq=t&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;channel=sb#q=dumbbell%20magnets&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;amp;channel=sb&amp;amp;tbm=shop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dumbbell magnets&lt;/a&gt; to attach to the head of the dumbbells. I've typically seen 1.25lb magnets, though I suppose you can probably find 2.5 lb magnets as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HrI7g.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T14:25:04.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19519" CreationDate="2014-11-10T14:32:42.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Plate-Mates, a length of heavy metal chain might be a good solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T14:32:42.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2014-11-10T23:58:00.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a BKA and am starting to experience lower back pain. I suspect it is due to several factors: my prosthesis (it's a good one, but still a prosthesis), bed, and my balance is lacking too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am active, as I work hard, in a high paced environment, walking, lifting, and loading are regular occurrences, although I realized in the last few years my balance is lacking, and now recently back pain. I fall a lot. I went to an osteopath, and she gave me some core exercises, including the exercise ball. This helped tremendously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bike riding is great too, I used to ride everywhere. I try to find any excuse to take my bicycle for errands and things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those amputees reading this, try not to worry about limitations too much, it will hold you back. It's always worth trying it at least before you excuse it entirely, I am an amputee with 27 years of experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12136" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2014-11-23T00:28:31.463" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T00:28:31.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19533" CreationDate="2014-11-11T02:42:53.580" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My arms are rotated so that the back of my hands face directly forward.  This is presumably from years and years of sitting at a computer.  I am attempting to correct it by doing only pull exercises: bent-over rows and deadlifts, as well as stretches for pec minor and the various back and shoulder muscles.  Additionally, I am doing wall slides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, assuming this routine will correct the muscle imbalances that have led to my arm rotation, what approximate time frame might I expect the correction to occur by?  E.g. on the order of weeks?  Months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T17:42:49.873" Title="What time frame might I expect to correct arm rotation?" Tags="&lt;therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19519" CreationDate="2014-11-11T03:42:14.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some Google searches, and I thought I might as well post what I found out as an answer. In addition to dumbbell magnets, there are also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=wrist%20weight&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHLW_tlPH464PH464&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;biw=1152&amp;amp;bih=755&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=O4VhVNjPKYHFmwWZ34G4Cg&amp;amp;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wrist weights&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=119175001&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weighted gloves&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12043" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T03:42:14.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-11T03:53:30.133" Score="4" ViewCount="704" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have mild scoliosis and have been told by every doctor I've spoken with to avoid lifting anything heavy. On the other hand, I've met a number of people who have scoliosis and have succeeded in bodybuilding. If anything, they said, their condition made them extra careful, specially when it comes to exercises such as deadlifts and squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is really the scientific consensus when it comes to lifting for people with scoliosis (assuming that the advice I got for the three doctors I spoke with does not represent the general opinion of the medical field)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12043" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T08:43:38.567" Title="Weightlifting for people with scoliosis" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-11T14:49:01.427" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose that one day I ate really a lot of sugar and junk food. So I made a high surplus of calories. Are all of those extra calories going to be stored as fat? Or does the body have a limit for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T17:27:08.120" Title="Are all extra calories stored as fat or is there a limit?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T17:52:53.557" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19286" CreationDate="2014-11-11T16:36:51.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem, albeit at longer distances, so I went to a sports therapist about it. She analyzed my gait and found that my mechanics in my legs were very weak. She gave me a list of exercises to strengthen my lower body. You may consider going to a sports therapist to have them do a gait analysis. If it's your mechanics, the fix is simply doing lower body strengthening exercises, such as side leg lifts, hip raises, plank and side planks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12146" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T16:36:51.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19529" CreationDate="2014-11-11T17:27:08.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a tough answer, and it's based around your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;endocrine system&lt;/a&gt;. Your body releases insulin to direct fat cells to increase their storage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have an endocrine disorder (such as diabetes), &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0037NX018&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;your body will become more insulin sensitive as your body fat drops&lt;/a&gt;, therefore you will readily store more fat. The more insulin resistant you are, the less fat you will store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which sounds awesome except for the part where all that gunk is floating around in your blood stream, causing plaque.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, depending upon the food you ate, as much as 10% of the calories are simply excreted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I disagree with the idea that &lt;em&gt;the body has an unlimited capacity to store fat&lt;/em&gt;. If that was the cause, there would be no plaque and no strokes, because all fat would be readily absorbed into fatty tissues.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T17:27:08.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19524" CreationDate="2014-11-11T17:42:49.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;These questions are tough because they're essentially &quot;how long is a piece of string&quot; type guesses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to start seeing improvement slowly but surely, and eventually you'll get decreasing gains where changing a few degrees will take a much longer amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good on you for doing bent over rows and deadlifts (really terrific exercises), but rather than going at it from a physical therapy prospective I'd really recommend a proper and balanced strength training routine. Make sure you're doing some standing overhead press work, dips, and flat or incline bench pressing as well. Even pushups would be better than nothing in that department. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You got into this predicament by being out of balance in the first place, so trying to out-smart your body's preferred state of affairs might seem like a great idea but it's not going to work well in the long run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T17:42:49.873" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-11T20:48:40.607" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rookie here. Been studying and trying different things. I like trying to do &quot;x number of move x in some amount of time&quot;. Some movements like Olympic weightlifting, should obviously not be done for time as the risk of injury is too great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what movements can be done for time? The short list I have come up with is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pushups  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pullups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jumping jacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;burpees could be included but perhaps shouldn't be due to risk of knee or back injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched this site and googled, but couldn't find anything. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11903" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T09:48:29.477" Title="What movements are safe to 'do for time'?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19534" CreationDate="2014-11-12T07:32:52.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No movement is safe for everyone. Burpees are definitely a fantastic conditioning exercise for time for me, but they're definitely &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a good choice for a mordbidly obese diabetic smoker who gets dizzy when they stand up from a chair. Does that mean they're not right for you? We don't know. That's a complicated question that relies on a large number of factors. We can only speak vaguely in the general case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, low-skill movements using low to moderate load are ideal for conditioning work done for time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High-skill movements like barbell Olympic lifts should be avoided, particularly with high load. Less skilled variants like dumbbell versions of the Olympic lifts, done with moderate load, can sometimes be appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More reliably appropriate movements include most basic bodyweight calisthenics, but not gymnastic movements. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2014/02/26/rooted-in-the-fundamentals/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The basics never get old&lt;/a&gt;. So for me, and maybe for most people who aren't grossly unfit, I'd say burpees, push-ups, planks, situps, sprints, air squats, and other fundamentals are great choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-12T09:48:29.477" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T09:48:29.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-12T08:42:38.097" Score="15" ViewCount="905" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see lots of recommendations of drinking enough water. Another usual fitness recommendation is getting a decent amount of sleep in order to help muscle growth and tissue repair (precious testosterone and growth hormone secretions are well known to happen mostly during deep sleep in adults).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But nobody says anything about how to reconcile both things there where they collide: drinking water immediately before going to bed will make you interrupt your sleep in order to go to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I can get eight hours of continuous sleep is by avoiding drinking any liquid two hours before bedtime. I drink water often during the day (specially immediately before and after exercise) but if I maintain my usual water intake until bedtime, then my sleep gets interrupted because I have to go to the toilet at least once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the way I fell the next morning, I am not sure which strategy is best: less continuous sleep but well hydrated, or 8 hours of sound sleep but thirsty. I guess low hydration must not favour much the natural anabolic processes in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once saw a recommendation in a Navy Seals fitness video in youtube. A military physician recommended high water intake before going to bed, no matter how many times that made you go to the toilet. But in the other end of the spectrum, interrupting sleep for going to the toilet often is considered a health condition (Nocturia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to hear how the more experiences athletes here manage that equilibrium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T08:45:08.733" Title="8 hours continous sleep but thirsty, or good hydration but sleep interrupted?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="17" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19539" CreationDate="2014-11-12T16:30:07.393" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty active in the gym, going 5 times a week with a mixture of weight training &amp;amp; aerobic (spin classes). One thing I'm not finding the time for lately is running.&#xA;Anyway I had one of those health screen checkups and it reported my body fat is 20%. I'd like to reduce this to say 15%, but I'm very poor at watching what I eat (so while I am not excessive, I do like pizza, burger, chips etc. a couple of time a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anybody knows if it is possible to get a drop in body fat in a short space of time by cutting out junk food and doing specific exercises, or if there is something else I should be looking at. I want to keep gaining muscle so don't want to give up chicken &amp;amp; tuna (which are pretty lean), and milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thoughts are that my body fat isn't really high so it may be difficult to do it in this manner, and it may be a long-term goal. I think eating healthily for a long time will be very difficult for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T20:10:11.677" Title="Reducing body fat from low-ish to low in a short space of time" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19538" CreationDate="2014-11-12T20:10:11.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Step one is to fix your diet.  You will have to say no to pizza, burgers, and chips until you hit your goal.  That alone will help you start losing fat.  The question is whether it's enough fat to hit our goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to illustrate what I mean is to use an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person A is 200 lbs at 20% body fat.  That means 40 lbs of fat and 160 lbs lean mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person B is 175 lbs at 20% body fat.  That means 35 lbs of fat and 140 lbs lean mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming they can both lost only fat (no truly practical) they would respectively need to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person A is now 188 lbs at 15% body fat.  That means 28 lbs of fat and 160 lbs lean mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person B is now 165 lbs at 15% body fat.  That means 25 lbs of fat and 140 lbs lean mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, person A would need to lose 12 lbs and person B would need to lose 10 lbs.  If you can maintain a pace of losing 1 lbs a week it can be accomplished in 3 months or less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that as you get to 15% the best bodybuilders will lose 1 lb of lean mass for every 3 lbs of fat.  NOTE: that doesn't necessarily mean that you are losing muscle, just mass that isn't fat.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightrainer.net/weight_loss.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Using this formula&lt;/a&gt;, we are looking at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person A is now 183 lbs at 15% body fat.  That means 27 lbs of fat and 156 lbs lean mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person B is now 160 lbs at 15% body fat.  That means 24 lbs of fat and 136 lbs lean mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person A will need to lose a total of 17 lbs and person B will need to lose a total of 15 lbs.  This is closer to 4 months of work.  If you consider that a short amount of time, then yes it can be done quickly.  If you consider that a long period of time, then no it can't be done quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T20:10:11.677" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29016" CreationDate="2014-11-13T07:08:19.157" Score="3" ViewCount="2244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing finger push-ups with standing slant against the wall for 2-3 weeks with 3 sets of 20 for the biceps.Now i want to improve and be able to lift weights.After going through this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1125/push-up-variations&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; which variation of push ups is best suggested for the arms(if am not wrong the extensors,flexors/fore arms if possible triceps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also please suggest the correct pattern of increasing the count(i.e. for ex if i keep doing 3 sets of 20 push ups for 3 weeks thrice a week then after which week or certain time i should increase the count to say 30 or 25).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;:-Due to lack of space and time i choose push ups as it does not require any thing special (equipment/space). If anything else is available then i am open to modifications&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T19:09:31.070" Title="I want to train the forearms which variation of push-ups is suitable" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18598" CreationDate="2014-11-13T07:27:10.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Numbers are approximate, but here's what I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can only do &lt;strong&gt;one to three&lt;/strong&gt; pull-ups, then you should use negatives or assisted pull-ups and strive for an equal number of reps across your sets. At this stage you're not strong enough to warrant straining to do some variable but small number of real pull-ups. You're better served by getting in a consistent, larger amount of volume (total reps) while gradually making it harder by doing slower negatives or decreasing the amount of assistance weight on the band or assisted pull-up machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do &lt;strong&gt;four to eight&lt;/strong&gt; pull-ups then you should find a number you can reliably do in each set and do that for several sets. At this point you're strong enough so that real pull-ups are best, but weak enough that you might severely limit volume by going for your max every set. Alternatively, you could nix the entire idea of a set number of sets, and just pick a total to reach in however many sets it takes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do &lt;strong&gt;nine or more&lt;/strong&gt; pull-ups then you should stop worrying about consistent numbers across sets. Just go for your max in each set and make sure it stays within an acceptable range: if you can do 15 at your best, make sure each set is between 12 and 15. Then you can keep the number of sets constant and know you're still challenging yourself in terms of volume and effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T07:27:10.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19526" CreationDate="2014-11-13T08:43:38.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, doctors such especially GPs and those who do not specialize in sports medicine, are often more conservative and will side with caution. (Incidentally, scoliosis isn't the only condition where weightlifting may be discouraged. I have GERD and my gastroenterologist has also advised me to stop weightlifting as both weight gain and the act of lifting itself trigger acid reflux.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opinion is slightly different from those of doctors who specialize in sports medicine. After a thorough examination they may or may not recommend weightlifting. Here's what the &lt;a href=&quot;http://chkdsportsmed.com/2013/10/09/adolescent-idiopathic-scoliosis-and-sports-participation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CHK Sports Medicine Blog&lt;/a&gt; has to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those with scoliosis (without surgical intervention) should be&#xA;  encouraged to participate in sports, yet carefully monitor sports with&#xA;  extreme axial loading where an increase in lumbar lordosis is&#xA;  achieved.  These activities may include, but are not limited to weight&#xA;  lifting, gymnastics, shot-putting, javelin throwing, rugby, and&#xA;  football.  The only restriction would be if they begin experiencing&#xA;  pain.  Staying active stimulates self-esteem and physical fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12043" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T08:43:38.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16127" CreationDate="2014-11-13T09:05:27.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just had this done as a part of a range of tests through a program run at my job. Essentially the company involved does what they call a &quot;Health Screen&quot;. You'll find many by doing a search for that term.&#xA;As you can see from this link &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.preventplc.com/docs/Workplace-Health-Assessments.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here showing packages&lt;/a&gt;, body fat % is a standard even on the basic one which is pretty cheap. As well as the consultation, I got an email with the results and recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The test is pretty much standing on a machine that passes a current through you to determine body fat composition (fat around the organs is also checked).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a doctor, and your question doesn't ask for the advice regarding it, but for me I have found great success with weight training. The muscle I put on has helped my body shape and seems to keep my weight down, and the flab too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T09:05:27.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19561" CreationDate="2014-11-13T19:01:23.077" Score="7" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wondering if there's any information on training on an empty stomach and eating afterwards vs training on a full stomach? I have heard (no sources) that eating a proper balanced meal after a workout is 'optimal'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When pressed for time I often put off eating &lt;strong&gt;even when very hungry&lt;/strong&gt; in favour of doing a workout and then cooking / eating afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the better situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training when actively hungry, (perhaps with a protein shake before training) then cooking and eating a meal in the hour afterwards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training within an hour after recently eaten, (perhaps with a protein shake after training)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10607" LastEditorUserId="10607" LastEditDate="2014-11-13T19:31:24.057" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T02:18:58.367" Title="Training on an empty stomach vs full" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19540" CreationDate="2014-11-13T19:15:38.073" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A number of things jump out here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups aren't known for being a great forearm developer. Look into pull-ups, or dumbbell farmer's walks, or deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why wall push-ups? If you can do floor push-ups you should do those.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be increasing the reps you can do as much as you can. Keep a few &quot;in the tank&quot;—don't go to absolute failure in every set–but you should be increasing the number of reps per set steadily over time. If you can't yet do floor push-ups then that should be your goal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T19:15:38.073" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-13T20:26:47.013" Score="0" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I got 2 months and I want to maintain my vertical jump or increase a bit. But also I want to get my bodyweight from 52kg to 57-59kg in those two months.&#xA;I would like to know how I would be able to do this. &#xA;Ps. I want to mainly increase upper body size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10013" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T16:17:22.543" Title="Vertical jump and body weight" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;vertical-jump&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19548" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-13T23:09:26.157" Score="2" ViewCount="8119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would really appreciate the help on how to lose muscle mass in the thigh area? Ever since I recovered from weight loss (40kg back up to 46kg, age 20, female, 1.66m), I started taking lysine and other pills to help put on muscle and general mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love to run and I started running faster (11mphr) for shorter periods of time when I gained stamina...but now my thighs have bulked up! I mean the rest of me is quite stick-like, small calves, sticky arms, flat stomach, but now my thighs are much bigger and more muscular than ever! How can I get rid of this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some people think this looks great and they love it, but its just not my look and I prefer to be slimmer like I use to be before I started running. Should I just stop running all together? What should I be eating? Should I run slower at day 7mphr and do yoga and Pilates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12158" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T08:24:39.403" Title="How can I lose muscle mass in my quads and ham strings (thighs?)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19548" CreationDate="2014-11-14T00:25:41.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose muscle mass or fat, no matter where it is, you need to burn more calories than you take in. I would normally say continue exercising, but reduce the amount of carbohydrates and fats you are eating, and eat more lean protein (fish, white meat chicken) and vegetables.  However, you mentioned that you're recovering from weight loss, so may not want to lose any further weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you a sprinter or a distance runner?  Sprinters tend to develop bulk and distance runners tend to be leaner.  You could try gradually dialing back the intensity of your runs but increasing distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're probably not going to like it, but since this is &quot;fitness.stackexchange&quot; and not &quot;bodybuilding.stackexchange&quot; ;), I think the best advice is to stay fit, and try to accept and enjoy your body shape if you're fit and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="417" LastEditorUserId="417" LastEditDate="2014-11-14T23:02:39.150" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T23:02:39.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19552" CreationDate="2014-11-14T04:28:07.963" Score="12" ViewCount="4347" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sites like bodybuilding.com, Men's Fitness, Muscle &amp;amp; Strength, etc. still use terms such as &quot;endomorph, &quot;ectomorph&quot; and &quot;mesomorph&quot;. These so-called &quot;somatotypes&quot; were invented by the psychologist (and possible eugenicist) William Herbert Sheldon, Jr. Sheldon tied each of the bodytypes to certain personality traits, and his research has been discredited time and again as racist hogwash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if so many of these respected fitness websites make reference to the somatotypes, is it because we've since proven there to be some accuracy to the distinct body types without the connection to personality? Or is this just a case of bad science being hard to wash away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T13:34:04.213" Title="Why do so many fitness websites still reference somatotypes?" Tags="&lt;bmi&gt;&lt;ectomorph&gt;&lt;mesomorph&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19546" CreationDate="2014-11-14T10:24:26.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as your upper body weight is clean(no fat) you don't have to worry to much ! unless you gain some 10kg only on your upper body. :)&#xA; As for training in 2 months you wont be able to gain 5-6 kg of clean muscle and maintain your vertical leap.&#xA; The best type of training you can do is HIT type (maybe 8 times a week- depending on your level); short and explosive training where you do not engage aerobic type of exercises ! max time of execution would be 10 seconds. &#xA; Avoid static stretching go for foam roller and dynamic stretching ! &#xA;Eat clean and up your protein intake ! &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Note : Train as hard as you perform and train in the same manner.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8266" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T10:24:26.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19550" CreationDate="2014-11-14T11:46:10.930" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or is this just a case of bad science being hard to wash away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no evidence of a somatotypes being caused by genetics in anyway. All of Sheldon's initial work on Somatotypes was related to psychology, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;which has since been debunked&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, there has been no study done that gives a genetic correlation between a somatotype and body type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somatotypes are broadly used to say you are either fat, muscular or tall and thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taller &quot;Ectomorphic&quot; people will naturally have trouble gaining the visual &quot;bulkiness&quot; of a shorter person due to higher calorie requirements and phsyiological differences in muscle. A taller person will have longer limbs, causing muscles to be longer making them appear &quot;smaller&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between Mesomorphic and Endomorphic comes down to body fat alone, and shedding excess fat can make someone who looks Endomorphic become Mesomorphic, based on appearance alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Why does the theory of Somatotype exist? Because people are lazy and like excuses&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitness magazines/websites aren't in the business of making you fit, they are in the business of selling magazines/getting page-views so they can sell ad space. You getting fit is a by-product. Somatotypes give a convenient way to say &quot;being chubby&quot; isn't your fault, its your genetics so that you don't feel bad and stop buying/clicking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-11-18T05:33:22.137" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T05:33:22.137" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19548" CreationDate="2014-11-14T15:31:42.293" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to clarify some points for you, which will help you decide what to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You've been working to add muscle and mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You've only been working your legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle responds to Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands (SAID principle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is unclear is whether you want to keep a more balanced physique with increased mass, or reduce your mass to where it was when you were 40kg.  The recommendation depends on the answer to that question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you want to balance your distribution of muscle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is that you need to require more from the muscles you aren't really using right now.  The weight room is the most straightforward way to do that.  Yoga and Pilates will build enough strength to hold the positions required for the activity.  The end result is a well distributed musculature.  How pronounced you want those muscles to look depends on the amount of body fat you carry.  More fat hides muscle definition, less fat shows it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goal with this approach is to increase the size and proportion of your muscles so that they look good together.  You'll probably have to increase your body weight some more since you've been underweight for so long.  That said, training your upper body will balance out the proportion of your thighs to your arms and torso.  Your calves may be genetically small, but focusing directly on them with standing calf raises will help them grow as best they can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you truly want to reduce the size of your thighs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this case, I would recommend slowing your pace and working more on endurance.  Fast pace running for short distances increases the type 2 muscle, which takes up more space.  Endurance emphasizes type 1 muscle, which is more compact.  Running long distances is fairly catabolic, so it will reduce the size of your thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T15:31:42.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19546" CreationDate="2014-11-14T16:17:22.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Increasing 5-7kg in 2 months is something you can do while staying pretty lean.  To increase primarily upper body mass and still maintain your vertical jump is also pretty easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet needs to change so that you are increasing your mass by no more than .75 kg a week.  That will keep you pretty lean, so it won't adversely affect the vertical too much (fat resists changing velocity more than rigid muscle).  That pace will put you right at 6 kg over 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do recommend the following practice on training days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500 ml of skim milk with 5g creatine pre-workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500 ml of skim milk with 5g creatine to sip on throughout the workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500 ml of skim milk with 1 scoop protein powder post-workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During non-training days you can either skip this altogether, or just have one 2-scoop protein shake during that time of day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other food should be regular food.  The reason for this is to time carbohydrates and protein to give you more energy throughout your workouts, as well as put your body in the best condition to make use of the protein and carbs.  I.e. more goes to muscle and less to fat.  (Source is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.store.jtsstrength.com/resources/performance-nutrition-encyclopedia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Performance Nutrition Encyclopedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training Changes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to maintain your lower body strength while building your upper body strength/mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a training split, I would use 3 days where two days are upper body days and 1 is a lower body day.  Feel free to adapt things to suit you better, but this basic structure will help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1: Triceps/Shoulders/Lats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Primary Press movement (overhead, bench, dumbbells or barbells) 3x10-15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder triple sets (one set would be lateral raise, front raise, and rear delt raise) 3x10-15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps pushdowns: 4x10-15 (2 sets with a hammer grip, 2 sets with a straight grip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups / Lat Pull Downs 3x5-10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab work, 50 reps your choice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2: Lower body maintenance/traps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: work up to 3-8 RM  (cycle 8RM, 5RM, 3RM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Box Jumps: 75% 7x3 (more to keep in practice with the movement)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snatch Grip High Pulls: 3x5-10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glute bridges: 3x10-15 (hold 1-3s at top)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raises 3x10-15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3: Arms/Biceps/Chest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Secondary Press movement (overhead, push press, bench, dumbbells or barbells) 3x10-15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest flies 3x10-15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kneeling 1 arm DB rows (AKA Kroc rows) 3x10-15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB Curls (your choice of variation) 3x10-15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell curls: just the empty bar, as many as possible, aim for 50 or more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab work, 50 reps your choice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTES&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I write a rep range like 3x10-15, you will be starting with a weight you can hit for 3 sets of 10 and working up to 3 sets of 15.  The goal progression would be 3x10, 3x12, 3x15.  When you hit the max number of reps you increase weight and start over with 3x10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only difference for this is with squats, where I have you working up to an 8 rep max, then a 5 rep max, and finally a 3 rep max.  The goal here is to aim for a slightly higher weights each time you cycle through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach will help you increase upper body mass if you eat to support your work, and you really are pushing yourself with the weights.  It's hard to judge what you can do for 3x10 if you've never done work in that range.  If you know your 1 rep max for that exercise, then start with 70% of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a more bodybuilding approach to training, since the goal here is to add upper body mass and maintain that vertical jump.  The squat work should be enough to maintain or increase your strength, and the box jumps keep the practice up.  After 3 weeks, you may increase the height of the box and maintain the reps--as long as you are confident you'll be able to hit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's two pressing movements, primarily because triceps account for the majority of your arm mass.  You'll notice I don't have much for forearms.  If you use fat grips with the dumbbell rows, curls, and the secondary press movement you'll do everything needed for them.  The primary press movement should be something where you can overload your triceps more.  Strict pressing, close grip bench pressing, or dumbbell bench with your palms facing each other will all do that.  The secondary press movement can be a push press or other quick movement.  The goal here is to provide 2 days of arm training, but hit them a bit differently than you do on the primary press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parting Thoughts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I outlined is just a framework to get you started.  There are a number of bodybuilding templates out there, and the only modifications you need are to keep volume on the legs a little lower and the rep ranges shorter.  Your goal is maintaining strength and power output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T16:17:22.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19540" CreationDate="2014-11-14T19:30:23.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fingertip push-ups are one option, but you'd have better luck with any number of grip exercises for forearm development:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Farmer's Walks&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting/Chin-ups&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gripper exercises (Captains of Crush is an example)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try wrist-curls: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/seated-dumbbell-palms-up-wrist-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/seated-dumbbell-palms-up-wrist-curl&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T19:30:23.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-14T21:01:27.577" Score="1" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have back problems and need to work on my posture, one element is the lower ab to 'pull' my lower back into a more upright position (I tend to fall into a hollow back).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I ask about activation, I mean this: get the relevant muscles to stay tense and active for a long time after the workout so that my posture stays OK with less conscious effort. What is a training modality or exercise to achieve this effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly looking at planks and kneeling ab-wheel rollouts as exercises that have, I think, a more max-strength focus for me but I also occasionally do exercises with a stronger strength-endurance focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I prioritize one over the other to achieve muscle activation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="12173" LastEditDate="2014-11-16T09:02:45.260" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T01:49:50.833" Title="Best way to achieve muscle activation in the lower abs?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24015" CreationDate="2014-11-14T21:15:56.010" Score="3" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see two slightly distinct ways to do kneeling ab wheel rollouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hip does not bend, hip flexors are worked isometrically only, movement extends only as far as this is doable. As seen &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwqJTPsI6i0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in this youtube viseo&lt;/a&gt; and on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWKneelingWheelRollout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Highly similiar to the first in the outward part of the movement, but the guy actually advises to slightly crunch in the inward part. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmqDIL2xzbk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;As seen here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My observation is that when extending too far, I cannot do the backward portion without a slight, active tuck from the abs. For me, as I have lower back problems, I will do the first version and probably use a door or something to limit range of movement to something managable. Better safe than sorry and all that.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, which version is safer, which is more effective and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T18:39:51.993" Title="Correct technique for ab wheel rollout or must the hip flexors work isometrically?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13993" CreationDate="2014-11-15T00:08:34.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the body adapts to new stress loads (i.e. workouts) at a rate of approximately 50% per week. So, after 4 weeks, your body will be approximately 95% adapted to the new workload. By &quot;adapt&quot; I mean build muscle tissue, increase capillary density, more efficiently generate ATP, etc. If you start a new workload, they progression of adaptation over 4 weeks will be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 1: 50%&#xA;Week 2: 75%&#xA;Week 3: 87%&#xA;Week 4: 95%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In endurance sports, however, coached athletes typically do not keeps the same workload over a whole 4 week period. Instead, it varies cyclically with a general upward trend designed to stimulate continued adaptation, even after 4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I prefer tracking fitness progress over more than a four week window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T00:08:34.883" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16628" CreationDate="2014-11-15T00:14:03.850" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50934/5K-Intermediate-Training-Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50934/5K-Intermediate-Training-Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do strength training 2-3 times per week. As you get closer to your key race (2-3 weeks), reduce the amount of strength training to 0-1 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T00:14:03.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19544" CreationDate="2014-11-15T00:22:58.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a general workout of 60-90 minutes (not a competitive event such as a triathlon), it doesn't matter. The reason is because your body stores enough carbohydrates to fuel moderate/high intensity activity for approximately that long. Longer than that, however, and you will need to supply additional fuel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of your body's physical adaptation to your training occurs at night when you sleep. Therefore, it is important that you don't go to bed hungry. It's ok to workout hungry though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T00:22:58.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19544" CreationDate="2014-11-15T02:18:58.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether or not you eat before a workout is relatively unimportant, but there has been a lot of debate about working out in a &quot;fasted&quot; state (such as a morning run before breakfast). It's a method used by bodybuilders, models, the military, etc. to keep lean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailyburn.com/life/fitness/fasted-cardio-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;, which has some very good information and links to various studies, there is a fair amount of evidence to suggest that doing cardio in a fasted state can increase fat-burning by up to 20%, but the long-term effects are less noticeable. In addition, resistance-training in a fasted state may hinder your performance and cause a breakdown of muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/nutrition/articles/get-enough-protein-post-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It is better to eat and drink immediately after exercise, especially&#xA;  after prolonged or high-intensity workouts.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, you want to take in about 20g of protein and some carbs after any workout, particularly resistance-training, sprints, and high-intensity cardio. This is the point at which your muscles are in their greatest state of recovery, and having a high-protein environment is important for that. Some people may choose to take BCAA in lieue of a post-workout meal. As long as you eat some complete protein or take BCAA, it should speed up muscle-recovery. If you take creatine, it's also recommended that this be done immediately after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8325" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T02:18:58.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18989" CreationDate="2014-11-15T03:08:18.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Planks are isometric exercises, great for warming up &amp;amp; an important skill to build for future (more advanced) exercises. They challenge your bodies ability to recruit muscles in combination to stabilise your body/form - for efficiency I limit my isometric exercises to 1:30 end goal. I add ~5 second increments each session to gradually progress the load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front planks can be progressed with one leg variation, then opposing arm &amp;amp; leg variation, next step up is elevated feet, then use a wall and your body tension to elevate yourself - at this point I'd consider your front plank progression about done, just maintain and start rolling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side planks are good - give them a google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So are back bends/arches &amp;amp; back bridges - google as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hollow Body Hold is great for compression work, the 'mesh' of muscle that sits below your abdominals - google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Stay at front planks &amp;amp; side planks whilst you catch your hollow body and back bridges up, muscular imbalances are dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also unrelated to your question but I would round out your routine with some rows &amp;amp; dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12168" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T03:08:18.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19570" CreationDate="2014-11-15T04:05:17.427" Score="1" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need help coming up with a weight loss plan. I hit my highest weight at 290lbs! I got back down to 280 by watching what I eat but I started gaining it back again. I need help! What foods should I eat and what kind of exercises are good for weight loss, weight lifting or cardio? Could somebody help me make a weekly plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, I have high blood pressure and I am hypoglycemic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12169" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T18:31:47.787" Title="weight loss/diet plan help" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18989" CreationDate="2014-11-15T04:42:46.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another answer recommends Abdominal Roll-outs. I'd not recommend you to directly jump to the Abdominal Rollout exerceses shown in that answer. Its an &lt;strong&gt;advanced&lt;/strong&gt; exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is start with physio ball or Exercise Ball ab exercises and then proceed to Ab roll out workout.  Even in ab roll workout start with the most versions and work your way up to advanced exercises in a duration of 3-4 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video shows you all the progressions. The speaker in that video was a Profesional Physiotherapist for baseball team, mets and he knows how to avoid injuries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I3LgiumTJM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Ultimate Ab Rollout Progression (BEGINNER TO ADVANCED!)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2014-11-15T13:35:07.723" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T13:35:07.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19287" CreationDate="2014-11-15T04:46:03.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Butterfly stretch is a good one to open up the adductors (I think that's the name- anatomy newb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching your piriformis would be a good move as well, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idJdXbVUjNI&amp;amp;list=PLaQ9DoRa6Hjd-GZw1BURTrjudWDhJdYqU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;youtube by Kit Laughling&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practicing activation of your pelvic muscles involved in anterior/posterior tilt movements, detailed &lt;a href=&quot;http://antranik.org/cat-cow-tranquility/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12168" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T04:46:03.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7241" CreationDate="2014-11-15T05:41:02.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Board presses are a supplement to regular bench presses. It's not so much a matter of pros and cons (as if you were choosing one over the other) as it is knowing under what circumstances board presses can be a useful tool:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Emphasize Lockout&lt;/strong&gt; - If the weak point on your bench press is the lockout, then board presses can provide focused work on that range of motion. Typically this would be applicable for equipped lifters (a bench shirt), and not for raw lifters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tricep Activation&lt;/strong&gt; - Following the point above, more tricep activiation in this range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overload&lt;/strong&gt; - Provide the neural training of lifting a supramaximal weight, possible over this limited range of motion. Note that this isn't really feasible without a couple of spotters unless you're in a rack and using safety pins to simulate boards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder Relief&lt;/strong&gt; - Provides a way for lifters with damaged shoulders to still press in a range that doesn't cause pain or aggravate the injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T05:41:02.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19572" CreationDate="2014-11-15T17:46:16.773" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, if fat floats, how is it so that a fat guy with let's say 70% body fat is unable to float on water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12012" LastActivityDate="2014-11-16T01:09:19.050" Title="How come fat people can't float?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-11-16T15:52:00.053" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19563" CreationDate="2014-11-15T19:13:29.663" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, because you have High Blood Pressure, you already know you have to stay away from high amounts of sodium because of the caused water retention. If you keep your water and fluid intake high and your sodium low, your high blood pressure may even decrease. &#xA;Because of hypoglycemia, obviously this makes things a little bit more complicated. Since I am not an expert on diabetic and blood sugar related specialized diets, I do not want to tell you the wrong things. But what I can tell you is cardiovascular activity for a longer time with medium intensity will surely get you the best results. Once you begin to sweat, that is the optimal effort that you want to put out at time. Over time, you will begin to sweat later and further into your workout because of progression into weight loss and cardio-vascularity. So for instance, if you were to workout today and begin to sweat at 50% effort at 10 minutes in, step it up a small bit and continue to work out consistently. If you feel light headed, take a break and eat a snack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you consume more water, less sodium, and concentrate on more endurance focused activities, you will definitely experience weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS, be patient, these things take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12172" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T19:13:29.663" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19568" CreationDate="2014-11-16T01:09:19.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, fat does float. There is a manswers episode about how girls with big natural boobs &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spike.com/video-clips/ue7wng/manswers-do-bigger-ones-float&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;float&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12169" LastActivityDate="2014-11-16T01:09:19.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19556" CreationDate="2014-11-16T05:16:29.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely start doing a lot of leg and lower body engaged abdominal workouts. These workouts will obviously target your lower abs. The key of trying to support your back at the same time with long lasting contraction would be more associated with the sets and reps you're choosing to execute. In my experience of training my lower abdomen, I've found the most success in weighted and un-weighted leg raises. These are a great exercise that target the lower abs in all areas with some variations. I've included some links to some great leg-based ab workouts below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/decline-reverse-crunch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/decline-reverse-crunch&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/flat-bench-lying-leg-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/flat-bench-lying-leg-raise&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hanging-leg-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hanging-leg-raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12172" LastActivityDate="2014-11-16T05:16:29.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-17T01:32:02.793" Score="4" ViewCount="859" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current gym has no barbells, only dumbbells.  I'm continuing my Starting Strength program of squats, bench press, overhead press, and a dumbbell dead lift.  But, I have trouble racking and carrying the weights when doing squats, and picking them off the floor and returning when bench press, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper way to pick up, rack, and put down the dumbbells? I'm referrering to all of the basic weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12178" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T09:31:33.357" Title="How to pick up and rack dumbbells safely?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19556" CreationDate="2014-11-17T01:42:33.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay - you're asking a challenging question, without diagnosis etc. it's hard to answer, regardless I'll give it a shot:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's get you a solid core first: hollow body hold, planks (back, front and side), L-Raise progression (aiming for straddle raises for hip and lumbar stability)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's open up your hips &amp;amp; associated connectives: Seated Cross Legged Piriformis Stretch, Butterfly Stretch, Front Lunge, Couch Stretch, Standing Pike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's make your brain &amp;amp; neural pathways aware that your hips can be rotated: Cat pose, Camel pose, Half king pigeon (this was all Yoga btw)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now you physically can have better posture you have to do it &amp;amp; then ultimately you want your body to do it for you. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Postural_awareness_techniques&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This should get your primed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, as much as I hate this website... if you care about activation then check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-627&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12168" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T01:42:33.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-17T03:50:16.473" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running for years and only my left IT band has been sore lately. No recent injuries (rolled my last ankle something good 7 months ago) and haven't added any additional mileage lately. I would expect both legs to tire evenly. Is it uncommon to experience this from running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12105" LastEditorUserId="12105" LastEditDate="2014-11-17T08:38:49.783" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T08:38:49.783" Title="Is it common to have one sore hangstring / IT band?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19578" CreationDate="2014-11-17T04:44:52.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that my most frequent running injury was my right hip. Never had a problem with my left side at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you usually end up injuring one side early in life, then compensate or lose flexibility somehow, then start developing imbalances. I'm a huge barbell fan, but bodyweight single-left stuff is awesome for identifying imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would imagine every human being that masters the pistol squat had to spend a lot of time dealing with the differences between both legs. I was able to knock out ~10 on my right side and could barely do ~3 on my other, before I started really going after the imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T04:44:52.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19580" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-17T07:26:55.713" Score="1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been through countless types of workout routines, diet plans, detoxes and the works. The best type of workout I've used is Cross Training and I'm on a low carb, high protein, high fiber, high vitamin and mineral diet. I know I am following correct and healthy routines because I'm also educated in Biology and a bit of nutrition. But somehow, I don't ever seem to get past a certain point of fat percentage and then I hit a wall. Is there something I'm missing? And what are some tips to losing fat in a healthy way and still retaining the muscle I have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12172" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T15:04:16.327" Title="What's the Best Way to Lose Fat and Keep Muscle?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19576" CreationDate="2014-11-17T09:31:33.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For bench press, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM5Nw_QBA9A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kick the dumbbells into place while sitting onto the bench, then reverse the process to get up&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squats and overhead press, I'd power clean the dumbbells to my shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For deadlifts, I'd deadlift each dumbbell into place one at a time. Because of height issues this would unfortunately more closely resemble a round-backed squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength is a barbell program. It is very difficult to modify that program to use only dumbbells. You might get better mileage out of a dumbbell-only gym by incorporating single-leg work like one-leg deadlifts, lunges, and rear-foot-elevated split squats. It's simply not possible to get the same load in the same position without a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T09:31:33.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19580" CreationDate="2014-11-17T11:34:34.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bring your 'diet' up to that point, the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketogenic dieting will get you past it, strict &amp;lt;30g net carbs daily &amp;amp; a caloric deficit and you will arrive at your destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not healthy in the long term but seeing as the diet is pretty much nothing but Protein and Fat you'd have a hard time atrophying your muscles for fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure you calculate your TDEE (a weighted average is best) before developing your food plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12168" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T11:34:34.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19580" CreationDate="2014-11-17T15:04:16.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Insulin causes fat cells to store free floating fat from the blood. Unless you have an endocrine disorder, you will become more insulin sensitive the lower your bodyfat goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going from 25% body fat to 20% is fairly straightforward.  Going from 10% to 5% is &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is trying to store every last nugget of energy at lower bf levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can bust through body fat walls, but they will progressively require tighter and tighter discipline.  Age and hormone levels are also important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T15:04:16.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19593" CreationDate="2014-11-17T18:09:14.937" Score="5" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at my &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;progressive intermediate weight training program&lt;/a&gt;, and I'm a little more than halfway through my 12 week program. As expected it's been terrific, I've steadily been gaining strength in all areas, and I'm PR'ing every week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I'm able to squat 300 (3RM) right now, and I'm going to keep chugging away at the intermediate program schedule, a 2% weekly increase means that in 52 weeks I'd be squatting 840lbs (I did some quick Excel math).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there something inherently off in my math?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rippetoe and others have said that most folks will spend their entire lives in the intermediate range, which makes me think that there's something much bigger going on since strict adherence would propel you out of the intermediate stage within a year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or we're saying that someone squatting 840lb is &quot;intermediate&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there hidden de-loading / weekly rest periods going on that I'm missing, and are these documented somewhere?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My spreadsheet math below. I tried to follow the idea of weekly compounding 2% gains. I capped the time at 26 weeks for sake of not having an incredibly long image below, but at 52 weeks it gets to 840.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q1r5G.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T02:51:04.040" Title="what's the reality that keeps progressive strength training from being constant?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19592" CreationDate="2014-11-17T18:45:42.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing inherently wrong in the math, just in the model you are using.  As it turns out, Greg Nuckols just published an article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://gregnuckols.com/2014/11/13/muscle-math/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle Math&lt;/a&gt;, which sheds some light on why it is simply not feasible in practice to go from 300x3 to 840 lbs in 1 year (52 weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the major take-aways are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery activities have a power law distribution (i.e. the law of diminishing returns), which means there's a practical limit to how much food and sleep you can use to recover from the work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training stress is like a parabola, up to a certain training volume and you will get stronger.  Over that training volume you will get weaker.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Newbies and early intermediates have a high parabola that is narrower.  This means you get more benefit from every training session, but you can't do as much as an advanced trainee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Late intermediate and advanced lifters have a flatter and wider parabola.  This means you can do a whole lot more work, which is necessary to getting stronger, but the overall benefit to that work goes down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has some practical applications to this muscle math, but it will at least help you understand that the path to getting stronger is not linear.  In fact, I'm not aware of any biological processes that are.  It definitely feels like you could keep going right now, but don't be surprised when your progress slows down.  All you need at that point is a different way to manage your training volume and intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also consider that the number of people who can hit an 840 lb raw squat (i.e. no squat suit) are very few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Transitioning from Beginner to Intermediate and Beyond&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I'd like to recommend not worrying about whether you are advanced or intermediate.  The whole concept of classifying yourself either by someone's strength standards or by your recovery rates (a bit more accurate) is a bit arbitrary.  You can draw the line anywhere you want, and that's really not the point.  The point is really &lt;em&gt;what do you do when you can no longer PR every week&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where we have to introduce the concept of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/10/29/one-type-periodization-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;periodization&lt;/a&gt;.  Put simply, periodization is the way you organize your training over the long term.  You will be getting to a point where increasing weight will be increasingly difficult for a few reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You start feeling like you are in a fog all the time, and you start dreading going into the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where exactly that happens is a bit different for everyone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get to a point where you are no longer building strength, but merely demonstrating what you attained so far.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most assured way to build strength is to increase the volume of work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking back at the muscle math article, you'll notice that there are units of work that are needed to &lt;em&gt;build strength&lt;/em&gt; and as you get stronger you need to perform more units of work to get stronger.  That's a good way to think about it.  Essentially, you have to arrange the work you do so that you can increase the volume over time.  This is where we get into the Texas Method (an intermediate program) concepts of a volume day, a light day, and a heavy day.  The volume day builds strength, the light day provides active recovery while keeping the movement patterns fresh, and the heavy day lets you set a new PR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The periodization article provides a number of tools to balance the demands of recovery, building strength, and demonstrating strength.  You'll find that people with an 840 lb squat or better can't do that every day in the gym.  They have to work up to it over the period of several weeks as they prepare for a competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that you can introduce these tools a little at a time.  For example, if you are increasing the weight every time you squat, you can transition to the Texas Method approach to squat three times a week, but still PR at the end of the week.  When weekly progress isn't happening any more, you simply use the same concepts and work on increasing your PRs at a slightly slower rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is there is nothing wrong with slowing down, and it will be very necessary after a while.  I personally didn't pick up a barbell until I was 39.  Linear progression on the squats lasted until I could do about 310 lbs.  Weekly progression got me to 325 for a triple.  I then went to a monthly program, felt a whole lot better and got over 400 lbs squat before I turned 40.  Due to some life events and injury, over the next couple years I was only able to increase the squat to 450 (no belt, in a competition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every person's journey is different.  You may surpass my squat in the same amount of time (particularly if you are fairly young).  The point is to find a way that you enjoy training, and continue getting stronger.  Use the tips in the two articles I linked to, or use someone's out of the box program.  Just put int the work and enjoy the process.  An 840 squat takes years--on the order of over a decade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-11-18T02:51:04.040" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T02:51:04.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19592" CreationDate="2014-11-17T21:27:20.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your math is fine. The problem is you're just plotting your current progress. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=1712&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Aimee Avaya Everett&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New people come on the scene, their lifts continuously go up week after week, and they are the fucking bomb! Their confidence is through the roof! Do we have the next World Champ? [They think,] 'At the rate I am PRing in my snatch and clean &amp;amp; jerk, 3-5kgs a week, I will be beating all these bitches, all these top 10 girls or boys, and I will be amazing! I will be an Olympic medalist for sure...' as they are calculating what their lifts will be in 6 months at this 3-5kg per week increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then reality sets in. You can’t PR every week forever. New people to the sport have a level of strength and a level of technique. Once those two things match up, they hit a wall. New folks PR every week because they are new to the sport, and they are going to naturally progress to where their limit is, based on their athletic ability. When they reach their limit, they find PRs are not coming every week. Or every two weeks, or maybe not even in a whole month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're extrapolating 2% increases until...when, exactly? Your own death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to get injured, you're going to take a vacation, you're going to miss a meal or two, and even if you don't, you're going to come up against the limits of physics, of the optimal tensile properties of human tissue, of your genetic potential. You're going to get older, and your body will become weaker as it stops responding to training for reasons &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/magazine/28athletes-t.html?_r=5&amp;amp;pagewanted=all&amp;amp;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;we don't fully understand&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you do everything right, the human body can only get so big, and human tissue can only do so much. At some point you're going to put five more pounds on the bar and &lt;em&gt;you're just not going to be able to lift it&lt;/em&gt;. There's no getting around that. You'll get kicked out of intermediate programming because you won't follow it perfectly. If by some miracle you do eat every meal, sleep every dark hour, make it to every workout, and avoid all injury, eventually your body will simply not be able to respond to the stimulus you give it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T21:27:20.830" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19537" CreationDate="2014-11-18T00:33:38.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct that both sleep and hydration are very important, especially for a training athlete. Many professional triathletes sleep 9-11 hours/night, in addition to a nap during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You stated that you ordinarily refrain from drinking water 2 hours before bed. This is the correct behavior. Furthermore, you should also not eat shortly before bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason to go to bed on an empty stomach (which is different from going to bed hungry) is to fully maximize the restorative processes that occur during sleep such as muscle building, capillary growth, and other beneficial processes. When you go to bed with water and/or food in your stomach, the body shifts some of the energy it would normally use for restorative processes, and instead directs those energies to metabolizing whats in your stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: go to bed on empty stomach -&gt; recover more quickly from training -&gt; increased training load -&gt; better results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T00:33:38.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19603" CreationDate="2014-11-18T03:09:08.920" Score="1" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 20 yrs old and 61kg(134.482 lbs) is it ok if i work-out the whole week as long as I isolate the different muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Mon: Chest / Lower Back&#xA;Tues: Bicep / Tricep&#xA;Wed: Shoulder / Legs&#xA;and so on...&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing HIIT. a 30 sec rest every set and 4 sets / exercise the weights are on my limits. im trying to push myself for atleast 4-6 and 8-12 reps. Estimated body fat percentage 10-13%. I almost dropped off from 20-30% body fat. 170lbs down to 134.482 lbs. and I am just wondering if increasing the frequency of my work-out could help me achieve the 7% body fat much faster. I have experience working out for about 4 years ago, and after that i just go to the gym when i have time because of my schedule and now I am free every night, trying to get back on track. I just got back to the gym for about 1 month. I cut off my weight for about 3 months of high intensity cardio and now I want to build muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am almost done with the loading phase of creatine 20g / day. the maintenance phase would be 5g / day right? should I cycle creatine intake? should I give it a rest after 4-8weeks? and 4weeks off creatine then back to loading phase? or straight to maintenance? and I take creatine before working out with apple juice. any suggestion with what time of the day would be best to take creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastEditorUserId="10263" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T01:32:38.953" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T14:31:13.877" Title="muscle group schedule and creatine cycling" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19597" CreationDate="2014-11-18T04:32:18.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've gathered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling of nearly anything is supposed to make it resemble steroids and the normal use of cycling on and off. A lot of random supplements will have &quot;cycling schedules&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's no evidence to show that cycling creatine helps with anything. You could get a high amount of creatine just from the food you eat. 1lb of salmon has ~4.5g of creatine, and red meat is up there too. So no one's cycling &quot;fish&quot; or &quot;lean meats&quot;, even though they contain creatine levels on par with normal supplementation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling creatine seems like a general &quot;This stuff might not be good for me, so I'll try to not have it in my system all the time, so that I'm minimizing whatever bad impacts.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last one isn't a terrible idea, but I'm not aware of any creatine side effects except for the tiny tiny minority of people with pre-existing conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T04:32:18.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19602" CreationDate="2014-11-18T10:11:57.620" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;If i just started to work out after a 4-5 week break would it be best to start slowly or just pick up my old pace? The 'sport' im referring to is fitness. Im currently debating with myself whether or not i should imediatly go back to 4-5 days a week training or if i should start with training day followed by resting day followed by training day etc. The most i do is cardio followed by abdominal excercises. I usually dedicate 1-2 days (depending on the amount of days i excercise that week) to weights followed by a resting day. After a weekend of partying (eating unhealthy/drinking alcohol/little excercise) i would proceed that week with a lot of cardio and a minimum amount of weights (usually around 3-4-5 days cardio and 0-1 days weight (or a bit of weights after cardio)). Although this might not be the best for my muscles it did feel like the best thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to my question: Yesterday was the first day of excercise in about 4-5 weeks (holiday and work, etc). Would it be wise to just start head-on and go for my 'old' scedule or just start slowly for a week or two and just do 3 days a week at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this could be considered opinion based but lets add some facts about muscles or something to make it specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot in advance anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12190" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T10:10:25.470" Title="Best way to start excercising after taking a break" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19744" CreationDate="2014-11-18T13:13:25.417" Score="2" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work a distance from home and find it difficult to commit to getting to the gym after work, which I'm trying to do because I want to build more muscle. I was thinking that a good, strong resistance band looped over my chair leg could let me work my biceps here in the office after hours, when most have gone home. This way I can do 30mins training and then go straight home.&#xA;Can anybody tell me what I should look for in a good, strong resistance band? Or any known durable brands? I was gonna order some online.&#xA;To give you an idea of resistance level I currently use a barbell to bicep curl 45kg, so I'm guessing something equivalent to 15-20kg would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: To answer Moses' question, the problem with getting to the gym after work is the time of night I get there. Between the office and home there is often a lot of traffic, so I get to work early and I don't leave until late to avoid sitting in queues. So I usually leave at almost 7pm. Get to the gym at 8pm, do a workout for an hour, return home and cook, sleep... back up early to return to the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking is that I can do some bicep curls or similar here in the office while I wait for the traffic to clear. It is not ideal and I'd rather be using the gym equipment, but it is not possible every night of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T09:07:54.400" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T10:03:26.007" Title="Good resistance bands for the office?" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19600" CreationDate="2014-11-18T16:40:06.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I'd ramp up over a couple weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1: half the volume of work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 2: 3/4 the volume of work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 3: back to full volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardiovascular fitness is easy to lose, but also very easy to reacquire.  Strength is slower to lose, but 4-5 weeks won't see any significant differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the bigger concern is the health of your tendons and ligaments.  Ramping up allows them to get re-acclimated to work and less prone to developing tendinitis or something of that nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T16:40:06.877" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19597" CreationDate="2014-11-18T17:00:55.100" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I cycle Creatine Use?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No.  Quite simply, it just helps with energy, endurance, and indirectly performance in the gym.  There is no benefit from &quot;cycling on or off&quot; with creatine.  For further reading, check out the excellent Examine.com article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Typical dosage is 5g / day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loading phase may not be necessary in most people, but no harm in it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Creatine Facts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: some of them don't line up with Eric Kaufman's answer, but check the examine.com article I linked to for the list of studies they looked through to compile that information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine in cooked foods is destroyed, so unless you plan on eating raw meat don't worry about creatine content in meats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine is particularly helpful in people who don't get enough dietarily (e.g. vegetarians).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine has a &lt;strong&gt;strong&lt;/strong&gt; correlation with increased power output, muscle creatine content, and weight (due to water retention).  Each of these attributes are backed by &quot;Robust research conducted with repeated double blind clinical trials&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise Splits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a bigger topic, and unfortunately the answer depends on your current muscularity and training maturity.  Even with bodybuilding emphasis, most beginner programs suggest 2-3 times a week with a full body training session each time.  As you get to a good base level of strength and muscularity, you need more variation and more complex training splits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the questions you are asking, I'm going to assume you are in the beginner or early intermediate stages for your training.  In that case, I would recommend sticking with one major compound movement 3x a week and add supporting assistance work.  The compound movement work should be used to build strength and power, and the more isolation assistance work would be for the pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example of a 6 day a week program, that fits both bills would be Paul Carter's Big 15 program.  I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ferrousmaverick.blogspot.com/2013/01/big-15-in-review.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;review&lt;/a&gt; of it on my blog from when I ran it.  You can find the details in Paul Carter's &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.lift-run-bang.com/strength-life-legacy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strength, Life, Legacy&lt;/a&gt; e-book.  You'll also find good recommendations over on &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; for training splits for beginner and intermediate bodybuilding programs--as well as some examples of how to transition to bigger and more complex training splits over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thoughts on High Frequency Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High frequency training can have a very good effect on building muscle.  The challenge is managing recovery.  Many strong guys recommend two pressing days, two squat days, a deadlift day, and a general bodybuilding day.  The layout would work something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st Squat Day: Back squat, 3x4-6 and lower body isolation work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st Press Day: Bench press, 3x4-6 and upper body isolation work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift Day: work to 3-5 rep max and back and core work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd Squat Day: Front squat, 3x8-12 and lower body isolation work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd Press Day: Dumbbell incline press, 3x8-12 and upper body isolation work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General bodybuilding day: work on weak points.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can swap out the main lifts on the day for something equivalent.  The idea is to have one of the squat/press days go heavier and fewer reps, and the other to go lighter with more reps.  They would also be different variations of the lift to work your muscles a bit differently.  If your goal is physique, then you also have options with subbing out the deadlifts.  Other options would be snatch grip deadlifts (more traps, upper body, and glutes), romainian deadlifts (more glutes and hamstrings), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an intermediate bodybuilder, this fits the sweet spot of building more general strength as well as building the volume of work to increase size.  Don't forget to eat properly to gain muscle.  The goal is to gain mass slowly, at an average pace of 3 lbs a month.  That keeps you from regaining too much fat.  Add in carbs and protein pre, intra, and post workout and you should do quite well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2014-11-20T14:31:13.877" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T14:31:13.877" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19606" CreationDate="2014-11-18T20:59:10.180" Score="5" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Institute of Medicine recommends &lt;strong&gt;3.5L of beverages every day&lt;/strong&gt; for adult males that are physically active (of course, there are a lot of factors that can change this recommendation somewhat). The recommended figures on this Stackexchange Personal Fitness site tend to be similar. Recently, however, news stories have been saying that you should &lt;strong&gt;only drink when you're thirsty&lt;/strong&gt;, quoting an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pnas.org/content/111/14/5379.abstract&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; that claims that the body shows signs of not wanting to drink after a certain amount.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me personally, if I would drink as much as I want (i.e., only when I'm thirsty) without paying attention to the amount, it would be a 1-1.5L daily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is the human body's response really a reliable indicator for how much water you should drink?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12193" LastEditorUserId="12193" LastEditDate="2014-11-18T21:07:31.833" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T19:06:43.263" Title="Hydration guidelines: Institute of Medicine vs. &quot;drink when you're thirsty&quot;?" Tags="&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19605" CreationDate="2014-11-18T21:31:46.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I feel like the thirst response is the primary go-to for what hydration your body needs, but it's not exactly fool proof. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1858944&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 1991 study&lt;/a&gt; showing that, as men (and probably) women age, they have reduced thirst and are at increased risk of dehydration. The participants in the study you linked were young-ish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Twenty healthy participants (11 female, 9 male; age range 19–54 y[ears&#xA;  of age].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I look at it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is documented evidence that later in life your thirst response starts being unrepresentative of the amount of water you need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm loading myself up with water retaining creatine on a daily basis. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I drop into a ketogenic diet, the amount of uric acid goes up. The studies I've seen have related to high-protein/keto/low-carb diets says that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22653255&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;your kidneys are fine&lt;/a&gt;, but I still like to know I've got more water moving through me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink too much at night and you'll mess with your sleep waking up to pee. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T21:31:46.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19605" CreationDate="2014-11-18T22:45:52.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In practice, when you exercise a lot and lose water in the form of sweat, you will need to manage the amount of water you drink, you can't leave that to just feeling thirsty and drinking as a response to that. The rule of thumb is to drink 50% more than the lost water (which you can measure by weighing yourself before and after the exercise session). Also, you should not drink more than 0.8 liters per hour. So, if you have lost 1 liter, you need to drink about 1.5 liters and you should do that over the course of the next two hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T22:45:52.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19677" CreationDate="2014-11-19T05:27:38.263" Score="4" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember a study that showed that people who get less or more than 7h of sleep die sooner (the larger the deviation, the sooner they die). However, I don't think this study normalized against factors that are correlated with excessive/deprived sleep.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently sleep 12h a day and I'm okay with it because I value my sleep time more than awake time &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1489/how-to-get-rid-of-oversleeping&quot;&gt;unlike this person&lt;/a&gt;. If I sleep less than 12h, I notice that I'm tired during the day. Some people say that they feel lazy and cognitively impaired if they sleep 12h, but this is not the case with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen both the 7h recommendation as well as the &quot;sleep as much as you need to&quot; recommendation. Which one is the best one in my situation?  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9454/how-can-i-figure-out-how-much-sleep-i-need&quot;&gt;This question has previously been asked&lt;/a&gt; when the original poster asked if his 5h are enough. The top rated answerer was skeptical, and quoted the NIH: &quot;Some people appear to need only about 7 hours to avoid problem sleepiness, whereas others need 9 &lt;strong&gt;or more&lt;/strong&gt; hours of sleep&quot;. My main question is with respect to the &quot;or more&quot; in the NIH quote: &lt;strong&gt;Is 12h of sleep still reasonable/healthy&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12193" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T19:59:39.307" Title="Should I get 7h of sleep or as much as I need (namely 12h)?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19622" CreationDate="2014-11-19T08:22:24.043" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to find some varied exercises for a pregnant lady, 10 weeks into her pregnancy. Speaking the the doctor, she said that the amount of exercise should be no more than what you were doing previously but it is safe to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previously, the lady would do 45 minutes on a cross-trainer and that would be it for her gym session. This would be done twice a week. She would like to lose a bit of weight (great timing!) and just be more healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to find some other exercises for her (because cross-trainer has become &quot;boring&quot;) and I was hoping to get some answers on this board.&#xA;Weight-bearing would be a possibility, light dumbbells for arm exercises I was thinking. But also swimming, or just some uphill walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T13:21:54.423" Title="Examples of exercises for pregnant lady (10wks, previous just cross-trainer)" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-19T08:54:34.283" Score="6" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is often recommended to do a given number of sets of a given number of repetitions of weight lifts (regardless of your exact training methodology, which mainly dictates &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/5075/4449&quot;&gt;the number of sets and repetitions&lt;/a&gt;), and add weight when you are able to do that. I can see the logic in this, and it &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14249/4449&quot;&gt;has been discussed&lt;/a&gt; at least once already on the site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;when exactly should you add weight?&lt;/strong&gt; Let's say you are &lt;em&gt;just barely&lt;/em&gt; able to finish the exercise with good form, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/15308/4449&quot;&gt;whatever exactly &quot;good form&quot; means&lt;/a&gt; to you. Should you add weight the next time around, or should you keep working on that level until you aren't reaching total muscle exhaustion? Why? Does your personal level of fitness make a difference here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4449" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T16:13:28.803" Title="What should I do if I can just barely complete the lift sets?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19611" CreationDate="2014-11-19T11:27:09.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm focusing on challenging myself in lifting, I'm confident my form was excellent, and I have my recovery dialed in—my sleep and food are of a high quality, I feel good, no injuries—I may add weight in the expectation that my body will recover and get stronger by the next workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If lifting is a secondary priority, or I'm not sure how good my form was on that last set, or some elements of my recovery aren't optimal, I might try to add weight or I might stay at the same weight and try to really smash it and feel capable doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer depends on a lot of situational factors. For an athletic novice on a linear progression, or for someone who is by nature very cautious and holding themselves back, I might say add weight. For someone with mediocre form, or a non-athlete, or someone who is inconsistent, or in a dozen other scenarios, I might say to master their current weight. The lift in question matters, too, since highly skill-dependent lifts like the clean, snatch, or squat warrant more time than, say, the deadlift (for someone who has already ingrained proper form in the deadlift). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T11:27:09.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19611" CreationDate="2014-11-19T14:01:28.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a good question, to which answer often distinguishes between progression and / or potential injury.&lt;BR&gt;From my own experience, over years I've learned to not to increase weight if I am unable to do, depending on trained muscle group at least 8-10 repetitions.&lt;BR&gt;This became a rule of my workouts and a safeguard against an injury for many years now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10732" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T14:01:28.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19611" CreationDate="2014-11-19T14:50:40.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are your goals? If your goal is strength, then I'd recommended starting with a weight you can lift for five reps. From there, follow the pithy saying &quot;If you can do eight, add more weight&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12200" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T14:50:40.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-19T14:57:40.313" Score="1" ViewCount="1484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to get 4 hours of cardio per day following a modified version of Lyle McDonald's rapid fat loss. The first hour I do incline treadmill at 15% grade at 3.0 mph. This is about 9.65 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.visionfitness.com/blog/laymans_guide_to_mets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt;s. Is it difficult to reach 9.65 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.visionfitness.com/blog/laymans_guide_to_mets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt;s using a bicycle or elliptical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12201" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T14:25:42.867" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T14:25:42.867" Title="MET levels achieved in cardio using treadmill, bicycle, or elliptical" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-19T15:34:32.523" Score="0" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running every third day for six months now. About a month ago I added a simple, full-body resistance training workout each day before running:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BW Squats progression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted Row progression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-Up progression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bridge progression (only the easiest steps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Leg Curl (in order to ensure a correct thighs/hamstrings strength ratio to avoid running injuries, see for instance &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/study-strengthen-hamstrings-to-improve-your-running-economy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have spent nearly 24 h pretty scared since I pushed too much doing the Front Plank and I felt something weird in the lower abdomen the day before. Now, only 48 hours have past and it is gone, everything is normal and it seems clear it was merely DOMs, only I had never felt it in that part of my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless the last 48 hours have made me wonder whether it is OK that I simply avoid exercises 4 and 5 and trust in the ability of pushups, inverted rows and squat progressions to gently strengthen my core. Bearing in mind that a front plank it is merely a push-ups position but hold for a while isometrically, it does not seem a wrong idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need exercises 4 and 5 or can I forget about them? (I am not competing in any sport, I just want a safe and slow progression towards a general increase in strength and muscle mass).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T15:51:09.390" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T17:50:04.580" Title="Can I take the core exercises out of a simple strength routine composed by squats, rows and push-ups?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19615" CreationDate="2014-11-19T15:42:33.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;10 mets on a bicycle is the equivalent of ~ 14 mph. This is a fairly easy pace and should be easy to sustain for a while, unless you have never really ridden a bike much other than a beach cruiser around the block.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link for a met exercise equivalency chart, there are dozens of them scattered around the web that show MET's for various exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/docs/documents_compendium.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/docs/documents_compendium.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T15:42:33.243" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19610" CreationDate="2014-11-19T15:48:47.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, yes and yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless there are complications in the pregnancy, most of the time people should be fine to continue their normal activity level until very late in the pregnancy. For example, my martial arts instructor continued teaching classes and very vigorous kickbox aerobics until literally day of birth. (She finished a class and started labor 1/2 hour later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would have her work with her ob/gyn on safe exercise levels and recommended activities. Ultrasounds and exams as the baby develops or other conditions that arise may complicate things. In a general sense, she should be able to be fairly active, but that takes into account no complications or other factors in the pregnancy. Encourage her activity, but also encourage seeking the advice of the ob/gyn as to what is safe for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T15:48:47.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19611" CreationDate="2014-11-19T16:04:46.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is that do the weight you can actually lift, add more until you can lift it for 12 reps easily, reps and sets are more important than weights. Keeping your form right would also help a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12180" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T20:18:55.140" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T20:18:55.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19611" CreationDate="2014-11-19T18:21:55.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd make it a little more straight forward and say that you should increase your weights according the program you're following. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effective training programs have already done the math on volume/strength increases set against sufficient recovery. Trying to eye-ball that is terribly inefficient and unless you nail it will end up with results that either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) Have you increasing ahead of what you can safely handle (ie: overtrained or injured).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) Have you not increasing gains in material way (ie: going sideways).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good programs have built in safety valves for common situations like missing your weekly volume, getting sick, getting injured, taking a week off, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look into programs like the Texas method, MadCow 5x5, Bill Starr 5x5, or 5/3/1. All of them have created really great results for thousands of people. They are intermediate programs and assume you have been doing the big compound lifts for ~6-9 months already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T18:21:55.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19046" CreationDate="2014-11-19T18:51:38.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't verify it, but I don't think it was &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapping_hip_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snapping hip syndrome (SHS)&lt;/a&gt;. Everything about SHS is related to the hip joint itself, and mine was much more in the hamstring-adductor area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure exactly what fixed it, but I went at it from a few angles and haven't had the issue for a couple of weeks now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light-ish &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good-morning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good mornings&lt;/a&gt; once a week. 65% of bodyweight barbell, knees not totally locked, but really trying to isolate the hamstrings as much as possible. These in particular really made my hamstrings feel great and I was able to ramp up the weight quickly to around 75%. 3x8 - 3x10. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttanasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Forward-bend type yoga pose&lt;/a&gt;, legs straight, trying to jam my butt into the top corner of the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The rest of my Madcow 5x5 program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I google'd around a bit and found other folks talking about &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=143506913&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hamstring tendons sliding around on their femur&lt;/a&gt;, and the general approach seems to be stretch and strengthen, like normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those both worked fine for me and as a bonus the increased hamstring flexibility has really helped me lower my squat depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T18:51:38.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19610" CreationDate="2014-11-19T19:17:23.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From helping train my wife through both of her pregnancies, JohnP's answer is pretty accurate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The modifiers I would put on there are progesterone and individual pregnancies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progesterone is a powerful hormone that gets released during pregnancy. The levels are different, but basically it ramps up and peaks right around delivery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6gMI9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progesterone is a muscle relaxant, and also (as explained by our physician) causes a general elasticity of connective tissue (things critical to the expanding nature of a woman's body and the upcoming delivery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some individuals remain remarkably fit and active through their pregnancies, but I've also seen very fit and active people suffer a lot of complications that have sidelined them. Likewise, the complications after delivery can be significant and lingering. It's not something that people talk about but vaginal and anal damage is more common than most think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person you're talking about doesn't sound like they're lifting heavy, and exercise is really important towards having a health pregnancy, so they're probably in the clear. But just be flexible and remember every pregnancy is different (even with the same mom) and that the challenges facing a pregnant woman are very different (from multiple factors) between 10, 20, and 30 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T19:17:23.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19625" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-20T02:47:32.967" Score="-3" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;how long should I wait to exercise after eating Chips and a 32FL Oz Gatorade. My other question what machine should I use to lose a lot of weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12207" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T23:56:35.647" Title="Is it okay to use a treadmill to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T17:45:07.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-20T03:03:21.397" Score="-3" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;My weight has been constantly increasing for the past 2 weeks at about a total of 6kg.. and i am very worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to be much leaner and could have tons of food without putting on much weight (stopped consuming meat products) and without exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that the human body will see a change for +- 2kg. However, in recent times, my weight seems to be on a increasing spree where everything i eat seems to directly increase my final weight and it never goes down and I can see and feel my body getting bigger and putting more pressure on my legs and it is never going down even when i went for runs every night..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am having my exam phase now and I wonder if it could be due to it.. however, it has never been like that in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone advise me what i should do? Its really worrying me..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12208" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T14:19:36.677" Title="Unexplained constant weight gain" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T20:29:14.770" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19626" CreationDate="2014-11-20T15:18:07.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your reliance on &quot;going for some runs at night&quot; makes me think you're not focusing on diet and nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Track your calories, drop most of the carbs, stength train, get a physical sport/hobby, and up the protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a lot of life modifications but it's the only long term path I know of that works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Welcome to getting older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T15:18:07.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19605" CreationDate="2014-11-20T16:07:14.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife drinks when she is thirsty as do I. My wife drinks a lot of coffee, however. A few times she has gone to the emergency room for unrelated issues (she has shunts) and she has been kept because she is dehydrated. I believe this is her normal state because coffee is a Diuretic (makes her urinate a lot) so she is losing water there and not taking enough in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink when I am thirsty and have never had an issue with dehydration but I don't drink as much coffee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think the answer is &quot;it depends&quot;. If you are not normally thirsty for water for whatever reason (drinking the wrong things, not aware, etc...) then only drinking when you are thirsty can lead to dehydration. If you are aware of how much you drink and make sure you drink enough water throughout the day I believe we train our bodies to be thirsty when it needs to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expanding a bit on why only drinking coffee made my wife dehydrated. It has been pointed out that - under normal circumstances - even though you urinate more when you drink coffee you are drinking enough water to not make it matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone who only drinks coffee, however, they will stop drinking when they have too much caffeine in their system because too much caffeine can cause unwanted side effects such as jitteriness, hypercactivity, headaches, etc... so if they find themselves thirsty they will realize they've had enough coffee to drink and not drink anything. In time, they have trained their thirst to be thirsty for caffeine, not the water the body needs. Such a person can not trust their thirst and so I got into the habit of drinking iced tea with lemon so my wife would start drinking it also getting the water intake she needs and the caffeine intake she desires. I'm happy drinking water when I get thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12211" LastEditorUserId="12211" LastEditDate="2014-11-23T19:06:43.263" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T19:06:43.263" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19611" CreationDate="2014-11-20T16:13:28.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In community college gym I was taught to do 10 to 12 repetitions at 70% of max lifting weight. That is, if I could lift 100 lbs once, I should life 70 lbs 10 to 12 repetitions. Once I start doing 14 repetitions because the weight has become &quot;lighter&quot; I will add weight until 10 to 12 repetitions is what I can do without too much strain. It was suggested that one set each day per workout was &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; as good as double sets without the added affect of adding possible injury. Although it was stated they weren't positive on this, so perhaps one day doing a double set of repetitions and the other days doing a single set was probably the optimal until they learned more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not aware if this regiment was designed for increasing body mass, losing weight or staying in shape however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12211" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T16:13:28.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19634" CreationDate="2014-11-20T18:15:25.990" Score="2" ViewCount="5259" Body="&lt;p&gt;My name is Dardan. I am 16 years old and I am a good football (soccer) player who has been linked with academies. The main part of my game is my dribbling, and for this, I have always been very fast and could accelerate very well. This was when I was 12 - 13 ish and younger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I can't seem to sprint. I can't accelerate, I can't reach my top speed. I don't have that energy, explosiveness that I once had, anymore. My legs always feel heavy in matches. I see people my own age in my school and my football club still accelerating and sprinting, while I am slower and heavier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know why. Nothing major happened to cause this. I just have somewhow slowed during the last few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12214" OwnerDisplayName="Dardan Bajraktari" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T22:30:07.967" Title="Why can't I sprint anymore? Why am I heavy?" Tags="&lt;football&gt;&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19632" CreationDate="2014-11-20T19:54:36.110" Score="4" ViewCount="623" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today, after a high intensity leg workout, I had to wait 45 minutes before I could take in any food. Usually, I go with a fish/meat dinner, or simply a protein shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, how does this affect my restitution in the short term? Will my workout have a diminished effect because I didn't take in protein straight after finishing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what would be the long term effect if I consistently didn't take in protein until an hour (give or take) after finishing a weightlifting workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for perspective, what if I had to wait 4 hours every time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, &lt;strong&gt;how would my muscles cope with longer periods (consistently) of no protein intake after a heavy workout?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The regular advice is &quot;protein shake ASAP after workout&quot;, but I'm wondering where this is coming from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume regular dieting beforehand. Nothing protein heavy. Just a bog standard bread breakfast and bread/fruit lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T23:11:11.033" Title="Short term and long term effect of delaying protein intake after workout" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19631" CreationDate="2014-11-20T20:24:58.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The regular advice is &quot;protein shake ASAP after workout&quot;, but I'm&#xA;  wondering where this is coming from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a guy who has a financial interest in the supplement industry, I can tell you where you're getting that message from: supplement manufactures and retailers. The idea is to make you think that unless you consume a given product you won't be maximizing your &quot;gains&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And for perspective, what if I had to wait 4 hours every time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Specifically, how would my muscles cope with longer periods&#xA;  (consistently) of no protein intake after a heavy workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably have enough protein in your blood at that point. Follow my math on this. With the exception of whey, which is rather fast-absorbed, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/what-are-good-sources-of-protein-speed-of-digestion-part-2.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;most natural sources of protein take somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-7 hours to be broken down&lt;/a&gt;, so protein is slowly being released from your gut, broken into amino acids, and sent into your blood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you had ham and eggs at 6 in the morning, even by noon (6 hours later) you still have amino acids moving around in your blood. If you slammed a whey shake at 10 in the morning, you have &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of amino acids rushing around come noon time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general idea for &quot;eat protein every few hours&quot; is to have a steady state of amino acids rushing around through your blood since repair work is done slowly over a period of hours and days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Directly answering your question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably are not going long periods without protein. Provided you have a balanced diet, enough protein, and eat throughout the day (don't sweat the details on that part), you've got amino acids floating around able to keep up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a big believer in supplements, but they're not magic beans, and I don't like how the marketing spin makes people think that if they don't use a tub of powder every day they'll shrivel up to a 120lb weakling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T20:24:58.190" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-20T21:47:54.857" Score="4" ViewCount="884" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a problem with my knee where it hurts a lot when my leg takes weight (for example, I can do one-legged squats with one leg but not with the other because my knee hurts too much). This knee hurting when the leg takes weight means that the muscles in that leg are a lot smaller than the muscles in the other leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I went to the physiologist for a solution, I was given a set of exercises, including leaning against a wall with my feet 30cm away from the wall, shoulder-width apart, and slowly skidding down the wall until the angle between my shins and thighs is approximately 90 degrees (squats against a wall). One &lt;strong&gt;very important thing&lt;/strong&gt; I was to ensure was that &lt;strong&gt;I applied the same amount of force to each leg&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon doing this exercise, I realised it was very easy to allow the strong leg to do all the work and neglect the weak leg. After a few days of doing this exercise, I realised that my weak leg was not benefiting from this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weak leg is not strong enough to do exercises of this nature by itself, so I can only do exercises that use both legs. &lt;strong&gt;How can I ensure that I am working the muscles in each leg equally?&lt;/strong&gt; I am not looking for diagnosis for my knee or a set of exercises to strengthen my leg, but a way to make sure that my weak leg benefits from the exercises. Note that the exercises do not hurt my knee at all but do not benefit as my strong leg 'takes over'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr summary: &lt;strong&gt;how can I ensure that I bear the same amount of weight on each leg when doing leg exercises?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10524" LastEditorDisplayName="user10524" LastEditDate="2015-08-27T07:06:17.267" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T07:06:17.267" Title="How can I ensure I am working the muscles in each leg equally?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19630" CreationDate="2014-11-20T22:30:07.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should probably get checked out by a doctor just to make sure you don't have any type of illness or ailment that needs to get treated medically; there are some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/detail_gbs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nasty things out there that can present themselves as heavy legs&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you get a green light from your doctor, you may need to adjust your training a bit. You're probably either over or under training. It's hard to tell from just hearing your situation because plenty of runners manage (and do well) running six or seven days a week, and plenty of others run every other day to give their bodies some time to heal up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some options you may want to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a week off. Go for walks, but don't play anything or train anything. Often times when you're training hard a week off can do wonders for addressing nagging problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprints / shuttle runs. These are really hard on your body, but in particular &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/running/hill-sprints-how-to-build-muscle-and-burn-fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hill sprints&lt;/a&gt; can really turn you into a rocket ship when it's time to hit the gas pedal. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plyometrics&lt;/a&gt; will help with your power output. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A jump rope would be a cheap investment as well. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to beat up your body enough to cause adaptation, but not so much that you over stress beyond what you can physically repair. If you start training harder, stay on the safe side and put in more complete days off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth remembering that you get slower and weaker when training, you get faster and stronger recovering from training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T22:30:07.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19631" CreationDate="2014-11-20T23:11:11.033" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are weight lifting to build muscle strength, according to a 2012 study, &quot;Protein timing and its effects on muscular hypertrophy and strength in individuals engaged in weight-training,&quot; published in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jissn.com/content/9/1/54&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;, timing and type of protein makes a difference in MPS: Maximal Protein Synthesis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, protein supplementation pre- and post-workout increases physical performance, training session recovery, lean body mass, muscle hypertrophy, and strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have time to eat, at least consider &lt;strong&gt;drinking milk&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Timing&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study looks at pre and post workout protein intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These data show that there is a limited time window within which to induce protein synthesis before a refractory period begins. With this in mind, an ideal protein supplement after resistance exercise should contain whey protein, as this will rapidly digest and initiate MPS, and provide 3–4 g of leucine per serving, which is instrumental in promoting maximal MPS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once a protein has been consumed by an individual, anabolism is increased for about three hours postprandial with a peak at about 45–90 minutes [14]. After about three hours postprandial, MPS drops back to baseline even though serum amino acid levels remain elevated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An ideal supplement following resistance exercise should contain whey protein that provides at least 3 g of leucine per serving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;..studies using protein sources with a carbohydrate source tended to increase LBM more than did a protein source alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre Workout&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In contrast, the consumption of essential amino acids and dextrose appears to be most effective at evoking protein synthesis prior to rather than following resistance exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Type of Protein:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey protein showed increases in strength.  Casein did not. (Milk contains both whey and casein.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fat-free milk post-workout was effective in promoting increases in lean body mass, strength, muscle hypertrophy and decreases in body fat&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3–4 g of leucine needed to promote maximal MPS &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding addition of carbohydrate with protein ingestion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A combination of a fast-acting carbohydrate source such as maltodextrin or glucose should be consumed with the protein source, as leucine cannot modulate protein synthesis as effectively without the presence of insulin [27,28] and studies using protein sources with a carbohydrate source tended to increase LBM more than did a protein source alone [33,37-41]. Such a supplement would be ideal for increasing muscle protein synthesis, resulting in increased muscle hypertrophy and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T23:11:11.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19625" CreationDate="2014-11-20T23:56:35.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;32FL Oz Gatorade is about 800 calories this equates to between a third and a quarter of your daily calorie intake (depending on your calorie requirements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do you lose a lot of weight?&lt;/strong&gt; Stop eating chips and drinking gatorade and start tracking your calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T23:56:35.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19633" CreationDate="2014-11-21T04:17:50.113" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are talking about legs, there is only one word that matters: squat. It is the one exercise to rule them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start my simply doing body weight (BW) squats. If you cannot do that, then start by doing mobility stretches to address any areas preventing you from doing a proper BW squat. The focus here should be teaching your body the movement, and practicing good form (e.g. to parallel, straight back, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you are able to comfortably do BW squats WITH PROPER FORM, then it is time to start adding weights. You want to start LIGHT and then progressively add small increments each workout. You can add weight by ideally using a barbell and doing back squats where you add 5lb each workout. Less ideal would be doing goblet squats with a dumbbell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By starting low and then building up slowly, you allow for the muscular imbalances to correct themselves over time without putting strain on the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all that being said, it always pays to consult a physical therapist. I am a random stranger on the internet, they are a certified and trained professional who can actually examine your body and pinpoint the issues (whereas the best we can do is guess).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T04:17:50.113" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19638" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-21T06:57:38.310" Score="-1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if anything in the following ingredients list would be considered harmful. I understand that these are all FDA approved ingredients, however aspartame is a good example of an ingredient (not in this product) that would be considered a carcinogen yet is approved by the FDA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/abW26uv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of Ingredients&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This particular protein powder has a strong taste yet has only 2 grams of sugar in it. This makes me wonder what is the sweetener in it. I see that sucralose is in it, but there isn't much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12220" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T11:21:58.557" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T00:51:22.170" Title="What are some ingredients in this protein powder that may negatively effect my health?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-11-23T23:51:50.020" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-21T08:27:38.337" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi am 138kgs (300 lbs) and recently bought a DVD for aerobic exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started doing this every evening before bed. The problem is each time I exercise I don't sleep well, since my heart races in the night and I am even getting scared of exercising. Is this a normal reaction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12221" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T18:00:35.803" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T22:32:46.150" Title="Increased heart rate during the night" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19645" CreationDate="2014-11-21T11:18:29.973" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read an article that says &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil-alpha-linolenic-acid/dosing/hrb-20059372&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Omega-3 fish oils improve athletic performance&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an excerpt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To improve athletic performance, eight capsules (each containing one gram of fish oil) has been taken by mouth daily for eight weeks. Fish oil capsules containing 3.2 grams of EPA plus 2.2 grams of DHA have been taken by mouth daily for three weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering has anyone taken them for any extended period of time and if so, have you seen any actual improvement in performance, in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T16:37:29.370" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T20:31:20.580" Title="Do Omega-3 fish oils improve athletic performance?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T17:49:58.370" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19638" CreationDate="2014-11-21T13:26:42.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/aspartame&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aspartame has a pretty clear bill of health&lt;/a&gt;. There were some early studies which suggested that megadoses, the equivalent of slamming 40-50 diet sodas every day, might lead to a slight increase in cancer rates, but better studies have eliminated confounding factors and found that the risk is less than that of using natural sugars in food due to the lower amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the list of ingredients, the only item which might be of potential risk is their source of calcium, which is not listed. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/calcium-supplements-and-heart-attacks-more-data-more-questions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Routine calcium supplementation has been associated with increased risk of heart attacks&lt;/a&gt;, something not observed in normal dietary consumption. I have not seen any further study of the issue, although my suspicion is that it may have more to do with many of the supplement companies using cheaper sources of calcium such as ground cuttlefish or limestone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is the Sodium Bicarbonate pointed out by rrirower above. Based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate#In_sports&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, it is occasionally called out as an athletic enhancer, but there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://umm.edu/health/medical/ency/articles/baking-soda-overdose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;potential issues of toxicity&lt;/a&gt; at higher dosages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, you should be fine consuming this powder unless you're trying to turn it into your only foodstuff. All things in moderation, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T16:05:17.647" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T16:05:17.647" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19626" CreationDate="2014-11-21T14:19:36.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You really should state your age when asking such a question. If you're still growing, we will have to take a different approach towards guiding you, than is the case if you're fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're an adult, it's really quite simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you consume &lt;strong&gt;fewer&lt;/strong&gt; calories (energy) than you burn (through exercise etc), then you will &lt;strong&gt;lose&lt;/strong&gt; weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you consume &lt;strong&gt;as many&lt;/strong&gt; calories as you burn, then your weight will stay &lt;strong&gt;the same&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you consume &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; calories than you burn, then you will &lt;strong&gt;gain&lt;/strong&gt; weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So simply go through your calorie intake and your physical activity during a normal day, and you will know why you gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the above doesn't add up for you, go see a doctor - you might be retaining water or something worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T14:19:36.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19643" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-18T09:49:27.363" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;If i just started to work out after a 4-5 week break would it be best to start slowly or just pick up my old pace? The 'sport' im referring to is fitness. Im currently debating with myself whether or not i should imediatly go back to 4-5 days a week training or if i should start with training day followed by resting day followed by training day etc. The most i do is cardio followed by abdominal excercises. I usually dedicate 1-2 days (depending on the amount of days i excercise that week) to weights followed by a resting day. After a weekend of partying (eating unhealthy/drinking alcohol/little excercise) i would proceed that week with a lot of cardio and a minimum amount of weights (usually around 3-4-5 days cardio and 0-1 days weight (or a bit of weights after cardio)). Although this might not be the best for my muscles it did feel like the best thing to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to my question: Yesterday was the first day of excercise in about 4-5 weeks (holiday and work, etc). Would it be wise to just start head-on and go for my 'old' scedule or just start slowly for a week or two and just do 3 days a week at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this could be considered opinion based but lets add some facts about muscles or something to make it specific. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot in advance anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12190" OwnerDisplayName="Marco Geertsma" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T14:27:25.137" Title="Best way to start working-out again after a break" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T17:43:05.257" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19639" CreationDate="2014-11-21T19:10:40.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, excellent work on taking charge of your fitness. If weight loss is a big goal, make sure you double your efforts in the diet and nutrition area. Eating 500 calories is very easy, but burning 500 calories via exercise is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; hard. As an example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=blueberry%20muffin%20calories&amp;amp;oq=blu&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j69i57j69i59j0l2.1374j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an average blueberry muffin has 426 calories&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/53sYe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, at 300lbs, you would need to run for two miles at a 10mph pace to burn that muffin off. Never underestimate the amount of calories in food and the work involved in burning them off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specifically answering your question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your heart rate can stay elevated after exercise, usually as a result of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPOC&lt;/a&gt; (excess post exercise oxygen consumption) or because of excessive waste products that need to be removed from tissues. I don't think there is a lot of quality research in this area to be concrete about time lengths, but it looks like you can have an increased heart rate somewhere in the 10% range even a couple of hours out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than heart rate, you might also have increased blood pressure, adrenal activity, and all the other normal results of exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people (myself included) don't do well exercising close to bed time. The middle of the day is best for me, the early morning I can pull off but I don't like it, and the evening is bad (especially for hard workouts). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should run your results past your doctor for sure, but don't give up and great work on taking a big step towards fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T19:10:40.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19640" CreationDate="2014-11-21T20:31:20.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish oil is a fairly common supplement in the fitness world, up there with protein powders and creatine. But similar to those other two, the effects are slight and not really detectable day-to-day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish oils are being studied constantly, and at best they get a marginal stamp of approval. I don't think anyone (beyond supplement sales folks) are going to say they're absolutely necessary for a long and healthy life, but I also don't think anyone can just dismiss &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16841857&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;studies that end up with some rather blunt language&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The results of prospective cohort studies indicate that consuming fish&#xA;  or fish oil containing the n-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)&#xA;  and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is associated with decreased&#xA;  cardiovascular death...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish oil falls into the category (for me) of car oil changes. You're not going to feel any differences after an oil and filter change, but in the long run you're delaying and/or minimizing other problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's definitely something to keep watching the news for; it's something that's getting studied frequently so today's data will be only part of the story next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T20:31:20.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19647" CreationDate="2014-11-21T20:42:40.213" Score="6" ViewCount="552" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people have argued that morning is the best time to hit the gym but for me personally this has not worked out. I am not a morning person, when I get up I am usually hungry and after breakfast I do not think I can hit the gym right away. I seem to have better energy before the lunch time but that is office time so cant go to the gym during those hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After lunch the energy goes down and in the evening I am very tired after the long commute. I am really trying to figure out best routine but nothing seems to be working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone in similar situation? How did you figure out your routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;This is for weight training only, I am not trying to loose weight but gain some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5673" LastEditorUserId="5673" LastEditDate="2018-05-02T23:21:33.243" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T23:21:33.243" Title="What is the best time for &quot;me&quot; to exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19646" CreationDate="2014-11-21T20:55:34.857" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really isn't a convenient time to workout no matter who you are. It's a lot of work, you get sweaty, you need to change your clothes, and it usually involves going somewhere other than your home or work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to do strength training three days a week, usually around ~3pm. The gym is empty, I can actually get in and out much faster than the busier times, and it's easier to stay focused. I've talked to my employer and explained that on those days I get into work earlier, work through lunch, and am putting in the same hours I would on any other day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting early in the morning is something that you should figure out, if only because it's going to happen sometimes. If you end up on a program (Madcow, Texas, Bill Starr, 5/3/1) you'll end up with days where you really need to lift an exact set of weights with an exact set of reps and sets. You can screw up weeks of training by moving the days around. On those days you need to get your ass out of bed at 4am, have some coffee, maybe splash some preworkout in, crank up the headset, and get yourself into the gym by 5am. It sucks and no one wants to do it but that's life in the big city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd see if you can get any flexibility with your job. Take a longer lunch, work through lunch, show up earlier, leave later, whatever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding energy levels, if you get your diet nailed in you should be okay for evening workouts although I'd toss in a couple of caveats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For me evening workouts, especially heavy days, tend to screw up my sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre-workout supplements are definite no-no for evening lifting because it will hose your sleep up. You can get away with it once in a while, but two scoops of jack3d at 8pm isn't a smart move for getting a solid night of rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe try getting to bed earlier too, which really will make early morning workouts better (if you need to go that route).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A home gym can work as well. Drop the cash on a squat rack, barbell, weights, and a pullup bar. There's not much you can't do with all that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T20:55:34.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-21T23:05:58.673" Score="1" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for a person's TDEE to increase during cold weather? This week has been brutally cold over here and I have noticed that even though I am eating more calories I am losing weight (fat and muscle). Why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12229" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T11:58:08.157" Title="TDEE has increased?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-22T18:02:15.780" Score="4" ViewCount="4171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among other stupid injuries a year ago I got wrist tendinitis after trying negative and chair-assisted pull ups, and so those things are out of the menu. My road towards pull ups must cross either the Lat Pulldown Machine village, or the Inverted Rows progression. I am doing the latter by means of the adjustable bar of a Smith machine (yes, I know Smith machines are the devil, but I don't use it for squatting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Inverted Row progression feels good and seems to be strengthening my back, though I usually see that intermediate gymnastic routines trend to split the exercises, with one day of vertical push &amp;amp; pull (e.g. Pull Ups &amp;amp; Dips) and a second day of horizontal push &amp;amp; pull (e.g. Inverted Rows and Push Ups) thus considering the two exercises different and on an equal basis. That makes me wonder if my Inverted Rows are the right exercises in order to help me do Pull Ups in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The famous book claiming to have been written by a convict says Inverted Rows are the preliminary step to Pull Ups, but I would like to have some other reasonable confirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remark: Nope, I don't like elastic bands and I have only access to a gym with a nice pulldown machine and a Smith Machine I am using as an adjustable bar to hang from during the Rows. It is either the Pulldown machine or the Inverted Rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2014-11-23T11:14:35.413" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T20:28:45.487" Title="Do Inverted Rows prepare you for Pull Ups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19650" CreationDate="2014-11-22T19:34:56.777" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure in a round-a-bout way they do since they're both compound arm/back exercises. But the angles are pretty different, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inverted row&lt;/a&gt; targeting the traps a bit more so than the pullup (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/AsUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chinup&lt;/a&gt;) which targets the lats (and biceps, if you're doing chinups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inverted (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supine_row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supine&lt;/a&gt;) rows I generally recommend as a warmup for back exercises, or for folks who are pretty new to training. Once someone can do barbell rows around ~100lbs I'd grab the barbell and toss some 25's on. A general problem with bodyweight training (like supine/inverted rows) is that you can only really only change up reps and sets; the weight stays constant. Pullups/chinups are in a different category because they are terrific exercises, so adding weight (chain belt, plates hanging off) just makes them that much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inverted/supine rows though don't really need to be weighted since there are superior exercises (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cleans&lt;/a&gt;, barbell rows, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to take negatives and band-assisted off the table, I'm sure you'll eventually get to pullup status by continuing with what you're doing. I have a hard time seeing someone who can do 100 near-horizontal inverted rows not able to knock out a single pullup. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-22T19:34:56.777" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19638" CreationDate="2014-11-23T00:51:22.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;two&lt;/strong&gt; artificial sweeteners in this product:  sucralose, and acesulfame potassium (also known as Ace-K).  The purpose of using two sweeteners is to get a better sugar-like taste profile than with a single sweetener alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read the relevant Wikipedia articles on these substances, but suffice it to say that neither one is really all that good to consume frequently, even if they are GRAS (generally recognized as safe) or have agency/governmental approval.  We can talk about extensive LD50 animal studies, or PK studies in humans, but at the end of the day, nothing is completely safe--toxicity is a measure of exposure over time, and an excess of &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; is bad no matter what it is you're putting in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In light of this, the most important thing if you want to use supplements in a healthy way is to do it in moderation.  As difficult as it might be to obtain your nutrition through whole foods, supplementation is precisely that--&lt;strong&gt;supplementing&lt;/strong&gt; your normal diet, not substituting for it.  It's not about increasing convenience by allowing you to cut back on eating as much of your dietary needs as you possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T00:51:22.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19656" CreationDate="2014-11-23T03:00:54.933" Score="7" ViewCount="1163" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt; I am changing my current barbell routine from StrongLifts to &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem:&lt;/strong&gt; One of the five lifts in Starting Strength is the Power Clean, and my form is absolutely abysmal with it. The three largest problems with my form are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a hard time doing the explosive pull (the third step when you are effectively doing an upright row). Do I jump? Do I use hip thrust from end of last step? Neither?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do I catch the weight at end? Should it literally be landing on my shoulders with just my fingertips holding it in place? When I try this I always end up catching it with my hands (likely afraid of it injuring shoulder on landing).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My movements are not at all fluid (granted this issue will largely resolve itself over time as I adjust to it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I address these issues? Are there any cues that I should keep in mind while doing this? Are there any exercises I can practice that will help improve my form (aside from just doing tons of power cleans)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-23T21:18:25.830" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T20:44:43.590" Title="How do I fix my Power Clean?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;power-cleans&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19653" CreationDate="2014-11-23T14:55:42.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a tough time learning cleans, but they're really awesome to master and unlocking the olympic lifts feels like getting accepted into a barbell fraternity. As a frame of reference, watch &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFrnTlmjzmM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this youtube on a slow motion of clean and jerk&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a hard time doing the explosive pull (the third step when you&#xA;  are effectively doing an upright row). Do I jump? Do I use hip thrust&#xA;  from end of last step? Neither?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; don't want think about an upright row. The pointers for me that I try to use are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I warmup doing vertical box jumps. It helps to have jumps fresh in your muscle memory rather than big slow strength work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar in physical contact above my knees, touching my quads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I need to wear tight boxer briefs because the bar will always graze, literally touching, my &quot;pelvic area&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump and straighten your back/hips. If your arms are straight, this will propel the the bar up. Once it's moving with your jump, then your arms can bend to hold onto it as it travels north.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not think about rowing it up, this will screw you up every time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need enough weight to cause the ballistic nature of the movement to happen. An empty bar really isn't enough for most people and a broomstick certainly isn't. Especially if you're rowing it up right now, you want to use something that you physically can't row. It's good to learn some parts with an empty bar, but ultimately you can't practice jumping with big weights until you have big weights. Even ~100lbs might be enough to cause the ballistic nature to happen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check out the amount of air underneath a ~500lb clean: you can literally see the light under his right shoe from the jump. Most folks will land a bit wider as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t3eBO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I catch the weight at end? Should it literally be landing on my&#xA;  shoulders with just my fingertips holding it in place? When I try this&#xA;  I always end up catching it with my hands (likely afraid of it&#xA;  injuring shoulder on landing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get your body underneath the bar. The bar is going to go wherever it is you sent it flying, and you aren't going to be able to exert much influence on it horizontally. So you need to get yourself under the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice a lot of front squats, and don't do cleans until you are comfortable with the barbell in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ericcressey.com/how-to-front-squat-technique&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rack position&lt;/a&gt;. If I haven't done cleans in a week, I'll do some light front squats just to remind myself where I want the bar to be and how it's going to feel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Personally I find it much easier to do full squat cleans (not power cleans). At heavier weights, power cleans become full cleans because you will always be able to get lighter weights up higher (power clean position) than heavier weights (squat clean position). I know all the arguments in favor of power cleans, but for my time I find the normal squat clean to be easier, safer, includes a bonus front squat, and preps you better for Olympic lifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again though, think of bum-rushing a barbell mid air and getting it into rack position. Heavier weights and full squat clean form lets you drop lower, and use your muscles as bouncy-cushion of sorts to absorb the now-gravity-driven-weight. Your hands are on the bar (mid jump), as telegraphers of the bar's position. They won't be able to do anything of use. It's the front squat (rack) position you're shooting for.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My movements are not at all fluid (granted this issue will largely&#xA;  resolve itself over time as I adjust to it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yup. The hardest thing about olympic lifting is that there's no time to adjust. Once you start, you're committed, that's it. It's more akin to throwing a baseball where you have two dozen things to keep track of but you can't consciously think of all of them mid-pitch. You need to have a lot of the movement locked into muscle memory so that you can free up your mind to focus on individual aspects and not have to keep the whole thing in your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question reminded me of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZLxWr7Rir8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a youtube video I posted a few years ago when I was learning the clean&lt;/a&gt;, and a good lifting friend of mine was able to give me some advice and tell me where I was screwing up. I'd really recommend getting some video of you, from an angle like mine there, so people can see your profile as it relates to the bar. You'll be able to get some good suggestions that way. I think fitness.stackexchange.com would be a great place for critiques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T14:55:42.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19710" CreationDate="2014-11-23T16:14:24.947" Score="-2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that nuts are not good source of protein because only 50% of their protein are usable by body, Is it true? And if it is, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12242" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:41:00.670" Title="Is it true that 50% of nuts protein are not usable?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-12-03T14:54:52.540" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19653" CreationDate="2014-11-23T20:34:32.453" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;General Advice&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was learning the lifts, my first step was always to read the entire Starting Strength chapter on that lift, then re-skim it the next day I was doing the lift. The book is quite dense, and multiple reads enhance its utility greatly. I strongly recommend reading and rereading that chapter of the book. Make time for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the power clean specifically, I approach the lift as a rather light, extremely tight deadlift until just above the knee, at which time I jump in the air as hard as I can by squeezing my glutes and forcefully standing upright. The bar lands on my shoulders with my hands present for emergency assistance but really only there for moral support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Specific Fixes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a hard time doing the explosive pull (the third step when you are effectively doing an upright row). Do I jump? Do I use hip thrust from end of last step? Neither?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jump in the air with a hip thrust. You should be doing the third pull when the bar is at mid-thigh, not after your hip thrust from the second pull has extended your hip fully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I catch the weight at end? Should it literally be landing on my shoulders with just my fingertips holding it in place? When I try this I always end up catching it with my hands (likely afraid of it injuring shoulder on landing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the bar should land on the meaty part of your shoulders with the fingertips of your open hands literally just helping balance. Catching it with your hands prevents the use of heavy weights and increases the chance of injury (by elbowing your own thigh, by stressing the elbow or shoulder, or by off-balancing you forward causing stress on the back or a drop). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two biggest fixes that sound appropriate for you are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice the front rack position without using a power clean to get there. Do a few front squats, not for strength, but just to feel how the bar sits there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Think &lt;strong&gt;&quot;ELBOWS UP&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; as hard as you can the instant you hit that explosive third pull.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) will help you feel comfortable in the receiving position, giving you a feeling to aim for. (2) will help you get your hands out of the way during that explosive butt-squeezing jumping third pull, so that you can catch it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really, the only way to get serious internet help on your power clean is a&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Form Check Video&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a video of yourself (following &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=20249&quot;&gt;these guidelines&lt;/a&gt;) and post it on Catalyst Athletics, here, or on the Starting Strength forums. Video is so, so, so much easier to give suggestions on than self-reported weird feelings in a lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-11-23T21:27:01.203" LastActivityDate="2014-11-23T21:27:01.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19669" CreationDate="2014-11-24T07:48:44.333" Score="-2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 31 years old, here is my 4 days plan:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: Biceps only - 1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Triceps only - 1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: Chest only - 1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: Shoulder + Back - 1 + 1 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday+Sunday+Monday: No exercise, just posing (contracting muscles w/o weights) 10 mins a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In above workout there is little warm up in beginning and warm down in end. Immediately after exercise I take 1 egg with cold water. After that one glass milk with oats+Poha, followed by normal routine food, in night I take two glucose biscuits and 1 glass milk.&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I started this in August 2014 - till now. In beginning by biceps were 13.8, now they are 14.5(after flexing), weight was 80Kilos and now it is 77Kilos.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My target is 16 inches biceps (after flexing).&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping this routine when I can expect reaching my target?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I purchase and protein shake in my routine to reach the target or that can be achieved without it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the most optimum way to get best results out of protein shakes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10100" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:37:10.363" Title="What is the most optimum way to get best results out of protein shakes?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19648" CreationDate="2014-11-24T08:42:00.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever you calculate a Total Daily Energy Expenditure or Basal Metabolic Rate, you are usually getting a very rough estimate. Even without cold weather, you can expect both to fluctuate based on your activity for the day, stress or types of food eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it has been unusually cold, it might be sufficient to cause your body to require more energy to maintain an optimal body temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, try not to focus on individual days or weeks. If you are tracking your TDEE try and concern yourself with being under it* consistently as a good habit over the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or over it depending on your goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T08:42:00.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2014-11-24T10:44:16.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drink shakes whenever your organism is depleted of amino acids in the blood stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;«Fast protein» (e. g. whey) in the morning and immediately after workout.  Some people consume a half portion before the workout, but it can make you want to puke during harder exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;«Slow protein» (e. g. casein or a «protein matrix» mix) 30 mins before lunch and before going to bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to create constant surplus of amino acids so that your muscles can draw them from the bloodstream any moment they need them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T10:44:16.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19648" CreationDate="2014-11-24T11:58:08.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From obesity researcher &lt;a href=&quot;http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com.com/2013/07/brown-fat-its-big-deal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stephan Guyanet&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two new studies concurrently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation last week demonstrate what I've suspected for a long time: brown fat can be 'trained' by cold exposure to be more active, and its activation by cold can reduce body fatness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/health/to-lose-weight-just-turn-down-the-thermostat-20130808&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Men's Health has a layman's overview of the same material&lt;/a&gt;. Your recent fluctuations could be due to a whole host of things, but your suspicion that cold weather affects our body's energy expenditure and fat loss is not misplaced. Whether by shivering or by non-shivering heat generation, resisting the cold takes metabolic effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T11:58:08.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7952" CreationDate="2014-11-24T12:17:54.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have personal experience with shin splints, traditional &quot;heel-cushioned&quot; running shoes, and barefoot running in Vibrams and without shoes at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many years I suffered from extremely painful shin splints. I asked for advice on how to get rid of it every time I met a fellow runner, but the solutions suggested to me didn't give a clear picture; run more, run less, heat, cold, creams, herbs, ... you name it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After testing various things, I found that heat helped me; keeping my legs and feet warm seemed to do the trick. I also tried to run toe-strike in my traditional heel-cushioned running shoes, which actually seemed to help a bit - my personal explanation to this was that toe-striking activates the calves more, and active muscles produce more heat - but that is my own non-scientific explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After many years with shin splints I got rid of them by wearing thick wool socks and long legged underpants, and never run with naked shins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine claims to have literally cured her shin splints with fenugreek seed powder, which she got wet, distributed on her lower legs, wrapped it all in plastic and left it there for an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others will tell you that cooling their shins helped them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, my experience is that shin splints are not so much cured by changing running style. And after I cured mine, I could run any way I wanted, and only when the weather is extremely cold, I can feel a tiny bit of the old shin splint pain again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, switching from the heel-cushioned running shoes to Vibrams is the best thing I ever did for my running. But be aware that you can't just put on a pair of Vibrams, and then expect to do better on every parameter of your running; your body will have to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cushioned running shoes will pamper your feet and calves instead of letting them work the way they were made to work. That means, that after running with cushioned shoes for years, your feet, ankles and calves are not trained for this running style, and you will find it tough on your feet and calves - many people give up on barefoot running in this phase, since they expect miracles from the shoes, but only are suffering from the impact of their &quot;old&quot; cushioned running style. When you feel you get slower when running in Vibrams, it's just because you are doing something you haven't done for many years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are patient, and give yourself time to train and learn the barefoot running style, it can improve your running experience significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was about to give up running 3 years ago, since my knees were hurting more and more from running. In an act of desperation (and after consulting a fair amount of the theory behind barefoot running), I decided to buy a pair of Vibrams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a period where I ran once or twice a week in my cushioned running shoes, and once a week in Vibrams, I switched to exclusively to running in Vibrams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the switch, my knees hurt when I ran faster than 6 minutes per kilometer, and my typical cruising speed was 6:30min/km. Now my cruising speed is between 5:30min/km and 5:00min/km. I cut off around 25 minutes of my half-marathon time. My current goal is to run 10 km in 45 minutes - 4:30min/km on average, and I can now run 3 km at that speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my speed has increased. It didn't come with the shoes, it came from &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt; adapting to a different running style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But most importantly, barefoot running is fun - I look forward to every training pass, and that's really important if you want to exercise several times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is my personal experience - Barefoot running might not work for you at all, so remember to listen to your body. Just because it was the right thing for me, it's not necessarily the right thing for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="338" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T12:17:54.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19697" CreationDate="2014-11-24T15:51:06.083" Score="2" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am somewhat new to running, just picked it up about 2 years ago. My typical run is 30 minutes, about 2.5 miles. About three months ago I switched to a pair of minimalist-style Reeboks. For about a month now though, I have noticed that a couple hours after a run, I have an ache/pain on the front of my left hip. Do you think this is a result of poor form, or could this be due to the shoes? And if it's the shoes, what do you recommend I correct in my next pair (better ankle support?), which I hope to pick up this week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12248" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T22:30:14.947" Title="What is causing my post-run hip pain?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19633" CreationDate="2014-11-24T15:52:51.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you build up strength gradually by doing leg presses but pushing with one leg only (of course, alternate legs, although the strongest one will not benefit much until the weakest one catches up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mention the Leg Press because it is the closest thing there is to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/LV45LegPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;basic, compound leg exercise&lt;/a&gt; like the squat, but with the leg press machine you can easily set the load low enough, so that you can work safely with one single side and gradually build up. There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/LVSingleLeg45LegPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;description in EXRX of the single-leg version of the leg press&lt;/a&gt; so it is probably not a bad idea (invented exercises can be dangerous, you know). One-sided exercises are usually recommended to athletes with lateral imbalances, and the typical example is the bench press and shoulder press with dumbbells, in order to force both sides to work equally and independently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take this with a grain of salt because I am neither an experienced athlete, nor a physical therapist. And this answer is likely going to receive a shower of downvotes because I mentioned a gym machine (oh my God!) and the trend now is &quot;either barbell or nothing&quot;. But I think machines can be very useful under certain circumstances, and yours seems to be the case. Since you cannot do a single-leg squat without pain, I don't think there is a better alternate than the leg press machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I guess you have already tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBLunge.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lunges&lt;/a&gt;, although they are not a 100% single-leg exercise. If lunges are painful, you may also try a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWaVpSqXDE4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse lunges&lt;/a&gt;, I have found them somewhat easier on my knees. In any case, I don't think it is a good idea to be messing around with lunges with knee pain. The leg press machine is safer because you can set the load as low as you want and build up from that point. And be sure to have your therapist clearance in order to attempt anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2014-11-24T16:17:52.170" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T16:17:52.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19633" CreationDate="2014-11-24T16:48:39.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mephisto already alluded to it, but I'll call it out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only way to ensure a weak leg is doing it's job is to exercise each leg independently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any single leg work that you can do properly will work, but there are several options.  Some examples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press, single leg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BW and/or dumbbell lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One thing has me concerned&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pain like you are describing in a knee is not normal.  Make sure there is not an injury before really pushing your knee.  I'm wondering whether you have incurred some patellar tendinitis or have an ACL strain.  If that's the case, you want to do the proper rehab for that before you work on the left/right strength imbalances.  Another real possibility is a pinched nerve causing weakness and/or radiating phantom pain down your leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T16:48:39.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2014-11-24T17:44:57.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keeping this routine when I can expect reaching my target?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider dumping your whole routine and sticking with something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. You will end up bigger and stronger. I just measured my upper arm for this question and am sitting at 15&quot;. I've never done a bicep curl in over five years but can do muscle ups, pullups with plates hanging off, and other no-kidding strength training stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I purchase and protein shake in my routine to reach the target&#xA;  or that can be achieved without it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your routine will not target your largest muscles, and is unbalanced. As such you actually have lower protein requirements than someone doing more serious strength training. More broadly, protein supplements are for those who don't have enough protein in their diet otherwise. You'd be better off using real food sources (meat, eggs, etc) because they are slower to digest and contain other essentials (vitamins, creatine, etc). But high quality real-food protein is expensive and tough to get constantly, so people will pad their daily values with protein powders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the most optimum way to get best results out of protein&#xA;  shakes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally the best results would probably be to not even need them because you have such a great diet of fresh whole food. I'm guessing you're talking about whey protein, so I guess you could say optimal would be an hour or so after lifting with a bit of carbohydrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reality though is that with your routine and protein shakes, you'd be much better off doing a real strength training program and trying to eat more real food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-11-24T18:26:31.207" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T18:26:31.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2014-11-24T18:02:56.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you are using compound movements in addition to isolation exercises.  This puts you in the best position to make use of the protein you consume.  Squats, pull ups, deadlifts, bench press and military press.  All of these things help increase your body's demand from protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Never&lt;/em&gt; neglect your legs.  They aren't glamorous, but they help complete the look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spread your protein intake throughout the day.  The majority of your protein you want from real food.  Lean meats, fruits and veggies should be the foundation of any bodybuilder's menu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Save the protein shake for training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before training: 15g protein with creatine, quick carbs (i.e. glucose or sugar) and some caffeine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During training: 15g protein with BCAAs and quick carbs (most protein shakes include BCAAs so you don't have to worry too much about it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After training: 15g-20g protein, and a lower amount of quick carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T18:02:56.820" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19653" CreationDate="2014-11-24T19:25:18.850" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert, but I trained oly lifts for a while. My best power clean was 265lbs at 6'1&quot;, 190lbs.  I can give you anecdotes and tips, for what they're worth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes quite a while to start getting comfortable with the clean.  It took at least some months for me, possibly 3 or 4 before I started trying to progressively overload.  I didn't want to go over 135lbs for the longest time. Be patient, it's a really complex movement.  Once you get it, it will make sense, but it really does take a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every beginner I've seen likes to try to catch the weight in their hands with their wrists hyperextended, so you aren't alone there.  To get a feeling for what the weight should truly feel like in the front rack position, do zombie squats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5OI7G.png&quot; alt=&quot;zombie squat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The catch is an upwards thrust with your front rack.  You are catching the weight &lt;strong&gt;on your front rack&lt;/strong&gt;. Your hands really don't need to be there at all for the catch -- indeed, some people with poor wrist flexibility or injuries leave their hands out of the catch altogether.  For example, see Kelly Starrett here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hl60C.png&quot; alt=&quot;wrist omitted from catch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes quite a while to get the wrist flexibility for a proper catch.  Stretch your wrists.  Do oly-style front squats instead of crossovers, even if it's uncomfortable.  Use elastic bands. Personally, the catch has always been the point of the movement that I fail most often (out of fear, because a miss can hurt).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you learn to really open your hips, the triple extension of the second pull will feel natural.  Practice throwing a heavy medicine ball backwards over the head.  I haven't found anything more helpful for feeling what completely open hips and triple extension feels like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CM42s.png&quot; alt=&quot;backwards medicine ball throw&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly recommend this movement to feel how the second pull should feel.  I didn't really &quot;get it&quot; until I started doing this.  My hips never really completely opened.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best cue I heard when I started was to think of my arms as cables.  This really helped me get the notion of catching the weight with my hands out of my mind.  The arms really should not be involved in the lift &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt;, they are only there to bear the load of the weight.  Rotating your arms so that your elbows open completely forward can help you keep this in mind.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.  Take your time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-24T20:44:43.590" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T20:44:43.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19671" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-24T23:26:35.353" Score="4" ViewCount="845" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running Wendler's &quot;doing more with less&quot; set up, as seen here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimwendler.com/2012/03/doing-more-with-less/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.jimwendler.com/2012/03/doing-more-with-less/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is when to fit in conditioning work (I.e. Hill/flat sprints). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks very much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12251" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-25T16:44:50.430" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T16:44:50.430" Title="When to do conditioning while on Wendler's full body routine?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19458" CreationDate="2014-11-25T02:01:57.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest maintaining a healthy diet and doing some plyometrics in addition to your running. When I began to do plyometrics before competing in track meets, I started to see pretty significant results considering the short amount of time needed for plyometrics. It's also a great way to stretch before physical activity so you're less injury prone. I don't play soccer, but from the little I've watched, I can tell there's quite a bit of running involved. It definitely helps with sprinting, so I would check it out. Here's more info specifically relating to soccer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometrics-for-soccer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometrics-for-soccer.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12252" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T02:01:57.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19671" CreationDate="2014-11-25T07:52:01.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Matt Carlson's 5/3/1 variant &lt;strong&gt;Doing More With Less&lt;/strong&gt; seems to be structured as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lifting, 3 days a week&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calisthenics circuit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conditioning or running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Running, 2-3 days a week:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calisthenics circuit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His non-running, non-calisthenics conditioning work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the prowler or some of my conditioning circuits inspired by the CPAT (Candidate Physical Ability Test) involving the prowler, sled and farmers walks afterwards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do hill sprints, I'd swap them out for that conditioning work without any other changes needed. So you'd do your sprints after the calisthenics circuit and lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T07:52:01.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19671" CreationDate="2014-11-25T14:10:56.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wendler doesn't specify when conditioning should occur, just that it should occur.  I don't think he thinks it matters.  In fact, he calls you a &quot;vag&quot; if you do think it matters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the book 5/3/1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don’t care when or how you get this conditioning done, and I don’t&#xA;  care whether it happens on your off days or not. This only time this&#xA;  matters is when you live in the Land of the Vag. Do it when you&#xA;  have time. Make time for it. Just get it done. Nobody ever got strong&#xA;  or got in shape by thinking about it. They did it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On the deload week, deload! You can still do conditioning work but&#xA;  keep it limited to non-circuits such as Prowler pushing,&#xA;  running/sprinting, etc. Let your body rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, when I ran 5/3/1 variants I always drove to a hill immediately after leaving the gym to get some conditioning in (I think this makes more since than doing it immediately before). On off days I'd go to the same hill on my lunch hour from work.  But, as he says, just get it done.  Do it whenever is most convenient for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-11-25T14:24:27.577" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T14:24:27.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19608" CreationDate="2014-11-25T19:59:39.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;By default, get as much as you need. A good reference is the website &lt;a href=&quot;http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_11/d_11_p/d_11_p_cyc/d_11_p_cyc.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Brain from Top to Bottom&lt;/a&gt; by the McGill University in Canada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The average adult human sleeps 7 to 8 hours per night. But about 10% of the adult population needs much more sleep at night –9 or even 10 hours–to feel wide awake during the day. At the other end of the spectrum, some 5% of the population can get along fine with only 5 or 6 hours of sleep. Thus there is no particular amount of sleep that is ideal in itself. The only real criterion for whether you’re getting enough sleep is whether you feel in good shape during the day. (...) In today’s performance-obsessed society, people often cite Napoleon, Louis XIV, and Churchill as examples of high achievers who supposedly slept only a few hours each night. But curiously, people fail to mention all the other high achievers who, like Einstein, needed 10 and sometimes even 12 hours of sleep per night!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12 hours is indeed much more than the average, but if you can get a lifestyle which allows that much sleep time and you feel rested while awake, I wouldn't worry too much. It's something you can discuss with your doctor the next time you go there for a routine check-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T19:59:39.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19678" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-25T23:05:00.477" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 21 and I'm 178cm with 71 kg.&#xA;I would like to reach 80kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to gym first 1,5 moths ago and I go to gym 3 times a week for 1 hour. (1 or more)&#xA;I like in a university dorm so I can't eat a lot of meat and stuff what I would have to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With what kind of dietary supplement can I get bigger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first month I gained 2,5 kilograms. But of course, I want more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12261" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T23:09:57.880" Title="Skinny guy would like to get bigger (of course bigger muscles) but how?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-11-28T13:42:43.697" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19678" CreationDate="2014-11-25T23:09:57.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply put there are no magic pills when it comes to gaining muscle mass, there are two important keys when gaining mass   Which is first your nutrition. Your nutrition should be tracked using apps such as myfitnesspal (available on iPhone &amp;amp; android) this will ensure your eating enough protein to grow in the first place the second and less important aspect is the actually training within the weight room believe it or not! Aslong as each week you are in some way, shape or form progressing by either upping the repetitions on a given weight. Increasing the weight or increasing the number of sets then you are good as gold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12262" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T23:09:57.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18862" CreationDate="2014-11-25T23:15:11.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is just one day a week then increasing your protein the following day will leave some extra protein for yesterday underfed muscle to be replenished and repaired efficiently. &#xA;It is nothing grot worry about as far as you are hitting your weekly goal your body has a way if evenly distributing protein accordingly. The beauty of our body is the mechanics within. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12262" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T23:15:11.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11503" CreationDate="2014-11-26T14:17:51.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to read all correct but lengthy (like reading a book) answers, I explain in points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you have to exercise 5 days a week, you can increase from 5 mins cardio to 1 hour compound/mix exercise, enjoy doing exercise, give extra reps to in exercise which you like the most. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest mentally and physically, just don't think about goal for 2 days. Just be happy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ea.t in 6 small (non junk meals), you should always leave some space, like you are still hungry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increase weights from lite weight to your last limit, in a way that you cleanly do the reps no jerking/cheating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10100" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T14:17:51.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7623" CreationDate="2014-11-26T16:47:37.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So after a couple of years of doing some isolation exercises and paying attention to the mechanics of a bench press I've determined that my front delts were the culprits.  And so when I was originally doing bench presses, I think my delts weren't activating.  But now after some time working on them, I finally feel them working when pressing. I haven't gotten pass the plateau, but working on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing weighted dips in order to increase the amount of weight I can push with my delts and the amount of weights I've introduced has increased drastically in a short amount of time. So hopefully I can go beyond 185 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T16:47:37.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19646" CreationDate="2014-11-26T19:33:02.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your case, go easy on the complex carbs and sugars with your lunch.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On your commute, have a pre-workout bar/snack about an hour away from the gym.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Have a cup of coffee (or similar caffeine intake) about 15min from workout start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After heavy lifting, have a nice post-workout meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T19:33:02.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-26T21:03:04.780" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;By 6pm each day I am starving and it is this time I wish to workout, just before dinner. Fat loss is also a goal, so I guess this fits '&lt;em&gt;nutrition as it relates to exercise&lt;/em&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work a 9-5 desk job with access to a fridge, microwave and a kettle. Each day I eat chicken salad for lunch but im starving by dinner because I eat no carbs at lunch and breakfast. I want to reshuffle my eating pattern so I can go home and do a workout while not getting distracted by my stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning I'm thinking &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/15378/10607&quot;&gt;oatmeal&lt;/a&gt;. For lunch I was thinking of cooking a large batch of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/15378/10607&quot;&gt;sweet potatoes&lt;/a&gt; to eat during the week. There is also brown / whole meal pasta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone else any good recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10607" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:22:17.000" Title="Healthy carbs on the go" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-12-06T02:27:32.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19684" CreationDate="2014-11-26T21:55:26.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really are eating &quot;no carbs&quot;, you'll be in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis#Diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ketosis&lt;/a&gt;. Although pretty grueling for the first 48-72 hours, your blood sugar will quickly level out and you'll have a much more balanced energy level throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to really avoid high &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index#Weight_control&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycemic index&lt;/a&gt; foods. That would include (basically) any carbohydrate that is not found in its natural state. If it went through a factory of any type before you ate it, chances are it's been &quot;processed&quot;, stripping away natural fibers and husks. The more pre-digestion that happens in a factory (such as smashing wheat into flour), the less your body has to do, and the quicker it can be absorbed into your blood. That in turn spikes your blood sugar, dumps insulin, and enhances fat storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If fat loss is your goal, you should:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid carbohydrates as much as possible. Even by doing that, you'll still get plenty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Absolutely avoid any carbohydrate that is not found as it was in nature. Unless you can find a &quot;flour tree&quot; with little bags of flour growing off of it, don't eat flour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Track your calories for a week or two with something like myfitnesspal or dailyburn. Focus on reducing the carbs, upping the protein, and scattering food throughout the day every few hours. Low carb induced ketosis combined with smaller high protein meals means I can go weeks without ever feeling hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get your diet nailed down and the energy level will take care of itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T21:55:26.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-26T23:12:21.503" Score="2" ViewCount="1833" Body="&lt;p&gt;My maintenance-calories number is fairly low (around 1500 calories), so I become very hungry if I cut based on diet alone. I've added basketball + HIIT-type training so that I can eat more and still be in a caloric deficit. Seems to be working fine thus far, but I've got to wonder... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that I aim to lose 1 pound a week, just how advantageous is this method (increased cardio + dieting) to losing body fat, especially without burning muscle? Along these lines, just hypothetically, if someone were to exercise enough to burn 1000 calories per day, but yet eat enough to maintain a 500-calorie deficit (hence 1 pound fat loss per week), how is this different from getting a 500-calorie deficit based on diet alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12272" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T21:40:24.747" Title="Can you do &quot;too much&quot; cardio for cutting body fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19707" CreationDate="2014-11-27T01:41:49.357" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently on the following schedule, or rather, this is what I aim for: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I used to do deal lifts, but its winter, so I cant unless I join a gym, which I might do.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 days a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2 minute dynamic planks&#xA;5-10 dips&#xA;15 squats + 25lb weight&#xA;5 pull-ups&#xA;5 chin-ups&#xA;&#xA;3 circuits total. On the second circuit, I do 15 push-ups in place of the dips.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to finals, I haven't been working out very much. I only worked out once this past week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of my schedule I was wondering what the effect would be if i did the same exercises on a different schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would happen if I did one circuit every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might do like alternating shifts of one circuit/two circuits and take a rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for general info on how much workout spread matters for the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;fat loss&#xA;muscle gain&#xA;strength gain &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:14:18.500" Title="how much does workout spread matter?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19684" CreationDate="2014-11-27T22:43:50.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fat loss is also a goal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learn to control your hunger. If you want to lose fat, you need to reduce your calorie intake. The reason you are distracted is because your body releases a hormone called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghrelin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ghrelin&lt;/a&gt; ahead of expected meal times. This is a unconsciously trained response, and as you alter your diet your body will release hormones at the right times accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few weeks of controlling your intake this should subside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for distractions, drink more water or green tea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-11-27T22:43:50.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-28T05:48:41.347" Score="5" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this moment, I am able to swimming 3KM by breathstroke without taking rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But each time I swim with free-stroke, I can hardly complete a 50M session, and my legs become soar and fatigue, especially at the last 10M, and I can hardly maintain a position that can keep me floating and move forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is how I tried.&#xA;For the first 20M, I take one breath for every 4 to 6 stroke, &#xA;After 20M, the muscle is weakened, and need more breath. I tried to take breath for every 3 stroke..but it make me feel very hard and failing to keep a good body position, thus slower the speed and harder to move...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my target is to complete a 50M session more relaxed without feeling so hard that I nearly sink: how should I improve so that I limbs can be a little relaxed and burn less oxygen , at the moment speed is not my concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12277" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T12:35:18.227" Title="How to improve free stroke swimming skill" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-28T06:59:55.307" Score="10" ViewCount="1914" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother could touch the heels of both hands on the floor up to the age of 89. She had short legs and a long torso. Is it likely that someone who cannot reach his toes has a short torso and long legs, compared with the norm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12278" LastActivityDate="2020-12-23T14:39:59.607" Title="Re: Touching your toes (not mentioned in 30)" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19692" CreationDate="2014-11-28T07:04:17.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible, but I wouldn't call it &amp;quot;likely&amp;quot; in the sense that &amp;quot;this is the most probable reason&amp;quot;. The most likely reason is simply a lack of flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one, over a longer period of time, works on their flexibility, most people (barring certain &amp;quot;disabilities&amp;quot;) will be able to reach their toes, or even palms, the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="28754" LastEditDate="2020-12-23T14:39:59.607" LastActivityDate="2020-12-23T14:39:59.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19691" CreationDate="2014-11-28T07:26:58.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're describing is, in my limited experience, the most frequent beginner's issue with the free-stroke. Suffice it to say, I had the same problem when I started out. This answer will be largely based on my own experience, rather than classical training methods, since I had to learn it by myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you seem like a proficient swimmer, so it's likely that by simply keeping at it, you'll intuitively grasp it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume (since you didn't specify, but mentioned early fatigue in legs) that you're experiencing the same problems I did, where your upper body is keeping afloat, but your legs are sinking, thereby causing you to use far more energy than needed to keep them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For myself, I noticed that the reason why my legs were sinking, wasn't how I was moving them, but the fact that my arms were pushing straight down into the water before they pushed backwards. This downward push, pushed my torso UP, which resulted in a non-flat body position with my legs suddenly lower. This, repeated, was one of the issues. &lt;strong&gt;Focus on pushing the water backwards right away.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue is kicking with your knees. This creates a lot of drag, as well as up-and-down motion. &lt;strong&gt;You should keep your knees straight, and might even benefit from improving ankle flexibility.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, there was a tip I was getting from another swimmer, because it was very obvious. My head tilt. I was looking straight ahead, at the wall I was swimming towards. This is ok if you're already very proficient. For beginners though, it might cause legs to sink. Instead, &lt;strong&gt;keep your head in a position where you're looking straight down.&lt;/strong&gt; The point here is that you lower your torso and level your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T07:26:58.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19687" CreationDate="2014-11-28T10:26:04.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd advise against doing it every day. Instead, every-other day would provide your muscles with enough restitution to actually progress. Keep in mind that the &quot;every-other day&quot; part is more of a rule-of-thumb, but restitution is crucial to gaining strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your numbers are a goal, and not something you can already do, then it looks alright. The problem arises when you're able to do more than 10-15 on every exercise. Then you need to find progress in terms of adding more weight to each exercise, rather than simply doing even more reps. Again, a gym comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For extra fat loss, I'd suggest a 30-60 minute walk every day. Preferably in the morning, before breakfast if possible, but any time is better than not at all. Simply walking helps with posture (chest up, chin up, back straight), and kick-starts your metabolism, among many other benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T10:26:04.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19691" CreationDate="2014-11-28T12:27:01.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This of course has to do with your swimming technique, and it is quite normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike running, swimming requires that part of your training is specifically devoted to learning the technique. That is, your workouts cannot be composed alone by breast stroke, front crawl and so on, but also you have to devote certain amount of time to specific &lt;em&gt;swimming drills&lt;/em&gt; aimed at focusing only on a single component of swimming at a time (e.g. the leg kicks or how to breathe). Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hICK_CVeoow&amp;amp;list=PLA7214832B786E830&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example youtube list&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming workouts usually combine sessions with different kinds of swimming drills. You may choose to ignore the drills and simply keep on trying, but then it is very difficult that you achieve a decently efficient front crawl style. Furthermore, the more you swim with bad form, the more difficult to correct your swimming patterns in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional Warning:&lt;/strong&gt; You seem to have been swimming quite a lot by means of breaststroke only. Improper breaststroke technique may be eventually bad for your knees. The whipkick used in the breaststroke easily leads to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7377447&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;problems&lt;/a&gt;. This is the well known &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioroom.com/sports/swimming/2swimmersknee.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Swimmer's Knee&quot; or &quot;Breaststroker's Knee&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. A good workout should combine different swimming styles. Try focusing your attention on your technique rather than on your mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2014-11-28T12:35:18.227" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T12:35:18.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19665" CreationDate="2014-11-28T12:47:36.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds exactly like what I had when training for my third half marathon after a long-ish break from running. In my case, it didn't really fall nicely into any &quot;usual&quot; description such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ITB-related&lt;/a&gt; problems. It was a chronic pain in the front and slightly to the outside of the hip, roughly near the joint between thigh and hip, but more to the side from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What worked for me was quite simply to stretch before and after running by crossing my legs and leaning on the side of the leg that is crossed behind the straight leg, so that you feel a stretch in the side of the hip. And in addition to that, I did some repeats of standing in a slight elevation and lowering one leg as downwards as it can go while still not touching the ground and keeping the back straight - 10-15 repeats of this on both legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took a week for me to recover. After continuing the above for one more month, I never had any more problems with the pain during the rest of my training program (4 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;Here's the stretch - the one on the right side:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lZrRd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12280" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T12:47:36.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19692" CreationDate="2014-11-28T12:55:27.840" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being able to touch the toes depends mainly on two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hamstring flexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;body proportions (relative length of legs, torso, and arms)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not possible to change body proportions, so, to reach the toes, someone with longer legs and shorter torso/arms will need to have more flexibility in the hamstrings. It is possible for anyone to reach that level of flexibility. See:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u6Fgc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Size matters&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://loveyogaanatomy.com/size-matters/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How is hamstring flexibility measured?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the hamstring flexibility test (also called straight leg raising test, or SLR test), the maximal angle of flexion of the straight leg is measured in a lying down position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pamAw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hamstring flexibility test&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual classification is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inflexible for below 65 degrees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;normal for around 80 degrees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;above average flexibility for 105 degrees or more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about age?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles tend to become shorter with age, however, maintaining flexibility is quite easy with a little work. Flexibility is much easier to maintain than to acquire. An old person, who has acquired flexibility when he/she was young, will need to spend a lot less time maintaining it, compared to a younger, but inflexible person trying to become flexible. That said, flexibility can be improved in any age, I have seen people in their 30s, 40s, 50s gain much flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, can I blame factors that are out of my control, for my inability to reach my toes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. The reason is lack of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2018-03-04T14:42:54.653" LastActivityDate="2018-03-04T14:42:54.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-28T17:35:06.667" Score="2" ViewCount="913" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing pullups or chinups coming out of the bottom part (with arms straight) is by far the most difficult thing for me. I can do at least 15 chinups in a row when I go only 50-60% down, but if I go down all the way I can do only 1 or 2 strict chinup/pullup at once (with 5 sec break between each rep I can do 20 of it, but not in a row). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So are there any specific drills or exercises to improve the bottom part of my chin ups and pullups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:09:45.830" Title="Drills to improve the bottom part of chin ups or pull ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19700" CreationDate="2014-11-28T20:33:18.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see much use in doing drills specifically for this problem. I'd just focus on dead-hang pull-ups. You'll get stronger with those. The issue here is a mismatch between your perceived strength performance (&quot;I can do 15 chinups&quot;) and your &quot;decreased&quot; performance under the standards of the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really think you'd benefit from fixing this specific issue with targeted work, I'd do a modified form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/iTWPbSgKaWI?t=2m25s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Frenchies&lt;/a&gt; (a pattern of doing pull-ups with pauses). If 0 were the bottom and 100 is the top, maybe I'd do something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start at 0&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to 25 and pause&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to 0 then go to 50 and pause&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to 0 then 100&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to 0 and pause&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I did that, I would make sure to get in plenty of full pull-up rep volume, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T20:33:18.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19686" CreationDate="2014-11-28T22:23:36.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a million diet ideas out there but they all boil down to one thing: Burn more calories than you eat. One particular idea is the amish diet which is very high in carbs and ends up being nearly 6,000 calories a day and they have a 3% obesity rate because of all of the labor. My general recommendation would be to stop your cardio if you are feeling dizzy, lightheaded, or exhausted. These are your body's ways of telling you that you have not eaten/drank enough. In general unless you are reaching serious levels of exertion your body will not burn muscle. This is your body's last resort. I would generally say as long as you don't feel like you are shaking/seriously losing coordination keep playing sports and doing cardio particularly if you are doing one of the most important things: Having FUN. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't forget to get plenty of sleep and drink plenty of water. If you are feeling ill after working out while drinking and sleeping enough that would be a good sign to maybe eat more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T22:23:36.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19639" CreationDate="2014-11-28T22:32:46.150" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to agree with the person above. Exercise DVDs have limited effectiveness and should probably not be used as a first step. Starting with a 20 minute brisk walk every day is a good way to get started. Losing weight can be boiled down to burning more than you intake. That is naturally easier said than done but some little steps like parking far away from your destination when you drive some place and taking the elevator instead of the stairs are good starts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as work out timing, generally it is a good idea to avoid working out within two to three hours of trying to go to sleep. Most people get their best results both sleeping and in their workout giving significant time (2+ hours) before bed. In general this will lead to better sleep. There are varying opinions on working out when you get up but some subscribe to the philosophy that it jump starts your metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T22:32:46.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19686" CreationDate="2014-11-29T01:59:19.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That hypothetical person should concern themselves with strength training. It's pretty hard to make a lot of strength gains in a calorie deficit, but I know some actual Olympic-qualifying Olympic lifters who manage to keep their body fat pretty lean (weight class concerns) as they progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adaptation is specific and constantly being adjusted, up and down. If you're not engaging your body in big strength demands, and especially if you're in caloric deficit, your body will note the lack of need for your strength and start cannibalizing muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't already done real strength training you honestly probably don't have much strength to lose (that would take much to regain). So maybe don't obsess about muscle loss if you haven't invested months/years into your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T01:59:19.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19686" CreationDate="2014-11-29T16:02:36.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are in a calorie deficit I would focus on getting more protein and fat in your diet and get the majority of your carbohydrates from cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts) and low glycemic fruits (berries, cherries, plums, etc).That will help maintain the&#xA; muscle mass. I wouldn't over analyze the calories too much. Concentrate on eating high quality nutrient dense food and the fat loss will come. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of your weight training. Stick with compound movements (multi-joint lifts). Whether you are using dumbbells or barbells, keep the rest periods short (60 seconds maximum) and get your workout done in no more than an hour. Squats, deadlifts, presses, pull ups, chin ups, and rows are what the focus of your training should consist of. I hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:02:36.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19700" CreationDate="2014-11-29T16:09:45.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would focus on not allowing your elbows to lock out at the bottom portion of the movement. Leave a slight bend in the elbows to maintain tension on the working muscles for starters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also focus on doing negative chin ups. Pull yourself up to the top of the bar and then concentrate on the negative portion. Give your 15-20 seconds to get down to the bottom. It will increase your eccentric and concentric strength overall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look into buying some bands that provide weighted assistance (much like a Gravitron machine). You can loop the band over the top of the bar and stick a knee in the bottom portion. The bands come in different tensions. Start with one that provides 10 to 15 lbs worth of assistance and go from there. It should allow you to perform an extra 2-4 reps per set. Once you remove the bands and go back to a bodyweight chin up, you should see an increase in strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope those two protocols help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:09:45.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19687" CreationDate="2014-11-29T16:14:18.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to exercise everyday, concentrate on training different muscle groups. Focus on your planks, squats and lunges on one day and your upper body work (push ups, chin ups, dips) on the other day. Your muscles need a minimum of 48 hours to recover and grow depending on the amount of volume you are performing Luke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Circuits are great for fat loss. Minimize the breaks and keep yourself moving. The more work you can cram into a short period of time (Eg. 20-30 mins) the better your overall results will be in terms of muscle gain and fat loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:14:18.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19684" CreationDate="2014-11-29T16:22:17.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is never a good idea to be starving, especially before you train. So if you are hungry, you need to eat. Make sure you are not dehydrated either. Especially on a higher protein diet, your body will require more water. I find a piece of cheese and a handful of almonds with a tall glass of water an hour before I train provides me with the energy I need to train and it keeps my blood sugar balanced so I don't 'crash' in the middle of my workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to keep the carbs low throughout the day much like you and eat the majority  of mine after I train in the later hours of the day with my post workout meal and my dinner. When I eat oatmeal and sweet potatoes at breakfast and lunch I get sluggish and tired. So I understand your initial logic. The carbs that we eat the day before are the ones that are fueling our workouts. Not the ones we are eating 2-4 before. So keep that in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:22:17.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2014-11-29T16:37:10.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would keep your protein shakes to post workout only. Whey protein is highly insulinogenic. So it is the ideal choice to drink after you train, but you don't need to drink shakes during the course of the day. Stick to eating whole foods, Meat, eggs, yogurt, beans, nuts, etc. Whole foods will keep you fuller and keep your blood sugar balanced throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really concerned about staying anabolic throughout the day, buy some BCAA's (branched chain amino acids, valine, leucine and isoleucine) and take 5 grams with water every couple of hours. Definitely take 5 grams pre, peri and post workout as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:37:10.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19655" CreationDate="2014-11-29T16:41:00.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not true at all. The protein you get from nuts are great. The only drawback is that nuts are an incomplete protein meaning that they do not contain all the essential amino acids. All you need to do is combine nuts with a grain of some sort (whole grain bread, rice, etc) and you will get the missing amino acids you are looking for. The truth is, you probably get the missing amino acids from other foods that you have eaten throughout the day that are still floating around in your system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T16:41:00.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19616" CreationDate="2014-11-29T17:50:04.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mephisto, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the front plank and the bridge are great core stability exercises. What I would do is use them as a 'warm up' before you train the compound lifts in your routine. Even though the other exercises you are performing use those muscles, I wouldn't eliminate them from your plan. They still have value. I would add a side plank in there as well. It activates more muscle than the front plank does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T17:50:04.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19411" CreationDate="2014-11-29T20:53:08.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How you should react totally depends on what your specific medical diagnosis is, which we can't speak to. However in a (perhaps?) similar situation, what worked was a drastic temporary reduction in shoulder lifting volume and a less-drastic reduction in overall training volume. This gave my shoulder time to de-inflame so I could gradually work back up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reducing the volume and working rotator cuff exercises &lt;em&gt;prolonged&lt;/em&gt; the issue, since my rotator cuff was plenty strong. The problem was less-than-optimal mobility of the shoulder joint plus an inflamed shoulder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises that didn't hurt, like pull-ups, were fine. However, in my case, it was important not to replace the problematic exercises with an equal or greater amount of substitute work. Part of what helped heal was just doing less for a little while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T20:53:08.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19411" CreationDate="2014-11-29T21:23:45.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find angles and exercises that don't cause the pain to recreate itself. Experiment with different exercises. If it hurts, don't do it. Ice your shoulder down post workout to avoid any flare ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with your rotator cuff exercises, I would start with a thorough warm up. Begin doing shoulder dislocations against a wall, band pull a parts to retract your shoulder blades and spend a lot of time stretching out your pectorals. When the chest gets tight it causes your shoulders to roll forward (internal rotation) putting excess stress on the anterior deltoids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get back to health, continue to balance out your overhead pressing with your bench pressing at a 1:1 ratio. Make a point of spending more time on the muscles you can't see (back in your case) and less on the ones that you can. I always perform pulling exercises at a 2:1 ratio vs. my pushing exercises. Hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T21:23:45.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19715" CreationDate="2014-11-30T11:34:01.143" Score="5" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started running and I'm having a hard time distinguishing &lt;strong&gt;warm-up&lt;/strong&gt; from &lt;strong&gt;stretching&lt;/strong&gt; exercises. I've read that I should do warm-up before running and stretch after running. Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, could you point out a few good warm-up methods that I can do without equipment at home before I start running? I know I could warm up while running, but it's becoming cold outside, so I would like to warm up before leaving the house ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12290" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T20:26:16.677" Title="Distinguish stretching from warming up?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19714" CreationDate="2014-11-30T13:16:22.273" Score="8" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've read that I should do warm-up before running and stretch after running. Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm up by running slowly and gradually increasing the pace, or with dynamic stretching movements like lunges, air squats, leg swings, running sideways or backwards, swinging the arms, and trunk rotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T13:16:22.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19747" CreationDate="2014-11-30T20:47:02.413" Score="3" ViewCount="1010" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to gym and workout pretty hard to buff up my body. With time I learned about protein requirements of muscles to grow and started taking whey protein which costs around 4000 for 5 lbs pack. But it lasts for only 2 - 2.5 months. Is there any way to plan my diet and workout in such a way that would completely eliminate the need of protein powder. If yes how much time it would take to build muscle relative to protein powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2014-11-30T21:21:37.123" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:50:47.570" Title="How do i fulfill my protein requirements without taking protein powders?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19716" CreationDate="2014-11-30T21:15:33.753" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein is just one of many factors in the complex process of building muscle. Another factor that is relevant to this topic of diet/nutrition is that of total caloric intake. If you aren't getting enough calories then it doesn't matter how much protein you consume because you simply won't be building muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with protein. The academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reports that bodybuilders require 1.4 - 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight, or approximately 0.63 to 0.77 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Since you're trying to bulk and add more mass, you'll want to be at the high end of that range, and maybe and even exceed it to 1.8 - 1.9 grams/kg. You'll want to make sure you have a balance of fats as well, with carbs making up the remainder for your caloric requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as high protein diets without protein powder, this is quite easy. Milk, chicken, fish, yogurt, eggs, almonds, beans, and lean beef/pork are all great sources for protein. Things like almonds and yogurt are great snacks to have throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't go so far to build an actual meal plan, because between not knowing your tastes, allergies, body weight, caloric need, etc., it is clearly not practical for me to do so. But with the information above and a little research I'm sure you can put together something quite healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;EDIT&lt;/em&gt; All of that being said, I will say that personally I like protein powder as it is a quick, cheap, and easy way for me to meet my protein requirements every day. Often times I won't even have a shake, but instead add it to my coffee, oatmeal, or another snack throughout the day. As someone who is trying to put on mass, I also find it a good source of calories that are cheap and easy to consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T21:15:33.753" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19716" CreationDate="2014-11-30T21:35:49.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Real food&quot; that is naturally high in protein will always in out over powders nutritionally speaking. This is largely dependent on where you live. In the United States whey protein is relatively cheap, and animal meat is relatively expensive. In most developing nations however meat is much cheaper than the cost of importing a tub of whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A chicken breast (two breasts) has about 60g of protein. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tyson-Trimmed-Ready-Premium-Boneless-Skinless-Chicken-Breasts-24-oz/25291730&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Currently (2014), in the United States, two chicken breasts will cost around $3.50&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutrimartusa.com/100-whey-double-rich-chocolate-5-lbs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A tub of ON whey costs around $55&lt;/a&gt;, for 74 servings at 24 grams per serving. You'd need 2.5 scoops to equal the protein in the chicken breasts, so that costs you $1.85 (($55/24)(2.5)).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So that's $3.50 in chicken or $1.85 for whey, gram for gram.&lt;/strong&gt; Economical whey protein, in this case (2014, United States) costs roughly half that of chicken. Other things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Real food has fiber, nutrients, and is usually &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; slower digesting. That's really important because all the talk about pre/intra/post protein is negated to a large degree if you have a constant state of elevated amino acids because you're eating real food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Real food tends to make you feel full longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Real food like fish contains (duh) fish oil (a supplement) and red meats are usually high in creatine (another supplement).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein powders are (again, usually) cheaper and nearly always more convenient. Raw chicken breasts require cooking, cutlery, fuel, refrigeration, and dishes that need to be cleaned up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise anyone to base their diet largely in fresh whole foods, trying to get as much lean protein and fresh vegetables as possible. If you can't get enough protein because of cost or schedule, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; with protein powders. A tub of whey shouldn't form the basis of your diet, it should be a convenient go-to when the realities of cost and schedules show up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T21:35:49.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19686" CreationDate="2014-11-30T21:40:24.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How advantageous is increased cardio + dieting to losing body fat without burning muscle?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a complex problem. If you do cardio, you are going to lose some muscle. Even some of the most hardcore bodybuilders struggle with keeping muscle while burning only fat. Does this mean you are going to &quot;lose all your gainz&quot; overnight? No. The problem with your plan lies in what it is missing: weight lifting. Without weight lifting being part of your regimen, the result will quite obviously be that over time you will lose your muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nice thing is weight lifting is a form of light cardio, so as the saying goes you can &quot;kill two birds with one stone&quot; by lifting weights to burn fat and put on muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If someone were to burn 1000 calories through exercise, but eat enough to maintain a 500-calorie deficit, how is this different from getting a 500-calorie deficit based on diet alone?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that cardio gives you more benefits than just burning calories. Studies show that exercise increase your longevity, happiness, muscle tone, aerobic conditioning, and much more. Cutting 500 calories accomplishes none of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T21:40:24.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19722" CreationDate="2014-12-01T00:44:42.523" Score="4" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know a number of coworkers who spend 2+ hours a day in the car.  What can they do to burn more calories and stay healthy while behind the wheel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T04:20:26.850" Title="What can I do to stay fit in the car?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19721" CreationDate="2014-12-01T08:42:53.773" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am rather convinced that there is nothing productive to do relating to fitness while actually driving. For the duration they're going to be sitting in a bad position, they're going to be slightly asymmetrical with their limb usage, they're going to be sedentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Inescapable Tragedy of Sitting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the thing, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vox.com/2014/7/2/5862026/sitting-vs-standing-health-risks-dangers&quot;&gt;Joseph Stromburg summarizes for Vox&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Research has shown that increased exercise for an hour or so per day can't undo the negative effects of sitting for eight hours, any more than running a mile can erase the damage caused by a smoking habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/172/4/419.abstract&quot;&gt;The large prospective study by Alpa V. Patel, Leslie Bernstein, Anusila Deka, Heather Spencer Feigelson, Peter T. Campbell, Susan M. Gapstur, Graham A. Colditz and Michael J. Thun&lt;/a&gt; concluded &quot;that time spent sitting was &lt;strong&gt;independently&lt;/strong&gt; associated with total mortality, regardless of physical activity level.&quot; (emphasis mine) You can't burn calories to negate the pernicious transition to immobility that driving creates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those coworkers should find a way to reduce their commute, period. Live closer to work. Work closer to home. Telecommute some days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mitigation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, they should aggressively address the specific mobility problems that driving causes. They are generally similar to the ones that sitting causes, namely hip and back dysfunction. At the same time they should take on a general strength and conditioning routine that is appropriately challenging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T08:42:53.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-01T09:46:53.743" Score="0" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kris Gethin 12 weeks transformation&lt;/a&gt;, i have found some downside to it. One being that there is no way of telling how much food portion should i consume, the author says &quot;size of your fist&quot;, But that is something i would like to know, say i have a scale. how much (kg) for each portion of protein,carbs etc. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Similarly, the author doesn't tell how much of glutamine or creatine should i take? I have GNC product and it says &quot;as recommended by doctor or physician&quot;, so my question is how quantity is good to support muscle growth and not going into catabolic state, as i am at week 8. I feel sometimes my body hit plateau. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T15:23:39.573" Title="How much glutamine and creatine is good?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;l-glutamine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19723" CreationDate="2014-12-01T15:23:39.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd use &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a calculator online&lt;/a&gt; to get a fairly accurate idea of your recommended calories and daily macros (protein, fat, carbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glutamine has rather minor impacts, most notably affecting cell hydration, immunity, and minimizing DOMS. But those affects are really pretty small. Generally your body makes all the glutamine it can use, and I've heard arguments that orally ingested glutamine never really makes it to your muscles anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine is recommended at 5g per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, consider dumping your current plan and going with something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. You'll get better results faster and safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T15:23:39.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19721" CreationDate="2014-12-01T16:30:06.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Focus on the ~14 waking hours per day. As outlined in Dave's answer, sitting for long periods is bad, no way around it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where I work, I have a stand up desk with a high chair. If I want to stand up, I hop off the chair. If I want to sit, I sit my butt down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A few times a day I work on my third-world-squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand up in meetings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have walking meetings. If someone wants to talk to me about something, I'll usually ask if they want to go for a walk around the building while we discuss. There's no particular reason to sit in my office for most discussions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of workplace cultural norms are there only because they haven't been challenged yet. Things like standing desks, moving around a bit during meetings in a non-disruptive way, and taking a walk around the building are easy to implement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could re-ask the question as &lt;strong&gt;what can someone do who sits down in meetings for two hours a day?&lt;/strong&gt; The answer is basically the same: focus on the remaining time and try to make those two hours be the worst, not the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T16:30:06.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19729" CreationDate="2014-12-01T22:23:25.340" Score="2" ViewCount="552" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is my target training heart-rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 32 M 184 lbs.&#xA;My Resting HR is 76.&#xA;My Maximum HR is 156.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12300" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:36:13.067" Title="What is my target training heart-rate?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-01T23:58:49.070" Score="4" ViewCount="5616" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because for looking reasons (sweating) and lack of free time, I decided to convert my 40min cardio in the morning per day &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFUxgIXEHAk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(I'm doing this usually)&lt;/a&gt;, to walking to my office which is about 4.5km (2.79 miles) from my home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the cardio I burned about 300 to 570 calories. With the long distance walking, from home to office and vice versa (9km or 5.59 miles), and with the help of a GPS mobile app (runtastic like), it shows that I'm burning about 530 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible? Which is your recommendation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goal is fat loss. I do daily strength training for core and upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer walking because when I'm at the office I'm not tired or sweating excessively. I read that cardio is melting fat, especially in the morning before breakfast, but also I know that a burned calorie is a burned calorie. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've lost 19kg/41.88 lbs since August)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11944" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T14:36:21.687" Title="Walking long distance vs cardio" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19727" CreationDate="2014-12-02T00:32:28.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a common and a good question. But, it is not an easy question. This is because there are several factors that influence what the &quot;target&quot; heart rate (HR) should be. These factors include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goal (e.g. lose weight, race a sprint triathlon, race a half&#xA;ironman). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activity (e.g. biking or running). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time (i.e. as you gain fitness, your heart rate zones will change). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Method used to determine training zones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will attempt to address each of these four factors concisely in reverse order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;METHOD USED TO DETERMINE HR ZONES&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;There are many methods to determine HR zones. Some of these methods derive the zones based on a &quot;maximum&quot; heart rate (e.g. 220 - your age). Then, a formula is used to determine the HR zones based on a percentage of the maximum HR. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other zone determination methods are based off of a &quot;lactic threshold heart rate&quot; (LTHR). Maximum HR is NOT equal to one's threshold LTHR. Simply put, one's LTHR for a given activity is the average HR during the last 20 minutes of an activity that the individual can sustain for 1 hour. Zones are then calculated based on a percentage of the LTHR. One's LTHR will be different for different activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calculating zones based on threshold is much more accurate and useful than calculating zones based on &quot;maximum&quot; HR.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TIME&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;As an individual gains fitness, their biological energy producing systems (heart, circulatory system, capillaries, etc.) will become more efficient. This is why athletes get faster over time and, for a given work load, their heart rate will drop over time. This fact necessitates recalculation of one's HR zones every 4 to 8 weeks are so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ACTIVITY&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;One's heart rate range for a given training zone will be different for different activities. As a general rule, an individual's heart rate will be approx. 10 beats per minute (BPM) lower for cycling than for running. For example, my Zone 2 running heart rate is 148 - 158 BPM, but my Zone 2 cycling heart rate is 141 - 151. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GOAL&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Most (not all) HR training zone calculation methods use a 5 zone system. I personally use a 5 zone system because it is simple. Training in a given zone produces a specific training effect on the individual and produces aerobic and anaerobic adaptations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on an individual's fitness goals, he or she may desire specific adaptations that are best achieved by spending most of the training time in a specific zone. Below, I have listed the five zones, along with some descriptive language indicating the types of adaptations that will occur by training in the zone and how some coached athletes use the zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 1: Active Recovery. Increases blood flow throughout the body without additional stress that comes from training in higher zones. This promotes faster recovery than just resting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 2: Aerobic Efficiency. Trains the body to use the aerobic systems more efficiently. Also trains the body to metabolize fat instead of carbohydrates. Most fat loss occurs by training in this zone. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 3: Endurance. A mixture of effects between Zone 2 and Zone 3. Many athletes avoid training in this zone. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 4: Threshold. Trains the body to process the byproducts of anaerobic metabolization (lactic acid) more efficiently. If the body cannot process these byproducts as quickly as they are generated, then athletic performance quickly drops. The &quot;burning&quot; sensation in the muscles is the result.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 5: Anaerobic. Promotes the efficient use of the anaerobic system. Can also increase (slightly) one's VO2-Max. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the preceding, we should have sufficient background information and context for a meaningful answer to your question: First, here is the zone calculation method that I recommend. These formulas are credited to Joe Friel:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run Zones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 1 Less than 85% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 2 85% to 89% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 3 90% to 94% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 4 95% to 99% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 5 100% and up of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bike Zones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 1 Less than 81% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 2 81% to 89% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 3 90% to 93% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 4 94% to 99% of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zone 5 100% and up of LTHR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, without actually knowing your fitness goal, but only knowing your resting heart rate, and age, I would suggest that you spend the next 8 weeks exercising mainly 80% of the time in Zone 2, 15% of the time in Zone 1, and 5% of the time in Zone 4. This will give you a stronger aerobic base. You will notice that your resting HR will drop way down, probably by 10 BPM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to determine your LTHR can be hard without actually running for an hour, but here is a useful guideline: While running in Zone 2,  you should be able to talk easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other tip: Most people work out WAY TOO HARD. Remember that consistency is MUCH MORE important than intensity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastEditorUserId="12167" LastEditDate="2014-12-02T04:06:34.030" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T04:06:34.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19728" CreationDate="2014-12-02T01:20:00.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that you have two questions. If I understand your post correctly, your first question could be posed as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Is it possible that my 2.79M walk burns the same amount of calories as my 40min cardio routine?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer: Not likely. The link that you provided in your question shows a workout routine that is much higher intensity than just walking. And, given that the two activities are approximately the same duration, the higher intensity routine will burn more calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation on what you actually do is based on your stated goal of losing fat. First, I have to correct your assumption that &quot;a burned calorie is a burned calorie.&quot; This is NOT true. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At higher intensities, your body metabolizes a higher percentage of carbohydrates to generate energy. At lower intensities, your body metabolizes fat at a higher percentage to generate energy. The ideal intensity at which to &quot;burn fat&quot; is in Heart Rate Zone 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, my recommendation is that you neither walk to work or do the cardio kick boxing. Instead, I would recommend jogging easy to work and toweling off when you get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19727/what-is-my-target-training-heart-rate/19729#19729&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; has some information about heart rate zones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T01:20:00.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13154" CreationDate="2014-12-02T03:28:10.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used the Single Leg Dumbbell Lift (SLDL) extensively during the last year to improve running performance. In my opinion, there IS a correct technique to this exercise that is motivated by the GOAL of the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, the primary goal of this exercise was to improve lateral stability and balance throughout the ankle, knee, and hip, while increasing flexibility. The secondary goal was to increase strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the &quot;right&quot; technique is one that best promotes the development of stability, balance, and flexibility. To me, photos 1, 2, and 3 all meet my definition of the &quot;right&quot; technique. In photos 4, and 5, the individual may be able to lift more weight, but they will not be getting the stability and flexibility benefits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I recommend the following for this exercise: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep back flat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing leg slightly bent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During the &quot;bend&quot; don't let the lifted leg droop down (like the man in photo 4).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the recovery phase of each rep, try not to let the lifted foot touch the ground so that you are balancing on one foot for the whole set (this is harder than it sounds).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use light weights (or even no weights) until you can complete a full set without losing your balance and maintain good form throughout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let the weights rest on the ground during the &quot;bend&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) and (2) promote good flexibility. (3) through (6) promote stability and balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tendency when we get tired or lazy is to droop the lifted leg and/or allow the weights to rest on the ground during the bending portion of the exercise. The other tendency is to use too much weight, which subsequently requires us to put the lifted foot on the ground in between reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't stress about weights in one hand or two. . . I say switch it up to get some variability in the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best suggestions for correcting these errors are to 1) don't use any weight (at least at first), and 2) use a mirror - your back and lifted leg should be parallel to the ground during the &quot;bend&quot; portion of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUMMARY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Photos 1 - 3 are the right technique. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The right technique is motivated by developing lateral stability and balance throughout the ankles, knees, and hips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Common errors: too much weight, drooping leg, letting weights rest on the ground, and putting lifted foot on the ground between reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Technique Fixes: Lose the weight, use a mirror.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By thy way, my running form improved noticeably last year thanks in no small part to this exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T03:28:10.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19721" CreationDate="2014-12-02T04:20:26.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the concern is keeping up their fitness while in the car, thats not possible nor is it wise. &lt;strong&gt;While driving, focus on driving, not fitness.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you look at this part of your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What can they do to burn more calories and stay healthy while behind the wheel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they (or you on their behalf) are interested in their calorie deficit, instead of trying to burn more, instead focus on consuming less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, you can't change peoples behaviour for them. If they wish to be unfit, they will. Perhaps you need to come to grips with that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T04:20:26.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19228" CreationDate="2014-12-02T10:00:21.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;An optimized sleep schedule is one which is a) the right length and b) starts and ends at the same time every day.  Following is an explanation of both requirements and why they are important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Having a sleep schedule which is the right length&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your sleep cycle can be roughly broken down into two parts, deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement).  It is during deep sleep that your body heals itself, for example repairing muscle damage from a hard workout.  During REM sleep, the brain forms memories and regenerates itself.  Both physical healing and cognitive ability are important for a recovering athlete.  So you need to sleep long enough that both your body and mind can recover each night.  Most adults need between 7.5 and 8.5 hours of sleep each night to be fully rested.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleeping and waking up at the same time every day&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Research has shown that when you go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, your body actually gets more efficient at sleeping.  This means that your body can do more healing (physical and psychological) in less time.  For example, consider a person who needs 9 hours of sleep each night to feel rested when sleeping at random times every day.  After adjusting his sleep schedule to begin and end at the same time every day, he might only need 8 hours to feel fully rested.  Of course, the need to get a sufficient amount of sleep ties in with the first bullet point above.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;FYI, I took James Maas' course on sleep psychology when I was a student at Cornell.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Here is a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.massmed.org/Continuing-Education-and-Events/Conference-Proceeding-Archive/Maas-Presentation-%28pdf%29/&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt; from Maas covering the basics of sleep science which you can read if you still have further interest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastEditorUserId="6134" LastEditDate="2014-12-02T15:08:43.207" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T15:08:43.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-02T11:03:40.437" Score="4" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have become extremely flexible within two months after changing my squats going totally down with slow negatives/aggressive up-down, it has improved my vertical split massively. Side &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(gymnastics)#mediaviewer/File:Fuori_asse_alla_seconda.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;oversplit&lt;/a&gt; looks like below but it can also be done on floor, by street dancers, by hockey goal-keepers, by dancers, by martial artists and so on. This question is not specific to any specific sport instead focus on flexibility and how to improve it. When I train for flexibility, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pinterest.com/pin/484066659923083743/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;glucosamine&lt;/a&gt; from seashell foods helps me to recover faster and making gains faster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can you improve horizontal splits?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DiwzH.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T23:17:23.357" Title="Which muscles to train and how for horizontal oversplit?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-02T11:47:08.720" Score="0" ViewCount="558" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have learned a few facts about the human body over the years and there seems to be some contradiction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Fat cells never go away, even when you burn the energy within them. They only shrink in size when their energy stores are used up. Once fat cells are created, you have them for good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-lipo suction removes the fat cells forcibly, circumventing the above issue, as least on a small scale. I.e only the fat that is not interweaving in your body and could cause damage if removed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;after lipo, over eating again would cause other areas of your body to gain weight first before the lipo areas. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;fat can still grow back in the lipo areas. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay so my question is how to properly reconcile all these facts and/or cut out what is fiction. In short my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;considering how easy it is for a non-lipo adult to gain weight back after being over weight, is it just as easy to get back into your previous shape after lipo? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;put another way, if you lipo off your lower belly fat (currently it's the first spot to gain the weight and the last spot to lose) will the lower belly fat be the first place to come back after lipo if you eat a lot? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will the lower belly react to excessive food? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what does one do about excessive skin after lipo? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may have other questions but this is good for now. I am a Caucasian male in early 30s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12302" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:21:56.717" Title="Fat gain/shape after liposuction" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-02-16T04:26:22.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6458" CreationDate="2014-12-02T12:56:18.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stopping suddenly also distrupts the flow of blood to the brain and working muscles.&#xA;When you stop suddenly the blood pools in the joints and dangerously interupts the flow of blod to the brain...where 70% of our blood flows.  This cuold result in a stoke or hemmorage in the brain.  THE ONLY tim etis is acceptable is &quot;sports specific training&quot;.&#xA;Like football etc.  It does not help distance running enough to offset the dangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12303" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T12:56:18.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19601" CreationDate="2014-12-02T13:54:12.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand your dilemma completely. I would recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.trxtraining.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TRX suspension training straps&lt;/a&gt; along with one of their general fitness videos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these are not stretchy &quot;resistance&quot; bands, they do allow you to have a time-effective and complete body workout - provided that you can find a place in your office from which to suspend them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T13:54:12.967" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-02T11:05:21.963" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally my workouts are HIIT style, so there are not many reps. So far I am quite satisfied with my progress, but after some minor injury on my knee in am wondering if lowering weight and increasing reps will be easier on my joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, my muscle mass always reacted better with lower volume, but it is hard to quantify if my joints are getting stronger or not. Also I do not believe in one training style being good for everything without tradeoffs, so assuming that HIIT was the best for muscle strength, I wonder if other type of training will be better for joint strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be just a foolish theory, but I always got the feeling that with lower reps my muscles developed faster than my joints, while higher reps gave me a feeling of greater endurance and better joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to quantify my joint strength progress?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Which type of training promotes stronger + healthier joints? Can both things be achieved with the same training style? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" OwnerDisplayName="SystematicFrank" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-02T17:44:50.583" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T17:44:50.583" Title="Joint strength progress" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19738" CreationDate="2014-12-02T15:09:59.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2971642/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2010 study&lt;/a&gt; might shed a bit of light on your question. It's looking at damage (and then the re-strengthening) of tendons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Microtrauma can occur when the patellar tendon is subjected to extreme&#xA;  forces such as rapid acceleration -deceleration, jumping, and landing.&#xA;  The posterior proximal patellar tendon is subjected to greater tensile&#xA;  tendinous forces as compared to the anterior region, especially with&#xA;  jumping activities and deep squat exercises, with forces up to 17&#xA;  times body weight being placed on the patellar tendon in Olympic&#xA;  weight lifters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarized to me this states (simply) adaption-level exercises produce micro-trauma in the connective tissues (tendons, in this case). Continuing on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Loading a tendon in a controlled environment free from overuse with&#xA;  progressive stress improves tendon function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the study basically says that progressive weight training helps your connective tissues, which is sort of obvious since connective tissue is what allows muscle strength to actually act upon anything (bone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specifically answering your questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is it possible to quantify my joint strength progress?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any particular way to say that a tendon is x stronger than it was yesterday. Also, &quot;joints&quot; are made up of a lot of tissues. Tendons, ligaments, bursa sacks, cartilage, mini-muscles, etc. The only way I I know of to say my shoulder &quot;joint&quot; is stronger would be by doing an overhead press heavier than I could before, or more handstand pushups, or something to that effect.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Which type of training promotes stronger + healthier joints? Can both things be achieved with the same training style?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the study referenced and everything anecdotal and experimental I know of, it's about progressive programming. You need to increase stress on the joints just like you would muscles, in order for adaptation to occur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the safety aspect, most of that boils down to picking the right exercises and performing them properly: the squat, the deadlift, the row (or clean), and the overhead press. Toss in pullups, dips, and bench pressing for a fairly complete system. You could do nothing but those and achieve phenomenal results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a common answer to many questions on here, but I'd point you towards &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1789/how-to-establish-a-beginning-weight-program&quot;&gt;a progressive strength training program&lt;/a&gt; which has thought-out increases in volume and weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I would very much avoid are isolation exercises. Bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, wrist curls, etc. Unless you have an extremely good reason (backed by a smart person's opinion) stick with compound lifts. Isolation exercises are a terrific way to ruin joints in the short and long term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T15:32:03.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19399" CreationDate="2014-12-02T15:43:16.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I list here movements from Yoga, I am new to Yoga so there may be more movements to improve the flexibility. So far I have found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/utkatasana.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Utkatasana (shoulder back version opens scapula)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/bridge.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bridge (&quot;Strengthens the spine, opens the chest, improves spinal flexibility, stimulates the thyroid&quot;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/camel.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Camel (&quot;Stretches the front of the body including the chest, abdomen, and quadriceps. Improves spinal flexibility&quot;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T15:43:16.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19738" CreationDate="2014-12-02T16:14:51.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best advice I can give you for strength, joint integrity and injury prevention is very simple. #1 Train in different rep ranges. One day work in the 1-6 range, next day 6-10 and the next 10-15. Get strong in every rep range. &#xA;This will ensure that your joints don't get beat up and it will improve your ability to recover from session to session. #2. Take a full week off every 6-8 weeks. If the idea of doing that makes you uncomfortable, then at the bare minimum have a de-load week where you drop the intensity and volume.Usually once a year for 3-4 weeks I do bodyweight only exercise at challenging angles. When I return back to using heavier loads, I find that I haven't any strength or size at all.  I hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:14:51.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19735" CreationDate="2014-12-02T16:21:56.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body is a funny thing. There is no real way to predict how and where it will store fat. The one observation I have made with my own body is that I typically lose fat first from the places I have most recently put it on. The hardest places to lose it are the places that have had it the longest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure you have heard that you cannot spot reduce. This is very true. I wouldn't sit around worrying about it. Anxiety leads to excess cortisol production which leads to fat gain. Try and get pro-active with your diet and exercise instead. Sitting around thinking never did anyone any good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of the excess skin, that is due to a loss of elasticity. I don't think there is much you can do about that outside of getting a tummy tuck. On a positive note, the leaner you get the less that skin will appear 'loose'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:21:56.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19728" CreationDate="2014-12-02T16:32:37.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the heart rate zones and calorie numbers. The general rule of thumb for fat loss is the two extremes. Walking and sprinting. Joggingis the middle ground and it can get you in trouble if you do too much of it (eg. overproduction of cortisol, fat storing hormone). The daily walking you are doing sounds great for your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start mixing in some high intensity intervals at the end of your strength training sessions or on opposite days, time permitting of course. You can sprint, do bodyweight exercises. The mode really doesn't matter. Find something intense you can do for 20 to 30 seconds maximum and then give yourself a minute to recover and repeat 7 or 8 times. The calories you are burning while you are doing the actual work aren't really all that important. It is the intensity that counts. The harder you work, the more calories you are going to burn in the post exercise period and that is where the real fat loss occurs. Google 'EPOC'. There are lots of great articles on it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to get caught up in the overthinking. I have been there. It is counterproductive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:32:37.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19601" CreationDate="2014-12-02T16:36:12.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my experience. I bought bodylastics and cheap bands from Decathlon and I used them quite a lot especially while traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bands can indeed provide a lot of resistance. The best would be if you were able to try them out before buying - but, any brand will do. You can of course pull several bands at once to increase the resistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having handles and ankle straps really makes &lt;em&gt;a big&lt;/em&gt; difference. If you don't use them, most of your effort will be focused on your grip; which couldn't be what you may actually want to focus to, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; you will suffer from pain and discomfort caused by the band pulling on your skin. This does not mean that you have to buy bands with handles, you can easily DIY and add them to any system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what is really important is not the band itself (I really think that any will do, seriously) but the anchor. I was able to crash a wall clothes hanger - that hit my head badly. So really ensure that the chair you are going to use or any anchor is more than adequate to the load you are going to apply on it; because it may be designed to resist a big load a certain way (you sit on it) and not another (you pull one of its legs). This is important both for the equipment and most important for your safety.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brand doesn't necessarily mean quality. I like bodylastics' handles and straps; and their colors as well. But two of the carabiners were broken out of the box, and this wasn't nice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based from my experience I would now buy unbranded bands and build custom handles. If you can find cheap bands with handles of course just go for it. Enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastEditorUserId="4186" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T10:03:26.007" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T10:03:26.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19727" CreationDate="2014-12-02T16:36:13.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Target heart rate is overrated. I prefer rate of perceived exertion. If 10 is running for your life, you want to work in the 8 to 9 range for 10-30 seconds followed by 20-40 of rest and repeat for 7 to 12 intervals. To answer your question, I would try and keep your heart rate in the 85%-90% range during the 'work' segments. That will deliver the best results in terms of heart health and body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:36:13.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19716" CreationDate="2014-12-02T16:50:47.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stick with real food. The only time protein powders are useful is post workout. They are highly insulinogenic. So they are not an ideal protein source over the course of the day if you want to stay lean. Stick with chicken, turkey, eggs, beef, dairy (greek yogurt). If you have an aversion to animal products, beans, nuts and legumes are loaded with protein as well, you just need to combine them with grains to get the full compliment of amino acids as they are incomplete on their own. These foods are all loaded with protein and they are much more filling, satisfying and sustaining over the course of the day. Keep it simple and avoid overthinking it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T16:50:47.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19228" CreationDate="2014-12-02T18:54:51.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consistency is the key with sleep. Shoot for 8 hours a night, give or take an hour and make a point of going to bed and waking up at similar times each day. If you can squeeze in a 30-60 mins nap during the day it is a bonus. I make a point of keeping my eyes out of the light (eg. television, computer screen) a good hour or two before I go to bed. Light stimulates the brain and can make it harder to fall asleep. Keep your room as dark as possible and preferably a bit more on the cold side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastEditorUserId="1421" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T19:19:49.757" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T19:19:49.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19753" CreationDate="2014-12-03T00:58:12.343" Score="4" ViewCount="1623" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two big problems blocking me from regular workouts. It's hard to make my self do the workout, and I hate sweating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only possible solution I have is to only workout before I am going to take a shower. Also I don't think you can sweat swimming, so that might also be an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other way to workout without sweating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8809" LastEditorUserId="8264" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T14:52:41.870" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T22:56:28.110" Title="Workout without sweating?" Tags="&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19749" CreationDate="2014-12-03T03:05:36.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perspiration is a natural response to exercise. It's a byproduct of duration and/or intensity as well as environmental conditions. So, if you don't want to sweat, try something that's low impact. But, if you do, you risk not getting a real benefit from your efforts.  As for the motivation aspect of your question, try finding a partner that shares the same goals. Then, you can motivate each other on those days when you really don't want to exercise. Above all else, try to make sure you enjoy your exercise time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T03:05:36.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19714" CreationDate="2014-12-03T03:21:22.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Marty Liquori, in his 1982 book &lt;em&gt;Real Running&lt;/em&gt;, discusses both warming up and stretching.  He says that stretching is &quot;overrated, period,&quot; except in the case of an injury area.  This was at least a view held by many elite distance runners at the time of the book's publication.  But Liquori does stress the importance of warming up before a run.  Even an elite runner might take 12 minutes to complete the first mile, and Liquori urges lesser runners to follow suit.  For reference, Liquori once held the American record in the mile with a time 3:51.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you first start running, especially in the morning, your tendon-muscle complexes will be relatively short.  This makes them prone to tearing and other damage.  By easing into a run &lt;strong&gt;slowly&lt;/strong&gt;, you give your body a chance to literally morph into a form which can better handle the abuse you are about to give it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Believe it or not, you actually warm up &lt;strong&gt;faster&lt;/strong&gt; when it's cold outside, because your body increases blood flow to your internal areas, at the cost of cold hands and feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a semi-competitive triathlete myself, and former long distance runner, when I go on a run I usually do some light stretching after warming up, if for no other reason than it feels good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastEditorUserId="6134" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T23:08:40.913" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T23:08:40.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19749" CreationDate="2014-12-03T03:41:27.617" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body is always sweating, including when working out, but how drenched you get depends on the intensity of the exercise combined with the humidity level.  I used to go running at an easy pace in California and barely got wet.  In a place like Miami, one can sweat considerably even from just walking down the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know of one workout which doesn't leave me sweaty, and this is lifting weights in an air-conditioned (and otherwise low-humidity) gym.  I can usually get away with lifting weights without having to shower afterwards.  You might try that and see how you fare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, you sweat a lot when you are swimming, but you don't notice it because it goes into the water.  However, I wear a swim cap when I swim.  When I finish my swim and invert the swim cap to clean it, the scent of sweat is very noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T03:41:27.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19749" CreationDate="2014-12-03T03:52:26.883" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;During both exercise and inactivity the body generates heat. In order to maintain proper core temperature, this excess heat must be carried away from the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ordinarily, during low activity periods, the convection of ambient air around non-sweating skin is sufficient to draw off the heat. However, during high activity periods, heat is generated more quickly than it can be carried away through the interaction of air and dry skin. At these times, the body's automatic temperature regulation system kicks in and causes sweat to accumulate on the skin surface. This increases the rate at which heat can be drawn away from the body via the air. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is only two ways to prevent sweating: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow down the rate at which heat is generated in the body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the rate at which heat is convected away from the body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number (1) is achieved by decreasing the intensity of your activity. Number (2) is achieved by decreasing the temperature of the ambient surroundings in which you are exercising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some practical advice related to both of these options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the pursuit of fitness, CONSISTENCY is much more important than INTENSITY. Consequently, it is much better to do easy enjoyable workouts that one looks forward to completing than to do killer workouts that one dreads. This is because with the former, one will likely stick with it for a long time, with the later, one is likely to burn out and only do a few sessions. It sounds like you may have the &quot;dread&quot; problem because in your post you said that &quot;It's hard to make my self do the work out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I often workout in my basement on the cycling trainer. Prior to the workout, I put the AC on 65 degrees, turn the fan on, and put my bike right under the fan. This helps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live, the temperature might be such that you can comfortably run outside without sweating. 35 - 45 degrees is just about right for not sweating if you are going on an easy jog. . . it will be cold for the first mile. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should embrace the sweat. There are other beneficial side effects to sweating besides keeping the body cool. These include cleaning your skin pores, which promotes healthy skin, protecting the body from kidney problems (e.g. kidney stones) by purging excess salt, causing one to be thirsty and thereby drinking water (which is very healthy), and even protecting one from getting sick (human perspiration contains a naturally occurring antimicrobial, which fights tuberculosis germs and other dangerous pathogens). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can actually sweat in a pool. You just don't notice because you're already wet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastEditorUserId="12316" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T22:56:28.110" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T22:56:28.110" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19754" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19762" CreationDate="2014-12-03T04:03:45.463" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;For forever, I've been an &quot;on again&quot; / &quot;off again&quot; runner. I never stayed with a schedule for more than 2 weeks because of sloth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting 2 months ago, I started running 3 miles 6 time per week. I'm fast and loving it. This Sunday, I upped my daily mileage from 3 to 6 miles. Now, at about mile 4, I keep getting some kind of weird discomfort where my left leg connects to the hip. I keep going with no trouble. But, I am thinking that something is just not right. I'm seriously worried this involves my joint? cartilage? bone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For years. walking or running, my shirt collars always bunch-up next to my neck on the right side, and fall-off to the left (exposing like half my left shoulder).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am right-handed and right-footed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had a bike accident 6 years ago that broke my left clavicle, but no noticeable hip damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think that, to a lesser degree, I had this shirt collar issue before the clavicle break.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To maybe fix this hip issue, I am going to try to use my left leg, more than my right leg, for propulsion and lift. The role of the right leg will become more about balance. Do runners normally think about the role of each leg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A right-handed person has a stronger right leg, right? There must be asymmetry when you run. And, at the least, some sort of asymmetry is revealed in my shirt collar. Maybe, the asymmetry is causing the hip soreness as well? I need to adjust and adjust until my shirt collar stops falling completely to the left?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12305" LastEditorUserId="12305" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T01:39:49.223" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T01:39:49.223" Title="do runners think that each leg plays a different role? do they run with asymmetry?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-03T07:24:40.123" Score="7" ViewCount="2135" Body="&lt;p&gt;My weight is 115 Kg and I want to lose weight. Some people suggested that I do running and skipping and say running can hurt my knees because of my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If running and skipping can hurt my knees, should I just do cycling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1358" LastEditorDisplayName="user15313" LastEditDate="2015-03-31T12:10:05.437" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T13:08:59.337" Title="Should an overweight person not do Running and skipping because it can hurt knee joints?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19755" CreationDate="2014-12-03T10:14:13.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling would indeed be a better option until you don't lose some extra useless load. Also, consider step aerobics which you can do at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, running &lt;em&gt;with a proper form&lt;/em&gt; and skipping &lt;em&gt;with skill&lt;/em&gt; aren't as traumatic as they would be if done improperly (this would require a very long answer, but in a few words, that is: running by landing on your forefoot and not overstriding; thus using your muscles rather than your skeletal chain to absorb the shock, for what matters running; and skipping by jumping only one inch - 2/3 cm - off the ground.&#xA;But again, those are pretty advanced techniques and if you are a beginner as I suppose, stick with lower impact cardiovascular activities. This will help you shred junk fat from your body and reinforce your muscles somewhat. Then you'll have more option and variety to add.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T10:14:13.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19759" CreationDate="2014-12-03T11:26:11.287" Score="-2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/534651-does-egg-yolk-give-you-high-cholesterol/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article, the egg yolk (yellow) contains substantial amount of cholesterol while the white contains an insignificant amount of cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we prepare omlette, I believe some amount of cholesterol must be evaporating due to the intense heat. There is also a possibility that it will chemically react resulting in reduction of cholesterol. However in a boiled egg the cholesterol remains constant.&#xA;These are just my speculations and I would love to read some scientific proof validating whether my assumptions are true or false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is that, if you have to consume the entire egg, which of these options is better for our heart and thus for our health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12309" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T14:37:07.963" Title="Is omlette better for the heart than a boiled egg?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;&lt;cholesterol&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-12-04T15:33:44.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19758" CreationDate="2014-12-03T14:37:07.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either or my friend. Makes no difference. The cholesterol in eggs will cause you zero harm. This is a myth. In fact, it will likely help you. Read this article. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why Egg Yolks Are Good For You: The Perfect Protein Source&#xA;by Poliquin™ Editorial Staff&#xA;11/5/2013 12:16:49 PM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eggs are the perfect source of protein. They score highest on four scientific scales for protein quality! Not only do they provide an abundance of easily digested amino acids, eggs are packed with vitamins and nutrients that improve brain health and aid in fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, choline, which is supplied in the egg yolk, is essential for brain function because it is needed for the body to make a critical neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.  In addition, choline helps the liver to detoxify and avoid accumulating fat, which is essential for optimal liver function. Eggs also contain other nutrients such as the B vitamins, and two nutrients that may help prevent cancer: lutein and zeaxanthin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, research shows there is no link between eating whole eggs and elevated cholesterol. In fact, if you eat as much as three eggs a day on a carbohydrate-restricted diet, you may decrease inflammation and improve cholesterol markers. That’s what happened to a group of men who had only 18 percent of their diet from carbs but ate fat liberally, including three eggs daily for 12 weeks. The men also lost 5 kg over the course of the study. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take away the understanding that eggs are an excellent protein source that can be included in a low-carb, high-protein diet for optimal body composition and health. The key is to restrict carbohydrates, eat high-quality whole protein, and avoid processed or isolated fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ratliff, J., et al. Eggs Modulate the Inflammatory Response To Carbohydrate Restricted Diets in Overweight Men. Nutrition and Metabolism. 2008. 5(6).&#xA;© 2013 Po&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T14:37:07.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19714" CreationDate="2014-12-03T14:45:23.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Focus on performing a dynamic warm up first. It is involves activating the working muscles and taking them through a full range of motion. Running with high knees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, duck unders. These are a lot more effective than static stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T14:45:23.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19754" CreationDate="2014-12-03T14:55:14.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You increased your mileage by 100% (3M per day to 6M per day). By running standards, this is a HUGE increase in volume. During a building phase, trained runners generally increase volume by approximately 10% per week, and then only for a few weeks before backing off again. This modest rate of increasing volume is purposeful: Allow the body time to adapt safely and thereby prevent running injuries. In your enthusiasm for running, perhaps your large increase in volume has led to the pain in your hip.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Asymmetry in running is unavoidable. As you mentioned, the dominant side of the body has more muscle strength and bulk. That being said, don't purposefully run asymmetrically! This will certainly lead to injury in the long term (probably the short term too). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Given the description of your situation in the question, I have six suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease your running volume, and then GRADUALLY increase it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporate leg strength training (I would give this advice to every runner experiencing pain). Many running pains come from weak hip and knee stabilization muscles. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13154/correct-form-and-technique-in-single-leg-db-deadlifts-in-detail/19731#19731&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for 1 great exercise. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visit a dedicated running store. They will have a treadmill with high speed video equipment to analyze your gait. They will be able to determine if your feet under pronate, over pronate, or are neutral. They could also make shoe recommendations to correct any problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you haven't already, research &quot;mid foot striking for runners&quot;. This style of running is especially great at preventing running injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See a sports Chiropractor/Therapist for a few visits. I recommend one that is certified for &quot;Active Release Technique&quot; (it's not what it sounds like). They can really benefit your running form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't purposefully run asymmetrically!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T16:55:31.240" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19764" CreationDate="2014-12-03T17:17:14.163" Score="3" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a thin guy (5'6-3/4&quot; - 138 pounds), somewhere between ectomorth and mesomorph (more towards mesomorth I would think) who eats very little. I have been going to the gym to lift weights twice a week for 5 years now. I have built some muscles, nothing much. My belly length is 31 inches (30.8). I don't know my body fat but I would like to think I am lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually skip meals or eat little. I drink a lot of juice (Apple Juice) which I know has a lot of sugar. Will I lose muscle or fat when I am &quot;fasting&quot;? I don't mind losing fat, but losing muscle (which I don't have much) concerns me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12313" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T18:38:44.633" Title="Do I lose muscle or fat when on a diet and not exercising much?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;ectomorph&gt;&lt;mesomorph&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19763" CreationDate="2014-12-03T17:33:24.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding being thin and wanting to put some strength on, there's &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;a very well written answer over here&lt;/a&gt; I'd recommend checking out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I usually skip meals or eat little. I drink a lot of juice (Apple&#xA;  Juice) which I know has a lot of sugar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007(14)00192-0/fulltext&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Juice is pretty terrible to be honest&lt;/a&gt;: it's like all the bad parts of fruit with none of the good parts. Your body is supposed to work in breaking down the fibers and unlocking the sugars. By doing that for you, the sugar absorption rate skyrockets and it's on par with drinking a sugary soda. Check out some stats on it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lN3db.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will I lose muscle or fat when&#xA;  I am &quot;fasting&quot;? I don't mind losing fat, but losing muscle (which I&#xA;  don't have much) concerns me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will lose muscle under three conditions. If you combine them, you'll lose even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You're not requiring a lot of strength. Your body will only maintain the muscle strength it deems necessary. If you are not regularly subjecting it to high loads, it will save itself the trouble of keeping &quot;unneeded&quot; muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You have less testosterone and human growth hormone, amongst other metabolic issues. This happens as you age, if you don't sleep enough, and if you have an endocrine disorder.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You are in a caloric deficit. Your body primarily wants to keep you alive, and if it needs calories it will get them from you via cannibalizing your body. This is really quite linked to the strength requirements. If you are not loading your body with strength requirements, muscle becomes a nice calorie rich target.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T17:33:24.067" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19714" CreationDate="2014-12-03T18:15:49.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are basically looking at the difference between static stretching, which is the traditional &quot;sit, reach and hold&quot; type that everyone is familiar with, and dynamic stretching, which is movement gradually increasing in amplitude that mimics the activity about to be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What Dave and Michael are suggesting is dynamic stretching. Absolutely do this if you want to do a warmup first. You can also just start running at a highly reduced rate until you are warmed up. Static stretching can be done after, although most studies show no improvement in performance with improvement in flexibility. It's generally recommend to help treat tight areas that are hindering performance or for some injury rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static stretching before activity has been associated with increased injury risk by aggressively stretching muscles that are cold and tight, and has also been shown to decrease actual performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dynamic before, static after if desired/needed, never do ballistic, and unless you need extreme flexibility (gymnastics, martial arts, dance, etc.), ignore PNF (Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T18:15:49.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19772" CreationDate="2014-12-03T18:17:42.770" Score="2" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;To increase my cadence, I flex my hamstrings downward so as to prevent my feet from rising too much. Less vertical motion increases cadence, but my hamstring muscles sure feel funky when I do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than hamstring flexing, what are different ways to change cadence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I think the benefits of higher cadence:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running is both vertical and horizontal motion. The vertical motion does not get me moving forward. It is wasted energy. So, I focus on keeping feet low to the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With each stride, I go upwards, then crash back to earth. The higher I go, the more wear and tear on my ankles, knees, hips. So, feet low to the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With my feet so low to the ground, I don't cover much distance with each stride. Therefore, I need a high cadence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And, with my feet so low, going fast, with weight forward, it'd be very easy to faceplant. No accidents so far.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On youtube, there is an awesome 20-min video about different running styles titled &quot;Gliders vs Gazelles&quot;. I try to be a &quot;glider&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12305" LastEditorUserId="12305" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T00:06:20.220" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T07:35:42.420" Title="How can I adjust my cadence?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19763" CreationDate="2014-12-03T18:38:44.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a lot of it comes down to protein intake. If your calories are low and your protein intake is low, then a lot of your weight loss will come from muscle. If you up your protein and maintain the calories where they at, then you have a fighting chance at losing the majority of your calories from adipose tissue (fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T18:38:44.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-03T22:36:52.440" Score="1" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;What fitness trackers work well for cyclists? It must also support jogging, walking and other exercise, but cycling is essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are heaps of 'reviews' of these things, I can't find much that gives me much confidence that any support cycling well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have narrowed it to two that explicitly claim to support cycling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Misfit Shine it has the same accelerometers that most other&#xA;trackers, but it sees to achieve this by asking the user to attach&#xA;it to their ankle. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Withings Pulse Ox - it claims to be able to&#xA;track accurate cycle data with an app called runkeeper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also neglected the basis band and peak - I'm interested but the cyclist can't use a band or watch tracker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12315" LastEditorUserId="15419" LastEditDate="2015-11-07T16:42:49.060" LastActivityDate="2020-04-04T06:30:13.000" Title="What fitness trackers work well for cyclist?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19766" CreationDate="2014-12-03T22:55:30.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can sympathize with your desire to increase your running cadence. Several years ago I learned that most top mid/long distance runners have a cadence around 180 steps per minute (SPM). While the reason for this rate is outside the scope of this question, I will say that running economy is optimized for most trained runners at around 180 SPM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read this piece of trivia on a Sunday evening after I participated in a 5k race. I knew that my cadence was well below the 180 SPM rate. So, the next day (Monday), I ran another 5k and forced myself to run at 180 SPM. Surprisingly, I improved my 5k PR by 1 minute without any extra effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now run at approx. 180 SPM without thinking about it, but for the first few months, it required conscious effort to maintain that rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few of the things that I did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I shortened my stride.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I became a mid-foot striker instead of a heel striker. This became more natural for me when I shortened my stride.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I used the &quot;second&quot; counter on my watch to help me: At &quot;00&quot; I start counting every 3rd foot strike. After I reach a count of 30, I look down at my watch, which should also say &quot;30&quot;. This is how I know that I am running at the desired 180 SPM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I did other activities at my desired run cadence: Swimming &quot;streamline kicking&quot; on my back at the desired rate to strengthen hip muscles. Cycling at 90 petal strokes per minute. Both of these activities help reinforce the neuro-muscular pathways that activate the leg muscles. Eventually the repetition causes the neuro-muscular pathways to become ingrained so that you run at a high cadence naturally. When this adaptation occurs, your running economy will benefit. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about running at 180 SPM if you are just jogging slowly. It will only go up to 180 SMP if I'm high Zone 2 or higher. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastEditorUserId="12167" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T03:35:59.913" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T03:35:59.913" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19771" CreationDate="2014-12-03T23:03:58.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally recommend using the TIMEX RUNKEEPER 1.0 (NOT THE 2.0).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among other things, this watch allows one to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Select an activity (walking, running, cycling, . . . many others).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor and record heart rate using a ANT+ HR monitor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Record GPS data. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Display speed, pace, distance, and other related metrics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easily download data to training peaks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Timex Runkeeper 2.0 removed some of the features of the 1.0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This watch will NOT record Power data from a cycling power meter. For that I recommend the Garmin 500 Edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T23:03:58.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4681" CreationDate="2014-12-04T15:24:55.650" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fasting is overrated and unproductive. I agree with Chris. You want to keep your body in an anabolic state and keep your blood sugar balanced as often as possible. These fasting programs are just a gimmick to sell, e-books, programs, etc. Your fasting for the day should occur when your head hits the pillow for 8 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your future endeavours, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T15:24:55.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19714" CreationDate="2014-12-04T20:26:16.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warming up is performed &lt;strong&gt;before a performance&lt;/strong&gt; or practice. Athletes, singers, actors and others warm up before stressing their muscles.A warm up generally consists of a gradual increase in intensity in physical activity.So WARM UP is ALWAYS DONE BEFORE WORK OUT.&#xA;On the other hand Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific muscle or tendon (or muscle group) is deliberately flexed or stretched in order to improve the muscle's felt elasticity and achieve comfortable muscle tone.&#xA;Research shows that stretching the muscle you’re about to train can cause a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;significant loss of strength&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; during your lifts. In other words, you may cause yourself to &lt;strong&gt;utilize less weight than you are capable of simply because you stretched the muscle beforehand.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;So stretching should always be done during or after the workout to achieve a comfortable muscle tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12323" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T20:26:16.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19771" CreationDate="2014-12-05T02:46:48.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One option is the Garmin Vivosmart. It is a regular activity tracker, that you wear on your wrist, and counts steps when walking or running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cycling, it can connect to an ANT+ bicycle speed sensor. So if you have one of these fitted on your bike, the Vivosmart can tell you speed and distance cycled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this article from DC Rainmaker, which has some details about using it for cycling: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/09/vivosmart-activity-tracker.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;First look at Garmin’s new Vivosmart activity tracker&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6436" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T02:46:48.213" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-05T08:12:05.290" Score="1" ViewCount="9056" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of purchasing a Fitbit Flex. I have an indoor rowing machine which is my main form of exercise other than walking. I can't do much else because of injuries. I wondered if my rowing strokes will be counted and recorded. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12328" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T12:20:18.787" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T16:37:04.683" Title="Does Fitbit Flex Count Indoor Rowing Machine Strokes" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;fitbit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19766" CreationDate="2014-12-05T11:58:38.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This worked for me and so here it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on keeping &lt;em&gt;your feet beneath your hips&lt;/em&gt;. Or, to push your hips &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; your feet, whatever visualization works best for you. You should almost feel like your hips are leading the run, not your feet. THIS really helps in shortening your stride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optional but very helpful: wear minimal footwear or no footwear at all (warning: this must be done gradually if you're not used to it already. I mean &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; gradually). This helps in adopting a more natural stance, that is landing with your forefoot or midfoot. This is by the way &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; enough though and if you go bare or semi-barefoot by keeping a long stride you're going to get stress fractures. So, minimal footwear/barefooting &lt;em&gt;helps&lt;/em&gt; a lotbecause of the much more natural feedback you get without those orthotics that are running shoes, but it is not the solution alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An higher cadence is just the consequence of a correct posture and form.&lt;/strong&gt; That is, if you do short &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; proper strides, the only way to go as fast as you did when you made longer strides is by &lt;em&gt;making more steps&lt;/em&gt; in the same amount of time then. Quite obvious. BUT, higher cadence, as above and again, will be simply the &lt;strong&gt;consequence&lt;/strong&gt; of that. Don't focus in the higher cadence itself as the primary objective, but rather on the quality of your movement and your running will be more effective and healthy; and cadence will automatically increase as the natural consequence. If you focus on the cadence alone you may end up achieving it without a proper form. Again, cadence is the consequence of the glider style not the objective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: own experience with barefooting/natural running by studying, trying, and erring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastEditorUserId="4186" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T07:35:42.420" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T07:35:42.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19755" CreationDate="2014-12-05T14:21:34.680" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please please don't let your weight put you off running, or any sport.  I ran when I was around your weight (I started at 148kg but didn't take up running til I'd lost some) and lost weight doing it.  This article shows me running a 10k race and as you can see I am not a stereotypical running size (if there is such a thing). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8484391.Wirral_runner_s_inspirational_battle_with_weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8484391.Wirral_runner_s_inspirational_battle_with_weight/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I joined a group and so had a leader who was able to guide me and make sure that I didn't overdo it while encouraging me at the same time. Check Run England or your local leisure centres to see if there's any beginners running groups near you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried skipping and I did do it a few times but found it very difficult, more so out of bad coordination and balance than because of my weight/joints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found variety in exercise has helped, so I tend to vary between cycling (either a long ride outdoors or an intense spinning class indoors), running, swimming etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't be put off by weight or size to do any exercise as long as (as someone mentions earlier) you are &#xA;a: using proper form, even with cycling its important to ensure that your seat and handles are at the right height.&#xA;b: working to your ability (not doing too much too quickly, not overdoing it) &#xA;c: stop if you feel any joint pain &#xA;d: warm up and do plenty of stretching afterwards&#xA;e: stay hydrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with whatever sport you decide to do :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12330" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T14:21:34.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-05T14:29:39.010" Score="1" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wanting to find some strengthening exercises for my back.  I think this is what I need to help me with pain I am experiencing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only get the pain when I sleep at night, I go to sleep with no pain and wake up in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning with pain in my lower back, usually to the right hand side.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a new bed and mattress thinking it may be my old bed/mattress causing the pain.  I have also tried sleeping with a pillow between my knees on my side and varying pillow height for my head to no avail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there are any specific exercise I could do strengthen my back in the hope that this will help me to reduce the possibility of pain occuring.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am overweight, but I have always been overweight but this is a new problem.  I am not doing any new exercising or anything different than usual.  My only thought is that it could be related somehow to when I pick up my daughter because she is getting older (and heavier) now, but if that was the case why would I not get the pain all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12330" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T15:49:03.307" Title="Lower back pain at night only" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-05T15:09:58.703" Score="0" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a new bicycle which I would use to go to office and occasionally for longer rides. and my aim to reduce the weight as well as enjoy bicycling by going with groups to different kind of places, Jungle, hills, Road tours etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to buy the bicycle where I can sit with correct posture? My weight is 115 kg and heigh is 5 foot 11 inch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I buy geared or non geared bicycle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I buy a bicycle with thin or think tyres?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1358" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T15:48:21.340" Title="How to decide what should be the correct height of bicycle and its seat height would be appropriate for me?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-12-05T21:42:26.597" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19787" CreationDate="2014-12-05T15:37:53.320" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to sit on the actual seat and see for yourself Jitendra. A good rule of thumb is when you are seated on the bike that one of your legs is able to hang completely straight with no bend and hook into the pedal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T15:37:53.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19786" CreationDate="2014-12-05T15:45:25.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Laura, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw that you mentioned sleeping on your side with a pillow. That is a great start. Whatever you do, never ever sleep on your front. It puts a tremendous amount of stress on your discs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of exercises. I would start performing bird dogs, front and side planks. They are your best bet. I have videos of all of them on my website. Go to my home page and the link is there. I describe and perform them and it is easy to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to look at strengthening your posterior chain. Hamstrings and glutes. Lying glute hip bridges and single leg glute hip raises are great for that. Quite often when we experience back pain it is because our other muscles aren't doing their jobs, so the lower back has to pick up the slack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work on stretching out your glutes, hip flexors and hamstrings religiously. Morning and night. There are plenty of youtube videos you can find for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T15:45:25.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19787" CreationDate="2014-12-05T15:48:21.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question regarding gears, yes if you are planning on cycling on varying inclines and terrains then you will need gears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also regarding tyres, for road cycling you are better with a smoother thinner tyre, do off-road cycling (like in the woods etc) you would need thicker tyres with deeper grooves.  I'm not sure where you live, but in the UK you can buy &quot;hybrid&quot; tyres that are suitable for both (but not optimised for one or the other). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Michael suggests below, the absolute best thing is to visit a bike shop and actually sit on the bike, see how it feels and ask for advice from the staff while you are there as they will be used to this sort of question.  You can buy bikes with different frame sizes and wheel sizes.  Attached is a guide found on this web site www.halfords.com which is a popular motor and cycling chain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Divd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bike Size Guide&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12330" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T15:48:21.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19786" CreationDate="2014-12-05T15:49:03.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes back pain can be relieved by strengthening core muscles (back included). I recommend a two exercises that will take less than 5 minutes per day to complete: &quot;Stiff Leg Dead lifts&quot; and &quot;Plank&quot;. These exercises will target your core. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as sets/reps/weight, you may receive many and varied opinions. What's most important though is that you don't over stress your body - you are trying to prevent back pain, not cause extra. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, I offer the following opinion for sets/reps/weight, you may want to consult a health professional before trying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &quot;Stiff Dead Lifts&quot; with LIGHT weight (perhaps 20 pounds). 4 sets of 15 reps. Rest 30 seconds between sets. As the days go by, increase the weight as you feel comfortable. You will notice a dramatic increase in the amount of weight that you can life comfortably in just the first few weeks. Do this 2 or 3 times per week to start off with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9PXSb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &quot;Plank&quot; after your dead lift exercise, do 1 minute worth of the plank exercise in 10-second intervals with 20-30 seconds rest in between the intervals. After a few weeks, you will be able to do 1 minute without any rest at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tpo6y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T15:49:03.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19794" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19795" CreationDate="2014-12-05T19:41:53.790" Score="3" ViewCount="1612" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a novice. I eat 1/4 cup of raw oats in the morning and two portions of meat later on in the day, and tons of low-carb &amp;amp; low-calorie vegetables. I work out everyday, and I'm following Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength (except for the diet part, as outlined in my question). I have been doing this consistenty for the past two weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is this doing to my body? Muscle gain? Muscle loss? Maintenance? Better? Worse?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2014-12-06T16:27:02.447" Title="I am on the Atkins diet and weightlifting everyday, what is this doing to my body?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;atkins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19794" CreationDate="2014-12-05T20:08:56.937" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Within a few weeks, you'll start noticing increased muscle definition. This will depend upon your body fat: the less fat you have the easier it is to see muscle definition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your low carb diet will probably throw you into ketosis, and you're probably calorie deficient (although that's a big assumption), so you'll be doing a lot of fat burning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will increase muscle mass and fibers, increasing your resting metabolism. This will further increase your fat losses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will probably gain some weight, initially. Muscle is far more dense than fat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a novice, your body will rapidly respond to the training paradigm. Plus, it's arguably the most effective strength training program known to the human race, so you'll be progressing rapidly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of it depends on your body fat levels in regards to what you look like. Regarding strength/gains/losses, as a novice doing compound lifts with progressive loading on a solid program, you're going to increase your strength: there's no way around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll eventually hit the novice/intermediate wall and while some might say to keep eating enough to push the novice gains as far as possible, personally I hate to have fat on me so I don't mind struggling more with my strength gains if it keeps me from getting a belly I need to worry about cutting later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big things I'd focus on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Form. Record your form with your compound lifts and find someone (this site works) to critique it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the weight, but don't go full-dumb-dumb. You want to challenge yourself but don't wreck yourself. Follow the plan. This is hard when you start feeling like Superman.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest. Make sure you sleep good every night. Don't sweat a bad night's sleep, but don't let it get out of control.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat. Your diet sounds pretty good, but just make sure you pay attention to overall calories and macros. As you progress the difference between 100g and 150g of daily protein really can make a difference in the long run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're really on a pretty solid path. Buy a beer for whoever tipped you off to low-carbs and Rippetoe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T20:08:56.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19799" CreationDate="2014-12-06T14:13:31.613" Score="6" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;My legs are disproportionately large, and this has been the case since my childhood due to genetics. This is what is known as the t-rex (opposite of chicken legs). Is there a way I can keep training, namely keep doing squats, and reduce the size of these muscles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastEditorUserId="12333" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T13:17:23.730" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T21:57:14.910" Title="How to reduce muscle mass in lower body?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19798" CreationDate="2014-12-06T16:11:23.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we all have genetic predispositions when it comes muscles. I find it very difficult to build up my chest, but have no problem building muscle in other areas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If would continue squatting and performing other lower body exercises, I would cut back on the volume quite a bit and maintain the intensity (weight/tension). Not knowing what your current program consists of, it is difficult for me to give you any specific paramaters. The other possibility is to perform lower body exercises with bodyweight only. Without the excess tension, you should see some atrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing you want to do is add volume and intensity to your upper body workouts. Perform compound movements, namely bench presses, overhead presses, dips, chins, rows, etc. For every lower body exercise you perform, perform 2 or 3 upper body exercises. The quickest way to make your legs looks smaller, is to make your upper body look bigger. Hopefully that will bring you some semblance of symmetry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastEditorUserId="1421" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T19:20:01.323" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T19:20:01.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14072" CreationDate="2014-12-06T16:18:16.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it really depends on the results you're getting.You need to monitor your body daily. If you find that you are adding excess fat/adipose tissue, then you probably only need the excess calories (ie. weight gainer) on the days you train. I don't see the sense in adding extra calories if you are not going to use them. I tend to add extra carbs/calories on the days that I train (especially post workout) and then I cut them back on my off days and stick to proteins,fats, vegetables and berries. Now if you are very lean and underweight, that is a different story. Then you can be more liberal and use the product more often. One caveat, don't forget the importance of real food. Real food will be your biggest ally above all else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other variable you need to take into consideration is that these companies want you to finish off their products as quickly as possible so you will buy more. So take what you are reading with a grain of salt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-06T16:18:16.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19794" CreationDate="2014-12-06T16:27:02.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not being able to you in person, it is hard for me to say what this is doing to your body. I can say that after 2 weeks, the majority of your strength gains can be attributed'neural' adaptations. Meaning that your brain has become more efficient at sending messages to the working muscles. After 6 weeks, a higher percentage of your strength gains will be as a result of 'hypertrophy'. Which is an increase in the size of your muscle fibres. Stay the course, be consistent with your training, diet and recovery and should be pleased with your the results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-06T16:27:02.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19755" CreationDate="2014-12-07T01:03:18.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do. They key is to listen to your body, build up gradually, and create a routine. If necessary, alternate between different forms of exercise. I am almost the same weight/build as you and can run 10k. But I would not do that on two consecutive days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start easy, and don't get discouraged. It gets easier if you don't force it. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12338" LastActivityDate="2014-12-07T01:03:18.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13141" CreationDate="2014-12-07T02:26:02.580" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son asked me to take a look at this question.  I'm a second-generation phlebologist, myself the son of the man who coined the word &quot;Sclerotherapy&quot; (=injection treatment of varicose veins) in 1939, and who founded the organization currently called the &quot;American College of Phlebology&quot; (it started as the &quot;Phlebology Society of America&quot;, which I ran for about 3-4 years, until politics reared its ugly head).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I almost never advise any patient to avoid any exercise because of varicose veins.  The only exceptions to this are (1) if they've just been treated for their veins, or (2) if they have a spontaneous phlebitis.  People with phlebitis know there's something wrong, and since virtually all cases of varicose vein-linked phlebitis are what's called &quot;superficial&quot; phlebitis, which is generally harmless but very painful, I presume such people are in sufficient pain that they don't need to be specifically told to lay off exercises until they've been attended to.  Note that most varicose vein patients will NEVER get phlebitis as long as they live, so, statistically speaking, this is not a huge problem.  The second category, patients who have just been treated, do not need to stop exercising in general.  If, post-treatment, I've put them into a compression stocking, or ace bandages, I advise them to do their regular exercises while wearing whatever such device has been recommended.  In this office, bandages/stockings are seldom prescribed for more than a week (there are innumerable bandaging/stocking protocols of varying lengths, some up to 6 weeks, but none of them, including mine, have been proven &quot;correct&quot; by controlled studies).  I also recommend holding off on exercises in which the legs are pumping vigorously in a position higher than the heart, such as exercises where one is lying on one's back and lifting weights with their legs.  I must add, however, that the risk of exercising the legs in a position higher than the heart, which is a risk of pulmonary embolus (blood clot to the lungs), is purely THEORETICAL, and I have never, in 35 years of practice, either seen or heard of any case where ANY exercise has actually caused a blood clot to migrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should perhaps add that, in the vast majority of cases, there are NO BLOOD CLOTS in varicose veins, and, as I said above, in most cases none will ever develop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I'd advise any person who has varicose veins, and who is involved in an exercise program, to proceed with the program as if they had no disease at all (and I should add that it hasn't been proven that varicose veins is, in most cases, even a &quot;disease&quot; in the first place; it may be a normal variation of circulatory anatomy/physiology, comparable to being very short or tall).  If the veins really interfered with exercise, that would presumably mean that the legs ached with prolonged standing.  Even people with such varicose symptoms, however, will usually be RELIEVED by exercise.  But if the case is severe, and even the exercises do not, by themselves, relieve the aching, then the next step is to wear a compression stocking to the gym.  If that doesn't solve the problem, then the veins need to be taken care of.  There are lots of phlebologists around these days, and they're not all incompetent (only some).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12339" LastActivityDate="2014-12-07T02:26:02.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19804" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19805" CreationDate="2014-12-07T11:45:59.987" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like almost all protein powders use artificial flavouring substances.Many articles on the web,recommend not using the same.Should i stick to natural protein powders?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12171" LastActivityDate="2014-12-07T19:37:10.340" Title="Taking Protein powder with Artificial sweeteners?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-12-07T20:29:14.173" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19804" CreationDate="2014-12-07T16:13:39.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The criticisms of artificial sweetener are overstated and there's nothing I'm aware of that shows a causal relationship between artificial sweeteners in human beings and real adverse health. Mind you, these substances have been scrutinized more than almost anything else you'll ingest. From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/artificial-sweeteners/art-20046936&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But according to the National Cancer Institute and other health&#xA;  agencies, there's no sound scientific evidence that any of the&#xA;  artificial sweeteners approved for use in the U.S. cause cancer or&#xA;  other serious health problems. And numerous research studies confirm&#xA;  that artificial sweeteners are generally safe in limited quantities,&#xA;  even for pregnant women. As a result of the newer studies, the warning&#xA;  label for saccharin was dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7521/full/nature13793.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one singular study&lt;/a&gt;, revolving around mice, showing a modification of GI bacteria and connection with glucose intolerance for those who consume artificial sweeteners. The study used 7, yes just 7, individual people. Hardly a good sample size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast that study against the hundreds and possibly thousands who have tried to make connections and failed, or of the ones that were simply thrown out after more information about the study conditions were found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/12/04/saccharin-aspartame-dangers.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The other study that gets toted around is showing an increase in weight gain (in rats) with artificial sweeteners over sugar&lt;/a&gt;, but even in that fluid retention hasn't been ruled out. This quote is from the study's author, not some Splenda-paid-off lobbyist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Greater weight gain was promoted by the use of saccharin or aspartame,&#xA;  compared with sucrose, and this weight gain was unrelated to caloric&#xA;  intake. We speculate that a decrease in energy expenditure or increase&#xA;  in fluid retention might be involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Daniel's comment below, there is also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19151203&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this 2009 study showing a 36% relative risk increase (not causal) relationship between diet soda consumption and incident metabolic syndrome&lt;/a&gt;. It was a questionnaire based study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relative risk (from the 2009 study) is sneaky because it's not absolute risk, and relative risk doesn't really tell you anything about your risk. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stats.org/faq_risk.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Relative risk is generally used when the probability of risk is very small&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, from the questionnaire-relative-risk 2009 study, there is this below snippet. Boiled down that means that the very associative-link people are grasping for (sweeteners=bad) is speculated to not at all be from artificial sweeteners:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consequently, &lt;strong&gt;the previously observed diet soda–metabolic syndrome&#xA;  associations are generally speculated to be the result of residual&#xA;  confounding by other dietary behaviors, lifestyle factors, or&#xA;  demographic characteristics&lt;/strong&gt; (1,2). Biological mechanisms possibly&#xA;  explaining these associations are few and largely focus on artificial&#xA;  sweeteners in beverages/foods increasing the desire for (and&#xA;  consumption of) sugar-sweetened, energy-dense beverages/foods (3) or&#xA;  disrupting consumers' ability to accurately estimate energy intake and&#xA;  remaining energy needs (4). Thus, diet soda consumption may result in&#xA;  overconsumption, increased body weight, and consequent metabolic&#xA;  dysfunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up on the research, but right now there is no evidence based reason to even slightly consider artificial sweeteners as harmful. If you want to give into anecdotal doubt and general dietary mysticism, you can, but the best that anti-artificial-sweetener folks can drum up is an extremely small handful of non-causal studies that are in the face of mountains of research to suggest safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-07T19:37:10.340" LastActivityDate="2014-12-07T19:37:10.340" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19806" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-08T09:11:32.050" Score="4" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read about pull ups/chin up. Is there anything I can do with a barbell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout regime now consists of squats, deadlift, lunges, bench press, rows and overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T18:22:23.867" Title="What is a balancing movement for overhead press?" Tags="&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-08T11:46:07.997" Score="2" ViewCount="2005" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL:DR&lt;/strong&gt; I want to do one day weights, next day sprint, repeat. &lt;strong&gt;Viable?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is lifting weights every second day, and sprinting every alternate second day a viable plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 6ft tall at 78kg(172lb), and do the lifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DL,Squats,BarBench,BarRows,BarbOverhead mainly. I am working on strength primarily with my weights. I believe squats and DL might have some trouble in regards to spriting viability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am willing to rest two days a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Currently I lift every second day(and am progressing slowly in strength gains)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will be eating at a caloric surplus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to gain strength simultaneously&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifting stats:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench - 1RM 110kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat - I didn't realise I was above parallel for a very long time, so it was ~160kg, now below parallel it has went from 80kg starting to 100kg(only found out recently) for 3x5.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead - 1RM 70kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BarbRow - 1RM 70kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift - 1RM 130kgraw, 155kg straps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sprinting:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never done any sprinting and have no experience, haven't jogged in a long time either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10708" LastEditorDisplayName="user10708" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T12:29:08.277" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T23:06:53.363" Title="Sprinting and weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18773" CreationDate="2014-12-08T14:44:38.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hitting the wall means that your liver is running out of glycogen.  This doesn't mean that you are completely out of energy, because your body can still burn fat.  But burning fat is a harder way to get energy.  In order to improve your body's ability to deal with hitting the wall, you should go on some longer rides 1-2 times per week and cycle until you hit the wall.  Over time your muscles will learn to store more glycogen, and your body will also get more efficient at burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, here is an excellent &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Article&lt;/a&gt; which discusses hitting the wall and ways to avoid it.  Other than training as mentioned above, you can try carbohydrate loading, taking in some supplements while cycling, and lowering your pace to burn more fat instead of glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T14:44:38.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19807" CreationDate="2014-12-08T15:06:10.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is a great idea as long as you can recover from day to day. Your fast twitch muscle fibers are getting a lot of work in. You really have monitor how you feel and whether or not you are getting stronger. If you are not either adding weight to the bar or reps to each set, then you are likely overtraining. I am of the opinion that as long as volume and intensity are added gradually, the body can adapt quite well. Take a look at construction workers, movers, manual labourers, they lift heavy shit everyday and are some of the strongest, fittest guys you will see. Their bodies have clearly adapted to the stresses placed upon them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T15:06:10.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19806" CreationDate="2014-12-08T15:10:56.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not specifically. A wide grip pull up would be the 'balancing movement' of an overhead press. If you want to take care of your shoulders, I would look into doing some band pull aparts and some face pulls with a rope at the beginning of your workout. Especially if you are planning on doing some heavy pressing movements (bench, overhead, dips, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T15:10:56.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19812" CreationDate="2014-12-08T16:22:56.793" Score="4" ViewCount="1032" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; be done by women? I'm following everything correctly except for the bulking (for obvious reasons). 10 lb weight increases happen every few weeks (as opposed to every few days). This is probably because I'm on a ketogenic diet (Atkins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastEditorUserId="12333" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T18:13:46.723" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T00:45:32.920" Title="Can Starting Strength be done by women realistically?" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;atkins&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19811" CreationDate="2014-12-08T17:11:45.300" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any fitness regimen can be done by women. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the gains, that is going to be highly personally dependent. Another woman (or even man) might increase every few days, someone else might only go up every couple months. It will depend on many factors, only one of which may be nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training history, regular sessions, proper form/technique, proper rest, proper nutrition, etc. These are all factors in the success and efficacy of an exercise routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T17:11:45.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19814" CreationDate="2014-12-08T17:13:00.740" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a balance of how much water should be taken in? The specific scenario I am referring to, would be sports, in my case, hockey. When I first started playing hockey I drank two 16 oz plastic water bottles during a game, now at a minimum, I have three sips of one of those same water bottles during a game. I am more conditioned and I do believe I have more endurance, which may require less water? Why - because my muscles hold more water??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am always wondering if less, smaller, more frequent gulps of water may be more effective; but even then, during a game, I merely drink water because I brought the bottle out on the bench with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other side of the equation, I wonder if oxygen is really what I need more of. When I watch professional hockey players on national TV, I see them taking small sips and often spitting water out immediately after taking a sip. This unfortunately draws be to a perhaps an absurd conclusion - are they only looking to absorb water through their salivary glands? Is there a decrease in oxygen intake after the intake of water? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12345" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T04:49:21.317" Title="Water intake; an optimal balance between water and oxygen for endurance sports" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19813" CreationDate="2014-12-08T17:18:57.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer: Drink when you are thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer answer: Studies have shown that as little as 5% dehydration can have a performance impact. The difficulty lies in what constitutes that deduction, since it is related to weight loss, which will also happen with utilizing the stored glycogen in the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the professional hockey players rinsing and spitting, you will see this in many many athletes, as they basically just want to clear their mouth. It has nothing to do with increased or decreased oxygen absorption. You may see some professional athletes (I've mostly noticed it with football players) using actual oxygen on the sidelines, but this is not really recommended/feasible for most amateur athletes. If you watch, most will drink then swish/spit, or vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breathe as you feel necessary, drink to thirst/as you feel necessary, and you should be fine. If you notice yourself going flat later in the game, try drinking more fluids earlier, and making sure that you get some sort of calories and electrolytes along with the water (gatorade/sports drinks, possibly energy gels, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T17:18:57.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19806" CreationDate="2014-12-08T18:16:46.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're doing barbell rows and deadlifts I think you're okay. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbell row&lt;/a&gt; will work the upper back and posterior deltoid, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlift&lt;/a&gt; will do your traps (upper/mid/lowers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other I can think of is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the clean&lt;/a&gt;, since the bar is very close to your body and your pulling up with a similar grip. In fact, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/15763/improve-overhead-press-by-cleaning?rq=1&quot;&gt;here's an existing Q&amp;amp;A that gets into it a bit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T18:22:23.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15763" CreationDate="2014-12-08T20:55:04.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cleaning the weight makes me feel stronger in the press. This effect usually fades after the first rep or two. The feeling is that everything is already tight and locked from the clean. Also, because the weight is so easy to clean relative to my max power clean, feels light as I press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T20:55:04.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-09T01:57:48.880" Score="2" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;This year, I'm planning on running a 5k, a 10k, and a half marathon in 2015. The dates of the races other than the 5k haven't been announced yet. However, based on last year's dates, there will be about 2 months (9 weeks or so) between the 5k and the 10k and about 4 months (16 weeks) between the 10k and the half marathon. I'm also planning on moving from a maintenance schedule to a training schedule after the holidays, leaving me with about 12 weeks of training before the 5k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I completed a 5k last year, and have ran 10k training runs, but never competed at that distance. My official 5k time is 29:32. I'd like to get that down to 25:00 or less. I'd also like to run an official 10k of less than 1:00:00 (hopefully ~55:00) and a half marathon in ~2:30:00, if those times are reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I manage my training? I see four obvious solutions that seem reasonable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train for the 5k from leading up to the 5k. Follow a 10k training plan in the 2 months between the 5k and 10k. Follow a half marathon training plan in the 3 months between the 10k and half marathon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train for a 10k through the 10k. Switch to a more race-friendly schedule the week of the 5k. Train for the half marathon from the end of the 10k through the half marathon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train for the 5k through the 5k. Follow a half marathon training plan from the 5k until the half marathon. Switch to a more race-friendly schedule on the week of the 10k.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train for the half marathon starting in early January. Switch to a more race-friendly schedule the weeks of the 5k and 10k.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is one preferable over the others, or conversely, is one a worse idea that should be discounted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T09:47:37.803" Title="How should I train for multiple running races simultaneously?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19817" CreationDate="2014-12-09T04:00:57.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it hard to define a regimented schedule that you can follow for that span of time. The main advice you can follow for any distance is that you have to listen to your body as you go. Good nutrition and hydration must also be maintained. And at each level you also want to keep your training interesting so that you stick with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;5k&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12 weeks gives you a lot of time to ramp up slowly to the first race. However, considering that you have ran a 5k in the past, you may be able to achieve your 5k goal before the race. (Obviously this depends on when you ran your last 5k, what kind of fitness you have maintained, etc.) If so, then you may find your body letting you increase the amount of time you spend running each week beyond the minimum training for a 5k race. Listen to your body as you train, adjust your training schedule as you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;10k&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training smart during those first 12 weeks will pay off for your next race. This is just doing a 5k then running back to where you started, right? As long as you're able to increase your running time (or miles) each week, say approximately +10% per week, you may find that going from a 5k to a 10k is not a significant jump. Again, adjust your training as you go. Aim for faster or longer runs if things feel great, but also get enough rest to prevent injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;21k&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, the first several times I started running beyond an hour at a time, I found myself more drained than I expected. I found that I had to run with food (running gels, raisins, bars, etc.) to keep running after an hour. Everyone is different. See how you feel after your first time running 15k. It will probably be some time before you can tack on that last bit to reach the half marathon distance. Not to say that the 5k or 10k races are easy, but I find a schedule really helps when training for this distance. Just something to make you aware of the mileage you're aiming for. Something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halfmarathons.net/half-marathon-training-schedule-for-beginning-runners/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; may be a good guide for you. Notice the tapering during the last two weeks of training - this is probably wise for beginners but may not be necessary for seasoned runners. If you do your research you may be able to find a training guide particularly designed for the half marathon time you desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Beyond&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, define what is important to you. I assume overall fitness is the main goal, more so than your time in a race. There are endless 5k, 10k and half marathon races out there. So if you are not ready or something in life comes up, don't be afraid to reschedule. You can still reach your running goals even if you can't make a race or the dates of races shift. Good luck and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T04:00:57.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19813" CreationDate="2014-12-09T08:00:38.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to most mountaineering training books (mountaineering is my discipline and it's among the most endurance-intense ones in my opinion), you should drink &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; getting any thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quote from &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountaineering-Freedom-Hills-Various/dp/1846890942/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1418111236&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=the%20freedom%20of%20the%20hills&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Freedom of The Hills&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Drink more water than usual, perhaps 2 to 3 extra quarts (liters), during the 24-hour period before a climb to boost your strength and endurance. Additionally, it is wise to drink a generous quantity of water, more than feels necessary, immediately before beginning the climb. [...]. &#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Do not wait until you are thirsty to drink; thirst is a sign that dehydration is already in progress&lt;/strong&gt;. A better indicator of adequate hydration is lightly colored or colorless urine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what matters &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; to drink, according to Steve House book &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Training-New-Alpinism-House/dp/193834023X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1418111392&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=new%20alpinism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Training for New Alpinism&lt;/a&gt;&quot; you should drink often and in small quantities rather than the opposite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water is also very important &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; your training and sport performances to help your recovery, so have plenty of it afterwards. A quick way to measure how much water did you loose after an endurance workout, assuming that you didn't eat during it, is to weight yourself on an accurate scale before and after the exercise. The difference in weight is the quantity of water you lost and you should at least replenish up to that value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T08:00:38.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19817" CreationDate="2014-12-09T09:47:37.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among elite runners, the mileage loads and base training doesn't differ that much between the 5K, 10K, and half marathon distances (q.v. Marty Liquori's &lt;strong&gt;Real Running&lt;/strong&gt;).  That being said, in the case of a beginner runner I would use the following rule of thumb.  If you cannot comfortably complete the distance at tempo pace, then you probably should not attempt to complete it on racing day.  If you step out of your body's comfort zone while also going at race pace, you could get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I agree with what haa already been said that you should listen to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T09:47:37.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19798" CreationDate="2014-12-09T12:37:01.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go for maximal strength workouts. Those develop strength rather than mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, follow these other nine steps in the link below. Sorry for linking a &quot;men's fitness&quot; page but the principles are very sound nevertheless :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/10-ways-build-strength-without-size&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/10-ways-build-strength-without-size&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T12:37:01.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19811" CreationDate="2014-12-09T15:30:50.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely. Muscle and strength gains will vary from trainee to trainee, but there is no reason not to begin a program like this. Being on an Atkins diet will likely make it a bit more challenging to increase hypertrophy. I would recommend getting in some complex carbohydrates in the hours after you train. (potatoes, yams, rice, oatmeal, etc) You need to replenish your glycogen stores for your next workout. If you are depleted your body will start using amino acids (protein stores) as fuel. That is something you want to avoid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T15:14:12.190" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T15:14:12.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15932" CreationDate="2014-12-10T04:09:07.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the classical books on yoga, it is mentioned not to do yoga when the body is tired. So according to this, you should not do yoga after workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12353" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T04:09:07.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-10T11:48:44.407" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to running as a 3 days a week train a month ago, I did a 5k run to know, and my time was 32.30, I want to get it down to 27 by the next race in 2 months. I'm doing 2 heart range trains and 1 pace every week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure what’s the best heart range for me, I'm 20 years old, 90kg about 200pounds, 173cm, when I run my heart go to 180 in an easy pace, and in a sprint it gets to 210. In a calm walk after a run it goes really fast to 140, in 40 seconds or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is it a good training to sprint every time i can get back to 140? So I stay always in a tough situation. Or should I stay in the 180 with a slow pace? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ill ad any information as needed, thanks for the help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12356" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T07:12:28.947" Title="What is the best heart beat range for a 5k training?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19833" CreationDate="2014-12-10T13:39:29.747" Score="2" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there have been answers to this question, but I'm looking for something specific. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workout has just been completed. Now, what is the minimum amount of time required for the muscle group trained to complete the recovery and the supercompensation phase? Have there been any &lt;strong&gt;studies&lt;/strong&gt; on this, not just &lt;strong&gt;images from another website&lt;/strong&gt;? Is it theoretically possible for a muscle group to complete the recovery and the supercompensation phase in as little as several hours, or overnight? Are there physical symptoms to look out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T14:47:58.920" Title="What is the minimum amount of time someone might need for muscles to recover?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19837" CreationDate="2014-12-10T13:56:58.680" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;So after a dieting period I'm switching back to eating healthy but in larger quantities (bulking). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be good all-round exercises to do all week round? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out 4 days a week so could I do the same exercises everyday and still train most of my core muscles? I'm still doing 'regular' fitness (weights) but also cardio combined with my core exercises so its not purely core. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be good core exercises to do both in the gym and at home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12190" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T22:28:00.073" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T22:28:00.073" Title="What are good all-round core exercises" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19831" CreationDate="2014-12-10T14:21:07.717" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the sake of vocabulary, I think you're talking about &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/recoveryUNM.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training recovery&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. There is short term recovery, like the time you need between sets, but you mentioned supercompensation so you're talking about something more like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I just did a bunch of compound barbell lifts, how long until my body&#xA;  will be stronger because of the exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get some pretty safe-bet answers, and largely this dictates your training level. If you can recover in 24-48 hours, you're in the novice stage. If you need a weekly program to cause (and recover from) supercompensation, you're an intermediate. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/recoveryUNM.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Len Kravitz wrote a nice overview&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any studies, other than specific looks into modifiers (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21199328&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sphingosine 1-phosphate&lt;/a&gt; , &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/september2014/09222014muscle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;STAT3 inhibitors&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC14889/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nitric oxide&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/muscle-weakness-seen-alcoholism-linked-mitochondrial-repair-issues&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alcoholism&lt;/a&gt;, etc). Hormones, rest, protein, hydration, existing illness, and age all come into play (plus many other elements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are a lot of factors involved to answer your question.&lt;/strong&gt; Your max squat will cause much less damage to your body than the max squat of a high level power lifter. You will probably be fully recovered in 48 hours, and that power lifter might spend a week doing 50% of his or her max. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it theoretically possible for a muscle group to complete the&#xA;  recovery and the supercompensation phase in as little as several&#xA;  hours, or overnight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps, for someone completely de-conditioned who can exert such small amounts of force on their bodies that the recovery time is small. But in practical terms: no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there physical symptoms to look out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately you can only measure it with strength. If you can lift more, you're stronger. I've had days where I feel terrible, and even fought little kinked up injuries the whole time in the gym, only to hit my PR's. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The practical way I know to find the answer for an individual is to put them on a good training program. Max out your novice gains (where you can add weight every couple of days because you can recover that fast), then move onto the intermediate level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider too is that this goes beyond muscles. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_unit_plasticity#Force_Output_due_to_Muscle_Growth_in_Comparison_to_Neuronal_Plasticity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Your neurology changes&lt;/a&gt;, as does your connective tissue. Adding all that up, then looking at the vast spread of training differences, it's easy to see that although there are general guidelines when you want to get specific you need to look at everyone individually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T14:21:07.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19831" CreationDate="2014-12-10T14:47:58.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of it depends on how much volume you are performing and how much you are lifting (intensity). Not knowing that, it is hard to comment. I have performed 10 sets of 10 reps on a squat protocol and it will take me 5 days to recover. Where as I can perform 3 sets of 12 reps on a split squat on a Monday and I am ready to go again 48 hours later on the Wednesday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eric mentioned above about sleep, existing illness, resting hormone levels ,protein intake, training age, etc. Those will have an effect on your ability to recover. They can't be ignored. I would like to see what a typical training session looks like for you, then I would be able to give you a more accurate answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T14:47:58.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19832" CreationDate="2014-12-10T14:49:52.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Front planks, side planks, rollouts w/stability ball, barbell or wheel, jackknifes w/stability ball, pikes with stability ball, front plank/stir the pot on stability ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T14:49:52.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18887" CreationDate="2014-12-10T14:57:07.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I concur. Spot reducing is not possible. Typically fat comes off the last place you put it on. So if it has been sitting there for awhile, it may take awhile to get it off. Be patient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would concentrate on making your training sessions (w/weights) a bit more challenging. Take shorter breaks (60 seconds) and up your volume a bit. Perform 4 or more sets per exercise and focus on compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, rows, presses, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If when you say 'run', you mean long distances for a greater duration than 30 minutes, I would cut back on that and start performing sprints instead. Hill sprints are great. Find a hill that is 30-40 yards, run up it as fast as you can, and then walk down and repeat when your heart rate has come down. Do that 7 or 8 times a session a couple of times a week and you will burn a ton of fat. Avoid the steady state long drawn out jogging. That will eat away at your muscle and do very little for fat burning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T14:57:07.437" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19832" CreationDate="2014-12-10T15:10:36.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are some of my &quot;conditioning&quot; exercises, mainly around &quot;core&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Plyometrics/MBSeatedSideThrow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seated medicine ball tosses&lt;/a&gt;. I keep my heels off the ground, legs bent. If I don't have my buddy I toss against the wall maybe ~3 feet away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell cleans&lt;/a&gt;. Not too heavy, something I'm comfortable doing reps of 8.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Plyometrics/MBSitUpWall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Medicine ball sit up toss&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Bicycle-Crunches&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bicycle crunches&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the rings, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/tutorial/the-levers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front and back levers&lt;/a&gt;. These take a while to work up to, but levers are a terrific skillset given the minimal equipment required coupled with the strength gains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flutter kicks&lt;/a&gt;. No idea if it really works my abs but they hurt like heck and my &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psoas_major_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;psoas&lt;/a&gt; is pretty well fried, and I consider my psoas to be married to my hips and back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Planks are cool but I find them pretty boring, and isometrically I'd rather do front squats (including as part of the clean).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T15:10:36.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-11T03:57:33.740" Score="2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a swimmer and fairly into the sport, I guess. I'm not currently swimming right now, but would be if it weren't for this problem. During practice, I sort of zone out. Usually not &quot;in the zone&quot; kind off zoned out (I think), but just more my mind is not really in the pool with me. I mean, I'm focused on trying hard n' such, but just zoned out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That in and of itself isn't really my problem. Though it is a little bit annoying, I'm not sure I can say there's anything else better (I know its going to be hard one way or another) and I can't quite remember any other way. My problem is after practice, when my thoughts don't really come back to reality. Its hard to focus on stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zoning out in practice helps distract me from how hard practice is, but my mind doesn't stop when its over. Its like I never quite get in to the zone, but never really get all the way out, either. I've been out of swimming for a few months now. It's gotten better, but I still tend to focus inward. It sounds a little like depersonalization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: How can I leave my training in the pool, and focus on my regular life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else dealt with this problem of becoming really introverted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12362" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T16:58:37.417" Title="Zoning out in and outside of practice" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19842" CreationDate="2014-12-11T15:53:12.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had this and I'm no psychologist, but I am a swimmer (ocean rescue for about 16 years) and naturally a little introverted (given the time).  I think its that distance swimming is sort a strange scenario for the mind.  If you talk to any distance swimmer they know that there's a meditation that occurs with the controlled breathing and rhythmic motion and therapeutic ebb of the ocean (or pool if its crowded).  You may just be very susceptible to this hypnotic state and require more time to get out of it.  I notice when I abruptly leave the pool there's an uncomfortable, rushed feeling and then it gets better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think something you should be aware of is that swimming face down is against our human instinct and does in fact force your body into a survival mode.  Psychologically, you may be experiencing side effects of this survival mode and begin to think more inward as a result.  I'm not sure there is a field that could completely classify this as it sounds physio-psychological.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can tell its coming when I lose lap counts or start to drift mentally. Find your triggers, acknowledge them and actively focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to suggest any way to come back after a long swim, I'd consider taking some extra time in the pool, ramp up your breathing to a more 'out-of-water' state .  Maybe end with a sprint or two to get yourself into a less formatted behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13365" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T15:53:12.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19842" CreationDate="2014-12-11T16:58:37.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt many people on here are qualified to answer that question. I would seek out a sport psychologist who specializes in motivation. Maybe he or she can get to the bottom it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T16:58:37.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3338" CreationDate="2014-12-11T17:00:22.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure you are giving yourself sufficient rest and recovery time in between your warm up sets so you can get to your true 1 rep max. You should be able to figure it out after 3 tries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T17:00:22.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-11T21:30:24.340" Score="1" ViewCount="2877" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long should one wait to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt; after taking &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECA_stack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EC stack&lt;/a&gt;? This is my dosage today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:30 AM: 12.5 mg E, 100 mg C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12:30 PM: 12.5 mg E, 100 mg C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I do HIIT cardio at 5 PM?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13369" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-12T03:11:14.523" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T15:48:02.467" Title="How long to wait doing HIIT after taking EC stack?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-11T22:01:00.610" Score="1" ViewCount="635" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to get leaner. I have been working on it but I would like to set the goal at my destination. I want to be at the lowest possible body fat percentage without suffering any negative effects from it. There are charts, with age and height, showing average, overweight, underweight percentages. I want a specific answer, what is the lowest healthy percentage. male 5'11 20yr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8809" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T16:57:50.300" Title="What is the minimal body fat percentage with no risks?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20850" CreationDate="2014-12-11T23:59:25.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For women &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/490176-lowest-possible-body-fat-percentage/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10 to 13 % body fat and men 2 to 5 % body fat&lt;/a&gt; but even most athletes are above that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Athletes are usually a few percentage points above that unless they are competing in a sport that requires a low body fat percentage at which point they will reduce their percentage a day or two before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both men and women can have up to 10% higher body fat and still be considered 'fit' in fact, your body fat percentage must reach 31% for women and 25% for men before you are considered overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12318" LastEditorUserId="12318" LastEditDate="2014-12-17T02:01:25.707" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T02:01:25.707" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16454" CreationDate="2014-12-12T01:52:10.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9J9hk.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can train the twisting muscle by doing tricep training where you lift a bar above your head and let it go behind your back over your head. Now the key is the grip: you need to inverse your grip to get the twisting muscles activated! I was able to recover from the continuous pain in the twisting muscle caused by golf, tennis and climbing by inventing the totally new training with &lt;strong&gt;bar over the head with inverse grip (for the traditional tricep training)&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the other muscle group can be seen as opposing muscle group on the other side: anterior/posterior pair&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EKcko.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where I &lt;strong&gt;removed the pain on the other side by forearm training&lt;/strong&gt; illustrated in this answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/4625/630&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:55:24.100" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T01:52:10.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20891" CreationDate="2014-12-12T02:45:20.547" Score="1" ViewCount="941" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find tight longus colli vertical and sore platysma on my right side. I have tried to strenghten them by holding my head towards my hand forward/sideways but inefficient. The way I get them activated apparently is stretching my head back behind me that sounds unsafe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can you strengthen the muscles here that require stretching head backwards?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fhF0Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2014-12-14T21:48:35.303" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T16:10:03.303" Title="Strenghtening internal neck muscles associated with head going back?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T22:09:06.410" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20854" CreationDate="2014-12-12T02:50:13.673" Score="-1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rubberband is probably the safest method&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can use the BJJ neck training &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlU8jytpTr4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tXbco.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2014-12-14T21:55:20.763" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T21:55:20.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20849" CreationDate="2014-12-12T03:08:33.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the best you're going to get on this is anecdotal broscience. No medical professional in their right mind would advise the use of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECA_stack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EC/ECA&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt;, or even just EC/ECA on their own I'd imagine. So what you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; do is not use ephedra/caffeine off label.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the anecdotal broscience world, I'd avoid combining EC/ECA ingestion with anything resembling HIIT. It might maximize fat loss, but it's also going to maximize your heart rate beyond safe limits. You can read up on bodybuilding forums about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aziz_Shavershian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;people doing all kinds of things to their body and getting killer aesthetics&lt;/a&gt;, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17009070&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the science against ephedra and sports use is pretty clear&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of ephedrine carries a risk of development of life-threatening&#xA;  arrhythmias. ... Our experience with the reported patient shows that&#xA;  ephedrine alone, or in combination with substances that increase its&#xA;  effects on the cardiovascular system, may also trigger paroxysms of&#xA;  non-ischemic ventricular tachycardia. The use of ephedrine carries a&#xA;  risk of development of life-threatening arrhythmias and should be&#xA;  discouraged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking two substances that increase your blood pressure and heart rate, only to engage in an activity that drastically increases those rates as well, is a bad formula. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hindawi.com/journals/crim/2013/712383/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a case study that might even be very close to what you're doing&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A previously healthy 29-year-old man was admitted with palpitations,&#xA;  dizziness, and near-syncope after he had recently started taking&#xA;  weight loss pills purchased on the internet. The pills contained&#xA;  caffeine and ephedrine. ... with no family history of cardiovascular&#xA;  disease [the healthy 29 year old] was admitted to the emergency room&#xA;  due to palpitations, dizziness, and near-syncope during weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guy's heart rate was 147, just sitting there in a hospital bed. If you're going to do EC/ECA, do your heart a favor and don't push it further by pushing your physical limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T03:08:33.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20876" CreationDate="2014-12-12T05:15:51.583" Score="1" ViewCount="2203" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago I thought I herniated a disc in my lower back, but it turns out the disc is just slightly bulging. Yay!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to a neurosurgeon who took at look at my MRI results and basically told me I can't do anything to make the situation better. No physical therapy, no drugs (except for pain relievers), no surgery, nothing can help. I can only wait it out and hope for the best, and there's still a chance that nothing will improve. He did tell me that the injury wasn't that bad at all, and to a degree he is right—I can walk, jog, play some casual sports. But nothing serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So three things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Any ideas on improving the injury? I know the surgeon said I can't do anything and I know you guys aren't all doctors, but I appreciate any ideas I can look into. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) How do I deal with this mentally? I was just told I can't do anything at all about this, nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Any ideas for sports I can try to pick up? I have cycled before and thought about going back to it, maybe that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13372" LastActivityDate="2014-12-13T20:07:19.663" Title="Dealing with a bulging disc in lower back" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20861" CreationDate="2014-12-12T11:12:22.053" Score="1" ViewCount="1087" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;173cm - 67 kg&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;50kg Bench Press (40kg if I do alone)&#xA;40kg Incline Bench Press&#xA;12kg Alternate Hammer Curl&#xA;10kg Alternating Deltoid Raise &#xA;10kg Front Two-Dumbbell Raise &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do these twice a week(should I increase frequency?) I use whey protein.&#xA;I want drop 3 kg fat and gain 3-5 kg muscle.(~70kg) (how easy this goal?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;do you suggest some other exercises? and in 3 months how much I can improve these all(in kg)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T10:52:01.607" Title="how much I can improve in 3 months" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20859" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-12T13:21:29.537" Score="3" ViewCount="641" Body="&lt;p&gt;So,  here's the thing: i am on a situation in which i can't go to the gym. However,  I Still want / need to do some pull ups. How can i do it at home without having to buy anything?&#xA;I've already tried Doing it on a platform above my stairs, but it doesn't give me a good grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13377" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T07:28:29.367" Title="How can i do pull ups at home?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20859" CreationDate="2014-12-12T13:43:41.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't have anything to use that will give you a good grip, you'll need to buy/steal/borrow something. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-XNH8a6WkU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You can build your own for roughly $20&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also spend &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B009RGMC4A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;$25 and get a cheap pair of rings&lt;/a&gt; (nice ones will set you back ~$40-$50). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;With those you can do levers, dips, pullups, muscle ups, shoot throughs, and much else&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T13:43:41.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20858" CreationDate="2014-12-12T14:10:47.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends a lot on how long you've been training, and what level of technique you have right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you can make some technical gains as well as strength wise gains, and assuming you're quite new to lifting I'd say you can increase by about 15-25% in 3 months, i.e. bench 60-65 kg etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest including leg exercises and avoiding the isolation exercises (hammer curls, raises) and also include some back exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favourites: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups/lat pulldowns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows of all kinds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Military press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts and squats are both quite technical and should not be done if you're not very confident you have the right technique, but are very effective if you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer these exercises since you save time by training multiple muscles at once (rows: back + biceps) and because you'll be training a movement that you might actually use in real life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T14:10:47.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19783" CreationDate="2014-12-12T14:16:58.500" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fitbit flex counts steps and afaik it can only measure your heartbeat rate when you actively decide to measure it (i.e. it will not measure it passively), also, it's very unreliable at higher rates and when moving around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence, the Fitbit flex, and all similar devices, suck, they're overpriced pedometers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most phones can function as pedometers today so I'd go with that instead. My Samsung Galaxy 5 measures all my steps during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's your goal with rowing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T14:16:58.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20859" CreationDate="2014-12-12T14:25:23.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had good luck with the Iron Gym Pull Up bar. It does require a standard-size door with a reasonably secure/level lintel and a few inches room on either side (much to my chagrin, I only have one door in the house where this applies, a bathroom). It costs about $25-30 in stores, but they show up fairly often on Freecycle for free, or on Craigslist for $5 or so. It doesn't look like it should hold you up, but it does do the job. Before that, I alternated using a support I-beam in my basement (the lack of a good grip was an issue there, although it probably did good things for building up finger strength) and heading down the block to the playground (not bad, but it's outdoors, and the little kids look at you funny).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T14:25:23.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20857" CreationDate="2014-12-12T14:51:27.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Granted, this is somewhat opinion based, but, I can relate to your situation, although, in a slightly more serious vein.  I was a competitive bodybuilder for many years.  Initially, I was diagnosed with a herniated disc, but, later diagnosed with a slightly more serious condition that ultimately required surgical intervention by a neurosurgeon.  So, for your questions….&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was also told not to do anything.  I think MDs tend to error on the side of caution.  However, I had a good PT who impressed on me that with any back injury, it’s important to maintain a strong core and perform the stretching and flexibility exercises I learned for the rest of my life.  It may sound like a burden, but, actually I benefit from it in many other ways.  The most important take-away is to take your time and not rush it.  Be conservative.  Give it time to heal even if you feel great.  I’d also suggest you get a second opinion.  I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mentally, at least in my case, there was a sense of loss.  When you perform a sport or activity that you love for such a long time, and, you’re suddenly not able to any more, it can be frustrating.  I learned to train smarter.  I realized that I could not compete any longer, but, that didn’t mean I couldn’t still work out.  It took a while, but, I learned what exercises/movements were contraindicated and avoided them while still reaping the benefit of a fitness lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, faced with the same sort of thinking you’re currently experiencing, I decided I needed something that would both challenge me and provide a fitness benefit.  I chose the sport of rowing.  It may sound counterintuitive for someone with a back injury, but, contrary to most people’s understanding, rowing is a “pushing” activity (eg. leg drive) and not a “pulling” activity.  Rowing can be performed year round both indoors and outdoors, on the water and off, and it provides not only an aerobic benefit, but, an anaerobic one as well.  If you’re interested, I would point you to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concept2&lt;/a&gt; web site.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you decide to do, run it by your Doc.  Good luck, and train smart!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T14:51:27.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2014-12-12T20:05:42.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sure the size of your legs is a combination of genetics and hypertrophy from the exercise you have participated in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the taking in less calories. You will lose weight, but there is no guarantee where the weight will come off. I would working getting leaner overall through exercise and diet, but at the same time learn to accept your legs as they are. Easier said than done I know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T20:05:42.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20857" CreationDate="2014-12-12T20:19:02.380" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I herniated a disc ten years ago and it changed my life. In the long run for the better. I was 6'4 250 lbs with a bodyfat percentage well north of 20%. I was not healthy. I was playing a lot of baseball and the combination of the excess pressure on my midsection from being overweight and the wear and tear from excess rotation (swinging) was something my discs could no longer handle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It forced me change my diet, train smarter and work on my flexibility. The fitness industry preaches to work on your core all the time, but it is the posterior chain that will save your back. I know this from experience. I spent a ton of time building up my abs and losing weight and never once thought about the muscles I could not see. After a year of suffering I enlisted the help of a physiotherapist and he pointed out that I had a flat butt, underdeveloped hamstrings and huge thighs. My body was far from symmetrical. So I went to work on these muscles and after only a couple of months my pain began to subside. Today I still have to watch what I do, but it is only intermittent discomfort from time to time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you start exercising, If it hurts, then back off, but stay active. Focus on the things that you can do and don't worry about the things you can't. I may never be able to deadlift again, but life goes on. I can still train, golf and play baseball once a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms  of sports, try swimming. It is a great total body workout, easy on the joints and I have found that it stretches my entire body out. I highly recommend it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T20:19:02.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20858" CreationDate="2014-12-12T20:32:09.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are great recommendations for exercises. Stick with the compound multi joint lifts for 80-90% percent of your training. How much you gain is highly individual; training age, sleep, diet and genetics play a big role in that. Eat more carbs on the days you train (especially post workout) and cut them back on the days you don't. Training only twice a week will make it difficult to get stronger and add mass. You need to up your volume (number of sets/reps)  and up your training frequency to 3 or 4 days a week. Start tracking your progress each session. By a log book and write down your reps, sets and the corresponding loads. It is the best thing I ever did. That way you can actually see your progress over a period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2014-12-15T10:52:01.607" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T10:52:01.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-13T02:14:20.343" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the next 6 months or so I can't lift upper body as I'm recovering from labrum repair surgery. I can't squat (bar goes on back, I would assume is not good) or deadlift (pulls on shoulder), but I should be able to leg sled (don't worry, I'll ask my doctor to clarify on Monday). Usually I lift Monday and Thursday upper body and tuesday and Friday lower, and do Abs all those days. That means simply eradicating upper would result in only two days, and I want to lift 3 or 4 days a week (preferably 4: I need to get huge). But how do I space a solely lower body workout into 3/4 days? What lifts should I do for some diversity? It seems like I'd run out of lifts or have pathetically short sessions. Should I just do the same workout every day a few times a week? And should I do 4 days of lower body, or would that not give me enough time to rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I'm going to get physical therapy from a professional, and yes I'll ask my surgeon and the pt what lower body lifts I can and can't do, but for now I'm pretty sure I can't squat or clean or deadlift. I'm asking what are some more, less common lifts I can do to keep my workouts long enough and how should I divide them up and into how many days. (Nothing overhead and nothing that rests on shoulder and nothing that requires me to hold with arm, but perhaps only with one arm would be acceptable. Again, I'll talk with doc what I can and can't do )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: the labrum in context is the one in my right shoulder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2597" LastEditorUserId="2597" LastEditDate="2014-12-14T18:33:45.363" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T18:33:45.363" Title="can only lift lower body and core" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20871" CreationDate="2014-12-13T04:47:21.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're going to exercise while recovering from a heavy surgery, first get your doctors to sign off on EVERY exercise you plan to do. All that being said, this should be a time of rest and recovery for you. Focus your efforts on recovery, healthy eating, and maybe start a hobby to pass the time, maybe even spend the time reading books on fitness and finding a great routine for when you do start back up... but don't be trying to lift and push your body to the limit when its at its weakest, because that only invites trouble and delays your full recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-12-13T04:47:21.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-13T18:38:44.113" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edited in response to comments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is a detailed mixed olympic and power lifting routine.  In particular, I have annotated what seems to be the most unusual features.  I currently use the routine.  I am wondering: is optimal considering it's &lt;em&gt;purpose&lt;/em&gt; and my &lt;em&gt;constraints&lt;/em&gt;?  A list of specific concerns can be found at the very bottom of the post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background:  I lifted seriously using a low rep routine for a number of years before getting injured and taking time off for work.  I am now, after many years, getting back to the gym.  Have discovered and fallen in love with &quot;olympic&quot; style lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the routine is to accommodate my &lt;em&gt;ridiculous work schedule&lt;/em&gt; (sometimes 6 12 hour days per week of sometimes mathematically creative work).  I am not at all interested in bodybuilding (muscle proportions/symmetry), but I am very interested in increasing general athleticism (&lt;em&gt;power/flexibility&lt;/em&gt;) and somewhat interested in losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 workouts per week; 15 min warm up 15 min high effort.  I find it much easier to get to the gym regularly if it is as rigid an element of my schedule as work; I also find that if I expend too much energy on any given workout then I cannot work a full day; also, after completing a full day, I very rarely have the mental energy left to safely lift heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 power days per week; 2 olympic days per week.  Bench; snatch; squat; incline; clean/jerk (I squat or push jerk, not split);  deadlift[; rest].  I do not do any assistance work for reasons already described; I chose these exercises for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;snatch:  it's my favorite lift and it is the most athletic movement&#xA;that you can do at the gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clean and jerk:  it's the most explosive movement you can do at the&#xA;gym; it's always fun picking heavy things up over your head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squat:  muscular/mechanical -- and also electrical/mental and&#xA;endocrine/chemical -- effects of doing big movements with heavy&#xA;weight are compelling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deadlift:  same as for the squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench:  it is the heaviest and one of the longer upper body movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;incline bench same as for bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to only bench, snatch, and squat.  I found that (with 2 squats per week) to be too repetitive; in particular, too hard on the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On any given day I warm up as necessary.  Then do either two or three weighted sets (depending on how I am feeling) for some number of reps, according to the following progression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 0.  Start with a 45 pound bar &quot;W0&quot;.  Do as many reps &quot;R0&quot; as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1.  3 sets of R0/3 reps with W0 weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weeks 2 - ??.  While possible, do the same number of sets and reps, but increase W0 by 10 or 20 (depending on the exercise and how I am feeling:  20 for squats, deadlifts, clean/jerks, snatches; 10 for bench/incline, clean/jerk, snatches).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weeks ?? - ????.  When the above loop fails, decrease R0 by 10, 5, or 1 (depending on how low the reps were already:  bigger drops when the reps are high; smaller drops when reps are low).  Return to the previous loop, with the current weight replacing W0, and this new number of reps replacing R0.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That progression eventually leads to performing 2 sets of 1 with your near maximum load, though the timing is slightly different for each of the 6 exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for beginning with such high reps (typically 20 for snatches, 60 for squats, 80 for benches) is to 1) develop intuition for the particular lift; and 2) develop muscular endurance.  I find these issues to be oft overlooked but extremely important in lifting heavy:  since so much of lifting is mental, doing thousands of reps early in the cycle with light and medium weight helps you to develop the courage to pull/push heavy; also, especially for olympic lifting, the movements are so long (3 pulls and 3 pushes in a clean/jerk), poor technique due to fatigue, even with low reps, is a genuine concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13385" LastEditorUserId="13385" LastEditDate="2014-12-14T18:32:55.147" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T18:32:55.147" Title="Proposed Olympic/Power Routine To Meet Unusual Requirements" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T21:06:07.543" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20857" CreationDate="2014-12-13T19:36:40.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I injured my low back and groin while deadlifting as a young man.  Had an MRI, inconclusive about the degree of herniation (hence it must be slight), but apparently there was damage to the casing of the disk.  Have an intense &quot;full&quot; and &quot;hot&quot; feeling in my lower legs at times.   Was very worried at first, because I did not know how to alleviate the symptoms when they arose, or how to prevent them from arising as often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After two years of CHYRO and PT, and then four years of experimenting, I learned a few things.  To the extent that our injuries were similar, perhaps they might help you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  PT is nice, especially at the beginning.  Part of the problem with this sort of injury is that important nerves and muscles (and much more!) are all articulating in the region.  Learning to identify (read: isolate), work, and relax the muscles in the region is useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  A CHYRO suggested I get an inversion table.  Inverting (and other kinds of stretching) seem to give me a lot of relief:  in particular, by inverting, I am able to more completely relax the muscles and deload the other tissues in the region; I often feel near immediate relief.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now use a 6 inch diameter hard foam back roll to accomplish the same kind of stretching (it's more portable; I travel with the thing in my suitcase).  I have also used inversion boots with gym squat racks.  I think the inversion table provides the most relaxing/complete stretch, but the roll could a cheap way to determine if this sort of stretch might help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)  Some CHYRO manipulations seem to make things worse.  In particular, torque applied by way of the knees to twist/crack the lower back seemed increase rather than decrease my symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4)  I bought better shoes and superfeet inserts.  I got a 3 inch diameter hard foam back roll to put behind my back while sitting (forces better posture; I have a hard time remembering otherwise).  I take standing breaks or use a standing desk frequently.  I sleep on my back or stomach; I try to avoid spending any length of time laying on my side or, in general, with my pelvis tilted.  These changes also seemed to help, though the benefit is certainly less than that provided by the stretching mentioned in #2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, though I was not trying, I lost quite a bit of weight last year and that also seemed to noticeably improve things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5)  I actually just returned to power/olympic lifting.  Most days I feel as though my back is getting even better; there have been a few days, however, where symptoms were worse than before I began lifting again.  Jury is still out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6)  Random.  When I have more than just a few drinks, my symptoms are sometimes worse the next day.  I suspect this is simply because, after drinking, I do not sleep soundly and flatly on my back or stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13385" LastEditorUserId="13385" LastEditDate="2014-12-13T20:07:19.663" LastActivityDate="2014-12-13T20:07:19.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20879" CreationDate="2014-12-13T23:55:54.480" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the scientific explanation of why one can only do a certain number of repetitions of an exercise before becoming unable to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, at my current state I can only do 8 repetitions of a bench press at 68 lbs, even though I am able to then perform the same motion with no (or less) weight. Why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13388" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T03:08:27.867" Title="What Limits the Repetitions One Can Perform?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20871" CreationDate="2014-12-14T01:18:25.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just because the session is short does not mean you can't get anything done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are massive challenges in programming for a post recovery surgery, and I honestly think you would be far better served from seeking physical therapy from a professional that works with athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know enough about your particular case to comment safely, and not being able to hang onto a weight at all presents an interesting quandary.  You could do plenty of unilateral work, but that would create asymmetries.   You could also stick to machines, but they're machines, and can only do so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T01:18:25.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20877" CreationDate="2014-12-14T03:08:27.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're getting down to the biology of muscle contraction. You can read up on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Skeletal_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sliding filament model&lt;/a&gt;, which is really quite interesting. Basically your muscles contract because of chemical reactions (temporarily chemically altering your cells).  Ca2+ (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_in_biology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calcium&lt;/a&gt;) is used heavily in the process, and it gets depleted. The more force your muscles need to produce, the more calcium they'll use up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related to your bench press example, your muscles are chemically using less ingredients in order to push the bar up with less weight. When you start asking for a lot of it (heavy weights) in a short period of time (more reps) you cause it to use more more muscular fuel (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/course/ens304/public_html/section1/Fatigue.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ATP, calcium, etc&lt;/a&gt;). You also are causing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtrauma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;physical fiber damage routinely to your muscles&lt;/a&gt; when pushing them hard so you are mechanically weaker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other things too, which might even matter more. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_nervous_system_fatigue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Decreased serotonin, which can happen after long exercise, can lower your neural effectiveness at firing muscles (a.k.a. &quot;cns fatigue&quot;)&lt;/a&gt;. Maybe there's plenty of calcium, but now it's a serotonin thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T03:08:27.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-14T15:07:50.387" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the benefit difference between doing a move 20x3 and getting exhausted at the end and doing the same move up to the limit each set (28,20,13)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently waiting 1min between each set and then trying to go up to limit again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am working at home with body weight and dumbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13391" LastEditorUserId="13391" LastEditDate="2014-12-15T09:27:26.193" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T16:08:57.837" Title="Difference between same repetition on each set and limit repetition on each set" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T21:11:41.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20880" CreationDate="2014-12-14T17:12:36.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Broadly speaking, two things: one, there may be a difference in total volume (60 reps at that weight versus 61 reps at that weight; in this case it's negligible but in other cases it can be substantial), two, you get the benefits and drawbacks of going to failure when you go to failure and not when you don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to failure--that is, doing reps until you just cannot physically do one more--is extremely stressful. This can be good: you know you reached your limit (for that particular moment), you stimulate muscle growth, you train to push through fatigue. It can also be bad: the same stress that stimulates muscle growth can cause joint pain or inflammation, and pushing past fatigue leads to diminishing quality of form and therefore risks injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T17:12:36.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20875" CreationDate="2014-12-14T17:33:03.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've done a lot of solid research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your exercise selection and daily schedule looks sound. I'd personally switch incline bench with pull-ups, because 1) I have no desire to incline bench and 2) pull-ups would balance pulling with pushing exercises, which is desirable for a number of reasons, including shoulder health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your program's set/rep scheme and weight increase scheme are, to my limited knowledge, unique in the literature. That's not promising. I'd go with a better-tested model. 5/3/1 comes to mind as a good candidate to be adapted to your problem space. It shares your one-major-lift-per-day system, and accounts in better-tested ways for your goals of developing intuition for a lift as well as muscle endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: Do not assume that you will do the exercises correctly or safely without coaching of some sort. This is almost certainly the source of knee and shoulder pain. Video form checks are available in various the Starting Strength and Catalyst Athletics forums, as well as here and on several subreddits. In-person coaching by someone known to do power and Oly lifting correctly is several orders of magnitude better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other researchers in this field have noted the issue of ravenous hunger. High-protein, moderate-fat, moderate-carb intake generally shows itself to be best in terms of sating hunger and developing muscle rather than fat. Eating less is the standard algorithm for preventing weight gain while lifting heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-12-14T18:14:07.200" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T18:14:07.200" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16127" CreationDate="2014-12-14T19:14:38.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You must keep in mind that bodyfat is essential to the human body. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and there is certainly a minimum requirement for good health. For example, it's absolutely necessary for nervous system function (myelin sheaths act as insulators for nerves, and are made up of fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, in regards to your training and diet, there are a number of factors in play. It's possible with the training volume you're looking at, that you're actually not eating enough. If you haven't created a surplus of calories, your body is going to try to conserve energy vs building muscular adaptations. How has your performance improved after 2 years of crossfit? Have you hit a plateau? If you haven't gotten stronger, this may be an indicator that your training needs to change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, I don't think you're going to get solid answers from a medical doctor. Their job is to get you healthy, not improve your performance. You'd be much better served by a performance facility that employs strength coaches who have CSCS certification or similar, or a dietitian (not a nutritionist!). You can get truly accurate body comp from a DEXA scan (a test done for bone density) bod pod (air displacement) or someone who knows how to use medical-grade skin fold calipers (not the 20 dollar ones). Stay away from bio-electrical impedance (the one where it sends an electrical current through your hands). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, focus on your performance. Train the movement, not the muscle. If you focus on that, the muscles and improved aesthetics will come. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T19:14:38.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20887" CreationDate="2014-12-15T13:17:49.560" Score="2" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I run every morning before work and follow that run up with some Chin-ups, Muscle-ups and Push-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not trying to build muscle with these exercises but I just want to make sure I don't do more damage than good for my body. I run 6 days a week (every morning with the only exception being Saturday since I have to work the night shift). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My run is between 20 - 30 minutes followed by my 'ups' and then a semi-run/walk home. If I do this 6 days a week would this cause my muscles to actually break down instead of rebuilding themselves? I'm not concerned about these cardio exercises but I also go to the gym about 3 days a week. I mainly do core and weight exercises here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this amount of exercise be considered &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gym workout consists of weighted squats, bench presses, kettle swings, dips, pull-ups, and some more varieties. I would say between medium and high intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12190" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2014-12-16T02:50:56.407" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T02:50:56.407" Title="Is a mainly cardio based schedule any good?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15092" CreationDate="2014-12-15T13:58:32.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A study on Ironman triathletes found that supplementing sodium during a triathlon had no real effect on blood sodium. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16505084&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T13:58:32.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20885" CreationDate="2014-12-15T14:36:32.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you’ve described is not an average training routine in my opinion.  You’ve got a pretty heavy workload if you consider holding a job as well.  You make no mention of the amount of weight, sets, or reps that you perform, so, I’ll assume from your description of not trying to build muscle, that those numbers are sufficiently low.  Effectively, you’re asking if you run the risk of overtraining.  While there are telltale &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/12-signs-youre-overtraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;signs of overtraining&lt;/a&gt;, you can ensure that does not happen by eating a nutritious diet and getting plenty of sleep.  So, to answer your question, only you can decide if your workload is too much.  Since we all handle exercise stress differently, you’ll need to make sure you monitor yourself for the signs of overtraining.  And, I would suggest you take a break from training every six to eight weeks.  If for nothing else, just to enjoy life and not make fitness training a “job”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T14:36:32.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20885" CreationDate="2014-12-15T15:35:50.830" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are not going to do any 'damage' to your body or cause your muscles to breakdown. I might do the 'ups' before you run and then walk home afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T15:35:50.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18459" CreationDate="2014-12-15T16:00:24.680" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try Bulgarian split squats with just your bodyweight. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxFjYVinea4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxFjYVinea4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T16:00:24.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20854" CreationDate="2014-12-15T16:10:03.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rubber bands or a neck harness that you can attach a light plate to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T16:10:03.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16127" CreationDate="2014-12-15T16:11:48.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a DEXA reading. They cost a lot, but they are the gold standard. There are gyms, rehab clinics, colleges and universities that can provide them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T16:11:48.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18459" CreationDate="2014-12-15T17:20:05.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think a high or low bar squat should necessarily cause knee pain: both are okay when performed correctly. As such, I wouldn't look at that as the cause of your issue. The low bar squat is &quot;better&quot; because you can push more weight. There are a lot of competitive level crossfitters that never low bar squat: their knees are fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of all of that, work your back with deadlifts, rows, and pullups. Stretch the front of your chest. When you build a bit of meat up on your back and can push your shoulders back the ridge will be there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even for people with decent back muscle, the low bar position can feel weird at first. After a while it becomes pretty comfortable, especially as the weight gets heavier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T17:20:05.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20885" CreationDate="2014-12-15T20:43:06.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it really depends on &lt;em&gt;the reason why you are training&lt;/em&gt;. If that's &quot;being fit and lean and healthy&quot; as it seems (since you don't specify any special purpose) then your routine is pretty good. I would only add some exercises for core and legs strength (running trains your endurance, not your strength) and it would be pretty complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T20:43:06.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20896" CreationDate="2014-12-15T20:47:00.790" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am following a 3 days per week workout schedule and I am seeing muscle and fat increase as well. I feel like I am eating too much since most of the time I am so full and feels like 'will all this stuff in my stomach get digested' and not hungry at all. I am planning to cut down on quantitiy of food, but too many articles online stress on never going tot he starvation mode (some even say it is all made up there is nothing like starvation/degeneration unless youa re really starving. Each website and forum posters looks like having their own theories formulated.) . My question is, if I eat just enough to keep me not hungry (all the time) can I keep the fat buildup to a minimum and not lose existing muscle?(In my opinion,  I would consider my body's response more authentic than anything spit out by some caloric calculator) If you can point to any trust-able references ,that will be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10858" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T20:54:26.293" Title="Will the starvation mode /muscle loss happen if I eat just enough to keep me not hungry?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20895" CreationDate="2014-12-15T20:54:26.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you said, there are several theories and it looks like most are supported by some facts or science. &#xA;So in the end, my answer is no approach is effective for everybody. Just try it and check how does it work &lt;em&gt;for you&lt;/em&gt;. We are not all equal and something that may work for you could not be effective on a different person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to get more concrete, I did exactly what you are planning to do and it worked wonders &lt;em&gt;to me&lt;/em&gt;. I lost four kilograms and kept my strength and lean mass. The result was that I was able to do 14 pull-ups, which I was never able to achieve before &quot;dieting&quot; like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to learn to distinguish between &lt;em&gt;being hungry&lt;/em&gt; and just feeling like eating. Sometimes you may only actually be thirsty and need to feel your stomach with some nice water to stop the cravings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you really like food as I do, prepare to be challenged, especially in the first days. Then your brain and body (but it's mostly the brain, actually) will become more acquainted to a smaller food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T20:54:26.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20897" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20898" CreationDate="2014-12-15T22:03:30.430" Score="0" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search lets me see various weighted vests and shirts you can use &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; workout, but I'm hoping my natural daily activity can replace a workout routine if I am wearing weights. That being said, I'm hoping for something a bit more discrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, will this work - considering I am underweight, and am eating more/right to allow for growth, will I gain muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a weighted shirt or similar which one could use for everyday wear, perhaps one that looks nearly like a normal shirt? Is there a more discrete option for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2014-12-16T00:11:57.933" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T00:11:57.933" Title="Could a weighted shirt/vest replace a workout routine?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20897" CreationDate="2014-12-15T23:56:23.890" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a weighted shirt or similar which one could use for everyday&#xA;  wear? ...  Is there a more discrete option for this kind of training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most popular and simultaneously most discrete option for this kind of training is using &lt;strong&gt;ankle weights&lt;/strong&gt;. These can be hidden, or at least mostly obscured under pant legs. And naturally people should be more focused on eye contact than at feet, so it is outside the normal focus of vision as well (unlike a weighted vest). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm hoping my natural daily activity can replace a workout routine&#xA;  if I am wearing weights&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, this is not possible.&lt;/strong&gt; While this depends on what you define as &quot;natural daily activity&quot; and also what your goals are (muscle, tone, strength, fat loss, health/wellness/longevity). Overall, there is absolutely no comparing daily activity with working out. Why not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most Western daily activity is sedentary, and even working out cannot offset the damages of prolonged sitting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Daily activity does not raise your heart rate or involve anything remotely equivalent to cardio for aerobic conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Daily activity does not stimulate muscle growth past their point of adaptation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If daily activity made people fit, then Westerners wouldn't be in the middle of a massive obesity epidemic (granted, diet has an equal if not larger share of guilt here).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to put on muscle, you need to workout and eat healthy. If you want to burn fat, you need to workout and eat healthy. If you want to be strong, you need to workout and eat healthy. Are you seeing a pattern here? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T23:56:23.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14007" CreationDate="2014-12-16T01:43:19.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling is harder in the cold for one big contributing reason: you didn't put in extra pressure into the tires to compensate for the pressure drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you inflate your tires indoors, you have to think about the temperature difference. That 25 degree indoor air going into your tire will turn into 10 degree air. This gets worse with lower temperatures. Keep your bike in a storage room that at close to external temperature and inflate it there, or outside. Or else, put in extra pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor is that rolling resistance of rubber goes &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; with decreasing temperature, probably because it loses flexibility. See the notes about temperature in [&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_resistance]&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_resistance]&lt;/a&gt;  This is an innate property of the tire that you cannot fix with more air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, 10-18 Celsius is not cold! At least not for exercise. It might be cold for walking to a park and sitting on the bench when you get there, but it is in fact an &lt;em&gt;ideal&lt;/em&gt; temperature range for nailing personal best race times in an outdoor endurance sport. It is cool enough that you can eliminate excess heat and perform in comfort, and not nearly so cold that you have to wear cumbersome layers. In this temperature range, you can wear next to nothing, and work as hard as you want without overheating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm in Canada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4550" LastEditorUserId="4550" LastEditDate="2014-12-16T01:51:46.680" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T01:51:46.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-16T09:14:05.207" Score="6" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been learning kickboxing from a local trainer in my city for the last 2 months. I've noticed that in one hour of workout he made us to do the same workout exercises with some minor changes. I've read some articles that say if we do the same sets of exercises daily, then our body will adapt to it and won't get expected results. That's why I think the gym guys do different kinds of workouts daily to have some variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does this really matter and is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2014-12-16T13:43:13.530" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T14:11:28.527" Title="Can doing the same kind of exercise workout daily provide any good improvements?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14007" CreationDate="2014-12-16T10:09:56.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the effects of cooler temperature might have on your cycling are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cold air is denser than warm air ... increasing aerodynamic resistance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your tire pressure will be lower if not adjusted ... increasing your rolling resistance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your tire rubber compound will be harder ... decreasing your grip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you'll likely be wearing more clothing ... increasing your weight and impeding your motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;but mostly there is a &lt;strong&gt;physiological response to breathing in cold air&lt;/strong&gt;, like constriction of airways and potential asthma symptoms. See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snowbikers.com/articles/cold_air.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; for details.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T10:09:56.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2014-12-16T12:50:42.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what you've said I'm assuming the volume in your legs is largely muscle, but also with thighs the size of an olympic cyclists, presumably a somewhat significant level of fat. Achieving this size due purely to muscle is very difficult. (This is however a big assumption, so please correct me if I'm wrong.) The 10lbs gained during training is likely due in part to water retention, some muscle growth and an increase in fat from eating to compensate for the training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat can be reduced through diet like the previous answers have said. Begin by tracking the amount of calories you currently consume, tracking macros (fat, protein and carbs in your diet) can also be useful, then reduce your calories by ~300-500kcal and redistribute your macros. A good balance is around 50% Carbs, 30% Fat and 20% Protein, though it depends on your activities. e.g. Endurance exercise might need more carbs, strength training requires more protein for muscle growth etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While counting calories can be useful, and many people swear by it, it is also important to eat the correct things, varied fruit and vegetables, complex carbs, fesh meat (or other natural protein sources if youre vegetarian etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unforunately there are still many uncertainties regarding diet and weight loss, but its a case of trying different approaches until you find one that suits yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding muscle size, unforunately if you wish to continue improving strength/endurance, you will gain muscle. It isn't likely to increase drastically/rapidly since you sound like youre already fairly well developed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And like heropup said, if its an aesthetic thing, begin training your upper body to improve proportionality. From what I understand though, it wont reduce the rate of muscle growth in your legs (unless of course it takes time away from training your legs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13394" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T12:50:42.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20906" CreationDate="2014-12-16T14:08:18.400" Score="-1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of information exists on average body weights, heights, and body fat percentages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what the average lean body mass is, in particular so I can identify whether or not my body fat measurements are reasonable (since skinfold tests generally accepted to be only 3-4% error.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13388" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T19:55:40.373" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T19:55:40.373" Title="Lean Body Mass Averages" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T17:45:39.397" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20900" CreationDate="2014-12-16T14:09:54.683" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you’re describing is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/adaptex/adaptex.html&quot;&gt;Exercise Adaptation&lt;/a&gt;, or, “training plateau”.  It’s a common response to exercise stress.  From the National Academy of Sports…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The principle of adaptation refers to the process of the body getting&#xA;  accustomed to a particular exercise or training program through&#xA;  repeated exposure. As the body adapts to the stress of the new&#xA;  exercise or training program, the program becomes easier to perform&#xA;  and explains why beginning exercisers are often sore after starting a&#xA;  new routine, but, after doing the same exercise for weeks and months&#xA;  at the same intensity, the exerciser experiences little, if any,&#xA;  muscle soreness. This reinforces the need to constantly vary the&#xA;  exercise and training routine if you want to maximize your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, each of us react differently to the stress.  Some may reach a training plateau where gains are few or non-existent.  While others, with the same stress, can continue to make improvements.  That’s why it’s important to recognize a plateau and make the necessary changes to continue improving.  The key is to always challenge your body.  That may take the form of increasing the intensity, or, changing the order of exercises, sets, and reps.  In my experiences, once a plateau has been reached, I try to take a week off to recharge and refocus my efforts.  My goal is to come back with a fresh approach to my training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question, adaptation is real and should not derail your training progress if you recognize it and make the appropriate changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T14:09:54.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20900" CreationDate="2014-12-16T14:11:28.527" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most &quot;guys in the gym&quot; have absolutely no idea what they are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain exercises that you can really do pretty much every day for the rest of your life with good results. If you were using a lot of weight, you might want to do them every other day. That's the premise behind most strength training plans: they pick the most valuable barbell lifts and then progressively increase the load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of scientific-strength-training land, it's pretty normal in the military or martial arts to have calistentics and conditioning. You'll find burpees, pullups, pushups, flutter kicks, bicycle crunches, etc. These aren't the &quot;best&quot; things for you to do, but spending thirty minutes a day doing calistenics is light years better than nothing. A workout like that serves several purposes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's a good warmup for other activities (in your case, kickboxing).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's no advanced training. You can easily tell a room of people to start doing jumping jacks and not have to worry about someone throwing a disc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's relatively simple to put a workout together that makes use of whatever you have around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no reason to change exercises for the sake of changing them. Reasons to change generally revolve around picking better exercises and dumping others, in an effort to have a more balanced work effort (ie: pullups &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; pushups rather than two different styles of pushups). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T14:11:28.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20903" CreationDate="2014-12-16T15:06:55.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;An average lean body mass is pretty much a useless number for comparison due to everyone being different heights and compositions. There are many references a quick search will bring up for body fat percentages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For starters, men and women have different levels of essential fat. This is effectively a minimum level of body fat, below which health problems can arise such as issues with menstruation in women. Bodybuilders try to be as close to this as possible for competitions, but do not maintain it for their health. This is around 3-5% for men and 8-12% for women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Athletes tend to sit around 5-12% for men, and 12-20% for women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And up to ~24% for men, and ~30% for women is considered healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above this is generally considered obese. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to body fat tests however (glad to see you understand there can be significant errors), they are generally better used as a measure of change, especially home tests, due to various factors such as distribution of fat, types of fat etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13394" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T15:06:55.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-16T19:08:57.107" Score="0" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im a female,16, and i weigh about 130. Im trying to loose weight in my legs but im gaining so much muscle in them that they will not slim down, its like that fat turned into muscle and i dont know how to loose it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13569" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T20:17:11.820" Title="Im trying to loose weight in my thighs but im gaining alot of muscle in them and its making them bigger" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T17:44:58.357" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15525" CreationDate="2014-12-16T19:33:23.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a former competitive swimmer (and frequent swimmer now) with very long hair, I've always been partial to silicone caps. They tend to do less pulling and damage to the hair and are easier to manage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to go the extra length (no pun intended) to nourish your hair, try putting a little protective or fortifying conditioner in your hair before putting your cap on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8640" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T19:33:23.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20859" CreationDate="2014-12-16T22:26:05.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it must be at home, then it really depends on the architecture and furnishings of your house. My friend's place has a floating beam in the living room, which is not bad for doing pull ups on. I don't have such a beam - not everyone is going to have something at home that's satisfactory for pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's when you need to check out places outside of home. Playgrounds, alleyways, forests - get creative and you'll figure something out. Though be prepared to look a little silly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit/update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just bought myself a pull up/dip tower, and it's been a brilliant investment. I've done more pull ups in the past few weeks than I have in years. As nice as it is to not spend money, you ought to invest if you're serious about exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastEditorUserId="4301" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T07:28:29.367" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T07:28:29.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23938" CreationDate="2014-12-17T06:30:26.920" Score="2" ViewCount="12468" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I train various muscle groups, I've noticed that I cannot flex a few of them the way I would biceps or quads. The flex becomes painfully tight verging on a muscle cramp before I finish the range of motion. Potential causes I thought of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The opposing muscle group is over-relaxed, allowing this muscle to overtighten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The brain is not familiar with the movement and is allowing a tighter contraction than is safe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My musculo-skeletal structure is weird&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been happening with various movements such as external hip rotation, shrugs behind the back, and torso twists -- small, seldom-used muscles. Should I just keep flexing them so the brain can learn to use them normally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T05:37:46.960" Title="When a muscle can flex so tight it's painful, is anything wrong?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16574" CreationDate="2014-12-17T17:30:21.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gradually moving towards barefooting and minimalist shoes (xero shoes, vivobarefoot, vibram five fingers) solved the issue for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you search the web about this, you will find very controversial information. Some sources point at going barefoot as a cause of plantar fasciitis, other ones state that it helps solving it, by reinforcing the feet muscles and encouraging proper posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do know is, that it worked for me so you may consider to give it a try. Ease into it very gradually, by using your minimal shoes only for a few minutes the first day and then increase gradually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T17:30:21.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-17T17:52:13.290" Score="4" ViewCount="488" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train for mountaineering by walking upstairs as described in the question's title. The ankle weights are 2kg each (about 4.5 pounds). I am 75kg (165 pounds), 178cm (5'8&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very interested in how many calories may such an effort burn per hour. I know it's quite an uncommon exercise, but an estimate based on some sound information would help a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4186" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2014-12-17T18:21:05.707" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T18:30:20.127" Title="How many calories are burnt by walking upstairs with a 30kg (66 pounds) backpack and ankle weights?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20913" CreationDate="2014-12-17T18:30:20.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to use the &quot;climbing hills&quot; activity for the closest approximation to what you're describing. Climbing hills with minimal weight (9 lbs or less) will burn around 500 calories per hour at your body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you increase the weight to 20 - 40 lbs, then you will be closer to 575 calories burned per hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When carrying over 42 lbs, then you will be around 650 calories burned per hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburnedwalking.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T18:30:20.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20907" CreationDate="2014-12-17T20:17:11.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply keep at it and make sure you aren't eating more in response to your exercise routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely though the muscles in your thighs have to get used to being used and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/help-why-does-my-workout-cause-weight-gain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;will build up to&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/exercise/why-exercise-can-cause-weight-gain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a certain point&lt;/a&gt;. You're also unlikely to see much weight loss at this point. The good news is once you do lose weight, you'll have great thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, since you can't spot burn fat, you can focus on a full body workout to lessen the amount of muscle growth on your thighs, instead increasing muscle across your entire body, which will increase you're body's ability to burn fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12318" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T20:17:11.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-17T20:24:01.950" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in identifying lifestyle changes which are beneficial to upper-body strength while also being practical for accomplishing other common tasks. In other words, activities which fit into a typical lifestyle and serve purposes other than just building strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, commuting via bicycle instead of by motor vehicle is an example of a lifestyle change that encourages lower-body and cardiovascular strength. I want similar ideas for the upper-body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am seeking ideas that would be considered practical for the average person, so &quot;build your house in a tree, and climb a rope to it every day&quot; is not what I am looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12359" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T21:40:52.337" Title="Seeking suggestions for lifestyle changes beneficial for upper body strength" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2014-12-23T17:45:28.183" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20918" CreationDate="2014-12-17T20:59:57.943" Score="1" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve been training for my first half-marathon; running a lot of long distance lately.  I’ve found it difficult to maintain muscle mass in my arms and chest, due to all of the calories I’m burning while running; I have a high(ish) metabolism as it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had been attending crossfit classes 2 or 3 times per week, but have dropped that to once per week, in order to make room for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any quick/easy methods of building (and maintaining) muscle mass during non-running days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13407" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T21:51:17.467" Title="Maintaining muscle mass while training for half-marathon" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20917" CreationDate="2014-12-17T21:14:17.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot depends on what you mean by &quot;training&quot; for your half marathon. Are you just trying to finish it, are you looking to get under 1:30, are you trying to qualify for a higher level race? Those are big differences in training intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best I've found is going into running mode with a decent amount of mass, and then making sure you're lifting &lt;strong&gt;heavy&lt;/strong&gt; when you are. Aim for reps in the 3-5 range, compound. Those can be murder on your legs, so with squats and deads you need to pick between running and strength at half marathon distances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper body stuff won't be as big of a deal. And although running can cause a lot of lower body (temporary) injuries, it normally leaves your upper body alone so that helps to cut down on possible overuse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running and lifting go fine together, but competitive distance running and competitive strength sports are akin to plane wings. One dips, the other rises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T21:14:17.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20917" CreationDate="2014-12-17T21:51:17.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Eric. The biggest mistake you can make is to remove or lower your weights. Keep the intensity up and if necessary, lower the volume by a set or two. I would try and get three sessions in a week, but keep them short. No more than half an hour. Stick with compound movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T21:51:17.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20911" CreationDate="2014-12-17T21:55:24.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would stretch them out first and try to increase your flexibility. Maybe you are not recovering from your workouts sufficiently. Not knowing you, it is hard to hypothesize, but those are the only issues I can think of outside of an existing injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T21:55:24.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-18T02:51:36.933" Score="3" ViewCount="2406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bike every now and then, but used to ride bike quite often before. One thing that never has changed is how I get dead tired instantly. The tiredness is muscular and it's all in the legs, like a muscular ache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone told me you have to fight through the tiredness to gain endurance, but I would bike nearly every single day for 3-10 miles and the result would be worn-out legs that would continue to get tired on the next biking activity in the same amount of time I would get tired in the last one. Basically, no change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am resting and stretching, eating well, and doing everything I should be, just to note. I've always hated how I would bike with friends and they would keep going and going and I would need to take breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't fathom what the issue could be. Why would I never get adapted to biking? Why are my leg muscles just dying out in a mere matter of seconds of pedaling? I do other leg exercises, but spread them all out so I don't overwork, like squats sometimes and lunges, deadlifts, etc., etc., etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that my legs never build endurance to last without pain. Basically, I can push myself, but I'll just have excessive pain. If I ride comfortably to avoid the pain, I'd have to pedal extremely slow and wouldn't be much faster than walking. I have tried some of the best bikes there are with full air in the tires, correct seating position from pedals for my height, etc. No matter what, my legs drain out fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried low speed-settings and tried to work my way up, but after the same speed is reached, I end up having to use too much force to keep up the speed, and it becomes the repeated problem again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate this because I see people riding bike all day and never saying a word about leg tiredness. My legs are not weak and I can squat almost 260 lbs. all the way down and all the way up raw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some ways I can train my legs to not get tired from this? I've tried biking less often than once a day, but no avail. I tried stretching before and after, but nothing; still dead tired if I pedal too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not trying to go too fast nor too slow; this issue is just with going anything faster than snail speed (anything consistently over 5 MPH). It starts off like a very minuscule amount of muscle aching, but turns to pain if I keep it up, especially the next few days when it's that light but miserable muscle aching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I am feeling beyond the pain, but not seeing the gain. I've done this steadily for 2-4 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13409" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T01:29:04.697" Title="Muscular tiredness from biking -- is it endurance related?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20922" CreationDate="2014-12-18T03:47:02.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your legs have a hard time buffering the lactic acid build up you get from cycling. You might have a lower percentage of slow twitch muscle fibres in your legs than the average person, which could effect your endurance. What about carbohydrate intake ? If you are lacking sufficient glycogen content in your muscles it will definitely have an effect on your performance in any activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T03:47:02.653" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20922" CreationDate="2014-12-18T03:48:56.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're squatting full depth 260lbs, I doubt it's a strength issue. I used to race competitively (road and mountain), and I can offer up a few places to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5MPH is &lt;strong&gt;extremely&lt;/strong&gt; slow. Like so slow that you can almost tip over because you're not carrying enough velocity to track in a straight line. At a good clip a hiker with a full pack can move at 4MPH, so you're talking about a speed that is slower than a jog. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What kind of bicycle setup are you using, and have you been fit by someone who knows what they're doing? Take a look at some of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store/catalog/fitCalculatorBike.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;online fit calculators&lt;/a&gt; and make sure you're set up properly. Perhaps your seat post is incredibly low, and you are in an extremely high gear.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What kind of gearing do you have? I can't imagine it's your case, but some gearings like the 58T are suitable only for incredibly powerful athletes who are smashing their pedals with fury:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eU7L1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What's your cadence? This is tied to your gearing, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bikeradar.com/us/gear/article/technique-how-to-pedal-like-a-pro-12772/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a good rule of thumb is 100 pedal revolutions per minute&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;Grinding it out&quot; in the lower RPM range is good for out of the saddle sprinting or otherwise when you want to push a lot of power, but it's garbage for efficiency. Getting to a higher cadence is tough for a lot of people, but it's very efficient. Good cyclists have still upper bodies and you can almost set a wine glass on the small of their back as they hold very high cadences: their legs move like pistons, and their backs stay flat. You pedal smoothly in circles, not &quot;in squares&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What's your diet? 3-10 miles on a bike isn't that much of an aerobic effort, but if you toss in some hills and some speed it isn't trivial. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, get your fit dialed in, your form checked, and your cadence correct. With the weight you're squatting this has to be something related to cycling technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Call ahead and stop in to a local independent bike shop (that handles racers and high end bikes) and ask if you can get fitted. Go on a weekday, mid day: it will be pretty empty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T03:48:56.780" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20916" CreationDate="2014-12-18T07:45:03.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carry your groceries home on foot, holding them in your arms or at your sides with your hands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Garden. Do home repairs and yardwork yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly the entire endeavor of trying to work out without working out is, in my opinion, doomed. You can lead a more &lt;em&gt;active&lt;/em&gt; lifestyle without explicitly working out. But as soon as you want any sort of specific results--like, say, working your upper body--I don't see the point of avoiding working out. Just get a pull-up bar and use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T07:45:03.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9939" CreationDate="2014-12-18T18:54:17.160" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that a very small, skinny person could have the same thickness of fat below their skin as a very tall or heavy person. They would have the same caliper reading and consequent body fat percentage on the chart, but have very different proportions of fat on their bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13411" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T18:54:17.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-18T19:26:06.187" Score="1" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read an article a few weeks ago that mentioned a study finding that you need to use an exercise bike for 40 minutes before you see any benefit from it.  Unfortunately I can't find the article anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume the study was done using an exercise bike having a resistance level of say 10.  Now let's say that you set the bike to a resistance level double that (say 20).  Would you get the same benefit riding the bike for 20 minutes that you would get if you rode the bike for 40 minutes at the resistance level of 10?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10276" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T01:05:38.290" Title="Will exercising for a shorter time at a higher resistance on a bike give the same benefit?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20927" CreationDate="2014-12-18T22:02:24.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and no.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming total caloric output would be the same, the results will be similar, but different.  There are three components to consider: strength, muscle endurance, and aerobic cellular respiration.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/18818/5071&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; for a more detailed explanation of these factors.  Let's keep strength a constant in this case to keep it simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the resistance increases, the amount of energy the muscle needs to siphon from its own personal gas tanks (the energy is stored as ATP in the muscle's sarcoplasm).  This is because it may not be able to get the energy it needs quickly enough from glycogen in the blood.  That may mean that training under higher resistance for shorter durations can lead to more muscle gain.  We're probably talking small percentages in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, 20 vs 40 minutes in this modality are pretty similar. I imagine training for 20 minutes instead of 40 might result in slightly more ATP stored in the muscles, but probably not much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T22:02:24.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-19T00:04:33.483" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a good year-plus daily biking habit (the commute). Since leaving the last company two months ago, I've been doing little more than sitting on my ass. I've a ski trip planned for a couple weeks from now. I'd prefer not to end up wheezing and in pain after the first run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long should it take me to get back into aerobic shape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 45, male, 19 stone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13413" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T00:04:33.483" Title="Getting back into aerobic shape" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20988" CreationDate="2014-12-19T03:59:26.037" Score="6" ViewCount="1255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to start doing workouts with the goal of becoming stronger, building endurance, and being more fit in general.&lt;em&gt;(Also, I don't currently need to worry about losing weight, 5'6&quot; 125 lbs.)&lt;/em&gt; Why these goals? To feel better about myself and for the lady ;)... I'm not really into getting &quot;big&quot; - I'd rather the physical exercise I do give me strength I could use day-to-day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the biggest challenge I have is my lack of knowledge, followed by a lack of equipment. It isn't very practical for me to go to the gym (it is too far away for me to actually do it consistently)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises should I be doing at home to become stronger and build endurance?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, what stretching exercises should I be doing to avoid injuries?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've pretty much just been doing sporadic push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks - I'm trying to come up with a routine I can do 5 days a week. The only equipment I have at the moment are a set of 10lb. dumbbells&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Just to point out how little I know - I just learned what &quot;squats&quot; are, so please explain everything as well as possible)&lt;/em&gt; Maybe not necessarily how to do the exercises, I can look that up, but make sure I understand what muscles certain exercises should help me with and any other little tips I probably wouldn't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2014-12-19T04:05:30.953" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T03:06:51.893" Title="Home workout exercises with minimal equipment" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20931" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-19T06:29:24.650" Score="2" ViewCount="1020" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like most routines call for sets of 5 reps. Is the 8-12 rep set completely dated or does it still have a place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12105" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T17:43:00.900" Title="What are the advantages and disadvantages to doing higher rep squats?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20931" CreationDate="2014-12-19T07:37:52.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think doing many reps of squats is so tough on your general endurance that the endurance will be the limiting factor, not muscle strength in the muscles I want to target, it will also make you much more tired during the rest of the workout, which is bad if it's part of a whole-body workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, deadlifts, and to some extent, squats, are so critical to get right form-wise that many people keep the reps low to be able to get push themselves strength wise while maintaining good form and not injure themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, programs like starting strength that mimic powerlifting are &quot;in&quot; right now. People want functional strength, not those body building muscles that obviously aren't functional at all... ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T07:37:52.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20930" CreationDate="2014-12-19T07:55:09.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, day-to-day strength. What you want, or rather, what you want to avoid, is the kind of exercise some people do to look strong, i.e. workout arms, abs and chest. There's nothing wrong with strong arms, but strong arms don't do much good without a good back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what workout you do, even if it's rather light, I'd recommend not doing it two days in a row, so either split your workout or do it 3.5 days/week. What you could do is alternate between stamina and strength, i.e. run mondays, workout strength tuesdays, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a workout for strength, without gym equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats/squats with a heavy backpack/pistol squats (one leg, google it): Legs, ass and hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups/weighted pullups, there's almost always something you can grab to do pullups: Biceps and upper back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups/pushups with something on your back: Triceps and chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks, either just planks or include side planks: Lower back, abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press, find something heavy (15+kg) and lift it above your head: shoulders and triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these five for 3 sets of 10 or 5 sets of 5 (it's important to not do too many reps if you're looking for strength) or for as long as you can, every other day and you will get stronger. It's absolutely not necessary to have access to a gym to get stronger. You can easily get better results with this if you are consistent focused and a bit creative in challenging yourself, than someone who goes to the gym 2 times a week and mostly dicks around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T07:55:09.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20931" CreationDate="2014-12-19T17:43:00.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8238/what-are-the-trade-offs-of-weight-versus-repetition/8239#8239&quot;&gt;The general answer towards rep ranges has been written about previously&lt;/a&gt;, and it's fairly proven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But since you're asking about squats in particular, I'd offer this up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Madcow 5x5&lt;/a&gt; (non Olympic lift version of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Bill_Starr_5x5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bill Starr 5x5&lt;/a&gt;) program has a set of eight reps to finish up the intensity day. So even on classic &quot;5x5&quot; programs, you'll still run into reps higher than that. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I find the higher rep ranges good for warmups and fiddling with your form. At your 5RM (the most you can lift five times), you really shouldn't be noodling around playing with your form. At ~10 reps, the weight is light enough that you can adjust some things and think about more than total concentration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In one of his books Mark Rippetoe talks about doing 20 rep squat sets, and they are indeed brutal. I don't know if there's a place for them if you're on a dialed in training program, but it's something I toss in every now and again just to remind myself what they feel like. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fundamental disagreement with hypertrophy training is that by going for strength your not going to end up being &quot;small&quot; and benching 400 pounds while pulling 600 off the floor, and squatting 500 on your back. Plus, the path to such strength gains is in the wake of professional athletes. This is in contrast to the rather steroided/injured/chemistry experiment that makes up most body building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In no way am I implying that every bodybuilder is on gear with torn rotators, but you don't hear about a lot of strength athletes &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aziz_Shavershian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dying in their early 20's in a Thai bath house&lt;/a&gt;. You can be a natural and safe body builder, but the gyms of the world are littered with broken connective tissue and substance abuse from the pursuit of &quot;aesthetics&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T17:43:00.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-19T18:27:13.273" Score="0" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 69 and I do stretching exercises such as touching my toes.  Today I discovered that my nine year old granddaughter, who suffers with short achilles tendons, also can not bend over ... barely at all.  Would the short achilles tendons affect that?  It seems as though her entire body is very stiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13416" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T19:30:21.723" Title="Would short Achilles tendons keep you from touching your toes?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20936" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-19T18:28:04.770" Score="5" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;As strength coaches, we can sometimes fall victim to using terms that are too technical for the client to understand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know if a compendium exists that revolves around external cuing, &quot;push the ground away&quot;  vs &quot;extend your knees&quot;,or &quot;show the logo on your chest&quot; vs &quot;you are hip dominant&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;External is almost always superior for a number of reasons, but I have yet to see a comprehensive resource for coaches or trainers to turn to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2017-05-21T07:42:53.193" Title="What resources are recommended to learn more about cuing specifically?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;coaching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20935" CreationDate="2014-12-19T19:30:21.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally the hamstrings are the biggest restriction in bending to touch your toes, but essentially anything on the back side of the body can restrict the motion of bending forward. A short achilles tendon, tight gastroc/soleus muscles, tight back extensors etc. can all add to limitation in forward bend.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;To stretch the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles/6600#6600&quot;&gt;gastroc and soleus&lt;/a&gt; muscles you need two different stretches - one with the knee bent, and one with the knee straight.  The hamstrings cross both the knee joint and the hip joint so these also require two different stretches to affect the lower and the upper parts of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/576/how-can-i-stretch-hamstrings-in-isolation/3940#3940&quot;&gt;hamstrings&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sitting:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Many kids these days sit a lot more than we used.  Tight hamstrings and hip flexors are common with prolonged sitting.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do&quot;&gt;Postural exercises&lt;/a&gt; can help to balance out the front and back sides of the body.  Yoga, swimming, dance are a few examples of activities that may help to loosen up the body in general.  An exercise ball in the TV room can help increase activity and reduce static sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hydration:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Proper hydration is also important to keeping a flexible body.  It is not just the muscles and joints that need to have their full range.  The fascia (basically all the tissue that connects everything) needs to glide.  Hydration helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are general things to consider.  However, if you think that something is not normal as always check with the doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T19:30:21.723" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20916" CreationDate="2014-12-19T20:14:05.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Dave points out taking care of your house and yard will keep your upper-body active.  However, if you want more of an upper-body workout, especially for strengthening, working out is more specific and time efficient.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some specific lifestyle activities that can help exercise the upper body (conditioning and some strengthening) could include chores:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yard and outdoor work:&lt;/strong&gt;  Mowing, digging, planting, trimming, hauling trash cans and wheelbarrows, chopping, sawing, and sweeping the patio or driveway, moving patio and lawn furniture, washing windows manually, waxing/polishing the car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Indoor work:&lt;/strong&gt;  Vacuuming, moving the furniture, turning the mattress, mopping, scrubbing, polishing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing any of the above repetitive activities for the sake of your body, try to switch off hands so that you are not only working your dominant side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sports:&lt;/strong&gt;  Adding a sport that uses the upper-body such as tennis or swimming is a good lifestyle activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to getting some exercise with the above activities you will also be popular around your house! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T20:14:05.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20916" CreationDate="2014-12-19T21:40:52.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Children love being lifted like kettlebells or &quot;boinged&quot; around the house like an overhead press. As the children grow, you'll naturally increase your resistance. If you don't have children, acquiring them can be a workout, similar to push-ups or (if you need a heavier weight than a newborn provides) a farmer's walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T21:40:52.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-21T01:45:11.250" Score="1" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose I do the following exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As many body weight squats as possible in 1 minute without stopping with a 10 second rest. Repeat 15 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this deplete the muscle glycogen in my legs? What impact would this have on overall fat burning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13421" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T07:32:11.783" Title="Depleting Muscle Glycogen and Fat Burning" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2014-12-21T01:45:30.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I absolutely agree with them! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.independentfemme.com/5-important-benefits-of-yogalosophy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yoga stretches&lt;/a&gt; help in sculpting both the upper and lower body and in getting it into shape. You might think that it involves only poses and stretches, but when doing it, you actually burn lots of fat and calories and you also strengthen your muscles and tissues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13422" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T01:45:30.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-21T07:38:28.267" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose you have an injury on one body part (muscles or ligaments,...). Is there any scientific evidence that strength training the &lt;strong&gt;other&lt;/strong&gt; (not injured) body parts speeds up the healing process of the injured part? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be perhaps the case because of changed hormone levels due to the strength training...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please add your references to your answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T02:46:27.827" Title="Effects of strength training on how fast injuries heal" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-21T19:28:38.990" Score="2" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 14 and four months ago i was 80kg, and i realised that i needed to lose weight so i went on the folowig diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast: semi-skimmed milk with the cereal of my choice (1 bowl)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;break: apple&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch:3-4 whole-grain crackers &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Break: two tangerines &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner: whatever my mum made but with no carbs e.g. spaghetti bolognese -&gt; bolognese and lettuce and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every other night i would do a 5k jog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and this repeated and i have now lost 12kg but now i am doing the same diet but i cant lose any more weight. my waistline is fine, but all of the remaining fat is in my bum, what is the best/fastest way to get rid of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13424" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T03:19:18.653" Title="how to lose bum fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2014-12-21T20:12:53.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you could blame genetics, biking up enough hills and eating enough food will get you big legs. Nothing to be done about that. So don't do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want less leg muscles, you need to burn them. You want to train longer at a lower intensity. You also want to consume less protein so that your body can't build new muscles and ultimately can't maintain the ones you already have. (But don't overdo it, you need some protein to survive)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio is a good way to loose muscle in general. heropup mentioned correctly that cyclists look how you don't want to look. I don't believe that they got their muscles just from biking though. They probably spent a lot of time in the gym pumping heavy weights, with small reps. So you might do better walking up the hills, or at least choosing a very low gear to avoid pumping your legs. Also don't do sprints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yeah, as has been said already, I also believe that nutrition is MORE important than exercise. If you eat lots of carbs like RyanO suggested, you might just burn the carbs and not your muscles. If you want to burn muscle, you need to be in a fasted state during your workout. I suggest cardio in the morning before breakfast or fasting during the day, followed by cardio in the evening. Look up &quot;intermittent fasting&quot; if you want to know more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A limited protein and carb intake leaves fat as the main macro nutrient you should be consuming. And if various sources are to be believed (mainly paleo proponents) then you don't even need to watch the calories. The theory goes such that by consuming lots of fat, you teach your body to burn fat to get the energy it needs. As perplexing as it sounds, you won't get fat even if you eat a lot of fat. Also, if you'd consume less calories than what you need, you'd run the risk of developing some pretty nasty eating habits. You want to lose muscles, not binge and get fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest trying a low-carb, moderate protein, high fat diet, with a carb re-feed day once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware that it is dangerous to lose muscle like that. Muscles protect your joints and bones. Risk of injury is high during long cardio sessions, especially when you're running on empty. You might want to ease into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are two links for further reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnessblackandwhite.com/how-to-lose-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fitnessblackandwhite.com/how-to-lose-muscle/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-body/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-body/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 2nd link is about losing fat and gaining muscle, but offers some interesting ideas on nutrition and exercise in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck man, I feel your pain. I too am not pleased with my exorbitant leg muscles and started to follow the exact advice I've given you here. Too early for me to confirm or deny the success of this approach yet, but I'll try and check back in in a couple weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13423" LastEditorUserId="13423" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T20:43:41.953" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T20:43:41.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13322" CreationDate="2014-12-21T20:42:15.440" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try paleo and read up on intermittent fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or better yet, check and see if the &quot;bulletproof&quot; diet does anything for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's main shtick is a quick but filling breakfast, that leaves you with enough energy until your next meal. It does go far beyond that and offers a lot of ideas on nutrition and exercise in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13423" LastEditorUserId="13423" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T14:14:14.173" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T14:14:14.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20959" CreationDate="2014-12-21T21:13:46.747" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought this manual on the Pilates method and upon reading it, I was pretty surprised how wrong my form has been all along. This manual has enough detail for each exercise to effectively keep breathing, core, control, flow, etc all coordinated but not overwhelm the reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm kind of compulsive with doing it right, and the past seven sessions I would read the 1-3 pages for each exercise before actually doing the exercise. I feel this helps me enforce the proper form without an instructor, but it is taking a hit on the &quot;flow&quot; of each exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is how concerned should I be with reading the manual before executing each exercise? Should every other day I toss the manual aside and do the exercises (and the mental form checklists) from memory? My goal is to have the Pilates method completely memorized and to have form perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13426" LastActivityDate="2019-01-11T22:42:54.560" Title="Pilates- Taking time to learn form versus... actually doing it?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15604" CreationDate="2014-12-21T22:36:39.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you need to strengthen your calf muscles, perhaps you should consider strength training. All the other ways of addressing this (foam rollers, socks, barefoot, etc) don't really seem to answer your original question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common (and I believe effective) lift is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/BBStandingCalfRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the obviously named calf raise&lt;/a&gt;. You can do this with or without a barbell on your back, dumbbells in your hands, or whatever other weights you choose.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFullSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The soleus and calf (gastrocnemius) are also used as stabilizers in the squat&lt;/a&gt;, and you'd be hard pressed to find a more effective lower body exercise. Rather than doing spot-work like the calf raise, I'd stick with a squat where you'll also strengthen your hips, lower back, abs, and complete leg in a balanced way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T22:36:39.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20946" CreationDate="2014-12-21T22:43:49.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 14 your body is still growing and your hormone levels are shifting around. I know people who grew 0.5 meters from the time they graduated high school until they graduated college. We have an image obsessed culture but try not to think that you need to have any particularly perfect body image at the age of 14.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have your diet fairly well understood: consider tracking your calories on a site like dailyburn.com (or myfitnesspal; there are others). Diet has the largest impact on your body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your body fat drops, your body gets more insulin sensitive and you store fat more efficiently. It's much easier to go from 25% to 20% body fat than it is from 15% to 10%: the lower you go the more your body is going to fight you because from an evolutionary standpoint it's not good to have such little reserve energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay active and get into a good strength training program like starting strength or stronglifts 5x5. A good diet, an active lifestyle, and strength training will pop you into the top 1% of fitness relatively quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T22:43:49.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20944" CreationDate="2014-12-22T02:46:27.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best I could find was &lt;a href=&quot;http://pni.osumc.edu/KG%20Publications%20(pdf)/168.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 2005 study which focused on older adults&lt;/a&gt;. They haven't identified the actual components causing the associations, but the relationship is there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus, the data are&#xA;  consistent with the notion that exercise may facilitate wound healing,&#xA;  in part, via neuroendocrine regulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's the elaborate mix of hormones of course, but some of the ideas postulated are actually rather straight forward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, exercise may contribute to blood flow to the skin and increased&#xA;  skin oxygen tension, thereby enhancing woundhealing rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That study of course looked at wound healing, but it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to imagine that the same factors aiding (and detracting) from wound healing would be in play with an injured muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not directly answering your question, but germane to it, is also the idea that people who are athletic generally pay more attention to their diet, have better physical awareness, and probably are doing better in areas like hydration. They're also less likely to be suffering chronic health conditions, which in turn decreases their chances for complications from injury and illness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T02:46:27.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20922" CreationDate="2014-12-22T06:08:49.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long-distance cyclist and I lift now and then. I have a few thoughts...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I suspect your cadence is far too low. If you are used to squatting you are used to pushing a ton of force into your legs. If you push a big (ie &quot;high&quot;) gear, you are going to wear your legs out really quickly. You can get a cheap computer for your bike or you can just count revolutions of your legs, but a decent spot to aim is 80-90 RPM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, I think you are cycling too much. If you are pushing hard almost every day, you aren't giving your body any time to recover and improve. If you are also lifting, I wouldn't be surprised if your legs are rebelling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there are cycling muscles and there are weightlifting muscles. Lifting is training your legs to do a small number of reps at a very high force, while if a cyclist does a 5-hour ride, it's doing (5 * 60 * 90 = ) 27,000 reps at much lower forces. If I've been working hard on squats or deadlift, I find that it really makes my legs feel dead on the bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T06:08:49.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19829" CreationDate="2014-12-22T06:16:47.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are really asking two questions. Your first question is &quot;what kind of training plan should I be using to improve my 5K running times?&quot; There are a lot of different plans online; they will prescribe heart rate ranges, typically based on your age. Those aren't particularly accurate, but they are a decent place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible to set training ranges using a field test - where you go out, run a prescribed stress test, and measure your heart rate - but it's not something that I would recommend for somebody who has just started running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend finding a good running-specific forum, and asking them your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T06:16:47.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20950" CreationDate="2014-12-22T08:13:59.930" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;People all learn things differently. Some may be able to figure out a complex movement from just a diagram, whereas others might need a video, and then there are those that learn simply by doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of your particular brand of learning, however, there are two things that will remain constant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Form / safety always comes first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice makes perfect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do what you need to understand the correct form, and then practice it, and then keep practicing it until you can do it purely from muscle memory and it feels totally natural to you. This doesn't just apply to pilates, but exercise as a whole, whether it be mastering your form for shooting a basketball, doing heavy squats, or even running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T08:13:59.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20961" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20963" CreationDate="2014-12-22T13:37:39.843" Score="6" ViewCount="1174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been clean bulking for a long while but after eating the same things for a long while it gets hard to keep eating it every day. Do you guys have any advice on meals with many complex carbs, protein, and calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My list is primarily as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- Brown rice&#xA;- Whole wheat pasta&#xA;- Eggs&#xA;- Oats&#xA;- Peanutbutter&#xA;- Potatoes&#xA;- Can of tuna (preferably in olive oil)&#xA;- Chicken fillet (mostly in rice or nasi)&#xA;&#xA;My caloriebomb shake recipe (credits to buffdudes)&#xA;- Massgainer&#xA;- 150gr fine oats&#xA;- Banana&#xA;- 2 spoons of peanutbutter&#xA;- water (or milk but I think water tastes just fine)&#xA;&#xA;Blend it and you will have a 1000-1500 calorie shake with &#xA;complex carbs + good fats + proteins + all that you would want from a massgainer&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have anything else to add to the list for the sake of variation? Eating the same things all day really gets boring after a while and tempting to cheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13435" LastEditorUserId="13435" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T14:24:38.533" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T14:48:51.260" Title="Good clean bulking meals" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2014-12-22T14:04:51.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally use it to cool down after getting sweaty. It seems to help normalize my breathing and heartbeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend it over shorter, higher intensity exercises if you want to improve your fitness, as it seems a lot less effective. Just look at many Yoga trainers. Sure they can bend in all sorts of crazy ways, but I've seen a lot of them don't have very lean bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13423" LastEditorUserId="13423" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T14:11:48.050" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T14:11:48.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20961" CreationDate="2014-12-22T14:48:51.260" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would strongly consider dramatically increasing your intake of grass-fed meat. The fat can be good for you. A large grass-fed steak with a side of veggies drenched in butter from grass-fed cows is tremendously delicious, allows for great variety by changing up the choice of veggies, and is powerfully anabolic when eaten in sufficient quantities. Pastured pork can be swapped in for the grass-fed steak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For fat, coconut oil and large quantities of high-quality olive oil (over greens, for instance) should not be overlooked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For carbs, sweet potatoes are an excellent alternative to potatoes. Higher-carb vegetables like carrots and beets are also delicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T14:48:51.260" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16328" CreationDate="2014-12-22T16:16:11.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just started experimenting with chest/back on the same day, and love the intensity. Although because it is time consuming, I've created my routine with chest/back supersets.&#xA;I get a crazy good workout in 1 hour's time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do 3 supersets that looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline dumbbell chest press / superset with Wide Grip Weighted chinups. (both 3x6)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable rows / superset with flat chest flys (3x10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted chest dips / superset with another form of row. (3x8-12)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I've just started introducing a second day of chest/back in my week, with other exercises to target areas I may have missed: pin pulls, hyper extensions, flat dumbbell bench press, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13439" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T06:31:41.800" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T06:31:41.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20965" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-22T17:55:01.553" Score="2" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past couple of months, I have done several tiny improvements to intake lesser calories &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; burn more calories. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breakfast with cereals instead of two multigrain bread slices with Nutella&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;less rice meals in a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;less buns in lunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no chocolate in snacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;only one can of soda per month&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;walking 15 minutes daily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; light exercise (burning 100-200 calories) each day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet I have noticed that I am constantly putting on weight, around 1 lb each month at the minimum. I know that I am not burning 1000 calories per day, but shouldn't I see loosing &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; weight over a period of 4-5 months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I strictly followed my food intake for a given day, it does not exceed 1500&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; calories (maximum).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading the Moses reply, I am adding the image showing my TTDE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8TAfk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;: Estimated by calories' count on food labels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8374" LastEditorUserId="8374" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T21:50:53.477" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T15:11:31.800" Title="Why am I gaining weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20965" CreationDate="2014-12-22T19:11:26.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your list has a lot of &quot;less&quot; but that information is worthless. You could be eating less rice meals but replacing the rice with potatoes or another similar food. It doesn't matter what you are eating &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; of, it matters what you are actually eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get me wrong, cutting out certain items like rice or sodas is a great first step to cutting calories, because they can facilitate overeating. But at the end of the day, it is still totally possible to overeat even without those items in your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose fat, the first step is to calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which represents the total amount of calories your body burns in a 24 hour period. TDEE includes everything from sleeping, light exercising, working, and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a good understanding of what your body burns in a day, the next step is to eat &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; than that amount. By eating fewer calories than your body can burn, you force it to pull from your fat (and muscle) stores to convert them into energy needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I am unfamiliar with your body composition, age, and other relevant statistics, I won't go suggesting a particular calorie deficit for you to use. That being said, anywhere from 100-500 calories deficit per day is a good zone to aim for depending on your particular circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T19:11:26.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2014-12-22T20:53:09.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like it is difficult to pit these two (three) against each other.&#xA;Having practiced yoga for a few years, and recently making the jump into weight training, they are two very different beasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga certainly helps with &lt;strong&gt;Flexibility.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also a highly meditative or spiritual experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another great benefit that can be missed by weight training alone, is the immense control gained by regularly practicing yoga. Training the smaller, stabilizing muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still practice yoga daily. It is how I start my day in fact. Where as I only train at the gym a few times a week. Not to sound too Yogi-esque, yoga is a way of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However most lifters would say the exact same thing about weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to give it a try. If you like it, incorporate it into your weekly fitness routine. Think of yoga as a mental and respiratory work-out more than a strength building exercise (it is though...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13445" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T06:33:28.330" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T06:33:28.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16328" CreationDate="2014-12-22T21:06:00.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of people train with full-body routines. They train legs and shoulders and back and biceps and triceps and all the rest on the same day. It works for many people. It might work for you--or it might not, depending on your specific training level and needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not convinced that recovery has anything to do with whether one hits multiple muscle groups. I think that recovery is a whole-body affair, whereas stimulus can be either whole-body (e.g. burpees) or highly specific (e.g. using a grip trainer). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Split routines, I think (without much evidence), are more about managing stimulus than managing recovery. It can take a lot of time for a big, strong person to really make their back tired. That person might want to devote almost an entire workout to doing so. Other people might be fine with just a half hour of deadlifts and pull-ups for their back, and see results that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T21:06:00.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20965" CreationDate="2014-12-22T21:23:30.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the most common mistakes made by those looking to lose weight is underestimating calorie consumption.  That typically takes the form of underestimating portion size.  In its simplistic form, losing weight is a matter of consuming less calories than you expend.  Yet, how can you ensure that's happening if you guess at what you are eating?  You may think you've consumed no more than 1500 calories, but, have you really?  One of the easiest ways of making sure your diet is true is to record what you eat and drink in a journal, or, a spreadsheet.  Using an &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0679764224&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inexpensive calorie counting table&lt;/a&gt; will provide you with the information you need to get a better approximation for the calories you are consuming.  Updating your journal on a &lt;strong&gt;regular&lt;/strong&gt; basis over a few weeks should shed some light on what you're actually consuming.  In addition, the journal will provide you with the data you need to make any adjustments to your diet.  Having this knowledge will go a long way in assisting you in your weight loss goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T21:23:30.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20965" CreationDate="2014-12-23T04:12:23.490" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to understand that TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is merely an estimate of how many calories your body burns with the level of activity you are performing.  There's a couple things that don't make sense for the TDEE numbers you posted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is only ~1900 calories, but your TDEE is over 2800?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light exercise and 15 minutes walking daily is little better then &quot;sedentary&quot; when you are figuring out your activity multiplier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My estimate is that your TDEE is closer to 2200 calories if your BMR was estimated correctly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Considering even that mistake, it's quite possible your estimated BMR is too high as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see activity multipliers that look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (very light or no exercise, desk job) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moderately active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extremely active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports &amp;amp; physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, almost everyone thinks they are working harder than they really are.  For me, weight lifting 3x a week should be using &quot;Lightly active&quot;.  It's only when I'm doing conditioning and lifting that I should even consider &quot;Moderately active&quot;.  Most people don't have the heart to approach &quot;extremely active&quot; levels.  If you train like Michael Phelps you might consider it.  With the level of exercise you described in your question, I would use &quot;Sedentary&quot; for your TDEE calculations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Estimates only get you close&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is a complex system, and when it is operating properly the old &quot;calories in vs. calories out&quot; model works amazingly well.  However, if your body isn't working properly, then you need more drastic changes to the way you eat or get those issues fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common hormonal causes of weight gain include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thyroid gland isn't working properly.  The hormones from the thyroid regulate the calories you burn.  Make sure you have enough iodine in your diet to keep the gland happy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leptin response is diminished.  Leptin is the hormone that signals that it's time to stop eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insulin resistance.  When you don't put enough demand on your body through exercise, and eat too much, your body can't store the energy in your muscles as glycogen any longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High levels of cortisone.  Stress causes many bad things to happen in your body, among them increased levels of cortisone.  This increases fat storage, and decreases the body's ability to build muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can be any number of other issues that throws your body out of efficient working, including several diseases, pregnancy, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most often the cause is bad estimates or bad counting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth using a tool like &quot;My Fitness Pal&quot; or &quot;My Plate&quot; (livestrong) to tally up all the calories, fat, protein, and carbs you eat.  Log every last thing that passes your lips.  If you eat one mini Reece's peanut butter cup, log it.  Make sure your portions are correct when you log it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time you'll find that you are really eating more than you thought you were.  &lt;strong&gt;Pay attention to labels&lt;/strong&gt;.  You'll find more often than not, a serving size is smaller than the item you purchase.  I've purchased salads only to find out the serving size was not the single salad bowl I purchased, but only 1/4 of that bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You aren't that far off.  Gaining a pound a month would be perfect for strength training.  Dropping a hundred calories off every day will be enough to even it out so you aren't gaining or losing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T04:12:23.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20972" CreationDate="2014-12-23T05:03:23.957" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you work out &lt;code&gt;muscle group A&lt;/code&gt; on one day, and &lt;code&gt;muscle group B&lt;/code&gt; on another day, does &lt;code&gt;muscle group A&lt;/code&gt; benefit from the second workout?  I don't mean overlap (e.g., working nearby muscle groups).  Rather, I'm wondering if things like raising your heart rate when working &lt;code&gt;muscle group B&lt;/code&gt; help improve your recovery for &lt;code&gt;muscle group A&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13449" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T06:24:46.250" Title="Does working other muscles improve recovery?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;recovery-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20971" CreationDate="2014-12-23T06:24:46.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a study floating around that shows muscle increases simply from taking anabolic steroids, with no additional workload. So one would imagine that if you did something to yourself that increased your testosterone and human growth hormone, and had enough protein, you'd get (minute but) similar results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there's any research specifically addressing your question though, and I'd imagine the resulting increases would be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T06:24:46.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-23T09:40:40.450" Score="0" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 19 years old girl. My weight is 37 kg only. My height is 5&quot;3. I am a very slim and skinny girl. My problem is, my breasts are very small or you can say I  have no breasts. I want to gain weight and increase my breasts size by joining a gym . And if possible I also wish to increase my height to 5&quot;6.So I request you to please suggest me what should I do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13452" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T13:36:22.263" Title="incresing weight , breast and height growth" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-01-13T14:28:10.007" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20974" CreationDate="2014-12-23T13:36:22.263" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't increase breast size the way you want it to by going to the gym. Neither can you change your height, basketball is an option for this although you won't increase your height by a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have a nice body by going to the gym though. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13435" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T13:36:22.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20965" CreationDate="2014-12-23T13:45:25.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend you to use the app &lt;code&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/code&gt; (there are other equivalent apps) for a while to see what exactly you are eating. It will show you the calories, proteins, fats, and carbs you are eating daily it is very helpful in my opinion. On top of that if you would show those statistics on here it would be so much easier to help you out, and give you better tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13435" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T13:45:25.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20965" CreationDate="2014-12-23T15:11:31.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't know exactly how many calories you're eating, there's no point.  Estimation isn't enough.  You &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; count calories for every meal, every day.  For all you know, your cereal breakfast might even contain more calories than your bread and nutella.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're gaining weight, it's because you're eating more calories than you burn.  It's that simple.  Set a daily calorie goal (base it on TDEE if you like).  Meet that goal every day for a week or two. If you don't lose weight, drop the goal by 300-500 calories and try again.  Keep reducing your calorie goal until it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T15:11:31.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14111" CreationDate="2014-12-23T18:15:29.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Late response I know but in case you are still experiencing issues with this my experiences with the 5x5 programs may be of help.  I've found that the 5x5 strength training programs are great for someone that is new to weight training or someone that is trying to get back in shape.  But as you progress through the program and your fitness level improves to the point where you are in the intermediate to advanced level in strength as per the weight lifting strength standards charts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&lt;/a&gt;) you should stop the rapid weight increases that are associated with 5x5 programs.  If you continue past a 10 to 12 week cycle without the recommended breaks or off weeks you'll reach a point where the strength of your tendons in the elbows, shoulders, knees, and wrist cannot keep up with the muscle gains.  So even though your muscles can handle the increases in weight being lifted your tendons cannot.  If you are confident that your form is correct then tendon strain may be the reason for your elbow pain.&#xA;Take a week off.  During this week off look into the Wendler 5/3/1 workout or the mad cow type workout programs which are still strength based but have a slower progression as well as a sarcoplasmic hypertrophy component.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hituptony is right.  Once your body size to strength ratio is at a high fitness level you will need to build additional mass to prevent overloading your body with ever increasing weight that is being lifted.  You can do this up to a certain point without getting the bloated bodybuilder look that some people such as myself want to avoid.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm at a happy place regarding the weight that I'm able to lift in all of the main lifts and am no longer striving to always lift more weight.  I've also cut my workouts from 3 days per week down to 2 days per week full body 5x5 workouts which I've found allow for better recuperation between workouts and less over stressing of the joints and tendons.  I'm much stronger than most guys my size and no bloated look.  (I'm 5'9&quot; tall, 175 lbs, and my lifts are: squat-305x5, deadlift-365x4, bench press-210x5, overhead press-155x5, pendelay row-170x5).  Not too shabby for a 45 year old guy with lots of hard miles on his odometer.             &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of lat pain due to squats.  I would suggest that you make sure that your elbows are pointing downward and directly below the bar throughout the lift.  Do not allow your elbows to point rearward during your lifts.  Get your elbows in proper position before starting the lift and make sure to keep them in the same position throughout.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A week off will probably do you some good.  When you return after your week off make sure that your form is spot on for all lifts, not only your squat.  Bench press, rows, overhead press, and deadlifts.  Form should ALWAYS take priority over your ego...ie ALWAYS keep the weight within the limits of good form.  As soon as your form starts breaking down it's time to back off a half turn.  Same goes with pain.  When pains develop outside of normal muscles soreness you should stop lifting until the cause is identified and corrected and the pain is no longer present.  It's better to lose a couple of weeks of gains rather than not be able to workout for several months or longer due to severe injury....not to mention the cost of surgeries and medical bills.&#xA;I suggest that you ignore the &quot;no pain, no gain&quot; mantra and adopt a philosophy of longevity and good health for a lifetime.  There will always be someone bigger and/or stronger than you.  There's no need to try prove me wrong because I know that I'm right.  Always trying to lift heaver and heaver weight without regard for proper form and following the no pain, no gain thing will end up getting you hurt and can result in lifelong injuries that cannot be corrected.  Never ignore aches and pains.  It's your body's way of telling you something is not right.       &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13455" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T18:15:29.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20981" CreationDate="2014-12-23T19:31:55.783" Score="15" ViewCount="1671" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my goal is to burn fat, is it better to do three 15 minute workouts in a day, or one 45 minute continuous workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current plan is: 15 minute jog before work, 15 minutes before lunch, and 15 minutes after work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13456" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T20:24:50.407" Title="For burning fat, is it better to jog for 45 minutes straight, or break them up by 15 minutes, three times a day?" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20980" CreationDate="2014-12-23T19:50:09.180" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question was addressed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8963358&quot;&gt;this randomized control trial&lt;/a&gt; that compared the results of two test groups that worked out 5 days per week: one group did long bouts of exercise (20-40 min per day) while the other did short bouts of exercise (multiple 10 min bouts per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest takeaway from the study was that people were more likely to train when their program is split into smaller doses, rather than one large period. As a result, people on the smaller bout group yielded better results if only because they exercised more overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These results suggest that short-bouts of exercise may enhance exercise adherence. Short-bouts of exercise may also enhance weight loss and produce similar changes in cardiorespiratory fitness when compared to long-bouts of exercise. Thus, short-bouts of exercise may be preferred when prescribing exercise to obese adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T19:50:09.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20950" CreationDate="2014-12-23T23:48:27.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Rather than trying to learn the perfect form for all the exercises at the same time &lt;em&gt;(probably exhausting yourself in the process)&lt;/em&gt;, how about either&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Learning the perfect form for a couple of exercises and repeating those until you can naturally perform them without overly thinking.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Learning the basic form for each exercise and repeating those. After you can naturally perform them, then you work on perfecting the moves.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; This allows you to maintain the flow with little disruptions and more importantly, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;make it fun enough for you to continue.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all, if you exhaust yourself trying to get the perfect form, you might end up quitting the program in frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Don't let Perfect be the enemy of Good.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you keep at it, you'll get better and your form will improve. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Consistency is key!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T23:48:27.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21027" CreationDate="2014-12-24T00:37:44.623" Score="4" ViewCount="5822" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pthaven.com/page/show/161711-apley-scratch-test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apley Scratch Test&lt;/a&gt; (aka zipper test, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/back-scratch.htm#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Back Scratch Test&lt;/a&gt;) involves trying to touch your middle fingers behind your back, with one arm reaching back over the shoulder and the other reaching up from behind. How can I increase shoulder mobility (most likely scapular mobility) to be able to do this? What specific shoulder function is it testing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do it with my right arm, but not my left. Is it possibly a natural shoulder-blade alignment difference from being right-handed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/oIrzR_xru5s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; of me attempting the test. Even through my back hair, you can see my left shoulder blade moves differently right from the start. I believe this is a muscle issue because a muscle activation therapist massaged various muscles and I was able to touch my fingers on the left just as well as on the right... but only during that one session. I have not been able to achieve it with self-massage. Which muscle could be responsible for the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T06:06:13.860" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T06:09:16.000" Title="How can one improve performance on the back scratch test (zipper test)?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16415" CreationDate="2014-12-24T01:06:58.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reasoning behind keeping your shins vertical is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Moving the shin angle to 90 degrees relative to the floor allows the shin bone and the thigh bone to roll atop one another, reducing stress, says physical therapist Dr. Charlie Weingroff. --&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/210666-patellar-tendon-rehab-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LiveStrong.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people probably do this poorly because they haven't learned to &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/establishing-your-drive-train-screening-and-correcting-the-hip-hinge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hip hinge&lt;/a&gt;. I would guess that the more severe your tendonitis, or the more your thigh bone is positioned to create this stress, the more important vertical shins will be. Do your best and use your knee pain as a guide to whether it's good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T01:06:58.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17939" CreationDate="2014-12-24T01:27:42.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The knee is a hinge joint that will never respond well to rotational forces. Gray Cook's &lt;a href=&quot;http://graycookmovement.com/?p=118&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;joint-by-joint&lt;/a&gt; approach to training states that lack of stability in the knee is usually caused by lack of mobility in the ankle. Michael Boyle's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/the_essential_8_mobility_drills&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8 Essential Mobility Drills&lt;/a&gt; suggests placing your toe four inches from a wall, keeping your heel on the floor, and rocking your ankle by touching your knee to different places on the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myself, since it's dancing, I would suspect that you need to be moving your hips as well. Maybe training your hip rotators with clam shells and reverse clam shells. But that might not be how you get a high score.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T01:27:42.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-24T01:39:14.070" Score="2" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the gym today, someone advised me to vary my foot position to better target the different muscles in the calf. Specifically, they advised that I laterally and medially rotate my foot. Intuitively, this seems like a bad idea, since the ankle is most stable when straight. Thus, it would seem, rotating it would put it in a compromised position, conceptually similar to squatting with bowed knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, the specific machine I was using was the inclined leg press machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there actually anything to what they said or is my intuitive reprehension correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T04:25:29.407" Title="Any reason to (or not to) vary foot position in seated calf raise?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13675" CreationDate="2014-12-24T01:42:46.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The resistance generated from bands is very similar to using machines in the gym and I know several people that have built impressive gains on machines only. Just take a look at Hulk Hogan who has built a lot of size using machines exclusively because of all his back injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is resistance is resistance whether it's bodyweight, free weights or bands it doesn't matter. The only reason free weights are so recommended for gains is their ability to quickly change the weight by several pounds or more where as bodyweight  exercises are not (unless you know a great deal about leverage) and the other is accurately measuring your progress by pounds lifted where as bodyweight is a lot more vague. In the case of resistance bands it's somewhere in the middle: the resistance can be very easily changed (sometimes easier than free weights), and progress can certainly be measured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use a system that lets you use multiple bands you can count how many, if you anchor the band to something you can count how many footsteps away you are from the anchor point, or if you shorten the length by stepping on the band or holding it higher up on the band you can mark the exact spot and decrease the length next time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While all these methods aren't as accurate as being able the slap on another 5 pounds exactly onto a barbell knowing you added another band to your bench after decreasing the length on the two bands you were already using is still easily recordable progressive overload and we all know that and a proper diet is all you need for gains to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13459" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-24T17:21:21.983" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T17:21:21.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20930" CreationDate="2014-12-24T03:06:51.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi DoubleDouble,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's this general myth &lt;em&gt;(usually by people who spend countless hours at the gym)&lt;/em&gt; that one needs to visit a gym in order to exercise effectively. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While going to the gym is a good idea, it's not &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;a must.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; It works effectively for some people and not for others. Many people have gotten stronger without stepping into a gym. It seems that it wouldn't work for you; so, no need going to the gym.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;First,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; none of your current exercises &lt;em&gt;(apart from push up)&lt;/em&gt; listed above will provide you the strength you desire; they'll help you burn fat and probably tone up your body, which isn't your goal. Your 10-pound dumbbells won't either &lt;em&gt;(I'm presuming you're an adult male)&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Do You Need?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll put what you need into 3 categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Body-weight exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Strength Training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Intense cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Body-weight Exercises&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are exercises that traditionally rely on your body's weight and not on external weights. Most of these exercises have the added advantage of not requiring much equipment. Also, these exercises can be performed multiple times daily without over-training the muscles. The key to getting strong with bodyweight exercises is increasing the repetitions and/or finding ways to make them more challenging. While there are many of them, you want to start with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push ups:&lt;/strong&gt; In my opinion, you can't be fit without being able to perform at least 30 repetitions in one session. Also, this exercise is very convenient as you can perform it anywhere and without any equipment. &lt;em&gt;(BTW, it's one of the fitness requirements in the military :))&lt;/em&gt; If you can knock out 30 everyday &lt;em&gt;(and increase the repetition as you get stronger),&lt;/em&gt; you'll begin to feel stronger/fit. While there are variations of this exercise, starting with the basic shoulder-width push up is recommended.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pull ups (or chin ups):&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; You'll need an equipment for this; &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001EJMS6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here's a simple equipment that you can place on most door frames&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/59WLg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pull up bar&quot; /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; You're basically lifting your body weight. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You can't perform this exercise with good form periodically without becoming stronger.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Just start with a single repetition and increase the repetitions as you become stronger. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dips:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ijSW3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dip machine&quot; /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; An equipment is recommended for this exercise; you can also use any makeshift equipment such as opposing counter tops. Lastly, it can be performed on a chair; however, it won't be as effective as an equipment that allows you to lift your entire body off the ground. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other exercises such as burpees, crunches, lunges, and bodyweight squats will make your body more fit; you'll feel more agile and quick. There are more bodyweight exercises and you can mix and match as you desire.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Strength Training&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While body weight exercises will make you stronger and fitter than you've ever been, at some point, you'll feel there's a cap to your strength. For example, while you might be able to lift yourself, you might find out you aren't strong enough to lift another adult. Also, most bodyweight exercises will give you a toned, lean, muscular and more defined version of yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the ripped outlook &lt;em&gt;(bigger biceps, triceps, chests, legs, etc)&lt;/em&gt; along with the strength of Superman, you'll have to upgrade to Strength Training. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yup, weightlifting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, you don't need to visit the gym for this; however, you'll need to make a home gym. All you need is a small space and some equipment &lt;em&gt;(if you have an uncluttered garage, that would be perfect; if not, if you can carve out some 20ft X 20ft space, that should work as well)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;For strength, you would want to perform at least these 4 exercises:&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Deadlifts with an Olympic barbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Back Squats with an Olympic barbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Bench Press with an Olympic barbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Overhead Press with an Olympic barbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For routines to follow, I will suggest you check out these two programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program#Three_Flavors_of_Starting_Strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you follow either of those programs properly, you will grow stronger and fitter.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;Those programs don't come with much equipment. Usually, all you need include:&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;One Olympic-size barbell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;A bench for bench pressing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;One lifting rack &lt;em&gt;(for squats and overhead press)&lt;/em&gt;; there are variations based on price and efficiency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Weights (discs); this is probably the only equipment that you might periodically need to purchase &lt;em&gt;(as you grow stronger, you'll need discs with higher weights)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Cardio&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio isn't needed to get stronger; however, it's highly recommended. Sprinting, running, biking, skipping, etc. are examples of exercises that can keep you fit and increase your endurance. Except for perhaps a treadmill or stationary bike, these don't require equipment. You can also forgo those equipment and run/bike outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also worth noting is that as you're consistent with these exercises, you'll grow stronger. None of these will happen overnight. But when they do, you'll be glad you started them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, head over to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Simply Shredded&lt;/a&gt; and get some motivation for getting strong :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Good luck!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T03:06:51.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20986" CreationDate="2014-12-24T04:25:29.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason for that advice may have resulted from a study published in the &lt;em&gt;Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research&lt;/em&gt; in March of 2011.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Riemann, BL, Limbaugh, GK, Eitner, JD, and LeFavi, RG. Medial and&#xA;  lateral gastrocnemius activation differences during heel-raise&#xA;  exercise with three different foot positions. J Strength Cond&#xA;  Res 25(3): 634-639, 2011-Despite little objective support, heel-raise&#xA;  exercises are commonly performed using varying foot positions in an&#xA;  attempt to alter medial (MG) and lateral (LG) gastrocnemius&#xA;  involvement. This investigation compared MG and LG activation during&#xA;  the concentric phase (CP) and eccentric phase (EP) of the heel-raise&#xA;  exercise using neutral (NE), internally rotated (IR), and externally&#xA;  rotated (ER) foot positions. Twenty healthy subjects (10 men, 10&#xA;  women; age = 23.7 ± 3.1 years) with resistance training experience&#xA;  performed free-weight (130-135% body mass) heel-raise exercise on a&#xA;  3.81-cm block. Surface electromyography activity was recorded during 10 repetitions of each foot position. Electromyography activity from 5&#xA;  successful repetitions was normalized to maximum voluntary isometric&#xA;  contraction, ensemble averaged within phase (CP, EP), and the mean&#xA;  amplitude determined. Significant (p &amp;lt; 0.05) muscle-by-foot position&#xA;  interactions were revealed for both phases. The ER position prompted&#xA;  significantly greater MG activation than LG during both phases,&#xA;  whereas the IR position elicited significantly greater LG activation&#xA;  than MG. These data support the notion that altering foot position&#xA;  during heel-raise exercise will prompt varying degrees of MG and LG&#xA;  activation. Although this study cannot predict whether&#xA;  muscle-activation differences between foot positions will translate&#xA;  into greater training adaptations, it does provide some initial&#xA;  objective evidence upon which practitioners can base the selection of&#xA;  gastrocnemius exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.brianschiff.com/?p=877&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog post&lt;/a&gt; does a pretty good job explaining the reasoning and thinking behind that study.  I have only anecdotal evidence, but, I've been a proponent of varying foot placement not only on calf raises, but, on leg extensions as well.  I think if you're careful with your form, you should not have a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T04:25:29.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4666" CreationDate="2014-12-24T06:41:07.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the 1980s when I was in my 30s I was 6-2.5 and 198 and squatted officially with 505 in a contest...NO wraps and NO Steroids!! I later squatted in the gym in slightly below parallel with 545.  I was an Olympic Lifter primarily and my best split C&amp;amp;J was 162.5 kg (358) and snatch 125 kg (275).   So  much for all people who squat well having  big hips and stout builds. Earlier at one time in my career I was 6-2 and 163 lbs but could power clean and jerk 245 on an exercise set--7 foot 1 inch bar. I could also do a full butt to calves front squat with 270 at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most benchers of world caliber are supposed to have huge chests, short arms and large arms....Take a look of Mike McDonald {world record holder multiple times in the bench} in the late 1970s and his arms look almost frail and he used no super-suits or wraps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13464" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T06:41:07.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20936" CreationDate="2014-12-24T14:40:16.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it's best practice to use the ideas and analogies that have been time tested, but it's also important to try to come up with your own. With some insight to how best to communicate with your client, perhaps you are the best compendium after all, however, that would depend on several factors, including knowledge, your client and your own experience in the field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, to the best of my knowledge, there isn't a compendium that revolves around external cuing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8255" LastEditorUserId="8255" LastEditDate="2016-11-09T14:45:26.507" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T14:45:26.507" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22137" CreationDate="2014-12-24T15:40:36.013" Score="2" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscles like your biceps or your quadriceps, the muscles we are used&#xA;  to working out are called skeletal muscles and their contractions and&#xA;  extensions help control our bones. The muscles on our face however,&#xA;  are attached from the bone underneath directly to the skin. This is&#xA;  why and how we can make facial expressions. This is a good thing for&#xA;  our plight because it means that with developing those muscles also&#xA;  comes the potential for tightening the skin around them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://physicalblue.com/how-to-get-a-chiseled-jawline/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://physicalblue.com/how-to-get-a-chiseled-jawline/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that statement correct ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that mean that by doing facial exercise I can tighten the skin around the jaw, given that I don't have fat there and the skin is elastic ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13440" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T19:00:24.980" Title="Facial muscles and tightening the skin" Tags="&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22558" CreationDate="2014-12-24T21:46:25.303" Score="11" ViewCount="10784" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dmitry Klokov, olympic medalist and renowned heavyweight lifter, does something very unusual  with his feet in both the snatch and the clean and jerk.  In the below picture, he can be seen with his left foot opened slightly outward compared to his right foot, as well as positioned slightly forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fo8nK.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in the snatch he can be seen using similar positioning of the feet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CF7bk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all the videos of him lifting, he can be seen using this staggered stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've heard from DPTs that torque is generated from the hips, so the feet should be as straight as possible in squat movements to help induce more rotational torque.  For Klokov, this apparently has not worked best for him.  As a top tier athlete, I'm sure he has access to some of the best trainers in the world.  Wouldn't this be something they would try to condition out of him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NoP43.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As one of the most flexible lifters I've ever seen, I'm sure it's not a mobility issue. What's the deal?  Can anyone explain his foot positioning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T16:40:46.107" Title="Why does Dmitry Klokov stagger his feet?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2014-12-25T00:40:20.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Speed is often confused with anticipation. Players who start to run earlier appear faster.&quot;&#xA;Johan Cruyff quote, European Soccer Player of 20th Century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research documents that in soccer and other &quot;invasion games&quot; like basketball, lacrosse, field hockey, etc. almost all players stare at the player in possession 54 out of every 60 seconds and see teammates, opponents and open spaces for less than 6 seconds. As a result most players are so slow to decide they need to run that they are almost always late and appear slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The responses in this post are based on the father's comment that his daughter appears slow. And while the right running exercises that don't bore a child and/or cause overuse injuries are fine, they may do nothing at all to improve her playing speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scan rate and anticipation are easily taught in a simple sequence. The first exercises are eye movement exercises to improve eye muscle strenght and eye teaming. (left/right, up/down and eye rotation in circle exercises). The second exercises are periodic eye scanning exercises using visual and/or audible cues. The third exercises are 3 verus 3 player games where an audio cue is used to instruct all players to scan for opponents, teammates and spaces and as they do they yell out who is where and by color. Colors in this exercise need to wear very high intensity colored shirts because players react faster and passes to teammates in bright colors are more accurate. Colors that should be used for teaching and learning are 00FF00 neon green, FFFF00 bright yellow, FF00FF bright pink, 00FFFF bright light blue and FF3300 bright orange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research documents that watching SSG (small sided game) videos also improves speed of anticipation in &quot;invasion sports&quot;. In soccer the best videos for girls are watching videos of the Women's Futsal and Futbol Sala World Championships. The game is 5 versus 5 in a very small area and is very fast which forces players to focus and learn. Have player pick one team and each time a player on that team receives the ball hit the || to stop the video. They look and decide what happens next. Repeat start and go through video until it ends. Repeat with same video until player starts to see what will happen next. Both the 2011 Women's Futsal World Cup and 2010 Womens Futbol Sala World Championships can be found on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learning to read patterns in game play, teammate's body language, opponent's body language and to assess opponents strengths and weaknesses can all benefit players ability to scan the field and anticipate. Also picking up tips on what happens most often in game helps. For example most right footed, right handed and right eye dominant players will almost always turn to their right to try to get away from opponents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reserach citations and additional information on scan rate, anticipation, reading the game and learning to make good decisions very quickly is available on request.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The father's observation his daughter appears slow in games may simply be not having learned to read the game, anticipate and to make decisions. Also many girls know what they should do but don't because their parents or coach yell when they make a mistake. Few parents can focus and do their job when interrupted . . . few choldren can focus and learn well when well intentioned adults constantly interrupt them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been a number of suggestions on how to improve running speed in this post. I might add a couple hints&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with your weight up on the balls of your feet. To practice alternately lift heels only of your feet about 60 times a minute at water breaks in practices, while standing in line, in the car to and from, while sitting eating and whenever else you have time. Flat footed players lose focus and appear slow. Players with their weight up constantly adjust to the game.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice accelerating from a push up position with one leg drawn up under you. Most girls try to run straight up too quiuckly and this forces them to lean forward and to drive back so they accelerate faster. First thing to do is video tape the acceleration and view it at home. If the toes get in front of the knee of the front leg the stride is slighty too long and this slows the player down. If the strides are too close and wider stride angle and longer stride will improve acceleration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please excuse the wordy reply but all too often players are slow because the decision to actually do something comes too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13468" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T00:40:20.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-25T09:10:05.120" Score="2" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;What, biologically, is different on a day you smoke cigarettes and then hit the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T09:10:05.120" Title="Effect of smoking cigarettes on performance at the gym" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-01-11T22:44:14.170" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20980" CreationDate="2014-12-25T10:13:03.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.umich.edu/~medfit/resistancetraining/timingiseverything101705.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This source&lt;/a&gt; states that aerobic exercise must be done for longer than a half hour in order to burn fat effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T10:13:03.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20995" CreationDate="2014-12-25T21:05:05.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fixing these kinds of postural asymmetries isn't just a matter of mobility, but of simultaneously tightening up muscles on the other side. This can involve a lot of specialized mobility work along with unilateral corrective strength work. And just like how one a runner &lt;em&gt;increases&lt;/em&gt; their susceptibility to injury in the short term by &lt;em&gt;improving&lt;/em&gt; their running form, attempting to fix a minor stance issue like this might introduce the potential for injury during the transition phase. If the asymmetry isn't causing any trouble, it might be rational to merely keep it from getting worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely that fixing this just isn't a priority for him and his coaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-12-25T21:52:01.850" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T21:52:01.850" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2014-12-25T21:43:43.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was briefly touched on in another answer, but it really comes down to fundamentals. Too often we think we can just throw a kid into a sport and expect a certain level of performance when the reality is they'll still be developing neuromuscular movement patterns. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number one thing you could do for your kid is focus on fundamental movement patterns. Marching, skipping and bounding are going to do more for your child than anything else in this developmental stage. If they can't march well, whether that be laterally or linearly, then we can't expect them to run well either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And stay away from fast footwork. Agility drills are notorious for making soccer players move their feet fast but not their bodies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T21:43:43.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-26T00:42:08.410" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 95kg, 195cm tall. Aiming to lose some fat, eating &amp;lt; 50g carbs a day.&#xA;I know I need fat to generate ketones for healthy brain function, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should I avoid eating fat so that my body uses my own stored bored fat to generate glucose or should I still eat fatty foods? (coconut oil, nuts, fat from steak etc...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! (O.o)/&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12245" LastEditorUserId="12245" LastEditDate="2014-12-26T00:50:12.083" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T06:14:35.883" Title="To lose fat in ketosis should I avoid fatty foods?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;brain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-04-24T08:13:11.383" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21001" CreationDate="2014-12-26T01:08:31.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I disagree with taking on a low carb diet (with special medically advised exceptions), I'd advise you to absolutely consume fat, particularly healthy plant based fats, like nuts and avocados.  Avoid animal based fats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat will be your primary energy source if you're trying to induce ketosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But once again, there are far more effective ways of changing your body composition, and realistically speaking, are you willing to eat like that the rest of your life? Otherwise it's simply temporary, and why would you put yourself through the hassle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T01:08:31.633" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13616" CreationDate="2014-12-26T13:30:02.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;82% of all ankle issues in soccer are inversions sprains (rolling the ankle inward). The most common are the non-contant inversions sprains that come from uneven surfaces, seams in turf fields, etc. While many clubs worldwide for decades used taping to minimize sprains in elite professional players, conditioning is now recommended by FIFA's medical committee. Don Kirkendall from North Carolina is the resident expert here in the United States who serves on the U.S. and FIFA Medical Committees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The FIFA 11+ training exercises are recommended for adult players and with some modifications for youth players. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://f-marc.com/11plus/exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://f-marc.com/11plus/exercises/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FIFA also recommends the &lt;strong&gt;balance board and wobble board exercises on page 16&lt;/strong&gt; of the following document to strengthed the ankles and connecting tissue &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/footballdevelopment/medical/59/78/19/ffb_gesamt_e_20035.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/footballdevelopment/medical/59/78/19/ffb_gesamt_e_20035.pdf&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;Board exercises are also very useful in preventing knee issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an ankle absolutely needs to be taped a better solution is a well fitted ankle brace. The issue with tape is after 15 minutes it starts to loosen and does not provide the same benefit for the entire playing time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13468" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T13:30:02.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4568" CreationDate="2014-12-26T15:35:02.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The short answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither site is very reliable for how many calories you actually burned since none tracks your heart rate and their methods of measuring distance are not necessarily reliable. You will have to guess based on how hard you felt you worked out. It's probably closer to what runkeeper gave you, if I were to guess without knowing your level of fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The long answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burning calories is very individual and one's metabolism can't be guessed by those sites. Heart-rate does give a somewhat good indication of how hard you're working out, but it still doesn't tell us how your metabolism actually work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why GPS and Maps may be bad&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost; GPS is not very accurate and thus the route can be very different from what you actually run (the more expensive the GPS the more accurate the result) and the GPS doesn't know if you're running on a flat, inclined or declined surface. You could run up a mountain and the GPS wouldn't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maps may also be the same as the GPS on the point that it may not account for the hills, and the distance can thus also be distorted, though it is my opinion that maps are more accurate than GPS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why heart-rate monitoring is good&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could run X km in XX time, but depending on your level of fitness, you will work differently hard and burn differently many calories. Tracking your heart-rate as far as I know the best way of measuring how much you're burning since it measures how intensely you're working out. You can then make an assumption based on the average person and perhaps modify the calorie count according to your metabolism. If you have a fast one you may wanna add a few calories and subtract a few from the norm if your metabolism is slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13472" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T15:35:02.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21009" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-26T23:23:20.527" Score="5" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the weird title, I could not find a better way to phrase it. Also not the best in english, but I will try my best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me:&#xA;23 years old&#xA;Male&#xA;178~ cm&#xA;82kg&#xA;20%+ bodyfat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a quick history about me, since that will be very relevant to my question, I will make it quick as possible, I promise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Overweight from childhood until age 16, where I was at 120kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Lost 50kg from age 16 to 17, via horrible starvation (literally eating around 300-500 calories, almost no protein)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Could not maintain of course, but wanted to get leaner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Continued to try so with the extreme approach, having no idea of anything. Ended up binge eating and getting psychological issues because of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Cared about nothing and went full 'self destruction' mode&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Went from 70kg to 140kg from age 17-19, mostly started with creating the habit to binge (by dieting that extreme) + psychological feeling completely defeated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Stayed at that weigh from age 19 to age 20&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Realized that this was no way to live, went with an extreme diet again from age 21 to age 22, all was going well until I hit around 90kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-There the extreme approach was just not working again and I developed binge eating once again, which ended in a horrible cycle of extreme restriction and then binge eating&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Still managed to get down to 75kg, by continued extreme dieting. By that time I was using PSMF, so it was more 'smart', still had a lot of binges, but I got down that lean and was reasonably lean (something like 15-17%). I reached the 75kg around 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-From there on I could not maintain once again of course and kept on yoyo-dieting, now I'm up to 82kg. 8 weeks ago I upped calories and went with a smaller deficit(500-1000 maybe), still could not really maintain that. Was frustrated and went with PSMF again after 4 weeks at a smaller deficit + overeating. Did that for 2 weeks, realized I just could not do this anymore, and it was getting me nowhere. That was 4 weeks ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-4 Weeks ago I upped calories to around maintenance, the first 2 weeks I was actually under it I think. For the last 2 weeks, I have been eating several days over maintenance (think 2000-3000 calories over) and some days just around it. I just could not take the hunger anymore. This is going on until today, and I'm afraid I have done some serious damage to my hormones, appetite etc. by my history. I still have the urge to overeat on most days, even though I have been in a 14,000 calorie surplus in the last 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the question and the Issues:&#xA;How can I recover my metabolism without getting fat again? So I can smartly set up an approach to get to a healthy bodyfat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is clearly to get to a healthy bodyfat, but as of right now, my hunger still seems elevated, and I have to honestly say, this is really overwhelming and scary to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I has GREATLY improved in the last 2 weeks, I have better well-being, not cold all the time, actually feel like I'm alive and I don't have the urge to have anything like those 10,000 calorie binges anymore, BUT at the same time, I was in a surplus of around 14,000 calories in the last 2 weeks. I'm far from 'recovered' I think, but gained noticeable fat. Was at 78kg 4 weeks ago, now at around 82kg, water was gained too, but fat also, no doubt. &#xA;I'm afraid I will have to get more fat to recover properly, but this thought does seem not right to me, since I'm already at a unhealthy bodyfat and I frankly don't want to get fatter, since that can't be good (physiological and of coursy psychological too)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I was thinking to recover my hormones to a healthy baseline and then continue to diet, this time smartly, with a very small deficit, refeeds, breaks etc. I count calories too, have been doing so for the last 3 years almost. Lifting for around 1 year now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you guys go into this? What do you think about my case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't expect anyone to have read what I just wrote, it got much longer than I wanted, and I can totally understand if you don't feel like taking the time to read all this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very grateful for anyone that is willing to help here, since I feel very alone on this and overwhelmed right now, because it does cause me quite a bit of stress I have to admit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13474" LastActivityDate="2014-12-28T04:45:50.460" Title="Lost 60kg, went too extreme and caused damage? Feeling overwhelmed" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21009" CreationDate="2014-12-27T01:09:15.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you have experienced, going to extremes does not end well and can be very dangerous to your body (not to mention your mind and spirit). Luckily for you, you very clearly have the desire to get better, all you need is a healthy and sustainable framework for you to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 1: Set Your Expectations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step in losing fat and getting healthy is setting proper expectations. You are not going to become skinny overnight, and in fact you don't want to have that kind of drastic change. Willpower is a finite resource, and as you've seen if you try doing too much at once you lose your willpower and end up accomplishing nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sustainability&lt;/strong&gt; should be your core focus to prevent your &quot;yoyo-dieting&quot; and ensure you adhere to your new lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 2: Eat Healthy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When approaching food don't think in terms of diet but rather lifestyle. &lt;strong&gt;To be healthy you must live healthy.&lt;/strong&gt; A key concept to understand when &quot;dieting&quot; is that it is significantly harder to overeat healthy food in comparison to junk food. A banana and apple will fill you up and give you nutrition while a soda will be empty calories that do nothing to quench your hunger. Simply by virtue of eating healthier foods it will be harder for you to overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stick to the staples like fruits, veggies, dairy, lean meats, fish, and other good stuff like nuts. Also, drinking lots of water can help manage hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want make sure you always have healthy food around so you don't have an excuse to eat unhealthy. Keep some food in your car like nuts, water, canned food, or protein powder; these will help hold you over if you ever get a hankering for fast food while out of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can count calories that's great (I never have the willpower to track that). Track your calories consumed and compare that against your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) to see whether you are actually eating more or less than you should be. Again, try doing something small (like 100-200 calories under) until you are adjusted to the new routine and feel comfortable going beyond that (but again, always be conservative so don't go too far below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 3: Exercise&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start small and try to do just one healthy activity each day. Even something as small as just one pushup or a few jumping jacks. The goal here is trying to get you accustomed to physical exercise as part of a daily routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do your current workout alongside your diet, then by all means do that, but at a minimum you want to at least do something small each day, no excuses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 4: Motivate Yourself&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want to have some measures in place to give you motivation and willpower as you embark on your journey. Reward yourself for sticking to your program. Set (realistic/sustainable) goals and try to reach them. Find a person in your life who can hold you accountable to your actions, and maybe even join you in your new program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you eat healthy and exercise, good things will happen. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is your new lifestyle, so be sustainable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start small so you don't overwhelm your body trying to do too much at once.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep up motivation through goal-setting, rewards, and having accountability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastEditorUserId="1803" LastEditDate="2014-12-27T01:14:41.693" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T01:14:41.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21011" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21012" CreationDate="2014-12-27T04:28:55.527" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for sources where I can get information on design of exercise routines, specifically information that has good scientific backing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ultimate goal is to design an exercise routine that has an aerobic component, aimed at increasing my cardiovascular health and endurance potential, as well as an strength/power component.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've been exercising in such a way that I follow a 10 day cycle, every other day I run 30 minutes, and on the adjacent days I weight lift, alternating 5 different muscle groups (legs, arms, chest/abs, back, shoulders). The weight lifting is structured in such a way that if I do arms on one day, the next time I train my arms will be at the beginning of the next cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My worry about this exercise regime is that it's not optimally designed. I don't think I'm utilizing effects such as supercompensation or other effects I might not know about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other issues I'm worried about are a lack of plyometrics or stability muscle exercises, which may be useful day to day and important not to forget about. Or whether or not I'm resting enough during my work outs and between the work outs themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, I want a work out routine that utilizes the time I put into it best (towards my goals), while minimizing the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13475" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T08:07:56.220" Title="Intelligently/Optimally Designed Exercise Routines (Sources and Information)" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21011" CreationDate="2014-12-27T08:07:56.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of programs are &quot;scientifically based&quot;. That doesn't mean that looking for &quot;scientifically based&quot; programs is a good way to find a program that works well for you. Most quality, applicable strength and conditioning research is done with athletes, sports teams, and gyms--not generally in universities or by people who write their results up in a scientific journal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the science anyway, start by reading Practical Programming by Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore (or Andy Baker? the second author changes by edition). Supertraining is another scientific strength-and-conditioning powerhouse, and I like the enormous number of studies cited in detail in The Science of Sports Training by Tom Kurz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Your routine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's critique your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running 30 minutes consistently provides a consistent stimulus. Your body is probably used to this and isn't getting the same benefit as when you first started. Why not try fartleks, or sprints, or occasionally running longer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternating muscle groups is known as a &quot;split&quot; lifting program. Colloquially, it's a &quot;bro-split&quot;, since it's so common among bodybuilding bros. It doesn't sound like you want to bodybuild, so why not try a whole-body routine, such as 5/3/1 or a Starting-Strength-like program of squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and presses? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the literature, plyometrics are generally not recommended before achieving rather high levels of strength. I don't see the need for you to do them. As for stability muscle exercises, using free weight exercises like barbell squats, overhead presses, and so on should cover the bases. If you want to go further, look into Olympic lifting (snatch and clean-and-jerk). If what you mean instead is that you want to do joint prehab work in order to prevent injury, then yoga is a good choice, as is finding specific mobility and strength issues and addressing them directly. &quot;Stability&quot; work often devolves into useless silliness like curling while on a bosu ball--avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T08:07:56.220" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3095" CreationDate="2014-12-27T17:53:29.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding this answer just in case another person stumbles across it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing &lt;strong&gt;weighted pullups&lt;/strong&gt;, it becomes pretty important to keep your back straight. Your body tends to whipsaw around a bit when you're doing pullups fast, and the added weight dangling off your waist can pull and yank on your back in un-fun ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep the weight dangling from a chain, I find it pretty handy to keep the weight close to your body to minimize the whipsaw effect. This kind of distance has the thing flying all over the place:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aEs5T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Versus this one, where the weight is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vertically closer to his waist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;braced by his hips and knees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;because the weight is braced, you need to have a tight lower back and hips to maintain pressure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/haliy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your goals, once you can do ~10 regular pullups, consider adding some weight. I'm always scratching my head and people who do all kinds of cable and machine work and leave out weighted pullups (and dips). They are phenomenal compound exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T17:53:29.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21009" CreationDate="2014-12-28T04:38:17.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dear friend, it sounds like you are suffering from bulimia. Even if you are not, you will need to steer up your mind. Breaking habits require &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; of self discipline, which will be near impossible when you're already weak from your other psychological issues. This is not criticism, it's just how things are, and when the mind isn't well, neither is the body, and a body that isn't well won't function as it should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should look into a dieting program that involves mental training; where they help you build yourself and deal with why you're so weak to food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of small tips to treat hunger or &quot;hunger&quot; as it isn't actual hunger you feel when you've already eaten yet still crave more, but they will be useless if you don't have the mental strength, which is why I recommend one of those dieting programs with mental training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat a varied diet&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malnutrition happen even if your calorie count is right if you don't eat all the things you need, and malnutrition will not only make you prone to storing more fat, it'll make you ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't starve yourself&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starvation may seem to work since you lose weight fast, but as you've also begun to realize, it does damage to your body. Not only will you eat the fats under your skin; you will eat the fats in your brain. It makes you malnourished as there are a lot of nutrients we can't store and need to consume daily, and when you finally do start eating, your body will store everything it can to not die when that starvation happens again. (Your body is assuming it will).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To lose excess body-fat there's no substitute for physical exercise.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work with the reasons behind why you binge eat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make yourself unable to binge&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't buy things to binge, shop for your daily needs every day if you must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pointers on coming back to eating from heavy starvation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Setting your psychological issues aside, when you have been starving yourself it is a natural reaction to binge and &quot;fill up the reserves&quot;. Even if you eat normally for a +-0 effect on your weight, you will still gain weight. You have to accept that fact and wait it out. After about a month you can on top of eating normally begin to do some kind of exercise for at least 30 min/day. You need to increase the exercise, not decrease the food intake if you eat normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking your psychological issues into account, you have to remember that it's not the end of the world when you have an episode. Just keep at your dietary plan and exercise routine and remember to praise yourself whenever you resist temptation or just for being strong enough to have gone another day without binging. You can't make excuses for yourself, but you can praise yourself for what you do well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General tips to conquer the &quot;huger&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A tablespoon full of honey a day is a thing I use myself. Honey is a superfood and is very nutritious, but it also makes you feel more stuffed and not as hungry. But it only works if you follow the following point as well:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cut out the sugar. Read the labels of your food and try to eliminate all foods with added sugars. Ketchup is a less known sugar bomb, all white breads are sugary and a lot of darker ones too; read the labels if you still want to eat bread. No candy, no sweets, no nothing with added sugars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink more water. A lot of times, the feeling of &quot;hunger&quot; is directly related to thirst. Drinking a lot of water is important and it should be your beverage of choice if you want to lose weight. Water also helps to fill up the stomach, neutralizing the stomach acids that may also make you feel &quot;hungry&quot; because your belly is empty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snack on whole-grains and fiber rich foods. Oatmeal especially takes a while to digest and will make your stomach busy, if you suffer from feeling of the stomach being empty. You don't need to eat a lot of it, and it will keep your belly running until the next meal. Possibly, you'll even want to eat less during that meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't eat with your eyes. &quot;Eating with your eyes&quot; is an expression for when you use your eyes or your perceived hunger to fill up your plate. Your meal shouldn't exceed the size or one and a half of your fist. (Unless you're having a salad or soup). Take small portions and have seconds instead of getting one big plateful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat slowly. It is estimated that it takes about 15-25 minutes for the belly to actually register that you've had enough. Chewing your food properly will stimulate your brain and make it easier on your digestive system to absorb the nutrients.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13472" LastEditorUserId="13472" LastEditDate="2014-12-28T04:45:50.460" LastActivityDate="2014-12-28T04:45:50.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-28T05:09:50.153" Score="4" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Earlier I used to do regular pushups about 30-40 and was able to perform about 5 chinups everyday. I left training for a while and then for the past few weeks started training with 10kg dumbbells. About 40 hammer curls and another 40 unilateral curls once or twice a week. Now I definetly have more defined upper arms than before but I can't perform even a single chinup even  4-5 days after workout. I don't take supplements but do believe I have my fill of protein from eggs etc. I don't feel any damage in my muscles or any other hamper so can't understand the reason. My weight have been constant throughout ie 65kgs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13481" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T17:15:59.907" Title="Weird result of working biceps and triceps? strength depeleting?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-28T09:38:10.740" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad is 60 years old. I have never played any kind of sports for 30 years. &#xA;However, he's working with geography and sometimes (maybe a week per month) he has to hike in the jungle as a part of his job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, a heart doctor prescribed medication for him. He now takes a heart pill every morning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, he told me he wants to play badminton with me. This is the 1st time he played sports. So we played for 30 minutes. Then suddenly he felt tired and he sat down. Then, right at that time, I saw he fell asleep. I tried to call him but he didn't wake up. So I rushed out and call an ambulance, but my dad suddenly woke up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He just passed out for 5 minutes. He told me that his doctor said he should do the walking exercise only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is that &quot;Is badminton too much for 60-year old person?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &quot;What should I do now?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell him to stop playing badminton&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell him to do the walking exercise only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very worried for him. I thought he could have a stroke. I thought since he took the heart pills everyday, that could help him recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13483" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T07:24:14.053" Title="60-year old dad passes out after 1/2 an hour of badminton" Tags="&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-12-29T15:36:42.073" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21016" CreationDate="2014-12-28T16:35:59.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to break down a few things first which I think might help to explain what I think is going on with your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, great work on starting with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chinups&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWPullup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pullups&lt;/a&gt;. They are a terrific compound exercise that works basically everything from your mid back to your fingers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bicep curls on the other hand are maybe not &lt;em&gt;the most&lt;/em&gt; absurd exercise, but when you combine &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/5-best-biceps-exercises-for-size.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;their popularity&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ArmWt.html#anchor1910925&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the various types of them&lt;/a&gt;, and the countless gym-goers that spend inordinate amounts of time curling, bicep curls really do take the prize for silliness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise and adaptation is specific: you spent a few weeks (the time since your last chinup) not exercising your back in any great degree (based on what you wrote), so it makes sense that your body would have realized it doesn't need that strength anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;normal&quot; amount of chinups/pullups that are recommended for a young-ish healthy male is about 3 sets of 12 reps. Do 12, wait a minute or two, 12 more, rinse/repeat until you get to 3 sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I would highly recommend ditching your curls and spending more time back on the simple pullup bar&lt;/strong&gt;. I haven't (happily) done a curl in over five years and my arms are plenty big enough. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/21014/7091&quot;&gt;The secret is weighted pullups&lt;/a&gt;. Once you can do your 3 sets of 12, try to do 3 sets of 5 weighted. As much weight as you can handle for five reps. Every week, crank up the weight a tiny bit. Favor &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/WtUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chinups&lt;/a&gt; (with your hands facing you), as they tend to target your biceps a bit more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pullup/chinup is, quite frankly, a superior all around exercise that does more for your body, has less chance of causing elbow tendinitis, and no one will confuse you with being one of the know-nothings just curling away watching ESPN in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work your way up to doing chinups with 90lb's of plates dangling from a chain, your arms will look like bazookas and you'll have never needed to spend a minute doing curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2014-12-28T16:35:59.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21016" CreationDate="2014-12-29T03:24:56.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would definitely agree with Eric, and I would have added on to his comment but I'm new on here :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're isolating and smashing your biceps several times a week you should ask yourself if you're giving yourself ample time to fully recover - I had a similar problem in years gone by but I was also making it worse because my body was building up a kind of tolerance to exercises that I was repeating over and over again. Essentially I was becoming better at performing &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; exercise, but it wasn't giving me an overall benefit. That's why I advocate compound exercises, or mixing up routines - I won't just focus on my biceps for 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple more things... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While chinups do use chest you're mainly targeting your arms (triceps and forearms as well as biceps), your shoulders and your back. It could be you've gained mass in your chest and arms and you need to compensate for that - you're heavier than you used to be. I find chinups as well as dip reps can fluctuate a lot depending on how heavy you are, whether that's muscle mass or fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try doing some seated and / or upright rows to strengthen your shoulders and back or, if you want to burn fat and increase your cardio resistance, jump on the rowing machine and alternate the intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't obsess over protein too much - obviously it's important but good quality carbs are so often neglected these days. You're going nowhere without decent carbs - that's the fuel powering your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements do help, but &lt;em&gt;nothing&lt;/em&gt; will beat a good quality diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13488" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T03:24:56.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21024" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21026" CreationDate="2014-12-29T07:22:21.353" Score="2" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to understand the reason for the angle in plie/sumo squat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s0Hzm.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where I think I get more angle than the girl &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYgLsspWVcI&amp;amp;t=5m13s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can cause the angle in sumo squat? Is it due to poor hips flexibility and/or groins flexibility?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2014-12-29T17:51:12.230" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T17:51:12.230" Title="Not straight angle in Sumo/Plie squat hinting of inflexibility in groins, hips, back or elsewhere?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21017" CreationDate="2014-12-29T07:24:14.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Badmintion is not inherently &quot;too much&quot; for a 60-year old male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, your father has a known heart condition and apparently has not exerted himself in sports before this event. I generally agree with the MD's suggestion. If your father wants to be more physically active than he currently is, he should speak with his doctor who knows all of his medical conditions -- my advice would be very different if he has congestive heart failure or another cardiac disorder such as dysrhythmias.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In turn, you should support the doctors recommendations. Push the walking; resist the badminton. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But be encouraged that he did not have a stroke (by definition he could not have had one). I cannot say with any certainty, but my best guess would be his blood pressure dropped a little too low and his body did responded by passing out to reestablish an appropriate oxygen flow to his brain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13491" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T07:24:14.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21024" CreationDate="2014-12-29T08:47:06.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found plie squat kind of deceiving because watching someone do it from the front makes it looks like their legs are near 180, but every instruction I found online has you put your feet out at 45-degree angles. I'm not sure it's necessary to do more even if you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T08:47:06.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20983" CreationDate="2014-12-29T14:57:02.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember training myself to get a better extension on this when I was learning yoga as a child. The simplest way to train for it is to practice it. If you are able to link your hands, either with a hand clasp or with your fingertips, you can gently increase tension that way. If you are not yet flexible enough, dangle a scarf from the upper hand and catch hold of it with the lower hand. As with any stretch, apply enough tension as to feel the stretch, but not so much that you injure yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also individually train either arm from either position, getting it into general position and then using the other hand to gently push up or down at the elbow to get it more into position. As before, be careful to not apply too much pressure. Shoulders can be a amazingly fragile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, the book I learned the stretch from identified it as the &quot;cow pose&quot;. That's generally used for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogaoutlet.com/guides/how-to-do-cat-cow-pose-in-yoga&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;something entirely different&lt;/a&gt;, the counter-position to the Cat Pose, but it does exist under the name of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/cow-face-pose/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cow Face&lt;/a&gt; pose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T00:01:55.460" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T00:01:55.460" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-29T17:05:38.423" Score="6" ViewCount="1859" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for the details of the muscle workouts that Mike Tyson was doing when he was training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to know what muscle groups he was concentrating on, and what workouts he was doing for those muscles, and the routine of these workouts. Daily scheduling would be nice as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13493" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2014-12-29T21:56:09.587" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T21:44:31.103" Title="What kind of muscle workout was Mike Tyson was doing?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21028" CreationDate="2014-12-29T17:49:04.967" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've gathered in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/life/sports/exclusive-video-mike-tyson-reveals-his-typical-boxing-training-regimen&quot;&gt;various interviews&lt;/a&gt;, it looked a bit like this. He would have huge peaks when he was getting ready for a big fight. This is what he reported doing &lt;em&gt;daily&lt;/em&gt;, his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodhizone.com/articles/Sport%20Specific%20Training?p=1/128&quot;&gt;average training time coming in at 55 hours per week&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 4 miles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk 10 miles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&gt; 2,000 (decline) sit ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&gt; 500 push-ups. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&gt; 500 shrugs with a 30 kg barbell &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He would do his run, eat breakfast, and fall back asleep. Then he'd spend the rest of the day doing calisthenics, sparring, bag work, and eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of Tyson's training was at the hands of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cus_D%27Amato&quot;&gt;Cus D'Amato&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=cus%20d%27amato%20training%20routine&amp;amp;oq=cus%20D%E2%80%99Amato%20t&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.4112j0j4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot;&gt;you can read up more on the training plans he had for his fighters&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T17:49:04.967" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18384" CreationDate="2014-12-30T03:41:02.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;if weight loss is your goal then it really does not matter as weight loss is all about HOW MUCH or how many total calories you eat but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eating before may give you an energy boost to work harder and longer resulting in more calorie burn or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can NOT eat before workout and burn more fat since your body has to rely on that for energy instead of the carbs/calories you just ate so again with that said..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it doesnt matter WHEN but how much you eat overall for the day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T03:41:02.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21032" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-30T04:46:03.717" Score="9" ViewCount="2209" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off: I do not have access to a gym, nor do I have any money to buy any equipment. I own a pilates ball, a cheap-crap &lt;a href=&quot;http://images.biltema.com/PAXToImageService.svc/product/medium/2000033696&quot;&gt;cross-trainer&lt;/a&gt; and a yoga mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there's anyone on here who can give me some good advice but I thought I'd at least try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a pear-shaped body and pretty wide hips, and for some reason all the classic positions for butt work-outs (like squats, running in stairs or walking in hills &lt;em&gt;god knows how many videos and tutorials I've followed&lt;/em&gt;) just don't work on me, its as if the but can't be arsed in those poses  no matter how I angle, tense or don't tense the hips and glutes. So far I've only found one thing that seems to touch the butt is a self-madeup version of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://reneemullingslewis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/bridge.jpg&quot;&gt;bridge&lt;/a&gt; where I spread my legs as far apart as I can and more or less dry-hump the ceiling. But as you all know, doing just one pose won't really be all that great...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any pose you can pull off of google I have already tried and am using variously in my exercises. Variations of the poses like the example I gave with the bridge, I welcome.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Heck, I've even tried twerking.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any women out there with the same issue as me who knows any good poses or variations that might work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What my exercise is trying to achieve&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the case of flat ass from lack of activation butt. I have huge calves and tighs from my attempts, but no butt. So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shaping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Building&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking to boost the size, I just want my butt to stop reaching for my knee-pits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13472" LastEditorUserId="13472" LastEditDate="2014-12-30T22:56:09.630" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T08:42:52.100" Title="How to activate glutes on a pear?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21016" CreationDate="2014-12-30T14:08:42.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you could do 5 chin-ups 4 months ago, then didn't work out for &lt;strong&gt;three months&lt;/strong&gt;, then you started doing curls, I think you just got weaker from not working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curls won't necessarily improve your pull-up performance dramatically. 10kg dumbbells are way, way lighter than you are, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be able to do pull-ups, do pull-ups. The definition in your arms has very little to do with your ability to do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T14:08:42.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14455" CreationDate="2014-12-30T14:35:02.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As protein's a major requirement for bodybuilding vegetarians and vegans will naturally place a limit on the variety of nutrients available to them. I get my protein from multiple sources, meat, fish, dairy, supplements etc. That said it's not impossible to gain mass, you just need to seek out the right foods, but I would expect it would likely take longer to achieve results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soy has a mixed reputation as a good quality protein source. Some folks in the bodybuilding community don't rate it, I do, but I have it as part of a mixed protein diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quorn is good, I prefer the meat substitute over the poultry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things to consider - Nuts, nut butters, seeds (hemp &amp;amp; chia), grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dairy milk substitutes: almond, coconut, rice &amp;amp; soy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplement wise, there's quite a few to go at but I like pea protein the best, by quite some distance. Other notables are rice, soy and hemp protein powders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget it's not all about protein for gaining mass, good carbs &amp;amp; fats are just as important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13488" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2014-12-30T14:39:46.510" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T14:39:46.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21032" CreationDate="2014-12-30T20:17:31.047" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to the community!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you may know, the glutes are the largest and most powerful muscles in the human body.  Some exercises, if performed with proper form, simply can't be done without major glute activation.  Based on your complaints, here are a few of things I've identified that are standing in the way of you getting the results you want with your glutes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;1. Poor muscle recruitment&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start here.  I'm saying this because you mentioned that you have big quads and calves from working hard on the lower-body.  What this tells me is that you don't have a strong mind-muscle connection with your glutes. This is called a neuromuscular recruitment pattern, which basically means you use your quads to do most of the work because that's how you've developed.  This is really common.  Just google &quot;quad dominant squatting&quot; or &quot;squat glute activation&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fix involves learning how to use your glutes.  Recruitment patterns develop over thousands and thousands of iterations.  You'll need to spend some time doing movements that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; activate your glutes, but actually concentrate on activating them.  You'll have a tendency to revert to your habitual (incorrect) form, so you'll need to be diligent in letting yourself start from scratch.  To do this, we need to put a stop to the anterior pelvic tilt.  This is super common with people who spend most of their time sitting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OfBaZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squats, push your knees out as wide as you can at the bottom. Always keep pushing your knees out throughout the movement.  Keep your feet pointing as straight as possible.  Keep your chest up.  Keep your heels on the ground.  Drop your butt right between your feet.  We are trying to keep the pelvis as level as possible and those cues will help.  A professional ballet dancer told me once (referring to the pelvis almost as a bowl of water): &quot;don't let it spill out.&quot;  You'll find that to maintain this, you'll need to keep the abdominals as tight as possible.  This form will keep the torque and tension in your posterior chain.  Personally I've found that squeezing my butt as hard as I can at the top of each squat (or deadlift for that matter) also helps me keep the muscle in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;2. Poor stimulation for muscle growth&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stairmasters, yoga, air squats, running, etc. won't put size on your butt.  In fact, they'll probably take size off of your butt.  You want to build muscle. Nothing builds muscle better than five sets of 10 difficult reps.  We can do air squats until the cows come home, but there's just not enough stimulation for muscle growth.  Pick up a barbell, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoZWgTrZLd8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;learn to squat&lt;/a&gt;, and do five sets of 10 reps three times a week. Put more weight on the bar as often as possible. You should be nearing failure on your 10th rep every set.  You will have a huge butt in 12 weeks.  I &lt;strong&gt;guarantee&lt;/strong&gt; it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ntspM.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/gallery/OVsweJd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a barbell.  No smith presses, leg presses, machines, quarter squats, barbell pads, dumbbell alternatives, etc.  A squat is the most essential physical movement, so invest some time to learn how to do it.  Nothing will yield better results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;3. Unrealistic expectations&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bridges, planks, walking up hills, and other fancy things are nowhere to be found in the realm of big booty.  Outstanding results require outstanding effort.  The women I've seen with the best bodies are the ones who are doing barbell lunges across the gym and bulgarian split squats like it's their job.  You need to have the expectation that you will not be able to walk down the stairs after your workout.  That's where muscle is built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Finally&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize you said you don't have access to a gym or equipment.  I think this sort of relates to your unrealistic expectations.  Just as you can't expect to be good at fly fishing without a fishing pole, you can't expect to bodybuild without weights. If you absolutely can't spare the money for the weights or a gym membership, you can do things such as craft atlas stones or dumbbells from concrete, or forage for heavy rocks, or use logs or something.  It's possible, I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can provide a good deal of stimulation to your muscles with body weight exercises such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSingleLegSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pistol squat&lt;/a&gt;, but you shouldn't expect to get very good results from this.  Without weight, I wouldn't expect to get a butt.  You might expect to lose bodyfat to reveal the butt you currently have, but without leaving your comfort zone, your results probably won't be very significant.  I'm not saying it's not possible, and that you should be completely disheartened, but just throwing a gym bag in your car and stopping at a gym a few times a week on your way home from work, to me, seems much more practical.  You could start seeing results like those pictured above in a matter of weeks rather than struggling with inferior methods at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2014-12-30T20:36:37.127" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T20:36:37.127" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21032" CreationDate="2014-12-31T08:42:52.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to &quot;turn your pear (shaped behind) into a sweet tight peach,&quot; as Callan Pinckney puts it, you may find Callanetics or Pure Barre helpful. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5447/what-can-i-do-to-tone-up-my-bottom/5497#5497&quot;&gt;See this q/a&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises use small repetitive isometrics that give a higher more compact buttocks. They also target the core muscles. Here is an example of one of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja0AAXg3Rnk&amp;amp;feature=plcp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercises targeting the buttocks&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T08:42:52.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-19T02:55:08.000" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: Exactly HOW should I do running intervals to supplement Muay Thai?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a relative beginner at Muay Thai (and, compared to many people here, a casual one who only trains 2X/week) and am interested in adding more conditioning work to my non-training days. I think my level of conditioning is currently not too bad, since I seem to have good staying power in class. Before taking up Muay Thai, I was doing various forms of cardio including (at various points) boxing, swimming, and treadmill intervals. The treadmill intervals had been 60 sec on/60 off for 8-9 rounds, where the &quot;on&quot; part was running ~7.8 mph at a 10% incline and the &quot;off&quot; part was brisk walking also at a 10% incline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am specifically interested in running-based intervals because 1) it's convenient (the Muay Thai gym is far away, so training more often isn't possible right now), and 2) I am also lifting (Starting Strength), which I need desperately, and feel that barbell-based conditioning will interfere more than running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some other great existing answers on this topic, but none address the 4 more specific questions I am about to ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/219/rule-1-cardio-what-exercises-are-worth-doing-to-increase-cardiovascular-fitnes/270#270&quot;&gt;Something about cardio in general&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7907/what-are-practical-guidelines-for-effective-interval-training/7909#7909&quot;&gt;Something about intervals in general&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/2963/how-should-a-bjj-practitioner-run&quot;&gt;Something about running for BJJ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the parameters I need advice on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;1.) Session length&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, 7 minutes of intense hill sprinting? Or 20 minutes of something less grueling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;2.) Work : rest time ratio&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Equal work and rest? Tabata? etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;3.) Work : rest intensity ratio&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use the limiting cases, should I run some short distance like a mile as fast as possible at a steady speed? Alternate all-out sprinting and walking? Or somewhere in between?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;4.) Hills/incline vs. flat&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Self-explanatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" OwnerDisplayName="half-pass" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-06-11T07:52:39.650" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T07:52:39.650" Title="HOW should I do running intervals for martial arts?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-31T15:43:04.037" Score="3" ViewCount="556" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have hyperlordosis as a result of very weak lower abs. I have been doing a lot of leg work on my hamstrings and glutes to strengthen my posterior chain, but I am having trouble finding any proper core/abdominal exercises to do strengthen my core that will not overly tax my psoas and thus exacerbate my issue. Does anyone have any thoughts? In addition, any stretches (I stretch my psoas and hip flexors 2x/day) would be very helpful. Thanks very much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13507" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T09:34:52.000" Title="Core/Abdominal Exercises with Lordosis" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21040" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21042" CreationDate="2014-12-31T16:31:11.150" Score="2" ViewCount="754" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt;. My bar weighs 40 lbs instead of 45, so here were my starting weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 90 lbs (5RM was 205 earlier in the year)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 90 lbs (5RM was 190 earlier in the year)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 90 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row: 60 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press: 40 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything has been easy except deadlifts. I had very small hints of pain even on the first 90-lb day. I got up to 130 lbs yesterday and my lower back started hurting a few hours later and continued through the day. I am only about 90% sure it is not &quot;normal&quot; muscle soreness... but 130 lbs should be easy, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have reviewed a lot of material including the Stronglifts articles and the links in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/5003&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;. I'm sure my lower back is not rounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already have an idea of what is wrong. I am going to test this next time I deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My abs are not engaged. I suspect they should be contracted, like when squatting. But why does none of the deadlift material mention this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I might be over-arching my lower back. In fact, this seems to be tied to the abs: if you stand up and tilt your pelvis forward (so that your butt sticks out slightly), flexing your abs will bring your spine back to a more natural position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13506" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-01-04T21:11:31.573" Title="Why do deadlifts hurt my lower back" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-31T16:59:39.013" Score="3" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like doing bent-over rows. However, I've quickly outgrown my 50lb dumbbell, and am not strong enough yet to do pullups. I haven't any other equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can I do to get to the point where I can do pullups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13510" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2014-12-31T22:05:47.203" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T22:05:47.203" Title="How to strengthen upper back without heavy dumbbell" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21040" CreationDate="2014-12-31T17:10:39.107" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you touched on your problem in your notes.  A common problem with beginners is that they tend to lose torque when starting the pull.  I've seen this many times: a beginner will set up behind the bar, get into a great position, load up, then start the pull. Immediately their butt will shoot up, their spine will over-arch in one direction or another and the weight is basically lifted with very little hip involvement at all.  Low back is obviously compromised because the movement has become more of a good-morning/SLDL than a deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deadlift is a hip exercise.  It's true that the erectors (spinal and abdominal) are utilized to an enormous degree, but the trophy goes to the glutes.  Kelly Starrett does a great job of explaining the mechanics in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN12Dtk90qg&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, when then mechanics of the movement clicked for me, I was able to add 50lbs onto my deadlift &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt;, stomping my personal record.  Already having a pretty good deadlift, you can imagine my surprise.  The exercise suddenly seemed much easier and more natural.  My progress after that point really accelerated because I realized what muscles I was supposed to be utilizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a couple of cues and pointers to remember:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep torque in the hips by externally rotating the knees.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Think of &quot;screwing the feet outward&quot; or &quot;screwing the feet into the ground&quot; (to use Starrett's cue).  Don't actually rotate your feet -- in fact, keep the feet pointed as straight as possible -- but pretend you are trying to split the ground apart with your feet.  This will aid immensely in keeping the hips loaded up throughout the movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you approach the bar and get loaded up to start the pull, don't compromise your position.  Keep the tension in your hips, push your hips forward rather than extend from the low back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work on the abs.  Keep the abs tight.  As Starrett mentions in his video, the abs will not only protect the spine, but also help create a better lever for the movement.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts is a great program. You'll be deadlifting twice your bodyweight in no time! Good luck!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T17:10:39.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21066" CreationDate="2014-12-31T19:10:08.167" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title says it all, a friend told me that after jogging is necessary to stretch arms and legs, But is this true?, I don't find that the muscles of the arms work enough to need stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13512" LastEditorUserId="13512" LastEditDate="2015-01-01T06:29:52.340" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T14:45:49.587" Title="Is it necessary to stretch arms after jogging?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21050" CreationDate="2014-12-31T19:49:39.473" Score="0" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Context&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, due to some recent (positive) life events, I now have &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; little time to perform physical exercise. We're talking, sub-three mins twice a day**. Under normal time constraints I would perform some sort of body weight sequence about 4-6 times a week for about 20-30 min each session, followed by 15 mins of indoor biking. And some sort of combination of dead lift, back squat, power clean, overhead squat, push-press, or bench-press 2-4 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Goals&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diminish lose of strength and work capacity, maintain health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Current Routine&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AM: 10 Handstand Push-ups, 10 Pull-ups &lt;br&gt;&#xA;PM: 10 Chin-ups, 10 Hanging Leg Lifts (hang from bar, with stiff straight knees, hinge at waist, with stationary upper body, pulling legs from perpendicular to the floor to parallel with the floor). In addition, I will randomly get the opportunity to wear a 50 lb weighted vest and do air squats or perform thrusters with the vest and two 25 lb dumbells etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Question&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the conditions, and the desired outcome, how should I modify what I am doing? Should I be doing something totally different? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Available Equipment&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stationary Bike&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pull-up bar&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Dumbells: 25lb x2, 15lb x2&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Kettle Bells: 35lb, 20lb&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Weighted Vest, adjustable up to 50lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Stairs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**Oopse, what I should have said is that the current activities that I perform take about three minutes twice a day. I realize that there is in fact more than that available in my daily schedule, a little more than three times that I'd say. Also, I should have stated that this period has a known end date. It should be about four more weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13505" LastEditorUserId="13505" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T01:21:05.193" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T16:18:55.403" Title="Fitness Under Extreme Time Constraints" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21041" CreationDate="2014-12-31T21:19:23.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your goal here is to do pull ups, I'm going to focus more on that then just upper back strengthening as the title requests. There are three major factors that you should focus on improving: weight, strength, and technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lose weight.&lt;/strong&gt; Doing cardio to burn fat will make pull ups more manageable, since you have less total weight to physically pull up. You will see biggest gains in this area if you are overweight, but if you are average/skinny, then focus elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assisted Pull Ups&lt;/strong&gt;. This has the benefit of building strength and practicing technique. You can accomplish this via a pull up machine, which helps support X amount of your weight, so you can effectively do pull ups at a significantly lighter weight than your bodyweight, and then progressively increase that amount until you have the strength to do unassisted. Requires gym/machine to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance Bands&lt;/strong&gt;. This is another way to simulate a pull-up without having to do full bodyweight. Attach resistance bands to the ceiling/doorway, sit down, and mimic the pull up. Builds strength, less so for technique. Can be done at home with heavy resistance bands. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yn56g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;resistance band pull up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negatives&lt;/strong&gt;. Basically you use a chair or other material to help get your chin above the bar, and then slowly lower yourself back down. This helps get you more accustomed to holding your weight and helps improve your strength and technique. Can be done at home with pull up bar and chair.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pulldowns&lt;/strong&gt;. This will help strengthen the muscles, and can be progressively loaded far more than a dumbbell. Downside is it requires a machine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bXqMq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T21:19:23.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21041" CreationDate="2014-12-31T21:56:24.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you have no other accessibility to additional equipment, as your description implies, I would recommend two things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different angles&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try varying the angles at which you exercise your back with the dumbbells.  Varying the angles will allow you to strengthen supporting muscles and tissues that should help in your quest to perform pullups.  For example, you may want to look into performing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPRNmG2CxuY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;incline bench pullups&lt;/a&gt;.  The important aspect is that your back is at a varied angle.  Even if you were to try to raise your back slightly while doing one-arm dumbbell rows, that would help.  Most importantly, make sure to protect your lower back by not putting it into an &lt;strong&gt;unsupported&lt;/strong&gt; position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body weight movement&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I would look at performing something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk7AdWvlt4Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse bench pulls&lt;/a&gt;.  Granted, you may not have a bar and exercise ball, but this movement can be done with your feet firmly on the floor and a simple solid immovable table or some other object that you can use to pull yourself up to.  Just be extra careful if you use a table that it will not fall on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, given your limitations, I think the most important thing for you right now is &lt;em&gt;variation&lt;/em&gt; of movement &lt;em&gt;with what you currently have&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T21:56:24.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21045" CreationDate="2014-12-31T22:46:37.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Less than three minutes twice a day isn't even enough time to warm up to do any form of strength training. If you can't even warmup, you shouldn't do anything. Spend less time on the toilet, in the shower, and wherever else. If it's a priority, make the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want to move around for those three minutes, use the kettlebell and do one handed snatches for a minute, then swings, then pullups. But you're joking yourself if you think you can accomplish anything remotely effective in less than six minutes a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T22:46:37.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21044" CreationDate="2015-01-01T01:54:30.363" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends largely on your goals. Some people desire muscles that are elongated (for lack of a better word) as opposed to bulky. To accomplish this, stretching is a very central tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When jogging, certain parts of the exterior musculature are engaged, such as biceps to bend your arm at the elbow, and shoulders to move your elbows back and forth. During the course of a run, these muscles will almost certainly have been warmed up to the extent that they can be purposefully stretched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you'll need to consider, is whether or not stretching accomplishes a goal you have. As such, it's not &lt;em&gt;necessary&lt;/em&gt;, to answer your title question. It's just something you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do, if you wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-01-01T07:26:45.047" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T07:26:45.047" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21045" CreationDate="2015-01-01T02:02:32.103" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you're saying you have less than 3 minutes per session, I'm going to firmly state that you are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; going to reach any significant fitness goals. And I would very much welcome being proven wrong here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your muscles to grow, you need to run them through a catabolic state, and an anabolic state. The catabolic state is acquired when you tear down muscle fibers significantly through lifting. 3 minutes is sadly not enough time to accomplish this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very certain that you have the opportunity to re-prioritize your time. Health should always be near, if not &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;, the top of your list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T02:02:32.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21038" CreationDate="2015-01-01T16:14:26.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert, but in lieu of one, what I do for interval training is to warm up for about three tenths of a mile, then alternate sprinting and jogging/walking each tenth of a mile for two or three miles, 20 or 30 minutes.  That seems to help me a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your format: &#xA;1) Session length: 20-30 minutes of interval sprinting on level terrain&#xA;2) Equal work/rest ratio&#xA;3) Sprinting as fast as possible and alternating with jogging/walking, so a high intensity ratio&#xA;4) Flat.  Hills complicate the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13521" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T16:14:26.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-01T18:11:13.313" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an occasional runner (2-3 times/week, 10+ km each run). In 2007 I bought ASICS Gel Kayano 12 (TN600) to run with until 2013 (between 3000 and 4000 kilometers). They started to fall apart and I got new ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I again chose Gel Kayano, but the model number has increased to 19 (T300N). I had same comfort in running with them, but after around 1000km I recently noticed that the inner backside has exploded, on both shoes. Today, it rubbed my skin away around the Achilles tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not remembering this issue with my old Gel Kayano 12 (left) I compared the tissue: it is not the same quality (right Gel Kayano 19): (click for a larger version of the pictures)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fTawb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fTawbm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZCVuA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZCVuAm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I basically have two questions: What did I do wrong? Are there still running shoes with the kind of tissue my Kayano 12 had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this question is on-topic. Please help me to modify it, if it's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More detailed information can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://filter-failure.eu/?p=109&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;found on my blog&lt;/a&gt;, but everything important is in here, in this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13518" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T19:56:40.387" Title="What happened to the quality of the inner backside of running shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21052" CreationDate="2015-01-01T19:56:40.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's hit or miss and mostly related to the manufacturers. I've had great luck with some brands (like New Balance), and then the next model would seriously disappoint me. Even in the same model, small manufacturing chances can happen over each year (like the Brooks Cascadia series). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically enough I've had better longevity from minimalist shoes than their more built-up counterparts. I have a set of Nike Free 5.0's that out lasted two other pairs of more expensive shoes that are much more supportive. That's not really a plug for that shoe so much, because even that model has undergone a lot of changes since when I bought my pair and I have no idea if they're really improved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real solution I know of is to buy your shoes from a place that has a 100% return policy (like REI, and I'm sure others). I don't have a problem paying north of $100USD for a pair of shoes, but if they start to break apart within a couple of months (of not-so-frequent-use) I'm taking them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T19:56:40.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14663" CreationDate="2015-01-01T20:21:08.330" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for &quot;defined abs&quot; just lose enough bodyfat to &quot;see&quot; your abs so in that case... NO EXERCISE by itelf gives you defined abs you just need to lose fat with diet and exercise (cardio and intervals)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T20:21:08.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20980" CreationDate="2015-01-01T20:24:50.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;if we're talking strictly fat loss and considering you workout at the same intensity then it does not matter meaning you'll burn the same amount of calories along with same total amount of afterburn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T20:24:50.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21040" CreationDate="2015-01-02T02:05:47.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cues from &lt;em&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/em&gt; by Mark Rippetoe (see pages 103-110) are, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bar over midfoot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shins to the bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grab bar, chest up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common errors are rounding the lower back and overextending the lumbar arch.  Aim instead for a flat back, which the final &quot;chest up&quot; queue helps with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a video where he shows these cues to students:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWRTHOMq-n8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWRTHOMq-n8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13527" LastEditorUserId="13527" LastEditDate="2015-01-02T11:51:31.010" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T11:51:31.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18384" CreationDate="2015-01-02T02:13:40.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a very small (but non-zero) benefit from fasted cardio.  Perhaps a more important question is what regimen is going to make you feel the best during your workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you have food in your stomach, are you nauseated?  Does it depend on quantity and/or type?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; have food prior to training, do you have sufficient energy to get through the workout? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are probably more important things to worry about. (For me, as an example, if I'm training within an hour, I won't eat, I'll just hydrate like crazy.  More than that, I'll have something to eat so I won't get hungry mid-workout.)  Try logging your eating/workout regimes in a diary so you can review later and see what works best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13527" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T02:13:40.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19728" CreationDate="2015-01-02T02:21:48.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're hitting all the right targets - some strength training, some cardio, watching your diet, and the results are obvious.  Instead of micro-optimizing by worrying about heart rate zones, just do whatever you can be most consistent at and keep doing it.  Fitness is a long game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13527" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T02:21:48.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-02T09:28:30.230" Score="1" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a &lt;em&gt;long-term&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;high-frequency&lt;/em&gt; consumer of soft drinks specifically Coca-Cola and Pepsi.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2015 I am resolved to kick the habit once and for all but it is proving challenging.  My average daily consumption is between 2 and 2.5 litres (70-100 ounces).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical daily routine would be -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Awake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strong coffee with 2 x sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8am can of cola on the drive to work &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;11am can of cola to prevent flagging/thirst&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12.30 can of cola with lunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3pm can of cola due to extreme drowsiness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Possibly 1,2 or even 3 cans of cola in the evening&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to substitute the drinks for diet or lite or max versions.  I want to go as sugar-free as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What effects, both positive and negative, will I see in the immediate short term once I stop consuming these drinks and how can I best control the cravings?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I concentrate better after consumption, my creativity and cognitive functions felt higher and more productive.  However I also find myself becoming more animated and talkative within meetings/around senior members of staff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Considerations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have been tested for diabetes; I am clear but wish to remain that way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am 32 years old with fairly sedentary job role (Agile ScrumMaster)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am quite active; daily running and regular long distance hiking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13531" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T19:00:44.303" Title="What are the effects of long-term, mass-consumption of sugared, carbonated drinks and what can be done to stop?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-01-04T08:00:48.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21062" CreationDate="2015-01-02T10:25:23.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What effects, both positive and negative, will I see in the immediate short term once I stop consuming these drinks...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You will probably lose weight.&lt;/strong&gt; Two litres of soda is about 800 Calories. For context, government agencies suggest the average person requires about 2000 Calories per day. So you are drinking nearly half of your require calorie intake in sugar beverages alone. If you only cut out soda, you would lose weight very quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Negative:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You will become extremely irritable.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/21835302&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sugar is highly addictive&lt;/a&gt; and can &lt;a href=&quot;http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&amp;amp;doi=10.1037/1064-1297.15.5.481&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;present withdrawal symptoms similar to of opioids&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Everything else will taste like crap.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sugarstacks.com/beverages.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You are consuming nearly 200g&lt;/a&gt; of sugar a day. Sugar is (or seems) delicious, nothing else will be as sweet to you as soda, so by comparison everything else will seem bland.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You will be less alert.&lt;/strong&gt; Sugar has strong effect on temporarily increasing alertness, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_crash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;before leading to sluggishness&lt;/a&gt;, which explains your 3pm soda.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and how can I best control the cravings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12901/how-do-i-stop-drinking-soda/12903#12903&quot;&gt;focus and determination&lt;/a&gt; that is required when beating an addiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T10:25:23.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21079" CreationDate="2015-01-02T15:57:09.700" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;The movements of Tai Chi is pretty slow and I doubt that it can bring any health benefits for elderly people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can Tai chi have any health benefits for elderly people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13483" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T13:22:07.737" Title="can Tai chi have any health benefits for elderly people?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21062" CreationDate="2015-01-02T19:00:44.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would pick one sugar or caffeine.  It is much more likely that you will fail if you if try to quit both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address the question of reducing the craving.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make a habit of drinking 1 cup of water first thing when you wake up in the morning (drink more water in general).    Dehydration is a contributing factor to fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Calorie replacement.  70 to 100 oz. of soda has 800 to 1000 Calories in it.  You will need to replace these calories.  Put half and half in your coffee.  With this number of calories you could drink 3 cups of half or half or a can and a half coconut milk every day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go caffeine free and get caught up on your sleep on the weekends.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regular exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T19:00:44.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21044" CreationDate="2015-01-02T20:36:48.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA;It is not true. It is not necessary to stretch your arms after a run.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;Out of all the physical interventions we utilize today, stretching has the least amount of evidence behind it. This is secondary not only to our poor understanding of the mechanism through which a muscle may or may not be lengthened, but also our generally poor in vitro measurement tools. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &#xA;For those who thought this point was merely opinion I'm attaching an &lt;a href=&quot;http://slideshare.net/biosoccer/acsm-exercise-position-stand-2011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article.&lt;/a&gt; It is the American College of Sports Medicine's Position Stand on current evidence published in 2011. You will notice a preponderance of &quot;C&quot; and &quot;B&quot; grades under Flexibility Exercise in Table 2 which is in direct contrast to &quot;A&quot; and &quot;B&quot; grades for the other categories of physical intervention. I hope &lt;a href=&quot;http://slideshare.net/biosoccer/acsm-exercise-position-stand-2011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt; this&lt;/a&gt; clears up my statement.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13491" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T05:52:56.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-03T02:25:59.780" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a kettlebell while sitting at my desk to do occasional shoulder presses over the course of a few hours, I wonder if there's any benefit or am I just risking injury?  What volume would I have to work with in order to see any positive benefit?  For simplicity's sake, let's say I am not doing any other kind of training.  The load is a 5 or 6 on the RPE scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-01-04T21:12:22.753" LastActivityDate="2015-01-04T21:14:00.230" Title="Will doing a large amount of shoulder presses interspersed throughout the day improve strength?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21067" CreationDate="2015-01-03T05:51:53.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What volume would I have to work with in order to see any positive benefit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to incorporate an exercise into a frequent daily routine then you need it to be very low volume, otherwise you will over stress your body without giving it time to recover and build muscle. This concept of low-volume exercises throughout the day is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/greasing-the-groove-how-to-make-it-work-for-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;greasing the groove.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For simplicity's sake, let's say I am not doing any other kind of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focusing on doing a single isolation exercise, while not training any other muscle group, is a surefire way to create muscle imbalances and get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you've described, I see two options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start doing full-body workouts one - three times per week to help balance out your current shoulder isolation routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace the shoulder press with a healthier compound workout that won't cause any muscle imbalances. In other words, &lt;strong&gt;SQUAT&lt;/strong&gt;. Squats are called the grandfather of all exercises, and are considered to be the single best exercise you can do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T05:51:53.480" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21067" CreationDate="2015-01-03T17:15:56.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand your question, you could look at it a little more basically and ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is someone who's doing a bit more physical work during the day going&#xA;  to have better strength than someone who doesn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you hopped up from your desk and tried to 1RM a deadlift after sitting on your butt for a couple of hours, that would probably be a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But doing activity that doesn't require a warmup instead of just not doing it would be a great idea. In my office I have a TRX-knock-off suspension trainer hanging from the door and an ab wheel in the corner. It's not scientifically programmed strength training, but if I did it sans-other-training it would still be a workload that my body would have to adapt to (a.k.a. strength gain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of gain would obviously be minimal, but it would be there. To argue that it wouldn't would be to somehow suspend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2038162/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;general adaptation syndrome&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As part of a larger athletic program, it's related to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfiteasternshore.net/231-rule/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;23/1 rule&lt;/a&gt;, whereby people get very serious about their 1 hour of training per day and spend the other 23 in a sedentary lifestyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The line in the sand for when this would be a bad idea is when you're lifting a weight that requires a warmup, or if the chair isn't stable enough to allow you to lift safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-03T17:45:21.107" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T17:45:21.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-03T17:32:34.450" Score="5" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going back to gym after a long break. Even when I used to go regularly and work with a trainer I gained muscle and got in shape. But the only one thing impossible for me is the pull ups. My max is two reps. What exercises or technique can be suggested to improve this? My weight is 79kg and my height is 5 11.&#xA;Thanks in advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13540" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-01-03T22:56:26.713" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T18:22:47.833" Title="How to increase Pull-ups" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21074" CreationDate="2015-01-03T20:17:36.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of years ago I went from 8 pullups to 24 pullups after getting an Iron Gym for my house and doing &quot;Grease The Groove&quot;. Basically just do unplanned sets throughout the day when you're at home, but only do a few at a time so you're never tired. Do this alongside your normal gym routine, but this should never affect your gym recovery. Keep doing your normal gym routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put the iron gym by your door. Don't plan your sets, just do them occasionally as you pass by. If 2 is your max now, start with just 1 pullup at a time. Do one in the morning before you leave house, one when you get home, and another sometime in the evening. You should never feel tired after and your lats shouldn't be sore. It's easy to get zealous on a weekend and do 10 sets, but that's not a good idea. If you feel sore, you're doing too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do singles for a couple of weeks, then test your max and see if you're up to 3. Keep doing 1 pullup at a time, test your max once every week or so. When you get up to 5, start doing 2 reps at a time throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, do sets that are a good 3-4 reps less than your max. So when you can do max of 6, you should be doing reps of 3. At 7 you can go to 4, etc. Test your max every 1-2 weeks. Over time you'll find your pullups steadily increase, and it will feel really easy and won't cut into your gym time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13545" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T20:17:36.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21064" CreationDate="2015-01-04T07:18:22.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;strong&gt;Tai Chi&lt;/strong&gt; can provide health and fitness benefits to anyone who practices it regularly.  Elderly people find that it is well suited to their physical capabilities. Tai Chi can help improve balance, mucscle strength, joint range of motion, relaxation, breathing and concentration.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elderly people often have joint problems that are painful and can prevent them from doing&#xA;other types of exercise.  Tai Chi is a non-impact exercise.  The slow repetitive movements are easy on the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2009/May/The-health-benefits-of-tai-chi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Harvard Medical School’s Health Publication&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; describes health benefits and references published studies. They cite studies showing improved:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduced pain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lowered blood pressure&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improved sleep&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although they note only some aerobic benefit with some types of Tai Chi, they do state that you may need additional cardio exercise if that has been recommended to you.  They do report:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;improved levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, and C-reactive protein in people at high risk for heart disease&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tai Chi is an active meditation.  The more it is performed, the greater the focus and skill level is achieved, resulting in greater results.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-01-04T07:18:22.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21086" CreationDate="2015-01-04T19:12:35.493" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;When lying down and needing to sit up, I either push myself up with an elbow, or bring my knees to my chest and then kick out, creating the momentum to propel myself up off the couch. I checked a yoga book at the library and saw that sitting up without hooking your toes under something is called a &quot;roll-up&quot;. Is this a widely attainable skill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My motivation for the question is that I have difficulty just sitting up straight on the floor (like a 100%-supported L-sit), so I wondered if I was far below average in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-01-04T23:41:54.387" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T00:27:31.407" Title="Can a well-conditioned person sit up using only their core?" Tags="&lt;core&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21064" CreationDate="2015-01-04T19:13:52.943" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This CDC Paper &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/compendium/pdf/Voukelatos.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tai Chi Principles for Fall Prevention in Older People&lt;/a&gt; lists some reasons why tai chi would be more helpful for older people than it would be for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Increasing age is also associated with reduced sensation in lower limbs and is consequently associated with a loss of righting reflexes and an increase&#xA;  in body sway, which can lead to falls... Tai Chi addresses gait problems by teaching “correct” movement of lower limbs. This is done by lifting lower limbs from the knee rather than the foot; lifting lower limbs without misaligning the pelvis; and teaching to place heel down first when moving forward (toes first when moving back). Also, teaching movement with appropriate weight transfer, posture, and slightly bent knees improves stride length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only done Wii Yoga, but I can still say that balance exercises awaken long-dormant hip muscles. For seniors who are unable to quarter-squat or get up from the floor, the muscular stimulus must be even more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-01-04T19:13:52.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21040" CreationDate="2015-01-04T21:11:31.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to answer this question without a form check. You are probably doing the deadlift wrong by either overextending or rounding the lumbar spine. It's also possible that you're just weak in the lower back and are misinterpreting extreme soreness as problematic pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-01-04T21:11:31.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21087" CreationDate="2015-01-04T21:13:35.050" Score="4" ViewCount="4732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, since it seemed counterproductive to me, does it make sense to take creatine while also taking a diuretic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If creatine creates an increase in size through storing more water weight overall shouldn't it for the most part need to retain that water, and it is also highly recommended to drink a lot of water while taking creatine to stop your body from developing, I think kidney problems?. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The essence of the question is, is it counterproductive to take a diuretic, in the form of Animal Cuts, while taking creatine? Would it decrease the effects of the creatine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2015-01-05T00:42:49.773" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T06:58:38.813" Title="taking creatine in line with take a diureic" Tags="&lt;water&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-02-16T21:52:58.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21067" CreationDate="2015-01-04T21:14:00.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done this, and I found that it may have helped improve my overhead press by five or ten pounds over the course of a month. It also stressed my shoulder joint (through both overuse and under-warmup) to the point where I had to take time off training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-01-04T21:14:00.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21080" CreationDate="2015-01-05T00:27:31.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep, it's pretty do-able. I just did one right now to be sure. There's actually a bunch of muscles involved since you're locking your legs straight to help on the lever aspect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercise is referred to as a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT6zWvOI6_o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;straight leg situp&lt;/a&gt;. Off the top of my head, I think some general full body conditioning stuff would be good, particularly the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWScissorKick.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flutter kick&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTurkishGetup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;turkish get up&lt;/a&gt;, and off course the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back squat&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T00:27:31.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21083" CreationDate="2015-01-05T00:41:40.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine has advantages beyond just water retention.&lt;/a&gt; While there is a marked increase in intramuscular water retention while using creatine, not all muscle mass comes from water and creatine can help increase lean muscle mass and promote muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additonally, creatine also increases power output and anerobic running and swimming capability , none of which relies &lt;em&gt;directly&lt;/em&gt; on hydration&lt;sup&gt;(although proper is always advised during exercise)&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So from a fitness perspective, taking a diuretic while taking creatine will not decrease the fitness advantages of creatine in the slightest.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T00:41:40.170" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21089" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T04:13:33.797" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exercise occasionally once in 4-5 days for half an hour. Today I ran for 5 minutes on the treadmill inside a room not too well ventilated. Afterwards I walked at brisk pace for about 500 meters. 10 minutes that  I was having breafast, while in course of breakfast I felt dizzines so much so that I stopped taking breakfast came out of the restaurant and sat in the open under a tree shade. After breathing for a while it felt Okay and I walked back home. Is this a symptom for something grave? What I should I do to ovrcome this at least its recurrence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13559" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T13:56:53.970" Title="Felt dizziness half an hour after running for 7 minutes" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-01-31T15:31:46.930" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21094" CreationDate="2015-01-05T09:00:06.550" Score="6" ViewCount="1576" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've searched the web a bit but all I get are online shops with very little help, so I'm hoping somebody here can answer my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to start using the heavy punch bag at the gym more this year but as the gloves there are old with holes and stuffing coming out of them, and smell very bad indeed I want to buy some of my own. My problem is that I'm not sure of what I need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume wrist support is a smart idea, but 10oz, 16oz... is it the heavier gloves for the heavier punchbags, or is it for larger hands or for stronger people? Could somebody explain what I require please, and if you have some recommendations I'd appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My background is martial arts and I use weightlifting gloves for striking the bag when practicing technique. I have been using the bag with boxing gloves for working on power and endurance (rapid powerful hits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2015-01-05T13:50:18.447" LastActivityDate="2018-03-27T21:46:40.573" Title="Boxing gloves for heavy bag - which ones?" Tags="&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21090" CreationDate="2015-01-05T12:16:22.550" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I speak as a friend of someone who boxes, so don't take my word as the ultimate say.  That said, I did find a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.expertboxing.com/boxing-basics/boxing-equipment/what-boxing-gloves-to-use&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;good resource on boxing gloves&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For size, the recommendation is based on body weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;120 lb and down:&lt;/strong&gt; 12 or 14 oz&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;120-150 lb:&lt;/strong&gt; 14 to 16 oz&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;150-180 lb:&lt;/strong&gt; 16 to 20 oz&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;180 lb and up:&lt;/strong&gt; anything 18 oz or heavier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are pursuing boxing, stick with boxing gloves.  You can get some training gloves for the heavy bag and keep a pair of sparring gloves for matches.  The resource I linked to is precisely for this target audience and it's more specific recommendations on glove types are great for boxers.  &lt;strong&gt;Always get hand wraps when you wear heavy gloves.&lt;/strong&gt;  Hand wraps prevent your wrist from bending, which is a higher risk when you have weighted gloves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are pursuing general martial arts, you just want a pair of bag gloves.  Bag gloves just keep the canvas of the bag from chewing up your knuckles and don't provide much protection.  However, they do allow you to practice your strikes much the same way as they would in a street fight.  Hand wraps are not necessary for this option as long as you have proper technique (i.e. no bends in the wrist).  This last bit of advice contradicts the article, but the article was written for boxers, not more traditional martial artists (i.e. karate, tang soo do, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the heavy bag is for martial arts conditioning, then I recommend just keep doing what you are doing.  Striking with boxing gloves and as close to bare knuckle fists as you can are completely different disciplines.  I have a martial arts background, and I've used the heavy bag for power and conditioning work.  If you have a good striking technique, then just use it.  A couple of tips when working with power on the bag:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time your punches.&lt;/strong&gt;  The bag will swing away from you, and when if you punch while it is traveling toward you, it will put more strain on your wrist than is necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crowd the bag, reset, and repeat.&lt;/strong&gt;  You are going to attack the bag like you would an opponent.  When the bag swings away, close the distance and follow up with more punches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practice footwork and approach.&lt;/strong&gt;  A particularly useful technique to help with sparring is to practice your footwork and combinations from different distances.  Timing is important in sparring, so this will help you work so that it's more effortless.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that working with a heavy bag requires is that you &lt;strong&gt;keep a tight fist&lt;/strong&gt; and your &lt;strong&gt;keep your wrist straight&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you don't feel like you can do that without help, just get the hand wraps as training wheels.  If you relax your fist, your whole hand will collapse on contact.  The force of clenching your fist also radiates the power up your arm, reinforcing the wrist joint.  You should be able to draw a straight line from your first two knuckles and your elbow.  Any up or down bend in the wrist puts your wrist at risk for a sprain or break (depending on if the bag is swinging toward you and how quick your reactions are to pull your punch if it doesn't land right).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T02:26:06.633" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T02:26:06.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21089" CreationDate="2015-01-05T13:55:38.600" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your blood sugar was a bit off before you started. Try having a small snack an hour before you run and make sure you are sufficiently hydrated beforehand. I doubt it is anything serious, but if it persists, talk to your doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T13:55:38.600" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21089" CreationDate="2015-01-05T13:56:53.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with all health questions, the answer is to see a doctor. Dizziness could indicate that an insufficient amount of oxygen is reaching your brain. Causes of that can be as benign as being very winded or as serious as a heart problem. A physical examination by a doctor is the only way to know the cause is benign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T13:56:53.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21090" CreationDate="2015-01-05T14:38:54.537" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin Lotitsch's answer is really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed a couple of things in your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You said you wanted to &lt;strong&gt;start&lt;/strong&gt; using the heavy bag, meaning you might not do this very much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You said the stuffing is coming out of your gloves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try getting some decent leather gloves (not anything with padding). Dedicated boxing gloves would be great, but if this is just something you want to try today and maybe for tomorrow and be done with it, there is no reason to buy boxing gloves that you'll never use again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout gloves are not the best at punching a heavy bag with, but they can prevent you from rubbing all the skin off your knuckles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good option is to look at some of your local &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;craigslist postings&lt;/a&gt; or eBay for a used, cheap set of boxing gloves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say you could skip out on great quality, specialized gloves until you are sure you like this and plan to do it regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to do it, then go back to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/21091/2713&quot;&gt;Berin's answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:41:31.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21044" CreationDate="2015-01-05T14:45:49.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone is about to put a muscle group through a very strenuous exercise, stretching or warming up that muscle group &lt;strong&gt;beforehand&lt;/strong&gt; can help prevent &lt;strong&gt;injuries&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone has already put a muscle group through a strenuous exercise, stretching that muscle group &lt;strong&gt;afterwards&lt;/strong&gt; will help dissipate any lactic acid buildup from the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running, from what I have experienced, does not put your arms through any sort of strenuous workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...unless you are doing something different from most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: No, there is no need to stretch your arms after jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it doesn't hurt either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T14:45:49.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21099" CreationDate="2015-01-05T14:48:55.310" Score="1" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume you have an ankle inversion trauma and you cannot move your ankle for 2-6 months without having it in tight bind when doing sport. You otherwise support your foot at a moment by Aircast's ankle support. &#xA;However, you cannot swim with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can you support your ankle to stay rigid when swimming?&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;I am not sure if elastic bind is ok because it absorbs all the dust from water to itself. &#xA;It may also not support enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2169" LastEditorUserId="2169" LastEditDate="2015-01-05T19:49:37.897" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T20:46:19.867" Title="Support for ankle inversion trauma during swimming" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T15:06:14.310" Score="2" ViewCount="11701" Body="&lt;p&gt;i have lot of fat in my stomach area am trying to remove&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how do i remove belly fat without using equipment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;am already slim and my weight is just &lt;code&gt;64kg&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;5.80&lt;/code&gt; tall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can some one advice me what to do and what not to do to have a fat-free body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;am trying to remove belly fat any methods &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13565" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T06:47:31.603" Title="remove belly fat but am already slim only belly fat" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-01-06T22:14:11.823" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T15:32:14.310" Score="8" ViewCount="3053" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from the fact that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5670/what-is-the-most-effective-plan-to-get-abs&quot;&gt;abs are made in the kitchen&lt;/a&gt;, there must be differences among different types of ab exercises. Which are the most effective per unit of time in terms of muscle activation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tim Ferriss &lt;a href=&quot;http://gizmodo.com/5709916/4-hour-body---six-minute-abs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;claims in &quot;Four-hour body / 6-minute abs&quot;&lt;/a&gt; that the plain-vanilla crunch is &quot;utterly ineffective&quot;, and recommends the myotatic crunch instead. However, there's no comparison in the activation of the rectus abdominis when measured with electrodes and an EMG (electromyography machine) between the myotatic crunch and other exercises; also there's no source for the claims:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bicycle crunch - 248%&#xA;Crunch with heel push - 107%&#xA;Captain's chair - 212%&#xA;Ab roller - 105%&#xA;Exercise ball - 139%&#xA;Hover - 100%&#xA;Vertical leg crunch - 129%&#xA;Traditional crunch - 100%&#xA;Torso track - 127%&#xA;Exercise tubing pull - 92%&#xA;Long arm crunch - 119%&#xA;Ab rocker - 21%&#xA;Reverse crunch - 109%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other answers suggest that indeed &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11516/are-crunches-an-effective-exercise-for-building-the-abs/11519#11519&quot;&gt;crunches are vastly sub-optimal&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T16:58:12.287" Title="What are the most effective ab exercises in terms of muscle activation?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;effort&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21096" CreationDate="2015-01-05T20:46:19.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For an inversion or eversion type injury (Fancy terms for rolling your ankle, the most common kind of sprain), the main taping is going to be to try and prevent the same injury again. Most of the time the taping job is going to be a U shaped type stirrup configuration, pulling the tension opposite the direction of the injury and then taping around the leg in series to hold the tape tight. This is going to be more important with weight bearing, lateral direction change sports such as tennis or soccer, and becoming progressively less critical with non/slight weight bearing, linear activities such as swimming and cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With swimming, it is very unlikely (unless you get really clumsy on a flip turn) that you are going to invert or evert your ankle on the wall during a push off, and the main motion is going to be plantar or dorsiflexion. (The same motion of stepping on or releasing the gas pedal in a car). It's also almost completely non weight bearing, which is an advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the action of pointing or raising your toes causes no pain, then it is &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; safe for you to swim without taping your ankle. I would caution you, however, to consult with your doctor or physical therapist, as there may be other complications. As a precaution, you can tape your ankle (It takes a bit of practice to do it well on yourself) and swim, as there are water resistant tapes that you can purchase. But again, check with your PT/doc, they may say that swimming is safe to do without any support (Although just in case, I would wear the air cast on the slippery pool deck).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T20:46:19.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21098" CreationDate="2015-01-05T21:54:52.783" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Problem with Ab Exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most ab workouts/routines you see are mostly if not entirely composed of bodyweight exercises. These are great for beginners, because there is such a sharp learning curve due to the high body weight and lack of muscle. Unfortunately, they have a significant disadvantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is as your muscle grows stronger and adapts to the exercise, your intensity decreases because your bodyweight is effectively static. This means that as you progress your only option will be to do more reps at a low intensity, which is more conducive for building endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Use Weighted Movements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since optimal muscle growth occurs under high intensity with low reps, the most effective ab exercises are subsequently those that are done with weights since they allow for progressively increased intensity. Since they can be loaded for whatever stage the lifter is in, they are far more consistent in terms of activating muscle in intermediate / advanced lifters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loaded ab workouts can be grouped into three separate categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machines/cables for exercises like pull-down ab crunches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight exercises where weight can be safely added in, such as hanging leg raises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compound lifts that engage the abs, such as deadlifts, overhead press, squat, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The One Exercise to Rule Them All&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I have not seen any study that defines one exercise over others as empirically best (though I am sure there is a ton of &quot;junk science&quot; from all of those &quot;get ripped quick&quot; ab programs). This is not to say the study doesn't exist, simply that I haven't seen it yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I have gotten a six pack from both loaded ab exercises, and then again from compound barbell lifts after I took a long break. Both have worked well for me. Presently my focus is on heavy barbell compound lifts, but after the main lifts I do weighted cable crunches (and hyperextensions for balancing antagonists).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T21:54:52.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21097" CreationDate="2015-01-06T02:08:29.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite everything that is expressed by nutritionists and fitness gurus, the truth is we're all different, and we're all genetically programmed to deal with fat metabolism differently. Think about all the people you know, and how much their diets seemingly &lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; reflect what their size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say this at the beginning because people shouldn't always beat themselves up for carrying too much weight, it might be in large part thanks to your parents!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now... all that said you CAN obliviously improve your chances of losing fat, but realise your stomach is one of the &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; places to give it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a saying, &quot;Abs are made in the kitchen&quot;. Out of all the muscle groups, you can do more to highlight for your abs by the work you do outside of the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a list of things you can do before you consider exercising...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet&lt;/em&gt; - reduce your overall calories - to lose weight you need to expend more calories on a daily basis than you ingest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet&lt;/em&gt; - reduce the amount of bad fats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet&lt;/em&gt; - reduce carbs in general, especially fast metabolising sugary carbs - the type of carbs you find in soft drinks, biscuits, cakes etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet&lt;/em&gt; - eat more protein, slow GI carbs (vegetables &amp;amp; oats) and &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; fats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet&lt;/em&gt; - make sure you drink plenty of water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diet&lt;/em&gt; - some people are more susceptible to gaining weight from lactose and / or gluten. Limiting both of these in my diet helped me in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleep - it's crucial so make sure you get a good night. Whenever I don't have enough sleep, especially over several days, I always carry more weight in my abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't over exercise - when you exercise you raise your corisol levels. Cortisol isn't an enemy, but too much does influence weight, again especially around the abdomen. Personally, I think it's water weight and given enough rest / sleep I find it subsides. Your age, fitness level and the amount of exercise will impact on the amount of rest you require.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise - Concentrate on cardio - remember your calories need to hit a deficit. Run, cycle, row, crossfit, stairmaster, circuit training. Even choosing normal everyday activities helps. Take the stairs instead and try walking / cycling to work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Work your abs - ab pulldowns, leg raises (different positions), leg extensions, planking, bicycle kicks, crunches - there are lots of different exercises you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to stress that diet is very important when it comes to revealing abs. There are plenty of people with well defined abs who never workout, and it's just because they're skinny... but it's also likely they'll have skinny legs, arms too. On the flip side there are masses of folks who knock out hundreds do back breaking crunches 7 days a week and they're left scratching their head as to why they're not losing the belly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't bother with diet potions or pills, there aren't any shortcuts. It takes a disciplined diet and exercise routine. And time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13488" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T02:08:29.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21097" CreationDate="2015-01-06T06:47:31.603" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Hi Sanoj,&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; At your current height and weight, you're not fat &lt;em&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rush.edu/health-wellness/quick-guides/what-is-a-healthy-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;healthy weight&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/ideal_weightresultadult.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ideal weight based on height&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BMI calculation&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;. As a result, I highly doubt that dieting would help you achieve your goal. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Since you're not fat and you have a belly fat, it's likely as a result of your current lifestyle &lt;em&gt;(unless it's a medical condition)&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Do you sit a lot &lt;em&gt;(especially with bad posture)&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Do you drink alcohol often?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Do you walk with bad posture?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Do you eat heavy dinner &lt;em&gt;(possibly right before sleeping)&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These could be the culprits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, clean up your meals.&lt;/strong&gt; You don't need to diet; just eat balanced meals &lt;em&gt;(containing protein, complex carbs, vegetables, etc)&lt;/em&gt; with proper rationing. As the first answer has mentioned, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;abs are made in the kitchen.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Don't eat junk!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;Second, you need to exercise more.&lt;/strong&gt; While it's true that spot reduction is a myth, your body will utilize stored fat wherever it can find it, and given that your overall body has a lower fat percentage, more fat will be taken from your stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in addition to burning off fat, exercises allow your abdominal muscles to be more activated, revealing the much cherished six pack as your belly fat reduces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;  &#xA;If you're really serious about exercises, you'll need some equipment &lt;em&gt;(dumbbells, barbell, etc)&lt;/em&gt;. That being said, there are plenty of exercises that do not require any equipment.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Sprinting &lt;em&gt;(or the lighter form, jogging)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Knee Jumping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Body weight exercises such as push ups, squats, planks, burpees, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these &lt;em&gt;(and more)&lt;/em&gt; require no equipment and are very effective in keeping you fit &lt;em&gt;(and trimming your belly fat)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also obtain workout videos to help you. If you do, I recommend trying out &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;P90X's Ab Ripper X video&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;; it's awesome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Third, clean up your lifestyle.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;If bad posture is the culprit, walking with a good posture &lt;em&gt;(straight back, eyes forward)&lt;/em&gt; naturally activates your abdominal muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;If it's sitting a lot, reduce it and endeavor to always sit straight when you do. Also, you can substitute regular chairs with stability balls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;If alcohol is the culprit, reduce your intake or switch to lower-calorie alcoholic beverages.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Eat light dinner, especially if/when it's close to bedtime.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; I'm certain there are still lots of causes and solutions I might have missed; however, it's more important to start somewhere soonest than trying to obtain all the possible answers before starting.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T06:47:31.603" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21109" CreationDate="2015-01-06T07:27:58.753" Score="0" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;h2&gt;If this is not right place to ask this question comment me i will delete this question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am just &lt;code&gt;22&lt;/code&gt; and I use to puff 3-4 &lt;strong&gt;cigarettes&lt;/strong&gt; a day and monthly average &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;1000ml beer&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;and i ride CBR 150cc bike &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;My problem is my cock erection is weak compared at age of 18&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;Since I started to smoke at age of 19&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; I feel this is because of &lt;strong&gt;smoking and drinking&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;can any body help me&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is problem for this or what all i should do &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;To quit smoking I use to chew black pepper whenever I feel smoking&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; so that I can control myself&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13575" LastEditorUserId="6218" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T13:46:28.363" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T14:52:05.357" Title="penis erection problems is this due to smoking" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-01-06T18:05:01.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21108" CreationDate="2015-01-06T09:08:11.273" Score="3" ViewCount="7546" Body="&lt;p&gt;I succeeded in fighting a saggy male chest via standard push ups. When I was working out my lower pecs by incline push ups and finished the routine, I saw the left side of my chest is  bigger than the right side, and I wondered why? I always check my posture and balance before going to do push ups, although I am a left handed person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13576" LastEditorUserId="13391" LastEditDate="2015-01-07T13:51:25.673" LastActivityDate="2016-04-30T20:15:22.450" Title="How does Push Ups cause one side of my chest to be bigger?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21106" CreationDate="2015-01-06T09:27:06.917" Score="1" ViewCount="670" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know whether it is necessary to leave time between physical exercise and taking a bath. If necessary, then how many minutes? Also, is it advisable to exercise after eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13577" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T13:20:35.127" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T02:25:46.720" Title="Is it necessary to leave time between between physical exercise and taking a bath?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21105" CreationDate="2015-01-06T11:39:03.533" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really necessary but it's definitely recommend. It's quite important to cool down after exercising. I can't tell you an exact time you should wait since you should know when you're cooled down. Usually, I wait around 15 - 20 minutes before taking a bath or taking a shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising after eating? No, it's not advisable. If you're eating, your blood will be in your intestine and stomach to help you to digest. So you're missing important blood to keep up your mind and body. I think you know this feeling of being tired after eating a great - basically a huge - meal. Don't overdo it, exercising is no fun with a full belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found &lt;a href=&quot;http://beforeitsnews.com/health/2012/12/is-it-okay-to-take-a-shower-after-workout-2461872.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; searching the web. It also recommends you to cool down first before taking your bath or shower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13553" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T11:39:03.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21104" CreationDate="2015-01-06T14:48:42.083" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether it's normal or not depends on how significant the difference is. It's normal to be slightly asymmetric. No part of your body is &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; symmetric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's significant enough for it to bother you, then you should consider doing exercises that are independent for each pec muscle. This is useful because, even though you try to balance it, with a push up or barbell bench, your body can compensate for a weaker side by pushing the weak side up faster. The physics of it makes the weight shift to the lower side. With something like one arm pushups or dumbbell bench, it's impossible to shift weight from one side to the other, so you should have equal development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify in response to your comment below, you should do this independent exercise equally (same weight, reps and sets) for both sides. This will be easier for the strong side and harder for the weak one, so the weak one will grow more. Not doing so could possibly create imbalances where before you had none. For example, only doing one arm with dumbbell bench could cause an imbalance in your biceps, since the biceps is involved as a stabilizer in db bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2015-01-13T06:13:07.630" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T06:13:07.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21103" CreationDate="2015-01-06T14:52:05.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smoking can definitely be the cause of your erectile dysfunction problems.  Nicotine, which is found in cigarettes, is a &lt;em&gt;vasoconstrictor&lt;/em&gt;, which is a type of drug that causes your blood vessels to shrink.  When a male erection is forming, the blood vessels inside the penis need to widen so they can become gorged with blood.  Smoking too many cigarettes could potentially interfere with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If cigarettes are the cause of your problem, you could try quitting.  You could also try taking a drug like Viagra of Cialis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T14:52:05.357" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-06T17:42:54.817" Score="3" ViewCount="839" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am terribly frustrated at being unable to effectively work out, and am hoping to get some solid advice as most physiotherapists and trainers don't seem to be well equipped to cope with my limitations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to be very active - dance, hiking, some weight training, swimming, biking, stair climber, elliptical, yoga.  Joint pain and tendon ripping issues due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehlers%E2%80%93Danlos_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fragile collagen&lt;/a&gt; have forced this down to practically nothing but light cardio and yoga - even worse, I no longer have access to a pool and won't for some months.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now the worst issue is IT band pain in the left glute and outer knee area.  It regularly keeps me awake at night.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently my exercise regimen is 20min of moderate recumbent bike every other day or two in the AM followed by icing the knee (and ankle, which I broke a few years ago on the elliptical and has been extra achey ever since - and yes, I know it shouldn't be possible; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehlers%E2%80%93Danlos_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ED&lt;/a&gt; in conjunction with anemia and vitamin D deficiency via GI problems turned my bones to peanut brittle).  I follow that up with 50min of gentle yoga every other day or two in the PM, often followed with heat applied to the glute.  Foam roller doesn't seem to help much with the IT band pain, tho deep tissue massage gives some relief in the glute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I could do weight training, but whenever I do anything I get bruises where the tendons attach - like near the collarbones when I do flys, or over the elbows when doing curls or extensions, even with light weight and low reps.  I have to be careful not to pull too hard when I swim or use a kickboard or I basically get tennis elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is currently to lose a boatload of weight I've gained over the last 18mo of being effectively immobilized (when the IT band issues got really bad, I was basically bedridden with pain on opiates for six months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is a pretty healthy Mediterranean type.  Usually a yoghurt + strawberry + stevia smoothie or feta + spinach salad for breakfast, greek salad or chicken + veggie stir fry for lunch, carrots or a small handful of raw cashews or cheese + crackers for snacks, and something light for dinner to help keep the GERD in check like a poached egg with sprouts and mushrooms wrapped in a small whole wheat tortilla.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this doesn't exhaustively cover everything I've tried, I'd very much appreciate &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; advice or approaches you might be able to suggest!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13580" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T17:58:13.570" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T01:02:46.083" Title="Effective cardio regimen for someone Ehlers-Danlos (hypermobility &amp; arthritis) + bad IT band problems" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-06T22:17:40.080" Score="3" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a free app which I can use to generate a workout routine according to my fitness level (12 pullups, 40 push ups..), my resources (at home with dumbells &amp;amp; pullup bar), my goals (have nice looking arms &amp;amp; shoulders), amount of time I can spend weekly(200mins, 5 days a week)and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want the app to be able to change my future programs according to the amount of sets &amp;amp; amount of reps I do on the earlier workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some of the app that can do such thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13391" LastEditorUserId="13391" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T22:25:02.703" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T05:58:38.370" Title="What are some free dynamic workout routine generator apps?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2015-01-21T02:38:46.710" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21111" CreationDate="2015-01-06T23:50:47.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want an app, but to me it sounds like what you're looking for is a coach. Your requirements read like the list of services Fitocracy's online coaches offer (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitocracy.com/team-fitness/308/private-coaching-with-ben-with-ben-hessel/?1&amp;amp;utm_source=fitocracy&amp;amp;utm_medium=trainer_profile&amp;amp;utm_campaign=bio&amp;amp;utm_content=nio1&amp;amp;ref=trainer_profile&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt; -- I am not affiliated with the site or the coaches, I use the free app).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T23:50:47.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-07T02:00:51.553" Score="10" ViewCount="1634" Body="&lt;p&gt;I totally know this is not the best question for here because it goes beyond just fitness-y stuff and into all of that science stuff more so, but let's consider I am asking this is a good-hearted, simple way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle-aged woman; doesn't exercise really; has three kids; probably couldn't lift even 200 lbs. on the deadlift on any normal day, even with full force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, her child is trapped under the back, rear-bumper of a small car, and she somehow lifts it enough to save the baby. Even disregarding the fact that the car is small, most U.S. cars that are small still weigh over 1,800 lbs. most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, it would most certainly take over 200 lbs. of force to lift one rear-side of a bumper. Why can she do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why can some people gain this superhuman strength, and what can simply explain it for one like me who is interested in the power world more? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if this superhuman strength can just appear and help a person lift something they couldn't normally lift, couldn't this superhuman strength be trained to be applied to more common use, possibly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13409" LastEditorUserId="13409" LastEditDate="2015-01-08T21:47:34.850" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T04:00:46.340" Title="How does superhuman strength work?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21113" CreationDate="2015-01-07T03:23:52.717" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is a phenomena called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetanic_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tetanic contraction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A tetanic contraction (also called tetanized state or tetanus) occurs when a motor unit has been maximally stimulated by its motor neuron. This occurs when a muscle's motor unit is stimulated by multiple impulses at a sufficiently high frequency. Each stimulus causes a twitch. If stimuli are delivered slowly enough, the tension in the muscle will relax between successive twitches. If stimuli are delivered at high frequency the twitches will overlap resulting in tetanic contraction. When tetanized, the contracting tension in the muscle remains constant in a steady state. This is the maximal possible contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to how we think, muscular movements aren't analogue but based on discrete nerve signals. Normally these signals are spaces apart, however it is possible under extreme for the body to rapidly fire these signals increasing the force of contraction. However, the downside is that this drastically increases the risk of skeleto-muscular damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/biWk3.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://faculty.southwest.tn.edu/rburkett/A&amp;amp;P1%20Muscle%20Physiology.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;As described here:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a. successive twitches;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;b. summation, in which three stimuli are applied before relaxation is completed. This involves recruitment of more muscle cells to make the contractions more powerful;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;c. incomplete tetanus eventually leading to complete tetanic contraction after 8 stimuli are applied.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2015-01-07T04:40:28.477" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T04:40:28.477" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21111" CreationDate="2015-01-07T05:41:56.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using this app called &lt;a href=&quot;http://jefit.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jefit&lt;/a&gt;, which is fairly popular, you might have already heard of it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've created my own routine (based on the equipment available to me) and can record reps and weight for each exercise. They have quite an exhaustive list of exercises for you to choose from broken down by which body part they push.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this, I can see how much I was able to do in my previous session of, say biceps, and how much I need to do this time to beat myself. This way, I am always competing against myself in the gym, and can see growth by just the numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12348" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T05:41:56.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24016" CreationDate="2015-01-07T09:54:00.583" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes get cramps in my ankles when swimming freestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some good strategies for dealing with them during an open water race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preventative measures would also be of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7891" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T18:48:15.013" Title="Dealing with ankle cramps in open water" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;racing&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;&lt;crawl&gt;&lt;sea-swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-07T16:08:59.307" Score="5" ViewCount="862" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to swim a long time ago and after a break of several years, I took it up again about 6 months ago. However, my triceps (i.e the lateral part of the back of my upper arms) still get fatigued very easily even after 2 or 3 50m lengths. I'm sure this is because of a technique issue.. what could be the cause and what can I do to correct it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13587" LastActivityDate="2016-02-24T15:11:36.763" Title="Fatigued triceps in freestyle swimming" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;crawl&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22115" CreationDate="2015-01-07T16:23:57.613" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start strengthening your triceps with higher repetition work for endurance. Dips and close grip push ups are great. Outside of that, hire a coach to assess your technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-06-15T14:03:38.997" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T14:03:38.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22113" CreationDate="2015-01-07T16:26:16.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure your hydration and electrolytes are sufficient before any race. Are you calves strong ? Do you train them ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T16:26:16.957" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-07T21:04:55.790" Score="0" ViewCount="918" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really like Strong Lifts, but it isn't working well for me anymore. Too many resets and not making it past previous resets. Admittedly, my lack of progress is likely attributable more to my lack of proper nutrition and sleep than to a fault in the program. I've been told that Greyskull is a good intermediate program, so I reason that it requires less recovery than novice programs like SL. But I do wonder whether it is possible for someone who is still a novice to make progress on an intermediate program. Is the following enough stimulus to cause significant adaptation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for making a hybrid is that I like BB rows, but they are not feasible in GS. I would just include them as an add-on to bench days but, on days with bench, row and deadlift, my deadlift would suffer from fatigue from the rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt; day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench 2x5, 1x5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row 2x5, 1x5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 2x5, 1x5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;B&lt;/em&gt; day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OHP 2x5, 1x5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some kind of curl in a 3x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DL 1x5+&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: the 1x5+ set is an AMRAP set, with a minimum of 5 to be considered successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And these would be alternated on MWF, like SL. As in, one week, A on Monday, B on Wednesday, and A on Friday; then the opposite next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I'll be using GS weight increments. That's 5 lb increases on Squat and DL and 2.5 lb on everything else. Weight is increased any time at least 5 reps are completed in every set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me: I weight around 200 lb at 5'8&quot; and my current squat 1RM is 225 lb and bench is 165 lb. My goal is primarily strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T23:34:22.760" Title="Critique my SL + Greyskull hybrid" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19807" CreationDate="2015-01-07T23:01:52.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sprinting sessions typically are once to twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When sprinting, you want to work with either low intensity (&amp;lt;75%), or high intensity (&gt;95%).  Don't try and skirt the middle, as you won't ream any real benefit from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low intensity will be good for development of improved sprinting form, active recovery, and improved endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High intensity will allow for great adaptation when translating gains from resistance training and working said gains in concert with neuromuscular demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going to sprint maximally, make sure you have &lt;strong&gt;complete&lt;/strong&gt; recovery-at least 48 hours before you tackle sprinting again.  The way you plan on training lines up with that recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spend a little less than 60 minutes each session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 to 35 yards is a good jump off point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4-8 Repetitions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-2 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should have a good amount of rest (about 5 minutes) between each sprint, and a little less than 10 minutes between each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this is coming from EXOS, Dr Mann's body of work, and CharlieFrancis.com. I highly recommend you check them out, as sprinting mechanics are going to be a huge factor for injury reduction rates and improved times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can weight-lift heavily, but you may run into concerns with over-training.  The body can only take so much 95% and greater intensity.  Remember, rest is a weapon.  Use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2015-01-07T23:06:53.363" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T23:06:53.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22119" CreationDate="2015-01-07T23:34:22.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see the point in switching up your program instead of fixing your nutrition and sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, I don't see the point in doing this specific hybrid. If you want rows, try Phrak's GSLP:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OUcEY.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As is, you're making a lot of changes to parts of the program that have nothing to do with your stated desires for customization. Many seem both arbitrary or misguided: why 5 pound increases if you're already stalling? Why StrongLift's ABA/BAB instead of Greyskull's ABA? Why curls if your goal is strength? Why not alternate Bench/OHP every day like Greyskull recommends? If you have reasons, state them, because right now these look like messing with things just for the sake of messing with things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are you fiddling with these knobs when you know the issue is elsewhere?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T23:34:22.760" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18773" CreationDate="2015-01-08T00:21:55.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The big trouble with &quot;hitting the wall&quot; is that your body does physiologically react differently, and you need to train for that transition and working under the &quot;post-wall&quot; stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way of doing this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.superskinnyme.com/bonk-training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;bonk training&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. Bonk is the runners term for the act of hitting the wall, and training and aiming to &lt;em&gt;bonk&lt;/em&gt; means you are prepared when it happens during cardio activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Commonly bonk training involves cardiovascular exercise on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, when glycogen store levels are low, as well as consuming coffee or caffeine equivalent to 2 or 3 cups of coffee and running or cycling at a casual pace (60% of max heart rate) for 20-90 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T00:21:55.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21098" CreationDate="2015-01-08T02:47:03.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;this  exercise here @ &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxV54ivkt3A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxV54ivkt3A&lt;/a&gt; is the best becasue your abs are actually your prime movers as opposed to other exercises where your abs just statically contract and instead of actuallyy causing a movement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T02:47:03.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18773" CreationDate="2015-01-08T05:32:49.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it's pretty simple. Pretty much any training that you do that improves your aerobic capacity will increase your fat-burning potential. Interval training is a traditional - and successful - way of doing this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you increase your aerobic capacity, you can generate more power from fat and will therefore need to use less carbohydrate for a given power level. However, most cyclists just use this increase to ride faster, so it's a bit of a wash. If you watch pro racers - who have epic ability to burn fat - you'll notice they are sucking down the carbs pretty much all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two other answers mention bonk training. The research around the effect of riding with low glycogen stores isn't very clear - some studies say it helps, other say no. If you do want to do it, there is no requirement, however, that you go all the way to the bonk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T05:32:49.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21098" CreationDate="2015-01-08T10:45:35.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bret Contreras's article,  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-627&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best Ab Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; uses EMG to test which exercises best activate the abs. (EMG or electromyography records the electrical activity of muscles.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bret charts &lt;strong&gt;the mean and peak activation&lt;/strong&gt; for each muscle, for each exercise. The mean activation is the average level of muscle contraction throughout the exercise motion. Muscles can have different levels of activity at different points of the range so, peak activation or the point of highest level of activation during the repetition is another way to measure the muscle's output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire article is a good read. Bret's conclusions for the top 3 exercises for each abdominal muscles and back extensors are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rectus Abdominis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mean:  Chin Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Ab Wheel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peak:   Chin Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Swiss Ball Crunch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Internal Oblique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mean:  Ab Wheel from Feet, Ab Wheel from Knees, Bodysaw&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peak:   Ab Wheel from Feet, Bodysaw, Tornado Ball Slam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;External Oblique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mean:  Ab Wheel from Feet, Hanging Leg Raise, Bodysaw&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peak:   Turkish Get Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Bodysaw&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Erector Spinae&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mean:  Kneeling Cable Lift, Landmine, Reverse Hyper&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peak:   Kneeling Cable Lift, Tornado Ball Slam, Lumbar Extension&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if his electrode placements are accurate, the above exercises best target the individual abdominal muscles.  Interestingly, he also reports different levels of muscle activation for different parts of the rectus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="5296" LastEditDate="2015-01-08T16:58:12.287" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T16:58:12.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-08T14:42:16.247" Score="2" ViewCount="35674" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I traveled 4.46 miles on my Octane Q37xi, which should correlate to roughly 9,000 steps.  My dashboard only recorded 4,402 steps, less than half.  I assumed the problem could be the stride length differential between me (6 foot tall), and the fixed stride of the elliptical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night, I adjusted the stride length under settings on fitbit's site, to match the elliptical stride of 20.5 inches. I entered 1 foot, 8.5 inches.  Today, I traveled 3.13 miles on the elliptical, and my flex only recorded 2.037 steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am ready to return the flex as the elliptical is my primary source of exercise.  If it consistently under records my steps, what's the point? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13595" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T22:23:21.820" Title="Fitbit Flex accuracy in counting steps" Tags="&lt;elliptical&gt;&lt;fitbit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-08T16:30:01.617" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious as to what others experiences with this training program are. Did you gain the 5-12 lbs of muscle over the 6 week period that promoters such as Charles Poliquin claim to be the norm ? While I realize that the excessive volume is the driving force behind the hypertrophy gains, I am wondering whether a load that equates to 60% of one's 1 rep max will stimulate enough muscle fibres to lead to a significant amount of muscle growth. Looking forward to the responses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T09:56:49.247" Title="German Volume Training 10 sets X 10 reps" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21113" CreationDate="2015-01-08T22:29:20.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cortical excitation and disinhibition in the face of danger are what enables supranormal strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One effect is tetanic contraction due to an increased central drive (under the effects adrenaline and noradrenaline among others). That is, the neurons of the primary motor cortex fire in rapid succession&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another one is inhibition of the Golgi tendon organs (GTO), which under normal conditions cause reflex relaxation of the agonist when there is excessive tension across the muscle and its tendon. Again, this effect comes about by cortical disinhibition; the reflex arc, through which the effects of the GTO are mediated, is inhibited by neurons coming down through the spinal cord&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The reflex arc that is mediated by the muscle spindle is excited by the same afferents that disinhibit the GTO arc. Normally the muscle spindle increases force to prevent excessive stretching of the muscle (the opposite of the GTO); due to excitation, the force is further increased. This is also the reason why motions involving stretch-shortening tend to be more forcefull; the effect of the stretch-shortening cycle is replicated without a previous eccentric contraction through central excitation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your last question. Yes, it can be trained. Although not to that extent. To sum up the research, it seems that the higher the tension in your muscles and tendons when you exercise, the more the function of the GTO is inhibited, and the more the muscle spindle responds to stretching. Weight training has this effect. Power lifting and sprinting more so. Plyometrics seems to be most effective at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By repeatedly exposing your muscle to what activates the GTO and the muscle spindle, you alter their functions. The more you do it, the stronger the effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, an interesting aspect of whole body vibration, the kind utilized in vibration training. It seems to have precisely those effects. I generally advise people (amateurs and recreational athletes) not to pay the ridiculously high prices for vibration training. But if you are a power athlete (football, sprint, weight lifting, even jumping in basketball and volleyball), it can give you quick increases in explosiveness and power. In my opinion the effects seem to be comparable to those of isometric training, which has been proven to yield the highest acute strength gains of all training modalities. What else, vibration and isometrics work by two different mechanisms, so their effect are most probably synergistic, but that is unrelated to your question, so I wont go into detail there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2015-01-08T22:41:58.967" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T22:41:58.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19218" CreationDate="2015-01-08T23:38:23.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your FitBit model, you may have to be moderately to extremely active for at least ten consecutive minutes to get credit for active minutes.  Otherwise you get nada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13601" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T23:38:23.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22128" CreationDate="2015-01-09T09:56:49.247" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are newbie with no training at all. You might see such results. Otherwise it is not going to work for sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13551" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T09:56:49.247" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22134" CreationDate="2015-01-09T10:53:32.870" Score="6" ViewCount="5364" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exercise regularly, at home. I consider pull-ups and chin-ups to be the more important exercises in my regimen. Since I do strength training I tend to keep all exercises below 5 reps. When there came a point where I could do 4 sets of more than 5 reps per set of pull-ups and chin-ups I started putting weights in a backpack in order to increase the difficulty of the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've now reached a point where I lift myself 5 times (again 4 sets) with an extra 8.75kg(20lbs) on my back for pull-ups and 11.25kg(25lbs) for chin-ups. I've felt no side effects yet but still I feel like I need to ask in order to make sure I don't injure my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is what I'm doing a bad idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10806" LastEditorUserId="10806" LastEditDate="2015-04-26T11:26:30.293" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T02:55:17.757" Title="Is doing pull-ups/chin-ups with a backpack full of weights bad?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22133" CreationDate="2015-01-09T11:58:43.310" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't sound bad. I recommend going above five reps for at least some sets, since I find the upper body responds well to higher volume and it's not the worst thing in the world to train some endurance. I expect you'll actually see better strength results that way anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14304/1771&quot;&gt;The more common method of loading pull-ups is to use a dip belt&lt;/a&gt;, but the backpack sounds like it's working well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T11:58:43.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22133" CreationDate="2015-01-09T15:24:28.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are not feeling pain, there is no reason to be concerned. Dip belts are good, you can also buy a weighted vest. That way the weight is more evenly distributed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T15:24:28.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2015-01-09T18:58:25.727" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll stay lean forever. Think about it, ripped 24/7 all day everyday. Yeah sure if you are a meso you can get strong and muscular very quickly but they're only ripped for 5 months in a year (cut/bulk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We stay ripped year round, we can bulk forever and we'll never get fat. And if you wanna get under 10% body fat you can start cutting. For an ecto it takes 2 weeks to finish a cut. &#xA;Be happy with yourself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13613" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-11T18:01:35.610" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T18:01:35.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20992" CreationDate="2015-01-09T19:00:24.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. You may not be able to achieve perfect smoothness, but you can tighten things up over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Begin by stretching your jaw for about ten minutes every morning, opening and shutting, moving side to side. This must be done slowly as to avoid stress on the temporomandibular joint- if you feel a crackling sensation, you are going too wide. You can get your lips and eyebrows involved too. Imitate the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;ei=3B-wVM34Ac3XoATN44HIBw&amp;amp;url=http://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DQzIN3EgBIHg&amp;amp;ved=0CB0Q3ywwAA&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNF0l2XdQkcLnuUDxCOtQ3PvUgrHaw&amp;amp;sig2=kHvgP_2V_YCiYOPQsUHnnA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oh face guy&lt;/a&gt; from office space, then furrow your brow and widen your mouth like &lt;a href=&quot;http://dotdash.blogspot.com/bush2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GW&lt;/a&gt;. Relecting this for a few minutes will get your facial muscials feeling more relaxed, which both prepares them to be exercised, and discourages the stress induced tension which pulls your skin in undesired ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards, exercise throughout the day be chewing gum. Try to do so while sitting, standing, and laying down at some time through the day. It's best if you can do so while leaning your head back and looking at the ceiling for a while, to help tone your digastrics. If you don't have gum, you can achieve similar affects by alternately pressing and releasing your tongue firmly against your palate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, before you go to bed, take about 60 seconds to smile hard, while rolling your head around in a circle to stretch your neck. (This is actually good practice regardless of your fitness goals, since sleeping with a pillow can be stressful to one's neck over time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping up with this daily should yield noticeable results after about 90 days. This is a pretty long time, but training facial muscles is inherently slow. Luckily the exercises aren't hard to keep up with in and of themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck getting a buff face. It's worth it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13612" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T19:00:24.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-09T21:47:43.673" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I happen to have a a screw with an eye sticking idly in my living room ceiling, and I'm thinking about using it to hang a rope for bodyweight rows etc. The screw is 8mmx50mm (thread x length of anchor). The TRX ceiling anchor seems to use 2 screws with 10 mm thread, so I'm a bit concerned about using my screw as is. On the other hand, the TRX product may be vastly overengineered and I have hung my 100kg from my screw a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question: Is the setup described above (2 screws, 10mm thread) typical for sling trainers? Are there experiences with using something closer to my thread size, one screw, in a concrete ceiling without the whole thing crashing down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note for imperialists, I mean folks unused to metric units: 8mm is 0.314 inch,  the closest thread size in imperial units is probably 1/4 inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T21:47:43.673" Title="Typical screw and screw anchor for sling trainer?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32795" CreationDate="2015-01-10T02:30:49.443" Score="8" ViewCount="2067" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we know, overtraining the chest, leading to overdevelopment in relation to the back and associated postural muscles, can also lead to hampered performance due to Upper Cross Syndrome.  This is characterized by the chest overpowering the shoulder girdle, leading to poor posture (kyphosis) and likely shoulder impingement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be avoided with appropriate corrective exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know if overdeveloping the back can have negative &lt;em&gt;noted&lt;/em&gt; effects.  I already understand the importance of avoiding asymmetries and its relation to injury reduction, but not if it leads to actual diagnosed problems down the road because it's not in an ideal ratio in relation to the chest and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="13784" LastEditDate="2015-02-03T19:18:37.453" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T15:51:12.433" Title="What can be the negative effects associated with an overtrained, overdeveloped back?" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22127" CreationDate="2015-01-10T15:16:54.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The very reason you use an elliptical (low impact on your joints) makes it difficult for the accelerometer in the FitBit Flex to detect the difference between strides. It wouldn't count steps right when you're swimming either, even if your legs are moving. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/9881/8332&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; tells how FitBit expects you to log elliptical training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use the elliptical at a steady pace, you could count your own steps for 30 seconds, then multiply by the time you work out. One interesting thing you could do is use the FitBit to do exactly the same number of steps (walking or running) and see whether the weight-bearing exercise has any different effects on your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-01-10T15:27:50.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-11T08:54:14.323" Score="0" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started insanity workout and finished the sixth week and stopped for some reasons. A month later I decided to start again and did the fit test, which was really painful with a state of mind of reaching the same level as my last fit test before I stopped. I eventually could reach the same level. Then I continued the insanity workout starting directly at the sixth week. I couldn't do it continuously and had to stop at many points because of strong dizziness. Skipping some 45 seconds cycles I was able to finish it. My question is if those dizziness periods are dangerous and what are the causes behind them? lack of oxygen? fatigue? or just a heart that is not powerful enough to keep up with the pace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11961" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T20:25:19.497" Title="Dizzines with Insanity workout at the second month" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22143" CreationDate="2015-01-11T17:58:45.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dizziness in training can come from a variety of factors. Most everyone who's lifted very heavy doing compound barbell lifts has felt a little woozy after a few reps of heavy weights, and you'll hear a lot of endurance athletes talking about &quot;almost passing out&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafp.org/afp/1999/1101/p2001.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;But real fainting (syncope) in exercise is serious&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Syncope is a common event in which there is a transient loss of&#xA;  consciousness and postural tone. Although syncope is generally a&#xA;  benign event in young adults (less than 35 years of age) and, in many&#xA;  cases, never reaches the attention of a physician, exercise-related&#xA;  syncope can signal sudden death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_response&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vasovagal response&lt;/a&gt;, what you could be experiencing, basically means that the vagus nerve has messed up a bit in regulating blood pressure and supply to the brain. The causes of vasovagal response are wide: ranging from standing up too fast to dehydration to being exposed to strong magnetic fields. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should talk to a physician, to have them rule out anything serious. This isn't blanket advice: I personally know of an extremely fit athlete who had serious cardiac damage because he developed undiagnosed problems in life and attributed his symptoms to general fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your normal doctor but consider talking to a sports medicine physician who probably has the equipment in his or her office to conduct the necessary stress test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T17:58:45.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22143" CreationDate="2015-01-11T20:25:19.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated in the other answer, there isn't really any way to diagnose why this happened.. however in my experience I've suffered from feeling dizzy to the point of almost collapsing but only after very serious workouts with heavy kettlebells and minimal rest periods between sets. In &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; experience it generally boils down to lack of blood sugar pre workout but obviously hydration is also important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're a fit person and have never had any heart problems (or anything else) then it's probably just what I've described however you should seek professional medical advice as we don't want to risk killing ourselves do we?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8188" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T20:25:19.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22147" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-11T20:29:35.023" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cycle 140 miles a week and do a high, medium and light intensity kettlebell workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me like I need a high carb and high (ish) protein diet to sustain this. Currently I eat anything but find I'm always very hungry. Can anyone recommend a good diet to support this kind of lifestyle? I'm not looking to bulk up or anything like that but I would like my body to be in the best shape possible. Links / books / suggestions - anything would be great as a starting point. Perhaps there's some way I can calculate what I need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8188" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-11T22:38:08.090" LastActivityDate="2018-02-21T09:24:44.417" Title="Best diet for lots of cycling and 3 kettlebell workouts a week?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22153" CreationDate="2015-01-11T22:01:52.260" Score="9" ViewCount="1412" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard a &lt;b&gt;lot&lt;/b&gt; of different answers for this, from six to eighteen. I would like for someone who actually knows what age is appropriate to answer this. Also, how much weight training is safe for children?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13560" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T11:45:08.223" Title="How old should children be to train with weights?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22149" CreationDate="2015-01-11T22:21:34.117" Score="8" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pierce, Byrd, and Stone (1999) concluded a structured weightlifting program (including Olympic-style weightlifts such as the clean &amp;amp; jerk, and snatch) can be safely performed by girls and boys, ages 7-16. Interestingly, Faigenbaum et al. (1998) showed that 8 to 12 year-olds that were supervised during maximal lifting resulted in no injuries, demonstrating that even maximum intensity training can be a safe for children when properly supervised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/Youth.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user10524" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T12:21:15.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22149" CreationDate="2015-01-11T22:35:53.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The medical community and the public in general seems to regard strength training as a general voodoo practice that will &quot;hurt you&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11019731&quot;&gt;Fortunately, this has been getting debunked soundly for over a decade now&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite earlier concerns regarding the safety and efficacy of youth&#xA;  strength training, current public health objectives now aim to&#xA;  increase the number of boys and girls age 6 and older who regularly&#xA;  participate in physical activities that enhance and maintain muscular&#xA;  fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/Are-Weights-Safe-for-Kids.aspx&quot;&gt;The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends strength training for children 8 and up&lt;/a&gt;. As a father myself, not all children grow up the same and some kids are quite frankly much more physically gifted than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone's recommending throwing a child into a competitive power lifting program on their 8th birthday, and honestly some kids at 8 (or 10, or 12, or 18) simply don't have the attention or care-factor to learn serious strength training and execute it safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've personally found is that kids tend to play sports much earlier than they can strength train. Those sports and basic calisthenics teach motor control, discipline, and physical prowess. As sports continue to evolve in the 4-10 year old range, you can slowly start introducing targeted body weight activities that aid in their sport development. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there, you have kids who are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Athletic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used to spending focused time on physical training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used to moving their bodies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used to drills/skills: activities that are not sports themselves, but necessary for helping sports.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a pretty good platform to start strength training, and you're using the actual skill development and prowess of the child to gauge further development. When they can safely do 20 body weight squats, they can do a few less with a ten pound barbell on their back or holding a dumbbell at their chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T22:35:53.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22149" CreationDate="2015-01-11T22:42:15.930" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking Eric and Dave's answers into consideration, we must understand that children's bodies are still developing.  They won't have what we consider complete neuromuscular control over their bodies quite yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe a structured lifting program for children can be a fantastic introduction to controlled multiplanar movement.  I believe we tend to throw our kids into sport &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; early, not taking their developing physiology into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One point I would like to drive home is that &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; your child/ren are still developing, recognize that most of the adaptations will be focused on the central nervous system and its ability to use the body's musculature; that hypertrophy, strength, or power &lt;strong&gt;should not&lt;/strong&gt; be the end goal here.  Rather, &lt;em&gt;you should focus purely on movement patterns&lt;/em&gt;.  Learning how to do an exercise safely and with great form vs. trying to get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they hit puberty, then would be a great time to pursue muscular adaptation alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2015-01-12T01:22:45.600" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T01:22:45.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22158" CreationDate="2015-01-12T03:12:47.223" Score="3" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is doing yoga in regular socks okay? Are the yoga toe socks better, the same, or worse than doing yoga barefoot? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a little background: I am going to soon begin a yoga class at my local gym, but I am a bit embarrassed of my feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13389" LastActivityDate="2018-11-13T06:17:16.200" Title="Doing Yoga in Socks" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;socks&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22157" CreationDate="2015-01-12T04:55:31.627" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can find a pair of yoga toe socks that fit, those can work just fine. Several people use them in my gym and are in some of the more advanced poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're not optimal; solid contact with the ground and having total control over your feet would be the best. It's also actually helpful to be able to look at your barefoot, and &quot;see&quot; where the weight is more so than feel it. You'll actually see your foot moving around, muscles firing as they keep you in whatever position. Socks make that a bit impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the beginning, and especially if it's the difference between you going and not going, by all means wear those socks and love them. Not going will &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; hinder your yoga progress, so the differences socks is going to make is near zero. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-12T05:44:03.560" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T05:44:03.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21111" CreationDate="2015-01-12T05:58:38.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar to Urban, i also use Jefit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While i did my own routine (based on the book Bigger, leaner, stronger by Michael Matthews), the app also features community workouts made by other people, these workouts can be filtered by ranking meaning you can chose to follow popular workouts with great reviews. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The large workout database allows you to vary your routine if that's what you are looking for (although i would recommend keeping the same routine for some weeks since it allows you to directly compare your gains by keeping track of the weight improvement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13625" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T05:58:38.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20946" CreationDate="2015-01-12T09:44:17.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you describe what you're dissatisfied with more specifically? That diet seems close to anorectic, especially with a 5k jog every day and the fact that your body is still developing at a very rapid pace, or should be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people will never have perfect bodies, there will always be things we're dissatisfied about, not matter how much fat you get rid of and no matter how much you jog. Also, most people will judge you by your positive sides, not by the negative ones, this includes your peers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really have to do something, I would consider building a bit of muscle, it will make you look a bit firmer and will also be healthy and practical to have. That's a much better approach to looking good than starving yourself. You might want to consider consulting a professional dietitian instead of asking random internet people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T09:44:17.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-12T10:10:13.187" Score="4" ViewCount="3456" Body="&lt;p&gt;I injured myself accidentally on Friday and wound up in Accident &amp;amp; Emergency (ER) where I had to have an X-Ray and my toenail removed and my toe tidied up a bit. Although I've lost nails before, they've normally just gone black and dropped off without causing me any real pain. This one is rather different and it's incredibly sore, I can barely walk and so I know running isn't going to happen for a bit. I had to have the dressing changed yesterday and while the nurse said it was &quot;Looking great - exactly what we'd want to see&quot; I was quite shocked by how &quot;wet&quot; it still was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a half marathon in a few months and a couple of 10 mile military endurance races this year, which I need to straight training for in boots and with a bergen (backpack). I'm also meant to be helping my wife train for her marathon, but I suspect I'll miss the boat on that as she'll end up miles ahead of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I was hoping others with similar experience or knowledge could give me an indication of what I can expect going forwards? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these likely to happen, or should I resign myself for 6 months of slow 5km runs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10658" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T20:28:50.510" Title="Toenail removed - realistically, how long before I can start running again?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2015-01-12T11:30:54.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you consume excess protein on a ketogenic diet, several of the amino acids will be converted to glucose via the gluconeogenic pathway thus knocking you out of ketosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13630" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T11:30:54.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22165" CreationDate="2015-01-12T12:31:22.047" Score="2" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exrx and other sources claim that flutter kicks are a good psoas exercise.  My psoas are tight, and I use a tennis ball to loosen them up.  When I do flutter kicks, I feel the workout in my hip flexors in the inner thigh, and in my lower back.  But nothing in psoas.  Is there a way I can ensure that the flutter kicks work the psoas, instead of the other (presumably compensating) muscles taking over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T15:01:59.193" Title="How to use psoas in flutter kicks?" Tags="&lt;psoas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22163" CreationDate="2015-01-12T15:01:59.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The psoas is one of the hip flexors. This is a group of muscles that either raise the legs up towards the head, or pull the body towards the feet depending on which point you anchor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flutter kicks do work the psoas along with the others, but in a limited fashion as they won't be going through the full range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a better (in my opinion) exercise to work the flexors, lay down on the ground on your back. Put your hands over your head and grab an immovable object (I use a situp bar that goes under a door), and while keeping your legs straight, raise them up to a 90 angle. (Touch your toes to the door/piece of equipment if you are using that.) Lower them in a controlled fashion back to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get better at the motion, you can increase the exercise by pushing your feet straight up at the ceiling once you get them to the 90 degree angle. This will help work your lower back extensors and your abdominal muscles, but it will also increase the strain on your spine, as you kind of &quot;roll up&quot; onto the backs of your shoulders. If you have back/neck pain, I wouldn't recommend the addition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T15:01:59.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22161" CreationDate="2015-01-12T15:16:29.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's pretty subjective, as it's going to be according to your own healing rate. However, the reason that they have not really caused any pain before, is that while they are turning black and falling off, they are still acting as a protective cover for the nail bed (Much like a scab for a scrape/cut).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I am assuming that for health reasons, they had to completely remove the nail (or a significant portion), so it is basically like having an open wound with no scab. If you can stand the pain, there &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; isn't any danger in running, but I am not familiar with the potential for damaging the nail bed (And thus, having a permanently deformed nail), so I would defer that part of the question to a medical professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T15:16:29.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22169" CreationDate="2015-01-12T20:13:42.560" Score="1" ViewCount="1495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 179 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently in week 2 of P90X3 again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to build muscle, but ultimately get closer to 170lbs by the end-ish of this round of X3 which would be ~90 days. I guess it's also not as much about weight as it is burning fat too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MyFitnessPal says I should eat 1990 calories per day, but to me that seems low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm tying to figure out the right amount to eat to lose weight (or burn fat) and still build some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T21:39:04.767" Title="Calories to eat while doing P90X3 and trying to lose weight" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22168" CreationDate="2015-01-12T21:39:04.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well let's assume you want to lose 9 pounds of fat, because if you gain muscle on top of that it throws everything out of whack(burn more calories with more muscle, you gain weight with muscle, etc). So let's just say you want to be 9 pounds lighter &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;, and what that means in terms of your caloric intake and how much you need to burn off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Metabolic rate isn't the same for everyone, but generally with your weight(and assuming you're around 6 feet tall), will be roughly 2000, maybe a little less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3500 calories per pound * 9 pounds = 31,500 Cal burned total. You want to do this over the course of 90 days. Welp, let's divide by 90. 31,500/90 = 350.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you need roughly a 350 daily calorie deficit over the course of 90 days to lose 9 pounds of fat. You'll gain muscle and lose fat gradually during this period, so the numbers get skewed slightly and inconsistent, but if you're in the ballpark of that number for your average calorie deficit you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to note is you won't build &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; much muscle, at least not as much as you might hope. The body needs fuel to build muscle, and the more fuel it has the more effectively it builds the muscle. Since you're going to be at a deficit for fuel, you won't build muscle nearly as effectively(which is fine if burning fat is what you want, it's impossible to do both optimally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to add that these numbers are not specific, and not necessarily accurate for you as an individual, it's just what the averages would be among people. You have to gauge your results over time and see how you might need to adjust as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13633" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T21:39:04.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2015-01-13T02:39:34.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It' all a matter of the ratio of fats protein and carbs there is a simple calculator on this site where you just enter the grams of each macro and you get the ratio. Any ratio 2 or above, will put you in ketosis. You can do it for each meal or by the day. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flexibleketogenic.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.flexibleketogenic.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13636" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T02:39:34.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22352" CreationDate="2015-01-13T08:51:42.137" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm cycling every day to work. It is a very short distance (2km or 1 1/4 miles).&#xA;I'm usually there in 6-7 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I use this ride to increase my endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read about tabata, would it make sense to apply it to the short ride? Or another variation  of HIIT? Or something completely different which fits into that time frame?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13628" LastEditorUserId="13628" LastEditDate="2015-01-15T09:47:58.077" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T20:55:20.707" Title="How to leverage short bicycle ride to work?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tabata&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22178" CreationDate="2015-01-13T14:09:16.163" Score="2" ViewCount="1120" Body="&lt;p&gt;While putting dishes from dish washer into the cabinets my arms got tired! So time to go back to gym and exercise! If I want to start for the first few weeks with moderate running in target heart zone of my age (32-M) for about 1 or 1.5 miles and also do some some sets of weight lifting that I can do 20lb to 25lb, Is that correct to do these two together in one day? or should I increase the running to 3 miles and one day only do that 3 mile running, the other day do just like half a mile running for a warm up and then just do more lifting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13631" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T15:24:54.010" Title="Should we do running and lifting on the same day or on different days?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22177" CreationDate="2015-01-13T14:24:41.043" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the level you're talking about, you can do all of it in one day. There's a related answer that discusses &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19490/what-are-some-good-strength-training-routines-for-runners/19501#19501&quot;&gt;how to breakup weight training and running once the two start to interfere with each other&lt;/a&gt;. Primarily running and lifting tend to collide with lower body lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you may want to consider doing a real strength training program such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. Either will give you phenomenal results compared to just randomly lifting a dumbbell here and there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T14:24:41.043" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16042" CreationDate="2015-01-13T14:34:56.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soreness (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DOMS: Delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt;) is not a good indicator of work effort. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout?lq=1&quot;&gt;Check out this answer for more info&lt;/a&gt;, specifically on the types of things that cause DOMS and the things that don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want sore triceps, do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/DBLyingTriExt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heavy skull crushers&lt;/a&gt;. If you want sore hamstrings, (carefully) do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBGoodMorning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;good mornings&lt;/a&gt;. They make you sore because they are eccentric: they lengthen the muscles under tension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your arms not increasing, your listed exercises seem more like a &quot;routine&quot; and less like a &quot;program&quot;. If you want results, stick with an accepted and highly regarded program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T14:34:56.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22177" CreationDate="2015-01-13T15:24:54.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of your proposed plans sound fine. The only reason to separate your lifting from cardio work would be if you gained access to heavier weights. If you were lifting close to bodyweight then splitting the running and lifting into separate workouts would help you focus on each one better. As is, combine or don't combine them according to your whim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T15:24:54.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22191" CreationDate="2015-01-13T18:16:28.467" Score="7" ViewCount="1000" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Assumption&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; There have been many articles and answers &lt;em&gt;(even on this site)&lt;/em&gt; that exercising while on a calorie-deficit diet &lt;em&gt;(or weightlifting/exercising for more than an hour)&lt;/em&gt; will not result in bigger muscles as the body will begin to burn the muscles for energy after a certain point. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this valid for all bodies?&lt;/strong&gt; Meaning that will this happen regardless of whether your body fat percentage is 20% or 10%?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt; (Only applicable if the assumption is valid for all bodies)&lt;/em&gt;? I understand the rationale if the body fat percentage is less than a certain level; however, for a body with lots of body fat, the body already has enough fat storage for the body to use. Why would it use the muscles for energy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Thanks.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T19:41:36.760" Title="Why does the body burn muscles instead of fat in a calorie deficit body?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22182" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22192" CreationDate="2015-01-13T20:18:17.590" Score="0" ViewCount="6981" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, my triceps starting showing. I've been regularly going to gym and my diet consist of protein, carbs and veggies (broccoli) and follow &quot;Rule of third&quot; 1/3 of protein, 1/3 of carbs and 1/3 of veggies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I don't see any changes in triceps and biceps change. Even my chest lines come and goes, so does my obliques lines (side lines). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tummy is also being stubborn. I don't put on a lot of weight when doing dumbbells as I don't find any helper and it could fall on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what am I doing wrong? Why isn't my size changing, why triceps and bicep size not changing? Chest line come and go? How do I change my routine, making things change and see the result after weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do 40 minutes cardio everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorUserId="1621" LastEditDate="2016-01-16T14:55:22.937" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T18:43:12.370" Title="arm muscle size not increasing" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20850" CreationDate="2015-01-14T10:02:46.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;10% for a man and 18% for a woman is healthy and sustainable without too  much effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I´d not reccomend anything below that for a longer timr period!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13648" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T10:02:46.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19600" CreationDate="2015-01-14T10:10:25.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was in the same situation a few months ago and came back from a 2 month break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trained as if i didnt take the break. The first 2weeks the training was harder but after that ist was just as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13648" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T10:10:25.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-14T15:04:54.847" Score="4" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;The day after a workout, I sometimes develop twitching in a random muscle; my triceps, or today my &quot;upper&quot; abs shake randomly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes this ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2016-05-13T14:10:23.647" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T14:10:23.647" Title="Shaking muscle during rest day" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22187" CreationDate="2015-01-14T16:07:02.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like a muscle spasm. It is caused by dehydration, mineral depletion and/or electrolyte abnormalities. They typically subside on their own. If not, go see a doc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T16:07:02.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22181" CreationDate="2015-01-14T16:09:52.833" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your carbohydrate intake is too low, your glycogen levels within your skeletal muscle could very well be depleted to the point where your protein stores (muscle) is being used for fuel. Even in a calorie deficit, you need some carbohydrates to fuel your activities. It is a real balancing act. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T16:09:52.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22187" CreationDate="2015-01-14T17:53:04.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The medical term is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_fasciculation_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(BFS) benign fasciculation syndrome&lt;/a&gt;. Loosely translated, that means &quot;probably not serious muscle tremor&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ99xgrsjQI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a video of a man's calf muscle with BFS&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like most benign conditions, it's not extensively studied. Research (fortunately) tends to go where's the greatest need and unraveling the mysteries of a harmless eye twitch doesn't get the attention those with twitching eyes probably would like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally there are several suspected causes of fasciulations, but no smoking gun to demonstrate that some particular repeatable and testable pattern is present in a certain population (or all populations). The best I've been able to find is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19533451&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 2010 study which loosely links exertion&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, strenuous physical exercise caused a temporary increase in&#xA;  fasciculations&lt;/strong&gt;, but only in lower leg muscles. Fasciculations above&#xA;  the knee should raise suspicion and may warrant further investigation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time, you might find some help in reading up on people's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aboutbfs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&amp;amp;t=8534&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;particular anecdotal and personal experiences&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T17:59:54.487" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T17:59:54.487" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22181" CreationDate="2015-01-14T18:36:45.187" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, firstly you're dealing with the human body.  You have several different paths to turn to when it comes to producing energy, but they boil down to three:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ATP-PC Pathway&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glycolytic Pathway&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oxidative Pathway&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These energy systems all use and produce ATP (that's the main source of energy) in some way.  To get ATP, they either break down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrates&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These are &lt;em&gt;typically&lt;/em&gt; the primary source of energy, yields 4 kcals per gram&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fats&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Typically&lt;/em&gt; the secondary source, found everywhere but also large stores in the body.  It's the      most energy dense at 7 kcals per gram&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proteins&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Typically&lt;/em&gt; tertiary, 4kcals per gram&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The energy systems work like three dimmer switches.  When you're doing something like an endurance sport, i.e. marathon running, you'll switch to oxidative, which will use fat as an energy source.  When you're just sprinting or Olympic lifting, you'll use the ATP-PC pathway, which uses carbs.  However, you never just turn off one.  You'll always use all three-just to differing degrees.  Fats, carbs, and proteins can also fuel each pathway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the critical thing to note here, is that we are not machines.  Your body does not burn &lt;strong&gt;just&lt;/strong&gt; fat, or &lt;strong&gt;just&lt;/strong&gt; protein.  These energy systems all work &lt;em&gt;at the same time.&lt;/em&gt;  It's more of a question of what you are doing and for how long that dictates what source of energy your body needs to burn first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason your body will cease to build and repair muscle in a caloric deficit environment is because it needs to save those energy sources over a longer period of time.  It's primary job is survival first-and if it's not receiving enough calories, it will hang onto energy stores for later metabolism, vs just repair.  Building and repairing muscles costs calories, and the processes for repair are semi-unrelated to metabolism (for the sake of this answer anyway), or your day-to-day activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for your questions, TL,DR:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this valid for all bodies?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, but how much it turns to protein really depends person to person-activity levels, sport, body composition, diet-they all play a role.  However, what you're concerned about, catabolism, is a real thing and will happen to anyone who starves themselves of energy needed.  You can't get bigger without a caloric surplus.  If you're trying to change your body, it's recommended to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;eat right and train right.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  Once again, you're not a machine.  It's not a black and white, if this, then that environment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You want to know why we just don't use fat 24/7. Think about our ancestors-to survive they needed to eat whatever they could get their hands on.  Their bodies learned to use whatever they could get their hands on.  If all we needed to eat was fat, what would happen to us if we ran out of nuts or animals?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm really simplifying this, there's so much more detail about how to answer your question, but it sounds like you want to change your body to run on fat.  You can do that, but before you do, take a look at any Olympic athlete-the ultimate expression of prime physical condition.  They eat balanced diets, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; they train.  That's the kind of philosophy you should be looking at, not fad diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: This is a difficult question to answer succinctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastEditorUserId="7465" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T19:41:36.760" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T19:41:36.760" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22182" CreationDate="2015-01-14T19:15:20.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not gaining muscle size/definition can be a result of a great many factors, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bad routine / form&lt;/strong&gt;. If you are doing bad exercises, or doing exercises badly, then your progress will suffer as a result. Most popular recommendation for this is a beginner barbell routine with progressive overloading, such as Starting Strength or Stronglifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not lifting enough&lt;/strong&gt;. If you are not lifting heavy enough to stress your muscles, then there will be no adaptation or muscle growth. Use progressive overloading technique to safely increase the weight you lift each workout so you are properly stressing the muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Poor diet&lt;/strong&gt;. While your diet has lots of protein (and that's a good start),  you also need to be eating over your caloric maintenance level so your body has plenty of calories to use towards building muscle. Since you are doing cardio, it's possible that you are simply starving your muscles of the calories they need to grow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Poor recovery&lt;/strong&gt;. Your muscles require proper recovery in order to grow. If you aren't getting enough sleep at night (try for 8 hours), or if you workout your muscles every day and never get them a rest day, then you will be blocking your muscle growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No patience&lt;/strong&gt;. Change takes time. Bodybuilders are not born in a day. Results may be slow to come, but over time if you are patient and follow the advice here you will succeed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words: eat a lot, follow a good routine where you lift heavy weights with good form, take rest days, get good sleep, and keep at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T19:15:20.443" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-14T19:17:08.520" Score="2" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started doing pullups again(after a year or 2), past 2 years I had been doing other sports such as dancing, running, pushups so I am kindof in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my &lt;a href=&quot;http://anatomypic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/the-human-body-organs-male-4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;waist&lt;/a&gt;(as can be seen from the picute: external oblique) hurt when I do pullups, expecially when before I come down and straighten my arms. &#xA;It also hurts when I stretch that part, the rest of the time I am totally find, I dont feel a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Should I take a break from pullups? Should I go see a doctor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13391" LastEditorUserId="13391" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T19:31:16.567" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T15:23:27.947" Title="Why does my waist hurt during pullups?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-14T19:27:30.253" Score="5" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR.&lt;/strong&gt;: For speed training, is it better to run longer at 80% of the max HR, or faster at 95% of the max HR?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long rant&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm able to run 6Km in 50min if I control my speed based on the HR, by not allowing it to got past 80-85% of the HR limit for my age. I'm also able to run 5Km in 35 minutes, if I allow te HR to go up to 92%...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... which sucks (time-wise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zMAec.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I peaked at 185bpm after 19minutes running at 9.5Km/h. I &quot;assume&quot; my max HR is 187bpm, although I happened to be having a conversation for 2 minutes while fluctuating around 183bpms (oddly enough, I wasn't grasping for air). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fccDk.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, the question comes down to:&lt;/strong&gt; Is it better to keep pushing the &quot;distance&quot; at 80% of my calculated max heart-rate, or should I also bet on speed by once in a while push it to 95-98% and keep it there for a few minutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some background:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm 34. My couch to 5k was done about 9 months ago. Although I trained martial arts from 17 to 27, I did become overweight and pretty sedentary during my PhD and postdoc (last 7yrs). I assume that 7yrs of no training completely reversed the heavy training I did in my youth ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13652" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-01-15T14:49:09.550" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T14:28:11.453" Title="Training running speed going faster at 95-98% or longer at 80%" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22212" CreationDate="2015-01-14T20:07:47.040" Score="2" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm male, 5'11, age 29. In 2008 I went from 260lbs to about 160lbs with very little exercise, and have hovered around that weight since then. My weight will fluctuate, with a high of around 175lbs. When I hit a number I'm uncomfortable with, I lower it by dieting, almost exclusively by eliminating carbs. This is a reliable solution to lose weight, but I have practically no muscle definition, which makes sense as I rarely work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have excess fat or skin in my gut area -- I'm not sure which it is (or even how to tell), but I'm ready to get to the next step in terms of fitness. My goal is to maintain about 160-165lbs and &quot;replace&quot; the fat with muscle. I'm aware that &quot;replace&quot; is a misnomer, but I'm worried mostly about doing the wrong thing and gaining weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have access to a gym with no barbells but plenty of cardio and dumbells. I also have a 15lb and a 45lb kettlebell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love suggestions on how to start building muscle through an exercise plan and an eating plan. (I think 5x5 and Starting Strength as programs have to be ruled out by virtue of no barbell.) I am currently in a no-carb cycle and at 161lbs. I feel terrible about myself when I'm over 165lbs, so I'm trying to preserve my self-esteem and stay under that number while doing what I need to do to build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts would be most appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13653" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T20:37:04.680" Title="Gaining muscle after significant weight loss [slightly specific situation]" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-15T01:38:08.833" Score="2" ViewCount="4519" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B006M2PJV0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LifeSpan TR1200-DT5 Treadmill Desk&lt;/a&gt;.  The manual says to use only 100% silicone lubricant.  Their product is overpriced, so I Googled &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=100%25%20silicone%20treadmill%20lubricant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;100% silicone treadmill lubricant&lt;/a&gt;&quot; to look for other products.  What do I see in almost every return result?  LifeSpan.  Now it seems like a marketing ploy to advise only to use 100% silicone.  Since  hardly any other treadmill explicitly requires that, anyone looking for 100% silicone lubricant will inevitably come across LifeSpan's product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that lube for one treadmill will work with another, but could I be wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastActivityDate="2015-01-17T06:14:54.110" Title="Will any lubricant work on any treadmill?" Tags="&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-15T04:32:44.503" Score="1" ViewCount="12129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard of people actually just getting really huge (obese) to be able to generate more force. I don't know how effective it is, but I've seen 300-400 lb. people who don't regularly lift weights/go to gyms and can pound the daylights out of regular gym-goers. Not to mention that muscle-size isn't key to strength 100%, so this could explain that the process is biomechanical components to it more than just muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As examples, very heavy people often have larger wrists and chubbier hands, so this could be an automatic advantage in armwreslting, grappling, etc., at least in some ways. Also, heavy people eat huge amounts of calories, so it's possible that they still build power from regular daily activities more than skinnier people would. You also have to consider that heavier people can be much harder to move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an example to that previous statement, consider wrestling someone who weighs 400 lbs. and walks the same as someone who weighs 170 lbs. It's extremely unlikely that the heavier person will be easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they walk around, they are carrying 2x or more weight than you are, and they are walking the same as you or more, possibly. Odds are, their legs are pretty powerful without specific workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was thinking of having a diet like this - gain weight slowly (fat) and see how the gain increases demands on my body that require adaption and strength gains. Since I can't decide not to walk weighing 300 lbs., but can decide to not squat one day, &lt;strong&gt;I am actually forced to get stronger by getting fatter&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may sound ridiculous at first, but I used to weigh 255 lbs. at 5'9&quot; at 16 and I could bench 200 lbs. without working out. How? I was active, conditioned to my bodyweight, and could move well. I grew to that weight and that required me to gain much more strength, but not necessarily muscle or health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember being able to lift much heavier weights back then too, specifically over 300 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I am 21 years old, 5'9&quot; still, and weigh 200 lbs. Guess what? I can't do any of that anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when you are fat and you come running at a person, they are more likely to fall, even if they are strong weight lifters because your running weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to mention that I hate exercise so much that it's almost like it's genetically coded to not like it, and any exercise I do is not &quot;natural feeling&quot;, but forced, in any variation/weight/type/form. Being fat is key for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how strong can I get by just getting fatter and adapting to this weight regularly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't care about bench much but want to deadlift 500 lbs. without working out much. If I gain enough weight and lift some random heavy stuff, I think I can come close over years of on-and-off lifting. It doesn't have to be in good form, but I just want to pull it off the ground, even for a 1/4 inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't tell me that fat doesn't make people stronger because it does. If it didn't, you'll have to explain lots to me then about do nothing people in the 400 lb. range who can lift their own bodyweight in deadlifts without lifting anything but a fork. This guy is an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bwtIF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this one ... both are/were over 500 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1w4do.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These athletes do not have a strong weight training dedication, yet they prove that they have enough strength to be in professional wrestling at a high-profile level and even boxing. Clearly, as you gain fat, strength comes somehow, depending on how active you stay. I want to be fatter and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13409" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T22:02:20.240" Title="How much stronger can you get as you get fatter?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12454" CreationDate="2015-01-15T05:56:54.687" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So how is weight training not considered active minutes? When I used to log my activities (some training sessions lasting up to 90 minutes at medium-to-high intensity) it counted the time. The latest update is so far from truthful that it shouldn't be considered indicative of physical activity. I sweat buckets when I train so the logic you provide is deeply flawed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13654" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T05:56:54.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22197" CreationDate="2015-01-15T08:49:38.567" Score="10" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Stop Making Excuses&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't tell me that fat doesn't make people stronger because it does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course many fat people are strong. Of course people get stronger faster if they aren't trying to stay under a certain weight while training. But there's that key phrase: 'while training'. The examples you cite fight sumo and lift weights. There's no magic here: hard strength work plus eating a lot equals big and strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consider wrestling someone who weighs 400 lbs. and walks the same as someone who weighs 170 lbs. It's extremely unlikely that the heavier person will be easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're making up excuses while sitting around instead of wrestling and testing your ideas. Yes, bigger people are sometimes harder to wrestle. Sometimes. Often a big fat person who doesn't train is &lt;em&gt;easier&lt;/em&gt; to wrestle because they're unathletic, weak, slow, and ignorant of technique. They can fix that by training--either getting stronger and staying the same size, or by losing weight, or by learning to wrestle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If [being fat] didn't [make you strong], you'll have to explain lots to me then about do nothing people in the 400 lb. range who can lift their own bodyweight in deadlifts without lifting anything but a fork. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, I'll explain: most of those people didn't just lift a fork, they trained. A very few people are genetically gifted, and so can rest on their laurels and still have a little strength. It doesn't sound like you have those genetics, so you're left with training. That's great! That means that you have the ability to change your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hate exercise so much that it's almost like it's genetically coded to not like it, and any exercise I do is not &quot;natural feeling&quot;, but forced, in any variation/weight/type/form. Being fat is key for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fuck every bit of that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't feel natural because &lt;em&gt;you don't do it&lt;/em&gt;. If you do it for a long time, it'll feel natural. If you're 21 then it's just about physically impossible for you to have tried very many variations of training and exercise--you simply haven't been alive long enough. Stop making excuses and get to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Find Satisfying Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training doesn't have to be guilty, self-hating work. Just go to the gym and get the work done three or four times a week. Yes, it's hard. No, it doesn't have to be an awful grind. It can be a satisfying challenge, where you beat old records and prove yourself over and over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really enjoy strength training. The sense of controlled progress (three sets of five reps at 90 kilos today...three sets of five reps at 92.5 kilos next week...) and the continual personal records works for me. Running works for some people. Team sports work for yet other people, individual sports likewise, and yoga and Pilates and workout videos and circuit training and so on all work for some people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forcing yourself to do any sort of exercise as a punishment or a chore is going to suck. But with a bit of practice (and trying different kinds of workouts), exercise can become something that takes time, effort, and money, but is rewarding, satisfying, and even fun. You can feel your body getting better, faster, stronger, you can feel your mood improving, you can take pride in lifting more weight or running a faster 5k. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-01-15T09:49:38.717" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T09:49:38.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22197" CreationDate="2015-01-15T12:34:16.667" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't Confuse Size with Genetics and Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My former coach won the genetic lottery as someone who can just naturally get beastly strong.  An example of that genetic pool, he took his mother to the weight room and she squatted over 300 lbs on her first day with no prior training.  I'm pretty sure she was sore after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several power lifters who are quite overweight and who have incredible lifts.  There are also many examples of power lifters who are quite a bit leaner and lift just as much weight (Dan Green is one example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fat guys that destroy skinny guys can do that in part due to different leverages, different amounts of muscle on their frame, and a majorly different focus in their training.  Don't discount the effect of training to lift heavier things vs. just trying to look good naked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a rumor that for every 4 pounds you gain one of it is muscle.  I haven't seen anything authoritatively address this rumor, but that's also at a very high cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mass Affects Some Exercises More Than Others&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What people fail to realize is that mass changes your leverages.  That increase in ability isn't always an increase of strength.  Bench press is one of those lifts that is positively affected by an increase in mass.  However, there does come a point of diminishing returns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know a guy named Norman Rice, who is one of the outliers who took StrongLifts to a squat and deadlift in the 600s and bench over 400 lbs.  He also ate to get through plateaus, did the resets, etc.  He is also very likely someone who got the genetic jackpot like my former coach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When Norman went back over his records, he found that he got too fat to squat.  As he got heavier, his squat went down and he had difficulty completing the movement.  He had to loose weight to squat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially for some lifts, there is a point of &lt;em&gt;inverse&lt;/em&gt; returns, not just diminishing returns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle Moves Weight, Not Fat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your skeletal muscle is what generates force to move weight.  Fat is simply energy reserves, and adds to the weight the muscle has to move.  A focus on building muscle and making it stronger will always outperform simply eating more and training the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting weaker when you get smaller&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's something to consider.  Remember how I mentioned that as you get larger your leverages change but you aren't actually any stronger?  That's what's going on here.  It's not that you are getting weaker, it's that you never truly had the strength to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast your experience with mine.  I worked with a coach to lose weight and get stronger.  I was competing in powerlifting at the time.  I started at 308 lbs and could bench 275, squat 440, and deadlift 485.  In the space of 6 months I lost 20 lbs, weighing in at 282 for my competition.  Losing 20 lbs off my frame, I was able to bench 290, squat 450, and deadlift 510 without a belt.  Take time and read that a few times.  I lost weight and got stronger in the same amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My story is not unlike some other well known strongmen.  For example, Kalle Beck can put more overhead now that he's 175-185 than he could when he was 220.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between my experience and yours?  It's the work I put in to get stronger.  I'm getting healthier and stronger while you are trying to rely on getting bigger to do all the work for you.  Another key factor is that it sounds like you were more active in the past than you are now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't condone getting fat to get stronger.  Particularly when you hate exercise anyway.  Why care about how strong you are?  If you aren't going to put in the effort to develop the strength it doesn't matter.  How strong can you get at 5'9&quot; and getting back to 260 lbs?  Not as strong as you can get by putting in focused work and dropping to 180.  Not by a long shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-01-17T21:35:14.347" LastActivityDate="2015-01-17T21:35:14.347" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23686" CreationDate="2015-01-15T13:34:00.497" Score="3" ViewCount="595" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always used to be a very flexible person. In middle school, I could do full splits straddle and front-and-back on both sides. Even into high school and college, I continued to be able to do lotus positions, kicks above my head, deep lunges, stuff like that. I kind of fell off the wagon with it, but I'm trying to get back into it. Right now, I'm having a major problem with cramping in the soles of my feet during certain stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two stretches where it has become most evident are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Do-the-Yoga-Pigeon-Pose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pigeon Stretch&lt;/a&gt; (pain in the front foot for both sides) and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://magafoundation.co.uk/shin-splint-stretch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kneeling shin stretch&lt;/a&gt; (it seems to go by a variety of names) on both feet. I get some degree of the same problem as the kneeling shin stretch just sitting in Seiza. The muscles in the sole of my feet ''feel'' cramped and hard. Massaging them will help relieve the pain and tension for a bit, but it often comes back when I stretch again. I've tried doing basic ankle stretches beforehand, but to little avail. I occasionally get something like this when doing deep lunges, but never nearly as badly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I'm a bit worried that, if I keep pushing through, I'm going to impair my stretching progress because my body will associate stretching with pain, but I don't want to drop these exercises because the pain seems unrelated to what I'm actually stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T05:39:40.283" Title="Cramping in the soles of my feet during certain stretches" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22194" CreationDate="2015-01-15T14:57:43.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ll preface this by saying that I am &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a runner.  However, like you, I am an endurance athlete who competes as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowing_%28sport%29#Side_by_side&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rower&lt;/a&gt;.  I race two different distances: &lt;strong&gt;1000&lt;/strong&gt; meters (sprint, or, side by side) and &lt;strong&gt;5000&lt;/strong&gt; meters (“head race”).  My goals are the same – improve speed over a specified distance thus finishing quicker.  And, like you, I utilize heart rate training.  Early on in my racing pre-season, my coach often has us tested for individual &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lactate.com/lactate_threshold.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lactate levels&lt;/a&gt; while performing a specified rowing “piece” (ie. distance).  We then adapt our training to our individual VO2 Max limits based on the Lactate testing.  A valid assumption would be to constantly train at VO2 Max levels.  However, in the long run, this would be detrimental as it leads to constant exhaustion.  Instead, we train in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/articles/how-to-maximize-your-vo2max-training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intervals&lt;/a&gt;.  That is, mixing shorter bouts of higher intensity training, with rest periods, allows us to train closer to 100% VO2 Max levels before reaching total exhaustion.  So, to answer your question, I’d suggest you take a look at mixing in some VO2 max interval training.  If for nothing else, this type of training should provide a spark to elicit better results from your running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T14:57:43.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22216" CreationDate="2015-01-15T11:58:51.253" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is how much we sweat an indicator of how much calories we burn? I am talking about the same person because how much we sweat is also related to how much the body is hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13659" OwnerDisplayName="user2651062" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T06:14:08.093" Title="The relation between sweating and how many calories we burn" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22195" CreationDate="2015-01-15T15:19:57.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no reason you can't start out with dumbbells (or kettlebells) for the Stronglifts 5x5 program, at least to start somewhere with the equipment you have available to you. Mehdi suggests it for women, but the modifications could work if you have big enough dumbbells: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#Does_StrongLifts_52155_work_for_women&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#Does_StrongLifts_52155_work_for_women&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;I started this way, and still modify with dumbbells sometimes if the gym is too busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13415" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T15:19:57.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-15T15:23:10.623" Score="2" ViewCount="8924" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ask this question because I have been on a low-calorie diet and have been working out on my total gym once or twice a day and walking 2-2.5 miles a day five days a week for the past two weeks.  In the mirror, I can clearly see muscle definition and fat loss, but my weight has only decreased by but a few pounds and, some days, it has actually gone up a pound.  I am aware that muscle is heavier than fat and that muscle has a tendency to retain water.  I also made it a point to say &quot;all things being equal&quot; because I am aware that how fast muscle builds vs. how fast fat burns depends on the intensity of your workout and also your diet.  However, if my muscle tissue is building faster than I am burning fat, that would introduce an additional factor that could explain the erratic numbers I see while I am on the scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T23:59:45.267" Title="All things being equal, does muscle build faster than fat burns?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22205" CreationDate="2015-01-15T16:53:47.120" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle does not build faster than fat burns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your main issue is not that you are not burning fat or gaining muscle, but instead you're not actually measuring those things. Your body is not entirely muscle OR fat. In turn, when you weigh yourself you are not only measuring those two factors. You're measuring fat mass and lean body mass (muscle, bones, the food you ate for lunch, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply, if you changed your diet and increased exercise you will most likely improve your body composition. You said you see that in the mirror; I would trust that over the scale. You can also use your physical fitness as a good measure -- are you lifting more, running longer, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to continue to use the scale, then I agree with Kneel-Before-ZOD. Do it weekly or biweekly on the same day at the same time of day. And don't stress about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13491" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T16:53:47.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-15T20:10:09.503" Score="0" ViewCount="742" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is the best time to eat a big meal when weight training - before or after the workout? Also how much time before or after is optional / beneficial?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7517" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T15:27:59.410" Title="Eating a big meal around a weightlifting workout - before or after?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-16T21:54:02.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22205" CreationDate="2015-01-15T20:18:10.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilders tend to interleave periods of 'ripping' with periods of 'bulking'. If you want to gain muscle fast, you will need to eat big time and will have to accept also 'gaining' a bit of fat and you will need to do mostly anaerobic exercises and skip cardio. If you want to loose fat quickly, you will have to undereat a bit and work out with lower weights higher repetitions, etc. You will need to accept loosing a bit of muscle. And yes, if you focus on the larger muscle groups, have a good bulking diet and work out schedule, you could gain muscle faster than you could loose fat when on a diet. Going on a bulk/rip cycle can be an amazing way to get in shape. Start off with bulking until your body fat percentage stops going down. Once you are at that point, start interleaving periods of ripping with periods of bulking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T20:18:10.580" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-15T22:59:31.583" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have started a program to strengthen(and learning to activate) specific muscles relating to overpronation(abductor hallucis, flexor digitorum brevis etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few weeks I'm now able to activate and control these muscle but unfortunately only for &amp;lt;1-2 sec before the muscle/s contracts(hurts a bit) which forces me to stretch it out. This is substantially seen in the abductor hallucis muscle which forces the big toe to spread out before I align it to the 'normal'(not normal) position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Do I need to incorporate stretch? Or will it go over over time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6144" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T22:59:31.583" Title="Muscle spasm/contraction" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;foot&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22195" CreationDate="2015-01-16T00:10:56.970" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all I'd like to clarify a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are not defined, not because you don't work out, but because you have a lot of fat in the sense of body building standards. It means that basically you're above 10-12% body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to your gut fat/skin, it might be both. But as I said, you won't have 0 tummy unless you reach a % fat WAY below 10-12%, which is already considered LOW for the random citizen standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's talk about your objectives. If you think you're going to build muscle while you go on a no carb diet, you're completely wrong. Unless you eat 2000+cals of pure proteins every day. Yes, you will gain flexibility and definitely tone your body, but you won't build muscle as in &quot;making muscle fiber grow&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eitherway, you can use dumbbells, barbells, pulleys... anything that challenges your strength a little bit. Pick a beginner's program online, go slowly at first, be extremely dedicated and self disciplined, and it should be alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastEditorUserId="5178" LastEditDate="2015-01-16T23:50:11.107" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T23:50:11.107" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6017" CreationDate="2015-01-16T02:26:58.997" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grip depends on so many factors, but I prefer overhand grip for both. Mixed grip is great if you want to lift more, but if you rely on it, it promotes various muscle imbalances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13664" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2015-01-17T02:50:59.883" LastActivityDate="2015-01-17T02:50:59.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22203" CreationDate="2015-01-16T05:38:40.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We sweat when our body has excess heat that it can't get rid of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are exercising in cold weather, your body can easily dump excess heat into the cold environment. If it's hot, however, it can't do that, so it tries to dump heat through sweating and having the water evaporate, removing heat from your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sweating as also a trained reaction; athletes who are better trained will sweat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do two workouts in a room of the same temperature wearing equivalent clothes, if you sweat more you are probably working harder at that point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T05:38:40.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22194" CreationDate="2015-01-16T05:44:15.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get better, you need to put a training load on your system. As you get more fit, this becomes harder to do. After a certain point, an 80% effort will not put enough stress on your system, and you will stop improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep improving, you need short efforts at higher exertion. In other word, intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of resources out there that can give you programs for intervals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T05:44:15.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22203" CreationDate="2015-01-16T06:09:02.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Eric put it, sweat happens when your body needs to lower its temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sweating is not necessarily a good indicator of how many calories we burn, it is tied to it to some degree though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People will often tell you that when you break a good sweat during workout, you did just fine! But the truth is that you can sweat quite a bit in sauna, and after you get out and drink some water, you will be back to your previous weight state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are curious about how we lose fat, there is an excellent TED video that explains it: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIlsN32WaE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIlsN32WaE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line of the video is, fat is expelled by breathing. So a better indicator of if you are burning calories or not is how fast are you breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13625" LastEditorUserId="13625" LastEditDate="2015-01-16T06:14:08.093" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T06:14:08.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-16T07:56:28.340" Score="1" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a 6 month break after finishing a 10 week (5 day/week) fitness program, I restarted it last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week I only went to gym 2 days out of five (Monday &amp;amp; Friday) and this week all the way Monday to Friday. My routine is cardio (treadmill Tuesday and Thursday) and other major muscle groups in the rest of the days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After doing chest &amp;amp; back on Wednesday I felt a bit of soreness in my pectoral muscles and a normal pump in my chest. After Thrusday's cardio program (20 mintues on a treadmill - aprox. 1.8 miles, I pushed myself a bit) my chest became very pumped (almost twice in size than before Wednesday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it, but my chest has been pumped like this for about a day and a half now and I've never experienced this before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pumps I had the last time I did this program were normal and didn't last more than a day (the day of the exercise), but this one started increasing in intesity one day after (Thursday) and keeps going until today (still pumped).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is a reason to worry, but I've never experienced anything like this before and I did make some web-searches but haven't found any details regarding &quot;extended&quot; pumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also started doing a 15-16 hour fasting cycle, I'm not sure if this information is useful or it has any implication to my condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else had a similar experience and/or should a pump last so long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13666" LastEditorUserId="13666" LastEditDate="2015-01-16T08:45:45.310" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T08:45:45.310" Title="Extended chest pump - 1 and a half days" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-16T11:10:15.913" Score="1" ViewCount="1271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have got 20kg kettle bell and able to do 30 swings without exhausting.&#xA;Should I change the size of kettlebell(32 or 36 kg ?) or increase reps ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T13:25:22.023" Title="When to change Kettle-bell weight?" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22220" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-16T18:01:38.547" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do 6 series x (although I have often long periods of time between series) 20 push up, 10 pull up and 20 chin-up 4 times/week and run 10 km 3 times/week and stopped adding more reps(but I can do more) since 2 weeks ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put my exercises to next level, I decided to go to gym and I'm now looking for workout routine, which should be not complicated nor to much time consuming(not more than 1h in gym/day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to workout for increasing strength and muscle grow and running for lowering body fat percentage(I'm not obese, nor very skinny, just skinny male) not necessary endurance/durability(I know, I know I was probably doing it bad by large number of repetitions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What workout routines can you suggest, will stronglifts 5x5 be good for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13668" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T18:36:21.800" Title="Which gym workout routine after home training?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22219" CreationDate="2015-01-16T19:02:28.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do only swings , which is the only exercise I do not feel boring&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBSnatch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kettlebell snatch&lt;/a&gt;, or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBCleanAndJerk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kettlebell clean and press&lt;/a&gt; (or both), neither of which many people would describe as boring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of my favorite kettlebell workouts consist of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTwoArmSwing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Swing&lt;/a&gt; (two hand) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snatch &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean and press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTurkishGetup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Turkish getup&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DB (with a KB) row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I change the size of kettlebell(32 or 36 kg ?) or increase reps ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is fat loss, remember that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;strength training has a very big impact to your resting metabolic rate&lt;/a&gt;. So perhaps consider using a heavier bell for the big movements that you can leverage (like the double hand swing), and use lighter bells for the snatch, and maybe even a lighter still for the getups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to spare you some pain, consider buying some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=gym%20chalk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chalk&lt;/a&gt; if you haven't already and use it liberally. It can really save your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T19:02:28.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22220" CreationDate="2015-01-16T20:24:53.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend HIIT based strength training, maybe 3-4 days a week. This way, you get in enough cardio (as you work until fatigue) and enough weight training to build endurance, strength and size (everyone wants more size). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/best-life-magazine/exericse-anywhere&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Busy Man's Total Body Workout&lt;/a&gt; from Men's Fitness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/workout-routines/3-circuit-fat-loss-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3 Circuit Routine&lt;/a&gt; (personal favourite)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you subscribe to Men's Health and Men's Fitness and regularly checkout routines at the respective places to keep it fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy Hunting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4674" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T20:24:53.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-16T22:26:59.300" Score="-1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it good to have protein supplements when over weight ? Is it possible to gain muscles by having proteins while having extra body fat ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T10:22:04.447" Title="Protein supplements for over weight people" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-01T13:41:14.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-16T22:28:15.170" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 16.5 years old and my height is 5ft 4.5inch. My weight is 45.5 kg. Everybody says that I'm very thin. How can I gain muscle and look like a healthy man? I want to create quality muscle as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13670" LastEditorUserId="13670" LastEditDate="2016-01-11T18:36:56.633" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T18:36:56.633" Title="I'm very thin. How can I gain muscle?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-01-18T14:37:22.463" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22196" CreationDate="2015-01-17T06:14:54.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most hardware stores will sell silicone lubricant spray, it's the same stuff. Try Googling 100% silicone lubricant and leave out the word treadmill or ask at your local hardware for silicone lubricant spray. This is compatible with your treadmill, don't try non-silicone lubricants in case they eat at the belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13675" LastActivityDate="2015-01-17T06:14:54.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22219" CreationDate="2015-01-17T08:36:44.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;30 kettlebell swings is not enough exercise to see major improvement. You need a longer workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay with your current kettlebell, but do more exercises and more sets. You could do 30 swings, then rest a couple minutes, then do another set of 30 swings, and continue until you've done 3 or 5 sets. Some sets of overhead presses would be a good idea, as would Turkish get-ups. Or maybe do swings, then go for a quick jog, then do some push-presses, then do some more swings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But just one set of 30 swings is not a workout. Do more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-01-20T13:25:22.023" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T13:25:22.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22231" CreationDate="2015-01-17T10:26:33.270" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the right breathing technique to get optimal output when doing swings ? I do now breath in when the the kettlebell moves backward and out when it is up &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-01-17T17:32:38.607" Title="Breathing technique Swings" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22229" CreationDate="2015-01-17T17:32:38.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's it.  Typically a good rule of thumb is to breath out when the weight is traveling against gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2015-01-17T17:32:38.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-17T17:38:38.060" Score="6" ViewCount="2181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just started to use HRT monitor on runtastic. My max heart rate I think should be 179. I am 41 and my resting HR is 45. Just ran 15k this morning and according to the data I was in redline (defined as &lt;a href=&quot;http://walking.about.com/cs/fitnesswalking/a/hearttraining_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;90-100% of maximum heart rate&lt;/a&gt;) for 54% of my run and 29% in anaerobic. I was not running too fast and I run about 30-40k a week. Reading up on it many posts advise against longish periods in this zone. Am I putting my body under undue strain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13677" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-01-30T13:46:13.630" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T13:46:13.630" Title="Redline heart rate running" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6017" CreationDate="2015-01-17T19:07:00.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;My Recommendation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I advocate deadlifting with a double overhand with no hook grip for as many warm-up sets as possible, in order to develop grip strength. For heavy warm-ups and work sets, I think a hook grip with chalk is the best way to develop grip while still moving heavy weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't use the mixed grip, and would only advocate it for PR attempts (maybe) or for people with specific reasons to avoid working on their grip (e.g. injury or disability). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want a strong deadlift, a strong grip, and no injuries. The mixed grip prevents development of grip strength and adds the risk of tearing the biceps tendon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/j2hT6JFKXTo?t=32s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/j2hT6JFKXTo?t=32s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_nIfVwZ1RU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_nIfVwZ1RU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3No2kkDQGg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3No2kkDQGg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzjl923RMTw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzjl923RMTw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;But Dave,&quot; you might object. &quot;You say to use a hook grip and chalk, which are tools to make the bar easier to grip. Why are they OK but mixed grip isn't?&quot; Good question. It's because without chalk and hook grips, pretty much nobody can lift heavy weights. Those two tools allow people to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IVlJIMeT9M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lift HUUUUUGE weights&lt;/a&gt; and develop plenty of grip strength that they couldn't if they didn't use those tools. So what I'm saying is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;without hook grip or chalk: highest risk of callus tears, no biceps tendon tears, grip strength gets a lot of work but grip limits deadlift to stupidly low weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with chalked double overhand hook grip: fewest callus tears, no biceps tendon tears, and grip strength gets plenty of work and grip doesn't limit deadlift very much for most people&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with chalked mixed hook grip: fewest callus tears but highest (though small) risk of biceps tendon tears, grip strength doesn't get much work but deadlift is limited the least&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;To Sum Up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chalked double overhand hook grip is the Goldilocks of deadlift grips: the best mix of safety and strength training for both grip and the rest of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-01-17T19:07:00.877" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-17T20:18:18.097" Score="0" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking around for some good supplements and have been recommended Matrix Anabolic Gold, but I'm keen to check there's no banned substances in it. &lt;code&gt;informed-sport.com&lt;/code&gt; is good for checking a manufacturer is safe, but does anyone know if because it isn't registered, it's because it contains banned substances? Or if it's simply not been considered? The word anabolic in the title is just a marketing ploy I presume, which I'm not enticed or put off by, but the reviews are very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm anticipating a few people saying buy organic, but I'm not convinced that something being &quot;natural&quot; is better, so I'm open to all suggestions. If this Matrix stuff is not safe because of doping or contamination, my default is myprotein.com. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13623" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T14:22:50.447" Title="Avoiding banned substances" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-01-19T13:41:37.750" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22234" CreationDate="2015-01-18T01:53:41.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Informed Sport website describes it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://informed-sport.com/en/product-registration-process&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;registration process&lt;/a&gt;, which can explain why a number of products are not registered.  Essentially, the manufacturer has to actively seek them out.  The major issue with the supplement market is that it is unregulated, and any voluntary regulation like this costs money.  Unless the companies who are registered get a noticeably larger market share of supplement sales, it's unlikely that a number of companies will self-register.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the ingredients listed on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.matrix-nutrition.co.uk/buy.cfm/protein-powders/matrix-anabolic-gold-5kg/79/yes/84328&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Matrix Anabolic Gold&lt;/a&gt; website, we see the followoing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Matrix Protein Blend – (Whey Protein Concentrate (Milk), Whey Protein Isolate (Milk), Soya Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Concentrate, Whole Milk Protein). Flavouring. Amino Acid Matrix – (Leucine, Iso-Leucine, Valine, Lysine, Arginine, Creatine Monohydrate, Glycine, Taurine, Peptide Bonded Glutamine (derived from Wheat Protein). Natural Colourings, Acacia Gum, Stabilisers (Citric Acid, Malic Acid), Sweetener: Sucralose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look up the ingredients on &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine.com&lt;/a&gt; (a web site that reviews scientific studies in relation to supplements and summarizes them in one place), but I can summarize what most of the ingredients are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whey Protein Concentrate and Isolate&lt;/strong&gt; -- It's just whey protein.  The isolate is a bit more refined to just protein than concentrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soya Protein Isolate&lt;/strong&gt; -- It's very refined soy protein.  While soy is a phyto-estrogen, it shouldn't pose any problems being this refined.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Milk Protein Concentrate&lt;/strong&gt; -- Most likely a combination of whey and casein from a very cheap refining process.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leucine, Iso-Leucine, Valine, Lysine, Arginine&lt;/strong&gt; -- Branched Chain Amino Acids, the body can use these best after exertion.  It's just standard stuff, check Examine.com for what each does and how well it does it's job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine Monohydrate&lt;/strong&gt; -- A compound that helps your body turn ADP back into usable ATP (energy used in muscle).  It works well, is safe, legal, and pretty inexpensive if you buy it separately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glycine, Taurine, and Peptide Bonded Glutamine&lt;/strong&gt; -- More amino acids.  Nothing to be alarmed about.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Everything Else&lt;/strong&gt; -- Just fillers to make it taste OK.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mix is pretty standard stuff, nothing that would be considered banned by sports associations or by national laws.  Assuming those are 100% of the active ingredients, you won't experience any more enhanced performance than you would with any other equivalent supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will call attention to the protein blends.  Isolates give you more protein per volume than concentrates, but are expensive to produce.  Concentrates work well, but the processing isn't as refined.  If there's any traces of bad things like arsenic, etc. from that old Consumer Reports scare article it would be more likely to be in the concentrate.  The plain milk protein concentrate is probably a bit less processed and probably lower quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T01:53:41.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22234" CreationDate="2015-01-18T14:22:50.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two other places that you can go to check supplements and medications against what is and is not banned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.globaldro.com/us-en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Global Drug Reference Online&lt;/a&gt; (Global DRO) gives guidance on pharmaceutical products, such as if they are banned either in our out of competition (IC and OOC respectively), and other information pertinent. For example, some medications are legal if you take them orally, but illegal if you get an injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other site is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.supplement411.org/hrl/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supplement 411&lt;/a&gt; put out by the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA). This is the organization that works with the US National Governing Bodies (NGB's) to ensure clean athletes in the Olympic umbrella (Pan Olympic, Para Olympic, etc.). You don't necessarily have to register with complete information, however I encourage you to do so as they update the list regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I do not find Matrix Anabolic Gold on the list. That is not 100%, as they may not have tested it yet, but every time I've looked for a known illegal supplement that it is already on the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T14:22:50.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22232" CreationDate="2015-01-18T14:27:16.823" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;220 - Age for maximum heart rate is one of the worst myths in sports. Your maximum heart rate may be less than 179, or it may be much more. For example, I am currently in my late 40's, and I regularly hit in the high 190's on hill sprint cycling workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are various step tests and self administered tests that you can do outlined on the web, I would encourage you to do one of these to see where you might fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that with a resting heart rate of 45 and history of running 30-40k per week that 179 is probably not anywhere near your true maximum. It does suggest that you had some factors that were raising your heart rate, I would &quot;expect&quot; your heart rate to be in the 140's for a typical 15k effort, but that's a wild stab as everyone is very different in exercise response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T14:27:16.823" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5435" CreationDate="2015-01-18T15:25:39.313" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift dumbbells every day and I am huge I start with the heaviest weight i can do 25 reps or so then I reduce the weight ;) It's very affective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13684" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T15:25:39.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22239" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-18T18:26:47.673" Score="1" ViewCount="552" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several online calorie calculators tell me I should be consuming between 2100-2500 calories a day to lose weight (around 3000 to maintain my weight).  For the past few weeks, I've been counting about 1100-1200 calories a day after I take into account what I've burned on the treadmill and with weight lifting.  I am aware that the online calculators are not 100% reliable, but I feel comfortable saying that I am consuming well under the daily limit needed to lose weight at a rate of a pound or two per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if consuming too few calories is actually counter-productive and if I should raise my daily intake.  Most of my caloric intake has been through protein shakes and protein bars and I eat small amounts of low-calorie food throughout the day to take the edge off my hunger, especially about an hour before bed.  I guess my mentality has been that, if I am not hungry, my body is at equilibrium with my metabolism and everything's working as it should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T08:32:42.733" Title="Is it healthy/unhealthy to consume too few calories so long as you're not starving yourself?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22239" CreationDate="2015-01-18T18:40:04.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1200-1500 is what my personal trainers years back told me was the range of calorie intake for losing fat, but honestly just the bare number of calories can only tell you so much. The right amount you should be eating to lose weight is just enough to keep your mind attentive and your body functioning at a high energy level. Protein shakes and bars are good for meeting your protein requirements, but that is still less than half your diet, you do need to consume carbohydrates and some fats, as well as ensuring that you are receiving enough vitamins and minerals and that you are hydrated. Ensure that there is vegetation in your diet. As long as you've eaten properly to keep everything in your body in working order, having less than the recommended calorie intake isn't a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13686" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T18:40:04.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22239" CreationDate="2015-01-18T18:43:38.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you suppress your calories enough you can enter a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-do-i-stay-out-of-starvation-mode.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;starvation mode&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, although there are a couple of points I'd make:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the research, it takes a long time to see long lasting impacts from seriously reduced calories (let's say 1/2 of your maintenance needs). &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment#Goals_and_methods&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The mid-century Minnesota study ran for about a year&lt;/a&gt;. The results from that study are rather unnerving:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were extreme reactions to the psychological effects during the&#xA;  experiment including self-mutilation... Participants exhibited&#xA;  a preoccupation with food... Sexual interest was drastically reduced, and ... showed signs of social withdrawal and isolation.&#xA;  The participants reported a decline in concentration, comprehension&#xA;  and judgment capabilities...&lt;strong&gt;There were&#xA;  marked declines in physiological processes indicative of decreases in&#xA;  each subject’s basal metabolic rate (the energy required by the body&#xA;  in a state of rest)&lt;/strong&gt;, reflected in reduced body temperature,&#xA;  respiration and heart rate. Some of the subjects exhibited edema in&#xA;  their extremities, presumably due to decreased levels of plasma&#xA;  proteins given that the body's ability to construct key proteins like&#xA;  albumin is based on available energy sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note however that the above was a study that required participation and very few people would voluntarily endure such mental and physical pain for an entire year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more realistic problem to &quot;crash dieting&quot; is that you're really not learning and adjusting to a long term and healthy way of eating. Living in a binary world of either (a) excess or (b) extreme deficiency is hard on the mind and body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The optimal method for fat loss is to concentrate on a more prolonged and sustainable approach. Being slightly more aggressive (before a beach vacation), or slightly less concerned (around the holiday dinners) is normal. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;Focus on strength training which increases your calorie consumption at rest&lt;/a&gt;, and keeping a watchful eye on calories, especially cheap/empty sources that sneak into your diet and end of putting you in excess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarized, the biggest points I would concrete to anyone regarding body composition (ie:, how much fat vs lean muscle mass you have) is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be aware of your calories. Know how much you're ingesting on average. Know what you can eat more of (veggies, chicken, etc) and know what is the equivalent of caloric atomic weapon (alcohol, refined carbs, munchies, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Focus on protein. You'll almost never have enough and nearly everyone is lacking in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strength train. As noted above, you'll get a ~8% caloric boost 24/7/365 just by doing effective strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't sweat the details beyond that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T18:51:28.827" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22239" CreationDate="2015-01-19T08:32:42.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you absolutely sure that loosing 'weight' is your real goal, or do you really get a better body composition? You can loose weight consuming to little calories, but you are likely to loose the wrong kind of weight depending on how much you under eat and how much of your diet is made up of carbs. It is unhealthy to loose the wrong type of weight. Keep monitoring your body composition. If you are loosing weight and seeing improvements in your body fat percentage, than stick with it. Even (and this is controversial) if you are 'not' loosing weight and seeing improvements in your body fat percentage I would also suggest to stick with it. If you are loosing weight and not seeing improvements in your body fat percentage you are doing something wrong and you should probably increase your calories and make sure you consume the right type of calories at the right time. Change one thing at a time and see what happens. For example first try to change some carbs for fat and see what happens (make sure you have sufficient carbs for your workout though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T08:32:42.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22224" CreationDate="2015-01-19T10:22:04.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're unfit, it is possible to gain muscle while losing body fat, but this gets harder the more fit you get. If you have a low intake of protein and if you replace something with the protein supplement (rather than just adding it to your diet), then it can be beneficial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T10:22:04.447" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22205" CreationDate="2015-01-19T10:33:03.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok let's do some math.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One pound of fat is about 3500 kcal, and is about 45 cl or 15 fluid ounces in volume. You don't mention your weight or your diet, but let's say you've lost 1000 kcal/day, which is a very high rate of calorie loss, in two weeks, that's 4 pounds, or 60 fl. oz./180 cl. This might sound like a lot, but considering the fact that your burn fat from all of your body, it's not a lot of fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, whenever you eat less, you will lose a lot weight in solids and fluids, this will also fluctuate a lot, you can assume that the error margin at your weigh ins are somewhere around 2% of your body weight, so having days of increased weight is perfectly normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding muscle building, as others have said, it's a lot harder to put on a pounds of muscle than it is to lose a pound of fat. If you stay the same weight over a year, 10 pounds of added muscle weight is a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; good result if you're completely new to lifting, if you're a man, and if you rest and lift well. That's less than a pounds per month! If you lose weight, it's even harder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T10:33:03.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6017" CreationDate="2015-01-19T15:06:24.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I believe it depends on your progression. When you just start training there is really no need for a mixed grip until you can deadlift with good form and reach heavier weigths. However doing mixed grip only on really heavy sets (&gt;90% of 1RM) can result in injury due to not getting used to mixed grip. So training it is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handeling really heavy weights in my opinion should be done with mixed grip since training your normal grip for heavy sets will take a LOT of time.&#xA;Yes with a mixed grip you are more susceptible for injury but when you have structural integrity it should be no problem as long as you switch hands from set to set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally use it on set heavier than 225 (1RM 350)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T15:06:24.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-19T15:11:36.447" Score="3" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing the lchf diet and have been increasing my runs everyday to the point that I run about 2 hours plus daily at a 9 minute / km pace. I noticed that my heart rate was a bit elevated in daily runs and that although I was eating close to no carbs daily my weight loss stalled and was even beginning to creep slowly up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard from one of Jimmy Moore's podcast that there are some research that show that over exercising might even slow down or lessen the basal or resting metabolic rate. How true is this ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13691" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:44:18.277" Title="What are the detrimental effects of over exercising?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22220" CreationDate="2015-01-19T15:15:00.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts is definitely a good program for beginners. However, because it is based on powerlifts it will take some time before you can use it optimally. If you're thinking long term heavy barbell training, it's definitely the way to go in my opinion, but if your goals are more short term I would also suggest something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lifestyleupdated.com/insanity-workout-review/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;insanity&lt;/a&gt; or just at home workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be fooled by the mainstream fitness media though. Most of those models invested years in their bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-05-19T18:36:21.800" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T18:36:21.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22232" CreationDate="2015-01-19T15:22:01.713" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with doing a self-administered test. The tough ones aren't fun, but you'll know the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run a 5k race or time trial hard, running the last 1k-800m increasingly faster. Sprint hard to the end.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a long, hard hill (e.g., ~2 minutes from bottom to top). Run up it 2-3 times. Push hard as you get to the top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 2km on a track, increasing pace with each lap. On the last lap, try to accelerate with each 100m section until you're running a full-out maximum sprint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously it helps if you have a training group or partner to help push you with one of these efforts. You should be able to take the max HR from a workout like this and add a few bpm to get a &quot;true&quot; max. (Let's assume that it's really hard to truly max out in a workout vs. a race.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 37 with a resting HR of ~40 bpm and found my max was probably around 175 bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've used the various &quot;training zone&quot; percentage ranges and they match up really well with perceived effort. Take your real max HR and subtract your resting HR to get the &quot;heart rate reserve&quot; (HRR):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Zone 1&lt;/strong&gt;: 60 to 70%; very comfortable effort; use this for warmup and cooldown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Zone 2&lt;/strong&gt;: 70 to 80%; comfortable enough to hold a conversation; most training is done here&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Zone 3&lt;/strong&gt;: 81 to 93%; “comfortably hard” effort; you may be able to say short, broken sentences.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Zone 4&lt;/strong&gt;: 94 to 100%; hard effort; the pace is sustainable, but conversation is a few words at a time. For most people this is around 5-K pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key for me is that these threshold and tempo ranges match up &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; well with tempo and threshold workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10707" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T15:22:01.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22207" CreationDate="2015-01-19T15:27:59.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;before most definatedly, when you don't eat u can't lift heavy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when you eat to soon you'll probably feel bloated and not strong enough due to the increased energy it takes to process the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for me an hour before is the magic timing, and I also recommend eating fat meals because it gives energy for a longer time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T15:27:59.410" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22194" CreationDate="2015-01-19T15:32:39.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Both types of training are important for maximum running performance.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For running-specific advice, you might want to start with the Jack Daniels method. This includes periodization and &quot;training zones,&quot; including both longer &quot;tempo&quot; efforts &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; shorter, faster &quot;interval&quot; efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/your-best-training-plan?page=single&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runners' World&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Run about 12% of your weekly mileage at your lactate threshold (LT), or tempo pace.&#xA;  When you run at LT pace, you enhance your running economy and your body's ability to function with increasing amounts of lactic acid. LT pace is your 5-K pace, plus 25 to 45 seconds per mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Run about 8% of your weekly mileage at your interval pace (INT).&#xA;  This pace improves your VO2 max and your ability to run at a fast pace. Your INT pace is 5-K pace, minus 10 to 20 seconds per mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can either use HR zones (as you mention) or paces suggested by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://runsmartproject.com/calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daniels' VDOT tables&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tempo/LT efforts do help with VO2 max training, but traditional VO2-max training corresponds more closely with Daniels' &quot;interval&quot; efforts. Personally, I do tempo efforts (e.g. injecting into a longer run) year-round, but focus on shorter-faster intervals as we approach racing season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to prefer 1k to 2k tempo efforts with shorter rest, or sometimes 4-5k circuit. For intervals, I tend to go to a track and do 400m or 800m repeats w/ a jogging rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Daniels_(coach)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; also has a nice summary of the concepts and training effort ranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10707" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T15:32:39.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18937" CreationDate="2015-01-19T15:57:42.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;cant yet comment but if you train for strength purposes you shouldn't train until failure, this zaps your CNS and that will take about 5x times longer than your musculature to bounce back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;basically 1-3 is for strength and produces more muscle activation&#xA;4-7 is combined strength and muscle building&#xA;8-12 is for building muscle (I believe making more muscle fibers)&#xA;and above 12 is for endurance purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of reps usually also matches the weight, so lower reps higher weight en vice versa&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T15:57:42.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22247" CreationDate="2015-01-19T16:04:20.070" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Increased cortisol (stress hormone). Elevated heart rate throughout the day. Decreased immune system functioning makes you more susceptible to injury and illness. Decreased metabolic rate. To get into a truly 'overtrained' state is quite hard to do. Make sure you are getting adequate calories and adequate rest if you are going to train that hard long term. And g&#xA;et the carbs up. Your body needs them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T16:04:20.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22219" CreationDate="2015-01-19T16:09:22.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just for a little reference: Dan John has a programm/blog post kinda thing named 10000 kettlebell swings. In this you perform 500 swings a day 4 times per week (main and only workout) and it contains sets of 50 swings. I tried this with a 24kg kettlebell and can honestly say it is something special. For me personally it puts things in perspectif; I don't think 30 kettlebell swings are a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said it all depends on your goals, RKC might be something you can look into&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T16:09:22.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21045" CreationDate="2015-01-19T16:18:55.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider this: Even the pope (previous pope I think, this is actually a anekdote from arnold schwarzenegger from his autobiography total recall) has time to exercise more than an hour daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you really not have time for your health&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T16:18:55.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-19T16:23:37.170" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know if I have coffee or a caffeinated drink before a hard workout or running race that there's a clear benefit. I can tell - I can push faster with less effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is my stomach. I have stomach discomfort during races if I'm not careful with diet. It's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; worse if I drink coffee or an energy drink. (It's the usual stomach problems when racing &lt;em&gt;plus&lt;/em&gt; the discomfort of caffeine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas how to minimize my stomach discomfort during a 5K or 10K race (i.e., 15-40 minute efforts) while still getting the positive benefit of caffeine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10707" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T02:44:45.607" Title="Minimizing Stomach Discomfort During Race with Caffeine" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22257" CreationDate="2015-01-19T16:38:13.733" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;you could try caffeine pills, I know for a fact they do the exact same thing as caffeine in coffee&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;caffeine does dehydrate your body though, this may also have something to do with it as it pulls water from your digestive tract&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T16:38:13.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-19T16:48:49.753" Score="0" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it  possible to make body to use already stored fat ? Cutting down food is not always easy , sometimes it is hard to control hunger ; if do so most of the time it tends me to have a large meal when get the next opportunity . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:42:42.997" Title="Tips to enable body to use stored fat" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22260" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24047" CreationDate="2015-01-19T19:30:27.123" Score="5" ViewCount="4690" Body="&lt;p&gt;One often hears lower body accounts for 40% of total muscles mass. Going a step further, would it be possible to estimate for an average body, a given muscle group percentage of the total? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a site which would list all muscles in the body by percentage? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&#xA;Quadriceps are 23% of the total muscles.&#xA;Biceps are 10%....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Average, not precise, of course it would vary widely, just seeking averages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13693" LastEditorUserId="13693" LastEditDate="2015-01-26T17:00:22.757" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T17:32:43.713" Title="Average Muscle breakdown by percentage (by weight) of the total" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22259" CreationDate="2015-01-20T13:55:34.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to have the body use stored fat is to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a tip i often see, and that tip is fasted cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This consists on doing some form of cardio early in the morning, after you wake up. The reason for this is, when you are sleeping your body will conserve its carb deposits and when you start your exercise before consuming anything the body will tend to burn mostly fat and potentially can consume your muscles as well as energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why BCAA's (supplements) are often recommended when you do fasted cardio, as it supresses your body from breaking down your muscles during workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another &quot;tip&quot; is bodybuilding. As your muscles grow, they will start consuming more energy just to maintain them. What this means is, bigger muscles = more calories burned over the day. This is a long term tip thou :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13625" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T13:55:34.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22265" CreationDate="2015-01-20T15:19:00.597" Score="2" ViewCount="855" Body="&lt;p&gt;On p. 284, the book &quot;Body Sculpting Bible for Men&quot; talks about a form of crunches that can be used to train the abdominal muscles. The first step for the instructions for these crunches says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Start by isometrically contracting the abdominal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean to &quot;isometrically contract&quot; a muscle or set of muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13701" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T16:42:43.467" Title="What does it mean to &quot;isometrically contract&quot; some muscles?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22396" CreationDate="2015-01-20T16:15:21.487" Score="-1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I see adverts on internet peddling supplements that seems to be able to make a person, not just bigger, but also taller?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any chemicals (whether legal or illegal) actually able to do something like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13701" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T17:09:22.390" Title="Are there actually substances that can make a person not just larger but also taller?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-01-29T17:11:38.137" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22262" CreationDate="2015-01-20T16:40:00.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of your question, it means flexing the abs so that the muscles contract without actually changing the angle or the length of the muscle.  By starting the movement with an isometric contraction, you ensure that that the abs will get the maximum benefit from the exercise.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/glossary/g/Isometric_def.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Isometric contractions&lt;/a&gt; are typically used in rehab settings, but, can also be used for general fitness.  In fact, bodybuilders use isometrics when they practice posing from a competition.  It helps them to hold their poses for extend periods of time without relaxing the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T16:40:00.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22262" CreationDate="2015-01-20T16:42:43.467" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two major types of muscle contractions - Isometric and Isotonic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isotonic - This is the &quot;typical&quot; type of muscle contraction, in that it produces movement. The muscle contracts and shortens, and causes movement, such as bringing the hand to the shoulder for a bicep curl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric - This is a contraction where the muscle does not shorten, usually because both ends are fixed. If you think of the abdominals, this is what you would do if someone was about to hit you in the stomach, you would just clench up the abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T16:42:43.467" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22266" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22267" CreationDate="2015-01-20T18:19:15.030" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 23 year old/ 84 kg/ 178 cms overweight guy. I have started weight loss programme. I run around 6-6.5Kms (Treadmill + Eliptical), do some crunches, belly exercises and then do 2-3 sprints daily and do the same 6 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also reduced my calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast - Corn flakes/Porridge/Fruits/Oatmeal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch- Mix Veg + Bread + Salad + Rice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner - Milk + Sprouts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After workout - 300 ml Mint Lemon with Honey (right after workout)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was advised by few guys in Gym that i should replace my &quot;After workout + Dinner&quot; diet with Whey Protein shake (300 ml milk + whey + bananas). Want to ask if its right thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13704" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T19:45:04.940" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T19:24:21.583" Title="Include Whey Protein in Diet Plan for Weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22266" CreationDate="2015-01-20T20:16:24.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your protein needs, and basically everything you eat, should fit into your dietary goals. Those goals generally revolve around your total daily calories and your macro nutrient percentages (aka: macros). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with one of the many &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;calculators available on the Internet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a couple of weeks, religiously track everything you eat, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;using one of the typical calorie tracking systems&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will probably discover that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are eating too many refined carbohydrates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are eating too many carbohydrates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are not eating enough protein. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, you would then address your diet and figure out how to meet your dietary goals (whatever the calculator told you). If you need to &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt; something, typically protein, that's where things like whey comes in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that whatever you're doing with your diet is part of a bigger picture, don't just add &quot;super foods&quot;, &quot;shakes&quot;, and whatever other items without understanding how they fit into your overarching goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no conversation would be complete without mentioning that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;strength training done right will have more pronounced fat reduction than aerobic training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T20:16:24.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-21T02:33:24.193" Score="2" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter is 12 years old, she plays soccer competitively, and she runs four miles every day. She has been known to stress her body by exercising too much. Lately, she has been wanting to run further to improve her endurance. I have been hesitant to let her, because I am afraid she will stress her body. Is there a way to know if she is working too hard? Is there some sort of formula to see how far she should be able to run? Please advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13560" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T04:37:14.230" Title="How far is a good length of running for children?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22268" CreationDate="2015-01-21T03:35:11.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/high-school-training/should-kids-run-long?page=single&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;To date there is no evidence that marathon participation is harmful for children.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Scandinavian researcher, Bengt Saltin, found in a 1995 study that active Kenyan school children covered on average 8–12K [~5-8 miles] a day. That's a weekly total of 35–50 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;William Roberts, M.D., medical advisor for the Twin Cities Marathon, has conducted several studies on young marathoners, a self-selected group of young high-mileage runners, and has come to the same conclusion. &quot;Kids and mileage basically makes us nervous,&quot; Roberts says, &quot;but from all I've found, there is no harm being done; they are not getting hurt. If it is their choice, keep doing it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A study on overuse injuries and burnout in child athletes published in the June 2007 issue of Pediatrics points out, &quot;Endurance athletic events (triathlons, marathons, and half marathons) are becoming more popular in the United States, and legitimate concerns have been raised for the safety of youth participating in these events.&quot; The report concludes, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;There is, at present, no scientific evidence that supports or refutes the safety of children who participate in marathons.&lt;/strong&gt; There are no recorded data on injuries sustained by children who run marathons. … Ultimately, there is no reason to disallow participation of a young athlete in a properly run marathon as long as the athlete enjoys the activity and is asymptomatic.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T03:35:11.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22268" CreationDate="2015-01-21T04:37:14.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warming up, sleep, stretching (do it after, not before!), hydration, and proper shoes/surface are more important and would be the main factors in her getting hurt or physically &quot;stressed&quot;.&#xA;At her age though, she shouldn't need to train for endurance. Better to practice actual skills like juggling a ball, passing/receiving with a wall or partner, or skills to beat an opponent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13708" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T04:37:14.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-21T04:44:36.503" Score="5" ViewCount="5380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried the Jefferson lift and it comes much more naturally to me than conventional deadlifts. But I can't find any quality research on this lift. I am especially interested in muscle activation and risk of back injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13506" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T09:29:35.273" Title="What are the pros and cons of Jefferson vs conventional deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22289" CreationDate="2015-01-21T05:20:12.307" Score="0" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no difficulty tilting my pelvis in a seated or standing position, or in a quarter squat when my body is upright. When my upper body is tilted forward 30 degrees, however, curling my tailbone forward for a posterior pelvic tilt leads to a familiar juddering that I recognize as the sign of a poorly coordinated muscle group. Does a different muscle take over in this position, or are the spinal erectors pulling the pelvis in an anterior tilt direction and not being very good at relaxing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's an issue with hip flexibility, my hip hinge is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T06:24:00.857" Title="What muscles are used to create and oppose posterior pelvic tilt when the upper body is leaning forward?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23937" CreationDate="2015-01-21T09:28:08.337" Score="2" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it does tilt, which way? This is on a flat bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I ask is that I am recruiting lower back muscles and glute muscles instead of just hamstrings, and a pelvic tilt shifts the focus to different parts of the hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-01-21T20:23:02.370" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T07:13:43.023" Title="For lying leg curls, should the pelvis tilt or be neutral?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6572" CreationDate="2015-01-21T10:02:10.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My low carbs diet is based on two rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less than 20gr per day of carbs / sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One day off to eat fruit and  dinner pizza / thai / burger, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 31 y.o. and a Software Engineer and doing sport for 3 days a week I loose aprox 1kg, per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13710" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T10:02:10.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6572" CreationDate="2015-01-21T11:52:40.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its hard to say as based on the classical low-fat/high-carb diet guidelines that have been popular for many years, being low carb 'in contrast' should be easily achievable. Basicaly its safe to say that unless you are doing high intensity workouts, your body can work quite nicely on zero carbs. If you are working out and you feel before the end of your workout that you have expended all of your energy, than yes, you will need some pre-workout carbs in your diet. In other cases you don't need any carbs but you might need some foods that come with carbs. The jury is still out over if you actually need dietary fibers but one thing that is sure, you need anti-oxidants and most of these come packaged with at least some carbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should never just count grams of carbs, only percentages of calories or grams relative to the number of grams you take of other nutrients. &#xA;A gram of fat holds 9 calories, a gram of carbs or protein 4. The total amount of calories should be dependent on your fat free body mass and on your level of physical activity. Basically the low range of what should be considered achievable low carb would have you at most 25% of your caloric intake from carbs. You should probably try to aim for 30% to 40% of your caloric intake from protein, so this means you should get at least 35% of your calories from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can bring your carb consumption further down than by all means do so, but use this as starting point and keep track of your FFBM, body strength and work out  endurance. Make sure you keep getting sufficient antioxidants and monitor how your body is doing. As long as you get enough antioxidants and as long as your FFBM, strength and endurance don't suffer, keep reducing your carb intake and moving carbs to pre-workout consumption untill you find your personal sweet spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T11:52:40.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22259" CreationDate="2015-01-21T12:47:06.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want your body to use already stored fat, the first thing you need to do is make it available by reducing your levels. You do this by minimizing your intake of carbohydrates and increasing your intake of protein and fat. The next thing that you need to do is increase your BMR. You do that by gaining lean body weight, the more lean body weight you have, the more calories you will burn. Most important, don't under eat just yet, conversely you may want to overeat slightly so your body can add the extra muscles that will help you burn that fat later on. Once you have increased your BMR by gaining some substantial muscle mass, switch to slightly under eating (while maintaining the low carbohydrate intake) and go from a muscle building program to a strength training program. Its better even than cardio for burning calories and its a good way to check if you are not under eating to much. A quick drop of strength is usually a sign that you are not consuming your fat but are consuming your precious muscular proteins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T12:47:06.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22273" CreationDate="2015-01-21T13:12:07.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Under standing circumstances I would say look at your posture, if you're naturally inclined to a more donald-duck-like posture (your but sticking out) you should squeeze your glutes and thus facillitate backwards tilting of the pelvis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're more of a pink-panther-type (your but tucking under) you should stick your but out more, ?squeezing your lower back more I think?&#xA;You should really look at some Elliott Hulse/strengthcamp videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However since you're lying I presume flat on your stomach i would think squeezing your glutes is inevitable thus tilting the pelvis backwards (pulling your but in)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T13:12:07.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13366" CreationDate="2015-01-21T13:31:50.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok so just a few things since this is a very popular post and I believe it is important people know what they are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could absolutely take creatine post workout because it would probably still work, however the pre workout benefits are much more significant since creatine gives you &quot;extra energie&quot; to perform your reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second thing, weight gainers are in my opinion junk. It's mostly sugars and in combination with a flavoured whey protein and a mediocre diet could probably lead to diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally the thing with not taking your BCAA's with your whey is that they're basically the same thing. I'm not really sure about when to take your BCAA's though as i've not experimented/researched that myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T13:31:50.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22280" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-21T15:09:51.657" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband and I are starting out on a weight loss journey. However, I'm a little lost as to what activity level to choose when using calorie calculators. We're currently sedentary, our jobs are office jobs, and we're not working out. BUT, we're going to be starting a 5 day a week workout regimen next week including cleaning up our diet. SO, my question is, do we choose the activity level we're at now or do I choose the activity level we'll be at when we start working out? I just don't want to overeat calories and be counterproductive. We both have 80+ lbs to lose and when putting in our current weights then selecting moderately active and a 20% calorie reduction the recommended intake levels are really high. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13716" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T16:11:30.883" Title="What activity level do I choose when starting out?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22284" CreationDate="2015-01-21T15:27:45.833" Score="1" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetics a year ago. For quite some time it was a shock to me. but with time I got over it. Now I have joined the gym. I want to increase the size on my biceps/ triceps /chest ... the problem is that a diabetic person has to control the calorie intake so that the blood sugar remains within safe limit. Now, if I can't eat much as needed does it mean there is no way i can get an increase in body mass. I'm currently 38 yrs old with 68kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;please note that the diabetic is well controlled through diet only and I'm not on any medications or insulin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13717" LastEditorUserId="13717" LastEditDate="2015-01-21T15:32:54.240" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:20:37.033" Title="A possible way to increase an inch in bicep/tricep for a Diabetic person" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22280" CreationDate="2015-01-21T16:11:30.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calorie counting is an odd beast, in that it can be very hard to get an exact amount of calories eaten. Your best bet is to track your calories (Even down to weighing food at the beginning), activity and weight on a daily basis. For the weight, weigh yourselves at the same time and same situation each day (For example, I weigh myself in the morning after I shower), and track the trends. Educate, educate, educate. Find out exactly how much a 4 oz portion of steak is (Not much), things like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your base question, you want to adjust for your activity level. You need to know your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is how many calories it takes simply to lay on the couch and breath in and out all day. Then you add all your activities, and that is how many calories you get to eat if you want to maintain weight. Then adjust for your projected weight loss and monitor for a few weeks. Adjust as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple cautions based on the information in your post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss rate - Initially, you will lose weight in large amounts, and you may see high daily fluctuations. This is normal. This is water weight effects, and your body adjusting to new activity. This will slow down as you start approaching your goal weight, and this is normal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timeline - Don't expect that if you have 80 lbs to lose that you can do it in a few months, despite what commercials tell you. 80 lbs can take quite a long time to lose, especially as you get closer to the 80 side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prudence - The big alarm bell that is ringing is that you are going to start a 5 day a week regimen AND clean up your diet. While I applaud the ambition, you are setting a higher likelihood of slipping back and/or failing. Additionally, depending on the activity you are choosing, you may be so sore by day 3 that you won't want to move.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start by cleaning up at least 60% of your diet initially, and adding in a workout every other day. Do that for a couple weeks, and get an idea of how the activity affects you and your life, and how convenient it is going to be to adjust to the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've got that, then you can look at cleaning up the last 40% of your diet, and adding in more activity. Also, don't worry if you have a day where you lose control and eat 5 bags of chips with dip and 20 sodas. Gaining of the weight was a long term process, losing of the weight will be a long term process. Yes, there will be days you just don't feel like working out. There will be days where you eat horribly. That's ok, as long as you don't let that become the norm again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't forget to adjust. The calorie counters use weight as a factor, so if you are 200 lbs it will give you value X as a maintenance target, and if you are 180 lbs you will get value Y, which will be less than value X. Anytime you go down 5-10 lbs total, recalculate your numbers. This will help alleviate some of the slowdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Welcome to a better lifestyle, and I hope you have a lot of success in your plans and journey!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T16:11:30.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-21T18:13:24.187" Score="6" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose that this question may break down into whether it's bad when you're working at a computer and whether it's bad when you're relaxing (and more likely to be leaning back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My impression based on the effect it has on my back posture is that it is, but I've been challenged on this. Is there any evidence on it? (I imagine that the evidence may relate to the back posture that's normally associated with crossing your legs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12005" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T18:13:24.187" Title="Is crossing your legs bad for your posture?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-01-27T13:42:37.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22281" CreationDate="2015-01-21T20:24:22.957" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's possible to grow muscle mass and have type-2 diabetes. (I have type-1 diabetes and am an endurance athlete who also does some strength and conditioning work at the gym.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main assumption I want to challenge is that you need the level of calorie restriction it sounds like you might have. Your carbohydrate intake will have a much, much larger impact on your blood sugar than protein (which has a very small effect) and fat. You should be able to fuel an active lifestyle with carbohydrates and include enough protein to build muscle. It might be worth talking to a dietician or nutritionist for some meal plans that will help with your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if diet and exercise alone aren't enough to keep your blood sugar where you want it to be &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; do the other things in life you want to accomplish, then consider adding insulin or an oral medication to your treatment plan. Obviously you should do this with a doctor's guidance, but there's no reason why you should restrict yourself to a therapy that limits you in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13721" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T20:24:22.957" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22290" CreationDate="2015-01-21T23:13:27.370" Score="5" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;When breathing out during swimming, I've come across conflicting info - a swim instructor years ago told me to &quot;exhale it all out immediately&quot;, so after I take in my breath, once my head is submerged, I breath out fully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer, and the youtube videos I just watched support this, exhaling over time. So I'll breath in, and then once my head is submerged I'll breath out for the duration, until I turn my head to take another breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is one way &quot;better&quot; or more efficient than the other? Is there debate between the two methods? Is one way &quot;just wrong&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; linked question doesn't  deal with breathing out, this is a different question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13724" LastEditorUserId="13724" LastEditDate="2015-01-28T20:07:49.183" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:07:49.183" Title="Breathing out during swimming freestyle" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T20:18:05.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16218" CreationDate="2015-01-21T23:33:41.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to descend to the left a little bit as well. Conscious effort to fix the form in a complex movement and then adding weight on top of that will probably not help the problem. I personally have found that too much conscious effort can be effective if you know for sure that you are hitting the right muscle groups because it forces them to work harder (thereby creating more strength). However, the ultimate goal is movement efficiency as well as strength, so this only helps in certain situations to a certain extent. Also, conscious effort to fix a muscular imbalance in a complex movement will probably result in your body fixing the initial problem by creating another problem somewhere else. For example, I have a weak right gluteus maximus and weak right obliques. By simply trying to put more weight on my right leg during squats to fix the hip sway, I tend to overuse my right quad (which is adding to another problem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the apparent solution for me (I am still working on this but have seen progress) is to REGRESS movements (unloaded) until I can isolate a muscle group without compensation. The fact that you get LBP when trying to side plank tells me that your obliques are still not being isolated properly and your spinal erectors are overworking as a result. If this is the case, you would need to flex your hips and do side planks on your knees, making sure that your &quot;core&quot; is in alignment. If this still causes pain, you would have to regress to a basic breathing pattern with your hips flexed while lying on your back. This entails bracing your core by breathing out as long as you can and then breathing while maintaining a braced core. If you are doing this correctly, the weak side (obliques) will be working harder than the strong side because your body will be in alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope my ideas help, as I know how annoying these problems can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13725" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T01:31:45.773" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T01:31:45.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22291" CreationDate="2015-01-22T02:14:26.020" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a recent run, due to low blood sugar, I developed double vision. Otherwise, I felt great. Out of prudence, I quit and decided to walk home. I had eaten nothing for 14 hours before the run, so I am sure the problem was low blood sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The double vision started half way through a 6-mile run. Had I continued on with the annoying double vision, what might have realistically happened? I am in seriously good shape, so what &lt;em&gt;realistically&lt;/em&gt; might have happened? What would have been the next symptoms? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8737" LastEditorUserId="7498" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T18:13:09.873" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T18:13:09.873" Title="What might happen if I get very low blood sugar during a run and continue running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22296" CreationDate="2015-01-22T05:12:44.810" Score="2" ViewCount="1664" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing SL5x5 and, for my without tonight, I swapped the normal Pendlay rows with the incline row machine. I was quite shocked at the weight difference. Normally, I'd be rowing around 115 but with the machine I could only manage about 70 (for the same sets/reps). But I wasn't just arbitrarily playing with the program, I decided to try the machine because I felt I had been cheating on the bb rows by using my lower back and glutes. To try to determine if I had been cheating, I wanted to see how my bb row compared to a roughly equivalent isolation exercise. My logic being that the machine should use every muscle that should be used in bb rows and limit me to only those. Therefore, if I wasn't cheating and all the same muscles are used, then the weight should be about the same. Such a large difference between my bb row and machine row would seem to indicate that one of the following is true:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The machine row isn't as similar to the bb row as I thought. Specifically, the incline row leaves out muscles used in the bb row.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've been cheating on my bb rows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it 1 or 2? And if it's 1, what is left out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An incline row machine similar to what I'm using and referring to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V9D9O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T07:33:22.283" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:13:11.123" Title="Incline Row Machine vs BB Pendlay Rows" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22272" CreationDate="2015-01-22T06:09:59.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In broad terms the quadricep and hamstring/glueteus as well as the psoas and piriformis are responsible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga: Cat Camels, Pigeon Pose.&#xA;Stretching: Deep Lunge, Toe Touches, Butterfly Stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12168" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T06:09:59.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22285" CreationDate="2015-01-22T15:06:31.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither way is &quot;just wrong&quot;, although if you breath out completely every time your face hits the water, you can start hyperventilating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breathing in swimming is just like any other sport, you breath in or out as much as you need to. If you are swimming at a slower pace, you may not need to breathe every single stroke, so you can exhale over a longer period of time. If you are sprinting, then you may need to breath out very rapidly so that you can inhale every stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treat it like other sports, breathe as you need to, and if you need to, learn to breathe on both sides of your stroke, it will make things easier in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T15:06:31.357" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22287" CreationDate="2015-01-22T15:19:34.163" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, your body will start shutting down external systems (muscle control, digestion, etc) to preserve glucose to keep the brain ticking over. For a good example of this, look at the video of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hjm29CmMfg&quot;&gt;Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss&lt;/a&gt; (Then Gabriela Andersen) at the Olympic marathon in 1984.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that over the last lap, she has little control and keeps wandering around, collapsing, and barely making progress. You can also see it in the women's Ironman finish from 1997, with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iWI72c42gc&quot;&gt;Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham&lt;/a&gt;. This was fatigue, muscle cramping and hypoglycemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, if you keep exercising in that state, your body will shut down, and in extreme cases it can lead to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T15:19:34.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-22T15:59:50.513" Score="4" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a negative side to climbing stairs as an exercise? It's a very practical and quick exercise to get my heart pumping strongly every day. (30 floors) I use the lift to come down to avoid excessive wear on joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13727" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T10:26:35.680" Title="Climbing stairs" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22195" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:05:07.847" Score="-1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do you know if it is loose skin or loose fat (simply more fat you have to lose?) see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nowloss.com/how-to-get-rid-of-loose-skin.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nowloss.com/how-to-get-rid-of-loose-skin.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Low carb is a good strategy but all you are really doing is flushing out excess weight and eating less calories due to limited food options + a higher protein intake BUT... if you can sustain this for a long perod of time (which most people can't) then go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For weight maintaince (mass or weight loss) simply watch your calorie intake and avoid the fad diets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for gaining mass I suggest you look at tips 11-thru-19 here @ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nowloss.com/fast-muscle-building-tips.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nowloss.com/fast-muscle-building-tips.htm&lt;/a&gt; but specifically you need to make 25-to-50% of your diet protein and you need carbs to &quot;FILL OUT&quot; your muscles and wthout carbs your muscles will look flat and not oned&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-02-03T20:37:04.680" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T20:37:04.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22288" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:08:01.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;yes it does leave out the lower back, hips and hamstrings you use to help generate power resulting in far less weight used BUT... you get more stimulation on the target areas like the middle traps and lats &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;no you have not&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put if you want to gain lots of mass in your genral back then go with the pendaly or normal bent over rows but if you want to target or isolate the hard to get middle trap area then the machine row is better for that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:08:01.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13366" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:11:48.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;BCAA is just another way for supplement companies to make money. remember: BCAA are amino acids which are the buidling blocks of protein so ALL whey protein shakes/supplements have some amount of BCAA in them already being that PROTEIN is made out of amino acids or BCAA so to answer your question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;YES you can take BCAA with whey but why bother since BCAA are already in the whey protien!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:11:48.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22288" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:13:11.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't sweat the difference in weights you can do on one versus the other, there can be a lot of good reasons for that. The angles, range of motion, and muscle involvement all shift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On heavy &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell rows&lt;/a&gt;, despite your best efforts, your chest will drop a bit to meet the bar. On the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/LVInclineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lever machine&lt;/a&gt;, you can't get away with that. On a pure row, the weight is going to come up near-perfect vertically, versus on the lever machine it will track on whatever angle the lever is bolted into place. That last aspect alone, the angle your pulling, makes a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; (I think) was adapted from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oldschooltrainer.com/bill-starrs-5-x-5-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bill Starr's famous 5x5 dating back to 1976&lt;/a&gt;. I know that's where Madcow 5x5 came from, and I assume the lifts for StrongLifts were chosen in a similar fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, the original 5x5 (Bill Starr's) actually called for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PowerClean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;power clean&lt;/a&gt;. Barbell rows were only substituted later because you can self-learn a barbell row but for cleans most people need training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's safe to look at barbell rows, cleans, and lever rows as the &quot;upper back pulling&quot; part of a strength training program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I moved away from barbell rows personally because of the load on my lower back, which is already pretty high from the constant other-lower-back-demanding barbell loads. Once I got to around 225lb 5RM, I flipped to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat cleans&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/WtPullup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weighted pullups&lt;/a&gt; and never looked back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell rows have put a lot of beef on people's backs, and deserve to be the primary upper back compound lift early on. But a lot of people move away from them for good reason, especially if you do a lot of squat/deads/cleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:13:11.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22292" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:15:34.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provided you have no underlying conditions that would make exercise harmful for you, I don't know why you'd have any problems. Perhaps just ensure you walk around for a couple of minutes before you tackle the 30 floors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a bonus, in the event of a fire or other emergency you'll know those things like the back of your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:15:34.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22266" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:17:15.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;as for weight loss diet = it does not matter WHAT or WHEN you eat but only how much so yes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whey is fine for weight loss provided you dont consume too much just like candy is okay for weight loss as long as you dont eat too much of it (think about it - if you are on an island stranded where you can only eat 1 cookie a day dont you think you would lose weight fast?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;more protein in your diet will help you lose weight faster since it reduces appetite and you burn more calories digesting protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:17:15.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22292" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:37:06.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only caveat I would offer, being a bit of a stairclimber myself, is to make sure your form is good, knees over your feet at all times, a good amount of your foot on the stair tread, that sort of thing. And at least trail one hand along the banister so you can grab it for support as necessary. Falling on stairs is no picnic and it's easy, especially when you start getting tired, to miss a step or only land on it with your toes.  I have a crooked little finger on one of my hands as the result of a fall back in college which dislocated a joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:37:06.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22259" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:42:42.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try searching info on Brown Fat. It's known now that brown fat can burn off calories, if stimulated. That's one reason why some lucky people (like me) can eat lots of food without getting fat. One way of stimulating brown fat is by getting cold. Don't get ill by being too cold, but try lowering the thermostat if you're inside, it can activate your brown fat to burn calories to keep you warm ..and you'll save money on the energy bill at the same time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13727" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:42:42.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22287" CreationDate="2015-01-22T16:45:16.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted by JohnP, there's not a lot of direct side effects at first, the effect being the result of your body routing energy to essential systems at the cost of others, but the effect is much like being drunk in that you lose coordination, reaction speed, and common sense. In much the same way that &lt;a href=&quot;http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa03.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;drinking alcohol sharply increases your risk of trauma&lt;/a&gt;, continuing your exercise after &quot;hitting the wall&quot; can result in serious injuries as you're more likely to trip, and less likely to catch yourself in the process. At that, you don't even get the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/Surgery/GeneralSurgery/4728&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mild improvement in survival of head trauma&lt;/a&gt; that moderate alcohol consumption provides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T16:45:16.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-22T17:57:23.590" Score="1" ViewCount="991" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I recently started going to the gym again after a year of little to no sports&lt;/strong&gt; except &#xA;long runs and walks and virtually no upper body exercises except a year of PT (popped my shoulder in a bad accident).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the accident I could&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench around 140 lbs, now I can hardly do 40 lbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do around 30 consecutive pullups - now I can't even do one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My main goal is to regain some of my strength and be able to bench a a reasonable weight again (say 100 lbs) by August, as well as being able to do at least a few (maybe 10?) pull-ups.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm started doing a &lt;strong&gt;3 day split&lt;/strong&gt; to build strength and mass :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mo: Chest + Biceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tu: off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We: Back + Triceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Th: off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fr: Legs + Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sa: off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;So: off&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would I burn too many calories by running on 2 off-days to my routine? Will running affect my primary goal of regaining muscle?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm already eating a lot of high protein, calorie dense foods and loads of vegetables and fruits, would eating even more help me power through the 3 day split AND the running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2709" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:36:46.580" Title="3 day split workout + running between workout days?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22304" CreationDate="2015-01-22T18:46:25.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any exercise program is going to require calories to support building strength and muscle.  While you make no reference to the exercises, sets, and reps you are performing, let’s assume that you are fueling your body sufficiently for the three training days.  You can check that by using one of the many online &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/healthy_living_tools_content.aspx?id=4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calorie estimators&lt;/a&gt;.  While they can approximate your requirements, they’re only as good as the information you provide.  Even then, results may vary widely.  Having established an estimated base line for the clories needed to support your training, you should then monitor your progress by collecting some metrics.  You can do this by keeping a training journal that records your progress.  The journal should show if you are on target for your goals by showing any improvement, or, highlighting any potential problems.  As for adding running to your program, the fact that you’re asking about increasing your calories to support the running, tells me that you may already know the answer to your question.  That is, if you increase your activity level by adding running twice per week, you may need to increase your caloric intake to support it.  If your calories are insufficient to support your program, you run the risk of giving back any gains you’ve made since you’ll more than likely be training at a caloric deficit level.  Again, you’re the one that has to determine if you’re getting enough calories (possibly from your journal), but, adding running to your program will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; affect your ability to gain mass &lt;strong&gt;as long as you support it nutritionally&lt;/strong&gt;.   And, since it’s important to train aerobically (running) and anaerobically (strength training), you’ll have all the bases covered for a well rounded fitness program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T18:52:03.523" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T18:52:03.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22310" CreationDate="2015-01-23T02:08:59.683" Score="16" ViewCount="849" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go through spurts of working out.  I'll decide to get a gym membership, achieve decent results over six months, and then, for whatever reason at the time, I'll stop and won't exercise at all for several years before I decide to hit the gym again.  Not a good plan, I know, but it is what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice, however, that when I do go back to working out, I bulk up really fast, way faster than when I first started working out.  Biceps, triceps, forearms, and chest all seem to grow at a noticeable rate and I am able to increase my weight by significant proportions in a short amount of time before I eventually steady out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Atrophy is obviously at work here, but what, exactly, is happening to my muscles when I regress to a sedentary lifestyle that still allows them to bulk right back up at rapid rates when I go back to lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T17:05:53.970" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T17:05:53.970" Title="What happens to your muscles when you stop working out for several years?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22308" CreationDate="2015-01-23T13:59:35.820" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20713720&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a 2010 study&lt;/a&gt; that touched on this a bit, and suggests there's more going on than muscle memory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Effects of previous strength training can be long-lived, even after&#xA;  prolonged subsequent inactivity, and retraining is facilitated by a&#xA;  previous training episode. Traditionally, such &quot;muscle memory&quot; has&#xA;  been attributed to neural factors in the absence of any identified&#xA;  local memory mechanism in the muscle tissue. We have used in vivo&#xA;  imaging techniques to study live myonuclei belonging to distinct&#xA;  muscle fibers and observe that new myonuclei are added before any&#xA;  major increase in size during overload. &lt;strong&gt;The old and newly acquired&#xA;  nuclei are retained during severe atrophy caused by subsequent&#xA;  denervation lasting for a considerable period of the animal's&#xA;  lifespan. The myonuclei seem to be protected from the high apoptotic&#xA;  activity found in inactive muscle tissue.&lt;/strong&gt; A hypertrophy episode&#xA;  leading to a lasting elevated number of myonuclei retarded disuse&#xA;  atrophy, and the nuclei could serve as a cell biological substrate for&#xA;  such memory. Because the ability to create myonuclei is impaired in&#xA;  the elderly, individuals may benefit from strength training at an&#xA;  early age, and because anabolic steroids facilitate more myonuclei,&#xA;  nuclear permanency may also have implications for exclusion periods&#xA;  after a doping offense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mb1sZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diagram above is from the study, and basically shows that at a cellular level you retain a lot of your gains even going on for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutsci.org/2010/08/23/muscle-memory-its-in-the-myonuclei/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A follow up article&lt;/a&gt; took it a bit further and expanded on the last sentence in the study's abstract:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[The study authors] also cite a couple studies that show that the administration of&#xA;  anabolic steroids increases nuclei number, suggesting performance&#xA;  gains from steroid use may not be transient.  If these findings are&#xA;  replicated, even limited use of steroids may bring about long term&#xA;  benefits- should this bring about changes in consequences to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-23T13:59:35.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-23T18:34:42.370" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the movie 300 was released, there was a site that promoted a &quot;Become a Spartan&quot; fitness program. I believe it was an 8 or 16 week program where the intensity increased a lot each week.&#xA;I can't find that site anymore though, only some sites with rip-off programs or paid programs.&#xA;Does anyone still have this program or know where I can find it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13735" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T00:40:14.353" Title="Become a Spartan program from movie 300" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22311" CreationDate="2015-01-23T18:51:58.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/muscle-building-11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spartan Workout&lt;/a&gt; courtesy of Mens Health magazine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THE BEGINNER 300 WORKOUT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body-Weight Rows - 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body-Weight Squats - 25 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups - 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping Jacks - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mountain Climbers - 20 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close-Grip Pushups - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body-Weight Rows - 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THE INTERMEDIATE 300 WORKOUT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups - 25 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Deadlift - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body-Weight Squat Jumps - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V-Ups - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Push Press - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups - 25 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THE &quot;ORIGINAL&quot; 300 WORKOUT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups - 25 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Deadlift with 135 lbs. - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;24-inch Box Jumps - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Floor Wipers - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single-Arm Clean-and-Press with 36 lbs Kettlebell - 50 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups - 25 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article includes video demonstrations of the exercise. Discussion of the workouts &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge/article/300/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; indicate that the above may have been a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/the-300-workout-can-you-handle-it?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;testing mechanism&lt;/a&gt;, something which was timed to figure out where the actors were in the process. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.popworkouts.com/gerard-butler-300-workout/?PageSpeed=noscript&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another version&lt;/a&gt;, cribbed from various accounts to break it down day by day (it's a bit too extensive for me to post quotes, but it's a mixture of weightlifting and cardio that seems high on the &quot;Crossfit&quot; aspects). Overall, I really get the impression that it was whatever Mark Twight felt was right at the moment. There's a lot of &quot;do this to exhaustion&quot; to push people to their limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-01-24T00:40:14.353" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T00:40:14.353" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22317" CreationDate="2015-01-24T02:53:06.893" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I'm asking this because I'm out jogging every other day on a hill near my house, but to get to the hill I walk about 30 minutes and I try to walk fast (to go home I walk another 30 minutes), so I was wondering if I really need to stretch my legs considering all the time that I walk before and after jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13512" LastEditorUserId="13512" LastEditDate="2015-01-24T03:50:38.750" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T05:01:44.160" Title="Is it necessary to stretch legs after jogging if I walk before and after?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-24T04:29:43.050" Score="6" ViewCount="8864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a set of CAP dumbbells from Costco. The black rubber leaves residue on my hands, my clothing, and my carpet. Soap and water removed it from my hands. 'Resolve' carpet powder removed most (not all) of the residue from my carpet. I haven't washed my clothing yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called the Cap company. They claim to have never heard of a residue problem and so had no advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the residue problem I'm experiencing a true anomaly or has anyone else experienced the same (with Cap or any other brand)? Did you find a workaround, or did you give up and just lived with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: If this is a no-win situation, then I'll waste no time in returning the set to Costco.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. The weights also have that stinky rubber smell mentioned in another post. I'm trying the vinegar soak right now. Washing and air-drying were futile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13736" LastActivityDate="2016-06-03T05:45:21.637" Title="Rubber residue on weights stains clothing, carpets, hands" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-06-03T20:55:17.897" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22315" CreationDate="2015-01-24T05:01:44.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should look at what stretching accomplishes for you, to see whether your walk home will address it. Some notes from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/stretching/art-20047931&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a Mayo Clinic article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies about the benefits of stretching have had mixed results. Some&#xA;  show that stretching helps. Other studies show that stretching before&#xA;  or after exercise has little if any benefit and doesn't reduce muscle&#xA;  soreness after exercise. Studies have shown that static stretching&#xA;  performed immediately before a sprint event may decrease performance&#xA;  to a small degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And regarding mixed results, &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2008/07000/Four_Week_Dynamic_Stretching_Warm_up_Intervention.36.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a dynamic warm up stretching study that saw pretty good results&lt;/a&gt;. This approach was using the now maligned concept of stretching before physical training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wrestlers completing the 4-week DWU [Dynamic Stretching Warmup] intervention had several&#xA;  performance improvements, including increases in quadriceps peak&#xA;  torque (11%), broad jump (4%), underhand medicine ball throw (4%),&#xA;  sit-ups (11%), and push-ups (3%). A decrease in the average time to&#xA;  completion of the 300-yd shuttle (-2%) and the 600-m run (-2.4%) was&#xA;  suggestive of enhanced muscular strength, endurance, agility, and&#xA;  anaerobic capacity in the DWU group. ... The findings suggest that&#xA;  incorporation of this specific 4-week DWU intervention into the daily&#xA;  preseason training regimen of wrestlers produced longer-term or&#xA;  sustained power, strength, muscular endurance, anaerobic capacity, and&#xA;  agility performance enhancements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So personally, I'd vote to stretch after you get home from your walk/run/walk. You'll be nice and warm, and it will feel great. If you find it boring, incorporate some foam rolling or yoga in as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to stretch, and I don't think anyone can point to literature that says you absolutely have to. So don't fret it if you can't, but try to work it in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T05:01:44.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23803" CreationDate="2015-01-24T09:44:26.313" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I measure my performance and how many calories I burn during swings, high pulls, etc, when exercising with kettlebells? I want to measure how effective I was during training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also running and my training app measures calories , so I could get a clear view how efficient are kettlebells vs running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13738" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-24T19:01:43.267" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T01:10:23.213" Title="Measure performance in kettlebell?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22323" CreationDate="2015-01-24T20:34:43.353" Score="5" ViewCount="1009" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 42 yr old and have been doing a simple bodyweight squat/push/pull routine every third day for a few months. Then I had not any time for exercising any more during 13 days. Today I came back to the gym, fearing I might have lose the little progress I had achieved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my surprise, my body is stronger, and I found myself repeating almost effortlessly the exercise variations and number of reps of my last workout 14 days ago. I then realized in the mirror that my triceps and shoulders are slightly more noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, what is the lesson one can learn here? Perhaps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is good to introduce one or two rest weeks rest every, say, two months?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I workout less often from now on, by introducing 3 rest days between consecutive workouts instead of 2?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What I did in those 13 days have kept me in shape? (a lot of playing with my 4 yr old daughter, including lifting her up in my arms, running and jumping all the time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any explanation or reference about systematic rest periods introduced in a strength program would be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Remark, the day after: Ouch, feeling DOMS everywhere... If a fly landed on my pecs now, I could cry)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-01-25T14:46:10.817" LastActivityDate="2015-01-25T14:46:10.817" Title="Can a two weeks pause have a positive impact on strength training?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22321" CreationDate="2015-01-24T21:34:19.187" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're overtraining or near overtraining, taking a rest week (or two, or three) often results in a performance increase. Since you've had issues with overtraining before, this may be the situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking time off is not helpful in all situations but it can work. Many workout programs (for instance, 5/3/1) recommend a 'deload week' or a complete rest week every month or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedFitness/comments/2sw7ry/3week_detraining6week_retraining_cycles_result_in/&quot;&gt;discussion of one recent study on this topic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T21:34:19.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-25T13:09:51.307" Score="-1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;The below list is not exactly how I usually eat but approximately correct. Furthermore, I've used calories calculator to check their calories just to help you give me better recommendation. In addition, I've included my body detail below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is how I ate today, and I generally eat like this everyday.&#xA;Breakfast&#xA;Chicken breast, 2 big pieces: 300&#xA;Brown Rice, 1 cup : 220&#xA;some vegies: 20&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch&#xA;Low Fat Greek Yogurt: 80&#xA;Chicken breast, 2 big pieces: 300&#xA;Instant Noodles, 1/2 package: 200&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner&#xA;Brown Rice: 220&#xA;Garden Vegie Soup: 80&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snacks:&#xA;Whey protein, 1 scoop: 100kcal&#xA;Mandarine, large: 80 kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;conclusion&#xA;cals: 1500 +- 100&#xA;protein: 188g&#xA;carb: not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body detail&#xA;weight: 74KG&#xA;height: 177cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;workouts (4 days a week)&#xA;weight lifting: 1.5 hour&#xA;cardio: 0.5 hour (stepper)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I eating correctly? I want to lose weight (also gain muscles) but it seems like I'm gaining weight and I'm not sure whether I am gaining muscles or not. By the way, it's been only a week since I have started eating this way and working out. Are there any manipulation done in my meal or workout plan? Do I need to eat more calories than this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9930" LastActivityDate="2015-01-25T15:50:43.137" Title="Is my meal &amp; workout plan suitable for losing fat and gaining muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-14T09:48:50.683" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22325" CreationDate="2015-01-25T15:50:43.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well it seems like you already answered your own question. You're gaining weight so that's good, so the obvious question is are you gaining fat? if yes cut down a little if not then see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise buying Franco Columbu Body building nutrition or Winning Bodybuilding, they have all you need to know about eating right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a sample diet from his book for non-competitive bodybuilder training 1-2 hours, 3-6 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;3 eggs&#xA;1 slice bread&#xA;1 serving fruit&#xA;Water / coffee&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;1/2 Chicken&#xA;1 baked potato&#xA;1 slice bread&#xA;1 glass beer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steak &#xA;Small serving of spaghetti&#xA;Small glass of wine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chicken&#xA;Brown Rice&#xA;Vegetables&#xA;1 Slice Bread&#xA;1 Glass of beer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snacks&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Fruit, nuts, seeds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Fish&#xA;Vegetables&#xA;Large Salad&#xA;glass of water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip: don't eat carbs late on because less food gets absorbed later in the day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only you can know what's right for you as we are all very different but it's a good starting point, I can't stress enough though if you're serious buy a book written by a pro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13745" LastActivityDate="2015-01-25T15:50:43.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-25T16:10:58.023" Score="9" ViewCount="399" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every strength routine includes rest days between workouts, so that the natural processes of tissue repair and muscle growth are allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess this process of repair and growth happens mostly between the first and maybe the fourth day after a strength workout. I am curious about any study that quantifies the amount of muscle tissue added as a function of time after a strength workout. Is there any such study?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-01-26T16:01:00.533" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T08:20:33.383" Title="When does maximum muscle repair and growth take place after a strength workout?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22331" CreationDate="2015-01-25T17:16:21.710" Score="0" ViewCount="801" Body="&lt;p&gt;My coach always recommend me to start working out but my friends also say to me that when i start the workout i might never get taller and since i am a basketball player my height matter for me but i really want to start doing some exercises and working out &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not short i am 6 feet 4 inches &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13746" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T21:13:20.100" Title="Is it right that working out before 18-20 may stop growth" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-14T09:58:06.947" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21001" CreationDate="2015-01-25T17:31:17.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in favor of low carbohydrates for two primary reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ketosis is legimate, effective, and safe way to cut down on body fat. &lt;a href=&quot;http://freetheanimal.com/2014/03/reiterate-elevated-ketone.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There are examples of native people who historically ate very little carbohydrates for generations&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most of the sinister cheap calories in a western diet come from carbohydrates. Even following a &quot;low carbohydrate diet&quot; still has you ingesting more than you probably want to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;should I avoid eating fat so that my body uses my own stored bored fat&#xA;  to generate glucose or should I still eat fatty foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep eating fatty foods, and keep eating protein. I would also add in there there are a lot of vegetables that are low carbohydrates. Things like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=broccoli%20carbs&amp;amp;oq=broccoli%20carbs&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2716j0j4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#q=tomato%20carbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tomatoes&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=lettuce%20carbs&amp;amp;oq=lettuce%20carb&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.3686j0j4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lettuce&lt;/a&gt; tend to be pretty low in the carbohydrate spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm of the opinion, backed by a lot of professionals, that carbohydrates are not necessary in your diet. This was &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/75/5/951.2.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a fairly balanced article on the whole issue&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although there is certainly no evidence from which to conclude that&#xA;  extreme restriction of dietary carbohydrate is harmless, I was&#xA;  surprised to find that there is similarly little evidence to conclude&#xA;  that extreme restriction of carbohydrate is harmful. In fact, the&#xA;  consequential breakdown of fat as a result of carbohydrate restriction&#xA;  may be beneficial in the treatment of obesity. Perhaps it is time&#xA;  to carefully examine the issue of whether carbohydrate is an essential&#xA;  component of human nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my more preferred nutritional writers is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/how-many-carbohydrates-do-you-need.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lyle McDonald&lt;/a&gt;, who takes it a step further and makes the distinction between glucose and glycogen which can often be (incorrectly) used interchangeably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When carbohydrates are restricted completely, the body still has a&#xA;  small requirement for glucose (although this decreases over time) and&#xA;  the body has to find something to make glucose out of. That something&#xA;  is lactate and pyruvate (produced from glucose metabolism), glycerol&#xA;  (from fat metabolism) and some amino acids. It’s the amino acid use&#xA;  that can be problematic since they have to come from somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're aiming for &amp;lt;50g of carbohydrates a day, you need to keep your protein and fat up because your calories need to come from somewhere. Protein in particular matters a lot because your body will breakdown proteins (as well as fat) to produce glucose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, take care to ensure you're getting enough nutrients. Those 50g of carbohydrates should be almost exclusively vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T05:47:36.457" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T05:47:36.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22329" CreationDate="2015-01-25T19:13:53.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will weight lifting, strength training, etc, stunt my or my child's growth?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you (or your child) aren't sprouting up as quickly as the other kids and you've been lifting weights, it's easy to resort to believing the old wives' tale that you're short because of the weight training.  We may never know how this rumor began propagating, but there is certainly little (if any) evidence to support it.  In fact, there is evidence suggesting the opposite.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do people think strength training may stunt one's growth?  That's really a good question.  I suppose people imagine that, much like the foot-binding practices of ancient Japan, holding weights (on the back while squatting, for instance) might counteract the body's growth, perhaps by damaging growth plate closures and causing premature termination of growth.  This is a conclusion that actually makes some sense.  With the addition of that medical mumbo jumbo about growth plates, it might actually pass off as a valid argument.  Luckily, there is research indicating otherwise, but common sense would also indicate otherwise: if increased spinal load were the cause of stunted growth, children who run, walk, jump, climb, or even stand upright should be shorter than average.  Kids who play basketball would all end up being shorter.  Kids who play football crash into each other at high frequency -- these children should also be shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, there are very few sports found to have possible impact (no pun intended) on height, and the cause for their effects come as no surprise.  Two such sports are gymnastics and wrestling.  Athletes that perform in these sports at a high level undergo extreme physical conditioning.  Some research suggests that their bodies may not be able to grow to full height.  One study found that &quot;prolonged inhibition of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis by exercise, together with or because of the metabolic effects of dieting is responsible for [effects on growth].&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8117341&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;) However, there is a lot research suggesting that reaching full adult height, even for athletes in these sports, is the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, malnourishment and extreme physical stress can definitely cause growth to stunt.  If the body isn't given adequate time and conditions to recuperate, it would make sense that growth would suffer.  Not getting enough sleep, eating poorly, and being exposed to toxins such as cigarette smoke or steroids can stunt growth.  However, consider the following results from the research:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Experimental training protocols with weights and resistance machines and with supervision and low instructor/participant ratios are relatively safe and do not negatively impact growth and maturation of pre- and early-pubertal youth.&quot;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17119361&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17119361&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Numerous studies have demonstrated that with appropriate supervision and precautions, resistance training can be safe and effective for children and adolescents. &quot; &quot;[Resistance training had] no detrimental effect on linear growth.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16437017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16437017&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully the research speak for itself.  It seems that for a normal, healthy kid, worrying about it is probably wasted energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2016-01-02T21:13:20.100" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T21:13:20.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22333" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-26T08:13:13.680" Score="0" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I been on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plan&lt;/a&gt; for 6 months, i eat according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/gethin-nutrition-plan.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nutrition&lt;/a&gt; and also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer-supplement-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;supplement&lt;/a&gt;. Although it is 12 weeks program but as for me its been 6 months and i am hardly seeing any results. Now i have come to a point where my motivation is going below due to results. The belly fat is still there. However i do have increase in strength according to my gym, as they run assessment like how much pushup in 1 minute or crunches and my score has improved but not as much as i wanted (i had fat of 24% in Nov.14 and 22% in Dec.14). According to the plan, if your not sore from previous day workout, it means it wasn't a good working (meaning you didn't push yourself). However i use to have &quot;sore days&quot; but not anymore. Just light or not at all. So all of my motivation is coming down as i don't see any big changes. Like for 6 months or more, i been taking &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-Carnitine (1000 mg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green Tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BCAA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glutamine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and creatine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;having said that, it also worries me for the effect it has on body. What should i do to torch up my body fat and get shredded. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T06:44:35.617" Title="six months and no major change in losing fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22333" CreationDate="2015-01-26T09:44:48.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry if you don't feel sore, most people don't feel sore after every session, especially not if they are accustomed to exercising. Both soreness and muscle rebuilding is connected to microtears in your muscles though. What you might want to try is to increase the focus on the eccentric phase (lengthening) when working out, so if you're bench pressing, push the bar up explosively and let it take two seconds from the top to your chest, soreness is caused by the eccentric phase of a lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you rest enough and you're challenging yourself in every workout, if you can have a neutral face, it's too light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding fat loss, what method are you using? If you're counting calories, you might be exaggerating both your basal metabolism and the number of calories used when workout out. Most calculators used exaggerates a lot since A. Some basal metabolism formulas are based on people living in the 1910's, and they had a lot more lean mass than people do today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. Calories per hour calculators include both the &quot;extra&quot; calories used in the activity and the calories from your basal metabolism, so if a calculator says you used 700 kcal during 60 minutes, you'll have to subtract 100 kcal since those are already included in your basal metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, decrease your calorie intake and you WILL see fat loss eventually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T09:44:48.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-26T10:04:52.917" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a former in shape-now out of shape male weighing 227lbs. Recently I bought a heart rate monitor and took off for a 5k run; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At an average pace of 6:27/km it felt challenging. I would not have been able to 'hold a conversation' and I felt like my saliva/swallowing was getting in the way of my breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According the some online calculations I would have been in HR Zone 5 for about 98% of the run, which I have read is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I just need to slow down, or is it possible I am running inefficient?&#xA;It seems like I am already at just over walking pace...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13737" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:23:11.787" Title="179bpm Average on 5k" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T18:21:42.463" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22333" CreationDate="2015-01-26T13:54:33.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be honest, 6 months is a long time to see no change at all.  Are you tracking changes other than what the scale tells you?  For example, just using a tape measure will help you figure out if your gut is really getting smaller or not.  Once a week I take several measurements to determine if I like the way things are progressing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arm (triceps and biceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forearm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abdomen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thigh&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lose weight very slowly, on the order of about 10-20 lbs a year (5-10kg) so I can identify with how demotivating it can be to just look at a scale.  In that same time, I can lose several inches and go down in size but not so much weight.  The loss of inches helps keep me motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Figuring Out the Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you eat good food, and avoid restaurants when possible, there are a number of areas where your fat loss journey might get into trouble:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You're eating too much.&lt;/em&gt;  Periodically, you have to reduce the amount of food you eat to compensate for your smaller size and keep losing weight.  When you don't see any change for a couple weeks (inches or weight), it's time to reduce your food by 200-300 Calories a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You're not eating the right things.&lt;/em&gt;  You need a certain amount of protein, fat, and carbs to support your activity.  Keep your protein somewhat high (1.8g protein/kg body weight), and play with the ratio of fat to carbs for the remainder of the calories.  I found that I work better with lower fat and more carbs.  Some find that they do better the opposite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You aren't sleeping enough.&lt;/em&gt;  Your body needs sleep to build muscle and burn fat.  If you can give yourself a consistent 8 hour block a night for sleeping, you'll be in the best shape for both.  When you can sleep for about that long and wake up without an alarm you will be refreshed, be able to think more clearly, and lower blood pressure and improve a myriad of other health markers.  Getting proper sleep should be a priority to anyone trying to lose weight and/or build muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's always the chance that you have something more going on with your body like an inflamed gall bladder, insufficient iodine in the diet to support proper thyroid function, etc.  However, the three bullets address the top contenders for why you aren't losing weight and/or inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Figuring out Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness really is a poor indicator of how hard you are working.  All it means is that you did something your body isn't used to.  I find that after a layoff my body can get very sore from even a light workout.  I'm just starting back in the gym after a surgery, and even though the weights I'm using are very light for me I'm incredibly sore.  Once I'm back in the swing of things, I can be using twice the weight I am now with the same number of reps and not feel sore at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there's some ways to ensure you are hitting your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Progressive Overload:&lt;/em&gt; You should be getting stronger, even while losing weight.  Over time you should be increasing weight, reps, speed, etc.  If bodybuilding is your primary goal, I'd recommend a progression where you start with a challenging 3x8 and keep adding reps until you get to 3x12 with that weight.  Then increase by 5-10 lbs and start over at 3x8.  When you run out of being able to increase that way, switch to the 3-5 rep range and do more sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cardiovascular Work:&lt;/em&gt; I find that I lose weight best when I have a good cardiovascular base.  That can mean limiting the rest between sets or exercises.  It can also mean metabolic conditioning using barbell complexes, or simply riding a bike or walking for a couple miles a day.  It doesn't have to be high intensity for it to work.  In fact low intensity cardio like walking briskly can help with active recovery while also helping to burn some fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Recovery:&lt;/em&gt; You can get to a point where you have too much stress and your body is just not able to keep up.  Food and sleep are your primary tools to help with recovery.  Sometimes you just need a rest from training.  The rest can be complete rest from weight training for a week, or it can be working with lighter weights and doing a relative rest.  You can schedule these as often as once a month, or infrequently as you feel like you really need it.  Just pay attention to the signals your body is giving you.  If you are getting the proper nutrition and sleeping 8 hours a day but still feeling lethargic and are unable to think clearly, you need to rest from training for a little bit and let your body catch up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully these tips will help you figure out what's going wrong, and fix it.  Keep your motivation up, and give yourself more than just one way of tracking progress.  You'll find that the progress is happening, but for whatever reason it's not quite the way you were thinking.  The body is a very complex system, and every step you take to get a bit stronger and closer to the 10-15% body fat goal (for men, the equivalent for women would be a bit higher), the healthier it will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T13:54:33.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-26T20:13:06.300" Score="2" ViewCount="2134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a website / service that has database of different popular strength-related workouts. &#xA;Ideally it would be something with API, but a website with exhaustive list of easily accessible programs will work too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://wger.de&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wger.de&lt;/a&gt; but I unfortunately there is no public access to workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found this: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-programs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is a bit too powerlifting-specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13758" LastActivityDate="2018-10-27T09:35:55.903" Title="Is there a website / service with publicly accessible database of workouts?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;websites&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22337" CreationDate="2015-01-26T20:32:25.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exrx.net&lt;/a&gt; has been my go-to for years. It might not be perfect, but I think it has the highest blend of objectivity, science-based approach, breadth, and physiology. No API however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T20:32:25.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22333" CreationDate="2015-01-27T06:44:35.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be wrong but my gf was also struggling with her weight after working abroad for 2 years, I recommended she employ some weight training more specifically compound movements (squat variations and dead-lifts), along with her normal cardio. It worked wonders for her, but what's good for the gander isn't always good for the goose but I do recommended you try adding atleast 1 compound weightlifting exercise. It really does make you feel amazing :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing she found is that starving herself didn't aid weight loss, it appeared to limit it. I suspect the body goes into &quot;drought mode&quot; and reserves fat when not enough calories are being taken in. This is purely speculation atm I haven't researched the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T06:44:35.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-27T06:50:57.687" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello there I know this is probably off-topic for this community but I really need help, and was the closest QnA site for health that I found.  Plus, I am already a StackExchange user. I also tried searching it on Google, and couldn't find it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the issue I am a 15 year old male, who suffers sometimes with episodic insomnia like a day or two in one or two months.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, last Sunday-Monday night I had trouble sleeping.  I figured that since I couldn't fall asleep I might of well do something. So I decided to do a fun project at 9-11PM.  The Project was making a laptop into a keyboard desktop computer, since the monitor was badly damage with cracks and light spots.  When I started the project I was tired, and when I got finish with it dead tired.  so I went to bed at like 1:30 AM for the second time, and fall asleep at properly 3-4 AM.  So when I went to school, I brought about 1  liter of coffee with me.  (I don't drink coffee that much like once in a month or something on those lines, and that is the same with tea, soda, and chocolate.  So I don't have that much caffeine tolerance. BTW the coffee tasted mildly bitter.) I was tired thoughout the day, and when I got home, dead tired.  Well I went to bed at 6PM, and 6 hour later about 12:30AM right now.  Still tired and can't fall asleep but I am dead tired.  And I am a human who needs at least ~9.5-11 hours of sleep to not feel tired the next day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does anyone know tricks how to go to sleep?  I couldn't find any.  You may say music but it only tired me to a point before keeping me up.  Or take sleeping drugs, but the last time when this I took Melatonin.  And the only thing that did for me was make me more tired, without helping me go to sleep.  Right now I feel dead tired with a somewhat awake feeling.  It is an odd, annoying feeling and hard to explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13760" LastEditorUserId="12098" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T21:41:48.617" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T21:41:48.617" Title="How do I deal with episodic insomnia during puberty" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-01-31T15:34:01.730" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22328" CreationDate="2015-01-27T08:20:33.383" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming up with a single function for muscle tissue repair with respect to time is literally impossible. Each individual is far too different for any &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; function to represent us all. It's the whole &quot;one size does NOT fit all&quot; problem that holds for pretty much any physiological issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; that suggests that ingesting protein just before sleep causes a rapid rise in circulating amino acids during sleep. Perhaps it is less a function of time, and more a function of your body's state of rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T08:20:33.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22347" CreationDate="2015-01-27T14:59:52.497" Score="8" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an obese adult, weighing 316lbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started to try and lose some weight and would like to do something about my fitness levels.  I have begun to take the stairs (5 flights) and when I get to the top I am breathless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I continue to do this once a day will the breathlessness improve (I'm not sure of the official term for this, but what I mean is, will normal breathing return more quickly, will I sweat less, that sort of thing)? Or would I need to be performing this small exercise a lot more frequently for it to make a difference? Please note that I am NOT asking if climbing the stairs once a day will help me lose weight as I know the calories burned would be negligible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12330" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T15:27:11.590" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T13:04:52.027" Title="Will taking the stairs daily improve fitness for an obese adult" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22346" CreationDate="2015-01-27T15:25:22.343" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fitness&quot; is a fairly broad term, but I'd provide a boiled down definition that it means your body's ability to handle physical exertion. Exertion comes in all shapes and sizes (moving a piano, walking across a city, etc), so being &quot;fit&quot; enough to do those things depends on the type of training and conditioning you're doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people want to train in such a way that maximizes the benefits across multiple categories like fat loss, improved image, being less injury prone, reducing illness, and increased general athleticism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_%28biology%29#General_adaptation_syndrome&quot;&gt;training is built on the concept of adaptation&lt;/a&gt;, and adaption is specific. Again, most people are best served by picking the training (that requires your body to adapt) that yields the most benefits with the shortest amount of time. This is what divides effective fitness programs from less effective ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I continue to [walk 5 flights] once a day will the breathlessness improve&#xA;  (I'm not sure of the official term for this, but what I mean is, will&#xA;  normal breathing return more quickly, will I sweat less, that sort of&#xA;  thing)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Your body will adapt to the workload, and you will get better at it. There will also be some carry over to walking and anything requiring step-ups. Adaptation is specific. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would I need to be performing this small exercise a lot more&#xA;  frequently for it to make a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you do it (barring injuries and overtraining) the bigger and faster the adaptation will happen. Adaptation is specific, so someone walking 20 flights of steps will be adapted to those, versus you doing your 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practical terms though, even if you want to walk those stairs ten times a day, you're probably best served initially by doing it once or twice per day and ratcheting up from there. Another aspect of training is that you want to put yourself right into &quot;too much&quot; without going into &quot;ouch, I'm hurt&quot; mode. It's often nicknamed &quot;good pain&quot; vs &quot;bad pain&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T15:25:22.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-27T15:30:52.163" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last couple of years I've embraced the grazing food strategy, eating 5 small meals a day. Recently I've been reading a book (The Story of the Human Body) and have started to learn a bit more about how insulin resistance and type II diabetes work, and the thought came to me that a grazing eating pattern could potentially contribute to insulin resistance. The book didn't claim this, but it just occurred to me that a grazer will have more insulin spikes throughout the day than someone who eats 3 &quot;square&quot; meals. Googling didn't turn up much information as most of what I found is related to weight loss which isn't a concern for me. I primarily graze simply because I've noticed it causes my energy levels to be more consistent throughout the day. Anyway... any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13762" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T15:30:52.163" Title="Can grazing lead to insulin resistence?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-02-01T13:40:52.483" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22351" CreationDate="2015-01-27T18:54:41.503" Score="1" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running regularly (once or twice per week) for four months, wearing the same shoes each time.  However, the last two times I've run, my left foot has gone numb about 2 miles into the run.  I've been able to keep the run going for a couple more miles, but I need to cut things short around 4 or 5 miles for fear that I'm going to roll my ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering how this problem could surface now, after months of running without issue in the same shoes.  I should add, the bulk of my running takes place on a treadmill, because it's cold outside (where I live).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13407" LastEditorUserId="13407" LastEditDate="2015-03-18T20:26:43.640" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:30:18.913" Title="Why is my left foot going numb when I run? (when it was not a problem previously)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;numbness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22350" CreationDate="2015-01-27T19:21:07.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your foot very likely could have changed shaped a bit, and your shoes certainly will. Having two pairs of running shoes is always nice from an injury prevention standpoint in that different shoes tend to stress you in different ways and change your angles ever so slightly, so it's a good investment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order I would try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A new pair of shoes, especially something with a wide toe box and that is fairly soft (check out the Nike 4.0's).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strength training, stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A podiatrist. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T19:21:07.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22174" CreationDate="2015-01-27T20:55:20.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not going to be able to increase endurance with a 1.25 mile bike ride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT/Tabata would have you pedal at 100% effort - an unsafe practice unless you are on an exercise bike or a closed track.  Plus, as you already mentioned, you don't have shower facilities at work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, why not think of it as an emotional &quot;workout.&quot; Go slower. Ride relaxed, use it to clear your mind. Focus on being a perfect bike-rider: calm, even breathing, smooth starts, smooth stops, safe swooping turns, aware of and focused on your surroundings. 10 minutes of rolling meditation to focus your mind could have real health benefits (and be a very safe way to ride.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then bust your ass on a much longer ride with elevation changes on the way home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12098" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T20:55:20.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-27T22:23:07.190" Score="0" ViewCount="553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect mine is too loose as it will occasionally slip mid-stride causing my landing to slip forward a bit. Details would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: If it's relevant, it's a Life Fitness T5-0 treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12105" LastEditorUserId="12105" LastEditDate="2015-01-28T01:48:05.073" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T01:51:01.223" Title="What's the proper tension for the belt on a treadmill?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22354" CreationDate="2015-01-28T01:51:01.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start by turning on the machine and pressing “Start.”  Adjust the speed to the lowest setting. Let the belt rotate a few times. If the running belt starts to shift toward one side, loosen the rear roller bolt on the opposite side ¼ turn clockwise. For example, if the running belt begins to shift to the left, loosen (turn counter clockwise) the right roller bolt a ¼ of a turn. The key to this is patience as you must wait five revolutions of the running belt between each adjustment. That will ensure you do not over correct the belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need more information read here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.visionfitness.com/blog/how-to-align-and-tension-your-treadmill-running-belt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.visionfitness.com/blog/how-to-align-and-tension-your-treadmill-running-belt/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13768" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T01:51:01.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22356" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23759" CreationDate="2015-01-28T03:04:43.127" Score="4" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently working my way through starting strength (thanks to Dave Liepmann for the suggestion last time I posted on here) and I'm doing all of the initial exercises (squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, cleans) with dumbbells. The form for most of these is fairly straight forward to translate from barbell to dumbbell, except for the clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've been starting out with a deadlift form, quickly moving above my knee and then lifting the dumbbells and trying to quickly &quot;catch&quot; them, or get under them. The issue is that some times I do this wrong, curve my back backwards, or I sort of miss. When I do feel that I did it &quot;right&quot;, I end up in a squat position after a small jump, although it's hard for me to know for sure if it's correct since there seems to be no videos online that really show and explain this well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a book or some online resource that explains dumbbells cleans well (a la &quot;Starting Strength&quot;) that I could use?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13475" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T02:03:43.520" Title="Proper Form and Technique for Dumbbell Clean" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;power-cleans&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22356" CreationDate="2015-01-28T07:17:14.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one exercise from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-clean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Begin standing with a dumbbell in each hand with your feet shoulder width apart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lower the weights to the floor by flexing at the hips and knees, pushing your hips back until the dumbbells reach the floor. This will&#xA;  be your starting position.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To initiate the movement, violently jump upward by extending the hips, knees, and ankles to acclerate the weights upward. Maintaining a&#xA;  neutral grip on the dumbbells, keep the arms straight until full&#xA;  extension is reached.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After full extension, rebend the hips and knees to receive the weight in a squat position. Allow the arms to bend, guiding the&#xA;  dumbbells to your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Upon receiving the weight in the squat position, extend the hips and knees to finish in a standing position with the weights on your&#xA;  shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13768" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2015-03-03T02:03:43.520" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T02:03:43.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-28T07:22:33.507" Score="1" ViewCount="898" Body="&lt;p&gt;Negative reps, i.e. reps that focus on the eccentric part of the movement rather than the concentric, are supposed to result in more intensive damage to your muscle, and have also been shown to give better results than concentric-only exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a lot of people seem to think that you shouldn't do these kinds of workouts too often, certainly not every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see two different ways of doing eccentric workouts. One is to load super-one-rep-max weight and lower it, for example when squatting with safety bar, or doing negative reps for pullups when you're not strong enough to do them the regular way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other way would be to use slightly lower weight than usual and use very slow eccentric movements, subjectively, this feels like it's very taxing on your muscles as well, it certainly makes you more tired, but is it as effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either way of doing them, how often would you suggest that you do this? Once per week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T17:20:28.773" Title="Negative rep workouts - how often?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22360" CreationDate="2015-01-28T10:44:10.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do slow-eccentrics in every workout, in the last set of one exercise only. John Meadows has articles implementing high intensity techniques into training; and this is an example of it. For example, you can implement 3-second negatives in a dips-like movement while working triceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, everyone is different in recovery department. I think you should start slow, and build up progressively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T10:44:10.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18309" CreationDate="2015-01-28T10:49:13.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course there is. You can do bodybuilding at home while working with dumbbells.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it the best way? &lt;b&gt;No.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Simply because it is hard to progressively overload yourself while working with them. They do not come with little increments, and it would be really expensive to get a such a set of dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For legs, you can do air squats, goblet squats, and squats with weights in your hand. You can also do dumbbell deadlifts for your back and your hamstrings as well.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3QwaXNJfw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3QwaXNJfw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, rowing is a great exercise for your back which you can do easily with a set of dumbbell.&#xA;Here is an example for it;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKEQJ5j2a8E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKEQJ5j2a8E&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I recall, there is a good book written by Bryzcki; let me look for it;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Well, I cannot post links yet; but the name is as follows:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Dumbbell Training for Strength And Fitness&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and stay strong :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T10:49:13.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22385" CreationDate="2015-01-28T13:13:37.420" Score="15" ViewCount="2240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 40 year old man who manages to maintain a basic level of fitness. Most days I do a couple of sets of press-ups, walk my 10,000 steps and cycle a couple of miles. But I'm not kidding myself that I'm anything other than one step above &quot;totally unfit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the years before children, I regularly hiked, scrambled and hillwalked. That's all gone by the wayside now. But I'm hoping that in a few years, when I have more free time, it'll become a possibility again. But I'm worried that if I don't keep up a minimal level of fitness, I won't be able to &quot;re-train&quot; my body when I hit 50.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very busy, and I don't have much time to devote to fitness. Joining a gym is out of the question, as is devoting more than 10-15 minutes more than I already do to fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'd like to be able to do is get up earlier and fit in some exercise before everyone else in the house is awake. It seems a good time of day to do it: get the blood flowing, enjoy the benefits of heightened metabolism, get the pain out of the way. But in order to do this, I have to be &lt;em&gt;quiet&lt;/em&gt; so as not to disturb sleeping children. So it can't involve any vigorous activity like star jumps, or step-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have no specialist equipment - not even free weights - and there's not room in my house to store anything bigger than perhaps a wrist-strap weight. So unless someone's starting making weights out of the hearts of neutron stars, it's body weight only exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is this: if I do 10 minutes of quiet bodyweight-based exercises like press-ups, planks or wall sits in the morning, is it going to be valuable for my strength and fitness? And if so, what quiet exercises should I be trying to fit in to those 10 minutes for a decent round-body workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8702" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T10:14:31.287" Title="What quiet exercises should I be fitting into a short morning workout for all-round fitness?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22364" CreationDate="2015-01-28T13:39:46.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is going to be useful. Especially if you slow down your cadence (speed of repetition), you will get a good pump and you will see greater increase in your physical strength, which is something good and positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple bodyweight exercises done in a circuit fashion would be great, such as:&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin-ups &lt;em&gt;if possible&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The list can go on, you can do them for rounds, for time. It is your call. Rep range can change again, my personal recommendation is 10, with a slow cadence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you are interested, Drew Baye is a high intensity training coach who has a book called Kratos, which is about bodyweight training. You can find more detailed information at his website(baye.com); and there are really very useful information in there too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. Stay strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T13:39:46.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22356" CreationDate="2015-01-28T13:42:41.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand you probably have no resources right now, so you work with a dumbbell instead of barbells, but SS is a Barbell training program. The moment you change barbell with a dumbbell, the program is not SS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend to leave risky, jerky movements with dumbbells, and until you can get a hold of a decent barbell, stick with basic dumbbell exercises with bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T13:42:41.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16083" CreationDate="2015-01-28T13:45:28.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is something called as horizontal shrugs; which can be seen in this link;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3cupvX9mv4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3cupvX9mv4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can also be conducted while lying on a bench too. It is a great exercise, and you don't need much weight to do it. Instead, try to go for high reps, such as 10-20; and hold that weight for a little moment at the top (like 1 full seconds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. Stay strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T13:45:28.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22292" CreationDate="2015-01-28T13:48:45.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not harmful per se, but it is not the optimal way of training. It is not training all the muscle fibers, and it is not preparing your body at all planes. You are not doing any lateral movements for example. Which should be incorporated for a better overall exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T13:48:45.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-28T14:00:31.477" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've experienced this twice now. A few hours after my workout, I'll be lounging around (with my leg bent) and suddenly get a slight burn in my VM (&quot;the  teardrop&quot;). If I straighten my leg, the burn intensifies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a sign I &lt;em&gt;really do&lt;/em&gt; need to start stretching post-workout or do I just need more potassium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing Strong Lifts, so my legs &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; getting worked pretty hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2015-01-28T15:41:59.263" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T15:41:59.263" Title="Partial cramping in VM after squats" Tags="&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22369" CreationDate="2015-01-28T15:16:59.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even with the measures you've indicated, there's no guarantee that the cramps will stop.  Cramping is not well understood.  It's not simply caused by low potassium, sodium, or electrolytes.  Those may certainly affect cramping, but, there are other factors involved, some of which, are not fully understood.  Age, prior injury, and, recovery ability can certainly play a role in the severity and frequency of cramps.  You should try to record the circumstances that may have resulted in your cramping (even if only making a mental note) when it occurs.  Later, if you have another episode you can refer to your notes to try and figure it out.  I've been troubled by calf cramps in only &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; leg.  I've started to build some anecdotal evidence that it may have something to do with consuming &lt;em&gt;caffeine&lt;/em&gt; before a training session.  Stretching has helped, but, they persist with no rhyme or reason that I can tell as yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T15:16:59.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22364" CreationDate="2015-01-28T16:01:17.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull-ups are great for the upper body.&#xA;You can buy a Pull-up bar for your doorframe or use a nearby tree or playground on your way to work. If you don't have the strength for full pull-ups, begin by doing inverse ones (jump up and slide down as slowly as possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also short and long sprints (e.g. 100 m and 800 m) don't take long and build a bit of strength to complement your mostly endurance-based workout. You don't even have to include this in your workout, just run after the tram or whereever you have to go anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13776" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T16:01:17.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-28T17:09:11.520" Score="3" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 22 year old male currently employed as a Program Developer(sedentary work).I weigh 110Kg's and am 186cm's high. I started working out about last week. I normally do 30mins of cardio on bicycle or treadmill, followed by 30mins of weightlifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Questions:&#xA;Is it better to focus on one group of muscles each day of weightlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think I should do more cardio than 30mins, if I can hold it?(Time is currently not an issue, but seeing as I just started last week I felt really exhausted after 30mins) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good set of reps and amount of sets for building muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often should I increase the weight I'm lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think is a reasonable weight I should achieve after 6 months considering I also lowered my caloric intake to the recommended 1.9k and using myfittnespall to help me track everything i eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last of all I have to admit I'm currently hooked on diet coke, and as much as I know it's extremely unhealthy feel I couldn't do this without it. do you think it can also hinder my weight-loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 months and 1 week EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really know the protocol on this things but i really wanted to thank you all for your answers and comments. &#xA; As of today I have reached a Body-Weight of 98 KGs and most improtantly my muscle resistance and mass has clearly developed alot lowering my bf percentage to an estimated 20%(tape measurements). &#xA; Thank you once again for your guidance through this new stage of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I know it doesn't look like it but I'm the OP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13777" LastEditorUserId="13777" LastEditDate="2015-05-05T11:34:55.920" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T11:34:55.920" Title="Exercise advice for newbie" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22360" CreationDate="2015-01-28T17:20:28.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training elements should fit into a broader and more comprehensive program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a well documented program with a history of solid results and it calls for negatives, then do negatives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want to do them because they make you sore or an article on bodybuilding.com said they're great, that's fine, but it's a far cry from them being an essential component for strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the major strength programs (Texas, Bill Starr, Mad Cow, Starting Strength, 5/3/1, German Volume Training, etc) I don't think a single one calls for negatives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barring people getting starting with pullups or other such exercises where there is simply no way to do the concentric until sufficient strength has built up, I don't think there is any evidence to show that negatives are more useful than concentric exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are rare occasions (like someone getting started in pullups) where eccentric activity can help to prepare for real exercise, but on its own negatives are second class citizen to proper strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T17:20:28.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22372" CreationDate="2015-01-28T17:35:25.173" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it better to focus on one group of muscles each day of&#xA;  weightlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; well served by doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. Ignore everything you've ever been told, and follow either of those two programs for 6-9 months like a religion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you think I should do more cardio than 30mins, if I can hold&#xA;  it?(Time is currently not an issue, but seeing as I just started last&#xA;  week I felt really exhausted after 30mins)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do it, do it. Personally I like to run for ~30 minutes on my non lifting days primarily because I want to make sure I can always run for a few miles if needed. But remember that your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;strength training (done right) will have bigger results than your cardio&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is a good set of reps and amount of sets for building muscles?&#xA;  How often should I increase the weight I'm lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow the program, they list these out specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do you think is a reasonable weight I should achieve after 6&#xA;  months considering I also lowered my caloric intake to the recommended&#xA;  1.9k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably have enough fat on you right now that you'll be in the magical place of being able to lose fat and build muscle at the same time. Don't let your training suffer though. If you start missing the reps and weights you're supposed to meet, come back here and ask a question about it, posting as much info as possible so we can help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good programs (like the ones listed above) will maximize your strength gains while keeping you from catching injuries and burning out. Whatever that number is for you, those programs are the roadmap to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... using myfittnespall to help me track everything i eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whoever gave you that advice is smart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last of all I have to admit I'm currently hooked on diet coke, and as&#xA;  much as I know it's extremely unhealthy feel I couldn't do this&#xA;  without it. do you think it can also hinder my weight-loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19804/taking-protein-powder-with-artificial-sweeteners/19805#19805&quot;&gt;I don't think it's unhealthy; the evidence supporting such claims are barely worthy of even being called &quot;evidence&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. If a few diet cokes a day is your biggest health concern, you're fine. Focus on lifting, eating right, and your cardio activity: those constitute 95% of the battle. When you have all that done, if you want to be squeaky clean with no artificial sweeteners, go for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T17:35:25.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22350" CreationDate="2015-01-28T18:09:39.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should definitely consider seeing your doctor as numbness is usually indicative of some other problem.  As others have suggested, it may be as simple as changing your running shoes.  Or, as even others have noted, &lt;a href=&quot;http://ask.metafilter.com/260122/For-experienced-runners-My-left-foot-goes-numb-when-I-run-Why&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lace-tying&lt;/a&gt; may be the cause.  But, there’s another cause you may want to consider.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/articles/what-causes-foot-numbness-in-runners&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nerve compression&lt;/a&gt;.  The compression may be caused externally (shoes, laces, etc.), or, structurally (scar tissue, impingement).  It could be caused by your gait and how you land on your foot.  It really depends on where you actually feel the numbness.  Either way, numbness is something that should be addressed sooner than later, because if nerve impingement is the cause, you run the risk of permanent damage if the problem is not addressed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T18:09:39.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22408" CreationDate="2015-01-28T18:49:54.107" Score="0" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 6 weeks ago, I was doing heavy cleans from the blocks. On the last, my knee lined up with my elbow and forearm, catching the weight and forcing my hand to bend backward. I can use it day to day, but when trying out lifting again a couple of weeks later my finger tips went numb and stayed that way. I have taken another couple of weeks off after 2 weeks back at the gym. Only the end of my thumb still feels some numbness. When I catch something or turn it enough the pain goes through the bottom of my palm through the webbing between my thumb and forefinger in a semicircle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas to strengthen or reduce my time away from lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13780" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T15:01:32.673" Title="What can I do to strengthen my hand?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-14T09:57:24.650" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22372" CreationDate="2015-01-28T20:04:05.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with just about everything Eric said, especially Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5. Another I would consider is the Wendler's 5/3/1 program. Which ever you decide, stick with it for at least 6 months. A year would be better. You will see great results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I slightly disagree with the cardio. My personal opinion is to do what is commonly referred to as &quot;Finishers&quot;. This means sprint workouts that may last as little as 8 to 15 minutes. Jump on a stationary bike and do 30 seconds of sprinting hard, followed by a minute or so of rest. This can be done with running, biking, or even push-ups, other bodyweight excercises, etc. Tabata exercises are great too. Pick a movement (pushups, situps, squats, lunges, kettle bell swings, burpees, etc.), work for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds, repeat for 8 sets (4 minutes). If you're feeling froggy, back it up with another one with a different movement, and if you are super motivated try a third movement, but I would rest 1 to 2 minutes between movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the diet coke, it won't help, but it probably won't hurt too much. Just make sure it doesn't cut into your water intake. Stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. Just getting moving, and making the commitment is the hardest part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13780" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:04:05.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22335" CreationDate="2015-01-28T20:23:11.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your running efficiency, do some reading on prose running and how to control your breathing. With practice, active and resting heart rates will go down sooner rather than later. A doctor would probably best be able to answer whether or not your heart rate is too high. If this is the case, start with shorter distances and work your way up. I was in a similar situation about 4 years ago, but I started at only a mile at a 12 min/mi pace, weighing in at about 235 lbs. Worked my way up in distance by about 10% per week. Six months later of running 4 to 6 days per week, I was down to 195 lbs and ran my first 10k at 8 min/mi. Stick with it, and things will go well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13780" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:23:11.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22304" CreationDate="2015-01-28T20:36:46.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If strength is your primary goal, try to make some or most of your running speed training. For instance, look at an Olympic distance runner versus an Olympic sprinter. Nutrition is important, but the most important thing is not to hurt yourself. Start with whatever weight you can handle, and &quot;slowly&quot; (at a comfortable pace) increase it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a big fan of muscle splits. You can do them, but I would mix in some full body lifts as well. Deadlifts and squats for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long answer is that it ultimately depends on being more specific on your training goals. If you want to increase your bench press, I would do it twice per week, backing off to once only if I started feeling pain somewhere. I would do the same with pull-ups. If you have specific movements at which you want to be better, do them more than once per week. I would be very careful with deadlifting more than once per week though unless you are very experienced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13780" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:36:46.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22247" CreationDate="2015-01-28T20:44:18.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rest is important for every type of exercise. If you truly mean daily, back off a bit and take 1 to 2 rest days per week. Running like that &quot;everyday&quot; can lead to stress injuries. That is what I would worry about most. Definitely, fuel your body enough to avoid getting weak or dizzy during your runs. Add speed training (i.e. sprints) 1 to 2 times per week to help burn and keep fat away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13780" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T20:44:18.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7955" CreationDate="2015-01-28T23:28:38.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that all the people that are saying that is wrong don't practice Kung fu. They practice other martial arts. &#xA;When I was doing Taekwondo, it didn't matter if I also lifted weights and did the gym stuff. &#xA;But Shaolin Kung fu is based of Tai chi chuan and natural strength, it isn't based off of the artificial strength you create by lifting weights. &#xA;My strength level since I started doing Shaolin Kung fu is much higher, because it isn't based off of strain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13786" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T23:28:38.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22364" CreationDate="2015-01-29T00:23:03.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ten minutes of daily slow quiet bodyweight exercises will make you stronger.  To get stronger you'll need to progress to steadily more difficult versions of an exercise.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/convict-conditioning-downloadable-e-book/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/a&gt; has a great set of routines using bodyweight progressions going from super easy variants (i.e. doing push-ups standing up against a wall) to eventually targeting much harder variants (i.e. one arm push-up) for six major families of bodyweight exercises (Pull-ups, Bridges, (Wall) Handstand Push-ups, Leg Raise, Squat, Push-up) all of which require minimal equipment (i.e. a pull-up bar).  Everyday I do the the relevant routines for one of the exercise families (i.e. on Monday I work on my pull-ups, Tuesdays I work on bridges, etc.) and usually takes me between 5-15 minutes to do a few sets.  I use a metronome to force each rep to last 5 seconds and you'll want to start out doing lots of reps of the easier variations to strengthen your joints before moving onto any harder variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13789" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T00:23:03.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22364" CreationDate="2015-01-29T01:00:26.923" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you take a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/&quot;&gt;Scientific 7-Minute Workout&lt;/a&gt;.  It's free (and so is the NY Times app for it), and it's effective (it's the result of research &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/05000/HIGH_INTENSITY_CIRCUIT_TRAINING_USING_BODY_WEIGHT_.5.aspx&quot;&gt;published in ACSM'S Health &amp;amp; Fitness Journal&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does include chair step ups, high knee running in place, and jumping jacks.  I haven't found any of those to be especially loud, but if you're concerned, a mat placed under the chair and under yourself as needed would probably bring the volume down enough to avoid waking your kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple modifications I've made based on other fitness research:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I swap squats and wall sit in the order because squats are supposed to be good for starting up testosterone production, so it's good to do them early in the workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I replace crunches with bridges so that my lower back gets exercised and because crunches are tough on the back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I use two chairs for the triceps dip and lower myself between them so I don't place too much backward strain on my shoulder joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I add a set of body weight rows to exercise the upper back and biceps.  My approach is to lie under the dining room table, reach up and hold the top surface, and pull my chest up to it.  ProTip: be sure the table can support your weight, and probably don't try this on a table that has a single central pedestal.  ;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T01:00:26.923" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-29T04:50:11.920" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to include some extra stretching in my workout routine so I was looking at some Youtube videos and blog articles about it. However, a lot of people say you must do stretching in order to avoid &quot;injuries&quot;. I am confused about what do people actually mean by injuries in those resources. Are they referring to avoiding sore muscles you tend to get after gym or actual injuries, such as dropping a heavy barbell on your foot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9930" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T08:41:14.453" Title="What do people mean by injuries that occur when you are lifting weights?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22386" CreationDate="2015-01-29T05:09:30.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have to see the videos in question, but I suspect that most of the time they are talking about stretching to increase the range of motion. For the vast majority of the general public, this isn't going to be a problem as &quot;normal&quot; day to day flexibility should be more than sufficient for basic fitness and lifting routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, however, you have pre-existing deficiencies in your range of motion, or previous injuries then stretching may help you complete the exercise safely. There is no real way to assess this, however, without a visual examination by someone (such as a physical trainer) that can diagnose that sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching has been studied somewhat off and on, and to date, there are no definitive studies that say yes or no, stretching prevents injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T05:09:30.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22386" CreationDate="2015-01-29T08:56:09.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people are saying otherwise too. The important distinction is the difference between &lt;em&gt;flexibility&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mobility&lt;/em&gt;. People think flexibility is important, but it is actually inferior to mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you to look at Kelly Starrett's videos and talks; also he has a very good book about mobility which is called &lt;b&gt;Becoming a Supple Leopard&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, it is never a good idea to stretch cold muscles. If you want to do stretching, please do a light warmup before hand, and choose dynamic stretching over static stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, the most important thing is doing full range of motions, without using any momentum in your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T08:56:09.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22364" CreationDate="2015-01-29T10:16:57.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight exercises are great for doing at home, on the go, on a budget, during breaks, so they are a great choice. However, to keep your whole body fit you will need a variety of movement types. An example of this is &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/zw13Y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this great infographic&lt;/a&gt; showing the basic 6 movements involving nearly all muscles from your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infographic is taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/convict-conditioning-downloadable-e-book/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the popular Convict Conditioning Book&lt;/a&gt;, which also contains a lot of useful information describing proper form of the exercises, variations, weekly routines, proper progressions and in general all the stuff needed to get fit via calisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and all of the exercises there are absolutely silent - maybe besides pull-up bar creaking or your own grunting. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13794" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T10:16:57.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22364" CreationDate="2015-01-29T12:41:40.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Resistance bands are a great alternative to free weights if you're short on space.  And unlike weights, which are much more expensive and can clink, resistance bands come in several varieties (plain flat elastic bands are commonly in physical therapy, and elastic-core cords are commonly included with at-home workout kits).  You can change the resistance by either doubling-up bands, or purchasing multiple resistances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bodyweight warm-ups, slow deep-squats are great because they activate large muscle groups (thus they're pretty efficient for getting warmed up quickly) and you already have most of your body weight to work with.  If you do it slowly and don't clink weights, they can be almost silent.  Core exercises are good for the same reasons; sit-ups / crunches can be done with no weights.  If you keep doing this for several minutes, you can actually get some decent cardio going too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People often focus on just the abs, but you've got core muscles that wrap all the way around you (think crunches but turned 90 or 180 degrees), tho to do these effectively without weights you would either need some way of supporting yourself from your legs so that your torso is free, or to use resistance bands (one end under your foot, the other in your hand or hands).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For upper body, if you can get 6-12&quot; (or more is even better) of anything solid and supportive under your hands, you can sit on the floor with your legs extended and use your arms to raise your body up and down.  Push-ups are an obvious one too, but I'll add them in just for redundancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot more you can do too, those are just a few that, through experience, I've found very useful for warm-up type workouts where you don't want to make a lot of noise and/or don't have free weights available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13796" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T12:41:40.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-29T15:28:25.407" Score="0" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I take a multivitamin, is there a benefit to taking a supplement of a specific vitamin (ex. Vitamin D)? In the winter, I have read taking Vitamin D helps give more energy. I find myself more tired and depressed in winter months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13799" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T08:14:07.660" Title="vitamin D as a supplement" Tags="&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-14T09:59:49.140" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22404" CreationDate="2015-01-29T16:08:50.773" Score="4" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read from a number of online sources that creatine isn't as effective when taken with caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also read that if you space out the caffeine consumption from the creatine consumption, it may be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: is it OK to take caffeine and creatine on the same day, as long as we have some gap between the two? If so, what's a safe gap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Here's one of the sources I remember I read about it - &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/does-caffeine-counteract-creatine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://examine.com/faq/does-caffeine-counteract-creatine.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13801" LastEditorUserId="13801" LastEditDate="2015-01-29T17:44:01.797" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T14:36:48.573" Title="Caffeine and creatine" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22263" CreationDate="2015-01-29T17:09:22.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, growth hormone will help you achieve this and it is illegal without a prescription. &#xA;This will only be effective if your bone plates have yet to fuse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13784" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T17:09:22.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22391" CreationDate="2015-01-29T18:30:48.283" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some studies that link low vitamin D levels with various issues, such as &quot;winter depressions&quot;, but it should be remembered that this does NOT mean that vitamin D supplements will make you less depressed or give you more energy. It's just as plausible that the lack of light during the winter makes you both depressed AND results in lower vitamin D levels. Adding vitamin D doesn't make the sun come out, so to speak :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24632894&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24632894&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vitamin D supplementation had no overall effect on depressive&#xA;  symptoms (standardized mean difference [SMD], 0.14; 95% confidence&#xA;  interval [CI], -0.33 to 0.05, p = .16), although considerable&#xA;  heterogeneity was observed. Subgroup analysis showed that vitamin D&#xA;  supplementation for participants with clinically significant&#xA;  depressive symptoms or depressive disorder had a moderate,&#xA;  statistically significant effect...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some studies refered to in this link that should convince you to not waste money on Vitamin D: &lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/18322/do-vitamin-d-supplements-help-against-winter-depression&quot;&gt;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/18322/do-vitamin-d-supplements-help-against-winter-depression&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is almost definitely true about any other vitamins you are taking as well, unless you eat VERY bad, you probably don't have any deficiencies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Winter sucks, I know, go for a walk during the lighter hours if possible, it's free, healthy and much more likely to make you feel better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:42.333" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T18:30:48.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22271" CreationDate="2015-01-29T21:55:11.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a great question. David Dellanave, a well-known coach, 2012 world-record holder in the Jefferson deadlift, and the author of &lt;em&gt;Off the Floor: A Manual for Deadlift Domination&lt;/em&gt;, has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dellanave.com/how-and-why-to-do-a-jefferson-deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pretty good page&lt;/a&gt; has this to say about the &quot;why&quot;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let’s get the reasoning for doing this awkward looking lift out of the&#xA;  way first. Here’s the short version: because you’re weak. Maybe that’s&#xA;  not entirely fair, but I’d be willing to bet it’s true that you are&#xA;  weak outside the ranges of motion that you’re accustomed to. For most&#xA;  people, these are very sagital-plane dominant squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits: doing Jeffersons will help strengthen your conventional deadlift; Dellanave also says it can benefit people with back pain but I don't have any evidence to support that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13805" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T21:55:11.433" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-30T01:46:44.283" Score="7" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard a theory that it is better to stretch muscles while they are (lightly?) engaged. The reason was said to be that muscle engagement will cause the muscles themselves, rather than the tendons, to stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've not been able to find any information about this online. Does someone have more information which supports or refutes this theory? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T20:24:44.623" Title="Stretching muscles while they are engaged" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22386" CreationDate="2015-01-30T04:37:02.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Injury&quot; in the context of weightlifting typically refers to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;repetitive strain injuries&lt;/a&gt;. Lifting heavy weights is meant to stress the muscles, but too much stress (high weight or not enough recovery) can cause a muscle to tear. Heavy weights also strain the tendons and joints. You could encounter knee pain due to an overused patellar tendon, or shoulder pain due to undertrained muscles not being able to stabilize the joint under heavy loads. Poor form also causes injuries. Failure to maintain a neutral spine can cause the discs in the spine to squeeze out from between the vertebrae causing various pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching is an attempt to prevent injuries caused by poor form, when joints can't move into the proper position for a lift. If the joints can't move because of other issues, like the brain having gotten into the habit of not using the muscle that is supposed to extend that joint, then stretching won't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-01-30T08:41:14.453" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T08:41:14.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22364" CreationDate="2015-01-30T10:14:31.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really think Morning Yoga would be great for that time slot and it's obviously quite quiet. It doesn't have to last long to be beneficial (if you type whatever time frame you'd like to work with in youtube, like &quot;3 minute yoga&quot;- &quot;1 hour yoga&quot; there are videos there that would fit your time frame if you want to use a video) and it will help to not only get the blood flowing, but encourage a mindful and calm view for your day. Yoga helps with strength, posture, flexibility and overall mental and physical health. You might want to check out some basic yoga poses or look up some videos online and find one you like. (The biggest challenge that route is sifting through alot of grating voices.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13809" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T10:14:31.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-30T14:19:21.563" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I maintain a pretty healthy life style and I exercise 6 days a week as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run at least 3 days every week totaling to 20Kms.  And, on other days I do PullUps,Push UPs, sun salutes and light weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been regularly drinking Wheat Grass powder with water for the last 4-6 months on an empty stomach early in morning, and, I have seen positive effect in my digestion and energy levels.&#xA;I recently also read about the benefits of Spirulina and I am planning to get it in tablet form. I am a vegetarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, here are my concerns...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it advisable to consume both of them together (Spirulina &amp;amp; Wheat Grass) ? &lt;BR&gt;&#xA;Or, should I alternate between both of them? For example, for some length of time, consume one of them and then switch to another and keep on alternating between both of them?  Or, can I consume both of them during different periods of days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am worried if consuming both of them together can have any negative effects .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2881" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-01-30T14:30:20.457" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T14:41:41.000" Title="Consuming Spirulina with Wheat Grass" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-02-03T19:39:01.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22393" CreationDate="2015-01-30T14:36:48.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What ever you read, you can take creatine whenever you feel more comfortable.&#xA;I have taken it in the mornings, and now i take it after workouts, because of bro science.&#xA;At the end of the day, my results are the same with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also taken a scoop of creatine(when i first started) and a cup of coffee before my work outs and i saw and felt the creatine working, meaning, you should not worry about it too much.&#xA;It is important not to over think things like this, keeps away the stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just space them out if it makes you feel more comfortable, but from my experience, it is not important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T14:36:48.573" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22403" CreationDate="2015-01-30T14:41:41.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Judging the nutritional facts i would say you are safe. &#xA;I have taken multivitamins that have the daily needed value way over exceeded and been just fine(if that is what you are worried about)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What ever diet plan you read, it always says &quot;As many greens as you want&quot;.&#xA;At the end of the day you just have to test it yourself because everyone responds to different things differently because no one is like you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel sick,bloated...stop, other than that, you are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T14:41:41.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22377" CreationDate="2015-01-30T15:01:32.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to strengthen your arms, then i can help. I am not going to suggest curls and extensions, but exercises that train the small muscles, that heavy compound movements will not train.&#xA;I guess your main problem is with your forearms, so here are two of my favorites&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/palms-up-barbell-wrist-curl-over-a-bench&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Palms up wrist curl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/palms-down-wrist-curl-over-a-bench&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Palms down wrist curl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two exercises are the only ones i personally use to train my forearms, and they are good. You could also just pick up a barbell that has heavy weights on, and just hold it as long as you can. Next time add some weight and do it again, constantly try to do it longer and heavier. My friend swears by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superset(one after another) these two exercises atleast 6x12. Forearms are used a lot daily, so they require a little bit more than other muscle groups. I personally train them twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this answers your question on how to strenghten your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also think about doing some external and internal rotation for the shoulders.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://officialbodylastics.eu/pages/bodylastics-eu-clip-exercise-band-systems-shoulder-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercises can be found here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing these will help prevent any shoulder injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a little bonus, just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T15:01:32.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-30T17:49:46.193" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any muscle at all in my arms ; I'm 98KG , with BMI of 28.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to get some improvement using dumbbells only at home ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a mystery to me how people build their muscles , is there any technique to follow ? Or is not possible for Obese people ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T18:40:54.333" Title="Build muscle in Arms" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22409" CreationDate="2015-01-30T18:05:17.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12081/at-home-regime-to-build-upper-body-muscle?rq=1&quot;&gt;a pretty good answer here&lt;/a&gt; that you may want to consider. It specifically is talking about at home exercises, so I'll let that speak for itself. If you need any help with what those exercises look like, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it possible to get some improvement using dumbbells only at home ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, although I think you'll find that a few other cheap pieces of gear will make a huge difference. Tack on a pullup bar and a kettlebell and you'll have a formidable home training system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is a mystery to me how people build their muscles , is there any&#xA;  technique to follow ? Or is not possible for Obese people ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the most effective methods for strength training and you're starting from a fairly novice prospective, you will get phenominal results from something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. Those are barbell programs which will require access to somewhat expensive gear. You'll either need to buy it yourself, go to a properly equipped gym (most are not), or have a friend who has gear like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A properly run home fitness program can be very effective, but it will never be on par with a barbell strength training program (like the fore mentioned &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T18:05:17.753" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22316" CreationDate="2015-01-30T19:01:53.393" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I've decided to return the weights. There's a point at which it's just not worth the mental and time effort to solve a problem. I've reached that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, before getting to this point, I tried ideas found on Stackexchange and on the web at large, and (D'oh!) spoke to people in other fields who would feasibly have solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the rundown. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From a personal trainer who has had his own gym for over 10 years.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Pine Sol. Use it to wash the weights several times over a week period. &#xA;This is what's recommended for similar rubber flooring. &#xA;Wash quite a few times! And wait. &#xA;The Pine Sol + time combination should take care of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the most promising solution because it comes from someone who has &quot;been there, done that.&quot; But I won't try it because I've already decided to return the weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone else tries this with success, then it would be great for others to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From both an HVAC expert and a disaster-recovery expert.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Coat the caps with a flexible rubber coating that you can buy in a can or bucket from the hardware store. This is the same stuff that you would use to repair the handles on pliers and other tools. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did not try this, but I did find examples on the web of people who refurbished weight plates with do-it-yourself plastic coating. It comes in many colors, so you could even color-code the weights of your weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called a manufacturer to ask if the coating would be effective at masking smell. They did not know and did not try to fake an answer. (Good for them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone else tries this with success, then it would be great for others to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From a retired scientist who worked at a well-known French medical company.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Yeah, the sulfur from vulcanization is pretty bad. Try soaking in hydrogen peroxide. Test an area first because it might change color. And do &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; under any circumstances mix it with anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried it. The color remained black. There was noticeably only a little less filthy residue. The nasty smell did not budge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From posts on Stackexchange and other web sites.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;washing with dish soap, laundry detergent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;soaking in vinegar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;soaking in vinegar and baking soda &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scrubbing with a spray plastic cleaner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leaving outside in the heat and cold for several days and nights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried combinations of all of the above without success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also walked around several sporting good stores. All had detectable rubber off-gassing (some vastly more than others). I did not have a rag with me, so I did not test residue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Closing.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Thank you for leaving the question open. I hope my research helps other people who have residue or stink problems with their equipment. Because those kinds of problems seriously suck the joy from working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13736" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T19:01:53.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10016" CreationDate="2015-01-30T19:05:27.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;See the related question, comments, and answer about residue from rubber-capped weights at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/22316/rubber-residue-on-weights-stains-clothing-carpets-hands/22411#22411&quot;&gt;Rubber residue on weights stains clothing, carpets, hands&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it will be useful to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T19:05:27.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22414" CreationDate="2015-01-31T11:33:35.720" Score="2" ViewCount="1214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been sedentary for most of my adult life so am looking to see what I can do to be fitter. I'm not aiming to run a marathon or enter the Worlds Strongest Man, just improve my fitness, but for a sedentary man I have a full day (three children fills it up easily!) so finding space within that day is a challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play console games (PS3) regularly to wind down and figure I can easily use an exercise bike and continue to play games at the same time so this is an obvious first place to start (from my point of view) but I would like to know how a low- or medium-intensity bike ride for an hour 4-5 days a week is going to affect my body so that I can look at other exercises to affect other parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will it improve? Muscle tone and stamina is my thought but I would prefer answers from others who more about this than I do. If it helps any I am the ideal weight for my height (BMI: 23.4).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;|\/|&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13814" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T18:03:28.563" Title="What effects will cycling for 60 minutes a day have on my body?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22413" CreationDate="2015-01-31T17:28:51.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally like to start as heavy as possible, but doctors say it is safer to start slow and move up.&#xA; So this is what i am going to say. Start slowly, if do not move too much on a daily basis and don't lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get your heart rate up, but don't go so hard that you feel like your heart is going to jump out from your chest.&#xA; Then try to improve every time you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is really no point in doing it every day since, as a beginner, your body needs to recover longer, so i would recommend every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while, when you have no problem riding for 60 minutes, you can look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Basically you can cut down a 60 minute training to 10 minutes, but it requires some cardiovascular training before hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a good choice you have made. I personally train every day after a long day in the office, and it is the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T17:28:51.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2015-01-31T23:08:49.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an avid runner. Several years ago i took up squats as a part of my regiment. I can tell you that it will absolutely ruin your current running ability, although over the long term it actually seems rather helpful for injury prevention and positively effects short distance running, and ends up not effecting long distance skill all that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13816" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T23:08:49.180" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22417" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-01T04:41:13.513" Score="2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a college football player, I have been playing football since young age but I am not doing any kind of squat or strength exercises because whenever I do I become immobile for 15 min. So if you can please suggest me some exercises and something that can help. I dont think that only sprinting will help my football &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13818" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T11:10:25.087" Title="unable to do squats" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22441" CreationDate="2015-02-01T05:23:54.547" Score="0" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm obese . Goal is to lose fat .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the sources of protein for vegetarian ?  I'm currently using Quorn product but range is limited . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about Fat and Carbs , do both need to low ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T10:50:03.270" Title="Protein ,Fat and carbs for vegetarian-obese" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2015-02-16T07:46:22.483" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22417" CreationDate="2015-02-01T06:10:36.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you define &quot;immobile&quot;? If you have an injury or condition you need to address that first. Otherwise Squats are a really technical exercise if you want to do them right. Most people have to start with a lot of flexibility and technique work before they can get serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching your hamstrings, gluts, quads and ankles is probably where you need to start, unless there is an underlying medical condition causing you to tighten up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How old are you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13820" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T06:10:36.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22418" CreationDate="2015-02-01T06:19:19.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry too much about the macronutrients to begin with. Try to eat healthy and exercise, that will get you started. If you eat some milk products (yoghurt, cheese, milk) beans or nuts you'll get your share of protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forming good eating and exercising habits is the key because otherwise it will remain a constant battle against your old habits!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13820" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T06:19:19.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13934" CreationDate="2015-02-01T06:29:31.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found out what is going on for me. In case others have questions similar to mine, this paper provides a pretty good background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myalgic encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria - Carruthers - 2011 - Journal of Internal Medicine - Wiley Online Library&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02428.x/pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02428.x/pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The specific issue that affects me is PENE: Post-Exertional Neuroimmune Exhaustion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the paper, PENE is a pathological inability to produce sufficient energy on demand with prominent symptoms primarily in the neuroimmune regions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Characteristics are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Marked, rapid physical and/or cognitive fatigability in response to exertion, which may be minimal such as activities of daily living or simple mental tasks, can be debilitating and cause a relapse. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In my case, I am usually OK with mental tasks. I'm also very motivated to exercise and it seems that I have more exercise tolerance than many/most myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) patients, but my exercise tolerance is far below &quot;normal&quot; as I explained in my original question from 2013.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post-exertional symptom exacerbation: e.g. acute flu-like symptoms, pain and worsening of other symptoms. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As described in my original question, this happens to me very reliably with harder training, even when following exceptionally careful training and nutrition programs. However, I can train below a certain threshold of intensity and volume and I am usually (not always) OK.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post-exertional exhaustion may occur immediately after activity or be delayed by hours or days. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have experienced all of these onset times. The effect of exercise is cumulative. The onset depends on training volume, intensity, recovery and sleep, nutrition, general stress and other factors -- the same factors that would affect recovery for anyone. The main difference seems to be sensitivity to these factors and the degree, depth and duration of post-exertional exhaustion.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery period is prolonged, usually taking 24 hours or longer. A relapse can last days, weeks or longer. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As noted in my original question, &quot;Earlier this year I increased my running from 60 miles to 75 miles in a month and it made me overtrained and it took me months to recover from that. And, unfortunately, I have a lifetime of repeated experience with this issue.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low threshold of physical and mental fatigability (lack of stamina) results in a substantial reduction in pre-illness activity level. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In my case, I have excellent mental stamina -- unless I pass my physical stamina threshold. If I pass my physical limits then I lose my mental energy too and become entirely non-functional, feeling almost like a vegetable.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6752" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T06:29:31.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-01T09:37:12.197" Score="3" ViewCount="1715" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am running 531 3 days a week, combining the OHP and the deadlift on the same day. My question is what to do for assistance work on these days? For my squat and bench I'm running boring but big, but I'm confused as to what to do on my ohp/deadlift day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12251" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T13:53:38.480" Title="5/3/1 Assistance work for deadlift and OHP" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22422" CreationDate="2015-02-01T11:04:33.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely suggest to do &quot;carries&quot;; such as Farmer's walk (2 or 1 hand). It is pretty good for deadlift assistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chin-ups would be good for everything :)&#xA;There are lots of alternatives, they would all have some benefit. You can use BBB for OHP also; you can do high rep lateral and front raises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For deadlifts, you can do speed deadlifts, or power cleans. It is all up to you, you can do hamstring work such as leg curl, you can do stiff-leg deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T11:04:33.903" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22417" CreationDate="2015-02-01T11:10:25.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength would help in everything. So, squats and deadlifts are going to help you in any sport there is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you sure your form is good or perfect? A video would help for us to analyze if there is any problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T11:10:25.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-01T14:03:02.123" Score="3" ViewCount="3216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try to keep this as short as possible but if this exceeds the limit then please bear with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 29 y/o Indian male and I was a serious (if not professional) body builder when I was younger. I started bodybuilding when I was 17 and pursued it for 4 years. Then I got a shoulder injury and simultaneously life got more demanding and I couldn't return to the sport. In next 4 plus years I put on a lot of weight and reached 100 KG (220 lbs) i.e. 32 KG (70 lbs) extra from my base weight when I was in sport. Oh and yes I'm not very tall. I'm 5'9''&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I turned 25 and decided it was enough and hit the gym back. For the first time in my life I decided to run (which I thought was running) on treadmill for quicker results. Let's cut it short and let me tell you that I couldn't stop running since then. I quit the gym in next 7-8 months to do more serious running and joined a track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran my first half marathon (1:58 hrs) in 10 months from the starting point. Second half (Hill Course- 2:10 hrs) in another 2 months and my first full in another 3 months and there I failed miserably (5:35 hrs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time I ran my 1st full I was 30 KG (66 lbs) down and looked good. I now know that I transitioned from a fat lazy boy to a half marathoner and then to a full marathoner a little quick and my body couldn't handle the stress. I didn't stop there and ran 1 half and 1 full in next 4 months and my second full again went pathetic. I finished 4:40 hrs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went through injuries and bad races but I didn't stop. By June 2014, I finished 9 half and 2 full marathons and maintained my weight (plus minus 3 KG). Till then my HM PR was 1:53 hrs and now I wanted to improve. I added yoga and body weight exercises in my routine and improved myself significantly and lost some more inches too. I ran a 10 KM PR (45:40 mins) and a 5:44 min mile in practice. My 1 KM best is 3:36 mins and 14+ sec for 100 meters. I set all these PRs prior to the half marathon I was training for in Nov 2014.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did all the fartleks, repetition work, speed work, long runs and drills and finished the half marathon in 1:43:10 hrs. Though I was expecting sub 1:40 but I was happy. This was the beginning of Nov 2014 and continued my training for a full marathon in Mid Jan 2015.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did everything what the plan said. Ran high mileage weeks, did repetitions and speed works and everything the plan asked. I did the taper and carb loading too. During this training I ran two 20 milers. Each under 3:20 hrs very comfortably. Every test said I'm fit enough to run a sub 4 hour marathon. I did Yasso 800 workout and comfortably ran 10 rep of 800 in 3:20 mins with 2:30 min recovery between each rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There I must mention that I was training in North India and the temperature during Dec and Jan was below 10 Deg C in mornings. The race was in South and the temp on the race day was 19 Deg C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After putting all the efforts in training I got drained on 3rd km and felt like quitting. I managed through half way and did 21 km in 1:48 hrs and the pace was very comfortable for me. Then I felt like I'm getting slow. This might be the marathon wall but if it was so then it came a lot too early. I started dragging and again finished with a miserable timing. I finished 5:10 hrs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So where did it go wrong? Should I not go for fullers and stay happy with the half marathons? Even if someone suggests that, I wont take that advice haha! I want to run full marathons and qualify for Boston in near future. I know it'll take time but I'm ready to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the time being I'm planning to cut on the junk races and train for a considerably fast half marathon for myself which will probably fall in the 1st week of November. I effectively have 9 months for this race. I want to run a sub 1:30 race. All the plans I see online are 16 to 18 weeks long but I've around 36 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some advice on how I should proceed with the training. I would also like to get a proper strength and flexibility training plan. My arms and legs are toned but I still have some extra inches around my waist.&#xA;You know everybody loves six packs and I'm no exception :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&#xA;Parth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13822" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T04:37:59.770" Title="Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 36 Weeks" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22409" CreationDate="2015-02-01T18:34:00.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say start with your diet and simply increase your overall activity levels. So eating cleaner, probably eating less (although I'm not a fan of caloric deficits by not eating enough). And start by walking every day for like an hour or something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises I think are the most beneficial are the larger compound ones, squat and deadlift. These do require technique though and if you don't want to spend the time and energy to acquire this bodyweight exercises may be the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the arms question: If that really is your only goal, just curl until you can't curl no more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T18:34:00.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2015-02-01T19:27:33.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will try to add additional information. Maybe these are not your cases, but it might help someone who has these problems and probably will allow you to think outside the box and will give an interesting direction to your thought. Do not think that everything goes down to reps, counting weight, eating right, etc. When you want to go to the max, you need to dig deeper in understanding how your body operates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know that muscle contraction is somehow related to electric field. The more electricity comes through the muscle, the harder it contracts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our &lt;em&gt;central nervous system&lt;/em&gt; is the supplier for that electricity. The signal that comes from it is pretty weak, so that our muscles do not rip themselves apart. Electrical muscle stimulation (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_muscle_stimulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EMS&lt;/a&gt;) uses this fact to increase the power released by muscles. If this procedure helps you increase weights, then you should check whether there are any issues with the nervous system.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ions create electrical difference between inner world of the muscle cell and the surrounding. One of these ions is &lt;em&gt;potassium&lt;/em&gt;. Increased stress can result in increased aldosterone production which will wash potassium away from your body (and, by the way, increase sodium).&#xA;I occasionally discovered that this was my case. I tried to find what caused high blood pressure and hormonal analysis showed I have twice as much as recommended dose of this hormone floating inside my blood. This suddenly explained a lot of seemingly unrelated symptoms: headaches, arrhythmia and ... stagnation of the weight on the bar. So, check out your hormones :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13825" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T19:27:33.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22425" CreationDate="2015-02-01T20:04:12.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brief answer: Don't give up. Full marathons are complex and tough to get right. Think carefully about hydration and nutrition during the race.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to run competitively. My marathon PR is 2:32 in Chicago. But I've also run some miserable full marathons. Even shorter races like 10K, I've known I was in much better shape than my race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best advice about the full is not to give up. It's a long way, and there's a huge difference between a 20-mile training run and 42 km. Each marathon race unfolds in a different way. My first (and fastest) went great. I was cruising along very nicely through about 35 km. I even thought (ha!) that I wouldn't hit the wall. I did, but about 6 km from the finish and got through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My next one, I was in better shape, but around 18 km, my legs started feeling very heavy and tired. I kept going, but easily 15-20 minutes slower than my target pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my big advice would be to think carefully about nutrition and hydration. These make a &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; difference. You need to take carbohydrates during a full marathon. Often this is Gatorade or Powerade. I always test with the actual brand during long runs. My advice is a little bit at each station. If the stations are 1 mile or 2 km apart, you'll be fine. If they're 5 km or more, make sure you get a good drink at each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gu or gels can work too for some people. I tried once during a long run and within 2 km had to find a bathroom. It just didn't work with my stomach and running. Other friends feel they get a huge boost from the sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short story is that each marathon will happen differently. You'll get a great time eventually with your training. Make sure to also get some rest, both in the training and after long races. It takes ~20 days before you fully recover from a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roy-stevenson.com/periodization.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;periodization training&lt;/a&gt;. With 36 weeks, you can get in a training cycle for a 10K or half marathon, then a 16-18 week build for a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10707" LastActivityDate="2015-02-01T20:04:12.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-02T01:50:53.040" Score="1" ViewCount="4660" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any effects when it comes to weight lifting in our dental or teeth? Does lifting heavy will cause toothache?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T07:44:55.133" Title="Weight lifting and dental care" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22429" CreationDate="2015-02-02T06:24:51.540" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heavy lifting does not cause toothache. Unless you are pulling the weights up with your teeth, then it might.&#xA;It is very, very unlikely that you will press your teeth together so hard during a lift, that you will damage them. It just will not happen.&#xA;Don't worry, your teeth are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-02T08:20:29.660" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T08:20:29.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22429" CreationDate="2015-02-02T13:46:35.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've experienced toothache during lifting, I'm inclined to believe there is an underlying problem. Many lifters to indeed clench their jaw during particularly heavy lifts, and this might be interpreted as toothache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certain heavy lifts like deadlifts and pullups put strain on muscles in the neck/jaw area, which in some cases could affect muscles and tendons in the tempomandibular area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so, it's still far from anything that should cause concern for your teeth during lifts, but it's worth it to &quot;keep an eye&quot; on whether or not you're gritting your teeth together when performing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T13:46:35.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22435" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-02T16:52:29.567" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I took some belly-dancing classes a few years back, and recently I've been following along videos with a friend of mine. I'm largely good, except for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-do-belly-dancing-shoulder-shimmies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shoulder shimmies&lt;/a&gt;. Every time I do them at anything less than a glacier pace, I get pains in my pectorals, like sharp cramps that arc across the breastbone to either side. I don't think I have any underlying physical conditions that could account for this, and I'm in decent shape overall (although I will admit that pushups have never been easy for me). Is there any trick to avoiding such pain, maybe a way of exercising the right muscles to build up to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T16:52:29.567" Title="Pain in my chest when doing shoulder shimmies" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22437" CreationDate="2015-02-02T17:03:16.507" Score="3" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed several times that my speed of thought is significantly reduced on days after doing a lot of (very tiring) sports. I notice this since I'm working on my master's thesis, thus having to think about a lot of complex stuff all day. On those days, I sometimes find myself simply not capable of solving problems that normally don't really challenge me. Apart of this reduced thinking capability, I feel ok; I don't have a cold or something, and even my muscles are ok due to proper stretching and massage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For completeness: I do a lot of sports (at least 4-5 times a week) and would consider myself to be quite healthy. I typically sleep about 8 hours after such tiring days, and I eat healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in explanations as to why this is the case, as well as hints on how I might prevent this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13834" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T17:52:13.320" Title="Why is my speed of thought reduced on days after doing a lot of sports?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22436" CreationDate="2015-02-02T17:38:58.533" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0374533555&quot;&gt;Thinking, Fast and Slow&lt;/a&gt; last year and it touched on several things you seem to be experiencing. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman&quot;&gt;The author is Nobel Prize winning psychologist&lt;/a&gt;, and the book is thorough in its citing of studies and empirical data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fundamentally it came down to the fact that your brain only has so much energy. Pain tolerance draws from the same pool as self  discipline and complex (slow) thought. And by &quot;same pool&quot; the evidence suggests it's not some nebulous concept but rather directly linked to sugars and components that make up neuro transmitters. Quoting directly from &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0374533555&quot;&gt;the text&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The evidence is persuasive: activities that impose high demands on&#xA;  System 2 require self-control, and the exertion of self-control is&#xA;  depleting and unpleasant. Unlike cognitive load, ego depletion is at&#xA;  least in part a loss of motivation. After exerting self-control in one&#xA;  task, you do not feel like making an effort in another, although you&#xA;  could do it if you really had to. In several experiments, people were&#xA;  able to resist the effects of ego depletion when given a strong&#xA;  incentive to do so. In contrast, increasing effort is not an option&#xA;  when you must keep six digits in short-term memory while performing a&#xA;  task. Ego depletion is not the same mental state as cognitive&#xA;  busyness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most surprising discovery made by Baumeister’s group shows, as he&#xA;  puts it, that the idea of mental energy is more than a mere metaphor.&#xA;  The nervous system consumes more glucose than most other parts of the&#xA;  body, and effortful mental activity appears to be especially expensive&#xA;  in the currency of glucose. When you are actively involved in&#xA;  difficult cognitive reasoning or engaged in a task that requires&#xA;  self-control, your blood glucose level drops. The effect is analogous&#xA;  to a runner who draws down glucose stored in her muscles during a&#xA;  sprint. The bold implication of this idea is that the effects of ego&#xA;  depletion could be undone by ingesting glucose, and Baumeister and his&#xA;  colleagues have confirmed this hypothesis n ohypothesiin several&#xA;  experiments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several studies showed that physical exertion lead to lower math scores (when the tests quickly followed the exertion), and likewise difficult cognitive challenges resulted in lower pain tolerance and physical capacity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of research to show that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21417955&quot;&gt;exercise increases cognitive function&lt;/a&gt;, but those studies tend to be macro-scale, looking at longer term results. In the short term, I think any athlete can attest to the fact that during physical exertion you simply cannot think as much. Personally I actually find it difficult to do the math on barbell plates when I'm lifting heavy, and frequently have to write down simple addition problems that wouldn't be an issue at all during non-strenuous times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-02-02T17:52:13.320" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T17:52:13.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22409" CreationDate="2015-02-02T18:29:48.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Is it possible to get some improvement using dumbbells only at home ?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improvement is always possible through consistent dedication to a routine. If you're willing to stick with one here is what I would recommend. &#xA;Go to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=Arms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding.com's Arms Workout Database&lt;/a&gt; and pick something labeled &quot;beginner&quot; like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beginner-arm-training-guide.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;It is a mystery to me how people build their muscles , is there any technique to follow ? Or is not possible for Obese people ?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very possible for obese people to build muscles - don't let your current body deter you from the body you want! The secret is consistency and determination. Having a diet for optimizing muscle building will also help. There are many great questions on here about that and if I had one off hand I would promote it. Please search this SE for one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Most importantly&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;do not give up&lt;/strong&gt;. Progress is slow and at times painful, but it's not going to be easy. Its going to be worth it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13784" LastEditorUserId="13784" LastEditDate="2015-02-02T18:40:54.333" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T18:40:54.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-03T03:15:50.670" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty athletic for a female. I've always wanted to run outside regularly outside in all seasons and haven't yet. On a side note I joined a running room &quot;beginners&quot; group which wasn't so and as the frigid air went in my lungs I could stay... But that's another story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a pre/ teen i would get those side cramps which led me to believe I could never run. It was discouraging, disappointing and embarrassing. I tried to ignore it but no change. More recently I tried and just like that I began... I started getting the runners high and love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't seem to gave the experience or confidence to pursue this to its fullest. I would love some advice. I am agile quick but still think I have slow twitch fibers, I detest intervals, all I think is that keeping my heart rate up is good. What training on a treadmill do you suggest. Time , incline, speed, warm up, pee and post stretch, eating, water intake pre during post, protein etc, x per week. I can run at 3.4-5 and maintain for 10 plus min. I drink alot of water. I try to eat a small amount before. I wish I could feel great about my progress and stretch tight muscles after. I get distracted and feel discouraged when I see other runners who go 8 km without effort. I am 260 and close to 5'10. Bigger bones and bike as well at the gym. My goal is to be a pretty good runner/ jogger ( as I think anyone should being the most natural and free movement we can do) to be energetic and to not be beat for possible athletic endeavour. Also I want to be the most fit in my life, challenge myself and push myself . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to everyone who helps me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13839" LastEditorUserId="323" LastEditDate="2015-02-03T16:59:09.947" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T16:59:09.947" Title="Are there people who aren't destined to be runners(competive or leisure but not pro) and others not ? If not why?" Tags="&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T21:09:50.653" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22439" CreationDate="2015-02-03T07:00:27.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will give you an vague answer.&#xA;Since, as you stated, you think you have good slow-twitch fibers, which should make you a good marathon runner. The best way to find out, in what area you are better is to run 100 m. How fast were you? How do you feel?. That will give you your answer.&#xA;There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/training/the-role-of-muscle-fibers-in-running_82416&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; good site, where you can learn more about different kinds of muscle fibers, and how they work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for eating. Just eat healthy. I strongly believe in &quot;If it fits your macros&quot;. There are some good calculators online to figure out your macros. Just fill them with some healthy foods, and occasionally(not more than once a week or two) reward yourself with something dirty(if you want), but make sure you are not going over your macros.&#xA;A great site, to track them is &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;I feel discouraged&quot;. How do you think they started? Do you think they woke up one day and just ran 8 km without any effort?. No. Running is something that requires dedication. I was always good at short bursts, one of the best in my school day, but i never was first in marathon running, because i did not even care for it. &#xA;Oh, and i was almost 100 kg and 190 cm tall.&#xA;Do outdoor running as much as possible(but do not over do it of course). It is way better than treadmill in every way. If you want to be a jogger you have to be ready for everything, from downhill to uphill. That is why outdoors is better. Run to different places, enjoy the weather etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on what your goals are, you can train in one or the other area. Do not feel embarrassed. You are already doing more than most, you should feel proud for wanting to do something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goals are there, fulfill them, and do not let anyone judge you. Push yourself and one day, you also can run 8 km without even breaking a sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only limits we have, are the ones we set ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-03T07:35:54.403" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T07:35:54.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22418" CreationDate="2015-02-03T10:44:03.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to recap our discussion.&#xA;At your weight and height, you are not obese.&#xA;I would highly recommend exercising and following your macros, that can be calculated &lt;a href=&quot;http://calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very good site, to track your macros is &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If would also look into something called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/08/06/a-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intermittent fasting&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;But, since you said your family has a history of diabetes i would strongly recommend talking to your doctor about this before hand. I have followed this life style for over a year now, and i love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it is very important to remember, that carbs are not the enemy, sugars are.&#xA;There are many different carb sources that are healthy, like oats and different greens.&#xA;Your body needs carbs for energy, without it, no energy, no muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule of thumb is to consume at least 1 g of protein per 1 pound of body weight, this has worked for me, for thousand of others and it will work for you too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every other day you can do some cardio after your weight lifting workout, but take it easy in the start, see your limits, do not injure yourself and most important, have fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for protein sources, try to get everything from whole foods, if you can't then turn to protein powders. They help, but they can't replace a good meal.&#xA;When buying protein, it is important to get as much protein per serving as possible and keeping sugars low. After a workout you have 24-48 hours(depending on your body) to consume your proteins, so don't listen to supplement companies about fast releasing or slow releasing proteins. An ordinary Whey protein will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veganism is a burden, and depending on how hardcore you are your sources of proteins will shiver. Egg whites are the best out there. 1 egg white = 4 g of protein. &#xA;Chicken is also a very good source of protein.&#xA;As a vegan you could get your protein from nuts,beans,soy(However, since you are a man i do not recommend soy to you, as a matter of fact, i would stay as far as possible from it). and of course, the best bodybuilding meal out there : oatmeal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-03T10:50:03.270" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T10:50:03.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-03T11:38:40.857" Score="3" ViewCount="4262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 44 year old woman, standing at 4 feet 11 inches and weighing 95kg. How can I take this weight off without injuring myself ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13841" LastEditorUserId="10411" LastEditDate="2015-02-04T00:14:49.160" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T00:14:49.160" Title="Weight loss for morbidly obese woman over 40" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-02-06T14:51:15.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22442" CreationDate="2015-02-03T11:55:08.767" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important rule of thumb for gaining/losing weight, is that this happens in the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dietting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight is lost when the calories you consume amount to less than the calories you burn over a period. So if you spend 2500 calories a day, your food intake should be less than this. But when I say &quot;day&quot;, what I really mean is any larger period of time. This is your #1 source of weight change. Diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Working out&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out is, contrary to popular belief, not the primary cause for weight loss. However, a good workout routine will make sure your body deals with the weight loss in a safe way. Your body gets used to the various degrees of weight change by enduring activity regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My personal favorite&lt;/strong&gt; is delaying breakfast in favor of a 30 minute walk in the mornings. I've had great results from this. The idea here is that you kickstart your metabolism by getting your body moving before breakfast. Of course, breakfast would also get your metabolism started, but I find I have an easier time with it when I've already been out and about for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A step up from this could be to skip breakfast entirely, but this depends on your own habits and needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, walking is underrated, in my opinion. There is a lot to be said for an activity where you're moving around, and keeping an upright posture, while completely unencumbered by extra weight. Consider walking on different types of terrain as well, for extra engagement of your balance and core musculature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I might edit this post later as I remember other things. Feel free to ask follow-up questions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T11:55:08.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22442" CreationDate="2015-02-03T12:41:31.137" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common rule of thumb is that 80% of your effort should be on diet and 20% on exercise, because you really can't out-exercise a bad diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is pretty easy, anything that makes you breath heavier means you consumer more calories. Do whatever you enjoy and that works with your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food is generally not a big problem when it's not fast-food. Realistically, you'll have to cut down heavily on unhealthy snacks and sugar as well as all non-diet sodas, fruit juices and alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start out by thinking about what makes you eat bad stuff and when. I'm not saying this is some how-was-your-childhood deep psychological journey, but there is a very important psychological factor to weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common reasons are that you are bored, cravings, not eating regular food often enough -&gt; blood glucose dips, and perhaps most important: Habits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of people decide to eat better, but after a few days of brute forcing their own mind through all temptations, they fail and give up. I believe that it's much better to make a smart strategy to avoid temptations and ultimately re-design your life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way could be to start out by allowing yourself to eat as much food, fruit etc as you want to, and make sure you eat every few hours, to make sure you get rid of the bad habits and cravings while not feeling like shit. Then you can start cutting down on your total intake of calories if you are not already losing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T12:41:31.137" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22442" CreationDate="2015-02-03T14:22:24.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you should be aware of the bad news - There is no easy way to go about weight loss.  There are many tips and tricks for losing weight, but no matter how you approach it, you need to burn about 3500 more calories than you take in to lose a pound of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fad diets don't work, over 80% of people who get their stomachs stapled gain the weight back in 3 years, and losing weight quickly, while motivating is not easy to maintain in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As other answers have stated, about 80% of the work comes from diet -- that's been shown in several studies, and probably your best area of focus.  A balanced diet is very important, and something you should talk to your doctor about.  I'll summarize a good approach that will work, but success is based on following it.  Dieting is easy, sticking with it is hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)  See your doctor -- this is a lot more important than people think&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  Track all of your calories -- NO GUESSING!  use an app like myfitness pal to track everything you eat.  If you're unsure of the calories in your food, you shouldn't be eating it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)  Start reducing your calories by about 500/wk.  You'll have more success dealing with cravings if you ramp down slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4)  You'll want to get down to about 22 calories per Kilo of your ideal weight per day.  This is just a guideline... if you find your weight is not dropping (aim for at most 1kg per week MAX, be happy with .5Kg/wk), reduce your diet by another 500 calories/wk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the basic formula for guaranteed weight loss... you should try to adopt other healthy habits like drinking lots of water, eating a balanced diet, etc.  but those are finer details to the basic steps I've listed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can lose weight with those 4 steps above if you ate nothing but twinkies -- but please, don't do that.  Your body needs proper nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13845" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T14:22:24.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22337" CreationDate="2015-02-03T17:05:55.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had good luck with weighttraining.com for descriptions and videos. I also know myfitnesspal.com has an API for their food/nutrition/exercise database.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also Fat Secret &lt;a href=&quot;http://platform.fatsecret.com/api/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://platform.fatsecret.com/api/&lt;/a&gt; and Open Fitness &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.openfitapi.com/about&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.openfitapi.com/about&lt;/a&gt; for API tools, but I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do so I don't know if those are helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13415" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T17:05:55.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22442" CreationDate="2015-02-03T17:50:33.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a friend to train with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever heard the phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;When you eat, you eat with friends but when you diet, you diet alone.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true, so find a friend to help.  Not someone to drive you around but someone to be in it with you.  Someone to share your goals and your failures mutually, which means someone to train &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting fit and\or loosing weight are as much a psychological battle as a physical one and having a partner so you can kick each other when you need kicking and celebrate with each other when you need to celebrate, can (and will and has) been the difference between success and failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, and I might be assuming here, I know overweight peeps who won't train because they feel embarrassed around all the &lt;em&gt;meat heads&lt;/em&gt;.  They say things akin to &quot;I just want to get a little thinner before going to the gym\going for a walk\going for a run&quot;.  Get rid of that feeling immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have as much right to be there doing what you are doing as anyone else.  Anyone who says differently can bugger off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are doing something to better yourself, which instantly puts you ahead of most people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very few people look sexy while working out, most of us just look sweaty, smelly, and uncomfortable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(rant over.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh... treat yourself to some comfortable training kit too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5347" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T17:50:33.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22442" CreationDate="2015-02-03T19:24:32.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;See a doctor and come up with a good plan together.&lt;/strong&gt;  While there are some decent tips listed so far here, there is also a lot of very poor information that could do nothing, be counter-productive, or outright harm you.  Without knowing your specific situation, advising you in terms of diet and exercise would be a terrible idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General rules, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a diet and exercise plan you can stick to.  Sure, you could do some sort of uber-diet and exercise for a day, a week, a month and get some good results (maybe) but it won't be sustainable, and you'll lose your gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on progressing toward your goal.  Don't be disheartened if the scale isn't moving as fast as you'd like--you're trying to make a life change: just make every day better than the last &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get too down on yourself for failures.  You're going to slip.  You're going to have bad days.  Figure out what went wrong and what was a problem for you, and try a new strategy for dealing with it next time.  (&quot;I caved when my coworkers brought in birthday cake; next time, I'll split a piece with someone / volunteer to bring in healthy snacks / schedule a meeting for myself during the party&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:  Former fat kid turned personal trainer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13609" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T19:24:32.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-03T21:03:54.913" Score="3" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have big legs. This stems from a bad habit I had as a child, that carried on until my late teens, where I would constantly be walking on my toes, essentially always flexing my calves. Combine this with 12+ years of football(soccer) and you get massive legs. Or, well, &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; did. Both calves and thighs. This has become an issue economically, and to a degree socially. It is impossible to find trousers that fit in the waist, but are wide enough around the legs. It is especially difficult to find trousers that aren't sweatpants, forcing me to have to go to the tailor every time I need trousers for work/social events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help with this, I'm looking for a safe and healthy way of losing leg muscle.&#xA;Is there such a way? Is it possible through specialised training, rather than abstaining? I did try no leg related workout(only daily walking) for a couple of years(!), to no effect. Is this something that's accomplishable by stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In before 'lose fat, not muscle'. Yes, I've done that. According to my BMI I'm morbidly obese, but I have a relatively low body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13851" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-17T19:57:28.523" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T06:47:45.393" Title="Healthy way of losing leg muscle" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22442" CreationDate="2015-02-03T21:51:40.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've &lt;strong&gt;water fasted&lt;/strong&gt; with excellent results. I dropped 12KG in 2 weeks. Plus added benefits like cleared skin, thicker hair... etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But it's not for everyone.&lt;/strong&gt; Read books, know how to start, how to break and how to put up with it... and how to stay alive when done. Like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be prepared for anything when starting it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR and do regular checkups if you have health problems.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can't go to work while doing it, you'll have so little immediate energy &lt;em&gt;(fat burns slow)&lt;/em&gt; that a flight of stairs will have your heart break out of your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking is a good exercise but always be accompanied as it's really easy to get light headed and pass out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You'll have days feeling great and other days feeling like hit by a bullet train.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The coated tongue will make you feel sick as **** but it's there for the long run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Break slowly. Don't break on meat but on orange juice and continue with smoothies couple days later. Meat/dairy/sweets and such can hospitalize you or kill you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat healthy when over as cravings vanish. You CAN bring them back, but it's hard. Your sense of taste changes completely. Only healthy food tastes good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise and keep the weight off &lt;em&gt;(it's easy unless you CHOOSE to relapse)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PS&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;I'll probably get a lot of heat for this kind of answer but it worked for me. It's also beneficial for health as the body has a lot of extra energy for internal healing. It's hard to exercise when heavy as it affects the joints. So you need to drop some weight before getting in a exercise/diet effective combo. I had 105KG, now I'm at 90KG and I can do 20-30 pushups. At 105KG was doing about 5. I can run 2-3 times as long. I could do 100 when I was at 75-80KG but it's been a while...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PPS&lt;/strong&gt;: Keep googling. Read stuff &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/07/24/3549931.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13852" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T21:51:40.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-04T03:03:16.997" Score="1" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that this is a somehow broad question, especially because nothing here is being defined quantitatively, but I hope it's objectively answerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming an average adult male who exercises regularly without much intensity and just wants to maintain a good health, what would be the &lt;strong&gt;simplest&lt;/strong&gt; (smallest) set(s) of foods that could be eaten every day to keep such state (i.e. provide him with all the essential nutrients, not cause any long term negative consequences), being his only source of nutrients? What about using dietary supplements (pills, powders) to reduce such count even further?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13855" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T23:14:14.997" Title="Simplest diet that provides all essential nutrients" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-02-06T09:20:15.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22455" CreationDate="2015-02-04T05:37:21.973" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically I am software engineer so daily 8 hours I work by sitting only. There is no hard work , walking and anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now I am getting problem in digestion. Doctors says you have to do some hard work for proper food digestion. I noticed that if I do regular GYM then digestion issue getting solve. But I want to know permanent solution. Any good recommendation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I will not do gym lifetime. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13856" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T06:31:22.243" Title="Problem in digestion" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22453" CreationDate="2015-02-04T06:31:22.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I totally agree with @Ker p pag about walking. Just an 30 min to an hour will help, but it may not be enough. Drink things like green tea, in the morning and evening and maybe a cup of coffee or tea while on lunch. Green tea will help your metabolism a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating fibrous foods will also help, like oatmeal, broccoli etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training a minimum of 3 times a week would be required at least. But that is the bare minimum, anything under that is a waste of time in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly water, drink a lot of water. At least 2-3 liters a day. Not juice, not milk but water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following these steps should be enough to make you go to the toilet once a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T06:31:22.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22450" CreationDate="2015-02-04T06:38:13.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally love big calves, screw pants and wear shorts and show them off.&#xA;But if you really want to lose them, then i'll try to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following these steps will not only burn some of your leg muscles tho, but from everywhere, so you may need to counter it by working upper body more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically what you need to do is lower your caloric intake, so your body would need to zap into something, like the muscle, to get the energy it needs. Mainly protein intake should be reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do hard cardio, in the mornings, with an empty stomach. Many say that doing heavy cardio in the morning actually reduces muscle mass, people avoid it, but it may help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the gym do high reps, low weight to tone the muscle you want to reduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope these tips will help you. Best of luck losing your awesome calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T06:38:13.140" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-04T07:09:16.090" Score="0" ViewCount="2063" Body="&lt;p&gt;On weekdays i am doing Kickboxing for an hour under the guidance of a recognized trainer in our area. Kickboxing is helping me a lot to tone the body and specially in weight loss. My height is 5'10 and currently weight is about 75. Before joining kickboxing around 3 months back my weight was 81. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing which i noticed in doing kickboxing is that it is not helping me making good muscles but it is making them stronger which is a good point. But i want to build good muscles as well. So i am thinking to do weight lifting sessions in a gym on weekends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please can anybody suggest me should i go ahead with this idea or you have any better option instead of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion will be highly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I am a desk-jockey as a software engineer, and having around 9 working hours on weekdays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T13:53:42.943" Title="Should i do weight lifting for building muscles? I am already doing kickboxing on weekdays" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22452" CreationDate="2015-02-04T07:16:41.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard some serious academic say that you can basically get all essential nutrients from a diet of potatoes and butter, you won't feel very well but you probably won't get sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people seem to like (and I suppose that's on practical grounds, not culinary) soylent, it's basically &quot;human food&quot; (like &quot;dog food&quot;) designed to be exactly what a human needs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_%28drink%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_%28drink%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T07:16:41.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22457" CreationDate="2015-02-04T07:24:46.923" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe calisthenics is something for you. &#xA;When i was younger i trained 1-1.30 hours every day in the gym and then had a hour of handball afterwards.&#xA; It can be exhausting at start, but your body will get used to the high intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build muscle, as a beginner, just try to find a good program that has a routine for each body part. As you advance, you can start training each body part twice a week. Best routines to build muscle are bodybuilding routines. You can find some from sites like &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;, you can find some plans in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/find-a-plan.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing bad will happen if you try it. I do not know how you will fit it into your schedule tho if you have such time frames.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you go on that road, nutrition will be very, very, very important. You need your body to recover as fast as possible. Meaning you will need good nutrition and lots of rest(8-9 hours of sleep) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start feeling tired and moody all the times, your might be over doing it, and you do not want that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, every one are different. Something like this has worked for me for years, because i was eating right and had lots of sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-04T07:30:11.507" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T07:30:11.507" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2015-02-04T07:50:02.387" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you'd be okay as long as you did a gradual build-up. A drastic increase in weight could definitely cause an injury, but wearing them a half hour the first day, an hour the second, etc. slowly working your way to all day would be fine I'm sure. The human body can handle a lot, it just has to get there slowly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13857" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T07:50:02.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22457" CreationDate="2015-02-04T08:33:01.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the amount of work you do already, adding weight training may put you over the limit of what your body can recover from to build itself stronger, so I would be cautious, but give it a try and see what results you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twice a week, go for heavy, muscle building exercises, 4 sets of 7 reps to aim for strength and volume. Aim for ~6 different exercises that cover the whole body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either do some easier exercises or go for the classics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench press&#xA;Press&#xA;Squat&#xA;Deadlift&#xA;Row&#xA;Chinups/Lat pulldowns&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are some of the most effective strength training exercises known, but they also require you to learn to do them properly, or it will not be as effective and very likely unsafe, especially deadlifts and squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T08:33:01.540" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22140" CreationDate="2015-02-04T11:06:20.707" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a overdeveloped back is nothing you should be worried about. It is not like your shoulders, at some point, are going to get cracked backwards. &#xA;As you said, if chest, is the overpowering part in that balance, the shoulders will be pulled forward, which is correct, but it does just not work in reverse, after reaching a certain point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend did nothing but rows and deadlifts for a few months. His posture improved a lot and there were no negative effects for him there. Over developed traps are another thing. If other parts of the body are not balanced it will probably make it look like you have a hump on your back, which is not nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as you said, having everything balanced is the ideal, to prevent injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will try to improve my answer, after i have done further research, but i hope this will answer your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T11:06:20.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22468" CreationDate="2015-02-04T12:56:39.670" Score="0" ViewCount="3286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased some (different to my usual) weight lifting gloves with extra padding on the palm, really for doing tricep dips on bars. Between the fingers are some straps, so the first two fingers are connected, as are the last two. My question is... why? I've seen this on some other gloves but I don't understand how it would help with anything. The straps just get in the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2019-11-19T16:15:42.727" Title="Weight lifting gloves with straps between fingers" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gloves&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-04T13:05:22.697" Score="0" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running a marathon in March (my 5th overall) and the last marathon I suffered with severe cramp after 23 miles. I've been advised to take 'salt tablets' by another runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done some research into salt tablets however have been met with a lot of 'sales' talk and ambiguous information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Questions: Are there any scientific benefits to taking salt tablets when running longer distances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8304" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T15:20:34.453" Title="Taking 'salt tablets' when running longer distances" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22464" CreationDate="2015-02-04T13:16:49.817" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main reason behind taking salt is because sodium helps regulate the body's fluid levels.&#xA;If you run for longer periods of time and sweat a lot, you will also lose sodium(Your sweat tastes salty if it has ever dripped into your mouth). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The loss of salt is also connected to other running problems, like cramping.&#xA;Basically if your body runs low on sodium, you are in danger of getting over hydrated, which is not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess you should talk with some doctor about it, because it highly depends on you. Are you a heavy sweater? How long do you run? How old are you? How much water do you drink? etc. etc.&#xA;These are questions that i sadly can not answer and contacting an expert will give you a more detailed answer, on how much salt you should consume. Because too much could be even worse, than lacking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'am pretty sure tho, that regular salt will do just as well, and the need for tablets is just not there. But i guess they are effective, if you want to ingest them mid run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, you must try. If it works for you good, if it doesn't, don't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-04T15:20:34.453" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T15:20:34.453" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22457" CreationDate="2015-02-04T13:53:42.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go with a program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. They are hybrids of &lt;a href=&quot;http://oldschooltrainer.com/bill-starrs-5-x-5-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bill Starr's 5x5&lt;/a&gt; which is a training program for football players and promotes overall strength and athleticism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, you would be a good candidate for switching to the Bill Starr version later on (after maybe a year of the Starting Strength or Strong Lifts program), because &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjGvwQl8tis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Olympic lifts&lt;/a&gt; are terrific for explosive/accelerating speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding building muscle vs strength, these barbell programs will put you on a path to squatting twice your body weight. Show me anyone who can do that, or pull 500 pounds off the floor, or bench 250: they will be a strong, they will have muscles, and they will hit like train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T13:53:42.943" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22463" CreationDate="2015-02-04T14:12:50.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, they are used to get the gloves off since that's pretty hard otherwise, at least that's what I used them for when I did use gloves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, ditch the gloves, they don't help with grip strength, since they effectively increase the diameter of anything you're going to grab, larger diameter - harder to grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also don't really help against calluses since you don't get the same precision in where you are grabbing as you would bare handed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T14:12:50.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22452" CreationDate="2015-02-04T16:30:08.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Meat, veggies, seeds, nuts, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake at levels that support exercise but not body fat.&lt;/a&gt; Drink water, coffee, and tea - no soda. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to how you feel, how much energy you have. If you don't have energy you're either not sleeping enough, eating too little for the amount of exercise you are doing, or eating the wrong combination of protein, fat, and carbs for your body (or you are taking care of a newborn). Experiment. Try eating the same way everyday for several weeks and measure how you feel and perform. Make a small change and go for another several weeks. Reassess and make another change, etc., until you know what works and what does not and you have lots of meal options that work for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13860" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-28T23:14:14.997" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T23:14:14.997" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-04T21:24:01.477" Score="2" ViewCount="1268" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm at a loss for what to do. For a number of years now the outer underside of both of my feet cause me a lot if pain during excercise - running, cross trainer, walking!! I've tried different footwear &amp;amp; been to a podiatrist but no answers yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found something online which I think it could be - lateral column overload. But this has not been diagnosed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A week ago I started a 3 month food &amp;amp; fitness program in a bid to lose some of my extra weight (I'd like to lose about 4 stone). So far I've found the good difficult but manageable &amp;amp; am starting to feel marginally healthier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I'm required to do 4 short HIIT workouts per week &amp;amp; my foot pain is causing me a real problem. My feet are extremely painful after about 10 mins of exercising &amp;amp; only gradually improve after about 15 mins of rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone advise about HIIT exercises that won't put pressure on my feet?? &#xA;Or has anyone heard of/had a similar condition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help, Jenny&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13861" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T22:35:07.327" Title="Foot pain during all exercise - HIIT alternatives?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22470" CreationDate="2015-02-04T21:53:18.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have access to a rower? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously you are exerting force through your feet on a rower but it is not an impact like running. If you do have access to one I recommend learning good technique and then giving it a few attempts (I can provide a link to a video tutorial if you're interested). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT : I should also add that it could be your running style. I know you said they hurt when doing things other than running, but one thing could be the source and then doing other activities results in pain because you're feet have not had time to heal. So, you may wish to examine your running style and seek making changes. I recommend looking up the Pose Technique by Dr Romanov to see if &quot;re-learning&quot; how to run well can help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT : So this is a great rowing technique tutorial for a beginner. There is a bit of background noise, I hope you don't mind that. Take things easy at first, and pay attention to each piece of the technique. If you have further questions, I am happy to answer or provide additional videos that go into more detail. Let us all know how you progress with your foot pain diagnosis and what you find that works for you. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_-7VQpPd54&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_-7VQpPd54&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13860" LastEditorUserId="13860" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T21:47:17.607" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T21:47:17.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22556" CreationDate="2015-02-05T02:45:26.447" Score="7" ViewCount="1868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that aerobic exercise are very beneficial for one's health, but I always have doubts about muscle training. I know that bodybuilding makes you heavier, stronger and more attractive, but is it really beneficial for one's health in the long run? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or let me put it this way: suppose that A does strength training regularly, B does aerobic exercises regularly, C does not physical training at all. Assuming all other conditions are the same, my guess is that the life expectancy of B will be much longer than A and C, while the life expectancy of A may only be slightly longer, or even not necessarily longer than C. Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12279" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T05:58:57.747" Title="How does strength training affect one's health and life expectancy in the long run?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="16" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-05T02:51:47.143" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say if one starts a good, systematical strength training programme at the age of 30. I would say he should be physically much stronger when he turns 40. What if he just continue this training programme? Can his strength just continue to grow, despite the aging? Or in other words, can he be physically stronger when he is 70, or 80 years old, compared with when he was 30 or 40?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12279" LastActivityDate="2015-03-07T08:09:34.933" Title="By systematical training, can strength and muscle continue to grow despite the aging?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22337" CreationDate="2015-02-05T05:44:18.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your in luck- a huge one is bodybuilding.com. Don't be too intimidated the demonstrators are nice too look at and one piece of muscle but it is very professional. Nowadays theres a million more as its trendy. Do a search for exercise / strength train / workout video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13839" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T05:44:18.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22474" CreationDate="2015-02-05T07:10:18.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on what you mean by &quot;physically stronger&quot;. There are a few ways of interpreting this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it possible for me to lift heavier weights at 80 than I did at 40?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. If you'd never trained a day in your life before 40, and you suddenly started working out, AND barring any other physical illness (this is the real caveat), then it is entirely possible. In fact, the physical training could help you &lt;em&gt;prevent&lt;/em&gt; certain physical illnesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it possible for me to prevent the effects of aging and entropy by working out?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. Not with our current scientific knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T07:10:18.113" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22474" CreationDate="2015-02-05T08:02:49.760" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One clue should be world records in different lifts, and at what age they are set, I'll take the &quot;worlds strongest man&quot; competition as a basis for my calculation of &quot;strongest&quot; age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2014 - Žydrūnas Savickas - 38 years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2009 - Žydrūnas Savickas - 33 years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2004 - Vasyl Virastyuk - 30 years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1999 - Jouko Ahola - 29&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1989 - Jamie Reeves - 27&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1979 - Don Reinhoudt - 34&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are just some random picks, but the average age of these is: 32 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with optimal training, you will peak around 30-35 years old. However, if you start weight lifting at 30, it's pretty clear that you will peak later, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of old people get extra testosterone to counter the falling levels these days because it seems to be healthy, so I guess you could prolong your golden days a bit unless you're competing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T08:02:49.760" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2015-02-05T08:05:49.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have trained alone throughout my four years of training, and have twice got in trouble while doing benchpress, which led me to rethink the way I benchpress.Since benchpress is a compound movement, its not always necessary that the pectoral muscle will give up first, at times its the shoulder or triceps that start giving up and making one to stop short of their set or rep. goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best way of tackling this is to start with the heavy weight first, then keep on lowering the weight from one set to another by ten pounds (whichever weight suits you). This way by the time you will be on your fifth or sixth set you will be more confidently pushing the weight without much danger of it falling on you and still go to failure. Try limiting your reps between six to eight in the initail heavy sets, and you will find that from third or fourth set the same weight to be more challenging that you were comfortable with earlier. As mentioned by others, swithcing to dumbles is also a good option. I don't agree that switching to smith machine is better, since motion on smith machine is controlled and very rigid, and in my opion not the correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T08:05:49.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22473" CreationDate="2015-02-05T08:11:21.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be noted that it's very hard to make good studies showing wether exercise helps or not. All you can do is to ask old people about their history of exercise and correlate it with their health (or ask their relatives if they are dead.), but this correlation will contain unwanted components. For example; people who exercise often eat different food than people who don't, so how do you know what caused the health effect? You can include eating habits in the study as well, but you'll never exhaust the list of possible other factors that contaminates your results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, maybe running in itself is harmful, but being thin is healthy. Then no running + few calories &gt; running + normal calories &gt; no running + normal calories &gt; no running + high calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T08:11:21.087" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19359" CreationDate="2015-02-05T09:09:10.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoulders shoulders shoulders. Shoulder problems more often than not are caused by an over-developed chest in relation to back. This leads to posture problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it when you're sitting at the PC your arms are facing forward, when you're driving, cooking, reading, etc all the same stance stretching out the already weak back and rear delt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should try warming up shoulders before every upper body workout, as this is what an instructor recommended to me. Also concentrating on developing your rear delts. I know this may seem obvious but try not to injure your shoulders, warm up, start with a light weight and don't go heavier than your comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T09:09:10.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19359" CreationDate="2015-02-05T09:27:15.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had exactly this pain, unfortunately I can't recap the explaination I got from my physical therapist, but essentially it was an inbalance issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this, keep your arms straight, hands facing eachother, about 20 cm appart, as low as possible, i.e. below your waist, then raise them slowly in front of you, arms straight, until  hey are directly above your head. Any pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, do the same thing, but hold a rope or something stretchy between your hands, palms still facing eachother and keep the rope stretched out, then do the same movement. If this is pain-free and the former wasn't you have an issue with keeping your shoulders down in certain movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises I got to do was external and internal rotations like here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/criticalbench24.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/criticalbench24.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the same rope-movement, 2 sets of 15, each day, with enough &quot;pull&quot; to make you tired in 15 reps, ideally you have something stretchy because it'll activate your muscles more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T09:27:15.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22484" CreationDate="2015-02-05T13:53:46.757" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aiming to build muscle mass by going to the outdoor gym in my area. This is the routine I've been doing for the last few months&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of 10 pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of 25 push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of 10 chin ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of 100 sit ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sprints of 200 metres&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me: Male, 79 kg, 182 cm tall, lean physique&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: will this routine add muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13869" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T14:09:47.150" Title="Is my training regime going to build muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22483" CreationDate="2015-02-05T14:09:47.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;General rules of strength/muscle volume (not endurance):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't work the same muscles heavily on consecutive days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can do more than 15 reps in a set, the load is too light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your pull ups/chin ups goes against #1, skip one of them or move chin ups to tuesday. How many can you do in one set? Try adding some weight somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sit ups and push ups go against #2. Try hanging leg raises for your abs instead. There is no reason to do more sit ups than you would other exercises. The abs are not different from other muscles in that sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are loads of variants of pushups you can do that will be tougher and thus lower your rep count. Google it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are pretty fit, muscle ups can be something to look into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T14:09:47.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16328" CreationDate="2015-02-05T16:33:18.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I have been lifting for 1 year this week. I started that workout routine and I am loving it. For chest and back, I combine both muscles in super sets. Watch the youtube video of Lazar Angelov's chest and back routine. Thats the one I am doing for triceps and biceps. Watch how Arnold does it. I like the old school kind of routine. If you are cutting, my advice is not to cut a lot of carbs out. You will need them before your w.o. for good energy. For me, 0 carbs or -50 carbs diet is b.s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13871" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-02-05T17:42:13.900" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T17:42:13.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22490" CreationDate="2015-02-05T17:54:45.597" Score="4" ViewCount="1407" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the typical threshold for how far one should stretch in, say, doing a forward bend? There are different levels of discomfort—and I &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; one should not stretch to the point of pain, but when should one stop stretching? How far should one push themselves when doing some yoga pose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13873" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T22:02:46.497" Title="How far should one stretch when doing yoga?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22486" CreationDate="2015-02-05T18:15:38.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you noted, stretching too far will result in pain and be counterproductive to your goals, but on the opposite end if you don't stretch enough then there is no intensity and no catalyst for change. You need to find your middle ground before pain but after the discomfort that signals the stretch is working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every person is different and our experience in stretching is highly variable. Knowing your middle ground is something that only you can determine, and it comes from experience, trial and error, and self-awareness. And note that if you're doing the stretch correctly you will be gaining flexibility which means your middle ground should be progressively improving over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your movements slow so you can react to how your body feels as you progress through the stretch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to push past your initial discomfort, so long as it doesn't result in pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take note of how far you stretched last set, the day before, or even the week before. use that as your benchmark and see if you can go slightly further.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T18:15:38.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-05T21:30:58.540" Score="9" ViewCount="8294" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do people retain a proper posture when when sitting, standing, and walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here I am referring to a posture that is not overly stiff (like with high, tense, shoulders), but also not slouching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What techniques can be used to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;find the right posture for oneself?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep up the right posture?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional update: does proper breathing have anything to do with keeping up a good posture, and if so, how does that work? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13847" LastEditorUserId="13847" LastEditDate="2015-02-07T18:36:51.643" LastActivityDate="2015-02-07T18:36:51.643" Title="How to retain a proper posture when sitting, standing, walking?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22486" CreationDate="2015-02-05T21:40:11.317" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you have reached a certain point of stretching a muscle, it will start to tense because of the &lt;em&gt;stretch reflex&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop at the first sign of muscle tension and stay there until you can relax, and the tension and discomfort is completely gone. Focusing on slow, smooth breathing helps. Once relaxed, you can go further into the stretch until you feel tension again, stop there, and wait until the tension is gone and you can fully relax into the stretch. Repeat this process until you can not go any further without the muscle tensing. &lt;em&gt;How much&lt;/em&gt; tension, you ask - the answer is, any tension, the slightest you can feel. This is &lt;em&gt;relaxed stretching&lt;/em&gt;, where tension is your guide, not your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another kind of stretching called &lt;em&gt;isometric stretching&lt;/em&gt;, where the muscle is tensed voluntarily and then relaxed, until the maximum range of motion is reached. However, isometric stretching is less common in yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a misconception that one must push himself at least until a certain point of discomfort in stretching for it to be effective. However, this is counter-productive, as flexibility is mainly regulated by the nervous system and if you are constantly tense, it will not learn to relax the muscle (which is kind of necessary for increased range of motion). The key to effective stretching is following the procedures of relaxed stretching and/or isometric stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2015-02-05T22:02:46.497" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T22:02:46.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22491" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-05T21:55:47.297" Score="0" ViewCount="1503" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the headline is fairly self-explanatory, but basically I have been dissolving about 250g (1,000 calories worth) of maltodextrin in 64oz of water and drinking it throughout the day, in an effort to increase the amount of carbohydrates I take in as well as total calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this is that I'm in a bulking cycle for weightlifting, and I read in a nutrition textbook [1] about the importance of having a very large intake of carbs, about 60% of total daily caloric intake. I was wondering if there are any possible negative effects of doing this long-term: I've been doing this for about two months now, and plan to continue for another two. For instance, could this put me at an increased risk of diabetes? I am careful to still get a lot of nutrients in my diet, both through eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, as well as taking a daily multi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for your input!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Advanced Sports Nutrition, Second Edition, ISBN 1450401619&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13875" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T04:57:48.993" Title="Nutrition: I consume about 250g of maltodextrin daily. Possible negative effects?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-02-11T17:12:36.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22491" CreationDate="2015-02-06T00:23:19.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poor insulin sensitivity, obesity, diabetes. I would use oatmeal and sweet potatoes if you want to get your calories up. Those foods are much better at keeping your blood sugar balanced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12282" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T00:23:19.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22489" CreationDate="2015-02-06T04:51:38.927" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that posture comes from strength in the right areas. A strong back tends to pull your shoulders back, which pushes your chest up. Your abdominal muscles create a solid wall up front, which keeps you upright. A strong lower back also helps to rock your chest up and keep you upright. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of poor posture is caused by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvic_tilt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anterior pelvic tilt&lt;/a&gt;, typically from spending too much time sitting in chairs, things that should be tight are loose, and things that should be loose are tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kBO7n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swolept.com/posts/fixing-anterior-pelvic-tilt-posture-tricks-to-make-your-butt-and-gut-smaller#.VNRGJWjF98E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You can read up on fixing them here&lt;/a&gt;, and a lot of it comes down to strength training. The big compound barbell lifts like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;back squat&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;over head press&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlift&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;row&lt;/a&gt; will do magical things for your posture (and much else).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend checking out &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, try not to fall into the &quot;23/1 trap&quot;, where you have one hour a day of great training and then spend the rest of your day causing the same problems to your body that got you into the mess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other things that will make a big difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk more. Whatever you have to do, spend more time on your feet moving around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to get an adjustable stand up desk. The kind you can raise up for a bit and then drop back down when you like. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get up and move as much as possible. It will be a little weird to do squats at your desk, but you honestly need to pick between being the weird fitness guy and being the slob with bad posture. There's not a lot of middle ground especially as you get older.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your muscles are developed in a balanced way (courtesy of those programs I linked and which incorporate the lifts above), you stay active, and you move around, you'll have terrific posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T04:51:38.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22491" CreationDate="2015-02-06T07:18:10.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no definite science on this, what we know is that maltodextrine (glucose) is much less likely to be stored as fat in and around your liver (abdominal, visceral fat) than fructose (50% of table sugar, 55% of high fructose corn syrup) (1), and that kind of fat is much more strongly linked to metabolic syndrome and diabetes type 2 than subcutaneous fat is. In fact it's possible that such, normal fat is completely healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this quotation is very interesting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;There are very few National Football League players and sumo wrestlers who are insulin-resistant, even though they may be obese. Fat makes some good things—adiponectin, for instance, one of the “good” cytokines. But the minute they retire, NFL players and sumo wrestlers frequently become insulin-resistant and develop diabetes, because their fat moves from the subcutaneous compartment to the visceral compartment. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems that as long as you're active, fat is more likely to end up as normal fat, and that that fat is healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would do if I were you is to keep an eye on my stomach, if your waist is growing eventhough you still look as lean, that would be a warning signal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2673878/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2673878/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1336716/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1336716/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T07:18:10.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22489" CreationDate="2015-02-06T08:46:29.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Balance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the key to good posture is balance. The balance between muscle length or flexibility, strength and joint alignment all contribute to a rather effortless posture.  Any imbalance requires additional energy to compensate for a joint or muscle's restriction as part of the body works against the pull of gravity. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight Bearing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well aligned posture begins at the feet in standing.  Bearing weight either too far towards the ball of your foot or too much towards the heel will throw off the position and alignment of the pelvis, spine, shoulders and head. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In sitting, well aligned posture begins at the &quot;sits&quot; bones or the ischial tuberosities.  Weight bearing too far back on the tail bone puts the pelvis on a tilt, flexes the spine, depresses the chest, creates laxity in the abs and throws the head and shoulders forward.  Weight bearing more on one side than the other throws everything off in the frontal plane.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the best ways to achieve good posture is with sensory input to &quot;feel&quot; the proper alignment for your body.  When the feel is right you actually feel lighter as if a force opposing gravity is lifting through your legs, spine and head. Sometimes it takes a practitioner to help you find your best alignment.  Disciplines such as yoga and Tai Chi contribute to the &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; of good alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practical Info to Balance the Body&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;I have extremely bad posture, what can I do?&lt;/a&gt; gives a lot of practical information about exercises for balancing out typical postural problems such as tight hip flexors and pecs, weak abs and scapular muscles, and how to weave these into your exercise routine and work day.  If you have specific restrictions, having bodywork or using a foam roller can help you achieve the range you need to achieve a balanced posture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Relaxation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress can cause postural imbalances.  For example, stress can cause tightening of the neck and shoulder muscles.  As the shoulders hike up with stress this throws off the scapular position.  Using diaphragmatic breathing can help to reduce tension.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keeping the Right Posture&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To begin with you will need reminders throughout your day, but as your body begins to enjoy the feel of better alignment it becomes more automatic.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T08:46:29.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-06T09:33:06.887" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working on a plan and working hard in gym and is more of connected to food and how much calories you take in. Sometime buying all supplements can shrink your budget. Given that, can i substitute protein shake for fish or chicken, for every meal? If not protein shake, then what can i do to make food replacement (protein &amp;amp; carb) cheap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt; Assuming i take the the said amount. Does it has any pros and cons? How does we calculate &quot;&lt;strong&gt;1g of protein per pound of body weight&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; if we substitute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T16:35:36.920" Title="Replacing protein food with supplement" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food-preparation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22496" CreationDate="2015-02-06T09:50:07.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first, nothing can substitute food. Protein supplements should only be taken when you know you simply can not eat that much. Protein is actually cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right supplements can actually save you money, if approached in a smart way.&#xA;A chicken breast that has 20g of protein costs 1-2 euros depending what you are buying.&#xA;A serving of protein costs .50-1 euro, also depending on what you are buying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you can not replace (it is not healthy) food, with only supplements. From fish you get many other nutrients. E.g. different fatty acids, like omega-3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, instead of eating 2 cans of tuna, i eat 1 can + 1 serving of whey protein. That saves me a little bit of money already. If doing something like this daily, you can actually save a lot. But again, don't completely replace food, just use supplements to aid you a little bit, while still eating real foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do believe in the &quot;1 g of protein per pound of body weight&quot;, but that is only when you want to build muscle. Also, it is not important to start from the very beginning like this. Just start consistently going to the gym, eat more calories than you burn, but still eat plenty of protein and carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-06T10:11:16.710" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T10:11:16.710" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-06T11:44:07.763" Score="2" ViewCount="3560" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 24 years old. I am ready to do exercise and yoga too..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13876" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T07:03:12.343" Title="Can I increase my height after 24?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-09T00:43:53.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9546" CreationDate="2015-02-06T12:25:45.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both bench dips and regular dips have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/391909-can-dips-cause-shoulder-impingement/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reputation&lt;/a&gt; for being bad for your shoulders. So if you start to feel any impingement, quit. Push-ups, on the other hand, if done as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/420220-anterior-serratus-pushups/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;push-up plus variant&lt;/a&gt;, are great for your shoulders because they train the muscles that protract your scapula like few other exercises do. (Bench press doesn't, because you pin your shoulder blades to the bench.) Dips might be harder, but there are many ways to make push-ups harder as well. Source on push-ups: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/pushups_face_pulls_and_shrugs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;T-Nation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T12:25:45.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-06T12:26:55.587" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I catch a cold or have some sort or minor infection I usually feel I'm not on my top condition, however I'm healthy enough to go work and function normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel I could also go to gym, but I'm likely to fail some of my sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I go to the gym at all?&#xA;If I do, should I lower my working sets or accept the failure when it comes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T15:58:33.970" Title="Should I do weight training while sick?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22501" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-06T12:42:25.573" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting strength wiki refers to these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strength standard tables&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the values listed there the upper limit for the category, or the lower limit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, I'm 81Kg and I'm able to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandardsKg.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat&lt;/a&gt; 90Kg, am I 'untrained' or 'novice'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T14:25:33.067" Title="How should I interpret this performance standards table?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22500" CreationDate="2015-02-06T12:43:48.747" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Avoid going to the gym if you feel more tired than usual or if the infection affects your throat in any way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T12:43:48.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-06T12:55:23.803" Score="3" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength book mentions the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/the_novice_effect#.VNS3jp2UeAU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'novice effect'&lt;/a&gt;, where a novice can gain strength very quickly and increase lifts every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does taking a break during the novice phase affects this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a 'window of opportunity' for the novice effect? Do I miss it - and consequently get to intermediate type of gains before I should - if I don't increase weight at every workout (because I missed a day, need to work on form, got sick or I'm not feeling my best)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T15:21:44.310" Title="Do training breaks affect the 'novice effect'?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;novice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22503" CreationDate="2015-02-06T14:22:23.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might have to make a slighly restart because you're set back a miniscule amount mentally and physiologically, but you're not missing any opportunity, only delaying it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Novice gains exist because of the (mostly neurological) differences in performance between someone who is actively working out and someone who isn't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T14:22:23.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22501" CreationDate="2015-02-06T14:25:33.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're getting close to &quot;novice&quot; level, it's not a low/high limit. If you squat 100 kg weighing 82 kg you are a novice according to the chart. But it's completely subjective of course. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T14:25:33.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22498" CreationDate="2015-02-06T14:27:21.333" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body stops growing length wise when you're around 18-25 years. Neither exercise nor yoga will have any impact on this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastEditorUserId="6368" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T07:03:12.343" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T07:03:12.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22498" CreationDate="2015-02-06T14:48:21.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have not stopped growing, then you may add some additional height. However, the only real way to tell this is to have x-rays done of your growth plates. If they have closed, then you will not be able to naturally add height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching and yoga may help the slow shrinking that everyone goes through as the spinal cartilage and discs slowly compress over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the possibility of surgical intervention, but this is extremely expensive and painful. Basically your bones are cut and positioned with frames and rods to be slightly apart, and bone grows in to fill the gap. However, this may only result in an inch or so of gain, and has the possibility of being crippling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T14:48:21.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22500" CreationDate="2015-02-06T15:58:33.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My coach in college taught me the &quot;below the throat&quot; idea, where if you have any symptoms below your throat, you should hold off from training. Any muscle aches, back pain, lung tightness, rashes, etc. If it's really and only a head cold I'd bring up these two points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't infect other people. The people going to that gym will be close to you, using the same gear as you, and don't want to be sick. If you're contagious, stay home. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some colds go on for weeks, so it's a little ridiculous to not train until you are 100%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you might want to shoot for something like 70% of your previous work load. Enough that you're in maintenance mode, but not enough that you're overly taxing your body and causing adaptation. As you feel better, throttle back up to where you were at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T15:58:33.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7960" CreationDate="2015-02-06T16:06:05.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to answer my own question.  Berin Loritsch gave a great answer.  It turned out I had a pretty serious mobility problem in my lats and upper back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking Berin's advice, I circled back and addressed the problem a few years ago.  My elbows would flare out whenever I tried to press overhead.  When switched to using a PVC pipe and pressing with the form Berin describes, I realized that my upper back and lats were very tight and inflexible, and that I didn't have the range of motion to press correctly.  I spent a month stretching my lats and practicing pressing an empty PVC pipe with correct form, and eventually I became mobile enough to press correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That kind of mobility (lat tightness contributing to lateral elbow movement) isn't discussed much when people talk about pressing, I thought I'd post this in case anyone else has the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T16:06:05.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22498" CreationDate="2015-02-06T16:15:16.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you get into yoga (like I did) you might find that you start standing up straighter. &lt;s&gt;I'm about as tall as you and&lt;/s&gt; what I realized is that before yoga I actually slouched a bit, might of had to do with not wanting to stand out so much (I grew up in a country where I was taller than most people). Eventually I started standing up taller with better posture - which although it might not change your height too much will make you appear taller. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other benefits of yoga specifically for tall people too (edit: if you are tall, still not sure where I got that idea from): If you're like me I had very limited back flexibility and really tight hamstrings - neither of those is true anymore after a few years of yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13878" LastEditorUserId="13878" LastEditDate="2015-02-06T17:36:56.447" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T17:36:56.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19359" CreationDate="2015-02-07T16:09:52.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have exactly the same problem. This was in both shoulders but the left eased off but the right was really stiff. The physio diagnosed the problem which was a 'frozen shoulder'. Stretching exercises 6 times a day to get the ball joint free and start being more flexible. This will work but need to keep up with exercises and always keep active which will benefit good health all round. Keep those joints moving!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13885" LastActivityDate="2015-02-07T16:09:52.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-07T17:40:41.563" Score="3" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a fair bit on this but just wanted to see what other opinions there were on this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 193cm (6'4&quot;) with an inside leg of 84cm, I've got longer than average leg to upper body ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When squatting I've tried wide ( outside shoulder width, toes out ) but really find this tough on flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most comfortable postion is a realatively narrow stance, ( I'm broad shouldered, you could call it a 'nipple stance' ) with quite a bit of external knee rotation ( if that makes sense, I 'spread the floor' as they say ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I risking anything in this position? Possible knee trouble down the line?&#xA;Am I missing out on posterior chain development? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13886" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T15:06:18.143" Title="Long legs squat foot position and posterior chain" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19359" CreationDate="2015-02-07T17:52:53.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing concrete for you here but I have found that having a &lt;strong&gt;packed neck&lt;/strong&gt; when doing overheads helps reduce any shoulder pain ( I subluxated my shoulder years ago ). Packing seems to open my shoulders range of motion up for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I've managed to remove most pain from my own overhead lifts with the cue to keep my chest up. Seriously made a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13886" LastEditorUserId="13886" LastEditDate="2016-11-10T19:50:48.530" LastActivityDate="2016-11-10T19:50:48.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25393" CreationDate="2015-02-07T18:50:18.837" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing a simple strength training routine once every four days (Sxxx). I need to introduce a very low impact cardio day in this routine (e.g. SxCx). I would like to use the stationary bike (not the treadmill or elliptical machine) and I would like to keep it very simple, avoiding such things as intervals or HIIT. Just &quot;classic&quot; steady cardio on the bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not need to be the most efficient program. I just want to be sure I don't do anything unhealthy out of ignorance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bike has a built-in hear rate instant meter. How should I approach training my heart under that circumstances? Is the following naive program unhealthy or ineffective? 30 minutes at 60% of my max HR. The next session (four days later) I aim for 61% and so and so until reaching 30 min at 80% of my max heart rate (or until the month of June arrives and I switch to swimming).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those who are about to answer &quot;it depends on your goals&quot;: well, my average resting heart rate just before quitting running was 53 bmp, and now it is 66 bpm. I just want to lower it down again. The strength training alone is definitely not training my heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-02-07T19:07:33.800" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T20:22:36.033" Title="Progressive, linear steady cardio program with a stationary bike provided with heart rate meter" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-08T13:41:57.160" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;just a question out of curiosity!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to a Science Live event last week, and one of the things they talked about was how cell death is essential for growth and replacement of cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean increasing the rate of cell death in specific regions of our bodies would mean that muscles would break down faster, and therefore be more susceptible to hypertrophy with less effort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13890" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T14:26:43.607" Title="Cell Death and muscle synthesis" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;growth&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22517" CreationDate="2015-02-08T14:26:43.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not quite, no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you work out, you are not actually killing cells, you are merely causing injuries in the muscle that when repaired become larger, which then causes either strength gain or hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cell death such as you are talking about is when cells become so damaged they can't carry out their normal function any more, or they have other occurrences (such as DNA fragmentation) that prevent them from functioning as expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally when people work out enough to kill cells, it's called rhabdomyolysis, and it can be life threatening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T14:26:43.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22514" CreationDate="2015-02-08T15:06:18.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would check out kelly starretts stuff on youtube (mwod). He is a technique and mobility guru. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible for everyone(normal situation) to back squat without problems when you acquire the necessary mobility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T15:06:18.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22520" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-08T15:42:53.473" Score="4" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been thinking about taking up weight training, mainly to build up by back, triceps, and biceps. I did not want to go to a gym to do the exercises, though. I would prefer to do them at home but I heard that there is a risk of injury if strength training movements are not done correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case I was thinking about getting some home gym (such as one of those sold at Sears), as it seems that this is useful for some of the muscle movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have any previous injury or surgery of any kind and overall my health is good. I am not particularly overweight (5' 5&quot; at 115 lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that incorrect exercise movements can cause injury even if a person has taken care of warming up and stretching before the training, is this correct?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there specific exercises for triceps, biceps, and back strength that are more prone to injury, if done incorrectly. If so, what are these and what should a person keep in mind to reduce the risk of injury in these cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13847" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T18:46:25.917" Title="How to reduce risk of injury in strength training (when not training at a gym)" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22520" CreationDate="2015-02-08T21:41:05.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congrats on deciding to take control of your health and fitness.  If this is your first foray into training, you may wish to consider bodyweight exercises first.  There's relatively little cost and your chance of injury is minimal, but, not zero.  If you'd still like to purchase a home gym, you should research each machine you're interested in before making a purchase.  Knowing that you want to concentrate on back, biceps and triceps, examine the machine(s) to determine how and if they can help you achieve that goal.  For example, how many exercise movements can you perform om the machine for a particular body part?  Do some research on the types of resistance they use.  Some are plate loaded, while others use bands, or, hydraulics.  Some people claim they get a better training effect from using plates.  While others like bands.  If you can, try out the machine before purchasing.  Then, measure the space where you will use the machine.  Will it fit?  Is the space accessible for installing a machine?  These are some of the questions to consider before spending your money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems that incorrect exercise movements can cause injury even if a&#xA;  person has taken care of warming up and stretching before the&#xA;  training, is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While machines can provide the advantage of not requiring a “spotter”, don't make the mistake of assuming that they are injury free.  Any exercise, if done incorrectly, can injure you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there specific exercises for triceps, biceps, and back strength&#xA;  that are more prone to injury, if done incorrectly. If so, what are&#xA;  these and what should a person keep in mind to reduce the risk of&#xA;  injury in these cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for specific exercises, proper form is essential while exercising any body part regardless of the exercise.  I would recommend starting with &lt;strong&gt;basic&lt;/strong&gt; movements like triceps extensions, biceps curls, and lat pull downs for the back.  Make sure not to put your body in an uncomfortable position, and, make sure your lower back is supported properly while doing the exercises.  More than likely, the machine will come with literature explaining the exercises you can perform.  Use that as your starting reference and pay strict attention to any warnings the literature provides.  Good luck, and if you have more questions, post them here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T21:41:05.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-08T22:29:10.553" Score="0" ViewCount="798" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently a very skinny 59.7kg, 6'1, non-vegetarian and I want to almost double my weight to 90-100kg how can I do this over a very short(ish) period of time? (6 months)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I &lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; want to gain &quot;Lean muscle&quot; I just want to gain weight without all the &quot;exercise and get lean muscle&quot; theory.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Maybe start by changing / Tweaking my diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13895" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T07:07:17.827" Title="How to gain FAT &amp; muscle and not &quot;lean muscle&quot; alone, How do I get fatter?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2015-02-09T15:40:12.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22522" CreationDate="2015-02-08T23:55:12.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat in a caloric surplus, meaning calculate your required calories per day to maintain your weight and then add extra calories on top of that. The more calories you eat equals the more weight you gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch the scale and adjust calories to the rate of weight gain you require. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13896" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T23:55:12.653" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22522" CreationDate="2015-02-09T00:43:22.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there are many options available for dangerously underweight individuals like yourself. I recommend a slow, steady gorging process combined with assal horizontology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to focus on the neglected food groups. Such as the Whipped group, the congealed group and the chocotastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CzUD7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be creative. Instead of making sandwiches with bread, use Pop Tarts. Instead of chewing gum, chew bacon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/King-Size_Homer/Quotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr N. Riviera - Speedy Weight Gain for Underweight Individuals.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T00:43:22.047" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-09T01:47:53.737" Score="2" ViewCount="1051" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run about 8-12 km a day in about 70-90 minutes every morning.I find that I have been having pain in the upper thigh(from mid-thigh to just above the knee) and along the sides of the thigh.This causes a sharp pain when using the stairs or when trying to walk/run,to put it simply it hurts when I try and lift my leg and extend it completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what causes this issue,what can I do to alleviate this(if possible) and &#xA;what excersize I could do in the meantime(Im not running because of the pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask here because, as revealed by a Google Search there seem to be several different kinds of knee pains that occur to runners and I wanted a little bit of specific advice to figure out if it is serious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13897" LastEditorUserId="13897" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T01:54:16.323" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T16:15:37.217" Title="Upper thigh pain caused by running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22525" CreationDate="2015-02-09T04:47:09.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way you can figure out if it is serious is to go to a doctor or a PT. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to do that, you could try foam rolling the area. If it is related to muscles or tendons that can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T04:47:09.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19813" CreationDate="2015-02-09T04:49:21.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You require water during exercise mostly because you sweat and/or you did not start out in a hydrated state. You may have gotten more efficient at skating, which would mean that you would get less hot and sweat less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T04:49:21.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22491" CreationDate="2015-02-09T04:57:48.993" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, you are drinking the equivalent of sugar water. Malto-dextrose is a glucose polymer, and because of that, it doesn't taste as sweet as sugar. It's great if you are an endurance athlete and want the carbs because of the reduced sweetness. It has a high glycemic index, so to your body, it's pretty much like you are just eating sucrose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see the point of anybody taking in that much extra sugar. The point of a bulk is to make sure that you have an excess of nutrients. Most lifters take in extra protein, because that's what you need most to build muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a good reference on bulking, try the reddit fitness forum. You will find a ton of useful information there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T04:57:48.993" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22522" CreationDate="2015-02-09T07:07:17.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start by doing what dieting people are doing: Count your calories, eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking your calories might help, but avoid sodas. Milk or even beer is better in that case. Drink a gallon of milk each day and you will add weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T07:07:17.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22520" CreationDate="2015-02-09T07:12:13.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very good exercise for biceps and back is the chin up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary cause of injuries is ego/pride. Going for a new max weight in heavy exercises like deadlifts. As long as your exercises are controlled, the risk of injury is small. Stretching has no benefit in injury prevention or soreness prevention, in fact it will make you weaker and thus more likely to injure yourself. The only reason for stretching is within a flexibility/mobility program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I ask why you don't want to join a proper gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T07:12:13.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22525" CreationDate="2015-02-09T14:39:18.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the amount you're running (daily, 1-1.5 hours) it is most likely that you have developed IT band syndrome.  It is an inflammation of the ilio-tibial band as it passes over the lateral epicondyle.  In other words a ligament is sore on the side of your leg just above the knee joint.  The pain is in non weight bearing so as you straighten your knee rather than bending or squatting -- you can tell if you have IT band syndrome when the outside of your knee hurts when you bend your knee at a 45 degree angle. There are several biomechanical reasons that can't be diagnosed over the net so go see your PT or sports doc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13899" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-02-17T16:15:37.217" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T16:15:37.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22532" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-09T16:44:48.537" Score="0" ViewCount="607" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw people weigh themselves &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; a workout at a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a reason to do that? &#xA;(besides the obvious wanting to know how much water one have lost and be able to drink accordingly?). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curiously, some do it multiple times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13628" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2015-02-10T03:17:47.473" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T00:29:28.437" Title="What is the reason to weigh oneself during a workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22532" CreationDate="2015-02-09T17:02:04.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you have a condition that requires specific monitoring and fluid intake, weighing yourself during a workout is of an academic interest, nothing more. There are studies that show a certain amount of weight loss during exercise can have a detrimental effect, but just replacing fluid doesn't account for the muscle glycogen loss and other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are monitoring weight for gain/loss, once a day under the same conditions is the best way to track it, anything more than that is just for personal interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T17:02:04.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-09T20:11:57.363" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;My thoughts are that in winter, especially outdoors winter exercising should burn more calories. It takes more energy to heat up the body for so long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel when I eat quite a lot in a day I feel warmer, and when I restrict calories I'm pretty much colder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you up your calories on winter? Especially if exercising outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5348" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T07:03:02.683" Title="Does exercising in cold burn more calories?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-02-13T20:16:52.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22532" CreationDate="2015-02-09T20:32:28.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally do it just because I do not own a scale and I have down time before sets.  I'm sure a lot of people do it for similar reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13902" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T00:29:28.437" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T00:29:28.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-10T01:32:40.897" Score="5" ViewCount="1392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 27, weigh 185 lbs (23% body fat, goal 15%), and my current deadlift is 215lbs. I have been working on deadlifts for last 6 months. My goal is to lift twice my body weight. If I have to set a goal right now, I would want to achieve 200% body weight deadlifts by a year from now. Is this reasonable goal setting or is it even the right way of measuring strength? Please advise. I do crossfit, and I deadlift my max once in 2 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3849" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-12T19:56:55.747" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T19:56:55.747" Title="My Current deadlift is 116% of my body weight. My goal is 200% of my body weight, how much time should I give?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22536" CreationDate="2015-02-10T05:39:01.330" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A year is plenty of time to hit a double bodyweight deadlift if you're focused on strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took me about a year and a half of squatting and deadlifting two to three times a week (alongside other sports and taking several week-or-longer breaks for vacation or injury) to achieve a double bodyweight deadlift at about your weight. So I was training for my goal several times a week, but I was also doing things that detracted from my goal. I was training for strength but I was not &lt;em&gt;focused&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you're not just not focused on the deadlift, you're not strength training much either, really. You're CrossFitting. You deadlift occasionally. Most of the time you're exercising in what is largely a random manner. (Maybe your box programs with an eye towards pulling strength--or maybe they don't. Maybe they don't have long-term goals at all.) CrossFit varies a lot, and frequently is more cardio than strength training. That means you're not necessarily putting in the stimulus to grow your deadlift. You might never get to double bodyweight with CrossFit plus deadlifting once every two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're also apparently aiming to cut 8 percent body fat. That's not going to help your deadlift, to put it mildly. A novice can lose fat and gain strength at the same time...for a little while. I would expect that train to slow down and eventually stop. It might be hard for you to maintain a 15% bodyfat and gain strength in the near term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 215 deadlift at 185 is essentially just getting started. It's the easy gains. You could expect, with general training and occasional deadlifting and a focus on also reducing body fat, to eventually hit 250 or 275. (Maybe.) But 300 or more with good form will probably require more focus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that it took you six months to hit 215 is not a good sign. It makes me think that no amount of time spent on crossfit, fat loss, and once-every-two-weeks deadlifting is going to earn you a 2xBW deadlift. Most people who hit that achievement have to focus on strength (not crossfit and not fat loss) in order to achieve it. If it took you six months to reach 215, you're probably one of those people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T05:39:01.330" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22536" CreationDate="2015-02-10T07:00:09.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How tall are you? Are you male or female?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tall people generally have a harder time increasing their deadlift, so if you're tall, your current max makes sense, if you're not, I think you're still working with pre-good-technique-weight. Try out different ways of lifting, like looking up vs looking slightly down, pushing floor down vs lifting bar etc. Getting the right feel for it makes a big difference. Grip strength makes a big difference as well. Are you using mixed grip? Even mixed grip won't be enough if your grip strength is too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking from my own experience, I used to lift ~my bodyweight for a while until the technique got better, then it quite quickly increased to 150% and then approaching 200%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aim for few, heavy reps with controlled motion. If you really want to lift 200% of your body weight, stop doing crossfit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T07:00:09.763" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22534" CreationDate="2015-02-10T07:03:02.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if being cold in general increases your metabolism, because you need to burn more energy to be warm, it's not necessarily so that exercise in cold uses more calories. You'll be warm anyway, so to speak. If it hadn't been cold, you would have sweated instead, which you will probably do, but to a lower extent, in cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T07:03:02.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3807" CreationDate="2015-02-10T11:54:14.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been in the same position as you. I have very flat feet, as well as overpronation (they often come together) and I was told I needed orthopedic inserts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did that for a while, and it didn't work for me. I switched to VFF's, and I did so very carefully. I did all sorts of foot exercises that I found on their website and others, in preparation for barefoot running. And I transitioned to the new shoes slowly. First just walking a couple hours, and slowly working up to running my full distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After switching to VFF's, and doing all the exercizes, I ran a Marathon about 2 years later. Sounds like a miracle, but its a true story :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the form thing - check out this video. I believe it will provide you a convincing arguement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to answer your specific question - before buying the shoes, start doing the recommended exercises, which you can find on Vibram's website, as well as other places. This will prepare you. If you'd like to test yourself, walk barefoot. In the grass perhaps if that's what you're comfortable with. If you have a beach near you, walking barefoot in sand is pleasant, and ALSO a great exercise for the relevant foot muscles. Highly recommended. Just as you would do with the shoes, do it gradually. Start with 30 minutes, and work your way up. If and when you reach barefoot running - form will be important. Form is generally important, even for people wearing conventional shoes, but especially if you're transitioning from artificial support in the form of shoes, to natural support in the form of strong foot muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this process, differentiate between good pain and bad pain. You will have sore tired muscles in your feet while working up to barefoot running. This is good pain, within reason. If you feel &quot;bad&quot; pain, like sharp pains, pain in tendons, shin splints, knee pain, etc - re-evaluate. Perhaps your form needs improvement? Perhaps you're progressing too quickly? Perhaps you need to warm up more? Don't let set backs stop you. As long as you listen to your body and proceed with informed caution, you can't go wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13906" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T11:54:14.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-10T15:29:14.070" Score="10" ViewCount="990" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 22 year old female, current weight 138lbs, goal weight 120lbs. Current body fat 30%, goal body fat ~15-18%. I am entering a bikini fitness competition in July, so I have around 22 weeks left. I have been weightlifting for over 2 years so have quite well-developed muscles but have a lot of fat to lose. My goal is to maintain existing muscle mass, develop more mass in glutes/hamstrings/rear delts while shredding a ton of fat. My max deadlift 100kg, squat 77.5kg, bench 40kg, press 25kg. I know that I can definitely improve these numbers but have recently taken 3 months off the gym  before starting prep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been prepping for 2 weeks now and below is my exercise and nutrition routine. I would be grateful if anyone could critique it and suggest changes and improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Daily calories: 1600&#xA;99g carb (keeping it low as I'm sensitive to carbs and feel sluggish)&#xA;159g protein&#xA;62g fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food sources: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;chicken, beef, oily fish, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, green&#xA;  leafy veg, blueberries, cauliflower, sweet potato, quinoa, brown rice,&#xA;  almonds, eggs, cottage cheese, cheese, almond flour, banana, protein&#xA;  shake, coconut oil, butter, flaxseed oil, coconut milk, flaxseed,&#xA;  hempseed, chia seeds, other nuts and seeds, Greek yogurt, almond&#xA;  butter, peanut butter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements: psyllium husk, magnesium&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating 6x a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lift 5 times a week in the evenings with 1 rest day and 1 active rest day (yoga/walking/circuit class).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do HIIT hill sprints on 3 days of my 5 days of lifting. This consists of 5min warmup and cooldown walking on an incline and 5 rounds of 30sec sprint and 1.30min walking. Aiming to increase this to 10 rounds as my fitness increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Monday - Back. Deadlifts, rows, one arm DB rows, lat pulldowns,&#xA;  standing cable lat pressdown + hill sprints&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tuesday - Quads and glutes. Squats, leg press, walking lunges,&#xA;  bulgarian split squats. Abs. Hanging leg raises, mason twists, cable&#xA;  crunches, plank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wednesday - Shoulders and arms. Standing barbell shoulder press, bicep&#xA;  curl Arnold press, delt flys, front raises, lateral raises, hammer&#xA;  curl, chinups, rope pulldowns, bent over tricep kickback, dips.&#xA;  Followed by hill sprints&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thursday - chest and abs. Bench press, incline fly, pressups. Hanging&#xA;  leg raises, mason twists, cable crunches, plank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friday - hamstrings and glutes. Romanian deadlifts, hip extensions,&#xA;  glute bridges, good mornings, cable kickbacks + hill sprints&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday - active recovery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday - rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do 4 sets with 10-12 reps with around 60s rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to get more sleep, currently average 7:20h a night. I have a desk job from 9am - 6pm but I walk 20min each way to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have lost around 4lbs but this is probably just from increasing my water intake to ~4litres a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Is this a reasonable regimen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13908" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T13:51:23.937" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T04:30:19.323" Title="Critique of my prep for a bikini competition" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22536" CreationDate="2015-02-10T17:31:16.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No reason to hate on CrossFit, guys. You just insult the questioner and make yourself look petty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, CrossFit is a GPP program. While there are many ways to do CrossFit and bias it towards strength (or other fitness goals), it is always going to be a program that limits the gain in any one area of fitness in order to make the individual more well-rounded. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you want to focus on strength, focus on strength. I would say you should do a strength program with accessory exercises that focus on strengthening your back and abs. And maybe, if you have time, do one metcon per week. The benefit is that focusing on strength (and mobility) will make you a better CrossFitter when you return to doing metcons full time. Also, adding muscle mass is a great first step in losing weight and changing your body composition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't just do the max on your lifts every time. I promise it would benefit you to start back at about 65% of your max and work technique and find any positions you might lack in mobility. Then patiently increase the weight each week on the big lifts by 5 or ten pounds in a 5x5 set scheme. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13860" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T17:31:16.127" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2015-02-10T17:32:11.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;OP: the hamstring doesn't just bend the knee. That's the function at the knee insertion. However, the hamstring ALSO acts as a hip extensor along with the glute maximus. Hence why RDL/Straight-Leg Deadlifts, Good mornings, etc involving a hip hinge with straight-ish legs works to isolate them well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason a squat uses the hamstrings is because in addition to knee extension (which is primarily quadriceps), there is also hip extension (as you stand up you straighten your hips) which is where the hamstring/glute musculature work together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, squats are a weak hamstring exercise because the hamstring is still contracted at the knee while simultaneously extending the hip, so instead of lengthening/contracting, it sort of moves &quot;up and down&quot; the back of the thigh as it shortens at one insertion and simultaneously lengthens at the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The glute/ham raise performed on a GHD MACHINE (as opposed to the floor) where you actually bend over at the hips at the bottom of the movement, is one of the only exercises I am aware of that causes the hamstring to lengthen/contract at both insertion points together, as opposed to only isolating one joint, or, like the squat, involving simultaneous contraction at one joint and lengthening at another. As such, you could consider it the &quot;king&quot; of hamstring exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13909" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T17:32:11.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22520" CreationDate="2015-02-10T18:46:25.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When learning new exercises consider yourself a student. Take time to learn about each movement you wish to do, focusing both on good technique and common faults. Searching on youtube for any movement will bring up plenty of tutorial videos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, approach your workout time as a practice session. Focus on practicing the movements you are learning about. Perform stretching and warm-up exercises specific to what you are lifting that day and do not short yourself on warming up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good videos on a movement will talk about common mobility restrictions that may limit you in performing the prescribed technique to perfection but also provide information on how you can change the movement to accommodate a restriction and how to focus on stretching and gaining mobility to remove that restriction over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be patient and focus on a volume of work over weeks and months rather than a single day. Slowly increase weight over time as your technique improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13860" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T18:46:25.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22548" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-10T22:16:32.250" Score="6" ViewCount="21709" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 32 year old female who started weight training about 1 month ago after doing lots of cardio work.&#xA;I really enjoy it and am building the weight slowly each week. I am also trying to move to a healthier diet to complement the workout. I suppose I have a couple of questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) With the diet I have started to try protein shakes after the workout but am unsure whether this should be a substitute for my breakfast or whether I should be having both? An example of a day menu at the moment would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up at half 6 and have some nuts or small amount of protein bar before 7am workout. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein shake about 8-8.30ish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: (example) eggs and avocado or wholewheat bagel with a nut butter and banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: salad and some salmon or tuna&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snack: apple or rice cake cake with some nut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner - Meat/fish with vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lots of water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I have found also that although I feel fitter and stronger, I am not noticing any results to look at and actually feel that I look fatter. Is this normal with the strength training or am I eating too much in an attempt to correctly eat?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be greatly received as new to this and don't know where to go for help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13913" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T23:04:42.717" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T10:48:34.917" Title="Getting fatter with weight training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22548" CreationDate="2015-02-11T00:03:01.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One month is too short to expect any results. The quick increase in load you can bear now from week to week is merely a neurological adaptation, not the result of becoming denser or stronger muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, if you notice that your body weight or your waist have increased (forget about the mirror but rather take numerical measures), it most probably is the result of the protein excess being turned into fat tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take it easy with the protein shakes (if needed at all), keep your weight and your diet under control as you did before starting a weightlifting program, and expect a minimum of 4 ~ 6 months before seeing any results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Becoming denser muscles is a truly slow process, whereas drinking too much protein shakes and turning it into fat tissue &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9264356/Fat-reaches-waist-just-three-hours-after-a-big-meal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;happens over night&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-02-14T14:09:35.937" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T14:09:35.937" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22548" CreationDate="2015-02-11T07:48:51.593" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diet looks good quality wise, wether you should drink the protein shake as a supplement or as a meal really depends on how it fits into your intake goal for the day. If you aim to lose weight you might consider using it as replacement. People who want to bulk up usually add it as an extra calorie/protein source.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A month isn't enough to tell wether you're making progress or not. Even if you lose fat, you may have days where you look bloated anyway. Weight is made up of water and food too. As a female, this will also vary along with your monthly cycle. Women tend to add water weight when menstruating (or was it before?) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General advice: Analyse your daily food intake. You don't have to count calories, but taking a closer look at a day or two can be helpful to get an idea of where you usually are calorie wise. Use a good method to approximate your daily calorie usage, like Mifflin-St Jeor or Katch-McArdle. Also let someone have a look at your workout, there are a lot of pitfalls that can hurt your progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T07:48:51.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22542" CreationDate="2015-02-11T07:59:22.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are worth your name. Your regime looks pretty strong, but you could try a few things to make it more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, as you said yourself, try to get more sleep. Rest is critical if you are working out this hard. I had significant results when I started sleeping for almost 9 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, your diet looks pretty good,but you could try a few things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reducing your caloric deficit even more, by a few hundred calories. This is a sure way to lose weight, when you feel you are stuck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wescott4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carbohydrate cycling&lt;/a&gt;. It is a little bit on the side of bro science, but I have done it, and it does work for me,it might not work for you, who knows. The link I provided is an example. There are many different plans for this. Find the one that works for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-eat/carb-backloading-to-get-lean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carbohydrate backloading&lt;/a&gt;. Also a bit on the side of bro science, but also works, for me. Check it out, try, you might like this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intermittent fasting&lt;/a&gt;. This is more like a life style, which I personally love. I combine this with Carb backloading to get some nice results. It also makes my life a lot easier since I wake up at 7 am. to start getting ready for work, and thus not really feeling like preparing breakfast. Using this I lost 1 kg per week, while I was still building more lean mass(Was measuring). &#xA;Add some green tea to the diet in the mornings and in the evenings and it will be perfect. &#xA;(Green tea, and black coffee won't break the fasted state)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try some of those things. Number 4 would definitely help you. Combine it with the others and I am sure you will reach your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, 4 liters a day seems a bit much, but I might be wrong. I personally drink 3 liters a day and I weight 92 kg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; article even states that women should drink a bit less than men. But at the end of the day, it is your choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T09:22:40.587" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T09:22:40.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22548" CreationDate="2015-02-11T14:55:30.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a measuring tape and measure yourself. This is your base line. Repeat every 15 days and not everyday. Keep an excel spreadsheet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the total calorie intake is less than the calorie burnt, you will begin to see results. So add up all the calories that you eat. If you do moderate activity per day, then to maintain weight you would need about 2000 calories. If the calorie intake is less than that, you would slowly start seeing results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We need around 40 to 50 grams of protein per day. My rule is that, I calculate the proteins I get from all the regular meals of the day and subtract this from 50. That is the number I would require from protein shakes. So if I finally need 15 grams and a full rounded scoop of protein/ protein bar gives me 30, I just take half a scoop/bar. Breakfast is the most important meal as it kick starts your day and protein shakes should be used to supplement it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, I would continue cardio training. If I spend 45 min at the gym, I would do at least 10 min of cardio. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13412" LastEditorUserId="13412" LastEditDate="2015-02-12T14:54:53.047" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T14:54:53.047" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22473" CreationDate="2015-02-11T17:58:41.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advice contained on a number of health sites (eg NHS UK or Harvard Medical School) positively recommend progressive &quot;resistance&quot; training twice every week (in addition to cardio-vascular training) - because of the health benefits it brings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only are you conditioning your muscles, but also combating loss of bone density as well as strengthening and supporting your joints with improved muscle tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read the advice just over a year ago and took-up weight training aged nearly 61. I have found that it has brought all-round improvements for me personally, in terms of strength, balance, physique, mobility and even in terms of self-esteem.  I also turned to a vegan diet at the same time, and undoubtedly that has helped too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13918" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T17:58:41.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22548" CreationDate="2015-02-11T23:12:45.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, as others have said, 1 month is too soon to start seeing any drastic results. I would &lt;em&gt;suspect&lt;/em&gt; that your apparent &quot;weight gain&quot; is just water retention and early adaptation to a different exercise load than you are used to with cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I would encourage you to keep a highly detailed food log for 3 days to a week. And by detailed, I mean where your &quot;a salad and some salmon&quot; is &quot;5 oz lettuce, 2 oz broccoli, 2 oz corn, 5 oz grilled salmon with 2 tbps low fat vinaigrette&quot;, and your bagel becomes &quot;1 5 oz cinnamon raisin Brugger's bagel with 3 oz almond nut butter and a 6 oz banana&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next to EACH food item, write down the exact calories. It is very easy to under/over estimate calories, and that can easily derail a fitness program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T23:12:45.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-12T00:49:44.760" Score="2" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a number of health issues (including heart) but love cycling and am determined to train for a long distance ride. I am 68 years old and a beginning cyclist. I have worked up to a distance of 20kms at an average speed of 10-12 km per hour, which feels as though I am really pushing myself, especially if there is wind. My question is: Is it possible for me to improve on this speed over time and with more riding practice? If so, how would you recommend I proceed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13919" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T05:36:02.140" Title="Cycling speed and fitness" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22473" CreationDate="2015-02-12T05:58:57.747" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know that bodybuilding makes you heavier, stronger and more attractive, but is it really beneficial for one's health in the long run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodybuilding is not strength training.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilding is a very specific practice to improve one's looks. Strength training, by contrast, is training to improve the capabilities of one's body. Strength training is the broader category, but the two should not be interchanged freely in a discussion about health benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Suppose that A does strength training regularly, B does aerobic exercises regularly, C does not physical training at all. Assuming all other conditions are the same, my guess is that the life expectancy of B will be much longer than A and C, while the life expectancy of A may only be slightly longer, or even not necessarily longer than C. Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are dramatically underestimating the health benefits of strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength is important for long-term health, since it is a strong predictor of all-cause mortality (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12242311&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21527158&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443114/&quot;&gt;three&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2453303/&quot;&gt;four&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938886/&quot;&gt;five&lt;/a&gt;) and keeps you able to do a variety of tasks yourself. Strength training improves one's ability to perform basic daily tasks, which is a major element of quality of life as one ages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardiorespiratory fitness is important as well, but it owns no monopoly on health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T05:58:57.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3927" CreationDate="2015-02-12T06:07:18.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to at least &lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/nasa-scientist-chills-body-shed-pounds/story?id=12000983&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one study&lt;/a&gt;, the temperature of your environment can have a major impact on the amount of calories you burn.  In the linked article, a scientist talks about how he was able to increase his rate of weight loss by exposing his body to cold temperatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, take this conclusion with a grain of salt because this is the only study I've found on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/nasa-scientist-chills-body-shed-pounds/story?id=12000983&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/nasa-scientist-chills-body-shed-pounds/story?id=12000983&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10430" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T06:07:18.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20995" CreationDate="2015-02-12T06:49:34.110" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jean-Patrick Millette on Firstpull.net calls this an example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://firstpull.net/2013/09/12/examples-of-technical-individualization/&quot;&gt;individualization of technique&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Elite lifters do have what we might consider kinks or a special routine/behavior towards the lifts. To us, they could be detrimental, but to these lifters these behaviors an integral part of their technique. There is something about lifting very heavy weights that will make you chose a certain style and develop certain behaviors. Would they lift more without those interesting technical deviations ? May be or may be not. They are used to training the way they train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Professional lifters may be more apt to discover and test unique things about their body that improve their own performance but no-one else's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-12T08:11:30.893" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T08:11:30.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21083" CreationDate="2015-02-12T06:58:38.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;LiveStrong.com &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/545252-10-things-to-avoid-when-taking-creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;states&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Diuretics are drugs formulated to remove excess water from your bloodstream to ease the pressure against the walls of your veins. Creatine also redirects fluids into the muscles. Thus, when you take diuretics and creatine concurrently, you increase the potential for dehydration and kidney damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that could be a concern (but they didn't really give a source).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T06:58:38.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22555" CreationDate="2015-02-12T15:31:31.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really possible to hand out a speed to you and say &quot;this is how fast you should ride&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we're talking about a competitive level cyclist, I think you'll find that most riders are comfortable holding a ~32km / 20mph pace for several hours at a time, on flat surfaces. In fact if you look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Across_America&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RAAM (Race Across America)&lt;/a&gt; you'll see average paces frequently crossing over 15MPH, and that's riding 8 days pretty much consistently. So a bit slower than a training ride, but that's averaging in big mountain climbs and obviously an incredible distance (2,000+ miles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the RAAM &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/raam2.php?N_webcat_id=51#solomen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;male 60-69 age bracket&lt;/a&gt;, the speed drops to ~11.5 MPH (again, for 8 days straight). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 1989, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_LeMond#1989:_Return_to_elite_level&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Greg LeMond&lt;/a&gt; did a 24km time trial at an average speed of 54.545 km/h, or 33.9 mp/h. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three things I'd recommend for you if you'd like to increase your speed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you have a good bike and you're properly fitted to it. Once you know how you're supposed to fit on a bike you'll see that most people riding around are either scrunched up or too spread out, and usually their seat post is far too low. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train with faster cyclists. As you can see from the links above, there are plenty of fast riders in every age group. In any good size town there are bound to be some group rides that will give you better bike handling skills, plus force you to maintain a pace that you might not otherwise hold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.5. Also in a group setting you'll benefit from drafting, where you'll be riding in the wind shadow of people ahead of you, getting you more comfortable with speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider getting a pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_rollers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rollers&lt;/a&gt;. Rollers, with a fan in front of you and a mirror to your side will help you a lot in riding fast and getting your form dialed in. Rollers in particular are a great way to get rid of hobby-horse-hips and smooth out your strokes. Rollers are also one of the preferred ways to warm up before a race because you can ride 20 feet from the start line, and toss them in your car with a couple of minutes before the gun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T15:31:31.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22548" CreationDate="2015-02-12T16:37:09.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is in your diet, your calories, and your workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your diet is low carb and high in protein/fat.  There is nothing wrong with this.  However you are depleting the glycogen levels in your muscles.  Imagine that you lost a ton of weight and have been working out.  You go out for a night of drinking, pasta, and fried food.  You wake up the next day and you are like &quot;Damn I look good!&quot;  Well that is because you basically pumped up all of the good parts of your body with carbs (simple sugars) while the rest of you probably hasn't changed much in one night.  You are pumped up in this situation.  Bodybuilders starve themselves and then carb load on day before competition.    Now you are doing the exact opposite to your body.  I hardly see any carbs in your diet, so your muscles are a bit deflated compared to how they were.  Therefore making the fat more noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You are lifting weights.  Lifting weights while on a calorie deficit will also result in the lowering of glycogen levels.  Your muscles are working hard but aren't getting the calories that they are expending.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what do you do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a personal trainer for years and your story is the most common.  I don't know how many times I had to tell women to stay on course and many decided not to.  With men even with the drop of glycogen levels in their muscles they often don't see the dramatic differences and once they do, their muscles are actively growing fast enough to offset some of these appearances.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you are an average active woman, you do not have the muscle content a man does.  So a month of low-carb and weights has deflated your muscles and in essence has put a spotlight on any fat that you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion, &lt;strong&gt;keep the course&lt;/strong&gt;.  And of course if you feel better that is a great indicator that you are doing something right.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were your trainer I would suggest a little bit more carbs, a little bit more fruits/vegs, and less nuts, avacados (maybe more lean pork/chicken too).  I would want you counting calories but not losing weight but not gaining either.  If you are gaining then you need to start counting calories or slowly cut back until you stabilize.  And I didn't get from your question what you were doing with your cardio.  Not sure what you did in the past but there is no reason that you should have quit all cardio now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 4-5 months of this continuous training you will get a much better picture.  If your intensity is good and you aren't fudging with your food intake you could see some really dramatic results.  Not only will a weight program really tone your body but it will raise your metabolism and make cardio easier.  I know that 4-5 months seems FOREVER but I have never heard anyone complain about their results after going through this period.  The worst case scenario is you have built a strong muscle foundation, your body is tone, but you are packing a little extra fat on top of muscle.  Given this a normal &quot;diet&quot; and a little extra cardio will take you to whatever you want your body to look like.  Getting that foundation is key though.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T16:37:09.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22536" CreationDate="2015-02-12T17:26:03.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Math:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When making goals it is best to look at the math to see objectively how realistic something is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Target: 370 lbs&#xA;Current: 215 lbs&#xA;To Goal: 155 lbs&#xA;Timeline: 1 Year or 12 Months or 26 DL Workouts&#xA;Plan: Increase DL by 6 lbs every workout for 1 year&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Problems:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now from doing the math we can spot a few fault lines in the plan. First off, you cannot increase weight in increments of 6. You can address this by buying fractional plates off Amazon and bringing them with you to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second and more glaring issue that the math illustrates is how few workouts you have. Since you only exercise DL once every two weeks you only get 26 total chances to increase your workload. Because your target is so high and your workout frequency is so low, you are leaving yourself with absolutely zero leniency for failure, plateaus, and/or deloading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking these problems into account, along with your already slow progression on DLs so far, added with the fact strength gains are exponentially harder to get as you progress further, and the answer to your question is that &lt;strong&gt;no, you cannot reach your goal using your current approach&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Next Steps:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step for you should be to prioritize all of your goals and weigh which ones you most want to focus on this year. As other responses already noted, having too many conflicting goals will only hurt your progress. If DLs are not your priority, then find a lower and more realistic goal to match your current workload. If however they are a priority then find a way to do them more frequently, as this will give you more chances to build your strength with it, along with more leniency for failures and plateaus when they arrive (and they will).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T17:26:03.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-12T23:13:43.800" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to do dumbbell squats but not possible. I feel unbalanced hence no confidence to put my weight on heels . Could anyone help me to find out how I could progress to there ? Is there way I can do some sort of variation, like beginner level to get there  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T22:27:16.817" Title="Squat for over weight people" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22563" CreationDate="2015-02-13T05:35:01.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try goblet squats, where you hold a single weight in front of you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could just to bodyweight squats, and work on getting low (ideally, you want to have your upper legs parallel to the ground or slightly lower. )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T05:35:01.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22555" CreationDate="2015-02-13T05:36:02.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's possible to get faster. Initially, all you have to do is just keep riding, and you will improve, and that is what I recommend to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure that you know how to use your gears effectively. Many beginners ride in a gear that is very hard to push and get tired easily. Generally, you want to be turning your feet at 80-90 RPM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T05:36:02.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-13T12:35:29.893" Score="3" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't do full body weight pull ups, so I do self assisted ones. I try to follow the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/AsChinupSelf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;form described on exrx&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a few questions that are probably linked, so I ask them as one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the best speed? On exrx, the lady takes about two seconds for one full rep (up + down). When I concentrate on pulling with my arms/shoulders mostly, I take about ten seconds. When I do it faster, I can't concentrate on my arms so much. What's better?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How should I organize my workout? Should I count reps, or go for time, or a hybrid or what? Either way, I can't guarantee that all reps will be equal as during the set or from set to set, my arms/back become weaker and my legs do more. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can I track progress? I have a strong on-off relationship with training, so I want something that allows me to track progress to keep me motivated, also I want to be sure I don't stall.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5544" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-02-13T17:30:43.067" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T18:06:42.210" Title="Best protocol for self assisted pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4391" CreationDate="2015-02-13T13:36:14.620" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain in legs is very common for the beginners. I am running since last 6 months. When I felt pain,  I slowed down but never stopped. Recently I started Yoga. And the pain is back. I stretched a lot in some particular Aasanas. Maybe because of this the pain is back. Our body takes some time to adopt new things so I hope it will dissappear soon .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13921" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T13:36:14.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22566" CreationDate="2015-02-13T18:06:42.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the best speed? On exrx, the lady takes about two seconds for&#xA;  one full rep (up + down). When I concentrate on pulling with my&#xA;  arms/shoulders mostly, I take about ten seconds. When I do it faster,&#xA;  I can't concentrate on my arms so much. What's better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stronger you get, the faster you'll be able to go. If you get to the point where you can do one-arm pullups or with 1/2 your bodyweight in plates hanging off you, a regular bodyweight pullup will need to be force-ably slowed down to keep yourself from whipping about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't concentrate on any particular areas though. One of the great things with compound movements like that is that they're fairly natural, so your body will eventually do it with the appropriate amount of muscle activation. Your big muscles (lats, in particular) will handle most of the load and your smaller muscles will take a back seat, which is exactly how it's supposed to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go as fast as you can on the way up, but specifically on the downward (eccentric) side, make sure you don't drop like a stone. You want a controlled release so you don't shock load your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How should I organize my workout? Should I count reps, or go for time,&#xA;  or a hybrid or what? Either way, I can't guarantee that all reps will&#xA;  be equal as during the set or from set to set, my arms/back become&#xA;  weaker and my legs do more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have some rather specific reason to do otherwise, I'd recommending shooting for 3 sets of 12. Both with dips and pullups, I've seen good results making sure you can do a lot of reps (10-12). When you want to target strength specifically, you might drop that down to 5 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On an intermediate program I have good luck doing 3x12 on one day (Monday), then 3x6 weighted on another day (Friday). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I track progress? I have a strong on-off relationship with&#xA;  training, so I want something that allows me to track progress to keep&#xA;  me motivated, also I want to be sure I don't stall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never done self-assisted pullups, but I imagine that pushing your legs out in front a bit will reduce their power. Likewise, letting one leg go a little &quot;limp&quot; and not tensing it will reduce your leg power. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big thing I'd try to do, and that you should use as a gauge of progress, is how much you're able to take your legs out of the equation. The less reliant on them you are, the stronger you're getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I'd really recommend, and that you could incorporate in what you're doing right now, is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opr72q6NKTc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pullups&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T18:06:42.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22161" CreationDate="2015-02-13T20:28:50.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a runner, but I had a similar issue when doing martial arts. I lost the toe-nail on my big toe on one foot. That raw nail bed was murder when it hit the top of my shoe. I did two things to deal with it. First, when I was going to be doing anything intensive, I added a padding of gauze on it and then wrapped it tightly to keep the gauze from moving. That protected the healing nail bed. Then, the harder part, I stepped down my activity level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with JohnP's response, definitely bandage it. First, it will help prevent any sort of damage. Secondly, it will protect your socks and shoes should it start bleeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T20:28:50.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22571" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-14T12:49:46.060" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;22/M/55kg/176cms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last StrongLift 5*5 workout was on 28th Nov 2014, and I weighed 58.2 Kgs then. Since then I haven't worked out one bit and my diet is getting less by day (at least thats what I am feeling like) evident from my current weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why I left- To concentrate on my job which involves- sitting for long hours at one place for 10 hours, 5 days a week. (Software Engineer)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I feel it was a bad decision, for a month or so I pulled alright without working out, but now I feel kind of unmotivated and lethargic and strangely a bit weaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as I was weighing in today, I decided to screw job and focus on my body, I want to get back at lifting, same StrongLift 5*5 program from the start, but I want to change my nutrition part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where I need help, I want to build a diet regime, I want to eat those proper carbs and proteins 7 days a week. Please help me build that and recommend me sources from where I can even get ideas on what to cook. Please help me get back with a bang. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T06:14:55.373" Title="How to recover from a long break, with proper nutrition?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6336" CreationDate="2015-02-14T13:10:00.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seriously depends on what your looking to do. I personally been lifting for over twenty six years, from my research and what works for me, everyone's body is different. Medium and light weight is safe to use full motion and softly lock out, heavier weight is a big no no. I prefer lifting just short of lock out on medium to heavy days. If I am benching I don't want to lock out fully and take away the tension in my chest muscles. Training the muscles to grow need constant tension to cause hypertrophy, place the most maximum load possible will increase muscle mass faster. Each time if I locked out years ago it would take the tension off my chest and move it to my deltoids, and triceps. If your competing get use to both I would recommend. (Short of lockout keeps tension on the concentrated muscles) that's what works for me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13925" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T13:10:00.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22571" CreationDate="2015-02-14T15:25:42.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well it is very easy actually, use some calorie calculator to find out how much of calories you need. Then find a proper macro balance, that you think will work for you. For example, mine is 40% protein 40% carbs 20% fat. As a person who does stronglifts you might not find it good for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good sources of carbs: oatmeal,buckwheat,greens(spinach,broccoli),fruit(kiwi,banana etc.),sweet potatoes and a lot of other whole wheat things. The easiest way to find good carb sources is to check their glycemic index.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good sources of protein : Egg whites, some protein breads, oatmeal, beans, meat(chicken,tuna) dairy and if you think you can't fill your daily needs, protein powder. You can't replace food tho so only as an last option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good sources of fats : Tuna, dairy, nuts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally like to combine a lot of different things so for example one of my meals looks like this : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;10 egg whites, 3 egg yolks, Spinach, Garlic, Chilli, Banana, sometimes sweet&#xA;  potato.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mix it all together and fry it a bit then put it into oven(with a pan that can handle the oven heat) or just fry it, doesn't matter.Add a bit cheese at the end(when in oven) Tastes awesome in my opinion. You can upgrade it even more with different spices like basil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating healthy can be very easy, you just have to get creative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, enough rest is very important. Try to get a good night sleep every night. I personally try to sleep at least 8-9 hours daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-02-19T06:14:55.373" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T06:14:55.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-15T01:35:06.367" Score="2" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background of HIIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High intensity interval training (HIIT) is generally performed by sprinting close to maximum capacity followed by rest. The process is repeated several times. Proponents of HIIT say that it burns more fat than steady state cardio, because the resting metabolic rate is increased after a session of HIIT, which leads to burning additional calories even after the HIIT session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The procedure of HIIT sounds quite similar to weightlifting. If you just replace sprinting with lifting weights, all the other steps are the same. Performing a weightlifting set to failure is also considered pushing oneself to maximum capacity. People also rest in between sets. This makes me wonder why articles on HIIT always suggest sprinting and never even mention that weightlifting as a form of HIIT. Well, is it? Can weightlifting also give you the same increased RMR as well as traditional sprinting HIIT?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T06:23:22.360" Title="Does weighlifting have the same benefits as HIIT?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;resting-metabolic-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22574" CreationDate="2015-02-15T12:21:05.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting heavy weights is classed as an anaerobic exercise, so yes it does have similar benefits to your metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that weight lifting is never mentioned as HIIT method is because it's not really considered to be cardio, it's usually labeled separately in a different category. However, if you've ever lifted heavy on a compound movement with intensity, you'll have felt your heart beating and you might be short of breath, so it is a form of cardio really - it's just usually not thought of as 'cardio' so not mentioned in discussions of HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11928" LastActivityDate="2015-02-15T12:21:05.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-15T21:07:37.850" Score="3" ViewCount="1234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started doing push ups three weeks ago and I can't seem to do more than 20 in a set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do 3 sets I always get stuck on 20. I am 65kg, I used to do 90 push ups, 30 reps, 3 sets. After I finished my military service I became pretty lazy when it came to training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to increase the maximum amount of pushups I can do at once (in a single set)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13929" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2015-02-17T05:59:15.173" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T05:10:06.793" Title="How to increase push ups" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-15T22:02:39.987" Score="3" ViewCount="772" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is it possible to spend 45-60 min on the treadmill at 3 mph and only record 4 active minutes?  I believe the Fitbit flex is not accurately counting active minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13930" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T09:09:14.813" Title="Active minutes on Flex" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22579" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22580" CreationDate="2015-02-16T00:17:52.267" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;myfitnesspal.com has a large database of foods with their nutritional value stored, and allows one to add in how much one has consumed by the volumetric servings, e.g. 1 cup of carrots.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it doesn't make sense for me to measure out the foods I consume by volume.  This is because it's very easy to carry around a small food scale, but not a series of measuring cups.  I keep my own records by the total weight of the food, e.g. 200 grams of mango, rather than 1 cup of mango.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a (free) app or website which has the same comprehensive database but allows recording the weight of the food consumed, rather than the 'serving'?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13932" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T20:36:24.627" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:36:24.627" Title="Fitness app that allows recording food consumed by weight and not by volumetric serving?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22579" CreationDate="2015-02-16T01:04:21.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When searching for a food, add the keyword &quot;gram&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: grams carrot, grams apple, ect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically the serving size is 100 grams, but you can change it to 1 gram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wQRDC.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7sVW4.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13933" LastEditorUserId="13933" LastEditDate="2015-02-16T01:10:11.573" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T01:10:11.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22574" CreationDate="2015-02-16T06:23:22.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting for optimal weight/muscle gain is not optimal for burning calories or building endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to burn more calories, run. Running can burn up to 1000 kcal/hour at best, you'll never reach those kinds of numbers weight lifting, even considering that weight lifting increases your metabolism for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should also be noted that we have many different capacities to be maxed out. Doing wrist curls to failure won't make you a marathon runner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to burn a lot of calories using weight lifting equipment, with programs like crossfit, and it can be a good overall workout, but doing a lot of complex lifts will always increase the likelihood of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also a bit skeptical about saying that a workout burns fat. Jogging for an hour will use fat, yes, but it will also decrease fat usage during the rest of the day and will make you hungrier as well. Fat is used and stored during every second of every day. What matters for total fat loss is the different between the energy you use and what you eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T06:23:22.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-16T08:32:34.733" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past 6 months, I've gone from 89kg to 81kg bodyweight, while doing mainly 8-rep sets on most exercises. Keep in mind, before I started working out a couple years ago, I was at 65kg, so my background is skinny/weak, and not obese, even though my last few months have been weight loss oriented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I want to remain at a bodyweight between 80-85kg, but I'm ready to start changing up my workout regimen a bit. Namely, I wish to start lifting heavier weights for fewer reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the title suggests, I want to remain at this weight (or close to it), while lowering my body fat percentage, and becoming leaner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually when I hear about people who are lifting heavy weights for few reps, they are bulking, and one of their primary goals is to increase their bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, I'm looking for some tips, guidelines and/or rules-of-thumb for this endeavor. Bonus points, as always, for credible sources, but experience is also valuable, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T08:51:27.743" Title="Increasing muscle/fat ratio while remaining at the same (ish) weight" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22583" CreationDate="2015-02-16T08:51:27.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength programs like 3x5, 5x5, or other low-to-mid-rep heavy lifting programs are well suited to maintaining the same weight while doing body recomposition. Just don't eat a tremendous amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option, which I like quite a bit, is to eat as much as possible of high-quality foods (meat, veggies, fish, eggs, dairy) while maintaining a high proportion of protein and adding two or three conditioning workouts to my weekly strength training regimen. The conditioning workouts don't have to be long or complex: just a ten minute high-intensity finisher after the strength workouts, plus something like a mile or two run some other time during the week, is plenty. I find this approach really powerful for body recomposition. The strength training encourages muscle mass, but the additional cardio work helps make your body get rid of fat rather than just get bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example week of such training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: squat heavy 3x5, deadlift heavy 1x5, 3 sets weighted strict pull-ups, weighted dips. Finish with five minutes of burpees, aiming for max reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: Rest, or go for a jog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: same strength workout as Monday, perhaps with heavier weights on some or all of the exercises. Finish with four rounds of a circuit for conditioning: 25 air squats, 10  push-ups, 10 pull-ups, 10 kettlebell swings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: Rest, or sprints (preferably up a hill or stairs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: same strength workout, again maybe adding weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sat/Sun: Rest, or maybe go for a hike for fun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exact conditioning workouts should change frequently, and don't need to include running or any other particular thing. The point is to make yourself tired without risking injury or incurring too much workout volume. For theses purposes, simple kettlebell work is great, as are running and swimming and rowing and bodyweight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T08:51:27.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22590" CreationDate="2015-02-16T11:56:01.580" Score="0" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I received some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kineticasports.com/tablets-capsules-c7/kinetica-essential-4-120-tablets-p97&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kinetica Essential&lt;/a&gt; tablets with some protein (I paid a little more for them, they weren't free), and looking at the RDA for the vitamins it contains raises some questions. They recommend 4 tablets a day which amounts to some huge %'s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin B8 (Biotin) is 4000% RDA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Selenium content is 4000% RDA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin B12 content is 8000%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) is 9,091% RDA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A side effect of all of this is that my urine is bright (almost nuclear) yellow, even when I'm completely hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are: Are too many nutrients or vitamins bad for you? 9000% of anything doesn't sound great, so are these tablets more of a hindrance than a help? Are these amounts of vitamins safe or too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13936" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T09:23:09.457" Title="Vitamins: How much is too much?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-03-02T17:45:36.467" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22585" CreationDate="2015-02-16T12:09:21.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the micronutrients you have listed are water-soluble, but that doesn't mean that it's safe to take any amount. But it's significantly less dangerous than overconsuming fat soluble micro nutrients. Had there been clear science showing that vitamin-pill-level-doses where dangerous, they wouldn't be sold, on the other hand, don't assume that every substance at every level, in combination with every other substance, has been tested on humans. There are loads of substances of which we have no clear knowledge about the effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the question you should ask yourself is not if they are dangerous but if they are beneficial. The answer, in most cases, is no. Most vitamin suplementation is completely unnecessary and makes no difference what so ever to your health. But they still sell for billions of dollars, because you never know, right? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T12:09:21.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22597" CreationDate="2015-02-16T12:19:00.297" Score="7" ViewCount="807" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Christian Bale&lt;/strong&gt; for the &quot;The Machinist&quot; and &lt;strong&gt;Hugh Jackman&lt;/strong&gt; for &quot;The Wolverine&quot;. These two celebrities went too far to reach perfection in their role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone this community happened to be with these guys or has any insight on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There willpower is strong that they never strive for delicious food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How they workout being on such strenuous diet, without getting faint, or fall on floor unconscious while shooting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or it is just a myth, pictures, videos are only a camera trick?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10100" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T05:57:09.697" Title="How celebrities can shed/gain so much of fat in such short time and abstinence?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-16T16:39:18.587" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading below and have a doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritionscience/energy/energy-intake-and-expenditure.html?start=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritionscience/energy/energy-intake-and-expenditure.html?start=5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to lose weight &quot;energy in&quot; should be less than expenditure . So they advice us to eat more low energy density foods (LEDF) to feel full , so hunger will be satisfied and also the in/out formula. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) What is the relation of hunger and energy ? If we fool hunger by eating LEDF does this not stop having the energy need for body ? Isn't hunger is the natural signal for energy requirement ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:45:52.787" Title="Energy intake and expenditure" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-10T13:02:22.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22585" CreationDate="2015-02-16T16:57:00.690" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that supplements should be exactly what the word implies: a supplement, specifically because you need a certain amount and are not getting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training athletes generally supplement protein in their diets because they need more and it's simply hard to get the correct amount of protein in a normal diet. The same would be true for anyone who, using peer reviewed evidence, identifies something in their diet that they aren't getting enough of and ensures that they're making up for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that you (and me, and everyone) actually need 9000x the amount of B12 that you normally get seems really far fetched. Go through and look at foods that are high in that nutrient, I bet you'll see that you're probably covered. And if not, you can make a change to you diet via &quot;real&quot; food before you introduce pills and powders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth pointing out though that there certainly is a middle ground in vitamin supplementation. It's naive to say everyone needs 9000x the daily recommended B12 allotment, and likewise it's rhetorical and anecdotal to trot out the &quot;you'll just pee it out, and that's if it's not bad for you&quot; blanket answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping on the B12 bandwagon, for those who suffer from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphthous_stomatitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aphthous stomatitis (canker sores),&lt;/a&gt; there was a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19124628&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2009 study that showed nearly complete abatement when study participants were treated with 1,000 mcg of B12 daily&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The duration of outbreaks, the number of ulcers, and the level of pain&#xA;  were reduced significantly at 5 and 6 months of treatment with vitamin&#xA;  B(12), regardless of initial vitamin B(12) levels in the blood. During&#xA;  the last month of treatment a significant number of participants in&#xA;  the intervention group reached &quot;no aphthous ulcers status&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in that case, if you get canker sores, a particular vitamin supplementation regime might not only work quite well but could also have you ingesting less of other types of medications (pain, topical analgesics, etc). So putting 1,000mcg of B12 into context like that creates a much more nuanced and particular discussion than &quot;should I take a multivitamin or not?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't take a shotgun approach to supplements. Study the research put out by peer reviewed bodies, and make case by case decisions. I think you'll quickly find that the pro-supplement and anti-supplement crowd are equally in the dark on the particulars of your body and what you need. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T16:57:00.690" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22589" CreationDate="2015-02-16T17:23:38.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back before Costco, Lean Pockets, and Pepsi I'm sure the relationship between energy levels and hunger was a bit more straight forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunger is caused by a peptide (cousins of a hormone) called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghrelin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ghrelin&lt;/a&gt;. A lot of things can cause this to rise and fall, including sleep schedules. Most people notice that on days where they get poor sleep, the next day they will be much hungrier and make bad food choices. That obviously has nothing to do with the energy reserves you started the day with, and if food really stopped hunger in the short term then simply eating a big breakfast would stop the cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the relation of hunger and energy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very intricate. For most people, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3894001&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;feeling hungry is because of insulin spikes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...that elevations in insulin produce increased hunger, heightened&#xA;  perceived pleasantness of sweet taste, and increased food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit of a viscous cycle because eating simple carbohydrates (bread, rice, sugar, flour, etc) produces insulin which makes the food taste better and makes you hungrier. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Physiological_effects&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insulin is also an anabolic hormone that provides for fat storage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If we fool hunger by eating LEDF does this not stop having the energy&#xA;  need for body ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-insulin-response-video&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;No&lt;/a&gt;. You most likely have far more energy than your body needs to get through the day and possibly through the next month or two, just in fat and sugar (and to a lesser extend muscle) reserves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were a 4% body fat hunter gatherer living 300K years ago then yes, you really would want to ensure that you're sucking down every calorie you can get your hands on and never want to pass up a meal. Unfortunately, we share the same biology of our ancestors and food marketing companies know how to work with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Isn't hunger is the natural signal for energy requirement ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not for the vast majority of humans in the developed world. As shown above, hunger can exist because you ate too much bread or didn't get enough sleep. I don't know if there is any data on it, but I would venture to guess that the average westerner might never have had hunger caused by anything other than spurious signals, most of which are engineered by food companies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a chance, I'd recommend watching (and sharing) the movie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Food, Inc&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T17:23:38.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22594" CreationDate="2015-02-16T17:53:51.940" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 16 year old teenager. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I am very fat, trying to lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh ~91kg my height is 5 ft 11 in, and my waist circumference is 41.5 inches (I know....)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My father has type 2 Diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I in the risk for the near future of getting Type 2 Diabetes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13938" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T04:38:52.470" Title="Risk for Type 2 Diabetes" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-03-15T22:47:03.497" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22593" CreationDate="2015-02-16T20:04:07.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The real answer can only be provided to you by a health professional, but I can give you some things to consider and educate yourself on in advance. Do some research and have a serious conversation with your doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may already be experiencing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_resistance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;insulin resistance&lt;/a&gt;. This means that your arteries are routinely being doused with fatty deposits that are binding to the walls and will stay there. As those walls get gummed up, the smooth muscles around your circulatory system constrict, increasing your blood pressure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that your father already has type 2, and that you are already overweight lends itself to the idea that you are in a home with customs and dietary habits that are at odds with health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oq24hITFTY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I would really recommend watching some of the well made documentaries about food in the western world&lt;/a&gt;. The sad reality is that the average American is very out of touch with what they should be eating. You most likely need to completely change how you look at food, your body, and health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not optional either. You either make time and effort towards being healthy, or you will spend time and effort dealing with the illness that make up &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;metabolic syndrome&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your doctor. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1623/how-serious-are-the-dangers-to-rapid-weight-loss?rq=1&quot;&gt;There are real concerns about rapid weight loss&lt;/a&gt;, so you'll want to be monitored. Plus, you're going to love having hard data showing how much progress you've made. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Focus on nutrition over everything else. It is &lt;strong&gt;extremely&lt;/strong&gt; hard to burn a few hundred calories, but it is &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; easier to not eat them in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start walking every day for 30 minutes. More so than the exercise itself, get in the habit about caring enough for your health that you prioritize. Do not short change yourself. Nearly every highly successful person in the world puts physical health on the top of the priority stack because without it you can't do much else.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remember that it took a while to get fat, and it will take a while to get thin. Use a good plan, stay on it, and have faith in the plan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Come back here and ask us any specific questions you have, we'll be happy to help.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T20:04:07.660" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1711" CreationDate="2015-02-17T04:15:25.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I say your muscle fiber doesn't know if you are using a machine or free weights. All it knows is to adapt to the resistance that is being put on it. It does this by recruiting hopefully the most muscle fibers. The only difference I can see is range of motion. And if if you ask john little , and Pete Sisco they claim full motion as a need is a myth for muscle fiber recruitment. I am not saying that it is true what they say. &#xA;I tend to agree with Dorian Yates in the fact its not the tool its the intensity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13942" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T04:15:25.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22587" CreationDate="2015-02-17T05:57:09.697" Score="14" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There willpower is strong that they never strive for delicious food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all they have massive incentives - millions of dollars - second of all they are surrounded by dieticians and trainers who choose their food for them at most hours of the day. &lt;em&gt;Their job&lt;/em&gt; is eating well and training for a role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How they workout being on such strenuous diet, without getting faint, or fall on floor unconscious while shooting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strict diet doesn't necessary need to be lacking in energy, they may be on high calorie, high protein diets. Also, movie shoots generally don't last very long. A day of shooting may only generate a few minutes of usuable footage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chris Hemsworth could have spent a little more time practising hammer catches, but at the end of the day only one take needs to work. If he fell down due to exhaustion on one take, they'll get a banana in him and get back to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/83Tmu.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Or it is just a myth, pictures, videos are only a camera trick?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Absolutely, 100%. Most of Hollywood is based on trickery. The difference between good abs and bad abs is 90% lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aoyPD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not quite photoshopped, but in this scene there is a lot of soft down lighting which makes Ryan Gosling look ripped. Straight on lighting would decrease the contrast and make them look less impressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l5biU.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out action man of the moment Chris Pratt. He's huge look at those arms, he must be working out constantly...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nsboG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, he is, this is a gif from the same shoot. He is doing light weight biceps curls to build a pump to make his arms bigger for the few seconds needed for that shoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DBDUy.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't forget movies aren't shot sequentially, they are shot by convenience. If you make sure the shirtless scenes are shot first, your actor can then relax their diet for the rest of the schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T05:57:09.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1711" CreationDate="2015-02-17T08:48:58.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Machines are useful for bodybuilding, specialized movements, and working around specific injuries. For people not doing those things (which is most people) machines are not necessary and distract from better training tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free weights are the simpler tool. They develop body awareness (proprioception) and have better carry-over to athletics and general health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, people who need to work a very specific movement that is hard to execute with free weights can use machines to isolate that very specific movement. For example, machines can create resistance sideways, downwards, and on diagonals, which cannot be replicate by gravity. That can be useful for isolating a small muscle, such as when bodybuilding or avoiding a pain point caused by an injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T08:48:58.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22577" CreationDate="2015-02-17T08:52:36.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do lots of push-ups :) It looks like a lame recommendation but it is the truth. Please look for GTG : Grease the Groove. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not do 3 dips @ 93 kg of bodyweight. After doing lots of push-ups, I end up doing 30 reps @ same bodyweight. But please, do proper Push-ups, which is triceps push-ups. You can look at Martin Rooney, he is an expert in S&amp;amp;C. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ps: &#xA;I used to do lots of push-ups, like 200-300 at a time. Lots of sets of 10-15-20 reps. &#xA;I would recommend you to try different variations, EMOM's, AMRAP's. Have fun doing that, eventually; your number will increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T08:52:36.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-17T13:20:29.897" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading that developing one's aerobic base is good for improving overall speed, and that to do so, I should be training at 60-75% of MHR. Is there still merit for overall speed in training above 75% of MHR? Or should I be saving that for trying to set a new PB once a month of something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background:&#xA;I'm getting back in to running, I've read that one of the tests used when joining the UK military is to run 1.5 miles in &amp;lt;12:30, and then another 1.5 miles in &amp;lt;10:00. I don't particularly want to join the military, but it seemed like a good target - 3 miles in under 22:30. I'd also quite like to beat my half-marathon PB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13944" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T05:47:32.400" Title="Does training &gt; 75% MHR benefit aerobic base?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22577" CreationDate="2015-02-17T13:26:39.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like a psychological issue, to be honest. You have 20 set as your goal and thus, when you hit that goal, you freeze up. Really, you need to push through, even if it's just one or two more. Two possible strategies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a friend quietly count the pushups for you and not stop you until you hit 25. Do your best to not think about the numbers. Instead, concentrate on feeling the technique, focusing on your muscles and your breathing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Promise yourself a reward if you just hit that goal. When you go to your position, think &quot;OK, the goal is 25, exactly 25, and if I can hit that, I'll let myself watch that next episode of Game of Thrones&quot;. It doesn't even matter if you actually give yourself that reward, but just holding it out there gives you that additional bit of motivation you need. I do it all the time when running. I feel like I can't go any further and I tell myself that it's just until I hit the next stop sign, then I'll walk. Half the time, I keep going after that stop sign because I'm not as tired as I thought I was. Just proving to yourself that you can hit that mark can be enough to break through.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T13:26:39.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23601" CreationDate="2015-02-17T21:04:37.837" Score="8" ViewCount="14404" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at the typical product description of a resistance band (Amazon is a good place to see a lot of these), you'll see that nearly all of them give a range of resistance.  For example, one band might say 25-80 lbs of resistance while another says 50-125 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do these ranges mean and how do I achieve the resistance levels in between?  Does the amount of resistance depend on where you're stabilizing the band?  If it's 50-125 lbs of resistance, how do I know when it's 50, 75, or 125?  What do I have to do to get 50 lbs if I want to do curls?  How would I use the same band differently if I wanted 125 lbs for leg exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastEditorUserId="3457" LastEditDate="2015-02-17T21:45:54.713" LastActivityDate="2021-01-07T17:10:01.543" Title="Resistance bands: What do the resistance ranges of &quot;X to Y&quot; pounds mean?" Tags="&lt;resistance&gt;&lt;resistance-cord&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23600" CreationDate="2015-02-17T22:10:25.407" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, they are all giant versions of rubber bands. As such, when they are near their normal shape, they offer much less resistance. This increases in a (mostly) linear fashion until the stretch limit, so you can calculate resistance just by how much the stretch is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you have a band that is rated 50-100 lbs, with a maximum stretch of 3 feet, it will take 50 lbs of force to start it stretching, from that point it will take 75 lbs of force to stretch it 1.5 feet (18&quot;), and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also &quot;stack&quot; them to increase initial resistance, and modify the &quot;weight&quot; that you are using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to look for in the flat bands is layered versus molded, as the layered will be tougher and less prone to ripping, which you can avoid by making sure that it isn't wrapped around sharp edges, don't store in sunlight, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did run across &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1413-35552009000600009&amp;amp;script=sci_arttext&amp;amp;tlng=en&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; examining the mechanical resistance of various colored bands, as well as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thera-bandacademy.com/elements/clients/docs/Thera-Band_Student_Book-2012__634777087470919197.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;instruction manual&lt;/a&gt; for Thera Bands, which are one of the most popular brands used in injury rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T22:10:25.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22563" CreationDate="2015-02-17T22:27:16.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beginner level is to start at a railing or counter that you can rest your fingers on as you squat to get comfortable with the maneuver. Stand close to a railing, begin with a slight hip hinge to get your hips behind you then begin to lower down. Start slowly lowering only slightly, feel your weight move into your heels, then push through your heels to stand. Get comfortable there then begin to go lower. When you are confident that you no longer need to hold on or be near support then step back and squat away from support. Then begin adding weights and just holding them at your sides. Progress from here. Have fun! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14947" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T22:27:16.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2015-02-18T02:09:53.697" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on a low carb diet for the 4th (or is it 6th time?) and I feel hungry all the time and especially after I eat. I think its because your body is burning fat at a faster rate than normal so you feel deceptively like you aren't eating enough calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14948" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T02:09:53.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22585" CreationDate="2015-02-18T09:23:09.457" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't take excess vitamines unless it is something your doctor has prescribed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you do not have any medical conditions, and if you eat a balanced and varied diet there is no need for supplements, vitamines or similiar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone else saying something else, is misinformed or trying to sell you something you do not need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an official link from the danish goverment that says exactly this:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://altomkost.dk/fakta/kosttilskud/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://altomkost.dk/fakta/kosttilskud/&lt;/a&gt; - Sorry it is in Danish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an official link from the Danish elite training facility. Go to page 15 for a summary in english.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.antidoping.dk/%7E/media/antidoping_dk/filer/Kosttilskud/Fysisk_aktivitet_og_kosttilskud_8531_Fysisk_aktivitet.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Link&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T09:23:09.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23607" CreationDate="2015-02-18T10:47:21.303" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I measure my resting heart rate every morning before turning out of bed. The day after a demanding strength workout I find it has risen as compared with the day before. I had thought it was merely a statistical fluctuation, but now it has happened several times in a row and I think it is not a coincidence. I train once every four days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am talking about 3~5 bpm increases, nothing to worry about, but I am curious about it. Is my body &quot;working harder&quot; in order to repair micro-trauma within the muscles or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, it seems to raise slightly too after a night of bad sleep. And once after I donated blood (that time it took several days before returning to the usual range).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T11:56:09.603" Title="Why does my RHR rise every day after a strength workout?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T11:43:21.433" Score="3" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working in IT for a company,  so I have to spend 8 &amp;amp; 1/2 hours of day in front of a computer. Can you suggest some exercises that will help rest my eyes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14951" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T04:14:13.593" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T17:41:31.300" Title="good eye exercises for all day computer use" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23605" CreationDate="2015-02-18T11:56:09.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a training session you increase the metabolic demand on the body. That is, by breaking down muscles during strength training, you are sending a signal that they have to adapt and get stronger. They do so by increasing anabolism; water goes into the muscles to produce more efficient chemical processes, amino acids follow, waste products are removed. All of those processes are driven by the supply of blood; anytime you have a stress on the body, be it psychological or physical, the body tries to adapt. In order to do that it must increase blood supply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16684/i-run-one-hour-without-a-break-everyday-am-i-over-training/16685#16685&quot;&gt;I run one hour without a break everyday. Am I over training?&lt;/a&gt; You might also find my answer to this question intresesting as it pertains to your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as Dave says in the comment, one of the reasons is an increased sympathetic drive. That effect is not as long lasting though, but it does have its part. I would urge you to read up on &quot;heart rate variability&quot;. There is lots of good research on the topic. Basically, it depends on the ratio between your parasympathetic and sympathetic drives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During training you increase sympathetic drive; the body goes into fight or flight-mode. During that time it cannot regenerate. That is, the body remains in a catabolic state. And the pulse is higher. The sooner you recuperate your parasympathetic drive, the sooner the body can start regenerating, strength can increase, and the pulse can fall back to pre-training values. One well known way of regaining that ratio is by doing a cool-down. Eating also helps. But from what I've seen in litterature, the best method by far is Cold Water Immersion. There is even research showing that just having your face washed with cold water for a couple of minutes regenerates heart rate variability and thus speeds up recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T11:56:09.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T12:10:19.460" Score="1" ViewCount="8998" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shall we or shall we not wear an underwear while exercising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it may boil down to personal preference. But I am looking at it from health point of view. Some say that it's harmful not to wear an underwear while exercising or playing or running. But I am not able to find any concrete data/study regarding the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there any consensus yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14952" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T21:06:15.227" Title="Is it harmful not to wear an underwear while running?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T13:02:20.170" Score="1" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am suffering from ingrown toenails as a result of fairly recent and constant ballet dance routines. I got them cut back at a chiropodist but it still hurts. What should I do ? Keep cutting them back  - or get them removed ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14954" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-02-19T20:55:59.213" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T20:56:19.790" Title="How can ballet dancers deal with ingrown toenails?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;feet&gt;&lt;ballet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-02-20T18:40:47.390" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23606" CreationDate="2015-02-18T13:45:42.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I share the same profession as you and have the same concerns.  My advice would be to &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/13/computer-eye-strain-explained-and-how-to-avoid-it/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;avoid computer eye strain&lt;/a&gt; by taking frequent breaks from the screen.   I’ve been advised to get up from the pc every twenty minutes, or so.  Frequent breaks give your eyes a chance to relax and reduces the strain.  I’ve found that setting a regular schedule for breaks helps so that I know when to get up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allaboutvision.com/buysmart/see_clearly.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The See Clearly Method &amp;amp; Other Programs: Do Eye Exercises Improve Vision?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eye exercise programs occupy a nebulous space somewhere between&#xA;  medical science and folk remedy. Most optometrists and&#xA;  ophthalmologists are dismissive of the types of programs promising&#xA;  that you can &quot;throw away your glasses.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for specific exercises, there are no scientific studies that show they help.  There’s only anecdotal evidence.  Your best bet is to avoid situations that strain your eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T13:45:42.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5910" CreationDate="2015-02-18T14:48:41.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As BIA based scales / gadgets appear to be no more accurate than a number of the regression formula that have been developed over the years I'd suggest you simply start with a cheap &quot;Body Fat Calliper&quot; e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4GNr1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and look at installing one of the many &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;free Body Fat estimating and tracking App's&lt;/a&gt; on any phone or tablet you have e.g &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a0pF9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and find a friend to pinch you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-31T18:28:51.343" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T18:28:51.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12767" CreationDate="2015-02-18T15:02:49.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are numerous free &lt;a href=&quot;http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;app's&lt;/a&gt; around that will estimate and track body fat from a set of Skinfold measurements (an give you the formula), but if you want do do it the hard way there are hundreds of academic papers in existence that propose and/or test a multiplicity of different regression equations, for different populations eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbme/v13n3/en_v13n3a05.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Validation of anthropometric equations for the estimation of body density in professional soccer players&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your readings above I'd suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Durnin and Rahman, 1967 (age: 18-34 R=0.83 ESE=0.0069):  &#xA;  fatPct =  495 / (1.161 – 0.0632 * Math.Log10(bicepSF + tricepSF + subscapularSF + supraIliacSF)) - 450&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are numerous other formulas eg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.umich.edu/~exphysio/mvs.240/AdditonalLabs/Pred.Bodyfat.Skinfold.6.3.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alternative Skinfold Measurement Formulas to Calculate Percent Body Fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/ideal-way-to-measure-body-fat-percentage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Ideal Way to Measure Body Fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/nhanes_07_08/manual_an.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) - Anthropometry Procedures Manual&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.harpendenservicecenter.com/How%20to%20Measure%20book%202009.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HOW TO MEASURE YOUR % BODYFAT AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR MEASURING % BODY FAT USING SKINFOLD CALIPERS by Wallace C. Donoghue&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.langeservicecenter.com/lange%20manual.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lange Skinfold Caliper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skyndex.com/resources/SKYNDEX%20SYSTEM%201%20Manual.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Syndex System 1 Skinfold Caliper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amstelmedical.nl/pdf/130311032942_howtousetheexpertfatmeasureincl.nl.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to use the Expert Skinfold Caliper&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zuaBq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-17T20:24:12.793" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T20:24:12.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2015-02-18T15:28:16.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They appear to be accurate within approximately 3%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The initial research behind the Navy calculation calculations can be found by Googling either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hodgdon, J.A. and M.B. Beckett (1984a). Prediction of percent body fat for U.S. Navy men from body circumferences and height. Report No. 84-11, Naval Health Research Center, San&#xA;Diego, CA&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0CCMQFjAA&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dtic.mil%2Fdtic%2Ftr%2Ffulltext%2Fu2%2Fa146456.pdf&amp;amp;ei=uqvkVKmyEJG6ae7FgvAM&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNGPWwixlkq2nFAHcEX80zJeJzVW8w&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hodgdon, J.A. and M.B. Beckett (1984b). Prediction of percent body fat for U.S. Navy women&#xA;from body circumferences and height. Report No. 84-29, Naval Health Research Center,&#xA;San Diego, CA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'd suggest you simply read: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kurilla5.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DEVELOPMENT OF THE DoD BODY COMPOSITION ESTIMATION EQUATIONS&lt;/a&gt; or more specifically the following couple to sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For men, the correlation coefficient was 0.885 and the standard error&#xA;  of measurement is 3.15% fat. The mean difference between measured and&#xA;  predicted values is -0.833% fat, the predicted values being greater,&#xA;  on average, than the measured four-compartment percent fat.&#xA;  Comparisons with two-compartment fat values reveal a correlation&#xA;  coefficient of 0.89, a standard error of measurement of 3.37% fat, and&#xA;  a mean difference of –1.25% fat; again, with the predicted value being&#xA;  greater than the measured. For women, comparisons with four-&#xA;  compartment fat provide a correlation coefficient of 0.89, a standard&#xA;  error of measurement of 3.12% fat, and a mean difference of –2.00%&#xA;  fat. Comparisons with two-compartment fat produced a correlation&#xA;  coefficient of 0.82, standard error of measurement of 4.15% fat, and a&#xA;  mean difference of –3.22% fat. It is noteworthy that, in this newer&#xA;  sample, the Navy equations are better predictors of the percent fat&#xA;  values from four-compartment analysis than they are of values from a&#xA;  two-compartment analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T15:28:16.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20850" CreationDate="2015-02-18T15:55:53.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends what you mean by risk, there have been a number of studies that indicate a BMI below 18 correlates with higher mortality rates and a couple give it as high as 22.5 e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Below the range 22·5–25 kg/m2, BMI was associated inversely with&#xA;  overall mortality, mainly because of strong inverse associations with&#xA;  respiratory disease and lung cancer. These inverse associations were&#xA;  much stronger for smokers than for non-smokers, despite cigarette&#xA;  consumption per smoker varying little with BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jech.bmj.com/content/57/2/130.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Relation between body mass index and mortality in an unusually slim cohort&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60318-4/fulltext?version=printerFriendly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body-mass index and cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 prospective studies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: BMI is no better or worse a measure of fatness than many of the formula / devices that attempt to actually give a percentage, rather than an index value e.g. Depending on who you believe today's Body Fat percentage is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mgq8m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-02-18T16:57:50.300" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T16:57:50.300" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23617" CreationDate="2015-02-18T16:46:45.107" Score="1" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do an 8 minute workout every day with an application. My workout is a mix of different excercises (hindu push-ups, abdominal etc, 30 seconds each). before this I used to do easier work-outs. I've been doing this workout for more than a month regularly, but it doesn't become easier. I am stuck at &quot;comfortable&quot; level and my heart rate after workout is 110-130 bpm. What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14955" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T17:43:22.013" Title="Workouts don't become easier for me" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23615" CreationDate="2015-02-18T17:30:26.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Progress is easy, given  you  train regularly  and  have sufficient nutrition and rest.&#xA;For a beginner.&#xA;When you become advanced  and your achievements much  better  then  those of untrained people ,  you  need to  plan  cycles ,  as progress is possible only in specific part of the body or one skill at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you   become elite, ie world class sportsmen say   olimpics,  world championships,  national  level ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this stage your life is organized around one specific event (or say season).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hardly  you are an  elite as in this case you  would have a coach/trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i  assume you  are  a novice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case you  could try  to  change one of  3 variables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You train too hard too often.&#xA;You do not  get  enough food to recover.&#xA;You do not  have enough sleep/rest to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there  is a possibility that your training  is not  intencive enough to shift  the homeostasis.  8 minutes  look  too short to  me ,  however   if you  do  Tabata protocol ,  for example  it is even  too much  ,  especially  every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try  to think of it  and change one thing  at  a time ,  observe the  results  over 2 weeks  period  and then decide .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T17:30:26.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23615" CreationDate="2015-02-18T17:43:22.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Albert Einstein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do the same workout every day without changing your intensity, the reps, the sets, or overall time worked out, then you are going to plateau and that workout will no longer be enough to grow your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increase your workout's intensity gradually over time (extra reps, add weight). Your body will adapt to the extra load by building more muscle. This muscle then helps support an even larger load: rinse and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, there are two problems with your workout that also contribute to poor muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Daily workouts constantly stress your muscles but never gives them time to recover and grow bigger. Reduce to 3-4 days a week so they can properly recover and grow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eight minute workouts are not very intense, so you aren't able to do enough to really grow muscles in that time. Increase to 30 - 60 minutes so you can properly stress your muscles enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T17:43:22.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23640" CreationDate="2015-02-18T19:28:43.697" Score="2" ViewCount="3220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Jawbone up which I wear on my wrist. As far as I know it calculates my step count by measuring the movements of my arm when I walk/run. So if I have my hands inside the hoodie pockets(when it's cold outside) which I think don't involve in any movement when I walk, how does the fitness tracker count steps? Or does it not count at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14958" LastEditorUserId="14958" LastEditDate="2015-02-19T20:26:58.857" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T19:59:17.217" Title="Do activity trackers count steps when you don't move your arms?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4532" CreationDate="2015-02-18T19:44:24.593" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aesthetically there is no such thing, but a number of academics have proposed arbitrary formula that do incorporate those 3 variables: age, sex and height eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;J.D.Robinson (1983)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S.B.Halls (2002)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what you should really be looking for is an ideal weight range based on long term health e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60318-4/fulltext?version=printerFriendly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body-mass index and cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 prospective studies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Below the range 22·5–25 kg/m2, BMI was associated inversely with&#xA;  overall mortality, mainly because of strong inverse associations with&#xA;  respiratory disease and lung cancer. These inverse associations were&#xA;  much stronger for smokers than for non-smokers, despite cigarette&#xA;  consumption per smoker varying little with BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway to answer your specific question, this may do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7cSLh.png&quot; alt=&quot;SB Halls Ideal Weight formula&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T19:44:24.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23620" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T19:53:29.787" Score="1" ViewCount="650" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to get in better shape, but I'm running into an unusual block (from what I can tell).  Whenever I try to work out - say on an exercise bike - after 5-10 minutes I have to stop and spend a few minutes clearing out my mouth and throat.  Saliva/mucous will literally build up to the point where I will start choking on it.  It's thick enough that I can't just swallow during the workout, that just makes the issue happen earlier as it triggers my gag reflex.  I can then resume, but I have to stop every couple of minutes after that to re-clear things.  Generally after about ~20 minutes, everything is clear enough that I can continue as normal.  However this is enough of a block that it usually keeps me from even trying to work out, since that &quot;clearing out&quot; process is very unpleasant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play hockey 1/week, and this also happens during that which causes issues with playing (it's actually started happening &lt;em&gt;before I leave&lt;/em&gt; for hockey recently, which I'm assuming is a psychosomatic reaction of some sort).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what could be causing this - whether it's disease, diet-related, or other - so my question is: &lt;strong&gt;Has anyone else had a similar issue, or heard of it, and know what worked to fix the problem?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background info:&#xA;Male, early 30s, 225 lbs/6' tall.&#xA;Diet is poor, but I had a similar diet when I was a kid, played hockey then and had no issues like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14959" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T07:08:32.610" Title="Fix for excessive saliva/mucous during workouts?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-02T17:37:17.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22593" CreationDate="2015-02-18T23:08:00.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good news is that you have realized early enough that you could be in danger of type 2 diabetes and you may already be in fact a bit insulin resistance. I have been able to reverse my dad's pre-diabetes purely by controlling his diet. I have also been able to improve blood lipid markers for my elder brother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my suggestions and recommendations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Understand the connection between food you may be eating and how it's impacting your insulin hormone and blood sugar levels. Remember, type 2 diabetes is essentially insulin resistance which means body is no longer sensitive to insulin. This is primarily a result of eating highly refine carbs and sugars. I would recommend you read Mark Sisson's article:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/diabetes/#axzz3S8kBTHIo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/diabetes/#axzz3S8kBTHIo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once you understand the above basics, don't take anything on faith but take matters in your own hands by buying a glucometer. It's very cheap and will help you monitor your blood glucose levels.&#xA;Read my experiment on how I measured my blood glucose for a week:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.primalbulletproof.blogspot.co.nz/2015/02/50-glucose-readings-at-some-point.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.primalbulletproof.blogspot.co.nz/2015/02/50-glucose-readings-at-some-point.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Also google for &quot;Chris Kresser glucometer&quot; and you can read a wonderful post on how you can prevent diabetes and heart disease for 16 bucks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once you know your 101, you can have a meaningful chat with your GP. You will be able to take an informed decision and not just blindly follow what the doc asks you to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have inherited genetic material from your parents and this predisposes you to certain modern ailments like Type-2 Diabetes , that is you are more likely to get it, let's say compared to someone who is lean and there is no family history of diabetes. But what I want to stress on is that it's just a probability and doesn't have to be your fate. You get to have the final say because food and lifestyle can drastically reduce this possibility. Remember, food is bio-chemical information and impacts the bio-chemistry of our bodies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&#xA;Nitin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14960" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T23:08:00.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23635" CreationDate="2015-02-19T00:23:09.900" Score="4" ViewCount="792" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing StrongLifts however I have changed the bench &amp;amp; squat parameters to 5x8 instead of 5x5. I've also added in some accessory stuff (flies, curls, skull crushers, pull-ups on days I am using similar muscles) &amp;amp; some cardio (running/bike 2-3 miles 3 times a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things have been going well for the last 7 weeks, meeting all targets so far however I think sooner or later I will plateau on certain exercises (I reckon on the bench first seeing as its most difficult for me! Although it is my favourite!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my 5x8 adaptation a good or bad idea?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What difference will 5x8 have on my progress compared to 5x5?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will the addition of accessory work effect my strength?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When a plateau aries what kind of things can I do to my program?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goals = Strong good looking physique&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first question yeah!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Original program Link:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14950" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T14:11:52.053" Title="Stronglifts Adaptation Questions" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22593" CreationDate="2015-02-19T04:38:52.470" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be difficult to separate lifestyle risk from genetic risk. Lifestyle choices tend to run in the family. Sedentary parents tend to have sedentary children. Parents with unhealthy eating habits are likely to pass them on to the next generation. On the other hand, genetics play a big part in determining weight. Sometimes behaviors can’t take all the blame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards&#xA;Dr. Rohit Batra&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://laserhairremovaldelhi.com/face-hair-removal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Laser Hair Removal Clinic in Delhi ,Best Laser Hair Removal in Delhi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14961" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T04:38:52.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22600" CreationDate="2015-02-19T05:47:32.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You get better because you put training stress on your system - that is what causes the adaptation. Initially, pretty much everything you do causes training stress, so you get better, but if you keep running at the same intensity, you will plateau. Which may be fine if that's where you want to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to continue to improve, however, you need what is known as specificity, which involves workouts that are shorter but targeted at improving specific things. So, when you reach a certain point, not only does high intensity work benefit your overall speed, it's really the only way to keep improving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are numerous different approaches to doing this, from structured programs like specific intervals to informal ones like fartlek. I suggest finding a good running forum and asking there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T05:47:32.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23623" CreationDate="2015-02-19T07:25:48.903" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Is my 5x8 adaptation a good or bad idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is a good idea. The 5x5 format is for a purpose, to do heavy lifts for many sets, to add strength. Increasing reps per set will lead to more work yes, but you will lift less on the next sets, leading to a more endurance focused workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;What difference will 5x8 have on my progress compared to 5x5?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answered this above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Will the addition of accessory work effect my strength?&#xA;        When a plateau aries what kind of things can I do to my program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hard to say, different people have different optimal levels of work for progress. Pushing yourself harder does not always lead to more progress. I also wonder how much you rest before each set, considering the fact that you can get these extra lifts into your workout. These strength focused workouts usually call for very long resting periods, up to 3-4 minutes or more. It's very easy to go for the next set too early. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T07:25:48.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23618" CreationDate="2015-02-19T07:27:12.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try it out? Go for a walk without swinging your arms and see if it counts a reasonable number of steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking, the accelerometer will definitely be able to record your steps even if you don't swing your arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T07:27:12.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23623" CreationDate="2015-02-19T09:43:51.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;5x8 changes the program drastically. It will be harder to add weight regularly, and the stimulus will tend more towards endurance and hypertrophy than strength. I'm not sure that's a good idea but you're free to see how it goes. I would say that you're dramatically changing the character of the program by doing that while also adding so many assistance exercises. You should not expect to get the same results as orthodox StrongLifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accessory work can both interfere with your primary work and help the assistance movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The StrongLifts PDF covers plateaus on page 47 with a good explanation of stalls and deloads. You should reread that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might find it useful to look into more bodybuilding-centric programs, since it sounds like that's what you want. GreySkull LP or a push/pull/legs routine are good places to start. You might also find it useful to just focus on a strength program for the time being, and switch to a bodybuilding program later. That strength program would probably look something like StrongLifts without your modifications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T09:43:51.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23623" CreationDate="2015-02-19T14:11:52.053" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If physique is your primary goal, then your changes are not bad.  However, it does require some adjustments to how you approach progression.  First and foremost, volume is the #1 determiner of how much muscle you put on (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/powerlifters-should-train-more-like-bodybuilders/&quot;&gt;citation&lt;/a&gt;).  There are a wide variety of ways to increase volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One strategy is to maintain the same weight while you increase volume:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start at 3x10, and work toward 3x15 with the same weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase by 10 lbs and start over at 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When increasing like this isn't working, drop 10% off the weight and do 5x10 to 5x15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a common approach used by bodybuilders and powerlifters (particularly in the off season) alike.  At this point the program would no longer resemble StrongLifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another strategy is to continually increase weight, but change the shape of the volume:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start at 3x8, increasing 5 lbs each time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you miss, repeat the next time but do 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The next time, change it to 8x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When that fails, drop 10% of the weight and do 5x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside to this approach is that 8x3 takes much longer than 3x8, and you will feel wrecked by the time it's done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoiding Dogmatism&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not everyone needs to train the same way (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/the-best-exercises/&quot;&gt;citation&lt;/a&gt;).  In fact, during your evolution as a lifter, you won't be training the same way all the time (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/making-your-novice-strength-training-routine-more-effective-two-quick-tips/&quot;&gt;citation&lt;/a&gt;).  Everyone benefits from cycles of putting on more volume and training like a bodybuilder, and everyone benefits from cycles of focusing on putting more weight on the bar.  The first builds muscle mass, which in turn translates to strength.  The second forces you to focus on technique and applying that strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem I have with both StrongLifts and Starting Strength is the dogmatism of it's adherents.  They are both very good beginner programs.  Their focus is somewhere in the middle of focusing on volume and focusing on adding weight.  However, they are general programs and give you general results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to focus on&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common exercise elements between StrongLifts and Starting Strength are excellent foundations of any strength training program.  Squats, bench press, deadlifts, overhead press.  However, when you have to manage fatigue sometimes you have to adjust your exercise selection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prioritize the core lifts for essential strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When working with high rep sets, deadlifts take more than they give.  If physique is your focus, snatch grip deadlift for volume will do you better than heavy deadlifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There will come a time where the volume will start to feel a bit much.  Your ability to think becomes muddled, and you feel like you are living in a fog.  This is when it's time to switch your approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every time you change approaches, take weight off the bar and build back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid injury prone movements if you can (example, chest flies can overstretch the shoulder tendons and a better alternative for chest development would be the dumbbell bench press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn your body's cues.  There's a difference between motivation problems and just being worn down.  Motivation problems can be resolved by using a different variation of a lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the advantages of training for physique is that you don't have competition lifts you have to practice.  You can be freer to use different variations.  Bench with the feet up, or on the floor.  Use an incline.  Use different implements.  Training for Strongman is somewhere between training for physique and powerlifting.  As a result you are exposed to an even larger series of implements to use for getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest take away is that what you are doing can no longer be called &quot;StrongLifts&quot;, just based off of it.  As a result, Medhi's advice on progression really isn't going to apply to you.  Take some of the ideas in this answer and work with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T14:11:52.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-19T14:53:38.813" Score="5" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know about the importance of good sleep after strength workouts, due to the release of growth hormone during deep sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No matter how hard I try, my body refuses to sleep more than 6 hours.&lt;/strong&gt; Going to bed early only means I will wake up spontaneously before the alarm clock. The only exception happens when I sleep two hours or less (not often), then my body will allow me to sleep for 8 or 9 hours the following day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days ago I had my strength training session after having slept only 2 hours. I didn´t perform much worse than usually. Interestingly, since I had some sleep debt I could go to bed early that night and get 9 hours of natural post-workout sleep!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which leads me to the following: perhaps it is not a bad idea to restrict your sleep time the night before a workout, so that you get more sleep the night before, just before having exposed your muscles to micro-trauma in the Gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a known method? Is it unhealthy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T19:19:46.767" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T23:42:42.047" Title="Less sleep the night before, in order to sleep more the night after a strength workout" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23636" CreationDate="2015-02-19T15:01:44.260" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being deprived of sleep can significantly affect your testosterone levels. &quot;I can drop your testosterone level to zero by depriving you of sleep for one night.&quot; - Dr. Kirk Parsley&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend against your approach. For more information about the importance of sleep, listen to &lt;a href=&quot;http://daily.barbellshrugged.com/better_at_everything/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this episode of Barbell Shrugged&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13860" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-19T15:23:34.650" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T15:23:34.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23636" CreationDate="2015-02-19T15:23:27.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMHO&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quit drinking  too much  coffee.&#xA;It helps.&#xA;Also low carb diets reduce sleep hours&#xA;and fasting as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But  generally ,  there is no reason to  sleep  less in order to  sleep  more.&#xA;Heavy workout effect is much longer then 1 day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T15:23:27.937" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23636" CreationDate="2015-02-19T15:26:19.543" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a terrible idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being sleep-deprived makes that workout suffer, particularly for high-intensity workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, sleep debt is not &quot;paid back&quot; with a single night of copious sleep. Not getting enough sleep can take a few days to fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T15:26:19.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23618" CreationDate="2015-02-19T17:34:44.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They use various accelerometers and detect motion on numerous algorithms to count at activity.  It won't be 100% accurate but it's not &quot;sorry, you didn't swing your arm buddy... NO REP&quot; either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2716" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T17:34:44.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23609" CreationDate="2015-02-19T20:56:19.790" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Commenters on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/BALLET/comments/14mrgy/dancers_what_do_you_do_to_reduce_ingrown_toenail/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;/r/ballet&lt;/a&gt; said, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;do NOT cut them very short, they will just keep growing back. You have to let them grow to the point where they don't hurt as much and keep them at a length that doesn't bother you but isn't too long for pointe. You can also soak your feet in water and epsom salt, google it for how much. This helps heal your toes, especially if you've cut them short recently. I hope this helps, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several other comments there which I have not excerpted since I have no expertise in the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T20:56:19.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23608" CreationDate="2015-02-19T21:06:15.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The harm would be found in a lack of support for parts of your body (or another person's body) that needs support and doesn't benefit from getting tossed about as you run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chafing_%28skin%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chafing&lt;/a&gt; is another issue, and a lot of runners will wear bandaids over their nipples to prevent bleeding and broken skin. A lot of folks with big legs wear slick shorts that cover at least the tops of their thighs, so that their &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adductor_muscles_of_the_hip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hip adductors&lt;/a&gt; don't rub the skin raw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jockstrap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jockstraps&lt;/a&gt; have been replaced largely by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_garment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compression shorts&lt;/a&gt;, which for some people (like male Olympic weightlifters) is critical because you really don't want anything sticking out when the bar flies up across your pelvis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if you can run without the need for protective gear, have fun. People who need support will wear clothes that provide it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T21:06:15.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23636" CreationDate="2015-02-20T02:10:01.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote a full blown blog post on this exact issue. You can check it out here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.primalbulletproof.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/my-favourite-sleeping-well-techniques.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.primalbulletproof.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/my-favourite-sleeping-well-techniques.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, sleep is critical for immunity repair and to be at your cognitive peak. I can especially feel the lack of sleep the morning after when I do my gym training session. Everything feels a bit harder and you don't even enjoy the day as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestion and recommendation which will help you sleep better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most important thing is to sleep in a dark room. Turn off all the damn lights, put your electronic devices in flight mode.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Timing and routine: It's helpful to sleep on the same time everyday, including weekends. Body\brain likes routine. Even if you sleep late some day, you will notice that you will still end up waking up at the same time. This is because body has already started releasing cortisol hormone which reaches it's peak just before we get up and that helps us wake up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lighting before you sleep: Excessive indoor lighting after sunset inhibits melatonin production, that's your sleep hormone. Try reducing the light at home or in your room as your get closer to sleep time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Blue blockers and f.lux - All of us end up watching TV or using digital devices even very close to the sleep time. It's a great idea to wear blue blockers in the night and optionally run f.lux software on your laptop\mac. Blue blockers will block with blue spectrum of light which inhibits melatonin production.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try honey and magnesium: Magnesium helps relax muscles (in addition to 100s of other things for which it is needed). Get a good magnesium supplement, the ones ending in -ate.&#xA;Have it just before you sleep. &#xA;Optionally, also try half a spoon of raw honey before you sleep. Make sure to use the raw one and not processed one. Honey being fructose is metabolized by the liver and brain preferentially uses liver glycogen (or sugar) in the night, as we sleep. Remember, brain is still doing critical work and processes as we are sleeping and this extra bit of energy in the form of liver glycogen will keep it happy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Food: Get plenty of fat and some carbs in the night: Fats will provide you with steady and sustained energy as you sleep. Carbs in the night (back loading) instead of in the morning (front loading) is a much smarter idea for most people. I have starches like rice and sweet potato in mind. I can't recommend whole bread since it has gluten and even otherwise is very processed and is made from grains.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No coffee after 2 pm: Or at least 8 hours before you sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hot shower before sleeping - I haven't tried this personally but some people swear by it. Take a hot shower before you sleep and just relax in the bath tub for a bit. If you like, even put on some candles. May sound a bit woo woo but it's all about setting up the environment and giving your body and brain some time to diffuse and relax.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14960" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-02-25T23:42:42.047" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T23:42:42.047" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23606" CreationDate="2015-02-20T06:52:11.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm inclined to recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://justgetflux.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flux&lt;/a&gt;. It dims the blue component in your monitor. This gives it a slight reddish glow, but after 15 minutes, you're used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most amazing thing about it, is that if you've used it for 30 minutes or so, and turn it off, you're going to be in awe of how much regular monitor light hurts your eyes. I pretty much keep it on all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T06:52:11.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23646" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-20T07:33:17.287" Score="0" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I have hit my fat percentage wall. I weigh between 175-178 lbs and my body fat percentage is consistently 22-28%. Here is my routine. I crossfit in the morning,  so I get some good cardio. I try to run 0.5 - 1 mile at a pace of 6 mph. I then do bench press or dead Max 2-3 days per week by myself.  I consume lots of water. I eat paleo 5 days a week. I eat cheat meals like pizza or high carb burger or burrito for just 3 meals a week. Despite all these my body fat % remains the same. It never goes below 23. I want it to bring 18 or under in 2 months. What am I doing wrong? What can I do different to break this wall? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am male, 27, weight 175-178, height 5'10&quot;. I do crossfit, other than that I lift a little bit of weight. Bench press Max - 130. Dead lift Max - 215. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3849" LastEditorUserId="3849" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T17:00:51.520" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T18:45:26.083" Title="Hit my fat percentage wall, help me out I would give it all" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23646" CreationDate="2015-02-20T08:11:51.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you losing weight at all? How are you measuring your fat percentage? Scales that use bioelectric impedance are not very reliable. However, make the best of it and always measure in the morning, before breakfast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Count you calories, make a conservative estimate of your calorie expediture, adapt your diet to the expenditure and you will lose weight, and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lower your fat percentage you'll have to signal your body to maintain muscle as well, and cardio is NOT ideal for this purpose, neither is crossfit, which isn't really in the right rep count range to to maintain muscle mass and strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you clarify this deadlift/bench press thing? Are you doing serious weight lifting? How often, at what times, how long? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T08:11:51.613" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-20T11:58:13.043" Score="1" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's constant talk about how low rep-ranges favor strength gains, while high rep-ranges favor size gains. At least, that's the general consensus, it seems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During my last few sessions, I've stepped down my rep-range from 3x8 and into 5x5. But I was thinking...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We generally agree on the effects of adjusting your rep-range, but what about adjusting the set-range?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For instance, what would be the effects of going from a 3x3 scheme, to a 5x3 or an 8x3 scheme?&lt;/strong&gt; (For the record, that's sets x reps. Just to prevent any possible confusion.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, one might probably lift pretty heavy for the first 3-4 sets (assuming proper warm-up before first set), and then drop the weight slightly while still doing 3 reps every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you once again be doing hypertrophy training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T00:07:19.570" Title="Effects of adjusting set range instead of rep range" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23606" CreationDate="2015-02-20T12:02:34.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best &quot;exercise&quot; for your eyes is a 5-mins break: as often as you can. Here is a simple experiment you can do to better understand what it means for your eyes to focus on a screen for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, while you are looking a movie, raise your hand parallel to the floor and keep it like that during the movie. How many minutes could you resist? Now realize that while watching a movie or looking at any other screen, your eyes are doing a similar job - muscles are tight and maintain the 3D-shape and position of your eyes to make them focus on the screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, think about this: is there any type of exercise that would allow you to keep your hand in a horizontal position for at least 1 hour continuously without any hurt or pain? Obviously, no. The same goes for eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14975" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T12:02:34.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23648" CreationDate="2015-02-20T14:53:44.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer will be quite speculative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are basically two types of muscle fiber, slow twitch and fast twitch, where the latter are more powerful but more sensitive to fatigue. I guess if you're lifting a large part of your one rep max, you won't be able to lift the weight anymore when your fast twitch fibers are fatigued enough, i.e. whenever you are lifting the heavy weight, it should load your fast twitch muscles, i.e. as long as you can lift the heavy weight, you're actually causing microtears to the &quot;right&quot; fibers and signaling growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually of course, you will cause such amounts of microtears that you will not be able to recover from it anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, no 3x8 should not be similar to 8x3 because it's the same volume, it will still be strength-focused training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do something like 8x3 and start to lower your weight because you can't lift the weight anymore, you are probably actually moving the focus to your still &quot;fresh&quot; slow twitch fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T14:53:44.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23648" CreationDate="2015-02-20T15:07:02.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don’t know of any scientific studies to prove out a specific range of sets or reps that induce hypertrophy.  Although your background info stated a generally accepted &lt;em&gt;consensus&lt;/em&gt; for training, we are all individuals, and, we all react to training stress differently.  Changing the sets and reps is definitely a good idea, if for nothing else, to avoid a training plateau and stagnant progress.  But, weight training is just one aspect for increasing muscle mass (hypertrophy). That’s why it’s so difficult for some, and, easy for others to gain mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In this case, one might probably lift pretty heavy for the first 3-4&#xA;  sets (assuming proper warm-up before first set), and then drop the&#xA;  weight slightly while still doing 3 reps every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you describe is a variation of a training technique known as strip sets.  Again, strips sets are another mechanism that can be used for training variation.  One common way to perform them is to perform each set to “failure”, then, strip some of the weight and immediately perform another set.  That way, you are able to increase training volume while trying to move beyond the point of failure.  This is not to be confused with super setting because the same exercise is still being performed.  I can’t stress enough the importance of &lt;strong&gt;training variation&lt;/strong&gt; to avoid plateaus.  Strip sets are just one of the methods you can use to avoid them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you once again be doing hypertrophy training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the only real way to know for sure is to obtain a &lt;em&gt;muscle biopsy&lt;/em&gt; so the underlying cells can be adequately examined.  Probably not worth doing unless you’re a professional athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T15:07:02.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23653" CreationDate="2015-02-20T19:18:35.343" Score="7" ViewCount="589" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to avoid injuries at all costs while still training for strength. I seem not to have the greatest recovery ability (42 yr male, healthy but &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23636/less-sleep-the-night-before-in-order-to-sleep-more-the-night-after-a-strength-w&quot;&gt;unable to sleep more than 6 hours a day on average&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out once every four days (I was training once every three days but thanks to this useful site I &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/22321/can-a-two-weeks-pause-have-a-positive-impact-on-strength-training&quot;&gt;became aware a month ago that it was too much for me&lt;/a&gt;). But even now, the night before the next strength training I can still press hard on my muscles and feel some light soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not pain. And I need to press hard with a finger in order to feel that soreness. But it is there, perhaps signaling that my muscles have not yet recovered. &lt;strong&gt;Does that mean I am overtraining?&lt;/strong&gt; I monitor other variables, like my RHR, that usually &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23605/why-does-my-rhr-rise-every-day-after-a-strength-workout&quot;&gt;rises a bit each day before a workout&lt;/a&gt; but returns to normal one day later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T08:30:08.247" Title="Should I wait until my muscles are 100% free of any signal of soreness before training for strength again?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23652" CreationDate="2015-02-20T19:50:12.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness is not an indicator of overtraining. Go ahead and work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-25T08:30:08.247" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T08:30:08.247" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23648" CreationDate="2015-02-20T22:27:09.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a bunch of sound scientific studies on that question (Hans et al. 2000 / Rhea et al. 2002 / Bors et al. 2001 / Wolfe et al. 2004) essentially suggesting that performing more than 2~3 sets offers little additional progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took those references from this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Research.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nice summary in EXRX&lt;/a&gt; with many scholar references and many more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remark: Perhaps many 3 rep sets with submaximal loads might elicit neural adaptations (you are essentially practicing a movement pattern, so who knows). But working out with 3RM loads is no joke, and performing many sets in a row is probably asking for injuries. Poor form in the last set of a 12RM load is not uncommon, whereas poor form under a 3RM dumbbell may send your shoulder directly to the surgeon table. My (humble and amateur) opinion is that anyone working in the very low rep range would better stick to the Bill Starr - alike systems since they have stood the test of time, e.g. Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-02-21T00:07:19.570" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T00:07:19.570" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23646" CreationDate="2015-02-21T06:07:28.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To decrease your fat percentage, you need to lose fat, increase lean muscle mass, or do both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two approaches used for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do a &quot;steady state approach&quot; where you eat enough to keep your weight constant and exercise enough so that you don't lose muscle at the same time. This is known as &quot;recomposition&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do the &quot;bulk/cut&quot;. In a bulk, you eat a slight excess over what your body needs and weightlift hard, so that you put on a lot of muscle and a little fat. And then you cut, where you eat less than what your body needs and continue to weightlift to retain your muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only done the recomposition approach. It can work, but it's slow. Doing a bulk/cut is common among weightlifters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention how you had your body fat measured; there are a lot of methods, and many aren't very accurate. You may not be at 23%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5% of your body weight is about 8-9 pounds. At 1 pound per week, you can lose that much weight. If you eat at a deficit of 500 calories per day and continue to do the weightlifting that you are currently doing, you should make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T06:07:28.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-21T13:17:22.987" Score="4" ViewCount="547" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to start alternating workouts/stretchings that I can do from home (with my limited equipment, listed below), with gym sessions (because I am a student, I have access to a full equiped gym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My home equipment is very scarse, and consists of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A stretching mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A yoga ball (which I usually use for sitting when I am working on my laptop)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something similar to the pictured below, which is usually used for push-ups&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bnz9N.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; how to start a home workouts (there are already good answers &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9808/exercise-for-shoulders-strength-with-no-special-equipment&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/20930/home-workout-exercises-with-minimal-equipment&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; regarding that topic; I have also looked into &lt;a href=&quot;http://neilarey.com/workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;), but rather &lt;strong&gt;how to combine a mix of home workouts and gym 2x per week&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am 23, 6'4, 93 kg, fit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have had a couple operations on my right leg in the past, including a torn ACL. Because of this I would like to avoid running as cardio.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is maybe a soft-question, but I am also interested in personal experiences: what works for &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My objectives are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gaining strength, building muscle and also very important to gain flexibility/coordination. As a &quot;big&quot; person, it is something I would like to improve.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't have any specific sport in mind. But in the past I have played (and would like to start with again) &lt;strong&gt;basketball&lt;/strong&gt;. I also would like to start &lt;strong&gt;skiing/snowboarding&lt;/strong&gt; next winter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mostly it is that I like to be fit and exercising in general to fill my time with other things besides studying/working.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14988" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-22T08:40:09.570" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T08:48:36.733" Title="Combining home exercise with limited equipment with gym" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-21T16:25:09.217" Score="2" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;All this time I thought it was ok to do concentration curls with your arm hanging freely, instead of your elbow being pressed against your thigh. Now I didn't see any videos or blogs which said anything against this, but I was just wondering whether it's correct form or not. Furthermore, which would aid in getting stronger biceps faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, after doing it the way I've seen in videos (with my elbows resting against by thighs) I've noticed that my biceps don't bulge out as much compared to when I do the curls freely. Does this mean this method is slower at muscle development compared to my method? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13478" LastEditorUserId="13478" LastEditDate="2015-02-21T20:23:48.397" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T00:00:31.773" Title="Is it correct form to do concentration curls with your arm hanging freely? If not, why does it result in muscles bulging out more?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23666" CreationDate="2015-02-21T17:39:42.240" Score="6" ViewCount="1254" Body="&lt;p&gt;5 weeks ago I've started an 8 week training program which consists of fullbody training 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After years of stagnation I feel real progress in all major muscle groups. However, probably due to heavily increased training load I've got sore knees now for about week. The knees seem to get better after a day off but when I train them the following day seems worse than before. It DOESN'T hurt during exercise and I think I have quite good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me like the ligaments have just not yet adapted to the increased load but I would hate to injure myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me it seems like I should give my knees extra days off but I would hate to break my training routine now when the trainings should be hardest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In more detail the following training day I should squat just  2 sets of 18 repetitions so it will be quite light weight (60 kg in my case). The volume is quite high however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14969" LastEditorUserId="14969" LastEditDate="2015-02-21T17:45:00.943" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T18:51:42.610" Title="Should I squat with sore knees?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-21T17:49:42.210" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any hands-on experience or advice on how to  use the so called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bench_shirt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench shirt&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5381" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T17:49:42.210" Title="Bench Press Shirt?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-23T04:30:45.807" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23646" CreationDate="2015-02-21T18:45:26.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;try  simple  approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut physical  activity  by  2/3(volume) , but  keep  the  weight on the bar.&#xA;Cut calories to 800 Cal  a day(200g protein from lean  meats). Add I pill of multivitamin and 10 grams  of fish Oil. any  number  of green leafs.&#xA;For  2 weeks .&#xA;It is usefull if you are low-carber paleo eater, in this case it would be easy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;you  may loose up to  10  of weight  this  way, and about a half  would be fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This diet  is not  easy  ,  but  very  effective .&#xA;For 2 weeks.&#xA;the actual diet is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rapid-fat-loss-handbook/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rapid-fat-loss-handbook/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T18:45:26.083" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23662" CreationDate="2015-02-21T18:51:42.610" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think most athletes are familiar with &lt;strong&gt;good vs bad pain&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good pain is just soreness, typically &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout/19157#19157&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;, and not an acute injury that you are aggravating. Good pain also tends to be transitory: it comes up with new exercises or increased load, and then goes away. Also, exercise tends to make it feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad pain is sharper and tends to be indicative of a more (or at least potentially more) serious injury. It tends to stick around more and over time it gets worse instead of better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joint pain in general is universally a bad thing. You can rule out things like DOMS, and instead rule in things like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendinitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tendinitis&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bursitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bursitis&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_of_meniscus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cartilage problems&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To me it seems like I should give my knees extra days off but I would&#xA;  hate to break my training routine now when the trainings should be&#xA;  hardest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're training right, you'll pretty much have that sentiment (maybe not about your knees) forever. These would be, without a doubt, the hardest things in athletic training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pushing when you need to push. This is actually the easiest of the hardest things. When you feel like a gazelle, running is enjoyable and fun. When you feel like a beast, pushing lots of weight is fun.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Taking breaks when you need to. Having to stop pushing, having to throttle yourself back, having to push 60% of your weight while some clown next to you is pushing more than you. Basically this is about keeping your ego in check and having faith in the plan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Getting back on the horse after injuries, illness, and screw ups. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is that taking a week completely off will mean almost zero towards your progression, and might even help. Conversely, if you're flirting with a real injury, pushing through that week can sideline you for much longer amounts of time where you'll spend weeks (or months) unable to train. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T18:51:42.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23659" CreationDate="2015-02-21T19:31:38.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a slightly similar situation to yours in that I traveled around a developing nation for a couple of years without access to any form of gym equipment. In short, I would try to do something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gym Days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do full body barbell strength training. One day do squats, overhead press, and deadlifts. The other day, do squats, bench press, and power cleans (or barbell or dumb bell rows). Those are equipment dependent exercises and you'll making the most use of your time. Honestly, you could just do that twice a week and you'd make good progress. Aim for 3 ramping warmup sets of 5, then one set of 5 around 80%, then one set of 5 around 95%-100% (as in 95% of your 5RM, not 95% of your 1RM). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Home Days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of this depends on your goals, but these are some ideas and you can mix/match.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yoga. Yoga is awesome, and like strength training anyone who's done it for a while can speak to the great results. I find yoga a bit hard to do by myself. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gymnast rings. Dips, pullups, levers, shoot-thrus, muscle ups, and even crosses are available all via simple set of $50 rings. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;General calisthenic conditioning. You should probably be doing these things as warmups anyway, but a nice ~15 blend of burpees, flutter kicks, pushups, bicycles, pullups, and maybe some pistols if you can handle them would go far.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-02-21T19:31:38.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23660" CreationDate="2015-02-22T00:00:31.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with performing biceps concentration curls in the manner you describe as long as you do them in a &lt;strong&gt;controlled&lt;/strong&gt; manner.  There's actually no correlation between the style of the curls you perform and whether you get “stronger biceps faster”.  Stick with what works for you.  And, biceps concentration curls are typically done as a “finishing” (does not mean at the end of your routine) exercise in order to improve the peak of the biceps (think of the peak on Arnold Schwarzenegger's upper arms). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UuH9H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the “bulge” you speak about, there are plenty of factors that contribute to the muscle &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson161.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;“pump”&lt;/a&gt; (bulge) you feel.  What you are experiencing is an increase in blood flow to the biceps that produces a temporary “bulge”.  So, again, there's no correlation between the “pump” and slow muscle development. I would encourage you to do both forms of curls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T00:00:31.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23659" CreationDate="2015-02-22T08:48:36.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were at the gym twice a week and working out at home one or more times a week, I'd focus my gym time on big strength exercises and my home workouts on mobility and bodyweight moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, one template might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym: squat, pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Home workout: Yoga (following a video if you have never been to class), burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym: deadlift, overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Home workout: Yoga, push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym: squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym: squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Home workout: lunges, plank, burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Home workout: push-ups, air squats, mountain climbers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic template is to use the gym to work on strength and the home workouts to work on everything else: flexibility, mobility, conditioning, muscle endurance. It's generally best for the strength workouts to follow a well-tested program, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into something like 5/3/1 or StrongLifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T08:48:36.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23674" CreationDate="2015-02-22T15:12:11.050" Score="5" ViewCount="4347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently just starting working out at a gym, and people told me that I should really work on my lower back and not to skip it etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand that it is better to work out all my muscles in my body and not skip any, but what does working out lower back help me with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like, does it help my posture or weight lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7191" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T17:25:58.343" Title="Why do I have to work my lower back?" Tags="&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23673" CreationDate="2015-02-22T15:32:19.513" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The muscles of the lower back play a critical role in posture, weightlifting (the specific sport), and lifting weights (generally). They keep your torso erect, making them helpful during just about every physical activity that involves running, bearing a load, or jumping. A strong lower back makes back pain and back injury less likely and aids in sports performance of all kinds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, it's kind of a good idea to strengthen the lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T15:32:19.513" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23696" CreationDate="2015-02-22T16:16:05.150" Score="4" ViewCount="1494" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started working out at a gym, and I've been critiqued by a friend with whom I work out that I don't do the exercises as they are supposed to be done. I.e. when doing bicep curls I tend stop lowering the weight at approximately 120-130 degrees rathter than 150-160 degrees. The reason for this is that I don't have any force at all, even for really low weights, if I extend the arm further. My question is how this affects my strength gain? Do these additional 30 degrees make a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14995" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T14:32:34.467" Title="Effects of not extending arm fully during bicep curl" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23673" CreationDate="2015-02-22T17:20:42.427" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Side note for those experiencing back pain. Your spine is held upright by both the rectus abdominis (abdominals) and the erector spinae (lower back). They act in opposition, much like guy wires hold up a radio tower. If tension on one set of muscles is greater/less than the other, there will be stress on the spine. What can happen is that if the abdominals are weak, the lower back muscles will be pulling on the spine more than normal, causing strain in those muscles. So, counterintuitively, a sore lower back can possibly be due to weak abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14998" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T17:20:42.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23980" CreationDate="2015-02-22T18:33:52.077" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vegetarian swimmers in Egypt are routinely given mycoprotein as a way of building muscle and as a substitute for animal protein. Is mycoprotein known to improve swimming performance and muscle development?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T18:10:03.040" Title="What is the impact of mycoprotein on muscle development?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23679" CreationDate="2015-02-22T18:41:02.380" Score="2" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it true that simple duct tape can be used to correct bad posture? If so can someone suggest how to do this and is there something better than duct tape (something water proof, for instance) available for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T19:52:13.310" Title="Taping the back for good posture" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-15T22:46:39.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23678" CreationDate="2015-02-22T19:52:13.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't go with duct tape, as that would most likely hurt when you remove it. ;)&#xA;Kinesio tape is generally used to help support injured areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it would be better to go this route:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfiveminuteyoga.com/303/take-your-shoulders-back-with-a-long-strap/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://myfiveminuteyoga.com/303/take-your-shoulders-back-with-a-long-strap/&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KkF2n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reasons:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's not duct tape, so no skin tearing and no adhesive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's reusable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's adjustable &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; you put it on, which duct tape isn't.  (Do you really want to realize that you made it too tight, take it off, then have to do it over again?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, the yoga strap is surprisingly comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15000" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T19:52:13.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23673" CreationDate="2015-02-22T23:40:50.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you work smart on your lower back not only will it slow down &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerative_disc_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;degenerative disc disease&lt;/a&gt;, but will be more trained for injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often people with sedentary work complaint from low back pain or cervical pain. Normal human spine position is straight. When you sit spine take more than 20% more from normal load. Every years catabolic processes destroy more and more cells in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervertebral_disc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intervertebral discs (ivd)&lt;/a&gt;. Micro traumas like sitting in with bad posture, bending and twist accelerate this process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training your low back, you help your muscles where support spine to be more strong and stick it in place. IVDs will get more reserved for long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decreasing degenerative disc disease is complex process. You'll need not only train muscle on low back, but all back, gluteal muscles and legs. They take pressure from body weight when sitting. Exercises like dead lift and squats are great for good body form. I mean every free weight exercise is good choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink plenty of water not only help for back, but for all body parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15002" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-02-23T17:25:58.343" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T17:25:58.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23681" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-23T00:51:09.537" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current training sessions consist of the following :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 elevated push ups (foot on an elevated platform)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25 squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 second planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 reps of the above, once every other day, totalling about 3-4 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet I'm following is the Paleo diet, which consist mostly of meats and vegetables and skipping on the carbs. I do have cheat days though, maybe 3 meals per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, I don't have the luxury or time to go to a gym. I'm starting to feel my training session is no longer taxing on my body, so I was hoping to make it harder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could I change/tweak in my training regime, aside from increasing the reps, so that it would be more effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals are to build my strength and lose body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12042" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T14:05:52.083" Title="How to further my training without going to a gym?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23681" CreationDate="2015-02-23T02:34:01.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you incorporate more standing and walking during the day you will burn more calories without having to go to the gym. &lt;sub&gt;[1]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand up at work (and at home). Try not to sit in an office chair or on the couch for hours on end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your list of exercises I would add two elements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some kind of sit-ups or crunches to work the abdominal muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups or curls to work the biceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burpees are also a good full-body exercise that can burn a lot of calories. There are quite a few variations to work extra muscle groups. &lt;sub&gt;[2]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/73916-calories-burned-standing-vs.-sitting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/73916-calories-burned-standing-vs.-sitting/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_%28exercise%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_%28exercise%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12093" LastEditorUserId="7191" LastEditDate="2015-02-23T13:27:44.213" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T13:27:44.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23681" CreationDate="2015-02-23T02:45:52.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of ways to make bodyweight exercises harder, and they generally involve decreasing leverage to making exercises harder, or doing unilateral exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, using just your current plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 uneven push ups (one hand higher than the other, alternating)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25 one-legged squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 second birddogs ( a plank with oneleg and the opposite arm raised).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T02:45:52.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22425" CreationDate="2015-02-23T03:28:36.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Geoff said, don't give up! The single most effective thing you can do is have continuous week-after-week, month-after-month fitness improvement. This means running 3 - 4 times per week, 20 - 40 miles per week, pretty much year round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of figuring out your race targets, let the McMillan running calculator be your guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have a chance at a 1:30 Half Marathon when you get your 10k PR down to 40 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Marathon is a completely different beast because of the fueling complexity. There are very few people who make the jump to the marathon and &quot;feel great&quot; and hit the predicted time on the first try, or even the first few tries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When planning your Half Marathon or Marathon-specific workouts, consider the words of Renato Canova (coach of many distance World Record holders): “What does a 2-hour easy run have to do with the marathon? Nothing.” [1]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generalize this to &quot;how does this workout relate to the target race?&quot; when planning a training cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canova also says that the two most important things of distance training are to &quot;run fast and run long. And sometimes run fast and long together.&quot; [2]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2014/02/training/take-your-marathon-long-runs-to-the-next-level_58406&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://running.competitor.com/2014/02/training/take-your-marathon-long-runs-to-the-next-level_58406&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] INSIDE: Kenya (Ep. 2), a Flotrack original series (paid content)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12093" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T03:28:36.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-23T04:55:07.793" Score="2" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the things that really motivates me when swimming, cycling or running is 'racing myself'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, all the lap timers I've found so far have the normal lap function of measuring the lap time, but not actually 'resetting' the clock each lap. So say I'm trying to keep on a 90 second turnaround and I make 83 seconds and press the lap button, then the clock continues on to 84, 85, 86 ... etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like something that resets the clock each time I press the lap button so then I can &lt;strong&gt;actually&lt;/strong&gt; see my current time versus my previous lap, versus having to mentally calculate it each time. This way I can pace myself more effectively and motivate myself to work harder if say I usually hit the halfway mark at 40 seconds, but I just did it in 43 for that lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any sort of smartphone app or perhaps an actual stopwatch etc would be okay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15005" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T05:11:34.390" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T17:25:30.627" Title="Do you know a lap timer that 'resets' each lap?" Tags="&lt;timing&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22201" CreationDate="2015-02-23T05:24:09.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened to me when I started doing vigorous yoga again after an extended period of absence.  My flexor muscles would cramp in simple things like child pose, but my base foot would always cramp during balance postures. It went away after a few weeks, in combination with the exercise and corrective measures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My primary training is as a massage therapist and I tend to find a massage-related answer first. (What can I say, I'm biased!)  So, question- are your calves fairly tight? There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myofascialtherapy.org/symptom-checker/symptomcheck/symptom_leg_flexor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pain referral patterns&lt;/a&gt; that might be mistaken for cramping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, it was a combination of things- muscles unused to activating were now being asked to activate &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt;, and much tighter gastroch-soleus group due to walking to work in heels.  I changed my shoes, kept exercising, and it went away.  I still think that it's mostly due to &quot;overuse of muscles that are not accustomed to exercise.&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/25/what-causes-leg-cramps/comment-page-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15000" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T05:24:09.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22201" CreationDate="2015-02-23T05:39:40.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend rolling the bottoms of your feet with a tennis ball; that should help loosen things up nicely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T05:39:40.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23673" CreationDate="2015-02-23T05:42:38.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than work on the lower back specifically, I recommend working on your core instead. That involves the lower back, the abdominals, the muscles on the sides, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people have postural problems related to pelvic tilt; either tilted forward (anterior) or tilted back (posterior). This can lead to lower back pain and problems if you start to lift more weight in squats or deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T05:42:38.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23681" CreationDate="2015-02-23T08:05:09.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;It Can Always Get Harder&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elevate your feet higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do more squats, deeper, in every set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plank for a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go through the entire sequence four times instead of three, trying to finish in the same amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add lunges, burpees, or clapping push-ups to the sequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do more of what you're doing, do what you're doing better, do a harder version of what you're doing, or do something different also. Those options almost always exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Further reference&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preferred reference for making at-home exercise harder is Ross Enamait. Browse his &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://instagram.com/rosstraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;social media&lt;/a&gt; to get a general sense of his methodology, and consider picking up &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Never Gymless&lt;/a&gt;. The Primal Blueprint Fitness ebook also has some good ideas for designing Paleo-style home workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T08:05:09.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23701" CreationDate="2015-02-23T10:46:50.340" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I signed-up to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratracemanvsmountain.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Man vs. Mountain&lt;/a&gt;, it's a 20 mile race up (and down) Mount Snowdon. I'm looking for some advice with regards to training because it's a pretty daunting event and I've never done something like this before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently running 10km 2/3 times a week in ~48 minutes, but 20 miles is around 30km which, at an average of 4minutes 37seconds a kilometre, just isn't sustainable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They provide a 3-month training plan on the website but it's so generic that it'll be helpful, but it's obviously not tailored to me as an individual so it won't be as beneficial. Plus, the race is 7-months away so I'd like to start training now and feel more prepared!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So firstly I need to slow down, which feels a bit counter-intuitive because it's taken me about six months to get below 50 minutes - is this necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly (and the questions I have):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A) Should I train for a marathon to cover the 20 miles?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B) Should I go cycling to build my quads?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;C) Should I start fell running to grow more accustomed to the hills?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D) All of the above?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if some of these are more of a hindrance. I guess the ultimate goal is to maintain a decent up-hill pace for about 7 miles, to then complete the race in less than 5 hours? That's my goal anyway :) The fastest last year was 3 hours 30 minutes, so 5 hours seems reasonable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13936" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T20:56:42.337" Title="Training advice on long-distance running for a newbie" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-23T11:37:16.803" Score="6" ViewCount="2000" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 32 year old guy. I haven't done deadlifts or squats before, but occasionally did workouts on individual muscle groups, and running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking forward to building strength, gaining muscle and eventually losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to get started with deadlifts and squats to strengthen my core. Could anyone suggest a good way to get started?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15007" LastEditorUserId="13706" LastEditDate="2015-02-24T13:36:49.217" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T21:18:18.260" Title="How many times a week should I deadlift and squat as a beginner?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23692" CreationDate="2015-02-23T12:55:45.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recomend the SS program ( Starting Strength) as a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this program you will do squats 2 x a week.  and deadlifts 1 x a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this untill your lifts begin to stall (around 6 months), then swtich to an intermediate workout program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15008" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T12:55:45.820" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23692" CreationDate="2015-02-23T12:56:47.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not tried out &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5x5 training&lt;/a&gt; myself but it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;consists of two full body-workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Workout A: Squat, Bench Press, Barbell Row&#xA;Workout B: Squat, Overhead Press, Deadlift,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You train three times a week, alternating workout A and B, and resting&#xA;  at least one day between two workouts. You never train two days in a&#xA;  row because your body needs days off to get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the frequency of workouts is set, you only adjust/increase the intensity/weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="957" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T12:56:47.107" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23681" CreationDate="2015-02-23T14:05:52.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you to buy medicine ball. She will help you for new variants of exercises where other muscles start to act. Or  some dumbbells, weight most often help to increase strength.&#xA;To &quot; lose body fat&quot;  you'll need to burn more calories from taking over the day. Diet and training help, but i am not sure they are enough. What i mean? Best training for losing fats are aerobic exercise. If you don't have time for 30 min jogging, you can make sprints. I start with 3 x 100m every day. Then increase to 5 x 100 + jogging (20 min +) three times on week. If don't have time for this you can buy skipping rope. Also burning calories very good, don't take too much from your time like running, it's cheap and can skipping no matter what wheather is outside.&#xA;&quot;Build my strength and lose body fat&quot; its complex and hard, need some time and much personal destitution. Last year i lost 18 kg for 4 months doing what you now want. Don't give up and results will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15002" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T14:05:52.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23675" CreationDate="2015-02-23T14:32:34.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most personal trainers will tell you to work a muscle through its full range of motion (ROM).  The goal is to ensure that the muscle is under a constant and consistent load during each repetition of the exercise.  The load on the muscle tends to be greater for full range of motion even if you lift less weight.  A relatively recent (January 2014) study by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Citation/2014/01000/Impact_of_Range_of_Motion_During_Ecologically.32.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research&lt;/a&gt; found that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Greater morphological and architectural RT adaptations in the LR&#xA;  (owing to higher mechanical stress) result in a more significant&#xA;  increase in strength compared with that of the SR. The practical&#xA;  implications for this body of work follow that LR should be observed&#xA;  in RT where increased muscle strength and size are the objective,&#xA;  because we demonstrate here that ROM should not be compromised for&#xA;  greater external loading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What they found was that during resistance training (RT), the group that exercised with full range of motion (LR) actually outperformed the other test group that used shorter range of motion (SR).  There was even some discussion that ROM could also provide a reduction in fat stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of factors, however, that can cause you to lose range of motion.  Some include age and previous injury.  If you’re concerned about your strength gains, I would recommend you look at obtaining ROM (Range Of Motion) exercises from a trainer.  They would likely be simple stretches to improve ROM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T14:32:34.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23697" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-23T17:19:32.450" Score="2" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've looked at many rowing machines on the Internet. Now I do a lot of walking and some cycling (outdoors in good weather) but want to have an alternative to the treadmill and outside walking at home, particularly one that exercises the body as well as provides a cardio workout. I'm 75, have been in cardiac rehab for a year now, but am in good health and fitter than I was a year ago. Price is an issue, but anything less than $1,000 will be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15010" LastActivityDate="2020-01-03T14:01:57.163" Title="What rowing machines are best for both cardio and strength training?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23697" CreationDate="2015-02-23T18:44:15.370" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a competitive rower, I think I can answer your question.  I’m required to use an indoor rower in the “off-season” to improve my cardio fitness.  There are several factors to consider when selecting a rowing machine (also Ergometer, or, “erg”).  I’ll highlight what you should consider in making your decision and provide my recommendation (I have &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; affiliation with the company I recommend, but, I do own one of their rowers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, indoor rowers use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allrowers.com/indoor-rowing-machines.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;different mechanisms&lt;/a&gt; to provide resistance.  They range from air (fan wheel), piston, water, etc.   Each one has its own “feel” with subtle differences.  If you can, you should try each rower you are interested in to see how it &quot;fits&quot;.  Some more easily accommodate the training space where they will be used.   For example, most fan wheel types can be stood on end vertically while not being used.  I don’t think you’d want to stand the water version on end.  You should also consider the support and community that is behind the rower you choose.  Does the rower have a large base of users?  Does the company provide tools, videos, training to use your rower?  These are all things to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my recommendation.  The recognized leader in the rower industry is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/model-d&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Concept2&lt;/a&gt;.  Their rowers are used by many clubs, colleges and universities.  They’re not cheap and only available through Concept2.  As of this post, the current price for a new model D rower is &lt;strong&gt;$900&lt;/strong&gt;.  However, it’s a machine that’s built to last with features that make using it enjoyable.  It comes with a software enable monitor that can provide incentive and the ability to track your progress.  Additionally, you can attach a heart monitor (available from Concept2) to it and display your bpm on the progress monitor.  The rower can be stored vertically when not in use.  I find that important because it takes up less space.  The company’s web site provides a portal for you to record your progress and a forum to discuss and meet other users of their machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you haven’t already, I would recommend you check with your doctor before beginning to use a rower.  If you’re interested in the Concetp2 rower, there tend to be used versions available as users upgrade their models.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T18:44:15.370" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-23T20:44:08.680" Score="1" ViewCount="7210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm into bodyweight training and it's worked better for me than the gym.&#xA;I follow the Convict Conditioning program and it's working well for me so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm noticing progress every time I work out so I think I'm on the right track... however, my muscles are quite soft, especially my pecs.&#xA;I'm kind of happy with the firmness in my arms and legs, at least I'm noticing improvement in firmness and strength.&#xA;Abs are soft but I'm noticing improvement in firmness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pecs are getting stronger but I find them extremely soft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm naturally thin, i.e. I find it harder to gain weight than losing weight. I'm not too thin either so I'm quite happy with my weight. So I guess high body fat is probably not a reason for my soft pecs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) How can I get them firmer?&#xA;2) Are firmer muscles necessarily healthier? I read somewhere that firmer muscles mean that they're not relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not comfortable with protein shakes or other products so I don't have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15013" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T06:45:25.593" Title="How do I make my muscles harder/firmer?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-02T17:45:52.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23691" CreationDate="2015-02-23T20:56:42.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For endurance and eventually speed increase, 25 minutes, six days a week would be better than 50 minutes 2-3x per week. The best advice I've ever seen for running is: Run. Run lots. Mostly slow, sometimes fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best programs I've seen for running comes from a triathlon and cross country coach that I've talked with a few times, and it's 3:2:1. Say your longest run is 30 minutes. You should have 3 runs of 10 minutes, 2 runs of 20 minutes and one run of 30 minutes, with one rest day. The generally accepted way is short, medium, short, medium, short, long, rest day. So since you can already do 50 minutes fairly easily at an 8ish min/mile pace, I would feel that you should be able to do short runs of 25, medium of 50 and throw in the long run of 75 minutes, of which you will either need to slow your pace down some, or walk a bit here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gives you a very solid aerobic base, doesn't overstress you and allows time for recovery. Speed comes from consistency, and the day in, day out repetition and build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With 7 months to prepare, I would spend the next 2 months doing nothing but working the 3:2:1 program and getting your long run into the 2 hour range. Once you are there, for the next 2 months you can work on adding some things like strides in your medium length runs (Strides are things like 30 second periods where you pick up the pace substantially, repeat 8 or 9 times during the run), and brief higher pace periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That should take you to about 3 months out, and your long run should be in the 2-2.5 hour range. You shouldn't need to do more than that, although at this point you could try a 20 mile run (Although at 2.5 hours, you are already close to 20 miles at an 8min/mile pace). You don't need to do too many of the 20 mile attempts (maybe 1 or 2, mostly to work on nutrition and hydration), you're already doing enough weekly distance. For the next 2 months, for one of your medium days, do a dedicated speed workout, such as 1-2 mile warmup, 8x800m substantially faster than your normal running pace, and 1-2 mile cooldown. In between the 800's, get enough rest that you can make the next 800 interval. So if you are at a 8:00/mile workout pace, your 800's you should try to make in 3:00-3:30, rather than 4:00 pace. Keep up with some of the strides and pickup type additions to your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a month out from the race, start a slow, progressive taper, so that you come into the race rested. Unfortunately, tapering is somewhat of an art form and very individual dependent, so nobody can really tell you what is best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does sound counterintuitive, but the greatest speed increases will come from consistency, not always pushing the pace. Most amateurs make the mistake of pushing too hard on their easy days, and not hard enough on their hard days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and I'm not sure what your height/weight is, but if you have any excess weight to shed, the general rule of thumb that I've seen borne out over the years is that you get around 3 seconds per mile faster for every pound less that you weigh (Taking into consideration that every person has a point at which weight loss actually hinders performance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T20:56:42.337" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-24T00:09:31.223" Score="7" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a pretty active 45 year old weight lifter. Here in the mid atlantic our winters are annoying. And,  when it snows, I have a lot of the white stuff to move via snow blower and shovel. What I am finding is a lot of  upper arm discomfort after a day out in the cold  muck. I get a shooting pain from my shoulder to mid arm along the bone between the bicep and tricep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking that I need to modify my training so that I can accommodate the strain of snow removal better. But what exercises would be best? Sure,  I'm getting older and don't recover  like I used to... But that is just another  thing to deal with. Thoughts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15018" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T14:51:49.453" Title="Training for shoveling snow" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23705" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-24T00:11:19.007" Score="3" ViewCount="31445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I first encountered the &lt;strong&gt;5 sets of 3, 2, 1 reps&lt;/strong&gt; instruction &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw94.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say those are movement timings for concentric contraction, pause and eccentric contraction. Somewhere else, there where theories about different combinations of sets and reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T10:44:38.243" Title="What is the meaning of: 5 sets of 3, 2, 1 reps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23705" CreationDate="2015-02-24T00:12:34.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;After emailing bodybuilding.com, this was their answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you are conducting 5 sets of 3,2,1 you will do a rep range of 3,&#xA;  add weigh do a rep range of 2, add weight and then do a rep range of&#xA;  1. The low reps and high weight will help with muscle building. You should be very fatigued by the time you hit one rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T00:12:34.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23700" CreationDate="2015-02-24T05:04:29.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as getting firmer or more toned muscles, it's ALL about how much body fat you have; the less body fat, the more lean and toned/defined your muscles will be. I would recommend eating slightly less for a couple days to a week just to see if you like the results. Also pectoral specific lifts such as bench, dips and flies would help too. try to be getting in at least two thirds or so of your body weight in protein per day. AT LEAST. You'll be more fit, and one thing i know for damn sure is muscle burns fat much faster than fat burns fat. In other words you'll notice you can eat more without having to worry much about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15020" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T05:04:29.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23700" CreationDate="2015-02-24T06:45:25.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the right answer, muscles themselves can not be more or less firm, you have to distinguish between the &quot;muscles&quot; you see from the outside, and the layer of fat and muscle that is actually there. Firm &quot;muscles&quot; = developed muscles and thin layer of fat. I'd like to add that eating 2/3 of your body weight in protein is most likely deadly though ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T06:45:25.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-24T07:06:19.270" Score="2" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've been doing hanging knee raises to target thee abdominal and while doing so I thought of moving the legs backwards in a back-kick kind of movement theorizing that since a forward movement targets the abs a backward movement should target the lower back.  When trying this out I did feel my lower back being engaged and since this is a relatively simple movement I was thinking of incorporating this into my core workout. &#xA;My question is this.  Are there any dangers to this movement,  eg an unnecessary strain on the spine,  or unnatural movement of the hip or something? I haven't seen this movement in any guide for core exercises or even isolated lower back exercises so I was wondering whether there would be any possible injuries from this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15021" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T13:56:34.217" Title="Hanging knee raise alternative for lower back side effects" Tags="&lt;core&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2015-02-24T12:45:48.460" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a fellow traceur, this is one of the vaults I've had most difficulty in achieving. The type of kong vault you are referring to is commonly known as a diving kong. To perform a diving kong it's all a matter of progression, technique and commitment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to properly perform a good diving kong, you must take off from a split-step instead of a punch (a punch take-off is primarily used on high objects, where a split-step is used for diving over long objects), throw your arms forward and lift your hips above your head. Only at the end of the vault should you then plant your hands to follow through and land. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice using the diving technique on small objects first, by taking off from further away, then slowly make your way up to larger vaults until your able to do a full picnic table length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastEditorUserId="15023" LastEditDate="2015-02-24T12:59:45.923" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T12:59:45.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23705" CreationDate="2015-02-24T19:04:11.017" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an inverse pyramid strength-training workout. Although this seems to be fairly low reps, it's used to encourage muscles to build volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't suggest hitting these kinds of reps though. Injuries are rampant when you load up on these weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more appropriate strength and volume building routine would be 10-8-6 or even 8-6-4 reps, each with increasing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15024" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T19:04:11.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23754" CreationDate="2015-02-24T19:59:51.487" Score="7" ViewCount="2512" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just joined a gym a few weeks ago and I've noticed that most of the women in the locker room are not wearing underwear underneath their work-out pants. Are there any actual benefits to this, or is it just aesthetic (not wanting panty lines)? I can see how this may be beneficial during spin classes to reduce chafing, but not doing a regular weightlifting circuit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15025" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-26T09:14:13.690" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T14:31:06.990" Title="What are the benefits of women going panty-less underneath work-out pants?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23692" CreationDate="2015-02-24T21:18:18.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following programs could possibly be a good idea because it keeps you consistent and on schedule, but I personally don't do any of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you deadlift and squat as many times as possible given that you rest appropriately. Typically, give 24-48 hours of rest in between each workout. An example plan (again, set appropriately according to your rest levels and schedule) would be &lt;code&gt;repeat: {deadlift | rest | squat | rest | rest}&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is assuming you are aiming for high-weight, low reps (aka strength/volume building) sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15024" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T21:18:18.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23723" CreationDate="2015-02-25T03:27:08.893" Score="4" ViewCount="1702" Body="&lt;p&gt;My yoga instructor always asks me not to bounce while trying to touch my toes. I'm not able to statically bend and touch my toes, without bending my knees. So I used to bounce up and down. But he asked me not to, but was not clear why. Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2015-03-01T14:54:29.940" Title="When bending forward to touch toes, why is bad to bounce?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23709" CreationDate="2015-02-25T04:02:50.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hyperextensions-back-extensions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back extensions&lt;/a&gt; instead. They're at least a more well known exercise that work the same muscles and are the lower back analogue of knee raises in a lot of ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T04:02:50.773" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23715" CreationDate="2015-02-25T04:13:51.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're describing two different types if stretching: ballistic, when you push with momentum, and static, when you push slower and hold the stretch steady for 30 seconds or more. Static is safer because you are much less likely to push too far when you know you're going to have to deal with the pain for the next 30 seconds or more. With ballistic, there is more of a chance that you will bounce too far/hard and pull/strain/tear something by going past the point your body would stop you at if you were moving slower. With static stretching, you generally stretch kinda slowly, so there's no momentum that would push you past where your body would tell you to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always been told in my health classes that ballistic stretching should be avoided unless you know what you're doing. &lt;em&gt;In general&lt;/em&gt;, taking what is normally a static stretch and making it dynamic by bouncing, is usually not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2015-02-25T15:43:12.447" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T15:43:12.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23620" CreationDate="2015-02-25T07:08:32.610" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be some issue with the liquid balance part of your homeostasis.  Try drinking water before the workout or a little sip when you feel this happening. &#xA;If nothing changes you should probably go see a doctor right away&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15021" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T07:08:32.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23715" CreationDate="2015-02-25T14:54:58.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The type of stretching that involves &quot;bouncing&quot; or lunging in a repeated pattern is called ballistic stretching. While there are a few, very limited uses, it has been contraindicated as a stretching method for many years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every tendon (structure that connects muscle to bone) has what is known as a stretch reflex, that when triggered, causes the muscle connected to it to contract. One well known example is when the doctor whacks just under your knee with that rubber hammer and your leg kicks. He is hitting the patellar tendon, and causing the quads to contract quickly. Any time a tendon stretches unexpectedly and sharply, this reflex can activate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when you are stretching, you are elongating the muscles. If you bounce while doing this, you can activate that reflex, and cause the muscle to try and contract at the same time you are actively lengthening it, which can cause damage. This damage can range from mild muscle tears up to either detaching the tendon from the bone or rupturing it. There are some stretching methods where you purposefully contract a muscle under stretch, but it's done in a slow, controlled manner and is considered an advanced stretching method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T14:54:58.623" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23715" CreationDate="2015-02-25T17:06:29.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you are risking a hamstring tear and/or lower back injury, for little or no gain. Both are very painful and take a long time (months) to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, as others have pointed out, you should not do ballistic stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, you should &lt;em&gt;always keep your spine straight&lt;/em&gt; when stretching the hamstrings. When you reach the limits of your flexibility, your hamstring will tense. The hamstrings attach to your pelvis (the part which you sit on) and they will pull the pelvis backwards. That means your pelvis is locked and will not be able to tilt forward. At the same time, you forcefully reach for your toes and most likely bend your spine forward. This results in strong compression in the lower back, which can lead to serious injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always move slowly, and stop when your hamstring starts to tense up. Always keep your spine straight in forward bends, even if that means you can not &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19692/re-touching-your-toes-not-mentioned-in-30/19698#19698&quot;&gt;reach the toes&lt;/a&gt; (yet). You will arrive there earlier if you are patient and not injure yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T17:06:29.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23752" CreationDate="2015-02-25T20:27:34.763" Score="6" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've continued to jog after child birth - I use a sport bra. But after jogging for a while my nipples become very sore. Is there any way I can reduce the friction between my nipples and my bra?&#xA;[Perhaps I should let the male members of this forum know that a woman's nipples are one of the most sensitive parts of her body. General chafing advice (that you would use for your elbows for instance) is really not applicable here.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastEditorUserId="14987" LastEditDate="2015-02-26T02:17:06.583" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T23:51:51.343" Title="What can I do for sore nipples?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-03-05T13:27:35.770" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23728" CreationDate="2015-02-25T21:04:06.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of runners (male and female) wear bandaids over their nipples to minimize &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/23643/7091&quot;&gt;chafe&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T21:04:06.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23730" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-25T21:19:23.767" Score="0" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I f@#$% up my left knee about 3-4 years ago playing basketball. About 2 years ago I started training for powerlifting quite seriously. Because of my knee injury I have to be really cautious of things like technique and it made me very aware of my body. Currently there's no real problem but I'm kinda concerned for the future. Now don't get me wrong here I love my knee but I just want to perfect working with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for tips (personal experience is the best imo but not the only thing) or resources on training in general and more specific powerlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T21:19:23.767" Title="Tips for powerlifting with a knee injury" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23733" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23735" CreationDate="2015-02-26T06:32:34.150" Score="1" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back bends in yoga are know to have beneficial effects on ones body. It counteracts the forward bending that is very prevalent in our daily lives - driving a car, working on a computer etc. But I've heard it may not be advisable for someone with high blood pressure. Is that true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2018-05-10T23:25:35.993" Title="Are back bends in yoga bad for someone with high blood pressure?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23733" CreationDate="2015-02-26T08:15:20.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The direction of bending the spine is not the issue itself. With high blood pressure, the following precautions should be followed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid positions where the head is below the heart&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid sudden elevations (eg. standing up quickly from a lying position)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid holding the breath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pause or take a rest if the breath starts getting shallow or quicker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means, some backbends are not recommended. Advanced backbends can involve multiple of the above factors, an example is standing up from a full bridge. Other backbends, like the lying cobra pose, are pretty safe for almost everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backbends can be more challenging for many people, because they are not used to it in normal daily life. Therefore, people have a tendency to tense, and hold their breath in backbends, that is the main reason why caution is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T08:15:20.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-26T09:08:15.150" Score="-1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 173cm, 67 kg 30 yo male. I have about 12% fat ratio. I want to drop 1 kg fat and gain 4 kg muscle in couple months. I do go to gym 3 times a week and using protein shaker twice a day. I am on low carb diet. what is suggested amount of chicken/turkey/red meat that I should consume every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T09:13:54.373" Title="chicken/turkey/red meat diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-02T17:45:19.227" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23736" CreationDate="2015-02-26T09:13:54.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dropping 1 kg och fat while adding 4 kg of muscle in &quot;a couple of months&quot; is impossible for most people &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding 4 kg of pure muscle in a year is something that can pretty much only be achieved if you're completely new to lifting, if you work out perfectly and if you eat perfectly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should aim for as large gains as possible though, and to achieve that, I would recommend that you first lose the fat and then go for a modest bulking phase, aim for 2 grams of protein per kg of body mass. There isn't really any evidence for larger gains with more protein than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wether you get your protein from meat or protein drinks doesn't make a huge difference. You might want to get some creatine if you eat low amounts of meat though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T09:13:54.373" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23742" CreationDate="2015-02-26T10:25:47.700" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found two different sites guiding how to achieve 100 push ups: HundredPushups.com and Alternative100Pushups.com. However they have different schedule. For example, if you get into the 11-20 pushups round in your first test, numbers of pushups in each set W1D1 in &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/week1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HundredPushups.com&lt;/a&gt; are 10 12 7 7 and max (at least 9), meanwhile in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alternative100pushups.com/alternative-100-push-ups-programme/11-20-push-ups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alternative100Pushups.com&lt;/a&gt; are 8 9 7 7 and max (at least 8). Do you know why there is a derivation? Which plan should I stick to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15036" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T11:44:35.950" Title="Different in exercises between two 100pushups sites" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;websites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23739" CreationDate="2015-02-26T11:44:35.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll find that there are many paths to the same goal.  Both of these choose similar, but slightly different paths toward the goal of 100 push ups.  The Alternative plan opts to start with lower volume at first to help you get acclimated to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use Alterantive100Pushups.com if I'm not used to working my arms and chest, or a rank beginner.  I might use HundredPushups.com if I'm acclimated to doing volume work already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't sure, just ask yourself if the progression gives you any concerns about being able to finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T11:44:35.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23728" CreationDate="2015-02-26T15:21:59.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would experiment with sports lubricants like Body Glide or Sports Slick. There are special nipple bandaids that are also used, as Eric Kaufman suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T15:21:59.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15098" CreationDate="2015-02-26T19:56:35.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The scales have your Weight, Height, Age, and Sex, which is actually enough to approximate all the figures you've listed (+/- 4%), but in addition it takes a BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis) reading. Essentially the scales incorporate a multimeter, similar to those found in the average electricians toolbox, and it measure by how much a small current is delayed and reduced by being passed up one leg and down the other (Impedance). As different materials have known Impedance values a guess as to the volume of water can be made (+/- 3%), and from your weight, height, age and a few known ratios, and a few formula that approximate how the composition of the body changes with age, a few more numbers can be derived from the estimated water content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting that the formula incorporated into the device have known margins of error, and those margins are based on readings taken on an AVERAGE individual. So the less AVERAGE you are the greater the error is going to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few of the common formula (see Wikipedia for the constants):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BMI&lt;/strong&gt; = MassKg / (HeightM)^2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)&lt;/strong&gt; = a + (b * MassKg) + (c * HeightM) - (d * ageYears)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt;: a, b, c, and d are constants that vary depending on your sex, and whose version of the equation you use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LBM (Lean Body Mass)&lt;/strong&gt; = ( x * massKg ) + ( y * HeightM) - z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt;: x, y, and z are constants that vary depending on your sex, and whose variation of the equation you use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BF (Body Fat)&lt;/strong&gt; = ((massKg - &lt;strong&gt;LBM&lt;/strong&gt;)  / massKg) * 100&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or     = (e * &lt;strong&gt;BMI&lt;/strong&gt;) + (f * ageYears) - g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt;: e, f, and g are constants that vary depending on your sex, and whose variation of the equation you use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2018-03-08T08:20:09.097" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T08:20:09.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14961" CreationDate="2015-02-26T20:12:40.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following formula should allow you to convert between &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt;, vVo2Max, VO2Max, KCal/min:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;MET           = vVO2Max &#xA;              =  VO2Max   / 3.5&#xA;             ~= kCalBurnt / (bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours)&#xA;&#xA;Kcal/Min     ~= 5 * bodyMassKg * VO2 / 1000&#xA;&#xA;VO2          ~= (currentHeartRate / MaxHeartRate) * VO2Max&#xA;&#xA;MaxHeartRate ~= 210 - (0.8 * ageYears)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The &lt;strong&gt;5&lt;/strong&gt; calories / min constant, assumes just carbohydrates are being converted, over a short period. If the exercise is sustained aerobically for a period this value drops to &lt;strong&gt;4.86&lt;/strong&gt; to reflect a mix of fats and carbohydrates are being converted into energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A number of sites have MET &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;estimates&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for specific activities eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compendium of Physical Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://golf.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004786&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;procon.org - MET Values for 800+ Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/clc.4960130809/asset/4960130809_ftp.pdf?v=1&amp;amp;t=ic8uvfk6&amp;amp;s=c0458f8a0e42ff2c0fc9557625b42e029b78e69f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equivalents (METS) in Exercise Testing, Exercise Prescription, and Evaluation of Functional Capacity&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just use the formula above to estimate the calories spent performing a particular exercise eg. If you spend 6 mins on an Elliptical trainer (moderate effort), which has been assigned a MET score of 5.0, and you weigh 80Kg, you'dend up with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;KCalBurnt = MET * bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours&#xA;          = 5.0 * 80 * 0.1 &#xA;          = 40 KCal&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly if you do 50 push-up in a min, that raises your heart rate from 60 to 150 BMP, and rest for 2 mins, in which time your heart rate drops back down to 90, after the first min, and to a resting 60 by the end of 2 mins, you'd have spent approximately 37 KCal in the 3 mins, as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;AverageHR  = (60 + 150 + 90 + 60) / 3 = 120 BMP  &#xA;&#xA;MaxHR      = 210 - (0.8 * 40 years) = 178 BMP&#xA;&#xA;VO2max    ~= 46 litres (from a Fitness test)&#xA;&#xA;VO2       ~= (120 / 178) * 46 = 31 litres&#xA;&#xA;bodyMassKg = 80 Kg&#xA;&#xA;Kcal/Min  ~= 5 * 80 * 31 / 1000 = 12.4 * 3  = 37.2 KCal&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://blue.utb.edu/mbailey/handouts/pdf/MetCalnew.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ACMS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; equations may also be of interest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Arm Ergometry VO2 = (3 * workRateWatts) / bodyMassKg + 3.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Leg Ergometry: VO2 = (1.8 * workRateWatts) / bodyMassKg + 7 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stepping: VO2 = (0.2 * (steps in a Min)) + 1.33 * (1.8 * stepHeightMeters * (stepsInAMin))&#xA;  + 3.5 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Walking: VO2 = (0.1 * metersWalkedInAMin) + (1.8 * metersWalkedInAMin) * (fractionalGrade) + 3.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Running: VO2 = (0.2 * metersRunInAMin) + (0.9  * metersRunInAMin) * (fractionalGrade) + 3.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2016-03-25T00:20:47.947" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T00:20:47.947" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3201" CreationDate="2015-02-26T21:07:15.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common formula for approximating calorific expenditure is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kcal/Min ~= 5 * massKg * VO2 / 1000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given both devices had the duration of the session and your Weight that leaves the VO2 figure as the source of the discrepancy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The machine will just have had an assumed constant and as you were not wearing a bluetooth based face mask to capture the actual volume of Oxygen consumed, every minute, your  devices will have guestimated a value based on your heart rate in each period e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2 = (currentHeartRate / MaxHeartRate) * VO2Max&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;where:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MaxHeartRate&lt;/strong&gt; ~= 210 - (0.8 * ageYears)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2Max&lt;/strong&gt; ~= 15.3 * (&lt;strong&gt;MaxHeartRate&lt;/strong&gt; / &lt;strong&gt;BasalHeartRate&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BasalHeartRate&lt;/strong&gt; = Resting Heart Rate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these formula you can probably work out both the VO2 figure the trainer assumed and the value your phone calculated for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T21:07:15.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18582" CreationDate="2015-02-26T21:21:19.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common formula for approximating calorific expenditure is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kcal/Min ~= 5 calories * massKg * VO2 / 1000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Where&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The 5 calories/min constant assumes you're primarily burning carbohydrates over a short period, while awake, if the exercise is sustained for a period use &lt;strong&gt;4.86&lt;/strong&gt; to reflect a mix of fat and carbohydrates are being converted to energy. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the &lt;strong&gt;VO2&lt;/strong&gt; value is the volume of Oxygen consumed (mL/Kg/min), this variable can be guestimated based on your heart rate in a given period e.g.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2 = (currentHeartRate / MaxHeartRate) * VO2Max&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;where:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MaxHeartRate&lt;/strong&gt; ~= 210 - (0.8 * ageYears)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2Max&lt;/strong&gt; ~= 15.3 * (&lt;strong&gt;MaxHeartRate&lt;/strong&gt; / &lt;strong&gt;BasalHeartRate&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-02-27T21:33:55.807" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T21:33:55.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22578" CreationDate="2015-02-26T21:50:53.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Flex counts changes in voltages in its internal gyroscope, as an old mechanical pedometer counted swings of a pendulum, to identify movement events. These voltage changes are triggered by a physical change in the gadgets orientation. So if you're stood holding on to a bar or with your arms hanging for the hour there will very few orientation changes for it to count. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case you either need to change your walking style to one with swinging arm movements, ideally emulating a military a march, so there will be an arm swing for each step. Alternatively look for a heart rate monitor, as an app can track activity from an elevated heart rate, or alternatively go for a walk outside, so the GPS in your phone can track some real movement, and the app can have some real data to work out calories from a real distance and speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to quote the &lt;a href=&quot;http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-accurate-is-my-Flex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;help.fitbit.com&lt;/a&gt; site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That said, because Flex is specifically designed for your wrist, if&#xA;  you move your body a lot and not your arms (or vice versa), you may&#xA;  get a slight difference in activity than you would see on your&#xA;  clip-based trackers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-15T09:09:14.813" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T09:09:14.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19517" CreationDate="2015-02-26T23:10:23.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not aware of any other retro fitters, but technically a bespoke system would be a trivial exercise; wondering if you've considered an alternative that may be cheaper, be less hassle to run, especially if you have no desire to capture the results from any trip computers your equipment currently carries, or a desire to issue RFID keys to your clients, and inform them of the details of their workouts. All you'd need to do is persuade your clients to have their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nfcworld.com/nfc-phones-list/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phones&lt;/a&gt; with them during their visits, and to touch in / out on each bit of equipment to record a workout. Your capital outlay would be a roll of passive &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/NFC-Tags-NTAG203-Clear-Stickers/dp/B00M5PC0FG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_office_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;refRID=0KA138835TZXXMH3PHSC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NFC tags&lt;/a&gt;, simply stick one on each bit of equipment, and then go find a school kid to customise a pair of the sample Android and iPhone NFC app's, to simply associate each tag with a specific bit of equipment, and add a bit of branding. Could even add a few very simple formula to calculate calories burnt on each bit of kit / total calories per visit....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also on the bespoke front you could mount an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/FACILLA-Contactless-Proximity-Sensor-Electronics/dp/B00GS18VFQ/ref=pd_sim_office_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;refRID=18FERGMKYZMWENCEJ0EK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RFID reader&lt;/a&gt; on each piece of equipment, have a supply of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/125kHz-Proximity-Keyfobs-Plastic-Resist/dp/B00BIYNA72/ref=pd_bxgy_ce_text_z&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RFID tags&lt;/a&gt; and for the slightly geekier bit, find somewhere to stash / something like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Pi-Motherboard-Starter-Kit/dp/B00LU2FDG8/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=electronics&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1424988705&amp;amp;sr=1-1-spell&amp;amp;keywords=raspberry%20pie%20kit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Raspberry Pi&lt;/a&gt; around each bit of kit. Would need power and be able to reach the USB connector on the reader and any USB / serial interface on the bit of gym equipment. There are numerous example RFID projects for the PI, so wouldn't take long for an average school kid to cobble together a few routines to capture touch in's / out's on a bit of kit, along with any details a trip computer may offer, and to write the details back to a central server. But you'd need to develop a back end system to aggregate and present the data to your staff, to present to the clients, along with creating a system to issue tags to your clients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T23:10:23.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23728" CreationDate="2015-02-26T23:51:51.343" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runguards.com/products/nipguards&quot;&gt;NipGuards&lt;/a&gt; are a totally different way to prevent chafing, better in my opinion than Band-Aids or gels. They're shaped like an octagon, with a hollow circle in the middle, which &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;allows the tip of the nipple to remain protected without having an irritating adhesive plastered on the most sensitive part of the nipple. NipGuards® use a safe, medical adhesive that is applied directly to the base of the nipple and not the chest – so sweat does not affect the adhesive – and chest hair just needs to be pushed away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're waterproof so you can wear them in the rain, and are comfortable under any kind of clothes. According to the website, they were designed and patented by marathon runners, used by triathletes, and are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;100% guaranteed to work in the most grueling tests of human endurance and in the most extreme weather conditions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither my husband or I run for more than a few miles at a time, so I can't vouch for that, but there may be some readers here who can. As a woman, I know exactly what you mean about sensitivity, and although these are excellent for both men and women, I believe they definitely meet the criteria you need. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13706" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T23:51:51.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23713" CreationDate="2015-02-27T03:26:16.783" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;One &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitbottomedgirls.com/2012/03/lets-get-personal-do-you-wear-underwear-when-working-out/&quot;&gt;internet poll&lt;/a&gt; reported that around 33% of women do this. The practice does have at least one benefit in that workout clothing -- especially bike shorts -- is much better at wicking away moisture than many types of women's underwear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T03:26:16.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23758" CreationDate="2015-02-27T13:26:20.647" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my gym, a trainer provided me with an exercise routine. The first day, I work on my chest and biceps, the second, on my legs etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And later, he told that after three months I should go to see him to change that routine. And then three months after that, we will change it again etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does my working out routine needs to be changed every so often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7191" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-02-27T13:32:52.417" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T15:02:40.883" Title="Do I need to change my work out routine every so often?" Tags="&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23756" CreationDate="2015-02-27T14:23:25.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main (good) reason why it's recommended to change your routine every so often is psychological, but it's a double edged sword. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, if you do the same routine every time, you might get bored, you might stop challenging yourself because you know what you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, since you do know pretty well what kind of weights you can lift, you know when you're developing and when you're just lifting the same weights all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the extreme case, if you're doing isolation exercises where your main muscles get very strong in relation to the rest of your body, you might end up injuring yourself because of imbalances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T14:23:25.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22356" CreationDate="2015-02-27T16:17:33.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/DBHangClean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this version of the dumbbell hang clean&lt;/a&gt;. Essentially: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand up with the dumbbells at your sides or in front of you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bend forward, maintaining the natural curve of the spine. This is also called a &quot;flat back&quot; or a natural back arch. Don't let the shoulders shrug forward and don't curl your back forward. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the dumbbells are just above the knee, reverse directions: jump explosively straight up and shrug your shoulders, keeping your elbows loose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Catch the dumbbells at your shoulders, landing from your jump with knees slightly bent. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand up straight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A precaution: dumbbell power cleans are substantially different from barbell power cleans. Most barbell and dumbbell versions of the same lift are substantially different exercises and have different pros and cons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T16:17:33.620" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23765" CreationDate="2015-02-28T12:12:53.250" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just by using a regular rope for rope jumping. Some of us are on a budget. :P&#xA;I can only think of one back exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang the rope over a bar (can be a pullup bar, or regular outdoors workout bar in a park).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grab the rope ends and let your body hang close to the ground with your legs in front of you, as if you were floating above ground with only your feet touching the ground. Keep your body tight and flat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift yourself up as much as you can if you were rowing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lower the position, the harder the exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone has more ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5348" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T20:27:46.167" Title="Are there any rope strength exercises?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23763" CreationDate="2015-02-28T16:26:08.703" Score="5" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a beginner lifter (female) doing Starting Strength. I'm having a problem with my deadlift form that I think might be partly related to individual morphometry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what happens is this: I set up as described in Rippetoe's SS with the bar at midfoot. I take my grip. I bend my knees until my shins touch the bar. Because I have (very) disproportionately long thighbones compared to the length of my torso and shin bones, this puts my hips quite low, my back at about a 45-degree angle to the floor, and my knees jutting pretty far out over the bar. It's a very awkward arrangement. When I start to pull, inevitably my knee angle &quot;wants&quot; to open first to the point that my back is horizontal before the bar actually leaves the ground (just like in Fig 4-35 in Rippetoe's SS). With this kind of form, I was deadlifting 1.28X my bodyweight. If I force myself to maintain the same back angle through the pull, I could probably deadlift more like 1X my bodyweight, if that. Even if I deload to just 65 lbs, it stills feels really awkward that my knees are in the way of the bar as I start to pull. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that Rippetoe does allow for substantial differences in deadlift back angle due to individual morphometry – e.g., in Fig 4-31, the leftmost stick figure's back is almost horizontal. However, like I said, when I set up according to his instructions, my back angle is actually more like 45 degrees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions are: what kind of form, especially back angle, is correct for someone with my morphometry (long thighbones)? An additional complication is that my squat is embarrassingly weak, so is it a problem of weak quads? And what should I do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Indeed, my hips are rising to near-horizontal &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the bar leaves the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastEditorUserId="10391" LastEditDate="2015-03-01T16:05:59.053" LastActivityDate="2015-03-01T16:05:59.053" Title="Deadlift form and individual morphometry" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23762" CreationDate="2015-02-28T16:58:30.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I start to pull, inevitably my knee angle &quot;wants&quot; to open first to the point that my back is horizontal before the bar actually leaves the ground&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds fine. Fully horizontal is a bit much, but lots of people get to near-horizontal and that's the way it should be. There's no need to keep your back angle constant from your setup. It's very common for the first thing after setup to be the hips shooting up before the bar comes off the ground. As long as you maintain your back's natural curve by locking the spinal erectors and the hamstrings, it sounds like this could be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The relevant figure in SS 2nd edition is 4-32, with a caption that starts, &quot;The correct starting position (A), and the position that often gets used instead (B).&quot; In (A) the hips are rather high and the back is significantly angled towards the floor; in (B) the hips are almost even with the height of the knees and the back is nearly upright. The point is that &quot;the lifters 'sets up' in position A, thinking that the bar leaves the ground from there, but the hips are raised into position A before the bar leaves the ground.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With this kind of form, I was deadlifting 1.28X my bodyweight. If I force myself to maintain the same back angle through the pull, I could probably deadlift more like 1X my bodyweight, if that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This reinforces my belief that you're doing fine. If your back is maintaining a natural curve I'd keep on trucking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A video of your lift would be helpful to confirm this. An in-person form check would work too, if you can find someone knowledgable in powerlifting, but I suspect you know that and no such person is available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-02-28T23:50:18.503" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T23:50:18.503" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8047" CreationDate="2015-02-28T17:22:21.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plates in the pictures are competition bumpers from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/weightlifting-bars-plates/bumpers/competition-bumpers?bumpertype[0]=competition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rogue Fitness&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Women use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/weightlifting-bars-plates/bars?cat3=weightliftingbarsplates_bars_womens15kgbars_id_4673&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;15kg bars&lt;/a&gt; and Men use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/weightlifting-bars-plates/bars?cat3=weightliftingbarsplates_bars_mens20kgbars_id_4671&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;20 kg&lt;/a&gt; bars, and again, everything for the Games is supplied by Rogue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to compare yourself to Games athletes, here are the stats for the top 3 women and men from the 2014 Crossfit Games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/8404&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Camille Leblanc Bazinet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/18588&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Annie Thorisdottir&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/46243&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Julie Foucher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/11435&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rich Froning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/153604&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Matt Fraser&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/12485&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jason Khalipa&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT : Ha! I just now realized this question was asked years ago. My bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13860" LastEditorUserId="13860" LastEditDate="2015-02-28T18:09:15.147" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T18:09:15.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23761" CreationDate="2015-02-28T20:22:00.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look up the term &quot;suspension bands&quot; on youtube you will get a variety of exercises that you may be able to adapt to your jump rope. The exercises target your trunk or core muscles, upper and lower body giving you a very good functional workout. TRX is a popular band and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gagl23KZs0U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; shows a variety of exercises with the strap using your body weight as resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A jump rope may not be strong enough to safely perform some of the exercises in the video. Since you are on a budget you can by straps and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES5GN9k7BZw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;make your own suspension band&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course you can get some pretty good &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2265/what-is-a-jump-rope-good-for/2279#2279&quot;&gt;benefits from jumping rope&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T20:27:46.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23767" CreationDate="2015-02-28T22:31:29.353" Score="4" ViewCount="1430" Body="&lt;p&gt;so, I only get this with my legs (meaning my quads and hamstrings and inner thighs) and my glutes...so here is my squat routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;120kg - 2 sets of 6 repetitions followed by 1 set of 4 (it is really hard on the third set)&#xA;80kg - 3 sets of 20 repetitions (just to warm down)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the thing is, I don't feel any form of muscle soreness for at least a day, then all of a sudden it hurts just to sit down and move any part of my lower body and I shake whilst walking :|&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does it take that long before I fell anything? like if it was my shoulders or arms or core area, I would feel it right away. It then takes around 3-4 days for it to stop and get better, then I go back (legs and glutes - the others don't take that long to recover).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but right after the workout for up to at least a day I don't feel anything...I run and sprint and do all sorts of movements that require that lower part of my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone please explain why it takes that long and also why is it the case for just that part of my body. Much appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastEditorUserId="10112" LastEditDate="2015-02-28T22:48:14.623" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T06:07:20.667" Title="Don't feel muscle soreness until after a day" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-05T13:27:21.227" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23766" CreationDate="2015-02-28T22:49:28.420" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The soreness that you experience is called &lt;em&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;DOMS&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What causes it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you exercise, the muscles get damaged. That damage is a signal for the muscle to grow and get stronger. That signal stimulates inflammation. Any inflammatory process produces local pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is it delayed?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a day or two for the training-induced muscle damage to stimulate inflammation and as such to cause the soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why just that body part?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons; differing intensities between body parts, individual biomechanics etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine you posted is rather intense for the lower body. Maybe you are not pushing your upper body as hard as your legs. Especially since you are doing sprints afterwards; sprinting has similar effect as plyometric training, which causes further damage to muscle, which is already weakened after the squats. It is hard to do a similar training for the arms in terms of intensity and method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for why you feel it in the arms and core, maybe what you feel is exhaustion. If you feel soreness right after training, then that cannot be DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-10-20T06:07:20.667" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T06:07:20.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23773" CreationDate="2015-02-27T17:58:44.427" Score="5" ViewCount="9257" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indoor boulder climbing is pretty safe and climbing shoes are quite expansive. Are they really a necessity? Wouldn't my running shoes do the job just as well? Or even socks? Or ballet shoes..?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14976" OwnerDisplayName="Sparkler" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2015-03-01T22:43:54.933" LastActivityDate="2015-03-01T23:30:36.773" Title="Do I really need climbing shoes for indoor boulder climbing?" Tags="&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-01T12:27:49.530" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually go for a good half hour intensive spin session on the bike before starting any weights. However when doing leg extensions on a weight machine, I've noticed that although my legs don't feel the burn or strain, they are shaking like crazy when I'm lowering the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pushing it up is no problem but it looks like they're going crazy on the lowering stage of the rep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is this a bad sign? I don't feel any sort of pain and I feel that I can add a good 15kg easily, but the shaking is actually creating a pretty big racket. Should I keep going or is the shaking mean that my legs are telling me to stop? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15005" LastActivityDate="2015-03-01T15:00:48.873" Title="Shaking when doing the exercise" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-02T15:35:36.170" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23769" CreationDate="2015-03-01T15:00:48.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few reasons that could cause your muscles to be shaky after exercising. One likely cause is Low Blood Sugar and this can be fixed by having a small snack/drink that contains a little carbohydrates. You'll likely want to try this after your spin session to give you a boost to keep you going for your resistance workout after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/537129-im-shaking-after-a-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/537129-im-shaking-after-a-workout/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2015-03-01T15:00:48.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23784" CreationDate="2015-03-01T17:10:43.910" Score="-1" ViewCount="1097" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm making an app to put on my leg extension machine and to make it track my exercises (movements up and down) and store them in my sports tracker (Garmin Connect). I have all the data needed (every movement, kg/lbs weight I put on, my weight) but I don't know how to calculate what calories was burned? And how do I calculate watt (sports trackers like to store watt)? I would prefer to calculate it based on movements (1 movement = one up + one down)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15062" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T08:41:10.520" Title="Leg extension machine: Calculate calories burned and watt" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2015-03-15T22:47:33.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23768" CreationDate="2015-03-01T23:30:36.773" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. You definitely need climbing specific shoes (either your own or borrowed/ rented). They won't slide around on your feet like other shoes and they provide edging stability that doesn't rely exclusively in the rigidity of your foot. While you may be able to climb very easy routes with regular shoes, if you were to try routes with smaller footholds you'll find out instantaneously why climbing shoes matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15065" LastActivityDate="2015-03-01T23:30:36.773" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-02T00:20:24.763" Score="0" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;My intuition tells me the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume on top of my regular diet, I eat a cupcake and as a result of eating that cupcake I put on 50g of fat.&#xA;Now lets let's assume instead of eating one of those cupcakes I ate two instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me it does not follow that will mean I will put on 100g of fat instead of 50g. It seems too simplistic and probably not how the body works, although my friends adamantly argue that it will mean exactly that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly I believe that I would gain more weight from eating a pizza, if I ate it one slice per day on top of my regular diet, rather than if I binged out at one time and consumed it all in one night. Again I can't really defend this idea, it's just intuition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my intuition correct?&#xA;If so, why, and what evidence can I show my friends to prove my case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15066" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T08:21:24.360" Title="Is fat gain directly proportional to number of calories consumed for the same substance, or does it taper off." Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-05T13:25:12.557" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23713" CreationDate="2015-03-02T03:56:19.187" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a dude my explanation may be wrong but bare with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of running, cycling and leg workouts. Two things that ruin a workout for me are the workout shorts and underwear. If I'm wearing the wrong pair of underwear or a pair of shorts that are too long then I'm in for a bad experience. That said, most panties have that seam at the bottom of them so imagine cycling or running with that seam against your sensitive area just rubbing against it for the length of the workout. Irritation second to a massive migraine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from that imagine squats, machine leg presses or any kind of flex work with a pair of undies ready to rip because they stretch only so much. Not fun and I have experienced this as a dude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearing tight stretchy shorts for stretching and squats doesn't leave much to the imagination for everyone in the gym. Panties just add to the ease of view because it is like looking at a dotted cut line (easy to notice even harder to not look at it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I have had the unpleasant luck of having seen in my line of view during a deadlift one of the ladies who thought her baggy shorts hid everything was doing a set of crunches in-front of me. After finishing that rep I had to seek eyewash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, yes, you can go sans-panties for mere comfort (I've personally seen it) but make sure you got some decent workout shorts on to make up for the clothing that isn't there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15068" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T03:56:19.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23777" CreationDate="2015-03-02T04:16:12.787" Score="5" ViewCount="2356" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it seems burning calories by jogging/running only depends on the distance covered, and not the speed. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eiGO5.png&quot; alt=&quot;calorie burned comparison&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct? Even if I ran the same distance in half the time I would only burn same amount of calories? It &lt;em&gt;seems&lt;/em&gt; kinda overly simplistic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15067" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T09:23:38.733" Title="Does burning calories by running depend only on distance, and not speed?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23776" CreationDate="2015-03-02T04:24:49.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks to me that the calculator is broken or missing information on input... when I tried to run it just now in my browser (Firefox v36.0 on Mac OS X 10.10.2) it wouldn't display a result at all.  I suspect it's just broken, but don't know for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give this one a try and see if you get better results:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mapmyrun.com/improve/calorie_calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mapmyrun.com/improve/calorie_calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears to change the output based on the duration.  In the test I ran, it changed by roughly 30% when I reduced the duration by half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14992" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T04:24:49.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23774" CreationDate="2015-03-02T08:21:24.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body is very good at consuming calories, especially carbs. Eating large amounts of fat takes a bit of adaption until it's 100%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating more does increase your energy expenditure though, and it does so in many different ways. One of these is non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which increases as energy intake increases, i.e. if you eat more, you will do more activities that you are not aware of, such as fidgeting and so on. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also waste more energy when doing planned exercise (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for these two reasons, eating more will also make you add muscle and fat, which increases your total energy requirement in the long run, won't be affected by one cupcake though :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the first part is very interesting, it could explain why exercising makes you feel more calm and focused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9880251&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9880251&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19889869&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19889869&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T08:21:24.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23776" CreationDate="2015-03-02T14:59:26.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nope, not in any sense, and not even if you were jogging in a vacuum, and could convert fat &amp;amp; carbohydrates anaerobically with 100% efficiency, to kinetic energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a start you'll have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Air resistance / drag&lt;/a&gt;, it's one of those Newtonian external forces, and it's effect is disproportionate (cube of your velocity), so the faster you move the more energy you need to expend to counter it. Sprinting 100m will consume more energy than walking it. Normal drag caused by the surface you're running on, and gravity due to the gradient you're running up / down are also external forces that will affect calories burnt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will also consume the: phosphocreatine, glycogen, and glucose available in your blood / mussels, before aerobically targeting your fatty acids (fat) reserves. So duration and your body composition will impact where your body decides to grab the required energy from, and as your body requires more Oxygen to convert fats to energy, you need to consider this. Once the phosphocreatine, glycogen, and glucose are depleted a VO2 (Volume Oxygen consumed) figure can be used to approximate calories / fat burned. Which highlights another body composition / fitness factor, the more laboured your breathing and the higher your heart rate the more calories you're burning. So fitness plays a role, or VO2max as it can be quantified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also worth a read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2013/04/factors-contributing-to-energetic-cost.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Factors Contributing to the Energetic Cost of Running: Great Article by Kevin Maggs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-15T11:27:30.283" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:27:30.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23756" CreationDate="2015-03-02T15:02:40.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why does my working out routine needs to be changed every so often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you train your program, you should be slowly increasing weight as you feel you can handle it and still meet the targets for your training.  This level of progressive adaptation should keep you improving for a while, but there will come a time where adding that next 5 lbs or 2.5 kgs just won't work anymore.  It's at this time you need to change your approach to training to keep seeing progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will that be precisely at 3 months?&lt;/strong&gt;  Maybe.  It might be a little sooner, it might be quite a bit later.  3 months is a pretty common amount of time to re-evaluate how things are going and what, if anything needs to be adjusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As already mentioned, there can be psychological benefits to changing things up regularly.  Some people thrive on variation more than others.  In any well designed program, there should be some allowance for occasional variation for when you are either having an off day or a day where you feel like nothing can stop you.  The biggest challenge that anyone who designs programs has is to keep things interesting while still helping you see progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T15:02:40.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12366" CreationDate="2015-03-02T18:01:21.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gyroscopes, accelerometers, and the GPS you'll find in your phone or the basic armbands will only give you approximate numbers, and any app that uses the raw data will make some very approximate guesses as to things such as step length, so &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2914523/Why-fitness-tracker-waste-money-New-research-shows-gadgets-wildly-inaccurate-40-CENT.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;can be out by as much as 40%&lt;/a&gt;. Adding a heart rate monitor to the mix should reduce any errors in the predicted calories, VO2 figures to around 5%, and will give you something quantifiable to aim for, such as reducing your basal heart rate, or your heart rate while doing X. It will also allow you to approximate your VO2max figure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blood Oxygen and pressure aren't really relevant to general exercise, unless you have a pre existing condition, but blood pressure should drop with weight and exercise, over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T18:01:21.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23786" CreationDate="2015-03-02T19:28:40.007" Score="2" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from some light auxiliary RTC work, my workouts consist of bodyweight squats, inverted rows and push ups, the two latter in the form of lighter versions on the bar of a Smith machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been steadily making progress by increasing reps from 3x3 to 3x15, then lowering the Smith bar and starting again with 3x3... But I started today a new inverted row cycle by lowering one step the bar and trying 3x3 and failed. It is simply too hard. Going back by raising the bar a step and 3x15 makes not much sense, I think, since I am already able to do that (In fact that is what I did after seeing that the new level was impossible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I add one auxiliary exercise? (Dumbbell bentover row / Barbell row / Cable seated row are some options I am thinking of, as well as something more vertical like the lat pulldown machine). Or should I simply insist and keep on trying until achieving 3x3 perfect-form, slow repetitions? - I would like to maintain the workout length to a minimum in order to stay away from overtraining and to focus my body resources on making progress in a few basic exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-03-02T19:34:48.240" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T22:59:21.543" Title="Auxiliary exercise to help my inverted rows to progress" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23772" CreationDate="2015-03-02T20:24:42.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will tell you how to do it from the point of view of physics. But please take into account that this may or may not be useful, since your muscles are supposed to burn fuel based too on the time spent under tension, not only on the physical work you do. &lt;em&gt;You can burn yourself to failure with one single rep&lt;/em&gt;, simply by doing it extremely slow, so that it can be nearly considered an isometric exercise. There is even a book that develops this idea called &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0071597174&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Body by Science&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, or you can search in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Slow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia for Ultra Slow training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, If you are trying to know how many calories you burn with resistance training, you will be deceived by the results of the calculations. It is very little, about ten times smaller than the total energy expenditure during 40 min of aerobic exercise. Resistance training has a great value in burning fat because it increases the amount of muscle you carry with you, which in turn burns more calories. But resistance training workouts don't burn much calories per se. You can see this by simply doing a rough estimation of the physical work done during a heavy squat: multiply the weight in kg (including not only the barbell but also ~70% of your body weight) by the distance travelled by the center of mass (about 0.65 m in an average adult, twice because of the down and up movement) and the value of gravity on the surface of the Earth (9.8). The result is in joules, which means you have to divide by 0.00418 in order to have the result in C (kcal).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, this is how you do it. We need to know how your leg extension machine is (please post a picture and I may be able to help better). It might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) a simple model in which you attach a weight at a certain distance from the rotation axis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) a model with a strap that transmits the weight so that the resistance is uniform along the movement,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c) a sophisticated Nautilus machine, designed so that the resistance is variable along the movement, being higher for those angles in which your leg is stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's neglect the weight of the lower portion of the leg, since it weights only about 4.6% of your body weight (de Leva 1996). Let's call R the distance between the rotation axis and the point in which the machine exerts the opposing force. Then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) For the most simple machine, simply multiply the distance travelled by the weight W between the lower and upper position by the gravitational constant and the weight. If the shanks goes from vertical to horizontal, the work done in joules will be twice that (taking into account that every rep is made from an upwards and a downwards movement). That is, R*W*9.8. If you want your result in kcal, divide by 0.00418&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) For a machine with a strap &amp;amp; pulley mechanism, the radius of the pulley must be taken into account. If such radius is A, then the work is A*pi/2*W*9.8, again in joules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c) If you are the proud owner of a legendary Nautilus machine from the 70s (let's begin with the downvotes, yeah!) then the resistance along the path is variable and I should have more specific details about the machine in order to give you a formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will definitely find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Bodyweight.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link (EXRX) very useful&lt;/a&gt; in relation to your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are only rough estimates. You may refine the calculations by adding the work done by moving your shanks (on EXRX you will find center of mass tables for different portions of the bogy and other useful information), by considering partial reps with different angles and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the utility of this kind of physical work estimates, it is limited. Perhaps for tracking your relative progress, provided that you consistently do your reps at the same speed. But the calories burned by muscles don't only depend on the amount of physical work, but also on the time under tension. The energy needed to recover muscle tissue from microtrauma on the next few days after every workout is another component of the total energy expenditure for resistance training. All this make such calculations not very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to some interesting research (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9292475) suggested by the OP in the comments, the calorie expenditure during muscle contraction is about four times the physical work done, therefore the results of the calculations should be multiplied by 4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, during a few days following a strength workout tissue repair takes place and this is quite an energy demanding process. I have no idea on how to estimate that amount of extra calorie expenditure induced by exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T08:41:10.520" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T08:41:10.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23783" CreationDate="2015-03-02T20:38:30.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell row&lt;/a&gt; really is a terrific exercise right up until (for me) you start going over your bodyweight. So if you're 180lb, having 180lb's of bar+plates tends to be pretty heavy primarily because you're probably already doing a lot of other lower back exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big advantage to barbell lifts (vs bodyweight) is that you can incrementally change your weights and really tweak the volume vs intensity vs reps vs sets. The angles stay nearly identical, versus what you're experiencing on your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inverted (supine) row&lt;/a&gt;. With inverse rows your pull angle is changing as you move the bar up and down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you will plateau strength with bodyweight training. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSingleLegSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pistols squats&lt;/a&gt; are awesome, but your body only weighs so much and you get more efficient at doing them as you progress so they become easier. You can put a weighted vest or backpack on, but now that's not bodyweight training anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiled down, I'd recommend these points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The inverted (supine) row is for total novices. Once you have sufficient strength to move to &quot;real&quot; rows, you should. It's not that inverse rows are bad, they're just not as good as barbell rows, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbbell row&lt;/a&gt;s, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cleans&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to stay with inverse rows, you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentric_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;work negatives&lt;/a&gt; a lot to build strength at angles that you can't quite nail on the way up. This is commonly done for folks who can't quite nail a pullup yet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're making steady progress in those areas as stated, you really might want to consider moving to &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T20:38:30.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23783" CreationDate="2015-03-02T22:59:21.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I started today a new inverted row cycle by lowering one step the bar and trying 3x3 and failed. It is simply too hard. Going back by raising the bar a step and 3x15 makes not much sense, I think, since I am already able to do that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the training variables you can control are intensity, volume, and muscles worked. Since increasing the intensity (and &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; changing the muscles worked, by changing the angle) didn't work, try increasing the volume even more. Try 3x20 at the easier angle, or 3x15 with 10-second holds at the top on the last rep, or every fifth rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option, which I would try simultaneously to increased volume, is to get in as many reps as possible using the harder angle. If you have to do singles, do singles. If you have to rest five minutes between sets, OK. If you have to do partials or negatives, OK. As long as you're getting a solid base number of reps (at least 3x15) on the easier bar position, you'll be OK doing minimal volume with the harder version, which will help you get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T22:59:21.543" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23792" CreationDate="2015-03-03T05:18:50.183" Score="5" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;During my current physical I asked my doctor the reason for my persistent shin pain. Her opinion was that running can take a toll on various parts of the body, particularly the leg joints. She suggested that swimming is a life-long exercise and very safe for the body. &#xA;The low impact nature of swimming is apparent, but question is, is there a difference whether I swim in cold water vs hot. Our local Y has 2 pools, one substantially warmer than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T19:07:35.103" Title="Why is swimming considered a safe exercise?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23791" CreationDate="2015-03-03T07:29:07.533" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are young and you have no past injuries to your knee ligaments, I suggest you don't give up running but rather focus on a better running technique, lowering your mileage for some time, changing your program or even trying different shoes instead. Medical doctors who aren't specially devoted to sport medicine are usually prone to sending you to swim at the very first sign of any discomfort. I do love swimming but I hate that attitude that arises from ignorance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do an internet search on &quot;shin splints&quot;, it is a common annoyance among  runners but it is not reason enough to quit unless you have really tried modifying another variables. By simply inserting extra rest days among runs your problem might be over. Or, as said, change shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that, swimming is not problem-free. Not for your knees. Google for &quot;breaststroke knee&quot; or &quot;swimmer knee&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last MD who told me to swim was a young but really obese guy with obviously no idea of sports. Many of them say blindly the same swimming-is-safe crap as a universal true for every problem. But no sport is 100% problem-free. The best sport for you is that one with the ability to motivate you and keep you engaged for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-03-03T14:41:32.690" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T14:41:32.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23799" CreationDate="2015-03-03T08:05:23.657" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I very often read comments like &quot;I am happy with the new [weigth lifting] routine because I am gaining weigth fast&quot; (I undertand that means muscle mass or there would be no hapiness about that increase) or &quot;hey, this works for me because I am losing fat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such comments mean that (a) either the authors have no idea about the difference between water retention and fat tissue and muscle mass, or (b) they are tracking their body fat percentage daily by means of some easy method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the latter, what is that method? I find waist tape measurements quite inaccurate, the measure is very easily affected by body posture or how much you press while holding the tape against you body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T22:03:36.023" Title="How to keep track of muscle vs fat ratio" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22422" CreationDate="2015-03-03T11:18:11.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were deadlifting and overhead pressing as my main exercises, the first things I'd look to for assistance would be pull-ups, dips, or power cleans. The pull-ups help the upper back for OHP, the dips help the triceps and shoulders for OHP, and the power cleans train speed and explosiveness for the deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T11:18:11.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22422" CreationDate="2015-03-03T13:53:38.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on where you are weakest on those lifts.  However, there are a few options that I've found very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OHP Assistance:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More &lt;strong&gt;OHP&lt;/strong&gt;.  You can use dumbbells or barbells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Z Press&lt;/strong&gt;. Sit on the floor with legs straight out and press from a rack.  Works the shoulders and core more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Incline Press&lt;/strong&gt;.  Dumbbells or barbells here as well.  Stick to close grip for more triceps work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are others, but these have been good staples for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift Assistance:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Double pause deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;.  Pause just off the floor and just below the knee.  They are brutal so keep the weight down.  They drill motor patterns and build strength in the most common sticking points. 5x6-8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snatch Grip Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;.  Use straps and work off of blocks (2-4&quot;).  These hit the glutes, hamstrings, and upper back well.  Even just 2-3x15 is enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Opposite stance Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you normally do conventional, do assistance with sumo style.  Or flip it if your normal style is sumo.  They hit your muscles differently enough to be good assistance for the other.  3x8-12.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Romanian Deadlifts&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you have to go mixed grip or use straps to keep the weight where it's challenging, do it.  5x10-15.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can treat it as a menu of assistance work.  For example, if your lower back is pretty taxed before you start deadlift assistance, you might want to stick with snatch grip deadlifts or romanian deadlifts.  If you are feeling good and want a challenge go with the opposite stance or double pause variations.  Also, as assistance work, touch and go is perfectly fine.  In fact with longer rep sets, it's about the only real way to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T13:53:38.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23791" CreationDate="2015-03-03T19:07:35.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is generally considered a &quot;safe&quot; exercise, because it is low impact, so less wear and tear on the body. It is also a full body sport, which makes it better than other low impact alternatives such as cycling, where you don't get much upper body workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as have been pointed out in comments, you can still sustain injury if you swim with poor form, or use pool accessories (such as swim hand paddles) that are not correctly sized/used. Both of these can lead to stress and overuse injuries, especially if you are exercising at a higher intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every single sport has its own particular hazards. Swimming is usually a safer exercise, because it can easily be done at levels from very low exertion to high exertion, and it is very low impact (I count pushing off walls as an impact).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shin splints are typically either an overuse injury, or an acute stress fracture type of thing. Shin splints are kind of a catch-all term for several things that can affect the lower leg. Lowering your mileage, getting new shoes that are matched to your running style, and lowering the intensity are all things you can do to help alleviate the pain. You may need to take a few weeks/months to let things heal before you restart running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your second question about temperature, it's personal preference. You may notice that you get fatigued faster in warmer water, and in any case, drink water. Yes, you will sweat when swimming, even in cold water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T19:07:35.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23793" CreationDate="2015-03-03T22:03:36.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are referring to is called the body fat percentage. There are numerous ways to track it with varying degrees of accuracy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Skinfold calipers where you measure the skinfold of different points on your body (calves, quad, stomach, etc.), take those numbers and use them to generate an estimated BF%.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The navy body fat calculator which does a rough estimate based on your height, waist, and neck circumference.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weight scales that estimate your body fat, though their efficacy is very variable (even more so than the other methods).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The most accurate reading you can get is through a hydrostatic tank, though it's also the most expensive and inconvenient option.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with anything there are pros and cons to each, and the ideal option depends a lot on your preference. Navy is the cheapest and fastest approach. Scales are expensive but easy. Calipers are time consuming but cheap and fairly accurate. Hydrostatic is expensive and potentially time consuming but also the most accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there is no need to track your BF% daily, because that is simply too much trouble for too little insight. There are so many variables going into this that, much like weight, you'll see a lot of small fluctuations in the day-to-day that are meaningless so if you insist on daily tracking you'll be best off averaging all results in a week and recording that new averaged value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1803" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T22:03:36.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23817" CreationDate="2015-03-03T22:19:47.193" Score="7" ViewCount="1024" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I'm squatting around maximal loads, I notice what could almost be described as a doppler shift in the music playing from my headphones for a brief moment.  The music (maybe my perception of time?) seems to &quot;slow down&quot; slightly, or everything is processed more slowly. This happens during instants of extreme exertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a strange question, I know, but has anyone else experienced this?  If so, what scientific explanation could there be for it?  Any potential harm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T02:37:12.617" Title="Music &quot;slows down&quot; during heavy lift?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9728" CreationDate="2015-03-04T00:36:14.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;On estimating your &lt;strong&gt;VO2Max&lt;/strong&gt; number &lt;strong&gt;IN&lt;/strong&gt; your home, and without specialist equipment, you could simply use the Sorensen formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2max = 15.3 * ( MaximumHeartRateBMP / BasalHeartRateBMP)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MaximumHeartRateBMP = 210 - 0.5*AgeYears&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ACMS Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively use one of the Step tests: Queens, YMCA, Harvard, or the Rockport 1 mile walk, Cooper 12min run, Kindle's 12 min run, 1.5 mile run.... test.  Unfortunately the VO2max number you get out from any of these tests is impacted by effort put in, so the numbers can fluctuate significantly e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jvbma.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T00:36:14.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22318" CreationDate="2015-03-04T01:10:23.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply obtain a heart rate monitor and estimate the relative VO2 figures per: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12435/is-it-possible-to-measure-calorie-burn-from-heart-rate-alone?rq=1&quot;&gt;Is it possible to measure calorie burn from heart rate alone?&lt;/a&gt;, and from the VO2 figure the calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T01:10:23.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-04T01:32:05.117" Score="0" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been on a diet since last month. I have decreased my food intake, and noticably my weight has lost a couple of pounds(5 lbs), my arms,legs have become more slender but I have been curious that my belly size seems to be the same or is becoming larger. I haven't measured it yet so I do not have a clue as to why it is like that. Recently I have been taking on whey protein shakes and have gone to the gym at least 3 times last week. I am wondering if this is the effect of me drinking protein shakes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I sit for an almost unbelievable 9- 10 hours a day(work and driving home). I try to use the stairs whenever I go to the restroom, and when I go out for lunch I try to walk around 1 - 2 blocks away from the office but I am quite worried that I am still feeling &quot;heavy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to decrease my belly size? Apparently some muscles have already been showing my arms and I am quite happy with them, it's just that my belly has become a lot bigger. I've stopped drinking beer since last month, plus I rarely drink beer before(1-2 bottles every month). I am however used to eat salty foods, mostly peanuts. I try my best to drink water but is it ok to go past 3 litres a day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 23 years old, 145 lbs, and 5'6 in height. I do full body workouts (1 day for chest, 1 day for back, 1 day for shoulders, on all three days with gym I also do abs and legs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7246" LastEditorUserId="7246" LastEditDate="2015-03-04T01:41:02.873" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T08:47:21.847" Title="Belly is becoming larger even though I am on diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-05T13:14:33.947" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-04T03:02:07.000" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to lose weight and I want to know the best ways to increase my cardio? I try to push my self to at least run or use the bicycle for 30 or 40 min but if I'm on the treadmill I can sprint maybe like 3 times and hold it for 3 min and the rest of the time I end up mostly walking (or speed walking).  With the bicycle it can do a little better but not much? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15080" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T08:10:34.900" Title="Increasing my cardio" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23805" CreationDate="2015-03-04T07:40:54.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lose weight, your diet will be the most important thing you need to work on.&#xA;As for cardio, I think that bicycle is an excellent way to start, since it is (in my opinion) better for your legs(if you feel you are overweight). I rarely do treadmill myself because of my knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like you have some cardiovascular endurance then you can try HIIT(High intense interval training). It can shorten your training sessions A LOT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically what you do(i prefer on a bicycle or rowing machine) is use whatever you like and for, lets say 30 sec you work as hard as possible, then rest for 30 sec and do it again. Repeat this process as much as you like, you can start 6-7 times and move up to 10+. Later on you can play with the work and rest times. Like work 30 sec, rest 20 etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this being much more...fun than just cycling or rowing for an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="13810" LastEditDate="2015-03-04T08:05:59.490" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T08:05:59.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23805" CreationDate="2015-03-04T08:10:34.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;s3v3ns answer pretty much covers it, but I'd like to be more specific about the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing cardio, even every day, will not guarantee that you lose weight (= have negative calorie balance), eating 500 kcal is much, much easier than running 500 kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd recommend that you write down what you eat during a week, and don't try to eat healther than normal, just write it down. In the end of the week, calculate the calorie intake you've had, and you'll see what adjustments you should make. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T08:10:34.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23804" CreationDate="2015-03-04T08:16:32.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your belly can consist of three things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Internal belly fat, this will be fat behind your abs, around your organs, very unhealthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External belly fat, how thick are the folds on and around your belly? The fat you can pinch is under your skin and thus external.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gas, does your belly vary a lot? Try eating less gas producing food (vegetables, mainly) and see if it makes a difference. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's the second, you need to eat less or exercise more to reduce your weight. If it's the second, you might need to consider some more cardio, there is some evidence that you need exercise and not just negative calories to reduce internal fat[1].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17637702&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17637702&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T08:16:32.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23810" CreationDate="2015-03-04T10:33:38.993" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am off work for 2 weeks soon. I am not doing much (saving money really!) so I would like to use this time to focus on the gym a bit more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Stronglifts with added cardio 3 times a week for 9 weeks now (Been lifting for a year prior to the program change), but I am sitting at 15.7% bf. I would like to lower this (ideal goal 12-13).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to use these two weeks to move closer to my goal (while hopefuly keeping strength!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a simple diet I can test out over these two weeks that combined with my workouts will hopefully reduce my bf% at the end. (Doesn't have to be that soon but I would like that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had originally thought about turkey, sweet potato, fish but I don't know how many times a day to eat?, what food will help towards my goals?, how much should I eat? etc etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone offer some advice? (I am open to mixing up my workouts to help too if anyone has advice that would help).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Weight 73kg, bf 15.7%, height 171cm, age 21)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14950" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T16:03:01.720" Title="Simple Diet Advice?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23809" CreationDate="2015-03-04T10:43:54.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use some calculator to calculate your macros, a simple one like &lt;a href=&quot;http://macronutrientcalculator.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;There are three major macronutrients, or macros for short : Protein, Carbohydrates and fats. Using the macro calculator you can calculate how much of each do you need daily. Fill those needs, and you will lose weight, if that is what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a site like &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/a&gt; to track your macros. It is just calories in vs calories out. Let's say your maintance caloric need is 2500kcal. You simply reduce your intake by, lets say 200, and later 500. So instead of 2500kcal you eat 2000kcal. You have to simply try what works for you. Just an example tho. Use the calculator to find your needs. There are some more sophisticated calculators that require more information. You can find them easily when googeling &amp;quot;Caloric calculator&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Macro calculator&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight is simple, if you track your macros. If you like the workout you do, keep doing it. From whatever you calculate your macros to be, i recommend consuming at least 1 g of protein for 1 pound of bodyweight.(If i remember right its 2g protein / 1kg of body weight) and build your other macro needs around this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep eating clean. Get your vitamins from veggies etc. If you want to cheat build that day around the cheat meal you have chosen. For example, you want to eat a pizza. Find the pizza you want in myfitnesspal and add other foods around it, so you could still get your daily needs. Use some healthy fillers, like borccoli and spinach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also, don't forget your fats. Fats are important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My calories come from 40% protein 40% carbs 20% fat. In grams it looks like this(for example) 200g of protein, 200g of carbs, 80g of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THIS IS ONLY AN EXAMPLE.&#xA;This is what works for me. You are lighter than me so following those macros would not help you lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T16:03:01.720" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2015-03-04T11:05:53.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with above answers that there no way to target belly fat. But four keys that control stomach fat are exercise, diet, sleep, and stress management. With a regular routine exercises such as walking, jogging and other cardio exercises, approximately 20 minutes per day. With a proper and balanced diet, a good sleep and a decrease of stress in your life can help you attain your fat loss goal faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15082" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T11:05:53.850" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23809" CreationDate="2015-03-04T12:52:37.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not able to find a source right now, but I remember reading that it's only possible to oxidize a certain amount of fat per day, when going over this limit, you will start burning protein (muscle) instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a regular sized person, it's about 500kcal/day, fatter people can burn more of course. This means that you can burn about a kg of pure fat in two weeks. You'll then have 10.461kg of fat and a body weight of 72kg =&gt; 14.5% body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exactly that you eat doesn't matter very much, just make sure it's 500 kcal less than you use, and that protein intake is rather high. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T12:52:37.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5032" CreationDate="2015-03-04T13:53:44.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Europe, but it's always good to compare practices. I can't imagine not getting clean after exercise and going on public transport (yes, we have it) or - heaven forbid - into the office without using shared facilities to get thoroughly clean. It also means you can lower your water usage at home and hence utility bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q1) Where do I keep my clothes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always lock them away. I haven't seen a changing room without a locker since leaving primary school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q2) If in a locker, should I wear a towel between the shower and the&#xA;  locker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't wear one from the locker to the shower, as you're going to be drying yourself with the same towel and don't want sweat/chlorine on the towel. I'd strip and go nude to the shower with the towel separate/in a bag (along with shower gel). For the return journey it's a matter of taste and what you're comfortable with. Follow what others are doing and you can't go wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q3) Where do I keep the towel while I'm in the shower? Not every place&#xA;  I've been to has somewhere to hang it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a bag preferably on a hook at the last convenient place before the shower. My main concern would be spreading water around unnecessarily (rather than getting the towel nicked), so dry at or close to the place where you shower to avoid getting the place wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q4) If there are no private showers, is it normal to shower in a&#xA;  bathing suit or similar attire? My current gym has private shower&#xA;  stalls with curtains, but I've been to gyms where the showers were&#xA;  more community style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a gym with no swimming pool, I don't know why you'd have a bathing suit. Gym changing rooms are in my experience always single sex and with no children present, so I wouldn't even consider not showering nude in an open shower. In swimming pools there may be children present. Not that this normally changes my behavior, but I'm European :D Again, follow what others are doing and you'll be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q5) Where do I keep my cell phone/wallet/keys? I can't really bring&#xA;  them with me into the shower, so I suppose I'd have to keep them in&#xA;  the locker. But is that safe? If someone broke into my locker while I&#xA;  was in the shower, I'd lose everything valuable and I'd have no&#xA;  clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use your judgement as to how safe the lockers are. I have locked everything except the towel and shower gel for years and nothing ever happened. Sometimes you can leave valuables (wallet/phone/keys in a safe rather than in the locker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I use a shower that strangers have used, are there any possible health repercussions?&#xA;See below - wear flip flops if you're concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q6) Do I need to wear sandals to protect against athlete's foot, for&#xA;  example? Sandals are a good precaution, though might not be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends how clean the place is. Thoroughly drying your feet and&#xA;changing clothes frequently are equally (if not more) important for&#xA;preventing these issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q7) Is it normal/OK to perform other grooming functions, such as&#xA;  shaving, or brushing your teeth, in a gym locker room?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly it is normal at my pool, though fortunately it doesn't happen at the gym. I see no reason why anyone should shave (and block the sink for other users for many minutes) at a pool or gym. The shaving is not limited to the facial area, have seen body hair, head (scalp) though fortunately not pubic hair yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to give my mobile phone a rest when in the gym. If someone wants to take an illicit picture of my average mid-30s naked body then I can't say I'm going to lose any sleep over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy the exercise along with the showering and changing at the end. Once you start then you'll find it normal and quite a liberating experience. I've bumped into colleagues including my supervisor - nude in the shower on more than one occasion. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I meant gym changing rooms are a single sex environment - not the gyms themselves. My gym is mixed sex, but the showers and changing rooms are segregated - as is the case in all gyms and pools I've ever been to apart from the Changing Village madness I saw back in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15083" LastEditorUserId="8" LastEditDate="2015-04-14T09:25:42.923" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T09:25:42.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23820" CreationDate="2015-03-04T22:22:02.330" Score="4" ViewCount="1312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to learn freestyle swimming and got the kicking nice and strong. I watched numerous videos about breathing and spoke to my instructor and everyone says: &quot;Extend your arm, (almost as if) turn to place your ear in the arm pit of your extended arm and look slightly backwards, breathe and put your face back into the water when your other arm returns for extension&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I extend my arm and turn to breathe, my arm drops and I have no idea how to fix this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My instructor says its because I'm not extending long enough but I don't think thats the problem. I even tried grabbing a kickboard with the extended arm and practice but I put a lot of pressure on the kickboard thus suggesting some issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any exercises or anything else to help me fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15086" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T14:41:50.163" Title="Arm Drops During Breath Turn" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23804" CreationDate="2015-03-05T08:47:21.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have lost 5 pounds and you have worked out, your belly has most likely not become bigger. I will wager it is in your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do measurements of yourself. You can't judge small differences by looking in the mirror. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up eating clean and dieting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T08:47:21.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23800" CreationDate="2015-03-05T13:23:36.793" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted above in the comments, there are two main reasons why this may be happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adrenaline creates a perception of time dilation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adrenaline can create a &quot;bullet time&quot; effect where time seems to move more slowly as your body routes blood to your brain. It's an evolutionary adaptation much like the fight-or-flight response to help you deal with a crisis situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raised blood pressure results in perceived reduction of pitch and volume of hearing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2808/blurred-vision-during-weightlifting?rq=1&quot;&gt;Blurred vision during weightlifting&lt;/a&gt;, blood pressure increases during a lift, particularly if you're holding your breath, such as with the Valsalva maneuver. This can result in a dulled quality to sound in your hearing. Things sound more muffled and lower pitched. When a sound is slowed down, its pitch drops due to how frequency works, so when you hear the lower-pitched sound, there's a good chance you're interpreting it as being slowed down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, while it's a remote possibility, maybe...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You're having your superpower origin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch a few movies involving superheros. A good bit of the time, as they suddenly discover their power, time slows down so that the audience can appreciate how momentous the situation is. If you start to hear triumphant background music coming from nowhere, or if one of your liftmates has started cackling evilly, there's a good chance you're the hero in the story. If so, watch out for glowing green rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T13:23:36.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14773" CreationDate="2015-03-05T13:37:16.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would look at your diet and especially your natural collagen production. This for me was an issue I had with perthes disease. Eating high nutrient dense foods really help, especially at high intense sports like squash where you need to make sure your body is producing plenty of grease / synovial fluids at other to ensure efficient working of joints and more importantly recovery. Alot of people look for other problems, but the food you eat / fuel you put into your body is important. Especially to assist in collagen production - high vitamin C foods, and minerals from seeds and nuts like flaxseeds and pastachios etc. Also consider in taking natural &lt;a href=&quot;http://naturalcollagen.in/product/colvita-natural-collagen/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;collagen supplements&lt;/a&gt; at these high intense times, especially to help with recovery. You will find these natural healthy focus on high nutrient dense foods will naturally boost your recovery and regenration of your knee joints...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A swiss ball can greatly help you with strengthening your legs by placing ball behind you and against a wall and doing sitting squat and hold, lunges and laying on your back with feet on ball and then pulling ball underneathe you and back - burns like hell but fantastic natural core strengthening exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also remember your stomach strength and core - so plenty of planks and again stomach exercises with the swiss ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15042" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T13:37:16.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-05T12:40:02.503" Score="2" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 19 year old male and recently restarted doing running after around one year. I am very thin and would like to become bigger and fatter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ocassionally (actually quite often), I feel tired and unmotivated to go running. But in order to keep the habit and the schedule going, I just go and run at a speed slower than I normally would run at. This way I follow the schedule but am not really doing the 100% training everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I wondered whether it would be more beneficial for me to not go running at all the days I feel tired and unmotivated because when running slowly, my speed is much slower than my normal running speed. Maybe my body develops the habit of running at slow speed and so in long run my speed gradually decreases. Moreover, maybe resting the body will make me more faster for the future running sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, should I stop running slowly and instead either go and do 100% training or not go at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I run around 5-6 km 6 times a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15092" OwnerDisplayName="Joe Slater" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T14:28:14.397" Title="Should I go run slowly or not at all" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23814" CreationDate="2015-03-05T14:41:50.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a timing issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the way you are describing it, you are waiting until your arm is fully extended before you are turning your head to breathe, which will cause your arm to drop. This is because the water is slowing your forward momentum, and it's hard to keep your arm up as your body sinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You (most likely, it's very hard to diagnose swimming problems without video or seeing the person) are breathing a little too late. By the time that your arm is completely extended, your face should already have been out of the water to take the breath, and as your arm begins the pull, your face should be rotating back into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try this laying on a weight bench or similar that is basically just a padded bench. Lay face down, and &quot;pull&quot; with your right arm, left arm extended forward. As you lift/bend your right arm to recover and extend it forward, you should rotate your body and head to the right to &quot;breathe&quot;. As your right arm starts to pass your face, you should start rotating towards flat again, and your left arm should be beginning its pull phase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get to flat again, your right arm should now be extended, and your left arm ready to begin recovery. Left arm recovers, right arm pulls. Right arm recovers and you rotate/breath as left arm begins the pull. This ensures that you never have a &quot;dead spot&quot; in your stroke and are always maintaining forward motion. That will make it easier to keep good position and breathe properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to breath the way you are describing, but it requires good body position and technique, which is hard to achieve in newer/beginning swimmers. There are some techniques (front quadrant swimming) where there are other timings used, but they are a little more advanced than the beginner level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have an instructor, but another decent instructional method for beginners is &quot;Total Immersion&quot;. I don't like it for competitive swimming, but for basic learning it's a good tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T14:41:50.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23819" CreationDate="2015-03-05T14:46:07.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have several days in a row where you are tired and unmotivated, by all means take a day or two off. This is your body telling you that it needs a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all it is, is that you feel tired because it was a long day at work, get out and go running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you just need to learn to listen to your body, and not your head. Your body will tell you when it needs a break, your head will almost always try to talk you out of getting out the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is a cumulative activity, where it's not so much going out and beating yourself into a pulp twice a week, but the day in, day out steady mileage that produces the best results. 6 days a week of slower running is better than 2 or 3 days of hammering it and then sitting around for a couple. (Depending on your goals, this is for endurance and general fitness. If you are sprint training, or other warrior run type stuff, different rules will apply).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T14:46:07.310" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19728" CreationDate="2015-03-05T14:56:42.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can actually burn that amount of calories by walking, but remember that the calories include the ones burned by your organism at rest. If you would sit down instead of walking you would also burn calories because every live cell in your body needs energy for normal processes. That being said, you have to know that calories are NOT the only thing you have to take into consideration. Sprint training, for example, helps develop muscle mass, which in turn increases your metabolic rate, so you burn calories throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line, keep walking, but dont abandon running occasionally, like 2-3 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rene Custals MD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15089" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T14:56:42.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23819" CreationDate="2015-03-05T17:15:41.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This comes from a girl, so please take with a grain of salt. You have said you want to become bigger and &quot;fatter&quot; - running won't help. I'm assuming you want muscle and not fat - you should put on lean muscle mass as opposed to just body fat. Drinking protein shakes can help you do that. To develop the muscle, you’ll need to strength train on a regular basis. Since strength training doesn’t burn many calories, it’s not likely to prevent you from gaining the weight you want, but it will help prevent your body from putting it all on as fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T17:15:41.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12999" CreationDate="2015-03-06T07:18:17.537" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dynamic stretching is also very important to increase you flexibility. But make sure you are sufficiently warm and agile/loose when doing any stretching!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15096" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T07:18:17.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23920" CreationDate="2015-03-06T11:36:25.823" Score="4" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to perform cuban rotation with a single dumbbell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am experimenting with cuban rotation as an assistance exercise for olympic lifting and gymnastic arm balances. My current exercise plan is 3x per week olympic lifting plus handstand skill work every other day (not really structured) plus some light yoga in the mornings. I have no shoulder injuries or mobility problems, I want to use this exercise primarily to increase strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen cuban rotations performed in a number of ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Standing, with barbell: the bar goes from the stomach to behind the head in 180 degree angle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With dummbell, elbow unsupported: the same as above, with either 1 or 2 dumbbells, standing or sitting, 180 degrees motion&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With dumbbell, elbow supported: with 1 dumbbell, the elbow supported on the knee, but only 90 degrees of rotation (lowering the dumbbell from vertical to horizontal, and back)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the advantages/disadvantages of each version? Currently I prefer the single dumbbell version, because even an unloaded barbell seems too heavy for this exercise, and I only have a single dumbbell at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a single dumbbell, should I have my elbows supported or not? Should the range of motion be 90 degrees or 180?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The supported version with a ROM of more than 90 degrees feels awkward and sometimes very slightly painful in my shoulder. Should I reduce the weight and try to perform in full range of motion, or is 90 degrees ok in the long term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2015-03-10T09:08:15.117" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:25:33.297" Title="Correct form of cuban rotation with a single dumbbell" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23819" CreationDate="2015-03-06T14:28:14.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your concerns are absolutely spot on. Your not doing this right. Running 6 times a week is sapping your ambition and body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut the sessions down to 3-4 times per week with days between them and vary the intensity. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mon - normal pace&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tue - rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wed - normal pace&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thu - lighter pace &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fri - rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sat - fastest pace (beat your time/distance/whatever)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sun - rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15097" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T14:28:14.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19728" CreationDate="2015-03-06T14:36:21.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is: Yes, the numbers are real. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you burn those calories from walking, sprinting or doing housework the result (net burned calories) is exactly the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15097" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T14:36:21.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1170" CreationDate="2015-03-07T16:54:13.583" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes the ab ripper works great even for those in shape. If you watch the video you will see some of the individuals have ripped abs, and you can see they are getting a good workout. People reading this must remember a couple of things. Ab x is part of a whole workout program. The other workouts such as yoga x, chest n back, legs n back, shoulders n arms, x stretch, and plyometrics hit the abs in some way or another during the week. The day ab ripper is done, you should have also performed legs n back or chest n back. If abs are easy for you do legs n back first then abs. Same for chest n back. With that, the person doing ab ripper will get out of it what they put into it. I know, I have been doing a modified p9ox since finishing the program 2 years ago.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15101" LastActivityDate="2015-03-07T16:54:13.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-08T01:32:15.737" Score="3" ViewCount="1019" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calorie intake restriction while trying to gain strength seems not to be easy, and I have experienced with my own eyes an improvement from one workout to another, by simply eating more than usual in the three days rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it is time to start tracking down &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_macronutrients&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;macronutrients&lt;/a&gt; and calories. I would like to avoid that, and I am thinking about a complementary approach: not paying much attention to the scale (well, at least within some reasonable limits) for some time until achieving some decent results in my strength training, and then entering a phase in which I might try to loose weight while doing the exact amount of work each workout with the hope of forcing the body not to loose muscle during that phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that might have something to do with the words &quot;bulking phase&quot; and &quot;cutting phase&quot; that I have read here and there, but I am completely ignorant and the net is full of bad advise motivated by commercial interests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody explain a bit on the matter before I do something unhealthy?. To phrase it more specifically: I would like to know if those &quot;bulking&quot; and &quot;cutting&quot; bodybuilding phases are essentially what I am pondering to do, and I would like general guidelines on how to do it, why should I (or should not) do it, perhaps some online references. What are the advantages of both approaches? (trying to gain strength and muscle at constant body weight vs bulking and then cutting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-03-08T17:25:43.050" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T13:39:14.990" Title="Gaining strength at constant body weight vs bulking up followed by losing weight" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-08T11:12:20.903" Score="3" ViewCount="1620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently only have a bench, a barbell and a heap of weights, no squat rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to work on Wendler 5-3-1 (without boring but big) in the standard fashion with one change. No squats(due to the lack of squat rack).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tue - ???&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed - Bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thurs - Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday -  Shoulder press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What should I replace Squats with? Under the barbell and bench equipment constraints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell rows might work but are perhaps unnecessary with deadlifts on Thu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10708" LastEditorDisplayName="user10708" LastEditDate="2015-03-08T13:11:27.803" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T18:53:05.030" Title="Wendler 5-3-1 without squats" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23837" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23840" CreationDate="2015-03-08T12:30:57.943" Score="2" ViewCount="504" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently taken up trail running (as an ammateur) and discovered I lack in body balance on steep sections. My legs are also prone to injuries (minor ones, but annoying). I was told that core stability training could help me stabilize my legs and improve my balance (please correct me if I'm wrong). I haven't done much of any indoor training in the past because I found it really boring, but I think it's high time to have a go. Therefore I have a few questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long should a core stability session be? Is it better to do a wider range of exercises or do multiple series of fewer exercises?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often should I ideally do the core stability sessions? I usually cycle or run 4-5 times a week if it matters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm also going to take up stretching sessions. How to join core and stretching with my standard cycling or running? Should I do a few sessions in a single day or reserve special days for core/stretching?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other piece of advice would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12122" LastEditorUserId="12122" LastEditDate="2015-03-08T13:59:30.043" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T16:11:53.707" Title="Core stability - how often and long?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;stability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23836" CreationDate="2015-03-08T13:35:33.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clean the barbell once for each set of front squats. The squats will be submaximal, but that just means you'll have a chance to kick ass on the AMRAP set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T13:35:33.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23837" CreationDate="2015-03-08T16:11:53.707" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I roll my eyes a little bit at &quot;core&quot; exercises, because your body works as a full whole so if you're doing proper full body exercises your &quot;core&quot; (which isn't some agreed-upon anatomical term) will not only be trained, but will be trained proportionately. This is a huge deal and can't be overstated: a lot of training is down right dangerous and counter productive when you isolate areas and don't allow your body to function in an anatomically normal way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't to say that there aren't a variety of important often-forgotten muscles in the middle of your body, but that's more reflective of bad fitness regimes (think: guys who bench and bicep curl all day, or cardio-princes(ess) on the elliptical reading magazines). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tried and true strength training practices offer incredible &quot;core&quot; development&lt;/a&gt; in safe, balanced, and effective way. Plus, they don't work in isolation so you get a pile of overall strength gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How long should a core stability session be? Is it better to do a&#xA;  wider range of exercises or do multiple series of fewer exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your goal was purely strength training, you could get by quite well with three sessions of an hour a piece broken up throughout the week. Since you have such a consistent running schedule, I'd shoot for 2-3 times a week of 30-45 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always focus on a lower number of effective exercises versus a higher number for the sake of variety. You only have so much time to train: it's foolish to do anything other than activities that are the most effective. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19490/what-are-some-good-strength-training-routines-for-runners/19501#19501&quot;&gt;Here's an answer that addresses some particular exercises and schedules&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm also going to take up stretching sessions. How to join core and&#xA;  stretching with my standard cycling or running? Should I do a few&#xA;  sessions in a single day or reserve special days for core/stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really look into yoga, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyengar_Yoga&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;iyengar&lt;/a&gt; if you can find it, but anything with a good instructor will be good. It sounds like you've got a pretty loaded up training schedule, so for yoga if you can't do it on your complete off-day, consider doing it as a warmup before a run, or right on the heels of a run since you'll be pretty limber at that point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T16:11:53.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23836" CreationDate="2015-03-08T16:24:07.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBLunge.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lunges&lt;/a&gt; seem to not get a lot of love, but they'd be a good candidate to consider in this case. You could either use dumbbells, hold barbell plates in your hands, or clean the bar up and drop it into squat/lunge position that way (via an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overhead press&lt;/a&gt; as an intermediate step). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with Dave's answer as well about doing some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;front squats&lt;/a&gt;. All that cleaning will be great practice as well, and a good barbell clean is a terrific skill to have and unlocks a lot of advanced options that require very little equipment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An experienced lifting friend of mine swears by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBHackSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hack squat&lt;/a&gt; when the power cages in the gym are full, but personally I've never found them that comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mzYv0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But between lunges, front squats, and hack squats, you're bound to find something that while not perfect at least gets you closer than you would be if you just ignored the issue entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T16:24:07.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22496" CreationDate="2015-03-08T16:35:36.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the mistake you are making in your question is that you assume whey protein is not food. Whey protein is food just like anything else, it's usually referred to as a supplement  because it has conveniently great macros for bodybuilding (if we &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/933507/2?quantity=4.0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;take this as a general example&lt;/a&gt; 20g protein per 100 calories in a scoop).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can substitute 2 scoops (40g protein) with anything else i.e. chicken, fish, etc but it's not so convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you weighed 150lbs, you'd need to eat 150g of protein a day to eat at 1g per lb of bodyweight, it doesn't make a difference if you get that protein from whey powder or something else (but whey powder will make your life easier).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11928" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T16:35:36.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23834" CreationDate="2015-03-08T17:12:32.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bulking and cutting is a staple of the body building community, and on forums primarily devoted to aesthetics you'll find a lot of information supporting them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although less commonly talked about, the cycles of bulking and cutting fit quite nicely with anabolic steroid use. With something like deca/tren, a 12 week cycle is normally used, and you'll notice that most bulking cycles are usually in the same time frame. It's naive to think independently of steroids and body building: they've been coupled together for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you won't see are a lot of long-term healthy and strong people (3+ decades) who are constantly bulking and cutting. Body building techniques (like bulking and cutting) are optimized for short term gains and by nature focus on aesthetics. It's entertainment, but from body builders the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFXaDDkK4c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hodge Twins even put their two cents in on the damage of constantly bulking and cutting&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, about ten years of training for strength sports I've gotten to this realization:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty easy to be in calorie excess. On an intermediate or higher program, I default to eating more. It's not scientific, but because I've tracked macros long enough I have a pretty good feel for how much I need to eat. And like I said, I default to eating a bit more. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When I'm sick, traveling, taking a break, or recovering from an injury a common thread there is that I'm probably in maintenance mode and not progressively adding strength numbers. As such I watch my calories a little closer because I simply don't need as much. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Religiously counting your calories and macros every now and then is required. You can only make quick educated guesses on diet if your opinions are founded in reality, and you can only know the reality if you've measured and watched your diet. Every few months, I track everything for a week or so. It's a good check point to ensure I haven't slipped into bad habits or forgotten something important.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have a family, and I'm never going to tell my kids &quot;Sorry darling, daddy can't share that ice cream cone with you because I'm on a cut right now and want my abs to pop out.&quot; It's important to me that my fitness goals fit well with a relatively normal life. The point of fitness to me is to enhance my life, not to become my life. It's a tricky balance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some time periods, like the holidays are notorious for rich and calorie dense meals. Don't be that guy showing up for Christmas dinner with your grilled chicken and veggies in some tupperware. Lifting heavy through the holidays and watching your stomach-gooey-ness in the tail end of spring is a pretty simple way to make sure you're not fighting reality. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to win body building contests or be muscled up with &amp;lt;8% body fat, you're going to need to bulk and cut, and probably take steroids to be honest especially if you want to stay there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to look good with your shirt off, be strong, and develop healthy patterns that will last you the rest of your life, you need to balance all the fitness techniques with real life and look around at people in their later years who aren't dropping dead of heart attacks and see what they're doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T17:12:32.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-08T18:28:55.603" Score="4" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder how training a particular muscle when not recovered fully affects long term performance gains. I know there is evidence that this does negatively affect short term performance, as well as increasing the risk of injury. Of course injury will set you back in the long term, but suppose you can avoid it.&#xA;I know some athletes can train 30-40hours or more per week habitually (not just for a couple weeks in a row but longer periods), so I suppose it is possible it positively affects performance as long as you don't get injured?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any scientific research that indicates how training a particular muscle when not recovered fully affects long term performance gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15105" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T00:54:05.860" Title="Does exercising when only partially recovered benefit your performance in the long run?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23834" CreationDate="2015-03-08T19:07:05.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's some context from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23783/auxiliary-exercise-to-help-my-inverted-rows-to-progress/23786#comment37945_23786&quot;&gt;a comment of yours&lt;/a&gt; that's missing from this post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't count calories. I simply try to follow a lifelong habit of no fast carbs or refined wheat, no sugar, no alcohol, lots of fruits and some vegetables, olive oil, fish and lean meat and I try to include some extra protein in all meals (a couple of extra egg whites and ham during breakfast, sardines during dinner, meat or fish at lunch time, post-workout low-fat milk with some honey, and some yoghurt). I watch my weight and cut down a bit on carbs when it rises. But lately with strength training it is difficult not to be hungry and not to gain weight at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentiment, along with other questions of yours, makes me think that you are not eating enough. For one, the only source of fats are fish and olive oil, and you mention deliberately avoiding both fats and carbs multiple times. Furthermore, from previous posts it's clear that you run into tremendous overtraining injuries when you work out any more than once every three (!) days. That's unusual even for someone over 40.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to reiterate: I'm not a professional in any sense. I'm not a trainer, I'm not a doctor. More importantly, I can't see what you're doing. But man, does it sound like not eating enough could be a significant cause of not recovering from session to session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body needs fats. If you're strength training, you need to eat a lot in general, and protein in particular (which it sounds like you're doing). If you're doing cardio or anything high-intensity (such as some kinds of strength work), you need to be getting enough carbohydrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why deprive yourself? You gain nothing by watching the scale. What would it mean, for instance, if you do a bunch of inverted body rows, eat a bunch, and then see your weight go up? Most likely it would mean your body built some muscle. That's nothing to try to prevent by undereating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T19:07:05.780" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23844" CreationDate="2015-03-08T20:06:04.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think most popular and effective training programs do not allow you to recover fully. Recovering fully, being at peak power and endurance, is usually achieved by tapering off your training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, simply by the fact that you'd taper off a training program (like 5/3/1, 5x5, etc) before a competition, it's a logical conclusion that not tapering off (ie: a normal training week) means you're not fully recovered. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19321/how-long-does-it-take-for-muscles-to-recover/19322#19322&quot;&gt;Rather, you're recovered enough to handle more load, and stimulate more adaptation&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any scientific research that indicates how training a&#xA;  particular muscle when not recovered fully affects long term&#xA;  performance gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just comment to say that &quot;training a particular muscle when not fully recovered&quot; means a lot of different things. You can do it in a smart way, such as any effective training program, or you can do it in a silly way and stunts adaption and instead of leading to recovery leads to exhaustion. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_%28biology%29#General_adaptation_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scooped from the Wikipedia on stress and the general adaptation syndrome concerning exhaustion&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exhaustion is the alternative third stage in the GAS model. At this&#xA;  point, all of the body's resources are eventually depleted and the&#xA;  body is unable to maintain normal function. The initial autonomic&#xA;  nervous system symptoms may reappear (sweating, raised heart rate,&#xA;  etc.). If stage three is extended, long-term damage may result&#xA;  (prolonged vasoconstriction results in ischemia which in turn leads to&#xA;  cell necrosis), as the body's immune system becomes exhausted, and&#xA;  bodily functions become impaired, resulting in decompensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The result can manifest itself in obvious illnesses, such as peptic&#xA;  ulcer and general trouble with the digestive system (e.g. occult&#xA;  bleeding, melena, constipation/obstipation), diabetes, or even&#xA;  cardiovascular problems (angina pectoris), along with clinical&#xA;  depression and other mental illnesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case we're not talking about &quot;exhaustion&quot; in the sense of a tiring workout, but rather where you are (typically over a course of weeks) simply subjecting your body to more load than it is able to recover from. Beyond the load, other factors that can affect that balance include but certainly are not limited to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hormonal levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purely genetic differences&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Previous use of anabolic steroids &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T20:06:04.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-08T21:46:19.993" Score="2" ViewCount="1060" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running has evolved into a popular enough sport that it seems like you can get a special pair of shoes for almost every type of feet. My only problem is trying to identify exactly what type of feet I have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my own research I know most feet fit into one of three instep categories: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pronators&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neutral&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supinators&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on either side of neutral you can be either: &lt;strong&gt;mild&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;moderate&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;severe&lt;/strong&gt; pronation/supination. But what else is there to know? Start googling &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.ca/search?q=foot%20types&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=1102&amp;amp;site=webhp&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;imgil=uq-EYHLsSYgEqM%253A%253BWg1tQtKh5GMAjM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.aaronswansonpt.com%25252Fhow-to-pick-your-kicks-part-1-of-3%25252F&amp;amp;source=iu&amp;amp;pf=m&amp;amp;fir=uq-EYHLsSYgEqM%253A%252CWg1tQtKh5GMAjM%252C_&amp;amp;usg=__zz_wRAnWM_6Wu-vKzPS6_GEi2mM%3D&amp;amp;dpr=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCYQyjc&amp;amp;ei=16r8VOzcOMikyQTcxoHQAw#imgdii=_&amp;amp;imgrc=1BchKrRErt_upM%253A%3BPoGohs84CudS2M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F3.bp.blogspot.com%252F-FI4uuBKdB5Q%252FUiiowQcsi3I%252FAAAAAAAAA4E%252FdIERGt9-9eM%252Fs1600%252FFoot%252BTypes%252BSite%252BReady.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.pinterest.com%252Fmomlikesthese2%252Fhealth-hands-feet%252F%3B1600%3B808&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foot types&lt;/a&gt; and you get a flood of classification types. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strideorthotics.com/24.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; claims to have a algorithm that identifies 24 different foot types. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there's your toe type:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Greek&lt;/strong&gt; – Foot with the second toe being the longest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Egyptian&lt;/strong&gt; – Foot with the big (first) toe being the longest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Square&lt;/strong&gt; – Foot with even length toes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of which can be further categorized as &lt;strong&gt;tapered&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;wide&lt;/strong&gt; toe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about everything else? Say you have wider feet, narrower heels, longer toes, heel spurs, small ankles, big toe gap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from visiting an orthopedic doctor is there a way for people to learn what kind of foot type they have?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15107" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T23:24:39.153" Title="What kind of feet do I have?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23844" CreationDate="2015-03-09T00:54:05.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's sometimes said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improvement = training stress + recovery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your training puts a stress on your system, and during recovery you get stronger. Most training programs are built around generating different kinds of training stress in efficient ways and providing appropriate time to recover. Both the amount of training to create stress and what is needed for recovery depends on the athlete, their condition, the sport, and other factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to your specific question is, &quot;it depends&quot;. It depends on what kind of training you did before, and it depends on what you mean by &quot;exercising&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, for example, you did an all-out intervals workout on your bicycle. If you go out the next day and try to duplicate that effort, you are likely wasting your time; you haven't recovered enough to be able to impose more training stress on your system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, on the other hand, you go out the next day and do a light ride, you will get your legs and body warmed up and you will likely recover faster than if you sat around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T00:54:05.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23866" CreationDate="2015-03-09T05:58:40.057" Score="-1" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Fat Scale which measures my weight, body fat %, muscle mass, bone mass, BMR, AMR etc. Its beurer BF-750. The problem with this machine is if I set my activity level different it shows my body fat % totally different. Only thing which is almost always same on all activity level is BMR. Is there any formula to calculate body fat % using BMR on my own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T19:37:56.730" Title="Is there some formula to calculate body fat % from BMR value?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-13T19:30:23.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23850" CreationDate="2015-03-09T06:49:52.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Katch-McArdle Formula (Resting Daily Energy Expenditure):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;P = 370 + (21.6 * LBM)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where LBM is your lean body mass, and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;LBM = BM * (1-BF)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where BF is your bodyfat ratio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although both the BMR and the BF values you get from your scale are very imprecise. BMR is probably calculated using something like harris and benedict formula. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T06:49:52.417" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2015-03-09T10:37:17.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this problem for years and years, as well. I tried to strengthen my back muscles, to strecth them on a daily basis, swimming, doing yoga... And although all these techniques made me feel better (of course!), the problem was still there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, what really helped me was &lt;strong&gt;developing my ability to recognize the tension on a muscle or area and to release it&lt;/strong&gt;. Easy to say, I know : )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there are many ways or techniques to achieve this. The point is to work on your proprioception and to learn (living it in your own body) how muscles in many situations are tense because we are tensing them, even if we are not conscious of that. Most of times it is not a physiological issue out of our control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After several months of weekly sessions of diafreotherapy (other disciplines work on this specific purpose, as I said; not necessarily involving an emotional work) I progressively was able to realise that I had for example my shoulders blocked while walking at home. Like magic, once you feel that it is you who made that, your are plainly able to release. It was like if I had forgotten my coat on, and I just removed it. That shoulder blocking came back some minutes after, but that was a beginning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One night on the bed just before sleeping I felt the same with my whole back and realised that it was me who automatically tensed it each time, and that I could feel comfortable without tensing my back. It took me a couple of weeks to integrate this procedure so that I directly not tensed my back as I laid. Now I only feel my back stiff in the morning some rare days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15108" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T10:37:17.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19195" CreationDate="2015-03-09T15:00:53.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know your diets good then you should be fine. Running out of breath on deadlifts are normal. I powerlift and after a warm up set on my Deadlift I breath heavier an heart rate increases. Then after a max set my heart rate is beating out of my chest and I'm breathing very heavy. And I'm in light weight class so I do some cardio to keep of some extra lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15111" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T15:00:53.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23847" CreationDate="2015-03-09T23:24:39.153" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aside from visiting an orthopedic doctor is there a way for people to learn what kind of foot type they have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, easily! Just look at an old pair of shoes!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below we see two shoes, one old (left) and one new (right). As you can easily see, the left shoe shows excess wear on the outer toe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JApFV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've probably seen the kind of graphic below that relates wear to foot-roll. So just compare your shoe to the graphic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ORmJP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the above shoe, this person is an &quot;underpronator&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to foot type, the amount of ankle roll is &lt;em&gt;the most important&lt;/em&gt;, everything else is just overclassification. With regards to toe length or foot width, these can be addressed by trying on shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, foot roll is something that shoe manufacturers do advertise and you can easily come across while doing research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T23:24:39.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2015-03-10T03:50:23.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to stand and work too and in my 12 months experience here is what I have learnt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sitting all the time at work is obviously bad but standing at just one angle isn't super great. So, rather than just standing, give your body some variation. Break monotonous standing with sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't just stand, take a quick 5 minute walk. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good as it is, but movement trumps just standing and working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14960" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T03:50:23.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-10T03:51:06.830" Score="3" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have my own method for this and I'd like either confirmation that it's an acceptable solution or a reason why it's not and better alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I'm framing the question like this is because I like my method. It's convenient and it allows a practically unlimited amount of force to be used. (A lot of the articles I've read say that lifters sometimes need to add more force to get their mobility to change, due to having stronger/harder tissues.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My method is to lean forward against a wall with my feet some distance behind me and flat on the ground. The greater the distance from the wall, the more the ankle has to bend to accommodate the movement. If necessary, I move my feet further back and/or push against the wall hard enough to feel the stretch in the back part of my lower leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely feel it stretching my Achilles and calf, but my concern (leading me to ask about it) is that it may be leaving out other tissues that limit ankle dorsiflexion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as goals go, I want to be able to squat to depth without having to be forced down by weight. I can squat with reasonably good form with weight, but I can't get close to parallel (without my heels rising) with just bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T17:56:53.057" Title="Increasing ankle (dorsiflexion) mobility" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-10T04:41:58.723" Score="1" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;My doctor wants to start some testosterone treatments on me because he says my levels are too low (they are 231 ng/dL and he said it should be between 348 to 1197). The question I have is, given that I don't have a girlfriend/wife, have never been on a date and am still a virgin (age 38 virgins, yes we exist), is there really any need for me to worry about my testosterone level?  It seems everywhere I look on google it is all about sex and sex drive. As someone that has no need for sex or a sex drive (see no wife nor girlfriend), is there anything else I would even care about? Do I really need to up my testosterone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15113" LastEditorUserId="13706" LastEditDate="2015-03-11T06:47:50.757" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T06:47:50.757" Title="Should I care about Low Testosterone?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2015-03-12T18:16:26.477" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23865" CreationDate="2015-03-10T06:12:47.167" Score="0" ViewCount="811" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is best time for gym and exercise? Till now I was going to gym in morning. But now due to some timing change in my job , I will have to go gym in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have heard from many people that morning gym is more effective than evening , Is that correct? Also how to get energy to do gym at evening after full day job?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13856" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T16:46:36.127" Title="Gym effect at evening" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-03-11T02:41:14.957" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23858" CreationDate="2015-03-10T06:20:08.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, only your doctor can know if your levels are actually low enough to cause these symptoms, so you should ask them. I'm only including the rest of this answer to let you know it's worth asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it relates to fitness, low levels of testosterone can lead to reduced muscle and bone mass [&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_deficiency#Signs_and_symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]. Low muscle mass (and presumably reduced muscular gain) is obviously bad if you're interested in getting stronger or bigger. Reduced bone mass is bad for just about any kind of exercising that involves impacts or heavy loads, like running or lifting, because it increases your chance of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T06:20:08.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19195" CreationDate="2015-03-10T14:34:45.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;it seems normal, but as you stated you are doing this for couple months I am asuming you were using lower weights before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To soothe your problem try doing some breath exercise which will increase your capacity to breath more calmly in these situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus also, please don't over lift or over rep anything if you feel that you really feeling breathless try decreasing your sets as you already stated you are only doing this to be in good shape, or you can also try increasing the rest time in between each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some explanation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you try lift something heavier especially in a sequence your veins and your muscles get full pull it's a common human body reaction when lifting something heavier your lungs and mind tend to hold breath to give your body maximum capable power as if you were breathing out it will result in relaxing that decreased the body power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution for this is by lifting weight that your body can easily handle so you can breath in and out but do it fast so you can maintain the power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is same like throwing a punch, when you are angry you - first you take your punch back holding your breath and then release it to the opponent to produce maximum damage and releasing the breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of reactions can make your heart beat faster and make you breathless in couple of shots, leaving you immobilize to think that I can run more than 1 - 2 km without any difficulties &quot;but why I become breathless so fast with few punch ?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is simple you ask your body to provide you maximum power possible, your body reacts to your command and start burning even the single oxygen taken in the lungs and to process energy your heart start pumping at the max possible rate &quot;Providing you maximum power possible sacrificing breath and heart beat rate&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that answer your Question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15116" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T14:34:45.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23859" CreationDate="2015-03-10T14:48:21.500" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well for the experts advise there is no alternate to the morning exercise - You wake up with full relaxed muscles then you have some healthy diet with some workouts your muscles got enough time till night to react with the work out you performed giving you maximum results with healthy body and mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest there are many instructors or gym people who you see exercising in the evening and that's also normal if you feel that your job don't make you too tired and you can have healthy diet at-least 30 mins before starting gym with a relax mind you can obtain almost any kind of results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: There is no alternate to the morning gym but even is the second choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15116" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T14:48:21.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23859" CreationDate="2015-03-10T16:46:36.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The consensus is that there is no best time to workout,  but rather that the best time is the one which will allow you to be committed to your training program.  The reason for this is that exercising consistently gives long term benefits which outweigh the difference between a morning and evening workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your preference for morning versus evening training will depend in part on your body's circadian rhythm, which is something like your body's own metabolic clock.  If you feel lethargic and out of energy when you wake up then you probably won't want to go on a 10K run in the middle of winter.  To answer your question, if you feel exhausted after leaving the office, then your body may be telling you to train in the morning.  Perhaps you can find time during lunch for a workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some differences between a morning and evening workout.  Working out hard late in the evening can cause insomnia.  Normally in the late evening your brain increases its production of melatonin, and your body's metabolism slows down.  This is all supposed to get you ready to sleep, but a hard workout can prevent this.  I can personally attest that late night workouts can cause big insomnia.  And I have paid the price for this many times, as I often had to wake up early the next morning to train again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek70.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;excellent article&lt;/a&gt; on BodyBuilding.com which compares many exercise parameters during morning, noon, and evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other sources:&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/PhysicalActivity/When-Is-the-Best-Time-of-Day-to-Work-Out_UCM_438922_Article.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heart Association&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/whats-the-best-time-to-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T16:46:36.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23850" CreationDate="2015-03-10T19:37:56.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are dozens of regression equations around, that have been created over the years from studies of various different demographics, simply have a play / choose one that seems suitable e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j8TBQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uPEuQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3LZsX.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9fo9t.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T19:37:56.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18372" CreationDate="2015-03-10T19:44:09.920" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend holding the bar with just your fingers in any excercise EVER.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that will do is severely pull the tendons connected to your fingers up through your forearm and through your elbow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With any barbell exercise, a strong firm grip is key, for forearm development and bar control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15118" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T19:44:09.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23875" CreationDate="2015-03-10T19:47:28.027" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently work out 6 days a week. However, I'm not 'Pumping Iron'. I do mainly body-weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'A' Days(upper body):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'B' Days (core/lower body):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-3 min Dynamic Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 Squats with a 25 lb weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently taking a rest day on Tuesday, because Tuesdays are busy for me and I was under the impression that a rest day is necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I find it annoying to have to make the decision of which exercise to do on Wednesday and I am not totally sure it is necessary. I want to get results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T04:36:54.997" Title="Do I need a rest day?" Tags="&lt;rest&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24323" CreationDate="2015-03-10T19:53:36.860" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that when I really push myself, my body doesn't reward me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This occurs usually only when I am doing upper body workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I am pushing myself and I can really feel my arms burn. When this happens, I sometimes decide to cut my workout 1 or 2 sets short because, even though mentally I feel I can do it, which makes me want to do it for the sake of pushing myself, I have had enough of these experiences that I know to stop anyways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, about 1-2 minutes later, when I sit down and drink some water, I am thanking my lucky stars that I didn't do it, because I feel ridiculously tired and nauseous for 5-15 mins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal or am I dehydrated or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it that I feel like I can do anything as I am contemplating it, but its only afterwards that my workout catches up to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to tell me if I'm just being a b**** and it's normal. I just don't want to inadvertently hurt myself as a result of trying to become strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastEditorUserId="10441" LastEditDate="2015-03-10T22:39:57.510" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T11:19:44.940" Title="Is it normal to feel very tired, nauseous a few minutes after a workout?" Tags="&lt;energy&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18179" CreationDate="2015-03-10T19:55:10.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inclined bars allow you to shift your center of gravity, by altering the angle of your body to the floor. A steeper angle moves your center of gravity towards your feet, essentially shifting the effort required to do a pushup in that direction, so there's less strain on the upper body. Move down the bars and you increase the upper body effort required to do a push-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T19:55:10.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23868" CreationDate="2015-03-11T00:02:10.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, nice icon. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, just listen to your body. No one can say how much is too much (and will lead to overtraining). Just familiarize yourself with the symptoms of overtraining and be aware of it. There's a difference between being lazy and being tired from overtraining. If you find yourself excessively tired and without motivation or you find your workout getting harder instead of easier, then you may need to adjust your workout schedule. If not, then there's nothing wrong with working out everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T00:02:10.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23877" CreationDate="2015-03-11T01:48:18.437" Score="4" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to to bodybuilding. Though I have worked out previously for more than 6 months on and off, I haven't really followed a proper schedule or had the right nutrition. My goal is to have lean muscle while being decently bulked up. I do not want to look huge, but my goal would be to look ripped. My height is 177cm and I weigh 160 pounds and I am 28 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this daily requirement for a person in terms of carbs/protein/fat very confusing because there is diverse information about it on the internet and it is hard to figure out for a beginner which one exactly to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out for 1 hour a day, 4 days a week. I spend a 5th day of the week on cardio. My current daily food intake includes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: 1 cup oats/cornflakes with 250 ml milk, 2 medium bananas, 5 eggs(2 whole, 3 whites)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Morning Snack: 2 slices watermelon, 50gm of peanuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: 8oz chicken(part of whole chicken), 150gm of mixed veggies(broccolli, beets, carrot, beans, peas), 4 slices brown bread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evening Snack: 2 oranges small, 1 teaspoon peanut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: 8oz Chicken(part of whole chicken), 1 cup brown rice, 150gm of mixed veggies(broccolli, beets, carrot, beans, peas), 2 egg whites&#xA;Before Bed: 250ml milk, few nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this enough nutrition? Do I need to modify my intake? Any insights will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15120" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-03-11T05:00:18.797" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T05:10:42.980" Title="Is my current nutrition enough to support my body building goals?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23873" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24026" CreationDate="2015-03-11T02:21:42.773" Score="2" ViewCount="6945" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out at a gym that doesn't have a squat rack (they have a Smith machine, but I don't use it). I have been doing goblet squats for the last few weeks. I like them. I feel like my form is a lot better than when I do barbell back squats. The downside is that the gyms dumb bells only go up to 85 pounds. I tore my groin a year ago and hadn't worked out for 6 months while I was trying to let it heal (it still hurts after PT but im desperate to work out again and squats don't bother it that much). After all of that time off and wanting to be cautious with my groin, 85 pounds is fine for now. I am, however, outgrowing it pretty quickly and soon I will need to be able to add more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dumbbell side squats I can do more weight, but it hurts my hands and my grip isn't all that great. They also tend to bang my legs. I feel like its still a great workout, but my form is off and I feel like I lean forward too much. I can do them, but its not ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried zercher squats, but along with front barbell squats, I feel like my arms get tired long before my legs do. I can add more weight than I have available for goblet squats but I am still limited by my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some form of squat that doesn't rely too heavily on your arm strength but also doesn't require a squat rack? I know that's probably asking too much, but even if I have to look in to some home equipment I may be willing to. Maybe there is a way I can do a zercher or other front squat without as much pain? I can do leg press and other machines, but its obviously not the same as a squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10444" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T06:23:33.110" Title="What do I do when goblet squat weight isnt enough?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23868" CreationDate="2015-03-11T04:36:54.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days?rq=1&quot;&gt;You need rest so your body can have time to recover&lt;/a&gt;. If you're not stressing it a lot, it won't need to recover as much. A crude but effective guide can be whether or not you're stronger (or &quot;fresher&quot;) on Wednesday than you are on Monday (since Tuesday is your current rest day). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're knocking out the same level of intensity and time on Wednesday as Monday, then it's likely you weren't overtrained on Monday as the rest on Tuesday didn't help at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And although I don't know you, I would imagine for an otherwise healthy person you could probably toss your A &amp;amp; B day together. Maybe in that case you'll be causing enough stress that a day off will help you out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As frustrating as rest is, try to remember that those days are the ones where you actually get stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T04:36:54.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23873" CreationDate="2015-03-11T04:52:33.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23836/wendler-5-3-1-without-squats/23841#23841&quot;&gt;a similar question over here&lt;/a&gt;, and I'll steal from that a little bit and re-mention the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBHackSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hack squat&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mzYv0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the best &quot;squat&quot; I know of when you don't have a rack to use. If you're up for home equipment though, consider just building a squat rack depending on your ability you can find some pretty sweet DIY ones (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endofthreefitness.com/crossfit-equipment-homemade-squat-bench-press-stand/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;$40 and an afternoon&lt;/a&gt;). Craiglist usually has lots of cheap weights and decent barbells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd vote for hack squats (and maybe some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBLunge.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lunges&lt;/a&gt;, and work on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSingleLegSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pistols&lt;/a&gt;), and if you have a spare $100 you can probably assemble a fairly decent squat set up. A couple of hundred more (or some craigslist luck) and you're adding bumper plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T04:52:33.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23872" CreationDate="2015-03-11T05:10:42.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, I don't know how tall you are but if you're 160lbs you probably could stand to have a lot more muscle packed on before you start worrying about being shredded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's terrific that you're tracking your food. You need to use a site like dailyburn.com or myfitnesspal.com to track the nutrients you're consuming. If you eat a lot of the same things day after day, you will quickly pick up on what macros come from what food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your protein looks good; I imagine you're in north of 160 grams per day, which is a good rule of thumb (1 gram of protein per 1 pound of bodyweight). The veggies look great too. I'd ditch the cornflakes, and 4 slices of bread. Replacing them with something that doesn't have refined flour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really you need to track everything and make sure that you're getting enough protein and fat, and carbs generally sneak in more than you need anyway. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/category/nutrition/nutrition-fundamentals/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lyle McDonald is a great resource out there for fitness nutrition&lt;/a&gt;, read up on some of his articles which are backed up by current research. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other thing I'd add is that although I think a lot of people (including myself) find it helpful in the beginning to watch your diet like a hawk and measuring everything to the ounce, you may find that it gets a little old after a while. Look for &quot;normal&quot; food that you can eat that has terrific macros. The more you can make your normal diet resemble optimal nutrition the easier it will be to stick with (long term).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T05:10:42.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23873" CreationDate="2015-03-11T08:36:54.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A front squat should not tire your arms. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/FrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The bar is supported by your shoulders, with the fingertips merely holding it in place&lt;/a&gt;--there is no need to grip the bar. Without a squat rack, you'll need to power clean the barbell into position, which will take some practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep in mind that squats are not just a leg exercise. In fact they're not a leg exercise, period. They work the legs, hips, and back to almost equal degrees, and for most people the legs are not the first part to fail. The squat is useful far beyond merely stressing the leg muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T08:36:54.053" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-11T08:45:34.207" Score="4" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I typically work 4am til NOON and live in a hot climate. I do hour-long PT sessions Monday/Tuesday/Thursday from 1230-130 to lose weight. &#xA;I am struggling with a couple of things, I feel burnt out, at the moment I am not on any supplements, and I am considering that approach, because eating is quite difficult whilst I'm at work. (I also struggle with breakfast, as my brain and body do not want to eat at this time)&#xA;Before I started training I would sleep 3pm-6pm and then again 10.30/11pm-3.30am (bizarre I know - but it's what works).&#xA;Which brings me to my next challenge, my trainer has been doing Tabata sessions with me, and then I can't get to sleep for my 3-6pm one, leaving me with only about 5hs sleep before I have to get up for work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to stop cause I love it, and after 4wks with diet and work out, I have lost 5cm around my stomach. But I need sleep and I need to stop feeling to tired ALL THE TIME. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15124" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T07:43:02.373" Title="Weird work hours and workouts" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23880" CreationDate="2015-03-12T03:46:37.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe consider 2:30am-3:30am before work. I lived in the tropics where the only possible way to workout out doors was before sunrise when the mosquitoes weren't so bad (still there, for sure), and the sun wasn't out. You'll need to learn to sleep in that 5pm-midnight area which can be tough for a human to adapt to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T03:46:37.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23885" CreationDate="2015-03-12T05:47:02.463" Score="6" ViewCount="1574" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an vegetarian and ectomorph. I started taking Creatine after workouts for a while. And  it seems like I need to supplement creatine every day or else my body goes back to its old form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any natural way to  increase creatine production in our body without supplementation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15129" LastEditorUserId="15129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T11:27:58.837" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T10:03:22.107" Title="How to avoid Creatine dependence?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23884" CreationDate="2015-03-12T06:45:53.480" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, don't place too much value in your identification as an ectomorph. It belongs to a very old, and debunked myth about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;somatotypes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the point of creatine isn't to gain a permanent weight increase. The point of creatine is to improve muscle recovery between sets by increasing their susceptibility to water, and thus their durability and stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another benefit of creatine is that you will likely experience increased energy levels during workouts, because of this recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What creatine does NOT do, is provide permanent gains. You take creatine to maximize your workouts, and make better gains while under the effect of it. Then, when you stop taking creatine, you muscles will still have made those gains. You will lose the water weight (which I think you're confusing with going back to your &quot;old form&quot;), but the gains you made are there, unless you stop training all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you probably know, meat and fish are the best sources of creatine, and even then, you'd have to get 500 grams per day to get the optimal amount of creatine. What you, as a vegetarian, should do, is get enough of the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine which are used in production of creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some foods that are rich in &lt;strong&gt;glycene&lt;/strong&gt;: Raw seaweed, spirulina, raw watercress, spinach, soy protein isolate, sesame seeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some foods that are rich in &lt;strong&gt;arginine&lt;/strong&gt;: Peanuts, walnuts, coconuts, soybeans, chickpeas, oats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some good sources for &lt;strong&gt;methionine&lt;/strong&gt;: Brazil nuts, oats, sunflower seeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For extra reading, I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/weightlifting&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; on vegan health and weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-03-13T10:03:22.107" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T10:03:22.107" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23888" CreationDate="2015-03-12T12:11:10.690" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what I've seen as stunts in movies.&#xA;I have no real visual examples but I might be able to explain in words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's when you run forward then start to flip. First both hands on the floor, then continue the flip, both feet on the floor, continue the flip, both hands on the floor, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hands on floor, feet on floor, hands on floor, feet on floor, and you continue to flip. Forward or backwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It works best if executed fast I guess.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leeloo Minai Lekatariba-Lamina-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat for example was doing a variation of that move in &quot;The 5th Element&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the move called? Is there a list where I could browse through gymnastic moves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Thanks to Sean I found what I was looking for: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHFPuBywhEg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;YouTube-Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15131" LastEditorUserId="15131" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T15:47:00.917" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T17:50:06.423" Title="What's this move called in gymnastics?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23887" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23965" CreationDate="2015-03-12T12:56:41.050" Score="7" ViewCount="795" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some help with regards to my arm strength.  My right arm is weaker than my left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of years ago I dislocated my right shoulder.  I was given the all-clear from the Dr's when this had healed (after a few weeks or so) and attended my physio, who, after a few more weeks, also gave me the all-clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when i'm in the Gym, i notice that my right arm is weaker than my left.  For example, if I try arm curls with my right arm using a 10kg weight, it is a lot harder than when on my left arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way that I can rectify this - get both arms to the same strength and ensure that I am working them out equally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&#xA;J&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15132" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T11:48:22.930" Title="Rectify different arm strengths?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23886" CreationDate="2015-03-12T14:01:31.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the feet and hands wind up on the ground at the same time, that's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Front-Walkover&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front walkover&lt;/a&gt;. It's been some years since I saw &lt;em&gt;The Fifth Element&lt;/em&gt;, but it's more likely that she was doing a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=9&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0CEQQFjAI&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wikihow.com%2FDo-a-Front-Handspring&amp;amp;ei=gZsBVfmkOJKwyASmzIKICQ&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNExxRF4JWUrqk_rGDNz8Y8So0BM4w&amp;amp;sig2=p9hxbjCJrSuFviY_aIOAOQ&amp;amp;bvm=bv.87920726,d.aWw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front handspring&lt;/a&gt;, which involves pushing oneself up off the ground as the legs come down. The former is generally a demonstration of flexibility and control and the latter is considered a more dynamic movement that requires greater power. It also tends to be faster because of the extra push.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are any number of sites where you can browse gymnastics terms. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_gymnastics_terms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, for one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T17:50:06.423" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T17:50:06.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7829" CreationDate="2015-03-12T23:30:16.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Givanse, I find your answer not helpful. Although deadlift is the bigger exercise than press, common sense tell me that deadlift is easier to &quot;grind out&quot; from than press. If you find yourself struggling with press, you're more prone to injury.  In case of deadlift, just drop the bar and you're fine. In conclusion press first before deadlift, provided that both are at least intermediate weight relative to your body weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15138" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T23:30:16.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23903" CreationDate="2015-03-12T23:34:55.667" Score="5" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I can workout the other muscles effectively, with this one I'm really struggling. Each time I try some exercise I feel pain in my shoulders and I've to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand the serratus protracts the scapula, but I generally feel the upper pecs and delts contracted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are some bulletproof exercise for this muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15137" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T05:07:30.873" Title="Serratus anterior exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23912" CreationDate="2015-03-13T04:56:36.663" Score="0" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 16 years old guy and I'm not getting enough time to complete my daily jobs. So, I decided to cut my sleep but after reading a few articles it seem not to be a good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to sleep 8 hrs approx.. &#xA;Now I want to cut it to 6 hrs,&#xA;after trying it for one day, I realised that I  was not feeling good that day and I was feeling a slight weakness. &#xA;Is it normal  if I change mmy schedule?&#xA;How much do I need to sleep?&#xA;Please  suggest the least time possible with no side - effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15139" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T15:54:08.430" Title="How much do I need to sleep?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-03-15T10:58:44.987" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23892" CreationDate="2015-03-13T07:20:16.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very personal, there have been people in history who only needed to sleep 4 hours per night, some people can get by with 6 hours, but most need about 8. You need as many as makes you feel rested. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to try different amounts and see what works for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T07:20:16.137" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23895" CreationDate="2015-03-13T07:33:28.237" Score="2" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;i love push ups and im doing (5-6) push ups at this moment and increasing the amount every session, but as i heard about rest days i want to know what exercises are ok to do during rest days? Actually im not intrested in gym yet and i want some relatively easy to perform home exercises thankyou :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15140" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T12:58:29.087" Title="Which exercises are ok in days between push ups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23894" CreationDate="2015-03-13T07:44:08.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to let your &quot;pushup muscles&quot; rest, that's good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest throwing in pullups and squats, either on the same day as you do pushups, or on the days in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way, you're not &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; training chest/triceps, but also working upper back, biceps, and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a million different bodyweight exercises you can do with minimal equipment. I would suggest trying to find a good number, so you can have some variation in your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T07:44:08.467" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23891" CreationDate="2015-03-13T11:55:02.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;reading your question give me a hint that you are going through a hard pull muscle or some bone minor fractions ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is usual and just a advice that many people develop such type of things while doing exercise it remain unnoticed because you feel no pain no trouble while doing any other exercise but the pain is only triggered in several positional exercise only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember when I use to go gym, I feel no pain at all but when ever I do backhand pull ups my shoulder start paining .. and the instructor advised me that this can be healed with some normal muscle relaxing gel and a rest of week or so .. and yes it was gone after a week of rest so you may advise or go for a routine checkup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15116" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T11:55:02.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23894" CreationDate="2015-03-13T12:58:29.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Alecs good answer and the comments I wanted to add, that there a a lot of different dodyweight trainings availible today. &#xA;Starting with different polpular Books like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Lauren - You are your own gym&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.marklauren.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.marklauren.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or perhaps in your case better:&#xA;Paul wade - Convict conditioning &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/b41/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dragondoor.com/b41/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which are delivering a huge amount of knwoledge and how to increase your strength and &quot;health&quot; without a gym/equipment. &#xA;(Also there are autors like Ross Enamait, Pavel Tsatsouline, Kelly Starrett... just to not only give you two names and countless forums and homepages online, google hundred push ups program). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially Paul Wade has a program to increase your ability to do push ups, pull ups, squats and leg raises from the very basic in Step one to extreme hard (one arm variants) in the last Step. Just have a look into one of those to better plan your training/extend your knowledge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now back to your first question. The needed rest in between workouts depents strongly on the amount of excercise you have and you perform as well as genetics. There are athlethes who can train several times a day without the need of a specific rest and others who have to plan their training very carefully to not overtrain/get enough rest. To be honest, just try whats goof for you. If you can perform push ups every day, do so (while at best mix in some other exercises to train the whole body). If you feel sluggish or you feel pain while trining stop and increase your rest. Try to listen to your body. He knost most of the time what's good for him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T12:58:29.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23834" CreationDate="2015-03-13T13:39:14.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me preface this by saying that what I’m about to share is somewhat opinion based (on experience) and laced with anecdotal evidence.  I've watched this post and initially hesitated in jumping in with an answer.  I think there may be some general misconceptions running through this thread.  I've actually lived the bodybuilding lifestyle as a competitor, and, trainer, so, I’d like to offer my experiences from a different, although, probably more common perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I constantly see the terms “bulking” and “cutting” in the context of bodybuilding.  As Eric indicated in his answer, those terms should be closely coupled with bodybuilding’s steroid community.  Most of us who strength train, however, are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; steroid users.  And, some of us, have actually been successful at competitive bodybuilding without abusing steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a natural strength training athlete or bodybuilder, bulking and cutting tend to be counterproductive.  It’s almost like “yo-yo” dieting.  We all agree that ensuring sufficient calories for growth is important.  However, unless you’re genetically gifted, adding extra calories by “bulking” tends to make you store more fat unless you increase your activity proportionately.  In my opinion, a more sensible approach would be to monitor your caloric intake to ensure you’re eating enough as Dave indicated in his response.  A steady flow of nutrients to support your strength training makes more sense to me than the occasional cycle of “bulking”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for “cutting”, the typical reason for reducing calories tends to be aesthetic in nature.  And, the “cutting” phase tends to be a long, gradual, multi-week process with the goal to reveal underlying muscle.  For a bodybuilder, the “cutting” phase is typically used right before a competition (10 to 12 weeks).  It’s not something that is done on a regular basis because of the stress (physical and mental) resulting from a calorie restricted diet.  Again, if you monitor your caloric intake and follow a sensible diet, there’s no need to “cut” for a natural strength training athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up, I would follow a modified version of the first approach in your question – Gaining strength while maintaining a &lt;em&gt;sensible&lt;/em&gt; weight.  That would mean adding or reducing calories based on the current context of your training.  But, not to the extent that you are “Bulking” and “Cutting”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T13:39:14.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9411" CreationDate="2015-03-13T13:56:28.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As said before, yes, the loss is normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to conribute to your question about adding weight. I would not reccomend that. Yes, you can use a weighted vest to increse your weight but that will normally be bad for joints, form and back.&#xA;Best, try first to get a &quot;perfect form&quot;.&#xA;If you try wide arm push ups, have a look, that your ellbows are over your wrists, your legs are firm and your body is straigt. perhaps even start and try this against a wall or a desk to make the p.u. easier and have a better position. &#xA;Also utilizing planks or a sling trainier helps developing the core muscles to have a a better form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing close p.u. o diamond pushups, have your ellbows tight on your ribs and your hands under your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you now awant to add intensity, try raising your feet utilising firs a box, then a chair or even a ball to make it more challenging. Otherwise try going from wide arm to close arm, then uneven push ups and perhaps one arm. &#xA;I personally like the convict conditioning porgram from paul wade (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/b41/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dragondoor.com/b41/&lt;/a&gt;) which goes in ten steps (recommendet over years) from wall push ups to one arm push ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T13:56:28.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-13T14:32:53.897" Score="9" ViewCount="1703" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done a lot research on proper form and near as I can tell the deadlift is a back lift. Doesn't this go completely against conventional wisdom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when I'm out in the world, how should I be lifting furniture and bags of mulch? Squatting or deadlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15144" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T08:32:42.590" Title="You've heard it said, &quot;Lift with your knees, not your back.&quot; What in the world is a deadlift, then?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23900" CreationDate="2015-03-13T14:43:21.137" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to think of deadlifts as lifting with your back, but in a controlled, symmetrical and familiar manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, back injuries don't arise from simply lifting with your back. Problems arise when you lift something large, unwieldy, and unstable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bar's weight is symmetrical around your lifting position. If the symmetry is ruined, and you try to maintain the lift, certain muscles will have to over-compensate, and this can cause extreme strains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Real-life lifts&quot; are more likely to be unbalanced, and asymmetrical. Things can break, and fall apart. Drawers can slide out, contents can shift and drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine if you're doing a deadlift with a bar, and half-way through the lift, someone removes a plate &lt;em&gt;on one side&lt;/em&gt; of the bar. &lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; is problematic! And the analogy is more likely to happen outside the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-03-13T14:48:50.030" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T14:48:50.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23891" CreationDate="2015-03-14T05:07:30.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ChestWt.html#anchor682036&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Incline shoulder raise seems to be the best option.&lt;/a&gt; The same link lists clap pushups and depth pushups as good plyometric options, since, from your comments, that seems like it's more in line with your current exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, the sarretus is involved as a stabilizer in most anterior deltoid exercises, like the over head press. There are a lot of programs (like SL 5x5) organized around the idea that small muscles like this should be trained only as stabilizers in larger, compound, functional exercises, like the press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T05:07:30.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23900" CreationDate="2015-03-14T05:49:52.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts not only utilize your lower back, but your hamstrings and abs to stabilize yourself as well.  Deadlifts (DL) are all about form.  If you are arching your back in anyway, you are going to end up hurting your back in the long run.  That's why when boxes say lift with your knees, it means don't arch your back and bend down low enough to have enough of an upright angle to use your leg power.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15149" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T05:49:52.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23900" CreationDate="2015-03-14T06:27:30.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've done a lot research on proper form and near as I can tell the deadlift is a back lift. Doesn't this go completely against conventional wisdom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No. Conventional wisdom exists for the common person.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common person does not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go to the gym to regularly weight train&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;train to brace their back and keep a strong spine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have the flexibility to touch their toes without rounding their back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consequently, when the common person goes to lift from the floor without bending their knees, they will arch their back and put their body at a point of relative weakness and risks injury. Hence, the advice is sound for the average person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And when I'm out in the world, how should I be lifting furniture and bags of mulch? Squatting or deadlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat, always squat.&lt;/strong&gt; When a deadlift goes bad, you can drop the bar and go about your day. When you are moving something, if its heavy enough to need to drop, its heavy enough to cause damage. A squat keeps the weight squarely within your center of gravity and gives you stability that a &quot;deadlift-like approach&quot; to lifting would give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, a squat puts the weight close to your body where you can hold and stabilise it better, which is important when you are moving something non-rigid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T06:27:30.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-14T06:31:57.153" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 21 and currently working 5x a week 8am - 5pm. I work out 1 1/2 hour after work, every other day 3x a week and eating rice and meat in breakfast and lunch vegetable or fish at dinner. I'm one of those who's skinny fat and trying to get rid of belly fat, but after a month i see no progress on my belly and gained just a bit of muscles. What am I doing wrong? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15148" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T12:50:04.853" Title="Proper workout and diet plan for busy person" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-16T13:11:58.613" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23906" CreationDate="2015-03-14T11:47:27.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your first and biggest mistake was expecting visible results after just a month. Whatever results you do gain over such a small period of time, are going to be invisible to the naked eye, simply because you see yourself in the mirror too often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me like your diet is good, if you're trying to bulk. I.e. gain weight, both in terms of muscle and fat. And honestly, that's what you should be doing for a good while. Then later, you can cut, meaning lowering your bodyfat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really, if you're serious about this, take a before-picture now (if you haven't already), and train for a year at the very least, then start comparing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, log your workouts. For a good long while, the changes won't be visible in the mirror, and the only thing that will tell you that you're making progress, is the numbers you write down during your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-03-14T12:50:04.853" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T12:50:04.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23900" CreationDate="2015-03-14T12:50:17.900" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Lift with your legs, not with your back&quot; is a slapshod workaround to the real problem, which is that people are weak. Their backs, in particular, are weak. What fixes weak, injury-prone backs? Deadlifting fixes them. Deadlifts allow people to slowly, safely progress to a strong, injury-resistant back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the ways deadlifts can do this is by locking the spine into a safe and neutral position, then subjecting that structure to resistance. The body can be developed to lift and support a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt; of weight in a properly braced position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out in the real world, I &quot;deadlift&quot; things and I &quot;squat&quot; things. (These generally look more like Atlas stone lifts or potato sack squats than their barbell equivalents.) What keeps me injury-free when lifting things in real life is 1) I lift heavy weights carefully in the gym as part of a progressive resistance program, and 2) when lifting odd objects in everyday life, to use another aphorism, I don't bite off more than I can chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T12:50:17.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18688" CreationDate="2015-03-14T15:10:13.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A reasonably accurate figure can be obtained by using a heart rate monitor (even one of the App's that use your phones camera will suffice). Assuming you're walking on the flat and not into gale, simply record a post mile heart rate, along with the time taken to estimate your VO2 figure per: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12435/is-it-possible-to-measure-calorie-burn-from-heart-rate-alone?rq=1&quot;&gt;Is it possible to measure calorie burn from heart rate alone?&lt;/a&gt;, and from the VO2 figure the calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also plug the heart rate into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/rockport.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rockport Walking test formula&lt;/a&gt;, to obtain an estimated VO2max score.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or alternatively use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://certification.acsm.org/metabolic-calcs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ACSM&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt; formula to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; the calories eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ACSM Kcal/Min ~= 0.0005 * bodyMassKg * metersWalkedInAMin + 0.0035&#xA;              ~= 0.0005 * 68 * 107 + 0.0035&#xA;              ~= 3.6415 Kcal/Min&#xA;              ~= 54.6225 Kcal/Mile&#xA;&#xA;MET Kcal      ~= METS   * bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours&#xA;              ~= 5.0    * 68         * 0.25&#xA;              ~= 85 Kcal/Mile&#xA;&#xA;    where METS = 5.0 (walking, 4.0 mph, level, firm surface, very brisk pace)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Walking Calorie Burn Calculator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T12:16:03.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19783" CreationDate="2015-03-14T15:39:06.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Fitbit site and a number of &lt;a href=&quot;http://techandnonsense.com/fitbit-flex-review/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reviews&lt;/a&gt;, the Flex measure / keeps track of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steps taken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Distance traveled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories Burned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active Minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hours Slept&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quality of Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but per the review, not strokes rowed. Your only real option to accurately record your stroke count is to upgrade the rowing machine to one that includes a Bluetooth based stroke tracker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-14T16:25:30.157" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T16:25:30.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22127" CreationDate="2015-03-14T17:12:13.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stride length is only really applicable if your attempting to verify / compare the distance covered during a treadmill based workout. The distance given by the other pieces of equipment are pseudo / equivalent distances, to that a treadmill would record for a similar level of effort input, anyway as you've actually gone nowhere they're all wrong ;-) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Fitbit is principally an electronic pedometer, so it's primary purpose is to track STEPS WALKED, if your looking to measure / quantify other forms of exercise, and calories consumed, you're probably better off seeking out a heart rate monitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For info: There have been a number of studies and articles published that evaluate / estimate the accuracy of pedometers and fitness trackers eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-your-life/accurate-fitness-trackers-150220254.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How Accurate Are Fitness Trackers?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifestreamblog.com/bodymedia-fuelband-fitbit-and-jawbone-data-and-reporting-comparison-update/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodymedia, Fuelband, Fitbit and Jawbone Data and Reporting Comparison Update&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://igrowdigital.com/de/2013/03/praxistest-wie-genau-messen-schrittzahler/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The big test of the Pedometer - How accurate measure pedometer?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1544&amp;amp;context=masters_theses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comparison of Dual- and Tri-Axial Accelerometer Accuracy (Fitbit Zip vs Omron)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1810544/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reliability of pedometer data in samples of youth and older women&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melanie_Bell2/publication/8482514_Commercially_available_pedometers_considerations_for_accurate_step_counting/links/0fcfd509c29bbcec67000000.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Commercially available pedometers: considerations for accurate step counting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/content/95/1/121.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Measuring activity levels of young people: the validity of pedometers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v63/n12/full/ejcn2009108a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Are pedometers adequate instruments for assessing energy expenditure?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gymnica.upol.cz/index.php/gymnica/article/download/16/13&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF “STEP COUNT” FUNCTION OF THE ACTITRAINER ACTIVITY MONITOR UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2914523/Why-fitness-tracker-waste-money-New-research-shows-gadgets-wildly-inaccurate-40-CENT.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why your fitness tracker could be a waste of money: New research shows the must-have gadgets are often wildly inaccurate by as much as 40 PER CENT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://new-lifestyles.com/content.php?_p_=75&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PEDOMETER RESEARCH&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-15T10:08:06.430" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T10:08:06.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23892" CreationDate="2015-03-14T22:03:11.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every person is different, but there is a simple way to gauge your personal sleep needs. You need an alarm clock, a notebook and two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Set the alarm clock at the very same hour each day (including sunday).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid caffeine and naps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Each morning write down the approximate hours you went to bed and the hour you felt asleep the night before.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the alarm clock woke you up today, go to bed tonight half an hour earlier than yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There comes a day when you wake up &lt;em&gt;a bit&lt;/em&gt; earlier than the clock. Go on with the experiment and go to bed half an hour earlier than the day before anyway. If you wake up one hour or so earlier than the alarm, don't subtract half an hour to bedtime any more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There comes a day in which you notice that you have woken up at least one full hour earlier than the clock for &lt;em&gt;several days in a row&lt;/em&gt; and the amount of hours you have slept each of those days is approximately uniform. &lt;strong&gt;That is the amount of sleep time you need.&lt;/strong&gt; Allowing yourself any less than that means poor quality of life. Trying to sleep more than that &lt;em&gt;on average&lt;/em&gt; will be impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record, I did the experience when I was 15 yr and it was ~8h15min. I have repeated it at 42 yr and now it is ~6h20min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't cut down on sleep time. You may apparently win some hours, but during the hours you spend awake you will be a different person: one that is less intelligent, less optimist, emotionally less stable, more prone to pesimistic thoughts, and much more. Go and have as much sleep as you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T15:54:08.430" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T15:54:08.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23930" CreationDate="2015-03-15T02:06:21.633" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says, I am curious if the difference between the total weight of all the food I take in during a week, and all the excrement and urine (and sweat) I release in a week would add up to the total difference in the weight of my person from the start and end of that cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15159" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T16:01:21.320" Title="If I were to weigh all the food and water I take in, and weigh all of the human waste I produced could that be used to determine weight gain or loss?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-03-18T17:27:11.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23892" CreationDate="2015-03-15T02:41:07.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to do something about your daily jobs. If you find the time to get 8 hours of sleep, then your work schedule is not healthy and you are bound to get into trouble sooner or later regardless of whether or not you actually get enough sleep. I would suggest that you stick to at least 8 hours of sleep. In fact, at your age 9 hours should be better. Also you need to do about one hour exercise per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T02:41:07.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23913" CreationDate="2015-03-15T03:21:08.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you weighed all of your food during a week you would be normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you weighted all of your collected excrement, urine and sweat&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; you have bigger issues than a &lt;em&gt;physical&lt;/em&gt; fitness regime could help with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;* &quot;And blood, don't forget blood&quot;&lt;/sup&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qBoDL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T03:21:08.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-15T06:18:33.617" Score="8" ViewCount="719" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I agree that a compound movement with free weights against gravity must recruit more muscles (and in a more balanced way) than a forced path on an isolation machine, I cannot understand certain extremes like the hatred towards the lat pulldown machine, an object so easily found in nearly every gym and so easy to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A small internet search shows literally hundreds of variations of the same question: &lt;em&gt;&quot;I cannot do pullups, what should I do?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; because it is a very usual situation many of us face. And, while I understand that the lat pulldown machine is not the same &lt;em&gt;exact&lt;/em&gt; thing as a pullup, I think the similarity is striking, and I really cannot believe that someone who achieves a decent mark in the pulldown machine is unable to do pullups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://workoutlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/watermarked/Wide-Grip_Lat_Pulldown1.png&quot; alt=&quot;From workoutlabs.com&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, the bar hangs from a cable in the pulldown machine, so that the path it follows in space during the repetitions is quite unconstrained, very similar to a free weight unlike other machines. And you can build up very gradually by increasing the load in very small steps from nearly zero resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, people give all sort of weird recommendations: negative pullups (dangerously taxing on the grip, joints and tendons in general of untrained and probably overweight novices), band-assisted pullups (where resistance is difficult to adjust and impossible to tune finely), surrogate exercises like the inverted row (the method I am using, but I hold some doubts because it is obviously not the same pulling direction) and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a reasonable and objective reason to avoid the lat pulldown machine? (besides simply &quot;it is not the same thing&quot;). I expect either an answer related to something real that can be understood (directions of forces, names of muscles, I don't know) or perhaps some reference to a scholar paper where two groups of training athletes were compared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.700" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T19:18:47.437" Title="Is there any objective reason for the hatred towards the pulldown machine?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23913" CreationDate="2015-03-15T10:54:48.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You exhale about 0.4 pounds of carbon atoms each day, which you can't keep track of. See also &lt;a href=&quot;https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2605/how-does-mass-leave-the-body-when-you-lose-weight&quot;&gt;https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2605/how-does-mass-leave-the-body-when-you-lose-weight&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:40:18.310" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T10:54:48.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13773" CreationDate="2015-03-15T11:13:36.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are numerous studies that explore the effects of barefoot running, the results often contradict earlier studies, anyway I'd suggest you have a look at one of the aggregation sites, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;runblogger.com&lt;/a&gt;, and make your own mind up eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2014/04/foot-strike-patterns-in-barefoot-and-minimalist-runners.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foot Strike Patterns in Barefoot and Minimalist Runners&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2013/08/how-can-both-barefoot-running-and-hokas.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How Can Both Barefoot Running and Hokas Reduce Knee Pain?–A Possible Explanation from a New Study&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2013/01/barefoot-heel-strikers-rejoice-new.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barefoot Heel Strikers Rejoice, New Kenyan Barefoot Study Indicates that You Are Not Alone!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2013/03/foot-strike-pattern-in-running.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foot Strike Pattern in Running Adolescents Changes With Footwear Type&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2014/06/does-risk-of-injury-increase-when-transitioning-from-a-conventional-running-shoe-to-a-moderately-cushioned-minimalist-running-shoe.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Does Risk of Injury Increase When Transitioning From a Conventional Running Shoe to a Moderately Cushioned Minimalist Running Shoe?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2014/01/why-cant-science-determine-the-best-running-shoe.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why Can’t Science Determine the Best Running Shoe?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2013/12/do-minimalist-shoes-increase-injury-risk-merry-christmas-vibram.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Do Minimalist Shoes Increase Injury Risk?: Merry Christmas Vibram&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2013/05/army-study-no-difference-in-injury.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Army Study: No Difference in Injury Rates Between Traditionally and Minimally Shod Soldiers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:13:36.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23827" CreationDate="2015-03-15T11:25:33.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please learn the difference between assistance work, accessory work, and rehab work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cuban rotation is not a strength exercise, and therefore should not be done in order to improve strength. If you want shoulder strength, stick with strict presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't remember seeing any Cuban rotations in Mark Rippetoe or Jim Wendler's work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start doing these moves with lightest weight possible, and increase in time making sure you don't feel any awkward sensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:25:33.297" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23900" CreationDate="2015-03-15T11:44:41.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is wrong, your view is also wrong. But I am going to give my 2 cents regardless. First;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Deadlift is a pull, squat is a squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Squat starts from the top, deadlift starts from the bottom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Knees do not lift anything, if you try and do that you are going to destroy them eventually.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Doing deadlifts for repetitions and/or using little rest periods can make your lower back sore, not because you are shortening your erector spinae, but rather because you are using them &lt;b&gt;isometrically&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Back does not lift anything, it pulls. And that move is called a &lt;b&gt;barbell row&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; While deadlifting, your back works because it is trying to stay &lt;b&gt;neutral and stiff&lt;/b&gt; not because you are lifting. Actually, that lift is done by &lt;b&gt;hamstrings&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; It seems like you think that lifting should be done via a deadlift or a squat, whereas it is done by both deadlifting, squatting, and pressing if necessary. Please watch a video of an atlas stone lift. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:44:41.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11964" CreationDate="2015-03-15T11:52:23.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot know your motivation for finding research papers on this topic, but personally I do not find papers on these matters very informative or trusty. Simply because you cannot create a really objective control group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure you can find some papers about linear progression, because it is the basis of all strength. It is generally known, that if someone has a problem with their feet, first medical doctors try to move their toes, then feet, then legs etc. That is linear progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is the link; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/brian_jones_story.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/articles/brian_jones_story.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, starting strength has a forum where you can learn mainly really cool stuff. Just be quiet on the forums, and search your way, read your way. It will help you and give you ideas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:52:23.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23917" CreationDate="2015-03-15T11:55:23.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any papers, and I don't hate pulldown machines. The main difference is core activation. In a proper pullup, you brace your abs, you contract your glutes and keep your spine in a complete stiff position. Where in a pulldown machine, unfortunately this is very hard to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:55:23.550" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13371" CreationDate="2015-03-15T11:57:45.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, without seeing your squat form, anyone giving any recommendations would not be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like people think running is a great exercise; well it is not :) It can create problems, and many of us don't have any idea about running properly (not talking about you specifically)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT is not a must in order to lose fat, or exercise. You can do both without implementing HIIT in your training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:57:45.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23709" CreationDate="2015-03-15T11:59:57.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, please read Stuart McGill's work, and his ideas about core training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, abs should be braced when you are doing forward flexion; and &quot;glutes&quot; must be contracted when you are doing extensions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The move you are trying to do is done before, in a better way, and it is called &quot;not back extension&quot;, but a &quot;&lt;b&gt;reverse hyper machine&lt;/b&gt;&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;https://bretcontreras.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/rev-hyper-ex.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://bretcontreras.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/rev-hyper-ex.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T11:59:57.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22193" CreationDate="2015-03-15T12:02:32.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is something called a &lt;b&gt;hollow position&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://maxwellsc.com/maxwellsc2/images/pro-cert-04.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://maxwellsc.com/maxwellsc2/images/pro-cert-04.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should be your position while doing pullups. Bracing your abs and contracting your glutes would probably end your pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T12:02:32.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19263" CreationDate="2015-03-15T12:03:54.770" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your training methodology. I can train my biceps 5 times a week, and that would not have any benefit in my hill climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume you get my point :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T12:03:54.770" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18442" CreationDate="2015-03-15T12:05:19.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't know how to throw a punch, please don't. You may injure your wrists and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to burn fat and lose weight, the most important aspect is your diet. Adjust your diet, you will lose fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T12:05:19.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17784" CreationDate="2015-03-15T12:07:47.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your goal. That phenomenon is also called reverse dieting, increasing your maintenance calorie so that it would be easier to cut it later for dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are following a meal plan, your macros are always the same. They all increase in size, not just one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T12:07:47.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23913" CreationDate="2015-03-15T12:52:46.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not the first to wonder that, have a read of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorio_Santorio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Santorio Santorio&lt;/a&gt; page :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For a period of thirty years Santorio weighed himself, everything he&#xA;  ate and drank, as well as his urine and feces. He compared the weight&#xA;  of what he had eaten to that of his waste products, the latter being&#xA;  considerably smaller because for every eight pounds of food he ate, he&#xA;  excreted only 3 pounds of waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-15T16:01:21.320" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T16:01:21.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23713" CreationDate="2015-03-15T13:15:08.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had a Google but can't find any credible academic work, but there appears to be some academic interest in this field eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2012/07/study-examines-breast-movement-during.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Study Examines Breast Movement During Bare-Breasted Running&lt;/a&gt; (the article does mention  pants)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T13:15:08.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23933" CreationDate="2015-03-15T14:17:19.170" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to a gym and since few days I have observed that although the Gym has the equipment it does not has a coach.I see many who simply come to the Gym and randomly start their work out .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am new to this and  I don't understand what do i do so I simply go for cycling,pushups,dumb bells(hammer,side ways)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I really be concerned about a coach or I can do it on my own&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T21:45:11.860" Title="Is the Coach help necessary for achieving our goals in body building or only the avilability of equipment is enough" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;coaching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23932" CreationDate="2015-03-15T14:49:59.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am new to this and I don't understand what do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most fitness facilities train their staff to help new members on becoming acclimated with their facility.  A few provide personal trainers (sometimes at a fee) to assist you in obtaining your goals. You should &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; feel awkward seeking out assistance from a “coach”.  Especially if you are new to fitness training.  Unfortunately, there are some clubs that do not provide this as a new member orientation.  If your club does not, I recommend you seek out someone to assist you in using the equipment.  If, for nothing else, the assistance you receive can help you avoid injuries from improper use of the equipment.  It's important for someone new to learn proper technique.  And, learning how to use new equipment will provide more opportunities for you to reach your goals. After some a period of orientation, you should feel comfortable enough to train on your own.  That does not mean that you can't ask for assistance in the future.   If you're unsure about anything in the gym, you should seek out someone for assistance.  If no one is willing to help, it may be time to seek a new gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T14:49:59.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-15T21:50:18.350" Score="3" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need help, like 4 months ago. I can't seem to get out this hole I'm in. I cant move around really well. I have gained so much weight. I need advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15160" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T15:16:28.140" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T00:47:38.447" Title="I'm missing my left leg, What can I do for exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-03-17T12:29:41.500" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13371" CreationDate="2015-03-16T02:13:45.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try doing sprints on a bicycle or aqua jogging. Both are less impact and should eliminate the pain while in the exercise. I would change out one of the runs for one of these exercises until you can consult a doctor and figure out what exactly is causing the pain. If the pain subsides then you might consider slowly adding more intensity or running (split the day between running and biking, or add a little intensity to the run - maybe between a telephone pole and then two or more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely try to consult a physician, they will be able to better diagnose the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T02:13:45.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22273" CreationDate="2015-03-16T07:13:43.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rdlfitness.com/avoid-leg-curls/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rdlfitness.com&lt;/a&gt;, you should not tilt your pelvis. Tilting the pelvis forward risks hyperextending the spine if the hips come off the bench. Tilting the pelvis backwards shortens the hamstrings at the hip, so when you flex the knee as well you can put the hamstrings into an overshortened position of active insufficiency. If you do lying leg curls, which they do not recommend, keep the pelvis untilted and the spine neutral to protect your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T07:13:43.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20911" CreationDate="2015-03-16T10:39:18.317" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, this does go away if you train the muscle with weight so your nerves and muscle fibers can work better together. (personal experience)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible cause for painfully tight flexing is an overshortened muscle. Muscles that cross two joints enter &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rdlfitness.com/active-passive-insufficiency/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;active insufficiency&lt;/a&gt; when both joints are flexed together. For example, if you flex your bicep by your side and then raise your elbow, you can feel the flex in your bicep getting tighter and tighter, because the biceps crosses both the elbow and shoulder joints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid this (and it's not a good way to train a muscle, because the muscle is weak in this position), stick to exercises with more natural body motions instead of trying to flex muscles in isolation. In natural body motions, muscles that cross two joints always relax at one joint if they're pulling on the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T10:39:18.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23917" CreationDate="2015-03-16T13:09:43.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/fix-your-form-how-to-exercise-lat-pulldown_n_1846635.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a lot of ways&lt;/a&gt; to do a lat pulldown incorrectly. With some supervision, or awareness of one's form, it's not a bad exercise, but it's an exercise where it's easy to fall into bad habits that can hurt you (putting too much pressure on the spine or rotator cuffs) or simply not do you much good (using your stronger muscles to compensate for the weak ones you're really trying to exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T13:09:43.857" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-16T13:48:28.707" Score="5" ViewCount="5946" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be generally agreed upon that high intensity (i.e. heavy weights) for fewer reps, tends to make you stronger, while high volume (i.e. less weight) for more reps, tends to make you bigger by hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then, there are those who for the first part of an exercise (let's use bench press as an example), lift heavy weights, with a rep-range of 3-5, for a few sets, and then drop some weight and do a few sets of 8-12 reps on a lower weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a clear benefit to mixing high intensity and high volume in this way? Do you get the best of both worlds? Or does the hypertrophy work cancel out whatever strength gains you would have made from the first sets of heavy weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get both types of benefit, why isn't this the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; way of doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T08:43:12.277" Title="Mixing high intensity and high volume in a single session" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23940" CreationDate="2015-03-16T14:21:13.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The right way to combine them is through training cycles. A 12 week strength cycle (texas, mad cow, etc) then maybe a deload week, then something on the volume side like German volume training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those all have data in the form of results to support them. When you start mixing and matching based on your own theories you can be assured it won't be as effective as following in the footsteps of professional trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T14:21:13.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-16T15:57:08.493" Score="2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry guys, I know most of you know flexibility as the ability to flex, but in this thread I want to have answers regarding the other, less popular type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of exercises that will strengthen your posterior chain, I think I have these down pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking with good posture, straight back, eyes forward feels uncomfortable though, it feels a lot more natural to walk slightly hunched, looking down. This feels lik a typical case of being inflexible, and flexibility is a complicated matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any good exercises I can do to make it feel more natural to walk with &quot;good&quot; posture?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T17:37:33.543" Title="Flexibility exercises for better posture" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23942" CreationDate="2015-03-16T18:34:52.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok so 2 very basic nonfunctional postures are in short the &quot;donald duck&quot; (butt sticking out, or overextension of the thoracic spine) and the &quot;pink panther&quot; (vice versa, the butt tucking under). These are sort of antagonistic and the stretches to &quot;fix&quot; this depend on which of the 2 you're more inclined to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best resources on this topic imo is Elliot Hulse and his youtube channel of course, what I mention above is what he talks about all the time. I would recommend watching some of his videos (searching for posture on his channel is probable enough). Also Kelly Starrett is a great source although his stuff is a little more technical&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T18:34:52.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23900" CreationDate="2015-03-16T18:41:43.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: deadlifts are mainly done (in terms of strength) with your hamstrings and glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It of course varies with the difference in style (from a &quot;hardstyle&quot; hamstring based DL to a more squat or quadriceps based). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thing the saying comes from the fact that you shouldn't dynamically use your lower (and usually upper) back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in terms of picking shit up I would say deadlift, just because it resembles picking stuff up the most &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastEditorUserId="13690" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T18:47:55.853" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T18:47:55.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23836" CreationDate="2015-03-16T18:53:05.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;simple answer: you can't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can of course substitute it for something else but the results probably won't be anything like the results you would get with squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't done Wendler myself yet but I'm pretty sure the program is basically written for the big 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T18:53:05.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23955" CreationDate="2015-03-16T19:13:55.533" Score="5" ViewCount="2255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard from a lot of different places, perhaps with their tongue planted firmly in their cheek, that cardio is antithetical to &quot;gains&quot;. I've only started hitting the gym since about a year ago. Generally, I just want to feel stronger and perhaps get thinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the gym, I like to hit upper body (with almost zero core, I'm undisciplined). I generally just do what I like to do. I go about once a week, but would like to double that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I also LOVE to ride my bike. I usually go between 15-20 miles on a Saturday, and maybe an additional 15-20 during the week depending on my schedule. Sometimes I go as far as 50 miles on a day trip. I might be concerned if this is making the gym pointless purely because of the fact that it isn't straight up weight lifting. Generally, biking is why I skip leg day as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this truly antithetical to &quot;gains&quot;, as they say, or is it more of a meme?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15173" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T05:14:41.487" Title="Is cardio really counter-productive to &quot;gains&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23917" CreationDate="2015-03-16T19:18:47.437" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not convinced that people &quot;hate&quot; it. I think what you're seeing is probably exasperation with how popular the machine is in disproportion to its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;negative pullups...band-assisted pullups...surrogate exercises like the inverted row...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all solid ways to progress to pull-ups and to develop pulling strength generally. So, too, can the pulldown machine. Each can be used improperly or recommended inappropriately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the major concerns with the pulldown machine is that people who are fully capable of achieving pull-ups stall on the machine. This happens with other methods as well, but machines seem to be the place where more people get stuck and never move on to more challenging movements. For whatever reason, machines are one of the places where people lose sight of the main goal, which is progressing towards more general, more useful movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T19:18:47.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23949" CreationDate="2015-03-16T19:52:52.317" Score="7" ViewCount="874" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm told it's best for a particular muscle group to give it a couple days of rest between workouts and therefore daily push-ups are detrimental to arm muscles. Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking from a health perspective, not mass/strength or anything. Therefore the rest I mention here is to be considered for its repair function, not its strengthening function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T07:17:16.350" Title="Is doing push-ups every day healthy?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23948" CreationDate="2015-03-16T19:58:58.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you work out, you break down muscle fibers. Then, when you rest, the muscle fibers are rebuilt, stronger than before, provided you also eat right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work out the same muscle group every day, you aren't allowing your muscle fibers to be fully rebuilt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, we have this rule-of-thumb of giving each muscle group at least one day of rest between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, though, that this is a rule of thumb, and our bodies are all different. If you manage to get enough rest and nutrition every day, then there is theoretically nothing stopping you from doing the same workout every day. But generally, we tend not to recommend this approach. Especially to beginners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T19:58:58.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23935" CreationDate="2015-03-16T20:28:06.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;These days you can do just about anything you want.  Adaptive equipment is available for most activities and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabledsportsusa.org/resources/adaptive-sports/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sports&lt;/a&gt;.  Prosthetics have come a long way and your rehab team and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosthetist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prosthetist&lt;/a&gt; should be able to help you meet your goals.  The &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blade runner&lt;/a&gt;&quot; ran in the Olympics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you think about it, everything we use is some type of adaptive equipment.  A car is designed to adapt to our bodies with the steering wheel for our hands and the pedals for our feet because that is how most of our bodies are arranged.  But if you don't have use of your legs, these days you can have all the controls at your hands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for exercise and sports.  If you don't have a conventional body, someone has a non-conventional adaptation to help you achieve what you want to do.  Start with whatever it was that you liked to do before and have your rehab team get to work with you.  Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T20:28:06.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23946" CreationDate="2015-03-16T20:32:21.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;People that say cardio is counter-productive are just people that want to justify not doing cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio works the heart.  The most important muscle in the body.  A muscle critical to life.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets say you want to bulk your legs with heavy reps. &#xA;OK a long ride might limits your heavy reps the next day. &#xA;But a long ride does build cardio, leg endurance, and leg mass.&#xA;Have you ever seen a pro bicycle rider with under developed legs?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are extremist that claim endurance type calories and protein take away from building mass.  I am not buying that.  If your body just plain cannot get enough calories then maybe but that is a very extreme case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15163" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T20:32:21.227" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23946" CreationDate="2015-03-16T21:33:47.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as your accounting for the calories you burn and eating above your TDEE your gains won't suffer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5372" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T21:33:47.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23963" CreationDate="2015-03-16T22:17:14.910" Score="0" ViewCount="1480" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say some average person was doing bodybuilding for a year or so. He gained some muscles, increased his weights in all exercises from 1.5 to 3 times. Then he had to do a break for a half a year. After this period, he sees that his muscles are mostly gone and probably the exercise weights are also lower. How long after this break will it take him to get back to the previously achieved results? Another year or less? May be there is some formula to calculate this or may be someone had this kind of experience that he can share?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7920" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T14:31:30.850" Title="How much time needed to rebuild your body after long pause?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-25T12:19:31.363" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23935" CreationDate="2015-03-17T00:47:38.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go talk to your physio, as they'll be able to give you some tailored suggestions, in addition to the usual balance / flexibility exercises. Anyway a few ideas you could discuss with them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Making it from one side of a hospital to the other. For places built for the sick and infirm most are very poorly designed, and a bit of an obstacle course, especially if in a chair or on crutches. So best to think of them as specifically designed obstacle course, intended to help patients regain condition, otherwise the frustration and the physical effort required to navigate their corridors may leave you in a tachycardic state. The number of magnetically locked fire doors that require you to press a wall mounted release button with one hand and pull the door open with another is amazing, till you realise they're only there to build and test your balance, coordination and upper body strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming, back stroke, assuming you can find a pool with suitable access, and initially some suitably trained life guards to natter to. They'll lose interest in you once you can do 1000m. Just make sure the pool has a very shallow end, or a lift, else getting out may be interesting, and amuse any kids in the vicinity. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking, if only a few hundred yards a day to a post box or shop. Initially even this may leave you a sweating wreck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Modified Push ups / Planking, if only a few, as good for the back as well as the upper body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit ups, but be careful, you'll have lost a lot of conditioning, and your glutes will more than likely be rather flabby, so only a few or you'll end up with carpet burns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pilates / Yoga, to stretch muscles you never knew you had.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the weight front, start to keep a food diary, or probably easier to use an App such as MyFitnessPal. It should help you work out where the majority of your calories are coming from, and where you can cut down. Note as your activity levels will have probably been reduced to the Sedentary classification, so your daily calorie requirement may be a third lower than that of an active individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T00:47:38.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23946" CreationDate="2015-03-17T03:41:42.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long distance cyclist (100 miles/week when in season) who does centuries and longer rides a few times a year. I ride 2500-3000 miles/year and lift a few times a week (deadlift/bench/others, plus a lot of stretching). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congrats on doing lifting; cycling is great for cardio but can lead to postural and other issues, and weightlifting can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't a simple answer to your question. It depends on how you are lifting, what you are eating, and what kind of rides you are taking. The term &quot;cycling&quot; spans such a broad range of activity intensities and durations that it's impossible to generalize. Some people think 60 minutes on a flat trail at 12MPH is a good ride. For others, it's 75 miles and 5000' of climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rides are 90 minutes or less and you are riding at a reasonable pace (say, 15 MPH or so), you aren't going to be burning enough calories for it to be much of an issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, there is nothing like hard endurance cycling - and by that I mean 19-20MPH on the flats and a lot of hills for 3-5 hours - to melt the muscle off of you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in between, you will put some of your muscle gains at risk, but lifting will reduce the effect of the riding. You may not gain a lot of muscle during the part of the year you ride a lot, but lifting will keep from losing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend being really careful with nutrition. Have a stream of calories (300ish/hour) while you ride will help, and making sure to have something for recovery when you finish will also help; when you finish your glycogen levels are low, and if you don't replenish them, your body will tear down some muscle. Chocolate milk works well if you tolerate lactose well; I use Endurox. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will note that it's hard to do deadlift or squats and ride at the same time. My legs are much more tired than usual, and when I'm getting ready for a goal ride I stop lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T03:41:42.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23946" CreationDate="2015-03-17T05:14:41.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If strength or bodybuilding or sport skill is your goal, then cardio may be counterproductive to gains on any of those fronts. That's undeniably true at the extremes: you don't see any champion marathoners also winning in bodybuilding, nor powerlifting, nor gymnastics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean cardio is counterproductive to all progress. That doesn't mean that cardio is bad. That doesn't mean that no one should do cardio. It means that cardio is one tool, useful for some goals, and not so useful for working towards other goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I generally just do what I like to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So who cares? You don't have a particular goal here, so why deprive yourself of something you love? If you're concerned about your bicep size or squat numbers or performance at kickboxing then you'd have a concern, but right now your goals apparently consist of &quot;work out, have fun&quot; and if you lose some fat then that would be a bonus. That's fine! Just do what you like to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;feeling strong&quot; means literally being strong in some quantifiable way, then maybe a lot of long bike trips multiple times a week would be something to consider cutting back on. But it doesn't sound like that's the case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excessive cardio can indeed be counterproductive to muscle growth or skill development. That doesn't mean that bike rides are bad for everyone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T05:14:41.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23948" CreationDate="2015-03-17T05:26:04.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing push-ups every day is fine. Don't overdo them. Do other things too, like squats and lunges and pull-ups and Hindu push-ups and sprints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice you're reading is not geared towards all situations and is not applicable to just doing a few push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T05:26:04.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23940" CreationDate="2015-03-17T06:23:52.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen it stated before that strength training is primarily training your brain to more effectively control your muscles. If this is true, it stands to reason that doing high rep sets after your low rep sets shouldn't be a problem. (How could doing more sets undo/negate neuronal adaptations?) If anything, it may be useful to get that extra practice on form. (But you're already getting that with your warmup, &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt;?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think the ordering is important. You want to be fresh for the high intensity because it's the intensity that causes the adaptations and your capacity for intensity will be diminished if you're already fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trade off comes in training frequency. It takes longer to recover from high volume so you can't train as often. That's why high volume programs are usually split programs, with one workout per week per muscle group, whereas strength programs are simple and high frequency, with two or three workouts per week per muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, you should look into Greyskull. It's primarily a strength program, but it incorporates an AMRAP set at the end of every exercise. This means that, when you reset, you'll be getting a lot of volume on that last set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2015-03-17T06:30:16.927" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T06:30:16.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23948" CreationDate="2015-03-17T07:17:16.350" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;push-ups dont only work out the arm muscles, but work out the entire upper body, including the abdomen, meaning it can to some extent be related to cardio workout, which is extremely good for you health wise. Anything that get's your heart rate up is good for you health-wise :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15181" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T07:17:16.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5977" CreationDate="2015-03-17T10:54:29.453" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hormones are responsible for losing weight, not all but it is one of the culprits. What is the type of hormone is really the culprit? There was a time that I was contemplating why somebody eats a lot but gain no weight and I who eat less gain more. As I was looking for answer, it leads to hormonal factors. For some reasons, disciplining and eating what is the pyramid food chain enlisted is good to do.  I started my diet with detoxification, to detoxify my body from toxins by drinking smoothies with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirulina_%28dietary_supplement%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spirulina powder&lt;/a&gt; - it helps to detoxify body naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15183" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T17:16:33.497" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T17:16:33.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23940" CreationDate="2015-03-17T13:28:58.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't always do both high intensity and high volume for the same reason that you can't always work on getting better at everything: your body can only recover from so much. It's possible to combine the two, but you should be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are programs that combine intensity and volume in the same session, notably 5/3/1 Boring But Big's programming of 3x5, 3x3, or sets of 5, 3, then 1, followed by plus 5 sets of 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T13:28:58.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23953" CreationDate="2015-03-17T14:31:30.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't take as long as the first time getting into it. The benefit you have now is that muscle memory is there. In essence, your muscles have adapted and can now &quot;remember&quot; the movement to perform the exercises you once performed. So when you go back to it, that whole element of learning the movement is gone. This will hasten your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, intensity is important and is solely up to the individual. If you're going back into weightlifting, and your intensity is not there, you're not going to reap the rewards of the muscle memory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure some people will debate this, but keeping your diet in check is also going to be a huge attribute to your success. Depending on your goals, to lose weight for example, start with a 500 calorie deficit. Use a tracker like myfitnesspal - this will ensure that you don't go overboard on your caloric intake. Calorie tracking + intense workouts + muscle memory = results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previously achieved results are subjective, I noticed after a 6 month break, I came back to the gym doing 2 compound lifts (i.e. bench + deadlift, or squat + pull up) per workout with accessory exercises....I got my results back and was stronger within 1 month of 3 workouts per week. Again, it's about intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps! Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T14:31:30.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23704" CreationDate="2015-03-17T14:51:49.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell Rows and Deadlifts have helped me while shoveling. Also a strong core is going to be huge in the overall movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try Cable Choppers for core development, single arm rows, or conventional deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also push a sled with 45 lb plates on it. I forget what they are called, but that should give you that positional form similar to shoveling and the calf/quad strength to PUSH THAT SNOW&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Midwest Winter Bearer :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T14:51:49.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23887" CreationDate="2015-03-17T15:00:18.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure you can, but it's going to take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the major things I've noticed is my dominant arm is stronger than my non-dominant. In this case I happen to be a lefty...sinister, I know...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, what I found worked for me is to start all my single arm movements with my weaker arm, and finish with it. Basically forcing my weaker arm to rep 1-2 more reps than my stronger arm. Keep doing this with all arm-isolated or shoulder-isolated movements. Depending on your frequency, in about a month you should be able to see noticeable improvements in the strength of your weaker muscle area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T15:00:18.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23942" CreationDate="2015-03-17T15:23:21.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few years ago, I stumbled upon someone who had written a book about pain management.  I was intrigued, so, I picked up his book and readily use his exercises as part of my daily routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.egoscue.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pete Egoscue&lt;/a&gt; professes that body alignment of the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles is critically important for posture as well as pain management.  He states that if any one of these body structures is out of “alignment” (from injury, overuse, etc.), then the result is most often pain and/or bad posture.  As he puts it, bad posture is a result of your body trying to get your attention to alert you to a structural problem.  And, if not corrected, it can lead to chronic pain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Egoscue method&lt;/em&gt; uses postural assessment, gait analysis, and functional testing to determine what body structures are “compensating” for others that are not working correctly.  The end result of the analysis is a set of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qSpKCrmOVQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;therapy exercises (here's an example)&lt;/a&gt; with the goal to correct the compensation.  Some swear by his work, while others call it bunk.  I'll let you decide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-03-17T17:37:33.543" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T17:37:33.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23970" CreationDate="2015-03-17T15:42:05.957" Score="3" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at starting a regimen combining the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs#Practical_Programming_Novice_Program:&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Practical Programming strength training routine&lt;/a&gt; (a derivative of the Starting Strength program) with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch to 5K running plan&lt;/a&gt;, in order to improve both strength and cardio. Now, I've seen some great diet plans for strength training &lt;i&gt;or&lt;/i&gt; running, but I cannot determine an appropriately balanced diet for this approach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should my daily calorie intake be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does my nutritional breakdown need to be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any other advice?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15184" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T20:01:42.647" Title="Practical Programming + Couch to 5K - Diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2983" CreationDate="2015-03-17T18:45:09.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it is said, prevention is better than cure, but once it happens, one can do nothing about it, other than to continue with his/her daily routine. I also think it's better to give the blister some open space rather than covering it up with band-aids, bandages, etc. If it has occurred due to football just keep on with your game; it will hurt and burn a bit at first, but after 5-6 minutes you will feel nothing unusual about it. For prevention, other guys have already mentioned types of socks. I have only experienced foot blisters, so I don't know much about the other blisters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15185" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-17T20:27:02.113" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T20:27:02.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23967" CreationDate="2015-03-17T19:30:12.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your objective of fat loss whatever diet you follow should result in a caloric deficit of some sort. What that means for you will vary based on how much exercise you get both in a strict sense (at the gym or on the track) and a broad sense (do you sit at a desk all day or do you herd cats for a living).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing that you want to gain muscle mass your diet should be rich in plant and lean animal proteins (i.e. legumes, grains like quinoa, chicken, turkey) and healthy carbs (whole grains). Healthy fats (avocados, nuts or fatty fishes) are also good and important because they facilitate a healthy metabolism but should be consumed in moderation. Eliminate unhealthy fat and refined carbs. That fried twinky isn't a good idea and neither is that slice of pizza and you know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy eating is not rocket science. Stick to whole, unprocessed foods. Read your labels and understand what you are eating. The Whole30 diet has a great guiding principal in that regard: Read your labels and if you do not know what an ingredient is or does or where it comes from pass on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15186" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T19:30:12.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23967" CreationDate="2015-03-17T20:01:42.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Entry level 5K training involves very little caloric consumption overall. Plenty of strength athletes are doing ~10 miles a week just as a part of basic conditioning. If you move to half marathons then you need to start being more careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the Couch-to-5K website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The final workout! Congratulations! Brisk five-minute warmup walk,&#xA;  then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the final workout consist of a 3 mile run, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some quick math says that's around 450 calories&lt;/a&gt; at a fairly aggressive pace. So if you were running that three times a week (which is way more than the training plan suggests), you're looking at ~1200 calories a week, or 171 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would follow a strength training diet, emphasizing protein and high quality fats while minimizing carbohydrates. I'm a fan of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/category/nutrition/nutrition-fundamentals/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lyle McDonald's work&lt;/a&gt; in the topic. If you're really going to do a race and want to make sure you're in top form, have some pasta for dinner the night before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-17T20:01:42.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23973" CreationDate="2015-03-18T07:29:14.707" Score="5" ViewCount="8392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program as you guys sugested and it's been amazing. I can really say that I feel great.&#xA;Being a complete newbie as I started I had no idea there's a difference between a Smith Machine and a Power Rack so I've been doing all my squat workouts on that machine and managed to reach 65kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After more Research I can see that most of you agree Barbell Squats are much more usefull than Smith Machines but that would mean I have to set the Barbell on my shoulder by myself and I don't think I can lift more than 40/50Kg over my head and onto my shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now onto my question, should I carry on with the Smith Machine squats or should I do my best weight with a Barbell squat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any easier ways to get the weight onto my shoulders than the awkward over the head pull?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: No strength Training Partner no Power Rack as of yet(will do my best to change the gym)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13777" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T15:26:41.203" Title="Is it better to do Barbell Squats with a lower weight or Smith Machine higher weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23972" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23979" CreationDate="2015-03-18T08:41:51.173" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;When assigning weight to a routine trainers use a weight that allows them to complete the desired number of repetitions with hard work. Should trainers use the weight that makes the final repetitions of the final set difficult, or should trainers use the weight that makes the final repetitions of the first set difficult?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15192" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T16:02:37.067" Title="Should a weight trainer assign weight per-set or per-exercise?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-03-25T12:18:25.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23971" CreationDate="2015-03-18T09:18:29.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you haven't gotten a squat rack, back squats will be hard. Front squats are more doable, but still require cleaning the weight to your shoulders and will use less weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in this case lower weight front squats will be much better for you than smith machine squats. Especially at this early stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squats force you to have a more upright stance with a straight back which is a common mistake in new lifters. Additionally you'll get the benefit of all your auxiliary muscles when squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, with good form smith machines aren't &lt;em&gt;terrible&lt;/em&gt; but they make it easier to exercise incorrectly with poor form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2015-03-18T09:41:13.443" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T09:41:13.443" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23971" CreationDate="2015-03-18T13:20:04.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smith-machine in any way is not superior to barbell squat. You have alternatives though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;Front Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zercher Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hack Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet Squats&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T13:20:04.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23887" CreationDate="2015-03-18T14:05:25.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my case my dominant side was weaker than the other side. I do not know if was the right approach but I used to stop at 2 reps lower than my limit of the weaker side. For example my left hand was stronger than my right(though I am right handed). For a single bicep curl, I used to do 8 reps with my left(even if I could do 12), and do 10 with my right(which was my limit). Over a period of a month or two I noticed that both my arms were of equal strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15120" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T14:05:25.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23971" CreationDate="2015-03-18T14:09:09.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your situation, the solution is simple: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dismantle the Smith machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look for another gym, three sets of five every workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, hoist the weight to your shoulders with a straight-backed power clean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a16Tq.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and then front squat the barbell for five reps. When you're done, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_drttm5r66A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lower the bar to the ground as carefully as possible&lt;/a&gt;. This way you can squat with the bar in front of your neck so you don't have to get it past your head.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you may have to use less weight with your clean-and-front-squat system than you could &quot;lift&quot; with the Smith machine. That's fine. It's nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that this is a significant deviation from the StrongLifts program, both by power cleaning the weight and using front squats instead of back squats. But until you find a better gym it's the best solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T14:09:09.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23972" CreationDate="2015-03-18T14:21:09.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While trying not to get too confusing here. The ultimate goal of &lt;strong&gt;ANY&lt;/strong&gt; weight training session is to push the body to perform. By performing I mean struggle. If you're not struggling by the end of your set, you're probably only building muscular endurance and not strength. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it depends on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor worth noting is &lt;strong&gt;Progressive Overload&lt;/strong&gt;. If you continue to do the same weight for each set &quot;with hard work&quot;, your body will eventually adapt and get used to that weight. In which case you will need to increase the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is directed at HOW you increase the weight. To this I say it depends on your method of progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing pyramid sets for example, you can increase the weight as you decrease the reps in the same set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing a 5 x 5 strong lift. You're going to do the same weight every set, until the following week where you increase 10lbs or so. This is &lt;strong&gt;SET BASED&lt;/strong&gt; progressive overload, oppose to &lt;strong&gt;REP BASED&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, some claims say one way is better than other, but for anyone who is just starting out, I would say as long as you are overloading the body with resistance, it will get stronger to deal with this increase in resistance. So really it's a personal choice for said trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps! Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T14:21:09.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23971" CreationDate="2015-03-18T15:32:04.653" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The point of barbell squats is to exercise your body through all the form that the Smith machine takes away from you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, you will go back to 20kg at first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;em&gt;you need to stay there&lt;/em&gt;, not until your quads are ready for more, but until the rest of your body, including your core for stability, arms, hands, and overall sense of balance, are ready to work up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never increase weight without perfecting form. Then you have bad (and&#xA;dangerous) form and nowhere to improve. You can't improve form at too much weight, but you can increase weight when you have good form.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell is about perfecting form and getting a total body workout. Machines are about skipping form and getting an isolated muscle workout. You can guess which is the better exercise for most human beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13687" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T15:32:04.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23972" CreationDate="2015-03-18T16:02:37.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &lt;strong&gt;You should be overloaded at the end of each SET&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most lifters, you'll want to be near or at the point of failure at the end of each set. That's generally how you stimulate muscles to get stronger/bigger/more enduring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there's certainly specialty training protocols that differ from this, injury recovery, or if a set is a warm-up set, or if it's some kind of exotic pre-exhausting super-set scheme idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for your standard weightlifting goals, overload yourself on each and every set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T16:02:37.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23677" CreationDate="2015-03-18T18:10:03.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mycoprotein is a plant-based protein that carries a strong/full amino acid profile. It is supposed to be better for you because there is no cholesterol and is rich in vitamins and minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question, however, is will this specific kind of protein improve performance in swimming or muscle development?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, yes, but in general no, and let me explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, protein supplementation should assist in muscle development but probably more so on the recovery end, especially as a vegetarian. However, would it have any more benefit over any other soy based protein such as Spirutein or Hemp Protein? Probably not. Protein supplementation is to hit macro nutrient ratios based on your training regimen, body-type, and goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it improve swimming performance? It's possible, but it's also possible several other supplements including supplements with other types of proteins will improve swimming performance. If you're a vegetarian, protein is tough to get, however, I think in general you would need a more profound source of carbohydrates to boost your performance in the pool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lean protein such as Mycoprotein is a great addition to your diet, but it won't directly affect your swimming performance unless you're training properly and building muscle. The combination of Protein supplementation (in general) plus a well balanced diet, and energy source - along with your training will be your best bet and getting better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T18:10:03.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23998" CreationDate="2015-03-18T18:53:03.557" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am by no means educated in physical fitness or health.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the difference of &quot;exercising&quot;, what is the difference between having a high heart rate from doing a cardio workout versus having a high heart rate from emotions?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confrontation, Fear, Nervousness ... These emotions elicit a response from the body that increases heart rate often for an extended period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could being pissed off and storming around the room for a half hour be a workout equivalent of walking around the block?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15200" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T17:11:56.063" Title="What are differences between Emotional and Physical heart rate elevation?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23984" CreationDate="2015-03-18T19:06:13.757" Score="1" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do pullups and chinups in my garage all the time. I do them on a metal beam that runs across the ceiling and helps hold up the second floor. It is an I beam, so my grip isn't ever really ideal, but I don't have a problem with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to use a more conventional bar, would the amount of reps I can do increase? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just curious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastActivityDate="2015-03-22T20:40:03.473" Title="Does the magnitude of your grip on a pullup bar affect how hard or easy it is to do pullups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23971" CreationDate="2015-03-18T19:27:10.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say you have been doing your squats on a Smith Machine and are, rightfully, looking toward the free-weights as a better way to keep good form. The question then asks whether to stick with Smith Machine or &quot;just&quot; do your best with free-weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My answer is: BOTH&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal approach in a very similar situation is that I do all but my very heaviest set with free-weights. Do warm-ups and get close to your max with the free-weights, but for that last set where you honestly don't know if you can hit all five reps it isn't a sin to use the Smith Machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) It is important to raise weight consistently and challenge yourself to increase strength. Doing that while keeping to weights you can absolutely 100% do without help is not likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)Squats and bench presses are the only (core, major, etc) lifts where that bar is over your body in a potentially hard to evade position so safety is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I don't have a spotter I do exactly this: all warm-ups and incremental increases are done free-weight (you should get very close to your max weight this way), then that last set is the only one on the Smith Machine. This has allowed me to increase my Max almost weekly for over a year and my max weight is more than double when I started - all without hurting myself on those (not rare) occasions I just can't make that last rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gives you that critical stabilizing muscle development to actually use your strength, while providing the enhanced safety of the Smith Machine on the last set. Safety first - (and of course this is not everything you need to do for safety, just a relating of my own method that might help you)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15202" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T19:27:10.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23982" CreationDate="2015-03-18T19:40:22.793" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, having a better grip makes pull-ups a lot easier, and increases the number you can do, often dramatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T19:40:22.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2015-03-18T19:54:02.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a home gym in the second bedroom of my apartment for over 20 years and I've never had any noise complaints. I have a power rack, a bench, and 350lbs of weights. I just never drop the weights and I put them down slowly when I'm done. So go ahead and get what you want, just be quiet and you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15204" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T19:54:02.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22350" CreationDate="2015-03-18T20:30:18.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I still don't have a definitive answer for my predicament, but I am happy to report that, now that Spring is here, I've been running outside.  Now that I'm not running exclusively on a treadmill, I'm not experiencing the numbness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still going to mix in a second pair of shoes and see a podiatrist eventually.  In the meantime, I'm happy to stay far, far away from my gym's treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've posted this as an answer in case others have similar issues; in hopes that they might also have better luck on a trail vs. a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13407" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:30:18.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20942" CreationDate="2015-03-18T21:50:03.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00422734&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00422734&lt;/a&gt;) on intense and prolonged, heavy-resistance exercise of leg muscles (so with weights, not just body weight), and after repeating intense sets of different leg muscle exercises - the glycogen levels in the muscles weren't even halved - so while this study doesn't directly prove it - I don't think it's impossible to deplete your glycogen reserves in any muscle group under the conditions you described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as far as the effect of this kind of exercise on overall fat burn goes, I have found two studies that can provide some insight...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/292/2/E394&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/292/2/E394&lt;/a&gt;) exercising a particular muscle can increase the breakdown of fats in that particular area, but the increase of the breakdown rate is relatively small and it only happens during exercise, which is confirmed by...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...the second study (annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=685223), that suggests that even if you train a particular muscle group more than other groups, the sub-skin body fat will remain unchanged - confirming that in the long run, your body has a way of evening things out...so you can probably rule out any extra body fat burns on account of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastEditorDisplayName="user15206" LastEditDate="2015-03-18T22:18:22.167" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T22:18:22.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23981" CreationDate="2015-03-18T22:43:19.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eliminate the work of storming around the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes the heart is a muscle and working that muscle works that muscle.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is a very important muscle but it is a relatively small efficient muscle. &#xA;The heart alone does not consume a lot of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are working legs and the legs ask for fuel and oxygen and that causes the heart to beat faster that is different.  Now you are working the legs, lungs, and the heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heart rate will also elevate to help cool the body.  The vessel dilates on you pump more blood near the surface of the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will see some misguided analysis that you burn more calories in a hot Yoga as the heart rate is elevated.  They take a simple metric heart rate = calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15163" LastEditorUserId="15163" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T17:11:56.063" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T17:11:56.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-18T23:02:25.693" Score="-2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to look up information on the internet and in real life for proper nutrition, but every article, ebook, personal trainers and enthusiasts seem to have completely different opinions on what constitutes a proper nutrition. A lot of the information around it is based around marketing which leaves me clueless as to where I can find the right information, and more importantly how do I know that the information is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things I want to know is does a proper nutrition depend on what sport you do, and  in particular how should my nutrition be for optimizing my badminton performance? Should this follow a similar nutrition scheme as for weight lifting? (I actually do multiple sports as well as weight lifting, but focus is mainly on badminton)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15105" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T04:22:05.027" Title="What is the difference in proper nutrition for different sports?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-01-20T17:38:03.347" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23991" CreationDate="2015-03-19T04:22:05.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Proper nutrition depends to a large extent on your sport/ physical activity of choice. People training for aesthetics need high protein and low carb diets, so their muscles look sharp and defined. They don't always need high carb for energy apart from pre- and post- workout. For badminton or anything that requires a lot of stamina and running around, you need a little bit more carbs and you might be able to ease up a little on the protein intake. But in general the basic structure of nutritional balance doesn't change. It is a good idea to go for a 40-40-20 split between proteins, carbs, and good fats. Go for some fruit like banana before playing so that they keep you going during the activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4821" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T04:22:05.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20942" CreationDate="2015-03-19T07:26:21.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back of the envelope calculation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume your weight is 75kg, you workout intensely for 16 min and 30 secs, this would amount to about 190 kcal (compared to running which is about 10*BW kcal/hour)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A well-nourished adult can store approximately 500 grams or 2000 kcal of carbohydrates. Of this, approximately 400 grams are stored as muscle glycogen, 90-110 grams as liver glycogen, and 25 grams circulate in the blood as glucose.&quot; [1]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each leg is about 10% of your body weight [2], this should mean that about 2*0.1*400*4 kcal = 320 kcal are stored in the legs. This is probably a relatively low number considering the fact that legs are dense in terms of muscle, compared to the torso which is filled with organs and other non-muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my conclusion is that you will deplete your leg muscles to about 50%, but you don't have to completely deplete your muscle glycogen to have lipolysis (fat release) due to the exercise. There is no definite connection between temporary lipolysis and total fat level changes though. So the &quot;total effect on fat burning&quot; will as always, completely depend on your diet, if you eat enough, fat storage will be higher than fat burning, and you will have a net gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/content/carbohydrate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/content/carbohydrate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers/viewtopic.php?id=1477&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers/viewtopic.php?id=1477&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastEditorUserId="6368" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T07:32:11.783" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T07:32:11.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-19T11:28:17.907" Score="2" ViewCount="11720" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked this question 3 months ago &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/20858/how-much-i-can-improve-in-3-months&quot;&gt;how much I can improve in 3 months&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;working 3 times a week using protein shaker twice a day and eating meat/chicken/fish every lunch/dinner. and I am still 67 kg.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while training I feel the muscle pain and following days some soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in 3 months I gain 0 muscle, whats wrong with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this is program that I am doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2019-06-01T19:54:26.937" Title="gym 3 times a week no muscle gain" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23994" CreationDate="2015-03-19T12:19:09.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;shortcut to size is fine BUT, don't follow the supplement and nutrient guides. They are way too focused around supplements. The answer to your problem is easy. Eat more. Track your macros (Macronutrients). Sites like &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal&lt;/a&gt; can be very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To know what is your daily caloric need, try googeling &quot;Caloric calculator&quot; I can not recommend one or another, there are many different ones, some get more specific and give better answer etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to not only consume a lot of protein, but carbs and fat as well.&#xA;For example, for bulking i go 200G of protein 200G of carbs 80G of fat daily (This is only me, your values will be different).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your weight, i would say you need about 134G (Bodyweight(kg)*2) of protein a day, and a lot more carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to know a guy who drank chocolate milk every day to bulk, because he could just not get enough carbs from foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to conclude. You need to eat more, track your macros. If possible, follow the workout routine (4 days a week). This program is pretty good for beginners, since it offers variety, and gives you an good idea of what a program should look like, once you start putting together your own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T12:19:09.713" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23994" CreationDate="2015-03-19T12:52:11.457" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining muscle as a natural (non-drug using) exerciser is difficult at best.  Most of us neglect the role that genetics plays in the potential for growth.  Too often, we look for quick gains, when in fact, the gains come over the years.  Patience is not something a person who is busting their butt in the gym typically has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, for one, have been training for 20+ years.  Looking back, I’d say that gains were few and far between in the beginning.  But, fast forward to today, and I’d say I’m very happy with the accumulated effects of my training over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in 3 months I gain 0 muscle, what’s wrong with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than likely, nothing.  The previous post you linked provided some pretty good advice.  But, you must understand that no one has a concrete fool proof plan to pack on muscle.  That’s because each of us is an individual.  And, we all have different levels of potential.  That’s not to say that you can’t work hard and produce gains.  Rather than concentrating on how much muscle weight you’ve not gained, think about how much better you feel since taking up an exercise program.  Give your training some time.  And, if you feel that you’re not making any gains, change your routine.  More than anything, learn what works for &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; and use the programs you find (ie. &lt;em&gt;shortcut to size&lt;/em&gt;) only as a guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T12:52:11.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23981" CreationDate="2015-03-19T15:08:11.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A similar question was asked of Cecil Adams in his Straight Dope column about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/236/if-i-get-my-heart-pumping-with-caffeine-is-that-good-aerobic-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;differences in heart rate between exercising and caffeine&lt;/a&gt;. I think that the central takeaway is similar in both cases. Cardio exercise is not about raising the heart rate — that's just a handy metric for measuring relative effort — but about exercising all of the systems of the body, training them to work efficiently together. Raising your heart rate through caffeine or emotion is like revving your car engine. It consumes fuel. It adds strain to the system. It doesn't actually do anything very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your proposed workout would give you some small amount of exercise, but no more than stomping through the room would have done before, and you're increasing your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_hormone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stress hormone&lt;/a&gt; levels, which has notable negative effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T15:08:11.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4993" CreationDate="2015-03-19T16:53:42.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One potential injury that your court with push-ups is injury to your joints. Applying too much stress at the wrong angles can cause damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When going through the movements, go smoothly and avoid suddenly reversing your inertia. For example, when lowering yourself, don't drop your weight and then immediately push yourself back up. By doing that, you're essentially taking a significant fraction of your body weight and then doubling it when it comes to the shear force on your shoulder and elbows because your body has to counteract the inertia of your body to stop it and then accelerate in the other direction. A brief pause at the top and bottom of your push-up, or simply doing them a little more slowly will reduce the risk of injury, plus it helps you have good form rather than relying on jerky movements and inertia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't extend your movement past a comfortable range of motion. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. If it hurts, particularly a sharp pain, you're probably pushing yourself too far and you're close to hurting yourself. Again, doing a smooth movement and pausing at the top and bottom will reduce the chance of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as mentioned by Berin above, it is possible to hurt yourself by pushing yourself too hard or for too long. Again, pay attention to your body and go slowly enough that you don't realize you only realize your breaking point after you've passed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may sound like this kind of exercise is dangerous from all the warnings I'm giving you, but really, it generally isn't The main danger is when you start out. As you continue to do your push-ups, your body will adapt to the exercise. Your muscles will build up, allowing you to safely halt a movement without damaging your body. Your flexibility will increase. Your endurance will improve. Then, you can start doing things like rapid push-ups without pausing, and more extreme angles and different hand positions that stretch you into wider ranges of motion. But at first, you will want to ease into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T16:53:42.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23994" CreationDate="2015-03-19T17:18:08.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different things seem to work for different people, so you'll get a lot of suggestions that may or may not work for you.  Likewise, here's what worked for me.  I'm sure it's not a guide of what to do, but it adds some color to what you've probably heard or read from others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In three months (or less actually) I went from: (these are 5-rep numbers, not single pull maximums... I never bothered to test what my single pull max was on anything).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60 to 65kg bodyweight, 20 to 14% bodyfat (as measured with calipers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45 to 70kg bench barbell press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 to 80kg squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60 to 100kg dead lift (no straps or powder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet was healthy but not high protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never slept properly... rarely more than 7 hours a night; but I did take 2-3 days between workouts.  I went to the gym 2-3 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did almost exclusively just the big three - squats, dead lift, and bench press: squats and bench one day, then deads and bench the next visit.  Each exercise was one warmup set of 10 reps, then 5 sets of 5 reps - increasing the weight by small or large amounts depending on how I felt on each previous set.  My final set would be at my highest weight, and in some cases I could jump straight from the warmup weight set to the heavy weight set immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took no supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm not predisposed to big muscles, I guess the specific workouts plus the ample time between workouts contributed to my success.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I plateaued and stayed at those numbers for a LONG time.  But since I don't need to get bigger or much stronger, I'm shifting my goals to endurance and general fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, the big three help you create a really strong core, without crunches!  Yay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15215" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T17:18:08.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23994" CreationDate="2015-03-19T17:36:46.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My preference is quality over quantity - there's a lot to be said for muscle fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focusing less on the workout, I would suggest you eat regularly - like clockwork.  Consume the protein first.  Set an alarm for eating time, and try to pin it down to the minute!  Your body appreciates regularity will find itself better able to utilize available nutrients - as long as you are fully hydrated.  This leads to 'clockwork' bowel movements further encouraged by drinking a glass of water every time you pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example supplement to your routine would be the addition of a 'modest' bowl porridge (with a scoop of protein), at intervals fixed between meals and workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never underestimate porridge!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to simply gain weight (dirty bulking?) and work from there: eat as you would - but place it between two slices of bread and add cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best in your endeavors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15216" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T17:36:46.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22577" CreationDate="2015-03-19T17:49:26.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you reach the final few, sometimes you just have to really grunt.  Are you a quiet exerciser or are you willing to scream the last few?  If so, employ your will through the medium of shouting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to push-ups, perhaps you can stick at 20?  As you will eventually exceed this number through the act of sheer repetition and conditioning - you can control/calibrate the effort of each push-up so that you top out at this number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15216" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T17:49:26.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21104" CreationDate="2015-03-19T17:58:42.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that everyone has a dominant pectoral muscle - one which can have greater anchorage on the anterior surface of the sternum.  Often it is the perception that you are able to affect more precise control on one side of your body than the other - it is the mind-body connection at play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15216" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T17:58:42.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22577" CreationDate="2015-03-19T18:55:41.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should focus on volume training and lactic acid tolerance. Your bodyweight is quite light so you may try to increase your strength in triceps and chest by doing lower rep lower volume training with weighted pushups or bench presses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T18:55:41.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23994" CreationDate="2015-03-19T19:25:19.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, three months is very short. Give it some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, There is a chemical called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myostatin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myostatin&lt;/a&gt;. This chemical controls how big you can become via inhibiting muscle development. Some people have a little or none, and some have a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a very little like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you can grow very easily. Some have lots of this that will ultimately limit how big you can become. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myostatin#cite_note-pmid20026378-27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine supplementation temporarily lowers your level of myostatin&lt;/a&gt;, allowing for greater muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an old body building saying you can't change your body type. You can't turn a small car into an SUV. It just simply isn't possible. But you can make a car slightly bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15219" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T19:40:44.623" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T19:40:44.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24007" CreationDate="2015-03-19T20:56:28.770" Score="-2" ViewCount="515" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been contemplating my daily routine algorithm as of lately..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I call my workout function on $self?  Before I call my daily work method?  Or after I finish this method call?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is best and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15222" LastEditorUserId="15222" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T15:22:35.550" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T15:22:35.550" Title="temporal instantiation of workout function" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-03-20T12:12:10.677" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24006" CreationDate="2015-03-19T22:22:15.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While some studies have been done on peak athlete performance depending on the time of day - I have yet to see a study that would prove any significant difference between exercising in the morning or in the afternoon/evening - if that's what you're asking. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for what it's worth - I can only answer your question from a psychological perspective...and tell you that the best time of day for your exercise sessions would be at a time of day you're most likely to actually do it. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you can find a whole lot of people who feel incredibly energized at 5am on one side of the spectrum - or you can find people who regularly visit the gym at 8pm...so figure out what works best for you and stick to it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T22:22:15.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23994" CreationDate="2015-03-20T00:52:14.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you do any progress regarding the weigths you use for those exercises? (that information is missing in your question). If you have been able to increase the weigths more or less steadily, then you have done progress. It is only that you still don't see it in the mirror (have some patience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you have spent 3 months training with nearly the same weigths and reps, then you definitely have a problem. You mention things like nutrition and weekly workout frequency, but what about your sleep quality? Sleep is often forgotten as if it were not important. But it is during deep sleep that most of the growth hormone you will get is released. Every effort goes down the drain if you don't have enough sleep regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One variable you might want to tweak a bit is your recovery times. Try inserting additional rest days in your routine. Perhaps only then you will start making gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T00:58:39.960" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T00:58:39.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24009" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-20T08:40:26.160" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I do gym exercises only for my abdomen, will it affect other parts of my body like biceps, triceps, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15227" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T12:25:03.920" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T15:51:08.887" Title="I have a bit of a tummy. To avoid it getting larger, can I do gym exercises only for my abdomen?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-20T13:14:56.040" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24009" CreationDate="2015-03-20T11:01:47.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose fat around your belly, there are only 2 &quot;real&quot; solutions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to a health clinic and get rid of the fat surgically but I wouldn't recommend that. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do sports and lose fat on your whole body. The human body doesn't allow you to lose fat somewhere specifically. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of article on the web which promise you will lose belly fat. I would guess 99% of these are either crap or will help you &quot;only&quot; to lose fat in general. A nice general article is on wikihow: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Lose-Belly-Fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Lose-Belly-Fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic principle is to eat healthy, sleep enough, drink enough water, and do sports, and most importantly keep doing it! You will lose fat, get healthier and (perhaps) live happier. But please don't expect to only get rid of your belly fat and that it will happen quickly. You need time and unfortunately hard work to get in shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when losing weight, it's not important if you go to a gym, train at home, if you jog, swim, walk, ride the bicycle, or go dancing. Just do it (long enough), have fun and stay motivated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and if you never did some sport or you are totally out of shape, please visit first a doctor or a good instructor before you damage your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T12:30:05.950" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T12:30:05.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22577" CreationDate="2015-03-20T11:10:20.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it was written befor, 3 weeks isn't really long. Try again and again and keep doing sports. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it depends on the kind of push ups you are doing. There are hundreds of different kinds. If you are stuck at one, perhaps try switching to another kind. Wide arm, close arm, diamond, elevated...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, look at your form. Is your back straight, your belly tucked in, are your arms like they should be for this kind of push ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I restarted doing sports some times ago I could do 20-30 push ups. But I tried e.g. Convict conditioning where you start doing push ups against a wall. It seems easy and silly, but if you do in slowly and if you concentrate at that time on all your movements you will greatly increase your skills. then I moved after one or two month against a wall to doing push ups against a table. Still easy enough to concentrate on your form and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There a plenty different body weight books and programs out there. Convict conditioning is just one of them I tried and had fun doing it. Have a look what suits you best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr: look at your form, try different styles but keep doing push ups :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T11:10:20.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24009" CreationDate="2015-03-20T11:43:55.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is absolutely impossible to eliminate body fat in &quot;only one place&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights has no connection to eliminating body fat.  Lifting weights makes &lt;strong&gt;your muscles larger&lt;/strong&gt; (which is totally fantastic) but has no connection to eliminating body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The only way to eliminate body fat is via diet.  Body fat is simply caused by eating carbohydrates, which triggers your pancreas &lt;strong&gt;to cause glycerides (always present in your bloodstream) to pass in to fat cells in your body&lt;/strong&gt; (becoming triglycerides). It's just that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you grab your gut and feel &quot;flab,&quot; that is just fat cells, blown up like balloons, with triglycerides inside them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To eliminate body fat just slash carbohydrate intake. You might say &quot;OK, I'll eat zero carbohydrates&quot; but that simply won't work (it's simply impossible to have that much willpower). You have to eat the &quot;Goldilocks&quot; amount of carbohydrates (about 70 grams a day) ..... not too little, not too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Note that in the modern diet (for the last few hundred years) people eat incredibly more carbohydrates than this amount each day, so for a week you will feel you are eating strangely, then you will feel in perfect health (and easily eliminate body fat each week).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Absolutely no willpower is required.&lt;/strong&gt; The only reason people have hunger, and &quot;want to&quot; eat more than they need to (why would your body possibly make you want to do that?) is because they eat incredibly high daily amounts of carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regarding aerobic exercise (jogging).  (i) if you do a really tremendous amount of jogging (say one to two hours a day) that will use a very small amount of calories - i.e., you will be able to additionally eat a small amount of food equal to &quot;that many&quot; calories.  however (ii) exercise &lt;strong&gt;makes you hungry&lt;/strong&gt; (far, far, far in excess of the &quot;amount of calories extra you can eat&quot;...) so exercise is pointless if your aim, as such, is to eliminate body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one of many &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307474259&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;books&lt;/a&gt; that explains concisely the above (well, the above is more concise :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2015-03-23T15:51:08.887" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T15:51:08.887" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24009" CreationDate="2015-03-20T12:42:12.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You basically have two questions. First, it is mostly possible to exercise only your abdomen, although one might ask why you would want to. If you only do abdomen exercises, you'll only really be working that area and a few supporting muscles. You're better off working more parts of your body, honestly. The variety will help you be less bored and, unless you're bodybuilding, the difference in mass is not going to be evident in any significant way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, you can't target fat loss in any significant manner. There has been some research showing that high-intensity exercise in a given area slightly increases the shrinking of fat cells in that area, but it's a fraction of a percent, so it really only applies in the lab. That said, losing weight is very possible and doesn't require an extremely strict diet. Frankly, what is proven over and over again from a science perspective is that pretty much any diet works as long as you stick with it with the caveat that no diet works if you don't. The two simplest diets I know of are a) simply counting calories and going below &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calorieking.com/interactive-tools/how-many-calories-should-you-eat/?ref=nav&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;what you need per day&lt;/a&gt;. It's a nice simple mathematical model, but is difficult if you're not the sort of person who likes to do the math and keep track of it. An even simpler one? Eat more vegetables than fruits. Eat more fruits than grains. Eat more grains than meat. Eat more meat than sweets and oils. If you do that, and add a little bit of exercise, the odds are excellent that you'll be getting enough nutrition and not too many calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T12:42:12.993" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9910" CreationDate="2015-03-20T18:25:39.160" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would like to offer a few short statements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your testicles get 'dibs' on protein.  (debatable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Those who ascribe to the concept of energy-flow &lt;em&gt;Ki&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Chi&lt;/em&gt; are likely to indicate that masturbation redirects your vitality and causes 'diffusion'. (debatable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequent masturbation is a good work out for one arm at least. (empirical)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15216" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T18:25:39.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19557" CreationDate="2015-03-20T18:39:51.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you mean by a tuck from the abs but you will inevitably have to crunch more the further you roll out. That said, the crunch shouldn't come at the expense of a straight back. When I first started with the ab-wheel I had very poor form and routinely let my back sag once I got above 3 or 4 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My coach was able to correct this by teaching me proper breathing for this movement (breathe in while rolling out and breathe out while rolling in). This forces you to keep your back straight. I was instructed to always move the hip forward first (thus keeping the wheel under the chest) until the movement naturally drives the arms forward in order to keep the back straight. The movement is thus what was demonstrated in the first video you linked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15186" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T18:39:51.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22113" CreationDate="2015-03-20T18:48:15.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Proper hydration is key to preventing cramps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have ruled hydration out as a cause, try rolling the arches of your feet on a lacrosse ball (you can get them cheap at the sporting goods store in sets of 3 or ask to get some old ones from a club team). Stand on one leg then step the arch of the other leg onto the lacrosse ball. Apply as much pressure as you feel comfortable with. A little bit of pain is OK but this should not send you off crying. Then gently begin moving your arch in circles over the ball. This may be a bit painful at first and you may experience a grit-like sensation the first few times you do this. Roll each side out for about 3 minutes once a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a foam roller ($20 at Target), roll your calves out as well per this video: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6aiK6C1HXs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6aiK6C1HXs&lt;/a&gt;. Roll for 10-15 passes per leg per day and as needed as part of your warm up/cool down on workout days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15186" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T18:48:15.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23873" CreationDate="2015-03-20T19:01:00.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you considered double kettlebell front squats? &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/the-2-kettlebell-front-squat-the-best-exercise-youre-not-doing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/the-2-kettlebell-front-squat-the-best-exercise-youre-not-doing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two 53's would give you 106lbs..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15186" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T19:01:00.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24018" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24019" CreationDate="2015-03-21T08:39:43.057" Score="7" ViewCount="647" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to do intermittent fasting (IF) or a &quot;reduced meal frequency&quot; diet - like skipping breakfast, eating only during a certain time-window in the afternoon, or even eating just a single meal per day (dinner).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the psychological benefits of IF for some people who like the idea of holding back - so they can enjoy bigger and &quot;better&quot; meals later in the day. I have also managed to find some studies that prove certain benefits of IF (like improved insulin-response for diabetics), but that's not what I'm interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if there is any evidence that - if I consume the same amount of calories on any kind of IF or &quot;reduced meal frequency&quot; regime - that this can actually lead to higher weight loss/fat burn in the end?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2017-11-11T10:31:23.387" Title="Can anyone provide any evidence that Intermittent fasting (IF) can increase weight/fat loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24018" CreationDate="2015-03-21T14:26:53.290" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently there aren't any available studies that I can find that examine IF solely for weight loss/fat burn effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can find quite a few studies showing the efficacy of intermittent fasting and calorie restriction on a whole host of body systems, but I can't find any addressing IF by itself, which means that you can't distinguish between weight loss with calorie restriction and weight loss with calorie restriction AND IF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-03-21T14:26:53.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24020" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-21T15:08:42.303" Score="-1" ViewCount="3183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if it is safe to drink a protein shake once a day when I don't work out. I may have to walk a lot and I just have one meal a day, according to Tim Hortons some time. So I was thinking if I could have a protein shake once a day...as I'm having both weight and a lot of hair loss due improper diet recently. Also could you suggest which shakes out there in the market should I look for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15236" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T20:23:15.783" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T20:23:15.783" Title="Use of protein shake without working out" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-25T12:18:45.003" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-21T23:00:46.373" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd appreciate if you could please answer my question regarding fat and carbohydrate intakes in human body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say I take 100 grams of chocolate in one single day, and then don't take chocolate at all for the next 6 days. On the other hand, let me spread the 100 grams of chocolate over a week, so let me take 100/7 grams of chocolate each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now considering the effect of fat, carbohydrate and sugar that's consumed, which one is going to affect me (increase my weight, body fat percentage) worse? Or is the effect equal? Assume that all the other factors remain equal, including food intake, exercise etc. Please justify your answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8098" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T09:58:39.637" Title="Which one of the following types of fat/carb. intake is worse? And why?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-03-24T17:51:04.220" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24020" CreationDate="2015-03-22T15:43:54.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure you can drink a protein shake even if you're not working out in a classical sense — like doing some heavy &quot;macho-stuff&quot; at a gym or something — but walking definitely counts as &quot;physical fitness&quot; type of exercise too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proteins are just basic building blocks our body needs for normal functioning, and most certainly not just for the &quot;reconstruction&quot; of muscle tissue after intense workouts, so if you ask me, you'd probably do well to include them in your diet, especially if you've recently been on some low-protein diet regime (but like somebody already commented, you should consult a nutritionist if you want to be 100% sure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while I certainly won't state any brands here, my advice would be to check out the nutrition labels and Google any unfamiliar ingredients (to rule out any harmful ones), but other than that, drinking protein shakes really isn't really all that different from eating a steak or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-23T12:45:13.427" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T12:45:13.427" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24020" CreationDate="2015-03-22T16:27:44.483" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't say what is and isn't safe for you. You should see a nutritionist.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in general it is safe to consume protein powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe you are not consuming enough protein, than that is exactly what the protein powder is for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people that feel they need the extra powder require more protein because they are working out frequently, but that doesn't mean you can't use it too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I am &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; saying a protein powder will give you all of the nutrients you need or that it will solve your problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastEditorUserId="10441" LastEditDate="2015-03-23T15:23:25.697" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T15:23:25.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-22T19:14:37.787" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started this Running Plan &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/getting-started/the-8-week-beginners-program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/getting-started/the-8-week-beginners-program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am comfortably in the 4th of it. Since beginning I have been running with these &quot;Fila Coder running shoes&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nlRpq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few days ago on searching more on running I got to know that there are different type of runners in the world:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Underpronator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neutral&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overpronator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to run with correct shoes for myself. But I am confused and I have few queries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I am running slow (not sprinting, not jogging) my left leg goes of middle line of my direction of running i.e. Underpronator(also shoe sole is grazed from outside of heel).  But when I am at full pace (sprinting) I hit hit heel first and and legs remain in Neutral direction. Am I still a Underpronator Runner?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this a disease or some kind of bad anatomy, my body/legs not designed not born to run? If yes is it curable, by exercising, or practicing correct(neutral) running?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there pro runners in the world those are Underpronators?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am only going to run 30 mins daily, do I really need expensive shoes designed for underpronator runners?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About Me:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am 5'8&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;172 Pounds&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Using &quot;Fitness World: ZETTA COMMERCIAL MOTORIZED TREADMILL&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10100" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T22:05:56.050" Title="Underpronator Runners" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24018" CreationDate="2015-03-22T20:12:44.577" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can look for Martin Berkhan's Leangains method here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.leangains.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A guy did an AMA for that leangains program here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/leangains/comments/1jjrci/former_berkhan_client_ama/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.reddit.com/r/leangains/comments/1jjrci/former_berkhan_client_ama/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a book named, Eat Stop Eat, talking about the benefits of fasting, here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatstopeat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.eatstopeat.com/&lt;/a&gt; and here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://bradpilon.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bradpilon.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-22T20:12:44.577" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23873" CreationDate="2015-03-22T20:18:07.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smith Machine is not, and cannot be an alternative to full squat. It works the leg alright, but leg press does that too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goblet squats are better and superior, you made a good choice. I would recommend you to decrease your cadence, get your reps slower, thus more time under tension, and it will tire you more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squats are good, but I believe they are harder to do, simply because it needs perfect rack position and mobility. I would say until you can get a Squat Rack, stick with Goblet Squats. Increase your reps, decrease your resting time, and slower reps would help the exercise to get harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-22T20:18:07.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23982" CreationDate="2015-03-22T20:40:03.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gripping tight would also create tension in your body, which helps for exciting the CNS. Here is a link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rdlfitness.com/use-a-tight-grip/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rdlfitness.com/use-a-tight-grip/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would get your grip stronger, it would increase your pull-up power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2015-03-22T20:40:03.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20927" CreationDate="2015-03-23T01:05:38.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use to run for 30-40 minutes. For the last 6 months, I have done high instense interval training. My running on the treadmill is not 12-15 min. and I get the same cardio workout. I would suggest you look into this as it is a more effective workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15244" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T01:05:38.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24020" CreationDate="2015-03-23T02:58:45.353" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes are fine to drink without working out but this probably will not contribute to any muscle building if that is what you are looking for. It will probably add to your body weight in general. If you do work out, it is a different story where the protein will greatly contribute to your muscle building which of course will depend on how much stress you place on the muscle itself. Look for a book called &quot;home workout bible&quot; about this subject, it is great and cheap.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15246" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T02:58:45.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24021" CreationDate="2015-03-23T09:58:39.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Practically speaking there won't be a difference for such a low amount as 100 grams, but if it's 1000 grams instead, I think it will be better to consume it over a week. 100 grams of chocolate will give some satiety and thus decrease your calory intake more in total than having 1000 grams in one sitting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you assume your calorie intake is fixed and isn't affected like this though, eating 1000 grams in one sitting is still worse. The liver tends to store more visceral fat when overloaded, i.e. there is a threshold. Basically, if the liver is capable of taking 30 grams and using it for muscle glycogen and other things, that would mean that 1000-30 = 970 grams will hit your liver in one case, and 6*(1000/6 - 30) = 820 grams in the other case. That's pretty speculative though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to add that you can't really say that &quot;all other factors remain equal&quot;, since your dietary intake affects many of the other factors, like energy usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T09:58:39.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23971" CreationDate="2015-03-23T15:26:41.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The loading on a smith machine is completely different from a barbell squat. The barbell squat provided one has excellent technique is most definitely superior to a smith machine squat for several reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smith machine prevents the stabilisers (especially the core) to engage thus resulting in a lower muscle recruitment than a barbell squat. This is keys factor in strength training. Furthermore you are completely removing the functional strength aspect of a good squat. The lack of core engagement will put the spine at a higher risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The motion pattern in a smith machine is unnatural. It forces the knee into a fixed movement pattern which in turn creates unnecessary stress and compression on the knee and ligaments. This is only made worse by the false sense of security that comes with the smith machines that allows you to lift often more then your joints have been trained to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat heavy, squat clean and squat hard and witness real muscular and strength change. A gym without a squatting rack is not a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finding people to spot you on your squat is easy. Simply ask a more experienced member or staff member to assist you. 99.9% of people are more than willing to spot you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15251" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T15:26:41.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2015-03-23T15:57:25.983" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is absolutely impossible to eliminate body fat in &quot;only one place&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights has no connection to eliminating body fat.  Lifting weights makes &lt;strong&gt;your muscles larger&lt;/strong&gt; (which is totally fantastic) but has no connection to eliminating body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The only way to eliminate body fat is via diet.  Body fat is simply caused by eating carbohydrates, which triggers your pancreas &lt;strong&gt;to cause glycerides (always present in your bloodstream) to pass in to fat cells in your body&lt;/strong&gt; (becoming triglycerides). It's just that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you grab your gut and feel &quot;flab,&quot; that is just fat cells, blown up like balloons, with triglycerides inside them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To eliminate body fat just slash carbohydrate intake. You might say &quot;OK, I'll eat zero carbohydrates&quot; but that simply won't work (it's simply impossible to have that much willpower). You have to eat the &quot;Goldilocks&quot; amount of carbohydrates (about 70 grams a day) ..... not too little, not too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Note that in the modern diet (for the last few hundred years) people eat incredibly more carbohydrates than this amount each day, so for a week you will feel you are eating strangely, then you will feel in perfect health (and easily eliminate body fat each week).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Absolutely no willpower is required.&lt;/strong&gt; The only reason people have hunger, and &quot;want to&quot; eat more than they need to (why would your body possibly make you want to do that?) is because they eat incredibly high daily amounts of carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regarding aerobic exercise (jogging).  (i) If you do an enormous amount of jogging (say, two hours a day) that will use a very small amount of calories - i.e., you will be able to additionally eat a small amount of food equal to &quot;that many&quot; calories. However (ii) exercise &lt;strong&gt;makes you hungry&lt;/strong&gt; (far, far in excess of the &quot;amount of calories extra you can eat&quot;...) so exercise is pointless if your aim, as such, is to eliminate body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one of many &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307474259&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;books&lt;/a&gt; that explains concisely the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2015-12-29T14:19:39.860" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T14:19:39.860" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-08-24T14:37:28.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14636" CreationDate="2015-03-23T16:02:03.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing stronglifts on a deficit (1760 calories a day). I am 5'7&quot; and weigh 173. I was 172 when I started back on the program. I had to stop going to the gym for financial reason, and from October '14 to Feb '15 I gained 20 lbs. Over this first four weeks I shot up to 178lbs and I am now on a downward trend. My goal is to lean up (just not be a fat-ass anymore) over 10 to 12 weeks. Then I'll increase my caloric intake again. I am currently eating .75 grams of protein per pound of body weight.&#xA;Current lifts:&#xA;Squat 210&#xA;Bench 120&#xA;Row 120&#xA;Overhead 90&#xA;Dead lift 185&#xA;+ I am working my chin-ups and dips to 3x10 w/ body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is, you are weak. I am weak too. So don't take offense. How many weeks have you been at this? Your squat should be your dominant lift, IMHO. Fall in love with that lift and follow Medhi's program to the letter. There is no way you should be stalling at 175x5x5. Set you aims at doubling your body weight on the squat and dead lift and matching it on the overhead. At least, that is my goal for 5x5. If the program shifts before then, then so be it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15252" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T16:02:03.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19734" CreationDate="2015-03-23T22:02:40.923" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNF_stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PNF stretching&lt;/a&gt;, and maybe you can buy the book of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragondoor.com/b14/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pavel Tsatsouline&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Relax into Stretch&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T17:53:32.360" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T17:53:32.360" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24024" CreationDate="2015-03-23T22:05:56.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it's hard to impossible to tell what kind of running/plant style you have by looking down at your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mainly, this is because you can't really see the mechanics of what your heel/ankle/foot are doing in relation to each other as you go through the land/plant/push cycle, especially when in shoes. It almost requires a rear view of some kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend going to a good running store (Here in the US, I usually recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roadrunnersports.com/retail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RoadRunner Sports&lt;/a&gt; if there is one near) that has treadmill and video capability for gait analysis. At RRS, it's usually free, but it's a worthwhile service. They will show you your gait and plant, and help you pick out shoes geared for your specific style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T22:05:56.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24020" CreationDate="2015-03-23T23:28:06.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are having only one meal a day and if you really want to use protein powders instead of healthy natural foods, then you definitely need to choose egg white powder protein because it will be digested slowly, releasing a steady level of essential aminoacids during hours into your blood. Casein protein powders are the second best option, they are still slow digestion protein, but not even as a slow digestion protein as white eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to avoid whey protein because it will be diggested faster, giving you a quick excess of aminoacids that will be wasted, because your body has little ability of storing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, having a single meal a day is unhealthy and you should try to avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://bale.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/protein-absorption-rate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some reference&lt;/a&gt; regarding the different absorption rates of proteins. According to a study quoted there, aminoacids from egg white protein are absorbed at a rate of  ~1.4 g/h, casein at ~6 g/h and whey at ~9 g/h. You don't find many references like that, because of the powerful marketing of the supplements companies, who are interested in selling you casein as the standard of &quot;slow&quot; protein instead of egg whites (easily found everywhere).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T18:03:59.003" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T18:03:59.003" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9880" CreationDate="2015-03-24T01:09:28.903" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kinda defeats the purpose of a tracker. Have it to track it for me, not to have to enter all kinds of stuff.  Similar experience with other exercise equipment, such as elliptical, treadmill, stationary bike, all had marginal tracking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15254" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T01:09:28.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24045" CreationDate="2015-03-24T05:51:59.650" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally do 20mins on the jogger with speed of 7-8Kmph and later the dumbells of 5 kg ,dips of 4 sets with 10 each,chest press of 40lbs same 4 sets with 10 each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After following this regime I am not feeling any sweat at all.I don't understand is it normal not to sweat or its something with the excerise being performed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beside me there is another person who also follows simmilar regime and sweats a lot then me.We both login,log out of the gym at the same time then why is there the difference(Some say that sweating is related to the effort in gym then am I not putting an effort)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastEditorUserId="10092" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T06:10:02.487" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T16:29:08.517" Title="Is sweating a necessity for the body or its normal not to sweat after the workout" Tags="&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24018" CreationDate="2015-03-24T13:12:37.500" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was covered in: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02ddsd9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What's The Right Diet For You? A Horizon Special&lt;/a&gt; and there appears to be a few bits in the associated free interactive eBook. Essentially the thought is that intermittent fasting (IF) is a useful dieting technique, for people that they categorise / profile as &quot;Constant Cravers&quot;, as the body will produce appetite suppressing ketones in the absence of food:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;248&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Posted by Professor Susan Jebb&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; on &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;13 Jan 2015 22:52&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rosie (152) and some others have asked about whether our intermittent fasting diet&#xA;  is the 5:2 diet. There are all sorts of variations on 5:2 dieting.&#xA;  Here we have combined the general idea of severely restricting intake&#xA;  on 2 days with the low carb concept. This is because avoiding carbs on&#xA;  these two days will encourage your body to produce ketones. These act&#xA;  as a natural appetite suppressant, making it easier to stick to the&#xA;  diet. This was especially important for our Constant Cravers who were&#xA;  always going to find dieting hard work. We encouraged them to do these&#xA;  two “fasting” days simultaneously so the ketone levels built up and&#xA;  they all reported that the second day was easier than the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/entries/2feae48b-70c2-40ed-8e81-af26581ac301&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comments&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T13:12:37.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18995" CreationDate="2015-03-24T15:14:52.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as there is no pain and your knee stays in line with your foot(push you knee out), you are probably good to go. If you do experience pain or discomfort, you shold buy a pair of weightlifting shoes. It is good to use anyway, as it improves posture during all kinds of leg exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastEditorUserId="15217" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T17:00:37.340" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T17:00:37.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24041" CreationDate="2015-03-24T16:29:08.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of variance in sweating (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspiration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;perspiration&lt;/a&gt;). Some people break into a sweat very quickly, some people not so much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the far ends of sweat-o-meter you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypohidrosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypohidrosis&lt;/a&gt; in which an insufficient amount of sweat is produced. Although handy in social circles, it can become very dangerous in conditions when your body &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt; to cool down. Hypohidrosis in extreme conditions can lead to heat stroke and death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperhidrosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyperhidrosis&lt;/a&gt;, which means you'll sweat a lot. This can also cause problems related to dehydration and skin infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A doctor can diagnose you with either of those, but chances are you're in the range of normal, and so is your friend, but you two just exist in different areas of &quot;normal&quot; (ie: not a diagnosed condition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://trainright.com/chris-carmichael-blog-does-sweating-more-mean-youre-more-fit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as your fitness increases so will the amount of sweat you produce&lt;/a&gt;. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Carmichael_%28cyclist%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chris Carmichael&lt;/a&gt; (professional Olympic cycling coach, and Olympian himself):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improving fitness impacts the way your body works in a wide variety of&#xA;  ways, and your sweat response to exercise changes as you become more&#xA;  fit because you’re increasing the workload your body has to be able to&#xA;  handle.&#xA;  As you become more fit, you are able to work harder. You generate more&#xA;  power ... and maintain a faster pace ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But the ability to work harder also means you have the ability&#xA;  to generate a lot of heat in a very short period of time. You also&#xA;  have the endurance to sustain exercise longer, meaning you have the&#xA;  capacity to generate heat for a longer period of time. Your body has&#xA;  to adapt to these demands in order to keep your core temperature&#xA;  stable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T16:29:08.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23857" CreationDate="2015-03-24T16:57:30.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you feel that your method works and is giving you the results you want, just keep doing it. It really doesn't matter what anybody thinks about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your ancle flexibility is stopping you from doing a proper squat then you should look into buying weightlifting shoes with an elevated heel. It will allow you to squat more upright without great ancle flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T16:57:30.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22260" CreationDate="2015-03-24T17:32:43.713" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have managed to find a study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/89/1/81&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jap.physiology.org/content/89/1/81&lt;/a&gt;) where they measured the skeletal muscle mass of lower and upper body. Their sample was &quot;large and heterogeneous&quot; (468 people) so it's probably safe to say this table represents the average numbers (in the &quot;All women&quot; and &quot;All men&quot; rows):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xkKyN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Skeletal muscle mass distribution&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*SM stands for skeletal muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I was unable to find the average muscle mass data for smaller muscle groups or even individual muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T17:32:43.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-24T18:45:58.390" Score="0" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sir i am 18 yr old male, i wanna get taller, presently i am 5'8 inches (172 cms)&#xA;can i get taller at least 5'11 (180 cms) or 6 foot please&#xA;Most of my friends are 6 foot and i am the short one even after wearing tall shoes gives me (175 cms)&#xA;i just started doing some exercises,sprinting,hanging etc&#xA;just wanted to know if its worth doing these exercises and having calcium diet.&#xA;when is the last stage of growth for males.Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15257" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T23:30:42.957" Title="can i increase my height when i am 18?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;calcium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-25T07:06:16.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24049" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-24T18:53:19.967" Score="3" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that compared to other animals like e.g. gorillas, the way our body reacts to exercise or inactivity is different. We need to do quite a bit of hard physical exercise to build up muscle mass and keep all that muscle mass. Gorillas, in contrast, seem to be able to eat and sleep all day long and still be extremely strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, they will still get some exercise by moving around, climbing trees, but I don't think gorillas are in the habit of voluntarily pushing themselves to their limits compared to how people in the gym are pushing themselves to their limits. If they climb a tree, then that is exercise, but it's presumably much farther within the limit of their muscle capacity then when we do pull-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there something fundamentally different about human physiology that predisposes us to become couch potatoes much faster than other animals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T18:53:19.967" Title="Do humans need to exercise more than animals to stay fit?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-03-25T13:36:57.163" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24048" CreationDate="2015-03-24T23:30:42.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not much you can actively do to grow taller. Your genetics will ultimately dictate your height. When you stop growing is not set in stone. It comes down to individual differences.&#xA;Like someone in the comment section pointed out, you should get an x-ray to see if you growth plates have fused. After they fuse, there is nothing you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T23:30:42.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24018" CreationDate="2015-03-25T01:02:20.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rok&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing IF for a year or so. In absence of any clinical trial and while I am not strictly answering your question, I am hoping that you really want to give IF a go. Consider this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;By giving a large time gap between your last meal of the day and first meal of the next day, what will your brain and body be running on? We can only store 100 gms or so as liver glycogen, that can be used by the brain (muscle glycogen is actually not used to power the brain). The most logical answer is your body will become fat adapted. Your body will up-regulate the machinery to metabolize fat and your mitochondria should get more effective at burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add to that the fact that meal that you do eat are not sugary, processed carb types. You are sending a signal to your body again to get better at using fat as fuel and become an efficient fat burner. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can then do a simple body-fat% check over a year to prove that you have indeed become an efficient fat burner. What I have learnt is that sometimes it's just easier to do an experiment of N=1 rather than rely on a clinical trial. When I eat a piece of cake loaded with gluten, I know how crappy I feel for a few hours - the brain fog. I no longer need an extensive clinical trial to convince me that gluten is a problem with x% of the population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14960" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T01:02:20.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-25T05:48:55.930" Score="2" ViewCount="1582" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many questions already on this website which are more about spot reduction. I am aware that you cannot just lose belly fat without losing overall body fat. My question is I am more of a lean guy. I am about 179 cm tall and weigh 164 pounds. I am definitely not fat, but I cant be labelled skinny either. However I do have a food and noticeable amount of fat on my belly, mostly on the front and hardly anything on the sides. Now I have been working out to gain muscle mass. I do a mix of cardio and weight training comprising mostly of compounds exercises 5 days a week. I follow a diet as follows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: 1 cup oats/cornflakes with 250 ml milk, 2 medium bananas, 5 eggs(2 whole, 3 whites)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Morning Snack: 2 slices watermelon, 50gm of peanuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: 8oz chicken(part of whole chicken), 150gm of mixed veggies(broccolli, beets, carrot, beans, peas), 4 slices brown bread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evening Snack: 2 oranges small, 1 teaspoon peanut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: 8oz Chicken(part of whole chicken), 1 cup brown rice, 150gm of mixed veggies(broccolli, beets, carrot, beans, peas), 2 egg whites &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before Bed: 250ml milk, few nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been gaining weight with this diet(since I am on a calorific surplus) since my target is to gain more muscle mass. If I continue the same am I going to be losing belly fat or do I have to follow a different diet schedule after gaining muscle mass to lose belly fat? Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15120" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T08:53:41.883" Title="Losing stomach fat without losing weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-03-27T11:04:37.623" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24053" CreationDate="2015-03-25T07:28:27.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way of checking wether your belly is big because of subcutaneous fat or something internal is to check how thick a pinch of skin is, the fat you grab when grabbing a fold of skin is subcutaneous, and you can not affect where on the skin that will be stored. If the fold is thin, but you still have a large belly, you either have visceral fat, or the stuff inside your intestines makes it look big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that you can't spot reduce subcutaneous fat, but you can make life choices that have an impact on wether fat is stored as subcutaneous fat or visceral (belly) fat. High intensity exercise such as running, can make you burn more visceral fat in particular (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, gaining weight will make it much harder to remove fat of any type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a cut/bulk cycle, either start with a bulk or with a cut, and then to the other one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17637702&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17637702&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T07:28:27.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24057" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24059" CreationDate="2015-03-25T09:06:13.237" Score="0" ViewCount="3867" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been taking MassGainer for the last week and I am going to buy some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthkart.com/sv/muscleblaze-micronized-creatine/SP-8688?navKey=VRNT-50601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt; soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my 5th year at the gym (I'm 28, 5'10&quot;, 68kg). I go thrice a week. I will never stop exercising (it's the way life is meant to be). I have a very tight, lean body with perfect cuts and shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This year, I have decided to gain mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether, if I take MassGainer and Creatine and then stop taking it once its finished, my body will still crave for it, or if I will lose my mass if I stop taking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10003" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-25T13:38:59.747" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T13:40:09.777" Title="Will taking MassGainer and Creatine risk damage to my body in long run?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24057" CreationDate="2015-03-25T12:16:12.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If using something like mass gainer (mostly dexstrose) is the only way you're able to maintain a high calorie intake, then you will lose mass if you stop taking it. I don't think this is the case though, just eat more food generally and you will maintain your muscle weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine gives you a performance boost that can make you gain more muscle since you work harder in the gym, when you stop taking it, you will perform worse and that will decrease the signal that increase muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T12:16:12.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24057" CreationDate="2015-03-25T12:25:26.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither of these supplements are habit forming so no, your body will not &quot;crave&quot; them after you stop using them. However, the effects of both will subside when you stop taking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to supplement a weight gainer to pack on mass, you will likely need to continue to keep your caloric intake at a certain level to continue to sustain your bulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With Creatine it's a little different. Effectively it allows you to push harder sets and the muscle gains made as a result are proportionally greater to the gains you'd make without supplementing. If you maintain at or just below the levels achieved during supplementation after you quit using creatine, most of those gains will remain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15186" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T12:25:26.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19231" CreationDate="2015-03-25T15:05:38.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sizing a heavy bag is all about how much resistance you want to your techniques, and the types of techniques that you are going to be using, as well as the space that you have to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are working on precision and/or are a light striker, then you may want a 3-4 foot bag (Or if you are female). If you want more resistance training, then (as you point out) a heavy bag that is 1/2 your weight would be more appropriate. These bags are also more appropriate for smaller spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 and 6 foot bags mainly up the resistance level, and they will also move less on impact. So if you are a heavy hitter, you may want a longer, heavier bag as a smaller or lighter bag will sway and move quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would recommend a water based bag, as you can vary the water to adjust weight, and I've found that with sand bags (I do martial arts and thus kick a lot) that the sand eventually packs towards the bottom which throws off the weight distribution and makes the bottom of the bag really hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a big fan of a couple of the wavemaster floor type bags as shown below, I find them perfect for almost any level of striking, but YMMV. (Both available from Century Martial Arts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zLOUa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EHkkv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T15:05:38.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19734" CreationDate="2015-03-25T15:09:54.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am collecting here material and keywords related to this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand horizontal split to require flexibilities such as hamstring flexibility and hip flexibility. I understand this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14126/60660&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; so that the user recommends sumo squats to improve hip flexibility where back straight like below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4XOe1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72rdGbrOmO0&amp;amp;t=1m8s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdNQ51TJPZw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this example&lt;/a&gt; does not target the hips that much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RakPL.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the squatter targets more the lower back, quads and some people call this &lt;em&gt;&quot;bad form&quot;&lt;/em&gt; but I see it as a form that will have extra stress on back and abs so you need to be very careful. If your goal is to get into horizontal split, you should try to sumo-squat more like the first squatter. The second activates far more the lower quads as you can see from the second picture. Wrong squat form will only make you frustrated so choose carefully, bad form caused by inflexibility for example in hips require time and patience -- to improve your active range of motion use variety of training: very light weight to get your range of motion to the limit and heavier weights to strengthen the muscles. My recommendation is to combine both trainings so you get support muscles at the same time as better range of motion. This will ensure that you avoid accidents caused by weak muscles and insane static range of motion. Support muscles are important part of healthy training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the below classification, the sumo squat can be done in multiple ways. Active stretching is where you hold the position 10-15 seconds. I cannot understand how the classification really works so I won't comment on it more. I used the word &lt;em&gt;&quot;active&quot;&lt;/em&gt; earlier in the context of &lt;em&gt;&quot;range of motion&quot;&lt;/em&gt; by which I did not refer to the &lt;em&gt;&quot;active stretching&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. I understand active so that you hold your position short time like 1-4 seconds while the word below in the context of &lt;em&gt;&quot;stretching&quot;&lt;/em&gt; refers to longer time like 15 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ballistic stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dynamic stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;active stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;passive (or relaxed) stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;static stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;isometric stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;PNF stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;by this &lt;a href=&quot;http://people.bath.ac.uk/masrjb/Stretch/stretching_4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps relevant interests&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/1284/how-do-i-increase-flexibility-to-achieve-a-full-split&quot;&gt;How do I increase flexibility to achieve a full split?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/93/good-exercises-for-higher-side-kicks&quot;&gt;Good exercises for higher side kicks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/102/exercises-to-improve-balance-when-kicking&quot;&gt;Exercises to improve balance when kicking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12999/safe-training-regime-to-work-towards-center-and-front-splits&quot;&gt;Safe training regime to work towards center and front splits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:49:44.007" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T23:17:23.357" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2015-03-25T15:09:54.300" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2015-03-25T16:57:00.670" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been on steroids for a month now.  I go to the gym 2 days a week for a few hours. It's the only time I have as I work long hours.  I have been seeing a real change. I am in the Engineering side of work and work seems to exercise my muscles daily.  I don't think the steroids would work just sitting being lazy.  It's not that simple. If it was, I wouldn't see anyone going to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15268" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-03-25T17:21:49.437" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T17:21:49.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24069" CreationDate="2015-03-25T21:59:37.757" Score="2" ViewCount="881" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm in the first week of c25k and just finished my second run/walk, but even in the first week I had to skip one of the running periods. My ankles and the front of my shins were so fatigued that my feet weren't lifting. What exactly can I do if I can't even do the first week of c25k? Should I just do the first week over until I can get all the running periods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's maybe important to note that I'm doing this concurrently with SL 5x5 which I've been doing for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't help but wonder if the lifting caused this. The first time I ran was after a day off, but today I ran after lifting just yesterday (squat 3 sets of 5 @ 250lb and DL 1 set of 5 @ 275lb). I don't remember my ankle being as tired last time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh 200 and an 5'9 with a bf% of around 25.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T12:13:44.707" Title="Ankle tiredness" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18862" CreationDate="2015-03-26T07:51:40.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have any protein intake, that protein will be used to repair and over-compensate the microdamaged muscle tissue. More protein will make this response stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you literally don't have any protein intake, you will have many different medical issues, one of them being that you are unable to repair this damage, meaning you will be catabolic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T07:51:40.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24070" CreationDate="2015-03-26T12:04:17.147" Score="2" ViewCount="1607" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a good activity tracker that I can use to measure how much calories I've used up while skating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitbit.com/uk/chargehr#i.1m8zv96ph1dahu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitbit Charge HR&lt;/a&gt; seems very promising, it's cheap (relatively), has a heart monitor built in, tracks calories spent (based on heart rate I assume) but it looks like it's going great lengths to measure your &quot;step&quot; for runners and I can't find any info on if it would work for skating and/or cycling. I don't want to spend £120 on it to find out it isn't suitable for skating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any devices that can measure how much work I've done, in terms of calories spent? It doesn't have to be very accurate... but closer the better..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background info:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to gain weight (and failing since forever). I think it has to do with the fact that I don't quite like eating and will sulk off whenever I can, combined with high metabolism + high activity. I've decided this year is the year that I will finally give it my best shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I have found that works for me is to set a calorie goal and eat up to that goal every day (before giving up on food) and even though I have to force myself to hit the goal, it's working so far and maybe it will even become easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love skating, and hence, skate a lot. going by my app, an average of 20 miles on the weekends and avg. of 3 miles a day on weekdays. I would like to find out how much calories I've spent. Since I don't know at the moment, I have cut down on skating quite a lot, only skate on the weekends and maybe not more than 10-12 miles. But this makes me unhappy and hate the whole weight gain process more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are varying periods of sprinting, coasting, fast pace, slow pace and medium pace. So, I'm looking for an activity tracker that I can use to approximately measure how much calories I've spent so I know how much to eat that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13561" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-31T13:29:54.870" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T09:03:27.417" Title="Is there a good activity tracker, in terms of calories spent, for skating and cycling?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;fitbit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24064" CreationDate="2015-03-26T12:25:22.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may depend on the version you looked up, but the last time I did it, it &lt;a href=&quot;http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/running/training/couch-to-5k-running-plan2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;suggested repeating weeks that I had difficulty with&lt;/a&gt;. I had a few times where that was the case, sometimes because of general fatigue, sometimes because I hadn't gotten enough to eat that day, sometimes due to soreness. I also learned the hard way that having a beer before going running was a bad idea, at least for me. All of my &amp;quot;get up and go&amp;quot; tends to get up an go away when I do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't run if it's causing you pain, and pay attention if fatigue means your form is getting back (having your ankle flop because it's tired can lead to much worse injuries. I do recommend that, on days when you're not up for running, substitute walking over some varied terrain. It avoids skipped days where you do nothing, and it will help stretch out sore and tired muscles in a way that doesn't tend to put additional strain on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the question of how to combine Stronglifts and C25k has been addressed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4758/how-can-i-train-for-a-5k-while-strength-training-with-stronglifts-5x5-and-minimi?rq=1&quot;&gt;How can I train for a 5K while strength training with StrongLifts 5x5 and minimizing detrimental effects on either?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T12:13:44.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24068" CreationDate="2015-03-26T12:42:29.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems [1] that the fitbit charge hr does base it's calorie consumptions figure on heart rate. So I guess it will work in your case as well. I would send an email to them and ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding metabolism, there have actually been studies made on peoples perceived metabolism and eating habits, the result was that thin people over-estimate their eating and their metabolism, while fat people do the opposite. So basically, thin people have to eat more and fat people need to eat less :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of this, nature also works against you, if you're naturally thin, eating more will in fact increase your unconscious activily level, for some people, this effect is very noticable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you I would set an ambitious calorie goal, make sure you eat at least 500 kcal more than you need to, to make sure you're not burning too many of those precious calories. Eat more food with high calorie density, and food with combinations of carbs and fat. Some people find drinking their calories easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your tracker and dashboard show an estimated number of calories burned based on your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), which we calculate using the height, weight, age, and gender information that you provided when you set up your Fitbit account. If your tracker measures heart rate, the calorie burn estimate also takes heart rate into account. Note that calorie tracking for the following day begins at midnight and incorporates the calories you burn while sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T12:42:29.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22194" CreationDate="2015-03-26T13:13:19.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would question the fact that your Max HR is at 187bpm.&#xA;The maximum HR is highly individual and independent of your training level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially your statement that you were able to hold a conversation for two minutes while running at 183bpm suggests that your max HR is much higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotal evidence: my own max HR is at least 20 bpm higher than the calculated value for my age. According to most of the formulae my max HR should be 177bpm, but I (repeatedly) measured values around 197bpm, and I am still alive (and feeling well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my recent training runs was an hour at an average 177bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So get your max HR properly tested (I never did) or just listen to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answers regarding interval training and HR zones are all correct. But they are all assuming you know your true max HR as a reference point. Which you apparently don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15271" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-26T14:28:11.453" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T14:28:11.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-26T15:09:20.060" Score="2" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of upper body weight lifting and strengthening exercises can I resume if I pulled my groin 1 1/2 weeks ago? I think it is about a grade 1 groin pull, maybe 1.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15273" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T15:44:10.220" Title="Upper body workout following a groin pull" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24072" CreationDate="2015-03-26T15:44:10.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I yanked an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adductor_muscles_of_the_hip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adductor&lt;/a&gt; the other day. Just speaking from my own experience, it played out a little like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifting was okay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Overhead pressing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bench pressing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWPullup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pullups&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWTriDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dips&lt;/a&gt; were all fine. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squatting I waited about a week, then started with ramping sets (empty bar, 50% of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-repetition_maximum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1RM&lt;/a&gt;, 60% of 1RM, I think I maxed around 75% of 1RM. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic lifts I waited on until my squat was back to normal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was healed up fully in about two weeks. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general I'd just say that anything where you need a wide stance is going to be problematic and aggravating. Where your knees are relatively close together and you're not engaging your hip adductors as much, you should be okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T15:44:10.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24076" CreationDate="2015-03-26T17:38:30.720" Score="2" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I notice that when I plank, I can do a few different things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, when I plank my elbows are together and slightly in front of my shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could choose to strongly engage my core (abs), and also engage  what I will refer to as my &quot;upper glutes&quot; not sure if that makes sense or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrarily, what I was doing yesterday was really focusing on contracting my glutes (entire). This activated a lot of muscles in the backs of my upper legs aswell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which form of the exercise is the proper one? I feel more burn in my abs when doing the second one, and I find it harder to contract my abs as much when doing the second option, perhaps though the abs are getting worked just as hard, I just don't notice it as much because I'm focused on the other sensation aswell&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T02:57:33.373" Title="how much should I be engaging my glutes during a plank?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24075" CreationDate="2015-03-26T17:55:29.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For planks and bridges, I try to squeeze my butt really tight and get prepared for a sucker punch to the stomach. Your &quot;core&quot; is everything south of your pecs to north of your knees. I've always found &quot;core&quot; to be a silly term, but it does make people think of the oft forgotten muscles that we're talking about here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That position, where you are literally stiff as a board, is the same you will generally want to hold in a pushup, at the top of a deadlift, and numerous other positions requiring a tight mid section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T17:55:29.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24079" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-26T22:56:37.067" Score="0" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking into reducing calorie intake for cutting while maintaining the feeling of satiety. How can one identify foods that are filling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NutritionData.Self.com has a useful &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/soups-sauces-and-gravies/10066/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Fullness factor&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, but I don't see a way to sort by that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/avHUq.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas or other web sites that may provide this data?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T00:14:58.583" Title="Identifying filling foods for cutting / fat loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24079" CreationDate="2015-03-26T23:35:01.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I can't provide you with a sortable &quot;fullness factor&quot; database - here's exactly how I would get a list of the foods you're looking for...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you need a sortable list - and you can download the USDA nutrient database in excel here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=23634&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=23634&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can begin with sorting all the foods ascending by calories - and you'll quickly realize you can chew through pound after pound of different vegetables &amp;amp; fruits every day (while easily staying well within your calorie limits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, since fiber (&lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/130/2/272S.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/130/2/272S.short&lt;/a&gt;) and proteins (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07315724.2004.10719381#.VRSVZ_nF98M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07315724.2004.10719381#.VRSVZ_nF98M&lt;/a&gt;) have been proven to increase satiety...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try sorting by fiber or protein columns or even make a calculated column, like fiber/calories or protein/calories and sort by those columns - to come up with a list of &quot;highly-filling foods&quot; (that only bring a few calories to the table).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T23:35:01.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24079" CreationDate="2015-03-26T23:50:37.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turns out that NutritionData does have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/nutritional-target-map-search&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;search by fullness factor&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wIsBi.png&quot; alt=&quot;NutritionData fullness&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/15701207_A_Satiety_Index_of_common_foods&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1995 study shows the satiety index of common foods&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitness coach Jeremy Ethier has a video that talks about the satiety index and lists some foods &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7seSnZ1k1A&amp;amp;t=140s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at 2:20&lt;/a&gt;: popcorn, porridge, fish, potatoes, oranges &amp;amp; apples are more satiating than other foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="5296" LastEditDate="2021-01-04T00:14:58.583" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T00:14:58.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24053" CreationDate="2015-03-27T08:53:41.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on how long you have been on that program really, and how long you have been exercising and dieting in general. That looks like a decent diet, and with a high-intensity form of exercise (lifting weights) 5 days a week your body composition (how much muscle and fat you carry) should improve quite quickly even on a &quot;bulk&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe up the intensity even more with the weights and keep going with the program for a few more weeks. It's important to realise that gaining muscle while burning fat simultaneously is a slow and difficult process - so perhaps you can focus on this program to &quot;bulk&quot; and then &quot;cut&quot; afterwards for a certain time period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to add my own $0.02, I personally would only have the oats for breakfast and cut out the fruits, because corn has an extremely high glycemic index, around 74-82 depending on the cereal (simply put, glycemic index dictates how much a food stimulates an insulin response). I'm also a bit uncomfortable with fructose - it's an even sweeter form of sugar. Although the vitamin C content of some fruits somewhat justifies keeping them in your diet if you'd prefer that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15281" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T08:53:41.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18862" CreationDate="2015-03-27T08:56:17.793" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If u don't eat enough protein then muscles will surely take more time to recover than usual and the body will start burning your fat if u also don't take enough carbs ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But over a period of time the body will learn how to manage and it searches for protein which is available in the spinal fluid very rich in protein located in d disc separating the spine ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a very special case if u don't have a healthy diet as well as a proper workout routine...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15282" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T08:56:17.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18500" CreationDate="2015-03-27T09:09:28.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;By definition an explosive exercise has to be explosive. How explosive is it if you do for over a dozen reps? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The value in and whole point of explosive exercises comes from the dynamic effort.&lt;/strong&gt; By going for more reps you potentially decrease the efficacy of the exercise where explosiveness is concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going for more reps while retaining some explosive factor will help your strength endurance for sure. It's a different energy system altogether from plyometrics and endurance, and will compliment both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15281" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T09:09:28.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18500" CreationDate="2015-03-27T09:40:06.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;By changing an exercise from doing regular push ups to doing clapping push ups, what happens is that you activate your fast twitch motor fibers. So what makes you stronger faster, by doing explosive training, is the fact that you are training the muscle fibers which are more capable of hypertrophy and strength increase. By doing regular medium speed body building reps you utilize a combination of fast- and slow-twitch fibers, but leaning more towards the slow ones. Fast-twitch fibers only get activated at maximal effort, such as during 1RM lifting, or when moving a sub1RM weight as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do 5 reps per set that way, you stimulate myofibrillar hypertrophy of the fast-twitch fibers. But the neat thing is that, if you do it the same way, but increase the number of reps, you enter the realm of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. The difference is that, due to the higher effort, fast-twitch fibers are selectively recruited and trained, which leads to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and increased endurance of the fast-twitch fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that most people get confused about is how to activate different types of fibers, and it has profound effects on training. Everyone knows that lifting 100% of your 1RM activates fast-twitch, but the notion that you can activate fast-twitch fibers seems to get lost once the weight goes down. There are two parameters that affect which type of fiber you activate: the % of 1RM and the speed of execution. As the weight is lowered, the speed of execution has to be higher in order to stimulate fast-twitch. This is the reason why body-weight exercises, despite being low weight, can stimulate fast-twitch fibers and large gains in strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in order for a muscel fiber to hypertrophy, it must fatigue. Bu doing low-weight training, you can never fatigue the fiber enough in the myofibrillar 3-6 rep range. In essence, doing low-weight exercises, you can only trigger sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. By alternating these two methods you can maximally stimulate the fast twitch muscle fibers, and as such achieve the fastest and greatest increase in strength and explosiveness. It also seems as if sarcoplasmic hypertrophy aids in subsequent myofibrillar hypertrophy by improving the intracellular milieu (see Supertraining by Mel Siff)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing... When doing an explosive exercise, you start of by utilizing the biggest and most fast-twitch motor units. Since they cannot sustain prolonged contraction (they get fatigued, which again, is stimulus for adaptation), the second most fast-twitch motor units take over. So what happens when you are doing high rep explosive training is that you train your fibers from fast to slow, yielding a higher stimulus for growth and strength increase. Doing classical body building, you start of by utilizing the medium size motor units, and once they get fatigued, the faster twitch fibers activate to overcome the weight; so you train, in essence, bottom-up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2015-03-27T09:45:34.143" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T09:45:34.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-27T13:12:19.630" Score="3" ViewCount="3009" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fairly persistent problem with &quot;sloshing&quot; sounds when running. Specifically, on the downbeat of each step, I get this feeling and sound like there's fluid being dropped suddenly. It's annoying, and eventually starts to interfere with my running since my stomach starts cramping and I start feeling like I need to find a bathroom (although, in actuality, there often is nothing to discharge). Poking around on the internet, the general consensus is that it's a factor of too much fluid in the stomach, and the way to solve it is to drink less when running. However, a) that doesn't do much good if it starts after I've been running for several minutes and b) it doesn't feel like it's at stomach level, but lower down on the body and more toward the back. It doesn't always happen, although I've found that it's a bit more common at times when I'm having one of my days-long borborygmus incidents (and yes, I've seen a doctor on that, and they basically shrugged and said it didn't seem harmful). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping my core tensed seems to help, oddly enough, but that's tiring to do for several minutes at a time. Other than trying to drink less fluids during the day (I'll often down a fair amount during the day, although I try to avoid drinking too close to running for fear of cramps), is there anything I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T16:35:32.913" Title="How can I fix sloshing while running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7944" CreationDate="2015-03-27T15:15:57.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would like to add the &quot;glide&quot; phase is the most misunderstood portion for the stroke. No matter what type of swimming learning / teaching you follow there should be a constant movement on the front end of the stroke. What appears to be gliding is simply a swimmer that has gotten very good at full extension with a seamless transition to a catch and then either pull or push depending on what you believe. If done properly its really a push but a great majority will call it a pull. Never focus on pause or glide, focus on the feeling of full extension which will feel like a slight pause as the hand moves forward, shoulders and body rotates to achieve full extension then immediate catch propel. And please dont think about the rotation, it should be seamless, not thought about during the stroke and simply executed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15286" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T15:15:57.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24098" CreationDate="2015-03-27T16:06:44.563" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was a great swimmer (2k), cyclist (100+ milers) okish runner. (10k max)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the brain tumor like diagnosis and hospitalization, things went cold. Started running again in a few months and &lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/nike+-running/id387771637?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nike+ Running App&lt;/a&gt; recommended the advanced program for my first ever 5k race. (That was top on my bucket list)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I loved the program, it's all about distance, so just for a 5k race the &quot;advanced&quot; program had me run 16K! on one of the days!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signed up for a 10k next, got a bicycle and there's a swimming pool nearby. Next on my bucket list is a triathlon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately for the 10k one week I ran a lot (Advanced program has you running 5-6 times per week), on the ONE rest day I had I bloody cycled. Kinda really injured my quads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I figured I need to meld my swimming and cycling somehow without injuring myself, and &lt;strong&gt;that is my question&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I somehow cycle and swim occasionally when I run about 4/5/6 times a week and not injure myself?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replacing the run for cycling on any day isn't too good right? Since &lt;strong&gt;the goal&lt;/strong&gt; is to run a 10k race now. Is there a way to balance them without compromising on the running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1470" LastActivityDate="2015-03-29T14:35:45.840" Title="cycle or swim without injury while training hard for a race" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24096" CreationDate="2015-03-27T17:22:57.690" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would presume that you are falling into the same trap that many recreational runners and triathletes fall into, in that you are going too hard on your easy days, and not hard enough on your hard days. So, you're in a perpetual state of &quot;almost&quot; recovered, and then busted out a cycle day that thrashed you for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like your advanced couch to 5k, there are many (quite a few of them free) training plans for triathlons. Perfectly fine to even stack multiple workouts in a day, as long as you are paying attention and really sticking to the easy/medium/hard levels for workouts. That is the biggest key, because the key to endurance sports is being able to get up every day and get the work in. Does no good to put in three killer days and then need 5 days of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that the beginner programs on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/trainingplans-list.asp&quot;&gt;Beginner Triathlete&lt;/a&gt; are very well put together and have different emphases if you are a good runner already, or cyclist, etc. In addition they have mentor groups, some of them affiliated to certain plans that give you a group to talk with and a couple of experienced triathletes as mentors/sounding boards. Really a great resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T17:22:57.690" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18500" CreationDate="2015-03-28T03:19:11.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How an exercise affects you depends on who you are. Doing explosive exercises for high reps might improve muscle endurance for one person while building muscle mass in another. It depends on how those people structure their training and where their physical attributes are in relation to the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking generally, doing high reps of explosive exercises tends to make the exercise less explosive. Then it starts working other attributes like muscle endurance, cardio, strength, and hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-03-28T03:19:11.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-28T07:50:11.803" Score="2" ViewCount="2442" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am confused about my heart rate and the sensation I have when exercising. I have been exercising for one year and 4 months, I am 27 seven years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing mainly cardio, but three months ago I started to do crossfit. I always use a heart rate monitor when exercising. My resting heart rate is close to 45 (according to the hr monitor, and measure by myself is below 48). My confusion comes from this: &lt;strong&gt;when I do crossfit, I get my heart rate up to 178 and then I feel a very hard breathing. But when running, I get my heart rate up to 175-180 for 25 min and my breathing is heavy, but not even close to what I feel like when I do crossfit&lt;/strong&gt;. Actually, I start to feel that very hard breathing only if my heart rate gets close to 190 (when running intervals). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to do measures by myself, and they are close to the previous I mention (except for running intervals, its harder to measure by myself), so it seems that the monitor is working ok(or at least not bad). Does any one have an idea of what is going on? I just want to understand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15291" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-03-28T19:55:36.753" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T21:03:25.730" Title="Heart rate in crossfit and running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24100" CreationDate="2015-03-28T15:42:26.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your maximum heart rate depends considerably on the activity. I haven't done crossfit before, but certainly you're involving more muscle groups than running. Biking and running have different HR zones because of weight-bearing vs. sitting. I suspect your HR zones for Crossfit and running are simply different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're working hard with both workouts. That's the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, while I use a HR band, I also go by &quot;perceived effort&quot;. The HR zones help me stay in the zones I want, but if I'm breathing hard and sweating a lot, I know I'm getting a good workout regardless of the HR reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10707" LastActivityDate="2015-03-28T15:42:26.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24096" CreationDate="2015-03-29T11:26:48.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a coach or join a team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I can recommend the Couch to 5k/10k, it's harder for me to do the same for a Couch-to-Triathlon scheme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Triathlon is not just Swim/Bike/Run - There is Technics involved, transistions to master and flows to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to gradually increase your abilities in 3 (three) different type of sports, which each has it's own unique issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most dangerous thing I can think of is that you will simply hurt yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free/Handed out Triathlon plans, are only a skeleton, if it's not followed by a trainer/coach, can lead to injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" LastEditorUserId="1405" LastEditDate="2015-03-29T14:35:45.840" LastActivityDate="2015-03-29T14:35:45.840" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9880" CreationDate="2015-03-29T19:33:25.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I first got my fitbit it tracked well on my elliptical and I could see the same miles on my machine as my fit bit and it showed pretty close to active minutes as I went on machine when I got off! Now less than a month of owning it seems it won't track my minutes or miles when on my elliptical we have tried everything Very disappointed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15300" LastActivityDate="2015-03-29T19:33:25.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2015-03-30T04:13:11.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need a full body deep tissue massage. Then purchase a deep tissue foam roller. To me it sounds like your leg muscles have shortened and are kind of twisted up. This can be caused by strains, poor posture, or by simply not doing the exercise correctly.  Once you've gotten a massage and legs are feeling back to normal, you need to start with light weights, be performing 10-15 reps, and just be focusing on perfecting your form.  Then, you can gradually move into heavier weights and lower reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15304" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T12:16:58.393" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T12:16:58.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-30T12:15:50.140" Score="1" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to overcome my &quot;skinny-fat&quot; body. I am already working-out passionately but I want to hear advises from you guys about my workout routines. I have listed 2 different routines that I normally do, I'm currently doing routine 1. However, I think it is too complicated. Should I give up on routine 1 and start doing routine 2? Do you think either of them are ideal for me? Can you revise those workout routines for me? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body detail (In-Body measurement)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMR: 1631 kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI: 23.7 kg/m2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: 177 CM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight: 74.4 KG&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total body water (TBW): 40.9&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout routines (2 variations)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Routine 1 (I've been doing it for 3 weeks)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday (Compound workout day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat Bench presses 8 reps x 4 sets (I usually do extras)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machine squats 10 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday (Upperbody day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline bench press 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machine shoulder press 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell rows 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Barbell Bicep curls 10 reps x 3 sets &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skull crushers or dips 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday (rest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday (Compound workout day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat Bench presses 8 reps x 4 sets (I usually do extras)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machine squats 10 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Barbell Bicep curls 10 reps x 3 sets &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday (leg day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curls 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curls 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raises 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Calf Raises 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Routine 2&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday (Upperbody day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat Bench presses 8 reps x 4 sets (I usually do extras)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline bench press 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machine shoulder press 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell rows 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Barbell Bicep curls 10 reps x 3 sets &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skull crushers or dips 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday (leg day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machine squats 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curls 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curls 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raises 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Calf Raises 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday (Rest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday (Upperbody day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat Bench presses 8 reps x 4 sets (I usually do extras)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline bench press 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machine shoulder press 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell rows 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Barbell Bicep curls 10 reps x 3 sets &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skull crushers or dips 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday (leg day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smith machine squats 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curls 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curls 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raises 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Calf Raises 10 reps x 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9930" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T02:55:17.713" Title="Please revise my workout routine according to my body detail" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-30T19:41:12.547" Score="-1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a person gets fatter, their gut becomes round and bloated. For example, this man:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cfs7.blog.daum.net/image/22/blog/2007/10/16/14/58/471453134fcb8&amp;amp;filename=giant_gut.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://cfs7.blog.daum.net/image/22/blog/2007/10/16/14/58/471453134fcb8&amp;amp;filename=giant_gut.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's inside of the belly? A layer of fat just beneath the skin can't be entirely responsible for all of it. Is it all undigested food? large intestine? small intestine? Are his organs bigger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15312" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T21:56:32.857" Title="What's inside a giant gut?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-03-31T13:29:37.800" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24094" CreationDate="2015-03-30T20:10:12.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When hydrating, do so in small amounts over long period of time rather than drinking a whole glass/cup/bottle at once&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat meals 3-4 hours or more before running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Experiment with what you're eating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try eating something like bread before you run (not a lot, see point 2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T20:10:12.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24114" CreationDate="2015-03-30T21:56:32.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/CRyT6Z0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://i.imgur.com/CRyT6Z0.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you seen this picture? I think it helps to answer your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried looking for a good one similar to this but side view but could not find such a picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gauging from that picture it seems the layer of fat is quite a significant portion of the lateral size and I believe if there were a side view it would be even more significant. However it also appears that the internal organs are also a bit larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T21:56:32.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24117" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24124" CreationDate="2015-03-30T22:04:45.623" Score="3" ViewCount="9314" Body="&lt;p&gt;So lately I have been commuting to work in my manual transmission car for 1.5 hours each way (yes I know but it's only for a year long placement) and I notice that it is a lot more effort for my left leg as compared to my right leg because of the need to always be pushing the clutch down all the way, especially in stop/start traffic jams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My left leg is my non dominant leg (which I recall is usually the stronger one as it is the plant leg) so I want to know if muscle imbalance could become an issue for me in my legs and what I can do (preferably while driving) to keep the muscles balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T11:21:02.163" Title="How to maintain evenness of muscles while driving manual car" Tags="&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19665" CreationDate="2015-03-30T22:30:14.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound like you have IT band syndrome. In addition to stretching as per Juha Untinen's answer, to prevent future IT band injuries, I strongly suggest doing these things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Clamshells&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lie on your side as shown in the picture and move the top knee up and down. One side will be weaker than the other. Do 3 sets of 10 each on the weaker side. It is important that your top knee, when resting on the other knee, is just a little bit farther forward and. Make sure you are firing only your gluteus medius when you raise and lower your leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bLuzz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Clamshell image&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Side shuffle with resistance band&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put a resistance band at the bottom of your legs and bend your legs a bit. Shuffle left for a bit (maybe 15 feet) and come back, then rest. Do this two or three times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NEIN9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Side shuffle with resistance band image&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rolling&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a foam roller, roll over your IT band from the knee to your hip. Try not to roll directly on your IT band - instead try to get just to the side. Rolling on other muscles is good as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t6S5p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rolling out IT band&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Graston&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the money, the Graston technique is a type of treatment performed by a chiropractor in which a piece of metal is scraped along the tendon, which breaks down scar tissue and fascial restrictions. It often leaves a bruise. Graston is very effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EjEIp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Graston technique picture&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T22:30:14.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-31T01:07:43.183" Score="2" ViewCount="11956" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing 400 push ups every other day.  I do 40 at a time, but I do them over an 8-10 hour period.  Am I really benefitting from this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15316" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T22:35:59.513" Title="Doing push ups over a 8-10 hour period" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24132" CreationDate="2015-03-31T06:15:39.950" Score="7" ViewCount="10231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to gym for more than 10 years (I far away from being professional though). Recently (about 0.5 - 1 year) I've started noticing, that often after gym I can't fall asleep. Even if I really want to, even if I feel really tired and sleepy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the articles I read are talking about working out just before going to bed, but in my case it is not like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example yesterday I had a &quot;gym day&quot; after couple of weeks vacation. I went there at 5 p.m. and finished already at about 5.40 p.m. It wasn't too extensive or hard. After workout I drank a gainer and ate a dinner after couple of hours (at about 7.30 p.m.). At about 9 p.m. I drank a tea with some cake :$ (when I don't go to the gym and drink tea in the evening it does not affect me). And at 10:30 I have turned the lights of in my bedroom. I could't fall asleep until about 1 a.m. and after it was not quite clear if I was sleeping or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt it is something to do with my nervous system, but I am not sure how to deal with this problem. Any advice or opinion is greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update after 8 months:&lt;/strong&gt; an amazing thing I've discovered for myself after consulting with my doctor is simple &lt;strong&gt;Magnesium&lt;/strong&gt; - helps to calm down/relax and fall asleep. Also has some other valuable characteristics for your muscles. Google, read, check with your doctor and try it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15317" LastEditorUserId="15317" LastEditDate="2016-01-25T14:33:45.053" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T10:41:12.927" Title="Can't sleep at night after workout" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24119" CreationDate="2015-03-31T07:46:49.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Define benefit. If you want to do a lot of pushups, then obviously, you're doing the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you're trying to build an overall strong body, and pushups are the only thing you do, then no. In fact, if you don't compensate by at least working your upper back, then you will absolutely not benefit. You'll be contributing to muscular imbalances, and shoulders being pulled forward giving you a hollow chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should get a proper workout program. Pushups should be &lt;em&gt;part&lt;/em&gt; of it. Not &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T07:46:49.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24119" CreationDate="2015-03-31T10:25:30.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are maintaining yourself in sufficient shape to do 400 pushups over the course of a day, and doing 40 at a time really isn't shabby either, Doing them in several phases over the day also means that you're training your body to be ready at all times, and to be functioning under different conditions including how recently you've eaten and what activity you've been up to lately. The one big catch you'll be facing is that, if it's become routine, you may not be getting any better. If those last few pushups aren't something you have to work at, if you just pump them out with nary a sweat, short breath, or tired arms, you're maintaining yourself at that level. Which, as I said before, isn't shabby, but it's also not continuously improving yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T10:25:30.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24117" CreationDate="2015-03-31T10:33:56.540" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider what sort of exercise you're doing by using the car. Unless you have a considerably different car than usual, it's a combination of pushing at relatively low intensity and maintaining your leg at a fully extended or mostly extended position (I personally found that, more often than not, holding the leg hovering in readiness was as much a part of the strain than not, but that's highly dependent on whether you rest the feet you're not using on the floor or on the side). So, what exercises fit that? I would personally go for one-legged leg presses if you have weight machines, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/pistol-perfect-one-legged-squats-and-beyond.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one-leg squats&lt;/a&gt; if you're doing bodyweight. Do them on both sides to exhaustion. There probably will be some small difference between the legs, but not much. If you want to train for having your legs held in wait to shift, standing on one leg with one leg pulled up using your leg muscles will be your exercise. Train both sides there too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, I don't think you're going to see any real muscular imbalance from this. There isn't really enough exercise to count, even with an hour and a half of commuting, but these are things you can do to at least make yourself feel better about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T10:33:56.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24068" CreationDate="2015-03-31T11:03:35.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're primarily looking at calories spent, I'd suggest simply buying a chest strap based monitor. As they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;less likely to be broken during a fall, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start at £15, and the likes of the Runtastic combo are available for around £35&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have the advantage of being able to be paired with gym equipment as well as a phone / tablet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;can be paired with multiple App's.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one is important as the metabolic equations a particular app implements can give widely differing energy expenditure figures, for the same session. I've found the Runtastic figures to be roughly half those shown on Endomondo, so you may need to experiment to find an app that has an appropriate metabolic equation for yourself, and your activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take it you're aware that the step counting / pedometer functionality of the Fitbit won't be a lot of use in either your Cycling or Skating sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your intention is weight gain I'd suggest you also start a food diary / use the likes of MyFitnessPal, as you'll need to know how many calories are going in, as well as being spent. Make sure you keep it accurately for a period, as the odd skipped meal due to a hectic lifestyle, can leave a deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-03-31T13:39:28.143" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T13:39:28.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24128" CreationDate="2015-03-31T12:55:21.997" Score="-2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;im 24 and 180cm height and about 95kg weight. i am a programmer and as you know its a job that needs to think and its a mind activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i have a good diet and if i follow the orders of the diet it helps me lose weight very well but there is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;most of the time when im working if i feel a little hungry i cant concentrate very well. and its like a nerve attack that i have to eat something. something with sugar or carbohydrate in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as i have lots of activities in my job it doesnt let me have body activity. sometimes i walk for an hour but it cant be always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can you give me suggestions that help me to be in good shape and have no problem with my job activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thank you for helping&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15319" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T13:23:44.230" Title="a good diet for a person with high mind activity?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2015-04-01T02:32:52.680" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19755" CreationDate="2015-03-31T13:08:59.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;i think your answer can be yes and can be no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i remember on my very young days, i was playing basketball, after just a year my knees started tohurt very bad and made me to start physiotrapy. my overweigh was less than ten but as basketbal needed jumping very high and same activities it made my needs hur very bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;running for a 148k person cant be first option. even walking in bad conditions makes you legs hurt.&#xA;your best option is just start walking but on flat ground. walking alot on unflat ground like mountain,ramp, uphills will certainly hurt your legs. even bycicle riding will hurt you legs in these places. after losing you weight more and you body was ready for more activity you can find a health and diet adviser and take good movements from him and maybe you can start slow running.&#xA;remember a good diet and body activity should be together. one of them with weak activity can result even worse weight too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15319" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T13:08:59.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24126" CreationDate="2015-03-31T13:23:44.230" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should give a keto diet a try, I used to eat low carb a while ago while losing weight and I felt like even if I got hungry, I didn't get worn out mentally like you often do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could be that your blood glucose levels don't fluctuate as wildly on a keto diet, but that's entirely speculative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give it a week, the first days you'll feel like you can't focus at all, but you'll feel normal again in day 3-5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T13:23:44.230" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24057" CreationDate="2015-03-31T13:40:09.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just wanna add something (i might be wrong, a doctor confirmation would be appreciated) but 98% of mass gainers use high in sugar and high IG carbs as a calorie source. Aka maltodextrine or fructose etc. A high dose of sugar (not carbs, &gt;sugar&amp;lt;) in the very long term can give you diabetes. So if you're like me and need a shitload of calories to pack on mass and use gainer everyday , prefer gainers that don't have maltodextrine but use things like oats instead (low IG and low sugar). Plus they taste better in general. I can't give you a link to good gainers I guess but search a website with bulk in the name you might be interested :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15320" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T13:40:09.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19351" CreationDate="2015-03-31T14:03:42.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To give some examples of body building bodies without steroids I would recommend the field of natural body building.&#xA;You can't always prove, that none of these uses steroids (see nearly any other pro sport), but it's a start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the Homepage of the swiss Federation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snbf.ch/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.snbf.ch/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or here an english page: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturalbodybuilding.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.naturalbodybuilding.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast to the picture of Zyzz, most of the pictures are from competitions and therefore the athletes are &quot;painted&quot;. Also, as far as I can see, these are season pictures, while off season they do not have their bodies likewise defined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T14:03:42.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24120" CreationDate="2015-03-31T14:59:38.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't working-out right before trying to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people need a couple of hours to cool-down after exerting themselves before they'll be ready to sleep. In your case, it appears that has been fulfilled - 5:45 to 10:30 should be plenty of time for your body to ramp-down and be ready for sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless, of course, you consumed a stimulant like caffeine. Depending on what type of tea, how much you drank, and what your caffeine tolerance is, that's a much more likely candidate than the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skip the tea/coffee/soda in the evening. Frankly, you can probably get rid of it altogether and you might feel better. (After the withdrawal symptoms pass that is...) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T14:59:38.233" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-31T17:09:05.067" Score="-2" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not usually able to look at my phone when I'm working out so I was wondering if there is a heart rate monitor, or heart rate monitor and app combination, that will let me know if I exceed a heart rate I designate in real time by vibrating or emitting a sound notification. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10426" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T13:48:31.013" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T13:48:31.013" Title="Is there a free heart rate monitor for iPhone 5 that will notify me if I exceed a specific heart rate?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24134" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-31T17:18:44.837" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I haven't lifted weights in a while, I often get nauseous during my workout, usually causing me to not finish it. I read that eating properly before going to the gym may help avoid this. Has anyone found this to be helpful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which snacks or meals have helped you and how long before exercising did you consume them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10426" LastEditorUserId="10426" LastEditDate="2015-04-01T12:56:03.543" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T01:55:54.050" Title="What's a good snack or meal to have before weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24133" CreationDate="2015-03-31T17:48:20.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many, simply Google: &lt;strong&gt;Heart Rate Zone alarm&lt;/strong&gt;  or alternitively &lt;strong&gt;Cardio Trainer&lt;/strong&gt; and you'll get the likes of &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.angel.heartmonitorfree.activities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cardio Trainer&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.hoelting.athletegrip.heartline&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Heart Rate and Pulse Monitor&lt;/a&gt;. Oh, you haven't said which flavour of device / phone, you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-03-31T17:48:20.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18448" CreationDate="2015-04-01T14:21:03.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not an answer to your question, but I have something useful to say for your situation, and it is too long for a comment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because of joint issues I've had to stop hard weight training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you probably know, resistance training is your Nr. 1 ally against age-related sarcopenia. I suggest you don't give up in weight training, which of course you haven't done yet (hence the adjective &lt;em&gt;strong&lt;/em&gt; in your sentence). But for other readers in your situation, I would like to suggest the following tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work out twice a week at most&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forget about working out on a M,X,F or similar schedule. Over the age of 50 you can build muscle but the optimum frequency is TWICE A WEEK (Stadler, Stubbs, and Vukovich 1997; Westcott and Guy 1996; Westcott et al. 2009)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ignore all bodybuilding routines you read about&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are meant for much younger people, and most times they are designed with the aim of exhausting them and make them feel the need to buy supplements. When applied to older people they are a sure recipe for injuries. This does not mean that you cannot build muscle any more: every day a lot of people in their 70s and beyond recover from broken bones and torn tendon surgeries. In those cases, their bodies have the ability of putting on some bone and muscle mass. It is obvious that our bodies retain a certain ability to get stronger at advanced ages, but the workout patterns must change in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go easy on your joints by reducing weight but lower the execution speed so that you still target your soft tissues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aged cartilage in your joints can be damaged by using too much weight. By lowering the weights you reduce that risk. But then you must focus on slow execution speed in order to trigger the growth signal within your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do smart substitutions for shoulder exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders are a common concern above mid-age. The small and delicate rotator cuff muscles (responsible for placing the humerus head in the right position for each movement) usually have worn off or are weaken, which means that the humerus head will not be placed correctly in certain positions (specially overhead movements) and this will lead to soft tissue impingement. The coracromial ligament is often hypertrophied due to age wearing, reducing the subacromial space. This makes again certain overhead positions dangerous for the supraspinatus tendon and for the shoulder in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, you should avoid overhead presses and work out your shoulders by avoiding lifting your humerus above horizontal: do pushups and lateral raises instead. But be careful with lateral raises: do them with thumbs pointing up in order to avoid reducing the subacromial space, and do not move your arms strictly in the same plane, but advance your hands slightly to the front, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU8FTE-iHmU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the so-called &quot;scapular plane elevations&quot; by physical therapists&lt;/a&gt;. You can be sure they give a good workout to the lateral deltoid (Reinold et al. 2007) and not only to your supraspinatus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid overhead exercises in general&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only for shoulder exercises as mentioned above, but also targeting other body parts. For instance, if for any reason you insist in doing triceps isolation exercises, choose &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/CBPushdown.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cable Pushdown&lt;/a&gt; instead of &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/DBTriExt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Triceps Extension&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pay special attention to your Rotator Cuff&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slow &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DuGnz796Lw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;external and internal rotations&lt;/a&gt; if done &lt;em&gt;slowly, with light resistance and with emphasis on the eccentric movement&lt;/em&gt; will help your worn out rotator cuff tendons gaining health. Be very careful to include these exercises only at the end of your workouts (you don't want to exhaust those tiny but important muscles before doing the other exercises, because it is important that they assist the big exercises by positioning the humerus head correctly) and NEVER use a high resistance, because it is very easy to damage these muscles inadvertently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid bench pressing, do pushups instead&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid bench presses, where your scapulae and rear shoulder muscles are pressed against the bench, and do pushups instead. Not only they work out the same muscles, but they will contribute to your shoulder health by strengthening your shoulder girdle, serratus muscles and also by giving your core a gentle, isometric workout. If they are too easy for you, do them with a weighted vest. If they are too heavy for you, do them with your hands on a Smith machine bar whose elevation you can change in order to increase/decrease leverage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take care of your wrists by using &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgkqJJbKYvg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;push up handles&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDqb-0ItCe8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull wrist straps&lt;/a&gt; for pull exercises (rows and similar)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not neglect those two accessories. Once you injure your wrists they take a very long time to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do NEVER work to failure. Choose a very slow linear progression instead&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start any exercise with a volume you can handle easily. Resist the urge to push through. In the next workout add no more than one rep per set. Do not change weight or leverage until you have achieved at least 15 repetition sets. This will ensure a very slow and safe progression. You may feel you are wasting time at the beginning but, as elementary logic dictates, you will sooner or later reach a training intensity that demands adaptation to your tissues, and you will have reached it slowly and safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take special care on your knees&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have been a life-long runner, choose swimming instead of running for cardio. A stationary bike is supposed to be OK too, but the ergonomics must be perfect and the progress should be carefully slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take your time to warm up thoroughly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do tons of shoulder circles and (empty hand) reverse flies before working out your upper body. Use the stationary bike for 8 to 10 minutes before squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not push through exercises that give you joint discomfort. Choose surrogate exercises for them, or decrease range of motion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is natural for instance that you feel joint pain at the most outstretched position of a chest fly. But by setting up the machine as to limit your range of motion, you can still work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid isolation exercises if the muscles concerned are already at work within compound movements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, by doing triceps isolation exercises you put your elbow joints under unnecessary stress. If you do pushups, your triceps are getting more than enough load to stimulate muscle growth and slow down or (partially) revert sarcopenia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stay away from too many crunches and abdominal work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have been doing them for years and your core is hard as iron, stay away from hard abdominal work, or you will be risking a hernia. During pushups your abs gets enough workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not hold your breath at all during resistance training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may lead to dangerous blood pressure increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;STOP IMMEDIATELY IF YOU FEEL DIZZY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And pay a visit to a cardiologist before engaging in sports at advanced age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-04-01T14:51:13.177" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T14:51:13.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24117" CreationDate="2015-04-01T15:20:58.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are at a stop light or a traffic jam, put the car in neutral and then release the clutch. The car won't stall, your leg won't get so tired, and it saves wear and tear on the clutch (don't forget to either set the parking brake or keep your foot on the brake, though, to keep from rolling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15326" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-01T16:15:06.900" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T16:15:06.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24141" CreationDate="2015-04-01T17:13:47.187" Score="1" ViewCount="360" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a free well-documented and of course a complete reference for learning workout and fitness exercises with animated pictures (.GIF format).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while googleing I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessbliss.com/en/exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fitnessbliss.com/en/exercises&lt;/a&gt; but these are complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want some thing which can be downloaded in my phone, should compact animated files.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;any answer appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15329" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T19:34:13.320" Title="a complete reference for workout and exercises tips with animated pictures" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24140" CreationDate="2015-04-01T19:34:13.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this exercise&lt;/a&gt;, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Mistakes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training advice&lt;/a&gt;, and this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;directory of exercises&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T19:34:13.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24144" CreationDate="2015-04-01T19:59:25.503" Score="-3" ViewCount="6601" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen some pretty damn strong natural females who can lift more than me and lots of other males. The interesting part is that people are always associating testosterone with strength in some way (muscle, size, recovery, potential to be stronger, more energy, etc.), but the average guy, on average, would have anywhere from 5 to 20 (or more) times testosterone than the average woman, on average. It's beyond unlikely that any natural female powerlifters with good numbers have the same or greater testosterone than the average man would have, but could best him in few feats of strength (namely the squat and deadlift, for examples). Some 120 lb. natural women are squatting 300 + lbs. and deadlifting around the same or more too, which are numbers no average man would even budge in the majority of cases. If testosterone was as tighty-correlated to strength as some would make it out to be, it would make no sense that natural female lifters have numbers and power higher than plenty of average males who would have more testosterone likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, quite a few of these phenomenal, natural female lifters have less muscle mass than the males too, but are probably lifting a little more, and lb.-for-lb. it's extremely impressive: e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;120 lb. woman deadlifting 360 lbs., squatting 320 lbs., and benching around 160 lbs. maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these above lifts are probably greater than what many average men could do at his best, especially the squat and deadlift, which are significantly greater than what most average could do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming this woman is 120 lbs., it's unlikely her forearms are larger than maybe 12 inches, and quadriceps larger than 28 (a lot of average men can easily be larger than this at average weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if a 120 lb. smaller, natural (no enhancement) female can have LESS testosterone and LESS size but still have more power easily than average guys (who probably bench 100-130 lbs., squat 150-200 lbs., and deadlift maybe 220-240 lbs. at the most in the majority of observable cases) it is clearly seemingly that strength has no tight link with testosterone or size, or else reality would fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15330" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T07:52:17.623" Title="How come females with less testosterone can be stronger than males with more?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24142" CreationDate="2015-04-01T20:36:59.773" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some men train poorly, and therefore remain weak. Some women train extremely hard, and thereby achieve great strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reality need not break for a 120-pound person with less testosterone but more consistent, better quality, more focused training to out-deadlift a 180-pound person with much more testosterone but less consistent, worse quality, more general training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your entire argument rests on a straw-man definition of &quot;average&quot;. An &quot;average&quot; man can most certainly deadlift 360 pounds if he works at it over several months or years. Even in steroid-free powerlifting circles, that's considered fairly unremarkable. I bet by &quot;average&quot; you mean &quot;like me&quot;, in which case, these women are stronger than you because they worked harder at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone is tightly correlated to strength &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt;, not to someone's current absolute strength. Your hormone profile (and diet) determines how you respond to a training stimulus. Your hormone profile does not simply determine your level of strength. These women you are incredulous about had to work harder over a longer period of time than if they had a more favorable hormone profile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-04-02T02:25:54.490" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T02:25:54.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24142" CreationDate="2015-04-01T20:46:48.327" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Testosterone is a steroid hormone.  A steroid simply being present does not necessarily mean that a person is making good use of it.  Men are obviously on average going to out perform women in feats of strength, and having more natural steroid production helps that, but you are making a mistake in excluding all other contributing factors.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of asking how a woman can be stronger lets just ask how a non-steroid user can be stronger than someone who is frequently doping.  Anyone with experience could quickly list off a number of reasons such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Better Training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Been Training Longer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Better General Health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being Genetically/Biologically Gifted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steroid are only one factor.  If I used steroid's I would still probably never come close to female world records in any activities/lifts simply because I do not train hard enough nor follow an effective schedule.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to compare people at the same level.  The top level men all far exceed the top level women, and the average male is far stronger than the average female.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15331" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T20:46:48.327" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28138" CreationDate="2015-04-01T22:12:44.720" Score="0" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a Lifespan folding treadmill (TR1200i, but similar models will possibly use the same format) in a private sale and it seems it requires some online account with &quot;IHP&quot; to just update the name/age/weight/height that &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; treadmill displays and uses to calculate calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone with a USB stick and some technical knowledge share a sample of what gets put on the stick?  Is it just one file?  Is it text or binary?  Is it encrypted?  I just want to make mine without their help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15332" LastActivityDate="2019-10-13T00:20:24.470" Title="Sample Lifespan IHP USB key file please" Tags="&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2019-10-13T12:26:16.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21039" CreationDate="2015-04-02T05:08:16.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the middle of dealing with my lordosis (also known as &quot;anterior pelvic tilt&quot; - you can find some good references if you search on that). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For exercises, dead bug variations and hip raises have been good. You need to be very good to make sure your back is flat during all of them. Oh, and the standing exercise where you have a band at your feet and step back and forth - that is a great glute exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for me, the big winners have been the deadlift and suitcase carry. You need to be very careful to start with light weight and to be very careful with your form, especially on deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also found that it's hard to tell the difference between exercises that aggravate my back and those that are just making the muscles tired. You will probably have to play around with things a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T05:08:16.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24117" CreationDate="2015-04-02T06:41:37.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, definitely. Being a Swede where 90% of all cars are manual transmission, I see people limping about on their hideously differently sized legs all the time. I would recommend you solve it the Swedish way and get some large-right-leg inhibitors &lt;a href=&quot;http://gotyou&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously though, no, it won't have an impact on your muscle balance, or there would be enormous problems all over the world where manually transmitted cars are standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T06:41:37.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24153" CreationDate="2015-04-02T06:52:11.620" Score="5" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;My father is in his late 60s. He has problems with pain in his spine. Yet his lifestyle is not very active. He doesn't move a lot and spends a lot of time watching TV. I think his muscles will be weakened this way and it won't be good for his spinal problem. How can I make him exercise regularly to strengthen himself and have a better life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think at this age it might be more difficult for him to do normal exercises. Please also take that into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15333" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T19:32:56.997" Title="How can I make my elderly father exercise regularly?" Tags="&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24148" CreationDate="2015-04-02T12:13:58.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted by s3v3ns above, it's very hard to &quot;force&quot; someone to exercise. Your best bet is probably to find some low impact activities to do together, or for him to do with others. You could go on walks with him. He could join a Tai Chi group at a local community center. You want to create a situation where there are few barriers to him doing exercise (low impact helps combat arguments of not feeling tip-top that day, for example) and setting up a routine with support structure (taking regular walks with you or attending classes makes it a scheduled activity and brings on social pressure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T12:13:58.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24148" CreationDate="2015-04-02T12:33:56.343" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, and foremost, you may not be able to force him to exercise.  You don’t indicate how long he’s been plagued by spinal pain, but, he may also be dealing with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/expert-answers/pain-and-depression/faq-20057823&quot;&gt;depression from chronic pain&lt;/a&gt;.  It’s widely accepted that the two can feed off of each other.  That, in itself, is enough to blunt any desire to get up off the couch.  If you can, try to get a gauge of his mental state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Early on, I had experienced spinal pain (from a hereditary condition) that was only resolved by surgery.  My physical therapist advised me that the quality of my life, going forward, would increase by learning how to manage pain.  He indicated the best way to do that is to continue with a daily stretching and flexibility program that I have followed ever since.  Your father should benefit from such a program in multiple ways.  Beyond the pain management aspect, there’s also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/jgpt/fulltext/2011/07000/evidence_based_exercise_prescription_for_balance.2.aspx&quot;&gt;increase in balance and the prevention of falls&lt;/a&gt;.  As you are probably aware, falls are a serious problem for older, inactive adults.  They can lead to serious life threatening conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have already stated, don’t expect him to exercise on his own.  A good support system is needed to provide motivation and camaraderie.  Ask if he would like to start walking.  Look at it as an opportunity to share time together.  Or, if you have a local community center, bring him for a tour.  Community centers typically offer &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/geriatric-exercise-routines-8685.html&quot;&gt;programs targeted at elder citizens&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, be patient with him.  If exercise was not part of his life early on, he’s facing a new challenge.  He’ll need your help to face it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T12:33:56.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-02T14:00:07.597" Score="5" ViewCount="1849" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to get a (or some) band to do some mobility exercises, like those used often in mobilitywod.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brand I regularly see cited is Rogue Fitness, but it seems very expensive.  Around $40 for one band, and I think it's basically just rubber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some cost to making these that I'm missing, or is there another brand that's a good option that I could get instead for less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15309" LastActivityDate="2020-04-04T06:27:44.763" Title="Cheaper alternative to rogue fitness band?" Tags="&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2020-04-04T23:08:22.447" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24151" CreationDate="2015-04-02T17:36:41.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with most exercise equipment, the odds are good that you can get one for free via Freecycle, or cheap via Craigslist (slightly more dear via EBay). Exercise is hard, and many people are happy to get the symbol of their failure out of the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of that, if you decide to make your own, it's basically just rubber. Inner tubes, especially ones from blown-out bicycle tires, are a cheap alternative. Surgical tubing is more reliable and precise. In either case, covering it with something like a cloth tube will help avoid having the strap cut into you. You can find tutorials online such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdV8Ajwbe5Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T17:36:41.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24148" CreationDate="2015-04-02T19:32:56.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have some good suggestions so I'll just add a few more.  The best way that you can be supportive is to help him find a good physical therapist.  The therapist will evaluate your father's spinal condition, give him specific exercises to correct his problems and determine what the most effective exercise program for him might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Types of exercises that are low impact&lt;/strong&gt; can be easier on the spine such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Aquatic-Exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aquatic exercise&lt;/a&gt;, swimming, walking with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pedometer&lt;/a&gt; for motivation, walking in chest deep water, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Walking.html#Pain-With-Walking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;walking with poles,&lt;/a&gt; stationary or recumbent cycling, yoga, Tai Chi or Qi Gong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best role you can take is supportive. You could go with your dad to therapy and help him follow thru with his therapist's suggestions.  His therapist will be the one to instruct him about how often to get up out of the chair and give him the rationale to get moving. What a professional tells your dad will have more impact on him than what you tell him.  So just be there to help.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T19:32:56.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-02T21:58:27.110" Score="5" ViewCount="18997" Body="&lt;p&gt;24 years old. Resting heart rate is 63 bpm. I weight 150 lbs, 5'3 feet. I have asthma but I take inhalers before I exercise. With or without my inhalers my max heart rate does not go above 140/141 even when I'm working at the gym intensely. Even at the point where I think, I cannot push myself further while exercising and I am out of breath, my heart rate is just at 140 bpm. I am not very super fit, at least I think so. I started exercising regularly after about 2-3 years of no exercise, and heart rate still the same. For my age my max heart rate should be in the range of 180-190 bpm.  Asked my doctor too, but they said it was okay. What I am looking for is specific instances of such cases, and why it might be so for me? Any specific reason? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15339" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T19:32:19.473" Title="Why does my max heart rate not go above 140 bpm?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24134" CreationDate="2015-04-03T00:03:04.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleforlife.com/pre-workout-nutrition/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleforlife.com/pre-workout-nutrition/&lt;/a&gt; has some good information on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I am not trying to lose weight, I've been eating 1 cup almond milk, 1 frozen banana, 1 scoop whey blended together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15309" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T00:03:04.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24134" CreationDate="2015-04-03T01:55:54.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It absolutely depends on your body type and what you're going for, i.e. fat loss, building muscle, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep in mind...No one can tell you what is right FOR YOU.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite source is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/&lt;/a&gt;. They have a lot of great articles on exercises and nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my individual routine, often times I will have 1 scoop of whey protein in milk as a shake about 45 mins - 1 hour before I work out and maybe a banana for the energy and electrolytes boost and a glass of water but I am trying to maintain muscle and concentrate on high density workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to spend the time researching, you may consider consulting with a nutritionist or sitting down for a session or two with a personal trainer at a local gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T01:55:54.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24117" CreationDate="2015-04-03T02:31:39.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/8039/sean-duggan&quot;&gt;Sean Duggan&lt;/a&gt; in that I don't think you should worry about it too much. When you are not driving, both of your legs are working pretty hard and evenly carrying your body around every day with your day-to-day activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned and self-conscious though (and we don't want you to be!), you could certainly consider going to the gym! I would always encourage that! :) Some good and simple lower body exercises to get you started are body squats (or weighted barbell/dumbbell squats), calf-raises (weighted or body), and dumbbell lunges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T02:31:39.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-03T03:04:10.797" Score="5" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hurt my knee about a decade ago. I want to run but I find running normally causes my knee to hurt, sometimes for days on end and it can hurt to bend or put weight on it. I saw a doctor about it. He said the injury has something to do with a small bone fragment stuck beneath my kneecap causing traction issues. He says nothing can be done about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a running style where bend my knees slightly more than you normally would to try and remove all stress from the knee and onto the leg muscle. This definitely helps get rid of knee pain. Problem is when doing this I find I start hitting the ground toes first with the leg with the bad knee, I find myself placing a lot of the weight on the calf muscle and during a run and the achilles tendon will suddenly starting hurting. I looked around the web to see what might be the cause and the vast majority I saw assume that it has something to do with the ankle, which is clearly not the case. I think its just not ready for that kind of stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running on and off for a long time. Usually nothing more than 3 miles a day, I had this same issue last year, when I tried to up the mileage and I actually pulled the achilles tendon, and I had this sharp pain that took a month to subside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what I could do, some exercises that would work. I'm interested if there are runners with similar knee issues and how they cope. thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15341" LastActivityDate="2015-11-13T16:05:43.793" Title="running with a bad knee" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16296" CreationDate="2015-04-03T03:35:51.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same thing happened to me today after doing pushups pullups nothing happened but after situps it was like as if i got drunk and wanted to vomit. I sat there for 10min and convinced my mind not to vomit and thought about all the worldwide bodybuilders and listened to the song and the feeling was gone, so I went and hit the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any problems like vomiting or fainting, pause for a few minutes and then start again don't stop because you dont backup from gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15342" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-03T03:52:17.640" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T03:52:17.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24161" CreationDate="2015-04-03T06:48:43.960" Score="5" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;As most people know, the food pyramid the diagram at the depicts all the essential food one should eat to maintain a healthy diet. The pyramid serves to guide individuals to make better choices when they choose foods so that they can meet all their nutritional needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very serious about stretching. but there are a lot of stretches out there and I don't know which ones are useful and which ones aren't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, I was wondering if there was some sort of standardized recommendation for which groups / types of stretches that one should do in order to stretch most or all of one's muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see my analogy here. A given stretch often target multiple muscles at once just as food like milk provides us with multiple kinds of nutrients. So really choosing a stretching routine should involve selecting a group of stretches that satisfies most of the bodies needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a standardized recommended stretching routine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15248" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T23:17:13.487" Title="Is there a stretching equivalent of the food pyramid?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24160" CreationDate="2015-04-03T11:18:50.163" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that there is a universal list of stretches, but there are certainly guides out there. I'm personally fond of Craig Ramsay's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1607103982&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anatomy of Stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; which has both an hour-long comprehensive set of stretches and a 15 minute essentials one, the latter of which also comes on a poster that comes with the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I attempted to scan in his quick stretches now that I finally got the book from the library, but my scanner is acting up. Hopefully, this is enough that you can get the gist of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kI983.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kI983.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-26T23:17:13.487" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T23:17:13.487" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15600" CreationDate="2015-04-03T14:30:10.177" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;At its simplest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anaerobic - Without Oxygen (Air)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic - With Oxygen (Air)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit more involved than that, as in this context we're talking about the conversion of chemical energy (Fat, Sugars, ATP, PCr) into kinetic (movement in your muscles), but essentially Anaerobic phase involves the conversion of ATP and PCr in your tissues into energy (your tissues only have around 8 sec worth of ATP reserves and 40 of PCr), while to process the Glucose / Fat in your body efficiently the process requires Oxygen. The following free chapter &lt;a href=&quot;http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0072441704/152842/sample_ch03.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutrition for Health, Fitness, &amp;amp; Sport,&lt;/a&gt; cover the subject well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T14:30:10.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24165" CreationDate="2015-04-03T16:17:49.883" Score="-1" ViewCount="470" Body="&lt;p&gt;I woke up this morning after having a few drinks last night and felt particularly dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, what I proceeded to do was drink a pint of water in, more or less, one go. I then went on to drink another pint at the same rate about 30 mins later. This resulted in me desperately needing to urinate soon after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This made me think about the pros and cons about the speed at which I drank the water. My body obviously couldn't handle all that water in one go, so got rid of it. However, my body needed water and still did after the two pints of water. Therefore, what if I had slowly sipped the two pints of water over let's say 2 hours. Would my body have been able to use more volume of water from the amount I consumed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, is drinking water at a fast rate a waste of resources?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15345" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T17:14:59.013" Title="the speed of a person drinking water and the benefits in variations" Tags="&lt;water&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-04-06T03:28:49.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2015-04-03T17:14:59.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just because you urinated a lot after drinking water, doesn't mean you drank too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water dilates waste in your body, and flushes it out. One common reason for frequent urination is not always that you drank a lot of water, but that you have a lot of waste to flush out. So whatever water your body recieves, will be used for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the direct question; no. As long as you're not in a third-world country where water needs to be rationed, wasting water by drinking it is hardly ever a thing. Water has countless functions for our bodies, like energizing muscles, keeping your skin intact, the aforementioned waste transportation, maintaining bowel functions... The list goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, just because you urinate or excrete something, doesn't mean you had too much of anything. It's just our very local garbage men doing their thing. And garbage pile-ups are inevitable in our bodies, just like they are in your kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T17:14:59.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-03T18:06:42.237" Score="0" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of doing a 5 day split day 1 chest day 2 back day 3 legs day 4 shoulders day 5 arms,each day consisting of 30 minutes weights 10 minutes of bag work, and 20 minutes of cardio. Is that a good idea, or would I be be overtraining?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15346" LastEditorUserId="15346" LastEditDate="2015-04-06T15:05:42.777" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T15:05:42.777" Title="Is it good to combine weights, punchbag, and cardio in same workout?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24166" CreationDate="2015-04-03T18:48:06.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's only an hour's worth of work, and it covers a wide variety of parts of the body and types of exercise, so you should be fine. Just listen to your body and take breaks where you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T18:48:06.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24166" CreationDate="2015-04-03T21:59:19.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can do that, but it depends what your goals are. However IMO you may not want to do that everyday as that could be a cause for over training if that is what you mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T21:59:19.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24119" CreationDate="2015-04-03T22:35:59.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing a lot of push ups with proper technique may (but not with certain) help with initial muscular imbalance as you are pushing up your body weight. Overall though, I would not count on doing push ups making you ripped! :) You will reach a point, if you haven't already, where the benefit is not really applicable anymore, called a plateau, and basically you're just getting really good at doing push ups, not building muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that if you are not strong enough to bench press a barbell, doing body weight push ups can help increase your base strength as a means to get you strong enough for using a barbell for bench press. That being said you can also use lower weight dumbbells to assist in increasing your strength as well! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're goal is to build muscle and strength though, then at a minimum you will want to hit the weights and progress in weight. Progression is a key part, but not the only, in breaking down muscles to repair even stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in learning further, I get pretty much all of my information from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T22:35:59.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24154" CreationDate="2015-04-04T04:16:39.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different people have different size hearts, and that will effect their maximum heart rate. I knew a women who had a working heart rate about 220; she just had a small heart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you doctor has cleared you, I would not worry about it. It is generally better to use a perceived exertion scale for workouts instead of basing on heart rates unless you have a better way of setting heart rate zones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T04:16:39.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24110" CreationDate="2015-04-04T04:37:49.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given what you have said - that you are a relative beginner and you are working to not be skinny fat - I don't think either routine is particularly good. Because of the overlap in the routines (the repeats and things like flat bench/incline bench and squats/leg press) and the number of reps, this looks like a routine for somebody who is interested in muscle mass/aesthetics. There's nothing wrong with that as a goal, but that doesn't sound like you (and even if that was your goal, these programs are intermediate ones). I'm also not a fan of the smith machine for the listed lifts; you will get more benefit out of learning the motions with free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a program suggestion, both stronglifts 5x5 and starting strength are both good programs for people who want to start strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T04:37:49.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24110" CreationDate="2015-04-04T05:44:58.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, cut the machines out of your routine, and add in the free weights (barbell/ olympic lifts). I suggest getting on a strength training program such as StrongLifts, Ripetoes Starting Strength, Candito, etc. I personally use StrongLifts as my current program. A strength training/powerlifting program is going to shred any unwanted fat, give you the strength you need, and the muscle mass you want. Machines are self guided, and won't condition your nervous system to be able to handle tasks outside of the gym. Search up some of those programs. I promise, they will change your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15348" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T05:44:58.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24177" CreationDate="2015-04-04T09:29:06.440" Score="3" ViewCount="457" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to start working out at home.&#xA;I have 40kg x 2 dumbbells and want to squat with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given I keep the dumbbells at my sides, because of the diameter of plates it isn't possible to reach parallel or any deeper before the dumbbells touch the ground. The maximum possible depth is a bit higher than parallel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also I'm not strong enough to keep a pair of 40kg dumbbells at my chest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So how important the depth of squatting is in this particular case?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AFAIK, my glutes and hamstrings are not going to work hard enough if I don't go low. But I'll target them with other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other things that I should consider/keep in mind if I decide to not squat low?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;Thank you everyone for useful suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm accepting David Brown's answer. I think, given the way my question is phrased, his answer is the most relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I personally decided to drop the weight to the point where I can actually clean the dumbbells and keep them at my shoulders/chest. I hope this weight will increase over time :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all the suggestions of decreasing the weight or using a platform are really appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15349" LastEditorUserId="15349" LastEditDate="2015-04-14T15:20:04.153" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T15:20:04.153" Title="Squatting with dumbbells. Cannot reach parallel. Is it really important?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-04T11:47:05.443" Score="-1" ViewCount="8812" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had the idea of doing squats while I was in the shower to be able to do exercises simultaneously with another task. Given the size of my current shower room, I won't be able to do other exercises such as pushups, lunges, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any risk for my body to do exercises while taking a shower?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12042" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T13:04:41.313" Title="Is it safe to exercise while in the shower?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-04-09T10:44:12.653" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24174" CreationDate="2015-04-04T15:20:32.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's an increased slip risk, which combines with the possibility of falling face-first into standing water (from a clogged drain or one temporarily clogged by your fallen body). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realhomesafety.com/drowning.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Drowning in an inch of water&lt;/a&gt; happens. Given you're going to take longer to shower most likely anyhow due to going in and out of the water stream, I'd advise against this. Instead, use your toothcare time to do the same thing. It's safe to do squats while brushing your teeth and using mouthwash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T15:20:32.380" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24166" CreationDate="2015-04-04T16:08:24.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen professional Muay Thai fighters complete 2hour+ morning sessions that included running, sparring/bag work and strength training - so yes, it's quite possible to do what you described - or even endure much longer training sessions on a daily basis...but like other people mentioned, your level of fitness will decide whether you're over-training or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastEditorDisplayName="user15206" LastEditDate="2015-04-04T18:21:29.577" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T18:21:29.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24173" CreationDate="2015-04-04T19:11:33.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing I have been able to find is that the squat depth could affect your vertical jump ability - but I have no idea if you even remotely care about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, this study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2013/11000/Effect_of_Back_Squat_Depth_on_Lower_Body.11.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2013/11000/Effect_of_Back_Squat_Depth_on_Lower_Body.11.aspx&lt;/a&gt;) proved that parallel squat has a higher postactivation potentiation (PAP) than a quarter squat - meaning that less-than-parallel squats could negatively affect your vertical jumping ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while the study did prove a significant advantage of doing parallel squats when they are done right before preforming the jumps - the evidence on long term connection between PAP and enhanced athletic performance seems to be limited (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15903390&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15903390&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T19:11:33.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24173" CreationDate="2015-04-05T02:33:15.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are some very large dumbbell plates then!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, form and control are crucial with any exercise you perform. Period. It is not worth it to cheat yourself or, worse, risk injury if your form isn't correct because of the weight you are working with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, here are a few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purchase a new set of dumbbells that are thicker, not greater in plate diameter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease the weight to where you can successfully execute your squats with the full range of motion reaching the desired parallel position. Proper form and technique with less weight will go a lot further than practically killing yourself with too much weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a reference on performing controlled dumbbell squats with good form:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/dumbbell-squat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/dumbbell-squat.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2015-04-05T02:33:15.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24181" CreationDate="2015-04-04T20:49:45.247" Score="1" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do TaeBo workout everyday at home, and I want to know if that is good enough or can you point me to another workout &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15351" OwnerDisplayName="Hamza Moslah" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-04-06T16:18:10.090" LastActivityDate="2018-09-26T22:40:42.920" Title="Can TaeBo keep my cardio up?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24166" CreationDate="2015-04-05T09:58:48.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overall its an good option you are targeting every parts of you body, but be sure you do not overdo it. You exercise routine totally depends upon your endurance level. Try consulting your doctor if you have any prolong illness. Just remember don't over do it, &lt;code&gt;progress gradually&lt;/code&gt;. Take a rest keep your heart beat bellow 100 and hit again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15350" LastActivityDate="2015-04-05T09:58:48.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24179" CreationDate="2015-04-05T14:21:18.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes , Tae bo is good enough to keep your cardio up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Overview:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taebo exercise is a whole body fitness exercise that mixes martial arts moves such as kicks and punches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;What Are the Benefits of a Blanks Taebo Workout?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workouts are high impact which is more stressful on muscles and joints than a low impact routine, although they burn significantly more calories than traditional aerobics. The high impact movements may also help to build stronger bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Building and Toning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Billy says Taebo will work on the upper body (arms, chest, shoulders),&#xA;  lower body (thighs, buns) and the core muscles (abs, spinal erectors,&#xA;  obliques). One of the goals of Taebo was to increase functional&#xA;  strength, which Billy described as the type of strength used on a&#xA;  daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cardiovascular Workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of Taebo’s biggest selling points is its cardiovascular workout,&#xA;  which Billy said was a result of the dance moves added to the already&#xA;  high-energy workout. The benefit of a good cardiovascular workout was&#xA;  the first thing Billynoticed when he inadvertently created Taebo in 1976. Billy, a devoted exerciser, became quickly fatigued when combining dance moves to his martial arts and boxing workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weight Loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Due to the high-energy aerobic nature of Taebo, the exercise program&#xA;  will burn calories during the routine, which should translate into&#xA;  weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Self Defense&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The kicking and punching done during a Taebo workout will lead to a&#xA;  better grasp of self-defense methods. While he says he hopes Taebo&#xA;  users are never put in a spot where they will need the self-defense&#xA;  training, Taebo will give them the skills and confidence to deal with&#xA;  potential trouble.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Caution!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kicks and punches, particularly the kicks, are intense and can result in significant muscle strain if done too aggressively early on, particularly if incorrect technique is used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The numerous advantages of Taebo is due to the fact that the discipline is low impact and provides a total body workout. Because this mainly is an aerobic exercise, the heart and lungs benefit a great deal. It may also be noteworthy to point out that boredom with Taebo is less likely to set in because there are several forms of training mixed into it. For those who take pleasure in dancing, Taebo is going to be a first rate exercise alternative. People who favor some type of self defense will like how karate and kickboxing also combine into the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15352" LastActivityDate="2015-04-05T14:21:18.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2015-04-05T20:27:51.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, whey protein can knock you out of ketosis.  It has had that effect on me several times.  To those who say, no carbs, thus no effect, you're only looking at half the story.  Carbs effect ketosis by affecting insulin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketosis is governed by the insulin/glucagon ratio (I/G ratio) (1).  Whey has no carbs, has but it IS insulinogenic (e.g., ref (2))  Increased insulin throws off the insulin/glucagon ratio (I/G ratio) (1), which can effect the depth of ketosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) The Ketogenic Diet: A Complete Guide for the Dieter and Practitioner, Lyle McDonald, 1998, pp. 24, 30-31.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) The insulinogenic effect of whey protein is partially mediated by a direct effect of amino acids and GIP on β-cells, Albert Salehi, et al., Nutrition &amp;amp; Metabolism 2012, 9:48:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whey protein increases postprandial serum insulin levels.  This has&#xA;  been associated with increased serum levels of leucine, isoleucine...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15356" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-06T16:20:14.253" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T16:20:14.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-06T03:26:47.490" Score="0" ViewCount="1548" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a swimmer, especially a butterflyer. I got a weight lifting set for Christmas, but I'm not entirely sure how to utilize it for butterfly, or even swimming in general. I read up on these questions,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5838/what-type-or-amount-of-weight-training-is-beneficial-for-a-beginning-swimmer/6077#6077&quot;&gt;What type or amount of weight training is beneficial for a beginning swimmer?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6939/what-set-of-dry-land-exercises-can-i-perform-that-would-be-equivalent-to-swimmin/7110#7110&quot;&gt;What set of dry-land exercises can I perform that would be equivalent to swimming?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and browsed the internet, but I figured I'd ask it here for this specific stroke. What kinds of exercises (not just weight lifting) and stretching can help supplement butterfly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what muscles should I focus on working out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any advice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12362" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T08:14:36.760" Title="Dry land Training to Supplement Butterfly in Swimming" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-06T06:50:58.027" Score="2" ViewCount="4397" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that fitter people have lower resting heart rates but what about while they are exercising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that because it is 'better' the heart can now achieve more beats per minute and so the max heart rate while exercising would increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And exercise the same as before would have a lower heart rate? (eg. running 1 km in 5 minutes while unfit would have a avg heart rate of say 150, while doing the same thing after getting fitter the avg heart rate would now be 120).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would putting in the same effort during an exercise have higher or lower heart rates after getting fitter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T07:10:16.557" Title="Do fitter people have higher heart rates while exercising" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24187" CreationDate="2015-04-06T07:10:16.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As your level of fitness increases, the cardiovascular system gets more and more efficient at delivering oxygen and necessary nutrients to the muscles throughout the body - so the fitter you get, the more &quot;effort&quot; (as in physical work) you can put in at the same heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a heart rate monitor and always run at exactly your &quot;optimal fat burning&quot; heart rate (let's say at about 110 bpm), you'd be able to run faster and faster at that same heart rate over time (because the efficiency of your cardiovascular system would keep improving).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said - effort, or should I say perceived effort is a completely subjective thing. What might feel like an all-out-sprint to an untrained person, might feel like an easy warm up to a trained professional - even though they're putting in the exact same amount of &quot;effort&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T07:10:16.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2015-04-06T07:51:31.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this question already has an accepted answer, I think I can shed some more light on this matter (with actual science, not just my opinion)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one of the rare few studies (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1355601/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1355601/&lt;/a&gt;) that provides a good insight into the influence of (simple) carbs, aminoacids (AA), complete proteins and starvation on ketosis - even though this wasn't the exact original purpose of the study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free Fatty Acids (a higher level indicates a &quot;deeper&quot; ketosis)- the highest during starvation, lower with AA and complete proteins (no significant difference between those two), and the lowest with carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketone bodies (a higher level indicates a &quot;deeper&quot; ketosis) - the highest during starvation, lower with complete proteins, even lower with AA and the lowest with carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now here's where things get REALLY INTERESTING:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insulin (a higher level indicates a &quot;shallower&quot; ketosis) - the highest with carbs and AA (about the same), but the lowest with complete proteins and during starvation (about the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glucose (a higher level indicates a &quot;shallower&quot; ketosis) - the highest with carbs, a bit lower with AA (but not much), and the lowest with complete proteins and during starvation (again, about the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conclusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starving yourself or eating nothing but pure carbs represent the opposite ends of the ketosis spectrum (we know that already), there seems to be a significant difference between consuming proteins in a form of complete proteins or aminoacids. Proteins in their simplest form (aminoacids) seem to break up ketosis much more severely than the more complex forms of proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you're worried that the carbs and aminoacids in your shake will throw you too far out of ketosis - then just do what the &quot;complete protein&quot; group of people in the study did, and eat a steak instead. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T07:51:31.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24208" CreationDate="2015-04-06T13:37:13.790" Score="-1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beetroot seems to have an EPO-like effect on your red blood cell production. Regular use of EPO also seems to make your body dependent on it for proper red blood cell production. Can regular consumption of beetroot then have the same effect on  on your substantive red blood cell production when you stop consuming it after a long period of regular consumption?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15360" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T18:54:57.847" Title="Does daily consumption of beetroot make you dependent on it for proper production of red blood cells?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;blood-flow&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-04-07T20:41:36.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24194" CreationDate="2015-04-06T15:19:14.107" Score="1" ViewCount="2832" Body="&lt;p&gt;today I was going to gym, I had running shoes and I knew that squatting in running shoes is not recommended. &#xA;So I went barefoot then after my squat finished one of the gym folks came and told me that squatting in barefoot is BAD REPUTATION for gym and you must wear shoes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I told him? Is it really bad to squat in barefoot? any champion who squats barefoot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12242" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T16:28:35.220" Title="squatting barefoot, bad reputation for gym!" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-04-09T10:44:56.490" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24193" CreationDate="2015-04-06T16:28:35.220" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're probably approaching it from a hygeine and impact-safety prospective. Two rather reasonable concerns regarding barefoot lifting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the same way you wouldn't walk barefoot around in a locker room so as to avoid foot fungus, now that problem is extending to the deadlift platform and squat rack (and wherever else you're barefoot lifting). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sure, you can wear socks, but that doesn't really stop people from getting foot infections. Lots of socks have holes, and if your socks pick up some fungus then you put your shoes back on and wear them for a few hours, you've got a nice Petri dish going on. Additionally, plenty of folks are wearing rather slippery synthetic socks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can stub your toes. Lots of people get woozy from heavy lifts and I've banged my (Converse covered) toes into hard metal objects plenty of times. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a lifting prospective there are lots of advantages to lifting barefoot, in socks, or even in ballet slippers. It's a rock solid foundation, and for things like the deadlift it can shave a small fraction off of the lift itself which matters when you're talking about 1RM and record setting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe consider picking up some Converse or another flat shoe that doesn't compress. A set of low top Chuck Taylors will set you back $30 (USD) and lasts for years if you just use them for weight lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T16:28:35.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24174" CreationDate="2015-04-06T23:19:11.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not safe to exercise while in the shower. More importantly, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;the cost-benefit ratio is too high&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for this to be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's consider the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;supposed&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Burning calories:&lt;/strong&gt; How much calories can you realistically burn? Your calorie burn is determined by your &lt;strong&gt;intensity&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;duration&lt;/strong&gt;. Your intensity will be low because you're careful not to hurt yourself. The duration will be low too because it's quite unlikely for you to spend more than 10 minutes squatting in the shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, the actual calories burned will be low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Multi-tasking &lt;em&gt;( in order to burn calories while performing other tasks):&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Multi-tasking is awesome in the right environment and context. Squatting while showering isn't a good combination for multi-tasking since both actions require some form of concentration to function properly; otherwise, there'll be no benefit for either action &lt;em&gt;(you won't be effectively clean and your exercise form will suffer)&lt;/em&gt;. You're better off performing your exercises and then showering. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now for the costs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. You can &lt;em&gt;(and very likely)&lt;/em&gt; will hurt yourself. Jumping or squatting on a slippery ground is a bad idea.&lt;/strong&gt; Not only can you slip, but the motion can cause temporary disorientation that'll result in you falling. Hitting your head or vital parts of your body against the bathroom's hard surfaces is much more likely to occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. A lot of bath areas are too small to accommodate effective exercises&lt;/strong&gt;. Exercises that really burn calories &lt;em&gt;(running, plyometrics)&lt;/em&gt; just can't be performed in small, contained location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Some exercises just aren't feasible in the shower.&lt;/strong&gt; Performing push ups in the shower &lt;em&gt;(in pools of water)&lt;/em&gt; is both disgusting and unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Sweating while showering makes little sense&lt;/strong&gt;. If your goal of showering is to clean yourself, but you manage to generate enough intensity to create a sweat, what's the purpose of the shower? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. You can injure yourself.&lt;/strong&gt; This is worth repeating. &lt;strong&gt;If you exercise in the shower, you'll hurt yourself sooner or later&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(it's not a matter of &quot;if&quot;, it's a matter of &quot;when&quot;)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit you'll gain is minute, compared to the potential cost. You're better off exercising &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; showering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimal solution is this: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;create dedicated periods to exercise, eat right, have quality sleep, and incorporate exercising/movements in your daily life&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and you'll have no need for injury-prone disasters such as exercising while showering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T13:04:41.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24204" CreationDate="2015-04-07T07:31:50.440" Score="3" ViewCount="2388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can do underhand pullups quite comfortably (working the biceps), but I find the overhand ones more difficult, almost certainly because my back muscles aren't as strong as those at the front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Sunday I did a mix of under and overhand pullups (70 &amp;amp; 25 respectively), and tricep dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Monday I did six sets of ten overhand pullups in the course of an hour (I was doing karate practice). I felt very strong and did them better than those the day before. But over the course of the day and even now, my inner forearms hurt when I open my hand fully, or flex my hand in (palm faces the body). The ache is below the wrist, in the middle. Images on Google show this could be the Flexor Carpi muscles, I guess strained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is why would these muscles ache and not my upper back (which I assume is what gets worked in overhand pullups)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: I no longer have this issue. I switched to wide-arm pull-ups as advocated by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nick Aldis, doing 50 reps over 3-5 sets on a regular basis and it is going well. I believe my forearm muscles were not used to the exercise and I was overtraining. Rest and working on flexibility have both really helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2015-09-28T08:30:21.493" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T08:30:21.493" Title="Overhand pullups - inner forearms ache but why?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24173" CreationDate="2015-04-07T08:19:55.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just stand on a simple, cheap wooden block. Just that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can make it out of several thick wooden boards glued together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T08:19:55.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24173" CreationDate="2015-04-07T13:12:15.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's important to reach parallel when squatting; otherwise, you'll have muscular imbalance as your hamstrings will be exercised, but your quads and calves will not really benefit from the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just decrease the weight and squat with the dumbbells raised to your chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; If you don't have balance issues, you can use a raised platform also; however, be careful when performing the exercises not to lose your balance so you don't hurt yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're indeed serious about squatting though, &lt;strong&gt;barbell squatting is still the best way to go&lt;/strong&gt; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T13:12:15.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24201" CreationDate="2015-04-07T13:50:17.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot give an expert answer, but from my amateur experience, this might actually be a flexibility issue. I know that I, not much of an overhand pullup guy, find that rotating my wrists to the overhand position is already engaging the muscles a bit to keep them there, even without the pullups, because it's not a usual position for me in my day-to-day life. Now, add the exercise of actually doing the pullups and that means you have some degree of effort going on in that muscle at all times (plus, ligaments pulling, etc). Compare that to your back, which not only has larger muscles, but probably gets to relax a bit as your going down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14974/8039&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, there's a good chance that your brachioradialis muscle is what's hurting. Pay attention to your body. Take a break when it starts hurting and be patient as you make gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T13:50:17.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24201" CreationDate="2015-04-07T15:05:48.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a common issue that arises due to limited mobility in your forearm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you might be inclined to start doing underhand or neutral grip instead, I would strongly advise that you try the false grip instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9jgkD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;FalseGripBarExample&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is indeed a challenging thing depending on your forearm strength, but you can progress into it by simply gradually placing your grip higher and higher on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to relieving a lot of tension on the brachioradialis (which is most likely the issue you're having), it also contributes greatly to your forearm strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I would always recommend varying your grip from time to time, but you should never avoid the overhand grip unless you really, &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; have to. Specifically because, as you mention in your question, it tends to utilize the back muscles in a more significant way. That's generally what we look for in our pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T15:10:48.487" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T15:10:48.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24192" CreationDate="2015-04-07T18:54:57.847" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beetroot (or rather the nitrites in it) works very differently from EPO. EPO increases the count of red blood cells (which are responsible for carrying oxygen and nutrients. Nitrites on the other hand are converted by the body to Nitrous Oxide which in turn increases your blood's capacity to bind (carry) oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the former increases carrying capacity by increasing overall volume percentage while the latter increases innate capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you increase volume from external sources your body may adapt by generating less of its own. But this is not the case when you enhance the capacity of what is already given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, nitrites (which are good for you) are not to be confused with nitrates (which are really bad).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a second side note: the effects of beet juice are limited by a number of factors, including the bodies ability to process the juice. If you plan to use beets as part of a race or workout strategy make sure you can tolerate the stuff...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15186" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T18:54:57.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-07T19:05:14.130" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Tae Bo workout for about one year while having internal left knee injury. Actually,It is not so painful when doing squats or kicks, but I feel the pain when I do leg launches exercices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, now I feel like I have muscles imbalance causing by my left knee injury. What I have tried so far is to never do leg launches exercices for both knees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here come my questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to get my muscles balance back?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any routine stretches to fix my left knee pain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15352" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T19:05:14.130" Title="Internal left knee pain causing muscles imbalance" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-08T05:28:04.973" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 26 year old lean person. I think I have less weight than the normal person of the same age.  I know about the use of green tea for loosing weight.  I want to ask if I start drinking green tea, will it reduce my weight?&#xA; And, can it really cause another side effects like acidity and iron deficiency?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15376" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-04-08T12:24:56.477" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T12:48:06.110" Title="Does green tea causes weight loss or other side effects?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-04-08T20:20:23.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24212" CreationDate="2015-04-08T06:56:25.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green tea contains caffeine, that has been proven to increase your metabolic rate (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/33/5/989.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/33/5/989.short&lt;/a&gt;) and to help with the release of fat from your body fat reserves (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/1/40.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/1/40.abstract&lt;/a&gt;) - but bear in mind that you still have to burn away those released fatty acids, or they will simply return to where they came from. So the first thing you need to decide, is whether or not you're even ok with consuming caffeine - which is a substance classified as a drug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/70/6/1040.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/70/6/1040.short&lt;/a&gt;) has confirmed green tea has an additional effect on the rate at which we burn our body fat when compared to caffeine alone. The chemicals in green tea that are believed to boost the calorie-burn rate are called polyphenols. All-in-all they measured a 4% increase in a 24-hour energy expenditure...so if you normally spend 2000 calories throughout the day, you can count on green tea to add another 80 to that (roughly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as far as the safety is concerned, some cases of liver damage have been reported (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leanhigh.com/weight-loss/supplement-reviews/can-green-tea-help-you-lose-weight-without-damaging-your-liver&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.leanhigh.com/weight-loss/supplement-reviews/can-green-tea-help-you-lose-weight-without-damaging-your-liver&lt;/a&gt;), but the evidence on that does not seem to be conclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T06:56:25.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24212" CreationDate="2015-04-08T12:48:06.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Science Based Medicine did &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-closer-look-at-dr-ozs-15-superfoods/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a review of the literature along with another 14 &amp;quot;super-foods&amp;quot; espoused by Dr. Oz&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dr. Oz claims:&lt;/strong&gt; Contains EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) that “increases the hormone responsible for making you feel satiated”; “can help prevent storage of excess fat”, “improve your appetite-regulating hormones” and will change how your body handles cravings and metabolizes food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reality check:&lt;/strong&gt; Green tea is brewed from the non-fermented leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. It contains a number of biologically active ingredients which are believed (though not established) to be a panacea for nearly everything. With respect to weight loss, a systematic review of green tea for obesity concluded that green tea has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19906797?dopt=Abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;no meaningful effects&lt;/a&gt;, and a Cochrane review &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23235664&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;concluded&lt;/a&gt; that any effects are “not likely to be clinically important”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T12:48:06.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="715" CreationDate="2015-04-08T21:29:33.477" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweating helps detox sodium overload. I've been told by many athletic trainers that when eating too much sodium, which is common for a lot of people, it can not be released out of the body other than through sweat. If you do not go out on a sweaty workout after eating too much sodium, you will become bloated due to the fact that people believe drinking water will help detox away the sodium. water weight is developed due to over levels of sodium. That's why people wear thick clothing. To help with too much sodium intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15386" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T21:29:33.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-08T22:10:33.397" Score="0" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exercise semi-regularly (2x a wk/~1 hr each session).  Run several miles on 1 day, weight train the other day.  Once in a while, a 3rd day playing 1 hr of basketball.  I try to drink 80oz of water a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm finding that recently, I started drinking maybe closer to 110oz a day b/c I feel thirsty, even on days I don't exercise.  Is this a good or bad thing?  I read if you're always thirsty, that's a sign you might have diabetes, although, I don't have the other symptoms of diabetes so I might be an alarmist for no reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6124" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T18:53:23.903" Title="Drinking how much water is considered too much water?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-04-09T21:29:57.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24154" CreationDate="2015-04-09T10:32:14.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Max heart rate is not the benchmark for performance. VO2 Is also one component along with muscle endurance. You can not push the heart to go over a certain range in order to achieve a physical goal. Also, the body has very well defined mechanics to control the heart rate voluntarily which might not be altered as such...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15392" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T10:32:14.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24154" CreationDate="2015-04-09T11:31:14.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im older than you (42) but my rest heart rate is at present 63 bpm too. Surprisingly, 140 bpm is another coincidence as well: I have it really hard to go higher than that at the stationary bike. I recently managed to achieve 150 but I had to push so hard that my knees hurted during days and I stopped biking altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is a good sign that you cannot achieve a higher heart rate. It means your heart has adapted and became very efficient. You should congratulate yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you really want to see your heart pumping fast, try a completely new exercise that demands a big effort from several big muscles simultaneously. Squats or deadlifts are good for that purpouse if you haven't done them before. If you are a runner, try swimming fast (or conversely). But in a few days your body may have adapted to the new exercise an your heart will again beat not very fast. As long as you are able to exercise normally, heart rates under 140 bpm are nothing to worry about. More than that, it is the ideal condition many of us wish for ourselves, so be happy about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-04-09T11:36:39.433" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T11:36:39.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24235" CreationDate="2015-04-09T12:12:35.857" Score="4" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;My new job and new address imply that, for some months, I will need to switch from gym to home workouts and under time restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had been doing a full body workout at the gym, with between two and four rest days in between depending on how I evaluated other variables (sleep hours, DOMS...). I can do the most part of it at home with my adjustable dumbbells and suspension straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any disadvantage in doing exactly the same exercises but split in two or three days (provided that each pull is done with its corresponding push and after sufficient warm up)? Since I was taking 2~4 rest days between workouts, each muscle will work out the same number of sessions per week anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those interested in more details, here is what I have been doing for 4 months now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Superset of BW Squat, Inverted row hanging from a Smith machine bar, and Push up on a Smith machine bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat Pulldown (a recent addition)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Superset of dumbbell lateral raise, internal rotations with elastic band, external rotations with elastic band.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is what I might do from now on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day A: BW Squat (it will be goblet squat soon) and I will introduce some lower body pull (e.g. dumbbell straight-leg deadlift).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day B: TRX row and push up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dat C: Dumbbell lateral raise, internal rotation with band, external rotation with band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or I might group the exercises in two days, push (squat, push up, lateral raise, internal rotation) and pull (db deadlift, row, external rotation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of those days will take no more than 20~25 min. It is a fraction of time I can afford before breakfast for instance, and at home. There is no surrogate for the lat pulldown (I don't want to attempt band assisted pullups yet until I get stronger at rowing), but anyway I still have to make progress on the inverted row, or TRX row from now on (yes, yes, they are not 100% equal, I know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-04-09T19:56:53.980" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T12:43:02.733" Title="Are there disadvantages of a split routine where everything else is kept the same?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24221" CreationDate="2015-04-09T16:00:22.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's easy to check if you have diabetes or not, just do a blood test, but 110 oz = 3.25 liters and that's a normal amount of water. Unless you have heart failure or a severely compromised kidney function it's a safe and good amount of water to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of water you should drink to make up for water lost due to sweating is 1.5 times the amount you lost (you need to compensate for the amount that the kidneys will discharge when you drink water). But you should not drink more than about 0.8 liters per hour. So, if you weigh yourself before and after exercise and you find that you lost 1 kg of weight, then you should drink 1.5 liters over the course of the next two hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastEditorUserId="8763" LastEditDate="2015-04-09T18:53:23.903" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T18:53:23.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24154" CreationDate="2015-04-09T16:18:13.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stroke volume increases if you exert yourself more. The better trained you are, the more the stroke volume will increase as you exercise harder, which means that the heart rate will increase by a lesser amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/403152-why-does-stroke-volume-increase-during-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/403152-why-does-stroke-volume-increase-during-exercise/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stroke volume increases depending on the type of physical activity your are doing and your training level. For example, during an upright physical activity like jogging, stroke volume increases from about 50 mL at rest to 120 mL at maximal exercise intensity. In a trained Olympic runner, stroke volume can increase from 80 mL at rest to 200 mL during maximal exercise intensity as the heart pumps more efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T16:18:13.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-09T22:23:13.573" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did crossfit for a while a few years ago, and as an influence from that my home workout today is mainly bodyweight exercises, kettlebell training and rowing. I've been training with a 16kg kettlebell for a long while, focusing on form and endurance, but I bought a 24kg and I was surprised at how my form actually improved significantly, because I couldn't simply force my way out of a bad rep. I had to do it perfectly or give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the increased risk of injury due to bad form with heavier weight worth the risk, considering the fact that I put a lot more conscious effort to focus on my form while using them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15347" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T05:59:23.977" Title="Using heavier weights to focus on form. Bad idea?" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24229" CreationDate="2015-04-10T05:59:23.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;More often than not, if you want to work on form, you should decrease the weight. If your form breaks, it does so when the load is high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally there are exceptions to this rule, as there are to any rule, but if you've found an exercise where heavy weights force you into strict form, you've found a magical exercise. That said, make sure you &lt;strong&gt;know&lt;/strong&gt; good and bad form, and that you're not simply making the assumption that the heavy weight reps were the good ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is the increased risk of injury due to bad form with heavier weight worth the risk, considering the fact that I put a lot more conscious effort to focus on my form while using them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes little sense, because injury is most often sustained from bad form. The reason heavy weights are associated with injuries, is because (too) heavy weights break your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, you should probably get someone to form check you. Either in person, or by you filming some sets, and posting them for feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T05:59:23.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24233" CreationDate="2015-04-10T07:34:45.193" Score="0" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done little bit of research on it and saw few links talking about Creatine is banned in Australia. Is that really true? I need to take health-examination before I return to Australia, are they going to refuse me for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15403" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T12:11:30.630" Title="Is Creatine illegal in Australia?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-04-11T06:15:33.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24232" CreationDate="2015-04-10T12:11:30.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.simplyshredded.com/topic/4630/australia-banning-creatine-help/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;No&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tga.gov.au/behind-news/tga-decision-ban-dmaa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DMAA was banned&lt;/a&gt; in 2012, but not creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T12:11:30.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24224" CreationDate="2015-04-10T12:43:02.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a big fan of whole body workouts.  For me, whole body workouts, depending on the intensity, can require too much recovery time.  The benefits of split routines is generally acknowledged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regularly performing a weight training routine that combines both push&#xA;  and pull muscle groups within the same workout is ideal for several&#xA;  reasons. First, since push and pull muscle groups contract through&#xA;  opposite directions in movement they tend to not be used as a&#xA;  secondary muscle group to support the primary muscle group that&#xA;  required to perform the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In other words, when performing a flat barbell bench press (chest is&#xA;  the primary) the biceps are not required to support the movement of&#xA;  the barbell. In this case, the triceps muscles would be considered the&#xA;  secondary muscle group and are required to support the chest muscles&#xA;  in order to perform the actual exercise (i.e. the flat barbell bench&#xA;  press). By not working the primary and secondary muscle groups within&#xA;  the same weight training workout each of the muscle groups that are&#xA;  going to be exercised will be fresh and ready to be aggressively&#xA;  worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnesshealth101.com/workout-routines/weight-training/push-pull-routines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.fitnesshealth101.com/workout-routines/weight-training/push-pull-routines&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is to plan your workout in the manner explained above.  I, for one, continue to train like a bodybuilder because I find that splitting up body parts into various days allows me to focus more on each individual body part and still recover sufficiently before the next time that body part is trained again.  From your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23652/should-i-wait-until-my-muscles-are-100-free-of-any-signal-of-soreness-before-tr&quot;&gt;previous posts&lt;/a&gt; and comments, it appears that recovery is sometimes a concern for you.  With that, I feel that switching to a split routine will benefit you more given the constraints (and prior concerns) you’ve listed.  Additionally, changing up your routine is a good way to stimulate some new potential muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T12:43:02.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24239" CreationDate="2015-04-10T16:26:34.333" Score="-1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am plannign on making an app that uses nutritional information about food, but finding good and reliable sources in the Internet for it is proving to be a challenge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every website displays different values of proteins, fibers, vitamins and minerals for the same fruits (for example or bananas) and the one website I though I could use (FDA) does not have such information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a reliable source which contains this kind of information for raw fruits and vegetables, but I have no idea where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone here know a good reliable gov source or independent source that can provide this information for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15408" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T16:36:34.193" Title="Where can I get nutrition information about food?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;&lt;fiber&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-04-14T19:00:30.340" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24238" CreationDate="2015-04-10T16:36:34.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question, as worded, is off-topic.  But, since I've written such a program in the past, I'll point you to what I used.  The USDA maintains a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nurtient Database&lt;/a&gt; that can be downloaded.  If memory serves me, it's large and is distributed in several parts.  There is documentation to help you decipher each part of the download.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T16:36:34.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-10T21:35:40.520" Score="1" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running through a new arm routine the last few weeks and seeing some decent results. The way the routine is setup is biceps, triceps then wrists/forearm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is if I should be doing a bicep exercise, then a tricep exercise and alternate or if I should just do all the bicep exercises and then all the tricep exercises which is what I've been doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, does it even matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T13:04:48.767" Title="Arms: Should I alternate target muscle during routine?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24241" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-10T23:23:08.907" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercises would you recommend to be done in under 15 minutes for bulky arms. I have tried some weight exercises in the past, but they failed to show results because of lack of follow through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15412" LastActivityDate="2015-04-11T04:48:00.117" Title="15 minute regimen for bulky arms" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24241" CreationDate="2015-04-11T04:48:00.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably won't get bulky arms in only 15 minutes of lifting, I would recommend at least 25-45 minutes twice a week if you want bulky arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some good exercises for mass are:&#xA;1) 4 sets of 6-8 heavy barbell curls&#xA;2) 3 sets of 10-12 hammer dumbbell curls&#xA;3) 3 sets of 10-12 seated alternating dumbbell curls&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's import to &quot;squeeze&quot; the muscle at the top of the movement, and come back down slowly. Most of your growing and muscle fiber tearing happens on the negative of the rep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15415" LastActivityDate="2015-04-11T04:48:00.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2297" CreationDate="2015-04-12T06:42:52.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's normal because after hard workouts you go to party and you didn't take any rest. Going to the party is like doing more exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why that has happened to you when you do leg workouts.&#xA;Don't do anything  after leg exercises. All you need is have some sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs are the only part of your body that you can't know if they are tired or not after the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15427" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-04-14T12:24:10.993" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T12:24:10.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24250" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-12T14:25:04.657" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a consensus over which of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/101Evaluations/pdfs/101EvaluationTests.Chapter.1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many test batteries&lt;/a&gt; in existence (YMCA, Harvard Step, Queens Step, Kindle, Rockport, VO2max...) best assess / quantify your current level of fitness / ability, and any improvement you may make over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware different tests target / measure different characteristics, so any info about the prefered / common test batteries by activity type / group e.g: Sprinting, Running, Rowing, Low impact, Strength / Anaerobic, Flexibility, Swimming...  would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T22:28:20.733" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T22:28:20.733" Title="Fitness tests, is there a consensus on which to use?" Tags="&lt;vo2max&gt;&lt;assessment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2015-04-22T22:51:31.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1558" CreationDate="2015-04-12T16:50:21.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Set some difficult challenges for yourself, like being able to do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POdzasJklxw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these 44 bodyweight exercises&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-04-12T16:50:21.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24240" CreationDate="2015-04-13T13:04:48.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don’t know that this has ever been studied.  That may be because there are many factors involved in &lt;em&gt;“seeing some decent results”&lt;/em&gt;, the least of which, may be the order of the exercises.   However, if you frame it in the context of whether the biceps or the triceps needs more improvement, or, whether your goal is big arms, then, order &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if your goal is big arms, you should look at training triceps first since they make up about two-thirds of your arm mass.  Training them early on in your routine will allow you to attack the muscle with more energy and intensity.  If, however, your biceps are the weak link, training them first should help.  In either scenario, other individual factors (nutrition, genetics, commitment, etc.) are involved that will combine to form the basis for any potential results you receive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important factor, in my opinion, is variety.  Switching up your training  (ie. alternating the order occasionally) affords you the opportunity to develop a more &lt;strong&gt;balanced&lt;/strong&gt; physique.  So, to answer your question, the order will matter only if you think it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T13:04:48.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-13T13:48:07.697" Score="6" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-gh&quot;&gt;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-gh&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and specifically the graphic there, is it theoretically possible that training hard / eg lifting intensely, at night takes advantage of peak GH periods...? Or is it that chances are this graph is premised on someone with 'normal' circadian rhythms... Ie someone training at 2am may well have cycles such that GH secretions peaks 'later' than 2am...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15435" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T18:25:13.710" Title="Growth hormone and training at night" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-13T13:49:24.017" Score="5" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming an average woman... a.k.a&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOT already strong or very much in-shape for their chosen sport... And following the following training plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, get strong with a simple beginner barbell strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The foundation of the routine would be the big compound lifts: squats, deadlifts, presses (bench and overhead), pull-ups, rows, dips, snatches, power cleans, clean and jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that list of fundamentals, add farmer's walks as a buttress for the squats and deadlifts in developing a strong posture against heavy loads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use Barbells for getting strong, with dumbbells a close second. Kettlebells work well for combining strength with conditioning, but they don't provide the really heavy stimulus that makes squats and deadlifts maximally productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After strength&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she's strong enough, she focuses on power and sport-specific strength. She has already incorporated power work in the form of power cleans quite early in training. Now she prioritizes more power exercises because she has a strength baseline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her program for a moderate medium-term set of strength goals would roughly look like a double bodyweight deadlift, squatting bodyweight ten times with ease, a dozen strict pull-ups, a bodyweight power clean, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sword-fighting-specific work, may involve rotational work, farmer's walks, more sprints, snatches and jerks for power development, barbell complexes or 20-rep squats for strength-endurance, unilateral work like lunges and pistols, gymnastic feats... she would benefit from being capable across a range of strength movements, so once she is strong, she may cycle through variations of basic movements in order to become familiar with a wide range of athletic movements. For example, cycling between back squats, front squats, loaded pistol squats, and Bulgarian split squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For both speed, conditioning, and power, she would do sprints and interval running. For power--which also benefits speed--she does the power variants of the Olympic lifts: power cleans, power snatches, jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it may be hard to challenge her conditioning during skill work, she may incorporate conditioning in addition to sparring, or perhaps she may get plenty of conditioning just from rolling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that was the case, perhaps because of a surfeit of technique work instead of sparring, then she may perform something from this cornucopia of conditioning options that is too numerous to fully list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: cycle through a moderate variety of power-biased conditioning workouts (such as kettlebelling, tire flips, sandbag complexes, Prowler pushes, and sled drags) and occasionally return to benchmark workouts (e.g., &amp;quot;how many 24kg kettlebell clean-and-jerks can I do in ten minutes?&amp;quot;) to gauge progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long would it take ON AVERAGE to get to the point so that she can:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fight while wearing really heavy armour. The helm itself can weigh up to 2kg, the mail can weigh up to 12kg. Add the gambeson and plates and you end up with around 20-30kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And have the anaerobic capacity to do 1 minute of really intensive swordfighting with a single handed sword weigh around 1.2kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus have superb control over her blade at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the strength to knock another armored knight to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that she is devoted to being that good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11677/15433&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11677/15433&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11659/making-a-training-plan-for-medieval-swordsmen-reenactment&quot;&gt;Making a training plan for medieval swordsmen / reenactment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this even belong here? Or perhaps on one of the other fitness-oriented sites, 'cause this site doesn't seem to be about HOW long it takes, but more WHAT it takes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15433" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T05:10:10.173" Title="How long would the training plan from this answer take to get to the level wanted in the question?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24258" CreationDate="2015-04-13T15:56:07.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I boxed for four years and came out of one of the best gyms in the midwest.  It was no frills and no excuses type of place in one of the worst areas of the US.  But they were popping out guys for the Olympic team like candy.  We also had a trainer that is recognized internationally.  I will let his methods answer your question since you are more or less asking how long does it take to fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2-4 weeks.&lt;/strong&gt;  Doing something that you are doing is just as much psychological as it is physical.  You must work out both of these at the same time.  There is no use of you getting into your armor and fighting only after you are in peak condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For new people we always had a saying - &quot;Get his ass in the ring.&quot;  We would never talk about how strong, how weak, how good someone looked training, how in shape someone was, how hard someone hit, until we saw them in the ring a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your sport is no different from this.   Let me give you an example.  My second week there I was in PRIME condition.  The trainer looked at me and asked if I was ready to fight.  He had me and a veteran (out of shape former Golden Glove champ) spar.  Three times four minutes.  Four minutes might as well have been four hours.  He beat the crap out of me the first round.  The second I got a few blows in.  Halfway through the second we both were wobbly and ready to pass out.  During the third we stood within 6 inches of each other and pushed each others' gloves every 30 seconds.  We couldn't move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my point is you will want to get in your garb as soon as possible and start &quot;real&quot; training.  The weights and other stuff is extra.  That's not the real thing.  Even if you can barely move at first, who cares.  Get into the garb and try to go through a (intense) simulated workout.  This should be a much bigger piece than weights and running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you said that you want to have great sword control.  Running sprints won't help that.  You will want to spar 2-3 times a week while doing sword work on the side every day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My normal routine while boxing included: weights 4 times a week (45 minutes), 2 times long cardio, 4 super intense training sessions times 1 hour (bag work, jump rope, footwork, handwork), 2-3 sparring matches at 4 minute rounds (amateur rounds were 2 mins back then).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearing the armor and sword work would be everyday after the first few weeks or at least 2-3 days a week.  How fast you get to this optimal level is much dependent on the amount of time you put in, the effort level, the coaching you get (practicing bad habits 2 hours a day gets you no where), and your natural ability.  You could be in shape and pretty good in &lt;strong&gt;3-6 months&lt;/strong&gt;.  But FOR SURE this will include just as much work getting you up to par on the sport, not just in shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt;  You are not entering a cross-fit competition.  Getting in shape is great.  However how you perform is directly correlated to your current ability to do the role playing things right now and how fast you can pick them up.  This may have some correlation to how well you are in shape but I would tend to think that is 10-20% of the whole equation.  I fought plenty of fat guys who couldn't squat jack that could kick some ass for four rounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2015-04-14T05:10:10.173" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T05:10:10.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24260" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24263" CreationDate="2015-04-13T18:16:29.160" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to perform head stands, however I need to make myself fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a daily basis I have been doing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Downward Dog, with both feet touching floor, 20 seconds&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tree Pose, each side 20 seconds&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other daily yoga poses, exercises can I do to acclimate my body to perform head stand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slow and steady wins the race!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10671" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T19:08:52.647" Title="Strengthening for performing Head Stand" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24257" CreationDate="2015-04-13T18:25:13.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No just the opposite.  The article is clearly saying that there is a link that during our heavy sleep our bodies use GH to repair ourselves.  What you are proposing is getting less sleep or less quality of sleep which would then reduce the amount of GH secreted to our body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the GH is a repair mechanism (mainly).  It can be enhanced due to vigorous/intense activities, sleep, and drugs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By working out at 2 AM you would be getting less sleep and I would guess from most people, not have the same intensity you could have during normal waking hours, therefore I would expect a decrease in GH levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there is no correlation between GH levels and training periods, other than you need high GH levels after training for your body to repair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T18:25:13.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24260" CreationDate="2015-04-13T19:08:52.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming you are practicing to perform the Sirsasana and you want to strengen your arm muscles to make the head stand. Here are two exercises you can practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Planking. When you do the Sun Salutations you go to forward bend (exhale) into half forward bend, head up (inhale) and then float/jump/step back to chatura dandasana. Before going into the final pose of chatura dandasana, you have a straight body supported by straight arms. This is called the lower plank. From this lower plank you go into a higher plank (inhale) and back into the lower plank (exhale) practice this a couple of times. Ashtanga always does series of five of every pose. Kino McGregor has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IOOmPVGfBM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nice video&lt;/a&gt; of this exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Underarm downward dog. Go into the downward facing dog and then slowly bend your arms to get into a downward facing dog on your underarms. Fold your hands together and walk with your feet towards your arms until you feel pressure into your shoulders. Then move your head into your hands (exhale) and push up again (inhale). Do this exercise a couple of times. You can also get into the pose like Kino McGregor does it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma8i8z6sTOg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;her video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T19:08:52.647" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24258" CreationDate="2015-04-13T21:07:04.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the person who wrote that answer, I'd say that no one has any idea how long it will take. It depends on your specific level of fitness at those tasks now, which you haven't told us. In general, I'd say that most fit women should plan for a few months of training to reach the goals you stipulate. However:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's impossible to be more accurate than that without evaluating your performance on your goal tasks and some benchmark strength exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The program covers long-term tasks like power development and sport-specific strength and conditioning. The program description is extremely general and should be a productive approach for at least several years of diligent progress alongside sport or technique training. For instance, the strength portion should last at least three to six months. Your goal may or may not be reached by that point, but this &quot;program&quot; describes how to organize one's training for several years past that point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T21:07:04.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-14T01:14:26.857" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;When performing different body strengthening exercises, I am at a loss on how to properly use my core abdominal muscles to complement the muscles that I am actively engaging. I know that one can specifically target the abdominal muscles through sit ups and crunches, but when lifting weights, punching, and kicking, I have no idea. I want to learn how to protect myself from injury by strengthening my core, but also learning how to use my core properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper use of the abdominal muscle to reduce injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15461" OwnerDisplayName="linuxfreebird" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T03:58:05.847" Title="What is the proper use of the abdominal muscle to reduce injury?" Tags="&lt;technique&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24270" CreationDate="2015-04-14T02:10:43.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, your body is going to try to use them properly and all you have to do is let it.  Using good posture and good form when executing lifts, punches, kicks, walking, standing, and every other aspect of life and your core will support you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you want more of a personal demonstration than I would suggest seeking out a personal trainer or other fitness professional and they would be more than happy to explain how your core supports you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15458" OwnerDisplayName="shadowbane" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T02:10:43.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24270" CreationDate="2015-04-15T03:58:05.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a really good question, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_abdominis_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rectus abdominis (abs)&lt;/a&gt; was a tough one for me to figure out personally. For a lot of exercises like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deadlift&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;front squat&lt;/a&gt; (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back squat&lt;/a&gt;, but so much more clearly on the front) you want to have your back locked into a neutral position.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a demonstration, try locking your forearm into a 45 degree bend at the elbow (halfway between the classic bicep muscle squeeze and being straight armed). You'll notice that your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceps_brachii_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tricep&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biceps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bicep&lt;/a&gt; are both tensed: the cool term for this is that one is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Glossary.html#anchor1275859&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stabilizer&lt;/a&gt; and the other is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Glossary.html#anchor1277148&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;antagonistic stabilizer&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to lock your back into a neutral and safe position, so that the muscles are taking the load and not your vertebrae, you need both your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_spinae_muscles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back muscles&lt;/a&gt; and your abdominal muscles locked, just like your bicep and tricep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically answering your question of &lt;em&gt;What is the proper use of the abdominal muscle to reduce injury?&lt;/em&gt;, I'll keep stealing from exrx with this quote regarding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Weaknesses.html#anchor2775611&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abdominal weakness&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Increased risk of lower back injury can occur during hip flexion,&#xA;  extension, stabilization and back extension activities. Erector Spinae&#xA;  muscles can hyperextend lower back more than usual if abdominal&#xA;  muscles are weak. The abdominal muscles tilt the pelvis forward,&#xA;  improving the mechanical positioning of the Erector Spinae,&#xA;  specifically when the lumbar spine becomes straight. When abdominal&#xA;  strength/endurance is not adequate to counter the pull of the&#xA;  antagonist Erector Spinae under load, these low back muscles are put&#xA;  at a mechanical disadvantage (active insufficiency) further placing&#xA;  additional stresses on these very same lower back muscles. Iliopsoas&#xA;  can pull on the spine during hip flexor activities if the abdominal&#xA;  muscles are weak. Risk is compounded when abdominal weakness is&#xA;  combined with hip flexor inflexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a reminder to myself, when doing a lift where I need my abs tight, I try to imagine one of my children jumping onto my stomach. Or maybe the split second before you know you're about to be sucker punched: that tensed up feeling where you harden your abs and increase abdominal pressure. This is also linked closely with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;valsalva maneuver&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people frown on holding your breath when you lift heavy weights, but in my experience the protection to your back is worth it and it's completely natural: if you were to try to push a car to roll-start it (as an example), you would probably hold your breath on your first push. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T03:58:05.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-15T04:14:12.357" Score="6" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, I keep my carbohydrates low, less than 100 grams a day if I can. I do a fair amount of running and strength training. I participate in regional amateur competitions for the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be doing a multi-week backpacking trip, involving roughly ~15 miles a day of trail hiking. Lots of altitude gain/loss, and carrying a ~40 pound pack. In the backpacking and hiking world, protein is treated as a nice-to-have second class citizen, and carbohydrates are much lauded for their easy energy. Everything is noodles, rice, flour, and other pulverized carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally I &quot;know&quot; that distance runners need a lot of carbs and I'd imagine that ~6 hours a day of strenuous backpacking is in the same ballpark. Specifically though my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there established guidelines for when a fitness activity requires significant carbohydrates in the diet beyond what can be provided via ketosis?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind eating carbs for two weeks if necessary, but I'd like to understand why they're necessary beyond just the folk wisdom of &quot;because you need carbs for energy&quot;. I would imagine Inuit people weren't lounging about all day and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_diet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;managed without the carbs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Re-asking this a slightly different way, how does someone &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; that they need to have carbohydrates in their diet in order to maintain a given level of aerobic activity?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-15T16:12:07.160" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T01:56:31.500" Title="Endurance activities and carbohydrates: when are they needed" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24276" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-15T07:31:44.160" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if massage therapy can help rebuild and gain muscle faster. Or is it just for relaxation? I want to go to a massage center this weekend after a month of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13576" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-15T18:06:26.010" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T18:12:17.380" Title="Does massage therapy help rebuild and gain muscle faster?" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24279" CreationDate="2015-04-15T08:05:21.537" Score="4" ViewCount="1651" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like most workout targeting tricep is harmful to shoulders (dips, overhead extension), I have suffer from shoulder impingement from the past and would like work out my tricep in a healthy way that won't harm my shoulder. Can someone suggest some workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15459" LastActivityDate="2018-04-17T09:54:18.317" Title="What are some shoulder healthy way to train tricep?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24277" CreationDate="2015-04-15T13:22:39.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a variety of triceps exercises you can perform.  However, if done incorrectly, some of them can impact shoulder problems.  To lessen any potential problems, I’d suggest you warm up by doing some light shoulder stretching, and, use relatively light weight to begin.  I’ll list a few, but, if they cause discomfort, you should &lt;strong&gt;stop&lt;/strong&gt; immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Triceps Dumbell Kickbacks – keep the upper arm parallel to the floor&#xA;and &lt;strong&gt;do not&lt;/strong&gt; swing the arm.    &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One-arm cable triceps extensions – extend the arm straight down to&#xA;the side  of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Single arm cable kickback – again, keep the upper arm parallel with &#xA;the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to the appropriate equipment, you should be able to adapt the above exercises to exercise bands.  You should perform any exercise in a controlled manner.  And, with a history of shoulder problems, you should pay close attention to any pain you may experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T13:22:39.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24281" CreationDate="2015-04-15T14:38:50.927" Score="3" ViewCount="1507" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it better to pyramid up to your max during sets compared to starting out with your max and then slowing bringing down the weight after?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, this is after stretching and warmup sets (30%-50% of 1RM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would assume that it's better to try and reach your max/do your heaviest lifts on fresh muscles rather than trying at the end of your workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example - 3x5 at 80%, 90%, 95% for pyramiding up vs 3x5 95%, 90%, 80%. Percentages are with your One Rep Max (1RM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only think low to high build muscle mass and high to low for aesthetics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 1 - The question spawns from that I've been plateauing on OHP and starting thinking why I can't break my weight. Once I started thinking of the logic that my arms/shoulders are tired by the time I get to my ORM attempt, it made me ask &lt;strong&gt;the question of why not start heavy first.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15463" LastEditorUserId="15463" LastEditDate="2015-04-15T19:34:52.640" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T16:38:08.080" Title="Pyramid training - High to low or low to high" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24280" CreationDate="2015-04-15T16:04:20.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will depend largely on how you warm up. Starting with your max from the get-go is, as you well know, not a good idea. Warmups are essential to prevent injury. Warming up at 30-60% and then jumping up to 90-100% is going to come as a shock to your nervous system, because if you wrongly estimate how heavy it's going to be, chances are you'll mess up your form by spending way too much energy at the first few centimeters of the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best tip, is that when you do pyramids, go low-to-high-to-low, making sure that before the first low, you are properly warmed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know, the idea of &quot;tiring myself out before I hit max&quot; might seem bad, but unless you're doing some serious hypertrophy work, &lt;strong&gt;it's not going to take away from your heaviest lift&lt;/strong&gt;. Even competetive powerlifters go low-to-high with some insanely heavy lifts before their max. Not only for warming up, but also to ease into the weight, so the intensity doesn't come as a surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: Doing 3-5 rep sets while working your way up, will have very little effect on your performance at the top of the pyramid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T16:04:20.233" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24280" CreationDate="2015-04-15T16:33:06.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only set to set workout supported by accredited strength training organizations is progressive, increasing workload from one set to another.  No one recommends reducing workload from one set to the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pyramid Workload&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not read trendy articles regarding strength training.  I have been reading research papers regularly for the past 20 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: The term workload does not refer to volume based but percentage of 100% of 1RM regardless of number of reps. Some refer to load, loading, and workload as the sum of reps times the resistance, which I would refer to as volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Set to Set&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no current research, that I know of, that supports reducing the workload from one set to the next. If anyone knows of any research that supports a reduction in Workload from one set to another I would like to see it.  I am not looking for somebody that just says this and that as if they are an authority.  Research where it is based on outcomes from a well-designed controlled studies that provide a consistent pattern of findings.  Research that had substantial number of studies involving a substantial number of participants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Day to Day&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For advanced training there is support for a variation, up and down in workload from one workout day to the next.  This does include weeks with a pyramiding pattern of light and heavy days. This is referred to as Micro Periodization. A micro cycle is in the range of 2 to 12 workouts, typically one week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Week to Week&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Periodization Mesocycle is a period of 3 to 6 weeks, typically 4 weeks.  There is somewhat of a pyramid pattern.  The first is an unload period where the workload is reduced 5-10% below current capacity. The next period, reload, ramps up to current capacity. The following two periods overload, and adapt is where progression ramps up.  The ramp is steepest (5-8%) for novice untrained individuals. For advanced individual the progression is reduced to about 1%. This concept is nearing industry consensus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Month to Month&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no pyramid pattern in workload of Mesocycles within a Macrocycle. The variations in a mesocycles is volume and intensity. Research has not reached a consensus on the effectiveness of a variety of volume and intensity cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is a very generalized description of Classical Periodization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question asked was about reducing workload within a workout.  There is no evidence to support a pyramided  daily workout.  All research take a progression stance. Ramp up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link to Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults near the top of my post supports what I have stated here. This report is a Position Statement from the American Academy of sports Medicine. It is based on a substantial number of studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I think of pyramiding I am thinking set rep scheme. Where a pyramid is something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;4 reps&#xA;7 reps&#xA;4 reps &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inverse pyramid:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;7 reps&#xA;4 reps&#xA;7 reps&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The % of 1RM should always progress from set to set.  At between 8% and 12% between each set.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a good paper on that subject:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the page the above link takes you to there is a full text PDF listed on top of the right hand column.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When making a routine you should start with your set rep scheme.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you are working out 3 day per week, High Intensity, High volume&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;set    1, 2, 3&#xA;&#xA;day 1: 12,10, 9&#xA;day 2: 10, 9, 9&#xA;day 3:  9, 9, 8&#xA;&#xA;The calculate your weight of each set:&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&#xA;80% of 12RM  (.8 x .70 x 1RM) &#xA;90% of 10RM  (.9 x .75 x 1RM)&#xA;9RM          (1  x .77 x 1RM)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way you get the variation in reps per set while progressing the effective workload. While your set rep scheme gives you your Pyramid, Inverse Pyramid, Ramp Up, Ramp Down, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T16:38:08.080" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24110" CreationDate="2015-04-15T17:03:20.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;NOTE:  This is an incomplete answer. There are so many things wrong with this routine.   I am in the process of creating a couple of routine assessment apps to assemble the data necessary to explain further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This routine needs a lot of work.  The major problems are the over training of many muscles, it does not allow sufficient rest between workout days, and the set rep schemes are substandard.  The evidence statements point to why this is true. It is too much work to knock out an answer in minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a list of exercises that target specific muscle groups.  I hesitate to give the link because of its inappropriate and misleading title.  A more appropriate title would be Targeted Muscle Group Exercises.  Please excuse the page layout, most of my pages were created in 1995 made to render on Netscape 1.0. This site was abandoned years ago.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://1stepaheadperformance.com/UltimateWorkout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;single muscle group exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link was where I was converting a fitness web app created in 1998, did not like how it worked out and it was abandoned. I made it somewhat functional today just for demo purposes.  You will be able to see how a plan should be constructed.  You can also see the differences between the various combination of Intensity and Volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exerx.com/strengthTest.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Demo Workout Plan Generator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;End of Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a Windows app that would help.  I am converting it a web app but has a lower priority that some of the other work I am currently doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you an idea where I am headed see this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.1stepaheadperformance.com/Strength-Training-Exercise-Weightlifting-Routine-Analyzer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Routine Generator&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example here is some crudely formatted data on the number of times a muscle is worked just in the first two days.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;[Triceps Brachii, Medial Head] =&amp;gt; 4&#xA;[Gluteus Maximus] =&amp;gt; 4&#xA;[Quadriceps, Vastus Medialis] =&amp;gt; 4&#xA;[Triceps Brachii, Long Head] =&amp;gt; 4&#xA;[Quadriceps, Vastus Lateralis] =&amp;gt; 4&#xA;[Deltoideus, Anterior Part] =&amp;gt; 4&#xA;[Quadriceps, Vastus Intermedius] =&amp;gt; 3&#xA;[Triceps Brachii, Lateral Head] =&amp;gt; 3&#xA;[Quadriceps Rectus Femoris] =&amp;gt; 3&#xA;[Teres Major] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Rhomboid Minor] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Trapezius, Anterior Head] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Trapezius, Middle Part] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Deltoideus, Posterior Part] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Brachialis] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Biceps Brachii] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Anconeus] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Trapezius, Inferior Part] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Rhomboid Major] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Latissimus Dorsi] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Pectoralis Major, Clavicular Head] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;[Pectoralis Major, Sternocostal Head] =&amp;gt; 2&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American College of Sports Medicine recommends&lt;/a&gt; the following for increasing muscle hypertrophy in novices and intermediate trainees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Moderate loading be used (70–85% of 1 RM) for 8–12 repetitions per set for one to three sets per exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Single- and multiple-joint free-weight and machine exercises be included in [a resistance training] program in novice, intermediate, and advanced individuals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 to 2 min rest periods be used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a frequency of 2–3 day/week be used...when training the total body each workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="15464" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T02:55:17.713" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T02:55:17.713" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24287" CreationDate="2015-04-15T17:06:14.273" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then at climbing competitions I'll need to do pull-ups while my head is looking to the left or right. I've hurt my neck a couple times doing this. I get a muscle strain or pinched nerve in the back of my neck which hangs around for several days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always heard that you should look forward or up while doing pull-ups to prevent injury. If I start practicing pull-up sets with my head turned to the side, am I going to build up a tolerance to strains or just create further injuries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15466" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T18:52:12.510" Title="How can you build tolerance to neck muscle strains?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24276" CreationDate="2015-04-15T18:12:17.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20120201/massage-may-help-sore-muscles-recover&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;It might&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the study, researchers put 11 men through a hard bout of exercise. It was the kind of session that was tough to finish and would normally have made an athlete stiff and sore for a few days afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following their workouts, each man got a 10-minute, Swedish-style massage, but only on one leg. The other leg was rested and used for comparison. Researchers repeatedly sampled muscle tissue from both legs before and after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They used gene-profiling techniques to look for chemical changes in muscle cells. They saw two main differences between the legs that were massaged and those that were rested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, massage switched on genes that decrease inflammation. Many painkilling medications also work by blocking inflammation. Second, massage activated genes that promote the creation of mitochondria, structures that are the energy factories inside cells. The fitter a muscle cell is, the more mitochondria it tends to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe what they're saying, there are benefits. Certainly, massage has been shown to help relieve cramping and inflammation. The above-linked research sounds a bit more sketchy with junk science like &amp;quot;switching on genes&amp;quot;, so I'm more than a tad skeptical. Similarly, anyone claiming that massage &amp;quot;flushes out toxins&amp;quot; or starts nattering on about &amp;quot;chi meridians&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;reiki&amp;quot; is essentially selling snake oil. If the snake oil helps, that's good, but don't mistake it for science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20120201/massage-may-help-sore-muscles-recover?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;contrasting study&lt;/a&gt; found no benefits other than increased relaxation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T18:12:17.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24284" CreationDate="2015-04-15T18:52:12.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My susceptibility to neck strains decreased significantly after I started focusing on overhead mobility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me that meant overhead presses, overhead squats, one-arm overhead pressing while in a squat, plus—and this is important—&lt;strong&gt;all the mobility work necessary to support those exercises&lt;/strong&gt;. I suspect that other methods of increasing stability overhead would help too, such as Turkish get-ups, snatches, and windmills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T18:52:12.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-15T20:27:30.737" Score="5" ViewCount="1639" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of time problems due to school, I only go to the gym once a week. On that day I do heavy deadlifts to get stronger (one of my goals), triceps, and calves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm small, and am wondering if this training method will help me gain some size in my arms and calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10013" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-16T21:19:30.187" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T18:40:06.267" Title="Will doing heavy deadlifts once a week increase muscle size?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24288" CreationDate="2015-04-16T00:17:52.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what the American College of Sports Medicine published as their &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Position Stand&lt;/a&gt; on workout programs designed for Hypertrophy (mass):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evidence from well-designed Randomized Control Trials that provide a consistent pattern of findings in the population for which the recommendation is made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is recommended that single- and multiple-joint free-weight and machine exercises be included in an Resistance Training program in novice, intermediate, and advanced individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dead lift is probably the most multi-jointed exercise.  As such you cannot target any specific muscle group.  The deadlift is considered an exercise for the back muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To target triceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kickbacks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushdowns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7VMxY.png&quot; alt=&quot;triceps&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calf Muscles would be Medial and Lateral Gastrocnemius muscles. The exercises that target the Calf are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Calf Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg Curls also work the Biceps Femoris. Standing Calf Raises would be the best choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z7UI9.png&quot; alt=&quot;Gastrocnemius muscles&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oaidc.png&quot; alt=&quot;Biceps Femoris&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-04-19T22:15:19.220" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T22:15:19.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23940" CreationDate="2015-04-16T01:04:49.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you are referring to mixing strength and hypertrophy in the same set-rep scheme. There have been a number of small research studies published in the past decade testing this concept. Small studies, but with results significant enough to get attention.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where all but the last set are strength sets (e.g. High Intensity and Low Volume) and the Last Set is a Hypertrophy Set (e.g. Low Intensity High Volume).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as your workout objective is not strictly strength, then there is no harm in trying this workout methodology. If you choose to give it a whirl, be sure to not violate the other guidelines of a workout that are generally agreed upon.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to attempt to clear something for you.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every workout consists of a combination of intensity and volume.  This is at the root of the most agreed upon schema in weightlifting and strength training. At the same time it is one of the miscomprehended and misused.  &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Variations of Intensity and Volume is the heart of Classical Periodization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Definitions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;International Weightlifting Federation's definition of intensity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Intensity of load is the average weight of the resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From page 393 of National Strength and Conditioning Association's, recommend resource to prepare for their CSCS exam, &quot;&lt;em&gt;Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning&lt;/em&gt;&quot; 3rd Edition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Various repetition and set schemes affect the true &lt;strong&gt;intensity&lt;/strong&gt; value&#xA;  for resistance exercise and indicate the quality of work performed.&#xA;  Instead of using time to calculate mechanical or metabolic power or&#xA;  intensity, it is more practical to use a value that is proportional to&#xA;  time to time namely, rep-volume.  The more repetitions performed, the&#xA;  longer the training session.   &lt;strong&gt;Dividing load volume by rep-volume&#xA;  results in the average weight lifted per repetition per workout&#xA;  session&lt;/strong&gt;.  This is a good approximation for mechanical and metabolic&#xA;  power output which are &lt;strong&gt;true intensity&lt;/strong&gt; or quality of work&#xA;  parameters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above definition was written by John Garhammer, PhD., CSCS.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From American College of Sports Medicine's &lt;em&gt;&quot;Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Training volume is a summation of the total number of repetitions&#xA;  performed during a training session multiplied by the resistance used&#xA;  and is reflective of the duration of which muscles are being stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Classical periodization.The classic (linear) model of periodization is&#xA;  characterized by high initial training volume and low intensity, and&#xA;  as training progresses, volume decreases and intensity gradually&#xA;  increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been shown that systematic variation of volume and intensity&#xA;  is most effective for long-term progression. Variation may take place&#xA;  in many forms and manifests by manipulation of any one or a&#xA;  combination of the acute program variables. However, &lt;strong&gt;the two most&#xA;  commonly studied variables have been volume and intensity.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Volume is Sum of reps times weight lifted.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Intensity is Average of reps and weight lifted.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Examples of Intensity and Volume Set Rep Schemes:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High Intensity and High Volume&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2 sets  12-14 reps novice&#xA;3 sets  8-12 reps intermediate&#xA;4 sets  8-10 reps advanced&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High Intensity and Low Volume&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;3 sets 2-3 reps novice&#xA;4 sets 1-3 reps intermediate&#xA;5 sets 1-3 reps advanced&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low Intensity and High Volume&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2 sets 12-16 reps novice&#xA;3 sets 12-16 reps intermediate&#xA;3 sets 12-16 reps advanced&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low Intensity and Low Volume&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;3 sets 4-5 reps novice&#xA;4 sets 4-5 reps intermediate&#xA;5 sets 3-5 reps advanced&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="15464" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T08:19:53.417" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T08:19:53.417" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24294" CreationDate="2015-04-16T08:00:22.357" Score="2" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose a person(who doesn't do any sports) changes a diet, so that it has a &quot;right&quot; ratio of protein, carbs and fats, and a small carbs deficit. What will happen next? will he lose fat or muscle or both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T17:10:33.697" Title="Is it theoretically possible to burn fat without any training only based on diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24293" CreationDate="2015-04-16T08:17:03.967" Score="8" ViewCount="8267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am underweight according to my BMI. I am male, my height is 183cm and I weigh 60 kg. I started to swim regularly in the last month. Mostly I will be doing free style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this routine reduce my weight more? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want lose any more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15434" LastEditorUserId="8462" LastEditDate="2015-04-16T14:29:49.707" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T22:46:43.233" Title="Is swimming a good exercise for skinny people" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24292" CreationDate="2015-04-16T08:30:24.243" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is good for people of any size. Your weight loss/gain will be determined by your diet. If you don't want to lose any more weight, eat more!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: Keep swimming! It's a great way to build muscle and endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I want to elaborate a bit. I usually try to spend the same amount of time writing an answer, as the asker spends writing the question, but this is a particularly good, albeit short, question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why swimming is so undeniably good, is that it provides so much of the same benefits as you would gain frm other exercises, without so much as a fraction of the same risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is an excellent cardio exercise. The water provides a much greater resistance than air, which means that the amount of calories spent per unit of distance, is much greater than when you run/walk/cycle/ski etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you have the opportunity to swim underwater to test the progress of your lung capacity. It also serves to help you with your efficiency, because the more energy you spend per stroke, the faster you'll need to resurface for oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming provides a full-body strength program. Certain muscles are obviously doing more work than others, but swimming can be done in so many ways that variety comes very naturally to any swimmer. And doing all this against the superior resistance you get from water, makes it very ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have the front crawl, the trudgen, the butterfly, the breaststroke, the backstroke,  the sidestroke, the doggy paddle, the survival travel stroke, finswimming, one-arm-one-leg, flutter back, feet first, corkscrew, gliding, turtlestroke, oarstroke... All of which give different distributions of effect. But even if you pick just 3 favorites, and stick with them, you'll still enjoy great results!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, you also have the lifesaving strokes in an equal amount of variety. And also the floating techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-04-17T17:11:17.277" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T17:11:17.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24291" CreationDate="2015-04-16T09:14:53.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you mean by carb deficit? There is no carb requirement level that you can be over or under. You can eat 80% carbs or 0% carbs and be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your total intake of calories is less than your total calorie use, you will burn fat, even if you lie in bed all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wether you lose fat or muscle depends on your current amount of muscle, on your level of exercise, on your genes and on your calorie deficit. Having a lot of muscle mass makes it harder to maintain it, more exercise will tend to increase muscle mass, good genes gives you more muscle mass and if your calorie deficit is large enough, you will lose large amounts of muscle mass . You can only burn about 500-1000 kcal worth of fat per day, the rest of your deficit will be balanced by breaking down your muscles, and muscles are only about 700kcal/kg compared to 7000kcal/kg in fat, so you lose that mass fast! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T09:14:53.137" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24433" CreationDate="2015-04-16T11:53:05.740" Score="2" ViewCount="1252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to do the Cat-Cow Stretch and don't seem to know how to use those muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a physio routine from a doctor to help heal some inner-spinal muscles, which included among other similar stretches one he called the Cat Cow Stretch, which is well documented online, exactly how he described it. My problem is that I just kind of kneel there with a straight back and have no idea how to even move my body like that. I don't know if it is just locked because of pain or I have just never been able to use my muscles that way. sitting or standing I seem to be able to physically put some inwards and outwards pressure to stretch those muscles, but even then it basically remains straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LtANN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15471" LastEditorUserId="15471" LastEditDate="2015-04-16T12:33:26.700" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T20:21:55.473" Title="Cat -Cow Stretch" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24288" CreationDate="2015-04-16T14:06:59.667" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercising only once a week is always going to be hard to make any change to your body. Especially quickly! It is common for routines to expect 3-4 or more sessions a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I could only go for a single session a week I would probably keep to a split and do one week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats&#xA;Overhead Press&#xA;Deadlifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the next week&#xA;Squats&#xA;Bench&#xA;Dumbbell bent over row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I do (as a basic core to my strength routine) but I go three times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8462" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T14:06:59.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9690" CreationDate="2015-04-16T14:17:44.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Novices need practice and I don't think one weekly session is enough to get comfortable with any lift. Yet, Stronglift focuses on squatting and a newbie will gain general lower body strength doing this, so his/her pull is likely to come along (if you get to 365 lbs for 3 x 5 on squat, your deadlift isn't going to stay put at 225! You're more likely to handle 385 lbs 1 x 5). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At one point however, squatting gets more taxing, and deadlifting gets VERY taxing. The catch-22 is: An intermediate lifter has to work technique with a heavy weight on the deadlift; I can do a zillion picture-perfect reps at 315, but my skill gets challenged whenever I get north of 400 for reps, or north of 460 for a single. I don't think doing just one heavy set per week is enough to develop this skill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use two sessions per week; on Saturday I do stiff-leg deadlifts for volume, doing 5 x 5 with some ramp up (may look like (post warm-up) 275 x 5, 295 x 5, 315 x 5, 335 x 5 and 350 x 5 // It's not a beginner's session), and on Wednesday I deadlift heavy for less volume, doing sets until I become somewhat fatigued (it depends on how I feel). Yesterday I did 2 sets of 5 at 425 and felt I was done. It's not much volume, but it was one of the hardest sessions I ever did; I need to work really hard if I'm to go from 500 to 600! I've been training for 2½ years, so I know what I can recover from within a week's time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15473" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T14:17:44.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24301" CreationDate="2015-04-16T16:30:20.780" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner at Parkour. I was trying out the Basic Landing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had read that when doing it, your thighs and your lower legs must be at an angle of 90 degrees (not less than that). But I am unable to maintain that angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I try to do so, my legs touch the ground quicker and my hands aren't able to touch the ground in time to support my fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing it right? Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15474" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-16T19:15:01.723" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T20:17:11.203" Title="Parkour Basic Landing" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24291" CreationDate="2015-04-16T17:10:33.697" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can check this outsanding things to make a perfect diet &lt;a href=&quot;http://xs.gy/fatburningguide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://xs.gy/fatburningguide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15475" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T17:10:33.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24298" CreationDate="2015-04-16T18:57:04.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an expert, but I've pretty consistently heard that the 90 degree landing is less a matter of &quot;don't go beyond 90 degrees you fool!&quot; and more a matter of reminding the &lt;em&gt;traceur&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;traceuse&lt;/em&gt;) to begin absorbing the landing immediately rather then letting their legs sink further, then beginning to flex their leg muscles to slow the fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, under practical aspects, you may be keeping your weight too far back, part of the slap landing is changing your vertical movement into horizontal, much like with the roll, so you should be leaning forward a bit on your landing, ready to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ah, and Parkour Science specifically pointed out that &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/3DXR-MRdRVI?t=2m49s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;90 degrees is a myth&lt;/a&gt; in their video series, so if you believe them (and they seem to have science on their side), you're fine doing less than 90 degrees for the slap landing. If you plan on rolling, you'll want 90 degrees or so to prevent having to add impulse to your roll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-16T20:17:11.203" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T20:17:11.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24298" CreationDate="2015-04-16T19:35:01.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic landing has no 90 degree restriction. I have a feeling that this myth started out as one guy just making it up on the fly, and people just ran with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing the basic landing, the most important part is that both feet &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; hands cushion the fall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preferably, the first thing to hit the ground, should be the balls of your feet (near the toes), while your legs are still stretched out, but not locked. This way, the ankle is the first joint to take the pressure, then when your heels hit, your knees will start to bend, shortly followed by your waist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, you should be bent forward (because of the bend at the waist) with your arms outstretched, ready to cushion the landing even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, the basic landing is often followed by a run. The 90 degree &quot;rule&quot; &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; help you start running quicker, as you'll spend less time getting back up. The slowest part of squatting back up, is at the lowest point. But this is something that will come naturally as you practice. And your hands can also help you accelerate, as they are also touching the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T19:35:01.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24288" CreationDate="2015-04-16T21:53:59.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, deadlifting once a week is better than not deadlifting once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't, however, work very well at making your arms or legs bigger. Maybe look into making a makeshift dip station at home for some quick tricep workouts that don't interfere with studying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T21:53:59.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1170" CreationDate="2015-04-16T22:07:39.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;P90x Ab-Ripper does, in fact, work.  I got into a routine of doing it every other day during a 6 month period where I couldn't otherwise do any workouts.  My core got noticeably stronger and within 8 weeks or so you can see increased definition in your core, provided you have reasonably low body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also modified the workout a little to make it more effective for me. Specifically, I (a) memorized the moves so I could do the workout even if I didn't have access to the video, (b) started out with 20 reps instead of 25, then worked my way up eventually to 30 reps as I could, (c) gave myself a flat 30 second break between each exercise, which helped me keep good form but toned down the 'cardio' effect, and (d) rotated the moves.  Every day I would shift my starting move up one, so on day 1 I would start with move 1, and the next workout I would start with move 2 and add move 1 to the end.  I think that keeps things from getting static, keeps you from getting bored, and also gives you an opportunity to do every exercise &quot;fresh&quot; at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15478" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T22:07:39.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-17T05:59:59.120" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is late night and I am already feeling sleepy, but I don't want to skip my exercises for the day. Is it going to affect the output? I am not too worried about it, but it would be good to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10858" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-17T13:31:39.077" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T13:34:41.310" Title="is it a bad idea to lift weights if I am feeling too sleepy?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24306" CreationDate="2015-04-17T06:09:56.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you're able to recover afterwards. It won't be your best workout but it will be better than no workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T06:09:56.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24306" CreationDate="2015-04-17T13:34:41.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's generally not an issue unless you're at the &quot;numb limbs&quot; level of sleep deprivation. When you're that tired, the odds are good that your head is not entirely in the game, and you run a higher risk of doing unsafe actions ranging from exceed your ROM to over-using your muscles to forgetting to put clamps on the ends of the weight bars. If you're ever unsure, add a bit of warmup stretching and cardio. It may help you wake up and, at the worst, it will put you in a safer situation if you just conk out in the middle of it. Better to fall asleep during a pushup than when benchpressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also would not recommend exercising right after a catnap, intentional or unintentional, for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T13:34:41.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-17T15:24:31.410" Score="4" ViewCount="15990" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 years old and started lifting about 5-6 months ago. I started to lift because I wanted a booty and muscular legs. I have always been skinny so I am set on gaining weight in muscle. My right butt cheek has always been bigger than the left. Since I started lifting, I feel like it has become more noticeable. &#xA;I'm not sure if the right is actually bigger or the left is just more lifted. I have read elsewhere that it could also be fat deposits and I have a slightly bigger right breast. Maybe the right side has more fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I fix it?&#xA;How long will it take?&#xA;Also any tips for lifting in general would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15483" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-04-17T15:51:57.847" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T22:50:48.590" Title="Uneven butt cheeks" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24311" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24316" CreationDate="2015-04-17T18:13:00.670" Score="1" ViewCount="1803" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have been weight training and doing a lot of cardio for five months now and after every workout I have my full cup of chocolate milk. Since I have a mild lactose intolerance issue I use lactose free milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I read something that mentioned that the most important component of this drink to restore the glycogen reserves is precisely the lactose which is milk's sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean that I have been drinking a useless mix and should look elsewhere to get the right combination of protein and carbs for this purpose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout program is weight training for about an hour three times per week and intense cardio between 30 and 60 minutes two to three times per week with the purpose of reducing my fat percentage which means reducing fat and increasing lean muscle mass, my objective is to get to somewhere between 12% and 15% of body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10642" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T05:00:27.823" Title="Is lactose free chocolate milk still a good recovery drink" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24311" CreationDate="2015-04-17T20:19:35.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Much of the important part of the milk after a workout comes from the fluids and protein, so it's not a waste. As for the sugar associated with the lactose, you could probably replace it with a piece of fruit which would also have other nutrients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15486" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T20:19:35.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24310" CreationDate="2015-04-17T22:50:48.590" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep lifting normally!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worst thing you could do, is try to work the smaller buttcheek more than the other, because this will end up creating a whole new imbalance, rather than correcting your current one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you could do, is work out like normal. Squats and lunges should be an integral part of your routine since you want to enhance the butt area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the chest area, the same principle stands; keep lifting symmetrically. Don't overthink it. Don't force the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, since you are 15 years old, you still have quite a bit of growing left to do, so all in all, chances are this is a self-correcting issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how long it will take, that's hard for any of us to answer, as we have very little information about your particular body. A physician or physical therapist would be more able to answer this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need help setting up a workout program, there are a plethora of threads and websites for this, and of course, if you have any questions that don't seem to have been answered, feel free to ask!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T22:50:48.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24314" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24337" CreationDate="2015-04-18T02:11:18.427" Score="1" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read somewhere that a massive superset composing of all muscle groups,each working the muscle until fatigue is more effective than multiple sets of the same variety(without fatigue) or multiple sets for different muscle groups, in one day or throughout the week. &#xA;Which approach is actually better for strength gain, and which is better for size gain(more nonfunctional size)? Citations to prove your answer are expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean by massive superset, is exercising all major muscle groups one after the other in a rep range to fatigue, without any rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15021" LastEditorUserId="15021" LastEditDate="2015-04-18T02:53:14.697" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T06:25:32.833" Title="Which is more effective for strength gain: a superset or multiple sets?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24314" CreationDate="2015-04-18T02:57:58.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Multiple sets that follow a proven training schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Massive strength gains&quot; are what every professional athlete and training team are looking for. The bros on bodybuilding.com and lurking in gyms across the world constantly think that they have unearthed the secret sauce to sick gainz, forgetting that there really are professional athletic organizations that make a science out of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a long topic, but strength gains basically consists of constantly overloading yourself, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19322/7091&quot;&gt;balancing on the knife edge of too little (not enough adaptation) and too much (exhaustion / over training / injuries)&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to to bench 315 or squat 500, the training programs that they follow are very clear cut. There are differences, but they have a lot in common with each other. It's really shocking how very few people in gyms know anything about training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Powerlifting/Westside.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Westside Barbell's Program&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/texas-method/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Texas method&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Madcow 5x5&lt;/a&gt; if you're an intermediate lifter. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; if you're not hitting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermediate strength standards&lt;/a&gt; yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, if pyramid's/supersets/down-the-rack's or whatever else was a critical link in the chain to the Olympics or international records, you'd see those athletes making it a core component of their training. They simply don't have the time of flexibility to add non-essential &quot;stuff&quot; into their training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body builders, dudes on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolic_steroid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;juice&lt;/a&gt;, and your general gym rat are a whole different ball of wax, but that's not the pursuit of pure un-adulterated strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T03:01:01.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24311" CreationDate="2015-04-18T05:00:27.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little research shows that lactose-free milk is made by adding lactase to milk, which breaks down the lactose into simpler sugars. If the brand you are drinking is like that, it will have no difference on your nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T05:00:27.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24317" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-18T05:21:37.710" Score="5" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 14 year old female, a little over 5'4 (162 cm), and weigh about 175 lbs (79 kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I realized that I needed to get in shape and be healthy. I've got a lot of physical problems to overcome, but I'm motivated to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I need to work on training my heart and muscles around my lungs, as well as my leg muscles and stretch my hamstrings, so I've made a routine of some light jogging/running everyday and it's been a big help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I want to do more than fix my cardio. I'm not talking about some 6-pack abs or a mega toned body, I mean having some decent muscles, especially in my abdomen. I've got very large breasts, however (32DD), so exercise, especially crunches and push ups are very hard and painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody suggest a good routine for this, and if my running routine is actually doing me good when sometimes I can barely move my legs or stand? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15489" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2015-04-18T12:00:50.330" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T04:31:03.573" Title="How Should I Tackle My Routine?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24317" CreationDate="2015-04-18T07:30:21.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming is a good general exercise, as it will work most of your muscle groups, but if you just want to work your core try a combination of: Squats, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/31/plank-variations-ab-workout_n_5630203.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Planking&lt;/a&gt;, and a few &lt;a href=&quot;http://homegym-exercises.com/variation-frog_situp_butterfly_crunch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crunch variations&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T07:30:21.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23869" CreationDate="2015-04-18T13:11:20.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to say what the reasons for your problems are. It is impossible to give personal correct answer without knowing you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can give you some advices which helped me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat and drink enough before you start your training, if you have too little energy it is like going through hell.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your Training has to be suitable for yourself, if you are a beginner you can't perform the training of an olympic athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Training, especially strength training is a very hard training and especially at the beginning it is important to never give up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I could at least help you a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15490" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T11:19:44.940" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T11:19:44.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24317" CreationDate="2015-04-18T13:31:54.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with arober11, swimming is a good exercise, especially when you are &quot;a little over&quot; and because you &quot;can barely move your legs or stand&quot;, it is very joint-friendly and of course it also trains many muscle-groups at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend you to do a litte strenght workout, even it is only once or twice a week --&gt; you don't have to do push-ups, there are much easier exercises to do, maybe you search the web. But do a whole body workout, not only for example your abdominals. (correct strength-training can also increase your mobility (use the whole range of motion))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion other disciplines like tennis, volleyball, badminton... are also very good because they are not that monotonous like running and they also train many muscle-groups at the same time and also coordination... . But like running they are not very joint-friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However most important is that you have fun what you do and that you do it regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I could help you with my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15490" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T13:31:54.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24154" CreationDate="2015-04-18T13:39:26.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The max heart rate is genetically defined and decreases with the age, but there are young people with a &quot;low&quot; max heart rate and there are also old people with &quot;high&quot; heart rates. And both is ok with no health risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope I could help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15490" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T13:39:26.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24100" CreationDate="2015-04-18T13:53:59.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Geoff Hutchison, but I also have to add that an exercise you don't know or you haven't done many times are always more physically demanding than an exercise which you perform for years, because your body remembers movements, so it seems easier to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15490" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T13:53:59.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23869" CreationDate="2015-04-18T13:54:00.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeling tired and nauseated after a workout &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise-induced_nausea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;is normal&lt;/a&gt;, especially if you've been pushing yourself. You've likely burned through a lot of energy reserves, and your adrenaline will be crashing. If it happens every time, even after light workouts, I'd recommend seeing a doctor, just in case there's something wrong, maybe an endocrine issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As regards the nausea, after a very intensive workout, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/qotw/question/1000148/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;your body has been routing blood to the more important exercising bits&lt;/a&gt;, so your stomach will be a bit queasy for a time. It's natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-18T19:58:39.163" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T19:58:39.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24324" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-18T18:00:51.063" Score="3" ViewCount="418" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all I am new here but would like to ask a question.&#xA;I started out at 390 lbs and switched to a plant based diet on Jan 1st 2015. I am down to 335, now my question is 6 weeks ago I started lifting weights, 2 day work out schedule with 2 days off in between, I do a full body workout over the 2 day period which includes 2 sets both sets to failure between 8 and 12 reps. Since I started lifting my weight loss has totally stalled, I eat roughly 1800 calories a day and on a plant based diet believe me it is a ton of food. I no longer eat any refined sugar, no meat or dairy and no processed food of any kind. I feel great but am curious about the weight loss.&#xA;Thanks for taking the time to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15494" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-19T06:07:06.490" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T03:43:42.830" Title="Weight loss and weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24324" CreationDate="2015-04-18T18:40:47.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to the Fitness SE!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, well done on your weight loss so far! It takes a special kind of endurance to lose weight at that rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when you say that your weight loss has stalled, do you mean it has stalled completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very likely that as you began lifting weights, your body started putting more of the diet into use, because when you lift weights, your muscles are going to need way more protein in order to recover between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is that you try to keep your calories-per-day count, but try to shift it in a way that your protein ratio is higher. Some of the most protein rich sources for vegetarians are quinoa (if I'm spelling that right), seitan, buckwheat and hempseed. My sister is also a weightlifting vegetarian, and swears by these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I would like to point out that losing weight will always come down to caloric deficits. I.e. spending more calories than you eat. If you have indeed stalled when eating 1800 calories a day, I would wager that this is a very temporary issue that will resolve itself. If the issue persists, you may want to try to spend more energy by taking some walks on rest days for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people tend to focus a lot on their &lt;em&gt;daily&lt;/em&gt; caloric deficits, but it's the long-term deficit you really notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-04-19T01:06:34.753" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T01:06:34.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24317" CreationDate="2015-04-18T23:19:15.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yea Allyson! You are young and have already started getting on the right track.&#xA;You write that you have &quot;got a lot of physical problems to overcome&quot; so make sure that you have cleared anything that you need to clear with your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This question/answer about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12860/beginner-in-physical-fitness-need-tips-and-advices/12864#12864&quot;&gt;getting back in shape&lt;/a&gt; will give you some good steps to take that includes cardio, postural or core strengthening, flexibility and measurements to keep motivated besides just weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are having too much trouble with your legs from running you may be going for too much too soon. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch to 5K&lt;/a&gt; can give you a plan. As others have said, aquatic exercise can be a good way to exercise that is non-impact and prepares your muscles and tendons for more strenuous workouts.  See: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6894/what-is-the-a-proper-way-to-pool-run/6909#6909&quot;&gt;how to pool run.&lt;/a&gt; Many beginners to exercise overdo, get injured and give up. So progress gradually and give your body recovery time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for breast size interfering with your workouts,  you can get some pretty good workouts with resistance bands. That may be an easier way to begin strength training than starting with bodyweight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As @Android points out, sports and activities add enjoyable fitness into your lifestyle with social contacts who also enjoy fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition:  Don't forget that any healthy lifestyle includes healthy foods in healthy proportions.  Look at your daily routine to find where you can cut out unnecessary sugars like soft drinks and processed foods etc. The biggest changes you can make in your body composition is with proper diet (not a fad diet) in conjunction with exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on a good start. Enjoy your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-04-18T23:19:15.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24324" CreationDate="2015-04-19T01:04:28.497" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Resistance training is anaerobic and does not, in itself, burn a significant amount of calories.  Resistance training is not effective in weight loss or body fat reduction.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More on RT and Weight Loss here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24339/change-my-routine-to-use-strength-exercises-that-are-also-cardio-exercises/24356#24356&quot;&gt;Resistance Training and Fat &amp;amp; Weight Loss&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years back there was a sensation in the fitness industry regarding weight training stimulating the metabolism, leading to weight loss.  This has not yet reach a consensus and there exists some opposing views.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a consensus that weight training is healthy.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a consensus that being over weight is very unhealthy.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion:  Weight training and diet must be a good thing.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training requires an expenditure of energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed.  I would conclude that weight training the body must somehow get this energy from the consumption of calories. The medical scientific communities do not yet fully understand the metabolic process involved in this transformation of calories to anaerobic energy consumption.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will venture a guess as to why your weight loss &quot;stalled&quot;. Weight training converts fat to muscle.  Muscles are heavier per unit of area than fat (higher density).&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that your body fat is being reduced rather than your body weight.  This is still making you much more healthy than no diet and no weight training. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plant based diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is very little difference between a carb calorie and fat calorie. Both are stored as fat.  The carb calorie is slightly reduced (consumed) by the metabolic processing to convert it to fat.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs are either sugar or complex.  Sugar carbs have no nutritional value. FDA labeling requires carbs be broken in to sugar and complex on food labels. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fruit calories are mostly sugar carbs in the form of fructose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A protein diet will force the body to go to the fat reserves for energy. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Years ago a partner of mine wanted to get in the business of weight loss.  We met a doctor from Jacksonville FL. His sister was obese and got her stomach stapled. This lead to her death.  As a result of his sister's death, this doc took two years researching  quick but safe weight loss.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet he came up with was 100% protein.  Three four ounce servings of protein a day.  And all the sugar free gelatin you want. WITH SUPPLEMENTS.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A high protein diet must include large consumption of water&lt;/strong&gt;, or bad things will happen, e.g. kidney damage or failure could occur.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I emphasize supplements is that I tested this doc's diet plan.  Twice.  Once 4 weeks with supplements, and once without.  Without supplements caused some obvious issues in the third week such as bleeding gums, constipation, and bad moods.  And I assume the bleeding gums was the result of some serious underlying issues. I did not continue to week four. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I gave this plan a try is it came from a source that was not motivated by money but rather by the death of his sister.  I do not believe anyone's &quot;facts&quot; while trying to sell something.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the major supplement of this diet was Bios-Life (bios-life-complete.com). This is the only supplement still on the market.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other supplements were Rexall Optimum Performance, Rexall Nature Force and a Multi-Vitamin.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting ingredients though:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nature Force&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Mixed Berry skin (Grape, Cranberry, and Billberry)&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Alfalfa&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Tomato&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Wine Grape Concentrate&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Plant Enzymes&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Cruciferous Vegetable concentrate&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Flower Heads of Cauliflower and Broccoli&lt;br&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimum Performance&lt;br&gt; &#xA; Zinc&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Spirulina&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Bee Pollen&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Royal Jelly&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Siberian Ginseng Root&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Octacosanol&lt;br&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nature Force was a good source of natural vitamins.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Optimum Performance was there for mood elevation.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I make no recommendation, this was my personal experience. During the first 4 week diet, my weight when from 220 to 190 in 28 days.  I'm 6' 2&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never got gotten involved in the promotion of any diet plan or supplements. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scientific consensus on most vitamin supplements is they make expensive pee.  Expressed in non-scientific terms.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion if a vitamin is not synthetic and is not hot pressed (squeezed into a pill under heat), they may provide real nutritional value.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently learned that vitamin have right and left spirals.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not coincidentally, the landing pad receptors of vitamins in the body are also spiraled.  As food is digested the spiral shape of the vitamin binds with the matching spiral shape of the vitamin receptor.  Left and right do not bind very well.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my opinion that eggs, low fat cheese, low fat meats and fish should be included in a diet.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think most dieticians would not recommend pasta in a weight loss diet.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When selecting plant food in your diet you should take a careful look at the fat, carbs, protein, vitamin, and mineral content. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a comparison of quinoa with dry pasta:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9Wi4y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pasta vs. Quinoa&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T03:43:42.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24324" CreationDate="2015-04-19T03:51:55.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of answers floating around on here that pertain to you, but foremost I would point out that there is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;documented and peer reviewed evidence that strength training is effective for fat loss (more so than most cardio)&lt;/a&gt;, so don't give it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you strip things down to basics, if you're adding strength and in a calorie deficit (starting from an overweight position), you will:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase your muscle size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase your strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower your overall body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower your body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People can split hairs about low carbs / HIIT / other items, but it's really not necessary. If your diet is good, you're strength training, and you have some conditioning work going on (walking, HIIT, calisthenics, hiking, whatever), you're on the path. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to a reason for what you're experiencing, I would seriously consider that it might be muscle development. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19403/7091&quot;&gt;A pound of muscle is much smaller than a pound of fat&lt;/a&gt;, so adding even a tiny amount of muscle can quickly pack on some pounds, but they are good pounds: that muscle is hugely critical for a well functioning body plus &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;muscle is very calorie expensive so you get a bump in your resting caloric needs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZwkXS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T03:51:55.990" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24334" CreationDate="2015-04-19T04:10:23.447" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;This stackexchange site frequently closes questions because people are asking questions that require a qualified medical practitioner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I have my own question that I think falls into that category. I've spoken to my general practitioner doctor and it's clear she's not a sports medicine doctor. She would much rather have me tone down my ambition rather than help me push.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between physical therapists, sports medicine doctors, and whatever else is out there, what should I look for and how should I go about finding a good sports medicine practitioner?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have my fitness goals, I want to pursue them, and I need a medical practitioner in my corner that has experience with people pushing their bodies hard in a safe way. Will any spots medicine doctor do? Are there things I should ask or look out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T00:39:49.627" Title="seeking qualified sports medical advice (USA)" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;&lt;medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6310" CreationDate="2015-04-19T08:49:55.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fact is, eating fewer calories causes &lt;em&gt;immediate&lt;/em&gt; weight loss! I was feeling poorly yesterday and so consumed only 1148 calories, way below my usual 2200 calories. This morning I've dropped a kilogram on the scales. I've noticed this immediate effect before, when for some reason or other I've eaten less and immediately lost weight. The correlation is as plain as night following day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I believe fat people (including me!) are fat because they eat more than their body and lifestyle need, in the vast majority of cases. One of the things I immediately notice when watching old movies (from the forties and fifties, say) is how &lt;em&gt;slim&lt;/em&gt; everybody is! You've got to scan every scene to see a fat person. They were as rare as hens' teeth back then. And yet most people were healthy without all the plethora of fast-food outlets that we have today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15499" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T08:49:55.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24331" CreationDate="2015-04-19T12:13:20.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you live in an area where you have a choice here are some considerations to help you decide who you want to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Certification - Look for an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.abos.org/find-a-certified-orthopaedic-surgeon.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;orthopedic physician certified in the sports medicine subspecialty&lt;/a&gt; and check to see that their certification is current.  In the U.S. sports certified physical therapists will have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apta.org/apta/findapt/index.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SCS initials&lt;/a&gt; after their name.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recommendation - You should be able to find several people within your sport or activity who are happy with their doctor or therapist.  Often when you have a type of pain or an injury, it is very common for several people around you to mention that they've had the same thing, what they did to fix it and who they saw. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthgrades.com/sports-medicine-directory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online physician reviews&lt;/a&gt; are also available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calling different clinics with specific questions will help you hone in on the practitioner that seems to have what you are looking for.  If the practitioner takes care of a team or participates in your sport, they are more likely to understand your goals better.  Find someone who specializes in your body part that needs attention. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expectations - Ask your practitioner if your expectations are within the tissue healing time parameters.  For example, it takes bone a specific time to start healing and it will take that long whether or not your motivated to heal faster. Different tissues have their own time frames for healing. Most of us aren't making the big bucks that professional athletes make, so taking a little longer to heal well keeps our bodies healthier as we age.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sports Massage - In addition to your sports medicine doc and your sports physical therapist you may also want to consider an experienced sports massage therapist who works with athletes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that gives you some ideas of how to find the practitioners who can help you meet your fitness goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T00:39:49.627" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T00:39:49.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24344" CreationDate="2015-04-19T12:42:07.390" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;As well as weight lifting, I do some all-round training like running and Quads and Core (okay, the class name is officially &quot;Legs Bums &amp;amp; Tums&quot;). With these kinds of exercises it helps if you are not weighed down by a big meal you had earlier on the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to have lots of energy, but not have a full bowel if you know what I mean. When should my last big meal be, and what should I be eating to give me energy without becoming weighted down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: How about this. Somebody competing, in running or swimming say, needs to be full of energy but not be full of food (or else they add to their body weight, making them slower). What would they do? Snack on food 24 hours before rather than have big meals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T07:35:15.837" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T17:29:17.807" Title="Eating before a training session - what do you do to be &quot;light&quot;?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24314" CreationDate="2015-04-19T21:42:22.130" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most trainees, the best way to develop strength is to perform a few high-quality reps of compound lifts at a high percentage of the maximum you can lift in that exercise. There are many confounding factors but that's the foundation. Therefore, most strength programs emphasize 1-5 repetition sets where the amount lifted is close to your repetition maximum for the number of repetitions you executed, and where you rest significantly between sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supersetting is basically not recommended for pure strength development. There are plenty of reasons to use supersets, and it can certainly drive strength gains, but it is not an optimal approach for developing strength as opposed to other attributes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For size gain, both supersets and rested sets can be appropriate, depending on the trainee's overall programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's unclear what part of this requires citations, since this covers a wide breadth of sports science. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T21:42:22.130" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24339" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24341" CreationDate="2015-04-20T04:06:39.530" Score="7" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some exercises that use weights or focus on strength that will increase your heart rate somewhat in order to burn more calories while also building muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I thought of is boxing as punching focuses on your muscles as well as getting your heart rate up and also you're bouncing on your toes which works the calfs a lot and also gets the blood pumping. Although this example isn't as focused on the muscles as I'd like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want are some exercises to maintain muscle mass but will also burn a decent number of calories. My goal is fat loss, while maintaining or increasing muscle mass. Currently I do cardio (cycling) and then do weights, bench press, bicep curls, etc. and bodyweight exercises too, pushups, wall sits. But since I have a stronger focus on weight loss I'd like to use strength exercises that also burn calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T04:40:42.853" LastActivityDate="2015-04-25T01:43:07.527" Title="Change my routine to use strength exercises that are also cardio exercises?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22271" CreationDate="2015-04-20T04:40:43.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing the Jefferson lift for years. I suffer from frequent sciatic pain due to slight scoliosis, and I find this lift to be the most back friendly of the the Squat/Deadlift type exercises. Would like to see a &quot;Delavier&quot; type comparison between the conventional DL and the Jefferson, but I find it to a be a move I can do with little or back stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15502" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T04:40:43.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24339" CreationDate="2015-04-20T04:50:47.717" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;All exercises have an element of both cardio and strength. What differentiates them is how much resistance is used (or can be used) and how much of it you do. A one-rep-maximum bench press is extremely 'strengthy' even though you'll probably break a sweat in the few seconds it takes to execute. Walking, despite being one of the easiest forms of exercise, is still resistance training against gravity. It's at the far easy end of the strength scale but it's still there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strength workout can be made more 'cardio-y' by removing highly skill-dependent and risky exercises, reducing rest periods and weights, and increasing reps. So if your strength workout looks something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 3 sets of 5, 225 pounds (which for the purposes of this example is ~80% of your maximum), with four minutes rest between sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three sets of 10 pull-ups (where we'll assume you can do ~15 at your best), with four minutes rest between sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then a cardio-ified version of that workout might be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Five rounds: squat 135 pounds 10 times, then 5 pull-ups, no rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 3 sets of 20, one minute rest between sets, 95 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 rounds of: max reps pull-ups, max reps dips, rest 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your case, try using 50% of your current bench press and curl weights, but double the reps and superset them for several rounds. Rest a few minutes and do something similar with a circuit of bodyweight exercises, organized so that you rest one muscle group while using another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, though, I'd stick to separate cardio and strength workouts, or do an unweighted strengthy-cardio circuit after my pure-strength workout, or use kettlebells for strengthy cardio. These are more effective approaches and safer to boot. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the original workout described above, heavy squats and pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run a mile (notice, this goes after the strength work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the original workout described above, heavy squats and pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Five round circuit of 20 air squats, 15 sit-ups, and 10 push-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the original workout described above, heavy squats and pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Five to ten minutes kettlebell swings, aiming for maximum reps. (A dumbbell can be used as a substitute.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T16:48:47.747" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T16:48:47.747" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24335" CreationDate="2015-04-20T14:53:48.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Higher energy foods come from the more calorie-dense foods like sugary granola bars/power bars. For me, I like to have some chocolate to get my sugars up high and provide quick energy for a more intense workout. Namely, when I come home from work I like to have a quick snack, maybe a few pieces of chocolate, maybe a sugary drink (no more than 250 ml) to get my energy up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also helps with the &lt;strong&gt;motivation&lt;/strong&gt; which can be hard to pump up after a long day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15486" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T14:53:48.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24335" CreationDate="2015-04-20T16:01:09.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Somebody competing, in running or swimming say, needs to be full of&#xA;  energy but not be full of food (or else they add to their body weight,&#xA;  making them slower). What would they do? Snack on food 24 hours before&#xA;  rather than have big meals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe read up on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19123/7091&quot;&gt;this answer related to carb loading&lt;/a&gt;. The short answer is that the human body can store around 2,000 calories in blood sugar. What you do the day before a big cardio event matters just as much (if not much more) than what you do the morning of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my quasi-pro cycling history a common practice was to eat a lot of carbs at night, and then have a really small breakfast in the morning. If your body is in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ketosis&lt;/a&gt; then things get even more complex because you're not really carb dependent anymore. Ketosis is really its own separate topic, but that along with things like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermittent fasting&lt;/a&gt; underline the rather wide array of diet choices that athletes and people of all stripes use with success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend getting your diet dialed in to whatever mechanism you like. Low carb, high carb, IF, paleo, constant dirty bulk, whatever. Then you'll make diet changes that are in sync with your overall program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T17:29:17.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24339" CreationDate="2015-04-20T17:30:51.857" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to grade my recommendations by how deep your caloric cut is, because that affects what you can safely do.  In general you will find that the larger the muscle group involved, the more calories expended in doing the exercise.  I am assuming the OP is in generally good health and only has to worry about a few extra pounds.  Also, my body fat percentages should be adjusted up by roughly 5% if you are a woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Very little or no caloric deficit: only increasing activity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expect a very slow decrease in body fat at this rate.  It's really for that last 5% body fat you need to lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to emphasize exercises that involve your whole body and elevates your heart rate.  During these exercises, it's advantageous to have a heart rate monitor to make sure you aren't pushing too far into the red zone.  It gets easier to overdo it the older you get, so monitoring yourself is just good insurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic Lifts or Power Cleans: involves just about every muscle in your body and increases your heart rate pretty significantly even for short sets.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on short sets (3-6 reps) and many sets to build volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just keep adding sets until you feel like your form is starting to break down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick a threshold of 5-10 sets where you increase weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted carries: Examples are farmer's walks, waiter's walks, and suitcase carries.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on speed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you can move a weight 50 ft without dropping in under 25 seconds, increase the weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthens your grip, weight plus movement also gets your heart rate up, but not as intensely as Olympic lifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell or dumbbell complexes: these are quite flexible, and can also fit the bill.  Be conservative with your weight and limit it by your weakest lift in the group&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consists of 4-5 exercises that can flow from one to the other without letting the implement go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work with a starting set of 6 reps per exercise, rest 60s after you do all the exercises, and repeat with one less rep each set until you hit 0.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try and get all that work done in 24 minutes or less.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are very demanding, and should be followed by a nice slow walk for active recovery.  1-2 mile walk keeping your heart rate in the active recovery zone (typically somewhere around 100-110 BPM but varies by individual).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Moderate caloric deficit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The caloric deficit should be enough to lose about 1 pound per week, any more than that and you are looking further down the list.  This should get you from about 20% to 15% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can still build strength, but you will be working against a bit of a headwind.  At this range we'll be combining weighted endurance work and active recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: 10-20 rep sets.  These are pretty brutal, but you want a weight that you can have 1-2 reps left in the tank with your current energy levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any of the above activities: adjust the intensity of your work as what you can perform will be affected by the caloric deficit.  Allow more rest between sets of that type of work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simply minimize rest between sets: adds to the affect of fatigue, but also keeps the heart rate from cooling down too much.  If you have to choose, keep normal rest on major work, and reduce rest on assistance work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget the recovery walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deeper Caloric Deficit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are talking 2 lbs / week or more by diet alone.  You simply won't have the energy to do high intensity work very well, and might not be able to get enough volume to have any training effect.  Use this for when your body fat is over 20%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted carries: just with lower weight and moderate speed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduced rest times: same as with moderate caloric deficit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More focus on endurance work (20 rep sets): don't use anything heavier than 65% of your one rep max (if you know it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finish up your work with a recovery walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Straight ketogenic diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I know of to preserve muscle mass with a severely restricted caloric deficit is a ketogenic diet.  Please only consider this if your body fat is 30% or more.  Drink lots of water, and make sure you get the required amount of protein to build muscle--it will be required just to maintain the muscle you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you can really safely do at this level of diet is endurance work and recovery walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest risk with a ketogenic diet (no carbs, or below 100g of carbs per day) has to do with catabolizing your muscle.  To preserve muscle while exercising you want 1g of protein per pound lean body mass.  A bit more wouldn't hurt, but definitely no less.  Additionally, you need to keep your body using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/the-three-metabolic-energy-systems&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aerobic energy system&lt;/a&gt; to burn fat but not increase the demand for quick energy.  With &lt;em&gt;glycogenolysis&lt;/em&gt; and and &lt;em&gt;phosphogen&lt;/em&gt; systems, your body needs carbs (or glycogen) to burn.  In it's absence your body will attempt to convert protein to a suitable replacement.  While the body is smart enough to use dietary protein before it's own musculature, demands for quick energy with intense exercise will quickly outpace your body's ability to use dietary protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In ketosis, stay with aerobic work only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat 1g protein per pound lean mass, up to per pound total body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink plenty of water, since the body's demand for it will increase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-04-21T12:51:44.490" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T12:51:44.490" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6310" CreationDate="2015-04-20T18:37:45.610" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it might be harmful depending on where you are getting your remaining calories from and how your body reacts to your new diet. Yes cutting calories will make you lose 'weight', but if you are not careful and keep track of your progress your weight loss may end up being mostly lean body mass being consumed. Keep measuring your body composition during your efforts and try not to cut your calories below the point where your lean body mass decrease is an order of magnitude less than your total body mass decrease. Idealy your lean body mass should stay stable or increase slightly while your body fat percentage goes down gradually. Don't buy into the quick weight loss idea. Most of these results are water and muscle mass rather than fat mass you you may end up having lost 20kg of body mass with 10 kg being water (that you will hopefully quickly gain again) and 6 kg being muscle and organ mass. If you were not that fat to begin with. Just do the math. Lets say you go 100 kg with 25% body fat, that is 25 kg of fat. You lose 20 kg (including 4kg of fat). End result: 80kg, 21g fat, that means you &quot;GAINED&quot; 1,25% of body fat even though you dropped 20kg. You end up fatter than you started and dehydrated at that. Most people who stuff like that happens to don't even realize it until they pass out during their workout. Its easy to avoid if you keep tracks of your stats. Track your FFBM, that your ICW and ECW levels and track your body fat percentage.  Don't allow yourself a drop in FFBM and accept that it takes time to lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T18:37:45.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14953" CreationDate="2015-04-21T01:23:08.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you need to improve off the floor, rack pulls definitely help when you set the height just below the knee. Using chains, bands &amp;amp; other tools can definitely help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Berin mentioned, taking a video would definitely give some more visual as to how you are pulling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T01:23:08.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-21T02:26:10.657" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little background: I got a gait analysis from a major sports therapy hospital, and she said I overpronate and suggested me some stability shoes. I also have a weak IT band, which I'm currently doing exercises to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just bought a new pair of running shoes, and my legs are feeling tender. It seems that each time I buy new shoes, my legs start to hurt again, injuries I'm sure are related to my IT band issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that my old running shoes were masking certain weaknesses that these new shoes are highlighting? Or is it just my legs getting used to a different pair of shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12146" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T15:27:32.753" Title="Can shoes mask injuries or weaknesses?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;stability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4998" CreationDate="2015-04-21T05:40:48.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely not necessary, deadlifts are great but still overrated. You can replace the deadlift with other exercises if you want to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should give it a serious try though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T05:40:48.553" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24357" CreationDate="2015-04-21T08:04:04.177" Score="4" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do calories burned for activity include RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) -burned calories? E.g. if one burns 300 calories walking 1 hour, does that include 100 calories burned per hour just by being alive? I understand that different sources might do this differently, but what's most common? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15513" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T15:34:06.097" Title="Do calories burned for activity include RMR-burned calories?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24352" CreationDate="2015-04-21T11:07:20.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's true that it differs, some sources include, some do not, my experience is that the wast majority of sources include RMR-burned calories. There's a similar situation with BMR calculators, these tend to use formulas that exaggerate BMR, like harris &amp;amp; benedict. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason is probably that people are happier to see that they walked one hour for 250 kcal instead of 150 kcal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T11:07:20.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24352" CreationDate="2015-04-21T12:02:05.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. Many exercise machines don't account for it. They'll semi-accurately indicate that you've burned, say, 640 calories in the running you did, but they won't account for the fact that you would have burned 80 of those calories just sitting in a chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T12:02:05.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24339" CreationDate="2015-04-21T14:36:55.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Resistance training is not effective in weight loss or body fat reduction  without dietary modification.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best outcomes for weight loss and body fat reduction come from dietary modification. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical Activity is most useful for weight management and preventing weight regain and maintaining body weight after weight loss. Physical Activity will promote clinically signification weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cardiac and direct caloric expenditure associated with resistance training is minimal. The muscle mass increase from resistance training may (not proven in clinical trials) increase total daily energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 200 lb. male Running for 15 minutes will burn about 150-200 calories.&#xA;A 200 lb. male can eat 3000 calories per day and maintain their current weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength Training has no where near the calorie burn as running.  It is so little it is too difficult to measure.  There are many that incorrectly believe a heart rate monitor, that estimates (over estimates typically) calorie burn, can be used while strength training. Not true.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of calories burned in a strength training workout is about 10 potato chips at best (10 potato chips = 100 calories). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hemodynamics&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was mentioned in this question, some resistance exercises will increase heart rate.  This is not necessarily a result of cardio pulmonary response. An increase in adrenaline will stimulate heart rate.  For example fright and stress increase heart rate but DO NOT increase cardiac output volume.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hemodynamics of cario respiratory exercise vs. anaerobic strength training are very different.  So complex, no one really knows precisely the metabolic process that causes the heart to beat faster when exercising. Some very good theories, but no one knows for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a very significant study done in Denmark recently where they found the increased heart rate did not increase the heart stroke volume because the blood vessels dilated (vasodilatation).&lt;br&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Link:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573320/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Peripheral Vasodilatation Determines Cardiac Output in Exercising Humans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Study Summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ten healthy and recreationally active male subjects participated in&#xA;this study&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a catheter was placed in the brachial (4 subjects) or femoral (6&#xA;subjects) artery of the experimental leg &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;another catheter was placed in the pulmonary artery going in&#xA;throughout the jugular  vein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During exercise, cardiac output is regulated to match oxygen delivery&#xA;to the metabolic demand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This study evaluated the role of heart rate and peripheral&#xA;vasodilatation in the regulation of cardiac output during exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heart rate was increased by atrial pacing in 10 healthy male&#xA;individuals during three different conditions: at rest, during&#xA;exercise, and during femoral arterial ATP infusion at rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing the heart rate by atrial pacing by up to 54 beats per min&#xA;did not increase cardiac output in any of the three given conditions&#xA;as there was a proportional decrease in stroke volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These results indicate that cardiac output is regulated by changes in&#xA;peripheral vasodilatation, whereas an increase in heart rate is less&#xA;important.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The increased heart rate that occurs with cardio respiratory exercise is the result of the need for increased cardiac output to transport oxygen to the muscles.  The heart must pump more blood to meet the energy demand of the activity. Heart rate increases because of a demand for blood volume directly related to hemodynamic performance, pulmonary respiratory gas exchange adequacy,  and  muscle metabolism efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The increased heart rate that occurs with strength training is the result of changes in intrathoracic pressure and an increase in afterload stress. There is no corresponding increase in cardiac output, and thus only a modest increase in oxygen uptake. Heart rate increases because of a perfusion pressure gradient not relative to body tissue's current metabolic needs.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just by definition anaerobic exercise does not have a &quot;cardio respiratory&quot; component.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;anaerobic, adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. (of an organism or tissue) living in the absence of air or free oxygen.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. pertaining to or caused by the absence of oxygen.  -&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Energy for anaerobic exercise comes in the form of chemical transformation involving energy phosphates, glycolysis, and not oxygen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike cardio respiratory exercise, the increased heart rate during strength training DOES NOT reflect either an increase in oxygen uptake or a significant increase in caloric expenditure. Moving quickly from machine to machine to keep the heart rate elevated does not change this fact. It is still a pressure load, not a volume load. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance training with a high protein diet has shown some improvement in body fat reduction.  Resistance training alone without dietary modification, has not been proven to reduce body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Research Studies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research studies on the subject are sparse and split on the subject.  Some studies reported a modest loss in body fat with resistance training for a period of between 16 and 26 weeks. Other studies showed no reduction in body fat for resistance training periods between 12 and 52 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One study observing gender and age found fat reduction only in older men and no difference in body composition for young men or women of any age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are slightly more studies showing an increase in lean body mass without dietary modification. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strong Statement from American College of Sports Medicine.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The  American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand makes a strong statement with an Evidence Statement Category A (significant Randomized Trials with significant participants to support): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Resistance training will not promote clinically significant weight&#xA;  loss&quot;. - American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand Evidence Category A (A = significant studies with significant participants)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A training plan for weight loss and body fat reduction calls for a cardio respiratory regimen at about 60% of Maximum Heat Rate. The length of a cardio work out is dependent on current aerobic capacity, and resting heart rate.  Maximum heart rate is age dependent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="15464" LastEditDate="2015-04-25T01:43:07.527" LastActivityDate="2015-04-25T01:43:07.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24352" CreationDate="2015-04-21T15:34:06.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically RMR should not be factored in the calorie burn rate. the calorie burn is estimated from the amount of work done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie expenditure is an estimate using statistical regression analysis to estimate calorie burn. The amount of error is often greater than RMR.  Manufacturers of aerobic machines will most definitely over estimate calorie burn rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To further complicate matters the analysis only pertains to the participants in the study. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worse is since the advent of the PC the equations lack common sense.  The researchers plug the results of their study in to the PC and the PC spits out a nonsensical equation.  Prior to the PC regression analysis took much effort and the person doing the analysis was able to use some common sense in developing the equations.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running, walking, stair steppers, and a calibrated stationary cycle ergometer with accurate measurement of torque and rotational speed, can more accurately estimate calorie burn.  In these types of physical activity, the amount of work done is very accurate.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not include walking and running on a treadmill due to the mechanical assist from the motor driven belt.  The common treadmill formulas (e.g ACSM Metabolic Equations) have been proven to have an error rate greater than 10%. The ACSM no longer promotes use of these equations.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking and running also use regression analysis (e.g. Rockport Walk) but are more accurate due to the accuracy of the amount of work done (body weight, distance, time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regression analysis for estimating calorie burn has a high error rate, and is often inflated by the manufacturer, making the RMR moot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more important than calorie burn is how you feel about yourself when looking in the mirror or if your clothing fit is tighter or looser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T15:34:06.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24363" CreationDate="2015-04-21T17:09:01.280" Score="4" ViewCount="1707" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there is any study that compares two groups doing identical exercises, except that one group has fewer rest days than the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of conflicting evidence on the effectiveness of rest days, with some studies arguing that your body needs rest to grow and to decrease the risk of injury, and other studies showing that virtually everyone can substantially increase workout volume and achieve positive mass returns from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, I want to know the best ratio of exercise to rest for mass.  Has anyone seen good academic research on this subject? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T01:11:07.997" Title="Is there good scientific evidence on the effectiveness of rest days for building mass?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24359" CreationDate="2015-04-21T18:47:37.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a paper cited in the top answer for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days&quot;&gt;Importance of Rest Days&lt;/a&gt; but it looks like it's proceeding from fundamentals rather than looking at the result of an experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T18:47:37.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24339" CreationDate="2015-04-22T00:01:15.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The trick is to use a weight that is not too heavy (you don't want to be doing single reps) or too light (you want to be stimulating the muscles, not just your aerobic capacity). It's a fine balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thrusters are awesome for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any full-body movement that can be repeated reasonably quickly. Dumbell or kettlebell snatch comes to mind. Something simpler would be a wall ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try something like this. As many rounds as possible of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 thrusters, e.g. 95lb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 kettlebell swings, e.g. 1.5 pood (1 pood = 36 lb) a unit commonly used for kettlebells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in 20 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't complete the 10 reps without stopping in the first 3-4 rounds, lower the weight. You want to be able to push through each movement and take short rests between movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look up any crossfit workouts from regionals or the games that have movements you can do, divide the weight by 3 and go at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13813" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T18:03:42.627" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T18:03:42.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24359" CreationDate="2015-04-22T00:03:12.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find the ACSM Position Stand is a very credible source of precisely what you want to know.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evidence category A is backed by significant Random Control Trials (RCT) with significant  participants&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evidence category B is based on limited RCT studies, or a subgroup analysis,  or is a meta-analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evidence category C is Non-randomized trials or observational studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Progression_Models_in_Resistance_Training_for.26.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;&lt;em&gt;PROGRAM DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INCREASING MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evidence category A. It is recommended that a frequency of 2–3 days per week be used for novice training (when training the total body each workout) (34,49,116).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evidence category B. For intermediate training, the recommendation is&#xA;  similar for total-body workouts or 4 days per week when using an&#xA;  upper/lower body split routine (each major muscle group trained twice&#xA;  per week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evidence category C. For advanced training, a frequency of 4–6 days per&#xA;  week is recommended. Muscle group split routines (one to three muscle&#xA;  groups trained per workout) are common enabling higher volume per&#xA;  muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;citations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;34   Candow DG, Burke DG. Effect of short-term equal-volume resistance training with different workout frequency on muscle mass and strength in untrained men and women.J Strength Cond Res. 2007;21:204–7.&#xA;49   Cureton KJ, Collins MA, Hill DW, McElhannon FM. Muscle hypertrophy in men and women.Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1988; 20:338–44.&#xA;116  Hickson RC, Hidaka K, Foster C. Skeletal muscle fiber type, resistance training, and strength-related performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1994;26:593–8.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T01:11:07.997" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T01:11:07.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4998" CreationDate="2015-04-22T00:07:18.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting but not doing deadlifts then you're not actually lifting. I say this with tongue-in-cheek but a serious tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, your deadlift will be the movement for which you can move the most weight and the effect of moving this weight on your body cannot be overstated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not just hitting muscles but adrenals and CNS. You're building the core of your body like nothing else, which makes you strong in all sorts of other movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just standing there and holding the weight will isometrically load you up like nothing else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper form requires good back and hamstring flexibility, which is something a lot of lifters don't have. Strength without flexibility is a recipe for injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while the deadlift looks just like you're picking something off the ground (which is true), there's a lot more to it (though not as much as in a squat). And like the squat, this exercise pays huge dividends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13813" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T00:07:18.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4998" CreationDate="2015-04-22T01:21:47.730" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Deadlift works nearly every muscle in the body.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VERY IMPORTANT:&lt;/strong&gt; You must use proper form.  Most important is to Hold a Deep Breath,  Contract the Abs, and arch the back, to help prevent a herniated disk and Sciatica. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can lift heaver loads if you use a Reverse Grip vs. the Classic Grip.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Deadlift along with Squats and Bench Press make up all the exercises in Competitive Power Lifting.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Deadlift should be the first exercise in your workout routine. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting the Deadlift in your workout routine should be done with care.  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;As with other multi-joint exercises it is very easy to over-train muscle groups.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, combining The Deadlift with Squats in a same day workout if you are not a competitive Powerlifter, will very likely over train your Quads and Gluteus Maximus. &lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the &lt;strong&gt;muscles that are worked hardest by the Deadlift&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quadriceps, Biceps Femoris, Long Head&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Quadriceps, Biceps Femoris, Short Head&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Quadriceps, Rectus Femoris&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Quadriceps, Vastus Lateralis&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Quadriceps, Vastus Medialis&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gluteus Maximus&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trapezius, Anterior Head&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Trapezius, Inferior Part&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Trapezius, Middle Part&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Deadlift also puts a significant load on these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flexor Digitorum Profundus&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Flexor Digitorum Superficialis&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Inferior Gemellus&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Intertransversarii Laterales Lumborum&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Latissimus Dorsi&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Levator Anguli Oris&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Levator Scapulae&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Longissimus Thoracis**&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Obliquus Externus Abdominis&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Obturator*&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Piriformis*&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Quadratus Lumborum**&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rectus Abdominis&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rhomboid Major&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rhomboid Minor&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Semimembranosus&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Semitendinosus&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Serratus Anterior&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Serratus Posterior Inferior*&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Splenius Cervicis&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Superior Gemellus&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Teres Major&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Deadlift is the only common exercise that works some specific muscles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;*Deadlift Only&lt;br&gt;&#xA;**Deadlift and Back Extension&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AlYq2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Deadlift ,Strength Training Anatomy&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above image is from the first edition of Strength Training Anatomy, Copyright 2001 by Editions Vigot, Paris France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=GgLGWbv763EC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=intitle:Strength%20intitle:training&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;as_drrb_is=q&amp;amp;as_minm_is=0&amp;amp;as_miny_is=&amp;amp;as_maxm_is=0&amp;amp;as_maxy_is=&amp;amp;as_brr=0&amp;amp;as_pt=BOOKS&amp;amp;cd=3#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Preview Strength Training Anatomy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3f1jz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Strength Training Anatomy&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="15464" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T04:46:24.220" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T04:46:24.220" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24369" CreationDate="2015-04-22T01:21:49.377" Score="5" ViewCount="854" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone who benches knows and fears the torn rotator cuff. So it makes sense to be preemptive in avoiding it. Assuming I'm healthy and uninjured, what single exercise can I do to help avoid the tear? (Preferably a compound exercise, but since the goal is to strengthen a stabilizer, I understand if this isn't possible.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suggested duplicate is a question about rehab (i.e. answers targeted at people who are already injured), whereas mine is about prevention in healthy individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8493" LastEditorUserId="8493" LastEditDate="2015-04-25T00:17:33.033" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T20:05:23.160" Title="Exercises for &quot;toughening&quot; rotator cuffs" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5000" CreationDate="2015-04-22T01:56:35.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a matter of personal preference but I train without a belt on lighter sets and use one on heavier sets. Most lifters tend to use belts all the time, everytime. That ends up lessening core strength due to over-reliance on the belt. &#xA;If your core is weak, I would advise to train without it and start implementing more core work to build up a stronger base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastEditorUserId="15507" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T03:10:22.923" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T03:10:22.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12506" CreationDate="2015-04-22T02:01:36.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dave has it right on. Resistance band deadlifts will not replace straight heavy deads on their on. They are just merely a supplemental exercise for building a stronger deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbells would be a good alternative if you can get some heavy ones that can provide maximum benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T02:01:36.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24366" CreationDate="2015-04-22T02:38:32.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming would probably be the safest exercise.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A properly constructed workout plan will eliminate injuries&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not over train&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Know your 1 Rep Max and multi-rep equivalents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not exceed your 1RM Capacity except in very small overload&#xA;increments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not work to failure (maximal load) every workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use Progressive Resistance with first set workload at least 10% below Maximal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not push your self too hard on the last rep of your last set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sports are prone to Rotator Cuff injury&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Baseball especially Pitchers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tennis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimmers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accidental Injuries &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Falling on shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breaking fall with arms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting Heavy Object&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over Stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rapid Twisting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, the Bench Press does not work any of the Rotator Cuff muscles.  Except the a very minor workout of Subscapularis which no resistance exercise targets.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscles and Resistance Exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is a list of the Rotor Cuff Muscles with some common and safe resistance exercises that work those muscles.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Infraspinatus&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shoulders Bent-Over Lateral Raises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shoulders Low Pulley Bent-Over Lateral&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shoulders Pec Deck Rear Delt Laterals&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Bent Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back T-Bar Rows&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teres Major&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shoulders Low Pulley Bent-Over Lateral&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Chest Dumbbell Pullovers&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Chest Barbell Pullovers&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Reverse Chin-Ups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Lat Pulldowns&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Back Lat Pulldowns&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Close-Grip Lat Pulldowns&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Straight-Arm Lat Pulldowns&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Seated Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back One-Arm Dumbbell Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Bent Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Deadlifts&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supraspinatus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back Press&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Subscapularis&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;No resistance exercises?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;PosteriorView of Rotator Cuff&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OPFZE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rotator Cuff Muscles&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T07:56:29.533" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T07:56:29.533" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24372" CreationDate="2015-04-22T02:57:49.390" Score="3" ViewCount="639" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 27 and I have been underweight for many years. Recently, I began to have consistent training sessions in a nearby gym. My personal trainer advise me to buy several supplements. They include &lt;strong&gt;whey protein, glutamine, creatine and amino acid&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if there are any side effect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the dosage of these supplements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whether I should take them daily or pre/post-workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whether I should take them for a month then stop for 2 weeks, or just keep taking them as long as I have regular training like 2-3 times per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13707" LastEditorUserId="13707" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T03:21:33.353" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T20:17:34.213" Title="Guidelines on whey protein, glutamine, creatine, amino acid supplements" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24366" CreationDate="2015-04-22T05:17:37.943" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a big Rippetoe fan and his use of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standing overhead barbell press&lt;/a&gt;. It's my go-to upper body pushing lift, I try to do it 2x as much as I bench. Being able to press your own bodyweight is a real strength achievement in its own right, and steady pressing has had my own shoulders in good shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13291/is-rippetoes-advice-about-the-press-terrible-and-wrong&quot;&gt;There's a good answer with discussion over here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any hard data on it, but I've been doing gymnastics for a while on rings, and the stabilization required for that is tremendous. If you have a set of rings laying around consider trying to maintain the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/support-position-a27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;support position&lt;/a&gt; for a while, and maybe move into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/ring-dips-a19&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ring dips&lt;/a&gt; (if you aren't there already). Off topic, but another great thing about rings is that you can do a ton of really tough exercises with them and they travel well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking around a gym it's pretty easy to see where a lot of the shoulder injuries come from: non-stop bench pressing with little back (or rear deltoid) development, isolation work (again, almost always neglecting the back), and impingement inducing zany exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T05:17:37.943" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24370" CreationDate="2015-04-22T05:24:44.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if there are any side effect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glutamine can cause your stools to loosen a bit. The other stuff may have additional ingredients, and whey protein is a fairly typical food source found in a lot of products you probably already consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the dosage of these supplements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to read the labels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;whether I should take them daily or pre/post-workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, you'll want to read the labels. Try to remember that supplements are &lt;em&gt;supplemental&lt;/em&gt; and that if you have a good diet you don't actually need them. Everything you're taking is related to building muscle, and building muscle happens all day and night long. There are small highs and lows here and there but in the big picture you want a steady supply of high quality nutrients including protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;whether I should take them for a month then stop for 2 weeks, or just&#xA;  keep taking them as long as I have regular training like 2-3 times per&#xA;  week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to cycle on and off protein and amino acid supplementation. Again, you get protein and amino acids from normal food that you eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T05:24:44.677" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24381" CreationDate="2015-04-22T08:56:36.030" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have really big problems with my posture. I spent a lot of time sitting at computer for many years. My shoulders are rounded, they go forward and due to this my neck is overloaded. I have also forward neck and head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to stretch my pecs many times - but stretching did not help and it caused pain when stretched too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried also to strengthen my back muscles - but I always found the exercises difficult, leaving me with sore back muscles and not much improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have recently found out is that &lt;strong&gt;when I fully open my palms&lt;/strong&gt; (I mean straightening all my fingers, like I want to grab something really big... fingers must be all in line and wide) &lt;strong&gt;then my shoulders get slowly fixed - automatically - without any effort&lt;/strong&gt; (except for the effort of holding the palms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just holding my palms open makes my shoulders get in correct position, I feel my chest getting wider, scapulas going down and everything feels better, including my neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just by opening palms I have almost instantly achieved something what I have not achieved by years of experimenting with all sorts of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that it works only when I have my palms open. When I stop doing it, then my shoulders get back and everything is as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really really don't understand it..... what's going on? Why does it work? What is the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. sorry for my english&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.2 Here is a picture of how I have to hold my hand &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.astralsociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Palmistry2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.astralsociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Palmistry2.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot for reading and for any response&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15531" LastEditorUserId="15531" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T10:41:29.893" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T03:43:40.993" Title="slouched shoulders get better when i open my hands" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;tight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-22T12:48:54.107" Score="0" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;My head appears proportionally large compared to my upper body, and my lower body appears very small/thin compared to my upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am male around 5'7 and 108 pounds (49 kg). What might be causing my body to be this shape? And what can be done to correct this kind of body shape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15534" LastEditorUserId="15534" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T06:20:05.953" LastActivityDate="2018-07-14T01:19:14.263" Title="Uneven upper/lower body" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24370" CreationDate="2015-04-22T13:32:10.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Eric indicated in his response, supplements aren't really necessary if you have a well-balanced diet.  In fact, unless you’re planning to participate at a high athletic level, or, you plan on training very intensely, and, you don’t have ready access to nutritious food, you probably don’t need them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The supplement industry is a &lt;strong&gt;multi-billion&lt;/strong&gt; dollar &lt;strong&gt;unregulated&lt;/strong&gt; industry.  It’s often fraught with trainers and gym owners who “suggest” their members try this or that supplement.  Gym owners typically don’t make their money on memberships.  The bulk of their income comes from the extras they sell (like supplements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it’s really incumbent upon &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; to educate yourself if you decide to take supplements.  I often tell people that if they decide to use a supplement, they should take &lt;em&gt;half&lt;/em&gt; the recommended dosage (for a specified length of time) to begin with.  Especially if you’ve never taken that particular supplement.  That would allow you to determine if there are any specific side effects for &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt;.   For example, too much protein can lead to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/diet/20000425/protein-popularity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kidney disease&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best time to take a supplement is when your body needs it.  You’ll have to discover that for yourself.  As for gaining weight, you should look to increase your calories with nutritious food rather than protein powders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T13:32:10.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18907" CreationDate="2015-04-22T14:58:59.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indoor Rowing Machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Awesome, really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It mimics the behaviour of a row boat but using a fan that creates the necessary resistance with the flow of air. This is particularly interesting as even when you adjust the resistance of the cable the actual resistance depends on how you row: The faster the more resistance in the same way that in a boat the faster you row the more effort you will need to travel against your bow wave. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a selector for the cable resistance but this doesn't make much difference (at least I haven't noticed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use this baby for a lot of things, one of them a hell of a cardio workout, just try to keep your strokes per minute between 24-30 spm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use it for a 10 minute warmup before lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It recruits legs, butt, arms, shoulders, abs, back... in the category of no-impact cardio it is only second to the elliptical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also a beloved piece of equipment in CrossFit and you can use it very effectively for HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just one note of caution: It is addictive!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15535" LastEditorUserId="15535" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T15:14:43.373" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T15:14:43.373" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24350" CreationDate="2015-04-22T15:27:32.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a veteran runner (and I have also suffered ITBS when I began to run). Even worse, I have what's called &quot;Morton's Toe&quot; so that I am not even supposed to be running according to orthopaedics and podiatrists &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very sceptic in regard to stability additions to shoes for beginners and gait analysis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for that is common sense: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start running your muscles are not yet adapted to the type of motion of the sport, specially legs and feet but all your muscles in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you train your muscles and tendons will change and with that your gait. Not only that: Your gait and even the shape of you feet will change &lt;em&gt;during a run&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, if you correct the gait that you had when starting to run on a treadmill even if it is beneficial in the beginning there will be a point during your run where the limitations that the correction impose will not fit your actual needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real way to address your gait and ITBS issues is working on your running form, this means running and strengthening your core, butt and legs: Do bridges, planks, lateral planks, side leg raises or if you have the time and opportunity engage in Pilates and search a good running coach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can add a very good short drill for running form: On a soft surface (not sand) take out your shoes and run 10 yards at an easy leisurely pace with your hands hanging at your side, don't sprint, just imagine you are a child playing and concentrate on the way it feels, the way your feet touch the ground. Repeat this routine for 10 minutes or so running to one side and back resting as long as you feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have mastered that rise your hands at our sides to a point between your hips and you chest and swing them while running avoiding that to cross them over your body, how much angle you use and how you swing them is up to you but don't cross them past the centre of our body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least: Do small steps. The key to good and injury free running is high cadence rather than long strides, thus in the beginning use small steps, you will be able to increase your stride length with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15535" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T15:27:32.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13103" CreationDate="2015-04-22T15:33:37.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an addition to what has been said already, here are some exercises that will help you: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author is a podiatrist who is also a triathlete and minimalist/ barefoot runner: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRS88R1BAg8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRS88R1BAg8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They helped me a lot (I do 80-90% of my training in MT10)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15535" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T15:33:37.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24370" CreationDate="2015-04-22T20:17:34.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am 27 and I have been underweight for many years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well this is your actual issue, and what your question should be based on. Will these products help you achieve your goal of adding weight? Realistically, no. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements are meant to do just that, supplement what the body is missing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of that list, the only product I would recommend is whey protein (for now, at least). This will help recover and repair the broken muscle tissue after a workout. I would suggest taking a scoop (or as directed by the label) within 30 minutes of a workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, your goals will be achieved more so by your everyday nutrition. Knowing how many calories your diet requires for you to gain weight, and making sure to get the right amount of protein, fat, and carbs is essential. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a base to start with, I would take a look at this page and see what it recommends in terms of the before-mentioned macro nutrients: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutrients_calculator.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutrients_calculator.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't meant to replace an actual consultation from a nutritionist, but it is a good start to get you going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine, glutamine, amino acids, and the rest of the long list of supplements aren't going to give you any noticeable improvements unless you are a serious athlete. To start, stick with your protein, know your caloric / macro-nutrient intake, and follow a diet accordingly. This with 3-5 days of exercise per week is what will allow you to gain weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T20:17:34.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24373" CreationDate="2015-04-22T22:16:10.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19721/what-can-i-do-to-stay-fit-in-the-car/19722#19722&quot;&gt;Sitting is quite literally killing you&lt;/a&gt;. There is a long thread of answers &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6/exercises-for-a-programmer-sitting-by-the-pc-all-day&quot;&gt;over here related to fixing the damage that comes from long term computer work&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took months and years to cause the damage, and it will take months and years to repair it fully. You can't stretch and play around with some dumbbells for a couple of weeks and expect anything remotely impactful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for a balanced strength training program (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; are popular), and consider taking a yoga course. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be willing to invest ~5 hours a week into your health. If you're not, then realize you don't prioritize it enough, and don't wonder why you're not getting results. It really all comes down to being on a good program and sticking with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T22:16:10.770" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24373" CreationDate="2015-04-23T03:43:40.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My educated guess as to why maximally extending your fingers seems to temporarily improve your posture is that you're activating a kinetic chain that involves your rear deltoids and mid to lower trapezius. Essentially, by consciously recruiting your wrist and finger extending muscles you're synergistically recruiting the same muscles that one would recruit at the very beginning of a reverse fly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many times imbalance or poor posture in one area can be caused or affected by imbalance/poor posture in another. Chronically protracted scapula, inwardly rotated shoulders, and a hunched thoracic spine (hyperkyphosis) are all postural side effects of prolonged sitting. But so are chronically shortened hip-flexors and hamstrings, which leads to a forward hip tilt and exaggerated lumbar curve (hyperlordosis), which leads to hyperkyphosis in order to compensate and attain a balanced head posture. The point being that simply focusing on chest stretches and back strengthening exercises is probably not going to be sufficient to correct your posture. Instead you need to assess and correct along the entire mobility-stability continuum, from ankles to wrists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not only be able to hold your shoulders back and stand up straight with normal keyphosis, but you should be able to reach well past your knees with a flat back, to execute a full-depth squat without falling over backward, hunching, or lifting your heels, and pass the Thomas test (I can only post 2 links so you're just going to have to google some of this stuff).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;regular exercises that I would recommend in addition to shoulder and chest stretches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz2jhT2vZwU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat to stands&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;various thoracic mobility exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;foam rolling (especially hamstrings, hip-flexors, and thoracic spine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5lPjg0GhFM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;duck walking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;various hip flexor stretches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;various hamstring stretches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some type of row, preferably face-pulls, high cable rows, or dumbbell rows if you have no cables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reverse flys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barbell hip thrusts, a la Bret Contreras&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;front squats (as you're able)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overhead squats (as you're able)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might sound somewhat overwhelming, but maintaining good posture is much much easier than correcting poor posture. After a few months of diligent work you could conceivably cut the posture specific training back to just doing a few sets of overhead and front squats a few times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15540" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T03:43:40.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21001" CreationDate="2015-04-23T06:14:35.883" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you are able to generate ketones from your stored fat, it's still a bad idea to under-eat fat, because each fat cell can only deliver a certain amount of energy per day, when your calorie deficit goes beyond this point, you will start breaking down muscle tissue (which is much lower in energy density than fat tissue), leading to rapid but bad weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T06:14:35.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24374" CreationDate="2015-04-23T06:17:08.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your genes determine your body shape. You can't correct something that's not incorrect, but you can make yourself more aesthetic by adding mass to your lower and upper body in correct proportions. Start lifting weights and eat more. Some people are naturally thin and need to eat more than they actually want to if they are going to add weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T06:17:08.083" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-23T10:52:18.073" Score="2" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran before lunch today, same breakfast and same lunch-size as always, I also lifted weights yesterday so it seems like I should be hungrier than usual. But I was too full to eat the dessert I bought with my lunch (I usually don't buy one.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On regular days, I could easily eat a desert after lunch if I had one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my hypothesis is that cardio can actually decrease your appetite, has there been any studies to confirm this? Does anyone share my experience? How would this work biologically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T23:08:45.097" Title="Does cardio decrease appetite?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2015-04-23T11:07:11.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goruck.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GoRuck&lt;/a&gt;. Expensive? Yes, but it will last several lifetimes. They have a lot of sizes, some of the packs are prepared for laptops, camelbaks, some have a lot of inner organization, others have less... Maybe they have something that suits your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GoRuck has started a &quot;movement&quot; a few years ago that evolved into an actual sport, &quot;rucking&quot; as they call it. Shortly put, people run/walk with weights on the backpack, and it's a great exercise. There are even some epic events where people have to accomplish team objectives (like transporting huge trees as a team for several kilometers), with the packs on their backs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides GoRuck, you could try other high-end &quot;tactical&quot; brands. Some have very high quality backpacks that are prepared to withstand Armageddon, but focus on you being comfortable and happy. If they are used by soldiers on obstacle courses, I guess they will be quite good for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have been using a 7-liter Tasmanian Tiger Essential Pack for running (it's great).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10104" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T11:07:11.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24388" CreationDate="2015-04-23T11:49:12.643" Score="12" ViewCount="13105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started practicing medieval full contact, which means I have to fight for several minutes in a 30kg++ steel armour.&#xA;For me to be physically fit for this sport, I decided (among other things) to start running with a backpack (aka rucking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a good military backpack that doesn't bounce, stays in a good high position on my back and provides good support.&#xA;I just started with a 10% (of my weight) load and my objective is to reach 20% in 6 months or so, depending on how I evolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I wish to know if running with weights on my back will be bad for my spine, shoulders, legs, etc.. I don't want to risk my health because of this, so would like to know your opinion. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My objective is not running with the usual stuff I carry everyday, like other questions (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2913/running-with-a-backpack&quot;&gt;Running with a backpack&lt;/a&gt;). I wish to know if I can start running with a certain weight in a backpack, and start adding more and more weight in a controlled manner, while not risking my health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weights I started using small bricks and water, I will then evolve to beans and later probably sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10104" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T14:55:59.433" Title="Is rucking (running with weight in backpack) a bad idea?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24391" CreationDate="2015-04-23T12:23:04.907" Score="2" ViewCount="568" Body="&lt;p&gt;i'm a 23 years old male with asthma ( the main allergens being dust and acaris).My condition has been quite stable for some years now since i don't get attacks at all and i can pretty much function normaly on a day to day basis even though i live in a very humid city ( which is bad news for me since acaris love humid environnments).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My doctor has always strongly advised me against exercising in the gym, since it could worsen my case.Now i know it is not my place to question his judgment and that he most certainly knows better, but i would like to know if there any other people with a similar health problem that exercises in a gym regularly. what they do to remain attack-free while doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the lenghty post and thanks for reading in advance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15543" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T17:56:59.710" Title="Exercising in the gym and asthma" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24386" CreationDate="2015-04-23T12:47:54.690" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your spine and shoulders should be fine, the biggest risk is to the knees.  In particular, running with any kind of weights (vest, ruck sack, etc.) puts much more stress on your knees.  If you have bad running form, it's even more of a problem.  Some quick points to think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure you have the right shoes&lt;/strong&gt; for your total weight including the ruck sack.  You'll find you need more cushion in the shoes as you get heavier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do your rucking on anything other than hard concrete&lt;/strong&gt;.  Grass and dirt are the most preferable, but even asphalt is better than concrete sidewalks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do quick paced walking and increase the weight&lt;/strong&gt;.  Walking will be much easier on your knees than running, and you'll be able to handle more weight when you do it.  At the very least, alternate running and walking days when you exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Run uphill, walk downhill&lt;/strong&gt;.  Running uphill reduces the impact on your knees and gets your heart rate up.  Walking downhill will lower the impact on your knees and lets your heart rate cool down some.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all, listen to your body.  No matter how young you are, you will likely get to a point where your knees are inflamed.  During those times, take the ruck sack off, and do something that is much lower impact to get blood flowing through that area.  Alternatives would include elliptical, swimming, water running, etc.  The inflammation is temporary, so you can get back to rucking after the bout is over.  You just need to reserve and protect your exercise time, but do something that doesn't make it worse so you don't have as hard a time getting back to your regular training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T12:47:54.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24384" CreationDate="2015-04-23T13:16:33.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=exercise%20appetite%20suppression&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0&amp;amp;as_vis=1&amp;amp;oi=scholart&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=NfA4VZvFCoyZgwTGnYCgBw&amp;amp;ved=0CBsQgQMwAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise does seem to have appetite-inhibition effects&lt;/a&gt;. However, the research does show that, while exercise makes you less inclined to eat in the period afterwards, it does not reduce the amount of calories that you consume (and may actually increase caloric intake if you &quot;eat when you're hungry&quot; past what's burned in exercise), merely delays it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T13:16:33.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24387" CreationDate="2015-04-23T13:21:14.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gyms are dirty places. People constantly moving will raise dust and pollen into the air. Mold will spread from damp gym clothes improperly dried and sneakers. Keep your inhaler on-hand. If you have issues with allergy-induced asthma, consider the potential benefits of wearing something over your mouth and nose to reduce contaminants. Sure, you'll look a bit funny with a surgical mask when lifting, but it's your health. On the exercise-induced side, listen to your body and pace yourself accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will have to see if I can find the research again, but I know that they've established that running outside is good for your health despite increased intake of pollutants. I would expect that you'd see the same issue with asthma. You're increasing some of the risks, but you're also improving your overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T13:21:14.127" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24387" CreationDate="2015-04-23T16:27:05.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had asthma since I was born, and keep a rescue inhaler with me all the time. Different things trigger asthma for different people, and also the triggers can change with time. Typically as you age your triggers get fewer and you're more aware of what they are so things are less surprising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all gyms are the same: some are closed in shoeboxes with bad circulation and lazy cleaning schedules, others are disinfected multiple times a day (at least the handles and touch-ables), and others are in outdoor environments with plenty of fresh air blowing in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/f-sf-ait073112.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8% of Olympic athletes have asthma&lt;/a&gt;, and you can be sure they spend plenty of time in gyms and various forms of training. Interestingly enough, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aaaai.org/about-the-aaaai/newsroom/asthma-statistics.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8% is also the national (USA) average of asthma sufferers&lt;/a&gt;. To me, that means that asthma is no longer a determining factor in athletic performance in all but the most extreme cases (particularly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise-induced_bronchoconstriction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise induced asthma&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've managed to have a fairly athletic life and my asthma inhaler is like my wallet or underwear: I don't travel far without them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most gyms will allow you to use their facilities for a few days or weeks for free. Do that, and bring your rescue inhaler with you. Since you mentioned that particulates and specific allergies are triggers for you, this should be a pretty quick way to determine if those items are present in sufficient quantities at any given facility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was running a lot (half marathons primarily) I would almost always use my rescue inhaler for one puff in the beginning of my training runs, two minutes in, and from there I was great. If I told my doctor that I was using my rescue inhaler once a day, she would rightly freak out, but at the same time my lung capacity vastly improved, as did my VO2 max and O2 blood saturation rebound rates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all but the rarest of cases, the data and experience shows that asthma is something you deal with but it shouldn't keep you from a single day of training at maximum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T17:05:47.277" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T17:05:47.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24387" CreationDate="2015-04-23T17:22:04.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had asthma since I was 3 and exercise in the gym regularly; I also live in humid weather as well. At the beginning, even with no attacks, when you do cardio you will find yourself breathing a little heavily. Consistently training, I actually feel much better with higher tolerance to stimulants (hate spring though); it really helps minimize the asthma effects and I now sleep better. You can always go back to your doctor for a preworkout inhaler. It helps a lot . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15544" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T17:56:59.710" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T17:56:59.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-23T21:37:14.153" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for some exercise to do at home without needing any weights. I only have access to a medicine ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for exercises that complement and will help me with running. Like box jumps, step ups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15548" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T22:25:24.073" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T11:53:24.893" Title="What are some of the body weight workouts to do post run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;exercise-ball&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18001" CreationDate="2015-04-24T02:47:16.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agree 100% on the answers above. Number one issue I definitely face is sweating palms &amp;amp; hands in general. This can definitely put your grip in a compromised situation when you are looking to pull an illusive 500 lb deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to also implement as mentioned already is to avoid straps. Straps limit your grip strength if you become to over-reliant on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start incorporating more grip training like using those nutcracker devices, heavy farmer walks and deadlifts without straps, pull-up bar hangs and also plate pinches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use thicker bars or if your gym doesn't have one, use those squat pads around the bar or even a towel. Fat gripz is another tool which pretty much accomplishes the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T02:47:16.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18736" CreationDate="2015-04-24T03:03:38.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What grip style are you using?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would focus on grip training and avoid using any straps, they hinder grip development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For grip training, I would include pull-up bar hangs, heavy farmer walks, plate pinches, standard barbell training using thicker barbells. If your gym doesn't have thicker barbells, try wrapping a towel around it, squat pads or even using something like Fat Gripz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T03:03:38.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18736" CreationDate="2015-04-24T03:43:42.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you use regular grip rather than mix grip because otherwise you would just be doing mixed grip in whatever direction made you stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep working it. If you're nearly failing in the left hand, but holding steadily with the right, it means your left hand is working harder and should thus catch up eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's anyone who can lift any serious weight with regular grip though. Try mixed grip and alternate which hand is pronated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T03:43:42.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24395" CreationDate="2015-04-24T11:53:24.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your goal as a runner; are you looking to compete? Or perhaps you are just looking to maintain good cardiovascular fitness, or lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is necessary for all runners, regardless of your overall goal is to protect yourself against potential injury. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/health/the-10-laws-of-injury-prevention&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A study by Runner's World put the annual injury rate for runners at 66%&lt;/a&gt;. The most common injuries for runners are all caused to some degree by weak hips. You could do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthrunning.com/2011/02/the-itb-rehab-routine-video-demonstration/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;illiotibial band rehab routine&lt;/a&gt; after your run to mitigate this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also consider doing core strengthening exercises, as having a strong core is what allows the rest of your body to exert power effectively, and it will also protect you from injury. Straightforward bodyweight exercises good for strengthening your core include lunges, planks, pistol squats, push-ups, and side planks, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15550" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T11:53:24.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24366" CreationDate="2015-04-24T12:16:14.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you perform a bench press, the movement pulls the shoulder mostly inwards i.e. toward the chest, and potentially upwards and downwards depending on whether you are doing incline / decline. If your shoulders are weak, then they can easily become overloaded as your bench press improves. Ideally you should strengthen the rotator cuff from all angles, but if I was to pick only one as you've specified, I would strengthen it in the direction of external rotation, as this is the opposing direction to which the weight is pulling your shoulder. Strengthening the muscle in this direction will mean your shoulder will better be able to stabilise itself by resisting the pull that is placed upon it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easy way to train this is to perform Cable External Rotations, I have experienced rotator cuff stress from benching, and performing external rotations with every workout that involves shoulders resolved the issue for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15550" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T12:16:14.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13242" CreationDate="2015-04-24T14:09:00.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Count your macros and calories. Make a spreadsheet and cook your meals on Sunday, and put them in tuppers. I only cook for lunch and dinner, the same food. The snacks are usually fruits, almonds, protein shake, banana. Buy a food scale. Determine your calorie requirements with an online calculator, or by research. Don't eat below the recommended amount. At start, reduce your cardio and keep your weight training the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight is gonna drop, but you'll plateau at some point. Here's where you reduce your calories by about 200 cals (research for yourself). Then when you plateau again, increase your cardio (you can do it since you've already decreased it at start). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body will adapt to all changes, so make them gradual so you always have room to change (diet &amp;amp; cardio). You can also try changing your macros. When reducing calories, do them from carbs. Protein and fats should remain the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I leave 1 or 2 days off the tuppers, and eat different, but always around the same cals. If you happen to do something intense (a sport with friends), you can eat a litte bit more after that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat every 3 hours, but not necessarily the same amount of calories, lunch and dinner should have more calories than the snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10442" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T14:09:00.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24583" CreationDate="2015-04-24T18:45:36.063" Score="8" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the grand scheme of things, my pullups have been one exercise where I don't see much progression. I've &quot;always&quot; been able to do 3-5 pullups by nature, and even now, after several years, I still wouldn't call it progress. Granted, the 5-7 reps I do now are more quality reps, but I'd definitely expect more progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am beginning to resign myself to the possibility that it's simply my routine that isn't allowing me the best progress in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My usual routine...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...consists of a 3-day split. Push, pull, legs. You know what I mean. On pull-days, pullups are my first exercise, and I've been doing every set/rep scheme known to man. Everything from 8x3 to 3x8, varying grips, and adding weights on belt on the first few sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My attempted change-up lately...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...has been to throw in some pullups at the end of the workout on push day and leg day too, just to increase the frequency at which I do pullups. And I do feel like that's been helpful. Whenever I get back to pull day, I can often do 1-2 more reps &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt;, but that might also be because it's a good day in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you recommend I do in order to progress here? As mentioned, my goal is to progress into muscle-ups. My reps now are pretty good, and I can pull myself up pretty explosively, to the point where I get my &lt;em&gt;chest&lt;/em&gt; to the bar. And I mainly do pronated grip pullups, although after I've done that, I tend to change it up for variation. Everything from supinated (chins) to neutral grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T08:37:55.983" Title="Pullup progression with muscle-ups as long-term goal" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24402" CreationDate="2015-04-24T19:54:34.310" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you can do 5 to 7 pull-ups and your goal is muscle-ups, I'd focus on high-rep sets in every workout. Three sets of 8 is OK, but I've found that pull-ups respond very well to volume. Five sets of 8 on &quot;pull&quot; days, plus 3 sets of 8 on &quot;push&quot; and &quot;leg&quot; days would be a start. So would greasing the groove with sets of 2 or 3 all throughout the day, if you have access to a pull-up bar at home or work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method that's worked for me is to pick a target total number of reps--50 would be a good choice for your situation--and try to hit that every day (or every workout day) in as few sets as possible. Don't fry yourself on your first set, don't exert yourself to failure, but just push yourself to get a lot of reps in each set and to keep adding sets until you hit 50 total. This approach worked for me when &quot;3 sets to failure&quot; stopped helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for transitioning to muscle-ups, you should be training on rings at least some of the time, incorporating dips into your regimen, and trying out a false grip. When working on a bar, changing your grips and switching to chin-ups at least part of the time can help with muscle-up prep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T19:54:34.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24366" CreationDate="2015-04-25T00:18:45.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjvpLgh9PN0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;YTW&lt;/a&gt; routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to do it&lt;/strong&gt;: Grab a set of dumbbells (3-5 lbs) and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Draw your shoulder blades down and back and keep them there during the entire movement. Raise your arms up into a Y position, keeping them straight the whole time. Pause, then slowly lower back to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To move on to T raises, stand with your feet hip-width apart. Keep a slight bend in your knees as you shift forward at your hips. Keep your back parallel with the ground and your abs engaged. Raise your arms out to shoulder height in a T position, palms facing forward. Pause, then slowly lower back to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, for W raises, start in the same bent-over position as you were in for T raises. Bend your elbows more than 90 degrees and raise your arms up to shoulder height, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you lift. At the top of the movement, your arms should form a W. Pause, then slowly lower back to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13813" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T20:05:23.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2015-04-25T00:24:14.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people have horrible ankle mobility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see it on their squats -- ankles cave in, as do the knees. They cannot track their knees over their foot and get into biomechanically disadvantaged positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often the lack of hip and back mobility confounds the problem. This can be addressed by working up to overhead squats with a bar or dowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you don't squat until you can do the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsra0nAEnak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall squat&lt;/a&gt; with perfect form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do an air squat. If your ankles remain perfectly stationary, move to a bar, and then onto weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good pre-squat stretch routine is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbozu0DPcYI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ido Squat Routine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13813" LastActivityDate="2015-04-25T00:24:14.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24429" CreationDate="2015-04-25T01:35:23.127" Score="3" ViewCount="3020" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to train biceps while minimizing the stress on the lateral epicondyle of the humerus? (proper moves, use of rubber tubing, elbow support brace, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" OwnerDisplayName="Franck Dernoncourt" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T14:59:53.000" Title="Train biceps while minimizing the stress on the lateral epicondyle" Tags="&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24408" CreationDate="2015-04-25T01:58:08.723" Score="0" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shoulders problems are usually the bottleneck in training heavy weights, what kind of exercise or stretches would you do to ensure a healthy shoulder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15459" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T16:24:24.180" Title="How do you maintain a healthy shoulder?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-04-28T05:44:06.293" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24407" CreationDate="2015-04-25T09:28:21.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some strategies I have found to be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not program a separate shoulder day. Prefer push/pull split routines instead. Otherwise your supraspinatus and front deltoids will work twice (during chest day and shoulder day) and so your infraspinatus and rear delts as well (during back day and shoulder day). This reduces their recovery ability and increases the chances for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prefer shoulder exercises that don't force your humerus to go overhead, i.e. prefer lateral raises with perfect form (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnNQFoBgtDU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/shoulder-exercises/abduction-in-scapula-plane&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and be sure to do the &quot;Full Can&quot; version, i.e. with thumbs pointing upwards) instead of shoulder presses. The reason being the reduction of the subacromial space during overhead movements. This is usually not a problem if you are young and have perfect form. But sooner or later this is an issue for many bodybuilders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid &lt;strong&gt;behind-the-neck&lt;/strong&gt; press and &lt;strong&gt;behind-the-neck&lt;/strong&gt; pulldown exercises. There is little advantage and great risk of shoulder injury. Avoid &lt;strong&gt;keeping&lt;/strong&gt; pullups unless you are a pro in great physical shape. Prefer the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBFrontPulldown.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pulldown to your chest&lt;/a&gt; variation, and pullups with slow, controlled tempo. As for shoulder presses please see point 2 but, if you decide to do shoulder presses nevertheless, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6sA0F.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;neutral grip with elbows pointing forward&lt;/a&gt; is anatomically less likely to cause subacromial impingement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are a beginner, don't bench press until you are able to do a set of 20 perfect-form push ups in a row. Push ups work the same muscles and many more, in a more shoulder-friendly way. Only when push ups are too easy for you it is time to start bench pressing. If that is not the case, then forget momentarily about the bench press and start by doing pushups with your hands on elevated surfaces (on top of a bench, on the bar of a Smith machine...) until you are able to do them on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add some swimming to your regular training schedule. Yeap, swimming is great for your shoulder joint health. Sustained movement under low stress promotes blood flow into the muscles and nourishes your cartilages. Unluckily, many of us only follow this advice when shoulder problems appear after a lifetime of ignoring it. I am NOT saying &quot;quit lifting&quot; but only &quot;add swimming sessions here and there in your rest days&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/shoulder-exercises/shoulder-exercise-internal-rotation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;internal rotations&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/shoulder-exercises/lateral-rotation-standing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;external rotations&lt;/a&gt; with a rubber band AS THE VERY LAST EXERCISES in your workouts (internal rotation during push day, external rotation during pull day). These should be done with very light weights. They help keeping your rotator cuff tendons healthy. Never do them before any other kind of work: you want those tiny muscle fresh and ready to assist you with the big exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finish your workouts with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises/posterior-shoulder-stretch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;infraspinatus stretch&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/shoulder-exercises/supraspinatus-active-stretch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;supraspinatus stretch&lt;/a&gt;. Not only they help keeping your shoulder healthy, but also they are useful indicators: If any of those two stretches is painful, then something nasty is probably going on inside your shoulder and it is time to examine carefully what you are doing and how to improve your technique/ change exercises/ introduce additional rest days before it is too late and you find yourself under the surgeon's knife.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T16:24:24.180" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T16:24:24.180" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24410" CreationDate="2015-04-25T16:24:51.997" Score="3" ViewCount="784" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that there's a fair amount of debate in the community about the distinction between parkour (getting from point A to point B as efficiently as possible) versus freerunning (do impressive stunts while getting from point A to point B). Even among the more hardcore on the parkour side, it seems common to do a front flip when jumping from a high height before landing and doing the momentum-absorbing roll. Is there any actual parkour advantage to this versus just looking neat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibilities I can think of&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By rotating, you get a full view of your surroundings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some of these jumps start out as dives, sometimes through narrow openings. If you're going to have to rotate to get back to your feet, it makes more sense to keep rotating forward, in the direction of the roll rather than trying to get your momentum the other way by bringing the legs forward to rotate backwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relating to the last one, the front flip gets started into a forward momentum which makes it easier to transition into the roll&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's just general flip training as espoused by &lt;em&gt;traceurs&lt;/em&gt; such as Amos Rendao which helps improve air awareness, making it more likely that you'll find a way to recover when a vault goes bad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-10-02T14:13:12.620" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T14:13:12.620" Title="Is there any advantage to doing flips during big drops in parkour?" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24409" CreationDate="2015-04-25T21:37:44.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; you have running speed. Doing a dive frontflip is often very beneficial, because you get to land such that your feet are out in front of you as you land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have a lot of forward momentum, if you land straight up and down (i.e. perpendicular to the ground), you're going to have way less opportunity for your legs to break the fall before you roll. By landing angled, where you're leaning backwards, your legs will have more time to catch up, and you will have less downward momentum left as you lean forward into the roll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why you see traceurs often to the dived pike or superman frontflip as they jump down heights if they're running into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For straight-down jumps, with no forward momentum, the flip is pretty much useless, and it's easier to mess it up. A lot of what makes the frontflip managable, is diving into it with running speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the aesthetic aspect of the jump, the flip has an undeniable effect. But in my personal opinion, it's not the flip itself that looks the best. It's the dive into it, that looks most impressive. One then has the option to dive head-first into a roll (which is &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; advanced depending on the height), or front-flip out of it to land on your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-04-25T23:47:41.377" LastActivityDate="2015-04-25T23:47:41.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24413" CreationDate="2015-04-26T02:04:00.263" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that ab muscles are tiny and can be exercised everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true, or do we need to take 1 to 2 day break in-between, just like the other muscle groups, i.e. arms, shoulders, back, chest, glutes, thighs, legs ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I do light-weight exercises at home, the types you'd find on Pinterest, and maximum dumbbell weight is 8 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10671" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T14:41:39.427" Title="Can Ab Exercise Be Done Everyday" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-04-28T05:47:29.220" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24412" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24414" CreationDate="2015-04-26T06:18:18.190" Score="6" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;is there any way to measure my total fitness, like muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, and body fat composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean an app or website to get my data (weight, height, BMI, ... ) and measure how fit and well-shape I am?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I can calculate:&#xA;BMI, WHR, FAT composition, bone type, calorie need. by myself but I don't know how to relate them to my fitness&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if any know such a resource or know how to measure by myself please tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;any answer appreciate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15329" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T07:05:56.553" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T05:38:47.520" Title="how to measure my total fitness?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;assessment&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24411" CreationDate="2015-04-26T11:57:32.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but give it only a maximum of 5-10 minutes in your routine, with a short (30 sec) rest period in between. This will surely fetch results. The key to visibility of your abs is to lose as much fat as you can. Otherwise, you may build the muscle but will not clearly see it as the fat is covering the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15561" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-26T14:06:07.333" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T14:06:07.333" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24412" CreationDate="2015-04-26T13:51:36.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no single scale on which we all can measure and compare our fitness levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For starters, there are a thousand different ways of being in shape. You can be a great sprinter or marathon runner, swimmer, boxer, kickboxer, rock climber, tree climber, mountain climber, indoor climber, weightlifter, powerlifter, olympic lifter, and the list goes on and on and on, for every sport you can imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the point here is that the people who excel at these activities, are all in tremendously good shape, but in completely different ways. The olympic lifter can swing huge weights over his head, but can't run more than a few miles without stopping/walking. Meanwhile, the marathon runner can run miles and miles without pause, but can barely benchpress his bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are obviously just examples with moderation, but still pretty literal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we were to have one single test to measure one's fitness level, we'd have to test all these attributes, which isn't a realistic option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we did have such a scale and test, we could all take the test, and literally find the most in-shape person on the planet. He or she would be pretty damn good at every single sport and activity. On the flip side, we'd also find the &lt;em&gt;least&lt;/em&gt; in-shape person on the planet...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Based on your comment, and my superior hindsight, it sounds like you're looking for the ol' army fitness test, whereby you're tested on a short run, as well as a few bodyweight exercises. In this case, there again is no &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; standard, as different workplaces look for different qualities. So for instance the army might place more focus on cardiovascular qualities, while a fire brigade might emphasize strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By googling &quot;physical fitness test&quot; you'll find a few alternatives, made by different institutions. One of the top results should be the US Army PFT, which is likely the most used one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, I warn you; this does not test &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; aspects of your fitness. Such a test would be far more compounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-04-26T18:06:57.787" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T18:06:57.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24427" CreationDate="2015-04-26T13:52:55.267" Score="-1" ViewCount="706" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not exercised properly in about a few years and I'm dying to get back into it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've put together the following routine :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday&lt;/strong&gt;: Leg Day and Abs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday&lt;/strong&gt;: Chest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;: Back and Abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday&lt;/strong&gt;: Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt;: Biceps, Triceps and Abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any benefit to working out certain muscle groups together? Should I change or rearrange these exercises? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T13:34:29.443" Title="What is the best combination of muscle groups to workout together?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-04-28T05:47:40.913" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2015-04-26T14:04:14.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While most of this has been covered in one form or another, I'd also recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT13BaTtcXk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Parkour Science's video on the Kong vaults&lt;/a&gt;. The one thing that I think isn't being entirely covered in the prior answers here is that it really is a parabolic motion. In the Dive Kong, you land your hands as you're descending from the peak of your jump, which naturally keeps the legs higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T14:04:14.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24411" CreationDate="2015-04-26T14:41:39.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The abdominal muscles are muscles like any other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, for instance, you've found a routine that works great for your chest or upper back, try applying the same principles for your abs too. Progressive overloading!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, like any other muscle group, your abs need restitution too! You can use the 48 hour rule-of-thumb to start with, and then just experiment from there. Try doing it several days in a row, and see if it works out. If it doesn't, then at least you'll know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T14:41:39.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2015-04-26T22:52:08.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Introduction&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, yes. Squatting is an invaluable part of growing in the scope of lifting. And the issues you are experiencing, have long-standing workarounds ready and available for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention balance. This is something that will come with practice. Right now, the problem is most likely related to the fact that you're not used to carrying weight in this manner. Unless there is some underlying reason, it should come naturally and organically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for ankle mobility, this is usually a case of your tendons being too short, or too stiff. Neither case should hinder you from doing squats. We have quite a few different ways of doing squats, and some people tend to one or the other simply based on what their body can most easily cope with. Here are some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The back squat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bar on your shoulder/neck. This is where people often will realize that their ankle mobility is a limiting factor. You will notice, because as your knees bend, your heels come off the ground. This is not ideal, because the force should propagate through your heels and into the ground. Your heels are, after all, where your legs meet your foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workaround #1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try placing your heels on a slight elevation. Most people use weight plates for this. It should allow you to keep more weight on your heels, rather than at the balls of your feet, near the toes. Even so, it's more of a temporary fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workaround #2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spread your feet a bit further, and point your toes slightly outward. I see a lot of people miss this key point. They have their feet shoulder width apart, and toes pointing straight forward. I have excellent ankle mobility, and if I try to do this, I will also lift my heels off the floor. It's a terrible way to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An excellent way to find a decent foot placement, is to pretend you're about to take a dump in the woods. Squat down, and make sure you're not about to get anything on your legs, but maintain balance at all times. This will often result in a wider-than-shoulder-width stance. Kind of like riding a horse. Again, toes slightly outward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will allow you to lean back more, so that the weight isn't tipping you forward off your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The front squat&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where I found my personal workaround. With the front squat, you have the bar on your shoulders, but on the front-side of your neck. Yes, it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; trickier, but mastering this squat &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this extremely useful for those who have ankle mobility issues, because with the weight already on the front-side of your center of gravity, you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; have to lean backwards onto your heels in order to not tip forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One hopefully minor setback here, is that it takes some getting used to. A lot of people simply hold the weight wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The right way:&lt;/strong&gt; With the bar resting on your shoulders, close to your neck, your elbows should be pointing straight out in front of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The wrong way:&lt;/strong&gt; You'll notice a lot of people having their elbows pointing down, and the bar resting 50/50 on their shoulders and hands. Their wrists will be bent backwards with tremendous force, and they'll spend most of the exercise, and rest periods, in pain, squeezing their wrists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You, on the other hand, will know better. Hell, with your elbows out in front of you, you don't even need to use your hands. You can cross your arms over the bar for stabilization if you need to. As long as your elbows are up high, the bar isn't going anywhere. But again, it takes some getting used to, and you will probably have to drop some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also thoracic extension (the &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; arch in the lower back area) will come very naturally when you front squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The overhead squat&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal mount everest. Holding the bar over your head with your arms fully extended, you squat. This is one hell of an exercise in balance and mobility. Again, thoracic extension will be forced upon you, which makes it pretty amazing, but it's definitely a more advanced squat if you intend to work with it beyond simply testing the waters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I like about it, is that you will absolutely be using far less weight with this one. Not only because you have to press/jerk it up, but also because keeping balance during descent and ascent is pretty challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely test it out if the bar alone feels comfortable enough. If not, wait a while. There's no rush with this one. There's always the workarounds and the front squat for starters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've purposefully left out illustrations in this post, because it became quite long as is, and huge posts can be slightly off-putting. But there is a plethora of guides, tips, and tricks with everything I've mentioned, by simply googling the headlines. And there's always the comment section if there are any other questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T22:52:08.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24406" CreationDate="2015-04-26T23:38:24.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most of the Upper Body workouts and few of the Lower Body workouts we do require arm movement. So, you are working your arms as well admist other things each time you work on some region of your body.&#xA;But if you &quot;really&quot; need to work on your biceps you need to twist your elbow. There's no other way around it. The heavier you go. The bigger the biceps. &#xA;I suggest that you go light in the beginning with an elbow strap. Which could ease the elbow a little bit. But as you go heavy. Let some one help you out in giving you that extra push. Unless it doesn't hurt you.&#xA;Also if you're injured try consulting a physician before proceeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15561" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T23:38:24.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24430" CreationDate="2015-04-27T10:12:14.060" Score="0" ViewCount="1180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know how can I decide whether I should do one body part a day or do 2-3? I have a lean body and I want a lean muscular one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &lt;strong&gt;body parts&lt;/strong&gt; I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;biceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was doing 1 or 2 of the above in a day (leading to a 6 days cycle to complete) but now in my new gym I have been given a 3 days cycle of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;upper body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lower body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure it depends on many personal factors (current body-type, expected body-type, since when I have been gymming), but I wanted to understand how to decide this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both my experiences I feel that my muscles are being developed and so I cannot judge the effectiveness of one over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15566" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T23:26:16.220" Title="One body part a day or multiple?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24432" CreationDate="2015-04-27T10:59:53.383" Score="1" ViewCount="2671" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot find a metric formula to calculate body fat composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any right and valid metric formula for body fat calculation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15329" LastEditorUserId="31754" LastEditDate="2019-10-29T09:46:59.807" LastActivityDate="2019-10-29T09:46:59.807" Title="body fat calculation formula for metric values" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24424" CreationDate="2015-04-27T11:33:07.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If, for example, you wanted to use the &quot;Navy&quot; body fat calculation formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure the circumference of your waist at a horizontal level around the navel for men, and at the level with the least width for women. Don't pull your stomach in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure the circumference of the neck. Start below the larynx with the tape sloping slightly downward to the front. Avoid flaring your neck out.&#xA;For women only: Measure the circumference of the hips, at the largest horizontal measure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;body fat calculator formula for man:&#xA;495/(1.0324-0.19077(LOG(waist-neck))+0.15456(LOG(height)))-450&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;body fat calculator formula for woman:&#xA;495/(1.29579-0.35004(LOG(waist+hip-neck))+0.22100(LOG(height)))-450&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you'd have to do, is convert centimeters into inches (inches = centimeters / 2.54) and use those values in those equations...or just use the calculator &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/body-fat-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (just switch it over to the &quot;metric&quot; tab)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this is what you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T11:33:07.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24422" CreationDate="2015-04-27T11:42:40.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a recovery time for muscle-building. A common mistake when starting out is to do the same exercises every day and to stall out in gains, or to lose motivation, because the muscles don't have time to recover. That period is variable based on age, health, and individual constitution, but it is only approximately 24-48 hours. Thus, your current plan has longer rest days built into it. If you're not in the best of help, or your recovery time is slower, your method might work better for you. But you might also be giving the muscles a little too long to rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try ramping up to their schedule, and see how your body reacts. If you find that you're seeing diminishing gains, or the strain is so much that you don't feel motivated to work out, scale back a bit. You may even find some middle ground by doing more days of two body-areas at a time instead of just one, but not quite going for their setup of three at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to specific parts of the body that are being worked out, their method is focusing on opposing muscles. By working just the upper body, then just the lower body, you're making sure that you're not getting lopsided, say bulking your pectoral muscles without building up the back muscles to hold them extra muscle in place. And by making it a more regimented set of exercises, it reduces the change you'll decide to skip out on a part of the body &quot;just this once&quot; and wind up doing it all week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T11:42:40.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24415" CreationDate="2015-04-27T13:34:29.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your routine seems fine to me, its a matter of personal preference though. The key is to keep it short. Have lesser rest period (30-45 secs max). And consistently increase weight. It certainly helps doing compound routines rather than working on individual muscle groups. But there are some routines which mostly do not involve other muscle groups (biceps for example). And don't keep repeating the same routines each time you work on a muscle group. Try something different or a different combinations each time you workout. Diet, rest and sleep also will help you immensely to reach to the peak that you have set.&#xA;As long as you are focused, determined, consistent and don't hurt yourself in the process you are good to go. &#xA;You have done this before. You'll do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15561" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T13:34:29.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24424" CreationDate="2015-04-27T14:15:37.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best bet for a body fat measurement if you want pure metric, is to find someone local that is well trained in using body fat calipers. They measure in millimeters, and the formulas calculate out using that as a basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, any body fat measurement produces a percentage number. The math ahead of time is just numbers in a formula, it shouldn't matter unless you have absolutely no way to measure in inches. Once you have that number, you just apply it to your weight in kilograms instead of pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T14:15:37.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24406" CreationDate="2015-04-27T14:39:06.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues with the lateral epicondyle (the bony bump on the outside of the elbow) are a result of a few problems:  &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tennis Elbow  (Lateral Epicondylitis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fracture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cubitus Valgus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Minimizing stress on the lateral epicondyle&quot; is too broad.  It leaves Why unanswered.&lt;br&gt;Not knowing why or in what stage of rehabilitation (e.g. onset - surgical recovery) makes it difficult to recommend anything.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big question being should you avoid putting stress on certain muscles or should you be exercising these muscles.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to exercise the most important is to do stretch exercises and, very important, warm up before working out.  Rehabilitative exercise requires working with light loads with a minimum of two days between workout days.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Minimizing stress on the lateral epicondyle while exercising the biceps should not be too much of an issue.  I would think the concern would be more about triceps (extensors) and biceps (flexors). These, being an antagonistic pair, the two need to be trained together or an imbalance could lead to injury.  &lt;br&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three muscles directly related to the lateral epicondyle: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extensor carpi radialis brevis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anconeus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supinator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As shown in the first two images, the biceps are not in proximity to the lateral epicondyle or the medial epicondyle. Also notice the close proximity of the Triceps and Anconeus.  In the case of tennis elbow the injury is a result of the extensor carpi radialis brevis muscle (top left center) which is associated with wrist extension and abduction actions.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anconeus&lt;/strong&gt; assists in elbow flexation of the forearm and stabilizes the elbow when rotating the forearm.  It is associated its prime mover the triceps stabilizing the elbow during flexation.  Elbow extensions are ultimately achieved through the synergistic relationship between the triceps brachii and the small anconeus muscle. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GJwjG.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Forearm Extensors&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wBkhX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Medial Epicondyle&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are many muscles in the forearm and the extensors are prone to repetitive stress syndromes (e.g. carpal tunnel).  Other lateral epicondyle related muscles are buried deep.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ukeiG.png&quot; alt=&quot;forearm cross section&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;By dissecting the extensor muscles the &lt;strong&gt;Supinator&lt;/strong&gt; muscle is revealed.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supinator&lt;/strong&gt; always acts together with biceps, except when the elbow joint is extended. The supinator is less involved with rotation under heavy load. Under heavy load, the biceps take over. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The supinator is to the biceps as the Anconeus is to the triceps. &#xA;triceps brachii, which is responsible for extension of the elbow joint.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both supinator and &lt;strong&gt;Anconeus&lt;/strong&gt; stablize the elbow by way of the lateral epicondyle and are responsible for &lt;strong&gt;rotation of the forearm&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abductor pollicis longus lies immediately below the supinator and is sometimes united with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LHbq9.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Supinator lateral epicondyle&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XG67u.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rotation of the Forearm is Key&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To minimize stress on the lateral epicondyle you must minimize rotation.  To minimize rotation you must choose a biceps exercise that does not work a muscle associated with rotation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FvOeU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lateral Epicondyle&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bicep Brachii is responsible for two motions in the elbow: flexion and supination (rotation). &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many biceps exercises also work the &lt;strong&gt;brachioradialis&lt;/strong&gt; which is related to &lt;strong&gt;rotation&lt;/strong&gt; (supination) of the forearm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biceps brachii muscle alone does not directly affect the epicondyle.   To minimize stress on the lateral epicondyle care must be taken not to rotate the forearm when doing biceps exercises.  There are some biceps exercises to avoid as well such as the reverse curl and reverse pushdowns. You may want to avoid the reverse wrist curl as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the elbow joint flexes, a synergistic contraction of the brachialis and the biceps brachii is required.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other muscles with tendons that attach near the lateral epicondyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extensor digitorum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extensor carpi ulnaris&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extensor digiti&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pronator teres&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pronator quadratus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many biceps exercises also work the brachioradialis which is related to rotation of the forearm. The brachioradialis is worked in arm and back exercises. The arm exercises include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preacher Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Back Exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Chin Up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat Pulldown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T-Bar Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;EZ-Bar and Cubitus Valgus&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cubitus Valgus is due to a &lt;strong&gt;lateral epicondyle  fracture&lt;/strong&gt; or a common anatomical variation, where the elbow joint is twisted outward from the center of the body (cubitus valgus). This is where the forearm angles (carry angle) away from the body when the arm is fully extended downward with the palms facing forward.  This will cause barbell curls to be painful because the elbow joint angle causes the wrists to have to break excessively.  The solution is to use an EZ-Bar rather than a straight bar. A seated curl machine would offer greatest stability.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Braces and Other Exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not qualified to give advice for rehabilitation.  &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;check out these guys:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/elbow-pain/tennis-elbow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tennis Elbow Treatment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Select an Exercise that works only the &lt;strong&gt;brachialis and the biceps brachii&lt;/strong&gt; and &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;NOT brachioradialis&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/joBK9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qNtGH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastEditorUserId="15464" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T14:59:53.000" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T14:59:53.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24422" CreationDate="2015-04-27T16:28:05.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The core basic principles that apply are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total volume per body part is the biggest driver for muscular hypertophy (growth)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Manage recovery to enable adding volume over time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work you enjoy ensures you are going to keep doing it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond this, studies have shown that there really doesn't make a tremendous difference the shape of the volume (sets * reps) or the order in which you work the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have several ways of breaking down your work, which can be by muscle group or by movement.  I personally am a fan of full body training 3x a week, but selecting different sets of isolation work.  As an example, I will have a push, pull, and squat variant every training day, alternate between biceps/triceps and shoulders for isolation work, and then whatever else I need.  However, that's just how I like to do things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To boil it down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It just doesn't matter.  Just train the way that feels most natural to you, and incorporate new things over time as you focus on &quot;problem areas&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that compound movements that use larger muscles do trigger more growth than isolation movements &lt;em&gt;alone&lt;/em&gt;.  However, if you add in isolation movements after compound movements, you'll see increased response in those muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I do a full body training day every time I work out I manage fatigue by having different training styles.  Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy day: 85-90% of my max, 4 sets of 2-3 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rep day: 75-80% of my max, 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed day: 65-70% of my max, several sets of 2-4 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heavy day helps get the body used to heavier weights to enable increasing weight over time.  The rep day is the meat and potatoes of getting stronger.  Speed day is kind of a mental break and active recovery day--while focusing on moving weight quickly.  Since I have 3 main compound movements, I alternate which one gets which emphasis.  I also make sure each main compound movement gets a different emphasis for that day.  That way I'm not going heavy on bench and deadlift in the same session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T16:38:24.017" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T16:38:24.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24424" CreationDate="2015-04-27T18:46:54.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some body fat formulas that estimates body fat with BMI&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deurenberg Formula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deurenberg Formula #2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gallagher Formula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jackson-Pollock Formula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this page  (first column, fourth choice) is a &quot;body fat test&quot;.  The estimated body fat is calculated using all 4 formulas.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Link:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://strength-training-software.com/toc.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Assessment Tests&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the result page is a tape measurement calculator.  This is a very accurate body fat calculator.  I was test by Prevention Magazine comparing it against the Skin Fold Caliper to the Hydrostatic Weighing Method.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention Magazine said this calculator was more accurate than the Skin Fold Caliper and matched the results from the Hydrostatic method.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a formula though. I wrote the code back in 1993 and did the Web version in May 1996. The tape measurements it asks for change for male and female, an age above 27 or below 28 years old.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This website was never promoted commercially and was abandoned about 10 years ago. But the Body Fat Calculator still works just fine.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure why you need a formula, but if you need a metric version I could make you one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pulled the 4 BMI formulas out of this page. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  $FatBMI  = (1.2  * $BMI) + (.23 * $age) - 5.4;&#xA;  $FatBMI2 = (1.29 * $BMI) + (.20 * $age) - 8;&#xA;  $FatBMI3 = (1.46 * $BMI) + (.14 * $age) - 10;&#xA;  $FatBMI4 = (1.61 * $BMI) + (.13 * $age) - 13.9;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15464" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T18:46:54.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24295" CreationDate="2015-04-27T20:21:55.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This exercise is commonly utilized in yoga practice. Your body alignment, breathing, and head movement are all important. Make sure to begin with your shoulders stacked directly above your wrists, and hips directly above knees (as shown in the images above). As you inhale, let your gaze trace up to the ceiling and backwards; your upper back should follow as you move your head and neck. With an exhale, bring your gaze inward towards your belly button and use your arms as if you are forcefully pushing the ground away; again, your back should follow the movements you're taking with your head, neck, and shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8640" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T20:21:55.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15072" CreationDate="2015-04-27T20:37:24.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forward and lateral raises should only be done at an angle for someone with a shoulder injury. Also the weights should be very light(no more than 10 lbs max) to avoid further stress on the joint&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15577" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T20:37:24.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24424" CreationDate="2015-04-28T08:31:43.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I use the &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BioMetrIcs&lt;/a&gt; Android app to calculate / review the formula of a dozen of the more common estimates, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/fatcent.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BiranMac&lt;/a&gt; site is a good reference for most of the fitness related formula: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T08:42:58.223" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T08:42:58.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24443" CreationDate="2015-04-28T09:47:42.230" Score="2" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;as you know, cardiovascular endurance in swimming is something that cannot be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and I think, swimming will challenge our cardiovascular endurance more than other thing like running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward to a way to measure my cardiovascular endurance in swimming Like its done by VO2max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is it possible or is there any standard way to test it for a normal guy (Not for water polo athelte)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;there are lots of test which are just for water polo athletes: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/aerobic-swimming.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/aerobic-swimming.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe they work for normal guys because they haven't got expert in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;any answer appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I need it because I don't have sufficient equipments for VO2max test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15329" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2015-05-03T10:16:00.610" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T10:16:00.610" Title="can we measure our cardiovascular endurance from swimming?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24441" CreationDate="2015-04-28T15:43:16.940" Score="10" ViewCount="1516" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been into a fitness routine for about 3 years. The last 5 weeks I've been unable to exercise due to sickness, work deadlines, and then a small holiday I had planned (which involved drinking, bad news bears)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now... I feel like I'm at the point of no return. I went to the gym yesterday, and I was as weak and unfit as ever, did not help at all with the want to go again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just any advice for getting back into it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3379" LastEditorUserId="3379" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T22:17:00.617" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T13:50:40.093" Title="Any tips for getting motivated again?" Tags="&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24422" CreationDate="2015-04-28T16:05:53.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;5-days cycle is better but if I'll go with the 3-days cycle I would put it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1: Chest + Biceps + ABS &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2: Shoulders + Triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3: Back + Legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15580" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T16:05:53.887" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24438" CreationDate="2015-04-28T16:11:50.567" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start small. Drop your weight to where you can finish your sets. Walk if you need to instead of running. Then start ramping it back up. The really good news is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/returning-to-training-after-a-layoff-qa.html/&quot;&gt;it comes back quickly&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T16:11:50.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24438" CreationDate="2015-04-28T16:30:19.327" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Set some goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to get back into the swing of things without something concrete to work for. Sit down and plan out some goals that you would like to achieve, that all build into each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Sean points out, it does come back quickly. At 5 weeks, you are not completely detrained yet. Common lore is that depending on your own personal physiology, you can get away with a week or two of inactivity. After that time, you lose about 2 days of fitness for every day of continued inactivity. So it will take you a couple months to get back to about where you were before the off time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't beat yourself up about it. Life happens to everyone. Unless fitness is your monetary occupation, it's ok to wander off into the weeds now and again. Set some small goals, such as &quot;Get into the gym 2 times this week, and 3 times next week&quot;. Once you get those, then plan some bigger goals. You should always have some short term, medium and long range goals that you are working towards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T16:30:19.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24438" CreationDate="2015-04-28T18:31:15.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for a friend who will join you in your efforts. I've found that going to the gym together is more fun than going alone, and more motivating. Even if you can't workout together, you can hold each other accountable by checking in to see how you're doing with your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of all, this has helped me because a good friend understands and will support you when you're going through a rough time, just as you'll do for them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13706" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T18:31:15.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24437" CreationDate="2015-04-28T19:25:16.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the tests that you refer to at Top End are probably going to be your best bet at determining a VO2max for swimming. There are some testing setups where you are in an endless pool or flume, and wearing the expiration mask, but those are very specialized. If you want a water based test, the polo ones are the only ones I'm aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, VO2max is not that great a metric for determining current fitness or performance. VO2max is a measurement of capacity, and is a &lt;em&gt;predictor&lt;/em&gt; for possible endurance sport aptitude, but that's about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example: If I plug in some numbers into the Rockport equation (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/Rockport.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calculator here&lt;/a&gt;), it gives me a VO2max value. If all I do is drop my weight, my VO2max goes up, even if that is only accomplished by dieting and no extra fitness. If you are training, it's more of an academic number than a training metric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better indicator of performance is obtaining your vVO2max (Velocity or speed when you reach your VO2max level), and tlimvVo2max (Time limitation, or how long you can last at vVo2max). You can get a further explanation of these at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/vvo2max.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BrianMac&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T19:25:16.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24384" CreationDate="2015-04-28T23:08:45.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly there have been many studies, as Sean Duggan referenced, asserting appetite-inhibition effects of exercise. I have never seen much more than educated speculation as to the root cause (e.g., certain hormone levels). For example, according to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyfit.com/pdfs/NColumn130518-Ref-8.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;paper by David Stensel&lt;/a&gt; published in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The mechanisms&#xA;  by which acute exercise suppresses appetite are not fully understood&#xA;  but may involve lowered concentrations of ghrelin&#xA;  and increased concentrations of satiety hormones, notably&#xA;  peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide 1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as Sean says it is usually more a delay since your body will eventually need to find replacement calories to fuel it. My experience is mostly with runners, bikers, and swimmers (and mostly semi-competitive). I've found that for about a half hour to an hour after exercise those people typically don't want to eat. After that delay of course you want (and need) food. As a marathon runner, I have found that how much I eat scales like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not Running (X)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First Two Months Getting Into Shape (0.8*X)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steady Routine (1.5*X)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running 45-75 Miles/Week (3*X + X * (Miles - 45) / 10 ).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that scale is personal and not a one size fits all. So I think that yes even on a whole I eat less in the first two months of running than with no exercise but after that the only appetite-inhibition seems to be the delay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15583" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T23:08:45.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24438" CreationDate="2015-04-28T23:10:17.913" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some things that have worked for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caffeine&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine just seems to make things easier, be it coffee or a pre workout drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Motivational Videos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watching a motivational video while getting ready for a workout can fire you up.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26U_seo0a1g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Example&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15584" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T23:10:17.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24452" CreationDate="2015-04-29T10:00:34.903" Score="2" ViewCount="4399" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compared to my shoulders and arms (and even my abs), my chest is virtually non-existent. For as long as I can remember I've always had pretty muscular arms &amp;amp; shoulders (most likely down to drumming, as I didn't really start working out properly until a couple of years ago), but where you tend to see pictures of fit guys, they look like they've got a couple of thick-cut steaks for chest muscles, whereas I appear to have a pair of medium-sized pancakes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read a lot of information suggesting that push-ups, particularly wide-grip and incline, help develop the chest; however I've also read (and I currently can't find the link) that this will only develop the lower chest, and for &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; mass I should work the upper chest with flat barbell presses, incline presses and flyes, with 4-6 reps at 80-85% of my 1-rep maximum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I also have a custom pull-up routine that includes close &amp;amp; wide grip (straight legs and legs out), overhand, bar checks, etc. and that &lt;em&gt;feels&lt;/em&gt; like it works my chest more than anything else, despite the fact that I originally found it looking for core-strengthening workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consequently, I'm at a bit of a loss as to where to start; considering my shoulders, arms, abs and even my back all seem far more developed than my chest, I'm not sure what I should be doing or how often I should be doing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, this is the kind of physique I'm after:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L6Eup.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although his chest isn't huge, you can definitely see lines that define his pectorals. &lt;em&gt;That's&lt;/em&gt; what I want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12247" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T05:48:48.937" Title="Bulking up a (relatively) small chest" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24451" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24454" CreationDate="2015-04-29T13:21:03.413" Score="7" ViewCount="23505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to squat once, sometimes twice a week and I would get DOMs and soreness everytime, in my glutes,&#xA;quads and other little muscles in those areas, it would hurt to sit and walk...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have decided to do them everyday, I have also started doing front squats, it is my second week trying them everyday,&#xA;I am into the 3rd day of this second week, but after yesterdays squats I am not feeling sore, here is my routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;warm up:&#xA; - olympic bar only - 2 sets of 15 repetitions&#xA; - 40kg 5 sets of 10 repetitions&#xA; - 50kg 3 sets of 8 repetitions&#xA; - 60kg 3 sets of 8 repetitions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(it takes me a while to warm up)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Main course: &#xA; - 80kg 1 set 8 repetitions&#xA; - 100kg 1 set 8 repetitions&#xA; - 120kg 3 sets 6 repetitions (my maximum is here)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dessert:&#xA; - 140kg static hold (above my max) 3 sets of 30 second static holds&#xA;  - attempted squat 5 failed attempts, had to let go of the bar every time&#xA; - 160kg static hold (above my max) 3 sets of 30 second static holds&#xA;  - attempted squat 3 failed attempts, had to let go of the bar every time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;warm down:&#xA; - same as warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the dessert part is something I have only tried twice...I have found that it has drastically increased my squat strength, my max shifted up by 15kg after only 2 days of trying it, but this is the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, Why am I not feeling soreness? before when I only did it once or twice, I would be sore for 3-4 days, now that it is the second week into doing it everyday, I am not getting any soreness anymore, I definitely get tired, my energy is definitely sapped, the day before I just wanted to fall asleep in the gym after it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have asked my people to spot me and check my form, they said the form was fine, I go ass to grass, back is straight, feet turned out, proper alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am wondering, why I'm not feeling it anymore, I definitely feel a little fatigued the next day but there is no soreness or pain or anything like that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastEditorUserId="10578" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T16:26:58.283" LastActivityDate="2015-06-13T02:03:33.307" Title="I'm not sore after doing squats. Am I doing something wrong?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24450" CreationDate="2015-04-29T13:22:39.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend doing flies, as they can present unnecessary risk to your shoulders by overstretching the tendons in the bottom position.  The best chest developer I've had to date has been dumbbell bench work at different angles.  It beats out barbell work for that purpose hands down.  I'd approach it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell flat bench: for general mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell incline bench: for upper pectoral development and making it a bit rounder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell overhead press: to finish out the overall look&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder triple sets: (all three constitute one set)&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB side raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB front raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB bent over rear delt raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternating barbell rows and pullups/chinups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching your pecs after training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For each of the pressing exercises I would work with palms out, palms facing, and alternating hands while crossing your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to focus on getting that pump, so you should focus on more reps with the feeling that you can't do too much more after you are done with everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shoulder work and back work will help you maintain proper posture so you can show off the hard work you've done on the chest.  It will also help you stay injury free.  Also, feel free to spread the work out over the week.  Strive for 30-50 reps overall per chest session (3-5 sets x 10-15 reps), so pick a weight where 30 reps is a challenge and work up to 50 reps.  Increase weight and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T13:22:39.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24438" CreationDate="2015-04-29T13:50:40.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;h1&gt;NONSENSE&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you built up your fitness for years, there is no way that you are back to scratch after a 5 week 'vacation'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the worst case your body has become slightly weaker or heavier, but &lt;strong&gt;objectively&lt;/strong&gt; it will not be a lot, and it will certainly not mean that you have to start from scratch again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really think you 'lost everything' just push yourself a bit next week, write down the results and compare that to 3 years ago. Don't bother comparing with 5 weeks ago, you can do that in another 3-6 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really can't see any improvement compared to before you started I stand corrected, but otherwise I will just tell you to &lt;strong&gt;step it up&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15591" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T13:50:40.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24451" CreationDate="2015-04-29T14:28:42.470" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is not something you should use to gauge the efficiency of your workouts. It's mostly only experienced when your body gets put through something it's not used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence, it's not anything you need to aim for. But in terms of getting variety into your workout regimen, it's a good indicator of &quot;hey, this is new&quot;, which is often good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're working squats with the intention of progressing weight-wise, then DOMS will sooner or later disappear, but will most likely come back once you change it up, and start going in wildly different set/rep ranges, or different exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T14:28:42.470" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24465" CreationDate="2015-04-29T15:25:36.223" Score="4" ViewCount="372" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've visited various websites about the 3-site skinfold test, but none seem to deal with my issue. I'm not exactly light (non-athletic 220 lb at 6'), and I'm trying to use fat percentage for my progress. However The sites I've read don't seem to clarify how much one's supposed to pinch. By starting my pinch an inch wider or narrower I can drastically alter the mm measurement the caliper records (+/-25% on the mm measurement), and I can't find any clear instructions as to how wide the pinch should be, leaving my numbers inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I very well might be doing something &lt;em&gt;entirely&lt;/em&gt; wrong, which I'm willing to correct, but I don't know what that is to fix it. I'm more than willing to give more detail if I can be directed towards what to provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site that I found the most helpful (if a tad... goofy) is the following: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/body-composition-calculator.html&quot;&gt;http://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/body-composition-calculator.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15593" LastEditorUserId="15593" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T16:03:41.910" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T18:29:19.990" Title="3-Site Skinfold Test Procedure" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24455" CreationDate="2015-04-29T16:37:11.437" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you read the guide on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/fatcent.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BrianMac&lt;/a&gt; site, or had a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPy-D9LZQqM&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;YouTube&lt;/a&gt;, or any ot the numerous guides downloadable from the web?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/ideal-way-to-measure-body-fat-percentage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Ideal Way to Measure Body Fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/nhanes_07_08/manual_an.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) - Anthropometry Procedures Manual&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.harpendenservicecenter.com/How%20to%20Measure%20book%202009.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HOW TO MEASURE YOUR % BODYFAT AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR MEASURING % BODY FAT USING SKINFOLD CALIPERS by Wallace C. Donoghue&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.langeservicecenter.com/lange%20manual.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lange Skinfold Caliper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skyndex.com/resources/SKYNDEX%20SYSTEM%201%20Manual.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Syndex System 1 Skinfold Caliper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amstelmedical.nl/pdf/130311032942_howtousetheexpertfatmeasureincl.nl.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to use the Expert Skinfold Caliper&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I use the Android &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BioMetrIcs&lt;/a&gt; app, to record / plot / compare my details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-17T18:29:19.990" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T18:29:19.990" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24412" CreationDate="2015-04-29T16:55:59.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are numerous tests in existence, have a read of: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/101Evaluations/pdfs/101EvaluationTests.Chapter.1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;101 Evaluation Tests&lt;/a&gt;, as to an App / Website again there are numerous, even the likes of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polar.com/en/about_polar/press_room/press_releases/popular_polar_beat_app_now_tests_athletes_fitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Polar Beat&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.endomondo.com/2013/04/17/test-your-fitness-level-with-the-new-android-app-8-7-0-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Endomondo&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BioMetrIcs&lt;/a&gt;.... all offer a few of the more common tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just don't ask as to which test is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24250/fitness-tests-is-there-a-consensus-on-which-to-use&quot;&gt;best&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T16:55:59.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13446" CreationDate="2015-04-29T17:17:43.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A number of academic studies have tried to apportion / quantify the percentage of body fat by compartment (bit of the body), but they all appear to have a standard error in the order of +/- 4%. This error is similar to that in the normal guestimates as to your total body fat, so similarly should be taken as a rough guess e.g. a 10% figure will correlate with your actual fat mass in the: 6% - 14% range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your interested in a paper to read have a look at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&amp;amp;pid=S0212-16112010000200011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Study and classification of the abdominal adiposity throughout the application of the two-dimensional predictive equation Garaulet et al., in the clinical practice&lt;/a&gt; OR: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T17:17:43.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24451" CreationDate="2015-04-29T17:55:36.163" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You started squatting more so you would get better at squatting. It sounds like your plan is working. You're better at squatting since you squat more. One part of being better at squatting is that squatting doesn't make you sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two concerns: one, it's not clear what you mean by &quot;attempted squat 5 failed attempts&quot;, which sounds a bit reckless. Two, if your goal is to get stronger, then you'll have to add weight, which you made no mention of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not feeling soreness is fine. Soreness is not a great indicator of progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T17:55:36.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24509" CreationDate="2015-04-29T18:09:35.907" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working out from last 8 months and I have had significant improvement in mass gain as well as strength gain.&#xA;I was earlier focusing on strength with 3-4 sets of 5-6 reps with weights as heavy as I could lift.&#xA;I have gained 15 kgs including some dense muscle along with fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I would like to go for pure size and look more puffed up rather than having a dense look.&#xA;To accomplish the same I have started with high volume training(sarcoplasmic hypertrophy ) with 4-5 sets of 10-12 reps &#xA;with moderate weights so that I can perform 10 reps.My diet is same as before(3600 cals and 200 g protein). The rest interval between sets now is about 90 secs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am following this new program for over a month and I don't see any progress in either weight or muscle size.&#xA;Could anyone suggest something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15564" LastEditorUserId="6518" LastEditDate="2015-05-04T13:14:07.440" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T13:30:58.690" Title="Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy routine not working" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24288" CreationDate="2015-04-29T18:40:06.267" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts on their own would not add muscle even though they are often attributed to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order for you to pack on muscle, you would have to eat more to sustain enough energy to warrant muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you deadlift and your nutrition is off point and your not eating enough, you won't build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T18:40:06.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16210" CreationDate="2015-04-29T18:43:48.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard from my trainer that you could really hurt yourself if you continue to run with bunions on hard surfaces. I'd suggest running on a track (the rubberized kind) or on grass - even bare feet would be ok. Alternately if you live near a beach, running on dry sand is also a great idea. Finally if none of the above are options, get yourself a good pair of shoes and hit a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T18:43:48.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24455" CreationDate="2015-04-29T22:41:10.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Accumeasure gives good instructions on their site with an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/uploads/5/0/4/3/50439275/accumeasure_fitness_3000_instructions.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;instruction manual&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/how-to-videos-measuring-body-fat-with-an-accu-measure.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;how to measure videos&lt;/a&gt;. They state to begin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;with your fingers about 2-3 inches apart&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but it goes on to say that,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the site contains a large amount of fat, you will need to increase the distance between your thumb and index finger in order to grasp and pull the fold&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how large you are, skin calipers may not be the best way to begin tracking your body fat percentage because skin calipers are more accurate the thinner the skinfold.  In which case using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Calculating-Body-Fat-Percentage.html#Circumference-Measurement-Formulas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;circumference measurements&lt;/a&gt; may be more accurate.  Accumeasure's video labeled &quot;All Sites&quot; includes circumference measurements which you may find useful.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Waist-Measurements.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Waist measurements&lt;/a&gt; and ratios are a good way to track early progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also be interested in other ways to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;measure your body fat percentage.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T22:41:10.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-30T03:46:26.177" Score="8" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 22 year old guy with elbow problems. Eight years before, I fell down from the stairs and my elbow fractured. The doctor could not help me, so I am physically disabled. I cannot straighten my left arm to more than 145 degrees. My body type is ectomorph and my friends make fun of my skinny body. I want to gain weight. Should I join a gym or would I be skinny forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15598" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T10:38:27.080" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T11:20:58.400" Title="I am a physically disabled person and I want to gain weight" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;ectomorph&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24466" CreationDate="2015-04-30T09:56:02.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing about gaining muscle mass with a skinny physique  ('ectomorph body type') is the diet. Your diet has to be both high caloric and high protein, use an online calorie calculator to roughly work out how much you should consume per day (the bodybuilding website usually has a few). When fixing your diet, try to obviously only consume healthy products, I would recommend things like: eggs, milk, porridge, wholegrain rice, bananas, cottage cheese and avocados, which tend to have either a high caloric or protein count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best fitness programme I would recommend to someone starting off, would be the stronglifts 5x5 -&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/-&lt;/a&gt;. Which basically involves going to the gym 3 times per week, and carrying out 3 compound exercises -squats, bench press, barbell row or squats, overhead press and deadlift -.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now concerning your elbow, I would recommend seeing a doctor or more ideally a physician to see if your arm can physically take the strain of these exercises, if not then you could do the following for each exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats - I would recommend the mid back version, as your arms are only needed to balance the barbell, so shouldn't be too much of a problem, though I would check just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift - You could use a strap on the shoulder with the bad arm to help take the strain or get a friend to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench-press/ Overhead press - these exercise may not be suitable if you can't take any weight on your bad arm however if you can just try and extend as far as possible and get someone to support you in case your arm gives way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell row - again may not be suitable if you can't take any weight on your arm. Regarding your arm not fully extending, start the exercise with your arms bent (not straight) and then just carry through the range of motion from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helped, best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastEditorUserId="15023" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T11:20:58.400" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T11:20:58.400" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-30T09:59:13.457" Score="1" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am over-weight, and have to loose at least 18 pounds. Despite my efforts, which I admit are not very consistent, I have not been able to make much of a difference. My doctor tells me that this could be due to my hyperthyroidism issues as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyway I can speed up the process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15599" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T11:10:43.420" Title="Weight Loss with Hyperthyroidism" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24468" CreationDate="2015-04-30T10:18:30.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The diet is the most important thing when losing weight, -even if you do loads of exercise every week -, if your diet isn't properly fixed then you will probably just gain muscle but not burn a lot of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to burn fat, is to do a combination of both aerobic (i.e. running) and anaerobic (i.e. weight lifting) exercise. Doing both types of exercise a few times per week will result in muscle gain and a higher weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note: many people don't do weight lifting because their worried that they may become excessively bulky and muscular. That will only happen if you either take steroids or weight lift in excess, usually it will just give you a toned look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps, best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T10:18:30.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-30T11:40:13.887" Score="2" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga is known to improve the flexibility of human body, and also improves muscle tone. But does it actually helps in weight-loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15601" LastActivityDate="2020-07-02T08:43:55.453" Title="Yoga &amp; Weight-Loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24471" CreationDate="2015-04-30T13:58:05.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The evidence is equivocal. It would not seem to be a good match for calorie burn. An hour of yoga burns approximately 150 calories in an hour, less than half of the 300 calories that would be burned in an equivalent 3 MPH walk in the same hour. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/yoga-for-weight-loss?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one 2005 study&lt;/a&gt; showed a correlation between yoga and weight loss. The study consisted of surveys, which I always find a bit suspect, as people tend to be notoriously bad at tracking themselves, and claims to have outruled confounding factors, but the article I linked doesn't elaborate on what they did to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mechanism via which it might help someone lose weight ranges from woo-ish answers such as the yoga &quot;supercharging&quot; the body with ki to more practical answers such as that practicing yoga, especially in places filled with skinny people in skintight outfits, may motivate some to keep at it, or to quit if they're not the sort to easily lose weight in general. Somewhere in the middle is that yoga, when practiced properly, involves a lot of body consciousness, which may result in people being more aware of bad habits like overeating, or sitting around too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is the tie that exercise has with diet. It has been shown that regular exercise reduces some of the negative effects of a bad diet even if you're not burning as many calories as you're taking in. From that perspective, even if yoga isn't actually forcing you to expend many calories, it is making you work a bit, which signals the body to be more efficient. But it would also imply that any consistent exercise would be doing the same. Nevertheless, if yoga is something you can stick with, that makes it superior to a more intensive workout that provides better fitness benefits but is not something you can stick with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T13:58:05.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24120" CreationDate="2015-04-30T15:53:41.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Caffeine is also known to increase blood pressure, coupled with the stress from your workout could impact your sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be from certain sugars in the gainer that your drinking after the workout. Try removing it and see if you feel any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way your going to find out what is really impacting your sleeping pattern is to try different variations to the activities during your day: such as just aerobic workout instead of anaerobic, length of time of workout, time and type of meal etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T15:53:41.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-29T02:09:55.053" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play soccer once or twice a week and always seem to pull my hamstring once or twice a season.  This has been happening for years.  Even when I was in college and in shape I was struggling with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to avoid this or tips that can help prevent this?  I have tried tight compression shorts and icing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15614" OwnerDisplayName="marty" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T04:04:58.187" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T04:04:58.187" Title="Chronic Hamstring Problem" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;sports&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24475" CreationDate="2015-05-01T04:04:13.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soccer is a fairly injury prone sport. It's great that people are playing sports, but I've seen studies suggesting that it's the most injury producing of team sports, beyond even tackle football. &lt;a href=&quot;http://sma.org.au/resources-advice/sport-fact-sheets/football-soccer-fact-sheet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Looking at Australia, here are some metrics being reported&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rate of injury for football players is up to 35 injuries per 1,000&#xA;  playing hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's more than 1 injury per 30 hours of playing. Obviously a lot depends on what you refer to as an &quot;injury&quot;, but either way the sport you're playing is notoriously hard on the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good strength training program would take you far though. While it may not stop your injuries, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3633121&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength training will lessen the amount, make them less severe, and give you a better route through recovery.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Resistance training in addition to increasing muscular strength and&#xA;  hypertrophy may also aid in the prevention of injuries. Research&#xA;  indicates that resistance training promotes growth and/or increases in&#xA;  the strength of ligaments, tendons, tendon to bone and ligament to&#xA;  bone junction strength, joint cartilage and the connective tissue&#xA;  sheaths within muscle. Studies involving humans and animal models also&#xA;  demonstrate resistance training can cause increased bone mineral&#xA;  content and therefore may aid in prevention of skeletal injuries.&#xA;  Investigations to date suggest resistance training can aid in injury&#xA;  prevention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend a basic program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. Since you're paricularly having problems with your hamstrings, I'd supplement with a couple of exercises in particular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/DBSingleLegStiffLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Single leg Romanian deadlift&lt;/a&gt;. It's a big name for a relatively simple exercise, but I bet the first time you try it you'll topple over. Running and soccer are particularly single-leg sports: one is on the ground while the other is in the air. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBGoodMorning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Good mornings&lt;/a&gt;. Do these after you've spent a few weeks doing one of the linked barbell training programs above. Initially, they will give you a wicked case of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;, so keep the weight lighter than you can possibly imagine: even an unweighted Olympic bar (20kg/45lbs) will be plenty. These are one of the more difficult exercises to perform, so buddy up with a professional trainer (maybe who can squat 2x their body weight), and have them check your form.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T04:04:13.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-01T05:38:08.830" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 15 year old male, and I started exercising about 6 months ago. However I managed to procure a pair of dumbbells at the beginning of April, and have been exercising with them so far. My question is whether my following routine has any adverse effects on me? Also I have read that the abdominals work in converse(?) to the lower back and the back in general. So is there enough lower back work in my routine, as compared to the rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I warmup with around 5 minutes of on-the-spot jogging/jumping jacks/jumping rope, and do around of dynamic stretching for all major muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight shoulder tap pushup x20 / 7.5kg(per arm) dumbbell flies x10 / 7.5kg(per arm) dumbbell bench press x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight pullup x10 / 7.5kg(per arm) dumbbell row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight bench dips x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7.5kg(per arm) dumbbell hammer curl x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7.5kg(per arm) dumbbell squat x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7.5kg(per arm) dumbbell military press x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10kg(per arm) dumbbell deadlift x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do each of these  exercises in a row without rest, then rest for about 1-2 minutes, then start another such &quot;superset&quot;. I do 3 of these. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards, I stretch all my muscle groups for about 30 seconds-1 min per group. And then I start an ab and calf routine that goes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2.5 kg weighted plate crunch x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raise with 7.5kg(per arm) x20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying leg raises x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raise with 7.5kg(per arm) x15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.25 kg weighted plate twist crunch x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raise with 7.5kg(per arm) x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raise with 7.5kg(per arm) x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5kg russian twist x8(per side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15607" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:04:42.717" Title="Does my routine adversely affect me?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24477" CreationDate="2015-05-01T09:15:26.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Initially, what you're doing is just fine for starting out, but the problem &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; arise that you won't be progressing past a certain point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a set of dumbbells and that's great, but what will you do when you should be increasing the weight? You're already managing 10-20 reps with the weight you have, but in order to stimulate progress in strength and size, you should be increasing the resistance by adding more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just doing the same workout with the same weight over and over, you will stagnate really fast, because your body will simply get used to going through the motions. For progress, variety is alpha and omega. Whether it be variety in weight/resistance, or set/rep scheme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to continue working out at home, I'd strongly suggest getting your hands on some incremental dumbbells, which means they let you add/remove weight in ranges. But even then, it's a very limited tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there's the issue of all the muscles you aren't getting to isolate. I hate for this answer to be so negative, but a gym will resolve all these issues, and given that you're starting at such a young age, you'll thank yourself for doing it soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:04:42.717" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:04:42.717" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24484" CreationDate="2015-05-01T14:48:22.360" Score="7" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;My yoga instructor always asks me to finish off my session with the dead body pose. I understand the need and benefits of a cooling off session but when I'm hard pressed for time I sometimes skip it. Is there anything else that I'm missing? Is there any neurogical or other benefits that I'm missing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14987" LastActivityDate="2018-09-23T08:58:13.083" Title="Significance of dead body pose in yoga" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24483" CreationDate="2015-05-01T16:13:08.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your practice includes a proper cool-down sequence, then, by the end of your session, your heart rate, blood pressure, and breath rate should be close to their resting values already. So physiologically, no, you are not missing anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A longer stay in the dead body pose is recommended for deep relaxation, it is a form of meditation, a form of mindfulness. The reason for its inclusion at the end of yoga sequences is symbolic, to emphasize, that yoga is mental as well as physical training. Staying completely still is a challenge for many people. There is a lot of value in developing a meditative practice, including increased concentration, increased mental clarity. These skills are very useful especially when you are hard-pressed for time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have time constraints, you could always let your instructor know that beforehand so she could help you and recommend how to organize and perhaps split your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T18:23:46.980" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T18:23:46.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24506" CreationDate="2015-05-01T22:31:04.173" Score="7" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was a &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/early/2015/02/23/japplphysiol.00928.2014&quot;&gt;recent study&lt;/a&gt; in the Journal of Applied Physiology, where they took a cohort of 96 obese people and started them on different exercise regimens, as well as a targeted 30% deficit in daily calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They were either slotted into four different programs, as explained on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.news-medical.net/news/20150427/New-study-suggests-that-exercise-type-may-be-less-important-in-fight-against-obesity.aspx&quot;&gt;this writeup&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All subjects performed their exercise programs three times a week for the same length of time and at the same intensity (51 minutes at 50 percent intensity during weeks 2-5; 50 minutes at 60 percent intensity in weeks 6-14; 60 minutes at 60 percent intensity in weeks 15-22.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What they found was that the weight loss was the same, regardless of activity, as written by the research team:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The present study shows that, when adhered to alongside a hypocaloric diet, different exercise training programs (endurance, strength, or their combination) or the following of physical activity recommendations are equally efficient in terms of improving body weight and body composition variables in obesity management.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that there has long been debate about the &quot;best&quot; exercise to lose weight, how can I as a fitness professional use this information to help the people that I work with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T20:08:26.663" Title="All activity is the same for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-02T00:55:53.640" Score="4" ViewCount="21151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just completed a popular mass building program by Jim Stoppani called &quot;Shortcut to Size&quot;. I found it to be really well designed. There are subtle variations in exercises that become noticeable over time, and they make total sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took me longer than advertised 12 weeks: I started on December 15 and finished on April 27, which is approximately 18 weeks. I pulled a back muscle in the end of January (lost about 10 days there), took extra days off while traveling, etc. It took me longer, but I finished every workout, every set, and every rep. Nutrition wise, I followed Jim's advice on supplements (ordered bulk from Amazon and mixed my own). As far as food, I cannot possibly eat as much as Jim recommends for this program. It is a terrible thing - to eat when not hungry. It works better for me to wait between meals to start feeling a little bit hungry, and then eat with appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as results, I started at 182 lbs and finished around 207. I am 6'3&quot;, so this is not the limit. I would like to bulk up beyond 220 lbs, maybe 230.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spent some time considering what to do next. I did not find any program  that would seem obviously good, so I started the same program from the beginning. I like it that it is 4 workouts per week, and that there are no exercises that require exotic equipment. I was able to do every exercise (or find a reasonable substitute) in a small gym with some free weights, a Smith machine, and a cable machine. The only problem with that program is that some workouts took me forever to complete. On many days I spent 2 hours and 30 minutes in the gym, and rarely did I spend less than 1 hour and 30 minutes per workout. I really think that 2h30m is excessive. Ideally I would like to keep it to 1 hour, maybe 1h30m. I think a program with supersets might help to keep workout time manageable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another program by Jim, &quot;Shortcut to Shred&quot;, which it seems most people would start after &quot;Shortcut to Size&quot;. But I would like to do another round of mass building first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a good program for me to do next? Any other advice for me? I feel like I had a good start, and want to keep the momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15618" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-05-02T05:52:51.520" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T18:28:31.030" Title="Just finished 12-week shortcut to size. What's next?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24493" CreationDate="2015-05-02T03:27:18.707" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 and I was wondering if I can do weight training and workouts but without stunting my growth because that's what I hear a lot that this happens with teens if they start this so advice?&#xA;(Also Idon't know if this is a myth or something so you know anything helps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15620" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T22:02:22.923" Title="How can I get taller and be mucular at the same time?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-05-04T04:58:07.923" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24486" CreationDate="2015-05-02T04:21:21.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the biggest takeaway is that almost any exercise will work if done with sufficient intensity, and combined with the proper calorie deficit. Thus, clients should be free to pick exercises that interest them, that they can stick to. And I would advise emphasizing that those involved in the exercises did do them regularly and with intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T04:21:21.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24490" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-02T15:30:20.437" Score="4" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been someone who could eat as much as I wanted, but never get an inch of muscle or fat. My stamina was decent for a person who wasn't really a sportsman. I could play for hours and run a couple of kms. This was till I was 22 when someone recommended me to join gym to get in shape. I was happy with the initial weight gain and building up of my muscles. But I fell I'll for 2/weeks. My muscles were gone. Instead I had all fat accumulated in my tummy. Why does this happen and what is probably a good way to reverse this? I miss those days when I could eat anything in any amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15621" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T21:18:12.680" Title="Why does one get a potbelly if one stops working out?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24490" CreationDate="2015-05-02T18:30:16.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, rid yourself of the &quot;I could eat anything in any amount&quot; mindset. You couldn't, and here's why;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to gain weight, it's a simple case of eating more calories than you spend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people say &quot;oh, I can eat 4 helpings of taco, and I won't gain any weight&quot;. Well, for the trained eye, this resolves into &quot;he ate a lot there and then, but the next few days, ate less, as a result&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not have noticed this, but over time, you simply didn't eat as much as you thought. It's just that the huge meals are easier to remember.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for your question specifically, the reason why you got a belly has to do with the fact that during the time you were ill, you consumed more calories than you spent. Surplus calories get stored as fat, and the belly is the more noticable place because it has higher storage capacity. You &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; also gain more fat elsewhere, but the belly is easier to notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reversing this is simply shedding fat as you normally would. Cardio in its various forms is an excellent place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep in mind:&lt;/strong&gt; You can't decide &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt; you want to burn fat. Fat loss and fat gain happens everywhere, or nowhere. You often see people go to the gym, and do situps for ages, because they think they're targeting the belly fat for extinction. &lt;strong&gt;This is false!&lt;/strong&gt; It doesn't work like that. Stick to cardio!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T18:30:16.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24490" CreationDate="2015-05-02T21:18:12.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body has feedback mechanisms to regulate the weight by adjusting the metabolic rate, but they only kick in when you are exercising hard almost every day.  You just need to become fit enough to be able to run at least 10 km every day at a pace of at least 12 km/h. Once you are fit enough to do this level of cardio exercise, you'll find that eating even 1000 Kcal per day more will only lead to modest weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also make a habit of measuring everything you eat. This is what I always do, so I know for sure that I'm eating on average about 3500 kcal per day and this has increased gradually from 3000 kcal per day about 5 years ago. I also know that I've been gradually losing weight, I used to weigh about 62 kg and now I weigh about 56 kg.  This weight loss is not due to a forcing of the 26 kcal per day deficit, the body would have had plenty of room to compensate for that. Rather, this is due to the inherent feedback mechanisms that the body uses to regulate the body weight. Human biology will implement some algorithm that will regulate the body weight to some (hopefully) optimal value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had eaten 3400 Kcal instead of 3500 kcal, then the outcome of the complicated feedback mechanisms would likely have been a slightly higher body weight. The whole point of fat reserves is to let us last a while without food. The closer our energy intake is to the minimum amount you need, the greater the risk will be that is assigned to a food emergency (according to the algorithm that assumes that we are wild animals), therefore the algorithm will decide to save a bit more energy every day until we reach the higher desired weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While not much is known about the way these feedback mechanisms are implemented, one such mechanism is known. The more a fat cell is filled, the more leptin it will produce. Leptin lets the hypothalamus increase the production of the TRH hormone, which in turn lets the pituitary gland increase the production of the TSH hormone, which in turn increases the production of the thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T21:18:12.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24488" CreationDate="2015-05-02T22:02:22.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a complete myth: there is absolute no evidence to suggest that weightlifting may stunt your growth. The reason that this myth came about was that by exercising, your body requires more calories and nutrients to make up for the increased rate of exertion therefore if you don't consume enough then your growth may be impacted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T22:02:22.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24500" CreationDate="2015-05-03T17:44:07.120" Score="17" ViewCount="3988" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been advised by my doctor not to do any running, dancing type of exercise which puts stress on my legs due to a leg condition. Being on bed rest for nearly a month and a very sedentary lifestyle after that I have gained a lot of weight. Is it possible to lose weight without any cardio? If yes, please suggest some exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T03:13:57.867" Title="Is weight loss possible without cardio?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24495" CreationDate="2015-05-03T18:26:56.170" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming. There's &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; swimming. It's easy on joints and bones, and is both a cardiovascular exercise, and a strength exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, you're going to have to look to your diet to lose weight. Remember, weight loss happens when over time, your consumed calories amount to less than your spent calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T18:26:56.170" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-03T19:03:16.453" Score="6" ViewCount="1739" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a day of my gym routine I take about 60-70 minutes in the gym. Now, out of this, 10 min (fixed as per chart) each is taken in warm up and in cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do any one of cross trainer, arc trainer, treadmill or rowing; depending on which day of my chart I am in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know how effective this is. I just want muscle hypertrophy (more muscle mass), and I'm really interested in strength, stamina, etc. So, I somehow feel that so much time (20 min out of 60) is spent without me gaining any muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I am missing in my calculations? Or could I very well reduce the time spent in such cardio exercises without affecting my muscle hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I want to know the &lt;strong&gt;duration&lt;/strong&gt; one should spend on warming up i.e. exercise without any weights. I personally would want this to be as least as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in the novice stage of weightlifting. I do warm up the part I am about to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, when I do lower body (out of my 3 day cycle of upper body, lower body and abs) first I do &lt;code&gt;arc trainer&lt;/code&gt; (10min) and then &lt;code&gt;free squats&lt;/code&gt; (3 sets). This seems overkill to me. I am completely heated up (heart rate is 150-160 when I get off the arc trainer), and I can do the same (such sweat and heart rate) in 5mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15566" LastEditorUserId="15566" LastEditDate="2015-05-04T11:26:59.277" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T22:50:34.627" Title="Ideal warm up and cool down durations for weight training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24495" CreationDate="2015-05-03T19:45:18.457" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is harder to lose weight without exercise.  You only lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume and if you are sedentary your metabolism will slow down you may be burning less than 1200 calories a day.   If you gained a lot of weight then you are consuming a lot of calories.  Start with eat healthy - vegetables and minimal fat.  A healthy diet has less calories and also helps keep your metabolism going.   You have swimming and arm exercises.  Could you do a stationary bike?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15163" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T19:45:18.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24497" CreationDate="2015-05-03T20:22:02.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to answer your question a little sideways because I think it's important to describe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/WarmUp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;what the point of a warmup is&lt;/a&gt;, how it is used, and the conditions that require it to be taken more seriously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to focus on a few things when it comes to weight lifting warmups, and break my warmup into two parts. This would be the &quot;I just got to the gym&quot; stage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/81/6/1206.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Overall body heat&lt;/a&gt;. I want to break a sweat no matter what I'm doing. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to ensure that I'm specifically warming up the muscles that I'm about to use. It's a little silly to use a bicycle to warmup for bench pressing. It's better than nothing, but a big reason that people love rowing machines is because it's a fairly decent head-to-toe recruitment activity. It's also hard and uncomfortable, which is probably why most people don't do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is usually about 5 minutes, but I also try to walk to the gym so that I'm fairly warm just showing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I'll do a specific warmup. This is a bit more involved:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Specifically targeting the muscle recruitment of the lift. If you're doing squats, do some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/OverheadSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overhead squats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTurkishGetup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Turkish get-ups&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWLunge.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lunges&lt;/a&gt;. Keep the weight really light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on the muscles and force you want to recruit. For &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cleans&lt;/a&gt;, I find doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Plyometrics/BoxJumps.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;box jumps&lt;/a&gt; very handy because it gets you into the mode of exploding. For bench pressing, abs-glutes-stiff-as-a-board pushups are a nice way to ready your arms and chest. For deadlifts and squats, &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/a-better-way-to-teach-barbell-glute-bridges-and-back-extensions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glute bridges&lt;/a&gt; can remind you what your glutes feel like and how to activate them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with an empty bar, and ramp the weights. I can squat 2x my bodyweight, and have never started with more than an empty bar. After that, it's still 45's on the side, and up and up it goes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can lift heavy (especially &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;past the intermediate stage&lt;/a&gt;), a little tweak can really screw you up. So if you're going to pull a muscle or have some problem, you really want to find it at a lower weight. And all that proper warming up puts your body and mind into the right environment for success.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to know how effective this is. I just want muscle hypertrophy&#xA;  (more muscle mass), and I'm really interested in strength, stamina,&#xA;  etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to be clear, these three concepts (hypertrophy, strength, and stamina) are related but have very different training patterns. You can hop around between all of them, but top strength athletes are always stronger than body builders (who are bigger) and they both will tire out way before an endurance athlete who has tremendous muscular stamina. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The warmup needs of endurance athletes (and hypertrophy seeking body builders) are not as severe in the weight room as what I've described above, because they are not constantly knocking on their 1RM-3RM range the way a strength athlete will. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T20:22:02.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24495" CreationDate="2015-05-03T20:29:59.410" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to point out that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;strength training is a better form of fat loss than &quot;cardio&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, taking in less calories is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;vastly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; easier then &quot;burning&quot; them. To make that clear, the average bagel has 250 calories, which is the rough equivalent of 50 minutes of walking (180lb person, 3mph pace). I mean seriously, which is easier to do: walk an hour or not eat a bagel? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For anyone looking to lose weight, the priorities go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet. Less calories in than needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength training. As referenced in the study above, boosting your basal metabolic rate is far more relevant for anyone but the most active of endurance athletes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic activity, aka &quot;cardio&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, I'd focus on getting your diet locked in. That will lower your body weight which in turn will make life easier on you to move around. With your doctor, start looking into body weight training (including yoga) and go from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T20:29:59.410" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24502" CreationDate="2015-05-03T22:45:39.093" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get fit in the gym / lifting weights, is it important to keep track of how much weight you lift, which exercises you do on which days? What's wrong with going by feel? What are the advantages of keeping track on paper as opposed to an app?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15628" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-05-04T10:21:50.623" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T10:21:50.623" Title="Should one keep track of workouts and if so how?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-05-04T17:03:56.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24501" CreationDate="2015-05-03T23:27:03.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your goals, but if you're shooting for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balanced exercises that will not hurt you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most productive use of your time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Building strength, power, and muscle size. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoidance of over-use injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend following a &lt;em&gt;program&lt;/em&gt;. Unless you were an Olympic trainer in a past life, the reality is that other people (professional trainers and coaches) know what you should do more than you do. As such, follow the advice that has been laid out in advance, for free, by these professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question directly, you should not only keep track of what you do but you should also be following a plan of exactly what to do. What exercises, how many times, how much force/weight, how much time, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;; there is no way you're going to have comparable results coming up with your own plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit, I found an old training plan that I used for weeks on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Madcow 5x5&lt;/a&gt; program (for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermediate lifters&lt;/a&gt;). For me I carried this around with a pen, and would make little notes about injuries, missed weights, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q1zwU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-05-03T23:33:39.027" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T23:33:39.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-04T02:54:16.417" Score="2" ViewCount="822" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens almost every time when I do high intensity interval training (HIIT). Even though I'm a physical therapist and a master trainer, I still can't really figure this out. I've read online that this could due to the fact that I may not breathe properly, especially during really high intensity workout sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone experienced ear popping or making a muffle sound with each breath during weight training sessions, especially during HIIT with weights? It does go away a few minutes after each session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T00:45:58.907" Title="Ear(s) making a muffle sound during high intensity weight training sessions" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24501" CreationDate="2015-05-04T06:36:24.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The situations where keeping track is better than not include &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being away from a lift for a long time and forgetting how much you can do&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having a short memory but wanting to do more than you did last time for progressive overload, or the same routine you did last time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wondering if your program is working and being able to look back to see if you've stalled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;getting motivation by looking at your milestones and how far you've come.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situations where an app like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitocracy.com/home/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt; or  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mapmyrun.com/my_home/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MapMyRun&lt;/a&gt; is better than a paper diary are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wanting automatic tracking of milestones and PRs, with charts and quests&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wanting other people to see your workouts for getting motivation from the community&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you do similar workouts and can repeat them instead of writing things out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when the app can track your miles, steps, times, or sets automatically.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situations where paper is better include&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you have no suitable pockets or places to set a phone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you want to leave your record at the gym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend tracking. There's always time for it in between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T06:36:24.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24486" CreationDate="2015-05-04T14:44:53.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having read what you posted, I can’t say I’m surprised by the results.  I think it bolsters the opinion that there’s &lt;strong&gt;no one&lt;/strong&gt; perfect (”best”) way to achieve an individual’s fitness goals.  Too often, we lose sight of the fact that we all react to training stimuli differently.  Suggesting a specific training regimen or diet modification without prior intimate knowledge of the client’s goals and personal situation is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; in the client’s best interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clients (paid or otherwise) typically consult with a personal trainer because  what they’ve tried either hasn’t achieved their goals, or, they are looking to improve to the next level.  In some instances, they’re willing to pay for your expertise and knowledge with the understanding that whatever you recommend is specific to &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; personal goals.  That study would imply that recommending one training protocol over another would not matter.  Given that, shouldn’t the approach of your recommendation be geared toward the client’s individual goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often think about exercise prescription in the same context as a physical therapist.  Given a patient’s condition, they don’t recommend the accepted “best” exercise to resolve the situation.  Rather, they take the time to personalize exercises that are optimal for the patient’s goals whether it’s return to sports, or, acts of daily living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think taking the time to learn about the goals, aspirations, and limitations of your clients, and, adjusting your protocols accordingly, is far more important than prescribing the “best” exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T14:44:53.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24486" CreationDate="2015-05-04T18:40:27.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say that &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/early/2015/02/23/japplphysiol.00928.2014&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the study&lt;/a&gt; is flawed per say, but it's not overly encompassing and is too easily taken out of context. It targets obese people who haven't done anything, and tracked them for ~5 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study to me is akin to the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you can eat Twinkies all day and lose fat&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. It's true in a very isolated sense, but zoomed out a bit and looked at it with a broader scope it falls a bit flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ninety six obese (men=48; women =48; age range 18-50 years)&#xA;  participated in a supervised 22 week program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, &lt;em&gt;they were all in caloric restriction&lt;/em&gt; which is known by the largest contributor by far to fat loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In addition, all groups followed the same hypocaloric diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the larger take away is two points that are already fairly well known:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Calorie control is the largest influence on body fat, especially for people who are already obese (it's a safe assumption they were in calorie excess before).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That in the initial 6 months of training, you can almost get the same bang-for-your-buck throwing a phone book around a room as you could doing more specialized training. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference to me with the second one is that, in the effective strength training realm (unlike something like zumba, as an example) is that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;you now have a higher basal metabolic rate&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9927006&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;higher bone density&lt;/a&gt;, are &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24476/7091&quot;&gt;less injury prone&lt;/a&gt;, and have the skills necessary to progress &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_weightlifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;to even more effective styles of training&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But why does all that matter?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because weight loss is coupled with weight management. The less injuries you have, the higher your bone density, the better your balance, and the tougher your connective tissue, the more you're going to be able to stay active and spend less time on your rear-end dealing with ailments. The higher basal metabolic rate is nice icing on the cake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T18:40:27.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24503" CreationDate="2015-05-05T00:45:58.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've experienced similar symptoms during CrossFit metcon style workouts where I'm breathing heavily in conjunction with lifting moderately heavy weights. The sensation is not unlike the blocked/muffled ears you experience during take-off or landing when flying (but without the discomfort).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spoke to my GP about it and his assessment was that it sounded like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus#Pulsatile_tinnitus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pulsatile Tinnitus&lt;/a&gt; caused by changes in my blood pressure while lifting (and potentially exacerbated by me losing concentration and paying less attention to my breathing during the lift than I should).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have periods of higher than normal resting blood pressure, so a quick blood pressure check might be something to investigate. I still occasionally get the weird ear symptom when my resting blood pressure is normal however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15640" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T00:45:58.907" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24510" CreationDate="2015-05-05T12:31:57.900" Score="3" ViewCount="5678" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a child, I had no problem with going across the monkey bars. Sure, my hands were usually sore afterwards (as much as anything because the outside bars had a tendency to oxidize and form deposits along their surface), but I could do it. I recently tried, just to show my nephews it could be done, and I made my way across, but my shoulders and upper arms were in a great deal of pain afterwards. I know that, to get better, I probably just need to keep doing it, but I'm also 35, so I'm well aware of how easy it can be to injure oneself, and shoulders are notoriously easy to damage. Eventually, in an ideal world, I'd like to work up to being able to do swings and laches, but that's in the future, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there any good progression or exercise for me to follow? Should I start with just hanging for longer periods of time or am I best off going right into going hand-over-hand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a further update, bolstered by the advice that I wouldn't sustain lasting damage most likely, I went ahead and hit the playground. Doing the monkey bars is difficult, but I can manage it. My shoulders and elbows ached a bit afterwards, but it was manageable. The worse part, at this point, is my hands start hurting quickly, but calluses will no doubt improve that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T12:53:45.513" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T17:10:49.137" Title="Training to regain monkey bar ability without hurting shoulders" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24460" CreationDate="2015-05-05T13:30:58.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first recommendation is for patience.  In particular, gaining mass at a rate that brings with it more muscle size than fat requires a good deal of patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should aim for an increase of 3 lbs/ month or 0.75 lbs per week.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you see no change in mass, eat more food--particularly more carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you see a change in mass that's too fast, eat less food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should strive for an increase in overall volume, while still managing recovery&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of 10-15 is great, and so is 10-15 sets of 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you hit 3x15 and can't do the work for the next increase at 3x10, trade reps per set for more reps (i.e. 5 sets of 5-10 reps, then 10-15 sets of 3 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you hit a wall with that, drop weight and add sets (i.e. 5 sets of 10-15)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name of the game is progressive overload.  Being able to do a little more than you used to be able to do.  Volume is most important for hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T13:30:58.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24508" CreationDate="2015-05-05T17:22:57.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ballistic forces&lt;/a&gt; (swinging) add a lot to the equation, but putting all of that aside it takes strength to hold onto a bar with all of your body weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your shoulder muscles and connective tissues are preventing your arms from ripping out of the socket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your forearms are working against all of your body weight to keep your fingers wrapped around the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you desire any sort of form, your abs, back, and hips are engaged to keep you somewhat rigid. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know that, to get better, I probably just need to keep doing it, but&#xA;  I'm also 35, so I'm well aware of how easy it can be to injure&#xA;  oneself, and shoulders are notoriously easy to damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaking this down a bit, I'd comment that shoulders are notoriously easy to damage because people don't strengthen them properly and use poor body mechanics. Endless bench pressing, obsession with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidAnterior.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anterior&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidLateral.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lateral&lt;/a&gt; (front/top) deltoids, and near complete neglecting of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidPosterior.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;posterior&lt;/a&gt; (rear). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are quite a few male gymnasts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136040/82-year-old-gymnast-Ron-Rodger-hang-bars-somersaults-lifetime-practice.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this guy is 82&lt;/a&gt;), and plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossein_Rezazadeh&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;globally-competitive weight lifters that are older than you&lt;/a&gt;, so don't look at your age as a limiting factor, certainly not for having sufficient strength for something like monkey bars and pullups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, is there any good progression or exercise for me to follow? Should&#xA;  I start with just hanging for longer periods of time or am I best off&#xA;  going right into going hand-over-hand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend practicing for pullups, since it has the most carry over to what you're trying to do and as an aside you can do pullups afterward which is terrific in its own right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold onto the bar at the top of a pullup position (climb up the side of the monkey bars using your feet, then get into the &quot;top&quot; pullup position), then let yourself down as slowly as you can. Do as many repetitions of that as you can, wait a few minutes, and repeat again. Try to do 3 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to do a &quot;jump&quot; pullup. Put your hands on the bar, and give yourself a big boost by jumping up through a pullup. You're basically &quot;cheating&quot; a full pullup, which is completely fine at this stage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do those for a few weeks, I think you'll find that you'll be able to knock out a couple of pullups no problem, and then hanging around on monkey bars will be, pardon the pun, child's play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T17:22:57.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24497" CreationDate="2015-05-05T22:50:34.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that this article from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/pro-tips/trainer-qa-how-important-warming-and-cooling-down#sthash.dna6HJ6e.dpuf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Men's Fitness&lt;/a&gt; to provide some useful general guidelines. From the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A proper and detailed warm-up moves the body in multiple planes of motion (not just forward and backward), mimics the movements performed in the workout, and starts slow then progresses to harder motions. Similarly, a good cool-down involves soft-tissue work and stretching on tight areas affected by the workout done that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically for warmups, the article recommends a few minutes of cardio and:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4-6 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/back-to-basics-the-best-bodyweight-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodyweight exercises&lt;/a&gt; that incorporate forward and backward as well as side to side and twisting motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the cooldown, the recommendation is to walk for a few minutes and stretch. Some specifics from the article: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After your workout, cool-down with a few minutes of easy walking to reflect on your workout but also allow for a gentle slowing of the heart rate and increase in circulation. Then, hit the foam roller to work on areas used during the workout. This will help to flush away waste products and decrease recovery time before the next session. Lastly, use a few static or assisted stretches on exceptionally tight areas to restore muscle length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the general guidelines that I've used when working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another discussion that you may want to review can be found on this body building &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek32.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page&lt;/a&gt; that covers the importance of warmups and cooldowns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4370" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T22:50:34.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24515" CreationDate="2015-05-06T04:30:40.817" Score="7" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing karate for years now, but I've noticed that my calves and hip flexors are extremely inflexible. My knees can barely move past my toes when flexing my calves, and my hip flexors are so short that I cannot fully square my hips forward while in forward stance. Which stretches would be the most efficient way to allow me to bend my calves much deeper and to lengthen my hip flexors so I can further extend my legs behind my hips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15653" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T05:56:29.320" Title="developing calf and hip flexor flexibility" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;hip&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24317" CreationDate="2015-05-06T04:31:03.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling is a wonderful cardiovascular exercise and it limits bouncing and impact (assuming you're on smooth paved roads or groomed trails mostly) which helps with some larger breast issues AND is gentler on your limbs than running.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is nicely complimented by cycling and you may see that you have less pain in joints if you supplement your cardio training with a bike.  That said, proper form and mechanics are essential to each sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and have fun! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15652" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T04:31:03.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13857" CreationDate="2015-05-06T04:41:51.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fitness at sea is absolutely possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to limited space and likely limited equipment on board, his most reliable equipment and regimen will be body weight strength.  There are a few incredible resources out there that program a sustainable development to current fitness to frankly, pretty elite.   I recommend Mark Lauren's You Are Your Own Gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bands are not going to give you the same levels of resistance as pure body weight training. The bonus of exercise at sea is that extra balance is required so for things like one legged deadlifts, or one legged squats, etc., those can remain a challenge through the entire tour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you MUST bring equipment: I recommend a TRX, a jump rope, and a yoga mat to protect your hands from nonskid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15652" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T04:41:51.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24512" CreationDate="2015-05-06T06:51:19.597" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calf Muscle Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing to remember about the calf and heel cord are that there are actually &lt;strong&gt;2 muscles&lt;/strong&gt; that need to be stretched, the &lt;strong&gt;gastrocnemius&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;soleus&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first is done with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee straight&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second is done with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Soleus/Wall.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee bent&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing these stretches make sure that your heel is aligned with the toes so that you are actually stretching your calf, not just collapsing your arch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions and answers that have good heel cord and calf muscle stretching exercises for squatting include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/10369/how-do-i-squat-if-i-cant-keep-my-heels-on-the-floor&quot;&gt;Keeping heels on the floor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6589/is-it-normal-when-starting-squats-to-not-have-flexible-enough-ankles/24405#24405&quot;&gt;Flexible Ankles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hip Flexor Flexibility:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flexors_of_the_human_body#Hip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iliopsoas&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_femoris_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rectus femoris,&lt;/a&gt; part of the quadriceps muscles,  cross the hip joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Psoas&lt;/strong&gt; -  To stretch the &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/KneelingHipFlexor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;psoas&lt;/a&gt; the 1/2 kneel lunge position is a good stretch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quads&lt;/strong&gt; - The quads cross both the hip and knee joints. To stretch the quads you need to &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Stretches/Quadriceps/SideLying.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bend the knee and extend the hip&lt;/a&gt; to stretch both parts of the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be most effective in gaining range of motion, stretches are best done on a daily basis after warm-up or activity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2015-05-07T05:56:29.320" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T05:56:29.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-06T07:39:31.697" Score="4" ViewCount="4712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I broke my wrist when I was a kid. I do body building but my wrist gets painful from time to time. I am looking for alternative workout plans without using my wrist, so I could give my wrist a rest for couple weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-05-07T13:46:19.763" LastActivityDate="2020-11-03T17:31:28.567" Title="training without using wrist" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22271" CreationDate="2015-05-06T09:29:35.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do Jeffersons, wouldn't dream of doing regular deadlifts as I have lower back pain issues. I would think that legs and hamstrings are more brought into action by Jeffersons as I get lower to pick the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15654" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T09:29:35.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-06T09:46:30.927" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Korea, there are many outdoor exercise machines in public places. This kind of machine is a particularly common one. &#xA;Is this effectove as a post-run hamstring stretch? It feels good, but it is quite a fast, short-lived motion, unlike most other stretches such as a toe touch. &#xA;Considering this is post run, maybe my muscles can take it as they've been warmed up.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Zirg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Korean exercise machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3165" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T14:14:30.947" Title="Is this machine good for post-run stretching?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24518" CreationDate="2015-05-06T14:14:30.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The machine you show is actually another type of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptical_trainer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elliptical trainer&lt;/a&gt; typically meant for light exercise or cardio work.  I would suggest you look at performing some active stretching following a specific program for the hamstrings.  For example, following a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stretching-exercises-guide.com/hamstring-stretches.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;program&lt;/a&gt; designed for the target muscle.  You may also want to search the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; site for stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T14:14:30.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13857" CreationDate="2015-05-06T16:33:30.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my maritime experience the best I could do was eat well underway, and maybe knock out some pullups/planks/body-weight squats (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calisthenics&lt;/a&gt;, basically) when the seas were calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;warship&lt;/a&gt; there are other problems he'll need to deal with: non-skid (skin lacerating style) deck coverings, folks that aren't cool with the idea of even temporarily obstructing a hatch or companionway with gear, and maybe even needing to deal with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient_%28acoustics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transients&lt;/a&gt; (dropping a weight, or even a box jump and landing on the deck). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the ocean the waves are so strong most of the time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the ocean (and season), that's really not true. Most of the time the seas are pretty uniform and relatively benign, but it can get crazy out there. He'll need to do the best he can underway, most of which is related to diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a set of gymnast rings that I traveled around with. When I got to land I'd find a park (there are always parks somewhere), bust out my bluetooth speaker, and work on bodyweight exercises, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_%28gymnastics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ring gymnastics&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plyometrics&lt;/a&gt;. It all fits in a backpack. If you're interested, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.therebelheart.com/blog/2013/11/22/my-current-workout-system.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I wrote up my own (as a civilian) fitness experiences sailing around through the Sea of Cortez&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T16:33:30.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24526" CreationDate="2015-05-06T16:43:07.483" Score="2" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a gym at my house and i mostly workout alone, my brother who was been doing workouts for long time taught me some exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do mostly the same exercises for each body part (biceps, triceps, back, legs and etc) will I stop gaining muscle? By increasing the weight every 2 weeks or so  will prevent stagnation ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="15362" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T03:57:07.760" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T03:57:07.760" Title="Can muscle become &quot;adapted&quot; to one kind of exercise?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19798" CreationDate="2015-05-06T19:00:27.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There might be a way to reduce the size of your legs, but I don't know what it is. Instead, I'd recommend A) not worrying about it and B) making your upper body enormously muscular and awesome, to reduce disproportion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, maybe only do squats and deadlifts every other workout, while continuing to do upper-body work? So, every workout involves multiple upper-body exercises but only half the workouts involve lower-body exercises and even then those exercises are a small portion of the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might also move away from squats and focus more on deadlifts. (This would only help if your problem is exclusively quads and thighs rather than hips, thighs, and buttocks.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T19:00:27.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24523" CreationDate="2015-05-06T19:29:25.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term we use in this situation is &quot;progressive overload&quot;, or lack thereof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, your body can adapt to one single movement at one single level of intensity. For instance, some people are able to do 100 pushups, but unless they add some sort of variety (increased weight, differing techniques), they won't be getting stronger from it. Their muscles have simply adapted to this particular routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like if your math class consisted of solving 2+2 all day. You're doing work, but how much is your math skill progressing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We introduce progressive overloading into our routines in order to gain strength. This means that we &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; do the same exercise over and over, but we take measures to make sure that the muscles are stressed differently every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be, as in your example, increasing the weight with regular intervals. It can also be changing the set/rep scheme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you do the same 6-7 exercises for years, you might be missing out on certain muscles. This is often solved by switching out certain exercises every now and then. Again, this variety lets our muscles experience different strokes, so they don't become too complacent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that &quot;increasing the weight every 2 weeks or so&quot; also has its limits. Obviously, we can't do this forever either. Which is another reason why we turn to variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T19:29:25.367" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-07T06:29:59.067" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running now for 2 months and completed a 10km training plan, and I love it. My wife works evening though and u don't go running until about 9.30pm (after dynamic warmups). Now I'm adding some hills to my training plan next, and some beginners hills where I live are off road and dark at the time I have been running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is I want to switch my hills to early morning. I'm scratching my head about what I should be eating and how long before the morning run I should eat then leave? Any advice from fellow early risers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following the BUPA 10Km advanced plan (after doing basic and immediate). My only goals are to increase my pace over 10Kms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/directory/r/running-programme-10km&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/directory/r/running-programme-10km&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15664" LastEditorUserId="15664" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T18:15:41.417" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T18:15:41.417" Title="running in the mornings" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-05-08T15:47:41.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24516" CreationDate="2015-05-07T07:36:11.600" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might not like it, but if the machines in your gym were ever an alternative, this would be it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fact is, wrist pain is severily limiting for weightlifters. You use them in pretty much every lift, with few exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now might be the time to work on your new personal best in squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free weights are pretty much off the table, so whatever you usually do with a barbell or dumbbells, find the machine that simulates it. Obviously, even some of these are going to be off-limits, because the chest press machine, for instance, is also going to be wrist heavy. But there are machines like the back extension, lateral raise, leg extension/curl, torso rotation, leg press etc. which do provide at least some options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to have to bite the sour apple here, and go with an &quot;it's better than nothing&quot; mindset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, there's always swimming. I seem to use this in a lot of my answers, but swimming is a miracle activity, and is a workaround for almost any injury. You're obviously not going to progress on your deadlift while doing this, but let's face it. You're not going to do that anyway, if you can't actually deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T07:36:11.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-07T11:03:11.840" Score="6" ViewCount="1160" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know that protein can provide the body with 4 calories per gram if it is used for energy, like carbohydrates do. Let's say though that a gram of protein has been broken down into aminos for tissue repair, does it still provide the body with the 4 calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I THINK that protein would only provide the body with 4 calories IF it's been converted to glucose through gluconeogenesis, but I'm not sure. Has anyone read anything that confirms this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15666" LastEditorUserId="27791" LastEditDate="2019-01-17T17:10:42.197" LastActivityDate="2019-01-17T17:10:42.197" Title="If a gram of protein is used for muscle repair, does it still provide the body with 4 calories?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24531" CreationDate="2015-05-07T11:17:22.670" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're mixing up some essentials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gluconeogenesis can also be imposed on certain &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucogenic_amino_acid&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;gluconeogenic amino acids&lt;/a&gt;, and not just carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, protein stored as muscle mass is still energy gain (measured in calories). A calory stored is not annulled simply because it's not stored as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T11:17:22.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24531" CreationDate="2015-05-07T16:27:56.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand your question correctly, we'll follow the amino acids all the way into making your glutes nice and beautiful (protein used for construction of tissue). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those amino acids can still be &quot;offered up&quot; as calories via &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catabolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;catabolic action&lt;/a&gt;. The amino acids are released into the blood and form &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keto_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;keto acids&lt;/a&gt;, which in turn can be transformed to glucose via your liver.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm simplifying, but in that case the amino acids went into your tissue, then because your body wanted them for fuel it removed them, processed them through the liver, and turned them into glucose. This is a very expensive way to make glucose: energy was required for every step of that chain and you just barely came out positive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is closely related to a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ketogenic diet&lt;/a&gt;, whereby cellular energy derives from fat instead of carbohydrates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T16:27:56.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24531" CreationDate="2015-05-07T20:42:31.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are trying to count calories for a diet, then &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body uses some consumed protein for tissue-repair, it's not used for energy, thus you should &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; count it for your overall energy needs if you're counting calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it's REALLY hard to estimate how many grams of protein your body will use to repair tissues after a workout. That's why there's such a wide array of estimates on how much protein weightlifter-types need to consume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those same muscle-tissues can be later catabolized for energy, if one were starving or atrophying. So in a sense, they still do count, but only if you lose the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T20:42:31.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24540" CreationDate="2015-05-08T07:26:43.653" Score="1" ViewCount="1841" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using the leg curl machine recently, and I am wondering if how far apart one's legs are makes a difference to the exercise. Usually my feet are regular squat-width apart (shoulder width).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With bicep curls with a barbell we have variations - wide arm, narrow grip etc. Is it the same for hamstring curls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T10:19:23.553" Title="Leg curl (hamstrings) machine - legs wide or narrow? Or both?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24538" CreationDate="2015-05-08T08:26:06.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two differences with the hamstring curl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To target the two hamstring groups separately (the lateral biceps femoris or the medial semitendinosus and semimembranosus) you don't vary the width of your feet, but the angle of your feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to engage the &lt;strong&gt;biceps femoris&lt;/strong&gt; more, then angle your feet outward, while keeping the legs parallel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to engage the &lt;strong&gt;semi-muscles&lt;/strong&gt; more, then angle your feet inward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, in order to isolate the hamstrings during the curl, you can disengage the gastrocnemius by plantarflexing your feet. By dorsiflexing the feet, the hamstring curl becomes a calf-exercise as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vMCPn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The three muscles that make up the hamstring&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastEditorUserId="6630" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T10:19:23.553" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T10:19:23.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24544" CreationDate="2015-05-08T18:17:40.530" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the average person will experience worsening metabolism with age. What else takes place over time that makes it harder to lose weight at 40 versus say 20?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T19:04:14.520" Title="Does it become harder to lose weight as you age?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-05-18T17:35:33.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24543" CreationDate="2015-05-08T19:04:14.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basing these on my own experience and observation, obviously not all will apply to everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appetite doesn't slow down with your metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many people, alcohol becomes another huge additional source of calories. The binge drinking in college turns into a few glasses of wine or bottles of beer every night, not to mention many people continue the binge drinking on the weekends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Activity levels tend to naturally decline as people get busy with jobs and kids and other parts of life and aren't obligated to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people end up with low activity or desk jobs, so their metabolic rate (BMR) goes down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As people age, muscle mass decreases, again decreasing BMR even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continuously easy access to calorie dense foods starts working against us from an early age. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are excess subcutaneous and visceral fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poor sleeping habits and stress start taking a toll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, the way that we live compounded with the physiological changes from aging work against us to maintain healthy weight. It's not like some switch just goes off at an arbitrary age. It's a slow decline in metabolism and outside influences that seems to catch up with many people after their 20's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5990" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T19:04:14.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13817" CreationDate="2015-05-08T20:15:49.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m in the same situation and have similar goals. I did Starting Strength and I definitely got bigger and stronger, but I also added a lot more fat than I am comfortable with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now carb/calorie cycle while continuing to lift heavy, I’m succeeding in building muscle and losing fat at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here’s how I’m doing it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Lift heavy (3x5 squats, 1x5 deadlifts, 3x5 bench press), eat big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: High intensity interval training (HIIT), eat small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Lift heavy (3x5 overhead press, 3x5 rows), eat big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: HIIT, eat small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Lift heavy (3x5 squats, 3x5 weighted pull ups), eat big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday: Rest, eat small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday: Rest, eat small. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   “Eat big” means 500-1000 calories above maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   “Eat small” means 500-1000 calories below maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   I eat 1g of protein per pound of lean bodyweight, whether I’m eating big or small. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   When eating big, I make the breakfast right after the workout huge, with tons of protein and plenty of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   When eating small, I skip breakfast, which keeps me in a fasted state for 16 hours (overnight counts) and takes advantage of the fat burning effects of intermittent fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   Ideally, I also try to eat below 50g of carbs on the “eat small” days to take advantage of the fat burning effect of ketosis, but I’m less strict about carbs than calories. This flexibility allows me to simply eat whatever dinner my wife cooks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   I find it impractical to meet the protein requirement without protein shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your other questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   Keep your Starting Strength routine the same, but lower your expectations about how quickly you’ll increase the load. Progressing at about half the rate you were before (i.e., adding 2.5-5 lbs/week to your lifts rather than 5-10 lbs) is likely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   The best info I’ve found on carb/calorie cycling is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-carb-cycling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-carb-cycling&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   Check out Intermittent Fasting as well, since it also allows you to build muscle while burning fat. The best site is leangains.com. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;•   Take advantage of the fat burning effects of HIIT, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleforlife.com/high-intensity-interval-training-and-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleforlife.com/high-intensity-interval-training-and-weight-loss/&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15683" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T20:15:49.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-08T22:20:00.563" Score="6" ViewCount="729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not talking about training with weights so that when you run without them you're muscles are used to pushing more weight so with less weight it'll be easier, I'm talking about while actually holding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this question arose when I decided to carry some light weights (1kg) as I went for a fast jog: I noticed how easy it was to run faster while holding the weights which got me thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figure that it would allow you to run faster for the same sort of reasons that we swing our arms in the first place but now it's just multipled somewhat. Running with weights in your hands will allow you to conserve angular momentum far better which means you should be able to move your legs at a faster rate, ie. some more of the work is being done by the arms. Moving your left arm back will contribute to moving your right arm forward, so the more momentum that is in your arm the easier it should be correct? obviously this only works with light weights as if the weight slows down your arm movements you may actually lose momentum. Are my conclusions correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also guess that this will also tire out your legs more as you are pushing around more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this all mean that sprinters should train their arms a lot in order to run faster with the higher mass causing more momentum with each swing of the arms? Does this also mean that training with weights is somewhat pointless (overall) as your core will be doing less work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T01:32:48.157" Title="Does holding weights allow you to run faster?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25373" CreationDate="2015-05-09T09:30:11.630" Score="0" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to pilates and have been working on my lateral breathing. It gets  tiring doing it alone. But when I do it with simple mat exercise like roll up, I sometimes feel like I am out of breath or like I don't exhale well. Lot of repetitions makes me feel heavy in the chest area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please suggest me a strategy to learn / master Pilates breathing ?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am working on core engagement at exhale. How important is pelvic floor muscles for core engagement?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once engaged,  do you release the pelvic floor, abs, ribcage engagement at the next inhale ? If not how to breathe/inhale well this engaged position?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8057" LastEditorUserId="8057" LastEditDate="2015-05-09T09:37:17.153" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T16:13:54.050" Title="Pilates breathing and core engagement" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24546" CreationDate="2015-05-09T10:52:30.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The physics of this can be boiled down to Newton's 3rd law; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the physical law which dictates that if I push you, you automatically push me back. The reason why you fall and I don't, is that my stance was more balanced (I was leaning into into it because I was ready for it, as the perpetrator), and I absorbed the recoil. This is the same thing that happens when firing a gun. The bullet is pushed forward, but the gun is equally pushed back. But the gun is blunt and not sharp, meaning you don't get harmed holding on to it because the impact is spread out over a larger surface area. But to the point...!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your example, let's focus on the weight in your left hand. When you push this weight forward, it will push you backwards with an equal amount of force. This means you'll spend slightly more energy accelerating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the weight is pushed all the way forward, it has to stop for a moment, before it returns. You will then start pulling the weight backward, but the &lt;strong&gt;weight will also pull you forward&lt;/strong&gt;. This is where you get the feeling of being assisted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But whatever force you exert in order to move the weight, is mirrored onto you. So when the weight is pulled all the way back again, and you start to push it forward, it will push you back, making this part of the motion detrimental to your forward momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for the case of both weights, it's exactly the same, but alternating (because when you push one weight, you pull the other weight). In other words, this all adds up to 0 total assistance gained from the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this does not mean that running with weights is pointless, because the energy you spent running is moderated by the weight of your body, and whatever else you're moving (clothes, backpack etc). So if you're holding some extra weight, that's more energy spent per step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quick tip; the benefits of extra weight is more beneficial when doing uphill cardio, because the energy spent gaining altitude is directly, and linearly dependent on the mass (weight) of your body and baggage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in conclusion, carrying weights while running is indeed beneficial, but it does not assist you in any way. &lt;strong&gt;At the end of the day, the assistance you get from the momentum of the weight, is momentum you spent energy starting in the first place.&lt;/strong&gt; The feeling of being assisted there, is simply you reaping what you sowed!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-09T10:52:30.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24647" CreationDate="2015-05-10T00:43:46.813" Score="-1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a few pounds to shed and I've been considering a lot of different types of diet, but all of them say that no matter how low your calorie intake is, maintaining a large protein intake is crucial - a protein intake around the order of 2g/kg body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also very interested in starting the Keto diet, as I've done it before, but what I've noticed with the Keto diet is a lack of energy, and I am doing a labourer job currently, so I can't have a lack of energy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15690" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T15:11:29.620" Title="Minimum amount of calories while preventing muscle catabolism?" Tags="&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-01T20:37:29.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24508" CreationDate="2015-05-10T01:35:01.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gone through the same thing and what helped me was to improve the time I could hold on to the bar with my full weight - think of the starting position of a pull up but without going anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started with 30 second holds and eventually worked up to 2 minutes of just holding the position.  This helped me to increase strength in my grip and my core as I kept everything tight and without motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15691" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T01:35:01.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-10T03:18:07.613" Score="3" ViewCount="682" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am developing an app for running and I can't find precise formulas for calories burned while running. I need a various formulas based on gender, age, height, weight, distance, time and so on. Any accurate formulas would be a great help for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15692" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T18:59:54.650" Title="How to calculate calories burned while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-06T15:49:06.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-10T05:01:26.187" Score="5" ViewCount="714" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would working the same muscle group - twice in the same day - cause &lt;em&gt;worthwhile&lt;/em&gt; extra muscle fiber tearing to later gain mass? Or is this not worthwhile (the extra tearing is only marginal) given the long rest period between the two sessions (say morning and evening)? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt; working the upper and mid chest in the morning, and again in the evening, working to failure both sessions using high reps and moderate weight. There will be rest for that group for the next couple days, and proper diet is regularly followed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are similar questions, but they are not the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2998/how-good-bad-an-idea-is-it-to-work-out-twice-a-day&quot;&gt;How good/bad an idea is it to work out twice a day?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4772/how-can-i-best-recover-for-a-second-strength-workout-on-the-same-day&quot;&gt;How can I best recover for a second strength workout on the same day?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8131/going-to-gym-twice-a-day&quot;&gt;Going to gym twice a day&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T13:34:07.197" Title="Target the same muscles twice in a day?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24554" CreationDate="2015-05-10T11:11:47.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you've already hit the pros of this, as is expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cons are going to revolve more around the restitution phase your muscles are going to need if you plan on making any gains at all from this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to keep in mind that it's during rest that your muscles get bigger and stronger. So long as you allow for adequate rest, and adequate nutrition, the only thing left to do is give it a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to be learning first hand how &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; body will deal with this training modality, and it might be different from everyone else's. Be sure you listen to what your body is telling you. If one day you really, really don't feel like doing it, do something else, and give it a day or two. It might be a sign that you've overdone it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while the other questions might not have been exactly aligned with yours, the answers are pretty all-encompassing. For instance Dave Liepmann's answer here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4776/8828&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4776/8828&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T11:11:47.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24553" CreationDate="2015-05-10T12:48:56.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There aren't any &lt;strong&gt;accurate&lt;/strong&gt; equations, without data from an ECG and face mask based gas analyzers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best you can do without a true heart rate and O2 measures is to estimate a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VO2max&lt;/a&gt; figure, and convert that into a Kcal one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kcal/Min ~= 5 calories * massKg * VO2 / 1000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://blue.utb.edu/mbailey/handouts/pdf/MetCalnew.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACMS Running VO2max&lt;/a&gt; equation will give a number that's accurate within: +/-14.5% and the conversion to Kcal will multiply the error by a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2 = 0.2 (speed) + 0.9 (speed)(fractional grade) + 3.5&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T18:59:54.650" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T18:59:54.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24560" CreationDate="2015-05-10T17:41:21.540" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to point out that the participants in the study had a caloric intake that would maintain their weight. Also, they were not allowed to move one bit from their bed. There was an exercising group and a non-exercising group. I'm sure the results aren't out yet. But what would happen to the participants' muscle mass in this scenario? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T19:35:24.580" Title="NASA's experiment of those who laid in bed for 70 days. What happened to their muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24558" CreationDate="2015-05-10T19:35:24.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;70 days of inactivity &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; have a muscle atrophy effect. There are measures to limit the extent to which muscle wanes, but still, without use, they will deteriorate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what NASA is planning to do to counter these effects, but researchers have found that neuromuscular electrical stimulation can keep muscle protein synthesis active in comatose patients. While I'm not sure if NASA is braving these territories, it certainly provides a sense of what can be achieved. Especially since 70 days is quite limited compared to the time one can be comatose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25296344&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25296344&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T19:35:24.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-10T20:45:29.657" Score="0" ViewCount="1796" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up in Lousiana and couldn't do anything physical from about May to thru Sept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in southwest virginia and it's not nearly as humid and I still get overheadt mountain biking in 80F weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to improve my heat tolerance. I don't sweat much. I've tried Endurolyte tablets (Hammer Strength), which help. I think I sweat a bit more when taking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WHAT I'VE TRIED&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I also use HEED (also from Hammer, and I've used Gatoraid but I think HEED works a bit better).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endurolyte electrolyte tablets from Hammer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evaporative cooling &quot;collar&quot; that goes about 4&quot; down my back, shoulders and chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even with all of the above I don't think I sweat enough and get overheated fairly easily. And If I don't stop, I'll get a really bad migraine. (The Endurolyes allow me to stop when a migraine is impending and not get the migraine. Without the Endurolytes, the migraine would be ineveitable once I &quot;sensed&quot; it was near)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T21:09:48.083" Title="How can I improve my heat tolerance, including increasing the amount that I sweat?" Tags="&lt;heat-tolerance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-05-18T17:39:29.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24561" CreationDate="2015-05-10T21:09:48.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some very common things that sadly cause heat intolerance in very many people. They may not become aware of it until they experience truly warm climates, so many don't even know that they have it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caffeine&lt;/strong&gt; often increases heart rate and metabolism. These are things that may cause your temperature to rise over longer periods of time, which may in turn cause heat intolerance. And of course, many people who work out take dietary supplements containing caffeine, so don't think purely about coffee here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anxiety&lt;/strong&gt; is also a known cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Menopause&lt;/strong&gt;... Well, maybe not in your case, but women have a tendency of experiencing periods of extreme heat during menopause. And please note that I am using the word heat to refer to temperature, and not to sexual appetite (i.e. &lt;em&gt;being in heat&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't do drugs!&lt;/strong&gt; Appetite-suppressing drugs like amphetamines can also cause heat intolerance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hyperthyroidism&lt;/strong&gt; will more often than not be accompanied by heat intolerance, and is caused by &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eating foods that contain iodine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Graves disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thyroid inflammation (certain medications, viral infections and pregnancy can cause this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;testicular or ovarian cancer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;taking too much thyroid hormone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many countries, if you have a documented case of a disease which is related to heat intolerance, you would be able to deduct things like air conditioning systems as a medical expense if your doctor prescribes it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But barring all those worst case scenaria, and looking to more practical options, &lt;strong&gt;drink plenty, and I mean &lt;em&gt;plenty&lt;/em&gt; of water!&lt;/strong&gt; Profuse sweating &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; dehydrate you over time. Wear light cotton clothing (it breathes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do suspect that there is an underlying medical cause for your issues, you absolutely should visit a doctor about it if you haven't already done so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T21:09:48.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24567" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-11T06:08:56.473" Score="0" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can shock the chest muscles with supersets and hitting different angles using cables, weights and push-ups in supersets, but I can't make it burn anymore during the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do varying inclines on the Smith machine, flyes, incline hammer presses, crossovers, etc., but I can't seem to recapture that beautiful burn I get with ab and arm workouts. I work to failure, and I'm using moderate weights, high reps (12-15), several sets (5-8) and holding briefly on adduction. My chest is getting big, but there is no burn anymore. Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastEditorUserId="15682" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T01:44:57.230" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T01:44:57.230" Title="How to get back that satisfying chest burn?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;cables&gt;&lt;burn&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23880" CreationDate="2015-05-11T07:43:02.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to your fitness and your well being is sleep.  I started off working all kinds of odd hours including a 6AM-6PM shift, a 40 hour weekend starting Fridays at 4PM, a 4-12AM shift and a couple of others...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can tell you unequivocally it almost near impossible to get good workout results while being tired all the time.  It is also almost impossible not to gain wait while being under slept.  Your body will naturally try to gain energy it needs (perceived from lack of sleep) through eating more.  There is just no way around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To maximize your time you either need to get to bed around 8-9PM every night or you need to get home right away and sleep until 8-9PM.  It probably makes more since trying for the first option since falling asleep in the middle of the day right after you worked is going to be hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T07:43:02.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24571" CreationDate="2015-05-11T09:37:36.777" Score="3" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been meaning to ask this question for a while, and I hope that it's within the scope of this site's FAQ. For about half a year or so, I've been going to the gym approximately 5 times a week, training back, chest, arms and legs. Lately, I've joined a HIIT class that I find very enjoyable. There are classes everyday, but I personally join three times a week, twice on my rest days and once on arm day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is:&lt;/strong&gt;  Suppose that I am on a 10% calorie deficit with all the activity above (I am using &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;). Will HIIT training kill my gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any studies that support/go against this idea that cardio kills gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current stats: My height is 186cm (6ft 1in) and I weigh 77kg (169.756lbs). I consume at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight according to the good old broscience rule, and 5g of creatine everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13379" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-05-11T10:22:32.663" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T13:07:08.373" Title="Is there any truth to the maxim &quot;cardio kills gains&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26106" CreationDate="2015-05-11T10:04:07.237" Score="1" ViewCount="1666" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before my heavy weight training I take creatine an hour before, and eat a banana 30 minutes before. I am wondering if it would be beneficial to have a glucose tablet right before (or during) the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually train for an hour, beginning with compound exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do an aerobic exercise, like spin class, I've been told that you only need something other than water if you are training for over an hour (your body doesn't need the extra energy, so it is just adding calories). When running in a marathon, of course we are grateful for the jelly babies and other sweets on the way round :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anybody had success with glucose tablets for weight lifting??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T08:12:54.130" Title="Glucose tablets before weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24569" CreationDate="2015-05-11T10:34:53.937" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, anything other than walking, light stretching, resting, lifting heavy weights, and eating is cutting into your strength and muscle gains. Those attributes are built with specific stimulus and recovery. Cardio is not part of that specific stimulus or recovery and therefore is an interloper. But that's only the case if your single goal is pure strength and muscle, which is a fairly narrow goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;No&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greg Nuckols asserts that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/cardio-and-lifting-cardio-wont-hugely-impact-your-gains-in-the-short-run-and-may-be-beneficial-for-strength-and-size-in-the-long-run/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cardio won’t hugely impact your gains in the short run, and may be beneficial for strength and size in the long run&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) You can still get bigger and stronger with doing strength training&#xA;  and cardio simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) In the short term, concurrent training (cardio and lifting&#xA;  together) is about 31% less effective for hypertrophy, and about 18%&#xA;  less effective for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3) Frequency and duration of aerobic training affected strength and&#xA;  hypertrophy gains – more frequency and volume of aerobic training&#xA;  meant smaller strength and size improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4) When looking at the data more closely, mode of exercise mattered. &#xA;  Running, but not cycling, negatively impacted strength and size gain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he also notes that the evidence suggests that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/avoiding-cardio-could-be-holding-you-back/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;low intensity cardio should be prioritized over interval training for the most part&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being on a caloric deficit already puts strength and muscle gains on the chopping block. Adding cardio might work for your situation or it might nix the little strength gains you're getting while on a deficit. High-intensity interval training is also not specifically what Nuckols is discussing in these studies, and may both interfere more with your strength/hypertrophy training &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; not give you the benefits he discusses. Furthermore, it's not clear whether a class really qualifies as HIIT, since HIIT generally doesn't take class-sized portions of time. A half hour of &quot;HIIT&quot; is probably misnamed, since high intensity output requires shorter output duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T10:34:53.937" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24569" CreationDate="2015-05-11T13:07:08.373" Score="-1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;YEP!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...but only in excess. Cardio used as warm-up exercises should not be detrimental to gains. But prolonged sessions of cardio will reduce size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8606" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T13:07:08.373" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-11T15:56:41.540" Score="1" ViewCount="2398" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never drank any protein shakes in my life. I've been going for about a year in the gym (3-4 times per week) and I am thinking about starting to drink a protein shake after my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an adult in robust health; never had any major health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I consult a doctor before start taking protein, or can I just buy and start drinking without any fear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7191" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T06:05:58.937" Title="Should I consult a doctor before start drinking protein shakes?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24573" CreationDate="2015-05-11T16:35:35.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on if you have any known food allergies.  Most protein shakes are whey based, which means you might have problems if you can't drink milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also find some other potential allergens in other protein shakes, such as eggs, or nuts (usually extract for flavoring).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest takeaway is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have no food allergies, protein drinks are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are, however usually more expensive than getting your protein from regular food.  1-2 servings after a work out is plenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="15705" LastEditDate="2015-05-11T18:32:12.750" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T18:32:12.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-12T10:14:20.557" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that you lose fat in the areas it was last gained. Similarly, the last place you'll lose it is the area you first put on the weight. What is the reason behind this mechanism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T10:33:27.970" Title="How accurate is the saying that fat loss occurs first in the place it was put on last, and vice versa?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24578" CreationDate="2015-05-12T10:19:47.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is both very accurate, and very inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you gain fat, you gain fat in &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the fat repositories. On the same coin, when you lose fat, you lose it in all the same places at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important:&lt;/strong&gt; You can't pick and choose where to gain/lose fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why it seems like you gain it in certain areas more than others (like belly and butt), is because these places have the largest fat storage capacity. But equally, this is where you lose more as well, when you lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-05-12T10:33:27.970" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T10:33:27.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24587" CreationDate="2015-05-12T13:04:07.737" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 6'2 (33 yr old male), weighing at 233 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the following ailments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitiligo - Due to which doctors advised me not to do any heavy lifting or weights or dumb bells as heavy stretching tends to tear my skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partial ACL Tear on my left knee - Doctors advised me not to do any running or jogging etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really would like to lose 20 lbs and with diet alone I am finding it hard to achieve my goal. All I can do for activity now is to lie down and come up and touch my toes without moving my knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I really would like to get into decent shape. To that end I just would like to know whether this stretch is of any use. I try to do 100 repetitions per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will that exercise at least give me any cardio benefit at all, even if it does not help me to reduce weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15712" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-05-12T14:51:30.840" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T14:42:31.167" Title="Efficacy of stretch exercises" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24546" CreationDate="2015-05-13T01:58:45.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight negatively impacts running economy, period. Those weights you are carrying are gobbling up extra oxygen with every mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, flailing arms, and arms held too high, also contribute to poor running economy. The weights are helping to keep your arms in a better position, and keep them from moving around too much, so you are getting a taste of what it &lt;em&gt;feels&lt;/em&gt; like to have better running form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A smoother, more controlled form feels more efficient and faster, but in this case this is almost certainly a false sense, more than offset by the &#xA;effects of the extra weight, especially since you are carrying it at your extremities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This intuition is corroborated by the paper &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Pyne/publication/8474348_Factors_affecting_running_economy_in_trained_distance_runners/links/00b4951720d491935a000000.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Factors affecting running economy in trained distance runners&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Carrying mass distally increases the aerobic demand of running to a&#xA;  greater extent than carrying mass closer to the centre&#xA;  of mass. [P. 469, par 3].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The above claim is referenced, in turn, to some other publication: some 1994 paper on body-mass-modified running economy and step length in middle-distance and long-distance elite males.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is not clear that holding the weights is actually all that &quot;distal&quot;. If your hands stay close to your hips, the weights are not that far from your center of mass, in fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to be sure would be to have you do this on a treadmill while you run at a predetermined pace, and breathe into a device which measures oxygen uptake: then compare with weights and without.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the thing: you can improve your running form so that your arms are in a better position and don't move excessively, without carrying weights. Running economy is improved by putting in the miles, week after week, at a decent training pace, by doing interval training, hill work, and also resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4550" LastEditorUserId="4550" LastEditDate="2015-05-13T02:07:23.860" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T02:07:23.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24402" CreationDate="2015-05-13T07:09:16.000" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you're ready to start muscle-up training, your numbers are decent enough (5 sets of 5 is my target before I move my students to muscle-up training). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add in some jumping muscle-ups to your workout routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to need a false grip on the bar, which means putting your thumbs and palm on the bar, rather than your fingers. This allows you to transition easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the jumping muscle-ups, start off in front of the bar. This is really important, as in a muscle-up you pull backwards, rather than upwards like a pull-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So set yourself in front of the bar, with your hands in a false grip. Then explosively jump backwards and up. Kick your knees up and bring your arms down as fast as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your chest is past the bar, do the fastest sit-up you can imagine and you'll be over the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combine this will kipping pull-ups and keep practising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a video tutorial I posted on how to do a jumping muscle-up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pgQ0TpfIZA&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pgQ0TpfIZA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastEditorUserId="10876" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T08:37:55.983" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T08:37:55.983" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24586" CreationDate="2015-05-13T08:48:14.733" Score="3" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never run in my life more than 300 meters because muscles below my knee swell and my feet and ankle hurts. Most of the muscle below my knee stiffen. When that happens, it hurts to walk and it is literally impossible to run or jog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I walk a little fast for like 500 meters, same thing happens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now 100kg but things were the same when I was 70kg. I use a costum built shoe support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way for me to run? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I can't run, I can use elliptical cycle for 60 mins on level 8 out of 8. My avg heart rate during cardio: 160. I'm 100kg 22 male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T12:35:10.877" Title="I'm unable to run because of flat feet. Is there anyway for me to run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24589" CreationDate="2015-05-13T11:43:31.180" Score="4" ViewCount="9606" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to try doing 2 hour cardio everyday for a week. Maybe 3 hour if I can. I was wondering if there would be any side effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to increase calory deficit to 2000-3000 daily. My daily intake will be around 1500 calory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T12:17:29.637" Title="Is 2-hour cardio healthy?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24584" CreationDate="2015-05-13T12:35:10.877" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always check with your doctor&lt;/strong&gt; before attempting a new exercise program, especially if as in your case you have a problem.  Although you have &quot;flat feet&quot; you may also have other problems that cause pain and swelling of your lower legs with walking or running.  Your doctor will give you a diagnosis and may suggest a podiatrist (foot doctor) or physical therapy to help correct the problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A physical therapist&lt;/strong&gt; (or physiotherapist) can analyze your gait, look for any joint or muscle restrictions and give you appropriate strengthening and stretching exercises.  They can also suggest appropriate footwear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/04/us-leg-injuries-idUSTRE54342G20090504&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; the glutes&lt;/a&gt; and other hip muscles can also help to reduce problems with your lower legs by providing more proximal strength and control.&#xA;If as you say flat feet are the problem, here are two questions that address flat feet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3807/flat-feet-running&quot;&gt;Flat feet and running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13084/any-exercises-to-strengthen-and-lift-foot-arches/16765#16765&quot;&gt;Arch strengthening exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/15942/how-to-ease-tight-soleus/17979#17979&quot;&gt;Stretching Calf Muscles&lt;/a&gt; - If your calf muscles are tight, gently stretching after exercise may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt; - Although you say you would like to run, you appear to be able to get a good cardio workout on the elliptical.  If you can do this without pain and swelling then the elliptical would be a preferable way for you to exercise.  Another option that should not bother your lower legs would be &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6894/what-is-the-a-proper-way-to-pool-run&quot;&gt;running in water&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walk before running&lt;/strong&gt; - If you really want to run, I would suggest walking first.  A pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nordic walking poles&lt;/a&gt; may help to take some of the weight off of your feet and ankles. Start slowly and gradually increase your distance.  Remember that good nutrition in proper portion sizes goes along with good exercise.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T12:35:10.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24581" CreationDate="2015-05-13T13:27:06.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a point on definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching  - To lengthen a muscle.  (Sit ups would not be considered stretching.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthening - To contract a muscle against resistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio - Any exercise to raise your heart rate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All I can do for activity now is to lie down and come up and touch my toes without moving my knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, you have a lot of other options. At 33 y.o. you are too young to become a couch potato.  If your doctors have advised you to avoid weight lifting, running and jogging, you need to find someone who can tell you what you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A physical therapist (physiotherapist) is a good place to start.  Without strengthening exercises for the hips and legs, your knee ligaments will have less protection.  A good therapist can also give you advice on overall exercises suited to your skin tolerance and get you started on a good program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your toe touching sit ups, there are better ways to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout&quot;&gt;strengthen your abs&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To achieve a cardio workout, you generally want to warm up, exercise in your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html#Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;target heart range&lt;/a&gt; for 10-20 minutes if you are a beginner - increasing to 30 minutes or more as your tolerance increases, and then cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use many kinds of exercises to achieve a good cardio workout: cycling (stationary if you worry about your knee), elliptical trainers, circuit workouts, swimming, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6894/what-is-the-a-proper-way-to-pool-run&quot;&gt;pool running&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nordic pole walking&lt;/a&gt;, rowing etc.  Just check with your therapist to see which ones are best with your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise will help with your diet, but since you are not having the results you want, you may need to refine your diet also. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sharecare.com/health/weight-loss/article/bad-body-fat-omentum-definition-causes-prevention&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weight around your middle&lt;/a&gt; is not healthy. A registered dietician may help you get on the right track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T13:27:06.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24585" CreationDate="2015-05-13T15:06:23.737" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you'll be able to survive for very long doing 3 hours of running (as an example) eating 1500 calories a day. 2,000 - 3,000 calories per day of deficit (depending on your needs) is really hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming this is for weight loss, and I think you'll have much better results following the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24495/is-weight-loss-possible-without-cardio/24500#24500&quot;&gt;tried and true mechanisms for fat loss and body composition&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while there's nothing necessarily wrong with multiple hours a day of cardiovascular exercise (plenty of cyclists, distance runners, distance swimmers and other athletes fall into this category), you need a diet capable of maintaining that sort of output. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aim for a deficit in the neighborhood of 3,500 calories per week. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/calories/art-20048065&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;That's (very) roughly 1 pound of fat&lt;/a&gt;. It takes months and years to get fat, it takes months and years to get thin. And when you get there, you want to have changed your life in a sustainable way. Crash dieting isn't maintainable, and you'll be on a yo-yo of weight loss and weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;Also remember that strength training will be more effective (and certainly less time involved) than cardio for fat loss&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T15:06:23.737" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-13T16:50:11.407" Score="14" ViewCount="2904" Body="&lt;p&gt;As part of my health office routine I have added incline push-ups (&lt;em&gt;feet on floor, hands on desk&lt;/em&gt;) to my daily schedule. Currently I am easily doing 25 every two hours.  I don't have a real desire put my hands on the office floor nor the space, so I don't want to do full push-up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to take it to the next level, I am wavering between increasing to 50 incline push-ups every two hours OR doing 25 every hour (&lt;em&gt;I have an hourly reminder to get up and stretch&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked online and found a bunch of forums with a lot of opinions, but not a lot of science. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to increase muscle mass and tone, to combat my sedentary work life. I just had my annual physical, and am in perfect health, with no restrictions on physical activity (&lt;em&gt;common sense&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is going to be the healthiest choice; more at one time, or the same amount more often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18229" OwnerDisplayName="James Jenkins" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T07:26:29.060" Title="Push-ups at the office, more often or more at once?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24591" CreationDate="2015-05-13T17:48:43.460" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sad truth is, if you can do as many as 25, you're not building strength by doing it any more. You're building endurance. You won't be getting leaner, or build bigger muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you're doing it anyway, do 25 every two hours instead, because you should be taking mini-pauses in your seated work-day regardless. Hell, once an hour would be even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my best tip: To combat any negative effects on your posture due to sitting for too long (and I should know, I'm a software developer by day, avid gym-goer by night), you should do stretches. There are a ton of stretches you can do without even leaving your seat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd list some, but if I did, I'd have to describe them with words, and I'd end up listing too many because there are so many good ones, but I found some pictures here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/deskercise&quot;&gt;http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/deskercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm particularly fond of the one they call The Freedom Search (and now I regret linking it, because those are some ridiculously horrible names). This stretch is almost like an hourly reset-button for your slouched posture. Hold it for a minute or so, back arched backwards over the back of your chair, head leaned even further back, open your mouth wide, and take good, deep breaths. It's a bit of an energy booster as well. Gives you a good surge of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the picture it shows them sitting on the tip of their seat, but I prefer really arching over the back of the chair. If you're lucky, you might get a few pops as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T17:48:43.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24591" CreationDate="2015-05-13T17:50:25.733" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you are already getting up every hour to stretch, I would do the 25 pushups every hour, as that will add less than a minute to your stretching routine. As your endurance builds you can gradually increase that amount as desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you want to increase muscle mass and tone, then the approach you are taking is going to be of extremely limited use. In an incline pushup, you are mildly engaging abdominal and lower back muscles, the triceps and chest. However, you aren't using them enough to really build mass. You are also doing nothing that would stress your cardiovascular system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to combat a sedentary lifestyle, you really need a component that stresses your cardiovascular system, preferably at least 20 minutes, 3x per week, and a component that also helps build muscle and tone. There are many activities that fit both of these, such as circuit training, swimming, cycling/running with upper body weight supplementation, etc. I would recommend finding an activity that you enjoy doing, and making it a part of your daily lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More and more studies are coming out that show how bad a sedentary desk job/lifestyle can be, so I encourage you to combat this in any way you can and the sooner the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-05-14T14:48:57.577" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T14:48:57.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24594" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24609" CreationDate="2015-05-13T19:15:48.367" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;My BMR is 1800cal and I'm trying to lose weight. Is eating 900cal a day healthy for me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a desk job and I'll be doing 1 hour cardio per day. So roughly I burn about 1000 extra calory in addition to BMR. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to lose 2kg per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that man should not eat less than 1500cal a day but I think its a myth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to eat 1000cal a day a few times and it feels okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T12:40:20.113" Title="Is daily intake of BMR*0.5 healthy?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24596" CreationDate="2015-05-13T19:28:04.410" Score="5" ViewCount="2001" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some good strength training options for someone just starting out? Specifically related to building a solid foundation of strength across all major muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T17:51:04.477" Title="What's a good strength training program for a beginner?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-05-18T16:43:36.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24595" CreationDate="2015-05-13T19:28:04.410" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two of the programs with a lot of following are Starting Strength (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1IkKiST&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt;) and Strong Lifts 5x5 (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;). Whichever program you follow, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1IkKiST&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength book&lt;/a&gt; is worth its weight in gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these programs are built for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;novices&lt;/a&gt;, which should be defined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt;, not personal opinions. They focus on compound barbell exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get into the intermediate phase of strength (again, as defined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt;), you can look into other routines designed for trainees at that level (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Texas_Method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Texas&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Madcow&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Powerlifting/531.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5/3/1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Powerlifting/Westside.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Westside&lt;/a&gt;, etc). Don't be eager to jump from novice to intermediate: progress slows down the stronger you get. Leaving a novice program that you are making solid progress on to move to an intermediate program will slow down your overall increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to a gym, consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/1450429297&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a body weight program&lt;/a&gt;. If you go that route, consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a suspension trainer&lt;/a&gt; or (harder) &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_(gymnastics)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a pair of gymnast rings&lt;/a&gt;. Also, a couple of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kettlebells&lt;/a&gt; can take you far. These options won't be anywhere near as effective compared to a progressive barbell program, but certainly better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="31284" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T17:51:04.477" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T17:51:04.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24599" CreationDate="2015-05-13T20:22:28.040" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an observed or measured correlation between BMR and strength training? (Maybe in a form of x-y graph)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or muscle weight VS BMR would be useful as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not even a beginner at strength training. I'm just trying to lose weight and currently doing cardio everyday for 30mins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is here to understand how much advantage strength training have for my goal, and adjust my plan accordingly. Frankly, I want to be able to eat more while losing weight by increasing my BMR :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T00:27:07.397" Title="Strength training and BMR correlation?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24591" CreationDate="2015-05-13T21:39:08.637" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to one-handed desk pushups. Spread your legs a little more and leave the supporting hand off-centre: you will get a more intense workout, building strength in the arms and adding some additional core muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do 25 with two hands you can probably do 5 with one - if needed, start against the wall and go lower as you build additional strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12338" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T21:39:08.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24597" CreationDate="2015-05-13T21:45:02.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is as close as I know of, from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11283427&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2001 study&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When all subjects were pooled together, absolute RMR significantly&#xA;  increased by 7% (5928 +/- 1225 vs 6328 +/- 1336 kJ.d-1, P &amp;lt; 0.001).&#xA;  Furthermore, ST increased absolute RMR by 7% in both young (6302 +/-&#xA;  1458 vs 6719 +/- 1617 kJ x d(-1), P &amp;lt; 0.01) and older (5614 +/- 916 vs&#xA;  5999 +/- 973 kJ x d(-1), P &amp;lt; 0.05) subjects, with no significant&#xA;  interaction between the two age groups. In contrast, there was a&#xA;  significant gender x time interaction (P &amp;lt; 0.05) for absolute RMR with&#xA;  men increasing RMR by 9% (6645 +/- 1073 vs 7237 +/- 1150 kJ x d(-1), P&#xA;  &amp;lt; 0.001), whereas women showed no significant increase (5170 +/- 884&#xA;  vs 5366 +/- 692 kJ x d(-1), P = 0.108). When RMR was adjusted for&#xA;  fat-free mass (FFM) using ANCOVA, with all subjects pooled together,&#xA;  there was still a significant increase in RMR with ST. Additionally,&#xA;  there was still a gender effect (P &amp;lt; 0.05) and no significant age&#xA;  effect (P = NS), with only the men still showing a significant&#xA;  elevation in RMR. Moreover, EEPA and TEE estimated with a Tritrac&#xA;  accelerometer and TEE estimated by the Stanford Seven-Day Physical&#xA;  Activity Recall Questionnaire did not change in response to ST for any&#xA;  group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you can walk away with this by saying that men had a 7% increase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T21:45:02.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-13T22:04:49.080" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been recovering from a knee injury for the past few months that I got playing football (soccer). Initially, when my knee was too sore to run properly, I started using the elliptical machine to stay fit. Gradually increasing the resistance, after a few months I was running on the highest resistance setting for 30 mins, and had built up quite a bit of muscle on my legs. My knee was feeling a lot better, so I started playing football again. When I play I feel fine for the first 20-30 mins, but after that my knees (and legs in general) feel weak, and tire easily. When I run on the elliptical machine on full resistance it's hard work, but is it having a negative impact on me playing football? Would I be better off running on the road? I understand that elliptical machines are easier in the joints, are my knees unused to strenuous activity and so when I run on a harder surface they become strained? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15726" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T12:12:36.760" Title="Switching from elliptical machine to running on road" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24606" CreationDate="2015-05-14T07:01:27.560" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say after a year of strength training and cardios, I'm fit and well built. For some reason, I stop exercising at all and maintain a random diet that is consistent with my daily calory burn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I lose the muscle in the next year slowly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the muscle becomes fat slowly due to lack of usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastEditorUserId="15717" LastEditDate="2015-05-14T07:06:59.503" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T12:22:39.443" Title="What happens if I stop exercising?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24595" CreationDate="2015-05-14T10:10:00.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important element of any program is that it meets you where you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're somewhat athletic and without major mobility problems, Starting Strength and 5/3/1 are two good choices among many. The key element here, in my opinion, is to avoid unnecessary aspects of bodybuilding, to develop consistency, and to work towards mastery of basic movements like squatting, bending forward, pushing, and pulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not very athletic, then something like StrongLifts (which is essentially Starting Strength but with less explanation of the lifts, starting with lighter weights, and progressing more slowly) or stumptuous' &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.stumptuous.com/the-less-thinking-more-doing-starter-program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Less Thinking More Doing&lt;/a&gt; starter program. Programs that are more general (as in, not purely strength-focused) or that introduce more exercises are often quite useful with people at this level. Ross Enamait's programs are good examples of this kind of strength-biased general program that involves substantial exercise variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're extremely unathletic or have chronic trouble with joints or mobility, or if you're not ready for a standard-issue program for whatever reason, then physical therapy or a specialized program designed in person by someone experienced is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meeting the beginner where they are is the hardest and most important part of choosing a program. The goal is to find a program that addresses training goals in the most efficient and rational manner. Since goals and people's abilities vary widely, the possible best programs are innumerably many.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-05-14T11:30:52.473" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T11:30:52.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24603" CreationDate="2015-05-14T12:22:39.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you stop exercising you will, after about three to four weeks, slowly lose muscles. Muscles are &quot;expensive&quot; tissue and will only be conserved if there is a need for. Depending on how much muscles you have and how active you are outside the gym, your body will reduce the amount of muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles don't turn into fat, but when you start losing muscles your daily calorie need will also start to get lower. Muscles are calorie burners and that's why your body starts to reduce them after stopping. If you don't decrease your calorie intake with the amount of muscle reduction, you will become fatter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T12:22:39.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24607" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24618" CreationDate="2015-05-14T12:35:37.243" Score="6" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a year of strength training and cardios, I'm fit and well built. Starting next year I'll be very busy due to work and family and I won't have time to properly exercise. But I don't want to lsoe the muscle I built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out what would be the minimum exercise to maintain muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastEditorUserId="15717" LastEditDate="2015-05-14T15:38:15.237" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T16:22:29.943" Title="Minimum exercise to maintain muscles?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-14T12:38:22.500" Score="2" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never done any exercise before, and would like to start one but I am confused between these two fitness programs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;P90x &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lee Labrada's online 12 week program&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one will help me better achieve my fat loss goals, or are there any better complete fitness program like these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 21 yrs old, male and I weigh 85 kg (187 lbs) , height 5.8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;any response shall be highly appreciated. &#xA;thank u.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15735" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-05-14T16:56:39.207" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T12:17:48.030" Title="Which exercise program is better for fat loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-05-20T15:59:44.100" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24594" CreationDate="2015-05-14T12:40:20.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally don't think that eating less than 1000 kcal per day is healthy for a person who also does 1 hour cardio fitness per day. Neither is aiming for losing 2 kg per week. If you lose that much weight, you take out an extreme amount of fat. Unfortunately, your body doesn't only use fat to store reserve energy. Your body also uses this fat to store some harmful substances your body can't get rid off easily. Losing a lot of fat in a short time will &quot;set these harmful substances free&quot; and your body now needs to get rid of it in another way. Usually this is more difficult than storing it in your fat or liver. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you now lose 2 kg weight every week, you will damage your body with dealing with these harmful substances in a large quantity. Of course, you might not have so much of this stuff in your body, since you only eat healthy stuff and don't live in a western society. However, if you are, like me, living in Europe or the US, you will have some unusual stuff floating around in your body coming from processed food. Your body will probably have stored this in your fat tissue a lot. When you can lose 2 kg a week, you might have a multitude of that too much on your hips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, read the article that Berin Loritsch gave as a comment. Calculate your calorie need and try to have your intake between 500 and 750 kcal below that. You will then have a healthy weight loss.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T12:40:20.113" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24608" CreationDate="2015-05-14T12:51:02.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;EDIT - It likely doesn't matter which program you use from a weight loss perspective.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is more effective than exercise at promoting weight loss (for example, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/weight-loss/faq-20058292&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link from Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, I used a combination of diet and regular moderate exercise to go from 110 kg to 90kg in less than a year. Maintained that weight for a few years and then got into boxing and decided to go with regular intense exercise alone and got back up to 100kg... but I am far more physically fit than I was at 90kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again from my personal experience you don't necessarily need to change what you eat so long as you have a good balance of veggies, fruit, protein, etc. Portion control is the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15736" LastEditorUserId="15736" LastEditDate="2015-05-19T12:17:48.030" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T12:17:48.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24617" CreationDate="2015-05-14T13:09:50.677" Score="2" ViewCount="1209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently trying to establish a schedule of running 3 times a week, for 4km. This is done in the mornings, just as I wake up and before having any breakfast or coffee, just a small cup of water - this fits in better with my system as any food I consume immediately pre-exercise causes me to feel dizzy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this good enough for general fitness or am I not trying hard enough? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan on increasing this gradually, specifically the number of times I do it a week so that I reach 5 times a week but so far 3 times a week is really what I have been able to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15737" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T10:09:52.080" Title="How much running is enough?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24662" CreationDate="2015-05-14T13:14:16.253" Score="3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there is a window for drinking my protein shake after lifting weights, about 15-30 mins after I finish the session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if after my session, I do about 45 minutes of cardio, how will that impact the effect my protein shake has?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T15:58:53.460" Title="Does cardio effect the amount of protein I absorb after a weight lifting session?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24614" CreationDate="2015-05-14T13:58:23.190" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, so, the gym I go to has standard weight plates, from 5KG to 25KG going up in 5KG increments...the other day, I was front squatting, I wanted to go up a little, but realised I can't go up in 1KG increments so I had to add 5KG, I found that my trunk gave in a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is when attempting to get stronger is what I had to do OK? like my form had discrepancies when trying to lift the heavier weight, to be honest I think even if I had only added 1KG, my form would have suffered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;how bad is what did?&#xA;is it recommended when trying to get stronger? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T06:08:22.513" Title="Squatting/Deadlifting - Form when adding weight" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24613" CreationDate="2015-05-14T14:57:59.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5kg is waaaaaay too much to add in a single jump for most lifts for most people after the very beginner stages. It's appropriate sometimes, but many times it's too significant an increase to be ready for the higher weight with good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Some Solutions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fractional or otherwise smaller plates.&lt;/strong&gt; Two 2.5kg plates should not be the smallest thing around. Buy, find, or make smaller pairs of plates: 1kg at least, 0.5kg is a good idea, and even 0.25kg for some lifts (e.g. the overhead press).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Achieve higher reps with the current weight before adding weight and aiming for fewer reps.&lt;/strong&gt; If I was forced to do 5kg jumps, then for a lot of lifts I would do sets of five, then six, then seven, then eight, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; add 5kg and go for a set of three or four or five. I wouldn't just do one workout with sets of five with 25kg and then just jump to sets of 5 with 30kg unless I was new to the lift and making fast easy progress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stay at the same weight and reps until it's easy.&lt;/strong&gt; It can also work to just keep doing the same weight for the same number of reps, but aim for reps with better form. Aim to be able to do those reps fast (proving the weight is not maximal) as well as slow (proving you have total control over it) and maybe even with pauses (to prove you aren't using momentum to get past the hard parts). Maybe my first time squatting 60kg for five it was slow, my form was iffy, and I had to rest for several minutes between sets, but once I can squat 60kg five times for five sets in a row with only one minute rest and every rep is clean and fast, then I'd feel ready to switch to 65kg. I'd expect my speed and form to degrade, of course, but as long as my form is within the bounds of safety then I wouldn't worry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Much Bad Form Is OK?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are perfect reps and there are good reps. There are iffy reps and there are bad reps. Good form leaves a buffer zone, where you're so on-point, everything braced and in precisely the position it should be with strength and mobility and speed to spare. That way, when you need to challenge yourself with more weight or more reps or even just a bad workout day, you can afford to not check every box of your best effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, there's a difference between &quot;that rep was not perfect&quot; and &quot;that rep was dangerous&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T06:08:22.513" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T06:08:22.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24611" CreationDate="2015-05-14T15:08:40.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on how you feel and what your goals are. A marathon runner will look at that and laugh and say you're not even close to &quot;general fitness&quot;. I complete couch potato will look at you and be amazed at your determination and work ethic. It's all relative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, you shouldn't be aiming for general fitness, you should be aiming to always improve. You don't want to look at the future and say this is where I want to be, and once I'm there I'm all set. Always be getting better. Set goals, and once you achieve those goals...set further goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, when I started running last summer, I started at pretty much what you were doing. 3-4 times a week no more than 5k. My next goal was to make it 6 times a week. Once I started to do that I wanted to improve my time. Once I started improving my time, I started to try and increase my distance, and then improve my time at that distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to think about getting in shape relative to people around you. Think about getting in shape relative to yourself, and what shape you're currently in, and trying to break through that fitness into something better. Set small goals, but also have larger overarching goals, that way you always have something in your sights to strive for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and as a side note...running is addicting. It's horrible at first, but once you start improving and it becomes a little easier it's hard to go a day without it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13633" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T15:08:40.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24639" CreationDate="2015-05-14T16:14:58.743" Score="1" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note according to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic&quot;&gt;help center&lt;/a&gt;, this is a specific question about &lt;em&gt;&quot;gear and gadgets used during exercise&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and NOT a recommendation question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if the &lt;a href=&quot;https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/running/forerunner-920xt/prod137024.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Garmin forerunner 920xt&lt;/a&gt; sports watch supports a triathlon plan on garmin connect....&#xA;by that I don't mean a tri plan on a pdf sheet, I mean a schedule in a calendar format which you can &lt;em&gt;check off&lt;/em&gt; as you train (like the nike+ running app &quot;coach&quot; plans)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic&quot;&gt;this reddit thread&lt;/a&gt; which suggests they do have sprint and olympic plans but I want to know for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1470" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T14:20:21.413" Title="does garmin connect and the forerunner 920xt offer triathlon plans" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24611" CreationDate="2015-05-14T16:17:39.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The Minimum Amount of Exercise Is A Lot&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running a few times a week is not sufficient for general health and fitness. Major health science organizations recommend strength training in addition to aerobic work. For instance, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the CDC says&lt;/a&gt; that according to the evidence,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adults need at least:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If I may interject here: the recommendation of &amp;quot;brisk walking&amp;quot; has been criticized for being easily subverted into plain walking. They really mean brisk. It's got to be moderately intense--a hike, not a stroll.) Anyway, the CDC's recommendations continue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., jogging or running) every week and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An equivalent mix of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scientists who worked on exercise recommendations for the World Health Organization and the UK government &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/aug/17/health.topstories3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;say&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;· 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day is still the minimum, but vigorous as opposed to moderate activity [is] recommended&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;· Combining days of moderate exercise with other days of vigorous exercise is better for you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;· Moderate exercise should be in addition to daily activities such as casual walking, shopping or taking out the rubbish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;· People should do two weight-training sessions a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T10:09:52.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24607" CreationDate="2015-05-14T16:22:29.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can definitely maintain and even get stronger muscle wise in 80 minutes a week.  After taking a managerial role at my company while having two young kids I started a &quot;different&quot; workout to maintain.  I noticed that I didn't gain a lot of mass but didn't lose any and definitely gained strength and composition (slowly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hit each major body part 1 day a week for 20 mins.  Back, Legs, Chest, Arms.  The routines were BRUTAL but only lasted 20ish mins - never going past 25 mins.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really I had one main objective in the first 7-8 minutes of each session.  Kill the biggest muscle from the group you are working out.  This meant squats/deadlifts, pull-ups (weighted)/t-bar rows/cleans, preacher curls, bench press - were first.  After I finished that 7-8 minutes I could actually quit and have had a decent workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the first 7-8 minutes were handled in one of two ways.  The first was to do some 90% lifts right away.  Maybe sets of 4-5 within the first two minutes then taper down.  So if it was leg day I might warmup, then hit 500 the hit 550 and then throw in a few sets of 10 at maybe 350-400.  At 7-8 minutes my legs would be shaking.  The other way is to rep out with almost zero rest.  This is QUITE EFFECTIVE.  No matter how strong you are 5 sets of 15 at 250 in 7 minutes will kill your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So step #1 is hit the major muscle group hard.  After that you have 12-13 minutes left.  This allows you enough time to perform 4-6 other lifts with times 3 sets.  You might not think so but you can superset them in.  And you have to get used to dropping weight, doing perfect form, and getting the work done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workouts before this were 50-80 minutes long.  Doing tons of weight and lots of rest between sets.  After the change over I noticed no negative effect on how my body looked or strength.  The changeover wasn't instant though.  Using the squat example... The first time I did 250 x 15 reps I was laughing after the second set... simple.   After the third I was like hmmm this is pretty hard... After the fourth I couldn't walk - the fifth never happened.  The other things never happened that day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the first week of shock I let the routine take 30 minutes so I could get it done.  It took about 2-3 months before I could do it in 20 minutes and walk out alive.  I still follow this routine somewhat.  It is much much higher intensity and much hard psychologically (to me).  It was easy sitting around for 5-6 minutes waiting to squat heavy.  Still very hard for me to jump to next set in 10-15 seconds and I still get sore from what I believe is very low weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes it takes about 80 minutes a week for a full muscular workout.  Now on the cardio side that is a different story.  This depends on how active you are outside of working out.  If you aren't at all you will need 20-30 mins times 4 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T16:22:29.943" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18442" CreationDate="2015-05-14T17:48:02.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone can box.  I started when I was 18.  My first months in the gym would probably be laughed at by most including myself.  You have to start somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You aren't going to kill yourself punching a bag.  You also aren't going to get a magical fat loss explosion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to punch the bag I would start with 1 minute on 1 minute off until you can work up to 4 minutes on and 1 minute off.  You need to have wrist wraps on and some type of glove (heavier gloves = more workout).  Simply circle bag with your off foot in front and throw jab/punch combinations.  This is what any new boxer should do.  You should not be lunging into the bag but a simple 6&quot;-12&quot; step on punch is OK.  The top of your gloves should reflex right back to eye level.  Probably the only harm you can do to yourself is standing too far from bag and overextending your elbows/shoulders.  Bags don't punch back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I would not expect much if any fat loss from doing this.  You might get more tone in your back and shoulders but not fat loss.  To even add onto this if you are taking away running or useful cardio and doing this instead then you are working in the wrong direction.  That stuff will contribute to fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people want to do boxing routines because they want to look like boxers.  I got people all the time to try to get me to teach them the &quot;boxer routine&quot; so they could be cut.  Bag work is probably 20% of the equation.  And the heavy bag isn't even half that.  The uppercut bag works your core and back far more than a normal heavy bag and has a much greater effect on overall physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really what makes boxers cut and defined are the less glamorous things.  We run a lot.  Both long distance and sprint training.  I would run 5 miles at least twice a week and at least twice I would do 20-30 sprints (50 yardsish).  Then there is the jumping rope at 4 x 20-30 minutes a week.  In my opinion there isn't a better exercise in the world that is geared towards shedding fat and low impact (relatively) as jumping rope - two feet down, two feet up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are the situps, shadow boxing, weighted movements and other things.  Please please do not equate losing fat with punching a bag.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general rule I live by with cardio and I know this is a vast generalization is - if you are doing something because it is easier it probably won't be as effective.  So in your case you are thinking I want to hit the bag for 30 mins vs running for 30 mins.  Well no duh I would too.  But I also would know that really there is nothing like running to lose fat/weight (I am talking about training here not diet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T17:48:02.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24585" CreationDate="2015-05-14T18:12:10.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll add a slightly different take on the other answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can do 2 or 3 hours of cardio in a day.  But you should build up to it.  You'll find that many cyclists and runners will do a longer workout or two on the weekend, but maybe just an hour on weeknights at a more brisk pace.  A rest day isn't a bad idea either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing that you've recognized is that it takes &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of time to burn calories through exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss and fitness go hand in hand, but a healthy diet is the most efficient way to control your calorie intake / deficit.  Exercise burns calories but also tends to make you more hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the most important thing you can do is start making your own meals.  If you eat out all the time, it is very hard to know how things were made or what they really contain.  Start with meals made at home, preferably with fresh ingredients.  Get into that habit for a few weeks until it's automatic.  You can start analyzing calories more after that.  I'm betting you'll find improvement already though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is still important and you should absolutely keep it up.  But what you put in your mouth will have the most effect on your daily deficit or gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Eric Kaufman pointed out, a slow, steady, manageable deficit is most likely to keep the weight off long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8801" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T18:12:10.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24608" CreationDate="2015-05-14T18:21:42.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;user15736&lt;/strong&gt; Really answered the basic principle behind your question fairly well. Diet is the key part to any change in physical fitness (gaining weight or losing weight). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I took a quick look at both programs, and I have to say I would go with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lee Labrada's online 12 week program&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Home training is ideal in terms of efficiency, but lack of equipment and proper space can mean less of a &quot;workout&quot; and prolong the time it would take to reach the same goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Lee Labrada's online 12 week program The workouts are formulated by grouping certain muscles with a good amount of high rep (10-12) weight training to burn fat and tone down, with cardio in between days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;strong&gt;external weights&lt;/strong&gt; as opposed to just &lt;strong&gt;body-weight&lt;/strong&gt; is what can give you a bigger advantage when training (excluding cardio days). That is why I would personally choose Lee &lt;strong&gt;Labrada's online 12 week program&lt;/strong&gt; versus P90x. Although I'd even go as far as saying you should add a good 20 minutes of cardio to certain weight training days if you really want to burn off fat quicker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastEditorUserId="15538" LastEditDate="2015-05-14T20:50:54.763" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T20:50:54.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24623" CreationDate="2015-05-14T18:52:15.447" Score="1" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am a 37 year old software dude who's trying to get/stay in shape. In the past, I've done a lot of what I'd call &quot;crossfit-light&quot; type exercise. Mainly bodyweight squats, lunges, pushups, yoga, plank burpees, jumping, etc. That sort of stuff took me from being a couch potato to being less embarrassed to take my shirt off in public. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I am genetically pre-disposed to being very thin/lanky. Even when I was my heaviest, I just had a beer-belly attached to my pole-bean body. Gaining real bulk/muscle is difficult for me, both genetically, and because I have back problems (herniated disc from minor arthritis in L4-L5) and so can't do a lot of heavy lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, I have started taking boxing training (without sparring) as a way to increase my high-intensity cardio, and I really like it. I'd like to do 1-2 sessions (30-40min each) of cardio-boxing each week, with mitts, heavybag, footwork, etc. I'd also like to keep doing 1-2 sessions of my previous workout routines per week (planks, burpees, yoga, pushups, etc), with a lot focusing on my legs/shoulders, which I'd like to get bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is basically: &lt;strong&gt;should I take creatine&lt;/strong&gt; and high protein foods to help ensure that I'm not loosing muscle to the boxing/cardio work I'm doing, or &lt;strong&gt;is creatine supplimentation wasteful/harmful&lt;/strong&gt; if I'm not doing heavy-lifting in the gym constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that you can't really lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. I'd like to tone up a little, but I don't have a ton of fat to lose as it is (just a remnant of my beer belly). Ideally I'd gain some visible mass in my legs/shoulders. I'm OK with the fact that its not optimal to want to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, I just don't want to be totally wasting my time here, or hurting myself with the creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6998" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T19:58:25.840" Title="Should I take creatine or other suppliments as part of my cardio-boxing workout routine?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24622" CreationDate="2015-05-14T19:58:25.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creatine isn't going to hurt you. And I can see it providing some good benefits for you, because what you're describing seems a lot like HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way creatine could help you here, is by providing better endurance through increased muscle recovery during sets/intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, creatine strengthens muscular contraction, meaning you will have more force behind your punches. This, in and of itself, is a temporary effect, but the workouts you do &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; under this effect, provide more permanent progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally - and I'm simply assuming that this is desirable - creatine enhances muscle size by making them more susceptible to carrying water weight. It's not what we call &quot;ripped&quot; because the inflation is kind of soft, but this water retention enhances protein synthesis, so your muscles will also have a greater effect from your protein-rich meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more lab-coat explanation of this, you could have a look at some of these links;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/creatine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;University of Maryland's study of creatine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12701815&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effects of creatine supplementation on performance and training adaptations (Kreider RB)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T19:58:25.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24624" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-14T20:40:02.473" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jim has 50kg of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lee has 25kg of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both are 100kg, 20yo, male, eat 2000cal every day, consume same things, do the same things, live in the same place. Basically only difference is the muscle weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lee's BMR is 2000cal. What would be the Jim's BMR?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: There are quite a few assumption here. I'm aware that it is impossible to answer this question precisely with or without assumptions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T20:40:02.473" Title="BMR VS muscle weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-05-20T16:01:05.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24567" CreationDate="2015-05-14T20:55:50.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestions would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try using a normal bench press bench (non smith machine) for normal, incline, and decline bench press. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a spotter and do high weights with low reps or even do some one-rep maxs&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4034" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T20:55:50.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24516" CreationDate="2015-05-14T21:24:01.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wrist is sprained on 5/14/15, so I am sort of in the same boat as you. You should probably get your wrist checked out, but in the mean time, depending on the seriousness of pain there are options. In the case where the pain is pretty serious you could be out of luck. But if it isn't, there are workouts you can do: They include forward arm circles(shoulders and traps), leg press(quads), bikes(cardio), pretty much any lower body calisthenics, and butterfly machine(chest)-extend your arms in place of your wrists to move the weight. You can also try chest fly w/weight from machine but not on machine or chest fly w/bands(both using arms and not wrists as said earlier) However, I still wouldn't recommend it, because it will be very painful to your forearms after reps. Also, avoid workouts using grip until your wrist has healed or the doctor says you can use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15745" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T21:24:01.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19811" CreationDate="2015-05-15T00:45:32.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course it can be done by women. The only thing that is a bit more difficult is progression on OHP and bench; for those lifts I would recommend microplates (you can find more info on them &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.savvylifting.com/starting-strength-review/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). This will allow you to add just 2.5 lbs per session instead of 5 lbs... SS and also SL are very suitable for women. As a matter of fact a trained women will in many cases outlift an untrained male. No reason at all why women should not lift heavy!. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15749" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T00:45:32.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24632" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-15T01:08:55.870" Score="3" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working out at a nearby gym. I noticed that most of the people in there are avid to lift more weight but as they don't have the needed strength, they do it faster than they could do with less weight. Wouldn't it be a better idea to work out with less weight and do things more slowly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6565" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T06:00:01.987" Title="Are there benefits of working out slowly?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24567" CreationDate="2015-05-15T01:38:13.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution was to introduce resistance bands on post-fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PqQt2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cables&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weights are already moderate, and more weight isn't the answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cables and weights, and hitting different angles are fantastic, and the results show, but using strong resistance bands in place of cable-crossovers increases the resistance right near the end of the adduction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding for a second at the top of each rep produces an amazing burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastEditorUserId="15682" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T01:44:29.050" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T01:44:29.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24632" CreationDate="2015-05-15T03:53:11.637" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you want to achieve. Some lifts (like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cleans&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Snatch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snatches&lt;/a&gt;) can't be done slowly. Likewise, anything that's &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ballistic&lt;/a&gt; in nature or revolves around &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plyometrics&lt;/a&gt; will be fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side, whenever you get near your maximum weight in strength activities, it will go slow. If you can go fast, you'll be able to do more weight slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, there are a few things in particular that can be a problem with moving weights quickly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not going through the full range of motion. The bench press is a great example where in power lifting competitions you need to &quot;pause&quot; at the bottom. From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/fileadmin/data/Technical_Rules/IPF_Technical_Rules_Book_2014.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IPF rulebook&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…the lifter must lower the bar to the chest or abdominal area (the bar&#xA;  shall not touch the belt), hold it motionless, after which the Chief&#xA;  referee will signal the audible command “Press”…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In something like the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_scouting_combine#Bench_press_records&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NFL combine&lt;/a&gt; where it's completely okay to &quot;bounce&quot; the weight off your chest, you're cheating a bit which in the case of what the NFL is looking for is okay, but if you want to train at maximum and demonstrate what you can &lt;em&gt;truly&lt;/em&gt; lift, you can't bounce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can put excessive load on your joints. Pullups are a good example of this where if you rocket up and down over and over again, you are really loading up your tendons to stop you on the way down. The faster you come down, the harder the impact to slow you down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summed up, you get different results from different speeds and sometimes it's determined by the lift itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wouldn't it be a better idea to work out with less weight and do&#xA;  things more slowly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time I can imagine this making sense is for warmups, rehab, or when trying to focus on a particular aspect of form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T03:53:11.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24450" CreationDate="2015-05-15T05:48:48.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Berin's answer is spot on for reps and sets. Just offering a bodyweight alternative in case it's of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Straight Bar Dips activate your chest muscles more than push-ups and are a lot more challenging. Progressing them to slow muscle-ups, will build an incredibly strong chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these are too challenging, then try Parallel Bar Dips until you've got the strength to go to move to the straight bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T05:48:48.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24471" CreationDate="2015-05-15T07:22:11.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing that will make anyone lose weight is a caloric deficit. Simple as that. As long as you are in a deficit you can even exercise at all and still lose weight. This means eating below your TDEE, measuring EVERYTHING you eat in grams and ounces (not cups and teaspoons); everything needs to be weighed on a scale. This includes condiments, olive oil, fruits, veggies. Everything that goes in your mouth. As long as you eat in a deficit you will lose weight regardless of what exercise you do or even if you exercise at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you eat over your maintenance calories it doesn't matter what workout you do; you still won't lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15749" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T07:22:11.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24142" CreationDate="2015-05-15T07:36:35.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A trained female who dedicates her life to training for strength can easily outlift an untrained male. 90% of males at commercial gyms do not train for strength at all; none do SS or SL, pretty much all are novice lifters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A female who trains for strength will usually incorporate things such as pause bench, deficit deadlifts, block pulls... Everything is done for the purpose of strength only. Accessories are used to increase the big 3 only and to bring up weaknesses. Training for strength requires being on a program and passing the novice level of strength levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;360 lbs is a horrible deadlift for a man who trains for strength. If a guy is 200 lbs and deadlifts 360... no... I'm a female and easily deadlift 2x my bw and I consider myself weak. My goal is to be as strong as humanly possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, individuals who train for strength generally focus on the big three primarily... focusing on the big 3 numerous times a week (on programs like DUP etc) will have females easily outlifting untrained males or males who are too wimpy to push themselves hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tons of females who are 120 lbs can deadlift 300. Cynthia Leu easily deadlifts over 325. Here is a video of her pulling 325 and it's not her max &lt;a href=&quot;https://instagram.com/p/2phb04nJ_C/?taken-by=cynthialeu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://instagram.com/p/2phb04nJ_C/?taken-by=cynthialeu&lt;/a&gt;  (She pulls more at powerlifting meets). Squats 272 &lt;a href=&quot;https://instagram.com/p/2SQqiMnJ10/?taken-by=cynthialeu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://instagram.com/p/2SQqiMnJ10/?taken-by=cynthialeu&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a male who trains for strength only and say you start out at 200 lbs, you should reach a 360 lb deadlift in less than 6 months on Stronglifts or SS. Much less. If can't pull 360 then chances are you're just messing around in the gym and not on a strength program. If you didn't get there chances are you didn't do the program exactly as it is written and didn't deload properly, didn't sleep enough or didn't eat enough or skipped workouts. 360 is a VERY unimpressive deadlift for a male considering a trained female can pull 315.360 for a 200 lb man is not even considered &quot;Advanced&quot;. If you think a 120 lb female needs steroids to pull 315; it's more than easily achievable with time, dedication, heart and will. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone is not the only factor in determining strength; programming, CNS adaptation (training the big three lifts numerous times a week), duration of training not to mention technique (staying tight when benching, leg drive during bench) etc... A woman with her technique down can also outlift a man with inferior technique (loose during bench, no leg drive etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting is not just about lifting; those who are dedicated will go home and read articles on technique etc. Most of the strong females I know have strength coaches such as The Strength Athlete etc... their entire workout revolves the big three, paused reps, deficits etc... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also depends on how bad you want it. My will to be strong is immense; even more than that of most guys. Even though I have weaker genetics, am of smaller stature; I literally dream of becoming stronger. My free time consists of watching lifting videos on youtube and IG, reading articles, forums etc. I spend all my free time, weekends in the pursuit of strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical strength can also be a manifestation of mental strength intelligence. Someone may have more testosterone but not the dedication to spend hours reading about lifting, programming and technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite this I will concede that a trained male will always be stronger than a trained female. Just look at powerlifting USPA results. Shorty Sadang who is 123 lbs deadlifted 457 raw at a recent powerlifting meet. A male powerlifter who trains in the same way as a female powerlifter will outlift her if similar in size. A female who trains for powerlifting with immaculate technique will outlift 90% of goons in the gym who think a 360 lb deadlift is actually impressive for a male.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15749" LastEditorUserId="15749" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T08:29:41.813" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T08:29:41.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24616" CreationDate="2015-05-15T10:36:12.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I have the 910 - but I think it's the same for the 920 as well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: Yes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long, and detailed answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Browsing on the Training plans inside garmin connect, there are several training plans for either Sprint or Olympic distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MTDS1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I selected a plan, and set it's start date&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mhi2E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oa42j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was added to my Connect calendar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once within your Connect calendar, you can simply send the plan to your device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xcozG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nq9wL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is an example of a swim practice. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sptSJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, you get the swim for x seconds, only it's not built in as a lap. Do like me: just print the practice, and put it at pool side where you rest anyway :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" LastEditorUserId="1405" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T14:20:21.413" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T14:20:21.413" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24661" CreationDate="2015-05-15T11:27:15.540" Score="1" ViewCount="4486" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm signed up for a 5k on Sunday. It's for fun, and I'm not worried about getting a great time, but I'd like to make the best showing that I can. The catch is that yesterday, I took a tumble over a concrete stanchion (I was being playful and hopping up and down. I caught my toe on the edge) and I now have a nicely bruised knee. I don't think that I did any lasting damage. I did a bit of light jogging this morning and it aches a bit when my weight moves to that leg, but the pain largely goes away after I stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if I didn't feel like this is a minor injury, I don't have time to schedule a doctor's appointment, and it really does seem minor. Is there anything I should be doing to ensure that I'm not causing further injury to my knee in the running? And should I take a dose of aspirin or other NSAID before the run as prophylaxis against swelling caused by the running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T22:08:41.567" Title="Running with a bruised knee" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24640" CreationDate="2015-05-15T12:23:48.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about permanent damage, pain is often the indicator that lets you know something is wrong. Therefore you should NOT take medication which inhibits pain. Instead, you could give the 5k a shot, but abort if the pain gets too substantial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if, as you suspect, it's really just a minor injury, then the pain can of course be overlooked as what it is; a bruise. In this case, you could opt to relieve the pain with aspirin to get through the run, or just man up and run regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T12:23:48.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24644" CreationDate="2015-05-15T13:21:38.730" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a shoulder injury and after healing I'm going to start my workout again. I've been working for some time and I'm not much beginner. Also, I'm on fit, not fat, and I'd like to add weight and muscles. How do you think I'll get the best result? I'm very interested at P90X, but I can go to the gym as well. Do you think I should workout at home with P90X or go to the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15757" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T15:31:22.983" Title="Home workouts or gym? Which one is better for adding muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24642" CreationDate="2015-05-15T14:23:31.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is fairly similar to a question I had answered here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24608/which-exercise-program-is-better-for-fat-loss/24621#24621&quot;&gt;Which exercise program is better for fat loss?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start, keep in mind (as another user had answered in the linked question) your diet is your key factor. So regardless of your choice, it is how and what you eat that will determine your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who is already fit and wants to add muscles, home training might not be right for you or your goals. Home training is good for resistance and bodyweight style training, while it can be lacking the tools needed to properly break down the muscles needed for muscle growth and not just fat loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For muscle growth, what you want to do is relatively heavy sets of 8-12 reps for hypertrophy, essentially breaking down your muscle so that they rebuild and grow.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in mind, here is a little pro's list to compare your two options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PROS FOR HOME&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cost effective (in terms of monthly fees, but not so much for equipment you may need)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Efficient (you can train when you want to, without displacing yourself)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Privacy, meaning you avoid any negative feelings such as nervousness or embarrassment when starting out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comfort. You are home, so you can train, shower, dress, etc. however you feel fit without worrying about others and your surroundings. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PROS FOR THE GYM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plenty of different machines and weights you might not be able to afford for home use. Also means if you go up in weight you do not need to go buy a brand new set of dumbbells for just a 5 pound increase, or even worse, always stay at the same weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The atmosphere is great, as there are plenty of people who are there to help guide you in the right direction, provide motivation, and answer questions when you have them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spotter's are available. This means that when your goal is to push your limits and go heavy, you can ask a fellow gym patron to spot you to keep you safe. Something you cannot do at home, and you do not want to take the risk of pushing too far to your limits when you are without a spot. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IN CONCLUSION:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who started out with home training and then migrated to a gym, I would really say if you want real results you should &lt;strong&gt;go to the gym&lt;/strong&gt;. Just make sure you give nutrition the importance it needs, and you will see results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T15:31:22.983" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24612" CreationDate="2015-05-15T14:34:26.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/53&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It won't.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you meet your daily requirements you will be fine, regardless how many minutes after your workout you will have a shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastEditorUserId="12223" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T15:58:53.460" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T15:58:53.460" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24573" CreationDate="2015-05-15T14:37:55.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are not lactose intolerant you will be fine with standard whey protein concentrate, it is the cheapest and most popular protein out there, look for good quality brands and about 80% of protein.&#xA;In case you are lactose intolerant whey isolate is the best to go protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T14:37:55.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24550" CreationDate="2015-05-15T14:45:47.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more of a question on setting accurate calorie estimate.&#xA;There is a calculator on my page in www.GoodLookingBody.co.uk on page 'FREE'&#xA;From there set your protein target at around 2.2g/kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need fat for energy, good skin, and overall health in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat fish few times a week, have a few nuts here and there and use dressing or olive oil in your salads, don’t worry about adding extra fat anywhere else and definitely do not ruin your coffee adding butter to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are your physical and mental energy blocks. You need them and they taste good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should eat about 3 to 5 g of carbs per 1kg of bodyweight a day. Make sure to eat a mix of fibrous vegetables (asparagus, broccoli, carrots, beans) to feel fuller and have more volume in your food from the calories you get, fruits for taste and vitamins, and starchy carbs like grains and potatoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following the above recommendations and making sure to drink enough water to feel hydrated should cause your fat to vanish into thin air (literally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for keto diets this is a great quote&#xA;&quot;Therapeutic use of ketogenic diets should not require constraint of most forms of physical labor or recreational activity, with the one caveat that anaerobic (ie, weight lifting or sprint) performance is limited by the low muscle glycogen levels induced by a ketogenic diet, and this would strongly discourage its use under most conditions of competitive athletics.&quot; from Phinney SD. Ketogenic diets and physical performance. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2004 Aug 17;1(1):2. in other words, don't bother&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23645387&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23645387&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;and more&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastEditorUserId="6199" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T15:11:29.620" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T15:11:29.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24274" CreationDate="2015-05-15T14:53:52.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;2010 ISSN Position Stand:&#xA;• Individuals engaged in a general fitness program can typically meet needs by consuming a normal diet (45-55% CHO; 3-5 g/kg/day).&#xA;• Athletes involved in moderate amounts of intense training (2-3 hrs/day, 5-6 times/week) typically need to consume 55-65% CHO (5-8 g/kg/day or 250 - 1,200 g/day for 50 - 150 kg athletes) in order to maintain liver and muscle glycogen stores.&#xA;• Athletes involved in high volume intense training (3-6 hrs/day of in 1-2 workouts for 5-6 days per week) may need to consume 8-10 g/kg/day of carbohydrate (i.e., 400 - 1,500 grams/day for 50 - 150 kg athletes) in order to maintain muscle glycogen levels.&#xA;2009 Position of the ADA, Dietitians of Canada, and the ACSM:&#xA;• Carbohydrate need of athletes are 6 -10 g/kg/day, depending on total daily energy expenditure, type of sport, sex, and environmental conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up to 2hrs activity you should be fine as long as your daily macronutrient intake is met. Past that try dosing 50-70g per hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastEditorUserId="6199" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T15:11:49.350" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T15:11:49.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24640" CreationDate="2015-05-15T16:45:50.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My habit is to go for a short run before committing to a race after an injury.&#xA;What I'm looking for is any modifications to my running gait because of the injury. I know from experience that if I have to modify something because of pain then I simply shouldn't run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, toughen up and run the race; even if just for more race experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T16:45:50.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-15T17:53:29.933" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any conclusive study or research on effects of 0 calorie drinks on weight loss? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know these drinks have nothing that the body can digest, so body doesn't store anything from these drinks which means 0 calorie. However I've read that long terms effects indicate that they are not affecting the body as if they are 0 calorie. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink 3L of Pepsi Max a week on average. While logging my intake, should I assume they are 0 calories? (Technically yes they are but I'm talking about practically)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T17:07:25.590" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T17:07:25.590" Title="Effects of 0 calorie drinks on weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-05-20T17:38:08.867" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24653" CreationDate="2015-05-15T18:19:40.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One study reflects that 0 calorie drinks may actually cause weight gain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“On average, for each diet soft drink our participants drank per day,&#xA;  they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight during the next&#xA;  seven to eight years, and 41 percent more likely to become obese,”&#xA;  said Sharon Fowler, M.P.H., faculty associate in the division of&#xA;  clinical epidemiology in the Health Science Center’s department of&#xA;  medicine. She presented the finding June 12 in San Diego at the&#xA;  American Diabetes Association’s 65th Annual Scientific Sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://uthscsa.edu/hscnews/singleformat2.asp?newID=1539&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://uthscsa.edu/hscnews/singleformat2.asp?newID=1539&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for assuming they are 0 calories, every country has their own food labeling laws, but in the US anything lower than 4 is considered 0. So yes, technically there are around 0 calories, but as the study shows, there is more to it than that, and you might want to consider avoiding them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info on labeling laws in the US by the FDA:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064911.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064911.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T18:19:40.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1235" CreationDate="2015-05-15T19:33:48.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you having sticking points, do what Greg suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working on getting the lower back stronger and overall core. Otherwise, you are just setting yourself up for disaster on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Implement more heavy bar holds without straps and some specialized grip training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try wrapping a towel, squat pad or anything that can increase the thickness of the bar to get some good grip training in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T19:33:48.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5912" CreationDate="2015-05-15T21:25:49.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You likely experienced 'The Pump' - i.e. a temporary swelling of a well-used muscle due to additional blood-flow. It can last for several hours, but after the 12 hour period since your workout, it certainly could have faded. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's completely normal - don't worry too much about small changes to muscle-size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T21:25:49.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24640" CreationDate="2015-05-15T22:08:41.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things to look out for when you sustain an injury to the knee:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swelling - If you have a large amount of swelling in the area, you may have ruptured or injured the bursa sac, which can cause inflammation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offset patella (Kneecap) - Unlikely, since you can run, but a direct blow to the kneecap can throw it out of the track it normally rides in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instability - Basically, you feel like your knee will or does give out, or that you are unstable on that leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you can run with minimal pain, I would guess that you are probably ok to run the race, although you may not be able to go all out. However, if the area starts swelling, or turns warm or red between now and then, forget the race and get it checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the NSAID's, I'd personally recommend against them. While it may be a bit stiff and painful, I'd rather not mask that feedback mechanism, so that if the pain gets worse rapidly, it's not being covered up by the medication. But, YMMV, you are certainly free to make your own decision. It won't make the inflammation worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely be following RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) protocol between now and then, and after the race as well, to help get rid of any residual swelling. If the pain persists for an extended time or gets much worse during the race, get it checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T22:08:41.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24612" CreationDate="2015-05-15T22:38:46.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the study that Greg cites shows, there is no real difference in the window for protein intake. People may be confusing this with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9694422&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;studies that show&lt;/a&gt; supercompensation of glycogen storage when carbohydrates are consumed in the period (&quot;the golden hour&quot;) after prolonged aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you may want to reconsider doing cardio immediately following your weightlifting routine. Studies &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7380688&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;such as this one&lt;/a&gt; suggest that protein catabolism (Breakdown of protein for energy) is higher when exercising in a glycogen depleted state, with associated high nitrogen losses (which would impair muscle rebuilding, which needs a positive nitrogen balance). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is also reinforced by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2269057/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another study&lt;/a&gt;. In this one, they deliberately induced low glycogen in one leg and then exercised both, with the low glycogen leg showing greater protein degradation (This was confirmed with blood sampling and muscle biopsies) than the &quot;normal&quot; leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What that all basically means, is that by exercising aerobically after a weightlifting session, you may be creating even more of a protein/nitrogen deficit, since the glycogen in the muscles is depleted, which can hurt the rebuilding of the muscle you have stressed during the weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3577439/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is another good read on nutrient timing&lt;/a&gt;, with a lot of really good attendant cited studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T22:38:46.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1235" CreationDate="2015-05-15T23:06:25.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To improve grip strength try deadlift holds for time and try to beat your time. Other exercises which strengthen grip include farmers walks and weighted pull ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15749" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T23:06:25.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-15T23:35:58.687" Score="3" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;How hard I should push myself? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to enjoy pushing my limits, thankfully :) I use elliptical cycle for cardio for at least 30 mins a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On average I use it at level 8/8, with 14kmh and about 160HR. At the end, for 5 to 15 minutes, I go faster at 16~ and I feel like it's almost impossible to continue. I sortof feel like losing myself physically. I avoid pain in my muscles. When I absualtely have to stop, I stop. I don't use HR but I suppose at that point I'm around 180 or more when I use my hand to count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, I feel like my heart stops beating or slows down for a few seconds on random times. Maybe once a week. But I feel good. Maybe that's related and is saying me to stop pushing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 100kg, m, 22, taking 1500-2000cal daily. My BMR: 1700.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer should be in terms of how hard I should push myself in terms of HR, feeling and post cardio effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T16:05:57.303" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T16:05:57.303" Title="How hard I should push myself?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3498" CreationDate="2015-05-16T00:42:25.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without a video of your form, really difficult to give you a straight answer. Assuming your form is on par, try what Derek mentioned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to use some long soccer socks or thick, long socks so the bar doesn't rub to much against the shins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try wrapping some type of padding around the bar where it meets your shins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T00:42:25.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-17T12:23:13.680" Score="4" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a similar question the following is stated however I've read online that 30 minutes is better. Is there any conclusive study or research on the ideal length of a cardio for someone who is losing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anywhere from 30 minutes to about an hour and a half is considered&#xA;  healthy, as long as you aren't overworking yourself by doing this&#xA;  routine more than every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do cardio in the morning with empty stomach due to work. I find it very difficult to go on after 30 mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 100kg m 23. HR: 160. Elliptical cycle level 8/8. Daily intake: 1500. BMR: 1700. Desk job and 30 mins cardio everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastEditorUserId="15717" LastEditDate="2015-05-19T09:36:35.943" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T02:12:42.317" Title="Ideal length of a cardio for someone who is losing weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24678" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-17T12:36:58.013" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently losing weight and at some point I would like to build up my muscular tone. Sadly, due to university I can't go to gym. Are there useful exercises I could do at home? I'm 1.75m, currently weigh 86kg and I used to play tennis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15770" LastActivityDate="2015-05-17T12:36:58.013" Title="Exercise at home" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-05-20T16:00:50.327" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24670" CreationDate="2015-05-17T16:02:55.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With weight training, find a program (I do 5/3/1) and follow it exactly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, you find a program (there are many, many programs), be honest about your lifting numbers, and progress just as it says from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With cardio, no more than an hour really makes sense - you have to live a little, and pumping away on a treadmill for more than an hour will take your motivation away to workout lightning quick. Personally, I do, at most, 30 minutes of cardio - for weight-loss, you want to be burning more calories than you use.  That means that cardio can be a means to an end, but it is not necessary to lose a lot of weight in short order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you're 100kg and a man, you should be having somewhere between 2000 and 2500 calories, 1500 really doesn't cut it and you will burn out in short order. I'm 95kg, about 6'2&quot; and trying a 1500 calorie diet really hamstringed my efforts of shedding a few pounds.  The key is maintainability - you cannot maintain eating 1500 calories a day, but 2000 is far more doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15690" LastEditorUserId="15690" LastEditDate="2015-05-17T16:25:00.523" LastActivityDate="2015-05-17T16:25:00.523" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24685" CreationDate="2015-05-18T11:34:20.050" Score="2" ViewCount="10319" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 times a week for the last month I've been running for about 30mins on a treadmill, the speeds varies around 9kmph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently started adding a 3-4% incline for the duration of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dull ache develops on my lower back towards the end of the exercise, this has only started with the added incline and in fact if I remove the incline, the pain very quickly dissipates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal / to be expected in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 29, 5ft 8in and 179pounds. I've never had any back pains or injuries before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastEditorUserId="12223" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T12:59:01.403" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T23:05:14.827" Title="Sore back when I increase incline on a treadmill" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2019-12-13T14:00:54.797" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-18T15:32:26.120" Score="3" ViewCount="1448" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost about 10kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning, i was able to burn more calories because of the extra 10kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I carry a backpack of 10kg with me now while using elliptical cycle, will the burn rate be same as before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming my HR is the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-07-19T16:19:20.967" Title="Carrying 10kg while doing cardio" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24681" CreationDate="2015-05-18T17:34:14.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an exercise expert, but my gut feeling is that the incline has you leaning forward at the waist and/or craning your torso back in an effort to compensate. Obviously, you need some degree of leaning to compensate for the fact that you are no longer aligned heightwise with gravity, but it's usually a more minor thing. I would advise having a friend watch you run normally, and then doing the incline, and check to see if you're bending over at the waist. Alternately, you could set up a video-camera on a tripod or window sill for a side view, and analyze it yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T17:34:14.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24681" CreationDate="2015-05-18T23:05:14.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a common thing, and in most cases, easy to fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Incline on the treadmill puts more stress on the lower back&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When walking or running uphill, the load on the muscles change. You are forced to lean forward, your back muscles have to compensate a lot more to keep you erect. The hip flexors also have to work more, because you need to lift your knees higher. The psoas consequently exerts a stronger forward pull on your low back. Your stride also gets shorter and quicker, therefore your muscles get tired more quickly. The result is compression of the lower back, which can result in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to get rid of the pain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give yourself more time to adapt. Reduce the incline. Walk, not run uphill first, so there is less impact. You can even hold onto the treadmill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some form of strength training. Weighted squats, bench step-ups are the best candidates, as they target the very same muscles which get more stress running uphill. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More flexibility will also help. Tight hamstrings, calves, low back muscles increase the likelihood of pain. In addition, I would also specifically stretch out hip flexors after an incline treadmill session, tightness in that area can easily develop into lower back pain later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T23:05:14.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2015-05-19T02:19:41.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just went out for a kayak with a fitbit surge on.  It said that my 24.6km kayak was only 6.2km.  When I uploaded the data it had the route correct but the distance was well off.  I don't know how it can be so wrong when the PGS was running (which it was before I started) and it had the route right.  FYI I checked the actual distance on Google earth to determine the 24.6km.  There was no problem with the GPS signal all day and the batteries were good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15783" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T02:19:41.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24697" CreationDate="2015-05-19T03:19:22.757" Score="4" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking for a product review as that is not on topic on this SE and i can just google some. I've seen the positive reviews online for the bosu ball on other websites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is the bosu ball suppose to help for rehabilitation purposes? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOSU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia.com&lt;/a&gt; has scholarly references that indicate that it's not any more efficient than on stable ground, but it didn't speak of any context relating rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the intention that it works because it increases the nerve endings to activate your muscles on joints? If so is this sound science? I'm rather skeptical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T13:49:54.477" Title="How does a bosu ball theoretically work for rehabilitation?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24688" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24690" CreationDate="2015-05-19T08:08:24.323" Score="4" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started working out and realized that one can to overhead press in two different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(I can lift more) I root myself leaning slightly back so that all the weight when lifting concentrates on my hips/lower back(I can feel it there, this is my stabile point)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(I lift quite less) I try to be straight and lift it, without any lower back support.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which way should I use and why? What are the certain pros and cons to those ways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15784" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T08:41:35.040" Title="Which is the proper technique in overhead press?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24692" CreationDate="2015-05-19T08:14:42.203" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently talked to a friend physiotherepist and she said that the head should be in one line with the body. (No leaning backwards/forwards).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand I see many people tilting head backwards when doing deadlifts (when they lean forwards).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is true about that?&#xA;Is that harmful, or not at all and what policy do you keep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15784" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T08:45:07.070" Title="Should I keep head in one line with the body?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24688" CreationDate="2015-05-19T08:34:38.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overhead press can be very demotivating if done &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt;, because the right way is heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens when you lean back, is that the chest muscles assist more, and chest muscles are predominantly stronger than the shoulder muscles, by virtue of being larger and more frequently used in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lean-back however, can damage your spine in the long run. The reason for this is that your lower thoracic spine is bent during the lift, and with all that extra weight on top of it, that's not something your back should endure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your back straight. A good rule-of-thumb here is to look straight ahead. Don't look up at the bar. You know where it is, and it's not going anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're still having problems with this, and leaning back by default, consider lowering the bar &lt;em&gt;behind&lt;/em&gt; your neck, instead of in front, on your chest. This will force you not to lean backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T08:34:38.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24688" CreationDate="2015-05-19T08:41:35.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to press a weight overhead. What you describe are a (1) a specific trick used in several overhead press styles, called a 'lay back' or a 'lumbar tilt' (it's unclear from your description which you're using) and (2) a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lostbattalionhallweightlifting.org/2007/06/14/remember-press/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strict military press&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is where it all began, in about 1920, with only the del­toids doing the work. You can­not press much this way, but you will even­tu­ally have a pair of mas­sive shoul­ders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are benefits to both, although any form of lay-back should be used judiciously since it is easier to injure oneself using that method. In general, pressing strictly is good because it ensures that you're properly using all the muscles involved and not relying on momentum or other tricks. However, simply lifting more weight can make you stronger than if you refuse to use methods such as the lay-back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I allow some lay-back when I'm first mastering a heavier weight, but my goal is to gradually remove that lay-back for the same weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T08:41:35.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24689" CreationDate="2015-05-19T08:45:07.070" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's not the most important part of the lift, I always champion the case of a neutral neck position during the deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is absolutely &lt;strong&gt;no reason&lt;/strong&gt; to lift your chin up when you're bent over. This is the equivalent of looking straight up at the sky while standing upright. It's not a natural neck position, and when your back/neck is already being placed under heavy tension, this is the wrong time to start getting creative with your neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best tip; look down when bent over. Look straight ahead at the top of the lift. To answer your title: yes. You should keep your head in one line with the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People will counter-argue with &quot;I want to check out my form in the mirror&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will counter-counter-argue that you can do this without pointing your nose at the mirror. You only need a very minor head-tilt to see yourself perfectly in the mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T08:45:07.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24693" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-19T09:20:06.787" Score="3" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the NHS&lt;/a&gt; - and the WHO and CDC say the same - muscle-strenghtening activity is more or less necessary (otherwise they would not recommend it for the general public) in order to &quot;build and maintain strong bones, to regulate blood sugar and blood pressure and to help maintain a healthy weight&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet it seems to me that these goals can be achieved by non muscle-strengthening exercise, so why is it so important to strengthen muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T10:24:11.893" Title="Is workout necessary for being healthy?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24693" CreationDate="2015-05-19T10:24:11.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason strength training is necessary is right there in the paragraph you quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle strength is necessary for daily activities&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of muscular development is not just for bone strength, but for muscle strength. Muscles are useful in and of themselves, not just for their many benefits to other bodily functions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T10:24:11.893" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24677" CreationDate="2015-05-19T11:02:47.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, if you can do 30 minutes of cardio every morning, that's perfectly fine, so long as you realize that your diet has to be aligned with your goals as well. It seems like you have that covered though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, there is no way we can tell you that instead of 30 minutes, you should be doing 28 or 41 minutes, because we're all different, and even still, determining this number would require a copious amount of testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing about your cardio, is that you consistently find the motivation to do it. If, at some point, you start to feel that 30 minutes is a bit much, the usual reaction is &quot;I don't want to do it&quot;. But in fact, a more reasonable reaction would be &quot;I'll do 20 minutes instead&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a tip we give everyone; the ideal workout is the one you actually do. If a program makes you want to quit, change the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are split opinions on the whole empty stomach cardio thing, so I won't go too much into that, but I've personally had success with it, so I'm &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T11:02:47.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13874" CreationDate="2015-05-19T11:28:35.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The Bare Minimum of Exercise&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Major health science organizations recommend a &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt; of substantial aerobic activity and several strength training workouts per week. For instance, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the CDC says&lt;/a&gt; that according to the evidence,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adults need at least:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If I may interject here: the recommendation of &amp;quot;brisk walking&amp;quot; has been criticized for being easily subverted into plain walking. They really mean brisk. It's got to be moderately intense--a hike, not a stroll.) Anyway, the CDC's recommendations continue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., jogging or running) every week and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An equivalent mix of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the section on that page titled &amp;quot;For Even Greater Health Benefits&amp;quot;. The minimum really is the minimum!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, the World Health Organization &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_adults/en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommends&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adults aged 18–64 should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity. Aerobic activity should be performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes duration. Muscle-strengthening activities should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T11:28:35.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24687" CreationDate="2015-05-19T13:49:54.477" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/BOSU-Balance-Trainer.html&quot;&gt;The BOSU ball&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (or half ball) is used in rehab and fitness training for a variety of reasons. Balancing on the disc while doing movements, activities and exercise engages the nervous system to fine-tune muscle control which improves or controls joint positioning.  This is particularly important in rehabilitation where the joint position sense* has been compromised due to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Does the BOSU help for Rehabilitation Purposes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the right setting, the BOSU can be an effective training device.  It's use can be helpful for balance training, muscle control, and joint stability such as for the spine, knee and ankle. In addition to injury rehabilitation, it is used with children and elderly with balance problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Behm, Drinkwater, Willardson, and Cowley in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cpaqv.org/mtpmh/artigos/behm.pdf&quot;&gt;The Use of Instability to Train the Core Musculature:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (pg 9)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of unstable devices may provide the greatest benefits in rehabilitation-type settings to restore normal function&#xA;  of  the  core  musculature  among  injured  athletes  or  in  commercial-type  settings to maintain  or increase  the function of the core musculature in untrained or recreationally active individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How does it work?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BOSU's pdf, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bosu.com/images/TheScienceBehindBalanceTraining.pdf&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Science Behind Balance Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; gives a good overview on the feedback mechanisms of balance and neural control.  It discusses proprioception, kinesthesia, sensory receptors and the vestibular control. The feedback loop from the sensory receptors in the joints, tendons and the muscle relays information to the central nervous system which controls and adjusts in response.&#xA;It suggests that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the goal of training on unstable surfaces is to increase muscle &#xA;  activity without necessarily increasing load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As pointed out in the Behm review, unstable devices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;are not recommended as the primary exercises for hypertrophy, absolute&#xA;   strength, or power, especially in trained athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your skepticism may come from the fact that there has been a &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24427423&quot;&gt;dichotomy of opinions&lt;/a&gt; on the effectiveness and application of instability devices and conditions for health and performance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problems include quantifying balance in healthy individuals and strength gains given testing on an unstable surface.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Joint Position Senses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kinesthesia - body's perception of movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proprioception - body's perception of joint position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T13:49:54.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-19T23:09:48.310" Score="5" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've started a new job and due to this I end up sitting for 12 hours a day. 8 hours at my desk and 2 hour commute each way. I know this is bad for me, especially my back. At least during work I can get up every now and then, but during my drive I feel a bit of pain in lower back so am now planning on doing stretches every day morning and night in order to prevent injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest some stretches that would suit me, bonus points if they can be done in the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some stretches already that I am starting to do every day but would like to add some more specific ones to prevent injury from my long periods of sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T05:45:34.567" Title="Stretches for long periods of sitting" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24702" CreationDate="2015-05-20T04:55:34.460" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;After training pull-ups, chin-ups and dips for a while I started adding weights(slowly with the same amount of set and reps). My weight is ~86kg and I currently add ~12kg using backpack, and do 5 sets of pull-ups or chin-ups (15, 14, 13, 12, 11) and 5 sets of dips (12reps) in 1 training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that if my goal were building muscles I would better add more weight and make less reps. But is it healthy to suddenly add more weight and isn't it harmful for spine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="3098" LastEditDate="2015-10-16T19:57:25.453" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T19:57:25.453" Title="Is it safe to suddenly add more weight to weighted pull-ups and dips?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;dips&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-20T05:01:25.997" Score="3" ViewCount="1012" Body="&lt;p&gt;During weighted (and not weighted pull-ups and chin-ups) my forearm tires first and the most and I do not actually feel back and biceps at all. Does that mean my forearm is relatively weaker and I need to work on it separately to improve pull-ups/chin-ups (weight) overall?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my routine is described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24699/weighted-pull-ups-and-dips&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T15:18:22.483" Title="forearm during weighted pull-ups and chin-ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24700" CreationDate="2015-05-20T07:19:59.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. This is a normal problem to have, but one that is easily (but slowly) fixed by simply taking 5 minutes or so every workout to do some grip work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if you're doing deadlifts, do some bar holds after your last set/rep. Just stand there, and hold the bar. Adjust the weight if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you're done with pullups/chins, do some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/dead-hang-a6039&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dead hangs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal favorite is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/farmers-walk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;farmer's carry&lt;/a&gt;. If you do these, you can't help but develop a strong grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T07:19:59.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24699" CreationDate="2015-05-20T07:43:48.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's harmful for the spine, it will let you know in the form of pain or exhaustion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're working with weights less than 100kg, there generally isn't much reason to believe that your back can't handle it. Adding 12kg to 86kg isn't a drastic change. Your skeleton has already handled weight on this order for a long time already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're able to do the reps, it's safe to say your back is up to the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume here, that you're not going from bodyweight to adding weight in huge increments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T07:43:48.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24704" CreationDate="2015-05-20T10:38:01.387" Score="2" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my life has changed pretty drastically over the past year. Both me and my fiancée have gotten new full-time jobs, and have moved into the country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this means that our lifestyle has become very sedentary, as we now both work in offices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before this, we both went to the gym regularly, and were getting reasonable fitness levels. But since then our fitness has dropped drastically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm quite used to this, as I get sick quite a lot, so I'll have periods of months where I do a lot of training, but then it will stop suddenly for a while, so I have no worry that I can get back into it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that I want to encourage my fiancée to get back into it. She wants to get fitter, but without access to a gym there aren't a lot of things that she likes doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't have a lot of room in our apartment to keep equipment like rowing machines etc. but there is enough room for other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Living in the country, there are also a lot of nice routes for jogging/walking, however she is entirely against jogging. For me this was the only thing I could think of to build an exercise regimen around, so now I'm stuck as to what things we can do together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking is fun, which we already do, but hopefully there can be other things we can do &lt;em&gt;whilst&lt;/em&gt; walking that will be a little more intense and fitness building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is, without jogging, what exercises can we do together that don't involve bulky equipment, that I can build a balanced exercise routine from?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can be indoor or outdoor, but I'm looking for a range of different things we can do for an overall balanced regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15792" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T12:38:06.373" Title="What fitness activities can I do with my partner?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24703" CreationDate="2015-05-20T11:48:41.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try doing some circuit training while out on your walks. Things like push ups, sit ups, box jumps(if you find a rock/bench or something to jump on), there's so many things you could add in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could maybe also try some HIIT(bit different to jogging as it's done in short intense bursts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also could give yoga a shot. This can be done pretty much anywhere with minimal equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T11:48:41.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24698" CreationDate="2015-05-20T11:53:58.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a look at the &quot;Limber 11&quot; by a guy called Joe DeFranco. Gives you some nice exercises to help with this. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/FSSDLDhbacc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Joe DeFranco&amp;#39;s Limber 11&quot;&gt;There is a video of him demonstrating the routine on YouTube.&lt;/a&gt;. I also had some back problems and I started doing this daily. It doesn't take long (~10-15 minutes), but some of the exercises &lt;em&gt;require&lt;/em&gt; a foam roller or lacross ball. Both are relatively cheap though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga is also really good for your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastEditorUserId="4957" LastEditDate="2015-05-21T10:32:25.933" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T10:32:25.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24698" CreationDate="2015-05-20T12:35:32.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For exercises at the office, you could do worse than &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/deskercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this set of at-the-desk stretches&lt;/a&gt;. They're to the point and they're actually kind of fun to read. While in the car, you have limited options since even minor movements can result in the car swerving, especially with power steering, but when stopped, say in traffic jams or at lights, you have options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Freedom Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;: This is your typical arched-back stretch. You can even brace yourself on the steering wheel to get more leverage (but have your feet off of the accelerator!). This one is good for kinks in the back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Modified Cat Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;: The opposite of the Freedom Stretch, this involves curling in and sucking your stomach in for a crunch-type motion. This helps lengthen out your back muscles and gets the blood flowing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest Slide&lt;/strong&gt;: This one is a bit idiosyncratic as to whether it will come naturally, but the idea is to keep your butt stationary on the seat and your torso upright, but to move your torso left to right. I find this works nicely to loosen up the muscles on the sides. Again, the steering wheel can help you stabilize.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder Shrug&lt;/strong&gt;: This is a particularly good one in traffic jams, when most people get really tense. Just shrug your shoulders up into your ears and hold it for several seconds, then release. It can be considerably relaxing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder Rotate&lt;/strong&gt;: Put your hands on the traditional &quot;10 and 2&quot; position on the wheel and rotate your shoulders up and inwards. This one is more of a resistance exercise for me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Scream&lt;/strong&gt;: This one gets easy when there are a lot of dumb drivers around and is one of the few ones that's safe to do while driving. Stretch your mouth open as wide as you can, flare your nostrils, and widen your eyes. Actually screaming of imprecations is optional, but just opening up your face like that is a good stress reliever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T12:35:32.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24703" CreationDate="2015-05-20T12:38:06.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA;Calisthenics &lt;em&gt;(body weight exercises)&lt;/em&gt;, my friend, is one of your best options. Most calisthenic exercises do not require a lot of equipment and are very effective as they're combinations of cardio and strength training.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Not only can you perform them at home, you can even perform some of them at work, right by your desk.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Of course, the most famous ones are pull ups, push ups, dips, jumping, jumping jacks, knee jumping, crunches, etc.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; I can give you a whole list of regimen to perform; however rather than doing that, I'll let give you just a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sample list;&lt;/a&gt; give them a try and select the ones you love.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;  Performing calisthenics won't make your bulky &lt;em&gt;(because of the limitations in the weights)&lt;/em&gt;; however, performing them often &lt;em&gt;(and improving your diet)&lt;/em&gt; will keep you shredded :).&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T12:38:06.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24700" CreationDate="2015-05-20T12:43:38.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can perform grip work as suggested by Alec. In the meantime consider using straps or at least chalk for hands to increase friction and combination of the two would improve your 'feel' in a given muscle.&#xA;Consider as well is the weight that you are pulling too heavy for the goal you want to achieve?&#xA;Regards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T12:43:38.150" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24699" CreationDate="2015-05-20T12:49:15.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To build muscle, it is best to do a variety of repetitions. There is no magic number at which your spine will be hurting (especially as biomechanics do not cause an injury). &#xA;Try to do one session a week with heavier resistance and repetitions of 4-8, and on the other session with repetition from 8-12 or higher as you do now. This way you will build more volume more frequently hitting different muscle fibres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T12:49:15.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24698" CreationDate="2015-05-20T12:57:09.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your back is probably hurting because you are immobilized in one position, something that a simple fidget can help.&#xA;What actually happens is when muscle is immobilised in a shortened position (your hip flexors when you drive for example) for some time there is a loss of some muscle sarcomeres. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOOD NEWS is that this can be reversed once you are starting to move as shown in this study &lt;a href=&quot;http://ard.bmj.com/content/49/5/316.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ard.bmj.com/content/49/5/316.abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so best is to do movements rather than stretches that take you to opposite directions of where you are, i.e. step forward and reach back, alternate your legs, move to the side, etc. explore the movements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static stretching itself does not prevent from getting injured &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10593217&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10593217&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;movement is a different story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T12:57:09.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24682" CreationDate="2015-05-20T13:02:27.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say don't worry about it as your cardio machine is probably innacurate anyway.&#xA;Yes as you lose weight your metabolic needs go down, but all you have to do is readjust your calorie intake and keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI For more accurate calorie tracker is this from Journal of Sports Science &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.braydenwm.com/cal_vs_hr_ref_paper.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.braydenwm.com/cal_vs_hr_ref_paper.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) - (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate during exercise x 0.4472) - 20.4022] x Time / 4.184&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T13:02:27.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24716" CreationDate="2015-05-20T18:23:30.730" Score="6" ViewCount="1845" Body="&lt;p&gt;My EZ bar has excessive knurling that is quite painful for my hands. Is there a product to deal with it, other than wearing gloves? I was thinking some kind of wrap, similar to that used to wrap a tennis racquet handle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15618" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T18:57:24.917" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T12:49:39.013" Title="How to deal with aggressive knurling?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-20T18:32:03.333" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently found out that I have a tear in my meniscus and need to get surgery but I cant get surgery until September.  My question is what strength training program would be best with a torn meniscus and only dumbbells, a bench(90, 135, 180, 215 degree angles), a curling bar, and a doorway pullup bar?  I am 6 2&quot; and 200 lbs and want to get down to about 185 and be lean.  I also sit at a desk for most of the day, and am unsure what kind of diet would work well since I cant do much cardio because of the meniscus. I currently eat mostly fruit, vegetables, beans and chicken and only drink coffee and water.  I have been losing weight and gaining little strength but want to go about this the best way.  Any information would be greatly appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15795" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T16:40:36.520" Title="What workout and diet can I do with a tear in my meniscus and limited equipment?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24714" CreationDate="2015-05-20T19:00:46.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swimming&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never get tired of saying this. Swimming! It's the miracle exercise for anyone who has some sort of injury. Obviously, some injuries are beyond swimming, but those injuries are &quot;hey doctor&quot; injuries, and not &quot;hey, Internet&quot; injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming will not only provide good cardio, but because of the superior resistance of water, it's also a strength exercise. As with any other exercise, varying how you do it is key to covering the entire set of muscles, but even if you just do 2-3 different strokes, there are a lot of benefits to be had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for strength training with weights, there doesn't seem to be any reason why you can't develop a strong and lean upper body. There is always the &quot;don't skip leg day&quot; mentality, but at least you have a solid reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly suggest going to the gym, unless your selection of dumbbells is really substantial. Our gains come from &quot;progressive overloading&quot;, whereby we either increase the weight (intensity) or the set/rep scheme (volume). If at any point you can do 8+ reps of an exercise using your heaviest dumbbells, you should really be looking to get heavier ones, which is where a gym membership pays off. Not to mention getting to work with a bar, as well as other proper equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your diet it seems you have things sorted out. I can of course list other types of meat that are good for you besides just chicken (which tastes like rubber after a while), but you probably know this stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to lose weight even faster though, you might want to drop the fruits, which contain quite a bit of sugars. I normally don't advocate such exclusion based dieting, and I'm not doing that right now either. But it's something that &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be done if only just to see what you can get out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T19:00:46.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24713" CreationDate="2015-05-20T19:10:38.053" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ThCu1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sports tape to the rescue!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gym used to have the same problem, to the point where some people actually started bleeding. Calluses don't really go away if you work out a lot, and so the injuries inside the hand compounded between exercises like deadlifts, pullups and EZ-curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The staff at the gym eventually started taping the bars every day because of this. &quot;Every day&quot; because sweat and dust is pretty much absorbed by this type of tape (which, believe it or not, is a good thing, because people also use it to prevent blisters on their feet during long runs/walks). The tape will therefore become dark and dirty after a short while of consistent use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Availability&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having this issue at your gym, chances are they have drawers full of this stuff, because it's very easy and cheap to get a hold of. And they should be used to people using it on certain pieces of equipment. Especially pullup bars, where people have vastly differing preferences in term of grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having this problem at home, then go to your local sports shop. If they don't have it, they have no business calling themselves a sports shop!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T19:10:38.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11494" CreationDate="2015-05-21T04:13:45.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This entirely depends on what is your goal? is it size? is it strength? How advanced you are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would be better off training muscle groups twice a week and split this volume into two, for best muscle growth you need about 40-90 repetitions per muscle per session x2 week. You are hitting double the amount in one session and then don't train those muscle for another 6 days. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24714538&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24714538&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17326698&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17326698&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;How about you have a heavier chest day and a lighter one in 2-3 days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, at least for untrained subjects, there was no extra gains with adding isolation exercises after big compound movements&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23537028&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23537028&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing Incline, Decline, Flat is just a variation on the angle of your glenohumeral joint, etc. On the other hand, flyes done right can fully lengthen and shorten your chest muscles so metabolic stress and muscle damage can be achieved. Best way imho is to do a standing cable flyes with cables slightly lower than your shoulders.&#xA;Biggest priority is to first do optimal work for muscle growth (2xweek, 40-90 reps, 65%+1RM), before adding so many variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T04:13:45.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24719" CreationDate="2015-05-21T05:47:01.263" Score="0" ViewCount="977" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 16 years old. .I am a bit less than 5 feet 7 inch.I want my height 6 feet.But I have just joined gym and started muscular excercise of triceps, biceps ,shoulder and chest to gain muscles.Will this really effect my height-growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15777" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T08:56:58.133" Title="Effect of muscular excercise on height growth" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-05-26T11:57:44.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24718" CreationDate="2015-05-21T07:44:58.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you seem to disregard your back and legs. If anything is going to set you up for failure, this is it. I know that you want a big barrel chest, proportioned arms, and even a six-pack. But how do you intend to be strong if your back and legs are weak?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, though: No. The only thing that can potentially stunt your height growth, is poor dietary choices. Under proper supervision, you should follow a whole-body training program (not just upper body). Besides, working your lower body is going to be beneficial to your upper body goals because of better balance and skeletal development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16437017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16437017&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19620931&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19620931&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-05-21T08:56:58.133" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T08:56:58.133" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24698" CreationDate="2015-05-21T09:18:04.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently trying to get into the habit of getting up from my chair every hour or so to stretch my hip flexors. I generally do this by doing a lunge while rotating my upper body over my front leg. Can be done statically in front of your desk, or dynamically by doing walking lunges along a corridor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4957" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T09:18:04.153" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24677" CreationDate="2015-05-21T11:00:56.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio can be good, but I'd recommend doing weights a few times a week aswell since you have a desk job and are inactive for most of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting on more muscle will mean you're burning more calories throughout the day while at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training is also more fun than cardio on a machine in my opinion :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T11:00:56.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24713" CreationDate="2015-05-21T12:49:39.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could also try out &quot;Fat Grips&quot;. You put them on the bar and have a rubbery feel to them. They can also be placed on dumb bells and regular bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their purpose is to make the bar thicker to work your forearms more but they might help with your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look on amazon you'll find them and many other brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T12:49:39.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24724" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-21T17:20:48.140" Score="13" ViewCount="93760" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I squat, I tend to squat very deeply. Lately I've been noticing that my lower back feels a bit worn out afterwards. It doesn't hurt - I don't feel like I've injured my back, but it feels like it's getting more of a workout than perhaps I intended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this indicative of poor form or is this to be expected? I think I'm able to keep a neutral back but it can be hard to tell, especially when pushing towards my limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should point out that I'm still a novice and only squatting a little over 1x body weight. This is for a traditional back barbell squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15803" LastActivityDate="2019-03-08T13:47:23.387" Title="If my lower back feels tired after squats, am I doing something wrong?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24724" CreationDate="2015-05-21T18:58:31.390" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As commented by others, without seeing a video of your form or knowing a bit more information it is hard to say if you are doing proper form 100%. Even then, sometimes what one person feels is proper form and causes 0 pain, someone else might have a different reaction. I find this true especially with squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to pay attention to how straight your back is, the direction of your legs / knees, and how low you go before you might feel the discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found an article which elaborates on this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The simplest way to fix lower back rounding on the Squat is to push&#xA;  your knees out harder on the way up and down. If your knees point&#xA;  forward or in, your lower back will usually round. So Squat with your&#xA;  heels shoulder-width apart, toes out 30° and push your knees to the&#xA;  side as hard as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Next don’t Squat lower than parallel. Many people lack the flexibility&#xA;  to Squat ATG (“ass-to-grass”). If you lack the flexibility to Squat&#xA;  all the way down, until your butt touches your ankles, your lower back&#xA;  will have to compensate by rounding at the bottom. This can result in&#xA;  lower back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/back-pain/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Read the full article here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also give front squats a try. I wouldn't replace regular squats with them, but alternating might give your lower back a break and let you get more insight on whether it is the muscle that isn't adapting or your form that is causing the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastEditorUserId="15538" LastEditDate="2015-05-25T13:16:55.997" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T13:16:55.997" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18189" CreationDate="2015-05-21T21:38:26.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.burnthefatfeedthemuscle.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle&lt;/a&gt; by Tom Venuto.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disregard the unfortunate marketing strategy; it tends to come off as another &quot;get ripped quick&quot; scheme, but it's by far the most comprehensively researched, well-written and approachable take on the subject that I've come across. Note the extremely positive &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0804137846&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reviews on Amazon&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Venuto can explain things much better than I can, so I won't try to reproduce his message other than to briefly summarize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Building muscle and losing fat are conflicting goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only the most genetically-gifted among us can do both at once. However, everyone can either build muscle without also gaining excess fat, or lose fat without also losing muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neither of the latter comes easily, and doing so requires disciplined and informed eating and exercise habits, along with setting (and sticking to) concrete goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A starvation diet is counterproductive in almost every way. If you want to lose weight without losing muscle, you need to eat enough protein on a regular basis (ideally every 3 hours) to feed your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spreading out your meals and balancing macronutrients tames the insulin response, which controls fat gain and stabilizes your energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully that's enough to give you an idea of what the book is about. It should address your questions thoroughly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Incidentally, I'm in no way affiliated with Tom Venuto or the book. I just got a lot out of it, and enjoy recommending it to others.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15804" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T21:38:26.363" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-21T21:44:39.027" Score="6" ViewCount="6245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've often heard it recommended to allow for an &quot;off day&quot; between strength training a specific muscle group to give it time to recover, and thus grow stronger. However, I haven't heard the same for aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio strengthens the heart, which is a muscle, so shouldn't the same recommended rest period apply?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, is it safe and effective to perform intense cardio every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15804" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T00:08:15.923" Title="How much rest time is necessary between intense cardio sessions?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24730" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-22T04:11:01.730" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am used to run a lot. All the time outdoors rather than on a treadmill. Therefore, speed control is a little harder in my case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized that my speed is far from being great, so I want to work on improving it. Of course, I can try and control it in general by pushing myself to run faster. However as another way to put more control of the speed would be some gadget that can accurately measure current speed, and, provide a low limit setting so that if my current speed falls lower that this limit it will notify me by beeping (for example). My question is if there is such a gadget that people use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: There are mobile apps that &quot;measure&quot; your speed, but that number shown is an average on some interval of distance since all of them just use GPS for distance tracking and divide that distance by time interval between measurements. So mobile applications or GPS trackers are pretty much out of the question here as they won't be able to notify me immediately on speed being too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PPS: Have anyone tried Polar Footpod for this purpose? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15806" LastEditorUserId="15806" LastEditDate="2015-05-22T12:41:55.420" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T13:41:48.467" Title="Precise speed measuring gadget with low speed limit?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24731" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-22T07:08:36.333" Score="5" ViewCount="599" Body="&lt;p&gt;I finally moved to another location and a new job, and today I entered into a new gym. My idea was initially to go on with the same workout I had been doing for the last 5 months, but I am quite excited after discovering an assisted pullups machine in the new gym:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hGoYP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The gym machine of my dreams&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing inverted rows with the hope of building up towards pullups. I added two light sets of lat pulldowns as additional exercise recently (it was the closest thing available in my small town gym to assisted pullups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order continue with the same routine, I am supposed to go on with the inverted rows as main exercise, but... I have so often dreamt of that assisted pullup machine... Real pullups with the exact same motion patterns and muscles, but assisted by an upward force under your knees that can progressively be decreased in small 10lb increments! - I don't think there is a more direct way of building up toward real pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I ask you the expert guys here: may I change my main pull exercise and focus my effort on assisted pullups instead of inverted rows? - Please bear in mind something important: I am weak, not able to do fully horizontal inverted rows yet, and prone to injuries. The inverted rows seem like a less risky approach, but I don't know if that makes any real sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark, 40 days later:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am disappointed with this machine. It restricts the motion to a very fixed posture. It is as if my forearms were in a forcedly rotated position and I cannot do anything about it because there is absolutely no freedom. Very often one of my elbows pops violently in the middle of the motion. Perhaps it makes wonders for other people, but for me it sucks and I am happy I have realized it before it is too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing to to with the Lat Pulldown machine, where the bar hangs freely from a cable, and the pulling motion feels quite natural, which is no wonder because from the point of view of physics a metal bar hanging from a cable is exactly the same as a free weight, only the direction of gravity is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the best device to prepare for pull ups would be a Lat Pulldown machine with no seat, but rather a pad at floor level that would allow the user to kneel on the pad and pull from the cable from a kneeling posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case this machine is no good for me. I have tried all distances between hands, but my elbows do not like the forced position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-07-01T02:45:22.900" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T02:45:22.900" Title="Assisted PullUp Machine or Inverted Row?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24724" CreationDate="2015-05-22T09:13:21.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should also look at doing some mobility work. There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSDLDhbacc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Limber 11&quot;&lt;/a&gt; video by a guy called Joe DeFranco on youtube. i started doing this a few times a week and my back feels much better on leg days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastEditorUserId="15658" LastEditDate="2015-05-22T16:28:37.437" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T16:28:37.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24731" CreationDate="2015-05-22T09:17:41.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should give it a try anyway to see how close you are to being able to pull your whole body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good way to build up to pull ups is to focus on just the negative part of the rep(letting yourself down). Here you would step on something so you're at the top of the rep, and then let yourself down as slowly as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will work all the muscles you use for pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T09:17:41.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24724" CreationDate="2015-05-22T10:19:52.363" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lower back soreness can be indicative of bad form or it can be indicative of heavy barbell squats. It's impossible to tell which from just the information that it makes you sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because heavy squats are not a leg exercise: they are a legs, butt, lower back, and upper back exercise. The lower back is generally the point of failure in maximally loaded barbell back squats, and so often is the most sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T10:19:52.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-22T10:34:46.787" Score="-1" ViewCount="912" Body="&lt;p&gt;When performing tricep extensions, is it better to be lying flat on a bench or standing upright?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there pros / cons that support either case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually perform them with both hands simultaneously, holding a plate, if that makes any difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastEditorUserId="12223" LastEditDate="2015-05-22T10:43:55.097" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T13:06:55.883" Title="Tricep extensions, stand up or lie down?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24735" CreationDate="2015-05-22T10:47:17.167" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends what you're going for. They will each work the tricep a bit differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmanmag.com.au/training/training-tips/417-triceps-how-to-train-all-three-heads&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on what you can do for the different heads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T10:47:17.167" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24735" CreationDate="2015-05-22T12:28:31.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is primarily opinion based, so, I’ll answer it in that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to triceps development, I’m a firm believer in attacking all &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmanmag.com.au/training/training-tips/417-triceps-how-to-train-all-three-heads&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;three heads&lt;/a&gt; of the muscle since triceps make up the bulk of the upper arm.  For me, that means using many different types of exercises &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; different angles (flat and standing).  While using a plate is an option, I don’t think it is sufficient if that’s all you do.  If available, I would suggest you use a combination of dumbbell, barbell (e-z bar), and cable exercises to ensure you train all three heads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T12:28:31.077" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9631" CreationDate="2015-05-22T13:30:34.970" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You  could try water manipulation.&#xA;Basic idea is to  drink  4 litres of water a day for several days  in a row along  with carbs restriction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that you stop drinking,  load yourself with  carbs and creatine.&#xA;And observe muscles become back  round and your body becomes ripped, while  you  piss like a horse all day long. Diuretics help as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not  a  true  fat loss of course ,  but  a way  to prepare  for photoshoot or figure competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T13:30:34.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24728" CreationDate="2015-05-22T16:35:17.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short Answer: &lt;strong&gt;It is safe to do cardio daily.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;intense&quot; really depends on your body. If you build up your routine by starting with 20 minutes of running daily and then the week after 30, 40, etc. eventually getting to an &quot;intense&quot; cardio workout, then it is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throwing yourself into an intense routine every day without the build up may cause certain muscles or joints to have a hard time keeping up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: I play basketball in the summertime as my form of cardio to lean up. I start with 1-3 days a week, for 1-2 hours. At first, my knees will be a bit sore after playing, and by week 3-4 I am at 5+ days a week, minimum 2 hours a day without soreness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With cardio (as with many things), the more you do it the better you get at it. It is all about pace (moving up at your body's rhythm) and just being attentive to what your body needs. If you feel you need a day off, take one, but it isn't necessary to do so for cardio. Just make sure your diet and rest reflect the work you are going to be doing (providing your body with the nutrition it needs to keep up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T16:35:17.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24862" CreationDate="2015-05-22T17:37:07.297" Score="1" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training by running on trails. There is a lot of uphill and downhill sections in my routes, so I would like to split a route in sections which have similar slope then calculate a pace for every section of the route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if there some kind of factor or a table of effort that could help me to calculate this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-07-13T18:12:59.183" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T18:12:59.183" Title="Is there a table of effort needed when running uphill and downhill?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;effort&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24742" CreationDate="2015-05-22T19:16:26.563" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness in my thighs, however I do not work out. The only thing I do in the gym is cardio. I do the elliptical for about 45 minutes a few times per week at a very fast speed at zero resistance, and zero incline. If the culprit is the cardio, is DOMS possible for someone doing no exercise at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T19:51:01.957" Title="Why am I experiencing DOMS in my legs when I'm currently not working out?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24741" CreationDate="2015-05-22T19:51:01.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, yes. DOMS isn't only experienced after focusing on exercise, but whenever your muscles have been subjected to strenuous work which it's not accustomed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very possible that cardio is the culprit, but for someone who doesn't exercise at all, even taking a flight of stairs could cause DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's sometimes hard to pinpoint the exact reason, given the delayed reaction. It's easy to think it might have been the cardio, when in fact, it could have been something else that you didn't even think about, and have already forgotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T19:51:01.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24724" CreationDate="2015-05-22T20:47:06.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reason 1 - you got weak low back. That is why better for you to start do exercises for your low-back separately. Don't do squats with a bar on your shoulders, move it on your chest (google front squats) or do squats at Smith, but don't put leg right under the bar - your coccyx should be right under the bar, put legs forward for this, and of course your back should be straight.&#xA;Reason 2 - your legs. Maybe the proportion between your femur and shin is special, and makes angel between your body and legs too small. That is why you feel strain in your low back. There are 2 ways to solve this problem - again, put the bar at front of you, on your chest, or don't do full squats, just do it until you feel strain in you femur.&#xA;Reason 3 - you got problems with your low back. Visit your doctor!&#xA;Reason 4 - the weight is too big for you or your femurs are not stretched enough. So spend more time with stretching. And do squats using low weights in superset with dumbbell stiff legged deadlift&#xA;Reason 5 - wrong technics. To check it use an exercise - squats with hands on the wall. (youtube video with an example - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrnpm0s0I8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrnpm0s0I8&lt;/a&gt;) If you feel too much strain in you femurs, that probably means that your technics is not correct.&#xA;Sorry for my English - it's not my native&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15810" LastEditorUserId="15810" LastEditDate="2015-05-22T20:53:38.593" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T20:53:38.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-23T06:35:27.017" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I walked one day one shoes a bit tight near the heel. In fact I felt this from the start of the day. My little brother developed Haglund exostosis once. Is it possible to develop a Haglund's deformity after only one day of bad shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15813" LastEditorUserId="10745" LastEditDate="2015-05-23T14:23:11.343" LastActivityDate="2015-05-23T14:23:11.343" Title="Haglund exostosis after one day of bad shoes?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-05-26T11:57:33.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24753" CreationDate="2015-05-23T10:32:33.250" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a BMI of approximately 25 (87kg, 1.87m), which is just about where I want to be (I look too skinny if I'm lighter). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this is the weight I've been for quite some time, I consider this to be OK for a relatively flat Ironman 70.3 race. Obviously, I'm not trying to win it, my goal is 5:30 for that one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tungegir.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/axtriSykkelProfil.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; hilly&lt;/a&gt; Ironman 70.3 race one month later (2600 m elevation on the bike leg, and 1100 m elevation on the run). In order to get an OK time there, I would need to lose some weight, maybe as much as 5 kg. The power to weight ratio is obviously quite important here. (If I can finish at around 8 hours on this one I'm super happy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I proceed, in order to get the best possible results on both? I would prefer to keep my weight until the first race, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. I guess I would lose a lot of muscle mass in my legs and thighs if I lose more than 3 kilos in only one month? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions / help would be greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10745" LastEditorUserId="10745" LastEditDate="2015-05-25T08:07:47.120" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T08:07:47.120" Title="Control weight while preparing for triathlons" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;ironman70.3&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24745" CreationDate="2015-05-23T11:00:26.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Haglund's deformity is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anklecenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=183:haglunds-deformity&amp;amp;catid=120:achilles-heel-pain&amp;amp;Itemid=202&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mainly genetic&lt;/a&gt; and depends on your type of foot. As your brother has already had this, I suspect you might have the same type of foot and therefore have a higher risk of getting the deformity that others. Also, it's  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When most people first &lt;em&gt;notice&lt;/em&gt; Haglund’s deformity, it is because the&#xA;  skin, bursa and other soft tissues at the back of the heel gets &#xA;  irritated as the knot of bone rubs against the heel counter in shoes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might have had a latent Haglund's deformity, but haven't noticed it until you used bad shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would &lt;strong&gt;strongly advice you to visit a professional&lt;/strong&gt;, and not rely on &quot;internet experts&quot; for this. The price you have to pay for following a bad advice here is too high to risk it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, once the pain and inflammation have gone a way, there are preventive measures you can take:&#xA;Prevention of Haglund's Deformity&#xA;Once your pain and inflammation is gone, you can try to prevent Haglund’s deformity by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anklecenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=183:haglunds-deformity&amp;amp;catid=120:achilles-heel-pain&amp;amp;Itemid=202&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wearing the best shoes for your foot type. You should high-heels and pumps if possible. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear orthotics (custom arch supports) or over-the-counter orthotic devices&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform frequent Achilles tendon stretching exercises to prevent it from becoming tight again &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoiding running uphill when training. Try to run on softer surfaces and avoid concrete. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10745" LastEditorUserId="10745" LastEditDate="2015-05-23T11:15:59.633" LastActivityDate="2015-05-23T11:15:59.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-23T12:28:13.537" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm trying to get into better shape, who isn't? And from what I've seen, some combination of aerobic training and weight training is the best way to do it, exercise-wise. Also, from what I've read on some articles(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/01/what-burns-more-calories-cardio-intervals-or-weight-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/01/what-burns-more-calories-cardio-intervals-or-weight-training/&lt;/a&gt; for example), it should be possible to do aerobic training for longer intervals of time, and more frequently, than weight training, which is possibly its main selling point as far as fitness goes. I could be wrong about that, and if I am feel free to let me know, but that's not really my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I simply cannot run. The last time I tried running(more like jogging really), it went fine for the first 1/4~1/3 of a mile, then my body just sort of gave up, I started coughing up copious amounts of mucus, which eventually changed to include blood after a few minutes, and could barely breathe. Is that normal(I have very mild asthma)? That sort of thing &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; happens except for when I'm suffering from some respiratory illness, or am trying to run. The only &quot;standard&quot; I have to go on is that about 80% of the people I talk with talk about how they go on daily runs of about 2 mi, and how my school is trying to &quot;conscript&quot; everyone to take part in a 5 km run, and no one else seems to have this problem with it. Needless to say, 5 km and 2 mi are both well above 1700 ft. I can, however, bike, at about 11-12 mph I think. I think the longest ride I've been on biking was around 24 mi, and there was no problem there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr: Is it normal/worrisome that I potentially cough up blood after running what seems to be a &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; short distance? If not, how can I remedy that? And can biking at what's apparently a pretty slow speed(at least compared to what I can find on Google) going to have the same sorts of effects on health/fitness as running can, or am I just pretty much screwed as far as getting those effects goes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Just a note about my biking speed, that 11.3 mph or so is from an app I have installed on my phone that acts as a pedometer designed for running and biking. When I bike, however, I do so on roads which are fairly smooth, but there is often traffic. My bike is a refurbished Raleigh from the 1950's, if I'm not mistaken, so it's very light and pretty well-constructed, but doesn't have the thinnest tires known to man. Also when I bike, there's traffic and intersections, and I'm not sure if the app calculates the waiting time for automobile traffic in its speed calculation, so I honestly don't know if my speed is remotely OK or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15815" LastEditorUserId="15815" LastEditDate="2015-05-23T12:49:16.640" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T06:09:10.990" Title="Can't run for more than ~1700 ft" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-07-09T17:29:38.420" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24746" CreationDate="2015-05-24T03:15:37.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, on a hilly ride, the time saved from being lighter is roughly proportional to your weight + bike weight. Assuming your bike weighs 8 kg, that puts your total weight at 95 kg. Cutting 5 kg saves you only about 5% of your time. The effect will be less for the run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose some of your muscle, you're in luck; there's nothing like long-distance endurance exercise to tear the muscle off of you. If you tip the balance to being calorie-negative, you will lose weight - some muscle, some fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However... you are probably also going to be compromising your training and your recovery. Trying to both improve your condition and reduce your weight is very challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to do this, I would try to cut the weight of early and then be in a weight maintenance mode in the time leading up to the second race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T03:15:37.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24728" CreationDate="2015-05-24T03:21:50.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is that it is safe. Whether it is effective depends upon your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are starting from an untrained condition, then it pretty much doesn't matter what you do, and working out every day will work fine. Once you get somewhat trained, things change. If you are not well-recovered, you simply cannot work hard enough to stress your system, and without that hard work, you will not improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it another way, it's the off days where you get better and rest enough to work hard on your on days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T03:21:50.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-24T12:17:50.243" Score="4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does this completely negate my workout? Is there something I can do to compensate for it today? I know it was only one session, but I just absolutely hate the feeling that the entire session wasted. Was it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15823" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T01:34:39.120" Title="I'm trying to build mass, and I had a great upper body workout yesterday, but I only got about an hour and a half of sleep last night" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24763" CreationDate="2015-05-24T13:57:01.327" Score="2" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am lady, mid- 30s and am lifting 8lbs weights doing simple exercises found on Pinterest. I'd like to get lean, beautiful muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I do 4 reps, 2 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is best number of sets to accomplish this? Is 2 ok, or should it be 3 sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I have 10lbs weights and I am thinking to use 8lbs on first set and 10lbs on second set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is this overall approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;UPDATE&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to build strong muscle, endurance, while loosing flab, especially the abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10671" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T19:08:40.257" Title="Number of reps for lean muscles" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24757" CreationDate="2015-05-24T14:30:55.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no universally &quot;best&quot; set/rep scheme for any goal. Building muscle can be done with any set/rep scheme (within reason), and getting them lean is all about losing fat around the muscles. Fat loss is usually done by dietting and some cardio work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a term called &quot;progressive overload&quot; which is how we gain muscle. We achieve this by using plenty of different set/rep schemes; in other words, variation!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's say you're working with 10lb weights, and can do 2x4 (2 sets for 4 reps). Try to work your way up to being able to do 3x8 with these weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, next time, see if you can do 3x4, then work your way up through 3x5, 4x4, 5x5 etc. until you can do something like 3x8 or even 5x8. At this point, it would be wise to increase the weight, and start using maybe 15lb weights, and try to achieve 8-rep sets there too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way, you're always challenging your muscles in new ways. If you do the same set/rep scheme with the same weight over and over, your muscles won't be making any progress. They're just getting used to doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like if you're learning math, but you're solving 2+2 over and over. Yes, you're doing work, but are you learning anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T14:30:55.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24756" CreationDate="2015-05-24T14:36:54.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answering your question is difficult and requires a guess at best.  The ability to recover from an exercise session is a very &lt;strong&gt;individual&lt;/strong&gt; thing.  There are many factors (diet, stress, age, etc.) that need to be considered, one of which, is sleep.  And, the level of intensity of your workout will also factor into your ability to recover and build mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does this completely negate my workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think so.  Building mass (naturally) is a long term process.  You shouldn't feel like it was a “wasted session”.  The fact that you recognized the importance of sleep should provide an incentive in the future to follow through on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there something I can do to compensate for it today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not stress about it.  And, I would not try to work harder “today” to make up for it.  You run the risk of putting your body (and CNS) in a deficit.  If you plan to train “today”, I would approach the workout  as a “maintenance” session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T14:36:54.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24756" CreationDate="2015-05-24T14:37:13.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer&lt;/strong&gt;: Don't worry about it. This is a detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer&lt;/strong&gt;: Restitution &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; very important, but as long as you don't go back to the gym and start doing another upper body workout immediately, you're still resting. You can, for instance, compensate by eating a bit more, and providing more nutrition to the muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So long as this is something that happens rarely, it's not something you need to worry about. Not even the most successful strongman or bodybuilder or fitness model gets 8 hours every single night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T14:37:13.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24756" CreationDate="2015-05-24T18:33:35.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often consider good workouts followed by negligible sleep to be lost workouts that need to be repeated. We don't get stronger or bigger from lifting, we get stronger or bigger from lifting then eating and resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One and a half hours sleep is extreme. I would consider your workout nearly wasted. Get back to a good sleep schedule, eat plenty, hydrate, get some sun, and stop worrying about it. You're doing the best you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T18:33:35.540" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-24T18:46:59.470" Score="2" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing a full-body workout for five months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main pull exercise was the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BWSupineRowHigh.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inverted row&lt;/a&gt;. I have been lowering the Smith bar since I started five months ago. Currently I am &quot;lifting&quot; 66% of my bodyweight. I find it quite hard but I haven't yet reached a plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have now access to assisted pull ups and I &lt;em&gt;badly&lt;/em&gt; want to include them in my workouts. But after trying once, I realize that the combination of inverted row and assisted pullups in the same day puts my wrists in danger, it is simply too taxing on them. Besides that, my workouts take too long. Hence the need for a split workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do a push/pull split my workout will be shorter (in time) and my wrists will have more time to recover, but I will have to cut down the total number of pull sets, otherwise my writst will suffer. So basically this split is useless as a way of combining the two exercises I want to combine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do a vertical/horizontal split I will have a single pull exercise per workout, but my wrists will not benefit from this split because they will have to work equally during horizontal pull (row) days and vertical pull (pull up) days. So basically the paradox is that I would split my routine because of my wrists, but then the wrists would be the only muscles that do not benefit from the split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best approach here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T10:12:26.383" Title="2-day split with weak grip: vertical/horizontal or push/pull?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24757" CreationDate="2015-05-24T19:34:03.797" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;8 pounds is not heavy enough&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt that you're so weak that 8 or 10 pounds is a challenge. How much does your purse, backpack, or briefcase weigh? Have you carried a 20 pound baby recently, or picked up a 40 pound child? You need to use heavier weights for them to be useful for you. Don't believe me? Pick up a twenty-five-pound dumbbell and try to squat with it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rk1Zm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Woman doing a deep goblet squat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do five or ten in a row with the 25 pounder then it's not too heavy. It's OK if it's hard. Remember: if you can handle more than eight pounds, then do it. Light weights don't build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscles are muscles&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to build the muscle you want is to stop thinking of &quot;lean, beautiful muscles&quot; as something different from &quot;muscles&quot;. Muscles grow when you work them hard and heavy. They grow stronger and bigger, but if you're a woman, then they don't grow that much bigger because you don't have the hormones to do so. Don't worry about being big and bulky because it doesn't happen by accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on 1) getting stronger with heavy weights and 2) making yourself sweat a lot with cardio or circuit training. Three to five sets of five to ten deep squats with a heavy weight is fine. Working on basic movements like push-ups and inverted body rows is good too. (If you want more specific advice then be more specific about what you're doing. Pinterest has a lot of bad exercises and a few good ones.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T19:34:03.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-24T20:59:50.693" Score="3" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever since I started getting into powerlifting at age 16, I've been weighing 100kg+ at 192cm. Lately I've burned a ton of fat by playing badminton and my bodyweight is now around 90kg with 7%bf. However I'm trying to get to around 80-85kg now since I notice most badminton pros my height weigh between 70-82. This means I have to cut some muscle mass.&#xA;Which makes me wonder if anyone has some nice information or articles about &lt;strong&gt;how much muscle mass do you need relative to your height and bodytype in order to maximize strength to weight ratio?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(assumptions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let's assume the athlete already has an optimal bodyfat% so they can't cut fat anymore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let's also assume that the neurological efficiency of the muscle mass is very high and the strength of the athlete's muscle is close to powerlifting records for that weight class.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Here's a chart I made based on some existing drugfree powerlifting records: &lt;a href=&quot;http://puu.sh/hZNC8/48a8ccfec5.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://puu.sh/hZNC8/48a8ccfec5.png&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;We can see that the general trend seems to be the lighter the athlete, the higher their strength to weight ratio. &#xA;However these records involve different people with different body compositions. The lighter strength athletes will also likely be shorter people. So this doesn't really help me that much because what I want to know is how having more or less muscle mass would affect the strength to weight ratio of people with the same body composition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15105" LastEditorUserId="15105" LastEditDate="2015-05-25T11:38:21.077" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T07:15:58.520" Title="How much muscle do I need for optimal strength to weight ratio?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24767" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24768" CreationDate="2015-05-25T03:09:30.500" Score="2" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;I start every exercise with 3 sets of 3 reps, then I add between 1 and 3 reps each workout, so that it takes me very long to achieve 3 sets of 15 reps. Then I increase the load and start again with 3 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rationale behind this is maximizing safety, avoiding tendinitis and other possible injuries. After I spent more than a year recovering from a painful shoulder surgery, I decided I would do my best to avoid a similar situation in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, I am not sure if I am wasting my time, of if the high rep range is at all safer. I get sometimes pretty sore even when I am close to the high-rep range of each cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is strength, but I cannot work always in the low rep range because I am 42 yr and prone to overuse injuries. I must somehow cycle between low and higher reps, but, isn't it going up to 15 reps too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Dave's answer I understand that it might be a good idea to implement some short of microcycles, so that I alternate more often between the strength and endurance ends of the rep spectrum. I have posted a new question on how to implement that specifically in my case. But I still hope for other possible approches here (e.g., leaving the cycle from 3 to 15 reps as it is now but reducing the number of sets close to the high end?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T14:51:00.537" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T14:51:00.537" Title="Is doing the whole rep range from 3 to 15 reps before adding weight a waste of time?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24767" CreationDate="2015-05-25T04:53:44.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem I see with this approach is that you spend a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt; of time in opposite ends of the volume spectrum. Look at total reps over time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;18&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;21&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;24&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;27&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;33&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;36&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;39&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;42&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's eight workouts in a row of fairly high volume, followed by a dropoff to extremely low volume that's sustained for two workouts. Depending on the number of workouts you do a week, you could be either dodging supercompensation with such an approach, or sitting around in an &quot;overreaching&quot; (the precursor to overtraining) state for too long. Are you taking advantage of that long stay in high volume by riding the supercompensation wave, or is the high volume merely grinding you down before you throw away its benefits by adding too little weight or by spending too long a time in the 8-12 rep range? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher rep ranges can be safer, but high volume is stressful. That can be useful and it can be dangerous. I don't have any direct advice since you're at least a little atypical and I don't have much information about you, but you could probably learn from looking into programs like 5/3/1 that fluctuate rep ranges over the course of each week and that incorporate low-volume, low-intensity rest weeks every month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T04:53:44.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24762" CreationDate="2015-05-25T10:12:26.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I do a push/pull split my workout will be shorter (in time) and my wrists will have more time to recover, but I will have to cut down the total number of pull sets, otherwise my writst will suffer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. More time between workouts could mean that your wrists fully recover and are ready for the increased volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I do a vertical/horizontal split I will have a single pull exercise per workout, but my wrists will not benefit from this split because they will have to work equally during horizontal pull (row) days and vertical pull (pull up) days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. Your wrists may be stressed quite differently, or by quite different amounts, by different exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I realize that the combination of inverted row and assisted pullups in the same day puts my wrists in danger, it is simply too taxing on them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, how did you realize this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, how many sets did you do more than normal? Did a single additional set cause trouble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T10:12:26.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-25T14:04:41.763" Score="5" ViewCount="542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to get into running, and as you might expect, i have to alternate walking and running/jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good, reasonable, or expected distance for me to continuously run without stopping or walking. Where i am now i can go probably up to two hundred feet running without stopping, but this honestly seems utterly pathetic compared to what is accomplished by anyone i talk to of roughly my age and weight(1 - 1.5 mi). What should i really be aiming to run for nonstop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15815" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T08:18:46.033" Title="Good distance for continuous running/jogging for beginners?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10337" CreationDate="2015-05-25T14:46:13.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not something you should be asking online.&#xA;First problem is diagnosing the injury as shown here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9106324&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9106324&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16764546&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16764546&lt;/a&gt; &quot;Most procedures commonly used by clinicians in the examination of patients with back pain demonstrate low reliability.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even using MRI machine &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199407143310201&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199407143310201&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;On MRI examination of the lumbar spine, many people without back pain have disk bulges or protrusions but not extrusions. Given the high prevalence of these findings and of back pain, the discovery by MRI of bulges or protrusions in people with low back pain may frequently be coincidental.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you see this itself present a complicated issue. Add to it that pain doesn't equal injury and you have a case that you should not ask online advice but seek professional to advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of movement, best start from movement that you feel is safe and comfortable for you as injuries are not caused by biomechanics. From there you can progress to more exercises, but varied movements should be best answer for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body is resilient and heals itself, but you need time and good sleep, positive attitude and understanding pain, not anatomy. best is to seek appriopriate professional&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22133255&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22133255&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;For chronic musculoskeletal pain disorders, there is compelling evidence that an educational strategy addressing neurophysiology and neurobiology of pain can have a positive effect on pain, disability, catastrophization, and physical performance.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/2003/12010/The_Effect_of_a_Fear_Avoidance_Based_Physical.2.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/2003/12010/The_Effect_of_a_Fear_Avoidance_Based_Physical.2.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;atients with elevated fear-avoidance beliefs appeared to have less disability from fear-avoidance–based physical therapy when compared to those receiving standard care physical therapy. Patients with lower fear-avoidance beliefs appeared to have more disability from fear-avoidance–based physical therapy, when compared to those receiving standard care physical therapy. In addition, physical therapy supplemented with fear-avoidance–based principles contributed to a positive shift in fear-avoidance beliefs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T14:46:13.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9631" CreationDate="2015-05-25T14:52:10.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the macros?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower on your calorie deficit, you should adjust your protein higher, as leaner you get muscle waste can be very quick, so see if your protein is on 3g/kg of your body weight.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jissn.com/content/11/1/20/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.jissn.com/content/11/1/20/abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IF proven to be detrimental to your current level, you want to burn more fat so calorie deficit and high protein. You are unlikely to get set protein levels on IF&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if you have genetics for bottom two abs, I guess one way to find out :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T14:52:10.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24773" CreationDate="2015-05-25T18:18:10.740" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that about 20 minutes is a good goal.  Start by running a lamp post then walking and gradually cut out the walks.  There's a very good app called Couch to 5k which I have recommended to lots of people, who can now comfortably run for 30 minutes.  Don't worry about what others are doing.  Running is a very personal journey, and as long as you are enjoying it, and feel you are getting something from it, then stick with it.  Take your time increasing gradually each week, each month.  The key thing for a beginner is not to increase too quickly, as this will result in injury.  Good luck on your running journey :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8101" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T18:18:10.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-25T22:20:38.113" Score="8" ViewCount="24380" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any safe chest exercise you can do when you have shoulder impingement? Or should you avoid all forms of chest exercise in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15459" LastActivityDate="2019-07-23T01:49:43.833" Title="What are some safe chest exercise for people with shoulder impingement?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24778" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-26T05:25:02.453" Score="3" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing sitting/standing donkey &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calf_(leg)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;calf&lt;/a&gt; raises as accessory lifts on my leg days, but am worried that I'm primarily hitting the medial head of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrocnemius_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gastrocnemius&lt;/a&gt; muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Are there any exercises that would allow me to hit the lateral head?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am seeing definition on the medial side of the calf, but next to nothing on the lateral side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15828" LastEditorUserId="33195" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T05:05:06.710" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T00:32:42.680" Title="How to get definition in the outer calves" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24780" CreationDate="2015-05-26T05:38:49.677" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 27 years old guy and having weight upto 95kg. For 2 months ago i had a bankart surgery of my right shoulder, in which 3 anchors were installed inside the shoulder. What types of exercises i can do for weight loss, without affecting my shoulder ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15839" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T07:13:43.997" Title="Weight loss after Bankart surgery" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24779" CreationDate="2015-05-26T07:08:08.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a slap repair. It is the same surgery, only the anchor (I had only one) is placed at the anterior part of the labrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of surgery has an incredibly long recovery time, because the cartilague takes a lot to heal. After some google you will see how professional pitchers are out of the game for nearly a year. And they are professional athletes with personal therapists at their disposal...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to follow instructions from your surgeon. But in the general case it goes like this: In the first four to six months after the surgery only stationary bike should be allowed. You want to avoid impact activities such as running, and you don't want to risk falling on that arm (which would definitely ruin the surgery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the six month my surgeon allowed me to start running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 8 months post surgery I started to swim. At 12 months I started strength training at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now (17 months post op) I can do whatever I want, but I will stay away from heavy shoulder presses, forever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be patient. Only the stationary bike for the moment. And no, don't use an elliptical machine or anything similar (you may fall on that arm). Just the stationary bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T07:13:43.997" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T07:13:43.997" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24777" CreationDate="2015-05-26T07:28:32.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Push ups. ONLY IF THEY ARE PAINLESS. It goes without saying that, if your feel shoulder pain during push ups or any other exercise, you should stop immediately (ignoring this puts you under risk of becoming a full supraspinatus tear).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful not to flare your elbows out. That goes for your triceps too (you asked that in another thread). Push ups will work your chest and triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot exercise without pain, then you should not try it. Seek a therapist. Exercising while in pain will only worsen your condition. The pain happens because the subacromial space is reduced and the supraspinatus has no room. Trying to push through the pain will eventually lead to severe damage to that delicate muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot afford medical treatment, then try to rest and avoid any overhead activity with that arm, and anything that causes pain. If that is your dominant arm, learn to use the computer mouse with the other. Only after the pain has gone and is well in the past, then start exercising, but always avoiding overhead activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T07:38:55.983" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T07:38:55.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24784" CreationDate="2015-05-26T08:44:26.143" Score="2" ViewCount="34820" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well. Now i have put on a lot. I used to be 65 Kg. Three years back. But now i am 95 Kg. i do not have much time for exercise. I have started in taking healthy food. which includes Vegetables, milk, Oats, multi grain stuff etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover i am climbing stairs from ground floor to 8th floor up and down twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this practice reduce my weight ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also should i avoid climbing stairs after having lunch ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15840" LastEditorUserId="15840" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T06:40:34.973" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T09:27:01.020" Title="Climbing stairs up to 8 story to reduce weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-26T09:05:01.253" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a leg pain just above knee (not knee pain), this happened after I pushed hard on bench press machine only my right and now I have right leg pain. is This normal or something like DVT?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pain is at two sides; I am sitting and looking my leg, at bottom left corner and right surface just near knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T13:40:44.837" Title="leg pain near knee" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-05-26T22:36:52.917" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24782" CreationDate="2015-05-26T09:37:54.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;12 stairs * 8 floors * .17 calorie = 16.32 calories burnt climbing up 8 floors. &#xA;You can take 10 as the approximate count while going down the stairs. &#xA;This way, you will lose around &lt;code&gt;32.64+ 20 =52.64 calories&lt;/code&gt; in total per day. Now if you body requirement is 2000 calories per day, and you take 2000 calorie diet, it will take you 67 days to lose one kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as climbing the stairs after eating food is concerned, you should avoid any rigorous exercise immediately after the meals. As our body pumps a lot of blood to intensities, in order to digest the food eaten. So if we exercise, the blood flow will be sent to your legs and any other organ being used. Anyways, a mild walk after the lunch won't hurt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15841" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T09:37:54.940" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24778" CreationDate="2015-05-26T10:09:24.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try doing all of the above with your feet turned in making sure you work through the whole range of movement &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T10:09:24.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24783" CreationDate="2015-05-26T13:40:44.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you take a look at some basic anatomy charts, you'll see that's right where the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_femoris_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rectus femoris&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; muscle and tendon attach. If the pain is mild, you're probably just a bit strained. Pull back a bit, do exercises that don't cause that area to hurt for a week or two, and see if it feels better. If the pain is sharp, or it's not getting better, see a doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/syVR1.png&quot; alt=&quot;Image from Wikipedia&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T13:40:44.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24782" CreationDate="2015-05-26T14:04:37.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem. I was 85 kg when I broke my leg and 1.5 years later I was 110 kg. I had an office job. In the morning, I ate as much as I could. After work, I walked 1 hour (not more). After a few weeks, 1.5 hours per day, and it went better.  In the afternoon, I ate whatever I wanted because I did not eat much in the evening, and, after a time, my body began to get used to it. I lost 4 kg in 1 month, and, after 2 months, a total of 10 kg (do not know if it's healthy). I replaced drinks with water. And reduced bad things like candy, choco, fastfood.  It's only the beginning that's hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, if you want to quit, why you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15843" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T17:18:23.920" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T17:18:23.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24782" CreationDate="2015-05-26T14:31:20.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your primary weight loss will be from your caloric intake. If you are taking in less than you are burning, you will lose weight. There are plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriecontrol.org/calculator/weight-maintenance-calculator-men&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calculators&lt;/a&gt; out there to find the figures you need for consumption. Exercise, by itself, does not burn that many calories overall. Sure, run for 20 minutes and you'll manage to burn 400 calories or so, but you get that in a breakfast sandwich, and it's really easy, if you're not counting things out, to eat more than you're burning. The primary benefit of exercise is that, at a certain level of moderate exercise, the body processes food more efficiently, which reduces the health impact of things like eating more fat in your diet, or trying to survive on a restricted diet such as the vegan ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For stair-climbing itself, the figures vary. Aman Arora is quoting from an article named &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.stepjockey.com/content/docs/Stair_Climbing_Facts_StepJockey.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Twenty Amazing Stair Climbing Facts&lt;/a&gt; by Stepjockey. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/298903-calories-burned-walking-up-stairs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Articles at Livestrong&lt;/a&gt; come up with slightly different figures. Ultimately, I'd advise assuming that you burn maybe 100 calories from it, and to focus on a small caloric reduction in your food intake with whatever gives you mild exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T14:31:20.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24777" CreationDate="2015-05-26T14:58:49.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could give decline benching a go. Should be less of a strain on your shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try some dumb bell / cable flies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to avoid any incline exercises, these will use you shoulders slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as Mephisto said only if you don't feel any pain. There is nothing worse than re-injuring yourself and having to take even more time out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T14:58:49.167" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-26T16:16:08.037" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Five years ago, I had my weight up to 84 kg. I hit the gym continuously for 8 months at that time. Also, I excluded all chapattis and rice from my meals. As a  result, I lost almost 10 kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But after that, I wasn't able to continue my gym attendance and as a result, after 5 years, I now weigh 95 kg. I have very loose skin, especially on my belly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That looks weird (obviously). But now, whenever I tried to get back on the same routine (between my very busy schedule), I failed every time.  So, please suggest why I'm not able to lose my fat again ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15839" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T18:28:51.123" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T18:30:31.997" Title="Cardio exercies are no longer looking beneficial to lose weight" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24790" CreationDate="2015-05-26T18:25:13.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For weight loss, your first culprit will be your diet, specifically calorie intake. Exercise is good for your health, and there's evidence that it allows to be healthy eating a wider variety of foods, but unless you're training for hours each day, you're better off looking at what you're eating and how much. I would bet that if you noted down everything that you ate or drank (including alcohol) for the space of a week, you'd be surprised at how much food you didn't even acknowledge eating. Snacks add up, and it's been estimated that most weight gain happens over holidays and weekends when you're not paying as much attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're more concerned about your inability to get back into exercise, as your second paragraph seems to indicate you're having trouble even starting, consider whether your expectations are set on your past performance rather than your current ones. Don't worry too much about how long you can run, or how much weight you can lift. Look at doing something of moderate intensity at least three times a week for about 20 minutes. Depending on your fitness level, this could be as easy as taking a brisk walk around the neighborhood, particularly if stairs and hills are involved. Aim to have an elevated heartbeat, but to keep yourself from breathing so heavily that you can't talk. You could go for more exercise, or more intensive exercise, but frankly, it's far too common for people to push themselves too hard and to quiet as a result. If you can't get out to exercise, then calisthenics such as pushups, pullups, dips, and just doing silly little things like hopping in place aren't a bad way to get your metabolism up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, when it comes to diet and exercise, don't try to be a saint. Without small indulgences (which you will note down in your log of food), you're never going to keep to a diet for more than a few months. And if you're not enjoying your form of exercise, you're not likely to keep to it in the long run. Find foods that you don't have to choke down and vary your exercise routine whenever it gets boring or feels too onerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! And be realistic about your goals. Sustainable weight loss tends to be at the 1-2 pound per week level for most people, and your weight will fluctuate a bit over the course of that week depending on what you eat and drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T18:30:31.997" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T18:30:31.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24777" CreationDate="2015-05-27T05:03:31.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find yourself a physical therapist to help you if possible, as he/she will be able to tailor exercises to your particular situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently went through this. I found that I could bench (flat) if I went really light on the weight (I dropped back down to the bar only) &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; if I got my back and shoulder position correct. For me this is retracting the scapula (but not as exaggerated as powerlifters do) and getting my elbows in the right position (for me, at a 45 degree position). Also, lift off with the arms rather than pushing the shoulders forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you play around with this, you should be able to find a combination of variables where it doesn't hurt (or just barely hurts). That's what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also found face pulls to be very helpful to get my shoulders back. Make sure to get the shoulders back and down at the beginning of each rep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T05:03:31.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13943" CreationDate="2015-05-27T08:47:06.653" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common problem is shifting of 'navel ball', it can be easily felt by gently pressing thumb on navel (Caution - examine only in the morning with empty stomach to avoid more complexities), This ball is actually a vein, if you're feeling movement of vein in center of navel then everything is alright but in case it is around(up,down,left or right) navel then it may be reason of ur stomachache.&#xA;Now..How to fix it?&#xA;There r many people claim to fix it by massag and it works but if it is practiced repetitively it becomes a permanent problem so my personal suggestion is don't try this.&#xA;Best way to fixing it by exercise which is something like yoga, now let me tell you the procedure-&#xA;1. Lay straight on smooth surface (not too soft) &amp;amp; put your hands straight along with your body.&#xA;2.Now lift both of ur legs (keep staight) simultaneously and very slowly and make 90° angle.&#xA;3.now put your legs down very slowey.&#xA;(Do it 2-3 times, in the morning n without drinking water or having breakfast.)&#xA;Me &amp;amp; many people in india use this remedy this simple technique will definitely help you.&#xA;Best Of Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15852" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T08:47:06.653" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24731" CreationDate="2015-05-27T10:46:26.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cable pulldowns are a poor substitute for pullups, because while seated, and locked down (thighs under pads), there is little to &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; core engagement going on. There's just the activation in the upper torso.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At best, they're a supplemental exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend doing the assisted pullup instead. Certainly, while kneeling on this plate, you're also losing some core engagement, but there's still more of it because you're not locked into one single position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best recommendation is to do pullups on a normal pullup bar, using a rubber band to assist you. This way, you'll have pretty much all the core engagement of a normal pullup, while still enjoying some support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, by virtue of being a rubber band, it will assist you more at the bottom of the lift (when the band is stretched fully), and less at the top (when the band is looser). This provides a variable degree of assistance, which lets your muscles endure more of the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T13:57:00.413" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T13:57:00.413" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24799" CreationDate="2015-05-27T12:50:48.980" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a guy from a middle class family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 months back, I was around 80 kg, but currently I am at 92 kg. I have a big belly also. I cannot afford a personal trainer to tell me what to eat and when to eat. I tried eating less, but my weight is not going down. I am walking 30 minutes a day and doing 25 sets of pull ups, but sometimes I am tempted to eat more without controlling myself, and I used to drink coke also. I am ready to work out, but due to the timing of my work, I am not able to do it on weekends. Please suggest any natural way to reduce my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15855" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T13:10:48.187" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T14:33:40.527" Title="reduce body weight without accurate calorie counts and going to gym" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-27T13:03:41.797" Score="2" ViewCount="462" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a professional athlete or anything, but I swim about 1,5 miles and run 5-8 miles everyday. I can't afford a trainer and don't have time for gym (except on weekends...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a couple of days I've been doing squats (4 series of 30, 3 hours apart of each other). The exercise itself is not that difficult, the problem is that my legs are starting to hurt in a place i can't stretch them! The &quot;pain&quot; is located in the outside-upper corner of the thigh...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good stretch for that part?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fpnotebook.com/_media/ThighAnatomyMuscleAnterior.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this image&lt;/a&gt; I would say &quot;Tensor Fasciae Latae&quot; muscle and the upper part of the &quot;Sartorius&quot; muscle, on both thighs...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And clarification: the pain is not bad, just annoying... I feel like &quot;oh maybe if I give that a good stretch...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastEditorUserId="15856" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T17:16:52.150" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T12:12:15.017" Title="Stretch for Squats muscles" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24811" CreationDate="2015-05-27T13:09:42.147" Score="4" ViewCount="14862" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I do say 30 push-ups in a row (maybe 3 sets with 30 sec pause in between) or should I do 4-5 sets of 10 spread across the day when I want strength in my arm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main focus is tennis and swimming, not to build muscle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T19:58:01.870" Title="Push-ups: All at once or spread across the day?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24796" CreationDate="2015-05-27T13:22:25.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing 30 minutes of walking each day, and doing pull-ups, isn't a bad start to exercise. I assume that your pull-ups are vigorous enough of a workout that you raise a sweat? I'm also assuming, given you don't feel you're that in shape, that that's not 25 pull-ups in one streak? Either way, I'd suggest adding a few more exercises to cover other muscles. If you add squats and either push-ups or tricep dips, you've got things pretty decently covered without much extra effort. If you're looking for a way to motivate yourself, there are free apps that are associated with interval programs such as 100 push-ups or 20 pull-ups that will give you guidelines of how many to do in each session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite honestly, what you probably need to do is to start charting what you eat and how much, without judgment and consistently. If you're not keeping track, you're not going to be able to properly regulate your food intake. At the end of the day, you can total up what you've eaten in the day and get an idea as to what calories you eat where. My suspicion is that it's more than you think. The first step is being aware of what you're eating. The second step is figuring out where you can trim excess food from your diet. Don't be afraid to keep a few indulgences — if you don't, the odds are that you won't be able to keep to the diet — but document them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise-wise, like I said, you're doing OK. You're not going to build any substantial cardio, build a lot of muscles, or burn enough calories to counter the food you eat, but that level of exercise is enough to improve your health and to keep your body's metabolism working efficiently enough to survive on just about any varied diet. As with the diet, don't try to push yourself too hard when it comes to exercise, or you'll burn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all, be patient. If you can manage a calorie deficit and do moderate exercise, you will almost certainly lose weight, but the odds are that the best consistent weight loss you'll manage is a kilogram per week, and half a kilo is more likely. And your weight will fluctuate a bit depending on what you've eaten the prior day, and while your body adjusts to the diet and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T13:22:25.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24801" CreationDate="2015-05-27T13:58:04.477" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually train 4 times a week, and for each day, I usually do 1 hour weight training + 30 mins HIIT cardio running training. For other days I simplely do some light running or swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did my best to keep up with this training plan for 2 months, but I feel really tired about it, especially the 30 mins HIIT cardio after 1 hour weight training is really killing me. Sometimes (most of time) I have to move this 30 mins HIIT cardio &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; my weight training so I can do them both. But my friend tells me that doing cardio first is such a big mistake, it can not burn your fat, and it will affect my weight training. So I am thinking sth else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am thinking to put part of my cardio to the morning time right after I weak up. (I train at 5:30pm-7:00pm before). That is, I will do 15mins HIIT running + 10 mins usual running at morning right after I weak up and 1 hour weight training + 12 mins HIIT running at afternoon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys think this strategy is sound? Or am I making another mistake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I am 180cm tall and 167lbs with Body Fat Index 15% (according to the &quot;smart&quot; weight scale I bought from amazon, who knows it is accurate or not...). So I still want to lose some fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PPS: I was 187 pounds 3 months ago and I am 167 now. So my old training plan does it job for me and I am happy. But now I just wish to change a little bit. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15842" LastEditorUserId="15842" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T14:19:43.983" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:58:52.603" Title="Long period one time training or divide it into two times a day" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24800" CreationDate="2015-05-27T14:18:52.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is much better to split them up. If you do them both one after the other, whichever one comes second is always going to suffer as your body will be fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Splitting them up will allow you to hit them both hard and you should see better results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train weights in the evening 5/6 times a week and I do morning HIIT 2/3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, having done two workouts, your metabolism will spike twice in the day leading to more calories being burnt(which I think is your goal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And another note, if that &quot;smart scale judged your fat based solely on your height and weight then it's not a good indication of where you're at as muscle weighs almost twice as much as fat. A better way for you to do it would be to but some calipers and test yourself(they are pretty cheap).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T14:18:52.297" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24797" CreationDate="2015-05-27T14:25:24.123" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSDLDhbacc&quot;&gt;Limber 11&lt;/a&gt; by a guy called Joe DeFranco. It's a few exercises/stretches which really helped me with my squat form. I used to have pain in the front of my hip when squatting but I started doing this 3 times a week and I noticed improvements after only a few days. Your lower back will also thank you for doing this. Some of the exercises require a bit of equipment but it is all pretty cheap and easy to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T14:25:24.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24809" CreationDate="2015-05-27T14:28:08.800" Score="2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to train for strength, with no hurry. Forced by the personal need of building strong conective tissue and avoid injury at all costs (42 yr, untrained, somehow prone to injury) I implemented the following strategy for each exercise: I use a fixed load and increase the volume by adding reps, from 3 sets of 3 reps (in the strength range, no doubt) all the way up to 3 sets of 15 reps with the same load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a lot of training sessions to reach 3x15, because each workout I never add more than 3 reps in total (one per set) as a rule, and very often I only add 1 rep. By the time I reach 3x15, it feels safe and sometimes even easy to increase the load (and start again the cycle with 3x3) so there is no doubt my strength has increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But lately the volume seems too much, I need too much time to recover, and another answer to another question here has suggested I might need some kind of micro periodization, which I think it is the right way. Also, I think I could try also to reduce the overall volume when close to 15 reps per set (e.g. by switching to 2 sets after having achieved 3x12 or somehing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I implement that periodization in a simple way? For instance, after achieving 3x10 I could start alternating the high rep workouts with the next level of resistance and low reps. E.g. 40kg x 3 x 10, the next workout 45 kg x 3 x 3, then back to 40 kg x 3 x (10~11) and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As much as I would like it, 5/3/1 is out of the menu because I can't train all the time in such short rep range, it is not for my age and fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T14:54:50.067" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T17:43:33.403" Title="How to implement micro periodization in a routine covering a wide rep spectrum" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24800" CreationDate="2015-05-27T15:10:35.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You list “bodybuilding” as one of your tags.  If this is correct, you may want to check yourself for the symptoms of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overtraining&lt;/a&gt;.  The volume and intensity you describe seems to be a bit much, in my opinion, for a goal of bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you guys think this strategy is sound? Or am I making another&#xA;  mistake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t see a problem with performing your cardio on the same day as your training, especially if time is a constraint.  But, you must balance that against the volume of high intensity training you’re performing.  You should consider cycling your training, and, possibly reserving one or two days per week to simply recover.  By &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/defining-periodization-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cycling&lt;/a&gt;, I mean varying the intensity levels of your training.  That should reduce that feeling of constantly being tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T15:10:35.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24807" CreationDate="2015-05-27T15:28:55.023" Score="4" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get into exercise for my own personal well-being and fitness, and I don't want to do 'target' exercise (which I know doesn't work) but rather I want to improve my physical endurance so that I feel less tired during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to fit this into my morning routine, but I know that I occasionally oversleep, or have to prepare something before going to work, and sometimes I have as little as 5 minutes to try to squeeze in an exercise routine.  But I would like to do something regularly so that I can make it into a habit, with the goal of doing more as I improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercise routine can I fit into a 5-minute morning exercise to help improve my physical endurance?  Currently, I'm using sit-ups as my go-to exercise (cross-body, not arms behind the head) and considering adding push-ups too, but is there anything better?  Or something that could exercise parts of my body that sit-ups might miss?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind I don't have any equipment, and my apartment space is very limited, plus I want to be able to do this routine even if I have to go away on a trip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan on doing the same exercise in the evening as well, and to increase the time I do my exercise steadily as I improve, but to do that, I have to be able to fit a bare-minimum routine into my morning first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6985" OwnerDisplayName="Zibbobz" LastEditorUserId="6985" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T16:34:50.783" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T05:17:24.403" Title="What physical endurance exercise can I fit into a 5-minute routine without any equipment?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24805" CreationDate="2015-05-27T16:07:41.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What not to do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, if you're doing situps on the floor, stop it immediately. Floor situps are harmful for your back, and provide little to no effect in terms of abdominal muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While pushups are more beneficial, I have to start by saying that 5 minutes isn't enough time to do any work from which to enjoy physical benefits. It might serve as a wake-me-up, but nothing more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/weight-loss/burn-fat-fast/how-to-do-a-plank-a-single-move-for-stronger-abs&quot;&gt;the plank&lt;/a&gt; instead, if you are looking to engage your core musculature. It will tighten your abs, back, chest, glutes, shoulders, and a whole bunch of other muscles if done right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a full-body workout, you're going to &lt;strong&gt;have to&lt;/strong&gt; do more than just a few exercises. &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere&quot;&gt;Here is a list&lt;/a&gt; of some good ones. You obviously don't have to do all 50, but try to do one or two from each section whenever you do get down. There is enough here to provide a good bit of variety, and anyone will tell you that variation is one of the key aspects of a good workout regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, the list only contains one sit-up (all the way at the bottom), but it's a variation that's not entirely disagreeable. I could write an article on why floor sit-ups are bad for you (maybe in another thread), but right now, this seems like a good place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T16:07:41.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-27T16:24:07.037" Score="11" ViewCount="1008" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilks_Coefficient&quot;&gt;Wilks score&lt;/a&gt; is used to compare powerlifting scores for lifters of different body weights.  A coefficient&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                          500&#xA;Coeff = -----------------------------------------,&#xA;         a + b*x + c*x^2 + d*x^3 + e*x^4 + f*x^5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;depending on the body weight &quot;x&quot; of the lifter in kilograms is multiplied by his or her total to arrive at a sort of &quot;standardised&quot; score for comparison.  (It appears that it may also be used to compare individual lifts.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are specific (sex-dependent) values given in the linked article for a,b,c,d,e,f.&#xA;Is there any online source explaining the theory behind the Wilks score?  The linked Wikipedia article does not explain where the denominator polynomial coefficients (a,b,c,d,e,f) come from and why the formula has the specific form given, and Google wasn't of much help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quintic polynomial (a+bx+cx&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;+dx&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;+ex&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt;+fx&lt;sup&gt;5&lt;/sup&gt;) appearing in the denominator has three real roots.  The negative root can be ignored as meaningless, and the two positive roots (roughly 13.5kg and 283kg) are presumably to be considered &quot;out of range&quot;.  Thus, I would guess this formula was obtained by fitting some collection of data.  But what data?  Alternatively, perhaps there is a theoretical model explaining these coefficients?  (The only, admittedly crude, model I can think of is a multiplier very roughly like x&lt;sup&gt;-(2/3)&lt;/sup&gt;, which doesn't resemble the form given for Wilks, though the curves do have roughly the same overall shape on a sensible body-weight interval.)  There must be some published literature on this, but I could not find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1835" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T11:26:22.043" Title="Theory and meaning of the Wilks score?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24803" CreationDate="2015-05-27T17:43:33.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The principles behind 5/3/1 are still pretty sound, although the rep ranges aren't the best for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's an example of micro-periodization over a month&#xA;** High(ish) reps, Medium reps, Low reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Average work load for the month is between 75-85%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My coach had me do something 5/3/1 like for a while and it worked well for me.  It was more of a 10/8/5/3 plan, but I can take some principles from that plan and apply it to you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to train hard every session, but still recover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each Training in your micro-periodization should have a goal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Common goals include:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume: this is where strength is actually built&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy: this is where strength is tested&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed: this is active recovery that helps with reinforcing movement patterns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodybuilding: more focus on accessory and isolation movements, i.e. fixing weak areas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build your monthly pattern after these training styles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plan you've been working with is basically a volume progression, which does work.  Doug Hepburn built a career doing something like that (but with heavier weights and lower rep ranges).  However, by not doing any heavy work, your body is acclimated to the way things are going.  Heavy work in turn also burns you out more quickly, so it has to be balanced out by allowing a bit more recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5/3/1 accomplishes this by having you work with high(er) reps and working progressively towards fewer but heavier reps, then gives you a week for active recovery.  While a number of people thrive off of this pattern, it's not the only one that works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shaping your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should have a target number of reps per training goal&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume: aim for 24-32 reps total for the week, with 8-12 rep sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy: aim for 8-12 reps total for the week, with 2-5 rep sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed: aim for 8-15 reps total for the week, 1-3 rep sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodybuilding: chase the pump with as many reps as necessary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should have a target weight per training goal&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume: aim for as heavy as you can for those 8-12 rep sets, feel free to remove weight each set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy: aim for as heavy as you can for those 2-5 rep sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed: aim for a weight that is slightly above warmup (roughly 65% of your current max)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodybuilding: go with something that will help you feel the muscle you are trying to control&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you can decide how best to put all these together.  I've seen some programs have you mix it up so each major movement is done each week, but each one has a different goal during the week.  I've seen some programs where everything is on the same goal each week.  Your approach should fit you best.  That said, here are some common approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Linear Periodization: everything moves in the same direction.  For example from light to heavy or heavy to light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Undulating Periodization: The weights are going up and down from week to week.  Kind of like a progression where each week you are doing sets of 10, 5, 8, then 3.  It's lighter, heavy, light, heavier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mixed Periodization: each main movement has it's own progression, but all the movements are using different focuses each week (Brandon Lilly's program is like this).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training goals I listed are not the only things you can pursue, but just provide a starting point for conversation purposes.  The main take away is that you do need some heavier work than you have been doing, but after heavy work you need some recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this is enough to get you working on your own plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T17:43:33.403" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24798" CreationDate="2015-05-27T19:07:22.783" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether your goal is to gain muscle, strength, or endurance, it is always better to do your exercises together (with short breaks between sets) than spaced throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, 3 sets of one exercise won't actually give you any noticeable changes in strength or endurance. You need to do more. You can try adding some exercises that would help your swimming stroke such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://triathlon.competitor.com/2015/03/training/swim-strength-training-exercises_72771/1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plank Row&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://triathlon.competitor.com/2015/03/training/swim-strength-training-exercises_72771/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kettle Bell&lt;/a&gt; Swing, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://triathlon.competitor.com/2015/03/training/swim-strength-training-exercises_72771/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Medicine Ball Pushup&lt;/a&gt;, too. Alternatively, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimcoachtools.com/arm.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This Site&lt;/a&gt; also has quite a few good exercises for arms, directed more towards swimming - most of which would be transferable to tennis as well. A good 4-5 exercises per workout for 3-4 sets would be ideal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in your case, your best bet is to also do more swimming. If your goal is ultimately strength in your arms for swimming, then just do a lot of it! Swimming is a great workout for your entire body, including your arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T19:07:22.783" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24796" CreationDate="2015-05-27T19:12:57.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;As you age, your metabolism will naturally slow down.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Let that sink in for a second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that unless you change your lifestyle, expect your body to increasingly become out of shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many gimmicks for losing weight; many of them, you can actually find online; &lt;em&gt;however, none will help you long-term.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Changing your lifestyle doesn't have to be drastic or cost a fortune; it's all about &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;having the right attitude and being consistent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few things you can start doing to help lower your body fat &lt;em&gt;(that's your actual goal)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Add more green vegetables to your meals.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; No need going on some fancy dieting program and such. Check what portions of your meals are green vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Add more fruits &lt;em&gt;(not fruit juice)&lt;/em&gt; to your snack time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. These keep you satisfied and reduce your cravings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drink more water.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; If it's too tasteless for you &lt;em&gt;(one of the reasons people drink soda)&lt;/em&gt;, add lime &lt;em&gt;(or some liquid flavor)&lt;/em&gt; to give it some taste. This will cut down on the amount of sugar consumed as well as increase your hydration &lt;em&gt;(which is good for weight-loss)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your consumption is usually the first lifestyle you need to adjust. Once you start with those simple things above, you will actually start seeing results in your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, your energy expenditure needs to increase. You don't have to do drastic things either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be more active&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(this is actually easier done than said).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Climb stairs instead of elevators.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Don't rush yourself; go at your own pace. Enjoy the feeling of climbing the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When parking at work, stores, etc., don't park close to the entrance. Park farther away and enjoy the walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Power-walk.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Instead of walking leisurely for 30 mins, power-walk &lt;em&gt;(walking as fast as you can)&lt;/em&gt; and reduce the speed when tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, bike more than drive. If that's not an option, walk more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If allowed at work, alternate between standing and sitting while working. If allowed, supplement your chair with a ball and alternate between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are still more things you can do; however, incorporating these few changes into your daily life will result in a wonderful transformation of your body &lt;em&gt;(as well as provide you more energy for the day.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally believe in exercising immediately after waking up. After waking up, if you can stretch for 5 mins (or perform 10,20,30 push ups), you'll realize how much energy you'll suddenly have in the mornings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleep well. Stretch in bed if you can; it's fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Important Tidbits&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun with the new lifestyle. If you're forcing it and really uncomfortable with a step/plan/process, find an alternative that'll give you the same benefit. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You can't lose weight long-term without enjoying what you do.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat cakes, pizzas, and soda. Yes, you can eat those......just not everyday. Eat them when you crave them and if you realize you're having it too often, cut back. If you find healthy alternatives to give the same benefit, go for them. Have fun with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short-term weight loss programs have you doing many drastic things at once. If it's something you would like to try, I'd recommend the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insanity  or P90X videos&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Those will bring your weight down fast; however, it's hard to maintain the intensity for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, have fun with whatever program you decide to go with. Part of losing weight is enjoying life and having fun with it. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T19:12:57.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24813" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-27T20:19:45.913" Score="4" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting an exercise regiment to help combat the negative effects of my lifestyle - specifically, hours upon hours of necessary sitting at a computer desk reading and typing away at text for hours on end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, I'm not a novelist.  I'm a computer scientist.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For 8 hours of the day, I work at a computer, in a computer chair, with my back and hips bent in a classic &quot;Tetris Z&quot; shape, which I know for a fact isn't good for my spine.  I can get a little walking around the office in during short breaks, but that will only do so much, and I am &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; interested in replacing my computer chair with a standing-chair or an exercise ball.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting an exercise regiment one way or another - I want to physically improve myself - and it would be nice to make my regiment fit my lifestyle, and help counteract the negative things I'm doing to my body.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of exercise regiment can help keep my back and hips strong, when I lead a life that, by necessity, has me sitting in a chair for hours on end?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, since I live in an apartment with little storage space, this regiment should be equipment-minimal. And because I live in an area that has a harsh winter, it should be mostly indoors so that I can continue it year-round.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6985" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T14:06:56.203" Title="What is a good (indoors) exercise regiment for a computer scientist?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-05-29T12:10:26.317" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24813" CreationDate="2015-05-27T21:19:30.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The good news is that, while &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/49518-sitting-cancer-heart-risk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sitting will kill you&lt;/a&gt;, the research seems to show that as little as a two minute walk each hour &lt;a href=&quot;http://consumer.healthday.com/senior-citizen-information-31/misc-aging-news-10/2-minute-walk-every-hour-may-help-offset-effects-of-sitting-698848.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;largely reverses the effect&lt;/a&gt;. Either set yourself an alarm or get up and get coffee or water on the hour. Add the recommended 20 minutes of moderate exercise three times a week and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T21:19:30.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24808" CreationDate="2015-05-28T07:16:18.363" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sadly cannot find any resources explaining the coefficients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best guess is that it is interpolated using a large amount of data from official powerlifting events, and fitted using some &quot;best fit&quot; approach like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_squares&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Method of Least Squares&lt;/a&gt;. This would explain where the coefficients come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The roots of the quintic polynomial would of course cause an indeterminate value due to division by zero, but being that they require a person's bodyweight to be either negative, or extremely low/high, they need not be worried about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only decent resource is could find was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10613442&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; which just seems to validate that the formula causes very little bias one way or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T07:16:18.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24796" CreationDate="2015-05-28T07:30:18.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purely from a weight perspective (previous posts have covered various things about health) its all about calories in vs calories out. For your current level of activity you will have a level of maintenance calories, the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. By creating a deficit (generally dropping by 300-400 calories) you will steadily lose weight until this level of calories becomes a new maintenance level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can go about this in two ways. First, by tracking all your calories using an app such as MyFitnessPal, in which you can scan barcodes, or search for foods and it will input the calories, but a lot of people don't like this for various reasons, remembering to do it if nothing else. Others just learn to cut down on certain things they eat regularly such as cake, chocolate, fizzy juice.Another option is always to start off tracking you calories to get an good understanding of what you currently eat, and what you may want to cut out, then just consciously limit what you eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replacing sugary snacks with fruit can be good, and is certainly healthy, but the type of fruit can play a big part in how easy it is to maintain your lifestyle change. Fruits such as apples and oranges are largely made up of fast-carbs (sugars such as fructose), which are not good at satiating you. High protein or slow-carb snacks, such as peanut butter or oats (which could both be used in some form of healthy flapjacks) can avoid this and keep you feeling fuller in between meals, a bit of googling will find you good alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important to maintain a good balance of carbs, fat and protein, with a basic balance of around 50% carbs, 30% fat, 20% protein. This can be mixed around if you're building muscle (higher protein) or running distance (more carbs), but that's not necessary for simply losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink plenty of water, and try and keep your salt intake low, this will reduce any water retention which also contributes to your weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise wise, high intensity workouts (weight lifting, or sprints) can be a good way to go. They fit into a short time, and get your body burning calories for longer, but it should be thought of as a supplement to your weight loss rather than the main mechanism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will probably be difficult in the beginning, but if you stick with it and manage to adapt a healthy diet, and fit in regular exercise, you will feel all the better for it, and it will get much easier to maintain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13394" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T07:30:18.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24797" CreationDate="2015-05-28T10:20:00.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is debate over how beneficial stretching actually is, but for these hard to stretch areas a foam roller (or similar tools for reaching smaller areas, such as the spikey balls) can be very useful for releasing tension short term, similar to a massage. They are pretty straight forward to use, but guides can be found online through a quick search. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combining the foam roller with light exercises to focus on engaging and strengthening the muscle that is producing the &quot;pain&quot;, should allow it to relax. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always be sure the &quot;pain&quot; is not due to injury before doing anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13394" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T10:20:00.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13141" CreationDate="2015-05-28T10:23:46.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had been regularly going for fitness training every morning. I got afraid i will be deprived of regular exercises when some spider veins started appearing on my legs. My friend, Albert had suggested that i should stop doing exercises and give maximum rest to my legs. He was having the opinion that if i ignore the spider veins it will turn in to painful varicose veins. In some articles (&lt;a href=&quot;http://gurusgarden.com/disease.aspx?did=Varicose%20Veins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gurusgarden.com/disease.aspx?did=Varicose%20Veins&lt;/a&gt;) i had read that mild exercise is suggested for varicose vein and spider vein patients as said above by Sarah and BackInShapeBuddy for improving blood circulation in the legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After consulting with the vein specialist, Mr. Roy Chavarcode regading the same he suggested me of some herbal food supplements and advised me to continue with mild exercises and suggested that heavy exercise can make the conditions worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15866" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T10:23:46.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-28T11:32:44.330" Score="3" ViewCount="5653" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea to do rotator cuff exercises (as a means of prevention of injury) using weights prior to doing exercises that utilize the rotator cuff such as the shoulder press or bench press and others? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15867" LastEditorUserId="15867" LastEditDate="2015-05-28T14:50:00.300" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:48:43.110" Title="Doing rotator cuff exercises prior to bench press and shoulder press and any other exercises" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24797" CreationDate="2015-05-28T12:12:15.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the upper outer front part of my leg feels tight or painful during squats, I find the best results from stretching my glutes. Stretches like yoga's pigeon pose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fmb0f.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pigeon pose&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or pushing my knees out from a deep 3rd world squat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qa3Ci.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;3rd world squat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...seem to help the most. Foam rolling the area that actually hurts can help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T12:12:15.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24820" CreationDate="2015-05-28T12:40:19.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/picture-of-the-rotator-cuff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rotator cuff&lt;/a&gt; is collection of four tendons and muscles.  Most people don't target them until they've had some form of injury to the area.  They are typically &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/rotator-cuff-injury-stretches#2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercised&lt;/a&gt; using bands, towels, cables, stretches, and &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; light weights.  If you've had previous problems with your rotator cuff, it's not a bad idea to warm up first.  Make sure to perform any exercise with strict form.  If you currently have problems with the RC, you should seek the advice of a physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T12:40:19.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24796" CreationDate="2015-05-28T14:33:40.527" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both @Sean Duggan and @Kneel-Before-ZOD already gives you a great answer. Here I just want to give you several tips on how to find alternative replacement for soda or cokes, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to be a soda drinker, a lot, and also some iced tea, sweet iced tea, etc... Also I love to eat sweet meat. When I cook chick wings, I will add in a lot of sugar, honey... The bad thing is sugar or honey will increase your body fat very efficiently, which is a bad news for us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is easy, maybe not decent but you could have a try. I just replace soda with diet soda, replace sugar with 0 cal sweeter. Yes, the test of diet soda and 0 cal sweeter is not as good as soda with actually sugar but it can actually reduce the cal you eat, a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know any hard evidence that diet soda and 0 cal sweeter will do bad thing to your body, so you could try it safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you could replace sugar with sweeter, you actually already eat less cal. The next stop is to try to use less sweeter, maybe just one meal with sweeter a week, or less diet soda only for weekend. Or, you could replace with diet soda with iced tea you made yourself with sweeter. You could find a lot of recipe for iced tea online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least those method I mentioned helps me a lot. Now I only drink died soda over Sunday or even none a week. However, I used to drink soda several cans a day a year ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15842" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T14:33:40.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24805" CreationDate="2015-05-28T15:40:26.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA;If all you have is 5 minutes and your goal is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;physical endurance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;High Intensity Interval Training&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; exercises are strongly recommended.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Cardio exercises are very good for the heart and when performed with high intensity periodically, they build physical endurance. Also, by nature of HIIT, they are supposed to be performed in a relatively short period. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tabata training&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, for example, is performed in a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;20 seconds high intensity, 10 seconds low intensity&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for 4 minutes total. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're interested in purchasing equipments, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;sprinting, plyometric, and body-weight exercises&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are your best options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T15:40:26.480" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24820" CreationDate="2015-05-28T15:53:54.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a &lt;strong&gt;very bad idea&lt;/strong&gt;. The main role of the rotator cuff muscles is positioning the center of the Humerus head in the precise place during each movement (avoiding the dreaded &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686133/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;humeral head migration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;), so that the action of the &quot;big&quot; muscles (pecs, lat, deltoid heads) does not result in soft tissue impingement and the rotation takes place smoothly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By exhausting those tiny muscles &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the big exercises, they will be less ready to protect your shoulders. Really, it is a very bad idea. It is asking for injuries. Just read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2474814/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers have established that superior migration of the humeral head increases after fatigue of the rotator cuff muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rotator cuff exercises, if any at all, should be done &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; your workout. And also, you have to do a truly big effort in abandoning your bodybuilder instinct during those exercises. They must be done (in case you still insist in doing them) with &lt;em&gt;very light&lt;/em&gt; load, high slow reps, and trying simply to get a bit tired, never to exhaustion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are young and you haven't had any shoulder issues, your best way of protecting your shoulders is by having perfect form during your normal exercises. Also, avoid behind-the-neck press/pull exercises. And do not be very obsessed with working your shoulders separately very often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-05-28T19:10:33.530" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T19:10:33.530" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24805" CreationDate="2015-05-28T18:37:14.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second  on   Tabata  protocol ,  note however , that  the  (very good) endurance increase  is subject  to  2  issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) you  should be pretty  fit  to  doing  tabata&#xA;2) the gains will stall after  3 weeks (or something   like that),  so  you  could expect  6 to 12  good training  sessions , that  will  do you  good. after that   you  will gain  nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T18:37:14.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24820" CreationDate="2015-05-28T19:11:28.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I myself have become very interested in this area, based on my research I have discovered that Massachusetts General Hospital actually DO recommend doing warm up exercises under the heading &lt;strong&gt;Prevention of Injuries in Weight Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The source can be found here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.massgeneral.org/ortho/services/sports/rehab/Strength%20Training%20for%20the%20shoulder.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.massgeneral.org/ortho/services/sports/rehab/Strength%20Training%20for%20the%20shoulder.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15867" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T19:11:28.550" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24820" CreationDate="2015-05-28T22:20:34.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that you need to consider whether or not the rotator cuff exercises  before lifting are a &lt;em&gt;light warm-up&lt;/em&gt; or performed to the point of fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the exercises fatigue the rotator cuff muscles, then as @Mephisto cautions, the humeral head will migrate superiorly especially with overhead exercise such as the shoulder press.  This is an unwanted consequence causing less room for the cuff between the acromion and humeral head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Wickiewicz did an xray study looking at the effect of rotator cuff muscle fatigue and humeral migration.  He found (pg 6) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.papcstrong.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/baseball.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that the effect of exercise fatigue&lt;/a&gt; in individuals with “normal”&#xA;  rotator cuff musculature will cause the humeral head to superiorly migrate in the glenoid&#xA;  during overhead motion, mimicking the same superior humeral head migration that&#xA;  occurs in individuals with rotator cuff pathology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fatigued rotator cuff could not&#xA;  “offset” the strong pull of the deltoid musculature previously described, resulting in a&#xA;  superior migration of the humeral head on the glenoid during overhead ROM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Wickiewicz%20TH%2C%20Chen%20SK%2C%20Otis%20JC%2C%20and%20Warren%20RF%3A%20Glenohumeral%20kinematics%20in&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; His Xray Study Shows&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After fatigue, excursion of the humeral head increased .... With the initiation of abduction, the humeral head demonstrated significant superior migration or translation in all positions tested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This result has important implications for conservative treatment of shoulder impingement and underscores the importance of rehabilitation to maximize the endurance and strength of the rotator cuff musculature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if exercised to the point of fatigue, prior to weight lifting or overhead activity, these muscles will not offer joint protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Massachusetts General recommendations that you cited are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;as a warm-up using light weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T22:20:34.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24728" CreationDate="2015-05-29T00:08:15.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your heart is a muscle running 24*7 and putting it in the red zone day in day out may not be the best decision. The ideal approach will be to make the heart habitual of controlled stress (Most athletes follow this approach) and let it go back to its green easy zone aka rest period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing cardio 4 times works for many as they get the motivation and the energy to hit the limit every third day and also get ample rest to not sweat all day out of fatique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15392" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T00:08:15.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-29T00:51:06.077" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to try them out with my gym buddy, is it commonly done in the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9930" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T05:23:11.993" Title="Is double-men deadlift or squat or bench-press common?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-29T03:21:25.940" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've watched videos of two big bodybuilders, Jay Cutler and Hunter Labrada. Both bodybuilders start with the premise of &quot;your calves are being used all day long...&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/zf5GJrwYGc8?t=16m20s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jay Cutler&lt;/a&gt; finishes with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You got to train them like every other body part. If I'm doing high repititions when I walk, why would I do high&#xA;  reptitions in the gym? (Demonstrates with 10 reps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/r7HmshZvys8?t=49s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hunter Labrada&lt;/a&gt; finishes with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It takes more stimulation and reps to train than any other muscle. (Demonstrates with 30 reps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which bodybuilder should I believe? Jay Cutler is a far more successful bodybuilder than Hunter Labrada because Jay has been Mr. Olympia 4 times, but both guys look much better than I'd ever hope to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T20:35:07.127" Title="Which rep range contributes to the most hypertrophy of calves?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;calves&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24831" CreationDate="2015-05-29T05:23:11.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like an incredibly bad idea. Unless you have an extra long barbell, it'll be hard to both get a good grip, and what's going to happen when your friend suddenly drops the barbell halfway through a deadlift? Is risking permanent, severe damage to your back worth it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who injure their backs through improperly performed deadlifts often have pain on and off permanently, and not just pain when lifting but constant pain, the kind of pain that will make it hard to concentrate on doing your desk job. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to being risky, it'll also be much worse as an exercise since you won't have the control to push yourself as far as you can when lifting on your own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no, it's not common, I've been lifting for 5+ years and I've never ever seen anyone try either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T05:23:11.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24813" CreationDate="2015-05-29T06:41:24.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems like everyone has giving you some good advice. However, I agree with JohnP the most because your health should be the most important aspect of your life. Find something you like, get up and take breaks frequently to drink some water throughout the day is cheap and possibly would give you the most health benefits while you are at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are sitting mostly at work, you will need to do some exercises to strengthen your core, back, posture and yes even your hip extensors (buttocks). Keep in mind that getting out of your chair and doing these exercises a few times per day is best. Here are some exercises/workouts you can try while you are at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.qikmood.com/category/Deskercising&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deskercising&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.qikmood.com/category/DeskYoga&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DeskYoga&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you can also try these moves/workouts while you are at home a few times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.qikmood.com/video/AbsAndCoreWorkouts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Abs and Core Workouts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.qikmood.com/video/TotalBodyWorkouts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Total Body Workouts&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give them a try and let us know how you feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastEditorUserId="4967" LastEditDate="2015-05-29T14:06:56.203" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T14:06:56.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24756" CreationDate="2015-05-29T07:39:03.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know how much that sucks because it happens to me too from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is a fully wasted workout. I am doing a linear progression. Each time when I don't get a minimum amount of sleep, I simply insert one additional rest day. When I eventually go back to the gym, I always find that it was not so terrible after all, because my linear progression has moved forward, i. e. I am still able to do some more reps, sometimes as many as I had expected, only a day or two later. So I guess that inserting one or more additional rest days sort of compensates at least partially. I believe that bad sleep &lt;em&gt;slows down&lt;/em&gt; my progress but it does not stop it altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get obsessed. Just do your best to get enough sleep: avoid caffeine altogether, wake up at the same exact time every day, don't work out short before going to bed (google for &quot;sleep hygiene&quot; for more useful tricks) and insert rest days whenever that is not possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to show you something that will convince you of not worrying so much about &lt;em&gt;one isolated&lt;/em&gt; sleepless night. Since I started my training five months ago, I register my sleep times together with my weight, reps and so on. I have now enough data to start drawing some interesting conclusions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first graphic shows how many hours I sleep each day vs how many hours I slept the day before. This graphic really pisses me off: as you see, sleeping more than six hours for me has often bad consequences the following night, I will not be tired enough and I won't sleep much. I have accepted that and stopped trying to get &lt;em&gt;as much sleep as possible&lt;/em&gt; every night. This has improved my quality of life. I don't sleep much, but at least I sleep regularly now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Da1ap.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the most interesting graphic follows. The horizontal axis shows here the same: how many hours I sleep each day. But the vertical axis shows the average hours slept each day plus the day before (for instance, 3 hours today and 7 hours tomorrow will be 5 hours in the vertical axis):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kAgdT.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The points here have a tendency to clutter in a central band. That shows that having a bad night is not so important in the long run, because my body will compensate the following day (assuming I allow for that). It is not perfect (the band is not horizontal, so yes, the missing slept is never 100% recovered) but it should show you that, as long as you allow your body to compensate the missing hours, a poor sleep night is diluted in just a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles do not recover and grow during the very first post-workout night only. It takes a couple of days as anyone here will tell you. If you couple that fact with the latter graphic, you won't worry so much about missing one isolated night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you don't allow for recovery the next night and so you start missing one night after the other, nothing I said is valid and you will be ruining not only your workouts, but your entire health. Also, it is important to stress here that &lt;em&gt;I always insert an additional rest day in my schedule for each bad sleep night&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-05-30T01:34:39.120" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T01:34:39.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13695" CreationDate="2015-05-29T17:29:22.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just make sure the entire rubber area is moist enough right before you put the strap on. It should work immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15873" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T17:29:22.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24740" CreationDate="2015-05-29T21:14:18.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look of a &quot;Constant Effort&quot; table of &lt;a href=&quot;http://fellrnr.com/wiki/Calories_burned_running_and_walking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calories burned running and walking&lt;/a&gt; page at &lt;a href=&quot;http://fellrnr.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FellRnr.com&lt;/a&gt;. That site is a treasure trove of all kind of running related data &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15877" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T21:14:18.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24800" CreationDate="2015-05-30T02:16:17.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;30 minutes 4x per week of HIIT is a lot of HIIT. You are probably better off with 1-2 sessions of it and make other cardio sessions easier. You need time to recover from high intensity sessions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2238" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T02:16:17.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19270" CreationDate="2015-05-30T03:07:57.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As everyone already mentioned, your grip is fatiguing sooner than you complete a full rep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static bar holds, pull-up bar hangs, heavy deadlifts strapless, plate pinches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mixed grip causes some imbalances in muscle development if you are over-reliant on them. Swithching between that and the double overhand will give you the best of both worlds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15507" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T03:07:57.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-30T14:15:22.950" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I was shown changes in my pant size from last year of same month and the width was like half of finger size wider from what was last year. I do have tummy but it got me thinking as I use to work a lot last year. Can it be width of body frame being broaden or really my waist that is showing this? I also use to eat like 8 meals a day last year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T15:10:48.937" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T15:10:48.937" Title="Checking Body width" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-31T10:52:38.233" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;checked the help centre and it said questions about gadgets are on topic, so I thought this was close enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an android app which has a running speed goal, measures speed, gives audio feedback? I'm looking for one which uses the capabilities of the phone, and doesn't need extra dongles...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of apps which coach you to a 5k, which is very useful, but I find I need a new goal after I can run 5k, and I want to work on going faster much more than I want to run 10k... It takes over 45 minutes for me to &quot;run&quot; 5k, so there is a lot of room for improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I know purchase recommendations are a no-no, but let me add I don't mind paying for a good app, but I'm not going to fork out every month for a subscription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15845" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T11:25:28.763" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T11:05:01.360" Title="is there an app which has running speed goal, measures speed, gives audio feedback?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;5k&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-31T12:22:41.043" Score="0" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to start P90x, but I don't have enough time for their nutrition. I don't want to prepare anything, also I don't have access to some of the suggested foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer to have dinner and other meals with my family. I'm very skinny and I want to add muscle, so calories should not be a big deal for me. Also, I don't have access to their &lt;code&gt;Results and recovery formula&lt;/code&gt; neither. The perfect solution for me is a simple pre-workout and post-workout meal, something like a protein shake with Whey and other handy supplements, as they suggest on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the web&lt;/a&gt;. I'll be thankful if someone can guide me with a simple nutrition for this workout and appreciate for my weight and goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at level 1, 1,800 calories per day. 65 kg and about 180 cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15757" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T15:30:21.273" Title="P90x nutrition guide" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24846" CreationDate="2015-05-31T14:03:11.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply record your natural waist, hips, and umbilicus circumferences along with your sagittal abdominal diameter each month, and graph the data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0jCiq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;sagittal abdominal diameter&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T14:03:11.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24848" CreationDate="2015-05-31T17:54:47.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the of the premium / pro offerings provide this eg. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://about.mapmyfitness.com/2013/02/your-mvp-questions-answered/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MapMyFitness MVP&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.runtastic.com/en/technology/runtastic-features/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runtastic&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://techfuture.co.uk/2014/01/review-endomondo-sports-tracker/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endomondo Premium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T18:06:05.757" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T18:06:05.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14041" CreationDate="2015-05-31T18:37:52.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are app's such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://syncmytracks.com/#compatibility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SyncMyTracks&lt;/a&gt; that attempt to synchronize your workouts with a dozen of the main providers, and the majority of app's are adding the ability to sync with at least one of the aggregators eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Fit&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_(application)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apple Health&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyFitnessPal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T18:37:52.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5492" CreationDate="2015-05-31T18:48:28.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.runtastic.com/en/runtastic-all-about/intervall-training-implemented-runtastic-iphone-17/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Runtastic Pro&lt;/a&gt; offers an &lt;strong&gt;Interval Training&lt;/strong&gt; feature that appears to offer more or less what you require.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T18:48:28.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24857" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-05-31T19:37:03.290" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T19:37:03.290" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T19:37:03.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24858" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-05-31T19:37:03.290" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T19:37:03.290" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T19:37:03.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24773" CreationDate="2015-06-01T07:03:05.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 120/30 test is something about the best kick off practice. Measure the heart rate during jog and switch back to walk once HR goes beyond 120 which almost always after 2-3 min run by fact. Afterwards run again. Repeat. 30 minutes long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep trying until your HR stabilises and then you can achieve more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why 120bpm? Because of recovery run based on that. All marathoners keep running recovery slow pace run during training period. It keeps heart healthy and ready to push hard next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart Rate is the key, build heart muscles first then you can run marathon or jogging faster. No marathoners run on high pulse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15890" LastEditorUserId="15890" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T08:18:46.033" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T08:18:46.033" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24740" CreationDate="2015-06-01T11:53:26.353" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The page Teemu found links to &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/93/3/1039&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jap.physiology.org/content/93/3/1039&lt;/a&gt;. Here is what I get by eyeballing &lt;em&gt;Figure 1, Metabolic energy cost of walking or running as a function of the gradient&lt;/em&gt;, figure B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grade........ Energy used compared to flat&lt;br&gt;&#xA;-50%..........105%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;-40%..........100%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;-30%...........70%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;-20%...........60%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;-10%...........60%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;0%............100%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;10%...........170%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;20%...........250%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;30%...........360%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;40%...........420%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;50%...........550%  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T23:45:00.143" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T23:45:00.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24805" CreationDate="2015-06-01T12:02:12.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As other people say HIIT is the best with strict time schedules. Try burpees, it is hard &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/1jhRdJTt8sY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/1jhRdJTt8sY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15890" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T12:02:12.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-01T12:05:46.910" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;About six months ago, I hurt my wrist whilst doing deadlifts with an underhanded grip (i.e. the position at the top of the deadlift looks like the bottom of a bicep curl). The pain was at the base of my wrist on the little finger side just above the round bony bit that sticks out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped doing the offending exercise and all was good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then today, whilst doing pullups on a tree branch (overhand grip) I experienced exactly the same injury. The tree branch was about the same circumference as a loaf of bread, and it is angled, so obviously it was very different to pull-ups using a pull up bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as I felt the pain, I stopped and turned around (i.e. so the branch would be sloping in the opposite direction relative to my body), with the same result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done plenty of pull-ups on that same tree before with no injury, so not sure why I hurt myself today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unloaded, my wrist feels 98%, no real pain and no loss of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions as to what might have happened? And what should I do? How long should I rest my wrist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15896" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T12:05:46.910" Title="Wrist pain with UHG deadlifts and fat grip pullups" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2015-06-01T15:12:57.237" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This gadget will do the job nicely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SportCount Chrono 200 Lap Counter and Timer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BOkZg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://goo.gl/5WfoUE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://goo.gl/5WfoUE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the link breaks - Google the name&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7815" LastEditorUserId="7815" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T07:17:33.643" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T07:17:33.643" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18323" CreationDate="2015-06-01T19:50:04.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodypump with low/moderate weight selection doesn't make anything what weight lifting can do for your muscles. Bodypump by default is HIIT oriented activity which builds heart muscle stronger and help you improve endurance (low weight selection + many repetitions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be focused on building muscles try proper weights within Bodypump session + supersets beforehand. It works really well for me. I do 6 trainings per week (2 classes a day) which include combination of Bodypump/Bodyattack, Bodycombat/Bodypump, Bodypump/Spinning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice a difference for small muscle groups like biceps to perform combination of supersets with heavy weight create fatigue followed by Bodypump less weight/many repetitions cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15890" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T19:50:04.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16148" CreationDate="2015-06-01T20:23:23.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I think the new apple watch is what you need. It can measure your heart rate and provide more informations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yes, at least you need to pay 300$, but you get more then a monitor, but a smart watch. I have one and I think it is great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15842" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T20:23:23.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24808" CreationDate="2015-06-02T01:02:20.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There doesn't appear to be anything out there that exactly meets your requirements eg. in, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uksca.org.uk/uksca/RelatedFiles/Who%20is%20strongest%20.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Who is Strongest?&#xA;Adjusting Lifting Performance for Differences in Body Weight, Dan Cleather, MA, ASCC, CSCS&lt;/a&gt; it states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;despite the wide use of the Wilks formula, it has never been fully&#xA;  supported by published data. An alternative method for comparing the&#xA;  powerlifting performances of athletes of different body weight was&#xA;  proposed by Mel Siff&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which the paper goes on to explain. But there is a paper that appears to validate the Wilks formula: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10613442&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Validation of the Wilks powerlifting formula. Vanderburgh PM1, Batterham AM.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T01:02:20.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19550" CreationDate="2015-06-02T06:23:13.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somatotyping is essentially &lt;strong&gt;stereotyping&lt;/strong&gt; (assigning an “&lt;strong&gt;empirical generalization&lt;/strong&gt;” to an individual), as to whether this is valid / acceptable is another matter, but have a read of: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200804/all-stereotypes-are-true-except-i-what-are-stereotypes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;All Stereotypes Are True, Except... I: What Are Stereotypes&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway &lt;strong&gt;Somatotyping&lt;/strong&gt; is taught, in English Schools and Universities, as a valid means to assess an individual's suitability / potential to become an &lt;strong&gt;elite&lt;/strong&gt; performer in certain sports eg. basketball, gymnastics, distance running, rowing, wrestler.... Even the BBC &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/pe/performance/0_performance_nutrition_rev3.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;covers the technique&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's generally packaged up / taught under the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/applied-anatomy-and-biomechanics-in-sport-2nd-edition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Applied Anatomy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinanthropometry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kinanthropometry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; banners, and is backed by a number of studies that have shown a correlation between certain physical characteristics and achievement at an &lt;strong&gt;elite&lt;/strong&gt; level in certain sports e.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eprints.qut.edu.au/12753/1/12753.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Olympic Lightweight and Open Rowers possess distinctive physical and&#xA;proportionality characteristics for selecting elite athletes &lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2465306/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anthropometric characteristics, body composition and somatotype of&#xA;elite junior tennis players&lt;/a&gt;,  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/Suppl_1/i13.2.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Relationship between different swimming styles and somatotype in national level swimmers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johk.pl/files/10078-30-2011-v30-2011-03.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Somatotype Variables Related to Muscle Torque and Power in Judoists&lt;/a&gt;,  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ir.nmu.org.ua/bitstream/handle/123456789/133883/8954d0528826dc07beab6f55ad826d97.pdf?sequence=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kinanthropometry IX: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Advancements of Kinanthropometry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sophia_Papadopoulou2/publication/235249565_Anthropometric_characteristics_and_body_composition_of_Greek_elite_women_volleyball_players/links/0fcfd510a744c65236000000.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anthropometric characteristics and body composition of Greek elite women volleyball players&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/hukin.2014.40.issue-1/hukin-2014-0020/hukin-2014-0020.xml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Somatotype of Top-Level Serbian Rhythmic Gymnasts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anup_Adhikari/publication/272508913_Anthropometric_characteristic_body_composition_and_somatotype_of_Canadian_female_soccer_players/links/54e80f1e0cf2f7aa4d4f0dd1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anthropometric characteristic, body composition and somatotype of Canadian female soccer players&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anthropometrica: A Textbook of Body Measurement for Sports and Health Courses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/91924497/anthropometric-morphological-somatotype-characteristics-athletes-brazilian-mens-volleyball-team-11-year-descriptive-study&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anthropometric, morphological and somatotype characteristics of athletes of the Brazilian Men’s volleyball team: an 11-year descriptive study&lt;/a&gt; (2013)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://casopisi.junis.ni.ac.rs/index.php/FUPhysEdSport/article/view/292&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The influence of Somatotype components on success in sport climbing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;....&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also papers that show the methodology is not applicable to the selection of athletes in multi discipline events, or where random and / or environmental variables play a significant role eg.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640419108729874&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comparison of body composition and somatotype of trained female triathletes&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last few decades &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.somatotype.org/Heath-CarterManual.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Heath-Carter&lt;/a&gt; and Rempel have formularised the categorization process, and the technique has been used is a number of anthropometric studies eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Study on the adult physique with the Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotype in the Han of Xi'an, China.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Somatotype characteristics of female patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Somatotype characteristics of male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have also been numerous studies that show a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;neurobiological effect / benefit of physical exercise&lt;/a&gt;, to quote wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People who regularly participate in aerobic exercise have greater&#xA;  scores on neuropsychological function and performance tests. Examples&#xA;  of aerobic exercise that produce these changes are running, jogging,&#xA;  brisk walking, swimming, and cycling. Exercise intensity and duration&#xA;  are positively correlated with the release of neurotrophic factors and&#xA;  the magnitude of nearly all forms of exercise-induced behavioral and&#xA;  neural plasticity; consequently, more pronounced improvements in&#xA;  measures of neuropsychological performance are observed in endurance&#xA;  athletes as compared to recreational athletes or sedentary&#xA;  individuals. Aerobic exercise is also a potent long-term&#xA;  antidepressant and a short-term euphoriant; consequently, consistent&#xA;  exercise has also been shown to produce general improvements in mood&#xA;  and self-esteem in all individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which would appear to accidentally / partially support Sheldon original work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a bit of background and a list of a dozen papers that support the technique, in sports selection, see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/bodytype.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BrianMac&lt;/a&gt; site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-08-19T13:34:04.213" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T13:34:04.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24412" CreationDate="2015-06-02T08:03:51.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can share only what I experienced by myself. Fitbit Aria weights + Fitbit Charge HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I bought weights I drop 6kg, since having wristband I started walk 20K steps a day. All in one complete solution helps you to track activity in one place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15890" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T08:03:51.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T08:27:08.880" Score="3" ViewCount="46500" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a review at my gym yesterday, and the trainer measured my body fat percentage, weight, height etc and exclaimed that, my body fat percentage needs improving (it is right now at 8%), he had never seen or heard of such a low visceral fat percentage - which is currently at 1%. But he didn't mention what the ideal amount is, or if it is even good or bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, I'm 27 now, at 180 cm and 54 kg. I'm very, very thin - have always been, and am trying to put on some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ps: I originally thought he said &quot;vascular fat percentage&quot;, but, googling for it gives me no results but suggests visceral fat percentage instead, so I suppose I could have misheard it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15270" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T11:50:02.410" Title="What is an ideal visceral fat percentage?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4301" CreationDate="2015-06-02T08:31:50.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.johnugwuadi.simplemacro&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Simple Macro&lt;/a&gt; to track my macros/calories. It's a nice simple app which does exactly what I want it to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for setting your goal intake, a good place to start would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IIFYM.com&lt;/a&gt;. It has an easy to use calculator which will give you a set amount to eat per day based on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T08:31:50.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24874" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T10:14:23.420" Score="8" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the prilepin tables like this one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2012/05/prilepin-tables-for-bodyweight-strength-isometric-and-eccentric-exercises/&quot;&gt;http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2012/05/prilepin-tables-for-bodyweight-strength-isometric-and-eccentric-exercises/&lt;/a&gt; attested by scientists? Or are they just someone's best guess?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's relevant, I am using this table to tell me how long to do planks for and how many reps to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can't hold the plank for much more than 6s at the moment, so it says I should do 6 reps...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15845" LastEditorUserId="15845" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T10:31:15.397" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T18:58:13.147" Title="How scientific are the Prilepin tables?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4301" CreationDate="2015-06-02T12:06:12.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find My Fitness Pal to have everything I need, possibly too many features for some, but most of them can just be ignored quite easily. With an extensive database of foods and the ability to scan packaging bar codes and recall recently logged foods, its pretty quick and easy to use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also has a calculator for recommended calorie intake based on weight, and weight loss/gain rate (0.25kg per week, 0.5kg per week, etc.) and target weight, but if you find its not working or for whatever other reason, you can choose your target calories manually. Macros can also be set to what you want based on percentage calories, and if you really want, you can track and set targets for micro-nutrients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other features include reminders for meal timing, weight tracking (lacks body fat tracking) and it can sync with compatible peripherals/activity trackers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The app does not recommend or contain any recipes specific to weight loss or muscle growth, but anything you find online or in books can be stored as a complete recipe in the app, with full nutrition details and calorie count per portion, which speeds up the whole process, especially if you're sticking to a strict and repeating diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13394" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T12:06:12.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24871" CreationDate="2015-06-02T14:24:05.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For extra info, in case you haven't read in detail during your searches, visceral fat is intra-abdominal, found around your organs and is generally considered a strong indicator of health risk when overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's proving very difficult to find any information on &quot;ideal&quot; visceral fat levels, with everything I come across advocating lowering your visceral fat level. This gives me the impression that a low visceral fat level is not a bad thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to lower limits on body fat in general, a males essential body fat percentage is around 3-5%, with women's slightly higher. This is an unsustainable level and even professional body builders only go there for short periods at a time during competitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, if you are in the process of increasing your body weight, and expect to gain fat, you will likely increase both your overall body fat as well as visceral body fat percentages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are considerably worried about you weight/health, its best consult your doctor for peace of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13394" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T14:24:05.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24880" CreationDate="2015-06-02T22:47:05.933" Score="4" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between job, taking care of family, and studying for certifications, it's a miracle I even have time to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can easily purchase heavier dumbbells to work my upper body, but how to add resistance to lower body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only option I see is to buy ankle weights (I already have 5 lbs), but somehow I am thinking if I purchase heavier and heavier ones, the Velcro isn't strong enough to keep the ankle weights closed firm around the ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, going to gym is not option at this time, else I'd do leg presses and all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:42:51.480" Title="How to Strengthen Legs at Home" Tags="&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="868" CreationDate="2015-06-03T04:38:56.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in Pilates,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are parts of core engagement --&#xA;1) Pelvic floor -- contract them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Glutes -- narrow sits bones / squeeze glutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Inner thighs should be strong and heavy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Abs -- Suck the tummy in, all the way &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Ribcage -- narrow the ribcage inwards or tuck the ribcage(this makes upper abs engaged)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8057" LastEditorUserId="8057" LastEditDate="2015-06-04T01:26:55.613" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T01:26:55.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16376" CreationDate="2015-06-03T05:17:16.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Asked a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23621/fitness-trackers-and-track-running&quot;&gt;similar&lt;/a&gt; question a few months back, about how accurate GPS based devices were for measuring the distance run on a track, was deleted as off topic. Anyway I had a search and play, appears a few bodies had already composed a few tables giving the found accuracy for various devices e.g &lt;a href=&quot;http://fellrnr.com/wiki/GPS_Accuracy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GPS Accuracy of Garmin, Polar, and other Running Watches&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lead me to having a play with a Sony Smartwatch 3, Adidas miCoach speed Cell + x-cell combo, Polar H7 HRM and Watch combo, Runtastic Combo.... (was given a toy box a couple of months back to play with / evaluate). If you ignore the pairing with a phone being a bit temperamental the Adidas combination appeared fairly accurate, but you'll only be able to get at your data once in front of a PC. The others are really only suited for distance activities e.g. to stop an activity on the smartwatch will take a tap to activate the screen, a swipe to go from a time / distance display, to a screen with a pause button, a tap to pause, another swipe and tap to stop..... essentially stopping the timer will take a second or two, so not suitable for a sprint. Also found the error in the distance recorded, by any of the GPS devices based devices, was more dependent on the app you've chosen to use than the device itself, appears the app's have different sample rates eg. Google's My Tracks only captures your position every 10 secs (can be altered), and the GPS position is only accurate to 10m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway per @Darko Sarovic answer, I'd probably stick with a stopwatch, but if you have time to play look at creating your own home grown timing gate eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-Sensor-Timer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Laser sensor project&lt;/a&gt;, or using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005P1KDUG?psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lego light sensor&lt;/a&gt; eg. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ8M5sbC6Mg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lego Mindstorms Drag Race with Light Gate (photo finish)&lt;/a&gt;, or one of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42805&amp;amp;p=343977&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Raspberry Pi&lt;/a&gt; / arduino projects, or possibly play with a Sony Smartwatch; in theory it could be useful in combination with a phone mounted on a tripod at the finish line. As it can be used as a manual / noise activated trigger for the video camera on the phone. So as long as you're recording with a timestamp you'll have an accurate time. The watch has both Bluetooth and Wifi, so if out of Bluetooth range the Wifi connectivity may be good for a whole track, will have to have a play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T21:10:38.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24877" CreationDate="2015-06-03T06:15:19.490" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best body only exercises for your legs would be squats, lunges and dead lifts. If you have dumb bells you can try adding them to all of the above exercises, otherwise doing around 30 of each exercise a day, in my opinion is a good routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15905" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T06:15:19.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24877" CreationDate="2015-06-03T07:01:07.357" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have a large (60+ liters) backpack? If so, fill it up with water (or better: sand) bottles and you can reach about 70-100 kg of weight. Put that on your back and do squats, lunges and other leg exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ankle weights will not give you strong legs, they are far, far too light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T07:01:07.357" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19550" CreationDate="2015-06-03T07:08:58.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no distinct body types and they are for the most part not connected to personality, with the exception of eating habits. People with high apetite will have an easier time putting on both fat and muscle. So one could say that endomorphs tend to like food more than ectomorphs I guess, assuming that the higher body weight is caused to a larger degree by apetite than by any difference in metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, thin people typically overestimate the amount of calories they eat, while large people underestimate it, leading to the wide-spread myth of high or low metabolism being common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said above, there are no distinct body types, but there are body types! Some people are born shot putters and some are born marathon runners. Genes do have an impact, but they don't make people cluster around these three types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T07:08:58.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-03T09:37:36.980" Score="5" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 14 and play soccer on a team. I am small and not very fast. I'm not fully physically developed yet so I don't know if certain exercises could stunt my growth or cause injuries, etc. Does anyone have any advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15913" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T17:41:32.363" Title="How to improve my speed?" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24884" CreationDate="2015-06-03T10:32:55.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Afaik, the whole &quot;exercise stunts growth&quot; idea is a myth, as long as you eat enough, lifting weights will not interfere with your growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people do weight lifting with explosiveness focus to get faster, but that should be done with a professional. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T10:32:55.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-03T11:59:14.513" Score="1" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm researching about how to increase BMR efficiently. (Note that BMR, not TDEE) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to increase mine by 100% in the long term. How can I do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A way is increasing muscle obvisously. Also we see people whose metabolism is faster than usual. They don't move much but they are always skinny even if they eat a lot! I'm sure there are tons of variables relevant but maybe there is something we could replicate or develop to be similar to them. Any ideas about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastEditorUserId="15717" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T12:09:34.243" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T23:20:13.423" Title="How to increase BMR by 100%?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15341" CreationDate="2015-06-03T12:38:16.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've been at a desk for many years, it may simply take a long time for your efforts to show progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond what you've tried, I would strongly recommend a standing desk. Part of your problem may be that you do all this work just to return to the same position (sitting at a desk) making it difficult for your body to change.  That's conjecture obviously, but a standing desk has worked wonders for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standing or sitting, a professional ergonomic assessment would also be valuable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put simply, if being at a desk all day is causing problems the best remedy will be fixing your desk, not trying to mitigate it's problems with exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10306" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T12:38:16.540" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24884" CreationDate="2015-06-03T13:47:45.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A standard go-to for improving speed is &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/fitness-wind-sprint-routine-11097.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wind sprints&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, you repeatedly go from 0 to as fast as you can and sustain it for a short distance, recover for a few minutes, then repeat. It develops explosive power and, if you have an external starting signal like a friend with a whistle, it helps you develop reflexes so that you start moving as soon as you think of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't worry too much about damaging your growth. That's only really if you're in the upper echelons of effort, such as professional gymnasts, or where you're being forced into repeated impacts in a way that encourages you not to fall properly, such as American football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-06-07T13:34:31.930" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T13:34:31.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16666" CreationDate="2015-06-03T17:37:58.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah you will want to use an isolation exercise for the rear debts, such as forcing the arm backwards and stopping it with the hand of the other arm for 10 seconds on each side ten times, its all about tension in such an exercise, it also greatly improves your rear delt strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:37:58.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24877" CreationDate="2015-06-03T17:42:51.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;your best option is picking two exercise for example mine are star jumps and squats, and also 2 time under tension exercises or dynamic tension. they will tire your muscles out by working them in isolation. for example the quads, stand straight up and raise one leg (straight leg), as high as it will go from the hip, at the top of the movement hold it for a count of 10 slow seconds, do this 10 times on each leg alternating. then for the squats you can use some weights for added resistance but do them slowly and pause in-between movements, make it super controlled going down and going back up you will feel the muscles ripping underneath you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:42:51.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24820" CreationDate="2015-06-03T17:48:43.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;their shouldn't be any problem unless you don't warm up and stretch properly. but with weights and the rotator cuff be careful, i would say to be safe work the rotator cuff on off days to build it up so that then you can begin using the exercise for it on chest/shoulder days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:48:43.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24805" CreationDate="2015-06-03T17:53:11.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;start with at least 20 mins a day and 10 mins of warm up before that, don't bullshit yourself everyone can find 30 mins in the day to exercise, you won't sweat in 5 minutes of bullshit. burpees, push ups, squats, star jumps, skipping rope, shadow boxing you name it you can do it. do crunches instead of sit ups, sit ups mainly work the hip flexors which will cause incorrect posture and form, crucnches hand behind head but not joined together, fingers spread apart only really your fingertips touch your head, elbows flared out and wide, neck forward and looking at ceiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:53:11.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24800" CreationDate="2015-06-03T17:58:52.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get where you are coming from, i used to do 1 hour 40 to 2 hr exercises to lose weight now i do 1 hr ish (usually 1hr 10 mins). bmi hugely depends on frame size but the chart doesn't tell you that most times, most times we think we are medium sized when we can be small frames, which means greatly reducing calories. but make it one hour from now on, a 20 mins warm up (skipping rope or whatever you do, followed by a 5 min stretch, and then your exercises for 40 mins, also remember to do different muscle groups on different days its imperative for real results (a smaller you isn't always a better looking you, a little fats necessary) you will continue to lose weight but the most important aspect is your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T17:58:52.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24730" CreationDate="2015-06-04T00:00:11.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've not played with the Polar Footpod but have played with the similiar Adidas speed Cell + x-cell combo, and if you ignore the occasional bluetooth dropout, and can wait till you have a PC in front of you the gadget appears to be fairly accurate, but not &lt;strong&gt;precise&lt;/strong&gt;. Per the link I stuck in my reply to: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16376/time-yourself-at-100m-sprint/24879#24879&quot;&gt;Time yourself at 100m sprint?&lt;/a&gt;, there have been a few reviews of tracking gadgets eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://fellrnr.com/wiki/GPS_Accuracy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GPS Accuracy of Garmin, Polar, and other Running Watches&lt;/a&gt; that gives the trueness of the distance figures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also per that previous answer, be very sceptical of the distance given by a GPS based app, that's unless you're running in a straight line. Depending on your app a GPS location will only be captured every 5 to 15 seconds (Google's MyTracks allows you to adjust the default 10 second figure, the other are fixed, but you can see their chosen interval by simply comparing the timestamps between reading, in an exported activity track). Essentially they are useless for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23621/fitness-trackers-and-track-running&quot;&gt;track running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do want a precise speed your only real options will either to be to set up some timing gates on your course, or limit yourself to running bleep fitness tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T00:00:11.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24886" CreationDate="2015-06-04T02:01:47.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take it you're aware: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;BMR = Joule per hour per kg body mass J/(h.kg). &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate#BMR_estimation_formulas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMR estimation equations&lt;/a&gt; you'll note they have just 3 variables: &lt;em&gt;Height, Weight&lt;/em&gt; and Age, as muscle to lean mass has been shown not to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate#Aerobic_vs._anaerobic_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;significant&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So assuming you're a human adult only one of these variable is in scope for you to play with. So simply plug your vitals into one of the formula, to obtain your current BMR, then divide this number by the mass multiplier in your chosen formula to work out how many Kg you must gain to double your BMR ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-04T02:19:18.653" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T02:19:18.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24874" CreationDate="2015-06-04T02:18:16.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick Google brings up: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodlift.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Evaluating_Common_Weight_Training_Concepts.15.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Evaluating Common Weight Training Concepts Associated With Developing Muscular Strength: Truths or Myths?&lt;/a&gt; which on bottom of page 92 states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Powerlifting is not considered a power sport; however, several individuals in&#xA;  the sport of powerlifting promote the implementation of a power training&#xA;  program developed by a former U.S.S.R. weightlifting coach Prilepin (37).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Prilepin chart, which has proven to be a successful strategy for&#xA;  improving muscular power, was developed specifically for the sport of&#xA;  weightlifting.  In the sport of weightlifting, force and velocity of execution&#xA;  depends on the load; therefore, selection of the appropriate load is vital for&#xA;  developing the required muscle quality (e.g., strength, endurance, or power).&#xA;  The influence of maximal isometric strength on dynamic force and velocity&#xA;  is greater in high-load slow movements often observed in powerlifting; &#xA;  therefore, a correlation between maximal velocity and maximal strength has not&#xA;  been shown to exist (36).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And cites a couple of further papers, so there appears to be some peer reviewed research to support them eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;36&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zatsiorsky VM. Biomechanical foundations of strength and power training. In:&#xA;Biomechanics in Sport: Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention: Olympic&#xA;Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine. Vol IX. Zatsiorsky VM, ed. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell,2000. pp. 103–113.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zatsiorsky VM and Kraemer WJ. TaskSpecific Strength. In: Science and Practice&#xA;of Strength Training. Zatsiorsky VM and Kraemer WJ, eds. Champaign, IL: Human&#xA;Kinetics, 2006. 18–33.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-04T18:38:55.173" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T18:38:55.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2015-06-04T08:07:46.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some sports, there are exceptions. For example, Lidia Valentin received a Gold medal in European Weightlifting Championships as well as other medals but doesn't Front squat at all. She says it actually hurts her back a little to do so. Then you have people like Benedikt Magnússon, who had a hard time making depth at a best of 837 with the squat, but had no problem raw deadLifting 1015 and holding the top for like 3-4 seconds, lowering it under control. Bob Peoples could deadlift over 700 but barely broke 500. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like the others have said, the ratios are really just goals but not really laws of lifting or anything. If you're built to squat, your deadlift as an amateur will be about equal to your squat and your squat will be higher at elite levels and the other way around if you're built to deadlift. You could also be built to benchpress, but have poor overhead shoulder mobility and press only what you can bench. You could be a very shoulder dominant person and have a shoulder press that's nearly equal to your bench press. Mostly, you try not to have your lifts lag WAY behind but there are always exceptions and just general guidelines that don't have to be taken as law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15919" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T17:11:31.483" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T17:11:31.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-04T14:14:59.360" Score="-1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I begin training, I get a stitch.&#xA;I'm simply wondering whether there is any issue with resisting the pain and continuing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People say that you should listen to your body if it's signalling pain etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone provide scientific evidence on whether it's good or bad to push through it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7815" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T15:57:13.087" Title="Training with a stitch is good or bad?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;stitch&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-05T07:02:44.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24900" CreationDate="2015-06-04T15:42:21.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the very least, there is no inherent harm in continuing. The pain could serve as a distraction, and some people feel that it impacts their performance, but it will not injure you to carry on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T15:42:21.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24900" CreationDate="2015-06-04T15:57:13.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's induced by exercise then you may: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be dehydrated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have started off too fast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have a weak core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not be breathing fully&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc. If it's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; exercise-induced, you might want to have it looked at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes they'll go away essentially instantly if you inhale fully, bend over, stick your finger in the area of pain (not so good for butt stitches), and exhale completely. A few reps might be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it goes away after that it's likely due to one of the reasons above, or it might just have happened for no particular reason at all. If it doesn't go away after that then take a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T15:57:13.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24922" CreationDate="2015-06-04T18:35:40.540" Score="3" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little background: In January of last year, I decided to shed some weight. I was then 97 Kg (213 pounds), and 1.93 meters tall (6.3 feet).  Even without working out, last September,  I weighed 82 Kg (180 pounds). (To be fair the diet has been rather blunt: I stopped eating, basically. I lost 10 Kg (22 pounds) in the first 2 months and then 5 kg (11 pounds) in the following 3. Don't know if this is relevant, anyhow). I then started working out according to the following schedule: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 runs per week (at the beginning it was 6 Km (3.7 miles) at about 8 kph (4.97 mph). Now I do 7.5 Km (4.66 miles) at about 11 kph (6.83 mph). So it is about 40 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 times per week a full-body workout at the gym; not going into detail here, but if you want I'll add something! Anyhow it lasts about 1 hour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now of course I have seen some improvement, especially at the beginning, but there are a couple of problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) I don't feel so  in shape. Even if I miss one time I start to feel a little overweight, more &quot;heavy&quot; so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I like to play soccer, and even though running greatly increased my efficacy, I find myself heavy on the field. I can run forth and back without too much trouble, but when I have to sprint (or to kick the ball really hard), I disappoint myself. I don't feel the muscle in my legs are really &quot;strong&quot;. Also, there is a great variance in how I feel when I run. Sometimes, I feel so heavy I really need to push to complete the 7.5 Km. Other times, I feel very good. I suppose this is normal (?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I still have a little &quot;bud&quot; (I don't know how to say that in English, it's the fat in the lower part of the stomach just above the pelvis). It's better than before, but it is about two months that the situation seems to be stabilized (or maybe even worse a little bit). Maybe my metabolism adjusted to this workout, but what do I have to do now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) This is a minor point and may be just an impression, but when I went to the gym (about 2 years ago), my muscle grew much more than now. Now I am feeling that, even if the weight I lift is about the same than two years ago, my muscle are not so big. Can this be due to the running? Mind you, I am happy to have muscle which are well-defined over too big, but maybe is there something I am doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is not that great, I admit it. I don't control the portions. It's generally pasta with tuna or pasta with ragù. Or, frozen meat. No fish (except from tuna, no vegetables (I don't like them! Maybe you can advise something?) and generally not much else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you advise concerning the aforementioned points? Am I asking too much, or maybe I work out too little? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15928" LastEditorUserId="15928" LastEditDate="2015-06-04T21:25:01.117" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T04:53:55.603" Title="Seemingly useless workout" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;soccer&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-05T00:22:52.237" Score="4" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;My body takes several days to recover after each full-body workout. Several things may play a role on this fact (lack of abundant sleep, mid-age, whatever) but in any case it is very noticeable and I sort of accepted it already (there is progress after all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure whey protein with its fast absorption rate is a great friend of young american-football players full of growth hormone, testosterone and acne. Whey is supposed to release amino acids into the bloodstream faster than any other thing, feeding their efficient recovery abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, since my muscle repair takes place more slowly, I think I need something quite at the opposite end of the absorption rate spectrum, providing me with a lower but more steady supply of amino acids. If I take whey, it will mostly be excreted as urine and/or converted into fat tissue, not to mention the burden on my liver and kidneys, all for nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that right? I have been taking 20-something grams of casein at night during ~10 days now and I might be wrong, but I think it is having a positive impact in my recovery. Muscle soreness disappears faster than usual, and lately I haven't had any joint discomfort (which usually happen in either joint or the other the day after each workout).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had experienced before with white egg powder, but I didn't notice any change. It is too soon to tell with accuracy, but I have the impression that casein is having a positive impact on my recovery times (remark: the rest of the day I eat natural foods). Not much on the load or volume progress, but on the recovery ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-06-05T00:29:04.403" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T13:52:36.653" Title="Is casein a better choice for people with limited recovery ability?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24914" CreationDate="2015-06-05T05:05:54.103" Score="5" ViewCount="4988" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that doing weighted pull-up and dips with weight using straps can lead to hernia and lower back problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(specifically damaging intervertebral disc and pressuring femoral artery(with straps))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How true is this? (I'm 172cm, 85kg) using ~12kg backpack for pull-ups and dips, was going to use ~20-24kg weight with straps on belt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="3098" LastEditDate="2015-10-23T07:40:11.330" LastActivityDate="2019-02-18T09:23:33.850" Title="Can weighted pull-up and dips lead to lower back problems?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;dips&gt;&lt;hernia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24907" CreationDate="2015-06-05T07:02:00.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longer answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight belts are NOT going to give you any problems unless you pack on an obscene amount of weights. And this is a catch-22 anyway, because the weight you'd need to strap to yourself is way more than you'd ever be able to do pullups or dips with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always opt for a belt which can be tightened pretty snugly around your waist. And the more surface area the belt covers, the better, because it spreads the pressure out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backpacks, I have less experience with in terms of dips and pullups. But in the army, we ran 30k (~18.6 miles) with pretty substantial backpacks, in addition to helmets, rifles and vests. We also did a lot of obstacle courses with the same stuff imposed on us. I have a hard time seeing that we'd be doing this if it were known to cause back problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is of course barring any problems you have already which might be &lt;em&gt;worsened&lt;/em&gt; through physical exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About herniae&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an umbilical hernia (which I've not yet opted to treat because it's not causing any problems), and I've had a couple visits to the doctor just to get some info on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, there are a large set of different ways a hernia can arise. Physical exercise doesn't usually &lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; it, but it can make existing herniae more protruding and more noticable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I notice mine when doing abdominal work, but this is because mine is located at the belly button, and I suppose is subjected to some pressure when my abs are flexing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T07:02:00.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24909" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24910" CreationDate="2015-06-05T09:22:34.547" Score="4" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've finally reached the point where it's harder for me &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to exercise. Naturally, looking around for info, I've discovered something that was not previously known to me: recovering from workouts isn't just about rebuilding the muscles, but also about recovering from stress, and recovering some depleted resources (such as the glycogen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also read that our body adapts, and the recovery time decreases, but I couldn't find anything that will help me figure out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How quickly do we adapt?&lt;/strong&gt; does noticeable change appear within a few weeks? a few months? a few years?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How effective are things such as contrast showers/black cumin seeds etc. in shortening recovery time? (I'm not interested in sleep and diet, as there is much information available on these, and I don't consider them ways to shorten recovery rather than an essential part of recovery)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I do not specify a specific type of workout or frequency because I'm actually interested to know how this varies with different types of workouts, not just how it's relevant to my specific workout)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15924" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T03:34:43.687" Title="Adapting to exercise" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24909" CreationDate="2015-06-05T09:36:01.603" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there aren't at least a few studies backing up contrast showers/black cumin/black magic/other things you read about online, assume it's bullshit, it almost always is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of exercise are you doing? The best way and timing of recovery varies a lot depending on wether it's resistance training, marathon running or football... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, you'll hear about professional body builders who only workout one muscle once per week and you'll hear about one who does it many times a week. The takeaway is that it's highly individual. 95% of people don't need to care about recovery adaption at all because they never get to the point where it actually makes a difference. If you have been working out diligently for a few years, you will run into situations where you stop developing and you will have to try new things, what will work for you won't work for the next guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T09:36:01.603" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24911" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-05T13:47:50.130" Score="1" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently hit with a tennis ball on the left eye. Though the shot was not powerful and there was no visible injury, I did have some pain in the eye for three days. Then the pain went away and I had no problems. But I have been feeling spasms of pain on the left side of my head and in the left ear for the past twelve hours. Could this be any indication of an internal injury? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T13:47:50.130" Title="Can being hit with a tennis ball on the eye lead to pain in the ear and head?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-06-05T16:13:06.470" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24906" CreationDate="2015-06-05T13:52:36.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend taking some casein before sleep if your recovery time is high. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; shows that casein metabolism and absorbtion is pretty high during sleep, which stimulates muscle recovery at a higher rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I discovered this study a few months ago, and tried it out to surprisingly good effect. Naturally, this is anecdotal for my own experience, but since my experience was aligned with the result of the study, I feel confident in recommending it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T13:52:36.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24849" CreationDate="2015-06-05T15:30:21.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to understand your question, you state that there is a nutritional plan with p90x but you don't want to follow it because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't want to prepare anything&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't have access to some of the suggested foods&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all we can really suggest (unless being a nutritionist and making you a complete plan specifically for your needs) is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 - Replace any foods you have no access to with other foods of similar nutritional value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 - Don't be lazy. If you need to prepare meals / snacks for the day to achieve the proper nutritional / caloric intake, then do it. There are no shortcuts to a proper diet or putting on muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try and cook for 2-3 days worth of work lunches and snacks at a time and make it part of my routine / schedule to keep up with my nutritional program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can still eat meals with your family, but you may need to prepare some stuff individually to eat with them while they eat their food, or change your plan to accommodate the different foods you will be eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But most importantly, if you're going to put in the time to do the workout, you mind as well put in the time to do the nutrition side of things or you will not be getting the desired results. Diet is key in any change in physique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your program!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T15:30:21.273" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24907" CreationDate="2015-06-05T17:22:18.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Progressive weights&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;good forms&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are usually deterrent against injuries. when it comes to weightlifting.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; The exercise itself will not result in any injury; however, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you'll injure yourself if you use a weight your body isn't prepared to carry&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. This is because the weight will be automatically shifted to the lowest part of your back, where more pressure will be applied.  &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, using a wide belt like this &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9fNVP.jpg&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;properly distributes the weight and reduces the pressure on your spine.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, use a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;good belt&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;start with low weights and progressively increase it&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;use proper form&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and you should be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-02-18T09:23:33.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24905" CreationDate="2015-06-05T18:29:05.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well it looks like you have your exercise portion of things in order. Running and going to the gym regularly is for sure helping, but here is your main problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My diet is not that great, I admit it. I don't control the portions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should at the least know how much the portions you're eating are as well as adjusting how much you eat (not necessarily what you eat) accordingly. If you can change your habits to properly reflect a close enough caloric intake per day to match what you're burning or less, you can lose weight. Obviously it is easier when you avoid bad foods, but just monitoring your overall intake / burned calories is a great start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Use this tool&lt;/a&gt; to calculate how many calories your body is burning to know how much you should be eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for soccer / feeling you're lacking strength, dedicate (at least) one day a week to do just legs at the gym and really work them out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article082.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; has quite a bit of information on improving your strength for soccer. The tips here all revolve around the idea of reverse engineering your goals, and starting first with strength to be able to then use that power to obtain speed. It is an interesting read, and you should definitely check it out for a better understanding on how to improve your legs for soccer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own tips for training your legs for strength would be to try doing your exercises one leg at a time, and make sure to do high enough weight / reps to really push them to their potential. Legs tend to have more endurance than other muscles since they are constantly being used throughout the day versus something like your chest that doesn't get nearly as much use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15538" LastEditorUserId="15538" LastEditDate="2015-06-05T18:40:50.333" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T18:40:50.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-05T22:17:45.833" Score="5" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some exercises that let me sit properly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 23, healthy male but never sit properly in a chair in my life. As a kid I forced myself to hunch to hide my belly and it was the reason of my bad posture development. I spent more than half of my waking hours sitting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting properly is very hard for me currently. If I try to sit properly, I feel tired and sweat a bit within few minutes. I move a lot to avoid uncomfortableness. Maybe 10 times more than an average person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2019-01-12T03:04:52.140" Title="What are some exercises that let me sit properly?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-05T22:53:28.957" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question has &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/16463/15924&quot; title=&quot;been asked here&quot;&gt;been asked here&lt;/a&gt;, but I have yet to see any explanation offered (even &quot;we don't know why, but it's been tried and it doesn't work&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will working out every day on different muscle groups cause more harm than good? If so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I avoid using the word &quot;overtraining&quot;, because it seems different people take that to mean different things)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not asking this as it pertains to my specific workout, because I might change my workout based on the answer presented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've found very few, contradicting answers with no explanations at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal, if you must know, is to exhaust myself so I can sleep better. I see exercise as a possible magic cure for my lack of energy. But getting stronger would also be nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15924" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T05:31:47.657" Title="Alternating muscle groups" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24919" CreationDate="2015-06-06T02:26:14.003" Score="4" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the last days I have read here and there some comments about CNS (central nervous system) fatigue produced by heavy lifting, and about allowing recovery for the CNS, not only the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not seem quite intuitive. I understand that the brain gives the orders and the nerves carry signals to/from the muscles. I don't understand how can they need recovery, since the work is done by the muscles, not by the cables transporting the signals or the guy in command of the machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone explain a little bit on this, or perhaps provide some links?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-06-06T04:24:47.233" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T04:34:01.697" Title="How can the CNS possibly need recovery after a strength workout?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24918" CreationDate="2015-06-06T04:34:01.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any concrete studies on the matter, but basically &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_nervous_system_fatigue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CNS fatigue&lt;/a&gt; can be summed up like this: it's the overall degradation of hormones and neurotransmitters that are required for sustained physical output. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/20877/what-limits-the-repetitions-one-can-perform/20879#20879&quot;&gt;I wrote an answer a while back that gets into the fairly low level chemical actions that limit strength output&lt;/a&gt;, it's worth reading if you want to touch on the biochemical interactions that are happening when you're doing anything from pumping blood with your heart to deadlifting 1RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body uses a rather &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wide range of chemicals for signaling and movement&lt;/a&gt;, compounded by the chemical structures that are in place to do things like strip down inflamed and damaged tissue (the much maligned steroid &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cortisol&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body only has so much chemical agent to work with, it has other tasks it needs to perform, and recovery takes time.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T04:34:01.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24916" CreationDate="2015-06-06T04:38:08.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to consider this answer, related to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;good strength training programs&lt;/a&gt;. Sitting isn't natural for people, especially to the degree that western society does it. But strength training can help a lot:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll develop more powerful abdominal muscles that will keep you erect, and likewise your back will be stronger. There are a multitude of muscles that are a part of good posture, and unless you are actively strengthening them it's really no wonder that holding a good posture isn't easy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T04:38:08.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24917" CreationDate="2015-06-06T04:41:40.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the folks who exercise different body parts on different days are body builders, which is more about body modification than achievement of strength or fitness. When you hear people talking about doing &quot;chest&quot; on Tuesday and &quot;arms&quot; on Thursdays, this is what's going on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in exhausting yourself, I know of nothing better than running hill intervals on repeat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get stronger and have an effective strength training workout, that will certainly challenge you physically, I'd recommend looking into some &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;effective strength training programs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T04:41:40.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24905" CreationDate="2015-06-06T04:53:55.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean up your diet. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19353/7091&quot;&gt;The lower your body fat gets, the more insulin sensitive you become, and the easier you store body fat&lt;/a&gt;. Basically it gets harder and harder to get leaner. The techniques you can use to go from obese to &quot;fit&quot; aren't the same you need to get from &quot;fit&quot; to &quot;ripped&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're eating a ton of carbohydrates, which is probably the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slowness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you're not doing any kind of interval training. Sprinting is a skill, and requires fast twitch muscle fibers (like the kind &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;effective strength training builds&lt;/a&gt;). Starting running &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intervals&lt;/a&gt;. Not only will it make you much faster, but it burns a lot of calories and will help you on the soccer field because it assists on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/lactatethreshold.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anaerobic recover&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gym&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going to go to the gym, make sure you're not wasting your time. Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a real strength training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cautionary Note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval training is much harder on your body than &quot;going for a run&quot;. It is much more violent, especially if you are sprinting and/or doing hills. If you introduce interval training, keep it to once a week and see how it affects you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T04:53:55.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24923" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-06T05:48:01.013" Score="2" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a bulk phase, and found myself with more time in the mornings for workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I isolate and work specific muscle groups hard (high weight, moderate reps), 6 days a week and rest for one day. The pattern goes something like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;chest, arms, back, core, legs, chest, &lt;strong&gt;rest&lt;/strong&gt;, arms, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following my protein and calorie requirements, and I am top-heavy and not lethargic nor drained everyday, yet my question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If I workout a muscle group, and let it rest for a few days while working on different groups, is this effective training?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T00:31:57.833" Title="Is this overtraining?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24963" CreationDate="2015-06-06T05:53:32.533" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'm not exactly a gym-going kind of guy; I like outdoor action sports like trail running and mountain biking. However, I've come to a point where all this lower body exercise has made me sort of asymmetrical (bigger toned legs and skinny arms.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a yoga class once and I liked it since there was always some new stance to focus on and things weren't very repetitive, but is that a way to solve this dilemma? Am I just going to have to bite the bullet and learn to lift or are there some alternatives for an action oriented person like me? Cross fit? Tough mudder? Any help is appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15942" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T15:02:22.377" Title="Yoga for Muscle Gain?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24927" CreationDate="2015-06-06T14:25:36.020" Score="2" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, my workout consists of (exclusively) high-intensity exercises (some sprinting HIIT, pullups, and more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few attempts at research and help from this community, I've come to accept that I can't do this &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; day (until recently, I was sure there's no way I would actually &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to exercise every day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm hoping that there are some things I &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do in between to further some goals - such as improving balance and flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, there are many types of stretching, and it generally don't interfere with the recovery. As for balance, from what I understand it requires the use of core muscles, so I'm guessing... don't do it if you've worked out the core muscles the day before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what can I do and what shouldn't I do in my rest days? (btw, I have gymnastic rings, so...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15924" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T16:28:09.427" Title="Things to do during rest days" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24925" CreationDate="2015-06-06T14:33:39.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal favorite is foam rolling. I mean, why wouldn't you want to give your muscles a good massage? It's kind of a reward. It can also reduce muscle soreness as well as improve your range of motion, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24343353&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually didn't know that last part until just now. I've been foam rolling for quite some time simply because of how good it feels, not to mention how good I feel afterwards. It's very refreshing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often times, after a heavy leg day, my back tends to act up because of how much I sit, both at work (software developer) and at home. After I started foam rolling, this has been a non-issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to foam rolling, I also have a fitness ball, on which I lay down on my back and arch over. I tend to get a huge surge of oxygen flow by doing this. This also really helps with counteracting the effects of sitting a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T14:33:39.723" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24925" CreationDate="2015-06-06T16:28:09.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;On my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/19145/7091&quot;&gt;rest days&lt;/a&gt;, I usually try to do these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Long walks. Walking back and forth to work for me is ~5 miles, and it's a terrific way to keep the body moving and learn how to walk long distances, which is about as core to the human condition as you can get.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hiking. Find a decent trail, but your running shoes on, and go hiking for a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yoga. Yoga is great for a lot of things, but for me I really enjoy the focus on specific muscle activation and stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Surfing, playing sports, martial arts practice, or even going for a short run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing active rest, which is what most rest days should be, you want to achieve two goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, don't overtax your system so much that you stunt recovery. As a rule of thumb, you don't want to do anything that would &quot;beat you up&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; is a bad indicator of that, but for a rule of thumb you don't want to do anything that you couldn't do the next day just as hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you want to move. It's anecdotal, but in my personal experience fairly complete rest (inactive rest: sitting in a chair all day) makes me stiffer and more injury prone the next day. The only time I do inactive rest is if I'm ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, a lot of this depends on your schedule. If you're on a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;progressive overload lifting schedule&lt;/a&gt; and pushing your PRs week after week, you really need to not overdo it on rest days. If you have some &quot;routine&quot; you do, you can be a lot more flexible as you're not really squeezing out every inch of progress like an &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;overload program&lt;/a&gt; will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T16:28:09.427" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24936" CreationDate="2015-06-06T17:03:33.987" Score="3" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;So like the title says :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any benefit to dumbbell flys on a flat bench vs dumbbell flys on an incline bench?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does one position offer something the other does not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastEditorUserId="12223" LastEditDate="2015-06-06T17:16:10.517" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T07:41:47.533" Title="Is there any benefit to dumbbell flys on a flat bench vs dumbbell flys on an incline bench?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24886" CreationDate="2015-06-06T19:05:56.747" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly possible, I seem to have increased my BMR in the last decade by exercising harder, longer and more frequently, while eating a lot more. My body seems to have adjusted to that by dramatically increasing the BMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now eat about 3800 Kcal per day while the BMR formula says that my BMR should be about 1700 Kcal/day. There is no doubt about how much I eat, because I weigh and measure all the food I eat every day. I need to do that because I eat huge amounts of food for someone my size; without measuring I would prepare too much or too little food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know that it is the the BMR that is extremely high and not just the total metabolic rate, because on vacation when I typically exercise a lot less, I typically lose some weight. While I then do eat a little less, the difference is only a few hundred Kcal/day; dinner in the hotel is still about 1800 Kcal, which is more than what according to the BMR formula my entire energy intake for the whole day should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One could argue that I could have some problem with digesting food, but I have all the signs of someone with a fast metabolism. E.g. I can tolerate extremely cold conditions quite well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wim Hof&lt;/a&gt; has developed another method, not really aimed at increasing the BMR, but it does have that effect too. By taking daily cold showers and certain meditation exercises, you can increase your BMR at will. E.g. Wim Hof has broken the ice endurance record, during his record attempt he doesn't shiver, his heart rate hardly increases. So, the extra heat produced by his body is not due to additional muscle contractions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2655008/Dutch-father-five-dubbed-Iceman-turn-thermostat-using-mind-sets-world-record-climbing-Everest-just-shorts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mr Hof said he can endure sub-zero temperatures as he has the ability to 'turn his own thermostat up' by using his mind.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastEditorUserId="8763" LastEditDate="2015-06-06T23:20:13.423" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T23:20:13.423" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2015-06-06T20:58:52.220" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This recently happened to me for the first time when I ran in flip flops. I was flexing my toes so the strap in the middle could stay on and lo and behold, Pain! I realised that if my toes are slightly curved downwards during my run (due to loose shoes or something else), it really works on my muscle. So I'd try and pay attention to how I'm running, cuz a little bit of strain on your toes and your working your muscle way more than it needs to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15949" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T20:58:52.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-06T22:27:49.707" Score="5" ViewCount="125662" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2012/05/prilepin-tables-for-bodyweight-strength-isometric-and-eccentric-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2012/05/prilepin-tables-for-bodyweight-strength-isometric-and-eccentric-exercises/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this article as my guide, I should repeat the plank for 6 times as I can only hold it for about 6s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, should I do 2 or more sessions in one day? Strength is my goal, as I have little core strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15845" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T18:01:10.217" Title="How many sessions of planks should I do a day?" Tags="&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-07T01:59:11.523" Score="0" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 14, I have a stocky body type and I wanted to get stronger for the summer &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make a long story short &#xA;I was lifting weights on arm day doing reverse dumbar curls for your forearms(50 lbs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It came to the point where my left arm got so tired they couldn't lift any more well atleast I thought it was just tired &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day both arms were very sore but after a few hours the left one started to kind of tighten up out of know where. No I can't extend it without an very severe sharp pain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15950" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T06:51:38.470" Title="Why can't I extend forearm after working out?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-11T17:07:20.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24933" CreationDate="2015-06-07T06:51:38.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing this pain is centered around the point between your upper and lower arm (opposite of your elbow)? That's the place where the muscle is connected to your bones (tendon). Your tendon(s) might not have been used to this level of stress and as a resultaat they're a bit irritated, thus the sharp pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my own experience I know it is best to keep your arms moving (but no heavy weights until the pain is gone). And an icepack on the place where it hurts also helps tremendously :) I wish you a quick recovery ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15951" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T06:51:38.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24932" CreationDate="2015-06-07T06:57:39.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's beter to focus on increasing the time you can hold a plank, than to repeat it multiple times in one day. So in the beginning it will be 6 seconds, but push yourself everyday to hold them longer. Your muscles need time to recovery, otherwise they won't get stronger. Safe training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15951" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T06:57:39.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24928" CreationDate="2015-06-07T07:03:45.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer: yes.&#xA;Long answer: You have to look at it like incline and flat bench press those two targetbyour chest muscles differently (and incline uses more of your delts but puts less stress on them than a flat bench). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For starters I would recommend you to go with flat bench (as this would target most of your chest) and remember to slightly bend your elbows, hold your arms slightly forward (above your lower chest) and try to sqeeze your pectoral (chest) muscles. &#xA;Safe training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15951" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T07:03:45.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24941" CreationDate="2015-06-07T09:17:58.370" Score="14" ViewCount="598" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 20 year old girl and I'm an employed programmer. My job consists of so-called &quot;coding&quot; all day long. I don't want to say that I don't get off of the computer at all, but the time I spend doing something else is small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to weigh like 37-42 kg; now I'm nearly 60kg. I eat what I want to eat. I've never followed any kind of regime or diet. Yet I put on some weight in the past year. I was wondering why that happened, since, in my opinion, I haven't greatly changed my lifestyle. The only thing that's different is that I go to work to sit on the computer, not like when I was in highschool. I have never intentionally exercised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to know why I put on lots of weight &lt;strong&gt;now&lt;/strong&gt; when I did not before? Is it because of puberty, where I was growing and using a lot of resources? Or is it that my body can't handle that much of physical inactivity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My logical thinking cannot understand that the lifestyle was always the same, but the body's reaction are different. Can someone explain this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15953" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T16:19:56.043" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T09:16:15.357" Title="What happens to people who are sitting 8-10h per day?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-07T16:02:20.283" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pushups are often recommended as a shoulder healthy alternative for training chest, so I am wondering is it better to overload weight for pushups once you can do 20+ perfect form normal pushups or is it better to switch to benchpress for chest gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15459" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T16:06:41.790" Title="Is it better to overload weights on pushups or bench press for healthy shoulders?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24942" CreationDate="2015-06-07T16:04:17.933" Score="4" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 34 years old with average fitness. &#xA;I started running since last year and usually run about 5 kms, 3 to 4 times a week. I would like to know if it seems reasonable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another question I have is - running on tread mail is preferable or running on roads?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15956" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T19:29:51.890" Title="How many days should I run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24938" CreationDate="2015-06-07T16:06:41.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither are really great for your shoulders. In fact, some of the most wrecked shoulders I've seen are from people who bench press all day and neglect their back and deltoids (the front, top, and rear of which make up your shoulder muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would very much recommend using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standing overhead press&lt;/a&gt;. For bodyweight, consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/video/1008029-military-dive-bomber-body-weight-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dive bombers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T16:06:41.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24937" CreationDate="2015-06-07T16:26:23.130" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I can't give you the exact reason &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; your body has gained weight without any apparent changes in lifestyle other than prolonged sitting; I can confirm that prolonged sitting does create negative consequences in the body.  All of the points you raise may contribute, but metabolic changes are probably the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consequences of Prolonged Sitting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gaining weight, aging too quickly, postural imbalances, vascular changes and even an increased risk of mortality are all possible consequences in a sedentary lifestyle.  If you are spending 8-10 hours per day sitting without counterbalancing it with regular breaks and some moderate to intense activity, the results you've seen so far will only increase.  And unfortunately according to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1108810&quot;&gt;2012 JAMA Internal Medicine&lt;/a&gt; study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prolonged sitting is a risk factor for all-cause mortality, independent of physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The association between sitting and all-cause mortality appears relatively consistent across women and men, age groups, BMI categories, and physical activity levels and across healthy participants compared with those with preexisting cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Changes in the Body with Prolonged Sitting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What exactly is happening when you sit for prolonged hours is not exactly certain.  However, it is generally acknowledged that prolonged sitting results in greater &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/too-much-sitting-linked-to-an-early-death-201401297004&quot;&gt;odds of dying early from all causes including heart disease and cancer&lt;/a&gt;.  Expending less calories causing weight gain may be part of the reason, but prolonged sitting also causes metabolic changes.  According to Dr. van der Ploeg:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;Prolonged sitting has been shown to disrupt metabolic function&lt;/strong&gt; resulting in increased plasma triglyceride levels, decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and decreased insulin sensitivity,”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the metabolic changes and the fact that the body requires less calories when sedentary than it does with activity, other negative changes can occur in the body.  Consider these changes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Postural Changes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles that are in a shortened position from sitting (such as hip flexors) tighten and can lead to muscle and postural imbalances which can lead to neck and back pain.  This q/a addresses &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;postural exercises&lt;/a&gt; including stretching and strengthening.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adaptations in the Work Place&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A variety of changes can help your reduce your sitting time.  Simply setting an alarm and getting up at regular intervals to walk, go to the bathroom or perform some desk side exercises with resistive bands or an exercise ball can help.  More elaborate equipment such as sit to stand desks can help to reduce sitting time &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2012/11_0323.htm&quot;&gt;by 224% (66 minutes per day).&lt;/a&gt; Treadmill walking desks and sitting on an exercise ball for portions of your work day can also encourage movement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regular Exercise Program&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you have never intentionally exercised, you may find that with your present occupation, a regular exercise program is now a necessity.  A good exercise program should include some cardio-vascular exercise (walking, swimming, cycling etc.), flexibility and postural exercises, as well as strengthening exercises using some form of resistance - resistance bands, weights, kettlebells, or bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Break up prolonged sitting throughout your day to negate the negative health consequences.  And when you are ready to start an exercise program, you'll find lots of info here or just ask more questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this site does not address diet, but what you eat and how much you eat are important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T08:02:45.387" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T08:02:45.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24939" CreationDate="2015-06-07T17:40:09.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arthur Lydiard wrote the book &lt;em&gt;Running with Lydiard&lt;/em&gt; about proper running technique, building aerobic capacity and nutrition. I have started practicing according to his method and was able to run 18km without any pain. Strongly recommended for every runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To become an experienced runner may take few years, I'm doing similar amount of run plus gym 3-5 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you are running not just for fun but to be able to run at least half marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To protect and improve heart muscle I do recovery run on low heart rate 120bpm which is baseline for any type of runner as a recovery mode run. 30 minutes which is equal 4-5km that pace is enough. If you look any marathon training program, there is a common pattern 3-5km run during a week plus long run over weekend. An increase may be around 10% per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I don't run longer than 6km now that's why I run on &quot;safe mode&quot; only to help body to adapt and reduce risk of injury. I did many mistakes like hill strikes and know more what right running technique is. The 120bpm is safe zone where you can run longer, detect many type of issues, learn how to breath and reduce heart rate. No marathoners run a long distance on higher pulse, it is just not safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can recommend only what helps me: be consistent, take your time, listen your body, let it adapt, do warm up and cool down every single run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15890" LastEditorUserId="15890" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T19:29:51.890" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T19:29:51.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24947" CreationDate="2015-06-07T19:12:57.397" Score="5" ViewCount="905" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is going to be a short question, because there's very little depth to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been bulking lately, and to have something to focus on, aesthetically, my shoulder region is getting some love. And with it; traps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing more shrugs lately, but while doing them, I can't figure out what's best; to do rolling shrugs, or just straight up-and-down shrugs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do anyone have any good advice, one way or the other? Preferably backed up with some sort of study. Anecdotes are alright depending on the source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T04:57:55.890" Title="Shrugs - To roll or not to roll?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24932" CreationDate="2015-06-07T19:55:39.407" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you should consider easier variations of the plank exercise. Place your arms on something higher (say, a chair). This will shift more weight to your feet and help you hold the position for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will allow you to push yourself to hold the plank longer. Slowly progress to lower surfaces, and when regular plank becomes too easy for you, elevate your feet to make it even harder. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15924" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T19:55:39.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24923" CreationDate="2015-06-07T21:28:03.327" Score="5" Body="&lt;h1&gt;&quot;Is This Overtraining?&quot;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no general answer to this question. Overtraining is not dependent on a program, but rather on the relationship between the trainee, their program, their recovery ability, and outside stressors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some people, walking an hour each day for two weeks would induce overtraining. Other people can log hundreds of miles a week for months on end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some people, going from three lifting sessions a week (using a given program, with given weights, and so on) is the edge of their capability. Others are not challenged by less than six days a week of two trainings per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only answer to &quot;is this program overtraining me&quot; is to monitor the markers of overtraining, which are numerous and complex. They vary from resting heart rate, sleep patterns, and degree of lethargy all the way to blood analysis and bar-speed tracking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-06-12T13:30:42.210" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T13:30:42.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24932" CreationDate="2015-06-07T21:37:59.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you should be always trying to hold your plank for just a little longer each time, but if you hit a wall, especially an oddly consistent one where, e.g. at 6 seconds your muscles turn to jelly and you drop, trick your body. Find someone else to keep time, or set a timer and set it to longer than you &quot;know&quot; you can hold, then hold it as long as you can without trying to count the time yourself. Often, that's enough to break past the psychological barrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise holding it to failure instead of multiple attempts at a &quot;safer&quot; value, but doing it once in the morning and then once in the evening isn't a bad plan. It gives you more than enough time to fully recover in between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T21:37:59.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24943" CreationDate="2015-06-07T23:58:11.613" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;EXRX has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Errors.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this to say&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's only necessary to raise and lower the shoulders during shrugs.&#xA;  The lower and middle trapezius will be exercised during other basic&#xA;  exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better, I replace them with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cleans&lt;/a&gt;. Which are just kick ass in general and then you don't have to be that guy doing shrugs in the mirror. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T23:58:11.613" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24977" CreationDate="2015-06-08T02:47:44.780" Score="8" ViewCount="45331" Body="&lt;p&gt;A known book about bodyweight training written by a fictitious convict athlete, states that you can gain strength in your legs without using weights at all, by means of exercise variations that will take you from assisted squats to one-leg squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before moving on to the next variation, the reader is compelled to achieve lots of repetitions. For instance, before moving on to squats with feet together, you should achieve two sets of 30 normal (bodyweight only) squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen that approach anywhere else. I wonder if it has any solid foundation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask this because I have been adding reps during months, and now I am performing two sets of 20 bodyweight squats. I hope I am not loosing my time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T14:23:52.460" Title="Can you gain strength in your legs with bodyweight squats only?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24923" CreationDate="2015-06-08T06:17:25.663" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people can train the same muscle group three times a day, every day, for  months on end and see significant hypertrophy.  Yet others may train a muscle group with such intensity that days are needed for recovery.  As Dave says, it's very subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I'd say it's incredibly unlikely you're overtraining, especially with your simple 6-day bodybuilding split.  I wouldn't be wary of overtraining markers at all, I would just be physically measuring your muscle circumferences and body fat (weekly) to ensure you're still making progress.  If anything you'll probably have to up the volume eventually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T06:17:25.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24937" CreationDate="2015-06-08T10:30:14.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really, really hard to assess the impact of your lifestyle changes. Lets say you unintentionally spend 100 kcal less per day on activity, this is equal to a short walk or bicycle trip per day, or some household work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;100 kcal per day is 36500 kcal in a year, one kg of fat is about 7000 kcal, which means you may add 5 kg in a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's even more difficult to assess the amount you eat, 100 kcal of food 1/3 of a regular mcdonalds fries, 30 grams of candy or one soda can, a very small amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your basal metabolism will decrease as you get older as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are many possible reasons why one might add weight without making any conscious lifestyle changes. Most people have no problems keeping a healthy weight until about 20, then they start getting fat (me included :) ), I don't know your height, but 60 kg could definately be an appropriate weight and nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T10:30:14.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24948" CreationDate="2015-06-08T11:21:03.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's certainly possible to get really strong legs without extra weight. All that matters is the force that is actually applied to your muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to be able to do one legged squats, you need to increase your agility and your max strength. 30 reps is nowhere near the optimal rep count for max strength, but since we're not using extra weight, what can we do? Negatives. Lower yourself slowly, working against gravity on the way down until you can't support your weight any more, when you can't, sit down on your ass and get up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T11:21:03.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24943" CreationDate="2015-06-08T12:56:35.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclesused.com/trapezius/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shape and function(s) of the traps&lt;/a&gt;, I think it’s apparent that rolling the shoulders does not provide any extra benefit, or, activation of the target muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gravity only works in one direction and you are not working anything&#xA;  by going back and forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapefit.com/exercise-guides/trapezius-exercises-barbell-shrugs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.shapefit.com/exercise-guides/trapezius-exercises-barbell-shrugs.html&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I began weight training traps, others suggested rolling the shoulders.  I figured out early on that the cause of some trap strains was related to this extra movement.  So, instead of relying solely on shrugs for trap development, I added upright rows, and smith machine shrugs to the front and rear.  I find using a smith machine for shrugs forces a perfect vertical plane for the movement thus somewhat ensuring that the traps get the bulk of the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T12:56:35.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24932" CreationDate="2015-06-08T13:29:38.407" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to work on something that is easier and you can hold for longer time. 6 seconds is really not enough volume to really start improving. See, you are not even on the chart in the (excellent) article you are referencing, which starts at a max hold of 8s:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/65ndx.png&quot; alt=&quot;hold time ranges for isometrics&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a 6s max hold time, you would have to work at ~70% of that, or 4-5 secs... it is just too short time, even to practice consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is, not to increase the number of sets, but to pick an exercise that you can hold for at least 10-15 secs. Plank with the knees down on the floor, or plank on an inclined surface should work. So, for example, do 6 sets of 8 secs, or 5 sets of 10 secs of kneeling plank. This will give you a consistent base to improve from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, I think, that the low max hold rows in the table are intended for more advanced stuff like levers and planches. Beginners should work on easier stuff for longer time/more reps, because they can not really effectively/consistently work very close to their limits yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T13:52:41.177" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T13:52:41.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24932" CreationDate="2015-06-08T14:31:53.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; The goal of the plank is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;to strengthen your core.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; As a result, the longer you can stay in the position, the stronger your core becomes.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you can perform as many sessions daily as time permit you&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;; however, that shouldn't be your goal. Your goal should be to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;progressively increase the duration&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If 6 seconds is all you can currently do, endeavor to increase it. Try holding out for 8 seconds. Increase the duration once you've reached that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The beauty of this exercise is that it can be performed almost anywhere :). &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;So, do it as many times as you desire.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T14:31:53.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24956" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24961" CreationDate="2015-06-08T16:17:52.807" Score="3" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having learnt a bit about weightlifting programs using barbells and other stuff, now I wonder how &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKLHVapYckM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;male gymnasts&lt;/a&gt; train in order to become muscular and strong. Do they use weights in the same way as bodybuilders and power lifters do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know those guys train from their very early childhood, but surely the principles can be adapted and they could be useful to some extent for people in other life circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T19:55:23.637" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T19:55:23.637" Title="How do male gymnasts train in order to get muscular?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24937" CreationDate="2015-06-08T16:35:49.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight gain is basically a matter of three factors. I suspect that at least one of these has changed for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Food intake&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Human beings are very bad at monitoring their food intake. You may think that you're eating the same things in the same quantities, but you probably aren't. The easiest thing to do is to grab a notebook (or your tablet) and any time you eat or drink anything, note it down (with quantity if possible, even if it's a rough measurement). I would wager that you're taking in more calories than you think in the form of snacks and meals (even seemingly healthy ones). Don't forget to include alcohol consumption (I don't know where you reside, so I don't know if you're of a drinking age), which often throws people off with how many empty calories are involved. You may also find that you're snacking more often, &quot;programming fuel&quot;, and those calories add up too. I know that, on my desk, I have a jar of peanuts. That's 160 calories per ounce, and it's easy for me to consume handfuls when I'm tracking down a bug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exercise&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not have been doing any sort of structured exercise, but you may have been doing more incidental exercise, whether it was walking to and from school, or doing more stairs. Don't underestimate the impact of walking a few hundred feet each day to get to the bus, particularly if it involves impromptu jogging when you realize the bus is about to pull away. I'll be honest. Exercise has only mild effects on weight gain, but what it does do is help shift your weight toward more healthy tissues, muscle and bone instead of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Basal metabolism&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ugly truth is that our metabolisms do slow down as we age, and the early 20s is one of the places people start to notice it. You can get it up a bit through moderate exercise, but otherwise, it's basically dependent on your height, weight, and age. There really is no way to boost it, despite what all of the magic herb companies would like you to believe. There are no fat-burning pills. There's some evidence that longterm sedentary work can also reduce it, although it's hard to separate that out from diet and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what to do? It's really pretty simple. Start some mild exercise, even if it involves getting up and walking around the neighborhood at night. Try to find something that's fun for you. Sports can work for that too, even something which seems purely recreational like bicycling or roller-skating. Try to find friends to do it with you. Try to cut down on excessive consumption of calories. This may consist of cutting down on sodas and having smaller containers of snacks on your desk so that you don't eat the whole bag of nuts over the course of a day. Basal Metabolism Rate, you can't do much about that, but there's evidence that measures as small as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/2012/05/09/152336802/stand-up-walk-around-even-just-for-20-minutes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;standing up once every 20 minutes&lt;/a&gt; or walking around for a minute every hour on the hour are enough to nearly reverse the negative effects of prolonged sitting. Personally, I combine that with getting up to refill my coffee mug and/or water bottle. As a bonus, as a programmer, I find that stepping away from a problem often gives me some new insights (although, caveat, you need to make sure you're not in the middle of something that will take you 20 minutes to get back into).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! The fact that you're asking questions is a good first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T16:35:49.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-08T17:24:45.887" Score="0" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heads up: I have a muscle imbalance between my left and right back, my right back is more developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I went to the gym for my usual back day. I started with perhaps 3 sets of neutral close grip pullups, at 7-5-4 respectively. Then, I did perhaps 3 sets of bent over dumbell rows at 8 reps. Usually I do these with 15kg dumbells, but I managed to do 20kg yesterday with good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I then jumped on to try to do more pull-ups (same grip_ and immediately felt a little pain in the region between my inner elbow and tricep. I have read that this is called the &lt;em&gt;medial epicondyle&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is:&lt;/strong&gt; What is the reason for this pain? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From watching this video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_93yIKub98&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; it could be that my forearms are taking too much of a load. He suggests to use neutral grip pullups, but this is what I am already doing! What can I do about my technique in future to reduce this problem?  Any recommended stretches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment, that region of my arm is a little sensitive to touch. I'll be seeing my physio tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13379" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T18:46:22.213" Title="Techniques to reduce elbow pain during back day" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-11T18:53:20.887" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-08T18:14:43.477" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I drink 1 liter of kefir a day because I find it extremely helpful to lose weight. But recently i heard that excessive usage might cause some diseases like podagra. However I was unable to find more information about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll post contents of it here. 1 liter kefir has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;+10x10^8 kob probiotic microorganisms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;380kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;970mg calcium&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll skip carb, protein etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ingredients: pastorized cow milk, water, kefir culture, probiotic microorganisms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T18:14:43.477" Title="What are side effects of excessive kefir usage?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-09T12:48:07.303" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24958" CreationDate="2015-06-08T18:46:22.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds like &quot;Golfer's Eblow&quot;.  I can only count the number of times I've golfed on one hand, but I've been suffering on and off with this condition for years. I first discovered it after several sessions of preacher and spider curls about 10 years ago; a few years later, I had a recurrence doing pull ups on a cross beam, and again, after completing Stew Smith's 10 day pull up program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a doc, but generally speaking, it's caused by repeatedly stressing flexors and extension in the forearms/fingers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to the doctor for it originally, and he told me to take 400 mg of NSAIDs/day, and lay off the workouts causing the problem until the pain stopped.  This worked, but nipping pulls up from any routine for weeks/months really sucks; it's especially frustrating when the rest of your body is fully capable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking my doc's advice into consideration, I slowly worked them back into my routine by doing light lat pull-down work, focusing intensely on the eccentric lat squeeze (resistance band assisted pull-ups are also &quot;effective&quot;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I recently discovered &quot;elbow smashing&quot; and voodoo floss (bike tubing also works), and it's helped me tremendously.  Here are a couple videos to get you started:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/04/banish-your-elbow-bench-dip-pull-up-pain-you-dont-really-play-golf-or-tennis-do-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Banish Your Elbow Bench, Dip, Pull Up Pain, You Don’t Really Play Golf or Tennis Do You?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/02/burpee-smoked-elbows-epicondylitis-ness-voodoo-it/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Epicondylitis-ness? Voodoo it&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel for ya, pal...sucks and super frustrating, but experiment with the methods above, and I think you'll see a turnaround.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T18:46:22.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24956" CreationDate="2015-06-08T18:48:18.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Extensive bodyweight exercises and repetition of their art for hours at a time is basically the answer. As noted by Dave above, Christopher Somner's writings are generally considered to be the fundamental word on it. His website can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. It's prohibitively expensive to get an actual copy of his seminal work, &lt;em&gt;Building the Gymnastic Body&lt;/em&gt;, although you'll find a lot of bootleg copies out there. Ignore the references he makes to future books in there. He scrapped his plans to write them and is now releasing his &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/gb-courses/foundation-series/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foundation Series&lt;/a&gt; and associated works for particulars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, one of the reasons he stated for scrapping the earlier books was that he realized that he was used to training people who were already strong enough to hold their own body weight at arm's length, and had underestimated how huge of a gap existed between the average person and where his book started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T18:48:18.113" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24916" CreationDate="2015-06-08T20:33:17.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you sit down in your chair, go through the following process (it will take a little bit of thinking the first few dozen times, but like most things, it will become second nature with repetition):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand shoulder width apart, and tighten your glutes; this will properly align your pelvis and hips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inhale with your diaphragm; extend your belly as you inhale, and tighten it as you exhale ( like someone is going to punch you in the gut).  This will help compress your spine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put your shoulders back, so that they are inline with your ears; extend your arms, rotate your palms up, and bring your arms half-circle, and let them rest by your side (all while keeping minor tension in your glutes and abdomen).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit down in your chair by hinging at your hips while maintaining a neutral spine and being cognizant of keeping your shins vertical, as to not put any unnecessary stress on your knees.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you feel yourself start to slouch (typically after 10 minutes or so), stand up, and repeat the process.  This isn't so much an exercise, as it is a new adopted method of sitting, but I've been feeling a heck of a lot better since I started going through the motions about a year ago...I don't even think about it anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T20:33:17.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24924" CreationDate="2015-06-08T22:12:58.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy (muscle building) through yoga is definitely unorthodox, but with a well thought out plan and an appropriate diet, it's certainly possible (to a degree).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently heard a Ben Greenfield podcast on the subject. He had a dude on there touting his methods.  I haven't gotten into it myself, but here's his youtube channel... looks like he has playlists split into different body groups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://m.youtube.com/user/ManFlowYoga&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Man flow yoga&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all that, I'd still recommend learning some basic bodyweight and load training; if anything, just to provide enhancement to your daily living. A couple sessions with a good personal trainer to go over some basics is often worth a modest investment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T22:12:58.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24916" CreationDate="2015-06-08T22:46:00.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Firstly, bad sitting will lead to bad posture, which will also be evidenced by a weak core. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Secondly, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;no exercises will let you sit properly;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; all they can do is to strengthen your core and give you good reasons to sit properly. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You have to make a conscious effort to sit properly.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; After practising it for a while, it might become second nature to you; however, it's still up to you to continue.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Thirdly, when you initially start sitting straight, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;your back will become sore very quickly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. This is normal; the soreness will gradually wear off the more you keep sitting properly.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tips For Sitting Properly&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Endeavor to always &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;stand up straight.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; As ironic as it sounds, it works. If you observe soldiers, the way they sit and stand are identical; they have to sit straight. This is because it allows them to quickly react. The more you stand straight, the easier it'll become for you to sit straight. When standing, try not to lean on an external support, lean on one leg, or bend at the waist. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Remember to exercise your core&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: There are varieties of core-strengthening exercises and a lot of them can be performed without any equipment. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Plank&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a favorite; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;push up&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is another awesome exercise. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Burpees, running, jumping jack, and legs up&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are great ones too. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even high-tempo dances are great for the core.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; If you can, alternating between your regular chair and a stability ball such as &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;[![][1]][1] &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;is an awesome way to strengthen your core. Not only is it playful to sit on, it actually forces you to sit straight &lt;em&gt;(most of the time)&lt;/em&gt;. Don't be surprised if your back becomes sore after sitting on it for less than an hour.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sit straight in your chair!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Unless you're sitting on a sofa or a very-cushioned chair, most chairs have a rigid structure that allows you sit straight. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Make sure that your butts are touching the back of the chair&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and simply sit straight. When your butts touch the back of the chair &lt;em&gt;(or is as far back as naturally possible)&lt;/em&gt;, the only ways for you to sit improperly would be &lt;em&gt;tilting the chair backwards&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;bending your chest forward&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. You can easily correct those once you realize you're doing them.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Tidbits Not To Forget&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting properly is very easy to achieve as long as it's a goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll initially be hard, but it'll get easier as you continue with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't go gungho on it. Do it gradually. If you use the ball, you can alternate &lt;em&gt;(between it and your regular chair)&lt;/em&gt; every couple of hours. You're also allowed to cheat; I know that some people put pillows or soft covers on the back of the chair so that although they're sitting straight, their backs are actually resting on the pillows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun with it. You can even perform some quick core-strengthening exercises on the ball. Enjoy the process and make it fun. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-01-12T03:04:52.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24948" CreationDate="2015-06-09T03:27:17.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;the thing about prison is that they work out usually 3-4 times a day for an hour at a time, thus constantly sending those messages gets insane results in muscular growth, but you can get large legs with bodyweight squats, but you will have to combine them with dynamic tension leg exercises, as well as do them slowly and in time add a backpack full of weight to increase weight on your squats but it is very achievable. a better prison workout book is solitary fitness by charles bronson he is in solitary confinement and is a genius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T03:27:17.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24923" CreationDate="2015-06-09T03:30:55.347" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body gets used to things. I think it's not overtraining. I train 6 days a week as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7847" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T17:12:28.353" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T17:12:28.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24764" CreationDate="2015-06-09T07:15:58.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we're controlling for bodyfat and muscle strength per unit size, then the only downside to adding as much muscle as possible is the square-cube law. (And the limits of human digestive capability, I suppose.) This is, of course, absurd: no athlete (even in a non-weight-class sport) simply chooses to continue adding muscle mass &lt;em&gt;ad infinitum&lt;/em&gt;. The disconnect between reality and the answer to your question is due to A) other factors and B) the assumptions you explicitly included: that body fat and muscular efficiency are held constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why don't we see 100kg gymnasts? Because athletes need to balance sport-specific training with strength and conditioning training as well as rest. Because there is a limit to an athlete's eating capacity. Because big people (and their coaches) find gymnastics difficult even at the novice level and don't start training. Another key element is because holding body fat and neuromuscular efficiency constant while gaining or losing weight is really hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if we take X pounds of lifter with powerlifter-efficiency muscle, and adding muscle doesn't require adding fat or lowering neuromuscular efficiency, then that lifter wants to add infinity muscle. The relevant variables are held constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More relevant to your situation is the fact that almost no one's neuromuscular efficiency or body fat percentage are ideal. Nearly every athlete could sport much less muscle and still be as strong as they are, and similarly most athletes have fat to lose. But manipulating those variables takes a lot of specialized training that usually has less return on investment than simply training their sport and doing basic strength and conditioning. Assuming that one can magically teleport to a different physical milieu doesn't help with deciding on training choices in the here-and-now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T07:15:58.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24948" CreationDate="2015-06-09T07:26:55.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cannot currently perform two sets of 30 bodyweight (air) squats, then yes: air squats will build muscle and strength quite well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for an alternative to barbells for strength training your squat, the goblet squat is probably the best answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ioePV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Goblet squat bottom position&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some gyms also have &quot;safety squat bars&quot; that don't require reaching behind one's back to grip the bar. Weight vests also provide a way to add load without exacerbating shoulder issues. These both could be a good solutions for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T09:15:08.680" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T09:15:08.680" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-09T09:54:11.530" Score="8" ViewCount="464" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read somewhere that exercise can also help in curing depression and anxiety. I am suffering from anxiety from last 4-5 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any specific exercises that I can do to cure my anxiety or to minimize its effect by more than 75%?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15966" LastEditorUserId="16092" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T18:21:11.703" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T11:39:42.953" Title="Specific exercises to cure anxiety" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-09T10:12:14.333" Score="2" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a good practice to meditate or do some breathing exercises (like Pranayam, Analom-Vilom) soon after daily gym exercise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It felt to me that during our gym exercises the heartbeat rate increases and during meditation or breathing exercises the heartbeat rate decreases. Does it affect heart in any ways due to this irregular heartbeat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15966" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-06-10T20:17:39.483" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T06:14:11.163" Title="Meditation (Relaxation or breathing exercises) after exercise - Is it a good practice?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;relaxation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29152" CreationDate="2015-06-09T11:13:16.207" Score="5" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, that's it. I've read about how dehydration can &quot;slow down&quot; our metabolism one time too many, so I decided to conduct my own research - and find out once and for all, whether or not that's just another one of the many weight loss myths in existence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do a quick search on Google, you can find plenty of weight loss articles explaining how proper hydration of the body is a must - which is something I definitely agree with for health reasons - but when it comes to the effect of dehydration on our energy expenditure, I have yet to find any scientific proof that dehydration does indeed cause our bodies to start burning less calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will keep searching for conclusive evidence, but in the meanwhile, I'd like to ask all the incredibly smart people here if one of you already knows the answer to my burning question (pun intended)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastEditorDisplayName="user15206" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T12:04:44.200" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T00:42:51.640" Title="Can dehydration really lower our resting metabolic rate?" Tags="&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;dehydration&gt;&lt;resting-metabolic-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18179" CreationDate="2015-06-09T12:13:44.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pullupbarsg.com/push-up-bar-in-singapore/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the website you linked to&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The surface of the push up bars are inclined at a slight angle to provide comfort to your wrist when performing push ups. Traditional push up bars have a flat surface which forces users to twist their wrist &amp;amp; lean their body forward. In Addition, the inclined surface of the new model helps you work your entire chest muscle whereas the old model only works your upper chest. The inclined surface also allows your head and neck to go lower, increasing the effectiveness of every push up you perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, unless you have your feet elevated, they are arguing that you have to have your hands and arms at an angle at the top of the push-up, assuming that your hands wind up under your shoulders at the bottom. This tends to be a bit more pronounced when using bars like this because of how your grip works. If you're doing pushups on flat hands, your wrists naturally orient to bear the pressure, but gripping a bar means your wrists have to swivel sideways to hold you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, though, it's largely marketing. The actual purpose behind push-up bars like this is that it allows you that extra inch or two at your lowest point without bumping your stomach or nose into the ground. The angle is a minimal issue since moving your center of gravity forward a bit lets you operate with more or less a straight up and down motion. Changing the angle of push-up will shift some of the effort between the feet and the chest (as an elementary example, standing by a wall and doing push-ups off of it shifts the effort almost entirely to the feet. Doing pushups in a handstand against the wall shifts the effort almost entirely to the upper body). It will also exercise your pectoral muscles slightly differently, isolating the top, middle, and bottom parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T12:13:44.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24971" CreationDate="2015-06-09T12:48:21.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's one exercise that has been prescribed to cure anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Meditation &lt;em&gt;(or Deep Breathing)&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; It's not really an exercise &lt;em&gt;(in the literal form of the word)&lt;/em&gt;; however, meditation has been proven to reduce anxiety as much as possible.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For specific exercises, I will recommend &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yoga&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. These won't magically cure your anxiety; however, they allow your brain to relax and calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, people have different activities that take their minds off their troubles and calm them down. Some run; others walk. Some sleep, others knit. Through trial and error, you should find an activity that works for you. Once found, keep it in your bag of tricks. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T12:48:21.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24948" CreationDate="2015-06-09T13:50:12.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can definitely build strong legs with bodyweight squats, but you're going to hit a wall with diminishing returns pretty quickly aiming for 20-30 range reps...as far as strength is concerned, anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for absolute strength gains, and you're dead set on bodyweight movements, I think you'd see much better results taking a 5x5-type (sets x reps) approach, and progressively increasing the difficulty of the movements.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, start with 5 reps of assisted air squats.  When you complete the 5x5 easily, graduate to unassisted, then Bulgarian split squats, assisted pistols, to shrimps (not to be confused with BJJ shrimps), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a great infographic that highlights some suggested progressions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startbodyweight.com/2014/01/basic-routine-infographic-poster.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.startbodyweight.com/2014/01/basic-routine-infographic-poster.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you might find some benefit in reading Pavel's &lt;em&gt;Naked Warrior&lt;/em&gt;...his whole focus is strength from bodyweight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding plyometrics (e.g., jump squats, depth squats, etc) will add power to your game, but I'd start with a solid foundation first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T13:50:12.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24948" CreationDate="2015-06-09T14:47:04.873" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes.....but&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Body weight squats will increase your leg strengths initially. If you don't run or play sports that require running, you should experience some strength in your legs &lt;em&gt;(quads, glutes, and calves)&lt;/em&gt;. However, if you do perform these sports, you won't really experience an extra benefit to body weight squats.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, body weight squats is more of a cardio exercise than a strength exercise. It'll build endurance and agility in your legs, which will allow you to perform better in sports. But it won't make your legs bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the information retrieved from the comments, it seems that you have access to equipment; the problem is that you can't perform activities that involve putting heavy weights on your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, I wouldn't really advocate barbell back squats for large weights &lt;em&gt;(because of the potential injury if your shoulders fail)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Goblet squats&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a good idea. You can increase the weight, which will help your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dumb bell squats&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/exerciseImages/sequences/85/Male/m/85_2.jpg&quot; /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;is another great idea. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat though:&lt;/strong&gt; your grip strength partly determines how much you'll be able to go. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This form of dumb bell squat is also great &lt;em&gt;(depending on your shoulder strength though)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQE9nf4avzAJ9TRNOIBzPSVIzjbUZE4ZrPYgb-iKFtRz6S6JS4qQ&quot; /&gt; &#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Leg Presses:&lt;/strong&gt; You cannot go wrong with leg presses.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/65N56.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/65N56.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;That can build some serious strength and muscles on your legs. No shoulder required :).&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also perform many calf exercises, leg extensions, and other machine-based exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more exercises that  you can perform....but you get the picture :). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;You are not limited to only body weight squats.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T14:23:52.460" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24971" CreationDate="2015-06-09T15:56:15.560" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of data to support exercise contributing to better &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19462/7091&quot;&gt;physical health&lt;/a&gt; and mental health. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-44462005000400003&amp;amp;script=sci_arttext&amp;amp;tlng=es&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2005 study from Brazil&lt;/a&gt; targeted the elderly, and states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Comparing the groups after the study period, we found a significant&#xA;  decrease in depressive and anxiety scores and an improvement in the&#xA;  quality of life in the experimental group, but no significant changes&#xA;  in the control group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression-and-exercise/art-20046495&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo clinic spells it out pretty clearly&lt;/a&gt; as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Research on anxiety, depression and exercise shows that the&#xA;  psychological and physical benefits of exercise can also help reduce&#xA;  anxiety and improve mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The links between anxiety, depression and exercise aren't entirely&#xA;  clear — but working out and other forms of physical activity can&#xA;  definitely ease symptoms of anxiety or depression and make you feel&#xA;  better. Exercise may also help keep anxiety and depression from coming&#xA;  back once you're feeling better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An interesting concept is found in &lt;a href=&quot;http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/9460778&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;yet another study with positive correlation results between exercise and mental health&lt;/a&gt; (this time in breast cancer survivors):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mild to moderate aerobic exercise may be of therapeutic value to&#xA;  breast cancer survivors with respect to depressive and anxiety&#xA;  symptoms but not to self-esteem. A physician's recommendation to&#xA;  exercise appears to be an important factor in a patient's exercise&#xA;  adherence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sticking With It&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every thing I've seen, and what I've referenced shows that there's a clear connection between physical fitness and positive mental health results. In that first study the subjects were exposed to ~30 minutes of aerobic activity for six months. In the latter study, it's noted that the power of a physician's recommendation was needed for the results, simply because of adherence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So whether it's about body building results or keeping depression at bay, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; deciding factor is consistency. An old running coach told me that training is like trying to fill up a bathtub one teaspoon at a time, with each day representing a teaspoon: there's no way to rush the process, and it's the cumulative impact over time that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise types&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The data currently suggests that effective workouts you stick with are by far the deciding factor in impact. A &quot;more effective&quot; activity that you don't do like clockwork is as a result &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a huge advocate of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;strength training&lt;/a&gt;. Perhaps you can put another question together outlining your physical fitness goals and what you have to work with (gym membership, ice rink, you live in the woods, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T15:56:15.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24971" CreationDate="2015-06-09T17:06:30.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have read somewhere that exercise can also help in curing dipression&#xA;  and anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read this too. It helps regulate chemicals in the brain that cause depression (some depression is simply not in your head; a person can have everything but cannot absorb happiness around them due to chemical balance)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am suffering from anxiety from last 4-5 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really sorry to hear this. Realize you are not alone. Perhaps something would have triggered this, don't want to pry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any specific exercises that I can do to cure my anxiety or to&#xA;  minimise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hard-core cardio. I suggest training for some heavy duty competition, such as Spartan races and obstacle course. You need strength, endurance, stamina, and a fighting spirit ... In your case you are FIGHTING anxiety and depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;its effect by more than 75%?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know exact numbers, but it's better than vegging out on the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warning though ... at first when you do heavy duty cardio you might find more of the unpleasant feelings rise up so intensely that you want to cry .... go ahead and let yourself cry .... cry really hard .... then get up and do what you got to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the anxiety and depression arises during exercise because you are thinking about the exercise you need to do and counting the repetitions, it's similar to meditation actually because you are quieting your mind to do task that is challenging your body and you need determination and willpower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I also suggest you browse Buddhism.stackexchange.com ; it would also help with depression and anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastEditorUserId="15909" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T17:34:06.557" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T17:34:06.557" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24981" CreationDate="2015-06-09T19:36:06.407" Score="1" ViewCount="1744" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing Pilates, I find it very difficult to sit on the mat with my legs straight in front of me. Due to my tight hamstrings and lower back, my centre of gravity is behind my bottom, so I will naturally fall backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a DVD/book routine that I follow, with exercises such as the sitting hundred, spine twist and rowing. How am I best to adapt them considering that I feel so unbalanced with my legs straight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I struggle through, as this will help to loosen the muscles?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I get support for my back?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I bend my legs until I am balanced?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or should I avoid these exercises entirely for the time being?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15970" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T19:46:21.987" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T10:10:22.843" Title="Pilates: Trouble sitting with legs straight. How should I adapt the exercises?" Tags="&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24980" CreationDate="2015-06-09T20:48:21.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to supporting the back, like sitting in front of a wall, you can also try to &lt;em&gt;elevate the pelvis&lt;/em&gt;, eg. by sitting on a pillow. That allows the pelvis to tilt, while you are upright. You can also use a strap (but only to stabilize, not to pull yourself forward).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XHoNX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no use in struggling yourself through these poses, as it would put a lot of unnecessary stress on your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On bending the knees: try to keep them straight, but if your back is still compromised, ie. you are unable to keep it straight and lengthened, even with all the given adjustments, then you should bend the knees.&#xA;Protecting your back should be the first priority in this posture. Bending the knees makes the stretch only slightly less effective, but &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; safer, if that means you can keep your spine straight and lengthened, keep breathing, and stay calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to bend the knees, then you might find it useful to add some lying straight leg raises to your routine. They might be more effective for you than sitting forward bends, until you can keep your legs straight in sitting as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: You might occasionally see very flexible people bending forward with the spine slightly bent and the legs straight, but that is okay (for them). Their hamstrings are already flexible. The forces on the spine will not be that big, that is, they are able to bend the spine forward slightly without compressing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2015-06-10T10:10:22.843" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T10:10:22.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24982" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-09T21:32:33.013" Score="4" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing a 3 days workout routine and i would like to reserve a day to train other things than muscles...I practice martial arts 2 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are any exercises to improve my readiness , reflexes , attention , pain resistance and other mental &amp;amp; cognitive skills that could help me both on my martial arts and on my daily life ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a very dangerous country so is important to be ready to strike fast and without thinking and be able to notice small things like someone hiding a knife or following me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="15362" LastEditDate="2015-06-18T03:39:19.797" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T09:40:38.453" Title="Exercises to improve mental &amp; cognitive skills?" Tags="&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24985" CreationDate="2015-06-09T23:52:38.173" Score="4" ViewCount="918" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bigger guy, 6 foot tall, about 250 pounds, go to an MMA gym 3-4 times a week (more when time allows) and a regular gym once or twice a week. My boxing/kickboxing/Muay Thai is on point, both for power and accuracy, but my cardio is horrendous, especially when doing live rolls in Brazilian Juijitsu. What would be the best way to increase my cardio capacity without losing my striking power?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 1:  I don't think at my age and with my previous KOs making me a bit scatterbrained at times I'll be actually taking a fight, but it would be nice to not huff and puff when live rolling or for going longer than about a 5 minute round on the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 2: I also belong to the martial arts stack exchange but I felt this would be better suited for general fitness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for any advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15973" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T07:07:11.967" Title="Increase cardio for a heavyweight MMA fighter?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24984" CreationDate="2015-06-10T01:24:40.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6'4 250 lbs, and a current BJJ and kickboxing practitioner (though I compete very rarely).  I have a couple favorite methods I use to stay in decent fighting shape:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two handed, lightweight (~35 lbs in our case) kettlebell swings.  I really try to focus on driving the bell down, and using the hip action to pop the bell up. The explosiveness, especially in the hips, is fantastic for supplementing striking power. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also recently fallen in love with the sledgehammer. A lot of folks hit a tire indoors, but I prefer hitting gravel piles, for what it's worth. I typically alternate both sides using a 12 lbs hammer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually design my workout in intervals based on the length of rounds I'm training for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if I'm training for 3 minute rounds, I'll do kb swings for a minute, sledge swings for a minute, then shadow box (usually working on a particular set of combinations for a minute). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest however much time you're alloted in between rounds, and repeat the cycle the maximum number of rounds the fight might last. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will probably gas you pretty good.  don't overdo it, especially the first few times.  I train in class twice a week, lift heavy three times, do light aerobic work twice, and a high intensity anaerobic cardio workout like this max twice a week (and mobility and stretching whenever I can).  That said, you'll probably have to feel it out for yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T01:24:40.770" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-10T03:50:33.297" Score="0" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now I am doing a 5x5 workout 3 times a week. However I want to workout more frequently (maybe 4-5 days a week). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current workout routine is something like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday (Squat, Deadlift), Wednesday (Bench Press, Overhead Press, Bent-Over Rows) Friday (Squat and Deadlift again)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since squat and deadlift workout a lot of upper body muscles, would changing my current routine to something like below be considered as 'over training'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday (Squat, Deadlift), Tuesday (Bench Press, Overhead Press), Thursday (Squat, Deadlift) Friday(Benchpress, Bent-Over Rows)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do some minor isolation exercises after doing the major exercises each workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what do you think community? Will the big compound movements exercises be too much for my body to handle for 4 days a week? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15976" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T13:36:57.020" Title="Will this be 'Overtraining'?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-12T07:16:21.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24986" CreationDate="2015-06-10T04:36:01.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you can't go into the gym and squat heavy twice a day, every day, you aren't overtrained, you're undertrained. (John Broz)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why is it that those most inclined to worry and ask about “overtraining” are about as likely to set a new record in the Olympic Decathlon as they are to ever overtrain? (Greg Glassman)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is very subjective, so I'll give an anecdotal answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: no.  That's not overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: plenty of people do split routines that require at least two gym visits per day, often 6 or 7 days per week.  Many Olympic lifters max out on their backsquat 13 times per week, every morning and every night.  Professional and college athletes train all day, most days.  The biggest, strongest guys I know lift twice per day, almost every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, these people are professionals.  If you try doing that caliber of routine and without giving yourself at least a good 2-8 weeks of on-ramping, you will snap yourself up.  (You'll probably snap yourself up anyway.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As training volume increases, importance of good form increases.  If you don't use good form you absolutely &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; get injured, especially with those deadlifts in there. (Sidebar: lots of people don't deadlift because it's an unnecessary risk.  I'd swap them out for cleans or something one of the days, personally.) Get enough sleep and eat enough and you'll eventually find you'll want even more training volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T04:36:01.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-10T04:49:14.260" Score="2" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per the question title, is there any benefit to doing touch-and-go deadlifts rather than the more &quot;full&quot; reset deadlifts? That is, does the touch-and-go variant provide any specific benefits to training over that of the reset variety?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15977" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T06:53:04.777" Title="Is there any benefit to Touch-and-Go Deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24988" CreationDate="2015-06-10T06:53:04.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find touch-and-go deadlifts useful for accumulating more volume and working higher rep ranges (e.g. 5 to 8) for the purposes of endurance and metabolic stress. Greater care must be taken to maintain back position, and generally I only use this method with weights that I feel quite comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T06:53:04.777" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24984" CreationDate="2015-06-10T06:56:49.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If BJJ makes you gas, then BJJ is a fine way to increase your cardio. Do more BJJ rolling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concern with developing cardio for MMA fighters, particularly heavyweights, is that cardio A) can interfere with sport-specific training time, of which much is needed in this wide-ranging sport, and B) can make the heavyweight become smaller and need to drop down a weight class. Since you say you carry a little extra fat, then you shouldn't worry about extra cardio. Since BJJ is sport-specific for MMA, it's a fine way to get cardio work in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T06:56:49.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24984" CreationDate="2015-06-10T07:07:11.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you getting better? Is it getting easier? If it's really hard, your cardio should already be increasing, you'll have to figure out wether you are above or below the ideal amount of cardio per week. If you're improving I wouldn't make any large changes, if not, try adding a cardio session or include more cardio work in your bjj sessions, we used to do a thing where you would roll like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p1 vs p2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p1 vs p3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p2 vs p3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p2 vs p1 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so on, so you'd first roll with someone tired and then with someone fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also consider losing a bit of weight, heavyweight usually don't have a problem with knockout power, so sacrificing a bit to get lighter, faster and more endurable should be a good idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T07:07:11.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24971" CreationDate="2015-06-10T07:10:36.113" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm usually a proponent of strength training in most cases, but for anxiety, I would personally recommend cardio or something that really makes you feel like you have no energy left, where you can really push yourself in that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Martial arts or running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T07:10:36.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25000" CreationDate="2015-06-10T12:37:24.157" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have increased cardio by minimal amount and feel less hungry .... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is good for cutting out snacks but I feel as if I'm forcing myself to eat full breakfast, medium lunch, light dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips on how to get normal appetite for required food intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T18:30:33.147" Title="Loss of Appetite since exercise" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24997" CreationDate="2015-06-10T13:52:02.333" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common for people to purposely stretch or twist their own back, so that some muscles/tendons/joints produce somewhat loud sounds similar to &quot;cracking&quot; or &quot;snapping&quot; or &quot;clicking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar sounds can also be produced by intense massage, and are typically associated with chiropractics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to study about this phenomenon (in order to know how it works, whether it's harmful or not, etc.), but I don't even know what are the &lt;em&gt;words&lt;/em&gt; I should be looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5483" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T14:41:57.393" Title="What's the scientific name of the &quot;cracking&quot; sounds when someone stretches or gets hard massage on the back muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24996" CreationDate="2015-06-10T14:41:57.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, the word for the sound is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepitus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crepitus&lt;/a&gt;, although this not only describes &quot;popping&quot;, but also &quot;grating&quot; and &quot;crackling&quot;. While not necessarily pathological itself, many conditions actually &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; lead to that kind of sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's especially the &quot;popping&quot; that interests you, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracking_joints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the wiki on cracking joints&lt;/a&gt; seems to adress this. Different processes in the synovial fluid (forming/dissolving of gas bubbles) are cited as the main reason, although the snapping of ligaments over a prominence are also mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as actively cracking joints being harmful, several studies (see wiki link above) indicate that popping of finger joints, at least, do not produce any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T14:41:57.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25001" CreationDate="2015-06-10T14:57:47.783" Score="3" ViewCount="3111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a slight kyphosis and I have seen &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3BYGr47gmg&amp;amp;index=3&amp;amp;list=PLBBsiK_aoyi3o8FdCIV0jwcz1qF0L9USH&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTV6UCh-yhs&amp;amp;index=2&amp;amp;list=PLBBsiK_aoyi3o8FdCIV0jwcz1qF0L9USH&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and other videos as beneficial exercises. My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should be the weekly workout plan for these exercises? Should it be once a day, everyday of the week or something else?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I do stretching before, after or before&amp;amp;after these exercises? If yes, how should the proper stretching for this be done? (a link to a video would be awesome)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After getting used to these exercises, should I increase weight, repetitions or both?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15634" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T04:24:58.727" Title="How to exercise for kyphosis?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24995" CreationDate="2015-06-10T18:30:33.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's entirely possible that this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/405012-exercise-loss-of-appetite/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;perfectly normal&lt;/a&gt;. Exercise, in particular cardio, stimulates certain hormones and suppresses others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A one-hour aerobic exercise session helps reduce ghrelin levels and increase Peptide YY levels, decreasing your appetite when you are finished, according to a 2008 study published in the &quot;American Journal of Physiology.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, this loss of appetite recedes within an hour or so of your workout. In fact, a common problem among people working out is that, when the hormone levels reassert themselves, they can do so with a vengeance, resulting in eating more than you had intended as your body tries to refuel itself. If it's a more longterm problem, particularly if you're finding yourself getting woozy from low blood sugar and if you're doing an excessive amount of exercise, then you need to take it more seriously, finding some easy-to-eat foods that you can eat an hour or two after exercise to ensure your caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with many things diet-related, one of your best first steps is to start writing down what you eat. That will give you an idea as to whether you're still getting in the 1200 calories (1000 for women) that the FDA recommends as a minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under the heading of anecdote, I've personally found that I seem to eat less overall since I've started running three times a week. I just don't feel like I need as much food. However, that's more from the perspective of snacking, and smaller portions, than not feeling like eating all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T18:30:33.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24998" CreationDate="2015-06-10T19:15:55.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/FrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;olympic style front squat&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OlP67.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The front squat is the king of exercises for the thoracic spine.  It will give you perfect posture, and will get you strengthening and extending your upper back like nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To perform this exercise, it means getting the flexibility in your lats to keep your elbows up during the lift.  Notice how her elbows never dip.  You will also need to get the flexibility in your hips to keep your chest up and hit rock bottom with the squat.  It's very challenging, and you'll notice very quickly that it will fix your kyphosis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Do not use a cross-over grip in this case!  This requires much less mobility:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/58HGB.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;It's fine to use cross-over grip if you aren't performing this exercise with mobility in mind, but &lt;em&gt;you are&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stretches&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I did a front squat, it took me about a week of stretching for quite some time everyday before I had the mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stretch for this exercise, you'll want to start with your lats:&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rFefP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also stretch your wrists, biceps, and pecs with this incredibly effective stretch:&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A8tba.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;br/&gt; *Note: Really push into your hand and turn your body away.  You should feel a huge stretch in your arm and bicep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having trouble hitting depth with the squat (you should be able to touch your butt to your ankles), this is a good stretch:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uJNjI.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;*Note: You should use your elbows to push your knees as far out as possible in this position as well.  Spend a lot of time in this position, working into your ankles from various positions (keep heels on the ground), pushing around into your hips, extending your butt up into the air and approaching the stretch again, and also thinking about lifting your chest and pushing your head back.  You will feel a huge stretch in your thoracic spine.  Play around with this stretch.  Get comfortable down there.  It will contribute significantly to a solid squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Frequency&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you're able to do a front squat, find out how much weight you can do for 8-12 reps.  I'd do at least five sets of front squats at least twice a week.  If possible add 5-10 lbs onto the barbell every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find your elbows dropping or any jerkiness to the movement, reset with lighter weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Note about the links you provided above: These stretches and exercises definitely won't hurt to do.  As you know, (most commonly) movement and position dysfunctions such as kyphosis/hyperlordosis are generally the result of weaknesses of the musculoskeletal system. Nothing strengthens muscle better than weight training.  Put some weight on your body and you'll make some leaps and bounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you may wish to see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/16012/5071&quot;&gt;my post on correcting forward head posture&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T04:24:58.727" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24986" CreationDate="2015-06-10T19:33:23.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on your goals and programming.  The answer could be yes or no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my current routine, for example, I dead lift, front squat and bench press three times a week, however, I only complete 10 reps of each lift per session (broken up into 2-3 sets, rarely more than 85% 1 RM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without getting into the fine details of my current program, I'm mainly targeting strength gains (borrowing from some of the core concepts of Dan John's &quot;Easy Strength&quot; musings).  In the said routine, I could care less about hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're targeting hypertrophy (muscle growth), completing a high volume of reps, and/or approaching near failure during sets, you could find yourself in an &quot;overtrained&quot; state pretty quickly (though, as Daniel implied, you'll probably get injured first).  In that case, I'd strongly consider completing heavy, compound lifts (ie DL, Squats...) once a week, and work from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to completely answer your question without some more details, but if you're really concerned with overtraining prevention, get yourself an HRV (heart rate variability) monitor, keep a log, and go big when your body tells you it's ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see you added that you're doing a 5x5 (sorry if I just missed it the first time around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could do a 5x5 approach over four days if you wanted, and complete big lifts, like DLs and squats, twice a week.  If you're employing this method, a key element to consider is how you progress the load in between sets.  Take this guy's program for example (the second program of the two):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw56.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw56.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He builds 10-15% each set, until he's finally lifting near his 5 RM in the final set.  He does his over 3 days, but you could easily spread it out over 4-5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastEditorUserId="15962" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T13:36:57.020" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T13:36:57.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25050" CreationDate="2015-06-10T19:51:57.427" Score="4" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that if one has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyphosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kyphosis&lt;/a&gt;, it is harmful to work front muscles (abs, pecs) since they will worsen the problem. So given a person has started doing correct exercises to correct his back, when is the appropriate time to start working front muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15634" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-06-10T20:19:25.593" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T20:49:39.603" Title="When to start working front muscles for a person with kyphosis?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-10T20:34:34.890" Score="5" ViewCount="3353" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that weight training will lower a person's flexibility over time. How to preserve the flexibility while getting stronger? Is the answer taking up yoga classes at the same time? Or, is there an option without this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15634" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T23:49:03.290" Title="How to keep flexibility with weight training?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25006" CreationDate="2015-06-10T21:27:29.237" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've gotten into running recently and I really like it. However, my body just isn't having it and whenever I run longer than about a mile and a half, my knees just kill me. Yesterday, I had to lay down in the grass for like 20 minutes because of the pain. My friends said that I need to lay off for a week or so, but I really don't want to. If it's important, putting something cold just under my knees helps them feel better. Also, I feel like there's some inflammation because it almost looks like there's fat under my kneecaps. &#xA;Does anyone know what's wrong with me? And what should I do to fix it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I'm 5'11&quot; and 135 lbs. I try to run everyday from 7:30-8:30 and I have some Men's Nike Free 5.0 running shoes. These ones:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00EQBER26&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EQBER26/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15985" LastEditorUserId="15985" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T05:15:23.573" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T05:15:23.573" Title="Should I rest completely or just tone it down?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25005" CreationDate="2015-06-11T00:15:23.713" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there was no pain before you started running, you're probably overdoing it.  A mile and a half really isn't much, and your cardio ability might be there, but your soft/connective-tissue ability might not be there.  That stuff takes a long time to recover and strengthen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you've never run before, your musculature is probably wacko and imbalanced.  This is also something that will not develop overnight.  If it's bad, it can also really jack up your form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Form, by the way, is another thing you should investigate.  If you heal-strike when you run, you'll be in for some serious trouble.  Think about scraping dog poop off your shoe when you run, or pulling the heal of your foot up to your butt. (You don't want to look like you're prancing like a show horse, but just be cognizant of the muscles in the back of your thigh.)  Also think about spending as little time on the ground as possible -- meaning get your foot up right away.  These cues should help with form basics.  If you ask me, it's better to run fast for short intervals with good form than run slow for long intervals with bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, yes, I know, it really sucks.  When you start running, you'll definitely find your aches and pains will slow you down more than your cardio-level will.  Nobody wants to take it slow when they're doing something they enjoy.  But it's important to get a good base so you can keep it up for a long time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, try following a training schedule like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch-to-5k&lt;/a&gt; that will help you gradually on-ramp.  It will give your connective tissues a chance to progress at a healthy rate.  If you're really chomping at the bit to get in more cardio during off-days, I don't see any reason not to add low-impact activities like biking, paddle-boarding, or rowing to the mix, so long as it doesn't exacerbate your pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the inflammation: we aren't allowed to play doctor here so it's not our place to make medical recommendations.  But lord knows what kind of issues you could be having there.  Your buddy is right, ease-up and reset.  Start a logical training progression and it'll probably go away, but definitely visit a doc otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T04:44:31.867" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T04:44:31.867" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25004" CreationDate="2015-06-11T07:01:52.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, do the exercises in their full length, i.e. no 10 inch squats, no half-assed bench presses where you don't even touch your chest, no lat pulldowns where you yank the weight with your whole body to only reaching your chin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, flexibility training, this does not mean that you should spend a few minutes doing some improvised stretching movements, it needs to be taken seriously. Personally I'm fine with being an inflexible muscle beast so someone else will have to inform you here, if you don't google it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T07:01:52.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24939" CreationDate="2015-06-11T08:41:05.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's difficult to give you exact amounts of time/distance without knowing more of your physical condition I think mikhailov mentions the most important thing possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listen to your body and take it slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15987" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T08:41:05.083" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25004" CreationDate="2015-06-11T12:53:51.927" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many kinds of weight training. A well-designed program designed to develop strength, power, conditioning, and athleticism for sport will not make you less flexible. The movements themselves in such a program will make you more flexible and even force you to improve mobility in order to complete the program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hallmarks of such an approach are full range of motion exercises like deep squats, exercises that require proper posture like deadlifts, and a balance between pushing and pulling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To (over)generalize, bodybuilding-style training often neglects these factors and hinders mobility, whereas Olympic-weightlifting style training by necessity produces fairly flexible shoulders, hips, and hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T12:53:51.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25004" CreationDate="2015-06-11T17:47:04.183" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I heard that weight training will lower a person's flexibility over&#xA;  time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the many weight training myths that seem to pop up every now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Myth #7&lt;/strong&gt;: Weight Lifting Decreases Flexibility. One of the realizations&#xA;  people who get into weight lifting have is how inflexible they are.&#xA;  Years of sedentary lifestyle may have tighten your hips, preventing&#xA;  you to Squat correctly. Weight lifting will make you regain your&#xA;  flexibility and maintain it. Especially the Squat will give your hip&#xA;  muscles a full stretch. But increasing your muscle mass or strength&#xA;  won’t reduce your flexibility at all. Read more:&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/weight-lifting-myths-debunked/&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/weight-lifting-myths-debunked/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’ve ever seen a bodybuilder (amateur or professional), you’ll notice the ease and grace at which they can pose their bodies.  Often holding each pose for several minutes.  Couple that with the increase in muscular mass without any loss of range of motion.  Given the amount of weight they lift, I would consider that flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T17:47:04.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25016" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25024" CreationDate="2015-06-11T22:15:28.057" Score="1" ViewCount="6642" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing hanging leg raises, I get cramps in my thighs after very few repetitions, usually after about 5 or so. This stops me progressing in the training. What causes them and what can I do to progress past this point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15990" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T23:20:05.280" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T03:32:35.917" Title="How Can I avoid cramps in the thighs during leg raises?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25004" CreationDate="2015-06-11T23:49:03.290" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is actually not true.  Flexibility is lowered by not reaching end ranges of motion.  Weight training, if performed to end ranges of motion, increases flexibility.  It's essentially many repetitions of dynamic stretches. Being weighted actually forces an &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt; to end range of motion.  On the other hand, if you weight train without reaching full extension, and just perform &quot;half reps&quot; the entire time, yes, you aren't doing yourself any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think your concern is related to kyphosis.  You've heard that working out the &quot;front&quot; muscles, such as chest and abs will worsen the problem.  This is true, and especially common with guys who just do chest work.  However, the inflexibility is not due to the weightlifting &lt;em&gt;per se&lt;/em&gt;, rather the imbalance of musculature that develops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most muscles are structured such that another muscle can perform the exact opposite movement.  These are called antagonist and protagonist muscle groups.  If a protagonist muscle is overdeveloped, its antagonist won't adequately balance the load on the skeletal system.  In the (most common) case of the chest and back, if the rhomboid muscles are underdeveloped, and the chest is overdeveloped, scapular protraction is favored and kyphosis can eventually develop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add a caveat here, that's not to say this is what's happening in your case.  Kyphosis can develop from other issues such as postural deficiencies, which tend to be much more systemic than single antagonist/protagonist imbalances.  I still recommend the front squat for this reason, which will also be incorporating a ton of rhomboid work when performed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer what I think your question is, yes, you should be cognizant of developing muscle imbalances.  This could slow your progress with fixing your kyphosis.  Everyone loves chest day, yet people are quick to put their back day on the back burner (harder to see a back pump in the mirror, right?).  So if you have a chest day, have a back day too (or if you do an upper/lower split, hit them both).  And don't just do pull-ups, get some rows in there too (more about that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11513/5071&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T23:49:03.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24923" CreationDate="2015-06-12T00:21:40.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, I'm running a P/P/L routine. So when do I know I overtrain? It is when I am unable to do progress in my training or whenever I am unable to do the same weight / reps / sets. To me, this means that my &lt;strong&gt;CNS is fatigue&lt;/strong&gt;. With that said, whenever it ends up fatigue, I will feel very &lt;strong&gt;tired&lt;/strong&gt; the whole day, &lt;strong&gt;emotional&lt;/strong&gt; and sometimes have &lt;strong&gt;trouble sleeping&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I recommend having a &lt;strong&gt;light&lt;/strong&gt; and heavy session, so that you do not overtrain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T00:21:40.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17784" CreationDate="2015-06-12T00:52:34.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lets start from the last question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should Cardio be limited?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;, you could always eat more to regain the once you burnt. Improving your cardiovascular system is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How long will it take to put on 1 lbs of weight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Depends&lt;/strong&gt;, and why? There are a lot of factors that can cause the 1lbs increment (such as water weight). Of course, that being said, its advisable to gain &lt;strong&gt;1lbs ~ 1.5lbs&lt;/strong&gt; per week. Though do note that this is highly debatable since everyone is not built the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where should the extra calories be coming from (protein, or fats, or carbs)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your protein intake should be &lt;strong&gt;1g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt;, where as your fat intake should be around &lt;strong&gt;0.5 ~ 0.6g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; and the remaining can be used to fill up your carb intake. However, this is also highly debatable since there is no &lt;strong&gt;right or wrong answers&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, do note that my answers for your last 2 questions are not your only answers. In other words, you need to &lt;strong&gt;find what works&lt;/strong&gt; for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T00:52:34.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24487" CreationDate="2015-06-12T00:57:29.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice? Simple, if the program is &lt;strong&gt;working for you&lt;/strong&gt;, then just &lt;strong&gt;restart the program&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T00:57:29.893" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25016" CreationDate="2015-06-12T01:08:48.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What causes them?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could be improper form and/or you did not loosen up your thigh through stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can I do to progress past this point?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some stretching and do more set as opposed to increasing the reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T01:08:48.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25016" CreationDate="2015-06-12T03:32:35.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would make sure you're doing these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warmup&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't do anything until I've broken a sweat and have exercised the particular parts of my body I'm about to use. Running doesn't warm you up for bench pressing, and pushups don't warm you up for squats. It's rare for me to warmup for more than 5 minutes, alternating between &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTurkishGetup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Turkish getups&lt;/a&gt;, jump rope, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/OverheadSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overhead squatting&lt;/a&gt; an empty bar. Rowing machines work good too, but I like using weights to warmup if I'm lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Electrolytes&lt;/strong&gt;. The biggest problem I ever had in this department was in the tropics where the heat and humidity caused incredible sweating. I had to drink a cup mixed with ~1/4 tsp salt before I worked out to get through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I bring this up is because the muscle at work in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWHangingLegRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hanging leg raise&lt;/a&gt; is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Iliopsoas.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iliopsoas&lt;/a&gt;, which most people have really bad flexibility in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'd avoid targeted movements like that unless you're trying to solve a problem. The more typical-human-movement compound stuff tends to keep you in balance without having to think about it much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T03:32:35.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-12T04:57:21.410" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;As summer is arriving, does anyone have any suggestions for a gym routine for a female? My gym has most equipment. I want to tone up and have a leaner figure. Any exercise  suggestions (cardio, strength) or timetables would be greatly appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, how many times a week is it best to train to see results? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15905" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-07-12T23:08:45.400" LastActivityDate="2015-07-12T23:08:45.400" Title="What is a suitable gym routine for woman to achieve a toned body?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-12T05:25:31.853" Score="1" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few days ago I was watching some episodes of a series continuously for 4-5 hours.&#xA;As I am not habitual to it I started getting minute headaches. Doctor told me that it is due to brain requires more blood circulation as I was giving more stress in eyes and brain. It happened during reading a novel continuously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any simple(home) or gym exercise(s) which can cure such kind of headaches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15966" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T07:25:59.477" Title="Exercise for proper blood circulation to brain" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;blood-flow&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25025" CreationDate="2015-06-12T05:51:42.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions for a gym routine for a female?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, doing a &lt;strong&gt;SL 5x5&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;SS&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;PPL&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;ICF 5x5&lt;/strong&gt; or if you don't like any of these, you could make your own split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any exercise suggestions (cardio, strength) or timetables?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Include any type of &lt;strong&gt;cardio you like&lt;/strong&gt;, such as swimming, running, jogging, cycling and so on. The bolded suggestions above are strength routines which has a timetable (probably 3 times per week). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How many times a week is it best to train to see results?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3 times per week&lt;/strong&gt; or if you choose to do PPL (Push/Pull/Legs) or your own split, then you can opt to train for &lt;strong&gt;5 ~ 6 times per week&lt;/strong&gt;. With that said, you do not need to train exactly 3, 5 ,6 times per week as you need to consider how &lt;strong&gt;fast can your body can recover&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, make sure your diet is in check (caloric deficit to lose those fats aka just eat less). Anyways, don't expect a huge change over a short span of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T05:51:42.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25026" CreationDate="2015-06-12T07:25:59.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any exercise which increases blood circulation in general; cardio!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bicycling, swimming, sex, running/jogging, aerobics, wrestling, football, basketball... You get the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, mental exercise. Try solving a Rubik's Cube. Do some puzzles like crossword or sudoku.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meditation is also very helpful for things like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut down on any distinctively bad habits like smoking, as well as alcohol and caffeine intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat more healthy foods. Most people know they should, but you in particular are noticing the results of being lazy about it. Eat more fruit!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing special about circulation to the brain, other than the lack of it being more noticable. At least now you should have a very tangible motivation for doing something about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T07:25:59.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25025" CreationDate="2015-06-12T09:04:06.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important that you understand what a &quot;toned&quot; body is physiologically, it's easy to get a lot of bad/fuzzy/cute ideas, like that high number of reps -&gt; toned, few heavy reps -&gt; bulky, forget all of that, it's bullshit. It's all about the amount of fat and the amount of muscle tissue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first layer of the body to consider is your musculature, your muscles can get thicker or thinner, meaning stronger or weaker, you can't really affect the length of the muscles, that's determined genetically. Muscles can not be/look toned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of the musculature is your fat layer, without this you would basically look like a redder version of the most extreme body builders, i.e. lots of veins and the muscle fibers being visible. The more fat you add, the smoother you look, first the veins and fibers disappear, then the separation between muscles disappear, so you can no longer see for example your bicep bulge. If you add even more fat you'll start to look like a molten cake, fat hanging on top of other fat and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do we need to achieve the toned look? You will need some muscle mass for the musculature to be visible at all, most females have too little muscle mass to achieve the toned look. The best way to increase this is the workout basically like a male body builder, it doesn't matter that your goals are different, your direction is the same but the distance is different so to speak :) Stop when you have enough muscles, this will take year(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you need to adapt your fat amount, you need a moderately low amount of fat to achieve the toned look, not body builder low, but certainly lower than the average person. Your fat amount is determined by your diet and lifestyle, consumer fewer calories than you use and you'll lower the amount of fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T09:04:06.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25036" CreationDate="2015-06-12T12:39:40.963" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has these really weird bars - one is tiny, and the other one has a fat grip lining it. Which one would be preferable to use for squatting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nlmcj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Barbells&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smaller one is between 4 and 5 feet, and the larger one is almost 6 feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15996" LastEditorUserId="7148" LastEditDate="2015-06-12T18:36:20.793" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T19:29:27.607" Title="Confusion regarding barbells" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25035" CreationDate="2015-06-12T12:48:07.803" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd go with the larger one. Looks like it won't be as sore sitting on your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The small one also looks like it will only take small plates. This will really limit how much weight you can put on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should ask them can they get olympic barbells in as these are what people normally use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T12:48:07.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25038" CreationDate="2015-06-12T15:18:06.887" Score="0" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few years back I was 110lbs at 5'4&quot; . I was able to eat any junk, tiny clothes fit but face was skinny and I needed makeup to look healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Life happened I am nearly 140lbs. Only good part is face filled up and it looks much better --- no need for makeup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am been exercising, i.e. challenging myself to lift heavier weights, do more intensive cardio, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Takes about 30 min a day, and when done I feel I got a super workout --- plus I watch what I eat (if I even have appetite ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question --- how to keep same full face while burning the extra fat and strengthening muscles? Is this even an issue? Or will it take care of itself considering I am doing arm and shoulder exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T15:42:10.660" Title="How to keep full face" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2015-06-17T15:04:07.467" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25037" CreationDate="2015-06-12T15:42:10.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to keep same full face while burning the extra fat and strengthening muscles?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I have a rough idea as to what you mean by &quot;full face&quot;, but to answer your question, &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;. If you are in a caloric deficit (aka eating less), then chances are you will lose some fat on your face whereas if you are in a caloric surplus (aka eating more), then chances are you will gain some fat on your face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that you &lt;strong&gt;cannot spot reduce fat&lt;/strong&gt;, hence you cannot maintain that &quot;full face&quot;. It is &lt;strong&gt;not possible to burn fat while gaining strength / muscle mass&lt;/strong&gt; at your current height and weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for now, you should not worry too much about your face, and continue &lt;strong&gt;lean bulking&lt;/strong&gt;(eating in a small caloric surplus aka just &lt;strong&gt;eat more than you usually do&lt;/strong&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T15:42:10.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-12T15:54:52.210" Score="3" ViewCount="868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only have 36kg total weight at home, can't afford to buy more. I'm joining a gym in September.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it harm my body proportions to lift 36kg on EVERY exercise in Stronglifts, or must they absolutely have a difference in ratio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended starting weight for Squats is 20kg, whereas it's 40kg for Deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15997" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T17:19:34.610" Title="Stronglifts 5x5: Is it that important to keep a ratio of different weights lifted in different exercises?" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25039" CreationDate="2015-06-12T15:59:04.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will it harm my body proportions to lift 36kg on EVERY exercise in Stronglifts, or must they absolutely have a difference in ratio?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;, not at all. The reason? You will not be &lt;strong&gt;linearly progressing at the same pace for each of your lifts&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ask me, that recommended starting weight, is just a &lt;strong&gt;guideline&lt;/strong&gt;, you do not need follow it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After re-reading the OP, you may not be able to linearly progress in terms of weight but you can &lt;strong&gt;progress in terms of the amount of sets / reps&lt;/strong&gt; you do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-06-12T16:12:11.437" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T16:12:11.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25039" CreationDate="2015-06-12T16:02:23.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're overhead pressing as much as you're deadlifting, either something is wrong (like a deadlift-preventing injury) or you're not challenging your deadlift. The way humans are built make them able to lift more--a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; more--with some lifts than with others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, the ratios between different lifts matters in StrongLifts. If you look around, you can even find articles where the author of the program describes why his program doesn't work with just a single pair of dumbbells. The central tenet of the program is not &quot;this lift, then that lift, yadda yadda yadda&quot;, it's &quot;lift X pounds today, rest a day, then lift X+5 pounds&quot;. The concept of linearly progressing a small number of fundamental lifts is way more important than what those lifts are or what the rep scheme is. In a deeply fundamental way, StrongLifts &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; adding weight every session, which you can't do if you just lift 36kg every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T16:02:23.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25049" CreationDate="2015-06-12T16:33:53.320" Score="0" ViewCount="1012" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 22 year old male-175cm height. I was 103kg, but, now I'm 75kg&#xA;for the past year. I have lost about 27kilos by a diet and exercise program. The exercise was focused on my lower body (like 100 squatting/day 5 days a week) because I felt I had much fat on my butt and thighs. The problem is, I still feel disproportion between my upper and lower body fat. My lower part is bigger, wider, and more fatty. I feel muscles on lower body but still fat. My stomach and chest are not fatty so that my shirt is smaller in size than my pants should be.  My narrowest waist circumference size is 78cm and widest hip circumference is 100 !!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know any more if I lose more fat where would it be from upper or lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, also, I used many different types of body fat% calculators on the Internet. They all had the same percent 12.7%.  I totally don't trust that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea how I should decrease my lower body fat and size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15998" LastEditorUserId="15998" LastEditDate="2015-06-12T17:48:08.787" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T23:55:01.000" Title="Lower body fat problem" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-13T16:07:54.253" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25042" CreationDate="2015-06-12T16:40:02.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;cannot spot reduce fat&lt;/strong&gt;. Meaning no matter how much you train your legs, you will not burn off the fats in that region. Stick to &lt;strong&gt;eating less&lt;/strong&gt;(caloric deficit), and continue training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T16:40:02.923" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25039" CreationDate="2015-06-12T17:19:34.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will it harm my body proportions to lift 36kg on EVERY exercise in&#xA;  Stronglifts, or must they absolutely have a difference in ratio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it will harm your body at all, especially since the other answer seems to be &quot;stop exercising so often&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dave Liepmann's answer is correct in that ratios matter because they mimic the strength of the human body in different dimensions. Your glutes are a lot larger than your shoulders, and your hamstrings are a lot more powerful than your biceps: unless there's an injury or something special going on, you should be much more powerful in certain activities than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would get good with your 36kg. It's not optimal, but it's &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; better than not doing anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider adding the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;clean&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PowerClean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;power clean&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frontlift&lt;/a&gt;. They will require less weight than a back squat (certainly less than a deadlift), and although not listed out in 5x5 are awesome exercises in their own right and will make good use of your weight limitations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do cleans, be sure to dial in your form and watch a lot of videos (and record yourself). Cleans are generally avoided by most lifters because they're technical in nature and take some (or a lot) of practice to get right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T17:19:34.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24923" CreationDate="2015-06-12T18:04:08.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this overtraining&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody will be able to answer this as we don't know what your actual routine is. Trying to do max effort lifts every workout is very different from doing 75% of your current max. Likewise doing barbell complexes for two hours during each workout is very different from doing barbell complexes for 15 minutes each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I workout a muscle group, and let it rest for a few days while working on different groups, is this effective training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the definition of effective training. Now go plan your strategy for progress whether it be for hypertrophy or strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T18:04:08.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25035" CreationDate="2015-06-12T19:29:27.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd find a new gym. But if this is your only option there's pros and cons to both. Without knowing the length I'm not sure which I'd use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer one I would fear would snap in half under tension, but if you're just starting out this might not be a valid concern. I would be cautious putting 300+ lbs on that though... I might be cautious putting 100 lbs on that really. The shorter one will be a bit stronger just due to mechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem however is depending on your own body the shorter one might be too narrow to grip comfortably. That depends on your joint health, how big you are, and your flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T19:29:27.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25042" CreationDate="2015-06-12T20:23:36.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aizul is right about targeting fat loss. Your body will burn fat in the areas it essentially chooses, ie where fat resources are easily available and ready to go. It might not be to your choosing, but for your body's furnace fat burning mechanism, it will get energy from fat based on it's most readily available source. Continue your program and your body will continue burning fat. Once it needs a new fat store to access, it will go there instead for an energy source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T20:23:36.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25003" CreationDate="2015-06-12T20:49:39.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your physical therapist would probably be the best one to answer that question.  Because there are different &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spineuniverse.com/conditions/kyphosis/causes-kyphosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;causes of kyphosis,&lt;/a&gt; the results of doing your corrective exercises may very well depend on the cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cause of your kyphosis is postural, then strengthening the upper back and scapular muscles while adding flexibility to the shortened muscles should help to balance out your posture.  As long as the &quot;Y, W, T&quot; muscles mentioned in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;posture exercise answer&lt;/a&gt; test weak, you probably want to continue with your corrective exercises and minimize work on front muscles like the pecs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the abs, they can be strengthened &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;without crunches&lt;/a&gt; using isometrics such as planks to stabilize the trunk.  Strengthened in this manner they should compliment your trunk strengthening exercises by using stability in the lengthened rather than shortened position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T20:49:39.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25042" CreationDate="2015-06-12T23:55:01.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body fat distribution is largely determined by your genes. Also adipose tissue can increase with excessive compression( for example sitting too much).&#xA;Once the cells are there, there is nothing you can do to get rid of them other than liposuction. The only thing you can do is to decrease their size by &quot;starving&quot; them. When you burn more calories than you eat, your body will start using the fat reserves and the cells wil shrink, NOT go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also,you cannot 'spot reduce' fat. You will lose fat all over your body, not one place in peticular. When you exercise your lower body, your muscles will probably grow as well. This might contribute to more bulk in the legs, even though you are losing fat mass. Your hip bones might be wide as well contributiong to the effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice to you is to keep working out and eat a balanced diet (with a slight calorific deficit if you want to lose fat mass) and don't care too much about your appearance. Your health is far more important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T23:55:01.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24451" CreationDate="2015-06-13T02:03:33.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Alec said above, delayed onset muscle soreness is not something you should use to gauge the effectiveness of your workouts. Increased ability to lift more weight using proper form is the real test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about proper form one of the best resources I've found is the Strong Lifts guide. A key way to continue to perform squats well is to exercise the various muscle areas that contribute when performing squats. Working these muscle groups will help you pinpoint any weak links that you need to focus on. Find a link to these supplemental exercises below. The place that wrote this also has a good YouTube channel called Kinetic U which I subscribe to. I hope this helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strong Lift Squat Guide: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/squat/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplemental Exercises: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kineticsportsrehab.com/blog-index/am-i-doing-squats-wrong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.kineticsportsrehab.com/blog-index/am-i-doing-squats-wrong&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16002" LastActivityDate="2015-06-13T02:03:33.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25059" CreationDate="2015-06-13T15:53:18.470" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my routine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plyometrics&#xA;20 jumping jacks&#xA;40 ghost jump ropes (I don't use real rope)&#xA;60 jogging steps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I interleave 4 sets of Plyometrics between three sets of weight-training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower calves are still slightly sore after two days (even when I walk I can feel the soreness), but I really want to get up and work out!!!!!!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for beginner to do so after lot of stretching, or is it better to wait another day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T02:08:12.913" Title="Is it safe to do light Plyometrics even though lower calves are sore" Tags="&lt;plyometrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-07-17T17:21:00.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-13T19:33:05.010" Score="2" ViewCount="1449" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I'm 16 years and 10months old. My height is 5'5'' and weight is only 47kg.&#xA;I'm too much thin so that I haven't any girlfriend. I want to be healthy. I want to start weight gaining workout. But I'm worried about it. Because I want to be taller also. Everybody telling that this could stunt my growth...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does weight gaining workout stunt growth???? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And please also tell that which kinds of home workout I can do for weight gain. Now I'm eating too much and doing 10x3=30 push-ups daily. And doing pull-up also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13670" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T09:10:40.213" Title="Does Weight Gaining Workout Stunt Growth?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25056" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-13T23:02:10.467" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed after tennis matches, the athletes will wear coats even though they are sweating profusely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After heavy workout, I notice I need to wear heavy sweater, even though it is 90 degrees outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good practice? What is the medical reason for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T01:15:12.157" Title="Why Does Heavy Workout Make Me Want to Wear Sweater" Tags="&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25055" CreationDate="2015-06-14T01:10:47.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does weight gaining workout stunt growth?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Improper form causes stunt growth&lt;/strong&gt;. You are only 16, you are still growing, so stop worrying about your height. I agree with rrirower statement, that is your &lt;strong&gt;height is determined by your genetics&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as for a home workout, there are probably a lot of routines on the net.&#xA;Here are a few to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqgGhJywnHI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buff Dudes Home Workout Routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnj9WD6F8-Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barstarzz Home Workout Routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nerd Fitness Home Workout Routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I &lt;strong&gt;highly recommend doing some sort of strength training routine&lt;/strong&gt; to build up your strength. Once you are satisfied with the weights you can lift, either continue doing the same strength training routine or your own split or doing a different strength / hypertrophy routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T01:10:47.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25056" CreationDate="2015-06-14T01:15:12.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this a good practice?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;. This is unnecessary for people like us. The only reason that I can think off, is that they want get rid of sodium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the medical reason for this?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a medical reason to this. I could be wrong for all I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T01:15:12.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25053" CreationDate="2015-06-14T01:28:46.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it safe to do light Plyometrics even though lower calves are sore?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;. Since you are having a slight soreness, it is still alright to do plyometrics so long you &lt;strong&gt;do not do any sort of heavy calf raises&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T01:28:46.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-14T03:42:03.813" Score="3" ViewCount="448" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working on body weight training for just over a year now.  After the initial beginner routine, full body/3 day per week, I went to a 2 day split/4 days per week, and to a 3 day split/9 days per 2 weeks.  Now I'm looking to go back to a 4-5 day per week full body routine.  This came after I realized how much stronger and faster my core became after incorporating core/ab exercises into every workout.  I'm looking at incorporating super sets as much as possible.  Agonistic, antagonistic, and non-competitive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is more looking for suggestions as far as how many exercises per muscle group per day, as well as appropriate volume.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm doing about 4-6 sets of about 3-5 reps on difficult movements, and around 4-6 sets of 10-45 seconds for static holds.  Any other recommendations from experience is welcome to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10478" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T16:15:48.563" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T16:59:07.467" Title="Advanced High Frequency Training" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25074" CreationDate="2015-06-14T05:55:22.000" Score="2" ViewCount="782" Body="&lt;p&gt;The majority of fitness experts suggest eating carbohydrates right after a workout to replenish depleted muscle glycogen stores. Arnold Schwarzenegger even went as far as saying the window of opportunity for utilizing carbohydrates is even tighter for carbs than protein in his Modern Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why must one rush to restore muscle glycogen? You're not going to be doing any strenuous activity after working out that requires maxed out glycogen stores. Usually, your next workout is at least 24 hours away, giving you a chance to eat multiple carb heavy meals before then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T18:06:01.103" Title="Why replenish glycogen after a workout?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25066" CreationDate="2015-06-14T10:16:00.823" Score="3" ViewCount="444" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 18, average height and quite skinny - not a fan of the whole idea of going to a gym to lift weights, and not after getting &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt;, just fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the Insanity workout a good approach? If it is, should I be following the diet it recommends (including the protein powder)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16008" LastEditorUserId="7148" LastEditDate="2015-06-15T17:26:20.810" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T08:55:21.203" Title="Is the Insanity Workout worth it?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25055" CreationDate="2015-06-14T10:42:25.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Height is largely determined by your genetics, though childhood nutrition, stress and health play a part in determining your maximum adult height. If you're after a rough idea of this figure there are a number of calculators that can approximate your potential height eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/height-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Height Calculator&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.babycenter.com/child-height-predictor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Height Predictor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway as your current BMI is below the minimum (18) recommended by the World Health Organization, and the ideal 22.5, proposed in a number of studies, gaining weight may help you reach your potential height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to exercise, as long as the exercise isn't combined with calorie restriction / malnutrition there isn't any evidence it restricts growth in fact the contrary has been found, with a correlation shown between moderate exercise and bone growth.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/441421-a-list-of-exercises-that-stunt-childrens-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Are There Exercises that Stunt Children's Growth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/430166-can-lifting-weights-when-young-stunt-your-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Can Lifting Weights When Young Stunt Your Growth?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T10:42:25.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-14T11:23:54.203" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is simple and clear, if my heart pounds graciously for one hour, will this help aid weight loss in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16009" LastEditorUserId="16009" LastEditDate="2015-06-14T12:36:17.993" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T12:36:17.993" Title="If my heart keeps pounding for one hour, will this help aid weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25064" CreationDate="2015-06-14T11:58:37.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If my heart keeps pounding graciously for one hour, will this help aid weight loss in any way?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;. Weight loss occurs when you are in a &lt;strong&gt;caloric deficit&lt;/strong&gt; (eat less than you usually do)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T11:58:37.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25062" CreationDate="2015-06-14T12:06:36.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is the Insanity workout a good approach?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to pay for your routine, &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it is, should I be following the diet it recommends (including the protein powder)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Absolutely not&lt;/strong&gt;. Since you mention that you are quite skinny, what I recommend is eating more than usual (&lt;strong&gt;caloric surplus&lt;/strong&gt;). Protein shake should not be your main source of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to make a change to your body, consider calculating your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as &lt;strong&gt;protein intake&lt;/strong&gt; goes, the usual &lt;strong&gt;1g per pound of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Fat intake&lt;/strong&gt; probably around &lt;strong&gt;0.5 ~ 0.6 g per pound of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt;. Fill up the rest with carbs, vitamins and minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do note that stated protein intake, fat intake is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; your final answer. You may need to modify it to ensure that you are able to ensure the best muscle to fat gain ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After having a long conversation with @Ryan, I would like to suggest that you &lt;strong&gt;opt for a free calisthenics workout program BEFORE buying Insanity&lt;/strong&gt;. Once you feel happy doing calisthenics, then you can decide whether you want to buy Insanity or continue with your routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some of the free ones for you to try:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nerd's Fitness Beginner Bodyweight Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-qEE3x27PE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fortress Bodyweight Workout&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if you are unable to do pull-ups, consider doing incline pull ups and if you are unable to do pistol squat, try doing squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://baristi-workout.com/blog/how-to-get-started-with-calisthenics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baristi Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T08:55:21.203" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T08:55:21.203" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25079" CreationDate="2015-06-14T13:04:06.220" Score="4" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, after exercise, I cool down and then do other stuff for about 15-20 minutes and then take a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to instead eat a full meal after those 15-20 minutes before taking a bath if I just wash my hands?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking that it might be unsanitary since my body would have been sweating a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16010" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:30:11.967" Title="Is it okay to eat after exercising?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25067" CreationDate="2015-06-14T13:21:27.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it okay to instead eat a full meal after those 15-20 minutes before taking a bath if I just wash my hands?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, there is &lt;strong&gt;no set time&lt;/strong&gt; for you to consume your post workout meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T13:21:27.487" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25060" CreationDate="2015-06-14T14:04:39.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is more looking for suggestions as far as how many exercises per muscle group per day?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably about 2 - 3 exercises, but really, its not about the number of exercise. It should be the &lt;strong&gt;amount of volume done&lt;/strong&gt;(sets and reps done) on that day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your last question, I don't have any experience in calisthenics. You may want to consider looking up on other calisthenics users, such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/TheF0rtress?gl=SG&amp;amp;hl=en-GB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fortress&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialBarstarzz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barstarzz&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to define difficult movements. Do you mean something like planche push up, human flag?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T14:04:39.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-14T14:54:16.157" Score="4" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a bad wrist injury that is taking about 2 months to recover. I did do some upper body during treatment, but I stopped because it hurt too much and the doctors and my friends told me not to. On June 24, 2015 I should be good to go upper body again, but my gym membership starts July 1st, so I'll have to do push ups and pull ups until then. I haven't noticed my muscle decrease from a visual standpoint yet, and I still work legs, abs, and shoulders(arm circles). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is good packed with protein and fiber and no junk. I consider myself an experienced bodybuilder and just want suggestions to build my muscle back up fast if any went and also stronger than before. I bench 165(my own weight), curl 55 Ib dumbbell, and can do 48 push ups in a row, 10 pull ups in a row. I would prefer the workout to also consist of lower body, too. I squat 215, leg press 410, and can do 75 bodyweight squats in a row. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16011" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-16T06:02:58.347" LastActivityDate="2018-06-29T23:13:54.563" Title="Suggestions for workout to build muscle fast after suffering from bad wrist injury?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12892" CreationDate="2015-06-14T16:52:57.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you use one of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://appcrawlr.com/app/uberGrid/488&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;food diary app's / web sites&lt;/a&gt; to log your daily calorie and nutrient intakes, for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;. They all offer an estimated TDEE (total daily energy expenditure = Kcal) figure, based on your: age, weight, height and activity level. As well as suggested protein, fat, fibre, sugar, mineral, vitamin and fluid intakes. The majority have a food / calorie / nutrient database to help plan your meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T16:52:57.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25073" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25082" CreationDate="2015-06-14T19:33:33.463" Score="2" ViewCount="3888" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past year I have drastically changed my eating habits (for better if I may say so) and I'm currently training twice a week and doing cardio once/twice per week. However, I still occasionally fall for snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good scientific reason to prefer one over another. E.g. 50g bag of Lays vs 50g Snickers bar? From what I can see on the wrappings, calories are more or less same. Only difference for me is that chips last longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So except trying to avoid them, is any of the categories &quot;more healthy&quot; than the other and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16013" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T06:07:05.813" Title="Lesser evil when it comes to snacks: sweet vs salty" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;&lt;snacks&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-06-15T16:23:57.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25061" CreationDate="2015-06-14T21:47:44.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you will not be exercising again for 24 hrs., the rapid ingestion of carbohydrates to replace muscle glycogen storage &lt;a href=&quot;http://marquettenutrition.blogspot.fr/2009/07/replacing-glycogen-after-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is not quite as important&lt;/a&gt; as it would be if you were to exercise again within a shorter window of time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3761704/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Role of Post-Exercise Nutrient Administration on Muscle Protein Synthesis and Glycogen Synthesis&quot;&lt;/a&gt; in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...athletes should intake nutrients immediately or soon after the completion of a prolonged or high intensity exercise bout, especially if quick replenishment of glycogen stores is required.  &lt;strong&gt;If fast glycogen recovery is unnecessary&lt;/strong&gt; and the goal is long-term maintenance of carbohydrate stores, a daily carbohydrate intake greater than 8 g·kg-1·day-1 is recommended to effectively maintain glycogen stores during repeated days of endurance training &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in addition to muscle glycogen replenishment, there is also protein synthesis to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein Synthesis&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19631/short-term-and-long-term-effect-of-delaying-protein-intake-after-workout/19635#19635&quot;&gt;Carbs can help with protein synthesis&lt;/a&gt; for muscle hypertrophy and strength: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A combination of a fast-acting carbohydrate source such as maltodextrin or glucose should be consumed with the protein source, as leucine cannot modulate protein synthesis as effectively without the presence of insulin [27,28] and studies using protein sources with a carbohydrate source tended to increase LBM more than did a protein source alone &quot; (LBM - lean body mass). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine article: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The overall effect of the glucose supplement caused a suppressed protein degradation rate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;100 g of carbohydrates improves overall protein balance when ingested one hour following a resistance exercise bout &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle Glycogen Replenishment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your question addressing only the muscle glycogen replenishment,  there is rapid phase of glycogen synthesis following exercise that lasts approximately 30-60 minutes.  The slow phase can last up to several hours, assuming carbs are in supply.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keto-Adapted State&lt;/strong&gt; - Replacing carbs after exercise however, is not recommended for those athletes following low carb or ketogenic diets and who are in a keto-adapted state. According to &quot;&lt;strong&gt;The&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Whereas consuming fast-digesting carbohydrates after exercise is commonly recommended, &lt;strong&gt;this practice is counter-productive in the keto-adapted state&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T18:06:01.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25077" CreationDate="2015-06-14T23:37:59.607" Score="2" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I attempt to do this exercise with 8lbs, I can barely lift my right arm, and my right &lt;a href=&quot;http://isaiahzimmermananatomy.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/9/5/13959698/438529_orig.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deltoid&lt;/a&gt; actually hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can lift my left arm easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to strengthen the right &lt;a href=&quot;http://isaiahzimmermananatomy.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/9/5/13959698/438529_orig.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deltoid&lt;/a&gt; so it is symmetrical to left &lt;a href=&quot;http://isaiahzimmermananatomy.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/9/5/13959698/438529_orig.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deltoid&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eIS76.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T17:41:25.603" Title="Pain in Right Deltoid With Certain Exercise" Tags="&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13892" CreationDate="2015-06-15T00:52:45.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This article claims that broken capillaries can very much be expected from intense exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.mariobadescu.com/broken-capillaries/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.mariobadescu.com/broken-capillaries/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the capillary walls contract and expand too quickly, the muscles in the wall tear and allow blood to seep through. Repeated dilation from hot water/showers, microdermabrasion, spicy foods, alcohol, &lt;strong&gt;intense exercise&lt;/strong&gt;, or genetics leave these capillaries permanently dilated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for avoiding broken capillaries, you could avoid exercising, but this would probably not be satisfactory for you.  Instead, try to see if your bruise areas are the result of any contact during exercise.  If so, can you eliminate that contact?  Are you changing temperatures suddenly (e.g. going from air conditioning to hot and humid outdoor conditions)?  The article I gave is a good starting point to get you thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T00:52:45.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25075" CreationDate="2015-06-15T04:12:03.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You really should get checked out by a medical professional to make sure you don't have something seriously wrong that you can't work through. Since it's your shoulders, I would imagine the odds are good that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000438.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you have a rotator cuff problem&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can work through it, I'd start doing full range of motion exercises with weights that make it &lt;em&gt;stiff&lt;/em&gt; feeling, but stopping well short of &lt;em&gt;pain&lt;/em&gt;. The whole &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23662/should-i-squat-with-sore-knees/23666#23666&quot;&gt;good vs bad pain&lt;/a&gt;&quot; thing really is legitimate. Every athlete works through injuries and random problems. The key is that you want to help your body heal and get back to a strong, full range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last time I had a partial tear in my shoulder (racquetball injury), I found that doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidPosterior/DBRearLateralRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reverse flies&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standing overhead press&lt;/a&gt; were key. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, a precursor to shoulder injuries is bad shoulder development: isolation exercises, bench pressing, lack of back strength, tight chest, and loose back. Not only do you want to fix things safely, but you want to minimize the chances of having a problem like this again in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T04:12:03.263" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25073" CreationDate="2015-06-15T04:41:53.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is no food that you can't eat occasionally just because you wan't to be healthy doesn't means you can't eat McDonalds or coke nevermore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't say about the difference of salt vs sugar because you probably know about them and there's a lot of info on them on internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But i will say that if you aren't professional athlete or bodybuilder you don't have to worry about this things, i know that media keeps trying to scare everybody but the true is that even if you eat a very salty or sweet food &lt;strong&gt;occasionally&lt;/strong&gt; will not harm your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just choose what you like the most, but don't eat too much and too often.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T04:41:53.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25067" CreationDate="2015-06-15T04:45:39.877" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's just not OK but is also recommended. When you end your exercises your body needs food, especially proteins and good carbs !! But i won't enter in nutritional aspects of this because your question appear to be about hygiene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's ok to eat if you just wash your hands, there's no harm on that because normally the rest of your body won't touch your food right? And sweat anyway isn't bad for your health you can even drink it! The only possible harm is the bacteria on your hands, but washing your hands for 1min is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T04:45:39.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24573" CreationDate="2015-06-15T04:49:18.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No like the guys above said, if you have no allergies and health problems then protein shakes is completely OK to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is important to add that you shouldn't over drink any kind of supplementation because too much protein, and especially the vitamins and minerals that is added to most of proteins shakes is bad for you health and can even kill you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You likely need about 1 gram per pound or 2,2 grams per kg of lean body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people, this amounts to 40 to 70 grams of protein a day. Rarely does a person need more protein than this—the exception would be those who are aggressively exercising (or competing) and pregnant women, who should have about 25 percent more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypervitaminoses&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="15362" LastEditDate="2015-06-15T06:05:58.937" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T06:05:58.937" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25073" CreationDate="2015-06-15T05:46:23.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your lifestyle, if you eat sugar very rarely, then maybe the snickers bar is better, but I'd dare to say that sugar is worse than salt for most people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sugar is not just calories with high glychemic index, it's 50% fructose, which can only be metabolized in the liver. This can cause fat accumulation in and around the liver which is most likely the cause of diabetes and metabolic syndrome (behind fat in itself is not dangerous in that regard, but it tends to go correlate because high calorie intake go along with high sugar intake.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T05:46:23.893" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25062" CreationDate="2015-06-15T05:52:09.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. You're confusing the look of people who've gone to the gym for 10 years with the effects of going to the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're naturally skinny, you won't pack on huge amounts of muscle, in fact, no one does, but especially not skinny people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting big takes many years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T05:52:09.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25073" CreationDate="2015-06-15T06:07:05.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bad sides of Lays is having so much fat(also trans fat) and potato is starch, so not so much difference from sugar. The fat in snickers is from peanut and its a good fat source. The only bad thing in Snickers is sugar. In this two i absolutelly chose snickers. But for snacks i sugeest u to try protein bars. They are delicious and healthy and the most importantly, it doesnt break ur diet at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T06:07:05.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24982" CreationDate="2015-06-15T06:29:46.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Balance improves the mental capacity of brain and makes it easy to control body. So i suggest u to improve your workouts for balance. That means, use dumbbels instead of machines and bars. Body weight workouts improve that also. And the most importantly u should take care of your diet for mental improvement. Comsume seafood a lot, add nuts to your snacks, use omega-3, Zinc, Magnesium supplements. They all improves mental capacity. There are some herbals which increases dopamine levels &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-DOPA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;L-Dopa&lt;/a&gt;. Dopamine let your neurones switch faster and that makes ur reflexes better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T06:29:46.660" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-15T07:24:08.770" Score="2" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm &lt;code&gt;25  years old , 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh 235 pounds&lt;/code&gt;. Over the &lt;code&gt;last couple of months&lt;/code&gt; I have been &lt;code&gt;following a 4 day workout program&lt;/code&gt; based on the following schedule :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday  : Chest&#xA;Tuesday : Back&#xA;Wednesday : Rest&#xA;Thursday : Triceps&#xA;Friday : Shoulders&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for skipping leg day is that my leg muscles are decently developed , hence I don't target them specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to change this schedule into a 3 day program.&#xA;How do  I go about it and what all compound exercises do I incorporate for each body part ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TIA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15145" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T22:16:34.893" Title="Basic compound lift based workout composition and scheduling" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25086" CreationDate="2015-06-15T07:42:42.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I go about it and what all compound exercises do I incorporate for each body part ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is simple. Choose a &lt;strong&gt;full body strength routine&lt;/strong&gt;, SL 5x5, ICF 5x5, SS, PPL and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, please continue doing your squats, lunges, leg extension and etc. Keep training your legs. Don't worry, &lt;strong&gt;your legs will not get as huge as those Mr Olympia&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-06-15T07:51:22.017" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T07:51:22.017" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25086" CreationDate="2015-06-15T07:48:45.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Triceps and shoulders are smaller muscles than chest and back so combine triceps and shoulders in one day like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;day1 : Chest &lt;br&gt;&#xA;day2 : Back &lt;br&gt;&#xA;day3 : Shoulders/Arms(triceps-biceps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T07:48:45.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-15T11:52:35.347" Score="5" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to HIIT and would like to gain the most our of it. I mostly do indoor cycling for my HIIT workouts. As I am progressing, it is better to increase resistance or increase speed ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use case :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say right now I use resistance level 3 and reach about 28 mph during the 20 seconds interval, Should I increase to resistance level 4 while maintaining  same speed or stay at the same level and increase speed ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you,&#xA;Martin &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16019" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T21:31:01.580" Title="Increasing resistance vs increasing speed?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25070" CreationDate="2015-06-15T13:38:45.913" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get yourself a pair of quality wrist wraps. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inzernet.com/search_results_wraps.asp?txtsearchParamTxt=&amp;amp;txtsearchParamCat=5&amp;amp;txtsearchParamType=ALL&amp;amp;txtsearchParamMan=ALL&amp;amp;txtsearchParamVen=ALL&amp;amp;txtFromSearch=fromSearch&amp;amp;iLevel=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Inzer&lt;/a&gt;, APT, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.titansupport.com/products/wraps/wrist-wraps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Titan&lt;/a&gt;, Overkill - basically any powerlifting company manufactures a set as well as just about every new comer into the apparel industry these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use Overkill now and they're the best quality I've found by far. But before Overkill came along I used a set of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.prowriststraps.com/product-category/wrist-wraps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;APT Convicts&lt;/a&gt; which will probably be easier for you to track down as Overkill is still fairly exclusive without an online order yet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then just go back to doing what you were doing. Use the wrist wraps on pressing (Bench, Incline Bench, Dips, Shoulder Press, etc). You might also find it more comfortable to use a &lt;strong&gt;false grip&lt;/strong&gt; for a while - that depends on how the wrist was injured and what causes it pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T13:38:45.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25062" CreationDate="2015-06-15T15:59:53.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 18, average height and quite skinny - not a fan of the whole idea of going to a gym to lift weights, and not after getting big, just fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the Insanity workout a good approach? If it is, should I be following the diet it recommends (including the protein powder)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insanity (and P90X) are both good programs. I'm not familiar with the diet specifically but if you're quite skinny then you might need to increase it. I would say purchase it, follow the diet as well as the workouts, if you don't see the results you're after then adjust your macronutrients as necessary (most likely increase since the standard diet might be geared more towards weight loss, maybe they have different options though?). Just don't go by the scale, don't even look at the scale if you're just getting started. Go by how you look, how you feel, how your clothing is fitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will definitely struggle when starting Insanity but if you stick with it you will get fit. It's some serious bodyweight HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T15:59:53.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25086" CreationDate="2015-06-15T17:42:23.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reason for skipping leg day is that my leg muscles are decently&#xA;  developed , hence I don't target them specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I'd doubt that. Your &quot;leg muscles&quot; consist a large variety of muscles. The obvious ones like your quads and hamstrings are there, but I don't know how you can say that your &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliopsoas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;iliopsoas&lt;/a&gt; is sufficiently strong and flexible. Also, it's quite difficult to strengthen your lower back and abdominal muscles without engaging your hips, which in turn engage your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to change this schedule into a 3 day program. How do I go&#xA;  about it and what all compound exercises do I incorporate for each&#xA;  body part ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound exercises, are by definition, not concerned with each body part. I would encourage you to look into one of the numerous &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;highly effective strength training programs out there&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part, these will use squats, pressing (bench and overhead), deadlifts, and rows (or cleans). It might field weird to ditch the classic isolation and body part split routine that you're doing, but take heart in the fact that there's simply no way you'll be small and squat twice your body weight. You'll be powerful, big, balanced, and spend less time in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T17:42:23.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25062" CreationDate="2015-06-15T18:48:44.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insanity workout videos&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a compilation of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;High Intensity Interval Training&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; exercises. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What Does This Mean?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; HIIT exercises are cardio exercises that are designed to burn a lot of calories in the shortest time possible. Its goal isn't to make you big; it's goal is to reduce your weight &lt;em&gt;(usually fats)&lt;/em&gt; in the shortest time possible.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Unless you're trying to lose weight, Insanity workouts won't benefit you much. This is why if you check the commercials, its target audience are fat people struggling with their weights.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;That Being Said&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; If you perform HIIT exercises often, you'll have lots of energy and endurance. So, you won't get tired easily and you certainly won't feel lumpy. It will also give you a toned look because your muscles are active.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; If you already have access to the Insanity videos, there's no reason not to try them &lt;em&gt;(unless you already have lots of energy)&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; The protein powder isn't any different from the supplements people take to increase their protein intake. If you already consume enough protein, you don't need to use protein supplements. You're welcome to take them; they just aren't required.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to gain muscles and not be skinny, Insanity videos isn't really for you. If you want to be fit, it's an option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T18:48:44.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25093" CreationDate="2015-06-15T21:31:01.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus On Rotation's Per Minute, Not Simulated &quot;Miles Per Hour&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a certified indoor cycling instructor and road cyclist I can tell you that simulated speed on an indoor bike is generally a bad measure as you generally aren't going to know how it is calculated and it doesn't have a good relationship with technique.  Certification training instructs us that the RPM range given to our students generally shouldn't go outside of 60-100, with an admission that serious cyclists will often want to raise this to an 80-120 range (in other words I instruct the serious cyclists to attempt working at the given range +20).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key point being that at lower RPM's you are adding potential for injury and at higher RPM's you are probably over-spinning (thus not really working AND adding potential for injury).  In road cycling their is an added benefit to a good cadence that keeps you from losing energy on your strokes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My instruction to you would depend on what you want to accomplish:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Road Cyclists:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would tell to mix it up and aim for high RPM's on simulated sprints, and hit the lower RPM's on simulated hill climbs.  The experience of getting both in would prepare their body not only for the mixed experience of the road, but to actually get adjusted to using efficient RPM's. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HIIT for primarily cardiovascular fitness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For HIIT focused primarily on cardiovascular fitness I would say to focus on the higher end of the range, probably 90-100.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HIIT for cardiovascular power&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were hoping for a bit more power and don't really plan on ever brining it to the road then 70-80 RPM's is a solid goal that still keeps the process in the low-injury low-impact workout realm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15331" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T21:31:01.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7116" CreationDate="2015-06-16T04:14:40.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You drink protein shake to complement your protein intake, regardless of training days or times, unless you are very experienced timing doesn't really matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T04:14:40.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25107" CreationDate="2015-06-16T09:27:36.370" Score="6" ViewCount="1809" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend was looking at getting some body fat scales, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18992/do-body-fat-scales-get-more-accurate-with-price-and-if-so-how-exactly/19012#19012&quot;&gt;I told her these are inaccurate&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to measure body fat at home?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By best I'm looking for a trade off between &lt;em&gt;accuracy&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;simplicity&lt;/em&gt;. I understand that the most accurate would likely be something like a full body scan but obviously that isn't practical to do at home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10169" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T11:10:28.110" Title="Most accurate home body fat test?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25104" CreationDate="2015-06-16T09:36:44.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try US Navy method its really accurate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Men (Measurements in Inches):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;%Fat = (86.010*LOG(abdomen - neck) - 70.041*LOG(height) ) + 36.76&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Women (Measurements in Inches):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;%Fat = 163.205*LOG(abdomen + hip - neck) - 97.684*LOG(height) - 78.38&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T09:36:44.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25104" CreationDate="2015-06-16T10:00:24.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a well used caliper is what you're looking for, it might not tell you the exact fat% number, but the skin folds WILL decrease as you lose fat, meaning you can measure changes quite accurately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T10:00:24.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25104" CreationDate="2015-06-16T11:01:45.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer will depend on your body fat percentage and purpose. As BIA scales don't cope well with athletes / bodybuilders (body fat &amp;lt; 10%), and generally don't take account of race. Fat calipers aren't very accurate on the obese, similarly the military regression equations are based on data from military bodies and are designed to assess whether an individual has exceeded the maximum permitted body fat (+/- 3%), so again not really suited for bodybuilders / athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the Navy formula (see @CanESER post) simply requires a tape measure I'd suggest you start there, and then spend literally a few pennies on a set of cheap plastic skinfold calipers, and have a play on one of the free apps / web sites that will compute and track your body fat from the values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TdcZO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T11:10:28.110" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T11:10:28.110" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18992" CreationDate="2015-06-16T13:19:20.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Body fat scales estimate your body composition using a lookup table. It measures your body electrical impedance, and uses a statistically generated lookup table of the general population in order to produce a fat % number. As such it will never be good for measuring extreme cases (super fat, or super skinny). The impedance measurement itself is affected by hydration level and by recent physical activity as explained in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;. These devices are best use to get a trend over time rather than an absolute fat %. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might expect higher price devices to last longer and/or give more repeatable results. As far as their accuracy is concerned, they are all based on the same lookup principle and so work best (least badly?) on people with average body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T13:19:20.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19107" CreationDate="2015-06-16T13:25:37.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you mentioned cheerleaders and the splits position: I think what you mean is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_6716739_stretch-needle-cheerleading.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the needle pose&lt;/a&gt;. The link leads to a wikihow article on how to train for it. They mostly mention how important it is to warm up properly. Both your legs and back need to be warm and stretched. In the linked article they say to practice this move by performing you splits on the floor and laying back, try to get your head all the way down to your leg. Practicing against a wall before you try it freestanding also helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4DjC2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Girl performing needle pose&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16031" LastEditorUserId="16031" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T20:06:16.743" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T20:06:16.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18992" CreationDate="2015-06-16T14:16:09.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's not the price of the scales, it's the maths you should be looking out for!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body fat scales use a process called Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to measure the impedance to a small electrical current being passed between two or more points on your body. Most domestic models simply measure the resistance / reactance to a 50Hz current being passed up one leg and down the other. The electronics / components to do this are trivial and inexpensive, so the raw data  the scales have to work with will be very similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scales will plug the Resistance / Reactance readings obtained into a series of regression algorithms, to first estimate the percentage / volume of water encountered between the two electrodes, then this result into another equation to estimate your body fat percentage, from found ratios of water, to fat, mineral content (bone) and muscle mass obtained from DEXA scans of a sample population. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are at least a dozen academic papers available that suggest different algorithms for this process, with stated Standard Error rates and details of the sample population the regression algorithms are based on.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The algorithms incorporate a number of other variables such as: &lt;strong&gt;Sex&lt;/strong&gt; (females have some additional fat stores), &lt;strong&gt;Race&lt;/strong&gt; (Africans have 10-15% more bone mineral content and 3% less fat per kg, than Europeans, who have 3-5% less body fat, than Asians), similarly the ratio of fat to muscle in &lt;strong&gt;athletes&lt;/strong&gt; differs to that of the population at large, &lt;strong&gt;limb length / height&lt;/strong&gt; (effects fat deposition), &lt;strong&gt;age&lt;/strong&gt; (your ratio of fat to muscle increases over 40), &lt;strong&gt;BMI&lt;/strong&gt; (many formula don't work for bodies with a BMI &amp;lt;17 or &gt;40)......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially you want a device that uses a regression formula that was developed for a sample population that stereotypically describes you, or alternatively applies some post calculation adjustment to compensate for known differences eg. the Withings scales will add 5% to the calculated body fat reading if you claim to be Japanese. The other alternative is to seek out a device that displays or can be hacked to display the found resistance and reactance values, so you can have a play with the maths and work out a model that suits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T14:22:34.270" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T14:22:34.270" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-16T16:59:08.453" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's ok, but wanted to cross reference. Is it ok to exercise twice a day, 12 hours apart if say, you know next day you will not have chance to exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case I'd do low-impact cardio (like jogging instead of jumping jacks and ghost jump ropes), and I'd work a different muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insights, past experiences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T05:24:45.713" Title="Exercising Twice a Day" Tags="&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25111" CreationDate="2015-06-16T18:40:54.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perfectly fine depending on the exercise.  If you are doing muscle group work, it's typically best to give those a day or so rest but if you're just talking basic low impact cardio stuff; that's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2716" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T18:40:54.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-16T19:02:28.837" Score="4" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;During running/exercising, I have sometimes been told by people to breath this way or that way, usually fitness trainers will emphasize this as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in knowing if there is some science behind how to breathe, has anyone evaluated different breathing methods and the short/long term effect of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, in my experience I just try to breath normally, i.e. whatever comes naturally at a given moment, but often get agitated when people will tell me how to breath with some authority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16034" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T16:23:38.140" Title="Is there a correct way to breathe" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24971" CreationDate="2015-06-16T19:09:51.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise will not 'cure' anxiety. It may help lessen the symptoms of anxiety, but it will not cure anxiety. Anxiety and/or depression (they are closely related) is almost always associated with stress combined with your thoughts. What are you thinking? What are you telling yourself on a daily basis? What do you worrying about? These are all stressors, and there are many more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went through a serious bout of anxiety about 7 years ago, and it lasted for about 9 months. I learned a great deal about anxiety during this time. There is no magic cure. Not exercise, not medication, not special foods etc. You need to change the way you think about things and deal with issues. You need to get plenty of rest. Light to mild exercise will help the symptoms of anxiety. Exercising too hard will make your condition worse, because exercise stresses your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also know that you can be completely cured of anxiety, as I am. But the cure starts in your mind, your thoughts and how you deal with life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1154" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T19:09:51.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25114" CreationDate="2015-06-16T23:47:48.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a correct way to breathe?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing heavy compound movements such as the squats and deadlifts, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;valsalva maneuver&lt;/a&gt; is used to ensure a tight core so that you &lt;strong&gt;protect your lower back and able to power through when doing the movements&lt;/strong&gt;. With that said, even the valsalva maneuver has its pros and cons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for running/jogging, I would go by a &lt;strong&gt;tempo of inhale for 2 seconds and and exhale for 3 seconds&lt;/strong&gt;. Basically, its to control my breathing so that I don't land on my heels and so that I can keep an upright posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all this said, if you are doing any sort of movement, be it lifting weights or doing your cardio, there is no &lt;strong&gt;right or wrong method to breathing&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T23:53:59.387" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T23:53:59.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24982" CreationDate="2015-06-17T13:28:27.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no &lt;strong&gt;specific&lt;/strong&gt; exercise that will deliver what you ask for, but there is plenty of research showing that 30+ mins or general aerobic exercise will deliver physical and cognitive benefits, have a read of: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neurobiological effects of physical exercise&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2013.00075/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shorter term aerobic exercise improves brain, cognition, and cardiovascular fitness in aging&lt;/a&gt;. So simply ensure your mildly active on you four rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T13:28:27.167" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25114" CreationDate="2015-06-17T14:42:35.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only specific type of breathing I know is belly breathing, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diaphragmatic&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/cycling/how-to-activate-your-diaphragm-to-improve-breathing-and-performance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;your diaphragm (and not your chest) should be doing most of the rising and falling to breathe&lt;/a&gt;. As a long time asthma sufferer, this form of breathing has been brought up to me since I was a child. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1642520&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A 1992 study&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deep diaphragmatic training resulted in significant reductions in&#xA;  medication use and in the intensity of asthmatic symptoms.&#xA;  Importantly, a nearly 300% increase in time spent in physical&#xA;  activities also resulted from deep diaphragmatic training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related to exercise, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2011/932430/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2011 study&lt;/a&gt; looked at the impact on post exercise recovery of endurance athletes and concluded that there is a benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Overall, these data demonstrate that relaxation induced by DB&#xA;  increases the antioxidant defense status in athletes after exhaustive&#xA;  exercise. These effects correlate with the concomitant decrease in&#xA;  cortisol, which is known to negatively affect antioxidant defenses,&#xA;  and the increase in melatonin, a strong antioxidant. The consequence&#xA;  is a lower level of oxidative stress, which suggests that an&#xA;  appropriate recovery could protect athletes from long-term adverse&#xA;  effects of free radicals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally had a coach that encouraged belly breathing during physical exercise (bicycle racing). In that sport you often have periods of little jarring, fairly smooth riding, and being able to operate for long periods of time at a rather high power output (without going &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_respiration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anaerobic&lt;/a&gt;) is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotaly, the other thing I can offer up is that when running I try to time my breaths with my steps, if I'm holding a given pace. It just seems that mechanically there are times in your foot-strike-&gt;airbone-&gt;foot-strike pattern that are better for intake and exhalation than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Valsalva method&lt;/a&gt; is typically employed for lifting heavy weights. You'd do it naturally: before you pick up a heavy object most people will take a breath, hold it, and lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T14:42:35.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25122" CreationDate="2015-06-17T18:11:39.503" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some input for those of who have an active lifestyle, watch what you eat, try to stay in shape, but also aim to enjoy your time on vacation, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;About Me&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 30 year old male in decent shape (6', 177 lbs). I enjoy running (and have been at it for years - 5ks, 10k, and half-marathons - and continue to run at least three days a week), and the usual home workout programs (like P90X, Insanity, etc.). I've been active with all of the above for the last seven years or so and all's worked well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm married, father of two, am a software developer by day (so I have a relatively sedentary day job), and I know that I can obviously continue exercises like running, push-ups, an so on when I'm out, but I don't have the equipment let alone time to do the usual programs like I do when I'm at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My Main Question(s)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I've said, I've had a lot of success with all of the above, but questions that I've often had are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are some of the best things to do whenever I'm on vacation?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's a good amount of time to allot for said workouts (or should I focus on keeping my heart rate elevated for a period of time)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I worry too much about skipping days, etc.?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any other general tips you guys and girls have?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I'm not necessarily concerned with losing a lot of progress over, say, the course of a week, I &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; looking for some suggestions for a regime of sorts of some of the best things that I can do whenever I'm traveling, on vacations, etc., to keep up with the progress I make at home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don't want to be set back that much and the older I get, the easier it seems to become :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of apps available like (like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.freeletics.com/en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Freeletics&lt;/a&gt;) though I've never tried them whenever I'm traveling, but I'm open to things like that, as well so suggestions welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T02:35:06.047" Title="What's a good exercise regime for when traveling/vacationing/etc.?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;&lt;tips&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25120" CreationDate="2015-06-17T23:49:12.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are some of the best things to do whenever I'm on vacation?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, you should enjoy your vacation, and probably spend some time with your family. With that said, how about doing some sort of &lt;strong&gt;physical activity with your family, such as cycling or hiking&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's a good amount of time to allot for said workouts (or should I focus on keeping my heart rate elevated for a period of time)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1 hour or less should be sufficient.&lt;/strong&gt; The reason to that is simple, you don't lose fat or gain muscle through the hours spent on your workout, but rather your diet and your recovery is the one that make the change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I worry too much about skipping days, etc.?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not at all&lt;/strong&gt;, you should spend some of the days doing what you like to do the most or any other activities you would like to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any other general tips you guys and girls have?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important factor is to &lt;strong&gt;not stress yourself too much about working out&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for those applications like Freeletics, I have tried one before, it was &lt;a href=&quot;http://touchfit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Touchfit:Georges St-Pierre&lt;/a&gt;, but I end up not using it. Instead, ended up making my own routine and did that instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some calisthenics workout :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://baristi-workout.com/blog/how-to-get-started-with-calisthenics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baristi Beginners Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do pull ups? Do a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f3wkcdmVN8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pull ups&lt;/a&gt; or incline pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do dips? Do bench dips (either with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDipFloor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foot on the floor&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on another bench&lt;/a&gt;) or more close grip / normal push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buffdudes.us/blogs/news/25290561-punisher-prison-bodyweight-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buff Dude's Punisher Prison BW Workout&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do one arm push ups? Just do close grip / normal push ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand press? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sposDXWEB0A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do L-Sits? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g1hxdkulsE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hanging leg raises&lt;/a&gt;, follow the set and seconds provided &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-qEE3x27PE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fortress Beginners Routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do pull ups? Do a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f3wkcdmVN8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pull ups&lt;/a&gt; or incline pull ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do a pistol squat? Do your normal squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand hold? Do pike push ups &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S Inverted Rows = Incline Pull Ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-06-25T03:47:05.193" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T03:47:05.193" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25143" CreationDate="2015-06-18T00:05:25.400" Score="1" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if it is actually necessary to squat in different stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example you have :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBKhkmR9gXQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Platz Squat&lt;/a&gt;--&amp;gt; Where you squat with your feets close together&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wide Stance Squat --&amp;gt; Where your feets are far apart&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there really a need to do any other variation of squat stance? Will it greatly affect my squat such as making me stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T16:44:12.917" Title="Do I need to switch up my squat stance?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22577" CreationDate="2015-06-18T01:50:46.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mix in some more challenging variations of push-ups, such as close hand, decline, pike etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T01:50:46.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25129" CreationDate="2015-06-18T02:32:00.420" Score="2" ViewCount="3383" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running with a phone in my pocket is distracting due to the constant jiggle in my shorts. I have an iPhone 6. I need the phone tight to my body. Before I get an armband, I want to explore other options. I have an Apple Watch, and I believe an armband would defeat the purpose. I do not need the phone to be in a special position for fitness tracking, I just need to carry the phone. I really do not want to spend over $50 unless absolutely necessary. What is the best option?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16042" LastEditorUserId="16263" LastEditDate="2015-07-12T09:04:31.280" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T05:40:37.707" Title="Is there an alternative to using an iPhone armband?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2016-10-13T20:27:53.573" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-18T02:35:07.857" Score="0" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've attempted to start an exercise regimen several times in the last 10 years and I've never been able to stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting again and after just two sessions I developed an injury that is keeping me out of the gym for a week: I sprained my ankle either doing ankle rotations to loosen it up or when using an exercise strap to do hamstring stretches. On a previous attempt to get a regimen going, I had a dumbbell fall on my chest when doing a chest press and subluxated a rib. Just yesterday I was breaking down boxes for recycling and ended up straining a ligament in my back when pushing or pulling cardboard into the recycling bin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a skinny guy that lives a sedentary computer geek lifestyle. My body has been very unused for a very long time. Probably every ligament and muscle in my body is weak and prone to injury at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some tips for exercises that can help develop and condition my entire body to be more resilient against these kinds of issues. I don't want to let this injury take the wind out of my nascent exercise sails but if I keep getting injured it's going to be very disheartening and counterproductive. Maybe I should be frontloading some specific exercise that strengthens the entire body at once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running? Swimming? Yoga? Some kind of massage? These were the things that jumped to my mind but I'm not sure how to know whether they're what I'm looking for. I'm open to pretty much anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16041" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T05:02:25.897" Title="Tips to improve frailty and an easily injured body?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-18T02:38:14.137" Score="1" ViewCount="653" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 23 year old woman, 5'8&quot;, and 164 lbs. I'm having difficulty losing weight. Am I getting too much protein? Or am I not eating enough? &#xA;I start my day with a Clif bar (260 cal, 9g protein), have a snack, trail mix (190 cal, 4g protein), protein bar for lunch (270 cal, 20g protein), then for dinner I usually have a salad, boneless/skinless chicken breast, or something small with few calories. I usually throw an apple or a banana somewhere in my day. What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16043" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T08:03:12.637" Title="Why can't I lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="10" ClosedDate="2016-09-28T15:00:53.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25126" CreationDate="2015-06-18T02:42:08.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to overcome being fragile is through constant practice. Simply by bearing through painful exercises for a short period of time can build resistance. By gaining more and more resistance, you can endure longer. Never do an exercise that causes pain for extended periods of time. If it hurts, bear a few seconds longer, then rest a few minutes, hours, or even a day. Building this resistance will not happen overnight, but it works. Also, just be cautious to avoid injury, it's the best way not to get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16042" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T02:42:08.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25125" CreationDate="2015-06-18T03:11:37.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider getting a belt with a pocket. There are commercial running belts. Moneybelts will work a good bit of the time. I personally have one that my mom stitched together for me that works very well for my purposes. All of these solutions hold the phone up against your body, so there's very little jiggle or rubbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I sometimes just carry my tablet when if I don't have my little backpack for it. I'm sure carrying a phone won't be too much more of a burden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-07-12T22:02:24.803" LastActivityDate="2015-07-12T22:02:24.803" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2015-06-18T03:21:19.183" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why can't I lose weight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, I would advise people to &lt;strong&gt;eat less than they usually do&lt;/strong&gt; (causing a caloric deficit) as I don't really advocate people tracking every single food they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you really want to make a huge impact on your weight loss journey, start by calculating your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein intake 1g per pound of bodyweight, fat intake of 0.5g - 0.6g per pound of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; and fill up the rest with your carbs, vitamins and mineral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating less than your TDEE will result in a weight loss whereas eating more than your TDEE will result in a weight gain. With that said, you may want to try TDEE - 500 cal for weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, &lt;strong&gt;you should play around with how much calories you should consume&lt;/strong&gt; as the answer I provide is not surefire method of your weight loss progression but more of a rough guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T03:21:19.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25126" CreationDate="2015-06-18T03:39:07.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Step Away From the Weights, Sir.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Seriously, if you're injury prone, I will not recommend you near any weights at the moment. Being safe is a whole lot better than being in the hospital for weights-related injuries.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; I will recommend bodyweight exercises, yoga or pilates &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(for balance and stretching purposes)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, swimming &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(if available)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and cardio exercises such as running, jumping, and biking.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T03:39:07.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25126" CreationDate="2015-06-18T03:49:17.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tips to improve frailty and an easily injured body?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume going to the gym is out of the option after that accident involving the dumbbells. So lets start by doing some calisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://baristi-workout.com/blog/how-to-get-started-with-calisthenics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baristi Workout Beginners Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nerd Fitness Beginners Plan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is more out there then the ones I listed. However, once you are happy with your progress, you can choose to continue / change said routines or start doing strength training. &#xA;If you intend on starting with strength training either from the start or after you are satisfied with the strength and muscle gain from the bodyweight workout, here are some of them : -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglift 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength (Original)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-fitness-5x5-novice-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ice Cream Fitness 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do note that &lt;strong&gt;working out should not be a chore and takes time to progress&lt;/strong&gt;. Also please &lt;strong&gt;eat more that usually do&lt;/strong&gt; (caloric surplus). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T03:49:17.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22577" CreationDate="2015-06-18T05:10:06.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; has a developed a good program for you to increase your pushups. It's basically a program in which you progressively increase the reps performed in a set. You'll perform them three days every week. No equipment or fancy moves needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also has Android and iOS apps that allows you to track your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you actually follow the program diligently, your numbers will increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T05:10:06.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2015-06-18T06:53:20.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check these tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink at least 3 liters of water daily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough protein. At least 0.8 gr of your body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough vegetables to make sure you have enough vitamin and minerals also consider to use multivitamin tablets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do HIT cardio. This is the best way to burn fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep enough. At least 7 hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consume good fat sources to boost your hormones. Like coconut oil, avocado, olive oil, nuts (almond is my favorite).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't decrease your calories drastically. I suggest you to learn or calculate your BMR and be under 500 calorie of it. Never be under 1200 cal per day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't be afraid of good fats and do minimize your carb intake. No white bread, no pasta, no white rice. Just have carbs from veggies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And the most importantly keep away from stress and keep your mind clear (this is the most important tip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take care to follow these 9 tips, there is no way to be unsuccessful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-09-26T15:22:12.653" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T15:22:12.653" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2015-06-18T07:03:00.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't mention your activity level, but assuming it's very low (add extra cals for any exercise), your daily requirement for keeping the same weight is 1857 kcal. If you aim for 1 pounds of weight loss per week, you should eat 1357 kcal/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you actually eat according to what you wrote, you should be losing weight. Are you sure you're being honest with yourself? It's very very easy to fool yourself more or less intentionally (I do it all the time...) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're sure about your numbers, your next step should be to make sure you weigh yourself every morning before breakfast and after going to the restroom. Even if you do this, you will have days or even series of days where you don't seem to lose weight, that's why it's important to weigh yourself every day, it shows which weigh ins are relatively high in comparison to the trend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also something called the whoosh effect, not sure if it's scientifically observed, but basically what happens is that your fat cells take in water while they leave fat, making the weight seems similar, then suddenly, often after a night of heavy eating, whoosh, the water is expelled and a sharp weigh loss occurs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T07:03:00.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25123" CreationDate="2015-06-18T12:58:07.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one of those questions where the actual answer boils down to your desire for variation in your exercise routine.  While there are many anecdotal reasons to vary your squat stance, there aren’t that many actual studies to recommend variation as a key to squatting success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was, however, a &lt;strong&gt;biomechanical&lt;/strong&gt; study done in 2001:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11404665&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A three-dimensional biomechanical analysis of the squat during varying stance widths, by Escamilla, Fleisig, Lowry, Barrentine and Andrews, in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2001&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the results of which are summarized in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2013/01/28/squat-stance-width/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strength and Conditioning Research&lt;/a&gt; post.  39 powerlifters where studied and their movements were recorded (with several cameras providing a sort of 3d view) during a 1RM.  Narrow, medium, and wide stances were studied.  As a result, the researchers identified many key points.  The one that sticks out for me is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was no significant difference in work done between the three&#xA;  stance widths although there was a trend for wider squats to involve&#xA;  greater work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… physique athletes looking to do as much work as possible in a set&#xA;  period of time are probably best advised to select the most&#xA;  comfortable stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I agree with the above statement, I’m still a firm believer in exercise variation as a means to avoid plateaus.  So, in the end, varying your stance is up to you, and will be significant, only if you think it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T12:58:07.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-18T13:49:22.887" Score="6" ViewCount="821" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 6&quot;1 and around 264.5lbs (or around about 120kg). I really love working out and i have been losing some weight, but i can't do cardiovascular training or most body-weight type training due to the strain my weight puts on my joints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the joint pain isn't so severe but i have had a couple of times where i had to skip a few days workout because i can barely move around, as i do not want to aggravate the injury further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is good, and i make sure to do at least an hour of physical activity per day. The only problem is the joint strain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas or workouts that would be able to kind of &quot;work around&quot; joint problems, or will i have to just cut down the intensity of the training??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is maybe weight training a better solution??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16045" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T17:20:36.517" Title="Workout Suggestions for a 260lbs person that wont cause serious injury on the joints" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25123" CreationDate="2015-06-18T13:54:30.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just speaking for me personally, I find it pretty impossible to get my hips to go below my knee if I'm not at least shoulders-wide stance. I would go as wide as you need to in order to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Achieve depth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your knees out and pointing where your toes are.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be able to &lt;em&gt;truly&lt;/em&gt; use your glutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be able to keep your weight on your heels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even on a deadlift, which generally has a narrower stance (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBSumoDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;but certainly not always&lt;/a&gt;), I tend to widen up a bit more because it helps me to use my glutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T13:54:30.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25137" CreationDate="2015-06-18T14:03:31.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you try a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;trusted training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible you're suffering from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;, not &quot;joint pain&quot;. Regardless, if you're doing the wrong things it will be painful and short lived. If you do a good program, you'll strengthen your muscles and connective tissues (joints) in a safe and effective way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T14:03:31.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25137" CreationDate="2015-06-18T14:29:15.120" Score="7" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Recommendations With Little Impact on Joints&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Biking:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; If you have access to a stationary bike or you have an actual bike, this is a good exercise for you. There isn't a lot of stress on the joints and you can go at your own pace &lt;em&gt;(although going fast is recommended)&lt;/em&gt;. If you have access to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1195&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spin class&lt;/a&gt; also, I would recommend it as you would have a lot of fun while shedding pounds.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Swimming:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This is another awesome option if you have access to a pool and can swim &lt;em&gt;(or are interested in swimming)&lt;/em&gt;. There's minimal impact on joints, works your entire body, and you'll have fun in the water.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Power) Walking:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; While running can place stress on joints &lt;em&gt;(especially when done improperly)&lt;/em&gt;, power walking doesn't really place much stress on the joints. That being said, you'll have to make walking a practice in order to see a significant impact on your weight-loss goals. Walking doesn't burn much calories; however, combining the practice with an effective dietary program will really help you achieve your goals.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yoga or Pilates:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; These exercises place less stress on joints and are effective exercises. Try them and see if you enjoy them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tai Chi:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This isn't primarily an exercise; however, its movements do not place much stress on joints and seriously, it's just fun to do. If in doubt, google the benefits of Tai Chi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Some tidbits&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be more active:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The more active you are, the better your joints will become. So, walk as much as feasibly possible, stand up as much as feasibly possible, etc.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stretching:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Stretching is good for you, especially after periods of immobility. Do it regularly and you'll notice how limber your body begins to feel.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure there are more options; however, there's no need to exhaust the whole list to start something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T14:29:15.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25123" CreationDate="2015-06-18T16:44:12.917" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer with all questions of this manner is &lt;em&gt;&quot;It Depends&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  Specifically, the factors that influence the decision are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you competing in a strength sport?  If so:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How close to the contest date are you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the squat a contested lift (usually only Powerlifting, but occasionally this applies to Strongman as well)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your individual lever lengths and insertion points.  Everyone's skeletal structure differs in subtle ways, and where muscles attach to the skeleton also differs in subtle ways.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your comfort level with any particular type of squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your training maturity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Personal preference&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all honesty, unless squats are a contested lift they really aren't even a required exercise.  However, they are an excellent full body exercise that help build mass and strength overall.  I know of several weightlifters and strongmen who squat routinely even though it isn't a contest lift because it has good carry over to the events they actually do compete in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a survey of some of the top powerlifters (the only sport to consistently include the squat as a contest lift) you'll find that training styles vary across all of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulgarian and Russian training favored always training the contest lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Westside style training (geared lifters) favored training other lifts to build up weak areas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Several Raw lifters train variations when they are pretty far from a contest date, and then specialize in the contest lift when they are closer to the contest date.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chinese weightlifters are known for hitting accessory lifts hard and doing something that resembles &quot;powerbuilding&quot; (hybrid of powerlifting and bodybuilding).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beginners&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pick one style and make the most of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this stage in your training career you are focused on just getting stronger.  It's less important whether you choose wide stance or narrow stance, and more important that you consistently improve as the bar gets heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Achieve depth: crease of the hips below the tops of the knees (or better if you can)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance: keep the weight of the bar over mid foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest up: keep from folding over like an accordian (and it assists with point 2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that your personal squat style is your personal squat style.  Embrace it and get stronger at it.  Subtle changes can lead to feeling substantially stronger and more stable under the bar.  Those are the types of adjustments you'll want to make.  Pursue better, ignore what everyone tells you is &quot;best&quot; or &quot;optimal&quot; since those are things that are impossible for anyone to truly know.  Not to mention, &quot;best&quot; and &quot;optimal&quot; change as you get stronger.  Just pursue better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermediate to Advanced&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use different variations to fix weaknesses and to avoid boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where the arguments of using squat variations really come to play.  Several variations have a different training effect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High bar vs. low bar:&lt;/strong&gt; high bar lets you set up with a slightly more upright back position.  It's less punishing on the lower back so it's good for a general strength builder.  Low bar lets you push a more weight due to changes in leverages, but is harder on the lower back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wide stance vs. narrow stance:&lt;/strong&gt; One of these will feel stronger and more natural to you.  Using the opposite stance will hit muscles differently.  Wider stance will involve more adductors and narrower stance will help you get more of a rebound out of the bottom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Paused Squats:&lt;/strong&gt; Paused squats take away the stretch reflex and force you to work harder to get out of the bottom.  They are very useful if you are fixing squat problems, or you just need to build more strength coming out of the hole.  Another variation is &lt;em&gt;breathing&lt;/em&gt; paused squats where you release your valsalva while at the bottom and pause for a couple breaths before coming back up.  Be sure to reduce weight when you perform these variations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Box Squats and Partial Squats:&lt;/strong&gt; These are special purpose tools to address certain goals.  You can work with more weight using partial squats, so some bodybuilders use them to build more quadriceps mass and some sprinters will use them to build more quadriceps strength.  Box squats can be used like pause squats, but they are more favored by geared powerlifters due to the way they have to load the squat suit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Split squats, lunges, single leg work:&lt;/strong&gt;  These are useful to sort out discrepancies in strength between your right and left leg.  When using both legs together, the proportion that each leg contributes to the squat doesn't change.  However, when you work one leg at a time you can fix that to a certain degree.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that as you mature as a lifter, you'll pick your squat based on what you are trying to emphasize at the time.  And some people are just fine doing nothing but one kind of squat and get stronger.  There are no hard and fast rules, only guidelines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally use more variation when I'm in my off season, favoring the variations that are harder for me to perform.  As I get within 2-3 months of a competition, I focus primarily on the events in that competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T16:44:12.917" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25137" CreationDate="2015-06-18T22:49:56.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;but i can't do cardiovascular training or most body-weight type training due to the strain my weight puts on my joints&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do you think you can't work your heart or upper body?  There are lots of exercises you can do for your heart that are easy on your joints.  The first that comes to mind is swimming, which is actually very good at training your heart.  Biking also works if your knees can take it.  Osgood-Schlatter disease runs in my family so I prefer to run instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to weight training, body weight exercises are a great place to start for people who have a lower weight than you.  Because of your weight, it would probably be easier to just hit the weight room first and lift as heavy as you can without causing too much discomfort in your joints.  When performed properly, all of the lifts you can do will not cause joint discomfort unless you do them excessively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find that the more you work out the stronger your muscles and tendons get and your joints will even work better.  But make sure that you are performing whatever exercise you do with proper form, because there are many types of movements that can really destroy your joints if you do them wrong.  An example from this is the &quot;bro squat.&quot;  Squats are a safe and effective exercise when performed correctly, but when you let your knees go way beyond your toes and sink way past parallel, it puts a lot of unnecessary stress on your knees.  You want your muscles to do more work than your joints in every oversize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If weight loss is your goal, know that changing your diet is going to be more important than exercise; you should still exercise regularly but just know that eliminating thinks like soft drinks, fruit juice, and candy from your diet is going to go much further than exercise alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to achieving anyone's personal fitness goals, weight lifting is always going to be the most flexible choice.  Find a friend who lifts and ask him  to show you how to do some good exercises properly.  Be careful about looking on the internet and watching other people in the gym - a lot of them don't know what they are doing.  If you don't know which exercises to do, here are some to get you started that shouldn't cause you any trouble:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio: swimming - don't try to swim laps right away - work up to it.  Any type of swimming is going to help your heart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs: leg presses, hamstring curls, and calf raises - squats are more effective than leg presses and hamstring curls, but they can be tough on people who have bad joints.  Do these exercises instead until you are comfortable enough to start squatting.  Having strong legs should help your knees and ankles considerably.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest: bench press - start with just the bar.  Have a friend show you how to do these properly.  If your shoulders start hurting, this is probably because you are using bad form.  If your elbows or wrists hurt, take a break.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core: hyper extensions, crunches, and leg raises - these exercises are super easy on all your joints but they are also very important - especially the hyper extensions, which work your lower back.  A strong core means you are less likely to be injured when doing... anything really.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back: dumbbell rows, shrugs, lat pull downs - again these are really easy on your joints (when you start lifting heavy they can be hard on your fingers though).  Having a strong back should help improve posture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat lean.  Barring any metabolic problems like diabetes, your diet should be high in protein and carbs but low in sugar.  Don't stress too much about eating fat - I would stay away from potato chips but steak and milk are totally fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a break if your joints hurt: you can't make them stronger by hurting them and you will lose a lot of time if you injure them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never tried yoga, but some people swear by it.  It won't get you big and strong but they do a lot of core work and stretching which are plenty beneficial on their own.  A lot of people swear by it, but you will need to find a cardio workout outside of yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16052" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T22:49:56.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2015-06-19T01:49:17.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lose weight, your main goal is to lessen the total number of calories your body is left with on a daily basis. This is not the same as &quot;lessen the total number of calories you &lt;em&gt;intake&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. What your body is left with on a daily basis is the total sum of what you &lt;strong&gt;intake minus what you use/burn/lose&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to maximize both of these in order to get fast results. In order to keep those results, you need to modify either your &lt;strong&gt;habits&lt;/strong&gt; or your body &lt;strong&gt;physiology/metabolism&lt;/strong&gt; in a more permanent fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things that help change your body physiology/metabolism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise, &amp;amp; exercise patterns in terms of both quantity and times of the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Changing your sleeping patterns and eating patterns in terms of both qty and times of the day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endocrine system, Hormones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out and exercising will burn calories, and if you keep it up and constantly work out and exercise, you will always burn those calories and help lose weight. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;But, &lt;strong&gt;muscle hypertrophy or gaining muscle mass will allow your body to &lt;em&gt;keep&lt;/em&gt; burning those calories on a more constant basis.&lt;/strong&gt; Your body will require an extra amount of calories to upkeep your energy level and will use more total energy just to do the same activities you normally do on a daily basis. You can help raise your metabolism and energy level through exercise patterns. Exercise and exercising different areas of the body also affect hormone production in various ways as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleeping and exercising right and regularly allows your body to develop a natural rhythm and affects your endocrine system and hormone production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can indirectly affect/control most things about your body, even if they seem a bit far-fetched.. Like hormones.. but that is out of scope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eating less&lt;/em&gt; will lower your supply of energy and if your body demands around the same amount of energy, you will lose stored energy in your body. However, if you consistently eat less, your body will eventually become adapted to you eating a less amount and your metabolism will tend to slow down to meet your limited supply of energy. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;This will make it seem like you cant lose anymore weight. No matter how much you control your food intake, your body will already have adapted to the small amount of food you are supplying it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just eating less or eating healthy is not going to single-handed make you lose weight, especially long term. (Barring any extremes like: almost not eating anything at all for extended periods of time, etc.). Of course, I'm not saying that eating right and healthy doesn't help at all, it definitely helps and nutrition is very key to weight, but &lt;strong&gt;what I am really trying to say is, its a whole package&lt;/strong&gt;. Without working on all of it in a healthy way, its much more of a struggle. There is a good balance to be had in a healthy body with healthy weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my take on the whole thing. Hope this helps!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Feel free to correct me wherever I may be wrong or reword for clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16053" LastEditorUserId="16053" LastEditDate="2015-06-20T14:26:03.870" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T14:26:03.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24682" CreationDate="2015-06-19T14:49:16.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 10kg that you lost was living tissue, whether fat or not. It had a metabolic cost to carry around and sustain, whether during cardio or sitting at home. You can carry 10 kg in a vest or something, but it's not going to be the same as having 10kg of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are exchanging fat for building muscle, you are ahead of the game anyway, as muscle consumes more calories than fat on a daily basis anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-06-19T14:49:16.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24682" CreationDate="2015-06-19T15:45:15.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;No, Your Calorie Burn Rate Will Be Different&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why The Heck Not?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;First, the human body's ability to adapt:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Calorie burned at the beginning of an exercise program is usually higher than those burned after performing the program for a while &lt;em&gt;(assuming the same exercises and intensity are used).&lt;/em&gt; This is because the body was not accustomed to the process and had to work harder to perform the exercises; thus, you struggle with the exercises at the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you progress in the program, your body becomes acquainted with the process and becomes better at handling the same tasks &lt;em&gt;(and load)&lt;/em&gt;.  As a result, you no longer struggle &lt;em&gt;(or not as much)&lt;/em&gt; with the exercises as previously. The number of calories you burn at the same intensity reduces &lt;em&gt;(even if your body weight remains the same)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Second, backpack is an external load acting on the body.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The body handles external and internal loads differently. Because the increase in internal load &lt;em&gt;(weight gain)&lt;/em&gt; is gradual, the body adapts to the increment. On the other hand, an external load is drastic in changes. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The body will initially struggle with this new load and will progressively adapt.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Without external signs &lt;em&gt;(such as breaking a chair after sitting on it, fat deposits popping up everywhere, loose skin, etc)&lt;/em&gt;, people wouldn't realize they're packing on weight; on the other hand, you'll easily notice if a 20-lb item was dropped on you. Similar process when the weights are dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; With the same intensity, I think you should burn more calories initially with a backpack because the body hasn't adjusted to the new load. You should also feel the soreness in your upper body as well. The burn will decrease as the body adapts to the new load. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why most weight-loss programs use progressive loads or variations in exercise complexity in order to prevent the body from fully adapting to the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Progressively increase the backpack weight or progressively increase your intensity. Your burn rate won't be the same; however, it won't stall as long as your body is being challenged.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This answer is based on observations, common sense, and my perception on how the human body works. If any of these is directly contradict any scientific-based paper, comment or update the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-19T15:45:15.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25111" CreationDate="2015-06-19T17:53:50.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can definitely work out twice a day, generally speaking.  If you're talking about light-to-moderate aerobic sessions and split resistance training, you shouldn't have much to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that you're not focused on any sport-specific performance training, or worried about fine tuning gains for an upcoming bodybuilding competition.  If you're just a dude looking to get/stay fit, your main concern with two-a-days should be avoiding fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it doesn't sound like you're at risk with the type of programming you noted, but there are multiple ways to monitor your central nervous system (CNS) to make sure aren't taxing it too heavily:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heart Rate monitor:&lt;/strong&gt; Take your resting HR every morning.  If it's 6-10 BPM more than average, you might not want to go too intense; any more than that, and you may want to consider an active (or inactive) recovery day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heart Rate Variability:&lt;/strong&gt; One of the most accurate methods to conduct DIY CNS testing, but I haven't found a way to do it accurately without a monitoring device, like OmegaWave or NatureBeat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grip Testing:&lt;/strong&gt; Use a dynamometer to check your grip strength.  If you're ~5 lbs weaker than your average baseline, you may be approaching fatigue, and should ease up that day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CNS Tap Test:&lt;/strong&gt; I recently downloaded a version of this old school test on my Android.  I haven't had it long enough to establish a real baseline, but similar to the other methods; if you score significantly lower that day, chill a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General body awareness:&lt;/strong&gt; Listen to your body and be honest with what it's telling you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-19T17:53:50.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-19T19:08:27.803" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a sway in my back. I am new to Pilates and it seems to correct the backache and sway in the back tremendously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But Pilates mat(at home) makes me feel stronger and posture corrects afterwards. Pilates reformer hurts my back. &#xA;I get a lot of recommendations for Reformer, as a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How come same Pilates technique does not work on Reformer ? Am I doing something wrong while on Reformer? Are there any common mistakes to avoid while working with reformer ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice for me ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8057" LastEditorUserId="8057" LastEditDate="2015-06-19T19:32:35.213" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T14:13:26.733" Title="Pilates mat vs reformer ? which is better?" Tags="&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25167" CreationDate="2015-06-19T23:53:50.813" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my country of origin it is very difficult to find a good coach to supervise your training. Specially useless are those guys you find as gym staff with &quot;ask me&quot; written in the t-shirt, because they are usually not knowledgeable at all, they are simply people who got muscular. The next step in complexity and knowledge you mostly find are medical doctors who have no idea of sports and will put you immediately to walk or at most swim if you are over 35.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I moved recently to the States and I guess things are different here. I want to find a coach who is able to direct and supervise my strength training so that I get health benefits and avoid injuries, because I have tried hard alone for long time and I constantly find myself in a dangerous position, always risking injury (or actually injuring myself badly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the name of such profession? Where should I start my search? What should I specially look for in such person and what should I avoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T13:31:11.537" Title="How to find someone that can direct my training to a safe path, what is the name of such profession and where should I look?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;coaching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2015-06-20T05:19:16.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink a slightly warm water with lemon, it will kill your fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can try &lt;strong&gt;YOGA&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWJGdZG-wg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWJGdZG-wg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16054" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T05:19:16.893" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25111" CreationDate="2015-06-20T05:24:45.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As suggested by smith288, I too will suggest you to give rest to muscles at least 24hrs(its training experts advice). You need to make sure you don't train for for the same muscles within 24 hrs as your muscles need time to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16054" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T05:24:45.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-20T09:05:20.477" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;How Bruce Lee or Ip Man could keep very skinny bodies, but they had very high physical power? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16056" LastEditorDisplayName="user16056" LastEditDate="2015-06-20T10:32:17.790" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T13:10:58.190" Title="Skinny body and strong power simultaneously?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-22T15:01:24.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24982" CreationDate="2015-06-20T09:40:38.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be interested in learning more about the Qi Gong exercises as part of a practice in Kung Fu which these Shaolin monks demonstrate in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX8mGt0K_JI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; which you may already be familiar with as you mentioned you're already practicing martial arts. They appear to require much discipline and effort but appear to be highly effective as well, as far as strengthening and protecting the weakest and most vulnerable areas of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not physical, but I will share anyway in case you haven't considered it, but there are education iOS apps such as Peak and Elevate which help you to train your brain with daily workouts in the areas of focus, mental agility, memory, problem solving, and language--within 30 days you should observe a marked improvement in your cognitive function. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course there are health supplements on the market designed to promote brain function. Again, not a physical fitness exercise, but I just wanted to attack the problem from as many fronts as possible in order to help you see results. Good luck and stay safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15988" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T09:40:38.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25157" CreationDate="2015-06-20T10:45:17.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mostly wires and springs. First of all, they weren't as powerful as you see in the movies. But they did indeed have amazing control of their own bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I don't believe Ip Man was especially powerful. Wing Chun was primarily revolved around deflection, and maintaining superior balance while remaining rooted yourself, and Ip Man was especially talented in this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bruce Lee, on the other hand, we have footage of, throwing few-inch punches that could knock a man off his feet. The key here is &lt;strong&gt;explosiveness&lt;/strong&gt;. But also technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explosiveness is something that is inherent in a lot of the exercise modalities we have. Most exercises can be performed while adding an explosive factor. Athletes like sprinters, high-jumpers and throwers do this all the time, and are able to launch objects/themselves further and higher than anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T10:45:17.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25157" CreationDate="2015-06-20T11:00:30.637" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm gonna answer only your title that is:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skinny body and strong power simultaneously?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training&lt;/strong&gt; while &lt;strong&gt;eating at a maintainence&lt;/strong&gt; (eating at your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE)&lt;/a&gt; should allow you to achieve your goal. Incorporating pause work, using bands and chains, speed work and so on. I will not discount calisthenics, but in my opinion, strength training will allow you to be more stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unless you are training for a specific martial arts&lt;/strong&gt;, why do you want to stay small?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-06-20T13:10:58.190" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T13:10:58.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-20T11:16:13.370" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;No duplicate! I have read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1304/is-it-true-that-thinking-uses-a-lot-of-calories&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading newspaper or even preparation for IELTS test, walking fast, with-no-stop working in supermarket all makes me feel hungry as a sign of losing calories, but when I study mathematics especially with enjoyment I feel much more need for food for recovery!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it because of enjoyment (sad or at least normal non-excited people don't like too much eating) or it is because math is harder? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other problem is that I gain a lot of weight when I eat a lot due to feeling hungry while studying math. So I also think the sign of hunger and lack-of-energy (and really feeling headache like similar to starving) doesn't come from losing calories. (?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I avoid such feelings while still studying well and not gaining a lot weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16056" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T17:37:00.507" Title="Cause of hunger: thinking or enjoyment?" Tags="&lt;hunger&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-20T11:55:04.130" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Height6'1&quot; weight 56kg age 18and 1/2 i am too skiny in relate of my age i want to gain weight and want to make muscles but don't know how can you please tell me the proper diet or nutrients to do that work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16058" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T13:00:21.637" Title="how can i give a proper shape or growth to my body" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-22T02:33:37.490" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25163" CreationDate="2015-06-20T13:00:21.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To gain weight you need to &lt;strong&gt;eat more than you usually do&lt;/strong&gt; (caloric surplus). Hence, first off, you need to calculate your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt;. Add your &lt;strong&gt;TDEE + 500 calories&lt;/strong&gt; and you will be in a caloric surplus. For your &lt;strong&gt;protein intake, 1g per pound of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; should suffice, as for your &lt;strong&gt;fat intake, 0.5g ~ 0.6g per pound of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; and fill up the rest with carbs, vitamins and minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next pick either strength training :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglift 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-fitness-5x5-novice-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ICF 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SS&lt;/a&gt; (The Original Starting Strength Novice Program)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or some calisthenics :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://baristi-workout.com/blog/how-to-get-started-with-calisthenics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baristi Beginners Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buffdudes.us/blogs/news/25290561-punisher-prison-bodyweight-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buff Dude's Punisher Prison BW Workout&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do one arm push ups? Just do close grip / normal push ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand press? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sposDXWEB0A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do L-Sits? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g1hxdkulsE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hanging leg raises&lt;/a&gt;, follow the set and seconds provided &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-qEE3x27PE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fortress Beginners Routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do pull ups? Do a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f3wkcdmVN8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pull ups&lt;/a&gt; or incline pull ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do a pistol squat? Do your normal squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand hold? Do pike push ups &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you may want to play around with your calorie intake since &lt;strong&gt;most calculator provide a rough estimation&lt;/strong&gt;. You should &lt;strong&gt;use a weighing scale and a mirror (taking pictures also helps) to gauge your progress&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't expect a huge difference in just a few months. If you don't intend to track your macros, that is also fine &lt;strong&gt;so long you are eating more than usual&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T13:00:21.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25161" CreationDate="2015-06-20T13:08:19.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I avoid such feelings while still studying well and not gaining a lot weight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, studying also use calories. With that said, instead of consuming more food, &lt;strong&gt;try drinking more water&lt;/strong&gt; to fill you up. Sometimes, its not hunger. Since you mention lack of energy and have some headache, &lt;strong&gt;try taking a break once in a awhile&lt;/strong&gt; by taking a short nap, taking a slow walk and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it because of enjoyment (sad or at least normal non-excited people don't like too much eating) or it is because math is harder?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I enjoy doing something, I tend to forget about eating. If I don't enjoy doing something such as preparing for examinations, I tend to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T13:08:19.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25196" CreationDate="2015-06-20T13:53:16.177" Score="9" ViewCount="742" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where do I start with Olympic lifting, are there any starter programmes? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been weight training 3-4 times a week now for the past three years. I'd like to start with the Olympic lifting but I'm not sure where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can clean ok, as I'd usually clean and front squat at the gym if the squat rack was in use. Recently I have started practicing hang snatches and I am getting a good feel for it, so now I'm wondering if I can go with the Olympic lifts full time now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm UK based and there isn't a great deal of coaches nearby that I can use so I am thinking about going to a local [ish] CrossFit gym and get started there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7755" LastEditorUserId="7755" LastEditDate="2015-09-28T09:53:45.680" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T09:05:45.113" Title="Olympic lifting, where to start?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25154" CreationDate="2015-06-20T15:44:57.560" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt;:  I was certified as a personal trainer from the organization I mention below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term you're looking for is &lt;em&gt;Certified Personal Trainer&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;strong&gt;CPT&lt;/strong&gt;).  I strongly recommend, given your training history and comments, that you seek out a trainer &lt;strong&gt;certified&lt;/strong&gt; by a &lt;strong&gt;reputable&lt;/strong&gt; organization.  I emphasize “certified” because they are required, usually through continuing education, to continue their study of health and fitness protocols, assessments, etc.  Continuing Ed is usually a requirement for retaining certification.  Be sure to carefully critique the organization and trainer you interview.  Some organizations offer a one day, two to three hour class with a brief test for certification.  Those organizations are akin to &quot;diploma mills&quot;.  While with others, it is much more extensive.  The organization I recommend is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/&quot;&gt;American Council on Exercise (ACE)&lt;/a&gt;.  Prepping for their tests are pretty involved and cover...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exercise science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;screening and evaluation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;methods of training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;individual program design&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;injury prevention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The test itself usually takes one half of a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can expect to pay an hourly rate for a good certified trainer, but that will depend on your location and what you negotiate. You should make sure to express your training goals and concerns.  You should plan to interview more than one trainer and choose the one that you feel comfortable with, and, the one that has the best experience to help you reach your goals.  Organizations like ACE usually provide a search engine to seek out a trainer in your area.  The ACE one is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/locate-trainer/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck on your search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T15:44:57.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25169" CreationDate="2015-06-20T17:16:49.153" Score="-3" ViewCount="1570" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heyy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 16, 5'7&quot; and skinny. I have been trying a lot to gain some body like a normal person then I can go to gym and start building muscle. Now I am thinking to go to gym to build muscle as well as gain weight. I am confused on something, some people says that if I go to gym and start building muscle then I won't get more height, will stay same height, I cannot gain weight and more blah blah blah.&#xA;Also, some people says &quot;eat big and get big also eat quality not quantity&quot; but I have trying this stuff since long time ago but no result yet :/ :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'd like to know it clearly from big dude or hard-gainer :p that, does gym impact on height and can I gain weight by gym? also know me, should I go to gym?&#xA;also hoping for some recommendation from big-dude/hard-gainer :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16060" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T14:10:47.727" Title="Should skinny guys go to gym for getting better body?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-22T14:43:57.973" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25168" CreationDate="2015-06-20T19:47:31.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Totally false, lifting won't affect your height. That's what genes are for. Building muscle mass however will definitely help you gain weight; you will simply need to eat a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've tried eating a lot before and it didn't work, it means you didn't eat enough. Get about 1 gram of protein or more per pound of body weight and find yourself a good beginner program based around the big lifts to bring up some strength; you'll gain weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16048" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T19:47:31.283" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2015-06-20T21:37:47.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you must understand why you can't lose weight by eating a bit more or less. It is instructive to watch &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAQr77QMJiw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this documentary&lt;/a&gt;. If you eat more your metabolic rate increases while if you eat less your metabolic rate decreases, the whole point of that is to make sure your fat reserves don't get depleted over time. Your problem is that your body is regulating your metabolic rate to keep your present fat reserves constant, while you would probably rather have a lower weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to lose weight in your case (a person who isn't obese who just wants to lose a modest amount of weight) is to first shift the equilibrium between energy use and expenditure to much higher levels. So instead of, say, 1500 Kcal consumption and energy use, you should build up your fitness levels, exercise a lot harder and shift that to, say, 2800 kcal or more energy intake and energy use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that higher level, your body will all by itself transform itself to have lower body fat level simply because that's more optimal for that case (fat reserves are no longer useful, it's more ballast standing in the way of physical exercise, there is plenty of energy coming in anyway). In that case, you can eat a bit less to let the body reconfigure to a lower weight a bit faster. While it then looks like you lost weight by changing the energy balance, in reality you just facilitated the weight loss that your body wanted to implement anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, if you don't exercise a lot your present weight is simply the set point for your body. Eating a bit less won't work because your body wants to be at your present weight. You would need to drastically reduce the calorie intake to force your body to lose weight. But then you'll gain back your old weight once you start to eat a normal diet again. The only way to change this calculus is to change what your own body wants to keep as its fat reserves, and that requires becoming an athlete for whom your present fat reserve constitutes ballast that your body then wants to get rid off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T21:37:47.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25168" CreationDate="2015-06-21T08:08:17.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your target is to just gain weight you need not hit gym. It would be advisable if you could change your diet plan. Rate of gaining or losing weight varies person to person. Body metabolism governs body structure. Your body is in growing state. Allow it grow and maintain healthy diet and you will gain weight gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16064" LastEditorUserId="16064" LastEditDate="2015-06-21T14:10:47.727" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T14:10:47.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-21T11:13:32.847" Score="0" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been exercising at home for the past 4-5 months. 3 times a week. My legs exercise routine is 60 bridges and 12x5 leg raises. The  day before yesterday i did exactly the same routine , and i felt the normal ''pain'' i always feel.I didn't do any exercises yesterday because i was still hurting a little bit. But this morning when i woke up, my right leg, felt like it had been removed . I can't lay on my bed , i can't sit, i can't walk i cannot do anything because it hurts so bad. This is the 1st time ever i feel this kind of pain. The parts that hurt are, one inch below my booty to my knee. What should I do? I need immediate answers . Should i see a doctor? I have been putting some relaxing cremes on my leg but they haven't worked out AT ALL. I haven't massaged because it hurts even if I touch it. I'm literally suffering and i do not know what to do. Please reply as soon as possible , because i need some more information about what could be possibly going on with my leg before i visit a doctor. I am looking forward , Donna&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16067" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T13:25:34.550" Title="Leg pain after exercises" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25173" CreationDate="2015-06-21T13:19:54.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have possible injuries, you should absolutely consult a doctor, and not the internet. You will quite probably need a scan of some sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to venture a guess, I'd say you've pulled a muscle, or possibly torn a tendon/ligament, depending on the intensity of the pain. 60 bridges sounds like a possible cause here. Oh, and about those bridges...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can tell you for sure though, is that your leg exercises are quite poorly laid out. Bridges work well for glutes as an isolation exercise, but it does virtually nothing for your legs. And leg raises is an abdominal exercise. This does nothing at all for your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For legs, you should look into various squatting techniques. There is plenty to be done with bodyweight alone. &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/move/squat-variations-you-need-to-know&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a list of 40 different variations.&lt;/a&gt; You absolutely do NOT need to do all of these every time, but pick 3-4 of them each time you have leg day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need more advice on setting up an at-home exercise plan, you can add another question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-06-21T13:25:34.550" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T13:25:34.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25114" CreationDate="2015-06-21T16:23:38.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your query is to know different breathing techniques. Than i would tell you a technique from yoga. You need to sit in a relax mode cross leg. Inhale air from one nose opening and closing the other one. Now release air from other nose opening. Repeat this process alternatively. This will increase your oxygen intake, make you feel relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16064" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T16:23:38.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25181" CreationDate="2015-06-21T17:19:54.073" Score="1" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some formulae to calculate the burned calories for jogging. The information I have would be: gender, weight, age, pace (speed), fractional grade, and time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have now is the following formulae:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;VO2 = 0.2 * speed + 0.9 * speed * fractional_grade + 3.5&#xA;kcal/min = 5 * weight * VO2/1000&#xA;// weight in kg, speed in meters/minute&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone has a better formulae that also takes gender and age into account?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16069" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T08:27:34.860" Title="Calculate burned calories (Running) without heart rate" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-22T14:43:42.873" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25161" CreationDate="2015-06-22T06:31:17.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are studies showing that so called &quot;ego depletion&quot; (the common mental resource used when doing though things, like math or pushing yourself physically) is affected by intake of sugary drinks, even tasting sugary drinks tend to have this effect in fact! Not sure about artificial sweeteners. Diet coke works for me, as does taking breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the ego depletion wikipedia site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The role of glucose as a specific form of energy needed for self-control has been explored. Glucose, a sugar found in many foods, is a vital fuel for the body and the brain. Multiple experiments have connected self-control depletion to reduced blood glucose, and that self-control performance could be replenished by consuming glucose (e.g., lemonade).[3] However, some (but not all) of the findings were questioned.[4] Several recent experiments have found that resource depletion effects can be reversed by simply tasting (but not swallowing or consuming) sweet beverages,[5][6][7] which can have rewarding properties.[8] Others have suggested that the taste of sugar (but not artificial sweetener) has psycho-physiological signaling effects&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else  that worked remarkably well is eating a strict keto diet, I got hungry, but my mind didn't get as fuzzy as it does when eating a regular diet. Give it a try. It takes a week to get used to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T06:31:17.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25186" CreationDate="2015-06-22T07:02:23.510" Score="6" ViewCount="857" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing calisthenic workout for a year. So I'm not beginner. But I'm confused about the frequency of the routines. My workout program is like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Monday:   Lower Body&#xA;Tuesday:  Upper Body&#xA;Wednesday:Abs/Core&#xA;Thursday: Lower Body&#xA;Friday:   Upper Body&#xA;Saturday: Abs/Core&#xA;Sunday:   Rest&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every workout is about 30 mins, and my muscles are hurting for 2 days. (Abs/Core training is 15mins, but I'm going to change it) Is it a good split program? Or shall I do everything in one day and rest other day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sorry for my bad English)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16075" LastEditorUserId="15980" LastEditDate="2015-06-22T08:44:55.180" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T16:03:49.110" Title="How often should I do Calisthenic workouts?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25176" CreationDate="2015-06-22T08:27:34.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running calorie burn doesn't change so much with age and gender. Because its about the work you did physically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a non-linear relationship between walking speed and rate of calorie burn. Essentially what this means is that total calorie burn while walking depends on both the distance that you walked and the speed at which you were walking. This makes calorie burn while walking slightly different from calorie burn while running, which is only distance dependent (i.e. while running it doesn't matter what speed you run a given distance, you will burn the same amount of calories as long as the distance is the same). That's why this walking calorie burn calculator must take into consideration both walking time and walking distance, whereas our Running Calorie Burn Calculator only requires distance as an input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Method&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a walking surface grade between -5% to +5% inclusive, this walking calorie burn calculator is based on equations (shown below) derived by ShapeSense.com from experimental data displayed in Figure 3 of the study titled &quot;Energy Cost of Running,&quot; by R Margaria, P Cerretelli, P Aghemo, and G Sassi (note that the data on walking energy expenditure was originally printed in the study titled &quot;Sulla fisiologia, e specialmente sul consumo energetico, della marcia e della corsa a varie velocita ed inclinazioni del terreno,&quot; by R. Margaria). The experimental data gathered by Margaria measured calorie burn of subjects walking at various speeds and on various surface grades. It was found that there is a non-linear relationship between walking speed and rate of calorie burn, as opposed to calorie burn while running, which displays a linear relationship between speed and rate of calorie burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a walking surface grade between +6% to +15% inclusive, this walking calorie burn calculator is based on the American College of Sports Medecine (ACSM) metabolic equation for walking oxygen consumption (i.e. VO2), with a subsequent conversion from VO2 to calorie burn included by ShapeSense.com. These equations are shown below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This walking calorie burn calculator will not return a calorie burn estimate for walking speeds below 1 kilometre per hour (0.62 miles per hour) or above 7.5 kilometres per hour (4.66 miles per hour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Walking Calorie Burn Equations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For -5% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0251 x KPH3 - 0.2157 x KPH2 + 0.7888 x KPH + 1.2957] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For -4% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0244 x KPH3 - 0.2079 x KPH2 + 0.8053 x KPH + 1.3281] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For -3% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0237 x KPH3 - 0.2000 x KPH2 + 0.8217 x KPH + 1.3605] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For -2% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0230 x KPH3 - 0.1922 x KPH2 + 0.8382 x KPH + 1.3929] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For -1% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0222 x KPH3 - 0.1844 x KPH2 + 0.8546 x KPH + 1.4253] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For 0% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0215 x KPH3 - 0.1765 x KPH2 + 0.8710 x KPH + 1.4577] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For +1% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0171 x KPH3 - 0.1062 x KPH2 + 0.6080 x KPH + 1.8600] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For +2% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0184 x KPH3 - 0.1134 x KPH2 + 0.6566 x KPH + 1.9200] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For +3% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0196 x KPH3 - 0.1205 x KPH2 + 0.7053 x KPH + 1.9800] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For +4% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0208 x KPH3 - 0.1277 x KPH2 + 0.7539 x KPH + 2.0400] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For +5% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.0221 x KPH3 - 0.1349 x KPH2 + 0.8025 x KPH + 2.1000] x WKG x T&lt;br&gt;&#xA;where&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CB = Calorie burn (in calories) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;KPH = Walking speed (in kilometres per hour) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;WKG = Weight (in kilograms) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;T = Time (in hours)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For +6% to 15% grade:&#xA;CB = [0.1 x MPM + 1.8 x MPM x FG + 3.5] x WKG x T x 60 x 5 / 1000&#xA;where&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CB = Calorie burn (in calories) &#xA;MPM = Walking speed (in meters per minute) &#xA;FG = Walking surface grade (expressed as a fraction, i.e. 6% = .06) &#xA;WKG = Weight (in kilograms) &#xA;T = Time (in hours) &#xA;The units for the constant 3.5 are milliliters of oxygen per kilogram per minute. &#xA;The units for the constant 60 are minutes per hour. &#xA;The units for the constant 5 are calories per liter of oxygen &#xA;The units for the constant 1000 are milliliters of oxygen per liter of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Resources&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Margaria R, Cerretelli P, Aghemo P, Sassi G. Energy cost of running. J Appl Physiol. 1963 Mar;18:367-70.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Margaria, R., 1938. Sulla fisiologia, e specialmente sul consumo energetico, della marcia e della corsa a varie velocita ed inclinazioni del terreno. Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei Classe Sci. Fis. Mat. Nat. Serie VI 7, 299–368.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;American College of Sports Medecine: ACSM's Metabolic Calculations Handbook, 2007, Baltimore, MD. Also available online at: ACSM Metabolic Equations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T08:27:34.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25154" CreationDate="2015-06-22T13:31:11.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm recovering from injuries, I look for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;people who have had the injury and were aggressive in returning to their chosen activities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sports medicine doctors (orthopedists, physical therapists) who are aggressive in returning athletes to a performant state&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;coaches who A) have high expectations and B) are familiar with rehab techniques for my specific injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This generally involves a lot of trial and error: I try a session or two with a given person and ask a lot of specific questions about long-term expectations regarding return to activities. A lot of medical professionals will say &quot;you'll never do X again&quot; because they are simply not familiar with the techniques necessary. I do not find that any particular modality of practice (e.g. a sports chiropractor, certified coach in X, whatever) guarantees results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T13:31:11.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25190" CreationDate="2015-06-22T14:46:53.943" Score="5" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a consensus that 180 steps per minute is a physiologically optimal running cadence.  I don't understand how that can be universally true:  Isn't the leg/arm system in running essentially a pendulum?  If so then the natural cadence should decrease as height and leg-length increases.  E.g., if you found someone with a &quot;perfect&quot; running stride and then increased their height by 25%, that cadence would naturally decrease by Sqrt(1/1.25).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16078" LastEditorUserId="16078" LastEditDate="2015-06-22T15:54:18.443" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T16:01:57.630" Title="Optimal cadence for endurance running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25180" CreationDate="2015-06-22T14:58:36.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Short Answer: &lt;em&gt;As often as you desire&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Calisthenics exercises are more similar to cardio exercises than weightlifting. They increase your flexibility and endurance, conditioning your body to perform better in relating exercises. Agility, better cardiovascular activities are also some of the benefits.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calisthenics exercises' best features are in the number of repetitions and sets within a specified duration. The more repetitions that can be performed in the shortest time, the more endurance your body will build towards similar activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because they're cardio-based, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;they can be performed as often as possible.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; There are many people that perform &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;pull ups, push ups, and dips daily. Frankly, if you perform those 3 exercises more often, you'll develop a strong upper body and core.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calisthenics won't bulk you up; however, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfLNN4BloY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;they'll make your body more defined and well-toned&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(many bodybuilders actually incorporate calisthenics into their trainings)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So.....go nuts :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T16:03:49.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24700" CreationDate="2015-06-22T15:18:22.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, strong forearms are necessary for achieving high reps and weighted reps.  If you want to increase your grip strength, dedicate a few days to simply performing dead hangs with the weight you plan to do pull-ups with.  This may &quot;feel&quot; like you're not doing anything but in reality, you're conditioning your arms to hold on and creating a good posture for future pulls.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try performing the dead hangs for a minimum of 35 seconds each time and work your way to 60 seconds.  You'll notice a difference when in your grip once you can hold 60+ seconds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15691" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T15:18:22.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22193" CreationDate="2015-06-22T15:23:27.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you do a pull up, it is important to tighten your abs and glutes while keeping any swinging motion to a minimum.  Perform pull ups slowly and methodically.  You don't want to jerk around as this can cause discomfort and unnecessary strain on other parts of the body.  Focus on your technique and repeat a low number of pull ups at a time.  Don't strive for 30 on your first shot - start out with 3 and add 3 more each week.  This will give your body time to adjust and will help you to perform pull-ups with control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15691" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T15:23:27.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25207" CreationDate="2015-06-22T15:58:44.260" Score="5" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that 180 steps per minute is the &quot;optimal&quot; running cadence, but all running research seems geared towards racers.  If I run purely for fitness, and don't care about my speed, should I target a longer stride (and, presumably, slower cadence)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that racers don't care if they are conditioning their muscles to a restricted range of motion if that gives them a more physiologically efficient stride, whereas for general fitness don't we prefer to maximize the range of motion covered during exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16078" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T15:26:29.610" Title="Is the optimal cadence for racing the same as for conditioning?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25185" CreationDate="2015-06-22T16:01:57.630" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2014/09/training/3-ways-to-increase-running-cadence-for-speed_112765&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;180 is an example cadence, not &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; optimum&lt;/a&gt;, although it's a typical minimum number for competitive runners and a good starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your height, weight, leg and stride length and running ability will determine your optimal cadence. Everyday runners generally fall between 160-170 steps per minute, while elite runners strike the ground around 180 steps per minute or higher—with some getting above 200 at their fastest speeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/calculate-running-cadence&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;there really isn't a formula&lt;/a&gt;, so it's basically a matter of determining your cadence, and then trying to change it and seeing if it works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T16:01:57.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25137" CreationDate="2015-06-22T17:20:36.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you mention your weight, I'm going to assume that's the primary stressor of your joints (and not, say, repetition, or high velocity movement, like with tendon/ligament conditions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others have mentioned swimming, which takes the weight off your joints and is an excellent option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another option, which works just as well - do cardio without the stepping/squatting/kicking.   If you simply stand, or sit and do arm movements with speed and for a period of time, you are doing cardio.  The reason a lot of leg movements get involved is that it's an easy way to raise the heart rate, however, it's not necessary to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can wave your arms around wildly, you can do martial arts, you can play drums, you can pretend to flag down airplanes - pretty much moving your arms around with no weight involved is relatively easy on the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also lay on your back, and wave your arms and legs around for cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice that a lot of the spin classes you're just biking, however, you're in a reclined position.  Same principle applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7485" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T17:20:36.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-22T17:26:47.633" Score="6" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was shown this graph in a college PE class on general fitness.  I remember the general shape, and that the bottom metric was in reference to the number of days per week that a person exercised.  The general point was that if you worked out 1-2 days per week you saw some but little benefit.  If you exercised 3-4 days per week, there were dramatic increases.  5 days still got a measurable increase,  but 6-7 days were pretty much a waste of &quot;efficient&quot; time.  Can you tell me where this came from, what the metric on the left side is, and if it still holds true with today's knowledge.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iTDSK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16079" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T11:21:51.887" Title="What is the missing metric to this graph: days/week exercised -vs ______?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18408" CreationDate="2015-06-22T17:58:36.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost: personally, anaerobic and aerobic exercises can't have the same intensity. Swimming is aerobic. Anaerobic exercises are pretty much the hardest exercises since they push your heart to its limits most of the times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anaerobic exercise is defined as short duration, high intensity&#xA;  exercise lasting anywhere from merely seconds up to around two&#xA;  minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging from the definition, the intensity between those two exercises won't probably be the same.&#xA;Training anaerobically is exerting our hearts to 80% (or plus)  it's rate. Due to this, we end up burning calories both during exercise and after the exercise (up to 38 hours). This is known as the Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. This type of training cause rapid loss of belly fat and increased growth hormone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/go-anaerobic-what-it-is-and-why-to-do-it&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More on why anaerobic exercises are good.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More on the heart rate, since anaerobic exercises are brief, they raise the heart rate for a few seconds and then it gets back to normal but if you want to keep the improve your heart rate, consistent aerobic exercises will do a better job than anaerobic exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/371563-anaerobic-exercise-and-heart-rate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More on both aerobic and anaerobic exercises here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16081" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T17:58:36.993" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-22T21:39:49.377" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an exercise routine wherein I lie face-down on an exercise ball and hold my arms out in front of me for a few seconds, then drop them and pick them up again. I do this 10 times. Following that exercise, I hold my arms out to my sides for a few seconds, then drop them. I also do this exercise 10 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps as an unfortunate result of my muscular restrictions, I sometimes feel my butt tightening up to the point where it's kind of annoying. After all, I'm trying to exercise my back, not my buttocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16083" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T21:52:46.730" Title="How do I avoid tightening my butt muscles while doing my core exercises?" Tags="&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25194" CreationDate="2015-06-22T21:52:46.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, other than using your spinal muscles (erector spinae) and to some extent your posterior serratus, the exercise you describe won't really work your back. It will minimally work your deltoids, and very tangentially your lats on the lateral raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your glutes (butt) will act as stabilizers and help keep the extension on your back when you are on an unstable surface such as a ball. If you want to minimized the involvement of your butt, then you need to lay on a stable surface such as a bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T21:52:46.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25166" CreationDate="2015-06-22T22:06:21.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more an answer to &quot;what are the prerequisites for training using Olympic lifts&quot;, but I expect you will find it useful since you are coming from a conventional weight training background. The Olympic lifts are great, but they are highly technical, so you will really benefit from a strong foundation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Ensure you have adequate flexibility to avoid injury and poor form. For example, you should be able to do a full range overhead squat with at least of 1/3 of your typical back squat weight. This guide to mobility for Olympic lifts provides more detailed information: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alexrothwell.com/articles/your-complete-guide-to-mobility-for-olympic-weightlifting&quot;&gt;http://www.alexrothwell.com/articles/your-complete-guide-to-mobility-for-olympic-weightlifting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Ensure you have adequate core strength to stabilize and protect your spine during Olympic lifts. The above-mentioned overhead squat is actually quite good for developing core strength, although note that more conventional squats like the front squat you mentioned are better for leg development. Once you are fully into an Olympic program, you can drop the overhead squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Try to train somewhere where &quot;missing&quot; a lift doesn't break anything or make you look like a fool. You want to minimize your misses, but missing is scary enough already without having to worry about losing face in the gym or tearing up equipment. And you most certainly don't want to hurt yourself just to avoid a miss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Start to develop your &quot;explosiveness&quot; with body weight exercises that have lower injury risk. For example, you can use box jumps, or sprint starts (with alternating leg staggers) where you only run the first 10 meters to mentally and physically train for power production.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure other commenters will have a lot to add. Have fun, be safe, and get strong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16084" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T22:06:21.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-22T23:38:20.037" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;You know the cringe factor that causes you to shiver or grimace when you think about fingernails on chalkboard? The flinch, the drawing back sensation-- the stability issues and gristly-cartilage noises I get in my right knee [if I haven't been working out] after my PCL tear trigger this, and my inability to 'trust' my knee, combined with 'the muscles deactivating somewhat shortly after a workout', are causing problems with me returning to full activity like 'normal walking'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The PT I went to prescribed a lot of exercises-- nearly all of which seem to be just strengthening my quads. For example, the resistance band leg exercises when I'm standing on the blue Theraband pad just seem to strengthen my quads in a manner that provides stability by making the leg a pillar, rather than strengthening the stabilizing muscles you use when reflexively maintaining balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best luck so far? High intensity deadlifts/squats. However, after I've got them activated, I don't seem to be able to maintain normal use. So much as thinking about the instability causes me to flinch in fear and fall back into planting and directing my steps with my left leg. It's also really hard to do the exercises every day-- feels very machine-like and lifeless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I need some way to get the muscles activated, strengthened, and keep them activated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I'm forgetting how to walk 'normally'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16086" LastEditorUserId="15980" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T08:19:41.420" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T08:19:41.420" Title="Difficulty Maintaining Activation of Hamstrings After PCL Tear" Tags="&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25197" CreationDate="2015-06-23T02:35:01.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is the best answer for you, but from my own experiences I'd recommend three exercises that I've really found terrific:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/DBSingleLegStiffLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Single leg Romanian deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;. Long name, lots of radness. In particular I like it because it tends to quickly isolate and showcase imbalances. There's a lot of &quot;little&quot; muscles working in order to pull this lift off. Nail the form before you crank up the weight: even just doing it unweighted is a challenge for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBGoodMorning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Good mornings&lt;/a&gt;. I see no need to go heavy on these. 1/3 of your 5RM squat weight would be plenty as a top end, and I'd work up slowly to get to that. Empty bar, then a bar with some 10's, etc. These will give you wicked &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;, as the eccentric portion of the exercise is pronounced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWSingleLegSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pistol squats&lt;/a&gt;. These are tough, but you can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBStepUp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;step ups&lt;/a&gt; as a way to bridge into them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pistols and the single leg deadlifts require a lot of single leg strength, coordination, and balance. I've never had your injury but I've had others, and if I'm able to do both of those things well I'm in top form. The good mornings are good for hamstring strength in general, but honestly it sounds like you'd benefit more from the single leg versions where recruitment shoots up and you're really forcing each leg to (pardon the pun) stand on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T02:35:01.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25166" CreationDate="2015-06-23T02:48:47.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The honest answer is that if you want to be good, you need to be coached, there's no way around it. That's awesome that your clean is good, as that motion can take a while to nail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to compete (even just locally) or start shooting for competitive weight levels, you'll need a coach in your area. It's frankly impossible to Olympic lift without a very qualified person watching you. Challenges you'll have clean and jerking 135lb are not the same as when you try for 185lb. Your great form will breakdown, and things you were great at will now be a weakness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you look for a coach, I would recommend checking for one via &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.teamusa.org/usa-weightlifting/clubs-lwc/find-a-club&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; (in the US).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also completely appropriate to ask the coach what their highest level trainee is. A 23 year old &quot;coach&quot;, as good as they are, simply isn't as good as a 53 year old coach who has a list of true Olympic level athletes as success stories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just looking to have fun, join a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ojs.sagepub.com/content/2/4/2325967114531177.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;crossfit&lt;/a&gt; gym. You may even be lucky and find a crossfit gym where a really good Olympic lifting coach is working. But if you want to be really competitive and take it seriously a quasi-qualified guy who can clean and jerk isn't remotely on the same level as a true professional trainer with a track record.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T14:28:32.547" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T14:28:32.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2015-06-23T04:20:19.430" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like any other item that cooks, protein will cook when its temperature goes over 130˚.  When mixing with any hot items. One should add a little at a time till you have gotten all of the ingredients into the hot mixture, if you see clumping your mixture is too hot and should allow to cool to a lower temp. Been doing it for years with my 21g of powdered protein every morning, chocolate, vanilla and sometimes I mix the together. An excellent start to a good morning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16089" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T04:20:19.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25192" CreationDate="2015-06-23T06:17:18.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is AAEI(Accumulated Activity Effective Index)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jMLug.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchprotocols.org/2015/1/e5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You can see here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastEditorUserId="15980" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T11:21:51.887" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T11:21:51.887" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-23T11:41:05.650" Score="0" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seem to have an issue with my lower back. Whenever I am doing a workout for the lower ab region, even though I tighten the ab muscles, my lower back hurts a lot that I have to use a warm water pack to relieve myself from this pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises such as leg raises increase the pain even more. This pain is also present when I do excess workout involving my legs. Whenever I do not workout I don't have any pain at all. But not working out in itself is not the solution. Could someone suggest what could I do to get relief from this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15995" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T21:20:51.797" Title="Lower back pain due to ab workout" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25189" CreationDate="2015-06-23T15:26:29.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of debate about this topic in the running world still. The &quot;180 as optimum&quot; was taken after viewing footage of elite marathoners mid race, and counting steps. There has been some confirmation that some marathoners train at that cadence as well, but there have been just as many that don't fall into that range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've found as a coach, is that the vast majority of runners will self select the cadence and strike pattern that best suits them. I also think it's unreasonable to expect someone to have the same cadence while running a 10 minute mile as they do running a 7 minute mile. That generally means that you're either artificially chopping your slow pace stride short, or that you're over striding in your 7 minute mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just go run. Look at your shoes when they start to get worn, and see if you have any unusual wear patterns. If so, then you may need to adjust your stride and/or type of shoe that you wear. If not, don't worry too much about it. Your cadence will increase naturally as you run faster, and your pace will get faster for the same cadence as you get more efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should do, if you are intending to race, is have days of dedicated speed work, as well as short fartlek/stride intervals on other selected running days. There are quite a few questions on here about adding speedwork to running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T15:26:29.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25211" CreationDate="2015-06-23T16:00:06.410" Score="6" ViewCount="5640" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been diagnosed with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligamentous_laxity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ligamentous laxity&lt;/a&gt;. I have practiced numerous sports, but have hurt my joints repeatedly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need exercises, preferably using my body weight. I also want to focus on stretching. I don't want to build muscle, but want to be fit and supple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spend most of my day sitting (studying and programing). I cannot jog, because my knees are way to easily hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a tough question, and I don't know if the Stack-exchange format is the best, but I am giving it a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16092" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T21:00:39.937" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T06:32:46.520" Title="What exercises can someone with Ligamentous laxity do for supple and strong muscles" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25208" CreationDate="2015-06-23T16:33:45.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't choose my answer. Wait for more knowledgeable people. I just want to give some suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, building muscle is very difficult. You shouldn't fear becoming bulky, it will not happen unless you do a very specific training and nutrition during a long time. Just exercise and forget about that fear (your muscles may become denser and harder in the long run, which is very nice, but not bulky).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, if you have loose joints, I don't think it is a good idea that you emphasize passive stretches. I think it is the last thing you want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, I think it is a good idea that you focus on slow exercises with perfect form. That helps having total control over your movements and so you can avoid things that go wrongly out of place. It might be lifting weights or callisthenics, or Tai chi or whatever you choose, but always it would be something made up from slow movements where you can retain full concious control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lift weights, choosing exercises involving many stabilization muscles around your joints is much better than doing isolation. With loose joints, you really need to strengthen your muscles around the joints because they must provide extra stability. For instance, people with ACL ligament injuries rely more on their quadriceps and hamstring muscles to provide knee stability. They prefer squats and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/DBSingleLegStiffLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;single-leg deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; to other options. If you look at the model in the last link, you will see that she has to activate a lot of muscles around her knee in order to maintain equilibrium. That is the idea. Dumbbells better that barbells or machines, standing better than sitting, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga is also a good option. It is slow enough so that you retain full control over your movements, and it also makes you quite concious about your joints. Tai Chi is also a good idea. Engage in a good Tai Chi class and forget about the rest. You can try to switch from Tai Chi to Kung-fu later, they are closely related. Designing your own training can be very frustrating if you are prone to injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps. In any case, I think the slow, controlled execution is the most important tip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T16:56:57.053" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T16:56:57.053" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25204" CreationDate="2015-06-23T17:04:55.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best I can do is provide some general advice, since I'm missing detail and I'm not a physical therapist.  If you have pain working your abdominals, it is typically unusual to have pain in your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to make sure of the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Correct technique:&lt;/strong&gt; a common problem is hyper-extending the lower back, which increases stress in the lumbar spine.  Make sure your hips are in a neutral position, or even tuck your pelvis forward while performing abdominal work.  If you can't tell that your abdominals are even engaging in the exercise, then you most likely are not doing it right.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pinched nerves:&lt;/strong&gt; your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/sciatica/sciatic-nerve-and-sciatica&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sciatic nerve&lt;/a&gt; extends from your lumbar spine into your leg.  If your hip bones are pinching the nerve, that can cause pain.  If you regularly keep anything in your back pocket, try moving it to the front pocket so that it doesn't shift your weight to one side.  Beyond that, see a doctor to get it diagnosed.  If possible use physical therapy to resolve broken movement patterns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nocebo effect:&lt;/strong&gt; a &lt;em&gt;nocebo&lt;/em&gt; is basically your body manufacturing pain because you expect it.  It's similar to a &lt;em&gt;placebo&lt;/em&gt; except the impact is negative instead of positive.  Fixing these issues require retraining your body to not expect pain.  Typically low intensity work with higher reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were a betting man, I'd assume you are performing exercise incorrectly.  One problem I had with laying leg raises is precisely what I pointed out (hyper-extending the lumbar when my legs were in the bottom position).  To fix that, I started performing the laying leg lifts on a bench with my legs hanging in free space.  I also slowed down the exercise so I could control the lower and upper position better.  It also had the benefit of keeping the abs under constant tension.  With planks, I had to do them incline (elbows on a bench) for a while, focusing on tucking my pelvis forward by engaging the abs directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Troubleshooting:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow down!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get someone who knows the exercise to coach you, or at the very least take video of you performing it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find your pain free range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Determine if that range of motion is less than expected or more than necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs work best by bracing the body for work, so if you are moving too fast to keep them fully engaged then you are losing out on much of the benefit of those exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pain free range of motion is not complete for the exercise, work on increasing it slowly over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the feedback from your friend/coach/video to help you improve your technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T17:04:55.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25208" CreationDate="2015-06-23T18:22:12.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite frankly, your best bet is to consult a physical therapist so as to avoid injury. Outside of that, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.integrativephysicaltherapy.org/ligament-laxity-and-flexibility.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one physical therapy site&lt;/a&gt; recommends the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid overstretching &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid positions or activities involving extreme ranges of motion in the hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthen muscles surrounding the hips, pelvis, spine, and knees (best to be advised by a physical therapist.  Pilates exercises may also be a good option.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider pool exercises/swimming and/or biking as a low-impact means for strengthening your joints within a normal range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I had a roommate who suffered from overly lax ligaments (possibly as a consequence of Marfan Syndrome) and he got a lot of enjoyment out of volleyball and frisbee, although he gets most of his exercise by working on his farm. He enjoyed the double-jointed parlor tricks, but mentioned that he gets joint pain really easily, which is why he never did any sort of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T18:29:48.657" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T18:29:48.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25204" CreationDate="2015-06-24T04:57:32.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are likely hyper-extending your back. The best thing to do is to find a PT to work with you, but if you want to do it yourself, here is what I suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with the 'dead bug' exercise. When you do this, make sure you keep your lower back absolutely flat against the floor or bench. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to do leg lifts, you can only do the with your lower back pressed flat. If you can't do that, don't do leg lifts. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may have anterior pelvic tilt, where your pelvis rotated forward and your stomach and butt stick out. This puts additional stress on your lower back. Fixing involves stretching the hip flexors and quads and working on strengthening the glutes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4359" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T04:57:32.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14408" CreationDate="2015-06-24T13:28:17.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a myth from 30 years ago when it was discovered that eating more protein increases GFR, rate of blood filtration through the kidneys&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6650549&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6650549&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But just because GFR is increased doesn't mean that anything is happening to the kidneys, some studies go as high as 3.1g of kg without any side effects on the kidneys&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/257350851_A_Systematic_Review_of_Dietary_Protein_During_Caloric_Restriction_in_Resistance_Trained_Lean_Athletes_A_Case_for_Higher_Intakes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/257350851_A_Systematic_Review_of_Dietary_Protein_During_Caloric_Restriction_in_Resistance_Trained_Lean_Athletes_A_Case_for_Higher_Intakes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T13:28:17.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2015-06-24T13:30:41.467" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the science shows gaining size happens due to calorie surplus and also if you lift at least 60% 1RM (15 repetitions, roughly), 40 reps minimum per muscle, twice a week. So yes, sometimes it's ok not to exert yourself, but maybe problem is in your routine? maybe it's time to change it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15734" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T13:30:41.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25217" CreationDate="2015-06-24T14:04:22.650" Score="0" ViewCount="865" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out quite awhile and this has always plagued me, skinny biceps. I'm not a small guy(6'2 185lb) and I can curl a decent amount of weight (45's) and I have large triceps, but no matter what I do my biceps stay skinny. They may enlarge but that goes vertical rather than horizontal growth. Is this a predisposition to my body type (tall and slim)? How can I get them to grow outwards, to become &quot;fatter&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16102" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T14:35:23.147" Title="How do I fix skinny biceps?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-25T10:42:06.940" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25216" CreationDate="2015-06-24T14:35:23.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, you can't change the shape of your muscles (you're not going to be able to morph your peak to width ratio), but you can work on the illusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not already, consider adding &lt;strong&gt;reverse curls&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;hammer curls&lt;/strong&gt; to your training program.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aPups.png&quot; alt=&quot;Dumbbell hammer curls&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jidfw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Barbell reverse curls&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these lifts train the brachialis and the brachioradialis (as well as the biceps brachii).  Growing these commonly neglected muscles, and continuing to train the lateral, medial and long head of the triceps, will grow your arms' overall cirumference, and likely add the perception of increased &quot;fatness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mQcP5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Biceps brachii, brachioradialis, and brachialis&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T14:35:23.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18736" CreationDate="2015-06-24T19:38:06.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is more than one type of grip training available, and you want to make sure you select the right one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pinch grip (plate pinches, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crushing grip (tennis ball, &quot;captain's of crush&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supportive grip (deadlifts, farmer's walks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your stated goal is to handle more weight on deadlifts, you want to make sure you train your supportive grip.  I will point out that if you are using mixed grip, your pronated hand (palm facing away) will always be weaker than your suppinated hand (palm facing you).  That said, to pull more you can't drop the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grip Training Strategy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;No more than every other week.&lt;/em&gt;  Training grip too often can actually cause it to become weaker and adds a lot more training stress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Endurance Training.&lt;/em&gt;  Using lighter weights, attempt to increase time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Intensity Training.&lt;/em&gt;  Using heavier weights, attempt to increase the weight you can hold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two best grip training exercises I employ are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift Holds:&lt;/strong&gt; On your last deadlift set, simply hold the bar until your grip gives out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Farmer's Walks:&lt;/strong&gt; Pick up heavy implements and carry them for distance or simply hold for time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Axle or Fat Gripz Deadlift Holds:&lt;/strong&gt; Just as the name implies.  Hold a 2&quot; axle or a barbell with fat gripz on them for time.  You'll have to use lighter weight as the thicker bar makes holding on to it significantly harder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The farmer's walks have conditioning benefits as well as grip training, and they have helped my grip training a lot.  If training for endurance, you'll want to hold the farmer's walk implements for up to 20-30s or 50 feet before increasing weight.  If training for intensity, hold for 10s or 10 feet before increasing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T19:38:06.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25222" CreationDate="2015-06-24T23:59:05.663" Score="1" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current workout schedule is 5 straight days. 3 days upper body weights, 2 days elliptical and abs, alternating days. I was reading up on how alternating sets is best if you want to increase the weight you lift because you work more muscles at high energy, and I was wondering if that principle applies to working the same area over multiple days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, on weight days, I currently do (all dumbbell) bench press/one arm rows, lying flys/triceps kickback, shoulder press/bicep curls, and lateral raises/upright rows. On ab days I do flat and side planks, mountain climbers, reverse crunches, trunk rotations and glute lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would my workout benefit if I switched it up and alternated the weight training days to do some upper body weights and some abs 3 days a week instead of upper body 3 days and abs 2?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16109" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T06:50:27.170" Title="Focus on body part hard on one day, or spread it over multiple days?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25221" CreationDate="2015-06-25T00:25:22.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How alternating sets is best if you want to increase the weight you lift because you work more muscles at high energy.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe &lt;strong&gt;progressive overload is the key&lt;/strong&gt; to be able to lift more weight. Whether you increase the weight / reps / sets, that is progressive overload. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, to answer your main question :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on body part hard on one day, or spread it over multiple days?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should depend on the user himself/herself. The reason is, some people prefers doing full body for 3 times per week and some prefers splitting up their work, doing legs on Monday, doing pushing (chest, triceps, shoulders) on Tuesday and so on. That being the case, you may want to &lt;strong&gt;play around and find which method suits you the most&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-06-25T03:51:10.860" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T03:51:10.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25120" CreationDate="2015-06-25T01:58:12.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to get at least half of my normal exercise time on vacation. I try to run on treadmills in gyms or outside. The main issue here is the energy that you burn and how that affects your diet and sleep. If you are used to burning something of the order of 1000 Kcal during exercise then stopping with exercising for a prolonged period can cause problems with your eating and sleeping routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T01:58:12.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25221" CreationDate="2015-06-25T06:50:27.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interestingly enough, there is a large difference between how power lifters train and how body builders train. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most body builders do splits of some sort, it's more common among power lifters to do whole body sessions every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There aren't really very many good scientific studies, boths ways definitely work well. Personally, I just started a 3-split (push+abs, pull, legs+lower back) where I start with the heavy compound lifts and end with isolation exercises. My experience is that it's easier both mentally and in terms of energy to focus on one group at each session. Doing squats+deadlifts+bench press in the same session is too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T06:50:27.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-25T14:28:28.850" Score="3" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm following a series of daily abs exercises to gain a &quot;6 pack&quot; (is it called this way?). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As one can see at &lt;a href=&quot;http://weidersix.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weider's Six page&lt;/a&gt; all exercises include pulling up legs, chest and face, holding the position for 3 seconds, and then rest for a second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found these workouts effective as I gained some abs, however, even if I make it through every workout, I really can't breathe well and always find myself in need of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing normal sit ups or any &quot;up-down&quot; excercise, I can sync my breathe with the movement, knowing when my diaphragm is contracted or relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I breathe during Weider 6 exercises?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10780" LastActivityDate="2017-09-14T13:08:16.810" Title="Breathing during abs workout (Weider 6)" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24677" CreationDate="2015-06-25T15:02:05.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The length of your workout totally depends on your intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going for a light walk where you are talking to your friend at the same time then 30 minutes may not cut it for weight loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You many need 45-to-90 minutes of cardio if the intensity is so low where you can still talk without much trouble but on the other hand...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you do intervals or HIIT like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrw1rcKHEGs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this HIIT fast weight loss workout here&lt;/a&gt; then you can get away with only 10-to-20min and lose just as much weight as someone doing 30+ minutes of a lower intensity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the ideal length depends on how intense the workout is going to be and maybe also your current daily schedule. If your schedule is open then the 30-to-90 min may be fine but if not then you'll have no choice but to find some 10-20 HIIT workouts to force weight loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-30T02:12:42.317" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T02:12:42.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-25T17:48:59.833" Score="4" ViewCount="1349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I walk every day 30 minutes from my apartment to my office in the morning, and then another 30 minutes back in the evening. I do it at a very fast pace. I would say I walk as fast as one can fast without running (passing people surely think I am late to an important meeting or something, I mean, it is really fast) and I also do it in the weekends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of mere curiosity, I wonder if that can be considered aerobic exercise to a certain extent, and what can be the benefits I should reasonably expect in the long run. My body is fully adapted to that, I sweat very little or nothing at all, and I don't feel tired at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder too, if that is enough cardio complement to resistance training, or if ideally I should try to introduce more aerobic exercise (I am 43). I swim from time to time too, but let's forget about it because I don't do it on a regular schedule yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2015-06-26T18:02:51.307" Title="Walking very fast for 30 minutes, twice a day. In which measure is that &quot;aerobic exercise&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25228" CreationDate="2015-06-25T18:48:26.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aerobic exercise is measured in heart rate percentage (of max) and time. For instance, we like to say stuff like &quot;I held x% HR for y minutes then z% for w minutes&quot; etc. If either is high, the other is usually low. We can't do high-high without collapsing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't feel very tired, that's fine. In that case, doing it over a longer time will eventually net you a desirable result. If there are any hills at all in your walks, this is a huge bonus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And besides, I'm a huge advocate for walking in general. There is a lot to be said for an exercise where you keep a straight back, chin up, and generally good posture for an extended period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking for an hour a day is an &lt;strong&gt;amazing&lt;/strong&gt; supplement to resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for swimming; if you can do it regularly, go for it. It's one of those miracle exercises where you can't really do it wrong. Either way, it's going to be an aerobic exercise with resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But just to strike the point home; you're doing great! Walking is, on its own, a very worthy supplement to resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T18:48:26.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25228" CreationDate="2015-06-25T18:57:27.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, yes, your daily walks are aerobic activity (definitely not anaerobic...start farmer's walking that distance, and you'll really get some looks as you pass people).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just about any by-the-book doctor would applaud your efforts; you're doubling the American Heart Association's recommendation of 150 minutes/week of light-to-moderate aerobic activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it enough to compliment your resistance training?  Yes, in general terms.  Your light-to-moderate hour/day walks are slowly improving--at least maintaining--your heart's ability to deliver fuel and remove waste from your muscles.  That said, some anaerobic &quot;cardio&quot; every now in then (e.g., interval hill sprints) will improve your muscles' efficiency to use that fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your aim is to be (or continue being) a generally healthy individual, keep doing what you're doing.  That said, I'd recommend experimenting with some shorter-session, higher intensity training once or twice a week if you can fit it in your schedule; especially if you consider more specific, performance oriented goals in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T18:57:27.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-25T19:23:26.690" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've not long started to exercise and have slowly worked up over the last few months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every day I do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 weight lifts (led down)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 Sit ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 Pressups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is the press up are on my knees (not feet) and by about the 5th press ups I can hardly use my arms and can't continue. I understand that it takes time to build up the strength but I've been doing weights for some time now and thought I could manage more than 5 press ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I just being impatient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16116" LastActivityDate="2015-06-26T14:04:44.867" Title="Exercise newbie: Pushups?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25226" CreationDate="2015-06-25T21:54:07.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;These exercises are variations of the hollow body hold, which is quite a common exercise for gymnasts in order to perfect their handstand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this an intense core exercise, it is always going to be especially hard to breath due to the abs being held in contraction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I personally do these types of exercises and find that quick forceful exhaling and slow inhaling seems to work best, in order to keep a natural rhythm going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T21:54:07.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25228" CreationDate="2015-06-25T22:01:04.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While walking fast for an hour every day is good enough to be very fit compared to people who don't do cardio exercise at all, in your case this is not good enough to even approach the top level cardio fitness that you could obtain. You should add running to your routine; it may take a year or more, but eventually you should be able to run an hour a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T22:01:04.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25357" CreationDate="2015-06-25T22:10:42.390" Score="1" ViewCount="1397" Body="&lt;p&gt;I injured my rotator cuff muscles on my shoulder, due to over intensity while bench pressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain has now mostly subsided, so I've started rehabilitating it with rotator cuff exercises and was wondering what is the ideal frequency in which should undertake this regime, without over doing it again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T07:42:13.723" Title="Frequency of shoulder rehabilitation exercises" Tags="&lt;rehabilitation&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18489" CreationDate="2015-06-25T22:49:47.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about it, it's perfectly normal with your low bf percentage - mine used to as well -. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get rid of it, you just have to start exercising the muscles surrounding (i.e. lower back). If you have access to a gym, I'd recommend doing deadlifts as that will really help, if not try doing supermans (or other bodyweight alternatives), not as good but will still do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T22:49:47.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25231" CreationDate="2015-06-25T23:55:20.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I just being impatient?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, to be strong, you need to &lt;strong&gt;eat more than you usual do&lt;/strong&gt; (caloric surplus). It also takes time to become stronger, so long you are able to &lt;strong&gt;progress in weights / reps / sets&lt;/strong&gt;, that will make you stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, it could be possible that your form is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the incorrect form. Notice he is flaring his elbow ( in other words, elbows is not tuck close to his lats / back )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tyCsU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is a proper push up, notice he does not flare out his elbows too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vlylQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not the case, then you may one to consider doing some :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RtM3L00BUU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wall Push Up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Bench Dips (either with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDipFloor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;foot on the floor&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;on another bench&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still have some sort of difficulty, you may want to reduce some of your weight if you are fat. Else, it will &lt;strong&gt;take time to progress&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a strength routine as well, please do comment under my post and will provide you with some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T23:55:20.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25235" CreationDate="2015-06-26T08:07:27.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had similar problems, my physiotherapist instructed me to do my (light) rehab exercises 15*2 reps, each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-26T08:07:27.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25231" CreationDate="2015-06-26T14:04:44.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is simply to achieve the ability to do a bunch of push ups, you should attack it with volume (in other words, you gotta do a lot of push ups to do a lotta push ups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spread out the load throughout the day.  Here's how I would take it if my max rep range was 5:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, make sure that the five you can do are strict push ups with proper form (as Aizul noted).  Without form, you're wasting your time.  So test yourself accordingly and find your max; stop before you fail (grind out the last one if you need to, but don't stop half way and face plant).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every day following, do 2 super strict, slow-and controlled push ups 4-5 times throughout the course of the day.  Do this for a week, then retest your max.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your max is still 5, don't worry about it; repeat the program the next week.  You'll eventually get to 6 or 7; when you do add an additional rep to your daily sets.  For example: if you can do 6 reps consecutively, do 3 reps, 4-5 times/day.  Retest the beginning of the following week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treat every daily session as push up practice, rather than a workout with pushups in it.  What you're going for, especially in the early stages, is getting all the correct muscles to contract and inhibit in perfect harmony (while eventually strengthening the muscle fibers at play).  At this point, it's closer to learning a new dance move than it is &quot;exercising&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get to the 20-25 range (I know it's arbitrary, but 20-25 is a solid foundation to build on...at my age, it would be enough to meet the minimum Army PFT push up score), start playing with different push up variations.  Honestly, just Google &quot;push up variations&quot;, and experiment.  Use these new variations to program a path to your goals; whether they be strength, muscular endurance, or hypertrophy (muscle growth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to just keep on bumping up your max count (like...I don't know...100+) at this point, I recommend a program designed specifically for doing a lot of push ups.  Stew Smith is a master in this domain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a lot of different programs to help US military ace their fitness tests, but here's a relevant free one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/pushuppush.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stuck on Pushups?  Try the Pushup Push Workout!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried the above myself (along with pull ups), and had very solid results (went from 51 to 64 in two weeks).  I wouldn't recommend this without a strong foundation, and he says to only do this once, maybe twice a year; he's serious...it's taxing, but it's a great plateau killer.  Here's a write up on my results if you're interested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://opensoar.com/over-20-push-up-and-pull-up-gains-in-14-days-using-stew-smiths-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Over 20% Push Up and Pull Up Gains in 14 Days Using Stew Smith’s Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be patient and consistent and the results will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-06-26T14:04:44.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25228" CreationDate="2015-06-26T18:02:51.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Walking an hour every day is definitely an aerobic exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;However, it's only good for weightloss and general fitness for beginners.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Depending on your goal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, the walk should be an accessory exercise and not your main aerobic exercise. This is because the benefit will diminish after performing this activity for a while. &lt;em&gt;Thus, you might sweat the first few weeks (or it might take a longer time to reach the destination) but after a while, it becomes relatively easy without getting tired.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unless you introduce some variations in the walk (alternating between running/walking), the benefit will peak.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest having a short HIIT session to complement your resistance training. You've already got the low intensity exercise covered. Use short HIIT sessions to complement your resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I fully agree with swimming too; it's an awesome exercise worth performing often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-06-26T18:02:51.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25246" CreationDate="2015-06-27T01:40:36.820" Score="1" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am (male - 28 years old) 171 cm. I was 68 kg (with waist 102 cm) two months ago and I am 63 kg now and still my waist 102 cm!! My food change was reducing fat intake and increasing vegetables and eating less than before. When fat burns it will burn from &lt;strong&gt;everywhere&lt;/strong&gt;, but I didn't lose fat from my stomach. why??     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16056" LastEditorDisplayName="user16056" LastEditDate="2015-06-27T02:50:19.347" LastActivityDate="2015-06-27T15:42:46.453" Title="I lost wight a lot but my waist size is exactly the same! Why?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24487" CreationDate="2015-06-27T12:57:33.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I contacted Jim directly, and his advice was to mix things up as much as possible. In other words, it is less likely that optimal results will be achieved by repeating the same program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jim recommended &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimstoppani.com/workouts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;his own web site&lt;/a&gt;. In his words &quot;I have hundreds of workouts and dozens of programs on my site. Any and all of them are sound options.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it is a paid, subscription-based resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15618" LastEditorUserId="15618" LastEditDate="2015-06-27T13:11:07.643" LastActivityDate="2015-06-27T13:11:07.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25243" CreationDate="2015-06-27T15:42:46.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a misconception here. Not all weight lost is fat. Some of it is definitely muscle. Probably at least half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, when you burn fat, you burn fat from everywhere, but the repositories in and around your stomach area are far larger than the others. Getting a noticable reduction in waist girth means you simply have to lose more fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But at the same time, I have to draw a question mark here. 68kgs at 171cm doesn't seem obese for a male. In fact, I'd wager that a good bit of the weight you lost was muscle mass. And if you didn't achieve a noticable change in waist size, this strengthens the theory that you didn't lose as much &lt;em&gt;fat&lt;/em&gt; as you thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-06-27T15:42:46.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-27T20:48:03.727" Score="3" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a moderately active 35 y.o. Three days per week I go directly to an intensive cardio class right after work and get home at 10pm, famished because I don't have time to eat before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought of downing a whey protein drink right as I leave the office as a way to fill up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not necessarily looking to bulk up -- but just keep fit and avoid eating late at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good idea? What sort of whey protein should I go for? The Internet has loads of suggestions but I trust this community more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10549" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T08:50:31.323" Title="Whey protein recommendation" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25250" CreationDate="2015-06-28T00:08:42.107" Score="2" ViewCount="17803" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had to switch gyms. One of the downsides to my new gym is the seated row part of my current workout. There are two parts to the cable pulley machine that are sub-optimal for my situation: it doesn't have the widest grip attachment, and the weights don't go high enough for my low-rep sessions. The new gym does have one of the machines designed for seated row; I think it's this machine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://dsw1e6vxqxp82.cloudfront.net/products/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/-/s-line_seated_row_female.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The grip there is also not quite as wide as I would like, but the weights go up much higher than I need at the moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally prefer to avoid machines due to the restricted motion they imposed on the movement. But I can't think of any way that the seated row machine is restricting my movement that the cable pulley isn't. Am I actually giving up anything in my biomechanics if I switch to the machine for the higher weight sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7874" LastEditorUserId="7874" LastEditDate="2015-06-28T17:06:24.610" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T20:57:16.833" Title="What's the difference between cable seated rows on a pulley, and using the seated row machine?" Tags="&lt;machine&gt;&lt;cables&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15146" CreationDate="2015-06-28T02:06:18.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are doing the complete opposite of what you should be doing. You should start to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOOVwbOFL8s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;work out, throw away the protein shakes and get your proteins from ground turkey, salmon and chicken breasts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T02:06:18.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25248" CreationDate="2015-06-28T11:04:40.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have revised this answer to fit the edited question.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, just to get it out there; there's no reason not to do both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both have advantages and disadvantes, the largest of both being the fixed and unfixed grip width, and double axis movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cable rows&lt;/strong&gt; allow you to switch grip types, which is a huge advantage when you want to perform the movement with some progressive overloading in terms of which muscles get more focus. It also allows you, to some extent, to choose to pull it higher towards your chest, or lower towards your stomach for increased variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leverage seated row&lt;/strong&gt; (as I believe it's called) is a machine where the trajectory of the pull is at all times fixed. This means that the distribution of the work load also is fixed every time. This is both a disadvantage (see previous paragraph on cable rows), and an advantage, because there are fewer factors to keep in mind in terms of form. I would put this as an &quot;auxiliary exercise&quot; at the end of the workout, just to get that last minute squeeze and really wear down the muscles in your biceps and upper back. The benefit here is that when you're already weary, form tends to break. This is less of a factor with fixed-trajectory machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the bottom line, much like the top line, is that both are good. On any day where you train upper back, I would sincerely suggest doing some rows early (like barbell rows and/or cable rows), and then finishing with leverage seated rows at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-06-28T20:57:16.833" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T20:57:16.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25263" CreationDate="2015-06-28T16:01:56.503" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the most efficient way to take in calories during a run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An ultra-marathon, marathon, and ironman events all seem to be very dependent on being able to replenish your energy reserves. Biking seems to allow you to eat anything, but running is different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are Gels + Gatorade + Water the only or best thing? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so then why only sugar? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running slow means more fat burning but no one seems to talk about adding fatty foods. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If sugar is key then why not breads or pretzels over higher GI sugar sources? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the body only able to process sugars during a run? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And proteins the third source of energy seems to be out of the picture completely; why wouldn't a little bit of protein help? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why wouldn't the most efficient way include all three sources to some extent?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T12:58:35.293" Title="What is the most efficient way to take in calories during a run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12931" CreationDate="2015-06-28T16:42:03.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what you are training for. Just to clarify for you, 100m sprints are POWER based not SPEED based. Most sprinters train 4-6 sets, 6 being the number i encountered the most. However different distances (most 100m sprinters will also run 60m) and training tools can affect this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason rest periods, rep ranges and set ranges exist is so that the exercise is suited to the objective you are training for. If you are training at maximal exertion the exercise should last 10-15 seconds, at this point your body will have consumed all of its ATP and will be unable to perform maximal exertion until this has been restored, which takes roughly 5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should find a way to record your times, as soon as your times begin to drop significantly you can easily tell you are no longer training at maximal exertion which you have to be training at to improve your power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best advice i can give you though is to simply get down to you local track and join in with the sprinters, they won't mind and you'll get all the help and advice you could possibly need there. Don't trust a gym monkey trainer when it comes to athletics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16133" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T16:42:03.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-29T02:53:28.260" Score="3" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started lifting around November 2014. I was 84Kgs and I had 30% body fat with waist line of 37 inches. I have reduced my weight to 74Kgs, body fat to 20.2% and waist to 32.6 inches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see definition in the muscle group but since i have lost a lot of weight I look slim. Now I want to take my muscle and workout to next level. My objectives for next 3 months are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loose fat from lower belly and take body fat% down to 15%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add more size and definition to my muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add more strength &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current program is split as :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday : Arms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday : Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday : Back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday : Chest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday : Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday and Sunday : Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a bit of cardio in between all the sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across many programs  but I just cant find the right one. Also, Diet. I am a vegetarian and most of the programs show diet that have 6 meals and most contain non vegetarian stuff. Can somebody suggest me a routine fitting my requirements and help me plan my diet chart. Your suggestions are truly valuable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7032" LastEditorUserId="7032" LastEditDate="2015-06-29T08:17:45.610" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T21:20:37.503" Title="Taking body muscle to next level" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25267" CreationDate="2015-06-29T06:23:13.673" Score="5" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of suggestions to do 8-12 reps with short rest for &lt;strong&gt;size&lt;/strong&gt; and less reps with longer rest for &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt;. Won't my strength increase if I do &lt;strong&gt;size&lt;/strong&gt; workouts with gradual increase of the weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="16149" LastEditDate="2015-06-30T03:22:34.097" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T03:22:34.097" Title="Will training for size increase my strength?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25256" CreationDate="2015-06-29T06:28:28.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd start by reducing the weight until your body fat is 15%, while working out of course, to reduce muscle loss. Then add calories until you're at a slight positive balance, like 250-500 kcal/day. Adding more than that is too much, you can't pack on that much muscle so it'll be fat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a vegetarian is not a problem if you know basic food and nutrition, there are even body builders who are vegan! You have milk products (but your name suggests you might be lactose intolerant?), eggs and possibly even seafood if you're that type of vegetarian. It's not important to eat 6 meals, total intake during the day is much more important. Is protein shakes an alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people who start working out base their workout around compound exercises that work many muscles at the same time, like bench press, regular press, squats, pullups, deadlifts and so on. Whatever exercises you end up doing, make sure they cover the whole body, and do 3 sets of 10 reps for every muscle group, 3 times a a week. When you can do 3*10 reps with good form, add weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What equipment do you have access to? It's no good recommending &quot;starting strength&quot; if you have no barbells and so on...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T06:28:28.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25252" CreationDate="2015-06-29T06:42:50.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a swedish runner called Rune Larsson (2:18 boston marathon), had the swedish record on 100 km (6:43:36) for 22 years, ran 374 km in 48 hours, 263 km in 24 hours, basically a very experienced ultra marathon runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His take on food is that most runners are too scared of trying things outside the norm, you don't have to eat enormous amounts of pasta before a race and you don't have to eat the kinds of products you mention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was challenged to have &quot;Smörgåstårta&quot; (something like a swedish sandwhich cake) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oresundskomiteen.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Sm%C3%B6rg%C3%A5st%C3%A5rta1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.oresundskomiteen.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Sm%C3%B6rg%C3%A5st%C3%A5rta1.jpg&lt;/a&gt;) instead of the pre-run pasta, which he said worked great. Also eating regular sandwhiches while running apparently works great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a myth that your indigestion isn't able to handle regular food because your blood is occupied with moving your body, which doesn't seem to be true, at least not for long distance runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are theoretical arguments for eating fructose during a run, and for short distances, sure, might be helpful, if it works in reality. Try it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein might be a problem, it takes a lot of energy to metabolize protein (something like 30% of the energy), which is why you might feel warm after eating large amounts of protein, so I would skip it frankly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T06:42:50.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24186" CreationDate="2015-06-29T08:14:36.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a sprint freestyler, but I do know exercises for fly. Upper chest exercises like incline bench are great for overall strength in your stroke. Lat pull downs and wide grip pull ups increase power through the pull. Squats can make your kick more powerful. Fly mainly uses chest, shoulders, lats, glutes, hamstrings, and quads. more reps with less weight will increase endurance, less reps with more weight will increase strength. If you primarily do the 100 and 200 medley relay I suggest you do less reps at a higher weight, and if you do the 200 vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biggest point to remember as you start lifting: as a swimmer, you need to stay flexible. Stretch &lt;strong&gt;every day&lt;/strong&gt; to stay hyper-mobile and maintain flexibility. More range of motion = bigger pull. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a structured personalized workout program designed for swimmers, Nick Folker was the Cal Berkeley swimming weight coach (coaches Nathan Adrian) and is now creating workout programs for people through &lt;a href=&quot;https://bridgeathletic.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BridgeAthletic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16142" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T08:14:36.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25252" CreationDate="2015-06-29T12:58:35.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ultra-runners end up with a very efficient fat-burning metabolism and a very good idea of what food works for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fundamentally, you physically cannot take in enough calories to keep up with the energy expended so your body must switch to burning fat. (There is a maximum gastric emptying rate; combine that with the need for the fluids to be at the same concentration as human blood (or you get osmotic exchange and water goes where you don't want it) then you get a limit of about 200-300 calories/hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultra races have aid stations. The distances vary but every 5-10km or so is normal. What they offer is pretty standard: water, sports drink, chips, boiled potatoes and salt, oranges, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.&#xA;Lots of easy carbs and salt. There are often other things as well: chocolate cake, sometimes burgers or a hot dog. I grabbed a hot dog near the end of a 50km race; it was awesome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, and other ultra runners, often take the attitude of showing up at an aid station and finding out what the body wants. We eat that and then go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultra runners also use sports drink. Normally quite specialized it's mostly a variety of simple sugars at 8% concentration + sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. For longer ultra, there's an argument that replacing 1% of the sugar with protein helps slow down muscle break down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the faster ultra runners will run with two hand bottles: one has water, the other the sports drink. When they feel their stomach is getting a bit over concentrated with the sports drink (common on hot days) they will switch to drinking water to smooth things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T12:58:35.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25259" CreationDate="2015-06-29T14:21:35.130" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, but it depends on how advanced you are.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've been lifting for several years, you'll generally need to focus more and more on one aspect of training in order to see results. If you're just starting out, you'll get stronger/faster/bigger/leaner doing practically any kind of weightlifting. But as those 'newbie gains' taper off, most lifters find they need to program their training to concentrate on specific goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exactly when that transition occurs depends on how often you train, how intensely you train, and your own genetics/hormone levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T14:21:35.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25259" CreationDate="2015-06-29T16:38:24.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Yeah, but not much.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training for size will guarantee muscular endurance because you're working on exhausting the muscles in order to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will increase your strength, but not much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you're performing 4 sets of 15 reps of bicep curls with a 30-lb dumbbell, you should be able to perform 2 sets of 5-10 reps with a 35-lb dumbbell. That's an increase in strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;However, because the focus isn't on strength training, gains in strength will be slower.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Equally important, if strength isn't the goal, your strength will peak.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; As the weight increases, the number of reps performed will increase. The strength to pump 1 set of 10 reps of bicep curls with a 100-lb dumbbell is much higher than that of a 30-lb dumb bell. Doing 4 sets of those might not be worthwhile for you, especially if your goal can be achieved with smaller weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when you realize you don't need higher weights to achieve size, you'll stop increasing the weights in order to focus on size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T16:38:24.357" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25259" CreationDate="2015-06-29T20:41:27.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  Generally speaking, anything that utilizes your ATP/Creatine Phosphate system will increase both size and strength.  The threshold for that system begins at around 70% of your one-rep max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if strength is your only goal, you would train at rep ranges that purely utilize this system, rather than ranges that also utilize the glycolytic system:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HHzyG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T20:41:27.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19433" CreationDate="2015-06-29T21:00:24.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three variables you can easily measure for a very accurate idea of what's happening with your skeletomuscular system: body fat, body weight, and circumference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measuring body fat is most important, but as Eric pointed out, measuring displacement in a water tank is not accessible for most people.  Instead, pick up some skinfold calipers from Amazon for about $8.  There are a number of skinfold tests that will give you a decent estimate of body fat, and let you track your fat over time.  Combined with body weight and some simple math, you'll be able to figure out about how much of the weight you've lost is fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, a tailor's measuring tape can be used to get the circumferences of critical areas such as chest, arms, legs, and waist.  This will give you an idea of where you're losing fat and muscle, and help you correlate this data to your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend putting all of this into an excel spreadsheet and tracking it over time (weekly is good enough, but it depends on how granular you want your data).  This will let you be extremely scientific about your progress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I make sure I'm keeping my muscle level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be a very delicate process.  Eating at too great a deficit can cause catabolism of your muscles, which you obviously don't want.  The data in your spreadsheet will help you decide if you can eat more or less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea some pro bodybuilders I've met have recommended is keeping every variable the same (diet, sleep, workout routine), but adding in 30 minutes of light cardio per day, such as walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, to get excellent results, you'll probably need to be very meticulous about things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-06-30T04:14:41.680" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T04:14:41.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25247" CreationDate="2015-06-29T21:30:25.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this a good idea? What sort of whey protein should I go for? The Internet has loads of suggestions but I trust this community more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No this is an awful idea. First off Whey Protein is fast digesting so is only really beneficial after a muscle building workout. You need fats and/or carbs before doing cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd be better served making a simple shake out of bananas and milk or juice to get the potassium spike and carbs in before working out. For protein you could blend Greek Yogurt, Eggs, or Cottage Cheese into the shake. Much better calories and nutrient profile for you before a cardio workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do insist on or need ADDITIONAL (hence the word supplement not replacement) protein then for powder you're better off getting a Casein or mixed blend. These will digest slower than a Whey Isolate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T21:30:25.637" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-30T03:01:50.027" Score="4" ViewCount="870" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am talking specifically about a paper called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15966347&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Prediction of energy expenditure from heart rate monitoring during submaximal exercise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It states that within the narrow range of 90-150 bpm, there is a linear correlation between heart rate and calories burned as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;EE = -59.3954 + gender x (-36.3781 + 0.271 x age + 0.394 x weight + 0.404&#xA;V[O.sub.2max] + 0.634x heart rate) + (1 - gender) x (0.274 x age + 0.103x weight + 0.380x V[O.sub.2max] + 0.450 x heart rate)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have my doubts about this. In particular, how come this formula doesn't factor in the metabolic equivalent of task (MET)? Surely the exercise intensity plays an important role in how calories are burned, or is that just purely reflected through heart rate and V02max?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I find strange is that it takes very little workout intensity to get my heart rate very high. Just today I ran on the treadmill at a mere 4.7 mph (7.5 kph) for an hour at a sustained heart rate between 145 and 155. Going by the HR formula, I burned around 1033 kcal, whereas running at this speed yields an MET of about 8.3, which yields 772 kcal (my MET is 93). That's not even close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another example, a game of basketball has me easily averaging a 160-170 HR (even with all the whistles, timeouts, stop &amp;amp; go, etc) and my HR will sustain 20-30 BPM above normal for at least another 30 mins or so after the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think I'm necessarily out of shape. I managed to achieve a VO2max above 50 a week ago via the cooper test. I'm a big guy at 6&quot;6, 245 lbs, roughly 20% body fat. Is it strange that my HR increases so fast from running? Does it make me an outlier with regards to this formula? Should I rely on MET values more than this HR formula for estimating caloric burn during exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15368" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-26T14:54:48.557" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T23:47:06.950" Title="How reliable is this study for the relationship between heart rate and calories burned?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25274" CreationDate="2015-06-30T03:16:42.913" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an 18 year old athlete, 210 lbs. I work out a lot, working on gaining strength and muscle. After a really intense workout I'll get stretch marks along some of the areas that I worked such as biceps. Is this normal? Should I be worried or are these common for anyone who does intense weight training? Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T01:22:23.553" Title="Are stretch marks normal?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25273" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-30T03:44:45.720" Score="4" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going nearly 3 years for a gym. My BMI is ok. My height is 173cm and my chest in 36 inch. Can I further expand my chest ?Is there any good exercise ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12089" LastEditorUserId="12089" LastEditDate="2015-07-02T08:09:24.003" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T17:48:28.587" Title="What is the best exercise to increase the size of my chest muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25272" CreationDate="2015-06-30T05:44:28.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this normal?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, it is normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I be worried or are these common for anyone who does intense weight training?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;, you do not need to worry about it. Good news is that &lt;strong&gt;these stretch mark will disappear after some time&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some article regarding the causes of stretch marks :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stretch-marks/basics/causes/con-20032624&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayoclinic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stretch marks sometimes occur &lt;strong&gt;during substantial weight gain&lt;/strong&gt;. Weightlifters can develop stretch marks, particularly on the arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Stretch-marks/Pages/Causes.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NHS Choices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may get stretch marks if you put on &lt;strong&gt;a lot of weight over a short period of time&lt;/strong&gt;. The stretch marks sometimes remain even after losing weight, but &lt;strong&gt;should eventually fade&lt;/strong&gt;.Bodybuilders and athletes can also get &lt;strong&gt;stretch marks as their muscles increase in size&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some methods on how to reduce them (if you are too concern about it) :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.top10homeremedies.com/how-to/how-to-get-rid-of-stretch-marks-fast.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reducing stretch mark&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I have a stretch mark on both of my biceps, where the right side is almost gone whereas the left side has slowly started to fade. And some on my left shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-07-01T01:22:23.553" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T01:22:23.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25247" CreationDate="2015-06-30T08:50:31.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think it's a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher than normal levels of protein intake is useful if you are looking to add muscle, your cardio class will have very little muscle building impact, also, some carbs and fats will be more useful for performance in your cardio class. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still want to take whey supplements, go for the cheapest that taste, there are lots of brands with fancy names, but whey is in itself a very simple product, so no need to spend extra money on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T08:50:31.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25276" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-30T11:22:12.027" Score="10" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a history with cancer, leaving me with no left &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliac_crest&quot;&gt;iliac crest&lt;/a&gt; and minimal left &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluteal_muscles&quot;&gt;gluteal muscles&lt;/a&gt;. Due to the surgery I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoliosis&quot;&gt;scoliosis&lt;/a&gt; as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 20 years old and want to take care of myself but I have yet to find exercises that don't hurt in the wrong way, especially abdominal exercises. I would like to work on my core and what gluteal muscles I have left. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16154" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-06-30T12:20:23.900" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T08:31:23.527" Title="What are some abdominal exercises for a person with lack of a left iliac crest, left gluteal muscles, and scoliosis?" Tags="&lt;hip&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;&lt;illness&gt;&lt;spine&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-06-19T00:59:08.947" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19433" CreationDate="2015-06-30T17:56:21.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those of us that can't afford a water tank, but still want some relatively easy measure of body fat percent, you can get digital &lt;strong&gt;body fat scales&lt;/strong&gt; that send small electric currents through your body, using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). Since it takes longer to get through fat than muscle, they can give you a rough estimate of your body's fat composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are not as accurate as calipers or water tanks in terms of &lt;em&gt;absolute&lt;/em&gt; value, but they are decent at showing &lt;em&gt;relative&lt;/em&gt; values over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/body-fat-scales-do-they-really-work.html#b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body Fat Scales: Do They Really Work?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Factors such as body type, body temperature, hydration, and recent exercise can have a noteworthy impact on the number you see on the scale.  Even wet or sweaty feet can skew the results.  Whether or not you get a true analysis, what you can do is use that number to gauge your progress.  But you must be consistent when you weigh yourself, so do it at the same time of day, drink/eat approximately the same amount, don't do it directly after exercising, and use it in a room that is generally a stable temperature.  Utilize the body fat scale as a means of tracking trends rather than focusing on what that number is or comparing that number to what you think your body fat should be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitbit.com/aria&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aria from Fitbit&lt;/a&gt; which will automatically sync over WiFi, but goes for a hefty $130.  If you look around you can find plenty of other models for as low as $60.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16158" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T17:56:21.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25273" CreationDate="2015-06-30T19:08:44.610" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reality is there are 3 or 4 ways to expand your chest visually in order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest Muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat Muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrink Waist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enlarge Shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good starting point will be Dumbbell Bench Press (generally gets better range of motion than barbell), Dips, Barbell Rows, and Flies and/or Pec Deck if you have one. For some depending on your mechanics Dumbbell Bench Press could be done on a slight incline for better activation. Another exercise you might want to consider though isn't as common anymore is Pullovers which can be done laying using a dumbbell, ez-curl bar, or cable pulley system set to a somewhat low position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With any of these exercises chest width is going to be when you can feel it in the outer portion of your chest a bit and lats. Wide grip bench press for example. Deep full range of motion benching with barbell or dumbbells, incline bench with a nice deep bottom, flyes that you really let sink in the outer part, etc... If you do everything with a regular/narrow grip and stop at or above your chest then you're going to put a lot more emphasis on chest thickness and triceps then on width.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combine this with eating excess calories of course. You can't gain size anywhere if you're not eating some level of excess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T19:08:44.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-01T00:34:01.143" Score="3" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past two weeks, I've noticed about a 3-4 pound gain in body mass, without any noticeable change in appearance (like muscle definition, or what veins are visible where). I do seem to have the vague impression that I have slightly bigger muscles. (Not explained by resistance exercise: I have not been doing any weights at all for two months due to a fractured radius in my left arm.) I haven't changed my caloric intake or reduced my activity.   Could this be storage of water due to an upswing in temperature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I exercise intensely outside, five days a week or more: it's seven miles each way to cycle to work and back, plus I go running. Recently the weather has gotten hotter. Weather reports are saying &quot;heat wave&quot;, yet I'm not feeling it at all (my reaction has been, huh? &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; heat wave?) In fact, I'm feeling &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; comfortable outside than, say, a month ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I went for an 8 mile run in the heat of the early to mid afternoon, carrying a mere 750 ml bottle of water. Only a month ago, in spite of cooler weather, my mouth and throat would have been going dry, especially after that water ran out, but even before that. Today I noticed that my mouth never dried up, even over the last two miles when I had no more water in the bottle. I sweated profusely; I could easily wring dripping water out of my shorts by the end of the run. Yet I didn't feel thirsty at all during or after. It didn't even occur to me to drink anything when I returned to the office!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do people turn to camels when they are used to heat, carrying an extra liter or two of water somewhere?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no sign of any humps, though, so if this is really the case, I suppose we will never settle the question whether I'm dromedary or bactrian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4550" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-07-01T07:31:09.387" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T23:07:58.500" Title="Mysterious body mass gain: could it be water storage due to heat adaption?" Tags="&lt;heat-tolerance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25297" CreationDate="2015-07-01T01:38:29.103" Score="7" ViewCount="453" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, I suddenly overcame my fear of getting water up my nose while in the swimming pool, and ever since then, I've been dog-paddling, diving underwater, and splashing around without a care in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I do this, some water gets up my nose. This is a little uncomfortable, but for me, there are no obvious problems—I can still breathe through my mouth, and I don't inhale any water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, are there any disadvantages to letting water enter the nose? Will it cause health problems or something, or am I perfectly fine just continuing as I've been doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:10:37.800" Title="Are there any disadvantages, besides discomfort, to letting water enter your nose?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25285" CreationDate="2015-07-01T04:04:39.900" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's my 3rd week going to gym. I'm 24 y.o. 87kg, 172cm male. Previously I only did some pull-up and dips. It's 3 times a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1st day - chest, shoulders, biceps &#xA;2nd day - back, triceps&#xA;3rd day - legs&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is I don't feel tired the next day after the training starting from the 2nd week, while I felt exceptionally tired during every day of the 1st week, and a lot of people say that this means my workout is not effective. I do increase weights and perform set almost till failure though (resting no more than 2 min between sets). For example on the 1st week I was doing bench press with 50kg, 2nd week - 65kg, and 3rd - 70kg, 3 sets of 12 and I could only do 7-10 reps in 4rd and 5th sets. &#xA;It it okay to not feel tired after the effective workout? Or do I need to change the routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T05:07:45.820" Title="Workout effectiveness" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25284" CreationDate="2015-07-01T05:07:45.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do I need to change the routine?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;. So long you are able to &lt;strong&gt;progress in weights / reps / sets&lt;/strong&gt;, you do not need to change your routine. With that said, this is called progressive overload. So long you are progressing, your workout is pretty much effective for you. You are doing pretty well except for your 3rd week. So what you could do is continue doing 70 kg and achieve your 5 sets of 12. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't think you need that much set since your pretty much doing high amount of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it okay to not feel tired after the effective workout?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Absolutely alright&lt;/strong&gt;. If you feel fatigue, be it physical and/or nervous fatigue, its not a good thing. Depending on your genetics, it may take up to &lt;strong&gt;24 - 48 hours to recover from physical fatigue&lt;/strong&gt;(it may even take a longer time or even a shorter time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But its a different case for nervous fatigue (also known as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_nervous_system_fatigue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;central nervous system fatigue&lt;/a&gt;). Unlike physical fatigue, if you continue to lift heavy everyday, you may experience the following symptoms which are related to nervous fatigue :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• Depression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• Decrease in training capacity / intensity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And more can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tabatatimes.com/overtraining-syndrome-and-cns-fatigue/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid facing neural fatigue, try &lt;strong&gt;alternating between a light training session and a heavy training session&lt;/strong&gt;. For example, you go heavy on your chest, shoulders, biceps and go light for your back, triceps. Increasing your caloric intake and your rest will also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, since you are &lt;strong&gt;training 3 times a week&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;you should be fine&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T05:07:45.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-01T09:08:30.847" Score="3" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to gym 3 days a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (chest, shoulders, biceps/back, triceps/legs). This Friday, however, I'm going to leave the city till the next Tuesday. Is it better to reschedule Saturday's workout to Friday, or, increase the amount of Thursday's training? Or, should I do some kind of exercises during the trip? What is the general advice for inevitable training skips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-07-01T12:27:36.073" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T23:42:22.423" Title="Is it better to reschedule workout than skip it?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25286" CreationDate="2015-07-01T12:15:14.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would increase the amount of exercise BEFORE the trip, since you know have a slot for recovery. Whatever workout you would do at the time of the trip, do it before instead, together with whatever you would do otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T12:15:14.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25286" CreationDate="2015-07-01T12:27:00.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whatever you decide to do should be dependent upon your training goals (eg. Training for a competition or race, etc.). Missing a training day is not the end of the world as long as it does not become a habit.  Life happens, and, sometimes it impacts your training.  Often, this results in “training guilt” especially if you’re a person that regularly trains.  You might feel uneasy/guilty about missing a session when, in fact, a short training break may be just what you need.  So, take a look back at your recent training history, and, see if you’ve been pretty strict about it. If so, I would just skip the workout and perform some light training on your trip.  Then, pick up your training when you return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T12:27:00.617" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25293" CreationDate="2015-07-01T14:22:48.250" Score="4" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am exercising to obtain a better upper back posture. Hence, I started doing upper back exercises as shown &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/get-big/5-exercises-for-a-strong-upper-back&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. But the thing is, I am not sure how the intensity and volume of these exercises should be. There are lots of different information about differences on purposes of training with high weight&amp;amp;low reps, lower weight&amp;amp;higher reps, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The purpose:&lt;/strong&gt; My purpose is to obtain a better posture in general &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; in daily life, to be able to &lt;em&gt;keep a straight posture throughout the day&lt;/em&gt;. I have read that &lt;strong&gt;type1 muscle fibers&lt;/strong&gt; are the ones that fatigue last. Now since my purpose is obtain a better posture in general &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; keeping it throughout the whole day, &lt;strong&gt;am I supposed to target type1 muscle development&lt;/strong&gt;? So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should be the number of reps and number of sets for each of these exercises?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many days should I give a break to these exercises before doing them again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are these indeed the exercises that I should be doing? Should I add other exercises to my routine?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15634" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T23:57:36.017" Title="What should be the volume and intensity of a posture workout program?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25292" CreationDate="2015-07-01T14:50:54.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Workout program&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I hope you're doing more than just the 5 exercises in the article you linked to. Those exercises are indeed a good set of exercises for the upper back, but &lt;strong&gt;good posture is only achieved through exercising the entire body!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Intensity and volume parameters&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When deciding your set/rep ranges, one often asks &quot;do I want to focus on strength, or size?&quot; Naturally, in most cases, focusing on one, will lead to improvements in the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb, we like to divide the rep ranges into 3 basic stages;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3-5 reps with high intensity for strength gains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-12 reps with mid intensity for size gains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15+ reps with low intensity for stamina/endurance gains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this is a rule of thumb, but it's a place to start. For the rep ranges in between, you can probably guess what's going on there. It's not like you're getting &quot;the best of both worlds&quot; by going with 6-rep sets, but it's not like we discourage their use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For posture, I'd suggest 8-12 reps per set, for 3 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300012&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; suggests that if one is aiming for hypertrophy (size gains), doing more than 2-3 sets provides very little benefit. Most of it is achieved through the first 3 sets. I've adopted this tip into my own training with good results as well, just to throw some anecdotal evidence into the mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The best tip for good posture&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be a bad advice-giver if I didn't say this. If you want good posture, do the big compound movements. A compound movement is an exercise which engages a large set of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift&lt;/strong&gt; is widely regarded as the #1 exercise, and belongs in any exercise regimen. It works lower back, legs, upper back, shoulders, neck, forearms... The list goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I like to draw the deadlift out as the biggest posture exercise, the other compound movements you absolutely should be doing are;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups and barbell rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're a beginner to weight training, it's OK to split these up into two groups, and alternate them between training days. Likely, you'll want to have deadlifts and squats on two separate days because they work a lot of the same muscles. If you do one first, you'll likely be too exhausted to perform very well on the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Rest period for muscles&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is another rule of thumb, but it's a widely accepted one; give each muscles 48 hours to recuperate before working it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any rule of thumb in working out, it's a place to start. It's up to you to experiment, and figure out what works best for you. If at any point you're in doubt, the rule of thumb has your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like you can do deadlift one day, and squat perfectly the next, go for it. But if at any point you feel like you're getting fatigued, and can't quite understand why, it might be because of the short rest periods you give yourself. Just something to keep in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;An example of a program&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this became a bit of a wall-of-text anyway, might as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1: Squats, bench press, pullups, +++&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2: Deadlift, barbell row, dips, +++&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the +++ part, you can add some movements of your own choosing, like the ones from the article you linked. Like I said, they're not bad exercises, but those alone won't do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then just alternate these two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some variety, you can easily mix up the order in which you do these movements. For instance, next time you do day 1, do pullups first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any of these days, I would advise that you do the compounds first, and then move on to the smaller ones. That said, I have seen examples of extraordinary athletes who do isolation (opposite of compound) exercises first, and then compound movements later, because they want to do them while already fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Bottom line&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is pretty much the advice I would give any and all worker outers who are unsure of where to start, whether it be for posture, strength, size, or any combination of these. And of course, feel free to ask about anything I missed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer questions in comments below:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The reason for suggesting 8-12 reps per set is that for beginners, your posture will inevitably improve no matter what range you choose. And since the article you mentioned offers tips on the V-shaped back, size training is going to further facilitate this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Avoiding chest exercises is not a solution to the seated lifestyle. To avoid posture issues from sitting a lot, you should do stretching. When you're seated, slouched over a desk, your muscles tense up. Not working out these muscles doesn't solve anything. You're just leaving it alone to get worse. Stretching is the solution here, because it increases the flexibility of your muscle fibres. Not only does it prevent injury from weighted resistance, but it also prevents the slowly-but-surely achieved injury from sitting all day. As a web developer by day, and avid gym-goer by night, I give stretching credit for my corrected posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, don't neglect any part of your body. Strengthen it, and stretch it! Besides, posture isn't back only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Neither a trainer nor myself should be giving you advice on how to deal with kyphosis. You should consult a doctor about this. If you simply can't do deadlift, there are exercises which, combined, can add up to much of the same benefits as the deadlift. Squats being the first and foremost of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Posture starts at the legs. There's a trend within the fitness community, where people make fun of those who have a large, lean, good-looking upper body, but untrained legs. While this is mostly light-hearted joking around, there is an underlying point to be made here. How do you expect to have good posture if you have weak legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And like the point about the chest; working out only portions of your body is going to lead to muscular imbalances in the posterior chain, which is really, really harmful and posture-destroying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-07-01T15:39:10.293" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T15:39:10.293" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25286" CreationDate="2015-07-01T18:35:18.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll just answer this from my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my job I often have to leave for a few days and can't access any strength training facilities. Worse (or better?) my job is physically demanding so I come back to town and I'm pretty beat up, sleep deprived, and didn't eat so well. It's a real drag because I can't maintain the progressive strength training schedule I'd like to. How I handle it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I try to do about 3 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/texas-method/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermediate training program cycles (Texas method)&lt;/a&gt; during the winter when I have more control over my schedule. I can usually manage a couple of months without much interruption and make a lot of progress. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;During the summer when my job is more active, I stay in maintenance mode. I try to lift two days a week, one day at 80% of my 5RM and the other as close to 100% as I can get. If I go a couple of weeks without training it's okay, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19020/7091&quot;&gt;strength losses usually only show up after 3-4 weeks of no training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had to understand that physical fitness (to me) is about having my body in a good-enough shape to do whatever I throw at it. I don't really lose size or strength during the summers. The only downside is that two weeks off and then 80% of my 5RM makes me &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout/19157#19157&quot;&gt;wicked sore for a couple of days&lt;/a&gt;. Still, it's worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T18:35:18.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25283" CreationDate="2015-07-01T18:52:37.830" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growing up surfing, I'd get water in my nose constantly. When stuffed up I'd splash some up in there and snot rocket all the junk out. Even a &quot;saline nasal spray&quot; is just a fancy way of blowing salt water into your nose. If there's a problem I'd venture to guess it has more to do with whatever badness is in the water (chemicals, pathogens, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also work on trying to &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.swimator.com/2011/04/getting-water-up-my-nose-while-swimming.html&quot;&gt;stop the water from getting in&lt;/a&gt;. There are various techniques, ranging from saying the letter &quot;T&quot; (to close your &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_palate&quot;&gt;soft palate&lt;/a&gt;) to a slow and steady breathing out from the nose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, at least in surfing and scuba diving, you're going to get some water in your nose no matter what you do. I'd only be concerned if you're getting water into your lungs, otherwise interfering with respiration, or are swimming in some fouled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Credentials wise, I'm a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.padi.com/scuba-diving/padi-courses/course-catalog/divemaster/&quot;&gt;PADI Dive Master&lt;/a&gt; (including &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.padi.com/scuba-diving/padi-courses/course-catalog/rescue-diver/&quot;&gt;Rescue Diver&lt;/a&gt;), &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Coast_Guard_Charter_Boat_Captain&amp;#39;s_license#Master.2C_100_Tons_Credential&quot;&gt;USCG Master&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nols.edu/wmi/courses/wfr.shtml&quot;&gt;Wilderness First Responder&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T18:52:37.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25283" CreationDate="2015-07-01T19:45:21.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am water skier and bare footer.  When you are coming up especially on a bare foot back up trick you may get water up your nose.  It does irritate some people and they just use water proof bandage tape to tape the nostrils shut.  I learned it from Mike Seipel - a former bare world barefoot champion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15163" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T19:45:21.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25308" CreationDate="2015-07-01T20:05:17.917" Score="2" ViewCount="428" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like my calves aren't gaining size proportionally to the rest of my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of leg exercises, I do all the regular stuff like deadlifts, squats, and a bunch of isolation exercises, including calf raises. But calf raises only work in the sagittal plane of movement, i.e. forwards and backwards. I feel like I'm missing out on something by not having any calf exercises in the coronal plane (i.e. side to side).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like calf size is very genetically inherited. The fat deposits on my calves aren't very big, so even when I'm bulking... Seems like building muscle is the only way for me to gain any reasonable size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know of any other stuff I can do to build more calf size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2018-05-06T21:40:38.073" Title="Alternative calf exercises" Tags="&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-01T21:38:37.467" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am really looking for a bible of working out. I have a home gym but nothing too complicated. So I really need something that will help me get started. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16172" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T01:35:22.820" Title="Best reference material or app for creating a workout regimine to loose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-07-17T17:21:42.733" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25301" CreationDate="2015-07-01T21:45:47.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out Muscle and Strength. They have articles specifically for fat loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/fat-loss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/fat-loss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T21:45:47.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25301" CreationDate="2015-07-02T01:22:01.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a definition of &quot;Bible of working out&quot; better than the marvellous, free site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EXRX&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a suggestion, you may want to start by having a look at their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Beginning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Beginner's page&lt;/a&gt;, or go directly to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercise Instruction&lt;/a&gt; and learn about designing your own workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A much simpler, yet very nice source of honest information about working out at home is &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scooby's Workshop&lt;/a&gt;. He has done a lot of videos that are freely available in Youtube. In particular, he suggests his &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/home-workout-plans/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;home workout plans&lt;/a&gt; with minimal equipment divided into three categories depending on your fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware of sites sponsored by supplements companies. They may lead you into unrealistically high volume workouts (too many exercises, too often) so that you are compelled to feel that you need the help of supplements to cope with the demands imposed on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-07-02T01:35:22.820" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T01:35:22.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25300" CreationDate="2015-07-02T01:28:03.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try doing single leg calf raise, it would require you to balance yourself front and back and side to side too, so that would work it pretty well. Also, have you tried doing more active type of exercises like jumping or running barefoot, which activates calves a lot and at the same time you have to use muscles in all planes due to the unilateral aspect of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16174" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T01:28:03.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25301" CreationDate="2015-07-02T01:33:56.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've tagged your post with bodyweight-exercises, you can look at this great plan &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitloop.co/routines/bwf-recommended-beginner-routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, as for a guide, I suggest you go through the /r/bodyweight &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/training_guide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FAQ&lt;/a&gt;. If you want more information on exercises and training, check out exrx.net, which is great source for a lot of training and nutrition information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16174" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T01:33:56.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25300" CreationDate="2015-07-02T01:35:28.260" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the gym I'd recommend cleans and jump rope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cleans&lt;/a&gt; require you to jump and drive through your calves. I think folks who are doing cleans are putting a lot more load on their calves than the rather always-seems-goofy &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/BBStandingCalfRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;calf raise&lt;/a&gt;. Plus cleans are just awesome in their own right, although they're hard for some to learn (it took me a while).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other I'd put in there is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/Exercises/JumpRopeSingleHop.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;jump rope&lt;/a&gt;. It's a great conditioning exercise and it's a lot of volume on your calves. Most of the hop is generated by the calves, and you use your calves to bounce on the way down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j2YwU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T01:35:28.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25273" CreationDate="2015-07-02T01:38:43.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do a balanced program, meaning, train your back as much as your chest and shoulders. Do high volume chest exercises e.g. Dumbbell or Barbell Bench press, weight push ups and dips, you should at least be bench pressing 1.2xbw before changing it up for something. Train higher volume with medium intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16174" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T01:38:43.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24546" CreationDate="2015-07-02T02:50:28.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked this question a year ago and it got blocked/edited/removed for being a dangerous?? Anyways I put some more thought into it (but just know Im not mechanically inclined :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figured out on my own after reading some books on running form, or at least an idea of why not to do this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The energy lost due to carrying weight like the two other answers said. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The weights seem to spread out my stride while&#xA;slowing down my cadence. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A similar gain in stride seemed to come from leaning&#xA;forward and extending my arms out a little more. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A book and other sources that say arms are only for&#xA;counter weights to remain balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As I ran with weights I always ended up bringing them&#xA;closer to my body to be able to continue to carry them, but without&#xA;weights you can extend your arms out more and have the same effect as&#xA;carrying weights to some point.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly I started looking at cadence and stride length to target those super fast times the pros do, and I found out that you are airborne for a good proportion of the time while running. Hard to notice this duration of time in the air, but I believe it now and carrying weights would reduce this airtime. I dont think there is any added momentum for carrying weights since each weight is counter balancing the other one. The extra oxygen used to swing the weights are taking oxygen away from your legs, so you heart rate is probably higher for lower rates of speed. Actually Kaz's answer is pretty good. Last thing, a higher cadence with a longer stride and a slight lean gives me the same feeling as when I was carrying weights. I hope my experiences will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-01-29T23:10:39.510" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T23:10:39.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-02T03:30:19.810" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm relatively new to mendhi's program of 5x5 and i was wondering if you have to start all the way from what is listed on the program. I can do 2 plates, 5 sets of 5 with ease but on the program it tells me to start with 110, is it necessary to start all the way there? Can't i just start at 225 or atleast a few weights down? What are your suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16175" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T07:38:30.003" Title="Skipping ahead on stronglift" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2015-07-02T05:04:55.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The distance on Fitbit is calculated from the steps it measured and during kayaking this is only a small amount compared to paddling efforts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16177" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T05:04:55.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25311" CreationDate="2015-07-02T07:10:54.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can, and you may, there's not much need to start that low unless you are new to that particular lift, just start at a weight which you will achieve in the fourth week. Which means, if you are currently lifting 225, you should start from 160-165 (5 pound increase each workout), that'll be more than enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16174" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T07:10:54.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-02T08:15:06.940" Score="4" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;My problem is tight or rather too stretched hamstrings, so i'm trying to solve this problem. Hamstring stretches make me feel unstable so i think they are tight already. I HAVE A KNOT LEFT LOWER BACK FROM PAST INJURY, but no real pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been making alot of progress with my lordosis/anterior knee pain after doing various exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically i now have decent external hip rotation, but seing as i have never done any stretches for gaining internal rotation, i think i may be tight there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i have one simple question : Will a stretch like the Lying knee to knee stretch, give me some hamstring length? (or at least not hurt my lordosis/APT condition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus any other advice for gaining some hamstring length and stride much appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16179" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T22:47:34.920" Title="Gaining internal hip rotation good for touching toes?" Tags="&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25273" CreationDate="2015-07-02T09:11:06.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be careful with too much bench pressing if you have a job where you arms are outstretched all day as you may end up with rounded shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16179" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T09:11:06.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25317" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-02T09:37:50.883" Score="2" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I joined Gym recently. The trainers dont help much. I was given a card with what exercises to do (2 day split with cardio). I do not know how to operate the machines. No one helps. I would love to do squats and deadlifts but there is no one to teach me or correct my form. I have seen trainers going past people who plank with hips raised high without correcting them. Most of them spend time chitchatting or spotting the big muscle guys near barbells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not saying all trainers are like this or so. I was working out in another gym in another city but there the trainers used to help and correct. I just paid the money and am not at all satisfied with the service. I can point it to the owners but that would just make me a enemy in the eyes of trainers. &#xA;How do I go about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16180" LastActivityDate="2018-05-25T13:09:08.617" Title="New to fitness. Joined Gym. Trainer is always busy. What do I do?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25300" CreationDate="2015-07-02T13:01:52.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems like calf size is very genetically inherited&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally speaking, I think you may be correct.  Some of us have one or more body parts that tend to be stubborn when it comes to gaining mass. Calves tend to be one of those body parts.  I know it was for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn’t really see any improvement until I tried something different.  I thought that I might be overtraining them, even though as a relatively small body part, it may seem you can’t.  I started seeing improvement when I trained them indirectly.  That is, I relied on the indirect stimulation from working other body parts, namely legs, to provide the stimulus.  I still, however, occasionally train them directly, but, not as often as before.  And, when I do, I vary the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nsca.com/education/articles/does-foot-position-matter-with-the-calf-raise-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pointing of my toes to try to induce growth&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, I use the stimulation I get while performing aerobic work (biking or rowing) to aid my calves.  In my case, using the indoor rowing machine (ergometer) with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/technique-videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proper form&lt;/a&gt; indirectly works my calves.  The movement almost mimics a calf raise done horizontally.  While the majority of the work targets the quads, there is some calf work done at the “catch” position through the &quot;drive&quot; of the rowing stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T13:01:52.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25317" CreationDate="2015-07-02T14:03:17.413" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most trainers are like that. The majority of trainers work in low-budget gyms for cheap wages in places where clients don't take their fitness too seriously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some great trainers out there, but you're not going to find them (for long anyway) working in a big-box gym. The really good trainers work in professional or high level amateur and academic settings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend a three step solution for you, which is what I'd imagine most effective strength trainers have done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1Ivwp9f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. Picking the back squat as an example, I think there is about 75 pages with photos and fairly entertaining dialogue on how to perform that single exercise. Also discussed in detail is the power clean, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, row, and some ancillary stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Switch to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a real strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. In particular I'd recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; (same name as the book). Don't get creative with these: follow them perfectly and worry about getting the techniques right. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Record yourself sometimes. Use your phone, balance it, and record yourself from the side (at about hip level). Put it on youtube, and ask for some feedback here or elsewhere. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also talk to someone you see who looks like they know what they're doing and just be really blunt. You want him to eyeball your form, it will only take a minute, and you'd like some feedback. Most strength trainees would be happy to help since they've been there (and in many ways still are there) themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T14:03:17.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8111" CreationDate="2015-07-02T15:16:06.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is already old, but I recently got myself faced with the same problem. Basically, the guy (Madcow) did write a few lines regarding additional exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For arms choose a single biceps and triceps exercise and perform them at the end once per week for 3 sets of whatever - your arms will take a beating from all the pulling and pressing anyway. If you want to chin on Wednesday or do a few sets of pulldowns/ups that's fine (avoid the machines if you can use bodyweight). Core work is always fine. Cardio is fine - interval training is the best for this I'll just throw out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/madcow/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8030" LastEditorUserId="8030" LastEditDate="2015-07-02T15:21:41.003" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T15:21:41.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-02T16:44:16.760" Score="7" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started learning to swim a few months back. From barely being able to float for a few seconds, I am now able to swim along an entire length (25m). However there are two caveats: 1) I almost always use a hand paddle - my bare hands never catch as much water efficiently. 2) even with a paddle, I am breathless after 25m. Making another 25m seems an uphill task for the next few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, I am unable to continue any further. My body is restless and my heart beats faster during my next 25m; consequently somewhere midway to three-fourths along the pool, I lose my balance and from thereon, start walking to the near end.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I would love to believe I shall improve and this too shall pass, this has been going on for more than a few months. I have incorporated a lot of Internet advice:  go slow, relax, more water displaced per stroke, look 45 degrees ahead in water, focus on hips for kicking, rotate well. While they all have helped me improve to some extent, the core issue of breathlessness persists. Is this to do with my lung capacity and stamina? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to get better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I have zero difficulty with backstroke; with breaststroke I am comfortable for up to 50m. My knees start aching after that, but there are no breath issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16184" LastEditorUserId="16184" LastEditDate="2015-07-02T16:55:36.107" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T22:20:26.787" Title="Breathless after 50m front crawl" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-17T17:18:26.033" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25322" CreationDate="2015-07-02T17:26:31.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;look 45 degrees ahead in water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, then you're not breathing. Ok, all jokes aside...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah, this is a simple case of wrong technique. It is virtually impossible for us to teach you proper crawl technique online without at least seeing a video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best option is to find a swimming coach, maybe sign up for a class, and get first-hand instruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crawl is in any case a more advanced stroke than breaststroke. I stongly advise that you learn to do the breaststroke for at least 500m straight before moving on to crawling. It's easier to find breathing room (every stroke, no neck twisting), and it's easier to float this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your knees ache after 50m breaststroke, you might be kicking too hard. Try kicking at different power levels and see how it feels. In any case, your arms are doing most of the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T17:26:31.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25322" CreationDate="2015-07-02T19:12:28.940" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply practising a swim style again and again does not necessarily makes you swim better. Moreover, you might be reinforcing the bad aspects in your technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to include in your workouts is &lt;em&gt;swimming drills&lt;/em&gt;. They are special modified exercises aiming to make you focus on one single aspect of the technique at a time. Here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYsZn1-zKVg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a random example of swimming drills&lt;/a&gt; but you can easily find more examples after a Google search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, something very important. You say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;with breaststroke I am comfortable for up to 50m. My knees start aching after that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a well known problem associated with the breaststroke when done improperly. It happens because your breaststroke technique needs improvement and it is &lt;strong&gt;very important&lt;/strong&gt; at this point that you do your best to correct it, otherwise you may be damaging your knees. The problem is called &lt;em&gt;Breaststroke Knee&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Swimmer's knee&lt;/em&gt; and may eventually lead to a condition called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondromalacia_patellae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chondromalacia patellae&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. In a few words, during the whiplash leg motion of the breastroke you are probably pushing only from the hip and leaving the knees nearly relaxed. That way the knee ligaments alone must absorb the lateral forces. There is also plenty of information around, here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnroUdeGbmc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;random link explaining the problem&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to focus on your technique. It is important to protect the knee during the whiplash motion by firing your leg muscles. It may also help to strengthen your hamstrings and the muscles surrounding your knee in general. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_k5ghroQRY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodyweight single leg deadlift&lt;/a&gt; is a good place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastEditorUserId="5851" LastEditDate="2015-07-02T22:20:26.787" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T22:20:26.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-02T19:17:02.340" Score="1" ViewCount="667" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been taking a simple whey protein suplement after weight training recently, but I am having a strong reaction to it. Every time I eat/drink it I start to feel amped like I've had too much caffeine and I get an annoying headache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to be clear, the only ingredients appear to be milk whey and soy products. There is no listing of caffeine or creatine or anything similar. Also, I only eat/drink about 100 calories worth at one time and I drink cow's milk every day without any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, the full name of the product is &quot;Dymatize Nutrition ISO 100 Hydrolyzed 100% Whey Protein Isolate&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16186" LastEditorUserId="16186" LastEditDate="2015-07-02T19:38:45.970" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T15:25:23.700" Title="Why does my whey protein make me feel so awful?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2015-07-07T07:36:05.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25352" CreationDate="2015-07-03T15:13:14.020" Score="5" ViewCount="886" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally do full sit ups, I just prefer them to crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But are there any benefits or drawbacks of full sit ups over crunches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T22:33:11.740" Title="What are the benefits or drawbacks of full sit ups vs crunches?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25326" CreationDate="2015-07-03T15:25:23.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you increased your water intake since you've started using protein supps? Protein can build up in your liver and can possibly reach toxic levels - this probably isn't causing your headaches, but it's good to know anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of protein powders have contain Aspartate, which can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthhealingwellness.com.au/Conditions/headache-causes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cause migraines and headaches&lt;/a&gt;. Aspartate is a sweetener that's many many times stronger than sugar, (&lt;em&gt;100 times or more&lt;/em&gt;) it excites the neurons in your brain to the point that it can actually kill cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T15:25:23.700" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27335" CreationDate="2015-07-03T23:15:32.727" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jogging is running without effort or worrying about how fast you go. Running requires pushing slightly at the least while worrying about time. This question is for all the marathoners who transitioned to Ultras for the challenge. If training experience is needed lets say 50-100 miles/week and marathon capability is about 3 hours even. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T03:03:11.917" Title="How far can you get in an ultra before you go from jogging to running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25328" CreationDate="2015-07-03T23:37:00.920" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;More muscles are used in a sit up but crunches seem to focus on the abdominal muscles more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For myself I can do 2-3 times as many crunches, and always do some crunches after sit ups to continue working some of the muscles. The main group of muscles neglected in crunches seem to be the back and legs. In the military you get 2 minutes to do as many as possible, and I found that to do this I also had to push myself down and go up without relying on people holding your feet. So in my experience I usually used alot more than just the abs. Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-07-03T23:46:16.350" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T23:46:16.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25286" CreationDate="2015-07-03T23:42:22.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise during the trip even though its not necessary in this case. Start now to get into the habit of it. Reschedule is better than doubling up. I go for hitting some performance highs if I skip a work out, and generally don't regret it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T23:42:22.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25300" CreationDate="2015-07-03T23:50:29.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Eric Kaufman's answer is better, but a good exercise I found recently is jogging on my toes while intentionally pushing myself vertically up more than normal. I am tried to increase air time while running but noticed alot of soreness for just 30 min of doing this each time I do it; which is 2-3 times so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T23:50:29.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25292" CreationDate="2015-07-03T23:57:36.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Run for 2-3 hours. If your not running with a straight posture you'll get a sore neck or back. The long time allows you to focus on staying straight like. The movement allows you to program this posture into your frame of mind more. I have a posture problem that I ignore and the longer I got without running the worst it gets. I knew its not as bad when Im running and now know it since I got a comment like &quot;Wow you really stand straight when your running&quot;. Reading and working on a computer seems to undo the good posture I get from running. Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T23:57:36.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1876" CreationDate="2015-07-04T13:41:58.980" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a pair of Adipowers after reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodygearguide.com/best-weight-lifting-shoes-reviews/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a similar article&lt;/a&gt; and I like them! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16197" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T13:41:58.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-04T14:02:37.020" Score="0" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 17 year old, 12th grade student. I weigh 78 kgs and am 5 feet 5 inches tall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a good student but I could have done 100 times better if I did not have moobs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to lose chest fat, otherwise i will be dammed and i can't concentrate on anything. I try a lot to concentrate but resulting in partial concentration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have spent hours in just searching what is the best way to lose fats on my chest. I am going to appear for JEE (joint entrance exam) which is a serious exam and requires full concentration I have a time of around 10 months, but I don't want to delay, I want to make me lean and thin around all parts of my body. Most of the fats are settled around my thigh. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me get rid of this. Give me a clear cut solution, without going for surgery. I don't want to tell anybody about it, it's so shameful and I don't want to go to gym. I want to do home exercises. Sometimes it makes me think I am a fat girl due to my fat body, if I did have masculine body I would have been feeling great like a strong man. I searched everything in internet, some say if I lose fats on my belly by kapalbhatti then my moobs will look bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried doing pushups, some say that will not just help&#xA;you need to do gazillion of exercises. Some say nothing will work except surgery. So I am mad at this, I don't know which is correct and proven method to work.After all what i need is masculine body alongside great concentration and brain power. what i can do is pushups and think it will gonna work. I am completely vegan and avoid oily foods, no spices just simple diet three times a day. Please tell me a cleat cut formula that will work and definitely work, I have a time of 1 month to reduce all my body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16198" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-07-04T16:03:03.517" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T16:20:44.383" Title="please help me i am suffering from fat chest!" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2015-07-04T14:43:37.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dont get wireless head phones. Just get some head phones that have a plastic part that hooks around your ear. Then the cords can be heavy and even flop around or get pulled on while being under your shirt without falling off. These dont need to be expensive, so check out Marshalls or TJ Max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T14:43:37.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25339" CreationDate="2015-07-04T16:20:44.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1299/how-to-lose-fat-only-in-your-thigh&quot;&gt;You can't spot reduce&lt;/a&gt;. Your body stores fat all over (and inside) of you in a ratio that's tied to your DNA. There's nothing you can do to target fat in any particular area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) You should get evaluated on your &quot;moobs&quot; to determine if you have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynecomastia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gynecomastia&lt;/a&gt; (nicknamed: gyno ... like guy-no).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;Most of your body fat deposits have to do with how much you eat, not how much you workout&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to follow these steps, and you won't be able to achieve success in 1 month. It took you a long time to get fat, it will take you a long time to get it off. Accept that reality and if you can't than accept that your impatience is going to keep you on a train to obesity and endocrine disfunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Track every thing you eat for two weeks&lt;/a&gt;, no exceptions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/calorie-calculator/itt-20084939&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Get an idea on how many calories you should eat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. Since you don't have access to a gym, you'll need to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Questions/BasicProgram.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodyweight activity&lt;/a&gt;. Consider buying a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1JMQPt2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;good book&lt;/a&gt; on the subject.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, there is no secret to having a &quot;manly body&quot;. It requires keeping track of your calories, constant effective exercising, and the discipline to prioritize fitness like you would going to the bathroom or taking a shower. Most people know this, but they look for quick fixes because being healthy and fit is a lifelong commitment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please tell me a cleat cut formula that will work and definitely work,&#xA;  I have a time of 1 month to reduce all my body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, you can't in one month, sorry but that's reality. The clear cut formula is to be in a calorie deficit (eat ~200 calories a day less than you are using) and do balanced strength training 3-6 days a week. Do that and barring specific (and rare) medical problems you'll notice serious differences to your physical and mental self within 3-6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T16:20:44.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25345" CreationDate="2015-07-04T17:37:41.237" Score="2" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other day I was doing deadlifts and as I started the movement (brought shins up to the bar) and did a legdrive movement, I felt a pain in my lower back. I immediately stopped and for the last two days, my lower back has been sore/hurt. I mean that I am still able to function and the pain is more of a dull one, but it hurts at times to stand up, and of course, bending over hurts too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do about this? I know something was probably wrong in that instant with my form (although I have practiced safe form for a long time and this is my first deadlift related injury!). It does feel better from yesterday but what else can I do to help with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16200" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T18:45:59.520" Title="Lower back pain Deadlifts" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-17T17:20:19.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25344" CreationDate="2015-07-04T18:45:59.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might get closed as off topic, it's a bit subjective as to whether this is a &quot;go see a doctor&quot; type of response. But as a guy who's been &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlifting&lt;/a&gt; for a while, I'd offer up this feedback. This is based in my own personal experiences and discussion with my doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My doctor hates deadlifts because she has several patients a week coming in with back injuries from them. She's amazed that I (and really anyone) is capable of deadlifting big weights for years on end without problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My initial problem with deadlifting was that I started mix-and-matching my &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cleans&lt;/a&gt; form in. With cleans, you want your butt a bit lower because you need a lot of leg spring. With bigger weights (the kind that you deadlift, the kind you can't clean), you really want to have a neutral spinal position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suffered a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_disc_herniation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;herniated disc&lt;/a&gt;, complete with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciatica&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sciatica&lt;/a&gt;, several years ago because the form that I thought was good was actually bad (butt too low, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BWHyperextensionHead.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spine hyperextended&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a spinal injury like that, the pain is amazingly fast and pronounced. It's not dull: it's fast-car-accident pain that literally puts you on the floor. You wouldn't be able to tie your shoes, get up from a chair without major effort, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds more like you have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strain_(injury)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;muscle strain&lt;/a&gt; (pulled muscle). The good news is that that will heal quicker, usually in the form of days instead of weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to wait for the pain to become &quot;dull&quot;, then ramp up your lifting stopping well clear of &quot;ouch&quot; pain. Another thing to consider is that muscle pain can often cause your form to suffer, as you favor muscles that don't hurt which can in turn load you up in bad ways. So if it hurts in a bad way (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/23666/7091&quot;&gt;good vs bad pain&lt;/a&gt;), stop immediately: you will go backwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Future&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my own experience, the following three items really helped me to deadlift better and not feel it in my lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1NGSWQz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I keep the bar visually over my shoelace knots, and pull my chest up while holding onto the bar, weight flat but favoring my heels&lt;/a&gt;. That's the position I pull from, every time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have two small children that like to jump on my stomach. I've learned to have quick reflexes to tighten my abs in advance of a child's knee plowing into my guts. I mentally prep for that and lock my abs. My abs stay locked until the bar is back on the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've learned to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTqhhHfooxg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;engage my glutes&lt;/a&gt;. I think of twisting my feet out (toes out, axis is on my heels). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider doing ab and glute exercises specifically, as isolated assistance exercises in this department make it easier to concentrate on engaging them in compound lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T18:45:59.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-05T06:01:47.330" Score="6" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the present moment, I am 5'8&quot;, 17, and weigh 210 pounds. &#xA;At the beginning of the summer, or maybe a little before, I started to pay more attention to what I ate and how I exercised. Though, it is a month now, and I still don't feel like I'm doing enough. I did this in the hopes to lose weight (I am sorry if this is a stereotype of a question), and also, because I generally don't feel good. I went to get a physical last week, and my doctor pointed out I need to lose weight, which made me question if I was doing enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always feel fatigued and tired. I believe some of it has to do with depression and boredom, but, I believe a good amount of it may be with what I eat. Everyday, for breakfast, I eat a bowl of cheerios, and skim milk;  or I make an  three - egg - omelette, and put two slices of ham, and two slices of cheese in the eggs. I also add a little milk in the egg, before it is cooked, to change the texture. After whatever I eat, I have a protein shake, it contains 30g of protein. I work under the assumption I need 70 a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a bad habit of eating whatever snack food I can find in the morning, before I cook breakfast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lunch, I usually eat a sandwich. The sandwich will consist of two slices of wheat bread, two slices of ham, two slices of cheese, mayonnaise, and I put a small pack of chips in the sandwich as well. If I do not eat that, I usually have yogurt. If I do not have either, I usually don't eat. Many times, even after eating lunch, I'm still very hungry, and don't feel too good. My head and my stomach hurt a lot. I don't know why.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dinner, I eat whatever my mom cooks for me. She cooks either sphahetti, chicken, steak, pork chops, hamburgers, tacos, or macaroni and cheese (which consists of Velveeta cheese. I understand these things generally are not good for me. However, my mom isn't into cooking, and those are my options, when she cooks. &#xA;If she is not home, I have to cook. I eat whatever I can find. Sometimes, I eat another sandwich, sometimes I cook one of the aforementioned foods, sometimes I order food, though not often, and sometimes I don't eat. It depends on circumstance. After dinner, I have another protein shake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At times, I snack on things as well, though, mostly, I believe it is because I'm bored. I try to eat whatever fruit we have, we have grapes, mangos, and kiwis currently. There are also cashews and granola bars. On the other hand, there are chips (In my kitchen, the chips are currently the Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream) and M &amp;amp; Ms. If I'm sitting in my house for a long time, I usually go to eat some, and then return to whatever I was doing. we used to have cookies as well (when we go grocery shopping, I get one thing that I consider as desert). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I drink is water. There usually aren't other drinks at my house. We have two 50 oz glasses, that I fill with ice water, and I drink them whenever I'm thirsty throughout the day. I don't keep track of how much water I take in.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercise, I try to walk outside every day. If it's nice out, I try to walk two times around my neighborhood or I go to the park, sit down for a bit, and walk back. I also walk to church, there and back, which is about half an hour, every week. Sometimes, when I don't have lunch, I will walk to the store. It will take an hour or more. I ride my bike as well, but it doesn't seem like an exercise to me, since I don't pedal constantly. I ride around the track at my local college, 5 times, every few weeks. I believe it is one mile, but I'm not sure. Walking and riding my bike are my means of transportation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I run every two or 3 days. I jog for 10 minutes, in my house, and then I run fast for 15, I take a small break, and then run fast for another 15.  I used to run fast for 30 minutes altogether, in one unit, but one time, I fell  to the ground halfway (though, I'm not opposed to doing that again, if need be). I play music when I run, and check my heartbeat after every song. If it 200 bpm or higher, then I say I have done a sufficient job. If it is lower, I say I haven't. I run every 2 or 3 days. I do not do any exercises, which are focused on building muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I have accounted enough of my diet and exercise habits, for them to be able to go under correction. What should I do different? What should I eat, instead; and, how can I improve my exercise habits? What else can I do? Where can I learn? Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16201" LastEditorUserId="16201" LastEditDate="2015-07-05T06:11:55.673" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T13:44:20.000" Title="What can I do to improve my eating and exercise habits, in order to be more healthy?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25350" CreationDate="2015-07-05T10:11:59.240" Score="3" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to understand how to gradually build up my crossfit wod stamina and endurance. I am really new to crossfit and in okay shape, but I really want to improve. I am 40 years old, so I don't want to overdo it and get injured. I will start the regular crossfit classes next week and have that common fear of being the slowest person in the class. I can deal with being the slowest, but I am not sure just how hard to push myself to gradually improve. Any suggestions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9909" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T20:51:45.673" Title="beginning crossfit guidance" Tags="&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-05T14:28:59.893" Score="-3" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your insight. Can you explain how you perform your deadlifts and also how you perform the foam rolling. What exactly do u do? Thankyou.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16203" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T04:51:20.230" Title="Deadlifts and Foam Rolling" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-07T07:34:36.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25346" CreationDate="2015-07-05T20:18:43.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on already getting a good start.  You are young and can create your own healthy habits and a lifestyle that will serve you well for the rest of your life. There are some good answers on this site about getting back in shape so I'll refer you to those for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet is really key&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If as you say you are eating snacks (junk), then you are likely to feel like junk.  You can't put this on your mom, but you can have an honest conversation with her about the junk food lying around.  Explain to her that your doctor said that you need to lose weight and that you would like her help and support.  Then sit down and work out a menu for the week together.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;√ Water is great.  Avoid sugary drinks that add calories and no nutrition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many people find low carbohydrate diets helpful when trying to lose weight. Carbs break down into sugars. Start to keep a journal of everything that goes in your mouth so that you can see what you are actually eating and can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriecount.com/calories-ruffles-cheddar-sour-cream-i222297&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;see how many carbs&lt;/a&gt; you are eating. You mention the following carbs: chips, cheerios, bread, spaghetti, macaroni and pasta, fruits, cookies and candy. You also mention that you don't feel well after you eat which is a clue to listen to your&#xA;body and how it responds to what you are feeding it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Portion Size: Learn to read labels. Take your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caloriecount.com/calories-mm-plain-chocolate-candies-i19141&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;M&amp;amp;Ms for example&lt;/a&gt;.  The label says there are only 34 calories.  That does not sound like much until you look at the serving size, which is 10 pieces - way less than what you probably eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you eat is really just a habit.  Spend some time and effort to create a diet that serves you well.  Then it becomes a habit and easy to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is the second key to getting into good shape. Some type of exercise everyday is healthy. A variety of exercises and activities will help you address all your body's concerns and keep you from getting bored. Keep a log of what you do so you can see how you progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Types of exercise you need in your life are cardiovascular (heart and lungs), flexibility (stretching), strength (resistance training) and relaxation/rest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cardio - Walking, jogging, running, biking, swimming etc. are all cardio exercise because they raise your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Exercise-Target-Heart-Rate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heart rate&lt;/a&gt;. (See #4 on this question's answer for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2044/how-can-an-overweight-engineer-get-back-in-shape&quot;&gt;minimal recommendations&lt;/a&gt; of duration and intensity).  It sounds like you are already doing cardio.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/podcasts.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Couch to 25K podcasts&lt;/a&gt; have a nice progression. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9751/how-to-structure-a-high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-program&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt; is cardio with short bouts of higher intensity effort.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility - A routine &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness&quot;&gt;stretching program&lt;/a&gt; will help you prevent injury.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7390/best-warm-up-for-running/7403#7403&quot;&gt;Dynamic stretching&lt;/a&gt; (not static stretching) is used as a warm-up before exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Resistance Training - Strengthening exercises not only work your muscles, but they strengthen your bones and help to improve your posture.  Strengthening exercises are not done everyday so that the muscle can recover.  Resistance can be from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bodyweight (planks, push-ups, squats, lunges etc.),&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;resistance bands or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weights (free weights, barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells etc.) or machines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4578/what-are-the-top-intensive-bodyweight-exercises&quot;&gt;Bodyweight exercises&lt;/a&gt; are probably the easiest way to get started in your living room.  More information about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3714/bodyweight-exercise-resources&quot;&gt;bodyweight references here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Measurements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping track of your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3421/useful-measurements-tracking-approach-for-a-fitness-strategy/3431#3431&quot;&gt;measurements&lt;/a&gt; will help you know how you are doing and keep you motivated.  Weight, as your doctor mentioned, is one measurement.  Waist measurements are easy to do and can show rapid progress.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A nice reference site for exercises is &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://exrx.net/Exercise.html&lt;/a&gt;. That should give you enough info to develop a good program and keep from getting bored.  Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T20:18:43.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25347" CreationDate="2015-07-05T20:51:45.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The workouts in Crossfit gyms tend to be rather generalized. They pride themselves on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_all_trades,_master_of_none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not being an ace in anyone thing, but being a jack in several&lt;/a&gt;. The reality is that some things, like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Snatch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;snatch&lt;/a&gt;, you really don't want to do unless you're an ace. To perform Olympic lifting, and even something as relatively straight forward as a deadlift requires technique that can only be acquired over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But I did not want to competition part to cloud my judgement about&#xA;  just how intense I should workout in the beginning. I just want to&#xA;  make sure I push myself but not overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were following a strength training program, or really anything that was more controlled (even a running schedule), you can talk about throttling up and down intensity, time, and speed. You can tweak rest periods, sets, and inclinations (with running).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With CrossFit, you show up and look at the whiteboard and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.woddrive.com/wods.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;that's what you're doing&lt;/a&gt;. They might have a couple modifications for different skill levels, but it's not customized per person in any meaningful way. So the controls you can play with is (a) how often you go in a week and, usually but not always, (b) the amount of circuits you do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were in your shoes I would try to play with these variables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The frequency per week that you go. Especially in the beginning, give yourself 2-3 days to recover as &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;you'll probably be quite sore&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a class on their website schedule that is specifically for new people. Hopefully they're not expecting you to do snatches on day 1 (or even day 30, to be honest).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If something hurts, skip that part of the WOD. No one's handing out trophies because your name is on the whiteboard with a better time than some other guy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Especially with the squat, deadlift, clean, snatch, and anything on the gymnast rings, be cautious. It takes a long time to get good at those and bad habits can be hard to shake at best and &lt;a href=&quot;http://fittish.deadspin.com/crossfit-sues-competitor-for-revealing-its-injury-rat-1603182256&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;injure you at worst&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am really new to crossfit and in okay shape&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will probably be people in your class that are seriously overweight or otherwise much weaker and slower than you. I hate to be so on the nose about it, but if that reality helps to paint a picture for you in which you can feel more confident knowing it won't be filled with yoked meatheads, then it's worth sharing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T20:51:45.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25328" CreationDate="2015-07-05T21:07:08.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main differences I've seen between the two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crunches: Shorter range of motion, abs are more isolated, little to no lower back movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit-ups: Longer range of motion (more time under tension), involves hip flexors, may involve rounding of the lumbar spine, easier to load with resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the two, I feel crunches are a better option as there may be less risk involved in terms of back injury, and targeting only the abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T21:07:08.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25328" CreationDate="2015-07-05T22:33:11.740" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider for a moment that a major job for your abs is not to pull your chest to your knees (crunch and sit up style), but to remain erect and not collapse like when doing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;front squat&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7tu3R.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crunches and sit ups don't have a large &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;isometric&lt;/a&gt; component, as where something like front squats, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt; do. Most of what we want our backs to do in daily life is related to posture, where that lengthened and upright position is really helpful. Also, a lot of lower back injuries can be traced to weak abs, and not being able to maintain a tight (and erect) mid section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'd vote for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWKneelingWheelRollout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ab wheel rollouts&lt;/a&gt; (using an &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1ewcQBm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ab wheel&lt;/a&gt;) over crunches and situps as it engages far more muscles. Those combined with deadlifts, front squats, and planks make for terrific abdominal strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T22:33:11.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25356" CreationDate="2015-07-05T23:43:50.077" Score="1" ViewCount="1094" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran across a &lt;a href=&quot;http://vk.com/runaway_bride?z=photo96590877_313069950%2Fphotos96590877&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;post by Julia Vins&lt;/a&gt;, a powerlifter, comparing two brands of whey protein powder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bdOrQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original text is in Russian:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Решила сегодня сравнить whey gold standard от optimum nutrition и whey&#xA;  protein от pureprotein банальным способом - залив кипятком. Этот метод&#xA;  указывает на отсутствие или наоборот присутствие белка. Для большей&#xA;  убедительности взяла даже одинаковые вкусы :) Pureprotein: растворился&#xA;  в горячей воде даже лучше, чем в холодной. Меня это немного удивило,&#xA;  и, начитавшись информации о подобных тестах, я решила его сварить. Но,&#xA;  увы, и этот тест меня разочаровал. Растворился всё также идеально, и в&#xA;  течении пяти минут варки так и не свернулся в комочки.  Whey gold:&#xA;  совсем другая ситуация, свернулся практически полностью после&#xA;  добавления кипятка. При варке образовал плотные сгустки.  Я думаю,&#xA;  комментарии тут излишни. Цена соответствует качеству, как и должно&#xA;  быть :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Google translation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I decided today to compare whey gold standard of optimum nutrition and&#xA;  whey protein from pureprotein banal way - Gulf of boiling water. This&#xA;  method indicates the absence or presence of the protein contrary. For&#xA;  more convincing, even took the same tastes :) Pureprotein: soluble in&#xA;  hot water, even better than in cold. I was a little surprised by this,&#xA;  and, having read the information about these tests, I decided to cook&#xA;  it. But, alas, this test has disappointed me. The solution is also&#xA;  perfect everything, and within five minutes of cooking never curled&#xA;  into lumps. Whey gold: a completely different situation, curled up&#xA;  almost completely after the addition of boiling water. When cooking&#xA;  has formed dense clumps. I think that comment is superfluous. The&#xA;  price matches the quality, as it should be :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google tends to botch Russian translations, so I'm trying to make sense of Julia's point. In the last sentence, she's concluding that &quot;you get what you pay for&quot;. Optimum Gold Standard is more expensive than PureProtein by an average of 20 cents per ounce. Thus, in her eyes, Optimum is the higher quality protein. And since the only difference is that Optimum doesn't dissolve well in cold water and even curdles in hot water, then insolubility is proportional to quality of the protein. I understand her experiment, but not the premise. How does solubility of whey protein correlate to its effectiveness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T06:11:44.140" Title="How does solubility of whey protein correlate to its effectiveness?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24274" CreationDate="2015-07-06T01:56:31.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dr Peter Attia is an accomplished athlete who has remarkable athletic endurance accomplishments performed during nutritional ketosis (due to very low carbohydrate intake). His &lt;a href=&quot;http://eatingacademy.com/category/sports-and-nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt; is well-researched and well written. I think you'll find his answer to your question is that carbs are not necessary for the type of activity you plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience is that after becoming accustomed to a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ketogenic diet&lt;/a&gt;, I was capable of four days of hiking like you describe (in the Central Cascades of Washington State, pretty much straight up and down), on 70% fat, 15% carbs, 15% protein, with ketone levels in the 1.6 - 1.9 mmol/L range. Although I had a calorie deficit each day, I was not subjectively hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16206" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T01:56:31.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25348" CreationDate="2015-07-06T04:51:20.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to perform deadlifts?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6UgD1H_AXw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jonnie Candito's How To Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8bDeB7UPFo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jason Blaha's How To Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8bDeB7UPFo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alan Thrall's How To Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;strong&gt;how do I know if I'm performing it correctly?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Record yourself deadlifting and watch the replay. Still unsure? Upload your video and post the link here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Get a certified Personal Trainer to check on your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to foam roll?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLmlWuh9Yzg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alexander Kang's Foam Rolling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6cuNQ23dJI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Omarisuf's Foam Rolling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If for some reason, your deadlifting looks like this :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gPMSn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Improper Deadlifting Form&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Lowering the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Do more stretches/foam rolling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Do more upper back exercises such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8l_8chR5BE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbell row&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT2GjY_Umpw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bentover barbell row&lt;/a&gt;, pull ups and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T04:51:20.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25353" CreationDate="2015-07-06T06:11:44.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;She actually has it backwards. Heat will cause the protein to denature and unfold. This process will expose the hydrophobic portions of the protein molecules. This new hydrophobic quality of the protein will cause it to aggregate together and form clumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ijfe.2012.8.issue-3/1556-3758.1265/1556-3758.1265.xml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ijfe.2012.8.issue-3/1556-3758.1265/1556-3758.1265.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T06:11:44.140" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25235" CreationDate="2015-07-06T07:42:13.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I learned from having shoulder impingement in both of my shoulders at the same time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Face Pulls: Probably one of the best things you can do for your shoulders. A great exercise for strengthening both your rear delts and the external rotators of your shoulder. It also works very well for rehabbing and prehabbing your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Rows: Add some form of row to every session and match or exceed the pressing volume with your rows. I went from doing only Pendlay rows and bent over rows once or twice per week to rowing at least 6 times per week (out of 4 sessions per week). Not only is it bringing up my neglected back, but it's making it more natural for me to keep my back in a powerful position while pressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Dynamic stretching: Between every set of pressing movements (overhead, on a bench, with dumbbells or a barbell, doesn't matter), I do either band pull-aparts, or shoulder dislocates, sometimes both. Both of these help both loosen up a tight shoulder, stretch the pecs, and promote retracted scapulas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all has shown me that the shoulder (at least mine) responds well to high frequency training / rehabbing. In the case of only rehabbing exercises, since the intensity will be very low, it should be safe do them at the beginning or end of most or all of your training sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T07:42:13.723" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25346" CreationDate="2015-07-06T13:44:20.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;THE best way to lose weight is to count calories, it's the best because it always works and because it makes you understand what you should eat and what you shouldn't. A regular mcdonalds cheeseburger is 300 kcal, eat two for lunch and you'll have no calories left and you'll be hungry in an hour!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start counting calories, you'll notice that your current diet sucks and that you're very unlikely to lose any weight. The things you eat are just too energy dense to make you full with at the calorie level you should be at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your daily calorie need, calculated from your stats is 2344 kcal/day, that's without exercise. Add 160 kcal for every mile you run and 120 for every mile you walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get some calorie counting app (I like lifesum) and start inputting what you eat, having a food scale helps a lot! Aim at eating 500-750 calories less than what you need per day and you'll see steady, weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's great about counting calories is that it works no matter what calories you eat, so in theory you don't need to think about that (but in practice, you will learn what's smart to eat and what's not.) Really, the only disadvantage is that it's a bit cumbersome to always write down what you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water, protein, weight lifting doesn't really matter to weight loss, but are good in other ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, 200 bpm is a very high level! Aim around 160-180 on average, and do your extreme 200 bmps runs some times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T13:44:20.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25315" CreationDate="2015-07-06T20:10:09.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're really tight, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2014/03/video/monday-minute-lying-knee-to-knee-stretch_4863&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lying knee to knee stretch&lt;/a&gt; will get felt in your hamstrings as well. So if you need more flexibility in that area, you'll get it, although it's not really a &quot;hamstring stretch&quot; in the purest sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25197/difficulty-maintaining-activation-of-hamstrings-after-pcl-tear/25198#25198&quot;&gt;I answered a similar question a few weeks ago&lt;/a&gt;, and would recommend reading that one as well, particularly the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/DBSingleLegStiffLegDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;single leg deadlift&lt;/a&gt; part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth pointing out that most of the internal hip rotation is done via the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_internal_rotators_of_the_human_body&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;glutes and tensor fasciae latae&lt;/a&gt;. I'd be very concerned about overdoing isolation work in the hips: it's not an area you want to create imbalances (like what you currently have). As an assistance exercise in concert with more balanced strength training, it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to build up strength in internal hip rotation, I would as such focus on strengthening my posterior chain through a full range of motion. This will stretch and strengthen you in a healthy and balanced way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts. Hard to beat, focus on internally rotating your hips, especially in the last half of the lift, to really activate those glutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single leg deadlift. Terrific for identifying imbalances and forcing you to... balance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/the-band-side-lying-clam/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lying clams&lt;/a&gt; (with bands) frequently as they engage a lot of the hips and don't fry you for other things. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/band-placement-during-walking-glute-activation-drills-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The band-at-toes-level sumo and monster walk&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T20:10:09.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24730" CreationDate="2015-07-07T11:26:00.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out with the Suunto Foot Pod Mini since 2012 and I have to admit that I love this gadget. It measures your current speed and distance and is compatible with the HR monitors (watches) from Suunto (e.g. Suunto t6d or Suunto M5) and quite accurate (measured 31,3km on a 31,1km run, I think that is an acceptable deviation).&#xA;Furthermore it does not rely on GPS (I think it measures with the aid of ultrasound) and it is quite responsive - you can see your current speed during workout on your watch together with your heart rate (which is great for interval training).&#xA;The battery does not deplete quickly. All in all a great tool (though no alarm when getting slower) and I do not regret the investment (about 300€ together with the t6d).&#xA;The speed and HR info are a great way to improve speed :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: A friend of mine used the Polar Foot Pod (which was a bit bigger than mine) and it has the same features.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16219" LastEditorUserId="16219" LastEditDate="2015-07-07T13:41:48.467" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T13:41:48.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25369" CreationDate="2015-07-07T13:00:37.550" Score="1" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's my first time taking supplements...because I need to add more muscle mass. I do a lot of olympic weightlifting, so I squat(front &amp;amp; back) everyday, lots of static holds (around 200kg) - snatches, clean and jerk etc... I am training them everyday...but I have found recovery to be hard so far. So I read about glutamine, creatine and the brown rice protein and got some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question about taking them is, they all say I should take them after or before my workout, is it right to take one after the other?or taking one of each on the same day? surely it can be good for you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastEditorUserId="15980" LastEditDate="2015-07-07T16:33:17.693" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T17:21:42.173" Title="Taking supplements - Glutamine, brown rice protein, creatine" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-07T13:55:20.470" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose a person performs 3 horus of cardio at 9 METS. To obtain the same metabolic changes without exercise, would this require that the person wait 27 hours? Assume that the person's daily activity is at 1 MET. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, to get the same metabolic changes as 3 hours of cardio at 9 METS, would the person who did no exercise have to wait 27 hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16221" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T14:25:39.600" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T11:00:25.060" Title="Physical Activity and METS" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25368" CreationDate="2015-07-07T14:29:43.697" Score="6" ViewCount="371" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following scenario:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male, 180cm tall, 80kg wants to lower body fat.&#xA;Sits most of the time in front of a pc&#xA;Wants to lose fat before building muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Started to workouts:&#xA;3 days a week weight lifting for 45min, then 45min cardio&#xA;every other day 45 min cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I've read having a high protein intake of 2-2,5g per kg weight would protect the muscles from being used as protein source and the high intake of protein would increase metabloism to support reducing body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the protein being just an addition to a healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are those two statements true and does the high protein intake help to protect the muscles/help reducing fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then supplementing protein shakes are a quick source of energy, approx. 100 kcal per 30g saving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it matter when you take it?&#xA;Would it be bad to take it right before/after a regular meal and could it happen that the body has so much energy that he converts the meal into fat because of the protein shake? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much time should be between meals and a protein shake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16222" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T16:01:27.317" Title="Does a high proteine intake support the reduction of body fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1142" CreationDate="2015-07-07T14:32:54.270" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try Sense &lt;a href=&quot;https://appsto.re/in/CF1X7.i&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://appsto.re/in/CF1X7.i&lt;/a&gt; It automatically tracks pushups, jumps, planks, squats and situps using sensors on your phone. You can share your workouts on facebook and also see workout feeds of your friends. You can even challenge your friends to workouts. It learns from your data and give you insights about how to improve your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16224" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T14:32:54.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25365" CreationDate="2015-07-07T15:50:02.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is gonna be a &quot;yes-and-no&quot; answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In general&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, if you've done little to no weight training before, you're in a spot where you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time. This isn't necessarily impossible later, but it gets progressively harder the more you train. In this sense, doing both weight training and a decent bit of cardio, is going to help you achieve these goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of protein intake you need varies from person to person, but the 2-2.5g per kg of bodyweight is a decent rule of thumb. But try to experiment with it. You might be wasting money chugging shakes to get protein that isn't being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein intake and fat reduction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You gain fat by consuming calories that is neither being used, nor being excreted. This also goes for protein! People think that consuming protein builds muscle. Well guess what, if you consume too much protein, the amino acids into which protein is metabolised, is stored as fat too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence my earlier tip; don't get too caught up in getting that exact amount of protein intake per day. It may very well be too much, and therefore counter-productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When to consume protein&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just do it. Whether you chug a shake right after the workout, or wait an hour for dinner, it makes little difference. But my best tip here is to &lt;strong&gt;spread the protein out over the course of a day&lt;/strong&gt;. If you down 240g of protein in one sitting, I guarantee you, your body is going to store most of it as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You become fat by eating too much food. It's not just fat that makes you fat. Too much of anything is going to make you fat. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats alike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to control your weight and bodyfat percentage, start counting calories, and keep track of how much of it is carbs/protein/fat. Experiment with these parameters to find which ratio gives you the best result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T15:50:02.553" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25365" CreationDate="2015-07-07T16:00:43.443" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's start with some foundation in the order of importance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Energy Balance&lt;/strong&gt; (Calories in vs. Calories out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Macros&lt;/strong&gt; (amount of protein, carbohydrates, fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Micros/Supplements&lt;/strong&gt; (vitamins / minerals and sports supplements)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meal timing&lt;/strong&gt; (how often you eat and how close to training)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Energy Balance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the simplest thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You eat less than you burn in a day to loose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes this slightly more difficult is that there is a certain amount of uncertainty in measurement processes--both for the food and for the amount of calories you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to loose weight, but you are either maintaining or even gaining weight, you probably need to lower the amount of food you eat.  While calories in vs. calories out is not a perfect model for everyone, it is good enough for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Macros&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find some conflicting recommendations here, but the following general guidelines are good enough for most folks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: 1.8 g / kg (0.8 g / lb) total body weight (4 Calories per g protien)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: 20-30% calories from fat (9 Calories per g fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs: all the rest of the calories to carbs if sports performance is important to you (4 Calories per g carbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies do show that there &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-do-i-need-every-day.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;really isn't any advantage to more protein&lt;/a&gt; than this guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Micros / Supplements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These do help maintain general health and in some cases they have at best a &lt;em&gt;minor&lt;/em&gt; improvement in performance.  Check &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examine.com&lt;/a&gt; if you have any questions about specifics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if you take a multivitamin and some omega 3s you'll have pretty much all you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meal Timing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably the least influential of all the nutrition factors.  Typically, if you consume your macros evenly throughout the day you will do better.  Studies have shown advantage to eating at least 3-4x a day.  More often than that has diminishing returns to the point that it doesn't make sense for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recommendation for you&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You identified the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are a beginner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loosing weight is your primary goal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend focusing primarily on calories in vs. calories out, and just make sure you have the recommended amount of protein and staying out of ketosis.  The rest will take care of itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of extra fat you are carrying does impact how much lean mass you might loose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Obese people will primarily lose fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overweight people will lose more of a mix but still skewed toward muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closer you are to a &quot;normal body weight&quot; the more lean mass you will lose as you lose weight.  Going from normal fat levels to bodybuilding competition fat levels is a specialty topic and one I'm not qualified to speak toward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as a personal anecdote, I was able to increase strength while losing weight in 2014 culminating in new personal bests in a powerlifting competition that year while weighing over 20 lbs lighter than the previous one.  Slow weight loss, normal training, and staying out of ketosis were key elements of that process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to recommend ketogenic diets but don't anymore.  I was able to get fairly quick dramatic results on one back in 2010, but lost a lot of muscle mass in the process.  Much of that was due to bad diet advice and my own ignorance at the time.  I didn't have enough protein to protect the muscle mass I had (I was consuming less than 0.5g per lb body mass) and I wasn't doing anything that required the muscle to remain.  Had I had the correct amount of protein and did strength training the results would have been better.  Performance will suffer in a ketogenic diet because there are so few resources to do work.  It's also the only time that increasing protein above the recommended amount might be worthwhile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-07-08T16:01:27.317" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T16:01:27.317" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25362" CreationDate="2015-07-07T17:21:42.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out these resources for more specifics about the supplements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Glutamine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glutamine&lt;/a&gt; -- not shown to increase muscle mass, but shown to lower inflammation (i.e. recovery).  Timing doesn't matter. No more than 5g any time of day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Brown Rice) &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Protein+Supplement/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Protein&lt;/a&gt; -- protein is protein.  There is minimal increased uptake during and post training.  One book recommended 10-15g pre, intra, and post workout (total of 30-45g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt; -- helps muscles convert ADP to ATP (the energy source used by muscle).  Take 5g in your pre-workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get too caught up in supplements, as the effects are typically minor.  You will get better results in managing recovery through other means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep, rest:&lt;/strong&gt; muscle grows when you sleep and rest is vital to recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food:&lt;/strong&gt; up to a certain point, carbs really help your recovery and energy during exercise.  Taking easily digested carbs with your protein pre, intra-, and post- training will help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardiovascular:&lt;/strong&gt; weightlifting (i.e. Olympic weightlifting) requires a lot from your max output energy systems.  Performing low and slow cardio like cycling for 20 minutes post workout can help with recovery and blood movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training every day, you need to vary the demands placed on your body to allow for localized recovery.  That can, but does not necessarily, mean that you take days off.  When you hit the gym, you should have days where you focus on different work.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: technique work -- low to medium weight, more overall reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: upper body work -- jerk from blocks, strict press, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: lower body work -- squats and cleans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: accessory work -- focus on weak areas using isolation work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: heavy day -- focus on moving medium to heavy weight, lower overall reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: cardio day -- more focus on cardiovascular system than normal daily routine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: accessory work -- focus on weak areas using isolation work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important takeaways here are to vary the type of work and intensity of work to keep progressing.  Alternate between light and heavy to allow for some more recovery before going heavy again.  Break down your routine so you can give certain areas more focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;DISCLAIMER:&lt;/strong&gt; I am by no means an Olympic coach, and any program you get from a proper coach will do better for you than something I just pulled out of my head for instructional purposes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going heavy every day in every exercise will leave you too exhausted to keep progressing.  That's going to do more for you than your supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T17:21:42.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11586" CreationDate="2015-07-08T09:05:54.060" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mass gainers are the best supplement for putting on weight and putting on size. On account of the multifaceted nature in fixings utilized and extensive serving sizes individuals are frequently worried about the symptoms that may be experienced from devouring mass gainers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule it must be noticed that mass gainers are exceptionally protected. They are regularly comprised of two noteworthy parts, protein and fluctuating degrees of carbs. Both these are generally devoured macronutrients that happen normally in sustenance and are really a fundamental part of a solid eating routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironhealthsupplement.com/category/gaining-supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ironhealthsupplement.com/category/gaining-supplements&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16229" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T09:05:54.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24548" CreationDate="2015-07-08T13:47:18.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Pilates we use only diaphragmatic breathing. That is breathing with the help of ribs.&#xA;If you want to breathe correctly, you can put your arms on laterally ribs. &#xA;When you do inhale, your ribs go to the sides. The chest doesn't rise, the shoulders are fixed and don't rise to the top too. In this moment your lungs get more oxygen.&#xA;When you exhale, try to keep the ribs to the center and down. &#xA;If you will do it right, you can see your arms on ribs in inhale  to the sides (breathe through the nose) and back to the center in exhale (breathe through the mouth). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16232" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-07-08T15:13:33.517" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T15:13:33.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25376" CreationDate="2015-07-08T14:16:34.513" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing the following circuit workout a couple times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&lt;b&gt;Exercise         Sets  Reps&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;Bench Press       3     12&#xA;One arm Row       3     12&#xA;Leg extension     3     12&#xA;Leg Curl          3     12&#xA;Lateral Raise     3     12&#xA;Triceps Kickback  3     12&#xA;Superman          3     12&#xA;Russian Twist     3     20&#xA;Crunch            3     20&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But by week two I'm supposed to &quot;add a second or third circuit of strength training exercises.&quot;  This already takes about 40 minutes for me to complete going directly from one activity to the other.  For three circuits, are they suggesting I'm spending 1.5+ hrs doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my current order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pair off exercises and do the second while I'm resting on the first&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;e.g. Do 12 reps of bench press, then 12 one arm row (for each arm), then do that two more times.  After that move on to leg extension and leg curl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now I'm not sure if they mean I should do either of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do one of every exercise until you get to the end, then repeat 3 times and that is one circuit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 3 back to back sets of each exercise.  Once you've done all of them, that is one circuit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of instructions I've found online just say to start the whole process over from the beginning when adding circuits, but I'm just not sure what that process is.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16158" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T18:35:05.153" Title="Confused on Order of Circuit Workout" Tags="&lt;circuit-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25374" CreationDate="2015-07-08T16:52:27.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;‘traditional’ exercise circuit&lt;/a&gt; (in your terminology, ‘process’) comprises doing all of the exercises in the circuit (ie. the list you posted) once, and then repeating the circuit ‘n’ times.  Done in that fashion, the exercises target strength building and muscular endurance.  The time between exercises within the circuit is typically short.  And, at the end of the circuit, you should take a ‘brief’ rest before starting the next circuit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, there are variations of an exercise circuit.  You can vary your approach to the circuit as long as you retain the same original (circuit) goals in mind.  That is, moving through each exercise in an aerobic fashion.  Thus, performing the circuit as you explained is ok, as long as you perform them with little to no rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your assertion that the time will increase, that may be because of your current approach and fitness/cardio capacity.  Doing one circuit of 12 reps for the exercises you listed should not, in my opinion, take 40+ minutes.  And, I would not pay too much attention to the “&lt;em&gt;add a second or third circuit of strength training exercises&quot;&lt;/em&gt; comment.  You should add an additional circuit when you feel comfortable doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T16:52:27.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25374" CreationDate="2015-07-08T18:35:05.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I approach a circuit in my training, I worry more about how one exercise will flow into the next, rather than specifically focusing on order the exercises on perhaps muscle groups. I also use circuits as a tool for conditioning rather than building strength specifically (in other words, I end a workout with a circuit rather than making my workout a circuit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training#Superset&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supersets&lt;/a&gt;, which you seem to be using here, are a perfectly legitimate way to tackle your training. You can even get some of the conditioning benefits from supersetting by keeping your rest intervals short. How short will depend on your ability to recover between exercises and the amount of weight you're using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When designing a circuit for myself, I try to limit the number of unique exercises to 4 - 5 movements, so that it's easier to keep track of where I'm at when I'm pushing myself as hard as I can aerobically. As I mentioned before, I also like to design them around how one exercise flows into the next. An example of one that I've used in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang power clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Military press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that circuit, I chose a weight that was limited by my military press in the 6-8 rep range and then started all movements with that many reps and then pyramided down to 1 rep per movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, a circuit really depends on your creativity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T18:35:05.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25282" CreationDate="2015-07-08T20:12:36.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;People don't ever turn to camels and store massive amounts of water for later.  It makes more sense one of the following is happening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;increased sodium intake through diet causing water retention&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Irregular bowel movements causing apparently weight gain without change in overall body composition&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;weighing yourself at different times of the day. You weigh the least in the morning af&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16236" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T20:12:36.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25381" CreationDate="2015-07-09T04:49:42.797" Score="1" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm male 90kg 172cm. I've been going to gym for about 3 weeks. It seems like my legs are weak compared to upper body. For example I could hardly do 4x15 squats with 40/45kg during 1/2 week, while I bench press about 70/75kg. (from my observations all people in the gym squat more then bench press) A friend of mine says I should increase the weight for squats and reduce reps for time being. What's the logic behind this advice? Is it better to slowly increase the weight keeping current sets and reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T09:43:35.547" Title="Legs training program" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5746" CreationDate="2015-07-09T04:55:22.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tarun, you are an Indian and I am an Indian. You probably know that Indian IT industry sucks your life out with shift timings, weekend work and flexible timing which basically means stretching till 2-3 AM. If you are reading this in the USA or UK, yes this is our life here in India despite being educated. Everyone knows Indians are smart but underpaid and worked like a bloody slave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, back to the question. STOP taking bullshit mass gainer. If you are using a mass gainer, then I presume you are skinny. The only supplement you need is a multivitamin. That's it. And try this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout 3 days a week and hit full body everyday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go heavy for strength gains and quickly finish and get out of the gym. You WILL get stronger. When you are stronger, you will feel more energy.&#xA;Eat more. If you want to eat fried chicken and ice cream, have one or two, ok? Don't eat the whole bucket. Happy foods are important. We are not robots.&#xA;Drink 2-3 liters of water and get about 9 hrs of sleep. If you cant get enough sleep at a go, then sleep during daytime in installments. Sleep in bus or train. Set an alarm so you don't miss your stop! This works trust me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe your problem is lack of sleep and proper nutrition, and, your changing shift timing is screwing up your health. Talk to your manager to get rid of the shift. It happened to me too. And bro, don't be disheartened. If I can help you in anyway I can it is to my delight. I want to see you reach where you want to go. Keep lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16240" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-07-09T12:32:02.297" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T12:32:02.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25379" CreationDate="2015-07-09T05:03:45.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reps in the range of 12+ tend to be geared more towards muscle endurance than hypertrophy (more muscle mass) or strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vast number of training programs with a trainee's 1-rep max (1rm) in mind, this is the most that the trainee can lift one time before failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/74IRK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As shown in the image, working in a lower rep range will provide your body with a different stimulus that will promote overall strength gains. That doesn't mean that you &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to work in the lower rep range, but progress will be slower if you stick to 15 reps for all of your lifts. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/rep-ranges-table-for-strength-and-mass/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;page&lt;/a&gt; provides various links that will allow you to explore the effects of the different rep ranges. You can also use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; website to help estimate your 1rm to better plan your routines / overall program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, what you decide to do in terms of increasing the weight for your squats while decreasing the number of reps, is ultimately up to what your goals are. If you're looking for maximal strength then sticking to sets of 3-5 reps might be best, while going for size will benefit from having sets with 8-12 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T05:03:45.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24748" CreationDate="2015-07-09T06:09:10.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a counter-question for you. If running doesn't work for you, but biking &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt;, why suffer trying to run more than you can?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't claim that cycling will have a lot of carryover into running (it might initially), but it is a very effective way to get aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like most physical activities, starting too hard, too quickly can be detrimental (as you found out the hard way). Your best option is to move into it slowly if you do actually want to start running. There are many couch to 5k apps and programs floating around the internet that you can use to help get yourself into running for periods of ~30-40 minutes straight. Most of them will involve starting by just walking briskly. Over several weeks, you'll replace a few minutes of brisk walking with short periods of jogging until you gradually build up to jogging for longer periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progress is progress, as long as you're making it, then it doesn't necessarily matter how long it takes to get to running for longer distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T06:09:10.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25379" CreationDate="2015-07-09T06:34:44.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;15 is a very high number of reps compared to what most gym-goers do, it's also in fact, as Alex L showed, a very endurance focused rep range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three main factors which affect how many reps you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I. neurological adaptation&lt;/strong&gt; This is your nervous systems ability to make your muscles do their work at the highest possible strength. When you work out at 1-5 reps, your nerves will perform better.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;II. Muscle fibre type 1&lt;/strong&gt; These are your slow twitch fibers, they are the ones doing the work when you need endurance, when you do 50 body weight squats etc. When you work out at 12+ reps, you will get increases in these fibers mostly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III. Muscle fibre type 2&lt;/strong&gt; These are your fast twitch fibers, they are used when you need to lift heavy, but they also tire out a lot faster than the type 1 fibres. When you work out at 1-5 reps, you will get increases in these fibers mostly. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T06:34:44.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25385" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-09T07:11:34.580" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been 2 years since I worked out I've gained a significant  amount of weight, approximately  60 pounds I weight 240 I'm 19, 5'9. The last time I worked out I max benched 2 plates and a 25, now I'm struggling with a 35. Along with that I've tried all diets imaginable but nothing I even went as far as fasting. Myetablolism is ridiculously  slow and I really want to get in shape and loose this fat bcs I know for a fact the muscle I used to have is gone. Any help with the weightless muscle gain and metabolism boost will be appreciated .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16242" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T12:17:53.630" Title="weight loss metabolism boost and muscle gain" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25389" CreationDate="2015-07-09T10:17:03.687" Score="0" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22 , my weight is 77 KG and I am 170 cm Long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through the last two years I have been [Running] around 4 days weekly. I lost around 21 KG from 92 to 71 in the last year as I was doing diet. This year I continued the same level of running [ I have improved a lot ], However I gained 6 KG back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question now is : How to loose my legs and thighs fat. Although I mainly train them [ while running ] I still can't burn their fat. I was successful in burning belly fat and all my body in general, but I am stuck with the legs and thigh fat &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;any advice will be really appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16243" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T12:21:39.037" Title="burning legs fat and avoiding Slouch" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25386" CreationDate="2015-07-09T11:57:41.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot burn fat in a specific location, legs do not use only leg fat, and so on. If you want less fat on your legs you will need to reduce fat overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T11:57:41.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25385" CreationDate="2015-07-09T12:17:53.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with your metabolism, and it's not something you train. The difference between someone with a &quot;slow&quot; and a &quot;fast&quot; metabolism is very small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You need to diet properly.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're gaining weight, or not losing weight, it's simply because you eat too much. Again, you can't train your metabolism to work faster. You have to control your caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as weightless muscle gain goes, this is more likely to be doable if you're a beginner, and becomes harder to accomplish as you build more muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a hard time taking you seriously when you say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've tried all diets imaginable but nothing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To anyone here, this is going to sound like crap. Fact of the matter is, diet is how you control your weight gain/loss. Working out simply controls how your body deals with the added/removed weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you try a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ketogenic diet&lt;/a&gt;. Entering ketosis isn't the easiest feat, but if you do it, you'll lose weight at a pretty decent rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T12:17:53.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25386" CreationDate="2015-07-09T12:21:39.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like @Mårten said, you either lose fat over your entire body, or nowhere at all. You can't pick and choose where to gain/lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for losing then gaining weight, the difference lies in your diet. You mention that you dieted when you lost weight, and after that you started to gain weight again. This should be a telltale sign. And it's a well-established fact in the fitness industry; weight loss and weight gain is done in the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Count calories! If you want to lose weight, try hitting 1700 kcal / day, and see what happens over 2-3 weeks. If you lose weight, stick with it. If you remain at the same weight, or gain weight, then try lowering your diet to 1600 kcal / day. Rinse and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T12:21:39.037" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25396" CreationDate="2015-07-09T17:20:20.850" Score="3" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been deadlifting for about a month or so. Just today, I did 6 sets of deadlifts, with the last set at 60kg (132.27lbs) at 5 reps. There is a video recording of me on this last set &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/davidbenjamin.lim/videos/10153982731984325/?pnref=story&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon viewing the video, I noticed that there is a slight rounding in my upper back. In particular, I was told that this rounding was caused by my shoulders being slightly internally rotated during the movement, and not keeping my chest up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 1:&lt;/strong&gt; Is this a serious cause for concern?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that the deadlift is such a complex movement, I often have trouble keeping track of all the things to do. One issue in particular that bothers me is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 2:&lt;/strong&gt; How do I really &quot;power up&quot; with my quads from the bottom? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that my quads only really kick into action a little bit off the floor. Perhaps the start position of my butt (at the beginning of the video) is too low? I am tall and have rather long limbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, any comments on my deadlift form from the video would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13379" LastEditorDisplayName="user13379" LastEditDate="2015-07-09T17:48:52.737" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T00:14:45.030" Title="Some questions about the deadlift" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25390" CreationDate="2015-07-09T18:19:55.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overall, you have better form than I see in a lot of people starting out, specifically your lower back remaining in a neutral position during the entire lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 1:&lt;/strong&gt; Your upper back actually isn't round &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; much, which isn't a bad thing to happen either. Your lats play a role in internal rotation of the shoulder, so as long as they are tight and locked into position, there shouldn't be any harm in continuing the way you are. Internal rotation of the shoulder also isn't a bad thing in certain contexts, such as this, as it provides a position of stability and control. Whereas having internal rotation of the shoulder in a pressing movement can be harmful, as there is less internal space within the shoulder joint itself for tendons and smaller muscles to clear the movement of the humeral head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 2:&lt;/strong&gt; My first idea would be to actually pull from the floor. The mats you're using appear to add about an inch or two of space between the plates and the ground, which correspondingly shortens the overall range of motion. However, the conventional deadlift is a hamstring dominant exercise, so adding 'power' to your quads may be a matter of consciously trying to fire them in the movement. If you are looking for more quad dominance in your deadlift, you can try using the sumo deadlift which places more emphasis on your quads, but also requires substantially more hip mobility to do properly (and tends to require more finesse with resetting the bar between reps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, overall, your form is really good for the stage that you're at. One thing that I noticed that you didn't already mention was your bar path. It seems a bit less than straight. You don't appear to be pulling the bar into your legs until after you clear your knees. Pulling the bar into your legs will help keep your lats engaged and upper back tight. Try thinking about bending the bar around your legs as you pull the bar up. This will help you engage your lats (as said before) and allow for a straighter bar path which make the lift more efficient overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T18:19:55.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22516" CreationDate="2015-07-09T20:22:36.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to maintain 80% max HR for 30 minutes is probably going too far - you usually won't reach that unless you're doing something fairly intense. That said, it will be fairly hard to do something &quot;unhealthy&quot; unless you have a heart condition, or try biking for way too long (2+ hrs) without having built up endurance first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting and Max heart rate values are considered to be more of a byproduct of good cardio, rather than directly trainable. If your bike also has a speedometer, instead of trying to increase your heart rate, try increasing your speed or biking duration a tiny bit each time instead. As your heart becomes stronger you will be able to go faster for more time at the same heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T20:22:36.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24832" CreationDate="2015-07-09T20:35:07.127" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are unfortunately few reliable studies about rep range for hypertrophy, but I have always heard that calves require more than average, with ranges from 15-30 based on weight used in that set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T20:35:07.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19175" CreationDate="2015-07-09T20:40:24.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are not alone in this feeling, it is a common joke that once you begin lifting weights to get bigger muscles, you no longer lift to get &quot;big&quot;, you lift to get &quot;bigger/better than others&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already acknowledge that you don't like these feelings, they will probably fade with time (they did for me). Don't beat yourself up about it, it is normal to have competitive urges, even if they feel out of place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T20:40:24.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25390" CreationDate="2015-07-10T00:14:45.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The upper back rounding isn't a big deal. Basically if you're lifting a lot, they're going to round out. It's the same for the lower back too, honestly, once you get up near your max. It's not an excuse for bad form, but if you look at competitive power lifters you'll notice that they're right on the cusp of good/bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check his form below. If he chopped the weight by 20%, I'm sure he'd have a text book perfect lift, but that's just not what happens at max. Given that it wasn't your 1RM (or even 3RM), you probably want to make sure you're doing rows or other upper back lifts to make strengthen up, although the deadlift will do that for you too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is antithetical to the &quot;ZOMG KEEP YOUR BACK FLAT!!!&quot; gym world, and you don't want people thinking it's okay to round out, but again look around at competitive lifters and see for yourself what's happening. There's a range between &quot;flat-as-a-pancake&quot; and &quot;spinal injury inbound curvature&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pETGZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your quads, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19201/how-can-the-conventional-deadlift-be-harder-at-the-top-than-the-bottom/19206#19206&quot;&gt;I answered a question a while back regarding muscle recruitment in the deadlift&lt;/a&gt;. Stealing from it a bit, the study I referenced said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The [quads] had a peak of activity during the first 20° of the ascent&#xA;  phase due to its role in knee extension and indirectly hip extension&#xA;  (in that the movement is a closed kinetic chain exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This graph shows the ascent to descent, so lockout at the top is in the middle. It shoes quad activation. So once you're off the ground, it shifts from the quads more into the glutes and hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Ev4b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your form is fine to be honest. You can always noodle it tighter, but you're okay. I'd get rid of those shoes if they're not flat (no running shoes!), and focus on your abs and hip rotators. In my mind before every deadlift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tighten the abs like you're about to get sucker punched. Only release when it's back on the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar covers the knots in my shoelaces, chest up while holding the bar, that's the position to hold. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Push through the heels&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1/2 way up, really focus on glute activation. Think about &quot;screwing&quot; your feet into the ground, axis on the heels, balls going out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your back should be neutral. Not overly arched any which way. Neutral. Your abs do the bracing as much as your back (or at least pretty darn close). As you start going up in the weights, your form will change and you'll have new challenges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T00:14:45.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-10T04:14:47.017" Score="0" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 30 and my height is 5'5. I try to eat healthy and I have following meal-schedule&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 8am on working days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 11am on weekend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;consists of coffee and boiled egg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 2/3pm on working days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 4pm on weekend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;most of the days it is fruits, sometime eat out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 8pm on working days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 10pm on weekend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;consists of one tortilla(sometime rice), chicken/beef with some vegetable, dessert(not daily).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I walk 3 days a week for 1 hour each day.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't drink soda.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but my belly is becoming larger day by day. I don't know what I am doing wrong or what I am not doing right.&#xA;Although other parts of body are not fat but because of belly/waist-Circumference I look so bulky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest what should I do to get a flatter tummy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6062" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T18:49:28.657" Title="I am bulky although my diet is healthy(at least i think it is healthy)" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-07-15T15:10:22.243" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25397" CreationDate="2015-07-10T04:50:05.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are huge gaps between meals. Divide your large meals into 5-6 smaller meals. I am no expert but that helped me. May be you can start doing some little exercises - planks, crunches, situps. Include some 10 mins in a day for these exercises. This is my humble opinion. Hope it helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16195" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T04:50:05.520" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25397" CreationDate="2015-07-10T05:09:51.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a calorie expenditure calculator &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/calorie-calculator/itt-20084939&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like this one&lt;/a&gt; to find your target estimate for intake.  Count your calories and hit that estimate every day.  After one or two weeks, if your weight has not decreased, reduce your caloric intake by 100-500 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat more calories than you burn, you get fatter.  It's that simple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T05:09:51.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-10T05:48:07.290" Score="2" ViewCount="2008" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 19 yrs male. My shoulders are less width. my shoulder and waist not in golden ratio and suggest the exercise not including dumbbells and weight lifting because i also want to grow tall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16256" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T05:34:54.153" Title="how to increase my shoulder width ? is it possible?" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25475" CreationDate="2015-07-10T07:25:00.410" Score="3" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have got access to a pair of kettlebells (12 &amp;amp; 16 kg).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can anyone please let me know what are the target muscles while swinging?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I hope they workout the gluteus and the hamstring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T16:12:44.323" Title="What are the target muscles of kettlebell swings" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25400" CreationDate="2015-07-10T09:00:53.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight lifting will not affect your general growth, including height, as long as you don't starve yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want broader shoulders and a slimmer waist, do shoulder exercises and lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T09:00:53.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19175" CreationDate="2015-07-10T09:05:19.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's natural in relationships that you have different strengths, if someone completely dominates the other, it is natural to have bad feelings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to figure out what other qualities you have as a person, or develop them. If your stamina is the personal quality you think of as your greatest, you have a lot of soul searching to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T09:05:19.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25400" CreationDate="2015-07-10T09:09:53.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a the same problem I usually do lots of dumbbell side raises on low weight just to get the shoulder pumped, this exercise really adds mass to the side of the shoulder (1 muscle of 3). Also the wide shoulders are an illusion created by a thin waist so you tend to look broader if you have a small waste. So basically loose the love handle :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I must urge you please be careful, shoulder injuries are common in the bodybuilding community. This can be seen by multiple posts in the forum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastEditorUserId="13761" LastEditDate="2015-07-13T05:34:54.153" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T05:34:54.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25379" CreationDate="2015-07-10T09:43:35.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I just say that you should be patient. I've seen some of the younger personal trainers in my gym tell guys to do insane squats when they're starting out and the muscles just aren't developed enough. It's painful, dangerous and would scare me away from the gym. Happy training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T09:43:35.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-10T09:54:55.270" Score="2" ViewCount="488" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started CrossFit at my gym, but now, I have to move. I can't train there anymore. I've got weights at home (dumbbells, barbell, various plates) but it's not the Olympic weights with the rubber outer coating. So now, I can't throw the weights around like they do in the videos. I've got a squat rack, bench, barbell, dumbbells, and sufficient plates. Some plates have grip slots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there CrossFit routines I can do without dropping the weights? Which exercises would be good for my situation? Also, any further advise would be appreciated on how to build up a &lt;strong&gt;cost effective&lt;/strong&gt;, dynamic and versatile home gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-07-10T12:20:07.117" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T21:05:09.847" Title="Crossfit without olympic weights at home gym" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25408" CreationDate="2015-07-10T13:07:34.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing that becomes impractical is performing lifts where you would normally just drop the weights like the Clean and the Snatch.  You either need to reverse the steps to set the bar down under some control or you need to perform other movements.  Another option would be to invest in the &lt;em&gt;bumper&lt;/em&gt; plates (bumper plates is the technical term for the kind of plates at your box).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your barbell and metal plates don't have to be set down gingerly, but dropping a bar from over a yard or a meter in the air will likely bend your bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's still a lot you can do.  Crossfit gyms have a range of activities, but it seems that certain gyms have their favorites.  It sounds like your box favored the Olympic lifts.  Others favor powerlifting or strongman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When working on your own, take stock of what you have and then choose a focus to push yourself towards:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Powerlifting: primary lifts are squat, bench, deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strongman: primary lifts would be overhead (push press), deadlift, front squat, loaded carries, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodybuilding: no primary lifts, but focus on getting a pump in your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all three as a focus there's still room for metabolic conditioning (met-con), but you'll have to do barbell or dumbbell complexes that end with the bar close to the ground.  Loaded carries are another form of metabolic conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training in a style that is somewhere between powerlifting and strongman.  I find benefit to both.  Another resource for good programming choices and helping to find direction would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://jtsstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Juggernaut Training Systems&lt;/a&gt;.  They have a good representation from all the strength sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T13:07:34.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25400" CreationDate="2015-07-10T15:30:47.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no relation between safely lifting weights and stunting growth, so no need to worry about affecting height. Plus, at 19 you are very likely almost as tall as you will be for the rest of your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three important muscle groups to target for broad shoulders would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deltoids, the &quot;caps&quot; on the top of your arms, think of where your sleeve is sewn onto your shirt. Side lateral raise will work these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Traps, the muscle that looks like the side/back of your neck, is important as well. You can exercise this by doing shrugs (be it with dumbell or barbell, or machine).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder/Upper Back Area, the muscles surrounding your shoulder blades. Military press is a good exercise for this area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T15:30:47.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25397" CreationDate="2015-07-10T18:49:28.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like I eat more at lunch than you eat during the whole day. If you are still getting fat on this diet, then you should first do a medical check up to rule out problems like e.g. thyroid problems. Absent any medical problems, you should start to exercise a lot more and then later actually increase your food intake. You won't get fat if you training regime drives you toward greater fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T18:49:28.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25413" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-10T23:55:56.753" Score="3" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 18-year-old girl, I used to run (usually 1000/2000m competitions) and as a consequence now I'm left with quite big calves compered to the rest of my body. I'd like to know what I could do to reduce their size. I read many articles but I'm not quite sure about what to do since there are different (possibly opposite?) opinions on this subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like, somebody suggested I should use an exercise bike for at least an hour with no resistance (so that the body would start 'consuming' the muscle), whereas others said I have to do high reps sessions of exercises targeting the calves or run (?!) on a treadmill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please avoid posting useless comments, I just need instructions and clarifications on how to slim down my muscles. Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16261" LastActivityDate="2015-07-11T18:11:14.107" Title="Decrease calf size" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25413" CreationDate="2015-07-11T18:11:14.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two main ways to decrease the size of a muscle;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't use the muscle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or at least use it only when necessary. If you don't use the muscle, it won't be hypertrophied. From there, it could remain at its current size, or decrease in size (atrophy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overuse the muscle (not recommended)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if you use the muscle a lot, but don't provide it with the nutrition it needs to hypertrophy, it will decrease in size. Of course, with the way you'd have to control your diet, this could have side effects with other muscles as well, as you'd have to eat little protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-11T18:11:14.107" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25417" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-12T00:41:41.387" Score="2" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm skeptical of the whole &lt;em&gt;7 Minute Workout&lt;/em&gt; movement that's started - I know that it's not meant to be the one workout of the day, rather it's meant to be used several times throughout the day or as a supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my understanding though, muscle gain or weight loss (whatever your goal), is best achieved within it &lt;em&gt;at minimum&lt;/em&gt; 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that end, I'm looking for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the 7 Minute Workout effective?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many times per day should it be done?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; effective, what are your preferred iOS apps for having them with you on the go?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16039" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T16:46:00.550" Title="Are the 7-Minute Workouts effective? (What are your preferred apps?)" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-10-08T07:44:37.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-13T04:28:56.407" Score="3" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering if I could do regular squats instead of squats with weights (because I have none &amp;amp; there's no gym near)&#xA;I want to build a bigger butt but I heard that it won't work if you don't have weights and proper diet &amp;amp; it could make your butt smaller instead ..well I have the diet plan just no weights.. Any suggestions.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16275" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T16:11:49.750" Title="Squats &amp; Oats,Diet, and muscle mass" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25419" CreationDate="2015-07-13T04:55:13.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can't you use something else instead? Keep something heavy in your arms or put on a backpack an fill it with heavy stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can do at most 12 reps*3 sets you are working out at a level where you will be adding muscle mass efficiently. More than that and you're mostly gaining endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also harder versions of body weight squats you can do, like pistol squats, jump squats and box jumps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High rep squats will not make your butt smaller, why would it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T04:55:13.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-13T11:09:26.187" Score="2" ViewCount="585" Body="&lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;Fibularis Longus muscle&lt;/strong&gt; pains when I run on treadmill or even on ground.&#xA;Even with a less speed on starting running immediately this muscle starts paining. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Initially I thought it would recover by the time as I was new with running, But its more then 3 months now but still pain is intact. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Please suggest me what should I do? Stop Running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15542" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T07:58:41.460" Title="Leg Muscle pain while running on treadmill" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2015-07-13T14:29:07.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 8 I would not worry about it. She hasn't even hit her growth spurt yet. If she is still slower than others by 11, then worry about it. Many parents had their kids doing all sorts of speed training at 4-8 and by the time the kid is 12, are out of sports due to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16281" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T14:29:07.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4055" CreationDate="2015-07-13T15:33:28.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gross Calorie Burn includes both how many calories you burn being alive AND how many extra calories above that you burned doing an activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Net Calorie Burn is the number of calories burned above the amount you need to stay alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use Net Calorie Burned to figure out your progress in a calorie count situation like weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16282" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T15:33:28.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25417" CreationDate="2015-07-13T15:35:11.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tabata method, or similar HIIT training has been shown to be effective training (I am assuming that is these 7-minute workouts are taking a similar approach. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training#Tabata_regimen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Short description here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This training method works better if you are already in shape though, and is mostly for increasing performance, rather than fat loss (exercise should be performed for a longer period of time like you said). And for muscle gain, weight training with longer rest periods may be more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I don't know any iOS apps in particular, but searching HIIT or Tabata should return appropriate results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the number of times per day, I would generally avoid using the same muscle group (so you could do legs in the morning and arms at night, but I would not suggest legs in morning &amp;amp; at night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T15:35:11.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25419" CreationDate="2015-07-13T19:58:56.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to do one-legged stuff, as any weight added will have double effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some good one-leg exercises for a bigger butt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.no/search?q=lunges&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CDIQsARqFQoTCLfa79_w2MYCFQnDcgodK0sPoQ&amp;amp;biw=1689&amp;amp;bih=905&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lunges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/images/2012/one-leg-bench-squat.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One leg bench squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can add weight without proper weights. Fill a couple buckets with equal amount of water and hold one in each hand, for instance. Or get any ol' bar with some light weights. Such sets are usually very affordable. I'm talking 20lb bar, and some small metal plates. These are made for home use, and as such, are very small, but dense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T19:58:56.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25434" CreationDate="2015-07-14T01:30:50.230" Score="5" ViewCount="3482" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently moved away from home and would like to continue weightlifting/gaining muscle. Food cost however is a big problem. My question is: what is a really cheap protein source? From my own investigation milk seems to run in at about 30g protein/dollar while sausage and canned tuna is around 13g protein/dollar. Are protein powders the best way (read cost effective) to get protein in terms of gram/dollar? Milk seems to be pretty decent in terms of calories and protein but I was wondering if the was something better in terms of price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16285" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T06:20:41.880" Title="What is the cheapest protein source?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-14T03:08:56.450" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A typical &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1gZM6eo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10lb bag of ON whey protein&lt;/a&gt; costs ~$115 USD. There are 149 servings (1 scoop = 1 serving) in a bag. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 24 grams of protein (with negligible carbs and fat) costs $0.77 USD. I don't think you'll find anything cheaper anywhere. And if you do, let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-11T13:11:10.557" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T13:11:10.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-14T04:58:13.957" Score="4" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to gym for 4 weeks now and I've noticed that there are a lot of people there who lift way more than me yet they are smaller than me. I've talked briefly with some of them and their goal is definitely size (and they actually do 6-10 reps average). Are they doing something wrong or is it just difference in genetics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T16:39:10.877" Title="Smaller size while lifting more" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-14T05:06:31.380" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eggs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dozen in USA costs around &lt;code&gt;$3&lt;/code&gt; that is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?qlookup=01129&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;6 grams&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of proteins for &lt;code&gt;$0.041&lt;/code&gt; per gram. Although it doesn't beat &lt;code&gt;$0.03&lt;/code&gt; per gram in Eric's answer but its close and eggs are not for &lt;code&gt;$3&lt;/code&gt; everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knowing which country you belong to, this price can be significantly lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am from Canada. I just bought a dozen eggs for $2.64 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wohoo, that makes it &lt;code&gt;$0.03&lt;/code&gt; per gram of protein right there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That answer was obviously based on cost requirements, otherwise  i love a diet of whey protein + eggs + almonds + banana shakes and ofcourse ocassional steaks :p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16287" LastEditorUserId="16287" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T10:52:35.900" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T10:52:35.900" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25431" CreationDate="2015-07-14T06:33:03.257" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually you should be worried more about your form when you perform the exercises. If your form is not good enough you can lift more weight but all to no avail. You will just trick yourself you are better and making progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the weight the rules is more weight, fewer reps (80% percent of the max weight you can lift 3 series of 6-8 reps) for a set. If you can do 10 reps increase the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have been doing this for a lot more time then you and some people have different genes. It is natural they that they lift more weight then you now. You shouldn't be worried about that. If they are smaller in size, this doesn't mean they have less muscle tissue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastEditorUserId="2646" LastEditDate="2015-07-15T19:59:22.470" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T19:59:22.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-14T06:45:38.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beans! A 1-pound bag of dry beans can easily be found for $1, and contains about 100 grams of protein. $0.01 per gram beats pretty much any animal source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you can't eat raw beans, so this source requires some kitchen work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16288" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T06:45:38.550" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25423" CreationDate="2015-07-14T06:49:21.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you can do: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When I start running and start to feel pain I decrease my speed and focus on my running form. If the pain doesn't stop after 1000-2000 meters I simply stop running. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Probably you don't do the warming up the way you need to. Check for some foam roller exercise. You can do them with big glass bottle like wine one too. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should go and see physician now and he/she will advice you what to do, but generally you should listen to your body. There were times I have been allowed to run, but my body have told me it need more time after I tore something around my knee. So this is my advice - listen to your body and respond accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't allowed to run, check for other exercises. You should keep doing something to stay fit.  I really recommend swimming. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T06:49:21.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16450" CreationDate="2015-07-14T07:00:55.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both systems propose high-intensity workouts targeting all aspects of phyical fitness. The differences are more in the business model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crossfit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uses weights and other equipment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gym-based.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Certified trainers help you along.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Freeletics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight only (some equipment still required).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Community-based.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fellow athletes and a (free¹) mobile app help you along.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you have the money and need the extrinsical motivation of a gym and trainers, Crossfit may be your thing. If you require independence and low cost, Freeletics can work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The full set of exercises/workouts and personalized training schedules are not free.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10388" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T07:00:55.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25363" CreationDate="2015-07-14T07:46:21.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;strong&gt;waiting&lt;/strong&gt; = &lt;strong&gt;watching television (1 MET)&lt;/strong&gt;, then yes, as per the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MET formula&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MET = vVO2Max = VO2 / 3.5 ~= KCal Burnt / (bodyMassKg * timeHours )&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you state: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3 * 9 MET (cardio exercise) = 27 METS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is equivalent to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;27 * 1 MET (watching TV) = 27 METS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-08-15T10:43:12.880" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T10:43:12.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25438" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-14T09:23:39.333" Score="2" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all a couple of background lines to my question, so you can better understand what I am talking about. &#xA;I am a 31 y.o. man, working pretty much all day at my desk, with little-to-no-time at all for sports, after I've dealt with tons of other daily things.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the last 2 years I've put on a lot of weight (92kg weight x 1.76m height) because my habits changed a lot (I used to walk to go to my job - because I had time to do it - , I went dancing every Saturday - I had friends where I lived, now where I do I don't even have discos in a 30km radius - and so on...).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I go in fitness-studio twice a week (rarely once, I always try to keep these hours as &quot;untouchable&quot; given the amount of other things to do), where I do in the following order: 10 minutes of cardio, 2 times a &quot;circle&quot; (each exercise works on a different muscle) without pause between the exercises but with a pause between the circles and at the end 20 minutes of cardio again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have a nasty problem with food. I can avoid eating junk food, but I cannot eat all the healthy stuff there is, since most vegetables make me &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; puke. Same goes with fruit and most of the cheese. I do eat a lot of carbohydrates (there is not much left in the world with all I excluded, is there?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may sound &quot;polarized&quot; wanting some answers rather than others, but I am aware of what I can and can't do and answers like &quot;go out and run&quot; or &quot;eat vegetables&quot; will just disappoint me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot find more time to do exercise. Some days I am really exhausted and I &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; to rest.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I cannot &lt;em&gt;try&lt;/em&gt; to eat what I don't, because it makes me fell sick (literally) and I don't have time or money to sit by a psychologist and work that out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there &lt;em&gt;anything at all&lt;/em&gt; that could help me? I am willing to try: diets (please consider my problems with food), different training (shouldn't exceed the time I have), integrators (vitamins, fat burners, carbohydrates absorbers, proteins, ...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16290" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T18:56:32.333" Title="Difficulty to eat healthy food and weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-14T10:14:08.403" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;h1&gt;All Day Workout&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have time to play with, and I think I've been a bit random with my workouts. I want all round fitness, and I'd say I'm fairly intermediate. Do you think there's anything I can add or shuffle round in my routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My Stats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 12 stone/75 kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 5 foot 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 19&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell curls: 17.5kg (4 reps)   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell lateral raise: 10kg (6 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench-Press: 25kg (4 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead-lift: 35kg (16 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grip Strengthener: 18kg resistance (20 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kettlebell: 18kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half marathon(13 miles): 1:40&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Routine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 hour morning swim (irregular)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 mile run/walk (sometimes again after lunch)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kettlebell/Dumbbell/Grip Strengthener/Ab Exercises through the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evenings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday - hour of gymnastics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday/Friday - 3 hours of Dead-lifting, Bench-pressing and Climbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday/Thursday - hour of swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday/Sunday- feck all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Light breakfast/dinner (veg, fruit, wheat and oats) and a heavy lunch (protein). No junk/dessert/drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Problems&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I struggle to keep a steady pace on my own. Yet, I ran a half-marathon in 1:40 with this kind of fools training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waking up to swim at 7. My diet's helped but it's not golden, and I avoid alarm clocks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stuck in a rut with weights. I expected my dead-lifting to suffer (went from 5 times a week to twice if that), but the dumbbells I use everyday aren't getting much easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's the best way to work martial arts into this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16291" LastEditorUserId="16291" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T14:14:33.790" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T14:29:46.697" Title="Improve my &quot;Crossfit&quot; regime?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-07-17T17:20:48.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25417" CreationDate="2015-07-14T11:35:51.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Effective for what? For the purpose of building an athletic body, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bornfitness.com/the-truth-about-the-7-minute-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quite likely not&lt;/a&gt;. The exercises are simply not sufficiently taxing if done properly, as they target multiple muscle groups and the only resistance is one's body weight. As circuit training, it falls short in that it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/05000/HIGH_INTENSITY_CIRCUIT_TRAINING_USING_BODY_WEIGHT_.5.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a third of the recommended time&lt;/a&gt;, even according to the authors of the paper that's cited as evidence for the 7 Minute Workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as the saying goes, something is better than nothing, and if done with sufficient intensity (the authors said that it should be at least an 8 out of 10 on a discomfort scale. If you're not sweating heavily, you probably aren't doing it right), it does manage to cram in a fair amount of exercise in a shorter period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I've been using the &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.popularapp.sevenmins&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;7 Minute Workout&lt;/a&gt; app lately. It's free and adequate to my purposes. The only real caveats I have with it are that the voice on it stutters a little and I needed to install an additional voice package to get it to work. Otherwise, it lets you adjust your intervals and gives you voice prompts for each exercise, the halfway point, and a countdown of the last few seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-08-17T17:33:12.540" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T17:33:12.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25447" CreationDate="2015-07-14T11:45:14.853" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing sports and going to gym for several years now. I am student and month ago I started meditating. I would like to know how would you organize, in what order would you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meditate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Study&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am kinda lost and just I want to mention that I am always doing all of those things in afternoon if it helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16294" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T13:32:51.253" Title="Gym, meditation and studying" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-07-17T17:18:37.087" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-14T12:08:48.860" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you live near the coast, then dried or fresh fish can get you pretty far. Dried cod, for example, has 80-85% protein and costs around 30$/kg in most areas - likely a lot cheaper near fisheries! Although it will require you to do quite a bit of cooking (or to drink a lot of water if dried).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16296" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T12:08:48.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-14T12:20:13.313" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nutri chunks is best and and cheapest source of protein (55gm. Protein Per 100 gm) In my country (India) cost of 1 kg chunks is app. 2$ i dont know about USA . But if the rate is same then u will get app. 500-550 gm protein in 2 $;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16297" LastEditorUserId="16297" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T19:46:12.950" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T19:46:12.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25441" CreationDate="2015-07-14T13:32:51.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you looking for an order for these things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just stopped being a student but I would be inclined to do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meditate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Study&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should eat soon after training to make sure you actually get the benefits of your workout. Then meditating to get yourself into the mindset to study makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T13:32:51.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-14T13:40:20.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I typically do the store generic complete post workout (with bcaas) which they do a sale on every so often ( buy one get one half off etc. Vitamin shoppe is in September) last time  I bought it was about .02$/gram not on the level of beans but very complete quality protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also check out Costco. Whenever I go in I check to see if they are doing a sale on protein and try to snap some up. Best price I have seen so far is $.30/serving of protein powder with bcaas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastEditorUserId="7113" LastEditDate="2018-02-08T06:20:41.880" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T06:20:41.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25494" CreationDate="2015-07-14T14:02:24.430" Score="7" ViewCount="408" Body="&lt;p&gt;The trainer at my gym always asks me to tighten the ab muscles while working on the ab area. I am always confused on the right way to tighten this ab area. I breath out and push my stomach outwards while doing ab workout but am unsure if this is the right way. Can someone suggest the correct way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15995" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T18:41:45.830" Title="How to tighten abs while working out" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25439" CreationDate="2015-07-14T14:29:46.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is general fitness then you're doing plenty of running, walking, and swimming, but your deadlift is quite light. Sixteen reps is also a lot for the deadlift. If it's possible to use more weight but fewer reps per set, do that. 60kg to 100kg should be entirely doable for you within a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other ways to get good use out of your limited weights are Turkish get-ups, overhead presses, and kettlebell swings and snatches. The swings are a good alternative if you don't have the equipment to deadlift heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T14:29:46.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-14T14:55:50.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think tuna is a very, very good source for not much money.  The type I get is in water, of course, and it's 90 calories per tin, with 20 grams of protein.  There's only 1 gram of fat with all that protein, and then an extra calorie from something haha.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My lunch is 2 cans of tuna plus a deli sandwich with about 30 g of protein in it.  So I get 70 g of protein just from my lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16301" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T14:55:50.160" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-14T15:56:18.967" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know which muscle groups the following exercises train:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regular pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide grip pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close grip pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close grip chin ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16302" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T17:56:08.307" Title="Muscle groups for different exercises" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-07-15T15:10:48.517" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-14T16:45:35.390" Score="2" ViewCount="3567" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its been a month and a half since I started following SL 5*5 after a gap of around 6 months from the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having started from the empty bar, I have reached:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat - 110 lbs&#xA;BP - 75 lbs&#xA;Row - 80 lbs&#xA;OHP - 55 lbs&#xA;DL - 165 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see the barbell row and the OHP are lagging behind - for the row, everytime at the gym some trainer comes and ask what are you doing, this will ruin your back etc, so it has demoralized me a bit and made me conscious to check my form (I shot a video, but form looked OK).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And these days, squats are a bit challenging which leave me which less energy for remaining two exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, is it time to leave this workout and switch to some conventional routine like doing machine rows, lat pulldown etc? If yes, then please help me build one. If not, then how do I progress with SL? Or should I just mix the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current weight is 56 kg, height 180 cm. The gym has all standard machines and equipments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T05:38:56.263" Title="Struggling with barbell row and overhead press - StrongLift" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25453" CreationDate="2015-07-14T17:49:18.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are seeing changes in your body and gaining strength you should stick to your routine in spite the coaches or the people say about it, where I train the free weights exercises are kind of odd for most people but let me tell you those exercises are the best because they involved a lot of muscles. But you have to keep a good form in order to keep away from injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it is a good idea to mix the compound exercises with machines but the compounds lift MUST be your principal objective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About your OHP and ROW it is OK everybody has better lifts than others in my case my OHP is not as strong as my DL or BP so keep gaining strength :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16271" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T17:49:18.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25455" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-14T17:50:11.183" Score="4" ViewCount="1038" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner. I tried to swim today with a blocked nose. I do not have any fever or cold otherwise; I am perfectly healthy apart from the blocked nose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this have any effect on my swimming? During a couple of times, I quit my swimming stroke in the middle of the pool due to breathlessness. I am unsure if this is psychological or physical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this also depend on the stroke? I was doing breaststroke. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16305" LastActivityDate="2018-05-16T10:52:02.107" Title="Will a blocked nose affect my ability to breathe during swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25452" CreationDate="2015-07-14T17:56:08.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of them are exercises focused in back as a primary muscle and also work biceps as a secondary muscle and of course your grip strenght. By experience I would do the regular pull ups and the regular chin ups those kind of grips you mentioned do the same work as the regular grip so keep it simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16271" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T17:56:08.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25453" CreationDate="2015-07-14T18:09:10.917" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Squat - 110 lbs BP - 75 lbs Row - 80 lbs OHP - 55 lbs DL - 165 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As you can see the barbell row and the OHP are lagging behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your row is stronger than your bench press which is actually really good, I think your numbers look terrific to be honest. Just keep on the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overhead press is probably one of the toughest lifts out there. People avoid it because it's so damn hard: don't be worried. As an example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/PressStandards.html&quot;&gt;being able to overhead press your body weight is considered &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; strong&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the row, everytime at the gym some trainer comes and ask what are&#xA;  you doing, this will ruin your back etc, so it has demoralized me a&#xA;  bit and made me conscious to check my form (I shot a video, but form&#xA;  looked OK).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen gym trainers do some pretty terrible things to clients. There are good trainers, but the typical 23 year old &quot;trainer&quot; has no experience working with advanced trainees who are really interested in athletics. Post your video on here for some good feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And these days, squats are a bit challenging which leave me which less&#xA;  energy for remaining two exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's pretty normal, which is why you start them in the beginning. Squats (and deadlifts) use a lot of force. You may want to add in a few minutes after your squats and before your next lift. Also, make sure you're eating enough. You're pretty light (body weight), so I imagine you might need be packing away 3,000 calories a day. That might not be your number, but as you get stronger your body needs more calories for maintenance, progress, and repair. &quot;Eat big to lift big&quot;, as the bro-science expression goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it time to leave this workout and switch to some conventional&#xA;  routine like doing machine rows, lat pulldown etc? If yes, then please&#xA;  help me build one. If not, then how do I progress with SL? Or should I&#xA;  just mix the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stick with strong lifts.&lt;/strong&gt; If you're not recovering enough, make sure you're getting enough sleep, eating enough (especially protein), and consider hopping on some creatine. Eventually you'll max out on your daily progress and need to switch to an intermediate program (5x5, Texas, 5/3/1, etc), but that's normally after ~9 months of novice programming (which is what strong lifts is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My current weight is 56 kg, height 180 cm. The gym has all standard&#xA;  machines and equipments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your squat gets up around 175lb (1.5x your body weight), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html&quot;&gt;that's another sign that you're in intermediate territory&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T18:09:10.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25466" CreationDate="2015-07-14T18:29:33.090" Score="3" ViewCount="2125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently learned to do the front crawl.  I am following the advice I've read online about exhaling the entire time my face is under water, and relaxing.  Regardless, pool water is choking me, coming up through my nose, and running down my throat.  Also, though I am trying to relax and not rush things, once in awhile my heart is beating very fast and I am very out of breath after swimming just a small distance.  What might I be doing wrong?  For perspective, I am a long distance runner and I don't think I have any fitness issues that would cause me to be so tired after such a small swim.  I mention both the being out of breath, and the water in my nose and throat, because I think they may be related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:25:20.727" Title="Why can't I keep water out of my nose and throat while swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25453" CreationDate="2015-07-14T18:40:43.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as your form is good, then you are more unlikely to injure yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rows, some 'body English' is fine to help drive progressions, especially since it is not a competitive movement, so being strict with momentum isn't inherently necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If doing Pendlay rows (as advocated by Mehdi), you can have a bit of thoracic extension to aid with getting the bar off the ground. Controlling the eccentric portion (the decent) of the lift will help with strength gains as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ZlRrIsoDpKg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glenn Pendlay Teaches the Pendlay Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/G8l_8chR5BE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alan Thrall's &quot;How To&quot; Barbell Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For normal bent-over-rows, since you don't reset the bar between reps, there will be more emphasis on the eccentric portion of the lift and you can make use of a stretch reflex at the bottom of the eccentric which will help following reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/9efgcAjQe7E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scott Herman's How To: Barbell Bent-Over-Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for presses, those are a bit more technical (more-so than a lot of beginners believe initially). Improving form on the press can usually help with progressing again, but not always. You also have to consider that the press utilizes a smaller set of muscles than the other common compound movements. It is very common to see slow progression with the press. For instance, it recently took my about a month and a half to put only 10 lbs on my press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presses can also benefit from a variety in the rep ranges that you use to train it. One training session may involve a max effort 3x5 barbell press, and then the next session may involve a 3x8 dumbbell press for hypertrophy. It may take some time to find what works well for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/yfow8SeK4Hg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brett Contreras: How to Military Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about the trainers, &lt;em&gt;as long as your form is correct&lt;/em&gt;. Proper nutrition, rest, and technique will all help you progress in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats are literally a full body exercise; they involve a lot of muscles. It is very common for them to feel taxing, which is why eventually a lot of people transition to squatting with less frequency per week (which you don't need to worry about just yet). However, if you are finding recovery too difficulty with 5 straight sets, you can try squatting 3x5 instead (which is actually done in Starting Strength). But you need to be honest with yourself and not go that route simply because it seems easier, but because you're having issues with recovery. I'd recommend sticking with the program until you plateau 2-3 times on either your squat or deadlift and then move to a more intermediate program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say without more information, but you may also find an increase in caloric intake to be helpful. A caloric surplus will help with building muscle, which in turn will help with your strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T18:40:43.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25429" CreationDate="2015-07-15T00:04:41.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oats are tough competition, even in Australia &lt;a href=&quot;https://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/Shop/Search/Products?searchTerm=321220&amp;amp;name=homebrand-rolled-traditional-oats&amp;amp;productId=321220&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;you can get 1 kg of protein for $10, or $0.01/g&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;$0.99 / 750g oats&#xA;~13g protein / 100g oats&#xA;=&amp;gt; $0.99 / ~97.5g protein&#xA;=&amp;gt; ~$0.01 / 1g protein&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are a carb-heavy option, so that's a huge plus if you're in the earlier stages of bulking, but likely a minus if you're in the latter chiselling stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T00:04:41.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25455" CreationDate="2015-07-15T00:36:52.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. You actually should breathe through mouth while swimming. When your left shoulder is on top, move your head to right while breating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T00:36:52.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25458" CreationDate="2015-07-15T03:55:29.957" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is difficult to say without seeing your swim stroke, but I suspect that when you are breathing, you are over rotating, with your head pulled back rather than being in a neutral position. That would allow water to enter in your nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When swimming freestyle, you don't really move your head much. The top of the head should be in the water, which will create a little bit of a &quot;bow wave&quot; effect, and you breathe in the trough that is created. There is almost always a little bit of water that can enter into the mouth, but you generally exhale it out with the breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while you may be in good running shape, swimming involves many more muscles (especially upper body) that aren't used to the effort. Also, it's very technique driven, so if your technique is poor, you will fatigue faster as you &quot;fight&quot; the water. I would recommend an adult beginner swim program, it will help immensely. If that is not feasible, look at programs online such as swimsmooth and Total Immersion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T03:55:29.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25453" CreationDate="2015-07-15T05:38:56.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure to eat enough, you're very light for that height, thin people often have a hard time eating enough to add weight, but when they do, they tend to add lean mass and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T05:38:56.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25485" CreationDate="2015-07-15T07:37:05.260" Score="2" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m a 17 year-old teen guy and I’ve been doing some research on trying to get “lean” or just generally getting fit. Currently I have a basic model based on a single plan, but I wanted some suggestions from people who know this stuff through personal experience or even better a coach. I'm doing this all at home, and aim to get a low body fat. I should also add, I'm a bit fat on the belly, my chest needs working, and the rest of my body is skinny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the workout I'm currently doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- Jumping Jack 30 &#xA;– Pushups 25&#xA;– Situps 25 &#xA;– Plank 60s &#xA;– Squat 25 &#xA;– Burpee 30&#xA;&#xA;Break&#xA;&#xA;- Squat Press 20&#xA;– Side plank 30s each side&#xA;– Pushups 25&#xA;– Situps 35&#xA;– Jumping Jack 30&#xA;– Plank 60s&#xA;– Squat press 20&#xA;– Burpee 30&#xA;&#xA;Stretch&#xA;&#xA;- Superman 5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How effective is this workout, if not, what do I need to change? Roughly, if possible how many calories does it burn? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16314" LastEditorUserId="16314" LastEditDate="2015-07-15T11:04:05.080" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T18:47:37.723" Title="Would this work for a teen looking to get lean?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-15T09:44:04.473" Score="2" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner in swimming and I have been making slow and steady progress. I would love to set targets for myself so that I focus and improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When can one say one has surpassed the beginner stage and is an intermediate level swimmer? How much distance is an intermediate level swimmer expected to swim for different strokes? I agree it is arbitrary but rough guidelines will be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16316" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T15:04:00.307" Title="When can one say one has learnt swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25469" CreationDate="2015-07-15T10:26:45.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well first of all I'd say that &quot;be able to swim&quot; replies pretty much to the question &quot;can you not drown in water, when your feet aren't touching the ground?&quot;. If you can do that and &lt;em&gt;somehow&lt;/em&gt; also be able to move your body towards targets, then I'd say that you can swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A different question is about what you called &quot;levels&quot;. I'd say an intermediate swimmer would be able to go underwater for some time and swim underneath the surface, would have learned the 4 basic styles of swimming (even if not executing them perfectly) and perform other &quot;intermediate&quot; movements (somersaults, diving from 1m height, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically when you get to &quot;have fun with water&quot; without having no more problems/fear at all, I'd say that you're intermediate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16290" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T10:26:45.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25471" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27306" CreationDate="2015-07-15T13:15:03.263" Score="0" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please ignore dehydration issues. Is there any evidence or does anyone know if losing water without replacing it will make you slow down? I was shocked to see that I lost about 5 lbs of water weight after running, so I'm thinking that the body would automatically slow down to counter the loss of water. This is a question about whether or not this phenomenon exists or not. Math to calculate it would be great though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other interesting phenomenon I've learned is that running in heat will divert blood from your muscles in order to help regulate body temp which will then slow you down automatically. Also humidity will bottleneck this cooling process and make it harder to keep cool. When winter came I ran pretty fast! Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T19:36:11.730" Title="Does a runner automatically slow down when your body's water content is lower than normal?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;hydration&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25500" CreationDate="2015-07-15T13:29:11.457" Score="2" ViewCount="7198" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I convert pedometer steps to calories burned?  Can anybody explain this to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there is a lot of variables (sex,age,weight), but, I don't know the heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to know how are they calculated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found this formula :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Calories burned per mile = 0.57 x 175 lbs.(your weight) = 99.75&#xA;  calories per mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I know I have to measure weight, distance, time and steps.&#xA;Please help me with this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16318" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-07-17T15:07:15.833" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T04:56:17.113" Title="how to calculate calorie from pedometer?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25486" CreationDate="2015-07-15T13:35:20.203" Score="3" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;Help, summer running in 83-93 deg F (28-34 deg C) and 60-80 %RH stinks. &lt;strong&gt;Update: Actually this was usually 78-83 def F at +95% RH in the mornings.&lt;/strong&gt; I want to get faster, but literally I cannot run fast in the summer. Except for short distances like 5k its impossible to see improvement over time during the summer. My question is whether or not I'll get faster at marathon length distances even though I'm not running long distances or medium length distances at a fast pace. Though the effort level is the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to phrase this question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain long distance speed must you physically attain similar speeds or are there other modes you body can be in that is slower but will improve your speed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update -----------------------------------------------&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got slower due to the lack of time out on my feet and lack of water + nutrition. Plus refusing to stop to get water or some food... This has changed over July, August, and September. Though times are slow I know Im getting faster, and on a few recent mornings when the dew point dropped, or maybe there was some wind, I hit some PRs! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the body acclimated and improved just in time to start training for Florida's marathon season!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-09-20T18:43:09.963" LastActivityDate="2015-09-20T18:43:09.963" Title="Summer running is slow. Am I getting slower because of this?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25469" CreationDate="2015-07-15T15:04:00.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A true beginner swimmer is someone that isn't comfortable in the water, hasn't learned to float or tread water. Generally beginner classes teach comfort in the water, elementary backstroke, breaststroke and the front crawl. If you can tread water and swim 1 length, you aren't really considered a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intermediate swimmers kind of run the gamut. At the low end of intermediate, you can swim 1-4 lengths in comfort, you know a couple strokes, and are somewhat comfortable in the water. As you get towards advanced intermediate, then you know all four strokes, you may be able to do flip turns, and can easily swim 200m and up. At the high end, you can do basically smaller versions of swim team workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get to the advanced level, you have complete comfort in the water, you can do all four strokes well, flip turns, maneuver underwater, things like this. Most swim team members will be in the advanced intermediate to advanced level. At this level you are also working on small, subtle stroke refinements in order to increase your speed in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you can swim a few laps comfortably and have at least a familiarity with breaststroke/backstroke, then you fall somewhere in the intermediate segment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T15:04:00.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25403" CreationDate="2015-07-15T16:12:44.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Performing a proper two-hand kettlebell swing is a whole-body workout as opposed to isolating single muscles. However, the main muscles that go into swinging a bell are glutes, hamstrings, lower back + abs (core).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should aim for in a swing is to send your hips back (similar to deadlift form) with the bell, and then drive your hips forward to get the bell in motion. You do so by contracting the muscles described above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is not to move the bell as high as you can by raising your arms, but to let the bell move naturally based on the amount of force you created through your hips driving forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many videos online describing this, but I would recommend ones that teach Russian style swings as opposed to American style swings, which overemphasize the height of the bell. Tim Ferris (4hr Body) has a really simple tutorial video here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zAkYWo_4ts&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zAkYWo_4ts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy to help in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T16:12:44.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25476" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-15T16:28:21.393" Score="7" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;StackExchange,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm new here and have spent the past hour searching the site for potential answers to my question, to no avail. I did find this list of fitness apps: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/209/creating-a-compendium-of-fitness-and-nutrition-apps&quot;&gt;Creating a compendium of fitness and nutrition apps?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it doesn't quite get at what I'm asking, so I'll try to explain the situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a fit individual, who works out 5-6 times a week with kettlebells, barbell weightlifting and bodyweight exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I find difficult is putting together my programming instead of just showing up and working out. For example, this morning I decided I would do kettlebell exercises, but I threw together a workout on the fly. In contrast, Monday, Thursdays and Saturdays I do Stronglifts with my girlfriend, which leaves my no wiggle room for throwing something together on the fly, but achieves definable results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm looking for an app that can put together the disparate pieces of my workout puzzle and prescribe me a program that will help to achieve my goals.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After looking at most of the apps that exist, it seems that there are a) encyclopedic apps with a ton of exercises but terrible UX, or b) really gimmicky 7-minute booty burner workouts that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone here have recommendations for something similar to what I'm talking about? If you use fitness apps, and even have a bad experience, let me know -- it might be helpful in getting closer to what I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T15:47:03.267" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T23:59:57.673" Title="Fitness app advice?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;app&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="17" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-31T15:28:54.877" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25431" CreationDate="2015-07-15T18:17:05.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've only been going to the gym for 4 weeks. It takes time to ramp up in weight, and ramping up in weight is not as important as having proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the smaller people are using proper form, it's fine that they are using heavier weights. However, it's often the case that people use improper form and high weights, which can result in injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would worry about maintaining your form with your current weights, and once you feel comfortable enough with those weights, make slight increases. Also, try not to watch what other people do in the gym, which is often for show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T18:17:05.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-15T18:49:11.123" Score="4" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assuming that bodyfat% remains low (6-15%), how does having a lot of muscle mass affect performance in sprinting-type events (50m-400m), middle distance runs (800m-5K) and endurance runs (10K-100K)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read quite some articles stating that strength training helps improve running performance, since more strength means that taking a step requires less %force output of your 1RM it is now possible to run longer and/or faster. It's also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/complete-strength-training-guide/#section2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not true&lt;/a&gt; that strength training only works your type II muscle fibers (which aren't used that much in endurance runs). It actually strengthens your type I fibers aswell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also read that neuromuscular efficiency tends to reach near-maximal state fairly soon in a resistance program (beginner stage, around 140kg 1rm proper depth squat according to stronglifts.) In order to see further reasonable strength gains, it is said that you have to increase your muscle mass.&#xA;Therefore, assuming that one is fairly proficient with the big compound lifts, the most important factor in strength differences should be muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So since muscle mass is very heavily related to strength, and strength gains improve running performance, does muscle mass really slow me down in running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15105" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T06:58:35.893" Title="How much and why will my muscle mass slow me down in the different running categories?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2015-07-15T20:42:54.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Voodoo Floss Bands help make positive subjective changes to our joints and soft tissues through compression, tension and movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These changes will often increase joint mobility, decrease pain, and speed up recovery through myofascial release, occlusion and reactive hyperemia, and joint centration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a terrific breakdown in layman's terms as well as videos showing how to use Voodoo Floss Bands on practically any part of your body (that's recommended) check out this incredibly useful article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kineticsportsrehab.com/blog-index/what-is-voodoo-floss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;using Voodoo Floss Bands&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16002" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T20:42:54.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25482" CreationDate="2015-07-16T05:16:11.733" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to my schedule I start workout at about 20:00 and finish around 22:00.&#xA;I have to get up at 7:00 so I have a dilemma of not wanting to eat much before I go to sleep and the need to eat protein and carbs after workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually have breakfast at 8:30(carbs) and lunch around 13:00(fair amount of protein) and some small amount of carbs before workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I definitely need a protein meal after workout, but I just don't sleep well after that. What can I do without rescheduling my workout time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T09:01:50.020" Title="meal after late workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25478" CreationDate="2015-07-16T05:33:05.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The current theory states that there's two types of muscle mass, sarcoplasmic, and myofibrallar.  Sarcoplasmic is mostly fluid, nigh useless.  You can elicit sarcoplasmic adaptation through high reps, low intensity.  Think body building.  Myofibrillar is actual functional mass, i.e. a farmer who bales hay all day every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in the end, make sure the mass you build is actually useful-lift big, lift correctly, lift often.  The &quot;burn&quot; so often associated with training is your enemy in this case. Make sure you approach your training with sound logic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mass is myofibrillar in nature, you'll see good benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to answer quickly apologies for lack of sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T05:33:05.947" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25480" CreationDate="2015-07-16T09:01:50.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not that important to eat after workouts, the most important factor is your total protein intake during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of workout do you do? If it's just weight lifting you definitely do not need carbs after workouts. An average body can store 2000 kcal of glycogen (carbs), if you are a marathon runner or professional athlete, you'll have a hard time filling that store up, but it not a problem even with a high intensity weight lifting workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So skip the carbs, drink a protein shake if you want to. 2 hours might be too much for optimal growth, depending on how you spend your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T09:01:50.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25484" CreationDate="2015-07-16T09:28:38.840" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a condition known as Pectus Excavatum, more commonly referred to as a sunken or concaved chest. I was not born with this - it has developed as I grew up, and is relatively minor when compared to photos you can see online. It is only somewhat noticeable now that I have begun weight lifting and developing more defined chest muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, something being only somewhat noticeable is still noticeable, and it bothers me. Are there are exercises I can do to fix the problem, or at least lessen how obvious it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16326" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T11:49:11.400" Title="What exercises can help my slightly concaved chest?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25483" CreationDate="2015-07-16T11:02:21.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few exercises I would recommend for such a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check these out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest Flys &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Dumbell Press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Crossovers &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These suggestions are what worked for this guy, as well as some breathing exercises. I recommend you go check him out here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148765303&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148765303&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16327" LastEditorUserId="16327" LastEditDate="2015-07-16T11:49:11.400" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T11:49:11.400" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25468" CreationDate="2015-07-16T11:06:49.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose belly fat, then I recommend doing some more cardio (some form of running). However, in order to get lean, this workout seems just fine if you stay committed. If you are looking to add more muscle mass, try adding some more free weights in there. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16327" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T11:06:49.577" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25473" CreationDate="2015-07-16T12:04:12.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the information in the answer to a question on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6832/8039&quot;&gt;the benefits on the benefits of running in the heat&lt;/a&gt;, you may indeed be reaping some benefits. &lt;a href=&quot;http://uonews.uoregon.edu/archive/news-release/2010/10/heat-acclimation-benefits-athletic-performance-hot-and-cool-conditions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;At least one study shows&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heat acclimation improves the body’s ability to control body temperature, improves sweating and increases blood flow through the skin, and expands blood volume allowing the heart to pump more blood to muscles, organs and the skin as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The athletes showed an improvement of up to 7% in runners when said runners went back to cooler environments due to their advances in thermoregulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T12:04:12.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15691" CreationDate="2015-07-16T15:48:12.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Nike Hyperfeel Shoes are intended to offer a light, barefoot feel. However, if they are causing blisters for the user then it would be advised to use a low no-show sock with them to prevent the blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you’re looking for a completely unique barefoot feel&#xA;  experience check out the Nike Free 1.0 Cross Bionic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/womens-training/free-hyperfeel-cross-elite/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a newer shoe that may fill your need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T15:48:12.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25438" CreationDate="2015-07-16T16:11:38.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lose weight, you do not need to eat &quot;healthy&quot; or eat vegetables. Weight gain and loss comes down to the energy balance equation, or net calories (weight changes) = calories in - calories out. The reason exercise helps to lose weight is because it increases the calories out number, but it is not strictly necessary with good diet (though it will increase the ratio of fat loss to muscle loss).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try using a calorie counting app or food diary, and keeping your daily intake at or below 2,000 calories. It doesn't matter if it comes from meat, dairy, carbs, vegetables, starch, etc, so long as your intake stays below your output (at a 500 calorie/day deficit, about 1lb a week will be lost).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're lacking on vegetable content I would definitely recommend that you take a daily multivitamin at least, for health purposes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; - I do advise finding a way to fix the vegetable problem however, and what I suggest is probably not the best long-term plan for overall health. It is just what will help lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T16:11:38.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25493" CreationDate="2015-07-16T16:42:52.130" Score="1" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently severely damaged the ligaments on my big toe, and can barely walk and have been advised that it is likely to take at least 6 weeks before I can run on it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this accident has happened whilst I'm training for a marathon at the end of September. I was ticking off 15 mile runs quite happily before the accident, but I'm at a point where I can barely stand for more than a few minutes: Certainly no weight can go through the toes on my damaged foot. The toe is still incredibly painful so shoes are out of the question and until the nail comes off, I think swimming is off the list too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in light of this, do you have any suggestions as to what sort of activities might be beneficial for me to still take part in the race later in the year (assuming everything heals up nicely)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15864" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T22:25:52.757" Title="How can I train for a marathon with a damaged toe?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;foot&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25468" CreationDate="2015-07-16T16:50:05.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, this looks like a reasonable routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that it looks like you're halfway to doing circuit-training. Have you thought of going to a class for a few weeks? It will be hard &lt;em&gt;at first&lt;/em&gt;, but it'll certainly help with the motivation as just doing this sort of thing at home on your own can be a grind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, going to some lessons will also help to give you some more ideas for exercises to add to your own routine too and also give you some pointers on areas of your fitness that need more work than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15864" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T16:50:05.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25489" CreationDate="2015-07-16T17:35:25.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing beats running of course, but it looks like you have to scratch that off your list entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to give cycling a shot. With &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_pedal#Clipless_pedals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clipless pedals and shoes&lt;/a&gt; the force is delivered through the ball of your foot, not really at the toes. Also, you can drag the cleat back on the shoe that it's pretty far to the back of your ball. Very stiff shoes, generally for racing, should help to keep a lot of the load off of your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lgBGS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to consider doing squats, initially just a ton of &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodeefit.com/blogs/movements/16090571-air-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;air squats&lt;/a&gt; (like ~50) and working your way up (if you don't do them already) to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbell back squats&lt;/a&gt;, as the drive is (or at least certainly should be) through your heels: most coaches teach you to wiggle your toes a bit on the way up as a point of driving with the heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EhiWi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely make sure you do your squats barefoot, in socked feet, or in a zero-lift shoe such as Converse. Anything with a hell (including most cushioned running shoes) will tilt your foot forward and place more load on the front of your foot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Six weeks from now gives you about four weeks from the time you should be recovered until the time you can start running again. With a bit of strength training and keeping your endurance up on the bike, I think that's the best you'd be able to do in the mean time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course if it hurts, stop. But I've found that exercising smartly and safely through injuries greatly speeds up my recovery time and leaves me with less lingering problems as opposed to just hopping on the couch for a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T17:35:25.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25438" CreationDate="2015-07-16T17:59:51.630" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A huge reality you need to embrace is that if you do not make sizable time and adjustments for your health now, you will make time and adjustments for long term and generally incurable health problems in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be &quot;busy&quot; now with life commitments, but being on a kidney dialysis machine will make you even &quot;busier&quot;. This isn't about having a clean or dirty car, where you still have a car that works it's just whether or not it looks good. This is about whether or not you are healthy or ill, and live long or die early. It's really just that simple. And if you don't prioritize your health now, you'll be forced to later with chronic illness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I whole heartily disagree with the notion that &quot;a calorie is a calorie&quot;. A lot of that stems from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Twinkie diet&lt;/a&gt;, but it's taken out of context. The metabolic impact of 100 calories of refined carbohydrates is much different than the metabolic impact of 100 calories of protein. Refined carbohydrates (what you eat for lunch every day, as noted in one of your comments) spikes your blood sugar, releases insulin, and promotes fat storage. The Twinkie diet study lasted 10 weeks, and people have wrongly extrapolated it's relevance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19351/zyzz-body-without-steroids/19353#19353&quot;&gt;If you keep doing it, you will become insulin resistant&lt;/a&gt; which means fatty acids will float around in your blood vessels, sticking to the walls, and your circulatory system will increase blood pressure to compensate for the reduced diameters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My prescription, for whatever it's worth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch &lt;a href=&quot;http://fedupmovie.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fed Up&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://vidbull.com/zcslf5o665al.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; currently works to stream for free). It does a very good job of explaining food, calories, and metabolic disorders. Buy a copy and give it to a friend as well, it's very much worth it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prioritize your fitness. Quit your job, get another one that you can walk to. Do whatever it takes to put your fitness first because &lt;strong&gt;you will&lt;/strong&gt; pay the price if you don't. And it won't be at a time and place of your choosing. If someone put a gun to your head and told you to go to the gym or run every day for 45 minutes, you'd figure it out. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people your early 30's is really the age when you pick which road you want to go down. Your youth is going away, and you either need to work against the steady decline of health or just make excuses and let it slide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apologies is this isn't overly cheery, but it's the truth the best as I know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T18:31:59.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25489" CreationDate="2015-07-16T18:39:07.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“CrossFit Endurance coach and 100-mile trail run fanatic, Brian&#xA;  MacKenzie of Costa Mesa, California, scrawled a simple looking workout&#xA;  set on a whiteboard in his home gym, then spent five minutes teaching&#xA;  me proper rowing technique. I was in need of a workout to help me&#xA;  retain fitness while I rehabbed a foot injury, so he directed me to a&#xA;  rowing machine—commonly referred to as an ergometer or &quot;erg.&quot; Then I&#xA;  endured one of the most challenging cross-training workouts of my&#xA;  life—for exactly 12 minutes.” (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/running/articles/why-runners-should-be-rowers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why Runners Should be&#xA;  Rowers&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you take a close look at using a rower for your training during your injury rehab.  The movement of your foot horizontally may not be problematic since you’re &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; mimicking a running stride.  This should remove some stress from your foot because it is not required to bear your bodyweight as would be the case with some other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Livestrong.com, in a recent post, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/303861-cardio-exercise-foot-injury/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Best Cardio Exercise for a Foot Injury&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Workouts that can be performed while treating a foot injury are&#xA;  non-weight bearing cardio workouts, including swimming, rowing&#xA;  machines and cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, since you’ve indicated that wearing shoes and swimming are not possible at the moment, using a rower barefooted seems like a possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an earlier post (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/536172-how-to-develop-cardio-with-a-broken-toe/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Develop Cardio with a Broken Toe&lt;/a&gt;), Livestromg.com again comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use a rowing machine at the gym. Rowing machines provide a cardio&#xA;  workout that uses primarily the upper body, so the risk to your toe is&#xA;  minimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you decide to try a rower, do so with instruction from someone who knows and understands the machine.  If it's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concept2&lt;/a&gt; rower (and, it should be), you can get additional help on correct form by checking their web  site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T18:39:07.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25449" CreationDate="2015-07-16T18:41:45.830" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Easy peezy! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to punch you, and you were ready for it, you would 'tense' up and hold your breath correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Tightening' your abs work much the same way.  Don't push the stomach out, or breath out.  You actually need to inhale, and 'brace for impact'.  That's tightening the core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T18:41:45.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25489" CreationDate="2015-07-16T22:25:52.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can certainly find ways to keep your cardiovascular system intact while you let your toe heal.  However, I think you may want to carefully consider the wisdom of trying to run a marathon less than 3 months after what you describe as &quot;severely damaged&quot; ligaments.  If it takes &quot;at least 6 weeks&quot; before your doctor says that you can begin to run, that gives little time before the marathon for further healing and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big toe is a big thing as far as function in your lower extremity and back alignment.  It is a key in your walking and running patterns.  If you do not rehabilitate the joint correctly you could end up with a long term injury, pain and difficulty with the push-off phase of walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ligaments take time to heal.  There are basically &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/supplements/ligaments2.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;three phases&lt;/a&gt; of healing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inflammatory stage&lt;/strong&gt; - The immediate response to injury involves pain and swelling to help splint and protect the joint. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Repair phase&lt;/strong&gt; - The body begins to lay down collagen to help repair the ligaments.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remodeling Phase&lt;/strong&gt; - This phase begins to align and remodel the collagen into functional movement lines.  This phase can last up to one year.  It doesn't mean that you have to wait a year before you can rely on the injured joint.  It means that you have a full year to gradually increase the stress to the joint and ligament to maximally align and strengthen the support of the ligament.  A marathon in September would put you in the early stages of remodeling, well before it is fully healed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are things that you can do to help each phase of healing, but you cannot alter the fact that it takes time for tissue to heal.  So you may want to check with a sports physical or physiotherapist to help guide you to successful recovery. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T22:25:52.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25472" CreationDate="2015-07-17T04:45:05.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a step count alone, I wouldn't bother as the error could be as much as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2914523/Why-fitness-tracker-waste-money-New-research-shows-gadgets-wildly-inaccurate-40-CENT.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;+/- 40%&lt;/a&gt;. Primarily as your step length changes with speed, as does wind resistance and energy expended, the gradient of a walk, your body fat percentage and fitness level will also affect the calculation, but the errors these factors introduce can be reduced by aggregating several data sets. Say if you use your total steps / distance gathered over several weeks, in a single calculation, this should allow you to reduce the errors due to variations in your speed, the gradient (should appear flat if the data set is large enough), and wind speed, in an aggregated walk &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get a very rough number plug a few values into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://certification.acsm.org/metabolic-calcs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACSM equation&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kcal/Min&lt;/strong&gt; ~= 0.0005 * bodyMassKg * metersWalkedInAMin + 0.0035&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then multiply the result by the total time walked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still without data from an ECG and face mask based gas analyzers there aren't &lt;strong&gt;any accurate equations&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can guess the duration of your daily walks you could simply use the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MET formula&lt;/a&gt; to estimate the calories, which will produce a number in the same ballpark as a pedometer based estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Walking Calorie Burn Calculator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a bit of light reading: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/1836/McKenzieJ0507.pdf?sequence=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THE USE OF GPS TO PREDICT ENERGY EXPENDITURE FOR OUTDOOR WALKING&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/Run_Walk2004a.rtf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running: Comparison with Prediction Equations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ijmhr.org/ijpr_articles_vol1_4/329.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COMPARISION OF ENERGY EXPENDITURE DURING WALKING AND RUNNING ON TRACK BEFORE AND AFTER TRAINING IN YOUNG HEALTHY ADULT WOMEN&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1810544/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reliability of pedometer data in samples of youth and older women&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/8482514_Commercially_available_pedometers_considerations_for_accurate_step_counting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Commercially available pedometers: considerations for accurate step counting.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/content/95/1/121.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Measuring activity levels of young people: the validity of pedometers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T08:52:22.297" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T08:52:22.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25468" CreationDate="2015-07-17T07:07:27.767" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a very common misconception here. Many people think that certain types of exercise will give you one body shape or the other. The reasoning is (more or less explicitly), that since power lifters are bulky, working out like a power lifter will make you bulky, and since dancers are fit and lean, &quot;working out&quot; like a dancer will make you fit and lean. Similarly, many people think that martial arts will make you look shredded, eventhough the shreddedness is a consequence of the weight class-system in martial arts competitions. This is totally wrong. If you workout like a power lifters but restrict (instead of increase) your caloric intake, you will end up shredded. Similarly if you train like a dancer but eat too much you will be fat but with good coordination and functional strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, there are only two things you can change. Muscle volume (i.e. the thickness of your muscles) and fat mass. For most people, the best way towards a lean body shape is heavy weight lifting and restricting your caloric intake. The schedule you wrote down will certainly be good for you, but it won't make you lean, it will give you more muscular endurance and some more volume, that's it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T07:07:27.767" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25504" CreationDate="2015-07-17T11:09:14.510" Score="3" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arch support in a shoe seems to be important these days.  I recently read an opinion that Vibram five-fingers shoes might not be as good as once thought, partially due to lack of arch support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People used to run and do all activities without shoes.  Even recently, Converse (presumably without arch supports, same as today) were an official shoe for things like basketball.  Our feet are not formed with shoes in mind.  Shoes were an afterthought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why is arch support so important?  Is it because our feet have become accustomed to them and are now incapable of safely walking / running 'the natural way'?  Is it a marketing gimmick?  Or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T17:23:00.513" Title="What's the deal with arch support?" Tags="&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25472" CreationDate="2015-07-17T12:37:01.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;thank you for your answers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i think i have figured out an aswer, and my boss accepted it, because this little pedometer won't have any gps connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is the formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.) &lt;code&gt;Calories burned per mile = 0.57 x 175 lbs.(your weight) = 99.75 calories per mile.&lt;/code&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.)&lt;code&gt;Your_strip = height * 0,415.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.) &lt;code&gt;steps_in_1_mile = 160934.4(mile in cm) / strip.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4.) &lt;code&gt;&quot;conversationFactor&quot; = stepsCount (what the pedometer provides) / step_in_1_mile;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5.) &lt;code&gt;CaloriesBurned = stepsCount * conversationFactor;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what i need is: weight, height and stepcount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and here is a java class show how i calculate it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;public class CalorieBurnedCalculator {&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;// Fill with your data&#xA;&#xA;&#xA; static double weight = 67.0; // kg&#xA;&#xA; static double height = 178.0; // cm&#xA;&#xA; static double stepsCount = 4793;&#xA;&#xA;//Don't edit below this&#xA;&#xA;&#xA; final static double walkingFactor = 0.57;&#xA;&#xA; static double CaloriesBurnedPerMile;&#xA;&#xA; static double strip;&#xA;&#xA; static double stepCountMile; // step/mile&#xA;&#xA; static double conversationFactor;&#xA;&#xA; static double CaloriesBurned;&#xA;&#xA; static NumberFormat formatter = new DecimalFormat(&quot;#0.00&quot;);&#xA;&#xA; static double distance;&#xA;&#xA; public static void main(String[] args) {&#xA;&#xA;  CaloriesBurnedPerMile = walkingFactor * (weight * 2.2);&#xA;&#xA;  strip = height * 0.415;&#xA;&#xA;  stepCountMile = 160934.4 / strip;&#xA;&#xA;  conversationFactor = CaloriesBurnedPerMile / stepCountMile;&#xA;&#xA;  CaloriesBurned = stepsCount * conversationFactor;&#xA;&#xA;  System.out.println(&quot;Calories burned: &quot;&#xA;    + formatter.format(CaloriesBurned) + &quot; cal&quot;);&#xA;&#xA;  distance = (stepsCount * strip) / 100000;&#xA;&#xA;  System.out.println(&quot;Distance: &quot; + formatter.format(distance)&#xA;    + &quot; km&quot;);&#xA;&#xA; }&#xA;}&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that this is only an approximate value, but in the absence of other data acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16318" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T12:37:01.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25501" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-17T13:26:05.603" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, I am a 15 year old boy, 5f 11&quot;. I weight about 10st/140lb/63.5kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last month I have been exercising by just doing random push ups/sit ups throughout the day (roughly 100 push ups and 200 sit ups). I can do Sit Ups in groups of 40 and Push Ups in groups of 20-25. I know that just doing two different things isn't very effective, so I need an actual routine. The summer holidays are coming up for me (its my last day tomorrow) and in these 6 weeks I am wanting to spend more time on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, what kind of routine should I be doing? I just want to increase my upper body strength. I can spend money on dumbbells etc (I want to buy dumbbells, but I'm really not sure what weights I should get, I was thinking 5kg or 10kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what should I be eating? As I'm 14 I can't really control my diet, but I eat a lot (more than you would expect, I have a good metabolism though so I have virtually no body fat), and lately I never have anything sweet and I skip any puddings. I have always been more of a healthier person, always having my 5 a day in just fruit that I eat. My mum/dad cook healthy homemade meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was planning on buying g-fuel (&lt;a href=&quot;http://gfuel.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gfuel.com/&lt;/a&gt;). It's not a protein shake or anything, just a healthy energy drink basically which should help me if I take one drink every day before I workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16343" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T14:00:49.370" Title="Trying to stop being skinny and gain muscle" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-07-17T18:13:30.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25499" CreationDate="2015-07-17T13:36:49.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, feet do not look the same anymore, the use of shoes from early on shapes our feet, not only in their performance but also in their shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a picture of feet used to shoes and feet that has not been adapted to shoes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FCU20.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Feet adapted and not adapted to shoes&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, you can not expect that since we didn't use shoes, it's now safe (or better) to run barefeet. If you're flatfooted like me, running with shoes with arch support is a lot more efficient since you don't collapse (roll inwards) in every step. Also, sometimes, doing what's natural is not always best. Toughening out infections is not as good as using antibiotics. Similarly, shoes could enhance our natural pedal abilities. In addition, feet are evolved to run on dirt, not on asphalt or concrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding injuries, there is not really any good support for arch support. In a US army study of almost 3000 people, prescribing running shoes had no effect on injury rates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at professional runners, there are 0 highly successful runners who run without shoes or with toe shoes afaik. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-07-17T17:23:00.513" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T17:23:00.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25501" CreationDate="2015-07-17T14:00:49.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lift heavy, eat big, and prioritize&lt;/a&gt;. In your situation, that might look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pull-ups &amp;amp; Dumbbells&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find, buy, or make A) a sturdy pull-up bar that's not in anybody's way and B) a pair of heavy dumbbells - 10kg to 15kg each would be fine. Three or four times a week warm up then do a lot of pull-ups (50 per session is a good goal), 3 sets of overhead presses with the dumbbells (say, 5 to 8 per set), and 3 sets of goblet squats (say, 5 per set). If you find other exercises you want to do, that's fine, but do them last. You'll have to do the research yourself on how to do those exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you could buy a 20kg kettlebell and follow a basic kettlebell program of swings, get-ups, goblet squats, and eventually clean-and-presses. Any of Pavel's kettlebell routines would be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cook Your Own Food&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15 is plenty old enough to start buying groceries and cooking for yourself. If someone else cooks for you, start helping them, and by helping them gain some decision-making power over what gets bought and made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're helping shop and cook your food, eat a lot of it. Prioritize vegetables and meat, but eat a lot of both. Your best bets are high-animal-protein items like meat, eggs, milk, and fish, alongside staples like vegetables, greens, starches (e.g. sweet potatoes), and good fats like pastured butter, coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't Get Distracted&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick a goal, select a path towards it, and stick to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't miss workouts. Don't miss meals. Don't skimp on sleep. Find friends who want to work out with you instead of convince you to skip workouts to waste time drinking or doing nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T14:00:49.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25499" CreationDate="2015-07-17T14:58:44.540" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mostly agree with Marten's answer in that feet have changed with the widespread adoption of constant wearing of shoes, but I disagree with some of his other facts such as his assertion that there are no successful barefoot or minimalist runners (never mind that, at high levels of competition, arguing about minimalist equipment is kind of silly since they're working at the level of shaving off hundredths of a second).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, some people have weaker, or even fallen, arches, or &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.boots.com/foot-care/fallen-arches&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flat feet&lt;/a&gt;&quot; as the old term went. Sometimes it's something you're born with. Sometimes it's the result of past injury. If you have flat feet, you're going to need arch support, the same way that you'd need braces on your leg if you'd sustained injuries that left your legs unable to handle the regular impact of running. For most people, it simply is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best advice I've seen on barefoot and minimalist running is to try it in small segments first, 50-100 feet. It does change your technique, providing strain in body structures that you may not have exercised, even if you regularly run in shoes, so you want to start out slow and then ease your way up. Listen to your body. Also, if you are actually diagnosed with arch problems, talk to your doctor. &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/running-fallen-arches-1635.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There's some evidence that barefoot walking or running can help&lt;/a&gt;, but actual results may vary depending on the cause of your fallen arches, and leaping into it is more likely to cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T14:58:44.540" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-17T15:51:49.740" Score="1" ViewCount="1208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to run and need to know this to be able to get some runs in to keep on schedule. I haven't grown up near the gulf or ocean, so I dont know how close to the truth this is. Sometimes when there are lots thunderstorms overhead such that there are no space between them (overcast) the lightning seems to only hit the saltwater. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this very specific case is it true that the lightning will only the saltwater and is slightly safer to run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to make sense electrically since cloud to cloud plus cloud to saltwater are lower resistance paths to more sources of static charge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All day today in Pinellas County Florida the lightning stayed confined to the water, but about mid-day the pan handle had a slew of lightning strikes that appeared only on land. Unfortunately its impossible to know if it was overcast and stretched over both water and land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;--Deleted rant against closing votes--&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is no because weather changes too quickly for a 1-2 hour run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the lightning map shows that all the lightning is restrained to the water for hours on end sometimes it changes and starts going on land without any obvious reason for it on any radar or any view of the same overcast sky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-08-14T02:17:21.200" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T02:17:21.200" Title="Is it safe to run with thunder storms overhead in an overcast sky when you live near saltwater?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="14" ClosedDate="2015-07-23T16:14:49.410" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7116" CreationDate="2015-07-17T17:43:38.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand why all the answers saying timing doesn't matter are being downvoted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no link between time of protein ingestion in relation to working out that has any substantial effect. Please see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jissn.com/content/pdf/1550-2783-10-53.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this paper.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T17:43:38.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25507" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-17T20:09:50.863" Score="-1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to do exercises &amp;amp; look like Zyzz but I get bored fast. It would help me if I could set a goal. Let's say 30 minutes per day. So I'm looking for an app where I can set a daily countdown. I would start when I do exercises and stop if when i stop doing exercises. If it doesn't reach 0, what's left should be added to the countdown next day. Is there such an app?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16352" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T20:46:35.890" Title="Android app for fat people" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-20T07:53:03.830" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25507" CreationDate="2015-07-17T20:46:35.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a solid training program&lt;/a&gt; + &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/&quot;&gt;solid nutrition&lt;/a&gt; + &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25438/difficulty-to-eat-healthy-food-and-weight-loss/25492#25492&quot;&gt;discipline&lt;/a&gt; to stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding an app, some people like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jefit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;jefit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19351/zyzz-body-without-steroids/&quot;&gt;Zyzz&lt;/a&gt; died at the age of 22 in a Thai bath house of a heart attack, no help coming from his use of anabolic steroids and anphetamine like substances (fat burners): try not to be like him too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to destroy your body and die, by all means focus on sub 5% body fat in the next 6 months. If you want to look good, feel good, and have a healthy body for as long as possible, have realistic goals and use tried and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;true training programs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T20:46:35.890" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-17T22:07:09.557" Score="3" ViewCount="1294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been strong, broad shouldered and musculus, mostly genetic I think.  Though now in my forties, I have less mass than a few years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I want to regain, can or should I train differently than somebody trying to gain &quot;new&quot; strength and mass?  Especially, can I progress with more reps pr set, less sets or working less hard? (further from failure)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I understand regain in generally easy, because you still have the cells/nucli, though what I have read is mostly about young athletes and bodybuilders losing strength and mass over a short time)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T15:00:41.683" LastActivityDate="2019-03-06T14:12:58.003" Title="Regaining lost strength and muscles" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-18T03:14:34.390" Score="6" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a good book that will teach me general principles of exercise. I don't want to learn about any specific workout programs. I'm really just seeking to learn more about fitness so I can put together my own workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16356" LastActivityDate="2015-07-19T17:47:42.013" Title="What are good books on general exercise principles?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25505" CreationDate="2015-07-18T04:11:32.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to provide some background, lightning is a real problem and causes a lot of casualties. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1MbwZKi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Medicine for Mountaineering, 6th Edition&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lightning was the second most common cause of weather-related death&#xA;  over the forty-year period from 1962 to 2002. Only floods, many of&#xA;  which are also produced by thunderstorms, killed more people during&#xA;  this time. Lightning kills more people than hurricanes and tornados&#xA;  combined. During the ten-year period 1940 through 1949 approximately&#xA;  330 people were killed each year by lightning in the United States.&#xA;  Now, approximately one hundred people lose their lives that way each&#xA;  year. Of equal note, however, only about 10 percent of the individuals&#xA;  hit by lightning are killed. The remaining 90 percent may suffer&#xA;  long-lasting injuries or disabilities, and lightning may even have a&#xA;  lifetime impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When lightning is around, you really aren't safe anywhere:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The spot where lightning is going to strike is not determined until&#xA;  the bolt is about 30 meters from the ground or object. Shorter objects&#xA;  may be struck even though a taller object is nearby. Associated step&#xA;  voltages and surface arcs may be fatal more than 40 meters from the&#xA;  initial strike point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically related to Florida, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stats.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/jeh5_05_45-50.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Journal of Environmental Health had an article which went into some state and regional statistics&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rhode Island, North Dakota, Hawaii, Delaware, and&#xA;  Alaska did not record any incidents during the period. Twenty-two&#xA;  states recorded one to five deaths; 14 states recorded six to 10&#xA;  deaths; and 10 states recorded ≥10 deaths (Table 2). Texas (32 deaths)&#xA;  and Florida (49 deaths) together accounted for 22 percent of&#xA;  fatalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest piece of advice I could offer up is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lightningman.com.au/safety_procedures.html#4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;30-30 rule&lt;/a&gt;. Lightning moves 1 mile in 5 seconds. If the flash-to-bang time is less than 30 seconds, you are in an active lightning area and should seek appropriate shelter until the storm has passed for more than 30 minutes. Most deaths and injuries occur after the rain is done and the threat of the storm seems to have passed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In places like Florida, New Mexico, and the Rockies where lightning is a way of life it's pretty common for people to be relaxed and complacement. But again, these are the places where most people get killed or seriously injured for life, so just because someone's gotten away with dangerous behavior doesn't mean it's a good idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some decent shelters for someone running down roads and cross country:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Under a bridge, overpass, or tunnel. Don't stand by any metal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In a car, with the windows rolled up. Only a hardtop, no convertibles / soft tops.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Underneath high voltage electrical lines. Keep at least 50' away from the metal towers. The towers and lines are designed to handle lightning strikes and carry the current deep underground. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T04:17:07.633" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T04:17:07.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25513" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-07-18T07:12:25.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calculated for an activity as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt; = vVO2Max = VO2Max / 3.5 = kCalBurnt / (bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T16:47:52.210" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T16:47:52.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25514" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-07-18T07:12:25.877" Score="0" Body="Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET): a metric used to express the relative energy cost of a physical activity, compared to the base a baseline of 1 MET attached to an individual while resting (sitting quietly).&#xD;&#xA;&#xD;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T16:47:57.843" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T16:47:57.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25515" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25538" CreationDate="2015-07-18T09:59:24.983" Score="8" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for exercises to build the upper-body, in particular chest and triceps that I can do basically anywhere (when I don't have equipment/weights available). I have done a lot of variations on push-ups for this purpose before, but I have problems with my wrists and the push-ups put too much pressure on them. I'm looking for alternatives that do not put load on my wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note, it's primarily pressure along the axis of the hand-arm causing me troubles. Force in the perpendicular direction is generally okay. I don't need zero load on the wrists, anything with reduced load would be appreciated.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16360" LastActivityDate="2018-04-17T15:37:30.017" Title="An equipment-free exercise for triceps / chest without pressue on the wrist" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25510" CreationDate="2015-07-18T14:52:59.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few years back, while working on writing some fitness software, I came upon a book by Jim Bennett called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/shopping/product/17790677378770461971?q=the+weight+training+workbook+jim+bennett&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=993&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.&amp;amp;bvm=bv.98197061,d.cWw&amp;amp;ion=1&amp;amp;tch=1&amp;amp;ech=1&amp;amp;psi=dmCqVd_PH4ja-QHguIDgDQ.1437229184827.11&amp;amp;prds=paur:ClkAsKraX6i-_R9me46UNmqf3BcDxonGFH0A7O8NJpGAoG8P0IP5r4SZ1bc64c8p4B5LHB-8iThlCluaUnD8M2TCFzTvBbPZw1BzISINkVQeAyNx9UaQ_ZKzhBIZAFPVH724WnbWxKxbNnt4Q3-NOUVn7NNGGw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CM4BEPMCMABqFQoTCJaAyJPw5MYCFcpxPgodcYQMig&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Weight Training Workbook&lt;/a&gt;.  I was so impressed by the content that I decided to package it with the software.  The book opens with a foreword by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.billpearl.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bill Pearl&lt;/a&gt; former Mr. America, Mr. USA, and Mr. Universe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“This no-nonsense book leaves little to the imagination.  It covers all&#xA;  the basics and has everything necessary to start a sound fitness&#xA;  program. The Weight Training Workbook takes the guess work out of&#xA;  weight training and shows you how to design and track your training&#xA;  programs.  It leads you through the do's and don'ts that are so&#xA;  important when striving to achieve personal fitness goals.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's followed by “The Basics of Weight Training” which provides all aspects of training including goals, equipment, specific exercises, designing routines, nutrition and much more.  The book contains illustrations of all the mentioned exercises and includes a “workbook” at the end for designing a routine and tracking your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two other books that may be of interest were written by &lt;strong&gt;three&lt;/strong&gt; time Mr. Olympia &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.frankzane.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Frank Zane&lt;/a&gt;.  Known as the &quot;Zen&quot; bodybuilder, Frank was not your typical bodybuilder as he stressed symmetry and pleasing proportionals over total mass.  His books stress exercise programs, nutrition, psychology, dreams, meditation, motivation, and inspiration.  The two I would recommend are &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1560251123&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mind, Body, Spirit&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0671243675&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Zane Way to a Beautiful Body&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T19:45:07.613" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T19:45:07.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25527" CreationDate="2015-07-18T20:00:37.343" Score="-2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does an increase in testosterone cause anabolism? If yes, what can cause it? (except from taking anabolic steroids and exercising)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="12044" LastEditDate="2015-07-19T16:24:30.700" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T07:17:33.867" Title="Testosterone causes anabolism?" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-18T20:10:50.077" Score="6" ViewCount="619" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't perform a single pull-up, or even a chin-up. I can't lift myself to the bar, however when using a low bar (one that I can start from the top) I can perform 3-4 chin-ups but still no pull-ups. What's the matter with me? How can I fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10260" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T05:36:16.833" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T13:06:49.530" Title="I can't perform a single pull-up" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2015-07-18T21:18:17.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got back from kayaking, while wearing my &quot;One&quot; Fitbit - in three different positions.  First I velcroed it to my wrist, and counted 100 paddle strokes.  I counted L-R-L-R as 1-2-3-4.  The Fitbit reported 82 steps.  I repeated it, and got 90 steps.  Next I velcroed it to my upper arm, just above my elbow - a bit uncomfortable.  I got 150 steps.  Next I put it in my shirt breast pocket.  I got 27 steps.  So the wrist seems to be the most accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16363" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T21:18:17.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1341" CreationDate="2015-07-18T21:47:48.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, human metabolism isn't remotely the same as birds.  Bird migration is similar to HIT. HIT &lt;strong&gt;does&lt;/strong&gt; metabolize (or cannibalize) muscle mass.  I've seen it in wrestlers for years.  Wrestler workouts are the most intense training out there.  Average workouts are HIT training sessions.  And every year, my football players who turn out for wrestling get really frustrated when they see their lift maxes (strength) go down.  BUT one thing I noticed is these athlete's strength spring back at a super high-rate.  They will spend all spring and summer working on building their mass and then try to maintain this mass during the season only to lose substantial amounts during their wrestling season.  Wrestlers call this &quot;hardening&quot; up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extended HIT training will cannibalize muscle mass.  Long anaerobic workouts (low impact) as well as balanced dieting is how you metabolize fat.  It's a long, arduous task.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16364" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T21:47:48.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25510" CreationDate="2015-07-19T17:29:12.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One book that's been helpful is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1450459749&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jim Stoppani's Encyclopedia of Muscle &amp;amp; Strength&lt;/a&gt;. It has information on core concepts, workout programs, and nutrition along with a handy list of exercises. It also breaks down how to organize your workout program for various possible fitness goals (losing weight, gaining muscle mass, and gaining strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16356" LastActivityDate="2015-07-19T17:29:12.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25510" CreationDate="2015-07-19T17:47:42.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm partial to Tom Kurz' Science of Sports Training. Supertraining is well spoken of. Part of the problem you'll run into is that this is an incredibly broad topic that can span multiple distinct research disciplines. Going from the high level overview down to the biochemistry will take a long time if you're just looking to put together a workout program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CDC physical activity recommendations&lt;/a&gt; and similar &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_adults/en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WHO recommendations&lt;/a&gt; are a good place to start for the skeleton of workout programming. I'd start from there and fill in the blanks with topic-specific books like Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore's Practical Programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-07-19T17:47:42.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27397" CreationDate="2015-07-20T05:36:46.270" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;For gaining muscle, you usually have to do between 8-15 reps with multiple sets.&#xA;My problem is, for example, if I do close grip chin ups in my first set cleanly and without cheating 8 reps, and, as I progress to next sets with  1-1, 30 min rest between each sets, I can't do the exact amounts of reps which I did in first set. And, it will fall to 4-5 reps in 3rd or 4th set (because of lack of energy) and it will be changed from hypertrophy to strength.  So, what do you suggest? Should I cheat in last sets in order to hit the first set's rep range, or, should I increase my rest time? Will it preserve it's hypertrophy effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8693" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-07-20T12:29:24.573" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T17:31:56.963" Title="How to hit prescribed reps in last sets?" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25525" CreationDate="2015-07-20T07:12:23.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite common to have too short rest periods between sets, so increasing it will lower the effect you are noticing. The effect won't vanish however, I would suggest that you set your goal like 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps (3 sets), that way, you will challenge yourself in every set instead of just the last ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In exercises where you are able to decrease the amount of weight, do that instead, if you want to keep the number of reps the same. For chins, use a rubber band or do negative reps instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T07:12:23.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25517" CreationDate="2015-07-20T07:17:33.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about the natural fluctuations of T, the answer is likely No. It's a common idea that it's good to do leg day even for arms because squats and deadlifts give you high temporary levels of T (all exercise do, but squats and deadlifts use a larger amount of muscle.) This higher level of T is then supposed to be good even for your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies where one group is training arms while one is training arms and legs do not show this effect however, the higher T levels in the latter group does not result in a higher muscle growth in the arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T07:17:33.867" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25518" CreationDate="2015-07-20T08:38:14.657" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do slow negatives, start at the top and lower yourself slowly, this is the way most people get strong enough to do their first, clean pull/chin-ups. If you have a rubber band to attach to the bar, that can work too.,&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J2cPh.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T08:38:14.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-20T18:52:49.823" Score="2" ViewCount="1177" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will using the &quot;5x5&quot; formula will build size and strength at same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16377" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T17:16:53.970" Title="Will 5x5 build strength and size?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25515" CreationDate="2015-07-20T18:58:41.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;May I suggest the plank hold? It works your entire chest, back, abs, and delts. This allows pressure more on elbows than wrists. Also when in plank position, I suppose you could lower yourself up and down as a substitute for regular push up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16377" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T18:58:41.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25817" CreationDate="2015-07-20T19:11:00.560" Score="6" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read an article today which has a really interesting part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Losing fat and gaining muscle can both be done, just not together.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if we get away from the small timeframes and start thinking&#xA;about our diet over the course of a week or a month, then we start to&#xA;have more options. For example, let’s say that you workout 3 days per&#xA;week. &lt;strong&gt;You could organize your eating routine to have a calorie surplus&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;on the days you train (i.e. gain muscle) and then a calorie deficit o&lt;/strong&gt;n&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;the days you rest (i.e. lose fat). That way, by the end of the week&lt;/strong&gt;,&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;it’s possible for you to have spent 3 days gaining muscle and 4 days&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;losing fat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this possible (gaining muscle and losing fat on the same week)? If it is should I eat more on resting days instead of on workout days? I thought that muscle gaining happens on resting days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the curious people: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jamesclear.com/intermittent-fasting-lessons-learned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is the article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A note on my workout plan:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was doing weight training a year ago for more than a year and I restarted it 4 months ago. Since I already have experience with it I hired a trainer to put together a plan for me which consists of 3 workouts per week (A B and C) so each muscle is moved once a week. So far I have managed to put on some muscle but also some fat. I would like to optimize my diet/workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1824" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T22:41:16.087" Title="Intermittent fasting and body building. Do they work together?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25531" CreationDate="2015-07-20T19:26:53.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few 5x5 formulas out there, the first that I'm aware of being &lt;a href=&quot;http://oldschooltrainer.com/bill-starrs-5-x-5-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bill Starr&lt;/a&gt;'s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;madcow 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&quot; variant was initially set up as modded version for body builders, with the power clean being replaced by barbell rows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fundamentally, between those two and all the others you still end up with a basic formula of Monday:Volume / Wednesday:Light / Friday:Heavy . Most of the changes between the different 5x5 programs are switching out cleans for deadlifts, incline for flat bench, or other things of that sort. The weekly schedule, and ~2.5% weekly increase in weights is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will using the &quot;5x5&quot; formula will build size and strength at same&#xA;  time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see how that's not possible, unless you're already pretty big and pretty strong in which case an intermediate program might not be enough for you. By that I mean you can squat maybe 3x your bodyweight, or something else ridiculously up there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only caveat I'd provide is that you tend to not be very lean when doing these. Your whole goal is to make your numbers, so you will (and should) error on the side of too many calories. Not stupid-too-many, but being on a strict diet of water and broccoli isn't going to cut it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say how anyone's body will respond to a training program, but imagine pulling 600lbs off the ground in a deadlift: you'll be pretty damn big and pretty damn strong, and the road to there is with progressive overload lifting programs like 5x5 (and 5/3/1, Texas method, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T19:26:53.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25535" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25553" CreationDate="2015-07-20T19:30:50.963" Score="2" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;for the last 2 months, I've been cycling for about 2 times a week and eating a little bit less. Last month I've been exercising(read cycling, jogging or hiking) for about 3 - 4 times a week and for last two months I've been exercising 5 times a week. I exercise for at least an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also drink about 2,5 - 3 liters of water daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For breakfast, I usually drink a protein shake at about 6am. Then, at around 9am I eat a portion of melon or watermelon. I drink black coffee in the morning. Then at about 11am I eat a can of tuna fish or another portion of melon or watermelon, or a portion of greek yogurt with blueberries. At around 4 - 5 pm I eat lunch, which is mainly proteins and vegetables ( I eat small portion of bread or something like that, but not everyday). Then I exercise, and after exercise drink one protein shake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been eating like this for 3 weeks now and I simply cannot lose a pound, nor do I look &quot;thinner&quot; in mirror. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My BMR is 1662.&#xA;My TDEE is 2275.&#xA;H: 167cm&#xA;W: 66 kg&#xA;age: 21&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16378" LastEditorUserId="16378" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T05:20:27.047" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T13:08:31.673" Title="Cannot lose weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25531" CreationDate="2015-07-20T19:45:04.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer that question requires some basic understanding on how muscles grow.  Strengtheory has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/grow-like-a-new-lifter-again/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good article&lt;/a&gt; that provides the basics.  The short answer is that &lt;em&gt;it depends&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether 5x5 will build strength and muscle for you depends on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your genetics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your training maturity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether the weight is heavy enough to cause fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How well you manage your recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a &lt;strong&gt;beginner&lt;/strong&gt;, then the good news is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Almost anything you do will increase strength and size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you mature as a lifter, it gets increasingly more difficult to focus on both size and strength.  There's several general programs out there that will give you general results, and many of them focus more on the strength side than the hypertrophy side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are &lt;strong&gt;intermediate to advanced&lt;/strong&gt;, then the bad news is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You'll have to pick a training focus and use periodization to leverage the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that many strength competitors in this situation will use an &quot;off season&quot; to focus on hypertrophy and just look for a mental break from trying to keep adding weight on the bar.  As they get closer to a competition, the training focus moves more towards strength.  This is most common in Strongman, but also very common in Powerlifting.  Many competitors will also take some time off from the weight room and just work on general physical preparedness for a couple months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too much in strength training depends on several factors that you can never truly be emphatic on most answers.  There's nothing magic about 5x5 or 3x5.  They are good for general purpose volume, and help in both strength and size (provided the weight is heavy enough) for a large number of people.  There's always people who can get decently strong but struggle to add size.  There's also always people who pretty much get stuck at a certain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most beginner 5x5 programs are geared for short term gains in strength, and then you start working with a different program.  3 months on a beginner program should be plenty, and then you can slow down how agressively you attempt to add on more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T19:45:04.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-20T21:00:08.377" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working currently on increasing flexibility in my adductors (specifically the left leg, since it is stiffer than my right), and eventually would like to be able to do a full side split. Should I be warmed up to do my split stretches, or would I be fine simply doing the stretches standalone, without a warmup?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do need to warm up to effectively increase flexibility, what sort of warm up would suffice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16380" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T21:00:08.377" Title="warming up to increase splits" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25515" CreationDate="2015-07-21T00:28:14.963" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use Your Body (or someone else's)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where a buddy is great. Have them provide the resistance by grabbing your forearms. It may take some finagling, but you'll get a good position. You can do this for just about any free-weight exercise. Curls? Done. Bench press? Done. Flys? Done, done, done. The great thing is, with a little bit of adjustment, your partner can turn it into an exercise for themselves too, especially if they're a little weaker than you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But Jim, I'm too sexy for my shirt, much less friends&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know, I understand. If your friends are all intimidated by your dead-sexy Apolline physique, you could use an exercise strap around your thigh instead. Or around a fence post, lamp post, huge freaking rock, whatever's not going to break on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You mentioned Gravity, I loved that movie!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great, I can work with that! If you're stuck alone, you could also use this movie as inspiration for a workout: Try just working against gravity. For example, for triceps: Lift your arms over your head, like doing a triceps stretch... But instead of stretch, do hammer curls--I'm using the term loosely, but Ryan points out in the comments this is called &quot;Dumbbell Tricep Extension&quot;. Cool! This obviously does not work your chest all that much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chest, you can lay on your back, reach your arms out wide, and lift them up an inch off the ground. And then... well, you could just hold them there. I'm not even kidding, just hold them up to where every inch of flesh on your arms is one inch off the ground. Turn on Gravity. When you can watch the whole movie without lifting or dropping, you will have... ... well, probably really weird looking pecs, if we're honest. You might try working just a narrow range of motion. Such as--&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I like Michael Bay instead&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;--Cool, wow, that's an apropos interjection. Let's adapt that Gravity pec workout: Lift your arms one inch off the ground, and move them through, say, 30 degrees of motion; the arc is the same as if you were going to bring both palms together in front of your chest, just like doing fly's... but only do 30 degrees (or 16 degrees, or 6 inches, or whatever inspires you). Once you get the hang of that, move your arms up against gravity with &lt;em&gt;explosive&lt;/em&gt; speed--but when you bring them back down, bring them down slowly. We're talking, say, 10 seconds to drop back down through those 30 degrees (or 16 degrees, or 6 inches, or whatever). DO NOT let your arms touch the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This stuff's awesome, but I got inspired to work out watching Road Warrior&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a post-apocalyptic theme to your workout, jump right in! Do high reps with your rifle (unloaded, properly cleared, etc) as a load for, say, bench press, or reverse curls, or I don't care, again anything you'd use free weights for. A rifle's going to be somewhere between 5-10 pounds. Or, if you're stuck in California, accept my apologies and use your day pack instead (or just your medical pouch, depending on how you pack). Or just a gallon of water, around 8.34 pounds.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://sill-www.army.mil/428thfa/FM%2021-20%20(PT).pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's the PDF&lt;/a&gt; of Army FM 21-20, Physical Fitness Training. There's a lot of good stuff in here, I like Rifle Drills, found on page 8-11. Perusing this also reminded me that exercise in just water provides some pretty good resistance too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about laywers?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you mean the ones who will sue? OK, here's an obligatory: I'm no physical fitness instructor, I've just led military PT for injured people. With no training. I was assigned the duty because I was also injured and recovering, and had the common sense God gave a brick... not because I'm trained. So stop if something hurts. Talk to a real trainer before starting this stuff. etc etc. If you don't, then you're taking your health into your own hands. Obviously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR do you mean the lawyers in the gym who say you can only exercise in lycra, with steel bars, using machines with pulleys and plates, and only in the ways people have decided are normal? 'cause screw those guys. You came to a website for advice, so you're probably ready to consider the unorthodox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16381" LastEditorUserId="16381" LastEditDate="2015-07-22T02:10:18.457" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T02:10:18.457" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25533" CreationDate="2015-07-21T01:26:49.463" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can definitely build muscle and burn fat at the same time. To build muscle, you need to eat protein. To burn body fat, you need to eat less energy (carbs and fat). Most importantly,  &lt;strong&gt;you don't need to use intermittent fasting to accomplish both of these goals at once (yet).&lt;/strong&gt; It certainly won't do you any harm, but you will get very little out of it, so there's no reason to go through the trouble. Hardcore bodybuilders need to bulk and cut simply because few to no foods have enough protein and little enough carbs and fat to let them lose any more body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: scoobysworkshop.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16382" LastEditorUserId="16382" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T02:32:48.830" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T02:32:48.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25541" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25546" CreationDate="2015-07-21T01:46:42.480" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a formula that incorporated duration, distance/speed, body weight and incline to calculate the number of calories burnt when using the treadmill. Is there a simple way to adjust that formula if I were to wear weights while walking? Could I just add that to the body weight, or would that be way off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3530" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T07:48:11.863" Title="Calculating calories for weighted treadmill wlaking" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T05:28:14.327" Score="7" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;What food should I eat? &#xA;I am assuming the aim is to eat food that has protien in it.. &#xA;And the aim is to have the protien being absorbed fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use a food supplement? such as a powder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16383" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T00:48:20.093" Title="Food a vegan should eat after weight lifting that is intended to build mass muscle?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25548" CreationDate="2015-07-21T05:42:32.317" Score="1" ViewCount="2733" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strava.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strava&lt;/a&gt; stats from a walk I just took after lunch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/btJeb.png&quot; alt=&quot;3.3km, 34:14 moving time, 10:18 /km, Calories 289&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly, I'm a fast walker.  But 289 calories seems to be way over the top for a 3.3km walk.  (Isn't the rule-of-thumb &quot;100 calories per mile&quot; for running?)  If it's correct, I probably have already burned away most of what I ate for lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;: Is Strava overestimating my calories burned from walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm attempting to use this app to assist in weight loss, an underestimation would be more helpful to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm running the app from my mobile phone.  I'm currently 70kg (hopefully not for much longer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16384" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T09:39:17.390" Title="Is Strava overestimating my calories burned from walking?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25543" CreationDate="2015-07-21T07:40:09.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah, that seems like a lot, I'm 90kg and I would question such a number for myself! Try some online calculators and see what value they give you, the ones I tried gave a number around 200 kcal. Using these calculators is tricky because you don't know wether they give you the total number of calories burned or the amount of extra calories burned above your basal metabolism (which is around 80 kcal/hour)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T07:40:09.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25535" CreationDate="2015-07-21T07:47:05.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your weight consist of many parts, one is fat matt, one is lean mass, but your water level and the amount of food in your digestive system is another one. This last one can be considered noise, they make it harder to know wether one has lost weight or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 weeks is not necessarily enough time to know if you've actually lost fat mass, 3 weeks of good weight loss diet means about 3 pounds lost, but water and food in your body can easily vary more than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To KNOW wether you're losing weight or not, I would recommend learning to count calories (google it), weighing yourself every morning and knowing that a single weigh-in doesn't tell your exact weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T07:47:05.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25541" CreationDate="2015-07-21T07:48:11.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be a good approximation, it will probably add a slight error but such a formula in itself is by necessity quite inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T07:48:11.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T07:59:45.803" Score="2" ViewCount="2214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard from a lot of people that swimming helps relieve sore muscles, is it true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If true, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2111" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T16:31:54.560" Title="Is it true that swimming helps with sore muscles?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25543" CreationDate="2015-07-21T09:07:50.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, given your weight and pace I'd expect a value below 150 Kcal. A way to confirm this would be to plug your details into a couple of the common Kcal estimation equations and take an average eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://certification.acsm.org/metabolic-calcs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACSM&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt; formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ACSM Kcal/Min ~= 0.0005 * bodyMassKg * metersWalkedInAMin + 0.0035&#xA;              ~= 0.0005 * 70 * 96 + 0.0035&#xA;              ~= 3.3635 Kcal/Min&#xA;              ~= 115 Kcal in 34.25 min / 3.3Km&#xA;&#xA;MET Kcal      ~= METS   * bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours&#xA;              ~= 5.0    * 70         * 0.25&#xA;              ~= 87.5 Kcal/Mile&#xA;              ~= 180 in 3.3Km&#xA;&#xA;    where METS = 5.0 (walking, 4.0 mph, level, firm surface, very brisk pace)&#xA;&#xA;Average: (180 + 115) / 2 = 147.5 Kcal in 3.3Km&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your fitness level is a significant factor in how much energy your body needs to perform a task, an even better way to confirm the accuracy of the Strava calculation would be to capture your heart rate after a mile, one of the free apps that uses your phone's camera, to measure the pulse in a finger should suffice, or just fall back on simply taking your pulse. Then at your leisure plug your heart rate, the split time to walk the mile, and a few vitals into the Rockport Walking test formula, to obtain an estimated VO2max score (fitness assessment score): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Estimated VO2Max = 132.853 - (0.0769 * WeightLbs) - (0.3877 * AgeYears) + (6.315 * isMale) - (3.2649 * TimeMinDecimal) - (0.1565 × HeartRateBPM)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;isMale: Male = 1, Female = 0 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Time to walk mile is expressed in minutes and 100ths of minutes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are sites / apps that will do this for you eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Heart Rate Based Calorie Burn Calculator&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BioMetrIcs&lt;/a&gt;. As well as providing the summary Kcal for your activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Kcal/Min ~= 5 * massKg * VO2 / 1000&#xA;&#xA;where:&#xA;&#xA;VO2 = (currentHeartRate / MaxHeartRate) * VO2Max&#xA;&#xA;MaxHeartRate ~= 210 - (0.8 * ageYears)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: There have been a few studies around that assessed the accuracy of the tracker apps eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2914523/Why-fitness-tracker-waste-money-New-research-shows-gadgets-wildly-inaccurate-40-CENT.html#ixzz3gVqH22Ir&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why your fitness tracker could be a waste of money: New research shows the must-have gadgets are often wildly inaccurate by as much as 40 PER CENT&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T09:39:17.390" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T09:39:17.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25570" CreationDate="2015-07-21T09:14:48.677" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 27 yo, I am overweight(175cm for 98kg) and right now practicing little to no sports (biking everyday for 40 mins and an occasional swim in the pool). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was younger I practiced swimming and capoeira, enjoying both higly, but abandoned sports due to time constraints and lazyness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now in a moment of my life where I have some spare mental energy and time (and I also recently gained quite a bit due to unehealty eating habits and no exercise) to devote to getting fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the main issue is that until I am fit I have a hard time making myself do exercises. I could, e.g. , go to the swimming pool, but without a clear set of exercises to perform I would get out of the pool feeling like I have not exercised satisfactorily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask you to provide an exercise plan keeping in mind the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Free body&lt;/strong&gt; : any exercise should be carried out without using any instruments, I don't mind push ups or similar, but I don't like lifting weights or having to go to specific places to carry out the routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scalable&lt;/strong&gt; : ideally, the plan is composed of a sequence of exercises to perform any other day. Starting with a low number of repetitions which can be approximately multiplied up after a period of time (e.g. 10 push-ups the first two weeks, than 1.5x each week until the seventh week). &lt;em&gt;Bonus&lt;/em&gt;, if it could be split into smaller sessions (e.g. two 30 mins sessions) to fit other scheduling issues on occasion, great!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Detailed&lt;/strong&gt; : I wish to take as few decisions as possible on what I should do during a training session, so please make a specific list (10 of this, 20 of that, take a break, 10 of that other one). Include the needed stretching exercises and resources with descriptions of the exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Space requirements&lt;/strong&gt; : ideally, (most) of the exercises are  doable at home, or in the park, or in an big enough area in the office.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goals&lt;/strong&gt; : the main goal is to lose weight and get fit and energetic, and keep exercising as an habit. The training session should be a moment of &lt;em&gt;HARD&lt;/em&gt; work that challenges my current ability at any time and improves my fitness. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Likes and dislikes&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Bonus&lt;/em&gt;, anything that could get me more flexible is welcome. I always enjoyed stuff like handstands and yoga-like stuff where you slowly assume different challenging positions. I do not like running at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I ask for a complete answer, but please feel free to chime in with suggestion or resources, or even just part of routines that I could fit in. I will probably end up stitching pieces together for the final workout sheet, so all suggestions are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13255/how-to-lose-fat-fast-and-healthily&quot;&gt;This is a related question&lt;/a&gt; with useful information, but my request here is about building a set of exercise with some specific requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16388" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T10:09:24.953" Title="Fitness schedule to get in good shape, 27, overweight" Tags="&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2199" CreationDate="2015-07-21T10:48:08.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you spend a few min's performing one of the general fitness assessments, to obtain your approximate &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VO2max volume&lt;/a&gt;, then your heart rate and activity duration should offer enough data to calculate a fairly accurate value, see: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12435/is-it-possible-to-measure-calorie-burn-from-heart-rate-alone?lq=1&quot;&gt;Is it possible to measure calorie burn from heart rate alone?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T10:48:08.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25552" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T12:21:50.387" Score="3" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've tried to keep this question as non-programmer-friendly as possible, but please let me know if you don't understand something.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a software developer and I'm looking over some old code and I have come across a formula for working out calories burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;METs = (1.5245 * milesPerHour) + 0.1128;&#xA;caloriesBurned = (durationMinutes * ((METs * 3.5 * kilograms) / 200.0f));&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't figure out for definite what the unnamed arbitrary numbers are supposed to represent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did some research and found that the &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; formula for working out calories burned is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Energy (kcal) = METs * weight (kg) * time (hours)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I speculate that the &lt;strong&gt;numbers in the first equation&lt;/strong&gt; have come about because someone just plugged some values into Excel and used the formula displayed on the trendline &lt;strong&gt;as an estimate&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The numbers in the second equation elude me completely. I thought it might be converting kJ to kcal, but the equation already outputs calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I noticed that the duration in the code is in minutes, but the formula I expect wants hours. However, &lt;code&gt;(3.5/200)&lt;/code&gt; makes no sense converting from minutes to hours. (Coincidentally, it is a close approximation 0.016 ≈ 0.0175)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I've found the &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/help/unit-conversions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;resource&lt;/a&gt; the original developer must have used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work Unit Conversions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 MET = 3.5 ml/kg/min&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;1 MET = 1 kcal/kg/hr&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;...&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;METS to Kcal/min = multiply METS x 3.5 x body weight in kg then divide by 200&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still have no idea where that &lt;strong&gt;200&lt;/strong&gt; comes from and I think the resource might be erroneous anyway as it seems to equate calories to mlO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NB:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm not looking for a new / &amp;quot;correct&amp;quot; formula, unfortunately I can't change this. However I'd like to be able to add comments to the code so that I can understand if / why it's wrong if I look at it again in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do the arbitrary numbers mean in the above formulas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16389" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T19:14:14.003" Title="What is this seemingly random value when working out calories burned?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="17" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25535" CreationDate="2015-07-21T13:08:31.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calories in vs. Calories out is the very first thing you need to truly keep track of.  The primary reason for forcing you to do some homework is so that you can see just how close your calorie balance is.  Do understand that the calculators are just to get you in the ballpark, and individual physiologies vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can only improve what you measure&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track how many calories you are eating every day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track your body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track your measurements (waist, chest, arms, legs, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track everything you eat (snacks included, don't lie to yourself)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your TDEE (for lightly active) puts you at needing ~2300 calories a day to &lt;em&gt;maintain&lt;/em&gt; your current body weight.  Considering that you are not very heavy to begin with, you need to aim for &lt;em&gt;slow&lt;/em&gt; weight loss.  &lt;strong&gt;If you've lost as much as 1-1.5 kg you're going at the right pace.&lt;/strong&gt;  Aim for 0.5 kg / week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your exercise has a huge cardiovascular component to it, which is good.  However, if you want a firmer body you may want to trade some of your cardiovascular work for strength training.  I wouldn't give up your cycling or running (whichever you like more), but perhaps spend only 20 minutes doing that and the rest of your time lifting weights.  You may end up gaining a little weight, but losing fat--and fat loss is usually what people are after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet tweaking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there are a few tweaks to your diet composition that might be beneficial:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You only need 1.8g / kg body weight of protein, so for you it would be about 118g for the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might want to exchange some of the fruit for high fiber carb sources like oatmeal or quinoa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The high fiber carb sources are low density foods, so they fill up your stomach without packing in a lot of calories.  That helps with satiety, and it can also help with adherence to the diet because you don't feel quite as deprived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last point is that it is possible to go too low in calories.  In at least one study there was a statistically significant population who's metabolism slowed down to the point where they barely lost any weight on the protocol they were testing.  The remainder lost weight in accordance with the calories in/calories out balance.  Slow and steady fat loss always wins over crash diets.  If you cut out too much, you may be undermining your own success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T13:08:31.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T13:18:09.743" Score="-2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked the same question to many persons but none of them gave me a satistfied answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you want to say milk contains BACTERIA thats why its not vegan then every thing in the world would not be a vegan&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want a pure technical reason why is it so??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16390" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T12:58:45.107" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T12:58:45.107" Title="Why milk is not vegan?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;&lt;milk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-21T16:23:46.893" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T05:26:55.143" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;What food should I eat?&#xA;I am assuming the aim is to eat food that has protien in it..&#xA;And the aim is to have the protien being absorbed fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use a food supplement? such as a powder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16383" OwnerDisplayName="XWorm" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-06-26T12:50:56.230" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T12:50:56.230" Title="Food a vegan should eat after weight lifting that is intended to build mass muscle?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-22T07:31:59.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25554" CreationDate="2015-07-21T13:29:51.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An animal product is any material derived from the body of an animal. Examples are fat, flesh, blood, milk, eggs, and lesser known products, such as isinglass and rennet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So milk is clearly an animal product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Veganism is both the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals.[9] A follower of veganism is known as a vegan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence vegans do not drink milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: wikipedia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T13:29:51.613" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25542" CreationDate="2015-07-21T14:26:55.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vegan protein sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Green peas&lt;/strong&gt; - Black eyed peas have more protein but are harder to come by.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nuts&lt;/strong&gt; - Includes cashews, walnuts, almonds, peanuts... &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tofu&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quinoa&lt;/strong&gt; - my personal favorite. Very tasty and fills multiple needs, namely protein, many minerals, vitamins, also carbohydrates and fiber! It is the ace of vegan foods. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beans&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lentils&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tempeh&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spinach&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Broccoli&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ETC&lt;/strong&gt; There are many others, seeds etc...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A food supplement is always good, it is practical and sometimes cheaper. There are many good ones that are soy based but in my opinion the best protein supplements are those based on peas. Just my two cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2111" LastEditorUserId="2111" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T14:38:33.317" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T14:38:33.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25555" CreationDate="2015-07-21T14:36:17.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest answer is to make use of soy protein powders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer answer is that you need to make plenty of small changes like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switching to quinoa rather than rice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switching to wholewheat pastas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upping your use of chickpeas, nuts, legumes, tempeh, flaxseed and pine nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating more regular, smaller portions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10663" LastEditorUserId="10663" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T15:27:06.363" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T15:27:06.363" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2761" CreationDate="2015-07-21T15:41:45.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approximation !!!!!&lt;/strong&gt; There's absolutely no practical way for any machine to state your actual calorie consumption, and they're aren't even any &lt;strong&gt;vaguely accurate&lt;/strong&gt; regression equations, without data from an ECG and face mask based gas analyzers, to estimate the KCals burnt. Though machine manufacturers try, though the figures can be as much as +/- 40% off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; The Kcal values on food packaging, where you can scientifically measure the values, legally only have to be accurate to +/- 20%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T15:41:45.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25547" CreationDate="2015-07-21T16:31:54.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we're talking about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)&lt;/a&gt;, there is little that attenuates the discomfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's any evidence to suggest swimming in particular helps, but anything that increases blood flow to the area will lessen, to a degree, the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Light exercise (of all stripes, so long as you're exercising the affect muscles) seems to help a bit through the poorly understood mechanism of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoalgesia#Exercise_induced_hypoalgesia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercise induced hypoalgesia&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, most people with DOMS in their legs will feel less discomfort if they go for a walk. But when the walk stops, their legs are sore again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T16:31:54.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T17:33:38.887" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Iam 16years old and my height is 5foot4inch and my wieght is 45kg so what can I do for my body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16393" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T06:06:23.327" Title="Iam a lean guy I want to gain weight" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-22T13:07:57.260" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25552" CreationDate="2015-07-21T18:59:11.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you grab yourself a copy of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/help/unit-conversions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compendium of Physical Activities Unit-Conversion&lt;/a&gt;s table, it may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the second line first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;caloriesBurned = (durationMinutes * ((METs * 3.5 * kilograms) / 200.0f));&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This appears to be a simple algebraic manipulation of the standard formula used to convert Oxygen consumption (Volume of O2 in litres [VO2]) into Kcals. Essentially your body requires Oxygen to convert the energy stored in its Sugars and Fats into ATP, to fuel your muscles, this process is called the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Citric acid cycle&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;METs&lt;/strong&gt; in that line is short for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equivalent of Task&lt;/a&gt;, and is just an abstract way to quantify the relative energy cost of an activity, a number of sites offer MET &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;estimates&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for specific activities eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compendium of Physical Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://golf.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004786&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;procon.org - MET Values for 800+ Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/clc.4960130809/asset/4960130809_ftp.pdf?v=1&amp;amp;t=ic8uvfk6&amp;amp;s=c0458f8a0e42ff2c0fc9557625b42e029b78e69f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equivalents (METS) in Exercise Testing, Exercise Prescription, and Evaluation of Functional Capacity&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;MET       = 3.5 * VO2ml/massKg/min^-1&#xA;&#xA;Kcal/Min ~= RespiratoryExchangeRatio * VO2litre / 1000&#xA;         ~= 5 * massKg * VO2litre / 1000 (sugar)   &#xA;         ~= massKg * VO2litre / 200 (sugar)        &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_exchange_ratio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RespiratoryExchangeRatio&lt;/a&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;5.0&lt;/strong&gt; for sugars, but drops to &lt;strong&gt;4.86&lt;/strong&gt; for freeing energy from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for the first few mins of relative intensive exercise (ignore the first few secs, as anaerobic, and any fat burning after a few mins, or any sprints that will exceed your bodies ability to process ATP and result in a lactic acid build up) that bit of code appears correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; caloriesBurned = (durationMinutes * ((METs * 3.5 * kilograms) / 200.0f));&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worrying line is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;METs = (1.5245 * milesPerHour) + 0.1128;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you've indicated the equation is being used as a general equation to estimate METS, for walking, jogging, running, skipping etc.  But energy expenditure isn't linear, and there are other factors, such as gradient, wind resistance, surface, external weights..... that come into play in producing a MET score, even for a typical brisk walk, on the level it is incorrectly estimatied. As walking at 4 mph is typically assigned a value of &lt;strong&gt;5 METS&lt;/strong&gt;, while your equation would estimate that activity at &lt;strong&gt;6.2 METS&lt;/strong&gt;, overestimating calorie burn by 24%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T19:14:14.003" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T19:14:14.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2015-07-21T21:29:07.173" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Worth noting, without data from an ECG (heart rate monitor) and face mask based gas analyzers, along with details of the gradient, wind speed, and surface there aren't any &lt;strong&gt;accurate&lt;/strong&gt; equations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best you can do is to estimate a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;VO2&lt;/a&gt; (mL·kg-1·min-1) figure, and convert that into a Kcal one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kcal/Min ~= respiratoryExchangeRatio * massKg * VO2 / 1000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; respiratoryExchangeRatio is &lt;strong&gt;5.0&lt;/strong&gt; for blood sugars, but drops to &lt;strong&gt;4.86&lt;/strong&gt; for freeing energy from fat, so if the run is of more than a few min's use this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I prefer the &lt;a href=&quot;http://blue.utb.edu/mbailey/handouts/pdf/MetCalnew.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ACMS Running VO2max&lt;/a&gt; equation, as it's relatively simple, will give a number that's accurate within: +/-14.5%, though the conversion to Kcal will multiply the error by a bit, and it's recommended in the paper: &lt;em&gt;Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running: Comparison with Prediction Equations, Hall et Al, 2003&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For running, the Léger equation and ACSM prediction model appear to be&#xA;  the most suitable for the prediction of running energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we have: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2 = (0.2 * metersMin) + (0.9 * metersMin * fractionalgrade) + 3.5&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;on the flat, this equates to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VO2 = (0.2 * metersMin) + 3.5&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Léger equations is simpler, but does not account for gradient:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;V̇O2 = 2.209 + 3.1633 * kph&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though a not dissimilar degree of accuracy is claimed by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt; tables and formula, and is even simpler:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kcal ~= METS * bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where MET is short for Metabolic Equivalent of Task, and is just an abstract way to quantify the relative energy cost of an activity, a number of sites offer MET estimates for specific activities eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Compendium of Physical Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://golf.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004786&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;procon.org - MET Values for 800+ Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/clc.4960130809/asset/4960130809_ftp.pdf?v=1&amp;amp;t=ic8uvfk6&amp;amp;s=c0458f8a0e42ff2c0fc9557625b42e029b78e69f&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equivalents (METS) in Exercise Testing, Exercise&#xA;Prescription, and Evaluation of Functional Capacity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T21:29:07.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2015-07-21T23:37:12.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At pools where I swim, there's usually an &lt;code&gt;hour : minute : second&lt;/code&gt; clock somewhere in sight. If I know my starting time and my pace, a quick head glance during a breath when needed keeps me on track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T23:37:12.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25549" CreationDate="2015-07-22T02:57:01.260" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fitness schedule to get in good shape?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I would like to say that is tons of information over the internet and this site itself when it comes to losing weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let start off with your free body routines. Here are some routine that can be found over the internet or decent enough for overweights/newbies to begin with:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://baristi-workout.com/blog/how-to-get-started-with-calisthenics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baristi Beginners Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do pull ups? Do a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f3wkcdmVN8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pull ups&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t97EjUsCFNw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;incline pull ups/inverted rows&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do dips? Do bench dips (either with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDipFloor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foot on the floor&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on another bench&lt;/a&gt;) or more close grip / normal push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buffdudes.us/blogs/news/25290561-punisher-prison-bodyweight-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buff Dude's Punisher Prison BW Workout&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do one arm push ups? Just do close grip / normal push ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand press? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sposDXWEB0A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do L-Sits? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g1hxdkulsE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hanging leg raises&lt;/a&gt;, follow the set and seconds provided &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-qEE3x27PE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fortress Beginners Routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do pull ups? Do a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f3wkcdmVN8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pull ups&lt;/a&gt; or incline pull ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do a pistol squat? Do your normal squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand hold? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sposDXWEB0A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S &lt;strong&gt;Can't do regular push ups?&lt;/strong&gt; Do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWPushupKnee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee push ups&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RtM3L00BUU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall push ups&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, your diet:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, calculate your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;subtract 200~500 calories&lt;/strong&gt;(this is known caloric deficit). Next your protein intake should be &lt;strong&gt;1g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt;, where as your fat intake should be around &lt;strong&gt;0.5 ~ 0.6g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; and the remaining can be used to fill up your carb intake, and your micronutrients(aka vitamins and minerals). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this is also highly debatable since there is no &lt;strong&gt;right or wrong answers&lt;/strong&gt;. By that, what I mean is that you need to adjust your calorie(if necessary) to ensure you are losing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about resting times?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I would aim for 30 seconds to a minutes rest &lt;strong&gt;depending on how I'm feeling&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't advocate following a routines' resting time as some may need more rest time than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, do note that it &lt;strong&gt;takes time to either build muscle or lose fat&lt;/strong&gt;. Do not get disheartened when don't see any result in the next few days, weeks, months. Also, do you have any mobility issues? If so, do include in your original post. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T02:57:01.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25542" CreationDate="2015-07-22T03:13:33.523" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your post exercise meal should be a mix of carbs and protein. Fast or slow absorption has not been shown to be an issue for amateur athletes--adequate protein intake is an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a vegan this could be any mix of foods which should be part of your existing diet.  Emphasis should be placed on proteins which have a higher completeness score and high &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_value&quot;&gt;Biological Value&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following link from PubMed contains an article in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine on protein: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/&quot;&gt;Hoffman JR, Falvo MJ. Protein – Which is Best? Journal of Sports Science &amp;amp; Medicine. 2004;3(3):118-130.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per that source, Black Beans and Soy Protein (isolate or concentrate) are your two best options, along with rice protein, and any other vegetable based proteins available such as TVP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guidelines for amount of protein to intake are around 20g/meal.  Your total requirements are around 1g of protein for each kg of lean bodyweight per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15122" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T03:13:33.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25562" CreationDate="2015-07-22T06:06:23.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat more food. More regular food and especially more protein if you want to add quality mass rather than just fat. Don't eat more sugar. Add protein shakes or even gainer shakes (protein + carbs) if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember that you have many years of growing left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T06:06:23.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14203" CreationDate="2015-07-22T15:16:37.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taken to the extreme a Gorilla or Orangutan will have a significantly stronger grip than any human, purely due to their genetics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Variance within the human population has also been shown to have a significant genetic element, go have a quick Google and you'll find numerous studies that will identify quantifiable genetic differences in: lean to fat mass ratios, bone mineral content, relative limb to trunk length, standing height, lung volume..... There are even companies around that will sequence your DNA and tell you what kind of mutant they think you are (for a fee) eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dnafit.com/science/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DNAfit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Retrovirus aside there is nothing you can do about your genetic makeup, you are what your parents made, so go find an exercise routine to exploit what you've been given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T15:16:37.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25161" CreationDate="2015-07-22T17:37:00.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is that you are not eating out of hunger but more or so of habit. I would suggest trying to gradually eat less by methods such as: only eating 3 times a day 3 or 4 times a week, or cutting your overall calorie count down gradually until you are at something like this most of the time: 3 meals a day, 1500-2000 calories a day. The bottom line is that you probably have made it into a habit to eat often, so break the habit. Also, if boredom appears to be the cause, look for activities to do like reading, swimming, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16405" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T17:37:00.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25587" CreationDate="2015-07-22T18:29:01.303" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 13 as the title said and I really want to start gaining muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I am doing some bike riding and 25 squats 25 jumping jacks and some misc stuff I if I have the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wonder if there was workout plan that is low cost (remember I am 13) and that I can do at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16407" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T00:05:15.453" Title="I am 13 and looking for a good work" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-07-23T14:42:46.343" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-22T19:47:48.647" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading answers to my previous question (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25453/struggling-with-barbell-row-and-overhead-press-stronglift&quot;&gt;Struggling with barbell row and overhead press - StrongLift&lt;/a&gt;), I decided to record my sessions and seek advice on my form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpCvf_3VcUQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;back view&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OVnER9PQQI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;side view&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx67Bt-8ACI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bench Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X27eWLaGWC0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbell Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-B8DQubS1Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCCRrwfbeZ8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DeadLift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would love to hear about what I am doing wrong and what I can do to improve my form. Apologies for weird angles and so many people. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8097" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T05:15:11.733" Title="Technique Improvement for StrongLifts [Form Check]" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25584" CreationDate="2015-07-22T21:02:06.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These all look fairly correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Minor Corrections&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: Mostly fine. Stay tight. Keep your chest up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell row: Mostly fine. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: can't really tell, mostly fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press: mostly fine, can't really tell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: Mostly fine. I'd focus a bit more on setting your lower back position before each rep. Also, there is no reason for you to alternate your grip at this weight. For the time being, just use a double overhand grip. If your grip starts to give you trouble, use a hook grip (thumb inside) and chalk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Real Fix&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these lifts look generally fine because they're so light. You're able to do the lifts quickly and gloss over any technique errors or weaknesses. The solution is clear: keep adding weight. Lifting is good. Lifting &lt;strong&gt;heavy&lt;/strong&gt; is way better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you could do for your form is to steadily add weight to the bar and modify your expectations. Get ready for it to get a lot harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T21:02:06.647" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25590" CreationDate="2015-07-22T21:19:51.183" Score="4" ViewCount="2172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to be able to do handsprings and flips. I have been spending one afternoon a week practicing cartwheels, handstands, backbends, and walkovers. Though I'm getting used to the movements, I'm not actually getting better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an exercise and stretching regimen that would help condition my body and accelerate my improvement at flipping/ tricking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 25 year old woman with 23% body fat. I do cardio kickboxing 3 times a week and an occasional 3 mile run. Otherwise, I currently only do bodyweight resistance exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15925" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T03:29:49.630" Title="Strengthening and conditioning to improve flips" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25581" CreationDate="2015-07-23T00:05:15.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout plan that is low cost and can be done at home?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;tons of free calisthenics routines&lt;/strong&gt; that can be found over the internet. Here are a few of them :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://baristi-workout.com/blog/how-to-get-started-with-calisthenics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baristi Beginners Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do pull ups? Do a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f3wkcdmVN8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pull ups&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t97EjUsCFNw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;incline pull ups/inverted rows&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do dips? Do bench dips (either with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDipFloor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foot on the floor&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWBenchDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on another bench&lt;/a&gt;) or more close grip / normal push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buffdudes.us/blogs/news/25290561-punisher-prison-bodyweight-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buff Dude's Punisher Prison BW Workout&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do one arm push ups? Just do close grip / normal push ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand press? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sposDXWEB0A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do L-Sits? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;planks&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g1hxdkulsE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hanging leg raises&lt;/a&gt;, follow the set and seconds provided &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-qEE3x27PE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fortress Beginners Routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do pull ups? Do a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f3wkcdmVN8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative pull ups&lt;/a&gt; or incline pull ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do a pistol squat? Do your normal squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt; Can't do handstand hold? Do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sposDXWEB0A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S &lt;strong&gt;Can't do regular push ups?&lt;/strong&gt; Do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWPushupKnee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee push ups&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RtM3L00BUU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall push ups&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, your diet:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, calculate your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;increase your calorie intake by 200~500&lt;/strong&gt;(this is known as caloric surplus). Next your protein intake should be &lt;strong&gt;1g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt;, where as your fat intake should be around &lt;strong&gt;0.5 ~ 0.6g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; and the remaining can be used to fill up your carb intake, and your micronutrients(aka vitamins and minerals). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this is also highly debatable since there is no &lt;strong&gt;right or wrong answers&lt;/strong&gt;. By that, what I mean is that you need to adjust your calorie(if necessary) to ensure you are losing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, do note that it &lt;strong&gt;takes time to either build muscle&lt;/strong&gt;. Do not get disheartened when don't see any result in the next few days, weeks, months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T00:05:15.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25586" CreationDate="2015-07-23T02:54:52.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no strength or stretching exercises for this purpose, but I do see this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have been spending &lt;strong&gt;one afternoon a week&lt;/strong&gt; practicing cartwheels, handstands, backbends, and walkovers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gymnastics skills benefit from frequent practice. Even a quick few minutes of practice every day could make a huge difference versus once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T02:54:52.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25586" CreationDate="2015-07-23T03:29:49.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to learn is by doing. Of course, the risk with flips is that a) if you don't do them right, it's possible to severely injure yourself and b) doing them repeatedly is risky, because eventually, you will get tired and it makes the odds of doing the flip wrong more risky. You can reduce the incidence of the first case by practicing the flips in a safer place such as on a trampoline, in a gymnastics facility, into a pool, with a spotter, etc. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-9q1VlSPKA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is not a guarantee of safety&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; but it does reduce risk. As for the latter, the key is to practice up until you start to feel exhausted and then stopping until you feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are techniques that you can do before actually trying the flip, whether to strengthen yourself or to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFxghkYvqtM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overcome fear&lt;/a&gt;. For the former, recommendations include practicing leaping as high as possible and noting the apex of your jump and practicing jump tucks (jumping and tucking without flipping). For the latter, the video I linked has some suggestions involving things like practicing neckbridges to overcome the fear that landing on your upper back will kill you and practicing jumping and landing on all fours (on soft ground) to assure yourself that you can catch yourself midfall. As always, your best bet involves experienced people helping you learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are similar exercises for handsprings. I know that, on the back handspring, the tumbling class I attended used a large foam cylinder over which we did a back-bend fairly slowly and evenly, also propping our legs up to make the kickover easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T03:29:49.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25592" CreationDate="2015-07-23T04:11:52.243" Score="3" ViewCount="3633" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I'm just trying to get in shape over the summer while I'm away from school so I'm an amateur when it comes to physical fitness and I might not know what I'm talking about.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of right now I'm just working out at home with out using any weights and I've been trying to do some pecs exercises (&lt;strong&gt;specifically to trim down chest fat, man boobs if you will&lt;/strong&gt;). I found a couple pages online stating that pushups (regular style) are one of the best exercises you can do without weights so that's what I've been doing. The only problem is that so far I haven't noticed much of a change. Now I know building muscle takes time but the pushups in particular raise concern because I've notice significant changes in the other areas of my body that I've been working out (with other exercises) for just as long. Before coming to stack exchange to discuss this I talked to a friend of mine about the situation. I asked him if I was doing anything wrong or if there's a specific exercise to burn chest fat. Now I'm not sure how correct his response is but he told me something along the lines of,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regular pushups will build your &lt;strong&gt;upper pec&lt;/strong&gt;. Whereas I need something that works my &lt;strong&gt;lower pec&lt;/strong&gt; in order to burn chest fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He didn't know of any lower pec exercises that could be done without weights off the top of his head so I ended up googling it. This is where my problem lies, I found a number of different webpages all saying a number of different things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of things that were suggested are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elevated push ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/onC80.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/onC80.png&quot; alt=&quot;Elevated Push ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clapping push ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xbud0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xbud0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Clapping Push ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best exercise to burn chest fat (without the use of weights)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are the above examples acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16416" LastEditorUserId="16416" LastEditDate="2015-07-23T04:17:20.110" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T04:32:29.940" Title="Good exercises for lower pecs without weights" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25591" CreationDate="2015-07-23T04:32:29.940" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right off the bat, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/1301/7091&quot;&gt;you can't reduce fat from any particular part of your body&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Spot reduction is a myth.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the chest exercises you're looking at will build your chest proportionally. In general, the more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/BBInclineBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inclined&lt;/a&gt; a movement (closer to over your head), the higher the pec area will be used. The more declined the movement is, like in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWChestDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dips&lt;/a&gt;, the lower the pec area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see the support for that on exrx's muscle tar getting for various incline/decline movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to tuck it in there, you should have &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a balanced strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. You'll never have a truly developed chest unless the rest of you is pretty muscular as well. Worse, unbalanced strength training can lead you to injury land. And as a bonus, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;good strength training programs will really assist your fat loss&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T04:32:29.940" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9913" CreationDate="2015-07-23T04:35:04.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a bit difficult to give you a time to aim for if you are alternating between 500 hard / 500 easy. Work up to sustaining consistent effort over 10,000m on a setting 4 (good for giving you a reasonable feeling of what rowing actually is) and with your background anything under 40mins is solid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my team train we target 1:40min/500m hard then 2:00min/500m easy, alternative in either 500m of 1000m efforts for 5000m-10000m. Most non-elite can't sustain this for a full 10000m set though I watched an Olympic kayaker crush it without pushing his heart rate over 160 which was mindblowing to watch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For real examples of 10000m time on setting 4; our team captain (non-elite) has a record of 36:03 and I have pushed out a 37:11 once but it was hard work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps and gives some motivation!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16417" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T04:35:04.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25597" CreationDate="2015-07-23T09:37:21.327" Score="6" ViewCount="335" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to go to the gym 2-3 years ago. But now I rarely go, because after a break I can't really do any cardio: after 7-15 minutes at a treadmill I get really tired. I usually go 10-14kmph and going slower just feels wrong. After 15-20 minutes once I got dizzy and it hurt breathing in, but I was going slightly faster than usual. I also have a pretty high heartbeat when I run&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my problem is that in order to feel less tired running I need to run. But most I can do is 15minutes. I've tried 5-6 times recently, but it's always the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you deal with this exhaustion? What are the tricks to quickly get your stamina back after a long break. Maybe I should try something else, rather than treadmills &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get back to weights, but before that get my stamina back. I'm 21, weighing 105kg, 192cm height. So I would like to get rid of 5kg before I start doing weights again.&#xA;I used to be able to comfortly run 30min before doing weights and after for another 30min. Weighing 90kg at a comfortable stage, with no clear sight of being overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to duplicate - My question is not how to lose weight quickly, but how to quickly regain stamina (possibly when health situation isn't ideal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16423" LastEditorUserId="16423" LastEditDate="2015-07-23T09:57:13.007" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T14:27:51.750" Title="How to reduce fatigue at the gym" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29302" CreationDate="2015-07-23T11:11:28.227" Score="4" ViewCount="631" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a blood donor, giving about 0.5L blood approx every 3-4 months. Last time I was in to give blood, I had a short chat with the nurse about Hgb levels in blood, recuperating after the donation and it got me thinking...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was out taking a jog the next day and it was MUCH harder than a couple of weeks ago, I was short of breath almost directly after 3-4 km. Since my O2 carrying capacity had decreased by a quarter or so, it was understandable. I know it'll take a bit of time to recover the iron that was lost during donation, and I adapt my diet accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I wonder is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q1:&lt;/strong&gt; is an optimal level of iron/Hgb that is dictated by my metabolism, or can I increase my Hgb level beyond what it was earlier by adapting a more iron-rich diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give an example, my Hgb levels are between 140-150 g/L normally. Having lost a quarter of that amount recently, can I go beyond that range by adapting an iron-rich diet, or will I just not take up more iron from my diet once I get back to my &quot;normal&quot; level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q2:&lt;/strong&gt; As a follow-up question; does more iron equate higher cardio capacity? I suspect that it's not that simple... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I'm looking for information with scientifically relevant references and not urban legends or rumours that are perpetuated in gyms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="3464" LastEditDate="2015-07-23T14:17:24.233" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T08:32:30.567" Title="Hemoglobin levels and cardio capacity" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25595" CreationDate="2015-07-23T11:15:26.473" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I used to go to the gym 2-3 years ago. But now I rarely go, because after a break I can't really do any cardio: after 7-15 minutes at a treadmill I get really tired....I've tried 5-6 times [over the course of a year], but it's always the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your problem is that you're not giving your body a chance to get better at cardio. One session where you get tired isn't enough. You need to do that one session, then &lt;em&gt;go back&lt;/em&gt; a day or two later and do it again. Nobody can expect to be good at something they don't do. (It happens, but those are happy accidents.) You're not doing cardio, so you're bad at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try going to the gym and doing your 15 minutes of cardio, then &lt;em&gt;no matter how it goes&lt;/em&gt;, going back two days later and doing 15 minutes again. Repeat this process until 15 minutes isn't so bad, then do 20 minutes, and so on. Don't wait for your body to get good at cardio without working at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T11:15:26.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27286" CreationDate="2015-07-23T13:05:20.587" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My main sport is field hockey. I really want to become a faster runner as well as improve my endurance and my pace off the mark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some exercises/things I must do to achieve this? If anyone had a workout plan that would be much appreciated too. Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16427" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T16:44:28.167" Title="Speed, Endurance, Pace off the Mark" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-23T13:56:40.410" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out again because I'm getting in bad shape and I can feel how out of shape I've gotten the past few months. I signed up at the gym and have no problem going there to workout after work or on my free time. My problem is, I live alone at an apartment because I had to relocate for work and I keep wanting to snack all the time. I find myself looking through the fridge constantly. How do you keep yourself from being hungry all the time and snacking? I greatly appreciate the answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16428" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T10:05:24.533" Title="How do you keep yourself from being hungry all the time and snacking?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-24T10:55:36.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-23T14:27:40.680" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting the gym in 4 days, I've recently gained a bit of weight (1 stone) and I am trying to lose it and tone up... Does anyone have any advice on gym-related things and also dietary stuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hear that challenges are great where you follow a certain diet and training regime&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to lose 1-2 stone, my plan is to go to the gym for 1 hour everyday &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the first thing about healthy foods, can anyone recommend any good challenges / fitness regimes / diet plans that actually work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16429" LastEditorUserId="16429" LastEditDate="2015-07-23T15:08:22.273" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T15:08:22.273" Title="Getting into shape without becoming a body builder" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-07-23T15:35:02.330" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25595" CreationDate="2015-07-23T15:06:20.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest working on intervals. Dave makes a good point in his answer that progress basically requires you to work at a high intensity day after day (with rest days, of course), but it sounds like you're running yourself into the ground on these workouts. Try spacing out shorter runs with periods of walking. When you start to get tired, walk for a time. The big catch is that, at least in my experience, trying to judge intervals by feel seldom works. I wind up pushing myself too hard for too long on the runs, and the walking periods can easily extend too long as well because it's comfortable and I feel like I'm not &quot;fully recovered&quot; even when I'm fine to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt; program. At your level, the first several workouts are going to be too easy, so try starting somewhere around week 3 or 4. Go through the workout and run the intervals (there are various phone and tablet apps for this) even if it seems too easy, and gauge your position from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T15:06:20.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25600" CreationDate="2015-07-23T19:19:26.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Avoiding snacking and overeating in general has always been one of the toughest things for me. Here are some things I do that help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drink a glass of water each time you go to the fridge, a lot of the time you're thirsty without knowing it. This actually ends up helping a TON.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're in the kitchen out of boredom instead of real hunger (I would snack to pass the time and wander in there), try brushing your teeth instead of eating something. The minty flavor makes eating reasonably undesirable. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy some extremely low-calorie snacks you can resort to. I have light microwave popcorn that's 100 calories a bag, puffed oatmeal crackers that are 35-50 each (and relatively large), celery, salsa (no normal chips, use the crackers or celery), or the cheap ice-popsicles are all great things to have on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T19:19:26.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25600" CreationDate="2015-07-23T22:01:32.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I do is I eat big meals for lunch and dinner. The total calorie intake is huge, but it comes from healthy foods like olive oil, whole grain pasta, whole grain bread. If you eat only healthy foods, you'll recuperate from exercise better, you become stronger, allowing you to exercise harder. You'll achieve equilibrium between calorie use and calorie intake at a higher level while your weight will have a healthy, normal value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would suggest you stop eating any form of junk foods. No more French fries, hamburgers, cookies, cakes, ice creams, pizza's etc. etc. That will force you to get your calories from foods like brown rice, whole grain pasta, vegetables fried in olive oil etc. etc. You can then eat as much as you need to not get feel hungry at all, the amount of vitamins and minerals you get in will increase a lot, maybe by a factor 2 or 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T22:01:32.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-23T22:36:05.477" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just beginning training to get burn fat and train in two different sports (Judo and Tennis). I was wondering what were the pros and cons of completing, say 3, sets before going onto the next workout vs. interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T15:07:40.403" Title="What are the advantages/disadvantages of Complete Sets vs. Interval Training?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25616" CreationDate="2015-07-24T05:49:29.943" Score="1" ViewCount="28563" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inbody.com/global/product/InBody720.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;InBody body composition analyzer&lt;/a&gt; calculate the fitness score? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the fitness score:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The InBody Score is an arbitrary score based on the measured muscle and fat mass for the motivation of the subjects (&lt;a href=&quot;http://inbody.com/_admin/uploads/GLOBAL/InBody720Nawi_CDmanual_Eng_A.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ref&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a sample result sheet from the maker's web site. See the bottom right corner for the fitness score:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s0xjd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s0xjdl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;results sheet&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastEditorUserId="15682" LastEditDate="2015-12-25T12:24:48.813" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T12:24:48.813" Title="Body Composition Analyzer - How to calculate the fitness score?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25622" CreationDate="2015-07-24T07:44:40.173" Score="6" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a look at the &quot;treadmill version&quot; on the c25k website, but it has runs lasting &amp;lt; 2 minutes. The treadmill that I want to use, is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; slow changing speeds - I'm concerned that going from walk to run (or back) could take several seconds, and out of a 90 second run, 10 seconds is a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I not include the transitional time in the walk/run duration? Or should I count it as part of one or the other? It seems like the rapid walk/run transitions are designed for running outdoors, where it is easy to switch between them - how can I adapt the plan to work with a treadmill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16434" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-07-24T18:31:14.063" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T18:31:14.063" Title="How to adapt couch to 5k for treadmill?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25600" CreationDate="2015-07-24T10:05:24.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not keep junk food in your fridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep Fruits and salad in you fridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drink hell lot of water&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15542" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T10:05:24.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25595" CreationDate="2015-07-24T10:08:05.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me its all mental, I go with full of energy and excitement to gym.&#xA;Gym is a place where I have trained my mind to forget all the good/bad things and just complete my sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you to stick to a strict workout plan(a written) and try to finish it before leaving gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15542" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T10:08:05.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25620" CreationDate="2015-07-24T10:09:49.993" Score="0" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need opinion / advice / information...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;basically, I want to take a week or more off work, to weightlift everyday, and increase my lifts as much as I can. Even during work days, I squat in the morning and in the evening minimum, so I'm not really so worried about the intensity and I don't really want to go on holiday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't really find a decent weightlifting camp around in the UK, or one that doesn't cost so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some opinions on what I could do? or what you may think on what I want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone does know of any weight lifting training camps around in the UK please post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;much appreciated on any comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10112" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T16:30:23.743" Title="Taking time off work to weight lift" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;&lt;power-cleans&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25608" CreationDate="2015-07-24T12:19:58.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll have to ask them, as it's calculated using their own proprietary algorithm, well that or spend a few min's solving the simultaneous equation (from the values in your history) to work out the weights they've applied to your: Fat, Muscle, and Weight values to create the score:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fitness score is to help the subject to understand his/her body condition from a body composition point of view. The ideal is 100%. It is a piece of unique data provided by InBody720&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*Fitness Score&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Fitness Score is an index used to help the examinee easily understand the state of his/her body composition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;70 or less weak or obese type that need exercise and diet control &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;70~90 Normal, Healthy Type &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;90 or more Robust type with well-developed muscle &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FYI&lt;/strong&gt;: Using &lt;strong&gt;R&lt;/strong&gt; to play with the DUMMY values above&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;weight &amp;lt;- c(65.7, 63.5, 61.2, 59.1)&#xA;smm &amp;lt;- c(20.6, 19.4, 19.4, 19.6)&#xA;fat &amp;lt;- c(27.0, 25.8, 23.5, 21.8)&#xA;score &amp;lt;- c(62, 63, 66, 68)&#xA;test.data = data.frame(score, weight, smm, fat)&#xA;lm(score ~ ., data = test.data)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OUTPUT&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Call:&#xA;lm(formula = score ~ ., data = test.data)&#xA;&#xA;Coefficients:&#xA;(Intercept)       weight          smm          fat  &#xA;   75.67391      0.54987      0.01279     -1.85422  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for the DUMMY history above: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;score = (0.54987 * weight) + (0.01279 * SMM) - (1.85422 * fat) + 75.67391&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which if the same ratios hold in a real analysis, would suggest to exceed 100, you would need to have a &lt;strong&gt;dangerously&lt;/strong&gt; low bodyFat %.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-25T11:26:20.077" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T11:26:20.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25270" CreationDate="2015-07-24T12:21:43.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short while ago i did dinghy sailing for a couple of hours. The wind was strong but i was sailing with little effort under reduced sail. My heart rate was very high not because of physical exertion but out of alertness. My watch predicted that i burnt 1.800 calories in two and a half hours which is waay off. The formula does not include factors driven by excitement, danger, fear etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16435" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T12:21:43.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25270" CreationDate="2015-07-24T16:00:24.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The analysis suffers from causality.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A measured amount of exercise to produce a heart rate does not necessarily mean the reverse.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see that false statistic used for hot Yoga burns more calories as the heart beats faster.  In heat the blood vessels in the surface of the skin dilate and blood flow increases to help cool the body.  This is not blood that is delivering calories to a muscle.  All heart beats are not the same.  As user16435 stated other factors include excitement, danger, fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is heart rate from physical exertion then it is a good measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15163" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T16:00:24.033" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25615" CreationDate="2015-07-24T16:30:23.743" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to stop you in two places. First, this line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to take a week or more off work, to weightlift everyday, and&#xA;  increase my lifts as much as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At maximum, and this is if you're on a great program, you'll gain 4%, tops. If you're an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermediate lifter&lt;/a&gt; (which I'm guessing your not just yet), you'll gain maybe 3%, tops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I squat in the morning and in the evening minimum...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're a very high level &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_weightlifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Olympic lifter&lt;/a&gt;, I don't think there is any training program that would advise a schedule like that. The only reason Olympic lifters can do that is because they're not doing maximum strength effort on technical lifts during multi-sessions-per-day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you said you're in the UK, and want to get strong, I would recommend these steps for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Contact the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gbpf.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Great Britain Powerlifting Association&lt;/a&gt;. Under &quot;organisation&quot; you'll find links to area coaches and gyms. Email them and explain your training history (be 100% honest), your goals, and the time you can allow. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you get a qualified coach (from the link above, someone who can point to high level athletes they've trained, not some guy at the big box gym with a polo), follow what they tell you. If you decide to pave your own road in the beginning, which plenty of people do, make sure you pick &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a proven strength training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An old coach of mine explained athletics like filling up a bathtub, one teaspoon at a time. Each training and rest day matters, but more so the cumulative nature of doing it for months and years is what separates weekend warriors from amateur and professional athletes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T16:30:23.743" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14257" CreationDate="2015-07-24T16:31:50.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The relationship between your: resting, maximum and recovery rates has been shown to correlate with your bodies ability to consume Oxygen (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VO2max&lt;/a&gt;), which itself correlates with the conversion of fats and sugars to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ATP&lt;/a&gt;, to fuel your muscles. So a few pulse measurements is a fairly commonly used and easy means to assess / estimate fitness. Have a read of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/101Evaluations/pdfs/101EvaluationTests.Chapter.1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;101 Evaluation Tests&lt;/a&gt;&quot; for a selection of the more common tests devised to exploit these relationships eg. Rockport walking test, 1.5 mile run, 12 min run, the Harvard, YMCA Queen or Tecumseh Step tests....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The equations all produce ESTIMATIONS, not absolutes, but can be a useful means to measure changes in your fitness over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm wondering, what method(s) gives a an accurate measurement of my fitness, without being &quot;expensive&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you can count your pulse, or have access to a smartphone with a working camera, there are free App's around that will use the phones camera to attempt to measure your &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.runtastic.android.heartrate.lite&amp;amp;hl=en_GB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pulse&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/instant-heart-rate-heart-rate/id409625068?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;or&lt;/a&gt;), and / or also do the maths for some of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;various tests&lt;/a&gt;. If you don't mind spending a few pennies a heart rate strap can be picked up relatively cheaply, which will permit for a continuous rate to be logged, to allow you to perform even more tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-07-24T16:58:46.690" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T16:58:46.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25609" CreationDate="2015-07-24T18:17:03.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There shouldn't be any adaptation necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The few seconds that it takes to ramp up to speed will be offset by the few seconds it takes to slow back down to the walk pace, and is a little bit more of a natural effort than most people that just suddenly go from run to walk or vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for the treadmill on your 90 second runs, start the time and change the speed, then at 90 seconds change the speed back down. The speeding/slowing of the belt will counter each other, and should give you a consistent effort across the entire workout time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T18:17:03.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-24T19:03:30.650" Score="0" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a new pair of shoes for working-out.  I have occasional knee pain that really flares up after a jog or crossfit exercises; particularly after double-under jump roping.  Basically anything that requires me to bounce on my feet.  I need a pair of shoes that can handle the occasional run and frequent crossfit classes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got this list (below) from an article a few months back, but I'm wondering if any users have actually used any of these?  Or, if you've had great results with another shoe, please let me know.  I'm really interested in hearing from people who USED TO suffer from knee pain, but their problems have been helped by a better pair of shoes.  I've seen a physical therapist in the recent past, but I can't keep spending $80 to have someone walk me through stretching exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saucony Kinvara 4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salomon Sense Mantra&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Asics Gel-Super J33&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nike Flyknit Lunar2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puma Faas 300 V3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brooks Cascadia 9&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adidas Energy Boost 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13407" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T22:08:50.510" Title="Good shoes for knee pain" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-25T17:59:22.277" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25623" CreationDate="2015-07-24T20:29:02.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a torn ACL and after wearing the Adidas Bostons, my knees have felt tons better. Note that I believe that I own 2013 versions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also worn Adidas's supernovas and they were quite comfortable (but a bit heavier, not by much)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T20:29:02.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25623" CreationDate="2015-07-24T22:08:50.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cla68&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;We can read here:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of my main activities is running. I completed the 2001 Montgomery County Marathon in the Parks and the 2010 Tokyo Marathon. I encourage everyone to complete a marathon once as it is an incredible feeling of accomplishment. Due to chronic knee pain, in May 2011 I started transitioning to minimalist running. I completed the switch in about three months and now no longer do heel-toe running. My knee pain has, so far, been greatly reduced to the point that it rarely bothers me anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalist_running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Minimalist running:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Barefoot running, also called &quot;natural running&quot;, is the act of running without footwear. With the advent of modern footwear, running barefoot has become less common in most parts of the world but is still practiced in parts of Africa and Latin America. In some Western countries, barefoot running has grown in popularity due to perceived health benefits.&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cla68&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  Scientific research into the practice of running barefoot has not reached a clear consensus regarding its risks or its benefits. While footwear might provide protection from cuts, bruises, impact and weather, proponents of barefoot running argue that it reduces the risk of chronic injuries (notably repetitive stress injuries) caused by heel striking in padded running shoes.&#xA;  The barefoot movement has prompted some manufacturers to introduce thin-soled and flexible shoes such as traditional moccasins and huaraches for minimalist running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The alternative to going barefoot is to wear thin shoes with minimal padding. This is what people wore for thousands of years before the 1980s when the modern running shoe was invented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/full/nature08723.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nature article abstract:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. For most of human evolutionary history, runners were either barefoot or wore minimal footwear such as sandals or moccasins with smaller heels and little cushioning relative to modern running shoes. We wondered how runners coped with the impact caused by the foot colliding with the ground before the invention of the modern shoe. Here we show that habitually barefoot endurance runners often land on the fore-foot (fore-foot strike) before bringing down the heel, but they sometimes land with a flat foot (mid-foot strike) or, less often, on the heel (rear-foot strike). In contrast, habitually shod runners mostly rear-foot strike, facilitated by the elevated and cushioned heel of the modern running shoe. Kinematic and kinetic analyses show that even on hard surfaces, barefoot runners who fore-foot strike generate smaller collision forces than shod rear-foot strikers. This difference results primarily from a more plantarflexed foot at landing and more ankle compliance during impact, decreasing the effective mass of the body that collides with the ground. Fore-foot- and mid-foot-strike gaits were probably more common when humans ran barefoot or in minimal shoes, and may protect the feet and lower limbs from some of the impact-related injuries now experienced by a high percentage of runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T22:08:50.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25595" CreationDate="2015-07-25T03:57:59.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love intervals or circuits for this. Changing up the routine helps me catch my breath, while still working my body. It also fights my biggest problem with running, jogging, biking, walking: Freaking boredom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Dave said, though, cardio is basically doing stuff vigorously. You know what's vigorous, fun cardio? Dancing. Try to find a retro dance scene, like Swing, Blues, or Country or some other folk dancing. You'll find interesting people, you won't be falling into old cycling habits, you'll be doing something until you're sweaty and breathless...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... And let's be honest: one of them may be interested in practicing some &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; forms of cardio. ;) That's what I call a win-win scenario! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16381" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T03:57:59.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25584" CreationDate="2015-07-25T05:15:11.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt;: It seems like the weight is really light for you, you're bouncing around pretty fast. Your depth is great. Read up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beat-butt-wink-squat-big-without-hurting-your-back.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;butt wink&lt;/a&gt;, because you've definitely got that going on. I can see your toes dancing around a bit which is great because it means you're driving through your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench&lt;/strong&gt;: As Dave said, you're really light on that lift. I think a tighter position is better, at least when you're around 5RM. Keep your feet flat, but bring them closer to your head (if that makes sense). Keep your back tight, glutes tight, and really feel the contact between your upper back and the mat. Tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Row&lt;/strong&gt;: Light. Everything's easy when it's light. I would get in the habit of loosening your grip at the bottom, as it makes you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; come to a dead stop at the bottom. Better to take an extra second between reps and do them right then haul ass and bounce around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overhead press&lt;/strong&gt;: Light. I think the pop-your-head-through movement is normal when it's lighter, but when it gets heavier most tend to sort of bend backwards a bit and nearly incline bench it up, your head going in right near the end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of all that, and especially with the lighter weights, you want to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/13292/7091&quot;&gt;hold the bar up at lock out&lt;/a&gt; for a second or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift&lt;/strong&gt;: Light. Pretty hard to see from the back, it's mostly a side angle thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T05:15:11.733" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T14:27:26.387" Score="9" ViewCount="550" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to start pilates for better posture and also weight training. I am planning to go to pilates in my rest days. But I am concerned with two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Will pilates kill my gains? Because I have heard that in your rest days, you have to sit still. Otherwise, you will kill your gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Is Pilates + Weight Training a good idea? My way of thinking behind this combination is the following: I need to better my posture. If I lift with a bad posture, there is a big possibility that I will worsen my posture. Hence, I will use pilates as my posture corrector and safely do my lifting. Do you think that this is a sensible idea or am I completely on the wrong track? If I am on the wrong track, could you give me some recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15634" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T01:52:27.973" Title="Will Pilates kill my gains?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25595" CreationDate="2015-07-25T14:27:51.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the heartbeat and fat burning the best suggestion from me is to start skipping rope. Just do the basic jump. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skipping_rope&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Skipping rope detailed information&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;On the above page under the title Health Benefits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skipping as exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Skipping may be used for a cardiovascular workout, similar to jogging or bicycle riding. This aerobic exercise can achieve a &amp;quot;burn rate&amp;quot; of up to 700 calories per hour of vigorous activity, with about 0.1 calories consumed per jump. Ten minutes of jumping rope is roughly the equivalent of running an eight-minute mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with 2 sets of 15-20 later increasing within a period of 5 days. This shall get your cardiovascular goals along with burning some calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no trick or short cut for healthy body. It only comes with dedication and consistency. So what ever be your exercise try to be consistent in it and also increase once comfortable upto that level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T14:27:51.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25629" CreationDate="2015-07-25T16:22:40.500" Score="8" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) Will pilates kill my gains? Because I have heard that in your rest&#xA;  days, you have to sit still. Otherwise, you will kill your gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally on your rest days you want &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/active-versus-passive-recovery.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;active rest&lt;/a&gt;. As such, pilates will be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) Is Pilates + Weight Training a good idea? My way of thinking behind&#xA;  this combination is the following: I need to better my posture. If I&#xA;  lift with a bad posture, there is a big possibility that I will worsen&#xA;  my posture. Hence, I will use pilates as my posture corrector and&#xA;  safely do my lifting. Do you think that this is a sensible idea or am&#xA;  I completely on the wrong track? If I am on the wrong track, could you&#xA;  give me some recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I think your motivation is wrong, but the end will be fine. Pilates will help your posture, and so will strength training. What will make your strength training helpful however is not pilates, but rather doing your lifting correctly. Put more bluntly: pilates isn't going to (directly) make you a safer deadlifter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;an effective and proven strength training program&lt;/a&gt; that will prescribe rest days. On your rest days, feel free to do pilates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T16:22:40.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25632" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T16:49:16.137" Score="4" ViewCount="8680" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a challenge at a beach I go to. Pay 2.5 euros for the opportunity to try and hold on to a bar for longer than 2 minutes. The bar is not fixed, meaning it can rotate. On a fixed bar I can hold on for a minute that isnt too thick. How much does this non fixed component act on your result? If I were to hold the bar with a pronated grip with thumbs over the bar , I would think that it is the same thing. Thoughts on this? Does anyone now the record for longest time holding on to a bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16443" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T12:55:48.770" Title="Holding on to a bar (a horizontal pull up one obviously) thicker" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25654" CreationDate="2015-07-26T14:28:20.913" Score="4" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although the reasoning behind using low weights for rotator cuff exercises has been discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13268/why-working-the-rotator-cuff-in-the-high-reps-low-weight-range-isnt-that-wro/13272#13272&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; post, I still feel that there is something I am uncertain about. I have heard people say about rotator cuff exercises that they are &quot;not a muscle building exercise&quot;, for example in &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/OENxC3bgAEs?t=89&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is, lets say that you are doing the exercise with perfect form and not allowing the bigger muscles to take over (as expressed in the other fitness question linked to), should you not try to push yourself with the exercise (in order to build the muscle up)? Otherwise the muscle would surely stay at the same strength level? Or is the point only to warm it up? I have had issues with my rotator cuff and am still unsure how much to push with the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T19:55:59.220" Title="Rotator cuff exercises not intended to build muscle?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-27T00:55:04.420" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;So here is my question: Say on Monday you do the bench press and on Tuesday you do the shoulder press. Can this be okay or is it not enough rest because shoulders and triceps assist with the bench press. That is my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16454" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T02:56:40.160" Title="Exercising assisting muscle then main muscle day after day?" Tags="&lt;rest&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-09-28T17:20:26.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25637" CreationDate="2015-07-27T01:37:02.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, its &lt;strong&gt;highly debatable&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some factors you may want to consider:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How heavy did you train, in this case did you go heavy for your bench or did you go light?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much volume(sets/reps) is done on that day(for your bench)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you eating in a surplus(eating more than your maintenance).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How fast can your body recover(physical and central nervous system fatigue).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your mood for the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, if you really want to know more, you could try doing it to see if your body is capable of doing so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T01:37:02.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25644" CreationDate="2015-07-27T03:28:28.983" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;After the latest legs day I had pain in the inner side of the place between leg and groin. It hurts only during the lowers part of the squat and press machine (I didn't notice anything during that workout thought). I didn't pay much attention to it, however after a week on the next legs day I felt it during the warm-up squats with empty barbell and when I put the weight I couldn't perform because of it. So I skipped squats and press machine and only did other machines for legs ( and it didn't hurt there ). Is it a sprain and what do I do about it? When can I start squatting again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="12044" LastEditDate="2015-07-27T07:10:12.003" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T07:10:12.003" Title="Pain after squats (sprain?)" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25641" CreationDate="2015-07-27T05:46:27.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been through a similar endeavor, and in my case, it was a case of a pulled muscle. It's very normal to have low flexibility turn into muscle-pulls. Especially during squats, where a very heavy load is placed on muscles that are required to be elastic, or be destroyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you start stretching your lower body quite thoroughly. Not only is it going to rehabilitate you in terms of flexibility, but it prevents this type of injury by balancing out your muscles' stiffness after things like prolonged sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some good post-workout legday stretches are detailed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cheatsheet.com/life/7-crucial-stretches-for-post-workout-recovery.html/?a=viewall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. For your particular injury - between the legs and groin - the butterfly (the one with the girl sitting, knees out to the side) would stretch the muscles (adductors) and tendons in question. Of course, while you're still recovering from the injury, this isn't the way to go, but if you start doing this after a legday, you'll reduce the risk of it happening next legday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also look into how you can improve your warmups. A properly warmed-up body also has a lower risk of mid-rep injury. Some dynamic stretches could be included here for more benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb, without going into the nitty gritty, you should to dynamic stretches &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the workout, and static stretches &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt;. The dynamic stretches include movements which facilitates a good warmup as well as a light stretch. The static stretches ease the tension in your muscles, and provide immediate relief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the first paragraph, I experienced a mid-workout injury very similar to what you're describing, but mine was during a deadlift, and it was the top part of my hamstring. These days, I stretch and foam roll like it's my job, and I've been injury free since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T05:46:27.820" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25648" CreationDate="2015-07-27T08:23:13.750" Score="7" ViewCount="19475" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I've always been active in the gym and have done weight training (bicep curls, squats, chest press) yet I have only just started getting into deadlifts as I'm trying to train &quot;better&quot; and this is a highly recommended exercise. I've been doing them once a week for a month, along with my other exercises like squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently weighing 75kg and once warmed up deadlifting 60kg up to 85kg (187lbs). I'm doing many single reps, probably spending half an hour doing them totalling 50 in total I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a recently exercise book the guy mentioned three sets of 5-8 reps for deadlifts. Very different to my pattern. I notice that I seem to get a dull ache in my lower back the next day, which has caused me to rethink what I am doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I be reducing my total reps for deadlift? What would a good target weight be, relative to bodyweight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I appreciate I need to work up to it whilst practicing my technique)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My goals are not to enter competitions etc but rather to increase my overall strength. One specific thing is I'd like to get bigger, more powerful legs to develop a stronger front kick in karate, as well as a stronger core for the upper body exercises I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastEditorUserId="6974" LastEditDate="2015-07-27T11:53:21.083" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T16:31:23.843" Title="Deadlift - weight &amp; reps too light &amp; too many?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25645" CreationDate="2015-07-27T11:34:22.077" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;As anything it depends on your goals.  As a powerlifter and strongman, I have to lift heavy weights.  For Powerlifting it's the heaviest deadlift, but for strongman it could be one set weight for as many reps as I can within a timelimit.  That's very different from a bodybuilder who is looking for a better physique, where weight is irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addressing Discomfort&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I notice that I seem to get a dull ache in my lower back the next day, which has caused me to rethink what I am doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's very common.  I call it a low back &quot;pump&quot; which is usually what happens when you do enough volume.  It can be very uncomfortable, but it is a back pump it goes away within a day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, to minimize the pain as you add more weight on the bar over time, you'll want to help your body out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Concentrate on being and staying tight before you pull.  In fact the last thing you do should be to contract your lats to pull your body in to the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work on your glutes and your upper body (snatch grip deadlift for 2x10-15 is good for this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Above all: &lt;strong&gt;do not jerk the bar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those steps have helped me minimize the pump.  Unfortunately it is a part of doing deadlifts, but it's nothing to be concerned about.  &lt;em&gt;A sharp pain or a pain that doesn't go away after a couple days is something to be concerned about.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addressing Set/Rep Schemes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are meant to be done heavy.  Many lifters do well with one heavy set for 3-5 reps, and then back off reps that are much lower in weight.  I've seen approaches that are all over the map by people with much larger deadlift records than I have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your training approach really depends on what you are trying to get out of the deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training for 1RM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal here is to get your body used to heavy pulls, and put in the volume needed for hypertrophy with much lighter weights.  Aim for a 3-5 rep max (you can keep the same weight and add reps or alternate weeks with your current 5RM working to your 3RM), and do back off volume at 100 lbs lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training for Reps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal here is to build up endurance with a heavy weight.  You'll only be doing one set, but start with something you can do for 5 reps and work to 8-10 reps.  Increase weight and start over at 5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts aren't even necessary.  Most bodybuilders I know opt for variations like Romanian Deadlifts and such that are meant for high reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My goals are not to enter competitions etc but rather to increase my overall strength. One specific thing is I'd like to get bigger, more powerful legs to develop a stronger front kick in karate, as well as a stronger core for the upper body exercises I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that purpose, I would recommend front squats.  You can supplement the front squats with romanian deadlifts or kettlebell swings (hip hinge exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squats have you balancing the bar across your deltoids forcing you to keep your upper back extended and placing more of a load on your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are more useful for brute force breaking a hold that someone has you in on the ground with grappling techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I think deadlifts are a great tool, they just aren't the right tool to develop front kick strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-07-27T16:31:23.843" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T16:31:23.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25645" CreationDate="2015-07-27T12:51:21.963" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I be reducing my total reps for deadlift? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;50 is a bit much, especially with singles, but you're lifting so little weight right now. The lower back feeling you describe can be quite normal, but you should still triple-check your form using video, and if possible, a coach or knowledgable gym buddy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sets of 3-8 always worked for me--I've done heavy singles, but only once multi-rep sets stopped being useful. You still have plenty of room to do multi-rep sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What would a good target weight be, relative to bodyweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One and a half to start. Double after some time. More than double requires dedication to strength training that may be unnecessary for other purposes like martial arts and health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T12:51:21.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25645" CreationDate="2015-07-27T15:02:59.727" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting isn't fundamentally different than any other movement, so train it the same basic way as everything else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're aiming for a combination of strength, athletic-performance, and muscle-size, you'll probably want to vary the protocol (aka the sets and reps to do) - e.g. for 8 weeks, lift for strength, then take a week off, then another 8 weeks of lifting for size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting once a week isn't bad, twice a week would get you more results, but assuming you're not a professional body-builder, you've only got so many gym-hours to spend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - the deadlift taxes your low-back - be cautious about doing any-other low-back critical exercise before or after. E.g. a bent-over barbell-row since it involves holding your back steady.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a nice visual guide to rep-ranges and the effects:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zbBXX.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zbBXX.png&quot; alt=&quot;Rep Range Guide&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T15:02:59.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25645" CreationDate="2015-07-27T16:22:59.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I be reducing my total reps for deadlift? What would a good target weight be, relative to bodyweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are you thinking in terms relative to your body weight? Think in terms of more than you were able to previously do. Deadlift is very taxing on the lower back. If your goal is strength as you say then I would focus on reducing the total volume and focus on increasing the weight. Figure out an approximate 1 rep max. Let's say currently its 100 kg. Then take 90% of that number and then program around that number with a weekly progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as an example it might be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1: 50% x 5 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 2: 65% x 5 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 3: 70% x 3 x 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 4: 85% x 2 x 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you'd start over. I've done 3 week &quot;waves&quot;, 4 week &quot;waves&quot;, even 7 week &quot;waves.&quot; Just come up with a goal for that week and hit it. Remember to use a percentage of your 90%. So say it is 100kg then 90% is 90kg so week 1 is 45kg. At the end of the Wave you start over with an increase of 10 to 20 lbs for deadlift (bench most likely would require smaller jumps). Don't worry about testing your 1RM again for a good half a year at least. I haven't tested my Squat or Deadlift maxes currently for about 7 months and I'm 12 weeks out from my next competition. You're not even planning on training for a competition so you should never worry about a 1RM besides adjusting your numbers once or twice a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My goals are not to enter competitions etc but rather to increase my overall strength. One specific thing is I'd like to get bigger, more powerful legs to develop a stronger front kick in karate, as well as a stronger core for the upper body exercises I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The front kick is going to make use of Quad, Glutes and Hamstrings more than back. Deadlift can help with this and with size but shouldn't be your only focus then. I'd probably suggest doing a day of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift, Front Squats and some sort of Plyometric like box jump. If you have the ability to pull and squat against Chains or Bands would be great too for this goal. Remember to use an even lighter % if you do as its very, very taxing. It'll help develop your speed and power much more effectively though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dull ache in lower back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just a back pump. Unless its a sharp, acute pain then its nothing to worry about for Deadlifting or Squat. Its your lower back muscles growing for possibly the first time. If its a sharp, acute pain that might even travel down your legs its most likely a pinched nerve from using incorrect form form though could be something more severe like a herniated disc. A dull pain is just wonderful, get use to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T16:22:59.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-27T16:43:26.207" Score="1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the workouts I know for biceps/triceps only involve one or the other. Never both. But if there is one out there, could someone please tell me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16459" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T20:38:29.483" Title="Weightlifting exercise that builds biceps and triceps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25650" CreationDate="2015-07-27T17:08:07.297" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biceps and Triceps are antagonist muscles.  That means when one is the primary mover, the other simply lends stability.  The concept that an exercise is for a particular muscle group simply means that the primary movers do most of the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because they are antagonist muscles the only thing that can hit them about the same is a static hold for time.  Even then, depending on whether your arms are extended (triceps) or flexed (biceps), the majority of the work will still be one or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T17:08:07.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25636" CreationDate="2015-07-27T17:17:44.067" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shoulder is an amazingly complex joint that allows for a very wide range of motion.  The point of the rotator cuff is to keep the ball joint in the middle of the shoulder girdle.  It is a stabilizing muscle, not a primary mover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's a big mistake to treat &lt;em&gt;rehab&lt;/em&gt; exercises like you would strength exercises.  When a physical therapist prescribes rehab exercises they do so with an attempt to restore the joint to normal operation.  Increasing load on one of the exercises can make cause rehab to take longer as the stronger muscles tend to keep getting stronger and the weaker muscles tend to want to let them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are given the green light to resume regular exercise, make sure you are doing so with proper form.  Also make sure your assistance exercises help you keep your shoulder joint sitting right where it's supposed to when you are at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-07-27T19:55:59.220" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T19:55:59.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-27T17:49:09.620" Score="2" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently returned to strength training after years of only cardio. Today I mostly exercise with bodyweight and TRX, trying to avoid the muscle isolation method of classic free weigh exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back in the day when I did free weight training at the gym, I remember always having thin biceps, unproportioinal to a well developed triceps and upper body muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I seem to be facing the same problem again, my biceps are not developing well and are visibly thin and unproportional to the rest of  my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the back and biceps I do Pull-Ups, TRX High Row and TRX Bicep Curl (without twisting motion until now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some research I found out that the inner, short head of the bicep is responsible for twisting the forearm clockwise (from POV). I added a twist motion to the TRX Bicep Curl, and I added Dumbbell Curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other methods or exercises to &quot;thicken&quot; your biceps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16461" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T20:09:30.167" Title="Trying to achieve thicker biceps using TRX and dumbbell curls" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25661" CreationDate="2015-07-28T09:32:09.830" Score="11" ViewCount="2523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started a C25K program. I'm in the UK and using the NHS C25K podcasts and last night I did the first day of week 2 - the voice over told me that during the running segments I should be trying to breathe in for four steps and out for four steps, specifically counting four steps of my left foot for each (so: breathe in, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R; breathe out, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I am very unfit indeed (hence doing the program in the first place) and I do end up quite out of breath during the workouts, but there is NO WAY I can manage to inhale for that long while running. I can just about manage half that (breathe in, L, R, L, R; breathe out, L, R, L, R).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband, who is much fitter (but not particularly a runner), said that he wouldn't be able to do that either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: is this really sensible advice that I should be TRYING to follow (as in actively working on extending my breathing pattern), or is it something that will happen anyway as I get fitter / better at running, or is it just daft advice that I should ignore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12702/when-running-out-of-breath-keep-breathing-rhythm-or-take-in-air&quot;&gt;When running out of breath, keep breathing rhythm or take in air?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9387/breathing-pattern-while-running&quot;&gt;Breathing Pattern while running&lt;/a&gt; but neither of those are quite the same question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16472" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T20:14:20.343" Title="Breathing during running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25660" CreationDate="2015-07-28T09:45:22.663" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;breathe in, L, R, L, R; breathe out, L, R, L, R&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we like to call this 4:4. That is 4 steps on inhale, 4 steps on exhale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0070752&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; tries to analyze some of the breathing dynamics of humans during running. While it's pretty long and technical, it's been written about in more layman's terms &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/newswire/does-your-breathing-pattern-matter&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gist of it suggests that a 2:1 pattern is more beneficial because of how you evenly distribute exhale weight shifts onto both legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the 8:8 you mention seems farfetched. If you're able to do 8:8, I posit that you're not really getting tired. Shorter, more explosive breaths, increase circulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T09:45:22.663" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25067" CreationDate="2015-07-28T10:15:29.737" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is actually recommended that you have your post workout meal in the 15-20 minute window post workout. Since your question is about hygiene I would say it does not matter as long as your food doesnt touch the sweat. &#xA; Keep in mind that showering immediately after a meal will affect your digestion, as it will divert the blood flow from the stomach to other parts of the body, affecting the digestive process. Wait for sometime before heading for the shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16473" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T10:15:29.737" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25663" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25666" CreationDate="2015-07-28T11:09:40.223" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;If, for example I train my chest and back, and I have 2 exercises for each muscle group, lets call them chest1, chest2, back1, back2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation I usually wanted to train back1, chest1, back2, chest2.&#xA;So I can rest the back and chest between exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard that it is better to train all exercises of a muscle group together, so that it keeps the blood pumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is preferable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16162" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T12:59:13.443" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T12:59:13.443" Title="Should I train all exercises in a muscle group sequentially?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25660" CreationDate="2015-07-28T12:05:00.490" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If humans run, their breathing is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; connected to their stride.&#xA;Why don't you just breath the way it is comfortable with you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially when you just started to run, you shouldn't worry about anything like breathing patterns. Just try to find the &quot;fun&quot; in running!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15993" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T12:05:00.490" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25663" CreationDate="2015-07-28T12:16:46.163" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this depends on your goal.&#xA;If you are looking for conditioning, continuing to work out different sets of muscles sequentially as you are allows you to move from set to set with minimal resting which keeps your heart rate up, which is &lt;strong&gt;also called circuit training&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;With circuit training you will not develop explosive strength&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Again it depends on your goal, whether it is  Cardiovascular stamina, Muscular conditioning, Body building, or raw strength &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16473" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T12:16:46.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25663" CreationDate="2015-07-28T12:51:33.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you take a look at what body parts you think you need to improve, and, place priority on them by performing exercises that target those muscles &lt;strong&gt;first&lt;/strong&gt;.   Some studies have shown that greater strength and muscular size gains are achievable with exercises placed near the beginning of a program.  A 2012 study entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22292516&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercise Order in Resistance Training&lt;/a&gt; found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“...the research suggests that exercises be ordered based on priority of&#xA;  importance as dictated by the training goal of a programme,&#xA;  irrespective of whether the exercise involves a relatively large or&#xA;  small muscle group.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study goes on to say …&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“…exercise order is an important variable that should receive greater&#xA;  attention in RT prescription. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, it stops short of saying that &quot;all exercises of a muscle group&quot; should be trained together.  Currently, I do not believe there’s any scientific evidence to suggest that assertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T12:51:33.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25667" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25670" CreationDate="2015-07-28T14:13:11.423" Score="5" ViewCount="1540" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to do some Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs) in the gym yesterday when a guy came and said to me, &quot;man, you are doing the stiff-legged deadlift wrong&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently those are two similar exercises, so my question is how to perform both of them with proper form, and what are the main differences between them in terms of muscles reached?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T21:12:24.323" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T21:12:24.323" Title="RDL vs Stiff Deadlift" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25667" CreationDate="2015-07-28T14:49:49.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The differences are really subtle, and they can be fairly exchangeable as far as training purposes go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RDL starts from a standing position (bar rests on J-hooks in between sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stiff Leg DL starts at the bottom position (bar rests on ground in between sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RDL allows more bend at the knee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RDL is more like a hip-hinge exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stiff Leg DL hits the hamstrings a little more directly (i.e. more stretch on the hamstrings)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The emphasis of hips or hamstrings is also fairly minor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T14:49:49.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25660" CreationDate="2015-07-28T15:32:51.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breathing in for 4 lefts and out for 4, like you are doing seems extreme, especially for a beginner runner. In for 2 left, out for 2 is probably what they mean in that article. It also matches most Army running cadences, by the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T15:32:51.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25667" CreationDate="2015-07-28T15:50:36.540" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Main difference is how deep you go. Stiff Leg Deadlift you allow your back to round a bit at the bottom, might even stand on a platform to really emphasize this. Romanian Deadlift is more of a hamstring exercise where you're emphasis is keeping your back straight and forcing your butt backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally SLDL is completely straight though not locked out - never lock out that would just cause injury. RDL the knee bends to allow your butt to go backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/18pXN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image from: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/rdl-vs-sldl.html/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Romanian Deadlift vs. Stiff Legged Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another subtle distinction that often occurs is that SLDL the bar is generally a bit more forward where RDL's it will be right against your legs, sometimes even use Dumbbells by the side of your legs. Can see that too in the above depiction where the bar is above her toes on the SLDL but closer to her ankle in the RDL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I never ever do Stiff Legged Deadlifts. Romanians however are my go-to hamstring and glute exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T15:50:36.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25660" CreationDate="2015-07-28T21:22:14.990" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; you're running.  If you're running to build your general aerobic and cardiovascular fitness, the rule of thumb I learned in the US Marine Corps is not to follow a particular breathing pattern, but to aim for a certain level of exertion.  You should be breathing in a way that allows you to talk, but not sing.  If you can sing at a normal tempo, you're not pushing yourself hard enough.  And if you can't talk to your running partner, you're pushing yourself too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're running for a more specific goal, like time over a given distance, your target breathing pattern could be entirely different.  I have no advice about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16489" LastEditorUserId="16489" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T21:27:38.337" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T21:27:38.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25542" CreationDate="2015-07-29T00:48:20.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for the book Eat and Run by Scott Jurek. He lists many recipes for vegetarians and this includes some vegan ones too. He is an ultra marathoner (living) legend and has had this philosophy of getting enough protein in mind from the beginning of his career.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T00:48:20.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25674" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-29T03:39:56.247" Score="1" ViewCount="5783" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most rowing machines in gyms I've come across use simple straps to secure your feet, like those shown below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hW83i.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hW83i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I've always found is that after a few strokes the straps loosen, which I &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; causes me to lose power on the recovery of the stroke as part of the power is lost to more loosening and leads to a slight &quot;jump&quot; when reaching the slack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the question is two-fold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is a little looseness enough to worry about?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so how can I better tighten the foot straps so they stay tight for the full session?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T13:16:00.747" Title="Securing feet in an indoor rowing machine" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25660" CreationDate="2015-07-29T09:52:50.463" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be interested in reading this about the research of the late prof. Buteyko:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@MR04:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;controlling your breathing and taking in large breaths increases blood flow and provides oxygen faster to your brain and the rest of your body.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. If you lose too much CO&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; by breathing too much, you'll actually reduce available oxygen for the brain. I'm not going to write an essay here, but rather I'd like to refer to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Many people believe that breathing more air increases oxygen content in cells. This is not true. Generally, breathing more even reduces oxygen content even in the arterial blood. Indeed, hemoglobin cells in normal blood for very small normal breathing are about 98% saturated with O&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;. When we hyperventilate this number is about the same (in real life it gets less since most people make a transition to automatic costal or chest breathing that reduces arterial blood O2 levels), but without CO&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; and the Bohr effect, this oxygen is tightly bound with red blood cells and cannot get into the tissues in required amounts. Hence, now we know one of the causes why heavy breathing reduces the cell-oxygen level of all vital organs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.normalbreathing.com/CO2-bohr-effect.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.normalbreathing.com/CO2-bohr-effect.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.normalbreathing.com/cardiovascular-endurance.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.normalbreathing.com/cardiovascular-endurance.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot post more links b/c of my reputation level, but that website contains plenty of relevant material for this discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16496" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2019-04-11T20:14:20.343" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T20:14:20.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25674" CreationDate="2015-07-29T13:16:00.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rowers that are used in gym and club settings typically suffer from two problems.  Insufficient maintenance by the club and incorrect form by those using the equipment.  The average gym member does not know how to use a rower correctly.   Their poor technique typically results in the foot straps loosening because of the urge to “lift” the toes on the &lt;em&gt;finish&lt;/em&gt; of the stroke.  This places undue stress on the tightening straps.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/news/foot-position-primer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Correct form&lt;/a&gt; is achieved by the foot remaining firmly planted throughout the stroke.  Additionally, improper adjustment of the foot position (ie. the foot settings numbers) will affect the entire stroke further impacting the stress on the foot straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Is a little looseness enough to worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal situation is to have your feet in constant contact with the foot plates.  A minor looseness of the strap, assuming correct rowing form, should not be of concern.  In fact, a good technique for improving foot position is “feet out” rowing.   If you’re losing power, I’d suggest you take a look at your form.  Posting a quick video to this site, or, to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c2forum.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concept2 forums&lt;/a&gt; should provide feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If so how can I better tighten the foot straps so they stay tight for&#xA;  the full session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a Concept2 rower at home.  I don’t have a problem with the foot straps.  However, when I use the rower at my club, the straps are problematic for the reasons I’ve indicated above.  I typically resolve that by making sure my rowing form is correct, or, if I plan on rowing a long piece (eg. 45 minutes), I’ll double tie the straps by wrapping the ends under the strap and pulling them through to create a knot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you should not be losing power on the recovery of the stroke.  Constant power should be applied throughout the &lt;em&gt;drive&lt;/em&gt; portion of the stroke.  The &lt;em&gt;recovery&lt;/em&gt; is often referred to as the beginning of the next stroke, so, the application of power should not be of concern. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve got over 3.5 million meters logged on the rower and currently row on water for a club.  Please post if you have any further questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T13:16:00.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25678" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-29T14:39:29.097" Score="1" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a set of dumbbells and an incline bench, and just started some basic exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used only 2.5kg per arm but found difficult to do set of 3 x 12. I noticed my hands were not moving under 100% control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then decided to do 1 x 12 of following exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline fly &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated shoulder press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side bend&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(NO LOWER BODY EXERCISES DUE TO MEDICAL CONDITIONS)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed I should able to lift more weight than that!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What changes I can do for above mentioned routine? Is it normal to not be able to complete a routine like this, even with a lighter weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13667" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-07-29T18:32:57.223" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T18:39:51.027" Title="Absolute beginner : dumbbells and incline bench" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32616" CreationDate="2015-07-29T15:27:23.833" Score="5" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been attempting to get the hang of various flips off of the diving board into the pool. One of the problems I run into is that I'm very bad at tracking where I am in a flip so as to know when to pull out for the landing. It's possibly complicated by the fact that I'm over a relatively trackless surface (the water) and I'm pretty much forced to do the flips without my glasses (I'm myopic with a fair amount of astigmatism), but I suspect that, as much as anything, I'm just not keeping track of where I am very well. It just all goes by so fast from jump to spinning to landing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any tricks to improving tracking? Repeated attempts don't seem to be bearing much fruit, as I'm getting a consistent timing, but not one that's well-suited to adapting if distances change (such as with a new swimming pool) or being able to adapt my technique for a new move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-11-14T16:34:57.447" Title="How do I improve my tracking while flipping?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25683" CreationDate="2015-07-29T16:42:06.300" Score="2" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4791/calories-to-consume-on-workout-days&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; post but I'm still a bit confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my bmr is approximately 2500 calories and I'm looking to loose weight by having a caloric deficit and 3500/week deficit goal, should I be increasing the number of calories consumed on days that I workout? My workout schedule looks like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: full body&#xA;Tuesday: cardio&#xA;Wednesday: full body&#xA;Thursday: off&#xA;Friday: full body&#xA;Saturday: off&#xA;Sunday: off&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should my calorie consumption look like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: 2500 calories&#xA;Tuesday: 2500 calories&#xA;Wednesday: 2500 calories&#xA;Thursday: 2000 calories&#xA;Friday: 2500 calories&#xA;Saturday: 2000 calories&#xA;Sunday: 2000 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;assuming that I burn approximately 500 calories during the workout/cardio days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T21:41:22.550" Title="Calories consumed on workout days vs. off days" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25933" CreationDate="2015-07-29T18:29:24.663" Score="2" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently replaced running with biking for my workouts. Reason being, I get very light headed and my feet feel the burning sensation quite quickly into my run. After I run (lets say 4 miles), I feel dizzy and my head is not in a very pleasant feeling. I understand the burning sensation in the calves and legs would slowly get better and better with more muscle.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;I'm curious as to what causes the fatigue and the light nauseous feeling after running?&lt;/strong&gt; I had the same thing happen the first time I went on a 10-15mile bike ride, but it only happened once when biking. I get this feeling every time after running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to add tags that I'm sure I've missed. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16428" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T21:11:24.293" Title="What causes fatigue and light head when running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25678" CreationDate="2015-07-29T18:39:51.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you never lifted weights before? If so, it might be perfectly reasonable that you'd have difficulty, even with a lower weight. Everyone has to start somewhere, and sometimes, it's not as much as you might think, particularly for some arm exercises where you've never practiced that motion. Is this your smallest dumbbell? If not, I'd say try a lower weight until you can perform the full set with control. If it is your smallest weight, consider reducing the number of reps initially and working them up. Alternately, buy smaller weights or improvise some. One liter of water weighs 1 kg. If you improvise a handle with tape, you can make yourself a set of 1 kg weights to start out with (if you can grasp the bottle without those grips, that works too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other question I'd ask is, are you unable to complete the full number of reps on every exercise or just some of them? Some arm exercises will be much more difficult to start with. Most people start out curling more weight then they can do with a fly, for example. I would advise using whatever weight is challenging for each exercise, even if it's different amounts. That's normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T18:39:51.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25680" CreationDate="2015-07-29T21:41:22.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it doesn't really matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories consumed is not a zero sum game, where each day the counter is reset. The quality and timing of your meals will matter much more than the day to day exact count of calories. As long as you run an overall deficit, in the long run you will lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you plan on an extremely heavy day, I would plan on some extra calories to compensate so that you aren't completely wiped the next day. But overall, on the days you workout you'll run a little higher deficit, on the days you don't, you won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and don't get hung up on the 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat loss. That's a fallacy, just maintain a caloric deficit. You may lose more than 1 lb a week to start, and then it will taper off. As long as you keep that deficit and pay attention to the quality of your food, you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; lose weight. If you aren't losing weight, then you're either eating more than you think, or not burning as much as you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T21:41:22.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-30T16:23:40.870" Score="4" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training to build body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does a grappling session once a week, which lasts for 2 hours, will effect my muscle size or performance at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to do the session on a day that I dont work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16383" LastActivityDate="2015-08-30T04:54:00.540" Title="Combining body building and grappling" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-30T17:19:04.447" Score="7" ViewCount="4360" Body="&lt;p&gt;First up, I know there are any elbow noise questions out there, but they do not describe my experience completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay so I'm 18 yrs old and very skinny with little muscle, and I started gym a month ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 2-3 weeks ago, I started getting this creaky grinding sensation when I completely extend my arm or completely bend it, you can't hear it out loud, just feel it by putting your fingers on the elbow, this sound is different from the knuckle pop or knee crack etc, its much more gentler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not feel any kind of pain or secondary symptoms like swelling or locked range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I told my trainer about it, he said its completely normal and happens because the muscle around my elbows are weak(indeed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sound when extending comes from a little right of the inner side of the elbow(not ulnar nerve) but when bending its kinda like from the middle of the inner elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ps.- Ever since I joined, I've been told to do wrist curls with a barbell, earlier barbell alone, then 2.5KG plates each side and currently 5kg each side. I do 100 reps of this with little rest in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So could it be due to this exercise? my left arm is non dominant and thus relatively weaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So should I stop doing these wrist exercises or just keep doing the and fortify my elbow muscles? since there is no pain or discomfort in the elbow itself while doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16217" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-08-03T21:10:17.190" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T21:10:17.190" Title="Elbow grinding sensation after starting workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25685" CreationDate="2015-07-30T19:45:14.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elbow grinding or not, you should stop the 100 rep sessions immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24757/number-of-reps-for-lean-muscles&quot;&gt;Read Dave's answer over here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, you're not building muscle at all by doing 100 reps. Instead, add more weight, and do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps. There should be enough weight to make you regret the last couple reps. In other words, you should just barely be able to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the elbow pain, we mostly give the same advice. We don't know. We &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; know. You should get an examination by a doctor. But yes, it could very likely be due to the 100 reps. Such a workout would do more harm for your joints, than it does good for your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-07-30T19:45:14.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-30T22:28:50.190" Score="3" ViewCount="453" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you calculate % of V02 max at which you're working (assuming it's &gt;100%) by measuring change in blood oxygenation with a pulse ox?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that working at &gt;100% VO2 max means you're not absorbing enough oxygen to fully re-oxygenate your arterial blood (ie going hypoxic, which, I believe, is what a pulse ox is often used to detect). It would seem, then, that by measuring the rate at which your blood oxygen level is decreasing, that &quot;oxygen deficit&quot; could be quantified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I missing something? Would this actually be feasible? (I don't have any sense of how much blood oxygenation level would change and how sensitive/accurate the readings are from a pulse ox)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What first got me curious about this question was trying to experiment with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training#Tabata_regimen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the original Tabata HIIT regimen&lt;/a&gt; (the &quot;IE1 protocol&quot;: 8 intervals of 20s at 170% VO2 max, followed by 10s of rest). I realize that actually paying attention to readings during the exercise is likely unfeasible, but was wondering if looking at pulse ox data after the fact could give a sense of whether the intensity goals were met.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16508" LastEditorUserId="16508" LastEditDate="2015-10-05T14:03:24.797" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T14:03:24.797" Title="Can you calculate % of V02 max at which you're working using pulse ox readings?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25685" CreationDate="2015-07-31T04:21:32.863" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh dear! 100 Reps. No invoker. As @Alec said, you should seriously stop during 100 reps. Use heavier weights and do lower reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will majorly damage yourself with 100 reps. As for the elbow pain, I am not qualified to comment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16195" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T04:21:32.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25684" CreationDate="2015-07-31T04:39:44.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dont recommend grappling if you want to put on some body mass.  Your core strength can be improved and you can tone your body too but grappling will not help you put on body mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16510" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T04:39:44.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2015-07-31T05:41:35.977" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this an old post...but if u wanted to cut fat and gain muscle without having to wotkout... gonna cost u Hella money. Bout 1500 a month.. hgh. Human growth hormone.  It's a hollywood thing mostly, u wonder y all these stars look the exact same if not better 20 years later...it's hgh. It's like the fountain of youth drug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16511" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T05:41:35.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25697" CreationDate="2015-07-31T06:22:23.483" Score="1" ViewCount="845" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told that I mainly use biceps to perform bent over barbell rows. However, I feel like I'm using my back. How can I find out to which extent are hands absorbing the load?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T14:28:50.850" Title="bent over barbell row biceps usage" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-31T08:09:33.310" Score="2" ViewCount="3891" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experience pain in my left shoulder during wide grip lat pull-down (more when arms are in the lower part of the movement). I do wide grip pull-ups without any problems at the same time. It also hurts on pecs machine at the open position. Is it flexibility problem? Has it something to do with shoulder exercises on the previous workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="16437" LastEditDate="2015-08-01T19:54:53.533" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T19:54:53.533" Title="What could be causing the pain in my shoulder during chest presses and pull-downs?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-07-31T20:46:42.223" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25696" CreationDate="2015-07-31T10:42:13.513" Score="4" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last 6 months I've done&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slow extensive runs of ± 60min, 3x / week, (HR between 145 - 155bpm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strength training 3x / week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x/week martial art (BJJ/Muay Thai/MMA) training (technique+sparring), so without doubt HR +180bpm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The slow extensive runs were to improve basic condition.&#xA;Strength training; to improve overall fitness during sparring.&#xA;At certain point before change of plan, my resting HR was between 49 and 55.&#xA;Changing the plan to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x / week intensive training such as martial art technique and sparring / cross-training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x / week 60' slow ext. run (HR: 145-155)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my resting HR stays between 54 and 60. Exercise generally lowers the resting heart rate. Does HIIT have the opposite effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15895" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-07-31T13:53:48.393" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T13:53:48.393" Title="Does recommence of high intensity training has influence on resting HR?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25695" CreationDate="2015-07-31T13:50:25.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overall, exercise generally &lt;a href=&quot;http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lowers one's starting heart rate&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/Suppl_1/i20.2.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT may provide superior benefits to continuous training&lt;/a&gt; (although &lt;a href=&quot;https://experiencelife.com/article/steady-state-cardio-vs-high-intensity-interval-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some disagree&lt;/a&gt;, saying that it's more useful when you're already at a lower HR). &lt;a href=&quot;http://running.competitor.com/2014/06/training/think-youre-overtraining-check-your-pulse_63593&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Overtraining can &lt;strong&gt;raise&lt;/strong&gt; one's resting heart rate&lt;/a&gt; due to increased stress from your body trying to soldier on without sufficient recovery time. It sounds like you may be experiencing that. Try taking a few days rest without much exercise at all and see if that improves your morning resting Heart Rate values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T13:50:25.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25693" CreationDate="2015-07-31T14:28:50.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EXRX's muscle activation list on the bent-over barbell row&lt;/a&gt;, you'll note that the dozen or so muscles that make up the bicep and forearm are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Glossary.html#anchor1275394&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;syngerists and dynamic stabilizers&lt;/a&gt;: not prime movers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while your arms are certainly involved in the lift, they are hardly the prime movers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you flip to an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBUnderhandBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;underhand grip on your barbell bent-over row&lt;/a&gt;, which will put more emphasis on your lats, your back reminds the prime mover although I'd imagine there's more loading of the biceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you can prove it yourself: you can normally barbell row much more than you can curl. Rowing 180lbs for 5RM is a typical weight to see, but I highly doubt that person will be curling 90lbs 5RM for the same reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T14:28:50.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25694" CreationDate="2015-07-31T18:03:24.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several years ago I began feeling a sharp pain in my left shoulder (behind my deltoid muscle, near the joint) during chest exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first the pain was minor so I kept with my normal weightlifting routine. Over the next few weeks, however, the pain became progressively worse. It finally reached a point where I could no longer do any chest exercises (or some back exercises) without experiencing severe pain in my shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Ironically, shoulder exercises including heavy barbell presses were unaffected. I could also continue doing arm exercises, but only slowly and when very still.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I rested. I came back a week later. The pain was still there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rested longer. I came back two weeks later. The pain was still there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was languishing for weeks. Worse, I had no clue about a cause or a remedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE: If my scenario above is similar to your current circumstance then read on. Otherwise, my answer below may not apply to you.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually a bodybuilder acquaintance at the gym explained to me that I most likely had an irritated tendon. He showed me a simple exercise to strengthen the shoulder tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In preparing my answer to your question I discovered that the proper term for this condition is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rotator Cuff (or Shoulder) Tendonitis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did the exercise and was quickly back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, whenever I feel a sharp pain coming to life in either of my shoulders, I just do this exercise and I'm right back on track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The exercise is a standing, external rotation of the rotator cuff with resistance.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you stand with your elbow fixed to your side. You cross your forearm across your belly to grab a cable pulley which has been set a the same level as your elbow and with proper weight for 10-15 reps (my preference). From that starting position, rotate your forearm out all the way, keeping your elbow in place, like you're creating a semi-circle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use an elastic band to do this exercise (just make sure to fix it securely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to post images here that would clearly illustrate my description, but all images I found online were subject to copyright protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you can easily find plenty of articles, images and videos describing this exercise. Just google: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=rotator%20cuff%20exercises&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1352&amp;amp;bih=910&amp;amp;tbm=vid&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIpZiSnPOFxwIVBu0eCh1ywQhL&amp;amp;dpr=1#q=external%20shoulder%20rotation%20exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;external shoulder rotation exercise&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (articles), &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=rotator%20cuff%20external%20rotation&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1352&amp;amp;bih=910&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIo4i2yvaFxwIVw2seCh3DFAbx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rotator cuff external rotation&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (images) and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=shoulder%20external%20rotation%20exercises&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1352&amp;amp;bih=910&amp;amp;tbm=vid&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMIr8vNmfeFxwIVw5seCh3JTQDM&amp;amp;dpr=1#tbm=vid&amp;amp;q=rotator%20cuff%20exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rotator cuff exercises&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (videos).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16437" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T18:03:24.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25687" CreationDate="2015-07-31T19:42:32.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's an interesting question, it would be a very short lived time anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VO2 max is the maximum oxygen your body can use at a given (usually fairly intense) activity level. If you exceed this work level, then you are working anaerobically, and the energy pathways for that are short lived at best. Up to VO2 max, your normal readings should be in the 95-100% range anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, about the maximum distance you could probably work anaerobically (Depending on your own efficiency and speed while running) is not much more than 200m. After that, your anaerobic energy pathways are pretty much spent, and you have to start relying again on aerobic methods. This would force you to slow down, as you couldn't sustain the workload. So, by the time you can even really pay attention to your oximeter levels, your body is already putting on the brakes for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, VO2 max is not that great of an indicator/metric to use. It's basically a number that is a predictor of possible performance, and doesn't really mean that you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; perform at that level. You can increase your VO2 max simply by losing weight. A much better metric to use is VVO2, or Velocity (speed) at VO2 max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T19:42:32.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-31T23:21:23.890" Score="2" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose I'm your typical skinny fat. I don't have a lot of muscle, but I do have a bit of a gut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goal is to bulk up, with a secondary goal of losing fat. Thus, I'm aiming to build muscle quickly, and I'm willing to trim my gut more slowly as a tradeoff. What's the best way to go about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16356" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T09:11:25.460" Title="How can I quickly build muscle and slowly lose fat?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:26:11.350" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25700" CreationDate="2015-08-01T00:00:01.293" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on your money balance.  If you have money go to the gym train hard and eat &lt;strong&gt;clean&lt;/strong&gt; , nutrition is everything But if you don't try some street workout like way. Your body is in your kitchen not in the gym. I would recommend you to start calisthenics or freeletics. Watch those on youtube to get motivated and keep trying to reach your goal. All you need is a bar . I DO NOT recommend crossfit.  Don't try crossfit it is really bad .. at least that's My opinion.  You might have seen those guys doing incredible handstand moves on YouTube or Facebook.  With Calisthenics you can achieve things like: front lever &#xA;Back lever , planche , muscle up and much more.  I mention once again &quot;eat clean&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Never give up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16517" LastEditorUserId="16517" LastEditDate="2015-08-01T00:06:44.173" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T00:06:44.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25704" CreationDate="2015-08-01T06:13:01.563" Score="2" ViewCount="469" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may seem a little bit funny, because I don't even know if they exist!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw this in the anime &lt;em&gt;Dragon Ball Z&lt;/em&gt;. Goku, hanging upside down with his hands on his neck, touches his head to his knees without letting go of his hands from his neck.  Like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZOwfp.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZOwfp.png&quot; alt=&quot;Goku training in space&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8yMWHchI7U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these exist, how to do them? And what is the number I should try to achieve?  I currently do 6-7 in one go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vrmfu.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vrmfu.png&quot; alt=&quot;Example 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2617350/It-looks-slightly-batty-celebs-swear-new-fitness-craze-Could-hanging-upside-banish-mum-tum.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d30Bq.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d30Bq.png&quot; alt=&quot;Example 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16519" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-08-02T18:01:14.303" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T18:01:14.303" Title="What are these types of &quot;crunches&quot; called and details about them? And are they harmful?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25703" CreationDate="2015-08-01T09:34:43.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where are you doing this exercise? On the bar or bench. I suggest you doing it on the bench like the second picture  because when you hang from the bar you swing back and forth and thats not good for core strengthening. You see that woman is stable because she found multiple bars, so she is not swinging.  Doing it like her is okay highly recommended. Upper abs are the main muscle group working in this exercise so you need to put a program to keep tracking your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Its not harmful when you do it with a limit&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*So, how to do them? *&#xA;You just try to lift yourself up to your toes as far as you can. If you feel weak that means you are not good enough for this level. Also do not stay at this position for long time because you will get &lt;strong&gt;dizzy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 Sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest 15 Seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems easy and it is so when you get more advanced try these:&#xA;3 sets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 v-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 side leg raises each leg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 Flutter kicks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is: yes this exercise exists but I personally don't do it. Leg raises are more functional for getting ripped :-D &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16517" LastEditorUserId="16517" LastEditDate="2015-08-01T09:40:37.007" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T09:40:37.007" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25705" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-02T00:18:46.797" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like 'frequency', 'volume', and 'intensity' correspond to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lifting sessions per week or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sets per session or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reps per set or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;total reps or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weight per rep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I'm not sure which term goes with what. Or do some have more general meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16523" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T02:30:47.153" Title="What is meant by 'frequency', ' volume', and 'intensity'?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25705" CreationDate="2015-08-02T01:34:38.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say generally frequency is referred to how often you workout. For example you working at 3 times a week would be how frequently you workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Volume would refer to the amount you do while working out. For example reps and sets would be labeled as the volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intensity can mean many things, but generally I use it do distinguish how difficult my workout will be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16525" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T01:34:38.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25707" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-02T02:22:40.697" Score="7" ViewCount="3167" Body="&lt;p&gt;An old coach of mine told me that pullups are way more effective than using the lat pulldown machine. Is this true and if so why? If not, then why is it not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-02T22:54:51.360" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T16:15:29.960" Title="Lat Pulldown vs. Pullups for back strength and bicep development" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25705" CreationDate="2015-08-02T02:30:47.153" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frequency&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can be used to describe how often a particular movement is performed. If Lifter A squats once per week and Lifter B squats twice per week, then Lifter B squats more frequently than Lifter A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intensity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Used to compare sub-maximal efforts to a person's max effort for a particular exercise. In terms of lifting this tends to be given as a percent of their 1 rep max. The closer they are to their 1 rep max, the more intense the effort will be. Conversely, the further from their 1 rep max, the less intense it will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Volume&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Volume is a broad concept as it can be used to analyze a program from multiple levels. At the workout level it will comprise of sets * reps for each exercise (and sometimes multiplied by weight lifted to find the tonnage that was lifted). This allows for a per-workout way to balance antagonistic movements. It can also be used with a larger scope (on a weekly, monthly, or larger scale) to show how a lifter is progressing when the intensity (amount of weight) is not changing. For instance, if a lifter can only bench press 135 lbs for 3x8 one week and then the following week they can bench press 135 lbs for 4x8, then they have progressed through volume rather than intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T02:30:47.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-02T07:42:46.077" Score="0" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a large cord I can see and feel on the lateral (outside) part of my knee and I'm wondering what it is, as it hurts sometimes. Does anyone know what it is? I think it is the LCL, the IT band or the hamstring, but not sure which, does anyone know? I took a picture of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PTgiV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PTgiV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16527" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-08-03T21:18:30.423" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T21:18:30.423" Title="What is this part of the knee?" Tags="&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25711" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-02T09:16:25.613" Score="2" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a classic ectomorph aged at 18, I've been hitting the gym hard for about a month now and have been able to observer some sort of progress with both machines and free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, even though I tried, I haven't really increased my diet as I should have, so my gym trainer told me to buy a mass gainer and/or whey protein powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I asked my dad to get one for me, but he(and frankly most people in our country) are surrounded by myths regarding the side-effects of these shakes. He tells me that my muscles will loosen up and I will get fatty later on when I stop going to the gym, apart from the chemical and processed ingredients in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only that, it also seems to be a socially-ill thing in our society, and people who have recently undergone a body transformation, despite sweating hours in the gym, are frowned upon and made fun of as if they have taken dope-stuff. They will treat you as if just eat lots of protein powder, sit in front of the TV, and become a mesomorph from an ectomorph in few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is why I would like to ask you guys to tell me on how to make the homemade smoothies which are somewhat equivalent to the standard market mass gainers or protein shakes (since both my calorie requirement and protein requirement are way below the mark).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of articles on the internet but many of them follow different procedures, and some are from untrusted sources as well, like some will add protein poweders to the blend (which destroys the purpose) some will add oats, some not etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 18 years of age, I only weigh 105 lbs or 48 kgs so I really need lots of those kcals and protein because I believe that every weak in the gym I'm doing better mechanically but there is insufficient nutrition for my muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I don't really care a lot about how it tastes as long as its rich in stuff, except for one thing,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;can I substitute peanut butter for almond butter?&lt;/strong&gt; since peanuts don't suite my too well when taken in large quantities, my gut is a happy guy with almonds though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16217" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T16:46:15.223" Title="Homemade Mass/Protein Blend" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-08-03T17:57:43.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25707" CreationDate="2015-08-02T11:00:09.050" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;*I agree with your coach! * He is totally right. Pullups and chin ups are much more effective because it's &lt;strong&gt;bodyweight workout&lt;/strong&gt;. So when you pull yourself up more &lt;strong&gt;muscles groups work&lt;/strong&gt;. When you pull on the machine it still works but &lt;strong&gt;less muscle groups&lt;/strong&gt; are used. Why is that happening?  Your body has a standard weight and its probably more than you would pull on the machine so more weight and more muscle groups working. Its your choice to choose between &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;machine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;bodyweight workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend bodyweight workout as your coach said! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16517" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T11:00:09.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25717" CreationDate="2015-08-02T14:23:02.767" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering where I should buy dumbbells from for a cheap price but also relitavely good quality.  I currently am considering buying this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0015UP914/ref=s9_hps_bw_g200_i3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;4x 5kg York Fitness Cast Iron Discs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0015UM4RG/ref=s9_dcbhz_bw_g200_i2_bs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1x York Fitness Dumbbell Bar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming this is expensive as I am buying a brand, so are there any cheaper alternatives out there which are as good a quality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16354" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user16354" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T22:53:14.723" Title="Where should I buy dumbbells weights/bar from" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-09T19:45:41.737" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25685" CreationDate="2015-08-02T16:26:06.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would stop when I hear or feel grinding noise, or use lighter weights if that gets rid of the feeling. My reason would be because of a similar no pain grinding feeling from my neck would follow with 2-3 weeks of swelling and pain that build up slowly over a couple of days then goes away slowly over a few weeks. I run during this time but only because I dont hear or feel any grinding noise or pain. In your case there seems to be no swelling or pain associated with it, but I would work around the grinding instead of pushing through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T16:26:06.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25707" CreationDate="2015-08-02T17:28:17.367" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both exercises will work your back significantly. It is really up to preference, I know a lot of guys who solely do pull ups to build a huge back as well as ones who solely do lat pulldowns. Both have recorded similar progress and gains. &lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, pull-ups activate your core muscles significantly as well, a missing plus of lat pulldowns. However for bicep and back development, both will do justice. Obviously those two exercises are not primarily for the bicep so make sure your including other specific bicep exercises in your workout. &#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16327" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T17:28:17.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25713" CreationDate="2015-08-02T22:53:14.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest expense variable with weights is shipping, since you're basically moving heavy objects around in the mail. As such, you can tend to get better prices by visiting a nearby fitness retailer that has their weights showing up by freight and the shipping cost is distributed amongst a lot of products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, used fitness equipment is all over craigslist. There are a lot of people who buy weights, never use them, and want to get rid of them before they move. Most of them are junk from Sears, but you'll find nice equipment mixed in there too (Eleiko, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T22:53:14.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25710" CreationDate="2015-08-02T23:25:15.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that's your &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biceps_femoris_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;biceps femoris&lt;/a&gt;, as it connects to your lateral hamstring tendon. Posterior view of your leg (looking at your leg from behind). You'll note the vastus lateralis (huge outer section of your quad) is on the same side, so we're talking the outer (lateral) side of your leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UsXyo.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UsXyo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19089.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Getting the words straight&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;tendons&lt;/strong&gt; connect muscle to bone as where &lt;strong&gt;ligaments&lt;/strong&gt; connect bone to bone. As such, your bicep femoris (hamstring muscle) &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibula#Head&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;connects to your fibula (bone) via a tendon&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it hurts, I would consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://health.stackexchange.com/a/34/44&quot;&gt;tendinitis&lt;/a&gt;. Tendinitis in particular can take a long time to heal and &quot;working through the pain&quot;, which you can often do with small muscle damage, is really just going to aggravate tendinitis. Often the best plan is complete rest of the area, which should give you ample to time to figure out what problem caused it (insufficient strength, imbalanced muscles, over training, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:53:20.273" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T23:25:15.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-02T23:29:14.700" Score="10" ViewCount="704" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a female double leg amputee that weighs about 400lbs. I haven't exercised in about 20 years. I have a whole host of medical problems and have been told that I have to lose weight. I am modifying my diet, but exercise is the hardest for me. Being so big and having no legs, or artificial legs, has limited me on what I can do. I need ideas on how to do some exercises that can actually help me lose weight that I can do either sitting or lying on the bed. I am also incapable of turning onto my stomach. Please, if you have any ideas I would love to hear them. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16529" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T16:04:10.023" Title="Exercise ideas for 400 pound double leg amputee" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25711" CreationDate="2015-08-03T03:50:31.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat more food. Too many rely on a store bought synthetic protein which can be upwards of $80.00! For that same price you could buy plenty of quality whole foods such as chicken breast, broccoli, sweet potatoes, steak, fish, brown rice, green beans and nuts. The only selling point for protein/carbohydrate shakes is the sheer convenience of them. So take this into account when making your choice, if you aren't willing or able to spend time cooking your food it might make sense to buy a protein powder. Good luck with your fitness goals!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16531" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T03:50:31.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25711" CreationDate="2015-08-03T04:23:39.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you're in a cool position that you can eat a lot and try to gain the weight. As long as you keep exercising may as well take advantage of it and eat some stuff that tastes good. I don't see anything that says you have any non nut dietary restrictions so look at getting some steaks. If you can find reasonably priced ones then you will get a pretty dense amount of protein. I also personally tend to eat the fat on a steak while it is calorically dense and high in cholesterol if you are exercising consistently and want to gain the weight it is high in oils that will help you gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A personal favorite for post workout is tuna fish. It is very high in protein equivalent to most shakes etc. Try making a bowl of easy mac or something similar mixing in tuna (I add salsa as well.) Its high calorie and high protein so will help you gain weight. Oatmeal can also be good for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A third thing to try would be drink more milk. Chocolate milk has the optimal ratio of protein and carbs for post workout and is a staple of the USOC's recommended post workout regimen. I hope this helped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T04:23:39.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25720" CreationDate="2015-08-03T09:20:28.370" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to get a good start and make yourself feel good about your weight loss project. The most important part of weight loss is eating fewer calories than before, it's much, much more important than exercise in that regard. So don't feel bad if it's hard to find ways to exercise in the beginning, it will likely get easier as you lose some weight, and if you're losing weight at a steady pace by eating a bit less, you're doing better than the majority of people who attempt to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything that makes you breath heavy (except intentionally breathing more heavy) uses a lot of calories. Is a wheel chair an alternative, then do that. Will walking with prostethic legs be an alternative when you've lost some weight? If so, it makes an excellent partial weight goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to remember that as an overweight person, you'll use loads of energy for exercises that are easy for regular weight people. Using a wheel chair might use as many calories per hour as running would do for a thin person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T09:20:28.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-03T16:15:56.060" Score="2" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to do some work out to gain mass and muscles. In order to develop muscles and gain weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it better to do full body workouts day after day or do specific muscle groups every day (monday chest, tuesday legs ...)? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it better to do workouts with heavy weights or light ones? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it better to do many sets with few reps or few sets with many reps? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I do the exercises rapidly or slowly? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="wael thabet" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-08-03T18:15:05.563" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T20:00:52.553" Title="Workout Frequency and Tempo for Bodybuilding?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-09T19:39:49.890" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25711" CreationDate="2015-08-03T16:46:15.223" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat more calories in your diet and stick to high protein and nutritional foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein powders are just a quick, cheap, and easy way to get the required amount of proteins in your diet. Try eating bananas, peanut/almond butter, and beans. If you're trying to find a protein powder replacement, just find foods with lots of protein! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 105lbs, you won't need that much. On workout days, it's &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1144/how-much-protein-should-i-eat-on-off-days&quot;&gt;usually agreed&lt;/a&gt; that you'll need about 0.8g per pound of body weight. So 80g of protein will be about 3 servings of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T16:46:15.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25726" CreationDate="2015-08-03T18:13:04.107" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a useful table that will help you get an idea of how you should be training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HHzyG.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HHzyG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put on as much muscle mass as possible, you should be aiming to utilize the  ATP/Creatine Phosphate/Glycolytic energy system.  So, 75-85% of your 1RM, 8-10 reps, 3-5 sets, and 1-3 minute rest time between sets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T18:13:04.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25726" CreationDate="2015-08-03T20:00:52.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your current experience matters a lot. I typically start people off by focusing on the major compounds - Squat, Bench, Dead, Pull ups, Overhead Press - first in order to build strength and to not waste time in the gym. This is three times a week. Basically the program Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe (I'd give this a read if your new) but with some slight differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you first start out, you'll be getting really nice linear progression on your weights if you're eating right and nailing every workout so this is ideal. As progression slows down, I switch people over to an upper/lower split twice a week for each. Still focusing on progression and making sure form is great. You can start to add in more volume here but typically, if you're hitting more than 10 reps a set, it's too light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're new, there's a rough outline to follow for your first 6 months to a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're more experienced, I'd emphasize hitting everything two times a week, but spread the volume out. I've found this allows me to stay leaner, make sure the muscle gets hit hard enough and then has 48 hours to recover (which is about how long muscle protein synthesis is heightened anyways following a workout) and make the most gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've consistently added about 5 pounds of muscle a year after my first year where I put on about 20-25 pounds of muscle. I'm currently 6'3&quot; 225-230 pounds and fairly lean. I could give you and show you all the exercise science studies that I base my workouts around from reading, but I've found that as long as you're consistent the margins of how much of a difference what one workout does vs another is negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stick to a program. Get heavier or more volume every workout/lift. Eat a lot. Grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get as fancy as you like, but I've found most people that worry too much about the tiny details like reps and weights and frequencies are the ones that end up quitting or making nearly no gains in any respectable amount of time. You may be different, but this is from 5 years of real world experience here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16535" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T20:00:52.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25707" CreationDate="2015-08-03T20:07:13.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24245055&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24245055&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;subsequently, chinups seem to be a more functional exercise&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anddd there you have it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I see greater carryover from pull ups (Wide grip) compared to either for back development. But I utilize all of them. Typically, pull ups/chin ups are my first exercise on back days until I can't do anymore, then I'll do lat pulldowns as they allow me to push further on since it is a lighter weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't limit yourself to just one or the other, both have their place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16535" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T20:07:13.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25731" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-04T10:04:40.283" Score="-1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I created my self a program, I just wanted to be sure if this is realistic and achivable. starting point what I can do right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12CtPBiob9z2ldYrgoGgDEFp09liBYNQXuDdfJZvGpMQ/edit?usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12CtPBiob9z2ldYrgoGgDEFp09liBYNQXuDdfJZvGpMQ/edit?usp=sharing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;173cm 68kg 30yo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastEditorUserId="10012" LastEditDate="2015-08-04T13:07:09.060" LastActivityDate="2015-08-04T13:24:05.917" Title="workout program for weight increase" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25731" CreationDate="2015-08-04T13:24:05.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your results will depend on the calorie surplus. A large surplus will lead to increases in large increases in both muscle and fat, it will also lead to large strength increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the progressions look realistic to me if you have little experience of strength training. Deltoid raises and seated cable rows look a bit optimistic. Is there a particular reasons why you expect certain lifts to increase more than others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I'd give two advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do legs and hip as well, if your aim is to increase mass you shouldn't ignore half of your body, and even if you only care about aestetics, thin legs look ridiculous on a developed upper body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a more difficult ab exercise, there are many ways to workout your abs that won't require you to do 50 reps (which won't result in any hypertrophy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: I just noticed your dates. Are you intending to workout once per week only? Then you can not expect such strength increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-04T13:24:05.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-04T16:17:47.697" Score="1" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;Age:22&#xA;Height:5'7&#xA;Weight:230lbs&#xA;Waist:38 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OXlTc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OXlTc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could be denial but I don't think its that concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16549" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-04T20:18:01.447" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T09:01:00.147" Title="Is it time for me to get serious about losing weight? (pics)" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25734" CreationDate="2015-08-04T16:45:24.707" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I assume this question will be closed - it might fall outside the scope of this StackExchange - I'd still like to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. It is absolutely time to lose some weight. Keep in mind, &lt;strong&gt;I do not judge you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat problems or heart problems?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I say yes, is because there is quite a bit of excess fat there. While that, in and of itself, isn't the biggest of deals, it does tell me something about your other habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, I see signs of bad dietary habits. Little regard for nutrition, and more regard for taste, maybe? Gaining fat isn't the only symptom. But excessive fat gain tells the tale of bad diet, which again is known to cause a bunch of other problems. Not least of which is heart disease. So while you may disregard the fat as OK, think of your heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to diet just to lose fat. Change your diet for the sake of your heart, and the fat will naturally subside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Posture&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there is the issue of posture. Might be you have a very seated lifestyle. Desk job and desk hobbies maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One very good way to combat this is to get a desk which can be raised/lowered on demand. I have one both at work and at home, and spend around 2 hours total standing, when I would normally have been sitting. This has done wonders for my back, as I was also bothered by poor posture. All that slouching is no good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So yes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, while the fat itself is OK, it tells a tale. You don't need to be motivated to look better. Motivate yourself to improving your health. The body will look better as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-04T16:45:24.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25734" CreationDate="2015-08-04T16:48:36.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You’re opening yourself up to lots of opinions.  But, one of the indicators that could impress on you to make a change is your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMI&lt;/a&gt;.  There are others, but, a BMI of &lt;strong&gt;36&lt;/strong&gt; suggests obesity and the possibility of an onset of a host of medical problems.  I would suggest you discuss your weight with your personal physician and get a complete medical check up to rule out any health concerns before they become chronic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-08-04T16:48:36.323" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25734" CreationDate="2015-08-04T19:52:34.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is time to get serious about creating and living a healthy lifestyle.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The way you look is the least concern of excess weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Obesity.html#Obesity-Health-Risks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Your risk for diseases&lt;/a&gt; such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoarthritis, liver disease, reproductive problems, metabolic syndrome and sleep apnea increases as your BMI increases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BMI at 36&lt;/a&gt; places you in the Class 2 classification of obesity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change your unhealthy habits to healthy habits such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat nutritious food in healthy proportions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase your daily activity - daily exercise such as walking, cycling, swimming etc. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24937/what-happens-to-people-who-are-sitting-8-10h-per-day/24941#24941&quot;&gt;Interrupt sitting&lt;/a&gt; frequently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Socialize with active people - find an active sport that you enjoy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn to fully relax to release the stresses of the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you in denial?  Yes, in my opinion, you are. Given that, &quot;More than two-thirds (68.8 percent) of adults are considered to be overweight or obese.&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/Pages/overweight-obesity-statistics.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to NIH&lt;/a&gt;, you may be comparing yourself with similarly overweight people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step one is to decide that you want to change.  Here are some additional suggestions for getting started on a new plan: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3120/how-to-get-started-with-exercising-without-any-previous-experience/3122#3122&quot;&gt;Starting Exercise&lt;/a&gt;,  &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12860/beginner-in-physical-fitness-need-tips-and-advices/12864#12864&quot;&gt;Types of Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2015-08-05T09:01:00.147" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T09:01:00.147" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5827" CreationDate="2015-08-05T02:03:17.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very rough estimate could be obtained by &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;looking up a METS score&lt;/a&gt;, in this case 8.0, and plugging it into following formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;KCalBurnt = MET * bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours&#xA;       eg. A 30 min run for a 176 lb body&#xA;          = 8.0 * 80 * 0.5 &#xA;          = 320 KCal  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to get an accurate figure you really need to sneak a labs worth of kit into the stroller, strap on a face mask and perform an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indirect_calorimetry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Indirect calorimetry&lt;/a&gt; test, while out. Or slightly more sensibly estimate your VO2 intake through use of a heart rate strap, and convert the VO2 estimate to a MET number (MET = VO2 / 3.5) for the formula above (or just use one of the Phone app's). Alternatively you could weigh yourself and the stroller, try to estimate a few numbers, covering: VO2, fractional gradient, frontal surface area, surface type, wind speed, your speed.... and plug them in series into the Minetti, Pugh and Weir formula. As the  gradient and surface will likely change over the run, as will the wind speed, you'll need to break the estimation down into a series of separate calculations, for each section, to later be combined, or just not bother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T02:03:17.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-05T03:39:18.373" Score="4" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've running for a year target for 10km, however, I never able to run 10km without taking many breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I need to break on every 1km or 2km, I don't follow any schedule but I know there is some tips that able to help me to complete 10km without a break, so any tips or reference workout schedule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16557" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T14:52:12.460" Title="Training schedule for 10KM running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-05T05:55:41.813" Score="4" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I started going to gym, it happened that I had chest+shoulders+biceps day, back+triceps day and legs day. But I've heard many times that people tend to do chest+triceps because triceps works during bench press and the same for back+biceps during pull-ups. I tried doing triceps after chest and were able to do fewer reps(on dips) and less weight/reps on crossover triceps. &#xA;So, is it really good to combine chest with triceps, even if weights decrease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T16:01:10.953" Title="Combining different muscle groups" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-05T13:19:49.170" Score="2" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am training for a triathlon, I am biking 5 miles a day 5 days each week. I also do a chest-biceps workout rotating every other day 5 days a week. I figure that presses, incline presses, curls, flyes, chin ups, and push ups are enough for upper body and biking 5 miles is enough for lower body. I usually do 30 min. of weight training and 30 min. of biking, which tolls to about 5 miles. I don't squat anymore, but used to max out at 225, my diet is good with little junk food and lots of grains, nuts, fruits, protein, etc. I usually get probably 7-9 hours of sleep a night on average. Will biking build my leg muscles, and not shrink them down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T14:40:15.427" Title="Will biking 5 miles 5 days a week shrink or strengthen my leg muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25742" CreationDate="2015-08-05T14:37:15.743" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;According to Wikipedia,&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The main muscles at work in cycling are the quadriceps and hamstrings in the upper leg, and the gastrocnemius and soleus in the calf. These muscles contract in a sequence that creates the pedaling action. The quadriceps and hamstrings do most of the work when you ride a bicycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you do not know too much about how muscles work, after you workout, your body repairs or replaces damaged muscle fibers. This is done through a cellular process where it muscle fibers fuse together to form new muscle strands or &lt;em&gt;myofibrils&lt;/em&gt;. These repaired myofibrils increase in thickness and # to initiate muscle hypertrophy (growth). Obviously in order to gain more muscle, you will need to be eating on a caloric surplus, &lt;strong&gt;ESPECIALLY&lt;/strong&gt; since your biking regime is very rigorous and calorie taxing. However your legs will still get bigger as long as you eat more calories than your burning, sleeping well, and consuming enough protein along with your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16327" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T14:37:15.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25742" CreationDate="2015-08-05T14:40:15.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your leg muscles will adapt to the workload placed on them, so it's not really possible to definitively say whether or not your legs will get bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the effort you are putting out is more than you did squatting, then yes, your legs will grow. If it is the same, then your legs will stay about the same size, and if the bike effort is less, they will shrink some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T14:40:15.427" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25739" CreationDate="2015-08-05T14:52:12.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't run 10k without stopping, then you are either running too far, or too fast for your current fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a program created by a cross country coach named Barry Pollack, dubbed the 3:2:1 program. In this, you have 6 runs per week, 3 short, 2 medium and one long. Your medium run is double your short runs, and your long run is 3x your short run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get this, go out and run at a slower pace than you normally do, and see how long you can run. Mark the distance where you have to stop, and that will be your long run. However long that took you, that is the time for your longest run. If that took you 20 minutes, then your 3 short runs will be 7 minutes each (Approximately) and your 2 medium runs will be 14 minutes each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though that doesn't sound like much, it's a good starting point and steadily increasing over time will give you great benefits. Your goal should be to add about 5% each week. So, if your long run this week is 20 minutes, next week it should be 21 minutes, and so on. Remember to add time to your other runs as well as your long run increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about how fast you are running to start. Most people run too hard on their easy days, and not hard enough on their hard days. I suspect that you are trying to run too fast, which is why you always have to stop. Slow down, and make your goal completing the full distance, not how fast you can do it. Speed in endurance running comes from putting in consistent training day after day. Your times will drop naturally, and once you get to the point where you can run a full 10k without stopping, then you can look at adding extra speed work if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T14:52:12.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-06T00:57:24.223" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;So if I go to the gym 5 days a week and do this sort of workout with about 1700 calories a day, healthy diet with a mesomorph bodytype and about 8.5 hours of sleep each night, will this routine build your muscles up a lot stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday-45. min weights(Chest), 30 min. cardio(biking)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday-45 min. weights(Back), 30 min. cardio(biking)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday-45 min. weights(Legs), 30 min. cardio(biking)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday-45 min. weights(Biceps), 30 min. cardio(biking)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday-45 min. weights(Delts), 30 min. cardio(biking)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weekend-Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking this question because I have heard from some people that once a week for each muscle group isn't enough work and from others that it is just fine. Is this a good workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T02:16:00.477" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T02:22:49.830" Title="Will this workout build strong muscles for an intermediate bodybuilder?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25747" CreationDate="2015-08-06T02:22:49.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a real strength training program with proven results&lt;/a&gt;. You probably aren't eating enough calories, and probably not enough protein. Your body needs to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19321/how-long-does-it-take-for-muscles-to-recover/19322#19322&quot;&gt;recover&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if you get on a better program, your caloric needs will go up a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise staying away from body building routines in general: they're a terrific way to get tendinitis, imbalances, and not really get that strong. Even if you want to be a body builder, I'd recommend getting at least to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermediate stage in your squat, deadlift, and press&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a real strength program will have you stronger, and even just looking at hypertrophy, you'll be using bigger weights which causes more growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T02:22:49.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25750" CreationDate="2015-08-06T08:37:24.360" Score="4" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any consensus on the maximum number of reps you should perform, before rotating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curious as I find I get bored, or start to get say carpet burn (sit-ups), if the number exceeds a hundred. Personally I choose not to do more than 60 of anything, also find 60 a useful number for timing. Then again, back in my student days, I've had house mates who'd happily do 500 push-ups, immediately rotate into 1,000 sit-ups, then on to many squats, as a warm up, before throwing up last night bottle of Vodka over the nearest parked car (learnt were not to park), so I guess it's entirely personal/subjective, but is there any general advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T16:54:00.257" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T16:54:00.257" Title="Max reps, boredom and carpet-burn" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25749" CreationDate="2015-08-06T09:20:46.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is generally no consensus about anything. We all have different bodies. We all react differently to different stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, 60 reps of anything is a stamina exercise, and not a strength exercise. And your friends who did hundreds, weren't developing strength. They were developing further the ability to do hundreds of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best advice we generally give, is if you can do more than 20 reps per set, add weight, such that you can do 8-12 reps per set instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See other related questions/answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9833/how-many-sets-and-reps-should-i-do-as-a-beginner?rq=1&quot;&gt;How many sets and reps should I do as a beginner?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9773/are-15-reps-too-many-for-increasing-muscular-endurance?lq=1&quot;&gt;Are 15 reps too many for increasing muscular endurance?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24767/is-doing-the-whole-rep-range-from-3-to-15-reps-before-adding-weight-a-waste-of-t?rq=1&quot;&gt;Is doing the whole rep range from 3 to 15 reps before adding weight a waste of time?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for alcohol and working out, I think the answer is pretty self-explanatory. If your liver is hard at work with filtering alcohol out of your system, how is it supposed to handle protein for your muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T09:33:31.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-06T14:26:50.617" Score="6" ViewCount="4495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watch the AthleanX youtube channel a lot to learn a lot about the body's mechanical working as well as any training tips. In one &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/4AaQ1spYMRQ?t=156&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt;, Jeff recommends thumbs up push ups as a no equipment work out for the back. But I can't figure out how it would work. I am sure he is right, as I have learned a huge amount from his videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closest back exercise that I know of that I can compare it to would probably be a straight arm pushdown, but it is still pushing away from the body on the horizontal plane instead of vertical, like the pushdown. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't say what muscles it might work, and I can't figure it out. Does anybody understand the mechanics of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16483" LastActivityDate="2020-12-31T15:29:17.857" Title="Thumbs up push ups muscles worked" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1292" CreationDate="2015-08-06T16:24:16.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a few suggestions for your workout plan based on the information you have provided:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscles:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your back needs much more than deadlifts, chins, and shrugs. You should concentrate on pull ups instead of chin ups (probably wide grip, get the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQsyf3kd_k&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;teres major&lt;/a&gt; involved, which you don't hit with anything else). Maybe a dumbbell pullover. I would definitely add in a barbell row, or a one arm row. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are overworking your biceps by putting in 3 bicep exercises (hammer curls, bicep curls, and chins). One solid set, maybe two if you are not doing back on the same day. Your biceps will inevitably get involved on back day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would suggest increasing the time under tension for your leg muscles on leg day with something like a wall sit. Trust me, it will burn. Great way to finish legs. I also agree with others that you should do something which targets your glutes. And calves! You really must do them. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have not included any &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/JDCav24/search?query=core&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;core&lt;/a&gt; work / abs work in your routine (they are not the same). Abs and core will not just be complete by doing sit ups. You should definitely come up with a routine for them as well. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other thoughts:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An hour every time to too long for six exercises of 3 sets. A set should take 30-45 seconds. 60-90 sec rests. Lets call that 7 minutes a set, comes to maybe 40 minutes. Keep it intense, but not too draining that it kills you. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, there is always more that could be said. But given the information you have provided, those are the things which jump out at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16483" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T16:24:16.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-06T19:38:56.790" Score="4" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had 2 kids, neither recently. My 2nd pregnancy caused extreme weight gain and severe stretch marks on the lowest part of my abdomen, between the belly button n the pubic bone and between both hips with the most severe ones closest to the bottom n the sides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lost the extra weight and my stomach never got back to looking normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally think it's because of the stretched skin even though some &quot;fitness buff&quot; friends of mine say it's not possible to not be able to get my stomach back to normal. Genetically I was predisposed to stretching and I've since learned that there were some deficiencies that probably attributed to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gained some weight and its filled out the saggy skin but I now have an extra roll under the more common bottom pouch. When I tighten my stomach muscles it lifts and pulls the fat and skin making it look better, not good just better and it's actually a noteworthy difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to get that to be permanent? Are there certain muscles that I could target? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, the extra roll, it's so close to my pubic area that it's very embarrassing. Even getting back to my prepregnancy weight didn't eliminate it so I'm wondering if the only option is going to be a tummy tuck for that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to hear I could get rid of it on my own because I do not want to have plastic surgery. I wear &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spanks&lt;/a&gt; on a regular basis but I'm too embarrassed to get in a bathing suit, even the tummy control ones don't work well enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on where I should start and what I can expect would be greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16567" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T22:30:56.953" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T22:30:56.953" Title="Womans Abdominal issues" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;skin&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25753" CreationDate="2015-08-06T21:30:18.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may find some helpful information in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3738/what-is-the-most-effective-way-to-improve-a-saggy-belly/3748#3748&quot;&gt;post-partum/saggy belly q/a&lt;/a&gt;. Since you are able to improve the look with muscular contraction, you should consider specific exercises to target your abs and pelvic floor muscles before considering abdominoplasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several muscles that you want to address:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Transverse Abdominus (TvA)&lt;/strong&gt; - This is the deepest layer of abdominal muscles. To contract the TvA, you pull your bellybutton in toward your spine.  Once you have good control of this in an easy position, such as lying on your back, progress to training its control in standing with movement.  Starting with the TvA gives you more &quot;core&quot; stability.  You can train your TvA while doing exercises like the plank, bird-dog and dying bug exercises that you find linked to in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;abdominal exercise&lt;/a&gt; answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;- The Rectus Abdominus and Obliques&lt;/strong&gt; -  These are the muscles that exercises like crunches, side crunches and twists target.  These types of exercises should not be done unless and until you have good TvA muscle control during dynamic activities.  Otherwise, they overtake the TvA and you are less likely to achieve a flatter abdomen.  Once you have good control with the TvA, you can activate this muscle to flatten your abdomen during your other exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;- Pelvic Floor Muscles&lt;/strong&gt; - These muscles act as the supportive floor of the abdomen.  They help to provide a stable foundation for the pelvis.  They are part of the &quot;core&quot; musculature. Kegels exercises target these muscles.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.befitmom.com/pelvic.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Helene Byrne's site&lt;/a&gt; covers pelvic floor muscles well and will give you a better understanding.  They give mental imagery instruction to improve your muscle contraction.  The site also gives excellent post-partum information.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That addresses the muscles.  If you also need to burn fat you can add cardio with &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9751/how-to-structure-a-high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-program&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt;, and resistance training. Diet and nutrition are key to balancing your weight. If after addressing each the above: TvA, pelvic floor, diet, cardio and resistance training you still have an extra roll, you have two options: 1. Enjoy the healthy lifestyle that you have now created or 2. Go for the abdominoplasty from a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T21:30:18.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T02:16:28.693" Score="3" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your legs are the biggest muscle group on your body, should they be worked more than the rest of the body? And should the chest and shoulders be the most worked on upper body becuase they are the most major muscles there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T17:59:15.503" Title="Should you really work on your legs the most?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25755" CreationDate="2015-08-07T07:30:18.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, they already are. If you compare leg press with bench press, you'll probably leg press about 3 times as much weight as you bench. So the proportionality to muscle size is already there. Adding more reps or sets to your legs would be out of proportion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T07:30:18.670" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25755" CreationDate="2015-08-07T08:35:35.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no reason to train them more often, because as Mårten says, the fact that your legs are bigger, ensures that you use more weight, thus training them more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often you train them depends entirely on your goals. For instance, a general worker-outer like me will do a split, and just rotate the days. But if you take a person who is actively looking to pull a record deadlift, he might have 3 leg days per week, and throw some chest days in on &quot;off-days&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find yourself identifying more with the former group - a general fitness enthusiast - conventional methods will do just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T08:35:35.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25758" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T11:53:07.007" Score="0" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 172 cm and 76 kg.&#xA;I have a little bit fat on cheek,neck and belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am working-out in gym from past 4 months.&#xA;I have good result with my body muscles(Biceps,Chest,Shoulder,back,legs)&#xA;But I think not with parts from question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is do we need to do lot of cardio and physical exercise like plank on floor,alternate leg raises,rope skipping to for fat loss?&#xA;And does this exercises has any effect on muscles and size of chest,biceps,shoulder?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15542" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T17:31:26.933" Title="Physical exercise or weight training for Burning extra fats on cheek,neck and belly?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-08-08T00:51:52.733" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25759" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25785" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:49:18.827" Score="1" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a lot swimming when I was a kid and I would like to do again. Purpose is to do a bit sport because I don't do a lot (don't do any sport) and I lack a bit of sportive activity. Plus, I would like to loose a bit fat and improve my endurance and breath capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have much time so I think to go to the swimming pool once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of exercises can I do to achieve my goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more information about me that can be useful to you, don't hesitate to ask !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sorry for my poor English, I'm Belgian and don't practice English a lot)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16572" OwnerDisplayName="François Dupire" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T21:26:52.470" Title="What kind of swimming exercises can I do to loose fat, improve my endurance and breath capacity?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T17:23:46.313" Score="2" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;While doing squats, I strained my hip flexor in my right leg. This was two weeks ago. I foolishly did a lot of stretching the next few days (especially the lunge stretch), which actually inflammed my hip flexor even more. I stopped stretching, but now my hip flexor is more swollen and it hurts to sit in a chair. I've been icing my hip for the last few days. However, I can still walk lightly without too much discomfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't see physical therapist for a month, because of financial and scheduling reasons. What can I do in the meantime to speed up recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7170" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T00:14:13.017" Title="How do I get over this hip flexor strain?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-02-06T20:36:58.073" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25758" CreationDate="2015-08-07T17:31:26.933" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;workout&quot; I'm assuming lifting weights because you were talking about your muscles. Although lifting does help your metabolism, it doesn't really help you lose weight if you don't add cardio workouts to your workout routine. As in some of the previous comments, you can't really reduce access fat in specific areas of the body. Rather you lose % body fat throughout your &lt;strong&gt;entire&lt;/strong&gt; body. Lifting is nice and all, but try to add some running, biking, or some other form of cardio into your workout. You might want to try to run 1+ miles before or after you lift weights. This will get your blood pumping and will help you lose that extra fat. If you only lift, it'll just add muscle to your body underneath all that fat. Running, swimming, biking, etc. can help your cardiovascular system which in return can help reduce chest paid, heart problems, and you'll notice that your breathing will improve immensely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I was speaking from experience. My chest would always feel uncomfortable and I would have a lot of chest pain. And I got rid of my belly by running...slowly coming back though so I gotta hit those treadmills! Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16428" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T17:31:26.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25755" CreationDate="2015-08-07T17:40:41.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general principle is that if you are looking to maximize your muscle mass, you work the larger muscles more than the smaller ones (i.e. more fatigue inducing reps).  That means you would work your triceps more than your biceps, your quads and glutes more than your hamstrings, etc.  You would also work your back and your general core more than everything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are times where you do want to de-emphasize the larger muscles to focus on some of the smaller ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are out of proportion (i.e. your biceps are too small in comparison to the triceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are fixing a strength imbalance (i.e. you can't keep your shoulders in a neutral position because your chest is too strong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are doing rehab exercises after an injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that there are only guidelines, and even those guidelines can change depending on what your goal is.  Sport performance is trained differently than general exercise, which has different emphasis than bodybuilding.  Each sport has different demands, so you can't apply advice for a powerlifter to a soccer player (or footballer if you are from outside the USA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T17:40:41.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T19:12:39.550" Score="2" ViewCount="869" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago my shoulder became sore/strained because of improper form while exercising. However, there is only mild aching and it is getting better day by day. I have been doing bicep curls, mainly hammer curls but also some other variations, along with chin ups and have not noticed it hurting that much really and don't believe there to be much shoulder movement invloved. Are bicep curls okay to do with a sore shoulder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T21:45:08.970" Title="Can I do bicep curls with a sore shoulder?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T20:08:15.820" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to lift weights every other day. But 2years have passed and I've probably lost most of what I gained in 1year of lifting. If I started back, I would only want to lift on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. How effective would that be? Should I even bother with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16576" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T17:14:20.423" Title="Would I gain from this?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25767" CreationDate="2015-08-07T20:41:53.033" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Any exercise is more effective than no exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how much you used to lift, it will come back quicker than it would in an untrained person. Part of the lifting process is neural adaptation as well as other physiological adaptations that don't really disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will still take a while to get back to where you were, and you will still feel soreness as you get back into it, but it will take less time than it did initially, and will be better for you than doing nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T20:41:53.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25767" CreationDate="2015-08-07T20:52:00.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JohnP said. Yes! I would like to add if you are stacking days that it may be wise to switch between primary muscle groups on alternating days. Especially when starting back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be tempting to get full body workouts each day since you have only the 3 days, but it could lead to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were me. I would alternate the primary muscle groups on day 1 and 2, and have a fun full body workout to finish it up on the last day. I'd even include a little uptempo strength routine on that last day to get that heart going!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16577" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T20:52:00.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25759" CreationDate="2015-08-07T20:58:02.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every swimming stroke can do each of these things, and focus on different muscle groups. My suggestion, just swim laps! If you swam a lot as a kid, just pick it back up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with some of the easier strokes like breast stroke until you see some aerobic improvement. If you feel comfortable with that and are getting bored. Move to the backstroke and freestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming laps does everything you are looking for, and there is a lot of information out there on how to get better at it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16577" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T20:58:02.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25764" CreationDate="2015-08-07T21:05:43.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, by all means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do bicep curls, your primary goal is to stress your biceps, and as few other muscles as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a position and trajectory in which you only put stress on your biceps, so that your deltas are involved very mildly, merely to keep your arm position steady, not to help it pull the weight.  It is impossible to avoid using the shoulders entirely, but minimizing their involvement to make the aching tolerable is quite possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T21:05:43.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-08T01:32:59.973" Score="4" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing is, the movement of a dumbbell tricep extension looks so complex that I wonder if it is shoulder safe or not. Can one do triceps overhead extensions without damaging shoulders? And if not, what are some shoulder healthy ways to build tricep muscles up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T01:32:59.973" Title="Are tricep overhead extensions shoulder healthy?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-06-09T15:35:53.010" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13725" CreationDate="2015-08-08T05:21:25.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before using the weight loss calculator I recommend you the best &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acalculator.com/calorie.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calorie calculator&lt;/a&gt; to accurate estimate of your daily calories required for loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16582" LastEditorUserId="16582" LastEditDate="2015-08-08T05:30:50.347" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T05:30:50.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25793" CreationDate="2015-08-08T09:53:43.020" Score="4" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anybody recommends me the food or fruits or anythings which would help me in my workout before work out and after work out??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing body building at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually before half an hour i eat 1 packet of biscuits with milk and after half an hour i go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym at 8 30 pm and comes from gym around 9 45 pm and then after 1 hour i eat my dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is this a good routine or bad??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody recommends me whether i am doing wrong or right??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16583" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T14:41:32.647" Title="Need some foods or fruits recommendation for before and after gym workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-08T15:57:59.017" Score="7" ViewCount="711" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swings and Get ups.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I've been using kettlebells for a couple of years, but have not really done very much more than the swing, or used anything more than 16kg. The swing doesn't have the kettlebell against the wrist at any point, and during the get-up, another favourite, the kettlebell doesn't move against the wrist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Punching Through.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I understand the concept of 'punching through' the snatch at the top, allowing the bell's axis of rotation to be the ball and not the handle/hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Straight/Neutral Wrist.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Yes I realise the wrist should not be extended or flexed in any way, straight line from knuckles to elbow in all kettlebell exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;My Issue.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Heavy weights hanging from my wrists and resting on my forearm hurt. Extending or flexing my wrist towards the bell (broken wrist position) actually relieves some of the pain, but thats bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;My Question.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Am I just being a 'wimp', should I expect a heavy weight resting on my forearm to always hurt, or is there good technique or maybe a better kettlebell design that should fix it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Background Context.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EEGp-66TuI&quot;&gt;Youtube of 800lb deadlift&lt;/a&gt;. In this video the guy has scraped/healing shins before he even starts, and bruised thighs and kneecaps at the end. I know it's extreme, but I can't think this is good exercise, so at what weight do kettlebells become just another &quot;not good exercise&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T16:36:11.253" Title="Kettlebell hurting my wrist" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25777" CreationDate="2015-08-08T16:36:11.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding the 800lb deadlift, I think that's the realm of major league baseball pitchers throwing 100+ mph fast balls. In both cases, those folks are pushing the upper limits of their physical capacity. Catching injuries, pushing super hard, and only able to sustain it for a period of their lives. That's a far cry from what most people consider &quot;fitness&quot; to be, if they take the time to define it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I define fitness as having your body in good long term health and having the physical and emotional ability to handle the challenges you plan on imposing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I just being a 'wimp', should I expect a heavy weight resting on my&#xA;  forearm to always hurt, or is there good technique or maybe a better&#xA;  kettlebell design that should fix it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't hurt, you're not being a wimp. It took me about 4 months to learn a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell clean&lt;/a&gt; properly, as where one of my friends picked it up in about an hour. It was really demoralizing for me and I learned that in explosive movements you can't really &quot;think&quot; about what you're doing because once you start, the cow's out of the barn so speak. With explosive movements you have to keep doing them until you get the form right, then practice it like crazy to get the muscle memory locked in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkeWDzUMVZI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The banging of the wrist is probably the most common kettlebell problem&lt;/a&gt;, right next to ripped up palms from the friction (&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1KWkuAt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;use chalk&lt;/a&gt; to solve).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't diagnose your form via this question, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkeWDzUMVZI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the video I linked&lt;/a&gt; shows a more common problem: if you get the bell infront of you too much, it has to rotate around a lot at the top and smacks the crap out of you. If you keep it close to your body and time the rotation of the bar (in your grip) with the pause at the top (when the bell sort of stops mid air), you're golden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually really similar to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell clean&lt;/a&gt;, where you really want to put the weight into the right spot mid air, then get your body around it. If the bar (or bell) gets too far out in front or behind you, it's going to get nasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T16:36:11.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-09T01:53:01.520" Score="-1" ViewCount="3982" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym for about three weeks now. For the first two bicep workouts I did 2.5kgs,for my third I tried with 5 but I couldn't even get my right arm to lift up just a little. However I could easily do a few reps on my left. How do I balance out? Also, when should I ideally be adding weights to my bicep workout? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16585" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T11:17:23.630" Title="My left arm is much much stronger than my right!" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-09T19:42:20.247" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-09T03:11:46.733" Score="1" ViewCount="932" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing this challenge where u do 50 squats the first day and 100 the second and 150 the third n so on for 30 days. I'm used to squatting so its really not a big deal for me. I have this habit of squatting in the bathroom and then head straight for a cold shower. Now I'm having thigh n Butt cramps and it also affects my walking. So I want to know if the cramps are from the shower because I highly doubt its from my squatting challenge since, as I said before, I'm used to squatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16586" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-08-09T20:17:03.457" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T01:35:50.157" Title="Is having a cold shower right after squatting a risk to the health?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-09T09:52:28.393" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6' tall, 230 lbs, early 30s. I'm totally new to skateboarding or rollerblading. What would be a good sport for me to get into ? My work is 4 miles away, I'm thinking about commuting to work this way. I dont want to fall a lot to get into a sport. Skateboarding looks cool but seems very risky. Rollerblading looks safe but not so cool. Any tips much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11927" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T09:52:28.393" Title="Skateboarding vs rollerblading" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-10T03:02:17.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25779" CreationDate="2015-08-09T11:17:23.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rectifying imbalances&lt;/strong&gt; is not something you do by working the weaker side more than the other, as suggested in another answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider your scenario. You might have a stronger left-side bicep than right-side. However, if you were to do more curls on the right side, you're also training the right-side forearm and shoulder. You're also training the left-side core muscles because they will be doing more counter-balancing work since you place more weight (or doing more reps) on the right side. In other words, you're substituting one imbalance, for a plethora of new ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most surefire way to balance out unequalities, is by simply training them equally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your bicep workout progression, it's hard to say without knowing anything about your workout. But then again, bicep curls are an isolation exercise. You might be better off doing it at the end of an upper back workout (which engages biceps a lot) for the added bicep hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T11:17:23.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25759" CreationDate="2015-08-09T12:13:05.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot comment as I don't have enough reputation just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the person above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes of course it is great to mix it up ! I would recommend looking up swim sets on the internet for beginners. You are Belgian so jut type something like &quot;session 4 nages débutant&quot; and you'll find plenty of cool sessions. Once more advanced, look up the masters swimming workout :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following a set when you go at the pool gives you motivation and makes it less boring. If you just go and do random laps you will get bored quickly. You can do that at first to start with to get your &quot;feeling for the water&quot; back though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mixing up the pace, the stroke, rest time, etc is the key to sticking to it once you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to join a club again or even try it out once you are confident about your swim, this will provide you extra motivation and they will teach you a lot !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" LastEditorUserId="16264" LastEditDate="2015-08-09T12:19:45.120" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T12:19:45.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25759" CreationDate="2015-08-09T14:49:28.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;few people can swim consecutive laps when they start, so to get the most out of a thirty minute swim for instance, walk a length of the pool as an 'active rest' between 'traditional' stroke lengths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breath capacity naturally improves with swimming, especially with strokes like freestyle, as your breathing rhythm is regimented by periods when your mouth is above the water. I know for myself, when I'm running for example, I'm CONSTANTLY breathing hard, but during freestyle lengths, I have to hold my breath for a short period, and it's the restriction and lack of breath capacity that leads to resting between laps, which is a good time to 'run' to the other side waiting for myself to catch my breath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T14:49:28.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25780" CreationDate="2015-08-09T14:56:51.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;often those &quot;challenges&quot; don't progress at a realistic pace, and it sounds like there may not be the appropriate rest days involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be used to squatting, but bear in mind that DOMS takes 24 hrs to kick in, and 48 hrs to then go away (on average), without rest days, that's loads of workouts on top of your DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding cold showers, have you tried hot before cold, they both have their benefits, hot relaxes muscles most importantly, so going hot as a start feels really good after a workout, cold after that to get the blood flowing and close the pores etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T14:56:51.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19175" CreationDate="2015-08-09T18:00:50.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let's think about this in a more general sense (i.e. it's not a specific person that causes this problem). For example, when you haven't run for a couple days, and you pass a runner while you're driving, do you feel strangely jealous? Do thoughts go through your head such as &quot;Ugh, I haven't run in two days. And look a &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; person trying to rub it in.&quot; Have you ever heard about a race that you missed or forgot about and think &quot;Why didn't &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; run that race? I'm such a slacker!&quot; I think it's common. That's how I feel sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar thought I have is, &quot;How was my last run?&quot; If it was &quot;too short&quot;, or &quot;too slow&quot;, then similar negative feelings can come about: &quot;Why didn't I push myself more?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any sport or hobby, I think the best way to deal with this (fear? jealousy? insecurity?) is to remember that you really should just be competing against yourself. The reason that you run is because you enjoy it, right? You run for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;. I run for me. Aren't we all just trying to get faster or better at longer distances than a former version of ourselves? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to your sister-in-law. Maybe she is going to be feeling this new incredible feeling as a born again runner. Try to avoid feeling threatened by her. Think about your own running journey, your own goals. Take it as a positive: maybe you'll benefit by having her burning a fire under you, helping you to keep your goals. And if you stay cool and &lt;strong&gt;keep running&lt;/strong&gt; for you, hopefully her running won't bother you as much. Maybe you can go to one another for advice. Or even enter races together some day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T18:00:50.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25789" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25809" CreationDate="2015-08-09T19:36:24.207" Score="3" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what is the phenomenon, or if it exists, that makes you stay at the same pace after about 2 hours of running. Changing speeds whether its to slow down or speed up feels slightly painful at first. Several times in marathons I get stuck in problem and end up running very slow to try to get rid of the pain with no success. A few times I've run at speeds that are faster than normal or slower than normal where that pace became the only comfortable pace after a few hours. Today even trying to walk up an incline my legs almost automatically continue to move at a similar cadence and slowing down didnt feel good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually once I managed to run alot faster than normal for 20 miles and I want to repeat this. The pace was a normal short 6 mile pace for me, so Im wondering why or how it was possible. Couldnt repeat it though. Today it was similar but at a slower pace where I couldn't speed up or slow down easily. If the phenomenon exists I'd like to manipulate it to assist in running a fast marathon or half or to help do an ultra.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T18:25:39.120" Title="Why is it hard to slow down or speed up in the second half of a long run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25791" CreationDate="2015-08-09T19:48:17.697" Score="4" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi guys this is my 1st question on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;male 27yo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have begun working out again lately after a few years of no real physical activity. I have become skinny fat, with most fat around my stomach area. When I was younger I spent 3 years lifting weights in a gym and built up a good bulk of muscle. This time around I have decided to do calisthenics for a few months and see how that goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal right now is to build a solid strength foundation and hopefully start seeing a more muscular body. My workouts have been consistent, but my diet is a bit hit and miss but I'm slowly getting it under control. I've cut way back on my alcohol intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed over the last 3 months that I've been getting very strange measurements. I've put on 1.5kg in that time and have lost a couple of centimetres all over my body e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders 117.5cm  -&gt; 115cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest 104cm -&gt; 101cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hips, biceps and forearms have increased by half a centimetre. My stomach has remained the same at 97cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain these results please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16596" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-08-09T20:24:28.567" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T20:24:28.567" Title="Bodyweight increased, but I'm getting strange measurements" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25790" CreationDate="2015-08-09T20:21:58.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds good. Honestly, getting started is the hard part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First things first; get yourself a good workout program. There are tons of them out there, but some crowd favorites are &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the measurements, it's likely nothing to worry about. When you start out, the body makes the biggest changes. But when it comes to losing fat, you have to remember one thing: When you lose fat, you lose it all over. You don't decide where to lose it. Same goes for gaining fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But honestly, just stick with it. Don't try to figure out what the measurements mean. But by all means, keep measuring and logging them. Anything you log (workouts, bodyweight, measurements, calories) is going to tell you what you're doing right and wrong. Seeing &quot;hey, your chest grew and your stomach shrunk over the past two months&quot; is going to tell you that you've made some gains on your torso, while you lost some fat. That's good info. Equally; if the opposite happens, you might think &quot;ok, doing something wrong here&quot;. And your logs are going to tell you what you actually did, so you'll have a good idea where to start making changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep it up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T20:21:58.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25476" CreationDate="2015-08-09T20:58:23.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use FitNotes in order to keep all of my exercises in one place. You can write down the exercises and divide them to different muscle groups in order to understand on which days you worked on which muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T20:58:23.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25776" CreationDate="2015-08-09T21:12:45.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before the workout it is not very recommended for it to be something heavy. It should be a light snack 30-60 minutes before the workout. I got here two videos with good examples of things you can eat:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vVY0wZdrHU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vVY0wZdrHU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0i1ZEOeyc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0i1ZEOeyc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So mostly complex-carbs to give the needed energy to the body, try to avoid simple carbs as they will give you a short boost followed by a fall in energy mid-workout.&#xA;I usually try to schedule my workout with my supper so you won't have to eat another meal in order to give the body its needs. It should be about 30-60 minutes after workout and should contain proteins to help the muscles recover and complex carbs as well to give it some energy again.&#xA;Try also to drink a lot of water in overall and try not to eat big meals before the workout cause it will make your body focus on digesting and training at the same time which will be much harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastEditorUserId="16597" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T09:34:28.687" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T09:34:28.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16628" CreationDate="2015-08-09T21:22:10.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got an app called mapmyrun which allows you to create a 5K plan with the amount of workouts you want, and days for long runs. Also it can track your runs and help you see where you can improve and so. I've been using it and from being a couch potato I can now actually run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T21:22:10.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25740" CreationDate="2015-08-09T21:29:01.863" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not very sure it's good cause you don't get the most out of it. If you can train at a better rate when doing triceps and chest separately why not? And bench-press does make the triceps work as you push the weight up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T21:29:01.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T01:20:05.207" Score="4" ViewCount="7628" Body="&lt;p&gt;My diet is healthy, but I am wondering just for the heck of it if a person with an unhealthy diet that lifts weights can still make gains in muscle mass or not. That is my question. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T08:29:31.087" Title="Can one with a poor diet gain muscle if they work out?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25797" CreationDate="2015-08-10T01:50:02.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible to get some muscle with a poor diet, but it will probably be slow, with high fat precent and not the full capacity of the body. Eating good is a vital thing to fully develop your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T01:50:02.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25797" CreationDate="2015-08-10T06:34:59.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Healthy is a fuzzy term. It probably doesn't matter much if you eat trans fats, big macs and protein bars or salads, quinoa and turkey, assuming that the macro nutrient amounts are equal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does matter is the amount of protein. Also, eating healthy, if it really is healthy, will make you live better and longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T06:34:59.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T07:24:30.293" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started a new program and what still confuses me when I hear, 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.18 x lbs of body weight Example: 200 lbs x 1.18 = 236 g of lean&#xA;  protein per day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am right, it means I need to multiply 1.8 with my body weight (in pounds)? If so then why in example, it says 1.18 and other place .18? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T14:03:48.840" Title="Calculating portions of protein And carbs" Tags="&lt;measurements&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25800" CreationDate="2015-08-10T08:38:36.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As 0.18 grams per pound of body weight is a very small amount, it's probably just a typo. 1.18 makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T08:38:36.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24600" CreationDate="2015-08-10T10:10:24.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although elliptical machine can simulate running, it is very different than actual running. It's really good to recover from an injury and a great way to get the legs back in shape but to be able to run, you have to start running.&#xA;In my opinion, you can try the couch-potato to 5K run since it's easy and builds your running abilities quite fast.&#xA;And everything should be done while being in supervision of an appropriate medical treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T10:10:24.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23685" CreationDate="2015-08-10T10:31:04.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two options for Android:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.dedmondson.timer.classiclite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.dedmondson.timer.classiclite&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zabamobile.sportstimerfree&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zabamobile.sportstimerfree&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both time resets after each lap as well of showing your total time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T10:31:04.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-08T19:55:21.010" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware that it's not black and white simple. &#xA;If I consume enough (90%clean) calories, will cardio still compromise mass? Or is a deficit the main cannibalistic factor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Earth Primitive" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T13:16:48.007" Title="will cardio compromise mass if I'm in a caloric surplus?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25804" CreationDate="2015-08-09T12:04:38.353" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all comes down to calories really (clean or not). If you eat more than you spend, you will gain. If you eat less than you spend, you will loose mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can eat all the healthy or &quot;clean&quot; food you want but if you eat too much of it, the surplus of calories is there and you will gain mass (fat if you don't do weight training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you are in surplus of calories despite your cardio, you will still gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing weight training and want to &quot;bulk up&quot;, including cardio is a good idea anyways, you just need to increase your calorie intake slightly to compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" OwnerDisplayName="Alexis Marchand" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T12:04:38.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25811" CreationDate="2015-08-10T16:12:41.317" Score="3" ViewCount="8382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to ascertain if my lower back is a weak point for me and my legs are strong, or that it is just that my deadlift technique is missing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing deadlifts once a week for about 6 weeks. I've built up to a maximum of 80kgs (176lbs), though yesterday I've been doing about 20 of these and 20 60kgs beforehand. I'm a beginner, but I do a lot of other exercises including squats and using the hamstring curl machine. I'm confident my legs are pretty strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I have read, the deadlift uses most of your body and is a great compound exercise. Indeed the lift is from the power in the legs. However, my legs never ache after doing deadlifts, rather it is my mid to lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can lift the weight off the ground happily, putting the weight down is a problem and is when I feel a pull on my back - my knees are in the way. Should the bar be sliding down my thighs and over my knees, pressed against the skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, after doing deadlifts should my legs ache the next day or just my back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T03:22:49.180" Title="Deadlifts - should my legs ache?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T16:36:07.517" Score="0" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering how I might be able to obtain abs. I would already say I have a lifestyle suited to gaining them. Every day of the week apart from Monday (rest day) I go running/biking anywhere from 2 - 8 miles in the morning. In the afternoon and evening I do some ab work outs, which include 50 crunches, 20 leg raises, 25 twists and 25 vertical leg crunches. I repeat this again later in the evening which doubles the amount I previously stated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for diet, for breakfast I have Weetabix cereal before the morning cardio exercise. For lunch sandwiches with low fat butter and cheese, with lettuce, fruit smoothie, yogurt and two other fruits. I also include a bit of a treat so a bit of dark chocolate or a cookie. Dinner isn't as good to be honest I'm a fussy eater so for years I've been having processed foods such as potato waffles and nuggets and things like that. Although recently I've been including fresh fish and peas/green beans sometimes broccoli/cauliflower to replace some of the processed foods. Also sometimes plain pasta. For dessert I have a yogurt and another fruit such as strawberry's or tinned pineapple and then another small treat such as a cookie. Every Saturday we have a take away for dinner, but that's fine, once a week isn't too bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to add is that any food I have is very simple, no sauces no fillings. For example If I have a beef burger, it will be bread and simply the beef nothing else. That sort of thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very good with drinks, never had fizzy drinks in my life nor alcohol. For 21 years (my age) I've lived on water, milk, black current juice and orange juice.  I hate fizzy drinks and alcohol. And I drink about a galleon of water a day. Also I've never smoked in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As said before I'm 21, I weigh around 135/140 lbs I'm about 175 cm's/5 foot 9. I am very skinny, just no muscle, and I'm wondering how I can get some small abs on my torso, not to show off or anything just so i have a reduced risk of having belly fat later in life. I've been sticking to this lifestyle for around 2 years now and it doesn't seem to be doing any good in terms of torso abs. Also If it effects anything I have mild/high functioning Autism but I doubt that effects my physical health. If anyone can point out anything I'm doing wrong please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks GR412.          &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16605" LastEditorDisplayName="user16605" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T16:48:19.720" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T16:48:19.720" Title="Help with obtaining torso abs" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-08-10T18:34:11.683" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25789" CreationDate="2015-08-10T18:25:39.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a name for this phenomena, but would say it's related to several complex issues that endurance runners have when they get far enough into a long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, our bodies and especially our brain combined with it's central nervous system are quite complex. They all actually adapt and become more efficient at doing things in a certain manner. I think your use case is a great example of this. It's likely your body is extremely efficient at running at a certain pace. When you combine that, and fatigue, fully determining what you are experiencing becomes difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to guess, your body is experiencing fatigue and depending on your nutrition intake, possibly starting to &quot;bonk&quot;. But to help you out a little more on determining what it may be, here's a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://runnersconnect.net/running-nutrition-articles/bonk-fatigue-cramp/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're likely hurting no matter what speed you go because of the fatigue. But your body has trained enough at that middle pace to know how to deal with it the best. Speeding up or slowing down simply puts the body in a state that it is not as efficient in. Likely sending your brain signals to tell it to stop, or get back to the pace it knows how to handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article I posted also gives several hints at how you may better train your body to adapt to that phenomena.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16577" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T18:25:39.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T18:28:11.717" Score="3" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had joined gym about two and a half years ago (when I was 18) where I used to workout on my arms, shoulders, chest and back. As a result of tough days with my studies, I had to discontinue my routine. Now a week has passed since I rejoined but I feel like I have lost most of my stamina. While I had accomplished to workout at least 10 reps in each set with full comfort, now it gets too hard for me to manage 6 and 8 of them almost kill me even with much less weights attached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the long break I have enjoyed that my body has gotten too lazy? Would I manage to get back what I have lost?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: Any suggestions to build up stamina would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13619" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T07:11:30.217" Title="Does it affect one's stamina to take a long break from gym?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25807" CreationDate="2015-08-10T18:42:48.953" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/deadlift-101&quot;&gt;Deadlift 101&lt;/a&gt; is probably one of the better deadlift guides.  The answers to your questions are &quot;yes, there's probably something wrong with your deadlift&quot; and &quot;the weakest muscles will ache the most&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest issues from what I'm reading in your question and what I imagine you are doing is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're hip hinge technique needs help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's a good chance you have some excessive rounding in your lumbar as you fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good resource would be Alan Thrall's video with 3 deadlift tips: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/AHiSvajoans&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/AHiSvajoans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some quick advice would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do one heavy set of 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 5 back off sets at 50 kg less of 3 (two less than the heavy set reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on firing your glutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contract your lats before you pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay tight until you have the bar on the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't be so gentle putting the bar down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T18:42:48.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25813" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T21:17:21.717" Score="6" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently my workout is stagnating because I've been doing the same exercises for the last three workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm finding myself too shy to try new routines (eg. deadlifts), for fear I think, of doing it wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option would be to use a PT say, once a month to show me the form for some new routines and keep it fresh. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please outline how you go out incorperating new routines if you workout by yourself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16610" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T05:21:18.767" Title="Lack of confidence starting new routines at gym" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T21:47:56.817" Score="3" ViewCount="1346" Body="&lt;p&gt;So these guys on steroids look like they have these huge 3D capped delts. But I have been told these can only be attained by steroid usage. How are some other ways to get these cannonball delts without substance abuse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T20:13:19.400" Title="How to build cannonball delts without using roids?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T21:56:00.480" Score="2" ViewCount="4169" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we all know that dumbbell rows are good for your lats, but I am worried about the position you're in when performing them. You are bending over with a knee on the bench while pulling the weight up, and I worry if this can cause lower back pain. Is this a safe exercise for your lower back? That is my question. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T11:41:50.317" Title="Will dumbbell rows cause back problems?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T22:35:11.623" Score="2" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine, while serving his prison sentence, claims he was able to build his calf muscles by carrying heavy buckets of water up and down the stairs. Is this possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-08-11T16:26:28.197" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T17:04:01.163" Title="Muscular guy built up calves of steel by carrying buckets of water up and down stairs at state prison?" Tags="&lt;calves&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25533" CreationDate="2015-08-10T22:41:16.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is based on my own experiences, as well as those of the people I train with. For completeness, references are at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;For endurance training, eat &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; you train and fast after, for strength training, eat &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; you train and fast before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longer answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;When you train endurance/cardio, you'll need the readily available energy from your meal when you train, so you eat first, then train. When you train for strength, you'll need the proteins and nutrients from the meal for your recovery instead, so you eat afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Really long answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;In order to gain energy, the body needs to convert whatever calories you put into it, you already know that. This energy can come from carbs/sugars/glucose, from proteins or from stored fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these sources converts to glycogen/energy at a different rate. Sugars go fastest (why endurance athletes tend to carry something with dextrose), proteins go slower, and the process of releasing fat from the stores and converting is the slowest of all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is a demand for energy, the body will choose sugars first, they are easy to convert and the body wants to get rid of them, otherwise it just has to store them as fat anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the demand for energy is low and the amount of glucose is high (after a big meal your blood sugar spikes), the body will prefer to use that for its energy, since any overload of glucose will eventually have to be converted to fat before it causes damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the demand for energy is low and you have a balanced blood sugar level (why some athletes eat six small meals a day), the body will prefer to use body fats, that is after all what its for. As such, your body will burn most fats while you're sitting on the couch or asleep, as long as your blood sugar is normal. Incidentally, this is where the heart-rate-zones theory come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the demand for energy goes up and your heart rate rises in order to transport more energy, fat burning simply isn't fast enough, and the body resorts to using glucose where available, a small amount of proteins if it has no other choice (not breaking down muscles here, the body has protein reserves) and fat gets left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train your endurance/cardio, you will need a lot of readily available energy, and having a meal &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; you train (on your training days) is most helpful. Otherwise, your body won't be able to keep up (funny enough, your mind will tell you that you're out of energy long before your body actually is). You can then do your fasting day on your resting day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train with heavy weights and low reps, the energy demanded is largely already available as reserves and whatever extra is needed can be converted in time. After your training however, your body goes into repair to fix all those naughty micro-tears and grow your muscles. This takes proteins. So, you eat &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; your training, a meal with more proteins than carbs, and allow your body to use that meal to repair. You do your fasting day on the day that you train. Keep in mind, it takes some getting used to, training in a fasted state. It enhances your flexibility and doesn't sap your strength. But your own beliefs get in the way, your mind will often tell you that you need to eat first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as how long before or after your training you have your meal, it depends mostly on your body and the composition of the meal, so I can't help you there. For maximum results, experiment. If you can live with less-than-maximum results, it matters less. Your body can adapt to anything as long as you're consistent and build up to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I love doing weights and gymnastics in a fasted state. But if I do cardio, I get this incredible craving all the time. Very annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the science behind it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brad Pilon's 'Eat Stop Eat'&lt;/em&gt; has a lot of scientific references with regards to the effects of intermittent fasting on exercise. Some really helpful insights there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mark Sisson's 'Primal Blueprint'&lt;/em&gt; talks in depth about most of what I wrote above, the process of converting food to energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, for an exploration as to what the body does during extremes, few things beat &lt;em&gt;Timothy Feriss' '4-Hour Body'&lt;/em&gt;. This guy injected himself with hormones to see the effects, ate loads of meat to supercharge his testosterone levels and lots of other experiments to figure out what the fastest way was to build his body. Lots of references there on where he got the experiments from. Insane stuff. Really. Don't try it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;PS The above is based on a more tradition day-on-day-off fasting, which lazy people like me prefer. It's the same for the 16-hour, 20-hour, 5:2 etc. forms of intermittent fasting. Just figure out at what time of day to eat and at what time to train. If you do 'Eat Stop Eat', just fast on the first of your double resting days and you shouldn't notice any change in your energy levels during training at all.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16611" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T22:41:16.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25818" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T02:03:00.440" Score="-1" ViewCount="921" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I eat 5 eggs a day, have 3 tablespoons of peanut butter, and 36 ounces of white fat free milk a day combined with moderate weights and cardio each day, is this healthy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:15:16.490" Title="Will eating lots of eggs and peanut butter, and drinking a lot of milk help bulk you?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25818" CreationDate="2015-08-11T03:17:57.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will eating &lt;strong&gt;lots&lt;/strong&gt; of eggs and peanut butter, and drinking a lot of milk help you bulk up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, however I hope that you are not just eating these for your breakfast, lunch and dinner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you seriously want to gain muscle mass, then consider calculating your &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;add 200~500 calories&lt;/strong&gt;(this is known caloric surplus). Next your protein intake should be &lt;strong&gt;1g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt;, where as your fat intake should be around &lt;strong&gt;0.5 ~ 0.6g per lbs of bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; and the remaining can be used to fill up your carb intake, and your micronutrients(aka vitamins and minerals). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, you may need to adjust your caloric intake accordingly since the calculation itself is a rough estimation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, I &lt;strong&gt;don't advocate tracking down&lt;/strong&gt; everything you eat as your overall fitness and diet should not be tedious and boring and if you are not competing in any sort of sports / competition that requires you to make or lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-08-11T03:35:10.197" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T03:35:10.197" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T04:51:37.297" Score="6" ViewCount="1017" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been getting into running fast (18 km/hr for about 2 minutes last night) on the treadmill, it's a bit of a rush. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get bored pretty easily so I find it entertaining to push myself, the running part of my workout is just a warm up anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm aware of the who dynamic of somebody flying off the end of the treadmill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is - how likely is this to happen, and if it does, what's the potential injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16610" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T18:01:11.060" Title="Is it dangerous to run fast on the treadmill?" Tags="&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25813" CreationDate="2015-08-11T05:16:23.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't overthink, the most important part is that you are putting more weight each week, don't worry too much about the form at first, if you exercising your biceps but not &quot;felling it&quot; then you know that something is wrong, its very easy, pay attention to what your body is telling you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for the list of exercises, choose the ones that you like based on what you want to develop: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, the most important part is progression, putting more weight each day/week/month, you choose your cycle, you are the only one that can measure your limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid exercises like bench press or squats, these can be dangerous to do without a spotter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A safer alternative to bench press would be the dumbbells flyes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-flyes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-flyes&lt;/a&gt; so that if you lose strength in the middle of the exercise, you can just let them fall to the sides instead of getting chocked by a bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16599" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T05:16:23.967" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25813" CreationDate="2015-08-11T05:17:06.527" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a great question, and I think it's something &lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt; has struggled with.  First, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/11916/what-is-courtesy-in-a-gym/11917#11917&quot;&gt;just take a peek at this answer about gym etiquette&lt;/a&gt;, which should set your mind at ease in many respects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When starting out at the gym, &lt;strong&gt;everyone&lt;/strong&gt; will feel self-conscious.  This is part of training &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt;.  If you take dance lessons or archery lessons, you will feel the same thing.  It takes time to build confidence.  At the gym though, we want to start using different machines and different equipment in order to have some variation and keep our workouts fun and effectual.  So what do we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, we should make an outline of our goals.&lt;/strong&gt;  What do we want to do in the gym?  Do we want to be able to bench press 405 lbs?  Do we want to be able to do muscle-ups?  With this knowledge we'll be able to figure out what equipment we need to use.  If we want a bigger upper body, knowing how to use the leg curl machine might not be the most valuable knowledge -- but knowing how to bench press and bent-over row would be necessary.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Next, we need to find a routine that will help us achieve our goals.&lt;/strong&gt;  An olympic weightlifting routine that involves front squats and overhead presses won't do much for us if we're trying to have a body like Arnold.  If that's what we're shooting for, we should be looking for a bodybuilding routine that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25726/workout-frequency-and-tempo-for-bodybuilding/25728#25728&quot;&gt;keeps our rep ranges at in the right thresholds&lt;/a&gt;.  On the other hand, if we just want to have a beach body, maybe a crossfit-type &quot;high intensity interval&quot; routine is what we're looking for.  In any case, we need to know what we're supposed to be doing in the gym while we're there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finally, we need to &lt;em&gt;practice&lt;/em&gt; the exercises in our routine.&lt;/strong&gt;  As an anecdotal estimate, maybe 90% of training is just &lt;em&gt;knowing how to move your body in that way&lt;/em&gt;. After that, it's a matter of how we're stimulating the body.  This means  weight per rep, duration, intensity, rest time, and so on.  There are terms like &quot;greasing the groove&quot; that speak to this type of neuromuscular connection.  There are also studies that suggest just going through the range of motion many times per day, even under no resistance, will contribute greatly to performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if there are exercises we're just too self-conscious to do it at the gym, it's easy to practice anything at home first: just find the exercise online.  Exrx.net is just absolutely invaluable for any imaginable exercise.  Look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercise directory here&lt;/a&gt;.  YouTube is also great for any conceivable exercise -- especially compound movements like powerclean or snatch that require tons and tons of practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside: three workouts is not enough to really make much a difference.  Many advanced lifters haven't changed their program in years and still see progress month after month.  As a beginner, it should take at least &lt;em&gt;weeks&lt;/em&gt; before you see any significant changes in your physique that last beyond &quot;the pump&quot;.  Though, you should see fast improvements in strength training as your body learns how to perform exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T05:21:18.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25815" CreationDate="2015-08-11T05:54:51.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, as long as you maintain proper form, it's not dangerous, the only back problems you'll have is &quot;how can I find clothes that my huge back fit into&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every exercise put a strain on some joint and could thus be potentially dangerous. To me, it's a lot easier to maintain a neutral back while doing dumbbell rows than during a deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T05:54:51.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25810" CreationDate="2015-08-11T06:18:10.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you gained a lot of body fat while off the gym it might be the reason, you would be heavier, your metabolism slower, etc... one would assume that having a lot of stored energy would make us more energetic, stronger but I experienced it first hand in my teenage years, the fatter you get, the harder it is to lose weight and every exercise feels like torture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it can just mean that you are changing your habits again and is always harder in the beginning, but in this case, research shows that it takes 21 days to form a habit (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/how-long-to-form-a-habit.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/how-long-to-form-a-habit.php&lt;/a&gt;), just work out and be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16599" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T06:18:10.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25810" CreationDate="2015-08-11T06:28:29.943" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You just lot a bit everything ! Strength, stamina, endurance. But it's normal, your nervous system and muscles are not used to being solicited that way anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But don't worry, it can come back fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mistake you should avoid when coming back to the gym is to try to do the same exercises with the same reps/weight as you used to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two and half years is a long break, come back slow, making full range of motion movements with proper form, lower weights. Slowly you will see improvements and you will come back to the level you were at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to build stamina, try to incorporate some cardio to your routine, shorten your rest in between your sets (not recommended if you want to build strentgh).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And try to be consistent. This is the most important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't go to the gym to do a a very hard leg day and then do nothing for the rest of the week because you cannot move anymore. &#xA;Just do 3-5 gym sessions per week (depending on your exercices) where you push yourself but do not go overboard. Just be consistent. Enjoy !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T06:28:29.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25814" CreationDate="2015-08-11T06:44:37.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can build some with a lot of exercise but definitely not like the ones by steroid users, there's a natural limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0al_ukv47c0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0al_ukv47c0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2011/03/30/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain-naturally/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.builtlean.com/2011/03/30/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain-naturally/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16599" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T06:44:37.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25815" CreationDate="2015-08-11T09:29:42.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many exercises can cause back problems if done improperly.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bent over row with a dumbbell&lt;/a&gt; is not an exception.   However, if done correctly, the bent over row is a good, compound exercise that strengthens multiple back, shoulder and scapular muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To protect your spine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your back slightly arched and avoid rounding your back.  Contracting your transverse abdominis (pulling your bellybutton towards your spine) will add support.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Begin with a weight that you can control throughout the motion and avoid jerking to lift the weight.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a back or disc problem, you should check with your doctor or health care practitioner first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T09:29:42.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25815" CreationDate="2015-08-11T11:41:50.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like everyone said, Proper form is what is needed. If you don't maintain proper form and do warm up and cool down, there is a chance that you get injured even while walking on treadmill. So Warmup, Form, CoolDown. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16195" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T11:41:50.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T12:27:57.390" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am a bodybuilder and I cave every 10 days, which doesn't seem that bad really, but how often should a bodybuilder actually cave. How frequently? How rarely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T15:51:33.537" Title="How often should one serious about bodybuilding have a cave day?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25820" CreationDate="2015-08-11T12:48:46.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Falling of the thread mill is not really a big deal unless of course you hit your head, but it could be just another fun video on youtube. The real problems arise if you keep pushing yourself too hard. Please, go see a doctor before doing intense exercises, it's all fun and games until something snaps and you think you are going to die. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://heartdisease.about.com/lw/Health-Medicine/Conditions-and-diseases/Heart-Attack-and-Intense-Exercise.-1Q6.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://heartdisease.about.com/lw/Health-Medicine/Conditions-and-diseases/Heart-Attack-and-Intense-Exercise.-1Q6.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3UyimwIXQg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3UyimwIXQg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16599" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T12:48:46.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25830" CreationDate="2015-08-11T14:08:15.293" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is purely my opinion based on my experiences as a bodybuilder.  The answer to your question is twofold.  If you’re competitive, or, plan to be, you should look at having one “cheat” day per week as a general rule.  The other 6 days, you should try to eat as clean as possible.  If you aspire to that eating goal, your diet would be optimum &lt;strong&gt;86%&lt;/strong&gt; of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;52 days per year cheat/365 days = ~14.24%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of sanity and food urges, that’s a goal I had no problem achieving and I think it’s achievable by anyone serious about fitness in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, on the other hand, you plan to enter competitions, you’ll need to become much more serious about your eating, and, plan every aspect of your diet.  Right down to when and how often you eat. The closer you get to a competition, the tighter and cleaner your diet should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T14:08:15.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25814" CreationDate="2015-08-11T14:32:18.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building any body part to its full potential without abusing steroids is hard work.  Unless you’re genetically gifted, you’ve got to be willing to work at it for a long time.  Unlike a steroid abuser, a natural training athlete must optimize all aspects of diet, training, sleep, and nutrition.  And, let’s not forget genetics, a factor you have no control over.  Having said that, if you train consistently, and, with a reachable goal, you should be able to build the body that you want.  You may not achieve &quot;3D deltoids&quot;, but, you can certainly improve upon what you have by using exercises that provide a progressive overload to your deltoids, and, target all &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltoid_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;three heads&lt;/a&gt; of the muscle (anterior, lateral, and posterior).  For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell presses &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell side raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over dumbbell raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T14:32:18.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25820" CreationDate="2015-08-11T14:49:49.703" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are only likely to fall off of a treadmill if you set it too high for your performance limits, or get distracted while exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People generally run in a fairly straight line, and if you are able to keep up with the treadmill's pace, then you shouldn't have any problem staying on. The videos you see are people that try to go from standing on the rails to running on a fast moving belt, get distracted and step off the side of the belt, or are otherwise trying to do something cute or funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't do any of those, and you should be ok. If you are getting to the extreme end of your speed range, then I would highly recommend attaching the magnetic autostop clip to your clothes, so that if you do fall, at least the belt immediately slows down and stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T14:49:49.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25816" CreationDate="2015-08-11T17:04:01.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's entirely possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main function of the calves (Gastrocnemius and soleus) is to plantar flex (point) the feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as you step up, you dorsiflex your foot slightly, then push up with your thighs and calves to elevate to the next step. Do this over and over, and you will build solid calves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T17:04:01.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25837" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T17:52:47.843" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I am following Jason Blaha's Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 Novice Program. Different workouts will result in different body physiques. So how do you create your own workout routine so that it will eventually lead to your goal physique?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16625" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T18:26:38.713" Title="How to create a workout routine based on the goal physique?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25837" CreationDate="2015-08-11T18:26:38.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are numerous &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/11986/7091&quot;&gt;body building programs&lt;/a&gt; out there that you can move into. In the beginning, I'd recommended sticking with a good compound strength training program. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-fitness-5x5-novice-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The one you mentioned&lt;/a&gt; seems to fit that category nicely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd additionally recommend sticking with it until you (at least) hit the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermediate strength standards&lt;/a&gt; on your compound lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hypertrophy gains of benching 8 reps of 200lbs will be more than 8 reps of 185. If you start too early down the hypertrophy road, you'll struggle (literally) with strength gains as that won't be what you're training for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, body building and hypertrophy is (largely, pardon the pun) for physique and aesthetics. As where the strength training you're learning now will be critical for a long and healthy life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T18:26:38.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T00:47:09.983" Score="15" ViewCount="6628" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I live in Wisconsin, and I take my motor boat out on Lake Michigan every week or so during this Summer, usually about 30 or 40 miles out. I am literally the only one out there. It's water as far as the eye can see. Anyway, I have a built on ladder and stabilizers I have been using to get back on the boat when I'm done swimming. I get out, with a life jacket on and swim around and enjoy the peace and quiet for about 20 minutes. My only concern is what happens if my boat sinks or I can't get back on it or something. I am a male of age 27,height 5&quot;10, weigh 155 and used to swim for my high school team. Is this okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T18:45:52.500" Title="Is it okay to swim in the middle of a lake?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25841" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T00:58:40.437" Score="-5" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am really eager to know how to achieve those coconut shoulders! Could someone who has them that isn't a drug user please say how they got them?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T16:06:26.850" Title="Will doing 60,000 arm circles in a day cap your delts?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25751" CreationDate="2015-08-12T01:41:21.653" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It probably maximizes hand strength and works the same as regular push ups(chest, triceps, etc.) But why would you do push ups on your thumbs? You'll end up with 2 broken thumbs and even more serious, 2 broken wrists. Also, not only that, but your traps(upper back) muscles are worked with regular push ups anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T01:41:21.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25629" CreationDate="2015-08-12T01:52:27.973" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer usually varies, but if we are talking about exercises such as swimming, running, walking, and biking(cardio, more commonly known as) then the answer is no as long as you are not doing an insane aerobic workout. For example, say that you are running 3 miles every other day. Will this hurt you in the long run? No. But now say that your friend is running 10 miles every single day. Assuming your friend is not extraordinary genetically gifted or is squatting for 8 hours every other day, eventually his/her leg muscles would shrink in size. This is because the muscles require more oxygen to be circulated through them so they shrink down to be able to push the oxygen cells closer together. So in other words, say this: If someone is reading 150 pages out of a book every day without eye breaks, they are more likely to develop blurred vision then someone reading 20 pages a day with no eye breaks(assuming these people are reading about 40 pages an hour). So, to make a long story short, yes if you are taking cardio or pilates to an extreme level it will kill your gains. But doing it moderately, or even at a somewhat advanced level, it will not as long as you say you won't swim over 5 miles a day or bike over 50, etc. When they tell you to &quot;sit still,&quot; they mean to not lift weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T01:52:27.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25740" CreationDate="2015-08-12T02:23:13.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I would tell you is that for upper body, chest, shoulders, and triceps usually work together(bench press, dips, push ups, shoulder press, chest press, tricep dumbbell bench press(see bodybuilding.com)...) well back and biceps usually also work together(pull ups, lat pull downs, curls, rows, chin ups, iso row, etc.) Legs and abs are a different category, but to answer your question, yes, chest and triceps should be worked on the same days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T02:23:13.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-12T02:23:23.420" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although swimming alone in the middle of Lake Michigan sounds wonderful and has its benefits to you, swimming alone has life altering/ending risks. The chances may be minimal that something dangerous could happen, but see my story below for an example that bad things can happen.  If something did happen you don't seem to have left yourself any communication or rescue options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the risks of swimming in open water involve:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drifting from your boat due to currents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting tangled with or injured by floating or submerged debris&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/swimming/dangers-of-open-water-swimming-hypothermia-and-hyperthermia&quot;&gt;Hypothermia&lt;/a&gt; causing impaired thinking and movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was young and dumb, I went sailing on a Hobie Cat in the Gulf.  It was hot so we all jumped off to swim.  The boat took off so fast we could not catch up.  Fortunately we were all excellent swimmers with Red Cross training.  We were distant, but within sight of the shore.  However, after swimming for over an hour, we found that the current was not letting us get closer to shore.  We finally found a diagonal path that helped to drift us towards a barnacle-covered jetty.  After some pretty vicious cuts we were able to get on the jetty and get to shore.  Not one of my finer moments, but a good example of how a fun afternoon could unintentionally turn deadly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/water-safety/swim-safety&quot;&gt;American Red Cross&lt;/a&gt; advises never swimming alone.  I don't know if a GPS device could be of any help given your location.  A buddy who stays onboard with appropriate rescue equipment while you swim would add to your safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-08-12T19:41:24.847" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T19:41:24.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2015-08-12T02:34:42.290" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your question is strictly referring to just gaining muscle mass, then of course the steroid user shall make gains in mass whether they work out or not. However, where these gains are and how much gains they get shall depend on if they are lifting or not. You may have heard that steroid usage will enhance one's performance at powerlifting, but this will not be the case if the user doesn't work out, due to the fact that steroids prioritize deltoid, traps, and lat muscles, which none of are the main muscle used for powerlifting. That being stated, if a sedentary person has broad shoulders and a wide back, but the rest of their body is weak, they are probably using steroids. Also, the muscle mass gained would not be as much as an active steroid user. But why would you want to take steroids? The negative effects definitely outweigh the positive effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T02:34:42.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-12T03:45:20.567" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done a lot of offshore sailing and sometimes you'll get totally becalmed. Hot muggy conditions and the water is so flat you can literally shave in the reflection. It's hard not to jump in with conditions like that. Soap up, jump in, swim around the boat a few times, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very famous and accomplished sailor named &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Moitessier&quot;&gt;Bernard Moitessier&lt;/a&gt; would (solo) have the boat on auto, trimmed sails and on course by itself making way. He'd toss out a few hundred feet of line with a buoy on the end and jump in, swim around, and make sure he got to the line before the buoy went past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was a little nuts, obviously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing I'd watch out for is a wind or current to pick up and scoot the boat away faster than you can get to it. If you're in the middle of a big lake you're not anchoring I imagine, so everything's adrift. A flat bottom boat won't offer up much resistance to wind gust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do it, I'd consider tossing out 100' of polypro (yellow stuff, hard to tie, floats, hates the sun). One end &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; secured to your boat, and the other to a float that you keep near you. Try to keep yourself between the float and the boat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T03:45:20.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25841" CreationDate="2015-08-12T05:36:12.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;NO. You need a lot more resistance to grow your delts, the kind of resistance that won't allow you to do 60k reps, or even 60.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T05:36:12.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T05:47:30.417" Score="5" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of my fitness routine involves standing for 20 minutes with the knees ever so slightly unlocked.  The goal of this routine, theoretically, is to build up the so called &quot;postural&quot; muscles, which are the host of small muscles used to fine tune posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been finding it difficult to stand that long without my legs vibrating with that twitch that occurs when you have overexerted a muscle, indicating that I am using some of my large muscles in a position where they have remarkably low mechanical advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any small muscles which are used to keep the knees ever so slightly bent (5 degrees at most), or is that entirely handled by large muscles.  If there are, then I know I need to try to determine how to innervate them.  If there are not, I either need to rethink how I approach this standing, or I need to supplement with more traditional exercises (like squats) until I have the strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16636" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T06:55:09.900" Title="Do we use large or small muscles when keeping our knees unlocked?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25849" CreationDate="2015-08-12T06:55:09.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should absolutely be doing some compound exercises for legs and lower back in order to improve posture. A 5-degree bend at the knees isn't going to empower a straight spine and a strong back, which are the primary facilitators of good posture. Squats and deadlifts are our saviors here. For even more engagement, you might even want to try some olympic lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I don't view this as something that will allow you to do the 5-degree bend more effectively later. I view it as a complete replacement for the 5-degree bend. Who gave you that idea in the first place? It sounds like you're trying to do the least amount of effort, but with little effort comes little progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another exercise you should be doing instead, is simply walking. There is a lot to be said for an activity where you're moving, while focusing on a straight back, with your chest out and your chin up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T06:55:09.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25841" CreationDate="2015-08-12T07:01:49.370" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're doing this, stop it immediately. You WILL hurt yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle gains are made by doing movements with physical resistance (weights). We need to break down the muscle fibers through intense exertion, and then our nutrition and rest make sure they're built back up, stronger and bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arm circles have no resistance besides air resistance, and the weight of your arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing more than 20 reps of anything, you're training stamina. Not muscle growth. So imagine what we're thinking when you say 60,000 reps. Do not do 60,000 reps of anything per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to also take into account that whenever you do a movement, there is mechanical damage being done to the joints. Three sets of 8-12 reps on the incline bench is going to give you more resistance than all of those arm circles, while at the same time not gnawing at your shoulder joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T07:01:49.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-12T10:51:17.860" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends what you mean by okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mean &quot;is it safe?&quot; then the answer is simple: &lt;strong&gt;No, it is not safe&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get into trouble you stand a high risk of death. No-one will be able to rescue you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the broader question of whether that means it's not okay, we can't answer that. It's up to you to assess the danger by assessing the chances of an incident happening (I would think sudden wind pulling the boat away from you is the biggest risk), your ability to recover in an emergency (by, say, swimming to shore) and how you weight the relative danger against the pleasure you derive from going swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16641" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T10:51:17.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25841" CreationDate="2015-08-12T16:06:26.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Already been said but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; 1-8 Reps Strength Training&#xA;&#xA; 9-12 Reps Hypertrophy Training &amp;lt;--- You want to be here...&#xA;&#xA; 12-15 Reps Stamina Training`&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically any kind of progression weight-wise using a hypertrophy rep range will gradually develop your shoulders to how you want them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't really have to do this for you (Should use your initiative)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However Here is a list of Shoulder exercices &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/12/muscle/shoulders&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/12/muscle/shoulders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16645" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T16:06:26.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25767" CreationDate="2015-08-12T17:14:20.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, this answer can vary. If you are lifting 3 days in a row and are doing only upper body as you say in your comment and are working on the same muscle groups day after day, then your muscles are probably not getting enough time to rest to grow back stronger in between your workouts. However, if you are doing the bench press on Friday, curls on Saturday, and &quot;nose breakers&quot; on Sunday you are getting enough rest but may not be exercising each individual muscle group enough; not to mention that nose breakers can cause elbow tendonitis. You should be training each muscle group at least 2 times a week. And not to even mention, where are your leg days? Legs and glutes are the strongest muscle groups on the human body, so why would you deny them? Overall, I think you need a real workout plan. Try something like this:&#xA;Monday: Full body workout(chest, back, legs, biceps, deltoids)&#xA;Wednesday: Full body workout&#xA;Friday:Full body workout&#xA;And take the other days for rest. Don't worry about working abs individually, as they will be worked through squats and deadlifts. This way you are exercising your entire body 3 days a week and giving it time to heal back up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T17:14:20.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-12T17:47:22.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A suggestion, since you seem to prefer the quiet aspect of this, would be to find someone that enjoys floating on a boat out in the middle of nowhere with a good book or music.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can relax on the boat and read while you swim alone. Maybe have a beer and sandwiches together. They also get a boat to hang out on, assuming they don't have one, and you get an emergency buddy if the boat gets away from you or something else happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16652" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-12T18:29:00.100" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T18:29:00.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3703" CreationDate="2015-08-12T17:49:37.810" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check your form, or have it checked by a runner.  You are not a runner.  Before you become a runner you need to make sure your form is good, you aren't too far overweight, and you aren't trying to do too much...too quickly.  Landing on your heals can destroy calves.  An overweight person can actually get small fractures in their bones from running.  I'm not overweight, but started running just this year.  Started with 1 mile and now am up to 4+ miles 2 months later.  My calves started hurting &quot;after&quot; I ran when turned a certain way a 'stabbing' pain, so I watched a few videos, consulted a few runners, and have adopting a running form that has me landing mid/fore foot instead of on my heel - suddenly calves, knees, hips are all feeling fine and I only wear out of energy, but no pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16654" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T17:49:37.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-12T19:04:56.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having crossed the Pacific Ocean on our own boat, we thought a lot about questions such as this. In general I would not be concerned about swimming mid-lake, as the danger does not seem materially greater than the boat sinking mid-lake with you &lt;em&gt;aboard&lt;/em&gt;, a risk you seem willing to accept. Obviously significant swell or wind which could blow the boat away from you quickly increases the risk of swimming over boating alone, and it should go without saying that the wisdom of what you are doing decreases as conditions worsen. I agree with Eric Kaufman's suggestion of having a floating line attached to the boat. And I was glad to read that you wear a PFD and hung a ladder to make it easier to climb back aboard -- I guess you saw Open Water 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That all said, you may gain peace of mind as well as a measure of safety by bringing a signaling device with you on the boat -- and on your swims. A personal locator beacon, or PLB, is a satellite messaging device with a built-in GPS that is purpose-built to alert search and rescue authorities when a person is in distress. PLBs are waterproof and small enough to clip to a PFD. Currently the world's smallest is made by Ocean Signal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oceansignal.com/products/plb1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://oceansignal.com/products/plb1/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Risks are a personal matter, and my rule is that I should avoid putting others (such as search and rescue personnel) at risk due to my own refusal to accept responsibility for my actions. For me, the risk/reward assessment of what you are doing weights the scale in favor of the reward, especially when you can take simple steps to increase your own safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16655" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T19:04:56.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-12T20:11:23.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe? It's somewhat less safe than swimming alone in a backyard pool without a life jacket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all about your own personal assumption of risk. You are an experienced swimmer and (presumably) experienced boater. You are swimming with a life jacket on. You have taken steps to minimize what factors you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are myriad things that could go wrong, ranging from cramping to the boat drifting away in a sudden summer storm. Any of these could have implications from &quot;ow, that really hurt&quot; to death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want us to do is tell you &quot;yeah, go ahead, have a blast&quot;, which we can't really do. As a former competitive swimmer (17 years), I would feel perfectly fine doing exactly what you are doing, but I recognize the risks going in, and would take much the same steps as you have to minimize them as much as possible. If you like what you are doing, and don't have a problem accepting the potential downsides, I would see no reason to stop. If, however, you start feeling nervous and/or scared about what you are doing, then stop. It really is about the risk you are willing to accept to do something you enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T20:11:23.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T23:04:50.507" Score="6" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am having financial trouble and don't want to pay for a gym membership, so I'm wondering about working out at the playground. I would probably be doing pull ups, decline push ups, one legged squats, knee tucks, dips, chin ups, and incline push ups. I should note that these exercises would be accompanied with running a mile and a half around a track and that all of these exercises are about 3-15 repetitions. The workout excluding the running would be about 45 minutes long, 6 days a week. Is this satisfactory enough to build muscles up? I should note that I used to lift weights recently, and my body is already sort of built up. Also, how many dips should I be able to do each day without causing a shoulder injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastEditorUserId="19308" LastEditDate="2016-02-12T05:21:22.323" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T05:21:22.323" Title="Working out at the playground?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24884" CreationDate="2015-08-12T23:13:23.150" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To complement your sprinting routines, I advise to start doing squats and deadlifts. Read around to know how to do them properly but once you start getting the correct technique, you can start adding the weight so that your legs become stronger and will greatly benefit your soccer experience...it has for me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4qRntuXBSc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4qRntuXBSc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy28eq2PjcM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy28eq2PjcM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips: I usually do 2-3 warmup sets starting at 135 increasing the weight to 225 for my first real set. Then I usually try to do reps of 8 x 8 x 6 x 4 where each set is pretty tough to complete by adding weight. Next time you redo squats or deadlifts if the last set of 4 was pretty easy and you feel you could have done 6 for example, start the 4 sets with 5-10 more pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastEditorUserId="6625" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T17:41:32.363" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T17:41:32.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T23:18:49.833" Score="-1" ViewCount="708" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have been told that the more sexual stimulation created by a male, the more testosterone his body produces. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T04:27:11.910" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:41:43.503" Title="Does sexual arousal really release testerone?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;sex&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-09-08T14:29:22.483" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25863" CreationDate="2015-08-13T00:08:43.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this satisfactory enough to build muscles up?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided you are in a &lt;strong&gt;caloric surplus&lt;/strong&gt;(eating more than your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TDEE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by &lt;strong&gt;adding 100~500 cal&lt;/strong&gt; to your &lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TDEE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;), then yes. Also since you are running, make sure you are able to consume the calories you lose from running. Consider doing your workout with 3~4 sets(up to you to make the changes here) for every 3~15 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have lifted weights before, it should not take too long to regain your muscle. Lastly:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also, how many dips should I be able to do each day without causing a shoulder injury?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on the user. If you feel any sort of pain be it in the forearm, shoulders, chest, etc, stop working out and take a break. You could try doing some warm-ups such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/BWPikePushup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt; to warm up your shoulders before doing dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/BWPikePushup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pike push ups&lt;/a&gt; can be down while your legs are elevated on a bench or on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T00:08:43.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25867" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26185" CreationDate="2015-08-13T04:35:11.253" Score="1" ViewCount="3113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was doing a 4RM on my bench press today, and on the last one (it felt like) it was moving about 1cm/hour. I got it up, but I felt my foot come off the floor and I &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulled_hamstring&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pulled my hamstring&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hamstring injury I'm not concerned with: it was a minor pull (1.5 on the scale) and I'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically I'd like to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some cues to keep my feet down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What (probably) broke down in my form that caused my hamstring to pull and my foot to pop off the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was a lot of weight for me (4RM, just barely not failure on the last one), but I've never had that happen before in years of barbell training. Also, I use power-lifting form for bench pressing when I get north of 5RM. Feet flat, glutes locked, back arched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T04:53:07.877" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T18:18:27.393" Title="hamstring pull when bench pressing" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25870" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-13T09:39:13.253" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had great muscle gains about 6 months ago. But recently I have stopped exercising intensely so I have become slightly fat. Will I lose muscle if I do not lift weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16665" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T17:09:16.947" Title="Does someone lose muscle if they don't exercise?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-14T17:35:51.340" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25863" CreationDate="2015-08-13T10:02:30.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, gymless training has been a trend for a few years. There is a growing amount of information available in books, DVDs, and the internet about this kind of training, under the names of &quot;bodyweight exercises&quot; or calisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few places to start (without spending money) would be names like:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Paul Wade (&lt;em&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Al Kavadlo (&lt;em&gt;Pushing the Limits&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Mark Lauren (&lt;em&gt;You are Your Own gym&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Kelly Starett (&lt;em&gt;Becoming a Supple Leopard&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- or (perhaps most interesting for you) &lt;em&gt;The Barbrothers&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If money is on the short side, use Google (or another search engine) and Youtube (or other video sites such as Vimeo or Dailymotion) to find references, or check to see if your local library has a copy. There is a whole world of training plans out there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just please be careful if you train and children are on the playground. They have the first pick on the structure and not you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-19T13:35:25.270" LastActivityDate="2015-11-19T13:35:25.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25870" CreationDate="2015-08-13T11:01:51.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how well you eat and what you do with your life/body once you stop training, how far you got while you were training, your genetics, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle memory will most likely bring it back quicker than those who never lifted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16473" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T11:01:51.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-13T11:39:40.467" Score="4" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ran 12.5 miles at 1:40. I swim and gym regularly, and go for a 6 mile jog 4 times a week. I've got all the free time in the world. What should i use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16291" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T02:54:37.710" Title="Marathon training plan for my level of fitness?" Tags="&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-13T12:48:20.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not tie a rope or something to the boat and yourself? So if anything happens to the boat you'll still be connected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16666" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T12:48:20.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25873" CreationDate="2015-08-13T14:04:24.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have a good aerobic base to start a marathon training plan now. You are running around 25 miles per week, which is right at the required base miles to start a running marathon program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are A LOT of options out there for marathon programs. But I'll give you my 2 cents as to which I have liked the best. For price and quality I don't know if you can beat &lt;a href=&quot;http://marathontrainingacademy.com/trainingplans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marathon training academy's&lt;/a&gt; programs. They also have a nice podcast you can listen to with great running tips and racing advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;McMillan running has recently partnered with Strava and allows you to build a program through them if you are a premium member (this is a very good option for existing premimum strava members). This also gives you the benefit of logging your miles through strava, which I really enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately there are quite a few good options out there. I would avoid any that never have you run at least 20 miles... The ones that avoid those long grueling sessions tend to be geared towards people who want to complete a marathon, but not run one fully (based on your base miles I feel like you are in the ladder category).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is your first marathon, keep in mind that your goals should be pretty realistic. No matter what program you pick your first marathon is more about running it completely, and getting the experience. If you enjoy it, you'll want to do it again, and you can adapt your training based on what you learned!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!! And as a side note, I'm not affiliated with either of the companies I suggested. I have just had good results with both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addition based on comment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only ever looked at a few free marathon training programs, but never used one. So I can't fully back one. That being said, just from viewing them they seem to be built on very similar principles, and likely will yield good results. You learn A LOT from your first program... A lot about yourself, and even the workouts that benefit you during different situations. I don't think it's a bad idea to go with a free one, and then possibly take notes and adjust based on your experience...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note. I actually think to get the absolute best results you need a coach. They are able to see and point out things you can't. A good coach is honestly much more valuable than any training plan because they can adapt based on how your body is responding...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16577" LastEditorUserId="16577" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T16:20:09.163" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T16:20:09.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25870" CreationDate="2015-08-13T17:09:16.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been proven that gains will still stay with you even years after, so not really. But gaining fat isn't a whole lot better then losing muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T17:09:16.947" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-13T17:16:54.140" Score="3" ViewCount="2713" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a blue vein running down my left bicep but not on my right one. I have been told before that a vein on your bicep means you are losing fat, but should they be on both biceps or just one? Is this normal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T19:14:37.997" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T02:08:36.080" Title="Why is there a vein on my left bicep but not one on my right bicep?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14159" CreationDate="2015-08-13T18:35:39.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to say that I would encourage using a snorkel rather than flotation aids.  With a snorkel you can easily just lay face down in the water and float, without doing anything.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there it's quite natural (I think) to do a breast stroke style swim, but you can also work on front crawl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you can move forward, you can learn to breathe (without the snorkel) with basic advice from youtube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16647" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T18:35:39.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25895" CreationDate="2015-08-13T20:23:30.483" Score="3" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I bought a rumble roller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use it primarily for Hamstring and Quads muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to use it 3-4 times a week ?&#xA;How much times a week it is recommended to use a rumble roller ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16676" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T07:30:04.760" Title="Rumble Roller question" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25880" CreationDate="2015-08-13T20:27:04.587" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's most likely perfectly normal. Bodies are not perfectly symmetrical, and while you may have the same vein in your right arm, it doesn't necessarily mean that it runs in the same place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T20:27:04.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-13T20:43:14.867" Score="0" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have noticed a considerable amount of guys in my gym will not do any leg work(as much as 50% on some days).... All they do is bench and do bicep curls... Why don't a lot of guys wanna do leg work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T15:00:45.217" Title="Why do so many guys deny their lower body?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-08-14T17:35:26.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T00:09:49.067" Score="3" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I started lifting and eating more calories than I burn I had shredded six pack abs... Probably because I play baseball and did push ups and sit ups... But now I am lifting and eating and they seem to be slowly going away... How do I bulk and keep my ab muscles visible at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T01:05:20.430" Title="How to maintain shredded abs while bulking up?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25887" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T00:15:31.923" Score="3" ViewCount="2014" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift for an hr. and a half every other day... I have noticed that as I get further in(after 1 hr. of lifting I am breaking a sweat...) my face turns red and I sweat. Should this occur with weights? I thought it was solely cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T03:10:38.947" Title="I am sweating while lifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25888" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T00:55:15.963" Score="6" ViewCount="712" Body="&lt;p&gt;So whenever I do standing military press with any weight, it seems to kind of tear at my back. Not my lower back, but maybe my upper or middle. Anyone with similar experiences?How do I avoid this? Am I using proper form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T14:34:19.887" Title="How to do standing military press without damaging back?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25886" CreationDate="2015-08-14T00:59:31.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to maintain shredded abs while bulking up?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By lean bulking aka small caloric surplus(&lt;a href=&quot;http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt; + 100~500 calories&lt;/strong&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are afraid of not being able to see your abs, consider doing &lt;strong&gt;small cuts for 1-2 weeks&lt;/strong&gt;(not recommended since you are lean bulking and you should not be gaining too much fat while doing so). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15992" LastEditorUserId="15992" LastEditDate="2015-08-14T01:05:20.430" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T01:05:20.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25873" CreationDate="2015-08-14T02:54:37.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @jsmith but all the plans tend to follow a few specific guidelines. Here are the ones I'm following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build up to at least 20 miles 1-2 months before a marathon race.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run all long runs ( +16 miles) at an easy pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do one long run every week but run your longest long runs every other weekend at the most.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aside from running for distance for the longer runs; run to time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running more than 3 hours during training is treading a fine line between fitness and injury so most people advise against it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 30-60 minutes 2-5 times every week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One day every week should be devoted to speed work like sprinting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3-4 months before marathon race focus starts on speed (and 180 spm cadence).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taper 2-3 weeks before race by cutting down distance but keep pace and intensity the same (until the last 4-5 days?).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Listen to your body dont push too hard by taking a day off and take advantage of itches to go further or faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your not cheap like me then get with a coach or a local running club. Alot of people get into clubs and they sound like fun...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T02:54:37.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25887" CreationDate="2015-08-14T06:22:41.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is normal to sweat while lifting weight, especially if you do compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, it also depends heavily on the temperature in the room. I sweat a lot more in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why you sweat is to maintain your body temperature at around 37 degrees, when you use energy in any way, you will be pushing your temperature upwards, meaning you have to compensate with sweat to keep it steady.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running usually uses more energy than weight lifting, but when you run, you get a greater cooling effect because the air is typically colder than you are, meaning you won't sweat as much as you might think you would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T06:22:41.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25888" CreationDate="2015-08-14T06:24:45.413" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like standing diagonally, because you have balance in all directions, you won't have to compensate with the curvature of your back as much to avoid falling over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep your core tight while pressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T06:24:45.413" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25884" CreationDate="2015-08-14T06:27:18.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many reasons, primarily because leg muscles aren't as visible and often not considered as important aestetically. This is the same reason people don't workout their back enough. Of course, in the long run, doing arms and chest will make you look silly and it will be obvious that you aren't really strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people also think that because they ride their bike to work/to the gym, they don't need to workout their legs. This is not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T06:27:18.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25882" CreationDate="2015-08-14T07:30:04.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use the rumbler anywhere you'd normally foam roll. But there are places that will hurt more than others, and with a rumbler, it might be even worse. But that doesn't necessarily make it a bad idea. In fact, most of the time, the places that really hurt, are the ones that need it the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3-4 times a week sounds good. I don't think there is a specific guideline for how often you should and shouldn't use it. And even if there was, we're all different. You should start with whatever feels natural, and &quot;listen to your body&quot;. It will often tell you if you've overdone it, or if it feels so good that you should do it more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T07:30:04.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T08:36:56.830" Score="3" ViewCount="935" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that it's useful to determine your weakest muscle group and to work more on it. Sometimes it can been clearly seen, but if not, how do I actually do it? Is there some approximate proportions of weights in different exercises to find out which muscle groups is relatively weaker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T15:33:58.473" Title="Determine weaker muscle group" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3660" CreationDate="2015-08-14T11:26:39.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a torn medial meniscus in my left knee so was always terrified by squats. However after 2 years of doing squats now below parallel and working on form, I can say that not only have I not had knee pain after squats, but my legs actually feel alot stronger. I have a fast synopsis of &lt;a href=&quot;http://hashimashi.com/knee-pain-after-squats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;how to avoid knee pain after squats here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16684" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T11:26:39.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25884" CreationDate="2015-08-14T15:00:45.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there's many reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some likely do leg work but perhaps run a split routine and leg day is a day you're not in the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some may do a leg intensive sport and working the upper body in the gym is a way to compensate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the other hand some may do an upper body intensive sport and so legs just aren't a goal for them &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally there will be some people who don't care about or enjoy training legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end though it doesn't really matter, provided you are happy with what you are doing in the gym I wouldn't worry about deficiencies in other people's exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T15:00:45.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25896" CreationDate="2015-08-14T15:08:58.757" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer solely depends on your overall goal. Which muscles are we talking about, anyway? Usually it is easy enough to tell by looking at yourself which muscles are stronger and weaker. For example, my biceps are about 3 times as big as my triceps, which is unusual because I work them less, but genetics probably determines some of the outcomes as such. That being said, people like me only come once in a Blue Moon(well, except the guys who only do their chest, abs, and biceps for girls)... But if you are a true bodybuilder or weightlifter... Your biceps are probably the weakest muscle group on your body right now, followed by your abs. Your legs will be the strongest and your back will follow after that. However, it is extremely important to keep working your major muscle groups, too, because they will produce the most mass. You should be working your back and legs 3 times a week, but if your biceps are what one would suspect, you can throw those in there, too. Just don't do it for centuries on or else you will end up with imbalance, or having much bigger biceps than triceps such as me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T15:08:58.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T15:29:10.727" Score="5" ViewCount="1656" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have noticed that I am doing far beyond 20 reps of push ups and still, after I have done about 50 of them, or even 2 sets of 25 my arms feel like they're expanding and growing muscle, both the biceps and triceps. This is confusing to me because I thought that over 20 reps only builds stamina and endurance, not stronger muscles. If this is the case, why do my arms feel like they're growing? Are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T16:07:02.667" Title="Why do I feel my arms burn after doing a lot of push ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25896" CreationDate="2015-08-14T15:33:58.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're asking a good question but the way muscle weakness and imbalances show up, and the way to fix them, is a typical component of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, make sure you're using a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;proven strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. Not something from a magazine or from some dude's website. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you start working your way up in weight (keeping an eye on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt;), you'll most likely start identifying weaknesses. Just as an example, I needed to work on my abs to get through a plateau in my deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good strength training programs typically will talk about &lt;a href=&quot;http://wannabebig.com/training/the-best-assistance-exercises-for-the-squat-bench-press-and-deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;assistance exercises that will help the primary ones&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;em&gt;don't overdo the assistance work and lose focus on your big lifts&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you're right to concern yourself with imbalances, but the bigger picture is that you need to be on unified program which in turn reduces imbalances and gives you a framework on how to expose and solve them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T15:33:58.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T15:56:54.837" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somewhere I heard that doing some physical exercise can help de stress and focus on other work. Is this true? What are the reasons behind this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16665" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T09:20:23.997" Title="Can occasional intervals of physical exercise increase focus and therefore intelligence?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-18T12:28:50.517" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25900" CreationDate="2015-08-14T16:07:02.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/8239/7091&quot;&gt;certain rep ranges primarily cause certain types of adaptation&lt;/a&gt;. But that's not the end of the story. A good example of that is the legs of high level cyclists. Most of these folks aren't doing strength training, and certainly &lt;em&gt;very few&lt;/em&gt; are training for hypertrophy, but their legs are both strong and tend to be very muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qVHI1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qVHI1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the short term, that &quot;growing&quot; feeling you're experiencing is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/PumpBurn.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the pump&lt;/a&gt;. From exrx:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Immediately following a weight training exercise, the muscle may seem&#xA;  full and tight for 15 to 30 minutes, or 'pumped'. The muscular 'pump'&#xA;  is caused by trapped plasma within the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T16:07:02.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25902" CreationDate="2015-08-14T19:26:11.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise will not increase intelligence. However, I can tell you from my own expierience that if you are a consistent exerciser that it definitely increases the conditioner's focus. When I started lifting in high school, I noticed my grades increased drastically and my attention span during class was much longer. Sure, some could call it coincidental but I noticed when I took a 2 month break my grades dropped a little lower. Is that a coincidence? Not only that, but side effects of exercise consist of:&#xA;Longer life span(extends it 5-10 years)&#xA;Optimism&#xA;Self-Confidence and courage&#xA;Self-respect&#xA;Respect from others&#xA;Strengthens bones&#xA;Strengthens muscles&#xA;Improves fitness level&#xA;Sense of self-accomplishment&#xA;Lets you contact your inner self(better meditation)&#xA;Opens new doors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16559" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T19:26:11.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25912" CreationDate="2015-08-14T21:26:11.133" Score="4" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;So dips are supposed to hit triceps, right? Well today at my gym I did about 40 of them and my chest still feels like its expanding right now, but my triceps don't. Is this normal? Can dips be hitting chest instead of triceps for some reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T18:46:53.490" Title="Feeling my chest being built during dips?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T21:31:58.537" Score="3" ViewCount="607" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am squatting more than I deadlift but yet after as little as 5 lifts of deads I feel tired. I can cruise on the bench all day and it takes over an hour to get tired, and nearly the same with the squat. What is going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T00:40:02.103" Title="Deadlifts are tiring me out faster than squats and bench press?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T21:37:03.567" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glutes are the biggest muscle on our body. I know that someone is going to suggest leg press or the squat for working them, but I am seeking an exercise, primarily with weights, that hits your glute muscles. I would prefer if not to be the bridge because the position looks uncomfortable. Any exercises to bulk glutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T04:18:35.943" Title="Exercises for glutes?" Tags="&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25909" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T22:14:37.533" Score="4" ViewCount="3217" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I perform a pull up, I feel like I am lifting with my lats. But when I do a chin up, it literally feels like its all in my biceps. However, the mechanism still looks like it should be hitting other muscles too(lats, traps, abs, etc.)... And I feel like any exercise where you pull yourself up on a bar should target primarily your back muscles. Are chin ups hitting my lats or biceps(more)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T13:17:01.473" Title="Will chin ups hit my lats or biceps more?" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23600" CreationDate="2015-08-14T22:15:38.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the pull up bands sites use a confusing chart, but in reallity the band resistant doesn´t have nothing to do with your weight and you must select a band only based in the &quot;unassisted&quot; pull ups you cand do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This amazon seller is using a very easy to understand graphic in the product image section: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00Z7IRAQ2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z7IRAQ2/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see &quot;product description&quot; to understand a little bit more of other exercises that you can perform with the band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16692" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-15T04:24:12.833" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T04:24:12.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25906" CreationDate="2015-08-14T23:06:36.633" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really a case of dips hitting chest &lt;em&gt;instead of&lt;/em&gt; triceps. Dips hits both. But depending on how you do it, it will be working one more than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to engage triceps more, try not going down beyond a 90 degree elbow bend, and make sure you lock your arms out completely on every rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the upper part of the lift that engages triceps the most, so if that's what you're after, give that a shot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you might try, is doing dips in the way that engages chest most (deep reps, no locking out), and try some other exercises just for triceps alone, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/ez-bar-skullcrusher.html&quot;&gt;skullcrushers&lt;/a&gt; and/or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/tricep-extension.html&quot;&gt;cable tricep extensions&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T23:06:36.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25908" CreationDate="2015-08-15T04:18:35.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/dispelling-the-glute-myth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bret Contreras&lt;/a&gt; (a.k.a. The Glute Guy):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Squatting, deadlifting, and lunging, can make the glutes sore but they&#xA;  don't strengthen the glutes much. They target the quads and erector&#xA;  spinae. Even box squatting, walking lunges, and sumo deadlifts don't&#xA;  activate much glute in comparison to the exercises below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you could do weighted (on your ankle) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BWBirdDog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bird dogs&lt;/a&gt; or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/strength-equipment/strength-training/ghds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glute ham device&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-glute-bridge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell glute bridge&lt;/a&gt; is far-and-away superior to both of those for glute development. It's not that uncomfortable once you get it figured out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T04:18:35.943" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25922" CreationDate="2015-08-15T04:31:00.760" Score="4" ViewCount="3120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to prepare for a 10K in a week. This is my first 10K and till now I can only run 4K continuously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have problems of acidity which affects my run every other week once.  How do I get ahead of all this? and still manage to complete the 10K. I really wish to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16694" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-19T23:52:57.563" LastActivityDate="2015-12-19T23:52:57.563" Title="How do I prepare for a 10K in one week's time?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-15T08:58:16.183" Score="2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think personally it is mainly diet and weights that contribute to muscle growth. Is sleep that important of a factor too? Are there substitutes for sleep, like meditation, for example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T16:27:27.947" Title="Is sleep actually vital to muscle growth?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-17T16:50:00.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-15T12:58:22.673" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you got a sprain or strain on your lower back, hamstrings, and  glutes, with my understanding, it contracts the muscles, if you were to workout while wearing these, can it help regenerate muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16696" LastEditorUserId="16696" LastEditDate="2015-08-15T19:55:59.543" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T19:55:59.543" Title="Does electric muscle stimulation help with sprains or strains?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-17T16:50:28.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25916" CreationDate="2015-08-15T13:30:31.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;100%, I've been training for about 5 years now and there was one spell were due to work I was living off about 4-6 hours sleep a night for a month. I still exercised and dieting like i normally would but I actually loss muscle strength. Sleep is were all the hard work pays off, its the chance for your body grow and recover. Without the proper recovery you wont see any benefits!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16697" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T13:30:31.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25909" CreationDate="2015-08-15T13:36:01.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your grip, if you have close grip it will definitely target your biceps more, wide will hit your lats. However in saying, when I first started I had a similar issue as well, as fairy as it sounds, muscle mind connection will help you target your back. &lt;strong&gt;thinking&lt;/strong&gt; about your lats working as you do your exercise will better engage them will completing. Look below about the grips (ignore the text, just pulled it from the net)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kMwgT.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kMwgT.png&quot; alt=&quot;Wide vs Close&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16697" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T13:36:01.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25909" CreationDate="2015-08-15T15:30:57.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chinups (palms towards you) do activate your biceps more, but not at the cost of your &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latissimus_dorsi_muscle&quot;&gt;lats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a bit of bro-science about pullups/chinups, but if you read a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21068680&quot;&gt;2010 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research&lt;/a&gt; it tells a different tale. Basically, the recruitment of the latissimus dorsi is the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A general pattern of sequential activation occurred suggesting that&#xA;  pull-ups and chin-ups were initiated by the lower trapezius and&#xA;  pectoralis major and completed with biceps brachii and latissimus&#xA;  dorsi recruitment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the recruitment range (via EMG results) for a pullup gadget, chinups, and pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Latissimus dorsi: 117-130%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps brachii: 78-96%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Infraspinatus: 71-79%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower trapezius: 45-56%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectoralis major: 44-57%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Erector spinae: 39-41%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External oblique: 31-35%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/pull-up-vs-chin-up-a-comparison-and-analysis&quot;&gt;Breaking muscle has a good article about it as well&lt;/a&gt;, which references the above study, and goes into more detailed discussion. The real distinction and benefit from pullups (palms away) over chinups (palms towards you) is related to shoulders, angles, and distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to remember about wide-grip, and realize that pullups are basically always wider than chinups, is that a wide-grip has a smaller range of motion. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the impact on your shoulder is pronounced. If you were to widen all the way, you'd be (sort of) doing an iron cross, which is a tremendous load on the shoulder (just to put some context in there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T15:30:57.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25906" CreationDate="2015-08-15T18:46:53.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary function of the pectorals is to adduct the upper arm (Bring in closer to the body), which in function means that an arm pointing out to the side will come in closer to the body or end up pointing forward instead of to the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do your dips leaning forward, so that the upper arm moves away from the body, then when you contract and come back to the start position, you will activate the chest as part of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do your dips in a fashion where the upper arm doesn't really move away from the body at all, but stays relatively close, then you will have minimal activation of the chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T18:46:53.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25914" CreationDate="2015-08-15T18:51:34.093" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/&quot;&gt;Galloway Run-Walk&lt;/a&gt; program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The harsh reality is that in a week, if you can only run 4k continuously right now, you will not be able to run 10k in a week. Your best bet if you really want to do it, is some sort of the above, where you run 1k, walk .5k, etc. Get used to the idea that you WILL be walking if you go ahead and do the 10k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try to run the entire thing, you WILL cramp, you will most likely be miserable, and end up walking a large portion anyway (If you manage to finish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be smart, and you can finish the 10k in relative comfort. Then you can start working on building up endurance for future events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T18:51:34.093" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25923" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-15T22:27:07.927" Score="6" ViewCount="1105" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the very beginning of this video &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8WiRpPoZu8&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8WiRpPoZu8&lt;/a&gt; the woman is using some sort of a belt harness to make up for her unfortunately now missing hand, but it is flashed too quickly to make out the manufacturer name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My (tightly related) questions are: &lt;em&gt;is this the best option for a person with a missing or injured or otherwise unusable arm to deadlift&lt;/em&gt;?  Are there other harness types?  Can their usage lead to more injury (spine, shoulder blades)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Googling for «deadlifts for the disabled» «deadlift arm injury» etc did not turn up anything, and stores for sporting goods for the disabled somehow avoid weight lifting altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a «multi-strap» thing here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/monster-multi-strap&quot;&gt;http://www.roguefitness.com/monster-multi-strap&lt;/a&gt; but it seems like it will break the guy's neck should he attempt to lift 100+ kg with it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastEditorUserId="2595" LastEditDate="2015-08-15T22:42:20.080" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T16:15:51.490" Title="Equipment for deadlifts with arm injury" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25925" CreationDate="2015-08-16T00:04:27.340" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;So as far as I know usually when you work your chest you also work your triceps and when you work your back you usually also work your biceps. By these standards, is it a problem not to have individual days focused specifically toward biceps and triceps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T11:19:22.103" Title="Do I have to put separate attention toward my arms?" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25924" CreationDate="2015-08-16T01:01:25.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would never have specific arm days namely because of what you said; they get engaged heavily on back/chest days respectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get some more arm action going on, you could instead add a bicep segment to the end of your back day, and a tricep segment to the end of your chest day. That way, they're already warmed up, and probably even tired. But that's good! Because when they're already tired, you get more out of each repetition you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, I always do a couple of bicep curl variations on the end of my back day. I.e. after pullups and a bunch of row variations. Equally, I do some tricep isolation movements at the end of every chest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a designated arm day isn't something I would put into a routine. But I wouldn't be opposed to doing it every once in a while, in case I really don't feel like going with the plan for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T01:01:25.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25926" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-16T01:06:21.643" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I injured my knee during running (I'd say overuse). When resting, I can feel it only when extending the knee, maybe at 150°. It's inner knee pain, close to the kneecap but not under it. From googling, I think it is MCL. I can't see any swelling, so it must be very light if any. It's not painful nor limiting when walking but I can't run without pain longer than 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only problem is that it happened again after a recovery. I believe I must have done something wrong during the recovery (2 weeks), not stretched enough before the run. After the first recovery (no pain or discomfort at all) I went for a light jog only but it started hurting again after those 15 minutes. I walked back with little discomfort, but no pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've google all kinds of exercises for knee pain and strengthening, I have ibuprofen and ice packs. I need to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often should I do the exercises? I have a sedentary job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any reason to ice the knee when there is no swelling?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it better to keep the knee warm? (it's winter here now)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I eat non-inflammatory pills if the pain is fine and again no visible swelling?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I can't fully recover this time, I am going to see a doctor to rule out other problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5944" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T01:06:21.643" Title="Knee Injury Recovery (possibly MCL)" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-08-17T16:21:48.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25928" CreationDate="2015-08-16T02:46:32.583" Score="1" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;height : 5 foot 4, 1.63 m&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;weight : roughly around 69 kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really active now. I go play football/soccer every weekend for like 2 hours. I also walk around 30-40 mins a day. But most of the day I sit. I am a student in a high school if that information is relevant. I also plan to go running early morning at 5:30 on weekdays. I run like 20 mins and then I go swimming after jogging. I swim at a moderate pace 500m-700m in 30 mins. All this is done on days I dont go to play football. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what I eat everyday but here is a an average day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breakfast: Milo balls, cornflakes, or 2 roti with fish and always hot black tea &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;snack: A yoghurt or a biscuit (the junk food kind)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lunch: Rice with pan seared fish covered in chili paste, 3 roti with fish or chickpeas, or fish and potatoes with steamed vegetables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;evening: black tea with bread and chocolate, hazelnut, or some spread or toast with jam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at night: i drink some hot beverage and eat a little snack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all this information provided, &lt;strong&gt;is this all enough for me to lose a few kilograms in a few months?&lt;/strong&gt; I don't want to be thin, i just want to be fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16698" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-08-16T17:14:24.963" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T17:14:24.963" Title="Will this be enough to make me fit" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25927" CreationDate="2015-08-16T03:41:19.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure the roti is made from whole-wheat flour, the rice should be brown rice and the bread should be whole grain bread. Also, make sure you eat at least 400 grams of vegetables during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercise you do should have sufficient intensity, you should measure how fast you run during that 20 minutes. If the pace is slower than about 13 km/h then you should run for a shorter time at a faster pace and gradually increase the running time until you can run for 20 minutes at a pace faster than 13 km/h, and then increase the time to 30 minutes, 40 minutes, etc. until you are able to run an hour at this pace (and that at least 5 times per week). But it can take a few years of hard exercise to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T03:41:19.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-16T10:45:48.507" Score="7" ViewCount="2409" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently picked up bouldering contrasting my distance running training quite nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my run training I learned that training about every other day seems to give really good results, but how about bouldering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me sketch out my current bouldering training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do a little stretching and 1 or 2 easy boulders for warm up. I also ride my bike 4-8 km to the bouldering hall and count that as warm up as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Either do boulders of medium difficulty in order to improve my moves or work on the ones I can't finish yet. I do this until I notice that I loosing the strength required. This happens after 4-10 boulders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do easy boulders; until I'm really exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do some core strength training (planks, situps, legups ...)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal of all this is in roughly this order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have fun (which requires avoiding serious injuries, since those aren't fun)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improve my bouldering, ie. be able to climb more difficult boulders&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improve my strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I won't mind loosing some weight, but that is not the main goal of this activity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: How often should I do training like this for optimum effect? Once a week? Every other day? Twice a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My actual training schedule is mostly defined by other things, but sometimes there is a lot of free time available and I want to be able to use that as well as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-08-17T05:44:02.060" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T19:40:53.567" Title="How often should I go bouldering (including a little core strength training)" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bouldering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25924" CreationDate="2015-08-16T11:19:22.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would depend on your current split, if you're just beginning to workout its better to stick with the compound exercises (squat, bench and deadlift) 3-4 times a week. You can do an isolation day for arms as long as its at least 2 days after doing a chest/back day to give your arm ample time to recover. While you do activate these muscle during some exercises, its generally not to failure. Targeting specific muscles until failure will allow maximum growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example for a split would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest / Tri,&#xA;Back / Bi,&#xA;Legs / Abs,&#xA;Shoulders,&#xA;Bi / Tri&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16697" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T11:19:22.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25943" CreationDate="2015-08-16T13:03:34.263" Score="0" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know health benefits of eating vegetable salad with grilled chicken and sauce as vinegar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In vegetables cabbage is in excessive quantity with onions, cucumber, boiled corn and olives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this meal daily can impact weight loss for me. I'm 5'6&quot; with 85kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2557" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T09:15:46.403" Title="What are health benefits of eating vegetable salad with some portion of chicken daily?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-08-17T16:47:22.710" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27234" CreationDate="2015-08-16T16:32:17.873" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the hindrances involved in a training program for running during the summer I've been able to get around to some degree expect for one. A &lt;strong&gt;heat index of +90 deg F&lt;/strong&gt; for nearly every run is taking a toll. -- I should have mentioned the humidity is always &lt;strong&gt;+90% RH&lt;/strong&gt; for the daily low temp and about 60-70% (?) for the daily high. -- The wife is compounding it with complaints and even the cat's liter is getting involved! I've been kicked out of the master bathroom which is fine I guess.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a run I have no idea how to get my running clothes dry and stored without stinking up the bathroom, getting mold in the hamper, getting mold in the running clothes when hanging outside, destroying wall hangers or clothes hangers with salt water corrosion, creating a stream of salt corrosion going out the door and down the back patio, plastering the floor when the cat decides to excessively kick litter out of the litter box onto a pool of sweat, and creating water marks on the laminate flooring due to wet socks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im wondering how other people deal with this. Preferably with the consideration that its both hot and humid outside, but something as an answer would be better than nothing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Peace :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My solution which is insufficient to someone is to hang my clothes up on a hanger in the shower immediately and use a towel just for cleaning up sweat and to walk around the house. This doesn't work when there is company though. &lt;em&gt;Where are the close voters at? The economy really must be doing better.&lt;/em&gt; Plus I've been forced to use shoe deodorant now (which I'm grateful). Next I think I'll add a step to rinse out the clothes since they are hanging in the shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rinsing the clothes is the best thing to do. Thanks StackExchange!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T18:14:00.783" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T18:14:00.783" Title="Need a solution to help keep my run training program going!" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25681" CreationDate="2015-08-16T17:09:40.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be blood sugar but since its summer it could be a lack of water in combination with heat and the meal sitting in your stomach. It takes some water just to digest your food too. I get nauseous when I run after eating, and usually the afternoon can be the warmest time of the day. Ive learned how to deal with this but usually for longer runs; time-wise. You should start running in the morning if possible when your food is digested and energy stores are ready. Plus breakfast would be right after a run to help balance the blood sugar :)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I don't think you'll get a straight answer on this since the source can be so many things. Here is an example of throwing up that is related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irunfar.com/2015/08/a-weird-night-in-telluride.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eating and running&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T17:09:40.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-16T17:16:42.983" Score="5" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that nearly 80% of Americans complain about back pain sometime in their life, usually nearer to the end of it. I am wondering what you can do when you're young, and what not to do when you're young, so when you're old you won't be part of that 80%. Any suggestions? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T21:24:54.307" Title="How to avoid back pain when you are older?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25968" CreationDate="2015-08-16T18:09:37.713" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking into the impact of heat, humidity, and solar radiation on running times, but most data is on actual race results. See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17473775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example of research&lt;/a&gt;. For calculations see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mprunning.com/training_paces.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the calculations biased by data from actual races since effort levels are generally higher during a race? &lt;strong&gt;How much so?&lt;/strong&gt; Some research on the central governor theory, or other effort related exercise research which I can't remember the source for, actually got professional athletes to perform equally under a higher heat index.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want this theory for is to track training, predict performance, and compare fitness level under different weather conditions.I find the actual calculations to be a little conservative and would like to improve them with a simple rule of thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-11T11:46:17.993" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:46:17.993" Title="Whats the real impact on running while training due to weather?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25934" CreationDate="2015-08-16T21:24:54.307" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is smart to look at fitness when you are young with an eye on preventing problems as you age.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back pain can have multiple causes.  Some of the causes stem from degenerative changes of the joints, restrictions in the soft tissues (muscle and fascia), protective muscle spasms, disc degeneration and/or prolapse, and osteoporosis (weakening or thinning of the bones).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address these causes your preventative program should address your posture, flexibility, strength, activity levels and bone strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Setting up an exercise program&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Posture&lt;/strong&gt; - Good posture is a combination of strength, flexibility, and breaking up periods of prolonged positions with movement breaks.  Exercise for improving your posture are included here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;I have extremely bad posture, what can I do?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; your &quot;core&quot; muscles such as your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;abs&lt;/a&gt; (transverse abdominis and obliques more so than the rectus), your back muscles (paraspinals, lats and multifidi), upper back and scapular muscles, and hip muscles. Squats, deadlifts, hyperextensions/reverse hyperextensions, planks etc. strengthen these key muscles. Other exercises and strategies for improving your posture are included in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3354/optimal-exercises-for-an-abdominal-workout/3372#3372&quot;&gt;Optimal exercises for an abdominal workout&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Balancing&lt;/strong&gt; left/right and front and back muscles is also important when planning your strength training. For example, over-developed and tight pectoral muscles &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;protract the scapula&lt;/a&gt; (see protrated shoulder girdle) causing over-lengthening and weakening of upper back and scapular muscles muscles like the rhomboids and middle traps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flexibility&lt;/strong&gt; - Most of us think in terms of muscle length, but also think in terms of fascial glide. A &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2940/daily-stretch-routine-to-increase-flexibilty-and-overall-fitness/2941#2941&quot;&gt;short daily stretching program&lt;/a&gt;, proper hydration and avoidance of prolonged static postures helps to keep you flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bone Density&lt;/strong&gt; - One of the best things you can do while young is to increase your bone density through exercise and good nutrition. Resistance training helps to increase bone strength. Good nutrition including adequate levels of calcium intake and vitamin D are needed for healthy bones. Lowering your risk factors such as smoking, physical inactivity, and heavy alcohol intake help reduce future osteopenia/osteoporosis.  According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iofbonehealth.org/facts-statistics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bone health&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Childhood and adolescence are particularly valuable times to improve bone mass through exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Minimizing Repetitive Activities or Prolonged Positioning&lt;/strong&gt; - Repetitive shearing forces are wearing on the disc. Listen to your back and when it says enough, it is time to take its advice and change what you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T21:24:54.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27284" CreationDate="2015-08-16T21:51:05.127" Score="1" ViewCount="781" Body="&lt;p&gt;If running at 50-60 deg F is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/sweat-science/whats-the-optimal-temperature-for-marathons&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ideal&lt;/a&gt; for a marathon in low humidity (RH &amp;lt; 60%) then what is the ideal temp for high humidity (RH &gt; 60%) ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the same but the value is more like 40-45F not 60F. I was mentally stuck on a number of 60F that Ive heard about some long time ago, so I didnt even read the article close enough. My personal fastest times came with temps around 45F.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loved the NOAA heat index provided by brentwpeterson; it was right on target. Once again I had a heat index table and some other methodology that didnt match up with what I was seeing. The NOAA heat index is spot on. My area is +95% RH nearly every morning and I definitely notice the ramp up in heat just above 80F. Plus the increase in heat index due to the sun and decrease due to wind is something Ive noticed as well. The impact on pace is dramatic, and for me at the time I wasnt drinking properly making it even worst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One note for people reading this and trying to deal with humidity. From my experience short fast runs 3-4 miles doesnt have the same dramatic impact that longer runs have. My 5k speed is progressing evenly through all seasons and it definitely depends more one training than weather, so summer is for speedwork I guess and learning how to do the ultra shuffle for long runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2015-12-12T05:43:51.123" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T05:43:51.123" Title="Whats the ideal temperature for running in high humidity?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25270" CreationDate="2015-08-16T23:47:06.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand on my earlier comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you fit into the population described in the study (your fat and&#xA;  mass are at the top end) then that regression equation claims to be&#xA;  fairly accurate, from the stated: residual (r) values (r = 0.836, P &amp;lt;&#xA;  0.0001). The paper even gives the found deviations in Kj / min –  &lt;strong&gt;arober11 Jul 1 at 0:24&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with all statistical models you could be the outlier, in the 16.4% the model does not fit, and there are a number of factors that have been found to affect the HR to VO2 relationship, have a read of: &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/1836/McKenzieJ0507.pdf?sequence=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THE USE OF GPS TO PREDICT ENERGY EXPENDITURE FOR OUTDOOR WALKING, James Michael McKenzie, 2007, p:12-13&lt;/a&gt; specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Like accelerometry, HR monitoring is relatively non-invasive and&#xA;  simple for the subject, requiring only the use of a HR monitor chest&#xA;  strap and wristwatch receiver unit. Several studies validated the&#xA;  effectiveness of HR monitoring for estimating EE in free living&#xA;  activities (Brage et al., 2003; Hiilloskorpi, Pasanen, Fogelholm,&#xA;  Laukkanen, &amp;amp; Manttari, 2003; Livingstone, Robson &amp;amp; Totton, 2000;&#xA;  McCrory, Mole, Nommsen-Rivers, &amp;amp; Dewey, 1997; Schutz et al., 2001;&#xA;  Treuth, Adolph &amp;amp; Butte, 1998). As with accelerometers, HR monitors&#xA;  have the advantage of collecting data for long periods of time&#xA;  (several days, based on memory capacity). Heart rate monitoring is not&#xA;  without limitations though. Brage et al. (2003) noted that there could&#xA;  be substantial variation in HR between subjects that must be&#xA;  controlled with a calibration of the HR-VO2 curve for each subject for&#xA;  a given activity. Other variables may also influence HR, such as&#xA;  stress, ambient temperature, relative humidity, dehydration, and&#xA;  illness (Schutz &amp;amp; Deurenberg, 1996; Spurr et al, 1988). Heart rate can&#xA;  estimates EE very well from moderate to high intensity exercise (HR of&#xA;  110 BPM to 85% HRMAX) due to the linear relationship between HR and&#xA;  VO2 in this range. Heart rate does not estimate EE well at low&#xA;  intensity physical activity because of the small changes in HR&#xA;  relative to VO2 from rest to low intensity activity (Ainslie et al.,&#xA;  2003; Hiilloskorpi et al., 2003; Livingstone et al., 2000; Schutz et&#xA;  al., 2001).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T23:47:06.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14583" CreationDate="2015-08-17T00:10:24.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;@BenCrowell if you're after a few more papers to read have a look at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/1836/McKenzieJ0507.pdf?sequence=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THE USE OF GPS TO PREDICT ENERGY EXPENDITURE FOR OUTDOOR WALKING, James Michael McKenzie, 2007, p:12-13&lt;/a&gt; specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Brage et al. (2003) noted that there could be substantial variation in&#xA;  HR between subjects that must be controlled with a calibration of the&#xA;  HR-VO2 curve for each subject for a given activity. Other variables&#xA;  may also influence HR, such as stress, ambient temperature, relative&#xA;  humidity, dehydration, and illness (Schutz &amp;amp; Deurenberg, 1996; Spurr&#xA;  et al, 1988). Heart rate can estimates EE very well from moderate to&#xA;  high intensity exercise (HR of 110 BPM to 85% HRMAX) due to the linear&#xA;  relationship between HR and VO2 in this range. Heart rate does not&#xA;  estimate EE well at low intensity physical activity because of the&#xA;  small changes in HR relative to VO2 from rest to low intensity&#xA;  activity (Ainslie et al., 2003; Hiilloskorpi et al., 2003; Livingstone&#xA;  et al., 2000; Schutz et al., 2001).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brage, S., Brage, N., Franks, P., Ekelund, U., Wong, M., Andersen, L., Froberg, K., &amp;amp; Wareham, N. (2004). Branched equation modeling of simultaneous accelerometry and heart rate monitoring improves estimate of directly measured physical activity energy expenditure. Journal of Applied Physiology, 96, 343-351. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Schutz Y, &amp;amp; Deurenberg P. (1996). Energy Metabolism: Overview of&#xA;recent methods used in human studies. Annals of Nutrition and&#xA;Metabolism, 40, 183-193. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/48/3/552.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spurr GB, Prentice AM, &amp;amp; Murgatroyd PR. (1988). Energy expenditure&#xA;from minute-by- minute heart-rate recordings: comparison with&#xA;indirect calorimetery. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 48,&#xA;522-559.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T00:10:24.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-17T01:10:48.400" Score="3" ViewCount="639" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of experienced bodybuilder a will claim that dumbbells are less beneficial and for higher reps and that the barbells are what is really important... Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T21:11:40.817" Title="Are barbells really more beneficial than dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25941" CreationDate="2015-08-17T09:10:53.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barbells lets you use significantly more weight than dumbbells because you don't have to use as much balance, very few people use dumbbells half as heavy as their barbells, personally, I can add about 25% of the weight I'd use with dumbbells in total. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you can put a heavier load on your triceps, pecs and shoulders (maybe), which in turn means more mass building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T09:10:53.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25931" CreationDate="2015-08-17T09:15:46.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no healthy or unhealthy food, only healthy and unhealthy diets, meaning it's what you eat in total during the days and the whole period that counts. If you eat little enough to lose weight, it will typically be beneficial for your health if you are overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, some foods will make you more full, meaning it's easier to eat less for the rest of the day. Vegetables and salad contain few calories but have high fibre content and large volume, meaning you'll feel full. Chicken is high in protein which is good if you want to maintain muscle while losing fat. So in that regard, it's a good meal, yes. If you have a pizza and coke in the evening, your diet is still bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T09:15:46.403" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25902" CreationDate="2015-08-17T09:20:23.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to swap &lt;strong&gt;occasional&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;strong&gt;regular&lt;/strong&gt;, then this earlier &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19550/why-do-so-many-fitness-websites-still-reference-somatotypes/24869#24869&quot;&gt;answer of mine&lt;/a&gt; may answer you question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There have also been numerous studies that show a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;neurobiological effect / benefit of physical exercise&lt;/a&gt;, to quote wikipedia:&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People who regularly participate in aerobic exercise have greater&#xA;  scores on neuropsychological function and performance tests. Examples&#xA;  of aerobic exercise that produce these changes are running, jogging,&#xA;  brisk walking, swimming, and cycling. Exercise intensity and duration&#xA;  are positively correlated with the release of neurotrophic factors and&#xA;  the magnitude of nearly all forms of exercise-induced behavioral and&#xA;  neural plasticity; consequently, more pronounced improvements in&#xA;  measures of neuropsychological performance are observed in endurance&#xA;  athletes as compared to recreational athletes or sedentary&#xA;  individuals. Aerobic exercise is also a potent long-term&#xA;  antidepressant and a short-term euphoriant; consequently, consistent&#xA;  exercise has also been shown to produce general improvements in mood&#xA;  and self-esteem in all individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T09:20:23.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25941" CreationDate="2015-08-17T11:56:57.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flipping the explanation in the answer provided by Mârten, I believe the downside of barbells is that they could potentially prevent you from developing both sides of your upper body equally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put another way, a benefit of &lt;em&gt;dumbbells&lt;/em&gt; is that they force both arms to work independently of the other. Working each arm individually may help you to develop the ability to lift heavier barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I thought the opposite was true, but to answer your question, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/pro-tips/question-week-barbells-vs-dumbbells&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; from Men's Fitness says that each method has its advantages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbells&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great for beginner safety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Developing form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great for single-limb training/improving strength imbalance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a higher maximum weight than dumbbells, therefore they are better for &quot;serious strength training&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide an even load to the spine when squatting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Best for exercises which &quot;require the entire body to move as a coordinated unit&quot; (e.g. the clean or press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T11:56:57.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25958" CreationDate="2015-08-17T13:52:51.507" Score="12" ViewCount="584" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 23 year old male. 6'1&quot; @ 84kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started strength training in October 2014 and embarked on Wendler's 5/3/1+ BBB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I am aware that I may have got off on wrong foot going with that training program in the first place but the 4 day split worked for me and as I was training with 2 other guys, it just worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for my lifts, from starting to now:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 65kg - 115kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 35kg - 65kg (unfortunately had a massive stall because of&#xA;over training which put my bench comparatively behind.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 65kg - 115kg (now starting to experience problems with my&#xA;grip.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OHP: 27.5kg - 55kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past month I have started to incorporate Tabata-style HIIT into my training which is done 3 times per week; both leg days and 1 rest day. I opted to reduce the volume sets on leg day to compensate for the extra strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be returning to the gym, after a holiday, in mid-September which is when I'm looking to start a new program. I'd like to see this through for 7/8 months in the run up to a wedding at the beginning of May 2016.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of goals I am looking for size and strength - I am happy with the slow and steady weight progression of 5/3/1 and I am mostly happy with my current achievements but I can't help thinking that I can be doing more with my time to yield bigger changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I've got the time frame and the drive, now I need the program. As for one which would be suitable it would be great if it could work with the following:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I enjoy being able to have my workout finished in around 1 hour, 1.5&#xA;hours on HIIT days. As it stands I have short evenings, not including&#xA;gym, so shorter the better...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Must be able to fit in HIIT for cardio purposes. I currently cycle on a stationary bike.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, a program which is safe to run without a spotter: I have a home gym, all free weights, which consists of a power rack, 20kg olympic bar, plenty of weights and a bench. I have no safety stops.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I enjoy all 4 main lifts so preferably non which ommit OHP for example (which I've seen in a couple of routines - madness!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No cable exercises - I'm in a home gym. For the same reason, the number of exercises should be kept to a minimum - rolling weights round and unscrewing dumbbells is tedious.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am very open to going onto a more aggressive program that's more linear than 5/3/1 - I don't think I am all that near to running out of 'noob'-gain capabilities just yet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lastly, maybe a bit of wishful thinking here but as I have a set time, it would be great if the program which will (hopefully) be recommended to me usually yields significant changes in 3/4 months. This is to give me time to try a new program for a further 3/4 months before the big day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been looking at just running Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 for beginners to increase the lift exposure to more than 1 x per week but I haven't seen many reviews/case studies on it to convince me to change. Also, from the brief read I've done so far, it seems like the total number of reps is actually lower than the normal program but just spread over 2 days... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other Programs I've browsed:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GZCL&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;PHUL&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice welcome. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16209" LastEditorUserId="16209" LastEditDate="2015-08-17T16:22:43.687" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T00:45:38.560" Title="Recommendations for a new beginner training program" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-17T16:13:58.003" Score="7" ViewCount="1923" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I ran 20km and finished running at 1 am, went back home and slept without eating a lot. I spent the next three or four days feeling tired all the day, feeling like if my body was heavier. Yesterday I ran again 24 km, planned it a little bit earlier and came back home at 10 pm. I ate as much as I could (rice, fruits, vegetables) to compensate for the 2200 kcal I burned. Today I still felt the same, headaches and heavy body. Am I missing something important when it comes to food? Or should I have drunk some electrolyte drinks? What could cause this feeling of fatigue or is it just normal after long runs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 86Kg, 1m87, I do my long runs at around 6min30sec per Km, starting with a heart rate of 150 which drifts until 170 near the end. Maximum heart rate around 200 I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I am 26 years old, no back or knee problems, training for a marathon trying to follow &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitnessmagazine.com.au/wp-content/uploads/12-Week-Marathon-Training-Guide.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this plan&lt;/a&gt; but my knees were like &quot;NOPE&quot; this is not going to work. I had to reduce the training days to 3 or 4 days per week. I never ran a marathon before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11961" LastEditorUserId="11961" LastEditDate="2015-08-19T08:41:50.667" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T12:01:28.810" Title="Feeling bad after a long run" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25916" CreationDate="2015-08-17T16:27:27.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You grow when you sleep. When I was competing I would take simplysleep to make sure that I got 9 - 10 hours of sleep a day.  IMHO, sleep is only second to eating in terms of growing muscle. Ironically lifting weights is a distant 3rd, especially in terms of willpower.  Anyone can lift weights.  Few can get enough sleep.  Fewer can stick to a diet.  As much as our minds won't allow it, our bodies love a consistent routine.  Eat every 2 hours, work out in a routine as scheduled (same time), and go to bed at the same time and wake at the same time - and preferably not by an alarm clock.  Your body doesn't really care that it's the weekend, your mind does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7563" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T16:27:27.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-17T19:51:09.153" Score="8" ViewCount="8908" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I should post here, or on Hinduism forum, as it is Yoga and Power workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Surya Namaskar in the morning. I am comfortable at 30 rounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But according to tradition, they say reach to 108.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just now, I read this article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/108-surya-namaskar-what-is-the-right-schedule-to-follow/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/108-surya-namaskar-what-is-the-right-schedule-to-follow/&lt;/a&gt;, which touts the 108 repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I get confused with the following&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You know your body best, know your limits and be prepared for a delay&#xA;  of a couple of days before you reach your ultimate goal of 54 sets of&#xA;  Sun salutations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that one set of Surya Namaskar is a set of identical exercises, working the left and right sides of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess someone can count one set of Surya Namaskar as two rounds, i.e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 set = 2 repititions of yoga&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help, I am really confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they mean make 54 sets, i.e. 108 repetitions, or 108 sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking they mean 54 sets (i.e. one set around the Sun), but now I'm not too sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/26W6Z.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/26W6Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of you doing this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T09:32:33.493" Title="108 Surya Namaskar - What are they counting" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25952" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26003" CreationDate="2015-08-17T21:11:57.700" Score="2" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was doing the leg press at my gym last Thursday with a relatively small amount(180) compared to my max(410) and after doing only 15 reps my legs(quads) got so sore. They still feel like they're burning right now and when I walk up and down stairs I can feel the burn. Not painful in joints or bones, but the muscles feel like they're ripping out of my skin. Sure, It's good they're growing, but this doesn't usually happen. I should note however that I have been off leg work for a considerable amount of time before this happened. I am still squatting and leg pressing every other day, also. Should I continue or rest? And is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T13:15:45.143" Title="My legs are more sore than they've ever been?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;&lt;quads&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25957" CreationDate="2015-08-18T03:38:42.780" Score="2" ViewCount="1088" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing a single set in my gym that is only bicep a single day,tricep other day like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Weekly routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday:bicep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tuesday Tricep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday Chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thurday Back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday Weight losing exercise I am thinking for(cardio).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i am doing exercise of only 1 muscles(eg bicep) in a week so is it good to give rest to for eg bicep for a such long 5 to 6 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing i want to ask that is this my routine correct or should i go for double set?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16583" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T08:35:23.557" Title="How to choose between single set or double set?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25953" CreationDate="2015-08-18T06:33:55.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working out a muscle once per week is actually common, but you need to put a large volume of training on it. 9 sets of 10 per muscle per week is a rule of thumb I've read, and it applies to both a 3-split and whole-body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T06:33:55.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25952" CreationDate="2015-08-18T06:36:15.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeling sore is not a sure sign you are growing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I understand you right, you haven't been working your legs for a while before this workout (you seem to contradict yourself in the next sentence), in that case, it's normal to feel sore. Higher rep count also seem to make you more sore, at least that's true for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T06:36:15.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25953" CreationDate="2015-08-18T08:29:24.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as a 'correct' routine. Workout plans should be made according to targets, and knowledge of how to hit those targets. The problem is that many different people will suggest different plans to hit those targets. This is because there is some disagreement whether any approach is sure to work for all people. For this reason there are some slightly different approaches, but for the most part they still work by making sure to push the muscle to its limit whilst giving it time to recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is specifically about how many times a week one should workout a muscle. I have come across 3 main ways of doing this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Target each muscle once a week. This is the classic example of targeting different groups of muscles on different days (eg back and biceps Monday, chest and triceps Wednesday, etc etc). This combines big compoound movements with lots of isolation exercises in order to really push all the muscles and give them a whole week to recover. This is the kind of workout you get recommended from mainly bodybuilder types. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Target each muscle around twice a week (around every 4/5 days), by utilising more compound exercises (eg deadlifts, pull ups) and functional movements (timed sprints and other moves). This will involve fewer isolation exercises, and more big total body workouts. Most muscles are small and so may be pushed too much by being used for isolation exercises twice a week. But by being used as part of compound exercises can give them a workout about every few days. This kind of workout is recommended by Jason Ferrugia and others and is becoming much more popular, as you can see by the rise of Youtube channels and blogs pushing these more functional approaches. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Target the smaller muscles once, bigger (eg legs, lats) twice a week. I have heard of people at the gym doing the bigger muscles twice a week. This is an alternative approach which is reasoned by virtue of the bigger muscles recovering more quickly. But I don't know if that is true, its just another approach. I think the Buff Dudes on Youtube use this approach. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact is that each of the approaches can work, if you push yourself. The reason is that you will notice that each of them take advantage of the body's mechanics and rehabilitation time. So the once a week approaches will use more isolation exercises, because there is an awareness that the muscle needs a bit more time to rest. The more functional approach uses more muscles at the same time, so the smaller muscles are tired but not pushed to their absolute max. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is that as long as you have a balanced approach, working every muscle, and pushing them at least once a week, you should be OK. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16483" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T08:29:24.373" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25953" CreationDate="2015-08-18T08:35:23.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of let's get the terminology out of the way. When you write &quot;set&quot;, do you actually mean &quot;number of muscles trained&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What one set really mean is that you lift and put down the weight repeatedly until you can't anymore and have to rest. That's one set and if that's all you do per muscle in a week, you're not doing nearly enough work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do you mean &quot;exercise&quot;? Like for biceps you could do barbell curls or for triceps kickbacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the bodybuilding kind of setup you have here, normally you would do more than just one exercise per workout session. Even doing the crazy German Volume Training program (10 sets of 10 reps) you do a handful of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to your questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[…] is it good to give rest to for eg bicep for a such long 5 to 6 days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. You're leaving a lot on the table with this schedule. Train it more often and it'll grow more and you'll become stronger faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[…] is this my routine correct or should i go for double set?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's suboptimal. I would definitely add more exercises/sets to your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I very much recommend picking a ready made program like StrongLifts (personal favorite) or Starting Strength and do that till you can squat twice your body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing that, at least try to do more compound exercises to target more muscles at once over multiple joints. And hit every muscle more often than just once a week – they can take it and you will see better results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T08:35:23.557" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25946" CreationDate="2015-08-18T08:46:56.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, congratulations to your progress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With those numbers though, just like you say, I believe you still have some to gain from a foundational (linear progression) strength program. My personal favorite is StrongLifts but others swear by Starting Strength. Either would work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;StrongLifts took my squat from 90 kg to 125 kg (5RM) in two months. I tried to combine it with CrossFit metcons but in the end felt I couldn't really recover properly between the sessions with that kind of volume. Maybe you can though!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The added aerob training would be great as your lifts get heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T08:46:56.693" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25888" CreationDate="2015-08-18T08:59:24.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to say anything definite without seeing a video or pictures but I'm thinking it could be a combination of a weak core and faulty technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try doing the plank and back raises, without and with added weight, and see how it feels. Does it hurt similarly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for diagnosing your form: look in a mirror to see the curvature of your back, as you're pressing. It should be pretty straight – otherwise you risk overextending and hurting your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try laying down on your back and having someone put their hand under the small of your back. Tighten your core and press down against the hand – that's the form you want to press from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the pain is located very high up, you could experiment with your grip width. Does wider feel better than smaller?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try to push your elbows out, so you're not pressing in front of yourself as much as straight from the sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps! Else please upload a video so we can check your form. Of course, if it keeps hurting I would strongly recommend also seeing a proper physio in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T08:59:24.400" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-18T11:19:46.983" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;23 year old male, 84kg, 20% B.F. Currently training for size and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've linked my proposed training and rest day meal plans &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YEHqApLZMIA66TgFmEFAKh2wBwFmQgROMLzem66vKIc/edit?usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the weights I worked out myself and inputted everything into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; (MFP) to yield the pie charts at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lack of a better work I am a bit 'worried' about my macros; I think I'm straying a bit from the 50% carb, 25% fat and 25% protein ratio. Saying this, I'm not entirely sure how accurate MFP actually is/how truly representative it is - my diet consists of a lot of 'good' fats and the only sources of saturated fats I can pick out are from the milk and butter and I'm loading up on fruit and veg on both days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from a no-numbers standpoint, how does my diet look? I don't think I should be massively anal about the numbers because different sources quote different numbers so I have no idea which to take as gospel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of improvements, I've been advised to try and up my protein intake to 2g/kg of bodyweight and trim down on the carbs on rest days but I'm struggling a bit as to which foods I should add/replace - any recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16209" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T11:19:46.983" Title="Improvements to a Size and Strength Meal Plan" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25941" CreationDate="2015-08-18T21:11:40.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilders are more concerned with isolation work than strength athletes are. Body building, at it's core, is about body modification. With dumbbells you can get a lot more specific and target certain things in very specific ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells shine in certain key areas however:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squats/deadlifts/cleans. You can sort of do these with dumbbells, but not in any realistic way at big weights. With big compound movements that involve the largest muscle groups in your body at maximum force, the amount of weight you can move is simply too large to reasonably be found in dumbbells. IE, no one's deadlifting a pair of 250lb dumbells.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A big thing to hold onto. Again, for something like a snatch or clean, you can throw a lot of weight in the air and you need something big enough to handle it (like a barbell).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Incremental loading. Most gyms allow you to add 2.5lb (~1 kilo) weights to a barbell, allowing for 5lb (~2.2 kilo) adjustments. A lot of serious athletes bring fractional plates which allow you make adjustments at even smaller levels. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Really heavy dumbbells are a pain in the ass. The heaviest object you work with in barbell land is ~50lb. The plates never go over that, the bar never goes over that. So moving things around is relatively simple. With big dumbbells, it's not trivial to move a 150lb dumbbell around. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They're smaller, sort of. A stack of 300lb's of plates and an olympic bar fits in a smaller area than an equivalent rack of dumbbells. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbells are great too in different ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They're safer to bench. It's &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; not safe to max barbell bench press without a spotter. You can get really injured if you can't get the bar off you. With dumbbells, you just drop them. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can do more isolation work. Personally I'm not a fan of body building techniques in general, but there's no argument that they allow for more direct targeting of particular muscles. My concern is that isolation work is the &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; thing a new gym goer should concern themselves with.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They're not as intimidating. Most new people stay away from barbells but dumbbells just seem more straight forward. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They develop more stabilization muscles and keep imbalances in check. With something like the overhead press, both arms need to get each weight up. You can't rely on your right arm to compensate for a bit of weakness on your left. Also, the (dumbbell) weight is simply less stable so you'll get more muscle activation across a broader range of muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T21:11:40.817" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-19T01:36:50.230" Score="-3" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;So recently my old workout buddy moved due to work and I have a new one now, mid 20s in good shape and strength. The only problem, which is a big one, is that I suspect him of lying. He has been boasting to the other people at the gym and to me that he can pull off a 1200 pound deadlift. I should also state he claims he can lift 700 in standing military press. However, he refuses to show any of us his extraordinary lifts like these he talks about(not saying he doesn't deadlift or military press just not that much) claiming he doesn't want attention. However, my theory is he is lying and just is trying to get attention by looking overly strong. Is what he's saying possible? Is it wrong to suspect my friend like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T04:43:47.833" Title="Workout buddy deadlifts 1200?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-08-19T07:40:34.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-19T03:11:03.840" Score="11" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 24 year old male and fairly recently found out that I have abnormally low IGF-1 levels. Mine is 90 (ng/mL) whereas the average range for my age is from 116-353 (ng/mL). I've always been pretty skinny and have had a hard time gaining mass. I started at 125lbs and after about two years of lifting five days a week pretty consistently, I'm currently at ~150lbs. I've made a fair amount of progress, but it's been a very long process and I feel that I've plateaued, so I'm trying to determine if this is positively correlated with my low IGF-1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read on a forum that low IGF-1 levels ultimately do not impact ones ability to induce muscle growth. The forum has a source for experimentation confirming that this is what researchers in the study concluded. I can post specific findings within the source on here, but it's very long so I'll do so without unless requested. However, here's the text which was referenced:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1: J Physiol. 2007 Nov 1; [Epub ahead of print] &#xA;  A functional insulin-like growth factor receptor is not necessary for load-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy.&#xA;  Spangenburg EE, Leroith D, Ward CW, Bodine SC.&#xA;  University of Maryland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately I'm asking if anyone may have knowledge on this subject and if low IGF-1 is potentially inhibiting my ability to build mass? Also, any suggestions on ways in which I can approach this would be greatly appreciated (i.e., diet change, lifestyle change, prescription of growth hormone, do nothing, etc...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean for this question to be too specific towards me. I'm asking this in the hopes that others with a similar issue can potentially find this and reference it in the future. Information online in regard specifically to abnormally low IGF-1 levels and building mass appears to be relatively limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16717" LastActivityDate="2020-02-18T23:26:24.030" Title="Does having abnormally low IGF-1 levels affect my ability to gain muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25963" CreationDate="2015-08-19T04:43:47.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 1200 pound deadlift would be a world record in any category (raw/equipped etc), so yeah he's lying. There doesn't seem to be a world record in standing military press, but the highest numbers I'm finding is around 500 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T04:43:47.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13149" CreationDate="2015-08-19T08:59:48.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary reason for Crossfitters to use kipping or butterfly pullups in workouts is because they are faster and require less energy, enabling you to complete more rounds and finish faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strict PU's are wonderful for building strength. Unless you can do strict PU's, it's best not to attempt kipped ones because you can injure yourself more easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At our box, we have do strict PU's for the strength part, but are free to complete them in any way in the workouts.&#xA;I personally like this particular approach because it allows you to build strength while completing a variety of movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16044" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T08:59:48.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25973" CreationDate="2015-08-19T12:20:16.537" Score="2" ViewCount="991" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in fitness since 4 years and doing lots of sports and also going to gym. I have tried all kind of chest exercises whether in GYM or HOUSE. But still I did not achieve the perfect chest shape with some muscles. Maybe I am doing some wrong stuff. Please share your idea or experience that how to get some muscles in your chest and also a nice looking shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. : I don't want a big body building chest but nice shaped athletic chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16718" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-08-19T12:50:11.500" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T13:56:23.697" Title="How do I get perfect chest shape for men?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25935" CreationDate="2015-08-19T12:46:31.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't currently an integrated theory such as you discuss. I would recommend reading The Lore of Running for a long discussion of the impact of various conditions on running times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T12:46:31.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25948" CreationDate="2015-08-19T12:51:26.343" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you went for a long run for your current training level and felt tired for a few days afterwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would be expected and rather the point. You're trying to stress your body so that it will adapt to the stress and then some (supercompensation). This process means that you will be a bit tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll note that some of the commenters wanted to calculate your calorie usage in order to replace it on the run. This is generally impossible. The combination of the maximum gastric emptying rate and ensuring the concentration of what you ingest doesn't cause osmotic problems mean that your maximum calorie intake is around 300kcal/hour. This is much less than the amount of energy you will be burning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you train, your body will become accustomed to using stored carbohydrate and fat stores to manage this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T12:51:26.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25967" CreationDate="2015-08-19T13:24:24.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people have better genetics for creating a beautiful chest, some people will always have ugly chests. All we can do is make the most of what we're dealt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start out by working out your whole chest, increase muscle mass in pecs, delts as well as traps and lats, having nice abs will help as well. Also lower your body fat level to the level you prefer. When you've added enough weight, modify according to your tastes. Too small delts? Workout your delts, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not rocket science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T13:24:24.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25888" CreationDate="2015-08-19T13:58:36.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your primary concern here is obviously to identify the cause of your pain. To investigate this, you will need to use exercises which are broadly similar to the military press, compare which of them cause pain, and use these as a basis from which to locate the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7k9LFQTzpU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video by Jeff Cavaliere, he uses barbells, dumbbells, and cables to demonstrate the differences to the body by the different approaches to overhead press exercises. As he observes the cable press at the end provides a massive additional effort to the core, so if your core is the problem, you are likely to notice a difference. Alternatives to these approaches are using bodyweight exercises such as the upside down press against a wall, or the pike press. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a core or back problem, it is highly likely that you will feel a problem during core or back work as well. The question then is whether or not you have a balanced plan which works out your whole body, from which you could make a judgement. Other indications could be from for example barbell squats. If you can do barbell squats without a problem, then your posterior chain can be ruled out as having the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to find this problem by yourself without professional help, eliminating the possible culprits will probably be the best way of finding what the problem could be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16483" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T13:58:36.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25431" CreationDate="2015-08-19T16:39:10.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are multiple possibilities here. They are:&#xA;-The people have short arms so it is easier for them to bench more&#xA;-They are short but have built up muscles&#xA;-Your diet is poor and sleeping habits are poor and theirs is good&#xA;-They have been training much longer than you&#xA;-They are doing different exercises than you which has built muscle faster&#xA;-Their technique/form is poor&#xA;Of course... Size doesn't always determine who is stronger. For example, a 5'8, 140 pound person might be able to lift more than a 6'4, 250 pound person if they train harder and even if they train equally hard, genetics always play a role to some degree. Height and weight can but does not have to determine physical strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T16:39:10.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25967" CreationDate="2015-08-19T19:45:20.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listing exercises and how many sets or series will depend on your body structure and your experience, but there are some assumptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about build more muscle mass in your chest region, in a &quot;bulking&quot; context, you should priorize &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Glossary.html#anchor1271511&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compound exercises&lt;/a&gt; which have chest region as one of its important targets, but these exercises, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbell Bench Press&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWPushup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Push-up&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWChestDip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dips&lt;/a&gt; also use other muscles in different roles (synergist, stabilizer, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, in a cutting phase, you can include some exercises which work chest in a more isolated way, and you can find them in the same link above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to say that chest region has two different regions: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisSternal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pectoralis Mayor Sternal&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisClavicular.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clavicular&lt;/a&gt;, and you must exercise both sub-regions for a good result. If you already have a good level, with a well developed chest and if you looking for a higher level result, you should include in your routine some exercises which focus a little more on smaller sub-regions, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisMinor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pectoralis Minor&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/SerratusAnterior.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Serratus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remembering: if we want to develop any region, with really notable results, we always should pay attention in all body regions: since calves to forearms, and associate all these training with a right diet, a nice quality sleep, etc (but these points are in other question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16721" LastEditorUserId="16721" LastEditDate="2015-08-20T13:56:23.697" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T13:56:23.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25932" CreationDate="2015-08-20T00:53:53.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, just thought I'd mention that it says when joining this stack exchange that questions should not be opinion based.  That said, I usually hang mine on a fold up clothes hanger, or over a railing outside.  If these aren't options, you could just rinse them in the sink or toss them in a fresh bucket of water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T00:53:53.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16229" CreationDate="2015-08-20T02:28:36.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for ways to increase your speed at a given distance, I would suggest running over distance.  We raced 5k, so we ran anywhere from 1.5x to 4x that distance.  If that is a problem for you (because of injuries or whatnot), look into other forms of cardio that are lower impact.  Cycling, swimming, rowing come to mind.  Keep in mind the injury that you incurred on your longer run might not necessarily have been due to the extra distance.  It could be anything from bad shoes to over training, to bad running form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T02:28:36.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16229" CreationDate="2015-08-20T11:10:43.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try &quot;POSE method of  runnig&quot;. This is a technique  improvement(gooogle the exact phrase) . After  trying  it i must say that this did to my running speed a mirracle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not that  i  am  a good runner anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T11:10:43.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25964" CreationDate="2015-08-20T12:18:55.310" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually  people overcomplicate things.&#xA;While it is possible you are an exception, but chanses are you just doing  your training and nutrition wrong. I would suggest  getting training/nutrition  coaching  from  some of good online coaches. This  is the  most  cost/time effective way  to  improve,  Really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let  me point  you  to  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jcdfitness.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.jcdfitness.com/&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://borgefagerli.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://borgefagerli.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In no way i am associated with the coaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW  maximum gains over 2 year  period would be about  36 pounds. So i'd say  you  did  pretty  well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T12:18:55.310" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25990" CreationDate="2015-08-20T13:17:08.263" Score="4" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering that losing fat without some muscle mass loss is highly unlikely and gaining muscle mass without gaining any fat quantity is also unlikely, all we have to do is trying to optimize our routine and diet, that is, building muscles but gaining the least amount of fat possible in a bulking phase (a.k.a. &quot;clean bulk&quot;), and losing fat but losing the least amount of lean mass possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under these assumptions, I designed a strategy for myself, where I set a diary goal for my weight, observing a medium-term goal in a significant range and measuring my weight in the same conditions, almost every morning. I'm &lt;s&gt;a ectomorph&lt;/s&gt; thin (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.br/search?q=1,93+in+feet&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;gws_rd=cr&amp;amp;ei=dDXWVb_mOcmPwgSR8ZrABQ#q=1%2C93m+in+feet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1m93&lt;/a&gt;), keeping a 5 days/week exercise routine (basically anaerobic), a good quality of sleep and a diet designed for cutting or bulking phase with an amount of calories as reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;trick&quot; - and the &lt;em&gt;quid&lt;/em&gt; of this question - is if my weight is below my diary goal, I eat more carbs (small GI) and if my weight is above my diary goal then carbs will be avoided in all meals but breakfast, pre-workout and post-workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's imagine a [almost-?]diary &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDCA&lt;/a&gt; cycle, where:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P&lt;/strong&gt;lan = the goal of the day and a previously defined and adequated exercise routine, diet, sleeping, hydration, etc;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;D&lt;/strong&gt;o = your exercise routine, diet, sleeping, hydration, etc;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;C&lt;/strong&gt;heck = your every-morning measure, compared to the goal of the day. Are you really doing what's is your plan? Is your plan really good?;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt;ct = Correct one or more points of your plan;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the red line (real weight) is too above the blue line (goal), possibly it means an extra fat gain; if the red line is too below, possibly it means too much muscle loss. Both cases, we must act. Sure, &quot;too below&quot; and &quot;too above&quot; still sound subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the diary goals and results at this graph below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HiPKX.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HiPKX.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is: I guess it is working, but I'd like to understand if there is any risk for my goals or even for my health. Could this goal system be an efficient approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16721" LastEditorUserId="16721" LastEditDate="2015-08-21T17:18:50.847" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T17:18:50.847" Title="Is this a plausible cutting/bulking proposal?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25988" CreationDate="2015-08-20T13:49:28.040" Score="6" ViewCount="1613" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running somewhat regularly for about 5 years now.  I have always run on the road.  For the last 4 weeks I have a new route that requires I run on a sidewalk.  During this time I have developed slight pain in my repaired ankle.  I'm about 230lb's (have been between 255 and 230 this whole time) and my ankle has 2 plates and 12 screws in it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had knee pain and other leg pain in the past which regular stretching relieved.  So far the ankle has not stopped aching (on and off).  Could the hardness of the sidewalk make a big enough difference to my body to begin a serious problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16730" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T20:04:10.337" Title="How significant is the difference between running on a sidewalk vs a paved road?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25982" CreationDate="2015-08-20T14:01:18.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your problem might not be with the hardness of the ground you're running on. If you run on a sidewalk that is on the same level on the road you shouldn't see much difference.&#xA;I think the issue here is the fact that sidewalks are not as straight as paved road. Most sidewalks have bigger slopes going down, up, then back down again. And the sidewalks stop when you reach entrances to parking lots. Because you ran for so long on paved road, your feet had no problem running because you don't have to worry about any of that. Where as when you run on sidewalks, your legs have to constantly adjust to the constant slopes, cracks, and when you switch from sidewalk to road to sidewalk when you pass parking lot entrances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, sidewalks are not are straight and leveled as roads. That's what's probably taking a toll on your ankle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16428" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T14:01:18.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25982" CreationDate="2015-08-20T15:14:05.330" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The surface you are running on may play a role in how your body reacts.  There’s an often &lt;a href=&quot;http://runner154.blogspot.com/2012/09/asphalt-vs-concrete.html&quot;&gt;quoted study&lt;/a&gt; co-authored by Southern California podiatrist John Pagliano that states…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;… one of the five leading causes of injury is &quot;improper&quot; running&#xA;  surfaces........concrete is approximately 10 times harder than&#xA;  asphalt, so all your bones, muscles and connective tissues get&#xA;  pummeled. In other words, welcome to stress fracture city&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, an additional post attributed to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Nye_the_Science_Guy&quot;&gt;Bill Nye&lt;/a&gt; (“the science guy”) states….&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Now get this ... there are infinite different types of concrete. It&#xA;  has to do with the mixture with determines the strength (measured in&#xA;  pounds per square inch or psi). There are many types of concrete&#xA;  because of the different applications, in buildings, as sidewalks,&#xA;  used in planters or parking lot bumpers, etc. Asphalt is different in&#xA;  that is only used for roads, so it's basically residential road,&#xA;  commercial road (high use) or highway. The asphalt on maple drive can&#xA;  be softer than on main street, and main street can be softer than the&#xA;  interstate. Asphalt (400-600 psi) is &quot;softer&quot; than concrete (typically&#xA;  3000 psi) meaning that it takes compression and then expands back to&#xA;  its original state. Concrete sidewalks and paths are the &quot;softest&quot;&#xA;  concrete to run on, about 3000 or 4000 psi. Worst concrete substance&#xA;  to run on: Airstrip, typically 8000 - 10000 psi.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your body may be reacting to a different PSI since you’ve changed your training route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T15:14:05.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25987" CreationDate="2015-08-20T17:26:05.197" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering that we don't have any other social deadline and a period of one year, and as in winter we naturally increase our calorie burn to keep our body functions, are the colder seasons the best moments for a cutting phase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16721" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T17:53:47.263" Title="As in winter we naturally increase our calorie burn, is this the best season for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25986" CreationDate="2015-08-20T17:53:47.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in winter we naturally increase our calorie burn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that's true if we lived outdoors, running around spearing animals and picking berries. But for most of the western world winter is a time of shorter days, less physical activity, more respiratory infections, and holidays filled with copious servings of food and drink. I mean really, how much time are you spending outdoors in the cold with your body fighting hard to keep you from hypothermic death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anything, most physique-oriented lifters will use the winter to pack on extra muscle and &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bulk up a bit&lt;/a&gt;. The general idea is to &quot;lean bulk&quot; through the winter, then do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cutting phase&lt;/a&gt; in early spring so you're ready to run around with your low body fat and bulging muscles in the summer for all to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're already at the intermediate stage of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt;, I'd avoid cutting/bulking phases in general. Most people simply aren't that strong and cutting when you're not that developed will make you look sickly and weird (ie: the skinny guy flexing in the mirror). If you're not at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermediate strength level&lt;/a&gt; yet, I'd focus on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a solid strength training program&lt;/a&gt; first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T17:53:47.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25982" CreationDate="2015-08-20T20:16:36.980" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;While concrete may be a harder surface than asphalt, other than preconceived perceptions, there is not an appreciable difference in deflection (Force returned from a surface) between concrete and asphalt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between grass, dirt, rubberized track surfaces, etc., but between asphalt and concrete any difference that you perceive is perception only, and not real. You simply don't generate the PSI force necessary to make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/SaraBirnbaum.shtml&quot;&gt;http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/SaraBirnbaum.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/units-converter/pressure/calculator/newton-per-square-meter-%5BN/m%5E2%5D-to-psi-%5Bpsi%5D/&quot;&gt;http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/units-converter/pressure/calculator/newton-per-square-meter-%5BN/m%5E2%5D-to-psi-%5Bpsi%5D/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/blog/entry/comparison-of-harvard-study-results-with-chirunning&quot;&gt;http://www.chirunning.com/blog/entry/comparison-of-harvard-study-results-with-chirunning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have also been studies where the forces of various surfaces were compared with running strides as shown by the following links&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22897427&quot;&gt;Study comparing rubber, grass, concrete and asphalt&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forty-seven adult recreational runners ran twice for 40 m on all four different surfaces at 12 ± 5% km · h(-1). Peak pressure, pressure-time integral, and contact time were recorded by Pedar X insoles. Asphalt and concrete were similar for all plantar variables and pressure zones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1460-2687.2002.00101.x/abstract;jsessionid=11E1D56ACBFA759568E9EA79ED2DDB7F.f04t02?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&amp;amp;userIsAuthenticated=false&quot;&gt;Study comparing ground reaction forces&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No significant differences were detected among the surfaces for shoe reaction forces, contact time, or impulse (P &gt; 0.05). This implies that runners who choose to run on stiffer surfaces are not exposing themselves to additional risk as a result of loading but possibly because of internal compensatory mechanisms. However, these results may not apply to all runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This last one does indicate that there may be a difference in &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; people run on various surfaces, but the surfaces themselves are largely irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-08-21T20:04:10.337" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T20:04:10.337" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25981" CreationDate="2015-08-20T22:16:22.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems like a fairly reasonable projection, but keep in mind that as you lose fat, each pound (or kilo) of fat is harder to lose than the one before it.  This means that your cut phase may slow down as you get towards the end.  I wouldn't fret about this, its typical.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to refer you to this article about this exact topic which I found to be very helpful.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rippedbody.jp/how-to-bulk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rippedbody.jp/how-to-bulk/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes into detail about how long and much you should bulk and cut, depending on a couple common goals.  Hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T22:16:22.613" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-20T23:16:48.167" Score="-2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I ride my bike to the gym, which is a mile from my house, and back home, should I do cardio at my gym? I am also lifting weights 4 times a week alternating between chest, delts, triceps and then back, biceps, legs, and I run for 15 minutes after my 30-90 minute weight training. My goal is to gain muscle and become more fit at the same time. I am 6'2, 26 years old, 175 lbs, and 7% body fat percentage. I am bulking and eating enough, I think; should I run or is my commute enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T16:49:43.070" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T16:49:43.070" Title="Should I do additional cardio?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24422" CreationDate="2015-08-20T23:26:16.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;YES, YOU MUST DO MORE THAN A SINGLE BODY PART A DAY.&#xA;I would suggest combining chest, shoulders, and triceps together and back and biceps together, 2-3 times a week. Legs can go with either or, and so can abs, but truth about abs is, they're probably already there and crunches and that other cheap stuff you see in movies isn't going to work your abs. In fact, one barbell squat will work your abs more than 150 crunches. Abs will be worked more through squats and deadlifts than that other stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-20T23:26:16.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-21T05:04:46.043" Score="3" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I forgot my straps and got an opened callus on my hand during wide grip pull-ups. Some guy in the gym gave me an elastic band and I continued exercising, though weights were a bit less (mainly because of not having straps, on lat pull-down, bent over row etc). Earlier when I wasn't going to gym I didn't use straps for pull-ups and didn't have problems with calluses. Later on when I stated attending gym I found straps useful as they allowed me to use more weight. So, I guess constant use of straps softened the skin on my palms. What is a good practice with straps? Should I sometimes do sets without straps with lesser weight? Also how to treat open calluses and exercise with them? Is wrapping it up with elastic band good enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="12044" LastEditDate="2015-08-21T09:58:14.870" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T17:32:34.960" Title="straps and exercising with callus" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;callus&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-21T05:47:47.360" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is some of my background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been constantly going to the gym like 3 times a week for about a year. I work on chest and triceps, back and biceps, and shoulders and legs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday respectively, though I don't really work on triceps and biceps that much, I'm also working on abs on Wednesday and Friday recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen noticeable results for the past few months. But the problem is I don't see any progress now and it's kind of a bottleneck for me. My weight is around 145lbs the whole time, it doesn't change much. I'm 5'9'' tall and I'm Asian if ethnicity matters. I was very thin before and I have built some muscle and people could tell that, I have some definition now and I would consider myself toned. I also noticed that my body fat percentage is kind of high, although I never tested it. I can see that I have some belly fat around my waist and that's why I started to work on my abs. I don't have a restricted diet since I always think that I'm too thin. I follow the some routine and work out exercises every week. In addition I swim twice a week, 1000 meters freestyle every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what I should do to gain more muscle and make more progress and at the same time decrease my body fat percentage. My work out routine? My diet? My cardio? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T08:06:32.267" Title="advices needed for building more muscle while decreasing body fat percentage" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-21T14:41:54.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25993" CreationDate="2015-08-21T06:28:11.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal philosophy for using straps is to use them when I don't want my grip strength to limit the effect an exercise will have on a muscle group I'm trying to work. If I'm doing Romanian deadlifts, barbell shrugs, barbell rows after deadlifts (conversely, I don't use them on Pendlay rows since I reset the bar between reps), or Kroc rows, I'm more likely to use straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, using straps ultimately needs to coincide with your goals for weight training. Some people won't use straps for anything, so that their grip strength gets worked on anything and acts as a natural limiter of overreaching. On the other hand, using straps is sometimes necessary if you're always trying to lift as much as you can. They are also useful for working around small injuries to your hands (such as jammed fingers, torn calluses, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to treating a torn callus, treat it like any other kind of open wound. How bad is it? If you tore fresh, healthy skin, I would use an antibiotic ointment and sterile bandage. In the past when I've torn a callus, I lightly bandaged it with a small (~1 square inch) sterile pad of gauze and used athletic tape to keep it in place. Keeping the bar at the proximal interphalangeal joints of the hand (between the first and second finger bones) will help keep the bar from damaging your calluses. Here's a video where &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/_ZBmiQm4MF4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe discusses callus management&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T06:28:11.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25994" CreationDate="2015-08-21T08:06:32.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in the same situation a year or so after starting working out. It just plateaued. Though I will say it's easy to &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; your progress has stalled, when in fact you just don't measure it. Get a caliper for your body fat, measure tape for circumferences, a scale for bodyweight, weekly photos and record that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest bang for your buck is in your diet. If you haven't given it a lot of thought before you will see incredible results after cleaning it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's many, many ways to go about it and you'll have zealots for every one of them, proclaiming their superiority. However, they all work because they force you to control your intake and be conscious about what you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be to eat lots and lots of veggies (biggest portion of your plate) and make sure you get around 2 gram of protein per kilo bodyweight (whether that's from legumes, nuts, grains, meat or egg – that's up to you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measure the food! Put it in a food log like MyFitnessPal. That's the only way you will know your intake and you should not skip this step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is exercise. If you can't squat twice your bodyweight I would switch to a beginners strength program with linear progression. My personal favorite is StrongLifts but some people like Starting Strength too. The important part here is the built-in progressional load – it keeps pushing you to lift heavier and heavier, thus helping you break through plateaus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add in 5-10 minutes of intense Tabata as often as you feel you can still progress. Sprints, rower, skipping rope, etc. Go as hard as you can for 20 seconds and then slower for 10. Rinse and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T08:06:32.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25991" CreationDate="2015-08-21T12:24:40.920" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) If your goal is to lose weight - yes, do cardio!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) If your priority is to put on mass and muscle, dont do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16740" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T12:24:40.920" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25991" CreationDate="2015-08-21T14:25:16.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand on the first answer, it depends.  Cardio has two main uses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) It increases the amount of work you can do in a given workout session.  As you get further into a workout, the aerobic system provides more and more of the energy used to lift the weights.  Stronger aerobic system = more reps/sets completed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) It increases the calories your body needs for that day, and increases your metabolism for a number of hours afterwards (provided the cardio lasts long enough and is intense enough).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, with these two in mind, I would say do more cardio if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-You want to be able to handle more volume in your weight workouts, and/or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-You want your body to burn more calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as a side note, biking 1 mile to the gym is basically negligible.  15 minutes of running is also not sufficient duration to be considered unless the intensity is very high.  Consider at least 30 minutes of cardio for low intensity.  If you want to do high-intensity cardio, you can spend less time, however it also usually involves higher risk of injury.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T14:25:16.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2015-08-21T15:54:21.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Endurance athletes are aware of the increase in protein metablolism. Therefore there is a trend to prefer energy sources to come from foods that contain fat and protein. For example eggs and peanut butter. When I refer to endurance I am talking about no or little sugars consumed through the exercise. For instance if you cannot exercise for more than an hour and a half without requiring sugar and caffeine it would be wise to start training your body not to rely on sugar unless during race day or at an event. A good barometer is if you can't walk around in your feet for say 2 hours without requiring sugar or good then your endurance fitness is way lower than it should be. The key is to incorporate low intensity exercise for longer periods over an hour. Sorry if this is a bit off topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16743" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T15:54:21.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25993" CreationDate="2015-08-21T17:26:59.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the no-strap no-glove camp. I trained for a while in powerlifting, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usapowerlifting.com/rules-bylaws/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;if you lift raw you can't use straps&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm of the mindset that a deadlift is how much you can lift, and that includes how much you can hold onto. To that end, once I get up north of my 5RM I'll use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/mixed-grip/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mixed grip&lt;/a&gt;. I think if you need help holding onto the bar at 5RM or lower then you probably need to work on your grip, which the deadlift (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/WtUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weighted pullups&lt;/a&gt;) helps a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a lot of training for a while with kettlebells, and in particular the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBSnatch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snatch&lt;/a&gt; can be rough on the hands. With those, the bar is rotating in your grip which pulls on the skin, and the &quot;cardio-esque&quot; nature of kettlebell training means you might be getting sweaty too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest solution, and I use it on almost every lift, is &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1NqQbFt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chalk&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_carbonate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Magnesium carbonate&lt;/a&gt; is the kind you want, and works to (a) keep your skin dry (b) creates a buffer between the metal and your skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep my hands dry and chalked when lifting or on gymnastic rings, and have relatively minor calluses and haven't had a rip in years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-21T17:32:34.960" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T17:32:34.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25991" CreationDate="2015-08-21T17:39:04.273" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I ride my bike to the gym, which is a mile from my house, and back&#xA;  home, should I do cardio at my gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 1 mile bike ride really doesn't qualify as a &quot;cardio workout&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am also lifting weights 4 times a week ... and I run for 15 minutes&#xA;  after my ... weight training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't think this is enough workout that you need to worry about either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I would think &quot;cardio&quot; starts interfering with your strength training if you're pushing north of five hours a week or ~45 minutes a day. I walk about two hours a day, and I would never consider that &quot;cardio&quot;; it's just going for a walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of room between sedentary couch sitting and cardio training that can reduce muscle hypertrophy. Being an active person (riding a bike to work, running a few minutes, walking for a few hours every day) is completely healthy and should't be viewed as a detriment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T17:39:04.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25952" CreationDate="2015-08-21T20:31:53.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness is irrelevant to muscle growth. It's just a sign you haven't exercised these particular muscles recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided you've had enough rest and good calorie intake in the last few days, you are more than good to go and do the exercises. It's not a good idea to do it if you've done any intense leg exercise in the last ~72 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend 5 min running/cycling, 5-10 min stretching before the workout, this will get the blood flowing and relieve the soreness a little bit. You may even notice your soreness has reduced after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10362" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T20:31:53.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26006" CreationDate="2015-08-21T22:41:16.813" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old, been working out for about three years now.  I have not been sticking to my program for about 6 months, only lifting 1-2 times a week (working college student).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My schedule has opened up, and I should be able to stick to a program for at least a few months, what kind of program will produce the most gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried a split before (Mon:Chest, Tue:Legs, ...) but had almost no result, probably because I found it so boring.  I made decent progress with SL 5x5, but am open to trying a split again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So should I take my new strength back to curls and leg extensions, or would it make more sense to continue a full-body routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals are to get bigger and stronger, just to be clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16458" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T01:23:52.400" Title="Push/Pull/Squat vs Brosplit" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-25T16:41:38.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-21T23:36:13.340" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;In market, there are many cardio DVDs out there, to be done in Home or in Gym.&lt;br/&gt;For example I like Insanity and 21 Day Fix. I have been doing cardio for 2 years.&lt;br/&gt; Now I want to introduce Strength training in my schedule, to have hybrid cardio/strength workouts.&lt;br/&gt; Any suggestion for good strength workouts DVDs for tuning body &amp;amp; losing fats ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T09:13:20.147" Title="Suggestions for strength workouts DVDs" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26004" CreationDate="2015-08-22T01:23:52.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is at least in part to get stronger, you're best off exhausting your beginner gains with a beginner program. You already have experience with StrongLifts, so it shouldn't be hard to get back into it. Just start back at ~50% of your 5rm for each lift, or take the Starting Strength approach and use a week to test your current lifts and start 30-40 lbs below whenever the bar starts to lose speed during each lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you manage to stick to StrongLifts and plateau a few times, I'd recommend deloading and then switching to Starting Strength, since it will involve lower volume which will allow for better recovery. It's up to you ultimately though if you want to also replace rows with power cleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you stall out of Starting Strength, you will have a very solid foundation and will know where your maxes for each lift are. This will make it easier to accurately work with percents of your max for particular rep ranges if you want to start training for hypertrophy or continue training for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T01:23:52.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25887" CreationDate="2015-08-22T17:49:41.553" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very normal to sweat during a weight lifting training and even necessary for the body to cool off during the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you workout your body need extra energy to do the training, it burns more fuel, it creates more heat and thus needs to cool itself = sweating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You usually sweat more in cardio because you burn more, but also in weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, I think you should be worried if you don't sweat. That might tell you you don't work hard enough, or something isn't so good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T17:49:41.553" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25820" CreationDate="2015-08-22T18:01:11.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always see a doctor before starting a routine of high-intense workouts as Alexandre Borela said and get their approval. Furthermore, the workouts should start of slow (low-medium intensity) and build up to high intensity. It is not good to start at a high intensity when you are not very regular to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't try jumping on the treadmill while it's on high speed, you will fall. Instead, gradually increase its speed to the point where you want it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When running at high speed, every mistake can launch you off from the treadmill so you need to be at 100% focus on every step you take and never do more than you know you can do just to push yourself. You are more likely to hurt yourself rather than develop anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also use everything that can support you if you do fall- Mattresses around the treadmill, the magnetic autostop clip which JohnP mentioned and even have someone close by in case of falling. Better safe than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T18:01:11.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25840" CreationDate="2015-08-22T18:45:52.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one mentioned this, but bull sharks have been spotted in Lake Michigan before... &lt;a href=&quot;http://wgntv.com/2014/08/14/is-that-a-shark-in-lake-michigan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wgntv.com/2014/08/14/is-that-a-shark-in-lake-michigan/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5418" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T18:45:52.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26023" CreationDate="2015-08-23T01:23:11.113" Score="4" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm quite experienced in fitness and bodybuilding by that I mean I have been lifting weights for about 5 years, I'm not professional nor fitness &quot;guru&quot; or expert in anyway but I'm still always asking myself if I should go full range of motion when doing exercises for every muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many different opinions some say full range of motion is better than partial range and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I perform exercise with partial range it helps me to get constant tension on muscle I'm working on, and I can train with heaver weights and I definitely get better pumps than going &quot;Full&quot;. I'm not sure, for example, why many personal trainers recommend doing, let's say, dumbbell press exercise really carefully I mean they would say: don't go lower than your eye or ear level. I always feel that I can go lower and not hurt myself and the same thing is with other exercises. Wouldn't going lower engage more muscles to work harder and wouldn't it help to build muscle faster in the long run? It seems that if your primary goal is health when doing partials is more suitable and of course I believe that doing &quot;full range&quot; puts you at higher risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I like both ways and it looks like they both do work but would you suggest me doing full range of motion all the time or switch sometimes between &quot;full&quot; and &quot;partials&quot; when my main goal is to build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any explanations why one is better than other would really help and why do you think one particular way is better than other, I mean give me a a proof to back up your opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11969" LastActivityDate="2015-08-23T18:55:48.950" Title="Should I perform exercises in full range of motion if my goal is to build muscle" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26014" CreationDate="2015-08-23T13:21:20.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I perform exercises in full range of motion if ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes ... most of the time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is true that using a partial range of motion is useful; in that it allows you to use more weight, work around sticking points, strengthen parts of a movement pattern, etc. (ie it's a useful tool in the lifter's toolbox); it should not replace using a full range of motion as the primary method for lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle Imbalances can be one of the biggest consequences of partial ranges of motion. For instance, lets take a look at the squat. When performed to at least parallel, the entire leg is hit. However when a partial squat is performed, generally only the quads will be hit, leaving out the hamstrings and glutes. Over time, this sets the lifter up for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A full range of motion not only loads the primary muscle groups, but it also places a load on the antagonistic muscles in order to stabilize the load. A partial range of motion may engage these muscles as well, but to a much smaller degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a full range of motion isn't always better. Sometimes a full range of motion causes too much of a stretch in a muscle group (could be a side effect of warming up incorrectly / not at all) which can lead to injury. In the example you gave of dumbbell benching, some people are more likely to experience an injury if they use too full of a range of motion. It is very easy to injury the shoulder girdle, and depending on arm lengths (upper, lower), the dumbbell bench press (and variations) can potentially lead to injury when a full range of motion is used. This can be avoided with a warm up set or two to gauge how much range of motion the lifter can use without experiencing too much of a stretch in the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, a full range of motion is superior in that it takes fewer reps to achieve time under tension (since each rep is longer), it properly loads muscle groups and their antagonists, avoids muscle imbalances, and prevents the lifter from using more weight than they can / should use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-08-23T13:21:20.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-23T13:54:12.530" Score="1" ViewCount="772" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a hard gainer and small eater. I have been trying to change that, to get used to eating more, but so far I am losing the battle. My body refuses food when it is not hungry, which happens usually twice a day only :(&#xA;Could anyone share their opinion/experience about my workout routing for such a situation? &lt;strong&gt;Note that this post is not about how I can eat more. It is about how I should workout if I am unable to eat a lot during the day.&lt;/strong&gt; Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16756" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T10:25:09.880" Title="How should I work out if I cannot eat enough calories?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26018" CreationDate="2015-08-23T15:29:59.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know your question mentions this is not about food, but I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding. If you cannot even eat a maintenance diet, you should not be burning even more calories on exercise. An alternate question title could have been:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My car has run out of gas, how do I keep driving?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously this question would be absurd. But that's exactly what you're asking about your own body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot eat, you need to find out why. What is your diet? Do you like the foods you are eating? Are they calorie rich or mostly water? How often are you trying to eat? Can you eat small amounts and more often? Could you drink a mass gainer drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, if you cannot eat enough food to gain weight you should not be exercising at all. If you continue to exercise, you will just lose weight, which seems like the opposite of what your goal is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2015-08-23T15:29:59.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26014" CreationDate="2015-08-23T18:55:48.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I answered a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23675/effects-of-not-extending-arm-fully-during-bicep-curl/23696#23696&quot;&gt;similar question&lt;/a&gt; pertaining specifically to the biceps muscle.  I'll reiterate that answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, yes, whenever you can you should try to exercise at full range of motion.  While it's not a strict requirement to go full range each and every time you train, in the long run, you're more likely to reach your training goals as evidenced by the study  I referenced in my original answer.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Citation/2014/01000/Impact_of_Range_of_Motion_During_Ecologically.32.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; found that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What they found was that during resistance training (RT), the group&#xA;  that exercised with full range of motion (LR) actually outperformed&#xA;  the other test group that used shorter range of motion (SR). There was&#xA;  even some discussion that ROM could also provide a reduction in fat&#xA;  stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study findings indicated...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The practical implications for this body of work follow that LR should&#xA;  be observed in RT where increased muscle strength and size are the&#xA;  objective...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LR = Longer range movement.&#xA;SR= Shorter range movement.&#xA;RT = Resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-08-23T18:55:48.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26024" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26111" CreationDate="2015-08-23T21:28:34.843" Score="2" ViewCount="1086" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I deadlift, I'm using left hand over, right hand under. Are there any differences if I switch the hands?&#xA;Are there any benefits to switching or cons to not switching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T02:34:25.650" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T17:26:59.173" Title="Is it necessary to alternate the mixed grip for deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26037" CreationDate="2015-08-24T04:32:57.770" Score="4" ViewCount="1167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to have a six pack but I absolutely hate cardio. And, I already do 4 hours of martial arts every week. Is it possible to get a single digit body fat % without cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T12:21:44.487" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T13:22:59.377" Title="It is possible to achieve low body fat % without cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26026" CreationDate="2015-08-24T05:51:24.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, losing fat is about taking in fewer calories than you burn while giving your body signals about keeping muscle (lifting weights) and maintaining protein intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T05:51:24.177" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-24T06:15:32.067" Score="6" ViewCount="1120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I make walks to try to keep a little fit and to burn calories/fat. At a temperature of about 16°C I can walk 10K in just above 2 hrs with almost no rest and not being excessively tired afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often spend time in tropical countries. At a temperature of 25° and moderate humidity, my performance is severely limited. I would guess that I walk about 3K in 2 hrs and I get really tired. (I try to supplement fluid and electrolytes, of course.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual temperature may also be higher than 25°, I think. I get the temperature readings from the Internet, and I think they usually indicate temperature in the shadow. However, taking walks you are most often in the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a Western guy about 175 cm/83 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is divided in two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many calories are expended in the two situations respectively?  (Brisk 10K walk at 16°C or slow 3K with several  breaks at 25°C, being much more tired after the latter.  Both take about 2 hrs.) (The first would be about 600-700 kcal, but how much is the latter?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I refer to EXTRA calories expended by the walking. I have not included the basal metabolism in the figure 600-700 kcal. One may also have to consider change in basal metabolism due to f.ex extra work like sweating needed for heat dissipation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the calorie consumption is much lower in the &quot;hot&quot; alternative, how should you then make your aerobic exercise in the tropics? Is the only alternative to buy a membership with an air conditioned gym and do treadmill etc?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I found on the Internet is that you burn more carbs (cp to fat) during exercise in hot climate. That may speak against exercising in hot climate, but my guess is that it is just a marginal factor in my situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to burn about 600 kcal extra. I do that in the &quot;temperate&quot; alternative with a 2 hr walk, but how do I do that in the tropical climate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(OK. I know one answer is &quot;Get up in the morning, you lazy guy.&quot; But early or late exercise is just not possible right now for me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2375553/#!po=5.55556&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2375553/#!po=5.55556&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;This article mentions thermoregulatory vasodilation in skin as a main mechanism for getting tired more quickly in a hot climate. Cardiac output (f.ex monitored by heart rate) must be used to both muscle and skin.&#xA;If this was the only mechanism limiting your capacity, I guess one would assume that cardiac exercise could be OK in hot climate but calory burning not necessarily the same  when blood is shunted through skin for thermoregulatory purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A useful, non-invasive method to investigate calory burn is indirect calorimetry  (IC). (Measure O2 and CO2 in expired air to calculate calory burn pretty exactly.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't found any studies yet that do IC (and work load) in a hot environment and compare to a temperate environment.&#xA;One may make the assumption that &quot;blood is simply shunted through the skin to cool off&quot; but to be sure you need experimental data. (Some cooling mechanisms may consume calories,  f.ex.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example. If you feel &quot;completely wasted&quot; just walking slowly in a hot environment, would your pulse rate then be at the same level as it would be in a temperate environment, for the same level of pronounced &quot;tiredness&quot;? I am not sure the limiting factor is cardiac output, at least not for me. Last time making a walk in hot climate, feeling very weak in the legs, pulse was only around 108 and no real shortness of breath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many individual aspects also come into the picture. A short (having the same proportions) or a skinny person will dissipate heat more efficiently. A person with black skin is better protected from UV-rays, but may absorb more heat, under some conditions at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This year the L.A. Marathon was run in 31°C heat. Daniel Limo won on 2:10:35. His personal best is only slightly better than that: 2:08:39. As a Kenyan marathon runner he is probably extremely well adapted to heat  (genetically and through training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This good performance in hot weather is interesting. His body can not have wasted a lot of cardiac output by shunting blood through the skin for cooling. I wonder how he performs in cold weather? He maybe has to wear extra clothes when racing at lower temperature??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16761" LastEditorUserId="16761" LastEditDate="2015-08-27T08:24:48.937" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T08:24:48.937" Title="How much harder is it to burn calories in hot weather?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;heat-tolerance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26033" CreationDate="2015-08-24T07:27:52.123" Score="12" ViewCount="3189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I intuitively think of the act of performing an arbitrarily large number of pushups as one requiring a considerable amount of strength.  However, sometimes it is claimed that this is not the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allowing that different people may have differing reasons for making this claim, i.e. the claim may have no single explanation, what are some possibilities of quantifiable definitions of strength on which this claim is being made?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16762" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T20:57:01.147" Title="What is meant by the assertion that high repetitions of pushups do not build strength?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="18" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-08-24T08:42:47.807" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;We say this because when you keep doing pushups for 50+ repetitions, at a certain point, your muscles are really just adapting to this particular movement, and this particular weight, rather than being stimulated to grow. So someone who is able to do a huge number of pushups, might fail miserably if you asked them to do a few with say 10kg of added resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not like there are no benefits though. While the strength gains are limited, improvements in stamina is the takeaway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the bodies of seasoned marathon runners, you'll find that their muscles aren't particularly large. But they are superbly durable over time, and can keep going for hours on end without pause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then compare this to the body of a 100m dash sprinter, whose body is meant to perform explosively over short periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then to a weightlifter, who is, instead of aiming for long periods of movement, aims for one single rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you compare the bodies of these different types of athletes, you'll find how the difference is easily spotted with the naked eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the reason why our calves don't grow to the size of a volleyball when we climb mountains. &lt;strong&gt;They gain the strength needed to carry our bodies, but after that, they gain the stamina to keep doing it, rather than gaining the strength to carry ten humans.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quantifiable differences though, isn't something I'm equipped to answer. This is more aimed at the question in the title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T08:42:47.807" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-08-24T08:56:47.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are mixing two assertions. One is that many pushups doesn't require a lot of strength and another is that it doesn't build strength. The first is false but the second is kind of true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stronger you are, the easier it gets and thus the more you can manage. If you can bench press 100 kg then it'll be very easy to rep out with just a 20 kg bar. However, if you're 1RM is 30 kg then you'll struggle going beyond 4-5 repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A high-repetition scheme does build some strength but is far inferior to low-rep/high-resistance in that regard:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12436270&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12436270&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24714538&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24714538&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T08:56:47.940" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26005" CreationDate="2015-08-24T09:13:20.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you skip the DVDs and get the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt; app. It's a beginners strength program and the app makes it super easy to follow. If you're just switching to strength training I'm certain you'll see some really nice gains the coming months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you also want to keep your metcon up while using SL, then just throw in the odd Tabata workouts. Five minutes of intensive interval sprints will be more than enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T09:13:20.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-08-24T09:51:09.343" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Strength&quot; has a more specific meaning in sports and exercise science than it does in common parlance. Strength is the ability to exert a maximal force against a resistance [1]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A push-up is not a maximal effort for many people, and certainly not for someone doing more than a few in one set. A maximal effort similar to a push-up would be a maximum-weight attempt at a bench press. Therefore, using this domain-specific definition of the word strength, someone who can bench press 150kg once is stronger than someone whose best bench press is 100kg. This is true &lt;em&gt;even if&lt;/em&gt; the 100kg-bench-presser can do more push-ups in one go than the 150kg-bench-presser!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to do a lot of push-ups involves a degree of strength, but is more a test of muscular endurance. You can read more about these domain-specific terms in books about exercise science rather than general fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Definition from page 1 of Harvey Newton's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/073604437X&quot;&gt;Explosive Lifting for Sports&lt;/a&gt;, but it's defined similarly elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T09:51:09.343" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26028" CreationDate="2015-08-24T10:13:24.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a nutricionist so I can't answer with security question 1. &#xA;Question 2, however, is a little easier for my knowledge. In theory, in hot weather you consume less calories because your body doesn't need to keep warm so hard. You know, temperature is an expression of heat, &#xA;Energy = mass * (calorific constant of your body) * (temperature increase)&#xA;or more in line on what happens to your body temperature:&#xA;Energy = (area of your skin) * (global heat transmission coefficient) * (temperature difference between your body and exterior)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you are in a hot place, temperature difference is smaller, so energy spent on heating your body is also smaller.&#xA;Tips to burn more calories in hot weather: &#xA;- Drink water as cold as you can. It's the best way to down you body temperature. Water is better than juice, sodas, cola...&#xA;- Air condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I don't thing there might be a huge difference, so don't get obsessed with it. You are probably getting tired because hot air is less dense and more humid than cold air, so you're taking less oxygen at each breath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ADD EDIT 1: There is practically no energy consumption by sweating. &#xA;ADD EDIT 2: I'd say the calories you burn because of moving isn't dependent on the temperature. You might burn less calories in warmer situation because you get exhausted faster, so you don't exercise as much than in a colder situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Calories burned exclusively by exercise are independent of temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;High temperature comes with higher humidity, so breathing becomes harder.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Combining higher body temperature and harder breathing, you get exhausted faster.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You burn less calories because your exercise volume and intensity are lower.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drink much cold water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Throw some extra water on your head and/or get clothed with transpirant clothes. Maybe wearing something like a cap would help too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid running between 11:00 and 17:00. Coolest moment of the day is just before daybreak.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Practice. No pain, no gain. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16765" LastEditorUserId="16765" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T14:10:40.187" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T14:10:40.187" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26018" CreationDate="2015-08-24T10:25:09.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can not eat enough, if you try going to a nutricionist explaining your problem and he can't give you a solution junt by eating normal food, he might tell you to take carb-shakes. They have a high ratio between calories and volume. &#xA;I'm not telling you just to drink gainers all day long. Just try to combine it with a healthy high caloric diet. &#xA;If you can't eat enough, any execice you do would burn more fat and muscle down. However, if you achieve eating more you might try to reduce cardiovascular exercise and focus on weights just to minimize catabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16765" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T10:25:09.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-08-24T11:49:18.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will build strength to a certain level (ie the level it takes to do the push up at your weight comfortably)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that you are building stamina to continue the repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be like benching 60 kg a hundred times. It is then easy to do that weight but it's not preparing you for 120kg really&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16766" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T11:49:18.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26026" CreationDate="2015-08-24T13:24:03.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to have a six pack but I absolutely hate cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s a lot more that goes into achieving “six pack” abs than just doing cardio.  Genetics, diet, and training consistency play a big role.  If you do not have the genetic propensity for a six pack, you can certainly improve on what you do have by mixing cardio with strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, there’s no magic routine or set of exercises to achieve a six pack.  Tons of crunches won’t suddenly give you that look.  You’ve got to be willing to put in the time to exercise consistently and eat a healthy &lt;strong&gt;lean&lt;/strong&gt; (and clean) diet.  Great abs typically require a ton of discipline, and, lots of hard work over a period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people tend to perform exercises that target the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_abdominis_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rectus abdominus&lt;/a&gt; only. Granted, those are the prominent six pack ab muscles, but, ignoring the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_external_oblique_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;external obliques&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratus_anterior_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;serratus&lt;/a&gt;, and lower abs will make for an imbalanced physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I think you’re overlooking the extra benefit that cardio provides beyond potentially obtaining six pack abs.  Cardio will certainly strengthen your heart and assist you in living a much better life while maintaining an appropriate body weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vote is to do cardio regardless of the “six pack” ab appeal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T13:24:03.437" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-08-24T13:54:03.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Waaaaay back when I was in the military, my maximum number of consecutive push ups was 84.  I was only able to achieve around 56 push ups by concentrating on push ups alone.  I was able to achieve that higher number through a combination of increased cycles of push ups and weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The increased number of push ups increased my stamina more than strength.  The weight lifting I did increased my strength and power, thus assisting with my push ups.  I had increased my bench to around 260 pounds (117 kilograms) through dedicated weight lifting at the time I hit that maximum number of push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, my observations are based upon stamina being defined as duration of continued effort and strength being defined as power and maximum weight moved in only a few pushes/pulls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I'd be lucky to hit 20 push ups before collapsing....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16768" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T13:54:03.263" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-24T12:16:23.957" Score="7" ViewCount="1185" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to improve my endurance and lose some weight efficiently while avoiding injury, is it better to run for a short time (20-30 min) everyday, hence not much time between runs, or longer (1 hour at least, more as training advances) once in a week, hence longer time for healing from last run micro-injuries ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16767" OwnerDisplayName="Rodolphe" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T14:32:41.190" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T18:24:09.073" Title="Lose weight: run small everyday or long once in a week?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-08-24T14:34:38.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cannot perform one pushup and after some training, you're able to do that, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you have increased your strength&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. That's because you now have the ability to lift a large percentage of your body off the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Strength training world, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;being able to perform between 5 - 8 repetitions of the same exercise &lt;em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;(without reducing the load/intensity)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;is a sign of strength for the specific exercise.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;muscular endurance is the ability to perform the same feat multiple times with little or no rest.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This means that your body is adapting to the exercise and you're becoming better at it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you can do it once, your strength has increased; if done multiple times, endurance is kicking in.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Usually, muscular hypertrophy is gained between 8 - 12 repetitions.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repetitions higher than 15 are usually geared towards muscular endurance &lt;em&gt;(meaning that one will be able to perform such exercise for a while before fatigue sets in).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these is good or bad; everything depends on the person's goals and intended benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T14:34:38.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26039" CreationDate="2015-08-24T14:35:31.660" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;In almost every case, it's better to start out with small increments on a daily basis for fitness and health, rather than one large session with long intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have much running experience, I would advise you to get a dedicated pair of running shoes (Shoes that you only use for running), and look into some kind of a couch to 5k type program. Once you are completed with that program, you can gradually add days until you are running 5-7 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is very much a repetition sport, in that it is the day in, day out consistency that will produce the best results. If you can manage 20 minutes a day several days a week, that is going to be better on your body and for your health than a single 1 hour session once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T14:35:31.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26039" CreationDate="2015-08-24T15:50:55.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Running Once A Week for an Hour or 20 Mins Daily?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; I would say that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;this depends largely on the intended goal.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; For weight loss goals, I will advocate running 20 mins daily &lt;em&gt;(ideally is 3 - 4 times weekly)&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequent running has been proven to help with weight loss. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It also helps to strengthen your heart, lungs, and other body systems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It also makes you more flexible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most importantly, performing this multiple times a week is more motivating &lt;em&gt;(and there's less resistance to stop)&lt;/em&gt; than once a week. Unless you're an active runner, there's the propensity to postpone &lt;em&gt;(and eventually stop)&lt;/em&gt; after a few attempts. &lt;em&gt;If you're like a lot of people, when you think about running for one hour, &lt;strong&gt;your motivation to go for the run drastically reduces.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like most activities, performing an activity about 3 - 4 times a week is usually more efficient and beneficial than performing it once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T15:50:55.613" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26043" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26044" CreationDate="2015-08-24T17:43:57.783" Score="1" ViewCount="6983" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, 2 days ago I was swimming in the ocean with my kids for a while, I also did some freestyle swimming for exercise - about 250M. I swim a decent amount but that plus just swimming with my kids was more than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On exiting the water I got these horrible cramps in both of my calves. The left one was bad but the right side was extreme and persisted for 2 mins or so. When it ended my calves were sore and felt really weak. Two day later and they are a little better but still very sore and I can't really stand on my toes without my right calf giving out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should note, I may have been a little dehydrated and the water (atlantic ocean on the coast of Maine) was cold by mid-to-late August standards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can still walk on it, though - to be honest it feels more like I gave it the workout of a lifetime as opposed to a muscle strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the mechanism of this pain - is it the same as an intense workout or is it something else that just feels that way. Subjectively, It feels the same except for the weakness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had my wife give me a calf massage last night - she said that it felt like there was a baseball under the skin of my right calf. Boy did that massage hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16774" LastEditorUserId="16774" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T17:53:38.337" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T19:05:02.697" Title="Calf cramps after swimming - pain persisting 2 days later" Tags="&lt;cramps&gt;&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-08-25T11:52:06.793" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26043" CreationDate="2015-08-24T19:05:02.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this might get closed as a duplicate of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2986/how-to-prevent-calf-cramps-while-swimming?rq=1&quot;&gt;how to prevent calf cramps while swimming&lt;/a&gt;, but you directly asked this so I'll try to answer it for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the mechanism of this pain - is it the same as an intense&#xA;  workout or is it something else that just feels that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two competing theories (neither proven, empirically) on EAMC (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise-associated_muscle_cramps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercise associated muscle cramps&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first idea is a loss of sodium. This causes the muscles to eventually change shape internally, causing structural modifications that take a while to heal from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second idea is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weakness#Neuromuscular_fatigue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;neuromuscular fatigue&lt;/a&gt;. Your neurons require &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%2B/K%2B-ATPase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a certain amount of various chemicals in order to send and receive electrical impulses&lt;/a&gt;. In fact, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/20879/7091&quot;&gt;the limiting factor of strength tends to be intracellular calcium&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're feeling it two days later, especially if it seems to have gotten worse 24-48 hours after, you're most likely dealing with &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases, training helps (once you can walk without wincing). A large part of physical training is the actual &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/22436/why-is-my-speed-of-thought-reduced-on-days-after-doing-a-lot-of-sports/22437#22437&quot;&gt;efficiency of signal processing that your brain uses to activate muscles&lt;/a&gt;. Your body will adapt to the new stress, and two large components of that adaptation are neuromuscular and more basic skeletal muscle tissue growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T19:05:02.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28267" CreationDate="2015-08-24T22:24:52.287" Score="6" ViewCount="4376" Body="&lt;p&gt;So when you squat you are carrying a large amount of weight on your back as we know and I'm trying to figure out if that holding that weight on your back and shoulders would build them, too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2019-09-03T13:33:01.237" Title="Will barbell squats really strengthen back/deltoid/traps muscles?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26039" CreationDate="2015-08-24T23:20:22.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't lose much weight either way, but the 20 to 30 minutes every day or every other day will allow you to improve your fitness, and then allow you to exercise harder and longer (say one hour per day, 5 times per week) so that you can start to lose weigh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I run for an hour, I burn about 1000 Kcal. This is a significant fraction of the about 4000 Kcal I eat per day (I run almost every day for one hour). My exercise routine has a significant influence on my energy balance. However, my old routine from a decade ago when I was less fit, was to run for 20 minutes every other day. I ran just as fast as I'm running now, although I was a bit heavier. But calorie-wise you can see that the old routine was totally ineffective, because it amounts to about 170 Kcal per day. Even though I was eating a lot less, about 3000 Kcal, 170/3000 = 5.7% compared to the 25% ratio of today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T23:20:22.483" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26053" CreationDate="2015-08-25T00:29:24.217" Score="5" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent question centered on the fact that higher and higher rep counts for an exercise (e.g. pushups) stop building strength, but 'build stamina.' Do they in fact build any sort of muscle-specific stamina, or is it all stamina just the same cardiovascular training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16777" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-25T01:30:37.693" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T06:05:26.370" Title="What is the physiological mechanism of 'gaining stamina' for a particular exercise" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26049" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-25T02:41:46.550" Score="3" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 32 years old and weigh 67 kilograms (148 pounds). I recently started going to the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how much weight lifting I need to do where I will be required to consume protein supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16779" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-08-25T05:27:38.527" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T12:10:59.783" Title="How much weight lifting will require me to eat protein supplements?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26039" CreationDate="2015-08-25T03:17:27.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would highly suggest running for 20-30 minutes, 5 times a week, is better than only once a week for an hour. Swimming and biking can also be substituted and are easier on the joints. You also must cut calories, and eat healthier to lose weight, and make sure not to oversleep, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T03:17:27.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25807" CreationDate="2015-08-25T03:22:49.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your hamstrings should ache a little bit, but I would say your lower back should probably ache more. Also, deadlifts are a very dangerous exercise if not performed properly so I would highly suggest checking your form to prevent serious injury; sometimes aching can be normal but other times it may be a sign you're doing something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T03:22:49.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26049" CreationDate="2015-08-25T06:02:45.247" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, it doesn't matter if you get protein from supplements or from your food. It's just easier to eat large amounts of protein with supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, weight lifting doesn't &quot;consume&quot; protein to create muscle. No matter your level of weight lifting, eating large amounts of protein will tend to push your body towards muscle and away from fat. But it also depends on your current amount of muscle and calorie intake. If you're muscular and are eating few calories, you won't have a net store of protein. If you're not muscular and eat lots of protein, you will store protein as long as you eat any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastEditorUserId="6368" LastEditDate="2015-08-25T14:21:10.927" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T14:21:10.927" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26048" CreationDate="2015-08-25T06:05:26.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are more explanations than this one, but one is what type of muscle fibre you strengthen. Muscle fibre type 1 are slow, weak but have high stamina, type 2 have low stamina but are stronger and faster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why some people are born to be sprinters while some are born to run long distances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do many reps, your type 2 fibres will tire and the type 1 fibres will do most of the work, meaning they will be strengthened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also why doing 10-12 reps is ideal for volume, it will strengthen both fibre types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_striated_muscle#Fiber_typing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_striated_muscle#Fiber_typing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T06:05:26.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26028" CreationDate="2015-08-25T06:16:38.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body needs to maintain temperature, when you walk in the sunlight, you have two factors warming you up, you also have two things cooling you, the contact with the relatively cold air, and the evaporative cooling from sweating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the temperature rises, the first cold factor becomes weaker, if the air is humid, the second factor will also be weaker since it gets harder to sweat effectively. Your body will then switch from one regulatory system (sweating), to the more critical one, making you stop walking, making you tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So eventhough you'll use far fewer calories, you will feel more tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that you get better at staying cool as your body adapt to the heat, you can also have some impact by chosing clothes that will reflect as much sunlight as possible (so white clothes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is swimming an alternative? Even if the water is warm, it's still below 37 degrees centigrate and since it's water, it will cool you much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T06:16:38.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-08-25T09:02:34.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can do only 5 pushups, and you keep trying that single exercise until you can to 10, you will more than likely increase your muscle mass in the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do 100 pushups, and you keep trying that single exercise until you can to 105, chances are that your muscle mass will not go up in that process. Instead, you will probably increase your ability to use oxygen and calories, while releasing waste like lactic acid. The challenge of the 105th push-up is not pure strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your goal is strength, when high repetition of pushups becomes easy, add more weight or switch to benching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16781" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T09:02:34.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26059" CreationDate="2015-08-25T09:24:24.317" Score="3" ViewCount="2508" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started a gym routine 2 months ago consisting of just Pull-ups, Bench presses, Squats(with barbell), Dead-lifts and Military Presses And for the abs Hanging L raises, Russian twists and planks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really love the compound movements and core engagement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do it 3 times a week, Sunday Tuesday and Thursday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also &lt;strong&gt;occasionally&lt;/strong&gt; (1-2 times a week) do a mini-core exercise at home consisting of planks, Russian twists, ab crunches and arch holds, external rotator cuff for the shoulders, starting with some Yoga movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is, am I pushing too much? should a rest day be absolutely resting, or are the Abs/Lower Back/Yoga on &quot;Rest&quot; days is OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If its OK, is it also good to add exercises like the ab wheel and L-seat to the off days routine? I think this may be different as the strain on upper body is bigger with these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16162" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T07:35:34.123" Title="Core training on &quot;rest&quot; days" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26049" CreationDate="2015-08-25T14:31:50.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;None. There will never be a point where you &lt;strong&gt;have to&lt;/strong&gt; consume supplements in order to reach your protein (or any other) goals, but it &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; make it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T14:31:50.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26056" CreationDate="2015-08-25T14:41:46.730" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;First&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, lower back exercises shouldn't be done &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ONLY&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; on rest days. &lt;em&gt;Of course, since you're already hitting your lower back with squats and deadlifts, it kinda makes the comment redundant; I just needed to point that out in case you switch programs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Second&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, core training can be done daily. Your core muscles are strong enough to recover quickly from applied stress. Unlike legs or arms exercises (which can be extremely sore after intense exercises), the core muscles easily adapt to the stress &lt;em&gt;have you seen anyone work their core muscles so hard they can't move the next day?&lt;/em&gt; Since it becomes tiring after a while &lt;em&gt;(the exercises, not the muscles)&lt;/em&gt; if worked intensely daily, you can&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Rotate the exercises performed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Rotate between intense and light exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Don't spend too much time on the exercises. 10 - 15 mins of moderate intensity should be enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yes, you can add the ab wheel and L-sit to the core exercises.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. You can also add V-ups &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SGzJn.jpg&quot; /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget your oblique muscles too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; You can take rest days too as nothing is set in stone. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just listen to your body and make adjustments as necessary.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T07:35:34.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2015-08-25T14:45:29.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to think if you've done anything despite eating lamb that day, because it should not be such a powerful trigger.  Maybe you've been under stress or lack of sleep, then a little lamb just was a trigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience was like this. &#xA;Eating meat just bothers my health, stress is a mighty contributor, lack of sleep, coffee...&#xA;I have dumped pills and first thing first I was on to was meditation.  Immediately I felt better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bike exercise is by my opinion the best. I did pull ups, and felt good, but only in the morning. &#xA;Red meat, only 1 day in a week. &#xA;Smoothies every day. &#xA;Dumped coffee.  Why?  Most doctors, and everybody else will tell you that one or two cups of coffee is healthy.  Well it is not! From bp 125 coffee will raise you to bp 130. Just a little bit of stress or burger can get you to bp 140. Instead of coffee have dark chocolate every day as an antioxidant. &#xA;Be disciplined!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you measure a high bp do not exercise in that moment. You can maybe have a walk. &#xA;Have shower and meditate. &#xA;Eat a smoothie with vegetables that are known to lower bp, like beet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16790" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2017-04-09T21:33:02.437" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T21:33:02.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26049" CreationDate="2015-08-25T15:10:42.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein supplements exist for one reason, and one reason only;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your usual diet doesn't provide you with enough protein to properly facilitate reaching your goals, you can add protein supplements to reach the target amount of protein per day/week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it stands, the question isn't answerable due to lack of information. You need to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;find out how much protein you need to consume per day to reach your&#xA;goals &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;find out how much protein you can get from food &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;find out if #2 is less than #1, in which case, you can consider adding protein supplements if you can't cover the difference by simply eating more&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T15:10:42.153" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26045" CreationDate="2015-08-25T16:28:53.443" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are doing it in proper form, it'll build your middle back, lower back, glutes, legs and it'll also help strength the sides of the abs. Your shoulders and traps should see almost no change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do get your traps sore because of all the weight that is resting on top of them but you are not putting them under tension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to build your shoulders and traps, you'll need to choose a more specific exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/12/muscle/shoulders&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Shoulder Exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/11/muscle/traps&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Traps Exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16599" LastEditorUserId="16599" LastEditDate="2015-08-25T17:39:25.653" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T17:39:25.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-25T18:40:06.210" Score="1" ViewCount="2102" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am pretty confused here because my deadlift is supposed to be more than my bench and squat. Currently, my bench is 225 while my squat is 315. My deadlift is only 135. I don't know why this is. Any thoughts on that? I should also say I bench two times a week, squat three times a week, and deadlift once a week. I know it sounds stupid, but I thought regardless of which you do more your deadlift is still higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-08-25T20:02:24.230" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T20:25:32.133" Title="I bench and squat way more than what I deadlift?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-25T18:52:16.800" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suffered a serious sprain four months ago. So serious that my hand felt like it was going to fall off for the next three months after lifting. Or, in the first month, even doing one push up, and the doctor says it is fully recovered now. I thought it was too until about 4 weeks after returning. It is giving very mild pain, nothing near to what it used to be. As for my knee, I hurt it a month ago and it is also only giving a little pain when squatting and it is supposed to be an injury from running that will take 2 months to heal the doctor says. If I extend it, it clicks but it's not supposed to be permanent damage. Should I lay off or keep working? It makes me upset knowing that months have been going by and I am not lifting because life is short and if I am 20 years old I probably only have about 60 years left. Help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16795" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-08-25T20:00:07.110" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T16:12:26.860" Title="Should I push through and keep lifting if my knee and wrist are giving mild pain?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-26T03:28:15.397" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;protein supplement&quot; suggests a substance that can be consumed to offset a protein deficiency.  Searching the net for &quot;protein deficiency&quot;, however, I was unable to find any sources describing the use of supplements for this purpose.  In addition, searching for &quot;protein supplement&quot; yielded results consisting almost entirely of bodybuilding websites and fitness supplement stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are protein supplements used outside of bodybuilding?  If so, what are examples of their use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I mean to ask about formal medical uses such as correcting recognized protein deficiencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: I am not restricting this question to over the counter, commercially available products such as shakes and powders; I mean to ask about supplements in the general sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16762" LastEditorUserId="16762" LastEditDate="2015-08-29T03:32:43.390" LastActivityDate="2015-08-29T03:32:43.390" Title="Are protein supplements used outside of bodybuilding?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26063" CreationDate="2015-08-26T05:27:04.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To some extend, the length of your legs and arms in relation to your overall length will affect easy you add weight in different lifts, but since there's such a big difference, in the &quot;wrong&quot; direction, I don't think that's the underlying issue here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start out by making sure my technique is good. Either find someone who knows what they are doing and make them take a look at your lifts, or film yourself and post somewhere for feedback. One common mistake is squatting too low, another is not squatting enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What seems to be the limiting factor in your deadlifts? How far do you get before the weight won't move anymore? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T05:27:04.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26065" CreationDate="2015-08-26T09:27:08.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilding amateurs and professionals are definitely the most common users of protein supplements. However, anyone with a protein deficiency (e.g. vegetarians, who usually have a harder time hitting their daily protein requirements) could take advantage of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T09:27:08.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26026" CreationDate="2015-08-26T09:43:06.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you are in a caloric deficit, you &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; lose weight no matter what your current body fat % is. How much of that weight is fat and how much muscle will depend on your training, caloric deficit and current body fat %.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio is absolutely not needed to lose fat or reach a very low body fat %. It simply makes it easier, since most people enjoy eating and staying in a caloric deficit for a very long time just by eating less could be pretty frustrating. Besides, it can be a very healthy thing to do (up to a certain extent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T09:43:06.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26065" CreationDate="2015-08-26T09:56:18.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people practicing endurance sports could take it, especially if they don't have much time to eat after their workout. It's rather a means to recover than bulking up/building muscle though.&#xA;For most people it is not necessary though, of course. If you are running to lose weight for example it's probably not recommended because people tend to overestimate how many calories they burnt, and underestimate what's in the protein shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T09:56:18.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2015-08-26T10:01:32.080" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stay at a -mild- caloric deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maintain your lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy watching yourself lose fat and not muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T10:01:32.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26064" CreationDate="2015-08-26T13:31:50.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't do exercise that involves the injured areas. I understand that you don't like going so long without doing those exercises, but by continuing to do them when you have pain is most likely going to cause more damage, and then you'll need to stop for an even longer extended period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, continue doing exercises that don't cause pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is to go back to the doctor and ask his advice. He should  know your injury and situation well, and give you advice. There should be exercises to help it heal quicker; you can see a physiotherapist or search online for your specific injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16801" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T13:31:50.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26063" CreationDate="2015-08-26T13:59:28.197" Score="6" Body="&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Possible)&lt;/em&gt; Reasons Why You Squat More Than Deadlift&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your form is bad in both exercises.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Without a video or someone checking your form, this can't be (dis)proven.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You don't like deadlifting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;; as a result, you &lt;em&gt;(probably)&lt;/em&gt; apply minimal efforts to it. If you want to be good at deadlifting, you've got to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;perform it more often&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;enjoy it&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(or at least pretend)&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;watch your form&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(that might take a while to perfect, especially without a good coach)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You don't perform it often.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; To be better at it &lt;em&gt;(just like your chest press)&lt;/em&gt;, you've got to perform the exercise more often. Perform it at least twice a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your lower back muscles are weak.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Your lower back is one of the primary muscles activated by deadlifts; if it's weak &lt;em&gt;(or already tired)&lt;/em&gt;, you won't be able to deadlift much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You're performing deadlifts after an exhausting squat routine.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; While deadlifting after squatting is generally recommended, exhausting yourself with squatting before deadlifting will reflect in poor deadlifting numbers. This is because squat and deadlift both hit major muscles &lt;em&gt;(quads, hamstrings, lower back)&lt;/em&gt;. If you reverse the routine, your deadlift numbers should increase and your squats should begin to suffer likewise. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;My personal recommendation is to rotate days when squatting heavy and deadlifting heavy.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; On squat heavy days, you go light on deadlifting and vice versa. This seems to work for me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insufficient rest between sets when deadlifting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. This is possibility, especially when just starting. Depending on the load, some spend between 2 and 8 mins on resting. And yes, you need the rest if you actually want to improve &lt;em&gt;(you shouldn't be supersetting on deadlifts)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wrist Grip&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Yup, it doesn't matter how strong your back, legs, and arms are, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;if your wrist grip is weak, your deadlift capability will be hampered.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; There are many wrist grip exercises you can perform, &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Farmer's Walk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; being one of my favorite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Recommended Program&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot;&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a proven program to increase your deadlift, squats, bench press, rows, and military press numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; If you want an improvement in deadlifting, it's a program I'll recommend for you. &lt;em&gt;Of course, this means you won't be able to bench press every time.&lt;/em&gt; That's just an icing on the tasty cake :).&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2015-08-26T20:25:32.133" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T20:25:32.133" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25923" CreationDate="2015-08-26T14:40:27.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting challenge! I have no experience with deadlifting for disabled, so take this for what it is – pure speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging by the video though, it looks just fine. Maybe in the lockout she's struggling a bit with her right side but from what I can tell it's due to the strap being a centimeter or two too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much about this injuring your spine or shoulder. One risk could be that it slides off mid-lift. But with a proper harness I'm sure you could fix that too. Just be mindful, with or without two arms, should it start hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd look for something strapped around your torso. Two way and maybe connected to a belt? As long as the attachment point is where your arm would be it should mimic the motion. Don't know of any such harnesses though and I couldn't find anything when googling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps a little!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T14:40:27.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26064" CreationDate="2015-08-26T15:17:05.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your body is able to withstand the stress exercise places on your injury without worsening your condition, then you should exercise.  How are you able to determine whether or not your body can withstand the stress?  The only way is to exercise and observe the result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are obvious risks involved in this.  No one can advise you whether or not you should take those risks.  Only you can decide for yourself whether resuming exercise to avoid losing physical ability is worth taking the risk of doing further damage to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to attempt to exercise with your injury, there are several things you can do to minimize the risks of doing further injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start each exercise very slowly.  Get to the initial point of strain on the body and determine whether or not you feel safe continuing.  If the strain you feel is unfamiliar, you may want to opt on the side of safety and stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of your repetitions should be very slow and controlled.  In performing them as such, you are more likely to be able to feel pain coming and stop the movement before the pain arrives; any quick or jerky movements will have the potential to trigger pain instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note how your body feels after you complete a set.  Sometimes the onset of pain is delayed.  Similarly, note how you feel after the entire workout and in the hours and days following.  Do this to help determine how your body has withstood the stress of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an iterative process; you will need to continuously monitor your body after each workout.  In addition to alerting you to when you've pushed yourself too far, this process will also help you to learn the levels of discomfort with which you can safely continue exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16762" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T15:17:05.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-26T17:05:22.773" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 23 years old 1.68~1.7 meter and I have spent the past 16 years in a sedentary lifestyle. Most of my body isn't fat with the exception of my belly which is 107 centimeters. What is the best program to follow to lose this extra weight as fast as possible, and, in the same time I don't not gain a lot of muscles (I'm pleased with my current &quot;shape&quot;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is exercise to boost the speed and strength of my muscles?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And, what nutrient plan should I follow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*note: it would be better if the program doesn't include exercises dependent on machines or dimples, as there is no  GYM in my place of residence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16805" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-08-26T17:15:00.880" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T19:21:48.967" Title="the right excerise progragram for me?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-08-27T09:54:50.677" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-26T17:55:18.297" Score="-1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cant escape sleeping a single night, though I tried. But 2 of my friends claimed that they did stay awake around 30 days nonstop! Nothing would be more difficult to believing than this to me! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it hard to believe but their face looked like they were telling the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And another said he sleeps around 2 hours daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16803" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T19:28:30.500" Title="How long someone can stay awake?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-08-27T14:31:42.817" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26077" CreationDate="2015-08-26T19:08:53.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two different answers to your question. For the friends that are saying they stayed awake for 30 days without a break for sleep, these friends are obviously pulling your leg. To make things more clear, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO STAY AWAKE FOR 30 DAYS STRAIGHT WITHOUT DYING, so if your friends are presumably &quot;alive,&quot; then they were lying. I should also note that the World Record for most days without sleep tolls to be about 11. If somebody went past 2 or 3 weeks without sleeping, they would die. Common side effects of lack of sleep persisting more than a single day can be hallucinations, confusion, blurred vision, immune system shutting down(I don't believe it is for good, though, as with the other things), slurred speech, in other words, the person who was lacking proper sleep would experience close symptoms to that of a person who was drunk. Secondly, the friend who says he sleeps about 2 hours daily could in theory be doing this, but he would eventually die of a heart attack after about 10 years of this so I advise you suggest to him that he add about 5-7 extra hours of sleep onto his current level so he totals with about 7-9 hours daily. If your friend is sleeping 2 hours daily though, he probably would currently be a very crabby person and also show symptoms of exhaustion and confusion constantly, assuming he has been doing this for over 4 or 5 days. He would also have black or purple rings under his eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="16691" LastEditDate="2015-08-26T19:28:30.500" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T19:28:30.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26076" CreationDate="2015-08-26T19:21:48.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing weight does have a correlation with working out/lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is your diet, not the program. The program is 30%-40% of weight loss, while your diet is the 60-70%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you put in your body becomes your body. If you eat clean, your body will be clean (cut, slim, lean). Working out tones the body to lift the weight that you want, therefore resulting in more muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are pleased with your shape, then do some cardio. Such as running, jumping jacks, running in place, step-ups (use stairs outside or at a playground). But honestly, to lose weight in a healthy manner, you want to fix your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit like you. I'm 1.74m (5ft 7in) tall and my belly was well really fat (due to beer). I didn't lose much &quot;weight&quot; since I am lifting but I lost a lot of my beer belly in 1 month. &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/progress-photos/Nifear4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/progress-photos/Nifear4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16806" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T19:21:48.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26049" CreationDate="2015-08-26T22:39:01.713" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to hint you in with a secret, well actually two secrets, that so many &quot;bodybuilders&quot; lack to know and comprehend. For the first one, protein shakes are one of the biggest scams on the market. And not to mention the fact that they aren't even necessary in the first place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a dinner consisting of a &lt;em&gt;moderately sized piece of fish, a glass of milk, a side of nuts, and a cup of peas&lt;/em&gt; you can get about &lt;em&gt;60-70 grams of protein&lt;/em&gt;, at least twice the amount you would get in most protein shakes on the market. Not to bring up the fact that it is usually much more affordable than those shakes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need protein shakes to buff up, the only reason that people drink them is because marketers are clever in the way that they advertise and that their friends drink them so they feel left out if they aren't also gulping them down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second secret is that there are only four truly vital foods that are secret to muscle gain, not to contradict what I said earlier, but meat, fish, and vegetables are not included, although they are good substitutes for a protein shake and they are a less expensive source that will still get you strong, just not as much as these other foods I will mention : &lt;em&gt;Milk, Grains, Eggs(especially), Peanut butter&lt;/em&gt; are the key foods that I have discovered to help proceed major gains of muscle mass on my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first began to experiment using these foods on a day to day basis well doing compound exercises including &lt;em&gt;bench press, squats, chin ups, etc.&lt;/em&gt; the muscle literally FLEW in. I was already pretty ripped but I must've been gaining almost a pound of muscle a week. Everyone at my gym was pointing out how I was gaining muscles so fast on my shoulders, biceps, and triceps and was asking me how I was buffing up so fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, it must've been the combination of those four foods along with the compound exercises. I would suggest eating &lt;em&gt;3 eggs a day. 3 glasses of milk a day.&lt;/em&gt; Do chin ups every day. Do compound exercises involving weights rotating every other day. 12 Eggs, a gallon of milk, a loaf of whole grain bread, and a jar of peanut butter all combined probably costs about as much as four, expensively priced shakes or six, moderately priced ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't stress to you how much of a scam protein shakes are. And also just to note, regardless of how much weight you lift for how long you lift protein shakes are never mandatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="15362" LastEditDate="2015-08-27T12:10:59.783" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T12:10:59.783" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-26T23:27:48.917" Score="2" ViewCount="1844" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm skinny, and I began going to the gym, I started first weekends doing very small weight (5 kilos) but in a correct form, doing 4 series of 15 reps for every exercise/machine I did/used, I don't really know if you can get strenght that fast, but now like after a month and a half I were doing all the way up to 22 kilos for back and chest, and for arms and legs about 10-16 kilos. I read that you could only charge up to 50% of your weight, 22 it's close, but anyways some guy told me some things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would damage my articulations (believable and actually true)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Energy used for growing would go to the muscles regeneration (I eat more since I started going to the gym)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I ended up doing 17 kilos 30 reps, because with 11 kilos I was just going to do like 100 reps until beginning to feel the muscle working. Should I do insanity or should I keep doing what I'm doing, obviously I'm not gonna grow up crazy muscle, so I don't really care a lot about that part altough I would like to see results lol. And also it's true that I won't grow up? I'm near 5'11 but I want to grow more lol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T03:56:08.233" Title="Gym for a 14 year old?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-08-28T07:34:59.187" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-26T23:33:25.387" Score="3" ViewCount="3715" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why can't I do push ups (lol) but I can perfectly do 13 kilos 4series 30 reps, in a tricep or bicep workout? Plus it's a compound movement meaning I'm not enfoquing everything on just one muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have recommendations on how to begin on push ups feel free to help me please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T10:41:15.830" Title="Push Ups vs Machines" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26082" CreationDate="2015-08-27T00:51:28.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To become proficient at a movement requires practicing the movement.  Proficiency in one movement will not necessarily transfer to others even if they seem to be using related muscle groups.  Your case demonstrates this.  To become proficient at pushups requires practicing pushups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To become able to do your first pushup, try starting with incline pushups (search the web for this phrase and you'll find plenty of results), decreasing the incline as your ability improves, until you are able to do a pushup on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16762" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T00:51:28.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26088" CreationDate="2015-08-27T02:41:04.367" Score="2" ViewCount="26301" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given a BMI, is there a way to calculate how many pounds one has to lose to reach a healthy BMI? I'm 5'10&quot;, 190 lbs., BMI is 27.3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16809" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T08:21:04.693" Title="Calculate how many pounds to lose from BMI" Tags="&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-09-01T16:31:49.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26081" CreationDate="2015-08-27T03:56:08.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's widely known that lifting stunts growth, it seems likely it's actually a myth. The main thing is that you don't go on some crazy diet, because then your body won't be getting energy and nutrition to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/430166-can-lifting-weights-when-young-stunt-your-growth/#page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/430166-can-lifting-weights-when-young-stunt-your-growth/#page=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Dr. Avery Faigenbaum of the University of Massachusetts, concerns about weight lifting stunting the growth of children and adolescents are outdated and misleading. Instead, he suggests that eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly allow you to achieve your maximal height, with inactive, unhealthy eaters more likely to have stunted growth. Betsy Keller of Ithaca College suggests that this myth exists because some researchers focus only on specific groups of athletes. In a 2008 review of the literature, she suggests that evidence for weightlifting's negative impact on growth arises solely from sports that are well-suited for shorter people, such as women's gymnastics and competitive dancing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/bodybuilding-stunts-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://scoobysworkshop.com/bodybuilding-stunts-growth/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I often get questions from teens asking if bodybuilding will stunt their growth, the answer is ‘No!‘....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/teen/jay1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/teen/jay1.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the biggest myths about weightlifting is that it stunts your growth. No studies have ever been shown that lifting weights stunts or inhibitsgrowth. But, as with any exercise program, if you do too much too soon, physical problems can occur no matter how old the person doing the exercise is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to point out, doing 30 won't be building much muscles, aim for less reps (like 15) but heavier weights.&#xA;And be very careful, certain exercises can be damaging, especially if done incorrectly, so get someone experienced to watch you during a workout one time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked about doing insanity. If your fairly fit and your just looking to stay in shape, then I don't see why gym isn't enough. If the gym isn't working, then you can try it. But speak to someone who knows you and your situation better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16801" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T03:56:08.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26082" CreationDate="2015-08-27T03:56:42.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can perform 4 sets of 30 reps using a machine, it's time to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Increase the weights on the machines. &lt;em&gt;Performing 30 reps of any weight-based exercise isn't recommended as it doesn't really serve any useful purpose.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Ditch the machines and use dumbbells and barbells. Using machines solely usually gives you the impression of being stronger than you actually are, &lt;em&gt;part of the reason being that the machines assist you in the lift.&lt;/em&gt; Free weights lets you know your true strength; either &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you can lift it&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you can't.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Pushup Progression&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Since you can't perform at least one pushup, you can start with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BWPushupKnee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;knee pushup&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.munsterbootcamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/knees-pushup-munster-bootcamp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.munsterbootcamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/knees-pushup-munster-bootcamp.jpg&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Once you can perform about 5 - 10 reps with good form, you can progress to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;planks.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y9moU.jpg&quot; /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA; Try to hold it for about 3 - 5 seconds.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're comfortable with that, switch to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;half pushup&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(not sure what it's actually called though)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;From your lying position, you lift yourself up into the plank position.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next stage is lowering your body to the ground from the pushup position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, you have enough strength and ability perform one pushup. Attempt it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This progression should help you with your push up in no time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T10:41:15.830" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26082" CreationDate="2015-08-27T05:43:54.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not telling us how much you weight, but pushups require you to push a quite large portion of your body weight, my own unscientific measurements with my hands on a scale in pushup position tell me ~60%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing 13 kg in bicep/tricep workout doesn't really tell us anything. Different types of exercises vary a lot in how heavy they are due to the different mechanics of the exercises. I can deadlift about 160 kg, but I'm struggling with 8 kg in standing shoulder flies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding compound lifts, the fact that they use more muscles doesn't mean that the muscles share the burden, it means that the movement is more complex and requires a larger amount of work in total. It's like a chain, every link has to be strong enough, that's why they are popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendations would be to do pushups on your knees, negative pushups (just do the lowering, first half of the movement, slowly, you are 40% stronger in the exentric phase than in the concentric so it should work better), dumbbell presses and planks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T05:43:54.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26084" CreationDate="2015-08-27T08:21:04.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A healthy bmi is between 18-24. For you, that'd be 130-170 pounds. So you have about 20 pounds to lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.neimef-research.org/resources/bmi-calculator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.neimef-research.org/resources/bmi-calculator.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LWRbc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bmi chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Note: I don't support using bmi, I commented on your question about it. Nevertheless, I'm still answering it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16801" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T08:21:04.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26091" CreationDate="2015-08-27T13:17:43.323" Score="1" ViewCount="4939" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I started lifting several months ago, I have noticed that my pinkies' (both of them) movement has been affected. This is more noticeable right after waking up in the morning, and consists on the following: if I close my fist and slowly open it, instead of my pinky bones opening gradually like the other fingers, it feels like they get stuck/stay flexed at the beginning and only when my whole hand is almost opened they get unstuck/unflexed very sudden and harshly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'7/145 and follow a FBW routine that I do 3x or 4x per week. Exercises are as follows and all performed with DB: one arm row (4x8, 50lbs), bench press (4x8, 90lbs), incline bench press (4x8, 75lbs), chest flies (3x12, 65lbs), concentration curls (3x8, 55lbs), shrugs (3x10, 55lbs), shoulder press (4x8, 65lbs), power partials (3x10, 30lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to guess, I would say that this is caused by the fact that I only lift heavy dumbbells (only equipment I have available) and this has put too much pressure on my wrists. Am I right, and is this a common issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastEditorUserId="16789" LastEditDate="2015-08-27T14:07:44.683" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T03:59:43.383" Title="Pinky finger movement affected by lifting weights?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26089" CreationDate="2015-08-27T14:16:08.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;...it feels like they get stuck/stay flexed at the beginning and only&#xA;  when my whole hand is almost opened they get unstuck/unflexed very&#xA;  sudden and harshly.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you described sounds like a case of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/trigger-finger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;trigger finger&lt;/a&gt;.  It’s a pretty common overuse syndrome and may have some wrist involvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trigger-finger/basics/definition/con-20043819&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“People whose work or hobbies require repetitive gripping actions are&#xA;  at higher risk of developing trigger finger.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can occur to any finger on your hand.  It’s the result of an inflammation of the tendon that moves the finger.  When it’s inflamed, the tendon cannot move freely through the sheath that surrounds it.  This typically results in the finger feeling like it “catches”.  In my experience (I’ve actually had this condition), there are two recourses.  Rest and/or a shot of cortisone to calm the tendon.  In any event, you should consider giving the affected hand a chance to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T14:16:08.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26095" CreationDate="2015-08-27T14:25:07.313" Score="6" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long is a reasonable amount of time to assess whether or not a new workout and/or diet regimen is working? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard many people complain about not losing weight after a week but I've also heard people not seeing/feeling a difference after a month or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: The assessment is subjective to the individual on what he/she wants to see but the question is &quot;in general&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T19:08:44.697" Title="How long until a new workout/diet is assessed?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26092" CreationDate="2015-08-27T15:34:06.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a pretty broad question and all I can offer up is anecdotal knowledge, but I'll take a stab at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I really dial in my diet, walk a couple of hours each day, and keep lifting, I can drop about 1lb of fat per week. I think that's &quot;noticeable&quot; on someone who otherwise stays pretty lean. More simply, a skinny person losing 10 pounds looks a lot skinnier than an obese person losing 10 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For strength training, I recommend to anyone starting that they give themselves 6-9 months before they start flexing in the mirrors and seeing definition. It's coupled with body fat: the more fat you have, the harder it will be to see muscular definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this picture will help explain a bit. The lower your body fat gets, the more impact 1lb of fat loss has. At the same time, the lower your body fat, the more noticeable any changes in muscle definition will be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wi95K.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wi95K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T15:34:06.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26092" CreationDate="2015-08-27T18:21:40.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is quite generic (no objectives on train or diet given). So, I'll answer based on my experience. When I want to cut (lose fat) I give a 3 week buffer period before changing the plan (diet or train) if not seeing the desired results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, you are aiming to lose 1 lb of weight per week. But, it is common for the weight to fluctuate (water retention, more food in your gut, ...). To minimize this, you should try to weight yourself always in the same conditions - fasted, first thing in the morning. Still, it happens quite frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following weekly weight evolution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-3 lbs (nice! - but most part of it is just water and glycogen depletion...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-0.5 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-0.7 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-0.4 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at weeks 2, 3 and 4 you are clearly not losing an average of 1 lb per week. Now, after 3 weeks of not seeing the desired results, I usually do a slight adjustment - decreasing the calories by, for instance, 10% (cut on carbs and fats, maintain protein quantities high). This pretty much covers the diet part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, adjusting the train routine is quite more complex. What I believe works best is continuing with your strength train (to retain as much muscle as possible) and do some [more] low intensity cardio in off days. The more cardio you do (let it be low intensity or it can tamper with recovery), the more calories you burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problems? Well, most of the times when you go for a huge caloric deficit your lifts will suffer. Here, a more mild approach might be desirable according to your objectives (the urgency to lose fat and how much you value your muscle mass). Also, the leaner you are, the more strict you need to be (tighter diet and maybe more cardio depending on your genetics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8030" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T18:21:40.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26092" CreationDate="2015-08-27T19:08:44.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I've heard many people complain about not losing weight after a week&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; These are the same people who jump from program to program, expecting quick results. &lt;em&gt;They're also the kind to jump on the latest weight loss fad/bandwagon. &lt;/em&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't be that guy :)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I've also heard people not seeing/feeling a difference after a month or so&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These guys have the patience; however, they need legitimate information and feedback. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;And frankly, weight loss or strength training, I expect to see some results within a month.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The result doesn't have to be earth-shattering; it doesn't have to be noticeable by sight; however, it should be felt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to expect such results within a month, I think the person&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;must have committed to the program as perfectly possible &lt;em&gt;(strictly followed the process, equipment, form, etc)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;must have some yardstick for measurement &lt;em&gt;(usually before and after photos/numbers)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;must be realistic about their expectations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;must be more concerned about progression than specific numbers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;must be honest with themselves about their efforts/intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; If I'm following a weight loss program and don't see a result in a month, it means I'm doing something wrong. Same goes for my weight lifting training. Very importantly, what I'm looking for is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;progression&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(something that shows that I'm moving in the right direction).&lt;/em&gt; &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't been in a program in which I haven't seen the results within this timeframe; however, if I do find myself in one, I'll follow the above list to determine what I might have missed. If I couldn't find any reason, I'll have tweak the program a little &lt;em&gt;(as well as ask/research to determine what could have gone wrong)&lt;/em&gt; to determine if there's a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;If there's no progression in 2 months, the program isn't for me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T19:08:44.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-27T19:53:58.340" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I went to the gym today, I got on the bench and did 10 sets of 10 reps, using medium weight, took about 30 minutes to complete, only thing I did other than biking and a few chin ups, and now my shoulder feels a little sore? Does anyone know why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T21:47:21.353" Title="Shoulder feels sore/strained after 10 sets of 10 on Bench Press?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-27T19:59:30.200" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have goals involving bulking and getting stronger(increasing my bench, squat, curl, etc.), but recently I have put into action a goal to do 100 push ups in a row. Will lifting lighter weights help me get to this goal faster? And if won't interfere with my bulking in the process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T04:21:49.073" Title="Should I include lightweight in my workout if I have an endurance based goal?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26065" CreationDate="2015-08-27T20:06:57.417" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, protein supplements are taken outside of bodybuilding, in fact, I argue that there are more people who don't lift using them than people who do lift using them. This is mainly because everyone wants to be strong, and marketers have made protein supplements look like they will get you strong just by drinking them alone without exercising.  This is not true, and people who are lazy(67%, in America, at least) will want to bulk up without exercising so they will buy protein shakes well the managers of the companies of the shakes sit in their brand new hot tub in their mansion and make millions, knowing they are so clever. However, us actual weightlifter usually know protein shakes are a scam and that we can get big by eating natural sources of protein, not that artificial crap. So to answer your question, yes, protein shakes are used out of bodybuilding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T20:06:57.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25814" CreationDate="2015-08-27T20:13:19.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could probably achieve them by doing machine shoulder press, dumbbell shoulder press, barbell military press, side lateral raises, front raises, and decline flies 3 times a week for 2 years to really get them with a &quot;cannonball&quot; appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T20:13:19.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-27T20:22:55.573" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;In both cases, daily calorie deficit is equal. Calorie intakes and TDEEs are different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which case I would feel better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case 1: [Calorie intake of 0.8*BMR] and [doing exercise] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case 2: [Calorie intake of BMR, or more] and [doing more exercise] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I think It wouldn't matter if the deficit is low. But I'm working on increasing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T10:14:42.760" Title="In which case I would feel better?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13008" CreationDate="2015-08-27T20:53:19.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;C4 uses 1g creatine nitrate though.  Not the same as mono.  Technically most people say 1g of creatine nitrate is equal to 5g of mono.  Take it for what it is and go from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16817" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T20:53:19.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26096" CreationDate="2015-08-27T21:47:21.353" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's likely all the bench-pressing that you're doing.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too much volume: 10x10 is a very high-volume program. Most lifters&#xA;stick to around 3x10 or 4x8 for hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It also might be a muscle imbalance. Your pectorals are stronger than&#xA;your back-muscles, and it's screwing with the (very complicated)&#xA;structures in your shoulders. Take a break from benching for a few&#xA;weeks and do some more rows/pulldowns/chin-ups/face-pulls.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T21:47:21.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26109" CreationDate="2015-08-28T00:52:26.253" Score="2" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 54 year old male that has been weight training for over a year. I run a construction business and work pretty much everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's difficult after work, but I try to lift every day. My present routine is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day 1) 6 sets of bench press, super setted with tricep press&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day 2) 6 sets of Wide grip pull-downs super setted with bent grip curls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day 3) 6 sets of close grip upright rows no super sets (yet) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I start over on the 4th day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see results in my physique (albeit slowly). I always eat 3 square/quality meals (big breakfast, sandwich and fruit at lunch, and whatever is on the table for dinner) and I've also added 3 eggs, 3 bananas, some whey powder supplement drink every other day at around 2PM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 6'2&quot; tall and weigh about 207 pounds. I don't have a ripped gut, but don't have any flab neither. Here's what I'd like some help with: Is my routine an ideal one? Can it be improved? Should I increase my sets? Should I rest more for faster growth? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW: my equipment is some sort of all-in-one cable station. I don't have free weights (yet), but presently cables are my only weight equipment. Thanks for any advice and suggestions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sincerely,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Tony D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16760" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-08-28T07:20:21.720" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T13:12:20.550" Title="Is this a proper training schedule for best results?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26097" CreationDate="2015-08-28T04:21:49.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Getting to 100 push ups&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that lighter weights will help you achieve your 100 push up goals; &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here's a good program&lt;/a&gt; that can increase your numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also certain exercises that might increase your push up endurance; essentially, performing &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;more reps&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of tricep-based and shoulder-based exercises &lt;em&gt;(dips, pull ups, bench press of a weight close yours)&lt;/em&gt; should assist in your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Will It Interfere With Your Bulking?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't; while it's cardio-based, the exercise shouldn't burn enough calories to interfere with your bulking phase. Also, if you stick with it long enough, your body will naturally adapt, which will reduce the calorie impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Will It Impact Other Exercises?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; This depends on the exercise. I expect your bench press numbers to remain stagnant or reduce while your body's adapting to the exercise. There might be an impact to your curls; there shouldn't be an impact to your squat. Essentially, your tricep and chest exercises should be affected due to the fatigue in your arms.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you might be able to structure your training so it has little impact on your other exercises; however, I don't think this is avoidable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just be realistic about your expectations and make adjustments as needed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T04:21:49.073" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26103" CreationDate="2015-08-28T07:16:08.527" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short of it: No. Absolutely not ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the best results, leg day is the most important day. This is the day where you use the largest bulk of muscles (and not just legs either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to improve your approach&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest issue here is that you're working only your upper body, but forgetting legs and lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs and lower back are what you work to reduce your risk of injury, and become a better athlete altogether. Legs and lower back are what you work to increase how much calories you burn by default, because it requires more effort from your heart and central nervous system (CNS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your balance will improve, your endurance will improve, your metabolism will improve, your back will improve, and let's face it, this is the most important thing at any age, but more so the older you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But don't worry, there are some freely available pre-programmed schedules that anyone can just pick up and use, and one of my favorite ones to advocate is &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And before you ask; yes. Any age. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T07:16:08.527" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24570" CreationDate="2015-08-28T08:12:54.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From reading the Nick Aldis book &quot;The Superstar Body&quot; he mentions dextrose tablets. He uses them not during a weight-based workout but afterwards. By taking the dextrose tablet with the whey protein shake it helps the body to &quot;reset&quot; and make better use of the protein being ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started to take one after my workout, before my protein shake on a weightlifting day. As with these things it is difficult to say &quot;yes! I can see results!&quot; but if it is good enough for a wrestler, it is good enough for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, I will take one between two difficult cardio classes I do to give me an energy boost and I find this beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T08:12:54.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26100" CreationDate="2015-08-28T09:14:35.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally it's much easier to, for example, skip eating a banana than to go out jogging for fifteen minutes. Personally I feel it's even more so when your caloric deficiency is more than 500 kcal per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all just anecdotal, so I'd try it out myself if I were you. But for myself I'd just do some heavy lifting to maintain muscle and then cut the bulk of the calories at the intake instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T09:14:35.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26100" CreationDate="2015-08-28T10:14:42.760" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are asking a question specific to the way that exercise would make &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; feel. Everyone is different, this includes their body's ability to respond to different stimuli and their emotional response to changes made to routines. Other people's experience may have similar, or no similarity, to what you will feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet will be to try the different routines you suggest for a short while and note down the pros and cons of both, how they make you feel and whether you will be able to maintain the routine for long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it must be said that exercising is a lot harder work than not taking in the calories in the first place. Running for a half hour for a normal person might burn 200 calories. Or one could just eat lighter. So my suggestion would be that case 1 would probably be the most sensible option for most people. And that you can then adapt the routine according to your notes (as I suggested) to see how much extra exercise, and how much less food, you can eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16483" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T10:14:42.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26103" CreationDate="2015-08-28T13:12:20.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This may be a different slant than the one you are asking for, and if so I apologize, but anyway…)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are doing something, you will be able to improve your general fitness and you will gradually notice yourself feeling and looking healthier.  Particularly in your case where you are working so diligently and with so many movements, there will be benefits over the long term without any revision of your workout plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, if you practice an exercise consistently, you will improve.  Therefore, even if you simply stick to what you are doing now, you will see yourself getter stronger, and your workout regime will continue producing results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For feeling and looking healthier, and for improving physical ability, the main thing is simply that you are working out.  What that workout is is of less importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have specific goals, such as adding x inches to a certain body part in y months or benching z pounds by year's end, then there are likely equally specific movements that will move you towards those goals more quickly than your current routine, and you'll want to investigate those specific movements once you have defined your specific goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your initial question though, it seems that you don't have the expectation of transforming into a pro powerlifter or of morphing into a 20-year old fitness magazine model, and in that case, I would suggest that, if you enjoy your current plan and are seeing results, you should keep going with it, stay disciplined, and you'll see even more results in the years to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And adding some cardio wouldn't be a bad idea either.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16762" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T13:12:20.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2015-08-28T14:06:09.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did it for the first time and it worked perfect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 scoop chocolate whey into a glass.&#xA;Add a bit of milk and water to blend.1/2 cup maybe? Enough that I was going to drink it so it was smooth but instead I added it to my coffee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Voila! No added milk needed as it cooled the coffee off perfect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16822" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T14:06:09.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26024" CreationDate="2015-08-28T17:26:59.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally, on all of your lighter sets, you'd be using a double-overhand grip (both palms facing you) to actually work your grip as well as the rest of the posterior chain. If you keep your mixed grip work to just the heaviest sets, it doesn't matter as much if you switch them. Yes, the muscles of the forearm and shoulder end up getting loaded differently, so if you deadlift heavy, often, you might develop imbalances. But if you're a competitive power-lifter, that's probably an ok trade-off, and if you're not, you probably aren't deadlifting so heavy or so often that you need to worry anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW, I used to switch up my mixed grip pretty regularly, but over the past few years, have settled on having my right hand switched on the heaviest sets, and haven't had any issues at all. Yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T17:26:59.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-28T17:56:06.730" Score="8" ViewCount="33825" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious what the science is behind strength gains on the dead lift and when it is ideal to stop working on 5x5 rep scheme and switch to something lower, as low as perhaps 1x5.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I can dead lift 325 5x5 and still put in the work on the other parts of my weekly routine.  When I add weight however I end up dropping down to 5x3 with my last working dead lift set reaching 355 lbs x2.  I am curious if it would help me with my strength goals to switch to singles or doubles for 5 sets, or is it physiologically better to switch work a pyramid, say 5x5x4x3x2x1RM.  Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16826" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T00:49:04.850" Title="When is 5x5 deadlifts too much volume?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26112" CreationDate="2015-08-28T20:09:46.867" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few things to consider. First is where you are on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength spectrum&lt;/a&gt;. A novice doing &quot;5x5&quot;, while probably not the smartest idea in the world, isn't nearly as damaging as an advanced athlete doing &quot;5x5&quot;. The stronger you get the more damage you can do to yourself and, as a result, the longer it takes to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even in the popular &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#Deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5 novice program&lt;/a&gt;, deadlifts are limited to 1x5:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are the sets and reps you do on every exercise except Deadlifts.&#xA;  Deadlift is only one set of five reps (1×5) because doing more would&#xA;  beat you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even when in StrongLifts he refers to his program as 1x5 for deadlifts, and something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Madcow (Bill Starr modified) 5x5&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;5x5&quot; for deadlifts, it's effectively the same: &lt;strong&gt;you are ramping up through 4 warmup sets to your 5 rep max.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some realities to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyone with a big 5 rep max (5RM) would never, and won't for long if they do, walk up and and rack on their 5RM weight and go to town for 5 sets. If they do, they most likely aren't that strong, that's not really their 5RM, or are going to get hurt soon. Remember, a 5RM means there's no way you could do a 6th. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some programs (like SL 5x5) don't include the warmup sets in their rep count, which is why you see 1x5.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some programs do include the warmup (ramping) sets, which is why you'll see 5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't list your weight, but if you're pulling 325 5RM you should see where you are on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/DeadliftStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength spectrum&lt;/a&gt;. Consider saddling up with a solid program (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I'm a big fan of Bill Starr's / Madcow&lt;/a&gt;, but there are &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24315/7091&quot;&gt;others&lt;/a&gt;) to get to the advanced levels if that's where you're headed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T20:09:46.867" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26112" CreationDate="2015-08-28T20:13:41.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The greater the weight, the greater the gains to strength and power.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alwyn Cosgrove in 'The New Rules of Lifting' recommends switching between strength and hypertrophy programs every 8-16 weeks. E.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength program with a 3x5 program for 12 weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a week off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy program 4x8 for another 8 weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another week off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many trainers find that lifting your 3-rep max for 3-reps gives the greatest strength-gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/puiUI.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/puiUI.png&quot; alt=&quot;Here&amp;#39;s the classic Rep-scheme guide from Mark Riptoe:&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T20:13:41.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26065" CreationDate="2015-08-29T02:20:53.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Athletes of all stripes consume protein shakes (and bars, etc.) as an adjunct to their normal diet. For some people it's difficult to eat all the food required to offset caloric deficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that in the US (and most western countries) protein deficiency is relatively rare. If there's something preventing the body from properly using dietary protein the usual approach would be to correct the problem rather than simply dumping more protein in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone is protein deficient they need more protein. It's often a caloric deficiency (fix: eating food) or a medical condition (fix: cure the issue). I'd assume the reason there isn't much literature specifically regarding using protein shakes to correct protein deficiencies is because there isn't much reason to do it. It won't be more or less effective than other protein sources (assuming a balance of different proteins); proteins are proteins regardless of their source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'd be somewhat concerned if there wasn't a wide range of proteins, e.g., if you only used a supplement with a single amino acid for example, but that's easier said than done.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2217" LastActivityDate="2015-08-29T02:20:53.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26112" CreationDate="2015-08-29T16:19:01.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Currently I can dead lift 325 5x5 and still put in the work on the other parts of my weekly routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great. No problem there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I add weight however I end up dropping down to 5x3 with my last working dead lift set reaching 355 lbs x2. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That indicates a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am curious if it would help me with my strength goals to switch to singles or doubles for 5 sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply using singles or doubles won't help you achieve your strength goals. &lt;em&gt;Lifting heavier&lt;/em&gt; will help you work towards your strength goals. The idea is to add weight to the bar. If you need to change your set/rep scheme in order to do that, then that's the solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's no need to do 5 sets, and there's no need to do singles or doubles. 5x2 could work fine, but so could 1x5, or 10x1, or 3x3. The relevant factor is lifting heavier weight while keeping the stress this causes in check with regards to your recovery and the rest of your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-08-30T18:13:24.773" LastActivityDate="2015-08-30T18:13:24.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26122" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-30T20:38:08.130" Score="1" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no time to go to the gym, my house is very small to buy large gym equipments and all I can buy is a set of dumbbells. I have only one hour per day to train. Currently I'm 79 KGs and I want to lose weight and build muscles. I don't wanna be a bodybuilder or something, but to have a great looking body, or in other words skinny-ripped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please recommend a set of exercises/workout using only dumbbells that train all of my muscles (and also allow me to gain muscles) so I can achieve my goal? Is this even possible without those large equipments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T19:02:05.740" Title="Workout using only dumbbells to burn fat and build muscles?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26122" CreationDate="2015-08-30T22:25:32.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding fat loss, I'll point you towards some info on how &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24495/is-weight-loss-possible-without-cardio/24500#24500&quot;&gt;abs are made in the kitchen&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (ie: diet is the biggest factor) and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;strength training is superior to cardio for fat loss&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not going to be able to use one of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;the truly kick ass strength training programs&lt;/a&gt; because they are all about barbells, primarily because of the compound nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would actually recommend for you would be kettlebells. A good kettlebell workout will combine cardio and strength training, and specifically to your situation is cost effective and doesn't take a lot of space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get three: 16kg, 20kg, and 24kg. The brands worth buying are Dragon Door, Apollo, Life Line, and Ader. These three kettlebells will last you the rest of your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use an every-other-day approach, and do a routine that looks like the below. Aim for doing it for 30 minutes. Take 3 minutes before you do them all again. You'll start to pick an order that works for you (which ones before the other):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTwoArmSwing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Two hand swings&lt;/a&gt; x25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBClean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clean&lt;/a&gt; (once) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;press&lt;/a&gt; x10 (each side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBSnatch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Snatch&lt;/a&gt; x15 (each side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Single arm row&lt;/a&gt; x10 (each side... dumbell style)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTurkishGetup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Turkish get-up&lt;/a&gt; (x3 - x10 each side, depending on weight).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Planks&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/BWSidePlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Side planks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kettlebells can be brutal on your hands, use &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1Fad7Rt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chalk&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, get a rubber mat of some type. I used a piece of full grain leather. You'll be dropping the kettlebell a lot (on purpose), like setting it down after two handed swings. There's not a lot of &quot;gentle&quot; ways to set 50lbs down when you're tired so whatever is under you will get beat up. I had a 3'x4' piece of full grain leather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T06:30:17.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-31T06:47:24.673" Score="7" ViewCount="895" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many exercise movements are recommended to be performed slowly, deliberately, and under control.  Slow and controlled movements help to mitigate the risk of sudden and excessive stress and twists which may lead to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explosive movements (swings, cleans, jerks, etc.) by definition do not allow for slow execution, and they seem to lessen the potential for controlled performance.  This would seem to increase the risk of injury from these movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one may imagine that there are those who perform these movements regularly and over long periods of their workout careers and for whom the cumulative stress produced by these movements results in no significant adverse effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do explosive movements necessarily lead to serious injury over the long term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, how do muscles and joints achieve the ability to absorb the amounts of force that these movements produce, and how does this differ from exercises which are best performed slowly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any of the assumptions in the above paragraphs incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16762" LastEditorUserId="16762" LastEditDate="2015-08-31T06:57:33.850" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T07:12:18.860" Title="Do explosive movements necessarily lead to injury over time?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;&lt;power-cleans&gt;&lt;explosiveness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26124" CreationDate="2015-08-31T07:12:18.860" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, explosive movements do not necessarily lead to injury. Performed correctly after a period of acclimatization, explosive movements are quite safe. The recommendation to be slow, deliberate, and under control at all times is meant for the general population. Most people are weak, prone to injury, and unlikely to seek capable instruction in explosive movements. Therefore the recommendation to avoid explosive movements is justified. However, a better recommendation would be for these people to strengthen and improve themselves so they are able to perform explosive movements safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We see this disjunction between general exercise recommendations and sport exercise recommendations frequently. For instance, people are told, &quot;don't hold your breath during a rep&quot;, instead of how to properly hold your breath. People are steered towards less effective techniques because they are less demanding. That's reasonable, but it sets the bar lower as well. People who never push themselves with more demanding exercises will never see the tremendous benefits that doing so brings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A safe explosive movement is possible: one controls the launch (and catch, if it exists) with proper form. With properly chosen weights and rationally chosen exercises, this is safe and does not lead to injury. A rationally chosen exercise is one that is appropriate for one's level of strength. I may be ready for a power clean while you need to strengthen your lower back with deadlifts before trying the power clean. You may be ready for sprints while I need to run slowly for a few more weeks. She may be ready for kettlebell swings while he should work on bodyweight movements first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accidents of course happen with explosive exercises, as they do with exercises performed slowly. The rate of accidents is slightly higher, but the benefits are much greater as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T07:12:18.860" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-31T14:05:38.713" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very, very common situation for me is this - I work out, I rest, I come back weaker. A number of books/people have given reasons for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequency too high.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etc. Can we get a comprehensive list of the factors (both behavioral and genetic)? Also, I would like to know what happens when a muscle can't repair itself over the short term. What happens in the long term? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I am really interested in the question overall, specifically in terms of what genetic potential is. Btw, I have read Supertraining (years ago), so I am familiar with the graph in the comments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, my particular situation looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*7-8 hours of sleep weekdays, work ALL day in front of computer - 10-12 hrs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;*Workouts look like AxxBxxA&lt;br&gt;&#xA;*I walk a couple of miles on off-days and do hollow body holds / hip flexor stretches and some grip work, but it's light&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A:&#xA;3 mile run @ 9min/mile&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 17 push ups (full ROM/control)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 17 hanging leg raises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 x 5 bench @ 185 lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 x 5 row @ 135 lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 20 bw squats  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B&#xA;3 mile run @ 9min/mile&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bunch of core stuff - supermans, planks, etc&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Calf raises, reverse calf raises (3 x 40 bw)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Quad/Ham machine 3x8 @ light weight&lt;br&gt;&#xA;OHP 5 x 5 @ 125&lt;br&gt;&#xA;PU 5 x 7 @ bw (200 lbs)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for far over decade (in my mid 20s). I have been lifting  seriously for maybe 2 years. My bench was 5 x 5 at 225 lbs earlier this year. I didn't stop, I didn't change anything, I just keep getting weaker. I eat adequately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: Reading my own post I would be tempted to reply &quot;Check if you are sick&quot; - but the bench number is the only one that's dropping. OHP went up in the past few months, for example. This is also not the first time this happened. I have had a few more experiences like this with things like deadlift, where I progress, progress, and then suddenly numbers start dropping with no apparent cause (Happened around 5x5 @ 3.5 plate on DL). Btw, squat and DL aren't in the program due to muscle imbalance that I am fixing atm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16839" LastEditorUserId="16841" LastEditDate="2015-08-31T20:12:51.030" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T19:58:11.450" Title="Under What Conditions Will Muscles End Up Weaker After Work Out?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-31T15:35:17.167" Score="3" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that I'm losing weight when not exercising for about 3 days and exercising the next 2, while not losing any weight if exercising 5-6 days a week. While the additional weight might be coming from the increased muscle mass, I dont see any fat loss from my abdominal area or anywhere else if exercising daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spend 3 and a half hours at the gym when I go: 50-60min cardio and the rest is strength training. I eat the same whether I go to the gym or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to keep going to the gym 5-6 days a week since I've dedicated this time and money for it. It was always like that when I started, lost 27kg. Is there an explanation for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16840" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T03:10:14.097" Title="Not losing weight if exercising everyday" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26127" CreationDate="2015-08-31T16:26:48.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Occam's razor: you obviously are not eating the same. Otherwise, you would be losing weight given the increased caloric expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be buying a food scale (incredibly cheap, you can get one for about $10) and actually making sure that you are consuming the amount of calories you should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a non related note, three and a half hours in the gym including an hour of cardio every day seems like an absolute overkill. It would probably be helpful if you shared your current stats and workout plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T16:26:48.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26127" CreationDate="2015-08-31T16:59:18.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend using MyFitnessPal app to track your caloric intake for a few weeks and tracking any changes in body weight. I don't know if you are doing this already, but make sure you also weight yourself in the morning or at the same time everytime you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13933" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T16:59:18.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26127" CreationDate="2015-08-31T19:21:23.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a bunch of possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You're gaining water-weight during workout days - either through&#xA;drinking more, or from retaining more via post-workout inflammation.&#xA;Personally, I can gain/lose 2+ pounds from water-weight in 24 hours,&#xA;which easily masks any fat-loss.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You aren't as active after your workouts during your workout-days -&#xA;less walking or general movement can add-up to a lot of calories&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the first 27kg (which is a LOT of weight to lose - congrats!)&#xA;your weight-loss will probably be a lot harder and slower to. Have&#xA;more patience!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd expect it to be a combination of all three of these effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T19:21:23.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26126" CreationDate="2015-08-31T20:35:17.953" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;PART1 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When somebody will provide You so called &quot;comprehensive list of ...&quot; (especially both behavioral and genetic) - how You will check if it's true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If You really interested in the question You should look in special sources (start with manuals for the basics, then - research periodics to be on wave of the state of the art) and make (and update!!!) that list Yourself, because sports medicine &amp;amp; physiology is constantly evolving field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding You question answer IMHO should be not general but specific - EXPERIMENT! For example for 1-2 week try to add 1 additional rest day /or/ make less approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way - You tagged Your question as 'strength-training', but IMHO 3x5 &amp;amp; 5x17 regime is for endurance, not for strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PART 2 (links with removed http)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;first: sorry for my English - is not my native, so I'd like to explain my point of view below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;second: my knowledge on fitness is based on my experience as application for martial arts (...and long time ago when I was young and pretty) but I had no with this general scheme&#xA;or &#xA;speedendurance.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/strength-muscle-mass-and-endurance_thumb.jpg - but it's just GENERALISATION of knowledge on reps...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;unfortunately, man's (and muscle - as part of) life (and ) is very complex - for that reason complex (systematic) approad must be applied&#xA;scienceofsportsperformance.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/etsu-coches-sports-science-college-part-3/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a consequence I agree with Joe Wider principles&#xA;bodybuilding.com/fun/remembering-joe-weider-the-science-of-the-weider-principle.html - You need &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so... if in general You are not satisfied with situation, IMHO that means broken adaptation &#xA;pponline.co.uk/encyc/img/270afig2.png&#xA;for more see&#xA;fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19321/how-long-does-it-take-for-muscles-to-recover/19322#19322&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;first - what is Your task? where you want to be?&#xA;speedendurance.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/strengthendurance-continuum-SEC.jpg&#xA;what is your score&#xA;realfitscore.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/score-comparisons-v1.png&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;do you wanna be (kidding) as &#xA;Hulk/gorilla &#xA;muscleandfitness.com/sites/muscleandfitness.com/files/styles/full_node_image_1090x614/public/media/bodybuilder-brazil.jpg&#xA;muscleandfitness.com/incredible-hulk-program&#xA;or &#xA;SWAT OPERATOR / 24/7-fit tactical athlete&#xA;cms.bbcomcdn.com/fun/images/2015/8-weeks-to-tactical-fitness-graphics-1.jpg&#xA;bodybuilding.com/fun/8-weeks-to-tactical-fitness.html&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;do You have strategy in terms of periodization?&#xA;img.breakingmuscle.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full_width/images/bydate/201411/periodization-table.jpg&#xA;for more see &#xA;scienceofsportsperformance.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/periodization-and-programming-for-strength-power-sports/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what aproach or theory You use &#xA;scienceofsportsperformance.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/periodization-theory-and-methodology-of-training/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and how You do testing and planning&#xA;mmatrainingbible.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/testing-assigning-training-loads-reps-fig-18-2.jpg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;how you mix (or don't mix at all) cardio- and resistance training&#xA;wikiliikkuja.com/2014/09/02/does-simultaneous-cardio-and-resistance-training-compromise-training-adaptations/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should check more factors to diagnose OTS &#xA;irunfar.com/2013/09/overtraining-syndrome-part-one.html&#xA;and do early health check/assesment (with all classic/basic tests and measures)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to really understand wha'ts is going on woith You braoder information must be collected and observe (kind of &#xA;cpsinmotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Example_Periodisation_20142015.jpg.png&#xA;more on that&#xA;strengtheory.com/complete-strength-training-guide/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body composition &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aerobic conditioning &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition / Bodybuilding nutrition consultant Jim Juge says nutrition determines your success or failure, plain and simple. &quot;The diet is 65% of what you need to get in shape,&quot; he says. muscleandfitness.com/nutrition/meal-plans/28-days-lean-meal-plan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifestyle factors.&#xA;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16835" LastEditorUserId="16835" LastEditDate="2015-10-16T19:58:11.450" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T19:58:11.450" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26135" CreationDate="2015-09-01T11:09:16.060" Score="1" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 180 cm and 94 kg and I run every day about 5 km with pace 5:00-5:30 min/km and on weekends I run 10+ km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it healthy for my body in general? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16847" LastEditorUserId="16847" LastEditDate="2015-09-01T13:22:20.303" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T13:52:26.687" Title="is it healthy to run everyday at least 5 km when overweight?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-09-02T04:34:39.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26133" CreationDate="2015-09-01T11:50:32.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't have any knee pain caused by it, it's definitely healthier than not doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise adding some sort of resistance training to your routine in order to make sure that you mainly burn fat and not muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T11:50:32.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26133" CreationDate="2015-09-01T13:52:26.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Eric said it could be &quot;healthier&quot; than not doing anything at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt;: Especially in the beginning of a running career, too many runs can lead to injury. Your muscles will probably do the job, but other stuff, like your sinews and cartilages just need more time to adapt to this unusual pressure.&#xA;It may seem fine in the beginning, but you may cause serious harm to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm 180 cm and 94 kg and I run every day about 5 km with pace 5:00-5:30 min/km and on weekends I run 10+ km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds as if you are already doing this routine for some time and it seems as if it didn't lead to injury so far. So maybe you are lucky. But what are your goals following this routine? If you want to lose weight it may be more usefull to change your diet and do some strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get better at running, you should think about changing your routine, because it essential to allow your body some time for recovery to adapt in a way that improves your running. In addition running the same distance in the same pace is not a good thing to do, because you won't train your body to get faster or to run for longer distances. To achieve that you have to get a stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe for the beginning you could start with a routine like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day: Do a faster run for maybe about 6-8 km. You can get out of breath but shouldn't go all out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day: Do some intervalls. At your stage you could warm up an then do something like 4 intervalls of 800m with a &quot;rest&quot; phase of slower running between them. The pace should be set so fast, that the last intervall is really hard to finish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day: Do a long run. You can start with the 10km and increase the distance step by step. The pace should be slower than with the other runs. You should feel comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need the activity each day to calm down or something like that, you could think about doing some crosstraining, like biking or swimming, as these sports won't strain your body so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope the answer isn't to far from your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15993" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T13:52:26.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-01T13:54:38.960" Score="0" ViewCount="2030" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just began weightlifting three times a week. The workout consists things like deadlifts, squats, barbell rows, dumbell bench presses, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been feeling pain in my fingers afterwards and they've felt a bit stiff. I know that my grip strength has always been pretty low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be taking time off to let my fingers rest or should I treat it with something like ice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T14:02:25.170" Title="Treatment for pain in fingers after workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26126" CreationDate="2015-09-01T15:56:46.987" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a string of possibilities here. They include:(please forgive the informally written list)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cardio is killing your gains in muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a fast metabolism and have to eat even more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You just aren't eating enough, even if you think you are and even if &#xA;you don't have a fast metabolism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a medical problem or injury you should address with your&#xA;doctor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are doing too much lightweight, bodyweight, and aerobic exercise&#xA;instead of doing heavier weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are suffering from severe stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You think you are getting weaker, but it is all in your head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are denying your legs and arms and are only working your chest,&#xA;back, shoulders, and abs instead of working the limbs we need to use&#xA;to help build those parts. Weak triceps=Low bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You were shooting steroids, but stopped&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You lost weight making the bench press harder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are not training often enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You were using improper form, but changed it to proper form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-09-01T19:27:50.317" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T19:27:50.317" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-02T03:50:24.663" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an unsettling gristly noise in my right knee when I squat (only when I squat thank God!) that's related to my torn PCL. I am just now getting my stabilizing muscles reactivated and thus full use back of my leg. I believe a meniscus tear would have shown up on the MRI that diagnosed the PCL tear, so now I'm just wondering if this means &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should avoid squatting using my right knee / stabilize and plant on left leg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if this will 'go away' as I continue to strengthen and fully activate the stability muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if this means I will need another knee in the future (when? coming up on thirties right now)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for example, I screwed up something in my left knee in a prior motorcycle fall and sometimes have a 'small click'; which previously was a 'bigger click' that seems to have 'smoothed out', and I'm wondering if the cartilage in my right knee just needs some time to sort out too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16086" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T03:50:24.663" Title="the gristle in my knee after torn PCL" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26089" CreationDate="2015-09-02T03:59:43.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely sounds like trigger finger to me. I have experienced the same in my left hand little finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should see a hand specialist, and they can verify. I received a shot of cortisone to the inflamed area and it has been great since. There is also a minor operation you can have where they cut the sheath so it heals slightly larger and doesn't catch continuously on the inflamed tendon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/trigger-finger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/trigger-finger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5318" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T03:59:43.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-02T05:37:38.000" Score="2" ViewCount="2487" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm doing squats my knees go forward further than my toes. Also when I'm standing up I tend to move weight more towards my toes. I was told that this technique is wrong but it seems like I can't make squats without knees moving forward even without weight. Could it have something to do with flat feet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:01:11.350" Title="Squats technique flat feet" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26140" CreationDate="2015-09-02T07:40:40.827" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people have this problem, and it's usually caused by short tendons on the back of your ankle. I forget the name... Achilles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, there are plently of things you can try in order to fix this, and yes, the weight is supposed to drive into the ground through your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Method 1&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way, is to elevate your heels, by placing them on top of plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H34lN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H34lN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, this guy also has his knees really far forward, and is struggling to keep the weight centered on his heels. He even seems to drop the bar lower on his back to compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Method 2 (my preference)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squat, OH YEAH! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AwWdk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AwWdk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I transitioned into this myself, not because I had issues with the back squat (regular), but because I wanted to try it out. It's amazing because one thing it does, is it forces thoracic extension (the &quot;good&quot; back arch), and because the weight is further forward, you intuitively lean back onto your heels to compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't advocate this exercise enough, both for people who don't struggle with regular squats, but especially for those who do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, make sure you pay attention to the placement of your feet. A lot of people try to squat with their feet shoulder width apart, and toes pointing forward. Instead, spread your feet a bit more, and point them slightly outward. This extends your center of balance, and allows you to sit your ass down between your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If transitioning is hard, you can do box squats in the mean time. Basically, just place a bench behind you, and do squats by sitting down on this bench, and getting back up, all while using proper front squat form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T07:40:40.827" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26140" CreationDate="2015-09-02T09:12:28.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I transfer a lot of weight to the toes while moving up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fix for this is to concentrate on pushing through my heels. If there are no physiological barriers then this should be enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way I help concentrate on pushing through my heels is to pick up my big toes and keep them elevated for the entire set. I stand and squat normally, but my big toes stay off the ground (even if they're in my shoe).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;my knees are too forward in the lowest position&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may or may not be a problem. If it is a problem, it could have many causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fix I prefer most for this is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHzaHZDBsag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wall-facing squat&lt;/a&gt;: without a barbell, you face a smooth wall, then get your toes as close as possible to the wall and just squat. Try not to bang into the wall, but grazing it is OK. If you need to back up a few inches then do so. If you can't do it, stretch your hips and ankles for a few minutes and try again. Being able to do ten wall-facing squats with my toes touching the wall has made big improvements to my posture and depth while squatting with a barbell. The movement is great practice for proper posture across the back and legs, in addition to forcing you to do extra mobility work as it develops flexibility and gives you a mental model of how to make it work. Again, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHzaHZDBsag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the instructional YouTube video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T09:12:28.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26148" CreationDate="2015-09-02T10:23:13.057" Score="3" ViewCount="10064" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to increase muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I completed my first month and a half of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to take a one week break and come back the week after? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it affect my performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16383" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-09-02T17:08:21.443" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T18:32:55.363" Title="Is it okay to take a one week break from the gym after the first one and a half months of training?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26145" CreationDate="2015-09-02T11:49:31.263" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physically, and as long as you don't starve during your break, the negative effects will be negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mentally, I can't tell you the amount of people I know who took a short break after just a little while going to the gym and never came back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T11:49:31.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26145" CreationDate="2015-09-02T12:50:36.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Objectively&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Absolutely!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; There's nothing wrong with taking a break from training, especially after working so hard. &lt;em&gt;Besides, it's not like you'd listen to us if we tell you not to take a break :).&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you feel you need the rest, take a break.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One week break will have little impact on your performance, provided you've been working really hard during your training &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;AND&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; you just don't sit down on the couch for a whole week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Subjectively&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't take a break; instead, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reduce your intensity or follow a less intense program.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. This is because you're still a newbie in training and it's too early to take a vacation. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You might not come back!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've started a good thing; don't ruin it with a long break; instead, you can perform some bodyweight exercises or cardio. The idea is to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;make training a natural part of your life;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; when you reach that stage, you can take as much vacation as possible because you'll always be back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;But If You Must&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a motivational site you should check out everyday while on break.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Check out the profiles everyday and you'll always find the enthusiasm and encouragement to come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Good luck!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T12:50:36.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26145" CreationDate="2015-09-02T14:33:05.263" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18920/preventing-muscle-and-energy-level-loss-after-an-upset-stomach&quot;&gt;High level Olympic weight lifters suffer a ~10% loss in strength after a month of not training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I'll take a week off every couple of months (by choice or chance), and if anything I get a bit more flexible and can get back into the weight room with less nagging inflammation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the one week side, and definitely if you're out near two weeks or more, you might go through &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of points I'd raise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For a lot of folks one week can turn into two which becomes five. There's a lot to be said for keeping a habit a habit. If you're traveling, consider going for a run those days or just doing &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; that keeps you in the mindset of training, especially if you're new to maintaining a fitness schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep your ego in check on your first day (or few days) back, and lift at ~80% of what you did before. Lots of warmup, nice and easy. Don't get competitive with yourself or some other dude in the gym that you know you can outlift. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So provided it really is a week or two, and you ramp back in, it's really not a problem at all. If you find yourself training solidly for months, a week off can be a terrific thing mentally, to remind you what it feels like to be in shape but not constantly recovering, and physically to reset your hormones a bit and let some things heal up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T14:33:05.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26145" CreationDate="2015-09-02T18:32:55.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is perfectly okay to take a break, as long as it is just one week and your diet and sleeping are still being kept under control reasonably. My rule of thumb is that every two months you can have a one week break. It gives your mind a chance to calm and ease and your body a chance at a long, but not too long, rest. So sure, go ahead. You won't lose strength unless you are our for more than 3-4 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T18:32:55.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26122" CreationDate="2015-09-02T18:47:55.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you have something you can use as a bench at your home, then there are plenty of workouts you can do with dumbbells to build muscle primarily but also burn some fat, too. Try to train each part 2-3 times a week, do under 16 repetitions, and do about 2-4 sets. (Some of the following you nay need an adjustable bench for) For your chest: Chest fly, incline chest fly, dumbbell bench press, incline dumbbell bench press, seated dumbbell chest press. For you biceps: Concentration curl, classic curl, straight arm standing curl, hammer curl. For your triceps: Tricep kickback, dumbbell tricep press. For your legs: Dumbbell front squat, calf raises w/dumbbell, dumbbell walking lunge. For your back: Dumbbell shrugs, Dumbbell rows. For your delts: Seated dumbbell shoulder press, decline flies, front raises, side lateral raises. There's also options for abs, but I personally believe that abdominal muscles are easier to be attained with a combination of calisthenics and cardio than weights, unless you are squatting/deadlifting(both w/barbell), which you are not. As for fat burn, I would say weights help but to really burn fat you have to run, bike, or swim. The last two are easier on your joints, I should note.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="16691" LastEditDate="2015-09-02T19:02:05.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T19:02:05.740" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-02T19:07:13.850" Score="-1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am wondering about a question many others probably have. We all know that the mechanics of pull ups and chin ups are somewhat, but not very, similar, and we know chin ups activate biceps more, but in the end, for back, bicep, abdominal, and forearm development, which one is more beneficial?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T19:34:55.523" Title="Are chin ups or pull ups more beneficial?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26151" CreationDate="2015-09-02T19:34:55.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In answer to your title question, &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MathematiciansAnswer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;no&lt;/a&gt;. They both involve all of the muscles listed above. A chin-up focuses a bit more on the biceps whilst pull-ups distribute more effort across the back. Changing the width of your grip &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/513/what-difference-does-hand-arm-position-make-in-chin-ups?rq=1&quot;&gt;will focus on different parts of your back&lt;/a&gt;. But in the end, your body is doing the same amount of work over all of those muscles you listed. You can vary them depending on which parts you prefer to focus on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T19:34:55.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26029" CreationDate="2015-09-02T20:57:01.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to perform a large amount of push ups, you would have to possess some strength to do so, but it is made up more of endurance than strength when it comes to high reps of anything. For example, people will say you need high endurance to run great distances, so why wouldn't it be the same for a great number of push ups, too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying push ups are cardio but if you are doing over 20 reps of them(or anything, for that matter) then they/it are/is not building your strength, you are doing endurance training, unless, as I stated before(in the comments), you have an insane workout like doing thousands a day it might build you a little bit of strength. But I wouldn't suggest it. You would hurt yourself(most likely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T20:57:01.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15751" CreationDate="2015-09-02T21:04:22.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, upright rows are one of the most dangerous exercises for your shoulders, along with wide grip pull ups, behind the head pulldowns, etc. I would highly recommend not doing them. They can even hurt your shoulders to a point where they suffer from permanent damage, or to where you need surgery. If you want to strengthen your delts and traps, I'd suggest doing shrugs, shoulder presses, side lateral raises, decline flies, and front raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T21:04:22.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26140" CreationDate="2015-09-02T23:01:11.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I'm doing squats my knees go forward further than my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not necessarily an issue.  It may be due to your individual leverages, how wide your squat stance is, and whether you you can hit appropriate depth that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also when I'm standing up I tend to move weight more towards my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the part that I would concern myself with.  This symptom either means you are leaning too far forward or you are allowing your upper back to cave in.  I'll come back to this in a moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was told that this technique is wrong ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please consider the source anytime someone tells you what you are doing is wrong--and that includes me or anyone else on this site.  Consider their proficiency, or whether they are an &quot;armchair quarterback&quot; (someone with no experience who are just repeating what others have said, but without the original context).  Not all advice from professionals will apply to you specifically.  Someone who squats with a squat suit is going to do things differently than someone who doesn't even use a belt.  When reading articles, consider who the author and audience of the material are.  It might not apply to you personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back to the squat:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a short checklist for you, and this really is the basic minimums for a squat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The crease of your hips go below the tops of your knees.  This is considered depth.  There's nothing magical about going beyond this, but this should be your goal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar stays over mid foot throughout the lift.  This position provides the best balance and the strongest position to stand back up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything else is simply things to help you get better at the exercise.  There are many conflicting opinions as to wide vs. narrow stance, sitting back vs. just going down.  I have my (very strong) opinions on the matter, but the bottom line is that you have to find out what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My biggest objection to knee travel and &quot;sitting back&quot;:&lt;/strong&gt; By worrying about where your knees are, the usual way people compensate is sticking their butts back.  That causes the lifter to have to lean forward farther than they normally would to compensate.  The end result is that they can't hit depth and they make an already difficult lift even more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not everyone is built the same, so not everyone should squat the same.  The way my hips are built, I can't assume the super wide stance that a number of people advocate.  I've found that having my feet roughly shoulder width apart works well for me.  My knees do travel slightly forward of my toes, and I'm able to squat 450 lbs for multiple reps like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Paused Squats:&lt;/strong&gt;  I'm a huge fan of paused squats, particularly if you are still trying to feel your way through the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Descend at a normal speed to the bottom position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay tight, but remain at the bottom for a couple seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand back up as quickly as you can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't stay at the bottom if the bar is too far forward, so you end up correcting yourself much more quickly than bouts of questions and video feedback can give you.  It also helps you find the body positions where you personally are strongest.  If you employ them, I recommend you stick with a weight that you know you won't be stuck at the bottom with, but still heavy enough to feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:01:11.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25818" CreationDate="2015-09-02T23:15:16.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, of course it would. They all are great sources of protein and are healthy. However, you should include some variety in your diet, too, not solely these three foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:15:16.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25067" CreationDate="2015-09-02T23:30:11.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should eat after working out, especially protein. Protein is what helps muscles recover after a workout, and eating after working out helps nutrients flow to your muscles quicker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:30:11.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25865" CreationDate="2015-09-02T23:41:43.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, testosterone is produced more when you have sexual stimulation. This is because testosterone is produced in the testicles, which are responsible for sexual reproduction. When a male is aroused, his testosterone levels will spike up, due to the fact that it stimulates the chemicals moving around in the guy's testicles. In a 2012 study, it was discovered by British researchers that levels of testerone increased in almost forty percent of men after visiting a sex club. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239621/Researchers-test-mens-testosterone-levels-rise-arousal--visiting-sex-club.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239621/Researchers-test-mens-testosterone-levels-rise-arousal--visiting-sex-club.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T23:41:43.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26173" CreationDate="2015-09-02T23:55:55.333" Score="3" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I squat, I cannot find a proper position that completely alleviates discomfort from the barbell. If it's too high, I find that I immediately feel a strain in my neck. Any further, it feels like the entire weight is against my spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During barbell squats, are you suppose to carry the barbell with your hands? Or maybe your shoulder blades? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where is the ideal barbell position?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastActivityDate="2015-09-04T15:40:31.813" Title="Barbell position during squats" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-03T00:34:39.130" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am a 16 yr old young male nearing 17, about 160 Ibs, about 6'0, and in the 13-15% body fat range. I'd like to get down to 8-12% instead. Currently, I train my chest, traps, triceps, and legs together 2-3 times a week along with my lats, biceps, and shoulders together 2-3 times a week. Each weightlifting session tolls to about 45 minutes. I don't have a designated cardio workout, but I frequently walk, bike, and swim quite often. I average 8 hours of sleep a night. I believe I have a mesomorphic body type. I eat healthy and only treat myself every 7-15 days. I eat about 2500 calories a day, 100 g of protein a day, 30 g fiber, 50-60 g healthy fat(oils, nuts, etc.), and I avoid those sugary and artificial foods. My arms, shoulders, back, and chest are all defined, it is my abs and legs that are the problem. May I ask for advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T08:29:35.017" Title="Need help dropping body fat to 8-12%?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-09-08T14:28:55.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26112" CreationDate="2015-09-03T00:49:04.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long answer short: Always. Deadlifts are very hard on the body, not to mention exhausting. I'd say only to deadlift once or at most twice a week, with 1X5. The bright side of this is that you can usually deadlift a whole lot of weight, a person who never lifted might be able to even start with 135, which isn't exactly advanced but far beyond a true beginner's level for other lifts. Intermediates(for deadlifts, of course) should be in the 185-225 range and if you're doing 250 or over you can qualify as advanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T00:49:04.850" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2015-09-03T00:57:44.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A steroid user does make muscle mass gains without working out. However, it wouldn't be as much as it would if they also went to the gym, too. It would be sort of like if a person was to workout but eat poorly, or lack sleep. They might make some gains, but not much. If someone on steroids wants to get insanely jacked, they've got to lift often for long amount of times, too. And roids do help you recover faster. Steroids are just like a supplement, except they give you way more muscle but also give you negative hormonal changes and other negative side effects as well. I would not suggest using them. It's just not worth the amount of problems that come with the muscles they give you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T00:57:44.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-03T01:04:07.180" Score="0" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I do very little working out because I have a busy schedule with working and school...every now and then I'll try to walk around the neighborhood for 40 minutes,but this is every blue moon I'm 5'3 and 112 pounds. Very very skinny.. I want to gain some weight and every time I look up how to gain weight, protein shakes pop up...I just want to look healthy and maybe gain at least 6 to 8 pounds... So is this the right route?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16861" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T05:18:53.223" Title="Weight-gain through Protein shakes" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-09-08T14:30:02.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26165" CreationDate="2015-09-03T02:01:29.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Protein shakes will not make you gain weight alone. In order to gain weight, you have to consume more calories, protein by itself does nothing for weight gain. If you want to gain weight from muscle, you have to lift weights while eating enough calories and protein. It's as simple as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T02:01:29.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26165" CreationDate="2015-09-03T05:18:53.223" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/4066/1771&quot;&gt;Protein shakes are just protein. In a shake.&lt;/a&gt; They won't magically help you gain weight. To gain weight, you need to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6836/1771&quot;&gt;lift weights and eat a lot&lt;/a&gt;. Protein shakes don't have to be part of it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason protein shakes come up when you search for weight gain solutions is because people can make money selling you protein shakes. They make money by saying their product will fix your problem. Their product will not fix your problem. These salespeople are parasites trying to distract you from the hard work of lifting heavy weight and eating a lot of food. Don't let their money-grabbing lies fool you: protein shakes are the least important part of weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T05:18:53.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26160" CreationDate="2015-09-03T05:57:29.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different barbell positions have different advantages. Either way, you shouldn't have to do heavy work with your arms or hands to keep the barbell in place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't keep the barbell on your spine/neck, in a high bar position, it should be just below the neck, in a low bar position, it should be on your shoulders, keep your hands on the bar to make sure your shoulders go back enough to create a shelf for the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High bar squats will be more quad focused, low bar squats will let you use heavier weight, but it's harder to keep a straight back so that you don't do &quot;squat mornings&quot; low bar squats use your hip more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're unable to find a comfortable position for the barbell, try using one of those cylindrical pads or do front squats! Also keep working on your back and shoulders, its more comfortable if you have a muscular area to put the bar on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s4dm7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s4dm7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T05:57:29.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26162" CreationDate="2015-09-03T06:02:43.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If all you want is to reduce fat and maintain/increase muscle, eat a bit less in general and add more protein if possible, 100 g isn't bad, but could be better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your training, sleeping and eating habits seem very good so it should just be a matter of cutting a few (like 500) kcal/day to get lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T06:02:43.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-03T07:36:12.187" Score="3" ViewCount="1492" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm really unhealthy. I have virtually no physical activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well I'm trying to change this. So to start out, I'm doing couch to 5k. If you don't know what it is, it's just a beginner running routine with a mix of jogging and walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started today. I did my first run. But now I'm trying to also focus on my caloric intake so I don't just eat what I've burned off. But I'm confused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an app called my fitness pal&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I don't know how accurate it is, But according to this app, my 30 minutes of exercise burned about 330 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also has a Calorie log. &#xA;According to this log, I ingested 1300 calories but my maximum allowed is 1500. And then it says I burned off 330 calories which means there's 1000 left. So in theory I could eat 500 more calories and still be fine, right? That just doesn't make sense to me. Because even though I ate less calories than it says to eat, I ate junk food. I ate pizza rolls, chips and a bacon cheese burger throughout the day. I know that's unhealthy food. Next time I go grocery shopping I'm buying healthier stuff. But today that's what I had. And what I don't get is that I thought it was grams of fat that caused me to be fat, not calories. Those foods have about 50 grams of fat in total. Shouldn't I be worried about that and not calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand. Why monitor calories but not how much fat I take in? Which one do I worry about to not cancel out the running I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a friend who told me that without supplements, running isn't going to help me lose very much weight and I should just go to the gym instead. Is this true? Am I wasting my time trying to lose weight If all I do is jog, without taking any weight loss supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16864" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T12:13:57.593" Title="What does it mean if I burn more calories than I intake?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26162" CreationDate="2015-09-03T08:29:35.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why you're having such a hard time getting rid of that last bit of fat is that &lt;strong&gt;you have almost no muscle&lt;/strong&gt; for your body to maintain. Given your stats, eating under maintenance is that last thing you need to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to eat above maintenance (which I'd guess in your case is around 2700-2800 kcal), adding about 500 kcal to your macros (so 3200-3300 kcal), though that may be too conservative. I would up your protein and fat intake by 50% and 100% (so 150g and 100-120g, respectively) and fill the rest of your daily calories with carbs. Keep lifting just like you're doing now, making sure to challenge yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this until you've gained 10-15 pounds. Then you can start worrying about losing that bit of fat (which will be very easy to do, given your much increased muscle mass). Sadly, there are no shortcuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T08:29:35.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26170" CreationDate="2015-09-03T10:11:01.867" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Explaining all of this in detail will require whole books and not just a few paragraphs, so I'll try to be as brief and concise as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of your body as a &lt;strong&gt;machine that requires energy&lt;/strong&gt; -which we count in calories- to function. Give it exactly the energy it needs, and you will neither gain or lose weight. Give it more, and you will gain; less, and you will lose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BMR&lt;/strong&gt;, or Basal Metabolic Rate, is the calories your body requires to survive in a comatose state (that is, doing absolutely nothing but basic vital functions). It depends on things such as your age, gender, height, weight and body fat percentage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since most of us are not in a coma, we tend to care more about &lt;strong&gt;TDEE&lt;/strong&gt; (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), which as it name indicates takes into account physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at this simple example: John works in an office as a programmer 8 hours a day, drives to work and back and spends the evenings at his couch watching TV. One day John gets fired for spending way too much time on StackExchange. He has to sell his car -so from now on he will walk everywhere- and finds a new job in construction, working 12 hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John is the same person that he was a couple of weeks before, and his BMR remains unchanged. However, his much increased daily physical activity means that his body will require much more energy, and thus his TDEE will be considerably higher than before. So if his diet remains the same, he will more than likely lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating less calories than your TDEE is called caloric deficit, and it will make you lose weight. Eating exactly the same calories as your TDEE is called being at maintenance, and you will neither gain or lose weight. Eating more calories than your TDEE is called caloric surplus, and it will make you gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding fats, the are not bad for you. In fact, they're necessary for your body to function properties. As seen above, &lt;strong&gt;eating fats will not make you fat, being at a surplus will&lt;/strong&gt;. The reason why most people identify fats with getting fat is because they're very caloric (1g of fat equals about 9 calories, compared to 4 for protein and carbs). Extreme example: if your TDEE was 2000 cal and all you ate everyday was 1800 cal of pure fat, you would lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Weight supplements are irrelevant. Go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T10:11:01.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26160" CreationDate="2015-09-03T11:40:47.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found this video very helpful from Mark Rippetoe when I was getting started:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/g2tyOLvArw0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/g2tyOLvArw0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(not sure about how do embed video in the answer, or even if it's possible)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe is more heavily bent on low bar squats, while I prefer high bar squats.  However, his troubleshooting tips are very valuable either way.  The quick troubleshooting list is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the bar wants to roll toward your neck, it's too high&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the bar wants to slide down your back, it's too low&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important take away is that the bar will be going &lt;strong&gt;across your shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;.  I have seen video of people like Max Aita squat with no hands on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say that I don't entirely agree with Rippetoe's hand placement and elbow position recommendations, but they will be good enough to get you started and that's something you can figure out later.  The biggest difference of opinion has to do with the elbows going back.  I find it better for them to stay parallel with the body.  If you feel like too much weight is in your elbow, then you probably have the hands too close to the body.  That's what works for me at any rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T11:40:47.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26170" CreationDate="2015-09-03T12:13:57.593" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt; Change your lifestyle by making reduced portions at meals and some amount of daily exercise a habit and you will lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long Answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It also has a Calorie log. According to this log, I ingested 1300 calories but my maximum allowed is 1500. And then it says I burned off 330 calories which means there's 1000 left. So in theory I could eat 500 more calories and still be fine, right? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrong. If you want to lose weight then calories burned needs to exceed calories taken in. Burn of calories includes BMR as described by Eric Trigo, so you don't necessarily have to exercise to the tune of 1500 calories per day. You can estimate your BMR online using any number of tools, for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That just doesn't make sense to me. Because even though I ate less calories than it says to eat, I ate junk food. I ate pizza rolls, chips and a bacon cheese burger throughout the day. I know that's unhealthy food. Next time I go grocery shopping I'm buying healthier stuff. But today that's what I had. And what I don't get is that I thought it was grams of fat that caused me to be fat, not calories. Those foods have about 50 grams of fat in total. Shouldn't I be worried about that and not calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating simple sugars like those found in junk foods, or excess fat, or excess salt, can lead to other health complications like diabetes and hypertension. There are also issues with junk food not really satisfying hunger pangs in the same way that healthier foods do, which is the real challenge from a weight loss perspective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why monitor calories but not how much fat I take in? Which one do I worry about to not cancel out the running I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitoring fat intake rather than calories is more important if you have for example issues with high cholesterol. From a weight loss perspective you are interested in reducing calories. A lot of people don't understand that you can minimize my fat intake but still take in a grotesque amount of calories. For example if I drink soda pop I'll probably take in more calories than if I drink the same amount of whole milk, but drinking soda gives me zero fat while whole milk is something like 3% fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also have a friend who told me that without supplements, running isn't going to help me lose very much weight and I should just go to the gym instead. Is this true? Am I wasting my time trying to lose weight If all I do is jog, without taking any weight loss supplements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any kind of physical activity will increase calorie burn and thus help you lose weight. You don't need supplements, just eat less (target half as much... but realistically you will probably only be able to sustain portions reduced by 25% from what you eat today) and exercise. Several years ago I dropped 30 pounds (a bit less than 15% of my body weight) in six months by cutting portion sizes and walking 4 miles a day. That is anecdotal, your experience will likely be different, but serves to illustrate the point that you can get results without buying into the fitness industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16295" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T12:13:57.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26026" CreationDate="2015-09-03T13:22:59.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible to get a low body fat percentage without cardio, just harder. In the case without cardio, diet is the number one factor for fat loss(or actually, with cardio, too). In order to get low body fat % with no cardio, you must make sure to increase your protein intake and make sure your fat intake is about  40% less than your protein intake. So if you're eating 100 g of protein, eat 60 g fat. You should also restrict calories but not so far as to where you lose muscles. Weight training, calisthenics, or team sports may be goods ideas for you to approach if you don't want to do cardio, but since you're already doing martial arts, diet is still going to be the most important factor here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T13:22:59.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25707" CreationDate="2015-09-03T13:26:19.267" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. If you are doing 1-5 pull ups, most likely. If you are doing 6-15 pull ups, maybe. If you are doing 20+ pull ups, lat pulldowns are more effective because you can adjust the weight level. This is referring to both back and bicep strength/development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="16691" LastEditDate="2015-09-03T15:43:36.987" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T15:43:36.987" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26178" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-03T13:32:01.197" Score="1" ViewCount="1924" Body="&lt;p&gt;I broke my Collar Bone back at the beginning of April which resulted in me having an operation to repair the damage and have a metal plate put in. I was given the all clear to return to the gym yesterday and told I could do weights again as long as I didn't over do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advise to the type of exercises I could do that will not damage my shoulder any more but will help me still build muscle again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4903" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T15:39:56.597" Title="Weights after a broken Collar Bone" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="74" CreationDate="2015-09-03T13:37:24.147" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, this is false. Let me provide an example. You can't eat 100 Oreos before your workout and expect no weight gain or negative side effects. Regardless of whether you are working out or not, if you eat a lot of junk, you will get fat unless you are genetically gifted of one of our unnatural friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T13:37:24.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25707" CreationDate="2015-09-03T15:20:06.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Well, Your Coach Is Sorta Right&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullup is a great bodyweight exercise that can build your upper back, lower back, lateral, shoulders, triceps, biceps &lt;em&gt;(chinups)&lt;/em&gt; and even your abs. Because the minimum weight &lt;em&gt;(you can increase weights pulled by using a dip belt)&lt;/em&gt; you'll have to lift is your body, you need some strength in your arms to do that, unlike a lateral pulldown, on which you can simply adjust the weight you're pulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Form&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Unless one's performing a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAZaHzd6qAY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;kipling&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, it's hard to perform a pullup with a bad form, without immediately feeling the effects. With lateral pulldown, it's relatively easy to pull with a bad form, especially since one can simply adjust the weight to a comfortable level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Final reason is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Strength.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; A lot of the people performing lateral pulldown use weights around the 100 lbs range &lt;em&gt;(a lot of people I see actually use the 40 - 80 lbs range)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;That's waaaay low than these people's weights!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; As a result of this, the strength built is lower compared to pullups. Of course, since the weight is adjustable, pulldowns have the potential to build a very strong back &lt;em&gt;(imagine a 200 lb man pulling down 200 lbs)&lt;/em&gt;; however, the benefit-to-cost ratio is very minimal since there are better suitable exercises.    &#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;For Bicep (and Abs) Development&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chinup is superior to lat pulldown. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Besides, since there are numerous exercises for bicep development, it's kinda hard to find someone performing lat pulldown for bicep development.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;In Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;performing pullups &lt;em&gt;(chinups for the lats and abs)&lt;/em&gt; till fatigue&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and then &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;performing pulldowns for conditioning.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2015-09-03T16:15:29.960" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T16:15:29.960" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26178" CreationDate="2015-09-03T15:39:56.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would stay away from isolation workouts and go to compound workouts since other bigger muscles can help out in the routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Types of exercises (dumbbell): Bench Press, Incline Bench Press (go light on this), Flyes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Types of exercises (cables): Seated rows, lat-pull (use wide grip so you don't use too much shoulder), Cable Cross overs, cable flyes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Bicep/Tricep try to use cables for resistance and go slow on the reps. If you want to use dummbells go light and slow on the reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I would also stay away from barbells and go to dumbbells. It will strengthen the controlling muscles and smaller muscles that you probably haven't used in a while and that will definitely make you stronger. I injured my elbow and was out of the gym for about 10 months. And going light-med weight + 10-15 reps was really way to build the foundation again. Now I can lift heavy without my elbow hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16806" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T15:39:56.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2297" CreationDate="2015-09-03T16:33:46.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just saw this post, and thought I should contribute. I had the exact same thing happen to me, where I collapsed and couldn't get up no matter how hard I tried. I ended up getting a blood test done and my CPK levels were sky high and I was immediately yet ignorantly diagnosed with muscular distrophy. A month later i got a biopsy and an EMG  and it turned out I had &quot;asymptomatic elevated CPK&quot; where my CPK levels were high for no obvious  reason. I still get soreness from time to time and a couple of episodes of extreme pain here and there but that's about it. I would get my CPK levels checked if I were you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16870" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T16:33:46.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-03T17:28:20.327" Score="1" ViewCount="661" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be able to do 100+ crunches, but now I can only do 40 and my abs feel like they're burning so badly(after). I don't do crunches often anymore. I lost weight(about 5 pounds) before this started happening. I don't have a six pack. Why are my abs burning so bad? Help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T03:58:58.643" Title="Stomach muscles burn after doing crunches?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25867" CreationDate="2015-09-03T17:36:11.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably stretched your hamstring out of normal proportion because you locked your glutes too tight, would be the best answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T17:36:11.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25867" CreationDate="2015-09-03T18:18:27.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my foot slide out from under me due to the floor being too dusty.  I train in a garage, so that's always a concern.  I've also had the hamstring pull due to factors other than what's immediately obvious.  In your case, a good part of it was probably due to the foot slipping and suddenly loosing tightness on one side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paul Carter has a great &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/11/developing-your-raw-bench-part-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on setting up for the bench&lt;/a&gt;.  Setting up like this will remove 90% of the causes of your foot slipping out from under you.  The important parts (check list and video at the end of the article) are listed below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with your eyes under the bar and the bar at the back of the J-Hooks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuck your toes as far under you as you can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roll the bar to the front of the J-Hooks and arch with your eyes under the new bar position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shove your heals down until they hit the floor (should feel like you are locking in place)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this position, the only thing that will prevent you from staying in a tight set up is if the floor or your shoes are slick.  If I'm unsure about the floor, I'll make sure the heals of my feet lock down so they touch the bench supports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Uncommon causes of hamstring pulls/strains&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insufficient sleep--in fact, too little sleep is the primary cause of most of my gym injuries.  Mainly because it kills my ability to recover and I'm just more brittle overall.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insufficient food--either because it's been too long and my recovery ability is depleted, or because I haven't had the right kind of food and my leg cramps up.  I now have something just before training, throughout training, and just after training.  That seems to avoid this problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration--dehydration causes all sorts of problems and even mild dehydration can set you up for injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Just speculating...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I don't know your routine, or how meticulous you are about your bench set up, I'm guessing what the cause of the foot slippage was.  My guess was that it was due to a combination of a slick shoes or floor and not being quite as tight as you could be.  The heavier you lift the more these little things become bigger issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You were lifting a 4RM (~87.5% of your 1RM), which is significant.  Had you been doing a 10RM or less weight, you probably wouldn't even need an arch to control the bar and press it several times.  I find that as I push myself ever harder that the little things matter more and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T18:18:27.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-03T19:19:23.730" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;What difference does it make for my training if I don't use a barbell, but have two kettlebells (or two dumbbells)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To restrict possible answers, imagine a comparison for deadlifts, squats or bench presses. Deadlifts specially interest me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be using the weight training as a complement for bodyweight exercises. Specially the deadlifts seems difficult to substitute for some bodyweight exercise. I can't think of any bodyweight exercise that engages so many back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, does it really matter whether the weights are connected by a bar or disconnected from each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T20:18:41.643" Title="Weight training with barbell against two kettlebells" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26187" CreationDate="2015-09-03T19:46:05.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're referring to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://eclectickettlebell.com/2013/04/18/how-and-why-to-do-a-kettlebell-suitcase-deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;suitcase deadlift&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ha9S3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ha9S3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are different, for a few reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You'll never get to real barbell deadlift weights, unless you use two barbells (one in each hand). For someone working up a 500lb deadlift, even adjusting a bit, you're not going to be able to find 200lb kettlebells or 200lb dumbells anywhere short of a specialty arrangement. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The weight tracks different. Suitcase deadlifts (with a weight in each hand), tracks very similar to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/TBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;trap / hex bar deadlift&lt;/a&gt;. With a conventional barbell deadlift, you are pushing through your heels as the weight is ahead of you. With suitcase and trapbear deadlifts, the weight is basically directly inline with your center of gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, it does matter, especially if your goal is to get into the higher spectrum of strength. If you don't have a barbell around and have to pick between suitcase or nothing, rock those suitcase deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T19:46:05.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9660" CreationDate="2015-09-03T19:47:20.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased the &lt;a href=&quot;http://iamnotaprogrammer.com/Ikeas-own-standing-desk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ikea Sit and Stand desk&lt;/a&gt;. It has been the solution I was looking for for a long time. You may want to give that one a shot. I got the electric one, which runs just under $500, but they also have a manual (with a lever), that pretty much does the same thing. I highly encourage anyone wanting to have the sitting and standing options on the same desk to give this desk a shot. They gave me (not sure if this is standard) a 90 day refund no questions asked guarantee, so it is worth a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16872" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-11T11:49:43.503" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:49:43.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26187" CreationDate="2015-09-03T20:18:41.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kettlebells are a great way to supplement bodyweight work and to start to move into external resistance training. But they don't really work as a substitute for a barbell. You must take the kettlebell on its own terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is a kettlebell different from a barbell? Well, you can't get as heavy a resistance out of a kettlebell. I've heard of hundred-pound 'bells sold as novelties or sources of bragging rights in an overstocked gym, but a barbell setup even in a small home gym cheaply and easily loads to 300 pounds. Second, a barbell can be easily loaded onto the back, even from a standing position, for exercises like back squats. There are many more differences in programming and form and exercise selection, but suffice to say that they're just not good substitutes for each other. If you want the training effect of one tool, use that tool; otherwise use the other. (If lots of muscle recruitment in the deadlift is your goal, then the tool you need is a barbell and a few hundred pounds of weights. A kettlebell can get you a strong back but it takes a lot more exercises and reps than the simple approach of a barbell deadlift.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gray Cook has good material on the kettlebell deadlift and perhaps other lifts. Pavel Tsatsouline has good material on the kettlebell front squat, swing, clean-and-jerk, and snatch. I would start with those resources to supply training form and programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T20:18:41.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25681" CreationDate="2015-09-03T21:11:24.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably suffering from dehydration. Four miles is a lot to run, and 15 miles is a lot(for most people) to bike. You can start to sweat after even just a half mile in hot weather or in other heated environments. If you have loss of balance or/and fuzzed vision, that raises the chances of the sole cause being dehydration, too. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T21:11:24.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25204" CreationDate="2015-09-03T21:20:51.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have one or more of the following: Back soreness, lower back pain, terrible form, or back injury. I would suggest seeing a doctor, as what it sounds like to me is lower back pain if it has been persisting for more than a few weeks. In the meantime, stop these exercises if they are hurting. There are other alternatives, machines are probably the way to go until your doctor's okay. And if you feel pain anywhere during any exercise, stop. You will hurt yourself or hurt yourself more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T21:20:51.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18932" CreationDate="2015-09-03T21:26:36.583" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your stomach muscles are literally being stretched out(not in the good, growing way) because of all the food they are digesting. Seriously, it's not worth the hours of stomach pains and vomiting. This is coming from someone who experimented from eating 4000 calories all at once at a Chinese Buffet(on my cheat day, too, I learned my lesson) Even on Cheat days, you shouldn't eat that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T21:26:36.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25780" CreationDate="2015-09-03T21:33:42.560" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is probably a combination of muscle soreness and the muscles tensing up because of the cold temperature. I know you're used to squatting, but doing over 100 a day consecutively is really not healthy. You will be sore because of the high repetitions, even if you have strong legs. In general, cold showers aren't healthy, either. I would suggest doing actual barbell squats instead of air squats, as they will be much more beneficial to you, and taking warmer showers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T21:33:42.560" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25780" CreationDate="2015-09-03T23:44:17.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The soreness you're experiencing is probably just &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the cold water, the studies I've read (&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP270570/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938508/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;) are mixed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just coming from a pure medical prospective, &quot;cold water&quot; is defined as water temperature below 68F-77F (20C-25C). There are four phases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cold shock response &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cold incapacitation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypothermia &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Circumrescue collapse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom three you don't really need to worry about as they result (basically) from full immersion, loss of muscle control, hypothermia, and eventually from damage from a rescue itself. So just looking at &lt;em&gt;cold shock response&lt;/em&gt;. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1N6jhsw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Medicine for Moutaineering, 6th Edition&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sudden immersion into cold water stimulates one or more large&#xA;  inspiratory gasps, which is usually followed by hyperventilation and&#xA;  also may be associated with a substantial increase in blood pressure&#xA;  and heart rate. Individuals with cardiac disease may experience&#xA;  cardiac arrest or ventricular fibrillation. If the head is submerged,&#xA;  the gasp reflex could result in aspiration of water and immediate&#xA;  drowning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Subsequent hyperventilation usually diminishes within seconds to&#xA;  minutes but could be exaggerated and prolonged by emotional stress and&#xA;  panic. Uncontrolled hyperventilation makes coordinating breathing with&#xA;  swimming strokes very difficult, which could lead to drowning.&#xA;  Theoretically, cold shock can occur in water warmer than 68 ° F (20 °&#xA;  C), although these effects are more life threatening at temperatures&#xA;  below 59 ° F (15 ° C) and worsen as water temperature decreases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while some people do hop into very cold water and enjoy it, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oregon.gov/osmb/pages/safety/coldwaterimmersion.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;other people really do die doing so&lt;/a&gt;. The text I'm referencing is looking at field cases of people falling or jumping into cold bodies of water quickly, so the applicability of this to a normal household setting with a &quot;cold&quot; water shower is debateable. Regardless:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best way to minimize cold shock is to enter cold water in a slow&#xA;  and controlled manner and to keep the head from being submersed.&#xA;  Individuals should focus on getting through the first minute,&#xA;  suppressing panic, and consciously getting breathing under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So maybe don't just stand there and let the cold water blast you on full. Ease into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T23:44:17.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27228" CreationDate="2015-09-04T01:35:38.087" Score="5" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;People who have difficulty articulating their fitness goals may begin a workout program with the hope that it will simply &quot;build strength&quot;.  Also, workout programs are not uncommonly recommended solely on this same merit, that any such program will &quot;build strength&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evaluating a program based on the progress it allows in performing its specific movements does not evaluate the program in terms of strength in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deciding a formal definition of strength would allow objective evaluation, but it would also require tools which do this evaluation using a movement that avoids simply measuring one's ability to perform that specific movement.  Such tools would likely not be readily available to non-professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For the desired result of building strength, how does the layperson measure a workout program's effectiveness in achieving that goal?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a program already in place, what measurements are to be compared between the present and the point before starting the program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a proposed program, what are the measurements that one needs to clarify that the program is presumed to improve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This question is not asking for possible properties or components of such a program (this is covered by answers to other existing questions).  A measurably effective program may not necessarily hold the same properties as other similarly effective programs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is acknowledged that clearly defining fitness goals allows a program's effectiveness to be more easily measured; this question is asking about cases where a program is being used or recommended without a more specific goal than presented above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16762" LastEditorUserId="16762" LastEditDate="2015-09-06T14:39:39.207" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T03:08:41.087" Title="How does a layperson measure the effectiveness of a strength building program?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27199" CreationDate="2015-09-04T13:32:47.647" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the middle of August, I had the toenail removed from my left big toe. As such, I've been out of the gym since, mainly because any slight movement caused pain as my toe was healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My toe has healed up slightly, but I still cant' wear closed toe shoes. However, I'm beginning to notice atrophy in my muscles. Are there any workouts, strength or bodyweight, that I could do in the meantime until I can go back to the gym that won't impact my toe? Basically I can't put pressure on my toe, like bounce on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking ab workouts like bicycle kicks, leg raises, possible side planks and Russian twists could work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16109" LastActivityDate="2015-09-05T22:48:37.770" Title="Workouts on a hurt toe?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27198" CreationDate="2015-09-04T14:29:11.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how comfortable you are with not putting weight on your toe, pretty much anything is valid. Properly done third-world squats should not be putting any real weight on your toe (less than walking, certainly). Hindu Squats, of course, are out. Pistol squats on the one leg probably ought to be fine. In terms of machines, most of them should not be directly involving your toes, or at least should be easy enough to modify to push with your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other concern, of course, may be foot safety. I know many people are leery of being barefoot or wearing sandals in a gym. Personally, I've never had an issue — and I think that most sneakers won't do much to protect your foot anyhow — but your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, while the weather is still nice, consider making use of a swimming pool, at least as long as your toenail situation doesn't involve an open wound. The water will help support you. There may be some mild discomfort from the water pushing against the nail bed, but it will be pretty minor in my experience. If the toe isn't all the way off (a hangnail), you might also want to either clip it down or to tape it down with something water-resistant, because the nail flopping about in the water definitely can be painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I've been where you are. I've lost the nail on my big toe at least three times in my life, and I've suffered from ingrown toenails a few times. Honestly, it's more or less a matter of a combination of learning ways to avoid putting weight on the toe and occasionally pushing through the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-09-04T14:29:11.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26160" CreationDate="2015-09-04T15:40:31.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Position is personal or can be based on your goal (especially high-bar vs. low-bar), but I think what you're asking is this: How can you make the bar not hurt in WHATEVER position you choose?&#xA;Simple (ish): Make sure you pull your shoulders back (pinch your shoulder blades together) then shrug up, which creates a platform of muscle over/behind your shoulders, and it is this muscle which should be supporting the bar. Not your spine, not your neck, not your shoulder blades. Muscle. &#xA;This can be seen in the pictures posted by Marten, and is probably gone into in depth in the Rippetoe article. Rip is the man when it comes to low-bar squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2015-09-04T15:40:31.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27533" CreationDate="2015-09-05T06:12:45.977" Score="6" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not looking for opinion on which one is the &quot;best app out there&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started working out with a personal trainer and have not been able to find an app where:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Personal Trainer can design my workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I/We can track against how I did&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He The Personal Trainer can possibly design sessions when I don't train with him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware of the following apps but they don't suite my bill:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting Log &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fit77 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;LiftBig &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5771" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T19:34:21.277" Title="Looking for a mobile app that can help me coordinate my workout with my personal trainer" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;app&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-14T20:46:36.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12680" CreationDate="2015-09-05T14:48:09.977" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can run 3 times a week, doing 1 elevation run and 2 easy long runs. That would help you to build strength in your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17887" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-11T11:47:17.433" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:47:17.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-05T15:03:50.910" Score="5" ViewCount="2295" Body="&lt;p&gt;Particularly as you place the ball of your foot down and transfer weight onto it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; image I believe it's #3, and #18-20. These correspond with Sartorius, Gracilis, Adductor Longus, and Pectineus, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lTnfX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lTnfX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Leg muscles&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They've become deactivated after my &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_cruciate_ligament&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PCL&lt;/a&gt; tear, and due to 'not having faith in them' I've developed bad form in my one-leg squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preferably something that I can do at home. I'm attempting some sit-ups/leg-lifts next, but I'd really like to pack on improve my strength in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16086" LastEditorUserId="10881" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2017-11-08T17:33:09.073" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T17:33:09.073" Title="Exercise to isolate the leg stability muscles used when walking backwards" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-05T16:28:40.207" Score="4" ViewCount="2119" Body="&lt;p&gt;there are two ways to do a sit-up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the easy way, which is the way you probably do it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and the hard way, which involves&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;maintaining posture of straight back, with shoulders in their proper position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as if you were&#xA;standing confidently, unafraid, in front of an audience, perhaps as&#xA;if you were finishing an opera, arms extended, embracing the world.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing them wrong my whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what sort of difference I can expect in my abdomen. Which affects what muscles differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16086" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T22:27:12.707" Title="sit-ups form: difference between straight back/shoulders back, vs. hunched" Tags="&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27204" CreationDate="2015-09-05T22:45:21.073" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fact is, neither of these sit ups realistically will build any muscle in your abdomen unless you are either relatively weak(doing under 20 sit ups), or if you are using a weight plate or kettlebell. However, they still are a form of exercise, so your gut might disappear if you do them consistently, but not because you are building muscles(most likely), but because you are burning a little, tiny bit of fat every time you do a sit up. Sit ups are harmful to your lower back though, anyway, if you want defined abs you should try doing pull ups, barbell squats, deadlifts(only once a week), push ups, and dumbbell/barbell rows. You also should also combine this with cardio and keep a fair diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-05T22:45:21.073" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27198" CreationDate="2015-09-05T22:48:37.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are plenty of upper body workouts you can do with an injured toe(bench press, bicep curls, seated shoulder press, seated row, etc.) As for lower body, you're kind of stuck a little bit for barbell exercises, but you could certainly continue to do leg curls and leg extensions on the machines!:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-05T22:48:37.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26082" CreationDate="2015-09-05T22:58:51.007" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it could be in part because a push up is using primarily chest muscles, while apparently you are working your biceps and triceps. Maybe those are stronger for some reason for you. Also, 13 kilos(28 pounds) is chump weight(no offense). But if you are doing 30 reps of that, you should be able to lift 1-5 reps of 35 kilos, or 77 pounds, which still isn't a whole lot for a one rep max. I'd say try either eating more if you're skinny or less if you're fat, if you're medium or muscular I don't know how push ups could possibly pose a problem. Also, try doing bench press(using a spotter), begin with just the bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-05T22:58:51.007" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-06T00:20:55.710" Score="2" ViewCount="8289" Body="&lt;p&gt;In madcow 5x5, it states you can substitute incline press for overhead press, which focuses on the shoulders. Does this mean incline press works shoulders primarily, too? I am confused here, I thought incline press built your chest. Help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T12:28:56.567" Title="Will incline press target shoulders more than chest?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14301" CreationDate="2015-09-06T00:31:52.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is more of balance I'd say over anything otherwise. You have to take total control of your body, by stretching, meditating, practicing exercises involving balance, and etc. You might also need to build your entire upper body for the strength part. However, even after doing all these, some people may still find it challenging(too heavy, too old, etc.) and may not be able to do them. Handstand push ups could really screw you over if you can't do them right, or if you can't lift your weight, so I'd say don't do them unless you are positive you can lift your weight and lift it properly. Head injuries, neck injuries, and shoulder injuries could result otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T00:31:52.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24948" CreationDate="2015-09-06T00:34:57.553" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, not unless you are doing under 20 reps, which you are not. Otherwise, or in your case, you have to do barbell squats. End of discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T00:34:57.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-06T00:38:23.630" Score="2" ViewCount="1296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if doing lots of push ups(100), lots of pull ups(50), and lots of dips(40) daily will build muscles. That's all. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T12:29:10.557" Title="Effects of doing many push ups, pull ups, dips?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25740" CreationDate="2015-09-06T01:32:55.673" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, chest and triceps have to be worked on the same day, due to the fact that nearly every chest exercise works the triceps, too. The same law applies for the back and biceps. Imagine a robber walking into a bank without a gun. There is no robbery, because there is a missing link, the gun. Trying to rob a bank with no weapon is like trying to work your chest without your triceps. You need to do both to have a successful workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T01:32:55.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27195" CreationDate="2015-09-06T01:48:25.833" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are doing 1-7 repetitions and you are eating 100-500 calories more than you burn, you are building strength. The same applies for 8-15 repetitions, except in that case you will be building size. If your workout consists of more than 15 repetitions, you are likely preparing to enter endurance training, or something along those lines. In order to build strength, I would suggest checking out madcow 5x5, this plan: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T01:48:25.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-06T01:50:44.467" Score="1" ViewCount="3612" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bench max is 225, and I am seriously considering benching my 150 Ib friend at the gym. He says I can do it if I want. Is this safe, and what is the worst outcome. What is the likely outcome?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T09:17:06.623" Title="Is it safe to bench press another person?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27217" CreationDate="2015-09-06T09:17:06.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Can You Bench Your Friend?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Theoretically Yes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;......but I think the biggest problem you'll face is your friend lying still like a barbell. Since &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;humans instinctively fight for control when they're off balance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, it might be relatively hard for you to keep your friend in the air.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Another problem will be the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;handle bars&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. What regions of your friend will you be holding?&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Is It Safe?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't consider it safe for the above reasoning. Because your friend might instinctively fight for control, the force exerted on you will be greater than just his physical weight alone. This might cause you to lose balance of him and presto......&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you both crash.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Likely Questions To Consider&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;What parts of his body will you hold while lifting him and how stable will those be? &lt;em&gt;Unless you're planning on strapping him on a pole like a roasted pig, this might be a big problem.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Where is the starting position? Bench press stations usually have stands for the barbell before lifting. Where will you put your friend? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Inherently dangerous stunts like this usually have spotters &lt;em&gt;(in case something goes wrong).&lt;/em&gt; Do you have one?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Last but not least......&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;why?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;In Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can provide solutions to the above questions, you should be able perform this activity. Unless it's for one of those wacky/goofy videos, I don't see the point though. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I would, however, be curious about the result &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T09:17:06.623" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-06T13:32:35.303" Score="1" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I stand normally I feel the bulk of my weight distributed under the big toe joint (the joint closest to the foot proper), and the inside of my heel.  I presume this is abnormal.  Also, I've had bunions and bunion surgery before, and I think that my weight is distributed like that may be the reason I previously developed bunions.  I have not had bunions for 10 years, after the surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm doing now is self-correction, by intentionally moving my ankles such that the weight feels more evenly distributed among the whole surface under the foot.  This is now a habit and I do it without thinking about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had any issues with this yet, with frequent and long running or just general daily walking.  Is this a bad habit I've gotten myself into, for any reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T13:32:35.303" Title="Dangers of attempted self-correction of foot weight distribution issue?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;foot&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27224" CreationDate="2015-09-06T19:02:39.983" Score="1" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 21 years old male, around 1.80 cm and 72 kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I study at college so I spend most of the day seated, I try to keep a good posture but if I spend a lot of time seated I end up having bad postures and my lower back aches from time to time. I especially feel this if I don't do any kind of physical exercise. I've been told that strengthening the muscles of my back would help me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually swim and it's quite effective but I will spend most of this month travelling and I won't have access to a swimming pool. I would like to do some kind of physical exercise to keep up during this month. I have tried doing some bodyweight exercises like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.freeletics.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Freeletics&lt;/a&gt; and I was looking for something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What kind of bodyweight exercises would you recommend me to gain strength in my back?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2019-02-27T20:30:08.847" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T20:30:08.847" Title="What kind of exercises can I do to strengthen my back?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27227" CreationDate="2015-09-06T19:15:32.917" Score="1" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often have a very high heart rate when doing cardiovascular exercise even if I try to keep low intensity when doing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mostly run or swim and I would like to be able to keep a lower heart rate while doing exercise. Also, sometimes I feel a bit dizzy if I stop suddenly the exercise without decreasing the intensity bit by bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, my heart rate doesn't decrease very fast when I finish the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is decreasing slowly over time when I keep doing exercise in a regular basis but I would like to know &lt;strong&gt;if there are any tips to keep my heart rate lower when doing exercise and to get back to a normal heart rate afterwards&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T00:45:07.383" Title="How can I effectively decrease my heart rate (during and after exercise)?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27297" CreationDate="2015-09-06T19:25:19.993" Score="2" ViewCount="3513" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 21 years old male around 180 cm and 72 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often do cardio exercise but I've never done any kind of strength related exercise. I want to start doing some and I was considering &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.freeletics.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Freeletics&lt;/a&gt; as a starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What attracted me about it was the possibility of doing the exercises almost anywhere (because not much space is needed) and not needing any additional equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I tried some of the workouts and, while I felt perfectly capable of doing some of them, there were others that I think that are too hard for me at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it would be good for me if I keep doing those workouts that I'm capable of completing right know and trying those that I can't once in a while or if it would be better to do something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;strong&gt;would Freeletics make an impact on me as a begginer or should I seek something easier at first?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The main problem for completing the workouts is that some of them are too &quot;long&quot; for me and I don't have the required endurance to complete them (&lt;strong&gt;Dione&lt;/strong&gt; would be a good example of this, 3 rounds, 75 jumping jacks, 25 burpees, 50 straight leg lever,75 jumping jacks, 50 situps, 25 burpees each one of them) and for individual exercises the problem usually is a lack of strenght (I can't do a proper pullup)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastEditorUserId="17896" LastEditDate="2015-09-07T11:44:07.203" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T16:29:51.133" Title="Is Freeletics a good way to start doing exercise?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27221" CreationDate="2015-09-06T19:34:04.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Only A Few Recommended BodyWeight Exercises&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pullup and Chinup:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Seriously, this should be an exercise in everyone's arsenal. These exercises guaranteed to build your upper body, make you stronger, agile, and increase your strength and flexibility. &#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pull up&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(fingers pointed away from your body)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AebUx.jpg&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Chin up&lt;em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;em&gt;(fingers pointed towards from your body):&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://www.1hourathlete.com/uploads/4/6/0/8/46087455/751515_orig.jpg&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Push up:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; If pull up is designed to build your back, push up is designed to build up your front. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;It's absolutely necessary to build both the back and the front; otherwise, you'll suffer from muscular imbalance and your posture will suffer for it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20150320222348/https://speedendurance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Push-Ups.jpg&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Running:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This won't necessarily strengthen your back; however, it's generally recommended for overall fitness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yoga and Pilates:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; These are slow moving set of exercises that are designed to strengthen your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are variations of these exercises that you can perform and regularly performing them will result in strong back, front, and core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; While strengthening your back is a great idea, you need to build your legs as well. &lt;strong&gt;Strong upper body and weak lower body isn't balanced.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T18:14:10.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2015-09-06T21:40:11.757" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If, you are referring solely to weight loss and nothing else, it does not matter. However, if you are shooting to lose weight, and be healthy, then yes, it does. The best time is to exercise somewhere between 9 A.M. to 12 P.M.(Noon). This is because a morning exercise after eating, you will be most awake, it will get you ready for the rest of the day(help you think and get you more alert), and it will burn calories, not muscle. If you exercise way too early, you will burn muscles because you probably are didn't eat, and you are still most likely waking up. At night, exercise will keep you from sleeping and in the afternoon people start to usually lose some energy. So exercising in the mid-late morning is the best road to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T21:40:11.757" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25282" CreationDate="2015-09-06T23:07:58.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA; In addition to the options provided by JSimonsen's answer, I have another possibility:&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Muscle gain:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; You might think that you haven't been performing some resistance exercises; however, there's are at least 2 resistance exercises you've been performing:&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Biking.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; 70 miles biking every week will certainly increase your thigh and calves muscles &lt;em&gt;(especially if high resistance is used)&lt;/em&gt;. Since the legs comprise some of the largest muscles in the body, a 4-lb increase in the legs won't be easily noticeable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Running.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Depending on the intensity and duration, there should be a noticeable increase in your calves and thighs &lt;em&gt;(if sprinting)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Contrary to popular opinion, weight training the upper body isn't the only way to gain mass; you can strengthen your lower body muscles &lt;em&gt;(resulting in some mass increase)&lt;/em&gt; with biking, sprinting, and jumping.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T23:07:58.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27222" CreationDate="2015-09-07T00:45:07.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two ways, but first figure out what the dizziness feeling is or at least make sure your training with someone else who knows they need to keep an eye on you. I cant think of a time I was dizzy after stopping fast, so that would scare me. So you know, to compare, my heart rate doesn't drop too fast after a certain point. After training at 160 bpm it will drop to 130 quickly then 110 after 30-60 seconds maybe then down lower over the next 5-10 minutes. My resting heart rate is 45 bpm which is different from most people in the same shape that I am in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One you should incorporate some high intensity workouts in your routine. Sprint for 10-20 minutes at a time. Go all out for 5-10 minutes. I do this for running so swimming may have a little difference in the timing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two you need to find out what low intensity means. You can do this by using heart rate monitors and defining what each zone means. For example, when your entering the aerobic zone this means that your breathing rate is just starting to be more than normal. See the chart &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/article/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for more reliable information. Another way to do this is by running with someone to help them start out running which will force you to their slower pace, force your self to slow down using a watch, or take very short and slow strides to do a lazy jog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T00:45:07.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27195" CreationDate="2015-09-07T03:08:41.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The program that allows your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength level&lt;/a&gt; to advance your 1RM the quickest, over a sustained period of time, and generates the least injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength level (untrained, novice, intermediate, etc) needs to be factored in because a novice program will have faster increases in absolute strength but only for trainees in that bracket (novices). An intermediate lifter would be unable to recover from the stress, and likewise a novice lifter can handle faster increases than an intermediate because they are so much further away than their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;genetic potential&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oldschooltrainer.com/bill-starrs-5-x-5-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bill Star 5x5 intermediate program&lt;/a&gt;, you are increasing your strength by 2.0% per week. You can bump it up or down a little, and there are subtlties that affect different people (people come from different backgrounds, identical people will have different sleep and eating patterns, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's say that you have two programs, A &amp;amp; B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Program A is a compound barbell training program that will let me increase my weekly strength by 2.0%. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Program B is a compound barbell training program that will let me increase my weekly strength by 3.5%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty obvious, controlling for the lifts themselves and how long you can stay on the program, that the one that allows you have sustained day-over-day (novice), week-over-week (intermediate), or month-over-month (advanced/elite) gains is the one to pick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking it further, I asked a question myself a few months back about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/19592/7091&quot;&gt;why progressive overload programs don't allow you to make linear progress forever&lt;/a&gt;. Beefing up my answer a bit, I would add that &lt;em&gt;the program must have a proven track record of safety&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the real world, injuries (bs small time overuse all the way to fractures) are going to make a &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; bigger difference than the 2.0% vs 3.5% above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally (37 years old, 187lbs, 5RM squat 360), I've found that I'll do a progressive overload program for 8 weeks, twice a year (or so). The linear programs work fine for maintenance mode, just stop with the weekly increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T03:08:41.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-07T09:51:56.193" Score="2" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any connection with sweating and working out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does sweating more means that I am burning calories? or is it ok not to sweat while working out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T14:54:17.680" Title="effects of sweating while working out" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27229" CreationDate="2015-09-07T10:45:19.197" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sweating is your body's way of cooling down and it has nothing to do with burning calories. If you wanted to measure that you'd look for how much and hard you're panting – that's the fat oxidising away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of sweat can very a lot from person to person and not sweating during a workout is of course okay but I'd question if you'd really gone as hard as you could have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T10:45:19.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27212" CreationDate="2015-09-07T10:51:19.780" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will, up to a point. If you can only do 5-10 straight reps before having to break then it's still heavy enough to build decent muscle for you. Once you can do around fifteen or more in a row, however, it'll start to become decreasingly effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T10:51:19.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25932" CreationDate="2015-09-07T12:41:05.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heh. I usually have trouble with excessive sweating when running too, although apparently not quite to the same level. I personally wring my clothes out if they're too soaked in sweat, then lay them out flat on my car's dashboard, but that's also because I'm usually running at a destination, such as before theater practice starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for being hot and sticky afterwards, a quick rinse in the shower does do wonders. While you're showering, the sink makes a fine place to stick the clothing, then you can move it back afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T12:41:05.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27229" CreationDate="2015-09-07T14:54:17.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I myself don't sweat so much too. But if I workout regularly my body &quot;opens my pores&quot; faster and I sweat a lot more in a shorter time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is like everything with your body:&#xA;If you do it on a regular basis your body will notice it and adapt to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip: Go to the sauna until you are sweating really much. Now train the next day and you will sweat more (Don't forget to drink enough)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you don't sweat AND don't feel exhausted after a workout - Go harder ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17901" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T14:54:17.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25932" CreationDate="2015-09-07T16:00:28.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sweat is not really causing the odor. Bacteria that begin to break down the oils and other items contained in the sweat are what cause the odors. Once these get embedded in the clothing (I've found synthetics to be particularly bad for this), then even heat can bring out the odor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I generally do is take off my shoes, spray them with an antifungal/deodorant, and put a light dusting of shoe powder in them. Then I walk into the shower still in my clothes and rinse everything off. If I can't do that, then I rinse and wring in the sink to get rid of as much as possible. Then I hang them to dry before washing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting damp clothes of any kind anywhere to just sit will invite mold. Even if it's in a washer, damp clothes that are not dried quickly can mold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T16:00:28.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="153" CreationDate="2015-09-07T19:24:47.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supermans, crunches, bodyweight squats, and even planks all strengthen lower back muscles. I hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T19:24:47.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="279" CreationDate="2015-09-07T19:27:36.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally would not recommend wrist curls, which work lower arms, but I know that chin ups, pull ups, bicep curls, and even simply grasping dumbbells will build forearm muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T19:27:36.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="665" CreationDate="2015-09-07T19:31:16.160" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that doing rowing without weights, canoeing, kayaking, and throwing punches(wear gloves) at a bag are all forms of good upper body cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T19:31:16.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27262" CreationDate="2015-09-07T20:19:59.810" Score="5" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to start running long distance (well ~8km)&#xA;Is it better to start off walking, with occasional jogging, the 8km and transition over time into running the full distance, or to start off running shorter distances (eg. 1km) and increase the distance over time?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have just started going for runs and walks again, after breaking my ankle ~9 months ago(tripped when running). So far, I have been going back and forth between these two options 3-4 times a week for the past two weeks. Is one option better than the other, or is an all together different option best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17904" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T22:18:26.460" Title="How to start with distance running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27275" CreationDate="2015-09-07T21:27:09.470" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing short runs this summer (~5k in more or less half an hour) and I decided to buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aptonia.co.uk/iso-isotonic-drink-mix-650g-orange-id_8335611&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this powder&lt;/a&gt; to make isotonic drinks to recover after the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that in such a short time I have mostly lost water and salts from my body but I don't know if drinking an isotonic drink is useful or if it would be fine if I just drank some water afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is it useful to drink an isotonic drink? How long should the exercise be? Does it make a difference in my recovery in my particular situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T21:13:19.770" Title="How useful is to drink an isotonic drink after a short running session?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27242" CreationDate="2015-09-07T22:05:37.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me set a fine line: It isn't really THAT useful at all to drink a sports drink AFTER you go for a run. That sports drink stuff is supposed to give you energy to go running, not to recover. Besides, it is probably loaded with artificial sugars, anyway. I would suggest drinking water, milk, and protein shakes after a run, not a sports drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T22:05:37.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27244" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-08T00:23:00.940" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, so I'm 14 that means I can't lift a lot, and I have reached the maximum weight my parents let me lift (17kg), and I understand that for growing muscle, you need to stress the muscle breaking the muscular fibers, so to stress my muscle or feel tired I need to do like 30 reps on each set (lol) while the correct ammount is from 6 to 8 if you want to build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know i'm not going to get extremely muscular at this age, but I gained some muscle and I want to keep gaining it. I know there are no cientific studies that say you will stop growing, but my parents won't let me, so what do you recommend me, to keep working out hard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T08:36:50.423" Title="Difference on reps?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27245" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-08T00:28:40.100" Score="4" ViewCount="676" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm 14&lt;/strong&gt;, so I can't really lift a lot of weight, but my question is simple, for example on &lt;strong&gt;pushups you lift about 60% of your body weight&lt;/strong&gt; in &lt;strong&gt;my case about 29 kilos (58 pounds)&lt;/strong&gt;, but trainers at the gym, say I &lt;strong&gt;can't lift more than 17 kilos (38 pounds) on machines&lt;/strong&gt; and my question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there really a difference between machines and body weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or could my maximum lifting weight be a little bit more, closer to what I lift with pushups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T12:35:40.677" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T12:37:47.807" Title="Max lifting weight recommended for teenagers" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27245" CreationDate="2015-09-08T05:30:46.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It used to be believed that lifting weight could harm your natural growth as a young person, this is now considered a myth or at best outdated information. The trainers at your gym have probably learned &quot;weight lifting for young people is bad&quot; without knowing why they believe so. There's no real difference between doing body weight exercises and weighted exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One exception to the above is the fact that many 14 year-old's are immature and more likely to try using weights that could injure themselves, on the other hand, many grown ups are equally immature and stupid and shouldn't be allowed in a gym :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastEditorUserId="26631" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T12:36:54.130" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T12:36:54.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27244" CreationDate="2015-09-08T05:37:18.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What country are you in? Does your country have a weight lifting tradition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would contact a weight lifting or olympic weight lifting club, or possibly a professional body building gym, they will know what your body can handle, will teach you proper technique so that you don't injure yourself, and they are more likely to be able to convince your parents that it's safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As parents, they would prefer that you take the safe choice rather than your &quot;best&quot; choice, because they are responsible for you, if you fuck up, they've fucked up, so you'll have to give them confidence that what you're doing is safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T05:37:18.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27240" CreationDate="2015-09-08T06:42:18.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should ask yourself exactly what you're looking to accomplish. If you want to run a 10K in under half an hour, that's a whole different ball of wax than wanting to run a competitive time for your age, which is different than just finishing it without walking. They're all &quot;running a 10K&quot;, but the training is a lot different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no right or wrong answer, but be honest about your goals as otherwise your training could have way too much or way too little stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For competitive running in those distances, you'll want to work on a few things at once. I'm used to something a bit like this (for a 10k):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: short, 30 minute. faster than comfortable, but not race pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: short, 30 minute. hold race pace for a bit, drop down, back to race pace. maybe hill intervals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: long, 1 hour, comfortable pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a high level runner, and this training was in use maybe 15 years ago so perhaps things have gotten different. But in my experience I was trying to build endurance and speed at the same time just spread across different workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T06:42:18.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27244" CreationDate="2015-09-08T08:36:50.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your parents are wise to supervise what you are doing to help you prevent injuring your body. An injury can be for life, so it is best to prevent them, by learning proper form and having expert instruction. Your parents are aware of your maturity level and how much they can trust you to follow your coach's instruction and how serious you are about safety and form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you may want to share this link with them from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/107/6/1470.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS, Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness,&#xA;Strength Training by Children and Adolescents&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They recommend that you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;begin with low-resistance exercises until &lt;strong&gt;proper technique is learned&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  When 8 to 15 repetitions can be performed, &lt;strong&gt;it is reasonable to add weight in small increments&lt;/strong&gt;. Exercises should include all muscle groups and be performed&#xA;  through the full range of motion at each joint.  .....and continue to add weight or repetitions as strength improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As far as progressing your program they recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Specific strength training exercises should be learned initially with no load (resistance). Once the exercise skill has been mastered, &lt;strong&gt;incremental loads&lt;/strong&gt; can be added. Progressive resistance exercise requires &lt;strong&gt;successful completion of 8 to 15 repetitions in good form before increasing weight&lt;/strong&gt; or resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As far as injury concerns, most injuries are muscle strains, but they do often affect the low back, and you definitely want avoid a back injury by using proper form and appropriate weights. As far as the epiphyseal joint concern they say that while there is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.. concern about epiphyseal injuries in the wrist and apophyseal injuries in the spine from weight lifting in skeletally immature individuals. &lt;strong&gt;Such injuries are uncommon and are believed to be largely preventable&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;by avoiding improper lifting techniques, maximal lifts, and improperly supervised lifts.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps you have a successful discussion with your parents and instructor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T08:36:50.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27245" CreationDate="2015-09-08T09:59:56.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there really a difference between machines and body weight? &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All weight is the same. It's science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;should my maximum lifting weight should be a lil bit more, closer to what I lift with pushups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it all depends on your stamina. If for one month I lift 10 kg dumbbells while working on biceps muscle, eventually slowly my stamina of lifting weight will increase. I will start with 10 kg weight and I will go for 12.5 kg and so on...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't think it has to do anything with age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen fit teenagers lifting more weight than an unfit guy in his early 30's. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15542" LastEditorUserId="26631" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T12:37:47.807" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T12:37:47.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29095" CreationDate="2015-09-08T10:48:43.353" Score="9" ViewCount="1890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to do muscle up. I can do 14 pull ups and I can get my elbow above the bar in to the muscle up position but when it comes to pushing down and completing the muscle up I don't have the required strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I want to know what type of push up exercises I can do so I can push down something(complete the muscle up) more easily? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13391" LastEditorUserId="13391" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T15:41:59.153" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T15:41:59.153" Title="What type of push ups benefit muscle up?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27252" CreationDate="2015-09-08T11:03:17.667" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to do dips. Start with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BWTriDip.html&quot;&gt;dips on parallel bars&lt;/a&gt; and progress to ring dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups aren't specific practice for the pushing motion of the muscle-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T11:03:17.667" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-08T13:41:26.337" Score="3" ViewCount="546" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are lots of QAs available on over training and shortage of breath, but I could not find specific answers to my doubts/problems. I know few things cant be decided over a forum and I may need to consult a doctor; just want to clear my doubts before I take any decisions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been training from past 4 months and my training involves 45-60 mins of cardio (2-3 times a week) and strengthening exercise (5 times a week). For cardio I'm doing  Spinning (indoor cycling) and I was doing good progress. However couple of weeks back while Spinning I was stretching myself a bit hard and at one point I felt shortage of breath and heart rate shot up and I felt faint and dizzy. Immediately I stopped cycling at that moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem is whenever I start cardio, I feel shortage of breath and breathing difficulty very soon and feel like my heart is pounding very fast though my muscles are not very tired. Because of this I have to slow down else I fear of fainting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it because of over training? Did I damage my lungs or heart because of this? I'm bit scared to get back into hard training. Is there anything that I have to consider before getting back to training as before (I know doctor's consultation is one of it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16571" LastEditorUserId="16571" LastEditDate="2015-09-08T16:17:47.403" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T16:17:47.403" Title="Shortage of breath - is this a sign of overtraining" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-09-09T20:59:26.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27256" CreationDate="2015-09-08T15:14:39.250" Score="5" ViewCount="509" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started doing the 5x5 workout halfway through last summer, and have significantly increased my squat, bench, overhead press, row, and deadlifting weight. I weigh around 160 lbs., and it seems as though I've hit some sort of peak squatting 190. Is this a sign that the workout has become ineffective because I have been doing it for so long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17910" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-08T19:08:00.913" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:47:34.493" Title="5x5 Workout Plan becomes ineffective?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27255" CreationDate="2015-09-08T16:48:52.143" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each 5x5 (or 3x5) program has its own protocol for when you start stalling like you are doing.  One of the more common ones, StrongLifts 5x5, suggests the following protocol for when you stall:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attempt the same weight up to 3 times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After the 3rd time, take 10% off the bar and work back up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you hit the wall 3x like this, switch to 3x5 and work your way up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact you've been pushing a beginner's 5x5 program for just over a year attests to your fortitude.  So please understand that beginner programs are designed for just one thing: &lt;em&gt;to take advantage of your beginner gains&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's happening is that you are increasing the weight faster than your body can recover.  &lt;em&gt;It's inevitable that you will reach that point on a beginner 5x5 program&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion to you is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take 10% off the bar and switch to a weekly progression for a while until you hit the same barrier (which will be higher)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then switch to a monthly progression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common weekly progression would be Texas Method, or something similar.  The bottom line is that for squats you'll be doing one volume day, one light recovery day, and one heavy day.  The heavy day you are going for a higher weight than you used on the volume day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is you are 160 lbs and you are squatting more than your body weight.  You can add muscle mass, or just try to make the most of your body weight.  It really depends on your goals.  If your beginner program isn't working anymore after 3 months, it's time to switch things up.  If it's still working, then keep at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T16:48:52.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27263" CreationDate="2015-09-08T18:44:43.677" Score="6" ViewCount="4929" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are all of the workouts in the 5x5 Stronglifts program except the deadlifts? If I added an ab exercise to the workout (say Landmine 180s), would how do I know whether it should be 5x5 or 1x5?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastEditorUserId="16432" LastEditDate="2015-09-08T23:38:55.063" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T23:38:55.063" Title="Why are deadlifts so much more taxing than other workouts (say squats)?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27257" CreationDate="2015-09-08T19:15:08.933" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5×5 stands for five sets of five reps. These are the sets and reps you do on every exercise except Deadlifts. &lt;strong&gt;Deadlift is only one set of five reps (1×5) because doing more would beat you up. Plus, Squatting three times a week will get you stronger at Deadlifts since it works similar muscles.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the page explaining the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:15:08.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27255" CreationDate="2015-09-08T19:47:34.493" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have not stalled. The workout program has not become ineffective. Your struggle is normal. Barely finishing your last set is normal. It is okay. It is expected. Most of the time, it still means you should add weight to the bar the next time. Because you'll be able to lift it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight you're at is never going to feel light. It's always going to feel heavy. You'll just be able to lift it. That's a big  transition right around 200 pounds--190 for someone your size, 210 or 220 for someone my size. It's where most people go from &quot;oh this is hard I suppose, but...grrr...OK there it goes&quot; to &quot;WHAT IS THIS ON MY BACK I'LL NEVER STAND UP GARRRHAGGAGGGAGHHHH&quot;. You're in the transition from the weight feeling doable to the weight feeling heavy. Ignore this feeling. Lift it anyway. I bet you can. It will never get easier if you keep lifting 190 or less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually the stage when the program becomes &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; effective. But you must push yourself, not just physically but mentally. You must attack the bar. Keep in mind good form and proper depth and so forth, but first and foremost YOU MUST LIFT THE BAR. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:47:34.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27257" CreationDate="2015-09-08T19:52:34.080" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are a very tiring, very strenuous exercise. You also only lift the barbell once during a deadlift, they are not meant to be exercises for repetition, this is part of the reason a deadlift is classified as a deadlift. I would suggest doing 1x5, it will still build muscles, and nothing is wrong with the program. And just to note, if you're performing ab exercises, or not, you still should stick with 1x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:52:34.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27240" CreationDate="2015-09-08T21:40:29.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start by running shorter distances and work your way up. Push yourself to run the whole distance even if you are jogging at a super slow pace (obviously don't push yourself if you begin to feel pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a little more structure, you can google for &quot;8k training plan&quot; or &quot;half marathon training plan&quot; ect. depending on the race. What's nice about training plans is that they are designed so that you &quot;peak&quot; at race day, and often they recommend cross-training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17919" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T21:40:29.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27240" CreationDate="2015-09-08T22:18:26.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For running, you will see the best results from a consistent program, and shorter + more often is usually better than longer and less often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start, I would look at many of the couch to 5k programs, and use that until you can comfortably run a 5k. Once you get to that point, you can start a regular running program to get you to where you need to be for your fitness and/or competitive goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program that I usually recommend is a 3:2:1 program. It's designed for running 6 times per week, with 3 short, 2 medium and one long run. So if you do your 5k, and it takes you 30 minutes, that establishes your long run. Your medium runs would be 20 minutes, and your short runs 10 minutes. (Med = 2x short, long = 3x short). Do that for a few weeks, then you can start increasing distances by increasing your times. So your short run would become 12 minutes, your medium becomes 24, and your long becomes 36 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend strict speedwork until you have 6 months or more of consistent mileage under your belt, but you can work pickups, fartleks or strides into some of your med/long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can keep increasing distance, or once you get to the point where you are happy with what you are seeing, you can just maintain. Pay attention to your body, if you start feeling fatigued and/or beat up, you can ease back or take a couple days off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you are going to be running consistently and competing, I would recommend having 2-3 pairs of shoes, rotating among them consistently, and retiring them after 200-600 miles (It will depend on your weight, running style, gait, shoe construction, etc. If a run leaves you feeling beat up when it shouldn't, your shoes may be ready to be retired).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running isn't mysterious. The biggest mistakes people make are doing speedwork too soon, ramping up distance too soon, and most people don't run easy enough on their easy days, and not hard enough on their hard days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T22:18:26.460" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27257" CreationDate="2015-09-08T22:22:07.293" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading your comments to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/27258/7091&quot;&gt;John P's quite accurate answer&lt;/a&gt;, I think the question you're really asking is &quot;&lt;em&gt;why are deadlifts so much more taxing than squats&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (maybe rename the title if I'm accurate on that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's the case, I'd offer these up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts put much more load on your &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracic_vertebrae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thoracic spine&lt;/a&gt;, arms, shoulders, rhomboids, and hands.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see someone back squat with their hands off the bar, but that's obviously not going to happen with a deadlift. There are more muscles engaged in a deadlift than a squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts are generally heavier than squats.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The weights are heavier, generally to the tune of 20% for most folks&lt;/a&gt;. So a person squatting 300 should be in the neighborhood of a 360 deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlifts lack a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscoelasticity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;viscoelastic&lt;/a&gt; element that is found in squats.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-0-387-73906-9_10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2008 study concerning viscoelasticity&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The high resilience of tendon means that it can serve as an effective&#xA;  biological spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get a lot of power from a squat because of the loading up of your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25710/what-is-this-part-of-the-knee/25719#25719&quot;&gt;hamstrings and associated connective tissue&lt;/a&gt;. You can try this for yourself if you're feeling brave: start a backsquat from the bottom (barbell on the safety pins in a power cage). You'll struggle much more than a typical up-and-down squat. In fact, one of Mark Rippetoe's big arguments for squatting as deeply as you (safely) can is because you need that hamstring load up to create the elastic spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This of course is lacking in the deadlift, where as the name implies you're starting from zero each time. I'd add this is why deadlifts need to stop completely and you should in fact relax your grip momentarily between reps, to ensure that you are truly dead-lifting and not bouncing around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CNS Fatigue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24919/7091&quot;&gt;This is a loosely understood (and commonly thrown around) statement&lt;/a&gt;, that seems to be the catch-all phrase for &quot;you're tired&quot;. But if you add up some basic facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts are heavier, and require more power production.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts require more muscles to be activated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems pretty reasonable that the drain on your CNS's ability to create and organize force production would be more impacted by a 3RM deadlift than a 3RM squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T22:22:07.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2015-09-08T22:28:02.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wanna loose weight (reduce your body fat), you should have a small breakfast in the morning (don't eat nothing), followed by a long endurance training below the anaerobic treshold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17902" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T22:28:02.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14976" CreationDate="2015-09-08T23:32:13.920" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't had problem with calf &quot;heel&quot; raises before, but I would take the writer's advice, calf raises are not my expertise. I do not know of whether pelvic tilts are safe or not, they didn't look extremely unsafe to me but it looked like it could possibly cause strain on certain areas(lower back, hip, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, instead of answering your third question, I think I will recommend a new beginner workout program, such as this, because even though stretching is great, it won't build muscles and I believe does not burn much calories either. Here is a better program:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15-30 push ups a day, whenever you want.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 crunches a day, whenever you want.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3-8 chin ups a day, whenever you want.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank. 45 seconds.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wall Sit. 1 min.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40-50 bodyweight squats, anytime in the day.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really believe this is a better program, but if you disagree, to answer the third question, yes, it would be detrimental, because hanging is one of, if not, the only exercise here that would build some muscle, mainly in your hands and forearms. I hope this enlightens you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-09-09T06:16:57.507" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T06:16:57.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-09T02:01:11.400" Score="3" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am signed up for a triathlon in June 2016, It goes from 9 AM-9 PM, we must run 30 miles, bike 60 miles, and swim 3. I believe I am fit for it because I can bike 15 mph forever on, but I swam a half mile in 20 minutes, and I can run for 2.5 miles easily. I am biking 10 miles a day, swimming 1, and running 2 miles total. This is combined with weights and calisthenics. Is this enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="16691" LastEditDate="2015-09-09T23:15:48.890" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T05:57:44.423" Title="How do I know if I'm fit for triathlon?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27266" CreationDate="2015-09-09T08:35:07.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biking in that triathlon seems to be really short compared to the running and the swimming. But running that distance require stepping a the distance gradually. So I would recommend that you try to step up the running distance slowly and see how it feels, that is probably one of the best ways to see if you are fit also. The other legs doesn't sound that bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try do some running after the biking and get to know that feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7549" LastEditorUserId="7549" LastEditDate="2015-09-10T05:57:44.423" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T05:57:44.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27270" CreationDate="2015-09-09T10:03:18.583" Score="1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my friend is taking a gym training in any institute and he suggested me to take a &lt;strong&gt;limcy medicine&lt;/strong&gt; which contain &lt;strong&gt;vitamin c after workout&lt;/strong&gt; and its a very cheap tablets which anybody can afford.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Limcy Tablet details&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalog.md/drugs/limcee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catalog.md/drugs/limcee.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i just wanted to ask you guys that is it good to take such &lt;strong&gt;vitamin c supplements after workout?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16583" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T12:05:29.707" Title="Suggestions on vitamin c supplements" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;vitamins&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-09-11T13:21:40.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27268" CreationDate="2015-09-09T12:05:29.707" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have any reason what so ever to assume you have a vitamin c deficiency (also known as scurvy) ? If not, don't waste your money, even if they're cheap. Supplement companies make loads of money on peoples ignorance and morally speaking, these companies should be starved until they go bankrupt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's incredibly easy to get all the vitamin c you need, if you eat fruit or vegetables, even in low amounts, you'll get all you need. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T12:05:29.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27266" CreationDate="2015-09-09T14:35:59.510" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it stands, you may be fit enough, but you are not trained enough, unless you plan on walking pretty much the entire run portion of the event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most marathon plans (Which is a distance shorter than the 30 miles) will have you running 50-70 miles a week, with quite a few runs in the 10-15 mile range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think the biggest limiter right now is your swimming. At 20 minutes per 1/2 mile, you are going to be in the water for two hours, assuming you can hold the same pace the entire time. That is a very long time to be in the water doing full body exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would recommend is set up your own &quot;mini&quot; triathlon. Drive your bike to a local lake or pool. Swim your 1/2 mile, get on the bike and ride 30-40 miles at your 15 mph pace (Out and back, then throw your bike into the car), and then go run 2-3 miles. It's a lot more difficult than you think, when you stack everything on top of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you maintain the same level of training you have now, I would predict that you would end up not finishing the bike leg, or possibly finishing it outside of the time cutoffs (Most 1/2 Iron distance events, which is about what that is have time limits for each event).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be to go to a site such as beginnertriathlete.com, and look at their 1/2 Ironman plans. I would also confirm the distances, as the one that you describe has a run leg that is more than a full Ironman run distance, and a swim leg that is 50% longer than an Ironman distance. (Are you sure it wasn't 3k, 60k, 30k? That would make it about 1.5 mile swim, 37 mile bike and 18 mile run. Still odd distances, but much closer than if it is miles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T14:35:59.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19175" CreationDate="2015-09-09T14:45:29.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a hard transition to make, but you won't be truly happy in anything, until you realize that the only person to compare yourself to is yourself. No matter what you do, it is likely that there are many people that are at least as good, if not better than you are at it. When you can find enjoyment in doing something just because you're doing it, not because of what people say or think about you, or how it may elevate social status, etc., then you've got it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes you special...is you. Nothing more. There are things that you can do that she can't, and there are things that she can do that you can't. There are things that you both can do, and possibly do together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you enjoy running, then run. Take pleasure in just getting out the door, enjoying nature and the feelings that it gives you. If she joins you, great. Enjoy the company. If she doesn't, that's fine too. When she achieves something, praise it honestly, and don't be jealous or envious. When you achieve something, don't lord it over anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. - John Wooden&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T14:45:29.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25650" CreationDate="2015-09-09T20:38:29.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated by @BerinLoritsch, you cannot work both at the same exact moment. You can, however, achieve muscle engagement of both by doing muscle-ups. They are difficult if you're just starting out and will probably require steady pull-up progression before they can be achieved. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpk1a_PxEw4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a video&lt;/a&gt; of how they've performed. You'll use your biceps to get you to the bar, and the triceps will push you above it. There are multiple other muscles worked, but this exercise does meet your question specifics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17926" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T20:38:29.483" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27242" CreationDate="2015-09-09T20:59:48.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not useful at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason to drink an isotonic drink is to get water and calories onboard during exercise. Isotonic means that it is at the same concentration as your blood so you're neither osmotically extracting water from your blood to dilute it so you can absorb it nor leaving nutrients behind because the concentration couldn't be affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, 5km is far too short to get anywhere near depleting the carbohydrate reserves in your liver (that point is at about 90mins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 5km race just drink whatever non-caffeinated drink you normally drink and get on with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T20:59:48.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27242" CreationDate="2015-09-09T21:13:19.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at the breakdown, it's got 364 calories per 100 grams, with 78.2 grams of sugar. So you're basically getting 312 calories directly from sugar substrates (dextrose and saccharose as well as maltodextrose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the advertising tag line states that it's designed to be light in the mouth &quot;during sports&quot;, not after. During, you want enough calories to sustain your activity, which you should have in plenty for short duration such as 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After, you want to replenish and repair, and for endurance, a 3:1 carb to protein ratio is ideal, which oddly enough, is the ratio for milk. Milk has been proven in studies to be a great after endurance replenishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T21:13:19.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27276" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-09T21:37:29.677" Score="3" ViewCount="519" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a total geek for numbers and statistics.  Over the course of my fitness and weight loss journey I've collected numerous physical fitness assessments.  I am constantly setting goals and designing workouts around achieving a good level of overall functional fitness in as many areas as possible.  Functional fitness is all about being able to perform (and excel at) a wide variety of physical activities, from playing sports to going on adventures.  I want to be strong, fast, flexible, and have good endurance, all in as balanced a way as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can any of you recommend some metrics and provide references with objective standards to assess one's results?  Ideally I would like a percentile score, such as doing X means you are more fit than Y% of people your age/gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you a sense for what I mean, Men's Fitness &amp;amp; Health provides tables for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mens-fitness-and-health.com/Physical-Fitness.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5 physical fitness metrics&lt;/a&gt;: Push-ups, sit-ups, bench press, running, and vertical jump.  Using their tables I know, for example, that I'm very good at push-ups, a decent runner, and horrible jumper, so I design my workouts around improving vertical jump.  When it comes to strength, I try to achieve balance by comparing myself to the tables on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exrx.net&lt;/a&gt;.  I also look at my body fat percentage, and I design my diet around getting to a goal of 10-12% (considered optimal for males).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate more similar tables to assess as wide a definition of fitness as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5800" LastEditorUserId="5800" LastEditDate="2015-09-10T14:41:25.973" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T14:41:25.973" Title="What are some objective metrics to assess functional fitness?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27276" CreationDate="2015-09-10T01:29:10.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start by having a read of: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pponline.co.uk/101Evaluations/pdfs/101EvaluationTests.Chapter.1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;101 Evaluation Tests&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, this should give you an idea of what tests are out there, as well as offering a few tables to rate your self. But I'd suggest you look at the YMCA battery, as well as estimating your current &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VO2max&lt;/a&gt; value, and comparing the value with any of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/norms/vo2max.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cohort specific tables&lt;/a&gt; out there. Alternatively the Army / Navy fitness assessment batteries will offer an idea of your current fitness classification, from a few simple tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are numerous Apps that will help rate your fitness level, against one or more of the test batteries, estimate your: VO2max, BMI, Somatotype....., a personal favourite is: &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BioMetrIcs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14257/how-can-i-use-pulse-as-a-fitness-measure/25621#25621&quot;&gt;(How) Can I use pulse as a fitness measure?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T01:29:10.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15275" CreationDate="2015-09-10T06:43:23.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you might be on to something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of sweat is to cool yourself to counter the increased heat production caused by the exercise, the body need to maintain a very precise temperature. Sweat cools you as it evaporates. What happens physically is that the sweat molecules (water) that has the highest velocity (temperature in a macro perspective) will evaporate, leaving what's left with a slightly lower temperature on average, this cools you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wipe away the sweat before it has time to evaporate, it could very well be replaced 1-1 with new sweat since the need to cool is exactly the same as before. So don't wipe it away unless it gets in your eyes, and get better external cooling if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T06:43:23.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="960" CreationDate="2015-09-10T13:45:28.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tom Kurz' Flexibility Express, though not the most polished DVD, is a good source of mobility and flexibility exercises that go beyond basic stretching. He touches on dynamic strength exercises like back bridges, deep wide squats, overhead pressing from a squat, deadlifts, and divebomber push-ups as ways to work towards, for instance, the splits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T13:45:28.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25937" CreationDate="2015-09-10T16:21:18.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone body behaves differently to temperature and humidity, but you can look at the &quot;Heat Index&quot; If the heat index is high enough then you know that you will have to adjust your pace for the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: If you are running a Marathon at 90f and 90% humidity the heat index will be 122. If the temp is 80 and the humidity is 40% then the heat index is 80.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/heat_index.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/heat_index.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you will have a problem when the temp is lower than 70f. Most heat index chart start at 75-80f. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the &quot;Ideal&quot; temp it is what your body can handle. The higher the temp and humidity the more you should adjust your pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T16:21:18.480" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25948" CreationDate="2015-09-10T16:33:01.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training for a marathon is a hard and feeling tired is normal. However the more you train the better you will start to feel. I trained for my first marathon with 4 runs a week, but I did find  that I was tired and I also got injured. This was mainly due to adding to much mileage too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that you were on week 3 (20k) of your plan and that you are taking your rest days. You should also be doing your long run in the morning to best represent your marathon start time. Your meal the night before and even two days before should be heavy with carbs. You should be drinking plenty of water during the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that you are dehydrated and your muscles can not properly recover, it is also possible that you are adding mileage to quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your LSD run should also be 35% of your total mileage for the week. So if you run 20k on your LSD run then the rest of the week should be about 40k. It is ok to rest and this is important so perhaps you need two days after you LSD run to recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news: You are young! Your body recovers much quicker than older runners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice: Join a running group that is training for a marathon. Drink water and get lots of rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T16:33:01.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25599" CreationDate="2015-09-10T16:44:28.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have access to a track that is the best place to increase your speed. Since you are mainly interested in quick bursts of speed you should concentrate on doing repeats and intervals. You could start with 100m repeats and even ladders where you do 2x100m, 1x200m, 1x400, 1x200, 2x100. You should do a 30 second recovery between each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next exercise would be hills. Find a 400m hill (or short) and do 5x hill x 5 sets with a recover between each set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tempo runs will also help to increase your stamina. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T16:44:28.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27367" CreationDate="2015-09-10T18:45:40.147" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never been very flexible and I would like to improve it. I have started training around two weeks ago doing some easy stretching exercises that I was taught at high school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been training with and without resistance bands but I have seen no real progress yet. &lt;strong&gt;What are the best exercises that could help me to gain elasticity?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I would like to be able to reach my toes with my fingers which I can't do right now. I'm 21, male, 1.80 m and 72 kg approximately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T12:44:33.880" Title="What exercises could help me to gain elasticity?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-11T03:57:18.193" Score="1" ViewCount="986" Body="&lt;p&gt;Felt stiffness in my lower back during a week or so(during bent over barbell rows and squats mainly), but didn't pay much attention to it. Yesterday however I couldn't finish my 4x12 bent over barbell row, because of it. So, I skipped it and did the following exercises fine (lat pull-down, seated row, seated cable row etc). A guy in the gym told me that it is typical and that I should wear belt during bent over barbell rows. Is he right? Should I do some special exercises to strengthen lower back (hyperextension f. e.)? Is it okay to do squats tomorrow? (with stiff lower back)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastEditorUserId="12044" LastEditDate="2015-09-11T04:12:50.653" LastActivityDate="2018-08-11T12:01:40.117" Title="Bent over barbell row lower back pain" Tags="&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;&lt;stiffness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27291" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-11T04:32:22.393" Score="6" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;My intent was to run a version of 5/3/1 over the school year, as it allows for consistency and not having to worry about how much I need to lift each training session. However, my engineering design class is requiring a butt-ton more time outside of class than I could have predicted which has already impacted my ability to train (I've already pulled 4-5 all-nighters, two of which were consecutive). As it is, my study / course work schedule is inconsistent in both frequency and duration. In other words, I am unable to predict when I will have the actual time to train for my goals, and how much time I'll have for each individual session. The only constraint I have to fulfill is averaging going to the gym 3 times per week to get my health insurance reimbursement. On top of that, I work part-time 2-3 days Friday through Sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the interim, I've settled on the following 'program' (see below). The overall question is: &lt;em&gt;is this enough?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry in advanced for the length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Original goals:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Increase maximal strength&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Lower body-fat %&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Improve conditioning&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Current Goals:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;At least maintain strength&#xA;        &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;            &lt;li&gt;Though moving towards my original goals would be preferred.&#xA;        &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Lower body-fat %&#xA;        &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;            &lt;li&gt;I'm less worried about this aspect, as I am still able to effectively control my nutrition.&#xA;        &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Maintain some aspect of conditioning&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Current performance:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Movement: (current, goal)[1RM]&#xA;    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Back Squat: (280, 315)&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Front Squat: (205, 225)&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Power Clean: (165, 185)&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Deadlift&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Sumo: (370, 405)&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Conventional: (340, 365)&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Snatch-Grip: (220, 255)&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Military press: (125, 135)&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Actual military press, as in feet together, back straight, etc.&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Push Press: (155, 175)&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Bench Press: (160, 185)&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Pendlay Row: (200, 225)&#xA;    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Current Program:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Cycling through the following days:&#xA;    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Squat Day:&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Back or Front Squat to a max double or single&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If a double, perform 3x5 @70% of the double&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If a single, perform 3x5 @75% of the single&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If daily max was the same as last time, increase the 3x5 by 5 lb&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Deadlift Day:&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                    &lt;li&gt;Power clean to a max triple, double, or single&#xA;                    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;If triple or double, perform 3-5 singles at same weight&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;If single, perform 3-5 singles @85% of the single&#xA;                    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                    &lt;li&gt;Sumo Deadlift to a max double or single&#xA;                    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;If a double, perform 3x5 @70% of the double&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;If a single, perform 3x5 @75% of the single&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;If a single &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; grip almost failed, repeat this max until it can be completed as a triple&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;If daily max was the same as last time, increase the 3x5 by 5 lb&#xA;                    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Press Day:&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Push Press to a max double or single&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If a double, perform 3x5 military press @68% of the double&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If a single, perform 3x5 military press @73% of the single&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If daily max was the same as last time, perform 4x5 military press instead of 3x5&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Bench Day:&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Bench Press to a max double or single&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If a double, perform 3x5 @70% of the double&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If a single, perform 3x5 @75% of the single&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;If daily max was the same as last time, increase the 3x5 by 5 lb&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Pendlay Progression (no dedicated day):&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Row to daily 5RM&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Perform 2x8 Pendlay Row @85% of daily max&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;OR&lt;/em&gt; Perform 2x8 Bent Over Row @80% of daily max&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Assistance movements / options:&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Incline Dumbbell Rows *&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Kroc Rows&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Press (standing / seated / Arnold)&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Incline / Floor Dumbbell Press *&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Pullover *&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Lat Pulldown ^&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;High / low row ^&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;T-bar Row *&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Face Pull *&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;* = a personal favorite&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;^ = plate loaded machine available&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Conditioning Options:&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Rowing&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Stationary Bike&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Walking Dumbbell Lunges&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Kettlebell swings / complexes&#xA;                    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;My gym just installed the kettlebell rack, so I'm still unaware of how heavy they go up to. Heaviest looks like it might be 45-50 lbs.&#xA;                    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;        &lt;li&gt;Things that I need / would like to add:&#xA;            &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Chin-ups&#xA;                    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;                        &lt;li&gt;Smith machines at my gym are too low, cable machines only offer grips for pull-ups or neutral-grip pull-ups, and dip stations provide a grip that's greater than shoulder-width (plus the knurling eats my hands).&#xA;                    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Conventional, deficit, stiff-legged, and snatch-grip deadlifts (I love deadlifts, lol)&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Paused rep work for squats and deadlifts&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Pin squats and rack pulls&#xA;                &lt;li&gt;Clean and snatch pulls&#xA;            &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Days with the highest priority are the squat, deadlift, and press days. I'm not a powerlifter, so benching is less important for my goals (plus I have a history of shoulder injuries, so less frequent benching isn't horrible [and frankly, I'm just not the biggest fan of it]).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subsequent questions would involve: &lt;em&gt;Should I add anything in particular? Should anything be removed? Is the program organized well enough as is, or can that be improved? Is this type of program better off performed whenever I can fit it in, or when I currently do it, which is first thing in the morning (I wake up at ~5:30 am almost every day, school work permitting)?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I'm still looking for more feedback from a possibly different perspective / or that address the subsequent questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastEditorUserId="16204" LastEditDate="2015-09-24T02:35:25.590" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T02:35:25.590" Title="Program Feedback" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21090" CreationDate="2015-09-11T07:26:52.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;180&quot; hand wraps are a must and Buy some gloves that give you good hand protection. Title Boxing makes quality gloves even the lower end gloves are pretty good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15689" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T07:26:52.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-11T09:40:39.350" Score="0" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short:  I stepped on the scales, discovered I've gained a lot these past 3 months after starting new job and went into an alcohol induced depression that results in the purchase of many tabs to try and aid in my new regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a wedding in a year and I need to shift the excess by any means necessary, even to the point on contact a surgeon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunatley the voice of reason and common sense is being dwarfed by the need and desire to shed this excess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spend 12 hours of my day sitting, when I return home I lack the energy to do anything other than carry on sitting.&#xA;I'm breaking this pattern by gym during lunch break and moderating my eating habits however, my question is really this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now consuming several tablets per day as an aid, today I noticed one of the side effects of 'Alli' when attending to business, it wasn't pleasant but I'm prepared to put up with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The combination of tabs is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Cod Liver Oil x1 in the morning&#xA;HTP-5 x1 in the morning.&#xA;Grenade Black ops x2 in the morning (http://www.grenade.com/uk/black-ops)&#xA;Alli x3 per day with meals. (http://www.alli.co.uk/)&#xA;Garcinea x3 with meals (http://www.hecticlifestyles.co.uk/nutra-direct-pure-garcinia-cambogia-wholefruit-vegetarian-capsules-90-capsules/?utm_source=google_shopping&amp;amp;gclid=Cj0KEQjw98mvBRD-_ciSovKhq7gBEiQAEvsBZ0hj-ghPN1iSJf0nz69Y4fGgbcpZWOrNZU4g7FSHwYsaApZm8P8HAQ)&#xA;Sea Kelp x 3 with meals (http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/natures-garden-sea-kelp-tablets-15mg-60000628)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides this being a cocktail, are there any other potential issues that I should worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6398" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T13:42:08.473" Title="Potential side effects of Alli &amp; other 'weight aid' pills" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-09-11T21:27:30.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27291" CreationDate="2015-09-11T11:25:48.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You know, it looks pretty damn decent. The program you are currently following is well and beyond sufficient for you to constantly improve as far as your strength goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you know that you'll improve on conditioning and lower your bodyfat at the same time and just a suggestion maybe add some sprints into the mix, not a requirement however, what you currently have is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training in the morining isn't at all bad, some actually recommend it. I myself cant ever get myself to workout before night. But if you do it whenever it fits you for that particular day it should be fine also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training is not such an exact sience and little things that you worry about dont really matter as much, the key is to keep it consistent and not give up. Sice you work as well as study just try to stick to your program as much as possible and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17940" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:25:48.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27294" CreationDate="2015-09-11T11:41:57.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this sounds harsh but I see no reason for you to be ingesting all those pills every day. Surely there are ways to lose weight without destroying yourself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you are going to the gym and you are moderating your food intake and thats great. This is awesome you are on the right track! The wedding you are going to attend is a year away. Thats plenty of time for you to lose weight safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really like to see more people consider weightlifting or atleast look into it before descarding it as a weight loss option. Rather people attend classes where they work until exaustion which does absolutely nothing for them but throw them further into depression beacuse of constant suffering and mediocre results. Weight training does take some time from each your day, but it is never exhausting and rarely painful, with proven results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try weight lifting for a year, there are tons of free available fitness programs online. Just pick one and stay at it. You will gain muscle and strength, you will look and feel better, you will enjoy training and you will also lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body needs energy in order to maintain muscles. The bigger the muscles you have the more energy it needs. As you train your muscles get bigger and require more energy for maintenance, energy which your body can only get from dissolving fats (assuming you watch what you eat alteast a bit, no need for a full diet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this post if you wish, I mean not to force anything on you, it's just a suggestion, but where you are currently headed is only bad for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Matic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17940" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:41:57.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27223" CreationDate="2015-09-11T11:55:24.967" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Freeletics are great. I myself sadly cannot stand doing those exercises (tried, failed), some of us are just better suited to be gym-rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a beginner these exercises will have a great impact on you. The main point being that you are a still a beginner and that means you need some quick and consistent results to keep you hooked on exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Begginers get what we call beginner gains (oh how I wish I could go back) where increases in strength and muscle happen rapidly and noticably. This happens for about 3 months until your body starts to get used to training and stops the rapid improvement (you still improve tho, but slower). By doing freeletics you will notice an increase in you muscle mass as well as a very important increase in strength and endurance. You will see this by being able to last more and longer and by being able to perform new, harder exercises. Thats great because it will motivate you to continue further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot perform an exercise just work towards it. There are tons of guides on the internet (for example. training for pullups) that will show you how to do exercises meant for building enough strength towards harder movements. Do those instead of the harder ones until you develop enough strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up: Yes keep at this, it might be harder at first (just try to do as much as you can) but the results will be well worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck and keep on at it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17940" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T11:55:24.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25948" CreationDate="2015-09-11T12:01:28.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to keep a lookout for sickness. While research has shown that, in general, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/exercise-prevents-sickness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise is likely to leave you less sick due to improved fitness&lt;/a&gt;, exercise is also stress on your body. Add to that that running generally involves being exposed to a lot of potential sources for infection from people to places (if you're actually in a race, you're literally surrounded by people who are constantly shedding bodily fluids and splashing them all around) and it's not horribly uncommon to get a bit sick after exercising. If you're not pushing yourself to exhaustion, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/22/health/working-out-sick/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it's generally pretty safe to continue exercising&lt;/a&gt;, but be aware that you may not be at your full potential, so consider that as a factor in avoiding overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally usually wind up with flu-life symptoms for a few days after intensive exercise, especially if engaged in after a period of relative inactivity, but without clinical testing, it's kind of hard to tell the difference between elevated temperature and sore muscles from your body recovering from the exercise, and from an actual illness you picked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T12:01:28.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15275" CreationDate="2015-09-11T12:08:43.270" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A general rule of thumb regarding sweating is that, if it's visible and accumulating, it's not doing its job. The purpose of sweating is to cool you by evaporation. Ideally, the sweat is evaporating as quickly as it is produced and you'll barely even notice it. When you have a lot of sweat, when it's streaming down your face and soaking your clothing, you're basically exceeding the ability of the perspiration to cool you. At that point, by manually wiping away the sweat, you're removing the heat-carrying water on your skin, essentially doing the job that evaporation should have been doing for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, it's not counter-productive so long as the action of wiping away the sweat isn't impairing your ability to do your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T12:08:43.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27300" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-11T12:17:39.540" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please suggest me how do I can increase my body fat.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17941" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T12:17:39.540" Title="I am a boy in my 20's. I m very thin and want to increase body fat ..?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-09-11T22:39:54.770" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27212" CreationDate="2015-09-11T12:29:10.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body responds to shock. Once you can successfully do 100 pushups, 50 pullups and 40 dips daily the body will no longer consider this a shock and rather a routine. At this point, if you keep at it, you will notice a decrease in muscle mass, but not a decrease in strength. Your body was piling up all those muscles because you told it to. Now its realising that it doesn't need all those muscles and can do the job with half less. The extra muscles are just extra maintenance so it will get rid of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: Yes it will build strength, but after a while you might want to change it up for something new. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17940" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T12:29:10.557" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27294" CreationDate="2015-09-11T13:16:09.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First and foremost, consult your doctor.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are experiencing a lot of changes that a doctor can help you address.  You gained &quot;a lot&quot; of weight in 3 months. You went into an &quot;alcohol induced depression&quot;. And this new job and future wedding may be causing you some distress.  Your doctor can take measurements, help you find a good diet, help you with your depression, and advise you on that cocktail of tabs you are taking.  Also your doctor can determine you if you are clear to exercise or if you need to take any precautions. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet and Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For weight loss, appropriate diet and exercises are the way to go. Surgery would be your last choice and only if diet and exercise fail.  Diet in conjunction with regular exercise is the key to weight loss.  Your results from a consistent, proper diet and exercise will beat any cocktail of tabs.  The biggest downside of the cocktail is thinking that it will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joining the gym is a great step.  Ask a trainer to set you up with a good program that includes cardio with intense intervals, resistance or strength training and some stretching.  But check with your doctor first, especially before trying high intensity intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For depression, intense, regular &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3753/what-kind-of-indoor-exercises-are-recommended-for-getting-rid-of-stress-and-depr/3761#3761&quot;&gt;exercise can help&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tracking Your Progress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track your progress by taking &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3421/useful-measurements-tracking-approach-for-a-fitness-strategy&quot;&gt;measurements&lt;/a&gt;.  They are good for motivation when you feel your progress is plateauing.  They can be useful in alerting you to when you need to make changes in your program. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Break Up Prolonged Sitting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You need to take short movement breaks at work.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24937/what-happens-to-people-who-are-sitting-8-10h-per-day/24941#24941&quot;&gt;What happens when people sit 8-10 hrs/day&lt;/a&gt;.  For ideas on exercises that you can do at or next to your desk with bodyweight or resistance tubing see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;posture answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get home do anything but sit.  If you have to sit, get an exercise ball and bounce or roll around on it.  Take a walk. Find a sport or activity that get you moving. Find active people.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One year gives you a good time frame to create a healthier lifestyle which will help you normalize your weight.  Getting weight off for a specific event is a good motivator.  However, getting healthy for the rest of your life is even more important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2015-09-11T13:42:08.473" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T13:42:08.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27203" CreationDate="2015-09-11T15:23:26.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reverse lunges, which you can scale up with either weights at your side, or a barbell in either the front rack or backsquat position, or even overhead if you want to get really spicy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offered with NO knowledge of what happens during or after a PCL tear, so please take grains of salt as needed. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T15:23:26.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27203" CreationDate="2015-09-11T19:33:23.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/glutes.htm#ref&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;brianmac.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; said that &lt;em&gt;LIEBENSON, C (2006) Rehabilitation of the Spine: A Practitioner’s Manual&lt;/em&gt; says &quot;if a lack of coordination is seen when walking backwards it indicates the gluteus maximus is weak.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscles that let me walk backwards without all kinds of twisting were the gluteus minimus (activated by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/gluteus-exercise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hip hitch&lt;/a&gt;) and the gluteus medius. Trouble in the single-leg squat &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ptonthenet.com/blog/the-inner-unit/gluteus-medius-an-integral-part-of-foot-function-260&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;indicates&lt;/a&gt; issues with the gluteus medius. There are three exercises listed on that page, of which the wall press was the best for helping me feel the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2015-10-16T04:32:23.120" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T04:32:23.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25471" CreationDate="2015-09-11T19:36:11.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this question is quite broad and mainly focused on the person there are some broad parameters that can be applied. Most of all does your body &quot;Automatically&quot; slow you down when it gets hot or you are low on water. (Wouldn't this be defined as dehydrated?) The answer would be that you mind will slow you down because you are uncomfortable far sooner than your body will shut down. Of course your heart rate will rise as the blood volume decreases. So there is a point in which you will stop. But your question is what is that point and what is the measurement of dehydration that will cause this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets look at an edge case: Scott Jurek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scott was put in a heat chamber &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the end, Ruby said, the runner cracked as temperatures reached 135&#xA;  degrees. The lab shut the experiment down for safety reasons, just&#xA;  before the fuse tripped. The equipment wasn’t rated to go that high,&#xA;  Ruby said, and neither was Jurek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“He had to lower his pace and yet his heart rate kept driving up,”&#xA;  Ruby said, adding that Jurek’s core temperature had climbed to 104&#xA;  degrees. “That’s about the limit we allow people to get in our&#xA;  chamber.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://missoulian.com/news/local/ultrarunner-undergoes-tv-freak-of-nature-test-on-um-campus/article_1d0cbac6-5e21-11e3-a270-001a4bcf887a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://missoulian.com/news/local/ultrarunner-undergoes-tv-freak-of-nature-test-on-um-campus/article_1d0cbac6-5e21-11e3-a270-001a4bcf887a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most marathons will cancel the race if the heat index is above a certain level, but still the question remains does this exist? The answer is yes. What is the math? The answer is it is dependant on the individual. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run with large group of runners every Saturday morning. (About 100-200 people) There are runners that will complete 20 miles in a little more than 2 hours and runnings that complete the 20 miles in 4 hours. All at the same temps. All in a heat index above 85-90f. Every person is different and how much they train and how much acclimation they have had makes a difference. I don't think there is any math that will calculate the exact point in which you can't go further. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Book &quot;RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel&quot; a study was done on a group of Rugby players where they were asked to exert themselves until they had to stop. They measured the wattage they could produce. After they could go no further they were asked to go as hard as they could one more time. They were able to exceed the previous attempt. They cycled to a point of failure at 242 watts, but the second attempt they produced 731 watts for 5 seconds immediately after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=WfY5CgAAQBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PT29&amp;amp;lpg=PT29&amp;amp;dq=matt+fitzgerald+rugby+player+wattage&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=fgWkMoz4po&amp;amp;sig=7uiP8Oa6eFxzmrSXJVwDUu9nvoU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMI05HqodzvxwIVjJUNCh1sSA_J#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=matt%20fitzgerald%20rugby%20player%20wattage&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://books.google.com/books?id=WfY5CgAAQBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PT29&amp;amp;lpg=PT29&amp;amp;dq=matt+fitzgerald+rugby+player+wattage&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=fgWkMoz4po&amp;amp;sig=7uiP8Oa6eFxzmrSXJVwDUu9nvoU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMI05HqodzvxwIVjJUNCh1sSA_J#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=matt%20fitzgerald%20rugby%20player%20wattage&amp;amp;f=false&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is that your mind will tell you to quit far before you are physically not able to go on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T19:36:11.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27313" CreationDate="2015-09-12T19:39:29.833" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little over a year ago I was on the first day of the second month of insanity and felt something &quot;snap&quot; in my left foot. It hurt like hell for a week and has remained an intermittent pain ever since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I despise it because I can't seem to do any training and have put on a lot of weight. To be frank, I hate the way I look and, since I've also been balding for the last few years, my social anxiety has gone up tremendously and my self esteem has dropped down SO much. I hate photos of me. I hate videos of me. I can't even talk to women anymore. I mean it's just really, really pathetic and I know it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I'm trying again. I bought new weights, new running shoes, compression socks(which have helped tremendously), I've changed my diet and enrolled in nutrisystem. I've been getting at least fourty five minutes of cardio and half an hour of weights in every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that, though the compression socks help a great deal, sometimes when I wake up my foot hurts really bad and it takes a few hours for it to feel normal enough to even consider jogging. This is an issue because I like jogging in the early morning and evening honestly because there's virtually a zero percent chance of anyone seeing me on the trails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any exercises to help with the pain or any recommendations that may assist me to alleviate the tension in my foot in the morning? I'm sorry for the length of the question, thank you for reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17951" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T01:25:06.330" Title="Plantar Fasciitis help" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-12T19:50:01.407" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 18 years old and &#xA;My lower body is wider than my upper body .when i am dressed my shirt looks shorter than my pants and also my thighs are wider than my base.&#xA;My chest is 36 inches &#xA;   ,stomach is 39 inches&#xA;   ,base is 41 inches&#xA;   And my thighs are of 42inches&#xA;   Please help me out I am in deep deep problem...&#xA;Thanks☺&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17952" LastEditorUserId="10681" LastEditDate="2015-09-13T14:03:40.093" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T14:03:40.093" Title="how to decrease lower body fats,?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-09-14T13:18:35.847" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27311" CreationDate="2015-09-12T20:19:55.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately losing fat in one area, &quot;spot reduction&quot; is not possible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_reduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_reduction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/spot-reduction-one-final-attempt-to-kill-the-myth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/spot-reduction-one-final-attempt-to-kill-the-myth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll have to be achieved from a combination of dieting and aerobic exercises to reduce overall body fat, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastActivityDate="2015-09-12T20:19:55.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27310" CreationDate="2015-09-13T01:25:06.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had Plantar Fasciitis and it certainly is hard to resolve. I have also been bald for more than 30 years and I am embrace the fact that I don't have to do my hair in the morning. EVER! (Be bald and be proud ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of exercises that you can do to help. Perhaps there are to many to list here but these have helped me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Towel scrunches - In your bare feet ball a towel under your feet. &#xA;2) Make sure you stretch your feet in the morning before you get out of bed. I use a large band or even a sock to pull your toes towards you.&#xA;3) Calf raises and stretches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These three are listed here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/plantar-fasciitis/multimedia/foot-stretches-to-prevent-plantar-fasciitis/img-20008230&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/plantar-fasciitis/multimedia/foot-stretches-to-prevent-plantar-fasciitis/img-20008230&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition I have worn a boot at night. This helps to keep your foot in a 90 degree position and will help heal your plantar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wear (wore) Danskos. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dansko.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.dansko.com/&lt;/a&gt;) The solid bottom help support my foot while I walked during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wear very thick running shoes (I wear and LOVE Hoka's) The fact that it lets your foot bend less keeps you arch from collapsing while you are running.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hokaoneone.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hokaoneone.com/&lt;/a&gt;  I recommend the Bondi4 for a great shoe to start.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T01:25:06.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27314" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27373" CreationDate="2015-09-13T04:52:50.760" Score="3" ViewCount="1358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm almost 19 years of age and I am regularly doing gym since 3 months. With the height of 5'10 and weight of merely 115 pounds, I initially joined the gym with the intention of becoming a little 'bulky' and put on some muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was very much a computer bug few months ago and didn't pay due attention to my own body or other's body as a standard of benchmark, but now that I do, I see in trains or other public places that most people already have bulky biceps and chest without maybe even visiting the gym once, then there are these bulky sorts of guys that come to the gym and the weight they lift or press, is laughable looking at their muscle mass. I mean it's obviously more weight than me, but not by a very large margin, just 2-5KGs more than what I do, so I believe its very attainable in near future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some time ago I came across the phrase hypertrophy vs strength training (for me strength training included all types of lifting earlier). Currently, my gym trainer has prepared a workout routine for me that is something like :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday : Chinups : 15x5 ; Push-ups : 10x5 at start ; Wrist curls 20x5 and shoulder press 15x5 (with a weight lighter than I usually use for shoulder press)&#xA;Monday: Chest 4x10 (consists of 4-5 exercises for chest) ; Triceps : 3x10 (again, 4-5 usual exercises for triceps)&#xA;Tuesday : Back : 3x10 ; Biceps : 3x10&#xA;Wednesday : Shoulders : 3x10 ; Legs : 3x10&#xA;Repeat on tuesday, friday and satudray&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some exceptions like for calf raise the reps are 20-25.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from what I see, he wants me to train for hypertrophy? Again, I don't want to do all this hard-work and become simply fluffed, I want to genuinely get stronger, to lift more weights and strength that accompanies me everyday, not just the looks of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have done some research of what hypertrophy is but I still remain largely a noob, so if I train for strength, lets say adding more weight than I currently do for 4-6 reps, that will make me neurologically stronger and &lt;strong&gt;also help with atleast some muscle gains?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or perhaps I should go for both of them? How do you suggest I incorporate those changes so that I train for strength as well as size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I understand what is progressive overload, but under what method is it applied? Strength or Hypertrophy? and how do you properly incorporate it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eg- I do military overhead press with let's say 5 KG on both sides, now for progressive overload to occur, should I increase subsequent reps from 6 to 8 to 10 in next sets or should I increase weight from 5 to 7.5 to 10 KG? and the reps go down from like 10 to 8 to 6?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is better and is there a difference? or should I maintain my rep count whilst increasing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, looking at my body frame of height 5'10, weight 115 pounds, 26 inch waist, 11 inch biceps and just chicken legs, which will be better for me? I intend to continue going to the gym for many coming years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16217" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T15:39:19.210" Title="Train for strength or hypertrophy?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27314" CreationDate="2015-09-13T16:04:22.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to get stronger you need to get muscle and you need to make sure to use all the potential the muscle has. A bigger muscle has more potential, a smaller muscle can however still be stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle growth is achieved by hypertrophy, Strenght is achieved by training the lift you want to be stronger at and train them in the couple of reps you want to get stronger. For strenght the exercises must have some overflow on your strenght goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people consider a set of 5 as best of both worlds. It is close enough to have overflow with a 1RM and it is still enough reps to achieve hypertrophy. To get enough volume most people make it a 5 sets of 5 reps, which would make a total of 25 reps which is even more than doing 3 sets of 8 reps (equals 24).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progressive overload is a commenly used term, however as you said it doesn't really mean anything. One will not be able to progress every workout. Most strenght based programs are use linear progression. That means that you will add the same weight every week. This works pretty well for me, however this progression will eventually halt, this is when you'll have to look for what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently running the texas method, split version. This program is created by a world famous powerlifting lifter/coach Mark Rippetoe. You can look the program up on the internet. Or download the book (e-book) Practical Programming written by Mark Rippetoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can recommend this book very much, it teaches you about the most effective way of training for strenght. (My opinion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW; age, height or weigth should not make difference in the training style your doing. Ofcourse you could do cardio for wanting to lose weigth, but that's the only thing. What should make a difference is the training goal, time and willingness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastEditorUserId="17954" LastEditDate="2015-09-13T16:32:14.467" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T16:32:14.467" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25419" CreationDate="2015-09-13T16:11:49.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try a calistenics leg workout. Studies have proven that hypertrophy (muscle growth) is the same when doing 30 reps or 10 reps. So just do things like squats, hip trusters and other leg exercise for 30 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T16:11:49.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29010" CreationDate="2015-09-13T16:29:14.380" Score="2" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;I trained for several months in order to achieve my goal of a hundred push ups in a row. To do so, I slowly increased the number of push ups every time I trained. I did not do the training with push ups in a row, it was just the goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I can do it, I'd like to maintain my level. How should I do it? Will doing 100 push-ups frequently be sufficient, or should I divide my training again ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to be clear, I don't want to increase my number of push ups (I don't want too large muscles), just to be able to do 100 push ups in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17955" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T23:20:12.693" Title="How to maintain push ups training" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27223" CreationDate="2015-09-13T16:29:51.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, every type of exercise is good to start with. However I don't know for sure if freeletics is free, so you could also look up calistenics workouts on youtube or the rest of the internet, there are plenty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For gaining strength your body has to be shocked and has to addapt to that shock. The shock has to be great enough to still shock you. Freeletics is a many rep program, eventually you will be able to do 100 pushups easily so 50 pushups (E.G.) won't shock enough. At this time it will be better to just go to a gym or look up calistenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training for strenght/ muscle you will have to look to train all muscles, the workout you included doesn't train your back very well (which is a large and important muscle group) You must aim to train all bodyparts for more strenght and goodlookingness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is good to start with a program, because consistency is key in training. And a program could help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T16:29:51.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-14T01:30:43.273" Score="0" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing 60 push ups mon - wed - fri.&#xA;I'm making the 60 moves in 4 series with a break of 30 seconds per series.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's best, doing 60 push ups at once or 4 series of 15?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17957" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T06:05:44.847" Title="60 push ups at once? or 4 series of 15?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27314" CreationDate="2015-09-14T03:49:21.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start, I think that your current program is going to lead either to you burning yourself out, or to overuse injuries. Simply put, 75 (15x5) chin-ups is quite a lot to be doing &lt;em&gt;everyday&lt;/em&gt; when you're still a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progressive overload can work in various ways. It can be used for both gaining muscle mass (size) and strength. You can achieve it by increasing intensity (weight lifted), volume (number of sets / reps), or both. Which one you utilize will be dictated by both your goals and if you're trying to break through a plateau. I'll touch on this a bit more after my next point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy can be broken down into myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Myofibrillar hypertrophy tends to be obtained through higher intensity (and is thus correlated with higher strength) while sarcoplasmic hypertrophy tends to be obtained through higher volume (and thus correlated with more muscle mass). Despite the distinction between the two, they exist on a continuum and are therefore obtained together to varying degrees. This is why 5x5 programs are rather popular, as they award the lifter with a relatively high intensity and volume to achieve both types of hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So back to your goals. Since you are more interested in achieving higher strength, your focus should be on an intensity based progressive overload. Simply put, you should be trying to lift more weight each time you touch the barbell (at least for now). Once you stall on a particular lift (you can no longer continue to add weight each time you perform the lift for several sessions), then shifting to a volume based progressive overload may help you break past that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: Say over 2 months you add 5 kg to the barbell each time you do squat and get up to 100 kg. Lets say after this you get stuck and are unable to add anymore weight to the bar, despite trying in 2 or 3 different sessions. In this case increasing the volume that you squat at 100 kg may provide your body the stimulus it needs to lift more than 100 kg. So you might go from squatting 100 kg for 3x5 to 2x6 and 1x5 to 3x8 to 3x10 (for example). After that when you try to lift more than 100 kg, you are successful. In this scenario, changing your method of progressive overload allowed you to continue towards your original goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, in your situation, I would highly recommend ditching the program that your trainer gave you and use a program designed for beginners. Doing a Google search for 'beginning strength program' will yield a fair number of different programs that all work well for beginners. Each are slightly different in their own right. In the scope of being a beginner, the specific beginning strength program that you choose isn't a big deal. Simply choosing one that offers a schedule and set of exercises that works for you is better than getting caught up in the minor details of which is better than the next and then never actually starting one due to not getting a clear-cut-answer about which one you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; do (since you can do any). Simply stick to a beginner program until you stall out of it, and then you'll have a solid foundation of strength (and a set of &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; one-rep maxes) that you can use towards your goals whether or not they change over those 6 months or so (an average amount of time it takes to go through one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T03:49:21.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-14T04:14:04.620" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to play basketball and when I do I usually play for 2-3 hours. Sometimes non-stop sometimes with breaks. Depends on how much I win, as in basketball its about king of the court. One days where I play a lot, my achilles tendon gets sore. I've noticed massaging the tendon helps, but sometimes in the morning I feel the stiffness even though I am only 20 years old. I have seen youtube videos on how garrison technique works but many studies show that it is not that beneficial. One study concluded that it takes the worse of the pain off and one done with mice concluded that it might help humans but much more testing is needed. One study even noted that it's benefit was unnoticeable and any benefit should be from a placebo effect. Are there any other things one would recommend for achilles tendonitis or rather I believe it is achilles tendonosis as my achilles tendon does not swell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link about studies:&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-graston-technique-inducing-microtrauma-with-instruments/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-graston-technique-inducing-microtrauma-with-instruments/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16590" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T04:14:04.620" Title="Would you recommend graston technique for achilles tendonosis?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27319" CreationDate="2015-09-14T06:05:44.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to increase triceps as you mentioned in your comment, doing regular pushups will not be enough, especially not if you can make 60.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to current science, the ideal way to grow most muscles is to to exercises heavy enough that you can only do 10 of them in a set, 5-15 works, but around 10 seems to be ideal, if you can do more than 15 in a set, you're only increasing stamina. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So either change to another exercise, or modify your pushups. Put on a backpack or something else that's heavy on your back, or google other variants of pushups that are harder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T06:05:44.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2015-09-14T08:38:58.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just wondering the same. I am an ex boxer, when I was boxing it was really clear to me that no one can do bodybuilding at the same time because there is no strenght for sparring or training with a punchbag. Nowadays I am doing only doing ashtanga yoga. I want also to start bodybuilding. I have noticed that many yoga studios have once a week a day training with kettlebell. I can exercise my shoulders with a 24 kg kettlebell but it doesn't seem to help so much except in one asana (urdhba dhanurasana) in other words ''bridge asana''. I can say that push ups with handles and training my abs was efficient especially in Surya Namaskaras in other words (sun salutations). I could spent less energy, on the other hand if in the previous day I had trained my muscles really hard I wouldn't do them properly. So you have to find the balance. Unfortunately in internet I don't see similar questions or comments about combining bodybuilding training with yoga. Even if the stereotype of a yogi is a thin person I have noticed in yoga studios that many of these women are slightly overweight. &#xA;I found that disgusting! In sitting yoga exercises fat is a real problem because you can not even breath! The whole yoga technic of an asana is based on breathing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17960" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T08:38:58.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27329" CreationDate="2015-09-14T09:26:46.267" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 41 and do a lot of cycling. I have not been physical fit all my life but I have really gotten into biking over the last year, I get out most days and somedays I have been out for 7 hours. This is mountain biking and its all VERY hilly due to the area I live in so its is always demanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cycling with people the same age some older and although we are the same pace etc there HR goes higher than mine? they can hit 180, I never go above 160. I tend to be around 155 for most of the ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean? does my HR not peak as high as I have not been fit all my life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit -&#xA;My resting HR is low, sometimes just under 50 but norms 50 to 60.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17961" LastEditorUserId="17961" LastEditDate="2015-09-14T10:34:42.333" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T10:52:12.657" Title="Max HR lower than others, what does it mean?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27325" CreationDate="2015-09-14T10:52:12.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal that the max. HR of different people is different. There are just people whith a higher HR than others, and the other way round.&#xA;You really shouldn't worry too much about your HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your max. HR is higher than 160 if you get an average of 155 in a longer biking tour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to find out your max. HR you could google a good way to this while biking. As formulas don't consider individual prepositions concerning the HR they are not a good choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a biker, but a good way to find out your max. HR in running is to run a 10k race at your fastest pace and trying to do a sprint at the last few meters. The HR behind the finishing line should be pretty close to your max. HR. The way to do it with a bike should be pretty similar, but there are also other ways to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15993" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T10:52:12.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25330" CreationDate="2015-09-14T14:48:54.517" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The amount of milage your run every week is dependant on your age, fitness level, trail vs road, goals and finally the definition of &quot;Run vs Jog&quot;. The hard part is that as humans we are all different and our bodies all react differently to training. Some people can run 60k or less and successfully &quot;Run&quot; an ultra.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other variable is how many races you have done and what distances. For example if you have only trained for a Marathon and you have completed the Marathon in 3 hours  it stand to reason that you could RUN a 50k in 3:38 (Using this calculator &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com&quot;&gt;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are already running a 3 hour marathon then you already know the effort it takes to get to that level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, almost all 50k races are done on the trail. You should expect a much slower pace on trails as well as much different elevation changes. You can't really judge a pace on your trail races compared to a road race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T14:48:54.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24158" CreationDate="2015-09-14T14:58:19.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many runners try to adopt this running style simply because it does take stress off your knee. The craze around Vibrams was a good example of how you were forced to change your running style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start with a neutral running shoe. Something with little or no heel to toe drop. The large the heel the more chance you will have to do a heel strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you should concentrate on a mid-foot plant rather than a ball of foot plant. This will give you the advantage of not stressing your knee while also easing up on your calfs and achilles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, start slow and short. You could even try a pair of Vibrams (&lt;a href=&quot;http://us.vibram.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://us.vibram.com&lt;/a&gt;) but I will stress that you need to go slow and not run too far in the beginning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calf raises every day will help as well as stretching. You should start by running no more that 400 meters, then gradually increase your distance and pace. Your calfs will naturally be sore and tight but don't over do it. There are people who complete marathons in barefeet but they have years of experience in running that way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T14:58:19.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19109" CreationDate="2015-09-14T16:50:15.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biking uses your calf muscles as much as running depending how your foot position. I would lay off the bike until you can safely run your meets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T16:50:15.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27339" CreationDate="2015-09-14T17:09:58.497" Score="3" ViewCount="504" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to use one of these exercises to help strengthen my back, in conjunction with stretches in my chest and shoulders to help correct my rolled forward shoulders ('computer posture').  Of these two, which is more appropriate for that purpose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T20:28:59.587" Title="Wide-grip pull ups or bent over rows for correcting computer posture?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27338" CreationDate="2015-09-14T18:23:34.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Horizontal rows are generally better for correcting posture in deskbound workers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be looking to strengthen your rear-shoulder muscle-groups: Trapezius, scapular deltoid, rhomboids, scapular retractors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any sort of horizontal row where you keep your elbows high will do the trick. In addition, try any of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Face-pulls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse-fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear-deltoid raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/posture-cure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/posture-cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastEditorUserId="10879" LastEditDate="2015-09-15T20:28:59.587" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T20:28:59.587" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-14T22:02:30.950" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure it this is the right site,but can anyone tell me some exercises without weights,like stretches,to train my hand and arm so i can be a good quarterback. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17971" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T02:46:36.530" Title="Quarterback training?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27341" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27343" CreationDate="2015-09-14T22:04:16.490" Score="2" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started my journey towards a healthier lifestyle on January 2014 weighing 253 lbs, I did weight routines and HIIT(once a week) followed a STRICT diet and managed to drop to 218lbs by the end of the year. I faced some slight depression the first half of this 2015 which caused me to stopped working out for that period of time, and I've been intensively working out since June 06 and watching my diet. I feel myself getting stronger although I wish I could lose fat at the same rate I earn strength. I have been told I should use supplements to burn fat, but I'm scared since I don't really know what I would be getting into. Any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I do want to lose weight but still look somewhat built, I was a size 40 and now I'm 36 but I still have that extra fatty areas and visceral fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T22:33:26.987" Title="Should I start taking supplements other than my protein?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27341" CreationDate="2015-09-14T22:33:26.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are supplements you can take that will allow you to lose fat faster than without. Just looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECA_stack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ECA stack&lt;/a&gt; for a minute, from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v26/n5/full/0802023a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;peer reviewed study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Conclusions: In this 6-month placebo-controlled trial, herbal&#xA;  ephedra/caffeine (90/192 mg/day) promoted body weight and body fat&#xA;  reduction and improved blood lipids without significant adverse&#xA;  events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11117974&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;numerous deaths can be attributed to ephedra and ephedra like substances&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of dietary supplements that contain ephedra alkaloids may pose&#xA;  a health risk to some persons. These findings indicate the need for a&#xA;  better understanding of individual susceptibility to the adverse&#xA;  effects of such dietary supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one is going to credibly argue that something like the widely consumed ECA stack is ineffective. Also, no one with much brain power is going to going around recommending it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you noted, it was the strict adherence to your diet that made the biggest difference and at a high (&gt;20%, for males) body fat, diet is the largest valve to play with by far. I'm not going to recommend an ECA stack for anyone, but the generally successful results I've seen are from folks who use it on a short term basis to dip into the &amp;lt;10% range, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19353/7091&quot;&gt;because the lower your body fat goes the easier it is to add body fat&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My honest advice would be to use an effective strength training program that has you lifting every other day, and then go for runs or long (1 hour+) walks on the other days. That schedule, combined with a strict diet, will scrub fat quite consistently. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;And remember that strength training has a higher impact to fat loss than cardio&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fat burners&quot; you can largely ignore for your entire fitness life and have great results. If you do venture down that road, I would &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; encourage you to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skip HIIT&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't run in the heat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay very hydrated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a much lower dose than whatever the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bro-science&lt;/a&gt; on the Internet tells you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell your doctor what you're doing. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat burners will increase your blood pressure, induce &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachycardia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tachycardia&lt;/a&gt;, and raise your core temperature: deadly things if your body has existing cardiac issues or is trying to cool you down during normal exercise. People do die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T22:33:26.987" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27384" CreationDate="2015-09-15T01:11:07.840" Score="4" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Background&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At my gym, I see many people weighing themselves while exercising. They are usually in their gym clothes, with shoes, socks, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My immediate thought was that it's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;idiotic.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This is because the clothes and shoes add to the body weight; also, the weight will fluctuate because of water intake, food consumption, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Question&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, before dismissing this practice &lt;em&gt;(or engaging some of these people about their goals)&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;is there any reason &lt;em&gt;(outside of not having a personal scale at home)&lt;/em&gt; where it's efficient or acceptable to weigh yourself while exercising?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2015-09-15T02:04:03.283" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T12:30:12.143" Title="Is It Rational To Weigh Yourself While Exercising?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27354" CreationDate="2015-09-15T02:02:51.003" Score="4" ViewCount="1352" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Background&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been deadlifting for about a year at home and have managed to have a 1RM of 405 lbs &lt;em&gt;(more than twice my body weight)&lt;/em&gt;. Because I had no intention of disturbing my downstairs neighbors, I never drop the weights; I always put it down carefully. Obviously, this was very tasking for me &lt;em&gt;(and I think it contributed to my low number)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Fast Forward&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now train in a commercial gym with a free weights section. My observation of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; patrons deadlifting are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A lot of them drop the weights after lifting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; This causes some noise. For some, the noise is so annoying that other patrons usually avoid all the machines around the area. Weirdly enough, the gym employees don't seem to complain. So, on one of my sessions, I decided to drop the weights; &lt;em&gt;(I guided it down, but not as I used to do at home)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unsurprisingly, I wasn't as tired as I used to be.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Because I'm unfamiliar with the noise, I had to put some rubber mats under the weights to reduce the noise made.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;More than half of the deadlifting/squats patrons use a belt.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; They are using belts for low weights &lt;em&gt;(less than 200 lbs for squats, 250 lbs for deadlifts)&lt;/em&gt;. Because I began deadlifting with the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;StrongLifts&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; program where using belts was discouraged &lt;em&gt;(unless you're lifting about 1.5 times your body weight)&lt;/em&gt; because it allows patrons to use bad form, I usually feel like talking to the patrons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Questions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;First, &lt;em&gt;is it possible to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;efficiently&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; deadlift without dropping the weights?&lt;/em&gt; I don't want to be that guy who makes noise &lt;em&gt;(or damages equipment)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Second, &lt;em&gt;is there a good reason to wear belts while deadlifting/squatting with low weights?&lt;/em&gt; I was fortunate to have a good foundation when I started and this site also helped me a lot. So, if there's no benefit for them, I don't mind talking to some of them about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T16:17:33.150" Title="Is it Necessary to Make Noise While Deadlifting Or Wear A Belt" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27355" CreationDate="2015-09-15T05:23:06.737" Score="2" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 15 year old is a sophomore running on the Varsity Cross Country Team. Last year he did Very good running with freshmen. So well that this year he is the #3 Runner on the varsity team. He is not doing so well because he is running against bigger stronger opposition this year. He is tall and lanky, I have been encourage him to start doing some type of training and diet to have some muscle gain. I feel he is getting bullied at the starting line because he is easily pushed or boxed in when the race starts. If he had more muscle i feel he wouldnt be pushed inside so easy and I feel he would be able to finish races stronger. He says muscle and gaining weight will slow him down. What is your opinion &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15689" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T16:31:23.233" Title="What kind of Weight Training should my 15 year old Son be Doing if he is on the Cross Country Team?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-15T11:43:47.420" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not able to find any good software for managing a Gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guys, can you help me provide links/reference to any good Gym Management Software which is not so costly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17939" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T11:43:47.420" Title="Gym Management Software" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2015-09-16T03:51:30.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27349" CreationDate="2015-09-15T13:43:43.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had two high school Cross Country runners with one a senior this year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: Let the coach plan the weight workouts. They will know best what the individual athlete needs and I would hate to have a public forum dictate what a high school athlete should be doing while not running. If anything they could do basic core workouts without weights. This would include planks, situps, pushups etc. I would look at what the collegiate athletes are doing and what they look like. I think you will notice they are all pencil thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the second part of your question: General a Cross Country race is not won at the start. I am assuming they are running a 5k and they have a mass start. Your son will have time to move to the front of the pack with in the for 800m. If he is anything like runners in Minnesota, to win he will have to be around 16 minutes and he will drop many of the other runners by KM 3. (They will be running a little faster than a 5 minute pace.) Our first meet the winner of the race won with a pace of 4:55&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T13:43:43.940" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27356" CreationDate="2015-09-15T14:13:06.340" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always, when I work my chest, my shoulders do all the work. I do the exercises the right way with a lower amount of weights and still my shoulders do all the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to build chest muscle for a weak chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17983" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-15T18:22:30.843" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T19:42:35.670" Title="Everytime I workout my chest my shoulder do all the work" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27349" CreationDate="2015-09-15T14:46:08.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running in a crowd is not necessarily dependent on having large muscle mass, but rather technique and being willing to stand your ground. Brent is right, the race isn't won in the first 800m, but it can be lost. I would assume that the coaches are doing drills and workouts to emphasize being able to near sprint out of the gate for position (400 - 800m work) and then be able to settle into a race pace. Cross country starts are kind of like the quote from &quot;Days of Thunder&quot; - &quot;No, no, he didn't slam you, he didn't bump you, he didn't nudge you... he rubbed you. And rubbin, son, is racin&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would echo the statement that if he is doing that well as a younger member of the team, he has talent, and the best thing to do is let the coaches do what they are paid to do. There are many of us that are/have been runners (I ran x-country through college), but we don't know the specifics of the team training program. We could recommend things, but we don't know if that would help or hinder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that growth is having an impact, and things will settle a bit when that slows down. Just relax, and if it keeps going, just (gently) let the coach know you have concerns about his starting techinque. Most likely they have it down as something to work on already. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T14:46:08.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27347" CreationDate="2015-09-15T16:17:33.150" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking your questions one by one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) The eccentric portions of lifts are known to both cause more soreness and be more prone to injury. Combined with the extreme weights that are lifted during a deadlift, it creates a lot of incentive for people to neglect the eccentric phase and just drop the weight. It is good to note however that in a competition setting, you are supposed to control the weight down (and not slam it), not  slowly but in a controlled manner. If you are worried about damaging the equipment, I would ask someone working in the gym whether the plates and floor can handle it - some are built for this kind of treatment while others are not. Otherwise, your rubber mat solution is probably enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, it depends on what you consider &quot;dropping&quot; the weight. Spending too much time putting the weight down will hold you back, but there is a middle ground behind slamming it down and lowering it softly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final note, some famous deadlifters (namely Ed Coan and Richard Hawthorne) are known for focusing part of their training on that particular part of the lift, so you might not have been wasting your time as much as you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) You don't &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; to wear a belt; but it does help bracing by allowing an increase in intra-abdominal pressure (you push your belly against an external resistance, which creates IAP more easily), thus making the lift safer &lt;strong&gt;provided you learn how to use it properly&lt;/strong&gt;. It's not just a &quot;put it on, gain 5% on your lifts&quot; situation. Greg Nuckols has an excellent article full of references on the topic on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/the-belt-bible/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;strengtheory&quot;&gt;his website, Strengtheory&lt;/a&gt;. It's a long read but it's worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T16:17:33.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27349" CreationDate="2015-09-15T16:31:23.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question directly, I'll point you to a previous question about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19490/what-are-some-good-strength-training-routines-for-runners/19501#19501&quot;&gt;incorporating running and strength training together&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More broadly though, I think it's worth noting that the cross country coach at your local high school probably isn't a high level trainer putting people into the Olympics (or even an xc scholarship).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make the biggest dent, I would find a coach for the non-xc season who can develop your son more directly and work with him for the ~9 months when most high school xc runners slack off or at best are just doing unstructured running. There are some &lt;a href=&quot;http://runnersconnect.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;online coaching services&lt;/a&gt; that you can consider, or possibly you can find a high quality team and talk to one of their coaches directly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a former junior athlete, I can definitely say that the defining characteristic for high level juniors is whether or not they're adhering to a professional program. Hodge-podging stuff from Runner's World and a part time high school coach will definitely make him competitive, but you can do a lot more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you look for coaches, look for ones who have proven experience with your son's age group and your son's distance(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T16:31:23.233" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27352" CreationDate="2015-09-15T19:42:35.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say this only really applies to the bench, dumbbell or barbell...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your grip and positioning on the bench is too high. It's probably more around your upper chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I would suggest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scoot up on the bench until the bar is unracked at your middle&#xA;       chest, and when it's off the bar it hovers around your lower chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuck your elbows in &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the lowering portion of the lift (coming&#xA;       down to your chest) Let it lightly touch your chest just under your&#xA;       nipple.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push back up while trying to bend the bar (figuratively)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench press will always incorporate your front shoulders, the key is to bring it down far enough to allow your triceps to catch and engage on the push.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try wider grip if you're not feeling the pull around your armpit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T19:42:35.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27346" CreationDate="2015-09-15T20:22:17.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The key thing to track one's weight is consistency.&lt;/strong&gt; If each day you weigh yourself on the same scale, wearing the same clothes, and with roughly the same food/water/excreta weight, you should be getting a acceptably consistent weight. You ARE correct that different exercises and water intake will significantly shift one's weight one way or another. Perhaps these individuals are carefully tracking their water-intake and output. There's also no harm in weighing yourself more often (so long as you take the appropriate number of 'grains of salt' with that measurement). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - if someone was trying to sweat-out a certain poundage on a treadmill (i.e. so they could 'make weight' as a boxer or MMA fighter) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, many people are dumb and assume that a 30-minute treadmill session will result in several pounds of fat loss, and they're trying to instantly see the results of their efforts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T20:22:17.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26127" CreationDate="2015-09-15T21:44:52.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are missing out on a major point here, 'REST'. Although your individual body parts may be getting rest but you need to rest your entire body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With an intense workout routine like yours, its is even more important. Resting your body plays a major role, whether you are trying to lose weight or gain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17987" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T21:44:52.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-16T01:54:54.013" Score="0" ViewCount="661" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 20 6'3 and trying to gain strength with very little increase in my size.Are there any specific things i should be doing when lifting so i gain muscle strength without any size increases? i notice a lot of powerlifters have size on them as well, which is not what i want.I want their strength but not the size.Keep in mind I'm not aiming to  be a powerlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17989" LastEditorUserId="10681" LastEditDate="2015-09-16T12:41:55.370" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T18:56:29.790" Title="How should i train for strength with very minimal size increase" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26127" CreationDate="2015-09-16T03:10:14.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;First,&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;congratulations on shedding that much weight.&lt;/strong&gt; I know it takes a lot of time, effort, dedication, pain, and sacrifice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Second,&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Past result isn't an indication of future success.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Why did the program work in the past? Most likely, your body was adapting to your new program.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let me see if I can highlight a few issues I see in your program&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Weighing Yourself Daily&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;proficient&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; weight-loss coach will tell anyone to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt; &#xA;  &lt;li&gt;weigh themselves daily. Your daily weight will fluctuate &lt;em&gt;(even with no clothes on)&lt;/em&gt;, irrespective of your consumption of exactly the same items in the same quantity at the same time daily. The general theory of &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;calories consumed - calories burned &amp;lt 0 = weight loss&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; works over a period of time and not daily. You can't control exactly how your body burns those calories daily. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You're gonna exhaust yourself with anticipation if you keep doing that.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use weight scales as the main determinant for weight-loss. Using a tape measurement, one can include&#xA; &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Waist size, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chest size &lt;em&gt;(for male)&lt;/em&gt;, hip size &lt;em&gt;(for females)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bicep size &lt;em&gt;(this should initially reduce as the fat is being burned and then increase as it becomes muscular)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Shirt/dress size, pants size, belt size, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Obviously, no measurement beats the mirror&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;; however, this might not be feasible for small reduction in weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weigh themselves after exercising. Just because you ran for an hour, you think the numbers will just drop that day? &#xA; &lt;ul&gt;   &#xA;    &lt;li&gt;First, you'll need to have burned about 3500 calories. It's highly unlikely that you burned that much with both the cardio and weightlifting.&lt;/li&gt;   &#xA;    &lt;li&gt;Second, all the liquids consumed to keep the energy up will add to your weight &lt;em&gt;(even if it's simply water)&lt;/em&gt;. Yup....water still has weight even if it contains no calories.&lt;/li&gt; &#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;exercise 5 - 6 days for three and half hours. Unless an athlete, that's an overkill. Unless combined with excess calorie consumption or steroids, I'm not sure how you can maintain that regimen for more than a few weeks. I have a few theories though: &#xA; &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Low intensity is used at the gym. If you perform cardio for an hour and then perform high intensity weightlifting for two and half hours, your body should be too sore to repeat 6 days a week&lt;/li&gt;  &#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A lot of the time is spent resting or doing nothing at the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If both theories are inaccurate, there's only one other option I can think of: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;steroids.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, your program needs a revamp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt; &#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Weightlifting before cardio is the proper way to train.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; You shouldn't exhaust your energy with cardio before lifting weights. The intensity will be reduced and your gains will be limited.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Reduce the time spent at the gym.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Three and half hours is too much, especially for weight-loss reasons. Why not? Because after exhausting your body for over an hour, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;your cortisol level is raised and this prevents further fat burn; energy expended after this point is not from your fat storage.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Reduce your training from 6 days to 3 - 4 days.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Most effective weight loss programs recommend 3 days for exercises; this allows the body to rest and recuperate, which results in muscle building, metabolism increase, and fat loss. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sometimes, less is more. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Increase your general activity level.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Because you're not spending all day at the gym, your body recovers fast enough for you to be able to increase your general activities &lt;em&gt;(walking/biking instead of driving, taking the stairs, portion rationing, etc)&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;In Conclusion&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body has indicated to you how it plans to shed the weight; listen to it and reduce your intensity. Weight-loss is a long-term program &lt;em&gt;(even if one drops 100 lbs in a day).&lt;/em&gt; &#xA;Commit to an efficient program &lt;em&gt;(along with a nutritious, balanced diet)&lt;/em&gt; and be more active for a long term and adjust when it no longer seems to be working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T03:10:14.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27361" CreationDate="2015-09-16T04:32:33.593" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if you're a beginner, but I'd say don't worry about &quot;increase size.&quot; The type of size you see on powerlifters take years of intense training, proper dieting, and carefully portioned supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say the fear of &quot;getting too big&quot; is just as silly as &quot;I only want to lose weight in my [body part/area]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T04:32:33.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27369" CreationDate="2015-09-16T05:19:38.817" Score="6" ViewCount="13357" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing pretty good exercises for my abs, but i never feel the usual pain i feel when i exercise other muscles, why ? And does this mean I'm not having progress or not doing enough ? I like to feel this pain and would like to feel it on abs too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="15362" LastEditDate="2015-09-17T17:10:02.810" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T17:10:02.810" Title="Why I never feel DOMS on my abs?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27361" CreationDate="2015-09-16T12:31:09.757" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way it happened for me. And I must note that I didn't want this to happen yet I could not prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to the gym, get yourself a couple of strenght and muscle gain oriented programs and do them as instructed. Increase the weight everytime you can and just stick to it. Do this for 5 months. While you do this you should also eat less (aim to be cut) and drink protein supplements (100% whey is by far the safest option). Then after 5 months stop exercising for a whole month and stop drinking protein. Your body will start to dissolve your muscles but your strength will remain. After that 1 month just start it over again. Key note: Do not eat a lot, eat maintenance or less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a steady gym goer, I'm counting my third year in the gym exercising 5 times a week religiously. This summer I injured my foot and I was unable to workout for an entire month. I lost a great deal (a great deal) of the muscles I had, but when I returned to the gym I was heart-broken to find out that I didn't lose or only bearly lost my strength. Now I'll have to work twice as hard just to get where I was before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17940" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T12:31:09.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27288" CreationDate="2015-09-16T12:44:33.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;On this site there should be every stretching exercise imaginable. Just do a couple each day, keep at it, be consistent and eventually It'll show:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/exercisetype/id/3/exercisetype/stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/exercisetype/id/3/exercisetype/stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17940" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T12:44:33.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27361" CreationDate="2015-09-16T13:09:32.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two ways to approach this that can work together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Diet&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body's size is largely dependent on how much you eat, followed by how much of &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; you eat, and then by physical activity. The key point here is how much you eat. If you eat at maintenance, your body weight will remain the same (you might lose fat over time). You can also eat slightly lower than maintenance (no more than 10%-15% below). In this case your weight will decline, most of that weight will be fat loss. This also means that if you frequently eat above maintenance (once in a while won't hurt you) then you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; gain size whether that's from fat or muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: After a while, eating at or below maintenance may affect your ability to continue getting stronger. In this scenario, it may benefit you to eat above maintenance for a while to increase strength further and then cut back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Training&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training for maximal strength tends to revolve around lower reps per set and a lower overall volume. If you are a beginner, then following a beginner's program is your best option at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not a beginner, structuring your training around a lower rep scheme will provide more benefit for your goals. Sticking to around 5 or fewer reps per set will provide more stimulus for your body to neurologically adapt to moving heavy weight (that's what strength is: your efficiently using your muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following a good powerlifting program or Olympic weightlifting program (doesn't mean you have to compete) will also provide you the training you seek to increase strength. As long as you don't eat everything in sight, your size will remain more-or-less the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A final note: as you lose fat you will appear to get bigger even if your size hasn't actually changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T16:15:48.157" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27365" CreationDate="2015-09-16T13:47:16.880" Score="5" Body="&lt;h3&gt;You Won't Have DOMS on Your Abs.......and that's an awesome thing!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Your abs muscles' primary function is to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;stabilize your upper body;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; this comprises more than half of your body weight.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also assist your lower body with your numerous movement, balance, and co-ordination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;What do you think would happen if your core is so sore it can't keep you up?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; Because these muscles are constantly working, they easily bounce back from any stress applied to them &lt;em&gt;(similar to your heart muscles when stressed)&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does this mean I'm not having progress or not doing enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Negatory!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, having DOMS isn't a definite indication that you're having progress. It's simply your body's reaction to the previous work done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any soreness felt should be gone in minutes or hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you perform your exercise with medium to high intensity, you should feel the effects. One of the effects I feel is the constriction in the muscles after the exercises. My mid-region will usually feel an inward push by the muscles. Another effect is &lt;em&gt;(and this usually happens if you have a low body fat %)&lt;/em&gt; that the muscles should actually looked more engorged than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should You Feel The Burn During The Exercises?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Absolutely!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; If you don't, increase the intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Caution&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A lot of people &lt;em&gt;(at least the ones I've observed)&lt;/em&gt; perform the core exercises too fast.&lt;/strong&gt; Many people turn the exercises into cardio. Core exercises should be done with slow speed. Pause briefly at the top and bottom of each rep and actively engage the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Utilize the full ROM (Range of Motion)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Because core exercises are actually difficult when performed properly, a ot of people don't utilize the full ROM. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The muscles have to be fully expanded and contracted to be activated.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Too many reps&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. If you fully engage your abs while training, you shouldn't be able to perform a lot of reps. My recommendation is never to perform more than 20 reps for each exercise per set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your exercises should comprise those that engage the front muscles and the side muscles.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Many engage the front muscles and ignore the sides; the benefits will be minimal this way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lastly, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;many perform the exercises that activate the upper part of the abs (such as crunches) and ignore those that activate the lower part (such as leg raises).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forget about DOMS for your abs. Focus on actively engaging them with high intensity and you'll feel and see the effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T13:47:16.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27365" CreationDate="2015-09-16T13:51:32.163" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And does this mean I'm not having progress or not doing enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s a common perception that &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; is a valid indicator for muscle hypertrophy, and, is a desirable goal for muscular gain.  It’s generally accepted that DOMS is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; caused by lactic acid build up, as was originally thought, but, actually occurs &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/doms-the-good-the-bad-and-what-it-really-means-to-your-training&quot;&gt;due to connective tissue micro trauma&lt;/a&gt;.  It’s a byproduct of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nsca.com/uploadedfiles/nsca/resources/pdf/certification/quizzes/quiz_pack_articles/october_2013_35.5.pdf&quot;&gt;EIMD&lt;/a&gt; (Exercise Induced Muscle Damage).  Exercises that emphasize the eccentric phase (lengthening or stretching of the muscle) have a more likely chance to result in DOMS.  However, muscles tend to adapt to DOMS by preventing future muscle damage and soreness if the exercise is repeated in the same manner.  So, even if DOMS was a valid goal (which it should not be), you would need to alter the stress placed upon the muscle (eg. Different exercises, more weight, different angles, etc.) in order to cause a DOMS reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current research indicates that there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/221841567_Does_Exercise-Induced_Muscle_Damage_Play_a_Role_in_Skeletal_Muscle_Hypertrophy&quot;&gt;no causal relationship&lt;/a&gt; to assume that DOMS/EIMD is a valid indicator for muscular progress (hypertrophy).  As a result, I would suggest using a different indicator for your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T13:51:32.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27361" CreationDate="2015-09-16T14:58:29.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been studies on that topic and it happens that strength more or less depends on 3 factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cross-sectional area of your muscles (i.e. your &quot;size&quot;) is the biggest/most reliable factor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neural efficiency is another factor: when you lift heavy things you get used to lifting heavy things&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anthropomorphic factors, i.e. your leverages which will be more or less good for some lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Powerlifting and general strength training consists (to simplify) in two phases (which are trained alternatively or concurrently depending on the level of the trainee and the training methodology):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accumulating volume (think of volume as an abstract value quantifying how much work you have done) to generate hypertrophy. Hypertrophy helps you get stronger (see mainly factor 1), healthier by stabilizing your joints and helping your lift more safely, and in shape by burning calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking the existing muscle mass and making it more efficient at lifting heavy weights (what we usually call &quot;strong&quot;). This is dipping more into factor 2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(there is also a 3rd phase called peaking, but that's purely for pre-competition purpose so I'll avoid talking about it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, depending on what you mean by not getting bigger, you will either severely limit yourself to fighting for bits of neural efficiency out of your existing muscle tissue, push through and risk your health, or you will have to accept some degree of size increase. However, if your only fear is to become too heavy, rest assured that it will mainly depend on what you actually eat as your body cannot create muscle out of thin air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, limiting your diet will mean that your body will have a harder time recovering from your training (as the absence of food is seen as another stressor), so you have to adapt your training accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Training&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for low volume training regimen as they will not stress your body too much, allowing you to get stronger on a minimal diet. If you are just starting, I would recommend starting with something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program#Three_Flavors_of_Starting_Strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Starting Strength&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, and follow it by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Texas_Method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;the Texas Method&quot;&gt;Texas Method&lt;/a&gt; once you will have stalled on your lifts. Once you've exhausted your gains on those two training templates, you will have to start gaining or stop there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Diet &amp;amp; Recovery&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you need to be in a caloric maintenance or deficit, it is important that you get your diet and recovery factors dialed in 100%. The first step towards that is to get your daily protein requirement so that all of your food is used intelligently. The usual cut off is 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight, but you can go as low as 0.8g/lb with no harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery-wise, you &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; to sleep. Sleep is the most important recovery factor (along with food) and you are going to hurt yourself if you do not get at least 7h30 (+/- 30 min) per night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and train safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T14:58:29.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27314" CreationDate="2015-09-16T15:39:19.210" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a misconception that strength and hypertrophy are somehow mutually exclusive things. Keep in mind that the strongest powerlifters train like bodybuilders most of the time, where the main difference appears when peaking for a competition, where the powerlifters peak towards maximal strength rather than maximal leanness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strength of a lifter depends on three factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1) the cross-sectional area of their muscles (how big they are)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(2) the neural efficiency of their muscles (how good they are at recruiting these muscles for lifting heavy things)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(3) their anthropomorphy (i.e. their leverages)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot change (3) unless you go get very expensive surgery, so that's out of the question. Only (1) and (2) are somehow in your hands, and that's why we developed something called periodization, i.e. the training of multiple qualities (here hypertrophy, strength) over a period of time in order to maximize the overall performance of the athlete at the end of the cycle: you get bigger to improve (1), which gives your muscles more &quot;room&quot; to get stronger, which you take advantage of by then training for (2), which makes you stronger and lets you train for (1) with bigger weights, etc. They are two sides of the same thing! Now to answer your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have done some research of what hypertrophy is but I still remain largely a noob, so if I train for strength, lets say adding more weight than I currently do for 4-6 reps, that will make me neurologically stronger and also help with atleast some muscle gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are correct, that would mainly be neural adaptation (the second factor) with some small effect on size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or perhaps I should go for both of them? How do you suggest I incorporate those changes so that I train for strength as well as size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could alternate them (look up something called &lt;a href=&quot;https://academy.sportlyzer.com/wiki/block-periodization/&quot;&gt;block periodization&lt;/a&gt; which deals with that) or train them concurrently (frequent in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/the-bogeyman-of-training-programs-and-why-it-may-be-just-what-you-need/&quot;&gt;daily undulating periodization&lt;/a&gt;, concurrent periodization and the western-style conjugate training à la Westside) and alternate the emphasis, depending on your preference. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefts.com/education/training/powerlifting/overview-of-periodization-methods-for-resistance-training/&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; gives a good review of different periodization models, but a bit of googling can give you a lot more results if you are curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, I understand what is progressive overload, but under what method is it applied? Strength or Hypertrophy? and how do you properly incorporate it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is actually both. Progressive overload applies to a &lt;em&gt;stressor&lt;/em&gt;, meaning something that causes adaptation in your body. If you progressively overload a stressor that generates hypertrophy, you will continue progressing for hypertrophy. Same for strength, endurance, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's define volume as an abstract measure of &quot;work&quot;. It is usually calculated as sets x reps x weight (also called &quot;tonnage&quot;). Let's define intensity as a measure of relative weight: it's the percentage of your 1 rep max in a lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding hypertrophy, the main hypothesis at the moment is that volume in the 40%+ intensity range governs its progress. Volume is an abstract measure of &quot;work&quot;. It is usually calculated as sets x reps x weight. Applying progressive overload to it would then be increasing volume: from 4 sets of 6, work up to 4 sets of 8 and that will be an increase in volume from 24xWeight to 32xWeight. From 3x10 work up to 5x10 and that will be an increase from 30 to 50 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an alternative hypothesis which says that a better measure of volume for hypertrophy is the number of &quot;hard&quot; sets (meaning sets which you have a hard time finishing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding strength, the main hypothesis is that it is governed by volume in the 70% to 90% intensity range. That's where the traditional linear progressions with sets of 5 come into play. In that case you could progressively overload by adding a bit of weight to the barbell everytime you come in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding work capacity (your ability to do a lot of volume in a short time), the main hypothesis is that it is governed by your ability to go back to your resting heart rate after training. You could progressively overload it by removing 10 seconds of rest between each set everytime you go in the gym. Or trying to do a number of repetitions with a given weight in a minimum number of sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eg- I do military overhead press with let's say 5 KG on both sides, now for progressive overload to occur, should I increase subsequent reps from 6 to 8 to 10 in next sets or should I increase weight from 5 to 7.5 to 10 KG? and the reps go down from like 10 to 8 to 6?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could do both. Increase volume first by adding reps up to 10, then increase the resistance and go back to 6 reps, rinse and repeat (that's called a double progression).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which is better and is there a difference? or should I maintain my rep count whilst increasing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As explained before, they complement each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Then again, looking at my body frame of height 5'10, weight 115 pounds, 26 inch waist, 11 inch biceps and just chicken legs, which will be better for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be better for you is to do a little of both, and a lot of sleeping &amp;amp; eating. You are still 19, when your hormones are still highly tuned for growing. Take advantage of the next 10 years before your testosterone starts naturally dropping and go train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you read this article by coach, writer and world record powerlifter Greg Nuckols: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/powerlifters-should-train-more-like-bodybuilders/&quot;&gt;Why powerlifters should train more like bodybuilders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T15:39:19.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27361" CreationDate="2015-09-16T18:42:28.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Train for Strength&quot; can mean very different things to different people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By strength do you mean muscular endurance, functional strength, powerlifting strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train to be a powerlifter - you will need to break down your muscles and rebuild them via protein synthesis and recovery periods in order to maximize your potential with the given goal with powerlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest reading up on Sarcoplasmic vs Myofibril Hypertrophy training types &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyvision.fitness/blog/hypertrophy-difference-between-myofibril-and-sarcoplasmic/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyvision.fitness/blog/hypertrophy-difference-between-myofibril-and-sarcoplasmic/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train for muscular endurance - You can definitely keep your weights lighter and reps higher to stimulate muscular endurance and achieve a physique that will do more sculpting and oppose to a strength program which will give you more mass in your muscles by tearing fibers and creating scar tissue around those parts of the muscles thereby making the size of your muscles grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lift heavy enough to stimulate a response, chances are you will grow even slightly. After 4 weeks of a consistent program one will notice gains. It may not be so noticeable that you're just a giant now, but your shoulders might be wider and more defined. Your back may be wider or thicker. Your arms may be more vascular, etc. These are side effects of effective lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question then becomes, What's your goal? Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T18:42:28.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27361" CreationDate="2015-09-16T18:56:29.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a lot of the other answers are great, in particular &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/27371/7091&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, but I'll give you another option to consider: kettlebells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Training for strength&quot;, simply put, requires a degree of muscle enlargement because the size of a muscle has a significant (but by no means total) influence on strength and power output. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells are, point blank, the most effective way to build strength. If there was a better method, athletes who need strength with ditch barbell training and use the alternative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote up &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/26123/7091&quot;&gt;a simple (but effective) barbell-less program centered around kettlebells&lt;/a&gt; recently, and you might want to consider that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think most people would consider Pavel Tsatsoline plenty strong, and to my knowledge he &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; does kettlebell and body weight training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hc20u.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hc20u.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1iwBowB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;his book&lt;/a&gt; Pavel mentions that a big reason kettlebells are popular in law enforcement is for folks who don't want to look big and want to keep hypertrophy to a minimum. I won't get into the not-really-saying-anything-specific term of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;functional fitness&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, but kettlebell exercises are almost entirely multi-joint and frequently full-body. They offer a good blend of muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular stimuluation, and technical movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T18:56:29.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27365" CreationDate="2015-09-16T19:07:57.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt; has nothing to do with gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some exercises, like barbell good mornings, will wreck your hamstrings with DOMS, but that is because it's a lengthening (eccentric) movement, which is where DOMS shows up the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concentric (shortening) and isometric (held motionless under tension) are not commonly DOMS inducing, and are primarily how abdominals are used. Your abs are braced tight (isometrically) during the deadlift, and contract (concentrically) during sit ups and squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to cause DOMS in your abs, you can do something like an ab wheel, and rollout very slowly with your abs under tension, causing eccentric behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But trust me (and every other human who trains) on this one: if eccentric exercises (ie: DOMS causing) was the most effective way to train, we would all be doing eccentric exercises. Some eccentric exercises are good, but it's not common. What's a better way to increase your bench: add more weight and push it up, or add more weight and slowly lower it down? They both might be beneficial, but the concentric (tightening of your triceps and pecs) is what produces the power output and produces gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T19:07:57.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-17T04:31:22.950" Score="3" ViewCount="878" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to gym for about 3-4 month now.&#xA;In my diet I tried to eat 2g of protein per 1kg of body mass, ~0.5g of fat per 1kg of body mass, and keep my calories intake &gt;= calories burned overall. I gained some mass (both muscle and fat presumably). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training program was mainly 4 sets of 8-12 reps, with following exercises(3 days a week):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1) bench press, incline bench press, crossover chest, &#xA;   pec machine, dumbbell shoulder raises, barbell shoulder raises, &#xA;   biceps curls&#xA;&#xA;2) wide grip pull-ups, bent over barbell row, &#xA;   wide grip lat pull down, seated machine row, &#xA;   seated cable row, dips (triceps version),  &#xA;   cable rope overhead triceps, one arm dumbbell triceps&#xA;&#xA;3) barbell squat, leg press, seated leg curl, &#xA;   lying leg curls, calves raises, various abs exercises&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I increased weights somewhere about when I could do 4х10 with current weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm going to go for caloric deficit (~300-500kcal) (with same 2g of protein and ~0.5g of fat per 1kg of body mass, but less carbs) to reduce body fat and keep as much strength and volume as possible. How should I approach my workout routine in this period? I suppose adding weight is not a good idea on caloric deficit? (I do realize my routine was not ideal from the start)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T13:29:45.453" Title="Workout routine on caloric deficit" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27379" CreationDate="2015-09-17T05:35:35.990" Score="1" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am skinny (178 cm, 63 kg) but have a lot of visceral fat around the belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I bulk up first then worry about my belly fat? Or should I burn the fat first? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, I would like to achieve both simultaneously, but a bit of scavenging around the Internet revealed that losing fat and gaining muscles at the same time is impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17996" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T23:02:59.697" Title="Skinny with a lot of visceral fat - how should I exercise?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-09-22T16:00:11.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27378" CreationDate="2015-09-17T06:14:04.897" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to lose visceral fat is to do high intensity exercise, running intervals is a good way. In fact, the amount of exercise you get might have an effect on wether fat is stored viscerally or subcutaneously. Sumo wrestlers are known for being very fat, but they are also highly active and very strong, and they don't have much visceral fat or metabolic problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you plan to do high intensity exercise, bulking up is fine, otherwise you might want to cut down first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T06:14:04.897" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27378" CreationDate="2015-09-17T08:37:22.637" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to wildly disagree with Mårten and forbid you from cutting. You are already extremely skinny and it's going to be near to impossible for you to get rid of that last little bit of belly fat without having any muscle in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start eating +3000 kcal every day, lift heavy every other day. Until you've gained about 15 kg (which will take a while) don't even worry about cutting. You'll feel and look much better before that, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T08:37:22.637" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27377" CreationDate="2015-09-17T08:42:34.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep doing what you're doing if it's working for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to lift heavier (in fact, you'll probably have a pretty hard time doing that on a deficit), just keep your routine in order to tell your body &quot;Hey, see these muscles I've been using for a while? Don't get rid of them, I still need them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T08:42:34.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27377" CreationDate="2015-09-17T13:29:45.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of dieting as just another stressor on the system that is your body. There are two stressors you care about: dieting, which makes your body adapt by being leaner, and lifting, which makes your body hold on to lean mass rather than fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take this view (dieting as just another stressor), then the course of action becomes obvious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It your training is working, keep doing it. Focus on reducing the other stressors from everyday life, i.e. enhance your recovery, by eating well (have enough protein), sleeping well (sleeping is even more important when you are in a deficit), relaxing, etc. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/12/09/everything-need-know-recovering/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; from Dr. Mike Israetel should give you some clues on how to dial in your recovery. Keep the caloric deficit as small as possible in order to reduce that stressor and you might not even have anything else to do. Similarly, the same way that you would take a light week to recover from a high volume training cycle, take some &quot;light diet weeks&quot; (i.e. eating at maintenance) now and then to take a break and recover from your dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If despite having perfect sleep, being relaxed, etc. you begin stalling, feeling broken down, then it means that you are not recovering well enough. It's time to modify something else, in that case your training. We know from the scientific literature that what causes the most stress is volume, i.e. sets x reps x weight, and that intensity, i.e. % of your 1RM, is enough to signal your body that you want to keep your muscle mass. That means that in order to conserve lean mass, you will have to reduce volume and keep intensity the same (or higher).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If despite all of that, you are still feeling broken down, it will be time to reduce the frequency. If you are lifting 4 times a week, maybe lifting 3 times a week will allow for more time for your body to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If all that fails, it's time to take a break from your diet and let your body recover from the stress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T13:29:45.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27346" CreationDate="2015-09-17T20:15:21.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Useful uses for the scale just prior or just after training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't answer for what people I've never observed have done, but there is at least one legitimate reason for weighing yourself just prior to training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check progress toward weight class in competition conditions (i.e. if I can pass the weight class in full gear I have nothing to worry about at weigh-ins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tracking progress when doing bodyweight exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I primarily focus on training for power lifting, I still incorporate certain bodyweight exercises such as push ups, dips, pull ups, etc.  For me a set ends when I can't get a another full rep in.  If my reps go down, but my weight goes up it might still be a net improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, this number is kept separate from the weight I use for tracking general weight loss.  My full gear weight can be up to 10 lbs heavier than my morning weight tracking due to water retention and the weight of the gear.  The purpose of weighing myself just prior to training is simply for tracking my training progress--and is particularly important when I do body weight work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Useful case for weighing yourself multiple times&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process of making weight for a competition sometimes requires dehydrating yourself just long enough to make your weight class.  These people have already dieted down using normal means, and the effort to get those last couple pounds off means they have to sweat out or spit out the excess water until they hit the target goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this time, the athlete will be weighing themselves multiple times to see how close to their goal they've become.  After the athlete weighs in, they start the process of rehydrating and refeeding themselves so they can be in the best competitive shape (and more than their weigh-in weight by several pounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An athlete can reduce as much as 2-3% of their body mass safely using this process, but I've seen cases where it went poorly.  A bad rehydration process cost a friend of mine several pounds on the platform as he had diarrhea.  Trying to reduce more than your body can handle will require hospitalization to get back to proper health.  Below are a few resources that detail the correct way to do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/cutting-weight-for-powerlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cutting Weight for Powerlifting&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(Power Lifting to Win)&lt;/em&gt;: male perspective&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/01/27/cutting-weight-rehydrating/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cutting Weight and Rehydrating&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(Juggernaut Training Systems)&lt;/em&gt;: female perspective&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scale addiction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are those that go too far down the path of over-analysis.  In that sense, the feedback from the scale is more like an addiction than it is useful feedback.  While your weight can change during the course of a workout, it's usually not enough to impact anything.  If you see someone getting on the scale several times during the course of a workout, they are most likely doing something very wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-09-18T12:30:12.143" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T12:30:12.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27378" CreationDate="2015-09-17T23:02:59.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you start lifting, progressive overloading, and eating at maintenance your body composition will change and that visceral fat most likely will go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13933" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T23:02:59.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-17T23:18:39.277" Score="11" ViewCount="57197" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what I look like if I flex: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZLrwZ.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZLrwZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I relax, my belly actually sticks out quite a bit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BEBV0.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BEBV0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Should I try to lose some fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: admittedly in the second picture I was purposely slouching in order to enhance the effect. Here's a picture I've just taken in which I'm standing as I normally would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Visceral fat is extremely unhealthy, as far as I've read, so that's what I'm asking about.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WPK2u.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WPK2u.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16348" LastEditorUserId="16348" LastEditDate="2015-09-18T08:30:45.143" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T15:21:57.573" Title="Is it normal to have a belly when I relax?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27732" CreationDate="2015-09-17T23:28:44.967" Score="5" ViewCount="468" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never did a set of sprints for a running routine/workout until this week. The workout didn't kick my butt as much as the recovery which is still going on, so I'm really looking for reasons to keep doing them. (other than: pain = improvement)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits to including a sprint workout as part of a weekly routine which is focused more on running long distances like a marathon? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="6134" LastEditDate="2015-09-19T09:20:14.437" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T20:22:13.200" Title="Why include sprint workouts in a training program focused on long distance?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27398" CreationDate="2015-09-18T02:14:57.017" Score="2" ViewCount="1277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 14 (think it's important for this question) and I love gym (safe way, no crazy weights). I read a lot about it and I pass through various articles saying that if you want to increase gains you need to eat like 5000 calories. &lt;strong&gt;First of all, I wonder if that is just to bulk as fast as you can then to cut, or is it to consistently build muscle without gaining a lot of fat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I'm growing, meaning that I need more food and protein (2700 calories without working out; I always work out different muscles every day). And I looked up on the Internet and it seems like a lifting session takes about 400 calories, and adding that I have a crazy thing for doing random push-ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do I need to eat around 3500 - 4000 to grow muscle and still continue growing in size (height)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have problem with proteins because it is easy to eat around 80 grams of protein a day, although I don't know how I am going to keep it natural when growing up. As for macro nutrients, which I understand are fat, carbohydrates and protein, I take them specially in a bread called &quot;semas&quot;, 8 grams of fat, 8 grams of protein and about 350 calories (totally recommended if they sell them out of Mexico (lol)). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I won't grow crazy muscle, but it is good to see how definition, strength and size go up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-21T16:26:52.003" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T16:26:52.003" Title="5000 Calories to build muscle? Or to bulk?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27389" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-18T03:18:24.343" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently train them by just from a standing position going up onto the tips of my toes. Some variations I did were holding weights at the same time or doing one leg at a time which improves balance too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it's come to my attention that there are two main groups in the calves and that tip toe exercise I've been doing only works one of them. I've read that for the other one your leg needs to be bent like in a sitting position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the sites I saw showed exercises on this machine where you would sit and lift up a weight on your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do at home to workout the other part of my calves. I've tried placing dumbbells on my knees but not only is this uncomfortable but I don't feel tired from this. I don't think I'm getting much benefit from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I do to train this other muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T03:18:24.343" Title="How can I fully train my calves?" Tags="&lt;calf&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-09-19T22:16:05.887" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27393" CreationDate="2015-09-18T09:07:27.187" Score="5" ViewCount="6085" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm preparing for running a 30 km road race (18/19 miles) in two months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the moment I have achieved 21 km, twice last year and once this year (last week end).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been advised not to increase the running distance more than 10% each for each long run ( each week end for me). That means I plan something like running 22km, 24km, 26km, 28km, 30km, in the next week ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if is it considered harmfull to run a half-marathon each week end ? Does it make the possibility of injury higher ? Is it irresponsible for a training plan ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beside, during the working week, I run 3 times, 5 km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4629" LastEditorUserId="4629" LastEditDate="2015-09-19T06:31:01.173" LastActivityDate="2015-09-19T06:31:01.173" Title="Is running 20km or more each weekend too much?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27386" CreationDate="2015-09-18T12:39:32.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly normal. There is nothing inherently wrong with a relaxed abdomen &quot;sticking out&quot; like that. This is how a human beings look like when their body is in rest-and-digest mode. Even the abdomen of strong, perfectly healthy people can stick out, when they relax completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That does not mean you should spend the whole day like that of course. If you have an active lifestyle, a balanced exercise program, and your diet is under control, there is no reason to obsess over your looks. In fact, misguided advice to always tense and pull in your abdomen can be bad for your digestion and can cause unnecessary stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is really causing your stomach to stick out on the second picture is called an anterior pelvic tilt. If it becomes chronic, it might cause back problems, and require fixing (preferably by a physio). But again, it might not be a chronic problem for you right now. If you want to read more about it, take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2635/loose-lower-belly-bellow-naval-area/2638#2638&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T12:39:32.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27390" CreationDate="2015-09-18T12:51:38.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you have 8 weeks left you have plenty of time to build your LSD base. Lets assume that your 21k was your week one, the rest of your LSD runs would look something like two weeks of increased distance, followed by an easy week, then another two weeks. You should then taper your last 2-3 weeks before your race. I think at the 30k distance you can make your training run farther than your race goal. If you were training for a marathon you would not do this. For example, my training (for a marathon) includes at least 4 - 30k runs, and 2 - 35-38k runs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to have a cycle of hard and easy to give your body sometime to recover while still building on the base. You should also consider two mid week workouts that would encompass tempo, speed and hills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T12:51:38.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27390" CreationDate="2015-09-18T12:56:52.593" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot tell whether running 21+ km once a week is too much for you body, but I can say that I have done this weekly for the last 2 years (give and take) without any major problems. Just LSR (long slow runs), not races every week! I do 8-12 HM races a year and usually 2-3 marathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One old rule-of-thump is that you should run 1.5 x you target distance on a weekly basis with one long run to take up a good part of this. The rest should be restitution runs, tempo runs and possibly intervals. For a 30 km target, I would run 5 km (rest), 10 km (tempo), 5 km (intervals), 15-20 km (LSR)... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your plan, it is usually enough to run just 2/3 or 3/4 of the target distance. So in your case, you can do with 22 km. Likewise, if you train for a marathon, you usually don't run more than 30 km before the event itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T12:56:52.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27388" CreationDate="2015-09-18T12:58:58.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my personal opinion, 5000 seems very high unless you plan on competing at 18.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consume only 80 grams of protein per day, that's roughly 320kcal, leaving 4680 calories from fats and carbohydrates. That also seems like a skewed ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm almost certain that doing this will make you fat. Strong, but fat. And since you want definition, this is not the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 14, you don't even need to worry too much about this. You will grow naturally for another half decade at least, and if you keep working out, and just eat &lt;strong&gt;right&lt;/strong&gt; (not over the top), you'll be lean as hell without even doing anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T12:58:58.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27387" CreationDate="2015-09-18T13:15:38.330" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, most training plans for Marathons, includes both lots of LSR and later a fair bit of speed work. The common idea is to first build up your ability to run long distances on fat and later add speed. As the first part will inevitably slow you pace a bit over time, the later part is needed to get the speed back into the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the first 8-12 weeks: many &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; slow runs with pace &amp;lt;target pace&amp;gt;+45sec/km (for Marathons). So if I have a Marathon pace of 5:00 min/km, I go for 5:45 min/km for these runs. The distance gradually is increased to 60 km/week - usually over 3-4 runs every week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the last 8-12 week: more and more speed work with long intervals (1-2 km) with pace &amp;lt;target pace&amp;gt;-30sec/km (for Marathons). So I go for 4:30 min/km for these intervals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T13:15:38.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25888" CreationDate="2015-09-18T14:34:19.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may sound unnatural, but squeeze your glutes (butt cheeks) as hard as you can during the lift. It will prevent your back from bending. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/overhead-press/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; explains it very well. The section &quot;Common Pains&quot; explains how to avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17926" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T14:34:19.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25525" CreationDate="2015-09-18T17:23:34.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let me correct your understanding of hypertrophy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get bigger by &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; fatigue inducing reps (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/grow-like-a-new-lifter-again/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for more info)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's nothing inspired or sacred about rep ranges or even set targets.  They are just tools (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/training-to-failure-or-just-training-to-fail/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for more info)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you need to understand the concept of fatigue.  The articles I linked to above are excellent places to start, but there's some other foundational information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your body uses Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) to generate force&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When ATP is consumed, the byproduct is Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine (naturally existing protein) can then react with most ADP and turn it back to ATP.  This process takes roughly 2 minutes to complete.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your creatine reserves are exhausted, your body has to resort to much less efficient means to fuel your training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: taking creatine as a supplement will increase the reserves you have, allowing you to train longer.  The affects like most supplements are marginal, but present.  If you have a creatine deficiency, more common in vegetarians, creatine supplementation will have a much more noticeable impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that when you are targeting As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) in each set, your body can only recover so quickly.  Even if you extended your rest periods to 2 minutes, you'll still lose reps from set to set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fatigue as a training variable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not uncommon to intentionally run fatigued in training.  Some of the benefits include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased training efficiency (less time to do the same work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased cardiovascular training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting in a fatigued state can cause more muscle micro-tears, which in turn get repaired into bigger/stronger muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to have your last set have the same number of reps as your first set is to stop your first set before failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answering your questions directly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;what do you suggest? Should I cheat in last sets in order to hit the first set's rep range, or, should I increase my rest time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep training the way you are training.  There's no need for the symmetry between each set.  Only resort to cheat reps when there is a specific training reason to do it.  If you can't come up with it, then just work on increasing the total number of reps over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will it preserve it's hypertrophy effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hypertrophy affect happens because you demand more of your muscles today than you did yesterday.  If you increase your total reps, or add resistance (i.e. more weight), or do the same work in less time, you are keeping the hypertrophy affect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also understand that if you never demand more of your body, it will never grow beyond your initial demands.  Just focus on increasing the demands a little at a time, and your muscles will grow.  It doesn't matter if you are doing several sets with the same number of reps, or if the reps decrease each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-09-18T17:31:56.963" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T17:31:56.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27388" CreationDate="2015-09-18T17:53:56.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beware of any blanket recommendations you read for anything fitness or nutrition related!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommendation may be correct... for a certain population.  It doesn't mean it's correct for you personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get and stay active&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on slow and steady improvements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn patience with the process&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are some very general nutritional guidelines that work for a large number of people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.8g of protein per pound total body weight.  1g / pound is easier to remember and it won't hurt you at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20-30% of your calories from fats. Fat has roughly 9 calories per gram.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All the rest from carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to stay between 8-15% total body fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on studies, the most protein a person can make use of naturally is about 0.83 grams of protein per pound.  Anything more simply goes unused for building muscle.  The carbs are very important for fueling an active life style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slow and Steady&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When trying to increase your body mass, or decrease your body fat, a measured pace will always beat out &quot;quick gains&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When trying to get bigger: increase 200-300 calories per day, and attempt to keep it to 1 lbs more per month&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When trying to get smaller: decrease 400-500 calories per day, and attempt to keep it to 1 lbs less per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that you are still growing, and the years 15-17 are when most boys grow the fastest.  You'll probably grow faster than the increase pace I recommended.  Don't freak out, just try to keep yourself in a healthy body fat range and enjoy process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just jumping into 5,000 calories a day will likely make you fat.  The people who need that kind of food worked up to that level over years of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crazy Weights&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do recommend doing some training in the weight room.  Again, I recommend slow and steady improvements.  That said, don't let a number on the bar scare you.  At one of my power lifting competitions, a 14 year old boy deadlifted over 315 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check your resources&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I invite you to verify my recommendations with other resources.  I've found Juggernaut Training Systems and Strengtheory to be very good resources by people I respect.  Much of what I am recommending I summarized from several articles from both of those sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T17:53:56.990" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27387" CreationDate="2015-09-18T18:06:36.017" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the exception of a track event, most everything else will have hills. I've heard hill repeats referred to as &quot;speed work in disguise&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What they have in common is rather than the steady-state output you can build up on the flats, you need the ability to generate a lot more output, and then recover quickly back to your steady-state maintainable race place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runners will talk about &quot;cresting&quot;, which is that once you get to the top of a hill, rather than slow down and recover, you rapidly resume your faster steady-state race pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_training&quot;&gt;interval training&lt;/a&gt; (a.k.a. fartlek), and deals with the fact that real world running requires shifting power outputs and rapid recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not directly answering your question, but another reason to have &quot;fast&quot; days (not necessarily sprinting and shorter distances/time) is simply to learn what a race pace is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are running long-slower a lot, you won't get a lot of experience at your race pace. Boiled down, I think these are the main components of training for a distance runner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Distance / time. Being able to run farther (in distance) and longer (in time) than your race.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed. Being able to run your race at the fastest pace you can sustain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intervals. Being able to modify output quickly and more importantly to &lt;em&gt;recover&lt;/em&gt; quickly from increased output. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right though. Running fast is hard on the body, although as any sprinter can attest to, you will get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T18:06:36.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27464" CreationDate="2015-09-19T02:40:00.040" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that cardio exercises are really important to fat burn and heart health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, for a amateur bodybuilder in bulking phase, cardio are really necessary? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the importance of doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will cardio disturb my gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18013" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T09:13:28.303" Title="What's the importance of cardio in bulking phase?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12502" CreationDate="2015-09-19T09:52:50.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep rhythm I use a watch connected to a podometer and &lt;strong&gt;a heart-sensor&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look at the watch once or twice per minute maybe, I don't think about it, it's just a routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if my running rhythm is too high: I can see that the frequency of my heart is slowly increasing, so I can adjust my rhythm and slow down just a little. This can be done long before I attain the max heart frequency where exhaustion-fatigue happens.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the podometer gives me the speed I have when my heart is in its comfort zone. So every now and then, I try to adjust to this speed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't keep the rhythm, I just follow it, only following these two parameters. It's easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To calculate the max frequency, the rule of thumb is 220 - your age.&#xA;I am 39, my maximal heart frequency is 220-39 = 181 bpm. And I try to run under 181-18 = 163 bpm. (18 here for 10%, though I have read it could be 20%)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can run much much much longer since I have been following this rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It correspond to the difference between aerobic and anaerobic. When running in anaerobic mode, your body has not enough oxygen, and this is the source of exhaustion and fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could find some more details here for describing the difference between running in aerobic or anaerobic mode: &lt;a href=&quot;https://runneracademy.com/aerobic-vs-anaerobic/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://runneracademy.com/aerobic-vs-anaerobic/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personnally, the model I use is Polar RC3 GPS with podometer and heart sensor. I guess there are lots of other models, and other trademarks that does that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there are also watches that only do heart-sensor.&#xA;That could be sufficient just to check that you don't go over 10-20% less of your max heart frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4629" LastEditorUserId="4629" LastEditDate="2015-09-19T13:58:08.617" LastActivityDate="2015-09-19T13:58:08.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27387" CreationDate="2015-09-19T17:10:05.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your &quot;steady&quot; pace will get faster : the aim is to run faster for a longer time. It also makes running &quot;slow&quot; easy in comparison. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran my first half last year and only did 40-90 min steady runs for training. This year I included more intervals and hills, with one long run per week. I definitely feel faster on my long runs ! The important fact is that I don't feel myself slowing down at the end of the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the important thing during long-distance events is to have a &quot;fast&quot; steady pace that you can hold for a long time and not slowing down in the last 3-4 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what the speedwork is for. Running long doesn't necessarily mean running slow. Enjoy !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" LastActivityDate="2015-09-19T17:10:05.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8237" CreationDate="2015-09-19T19:25:14.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Build up to a long run of at least an hour and a half to two hours. Then run twice a day including a hill session. Speedwork twice a week. Some thing like 1000m reps st sub three minutes or 600m reps at sub one minute forty. Or as a real tester on the road one minute flat out, one minute jog, one minute flat out, forty five seconds jog, one minute flat out, thirty seconds jog. And finally one minute flat out, fifteen seconds jog. ....then start again. If you can do this three or four times then you will improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18020" LastActivityDate="2015-09-19T19:25:14.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27407" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-20T01:19:49.627" Score="4" ViewCount="4178" Body="&lt;p&gt;and thanks in advance for your help. I've been weightlifting a few months, and I'm wondering just how far below my my strength is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 19 year old male.&#xA;My questions are:&#xA;What should a reasonably fit man of my age(not sick, not overweight or otherwise disadvantaged) be able to lift? General standards such as bench presses, number of chinups that can be done, weight that can be bicep curled, etcetera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a somewhat widely accepted physical fitness test to measure myself against? Maybe an army test or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should a somewhat athletic person of my age and height be able to lift?&#xA;My height is about 5'4&quot; and my weight is around 130 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weightlift once every two days, upper body only, and very low weights and few reps. I am, as said above, relatively small, and weightlifting is my only exercise. As such, how many calories should I attempt to eat every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18022" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T15:04:09.770" Title="Physical Fitness standards for 19 year old male?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27407" CreationDate="2015-09-20T02:22:02.350" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you want to know how strong you should be? I think that no matter your age, height, weight, experience... everyone will be different there are no standards to compare to and better yet no real reason to unless you want to compete. Generally I believe that as long as you are healthy and you're stronger than you were the last time you lifted (to an extent) that in itself is strong enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I did find this site when I was looking for strength standards which I can't really attest for: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strength Standards&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess according to this site you should be able to bench around 125lbs? (1RM)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18023" LastEditorUserId="18023" LastEditDate="2015-09-20T02:27:39.640" LastActivityDate="2015-09-20T02:27:39.640" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27407" CreationDate="2015-09-20T03:12:46.143" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I say this, I should warn you you might not like everything that you hear. If you are a 5'4, 130 Ib 19 yr old male, your bench should be roughly 65 Ibs, curl 20-25 Ibs, and since your weight is generally low, you should be able to do about 20 chin ups with correct form. This is referring to a person of this description who has average fitness. However, a &quot;fitness test,&quot; is not all about the weight you can lift. In order to measure your fitness, you should try doing pull ups, push ups, crunches, and running. A person of your description with reasonable fitness should be able to do at least 25 push ups, 40 crunches, 6 pull ups, and run a mile in about 8-11 minutes. If they are doing under 15 of any of these other than pull ups or of they are taking more than 13-14 minutes to run the mile, they are out of shape. If they are doing 40 push ups, running the mile in under 8 minutes, etc., they are exceptionally fit. Fitness should be measured by calisthenics and cardio, not weights. Also, your calorie count should probably range about 1900 calories, to be healthy with what you are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="16691" LastEditDate="2015-09-22T23:40:51.067" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T23:40:51.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27429" CreationDate="2015-09-20T16:34:52.473" Score="3" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the core barbell exercises (in a 5x5 programme) I sometimes add &lt;strong&gt;dips&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;chin-ups&lt;/strong&gt; at the end of the workout.&#xA;However, these are always at &lt;strong&gt;bodyweight&lt;/strong&gt; (I don't have a belt/chains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Transfering this situation into a more &lt;strong&gt;generic question&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;if I keep doing the same exercise at roughly the same weight, what are the long term effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first phase will be gaining strength (getting to, let's say, 3x5 or 5x5)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you keep doing 5x5, eventually you will get stronger and be able to pull 3x8 or more?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When reaching 3x10 or 3x12, will the exercise yield more muscle mass then it did so far?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If 3x12 gets easy and let's say 3x20 is performed: what will the effects be on the muscle mass (and strength) gained so far?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the way those &quot;street calisthenics&quot; specialists achieve that combination of muscle mass, tension and endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18010" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T14:11:25.237" Title="Fixed weight exercise - effects over time (going from low to high reps)?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27340" CreationDate="2015-09-21T01:58:13.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hate to be the one who has to tell you this, but I have to agree with John P, at least to a degree. Football players have to be packed with a lot of muscles, which is easier attainable with weights. Some exercises that would enhance arm and hand strength probably include bicep curls, bench press, shoulder press, and dumbbell rows. I would honestly be more worried about your shoulders than your arms in order to be a good quarterback, however, because they are the primary muscles used when throwing a football. To enhance shoulder strength, you could do decline flyes, side lateral raises, front raises, and shoulder press. And if you really don't want to lift for whatever reason, push ups, chin ups, pull ups, arm circles, and dips could all be options in order to enhance arm, hand, and shoulder muscles. Also, consider increasing your calories, because it will also make you bigger. I hope this helps you and good luck with your games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T01:58:13.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27413" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-21T02:03:20.290" Score="1" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is most important, completing my daily calorie intake regardless of how many meals I eat in a day, or eating 5-6 meals a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18028" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T15:46:54.513" Title="Calorie intake vs. Number of meals a day" Tags="&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27388" CreationDate="2015-09-21T02:09:22.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, 5000 calories a day is almost as bad as eating 500 calories a day. At your age, you should be eating a little more calories than an average adult if you are exceptionally active but it should be a maximum of 3200 calories, not 5000. 5000 calories may also get you strong, but it will get you fat at the same time, as Alec stated. If you are cutting lots of calories, you will not grow tall. If you are eating about 2500-3000 calories a day, it will benefit you with muscle growth, and you will still grow taller, too, assuming your diet is clean. If you must know, I would say that 5000 calories a day leans closer to &quot;bulking and cutting,&quot; than &quot;building size.&quot; If people are eating that much and are muscular and shredded, they probably have a career lifting weights or spend all their free time in the gym, one or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T02:09:22.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27416" CreationDate="2015-09-21T03:28:41.857" Score="1" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;if I were too thin and want to have a muscular body, should I grow fat first and then go to gym? or just start GYM directly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18029" LastEditorDisplayName="user2861" LastEditDate="2015-09-21T05:33:21.340" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T03:19:14.067" Title="build muscle directly or grow fat first?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27415" CreationDate="2015-09-21T05:08:21.327" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start gym directly, and follow a healthy strict diet. Diet is most important factor. It will take time to build muscles and you should not lose hope, just go everyday. Some days you are going to feel lazy and wouldn't want to go but I suggest that you suck up and go anyway. Persistence is the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting Paulo Coelho: &quot;If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my friend build a routine and follow it no matter what , be persistent and you will definitely see gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once People get where they want to be they stop working hard, thinking &quot;Now I have reached my goal.&quot; but the thing is after reaching your goal you should work more hard to be there otherwise your success will plummet. &#xA;Same is with body, you should always exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16662" LastEditorUserId="16662" LastEditDate="2017-09-07T03:19:14.067" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T03:19:14.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27413" CreationDate="2015-09-21T06:25:35.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you meet your calorie goal, how you eat them doesn't matter. However, how you eat might affect how easy it is to eat a lot, apparently, some people have a hard time eating a lot ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T06:25:35.417" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27410" CreationDate="2015-09-21T06:29:11.927" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5zKlz.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5zKlz.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This chart describes the situation quite well, what we can read from it is that you will achieve sarcoplasmic hypertrophy even after 15 reps, but afaik, the ideal range to add volume is 10-12 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T06:29:11.927" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12435" CreationDate="2015-09-21T07:22:36.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be able to calibrate it using a rowing machine, which I assume calculates calories based on force x distance, and/or treadmills which you can set at different gradients to separate out the assumptions about how much you expend running from the part due to gain in height (gain in height x your weight = energy used). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18031" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T07:22:36.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27413" CreationDate="2015-09-21T09:21:43.553" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The frequency of your intake of food doesn't matter. It's a myth suggestions that your metabolism is heightened and keeps your body &quot;burning calories&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually the levels rise depending on the quantity you eat. Making the sum all the same in the end of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, eating your total daily calorie intake in one meal in the morning probably won't keep your hunger away for the whole day. So try to spread it out so you aren't hungry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some people 3 meals is fine, for others 6 smaller meals is better. But in the end, If the calories are the same the results will be the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18034" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T09:21:43.553" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27436" CreationDate="2015-09-21T12:23:37.440" Score="3" ViewCount="517" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning on playing squash once a week with a friend of mine, so on a casual level, however I am overweight (well squash would help in that sense for me lose weight also) and I go to gym regularly (3x a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my question is if there is anything i should watch out for? or any specific warm up i should do to avoid having knee problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;many thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18037" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T17:10:47.040" Title="Playing squash, but overweight, what I should watch out for?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27413" CreationDate="2015-09-21T12:58:23.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chris Aceto (nutritionist, he was working with Jay Cutler back then) advices to eat 6 meals per day with a lot of carb with the breakfast and after the workout. For the 4 other meals keep the carb &quot;low&quot;. Keep your protein intake the same for each meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have his book under my hand but i give your its name : &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0966916808&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Championship-Bodybuilding-Chris-Acetos-Instruction/dp/0966916808&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T12:58:23.410" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27423" CreationDate="2015-09-21T13:36:47.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A (sports) physiotherapist would be able to answer that question better so I would encourage you to find one and ask them this question. If you can afford it, investing in a good pair of knee sleeves (both for the gym and for squash) like some Rehbands might be a good idea. They can help lock your knee in place and keep it warm during your training sessions. If you plan on keeping it on for a prolonged period of time do not buy one that is too tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I have managed my own knee pain by reinforcing the surrounding muscles, meaning doing a lot of leg curls (to reinforce my hamstrings) and squats/front squats (to reinforce my quadriceps). I avoid the leg extension machines are they can be bad for the knee joint (it depends on your leg proportions but I'd rather not take any risk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T13:36:47.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27415" CreationDate="2015-09-21T13:44:55.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat and train, no need to get fat. As you train, the calories you absorb will be allocated to either fat storage or muscle hypertrophy depending on something called your p-ratio. Sadly, your p-ratio gets worse as you get fatter* (iirc beyond 18% bodyfat for males), so I would encourage you to stay within a safe limit of that threshold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* fat tends to decrease your levels of free testosterone, which is why with the new trend of raw powerlifting (meaning without powerlifting gear that advantages fat lifters) most elite powerlifters now tend to be quite lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T13:44:55.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27413" CreationDate="2015-09-21T13:49:09.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Multiple small meals just make it easier to shove a lot of food in your face and reach your caloric goal without resorting to &quot;nutritional garbage&quot; (which can be delicious but void of interesting macro or micronutrients and full of calories). By having 6 or 7 small meals, you can keep them &quot;healthy&quot; and make the most of it. But that's it, if you can reach your macros in 3 meals all the better for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T13:49:09.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27410" CreationDate="2015-09-21T14:11:25.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the most recent studies I have read (or rather, mostly meta-analyses of recent studies I have read), this is what would happen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength-wise: at first, your 5x5 would be a significant intensity level which means that you would get stronger. As the reps get higher, the intensity would taper down to much lower level which means that it would yield less and less training effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy-wise: (assuming the volume hypothesis) at first, your 5x5 would yield a low volume (5*5*your bodyweight). As you progress to more and more reps with the same weight, the volume would progressively increase as the intensity decreases so the hypertrophy effect should increase as well, until you become so strong that the load is negligible and would not yield any hypertrophy adaptation at all. (assuming the hard sets hypothesis) since you are continuously pushing your sets to the max (i.e. every set is hard), the muscle recruitment stays identical/maximal all along your training cycle and the hypertrophy effect is more or less constant. Even more, as your strength increases, your max reps approaches your actual muscle failure point but that's mitigated by the fact that your strength will grow slower and slower if you don't add additional weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, it will work well up to a point and then stop working, as most things do in fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 2cts would be that it would work better in the other direction. Methodologies like block periodization make use of something called phase potentiation, which means that one phase of your training makes you better at attacking the following phase of your training. Traditionally, a hypertrophy phase (meaning lots of sets and reps, as you would have at the end of your training cycle) powers you through a strength phase (what you would have at the beginning of your training) (which powers you through a &quot;power&quot; or peaking phase depending on your sport).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T14:11:25.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2015-09-21T14:19:26.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also did a marathon with two runs per week. I started with three, but did not have time or got easier training injuries. With two runs, short run about 13,5 km and long run starting at 20 km and increasing by about 2 km per week to 34 km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made the mistake to run too fast during all of my training (around 11 - 11,5 km/u). During the marathon I maintained a speed of about 10 km/u but in the end took regularly some time to drink. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's best to have a long and small run... I used a small run of 13,5 km, but can be 10 km too as you propose. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the long run you should aim like having at least 2-3 runs which are 30+ km, preference one of 35, to get used to the the 'psychological' effect of continuing when you get tired. Don't do too many 30+ km runs since they might cause injury/overtraining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every 3 or 4 weeks, lessen your amount by limiting the long run to e.g. 12-15 km instead of 20+ (or the long distance run for that week).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;- &#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5886" LastEditorUserId="5886" LastEditDate="2015-09-22T06:55:06.563" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T06:55:06.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27433" CreationDate="2015-09-21T15:25:49.827" Score="1" ViewCount="6433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually walk 5 km everyday and suddenly thought of doing squats without any warm up. I did 20 repetitions, 2 times, and never felt any pain at all. In the evening, I felt stiffness, but then, I was not able to sleep or sit because of that. It's been 2 days, and I am still feeling the same. What could be wrong? Are my thighs injured? Should the cramps last more than days? How should I handle this? I am not able to sleep, I feel pain below my buttocks, and I am not able to use steps. I am feeling really worried. Should i go to a physician?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2757" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-21T16:36:55.000" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T19:56:58.077" Title="severe pain after squats" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27413" CreationDate="2015-09-21T15:46:54.513" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I can gather about meal frequency is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over 3 meals a day, the benefit diminishes greatly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Below 3 meals a day, and more meals benefit much more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can easily eat the amount of healthy food to hit your calorie goals while also hitting your macronutrient goals in 3 meals, use 3 meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know of a couple people who feel physically ill if they try to eat more than a certain amount at a time.  For them, higher meal frequency worked better because they were able to get the calories they needed from good food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people find that higher meal frequency interferes too much with their life and struggle to get all the meals in.  For those people, fewer meals work better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go with at least 3 meals, and get your food from good sources 90% of the time.  (That can translate to 3 cheat days a month, or however you want to divide it up).  Choose a meal frequency that will work for you and your lifestyle, because sticking with your plan is more important than which of several good plans you choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T15:46:54.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27431" CreationDate="2015-09-21T16:15:40.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are feeling is normal. Any time you do a new exercise, or even an old exercise in a new way, you will be pushing your muscles past the point where they are comfortable and making them sore. For the most part, this is lumped into the term Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some people, the presence of DOMS becomes a goal or a indication of a good workout because, as you do the same exercise over and over again, your muscles get use to the activity and no longer need to adapt. As a result, serious lifters will try to change up their workout to re-engage their muscles - usually by increasing the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you specifically, you are sore because a) you are doing an exercise in a new way and b) you are engaging the largest muscle system in your body - your quads and glutes. The good news is that this will pass. Further, you will probably never feel this sore again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still hurt, take a hot bath, give yourself massage, and then go for a walk. The soreness will subside on its own in a couple days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditDate="2015-09-21T19:56:58.077" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T19:56:58.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2015-09-21T16:15:48.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even adding short runs of 30 mins the other days of the week would be interesting though. You should be able to find time to log these runs in. Do that 4 times a week and that's 2 more hours of training.&#xA;Increase the distance on your two other runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to cross-train to avoid injury (swimming etc) you can do that too. Running is probably the most efficient time-wise because you just need to put your shoes on and get out of the house (you don't need to go a gym or pool).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As some people said already, if you have deep base of endurance training, only 2 runs a week will work, i.e. you will be able to finish. Expect a lot of pain on the day though because you will not be used to the distance, mentally and physically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T16:15:48.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27431" CreationDate="2015-09-21T16:45:24.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I primarily agree with Sparafusile. DOMS is pretty normal, especially for those impulse exercise sessions where you haven't warmed up, or haven't done the exercise before. Over the counter painkillers and anti-inflammatories such as aspirin or ibuprofen combined with heating pads or hot baths will give you enough relief to be able to sleep. For steps, as silly as it might sound, if you're having trouble lifting your legs, try going up them backwards or sideways. It uses different muscles, so sometimes it can work as a short term workaround.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if the pain is extreme or is starting to interfere with your ability to get around or to work, consider seeing a doctor. It is possible to injure yourself in a way that doesn't become evident right away, there are some serious conditions such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_vein_thrombosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thrombosis&lt;/a&gt; that can be caused by exercise (although they're rarely seen in more casual sessions such as you did), and a $50 doctor's visit that nets you a prescription for a stronger painkiller might mean the difference between missing work and being able to continue making money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-21T18:56:16.487" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T18:56:16.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27423" CreationDate="2015-09-21T17:10:47.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, check with your doctor before taking on a new exercise regime esp. because you say that you are overweight and concerned about your knees.  I also agree with @Jeremie that a sports physical therapist or physiotherapist can help you with a specific program for your knees.  Often strengthening the hip muscles (glutes) helps to minimize knee pain.  You could then incorporate these exercises in your gym routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for squash, it requires quick starts and stops.   This can be hard on the knees.  If you have access to a pool, you could do sprints in waist deep water to condition your legs for the quick acceleration and deceleration needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8262/dynamic-stretching-as-warm-up&quot;&gt;dynamic warm-up&lt;/a&gt; is important to get your body parts ready for the quick movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quick push off can also be hard on the quads, hamstrings, calf muscles and Achilles tendons.  A regular stretching program and after you play will help prevent injury and give you the flexibility you need.  The following questions/answers have specific stretches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4192/reducing-tightness-in-calf-and-soleus/5667#5667&quot;&gt;Gastroc-soleus stretch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24512/developing-calf-and-hip-flexor-flexibility/24515#24515&quot;&gt;Quad and Hip Flexor stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/576/how-can-i-stretch-hamstrings-in-isolation/3940#3940&quot;&gt;Hamstring stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also want to make sure that your shoulders and wrist muscles are warmed up well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, squash is fun and a great way to exercise for weight loss.  The quick intense bouts  are like intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T17:10:47.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27441" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-22T06:54:12.103" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend needs to be able to run 2km in 8 minutes for a physical test, and I found his current schedule to achieve that interesting, because i'll have to do it soon too. But I come here to see if any runners have a better preparation schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know you need to run X km in Y minutes how do you prepare for that? I'd like a question that can work for many people. Consider a reasonable time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know about this too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Metrics you use for progress(e.g being able to run faster without getting tired or running longer?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that the person have no previous experience with running, not more than the average 30min in the gym for weight loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T18:17:46.630" Title="How to prepare to run X km in Y minutes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24591" CreationDate="2015-09-22T07:26:29.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started doing something similar and after a week I decided to ramp things up a bit. So I now do the following, every 2 hours I do 25 Hindu Squats, 25 hindu Pushups (perhaps u can swap this with vertical pushups) and 25 backbrides (you can swap that with wall walking back bridges if you dont want to touch the floor). I did this for a week (Mon-Friday) and I feel like superman. I will be increasing the reps by 5 reps on each exercise this week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I increased the reps I was basically doing around 4 sets of the above.. so that works out to 100 squats, 100 push ups and 100 backbridges per day. Not too shabby I'd say :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18051" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T07:26:29.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27441" CreationDate="2015-09-22T08:43:31.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An article in the &quot;Journal of science and medicine in sport&quot; suggest that a warm-up consisting of a 10-min self-paced jog, a 5-min submaximal run to determine running economy, and six 10-s strides with a weighted-vest (20% of body mass) has a positive effect leg stiffness and running economy and in turn a large increase in top running speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's for warm up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As goes for workout I'd suggest High intensity interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's proven to be far more effective in increasing pulmonary strength than regular endurance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18034" LastEditorUserId="18034" LastEditDate="2015-09-22T08:57:11.203" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T08:57:11.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27447" CreationDate="2015-09-22T14:04:41.373" Score="4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a complete couch potato but I don't exercise near enough either. I'm skinny and around 170 cm (or 5 feet, 7 inches). I would like to start a jogging schedule but I have no idea where to start and I haven't done it in the past. Also at what speed is jogging actually jogging and not walking/running? So my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) When do i go jogging? For how long? How does this increase?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) What distance/time ratio is qualified as a &quot;jogging speed&quot; ?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3) Is it ok to drink water while jogging?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4) Are running shoes very important to the jogging experience? Especially when you're just starting out and not doing it consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16506" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T01:13:14.180" Title="Jogging beginner" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27445" CreationDate="2015-09-22T14:41:42.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Whenever you feel like it. For however long you feel comfortable doing it. As you get into a routine, your stamina will increase and you'll be able to exercise for longer and at a higher intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) There's not, as it's something totally dependant on an individual and his/her specific conditions. But the more that you run, the faster that you'll be able to do it after some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Sure, but do it too much and it may end up bothering your stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) They are important in the sense that if you run with some awfully uncomfortable $5 sneakers that end up destroying your feet after each run you may not feel like running again for a while. I would not advise a beginner to buy any $100-$200 shoes until they know for sure they like running and will be doing it consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T14:41:42.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27445" CreationDate="2015-09-22T14:51:28.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always active when I was younger but it was until I hit my 30s that I finally decided to dig in and start running.  The first thing I'd advise is to use a workout such as Couch 2 5K which helps ease you in to the whole process of running/jogging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a great interval trainer that will get you running a 5K in 9 weeks.  It really helped me want to continue to run since I progressed every week and didn't feel like death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for shoes, don't Google anything ... seriously.  I went down this road and wanted to find that &quot;perfect&quot; shoe for my foot - High Arches/Supinate - I even had orthotics for a long time period.  Anyways, what I've come to find out is it's trying and training in shoes that really lets you know what works for you.  For Instance I love Nike Free's for that barefoot/minimalist feel but also dig Acsics Gel-Nimbus for a more cushioned ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, ease in to it and take your time.  Make sure you can have a conversation while jogging, this will let you know if you're going too hard.  But yea, ease in and enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18054" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T14:51:28.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27386" CreationDate="2015-09-22T15:21:57.573" Score="8" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Is It Normal To Have A Belly When You Relax?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Absolutely!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; If you've got a gut, you've got a gut; you can't be tensing your body all day; that will wear and tire you out quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Should You Have A Belly When Relaxed?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;If your goal is to have six pack&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, it's not acceptable. Apart from any medical issue, I see it as a result of two issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your body fat % isn't low enough.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The lower the body fat percentage, the lower the gut, even when relaxed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your core muscles (especially the lower section) are still relatively weak.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; When you flexed, you were actively engaging those muscles, which was why the gut got pulled inwards. To get rid of guts, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;those muscles should naturally become tense.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How Do I Make My Core Muscles Naturally Tense?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perform more full body exercises to engage your core muscles.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Pullups, chinups, and pushups are great body-weight exercises &lt;em&gt;(although they hit the upper body more)&lt;/em&gt; that strengthen the core. Deadlifts and squats &lt;em&gt;(back and front)&lt;/em&gt; also perform wonders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't ignore leg days.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Unless performing isolated exercises, many of the leg exercises strengthen the core. Lunges, good mornings, front squats, standing cross squats, etc are good exercises to perform.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set apart time for core/abs training. Ask people with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;well-defined abs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, they'll tell you that they set aside time to work on their abs. All the exercises mentioned above engage the core; however, the core muscles aren't the primary muscles engaged. Performing exercises such as Russian twists, leg raises, dead hangs, planks jack knifes, etc strengthen the core.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you perform these exercises &lt;em&gt;(especially the core exercises)&lt;/em&gt; often, you should begin to notice the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Your core muscles naturally stay tense for most part of your days &lt;em&gt;(without you having to suck in your stomach)&lt;/em&gt;; they become naturally engaged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Your core actually feels tight, as if you're being constricted &lt;em&gt;(and nope, it won't feel like you're being suffocated)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Simple movement such as light stretches readily make your muscles tense.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, your muscles will be tense even in your &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;relaxed state&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all these won't make much difference without a low body fat %. The lower the %, the more rewards your efforts will see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T15:21:57.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27451" CreationDate="2015-09-22T16:23:57.247" Score="4" ViewCount="6775" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best practice as far as the thumb goes with respect to the bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally have my thumb aligned with the rest of my fingers, but I often get asked why I don't wrap my thumb around the bar (and form a fist). They say it looks unsafe, but anyone who uses this grip knows that it feels as fine as the wrap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, if the bar is rolling out of your hand, your thumb is laughably unsuited to stop it. But this, as we all know, is generally not an issue anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reason is mostly comfort, as I haven't researched best practices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you do, and why? Bonus upvotes for sources, as always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T20:46:45.810" Title="Bench press grip, thumb placement" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27449" CreationDate="2015-09-22T17:30:01.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;TL; DR: The unwrapped position is called the &quot;suicide grip&quot;. 'Nuff said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you state that if the bar rolls, your thumb won't stop it, the thumb gives you enough control over the bar that you are much less likely to roll it. And realistically, if you are at all worried that you might lose control of the bar, you should be using at least one spotter. (You never bench without a spotter, right?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anatomically speaking, the unwrapped grip placed a greater amount of stress on the wrist. To keep the bar on the palm, you have to extend your wrist to form a small shelf in the hand to place the bar into. If you wrap your thumb around, this allows you to do a bench press (or other exercise) with your hand and forearm aligned, so the weight is transferred straight through the forearm, rather than at a shearing angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the thumb is a major component of grip strength. You simply cannot grip the bar with as much force in an open grip as you can a closed grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drsquat10.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What Dr. Squat says&lt;/a&gt; (Founder of ISSA)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://leehayward.com/blog/bench-press-suicide-grip/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What Lee Hayward says&lt;/a&gt; (Bodybuilder and trainer)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandstrength.com/forum/threads/36682-Bench-press-do-you-use-your-thumbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Random bro argument #1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.criticalbench.com/power-bench-press.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another trainer&lt;/a&gt; (MSS, CSCS, MEd)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T17:30:01.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27449" CreationDate="2015-09-22T18:33:53.697" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This topic can be as divisive as whether training deadlifts with straps is effective or not.  Since powerlifting is my background, and powerlifters tend to be the biggest proponents of the &lt;em&gt;false grip&lt;/em&gt; (AKA suicide grip), I'll attack the question from that perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beginners&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have no reason to use a false grip on bench press.  There's too much they need to get right to add unnecessary risk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A beginner is using such light weights that if they do end up letting the bar roll, the thumbs around grip will be good enough to help them catch themselves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For sources, check out &quot;Starting Strength&quot;, and I believe venerable Mr. Wendler with 5/3/1 also suggests that beginners use a thumbs around grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overhead work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any overhead press doesn't have the same risk involved as a bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the bar rolls out of the hand you drop the bar and have the opportunity to get out of the way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wendler absolutely advocates a thumbless grip for overhead press in his 5/3/1 book.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/nailing-the-overhead-press&quot;&gt;Paul Carter&lt;/a&gt; advocates it for overhead work as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've found it to be less stressful on my wrists&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you progress your technique enough, you can consider using the false grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've found it really depends on how wide your grip is as to which grip feels better.  The wider the grip the more false grip feels better.  The narrower the grip, the more thumbs around feels better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paul Carter uses &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/11/developing-your-raw-bench-part-1.html&quot;&gt;thumbless&lt;/a&gt; grip, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/12/developing-your-raw-bench-part-2.html&quot;&gt;recognizes that it's a very individual choice&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most powerlifters I follow take more of a laid back attitude along the lines of &quot;if you have everything in order and it feels better, use the false grip&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen arguments on both sides, but the general consensus seems to be it's not something beginners should do because of their inexperience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Press Safety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest detractors of the false grip site safety as the number one reason why not to use it.  The problem is, the bench press accidents I've personally witnessed and ones I've read about wouldn't have turned out any other way if they used a thumbs around grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a power lifting competition, it is quite common to have 3 spotters.  One on each end and one in the middle.  The problem is that the reaction time for anyone is so small, chances are the bar is going to hit you.  When the bar has 350+ lbs loaded on it, the bar is going to continue falling even though the spotters are doing their best until they can overcome the inertia of the moving bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For normal training, I have a squat rack with spotter arms attached.  They are set just below the arched chest level so that they don't interfere with training, but I only need to flatten my arch to avoid getting my chest slammed.  This is the safest way to bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal Preference&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a full grip for bench press, but I also have a somewhat narrower grip than those I've seen that use the false grip.  However, I do use false grip on overhead work.  It keeps the bar path over my shoulders where it is the strongest, and my wrists thank me for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do recommend using wrist wraps if you use a false grip.  I find it's more likely that the bar will roll toward the fingers than off the front of the palm of the hand.  Wrist wraps provide additional stability so you can at least offload the bar safely and readjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T18:33:53.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12136" CreationDate="2015-09-22T23:47:27.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To build muscle mass and to increase strength, lower repetitions(try to shoot for about 2 to 6), are more effective. So yes, do low reps to gain mass. The squat is especially important, and work at least half of the major muscle groups on the body(legs, abdominals, back), but still primarily lower body muscles. I hope this helps and good luck with increasing your leg growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T23:47:27.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27458" CreationDate="2015-09-23T06:43:04.350" Score="2" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between running in a slow pace but at that constant speed for a 30 min and running at high speed but get tired after 10 min, through which will you lose weight faster? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17918" LastActivityDate="2018-05-10T11:53:20.777" Title="How to lose weight faster through running" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12136" CreationDate="2015-09-23T07:44:32.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep it simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supercompensation&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Do reps until you cannot do more, multiple 8-15 times a move. So body notices that you need more strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give your body enough time to recover. Not same muscle training every day. Wait until your normal pulse is low again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Continue at the right time again. Waiting longer means muscles will be reduced again if not used.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't do big mistakes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About eating: too many proteins will just be burnt like carbs. Same happens if you eat not enough carbs, so do not do any extreme diet. Follow WHO minimum amounts, and - if you like - add one time per day a bit protein powder or a good food mixture &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_value&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;biological value&lt;/a&gt; to keep proteins not too low. Cornflakes with milk, or spinach with eggs and potatoes, or lens soup are examples.&#xA;Too many proteins won't help, not enough will make it impossible, so find an easy middle.&#xA;No need to buy protein powder mixed with 1% exotic berry powder, just be reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same with sleep. Not enough is bad, very simple but no one pays enough attention to that. Try to sleep and get up at similar times, and to have enough sleep (feel ok/well when getting up). Better 30-90minutes more sleep after an intense workout day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some hints:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It 'costs' 1-2 hours per day. 15-30 mins preparing&#xA;30-60 workout, 15-30 shower and some food, and 30-60 more sleep. Plan the time or you will not have it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since leg muscles are 1/3 of all muscles, you will need to do some cardio as well (should happen automatically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try workout programs, use some with varying intensity, to 'surprise' your body. But don't buy expensive ones. Ask friends if you like to try one of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Liquid:&#xA;Also drink enough during training, 'magical water'  maybe green tea, with a tip of salt and maybe 10% fruit juice and some magnesium powder if you can get it cheap. It is just an isotonic &quot;sweat water&quot;.&#xA;Don't buy expensive powders, its just salt and sugar for isotonic electrolyt solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Motivation:&#xA;Write down your reps to see how you improve. You should get better numbers in 1-2 weeks. Getting feedback about improvement is very important. It will only work if you stay motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't overdo:&#xA;Don't do more than 1h of intense workouts per day. Your carb storage lasts for 60-120 minutes, but just refills 30-60minutes per day. If no carbs are left then your body will burn muscle. Most marathon runners need a heart operation because of that (constantly rebuilding heart muscles leads to blood flow disorders in it). So 30-60 mins intense workout, cardio, strength, HIIT, and 1 day yoga/stretch.&#xA;To do the right amounts of breaks:&#xA;1 day off per week&#xA;1 week off per month&#xA;1 month off per year&#xA;Should do that to not push your body too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5594" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T07:44:32.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27455" CreationDate="2015-09-23T09:03:50.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are just looking to lose weight, you should do slow pace running. The point is to elevate your heart rate so that you are slightly out of breath and you will start burning fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be consistent and do that several times a week though, along with a proper diet otherwise it will not have so much impact. Also don't overestimate how many calories you burn while running and do not treat yourself too much after each run (that's what many people do). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you need to be in caloric deficit to lose weight. Eating too much will defeat the purpose of the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing intervals (sprint-rest-repeat) won't hurt anyway, it could help you to vary your training a bit. Good luck !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T09:03:50.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27455" CreationDate="2015-09-23T09:31:37.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will burn pretty much the same amount of calories running 1 kilometer really fast, as lightly jogging the same distance. When it comes to movement the distance is what decides how much energy you'll burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running the 1 km will, however, be much faster than the light jog. If you only have half an hour to train you'll be able to squeeze more kilometers into that session if you move faster – thus burning more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might tire more quickly when going too fast, forcing you to rest and netting you less distance in the end of the session, than if you'd paced yourself. It sounds bad but this intensive training will increase you aerobic capacity over time and enabling you to go longer and faster as time goes by. This will let you burn more calories over the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short term – go only as fast as you can maintain movement throughout the whole training session.&#xA;Long term – mix it up with high intensity interval training to increase your aerobic capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T09:31:37.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27445" CreationDate="2015-09-24T01:13:14.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, I would not worry too much about all these details. Just go out and (warm up and) start running! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Any time you feel comfortable. If you are a morning person, go early morning. You will feel fresh throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can not run faster than your maximum speed.. Try running a bit slower than your max, so that you can maintain it for a longer duration.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It helps to drink water a little, energy drink helps more :) Don't empty more than one bottle during one run though.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As long as they are comfortable, any shoes are fine. You can try insoles too. They are very soft.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to enjoy it. Make a playlist of your favorite songs/ audio book.. get a buddy to run with you.. set targets, compete with yourself.. anything you like and you will have fun :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18071" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T01:13:14.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22425" CreationDate="2015-09-24T04:37:59.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally when people ask how to increase their speed in running, the answer is simply &quot;run more&quot;. However, you have that part pretty good, injuries notwithstanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two concepts that you need to add into your program on a regular basis as far as speedwork, and that is threshold and interval training. Interval training raises your top end speed, threshold training increases the amount of time you can spend &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; that speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval training is high intensity, high speed, long rest type training. Since you have a 5:44 mile personal best (PB), that is a 2:51 pace. A good interval workout for you would be 1-2 mile warmup, 8x800 @ 2:30, 2-5 minutes rest between, 1-2 mile warmdown. You can play with the rest and the pace, the goal is to be able to make every single interval. If you can't make the interval, either your pace is a little too fast, or you don't have enough rest. (no more than 4-5 minutes rest max, though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Threshold training is at or near race pace, short rest intervals. If your race pace is 6:51 (That's a 1:30 1/2 pace), then you should be doing segments of running at 7:00, on short rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also do the basic fartlek, strides, pickup type runs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to address your seeming walls in the full marathon. Most of the time if you can do the work and the race gets wonky, it's usually one of two things: Going out too fast, or nutrition. You've got to be on your hydration and nutrition from the get go, if you wait you're done. For your pacing, it's &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; better to run the 2nd half slightly faster than the first, than go out hard and try to hang on. You also have to pay attention to conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final tip: Most of the time, runners go too hard on their easy days, and too easy on their hard days. If a run plan says easy, run it easy. If it says hard, kill it. If you need a rest day, take a rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've got the times that suggest you can run the distance and time, it seems like its the execution that needs work. Go back and review all of your races, and see if there is a common limiting factor. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T04:37:59.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27402" CreationDate="2015-09-24T08:23:44.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For bulking cardio is not really necessary.However, including moderate amounts cardio exercise into your bulking routine can help control and limit the amount of body fat gained during a bulking phase. Additionally, cardio exercise increases blood flow, delivering more oxygen to your muscles and removing waste products, such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid. The increase in blood flow to the muscles promotes muscle building by delivering fresh nutrients to the muscles needed for growth and aiding in recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16280" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T08:23:44.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27402" CreationDate="2015-09-24T09:13:28.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio is not necessary for anything. It's just good for you (up to a certain point).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, it burns calories so usually people use it when they're trying to lose weight. If you're trying to gain weight but still want to take advantage of the benefits of cardio that Sid pointed out, simply eat more so that the calories you burn doing cardio won't affect your bulking phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T09:13:28.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27467" CreationDate="2015-09-24T14:47:16.777" Score="1" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I'm riding a stationary bike with a power meter.  It measures my power as 200W and I workout for 10 minutes.  This is a total work of 120 J or 28.7 Cal.  Now is that how many calories I've &quot;burned&quot;, period?  Does heart rate, age, sex, weight, temperature, etc affect this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18072" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T16:22:38.390" Title="Are calories burned affected by just work done, or also heartrate, weight, age, etc?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27465" CreationDate="2015-09-24T15:58:19.147" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calories burned are &lt;strong&gt;directly&lt;/strong&gt; correlated to heart rate, which on its own, is directly correlated to a bunch of different factors as the ones you mentioned (age, sex, weight, physical shape of the individual).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To illustrate this, imagine a young, female and very small marathon runner, jogging for 10 minutes at a very slow pace around the block. She isn't going to be very tired and will barely make a sweat. Now think of a very obese, older man who hasn't done any exercise in decades trying to do the same thing. He will burn way more calories than her, since (1) he's much bigger and the energy required to move his whole body from point A to point B is higher and (2) he's so out of shape that the littlest exercise will get his heart racing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T15:58:19.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27465" CreationDate="2015-09-24T16:22:38.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now is that how many calories I've &quot;burned&quot;, period?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question is No.  Other factors &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; play a part in how many calories you burn during exercise.  Since calculating the exact amount is somewhat difficult, researchers have published tables of energy expenditure for common activities.  The energy expenditure is typically expressed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;METS&lt;/a&gt; for some of the tables.  The tables are not an exact measurement of the expenditure for physical activity, but, rather a way to classify physical activity by METS.  In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.juststand.org/portals/3/literature/compendium-of-physical-activities.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compendium of physical activities: classification of energy costs of human physical activities&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Exercise Science, School of Public Health, University of South Carolina&lt;/em&gt;), the researchers indicated that the amount of energy expended for weight bearing exercises was…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“…higher among heavier individuals than indicated by the Compendium’s&#xA;  MET intensities. For these individuals, use of the MET intensities in&#xA;  the Compendium would underestimate the actual energy cost of weight&#xA;  bearing activity. The opposite pattern would be observed for&#xA;  non-weight-bearing activities.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, they stated that…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Similar observations may apply to individuals who differ in age,&#xA;  cardiorespiratory fitness levels, and mechanical efficiency and when&#xA;  activities are performed in varied geographic and environmental&#xA;  conditions.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the take away from this type of research would indicate that there &lt;strong&gt;are other factors&lt;/strong&gt; that come into play when determining the energy expenditure of an activity.  These include…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“…differences in body mass, adiposity, age, sex, efficiency of&#xA;  movement, geographic and environmental conditions.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T16:22:38.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27449" CreationDate="2015-09-24T20:46:45.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cost benefit analysis: If thumbless is more comfortable, you might conceivably lift a few more pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bar slips out of that grip, unless your spotters ALREADY had a grip on the bar (ie, it was already not a real lift (google &quot;Clemson 640 bench.&quot; Perfect example of a non-lift.)), its gonna mash your face/neck/ribs before they even have a chance to react. Most of the severe benching injuries I've ever &quot;seen&quot; (youtube, etc, so total keyboard warrior here...) have been extremely sudden bar-drops. A failed lift takes a second or two, and even the lifter is able to exert &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; slowing force on the bar, and everyone has time to react. A slipped bar? Not a chance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrap the thumbs, unless you're a sponsored powerlifter and its literally your JOB to lift every last possible ounce. Everyone else, who's supposed to be making themselves BETTER in the gym, not getting injured pretending they're a pro powerlifter IN a meet... wrap the thumbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T20:46:45.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3320" CreationDate="2015-09-24T21:31:37.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have exactly the same problem, except it also happens every night in my sleep.  I wake up coughing up plegm, and I get it when I excercise.  Might try the no dairy thing and see if it helps.  No nose spray or allergy shots have helped.  Every doctor seems to recommend nasal sprays but they are worthless to me.  Antihistamines seem to be the only cure, and I find I need more of them every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18077" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T21:31:37.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-25T08:16:55.853" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two Battle Rope workouts I plan to do in the same session: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Workout #1) An HIIT workout as explained &lt;a href=&quot;http://onnit.com/academy/fat-burning-battle-ropes-hiit-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Workout #2) Strengthening the core by isolating it using &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtube.com/watch?v=FyGBSs1X1qM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these routines&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits? What size of battle rope is good for cardio training? (I was considering the Onnit battle rope but it seems very light - starting from 24lbs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5438" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-09-25T10:25:32.300" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T10:25:32.300" Title="Battle Rope Workouts" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25923" CreationDate="2015-09-25T16:15:51.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to the small market for the disabled, you really need to be creative.  In some cases the disabled person will have equipment special made for them, and in others they will make do with something off the shelf.  In the video, it looks like the person in question used an off the shelf strap that was tied in a way to anchor the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen injured people make up for an injured hand using deadlift hooks (illegal in competition unless you get a special waver).  I've also seen people simply not use the affected limb (example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/Vh8r2ca8Id8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ali McWeeny&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The video you had also showed the person perform her weightlifting techniques one handed.  There's really no other way to do quick movements like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is you aren't going to find the equipment.  You'll either need to special order it, adapt equipment, or simply do without.  The biggest risk is that it's just easier to drop the bar and harder to do just about everything.  The same guidelines apply for proper technique, but the balance points and finer points have to be adjusted for the unique situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T16:15:51.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-25T19:39:52.307" Score="0" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5.5 feet, 71kg, waist 32 and my stomatch is out. I recently joined gym and the trainer tells me that we will put on more weight on the upper part like on chest and biceps so when the biceps becomes like 20 inch then we can cut it by work outs and it will stop at 15-16 inches and will be very hard like stone. Is this the right way of body building??? Will i not face the problem of being over weight???? &#xA;Will i get abs and biceps i wanted ?? &#xA;Is trainer going the right way ??? Please answer me asap. I am really worried .very worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18082" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T05:12:34.477" Title="will i face any problems on body building" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-25T21:59:00.543" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently do squats, barbell curls,  sit ups and bench press all in one go- consecutively -THEN i take a break and repeat a few more times before moving on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if i was taking the wrong approach as when i've looked around at different strength and muscle building workouts i see stuff similar to the above, except i'd have a break in between each. I've seen that more frequently than my method, but wouldn't it make sense to take less breaks like i do overall, to increase hypertrophy, etc? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16193" LastActivityDate="2015-11-27T16:04:24.843" Title="Should you do more than one exercise per set?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27491" CreationDate="2015-09-25T23:14:05.153" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out in January 2014, and managed to drop from 250-260lbs ish to 218lbs in a year and I felt very accomplished. For other reasons, I stopped training and got back to working out on June 6, 2015. I can feel myself getting stronger, and I can feel my muscles. But I can't see them. I don't carry a lot of weight. I only squat/bench a bit over half my weight which is not a lot, but, I don't want to focus a lot on pure strength since my goal is to burn as much fat as I can (without any supplements, pure dieting and gym). I've read reps are what gets you toned. I'm not looking to get hyper ripped either, but, I want my muscles to be noticeable. Should I drop weight on the bar and do more reps, while sacrificing the strength I've gained? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-09-27T14:50:45.543" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T12:58:01.743" Title="When should I focus on reps?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27554" CreationDate="2015-09-26T01:59:57.213" Score="1" ViewCount="356" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have access to whey powder. What's the next best alternative food-wise for building muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user18084" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T09:33:52.600" Title="Best alternatives to whey?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-26T07:01:55.433" Score="2" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend which I think is a little overweight. When I mentioned this to him and tried to aspire him to loose some weight to get to BMI &quot;Healthy Zone&quot; weight, he said that BMI is a useless tool for calculating a &quot;right&quot; weight for a person and referred me to articles like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3152862/The-graphic-reveals-BMI-useless-Scientists-reveal-radically-different-body-shapes-readings.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there more reliable calculations than BMI to determine a healthy weight for a person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18086" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T08:52:54.560" Title="&quot;Healthy Weight&quot; Calculation" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27477" CreationDate="2015-09-26T10:22:59.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When people say &quot;healthy weight&quot;, it is remarkably open for interpretation. My personal opinion, is that one should strive not just to remove as much fat as possible (because a lot of the fat types have purposes), but to remove as much &lt;strong&gt;visceral fat&lt;/strong&gt; as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Visceral fat is the type of fat that wraps around the inner organs, and wreak havoc on your general health. It increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and dementia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measuring visceral fat is primarily done by a CT scan, or the more expensive option, a bioelectrical impedance machine. Getting one of these scans done can be beneficial, but it's not needed. Visceral fat can be managed by cardiovascular exercise, resistance training, and dieting. The best thing to do is just say &quot;let's pretend I just had a scan, and it turns out I have a lot of visceral fat&quot;, and just get to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-09-26T10:22:59.160" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27480" CreationDate="2015-09-26T10:31:37.893" Score="5" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a mother of 45 day old baby. Even after delivery my lower belly still looks like I'm 7 months pregnant. Please give me a good suggestion to decrease my belly size. I am not talking about normal belly, its about delivered mother belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18089" LastEditorUserId="18089" LastEditDate="2015-09-30T14:30:51.517" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T14:30:51.517" Title="How to decrease Lower Belly after Delivery?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27479" CreationDate="2015-09-26T13:15:39.703" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Understanding the changes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;45 days is absolutely nothing to worry about. As a rule of thumb, six months is about the time it takes for your body to reverse the effect of a pregnancy. Remember, it took nine months for the changes to happen in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of this is of course also subject to genetics. We're not all the same. Some women can regain their previous stature in a matter of weeks. Others take months. And months is the most common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Helping the process along&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of things you can do to help speed up the process of getting your figure back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breastfeeding, because lactating can burn about 500 calories per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Five fruits/vegetables per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintain a fibre-rich diet (oats, beans, lentils, grains, seeds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gentle exercise, particularly pelvic floor exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take walks! Of course, this is quality time with your child as well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tummy slack&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very common for tummies to feel slack after birth, because the added volume over-stretched it. You may see a bulge on the front of your tummy, above and below the belly button. This is known as Rectus Abdominis Diastatis (RAD) and is a divarication of your abdominal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe you have this, you should go see a midwife or a doctor. Leaving it untreated isn't directly harmful, but it can lead to back problems later, and it will make it harder to have a flat stomach post-pregnancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-09-26T13:15:39.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27482" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27489" CreationDate="2015-09-26T14:08:48.457" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you also state why you think it should last the time that you mentioned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16383" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T01:33:58.287" Title="How long should a muscle building session last?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-09-28T17:51:50.647" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16631" CreationDate="2015-09-26T16:16:28.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train in the sauna atleast twice a week, 175 - 250 squats non-stop. Takes me 20 minutes+ I used to do crunch-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is Hard... So something is getting stronger, right ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sauna effort of mine has been built up over 15+ years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try what I do on day1 and your heart may stop. And be unsustainable. Patience and discipline are key&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to contain your ego and ramp over time (10+ years) and your blood sugars will drop(mine went from 320 to 80+ no kidding) and your cholesterol numbers will also improve overall. As long as you are sensible about your diet ( watch junk food intake, eliminate no foods, try balanced diets)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also my lifts have improved beyond expectations. I cant lift as much without the Sauna Squats, they relax my muscles between lift sessions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At age 55+ I strict curl 140 lbs, squat 315, bench 275. The curl is above most state records for my age weight category &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My treadmill stamina drops off without sauna workouts also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dont just read and post. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TRY out things. You may not get the same results I did,each persons bidy is different.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you ramp slowwwly you may learn a few things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first to improve will be patience. And a desire to KNOW for yourselves by trial error and retrial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18090" LastActivityDate="2015-09-26T16:16:28.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27547" CreationDate="2015-09-26T16:17:55.700" Score="3" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what the lap distances are for each lane on a standard running track. I saw marks for a mile and other distances but didn't really look for it while I was there. Are the lane distances marked on the track?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-09-27T14:43:08.197" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T19:25:32.057" Title="Are running track lap distances standard? What are they?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="37011" CreationDate="2015-09-26T17:03:47.310" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might just be an idiosyncratic issue, but I'm a heavy sweater, and lately, it's been causing issues for earbud use on my runs. The sweat starts to accumulate in my ear, often making the earbuds keep slipping out and occasionally muffling the sound or shorting them out (that last is no real fun). I know that part of it is probably a matter of cheap earbuds, but the last time I spent more than $10 for earbuds, they lasted even less time than the dollar store ones, with the wire separating from the plug within months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T04:22:59.973" Title="Dealing with sweat and earbuds" Tags="&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16631" CreationDate="2015-09-26T18:58:18.483" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wished to add that the opposite of this (or whatever you have been doing)  is also great for conditioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do switch out from the Sauna to the pool, back and forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opposites always reduce stresses accumulated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sweat a lot in the Sauna, no liquids while in Sauna, All liquids before/after for my training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I no significant lifting etc on days of long sessions in the Sauna ( long for me is 100+ squats, will be different for each of you). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heavy lifts running etc restart on the day following Sauna extended squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18092" LastActivityDate="2015-09-26T18:58:18.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27482" CreationDate="2015-09-27T01:33:58.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fact is, if you want to notice some serious differences you have to make the exercise last more than 10 or 15 minutes. In real life, that just won't cut it. I would say in general, your workout should last between 45-90 minutes. The lower the reps, the less time for the workout. The higher the reps, the more time for the workout. The reason I state this is because the fewer reps you are doing, the more energy you are putting forth and the more testosterone you are releasing from your body. So it would take a higher amount of repetitions to benefit you and tire you out as much, if possible, to the same degree as a few low repetitions. And the reason I suggest shooting for somewhere in this time frame is because it is just enough to build stronger muscles, it is not overtraining(2 hrs.+), and it is not training too little(30 min. or less), either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T01:33:58.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27476" CreationDate="2015-09-27T01:45:36.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are in search of protein-packed foods, let me remind you of your best friend. Fish. An average serving of any type of fish usually will easily provide anywhere from 20-60 grams of protein. Fish is usually somewhat affordable for a middle/working class citizen; at about $6 or $7 a Ib. Heck, if you're up for it or have money problems, you might even want to catch your own fish. But the point is, fish is your friend, and eating it will build strong muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T01:45:36.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27475" CreationDate="2015-09-27T15:49:10.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've read reps are what gets you toned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this may seem like a simple question to answer, in reality, there's more to it than just increasing reps.  That's only part of the total equation.  You'll also need to take a closer look at your current nutrition plan and other factors (cardio work, rest, recovery, discipline, consistency, etc.).  And, to complicate matters, your age may also play a role in how well you accomplish your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've indicated that you don't want to be “hyper ripped”.  However, as a former bodybuilder, I can tell you that the process of revealing muscle mass is going to be the same.  Bodybuilders (natural – non drug using) just push the process a little further, typically through calorie manipulation.  In my experiences, when it came time to reveal (for competition) the muscle that I had worked so hard for, I tightened up my diet and mixed high rep training &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; normal strength training.  First, I would try to eat as “clean” as possible, and, do so on a &lt;em&gt;regular &lt;strong&gt;consistent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; basis.  And, rather than &lt;em&gt;“sacrificing the strength I've gained”&lt;/em&gt;, I would plan my training to include bouts of high rep work while also attempting to maintain strength and size.  I also allowed myself a reasonable time period to accomplish my goal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I drop weight on the bar and do more reps, while sacrificing&#xA;  the strength I've gained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment with your training while keeping your goals in mind.  See how your body reacts to different training stimulus whether it's high rep &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; low rep.  There's no reason why you can't do both. And, since you've not indicated any form of cardio work, I'd recommend you look into adding that to your training plan.  Then, stick with what provides you the results you want.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T15:49:10.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27476" CreationDate="2015-09-27T18:39:35.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you search over the internet for sources of protein, you will get a bunch of results and foods that you can choose from. Even with whey powder, you need to watch your diet as it is healthier to get your protein directly from the food you eat and rely less on the supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a vegetarian, load up on beans and nuts. Best practice would be to eat eggs right after your exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18071" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T18:39:35.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-27T18:44:59.550" Score="2" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a woman and I exercise to gain weight. This includes weight lifting and I am starting to show biceps. I do not like the muscly look. Is there any way I can avoid that and still gain weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I usually work out 3-4 days a week alternating between upper and lower body, with 3 set of 12-15 reps for each exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18071" LastEditorUserId="18071" LastEditDate="2015-09-27T21:02:52.493" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T04:20:12.830" Title="How to avoid your muscles from showing?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27509" CreationDate="2015-09-27T18:56:27.110" Score="1" ViewCount="3933" Body="&lt;p&gt;How accurately does an exercise bike simulate &quot;real&quot; biking? Are the statistics displayed on the screen realistic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18101" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T13:35:28.580" Title="Exercise Bike vs. &quot;Real Bike&quot;" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27473" CreationDate="2015-09-27T20:08:47.897" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty similar dimensions, but bulked up nicely a few years back and have a couple of thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your trainer's advice sounds good for rapid bodybuilding, but not for what it sounds like you want (toned body, flat tummy, etc).  If he's telling you to do a bicep curl, then drop him and prepare to spend several weekends reading way too much conflicting advice online :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle burns fat, so if you want to lose fat, it doesn't hurt to do some hypertrophy to build muscles quickly.  However, I wouldn't focus too much on dimensions.  Your biceps are tiny things compared to the legs/core/back, so building them up will achieve next to nothing in terms of burning fat.  Focus on core (deadlifts, squats, freeweights etc), functional training, and as an added bonus you will go into middle age (or further) with a body thats built to work.  Trust me, that gets pretty important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building abs is frankly impossible.  What you need to do is lose fat.  This is as much diet as anything else.  Once you've built up a good base of muscle, and are moderately fit, shift your focus onto high-intensity sprints, a good clean diet, avoid beers &amp;amp; milk etc.  Drink more water, whatever your doing is not enough.  I also found tabata sprints did wonders for me, as did a short spurt of going vegan, but you will probably need to experiment to find out is needed at each plateau to keep you going.  Also - try to measure your bodyfat (you can get passable bodyfat callipers for about $30), and forget the scales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tldr;  Do a functional workout, get a flat stomach, forget your biceps.  By the time you have the tummy, the biceps will look great anyway.  Also remember, the faster it comes, the faster it goes.  Don't look for miracles, and even after a long winter in front of the computer you'll still be able to flex and find your 6-pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7629" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T20:08:47.897" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27493" CreationDate="2015-09-27T20:24:36.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are missing some info, like how many reps you do, how do you eat and your lifting program in general but I will consider that you are doing 8 to 12 reps.&#xA;So lets begin...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't want to gain weight then, obviously your arms will grow, not like men's arm but they will grow. Maybe you can win weight by training legs and ass, muscles that women love to have, your legs and ass will grow in a still &quot;womanish&quot; way, but again I don't recommend to train only legs and ass, as you will look bad with a disproportionate body. I will later give you some routines and things you need to have in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could always train for strenght, doing 4 reps on each set with heavy loads, you'll get stronger and you will still grow altough a little bit less than if you continue doing 8 reps -12. Altough I would recommend you to get a personal trainer that will teach you perfect form the first months that way you don't get injured. Or you could do more than 15 reps, targeting resistance it all depends on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said before here is a routine that targets legs and &quot;womanish&quot; body parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you can train legs 3 days a week, but the more days you train the better you need to eat, sleep and the less extreme your workouts need to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1st Program:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Legs (including ass too)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: Abs and Obliques (If you do too much abs you will start to get rocky vainy woman abs, look above)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Calves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Abs and Obliques&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are missing back, chest and other body parts, this is a routine that most girls will use as they don't care about upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2nd Program:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Legs and Calves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: Abs and Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Obliques and Triceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: Back and Chest (Chest may help your boobs to stay upright)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Legs and Calves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember than legs include ass too. On the second program you could train one week arms and the other let them rest, only training abs and obliques. You could also do cardio on saturdays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This routines aren't perfect, you need to see how much and what you eat, your goals and then make a routine specially for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the rocky vainy abs thing: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L5tXv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L5tXv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T20:24:36.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27493" CreationDate="2015-09-27T20:25:24.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among Bret Contreras' &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/how-to-attain-a-slender-look-like-jessica-alba-zoe-saldana/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommendations&lt;/a&gt; for thin women who feel too muscular are these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Less squats, lunges, and deadlifts – do them, but go light. Don’t obsess about progressive overload. Feel the right muscles doing the job. Higher rep goblet squats and American deadlifts are good choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More glute isolation work – wise choices here include barbell glute bridges, back extensions, and cable glute kickbacks, as are lateral band walks and band seated hip abductions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No direct ab training – the abs will get activated with most free weight movements. They don’t require direct training past a certain level of competency. Some planks and the like are certainly okay, but there’s no need for intense abdominal/oblique training. Despite what most S&amp;amp;C experts claim, a small percentage of women do get bulky midsections from too much core work, so this needs to be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More variety – this is key. You want challenging workouts from metabolic and muscle activation perspectives. However, you should switch it up, rotate lifts, and employ different techniques and methods. This is also good for preventing boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Less focus on progressive overload – continuous progressive overload can make people very hungry. It’s a natural response. You’re telling the body that you want it to be stronger, so it responds by gaining muscle. For overweight individuals who are dieting, it helps them retain muscle mass while shedding fat for weight loss. But for some ideal weight individuals, it can backfire in the long-run by forcing weight gain. This is why powerlifters have such a hard time staying in their respective weight classes over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on progressive overload for exercises targeting muscles that you want to grow – usually glutes and whatever other weak parts that are specific to your body. But with exercises targeting muscles that you’re happy with, don’t concern yourself with progressive overload and just make sure you get in a good work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Faster pace – you want dense sessions that are metabolically demanding. There’s no need to rest longer than 90 seconds, and you can employ paired supersets that combine non-competing lower body and upper body movements. A 60 second rest period is the usual here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T20:25:24.570" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27507" CreationDate="2015-09-28T03:04:01.317" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clarify I'll provide some examples of what I mean by &quot;holding&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say when you are doing a situp, you can hold the position part way through and then just stay there and it will work your muscles. Another example is holding a dumbbell horizontally, or doing a chin up so that your biceps are approximately horizontal and then just holding that position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is doing exercise like this bad? Why is it never recommended to do this over doing the entire motion? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Are there dangers of holding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T15:06:42.637" Title="What are the benefits of performing the full motion of the exercise as opposed to holding it part way through?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-09-29T08:57:38.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27477" CreationDate="2015-09-28T08:35:19.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI is far from ideal for the tall, the short or for athletes. If your friend falls into one of these suggest he checks his: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist%E2%80%93hip_ratio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Waist to hip&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist-to-height_ratio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Waist to Height&lt;/a&gt; ratios, as these have been shown to be better indicator of potential health problems than a BMI figure, as they scale / take account of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're after a weight or weight range, then there are numerous other formula that claim to offer a better / alternative metric, give a couple a go and if they similarly indicate you've eaten too many pies, they're probably correct: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NewBMI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ABSI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BAI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMAI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;CI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;PI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Range (Met Life)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Range (Broca)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Bornhardt)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Devine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Halls)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Hamwi)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Lemmens)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Lorentz) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Miller) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Monnerot &amp;amp; Dunaine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Peck)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Pendle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Perrault &amp;amp; Creff)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideal Weight (Robinson)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are websites and app's that will do the calculations for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly an estimate of your body fat may validate the above weights and indices, see: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/262/how-to-calculate-body-fat&quot;&gt;How to calculate Body Fat %&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I use the &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.arcalot.biometrics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BioMetrIcs app&lt;/a&gt;, to do both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T08:52:54.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-28T11:12:16.370" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am obese (300 pounds now, down 40 pounds) and have been for the better part of my life. As I've acquired a great interest in medicine and sports medicine I've decided to shed most of my weight and get as fit as possible as I applied to medical school and got accepted (as it would be quite hypocritical to be a fat doctor). I have 4 months left till I start and I am aware that I cannot reach a healthy weight by then, but I'll be on my way there and I can handle a few stares.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my current exercise regime (I just graduated from high school, don't have a job so during down time from exercise I sit at home and read, play):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x a week (mon, wed, fri): Wake up, do &quot;foundation training&quot; which includes stretches for posture, walk 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to the gym, do Stronglifts 5x5 (squats, bench, deadlift, rows and press), walk home 3 kilometers. At home, do grip training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x a week (tues, thurs, sat): Wake up, do &quot;foundation training&quot;, walk 5 kilometers to a place I like to do cardio, do couch-to-5k training (intervals), rest for a little bit on a bench and then walk home 5 kilometers. Total 11-12 km. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sundays: Take a 5-20 kilometer (3-12 miles) walk depending on mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of this, when I'm at home playing/reading/watching movies I get up every 30 minutes to move for 5-10 minutes and clean the house a bit, get some water and so on so I work up a sweat over 8 times a day. But the problem is with the above training and standing up regularly, I still sit down for an average 8 hours a day. I have purchased an ergonomic chair and I've noticed that my posture is a lot better with my exercise (especially the stretching in morning, squats and deadlifts help a lot) but I still sit down too much. How can I change this? I've heard sit/standing desks are good, but I also need a new pair of running shoes now that winter is coming and I have to transition to treadmills and so I can't afford both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do I need to incorporate another exercise form? I've heard stretches before/after activity can be good but I feel that my morning stretches leave a great impact for the rest of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18104" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T04:06:20.200" Title="What do I need to incorporate into my exercise regime to have an as complete schedule as possible?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27502" CreationDate="2015-09-28T11:46:39.807" Score="2" ViewCount="570" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have better experience with aerobic exercises than anaerobic (ie unlike most other people). Even in regards to strength. Weightlifting never helped me; I peaked at some low point, and I stayed there. However, after some aerobic exercises, my max strength reached a relatively high level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I am quite satisfied with my back strength due to a rowing machine. Skipping rope helped a lot with my calves. However, I have never been able to build up my chest significantly. Pushups have helped somewhat, but I feel even that may be a little too heavy (compared to what have helped other muscle groups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not writing this to start an aerobic vs anaerobic discussion; I have had enough of those. Rather, I am looking for something of an equivalent to a rowing machine for the chest. I want suggestions for how I can train my chest aerobically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastActivityDate="2019-02-23T07:11:02.773" Title="Aerobic Chest exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27501" CreationDate="2015-09-28T12:32:30.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any exercise can be done in an aerobic manner if you want it to, you just need to change its training modality and go for very low resistance and very high duration. I wouldn't recommend free weight exercises as you are going to reach a fatigued state pretty quickly and dropping a barbell on your face is a real risk, but most machines could be used pretty safely assuming your body proportions fall within a reasonable range of what the machine is built for. It won't make you strong (aerobic training doesn't build strength, almost by definition), but it will increase your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50-100 repetitions for time (take as many breaks as you want, but try to complete the set as fast as possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as many reps as possible for time (start with sets of 1 minute, increase progressively)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T12:32:30.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27498" CreationDate="2015-09-28T12:45:43.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a good question. It's called isometric training and some people swore by it in the beginning of the steroid era because they used it as an excuse for their incredible gains (while hiding that they actually came from pharmaceutical companies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not good or bad, it's a tool to increase time under tension. My personal opinion is that you should train a muscle the same way you are planning to use it, so if you find it useful to be in a position, train it. An example of that would be to progress a lift: if you find yourself for example constantly struggling in the same part of a bench press, removing some weight and pausing the movement in that part of the lift can help make you stronger at it, and overcome a plateau. Hypertrophy-wise, which might be what you are after, it was very big in the past with tempo reps (for example bench press 5x10 3-1-1 meaning 3 seconds eccentric/going down, 1 second isometric contraction at the bottom, 1 second concentric/going up) and is still present in a lot of bodybuilding programs. It will not make or break your program but it can be a fun addition if you get bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T12:45:43.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27475" CreationDate="2015-09-28T12:58:01.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, let me start off with something: &quot;toning&quot; is a myth. Second, even if you are training for strength, you should still be doing a lot of reps. And a lot of sets. Sets and reps bring volume, volume stresses your body, and your body responds by adapting and becoming bigger and stronger. You would have a hard time finding a weak pro bodybuilder, or a small pro powerlifter. Those two things go together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are lost, a good heuristic to balance your program is this: for each &quot;heavy&quot; rep (think in sets of 5 or less), you should have 2 &quot;medium&quot; reps (think sets of 8) and 3 &quot;light&quot; reps (think sets of 10 to 15) of isolation exercises. It's an approximation, but a good training session would have you do 12-15 heavy reps, 30-50 medium reps, 90-120 light reps, 3 to 4 times a week. This + a light caloric deficit (too big of a deficit = your muscles start wasting away) + time will get you to a better place than doing sets of 30 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for training in a caloric deficit, I covered that in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27377/workout-routine-on-caloric-deficit/27383#27383&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; if you are interested in more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T12:58:01.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27500" CreationDate="2015-09-28T13:11:08.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Train hard, and recover harder. This is a very complete schedule, but I would warn you to be careful of the other part of the equation that is recovery. Your body is a machine that is tuned to respond to external stress (dieting, strength training, aerobic training are all stressors) and that stress needs to be increased slowly so as to not cause yourself to stall or worse, get hurt, and it needs to be evacuated (by taking lower effort weeks here and there, called deload weeks in strength training) regularly. Sleep a lot, eat well and take it slow - think of it as a marathon, not a sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts is a good start but I wouldn't recommend to stay too long on it as it isn't a very balanced program. It will help you exploit your existing muscle mass to the fullest very fast but it lacks the hypertrophy work to make you a well-rounded lifter, which can lead to potential injury on the long run. Once you are past the &quot;easy gains&quot;, switching to a more well-founded program (like the Juggernaut Method, 5/3/1, or any periodized program) will help you move forward. I would also recommend that you read &quot;Scientific Principles of Strength Training&quot; if you are interested in resistance training - despite its name it's an extremely easy and fast read (I got through it in an afternoon).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T13:11:08.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27474" CreationDate="2015-09-28T13:31:50.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the research that I have read, the length of your break has no influence on hypertrophy. The best indicator of hypertrophy is either volume, as in tonnage (sets times reps times weight) increasing over time, or more recently the number of &quot;hard&quot; sets per workout, meaning the number of sets which leave you close to technical failure (not at failure or past failure, just close to it). Doing exercises one by one gives you more time to recover and go harder on the next sets (meaning you can do a greater volume on hard sets), which is thus more optimal for hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, what you are doing right now is called supersets/multisets and it can be ok to some extent to save time. For example, I frequently superset antagonistic movements (bench press with dumbbell rows, overhead press with chin-ups, etc.) because they don't really influence each other, but I always keep at least one of them light. I wouldn't recommend doing more than 3 exercises though, and no more than 1 heavy compound lift at a time (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press, barbell rows...) to stay safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T13:31:50.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27498" CreationDate="2015-09-28T15:06:42.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some benefits, however there are also some attendant risks with isometric exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, isometric exercise doesn't really build much strength overall, they really only build strength in that one position. They can help maintain strength that you have already developed, however and it can be very useful in a rehabilitation type setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These types of exercises (Since there is no motion) won't really help speed or athletic performance either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What they can do very well, is increase the effectiveness of stabilization muscles, as they are forced into greater and greater recruitment to sustain the isometric contraction. There is also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1501558&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some recent evidence&lt;/a&gt; that it can help to lower resting blood pressure. They can also be useful exercises if you have a lowered range of motion due to disease (arthritis) or injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These types of exercises do raise blood pressure during the exercise, and if you intend on doing them, be aware of intensity and not holding your breath, as these are two other factors that can also raise your blood pressure dangerously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T15:06:42.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27530" CreationDate="2015-09-28T16:59:43.460" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am starting a 12-Week program to gain muscle mass and weight. I'm taking Dymatize Elite Mass High-protein muscle gainer as a supplement. I take one scoop before workout and two scoops along with a fruit after workout. I would like to know what else should I consume to maximize my gains besides my post workout shake because I don't know whether it is enough to drink my shake along with a fruit and then wait for lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you! &#xA;This is the 12-week program by Jim Stoppani &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18108" LastEditorUserId="18108" LastEditDate="2015-09-28T17:06:30.377" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T15:54:54.787" Title="What else should I eat besides my post workout shake?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27494" CreationDate="2015-09-28T17:13:36.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really difficult to say whether the readouts are accurate without reference to the specific readouts and the bike model. However, a few notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Different muscles are used&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bicycling primarily targets the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, shins and calves. &lt;a href=&quot;http://magazine.foxnews.com/food-wellness/better-workout-spinning-vs-outdoor-cycling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stationary bicycles put more strain on your hamstrings&lt;/a&gt; due to the need to exert muscular effort to slow the flywheel. There's also less variation of muscles used since you're not turning and you're not dealing with going up and down inclines. That said, you're only going to be seeing significant gains there if you're doing heavy activity, which frankly most people aren't on either an indoor or outdoor bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;It's easier to &amp;quot;coast&amp;quot; with an exercise bike&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think we've all experienced this, getting to a particular speed and the flywheel is pushing your feet almost as much as you're pushing the pedals. Compare that to biking outdoors where, unless you're on a decline, you have to keep putting effort into the system to keep it moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Distance traveled and speed tend to be accurate, but calories burned may not be&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed and distance are essentially a function of rotational speed of the wheel and its diameter. So yes, outside of flywheel coasting, the speed at which you're turning the pedals probably does work out to that speed, and maintaining that speed for a given time will model the distance. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/dont-believe-everything-your-exercise-machine-tells-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Calories are more tricky&lt;/a&gt;. First of all, they're generally based on a formula that combines your height, weight, and age, so it's an estimate from the start. Secondly, most exercise machines don't subtract resting metabolic rate, so the figures look slightly more impressive than they are. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/how-many-calories-you-burn-when-you-stand-work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You burn about 130 calories per hour just sitting at your desk, 180 per hour if standing&lt;/a&gt;. A moderate pace on the bike burns about 490 calories per hour. The machines will be indicating the highest figure they can, generally including a chunk of your resting rate. That said, it's not that uncommon for &amp;quot;calories burned&amp;quot; to be listed that way in general, so the machines aren't terribly deceptive there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T13:35:28.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27508" CreationDate="2015-09-28T17:18:22.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Timing isn't as important as you may think. The 'Anabolic Window' has been proven a myth (&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/is-the-anabolic-window-a-myth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see here&lt;/a&gt; for a study). Instead, calculate your total calories for the day and find out where you are. Estimate your sustainable caloric intake - the amount of calories to neither lose nor gain weight - and add 500 to that. Ask yourself other things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else am I eating?&#xA;How many grams of protein/carbs/fat/sugar am I taking in each day?&#xA;What are the ingredients of what I'm eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition weighs heavily on the results you'll receive from working out. I've always been hesitant to take 'gainer' supplements as most of them are full of sugar and leave me feeling bloated. Another thing to consider is the amount of &lt;em&gt;real food&lt;/em&gt; you're taking in. If the gainer keeps you full for such a long time that you aren't able to eat enough real food, I would cut back on its usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what else to eat, bodybuilding.com has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mohr60.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an entire meal plan&lt;/a&gt; laid out that may give you some ideas. Knowledge is key, do as much research as you can about nutrition and the way our body processes food. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17926" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T17:18:22.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-28T20:32:48.547" Score="1" ViewCount="6417" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 5'9.5 and weigh 151lb I recently used to weigh 145 but my clothes still fit and my waist is still 32.5 inches and it had been a few months since I've weight lifted I just started back so I don't see how it's muscle gain cause I gained 6lb in a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18109" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T12:15:30.560" Title="Weight change but clothes still fit" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-28T22:38:45.830" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;What weight exercises are recommended to lose fat from the chest area, my upper chest is starting to become lean but lower part of my chest is still fatty also all the way around (under armpits) My lower body is reacting well to training but my upper body didn't get the memo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw the &lt;strong&gt;possible dupe&lt;/strong&gt; and its wrong, Situations are different. I haven't had any surgery which wont limit the range of workouts i can do. I hit the gym 6/7 days, not 2-3/7 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="17969" LastEditDate="2015-09-29T14:31:38.830" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T14:31:38.830" Title="Losing Chest Area Fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-09-29T14:29:13.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27513" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-28T22:42:24.383" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's easy to see progress in a person's strength; they started at being able to bench x now they can bench x*2. The same is true for lots of strength exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What tests or measurements are there for muscle speed?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of some tests for muscle power which may be appropriate such as vertical jump, but I don't think it would be a good indicator of speed as strength is a large component of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T22:42:24.383" Title="How can you test/measure muscular speed?" Tags="&lt;speed&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-09-30T07:45:54.187" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27512" CreationDate="2015-09-29T01:43:50.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me set a solid line: If you want to shred down on fat, you cannot target a specific body part like that. In order to reduce the fat off your chest and upper body, you are going to have to take up a program that involves full body fat loss. I would suggest doing cardiovascular exercises for 45 min.- 1 hr. at least 5 days a week. I would personally recommend biking or swimming, but running, tennis, rowing, and even dancing are all significant alternatives as well. I would also highly recommend a change of diet if not being enforced already, with littler amounts of fat and sugar, more protein, and possibly even cutting calories if you are eating too much. Even though bench press may not be as good as cutting fat(but of course still somewhat helpful), it will definitely build a strong chest and I would suggest doing it 2 or 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T01:43:50.097" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27515" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-29T01:46:35.133" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to do 200 push ups a day but I have heard that they put a tremendous amount of strain on your wrists so I decided not to do them often anymore. Is this true, or just a myth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T10:27:49.020" Title="Push ups-Wrist strain?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-29T02:14:12.663" Score="3" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out moderately for 1 years now, and the last year I have been training to develop more strength (~85-90 max weight, 5-3 reps range) but seem to hit a plateau where I experience soreness after every single workout which is fine but after 2 weeks or so of continuous training the soreness becomes excessive and it takes away from my enthusiasm and energy so I have so stop and rest a week so the soreness goes away and I can train again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still get results but it seems to be at a very slowly rate(it takes about 6 weeks to be able to add 5 more lbs). So my question is this a good sign saying yes my workout is being effective or is it a sign that I might be putting too much strain? Or is it cause more of nutrition and/or rest? Or is this what I should expect from this kind of training?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18110" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-09-29T08:54:23.597" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T08:54:23.597" Title="Is soreness after every single work out good? Or is that a sign of too much strain?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27528" CreationDate="2015-09-29T02:55:19.650" Score="1" ViewCount="10739" Body="&lt;p&gt;This weekend I had a bad calf cramp in the last part of a combat stick sparring match (Calf cramped right as I pushed off for a strike, and then really locked up). Yesterday and today sore when walking at the push off of the stride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gym today, and while the calf felt better, didn't want to risk either squats or the hip sled. So, I opted for leg extensions and curls. The extensions were fine, but when I was doing curls, I could feel the calf wanting to tense. I was using the curl machine where you are in a seated position, rather than one where you lay on your stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the curl &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be a calf neutral exercise. I tried varying my foot position, concentrating on solely using the hamstrings, but unless I had the weight low enough where it was just an exercise in form, the calf rebelled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What form break am I missing that would cause the calf to be active in an exercise where (theoretically) it should be completely neutral?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T13:01:21.537" Title="How to avoid calf activation in isolation leg curls/extensions?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27516" CreationDate="2015-09-29T05:00:53.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You typically want to give each muscle 72 hours to heal. To maximize your results try breaking your body into 3 parts. Push muscles( chest, shoulders and triceps), legs, and then pull muscles( back and bicep). Ideally you'd like to be getting 1 gram of protein for every body pound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17883" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T05:00:53.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27516" CreationDate="2015-09-29T05:16:41.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are getting sore because you are dramatically increasing your volume (sets times reps times weight) instead of progressing it slowly, thus not recovering. Then even worse, you stop altogether, and start over at full speed which gives you more soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take it slow, keep track of your volume per bodypart to learn how much you can get away with. Generally, doing more is always better from both strength and hypertrophy perspective &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt; you need to work up to it over weeks, months and sometimes years in order to recover properly. When you start over again, remove some weight (keep 2/3 to 3/4 of the weight), and remove some sets (keep 2/3 of the sets) and keep the exercise selection very strict. On your first few sessions, you shouldn't be getting even near tiredness and you should leave the gym frustrated that you didn't do more. Then over the following few weeks, work up to the planned weight and sets by small increments. Then go past it, by doing more sets, using more weight. That's how progress is made, and it's the essence of progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T05:16:41.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27521" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-29T08:13:18.010" Score="1" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;How come women on the same dosages of steroids, with the same training experience, on the same programs, with the same bodyweight or even heavier by 30 lbs, as men on steroids are still considerably weaker, for example female competitive powerlifters, olympic weightlifters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18112" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T04:31:04.400" Title="How come females with as much testosterone, all other things being equal, are still considerably weaker than males?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27517" CreationDate="2015-09-29T11:24:23.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gastrocnemius is a two-jointed muscle, with its origin on the condyles of the femur. Knee flexion is part of what it does. This is why you usually have to dorsiflex the ankle during lying leg curls, so that you don't enter active insufficiency by tightening the calf across both joints at once. To work the hamstrings in isolation from the calf, you can train them across the other joint they cross instead, by extending the hips instead of flexing the knee. That's the Romanian deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T11:24:23.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27517" CreationDate="2015-09-29T13:01:21.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve had the same issue when occasionally using that machine(1).  While compiling some anecdotal evidence, it always seemed to happen after a recent bout of calf cramps.  I played with the positioning of the seat and other machine adjustments until I realized that I could not totally remove my calves from the exercise.  Rather, I would lessen the involvement of the calf muscle by dorsiflexing (pointing my toes toward my head) while seated.  I then found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E97A365fiJM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscles Worked in a Seated Leg Curl : Leg &amp;amp; Back Exercises&lt;/a&gt; which made things clearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PtOnp.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PtOnp.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T13:01:21.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27515" CreationDate="2015-09-29T15:46:57.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is true that you can hurt your wrist by doing push-ups on your wrist for too long.  200 push ups, if in a single session, seems a little bit too much to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can alleviate a lot of the pressure by using push-up handles (bars). Also, remember to wear a pair of gloves, it is good for your palm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18098" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T15:46:57.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27508" CreationDate="2015-09-29T15:54:54.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The foundation of any good diet to make “gains” (build muscle mass) is high quality complex carbohydrates. I.E. oatmeal, sweat potatoes, yams, pumpkins, squash, brown rice, rice.  Notice a starch that I left out? Corn. Corn in an unprocessed form is virtual indigestible by humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dymatize Elite Mass High-protein muscle gainer primary carbohydrate source is Maltodextrin. *“Maltodextrin can be enzymatically derived from any starch. In the US, this starch is usually corn” This product’s Supplement Facts list 75g of Total Carbohydrate 8g as Sugars.  Maltodextrin a heavily processed corn product that while technical not a sugar it is processed very similar to sugar. *“Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking Dymatize Elite Mass High-protein muscle gainer before your work out is going to cause a sharp insulin response during your work out which is not what you want.  This product is meant to be taken after a workout not before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question about “what else should I consume to maximize my gains?”  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consume high quality complex carbohydrates early in the day before&#xA;you work out&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid all easily digestible Carbohydrates (sugur, Maltodextrin,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Maltose, corn surup) before your work out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltodextrin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltodextrin&lt;/a&gt; *&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T15:54:54.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27511" CreationDate="2015-09-29T16:17:38.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You were just low on water content. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have put on muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibility 1 is the most probable cause.&#xA;Your body loses water and your weight fluctuates in a matter of hours.&#xA;So, if you are dehydrated, then probably you lost a few pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibility 2:&#xA;You could have put on 2.7kg (6lbs) of muscle mass in a week, but only if you had worked out hardcore and took a lot of nutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weighed 85kg before and now I weigh 106kg and my clothes still fit. Don't take your clothes as a parameter to measure your gain/loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16510" LastEditorUserId="20536" LastEditDate="2016-06-26T11:45:59.183" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T11:45:59.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12567" CreationDate="2015-09-29T17:32:34.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently researching the same thing and the most common answer is a neoprene cap. &#xA;Also: When the cold water hits your face, the shock causes your lungs to contract causing breathing problems. Blow bubbles before taking off on your swim. Go waist deep into the water and submerge your face to blow bubbles. This helps alleviate the shock of the cold water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18115" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T17:32:34.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27201" CreationDate="2015-09-29T17:56:18.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been training for quite some time and the best app I have found so far has been the app of Bodybuilding.com . There is an entire web space devoted to people that train and like the training and nutrition part. You can download the app on &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bodybuilding.mobile&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Play&lt;/a&gt; if you are an Android user and on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bodyspace-social-fitness-app/id687818146?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;App Store&lt;/a&gt; if you are an iOS user. Here is the link to Android: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will probably suit you is that there is the opportunity to create your personal plan as well as choose somebody else's plan to follow. If your trainer has created a workout, you can simply say that you will do it and select the given workout you are looking for. &#xA;The app has a timer that you can start once you have clicked on an exercise, you can friend people with similar interests etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18116" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T17:56:18.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27536" CreationDate="2015-09-29T20:01:28.303" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a machine at my gym that uses push on one arm and pull on the other. My concern is that one arm will have a bigger tricep than the other one and the other arm will have a bigger bicep than the other one, because of the different mechanisms being used at the same time. Is this going to cause imbalance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T21:31:01.190" Title="Will the push/pull machine at the gym cause imbalance?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27521" CreationDate="2015-09-29T21:26:01.907" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The explanation for this is because men naturally have higher levels of testosterone. This is  because men have hormones that they possess in which people of the opposite gender likely would not. On average, a man usually has 20 times as much testosterone in him than a woman, no joke. This is why you will probably wonder why the majority of females at your gym are only lifting 5 or 10 pound dumbbells while you are pumping out a 180-Ib lift on the bench press. This isn't to say women cannot possibly be strong, it is just more of a struggle for them than men, and if a man and woman trained equally the man would probably bulk more because of his hormonal composition and levels of testosterone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="16691" LastEditDate="2015-09-29T23:58:52.183" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T23:58:52.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27534" CreationDate="2015-09-29T21:31:01.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how you use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, it can cause an imbalance (going by the picture you reference) if you overload one side or the other with weights consistently or you never switch and always push with the same hand and pull with the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would imagine that it is meant to be used in alternating set fashion, to where you push with the left hand and pull with the right for one set, and then do the opposite for the second set. So no, if you are using it as it is probably meant to be used, then it won't produce an imbalance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(BTW, the name for the machine you reference is the Hammer Strength Ground Base series, Twist Left or Twist Right.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T21:31:01.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-29T22:35:45.987" Score="2" ViewCount="3711" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just wanna know if there are any daily routines or exercises that - do not necessarily build muscles but in fact - make the distance between your shoulders higher and eventually widen the very upper body .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pushing those blue points outside. Any suggestions? Exercises, workouts, stretches ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1DgV9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1DgV9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18120" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-07-14T08:22:12.480" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T08:22:12.480" Title="How to widen the upper body (make distance between shoulders slightly higher)?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;bones&gt;&lt;skeleton&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-30T02:06:43.400" Score="3" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously sleep is the steroids of natural bodybuilding, cause while you sleep you grow your muscle, and it is well known that we need at least 8 hours of sleep a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you sleep your body secretes hormones, but what is the minimum time required for your body to begin secreting hormones while you sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example If I take a 2 hours nap would my muscle &amp;quot;grow&amp;quot; because of hormones that my body secretes, or do I need more time until growing process begins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways you need to sleep 8 hours but I have been wondering this a long time ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2020-07-22T11:35:45.163" LastActivityDate="2020-07-22T11:35:45.163" Title="Minimum sleep time to secrete growth hormones" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-30T02:38:17.433" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I need to run in the evening, how long before my normal bed time should I finish my running to prevent negative effects on my circadian (sleep) rythm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16306" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T02:38:17.433" Title="Running before bedtime" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-02T07:03:36.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11599" CreationDate="2015-09-30T02:40:54.983" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really don't think steroids for gaining muscles is a good idea. The risks are higher than when you do bodybuilding. I go to the gym a lot and have had a lot of conversations with bodybuilders about the high risk of taking steroids so if you're having steroid injections, please stop. Working out with &lt;a href=&quot;http://mybestadjustabledumbbells.com/7-dumbbell-exercises-for-chest/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dumbbells&lt;/a&gt; and other machines is the most natural way to gain muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18121" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T02:40:54.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1515" CreationDate="2015-09-30T04:59:47.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with going fast.  It sounds like you'd need a lat pull down machine or weights during pull ups if you're going so fast on the pull up bar that the laws of physics and gravity are in your way. Think sprinting vs long distance running.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18122" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T04:59:47.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27521" CreationDate="2015-09-30T12:49:07.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other factors might include anthropomorphic differences (limb length, bone size and density, etc.) and also the crucial fact that the men in your comparison have been training for multiple years with those hormonal levels, which accounts for a superior lean mass and thus superior strength. Female competitive powerlifters or weightlifters or bodybuilders are much, much stronger than the average (and even slightly above average) gym goer because they have spent more time training in an anabolic state than them (despite their sex difference). I'd recommend taking a look at the international rankings in powerliftingwatch.com for anyone who doesn't think that is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T12:49:07.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27539" CreationDate="2015-09-30T12:52:44.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I recall the optimal amount of sleep for &quot;standard&quot; athletes is around 7h30 (+/- 30 minutes) going on the higher side if your other recovery factors (food, stress, etc.) are diminished (e.g. you're dieting down and training hard, you're in the middle of a high volume cycle, you live a stressful life, etc.). I'd recommend you read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/sleep-pt-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sleep, part 1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/poor-recovery-and-increased-muscle-breakdown-insufficient-sleep-part-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sleep, part 2&lt;/a&gt; by coach and world record holder powerlifter Greg Nuckols on the interactions of sleep with strength sports and health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T12:52:44.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27521" CreationDate="2015-09-30T13:35:34.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because all other things are certainly &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; equal. The cow isn't a sphere, it is a cow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone is critical, absolutely. However, it is more of a limiting factor than a dominant directly causal one. The male and female hormone systems are different in more than just T levels, and these additional hormones such as HGH, IGF, and others play a significant role as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of your question also stems from a societally induced belief that steroids simply make you big. They do not. Going above your body's natural growth limits may require steroids, but it will also require much more in terms of other bio-chemcial regimens and will have to be different for the sexes due to the underlying structural differences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus putting a man and a woman on the same regimen will not produce the same results. For that matter, you can put two &quot;near identical&quot; men on the exact same regimen and not get the same end result. Other factors such as microbiome, individual normal shifts, and even mental factors throw a monkey wrench in the basic premise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the changes necessary for the stronger muscles happen much earlier in life. Adding steroids or testosterone after physical maturity can not retroactively build the body for the higher load of activities such as powerlifting. Hypothetically it may be possible to produce a female with the same makeup by applying drastic hormone and strength training at a &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; early age but it would be a dubious proposal and certainly not one I'd expect to ever be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this doesn't mean an &lt;em&gt;individual&lt;/em&gt; woman can not be stronger than an &lt;em&gt;individual&lt;/em&gt; man. It simply means that the strongest male powerlifter will be capable of lifting heavier than the strongest female powerlifter - even (or especially) with the same regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1103" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T13:35:34.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27484" CreationDate="2015-09-30T14:33:48.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most tracks are 400m so on the inner lane one lap would be 400m. As you go out the distance is farther&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There also should be markings on the track for 100,200,300,400 and 1 mile &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The formula, L = 2S + 2pi(R + (n-1)w) can be used to calculate the&#xA;  distances around the track for the various lanes. In this formula L&#xA;  equals the lane distance, S equals the length of the straightaway, R&#xA;  is the radius of the turn, n is the lane number and w is the width of&#xA;  the lane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find the formula from here for each lane going out.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/168904-what-is-the-distance-around-a-running-track-for-each-lane/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/168904-what-is-the-distance-around-a-running-track-for-each-lane/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T14:33:48.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-30T17:37:45.597" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you're performing an exercise which forces you to have proper form and a certain degree of flexibility to perform correctly. For example, pistol/overhead/front squats. If I emphasize heavily on preserving proper form (full range of motion, no 'going around the joints' etc.) as I progress towards a heavier load, will that range of motion &quot;cement&quot; itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because stretching is, to my experience, very temporal. It works well as a drill before exercise, but, stretching alone hasn't got me far. And I am desperate for some flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a follow up: I am contemplating the idea of stretching for a long time all muscles and simply do some deep front squats etc. to really mobilize that form. Up until now, I have done with mediocre form (to parallel) and it has become like a barrier that I cannot pass. Even for light weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6144" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-09-30T18:54:52.737" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T14:12:51.097" Title="Become more flexible through strength training?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27549" CreationDate="2015-09-30T17:59:54.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it won't cement itself. Mobility is very much a &quot;use it or lose it&quot; addition to your strength arsenal. As you say stretching is temporal. So is mobility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For overhead stuff say you do shoulder dis-locators, for example, then when you're done working out, say 3 days later, you haven't done any more mobility stuff. You will lose that mobility and need to warm up (mobility wise) to get back in the swing of things. Keep at it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the motion of the movement would cement itself. It's called muscle memory. This also supports the reasoning behind: When you take a break and get back into the same sport, you will get the strength gains back quicker than if you had never played before. This is because your body remembers the pattern of movements and can therefore apply them quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="6884" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T14:12:51.097" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T14:12:51.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27551" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-30T18:21:37.250" Score="3" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been a while since I've practiced parkour and I want to start practicing again, the problem is that I've lost completely my capacity to hold a good grip. I've never used chalk to practice, but when I watched a video of the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPN3gLVDsOY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Human Monkey&lt;/a&gt;&quot; I noticed that he had on his hands some kind of powder and a bag hanging from his belt. So, I was thinking that I can use chalk to keep a good grip, at least until I get back in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where can I put the chalk while practicing parkour? is there some specialized equipment for that? or would just a small fanny pack do the job?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5812" LastEditorUserId="5812" LastEditDate="2015-09-30T19:58:04.630" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T17:49:37.867" Title="Where to store the chalk (magnesium carbonate) when training parkour?" Tags="&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27551" CreationDate="2015-09-30T19:53:27.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, it's just chalk, like you see gymnasts, weight lifters, rock climbers, etc., use. A fanny pack would be ok to hold it, but I imagine it would leak powder everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do make specialized bags, but you may have the same problem with chalk leaking everywhere when doing parkour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rei.com/c/chalk-and-chalk-bags?r=c&amp;amp;ir=category%3Achalk-and-chalk-bags&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a link to the REI page&lt;/a&gt; showing some of the chalks/bags that are available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T19:53:27.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-30T21:29:11.290" Score="4" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;My upper leg seems to be developing nicely but now the pants don't fit. It's either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 The waist fits but the quad-hamstring diameter causes the pants to choke my leg, usually leading to a rip under the butt or wearing between the legs, or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 The legs fit and the waist doesn't leaving me with a belt line that looks like a parachute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really the kind of person to wear track pants outside of the gym and prefer jeans and formal pants. &#xA;So my question is has anyone found a solution to this problem and what kind pants should I consider buying next?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T07:59:39.637" Title="Upper leg getting too big" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-10-02T14:08:48.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27476" CreationDate="2015-10-01T05:54:57.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to most points of basic research the main type of protein that your body absorbs in a manner that you'd want is eggs. One of the best absorbed proteins by the body. Can be made to taste almost however you'd need it to with spicing, and is really relatively inexpensive. &#xA;You could go with fish, tuna is your best friend, again cheap but straight from the can 26 grams at about 50 cents a can. Can't get better than that if you're aiming for about 200 or so grams a day. &#xA;The go to in food again is chicken. Not as good with the protein/fat ratio as tuna, but if you're not worrying about that then you can make it taste way better than the past two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're thinking shakes or things of the sort, you could go about getting into an egg based isolate powder. There are vegan protein powders as well, look into ALOHA plant based powder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a ridiculous amount of things out there with a high protein content. If there's really no health reason behind not wanting to take in a whey protein then you shouldn't avoid it. You can get a relatively good powder in Dymatize that will yield about 80+ servings for about 60 bucks from BB.com if expense would be a reason for not taking it something along the ways of this would be good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T05:54:57.177" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27553" CreationDate="2015-10-01T07:59:39.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretch jeans! Also has the added benefit of highlighting the results of your leg work. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, get a pair that fits your upper legs and take them to a tailor for adjustments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T07:59:39.637" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-01T23:58:28.370" Score="1" ViewCount="16284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started eating healthy &amp;amp; going to the gym, nothing too crazy just eating roughly 5000kj a day &amp;amp; going to the gym 5 days a week for 60 - 90 minutes each day. i have been doing this for a few weeks but only just started weighing myself this week. I weigh myself every morning &amp;amp; was going to take the average at the end of the week thinking my weight was going to go up &amp;amp; down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i have noticed that in the last 5 days i have lost 3kg &amp;amp; this seems like alot, i am a 25yr old female &amp;amp; weigh 64kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18135" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T06:01:58.053" Title="I have lost 3kg in 5 days is this bad?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27577" CreationDate="2015-10-02T00:19:56.593" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read on this site that a full workout consists of a pushing exercise, a pulling exercise and a legs exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the pushing exercise I have bench presses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the legs exercise I have weighted squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the pulling exercise that I'm mainly concerned about, I'm doing dead lift as I read it somewhere but after doing it for the first time I felt like the dead lift was more of a legs exercise. Is it an appropriate exercise to fill the &quot;pull&quot; slot in my workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a pull exercise that I could use instead if deadlift does not meet the pull criteria?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-10-03T23:51:35.747" Title="Is my workout complete?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27500" CreationDate="2015-10-02T04:06:20.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congrats on the forty pound weight loss!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that you sit for eight hours a day and the only way to change that is to not sit. Research has shown that our prolonged sitting is killing us. Experts agree that we should all work our way up to standing for four hours a day to avoid health issues. If you are on the computer a lot a stand up desk is a great idea. If you can't afford one stack books on top of a desk and go from there. It may feel awkward but you can stand while you are watching tv. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18136" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T04:06:20.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27558" CreationDate="2015-10-02T06:01:58.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this was 3 kg of fat, that would mean you just lost 3*7000 kcal or 87864 kj, this is obviously entirely unplausible. What does make sense however is that you just lost a bit of water and solids, which is common when you start eating more healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weight will always fluctuate a bit, you will have a high and low limit for your weight, if you start writing down and ideally charting your weight, you will notice when you break new low limits and when your high limit seems to have been lowered as well. That will give you an idea of how fast you're actally losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might been discouraging right now, but it's nice to know when you have pizza one night and suddenly add 2 kg (of water weight, carbs and salt bind water.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T06:01:58.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27559" CreationDate="2015-10-02T06:10:57.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is where the pull/push division breaks down :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts use (if you do them correctly) your hamstrings, which is definitely a pulling muscle, but they also use your quads, which is a pushing muscle. It also uses your ass, and what's that really? Probably more of a pulling muscle... They also use your back a lot, which is mostly pulling muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend doing a 3-split instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday. Pull, upper body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday. Push, upper body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday. Legs + deadlift &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the best way of getting enough rest between workouts for all muscles I think. The legs get their own day, and the back work on friday doesn't interfer too much with the pull work on monday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T06:10:57.617" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-02T07:52:21.040" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to burn say 500 calories in 30 minutes. But I do not want to build any muscles in the process, I want to have a thin type of body, not one build with thick muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little bit of research said that kettlebells burn 400 calories in 20 minutes. However, it involves weights. I do not want to have thick arms or legs saturated in muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought about running up and down the stairs for 30 minutes. Or possibly walking up stairs carrying a heavy weight. I am worried however that this will add thick muscle to my legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you suggest as a good method for burning calories and still preserving a thin body? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18137" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T16:21:28.410" Title="Ways to burn major calories without building muscle" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27620" CreationDate="2015-10-02T08:30:08.407" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an engineering student studying at a good school in Silicon Valley. Over the summer, I started working out and I continued for almost two months until my school started. Now that school started, I find it really hard to make time during the weekday to go to the GYM and workout, due to homework and lectures. However, I do find time on Fridays and weekends, but I am not sure how to compensate for the whole week in only three days. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Here's my plan:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt; Do two workout consecutively in a day, and take &quot;pre-workout&quot; after finishing first workout, so that way I can have energy to do the second workout. Is this a good approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6747" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T06:51:04.510" Title="What workout routine is the most optimal for my situation?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27568" CreationDate="2015-10-02T12:05:36.823" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to (a) lose weight, and (b) reduce body fat percentage in order to see muscle definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm making good progress with losing weight by following a diet that most closely resembles the 4-hour-body diet, but is also similar to paleo/primal diets in that I'm getting a lot of calories from protein and saturated fats and not many from sugar or &quot;white carbs&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: I'm losing about 1lb/week of weight so I'm clearly operating at a reasonable calorific deficit. Does the TYPE of food I'm eating affect the speed at which body fat percentage reduces, or are calories the only factor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18139" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T14:58:05.063" Title="Is calorific deficit sufficient to reduce body fat percentage, or do dietary details play a part?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-14T20:34:29.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-02T14:23:17.583" Score="1" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to this site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/rr-whey-too-much&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/rr-whey-too-much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we take take protein shake in liquid form, it has only 1.5 hours to absorb and absorption rate is 8-10 g per hour. So in 1.5 hours maximum protein absorbed is 15 grams. They also said increase in amino acids level is 30%(without enzymes) vs 110%(with enzymes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only eat 3-4 meals per day.Example my morning meal - I drink 50-60 grams of whey with oats(around 60 grams of protein).It means only 15 grams is absorbed and 45 grams is wasted(or used as energy).Should i consider taking enzymes??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16280" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T14:50:31.883" Title="Whey Protein Digestion rate? Am I wasting my protein?" Tags="&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-10-06T09:41:30.793" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27566" CreationDate="2015-10-02T14:50:31.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;No&lt;/em&gt;. That article has absolutely no credible references for those numbers. Your body most certainly does not absorb at most 10g of protein per hour. Depending on muscle fiber breakdown, absorption of protein can be much higher. Note, however, that even if &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; absorption limit is 10g/hour, your body will continue using protein for many hours post workout. In fact, a lot of repair continues on to the next day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15024" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T14:50:31.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27565" CreationDate="2015-10-02T14:58:05.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of overall weight loss, indeed it does not matter what you eat as long as you are operating on a deficit. Your body operates on a simple physical principle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;However&lt;/em&gt;: running on a deficit with low-fiber, highly-metabolizing foods (such as sugar), will make your weight loss pure torture. You want to feel satiated, have long lasting energy, and maintain muscle definition. Thus, you want to go for a diet full of fiber, healthy fats (from fish, for example), medium-to-high protein, and plenty of vegetables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15024" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T14:58:05.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27563" CreationDate="2015-10-02T16:21:28.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated above it will take a lot of work and time to get bulky. Naturally you will build muscle as you work out but it won't be anything remotely close to body builder status. It is nearly impossible not to gain some kind of muscle if you work out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are new to using kettelbells start out with a lower weight, between 5 to 10 pounds even 15. You'll get the heart pumping benefits for sure but you will develop some muscle. Yoga and pilates help develop lean muscle mass. Unfortunately you won't be burning 500 calories per session. I would say running would be the only option but you'd have to sprint for 30 minutes to burn that many calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18136" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T16:21:28.410" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27564" CreationDate="2015-10-02T16:25:39.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't work out twice a day. If you only have three days to work out, work out those three days. Unless you are doing intense hours long workouts you should be able to manage three days in a row of working out. What workouts do you plan on doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18136" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T16:25:39.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12868" CreationDate="2015-10-02T16:29:09.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.health.com/2013/06/05/a-10-minute-hiit-workout-you-can-do-anywhere&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a 10 minute &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;High Intensity Interval Training&quot;&gt;HIIT&lt;/a&gt; workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need for this workout is your sneakers, a stopwatch, a bench or chair, and a little bit of space, and perform each exercise at a high intensity for 45 seconds followed by 15 seconds of rest. Keeping up the intensity is key to this workout, so make sure you’re really pushing yourself during those 45 seconds. But, of course, work at your own pace and rest as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dvm0n.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dvm0nm.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see demonstrations of the individual exercises &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.health.com/2012/03/06/at-home-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18136" LastEditorUserId="6101" LastEditDate="2015-10-07T08:21:54.030" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T08:21:54.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-02T17:43:53.167" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always remember the nature boy rick flair when I was a young kid and his old man saggy chest...  Now i'm getting older and that image bugs me some (so does the mirror).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming certain types of push-up positions are better than others for keeping pec's fit and firm.  What are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16730" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T15:41:47.010" Title="What exercises are best for keeping firm/nonsaggy pectorals?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-10-17T22:25:22.410" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27537" CreationDate="2015-10-02T19:47:44.500" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercises that build muscle in your upper arms, shoulders, and upper back can make your shoulders &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; wider, but they won't change the actual distance between your joints. Although weight-bearing exercise can increase bone density, the basic geometry of your skeleton isn't really altered by exercise. There's no exercise that will make you taller or have longer arms, either, for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1311" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T19:47:44.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2015-10-03T00:37:36.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 77 yrs old/young I also do the 30/30/30 but 2 min. And 1min. Rest. Work the speed bag in my minute break.  Also do a 20 m cardio/20 m weight/20 m stretch class. Also work my biceps and triceps with heavier weights. Bad part my diet eat like a pig and lot of sweat stuff. &#xA;My rest days are Tuesday.Thursday.and Sunday.&#xA;Did a quad bypass 7 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18140" LastEditorUserId="18140" LastEditDate="2015-10-03T00:51:00.360" LastActivityDate="2015-10-03T00:51:00.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27578" CreationDate="2015-10-03T04:00:33.600" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've gotten really into rock climbing. I love the adventure off the sport and how it gets me of the beaten path when I come to visit a place. I want to continue in my skill and get more serious so that I'm not held back in the sorts of places I could go and routes I could climb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ultimate goal is endurance - multi-pitch climbing that gives me a bird's eye view of the local landscape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I be training for this. Obviously hitting the rock gym a lot is a prerequisite, but what specific strength exercises so I need to be doing to build up the strength and endurance I need to make these longer climbs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18141" LastEditorUserId="18141" LastEditDate="2015-10-04T02:22:40.973" LastActivityDate="2015-10-04T02:22:40.973" Title="How to best train for rock climbing" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27559" CreationDate="2015-10-03T12:26:00.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned earlier, deadlifts, when performed correctly, require lower back, core, and even upper back strength. However, pull-ups are extremely effective as a pull exercise, because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;like a deadlift, they're a compound movement (require multiple large muscle groups);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;relatively easy for progressions (assisted pull-up machine through to weighted pull-ups);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bodyweight movement (therefore safe and low impact when performed correctly);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;simple to adjust to target different &quot;pull&quot; muscle groups i.e. biceps (chin up); lats (wide grip pull up), inner back/rhomboids (close-grip pull-up) etc...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18143" LastEditorUserId="18143" LastEditDate="2015-10-03T23:51:35.747" LastActivityDate="2015-10-03T23:51:35.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27576" CreationDate="2015-10-03T16:27:26.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start out like everyone else&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, you're not excused from working your entire body, because if you just train certain areas, you're messing up your body, so first things first, get a regular training program, and start from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rock climbing specific training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one area where rock climbers simply excel beyond anyone else, is the ratio between grip strength and body weight. Additionally, you're going to want the ability to pull your weight upwards. This is something everyone already trains by default; pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grip&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of things you can do, and I personally like these, because of the effect is has on not only my grip strength, but my upper forearm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dead hangs. Find a bar where you can hang straight down without touching the floor, and challenge yourself to hang there for a total of 1 minute. If you can't do it in one go, just drop down, give yourself 5 seconds, then get up and continue. As you progress, you can increase the total time, or keep challenging yourself to 1 minute, and see if you can decrease the amount of times you fall off.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dead holds. Same concept, but instead of hanging from a bar, you load a barbell up with some weight, and do the same thing as above. For variety, you can mix up how much weight you use and/or your goal time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pulling your weight&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do pullups, in all its glorious variety. There are so many ways to mix this up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Grip orientation. You can do prone (knuckles facing you), supine (knuckles facing away), neutral (knuckles facing away from eachother), as well as some others that essentially is a middle ground between neutral and one of the others. You'll know it when you see it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Grip width. Here, you can mix things up by varying how close your hands are to eachother; anything from touching, to shoulder width, outside shoulders, or even the extra wide. Again, you'll see the bar, and know. It often bends down at the end, so the extra wide grip is easier on your wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this is going to give you the ability to lift your weight up by an overhead grip, by training your upper back, biceps, and latissimus dorsi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mixing it into your workout plan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, unless you work out every single day, you can do these every time you work out. We normally work by the rule of thumb where we give our muscles 48 hours before working them again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if you have a split where you work legs, chest, and back separately, you would work pullups as your primary exercise on back day, but on legs and chest day, you throw in pullups at the end. Not only does this ensure that you work your entire body, but it also gives you the &lt;em&gt;benefit&lt;/em&gt; of also working pullups when your body is already exhausted. There are a lot of gains to be had when working out until you're tired, and still going at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-03T16:27:26.973" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-04T00:49:55.510" Score="1" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone know of a daily workout that can get me slim whilst building muscle? I dont mean a full on workout like going to the gym because there is no gym around where i live. I also eat pretty healthy so wasnt really looking to diet. As of right now i do 20 push ups every hour, every day, yet after 1 week it has yeilded no results. It may be too early to tell if this method works but i would still appreciate other ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18149" LastActivityDate="2015-10-04T03:23:34.207" Title="Best way to lose stomach fat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-10-05T14:58:09.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27579" CreationDate="2015-10-04T03:23:34.207" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your workout is ineffective, and possibly your diet, too. Let me tell you the possible results of your workout plan: Increased endurance, minimum fat loss, slight muscle gain, and possibility of an overuse injury. Also check your calorie intake, it should be about 2500(give or take 100 calories) if you are a mid height, 25 year old active male, assuming you are active because you're probably doing 280-340 push ups a day. Unfortunately, without a gym there is little chance you can build muscle easily. Perhaps you can lose fat if you eat enough but not too much, but 20 repetitions is nearing endurance training, my friend. I'm not trying to start a war here, but I honestly find it hard to believe you are nowhere near a gym unless you live in a forest, on a farm, etc. If you are near one, though, I would suggest purchasing a membership and lift weights on a regular basis, switching muscles worked every other day or something near that. Otherwise, you'll have to considering buying your own weights; but as good as it is, a bench press isn't your best option because it would be very disheartening to us if you got trapped under some weight in the middle of nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-10-04T03:23:34.207" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5312" CreationDate="2015-10-04T23:34:20.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an Irish dancer and had the same problem. Like ballet, Irish Dancing involves quite a lot of movement, kicks, articulate footwork, and so on. So naturally, stamina could be a problem. The obvious solution would be to dance more, 1 hour a week won't help you improve. If possible, longer classes one or two times a week are often better (stamina wise)then a short class everyday. For example, I go to a 3 hour class twice a week. This will probably help, because it is often not a matter of more, but a matter of longer. Outside of class, I recommend jump rope for 10 minutes a day and if you can, run. Also, strengthening your core, quads, and arms might help. Try sit-ups, leg lifts, push-ups, lunges, and squats. Good Luck! :)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18155" LastActivityDate="2015-10-04T23:34:20.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27564" CreationDate="2015-10-04T23:42:48.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be able to do Starting strength twice a week. Or a similar linear progression Full body workout twice a week. Won't need more than 45 minutes. I wouldn't recommend doing 3 days in a row or working out twice in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 days a week would be ideal, but it would be detrimental to your progress if you do 3 consecutive days, in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: 550lbs deadlift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18156" LastActivityDate="2015-10-04T23:42:48.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27493" CreationDate="2015-10-05T00:23:31.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just found an answer to my own question-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is a concern many women express when asked to train with weights. Women have smaller muscles in the cross sectional  areas, resulting in smaller muscle gains and also their hormonal status, which obviously differs from men. Masculinization in females are a result of excessive androgenic hormones, and female weight lifters in the media take steroids to build bigger muscles. Without use of such steroids, lifting weights can possibly not make you look like a man. Instead it cuts your fat, tones you up and helps you get closer to your desired shape.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So awesome :) I don't have to worry :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18071" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T00:23:31.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-05T02:37:00.100" Score="3" ViewCount="703" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I do a pull up or a chin up my palms hurt, like where your knuckles are but on the palm side. I feel like it's being squished and stretched. After I perform a few, say 3, it's difficult to move my fingers at all for a bit, like it's very stiff in that position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal for someone just starting out? (both exercise and these particular exercises)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently lost a considerable amount of weight (~20kg) could this be a reason as to why my palm is hurting? I'm thinking of this because maybe the skin is looser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can avoid this? I've tried wearing (gardening) gloves but it didn't help, it was the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I continue doing these exercises? Will it eventually become less painful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T13:33:19.617" Title="Palms hurt when I do pull ups or chin ups" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22133" CreationDate="2015-10-05T02:55:17.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only problem I can think of is one of weight distribution, once you add more and more you'll be shifting you're center of mass changing what muscles the exercise affects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest using a ankle weights if you have them, or alternatively use another backpack but reversed so it's on your chest and load that with about half the weight so that you're more balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T02:55:17.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27622" CreationDate="2015-10-05T04:03:53.253" Score="3" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm taking a forced break (about 2-3 weeks) from weightlifting after several months of training. How much are my strength and volume going to drop and at what pace should I start training after coming back? Also is it beneficial to keep protein consumption the same (2g per 1kg) during the break or I should decrease it? Can I use this time to lose some fat and go for calories deficit without losing muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T15:28:23.550" Title="Consequences of taking a break from training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-05T04:07:43.530" Score="-1" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently 17 and my friend and I have been lifting weights for about 5 months. My friend started taking these vitamin pills Dianabol, and although we use to lift the same weights he now lifts like 100lbs more. I don't wish to take supplements because I don't believe in them. Are there any training programs I can do to increase my strength? I heard Creatine is good but I don't want to cheat. I feel I eat a lot: I eat Kraft Mac and Cheese, Tyson Nuggets and Peanut Butter and Jelly, but I haven't gained much weight. Do I need more protein?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18157" LastEditorUserId="18169" LastEditDate="2015-10-06T11:56:25.157" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T12:58:24.660" Title="How do I increase my flat barbell bench press?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" ClosedDate="2015-10-14T20:35:04.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27589" CreationDate="2015-10-05T05:28:47.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dianabol seems to be steroids and taking those can have all kinds of nasty medical consequences, they are not vitamins! Don't sacrifice your health just to get to take a shortcut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatin is good, it's openly used by a lot of athletes, what it does it increase your ability to supply energy to your muscles so that you can do a few more reps and thus get more out of your workout. Not all people have an effect though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet wise, make sure you get enough calories that you add weight over the weeks (not days) and eat a lot of protein, protein shakes are good, get the cheapest one you like the taste of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to increase bench, bench, add other chest exercises as well, like dumbbell bench press, flies, tricep exercises and so on. Having a strong back will become important too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-10-06T14:58:55.973" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T14:58:55.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-05T06:31:46.037" Score="4" ViewCount="8639" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started doing exercise for my abs. I exercise in following pattern&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do 40 Jumping jacks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;25 High knees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15 basic crunches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15 bicycle crunches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 alternate heel touches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started with small numbers,keep each crunch-exercise between 8 to 15, but I start feeling dizzy while doing crunches.. I want to do more exercise but I simply can't. After doing this minimum exercise that i mentioned above I am unable to do any more exercise, I have to take rest almost 1 hour to get rid of nausea. What I am doing wrong? what should I do else to get my body in shape? I have a big tummy and I want to make it flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I take complete rest, almost 8-10 hours a day so there is no sleep deprivation issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6062" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:18:11.143" Title="Feel dizzy while doing crunches" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27596" CreationDate="2015-10-05T08:06:25.617" Score="3" ViewCount="2537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a video of a treadmill stopping when the power was cut, and it slowed down pretty quickly - maybe within about 2 seconds.  I can imagine that if I were jogging in &quot;autopilot mode&quot; at 20km/h and it slowed down that quickly, it could send me into a nasty crash with the console in front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, do they ever design treadmills to slow down gradually (say over the course of 5 to 10 seconds) in the event of a sudden power loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2420" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T10:19:25.640" Title="Are any treadmills designed to slow down safely in the event of power loss?" Tags="&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27595" CreationDate="2015-10-05T10:19:25.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't answer this from a manufacturer's standpoint, but from a physics standpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to compare it to something familiar, this is entirely the same as if your car is running along a flat road, and you turn the engine off, you'll still keep rolling. Why? Momentum!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, if you disconnect the power while the treadmill is running, there would have to be an internal battery/UPS there to allow for a soft stop. It's entirely possible that certan manufacturers have implemented this, but I'd argue that it wouldn't be entirely necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever tried standing on a treadmill that is switched OFF, and leaned forward and kicked back? Have you noticed how you can start the rotation without the treadmill being switched on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because there isn't a whole lot of friction in the engine. You're making the engine rotate, because it isn't locked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, because there isn't a whole lot of friction there, this ensures that if the treadmill is running at full speed, and its power is disconnected, even if the motor is immediately switched off, the &lt;strong&gt;momentum&lt;/strong&gt; of the existing rotation will drag the engine along until it comes to a complete stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more friction there is, the more sudden the stop will be. But as we've seen, there isn't THAT much friction, because we were able to make it rotate with no power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, go back to the rolling car analogy. If you're going at 100km/h, and you turn the engine off, it's not going to stop on a dime. It's going to keep rolling and rolling and let friction to the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T10:19:25.640" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27594" CreationDate="2015-10-05T11:23:34.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, have you seen your doctor about this? This could be something innocuous like low blood sugar or not being in the best shape to start with. It could also be something considerably more serious. And is it specifically the crunches that cause the dizziness? Do you get the same dizziness if you do a standing crunch (standing upright, hands behind your head, and curling down as if you were doing a crunch on the floor)? Are you breathing throughout the crunch or are you holding your breath perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't done a lot of abdominal exercise, honestly, it might simply be that you're not in very good shape. Crunches are harder than people give them credit for. If you can't see a doctor, I recommend cutting your number of crunches a little lower for a week or so, say only do 5, or do them from a standing position (assuming those don't make you dizzy). It may feel like you're not getting much exercise, but you're teaching your body to accept it. And make sure that you're breathing as you do it. Don't hold your breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, it's possible that you're dealing with &lt;a href=&quot;http://abstractfitness.ca/blog/vertigo-when-exercising-feeling-of-dizziness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo&lt;/a&gt;, a disorder that happens from excessive deposits in the eardrum, although that commonly manifests itself with any positioning where your head is not upright, so you probably would be running into it in other situations. If it is BPPV, one option is to switch to other exercises. Planks are recommended in the link above. Getting up to holding it for 60 seconds (and again, don't stop breathing during it) takes most people a bit. Another is treatment by a doctor, and we're back to my initial point. It's better to be safe than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-10-06T12:50:00.513" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T12:50:00.513" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27586" CreationDate="2015-10-05T11:36:12.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I honestly don't have enough data to give you a proper answer, but I've been there before. My hands got really sore, almost swollen, and I developed calluses along there. Some of it is just unaccustomed strain, having to squeeze more tightly with your hands than your used to to hold yourself up. Some of it is the skin getting abraded, particularly if you have knurled grips (small thing that really helps on that is to take off any rings you have). In the end, it's generally something that you just have to work through, and is not, at leas tin my experience, something indicating actual permanent damage happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T11:36:12.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-05T11:37:57.077" Score="1" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 36 so my max pulse is about 184. I'm a bit overweight, 98 kg. My problem is that I can't hold my pulse down. My usual pulse is about 148-154 (~80%). I'm not able to run slower. I would like to run with lower pulse, like about 130(~70%).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I go uphill, my pulse rises fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no training plan, I just run for fun. I can run about 14km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fartlek or interval runs can solve my problem? Or what if I bike a lot in this lower pulse range?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" OwnerDisplayName="Hubidubi" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-10-05T13:36:43.743" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T18:29:05.550" Title="Too high pulse while running" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-10-07T16:38:59.913" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27586" CreationDate="2015-10-05T13:33:19.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Years ago, I had a similar experience that actually led to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trigger-finger/basics/definition/con-20043819&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;trigger finger&lt;/a&gt;.  I have only anecdotal evidence, but, I am convinced that doing chin ups was, in some way, related to the cause of my problem.  Once my problem was resolved, I still wanted to perform chin ups, so, I invested in a good pair of &lt;strong&gt;padded&lt;/strong&gt; weight lifting gloves, and, more importantly, a set of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJOVW3qYCTg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wrist straps&lt;/a&gt;(*).  Wrist straps allowed me to continue doing the exercise without having to concentrate (fully) on my grip.  I also switched to a fingers &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; thumb grip over the bar rather than a thumb under the bar.  This seemed to alleviate some hand discomfort.  While this approach may not resolve your problem, it’s worth looking into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) I don’t agree with all of the claims made for wrist straps, but, the video does show their many uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T13:33:19.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27599" CreationDate="2015-10-05T18:29:05.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I would not use a generic formula to determine your max heart rate. Ideally you could do a Vo2Max test and get that but your next best way is to run a couple of races to determine where you max HR is. Since you are already seeing a spike as you go up a hill you can use that to figure out a reasonable Max HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a hill that is about 300 meters long. Sprint up the hill and slow jog back down for recovery. Do this at least 6 times. You will be able to find your Max heart rate or get fairly close to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question or statement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not able to run slower&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are jogging to the point of walking then try walk jogging. How fast are you running when you can't run slower? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple of options for your 14k runs. (And by the way you don't always have to run 14k)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4k warmup, 2k at 1/2 marathon pace, 2k at 10k pace, 2k at 5k pace, 4k cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you are not doing this everyday. You should mix this up with recovery runs then hard work outs. No more than 2 hard workouts per week and I would incorporate one long slow run on the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the above you should incorporate Hill repeats and Speed training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take some time, maybe more than year depending on your weekly kilometers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T18:29:05.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25417" CreationDate="2015-10-06T15:28:43.593" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 7 minute workout was never meant to mean ONLY 7 minutes. I do three repetitions and that is a great 30 minute workout (including warm up and cool down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The source of the 7 minute workout, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/05000/HIGH_INTENSITY_CIRCUIT_TRAINING_USING_BODY_WEIGHT_.5.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High-Intensity Circuit Training using Body Weight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our approach combines aerobic and resistance training into a single exercise bout lasting approximately 7 minutes. Participants can repeat the 7-minute bout 2 to 3 times, depending on the amount of time they have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18174" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-10-07T16:46:00.550" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T16:46:00.550" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27621" CreationDate="2015-10-06T17:50:38.963" Score="5" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started working out for an hour and a half every day. I drink about 1L of glucose-water during the entire process. Recently, someone commented that if I am aiming at losing weight, I should avoid glucose. Is that correct? I weigh about 93 kg and my ideal weight should be around 78 kg. I have been drinking glucose because I read about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-benefits-of-post-workout-carbohydrates.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the benefits of post workout carbohydrates&lt;/a&gt; which advocated glucose over other forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s.: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/15507/is-it-ok-to-drink-glucose-water-during-workout&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is a similar question. My question is more directly concerned with effects of glucose on losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15720" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T10:03:09.070" Title="Is consuming glucose during workouts detrimental to weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27634" CreationDate="2015-10-06T17:51:13.630" Score="2" ViewCount="1977" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the differences between a low intensity and a high intensity cardio session?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pros&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are they meant for(fat burning? resistance?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T21:52:30.290" Title="Differences between low intensity and high intensity cardios" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-09T14:44:36.873" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27589" CreationDate="2015-10-06T20:22:32.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a troll, but I'll answer for anyone interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your bench press, the best way for a novice to bench more weight is to just bench more. You can likely recover after about 48 hours after every workout so you can bench three times per week. You might be able to add five pounds to your bench after each workout assuming you eat and rest enough. Eventually, you can get microplates and add 2.5 lbs each workout when five pounds is too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your diet, a calorie surplus is beneficial. Probably about 10% - which should be about 200-300 calories. You might gain 0.5 lbs to 1 lb per week. Some people will tell you to eat limitless calories and honestly you might make good progress but you'll get fat. You can track your calories with an app like myFitnessPal, or, more simply, you can just eat the same way you do now (assuming you are currently maintaining your weight) but eat an extra 200-300 calories snack. Protein is important, but you don't need as much as 1g/lb of bodyweight as people say. 1.6 – 1.8 g/kg of bodyweight has been proven to be sufficient (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129168/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18176" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T20:22:32.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-07T01:20:11.023" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it logical to believe that if I eat foods with preservatives, the resulting fats within that food may also store within my fat cells with preservatives and thus make it more difficult to rid my body of those fat cells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12345" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T02:19:34.113" Title="Preservatives in food = preservatives in my fat cells?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-10-08T19:37:33.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27616" CreationDate="2015-10-07T02:19:34.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, there's no logic behind that belief. Historically speaking, some preservatives have since been proven to have potential negative effects. We no longer pack our meat in cakes of salt. We know that burning the outside of the meat preserves it, but also produces carcinogens. And, of course, we now know that packaging our food inside lead containers has certain negative effects. That said, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eufic.org/page/en/page/FAQ/faqid/preservatives-harmful-eat-regularly/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modern preservatives are consistently safe&lt;/a&gt; and the mechanics that make food preservatives work (retardation of bacteria and fungal growth) have nothing to do with the process of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/fitness/articles/how-does-your-body-burn-fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;burning&quot; fat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T02:19:34.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27618" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-07T02:29:23.980" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play Football, and while I was going to hit the ball, I bumped the receiver with my elbow while jumping up and reaching for the ball. The next play I was surprised that my elbow hurt quite badly whenever any pressure was put on it. After trying out a few things I have noticed that my elbow doesn't hurt at all when pulling, just when pushing, but even tiny amounts hurt (even putting on a seat belt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas on what happened? I would really like to know whether it is safe to continuing practice or if I have to take a day or two off. If the only problem is pain, I can deal with that, but if I will make it worse, than I would love to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18177" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T02:29:23.980" Title="Pain on Inside of Elbow after light impact" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;football&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-10-07T17:58:04.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24698" CreationDate="2015-10-07T05:45:34.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found myself in a very similar situation as yours. I work 8 hours a day, commute an hour, and end up watch TV a couple hours a night (after cooking dinner). I consider myself in decent shape. My back was slightly sore, but I ignored it. It's getting slightly worse and I hear of much more serious (pain down leg) from other co-workers, so I decided to find help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My doctor suggested I visit a physical therapist where he explained the problem with sitting all day. Over the course of fours sessions, he showed me various &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thoughtworthy.info/BlogPost/196/Favorite-Physical-Therapy-Exercises-to-Treat-Lower-Back-Pain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stretches and exercise to strengthen the core and gluts&lt;/a&gt; (which are weakened by sitting all day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the four courses, I could already tell there was improvement. The key is to stretch daily. I'd also recommend seeing a doctor or finding a good physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18178" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T05:45:34.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27564" CreationDate="2015-10-07T06:51:04.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you are only able to train on weekends, you want to make the most of your time. Train on Friday and Sunday, full body. There are a lot of full body routines out there to choose from. But be sure to focus on the compound exercises that deliver the most bang for your buck. (Squats deadlifts, presses, rows, etc.) designing a specific schedule of exercises and progression would be specific to your goals. I'm assuming you're mainly interested in general strength and conditioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, because of the timing of your training sessions, you'd be best off keeping intensity high and volume low on the Friday session. Don't take any sets to failure, and no grinding reps. Save that for the Sunday session when you'll have plenty of time to recover before you train again the next Friday. On Sunday, do higher volume and moderate intensity work. Here, you can take some sets to failure, or near failure, and the odd grinder will be tolerable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider doing deadlifts only on the Sunday session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to do something on Saturday, consider just doing some LISS cardio. You could also do some HIIT cardio at the end of your Friday and Sunday sessions. On the other hand, some brisk walking or biking during the week would be more beneficial, if that would fit for you. (E.g., walking or biking to campus.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be certain to attend carefully to your recovery between the Friday and Sunday sessions. Get lots of sleep and food. Actually, that applies every day but, I get it, you're in school. Best of luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1835" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T06:51:04.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27611" CreationDate="2015-10-07T08:27:04.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, If you're trying to lose weight, you should avoid high amounts of glucose.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link you provided lists the benefits of glucose, one of which is refueling muscle glycogen, which provides energy for your muscles. If you're not drinking glucose-water but plain water, that energy still has to come from somewhere, which would be (very simplified) from body fat. Since you're providing the energy with glucose water, your body doesn't need to use its fat reserves, so you won't lose that weight. Note that energy from body fat is not provided as easily, though, so you might not be performing as well if you ditch the glucose-water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to calculate this through, 1g of glucose can provide your body with 4kcal, so depending on how much glucose you put into your water (say 30g), the more calories you consume (30g -&gt; 120kcal). If you still want to lose weight, those calories should go into your calculation (read: you eat less/exercise more) or they'll slow you down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8119" LastEditorDisplayName="user8119" LastEditDate="2015-10-07T08:41:49.510" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T08:41:49.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27588" CreationDate="2015-10-07T14:35:55.543" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking a couple weeks off won't hurt your strength and could actually be beneficial over the long run as it will give your body some really good rest. I like doing a small deficit when I have to take time off of lifting, you could expect to lose a few lbs over that time. Be aware if you do go on a deficit during your time off you will probably have to drop your weights a little when you come back to lifting. I recommend starting out a little light, like 5-10% lbs lighter than you were doing, and working back up to your old weights over a few workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18132" LastEditorUserId="18132" LastEditDate="2015-10-07T15:28:23.550" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T15:28:23.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-07T22:03:23.407" Score="1" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard multiple times that going to the gym for about 2 hrs.+ each day often, weakens your immune system for a while, and breaks it down for a while. I would like to know if anyone has ideas to prevent this from occurring if I carry my workout through, because I want to work out 2 hours a day, 5 times a week. Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T14:22:03.417" Title="How to prevent immune system from weakening if you are training multiple hours a day all week?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27625" CreationDate="2015-10-07T22:06:06.267" Score="-1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will deadlifts build bicep muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="18169" LastEditDate="2015-10-08T12:45:49.470" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T12:45:49.470" Title="Will deadlifts build bicep muscles?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-10-12T14:58:12.397" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27624" CreationDate="2015-10-07T22:46:01.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Will deadlifts build biceps?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;, biceps won't develop/build by doing deadlifts, try curls instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-10-08T06:49:47.687" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T06:49:47.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27629" CreationDate="2015-10-08T00:31:41.597" Score="7" ViewCount="2451" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever we want to build general muscle, we do at least 6 reps and at most 12 reps on like 3 sets, then why does abs workouts tends to be conducted to fatigue? (I mean 20 to 50 reps on 5 sets)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't it faster to achieve &lt;em&gt;failure&lt;/em&gt; when we are working our &lt;em&gt;core&lt;/em&gt; with few reps and sets? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18182" LastEditorUserId="18169" LastEditDate="2015-10-08T07:40:38.677" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T07:40:38.677" Title="Why do abdominal exercises have so many reps when hypertrophy exercises are limited to 12 at most?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27626" CreationDate="2015-10-08T00:43:07.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ab exercises themselves are very complex. They have been advertised to build shredded abs, which they do, but the problem is they DON'T BUILD STRONG ABS. Any exercise that has you doing high repetitions is endurance training, with not as much muscle growth. The reason that they build shredded abs is because most people get on a plan that has them doing enough to define their abs, but not enough to strengthen them. If you actually want to strengthen abdominal muscles, you should perform deadlifts, squats, and exercises that use weights while still activating them as a primary muscle used. Almost all exercises targeted directly for abdominals are bodyweight exercises, which usually are other forms of endurance training, the exceptions usually revolving around pull ups and dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T00:43:07.170" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27626" CreationDate="2015-10-08T02:04:38.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from having a lower potential for overall muscle growth, the abdominals are much like any other muscle group. In other words, it is up to the user on how many reps they use; though some exercises tend to work better with fewer reps (weighted exercise for example) while some tend to align with higher reps or time (purely body weight exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason that it's common to see many using higher rep schemes with ab exercises is the misconception that ab exercises themselves are responsible for defining one's abs. Simply put, many believe that performing higher reps will get them shredded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, performing higher rep ab exercises isn't necessarily a bad thing. The core (and the abs by extension) play a large role in stabilizing the upper torso during movement. A certain degree of muscular endurance is required of the muscles in the core for it to perform its job well enough to prevent injury. How much is required depends on the level and type of activity the person in question is generally involved in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T02:04:38.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27626" CreationDate="2015-10-08T03:16:37.890" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Why Do Abs Exercises Have So Many Reps?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Short Answer: To feel &quot;The Burn&quot;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people erroneously feel that most abs exercises are cardio exercises. As a result, they try to perform as many reps in as short a time frame as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;First&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, because the abdominal muscles perform many functions,they're capable of being stressed longer than most muscles. As a result, the burn isn't usually felt until after a lot of repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Should Abs Exercises Have So Many Reps?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Ideally.....nope.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs exercises should be performed in a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;slow, methodical fashion; there should be a pause at the top and bottom of the movement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Equally important, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;the exercise must target the specific muscles being exercised.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When performed with these considerations, &quot;the burn&quot; will be felt in as low reps as between 10 and 15.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Another Note Worth Considering&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one single abs exercise target every part of the abdominal muscles; you'll need to perform different exercises that target each segment of the abdominal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Lastly&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a low body fat percentage, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;abs exercises don't mean squat aesthetically.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The muscles might be strong and puffy; however, without a low body fat percentage, you won't be able to show them off &lt;em&gt;(this could be one of the reasons people use abs exercises as cardio)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T03:16:37.890" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27623" CreationDate="2015-10-08T03:21:16.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never noticed this temporary immune system crash from training, however, to strengthen it so you can avoid the crash and get the most from your workouts/avoid overtraining injury, which I'd be more concerned about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep at least 7.5 hours (go for 9 during the first month)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink a lot of water, like a glass every few hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't drink alcohol/don't smoke anything (just for the first month)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming you never trained like this before, so the above will definitely get you a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, avoid injury (don't get lazy and cheat on form etc/don't try to do too much)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18185" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T03:21:16.440" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27632" CreationDate="2015-10-08T03:27:31.577" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say a lifter for some reason focuses largely on their lower body when they first start lifting. Let's say that they develop their lower body to the point that they are considered an intermediate lifter in terms of those particular lifts. However, due to their unequal focus, they are still a novice / beginner lifter in terms of their upper body lifts (strict press / bench press).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite still being considered a beginner in terms of upper body strength, is this lifter still capable of making accelerated gains in a linear fashion on their upper body lifts even if they already have relatively strong lower body lifts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T07:40:20.673" Title="Can a lifter's overall &quot;beginner gains&quot; be exhausted by a particular lift?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27631" CreationDate="2015-10-08T07:40:20.673" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Beginner gains&quot; is a useful abstraction for what I conjecture is an interrelated set of physiological processes. Part of it is the systemic hormonal response to the first time someone does resistance training, part of it is easy improvements to neurological efficiency (i.e. you get better at the movement, so can lift more weight independent of your theoretical maximum muscular strength), part of it is the absence of psychological or physical set points for what constitutes heavy weight. But since the term is just a phrase to refer to what is really multiple complex processes, it's important not to investigate it as its own entity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone starts training and does a lot of upper-body pushing and pulling, they'll get really good at that and their upper body will see improvements in strength, muscle size, and so on. But there will also be system-wide changes caused by that upper-body work: one's metabolism and hormone profile will change, the lower body and trunk will get stronger due to incidental bracing and stabilization work. So the lower body is already seeing improvements without doing any direct work. This is the source of the old adage that an untrained person's bench press can be improved by having them do long-distance cycling--and vice versa. The body adapts specifically to imposed demands, but the imposed demands of cycling include things related to the bench press, and the imposed demands of bench press include things related to the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when that same upper-body-trained person starts to squat, they will already have the benefit of some &quot;beginner gains&quot;, but some other yet-untapped &quot;beginner gains&quot; will be triggered by their new training. They will progress quickly because their legs/posterior chain's neurological efficiency is quite low and ready for quick improvement, and because they may see another systemic response to this new training demand. The effects will not be as dramatic as if they started squatting when they first started training, but I have not seen much evidence that there are any effects of this beginner phase that are not replicable later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding linear progression: this technique works in so many situations that it's ridiculous to say that someone should avoid it. It should be the first tool one reaches for when starting a new lift, if only to find the right place to start periodization for that lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T07:40:20.673" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27612" CreationDate="2015-10-08T08:54:38.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The differences between a low-intensity cardio session and a high-intensity cardio-session are fairly minimal for the average person. A low-intensity cardio session would be something like walking, whereas a high-intensity cardio session would be something like running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you work out, and any-time really, your body burns fat and carbs to provide you with energy. Your body might be providing them both in a 50-50 ratio while you're reading this; however, if you were to start running, your body would need to give you more energy. &lt;a href=&quot;http://http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Kilojoules_and_calories-explained?open&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carbohydrates are the body's main energy source&lt;/a&gt;, so your body would start burning more to provide the energy to keep up the high-intensity workout; however, if you were to simply walk, your body wouldn't need as much energy so it could continue to get its energy from fats as well as carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, a high-intensity workout would burn less fat per calorie than a low-intensity workout, but for the same duration you'd burn &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; calories and so it's likely to work out better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://http://www.bodybuilding.com/teen/shane2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BodyBuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; says this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Say you burn 200 calories doing low intensity cardio and 90% of those calories came from fat. That means you burned 180 calories from fat and 20 from other sources. If you would have done high intensity cardio during that period, you might have burned 300 calories and 75% of those calories were burned from fat. That means you burned 225 calories from fat and 75 calories from other sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both forms of exercise burn fat, and the average person would benefit more from a high-intensity workout, but if you're prevented from doing so don't feel a low-intensity workout can't give you results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/busting-the-great-myths-of-fat-burning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cross-Training For Dummies&lt;/a&gt;* has this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Working out at higher intensities may cause you to burn a lower percentage of fat, but since you burn more total calories, you still use more fat calories.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Low- to moderate-intensity exercise can burn a significant number of calories over a period of time. If you aren't fit enough to push yourself to work at a high intensity, or you have a physical weakness that prevents you from doing so, you can still burn a lot of calories by doing low-intensity workouts for a longer period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;High-intensity workout:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If time is a factor; or you don't mind pushing yourself: a high-intensity workout is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pros&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burns more calories in less time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cons&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Requires a certain level of fitness first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can be tricky if your mind isn't strong enough to keep pushing you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injuries or medical conditions can hinder one's ability to do it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Low-intensity workout:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If time isn't a factor; you aren't fit yet; or you don't wish to push yourself: a low-intensity workout would be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pros&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burns more fat as calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;easier&lt;/em&gt; to do for everybody&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cons&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Takes more time to burn the same amount of fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;In summary&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Both forms of exercise are for burning fat and getting fit. On average, a high-intensity workout will give better results for the time spent&lt;/strong&gt; because you will burn more calories. A low-intensity workout may burn more fat as calories, but because your body turns fat into carbs when it needs fuel you're still going to burn through the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* While I can't attest for this particular book from these authors being a reliable source of information, my experience with the &lt;em&gt;For Dummies&lt;/em&gt; books is that the authors all have excellent knowledge and experience in the domain they are writing about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18169" LastEditorUserId="18169" LastEditDate="2015-10-08T21:52:30.290" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T21:52:30.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27635" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-08T12:47:54.177" Score="4" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often get blurred vision after exercising. (moderate cardio)  Sometimes it is right after, other times, it is about 15 minutes after exercising.  It lasts about 30 minutes.  My blood pressure is on the low side but is good.  I am anemic.  Could it be the anemia causing the blurred vision?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18192" LastActivityDate="2015-10-10T23:18:44.287" Title="Blurred vision after exercising" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-14T20:34:11.490" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27589" CreationDate="2015-10-08T12:58:24.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's start with some basics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dianabol is a known anabolic steroid, not a vitamin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine is not a steroid, nor does it function like one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/is-creatine-a-steroid/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;excellent article&lt;/a&gt; at Examine.com explores the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Genetic Differences&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your friend did not resort to using dianabol, there can be genetic differences that affect how quickly you can get good at the bench press or even build muscle.  The bench press favors people with a barrel chest and short arms because they don't have to move the bar as far as someone with long arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, genetic factors control:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How quickly you can build muscle/strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kind of response you can get from steroids&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, some people only need a little dose of a steroid to make a big difference, and others can be complete non-responders (i.e. the steroid does nothing for performance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot you can do with just training, and 5 months is just too early in the game to take short cuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to build a bigger bench&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main areas to build a bigger bench include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Technique -- fixing bad technique accounts for the fastest improvements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neural efficiency -- more practice helps you recruit more of the muscle you already have&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle size -- more muscle means you can ultimately lift more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most beginners and early intermediates are really held back by the first two bullets.  Improving those will probably have the most impact on your bench press as of right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, when you are staying clean and keeping off &quot;gear&quot; (as the steroid using community likes to call it), be careful not to test your max all the time.  Strength is built in the 70-85% range.  By that, I mean most of your reps are 70-85% of your 1 rep max.  Just to give you an idea of what that means when you don't know your 1 rep max:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70% is your 10 rep max (one set, and you can only get 10 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;75% is your 8 rep max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;85% is your 5 rep max&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found Strengtheory.com to be an excellent resource for science based strength training articles.  Recently, Greg Nuckols did a 2 part series on &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; drug free muscle and strength potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/your-drug-free-muscle-and-strength-potential-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 1:&lt;/a&gt; how big can &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; get?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/your-drug-free-muscle-and-strength-potential-part-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Part 2:&lt;/a&gt; how much &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; you bench and how to get there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In part 2 of the series, there's an outline for a 5 day a week program to help you make the most of the muscle you have.  It's a prime example of what I mean by keeping most of your reps in the 70-85% range.  In fact, I wouldn't test your maxes any more frequently then once a quarter.  I personally only do it when I'm preparing for a contest which I do once or at most twice a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T12:58:24.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27639" CreationDate="2015-10-08T13:57:28.810" Score="2" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;After running 10 or more minutes at my 5K pace my breathing gets &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; wheezy and sort of raspy - but I can still keep running. However I ran a school 1K race a very recently, and I had some difficulty breathing at the end of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some sort of reason for this? I'm not asthmatic and have mild hayfever, but that shouldn't be causing this occurrence...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: I forgot; after running more than 500m I cough a lot. &lt;strong&gt;A lot&lt;/strong&gt; - the longer the distance the more I cough - for around half an hour after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16591" LastEditorUserId="16591" LastEditDate="2015-10-08T15:36:06.790" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T15:36:06.790" Title="After running 10 or more minutes at my 5K pace my breathing gets VERY wheezy" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27635" CreationDate="2015-10-08T14:24:50.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/194299-what-are-the-causes-of-blurry-vision-and-dizziness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Possibly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Severe anemia may lead to dizziness and blurred vision because of reduced oxygen delivery to the brain and low blood volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I'd recommend checking with your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T14:24:50.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27637" CreationDate="2015-10-08T14:50:47.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be quite a few different causes, from internal to environmental. My first thought is EIB (Exercise Induced Bronchospasm), which used to be called exercise induced asthma. It can be mild to serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, a pulmonologist or other expert should probably be consulted, to rule out anything physical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T14:50:47.337" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27641" CreationDate="2015-10-08T15:07:35.820" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got complimented cause workout results are showing, the thing is the compliment included the words &lt;em&gt;&quot;your shoulder's look bigger&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and it got me thinking, cause I'm already a wide guy as is. The last thing I want is to get wider. The shoulder workout I do doesn't include heavy weights. 10Kg dumbbells at most. Is there anything I can do to avoid getting any bigger/wider? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason is that I've always struggled fitting into nice shirts with my shoulders and always have to end up getting a size that's bigger than what I want because the other sizes although they fit nicely everywhere else they're too tight on the shoulder/armpit area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-10-10T23:31:54.300" Title="Shoulders getting swole/big/broader" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;tips&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27640" CreationDate="2015-10-08T19:45:33.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your workouts are yielding results, I'm guessing that (1) you're lifting good and consistently, and (2) your diet allows for muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said: you're using light weights for your shoulders.&#xA;Implicitely that translates to many reps per set. So you are probably doing between 8 and 12 (or maybe 15) reps, which puts the focus on hypertrophy. (More than that will focus endurance most.)&#xA;If that's the case, you can either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go for a heavy weight (low reps) which will focus more on strength than size (although size gains are possible, but to a lesser extent most likely).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't workout your shoulders directly anymore (because, duh, muscles grow after they've been stressed). They are already activated in many compound exercises - that should suffice if you're happy with them. Work for growth on everything else instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the two muscles giving you width are the side delts and the lats (so watch out how you construct your sets/reps for rows and pull-ups too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18010" LastEditorUserId="18010" LastEditDate="2015-10-09T06:01:04.847" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T06:01:04.847" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27623" CreationDate="2015-10-09T13:32:23.763" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be honest, there are some people who spend 2 hours in the gym and they accomplish less than others who spend only 45 minutes.  Keep in mind that is a huge investment in time and energy, and without a great plan of attack you will end up doing too much too soon.  The people who are spending 2 hours a day in the gym have built up their work capacity over time to handle the stress of that kind of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Managing Recovery&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Managing recovery is the priority number 1 when dealing with this kind of work volume:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you get at least 8 hours of sleep a day.  Take naps if you have to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition becomes very important.  You will likely need pre, post, and intra-workout fuel.  Chocolate milk can be very good for this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limit yourself to only taking caffeine prior to working out.  Caffeine can affect your sleep, and your natural recovery so only use the stimulant when you need to do work (coffee, sodas, caffeine pills, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you are resting, rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No extra work.  Have your plan and execute it.  Throwing in extra work can dig a deeper recovery hole.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vary weight and reps throughout the week.  One or two days will have higher weight with fewer reps, and the rest will have lower weight with higher reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporate cooldown walks as part of your training regimen.  The slow and steady cardio can help your muscles recover from the work you've done&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coaching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are really pushing yourself, it pays to get a coach to manage your workload for you.  They know how to help you navigate managing your recovery and adjust training as necessary.  They also will end up pushing you harder than you would yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T13:32:23.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27623" CreationDate="2015-10-09T14:22:03.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Moderate exercise boosts your immune system, but you experience diminishing returns as you increase in intensity (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/45336&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one study here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two biggest factors that can have negative effects on your immune system are inflammation (inflammation suppresses your immune cells), and overtraining syndrome (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/icb/journal/v78/n5/full/icb200070a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of symptoms to monitor&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;David and Berin's answers are solid; get plenty of sleep, eat right (especially avoiding foods that cause an inflammatory response in your body), and allow yourself to recover.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I would add, especially if your going hard during those two hours, is listen to your body before, during, and after training.  Consider monitoring biomarkers like HR, HRV, CNS tap testing on a daily basis; push through discomfort, but don't push through pain; and on the days you're working out, if you're not feeling it, don't kill it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T14:22:03.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23685" CreationDate="2015-10-09T17:25:30.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should get a Timex Ironman watch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xnXbq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xnXbq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Timex Ironman watch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switch to the Chronometer (a fancy word for stopwatch) by pressing Mode. Start the stopwatch by pressing Start/Split, and stop it by pressing Stop/Reset. Reset the timer by pressing and holding Reset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the clock is running, you can press Start/Split to record a lap. For 10 seconds after you press Start/Split, your time for the last lap is displayed on the screen along with the lap number. Then, the timer switches to the time for your current lap and you can start all over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Timex Ironman watch fits your purposes, but it's also a lot better than using an app on your phone or carrying a stopwatch. Do you really want to be mashing buttons on a $100+ smartphone with your sweaty hands each time you do a lap? I prefer to keep my phone clean, which is why I carry a watch. Every good runner I know has a GPS watch or a Timex Ironman watch, and the only time any of them have had to replace it is when they lost it. Mine has survived 5 years and almost 10,000 miles of easy runs, workouts, strength training, etc. I highly recommend it - it's both extremely functional and practically indestructible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T17:25:30.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27647" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-10-09T20:34:03.223" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-10-09T20:34:03.223" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T20:34:03.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27648" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-10-09T20:34:03.223" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-10-09T20:34:03.223" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T20:34:03.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4585" CreationDate="2015-10-10T01:42:05.807" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For beginners Heavy Compound exercises will end with dominant side of body getting more gains than weak side while heavy Iso exercises will give the same gains cause your weak side will tell you to stop when muscle can't lift nomore&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18203" LastActivityDate="2015-10-10T01:42:05.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27640" CreationDate="2015-10-10T16:19:07.423" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Avoid any overhead press.  Overhead press is an exercise known by many who actually lift to widen your appearance.  Here is a thread with many responses by people who lift confirming that overhead press is a major mass building exercise for your shoulders. &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=887&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=887&lt;/a&gt; There are many things you can avoid, but this is around the top.  If you go with this advice be sure to check back in and let everyone know your results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18185" LastEditorUserId="18185" LastEditDate="2015-10-10T23:31:54.300" LastActivityDate="2015-10-10T23:31:54.300" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27635" CreationDate="2015-10-10T23:18:44.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several possibilities here, but, the most common culprits are that you are either not drinking enough water, or vice versa, you are drinking far too much water(The latter is less likely). Dehydration and over hydration both can cause blurred vision, and working out hard would just make it worse, which would explain why it goes away a little while after. There could be other medical/vision problems occurring here, but I would say the chances are greater that you are suffering from a hydration related issue. Let me know if you believe you aren't drinking enough water or are drinking too much of it. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-10-10T23:18:44.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27640" CreationDate="2015-10-10T23:31:26.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me give you an easy solution to your problem. Stop working out your shoulders. If you have an imbalance relating to your deltoid muscles,  which many men can naturally genetically suffer from, or &quot;broad shoulders,&quot; as referred to in some cases, then your shoulders shall always be buff and there is nothing you can do to change it. I suspect you do have this because of your statement about how you've always struggled to fit into shirts. However, what you can do is to bulk up the rest of your body consistently in order to make the other muscles the equivalent size. Unfortunately in your case, it is extremely difficult to work your chest muscles without assistance from your shoulder muscles. However, if you don't directly work your shoulders, a difference in their size will be minimal, as for most other muscles, too. But I would take your shoulders as a gift and keep working them anyway, unless they look too distinct on your body compared to the other muscle groups. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-10-10T23:31:26.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27662" CreationDate="2015-10-11T04:09:25.790" Score="0" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the work out for my tummy fats? And do i need to take fat cutter which my trainer insist i should. &#xA;Dont i have any other way to cut my fats and get a &quot;V&quot;  shape body??&#xA;I have been doing work outs like for 15 days but i dont see any changes and i am worried about my body. Why am i not seeing any changes? Are the workout not sufficient? Or is it necessary to take fat cutter ?&#xA;Please any of you people could give me there whatsaap number so i could talk to some expert people because i am very worried about my body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18082" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T05:39:33.780" Title="losse tummy fat and side fats" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-12T14:58:06.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-11T15:17:31.597" Score="-1" ViewCount="1292" Body="&lt;p&gt;My height is 165 cm, and i just want to loose my thigh fat,calf fat and my muffin top &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18215" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T07:18:29.590" Title="How to lose 10 kg for a 15 year old girl" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-12T14:51:40.347" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-11T15:50:01.687" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am generally good in using my body, for example when bouldering,&#xA;but i am terrible at dancing or any other activity where you have to do multiple things at a time, like driving a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could i train this skill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be good if i could train by doing these activities, but driving a car with my abilities is just too dangerous (especially for others).&#xA;As for dancing, that i just don't manage to do alone, and even beginners courses are way to difficult for me. I also don't have the money for private dance lessons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16233" LastActivityDate="2015-10-11T15:50:01.687" Title="How to train &quot;doing multiple things at a time&quot; (coordination)" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-10-12T14:58:58.123" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27658" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-11T16:32:11.217" Score="5" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many of my friends use a pre workout such as C4 prior to lifting. I have never used one but am curious if I would see a major change in the effectiveness of my workout. I do a lot of strength training and weight lifting for my hour long workouts. Will using pre-workout help at all besides giving me more energy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastEditorUserId="6321" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T14:20:15.137" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T21:36:14.213" Title="Significant Benefits from using pre-workout?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27656" CreationDate="2015-10-12T03:00:58.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried anything yet? Is something not working? For the purposes of my answer, I will assume you are inactive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You aren't able to lose fat from certain areas of your body. Any exercise will help you lose fat including walking and running. If you wish to lose fat from the legs and tummy, focus more on toning those areas with lunges or squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you have measurable goals. You will find it hard to determine &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; you've lost your tummy fat, so ensure you are measuring either by taking measurements with a tape measure or a body composition test. Try to avoid weighing yourself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Exercise&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing fat from certain areas isn't possible (in fact: it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23222084&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;disproven&lt;/a&gt;). If you are interested in &lt;em&gt;fixing&lt;/em&gt; those areas, the way to do it would be to tone them up with muscle instead! It's likely the abdominal exercises and leg exercises would be the way to achieve this, and you can try &lt;strong&gt;squats&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;lunges&lt;/strong&gt; as a way of engaging your legs and abs. Both are able to be performed without any equipment (you can just use your body weight) and both should leave you exhausted afterwards! As an example program, you could do what was taught to me as &lt;em&gt;24-7&lt;/em&gt;: 24 squats, 24 lunges (12 each leg) and then a 100m sprint. Repeat for 7 times total. Try that 3 times a week (should take approx 20-30 minutes but don't fret if it takes you longer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since those exercises won't help you lose fat in those areas any more than say bench pressing, you can simply do any exercise (walking, running, swimming, bench pressing etc). I recommend those exercises as a way of toning the muscle in those areas as well as losing fat (from your entire body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid of the term &lt;em&gt;muscle&lt;/em&gt; either: you don't have to worry about having enormous, muscly legs after a dozen squats. Body-builders spend years getting their bodies to look the way they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Measurable goals&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My final thing to mention is to have a measurable goal. Wanting to &amp;quot;lose fat from my thighs and tummy&amp;quot; is great for motivating yourself to do something, but you need to have a measurable goal and I recommend measuring yourself! Although you mention losing 10kg, depending on what you weigh that might be more difficult than you think. Start by taking measurements now and then repeat every 2-4 weeks (note: do not do it too frequently. Losing weight won't happen overnight!). Make sure you measure yourself consistently!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To measure your legs: take a tape measure mark the middle part of your leg from your hip to your knee. Then wrap the tape measure around and record the number.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;To measure your tummy: wrap the tape measure around the largest part of your waist (where your belly button is)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't advise weighing yourself, since muscle weighs more than fat and if you start to build muscle (again: don't be scared of building muscle. Think of it more as sculpting your body) you won't necessarily lose weight. Taking measurements is far better for what you want, since even if you tone up with muscle your measurements will go down from the fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can obtain a body composition test which will measure your fat and muscle percent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Diet&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that when I use the word diet I am talking about the food you habitually eat. This only requires a brief mention, because as long as you aren't putting on weight the food you are eating is probably fine. Your body will convert your fat and carbs into energy for you when you start needing it (e.g. exercise), so it's more about &lt;em&gt;using&lt;/em&gt; that energy than altering what you are eating. So: if your diet (the food you habitually eat) isn't causing you to gain weight, there's &lt;strong&gt;no need to alter it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18169" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T21:59:09.390" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20995" CreationDate="2015-10-12T03:32:21.933" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's because he injured his right leg in a soccer match and because of surgery, the leg is structurally different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18219" LastEditorUserId="18220" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T07:43:57.203" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T07:43:57.203" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-12T05:11:59.933" Score="5" ViewCount="469" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to flex your biceps as hard as you can. It feels like if you were lifting right? So does this mean that microtears are getting broke and therefore we are having the same effect as lifting(Muscle growth)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple question but I was wondering this, maybe I can get out my non-lifting program, lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T15:04:17.093" Title="Breaking Microtears by flexing?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27655" CreationDate="2015-10-12T05:39:33.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no workout of any kind that will reduce fat on your stomach area specifically. Fat is the regulator your body uses to make sure you have enough energy every day, even if you don't eat as much energy as you use. So the only way to lose fat is to eat less than you use, this can be achieved by eating less or by exercising more. That way, a net loss of fat mass will occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If by &quot;fat cutter&quot; you mean some kind of supplement, at least where I'm from, there are no legal supplements that will increase fat loss. There are illegal and dangerous supplements that can have a small effect, but you'll still need to have a net calorie deficiency to lose fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, 15 days is no where near enough time to make any change. The smallest amount of time that can give you any visual change is something like 3 months of intelligent, effortfull exercise and a good diet. By then you'll start seeing some changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T05:39:33.780" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27661" CreationDate="2015-10-12T10:29:41.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: Yes. But don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: It is a huge waste of your time, because you're not going to be doing more than 1-2 muscles at a time. And the set of muscles that can be worked like this is very slim. For instace, how are you going to train your lower back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like the only reason you'd do this, is because you don't want to go to the gym. Obviously, you should go to the gym if you want to build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T10:29:41.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27656" CreationDate="2015-10-12T13:52:56.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/27659/18169&quot;&gt;answer given above&lt;/a&gt; is perfect. Just count calories and try to do more physical activities. Less calories in than out is the way to lose fat. A good app to track this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;: it's available on the internet, Android, iOS and Windows phone. I lost about 15kg using this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore: if you are willing to lose weight, make sure to not overdo it. If you do you may binge and you'll get more calories in than out. Also if you overdo it you may overeat after you've completed your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T07:18:29.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27658" CreationDate="2015-10-12T13:59:13.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From personal experience I am able to tell that preworkout will help you in training. If you use it very often the effects of it will disappear. I only use it when im not having a good workout, this way when I use it it'll have a good effect. You should just try it, it is not that expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good solution is a cup of coffee before training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience I've also learned you shouldn't take to much preworkout before sleep, because you will not feel very tired after using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for giving energy it will not help, but if you're having a bad workout you will be less dragged feeling after taking it. Preworkouts like C4 include creatine and other supplements, but the amount of these supplement in one scoop of preworkout is too little to have any effect whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T14:53:07.707" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T14:53:07.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27661" CreationDate="2015-10-12T15:04:17.093" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are describing is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/isometric-training-what-it-is-and-how-to-do-it-correctly&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Isometric training&lt;/a&gt;.  It’s a little used, and much misunderstood, form of training in which the muscle tenses without changing its length.  Each contraction is typically done for 6 to 10 seconds at a specific angle.  For example, think of a bodybuilder holding a front double biceps pose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/96Cdz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/96Cdz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a competition, poses are typically held for quite a long time.  That’s why most competitive bodybuilders practice static (isometric) posing.  Isometric training assists in holding a pose for a long time without shaking from muscle fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While isometric training is not popular, it does have its merits as evidenced by a 2005 study titled “&lt;em&gt;Strength training: isometric training at a range of joint angles versus dynamic training&lt;/em&gt;” by Folland JP1, Hawker K, Leach B, Little T, Jones DA. That &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2012/08/21/isometric/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; concluded that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Isometric training at several equally spaced joint angles can produce&#xA;  similar full-ROM isokinetic strength gains as full-ROM isokinetic&#xA;  training.  This could be useful for training with minimal equipment or&#xA;  for designing bodyweight training programs for building strength&#xA;  through full ranges of motion using only static positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both isometric and isokinetic training do not build strength equally&#xA;  at all joint angles.  Therefore, if your sport or task requires&#xA;  strength at a specific joint angle, it might be necessary to look at&#xA;  targeted methods of increasing the strength at that specific angle,&#xA;  either by partials, eccentrics, isometrics at long or short lengths,&#xA;  or dynamic exercises that stress a particular ROM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric training will not provide the mass gains that resistance training will provide.  But, it does have some value and should be thought of as an additional tool in your training arsenal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T15:04:17.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-12T18:14:47.863" Score="6" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;In 2015, I ran four races of three different distances - 2 5ks (9:20/mile and 9:04/mile), a 10k (11:15/mile), and a half marathon (11:50/mile). In 2016, I'm planning on running 2-4 5ks, 1-2 10ks, a 15k, and a half marathon. I'm about to start generating my training plans for the off-season and into next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previously, I planned race-to-race. I did a very generic workout in the off-season, but I really need something more structured, and run-oriented, so I'm looking to start planning. Race season is April-October, so I'm starting to plan for how I'm going to train in the off-season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://smartcoach.runnersworld.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;training plan generator that I use&lt;/a&gt; takes the input of a recent race time and distance, a distance that I'm training for, an intensity level, a current distance per week, when to start the plan, when the race is, and when I long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VepqD.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VepqD.png&quot; alt=&quot;Runner&amp;#39;s World SmartCoach Training Plan Generator&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that I have a question about is how to appropriately chose what recent training run I provide. I plan to adjust the distance I'm training for, intensity, and distance per week appropriately for improvement and maintenance throughout the year as the dates for the races settle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see a few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should always choose my most recent race time and distance. No matter what I enter for the distance I'm training for, I always look at my most recent race time and generate a plan based on that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should always choose my longest race time and distance. No matter what distance I'm training for, I would use my longest race.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should always choose my fastest pace. Regardless of what I'm training for, I build my plan around the fastest mile pace I've ever run, using that race's distance and time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should choose a race time and distance closest to the distance I'm training for. For example, if I'm training for a 5k, I'd use my most recent 5k time. For 10k or 15k training, I'd choose a recent 10k or half marathon. For half marathon training, I'd choose my most recent half marathon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which option is preferable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will be regenerating plans throughout the year, based on race distances and dates and performances in previous races. I'm just interested in what baseline I should be using for past performance every time I generate a new plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not using a training plan is not an option. I need structure, so a very generic template is not suitable. I need something that is specific, day-by-day, with distances and target times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm not interested in switching tools. Using plans generated by this tool, I managed to reduce times in the 5k (both between 2014 and 2015 and between my two 5ks in 2015) and train enough to finish my first 10k and half marathon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastEditorUserId="1867" LastEditDate="2015-10-13T11:56:56.587" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T13:49:19.927" Title="What current race distance and time should I use for creating a workout plan?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27668" CreationDate="2015-10-12T20:24:14.347" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use the half marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The half marathon plan &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; give you the most complete training for the other distances, as some of the finer details in a half marathon plan are going to be a different emphasis than a 5k plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do the 5k or 10k plans, they may or may not give you enough distance work for the 15k and the half, and may place a little too much emphasis on the speed aspects. The half plan should give you enough distance base to easily complete the other events, and you can always play with the speedwork as needed to accommodate the shorter races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T20:24:14.347" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27671" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-13T13:03:48.060" Score="2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where is the most amount of strain in both situations? What are the health disadvantages for both? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will be the effects when increasing to a sprint?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18228" LastEditorUserId="10532" LastEditDate="2015-10-19T09:29:21.787" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T09:29:21.787" Title="What are the differences between running with a weighted belt and weighted ankles?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-13T10:56:44.680" Score="3" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;Research suggests that strength training can increase endurance. This should be combined with endurance work for maximum impact&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;increase maximum strength to a point that the specific load being lifted during repeated actions is less than 40% of the individuals' 1RM.  Subsequent training should then focus on maintaining maximal strength levels and improving local muscular endurance in the specific task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19620916&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Source&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I posted &lt;a href=&quot;https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/34954&quot;&gt;a related question on our sister site for bicycles&lt;/a&gt; without a definitive answer, but did receive some helpful suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I do that will allow me to work to about 3 times of the load of bicycling? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18229" OwnerDisplayName="James Jenkins" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:32:41.563" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T14:58:55.857" Title="How to strengthen bicycling muscles without bicycling?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27672" CreationDate="2015-10-13T14:58:55.857" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your main muscles for cycling are going to be the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteal and calf muscles. I would recommend the following exercises for these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell squat - This is basically king exercise for the lower body. Hits quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. If you have functional impediments that prevent squats, hip sleds and similar machines can be substituted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift - Hits the hamstrings, glutes and the erector spinae (Lower back). This will also help with the posture and fatigue that comes with long saddle time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf raises - Do these both standing and seated. Seated emphasizes the soleus muscle, and the standing emphasizes the gastrocnemius (Which is the larger, two headed heart shaped muscle you see when you look at the calf).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those three exercises are the minimum that I would recommend to hit all the major lower body muscles that are involved with the pedaling motion. There are also smaller, ancillary muscles that are worked with these exercises, but those won't matter as much as they will/should be adequately worked by the cycling itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note - This is not a substitute for regular riding, but intended to address the question raised by the study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T14:58:55.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27671" CreationDate="2015-10-14T00:44:41.037" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ankle weights will affect how your legs move as you run, and will likely cause injury. Weighted belts won't change your biomechanics much, but a greater impact can lead to injury as well. Even if you accelerate to a sprint, weighted ankles will keep your legs from moving normally. The weighted belt, on the other hand, won't affect you much at all in a sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in getting faster (both for distance events or sprinting), I would recommend other training methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T00:44:41.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-14T02:15:28.650" Score="0" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad doesn't want me to lift more than 20kg (44 lbs) in any exercise because I'm 14. I know a lot of teenagers don't take this seriously and do bad form just to lift more weight, but I don't wish to do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I can easily do more than 15 reps with 20kg in almost every machine and as we know what I'm targeting here when doing more than 15 reps is mainly resistance, I know I won't become Schwarzenegger (I don't take steroids); but, I know I can get a little more muscular and mainly increase my strength, so the question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I only use one arm on machines without damaging my muscles (or something like that) yet still target the muscles in a correct way?&lt;/strong&gt; For example on Lat Pulldowns (obviously with one hand grip) or Inclined Bench Press Machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning that I would still lift no more than 20 but just with one arm, so in theory I would be able to lift about 35-40 with the 2 arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastEditorUserId="18169" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T12:35:36.090" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T06:39:07.370" Title="Using only one arm/leg on machines?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2028" CreationDate="2015-10-14T03:31:25.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Edit-- just go to this link. It's much better than my answer that follows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-law-of-thermodynamics-in-real.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-law-of-thermodynamics-in-real.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a skinny dude, &quot;hardgainer&quot; type body, generally I am able to eat a lot and stay the same weight. Even if I'm depressed and lazy for a length of time, as a few weeks ago. (there were a few years where I gained a bunch of weight and got fat; since then I've returned to normal and that's been the only really major exception in my adult life that I can remember.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually want to gain muscle weight now, and I've tooled around the web trying to understand this issue. The answers here as well as elsewhere are frankly inadequate and don't even pass a basic common sense test, as you suggest with the logic in your question. Obviously excess calories aren't stored as fat always. They can't possibly be. We have too much empirical evidence to the contrary, as you suggest in your question. Pretty much everybody knows someone or many someones who can eat whatever they want, not exercise, and still never gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to think that scientists and others &quot;educated&quot; about nutrition actually haven't the foggiest idea about some of the most basic and elementary questions related to human digestive and metabolic function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that a lot of calories simply get wasted in the case of overeating for many people. The body doesn't burn them as efficiently. It just does a half-assed job and your poop/urine has a different chemical composition. It's like half-burned wood or something instead of really fine ash. Probably examining stool more closely would lead to a better understanding. Any volunteers? :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18237" LastEditorUserId="18237" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T04:58:20.577" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T04:58:20.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27675" CreationDate="2015-10-14T03:41:25.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Alex L points out in the comments: yes you can, but why not just use your body weight or free weights instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/one-arm-lat-pulldown&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one-armed lat pulldowns&lt;/a&gt;, do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/pullups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pull ups&lt;/a&gt;: it's the same motion, but there isn't a machine stabilising the weights for you and you are lifting your entire body weight. If that's too difficult you could also consider a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/one-arm-dumbbell-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one-armed dumbbell row&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of isolated and compound exercises you can perform with free weights or just your body weight that should keep you going!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18169" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T03:41:25.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27682" CreationDate="2015-10-14T04:56:58.597" Score="7" ViewCount="8799" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consider it as a related and continuation to my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16629/what-are-the-rules-to-be-followed-while-doing-push-ups-at-home&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt;. I am doing push ups daily for the past 2 months regularly without missing a day. I am doing 5 reps of 15 push ups. I have question here, I am not sure if I am doing it the right way. I am just holding up my breath until 15 push ups. I read somewhere in the internet about breathing techniques from pro body builders. Some say to hold breath, other say to inhale when going down and exhale when coming up and somebody argues that its that other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I am confused with these multiple opinions/suggestions. What is the ideal way of breathing which is good for our health having no adverse effects while doing push ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4797" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T16:14:14.320" Title="Breathing rules while doing push ups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27678" CreationDate="2015-10-14T05:16:25.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not breathing at all seems like a bad idea, especially at high reps. When you bench press, you should inhale as you lower the bar and exhale as you lift it. So I would try inhaling as lower yourself and so on, but I would also try the other way around and see what feels best. If it feels good and you perform well, it's the right way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6368" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T05:16:25.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27680" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-14T08:09:08.497" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;While standing in a position like this &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iv0QT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iv0QT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to jump off the ground easily with one foot). Normal squats don't work well for this kind of a movement. Pistol squat is a better practice, but to do that you have to have a certain strength. Though, I can do it while holding the wall and that will be my choice if I don't find any better workouts. So what other types of workouts can I do to increase this strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13391" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T10:03:44.497" Title="What are some training types that strengthen getting up muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;calf&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;quads&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27680" CreationDate="2015-10-14T10:03:44.497" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deeper, loaded squats, for instance, kettlebell goblet squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assisted one-leg (&quot;pistol&quot;) squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loaded Turkish get-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T10:03:44.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27678" CreationDate="2015-10-14T11:56:23.827" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, breathe while doing pushups. Conventional wisdom, as with most muscular effort, is to exhale as you're expending your effort (pushing-up) and inhaling as you move back (lowering yourself to right above the floor), but I personally find that, if you don't think about it too much, your breathing usually takes care of itself. It's worth noting that, probably due to the muscles involved, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4914/difficulty-breathing-in-push-up-position?rq=1&quot;&gt;some people have trouble breathing normally during pushups&lt;/a&gt;, but you should try to at least breathe some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding your breath during a heavy lift is generally known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/know-when-to-hold-it-how-to-breathe-while-lifting.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Valsalva maneuver&lt;/a&gt; and it has contraindications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth emphasizing that the Valsalva maneuver is only for short-duration, high-exertion efforts. The same technique that provided a core of strength for your PR back squat can become a serious headache—literally—when you apply it to a run-of-the-mill bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many beginners—and a few experienced lifters—stop breathing during repetitive, low-intensity lifts, either because they think it'll make them stronger, or because they just plain forget. An extended Valsalva maneuver like this can cause a dangerous spike in blood pressure, bursting blood vessels in your eyes and forehead, causing headaches and temporary vision disturbances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T16:14:14.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27668" CreationDate="2015-10-14T13:14:28.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go for the following approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should at least start with a base that allows you to do at least 2 workouts (speed, tempo, hills etc) and one long run. Consider this your daily driver. This will give you some base that you can work off of. You should always consider your mileage and how that will be increased over time. The wonderful thing about 21k races is they don't beat you up like a marathon does. You could race every other weekend if you wanted to. (Depending on age and body of course)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I would look at your Half Marathon race date and then do your Half Marathon plan around that date. So a half plan is normally 12-16 weeks. Pick your race and go back from that date and do the training for that race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could then do speed work for your 10k/5k training during the rest of the year. You can slightly modify your basic weekly training to give you the results you want for your race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example if you have a 5k race in 8 weeks then you would start on shorter speed workouts and perhaps even shorten your weekend long run to 15k or less. The key is getting that short speed work in on the track. You should also start to pick some goal times that will allow you to see your progression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first goal time maybe 24 minutes. You can use a pace calculator to determine what speed you should be doing your shorter increments at. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plug in 24 minutes to a 5k race calculator you will find that you should be able to do 800m in 3:06 and 1 miles in 6:54. Of course the time is arbitrary but it will give you an idea of where you are at and what you need to do to get where you want to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great tool for determining pace. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T13:14:28.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27668" CreationDate="2015-10-14T14:44:18.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use your most recent training time, even if you aren't going to be focusing on that distance this season. One mistake that people often make is that they assume they should be running as fast as their PRs, or relative PRs over several distances, tell them. Instead, fitness changes throughout the training and racing season. Your most recent time will indicate what fitness you are in at the moment, and training at that fitness level will facilitate high quality training much more effectively than a different fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T14:44:18.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27686" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27687" CreationDate="2015-10-14T15:52:48.767" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone explain to me how do Power Cleans strengthen my back? I feel it but I can't understand how it works, or how if most of my movement is with my legs how it can affect/stress my back. I still do them, although I don't completely understand them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T16:15:07.827" Title="Power Cleans; They benefit my back?" Tags="&lt;compound-exercises&gt;&lt;power-cleans&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27686" CreationDate="2015-10-14T16:15:07.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a power clean you are supposed to keep your back straight and to lift it upright against the bar pulling you forward and down. Your lower and middle back is held rigid to keep the trunk stable. Your upper back retracts your shoulder blades to keep the bar close to your body, and at the end of the pull, your upper back explosively shrugs the bar upward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T16:15:07.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27690" CreationDate="2015-10-14T19:30:12.787" Score="2" ViewCount="1815" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I make my legs stronger when I have hip dysplasia on both sides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I google &quot;legs training&quot;, every search result states training will include a lot of variants of squatting. And they say, squatting is the base and a must have exercise. &#xA;But squatting is not allowed for me because of my illness, as well as any other axial load on the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I really want to make my legs stronger. And, this is important: I want them strong, not big like a bodybuilder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there any way to substitute forbidden exercises? For example, it looks like squats train a group of muscles. One of them is gluteus maximus. Google says bridge exercise train this muscle. Another one is quadriceps. Exercise bike and &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitburg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/nog10000.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;such exercise device&lt;/a&gt; train quadriceps. And so on, and so on for every muscle from those, which squats train...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... Is it possible to compose a training program, which will train my legs without squatting? And is it OK to do more exercises and spend more time, then as for a usual program? Or, maybe, squatting gives some special effect, which cannot be replaced by some other exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18240" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T20:06:33.743" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T20:10:58.483" Title="How can I train legs when I have hip dysplasia?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27689" CreationDate="2015-10-14T20:10:58.483" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's entirely possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises such as squats are compound muscle exercises, which means they work many muscles at the same time. These are generally considered as &quot;must have&quot; because they do work so many muscles, and generally give good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other exercises are what are called &quot;isolation&quot; exercises, since they mostly work one muscle group at a time. You can certainly create a program that consists mainly of isolation exercises that will work the same muscles as a compound exercise will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have this condition, I would put together a program, and then get with a licensed physical therapist or other medical professional and have them evaluate it (or even help you create it). The last thing you want to do is unknowingly stick in an exercise that will cause more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T20:10:58.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27675" CreationDate="2015-10-15T06:39:07.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, start doing dips (you can even add weight when it gets too easy), pull-ups and chin-ups, same principle, add weight when you can do more than 8 for example. Those three exercises there will bulk your biceps, triceps, chest, back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bent over rows with free weights would be good too, standing shoulder press also if you want to target shoulders, standing makes it more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T06:39:07.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27671" CreationDate="2015-10-15T11:46:55.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ankle weights will affect how you move your legs and put additional strain on your knees, which isn't a great idea. (i.e: it's a terrible idea)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weighted belt is a better way to add weight, but will be rather uncomfortable. A weighted jacket provides better weight distribution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would challenge the reason why you want to add weight while running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running puts already quite a lot of stress on your joints, and increasing the weight just means increasing the potential for injury. Not worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to think about what you are trying to achieve, and look into the solid proven training methods to achieve those goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if you want to burn more, just pick up the pace or do intervals - you will burn more, guaranteed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you want to improve your sprint times, loading up on weight while running is NOT the solution. A much better idea would be a weight training program with squats, deadlifts, cleans with heavy weights combined with uphill sprints and interval training - and of course regular sprints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To increase strength significantly, you need heavy loads, and as heavy loads are dangerous, you need to handle them with safe controlled movements like squats and deadlifts, not running around and getting tired with carrying heavy loads. Besides, if you can do more than 10 reps, it's not heavy enough, so forget about running with weight, just do your squats, deadlifts and cleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you insist on running with weights, a good solution is sled work. Go for about 10% body-weight for sprints and you will gain speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should NOT do is anything that puts your joints at risk. Injure a knee and you will be out for 6 months. Totally counter productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first step is to clear up your goals, what you want to achieve, and research a program to do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T11:46:55.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4990" CreationDate="2015-10-15T12:01:53.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like you don't have the strength to handle that weight. Most likely a better way to go about it would be starting with a basic strength program until your muscles are strong enough to deal with the load. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things like heavy squats and deadlifts (starting strength type of program), combined with unloaded running and uphill sprints. If you have access to a sled, use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your strength is improved enough to handle the load, then you can start putting the weight on your back and run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running with weights is something you can do as a consequence of being strong, but not a good way to get strong in the first place. The potential for injury is high, and the load is too small to produce the strength adaptation you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T12:01:53.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8197" CreationDate="2015-10-15T15:21:08.077" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following hits every muscle. I won't give sets and reps, because the group of exercises works beautifully as a High Frequency routine, a HIIT routine, and with pyramids and drop sets and rest/pause finishers. Anyone that thinks that the calves and mid back are being ignored has never done farmer's walks and ab wheel rollouts. Suffice to say, 10 power reps and 40 continuous swings is a fine measure for the kettlebell swing before increasing weight, as is 100 yards with ever increasing poundages for the farmer's walk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;POWER CLEAN AND PRESS--&#xA; FRONT SQUAT--&#xA; KETTLEBELL SWING--&#xA; AB WHEEL ROLLOUT--FARMER'S WALK-- &#xA; HYPEREXTENSIONS-- &#xA; HAMMER CURL&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18247" LastEditorUserId="18247" LastEditDate="2015-10-20T00:25:58.907" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T00:25:58.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-15T15:55:09.197" Score="1" ViewCount="914" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard from many people that if you are exercising at the gym, then your height will stop increasing. Is it true for 19 year old male?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18250" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-10-15T16:10:25.267" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T04:00:56.197" Title="Does going to the gym negatively impact growth in height?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-20T16:01:18.373" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27699" CreationDate="2015-10-15T16:16:51.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exercise itself will not impair your growth. In fact, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark41.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise can increase secretion of Human Growth Hormone&lt;/a&gt;, which can lead to a height gain. However, if you are chronically under-nourished, &lt;a href=&quot;http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask442&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;there is a risk of you winding up a few inches shorter than you might have been&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://musqle.com/does-lifting-weights-affect-the-growth-in-teenagers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;If you injure your growth plates, that may affect bone growth&lt;/a&gt;, but the risk is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/536757-does-playing-sports-at-a-young-age-affect-bone-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;primarily in broken bones, and even those seldom cause problems if properly set&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that lifting weights will &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stronghealthtips.com/lifting-weights-shorter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;temporarily make you shorter&lt;/a&gt; due to compression of the spine, but the effect is entirely temporary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-10-15T16:52:05.533" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T16:52:05.533" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27671" CreationDate="2015-10-16T03:33:12.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both can increase the risk of injury. &#xA;The belt will put pressure on knees and the weighted ankle will put pressure on hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be done without injuries if controlled carefully.&#xA;Both can help developing force, but because of the risks, other methods are preferred. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running with extra weight leads to muscle mass increase. &#xA;The benefits could be higher in endurance running, if the weights are decent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran with heavy military boots in one winter and the core strength developed great, but it didn't improved the speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18254" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T03:33:12.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27711" CreationDate="2015-10-16T09:21:13.597" Score="12" ViewCount="1090" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say you've been lifting heavy ass weights, consistently eating well for a while, and you've accomplished the physique you wanted when you started doing exercise. You're pretty big, but you don't want to get any bigger, and of course not smaller. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you're eating exactly at your maintenance every day. How much strength training is required at that point to simply stimulate your current muscle enough that you don't lose it, but also don't gain anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put up an example, I'm wondering if someone who's been doing your main compound lifts with heavy weights 4x a week for a couple of years and built mass that way, can get by with working out 2x a week or maybe even simply do bodyweight exercises and not lose muscle (as long as they're eating enough, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-10-16T19:02:55.317" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T06:38:28.780" Title="You're as big and strong as you want: how to just maintain?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-16T10:11:47.140" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't been able to find as much information on how to properly do dips compared to all the other information I've been able to find on squats, deadlifts, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dips just don't seem to be as well-known. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I'm looking for general guidelines I should be following when doing dips, including what not to do, cues I should be reminding myself of during the movement, and the effect weighted dips may have on form compared to normal dips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3098" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T16:26:39.077" Title="How to properly do dips?" Tags="&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27707" CreationDate="2015-10-16T10:43:08.893" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it is almost impossible to exactly mantain body size. I would recommend to alternate low workout periods with higher ones (say, 1 month of aerobic and low intensity and low volume weight training and 1 month of higher weight training).&#xA;In this way, you would lose a bit of muscle while reducing body fat and re-taking previous muscular condition at the next month. This is just an example and many routine periodization might be valid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The target of altering training method is to avoid the body to get used to a routine and reducing the results obtained, what would happen if you just train less than usual but always the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of my idea is not to keep the goals obtained but be arround them, slightly bigger and slightly smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16765" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T10:43:08.893" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27668" CreationDate="2015-10-16T13:49:19.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which distance &amp;amp; times should you use?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a RECENT time as it is obviously used to determine how fit you are at the start of the program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you want a time from the last 1-2 months at most.&#xA;If you have had several races in the last 2 months, then you can chose the one closest to the distances you want to run as it will be the most representative of your performance for that distance. But don't go taking the times from a race in January. It needs to be recent. What matters is how fit you are right now, not how fit/unfit you were. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If in doubt, follow their advice: go to a track and run a mile at top speed and use that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, that's what I would do: Enter the last race details and generate a plan. Then go to the track and do a mile run as as fast as I can and generate another plan for that. Compare both plans and see how different they are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They should be pretty much the same, but maybe you have changed since your last race:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if your last race was 90 days ago and you have been training regularly since, you are probably better now than your last race's time would suggest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T13:49:19.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5290" CreationDate="2015-10-16T14:06:39.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The skin is not a muscle. Exercise will not take up the slack. Don't get me wrong, exercise is needed to stay healthy and it will help indirectly, but regaining your skin tone isn't a matter of exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To regain elasticity, your skin need to be well hydrated and have the proper nutrients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink enough water, take enough proteins and eat plenty of fresh fruits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use several things externally, like aloe vera, egg whites, lemon, honey, skin creams,... anything which hydrates the skin will help it regain elasticity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T14:06:39.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27709" CreationDate="2015-10-16T16:26:39.077" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dips are not complicated, so most people simply don't think about writing about them.  The basic idea behind dips is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start fully upright&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower your body until the shoulders are roughly parallel with the elbows (a little higher is better than a little lower)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straighten back up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how much I left out (on purpose)?  I didn't talk about leaning your body, etc.  The bottom line is that the amount of lean your body has really depends on your genetics.  The basics remain the same whether the dips are weighted or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things to avoid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't go below parallel.  It just adds unnecessary risk to your shoulder joint for very little gain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going too heavy all the time.  Vary your intensity and rep ranges so that you can build in rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't force your body into doing something it can't.  Usually you end up compromising necessary body position to compensate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't shrug your shoulders.  Forward or up it doesn't matter.  All it does is compromise your shoulder joint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dips with weights&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Really nothing changes, except now you have to attach the weight some how.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintain strict form.  If that's not possible, reduce the added weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T16:26:39.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27707" CreationDate="2015-10-16T16:41:03.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you still like working out 4 times a week, try doing same compound lifts 2 times a week, and another 2 days spend doing something completely different. This way you space out your lifts, so that it takes 2 weeks to complete the cycle instead of one, and you have 2 more days to do something completely different, new, unique.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Heavy lifts will let you &quot;maintain&quot; the mass, and &quot;something new&quot; will introduce novelty and variation.  It could be anything: boxing, running, crossfit, bodyweight exercises...  Who knows, maybe you will love it, and want to do that more :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an estimated and simplified case just for the purpose of  showing an example. After a week/two/month you will have to re adjust and tweak the program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Krotanix said, it is very difficult to maintain the exact physique, so you can use this as a &quot;low&quot; period.  And introducing new stuff will make you more well rounded athlete, and your muscles more adjusted to an exposure to different stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10014" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T16:41:03.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4473" CreationDate="2015-10-17T08:31:53.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV, but what has helped me so far has been climbing a lot of stairs. I ve done 45 minutes on a stair machine, a few days this week at the gym. It was like 80-90 floors worth.  I had purchased 2 very different pairs of shoes, but they made no difference, compared to my old shoes, in walking after this training began. I didn't stretch or drink electrolites either.  The pain has been immediately much more manageable, even though it's still present. My muscles just needed a bit more rigorous conditioning, I think. Maybe more important than losing weight to start with, for me.  Hopefully the pain will disappear altogether with continued training. I'm 42 and 50 lbs overweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18264" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T08:31:53.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-17T13:23:53.520" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple question. I'm aware that the bar bell has to touch the shins and thighs as it's coming up BUT as it's coming down should it or should you force it to touch your shins? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that as the bar bell comes down it doesn't touch my shins and is about an inch or two away from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15867" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T01:12:42.930" Title="Bar bell position when coming down during deadlift" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2015-10-17T17:27:35.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Id recommend hymalaya or celtic salt 1/2 to 1 tsp mixed in water daily to replenish your bodies need for salt because of the added minerals. Table salt is to refined we dont get enough minerals in our food our soils are depleted of valubal nutrients since 1936. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And heavy use of round up which is actually a &quot;mineral chelator&quot; which prevents uptake of minerals into plants from the soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to get necessary minerals is to use good plant based or colloidal supplements 90 essential nutrients daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mix the sea or celtic or hymalaya salt with water until it dissolves you have a simple effective colloidal solution!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard coconut water or oil is good as well if you are training or working hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18267" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T17:27:35.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13675" CreationDate="2015-10-17T22:16:00.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscles respond to stimulus: they don't know, or care, where the stressors come from - suppose there were no free weights to use? That's why one can build strength with the right bodyweight movements - so there's no reason why bands can't do the same thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18270" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T22:16:00.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27721" CreationDate="2015-10-18T01:12:42.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right, the reason it travels touching the shins is because the resistance is close to your center of gravity.  Drift like that means the bar is moving away from the center of gravity, which could mean more lower back activation.  All in all, the bar should technically travel in a straight line, up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7465" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T01:12:42.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27729" CreationDate="2015-10-18T06:58:05.493" Score="3" ViewCount="2106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did Olympic weightlifting for 4 months with dream of becoming a competitive lifter but unfortunately had to move out of town and here I don't have access to any coach or even a proper gym for that matter. After 8 months of getting frustrated &amp;amp; sitting idle, I started StrongLifts 5x5 and following standard program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Workout A: Squat, Bench Press, Barbell Row&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Workout B: Squat, Overhead Press, Deadlift,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Training 3 days a week with a linear progression of 2.5kg and switching between A/B/A and B/A/B workouts every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll get back to my town and thus to Olympic Lifting in an year or so. Currently I'm 1 month into StrongLifts 5x5 and squatting body-weight (60kgs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this program, &lt;em&gt;Deadlift&lt;/em&gt; takes care of lifting weight off the ground to knee level. &lt;em&gt;Over Head press&lt;/em&gt; takes care of lifting weight from shoulder to over-head. What I think lacks, and even miss, in this program is lifting weight from knee-level to chest level (or even over-head) which is key component of Olympic lifting. &lt;em&gt;Power Clean&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Snatch&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Clean and Press&lt;/em&gt; integrates all 3 segments of lifting into one good compound exercise with long range of motion. How can I integrate any of such exercises into this program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be quite honest I am really missing the rigor of training I had under coach. We used to train everyday, both morning &amp;amp; evening. Working just 3 days a week and that too 3 exercises per workout, seems quite lazy to me. Can I add any other exercises which will help me further in my Olympic lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2015-10-18T18:40:17.013" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T18:40:17.013" Title="Integrating Olympic lifting exercises into Strong Lifts" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-18T08:51:10.663" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;What type of exercise (HIIT, weight lifting, aerobic) is optimal for reducing proinflammatory cytokines (like TNF-alpha) and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines (like IL-10)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C-reactive protein (or CRP, another inflammation marker) levels drop with physical activity, but I'm more interested in cytokines, which are not reflected in CRP levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18274" LastEditorUserId="29177" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T08:52:39.407" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T08:52:39.407" Title="Optimal exercise for reducing inflammation markers" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27726" CreationDate="2015-10-18T11:25:35.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If doing a program similar to StrongLifts is important to you, consider buying the Starting Strength book and following its program. It is similar to StrongLifts, but more detailed and includes the power clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider following an Olympic-lifting-specific program, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/article/1686/The-Simplest-Olympic-Weightlifting-Program-in-the-World/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;something from Catalyst Athletics&lt;/a&gt; (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/olympic-weightlifting-workouts/training-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/article/131/Starter-Program-for-Catalyst-Athletics-Online-Workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resources&lt;/a&gt; from them) or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pendlay.com/a-training-system-for-beginning-olympic-weightlifters_df_90.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glenn Pendlay beginner program&lt;/a&gt;. It's possible to lift more than 3 times a week. It's possible to do Olympic lifting as a focus or as a supplement to basic strength lifts. There's no need to restrict yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-10-18T14:20:39.607" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T14:20:39.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27726" CreationDate="2015-10-18T15:31:00.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that you either started too low on StrongLifts, or you are indeed a beginner based on continuing to make progress on the program. You'll only benefit from exhausting your beginner gains in a linear based program like this. You'll be able to go back much stronger for your Olympic lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, to avoid losing technical proficiency, I'd start warming up each day with some variation of the O-lifts. Even if they are not max effort (probably for the best at this point), you'll be able to focus on maintaining technique so that you don't have to relearn when you get back to your coach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd personally do a snatch variation on non-deadlift days, and a clean variation on deadlift days. You could also add in some jerks after doing presses to help keep that technique strong as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that the variations of the o-lifts don't just include the full and power variations. There are also the hang positions from varying heights, block pulls, etc. Utilizing all of them (not all at once) will help you maintain, or improve, your lifting technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T15:31:00.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27484" CreationDate="2015-10-18T19:25:32.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lane 1 of a standard track is 400 meters. As you go farther out to lanes 2 - 8, the distance increases. That's why there are different starting marks for several distances at different parts of the track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For races in which runners stay in their lane (200m, 400m, 300 hurdles, etc.), there are starting lines in each individual lane. For races where runners break to the inside lanes, there is one waterfall starting line which curves forward so that people starting farther out run the same distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T19:25:32.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27387" CreationDate="2015-10-18T19:42:25.623" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basic speed workouts have these benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fast twitch muscle fiber recruitment:&lt;/strong&gt; speed work is one of the only ways to recruit fast twitch muscle fibers. If you do sprint training, your body will learn how to recruit those muscle fibers for faster running in workouts and when finishing races.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Puts a large amount of stress on the central nervous system:&lt;/strong&gt; by stressing your CNS, you learn to deal with high amounts of fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Encourages better biomechanics:&lt;/strong&gt; people sprint on their forefeet, so by sprinting you can learn to run slower with better biomechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improves the body's system for storing and returning elastic energy:&lt;/strong&gt; when sprinting, you stiffen your leg to prepare for impact as fast and powerfully as possible, so you are teaching your body to store and return that elastic energy as fast as possible. This will carry over to running on flatter ground.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Provides a foundation to build to longer, but still fast, race-specific workouts:&lt;/strong&gt; a biomechanical and neuromuscular base from sprint workouts early in the season will allow you to move to longer, but still fast, workouts as the season progresses. You will be able to move from basic speed to speed endurance to anaerobic speed endurance much more effectively than if you didn't have that foundation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastEditorDisplayName="user15313" LastEditDate="2017-09-25T20:22:13.200" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T20:22:13.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14655" CreationDate="2015-10-19T01:52:31.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most health guidelines suggest a minimum of 30 min's of activity at least 5 times a week, to maintain a rudimentary level of fitness. This is for an already healthy adult (18-64) eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NHS: Physical activity guidelines for adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/American-Heart-Association-Recommendations-for-Physical-Activity-in-Adults_UCM_307976_Article.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity in Adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_adults/en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WHO: Physical Activity and Adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/20120824/30-minutes-daily-exercise-shed-pounds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;30 Minutes of Daily Exercise Enough to Shed Pounds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though a number of studies show an hour+ at varying exertion levels yields significant health and performance benefits, again for healthy adults. If you look at a number of the associated / suggested programmes, attached to these studies, they'll suggest a mix of exercises, to work different muscle groups, and at different intensities eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking, Dancing, Gardening, Hiking, Swimming, Cycling (30+ mins a day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jogging (15+ mins day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks (5+ mins day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats (30+ day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push Ups (30+ day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit Ups (60+ day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumpin Jacks (30+ day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges (30+ day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches - Twisting / Bicycle (30+ day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga (15+ mins)&#xA;.....&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: These are total daily figures and could be be broken down into small sets, performed throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your existing condition and what you're trying to achieve, I'm fairly sure you'll be able to find a weekly exercise routine and diet regime to suit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-10-19T02:07:23.633" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T02:07:23.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4990" CreationDate="2015-10-19T18:09:39.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in the Marine Corps and I used to run 3 miles with 50lb sandbag in my ruck. I would NOT recommend doing this, your chances of injury are great.&#xA;If you're not in the military already, I would encourage you that you do not need to learn to RUN with a pack. You'll go to boot camp and you'll do very little running with a pack on. You will do lots of &quot;humping&quot; (aka walking around) with heavy pack.&#xA;The only units I've seen that run often with a weighted pack are snipers/recon etc. Even then, they do what I call the &quot;Old Man Shuffle&quot;, rather than flat out running.&#xA;If you are determined to train with a weighted pack, I would suggest loading down your ruck and getting on a Stairmaster, if your gym has one. This will smoke you and will more closely simulate the type of effort you'll be putting in at bootcamp etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18284" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T18:09:39.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-19T21:57:55.893" Score="6" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;After starting lifting, or perhaps it was from bad posture at my desk job, I got what I think is a muscle knot and I'd like to know more about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes muscle knots? On both a higher level and a deeper scientific level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there exercises or stretches or something that can be done to remedy muscle knots and why does it work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does stretching before/after exercising prevent muscle knots? Is there any other way to prevent muscle knots?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-10-20T18:27:10.753" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T10:11:37.117" Title="What is a muscle knot?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27699" CreationDate="2015-10-20T03:29:34.020" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. If you do plenty of cardio (e.g. short burst sprinting, swimming, etc.), your body will secrete growth hormones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if you lift heavy, especially chest or back related workouts since your bones are less dense and still growing it will stunt that growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest doing more high intensity workouts with lower weight and higher rep range!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18287" LastEditorUserId="18287" LastEditDate="2015-10-20T04:00:56.197" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T04:00:56.197" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27742" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27743" CreationDate="2015-10-20T13:24:46.123" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;In how far is a predicted one repetition maximum (1RM) accurate if there are several seconds between reps? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Let's say I do 10 x 150kg on the deadlift with average rep time of 9 sec (time from first rep to last pull divided by reps). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a formula that takes rep time into account? If not, which rep time is acceptable between repetitions to call it a set / so the predicted 1RM works?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" OwnerDisplayName="haywire" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-21T10:33:59.817" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T10:33:59.817" Title="Predicted 1RM accuracy" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27742" CreationDate="2015-10-20T14:16:56.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, the accuracy of 1RM calculators is never going to be exact. A 1RM is inherently unpredictable. To my knowledge they are not rigorously tested against different pseudo-rest periods between reps in a set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes take several breaths between reps of a squat. The bar is still on my shoulders, though, so it's still a set. In a high-rep context (for which 1RM calculators already become inaccurate) like towards the end of a heavy 20-rep squat workout, I might take five or six fast breaths. In a deadlift, it's normal to take a breath or two and reset one's grip between reps and still call it a set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An average of 9 seconds between reps for a 10-rep set is pretty far into territory that I would consider not a set in the normal sense. But the distinction is extremely vague, especially for exercises where you're still holding the bar. For a deadlift, where those pauses between reps are &lt;em&gt;complete rest&lt;/em&gt;, I'd say they firmly don't count as a set and are more like a cluster of singles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T14:16:56.173" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-20T21:05:06.723" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of long distance running and I normally take a gel if I am racing and it goes longer than 2 hours. (Like a Marathon) My question is for tennis would I get the same benefit? For example, a tennis match could last 2-3 hours. Would taking a gel every 40-50 minutes help mitigate cramping and give me some energy later in the match?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T21:36:07.617" Title="Do energy Gels help in long Tennis matches" Tags="&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27745" CreationDate="2015-10-20T21:36:07.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it really depends on the duration of the match ; however it would definitely help and trigger your energy.&#xA; Since you also run while playing tennis, the effects of the gel should be similar.&#xA;I would not mind using before the match .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18297" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T21:36:07.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27707" CreationDate="2015-10-21T06:38:28.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To achieve maintenance in place of gains, you can train at the same intensity, but reduce the volume to around 30 - 40%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8255" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T06:38:28.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27751" CreationDate="2015-10-21T09:35:21.627" Score="3" ViewCount="413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that I have a fairly strong grip. But when I pull 170 kg I feel the bar starting to slip (double overhand, no straps, no hook grip) right before lockout, so I missed the full lockout, because my strength gave in (the bar was not dropping, I was still able to set it down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With mixed grip I pulled 3x165 kg the next day which is a greater achievement considering the predicted 1RM of 175kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The numbers don't matter here and are just a mere example. My question is:&#xA;Can my body output more power/strength when my grip is stronger, let's say so strong that I don't even feel holding something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a study about that topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-21T11:27:00.757" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T12:19:19.443" Title="Relation between grip strength and power output" Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27209" CreationDate="2015-10-21T10:38:00.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bench press works mostly chest, incline bench works both to the same extend (45 degree angle) and overhead press works mostly shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the worked muscles in the order of percentage involved here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bench press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/BBInclineBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Incline bench&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBShoulderPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Overhead press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T10:38:00.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27748" CreationDate="2015-10-21T10:39:14.680" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, some anecdotal tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've noticed is that when I'm lifting heavy, and it's quite clear that my grip is the limiting factor, I'll literally break form because I'm focusing so much on my grip that I forget to focus on the important stuff like thoracic extension, neck position, shoulder engagement, relative joint angles in the hip/knee/ankle etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can recommend is that when you know you're going heavy, and you know your grip is a potential game breaker; use straps. Yes, you lose out on the grip training a deadlift offers, but it's very easy to compensate for this by doing some grip-specific exercises afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most relevant article I've read is &lt;a href=&quot;http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&amp;amp;context=gradschool_theses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, a study of muscle activation depending on if you use a double prone (overhand) grip, or a switch-grip (over/under). And it is the reason why I prefer to use straps and continue double prone rather than change my grip position. Long story very short; the biggest takeaway I had from this report is that the over/under grip generates bilateral asymmetry. It's worth noting that it wasn't confirmed that this produces long-term asymmetries or imbalances, but I'd rather not be the first one to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T10:39:14.680" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27748" CreationDate="2015-10-21T10:56:53.737" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can my body output more power/strength when my grip is stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Yes.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't hold something, you can't pick it up. Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore in Starting Strength mention that there is also an unconscious feedback effect, where if one's grip starts to fail, the rest of the body refuses to lift properly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grip strength is crucial to the deadlift, and the deadlift works grip strength better than any other major exercise. It is the limiting factor for many lifters with smaller hands or short fingers, or those that rely too much on their straps when training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The back will not pull off the floor what the hands cannot hold, due to proprioceptive feedback that tells the back the weight is too heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(page 207, 2nd edition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strong grip is paramount to lifting heavy things off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your 1RM deadlift is failing due to grip, then I'd recommend using a lot of chalk (which takes some practice to apply correctly) and a hook grip (the thumb inside the fingers). If this doesn't help after a few sessions of practicing, then consider adding grip-specific work like static top-of-the-deadlift holds or farmer's walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-10-21T12:19:19.443" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T12:19:19.443" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-21T16:53:44.157" Score="3" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been following a strength training program for about 14 months (Stronglifts 2.5 months, Starting Strength the remaining time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting a bit bored of it (going to the gym feels like a chore) and would like to try a bodybuilding program for a change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to use barbells and would like a program on the lines of Starting Strength, if that is even possible. Only 'safe' exercises and if possible fast to execute. I would hope to be in and out of the gym in 40 min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T18:23:11.143" Title="Body building workout equivalent to Starting Strength?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-21T17:03:38.260" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fully extend my arms when bringing the barbell up from my chest, is this the correct approach or should they not be fully locked?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15867" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T12:02:53.243" Title="Bench press - arm position" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-21T17:11:21.863" Score="3" ViewCount="1243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm unclear on exactly what keeping &quot;shoulders down and back means&quot;. Does &quot;down&quot; mean extending your chest such that the shoulders stay back in position? And back meaning simply don't shrug them up but keep them down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15867" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T20:45:22.160" Title="Bench press - shoulders down and back" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-21T17:18:34.880" Score="2" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my work weight it takes me between 60 and 75 minutes to finish the novice Starting Strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to be in and out of the gym in about 40 min. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I diminish my work weights I'm able to do the exercises faster, but when I try to push my current max I fail the sets if I cut the rest time shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been following a strength training program for about 14 months (Stronglifts 2.5 months, Starting Strength the remaining time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current program and max work weights are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Day 1&#xA;Squat 3x5  115kg&#xA;Bench 3x5   65kg &#xA;Snatch 5x3  37.5kg&#xA;&#xA;Day 2&#xA;Squat 3x5 &#xA;Press 3x5 42.5kg&#xA;Dead  1x5 100kg&#xA;Chins 9x6x5 (target is 3x15)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I follow this &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmWyzQPqnP1wcGxsU1FwNlpITmFBcUZGcHBESXVfSkE&amp;amp;hl=en#gid=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;warmup schedule&lt;/a&gt; and rest 5 min between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I optimize Starting Strength for workout duration while still doing progress, even if moderate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastEditorUserId="10376" LastEditDate="2015-10-21T18:19:03.890" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T14:20:08.720" Title="Can Starting Strength be made faster?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27771" CreationDate="2015-10-21T17:18:59.690" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to unrack the barbell when bench pressing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you attempt to almost slide it as opposed to simply lifting it up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know sliding is a lot easier if the hooks are flat but on some benches the hooks are quite deep so what does one do in this instance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15867" LastEditorUserId="15867" LastEditDate="2015-10-22T15:25:26.990" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T15:45:36.537" Title="Bench press - unracking bar bell" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27753" CreationDate="2015-10-21T17:34:34.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like most training programs, there’s no one size fits all.  Bodybuilding training is somewhat different in that the goal is to build, shape, and expose the body’s musculature.  As such, there's no specific program you can call “Bodybuilding” even though there are plenty of trainers that will try to sell you such a program.  Bodybuilding is more of a life style than a training program.  It has components that overlap with strength training.  You can use barbells for compound movements, and, typically use dumbbells for isolating specific muscles.  And, as far as time is concerned, it’s dependent upon how your training routine is designed.  I would suggest you take a look at some of the more common ones for a starting point.  For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flexonline.com/training/training-style-push-pull&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Push/Pull&quot;&lt;/a&gt; splits up the routine into exercises that “push” and exercises that “pull”.  There are many others, but, the goal would remain the same in that you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/animalpak4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“split”&lt;/a&gt; the routine into different  segments so that you can expend more energy on a specific 'weak' body part.  “Weak” in terms of development, not, necessarily strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T17:34:34.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27759" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-21T18:55:36.487" Score="2" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 41 years old, 1.82m tall and weigh 82kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been on strength training for 14 months (2.5 stronglifts, 11.5 starting strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't do the program, as Riptoe would put it. I never got used to drinking the whole lot of milk it requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the first 2.5 months, my lifts were at this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Squat 5x5  90kg&#xA;Bench 5x5  60kg&#xA;Press 5x5  40kg&#xA;Row   5x5  52kg&#xA;Dead  1x5  90kg&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that I moved to starting strength, got sick, had persistent injuries, vacation, etc. Progress has been erratic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are my current work weights and all time max (3x5, kg):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;          current   max&#xA; Squat    110       117.5&#xA; Bench     65        70&#xA; Press     42.5      47.5&#xA; Clean     -         52.5 moved to snatch, issues with form&#xA; Dead     100       110&#xA; chin     9x6x6     10x8x6&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My objective when I started was to get rid of lower back pain, which I did (thanks Riptoe). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I don't feel I progressed as much as I should in most lifts, have been plagued by injuries on my shoulders (probably caused by a fall I had while running years ago which spread to both shoulders when I started sleeping on only the uninjured side) and overall feel like going to the gym is a chore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it time to move on to a different program or a variation on the starting strength theme that would allow me to progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program I'm following is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27756/can-starting-strength-be-made-faster&quot;&gt;described on this question.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T11:07:04.343" Title="Starting Strength, time to move on?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27755" CreationDate="2015-10-21T20:45:22.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;h3&gt;&amp;quot;Down and Back&amp;quot;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a common cue meant to tell the lifter to keep their shoulders locked into position so that the shoulder girdle remains open throughout the lift (to avoid impinging any tissues).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easy way to feel this while standing or sitting is to raise your arms so that both your upper and lower (forearm) arm are parallel to the ground. Now pull your elbows back until you feel your upper back pinch together. While keeping this position, rotate and pull your elbows down. You should feel a small stretch in your traps when you do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the position you want your shoulder blades to remain in while pressing the barbell. I'd recommend practicing holding this position with the empty bar until you're confident that you can hold it with larger weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T20:45:22.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-22T01:04:02.673" Score="6" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have worked with calisthenics for over a month now, and now I want to work harder for my goal. I am 15 years old and my parents say that I work out way too hard. I exercise 6 times a week. My exercise form Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are doing pull ups, dips, push ups, and squats. I do 12 reps and 8 sets of these exercises. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I am doing cardio like burpees, mountain climbers, high knees, and jumping squats trying to burn fat. I really don't feel any soreness the day after. Am I over training?      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18307" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T19:45:25.580" Title="Working too hard" Tags="&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27774" CreationDate="2015-10-22T01:43:18.440" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for an evidence-based 'how to squat' guide (and actually the gym more generally). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free online would be great but for the gym generally I'd be happy to buy a book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously everyone's guide is based on some evidence, I'm hoping for a guide that looks at clinical data or trials (if there are any), reviews published literature etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, I'm wanting a guide to inform my gym activities, not for research - I'd like to know when I read things like 'don't let your knees extend beyond your toes or you'll risk damaging your knees', that these views are based on evidence like the above (if available, or whether the recommendations are just based on biomechanics first principles or whatever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18286" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T08:20:13.377" Title="evidence based 'how to squat guide' and gym more generally" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27756" CreationDate="2015-10-22T06:22:06.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forty minutes of gym time is an unrealistically low expectation if one is looking for the same effects as a multi-exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If 40 minutes is a hard cap--which I'd advise against having--then first I'd only do one work set. Warm up with the bar, add weight in logical big-plate increments (e.g. 20kg, then 40kg, then 60kg, then 80kg, then 100kg), then do a single maximal set (e.g. 115kg x5 reps). This eliminates nearly a majority of rest time since there is no rest time between warm-ups and after the work set you can immediately strip the plates and move to your next exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's probably not enough to get a workout down to 40 minutes. Remember, 40 minutes is a ludicrously short period of time to expect to complete a whole-body strength workout. At this point you need to start dropping exercises. Forget chin-ups, at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, switch to a 3-day split so you can do fewer exercises per day. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt;: Squat, bench&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt;: Deadlift, overhead press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of schedule with only 1 work set would probably, most days, fit in a 40-minute workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T06:22:06.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27762" CreationDate="2015-10-22T07:05:48.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For natural training, it's usual to make 3 to 5 anaerobic sessions per week, but it's hard to know if someone is overtraining just by knowing it's training schedule, basically because everybody is different. I would say as long as your cardio is not very intense, keep training sessions under 1h and eat properly in order to recover, you are ok.&#xA;A first check to know if you are overtraining is when you feel a little bit tired all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16765" LastEditorUserId="16765" LastEditDate="2015-10-22T10:28:47.153" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T10:28:47.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4391" CreationDate="2015-10-22T10:22:48.493" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take electrolytes before, during, and after running. Then check if the problem continues or is resolved. It's due to mineral loss via sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18311" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2015-10-22T14:13:19.683" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T14:13:19.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27759" CreationDate="2015-10-22T11:07:04.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The key to continued progress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...is variation. Like TestWell said in a comment, &quot;after a year of any program, it's time to switch it up&quot;, and that's honestly the best answer. But allow me to elaborate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Options&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are enough options out there to fill entire volumes of books. It's not really a case of choosing the right one. It's more a case of finding one that you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on where you want to be in 5 years. More power? Leaner? Bigger? Higher vertical jump? Doing olympic lifts? 100m dashes? Or maybe just...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting better at the stuff you're already doing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're already doing the big compound exercises, and that's good. Riptoe's is a very good starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your shoulder problems, you might want to consider really getting your squat up while your shoulders heal. There are some algorithmic approaches to this whereby (and this is just an example) you squat three times a week, 5x5, using percentages of your 1RM, and progressing over a 6 week period, at the end of which, it's estimated that you'll add 10-12% to your 1RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, that's just an example (and let me know if it sounds interesting), but there's really no problem tweaking your gym activities around your injuries and preferences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But first things first&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You obviously need to talk to a doctor (if you haven't already) before continuing to work out with weights, given your injuries. You might even end up with a physical therapist who will be even more qualified to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T11:07:04.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27756" CreationDate="2015-10-22T14:20:08.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On Day 2, you wouldn't need to follow such a strict warm-up set for deadlifts since you'll be nice and warmed up from squatting. It looks, in my opinion, that a lot of the time is being spent warming up and resting. Even 5 min between sets seems overkill if you're not working the same muscles directly after (like on Day 1). You can probably also eliminate some of the warm-up sets. On squat day, adding 15 lbs to the bar to knock out 5 reps, removing the weight, adding the next weight amount, etc. takes a lot of time. Add weight in 50 lb increments instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17926" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T14:20:08.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27757" CreationDate="2015-10-22T15:45:36.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unracking the bar should be a &lt;strong&gt;slide&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;not a lift&lt;/strong&gt;. The bar should be at arm's length when at the tip of the rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some hinges have a lip at the end, which of course has its own uses. I guess it's for safety, but I think that's accomplished just fine with a straight plug at an angle which slopes into the rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the same principle applies. When the bar comes off the hooks, you should already have it at the top of the lift, or as close as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for the slide-off, is that as soon as the bar comes off, it should be somewhere over your mouth/chin, which is an unstable point (the stable point is directly over your shoulders, where your arms are vertical). The slide makes sure you have that tiny bit of momentum to get it into balance with minimal effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing very heavy reps, and you have one of those lipped hooks, you should get your spotter to assist you with the unrack. After all, if you're doing heavy reps, the spotter should be there anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T15:45:36.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27762" CreationDate="2015-10-22T19:45:25.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you are working way too hard. I have injured myself before doing a similar routine(believe me, it takes a while to heal). My body did not give me any hints at first when I hurt myself doing this, so watch out. Anyway, you should get a real routine together. I would suggest going to your school's fitness center, and doing a routine such as chest, shoulders, and legs for an hour on Monday and Thursday and doing back and biceps on Tuesday and Friday; that would give you plenty time to recover and it probably would be more effective for muscle gains than your current workout, anyway. Overtraining is not something you want to get involved with, change your routine before you get hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T19:45:25.580" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-23T04:25:23.667" Score="2" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the high interval phase, can I do it in a high intensity but low resistance? or the resistance should be also high to be more effective in fat burning? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing HIIT on elliptical machine and after 5 to 8 cycles of work I felt my legs are sore and couldn't finish the whole workout anymore. Plus I don't want to develop or have huge muscle on my legs, thigh. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So can I do the high intensity phase at a fast speed but low resistance? Will it still be called HIIT? Will the fat burning process still be effective? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18317" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-15T17:45:36.330" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T17:45:36.330" Title="Can HIIT be done at a lower resistance?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27763" CreationDate="2015-10-23T08:20:13.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally the topics of &quot;how to squat&quot; and evidence-based analyses of the squat are kept separate. People write &quot;how to squat&quot; material and they write scientific material elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen some stuff that is a little bit of both from Bret Contreras, &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthandconditioningresearch.com/exercises/squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for instance here&lt;/a&gt;. Starting Strength (and perhaps Practical Programming) by Rippetoe &amp;amp; Kilgore go into biomechanical detail of the squat while discussing &quot;how to squat&quot;, as do some Olympic lifting texts. Unfortunately Rippetoe's works are extremely biased towards a specific variant (the low-bar back squat), so should be taken with a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T08:20:13.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27773" CreationDate="2015-10-23T11:51:04.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; the defining factors for HIIT are short periods of intense exercise interspersed by periods of more moderate exercise. Depending on the exercise(s) you choose there does not have to be any resistance. For example at my amateur boxing club we will:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skip rope normally for 15 seconds, then skip while running in place with high knees for 15 seconds. Repeat 6 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similarly, shadow box at a normal rate for 15 seconds and then throwing punches as fast as you can for 15 seconds. Repeat 6 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a series of calisthenic exercises (e.g. high knees in place, pushups, situps, burpees, squat jumps, leg lifts), 15 or 30 seconds each, for a total of 3 minutes and then rest for 1 minute. Repeat once. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16295" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T11:51:04.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27778" CreationDate="2015-10-23T15:24:28.003" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out 5 days a week. Lifting followed by a 20-30 min cardio session. I've been sticking to my diet as well. &quot;Good&quot; carbs, good amount of proteins, veggies, no soda, only water and green tea (sometimes, mostly only at lunch). However, I haven't been able to reduce my coffee intake, and, I wanted to know if it would affect my weight loss, or, my muscle building progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently drink from 3 to 4 cups of coffee (one 0 calorie sugar packet per cup) and one tea spoon of creamer per cup. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-10-23T15:52:09.947" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T16:51:22.870" Title="How much coffee is too much if I'm lifting/dieting" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27776" CreationDate="2015-10-23T16:51:22.870" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Research is pretty divided. On one end, there are claims that it reduces performance and muscle growth by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/gastelu21.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;slowing muscle reaction and displacing calcium&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular intake of caffeine reduces your muscles strength and resistance training performance by slowing down the muscle contraction and relaxation cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High intake of caffeine also displaces calcium absorption, which may partially explain the adverse effect to muscle contractions, as calcium plays an important role in nervous system function, as well as bone growth and structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others claim that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/487836-does-caffeine-affect-muscle-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;it improves performance&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary effect that caffeine has is on your central nervous system. The drug increases the firing of your neurons and triggers your pituitary gland to release adrenaline. American Council on Exercise sports nutritionist Fabio Comana states that reputable studies have shown this stimulating effect to improve endurance exercise performance. By allowing you to perform exercise for longer periods of time and a sustained intensity level, caffeine may aid in muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second mechanism through which caffeine may enhance your muscle growth is through the release of fatty acids into your bloodstream. In a review of energy beverages presented in 2010 in the &amp;quot;Mayo Clinic Proceedings,&amp;quot; Dr. John Higgins and colleagues noted that your muscles will use fatty acids as an energy source before the stored glycogen in your muscles. Preserving your muscle glycogen may help you exercise for longer periods of time without reaching muscle exhaustion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I'd say that 3-4 cups of coffee isn't really going to break the bank either way. If it keeps you moving to perform more exercise, that's good. If the caffeine is disrupting your sleep habits, that's bad. The creamer is less than 10 calories per teaspoon, so 3-4 cups will neither result in massive weight gain or much extra fuel for muscle-building. It's pretty much a wash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T16:51:22.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27799" CreationDate="2015-10-23T17:59:51.503" Score="1" ViewCount="533" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be a big fan of overhead triceps presses, however, I noticed that with increased weight my joints started to ache. Sometimes I even hear a pop sound and after that my joints hurt for up to a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any particular exercises for triceps that don't put too much pressure on elbow joints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16856" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T07:16:50.723" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T19:24:28.110" Title="Triceps exercises that don't put much pressure on the elbow joints" Tags="&lt;triceps&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-23T18:47:27.283" Score="1" ViewCount="2413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in okay shape, so I decided to join a crossfit box. I have been doing crossfit for about months now, and I really enjoy it. However, I find that I am having trouble doing some of the more strength-intensive movements like pullups and toes-to-bar, etc. So I figured I should start a strength program. Stronglifts seems like a good fit since I am rather new to strength training. I have been doing Stronglifts for about 2 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out how best to balance out my schedule to include both of these programs. There are 2 questions here: scheduling and weight level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I do Stronglifts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. &lt;strong&gt;Should I do my crossfit workouts on the same days?&lt;/strong&gt; From a practical standpoint--job--working out twice a day tends to be hard--because I will try to do strength work in the morning and then crossfit in the afternoon. This seems like the most consistent with the Stronglift principles of alternating rest days with strength days. I can maintain this, but I was not sure it was the correct way to go in terms of overdoing it or exhausting myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could do crossfit workouts on my rest days. That is possible, but I did not think that lifting weights for crossfit qualifies as the &quot;light-moderate cardio&quot; recommendation for Stronglifts rest days. But this is possible--I just was not sure it was advisable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I use lower weights during my crossfit workouts if I am doing Stronglifts?&lt;/strong&gt; So the Stronglifts website notes that you should not be working at like 80% of your 1RM max. I think that was the point of starting with a lower weight--so that you would not get really sore and then have to skip workouts and such. So if I am lifting weights for strength, should I cut back the weight for crossfit--especially if I am doing both on the same day?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9909" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T18:47:27.283" Title="combining crossfit with stronglifts - both scheduling and weight intensity" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-23T19:00:01.090" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's protein or carbs or what so that one can gain weight for a movie project but after completing it would also be easier to get back into shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18320" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T01:23:48.143" Title="What kind of food can help someone gain weight easily but also would be easy to lose" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-10-26T15:21:44.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29185" CreationDate="2015-10-23T19:25:22.937" Score="5" ViewCount="3748" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy some wooden gymnastics rings for my home gym. I have found models with 2.8,2.9,3.0,3.1 and 3.2 cm diameter. Since I have small hands my first idea was to go with the 2.8 cm rings. However my Kettlebells have 3.3 cm diameter handles and it works well. Moreover thicker ring handles should have a better pressure distribution on your hands when doing dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any disadvantages if I take the 3.2 cm ones even if I have smaller hands? Any other points to consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T15:34:51.030" Title="Thickness of gymnastics rings" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;rings&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-23T20:13:57.690" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go rock climbing roughly 3 days a week for 2 hours per session. As you can imagine, this exercise really challenges my all around muscular endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I be nourishing myself before, during, and after my climbing workouts to maximize the benefits and recovery?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps, in 2 hours, I'll normally climb between 10 - 16 boulder problems, or 8 - 12 ~40 -  50ft routes if I'm on a rope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18141" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T13:02:27.803" Title="Nutrition during rock climbing workouts" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27781" CreationDate="2015-10-23T22:47:04.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no food which makes future weight loss any easier than any other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight, you need to construct a diet where you have a caloric surplus over any given period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose weight, you need to construct a diet where you have a caloric deficit over any given period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all depends on your calorie usage, bodyweight, and most of all how disciplined you are at following your plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite food for gaining weight is brown rice. Whenever I have a period where I want to gain weight and strength, I eat brown rice with pretty much every dinner. With fish, meat, tuna, you name it. Any of these will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T22:47:04.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25476" CreationDate="2015-10-23T23:39:08.450" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use MyFitnessPal to track nutrition, &amp;amp; Runkeeper to track my runs. Both can by synced together as well! For weight training I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endofthreefitness.com/how-to-use-evernote-to-dominate-your-fitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Evernote&lt;/a&gt; its pretty BA, you can asctually log workouts on pen and paper and just snap a photo of it on the app!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18322" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T23:39:08.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23618" CreationDate="2015-10-24T04:01:19.957" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used my up today on a treadmill but I was holding on to the arm rest and it did not count my steps. I felt robbed. I wounded if I put it on my ankle that would be better. I'm usually pushing a stroller so my arms are not moving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18323" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T19:59:17.217" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T19:59:17.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27783" CreationDate="2015-10-24T13:02:27.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could treat this similar to running and fuel every 40-60 minutes depending on the duration of your climb. 2 hours is the max I would normally running without a Gel or something so you could eat something halfway. You have the advantage of being able to digest a little more normally since your HR will be lower than a runner so you can look at other fuel options (like an Ultra runner would take)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look at Tailwind Nutrition if you simply want a supplement to put into your water bottle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tailwindnutrition.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.tailwindnutrition.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will give you energy as well as hydration throughout your climb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T13:02:27.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25605" CreationDate="2015-10-24T15:07:40.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question requires a general answer since the two types of training, as they are, can have many variations in training parameters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By doing circuit training you can complete the training session in a shorter time while maintaining the intensity: by working out another muscle group while the first one rests you effectively shorten the time spent working out. Shortening the time of a training session leads to lower levels of cortisol post-exercise, which shortens the recovery time between sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Circuit training puts a greater total stress on the body (partly due to shorter rest periods, but even with equally long rest periods) since more muscles are in a fatigued state at the same time. This can possibly contribute to the stimulation of anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing complete sets allows for a more complete recovery between sets of the worked out muscle, as well as lowers total body fatigue (build up of lactate etc. in the blood) compared to circuit training. This allows for higher power outputs during lifting, and as such greater gains in strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a sprinter, focusing on pure strength without hypertrophy, I only employ complete sets. However, if striving for hypertrophy, or strength endurance, then circuit training can be of more value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advantages of complete sets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Possibly a higher strength gain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower fatigue, easier to finish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advantages of circuit training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows for a shorter training time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Presents a higher training stimulus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6630" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T15:07:40.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-24T15:09:27.977" Score="5" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a particularly hilly area and have just finished c25k. I have mostly run around the neighbourhood for the past 8 weeks and as a result the vast majority of my runs have incorporated some kind of hill. For example, the elevation on my 5km route looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOiYd.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOiYd.png&quot; alt=&quot;Made by onthegomap.com&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today it occurred to me that it may not be a good idea to run these kinds of hills every run (in my case, 3x a week). How should I be structuring my runs? Is it okay to continue like this, or should I incorporate a flatter run into my route on a regular basis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, this is a 6.2 km route which is mostly downhill/flat for the first 4.5 km. I usually walk up the hill for the last 1.2km or so. This route is for when I want to have an easier run that's more flat or downhill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/asiWg.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/asiWg.png&quot; alt=&quot;thanks again to onthegomap.com&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5376" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T20:10:36.643" Title="How should I structure my runs if I live in a particularly hilly area?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27789" CreationDate="2015-10-24T20:10:36.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Optimally, you should have a mix of flat and hilly terrain in your runs. However, if you are running on just hills, then you'll still be getting plenty of physiological benefit. Try to find more flat areas (explore new routes or drive somewhere), but don't worry if you can't change your running routes as much as you'd like. I would recommend hilly routes for around half or less of your weekly runs, so in your case, 1 or maybe 2 days out of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips for how you should do easy runs on hills:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't worry about pace - focus on effort. Uphills slow you down, so it's okay if you're not going as fast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do some eccentric leg exercises (squats and calf dips for example) to prevent injury from running uphill and downhill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't run too fast downhill. There is a lot of force coming down on your heel (it's impossible to run on your forefoot on steep downhills), so go a little slower and run with shorter strides.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T20:10:36.643" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2015-10-25T00:34:00.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;boxing for fitness works your whole body, especially your core, if of course you are throwing punches correctly. Start adding kicks to your heavybag routine. You will see results pretty quickly as long as your diet is on point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15689" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T00:34:00.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-25T13:36:36.387" Score="-1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My nephew was 60 kilograms, 17 years old and 5 foot 6 inches tall six months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He started weight training and now he weighs over 85 kilos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this possible without steroids &amp;amp; peptides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18333" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T02:24:05.397" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T03:06:27.367" Title="How can you gain weight quickly?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-10-27T06:59:41.770" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27792" CreationDate="2015-10-25T16:48:03.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, this is hard to say without a blood analysis, but if these 25 kg are muscle and not fat, and it has really been in 6 months... yes, he has taken steroids. And I would not say he has taken a little bit. Even if he would had win 5 kg I would say the same. &#xA;Me, with 8 years of training, had won arround 10kg. I'm not into bodybuilding as a job, just as a hobby. I could have gained more weight maybe, but never ever so much as he did, always speaking of pure muscle weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16765" LastEditorUserId="16765" LastEditDate="2015-10-25T19:22:04.207" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T19:22:04.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27794" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27797" CreationDate="2015-10-25T18:47:04.873" Score="0" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just started going to the gym and trying to lose weight (258 lbs ~= 117 kg) and I'm trying to make a schedule where I train my entire body twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previously to this, I last trained a little over a year ago for 2.5 months and managed to lose around 30 lbs (15 kg) in this time, with a 6 day workout routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday, Wednesday, Friday - training main muscle groups:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest &amp;amp; back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps, triceps, shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday, Thursday - cardio: 20 minutes on treadmill&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Saturday: 3 mile run, 1 set max push-ups, 1 set max pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my schedule has since changed and I can't go to the gym each day during the working week, so I'm forced to have most of my gym schedule in the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I've finished week 1, going to the gym on Monday evening, Friday evening, Saturday morning and Sunday morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to keep this format as it fits well with my job &amp;amp; school schedule and would also like to hit all the muschles twice in these 4 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've considered is to make a 2-day split workout and repeat it for each 2 consecutive days (Friday &amp;amp; Saturday - full body workout #1, Sunday &amp;amp; Monday - full body workout #2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only problem is I don't know how to split my musche groups &amp;amp; my exercises into these 2 days, since I'm intending to repeat the exercises for the same body part two days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I was considering was to split my schedule into:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;workout #1: - legs &amp;amp; chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;workout #2: - back, biceps, triceps, shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no experience of training other than the 2.5 months I have trained over a year ago, so I'm hoping to get some advice from more knowledgeable people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help or guidance is very much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13666" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T07:29:21.127" Title="Train full body in two days for four days straight" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27792" CreationDate="2015-10-26T01:13:20.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is quite possible to accomplish this, but not if it's pure(mostly) muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that they are still a teenager and as thus they are still developing and growing his body. A teenager can easily gain 5-10kg a year just through normal body growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fat and muscle that they gain on top of this could in total add up to the 25kg. It depends on how much fat they have gained, gaining fat is far far easier, than gaining muscle. An average adult male can gain muscle at about a rate of 0.25 - 0.5 pounds per week. For a 6 month period that works out to about 6kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So assume they put on 5kg (a lot for a late teenager) from growth and they gain 6kg of muscles which again is quite a lot. That leaves 14kg unaccounted for which is possibly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does your nephew look like he has gained a lot of fat? 14kg in 6 months seems like a lot of fat and it definitely is not healthy however it is more than easily accomplished. That works out to less than 0.6kg a week which can be very easily done if a person's food intake is too high. Even 25kg in pure fat is believable in a 6 month period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, yes it is possible to have gained 25kg in six months however the chances of gaining 25kg of muscle is impossible. Over the course of their lifetime, maybe but not six months. The other weight can possibly be attributed to fat. If you had measured their body fat percentage before and after you would be able to see how much was fat and how much was lean mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T03:06:27.367" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T03:06:27.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27781" CreationDate="2015-10-26T01:23:48.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All food is the same after consumption. The food is broken down into energy and this energy, if it is not used, will be stored as fat for when your body needs energy later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of energy in food is called calories. So the more calories in the food that you consume the more fat can be made as fat takes about 3500 calories in order to make one pound of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you consume more calories than you need you will gain weight in the form of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of energy you need is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) there are plenty of BMR calculators available online which you can use. This is the amount of calories that your body will use in order to keep you alive. Any exercise you do, you should add the amount of calories used from that exercise to your BMR. If that total energy out (BMR + exercise for the day) is more than the energy in (the calories that the food you consume contains) then you will gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposite is also true. If your energy out is greater than the energy in than your body will use your fat in order to get the extra energy for that day. Resulting in your fat stores being consumed and expelled from the body, meaning you will lose weight from the form of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T01:23:48.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27794" CreationDate="2015-10-26T07:20:20.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well there are some general guidance I will give you : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Big Muscle groups need more time for recovery;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should train antagonists in two different days(Antagonist and agonist muscles often occur in pairs, called antagonistic pairs. As one muscle contracts, the other relaxes= example - biceps and triceps ).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to do more reps with less weight if you want to loose weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you I would start swimming. I know  this is not an answer to your question but you are over 100 kg (220lbs) and doing weight training might stress your joints if they aren't adapted for the weight. Swimming is a great full body exercice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes with cycling. It doesn't put stress on your joints too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is a great exercice. I am runner myself and I run do 5k park competition every Saturday. If you are over 100 kgs It really hurts your knees.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My most important advice - find a group of friends or people, practicing some of the above sports, and joint them for motivation. It is more fun to train with someone then alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastEditorUserId="2646" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T07:29:21.127" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T07:29:21.127" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27801" CreationDate="2015-10-26T12:32:13.697" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to Cross Country Ski this winter as cross training for my next Marathon. My question is if I can ski for a number of hours and will this impact my normal run training? My last marathon I ran 50-60 miles per week but I would like to add some other exercise types to my next cycle of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need more than one complete rest day or can I run a long day then ski for a number hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastEditorDisplayName="user15313" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T14:04:01.180" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T17:38:19.723" Title="XC Skiing as Cross Training for Running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27779" CreationDate="2015-10-26T13:29:17.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing your form, it’s hard to determine what may have caused your problems.  Typically, it’s your elbow that tends to react to the load if your form is incorrect, or, the weight is too heavy.  Couple that with the force of gravity during overhead extensions, and, you may have a recipe for chronic pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, I would avoid any triceps exercise where the weight is lowered behind your head.  Additionally, I’d suggest you back off on the weight until you are pain free.  I’d also suggest you try some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Triceps/Overhead.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overhead stretches&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Triceps/Towel.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;towel stretches&lt;/a&gt; as part of your warm up.  Then, take a look at trying these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/tricep-extension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cable Triceps extension&lt;/a&gt; with a straight bar or rope.  Keep your elbows by your side and press straight down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/cable-tricep-kickback.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cable Triceps Kickbacks&lt;/a&gt; are another good exercise for avoiding extra pressure on the triceps.  Just remember to keep your upper arm parallel to the floor when performing the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/reverse-grip-tricep-extension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reverse Grip Cable Triceps Extensions&lt;/a&gt; with a bar or one handle.  This is a similar movement to the kickbacks, but, your body is vertical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T19:24:28.110" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T19:24:28.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27798" CreationDate="2015-10-26T17:38:19.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, skiing will impact your normal run training (and vice versa). If you go skiing for a number of hours, you will be doing different biomechanical things, but you will be stressing the same systems. Don't do two long efforts in two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fun fact: elite 5K and 10K runner Ben True was a Nordic skier before focusing entirely on running: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tag/ben-true&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/tag/ben-true&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T17:38:19.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27805" CreationDate="2015-10-26T22:09:05.670" Score="2" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started lifting at home, I have some weights, a bench press setup, a barbell and two dumbbells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to include deadlifts in my workout but I feel like I'm not doing it with correct form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do at home to learn how to deadlift and ensure my form is good and proper and to improve it if it is not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that a personal trainer would probably be the best bet but I'd like to neither pay nor go out of my way to do it. I'd like to be able to learn to do it myself at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T07:04:30.380" Title="How can I learn to deadlift with proper form at home?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27803" CreationDate="2015-10-27T07:04:30.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Learning proper form in any exercise, is something that's hard to judge on your own. But that's not to say that you &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; have a personal trainer with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people these days post &lt;strong&gt;form check&lt;/strong&gt; videos, where they film themselves from different angles doing an exercise, and post it online for response from a fitness community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen any of these posts here that I can remember, but the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/formcheck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Form Check Subreddit&lt;/a&gt;, and even the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/fitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitness Subreddit&lt;/a&gt; are good places to start. The former is a lesser known forum, but more relevant. The latter is for fitness in general, and is a highly populated subreddit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T07:04:30.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27201" CreationDate="2015-10-27T09:52:28.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a similar question here: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Personal-Trainers/Do-you-like-the-idea-of-an-app-for-PTs-to-set-schedules-for-their-clients-online-or-offline-and-they-can-also-see-the-clients-progress-weight-BMI-fats-etc-and-give-them-follow-up-call-when-required&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Personal Trainers: Do you like the idea of an app for PTs to set schedules for their clients, online or offline and they can also see the clients progress (weight, BMI, fats etc) and give them follow up call when required?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, that suggests &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnesshawkapp.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitness Hawk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T09:52:28.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27808" CreationDate="2015-10-27T11:05:01.853" Score="3" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a starting runner (been running for approx. just 2 years now) and I'm currently faced with an immense dip in my training performances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me start my story 2 months back. Beginning in September I ran my first &lt;code&gt;Half-Marathon&lt;/code&gt;. It was not an exceptional time (02u03m), but, I ran it &lt;code&gt;without pain and feeling (too) exhausted&lt;/code&gt;. After the race I took 2 weeks of rest with a recuperation-run before training for my next race which was the second week of October. There I ran 14.5km , again without forcing myself, and even setting a PR for the 10k. After the race I took some time again to recuperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But ever since that race, &lt;code&gt;nothing seems to work&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;code&gt;Every training has become a challenge&lt;/code&gt; (even the recuperation &amp;amp; lsd-runs).  &lt;code&gt;My legs/feet feel extremely tired&lt;/code&gt; and often a slight (fatigue-)pain is felt. For example, last Saturday I trained in the woods/hills. Having rested 3 days before the training I assumed my legs would have been recovered. But after no less than 7 kilometers my legs started to beg for a pause. I pushed through but eventually gave in at KM 12. I stopped for 5 minutes before continuing for another 3 km. The tempo during the training was good (fell within the margins) but my legs felt &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;awful&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting plenty of sleep, eat appropriately, stopped running intervals, doing less mileage, monitor my heart rate during runs,... yet somehow I'm not getting the desired feel in the legs (like in September/beginning of October).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone encountered the same problem? Is it all in my head? I'm desperate for any tips/pointers/advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T12:10:05.677" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T12:48:58.693" Title="Faced with an enormous Performance Dip" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27807" CreationDate="2015-10-27T12:48:58.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off great job on your races, a 2 hour half on your first attempt is a great achievement! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you say in your post you are getting plenty of rest and your mileage is low. It sounds like it is mainly mental. I would try reducing your mileage even more and taking more rest days. Perhaps try some cross training like swimming or biking. Just to caution you, the end of your long runs should feel difficult. This does mean you are growing, however you should not feel exhausted throughout the week. If you do feel it is physical then perhaps your pace is too fast, you can always slow down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your next course of action is to set yourself up for success. Do a number of 5-10k runs at a pace that you feel great at. You should also try to challenge yourself only 1-2 times a week with a hard workout. Trade off hills and speed work and measure your results with an app like Strava or Runkeeper. Make sure you are getting rest and / or an easy recovery run in-between. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you LSD runs at the weekend should be slow. You can do a 10:30 pace and still achieve a sub 2 hour 21k next time.  The key on your long runs is to get time on your legs. If you are feeling tired, slow down and walk/run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T12:48:58.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22115" CreationDate="2015-10-27T12:53:49.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously your stlye needs to be checked etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also at the end of each lap, hop out and do some push ups with arms close to side of your body (not out wide / as in normal push up position) so that you focus on your triceps...do this several times. It will greatly improve overall fitness and strengthen your upper body especially tri's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;plus make sure you are fully hydrated before and after and diet is getting plenty of magnesium and potassium and vitamin c etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15042" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T12:53:49.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27814" CreationDate="2015-10-28T02:22:23.337" Score="1" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;5'9 and weigh 139 pounds. I've decided to bulk and need help on my diet. This is what I ate today and I was wondering whether I should be eating more, or less to gain muscle and at the same time not gain as much fat. (Some fat will obviously be gained as a result of bulking)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;breakfast: Granola with 2% milk = 400 calories&#xA;Lunch: A turkey/Cheese on sourdough with lettuce and greek yogurt: 600 calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then ran 2 miles and lifted weights for around an hour, straight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner: Ate two home made bean and cheese burritos with black beans, lettuce, whole wheat thin tortillas, and low fat cheese. - (500-600 calories)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Desert: A bowl of Baskin Robbins chocolate ice cream (400-500 calories) (Chocolate is my weakness :'( )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advanced!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18356" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T05:19:08.813" Title="Am I eating enough for a bulk?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-10-28T19:24:32.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27813" CreationDate="2015-10-28T05:19:08.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd eat about double what you describe if I were running and lifting and wanted to gain weight. I'd particularly eat more protein: eggs at breakfast (in &lt;em&gt;addition&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;instead&lt;/em&gt;) and meat for dinner. I'd consider a nightcap of milk or yogurt to top myself off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also consider not running so much if I wanted to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also drink full-fat milk and cheese, whether I wanted to gain weight or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T05:19:08.813" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27474" CreationDate="2015-10-28T15:40:50.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would be what some call a &quot;giant&quot; super set. Usually a super set is 2 moves, but I have done giant super sets up to 4 moves (usually 1 or 2 of the moves being body weight moves though). I use supersets almost exclusively when I workout. You can do antagonist muscles as mentioned before, but you can also do the same muscle group. For arms I always superset a bicep move with a tricep move. However, on shoulder day I will superset two shoulder moves, but usually try to focus on different parts of the shoulder. For example, dumbbell press with shrugs, or rear delt flys with a front dumbbell raise. It's really up to you! Just make sure if you are doing heavy weights throughout such a long super set that you have a spot as you may become fatigued much faster this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18354" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T15:40:50.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25166" CreationDate="2015-10-28T17:21:55.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on our discussion via comments, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of Coach especially in your case. Why do I say that, you ask? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well firstly because, Olympic lifting is mix of strength, power &amp;amp; technique. What beginners often fail to understand is that technique is not a static thing. It is dynamic. With increase in weight on the bar, your technique &amp;amp; form deteriorates and constantly you've to be corrected for the errors that creep in. That is where coach plays a crucial role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, teaching a complete novice is bit easier than someone who is accustomed to certain exercises. In body building (through machines) muscles are isolated and trained. When such training is done for a long time, one develops imbalances in strengths of different muscles. But Snatch and Clean &amp;amp; Jerk, are full body exercises and practically every goddamn muscle is used. As we know, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Hence your ability to lift weights will be limited by those under developed muscles. This is where, again, coach comes into picture. He is suggests supplementary exercises that are needed &amp;amp; more suitable to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your age when combined with what you did in Gym for 3 years decide your mobility. I don't know where you stand on this front, but my guess would be that you need to work on your mobility too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all of that said, assuming you'll do your best to get trained under a coach, taking unavailability of good coaches in to consideration, is there anything that you can do by yourself? Answer is YES, there is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work on your mobility (if you lack it):&lt;/strong&gt; Coach Christopher Sommer, of Gymnastic Bodies, has an excellent &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foundation series&lt;/a&gt;. This series runs in two tracks, one track is for body weight strength training and another is for mobility training. Mobility training has very well thought out progressions. Best thing is that, they don't mostly interfere with your weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feed technique into your brain via watching &amp;amp; reading:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq8Tp5r-DZo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Power Snatch with Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;. He does an excellent job explaining an absolute novice in snatch. Watch all of his instructional videos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition&lt;/a&gt;, even though its technically not a Olympic Lifting book, you are going use barbell and train for strength using different variations of Squats, Dead Lifts, Presses, Cleans and probably use all the supplementary exercises that are mentioned in it. Equally importantly, you'll learn principles of handling the bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0980011116&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes &amp;amp; Coaches&lt;/a&gt; by Greg Everett. Well it can be used as a reference, you need to keep referring to it from time to time. This holds equally good to &quot;Starting Strength&quot; book.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySpCTPYo57Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Olympic Style Weight Lifting with Jim Schmitz&lt;/a&gt;. Jim Schmitz, by the way, is a former US Olympic team coach. You can't get any better source of instruction online.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/hookgrip/videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hookgrip on YouTube&lt;/a&gt; does an excellent job in comparing &amp;amp; contrasting, technique of &lt;em&gt;elite&lt;/em&gt; weightlifters, in slow motion. While watching these videos, take note of all the aspects of technique you learnt through all the other sources I mentioned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practice technique with an empty bar&lt;/strong&gt; Don't load weight for Snatch and Clean&amp;amp;Jerk, until your technique is decent. While beginning, do the movements in slowmotion and take care of all the cues you learnt. Keep in mind, that through this you are trying to learn the technique and not increase your strength or power. So, go slow and &lt;em&gt;focus&lt;/em&gt;. You don't want errors to creep in, do you? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be part of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/weightlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weightlifting community on reddit&lt;/a&gt; and keep posting your videos and get feedback from the community. I would even suggest going through all the top voted posts. Also be part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/CatalystAthletics/videos?sort=p&amp;amp;flow=grid&amp;amp;view=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Catalyst Athletics&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/CaliforniaStrength/videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;California Strength&lt;/a&gt; through their social media &amp;amp; youtube channels and their newsletters/magazines.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay motivated and keep watching actual competitions :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2015-10-29T09:05:45.113" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T09:05:45.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27818" CreationDate="2015-10-28T18:52:16.600" Score="0" ViewCount="3416" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for a while and just began to add deadlifts to my routine on back day. My problem is that I can't deadlift much. Mainly because I'm 400 lb and my knees aren't the best, I generally only get 25lb plates on the bar max. I don't use the shorter bar because the one at my gym is broken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I've read that proper deadlift form should have you either tap the weight on the ground or near tap it, but that's usually with a 45 plate on the bar. If I'm going with less weight, should I start my lift higher? And also should I stop my descent lower, as though I had 45s on the bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16109" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T19:22:54.497" Title="Deadlift form with less than 45 lb plates?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27817" CreationDate="2015-10-28T19:22:02.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, deadlifting properly (in a technical sense) involves neither tapping the ground nor nearly tapping the ground with the weight. It is a full stop between reps. However, in your case, this may not be what's best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several options that you can make use of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have access to bumper plates, then consider using these, as each plate is the same diameter as a 45 lb plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If bumper plates are not an option, consider a deadlift variation. In your case, I would recommend a Romanian deadlift. This starts at the top and only goes as low as your neutral back will allow. Stiff-legged deadlifts (SLDLs) are another option, which also start at the floor but the knees experience very little flexion or extension during the lift. However, the SLDL is a bit more technical and can set you up with bad habits for when you get back to normal deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to do block pulls or rack pulls which will raise the bar to a more comfortable height. This will, however, shift the focus more towards your back (not necessarily a bad thing, just something to keep in mind).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pulling in a sumo stance may be another option that might work for you. Due to the angles of your legs in this stance, there is relatively less knee bend while doing sumo deadlifts than conventional deadlifts. Granted, more hip mobility is required for this stance than a conventional deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of these work well enough for you, then perhaps revisiting deadlifts after you have lost some more weight or can tolerate the necessary mobility will be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final note, deadlifts don't have a requisite height, rather they simply become relatively easier as the bar starts at a higher position relative to the ground. It's common to start with a 45 on either side, as that's the highest a standard deadlift will get as the weight goes up. A lot of lifters don't want to constantly mess around with changing from smaller to larger plates for warming up, so starting with 45's is a decent compromise (and as one gets stronger 135 becomes a valid weight for starting one's warm-up). There is nothing wrong with starting with a light deadlift that sits lower than a standard deadlift (with 45's) and then working up in weight (even if that too is lower).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T19:22:02.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27817" CreationDate="2015-10-28T19:22:54.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could do straight leg dead lifts which don't need to be taken all the way to the ground. You could also put some plates on the ground on either side aligned with the 25 lb plates on your bar. This will in effect raise the ground to allow you to only go as low as the plates are stacked high. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18354" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T19:22:54.497" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27494" CreationDate="2015-10-28T19:55:21.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your aim is &lt;strong&gt;purely to burn calories&lt;/strong&gt;, an exercise bike is fine.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thought: consider a &lt;strong&gt;rowing machine&lt;/strong&gt;, which is much tougher and burns even more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the &lt;strong&gt;accuracy&lt;/strong&gt; of calorie calculations: quite simply ALL calorie calculations have a very high margin of error. For instance, if you ride a bike, or indeed go jogging, for X hours, the guess of how many calories burned is very much a &lt;strong&gt;guesstimate&lt;/strong&gt;.  Really I'd say the calorie guess on a exercise bike (or a gps watch, or using a formula) is &quot;reasonable&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the relatively unimportant question of which of an exercise bike versus real biking &quot;burns more calories&quot;. At some level of comparison, real biking is more &lt;strong&gt;irregular&lt;/strong&gt;, and hence, burns more calories. (Same with jogging versus treadmill.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, exercise bike is a far more &lt;strong&gt;consistent&lt;/strong&gt; exercise experience. If you go out on a real bike (unless you're a real pro, as SeanDuggan suggests) you're messing around a lot: if you sit down on an exercise bike and actually do it for 30 mins, that's 30 real mins of exercise. (Again, consider instead a rowing machine - perhaps alternate each day?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you stick at it, exercise bike is one of the great basics of aerobic exercise - calorie burning - so sure, go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is quite abrupt so I've attempted to guess at what you're really asking.  Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; (if your aim is to actually &quot;be good and/or fast at bike riding&quot;, just forget the exercise bike and ride an actual bike. But I believe this has nothing to do with your question.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T19:55:21.440" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-29T00:08:17.263" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m 16 years old. I’ve been using gold whey protein for quite some time now n frankly I'm seeing no results so I was thinking of switching to inner armor hard mass gainer..think it's a good idea? And also I think whey irritates my acne too so does hard mass container whey too? Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18358" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T14:04:33.337" Title="No visible results, can anyone help?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-10-29T18:08:13.340" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27821" CreationDate="2015-10-29T13:19:06.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whey gold standard (Optimum Nutrition) is protein. What it does is giving nutrients to your muscles to recover properly (among several other things). Mass gainers are based on carbohydrates, which provide your blood with glucose, the &quot;fuel&quot; of your muscles. If it is not used, it becomes fat.&#xA;So, if you want to gain clean mass, better use whey, but if you are bulking and you don't mind about some fat because you are planning a cutting routine in the future, use a mass gainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the other hand, when you say you don't see any results, you have to know some things:&#xA;1- Dietary supplements are a help, not a miracle.&#xA;2- Workout hard to your limit with good execution and good routine is the basis of progress.&#xA;3- There is nothing that supplements can do if you are eating wrong (wrong ingredients, wrong quantity or wrong timing)&#xA;4- Supplements are not steroids. You won't gain in 3 months what you would gain in 6 without them. I would say that using whey increases your progress speed by 10% or 20%, depending on many factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, assuming your diet, routine and routine execution are at least correct, i would recommend you to take 30g of whey just after training, and at least 30g more before bed (at least on training days). If you want, you can take 10-15g before training also, but it is not so important. These amounts can increase if you are an intermediate level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: what I said about what proteins and carbs do might be slightly inaccurate. I just gave a simplified explaination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16765" LastEditorUserId="16765" LastEditDate="2015-10-29T14:04:33.337" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T14:04:33.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27827" CreationDate="2015-10-29T23:44:35.107" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;What healthy types of foods would be healthy enough for me to keep running my long distances and not negativity effect my running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18365" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T01:03:12.170" Title="What healthy foods won't effect my cardio" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27825" CreationDate="2015-10-30T01:03:12.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, assuming you're not a good collegiate or elite athlete, as long as you're not eating McDonald's every day, your running won't be affected as much as you might think. Eating well will help you feel better, perform better, and be healthier, but most food will be just fine to sustain consistent running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you are probably interested in how to eat well to maximize your performance. In general, it's important to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid fried food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drink a lot of water (do this in small, frequent amounts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make sure you're getting iron, vitamin D, and calcium - eat dairy and red meat for these&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat a lot of fruit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat within 15 - 30 minutes of finishing a run or workout. Eating food prompts your body to switch from a catabolic state (breaking energy sources down) to an anabolic state (repairing muscles, adapting).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, figure out what's right for you. Tweak how, when, how much, and how frequently you eat until it works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T01:03:12.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7484" CreationDate="2015-10-30T09:18:47.660" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing your body use is carbohydrate (your sugar drinks are high in carbohydrate), then fats, lastly protein. Muscle is protein. And if you're not moving much, your carbohydrate are converted to fats. So you probably just lose some fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18369" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T09:18:47.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-30T11:37:28.530" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a newbie here, so please forgive me if such kind of a question has already been answered.&#xA;So, I'm a male. Yeah, I might get a lot of backlash for this one, but I'll cut to the chase. I want a feminine body, meaning, I want bigger hips and slimmer upper body. I really don't know if I can achieve something like that without any deviations from my original plan, but asking is not penalized, is it. What kind of exercises should I take on? Do I need a specific diet?&#xA;If any additional information is necessary, I might share it with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18371" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T12:18:30.147" Title="How can I get a feminine body?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-10-31T12:15:31.500" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27754" CreationDate="2015-10-30T12:02:53.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend reading the following two articles by Paul Carter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/11/developing-your-raw-bench-part-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Developing Your Raw Bench Part 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/12/developing-your-raw-bench-part-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Developing Your Raw Bench Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They cover all that you really need to know about the bench press, and is a fairly comprehensive guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, to answer your specific question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I fully extend my arms when bringing the barbell up from my chest, is this the correct approach or should they not be fully locked?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to this really depends on the purpose behind your training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are thinking at all about competing in powerlifting, the arms should be fully extended (locked out).  If not, you will fail the lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are focusing on aesthetics (looking good), you may want to get close to full extension without a full lock out.  That provides more time under tension and fatigues your muscles more, which in turn can promote greater arm growth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, there is one thing you want to make sure does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; happen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not raise your shoulders off the bench&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see it happen all too often, and I even used to do it myself.  Raising your shoulders off the bench in the name of &quot;full lockout&quot; puts extra stress on your shoulder joint that is unhealthy.  It &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; robs power from the bench press by loosing that all important upper back tightness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your shoulders should remain in that neutral position that you started in when you were lowering the barbell to your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T12:02:53.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27832" CreationDate="2015-10-30T12:18:30.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there's no food that will make you more feminine, unless you're looking to change your hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a slimmer figure, you likely want to lose weight. In that case, regular procedures for weight loss apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, you're going to have to set a goal for each part of your body, and create/get a workout program for these particular goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely that a visit to a personal trainer might be more beneficial, but if you add to the list of goals, we might also be able to help you set up a program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T12:18:30.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27835" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-30T15:12:38.100" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some advice regaurding resistance bands. I am thinking of buying one of them (and only one probably). I want it to develop muscles. I am not able to perform bodyweight exercises properly as my muscles are weak (which is why I am thinking  of buying a resistance band to develop them). I need advice regaurding what type (light ,medium or heavy) band I should buy. I dont want it to be too easy. I dont have access to free weights nor to gyms. I have seen some videos on resistance band exercises and it seems to be effective. Does anybody have any opinion/experience otherwise? Please help.&#xA;Also which lenght resistance band will be ideal for me? I am 5 feet 5 inches and weight is about 60 kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18372" LastEditorUserId="18372" LastEditDate="2015-10-31T06:06:31.490" LastActivityDate="2015-10-31T06:06:31.490" Title="Resistance bands" Tags="&lt;resistance-cord&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-10-31T13:09:46.800" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24100" CreationDate="2015-10-30T21:03:25.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is simple, you lifting weights in crossfit. In the 80s studies were done to see if circuit weight training increased stroke volume and vo2max. All studies indicated it did not and stroke volume per heart beat decreased. To compensate for lower stroke volume the heart has to beat faster, hence your have a higher HR during &quot;intense&quot; weight training, i.e. training with short to no rest intervals. This why pro crossfitters cannot escape doing low intensity cardio and anaerobic threshold training, if they want to be elite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18376" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T21:03:25.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27835" CreationDate="2015-10-30T21:56:58.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Resistance bands can be a good way to strengthen your muscles when you are not strong enough to support your bodyweight in exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strength of the resistance band should allow you to be able to complete the motion.  If the band is too strong, you may not be able to complete the motion as you near the end of the range.  If the band is not strong enough, you will likely break it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, it is best to have more than one resistance level to accommodate the different upper and body exercises that you want to do. You will use the weaker band for weaker muscle groups. When you outgrow an easier resistance band, upgrade to a heavier band.  As the heavier band becomes too easy you can combine bands for additional resistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bands are color coded to represent different weights or resistance levels.  They are often designated with a range of weight such as 5-8# or 12-16# to help you decide depending on the muscle groups you are targeting.  Detachable handles and door straps for attachments are helpful. (Our site has more information on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Resistance-Bands.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resistance levels&lt;/a&gt; if you are interested.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Sean suggests, if you have no idea what resistance levels are right for you, try some out at your local sporting goods store.  Find which ones give you the greatest versatility for both your upper and lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T21:56:58.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-31T03:20:49.183" Score="2" ViewCount="2915" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Wendler's 5/3/1 for about 6 weeks now (2 cycles) and am really enjoying it. I am lifting 4 days a week. For assistance, I've been following the boring but big template.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foodwise, I've been taking my own homemade mass gainer (on lifting days) which consists of the following ingredients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 scoops protein powder (240kcals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 cups milk (300 kcals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 cup oats (300 kcals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 scoops almond butter (200 cals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday, I am consuming approximately 2500-3000kcals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is:&lt;/strong&gt; My weight has shot up by about 4 pounds since the start of 5/3/1, and I've noticed that I've gained a bit of fat. Should I decrease my calorie intake? I ask this because I am worried that my decreasing my calorie intake, I might lose strength gains.  Anyone been on 5/3/1 with a similar dilemma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13379" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T03:02:20.597" Title="Wendler 5/3/1: cut or not to cut?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27848" CreationDate="2015-10-31T10:43:05.127" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;If i quit body building . will my body fat increase considerably and become obese &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T09:50:58.423" Title="Quitting Body building or weight trainning" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-11-02T14:00:27.977" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4933" CreationDate="2015-10-31T19:48:52.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am experiencing the same thing.&#xA;I have a history of knee issues (mostly ITB) and wearing tights for running (and sometimes even wearing skinny jeans throughout the day) seems to exacerbate the problem.&#xA;I have been running very short distances (3-4k) at an easy pace for the past couple of months to ease back into things and not re-injure myself. The first run I went on wearing my winter tights I experienced IT pain immediately on my left knee. I stopped running, and hiked up that one pant leg, and was fine for the rest of the run.&#xA;I don't think the tights are to blame for the issue in the first place, but I think they make the existing condition worse, it feels like my kneecap is being prevented from moving the way it wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18380" LastActivityDate="2015-10-31T19:48:52.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27849" CreationDate="2015-11-01T07:12:06.557" Score="1" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do weight lifting once a week starting with a warm up set of 2kg, then sets of 14kg, and then drop sets. The last time I did was the 17th of October and after that my muscles were sore and now again lifting on the 30th of October I am sore again. I don't understand why my muscles are sore again. I tried to lift 16kg with a 2kg warm up as before and was barely able to do a 3rd rep at 16kg. I know DOMS happens when your body does a new effort of which it is not used to. After the DOMS goes away, does it mean that I have gained more strength than before and my body will adapt to the weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T16:42:30.450" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T14:31:35.493" Title="Why Doms again?" Tags="&lt;doms&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27845" CreationDate="2015-11-01T09:50:58.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. If you reduce your total amount of daily calories to your actual requirements and you still have an active life (not staying all day in home), you won't get fat.&#xA;There is a lot of people who don't practice any sport and are not fat at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16765" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T09:50:58.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27847" CreationDate="2015-11-01T16:26:13.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between the 17th and 30th of October, almost two weeks have passed. That's far too long of a time period for your muscles to really get used to the movements and resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to avoid DOMS, and make better progress, you need to consider working out a lot more often. A good place to start is every 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T16:26:13.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-01T17:08:57.733" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been lifting weights over the last year and a half and I love it. Unfortunately I have had medical problems related to chronic inflammation/joint pain (possibly early arthritis, I am only 28!). As a result I have had to give up lifting weights. I was using the 5 by 5 starting strength program as well as 5-3-1. My core movements before becoming injured were squats, deadlifts, and bench press. I really want to get back into lifting weights as I really enjoyed it (and I also have a year membership that is paid for at my local gym....). Can anyone recommend a weight lifting program or even just individual exercises that is/are easy on the joints. I have particular problems with my wrists and feet. Presumably with the increased interest in physical fitness especially amongst older people someone has created a program that is not as hard on the joints. Has anyone come across a program like this? My goals are still to increase strength and size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16285" LastEditorUserId="16285" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T17:16:22.767" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T23:21:11.967" Title="Looking for weight lifting program for person with joint problems" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27857" CreationDate="2015-11-01T17:58:37.647" Score="2" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting for the past 6 months but my nutrition side has been mediocre. Mostly due to lack of time as a student and dangling from home to gym to school. Recently, I came across books on bodyweight exercises and they have been really impressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I respect calisthenics and I have done a lot of bodyweight exercises, and I look forward to it more because my joints feels really uncomfortable after working out with free weights- especially my shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is anybody here who have followed a good bodyweight-based workout routine/program for at least 4 weeks and seen really good results? Like the programs offered by books mentioned in the title? (PS- assuming your nutrition and diet aspect are well under control)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18385" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-20T05:09:53.760" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T05:09:53.760" Title="Do programs from books like You Are Your Own Gym and Your Body Is Your Barbell work?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;books&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-01T20:47:28.083" Score="1" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a bit of shoulder impingement in my right shoulder and I am trying to do some shoulder and rotator cuff stabilization exercises to stregthen and loosen those muscles as &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/yphER5FELSo/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kelly Starrett&lt;/a&gt; suggests in this podcast. I am starting out with a relatively low weight, a 25lb kettlebell holding for 3 minutes, twice on each side. I figure that after some practice I will work up to a turkish get up, which seems to be a broader shoulder stability exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question was, how do I know that I am actually strengthening these muscles using the static holds? I can't seem to figure out how much weight and how many sets I should do. Should I feel sore after a day or something? Should I just hold the kettlebell for like about 70% of my max duration? Should I be increasing the static hold duration each workout or each week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to make sure I start out slowly, so I don't aggravate my shoulder. But I also want to be able to measure my progress. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9909" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T22:55:06.990" Title="should a static shoulder hold feel sore after?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;stability&gt;&lt;isometric&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-11-10T14:51:04.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9913" CreationDate="2015-11-01T21:27:47.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, good job being able to row 10000 metres, most people who do not row cannot bash out 2000 metres. Dont worry about the time, worry about completing the set, the time will natrually come down as your fittness rises. Concentrate on technique and not hurting yourself. Watch your pulse rate and breathing as well. If you are nearly dead at the end of it you will eventually get bored of rowing and it will become a chore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18388" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T21:27:47.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27860" CreationDate="2015-11-01T21:50:20.023" Score="4" ViewCount="536" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking at building endurance and all round fitness with the hopes of being able to run half marathon to marathon length runs, non competitively. I have very limited experience with running  (less than 2 months) but have seen great boosts in my endurance over such a small amount of time. My challenge now is to push myself harder to attain my aforementioned goals. The Internet provides many answers about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and the benefits it has on increasing endurance. But I wondered what benefits, if any, of steady state intervals, but lots of them, would have vs a HIIT approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&#xA;If I run 1 mile steady state, then walk for 5 minutes, then repeat for as many times as desired. How would that compare to a HIIT approach and which one would offer the best approach to increasing the following :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;speed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T16:44:51.977" Title="Steady state interval vs high intensity interval for running endurance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27854" CreationDate="2015-11-02T00:20:05.943" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both steady state and HIIT workouts (among others) are useful for running fitness. Each type of effort has its own purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT methods are usually 10 - 60 seconds of very intense effort. In the running world, this is speedwork. While speedwork is important, it's only one part of getting to a high level of fitness. In half and full marathons, you won't be anywhere near your top-level speed, so it's not quite as important as longer workouts. However, it certainly does have its benefits (biomechanical improvement, muscle fiber recruitment, making the marathon pace seem easier, etc.). See &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27387/why-include-sprint-workouts-in-a-training-program-focused-on-long-distance/27732#27732&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; for the benefits of speedwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steady state runs are slightly above a tempo pace (lactate threshold). The two main benefits of steady state/tempo runs are that they improve your ability to clear lactate from your blood and mentally prepare you to be uncomfortable for an extended period of time. This will be more useful to you as a marathoner, but as I said, all aspects of training are important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T15:39:09.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-02T02:43:18.060" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have trouble getting low in my attempts at &quot;ass to grass&quot; squats. I have realized my calves are to blame for lack of motion what should I do to improve their flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18392" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-02T19:17:25.213" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T09:17:39.330" Title="What exercises can improve my squat depth? I'm limited by how far my knees go over my toes" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27851" CreationDate="2015-11-02T13:00:18.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'ts merely always a trade-off. I am following YBIYG and I am quite happy with it, since it is quite great if you have little time and/or want to spend little money. YBIYG presents some example programs with 4-5 training days a week and 20-36 minutes of training a day, which I am following. My body has changed since I started the program, I am more defined and feel stronger, but you should note that the progress is a quite slow one, which - I think - is always the &lt;em&gt;&quot;problem&quot;&lt;/em&gt; with BWE. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly I am not the muscular type and 20-36 mins is not that much, hence you might experience a quicker progress if you have another body type and/or increase the intensity/volume of the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day I think - if it's done correctly - the training you choose is mostly a matter of preference and goals, but you should really watch your nutrition, because thats a crucial point. In my opinion the overall goal of a training program should be the functional fitness and health and you'll have a harder time achieving them without a proper nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T13:00:18.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27854" CreationDate="2015-11-02T13:53:17.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I partially agree with mathguy54's answer, but if I understand his answer correctly, he believes that doing distance training is sligtly more important than doing speed work, whereas I hold the opposite view. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both types of training are important. However, the benefits from each are largely overlapping. If your main goal is to train for a half marathon, you will need to include both in your training. That being said, speed work can be used to increase your speed (clearly) but will not lead to concomitant loses in endurance. Actually, research has found quite the opposite - a HIIT workout provides roughly the same stimulus to your cardiovascular system as about four times the amount of slow distance work (with respect to time). The speed you develop will be important if you want a &quot;kick&quot; in your run or race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continuous work in a longer time domain will, however, wear away at your speed. As mathguy54 mentioned though, distance work is important to teach your muscles how to operate when under stress for an extended period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18397" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T13:53:17.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27847" CreationDate="2015-11-02T14:31:35.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After the DOMS goes away, does it mean that I have gained more&#xA;  strength than before and my body will adapt to the weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might benefit from reading my response to a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27365/why-i-never-feel-doms-on-my-abs/27370#27370&quot;&gt;similar question&lt;/a&gt;. Although the question refers to a specific body part, the science behind my answer is still the same.  To quote from that answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Current research indicates that there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/221841567_Does_Exercise-Induced_Muscle_Damage_Play_a_Role_in_Skeletal_Muscle_Hypertrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;no causal relationship&lt;/a&gt; to&#xA;  assume that DOMS/EIMD is a valid indicator for muscular progress&#xA;  (hypertrophy). As a result, I would suggest using a different&#xA;  indicator for your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T14:31:35.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27854" CreationDate="2015-11-02T16:44:51.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of my answer is already contained &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23691/training-advice-on-long-distance-running-for-a-newbie?rq=1&quot;&gt;in this answer&lt;/a&gt;, although the questions are not really duplicates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple things that I will reiterate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The biggest mistake that the vast majority of runners make is going too hard on their easy days, and not hard enough on their hard days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speedwork is the icing on the cake, make sure you bake the cake first (i.e., get your mileage in before worrying about speedwork).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not all speedwork is done on the track.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you have a base first. For new and returning runners, the best gains are made from the day in, day out putting in the miles. For a non competitive runner, this is going to be the biggest thing. Get out there, get the miles in, recover/rest as necessary. There are many many runners that run every day and do so quite safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a base and are running consistently in the 30-40 miles per week (mpw) range, you can start throwing in things like hill repeats, pickups/strides within your runs, all of which will start helping your speed. At this point you can start working on pace/tempo runs, individualized track sessions (such as 1-2 mile warmup, 8x800 on 2 mins rest, 1-2 mile warmdown), other traditional speed workouts. You'll come across two terms, interval and threshold. Interval work increases your top end speed, threshold work increases the time you can spend at or near that top end speed. Even when you start incorporating speed workouts, the majority of your time should still be spent in steady state running, with the addition of the pickups and strides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, if you are carrying extra pounds, the apocryphal lore (Borne out in my own personal experience) is that you will gain 3-5 seconds per mile for every pound of weight you lose. So if you weigh 180 and run at an 8 minute/mile pace, lose 20 lbs and the same effort should get you to a 7 minute/mile pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T16:44:51.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14301" CreationDate="2015-11-02T19:54:48.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One minor thing to add to the existing answers, when doing a handstand press, particularly when doing so slowly, is that the shoulders will typically wind up in front of the hands so that your torso can create a counter-balance with your legs. A common rookie mistake is to have the shoulders stacked above the hands as they tend to be at the pinnacle of the handstand, or even behind them (if you're used to &quot;kicking up&quot; into the handstand, particularly from a standing or a lunged position, having your shoulders a bit behind your hands allows you to compensate for kicking too far). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to work past this is to put your hands and feet down and the gradually shift your weight forward, letting your shoulders move past your planted hands, and to feel the &quot;weight&quot; of your feet decrease as your center of balance shifts forward. As with learning the yoga crow position, be careful about doing this on hard surfaces, as you're likely to fall forward or have your arms buckle at first, sending you headfirst into the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T19:54:48.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27856" CreationDate="2015-11-03T09:17:39.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me it sounds as if you are doing squats the wrong way. Your knees should &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; go over your toes, but rather be in line with your feet. Your shanks should stay in place - mostly. The saying is &quot;ass to the grass&quot; and this is what the movement is like, your behind is moved towards the floor &lt;em&gt;behind&lt;/em&gt; your heels. Your weight should be on your heels &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; the balls of the feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more comprehensive discussion of how squats are done right, please see&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/03/03/strength-training-101-how-to-squat-properly/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/03/03/strength-training-101-how-to-squat-properly/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T09:17:39.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27476" CreationDate="2015-11-03T09:33:52.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The wording of your question suggests that whey would be the best protein source, which might be questioned. Whey is cheap (since it is a by-product) and easy to isolate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Egg protein - others stated - is good, since it has the optimal combination of amino acids, but the yield ratio is quite bad, since one egg has only about 6g of protein. I'd see beans and nuts rather ambivalent because of the high abount of starch and fat respectively. I'm no low-carb or low-fat bigot, but satisfying your demand of protein (especially when you want to build up muscle mass) with beans or nuts would mean, that you'd increase your carb- or fat-intake respectively severly. Good alternatives (besides lean meat - which I will not discuss, for I have not experience with because of my vegetarianism) are (low-fat) curd or cottage cheese. They are not too expensive but contain a quite good amount of casein, which is digested way slower than whey protein, BCAAs (at least curd afaik) and vitamin B12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And&lt;/strong&gt; you can easily make shakes out of curd. Just put it in a shaker with some milk, water, etc.; add some vanilla or cinnamon and shake it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T09:33:52.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27864" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27865" CreationDate="2015-11-03T11:08:06.577" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to go the gym since I was 16 then I stopped at 19 because of university (I used to do both martial arts and body building). Now I started again, and it's been one about 8 months since I re-started, I only focus only on body building. So basically i'm try to develop both mass growth and definition (I mean... I'm aware that there's to be some tradeoff between two of them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym at alternate days (like monday-wednesday-friday-sunday-tuesday-thursday-saturday... and i start over).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Broadly in the first day I do both chest and biceps, in the second day triceps and back, third day legs and shoulder, and then I start over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed some changes in my body, so I think my work out so far is good, however in the last period i'm noticing that i'm a little stucked with the weight. It's a matter of resistence, as example if with the curl barbell I lift up to 15 kg (I mean performing correctly the exercise up to that weight)  then if I try (as example) to lift 17 kg I still don't have the resistance to complete the exercise, with &quot;resistance&quot; I mean that if with the 15 kg i'm able to close correctly my arm (bringing the bar bell almost to touch my chest) when i try to put some weight more i can't close entirely my arm (but i'm still able to do all the repetitions, but not correctly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same as some other exercises (not all of them). In case like this is there some kind of support/auxiliary exercise that could be useful to perform? Or some specific training style one could follow? Could be somehow related to the diet too? (maybe a healthier diet, like more protein I don't know... just guess).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just asking for general suggestion and reference. I could give you more details of my work out if you think they could be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18401" LastEditorUserId="10532" LastEditDate="2015-11-03T13:14:35.213" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T13:14:35.213" Title="Routine work-out suggestions" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27864" CreationDate="2015-11-03T11:59:32.650" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stagnation is normal. You obviously can't have linear progression forever. What matters is how you deal with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Variety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, we deal with it by employing variety. If you've done the same program for 8 months, it's time to switch to something new. The body derives strength from progressive overloading, and that is hard to achieve if you just to the same thing over and over. Kind of like how you won't get better at math by solving 2+2 for 8 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deload&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can often be useful to deload for a week or two first. This means simply giving your body a &quot;vacation&quot;. It doesn't mean you shouldn't train altogether, but you just take it easy for a while, and let your body fully recuperate and rejuvenate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Schedule&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your schedule goes, every-other-day is just fine. There's no reason to stop doing that, unless you find a program that specifically advises &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When trying to lift heavier, it's usually the norm to also gain bodyweight, both muscle and fat. Gaining strength without gaining weight is one of those things that is very difficult to do, and usually not worth the hassle unless you compete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some basic foods that WILL assist your progress are the usual high-carb, high-protein meals. You should make sure that most meals include the three basic ingredients;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a protein&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a starch&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;some vegetables&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For protein, meats and fish are the goto. Pretty much just pick one. Tuna, chicken or turkey are pretty popular in the fitness scene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For starch (which is the carb source), I'm a huge fan of brown rice, potatoes, or sweet-potatoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vegetables are also pretty straight-forward. Even frozen vegetables are good, and easy to prepare. Broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, carrots... You get the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-11-03T13:00:39.253" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T13:00:39.253" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27869" CreationDate="2015-11-03T16:08:28.643" Score="2" ViewCount="788" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love climbing, be it high wall or bouldering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I plan to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2 hours bouldering 3 times a week&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 hour calisthenics 1-2 times a week&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh 62kg and I'm 6' tall - and will aim to eat ~3,000kcal a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this workout scheme build muscle? Most climbers I've seen are incredibly, incredibly strong but are thin, and I don't exactly want to be like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16591" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T15:15:45.170" Title="Will climbing (bouldering) with the right amount of calories build muscle?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;bouldering&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27840" CreationDate="2015-11-03T18:23:00.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are eating more calories than you're spending during a day, then you will be gaining mass. This comes in both muscle and fat form. If you do not want to gain fat, then yes, reduce your caloric intake. You likely won't lose strength gains, but you will also not gain them at a rate as quickly as you would if you remain at similar caloric intake levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It basically comes down to whether you want to 1. bulk up quicker (4lbs/month for 5 months would be 10 lbs muscle, 10 lbs fat) then cut off those 10 lbs of fat after 5 months while continuing to work out and keep your muscle size the same, or 2. continue weight training while lowering calories below your required TDEE in order to avoid fat gain, but also cut energy and muscle gain to a minimal amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myself, and most others, would advise step 1. It's nearly impossible to avoid gaining fat, though you can try and keep it minimal. You can double check your diet and track your food through my fitness pal or something similar after knowing what your TDEE is, but I would continue to eat large if gaining muscle and strength is your top goal and tone down to less calories if thats a secondary goal, and your main goal is to keep a lean physique. Going a bulk then cut route will get you a large physique initially, then leaner with larger muscles once you cut off the rest of the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18406" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T18:23:00.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27840" CreationDate="2015-11-03T20:43:17.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've run 5/3/1 while losing weight.  I've also run more demanding programs under the watchful eye of a coach while losing weight.  During both of those times I did remarkably well, losing fat and getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll echo the dietary recommendations on eating for performance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep fat lower and carbs higher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust your total calories so that you are losing the equivalent of 1 lb a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplement creatine, even with the water gain, it can help give you the edge to keep pushing hard in the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work just as hard in the gym as you do now&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cutting does present a head wind, most of us are not pushing so close to the edge of our potential (me included) that you can still continue to progressively get stronger while eating fewer calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a scale that estimates body fat, you may see your estimated lean mass shrinking.  &lt;strong&gt;Do not be alarmed!&lt;/strong&gt;  Not all lean mass is muscle, some of it is water retention, some of it is misreported.  In either case, your fat weight should be shrinking faster than the lean mass.  As long as you are improving month to month in the gym, you are getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/10/10/performance-nutrition-encyclopedia/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Performance Nutrition Encyclopedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things that the Josh Thigpen suggests is a pre/intra/post workout nutrition were you have a combination of quick carbs and protein for each of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre-workout: 10-15 g protein, 20-40g carbs, creatine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intra-workout: 10-15 g protein, 20-40g carbs, creatine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post-workout: 10-15 g protein, 20-50g carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, this describes Skim Chocolate Milk very well.  Mix a batch with the creatine powder for your pre/intra workout and have some plane after training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, make sure you account for that in your total calorie intake.  You can set your daily intake a little lower, and use the pre/intra/post workout to boost the calories where you need them.  The goal here is to provide the protein and energy when your body is most prepared to do something with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T20:43:17.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27866" CreationDate="2015-11-03T21:54:42.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Building muscle&quot; is a very broad term.  Will your program allow you to build muscle? Yes.  Will you look like a bodybuilder? Probably not.&#xA;Calisthenics 1-2 times a week, assuming properly executed, has the ability to give you good results.  Bouldering - that depends... From what I know (and guess), probably won't build big muscles, but will give you a very good grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet wise - that is totally depended on your own body, there is no one rule fits all.  Start with 3000 calories. Check your weight at least weekly.  See how you progress, then adjust accordingly.  If you feel like you are gaining fat - cut 500 cals.  If you are constantly hungry and don't have enough energy to perform your routine ( or don't gain any muscle) - add more calories (preferably in protein form). &#xA;Each body is unique and must be handled uniquely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try your program for 6 weeks and see how you progress.  If you love climbing, then at the very least you will have a lot of fun and make progress. &#xA;Best case - you will have fun AND build the body of your dreams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10014" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T21:54:42.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27866" CreationDate="2015-11-03T21:56:03.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, but not as much as you'd get from standard weightlifting.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much all depends on how much muscle you have currently, and what your genetics (e.g. testosterone levels) are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you DO pursue bouldering, be sure to spend some time doing 'pushing' exercises (push-ups, overhead-pressing, etc) to keep your shoulders balanced. Otherwise you might be at risk for an injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T21:56:03.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24145" CreationDate="2015-11-03T22:22:31.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just ran on a 1200i and a USER.TXT file showed up in the root of my USB with the following data. Here is my guess for the fields: Date,Time,?,??,??,Speed,Distance,??,??,??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;11/04/2015,06:18:01,T,000,0000,0000,00.5,00.00,0000,,E,&#xA;11/04/2015,06:18:22,T,000,0000,0000,00.5,00.00,0000,,E,&#xA;11/04/2015,06:19:08,T,000,0000,0015,03.0,00.01,0000,,E,&#xA;11/04/2015,06:19:28,T,000,0001,0052,03.0,00.02,0000,,E,&#xA;11/04/2015,06:19:48,T,000,0005,0095,05.0,00.04,0000,,E,&#xA;11/04/2015,06:20:08,T,000,0008,0150,06.0,00.08,0000,,E,&#xA;11/04/2015,06:20:28,T,000,0011,0204,06.2,00.11,0000,,E,&#xA;11/04/2015,06:20:43,T,000,0015,0243,07.0,00.14,0000,P,E,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18408" LastEditorUserId="15332" LastEditDate="2015-11-04T11:40:12.060" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T11:40:12.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27876" CreationDate="2015-11-04T03:51:17.467" Score="0" ViewCount="6657" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to build a muscle body, and heard I should eat eggs, but I don't know if I should eat fried eggs or boiled eggs, is there any suggestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18029" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T06:47:42.553" Title="Fried eggs and boiled eggs, which is better for muscle build up?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-11-10T15:34:21.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-04T04:53:21.433" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read high praise for this activity, and tried it a little bit in a gym. Not many people seem to do it. A good minitramp is very expense. Is it worthwhile to acquire one? How can it be used safely at home, I.e. balance issues? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking that you can simulate walking  but with less impact on ankle, knee, hip joints and with some stretching element. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18407" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-04T14:48:26.797" LastActivityDate="2016-07-02T20:45:44.333" Title="Safe use of minitramp to develop hip and lower leg/for mobility in older deconditioned subjects" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5256" CreationDate="2015-11-04T11:03:37.843" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a simple answer to your question. You should never eat right before the workout because you can be sick during the workout, and you will feel &quot;heavy&quot;, which is not good. So, try to follow this rule: eat 2 hours before your workout. This way your body will have enough energy to burn and you will feel good during your workout. Also, there is nothing wrong with eating after workout. But, be careful with what you eat and how much you eat! I suggest you eat a salad with boiled eggs, cooked chicken with some beans or whole grain bread with honey and a banana. The thing is, your body will still burn fat after you finish your workout, so eating afterwards will do you no harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18411" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T11:03:37.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11578" CreationDate="2015-11-04T11:15:50.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For people who want to start working out but are out of shape I always suggest one main thing: taking step by step. Don't be hard on yourself. Every beginning is hard, but you will improve. It's good that you're starting your day with simple excersizes. However, seems like doing cardio is too much for you at this moment. That's why you should do excersizes that include more stretching. Yoga (for beginners) will be just fine. It will improve your posture, you will learn how to properly breathe during workout, and you will become much more flexible. After 2 weeks of everyday yoga, try simple cardio workouts and combine them with your yoga routine. First day do 5 push-ups and 5 crunches. Add 1-2 more each day and soon you will notice big difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18411" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T11:15:50.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27872" CreationDate="2015-11-04T11:35:22.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what kind of diet you follow , Fried Eggs doesn't make much difference . If you compare both Fried and boiled ,both will give 6gms of protein, 1gm of carbohydrate .But the Boiled on differs in Fat and Calories content  ,as it gives you 70gm calories where as Fried one will give you 90 and the fat content will also differs from 5.3 to 6.8 .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18412" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T11:35:22.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-04T14:34:31.753" Score="-1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 19 my weight is 54 kg and height is 5'11. I am an skinny or you can say and ectomorph. &#xA;I am an ovo lacto vegetarian. I hit gym every alternate days but I didn't gain any weights so please suggest me how do i gain weight what should i add to my diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18416" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T06:26:06.950" Title="How do I Gain weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-11-05T12:57:54.427" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27880" CreationDate="2015-11-04T17:29:27.127" Score="1" ViewCount="41595" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing StrongLifts 5x5 program for past one-and-half month. Currently my squat has just crossed my bodweight. And my deadlift is 10kgs more than my squat. My goal is to squat 2 times my bodyweight and deadlift 2.5 times my bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I squat ass-to-ground and I've been doing all exercises barefoot on a concrete floor covered with 1/2 inch rubber padding. I don't have any mobility issues and so far I didn't face problems of any kind. Can I safely continue like this? Even Arnold did the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uIIr6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uIIr6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vT17K.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vT17K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also makes me wonder, if going barefoot is safe then why would people always recommend weightlifting shoes? I'm bit confused. Honestly I cannot afford weightlifting shoes. I have running shoes but I read that running shoes are worse than barefoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this has anything to do with going barefoot. But after today's workout, I'm feeling a burning sensation in my feet. I read online that it could be due to Vitamin B12 deficiency (and I was recommended Vitamin B12 in the past, though not for the same reason)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2015-11-04T18:08:17.747" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T15:33:13.113" Title="Why isn't barefoot squatting recommended?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27878" CreationDate="2015-11-04T18:33:20.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Potential issues with barefoot lifting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No ankle support / Flat heels - Some people argue that one of the advantages of proper weightlifting shoes is that they provide support and stability for your ankles by their stiffness and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/olympic-weightlifting/weightlifting-shoes-why-you-need-a-pair-what-to-look-for-and-when-to-wear-them&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;raised heel&lt;/a&gt; gives you a better angle on your ankles by angling your feet forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drop protection - While the average set of shoes aren't going to do a lot to save your toes if you drop a weight plate on them, it's still more than bare feet offer you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sanitation - Gym floors are gross places. Exposing bare skin on them can lead to nasty diseases such as MRSA or Athlete's Foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think that none of these ascend to the height of being important enough to avoid bare feet, especially since &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-you-shouldnt-wear-shoes-in-house_55a11558e4b0a47ac15caad1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shoes are dank caverns that incubate mold and bacteria&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T18:33:20.080" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27878" CreationDate="2015-11-04T18:47:29.613" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard of any reliable sources recommending not squatting barefooted. The only reasons I can think of are probable imbalances (the one Alec suggested) , hygiene issues (some gyms may not like you squatting barefooted due to cleanliness) and dropping the weights on your toes (which even with shoes wouldn't make too much difference to the health of your feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas squatting with bare feet, can be advantageous in a few aspects, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of the most important things in squatting is to keep the weight on your  heels. Wearing shoes (especially those with big heels) can push your centre of gravity forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Better balance, more tactile feedback from the floor due to absence of a compressible cushion in between.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bare feet can give you more 'grip' on the floor than shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improves mobility, allowing you to squat deeper, especially important if you're an ass to the grass man like myself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall if it's okay with your gym, I would keep on squatting barefooted. I currently do it as well, and would totally recommend it to anyone who squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15023" LastEditorUserId="15023" LastEditDate="2015-11-04T19:13:03.927" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T19:13:03.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27896" CreationDate="2015-11-01T20:26:14.997" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am playing soccer on amateur level and want to change my off-season program for basic endurance from just running to a mix of running and swimming.&#xA;I did a bit of research about swimming, but did not find a sufficient answer to my question, &lt;strong&gt;whether swimming (according to an exercise plan of course) can contribute significantly to my basic endurance on land.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I cut back my running and make up for it with swimming?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18428" OwnerDisplayName="pat3d3r" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:21:21.240" Title="Contribution of swimming to basic endurance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27882" CreationDate="2015-11-05T01:11:30.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely Can,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;both running and swimming is cardio. Running for a long time is for build endurance, swimming is to. So you can choose Swim for alternate your Cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18421" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T01:11:30.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27877" CreationDate="2015-11-05T01:14:15.950" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;you can eat Much Carb and Meat. For Gain mass you can Dring Mass Gainer Milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you focus gain weight, 1st you must eat much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18421" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T01:14:15.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27882" CreationDate="2015-11-05T01:46:24.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Swimming is one way to maintain or improve your &quot;land endurance&quot; (as you put it). Don't start doing too much - start at a comfortable volume of exercise. As you grow accustomed to the new activity, increase as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to avoid or recover from injury, swimming is one good option (elliptical and bike are also good options). However, if you're trying to improve your fitness, running is the best way for you to get fit for soccer. Not only will you be doing something closer to what soccer is, but you'll also be building up a general resistance to injury. The movements involved in running and swimming are very different, and soccer is a lot closer to running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T01:46:24.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27887" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-05T13:57:54.083" Score="2" ViewCount="611" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the first time I am going to start a cutting phase so i have a number of questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q1:Would Training with same volume on cutting phase as on bulking&#xA;result in loss of muscle to provide energy to my body to continue&#xA;training?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q2:How much cardio should i do everyday and which one should i do hit&#xA;for 10mins or 60mins walk?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q3:Should i train with progesssive overload as i did on bulking&#xA;phase.?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-11-05T20:10:46.880" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T20:10:46.880" Title="Would Training with same volume on cutting phase as on bulking result in loss of muscle?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27887" CreationDate="2015-11-05T14:49:21.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cutting in general will result in loss of muscle. However, as long as you continue lifting at a similar level and don't go overboard with the cutting part (keep a 20% caloric deficit at maximum), most of what you burn will be fat. If you want to minimize the muscle loss you'll want your deficit to be as small as possible (maybe 5% or 10%), although of course that means it'll take longer to burn the fat away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of cardio you do hardly matters as long as you control your calories. And if you can keep adding weight to your lifts constantly in a cut, either you're a beginner and your deficit is very, ver small or you're probably eating more than you think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T14:49:21.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27887" CreationDate="2015-11-05T14:54:57.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it hard to believe that you will be able to train with the same volume during cutting.  Assuming classing cutting of ~500 cal/day from surplus of ~500 cal/day, we are looking at ~1000 cal/day different in energy consumption.  Assuming you are not planning to be at the gym for 4 hours - I highly doubt that same volume can be achieved (or should be achieved, for that matter). While cutting, the main goal is to retain the most amount of muscle mass, so decreasing volume from the bulking levels is ok.  You probably will lose some muscle mass, but that is a part of the deal, when you are cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to cardio, I prefer HIIT, but doing it every day is unmanageable, and according to some literature, down right bad for your heart.  You can do cardio every day, but alternate between steady cardio and HIIT. If you only have time for cardio 3 times a week because the rest is taken by lifting - just do HIIT. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 min warm &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10-15(or even 20 if you are THAT good) HIIT,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5 min cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't add much lifting after HIIT, simply because it is a very energy-depleting process. If you try to lift something heavy afterwards - your form may suffer and/or you may get an injury.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you have a recovery day, and you still want to do something, recovery 1h walks with some incline may be beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to progressive overload.... Within the cutting face, you will probably need to drop some weights on your working sets ( eventually ).  That is ok. If you really feel that you can progress, increase the intensity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorten down the break time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add extra couple of reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do an extra set, if you must.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal here is major decrease in body fat percentage, so don't run after strength progression, just try to lose fat without loosing too much muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the best advice you can have and I can give: educate yourself... A LOT!!! &#xA;Read a crap load of articles, a book or two, talk to someone who you think is a knowledgeable person in what you are trying to achieve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10014" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T14:54:57.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27873" CreationDate="2015-11-05T17:29:35.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question as to whether it is &quot;worthwhile&quot; is very subjective. As for &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/mini-trampoline-disadvantages-3713.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;safety issues and how to mollify them&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most exercises you do on the mini trampoline require you to maintain your balance. If you have balance issues, you could fall onto the frame or springs or off the equipment and hurt yourself. You have a couple of options. You can sit on the mini trampoline and bounce, but you will not get the intensity of standing, walking, running and jumping on it. You can install a stability bar, which easily attaches to two of the mini trampoline legs, and grasp the bar to maintain your balance. The stability bar can get in the way of some exercises, but it does increase the safety factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poking around a bit, it looks like simulating walking &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5-vdawtxxQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;looks like this Reebok video&lt;/a&gt;. In case link rot leads to the video going away, it's less like actual walking, and more like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Mark-Time-or-March-in-Place-in-a-Marching-Band&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;marking time&quot; in marching band&lt;/a&gt;, shifting your weight from side to side by bending the knee of the leg that's not bearing as much weight. Alternately, some doctors just suggest &quot;rebounding&quot;, or bouncing &#xA;in place on the mini-tramp, &lt;a href=&quot;http://michaelaaronsonmd.com:8080/rebounder-mini-trampoline-helps-doctor-walk-10000-steps-with-plantar-fasciitis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in place of walking&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T17:29:35.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27891" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-05T17:32:45.050" Score="5" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while back, I sent out the following query to a subject matter expert (through a different social media platform), but did not receive a reply.  Thought I'd post it here to see if anyone with expertise on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) can answer it.  What I wrote earlier follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, I’ve been unable to produce DOMS from my weightlifting sessions. I’ve always thought that if I’m not sore the next day, I wasted my time at the gym. Now I know some believe that you don’t have to experience DOMS for muscle growth, but where is the science on that theory? Regardless, some of my theories as to why I’m not experiencing DOMS are listed below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I’ve reached some sort of pre-determined genetic threshold in how&#xA;much I can tear my muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The effects of weightlifting diminish once you go past a certain&#xA;    chronological age (e.g., 20s vs. 30s vs. 40s and upward).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I tend to include some amount of cardio during my weightlifting&#xA;    sessions, perhaps flushing out any lactic acid built up during the&#xA;    weightlifting (but I’ve read that lactic acid build-up isn’t what&#xA;    causes DOMS).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I’m not currently taking a multi-vitamin. Right now I take in a fair&#xA;    amount of Vitamin C on a regular basis, but no multi-vitamin. Before&#xA;    a workout, I’ll take vitamin C and selenium. I’m also taking a new&#xA;    brand of iodine called Tri-Iodine by Terry Naturally (albeit&#xA;    sporadically). It contains 3 forms of iodine – potassium iodide,&#xA;    sodium iodide, and molecular iodine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I consume far less sugar than I did in 2012. In 2012, my sugar&#xA;    averaged 83 grams/day; in 2013, it was 75 grams. My goal is to get&#xA;    it lower than that in 2014.  (It averaged 63 g/day in 2014.)  What’s&#xA;    the relationship between sugar in the diet, inflammation, DOMS, and&#xA;    the ability to grow muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all that, I took a couple of long breaks from my typical workouts while focusing on other projects/activities and have recently begun exercising on a regular basis again.  The first break was a period of five weeks and even after that long break, I felt as if I had retained a significant amount of strength despite the break.  DOMS produced from workouts was present but not intense.  The exercise phase that followed the five-week break was 14 weeks in duration followed by a rest period of 13 weeks.  After this last break of 13 weeks, I am now exercising regularly again.  I feel significant strength has been lost and DOMS is easily attained from far more simple and less grueling workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My conclusion from all of this is that, genetically, we all have a peak and as we approach that peak, we are less and less likely to feel the effects of DOMS.  Without steroids, a person's muscle growth has a limit and additional amounts of exercise either through load or volume will have increasingly diminishing effects.  I don't think this conclusion is much of a revelation, but I would be interested in knowing if any of the aspects I have suggested have an impact on DOMS and whether or not researchers have conducted any studies on these aspects as they relate to DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18423" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T19:12:19.520" Title="What are the implications of diminishing levels of soreness in Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;doms&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-05T17:52:55.740" Score="1" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do we need to wear underwear while doing skipping exercise and running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18424" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T17:52:55.740" Title="Do wee need to wear underwear while doing skipping exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-11-06T12:27:29.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27891" CreationDate="2015-11-05T19:12:19.520" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've written &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout/19157#19157&quot;&gt;a previous answer about this&lt;/a&gt;, which I would recommend reviewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, DOMS is not a good indicator of muscle stress, growth, recovery, or training effectiveness. It is brought about through a combination of factors, primarily &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction#Eccentric_contraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eccentric exercises&lt;/a&gt;. From Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscles undergoing heavy eccentric loading suffer greater damage when&#xA;  overloaded&lt;/strong&gt; (such as during muscle building or strength training&#xA;  exercise) as compared to concentric loading. When eccentric&#xA;  contractions are used in weight training, they are normally called&#xA;  negatives. During a concentric contraction, muscle fibers slide across&#xA;  each other, pulling the Z-lines together. During an eccentric&#xA;  contraction, the filaments slide past each other the opposite way,&#xA;  though the actual movement of the myosin heads during an eccentric&#xA;  contraction is not known. Exercise featuring a heavy eccentric load&#xA;  can actually support a greater weight (muscles are approximately 40%&#xA;  stronger during eccentric contractions than during concentric&#xA;  contractions) and &lt;strong&gt;also results in greater muscular damage and delayed&#xA;  onset muscle soreness one to two days after training&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that people conflate &quot;damage&quot;, &quot;soreness&quot;, and &quot;effectiveness of training&quot;, all which are different and loosely related at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is easily identified that if eccentric exercises were the most effective ways to train, world class athletes would just do eccentric exercises all day long or at least prioritize them highly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, decades of fierce competition and scientifically analyzed training programs focus on concentric movements. Eccentric movements are relegated to adjusting to heavier weights that one can't do concentrically (like a negative pullup until a proper concentric can be completed), or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBGoodMorning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;good mornings&lt;/a&gt;, where the negative is required to not get injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-11-05T19:12:19.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27899" CreationDate="2015-11-05T23:24:49.577" Score="0" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read so much about diets that warning that not eating adequate amounts of protein will result in muscle loss. On the other hand I see people like Christian Bale almost flaunting this rule going up and down the built_rake-thin scale multiple times successfully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that muscles lost is lost forever ? If so how do people like him do it ? When I see him in the Machinist I don't think his frame just shows water loss from muscles only right ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4768" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:42:41.640" Title="Can you built back muscles you have lost?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27882" CreationDate="2015-11-06T06:06:16.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever trained for a triathlon?  I find that triathlon training programs incorporate even levels of training in three different disciplines -- running, biking, and swimming.  At various times in my life, I've had to cut back on running due to overuse injuries and during those times I tried to focus more on swimming, sometimes even doubling the workout (not something I would recommend for everyone).  For good beginning triathlon training programs, this site has more than one to choose from: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms.asp&lt;/a&gt;.  The programs are free.  So, if you're looking to cut back on running, both biking and swimming may be good swaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, I know that swimming doesn't always feel as challenging of a workout as running, but to get around that I recommend a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) A music device designed for water (my favorite is the Swim iPod: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1002620-REG/waterfi_sw3_ssi_waterproof_ipod_shuffle_swim.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1002620-REG/waterfi_sw3_ssi_waterproof_ipod_shuffle_swim.html&lt;/a&gt;).  Nothing like stroking to the beat of your favorite tune to pick up your speed and take out the monotony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Swim training aids ... from paddles to fins, they can take the monotony out of swimming and make your swim more challenging.  I've always had good experiences buying from Swim Outlet (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimoutlet.com/resistance-training-c10805/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.swimoutlet.com/resistance-training-c10805/&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I don't know if you check your heart rate when you run (to make sure you're working at your target rate), but if you're looking to improve your cardiovascular fitness while swimming, you should probably do the same.  Keep in mind that your heart beats slower in the water and you should adjust your target heart rate accordingly.  This article has more on the topic if it interests you: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/166752-heart-rate-during-swimming/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/166752-heart-rate-during-swimming/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always never stop improving and never stop having fun, but exercise at your own risk whatever form it may take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18423" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T06:06:16.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27872" CreationDate="2015-11-06T06:47:42.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on whether or not you want a chunky muscle body or a lean and ripped muscle body.  I am not a body builder, nor have I ever trained to be one, but I have skimmed through the diets that some of them follow and I don't ever recall seeing fried eggs on those menus.  In fact, typically they do eat a lot of eggs in the form of egg whites, but little to no egg yolk.  If you're really serious about developing a muscle body, I recommend you train yourself to start incorporating egg whites into your diet.  You can even buy them by the carton at most grocery stores.  I've listed a few links to some articles that may interest you on this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ava Cowan's Diet Plan (you'll see egg whites on the menu):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitflex.com/ava-cowan-pics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fitflex.com/ava-cowan-pics.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't describe how she prepares the eggs, but I doubt she fries her egg whites in butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recipes from Monica Brant (many include egg whites):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/monica4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/monica4.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lots of ideas here that don't involve frying:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/7-ways-to-cook-eggs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/7-ways-to-cook-eggs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I myself am a big fan of the Egg White Frittata.  Below is a recipe I've never tried, but it looks quite good:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodiecrush.com/2015/02/spinach-and-mushroom-egg-white-frittata/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.foodiecrush.com/2015/02/spinach-and-mushroom-egg-white-frittata/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find a lot of new and interesting diet strategies out there these days, but you asked about eggs, so I'll stop here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, exercise (and diet) at your own risk and see a doctor if you're concerned about your health or the diet you're about to follow.  If you decide to stop eating fried eggs, with or without the yolk, I think most doctors would be okay with that.  For further proof that frying may not be all that healthy, you may want to read this article here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/eating-fried-foods-tied-to-increased-risk-of-diabetes-and-heart-disease/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/eating-fried-foods-tied-to-increased-risk-of-diabetes-and-heart-disease/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18423" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T06:47:42.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25256" CreationDate="2015-11-06T07:37:17.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some thoughtful answers have already been given so I'm just going to focus on one aspect -- the challenges of building muscle as a vegetarian.  The important thing to know is that consuming protein is essential for muscle growth and repair.  You should also know that not all proteins are equal.  Most bodybuilders will tell you that animal protein is superior to other forms.  Have you ever seen a large wild cat?  Some large cats can eat up to 20 pounds of meat a day and if you've ever seen one up close, you'll notice how lean and muscular they are.  They aren't eating carbs.  And I would bet these cats, unlike their plumper domestic counterparts, don't drink milk either.  So, I happen to agree with those who believe animal protein is superior, but that doesn't mean you can't build muscle as a vegetarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a vegetarian, animal protein is not an option, but there are ways around this.  I'm not sure what type of vegetarian you are, but if you're a lacto-ovo vegetarian, for example, you can consume dairy products and eggs, both of which are excellent sources of protein.  Milk, cottage cheese, and yogurt contain a fair amount of protein and eggs are the form of protein most easily absorbed by the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If dairy and eggs are not an option for you, you can combine certain foods to ensure you are getting a full amino acid complement or what some call a &quot;complete&quot; protein.  Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.  Nine of the 22 amino acids are called &quot;essential&quot; because the human body cannot produce them; they must be obtained from food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some vegetarian foods (beyond dairy and eggs) are complete proteins by themselves.  Quinoa is one such example.  Many vegetarian foods, however, are not complete by themselves.  For example, beans are not a complete protein by themselves, and neither is rice, but beans and rice together form a complete amino acid profile.  For other examples of vegetarian food combinations that contain a complete amino acid profile visit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2012/10/03/complete-vs-incomplete-protein-sources/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.builtlean.com/2012/10/03/complete-vs-incomplete-protein-sources/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for number of meals, you eat, I do think it is good to eat smaller meals throughout the day.  I've heard of some eating once every three hours and even once every hour, if you can believe it!  If you're going to do that, you'll need to find out what the total amount of calories for the day is and divide that by the number of times you plan to eat.  Personally, I find that a bit complicated.  I eat when I'm hungry and try to get protein (chicken) and fiber (vegetables) in with every meal, while avoiding empty carbohydrates and foods with no nutritional value.  I prefer exercising on an empty stomach and am a late, but true convert to this thing called &quot;fasted cardio.&quot;  You can read about it here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/is-fasted-cardio-the-best-for-burning-fat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/is-fasted-cardio-the-best-for-burning-fat.html&lt;/a&gt;.  If I have to eat before exercising, I prefer what I call &quot;healthy milkshakes.&quot; Some might call these &quot;smoothies,&quot; but I find healthy milkshake just sounds so much more appetizing.  Plus, mine are always made with milk, so, in a way, they really are a milk shake.  I usually just blend milk with a banana and protein powder.  It is so simple and easy.  Nevertheless, if you want more variety, check out the following link for some tasty looking alternatives: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20356969,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20356969,00.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last thing, but perhaps the most important, is the amount of protein you consume.  I read somewhere that Arnold Schwarzenegger believed that the right formula for building muscle was one gram of protein for every pound of weight, but I have seen others suggest protein consumption as high as 2.2 grams for every pound of weight.  The Recommended Daily Allowance is just .8 grams.  To read about an interesting study on protein consumption, visit the following link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/maki1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/maki1.htm&lt;/a&gt;.  The study isn't geared toward the vegetarian, but this article addresses this subject from that perspective: &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/how-to-build-muscle-mass-on-a-plant-based-diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/how-to-build-muscle-mass-on-a-plant-based-diet&lt;/a&gt;.  Personally, I find it really difficult to even consume 1 gram of protein for every pound I weigh, but a few years ago I learned that one body builder's motto was &quot;Protein at every meal.&quot;  I've tried to adopt that motto myself, but easier said than done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you'll find, overtime, that what works for one person doesn't work quite as well for you and vice versa.  Find that formula that works best for you and best wishes as you take it to the next level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18423" LastEditorUserId="18446" LastEditDate="2015-11-08T21:20:37.503" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T21:20:37.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27895" CreationDate="2015-11-06T07:39:05.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where are you getting this information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have some sort of muscular dystrophy, you can ALWAYS build muscle. It doesn't matter if you're building it for the first time, or re-building it for the tenth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would lost muscle mass be lost forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T07:39:05.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27902" CreationDate="2015-11-06T15:45:16.113" Score="4" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey I'm relatively new to weight lifting and I have friends who take Creatine before working out. They said it really helps build muscle. But I've also heard it can be bad for you. How true is it, and is it worth the risk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18430" LastEditorUserId="18430" LastEditDate="2015-11-06T16:08:19.067" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T00:29:21.490" Title="Is Creatine bad for you?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27901" CreationDate="2015-11-06T15:58:14.560" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt; There don't seem to be many negative side effects besides water retention and the need to take in more water, although the benefit is limited for people who aren't already up against their limits and it doesn't seem to help for endurance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-873-creatine.aspx?activeingredientid=873&amp;amp;activeingredientname=creatine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine is LIKELY SAFE when taken by mouth appropriately for up to 5 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When taken by mouth in high doses, creatine is POSSIBLY UNSAFE. There is some concern that it could harm the kidney, liver, or heart function. However, a connection between high doses and these negative effects has not been proven. Creatine can also cause stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, and muscle cramping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine causes muscles to draw water from the rest of your body. Be sure to drink extra water to make up for this. Also, if you are taking creatine, don't exercise in the heat. It might cause you to become dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people who use creatine gain weight. This is because creatine causes the muscles to hold water, not because it actually builds muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some concern that combining creatine with caffeine and the herb ephedra (also called Ma Huang) might increase the chance of having serious side effects such as stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is concern that creatine might cause irregular heartbeat in some people. But more information is needed to know if creatine can cause this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is concern that creatine might cause a skin condition called pigmented purpuric dermatosis in some people. But more information is needed to know if creatine can cause this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BodyBuilding.com comes up with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/is-creatine-safe-how-the-king-of-supps-affects-your-organs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;similar results&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine does not cause damage to skeletal muscle or the heart, liver, or kidneys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine, at this moment in time, seems to be fine for kidney disorders that are not characterized by edema and tissue swelling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Based on limited research, it is probably wise to avoid creatine supplementation if you have polycystic kidney disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or another kidney disorder characterized by tissue swelling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10609446&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;medical study&lt;/a&gt; found the same things, but also warns that commercial supplies may have other additives due to how badly regulated the supplementation industry is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T15:58:14.560" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27904" CreationDate="2015-11-06T18:20:45.757" Score="0" ViewCount="913" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know biceps are small muscle group and they can recover quickly.&#xA;I do 5 to 11 sets with different exercises(these sets contain dropsets)&#xA;My workout log looks like this:-&#xA;Warm up sets:&#xA;Set 1:2kg db curl with 10 reps at each hand.rest 1 min or less&#xA;Set 2:16kg concentration curl 5 reps at each hand. rest of 2 mins&#xA;set 3: same weight and 2 reps at each hand.2 min rest.&#xA;set 4:12kg with 8 reps st each hand&#xA;And this follows on till 9 kg.&#xA;I follow this schedule on 2 days per week or 1.I have not noticed any increase in my arm size. As you can see I try to do both strength and muscle building known as high reps or low reps but wait is it possible for me to do both weights that I can handle and those weight which i can't but for increase strength.&#xA;One more question hope you don't mind that I am easily able to do dumbbell curl with weight of 12 kg but I am unable to handle 9kg barbell curl(Do you think that through isolation exercise i have messed up my arm positions?.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="10532" LastEditDate="2015-11-07T18:26:42.627" LastActivityDate="2015-11-07T18:26:42.627" Title="Am I doing the right amount of volume for biceps?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-11-10T15:32:09.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27903" CreationDate="2015-11-07T00:05:10.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you are NOT doing the right amount of volume. You're doing way too much. And too little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too much curling, too little of anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to see progress, you need variation in your exercise. If you just curl all day, your body will simply get good at curling. It doesn't even need to build muscle, it will just create new neural patterns to help you do this particular movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a complete workout program for your entire body. Like @TestWell says, you need to squat and everything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I know what you're thinking. &quot;Squatting doesn't do anything for my arms.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, you'd be wrong. When you're doing a full-body program, there are synergies between all muscle groups and exercises. Your CNS (Central Nervous System) as well as your bones will be developed, and this is something that will yield results all over. And squatting (as well as all the other exercises) is an integral part of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of good beginner programs out there. I believe &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SL5x5&lt;/a&gt; is among the most popular. You'd do well to start there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I promise and guarantee, you'll see more results in 4 months of that, than you would in 1 year of what you're doing right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-07T00:05:10.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27910" CreationDate="2015-11-07T11:21:24.487" Score="1" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is is true that creatine doesn't get dissolved very easliy in our body ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastActivityDate="2015-11-07T14:48:39.713" Title="Is it true, that Creatine doesn't dissolve easily in our body?" Tags="&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-09T13:32:06.123" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-07T13:44:30.740" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am scrawny. I've always been scrawny. But a few years ago I've lost the muscle tone in my hips and I developed intermittent knee pains before of that. In the passing year I lost my lower back muscles definition as well, and about a month ago I decided it's time to get back into shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm doing daily routines (+twice a week an extra and longer workout) for the past month and things are much better now. Everything I do is just body weight exercises (push ups, all sort of stomach exercises, back hyperextensions, squats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm running into a problem, and I hope that you can give me some guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people have their quadriceps end at the knee on both sides of the knee. So right above the knee you usually see two bulges of muscle. I only have one, on the interior side of the knee. On the exterior side the muscle ends up rather high above the knee, and you can see the ligaments and tendon stretched out when I lock my knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my quads improved in the past two weeks, I feel that the one &quot;head&quot; is applying some pressure on my knee; and whereas most people would have this evened out by the vastus lateralis that reaches all the way to the knee, I don't have this privilege.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any reasonable way, which does not include going to the gym or using lifts, to increase the length of my vastus lateralis so it can even out the pressure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will also add that I am quite careful in my work out, and if I feel that I'm doing something wrong, I will probably look up a few videos online and practice in front of a mirror in order to get the proper technique (e.g. after a couple of days I realized that I'm doing something wrong in my squats; but I quickly corrected it and now they are far more effective).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user18434" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T17:46:45.563" Title="How to build my quads at home?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;quads&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27906" CreationDate="2015-11-07T14:48:39.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creatine is very popular amongst those who want to improve their workout results. You can find creatine in red meat, but many people take it as supplement (e.g. in capsules). You probably already know that, if not dissolved properly, creatine won't be absorbed. For some people, it is true that creatine  doesn't dissolve easily, but there are some ways to resolve that problem. Drinking lots of water or grapejuice can help. Some people even put it in a coffee. Water and juice should be warm, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-07T14:48:39.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-07T19:07:26.807" Score="0" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm stumped. I'm 32 yrs old and my weight has gone up and down over the last 10 years but I've never had trouble getting it off when I workout and count calories. I'm currently 5'5 160 lbs. My normal/ideal weight is 135.  I've been working out 5-7 days a week, strength and cardio (when it's 7 days I generally just walk a mile or two with my dog) eating 1100-1300 calories of healthy, non processed, whole foods, no sweets or junk, I'm mindful of macronutrients, drink 32-64 oz of water every day (water is the only thing I drink except for 1 or 2 cups of black coffee in the morning) I don't drink alcohol or smoke and I get at least 8 hrs of sleep a night. It's been a month of dieting and working out now and I haven't lost even a single ounce, and my clothes fit me exactly the same.  What could I possibly be doing wrong here? I've scoured articles online and it's always &quot;too much&quot; of something (exercise, water, calories) or &quot;not enough&quot;. I'm frustrated and disheartened! Please help!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18436" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T01:17:30.337" Title="Why am I not losing weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-11-14T12:39:41.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27912" CreationDate="2015-11-07T21:30:30.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like @AlexL, I'm worried that you're not eating enough, and that your body is adapting by shorting some processes, rather than burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you have to understand, is that in order to be healthy, you have to have a healthy diet. Too many people try to lose weight by trying diets that &lt;em&gt;exclude&lt;/em&gt; this and that. The problem there is that they're excluding important nutrients, vitamins and minerals, simply because the food also has, say, sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem to be in the habit of counting calories, and that's very good! But try to make sure of these things;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your diet includes sugars. Good sources are fruits. Bad sources, I think you know.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your diet includes fats. Good sources are fish, nuts, seeds, and for dinner, use olive oil when you fry meats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your diet includes proteins. Good sources are meats and fish. Again, dinner should cover this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cover all this, and keep track of your calories, you'll be able to tweak it. For instance, if you try consuming 1500 calories/day for a month(*), and your weight stays the same, lower it to 1400, and try that for a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) When I say a month, that's because noticable changes take a while. Any fluctuations in weight from week to week should not be used as a statistic, because it's subject to far too many factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as always, any venture to change your body is NOT going to yield results in just a few months. I always say, give it &lt;strong&gt;a year&lt;/strong&gt;. It sounds like a lot, but if you can't stay disciplined for a year, whatever you accomplish in one month, is going to be lost the next. For the changes to be permanent, you need to keep your discipline. This goes for all of us, whether we're losing or gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sincerely wish you all the best, but you're the one who has to go fetch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pep talk over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-07T21:30:30.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2015-11-08T08:39:26.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it all depends on how much pain, stretching, fast, and slow twitch training you can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that , obviously nutrition and rest are important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think most people, including myself overtrain. I.e. Most focus on quantity over quality. For the pure endurance athlete, this is less of an issue. As you move to the extremes of fast or slow twitch ( sprints or power lifting) , I think overtraining is a real issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really believe that you need to pick a mixed fiber type i.e. endurance sport or short burst sport like power lifting or sprinting 100-200 M ( if you want to excell). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just not possible to break down all kinds of tissue running miles and then expect to squat two times body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the only way to confirm, would be for me to quit running and just lift for 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18440" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T08:39:26.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-08T11:03:01.357" Score="0" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;My height is 172 cm, my weight is hovering about 77kg to 75kg. My goal weight is 71kg and I got close to that weight by doing 48 hours IT without eating, during the week I practice 24 hour IT every day. I notice that the weight is stubbornly stuck at 77kg to 75kg every week and does not seem to go anywhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am mildly active, I walk / run every other day and I do squats and push ups once or twice a week with rope jumping thrown in. My diet is keto most of the time. I eat once a day. What can I do to get out of this rut ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4768" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T22:18:29.033" Title="Why am I not loosing weight doing intermittent fasting?" Tags="&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-09T13:34:04.977" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-08T11:44:41.083" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a volunteer firefighter and once every year we have to pass a fitness test to prove we are physically capable of working as a firefighter.&#xA;One part of this test is to do a sport program with a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what I've noticed is that I need a lot more air than my colleagues, while I am quite fit: I exercise around 4-5h a week, divided into equal parts of cardio and weight-lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet I need more air than slightly overweight smokers who only sparely exercise.&#xA; Is there any technique or training method maybe divers use to minimize their air-consumption?&#xA;(I am not quite sure which tags to use, so feel free to add or remove) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18442" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-08T14:02:25.813" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T14:02:25.813" Title="Why do I consume so much air?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-11-09T13:33:36.890" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27919" CreationDate="2015-11-08T22:18:29.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give your body a break. Increase your calories for a week or two, then reduce them about ten to 20 percent a day. Your body will get out of starvation mode and you will slowly start losing again. Worst thing to do is panic when the weight goes up and return to your body punishing routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18448" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T22:18:29.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27933" CreationDate="2015-11-09T04:15:20.297" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do heavy and bulky muscles restrict range of motion? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T15:34:08.597" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T15:34:08.597" Title="As a cricketer what kind of Exercise i should be avoiding working out in the gym?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-11-10T15:36:18.343" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27927" CreationDate="2015-11-09T10:25:42.623" Score="7" ViewCount="405" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty simple question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a safe way to train for the front and back flip without killing myself?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16591" LastActivityDate="2020-06-27T15:22:28.660" Title="Safe way to train for the front and back flip?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27926" CreationDate="2015-11-09T11:27:32.203" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don'ts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest mistake people make when learning to flip, is that they try to flip into pools and onto mattresses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a mistake because it doesn't prepare you for the inevitable challenge of having to spot your landing. And it takes away the need to really cushion the landing with your legs. And this needs to be practiced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trampolines is a pretty good way to practice in the beginning. It teaches you to commit to the flip and spot your landing early. For instance, when you backflip, the very first thing we have in mind, is to rotate enough to see the ground again. From there, you spot the landing, and the rest of the movement is based on tucking (which increases rotation) and straightening out again (which decreases rotation), so that you land nicely, and don't over- or under-rotate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're ready to take this to the next step, it's on the ground. If you have mats, use that. But like I said, don't use mattresses. They're too thick, which makes them harder to jump off of. And if you try to flip onto one from the ground, you're jumping onto higher ground, which is also obviously harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best bet is to get a spotter. They will have one hand behind your knee, and one arm on your lower back. When you jump, you'll rotate around their arm, and they'll give you extra momentum by lifting your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, this is entirely the flipper's movement. Everything the spotter does is assistance work. If you do something a little bit wrong, no worries, they'll save you. If you have fundamental flaws in your technique, they'll notice. It's pretty easy to see what goes wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you practice this, the less your spotter will need to do. It should come pretty naturally, as you should easily feel yourself relying less and less on the spotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfzQ1mNjVio&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; shows some nice progression steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T11:27:32.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27895" CreationDate="2015-11-09T16:42:41.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry, you have the wrong information. The only truth is, you can build back your muscles. Big and extreme changes like those on Christian Bale are not good for health at all. If your body is constantly in shock, after some time it can become &quot;stubborn&quot; in terms of difficult weight gain/weight loss. That's why balance is the best solution for your body. If you've lost your muscles, just keep eating protein-rich foods and exercise. The changes will come soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:42:41.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22589" CreationDate="2015-11-09T16:45:52.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An interesting question you have posted. In essence these low energy dense foods (LEDF) actually work well if you look at the evidence for them and they do not compromise or cheat your hunger. For instance a study followed people for a year and found this strategy beneficial.Follow this link for details of this study: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556681&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556681&lt;/a&gt;. The LEDF are also nutrient dense and when followed well can help you eat healthy and even attain your energy needs for instance look at this &lt;a href=&quot;http://preventcancer.aicr.org/new/images/photos/various/EnergyDensityPR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://preventcancer.aicr.org/new/images/photos/various/EnergyDensityPR.jpg&lt;/a&gt;. In the link of that picture you will realise that he picture shows an example of LEDF which contributes about 1500kcal and just adding a little to these foods one can easily get to the 2000kcal daily requirement of energy intake. Unlike filling up ourselves with high energy dense foods which will do not quickly fill us up and thus makes us take in more calories than needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus its clear that if we first look at samples of LEDF's before we start to think of hormones like ghrelin and also evaluate the practical evidence regarding, LEDF's are a sustainable and effective strategy for weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18400" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:45:52.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27912" CreationDate="2015-11-09T16:48:06.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question might be- you're lacking some calories. You should eat at least 1800 a day if you're on a diet. Normal intake for grown men is around 2000 calories a day. If your body is spending more energy than it has, it's possible that, after some time, your body will react. That means that your body will be too &quot;afraid&quot; that it won't get enough energy, so it will store all the calories it can. The result is, you're not losing any weight (or you just don't see the changes). So, the main recommendation for you is - eat more!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:48:06.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27977" CreationDate="2015-11-09T13:30:33.853" Score="2" ViewCount="1442" Body="&lt;p&gt;For almost 3 years now, i've been swimming (2km in 35 min) everyday... and for the last 6 months i went back to a old fashion: tennis... i've been playing it almost on a daily basis and getting better at it (currently playing 4-4.5)... I imagine that due to the enormous repetition of the crawl stroke movement it should make your arms less prone to tiredness... Also, its a good cardio workout...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand I imagine that it does not emphasises the &quot;explosion&quot; part of the movement...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... Is swimming a good complementary exercise for tennis? any pros swim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" OwnerDisplayName="Leonardo" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T13:31:49.313" Title="Tennis complementary exercises?" Tags="&lt;tennis&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27912" CreationDate="2015-11-09T23:10:20.370" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't count the calories. This is prehistoric, which should be thrown away from people's mind. Everybody who counts calories probably doesn't know much about human physilogy or is the fastbaked certified fitness trainer. For beginnning, read the book as The Calorie Myth. Read as much as you can scientific based books and articles. If you want to loose weight then invest your time. Calories are really outdated and prehistoric and it doesn't tell anything. Start rather count micronutrients and macronutrients, this is much more accurate things to do. &lt;strong&gt;Different foods with same calorie count will have different impact on you.&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://authoritynutrition.com/debunking-the-calorie-myth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://authoritynutrition.com/debunking-the-calorie-myth/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Educate yourself more about insulin resistance, micronutrients, macronutrients, fiber and workout. I'm not saying that this is holy grail, but much more accurate than simple calorie counting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendations what works for me(what works for me, may not works for you)&#xA;intermited fasting(low carb), weight training with barbel, dance and movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqwvcrA7oe8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqwvcrA7oe8&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18458" LastEditorUserId="18458" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T08:51:10.433" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T08:51:10.433" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27924" CreationDate="2015-11-09T23:45:14.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't really need to worry about avoiding any exercises. Unless you're doing serious bodybuilding, you'd normally just gain overall fitness and strength; not large bulky muscles which will hinder your range of movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16801" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T23:45:14.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27901" CreationDate="2015-11-10T00:29:21.490" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;most people resort to creatine after an extended period of training where they're not getting bigger, or stronger, or both. as a beginner, you should see pretty rapid gains in both size and strength as long as you've got a solid workout plan and you're eating a ton. i don't think it makes sense for a beginner to take it. creatine isn't that risky compared to, like, anabolic steroids...but way, way riskier than a bunch of chicken breasts and whole milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you do choose to try i would recommend against a &quot;loading phase,&quot; which is several weeks of very high daily creatine intake (around 20 grams), followed by a moderate daily dosage (some call it a &quot;maintenance&quot; dose) of 5-ish grams, continued indefinitely. most of the creatine horror stories i've read are dosage-related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18459" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T00:29:21.490" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27912" CreationDate="2015-11-10T01:05:56.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;eating that amount of calories and training 5-7 days a week could force the body to go into starvation mode and stockpile whatever weight it can in order to counteract the effects of malnutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;alternatively, if you've been doing the same stuff forever you could be in plateau mode - where you're so accustomed to your current program that you're going to realize diminished returns until you move on to something new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what's your macro ratio look liek? you could try a high-fat/low-carb macro ratio. supposedly good for weight loss, but i wouldn't recommend it without adding a couple hundred gross calories, first. unless you want to be really tired and irritable all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18459" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T01:05:56.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27937" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-10T04:32:40.670" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm becoming more sensitive to my balance and trying to feel an equal weight on both feet while squatting and hip hinging. I've noticed that in the very basic standing position, my left calf (gastrocnemius, higher up) is activated and pushing my toes against the floor, while my right calf is pretty quiet. Going on one leg for skater squats, it's kind of the same way, and in biking, my calf helps flex my knee on the left side but stays quiet on the right. Does a normal standing posture involve calf tension or is it mainly in the muscles of the thigh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T04:32:40.670" Title="Should the calves be tense when standing still?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-10T10:13:47.333" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started running on sand but i had people telling me that running on sand for long term causes grave injury knees and joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T15:10:21.757" Title="Does running on sand cause injury to the knee joints?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-10T21:39:23.040" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27944" CreationDate="2015-11-10T11:22:06.617" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context&lt;/strong&gt;: for my workouts I can only consider free weights and bodyweight exercises (home gym with power rack).&#xA;In my chest workout I currently perform:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench press (barbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flys (dumbbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hip press (dumbbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last exercise isn't too well-known, as the only videos I can find are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSnhS0S7swQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSnhS0S7swQ&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkmakZelRTQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkmakZelRTQ&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'd like to replace this exercise with a barbell exercise (for supersetting reasons, having only one set of dumbbells).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first solution was to do the same movement but replacing the dumbbells with the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question: can such a hip press with a barbell be considered useful and safe&lt;/strong&gt; (because, as far as I know, this exercise doesn't seem very common)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried it once for 3 sets of 12, and it does seem to activate the chest muscles in a focused manner. I was lying on the floor (as Scooby suggests) to prevent an overly extended range of motion. Furthermore I have used an &lt;strong&gt;underhand&lt;/strong&gt; grip, this may not sound intuitive, but with a straight barbell this keeps the elbows automatically tucked in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18010" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T16:51:17.393" Title="Barbell &quot;hip press&quot; for pecs - viable exercise?" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27938" CreationDate="2015-11-10T15:10:21.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The things you've heard can be true, but it's not 100% sure that it will happen to you. How long do you run? It's possible to hurt your ankle and knee if you step on the sand under the wrong angle. Your knee cup might be hurt also. That's why running barefoot is not recommendable. Rather use some really good sneakers to run with. That way you will protect yourself from injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T15:10:21.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27866" CreationDate="2015-11-10T15:15:45.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question depends on what do you consider as building muscles. If you want to build &quot;spindle-shaped&quot; muscles, that look more natural, then climbing is a good option. However, if you want to build your muscles to look more like body builders, then climbing isn't gonna help you that much. In that case, you should do some heavy lifting. 3000 calories are ok at this point, but make sure you're eating well every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T15:15:45.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27941" CreationDate="2015-11-10T16:51:17.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;People probably call the &quot;hip press&quot; by another name:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Floor Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a name that includes elbows flared, palms facing, and in the middle (hip press).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, I know several people who employ:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Floor Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Grip Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are valid exercises.  Personally, I get more chest activation with dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Efficacy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a fancy word to say how useful the exercise is for it's intended purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get a good burn in your pecs performing the exercise you are describing.  If I have it pictured in my mind right, it's a Barbell Reverse Grip Floor Press.  The only thing that would prevent it from being useful is if the weight you are using is too light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever set/rep scheme you choose, you should be focusing on maximizing the number of fatigue inducing reps to build muscle.  That means you should be working with weight that's heavy enough to say you don't have any more in you, or at the very most 1-2 reps left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are using weights you don't go to failure on, there's nothing more to say other than respect the bar.  However, if you are the least bit unsure, set your rack safeties just below where the bar would rest with your elbows on the floor.  The point of the safeties is to prevent the bar from slipping and dropping on your chest, neck, or face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Say no to flys&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will advise to do something else other than chest flys.  The main problem with them is that it is too easy to turn it into a shoulder tendon stretch rather than keep it focused on the pecs.  Dumbbell bench press with the elbows flared is much safer (doesn't carry the risk to the shoulders) and you can still get that deep pec stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reverse flys, or rear delt raises, are good.  They help build the rear delts and pose no risk to the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T16:51:17.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2015-11-10T20:30:44.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is normal while your body is adjusting. I am also doing a low carb diet. I find that sometimes if I have some iced spring water with a squeeze of lime or lemon, this can really help. You are getting a tiny bit carbs in the juice, which can satisfy your cravings, plus water which hydrates you and fills you up for a bit. If that doesn't work I have an apple or even an oat cake or high fibre cracker with sugar free peanut butter. I think its better to take the edge off the hunger or carb cravings while I'm getting used to the diet, than give up because its too hard. Or you may just want to power through till your body adjusts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18469" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T20:30:44.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27947" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-11T05:16:34.753" Score="1" ViewCount="636" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Calisthenics for 2 months now. I can see that muscle increase from my arms, chest, legs, etc. The problem is that when I look in the mirror all I see is that fat covering my muscle. I have been trying to keep a steady diet. Eating 5 small meals a day. Each meal containing Protein, Carbs, Unsaturated Fat, and Lots of water. I drink 6 bottles of water each day.  Eating 5 fruits or veggies a day. The only exercise I do to burn fat is High Knees, Mountain Climbers, Jumping Lunges, and Burpees with Push ups. I want to burn this fat badly. I also don't want to lose my muscle by doing to much cardio. What should I do?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18307" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-11-11T12:10:38.447" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T19:18:32.777" Title="How to lose fat without losing muscle?" Tags="&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27947" CreationDate="2015-11-11T08:00:00.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the best way to lose fat is by counting calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great that you are eating healthy and often and such, however if you are still eating more, or the same amount of calories as you are burning; you will not lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to lose fat you will need to create a calorie deficit, ie. Eat less calories than you are using. A deficit of 400-1000 calories a day would be typical for most people aiming to lose fat. The greater the deficit, the faster you will lose fat. However if you have too large a deficit you may become lethargic, have trouble maintaining your current strength and may lose some muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to know how many calories you are consuming a day you need to keep a log of all the calories you eat each day, there are plenty of websites, programs, apps that will do this easily for you. In a lot of countries packaged food is required to have a nutritional information label that will tell you how many calories or how much energy in kj (you can convert these two units easily, 4kj roughly approximates to 1 cal) is in that food. You can approximate all other food by weighing the amount you eat and then looking online for its approximate calorie content. (Google itself will show you the calorie contents of certain foods; If you google &quot;calories in carrots&quot; for example). Make sure you log everything you eat even healthy things like salads, it all adds up. Also make sure you overestimate or round up as there are many factors that could easily mean you consume more calories than you think you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing to do is to work out how much you are burning each day. This is most easily achieved with a heart rate monitor like a Fitbit or something, but again you can always approximate it yourself. The largest source of calories out will be what is called your BMR which is basically how many calories you burn by just being alive. You can approximate your BMR online with a BMR calculator. Then you can approximate how many calories you burn from any exercise that you do that day, again by looking it up online. Make sure you underestimate or round down to provide a buffer zone just in case you aren't actually burning that much as every body is different. Note that unless you're doing hours of high heart rate activities, the total calories burnt from exercise won't be all that much and you can probably just use your BMR for your calories consumed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then simply make sure that your calories consumed each day (from food) is 400-1000 calories less than your calories burnt each day (from BMR and exercise) and you will lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T08:00:00.227" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-11T08:15:52.250" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to a massage/body therapy place while on holiday for a massage and was told by the guy that I have the beginnings of a slipped disk. They didn't speak English very well but I believe they said it was either the c6 or c7 one if that makes a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to prevent the disk from slipping out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently started to do weightlifting regularly (bench press, rows and deadlift). Should I stop doing these, especially the deadlift since it involves the back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there exercises or stretches or anything else that I should or should not do in order to prevent/fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person told me that it may be because of sleeping or sitting. What are the best ways to sleep for this problem? Would sitting up tall, with back straight and shoulders back while at work (desk job) or while driving be better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T08:15:52.250" Title="How can I prevent a slipped disk?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28322" CreationDate="2015-11-11T11:07:38.647" Score="5" ViewCount="4605" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought a ab wheel and have been doing it for a few time by now but I noticed that a lot of videos on YouTube with ripped guys showing how to use the ab wheel they use much bigger wheels than mine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are bigger wheels better than smaller wheels ? If not why their size varies and which size is better for me? I wonder that the ripped guys use bigger ones for a reason right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My AB wheel is about this size :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w2MNw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w2MNw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I've seen guys using ones about this size :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t0nRo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t0nRo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="15362" LastEditDate="2015-11-14T00:17:23.933" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T22:23:29.120" Title="Are bigger AB wheels better?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-11T10:27:43.773" Score="1" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently bought a bike and would like to find a good program/plan to follow that includes cycling, weight training and maybe another type of sport (which I can do by myself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am looking for is some kind of advise on how to split exercise days (for example I was thinking going cycling 2-3 times a week and the other days I go do some weight training in the gym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Brian" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2018-03-21T08:45:07.910" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T15:01:30.217" Title="Multi-workout sports programme?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27947" CreationDate="2015-11-11T15:37:48.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to lose fat and not the muscles, I suggest you cut the meals. That means, you should eat less because no matter how much you work out, if you don't burn more calories than you have, you won't lose fat. For example, men need 2000 calories a day and you should cut to 1500 calories a day. Women need 1500 calories a day, so 1000 calories is their goal. Keep working out. That way you don't have to worry about losing muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T15:37:48.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27952" CreationDate="2015-11-11T15:42:23.623" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cycling is a great workout but it's necessary to add other kinds of workout to it and I see that's exactly what you want. I suggest you go cycling 3 times a week. Other 2 days do cardio workouts and the 2 other you can go to the gym and do weight training. Of course, you should make a good diet plan. If you want to exercise every day, you should eat 2000 calories a day. Eat proteins, also add veggies and fruit, as well as whole grains to your meals. I wish you best of luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T15:42:23.623" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-11T16:24:53.487" Score="3" ViewCount="683" Body="&lt;p&gt;For instance, if you weigh 180, is it realistic to shoulder press 90s overhead or should one stick to pressing bodyweight with the barbell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18474" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2015-11-18T02:26:54.800" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T02:26:54.800" Title="Is it realistic to go for a goal of pressing your bodyweight on dumbell shoulder presses?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27956" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27957" CreationDate="2015-11-11T18:08:01.620" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift 14kg for biceps.(i usually put more emphasis on biceps and less on triceps and abs.)&#xA;Following is my daily schedule:&#xA;Morning:&#xA;At 7:40am&#xA;3 egg white,&#xA;1 cup of tea(it also contains milk) with chocolate biscuits containing 24g trans fat.(Maybe its trans fat,chocolate biscuits are my weakness:( )&#xA;I go to my college and come back at 12:00am.&#xA;At 1:00pm&#xA;100g meat&#xA;1 cup of tea(it also contains milk) with chocolate biscuits.&#xA;At 3:00pm&#xA;Banana shake 200ml or more.&#xA;At 9:00pm&#xA;1 pakistani roti with salan.&#xA;11:00pm&#xA;150ml milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more question please,how many sets for how many exercise for hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="16349" LastEditDate="2015-11-11T18:23:54.933" LastActivityDate="2015-11-13T10:15:32.610" Title="Is this diet right for bulking up?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-11-12T14:48:54.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27956" CreationDate="2015-11-11T19:07:08.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For bulking up, you should eat more and better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You seem to be low on protein. 3 egg whites make almost no difference (they give you ~10g of protein), 100g of meat is very low as it gives you ~30g of proteins. Supposing you get another 10g of protein at dinner, you get ~50g per day. You should aim for 1.5g per kg of body weight per day at the very least. Up your carbs too, so you don't metabolize your proteins into energy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce your saturated fats for your future health. They are the bad ones, playing a role in coronary diseases. Trans fats have the same effects, so count them as saturated fats. If you eat 24g trans fat worth of biscuits twice a day, plus milk, you will actually eat more saturated fat than proteins. You shouldn't eat more than 7% of your calories as saturated fats, and no more than 30% of your daily calories as overall fat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take care of the other two pillars: sleep and exercise. Sleep as much as you can, workout every day. You actually didn't include working out in your daily schedule. Of course, there are other obvious things : no alcohol (reduces natural testosterone), no cigarette, eliminate the sources of stress, don't overdo cardio, control the amount of sodium you eat (which often comes together with protein) to, at most, 2300mg per day (less is better).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2899" LastEditorUserId="2899" LastEditDate="2015-11-13T10:15:32.610" LastActivityDate="2015-11-13T10:15:32.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27947" CreationDate="2015-11-11T19:18:32.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try carb cycling. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cutandjacked.com/Carb-Cycling-Made-Easy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par30.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, for detailed explanations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, you spend 2 to 3 days eating very little to no carbs then one day eating plenty of it. The no-carbs days deplete your glycogen reserves and make your body start tapping the fat reserves, then the carb day resets the counter before your body swithes to store-it-all mode, where it would store everything you eat as fat because it's been so starved recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2899" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T19:18:32.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27955" CreationDate="2015-11-12T00:34:58.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;By realistic do you mean functional? Either case no. The overhead press is typically one of the weaker lifts as it uses smaller specialized muscles in a motion that is not typical of daily life. But I figure that is not what you mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By realistic do you mean plausible? Absolutely. While it would be easier to lift bodyweight (plate's and bar) rather than bodyweight plus the bar, you can train for either and I'm sure you can get there. That being said, it would be rather difficult but not un-doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be safe lifting and have fun.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18478" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-11-12T02:16:54.010" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T02:16:54.010" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27912" CreationDate="2015-11-12T01:17:30.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks everyone, for your input and advice!! I want to first mention that, I am a stickler for measuring everything. I use a food scale, measuring cups/spoons etc so that I know EXACTLY how much food I'm eating. Not only for the sake of calorie counting but also portion control and to keep track of my macros ingested as I intend to lose weight the healthy way and not just a &quot;crash&quot; diet. So the chance that I'm miscalculating and OVER eating was very slim. I have lost 20-30 lbs a couple of different occasions before in my life so I'm no stranger to how this works. However, in the past I was not AS active as I have been this time around. Therefore, 1100- 1200 this time was just not enough fuel. I took @AlexL 's advice and upped my calories to 1400-1500 a day. Since then, 4 days ago, I've lost 4.5 lbs. Every morning I wake up in down another pound. I don't expect to stay on that trend DAILY but at least the scale is moving now!! I also added a protein shake to my daily routine. So far so good and I'm feeling pretty optimistic!!! ☺️&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18436" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T01:17:30.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27955" CreationDate="2015-11-12T09:28:27.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen the double-half-bodyweight dumbbell press before, but it seems like a perfectly reasonable feat of strength. Since plenty of people can press more than bodyweight overhead using a barbell, I think doing so with dumbbells is within reason. Just like pressing bodyweight in barbell form, it will take a good deal of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T09:28:27.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27955" CreationDate="2015-11-12T13:53:57.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it realistic? Yes.  In fact there is a Strongman event called the circus dumbbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S9tg4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S9tg4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Circus Dumbbell Event&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a proper technique to getting that bell overhead, and the folks at Lift Big Eat Big have a good article on how to do it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://liftbigeatbig.com/mastering-the-circus-dumbbell/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://liftbigeatbig.com/mastering-the-circus-dumbbell/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The technique high points include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean the dumbbell to your shoulder with both hands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rotate your elbow out, resting one end of the dumbbell on your shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jerk the dumbbell up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find the big trick is to get under the dumbbell as soon and as confidently as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, the circus dumbbells can weigh over 200 lbs.  I have a loadable one, and completely empty it is 135 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-11-12T14:12:06.307" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T14:12:06.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27969" CreationDate="2015-11-12T14:04:02.300" Score="6" ViewCount="8826" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you start poking around parkour videos, you'll start to see a trend of people wearing extremely baggy pants, often with the crotch hanging down to about knee level. This is particularly odd to me since you'll also find references to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_duct_tape&amp;#39;s_role_in_preforming_Parkour&quot;&gt;using duct tape to tape down baggy clothing&lt;/a&gt; to reduce air resistance, specifically taping down the cuffs to keep from tripping on them and to keep them from catching on obstacles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closest I've found to an explanation is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.farangclothing.com/3-reasons-why-freerunners-wear-baggie-pants/&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, which posits that it's a combination of follow-the-leader (everyone else is wearing baggy pants, so it should be good, right?), hiding sloppy technique (baggy pants hide the fact that your legs aren't quite moving together by masking the outline), and comfort (when not doing jumps, baggy pants are just plain comfortable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there any particular reason why so many parkour practitioners wear extremely baggy pants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2018-01-11T15:52:18.173" Title="Why do many parkour practitioners wear oversized pants?" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27968" CreationDate="2015-11-12T14:11:38.120" Score="3" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The past 6 months, I've been on a bulking phase, where I've been able to gain about 9kg (from 78kg to 87kg), a mix of muscle and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The past 6 weeks, I've been doing a benchpress program that increased my 1RM by 10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now looking to shift into a cutting phase, and lose some of the fat I've gained, while retaining as much of the muscle mass as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any recommended workout plans for one's cutting phase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My plan is currently as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3-split (legs, push, pull)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5x5 on main exercise each day (not counting warmup sets)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;switch main exercise every time, or in periods (for instance between flat/incline bench on push day, and between squats/deadlift on leg day)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I obviously want to keep as much of my 1RM as possible, but I concede that it might not be achievable to keep all of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any experiences/tips/ideas/articles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T10:43:27.380" Title="Workout plans for cutting" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27952" CreationDate="2015-11-12T15:01:02.017" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should consider incorporating Running, Biking, Swimming and Weights into your program. The following schedule could be used, but you can change things up as you need to. You can find a 4 day weight program online to do your individual exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swim: 30 minutes&#xA;Run: 30 minutes&#xA;Weights: Legs 1 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bike: 30 Minutes&#xA;Weights: Chest / Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bike: 30 Minutes&#xA;Run:30 Minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Swim 30 minutes&#xA;Weight: Legs or arms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DAY OFF&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Bike: 30 minutes&#xA;Weights: Back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Run: 30 minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T15:01:02.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27966" CreationDate="2015-11-12T16:07:29.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't change what's working out for you. Keep your lifts (or as close to it as possible) and eat slightly under maintenance, and you'll lose fat almost exclusively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T16:07:29.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27965" CreationDate="2015-11-12T16:59:33.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally don't see any aerodynamic advantage. If anything, it would get in the way. But I do think it's good for other reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at practitioners like Timothy Shieff and Ben Jenkins, you'll often see them wearing these pants, and to a large extent, they are some of the biggest trailblazers in parkour and freerunning. They are idolized by many, and it's not uncommon to take on the clothing style of someone you admire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for practicing in it, I suppose it does have some &quot;freedom&quot; to it, as flexibility of the fabric is suddenly a non-issue (and it tends to be a limiting factor). Also, for warmer areas and intense workouts, having baggy pants would help with staying cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then, there's the topic of how you look, or rather, if you look different. Many moves and techniques can get a completely new aesthetic to it if you do it in different clothing. And since many like to shoot videos of themselves and others performing moves, it's not unlikely that the visual effect is desirable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for hiding flaws in one's technique, as you mention, I don't think that's important. One of the key elements of parkour and freerunning is that you're &lt;em&gt;supposed to&lt;/em&gt; do it in your own way, and that looking different is charming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T16:59:33.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26039" CreationDate="2015-11-12T18:24:09.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running once a week won't help you in losing weight. If I were you, I would run 30 minutes at least 4 times a week. Make your diet plan, too. Running this way will improve your shape, but if you really want to see some changes, you should also do other kinds of workouts the rest of the week. You can do sit ups, push ups, crunches, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T18:24:09.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25438" CreationDate="2015-11-12T18:56:32.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that you won't be entirely happy with the answers we give you. You will definitely have to work on your ability to eat veggies and fruit. Supplements are ok and you should take them if you really, really, really can't eat any foods like veggies or fruit. However, since you don't have time for a gym, the only possible solution would be if you just lower your daily calorie intake. Try to eat less pasta and eat more whole grains instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T18:56:32.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-13T11:27:50.747" Score="2" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently taking my Whey with additional BCAA and Glutamine powders.&#xA;Some people are skeptical about the benefits, I tested it myself, and for me it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a little in doubt with one certain aspect of this mix. Can I mix the ingredients in a small container, and keep it, like a week?&#xA;Are there any chemical reactions between the BCAA, Glutamine and Whey, when store them together in one container? Instead of keep them separately and only mix them together, right before drinking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, since the three components are all dry powders, I think there is no chemical reaction. But still I'm curious if anyone knows the answer to this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18492" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-13T12:30:29.913" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T18:30:10.847" Title="Mixing Whey + BCAA + Glutamine" Tags="&lt;bcaa&gt;&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27966" CreationDate="2015-11-13T12:29:39.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd be surprised by what your body can handle on a mild calorie deficit.  If you aim for losing at a pace of roughly 1 lb a week (0.5 kg / week), you might not have to change anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest challenge will be ensuring you don't fatigue too quickly to accomplish the work set out for you.  If you find that being the case, then I would alter your set/rep/weight schemes.  An example is to work like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8x75%, with 2 more sets 10 lbs less each set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5x85%, 2 more sets -10 lbs/set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x90%, 2 more sets -10 lbs/set&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just vary the work so you have a mental break day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-11-13T12:29:39.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27931" CreationDate="2015-11-13T17:09:11.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, here's a source:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.coaching.itftennis.com/media/113830/113830.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.coaching.itftennis.com/media/113830/113830.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the last article about endurance in tennis...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastActivityDate="2015-11-13T17:09:11.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27982" CreationDate="2015-11-13T19:12:43.393" Score="3" ViewCount="1001" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am able to do, with heavier weights, concentration curl, hammer curl, and preacher curl with little difficulty, but when I do barbell curls I get exhausted or it's like there is no stamina in me. I think I involve my upper back and, due to lack of muscle and strength there, I feel tired. I heard that neurons are released when we get used to an exercise and we are able to perform it efficiently. What can you say on this matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can running daily or a day in week increase my stamina? I am tall about 5 feet and inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-13T19:58:19.180" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T12:31:15.367" Title="Why can't I do barbell curls?" Tags="&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27974" CreationDate="2015-11-14T07:39:45.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be good to go for mixing. They sell some BCAA + Glutamine powders already and adding in whey to the mix shouldn't cause any reactions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18499" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T07:39:45.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-14T09:07:48.450" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to pass a fitness test that involves being able to run X distance in Y minutes. I've never done any running before (have always hated it, when I've had to for school, etc.), so I'm well and truly a beginner. I've done some research online regarding proper posture, training regimes, etc. The posture stuff seemed relevant and interesting, but most of the training advice seems geared at people with more experience and who have long term goals/plans for running. I just need to pass this test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a treadmill, I'm doing 10km/hour right now and lasting about 1.5ks (~9 minutes). I guess my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I focus on distance or time first? i.e. would it be better to keep the 10km/hour rate and try and last longer and longer (i.e. stretching that 9 minutes out until I can keep going for longer) and then try to go faster, or try and go faster until I hit my target speed and then try last longer?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any harm to running every day? Assuming unlimited time and motivation (ha! neither are unlimited, but I'm going to try...), if I run every day is that great or is that just going to be counter productive? (i.e. I do weights training, and for that, training every day is a bad idea because you need to give your muscles time to rest. General recommendations are no more than 2-3 times a week).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I run on a treadmill in a gym, because it's comfortable, and the scientist in me likes analyzing data (i.e. I like seeing exactly how many meters I ran, how long I'm running for, what my heart rate is, etc). How well does running on a treadmill translate to real life running? Is it okay to stick to the treadmill or should I really get onto a real running track asap?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My limit seems mostly cardio related, and not muscle related. I.e. when I have to stop, it's because I'm out of breath, and not so much because my legs are tired. My legs were a bit sore after the first run, but haven't been since. Are there any other supporting exercises I can do that will help with cardio, or is just running itself the best I'm going to get?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18500" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2015-11-14T20:14:26.040" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T20:14:26.040" Title="New to running, beginner questions" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27978" CreationDate="2015-11-14T10:34:44.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that you answered the question yourself. Train your back. Some Romanian deadlifting and Band pull-aparts will solve your problem quickly. As you are wanting to get some strength, low heavy reps with multiple sets will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T12:31:15.367" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T12:31:15.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27966" CreationDate="2015-11-14T10:43:27.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cut calories, you are losing muscle. You need to tell your body that it dont burn muscle while in that state (because it needs it to survive :-)) and the only way to achieve that is by doing some heavy low rep training avoiding fatigue to have the body to respond with a Lot of testosterone. .. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T10:43:27.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2015-11-14T13:16:40.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you are a scientist you should structure your runs so that they match your fitness test. For example, the training needed to run 42k in 3 hours is much different than running 5k in 16 minutes. A marathon runner has one goal and 100m Sprinter has another goal. You can't train the same for both distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming the distance you need to run is &quot;Shorter&quot; probably 1k to 2k? Since we are assuming that you have to run a &quot;Shorter&quot; distance I would focus on building your speed and stamina using a 5k training plan. There are many 5k training plans that will get you to a goal is 8 weeks and most of these plan involve running at least 4 days a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should do at least one speed workout that involves running fast for a certain distance then a short recovery. Try starting with 400m in 2 minutes or less, then walk for one minute. If you goal is only speed then do this twice a week with easy runs in between. Start with 6x400m and work up from there as you feel better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your easy day runs should be a 5k run and try to finish. Theoretically should should finish in 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to do one run on the weekend that is 60 minutes. In the beginning you will walk/run but at your current pace you should finish 10k in one hour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T13:16:40.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-14T23:41:18.740" Score="6" ViewCount="983" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing StrongLifts 5x5 for close to two months now. I'm happily making steady progress. All the excitement of lifting personal best weight every other day in gym got diluted last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to improve my number of pullups from 6 to 12, so I started a 30 day 'The Fighter Pullup By Pavel' last week. Because rest time between sets isn't mentioned in the program, I adopted Grease To The Groove method (spreading sets through out the day), as per Pavel's suggestion in one of his forums. After 2 days into the program, in one of the sets, I didn't do any warmup and got my shoulder-tricep area injured. Its painful but that is not what I am worried about the most, I'm giving it some rest and it will be cured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What worries me is doing a simple pullup without warmup injured me. I'm currently Squatting 1.3 times and deadlifting 1.5 times my bodyweight. Do these numbers mean anything outside in realword? Because when I need to lift a heavy object or another person of comparable (or bit less) weights in gym, it is ridiculous to do incremental warmup sets before. It simply isn't possible. Does that mean I'll get injured?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the motivations for getting stronger is to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18744/how-to-become-good-at-lifting-and-holding-my-girlfriend-in-arms&quot;&gt;lift my girl friend&lt;/a&gt;, who is of my current body weight. One cannot say that I need to warmup everytime before lifting her. Is warmup before lifting really necessary in real world outside the gym? How do these lifting numbers inside gym translate into real world? What is the safe weight I can lift outside gym without warmup ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T05:26:35.147" Title="Is warmup before lifting really necessary in real world outside the gym?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-15T02:12:14.027" Score="6" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have done steady rate cardio for the bulk of my cardio exercises. I recently found out about HIIT and it's after burner effect and am interested to give it a try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am still apprehensive about trying it out because of the high heart rate doing it would involve. The reason why I am apprehensive is because of people like Dr. Maffetone and his &lt;a href=&quot;http://philmaffetone.com/what-is-the-maffetone-method/&quot;&gt;Maffetone method&lt;/a&gt; which cautions of having too high heart rates during exercise. Maffetone method in a nutshell advocates very low heart rates when doing cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is HIIT really safe for the long term ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4768" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T16:47:03.117" Title="Is HIIT healthy practiced long term?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27950" CreationDate="2015-11-15T06:48:14.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I belive that the resistence is different smaller wheels = harder due to increased range of motion. Comparable to regular vs. Inclean push-ups &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-11-15T06:48:14.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27985" CreationDate="2015-11-15T08:43:39.263" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lets try to answer this question now differently. &#xA;First it is impossible to make a proposal on a 'safe' weight as you may saw in one of the previous answeres someone had pain after moving a bike of 40 pounds ... (Im not sure if the age is really relevant to the pain though).&#xA;However, we need to find out what it is,  that we 'feel' is heavy to prepare the body with some kind of activity, not to injure ourself while doing what we aimed for. There are following factors that are important for the equation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Genetics: Are we somewhow in a disadvantage? By that I mean if there are any bone structure discrepancies, fascial tissue weaknesses to be prone to hernia, body type etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lifestyle: Are we doing manual labourer work? Are we somewhow involved in physical activities where we lift, move, push or drag things regurarily ex. Wheightlifting, Combat Sports etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is defining our sense of what is heavy for each person individualy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we know who we are and what we can do, we need to set some realistic goals, 'I want to lift my Girl' is not verify specific as there is a big difference in lifting a living and a dead object, also what hight, what distance etc. The technique for the objects you want to lift also may vary so this leads us to a certain aknowledgement already. The strategy Im proposing is to raise your ability to lift a certain weight where you currently feel is heavy to be your starting warm-up weight - so that the actual warm-up is not needed.&#xA;So how do we do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We need to selected the exercises that are transfering the most to every day movements, examples are: Deadlift, Front-, Zercher-Squats, Overhead press and flat bench press. For the assistance movements  (movements that support and enhance the major exercises) I would suggest calisthenics aka bodyweight movements to achieve also a healthy muscular balance. Even incorporating Single limb exercises (like one arm snatches, windmills, bend press, pistols etc.) would be recommended to tax the even most hidden muscle and force the body to act as one unit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the most Important part. You need to do the work, on a regular basis! The main movements need to be trained at least twice a week and increase the stress regurarily.&#xA;Example: &#xA;First session: 5 singles with 85% of max&#xA;Second session: 6 singles with 85% of max&#xA;... till you reach 15 singles.&#xA;After that I would suggest adding some weight and continue at 5reps again.&#xA;The assistence exercise would be 4 to 5 sets asmrap. For the single limb exercises doing double and tripples would be enough or simply using prillipin table as reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will happen is the following;&#xA;Due to the new situation your body is facing, you will feel terrible :-) but that will be soon gone and you will notice an increase of your PRs pretty fast, but you need to be carefull and listen to your body as muscles get used to stress quicker then tendons and if you start feeling small soreness  (not pain) on your wrists or elbow joints you should do a week where you just do the main exercises and no other exercise in the following maner. You start ramping with the bar and just do singles until you reach a weight where your form break down (take your time and do small weight jumps). Then call it a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you have been patient and consistent a couple of month, you will have changed the sensibility of your golgi tendons and will have a different feeling about what is heavy and what not.&#xA;You will be able to lift things without warm-up for that you needed a warm up before ... I m sure your girlfriend will notice a change in your body composition too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-11-24T05:26:35.147" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T05:26:35.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27989" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-15T12:28:35.057" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for 3 months now and am not sure if i am eating enough protein. I am practically a vegetarian purely because i find meat makes me feel heavy and it is pretty calorie dense. I usually eat lots of veggies and rice/pasta and watch what i eat quite carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have previously done quite a bit of strength training and that usually requires adequate amounts of protein in order to build muscle. Is running the same, or do i not need to be as concerned about protein intake as i would be during strength training? I have supplemented my protein intake in the past and am wondering if this is also a good idea now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5376" LastActivityDate="2017-11-10T07:40:09.390" Title="Should i be supplementing my protein intake as a runner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27989" CreationDate="2015-11-15T13:48:14.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes Protein is essential after a hard workout. There are many studies that show muscle recovery is enhanced by consuming protein after a workout. Of course water is the first thing you need, then carbs, but protein is right up there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is from Dietitian Jackie Dikos (&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritionsuccess.org/about/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritionsuccess.org/about/&lt;/a&gt;) : Divide your weight by two, and eat that many grams of carbohydrates, plus 10 to 20 grams of protein after a hard workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;USING THE 4:1 RATIO:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WEIGHT        DIVIDED BY 2 = CARBS        DIVIDED BY 4 = PROTEIN&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;125 pounds        63 grams carbohydrates        15 grams protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;170 pounds        85 grams carbohydrates        21 grams protein&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to drink water!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-11-15T13:48:14.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-15T16:10:40.567" Score="0" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done a lot workout and also tried all possible ways still I'm not gaining weight. My height is 5.7&quot; and weight is 50Kg only. And I'm 23 years old now. Me and my friend joined the gym and did workout for 6 months of time. We both are of same sized when joined but now he is 66Kg heavier and I'm still at 50 Kg. Even I eat more than him. Still unable to gain weight. One important thing is that I'm strictly vegetarian. Please suggest me what should I do. I also reported this problem to my family doctor and he suggested me some reports, and that all reports were normal. I don't understand what should I do. Please suggest me the best way,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user18506" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T15:17:38.367" Title="I am not gaining body weight and I am now 23 years old" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28002" CreationDate="2015-11-15T16:25:38.910" Score="2" ViewCount="554" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am able to do chin-ups for about 3 reps. But when I try to do pull-ups, I can't lift myself up. Why is that? These are same exercises which works almost the same muscles. Does anyone have an explanation for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when I do pushups, then after I am done, I feel like I have a loss of hearing for a short time. Is it normal or is this a breathing problem during exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-16T03:47:37.897" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T03:54:24.563" Title="Why can't i do pull ups And Why i feel loss of hearing after push ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25951" CreationDate="2015-11-15T18:10:40.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I do it is not the &lt;em&gt;hatha sin&lt;/em&gt; salutation that is all one but the Right and then only the Left. I do the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CXO5Eq97F8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ashtanga vinyasa suryanamaskara A&lt;/a&gt;, which is only one. And I do the 108. I have heard some people do 54 &lt;em&gt;suryanamaskara&lt;/em&gt; A and 54 &lt;em&gt;suryanamaskara&lt;/em&gt; B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18509" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-17T12:54:56.540" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T12:54:56.540" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27998" CreationDate="2015-11-15T18:25:51.463" Score="13" ViewCount="10272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a boxer and after a workout I like to fix myself a recovery shake with protein, healthy fats and some carbs. After training I need some time to shower and change and then drive home. I'd say it takes me about 45 minutes. Is this already too late for the shake? I could bring whey powder and some soy milk to the gym but then I wouldn't have all the other goodies like banana, peanut butter and oats...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read many times you should have your protein within 30 minutes of working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10566" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T21:51:48.073" Title="Is 45 minutes after working out already too late for restocking on protein and carbs?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27997" CreationDate="2015-11-15T20:36:36.943" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;45 minutes is fine. 2 hours, also fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole &quot;you need to do it RIGHT AFTER YOUR WORKOUT&quot; is a misinterpretation of actual science, propagated by protein shake producers, because a protein shake is much more convenient than a chicken dinner in the locker room. They call it the &quot;anabolic window&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/53/abstract&quot;&gt;Source.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-11-17T07:35:36.577" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T07:35:36.577" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27997" CreationDate="2015-11-15T22:48:33.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not late. Your body will be in need of proteins and carbs as long as it doesn't get enough amounts of them. But, it is better to get your nutrients before going to bed, else, it will result in catabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18513" LastActivityDate="2015-11-15T22:48:33.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27992" CreationDate="2015-11-16T03:54:24.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking, that's two questions and you should split them apart, but they're also likely pretty easy to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chin-ups and Pull-ups use the same muscles, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/pull-up-vs-chin-up-a-comparison-and-analysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;at different intensities&lt;/a&gt;. Personally, I have similar results. I can do about six chin-ups, but only one or two pull-ups. Other people have had the opposite pattern. It depends on which muscles are more conditioned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Temporary loss of hearing can have a few possible sources, but the most likely one is &lt;a href=&quot;http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/eustachian-tube-dysfunction.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eustachian Tube Dysfunction&lt;/a&gt; which can be exercise-induced. It's not that common, but it does happen. If it lasts more than a minute or so, though, see a doctor, as there are more serious conditions that this could foretell such as high blood pressure. Also, it's been linked to not breathing while exercising, so make sure you're not holding your breath while exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T03:54:24.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28010" CreationDate="2015-11-16T11:56:23.447" Score="16" ViewCount="1391" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 40 now, but ever since 30 I've been concerned about being fit when I get to age 60-80. The thought of shuffling everywhere instead of dancing or being able to lift a box of books is terrifying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was in sedentary job, not exercising, and realised I wasn't going to get fit &lt;strong&gt;when&lt;/strong&gt; I was 60; I'd have to get fit &lt;strong&gt;now&lt;/strong&gt;, in order to &lt;strong&gt;stay&lt;/strong&gt; fit as I age. I'm not sure what made me think of this, but is seems common sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've managed to get into an exercise habit that just about moves me from the &quot;not fit&quot; to the &quot;fit&quot; category, but I'm hardly going to wow anyone with my fitness levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my concerns valid, and what types of exercise (at 40) will prepare me for an active lifestyle at 70?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18523" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T21:53:29.953" Title="Should I be worried about my fitness in old age?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28007" CreationDate="2015-11-16T12:39:16.490" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same principles apply whether you're a 20 year-old, 40 year-old, or a 60 year-old. Exercise is always good. The only difference between the age groups is the amount of intensity you should allow yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In general&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm 40 now, but ever since 30 I've been concerned about being fit when I get to age 60-80. The thought of shuffling everywhere instead of dancing or being able to lift a box of books is terrifying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Terrifying, and rightfully so. But you've obviously understood that you have some work to do in order to overcome this, and that's a pretty damn crucial first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was in sedentary job, not exercising, and realised I wasn't going to get fit when I was 60; I'd have to get fit now, in order to stay fit as I age. I'm not sure what made me think of this, but is seems common sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good that you realize this intuitively. &lt;strong&gt;Getting&lt;/strong&gt; fit becomes gradually more difficult with age. So does &lt;strong&gt;staying&lt;/strong&gt; fit, but that difficulty curve isn't as steep. Maintaining is always easiler than developing. This goes for all phases of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've managed to get into an exercise habit that just about moves me from the &quot;not fit&quot; to the &quot;fit&quot; category, but I'm hardly going to wow anyone with my fitness levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing something is always infinitely better than doing nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On this site, I consistently try to make one tremendously important point; walking is exercise! There's so much to be said for an exercise where you're simply moving, but keeping your back straight, chin up, and your heartrate slightly elevated. If you're able to do this for even 15 minutes per day, you're well on your way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to recommend 30 minutes, with the extended caveat that it shouldn't be a part of your work day. For instance, walking back and forth between office cubicles is NOT exercise. But taking a walk outside, in a variety of uphills, downhills and flats, is amazing for you. And it also help with other aspects of your fitness, for instance mentally, but allowing you to clear your mind, get some fresh air, and it can almost be meditative if you'd like it to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are my concerns valid, and what types of exercise (at 40) will prepare me for an active lifestyle at 70?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely valid. And I have another point that I always dish out to anyone and everyone; for the love of all that is good, go swimming! I cannot emphasize this enough, so let me just say it again, GO SWIMMING!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is this miracle of an exercise where you do this repetetive, aerobic movement (cardio), but with the added resistance of water (strength training). And on top of this, there are so many styles and ways of swimming that allow you to work your entire body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider myself a fairly decent swimmer, and I'm still learning new strokes and styles, and each time I try a new one, my body reaps the rewards, because of what we call &quot;progressive overloading&quot; where your body develops new neural patterns to adapt to new challenges. Not to mention that you're burning fat, and building muscle at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gym&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to the gym is never a bad idea either. Talk to someone who works there, and they will gladly help you set up a workout program designed for general fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, a combination of walking, swimming, and a couple days per week at the gym, is HUGE. And even if you decide to do only one of these, you'll be doing yourself big favors. And hey, if you do decide to just do one of these, I'd highly suggest you pick swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T12:39:16.490" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27985" CreationDate="2015-11-16T13:05:45.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The goal is to get strong enough that lifting your girlfriend is not a near-maximal effort. If she weighs as much as you do then this is entirely reasonable. Get to a 5RM of 1.5xBW squat and 2xBW deadlift and carrying your girlfriend 10 yards won't be a considerable effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, one should walk around able to do the things they want to do. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to warm up one's joints in the morning, so that you can enjoy full mobility throughout the day. This can be as complex as an hour of yoga practice or as simple as some arm circles, toe touches, and a squat. Personally I like Hindu push-ups, a 3rd-world squat, leg swings, and arm rotations. If you are stagnant (say, sitting or lying down) for a prolonged period of time during the day, it can help to repeat the morning's mobilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-11-17T08:31:40.630" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T08:31:40.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27991" CreationDate="2015-11-16T14:31:04.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Check your protein intake&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weigh how much you eat of everything and use nutrition facts tables or internet information (like at &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;self.com&lt;/a&gt;) to count how many grams of protein you get per day. You might want to borrow or buy a precision scale, with precision down to the gram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should aim for at least 1.5grams per kilo of weight per day, thus, for a 50kg person, 75 grams of proteins per day. Try to get your proteins from varied sources so that you get all essential proteins, the one your body can't produce, and a variety of aminoacids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are low on protein with your current diet, you should consider protein-dense food like beans, lentils, chickpeas, soybeans, tofu...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't stuff any more protein into your mouth from food alone, you may supplement. By &quot;strict vegetarian&quot; I hear you won't take whey (milk-based) or albumin (egg-based). Controversy aside, you might consider soy protein or look for other isolated vegan proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Check your calories&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating a lot of proteins but not enough calories altogether is no good. You body will recycle the proteins into carbs. When measuring your food for proteins, count the total calories too. Be sure you get 3000+ kcal per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Try pre- and post-training snacks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat nothing before weightlifting, your muscle cells might get starved during training, compromising it. Eat a snack before. Preferably something with a low glicemic index so you get a nice flux of energy for a longer time. Then eat a big protein-rich, high glicemic index snack or meal after training. This should replenish your energy and give you an insulin spike designed to stuff your muscle cells as much as possible with both glucose and proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Check your sleep&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third pillar of bodybuilding, after training and diet, is rest. Sleep as much as you can. 8hr per night is a good goal, but it might depend on your personal physiology. Sleep is fundamental for muscle gain and too often overlooked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Don't overdo cardio&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a lot of cardio is a common mistake. You may skip it altogether if your goal is pure muscle gain. You may do a dirty bulking phase now and start thinking of a cut phase when you've reached your weigh goal, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dirty-bulking-why-you-need-to-know-the-dirty-truth.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;or not&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2899" LastEditorUserId="2899" LastEditDate="2015-11-16T15:17:38.367" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T15:17:38.367" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27997" CreationDate="2015-11-16T15:18:40.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a post-workout meal time, don't buy into an arbitrary number of minutes or hours. Everybody is different. There isn't one schedule that works for all human bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, if I'm doing cardio, legs or abs, I normally start my workout at least 2 hours after eating. Sometimes I just go in before breakfast. I prefer an empty stomach for these sorts of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the workout I just let my body guide me in terms of nutrition. Sometimes I feel a strong urge to eat right after, sometimes during, sometimes not for a few hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm doing arms, shoulders, back or chest, I could have a meal right before a workout. This way I'm assured not to run out of energy for hours. Plus, I don't need to eat for hours after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works well for me. May not work for you or others. Bottom line is listen to your body and don't worry too much about absolute claims (especially from people trying to sell you something).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was younger, I bought into the relentless and ubiquitous claim that I should drink 8 glasses of water a day. I tried my best to follow this advice. It was not a fun experience. I felt like I was forcing myself to drink water, was peeing all day, and couldn't help thinking I was flushing important nutrients out of my body. Well, turns out the claim was a load of crap:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/upshot/no-you-do-not-have-to-drink-8-glasses-of-water-a-day.html?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;No, You Do Not Have to Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.today.com/health/8-glasses-water-day-common-recommendation-isnt-recommended-all-t40516&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;8 glasses of water a day? The common recommendation isn't recommended at all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.yahoo.com/health/everything-you-know-about-hydration-is-probably-127493199097.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;For the Last Time, You Don't Need to Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16437" LastEditorUserId="16437" LastEditDate="2015-11-16T15:28:13.093" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T15:28:13.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28007" CreationDate="2015-11-16T18:34:49.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few years ago, I completed a half marathon, and met a 70-year-old runner at the finish line. I offhandedly said, &quot;I'd sure like to be running half marathons when I'm 70.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He looked me in the eye, serious as can be, and replied, &quot;Well, then, &lt;strong&gt;don't stop running&lt;/strong&gt;!&quot; (with three jabs of his finger timed with each of the last three words).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His advice in a nutshell? Once you're in shape, don't quit. Stay committed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I'm in my 50s, I've been having a few tendon problems, so it's hard to say if I'll be putting any &lt;code&gt;13.1&lt;/code&gt; stickers on my 2035 Buick. However, I will say this: stay active, and don't neglect stretching. (My daughter thinks I might have fewer tendon problems if I stretched more, and I don't stretch as often as my specialist recommends.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a footnote, Alec recommends walking and swimming; other lower-impact sports include cycling and skating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18532" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T18:34:49.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28018" CreationDate="2015-11-16T20:38:28.060" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every morning while at the gym, there is a fellow whom always lifts in an ..peculiar style to me. He doesn't do extreme amounts of weight, very doable for full extension in per-say a dumbbell chest press. However, instead of the typical down to your chest and back up form, he holds the dumbbells straight out, and almost does a jerking motion, moving his arms at most an inch, over and over. He continues to use this same less than an inch method with every other exercise he performs in the gym, be in, pull ups (moving his head up 1 inch and back down), to wrist curls of an inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any kind of benefit to this technique? or is this just his...special way of doing things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18534" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T21:08:53.373" Title="Lifting with minimal extension" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28017" CreationDate="2015-11-16T21:08:53.373" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've personally only ever done this with my calves, but I believe the term is called &lt;em&gt;pulsing&lt;/em&gt;. Pulsing is where you use very short movements. When I performed these it was at the request of my PT who had me doing several calf exercises, and at one point I'd do 10 full reps and then 10 pulses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't found great information, but there is information at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theirongame.net/take-your-training-to-the-next-level-with-%E2%80%9Cpulse-reps%E2%80%9D.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.theirongame.net/take-your-training-to-the-next-level-with-%E2%80%9Cpulse-reps%E2%80%9D.html&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pulse reps, some people call them “burns”, are a little different than forced reps. Forced reps imply performing additional full range reps of an exercise with the assistance of a spotter or your training partner. During these reps you are truly “dwelling in the house of pain.” You need their help to successfully do the reps. Pulse reps or burns are partial movements done entirely by you, with no spotter assistance except when you need to rack the weight at the conclusion of your set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here’s an example on how you can use pulse or burn reps: After doing incline barbell presses for 8 reps, you perform an additional 6 reps by pressing the bar off your chest-up for 2” to 4” only. These reps are done entirely by you and the bar only moves a distance of 2” to 4” from the starting position. After doing these for a couple of sets you will quickly realize that your spotter will need to assist you in racking the weight! Here is my list of exercises that work for pulse or burn reps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• Bench presses – both barbell and dumbbell&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;• Incline presses – both barbell and dumbbell&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;• Military presses – both in front and behind the neck barbell only&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;• Preacher curls – both barbell and dumbbell&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;• Close grip and decline barbell presses&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;• Tricep press downs on a cable machine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18169" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T21:08:53.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27989" CreationDate="2015-11-16T21:20:21.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You still need adequate protein, but for endurance training, it's not quite as important as it is for strength training, i.e. if you don't get protein immediately it's not world ending. As brentw points out, the ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 carbs to protein is a good mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vegetarian definition is loose enough to allow dairy products, then milk or chocolate milk has been proven to be one of the best endurance recovery drinks around. If not, then you can make smoothies with a pea protein or similar to hit that combination. Make sure you follow up with solid nutrition later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the concerns that you might want to look at (especially if, as your profile indicates, you are female) is sufficient iron intake. Endurance runners have higher iron needs as they tend to go through RBC's faster than the average person, due to the high impact in the feet. That tends to break down blood cells, and females have higher iron requirements anyway. Just something to think about with everything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T21:20:21.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28007" CreationDate="2015-11-16T22:31:58.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are not going to be doing plyometrics when you're 70. And with the exception of muscle nuclei, most of the adaptations your body makes to exercise &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/How-Fast-Do-You-Lose-Cardio-Fitness-Level-8373742&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;decline so fast&lt;/a&gt; that you will not really be far ahead if you exercise for 10 years and then quit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits of exercise that will last your entire life are  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being prompted to learn about your body -- when you research deadlift form, you learn how to hip hinge with a neutral spine, and you'll always use that knowledge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;experience in dealing with injury -- when something hurts, you don't just stop using it, you research your form and perform corrective exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;experience -- it's easier to fall back into a habit than to start one. It's easier to believe you can run a mile if you remember running five before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;character -- exercising your discipline muscle makes you more likely to be the kind of person who is actively improving themselves at age 70 instead of sliding downhill, and the kind of person who eats a healthy diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the specific kinds of exercises I recommend are about learnable skills rather than endurance. Weight lifting for movement patterns. Ice skating, trail hiking, or yoga for balance (very important for 70-year-olds, very tough to teach your body to use hip muscles when you've been relying on your ankles for years). Dance for coordination. Cross-training in general. You won't ever get huge or marathon-ready if you flit from skater squats to skiing to dumbbell rows, but you will find that every exercise program has something to teach you. You've got thirty years, there's time to spend three months on everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T22:31:58.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2015-11-17T01:43:59.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just turned 68 and have been doing 500 repetitions per day juggling 3# balls for the last five years. I haven't had any joint problems. To me it's just good exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18538" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T01:43:59.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27985" CreationDate="2015-11-17T06:50:59.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will need warmups even when it's not a maximal effort. At age 38 I have had pain for days from lifting a 40-pound bike. I think learning how to warm up to prevent this was one of the most functional skills I learned in the weight room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't warm up for lifting your girlfriend by doing several sets with a nearby child, though. Simply warm up your upper body with some of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usmsswimmer.com/201001/swimmer_stretching.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these swimmer warmups&lt;/a&gt; (thanks John P), the lower body with &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthrunning.com/2010/05/elite-core-and-dynamic-warm-ups-a-comprehensive-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these runner warmups&lt;/a&gt;, and the wrists with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWtvCGCYbYc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these wrist warmups&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is learning from your injuries. Which warmups you must do or you'll get hurt, and even better, what's wrong with your movement pattern that made you get hurt in the first place. If I pick up my bike while using my lower traps to keep my upper back tight, I don't get hurt. So I just make sure they're warmed up before I start any similar lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T06:50:59.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14483" CreationDate="2015-11-17T07:39:55.940" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;change your routine every 6 to 10 weeks and work on progressive overload, you cant curl the same weight and expect the muscle to grow.. go to www.musclehack.com . you can thank me later. I know this is old but Im guessing your arms haven't improved much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18539" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T07:39:55.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18989" CreationDate="2015-11-17T12:22:47.347" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly recommend reading this article regarding &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/superhuman-planks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the right way to perform planks&lt;/a&gt;. Here are some relevant quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A plank should be a very intense, full body contraction that lasts only 8-10 seconds, not some bastardized version of a yoga pose you sustain for 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people treat the plank more as a marathon, seeing how long they can hold a position, most of the time topping out at a minute or three, all while exhibiting the same amount of intensity needed to casually flip through a magazine conveniently placed under their nose during the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do anything other than focus on not blacking out while performing a plank, you're doing them wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do a solid plank, lie down on the ground on your stomach and support your upper body with your elbows. Squeeze your shoulders in a kind of reverse shrug, pulling them tight to your ribs. Then, flex your glutes and straighten your knees as hard as possible, and lever up into a position where you feel you have balanced tension everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18544" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T12:49:34.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28031" CreationDate="2015-11-17T13:48:21.383" Score="6" ViewCount="5420" Body="&lt;p&gt;I squat and deadlift with a barbell regularly. I know how much I can lift with variants of those exercises on a given day. I'd like to use that knowledge to better understand how much I should expect to lift with a weighted lunge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the normative ratio between a lifter's squat and their lunge?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/article/1786/The-Relation-of-Snatch-Clean-Jerk-and-Squat-Weights/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;We know these relationships, in broad strokes and with some caveats, between other lifts&lt;/a&gt;. The front squat and back squat, the squat and the deadlift, the deadlift and the power clean, and so on all have known relationships consisting of a range of ratios. For instance, a power clean between 40 and 60 percent of one's deadlift is to be expected, and most people's front squat is generally about 80% of their back squat. So: what lunge is to be expected if one can squat X?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any type of loaded squat and any type of loaded lunge is acceptable, but please be specific: e.g. &quot;barbell back squat to forward-stepping lunge with a barbell across the shoulders&quot; or &quot;barbell front squat to rearward-stepping lunge with dumbbells in the hands&quot;. Anecdotes welcome but data welcome more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-11-18T15:27:48.030" LastActivityDate="2019-11-23T16:13:56.887" Title="Normative ratio between squat and lunge?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-17T20:25:44.573" Score="4" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run a preschool gymnastics program at a large gymnastics facility in my area. I have been the director for 4 years and have been teaching dance and preschool gymnastics for 9 years. Not once in my career have I experienced a child so deathly terrified of front rolls or having someone help them until now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a very sweet and talented student who has no mental or physical disabilities that I am aware of. However this student refuses to try a front roll or looking up side down. No matter how much I encourage, demonstrate and try to guide, the student cries and almost has a nervous breakdown. I have used other students to show my fearful one that I will never let anything happen to them, that their safety is my only concern. However, there is no luck. I have broken down the skill into steps and they nail each one, until it is time to roll. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This particular student will not even allow their parents to help. So my question to you is, what can I do to help this student over come their fear and trust issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18549" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T20:25:44.573" Title="Helping a preschooler overcome fear and encourage trust" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-11-19T03:33:43.763" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27997" CreationDate="2015-11-17T21:51:48.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One factor to consider is that if you've set yourself a high calorie &amp;amp; protein intake, one which challenges your normal appetite, a recovery shake immediately plus a meal some hours afterwards may be easier for hitting your intake goal than just one larger meal hours afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T21:51:48.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28025" CreationDate="2015-11-17T22:35:26.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eric from Power Dojo states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ratio that I give in my Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program is that you should be able to perform a Reverse barbell lunge at a minimum of 1/2 of your max Back squat, but I’d prefer you get that up to 2/3 your max Back squat. [...] basically you should be able to do a Reverse Barbell Lunge with at least your bodyweight for 3 reps per side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes sense, as most unilateral exercises can be done at around half of their bilateral counterparts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also makes a point for when the lunge is below this ratio:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] the unilateral Lunge is weak – showing that the hip and/or core muscles are weak compared to the quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerdojo.com/how-much-ya-lunge/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Referenced article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T22:35:26.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-18T08:33:38.537" Score="0" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My native language is not English so I apologize if some terms are not correctly stated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I regularly go to the gym twice a week. What I do there is 10 minutes crosstrainer, leg press, chest press, stiff arm lat pulldowns, cable curls, pushdowns and shoulder press. I do this 3 sets with 15 repeats. The day after my gym day ( I make a break of 1 day between each gym day ) I execute &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oAbP7LHT9Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this abs training&lt;/a&gt;. I trained for 4 month now and got a feeling for the gym and the exercises. Now what I aim to change. I want to burn more calories and get my sixpack abs on :D ( my height is 1.68m or 5'6 and I weigh 67kilograms at the moment ). What can I change to make those changes? The reason Why I posted the other stuff that isn't abs related, because I really don't know much about training plans and if somebody would suggest some change or some additions I would be open to it! This is just a training plan from some app I got from the app store :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18522" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T14:05:07.720" Title="Focussing on burning calories and six pack abs and an overall change" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28033" CreationDate="2015-11-18T10:58:36.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to see results, you have to stress your muscles, thus change your routine at some period of time. Normally that should be 4-6 weeks. If you do not shock the muscles, do not expect them to shock you. Try implementing different moves in your routine as well as different rep ranges. Instead of doing 3x15, try 5x8 with more weight and change the exercises or at least the order in which you execute them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to see your abdominal muscles peaking, you must have a significantly low body fat percentage. This is achieved through incorporating a clean diet, regular exercise, some cardio and as well training the inner muscles of the abdominal wall. If you train them first, this will make sure your stomach doesn't stick out like the one of a pregnant woman. Make sure you have good form and squeeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18116" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T10:58:36.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28033" CreationDate="2015-11-18T14:05:07.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your ability to obtain “six pack abs” is going to be limited by a few factors, some in your control, and, others you can’t control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, set a realistic goal.  Don’t aspire to the abs you see in the&#xA;fitness magazines.  We all have different musculature, so, your abs&#xA;will probably look completely different from those in the magazines&#xA;when stripped of fat.  Genetics will play a part in what abs will&#xA;look like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consistency – the key to any fitness program is consistency.  Plan on&#xA;working on abs for a long time.  Great abs typically take a while to&#xA;achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise selection – There’s no one perfect ab exercise.  If there were, we’d all have great abs.  Experiment with different ab exercises that target the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/abdominal-encyclopedia-core-anatomy-and-effective-training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscles that make up great&#xA;abs&lt;/a&gt;:&#xA;Rectus Abdominis, External Obliques, Internal Obliques, and the&#xA;Transverse Abdominis.  Most people neglect training one or more of&#xA;these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean diet – Try to follow a clean, low fat diet. That does not mean&#xA;you need to eat strictly all the time.  Pick one day a week to cheat&#xA;and you’ll eat cleanly 86% of the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, since you can’t spot reduce for great abs, try to follow an overall fitness program that encompasses work for &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; major body parts.  The key is to try to continuously burn calories while building muscle and maintaining fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T14:05:07.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28037" CreationDate="2015-11-18T15:20:38.663" Score="1" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago, I started using grease-the-groove to go from exactly 0 chin-ups to my current max of 5-6. My schedule is to do GTG 3X/week in a somewhat condensed way: if I'm also lifting that day (modified Starting Strength), I do 6 sets over the course of an hour in between sets, then do another ~3 sets spread out over the rest of the day. If I'm not lifting that day, then I spread out the sets to the extent that my schedule allows. I now do ~3-4 reps/set, totaling about 35-40 reps/day. Once a week, I try for my max on the day's first set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last ~4 months, though, I haven't gotten past my current max. No change in body weight that would explain it. How do I revise my programming? Let's say my goal is to get to an arbitrary 10 strict reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13960/overcoming-a-chin-up-plateau-of-6-in-a-row&quot;&gt;similar question with an excellent answer&lt;/a&gt;, but since I am already doing a high volume, I could use concrete guidance about how to implement those (or other) recommendations in terms of exact reps, sets, and days/week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T06:52:45.813" Title="Breaking plateau on grease-the-groove chin-ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28036" CreationDate="2015-11-18T15:36:07.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not really greasing the groove right now, and greasing the groove may not be the path to your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Six sets of 3-4 pull-ups between squat sets is not greasing the groove--three days a week, you're not greasing the groove!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;35 to 40 reps per day is not high volume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maxing out once a week is just not very much practice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're splitting your attention between pull-ups and whatever 3x5 program you're doing, which negatively affects progress in both. Focusing on one could help. But if your goal is a higher pull-up max, then by golly you should try doing more pull-ups! Three sets to &quot;maximum reps minus one&quot; per workout, in at least three workouts a week, would be a start. I've also found success with setting total volume goals: 50 reps a day in as few sets as possible, and when I can meet that goal consistently in 3 sets, make it 60. If there isn't room in your workout for one of those strategies then there isn't room in your program for this pull-up goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in addition to any potential problems with your form, e.g. bouncing, kipping, swinging, not doing a full dead-hang, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-01-21T06:52:45.813" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T06:52:45.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12892" CreationDate="2015-11-18T19:34:46.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to nutrition assessment there are your ABCD's of assessing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A- For &lt;strong&gt;Anthropometry&lt;/strong&gt; involves measuring your BMI, waist circumference&#xA;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B- For &lt;strong&gt;biochemical&lt;/strong&gt; which you cannot readily do at home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;C- For &lt;strong&gt;clinical&lt;/strong&gt; features. Here you look at the color of your hands , that&#xA;is are they reddish as an indicator of adequate iron or very pale due&#xA;to low iron levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look at the color of urine if it is deep yellow it means you need more water. If you eat well enough water and fiber, you should move your bowels at least once a day or else you will be constipated. You feces should clump together if there are loose it means you not eating well. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;D- is for &lt;strong&gt;dietary&lt;/strong&gt; and you can use diet apps such as M-Diet Helper.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-11-18T20:05:57.793" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T20:05:57.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-18T21:05:39.563" Score="1" ViewCount="1625" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started strong-lifts 5x5 on almost a month ago, and while I do seem to be getting stronger, since I have been able to increase the weight every workout, I don't see any real change in my body composition as measured using &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004L6NTHU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bio-impedance.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weight has barely budged: 256.6 -&gt; 254.8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My muscle mass dropped a bit and fluctuated but never got up to where it started: 33.9 -&gt; 33.5 -&gt; 33.7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My body fat percent took a small dip then basically climbed up very slightly:&#xA;37.5% -&gt; 37.1% -&gt; 37.4%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are fluctuations but not really outside of those ranges (except for weight which might go up to 258ish after a &quot;night out/cheat day&quot; then drop back down in a day or two.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was eating a consistent 2,000 kcal/day for the first week then realized I might need a bit more. A study showed good fat burning and muscle building at an 80% deficit, and other studies showed I needed more protein so I added cottage cheese to every meal so for the past couple weeks I've been at 2,500 kcal and ~148g of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a Jawbone Up3 to track my calories burned in a day. On a Stronglifts day I'm usually hitting ~3,100 kcal burned and on off days I try to go for a couple walks and almost always hit 3,000 kcal burned. That should put the 2,500 kcal from my diet really close to that 80% range from that study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is I'd expect to see some kind of change, rather than this stability. For instance if I were eating too many calories I'd expect to gain weight be it fat, muscle or both. If I were eating too few I'd expect to lose weight be it fat, muscle or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does it seem like nothing's changing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Wanted to clarify my expectations. I'm not expecting to suddenly be in shape here, I just don't understand why the numbers aren't moving at all. For instance based purely on calorie deficit I should be down almost 4lbs instead of, at best, 1lb. Fat and muscle percentages should be changing, even the scale's documentation says to expect fluctuation and look at the trend but I'm getting an almost flat line. I'm not expecting miracles here, just looking for a difference. Even if it was in the wrong direction I could then react to change it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6544" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T20:31:50.963" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T20:31:50.963" Title="Why am I not seeing any change in body composition or weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28039" CreationDate="2015-11-18T21:22:12.300" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;almost a month ago&quot;&lt;/em&gt; - Almost? ALMOST A MONTH?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to be harshly honest here; &lt;strong&gt;come back in a year&lt;/strong&gt;, and give me the new numbers. If you can't stick with the program for at least a year, this just isn't for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of health and fitness, nothing of value happens in a month. If it did, there'd be no fat people, and everyone would have rippling 6-packs and rock solid biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I want you to think about that last paragraph. Read it again. It makes sense, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't believe any article you read where someone makes any sort of meaningful transformation in a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lather yourself up with some patience, and keep logging your changes. Over time - way more time - the numbers will start to deviate further from your starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="17969" LastEditDate="2015-11-20T08:12:51.800" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T08:12:51.800" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6654" CreationDate="2015-11-19T00:31:53.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DEHYDRATION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration could be just one of many causes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As part of an article from LIVESTRONG...     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is vital to remain properly hydrated when running or engaging in any intense physical activity. Staying hydrated will help prevent harmful losses of electrolytes such as sodium. Electrolytes are charged chemicals in your body which function in hydration, nervous activity and acid balance. If you lose too much salt in perspiration, you may develop hyponatremia or a sodium deficiency. Hyponatremia can lead to serious health consequences such as rapid brain swelling, warns MayoClinic.com. If your nausea is accompanied by other symptoms such as fatigue and headache, seek prompt medical attention.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/423312-why-do-i-feel-nauseous-when-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/423312-why-do-i-feel-nauseous-when-running/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I always feel nauseous when I do hard cardio and have &quot;awkwardly&quot; had to run out of the gym twice in the past few years and...well you can probably guess what happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18565" LastActivityDate="2015-11-19T00:31:53.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27965" CreationDate="2015-11-19T02:34:24.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The French founders originally wore baggy pants because they wanted to emulate characters from Dragon Ball Z. After that, I think it's a combination of comfort/flexibility, style, and community influence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18566" LastActivityDate="2015-11-19T02:34:24.670" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-19T18:34:36.700" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to reduce my belly fat but due to certain unavoidable reasons I do not have access to a gym. What should I do? Where should I start? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18574" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T18:32:50.350" Title="Weight Loss without the gym" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-21T13:30:38.223" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-20T00:26:00.020" Score="2" ViewCount="369" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can do pull-ups in the 6-8 range, but I can't flexed-arm hang with my chin over the bar for more than a few seconds. Have I unwittingly been using momentum to get my chin to the bar without a full range of motion? Or might my anatomy make the flexed-arm hang difficult, with my top range of motion being slightly lower than my chin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T08:42:27.223" Title="If you can't flexed-arm hang, are you necessarily cheating on your pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-20T02:53:02.230" Score="4" ViewCount="950" Body="&lt;p&gt;whenever i do the straight leg hamstring stretches i only seem to feel it behind my knees and not in the upper hamstring area. It doesn't feel good stretching like this, and if i stretch too much with straight legs my legs and back will feel unstable after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to be able to work towards touching my toes and loosening my tight back. Will something like forward bends with bent knees, stretch my upper hamstrings and lower back more? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18576" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T08:28:04.177" Title="Bend knees when stretching hamstrings?" Tags="&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27851" CreationDate="2015-11-20T03:03:57.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did not have good results after six weeks, but I feel my movement patterns have gotten better. Found a lot of little snaps and twinges that I got rid of. Identified some major stabilization issues with my right leg. Bodyweight is very functional training by its nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T03:03:57.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28045" CreationDate="2015-11-20T08:28:04.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This issue is pretty close to my heart, as I once had some minor back pain which was caused namely by tight hamstrings. And I felt the same way you do, that the straight leg, lean forward stretch wasn't cutting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Static stretches&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static stretches is something you usually do after the workout because as you perform contraction after contraction during your workout, your muscles are left in a shortened state. Stretching helps to reset your body to a natural position and posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some static stretches that changed my game were ones where you lie down. I think a picture says a thousand words (but takes less space) so here are the two that I started doing, and am doing after every workout to this day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jDJqK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jDJqK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kYvWm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kYvWm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I predominantly do the first one, using simply my hand to pull, but I do the rubber band one every now and then for variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dynamic stretches&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I like to do &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the workout, because it involves movement, getting warm, and getting blood into the muscles before heading for the racks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only do one for hamstrings, as depicted below. This is a very nice movement to do in between your warmup sets to loosen up while staying warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6fCWd.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6fCWd.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T08:28:04.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28044" CreationDate="2015-11-20T08:42:27.223" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are at the bottom of a pullup, and your arms are straight, your biceps start the lift. Your back comes into play when it's time to pull your elbows back, which gradually becomes more relevant as you get higher up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah, it sounds like your biceps are doing most of the work during your pullups. You gain a lot of momentum so that your back doesn't really need to contribute a whole lot. It's just icing on the cake, so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Counter-measures&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slow reps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start doing your regular pullups, but try doing them very slowly. That way, you have no momentum, and your back will have to do more work in order to transition from the start phase of the lift, into the top portion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Key point here is to always be in control of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sets of 3-5 reps is absolutely fine, as each repetition will have way more work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative repetitions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I.e. climb up to get your chin over the bar, and lower yourself slowly. Very slowly. This works all the same muscles, but in reverse intensity, so your back is the primary mover from the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Key point here, again, is to always be in control of the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sets of anything between 5 and 12 is cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced repetitions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where it gets fun and creative. Here's one I like. For each rep, do this;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;go 1/4 of the way up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;back down&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;go 1/2 of the way up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;back down to 1/4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;up to 3/4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;down to 1/2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;all the way up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will get real heavy, real fast, but it's the variety that gives our muscles and nervous system the huge kick in the balls it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T08:42:27.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28049" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-20T10:28:49.127" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only do body weight squats as whenever I use a barbell or dumbbell my form goes crooked i.e I shift on the right side while going down; probably because I am a tall guy.  I've tried researching but couldn't solve it.  I know squats are important but I just cannot get it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my leg day routine in order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x12reps free squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x walking lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x leg press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x step ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x leg extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x hamstring curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to make it up by going heavy on other exercises &#xA;What can I add to my routine to make up for lack of squats? &#xA;I am an ectomorph. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18580" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2015-11-22T18:36:37.447" LastActivityDate="2015-11-22T18:36:37.447" Title="I can only do body weight squats with proper form - how to compensate?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;ectomorph&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28049" CreationDate="2015-11-20T10:45:03.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First things first&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I know what you mean by &quot;ectomorph&quot;, you should know that this is a term related to the debunked myth of somatotypes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read second paragraph here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do squats!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than not doing weighted squats, you should learn how to do it. Giving up such a fundamental exercise is never the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote an answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/26140/squats-technique-flat-feet/26141#26141&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; about overcoming certain squat related imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you don't give any details about how your form breaks under the weight, I can't write a more detailed answer. But your gym should have employees whose sole purpose is to help you with this. Ask them for a form check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding a bunch of tiny exercises is never a good replacement for one huge compound exercise. It's usually only something bodybuilders do to get that perfect symmetry. And even then, they do squats too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T10:45:03.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27209" CreationDate="2015-11-20T12:28:56.567" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does both.  The amount of chest involvement depends on the width of your hand placement.  Experiment with that and make note of where you feel it in your chest most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat bench also works your shoulders, primarily the anterior delts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The further inclined you are the more you hit the mid and rear delts as well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All barbell bench variations will involve more of your arms than the chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact to really hit the chest muscles well, dumbbells work best because you need to activate the chest to keep the dumbbells over you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incline bench can also be a good compromise between overhead and bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-11-20T12:28:56.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28043" CreationDate="2015-11-21T12:51:18.310" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way for you is to do the &quot;burpees&quot; exercise&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When you do this just make sure that you do this with a smaller rest time between each set (A set is how many you're able to do continuously)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_(exercise)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpees&lt;/a&gt; every day, evening and morning, will do the job &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't do abs exercises for now &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After burpees do side bends &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And then followed by plank exercise.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18588" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-23T18:32:50.350" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T18:32:50.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27974" CreationDate="2015-11-21T12:54:32.233" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No problem. Go ahead; just make sure you use 300 ml water for a scoop of all of those mixed together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18588" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-23T18:30:10.847" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T18:30:10.847" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28060" CreationDate="2015-11-22T06:02:16.780" Score="6" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consider myself a very good swimmer; I know how to swim well. My strength is in swimming pool swimming. Recently, I have been open water swimming in the ocean. I always swim right to the edge of the buoy in the ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I started wearing googles and it has been all downhill. I cannot see  the sea bottom and it has completely put my off. You name it; sharks, drowning, all types of fears. It results in my keeping my head above water and failing bi-lateral swimming. I cannot even swim far out without getting scared. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: I want some techniques to develop this mind over matter and was wondering what helps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18593" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2015-11-22T16:23:28.600" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:00:24.580" Title="How do I overcome fear of open water swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-22T08:05:15.227" Score="4" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 23 years of age and played basketball professionally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back when I was in practice, I had dynamic and explosive fitness to move quickly with strength. After my 2 year layoff, I have put on some weight, and am now 5'7&quot; and 76 kilos. I am on track to lose weight and reach my ideal weight that would be around 68-70 kilos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to know how I can achieve my previous fitness since due to this layoff, as my lower body has gotten really weak. There is some kind of swelling between my lower knee joint between my calf muscles and hamstrings due to de-conditioning. I can barely jump like I use to previously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest what kind of exercises I should include in my routine of losing weight so that I can achieve the fitness of a basketball player that I previously had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18594" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-24T06:21:15.067" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T19:35:44.890" Title="Regain fitness for basketball after a long layoff" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28071" CreationDate="2015-11-22T13:13:55.377" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a very specific question, but Im only interested in the reason for the general or common impressions I hear on my running form. What I hear much of the time is that I appear to be running in a very casual way or that Im not showing alot of effort. Ive heard this many times from people and even once while running in the snow.&#xA;Actually once I flipped off a NCO for saying this in the military during sprints because I was actually running my hardest. &#xA;Recently I heard this during a marathon when I was running at a medium-hard effort. Im surprised because I recently started an effort to run faster, and so I shouldnt appear the same any more because Im not taking it easy as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im interested in my running form and would like to know:&#xA;What movements differ between the appearance of running casual and running fast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all, every still picture of Usain Bolt appears fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="10532" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T18:06:28.213" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T18:06:28.213" Title="What movements differ between the appearance of running casual and running fast?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28056" CreationDate="2015-11-22T13:23:05.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get the same feeling except I can't swim well. What I do is to just float there, look at the bottomless depth, and try to recognize that the water is holding me up. Additionally I try to swim down a little and allow myself to float up. This worked best for me the one time when I did it with a snorkel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-23T18:33:34.480" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T18:33:34.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28056" CreationDate="2015-11-22T15:12:27.007" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The switch from the pool to the lake/ocean can be challenging. Google on &quot;overcome fear of open water swimming&quot; or &quot;panic attack triathlete water&quot; and you will find that you are not alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two aspects of your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overcoming fear in general when training/doing sports and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Specifics with swimming.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overcoming fear in general when training is personal. Doing things gradually more challenging works for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifics with swimming is related to breathing. Waves, cooler water, noise, a new wetsuit and obstacles (sea grass, frogs, snakes, other swimmers at the start of a race)  in the water are all factors that can throw your breathing off-balance and cause you to hold your breath and thus not exhaling enough. Not exhaling increases the level of CO2 which in its turn increases the feeling of anxiety and even panic. And more anxiety makes you more sensitive to the factors which then impacts your breathing, i.e. it is easy to fall in a vicious circle in open water swimming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do? Here is a short mental program (similar to other recommendations e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swimsmooth.com/triathlon.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;swimsmooth&lt;/a&gt;): &#xA;Detect that you are about to fall in the vicious circle. For a few strokes (e.g. 5-6): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow down the stroke rate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on exhaling under the water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on relaxing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2015-11-23T15:30:27.323" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T15:30:27.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28061" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-22T15:27:37.770" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a good way to structure home kickboxing workouts? I have a punching bag and protective gear and am technically and physically capable of doing most punches and kicks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to start kickboxing classes in a few weeks, but these are only once a week, so I want to keep fit between them and I also want to be a bit prepared. In addition to kickboxing, I do strength training three times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, how long is a good training session, how should I warm up, how much of training should be technical training (and what should be trained), how much should be more &quot;cardio&quot; focused? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10495" LastActivityDate="2015-11-22T15:27:37.770" Title="Kickboxing workout structure" Tags="&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6862" CreationDate="2015-11-22T18:27:15.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently deaaling with a bad pinched nerve, for a couple of months now. I use massage therapy and a good chiropractor for a pinched nerve. The nerve is either wrapped up in a knot in the muscle or being pinched by bone or cartilage. (This is what I've read and what I've been told by both my care givers, my massage therapist and chiropractor.) When at home, I get relief by using a tennis ball in a sock, put it between me and a wall and roll it around on the muscle that is knotted up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18596" LastActivityDate="2015-11-22T18:27:15.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1267" CreationDate="2015-11-22T19:22:36.443" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primer for weight loss is to eat less than what you need in terms of Energy to maintain your current weight.The calculators are advising you on your current energy needs for the current weight you have. Therefore continue to exercise more and also add low energy foods to your diet such as oats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains so that you energy intake may decrease while your feel full during the day.And you will continue to loose weight as your desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-22T19:22:36.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-22T20:34:37.327" Score="2" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently in the position where I want to &lt;strong&gt;start working out&lt;/strong&gt;, but I do not want to aimlessly begin doing just anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First my &lt;strong&gt;target&lt;/strong&gt; goal for training is an &lt;strong&gt;overall fitness&lt;/strong&gt; to counter my all-day office job. This overall fitness should include &lt;strong&gt;strength, endurance, balance and coordination&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My second premise is that i do not want to go to the gym. So the training has to be mainly &lt;strong&gt;with body-weight exercises&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic question now is &lt;strong&gt;how do I get a good personalized workout plan&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, there are tons of plans on the internet. But let's be realistic; none of this basic workouts considers my fitness level and weaknesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, from my perspective, an optimal workout plan will &lt;strong&gt;start with an fitness tests&lt;/strong&gt; in which will be determined what fitness level the person has and which muscles are stronger or weaker. Is there any test that would test these things and show which body parts have deficits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on these facts, it would be perfect to create a workout plan in which the &lt;strong&gt;weak parts&lt;/strong&gt; of my fitness &lt;strong&gt;will trained harder&lt;/strong&gt;, than the good ones until I have &lt;strong&gt;reached an balanced good fitness level&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now the question:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there any tools, websites, books, information that will help to create an good personalized bodyweight workout plan? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18597" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-11-23T14:32:09.900" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T17:11:55.927" Title="How to create a good personalized bodyweight workout plan" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28064" CreationDate="2015-11-23T01:40:56.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have just commented, but it won't allow me since I apparently don't have enough &quot;reputation points&quot;. There are a lot of good plans online, and I would suggest you give one a try. I am new to working out, and I currently use the Big Man On Campus 12 week training program. Its a free program, includes a diet plan, supplement plan, and 12 week workout plan - bodybuilding.com/bigman. If you use that plan or find another one, always watch the videos and learn how to use proper form. If you're at the gym and having trouble with a certain workout, ask someone around you for help. Most people who workout take honor in a new learner asking them for assistance. Believe me, I have asked many people for help, and they always smile and tell me what to do. Also remember if you feel like you can't do a certain workout in the plan due to your current strength, you can always lower the weight or repetitions, or completely skip that exercise and come back to it at a later time, when you are stronger and more confident. You don't need a coach to workout, I promise. If you have trouble with self discipline and organization, a coach would help, but you can always train and learn to be self-sufficient. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18600" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T01:40:56.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28064" CreationDate="2015-11-23T09:47:19.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the comments by @Dave Liepmann, you could try a coach with an individual assessment of your level and a personalised training plan. But this will cost quite some money. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to recommend some books (and Apps and videos), which I quite like. As @Alex L mentioned the YAYOG by Mark Lauren are a good starting point, which considers all parts of the body with strength and endurance strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also like the convict conditioning program by paul wade. Forget the name and the &quot;story&quot; around it, I guess that´s for marketing only. &#xA;He has 4 (resp. 6) big movements which sound crazy heavy, but you´ll start at a low level and progress e.g. from Wall push ups to one arm push ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can test on the first levels where you are right now and start from there or you can try to start all exercises from level 1 and focus on the proper form. Wall push ups will sound easy, but 30-50 of those with proper form and really slow will also kick your butt (or in this case your arms and shoulders). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other places to start with calisthenics would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Al Kavadlo (Pushing the Limits)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kelly Starett (Becoming a Supple Leopard)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Barbrothers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T09:47:19.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28058" CreationDate="2015-11-23T10:40:42.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing you running, it's very difficult to determine much about your running form. I assume that you're keeping up speed with your peers, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, perhaps it's possible to guess away at this if we can get feedback from you. My first bet is that it's a matter of how upright you are. For whatever reason, it makes a large difference in the visual cue as to whether someone is actually running. Take the following image:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sBcZz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sBcZz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Jogging vs Walking&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The runner on the left has a much more upright posture, arms close to her side, while the runner on the right has their torso oriented more forward, with arms pumping. Frankly, the amount of tilt forward is more a personal choice than anything else, since a lot of your power is coming from your legs and you may very well be bounding forward at a good speed, but it might be what others are cuing off of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T10:40:42.447" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28039" CreationDate="2015-11-23T15:07:55.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 month is not enough. I changed my diet in May and I saw pretty big results, but it took 3-4 months. But with that level of fat you have, I would say you should see something. Check your diet, not only calories but also % of carbs/pros/fat. I see big changes having dropped carbs, but there is no real way to prove this, you have to try yourself to see what % work for you (I'd say lower your carbs at least). Exercise is for many people really not enough, diet is what might make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18608" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T15:07:55.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28064" CreationDate="2015-11-23T17:11:55.927" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Under fairly simple means of evaluating fitness, there are the various &quot;Six Weeks&quot; (last I saw, upgraded to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.7weekstofitness.com/programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seven Weeks&lt;/a&gt;) programs, often known by their individual names such as &quot;100 pushups&quot;, &quot;200 situps&quot;, etc. All of these start with an evaluation test at the beginning where you do as many as you can of that exercise, to exhaustion, then check your results against a chart to see where to start. The programs themselves suffer slightly from how they focus on only one exercise at a time, with it being kind of difficult to mix them (believe me... I've tried), but the evaluations give you a simple way to determine which exercises you're more deficient on (Pushups and Pullups, I had to start at Week 1, or example, but jumped to Week 3 on squats because I could do more of them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T17:11:55.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22205" CreationDate="2015-11-23T23:59:45.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out regularily for over a year.  I initially saw lots of fat melting away, but my weight went up by 4lbs 2k aprox in the 1st three months.&#xA;In the end, by measuring my fat (pinch test) before and after.  I gained equal to 7lbs in fat and gained 11 in muscle.  I did not change my diet in that period.&#xA;So in 3 months I lost 7lbs (5% for me) in fat while gaining 11lbs overall, everything stayed stable after the first 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a woman, it almost made me really angry to see that I was gaining so much while working my butt off.  But I could see the fat melting off quickly, so I didn't panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18611" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T23:59:45.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28057" CreationDate="2015-11-24T05:18:36.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would implement some time of cardio and also a good diet plan for the weight loss portion. If your knees are giving you trouble try an elliptical machine or exercise bike or even a pool if you have access. If using an elliptical or bike I would go for interval training rather than distance as it will better mirror the cycles of fast then slower movement in a real basketball game. I would also implement some plyometrics along with weighted exercises for your lower body to build muscle back up slowly. Just search lower body plyometrics drills on Google for a variety of drills and as for the weighted drills I would do things such as squats and calf raises to give your lower body added strength. Also work out your abdominal section with drills like leg raises among other exercises. Lastly implement some light upper body exercises like curls and various bench presses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18613" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T05:18:36.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28078" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28079" CreationDate="2015-11-24T09:29:47.230" Score="1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was a sprinter who used to run 100, 200 metres races, but now I'm training myself to improve my stamina and run long distance races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run on a treadmill 1 km everyday. Will a treadmill help me increase my stamina or do I have to choose an open field/road?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have completed 1 km in 4:05 minutes, is it good enough if I'm preparing for a 10 km race? Half and full marathon is a distant dream as of now. Also, I want to run marathons as a personal achievement only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm open for any valuable suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18615" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T21:15:05.390" Title="Sprinter but now want to take part in marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28078" CreationDate="2015-11-24T12:11:55.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A treadmill is a very good place to gain stamina, but only 1km is very little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suffice to say, if you want to complete a half marathon, you won't be running 1km per day, and then suddenly 21km on event day, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you run on a treadmill you have the luxury of setting a steady tempo for yourself, and seeing how far you can get at that tempo without having to walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Testing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one plan of attack would be to set the treadmill to say 12km/h, and test yourself. Say you can run 8km at that pace, you have a benchmark to go by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a month of running at different speeds and different distances, try testing yourself at 12km/h again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also seek to test yourself at distances outside, in the environment that the half-marathon would be held on (concrete, terrain, etc). Try for instance completing a 10k as fast as you can, and use that as another measurement for your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calculating your needed average velocity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you want to complete the half-marathon in 4 hours (just an example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;21km / 4h = 5.25 km/h, so that's the average speed you'd need to complete it in that time. I see now that this should be a very pedestrian speed, so let's try 3 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;21km / 3h = 7km/h. This should be very doable for most people, especially someone who is already presumably in decent shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get the idea, right? You should easily be able to gauge whether or not you'd like to participate in the upcoming half-marathon based on what you've been seeing on the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T12:11:55.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28095" CreationDate="2015-11-24T14:08:07.243" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following the advise of physiotherapist to work towards front split, because I almost cannot raise my legs after sitting 24h behind the desk, I recently started to stretch and for the first weeks felt that, matured, I understand how to do it well, feeling my body. I have got to know that normal muscle relaxation takes ca. 10-20 sec. I have noticed that I can stretch further after that time. I try to feel stretch but not pain so that I can hold my legs stretched for a long time. If there was a pain, I reduced the pressure just to acceptable, non-annoying and not harmful level and noticed that 10 seconds later leg relaxes and stretches itself with no pain that was there 10 sec ago. It was miraculous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also noticed that I need to turn the foot left or right when leg is stretched forward (doctor advised to stretch one leg at a time, raising it on some support and a little bit bowing down) because leg which stretched quite forward may happen unstretched at all under slightly different angle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way, I have managed to stretch the back muscles of my legs pretty well and could put a leg on the high tables/supports. However, recently, I have also noticed that it goes so easily at all if I keep my pelvis, if I do not turn it when raising a leg. I feel painful tiredness even at low leg raising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is interesting because I cannot use my approach: I do not feel the aforementioned fun when doing this kind of stretch. It is annoying pain even with virtually no pressure. Instead of stretched muscles, I feel tiredness. It is annoying and I want to stop immediately. It is also curious that I feel all that tiredness in along the central run of the leg instead of the bottom muscles, which should be most stretched and do when I feed the pelvis forward. Stretched leg also starts to &quot;ring&quot; pretty quickly in this mode. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that feeling of tiredness is and ringing are normally caused when blood vessels cannot deliver enough fresh blood to the organ. Can it be the case and what is pelvis position for stretching legs forward and up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18618" LastEditorUserId="18618" LastEditDate="2015-11-25T15:46:55.243" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T16:36:43.950" Title="Pelvis position when doing leg front stretching and free flow of blood in the vessels" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-24T15:15:00.440" Score="1" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't make any sense. I did 7 sets of 4 reps with 45 lb dumbbells each hand yesterday and today I tried to do a set with 50 lbs each hand for 2 reps and I couldn't do 2. I could only do 1 before getting stuck on the second (midway if that matters).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18475" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T16:46:25.260" Title="Not getting stronger at standing dumbell overhead press" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28081" CreationDate="2015-11-24T15:47:01.280" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your first mistake was expecting progress after 1 day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your second mistake was doing the same exercise two days in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, I can only guess about your form, but standing overhead press is usually something that doesn't come very naturally, so you will most likely have some mistakes there if you haven't recieved any guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T15:47:01.280" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2015-11-24T16:32:56.297" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compression garments are not good for you!    Restricting blood flow?  God knows how much damage it does!  It sometimes pushs it causing damage to other parts of the heart, brain etc!&#xA;CAUTION on using these!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18620" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T16:32:56.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28081" CreationDate="2015-11-24T16:40:05.317" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overhead work does tend to be more difficult to progress in than anything else.  First thing you'll need to understand is the concept of &lt;strong&gt;equivalent effort&lt;/strong&gt;.  It's one way that many lifter's track progress, and decide if that 8 RM (Rep Max) was really a better effort than last month's 5 RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these are roughly equal effort to a &lt;strong&gt;1 rep max&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;95%, 2 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90%, 3 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;87.5%, 4 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;85%, 5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;80%, 8 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;75%, 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70%, 12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if we do the math on the increase of weight we find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;45 / 50 = 0.9 = 90%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've just jumped up with roughly a 10% increase.  When we account for the reps, we see that what we can best expect for a new 1 RM is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;45 / .875 = 51.4 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(when figuring out an expected 1RM, divide by the percentage for equivalent effort).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time we do better with a 5% increase or lower.  As the weights get heavier the jumps are a lower percentage.  For example, jumping from 85 lbs to 90 lbs is just over a 5% increase and won't feel as incredibly difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbells are a challenge because above 10-15 lbs the increases are all 5 lb jumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recommended change&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you can work with much heavier dumbbells you are probably going to have to push your reps more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go for at least 5 reps in a row if you want to be able to hit 50 lbs by 2.  Personally, I find pushing my reps out to 8 before going up in weight works out better for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;50 / .95 = 52.6 lbs (target max)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;45 / .85 = 52.9 lbs (should barely be able to get 2 at 50)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;45 / .8 = 56.2 lbs (should easily make that 2 at 50)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overshooting your effort with a lower weight gives more room to work with a heavier weight.  It also helps build momentum that will keep you more motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also Review Your Technique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Video yourself.  You'll find you can put more weight in your hands by getting better than you can just by working harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T16:46:25.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28078" CreationDate="2015-11-24T21:15:05.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your pace for 1km is good but you need to train by doing longer distances or your body will not be at all ready for a 10k and you will in no way be able to keep that 1k pace on a 10k run while only training 1k each run. Start increasing the distance you run until you are up to at least being able to run 5k or 6k at a comfortable pace. If you have the time try to run 10k once a week at least to get a feel for the pace you need to set for the race. Also, running on a treadmill is not bad but try getting some running in outside as it is much different than running on a level treadmill with a steady pace given you by the machine. If possible, try to find the route for the race and run it a few times before the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18613" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T21:15:05.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28088" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-25T01:17:58.027" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I program both benching and dumbell overhead press with the goal of getting better at both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18475" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T16:27:55.243" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T16:27:55.243" Title="How do you make progress in two different pressing exercises at once?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-26T13:49:42.620" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2015-11-25T01:36:55.523" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compression sportswear is  worn by some athletes during exercise to prevent chafing and rashes, and post-exercise to ease muscle stiffness and quicken recovery time. &#xA;Here are a few ways they help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Helping relieve pain from muscle stiffness and soreness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reducing the time taken for muscles to repair themselves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the right amount of compression is used (will vary depending on body area, typically in the range of 10 to 25 mmHg), improving venous return and oxygenation to working muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The main benefits of compression sportswear is that it keeps the muscles warm to prevent muscle strain and fatigue, and wick sweat away from the body to prevent chafing and rashes. In addition, there is some evidence that compression shorts may enhance athletic performance. Compression sportswear also helps to keep undergarments in place, and for certain sports, like baseball and softball, come with padding at the hips to protect players from injuries due to sliding.&#xA;There are many types of compression garments that serve a similar function, such as compression T-shirts, socks, sleeves, and tights.&#xA;I can provide scientific.test examples if you really want them. But just tried to give you an overview.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18628" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-11-25T03:30:14.753" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T03:30:14.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28091" CreationDate="2015-11-25T06:39:00.550" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing StrongLifts 5x5. I hit gym in the night hours and this is the situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;BW: 64kgs&#xA;Saturday: Rest&#xA;Sun: 6km walk&#xA;Mon: Squat 75kg 3sets of 5 reps, Bench 42.5kg 5x5, Barbell Row 42.5kg 5x5&#xA;Tue (yesterday): 6km walk + 20min session of dynamic stretching.&#xA;Wed (tonight, 7hrs from now): Squat 75kg 5x5, OHP 31kg 5x5, Deadlift 90kg 1x5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually sit in front of computer for the entire day, so I wanted to do walking and a bit of stretching on rest days. I heard that it helps in recovery too. I started walking on Sunday and I didn't have any problem for next day's workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Monday's workout, fearing injury, I only did 3 sets of squats that day as &lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/r/formcheck/comments/3tz7ks/squat_75kg_x_5reps_64kg_bw/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I felt&lt;/a&gt; my &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe31VwMQ22g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat form&lt;/a&gt; wasn't good. Yesterday my back &amp;amp; upper body was little sore. So I added a 20 min session of dynamic stretching to my yesterday evening's 6 km walk. Since waking up this morning, my lower back is very sore. It is as if I did a heavy workout. I don't understand why this happened. This wasn't as sore yesterday. I thought walking &amp;amp; stretching would only help me in recovering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why did this happen? Do I need to change anything?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should I do about today's workout? Squatting 75kg 5x5 and then Deadlifting 90kg is definitely not going to go easy on my lower back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2015-11-25T19:19:11.767" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T19:19:11.767" Title="Did walking &amp; stretching on my rest day made my lower back sore?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28090" CreationDate="2015-11-25T06:50:31.523" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're sore Wednesday because you squatted Monday. Soreness from lifting can easily last two or three days, and even get worse on later days. It's called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since waking up this morning, my lower back is very sore. It is as if I did a heavy workout. I don't understand why this happened. This wasn't as sore yesterday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; do a heavy workout. On Monday. That's why this happened. It wasn't as sore yesterday because the Onset of Muscle Soreness was Delayed. That's &lt;em&gt;Delayed Onset&lt;/em&gt; Muscle Soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep squatting. Keep walking and stretching on rest days. Keep an eye on your form. For today's workout, warm up thoroughly but stick to the planned lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-11-25T07:05:49.140" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T07:05:49.140" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28088" CreationDate="2015-11-25T12:00:50.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congrats on joining the big plate club!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to progressing at several different exercises, there's really no magic to it. You just make sure you do both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what kind of program you're using, but for someone with a small frame such as yourself, I'd probably do a full-body program, or at most a 2-split (leg day, upper body day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you do pressing movements, do both bench press AND overhead press. Whichever you do second will feel heavier since you've already used a lot of the same muscles on the previous exercise, so what you can do is just alternate which one you do first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, don't think that you're wasting your time with the second movement. Doing an exercise when you're already exhausted is great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't skip the important stuff!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training legs is the most important thing you do. It builds core strength, and makes sure your soon-to-be big torso isn't causing imbalances and damage to your back. Also, leg day &lt;strong&gt;directly&lt;/strong&gt; affects your overhead press, since all your power has to go through your entire core and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T12:00:50.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28097" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:31:21.273" Score="0" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I follow a 3 day routine (routine makes me repeat 2 muscle groups a week)which consists of(I'm unsure of some of the names of the exercises, sorry in advance):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press/Dumbbell Flys(IDK if that's the correct spelling) [4x10(4 sets of ten reps each, maybe formatting is the other way around, not sure)]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline bench press/cable flys [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Declined dumbbell press [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips/Pull overs [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push downs/Skull crushers [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close grip bench press/ Seated dips [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull downs/ Kick backs(unsure of the name) [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell shoulder press/lateral raises [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell shoulder press/ barbell upright rows [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Variations(3) of rear delt raises [21x3]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30-40 min low intensity cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats/leg extensions [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press/Hamstring curls [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell steps/standing hamstring curls [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell lunges/hamstring curls [4x12]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing calf raises [9x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated calf raises [9x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Variations of ab exercises [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day three:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Power clings [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell rows/wide grip pull down [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T bar rows/Close grip pull down [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated cable rows/One arm dumbbell row [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell curls/Incline dumbbell curls [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preacher curls/ barbell concentration curls [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing curls(variations)/Bicep curl machine [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Barbell wrist curls [5x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower barbell wrist curls [5x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Handshake [4x10]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrist roller [4 Reps, length of cable]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30-40 min low intensity cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rest 30-45 secs between each new set and 50sec-1min between series, and I do get incredibly tired, the thing is I don't feel sore afterwards, I do feel tired, but not the usual sore that comes from working out. I don't know if it's a bad routine, or my body's fault. Can anyone please explain to me what could be the reason of me not getting those DOMS? (IMHO I think DOMS are awesome, it's like rewarding pain)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T20:56:55.583" Title="What if I don't get DOMS, not enough workout?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-11-30T02:29:41.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28080" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:36:43.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the sound of it, you're trying to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stretching-exercises-guide.com/hamstring-stretches.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stretch your hamstrings&lt;/a&gt;. The sensation you're describing sounds like a classic case of the leg &quot;falling asleep&quot; due to either restricted blood flow or a pinched nerve. It's not dangerous, just annoying. Poking around a few forums, the consensus I've found seems to be that the most likely case is that the way in which your stretching is probably pinching a nerve, likely from your pelvis pressing into the top of the leg. The recommended fix is to keep doing the stretch until it goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, the pelvic position that I've seen described for a front-leg stretch onto a table is &quot;neutral&quot;, not tilted forward, back, left, or right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T16:36:43.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28094" CreationDate="2015-11-25T20:56:55.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you make no mention of your training goals or experience, so, I'll assume it's general fitness.  With that in mind, I'd say that using DOMS as a goal... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“IMHO I think DOMS are awesome, it's like rewarding pain”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...is not appropriate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are several posts regarding DOMS on this site, I would refer you to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27365/why-i-never-feel-doms-on-my-abs/27370#27370&quot;&gt;the one I wrote&lt;/a&gt; on the relationship between DOMS and muscle hypertophy.  It addresses a specific body part, but, is applicable in your instance.  You'll see that DOMS is not necessarily a good goal.  The absence of DOMS does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; imply lack of improvement.  It's simply an indicator of micro trauma to the muscle tissues caused by &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27365/why-i-never-feel-doms-on-my-abs/27370#27370&quot;&gt;exercises that emphasize the eccentric phase (lengthening or stretching of the muscle)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T20:56:55.583" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28088" CreationDate="2015-11-26T02:10:47.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you already had some good progress.  Hitting a milestone like that 135 lb bench is a real validation of the work you've put in.  You have two questions, but one of them I think you have more concerns with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Relative Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept of equating the effort that a 150 lb young man does with a 230 lb man does is actually a fairly complicated subject.  My old coach wrote a very good article on the subject (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/whos-the-most-impressive-powerlifter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref&lt;/a&gt;).  Some of the high points (quoted) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most common method people use to compare relative strength is strength/bodyweight ratios.  However, this standard is horribly flawed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The formulas used to compare relative strength in powerlifting (most notably the Wilks formula) have their own issues.  The two biggest problems with the Wilks formula are that it’s not regularly updated, and it’s notably biased against middleweight lifters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allometric scaling is an alternative to strength/bodyweight ratios and formulas like Wilks.  It has strong theoretical support, and it works very well in practice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I also developed another formula to compare relative strength that fixes some of the main problems with the Wilks formula.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of worrying about where size increases don't yield as much return on strength, worry about putting on clean mass.  In other words, slowly increase how much you weigh so that most of that weight is muscle.  Fat doesn't actively move things, so just try to stay under 15% body fat as a general rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Emphasizing Two Pressing Movements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is the real question you are asking.  You can either follow a specific program which already has the balance, or you can play &quot;Beat the Book&quot;.  The goal is to see improvement over time.  Improvement isn't &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; more weight on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forms of improvement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less time for the same work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally alternate emphasis for pressing days.  One day is bench emphasis, another day is overhead emphasis.  Overhead work helps build the shoulders and keeps them healthy, so don't neglect it completely.  Also, don't neglect curls.  As you push heavier and heavier weights, the curls prevent tendonitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Programs suitable for beginner to intermediate lifting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greyskull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5/3/1 (and the variant 8/6/4)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Starting Strongman&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are just templates that have worked for a large number of people.  If you find they aren't for you, then there are lots more out there to choose from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T02:10:47.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28088" CreationDate="2015-11-26T13:13:53.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to do yourself a service and get out of your head the idea that you need to work maximally in order to make progress. It will help you not get hurt (which will lead to a longer, more productive lifting &quot;career&quot;) and get stronger by ingraining proper technique. What do I mean by that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do a lift &quot;fresh&quot;, you will be able to lift more weight. Every time you do a set, the weight you can lift diminishes. In that sense, your 5th set of bench isn't much different than your 1st set of shoulder press: your muscles are fatigued, they can lift less. And that is completely ok: research shows that what actually matters is the total overall volume (that is a somewhat abstract way of describing the amount of work done by a muscle, usually calculated as sets x reps x weight) that you inflicted on your muscles as well as the average effort of your lifts (that is whether you go close to mechanical failure). The volume part of the equation is tampered by the fact that you need to recover from it, so doing 100 sets of chest exercise is pointless if it leaves you paralyzed for 2 weeks because you could have done 200 sets in that same time frame if you cut it up in smaller portions which are easier to recover from. The effort part of the equation is tampered by the fact that you need to stay far enough from failure to maintain perfect technique, lest you will just ingrain bad technique, and that will lead to injury, which is why it is often recommended to leave one or two reps in the tank at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does that mean for you? It means that if you bench first, you are inflicting some of that volume on your chest, shoulders and triceps (the prime movers in the bench). When you shoulder press, you are inflicting some volume on your shoulders and triceps, but those are already prefatigued from the bench. Instead of looking as a negative (&quot;shit, I can't lift as much, I must be getting weaker/stalling&quot;) look at it as a positive (more volume =&gt; more progress) because you are winning on both sides:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume-wise, you can get away with using less weight because your bench will drive your shoulder press up, and vice versa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effort-wise, you can get away with using less weight because you are already fatigued, and thus it will be easier to reach a high effort (one or two reps from failure) with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried, just do that experiment: take a few days off pressing (to allow your fatigue to clear out) and then train a few weeks by shoulder pressing first and you will see that it has been going stronger all along without you noticing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T13:13:53.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-26T13:17:07.537" Score="16" ViewCount="61236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a heart rate monitor and have been trying to beat my time each week on the exercise bike. I'd say I'm in pretty good shape. During the 30 mins workout I am in zone 5, with an average rate of 171 and a max of 187. I feel fine during and feel worn out after as I've pushed it hard. I feel fine afterwards too as I just go back to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it bad for me to train like this? I enjoy it and feel great but not sure if being in the zone 5 of the heart rate zones is bad.&#xA;I'm 33 and train about 5/6 times a week so I'm in good shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the heart rate zones see this:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/imel8.gif&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/imel8.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18640" LastEditorUserId="18640" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T13:46:59.477" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T14:15:59.567" Title="Max heart rate: is it bad to train in Zone 5 for 30 mins?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28100" CreationDate="2015-11-26T14:01:10.227" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;First every HR monitor will read your HR differently. To get an actual reading you will need to do a Vo2Max test at a Doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2nd You are listing quite a large range for 30 minutes. There is a difference between 30 minutes at 171 and 30 minutes solid at 190. What is your average? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the VO2Max is only attainable in the lab and a formula is only a formula. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/heart-rate-calculators/hrmax?age=33&amp;amp;gender=M&amp;amp;Submit=Calculate&quot;&gt;http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/heart-rate-calculators/hrmax?age=33&amp;amp;gender=M&amp;amp;Submit=Calculate&lt;/a&gt; that your Max HR can range almost 10bpm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you HR monitor is wrong, and you are not at 189 the entire time it is possible that your graph is completely wrong. If you can sustain the rate you are training at then perhaps there are some variables that are not correct. Your body will tell you that you are maxing out and if you can sustain 100% Max HR for 30 minutes then perhaps you are in better shape than you thought... or maybe your HR Monitor is wrong&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T14:01:10.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29569" CreationDate="2015-11-26T19:18:16.283" Score="4" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even paces for marathons seem to be the norm, but seem to require very intense efforts near the finish. For example Greg McMillan recommends a fast finish long run to be done with an additional increased effort over the last few miles as a test to see if it is possible or more likely to meet the goal marathon pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who is trying to maximize their time without worrying about sprinting past others at the end then why not run at a constant effort where your pace will drop over time instead of your effort increasing over time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T21:15:52.403" Title="Should marathon races be done at an even pace throughout or at a constant effort?" Tags="&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28103" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-26T21:04:50.510" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am 20, I recently began smoking marijuana and am now doing it during my training sessions(in between sets, for example). When I am doing a curl I might lift with one hand and smoke with the other hand. I lift at my friend's basement(we both never went on to college but did graduate high school if that matters), anyway, so we don't get in trouble or anything. Is there health risks involved with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18642" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T23:36:07.600" Title="Smoking marijuana while working out?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-11-30T02:29:58.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28103" CreationDate="2015-11-26T22:05:13.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming it is legal to smoke marijuana where you live, I would suggest waiting until after you work out to enjoy a smoke. Smoking while your body is under stress from the weightlifting makes it harder to reap the benefits of working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18641" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T22:05:13.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28124" CreationDate="2015-11-26T22:20:37.607" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long distance runner and I mostly compete in road races 6 miles to 13 miles but I want to get much better at middle distance races and racing in the 2-5 mile range. I've been trying to train for this distance but I just can't seem to improve. I have a 4km race in 6 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can comfortably run 10 miles with a pace of 7 minutes a mile or better but in training if I go even just a little faster than this lactate threshold I really struggle to keep it up even for short distances. I recently did 3 1-mile intervals in training with a 3 minute rest in between and averaged a time of 6:10. Some of the people I train with in my athletics club long distance group who I can do a better time over 10km+ with, can do a whole minute faster than me over 1 mile. I'm one of the better long distance runners in our group yet I'm possibly the worst in middle distance. Why am I so bad at running middle distance when I should be able to manage a much faster pace than I do and what can I do to improve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18644" LastEditorUserId="18644" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T22:37:12.133" LastActivityDate="2015-11-29T16:00:52.793" Title="How can I get used to running above my lactate threshold and get better at middle distance running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28100" CreationDate="2015-11-26T23:09:38.183" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you enjoy it and feel great (and still do, after a week) then you aren't doing damage. But you may not be optimising your results either...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perception of effort is a better guide to exercise intensity than HRM and &quot;rules of thumb&quot; about training zones. If you can train for 30 minutes at steady output (as measured by the exercise bike) then you are probably close to your anaerobic threshold, and not significantly over it. An HRM really becomes useful when you have calibrated the values against some reference points - either using fancy physiological testing gear or making inferences from your HR profile during ramp or flat-out tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you will harm yourself by training like this, if you are able to recover each day and tackle the next session without feeling worn out. But depending on your training goals, doing this kind of session 5 times per week is likely &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; the most effective programme. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you want to continue to see improvements in the distance covered (or time taken) during this type of session, I would mix in some steadier work (eg. an hour at a lower intensity) and some harder intervals (eg. 4 repetitions of 5 minutes each 10% faster than the speed you can maintain in this 30m session, with 4 minutes easy spinning in between) as well as at least 1 rest day per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18646" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T23:09:38.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28109" CreationDate="2015-11-27T08:48:58.700" Score="5" ViewCount="389" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm obviously &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; talking about physics here - obviously your body has mass and therefore momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been tracking my weight over the last 18 months or so, and I know a fair bit about the amount of exercise I've done and my non-meal eating habits (whether I'm snacking more or less than usual)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like there's a time delay between changes in my weight-affecting-behaviour and changes in my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I start exercising hard, it takes 3-4 weeks to get a noticeable shift in my weight, and then my weight will continue to drop even after I've dropped back to my &quot;normal&quot; amount of exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's acts much like my weight is a physical object, that I'm physically moving on the graph, and my behaviour is a force acting on that object with a certain amount of friction/gravity present so that if I do less exercise I reach a stable point and if I stop altogether, I gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, that's not LITERALLY true!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;em&gt;(I perceive that)&lt;/em&gt; the effect is very noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this behaviour a recognized &quot;thing&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it have a name I can Google?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, what is the mechanism behind it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could mutter the words &quot;hormones&quot; and &quot;homeostasis&quot; and wave my hands vigorously, but I'd be making it all up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18649" LastEditorUserId="18649" LastEditDate="2016-08-05T07:29:10.940" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T08:38:37.857" Title="Does your weight have &quot;momentum&quot;" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28108" CreationDate="2015-11-27T12:29:17.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the analogy, and I'll try to explain using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I understand you correctly, let's say your weight is a bowling ball, and your behaviour (diet, exercise habits, sleeping patterns) is the person throwing the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have this idea that when the bowler has released the ball, its momentum will keep the ball going. In this analogy, we can let the bowling pins be your ideal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The analogy breaks, because we have to introduce the physical phenomenon of friction. In fact, we have to introduce extremely high values for friction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weight is in fact immediately affected by your diet, so if you change your diet drastically one day, your weight will also take a very sudden turn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a bowling lane, this would be the equivalent of the lane AND ball being made of velcro, and the ball being so light that it stops as soon as the bowler releases it. In order to get it rolling again, he has to keep adding force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all sounding very hand-wavy at this point, but my point is that if you're in the middle of a very extensive diet, and you suddenly have a heavy cheat day, this idea of &quot;momentum&quot; isn't going to make your body consume less of the calories in whatever you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is a direct result of calories consumed vs. calories spent, over pretty much any time period larger than a day. (Periods shorter than a day is usually subject to other minor influences, and it very hard to track reliably.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the end, as soon as you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;release the ball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;let yourself go in terms of diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you will have to deal with the consequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's not necessarily a catastrophic failure. Most people who diet do have cheat days, but we tend to account for this by seeing that &lt;em&gt;&quot;even though I have a caloric surplus today (i.e. I gained weight today), I have a net caloric deficit this week (i.e. I lost weight this week) even though I had a cheat day&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is where your idea of weight change momentum comes into mind, and as I said, I like the analogy. It just lacked the key factor of friction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The analogy could be made even better if this &quot;momentum&quot; was the idea of a person's discipline. If you're very good at structuring your diet and exercise, having a cheat day doesn't ruin anything, because the next day, you'll be back to your diet and exercise, and your weight change will continue the way you planned it. So staying disciplined is what keeps the weight changing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: After a pretty rewarding chat, I think what you're experiencing is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/deloading-101-what-is-a-deload-and-how-do-you-do-it&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;deload&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which fits pretty well with the idea of momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A deload is where we take a bit of a break from training, whereby we either train very lightly, or not at all, in order to give our bodies complete restitution. It's pretty much like a vacation, because it allows for some time off in order to come back stronger and feeling better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use deloads specifically to destroy plateaus, because having an indefinite linear progression is physically impossible. Taking a step back and really letting your muscles and CNS get back to 100% helps prevent stagnation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And best of all, when you come back to the gym, you'll find that not much strength has been lost. Within maybe a week or two, you'll be back where you left off, but with more energy to spare. That might be why it seems like you're carrying &lt;em&gt;momentum&lt;/em&gt; from before your break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although the article I linked presents a deload typically as a one-week thing, I've had the same effect from taking as much as two months off, although I wouldn't make it that long unless I had to (work, vacation, other circumstances).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-12-08T09:40:43.580" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T09:40:43.580" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-27T13:19:06.713" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a boxer and I'm trying to cut a little weight while getting enough calories (of the right sort) to be able to train every day (3x high intensity and 3x medium intensity workouts per week). I try to go easy on carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: I'm having whole grain pasta with veggie sauce and some tofu for protein for lunch. Is it OK to put some grated cheese on top? I'm not so worried about calories here because I still need more than the average person. I'm asking because I found that the combination takes me much longer to digest (much more than 2 hours). I still feel full after 2.5 hours and have to burp when I run. On the other hand a post workout shake with two tablespoons of oats and one tablespoon of peanut putter in it feels like it's digested in no time. Is that just me or is this normal? What else should I keep in mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10566" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T19:05:49.300" Title="Separate carbs and fat in a meal?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-27T13:31:42.893" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;When going up a staircase at work, I recently realized that my heel barely ever touched the surface of the stairs. At first, I dismissed it, figuring that it just made sense to put the entire foot on the stairs, particularly since I have fairly large feet for my size and not all stairs are deep enough that I can get my whole foot on them. I also think that I probably got into the habit when I had to scale stairs quickly in middle-school (three floor building with limited time in between classes) and was essentially launching myself up the steps, and landing on the ball of my feet let me absorb the impact better. However, with my current stride, I feel like my feet are remaining flexed out at all times, knees bent, such that there isn't any shock absorption going on. Is this an inefficient way to climb stairs? Is it potentially harmful if I continue doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I've also found that lately, when climbing stairs more slowly, I find it easier to turn a bit sideways so that my feet are angled on the stairs. It feels more stable. Raising my knees directly in front of me to mount the treads makes me feel like it's disrupting my balance backwards. Could this be related?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T19:57:10.127" Title="Climbing the stairs in digitigrade fashion - less efficient, harmful?" Tags="&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28114" CreationDate="2015-11-27T14:26:45.393" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am software programmer and I do lots of research like software/database architecture most of the time. I recently got comment from my friends that I am looking older than my age. I am 28 and I am said to look around 38. I came home and had a look in the mirror and saw that I have receding hair lines , big beard and unhealthy face. I don't exercise much. I am doing my MBA and hold a full time job where I have lot of responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My college are ending in a month and I will have more time. How can I revive my health and youth? Is there any suggestion to remain healthy internally and externally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastEditorUserId="5754" LastEditDate="2016-03-12T05:41:44.303" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T05:41:44.303" Title="Feeling and Looking Young" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-29T04:24:29.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28113" CreationDate="2015-11-27T16:03:16.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A healthy diet means a healthy body, I'm not saying to start a diet, but to eat healthier, more greens, fruits, vegetables, less processed/fast foods. Hair loss can be related to stress, and judging by your work, study field I'm assuming you can be put under a lot of it, B-complex can help you out lowering down your stress levels, there's also some shampoos and conditioners that can help you making your hair roots stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is gonna a long shot (judging by your field) but try to rest well, sleeping is a &lt;strong&gt;big&lt;/strong&gt; factor in your overall health. A well rested body, means a well rested mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your workouts, set a goal; do you want to lose weight? do you want to gain muscle? do you just wanna be fit? After setting your &lt;em&gt;body goals&lt;/em&gt; is when you can actually draw a workout plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-11-27T16:03:16.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28117" CreationDate="2015-11-27T16:16:11.900" Score="1" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday during my workout (chest, shoulder, triceps) something really odd happened, while doing incline bench press, one of my shoulders &lt;em&gt;&quot;popped&quot;&lt;/em&gt; it didn't hurt, I was able to finish my reps. Then it popped again while doing dips, no pain, just an odd feeling. Today I'm not aching or anything but I'm concerned I might be pushing my shoulders to the limit and raising the risk of an actual injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these type of events normal? I've been working out for a while, but I've never heard/felt my shoulder pop before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS It was the left shoulder, and I'm left-handed, I don't know if that's a relevant detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-11-27T23:05:07.047" Title="popping shoulders" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-11-30T11:21:19.850" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28115" CreationDate="2015-11-27T23:00:27.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to preface this response with &quot;I am not a health professional.&quot; In fact, I am merely a college student who enjoys weightlifting. When I played football in high school I had the same exact problem with my left shoulder (I am right handed, however). I experienced the same symptoms as you: popping joints with little-to-no pain while working out and when on the field making tackles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had some x-rays done, and the doctors weren't able to identify anything serious. I later went to a specialist, and he told me that I had &lt;strong&gt;loose tendons.&lt;/strong&gt; By adding shoulder workouts to all of my workouts, I was able to strengthen the surrounding muscles and tendons. I managed to build up the tissue around my joint, keeping the shoulder in place. After a few months of these specialized workouts, &lt;strong&gt;the problem subsided.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some good workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.active.com/fitness/articles/3-exercises-to-strengthen-the-shoulders&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.active.com/fitness/articles/3-exercises-to-strengthen-the-shoulders&lt;/a&gt; - some starting points, feel free to get creative&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTbuX7IVy-Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTbuX7IVy-Q&lt;/a&gt; - I did these almost every day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/PoD-PBOiN_Q?t=2m50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/PoD-PBOiN_Q?t=2m50s&lt;/a&gt; - I used one of these (motion demonstrated in this video) except I brought my arms out to the side, similar to a fly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18641" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2015-11-27T23:05:07.047" LastActivityDate="2015-11-27T23:05:07.047" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28121" CreationDate="2015-11-28T00:50:01.023" Score="1" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dont like squating, so Im avoiding doing squats. However I enjoy deadlifting and Im doing them every day.  A different variation each day.&#xA;Is it really necessary to squat actually if you can do sumo instead? Or is there something special happening while doing the squat, something unique, that the deadlift doesnt give you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T15:39:20.867" Title="Can I avoid Squating by doing sumo deadlifts" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-28T14:22:09.817" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd really appreciate some advice on a specific question I have about my workout program. I am a 34 year old male of medium build, 1.80m (5'10&quot;) tall. My purpose is simply to be &quot;fitter&quot;, meaning a rather toned/relieved upper-body musculature and keeping belly fat at a minimum. I am currently in &quot;so-so&quot; shape: slim, but with no remarkable muscle size/tone, and with a hint of belly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have easy access to a gym and so have compiled (from various sources) a home workout program for myself, consisting of the following session, which I try to do 2-3 times per week. The session consists of the following sequence, repeated 4 times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where A exercises work the biceps/triceps/chest (e.g. A1=push-ups, A2=biceps w/ 5kg dumbbells, A3=chest w/ 10kg dumbbells) and B exercises work the abs and legs (e.g. B1=jack-knives, B2=squats). A's are of main interest while the B's (except for the jack-knives) I think of as &quot;fillers&quot;, to give the upper-body a rest. For each exercise, I try to do as many reps as I can (not quite till &quot;failure&quot;), typically 12 to 20, and take short breaks between sequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of cardio, I cycle to work (1h daily) and recently began to swim twice per week (try to do as many pool lengths as I can). Since that alone does not seem to keep belly fat away, I was till recently alternating my strength home program described above with a (similarly organised) cardio one, but I have the same doubts about its efficiency (read on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since when looking in the mirror I'm not that happy with my progress, I am just wondering if my program is just too little, and whether there is a minimum intensity - in terms of number of reps per exercise, exercises per sequence, sequences per session or sessions per week - under which all these efforts are in vain. If so, I can either seek to intensify the program till it pays off, or, if it turns out I can't afford the necessary time for it, just drop it altogether to at least avoid spending time with it in vain. I doubt that the relation between visible results and effort is linear, I.e. That you get however much you put in. Rather, there is probably some minimum threshold above which these programs pay off - and that's what I'm hoping the fitness-knowledgeable people here can advise about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, although I've been aiming to do this strength program 2-3 times per week, sometimes I really only manage one per week, and/or cut down to fewer sequences than 4. I do see some progress when I keep to it, but still hard to tell whether it's paying off even with the numbers above. My question remains - to achieve my fitness aim, should I:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not cut down on the number of reps/sequences/sessions that I set out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase these numbers (which ones and by how much?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do an altogether different type of home strength program, such as interval training, which I was doing last year (8 sets per exercise, 20 sec on + 10 sec off) with no-better results than what I do now&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet may be relevant: I eat mainly vegetarian, typically cooked/raw vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, pasta, and bread. I stay away from junk foods and excessive sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also relevant is this excerpt from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which I seem to meet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very grateful for any thoughts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18656" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-05T08:40:05.170" LastActivityDate="2016-08-06T23:51:37.683" Title="Is there a minimum intensity a strength program needs (payoff=0 below that threshold)?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28118" CreationDate="2015-11-28T15:39:20.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squatting isolates the quadriceps and glutei. Strong thighs are useful if you're looking to achieve explosive power from the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting not only works out quadriceps and glutei, but also strengthens calves, hamstrings, abdominal muscles, and the trapezius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's a good balance to not only work out with deadlift but get individualized muscle groups in there. This will allow you to target areas of your body better, allowing for more vigorous workout without tiring your whole body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this make sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18641" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T15:39:20.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28103" CreationDate="2015-11-28T23:36:07.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I think your biggest issue will be cognitive impairment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The image of two kids in a basement toking and curling is honestly quite hilarious, and probably isn't going to be too much of a problem in and of itself. More to the point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curling is a terribly inefficient exercise unless you're a rather advanced body builder, which I'm going to safely assume you're not. You'd be much better of doing &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a compound lifting program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smoking dope actually in the middle of a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;compound lifting program&lt;/a&gt; is dangerous because you need your focus and concentration. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/600655&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Marijuana impairs your motor functions&lt;/a&gt;, and when you lift heavy you need everything firing properly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Health risks associated with marijuana in general are out of scope for this StackExchange site, but I'd encourage you to look around for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;authoritative sources&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://nccih.nih.gov/health/marijuana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;peer reviewed medicine&lt;/a&gt; to make your decisions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T23:36:07.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28734" CreationDate="2015-11-29T04:23:47.657" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I Average 40 miles per week for running and ramping up to a marathon I peak at 60 miles. After the marathon I take two weeks off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal rule I go by is 10% for milage increases, but I am wondering how a base plays into that? Can I go back to 40 miles a week? How long and how fast can I go back to that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T22:40:43.647" Title="Mileage increase after marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28105" CreationDate="2015-11-29T16:00:52.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ross: I am assuming the people are are doing the 3x1 miles @ 5 min pace are the same age and are doing the same training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if they are training identically to you then perhaps your gap is some physical thing that is stopping your body from performing at such a high level. However, if you look hard at your numbers and run them through a Pacing calculator, you will see that you are very close to where you should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&lt;/a&gt; I put in 1:10 minutes for 10 miles. Then your 1 mile should be 5:48 (And this is running ALL OUT) If you are running your 3x1 at 6:10 then you are right on target. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we turn this around and say that you want to run your mile is 5 minutes, then your 10 mile should be 1 hour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My coach always tells me to run a race and lay it all out there, that is where you will find where you are at. When you are racing you shouldn't &quot;Feel&quot; Comfortable. You should feel like you are really pushing yourself and you can't go any faster. If you feel like you can go faster then GO FASTER!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question try the following ideas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two times per week try 3 to 5 - 10 minute high effort intervals at 95-105 percent of your LT heart rate with 3 minutes of rest between intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or for long term you can add this to your weekly training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two times per week do a 20-30 minute high intensity effort at 95-105 percent of your LT heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also find out what your competitors are doing and consider getting a coach, at least leading up to a race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-11-29T16:00:52.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18046" CreationDate="2015-11-29T18:49:33.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although you asking about the effects of alcohol on health which has been alluded in other comments. It seems you are keen to understand the effect of alcohol on weight gain and if  it's worse than carbohydrates.The estimates of energy intake you get from carbohydrates and alcohol are as follows:&#xA; I gram of Carbohydrate =4 Kcal&#xA;I gram of alcohol = 7Kcal &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In view that, even though people drink alcohol, they also consume other meals with it during the day.Therefore in addition to energy intake from food alcohol adds an extra energy intake at 7kcal per gram. Therefore alcohol might lead to weight gain and may counteract the effects of exercise on weight loss. Therefore it will be good to avoid alcohol, consume less energy dense foods and exercise for effective weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-29T18:49:33.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28131" CreationDate="2015-11-30T14:59:01.967" Score="0" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically went to bed at midnight and didn't fall asleep until almost 4, so I got maybe 3 hours of sleep last night. To make matters worse I skipped my workout (Stronglifts 5x5) yesterday because M/W/F fit better into my schedule this week so now I really feel like I shouldn't skip today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I just want to make sure I'm not putting myself at risk of injury because I'm overtired? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6544" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T19:37:55.093" Title="Is it safe to lift after a bout of insomnia?" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-12-02T19:53:56.720" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28130" CreationDate="2015-11-30T17:38:50.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are putting yourself at a &lt;em&gt;higher&lt;/em&gt; risk. There's always the chance for injury to happen whether you slept for 12 hours or none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What most likely will happen is that you'll feel tired sooner and won't be able to lift as much as you usually do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T17:38:50.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28111" CreationDate="2015-11-30T19:05:49.300" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it come to digestion, quantity and type of nutrients are pivotal. Fatty foods stay  the longest in the stomach that's why the food with cheese is taking longer for you to digest and also it's of a greater quantity compared the workout shake. So proteins follow fats and then lastly carbs take the least time to digest. So if you want to avoid burping consider the small meals of proteins and carbs with less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T19:05:49.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28130" CreationDate="2015-11-30T19:37:55.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A regular training program will eventually encounter head colds, bad sleep, and other curve balls of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do your warmups and make sure you have the mental wherewithal to handle your coordination and strength. Worst case scenario, get in there and do ~75% of your weight or something of the sort. Unless you have a real injury I'd just throttle back the weight but make sure you still lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had some terrific days where I felt terrible, and some terrible days when I felt great. Sleep affects me (and probably you) more on the recovery side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T19:37:55.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28134" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-30T21:21:10.080" Score="7" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;The Story of the Human Body&lt;/em&gt; on p. 85, it claims that running an equal distance at two different speeds uses equal calories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In fact, a running human's legs store and release energy so efficiently that running is only about 30 to 50 percent more costly than walking in the endurance-speed range. What's more, these springs are so effective that they make the cost of human endurance running (but not sprinting) independent of speed: &lt;strong&gt;it costs the same number of calories to run five miles at a pace of either 7 or 10 minutes per mile&lt;/strong&gt;, a phenomenon many people find counterintuitive. [emphasis mine]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It provides a reference, &lt;em&gt;Energy-saving mechanisms in walking and running,  Journal of Experimental Biology 1991 160: 55-69&lt;/em&gt; which I looked up for more information, but it didn't have any discussion about actual human speeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A recent source, &lt;em&gt;Economy of Running: beyond the measurement of oxygen uptake. J Appl Physiol 107:1918-1922&lt;/em&gt;, said the caloric unit costs of higher speeds while running definitely increase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Caloric unit cost was 1.05 +/- 0.09, 1.07 +/- 0.08, and 1.11 +/- 0.07 kcal*kg(-1)*km(-1) at the three trial speeds, respectively. There was no difference in oxygen cost with respect to speed (P = 0.657); however, caloric unit cost significantly increased with speed (P &amp;lt; 0.001). It was concluded that expression of running economy in terms of caloric unit cost is more sensitive to changes in speed and is a more valuable expression of running economy than oxygen uptake, even when normalized per distance traveled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this paper, &lt;em&gt;Optimal running speed and the evolution of hominin hunting strategies. Journal of Human Evolution. 56, 355–360&lt;/em&gt;, might give some clues, but I can't access it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If different running speeds differ in caloric unit costs, they could still be per-distance caloric equivalents, due to shorter time spent running at higher speeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, anecdotally, sprinting seems like it would incur a non-linear increase in caloric expenditure per distance because of how incredibly tired I get sprinting 10 x 100m as opposed to running 1000m. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone provide a more definitive, source-based answer to this question? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1671" LastEditorUserId="1671" LastEditDate="2015-12-04T05:24:32.633" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T11:25:48.983" Title="How do calories per distance vary with speed: walking, running, and sprinting?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2015-11-30T22:29:40.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bit gross I know but I just add fats to my morning coffee mix&#xA;It goes a little something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strong coffee, brews for 10/15 mins (thus cools a bit in the cafetière)&#xA;In to a blender I add&#xA;15 g organic grass-fed butter&#xA;1 tbs MCT oil&#xA;1tbs coconut oil&#xA;Organic whey protein 93% 10/20 g&#xA;10g collagen protein&#xA;Dash of cinnomen &#xA;Blitz hard for a minute and you get a wonderful frothy late. Fats protect the protein from going clumpy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get serious macros in and tonnes of vitamin k from the butter, which if you are in northern hemisphere in winter it is perfect if you are supplementing bit d3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing here is high quality organic products. It is this vital input that dictates bioavailability, stability and flavour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18667" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T22:29:40.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28137" CreationDate="2015-12-01T12:14:29.980" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have read that we should not eat 2-3 hours before sleeping. If I workout in the evening, does that apply to me too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7032" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2015-12-01T14:57:53.140" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T21:30:06.743" Title="Should I not eat before sleeping even If I workout in evening?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28136" CreationDate="2015-12-01T16:25:33.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can sleep easily while still digesting a meal, go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no harm, other than the potential loss of sleep. Try it out, and see how &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; body deals with it. If you still wake up well rested, it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's common to wake up and have to use the bathroom if you ate a meal just before bed. It's also pretty common to experience nightmares because your body isn't completely at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But bottom line is; try it, and see for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T16:25:33.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24145" CreationDate="2015-12-01T17:07:57.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my TR4000i, it's a plain text file IHPUSER.TXT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;name,jason,&#xA;age,45,&#xA;sex,male,&#xA;weight,167,&#xA;height,70,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I don't know how to accomplish this in this editor, but the file ends below the &quot;height,70,&quot; line rather than at the end of it.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be more to this file/format that I just I haven't entered on the LifeSpan web site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And further detail on the Chris H answer about the log file:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Columns 5 and 6 in USER.txt are calories and steps, respectively.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed and distance for me are measured in MPH and miles.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The treadmill writes to the log every twenty seconds; on mine the light changes from green to red momentarily during the write.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first entry of a subsequent run is entered immediately below the last entry of the previous run.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I upload to the LifeSpan web site the USER.txt file is deleted and the IHPUSER.TXT file is rewritten.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not getting enough value from my LifeSpan account to make it worth continuing--I expect I'll let it lapse and just do my own analysis of the log with Excel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18673" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T17:07:57.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28142" CreationDate="2015-12-01T19:11:46.903" Score="4" ViewCount="940" Body="&lt;p&gt;When weight training I've been told that to avoid muscle inflexibility to always perform lifts through the full range of motion of the joint. Does this extend to  isometric exercises, where there is no movement at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15885" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T16:00:11.373" Title="Do isometric exercises decrease flexibility?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;isometric&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28136" CreationDate="2015-12-01T19:43:59.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating late suppers are discouraged for sleep disturbances and also for weigh gain. Digestion take about 4 hours for the food to leave the stomach. There sleeping 3-4 hours after supper enable the stomach to rest and thus ensure your good quality sleep. It has been noted that people who do not sleep well tend to gain weight (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23319909&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23319909&lt;/a&gt;). Therefore sleeping well is pivotal for even ensuring we lose weight. Since people tend to sleep only after exercise therefore the calories consumed might lead to weight gain. In you case since your exercise late you might use up some of the calories , however depending on what you have eaten you might still not get good quality sleep due to a busy stomach. Therefore keep exercising and just sleep 3-4 hour after supper to maximise on maintaining a healthy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T19:43:59.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28140" CreationDate="2015-12-01T20:52:33.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try to answer this another way, and state that full range of motion (ROM) exercises do indeed increase flexibility. This is primarily due to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscoelasticity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;viscoelastic&lt;/a&gt; response, where the muscle and connective tissue is pulled taught like a rubber band. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I discussed this a bit on an answer about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27257/why-are-deadlifts-so-much-more-taxing-than-other-workouts-say-squats/27263#27263&quot;&gt;why squats are harder than deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;, the viscoelastic component being a major factor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I can speak to your question by saying that a body generally only has the flexibility it needs. If you &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; did isometric exercises, I would imagine that you would lose flexibility. But provided you are stretching your body in other ways, I believe the range of motion will stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apologies for needing to drop away from empirical and enter less peer-reviewed data, but that's the best I can come up with.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T20:52:33.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7398" CreationDate="2015-12-01T21:21:28.017" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're working out late, especially if it's a cardio session, it's ok to skip any meal and go to bed directly. Make sure you'll have a healthy breakfast in the morning though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18676" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T21:21:28.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11578" CreationDate="2015-12-02T04:28:02.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Freakyuser's advice to simply make it not boring. &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sixtostart.zombiesrunclient&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zombies + adrenaline&lt;/a&gt; are a surprisingly exciting combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't push yourself too hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't do a full exercise routine just because it's recommended somewhere. If I can't even do 3km, trying to do 5km will kill motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your willpower is shared between other aspects of life too, like career, family, and finances. If you have a particularly bad day, it's likely you'll end up quitting exercise early on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I exercise only until I get my &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_wind&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second wind&lt;/a&gt;. I push myself to 100%, as far as I think I can go. Then I push myself an additional 10%, something like running to the next tree or lamp post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still feel like going back and not going further, then that's a good time to go back. Otherwise, it'll be discouraging to go tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book &lt;a href=&quot;http://fourhourbody.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;4 Hour Body&lt;/a&gt; also has a lot of short exercises for people with little time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those who can't make the time to exercise, I highly suggest that you do. The most productive periods of my life have been when I was fit. You'll easily be twice as effective, especially with high-creativity jobs like programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T04:28:02.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-02T07:27:41.323" Score="0" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was playing soccer and I crashed my foot to the wall and hit my toenail, it was bleeding and a few days past and I saw my toenail black from it began bleeding. Later in the black thing on my toe got bigger and now I'm worried that it will be there forever. What should I do? And answers &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18679" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T23:46:54.653" Title="Toenail injury playing soccer" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-12-02T19:53:21.517" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28145" CreationDate="2015-12-02T08:29:16.953" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have an injury. The Internet can't help with a physical injury. You need to go see a doctor and assess the situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have absolutely no way of helping you since you provide little to no valuable information about the injury. And even if we knew, you have no way of knowing who's qualified, and who's pretending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We do not give medical advice.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-12-06T23:46:54.653" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T23:46:54.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28158" CreationDate="2015-12-02T13:35:16.510" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see a lot of people using pre-workout boosters and I tend to question myself if they are really necessary for the average gym user. I can understand it for pros though as they potentially have more frequent training. &#xA;While using them you are actually tricking yourself to feel better. Wouldn't it be better to just listen to your body and react accordingly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-02T19:01:34.647" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T19:11:42.137" Title="Would you recommended supplements for the average Joe/Jane?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-12-02T20:50:35.593" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28140" CreationDate="2015-12-02T16:00:11.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do isometric exercises decrease flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you mean ROM when you refer to “flexibility”, from the studies I’ve read, isometric exercises do not &lt;strong&gt;decrease&lt;/strong&gt; flexibility.  In the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy (Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2012 Feb; 7(1): 109–119.), a recent article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273886/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Current Concepts in Muscle Stretching for Exercise and Rehabilitation&lt;/a&gt;, reviewed stretching as used in exercise and rehabilitation.  The article discussed Static, Dynamic, and Pre-Contraction stretches.  Isometric stretching is a form of Static stretching.  As such, the review indicated that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Static stretching is effective at increasing ROM. The greatest change&#xA;  in ROM with a static stretch occurs between 15 and 30 seconds; most&#xA;  authors suggest that 10 to 30 seconds is sufficient for increasing&#xA;  flexibility.  In addition, no increase in muscle elongation occurs&#xA;  after 2 to 4 repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article goes on to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Static, dynamic, and pre-contraction stretching are all effective&#xA;  methods of increasing flexibility and muscle extensibility; however,&#xA;  these modes may be more effective in specific populations. Several&#xA;  authors have noted an individualized response to stretching;&#xA;  therefore, stretching programs may need to be individualized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More research is needed, however, because some studies indicated that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Static stretching often results in increases in joint ROM.&#xA;  Interestingly, the increase in ROM may not be caused by increased&#xA;  length (decreased tension) of the muscle; rather, the subject may&#xA;  simply have an increased tolerance to stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T16:00:11.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28159" CreationDate="2015-12-02T18:00:24.680" Score="6" ViewCount="636" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my gym, the trainer gives me a routine of 5 days with 6 exercises each, a total of 30 different activities. They don't come with pictures but names, and I have difficulties recognizing which exercise corresponds to each name in the routine sheet. This probably sounds like a minor thing, but to me it is not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's embarrassing to keep asking the professor which machine or exercise to do.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each gym has different names for same exercise? It confounds me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine there are hundreds of possible exercises. But it would be good to know of these things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A standard or official naming convention, or an advised naming guide.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Helpful hints on what certain words mean, namely: what is &quot;press&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18686" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T20:10:56.060" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T20:10:56.060" Title="Standard names of common gym exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28151" CreationDate="2015-12-02T18:05:25.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the exercise. There are some very common names (Such as bench press) that are fairly universal, but your trainer may have some unique exercises that are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as universal terms, you would have to list the ones you would like, or look at some weightlifting sites. For example, a press is generally a movement of the weight from close to the body to further away. A bench &quot;press&quot; is where you lay on your back, lower the weight and then &quot;press&quot; it up. Shoulder press is the same, but in a vertical plane (From a sitting position, press from your shoulders to over your head).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T18:05:25.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-02T18:12:03.713" Score="1" ViewCount="630" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this question seems to be from a ignorant point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym to do bodybuilding. In my workout, my trainers have told me that exercises seem to be assigned opposing categories. For example biceps vs triceps, hamstrings vs quadriceps. There is also some categories I don't know the name in English, but they are VERY common exercises. For example, what is the name of this muscle:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6HwFC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6HwFC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Overhead pull&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or of this:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TyGDJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TyGDJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Shoulder press&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Respectively, in my language, the first one is called &quot;back&quot; and the second one &quot;shoulder&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last question is if there is a opposite of pectoral exercises. In common butterfly, you are &quot;compressing&quot; between your arms. In wich exercise do you make force to separate the arms? (reversal of butterfly)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my language, the exercise opposite of butterfly is normally called &quot;rowing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18686" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-02T18:22:50.270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-30T21:30:07.357" Title="About categories of bodybuilding exercises and their &quot;opposites&quot;" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28153" CreationDate="2015-12-02T18:29:56.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first exercise is an &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2013/11/04/lat-pulldown/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overhead pulldown&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, sometimes called a &quot;Lat pulldown&quot; because it primarily target the &lt;em&gt;latissimus dorsi&lt;/em&gt; muscles. The second exercise is an &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/shoulder-exercises/videos/overhead-dumbbell-press&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overhead dumbbell press&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. This may have been intentional on your part, but they're often used as opposing exercises, one pushing and one pulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the opposing exercise for the butterfly, the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/38304-reverse-fly/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reverse fly&lt;/a&gt;&quot; seems to be what you're looking for.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dv2de.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dv2de.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Reverse Fly&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T18:29:56.267" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-02T18:49:11.250" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to get back into exercising again. I used to do it religiously 6 days a week and then life happened and I got out of my routine. I want to get back into a routine to get me to a point of health I should be in again. Below is some information about me and about what my goals are and what I am looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age 34&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height 6' 2&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight 244 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knees - Bad (simple leg curls of 60 lbs hurt (30lbs per leg), so I don't do them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body Fat % ~ 30% (guestimate from Withings App)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI - about the same not interested in it due to it's failure when muscle mass is high&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goals:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for a physique similar to that of a &quot;Strong Man&quot; body type with no need for a six-pack or to be that large, not looking for a &quot;shredded&quot; physique that is typical of many &quot;Cross Fit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Looking for&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resources to getting an adequate routine together along with some healthy eating tips and ways to not pay a fortune for healthy food that is also not arduous to prepare. I am not looking to get on the competition journey, just looking for a healthier body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for any advice and ask away if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8694" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T19:01:31.477" Title="Routine for a fairly inactive person with a really bad knee and ankle" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7484" CreationDate="2015-12-02T18:49:31.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There has been conflict results that have been reported before whether short term fasting has  an effect on protein loss. However a number of studies now show that protein breakdown increases during short term fasting so it's very possible that as you are feeling that you actually lost some protein and not fat only. You can follow this article for more evidence. &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/46/4/557.full.pdf+html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/46/4/557.full.pdf+html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also another review which has 3 other studies which also support the aspect of increased protein breakdown during short term fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritionreviews.oxfordjournals.org/content/nutritionreviews/73/10/661.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritionreviews.oxfordjournals.org/content/nutritionreviews/73/10/661.full.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T18:49:31.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28148" CreationDate="2015-12-02T19:11:42.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the first question that needs to be answered is &quot;do workout supplements have any effect other than placebo?&quot;. The answer to that depends on the supplement and what you consider to be a reasonable effect. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/men/creatine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt; is a classic example of a supplement that has a proven effect with relatively few side effects. If you're pushing your limits, creatine can push you a little bit further. Protein supplementation works in a fairly obvious manner — if you don't have sufficient protein in your diet, your body can't manufacture muscles — but most casual (non-vegan) lifters are probably already getting enough protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for commercial products, they run the gamut. Many of them are just protein powder or creatine, sometimes with a B.S. ingredient added so that they have a &quot;proprietary blend&quot;. More dangerously, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prevention.com/mind-body/natural-remedies/diet-pill-dangers-truth-behind-weight-loss-supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some of them are essentially prescription pills&lt;/a&gt;, whether they've isolated a particular chemical compound and added it in (Jack3d's purported signature ingredient is ostensibly extracted from geraniums although it's been proven that they'd have to process several tons of geraniums for each bottle, so it's more likely they're just dumping the chemical in) or, in some cases, they're actually grinding up pills and adding them to the mix. Supplementation is a very unregulated industry, and the companies involved pay good money to lobbyists to keep it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, there are also non-supplement options. Taking a painkiller or anti-inflammatory such as aspirin can let you lift longer because you don't feel the pain as much. Caffeine can boost your performance. Glucose will keep you moving. Notably, many of these chemicals are added to your typical supplement mix and then sold at a substantial markup. In the end, other than protein and creatine, that's how most supplements provide the effect that they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T19:11:42.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28151" CreationDate="2015-12-02T19:42:38.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's easy to get confused, but most exercises have very descriptive names, and some of them cover entire classes of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The gist of it&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pressing&lt;/strong&gt; means you're pressing/pushing something away from you, such as bench press or overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice again that the other words are pretty descriptive too. &quot;Bench&quot; and &quot;overhead&quot; both help describe the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pulling&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;rowing&lt;/strong&gt; means you're pulling something towards you, such as pull-ups and pull-downs, as well as cable rows, upright rows, dumbell rows etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extensions&lt;/strong&gt; are exercises where you extend either your arms or legs against a resistance. Examples here are cable tricep extensions and leg extensions. You'll find leg extension machines in most gyms, as well as cable equipment. You'll know it when you see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Curls&lt;/strong&gt; are the opposite of extensions. Here, you &lt;em&gt;close&lt;/em&gt; the elbow or knee joint versus resistance. Examples are bicep curls and leg curls. The former comes in huge variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Moderators&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a huge number of movements for all of the mentioned classes, but again, most of them have very descriptive names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take for instance the &lt;strong&gt;incline bench press&lt;/strong&gt;. Here, we are obviously using a bench, which is sloped a bit, so you're more upright (hence &lt;em&gt;incline&lt;/em&gt;). And we're again pressing something. But it doesn't say &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; you're pressing, so it could be either a barbell or a couple of dumbells. So if someone says &quot;let's do incline bench press&quot;, it's perfectly natural to ask &quot;bar or dumbells?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So an even better name would be &lt;em&gt;incline barbell chest press&lt;/em&gt;, but you'll get used to a lot of these short-hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Stand-alone names&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of exercises have their own names, simply because describing them would be too long to call it a name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take for instance the &lt;strong&gt;skullcrusher&lt;/strong&gt; which would have to be named &lt;strong&gt;flat bench close grip barbell tricep extensions&lt;/strong&gt; to be descriptive. (Granted, some of these words are open for change depending on the person doing it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one will think any less of you for asking what exactly a &quot;french press&quot; or a &quot;concentrated curl&quot; is. But know this, you can find videos of ANY exercise simply by googling the name as you hear it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I suggest you do this for most of the exercises I've mentioned in this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T19:42:38.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-03T09:01:38.703" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty fit and working out since 2003. I have good muscle definition and am currently at 15% body fat. I want to flaunt my six packs in coming new year season :), so basically I am on very Low Carb/ High protein diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to bring my body fat below 10 in coming 3 weeks. My abs are visible but lacking that killer look which would be seen once below 10% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So currently I am on strength and Cardio/Circuit workout. Since I can not hit gym twice due to time constraint I divide my gym session in two 45 minutes session. The first one is intense/explosive strength training (1 muscle each day). Then I take a break- immediately refuel myself with (1 scoop whey + 2 scoops Dextrose + L-Glutamine + 2 tabs multi vitamin). I follow it with 1 capsule of green tea extract. I give my body rest of 15 mins and then Cardio/Circuit session for 45 minutes (includes abs workout too). The cardio session is at moderate speed and not too high. I follow entire session with 1 scoop of Muscle Infusion or Syntha-6 with 1 spoon of coconut oil. And occasionally one banana. My Pre- Workout is 1.5-2 hrs prior to workout (Spinach and 8 egg whites omelette (2 egg yolks)). 20 minutes prior to workout 2000 mg Fish Oil + 2000 mg L-Carnitine. My Entire day diet is pretty good with lots of boiled vegetable,chicken. My weight is 80 KG height 180 cm and protein intake around 180gm per day. I workout all 7 days and no cardio/Circuit on leg day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does my Workout regime look good to you Six Pack Experts. Will I be able to reach below 10% body fat goal with this schedule in 3 weeks? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18695" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T12:40:53.287" Title="Cardio/Circuit training post workout" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28163" CreationDate="2015-12-03T09:18:57.580" Score="1" ViewCount="1698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do workouts in my home and i have only 18 kg of weight plates in total. I do bicep exercises using dumbbells with equal weight plates on each side. My question is, can I add a 1 kg plate on one side only if I don't have weight plates to equally balance both sides of the dumbbell? Will it be okay for biceps, and triceps too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T12:21:37.290" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T12:29:58.927" Title="Adding 1 kg on dumbell on only one side" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28162" CreationDate="2015-12-03T12:29:58.927" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing, with the question involving adding weight plates, you may actually be referring to barbells, not dumbbells (dumbbells are cast in one piece generally). First, they do sell half-kilo plates, so that might be the best option to allow yourself some degree of gradation in increasing weight. Secondly, uneven loading of barbells is done, although usually with a single bar, as per &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14377/8039&quot;&gt;this SE answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My impulse is that you would have an additional strain on your wrists and a less degree of forearm strain in a traditional curl. If your tricep exercise is something like the traditional arm extension, the effect may be less since the natural way to do that exercise has one side dipping lower already. I would advise doing the movement slowly and carefully, taking care to keep your wrist stable, especially at first, but otherwise, you're essentially adding a wrist workout to your biceps or triceps exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T12:29:58.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28161" CreationDate="2015-12-03T12:40:53.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I noted above, overall caloric intake versus what you're putting out is what's important for abs. But based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=129264671&amp;amp;p=580534861&amp;amp;viewfull=1#post580534861&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this Back Of Envelope&lt;/a&gt; calculation on a bodybuilding forum, the odds look to be stacked against you to drop for bodyfat percentage that much in 3 weeks. Look at it in this way. If you're at 15% bodyfat and are currently 80 kg, then you are, by definition, carrying 12 kg of fat. To get to 10%, you'd have to do something like lose 4 kg of fat and add 4 kg of muscle. Do you think that's really feasible in 3 weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a mathematical prospective...(There are many real life/physiological aspects that can effect this)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current stats : 158lbs, 15% bodyfat (I know you may be lower, but lets just err on the high side for the sake of the equation)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lean body mass: 134.3lbs&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Fat mass: 23.7lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume that for every pound you lose, 65% is fat and the other 35% is other lean body mass. (This may vary for many, but I think it is somewhat realistic. You may lose a higher fat percentage, which is good, but that just means you reach your goal earlier. Also, this is not all muscle mass, its other stuff too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the above figures, you would be 10% at around 145lbs. That would put you at around 130.5 lbs of lean body mass and 14.5lbs of fat mass. You would lose 13lbs total, with 4.3lbs being lean mass and 8.7lbs being fat mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, around 145lbs is the target, 13lbs down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;13x3500 cals = 45500 total cal deficit needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;500cal daily deficit: ~91 days (13 weeks)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;600cal daily deficit: ~76 days (~11 weeks)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;700cal daily deficit: ~65 days (~9 weeks)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, about 8-12 weeks. Your mileage may vary...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T12:40:53.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28167" CreationDate="2015-12-03T15:50:04.973" Score="1" ViewCount="1744" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traditional &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/05000/HIGH_INTENSITY_CIRCUIT_TRAINING_USING_BODY_WEIGHT_.5.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;7 Minute Workout&lt;/a&gt;&quot; includes two exercises that require a chair or other elevated surface, the ones mentioned above in the title. Due to an unfortunate incident involving a guest who twisted too quickly in their chair and shattered the back (freak accident, I suspect), my wife has banned use of the chairs in the house for exercise. Until I acquire a secondhand chair from Goodwill, what are some good substitute exercises? It would need to be something I can do at high-intensity for 30 seconds. The two exercises are listed as &quot;Whole body&quot; and &quot;Upper body&quot; respectively for the body parts worked in the original list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-04-29T11:43:32.993" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T11:43:32.993" Title="No-equipment substitutes for Chair Step and Chair-assisted Triceps Dip exercises" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28166" CreationDate="2015-12-03T17:29:36.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can  recommend diamond push-ups or bodyweight tricep extensions both of them in combination with doing wide grip push ups where you go close to the ground and swing from the left to the right without pushing yourself up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T13:14:13.753" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T13:14:13.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-03T17:36:15.607" Score="1" ViewCount="1169" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;English&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I asked the same question in English and got useful answers. I would like to know if the names and terms used are any different for Spanish-speaking countries. As with my prior question, is their a standardized set of names and terms for exercises that I can refer to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spanish&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He hecho la misma pregunta en ingles y obtuve respuestas muy útiles. Mi duda es: voy al gimnasio a hacer musculación, y hago mas de 30 ejercicios diferentes como parte de una rutina de 5 dias. Es dificil aprenderlos y recordarlos de memoria, y estoy pidiendo por un recurso oficial o standard en español que diga los nombres mas comunes empleados para cada actividad. Se que pueden variar segun gimnasio, pero posiblemente existan algunas convenciones y algunos acuerdoa generales, un mismo ejercicio posria tener 2 nombres pero no cualquier nombre. Que es dominada por ejemplo?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18686" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T20:11:43.777" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T20:11:43.777" Title="Nombres standard de ejercicios fisicos de gimnasio" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-12-04T15:59:12.317" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28156" CreationDate="2015-12-03T17:54:19.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start with bodyweight exercises as they are less taxing for the body yet challenging. You are your own Gym from Mark Lauren is nice, as it starts really slow and adds up progressivelly by changing the exercise variation and the leverage of the body. Another more 'flexible' guideline would be never gymless by Ross Enamait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T19:01:31.477" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T19:01:31.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28168" CreationDate="2015-12-03T18:13:36.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the answer from the question you asked in englisch before... why do you ask the same one in spanish? &#xA;Google translate:&#xA;Es fácil confundirse, pero la mayoría de los ejercicios tienen nombres muy descriptivos, y algunos de ellos cubrir clases enteras de ejercicios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;El quid de la cuestión&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pulsando significa que estés pulsando / empujando algo lejos de usted, como press de banca o press de hombros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note una vez más que las otras palabras son bastante descriptiva también. &quot;Banco&quot; y &quot;gastos generales&quot;, ambos ayudan a describir el movimiento.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tirar o remo significa que usted está tirando algo para usted, como pull-ups y pull-downs, así como filas de cable, filas verticales, filas dumbell etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Las extensiones son ejercicios donde ampliarse por ambos brazos o piernas contra una resistencia. Ejemplos aquí son extensiones de tríceps por cable y extensiones de la pierna. Usted encontrará máquinas de extensión de la pierna en la mayoría de los gimnasios, así como equipos de cable. Lo sabrás cuando lo veas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rizos son lo contrario de las extensiones. Aquí, se cierra la articulación del codo o la rodilla contra resistencia. Ejemplos de ello son flexiones de bíceps y doblar las piernas. El primero viene en gran variedad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moderadores&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hay un gran número de movimientos para todas las clases mencionadas, pero de nuevo, la mayoría de ellos tienen nombres muy descriptivos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomemos por ejemplo el press de banca inclinado. Aquí estamos, obviamente, utilizando un banco, que se inclinaba un poco, por lo que estamos más vertical (henceincline). Y estamos de nuevo presionando algo. Pero no dice lo que estás presionando, por lo que podría ser una barra o un par de mancuernas. Así que si alguien dice &quot;vamos a hacer press de banca inclinado&quot;, es perfectamente natural preguntarse &quot;barra o mancuernas?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Así que un nombre aún mejor sería inclinar press de pecho con barra, pero te acostumbrarás a una gran cantidad de estos cortos-manos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nombres independientes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Una gran cantidad de ejercicios tienen sus propios nombres, simplemente porque describirlos sería demasiado tiempo para llamar a un nombre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomemos por ejemplo el Trituracráneos que tendría que ser nombrado banco cerca extensiones de tríceps con barra agarre planas para ser descriptivo. (Por supuesto, algunas de estas palabras están abiertos para el cambio en función de la persona que lo hace.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nadie va a pensar menos de ti por preguntar qué es exactamente un &quot;press francés&quot; o un &quot;rizo concentrada&quot; es. Pero sabed esto, puedes ver videos de cualquier ejercicio simplemente googlear el nombre como lo oyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;De hecho, te sugiero que hagas esto para la mayoría de los ejercicios que he mencionado en esta respuesta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kudos to the original author in english!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T18:13:36.643" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28166" CreationDate="2015-12-03T19:32:49.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you’ve got steps in your house/apartment, you can duplicate those exercises easily.  In fact, stairs can be used for a variety of exercises.  For starters, try &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMBNgZLGLhs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stair Tricep Dips&lt;/a&gt; with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8pePMhZfpo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Triceps press&lt;/a&gt; on the stairs.  You can substitute step ups on the stairs for your leg work.  Additionally, if you can get a hold of an exercise ball, or, aerobic step, those make good substitutes for chairs also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T19:32:49.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28181" CreationDate="2015-12-03T21:32:53.027" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone told me that while I am practicing weight lifting using dumbbells, namely lifting the dumbbell from low waist region to say shoulder or chest level, if I move my shoulders while lifting it up, then it might lead to a shoulder sprain. Is what he says correct? If so, then how exactly am I to lift dumbbells without moving my shoulders even a tiny bit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18610" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-04T12:23:59.877" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T12:23:59.877" Title="Dumbbell exercise" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28056" CreationDate="2015-12-03T22:00:09.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the exact same issue, where I felt fearful and a little panicky while swimming in the ocean even though I swim for an hour at a time in a pool.  For me, what helped was just doing it over and over, while telling myself that there was nothing to be afraid of, that I was a string swimmer and could easily make it back to shore.  I found that, when swimming at the same beach, it gradually got easier and I was calmer, but then when I went to a new beach it started over and gradually got better.  So, if you are like me, just practicing will make it go away eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One spot in particular is on Curaçao, where the island falls off sharply.  Just a few hundred meters off the beach the bottom drops away very steeply.  You're swimming along, seeing the bottom very clearly, and there is a sudden line where it goes to complete black.  It took me a number of times to stop getting panicky when swimming beyond that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T22:00:09.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15014" CreationDate="2015-12-03T22:06:27.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens to me as well when I swim in the ocean, but not when in a pool.  I attribute it to the roughness of the ocean which means that are always times when water goes into my nose and ends up in my sinuses.  Hours later a spurt of it will rush out, and then later another spurt, and so on.  It's annoying, but don't worry about, it doesn't mean you have anything wrong with you.  It's just that water can enter the sinus cavities, which are convoluted and can trap water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There is of course always some risk of infection, so if you later have pain behind your eyes, cheeks, or forehead, or a thick discolored discharge, or headaches, then you should see a physician.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T22:06:27.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25759" CreationDate="2015-12-03T22:12:33.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any exercise you do will help you with your goals.  My suggestion is to try and swim more frequently than once per week.  Especially because when you first start you will not have the endurance to swim for more than a fairly short period of time, so doing it, say, three times per week will help you a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T22:12:33.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25283" CreationDate="2015-12-03T22:23:59.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your specific question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;are there any disadvantages to letting water enter the nose? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from any annoyance or discomfort, the disadvantages are a potential for infection and possible swallowing irritants.  Any time recreational water enters your body, there is a risk of infection.  Other swimmers may be contaminating the pool (e.g., swimming after using the toilet without showering in between).  Even in chlorinated pools there is always some risk, and many pools are not maintained to ideal standards.  With open water swimming there are risks from contaminants flowing into the water from the surface (e.g., animal waste, trash, etc.)  The best advice is to find out if the pool you use is well-maintained, and if the open water you swim in is subject to sewage outflows, storm runoff, etc., to not swim right after a rainstorm, and to try and minimize how much water you get inside you.  The other disadvantage is that water that enters your nose may get swallowed, and may have irritants such as chlorine, salt, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it, just swim and have fun, but also try and be prudent and avoid excessive risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastEditorUserId="6823" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T23:22:15.737" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T23:22:15.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24292" CreationDate="2015-12-03T22:46:43.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have an excellent answer.  I just want to suggest that you consider that body weight can be bone, muscle, fat, water, etc., and that focusing on weight alone is overly simplistic.  If you don't exercise and eat potato chips, you will gain likely weight in the form of fat.  If you exercise you can gain weight in the form of muscle.  You'll obviously be healthier from more muscle and less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, swim away, and eat a healthy diet to support good nutrition and muscle development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T22:46:43.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18786" CreationDate="2015-12-03T23:11:10.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I read a low carb diet was good, so I cut out all wheat / starch, including bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple carbs such as bread, rice, and potatoes tend to be bad because they pack a lot of calories, the calories get released quickly (so your body gets a jolt of blood sugar and then ramps up insulin production to reduce it), and you crash and get hungry quickly.  The blood sugar gyrations are long-term unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, complex carbs such as veggies and some whole grains are much better because they take time to digest, so sugar gets added to the blood more slowly, you feel full longer, and they help support healthy digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, your diet sounds very good.  You might want to add a small amount of whole grains or nuts to breakfast and/or lunch, as these take time to digest and may help you feel fuller and maintain energy through the day.  Nuts are high in calories, but they are also packed with nutrients and beneficial oils, so in moderation they are good.  Be sure to eat fresh nuts that are either raw or dry-roasted and unsalted.  Store them in the fridge to keep them from going rancid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T23:11:10.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14895" CreationDate="2015-12-03T23:15:48.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm worrying whether the cold water blocks the sweating mechanism&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry.  Your body will sweat as needed when swimming.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6823" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T23:15:48.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28180" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-04T02:56:38.337" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder is there any difference in how many times I eat per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say I eat one big meal in the morning at 2000 Cal (at 9am). Is that any different than having 4 meals at 500 Cal throughout the day (at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I will be hungry by the end of the day if I eat just once in the morning. But I won't be hungry if I eat 4 times a day at smaller portions? How is that possible?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which way is it better to eat? Maybe twice a day at 1000 Cal? (9am and like 4pm?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Head scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18375" LastEditorUserId="18375" LastEditDate="2015-12-04T08:10:24.937" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T08:10:24.937" Title="What's the difference between eating 2000 Calories at once compared to eating 4 times a day at 500 Calories?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;recommended-daily-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-04T15:59:25.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28172" CreationDate="2015-12-04T11:24:54.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess you are doing some sort of bicep curls. The safest way I can imagine would be to remove momentum. You can cheat yourself by standing with your back against a wall with your back and doing them in a cotrolled motion. If you are doing tricep extensions. .. I can suggest an additional exercise that is pretty effective (where you don't move the shoulders) if you want to try. &#xA;It is called the Tate-Press: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/MJJwvJ9i7Mo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/MJJwvJ9i7Mo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T11:24:54.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11492" CreationDate="2015-12-04T13:20:58.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have my own personal research data. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I monitored my fat loss using the tape measure methods combined with weight in kg over 3 years, half the time I would be strict at different monthly intervals. Male, 27 through to 31 years at 175 cm tall weight range between 68 and 77. I put muscle on easy but also gain weight easy but that's because I love food way too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway I was losing 2cm a week from my stomach circumference with average daily deficit of approximately 4000kj, this equates to 1kg of body fat in my calculations per week, note that's body fat not total weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After calculating this you can see I burn 28000 kj in order to have lost 1kg of body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the science was almost right for me, but my body seems to put out extreme amounts of heat compared to most people, I notice out most when sleeping. My body is hot with no covers while my girlfriend is cold and covered up. Knowing this kj level really helps for me when I need to lose weight because it's an easy goal to aim for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should note this weight loss was not increased with cardio, I tried half of the time with no exercise more than sitting and walking to buy groceries, however every day I try to build/maintain my muscles with stretch bands for less than 15 minutes a day. the other half of the time when I had the same level of daily kj deficit I was performing long periods of intense cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the research out there seems correct, your daily deficit is the most important factor in weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also note I didn't pay attention to how many carbs I ate however I did try to limit my fat intake, when it came to carbs I couldn't care less, I love pasta and rice too much. I think low carb diets are not effective, but eat protein when you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18706" LastEditorUserId="18706" LastEditDate="2015-12-04T13:27:02.783" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T13:27:02.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-04T13:24:09.523" Score="0" ViewCount="918" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently 172 lbs, 5'8&quot;, ~32&quot; waist, and am trying to lose weight via losing fat, and have been trying to figure out a good amount to eat per day. My exercise per day is... hard to say exactly. I'm about 6 weeks into the Insanity Max 30 Program, take a 1-hour martial arts class twice a week, go to the gym at least once a week, and do other exercises on days I'm not doing anything else.&#xA;For a while, I'd been eating around 1100-1650 calories each day, but I noticed that one week, even though I eat a lot on Thanksgiving(which was in that week), I'd lost 7 lbs! I'm not sure how that's possible, but that's what the scale said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal trainer suggested I should be eating 2900 - 3200 calories each day. That seems like an awful lot, doesn't it? Since he suggested this I've been eating probably around 2500 per day, and honestly think I may have started &lt;strong&gt;gaining&lt;/strong&gt; weight again, but I haven't weighed myself yet. Is it even possible to lose weight eating that much each day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr: 172 lbs, 5'8&quot;, male, aiming to lose fat, personal trainer said I should eat 2900-3200 calories per day, can I lose fat doing so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15815" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T17:36:05.177" Title="A 2900-3200 Calories/Day Plan for Weight Loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-04T14:53:15.440" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Been doing weights the last few weeks now.  Leaving my ego at the door - I'm a small build kinda guy.  I started off at 5kg then worked my way up to 10. I'm currently doing 8-12 reps of bicep curls, hammer curl and concentration curls but I'm beat after one set.. my arms can barely make 5 reps on the next set? Should I lower the weight?  Also, is this routine ok for arms? My arms are not sore the next morning anymore after being totally beat the previous day.. should they be? What am I doing wrong &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18708" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T16:42:59.040" Title="Dumbell routine issue" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28183" CreationDate="2015-12-04T15:48:29.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is possible to do so if your target is to gain muscle, but only with an intense physical regiment. With the amount of exercise that you say that you have, a good average would be around 1500-1650. A personal recommendation would be to add around 4-5 sets of 30 push ups, and around 3-4 sets of 60 sit-ups, as well as other muscle-building a day, and if you have time, to go on a 15-30 minute intense run every day. After doing this, you should raise your calorie intake to around 2000-2200 calories a day and should begin seeing effects within the month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18710" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T15:48:29.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28184" CreationDate="2015-12-04T15:49:40.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;Soreness is not at all related to the effectiveness of exercise&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would very much recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a comprehensive strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. It will give you much faster results all over your entire body, including your biceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem you're having is that doing some curls is not an effective way to build strength, at all. While curls are one of the most widely recognized strength exercises, they're arguably the most ineffective use of your time, or certainly in competition with others like the Smith machine and quarter squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T15:49:40.900" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28183" CreationDate="2015-12-04T17:36:05.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, I'd like to remind you that fat and weight are not synonymous, but they are related.  It is possible to &lt;strong&gt;gain weight&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;lose fat&lt;/strong&gt;, but it is also difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm missing critical detail about your trainer, such as who he has trained and the effect he has had on those clients.  If your trainer is a reputable person who is specifying your diet and training regimen, I highly recommend you just go with the program.  If it needs adjusting they will adjust it on the fly.  If not, then you may be right to have concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, understand your &lt;strong&gt;TDEE&lt;/strong&gt; (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).  This is the amount of energy required to sustain your body's natural processes and your activities.  Eating above your TDEE will cause you to gain mass, and eating below your TDEE will cause you to lose mass.  Also remember that mass includes both muscle and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, understand that your exercise regimen dictates just how much of your mass changes affect your fat.  This is where the rubber meets the road so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are eating well above your TDEE, you will gain fat along with muscle no matter how much you exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are eating well below your TDEE, you will lost muscle along with fat no matter how much you exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When seeking to change your body composition, eating slightly above or below TDEE is the best approach in order to preserve or build muscle while burning fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that TDEE is nearly impossible to be 100% accurate with.  You'll find that the amount of energy needed to &lt;em&gt;maintain&lt;/em&gt; a certain mass is a lot more than you expect.  The calculators you may find online are reasonably useful to help you get in the ballpark.  After that you have to take consistent measurements to determine the effect the changes in diet are making to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Routinely weigh yourself at the same time of day.  Keep your weight in a spreadsheet or app, and average your weight for the week.  This gives a more consistent view of your weight changes over time while accounting for daily fluctuations in water weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Routinely measure yourself with a tape measure to make sure your body composition is changing the way you want.  If your weight isn't changing the way you want it to, then this can give you an indication of what it is you are gaining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Re-educate yourself.  If your clothes are fitting better and you like what you see in the mirror, and the scale is telling you that you are gaining weight, then chances are you may have less fat and a bit more muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, just a note that one day of eating a lot of calories or fasting isn't going to make a permanent change to your body composition.  It takes several days/weeks to see any real change in body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T17:36:05.177" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-05T03:07:47.953" Score="1" ViewCount="1208" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the last few weeks, as the weight on my squats has gotten heavier I've been noticing some pain in my quadricep. Not the normal muscle soreness, it's a little sharper and feels &quot;deeper&quot; in the muscle. It also seems to go horizontally across the quadricep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking up a muscle diagram it seems to be right around where the dot for Rectus Femoris is in this diagram:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wFupB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wFupB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe just a touch lower, possibly where it starts turning into tendon. (Kind of hard to pinpoint, sorry.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this article talking about Rectus Femoris pain: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.triggerpointtherapist.com/blog/knee-pain-trigger-points/rectus-femoris-trigger-point-quadriceps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.triggerpointtherapist.com/blog/knee-pain-trigger-points/rectus-femoris-trigger-point-quadriceps/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it talks about how tight calves (specifically the soleus muscle) can cause you to overcompensate using your quads when doing squats. My calves are super tight and that includes the soleus so... probably onto something there. The only caveat is I'm not getting the knee pain as they describe it, or at the same times (they say it's worse at night.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do get is it will &quot;ping&quot; sometimes when standing up from a seated position, or climbing a stair. Between sets of squats my quads feel really, really tight almost like the muscle is clenching around that spot. That said, it doesn't seem to interfere with me actually doing the squats at all and I've been able to continue increasing the weight just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what do I do about it? The article suggests a trigger point massage but it also seems to be selling a book for it so...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would just stretching more help? I've been considering some yoga between lifting days anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I rest the muscle longer to let it heal? The longest I've rested since noticing this is 3 days... I'd rather not skip too many workouts and lose momentum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6544" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T03:07:47.953" Title="What do I do about quadricep pain?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;quads&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-12-07T16:01:20.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-04T07:04:19.253" Score="10" ViewCount="1206" Body="&lt;p&gt;While jogging it is advised by many to breathe by mouth because it increases the intake of oxygen which is required for performance. The problem with me or some of you may be that mouth gets dry as well as throat after sometime and one have to swallow saliva to wet it again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I deal with this breathing problem ?&#xA;What are the best practices while jogging and running ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="noob" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T11:25:06.053" Title="Breathe with mouth open while jogging and running?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28191" CreationDate="2015-12-04T07:28:45.403" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't breathe in through your mouth while jogging. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. This helps regulate your rate of breathing as well as the temperature and particulate content of the air hitting your throat and lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" OwnerDisplayName="Dave Liepmann" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T07:28:45.403" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28184" CreationDate="2015-12-05T10:31:21.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you try something in addition, try to do 4 sets as much reps of chins you can, and after that do 5 sets of 20 reps with 5 kg of your curls. I bet you will be sore the next day. However, if you succeed in doing all 5 sets of 20 with 5kg, simply add 1 or 2 kg more so you have a new challenge. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T10:31:21.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28134" CreationDate="2015-12-05T11:25:48.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is non-trivial as the body has 3 different, but connected, metabolic subsystems, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0072441704/152842/sample_ch03.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrition for Health, Fitness, &amp;amp; Sport&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3463/how-does-one-train-for-sports-when-the-three-metabolic-pathways-interact&quot;&gt;How does one train for sports when the three metabolic pathways interact?&lt;/a&gt;. So a sprinter will likely only anaerobically consume the ADP present in their muscles, and possibly utilise some energy held in their blood sugar. Both these subsystems / conversions have a lesser overhead than that of aerobically converting energy to / from fat, ATP and ADP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway ignoring sprinting, burning calories is essentially an aerobic process, so generally can be approximated / modeled from the oxygen consumed and pumped to your muscles by your heart (volume of O2 [VO2] and Heart Rate [HR]). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A number of external variables affect the calories required to travel a given distance: body mass, speed, wind resistance, gradient, temperature, heart size.... but essentially it's the heart rate and oxygen volume that determine, and can be used to estimate, the amount of energy consumed in a given period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several studies / regression equations that attempt to model the dependencies between the variables listed above, such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://blue.utb.edu/mbailey/handouts/pdf/MetCalnew.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ACMS&lt;/a&gt; equations, but in your case the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt; tables are probably of more interest. As they list for various activities / speeds the relative energy cost, of an individual performing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly also worth a read of: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25270/how-reliable-is-this-study-for-the-relationship-between-heart-rate-and-calories/25938#25938&quot;&gt;How reliable is this study for the relationship between heart rate and calories burned?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following maths I've lifted from my earlier answer to: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14961/metabolic-equations-for-anaerobic-exercise&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equations for Anaerobic Exercise?&lt;/a&gt; (below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MET&lt;/a&gt; = vVO2Max = VO2Max / 3.5 = kCalBurnt / (bodyMassKg * timePer&#xA;formingHours)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;estimated VO2 = (currentHeartRate / MaxHeartRate) * VO2Max&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;where:&lt;/em&gt; MaxHeartRate = 210 - (0.8 * ageYears)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kcal/Min ~= 5 * massKg * VO2 / 1000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The &lt;strong&gt;5&lt;/strong&gt; calories / min constant, assumes just carbohydrates are being converted, over a short period. If the exercise is sustained aerobically for a period this value drops to &lt;strong&gt;4.86&lt;/strong&gt; to reflect a mix of fats and carbohydrates are being converted into energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A number of sites have MET &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;estimates&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for specific activities eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Compendium of Physical Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://golf.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004786&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;procon.org - MET Values for 800+ Activities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/clc.4960130809/asset/4960130809_ftp.pdf?v=1&amp;amp;t=ic8uvfk6&amp;amp;s=c0458f8a0e42ff2c0fc9557625b42e029b78e69f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equivalents (METS) in Exercise Testing, Exercise Prescription, and Evaluation of Functional Capacity&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just use the formula above to estimate the calories spent performing a particular exercise eg. If you spend 6 mins on an Elliptical trainer (moderate effort), which has been assigned a MET score of 5.0, and you weigh 80Kg, you'dend up with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;KCalBurnt = MET * bodyMassKg * timePerformingHours&#xA;          = 5.0 * 80 * 0.1 &#xA;          = 40 KCal&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://blue.utb.edu/mbailey/handouts/pdf/MetCalnew.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ACMS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; equations may also be of interest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Arm Ergometry VO2 = (3 * workRateWatts) / bodyMassKg + 3.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Leg Ergometry: VO2 = (1.8 * workRateWatts) / bodyMassKg + 7 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stepping: VO2 = (0.2 * (steps in a Min)) + 1.33 * (1.8 * stepHeightMeters * (stepsInAMin))&#xA;  + 3.5 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Walking: VO2 = (0.1 * metersWalkedInAMin) + (1.8 * metersWalkedInAMin) * (fractionalGrade) + 3.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Running: VO2 = (0.2 * metersRunInAMin) + (0.9  * metersRunInAMin) * (fractionalGrade) + 3.5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T11:25:48.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28191" CreationDate="2015-12-05T15:49:03.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with Dave's answer, it is preferable to breath in through your nose. Your nose has evolved over the years to do a great deal of filtration, from filtering pollutants to warming the air as it comes in to adjusting the humidity. Breathing out has been more debated with some people claiming that breathing out through the nose helps you keep from getting dehydrated (the moisture gets caught on the nose hair and mucous membranes so that it can hydrate incoming breath) and others claiming that breathing out through the mouth helps clear more CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from your system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one exception that I've run into, and it's a big one for some people, is whether you can get enough air through your nose. If you have a cold, or you suffer from allergies, it may be impossible for you to get sufficient oxygen through your nose, and the process of trying may make things worse (the nose is where the primary mechanism for respiratory allergies activating lies). So ultimately, if you don't have obstructed nasal breathing and you don't suffer from severe allergies, I recommend breathing in through the nose. When your nose stuffs up, or when you can't get in enough air to sustain your exercise, switch to mouth breathing as necessary. But hold off on the latter to train yourself to increase the amount of breath you get in through your nose rather than relying on mouth-breathing from the start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2018-06-03T11:25:06.053" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T11:25:06.053" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28184" CreationDate="2015-12-05T16:42:59.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing 8-12 reps of bicep curls, hammer curl and concentration curls...is this routine ok for arms? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cutting-edge research shows that curls are not the only exercise. Consider the addition of other movements, like overhead presses, Turkish get-ups, or &quot;skullcrusher&quot; tricep extensions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T16:42:59.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-05T17:55:47.550" Score="1" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the moment, I'm working out in 3 splits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split: Leg + Shoulder, Tuesday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split: Chest + Biceps, Thursday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split: Back + Triceps, Saturday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just for building up muscles, but now I want to add a bit of cardio training (20-30min) to my workout. Should I do the cardio training on my training days or on my rest days? What are the pro's and con's? Would appreciate any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18718" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T20:31:19.463" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T20:31:19.463" Title="Cardio at training days or not?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29865" CreationDate="2015-12-05T18:18:26.517" Score="1" ViewCount="503" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally do normal biceps curls using dumbbells of 10 kilograms on each hand. With that I am able to do &lt;strong&gt;20&lt;/strong&gt; curls with each hand at a stretch( I am a beginner). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I tried today lifting a rod with 10 kilogram on each side (i.e.total 20 kilograms) . I initially thought that lifting a rod with 20 kg (10 kg on each side) with both hands(through the same distance) will be very similar to lifting 2 dumbbells of 10 kg each (one in each hand ,together) through the same distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A barbell is similar in principle to 2 dumbbells joined together. So I thought that i would be able to do the same number of repetitions . But I could do &lt;strong&gt;only 10&lt;/strong&gt; at a stretch. Can someone explain me why the difference? Is there some valid general reason, or was it a fault with my body(maybe tiredness or something which &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; thought i wasnt))?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18610" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T02:20:31.977" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T02:20:31.977" Title="Difference between curls with dumbbells and barbells when bicep curling" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28198" CreationDate="2015-12-05T21:41:49.463" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training for cardio on weight-lifting days is fine, as long as you stick to 30 min. and are not doing more than 45 min. a day, or 5 hrs. per week, you should be fine, usually, if you are not a beginner. Either way it shouldn't effect gains in mass; beginners should generally ease into their exercise routine though. The only problem with doing them on work days, leg day, for example, is that your muscles may ache after squatting and getting on a bike may not be desirable. Also, another problem may be you could be craving rest and all sweaty and not wish to get anymore sweaty and tired. Chest/Biceps and Back/Triceps are completely opposite muscle groups by the way just for the record, usually it would be Chest/Triceps and Back/Biceps. Also, many exercises that isolate so you just use the triceps can lead to elbow tendinitis; something that isn't desirable. Bench press works both chest+triceps and isn't usually associated with this problem, but working too hard on the bench may cause a shoulder injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T21:41:49.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28007" CreationDate="2015-12-05T21:53:29.953" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but only to a degree. Chances are about 90-95% that you will not be lifting weights or running marathons when you are 80, sorry. Once you are pretty old like that you probably will  be able to walk, swim, bike, golf and stretch for exercise; but not much more. You can also keep a healthy diet so that could benefit you, too. When you are 60-70 you could probably lift lighter weights and maybe run slower so that would be good for you; yes, be worried about fitness, until you pass age 70. Otherwise when you are past age 70 the ability to recover from an injury or even to climb up steps safely are both way more beneficial to you than the ability to bench press 225.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T21:53:29.953" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28202" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28204" CreationDate="2015-12-06T11:32:14.563" Score="0" ViewCount="528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a vegan, but I'm fine with eating bivalves like mussels.&#xA;Vegans tend to have lower creatine levels, but I don't really want to supplement. So my question: do mussels contain creatine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18722" LastEditorUserId="18722" LastEditDate="2015-12-06T11:43:42.050" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T15:03:05.773" Title="Do mussels contain creatine?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-12-06T18:38:33.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28202" CreationDate="2015-12-06T12:46:06.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not seen any documentation about mussles having creatine. &#xA;But what I know is that Vegetarians should pay attention to an adequate supply of amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine, which are used in the production of creatine. Arginine is found in peanuts, walnuts, coconuts, soybeans, chickpeas and oats; Glycine in raw seaweed or spirulina, raw watercress, spinach, soy protein isolate, and sesame seeds. Brazil nuts, oats and sunflower seeds are good sources of methionine. But still with adequate diet considering the stuff above your creatine level will probably be lower to 'carnivoirs' ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T12:46:06.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28202" CreationDate="2015-12-06T15:03:05.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the nutritional highlight section of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mussel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article for mussels&lt;/a&gt;, it does not seem to contain any measurable amount of creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T15:03:05.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28123" CreationDate="2015-12-06T18:57:54.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a break from a season of consistent mileage, you should run a week at lower mileage (if you were running an average of 45 minutes a day on easy runs, you might do 30 - 35 minutes a day your first week back with no long run), but then you can quickly pick it back up to your normal mileage. After that, you should continue following the 10% rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T18:57:54.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="81" CreationDate="2015-12-07T04:58:12.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive been using regular monohydrate on and off for 18 or so years,works very well.I have tried a few micronised forms and find they give me nothing,no boost in strength or energy,no size.Micronised creatine is completely useless for me,only the old fashioned non micronised form gives me increased strength and muscle volume.Argue its the same, simply micronised,I dont care,for me only the original non micronised works, strange as that may seem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18726" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T04:58:12.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16016" CreationDate="2015-12-07T08:07:52.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Their answers hold weight... I've noticed the pull or tear when the weight was a little heavy or a lot heavy. Also every time you actually move your head forward or look down to do the weight, it's possible to strain or tear it. Keep good posture, eyes forward and head straight. Stabilize or don't use your neck while moving the weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18727" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T15:18:25.770" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T15:18:25.770" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16016" CreationDate="2015-12-07T10:40:25.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend having a special focus on how you are positioning and moving your elbows in both exercises. During overhead pressing your elbows should be in the front and never at the side, during the bench your elbows should be closer to your body (closer grip is healthier). &#xA;Both are causing more strain on the shoulder and the stabilizing muscles of the shoulder, if not done properly. In addition I do face pulls and Handstands (for time, ex.: 4 x 1:00) afterwards to assist my workouts and prevent injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Military Press example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6P7U176yhI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6P7U176yhI&lt;/a&gt; (exercise at 2:36)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench Press example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T9UQ4FBVXI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T9UQ4FBVXI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T19:35:15.087" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T19:35:15.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16016" CreationDate="2015-12-07T11:35:44.627" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has happened to me a lot over the years. I found it was caused by tightness of the levator scapulae and middle and upper trapezius and a weak lower trapezius and serratus. All largely sorted through fixing muscular imbalances, using a mixture of self myofascial release and targeted resistance work on the weak areas.&#xA;Release tension in pec major/minor, improve thoracic spine mobility and do lots of pulling variations and external rotator work.&#xA;Once you're looser in your traps and levators, overhead shrugs with a barbell can be a useful exercise.&#xA;It sounds like a lot, but just doing a little bit every day goes a long, long way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18730" LastEditorUserId="18730" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T12:06:42.937" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T12:06:42.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2015-12-07T13:09:27.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally wear a ski mask, or wrap a scarf around my face, and I breathe through that for as long as I can. Eventually, after about an hour or so, enough moisture will have built up (and, if it's cold enough, this moisture has started freezing) that I have to lower the mask, but that's usually enough for me. The worse problem I have is dealing with my glasses fogging up from the exhaled heat and moisture trapped in the mask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2018-09-03T13:30:49.743" LastActivityDate="2018-09-03T13:30:49.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28198" CreationDate="2015-12-07T14:01:39.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There’s no right or wrong methodology for determining when to introduce cardio training in your fitness program.  It pretty much depends on your personal goal.  For example, if you’re a competitive bodybuilder, you’ll want to do more cardio.  Typically that means on the same day you train usually at the end of your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the phrasing of your question, it would seem like you’d like to balance the gains you’ve made against losing some fat.  If that’s the case, I would add cardio work gradually, keeping in mind there’s no “rule” as to how many times per week you need to perform it.  Performing a minimum of 20 minutes per session with the goal of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/cardio_for_fat_loss.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;steadily increasing the intensity&lt;/a&gt; should get you started.  You can do that by adding more cardio sessions, or, increasing the amount of time you do cardio.  Either way, you’ll need to pay close attention to your caloric and sleep requirements to insure you are still fueling your training and muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for pros and cons, adding cardio will require more time at the gym.  Increasing your training volume by doing cardio on the same day you train may require more recovery time than just doing the weights.  You could add more training days if you do cardio on the “off” days.  But, that would require more of your time.  For my goals, I’d prefer to do cardio on the same day as my training.  But, that’s not to say that I don’t occasionally switch the cardio to an “off” day.  And, as I stated above, you’ll need to pay closer attention to your nutrition to avoid a calorie deficit.   On the plus side, balancing cardio with your weight training, will provide you with the opportunity to reveal the muscle tissue you’ve worked hard to attain.  And, adding cardio will certainly benefit your overall health as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T14:01:39.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16016" CreationDate="2015-12-07T16:37:32.657" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be many reasons for muscle spasms/pulls in the neck area, including (in no particular order):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insufficient food:&lt;/em&gt; the muscles lack the glycogen stores required and overcompensate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insufficient sleep:&lt;/em&gt; your nervous system is impacted when you are in a sleep deprived state, and I've had most of the neck spasm issues when in this state&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bad hydration:&lt;/em&gt; electrolyte imbalances can cause spurious pain signals or muscle spasms to occur.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Upper back weakness:&lt;/em&gt; the upper back and rear delts aren't doing their part to contribute to the lift and so you are straining to do the lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bad form:&lt;/em&gt; your spotters may not know what to look for or aren't really paying attention more than to keep the bar from crushing your neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may even have a combination of multiple factors going on at the same time.  Don't rule out &quot;Bad Form&quot; unless you have a qualified coach tell you that your form is good.  Someone who is spotting is just looking out for safety, not how to get more muscle into the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume that the food, sleep, and hydration are all working good enough for the remainder of the answer, but please make sure they are not the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pressing Things Overhead&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The different variations of pressing things overhead require your upper back to be engaged and transition the weight from in front of your head to directly over your shoulders.  In fact, you should be able to draw a straight line from the center of the barbell, through your shoulder blades, and your mid foot.  Your lower back should also be in a neutral position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not ending in this position, chances are the bar is remaining in front of you.  Chances are also good that your upper back is not involved in the lift at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Pressing Things&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refine your technique, but don't change it completely.  There is a time and place for flat back with feet on the bench, but it is to isolate the arms if they are the weakness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arching your back is a good thing, but do make sure of the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your shoulders, butt and head need to be in contact with the bench (notice I did not say neck).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar will vary where it hits when in the bottom position, but it should be between the nipple line and the sternum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bar path should end with the bar directly over the shoulders and the shoulders remaining in contact with the bench (do not raise the shoulders).  That means the bar will move a bit horizontally.  It also means your upper back is involved to assist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recommendations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a little weight off the bar, and focus on the start and end positions.  Also try to activate your upper back to help on these lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a weight you can perform the movement slowly, and focus on staying in the strongest body position at all stages of the lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your progression will be to add more speed to the bar before adding weight.  Each time you increase weight start over with a slow lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform dumbbell front raises as an assistance exercise.  Start with a weight you can do 3x10 with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T16:37:32.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28198" CreationDate="2015-12-07T21:02:05.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can do both on the same day but make sure to do your cardio after your weights session because when you lift, you are in a way doing cardio also if you lift heavy (ie you are panting or breathing heavy after your set), and the other way around is not true. You want to maximize your energy expenditure lifting weights, then finish off with cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest days are indeed rest days. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T21:02:05.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28220" CreationDate="2015-12-07T21:26:37.223" Score="0" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave recently begun going to the gym and I have been doing chest excercises. Whilst doing these, I gave found my triceps limit me as my stronger right arm can lift much more than my left were I have very little tricep muscle. Can you help with this issue as I am unsure whether or not tricep muscle could be the factor for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excercise I do include barbell bench presses, dumbbell/cable flys and incline bench presses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18734" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T21:58:21.500" Title="Does having little triceps muscle affect chest excercise?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28219" CreationDate="2015-12-07T21:58:21.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases, yes, triceps can affect your performance on chest exercises. Any exercise that involves some sort of pressing the weight away from you will use your triceps to some degree. However, the wider your grip is, the more emphasis will be placed on your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flyes are an example of a chest exercise that place very little emphasis on the triceps (except isometrically as the elbow should remain at a fixed angle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Staying consistent with your benching will be your best option for increasing your tricep size and strength. When doing unilateral work (dumbbells or machines with separate levers for each arm), you should always limit your reps to what you can do with your weaker side as to avoid causing an even larger imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T21:58:21.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-08T00:56:36.573" Score="0" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'9'' and 153 lbs now and 24 years old. I've been working out regularly for a year now. But I feel that the results now is not as impressive as it used to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym 4 times a week, 2 muscle groups each time. Monday chest and triceps, Tuesday back and biceps, Thursday shoulders and legs, Friday chest and abs. I also do abs on Tuesday. I work on chest twice a week because I want to build more muscle mass on my chest. I pretty much use the same weight for around 9 reps and 4 sets for each workout. Sometimes I add 2.5lb to each side for my chest workout. But I'm still not very satisfied with my chest muscle mass. How should I change my routine to build more muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard that there are different cycles in training, bulking cycles and cutting cycles. Bulking cycles are for building muscle mass and in this cycle you are expected to eat more and you are likely to gain some body fat. And in cutting cycle, you do more cardio and reduce your body fat. Is that true if I want to build muscle mass progressively? Is it possible to build muscle mass without going through these cycles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T16:14:07.327" Title="Best routines to build muscle mass" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-12-09T17:10:44.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28224" CreationDate="2015-12-08T01:14:19.653" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we already know that barbell squats pack on more mass than air squats; no mystery there. But I am wondering about the role that calves play in both of these. I have heard air squats involve minimal calf use, while barbell squats stress them out a lot. Is this true; and why would this be? Is it simply because of the extra weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2018-05-06T21:30:48.727" Title="Bodyweight Squats v. Barbell Squats for Calf Development/Involvement?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;calves&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24154" CreationDate="2015-12-08T01:15:13.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Let me just caveat the following with the statement that there may be an underlying medical condition preventing you from reaching a normal peak heart rate. It's probably a good idea to visit a physician.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find, as you have, that intensity is often limited by psychology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even at the point where I think, I cannot push myself further while exercising and I am out of breath...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the unpleasantness of pushing yourself harder is what's limiting you.  You don't mention the type of conditioning you're doing, but I suggest trying new exercises to experience different feedback loops.  I assure you, unless you're already running sub-five minute miles, you will be able to exceed 140 bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, try setting a timer and performing two &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNTW7B09VJg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dumbbell thrusters&lt;/a&gt; the first minute, four the second minute, six the third minute, and so on, until you can't go on.  Record the time at which you gave up, then beat that time next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or try as many &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/oOd_VaYDFSw?t=52s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bear complexes&lt;/a&gt; as possible in five minutes, then attempt to beat that number for two or three consecutive sets.  Then do it again in couple of days, promising to yourself that you will beat your numbers from last time.  Keep doing this until you can't beat your numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a hill and sprint up and down it with 30 seconds of rest between sprints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switch up your modalities.  Utilize some muscle complexes you aren't used to exerting at high intensity.  You'll get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2018-01-17T19:32:19.473" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T19:32:19.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28222" CreationDate="2015-12-08T03:44:51.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somehow 'yes' - but the sad truth is, that both of the squats don't do too much to icrease the size of the calves, the most development (rather minimal) you will get from Olympic-style squating because they get better streched while under load, but  are acting more as a dynamic stabilizer than synergist. As we know if we put a muscle under load and stretch and contract it, it grows.&#xA;For bigger calves I would rather count on high intensity and volume + direct and isolated work and giving it the right priority ex. first exercise after warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-08T07:54:45.347" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T07:54:45.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28221" CreationDate="2015-12-08T08:09:58.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever tried ascending sets,where you do a warm up set of 10 to 12 reps,always in good form,then the next set add a little more weight for say 10 reps,third set add a little more and do say 8 reps,fourth set add more weight and do 5 to 7 reps,fifth set add weight again and do around 3 reps.After your warm up first set,add enough weight that you have to work on the final 2 to 3 reps pretty hard on each set.By the fifth set you should be really grunting out the 3 or so reps.Always use good form on the lighter sets,but say if you are doing barbell curls,which should be your main biceps exercise,the fourth and fifth sets can incorporate a little,A LITTLE swing,but dont do too many cheat reps overall.If your main purpose is bodybuilding,e.g showy muscle,then stricter reps with a little looseness at higher weights has worked well for me.I built my arms up to 20 inches at their largest,these days at 52 years of age they are 18 qnd a half to 19 inches.I have not used steroids to do this,just strict form and not training arms or anything else more than twice per week.You need to let your body recover then grow.Creatine when it came out,plain old monohydrate,helped me put size on quickly.But be aware it usually takes years to build muscle mass naturally,so be consistent and patient,look at things in the long term.You can also do descending sets,which is done this way:After your heaviest 3 rep set,strip weight off the bar and do say 5 reps,then strip more weight off the bar and do say 7 reps,and so on.If you choose to do both ascending and descending sets in a workout,then train that body part no more than once per week.It is high intensity,which will shock your muscles,and should make you quite sore 24 hours later.This may trigger growth in your stale muscles.You may need to do this type of training for say two of your four workouts per week,it all depends how well you recover.This is an old school routine,simple but effective.I found it worked well for arms.Also incorporate deadlifts,squats,presses into your routine,as you need compound movements such as these to build strength and a solid power base.Be careful and get someone with lots of practical experience to teach you these lifts if you do not already do them,proper form will help protect your lower back from injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dont make the mistake I did at 21 years of age,and over eat constantly.I put on 60 pounds in 5 months this way,sure I added muscle,but I also added a layer of flab which will haunt you the rest of your life.I was rather sheltered and believed the hype in the magazines at the time ,that all you had to do was stuff yourself and lift heavy and you would look like the guys in the magazines.I didnt realise it was the steroids they took with the excess of food that produced the huge muscle gains.Of course there are people who put on muscle quickly without drugs,but unfortunately that is not often the case. Give the ascending sets routine a try if you like,hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18726" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T08:09:58.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28221" CreationDate="2015-12-08T10:03:48.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Phew, there are tons of them, some proven routines are GVT aka German Volume Training (10x10), Breathing Squats, Dogg Crapp and so on. I would encourage you to Google for them and use one and stick with it until you don´t see any progress anymore.&#xA;Please note, all of the routines have one thing in common, they always involve compound movements, with relatively heavy weight and HARD WORK and recovery.&#xA;I found the Layer system from Christian Thibaudeau very effective as it targets different muscle fibers in one workout ... and is not so boring like GVT.&#xA;You could even make nice gains from a Powerlifting routine focusing on assistance movements like Jim Wendler 5/3/1 or Classical 5/4/3/2/1 routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also would not over micromanage the diet, just try to eat clean with more protein an carbs in the morning and day times and more fats  (healthy fats ex fishoil, nuts etc.) and less er carbs the later it gets in the evening. You should eat at least 4 times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-08T16:14:07.327" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T16:14:07.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28227" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28228" CreationDate="2015-12-08T11:46:05.823" Score="14" ViewCount="12534" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can find many opinions and a few scientific articles on stretching prior to exercise, with the takeaway that it probably doesn't help and might hurt a bit &lt;strong&gt;for that exercise session&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have very poor flexibility in general, and it's affecting my ability to exercise to become more fit &amp;amp; flexible. In other words, my flexibility is a gating factor for better health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd like to just take a 10 minute break every hour to get off my computer &amp;amp; stretch, which I could make time for easier than taking an hour chunk out of my day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't want to do something that will have no effect, and certainly not something that might have a negative effect. The only studies I can find are about the effects on the immediate workout after cold stretching, but not the effects of cold stretching on long-term flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would cold stretching ~6 times @ 10 minutes daily increase my range of motion long-term, or would that chronically weaken the stretched muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be better to do ex. Ashtenga, including the proper warm-up poses, for say 30 minutes daily or perhaps two 15-minute sessions daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18737" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T01:08:14.343" Title="Stretching while cold, with no intent to exercise: any benefit?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28227" CreationDate="2015-12-08T15:17:50.320" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's something that might help a bit. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19118789&quot;&gt;a 2009 study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The purpose of the present study was to &lt;strong&gt;investigate the long-term&#xA;  effects of two different stretching techniques&lt;/strong&gt; on the range of motion&#xA;  (ROM) and on drop jump (DJ). DJ scores were assessed by means of a&#xA;  contact mat connected to a digital timer. ROM was measured by use of a&#xA;  goniometer. &lt;strong&gt;The training was carried out four times a week for 6 weeks&#xA;  on 10 subjects as passive static stretching (SS), and on 9 subjects as&#xA;  contract-relax PNF (CRPNF) stretching.&lt;/strong&gt; The remaining nine subjects did&#xA;  not perform any exercises (control group). One-way Analysis of&#xA;  Variance (ANOVA) results indicated that the differences among groups&#xA;  on DJ were not statistically different (F(2,27)=.41, p&gt;.05). ROM&#xA;  values were significantly higher for both stretching groups, while no&#xA;  change was observed for the control group. &lt;strong&gt;In conclusion, static and&#xA;  proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching techniques&#xA;  improved the ROM&lt;/strong&gt;, but neither of the stretching exercises had any&#xA;  statistically significant effect on the DJ scores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically looking at your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would cold stretching ~6 times @ 10 minutes daily increase my range of&#xA;  motion long-term, or would that chronically weaken the stretched&#xA;  muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's certainly no evidence that stretching throughout the day will weaken your muscles. Look at people who take yoga daily: it's a lot of stretching, and there's no indication of long term weakness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be better to do ex. Ashtenga, including the proper warm-up&#xA;  poses, for say 30 minutes daily or perhaps two 15-minute sessions&#xA;  daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I think doing yoga once a day would be a bit better, because a proper 30 minute exercise sessions throughout the day has a lot going for it. Yoga certainly would qualify, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/American-Heart-Association-Recommendations-for-Physical-Activity-in-Adults_UCM_307976_Article.jsp&quot;&gt;that's a number that the American Heart Association views as being very helpful&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly I would add that stretching is quite normal and natural. Animals all along the evolutionary scale stretch, and it feels good. When in doubt, if there's a motion you can do that feels good during and afterward, it's probably a good thing or at least not bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T15:17:50.320" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28221" CreationDate="2015-12-08T16:01:36.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've also heard that there are different cycles in training, bulking&#xA;  cycles and cutting cycles. Is it possible to build muscle mass without&#xA;  going through these cycles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most definitely.  I cringe when I hear relative beginners use the terms “bulk” and “cut”.  Especially if they’re not competitive bodybuilders.  In my opinion, “bulking” and “cutting” is somewhat akin to “yo-yo” dieting.  Why bother when some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-muscle-prof-is-bulking-really-necessary.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recent research&lt;/a&gt; indicates that “bulking” and “cutting” is not the key to muscular gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you must be training hard to achieve &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; gains.  Couple that with consuming the correct amount of protein in each meal, and, you’ve got a good recipe for gaining mass.  However, this is not a license for eating everything in sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study by &lt;strong&gt;Jacob Wilson&lt;/strong&gt; (PhD in Skeletal Muscle Physiology) in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, found that it is possible to gain muscle without taking in excessive amounts of calories.  The study looked at the impact of “bulking” on hard training athletes.  Two groups of individuals were fed &lt;em&gt;“either a moderate 800 calories or an extreme 2,000 extra calories per day for 45 days”&lt;/em&gt;.  They found that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We found that both groups increased their muscle mass by approximately&#xA;  6-8 pounds. But, the difference when it came to fat gain was more&#xA;  pronounced. While the moderate calorie group lost 2 pounds of fat, the&#xA;  extreme calorie group gained 2 pounds of fat! This tells us that while&#xA;  extra calories can be anabolic, there is a ceiling for their positive&#xA;  effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Past this ceiling, excess calories will be stored as fat. The result&#xA;  is that it will take you longer to cut down, and when you do that, it&#xA;  will cost more muscle tissue from catabolic breakdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study emphasized that the key to the process is optimizing your training and your protein intake, not, adding excessive calories.  Lastly, the study recommends&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a limit to the potential anabolic effects of overfeeding,&#xA;  after which you aren't gaining any more muscle, but only fat. Our&#xA;  study suggests that any overfeed should probably be no more than&#xA;  500-800 extra calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd personally rather pursue muscle gains on a gradual basis with a sound approach to calorie manipulation.  Even it if means it will take longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T16:01:36.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28232" CreationDate="2015-12-09T14:01:06.493" Score="1" ViewCount="4489" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between hydraulic rowing machines and pulley rowing machines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking at getting a new rower and wanted to avoid a hydraulic one while not spending too much money. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been looking at the V-fit PTR1 Pulley Rower, which seems to work with the use of elastic (I may have got that wrong).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the pulley rower provide a more realistic rowing experience than the hydraulic ones and are there any other advantages / disadvantages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18745" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T21:45:09.133" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T15:08:45.807" Title="Is there a difference between hydraulic rowing machines and pulley rowing machines?" Tags="&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28231" CreationDate="2015-12-09T16:34:49.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary difference between hydraulic and cable rowing machines seems to be that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.afpafitness.com/research-articles/a-quick-and-easy-guide-to-indoor-rowing-machines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;most hydraulic machines restrict your arm movement in an unnatural way&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although hydraulic based indoor rowers are low-cost, they differ from air, magnetic and water rowers because the rowing machine technique doesn’t allow you to pull in a straight line. The majority of hydraulic piston based rowers require you be placed in an exercise position that does not allow you to perform a natural rowing motion. Because of this, you are unable to naturally synchronize your arm and leg movements together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a breakdown at that link of variations on the cable machines from flywheels to magnetic to water resistance. They seem to largely vary in noise and expense with the last one apparently being a realistic enough movement that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rowing-machine-review.com/best-rowing-machines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;there are competitions&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T16:34:49.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28254" CreationDate="2015-12-09T16:46:55.610" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't know how to word the question to actually fit what I wanted to ask, so if you can reword it into a more fitting title, please do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past couple of months I've done several weight-lifting approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One muscle per day, this was a bit tiring since I was able to do around 5-6 exercises per muscle/area(chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs). After a month I switched to series, but still one muscle per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monday: chest1, chest2, chest3, chest4, chest5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: back1, back2, back3, back4, back5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so  on&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;By groups of muscles and in series (leg, chest/triceps/shoulders, back/biceps/forearms) but the way I did it was one muscle at a time, so 3-4 exercises per muscle, jump onto next muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: chest1/chest2, chest3/chest4, shoulder1/shoulder2, shoulder3/shoulder4, triceps1/triceps2, triceps3/triceps4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: back1/back2, back3/back4, bicep1/bicep2, (you get the idea)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My current routine(barely 1 week in) its also by group of muscles but the difference is that each series consists of one exercise per muscle. This one has been the most tiring of all and for the first time in months I'm actually feeling DOMs(not hardcore ones but I feel them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: chest1/shoulder1/tricep1, chest2/shoulder2/tricep2, chest3/shoulder3/tricep3, chest4/shoulder4/tricep4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: quad1/hamstring1/calf1, quad2/hamstring2/calf2, quad3/hamstring3/calf3, quad4/hamstring4 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so on&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it so special about this new approach that can get so tiring? I've been working out for a while, but I'm no expert so I can't explain it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope my question makes some sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="17969" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T22:28:39.747" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T15:23:42.483" Title="Differences between workout routine approaches" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-09T18:23:41.767" Score="3" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this question has been asked before but my situation is a bit different.&#xA;Beside going to the gym, I literally have no other physical activity. I'm a programmer and I spend most of the day behind a computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that you have to wait 48 hours after weight-lifting for muscles to rest, but since I have low physical activity, would 24 hours be enough for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18746" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T19:44:39.907" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T21:33:14.477" Title="Going to gym every day when I have very low physical activity" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-09T18:28:05.107" Score="1" ViewCount="532" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would there be a noticeable difference in results between one month of training calisthenics, and one month of weightlifting at a gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18747" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2015-12-17T09:17:29.857" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T09:17:29.857" Title="Difference between one month of calisthenics, and one month gym training" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="16" ClosedDate="2015-12-09T22:55:14.230" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28234" CreationDate="2015-12-09T19:20:03.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Full Disclosure: I am a programmer and sit at my computer all day. I do have a treadmill desk but I forget to use it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: You should not be working out the same muscle groups back to back. You should work different muscles on each work out and have a rotation to do so. The same is true for running, you shouldn't do a two hard workouts back to back, you should have a rest or easy day in-between. In your case, if you want to do a 6 day schedule it might look something like this &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1 - Hamstrings And Deadlifts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2 - Chest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3 - Back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4 - Shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 5 - Quads&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 6 - Arms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 7 - OFF&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can workout everyday, just work a different part of your body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you can Google and find a plan that fits, or if you are at a gym they will have plans for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T19:20:03.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28234" CreationDate="2015-12-09T19:43:52.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 48 hour figure is to allow your muscles to recover. As noted by brentwpeterson above, this can involve different parts of your body. This is specifically for recovering from the exercise itself, so your activities outside of the gym don't really apply. Sitting at the computer for 8 hours at a stretch isn't going to rebuild your muscles faster (actually, if you can, try to get up at least once an hour and take a short walk and/or stretch. I personally do it between cups of coffee or refilling my water bottle at work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, the 48-72 hour rest is, I believe, partially predicated on workouts that nearly exhaust your muscles. Lighter activity in the gym can be done on a daily basis, but that's more for maintenance, not for gains. Less intensive activities such as moderate cardio and calisthenics or &quot;greasing the groove&quot; (you'll see the term for a number of activities from weightlifting to calisthenics to stretching and basically refers to doing a few reps when you have a spare moment, not even enough to break a sweat, but enough to get you in the habit of exercising) won't require that sort of rest period, but you will want it for something more intensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T19:43:52.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28234" CreationDate="2015-12-09T20:58:38.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bob, the short answer is: yes, &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; train the same muscle every 24 hours if it pleases you.  I think you would see great improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long answer is that this is quite a subjective topic, and your goals are a consideration here.  Let's discuss why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the strongest men in the world (olympic weightlifters) often train the same muscle for hours per day, seven days per week.  Their training volumes are greater than you or I can likely imagine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the &lt;em&gt;biggest&lt;/em&gt; men in the world (bodybuilders) are concerned with 48 hour recovery windows because muscle damage, soreness, perceived exertion, strength deficit, and so on often peak within that time frame (according to studies -- and anecdotes of course).  It's a concern for bodybuilders because they wish to have a &quot;full tank of gas&quot; when performing their sets in order to gain maximal muscle size.  These gentlemen/women eat 8,000-10,000 calories per day and wake up multiple times during the night to ingest more calories and protein.  Again though, these athletes have training volumes greater than we can imagine.  The average Joe Gym Rat is leagues away from concerning themselves with this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a complex question for many reasons, and that's why I say it's subjective.  For example: how much exertion is actually required to warrant 48 hours of recovery -- just one set to failure or 40 sets to failure?  How does this window vary between well-trained individuals and untrained ones?  We know hormone levels have an adaptation period as we get in shape, so how big of a part is our current hormone level playing in recovery?  Are we an individual that has naturally high testosterone levels?  How much sleep have we had?  How much protein/amino acids?  How much training volume did we do last time?  The body is quite complex and we're basically just trying predict the weather here.  We shouldn't be talking in absolutes, or arbitrary numbers.  It's hard to say how all the systems are going to work together in your case without study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of that said, the easiest thing to do here is just to try it out and measure your progress.  You may start to plateau while training under this modality, in which case you would incorporate longer rest periods.  On the other hand, your physique might start looking awesome, but your lifts may not improve much.  Some things to measure are: circumferences of muscles and waist, body fat %, 1RM numbers, etc. In any case, I think you would be well into the advanced/elite athlete category before you should even begin thinking about this.  In my experience, more training volume precipitates better results. After all, elite athletes train all day, every day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a side note: be wary about injury.  Training at higher volumes can be dangerous, especially if you are not using your body for most of the day.  Muscle tissue is not the only thing we are concerned about here.  Be sure you are adequately prepared for your lifts by building up to them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some further reading on the 48-hour window:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8563679&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8563679&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time course of strength and power recovery after resistance training with different movement velocities. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21701287&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21701287&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The effect of recovery time on strength performance following a high-intensity bench press workout in males and females.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20625191&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20625191&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Changes in perceived recovery status scale following high-volume muscle damaging resistance exercise. &lt;br/&gt; &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23287827&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23287827&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8563679&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8563679&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T23:20:16.593" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T23:20:16.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2015-12-09T21:16:29.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find weighing myself first thing in the morning works better for myself after I've relieved myself from water retention and before I've eaten breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18748" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T21:16:29.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28231" CreationDate="2015-12-09T22:52:08.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/em&gt;:  I am not affiliated in any way with the Concept2.  I'm an experienced rower with my own Concept2 rower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The machine you quoted is a low cost rower.  As such, it will not have the functional features that closely mimic an on-water experience (i.e. &quot;a more realistic rowing experience&quot;).  However, if cost is a concern, I would go with the one you quoted because it will allow for a better experience than a hydraulic machine.  If cost is not a concern, please consider the gold standard for rowing machines – the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Concept2 rower&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For comparison, the Concept2 rower includes a performance monitor to track your rowing sessions.  The one you've selected does not.  Second, the Concept2 rower provides for a much more comfortable and natural placement of the feet.  The one you've selected provides a “foot peg” which may become uncomfortable after a while.  I'd also reconsider your choice since it is not highly rated (e.g. two out of five stars).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for using hydraulics as the resistance mechanism, there are some machines that &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; allow for unrestricted movement (i.e.,  you can pull in a straight line), but, I would still &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; recommend them.  They tend to be inferior in material and design.  Also, hydraulics will provide a constant resistance throughout the rowing stroke.  That, in and of itself, is not natural to a rowing experience.  It's my experience that hydraulic resistance will not allow you to fully recover the same way as a flywheel would since the rowing stroke consists of a drive and then a recovery phase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I'd be careful with consuming advice from a personal trainer (like the one quoted in the link in Sean's answer) because they tend to &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; have sufficient quality experience on a rower.  You may also find it useful to read my response on a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23697/what-rowing-machines-are-best-for-both-cardio-and-strength-training/23698#23698&quot;&gt;similar rowing machine question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T03:25:09.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28234" CreationDate="2015-12-10T00:04:01.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a basic problem that you are perhaps confusing these two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) aerobic exercise -- say jogging (perhaps on a treadmill), or exercise bike, or rowing machine, or jazzercise or other aerobics classes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) weightlifting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two things are &lt;strong&gt;completely and totally different&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are literally every day ... that is 365 days a year ... going to the gym, then you should be doing a lot of aerobics exercise.  &lt;strong&gt;You can, and should, do that every single day.&lt;/strong&gt;  So maybe swim two days a week, run for an hour two days a week and do jazzercise three days a week .. whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding literally weightlifting (ie, to make your muscles large), that is a fairly technical topic. (Note some of the very technical information in Daniel's excellent answer, for example.) If, incredibly, you are literally weightlifting every single day, it's hard to believe you wouldn't have a trainer at least once a month or something. That person would have specific technical ideas on weightlifting science. I mean it could be that you do different groups on different days .. whatever. There's no &quot;broad general rule&quot; like &quot;don't weightlift every day&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A footnote&lt;/em&gt; - many are trying to reduce body fat. If that's you, it's fine that you're doing aerobics exercise every day, as it will burn a small amount of calories.  But don't even bother with that until you slash carbs from your diet and also generally control your calorie intake. As they say &quot;weight loss starts and ends in the kitchen&quot;. Indeed, a huge problem is that aerobic exercise makes you hungry: this is a danger if your goal is indeed fat reduction. (Regarding weightlifting, it has no connection to eliminating body fat; it just makes your muscles bigger.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastEditorUserId="1039" LastEditDate="2015-12-10T15:33:24.797" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T15:33:24.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28234" CreationDate="2015-12-10T05:49:02.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some good answers here but what I suggest is the following routine (I'm also a software dev but love working out and being stronger than bodybuilders at my gym). You can train everyday if you wish since the same muscles are only trained every 4 days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1: Legs/Shoulders/Traps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2: Back/Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3: Chest/Triceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4: start day 1 again or rest or do some sports&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend not using isolation exercises or machines, mostly use free-weights and olympic bars for squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, standing shoulder press, etc. Compound movements are the key for strength and balance. My abs get strong from doing heavy standing shoulder press for example, my core needs to balance the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T05:49:02.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28244" CreationDate="2015-12-10T06:09:28.987" Score="4" ViewCount="2181" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current bodyweight is 65kg  and I am doing StrongLifts 5x5 for past two months. I am stuck between 70-75kg squat. Until 65kg squat it didn't matter much how my form was. I know that, I used to neither engage my abdominals &amp;amp; obliques by holding breath nor used to keep my 'chest up' and keep my upper body tight. As a result, my squat used to look more like GoodMorning Squats. But I continued squatting with such terrible form till 75kg. But then I couldn't make any further progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realising my mistakes (based on formcheck on reddit), I deloaded to 67.5kg and started incorporating 'chest up' &amp;amp; 'holding breath'. My form improved very much. But I was &lt;em&gt;unable&lt;/em&gt; (I was trying my best) to maintain 'chest up' during last 2-3 reps of 3rd, 4th &amp;amp; 5th sets at 70kg. I tried on the next workout day but face same issue. I deloaded further to 65kg and started working my way up. I could hold it at 65kg &amp;amp; 67.5kg but at 70kg I faced same issue. I then started doing 70kg squats for first 2 sets and 65kg for last 3 sets but I am still facing the same problem during last 2 reps of 4th &amp;amp; 5th sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;However hard I try to keep 'chest up' my upperback is collapsing and rounding while moving up during last reps of last sets. What do I do? Should I do any supplementary exercises? Is this problem going to go away? Am I going to make progress further? Will I reach my dream of squatting double my bodyweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I'm starting to dislike squats. I actually want to love them but I'm getting that resistance in my brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm quite happy with my progress in other exercises. DeadLift: 95kg, OHP: 33kg, BenchPress: 42.5kg, Barbell Row: 45kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it is relevant but during deadlift, while pulling, my upper back is rounding but once I reach the top most position, everything is locked and I attain perfect 'chest up'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT 2: Update after today's workout session incorporating suggestions given in the answers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a wonderful workout session today.I've deloaded my squats to 62.5kg, as suggested by StrongLifts App and for the first time ever, squats felt more like an Abdominal workout when I incorporated following suggestions in doing them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I didn't lean too much forward at the bottom of Ass-to-grass squat. Only Approx 30 degrees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I didn't lift my elbows up behind as high as I could. I stopped where I felt was sufficient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After holding air inside my belly, I squeezed my abs to the maximal possible extent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I was struggling to rise up, during that short span of struggle, I squeezed and pulled the bar into my body, as if I'm slicing my body with bar, and simultaneously, I pushed my chest towards chin with force (Honestly, all of this happened naturally). I felt this really helped in preventing upper back from rounding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another cue, which happened by accident but really helped is, for around 15 sec before approaching the bar for a set, I stood with chest up and I stood for 5 sec &#xA;in front of the bar with chest-up position and then started a set. I don't know, somehow it really helped me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt burning in the abs after every set. I also did Over-head-squat at 30kg @ 3sets x 8reps, just after Squats. They were just forcing me to keep everything in order. I really loved them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll update again when I reach the 75kg squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="692" LastEditDate="2015-12-12T10:11:04.470" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T10:11:04.470" Title="Preventing upper back from rounding while squatting" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28243" CreationDate="2015-12-10T08:59:54.920" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Deadlift properly&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's almost impossible to remotely determine what the trouble is, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;during deadlift, while pulling, my upper back is rounding but once I reach the top most position, everything is locked and I attain perfect 'chest up'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not good. For a strong back, you want a perfect, tense, straight, shoulderblades-retracted position for the entirety of each deadlift rep. 95kg is waaaaay too early for you to start rounding your shoulders to push past weakness. The solution for that is to insist on doing every deadlift rep perfectly. If that means flexibility work, do it. If it means a 5kg drop in your max deadlift, do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Weak upper back&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your upper-body lifts also don't seem indicative of the upper-body strength to support a really right upper back position on a 70kg squat. The solution for that is to really push those upper-body lifts, to make sure they're getting the attention and progression they need. Don't stop squatting and deadlifting, don't change programs. Just keep an eye on those upper-body lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Set-up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also the task of properly bracing for the squat. Are you breathing correctly? Are you retracting your shoulderblades correctly? Are you hyperextending your back instead of properly bracing it in a straight position? There's a lot to get right in the squat, and it's impossible to pinpoint these issues without at least a form check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3x5&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to follow the program recommendations on deloading and eventually switching to a 3x5 system for a lift that is giving you trouble. Reread that section of the program. You're at a stage where your squat might be fine with just 3 sets of 5, leaving more energy for your other lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2015-12-10T11:55:45.113" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T11:55:45.113" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28243" CreationDate="2015-12-10T09:50:33.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that without seeing your posture and movement, it really is difficult to say what the issue could be, but incorporating Overhead-Squats (even Front Squats) are forcing you to keep the upper back tense all the time and breast up, and with focusing on Barbell Rows you can strengthening your (potential) weak areas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start the Overhead-Squat with 30 kg to see how that feels and you get used to the movement, the same for the Front-Squat. As you feel stable and don´t have problems executing them, start adding some weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Dave stated already stick to your routine, just remove some weight and incorporate the movements mentioned as assistance exercises.&#xA;Hope that helps. (You will achieve 2 x Body weight for sure!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW. there are small tricks you can try: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;While holding the bar and squeezing it, try to pull your hands in direction to your head, without actually moving them... so that you feel your traps and upper back muscles contracted!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to avoid lifting the elbows UP behind as you mentioned as you are pushing your head forward and tend to round the upper body more. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-10T11:35:18.673" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T11:35:18.673" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2015-12-10T15:41:48.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is one and only one way to get &quot;abs&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is to say, reduce body fat.  The overwhelming way to lose weight is to cut carbs from your diet. If you want abs, that's all there is to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, of lesser importance, basically reducing your calorie intake - eating well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they say &lt;strong&gt;&quot;fat loss happens &lt;em&gt;in the kitchen only&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding doing aerobic exercise - for example, say you run for 90 minutes each and every day. That will use a tiny amount of calories, which may help with your diet.  (NOTE HOWEVER that aerobic exercise literally &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;makes you hungry&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ... so it can very much hurt your efforts to slash carbohydrate intake.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding weightlifting, it has essentially no connection, whatsoever, to eliminating body fat.  I'd just forget it for a couple of years until your abs look great, ie, you have a low body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting &quot;abs&quot; is simply about slashing your body fat percentage.  You do that overwhelmingly by slashing carb intake from your diet. &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Fat loss happens &lt;em&gt;in the kitchen only&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first instance, it goes without saying you have to absolutely totally eliminate bread, pasta, rice and potatoes from your diet - simply, never again in your life allow these to pass your lips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It's totally self-evident that you cannot, of course, ever eat candy, chocolate, cake, sodas, fruit etc. - zero sweets.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aim for 70-100 grams of carbs a day in the first instance. You'll see incredible abs in as little as a year or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T15:41:48.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28247" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28248" CreationDate="2015-12-10T15:52:16.890" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vegetarian diet is well belanced so I'm pretty sure I have no deficiency BUT I read that it makes sense supplementing magnesium as an athlete and that it especially makes sense when you go easy on carbs while having a lot of protein throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet consists of whole grain cereals (wholemeal bread, pasta and brown rice) and I try to eat green leafy vegetables once a day as well as nuts and seeds, peas, beans and lentils. I eat tofu, drink soy milk and supplement whey powder for protein as well as iron and Omega-3 fatty acids in pill form. I do have dairy products though as well as eggs from time to time so I'm not a vegan. I'm trying not to have too many carbs because I'm a boxer and I have to weigh comparatively little compared to my height (I compete at 69kg with a height of 178cm). So my diet needs to supply me with enough energy for rigorous workout while not making me gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10566" LastEditorUserId="10566" LastEditDate="2015-12-10T19:34:51.153" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T08:15:02.190" Title="Should you supplement magnesium as an athlete when you eat low-carb, high-protein?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-12-13T14:14:09.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28247" CreationDate="2015-12-10T21:26:27.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you cut carbs and train hard, magnesium can be depleted due to its role in insulin metabolism. Avoid this by supplementing with a high-quality magnesium blend such as magnesium glycinate and magnesium taurate, but avoid magnesium oxide as your sole source because of its poor quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1025/Don%E2%80%99t_Make_These_Fat_Loss_Mistakes_When_Going_Low-Carb.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1025/Don%E2%80%99t_Make_These_Fat_Loss_Mistakes_When_Going_Low-Carb.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: if you have kidney problems or kidney failure, don't take oral magnesium supplements without checking with your doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle cramping is also something that occurs pretty often for people on a low carb diet and they use magnesium to help with it, if you start having cramps or getting muscle twiching... you should consider it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-11T08:15:02.190" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T08:15:02.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28234" CreationDate="2015-12-10T21:33:14.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only reason to wait 48 hours is to maximize hypertrophy (muscle growth) post-exercise. The strongest people you've ever met are dudes who dig ditches every damn day. The 48-hour window came out of bodybuilding, NOT health and fitness. Strength and health have only tangential correlation to muscle size. You can work out every day. You may not see the GAINZ, BRO! But you will be healthier. &#xA;Note that this all goes out the window if/when you start overtraining, but here's the dirty secret: most people are NOT strong or... uh... endurancey enough to overtrain, with the exception of most runners who've gotten into the 30+ mile/week club and or ANYONE who doesn't have enough sleep/nutrition going on to allow them to adequately recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T21:33:14.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28250" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-11T16:16:53.593" Score="0" ViewCount="4305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a fairly new runner and I have no idea what is a good time and what isn't. I run 3 times a week and always run 7 miles.. Can anyone give me some info on if it's good and how I can improve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18760" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T23:01:23.577" Title="I run 7 miles in around 40 mins, is this good? Any tips to improve?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-13T17:43:16.633" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24487" CreationDate="2015-12-11T16:23:52.280" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jim-stoppani-six-week-shortcut-to-shred.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shortcut to Shred&lt;/a&gt; workout by Jim Stappani is great for strength and really toning up all that fat you gained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18762" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T13:48:09.543" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T13:48:09.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27986" CreationDate="2015-12-11T16:47:03.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is safe for the long term and no problem for you heart or joints, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/sweaty-answer-to-chronic-illness/?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why your workout should be high-intensity&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding injuries in general, see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.11216/pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;study of 300 patients with rheumatoid arthritis&lt;/a&gt;. This group is more sensitive than healthy people to damage of the large joints. After two years of study, there was no damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal level, I have been doing high intensity workouts about once a week since the age of 11. My experience is that injuries of joints and/or heart failures occur when you do it in a &quot;no pain - no gain&quot; context, i.e. team sports or races. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, before starting a high intensity program, do a health check up and start with small, short doses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3778" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T16:47:03.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28255" CreationDate="2015-12-11T17:15:57.560" Score="2" ViewCount="1244" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I was doing some high-rep sets of calf raises and something odd happened. On my 5th and final set I planned to go to failure, with at least 60 reps as the goal. At about 50 reps it burned badly enough that I wasn't sure if I would get 60. But then I did and tried to keep going. At 65 I thought I would try for 5 more, and when I hit 70 it started getting easier. I finally stopped at 85 because my legs were feeling weird. That's when I noticed my lower legs were slightly numb. I could still walk and feel my feet a little bit (less than normal sensation), but it was definitely odd that there was no burning at all like there normally is after a set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The numbness subsided after about 20 minutes or so, but another strange thing was that I was not sore at all the next day. (I'm always reminded the next day that I did calves the previous day, at least a little bit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did not do calves for an entire week after that. Last night I repeated the exact same workout, but this time I stopped at exactly 60 reps on the last set with the expected amount of burn at that point. Today my calves are sore just like they normally are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any explanation for this or should I chalk it up to some sort of coincidence that I went beyond burn, which led to numbness, AND I was not sore from that workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18690" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T19:50:40.657" Title="Calf raises to failure and numbness" Tags="&lt;calves&gt;&lt;numbness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28233" CreationDate="2015-12-11T17:28:21.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One approach isn't inherently better or worse than the other.  What I believe is happening is that you are adapting to one way of training after a while, and then changing your approach causes your body to re-adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The SAID Principle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Specific&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adaptation to&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Imposed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Demands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, your body will adapt to make you more capable of satisfying the demands you place on it.  When you change the demands, you change the rules and the body has to re-adapt.  After you adapt to your current workout, you could go back to the first approach and see that renewed DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, your body responds specifically.  In other words, if you spend time building your back, then your arms aren't going to see the same growth as you would if you built them directly.  Same with leg development, etc.  If you focus on cardiovascular work, you will build your cardiovascular system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ways of Imposing More Demands&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far you've explored exercise diversity to impose new demands on your body, but there are several other ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less time to do the same work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on fast moving techniques (power cleans, snatch, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Changing exercise selection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time you will find ways of employing all of these, and probably more that I didn't mention, to get the results you want.  The bottom line is that if you aren't feeling the fatigue like you used to, it's time to impose more demands on your body in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T17:28:21.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28253" CreationDate="2015-12-11T19:50:40.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/437744-my-leg-is-numb-after-working-out/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It's not unknown&lt;/a&gt;. To quote the Livestrong article I linked above:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exercise can make your leg numb due to lack of blood supply to the area .... blood flow can slow down in your legs, causing numbness and tingling sensations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During exercise, you may initially feel numb in a specific area, like your thigh, hamstring or calf muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's usually relatively benign, the result of working a bit too hard combined with the foot flexion potentially cutting off blood flow (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stopfeetpainfast.com/blog/post/numb-feet-while-working-out-on-the-elliptical.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a common problem in heavy elliptical users&lt;/a&gt;), but there are more serious risks from falls resulting from lack of sensation to the numbness being caused by pinched nerves or an impending cardiac malady, so the recommendation is to stop immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As soon as you feel some numbness and a tingling sensation in your legs, stop the exercise immediately. Lie down or sit with your legs elevated to improve blood flow to the area. Avoid moving the legs and keep stationary for 10 to 20 minutes. Apply hot compress and remove any tight clothing or pants you may be wearing. Contact an ambulance immediately if you feel more serious symptoms like nausea, difficulty breathing, severe pain in the legs and loss of consciousness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T19:50:40.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28256" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28257" CreationDate="2015-12-11T20:23:59.923" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my local gym, the &lt;em&gt;butterfly&lt;/em&gt; device of the multi-gym in not working properly. I want to have proper shapes and cuts of my body especially my abdomen part. Can anyone give a suitable substitute device or workout? Well I mean this..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/njKIV.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/njKIV.png&quot; alt=&quot;This is what I mean by a _Buttefly_ machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18610" LastEditorUserId="18610" LastEditDate="2015-12-13T07:49:57.670" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T18:05:44.220" Title="Help for substitute of a gym device" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28256" CreationDate="2015-12-11T21:24:41.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dont understand the part with the relation of butterflies, cuts and abs, but  some substitutes are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dumbbell flys (flat bench)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/eozdVDA78K0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/eozdVDA78K0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;wide grip push ups &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/rr6eFNNDQdU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/rr6eFNNDQdU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;furniture glider flys/and two roller or dumbbell push up roll out&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/of5LbG_Vlm8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/of5LbG_Vlm8&lt;/a&gt; and&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/zm1Bo_QBZ_c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/zm1Bo_QBZ_c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;resistence band flys&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/5qdUoUFWTJs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/5qdUoUFWTJs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dips with elbows out  (not close to the body)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/y3NIbM7_H_A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/y3NIbM7_H_A&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;one arm bench presses with max ROM&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/TVM2S2KWX6Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/TVM2S2KWX6Q&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;TRX bodyweight flys&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/XfhT_WYEbJk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/XfhT_WYEbJk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-13T18:05:44.220" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T18:05:44.220" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-11T22:22:28.970" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;When learning a new exercise, it's a good idea to learn &quot;proper form&quot; to reduce the chances of injury, increase efficiency, etc. It's usually recommended to &quot;run with proper form&quot;, &quot;perform a bench press with proper form&quot;, or &quot;climb with proper form&quot;. However, there is a lot of conflicting information regarding what proper form actually is for any given exercise. It seems like everyone has a different idea of what proper form actually is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, given that there are multiple ways to do any exercise, how can I verify that I'm doing things the best way possible, and not in person X's favorite but unverified way? Is there an independent body that produces scientific information on this topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18763" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T22:06:11.290" Title="How can proper form be determined?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28250" CreationDate="2015-12-12T01:03:13.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;7 miles in 40 minutes is a 5:42 mile pace. Assuming you were running as fast as possible, you could probably manage a 5:37 mile pace for 10K (6.2 miles). This converts to a VDOT value of 61, so you might be able to run 16:48 for 5K. If you're 20 - 30, that would put you in the 77th percentile, meaning you're better than 77% of people aged 20 - 30 (upper regional class). If you're 30 - 40, that puts you around 77% - 80% (80% is the bottom of national class).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you actually ran 7 miles in 40 minutes and you pick up your training (in a smart way - get advice), you could be really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15313" LastEditorDisplayName="user15313" LastEditDate="2015-12-13T23:01:23.577" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T23:01:23.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28264" CreationDate="2015-12-12T01:31:55.317" Score="2" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although he is a kind friend of mine and I do not believe him to be a steroid user or have seen any symptoms(back acne, packing on mass ridiculously fast, etc.), my buddy in the gym in my high school benched 450. He is 18 years old, was captain of the football team, about 6'4, and 250 Ibs. So yeah, pretty big dude. But he hit 450 somehow, and it astounds me how he could've climbed to near-Olympic level weight without years of training and severe dedication. Is this possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T08:34:09.527" Title="My buddy benched 450, is this possible with no steroids?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28262" CreationDate="2015-12-12T08:34:09.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is possile, with good genetics and certain body leverage advantage.&#xA;Look up Jesse Norris and Larry Williams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He might not be good at other things though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T08:34:09.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28233" CreationDate="2015-12-12T15:23:42.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;By combining different exercises into one exercise you target multiple muscle groups at once. This enhances muscle activity and the need to supple the muscles with energy so your body is working harder to breakdown carbohydrate molecules to be used for energy. The harder your body works to breakdown carbohydrates the more calories you burn. This is also called complex training, often used by olympic lifters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First mentions of complex training appeared after Istvan Javorek introduced them in the 90s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are a great tool to burst through a plateau, burn calories and increase stamina and gaining strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T15:23:42.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26045" CreationDate="2015-12-12T16:57:43.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The squat affects the following muscles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Erector Spinae&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although you may not think of the squat as a back exercise, the&#xA;  erector spinae muscle group contracts isometrically -- without&#xA;  shortening and lengthening -- during both the downward-movement and&#xA;  upward-movement phases of the exercise. The erector spinae group&#xA;  includes the iliocostalis, longissimus and spinalis muscles that span&#xA;  the length of your back on both sides of your spine, attaching to&#xA;  various structures therein. Although the muscles don't contract&#xA;  concentrically or eccentrically when you perform the squat, they are&#xA;  the primary spine extensors and also assist with lateral, or sideways,&#xA;  spine flexion and torso rotation ranges of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gluteus Maximus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The gluteus maximus muscle attaches to the posterior, or back,&#xA;  portions of the coccyx, iliac crest, ilium and sacrum on the inside of&#xA;  the pelvis on one end, and to the back of the thigh bone and the&#xA;  iliotibial band, or IT band, on the other. It is the largest of the&#xA;  gluteal muscle groups, which also includes the gluteus medius and&#xA;  gluteus minimus muscles. It facilitates hip extension along with the&#xA;  hamstrings on the back of your thigh. The gluteus maximus contracts&#xA;  eccentrically -- while lengthening -- to control the speed of the&#xA;  downward-movement phase of the squat, and concentrically -- while&#xA;  shortening -- to extend your thighs during the upward-movement phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hamstrings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The three muscles that make up the hamstrings muscle group -- the&#xA;  biceps femoris, semimembranosus and semitendinosus -- are also active&#xA;  when you perform squats. All three muscles attach to the ischial&#xA;  tuberosity on the back of your pelvis on top, and to the tibia bone of&#xA;  your lower leg, just below the knee joint, at the bottom. The biceps&#xA;  femoris also attaches to the head of the fibula bone of your lower&#xA;  leg. The hamstrings help the gluteus maximus muscle with hip&#xA;  extension, so they function in the same way when you perform squats --&#xA;  eccentrically during the downward-movement phase and concentrically as&#xA;  you return to the starting position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Quadriceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus lateralis and vastus&#xA;  medialis muscles are referred to collectively as the quadriceps muscle&#xA;  group. The rectus femoris attaches to the anterior inferior iliac&#xA;  spine, just above the hip socket, and the others attach to the thigh&#xA;  bone, just below the hip socket, on top; all four muscles combine at&#xA;  the bottom, attaching to the patella on the front of your knee joint.&#xA;  The quadriceps muscles serve as the primary knee extensors, increasing&#xA;  the angle between your lower and upper legs. Like the hip-extensor&#xA;  muscles, they contract eccentrically during the downward-movement&#xA;  phase of the squat and concentrically during the upward-movement&#xA;  phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat is doing almost nothing for shoulders as the shoulder muscles and trapps are acting as stabilizers for the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/416344-what-muscles-do-squats-work-out/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/416344-what-muscles-do-squats-work-out/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-12T19:33:28.630" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T19:33:28.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26045" CreationDate="2015-12-12T17:33:27.243" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lower back is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; failure point of back squats, and gets a lot of work out of them. So yes, back squats build the back. Are back squats the best for the lower back? Not always; I find deadlifts slightly better for maximal loading, and weighted back extensions somewhat better for hypertrophy, but squats are a great middle ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that doing &gt;1.25xBW high-bar back squats with a focus on scapular retraction and proper upright posture gives some soreness and progress to my upper back, probably my traps and rhomboids. This is tough to gauge since I almost always do squats alongside other exercises that work those muscles. Regardless, squats definitely aren't the &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; for the upper back, but they certainly do require and develop significant upper back strength. The upper back can definitely be a failure point for the back squat, as in fact we (probably) see in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/28243/1771&quot;&gt;this recent question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find that squats do anything for my deltoids. I mean, I suppose I squeeze them a little? But the effect is practically insignificant. The deltoids are never, as far as I've heard, a failure point in the squat. Squats are not the exercise to do for bigger or stronger deltoids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T17:33:27.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-12T18:53:33.647" Score="2" ViewCount="578" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/28243/preventing-upper-back-from-rounding-while-squatting&quot;&gt;realized that&lt;/a&gt; weak abdominals are resulting in poor Squat form and thus limiting my progress in StrongLifts 5x5. How can I integrate and program additional abdominal workouts to my StrongLifts program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T21:45:19.323" Title="Integrating additional abdominal workouts into StrongLifts program?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28285" CreationDate="2015-12-12T19:09:11.560" Score="3" ViewCount="1578" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a wobble board for strengthening core muscles, I believe mine to be weak on the basis that I suffer from backache, find sit-ups difficult etcetera. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But having bought it I find it doesn't come with any documentation and internet searches indicate it main use is for improving ankle strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just standing on it does seem to engage my core and is not easy but manageable, but I'm looking for how to use it properly. Also some way of measuring my core strength would be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18575" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T00:00:17.163" Title="How do you use a wobble board for strengthening core muscles" Tags="&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28268" CreationDate="2015-12-12T19:29:19.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't. The issue is not &quot;weak abs&quot; but that you haven't been properly engaging your abs during squats. Heavy squats, unlike light squats, require a locked trunk, which requires abdominal engagement. This doesn't mean you need to do ab-specific work. It means you need to set up your squats correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional ab work can be OK, or it can distract. I suspect that in your situation it will distract. Stick to a program, don't veer off into assistance exercises, and focus on getting strong in the core lifts: squat, deadlift, overhead press, two or so more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T19:29:19.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28274" CreationDate="2015-12-12T20:04:25.163" Score="0" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ma Strength &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=862305850557654&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;posted a video on Facebook&lt;/a&gt;   with the following description:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;To be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of&#xA;  virtues.” ---Sun Tzu The Art of War&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;During maximal attempts, it is very possible for technique to break&#xA;  down which increases the risk for injury.&lt;/strong&gt; For example, here we see&#xA;  Chen Xiaoting (53kg) with a gnarly save at 101kg to win the snatch&#xA;  gold medal at the 2015 world championships. A sub-optimal pull&#xA;  resulted in her catching the bar off balance and saving it by rounding&#xA;  her back and twisting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Normally this rounded position could result in lower back injury&#xA;  however Chinese weightlifters insure against this situation by&#xA;  incorporating rounded back deadlifting because of their ability to&#xA;  work the erectors through a greater range of motion not covered by&#xA;  traditional deadlifts and pulls. While one must gradually build up&#xA;  tolerance for such movements, the end result can prevent injuries when&#xA;  technique is not perfect. So make sure to train for contingencies and&#xA;  strengthen the whole body to secure your position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beginners following a strength training program, usually don't train under supervision and attempt to lift weights that take their maximal effort, especially when they go beyond their bodyweight, which may break down their technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I was squatting and deadlifting weights 1.2 to 1.5 times my bodyweight with poor form, in StrongLifts 5x5 program. Many times I simply skipped sets just to be safe from injury. I know deloading and working on the form is best way forward. But in spite of conscious efforts to maintain form, there is a strong possibility that in the future, under heavy weights, my technique may break down and I get injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Just as a safety measure, should I not prepare my body for it by incorporating Rounded Back Deadlifts? If yes, how to integrate them into StrongLifts program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T13:13:25.630" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T16:44:09.223" Title="Should beginners be doing Rounded Back Deadlifts in a beginner strength training program?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28258" CreationDate="2015-12-12T20:26:40.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways to obtain the information you want.  Some colleges/universities offer a major in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cappex.com/colleges/majors/Kinesiology-and-Exercise-Science-169#!p=1&amp;amp;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kinesiology and Exercise Science&lt;/a&gt;.  You may want to see if there is one in your area. They may provide learning programs available to the general public.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more widely accepted and cost effective source of information is to locate a certified fitness trainer.  And, by “certified”, I mean a trainer who has studied and passed a test by a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/default.aspx?adpos=1t1&amp;amp;creative=85969792284&amp;amp;device=c&amp;amp;matchtype=e&amp;amp;network=g&amp;amp;gclid=COym3-uT18kCFQEuHwodTpUIgg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reputable organization&lt;/a&gt;, and, who must pursue continuing education credit to maintain that certification.  Certified trainers are required to become proficient in the following areas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise Science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Screening and Evaluation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Principles and Methods of Training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Individualized Program Design&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, they learn the correct way to train and help their clients train to reach individual fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may gain some more insight by reviewing my response to a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25154/how-to-find-someone-that-can-direct-my-training-to-a-safe-path-what-is-the-name/25167#25167&quot;&gt;similar question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T20:26:40.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28268" CreationDate="2015-12-12T21:45:19.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to differ from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/1771/dave-liepmann&quot;&gt;Dave's&lt;/a&gt; answer and throw out some ab exercises, because I feel that done right they'll accomplish two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your abs will get stronger, which is important but not so much as the next item.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're gaining &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_unit_recruitment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;motor unit recruitment&lt;/a&gt;, and learning specifically how to engage them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example of this for me (and others I've seen) is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWKneelingWheelRollout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ab wheel rollout&lt;/a&gt;, and it's an exercise I'd recommend you start incorporating. Done incorrectly, people feel it in their back, which is bad. To do it right, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Questions/WeightTraining.html#Muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you need to isometrically lock your abdominal muscles&lt;/a&gt;. So there's value in the exercise from a strength standpoint, but there's also value in that you really learn to control and lock your abdominal wall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think something like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/a-better-way-to-teach-barbell-glute-bridges-and-back-extensions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbell glute bridge&lt;/a&gt; is likewise good for deadlifts in that beyond the strength gains you're practicing the engagement of a particular movement which is helpful to many others (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBTwoArmSwing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kb swings&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;back squats&lt;/a&gt;, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other &quot;abdominal&quot; exercise I'd recommend is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;front squat&lt;/a&gt;. Not for any weights that would interfere with your 5x5 program, but enough that you are again having to extend and brace (isometrically contract) your abs from buckling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overhead press&lt;/a&gt;, I think of the lock out on the top of a deadlift to remember how tight my glutes should be. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing some ancillary exercises when they're not interfering with your primary training program and you're doing them to work on an issue that you've identified. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get Dave's sentiment though, and I say it often enough myself, which is basically &quot;Don't get creative: stick to the program, you're not smarter than the person who designed it.&quot; But you can mitigate that by keeping the ancillary exercises light and maybe once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T21:45:19.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28271" CreationDate="2015-12-12T22:00:33.987" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's the answer in the general case, and there's the answer for this case. First this case, then the general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You Are Fucking Around&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18744/how-to-become-good-at-lifting-and-holding-my-girlfriend-in-arms&quot;&gt;Starting Strength, but with carrying exercises&lt;/a&gt;...StrongLifts, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27726/integrating-olympic-lifting-exercises-into-strong-lifts&quot;&gt;with Olympic work&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27985/is-warmup-before-lifting-really-necessary-in-real-world-outside-the-gym&quot;&gt;no, wait, pull-ups&lt;/a&gt;...then &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/28268/integrating-additional-abdominal-workouts-into-stronglifts-program&quot;&gt;planks and front squats&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/28243/preventing-upper-back-from-rounding-while-squatting#comment44862_28245&quot;&gt;plus overhead squats&lt;/a&gt;...and now round-backed deadlifts? I don't say this to be mean, but you seem to have a bad case of &lt;a href=&quot;https://leangains.com/fuckarounditis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fuckarounditis&lt;/a&gt;. Deadlifting properly will prepare your body for everything you plan to do just fine. Stop worrying about fixing your deadlift with other lifts. Deadlifting is productive and difficult enough on its own. Just deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fuckarounditis is particularly common when the weights start getting heavy. I know this because I've fallen victim to this mistake. It's mind poison. Look: deadlifting 1.5xBW is going to feel different, and harder, than deadlifting 1xBW. Deadlifting, pressing, and squatting light is basically just form practice and remedial ligament prep for when you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; start deadlifting, pressing, and squatting by putting challenging weights on the bar. That's when you need to &lt;strong&gt;buckle down and do the work&lt;/strong&gt;. There is no assistance exercise that can make squatting heavy weights easy. It's never easy. You just do it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Round-backed Deadlifts are Sometimes Appropriate&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The well-respected exercise website exrx.net &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Questions/DangerousExercises.html#Straight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommends very light round-backed/straight-leg deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; for some people, with caveats, in order to practice full range of motion and to strengthen the lower back. I see no particular reason for you to pick this exercise up, and your recent troubles with proper form makes me think it's not a stellar idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You Should Just Deadlift Normally&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just do the main lifts, focus on them, get good at them, eat well, and get strong. Worry about mucking with your program after you're squatting 1.5xBW and deadlifting 2xBW. Until then just do what it says, as diligently as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="34721" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T16:44:09.223" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T16:44:09.223" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28258" CreationDate="2015-12-12T22:06:11.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Proust&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adhering to proper form means picking a form to hew to. Picking a form requires you to choose: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;picking an authority to dictate proper form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a having an opinion (hopefully, an informed opinion) on what proper form is&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to have an opinion, there is no shortcut to the task of evaluating evidence and deciding for yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T22:06:11.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28277" CreationDate="2015-12-12T23:38:37.297" Score="1" ViewCount="1117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I swim for fun once per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a training session it is better to swim with the same style for many round (4/6 laps) or it is better to alternate the style each time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask it because I find it difficult to swim a lot with the same style because of tired muscles. After a freestyle lap I use to &quot;prefer&quot; a backstroke to recover on arm muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18245" LastEditorUserId="22010" LastEditDate="2016-07-20T19:50:04.027" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T19:50:04.027" Title="Same style in swimming or alternate it?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28276" CreationDate="2015-12-13T00:00:53.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is progress to be had both by continuing to swim using tired muscles, and switching styles to train other muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the same muscles, even when they're tired, means those muscles are going to get even stronger than if you stopped. But giving them a bit of a rest, and going back is even better, because you can usually go for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice is definitely to alternate. Try alternating with different frequencies too. For instances, this week do 5 laps per style, and next week try 8 laps per style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitness in general is very dependent on variety. Not just in terms of how many different styles you do, but also in terms of how often you switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T00:00:53.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-13T03:23:42.353" Score="8" ViewCount="411" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 32 year old male serving several years in prison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am hoping to stay in good physical condition there and the security guards enforce a daily routine of 200 push ups, 200 sit ups, and 500 jumping jacks. They also make us lift heavy boxes and buckets and do work around the prison. We have access to a bench press, a leg press, and a pull up bar; but I do not use them believing that the daily exercise routine and labor is enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the case or should I utilize the gym equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user18774" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T14:55:23.310" LastActivityDate="2017-04-08T05:43:55.870" Title="Staying strong and fit in prison?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-13T15:34:47.940" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of my friends who workout tell me that I they do a 1 muscle group a week training routine in the gym and that I should do the same. My problem is that I hate that and I don't want to go to gym for purely body exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead I have made up a routine I follow for 5-7 days a week. It goes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dips &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diamond push ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wide push ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crunches  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plank &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lunges &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jump rope &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one cycle. If you can do about 10 pull ups, you do 5 here rest for 15 sec then do push ups and move in cycles. After rope jumping for about a minute you repeat the whole process again 2 more times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After finishing this for a total of 3 cycles you then move on to cardio such as running for about 30 mins outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I currently do. What do you think about this routine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18779" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T04:28:19.747" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T17:57:31.587" Title="Could I do a 1-series split exercise workout routine?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28284" CreationDate="2015-12-13T21:45:30.337" Score="9" ViewCount="10172" Body="&lt;p&gt;After failing to open a jar the other day it came to me that the strength required to do so is not built in most exercises and also that it is a common test of strength in daily life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore I would like to do some exercises that will help build the strength necessary to easily open jars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What muscles/muscle groups are used in the opening of jars (I imagine grip strength is the main factor) and what exercises will help increase the strength of these muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note I am not particularly interested in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.midnightbox.com/mas_assets/full/10056497-110.jpg&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; sort of things. I'm more interested in more traditional exercises, body weight or free weight (bar/dumb) exercises that will also build the strength I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://i5.walmartimages.com/dfw/dce07b8c-9ba6/k2-_f099fff5-27fa-41e6-ae8a-7ba2683288ac.v1.jpg&quot;&gt;power tower&lt;/a&gt;, barbell and dumbbells with variable weights available to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T22:13:51.097" Title="What exercises will help me open jars?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28283" CreationDate="2015-12-13T22:51:22.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe I can help out a little.&#xA;This kind of grip strength can be achieved by strengthening your forarms, wrists, thumbs, fingers and by learning to recrute more muscle as you do right now for opening a jar as example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three types of grip strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Crush Grip is the grip between your fingers and your palm—the one you use for shaking hands and crumpling beer cans.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Pinch Grip is the grip between your fingers and your thumb. This can be further subcategorized into individual fingers + thumb grip.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Support Grip is the ability to maintain a hold on something for a while—think pull ups or long and productive shopping trips&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train the grip there are many ways to do it, Ill include some of my favourites that would help in your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hanging or pull-ups with a towel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fingertipp push-ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thick bar training, including 'fatgrips' or towel to increase the diameter of the bar or bell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plate pinches  ( simply put some plates together and lift them with your thumb and fingers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;farmer carries and deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I personally include rise-buckets where I turn my hands in circles in it, to strengthen my wrists&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sometimes I do push-ups with broomsticks in each hand or two peaces of wood with my thumbs up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At some point, you’re going to need to open your hands again. Get a rubber band, slip it over your fingers, and open your hand as wide as you can. Add more rubber bands as needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T22:51:22.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28269" CreationDate="2015-12-14T00:00:17.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people I've known using wobble boards use it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/105767-wobble-board-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to improve balance&lt;/a&gt; by creating a somewhat predictable unstable surface off of which you can work. In terms of core training, the general usage I've seen is combining with with traditional core exercises such as planks and using it to add instability to make yourself work harder. For example, you might try to do your &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUZMOUkVwpE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plank with your arms on the flat side of the wobble board&lt;/a&gt;, forcing you to remain in a much more static position, and to use your muscles to remain stable. Similarly, you can do push-ups on a wobble-board to use your core more during the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T00:00:17.163" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6961" CreationDate="2015-12-14T08:32:52.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle to Tendon ratio&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;Those who have long bellies and short tendons have a greater potential for achieving muscular size than those who have short bellies and long tendons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;Individuals with long muscle bellies have the potential to be quite strong, &#xA;because of a larger cross-sectional area. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lever and Proportions&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;Those who have favorable lever lengths and body proportions have a greater strength potential in certain exercises because they don't have to move the weight as far as those who have less favorable lever lengths and body proportions. The end result is that they can lift extraordinarily heavy weights&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tendon insertion&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;The farther away that a tendon inserts from an axis of rotation, the greater the biomechanical advantage and strength potential.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-genetic-factors-that-determine-your-success&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-genetic-factors-that-determine-your-success&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T08:32:52.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27658" CreationDate="2015-12-14T08:54:05.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pre-workout is mainly just a mix of caffeine, creatine, beta-alanine, and maybe some other amino acids as well as some weird and questionable ingredients like 1,3-Dimethylamylamine (DMAA) that have influence on the cardio vascular system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are quite some studies saying that they work, while there are other that say they don´t work. So i think this is something that everyone should decide for himself, however, my personal opinion is that there is no need for such kind of supplementation rather get some vitamins, good sleep and have a clean diet - the results will come for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So will it give you more energy? Probably yes ... depending on the ingredients and the amount of the components in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional information:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/preworkout-supplements-do-they-work/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/preworkout-supplements-do-they-work/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T08:54:05.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28294" CreationDate="2015-12-14T10:37:19.577" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout in my home so i have to limit my self a bit for exercises.&#xA;i did biceps and triceps workout for a year only so i have decided to work all muscles including lower body and upper body.So following will be my weekly schedule&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday:&lt;/strong&gt; Legs and chest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets of squats with weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of 20 reps bulgarian split squats without weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 sets of push ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 sets of dips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/strong&gt; Shoulders and abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets of sitting barbell press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of bicycle crunches &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of iron butterfly. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of toe touches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday:&lt;/strong&gt; Biceps and triceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of concentration dumbbell curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 set of standing dumbbell curl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets of tricep dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps and triceps will be hit twice a week.i want to know your suggestion and advices.&#xA;Will my routine going to be okay.&#xA;Thanks in adnaves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:&#xA;my goal is to get muscular without adding fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;regards,&#xA;Asd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="16349" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T04:17:26.817" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T17:42:34.567" Title="Is this routine okay for muscle building and strength" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2015-12-20T07:23:00.020" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28279" CreationDate="2015-12-14T13:21:26.387" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read Charles Bronson's book named &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1844543099&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Solitary Fitness&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Charlie Bronson has spent three decades in solitary confinement, and yet has stayed as fit as a fiddle, gaining several world strength and fitness records in the process. Now, in this no-nonsense guide to getting fit and staying fit, he reveals just how he's done it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have time in your hand so it would not hurt to try something new, and as Bronson was a prisoner, maybe you will be getting a diet similar to his. Therefore this book fits for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16662" LastEditorUserId="16662" LastEditDate="2017-04-08T05:43:55.870" LastActivityDate="2017-04-08T05:43:55.870" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28283" CreationDate="2015-12-14T13:37:39.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following on what Mitro suggested, for forearm strength, I would recommend the following exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Brachioradialis/DBHammerCurl.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Hammer Curls&lt;/a&gt;    which work the Bracioradialis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_MzS5HCy3k&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zottman Dumbbell Curls&lt;/a&gt;. A little known and not widely used exercise that works multiple forearm muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For wrist and forearm, I suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/seated-palm-up-barbell-wrist-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seated Barbell Wrist curl&lt;/a&gt;.  Make sure to rest the wrists on your knees since proper balance of the bar is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/standing-palms-up-barbell-behind-the-back-wrist-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Standing Behind the Back Wrist Curls&lt;/a&gt;.  This one of my personal favorites because it can be performed on in multiple ways.  You can use a barbell, dumbbells, or, a plate loaded stack with a straight bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also suggest you try squeezing a small baseball sized rubber ball.  Squeezing a ball is often recommended therapy for recovering from carpal tunnel syndrome because it works the wrist and forearm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T13:37:39.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28299" CreationDate="2015-12-14T13:42:34.807" Score="5" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to get more exercise and, short attention span and lack of time that I generally have, I've been doing some HIIT workouts such as the 7-minute workout. I know that the &quot;7-minute workout&quot; is really intended to be repeated 2-3 times in a row. However, I also know that I can generally barely manage to get through the 7 minutes with my current level of effort, with my legs being rubbery enough at the end that it's a relief to end with planks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is, if I'm aiming to do 3 sessions worth, should I push myself hard and resign myself to the fact that, at least at first, those second and third sessions will involve me slowing down as my endurance wears do, or should I be pacing myself so that I'm exhausted at the end of the 3, but I'm keeping a consistent level of effort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:44:37.540" Title="When doing HIIT, should one be aiming for maximal effort, or maximal effort that can be supported over the time period?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28293" CreationDate="2015-12-14T17:15:48.697" Score="2" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to various gyms in the past 4 years doing mostly cardio (treadmill &amp;amp; elliptical) and sometimes free-weights. There have been many varying conditions afterward, such as driving home and walking home, being in Texas or Oregon, etc. Yet the one common denominator has been that, maybe half the time, my nose starts smelling strange smells in the 20 or 30 minutes after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smells are of a metallic or sour odor. They are all bad smells, but not in a body odor sort of way. My wife is almost always with me and never understands what I'm talking about. I'll smell it when I get home, in a new house that otherwise never smells bad. The only other possible link is that I feel I'm more likely to hallucinate smells if I pushed myself extra hard at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone else experience this? Any idea of a cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18788" LastEditorUserId="18788" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T19:42:10.487" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T19:42:10.487" Title="Hallucinating Smells" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-12-15T03:44:42.830" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28292" CreationDate="2015-12-14T17:36:51.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I have not had this experience, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4061890/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this paper on olfactory hallucinations&lt;/a&gt; does note physical exertion as a common trigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After initial and second insidious onset all patients noted phantosmia was initiated following coughing, laughing, crying, sneezing, blowing the nose, loud speech or shouting, any intense emotional outburst, &lt;strong&gt;physical exertion&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;strenuous exercise&lt;/strong&gt;, forced nasal inhalation and/or exhalation or hyperventilation &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a doctor, but it sounds like the paper is likening incidence of these olfactory hallucinations to be similar to seizures (which also often feature olfactory hallucinations before and after. Burning feathers is particularly common), which can be induced by hyperventilation, as with exercise. [4.1.3 of the above paper]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of covering all bases, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/phantosmia/Pages/Introduction.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it can be a symptom of something more pernicious&lt;/a&gt; such as epilepsy, migraines, or brain tumors, so you might be well-advised to consult with your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T17:42:59.513" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T17:42:59.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28288" CreationDate="2015-12-14T19:56:14.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This workout is &lt;strong&gt;OK&lt;/strong&gt;, but not great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll certainly see progress if you're just starting out, but likely you'll stall-out after a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a rundown of some improvements you could make: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There's not quite enough volume.&lt;/strong&gt; 9-10 sets per workout isn't usually enough. Aim for 15-20.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is a bodypart-split.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Ideally, each muscle-group would get trained 2-3 times per week. Here, your quads get a workout once, whereas hamstrings are completely ignored. You should add a deadlifting day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Too much isolation for your Bi's and Tri's.&lt;/strong&gt; Biceps and triceps are rather small muscles and working them isn't going to be as efficient as working bigger muscle-groups. Don't do bicep curls, do pull-downs/pull-ups/rowing. Swap the tricep dips for bench-press. Do more squats and deadlifting, your body is a machine that needs to stay balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is a routine, you need a program&lt;/strong&gt;. Look-up 'Starting Strength', 'Strong Lifts', or 'The New Rules of Lifting'. All of those describe a complete program (i.e. multiple routines, how to do them, how many repetitions, tempo, etc.) from just starting out, to how to progress once you've made it past the newbie-gains stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastEditorUserId="10879" LastEditDate="2015-12-16T17:42:34.567" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T17:42:34.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28296" CreationDate="2015-12-14T19:56:27.287" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been quite enjoying my tiring lifting routines, and I feel really good about developing muscle and strength, &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt; I still want to lose body fat, not really for looking slimmer, just to look more toned. I was wondering if I could do my 3 day routine on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while having some full body workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays without involving any lifting, and focus more on reps and body-weight exercises. Is this advisable? if so, I read swimming is one the best full body exercises, but I have no access to a pool. What would be some replacements for it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:21:50.517" Title="Including full non-lifting body workouts" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28295" CreationDate="2015-12-14T20:13:53.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally have found complexes with a barbell or small 15 min Cross Fit  WODs to be very effective in getting 'toned' in addition to changing my diet. - done after main workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want a full-body movement without barbells that is taxing a lot muscles I would say burpees, hill-sprints and even rope-skipping or prowler pushing (if available ) are a valid substitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T21:11:05.263" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:11:05.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28279" CreationDate="2015-12-14T20:27:18.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all really depends on your goals respectively what is important to you.&#xA;There are certain goals you can not achieve by calisthenics alone and the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you simply want to use your body and occasionally a pull-up bar I can recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5989195-never-gymless&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Never Gymless&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Ross Enamait or &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7305111-convict-conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Convict Conditioning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Paul Wade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing some deadlifts and bench-pressing  (if done as full-body movement in powerlifting fashion) can't hurt... probably would be even beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T20:52:14.450" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T20:52:14.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28295" CreationDate="2015-12-14T21:21:50.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m biased, but, if you have access to one, I would urge you to take a look at using a rower for a full body workout.  Done with correct form, you can get an entire workout experience from strength to aerobics.  You can train for endurance, intensity, etc.  Most good rowing machines come with a performance monitor so you can track your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Rowing machines provide the best total-body workout of any cardio&#xA;  machine,&quot; says U.S. Olympic rowing coach Mike Teti. This is because&#xA;  they require equal effort from both your lower and your upper body,&#xA;  which could lead to greater gains in overall cardiovascular fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/blast-fat-exercise-machines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blast fat exercise machines&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to try a rower, make sure to get proper instruction.  Learning how to use a rower correctly will help you avoid injury and allow you to gain full benefit from the machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:21:50.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28291" CreationDate="2015-12-14T21:44:37.540" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're basically describing threshold and interval type workouts, which are the staple of many movement type sports (Running, swimming, cycling, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Threshold workouts are done at a slightly submaximal (or slower than a race pace) level, on short rest. These are designed to increase the amount of time you can spend at a certain level of exertion. Interval workouts are pretty much fullout, faster than your race pace level of exertion, with long rest between each interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One isn't really &quot;better&quot; than the other, each serves a purpose. You could alternate them to be able to build both systems to where you want. Ideally you'd always be playing &quot;catch up&quot;, but getting better all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to think about, if you start getting to the point where you are tired on the maximal days, rather than slog it out at a slower pace, it might be better to just quit for the day. One of the cycling bibles (Training and Racing with a powermeter by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan, PhD) suggests that on interval type training days, if you are supposed to do X amount of work in Y time, but you only get to X-3 before you start failing to make your time, any more work won't be as productive as it might be and the extra rest would be more beneficial. Conversely, if you get to X and can still make it for X+z times before you fail to meet Y, keep on going. That way you don't overtire yourself on a &quot;bad&quot; day, and you take full advantage of your great days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:44:37.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12435" CreationDate="2015-12-15T08:23:20.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry but I don't see being able to calculate without the vo2 max or at least the persons resting heart rate.  I use my bmr + (average heart rate - resting heart rate)*6 and it comes out very close to my calorie burn for the day.  The 6 is just a variable that works for my body and could just as easily be a 5 for a overweight female or a 7 for a male athlete.  There are flaws to this also but it does not come out with outrageously high numbers like that formula&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18791" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T14:46:49.287" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T14:46:49.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-15T11:27:14.600" Score="6" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to go to fencing few weeks ago and got myself a powerball to strengthen my wrist. But even if after you use until you can feel in your arms that you made an effort, I didn't notice many improvements and a complete lack of stiffness. I guess because it forces you to have your arm in a fixed position with a weight, and also having your wrist moving you feel like you are doing a lot of exercise but really you are not doing much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other side of a powerball is it use as a toy. Its funny to see how long it takes your friend to make it work and after that compete to see who can make it spin faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That made me think that it more a toy that a training tool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am right or I am not using it correctly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18793" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T17:57:17.383" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T18:01:37.017" Title="Powerballs are real training tool?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16666" CreationDate="2015-12-15T12:02:38.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Yes handstand push ups are very good for shoulders, but not for the posterior deltoid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you looking for some body-weight (Calisthenics) exercises for shoulders &#xA;Here is our video tutorial for some of bodyweight shoulders exercises:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8diz7Qz3ag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong shoulders workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you add it to your regular workout, I'm sure you will see some results&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HJY5F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HJY5F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Strong shoulders&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you also interested about: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;progression to reach the handstand push up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my answer for it:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4807/what-is-the-correct-plan-to-transition-from-normal-to-handstand-push-ups/28331#28331&quot;&gt;progression to reach the handstand push up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for a lit inspiration, here is my fun video I made for last &lt;em&gt;new year&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/nikita.kurtin/videos/vb.1061234957/10204411907592033/?type=3&amp;amp;theater&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HandStand push ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18789" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T14:21:15.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28301" CreationDate="2015-12-15T13:13:21.477" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah, the powerball. I had forgotten these existed after I broke mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A powerball is indeed a workout tool, but it has an extremely limited effect. It can help with strengthening grip by engaging forearm muscles, but depending on how you &quot;swing&quot; it, you can get some upper arm and shoulder work into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forearms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train forearm and grip, have a constant 90 degree angle in your elbow joint, and simply rotate your wrist to keep it going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper arms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time, keep your wrist fixed, and rotate your elbow joint to keep it going. This engages the bicep and tricep, and will take a bit of getting used to. But again, it's very import that you're not rotating your wrist here. It should be completely straight throughout the entire movement, and the only joint that is moving is the elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the tricky one. Extend your arm completely out to the side, and lock out both your elbow and wrist. Now rotate the entire arm to keep the ball in motion. It's kinda like washing your window, but with a completely straight arm. Your hand should be making perfect circular motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that the powerball is not a wholesome training apparatus. It's not so much a tool for getting stronger, but just to get the blood flowing, and prevent stiffness from prolonged periods of little to no activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T13:13:21.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28315" CreationDate="2015-12-15T01:26:34.627" Score="3" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I was able to run on a treadmill for 2 miles at a constant speed of 6.0 (which is a 10 minute mile pace) at an avg elevation of 3 (I started at 4 and dropped as I got more and and more fatigued). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I was able to run 2 miles at constant 6.0 and avg 4.0 (I started at 4.0 and kept at 4.0 elevation). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that means all else constant (i.e. same amount of flexibility, strength and cardio vascular endurance) that I gained only muscular endurance (in my quads) right? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly I pose this question as when it comes to running I only am aware of runners who wish to increase their speed or distance. Do runners ever try to specifically increase their incline/vertical distance? Is there any particular reason or benefit for this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason that comes to mind is if someone is trying to jog up a large hill or mountain (that's not too steep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I added cycling as a tag as I'm equally interested and the question is identical.  Normally cyclist try to increase speed or distance.  Any reason why a cyclist would specifically train for incline (e.g. on a machine a cyclist would up the gear but keep pace and distance fixed).  And would there even be any difference or is the answer to cyclist increasing elevation identical to runner increasing elevation.  I'm interested in both as I like to use the treadmill and machine bicycle as well, although more-so I use the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18798" OwnerDisplayName="Rashad" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T17:48:13.100" LastActivityDate="2016-05-07T06:30:54.360" Title="Benefits of increasing treadmill elevation while running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28282" CreationDate="2015-12-15T17:57:31.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Alex L mentioned in a comment, your program completely lacks progressive overload, which is how we actually get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progressive overload is the increase of intensity that we place on our body, and we do this in two ways;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;increasing the resistance by using more weight&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;increaseing the volume by doing more sets and repetitions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you go to the gym, the exercises you mention are pretty much bodyweight only, so you'll be unable to increase resistance unless you start using other tools, but then again, the gym is the place where you have all the tools you need in one place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I know what you're thinking, &quot;I can get progressive overload by increasing the volume&quot;, as I said in my second point, but there is another problem here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With most of those exercises, you can steadily progress until you're able to do 50-100 repetitions, but sadly, this does very little to build muscle. Once you go over 20 reps, it's pretty much an aerobic movement, meaning you'll be working your stamina, and not your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only two of the exercises you mention are actually heavy (in the long run), and that's pullups and dips, where you push against your entire bodyweight. But also here, you'd eventually end up at a point where you can do 20+, and again you'd need to find ways of increasing the resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see that you're quite reluctant to go the gym for pure bodyweight exercises, and that's understandable. But if you want to build muscle AND get a lean physique, then bodyweight is probably the hardest way to do so. In that case, I'd recommend looking into some more advanced calisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T17:57:31.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28301" CreationDate="2015-12-15T18:01:37.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a training tool, it's just not the ultimate tool that the website claims it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used it mostly for work on grip strength and forearm stabilization. Use it at a high speed, with a wide fingered grip to promote the grip strength, and rotate the forearm around the &quot;axis&quot;. Also you can flex/extend the wrist to work on the forearm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used it to increase grip strength for sword form competitions, and it's a minor tool but it can be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T18:01:37.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2015-12-15T18:36:57.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: &lt;strong&gt;exercise before, if you want to loose weight.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New York Times&lt;/em&gt; has some articles citing research about this subject&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/ask-well-the-best-time-of-day-to-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is the best time of day to exercise, if my goal is weight loss?&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;, from 2015. Cites a Belgian study where 3 groups of young men were asked to eat 30% more daily calories. First group did no exercise, second group exercised after breakfast, last group exercised before breakfast. Quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might try setting your wake-up alarm earlier and exercising before breakfast. There is some evidence that working out on a completely empty stomach — or, as scientists call this woozy, wee-hours condition, &amp;quot;in a fasted state” — prompts the body to burn more fat and potentially stave off weight gain, compared to exercising at other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the six weeks, the sedentary group predictably was supersized and unhealthy, having gained about six pounds each. They had also developed insulin resistance and larded their muscles with new fat cells. The men who exercised after breakfast had also packed on pounds, about three pounds each, and developed insulin problems. But the men who had exercised first thing in the morning, before eating anything, had gained almost no weight and retained healthy insulin levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;, from 2010. Cites an Australian study. Three groups of young men, one exercised before breakfast, and the other after. They did exhausting exercise. The last group did no exercise. All of them ate a lousy and unhealthy breakfast. Quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The experiment lasted for six weeks. At the end, the nonexercising group was, to no one’s surprise, super-sized, having packed on an average of more than six pounds. They had also developed insulin resistance — their muscles were no longer responding well to insulin and weren’t pulling sugar (or, more technically, glucose) out of the bloodstream efficiently — and they had begun storing extra fat within and between their muscle cells. Both insulin resistance and fat-marbled muscles are metabolically unhealthy conditions that can be precursors of diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The men who ate breakfast before exercising gained weight, too, although only about half as much as the control group. Like those sedentary big eaters, however, they had become more insulin-resistant and were storing a greater amount of fat in their muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last NYT article: &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/is-breakfast-overrated/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is Breakfast Overated?&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;, from 2014 cites 2 studies. Each study was fairly short-term, and involved a limited range of volunteers. No exercise was involved. Results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For weight loss, no exercise involved, it made no difference.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another research: the group that ate breakfast were a little more active during the morning, but also also consumed more calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T15:03:13.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28309" CreationDate="2015-12-16T05:28:18.193" Score="5" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to maintain my bodyweight but increase my performance on exercises like pull-ups and skater squats. Assume that I find ways to create progressive overload that stimulates the muscles to improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When eating a maintenance diet, does the proportion of protein matter for the adaptations the body does to get stronger? Is high protein needed to build the new nerve cells or muscle nuclei the body creates when it becomes stronger without adding muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T12:05:40.617" Title="Is high protein intake necessary for building strength when you don't want to add muscle?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28308" CreationDate="2015-12-16T11:32:08.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from your general protein need, you need some to repair muscles after training, so your protein intake should be slightly increased.&#xA;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportsnutrition/a/Protein.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; states a need of 1.2 to 1.4 gram per kg bodyweight.&#xA;That is not much, the average western diet easily covers even the strength athletes protein need. So don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18803" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-16T12:05:40.617" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T12:05:40.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25720" CreationDate="2015-12-17T07:37:18.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if your arms can move, you can do something! Anything that involves moving your arms quickly can produce aerobic activity, so it really comes down to finding something you find fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are using a non-powered wheel chair, simply getting around is a form of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can spend some time on youtube and look for aerobic exercises that utilize a lot of arm movements.  Or, martial arts forms often have a lot of hand movements which you can do - with a lot of focus on repetition and speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you are just really using arm movements, you can do this while watching TV even, so you're getting some benefit even when you are &quot;doing nothing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7485" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T07:37:18.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-17T12:58:01.937" Score="0" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm doing strength exercises and cardio exercises on alternate days, 6 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;strength exercise:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest &amp;amp; triceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps &amp;amp; back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs &amp;amp; shoulder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4-5 exercises with alternate sets (3 sets with 10 reps) for each part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;cardio exercise:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2km running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 min cycling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 min stepper.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is simple. I'm using cooked lentils, eggs, tofu, raw nuts, milk in my &lt;strong&gt;daily protein diet&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm not using any whey protein and other diet related plans and precautions. Suggest me and enrich my knowledge towards diet which is very important for body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got enough muscle bulk but body is mixed with fat and muscle bulk. &lt;strong&gt;Need better workout schedule or suggestions to get ripped body&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17879" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T14:20:43.513" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T14:20:43.513" Title="Suggest better workout schedule to get ripped body" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-18T13:48:30.130" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28304" CreationDate="2015-12-17T14:46:57.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should dissociate the muscular and the cardio-vascular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Analyzing your perfomance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, I will assume that you are somewhat new to running (since 2 miles is a relatively short distance). In that regard, you are listing two of you latest perfomances stating that there is a small improvement between those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pace aside (I don't know if you ran faster the second time), I would say that this (small) difference could be due to several things :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You simply felt better that day&lt;/em&gt;. As silly as it sounds, it is something that happens &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; for runners. Some days you feel good, some others you don't. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cardiovascular capacities went up. This could be a reasonnable explanation if you are a beginner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You put on some muscle on (quads mostly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's not forget that these last two explanations won't probably be visible in less that a few weeks, except for a complete beginner. It takes up to months to see an actual and &lt;strong&gt;significant&lt;/strong&gt; improvement in performances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Increasing elevation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 good things about elevation :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It builds some muscle. Ever noticed how thin runners legs are ? Well, running is not a good way of adding mass. Running uphill is a solution and it clearly strengthen your legs. You should obviously have a decent diet (protein intake especially) if you actually want to capitalize on your trainings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It makes your training harder ! Rule of thumb is, for every 100m of elevation, you could add 500m to 1km to your total distance on a flat circuit. This would be the equivalent of running &lt;em&gt;faster&lt;/em&gt;, on a cardiovascular standpoint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, a good training is not a exhausting one. You should spend around 60-80% of your total amount of training at a comfortable pace. Not only is this true for beginners, but also for experienced runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While muscle mass is a nice thing to have for runners, it is not what matters the most. Cardiovascular endurance prevails in most cases, and it is most likely where most of the improvements are going to be made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for cyclists, this is even more critical. Their performance is tightly linked to their overall strengh, and the power they are able to deliver. Getting stronger through elevation training is obviously a very nice way to get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18811" LastEditorUserId="18811" LastEditDate="2015-12-17T20:59:29.607" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T20:59:29.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28313" CreationDate="2015-12-17T14:56:30.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem doesn't seem to be the workout. It looks just fine, and without more details it's hard to advise you any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, changing your workout schedule is probably not the way to go if you want a &lt;em&gt;ripped body&lt;/em&gt;. Diet plays a major role, and I am a bit surprised that you didn't even mention it in your original post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a bunch of them out there, but the main idea to focus on limiting carbs (and calories more generally), and on keeping a decent protein intake (between 1.5g to 2g per kilo). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, continue working you, but pay attention to what you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18811" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T14:56:30.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28318" CreationDate="2015-12-17T18:27:00.223" Score="11" ViewCount="130516" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the Gym I use an abdominal machine to do stomach crunches and over time I've increased the weight and made steady progress. However I have just started a Taekwondo class and as part of the warm-up we have to do sit-ups, I cannot even do a &lt;strong&gt;single sit-up&lt;/strong&gt; without someone holding my feet. I can lift my upper back of the floor but not the bottom half of my back. For what it's worth, in case there is a genetic component, neither can my son. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do the other exercises including press-ups, I'm surprised I cannot do them at all since I have made progress on the abdominal machine. Will doing them with my feet held strengthen the correct muscles so that over time I can do them unaided, or is there a particular muscle/mechanical issue that will continue to prevent me doing them unaided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18575" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-17T20:03:14.143" LastActivityDate="2018-11-25T08:09:25.517" Title="Why cant I do any situps without someone holding my feet" Tags="&lt;sit-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28317" CreationDate="2015-12-17T18:47:35.337" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is not that your core muscles are not strong enough to lift your chest up. It looks like you are facing another (bigger problem) : &lt;strong&gt;physics&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, it is not weird not to be able to do what you are trying to do. In the position that you are in (supposedly with your feet close to your butt), your center of gravity is located above the waist. So whenever you try to lift up your chest, you will simply more or less roll on your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two ways of solving this :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stick you feet under something heavy (furniture, children, wife, whatever is available)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simply lift your feet like this&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ttn5p.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ttn5p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Classic crunch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, what you are currently doing will mostly target your upper abs. So you don't need to go all the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18811" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T18:47:35.337" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25655" CreationDate="2015-12-17T20:09:30.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What works for me is doing less biceps exercises and more back exercises. Doing pull-up variations, bent-over rows (barbell), any pulling exercise will get the job done. Pretty much the only bicep exercise I do are hammer curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T20:09:30.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28317" CreationDate="2015-12-17T20:09:36.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that you're using your leg muscles to push yourself up in the sit-ups. I know I had that problem at one point. If you're feeling tension in your legs while doing the sit-ups, there's a decent change you're engaging the legs. If so, doing them with your feet held will have more limited use since you're diluting your effort with your legs. That said, they're generally still of some use since you have to use your stomach some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two ways in which I trained myself into it was a) tapering off the amount of weight on my feet by putting them under progressively smaller chairs (I know... it sounds silly, but it worked by providing me some support, but giving me a warning sign that I was using my legs whenever the chair started tipping up) and b) doing negatives, starting up in the completed position, feet on the floor and unsupported, and trying to lower myself as slowly as possible. Eventually, I got the hang of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T20:09:36.540" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27950" CreationDate="2015-12-17T21:46:26.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Size won't have much of an impact&lt;/strong&gt;. The only difference is the height between your hands and the floor, which is not even relevent to toning up your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a difference, you could argue that using the smaller wheels is harder. Just imagine a VERY BIG wheel : your hand being high above the floor results in a tilt of your body, which would lead to a easier exercice (less weight, like you could experience with a pushup).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the difference is very small, and you wouldn't feel that one is better. The only thing that could differ from one wheel to another is how &quot;well-oiled&quot; it is. A wheel that rolls very smoothly is harder to keep in place. You have to counter this absence of resistance by yourself, thus involving your muscles more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18811" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T21:46:26.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27950" CreationDate="2015-12-17T22:23:29.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally I've used smaller ones and bigger ones and never noticed much of a difference. The bigger and fancier ones, honestly, are generally just about marketing. Instead of buying the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1ZeEQvB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;$9 one&lt;/a&gt; at Target, you can buy the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1ZeEOEf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;$59 version&lt;/a&gt; that has a ripped model on the front and some thermoplastic spokes in an Ⓐ anarchy symbol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that higher hand positions make it easier in fact. You can see this if yourself if you do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/ring-rollout-a162&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ring rollouts&lt;/a&gt;. From that linked website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The closer you are to being parallel to the ground and at full stretch&#xA;  the more difficult the exercise becomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the higher your hands are, the easier it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T22:23:29.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2015-12-18T00:31:00.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do &quot;both.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, I eat a piece of chocolate (candy, cake, or milkshake) for &quot;quick&quot; energy before jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then a &quot;real&quot; breakfast after I've finished my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18815" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T00:31:00.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28326" CreationDate="2015-12-18T09:32:48.723" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a good diet but my diet contains 12 biscuits(sorry but i eat them daily) which has 24gm carbs per 3 biscuits.Is there any way through exercise and how long the exercise should be and how many days per week to negate its bad effects on my body like fat due to lots of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T05:32:00.163" Title="Any way to reduce carb effects?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28324" CreationDate="2015-12-18T11:11:44.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a rough guide, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/303715-how-many-calories-equal-a-carb/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram&lt;/a&gt;, so 24 / 3 * 12 * 4 will net you 384 calories. Assuming you're somewhere around 160 pounds (calories burning being dependent on a number of factors including age, sex, and weight), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/exercise/art-20050999?pg=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt; shows that you'd need about an hour of mild aerobics, moderate elliptical training, or resistance weight training each day to &quot;counteract&quot; those calories. Of course, since your biscuits probably have calories from other sources, you're likely better off using the total calorie count on them. And, honestly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/upshot/to-lose-weight-eating-less-is-far-more-important-than-exercising-more.html?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;you're better off just reducing the total number of calories than trying to add exercise&lt;/a&gt;, because our bodies are built to consume more food in the face of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just worried about the number of &quot;carbs&quot;, I'd say that you're better off using other metrics for your diet. While there exist various low-carb diets, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/weight-loss-and-carbohydrates&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;most of which are panned by medical personnel&lt;/a&gt;, they generally depend on actually eschewing the carbs entirely, not trying to &quot;counter&quot; them with exercise. Reduce your total amount of calories rather than trying to follow some fad of eliminating one food group or another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T11:11:44.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28313" CreationDate="2015-12-18T12:46:11.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your workout routine is fine, but maintain your diet in proper way because nutrition is very important. Make sure you consume 200 gm protein and 0.5 gm carbs * (body weight in pounds) a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of consuming 3 big meals, divide them into 6 small meals which helps you to maintain your metabolism at constant rate. &#xA;Basically your diet plan during workout days should be &lt;strong&gt;High Protein and Low Carbs&lt;/strong&gt; and during recovery day &lt;strong&gt;High Carbs Low Protein&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18753" LastEditorUserId="18753" LastEditDate="2015-12-18T13:03:45.933" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T13:03:45.933" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28330" CreationDate="2015-12-18T14:17:33.393" Score="4" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard from friends, whose source is unknown to me, that it is healthier to walk by setting your toes upon the ground before your heel, but I always step on my heel first, unless I am carrying something heavy or running. It seems to me that it is more natural to step on your heel first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also heard it stated, much more often, that it is healthier to have toes pointed in (slightly, not unnaturally) or straight than pointed out, and even that you are likely to have leg problems if you always walk with them pointed outwards. In fact, because of peer pressure and its effects, it was a &quot;thing&quot; for a while that we were constantly aware of and criticizing each other's gait, having a generally snobbish regard for those whose feet pointed outwards at all. We have matured since then, but ever since, I have wondered if any of it is really true. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 1: Heel first vs. toes first -- Which, if either, is healthier, and do either effect your later years if exercised daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 2: Toes pointed in or out -- Which, if either, is healthier, and do either effect your later years if exercised daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18820" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T18:36:29.687" Title="Which gait is more healthy?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28328" CreationDate="2015-12-18T18:36:29.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the heel-strike, the short answer is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.treadlightlybook.com/2012/06/should-we-heel-strike-when-walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;neither one is inherently more or less healthy&lt;/a&gt;. The natural tendency among walkers is to heel-strike when walking along a smooth surface and to use toward the toe when walking along elevated or uneven surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The next time you go for a walk outside, do it barefoot and pay close attention to your feet. In my personal experience, heel-toe is the gait I use when walking steadily on a smooth, hard surface such as a clear asphalt road. It’s my “travelling” walking gait. But, when the surface gets irregular or when there is debris on the ground, I tend to shift to a modified forefoot walk. Why? Because bringing the bare heel down on a rock or stick hurts, so we adapt our gait on the fly to protect ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your friends may be confusing the situation with barefoot running where it's pretty well-established that the foot acts as a shock-absorber when running forefoot-first while heel-striking results in a jarring impact before the foot rolls forward. Compare to walking where, instead of briefly being airborne with both feet off of the ground, you always have at least one foot on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for turnout, &lt;a href=&quot;http://alignmentmonkey.nurturance.net/2015/walking-like-a-duck-foot-alignment/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a little outward turnout is the standard&lt;/a&gt; due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://corewalking.com/if-your-feet-turn-out-your-piriformis-muscle-is-short/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how our piriform muscles work&lt;/a&gt; (side note, both of those links discuss turnout as bad, but they also have some good information). From a physiology standpoint, extreme turnout tends to be an issue for two reasons. First, many people, particularly some dancers who have learned incorrect or self-taught, turn out using their knees as well as their hips. The hips are built to swivel (ball joint). The knees are not (hinge joint). Secondly, if you have extreme turnout, it's more difficult for your feet to cushion impact whether your're walking with your heel or your toe. It's simple geometry in that either your strides will be either pushing out out in lateral directions or you have a smaller length over which they will travel (they'll also not be moving along the length of the bones in your feet, which means you're inducing lateral forces along the bones, which increases the risk of them fracturing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why a little bit of turnout is natural, take a look at this image of the bones of the foot:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AP3QX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AP3QX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bones of the foot&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note how the metatarsus (the bone that leads into the big toe) is thicker and natural goes forward with a slight turnout. The means that, when walking or running with that slightly turnout, a majority of the force is being carried along the sturdiest bone in the foot. Doesn't that seem like it makes more sense than turning your foot in and and applying the force along your little toe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T18:36:29.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4807" CreationDate="2015-12-18T20:50:19.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want my opinion, which is based on my personal experience (almost 15 years).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what you looking for is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;progression to reach the handstand push up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then here it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First&lt;/strong&gt; Handstand push-ups requires a &lt;strong&gt;minimal hand balancing&lt;/strong&gt; ability. So before you start training handstand push-ups, you need to be able to do a hand-stand (not walking) for at least 10 seconds. &#xA;If you cannot do it - I suggest to focus on that first. If you don't know how -&gt; Here is my video tutorial for that: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oeNaDWgdrA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Handstand basic level&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second&lt;/strong&gt; If you can do a hand-stand, but don't have enough &lt;strong&gt;strength to push&lt;/strong&gt; your self &lt;strong&gt;up&lt;/strong&gt; to hand stand. Then I suggest to start with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentric_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Negative training&lt;/a&gt; which based on eccentric contraction. &#xA;Which means that you start at handstand and slowly go down. At the beginning you can do it with a mattress (in case you fall). Practicing this gradually increasing reps quantity - will build you the needed strength to push up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Third&lt;/strong&gt; To be able of doing &lt;strong&gt;many push ups in a row&lt;/strong&gt;, I suggest to train push ups in 4 sets of maximum reps each set. And since most people lose the balance at the highest point of the move (just after they got up). I suggest to start doing those sets next to a wall - so if you lose balance you just put one leg to the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes&lt;/strong&gt;: Don't focus on the time it takes you, instead of that just focus on your progression. Try to get every week at least one thing better than previous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way: &lt;em&gt;2013 I took 3'rd place at international competition for Calisthenics in handstand push ups category. And 2013, 2014, 2015 (until now) I'm record holder of my country for this category.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for a lit inspiration, here is my fun video I made for last &lt;em&gt;new year&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/nikita.kurtin/videos/vb.1061234957/10204411907592033/?type=3&amp;amp;theater&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HandStand push ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18789" LastEditorUserId="18789" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T14:29:42.337" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T14:29:42.337" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28333" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-19T22:53:50.660" Score="0" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5'6 and 120 lbs. (basically), and have been working out for a year, but I am not seeing the results I want, which is to get more muscle and get stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have the best diet but I do take vitamins and eat whenever I'm hungry, from salads to cheeseburgers, because I want to get more calories to use in getting more muscle. Since last year, I've only gained 10 lbs. worth of muscle.  And I know this because I haven't grown taller, but have shown a lot more muscle. However, since June I haven't gained very much weight and want to know how to get bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 120, so it's harder for me to gain muscle because I don't have anything to turn into muscle.  Are there any diets or special workouts I can do to promote better muscle growth? I don't have the best workout equipment and work out from Monday to Friday with a day in between for rest, but every time I workout I do more push ups than before, I curl 20 lb dumbbells (not that much but I haven't been lifting for very many months) along with a 40 to 50 lb barbell. I also walk around with 50 lbs worth of dumbbells where I try to walk around as much as possible while trying to keep hold of the dumbbells. I did try being on a bike but it just was time consuming and could be on a hour with no gains at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite is pushups and bicycle crunches and can do at max 70 or so pushups, but sometimes do 50 and then a minute later 45 and than a minute later 40 etc. Every week, I sometimes get over a pound worth of food and eat it in a single setting but it just burns off, so that's why I'm wondering how to get bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18830" LastEditorUserId="18813" LastEditDate="2015-12-23T16:45:08.527" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T16:45:08.527" Title="I'm 16,120lbs 5'6. How do I get more muscle and get stronger as well?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-21T18:00:47.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T01:46:13.143" Score="-2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have come across programs like Kris gethin and jym stoppani....I want to lose fat and build muscle...I need a weight loss of around 20kilos too....I would ask will the program help me with my goal...because I will be joining the gym for the first time and have no experience with weight training before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18831" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T08:09:18.850" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T16:18:05.697" Title="Best online program for fat loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-28T20:17:09.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28335" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-12-20T03:58:23.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calculated as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI =  massKg / (heightMeters * heightMeters)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T08:09:29.267" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T08:09:29.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28336" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-12-20T03:58:23.623" Score="0" Body="Body Mass Index (BMI) " OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T08:08:41.780" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T08:08:41.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T14:10:50.030" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have begun to be feeling demoralized and I have trouble keeping my workout sessions. I'm doing a basic workout like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50 push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 diamond push ups and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leg raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometime I added additional weight. Any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18747" LastEditorUserId="20536" LastEditDate="2016-06-26T16:09:38.473" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:55:42.653" Title="How should I stay motivated every time I have a workout session?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-06-28T01:21:20.020" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28337" CreationDate="2015-12-20T15:14:52.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of ways to stay motivated, and it all depends what is right for you! Everyone is different, but I can at least tell you a few of the things that have worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've found each one of these things to be helpful to varying degrees when trying to stay motivated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;listen to a playlist of your favorite music: maybe have a couple different playlists with different song selections to help keep it interesting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep it interesting and switch up the workout routine: the same exact thing every time gets very boring very fast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reward yourself after a workout by doing something fun: but remember you're still an athlete so take care of your body even when you're not actively training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;find a partner to work out with: having the motivation of someone else with you is one of the best motivators for me and it helps both people&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;measure and keep track of your progress: this can be a fun little side hobby to working out and is very rewarding when you can see your progress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;watch motivational movies or listen to motivational speeches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In sum, whatever you can do to make your workouts fun and engaging will keep you coming back for more! Be creative and have fun with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18641" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T16:41:26.093" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T16:41:26.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28337" CreationDate="2015-12-20T16:09:13.977" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to watch &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_FFIFhG6to&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video from Elliot at Strength Camp, entitled &quot;Motivation is Bullshit&quot;.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, you're not going to be motivated every day that you need to work out (or do anything else). What you really need is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline#Self-discipline&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;discipline&lt;/a&gt; to stick with your program when you feel like crap, have skipped a week, feel fat, feel weak, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I could distill fitness down to two things, it would be this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a good program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adhere to it. When you fall off the horse, get back on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If people just did those two things, the entire world would be phenominal athletes in ripped shape running around with washboard abs high-fiving each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;Good programs&lt;/a&gt; are a matter of putting your ego in check and following the science, and sticking to the program is a matter of self discipline and good life choices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline#Self-discipline&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Discipline is the suppression of base desires, and is usually&#xA;  understood to be synonymous with restraint and self-control.&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Self-discipline is to some extent a substitute for motivation.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  Discipline is when one uses reason to determine the best course of&#xA;  action that opposes one's desires, which is the opposite of fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T16:09:13.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28334" CreationDate="2015-12-20T16:18:05.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few existing question and answers that I'd point you towards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spot reduction is a myth&lt;/a&gt;. Our age, sex, and genetics control how fat is stored and released. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;Strength training is better for weight loss than aerobic cardio&lt;/a&gt;. This seems incredibly counter-intuitive, but it's true and the evidence supports it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24500/7091&quot;&gt;The priorities you need to engage are reducing calories, strength training, and aerobic cardio, in order&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T16:18:05.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28333" CreationDate="2015-12-20T17:59:10.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to start lifting heavy, compound movements (isolation exercises won't get you as strong), for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats&#xA;Deadlifts&#xA;Bench press&#xA;Overhead press (standing is good)&#xA;Bent over rows&#xA;Cleans&#xA;etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have an olympic bar you can start doing those exercises. Even better if you have access to a gym, would provide a safer environment for performing those exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do sets with the following reps (may vary by exercise) all while adding weight so the last two reps are very tiring:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10&#xA;8&#xA;6&#xA;6&#xA;4&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goal is to lift heavy all the time and your body will adapt and get stronger (and bigger too to compensate for getting stronger). Always try and do more weight (globally) than the last time you worked out (even if it is 5 lbs more) you can't let your body adapt and stay at the same weight since there will be no progression/improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is basically it, no need for fancy exercises or regimes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T17:59:10.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28337" CreationDate="2015-12-20T18:04:00.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tell yourself do you want to age faster, your body breakdown faster, have less energy, etc if you don't stay physically active?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try and keep a log of your exercises and weight, you'll see and enjoy your progression to keep you motivated to go even further. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T18:04:00.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28343" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28351" CreationDate="2015-12-20T18:23:37.093" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train in the evenings, sometimes pretty late. The training is typically grappling or weight lifting and so I usually feel the need to drink a lot of water afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this means my sleep is broken to go to the bathroom and I can feel the difference vs having an uninterrupted nights sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I drink more water before training and then fight the urge to drink after training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18834" LastActivityDate="2015-12-21T18:00:15.970" Title="Drinking water too close to bed time" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2015-12-20T22:07:41.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;on the question about the seemingly contradictory practices of recovery but also frequent GtG, this article has some good info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/greasing-the-groove-how-to-make-it-work-for-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/greasing-the-groove-how-to-make-it-work-for-you&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It may seem counterintuitive as we often hear how we need to avoid&#xA;  overtraining. However, if we are not training to failure our bodies&#xA;  can afford to do the same exercises again either later that day or the&#xA;  next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...the two take always being: 1) lessened exertion (one pull up) doesn't train to failure or cause recovery. 2) GtG is partially neurological -- you're training the pull up neural pathway and the central nervous system, in addition to your back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18835" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T22:07:41.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28343" CreationDate="2015-12-20T22:32:36.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be hydrating all day long. This will help your body get the hydration it needs to repair your body after a work out. Drinking a lot a mere hour before working out does almost nothing; it's important to keep drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not resist the urge to drink after your workout. If you feel like you need a drink, take a drink. Note that hydrating all day long will allow you to afford to drink less after working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to look into working out earlier in the evening before you go to bed if you can help it. That way you won't have to worry about needing to wake up during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even the little things can help: use the bathroom right before you go to bed. Also make sure you're getting the doctor's recommended sleep times for your age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18641" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T22:32:36.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-21T04:41:47.263" Score="5" ViewCount="491" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a newbie at the gym, I've been training for 4 months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought the whole package at the gym, so I have a personal trainer and a nutritionist.&#xA;The thing is that I'm skinny, I'm 1.83m (6&quot;) tall and I started weighting 73 Kg (160.9 lb) we started cutting, down for body fat, I ate about ~1800 cals/day; I was loosing weight and fat at the same time, my muscle index was slowly (very very slowly) getting better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train 5 days a week, for about 1:45 mins: 10 mins warming, 1 hour of lifting and 15 minutes of light cardio at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we're achieving for body weight gain (bulking) and the first diet cycle I lost weight and muscle. My calorie intake is about ~2400 cal. Now I weight 70 Kg (154 lb) which worries me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was not happy with the results of my first bulking diet and I felt like I was loosing too much weight after those months, my jeans no longer fit me and I feel skinnier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My whole goal is to fit better into clothes, I'm too big for small size and to skinny for medium size, and I'm tired of that. Well, at least I was, last time I bought clothes (this weekend) I had to buy small sizes, now I fit in them... that's what triggered my frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Personal trainer happens to be a nutritionist too, I communicated my frustration, and he suggested I followed a diet he'll build for me, the result is totally opposite of my previous nutritionist ideas, it goes as this (5-meal based):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 egg whites cooked with onion and tomato.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 slices of bread (toasted if you like).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 cop of green tea or coffee (no sugar).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Post workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500ml protein milkshake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;250g (8oz) of chicken breast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 roasted medium nopales with purple onion. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 cup of rice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;250g (8oz) of beef steak.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 potato.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 tortilla.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 little cup of light fruit based jelly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 4:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;250g (8oz) of fish (tuna or tilapia)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 plate of lettuce, tomato and cucumber.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 nopal toasts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal 5:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;250g (8oz) of chicken breast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 plate of 2 nopales and white onion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 medium pice of arabic bread.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried about the huge amount of meat there is in this plan, 1 daily kilogram. Also there are no fruits nor legumes as they were on my previous diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my personal trainer right or should I talk to him (or complete ditch him and stick to the previous nutritionist)? I don't think the diet is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18837" LastActivityDate="2015-12-21T05:14:34.877" Title="Suggested Diet. Is my personal trainer trying to kill me?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28348" CreationDate="2015-12-21T05:14:34.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to weigh 62kg before I started training and dieting, and I now weigh 87kg. Let me just start by telling you that this is your life now. It's hard at first, but you get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dieting to gain weight is something people think is easy, because we've all heard the complaints from people trying to lose weight. They have to go hungry all the time, and eat small portions of boring food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, for those of us who want to GAIN weight, we have to eat lots of food, even when we're not hungry, and eat until we're stuffed and then continue a bit more. Same same, just opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's going to be hard. Just as hard as those people who complain about wanting to lose weight. But the diet seems perfectly healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say that your PT is a &quot;nutritionist&quot;. This is a huge red flag! I am also a nutritionist. I have NO education in the field, but I am a nutritionist. This is something anyone can call themselves, because &quot;nutritionist&quot; is not a protected title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, the title of &quot;dietitian&quot; is protected. It implies education and graduation in the field of nutrition and regulation of diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your name looks hispanic, I'm going to assume that you live in a Spanish-speaking country (and I apologize if this is wrong). You have to find out which title is protected in your country. If you DO live in the US or another English speaking country, then I'm sorry for bringing this up. Then it's simply nutritionist (bad) and dietitian (good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-21T05:14:34.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28343" CreationDate="2015-12-21T18:00:15.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might get closed for being offtopic, but personally I disagree. Additionally, I don't think this is opinion-based at all, and that people who think that's the case are ignoring the medical evidence for urine production. That said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider adding a small bit of salt to your diet and seeing what that does for you. &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/salt-intake-affect-urine-production-5863.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Salt generally decreases urine production&lt;/a&gt;. The author of this block quote is an RN, and this is inline with my understanding of natremia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To protect against the harmful effects of too much sodium in the&#xA;  bloodstream, the body utilizes a hormone regulation system. When too&#xA;  much sodium accumulates in the circulatory system, the posterior&#xA;  pituitary gland releases antidiuretic hormone. The hormone travels&#xA;  through the blood until it reaches the kidneys. Once it arrives, it&#xA;  triggers the kidneys to stop producing urine and re-absorb water back&#xA;  into the kidneys, which helps dilute the accumulated sodium. When too&#xA;  little sodium circulates in the bloodstream, the production of&#xA;  antidiuretic hormone ceases. As a result, the kidneys increase urine&#xA;  production until sodium concentration returns to a normal level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is clearly related to fitness because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleep is directly tied to hormone regulation and production, which is where all catabolic and anabolic activity come from.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lot of fitness trends tend to focus on staying hydrated and reducing salt. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is doing exactly what it's supposed to do, which is regulating the sodium in your blood. I'm certainly not advising you to eat a spoon full of salt, but I would experiment with something like a few small salted pretzels and see what impact it has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat some salted popcorn in the evening, I'd wager to guess that you'll have a relatively urine-free night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've treated several people with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyponatremia&lt;/a&gt;; and while you certainly aren't complaining of those symptoms and there is no reason to suggest you have it, it's worth reading up on to learn how salt, water, sweat, and urine production all work together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-12-21T18:00:15.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28452" CreationDate="2015-12-21T19:09:40.887" Score="2" ViewCount="699" Body="&lt;p&gt;I signed up for a half marathon (there were half + full marathon races for the same event), taking place in April '16, and started training last week (Around 13 December). I'm not a regular runner (or exerciser in general), but I think I'm naturally physically inclined towards cardio activities. [Early 20s, male, 60-70kg, 170-180cm.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As part of some &lt;em&gt;'beginner to half marathon'&lt;/em&gt; schedule I'm following, I went for few 3milers throughout the week, and then yesterday went for a 5 miler. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I ended up running a full 13.2mi because I was feeling pretty comfortable. Running a fairly easy, steady pace, I finished in 1hr 55mins. I was tired but happy, and not completely exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearing in mind I was training to simply &lt;em&gt;finish&lt;/em&gt; a half marathon, I'm now slightly concerned that I set my goalposts too far apart. I want a target that is hard to achieve but feasible with enough training, and a bit of mental fairy dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;So:&lt;/em&gt; Could I feasibly switch to running a full marathon in a respectable time&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(which would be more of an impressive achievement in my eyes)&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;with 15 weeks of training?&lt;/strong&gt; If so, would I be looking to simply finish, or could I probably try a good time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7432" LastEditorUserId="7432" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T17:55:02.223" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T18:00:31.687" Title="Is it feasible to train for a marathon in 15 weeks? I've just run a 1:55 half-marathon with no training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28355" CreationDate="2015-12-21T19:31:42.977" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My workouts consist of weight-lifting followed by a moderate cardio session. I'm pretty used to it, but I have a growing concern; I'm visiting my folks for the holidays and I plan to stay there for 11 days. And I won't have access to a gym while over there. Is pure cardio enough for these 11 days? Or should I use stuff around the house to have something to lift? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="17969" LastEditDate="2015-12-21T19:57:14.757" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T04:26:25.977" Title="Possible training approach while in holidays" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28353" CreationDate="2015-12-22T01:31:38.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think best way is to go for HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) along with some band exercise. HIIT is all about body weight training with no equipment, however the focus is on short bursts rather than long cardio exercises. Try these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vertical Jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do every exercise as hard as possible for 45 seconds and take a 15 seconds break and move to the next exercise. Try completing 3-5 sets of these exercise and you will melt away fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T03:22:18.123" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T03:22:18.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28353" CreationDate="2015-12-22T01:32:08.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;If your workout session is limited to the gym, you need to be introduced into the world of Calisthenics&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me whet your appetite with a few links: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfLNN4BloY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bar Brothers&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialBarstarzz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barstarzz &lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Any strong, horizontal overhead bar is your equipment for building strong back, lats, arms, biceps, triceps, and shoulders via pull ups, chin ups, and muscle ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Your staircase hand rails &lt;em&gt;(if it's narrow enough or putting two chairs across each other)&lt;/em&gt; is your dip station to build bigger triceps and chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;The floor is always available for for various types of push ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsaD-BadB9M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The floor is always available for core exercises.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;Fill up a 5 gallon bottle with water and you can perform front squats, one-arm bicep curl, and overhead press with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA; &lt;li&gt;A lot of neighborhoods &lt;em&gt;(especially in the US)&lt;/em&gt; have playgrounds with bars. Go nuts!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is simple: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;there are ample exercise equipment around you outside the gym; recognize them, use them, and you'll never be limited to the gym.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wait.....there's more!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have your personal dumbbells &lt;em&gt;(or an EZ curl bar with disc)&lt;/em&gt; and you're driving to your folks, you can easily take those with you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While jogging is the de facto running mode, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;sprinting is a better way for you to keep in shape.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Interweave sprinting with knee jumping for maximum cardio.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga and pilates are also wonderful alternatives. You can use the time to stretch your body, joints, and muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Where there's a way, there's a kickass way to stay in shape.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastEditorUserId="7894" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T01:56:22.143" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T01:56:22.143" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2015-12-22T01:36:10.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion go for HIIT it's the ultimate workout, also go for a sprint where you sprint 100-200 meters with full intensity, then slow down and walk for 15 seconds then repeat it 30 times :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T01:36:10.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24805" CreationDate="2015-12-22T01:41:53.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try this:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jump Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mountain climbers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do each exercise for 15 seconds with no rest and as hard as possible ,that way a circuit will take around 1:15 minutes take a 45 seconds break and do 2-3 more sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember intensity is the key,it should be so hard that at end of it you should be breathing real hard. Also combine this intermittent fasting and good balance diet and you will see good muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastEditorUserId="18848" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T05:17:24.403" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T05:17:24.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5898" CreationDate="2015-12-22T01:50:23.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best is stand while traveling, you should be able to stand for an hour easily. While standing suck your tummy in so that it should feel like you are trying to touch your back with your navel internally. Protrude your outside and hold you breath while you chest is still out and breath slowly in and out as slow as possible. Place you hands in front of you chest in the 'namaste' position or praying position and flex you chest muscle as hard as you can. Once you can master all these moves without sacrificing the other try to lock it down in the possible with all the body parts in harmony, close your eyes and try to remain in the position for a 1 minute. Once you can handle it go for longer duration with higher intensity and more coordination on your breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T01:50:23.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2824" CreationDate="2015-12-22T02:20:33.257" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will suggest looking into youtube specially the &quot;Buff dudes&quot; and &quot;Athleanx&quot; as most of the stuff is quite informative and free. Also you can easily make dumbells and weight plates using concrete and it is way much cheap :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T02:20:33.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25120" CreationDate="2015-12-22T02:35:06.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go for HIIT exercise which are intense and doesn't require any equipment. The focus is on short burst of high intensity rather than boring long exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing people often to forget is that no matter what you do nutrition is the key.If you have got your nutrition right and eat properly then you don't have to worry too much about staying lean. Remember alcohol is known to increase brains sensitivity to smell and taste which results in consuming more fatty and salty food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T02:35:06.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17820" CreationDate="2015-12-22T02:40:47.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My simple tips are:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Invest in nutribullet, carry while you are away and make a healthy juice consisting Kale, Celery, Pear, banana, nuts and vegan protein powder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eats lots of boiled egg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink 10-15 cups of Green tea, this will force you stay on course and do not think about chips, snacks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 15-20 minutes HIIT everyday or whenever possible. Most HIIT exercises do not require even much space.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a light dinner with fish and salad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have dinner 3 hours before dinner and have 8 hours of sleep/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T02:40:47.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5235" CreationDate="2015-12-22T02:50:48.523" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will suggest try HIIT and intermittent fasting for optimum muscle growth. Also try Gluten free as I have seen a huge difference after going gluten free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T02:50:48.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28353" CreationDate="2015-12-22T04:26:25.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, 11 days isn't going to destroy your gains and you may even benefit from the break. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider just going for a run, to keep on schedule and not feel like garbage. You could also drop &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1Te4fSD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;~$30 on a knock-off TRX&lt;/a&gt;, or run to a playground somewhere and knock out some pullups. Or rig up the suspension trainer on a nearby tree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing real strength training in a gym, you're not going to be able to simulate that in any practical sense without a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another real option, if you have the cash to drop (or have them already) would be a couple of heavy kettlebells. I'll use my 53LB for swings, snatches, and other such lifts. Tossing in some sprints, pushups, and pullups, it's not a bad workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T04:26:25.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4722" CreationDate="2015-12-22T05:15:37.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym on and off for 18 years and I agree with you. I have seen it all and some of the exercises they doing are out right dangerous but the last thing I want to do is to hurt a person's ego specially in a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't know what they are going through and what is in their mind and what repercussion it might have when you point out mistake.So the best possible way is to learn from their mistakes, do not repeat while you are exercising and yes silence is gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T05:15:37.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28352" CreationDate="2015-12-22T05:25:48.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;By the looks of it you are doing pretty good for yourself and yes age is on your side. If you have mental strength and strong will power that go for it. Remember you are young only once so try it as hard as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train with proper plan and vision, focus is the key. Put on some kickass motivational music of your preference and practice hard, also get involved in some kind of strength exercises as 15 weeks is long enough to take your fitness and stamina to a new level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also lot of people don't know much about proper nutrition and recovery so start gaining some knowledge about it. Whether you run this one or run till you are 80 these insights and knowledge will help in the longer run (pun :P). If you want to master it think like an athlete and eat like an athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T05:25:48.007" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2015-12-22T05:27:26.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run often, 5 miles at a time. I experience this, especially on my right shin. It tightens up after about 1/2 mile. It's not painful, but it's discomforting. Sometimes I can tough it out and run through it, but most of the other times I cannot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it has a lot to do with water retention. I weigh myself before I work out, and after I'm done, to see the difference. When I'm 2+ lbs. heavier than usual, it can happen. If you gain too much water weight, say 4+ lbs., you may experience this. I notice too, that when I drink coffee in the morning and don't urinate often, especially before I go running, it occurs. It's essentially water retention I believe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tip I'd like to add. If you're going to do distance, say 4 miles total, do a mile first, allow your shin(s) to tighten up, and relax for about 10 minutes. Then finish the remaining 3 miles. You will notice a big difference; most of the tightening up, if not all, should have gone away. I do this whenever I experience these shin cramps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18850" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T05:27:26.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28371" CreationDate="2015-12-22T07:36:13.287" Score="2" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, I usually train specifically for maximal strength gains. As my strength has increased, I've trained to lift maximally using a belt. Unfortunately, I recently injured a couple of my floating ribs. Wearing a belt is now intolerable, so I am unable to train specifically for my goals. However, since I'm also currently in my bulking season (thank you, holidays), someone suggested I look into &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophy-specific_Training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypertrophy-specific-training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basics of that protocol (from my understanding) is to perform each lift (or for each muscle group) more frequently, but to have a lower volume per workout (but an equivalent volume for the week). Is this protocol enough to maintain current maximal levels of strength (or minimize their loss), or is there a better protocol to achieve this goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I have seen a doctor for my injury. I was told to merely avoid things that cause pain (so no belt) and to be mindful of my lifting habits. I wasn't told to stop lifting until my ribs heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T18:06:12.940" Title="Is Hypertrophy-Specific-Training Enough to Maintain Maximal Strength Levels?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28368" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-22T13:11:22.900" Score="1" ViewCount="1505" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jy5cC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jy5cC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to build a descent muscular ripped physique at home? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already know that physique achieved at home cannot be compared to the physique achieved at gym by lifting heave weights. But since gym is far far away from my home, financial instability, I cannot go to the gym. And as I have said I really don't have much money to keep buying dumbbells at home for the sake of progression overload, I am only relied to work on bodyweight exercises at home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I stay at a place where there is no park around to workout like the bar brothers, so my home is my only gym. I don't want to look like a massive guy (neither it is possible to be super massive by doing only calisthenics) nor do I want to look too much ripped. I just want to look fairly decent and muscular, a little sculpted body to be flaunted in beach and good arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ask the question in much shorter way, I don't wanna get big like Arnold nor do I just want to be super ripped like Bruce Lee. A physique like hollywood actor Taylor Lautner would be my wish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently 17, weight around 65 kg and height 5'11. Currently, my target is to build a little more mass and look decent physique...a moderate muscular-cum-ripped physique. I dont wanna look skinny! Now I know that Lautner lifted heavy weights for the 30 pound of muscle mass that he gained and I don't have resource to work on weights but I do have some alternatives which i combine with my normal calisthenics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need a good routine and diet!  To work by biceps, I take a backpack and do bicep curls and it gives tremendous pump. I do same for tricep skull crushers, lateral rises for shoulders, weighted push ups, weighted pull ups and weighted squats. I use the bag pack to progress the overload and workout in a gym-ush fashion but at home with bodyweight workouts and other alternate sources of weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my current routine, I work my chest and legs thrice a week and arms, shoulders and lats thrice! A good routine would help me a lot and some suggestions. I dont wish to get very big! A physique like taylor lautner is my goal :) The picture of taylor lautner may depict the physique i want almost like!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18854" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T16:50:06.530" LastActivityDate="2019-09-07T18:42:26.383" Title="How to build a decent muscular ripped physique at home by using only bodyweight exercises?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28367" CreationDate="2015-12-22T13:13:07.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, I would suggest in reading the follwing nice explanantions about the different types of training styles for different goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Hypertrophy: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2017/why-is-muscle-size-not-proportional-to-strength?lq=1&quot;&gt;Why is muscle size not proportional to strength?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OnStrength focused Training (better neronal efficency) aka maximal strength: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7235/neural-adaptation-training-vs-hypertrophy-training?rq=1&quot;&gt;Neural Adaptation Training vs. Hypertrophy Training?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan to do it for a longer period of time, you could see some decrease in your maximal strength output. In that case I would say that you should at least spend two days for covering the basic lifts like Bench, Deads, Squats and Overhead to lift above 85% of you max weight to maintain your strength level.&#xA;There is a protocol covering this: P.H.A.T &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.directlyfitness.com/store/p-h-a-t-training-layne-nortons-workout-system/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.directlyfitness.com/store/p-h-a-t-training-layne-nortons-workout-system/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;that you could use as an example or can give you an idea.&#xA;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T13:13:07.400" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-22T13:25:31.287" Score="5" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga is a very varied way of exercise&lt;/strong&gt; -- e.g., doing Surya Namaskar many times will of course improve one's stamina; most of the yoga asanas will build both strength and flexibility; some will help to develop a better sense of balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Compare these questions: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://health.stackexchange.com/questions/1316/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-yoga&quot;&gt;What are the health benefits of Yoga?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3991/what-are-the-best-benefits-of-yoga-versus-cardio-and-weight-training&quot;&gt;What are the best benefits of yoga (versus cardio and weight training)?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the answer to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://health.stackexchange.com/questions/2014/which-daily-exercise-are-helpful-to-maintain-health-for-long&quot;&gt;Which daily exercise are helpful to maintain health for long?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, &lt;strong&gt;there are certain recommendations the American Health Association gives regarding how often one should work on certain aspects of fitness&lt;/strong&gt;, like moderate cardiovascular training should be done almost every day (5 days a week), while high-intensity muscle-strengthening is recommended only 2 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does yoga fit into that picture?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Considering that yoga is in itself a kind of &quot;cross-training&quot;, how often and how long would one do yoga asanas, in order to improve overall health in the sense the AHA recommends?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what way can one's yoga practice be adapted to meet such recommendations, for instance by leaving some strengh-intensive asanas out for a few days, especially if yoga is practiced on a daily basis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, are there any studies or otherwise noteworthy recommendations on how to arrange one's yoga practice in order to improve overall long-term health (compared to just getting better at doing the yoga exercises as an end in itself, as discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/430/how-can-someone-new-to-yoga-improve-on-their-workout&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18853" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:53:20.273" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T16:48:42.793" Title="How often and how long should yoga be practiced for optimal health benefit?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28367" CreationDate="2015-12-22T18:06:12.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question can be answered by yes and no, depending on the level of your understanding of what strength is. Strength isn't a monotonously increasing quantity, it's a very chaotic variable that goes through deep valleys (when you are overreaching and accumulating a lot of fatigue through high volume training) and high peaks (when you are coming out of a successful &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/08/12/peaking-powerlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;peaking cycle&lt;/a&gt;). There is an excellent blog post by Bryce Lewis called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/05/28/landscape-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Peaks &amp;amp; Valleys&lt;/a&gt; on that very topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most strength athletes spend a massive portion of their time in offseason training (searching for &quot;offseason powerlifting&quot; on Google yields a dozen fascinating results), which is usually hypertrophy specific. Research has shown that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/powerlifters-should-train-more-like-bodybuilders&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the cross-sectional area of a muscle is the most direct predictor of its strength&lt;/a&gt; and thus it stands to reason that increasing its size is the most reliable way to become stronger, in addition to the other benefits that it brings w.r.t health and longevity (bigger muscles can protect your joints in several physical activities, including lifting heavy weights, and help you maintain a leaner physique, which is good for both your lifespan and your quality of life).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, staying a long time in hypertrophy specific training will decrease the strength you can express &lt;strong&gt;at that instant&lt;/strong&gt;. That doesn't mean that your muscles are becoming weaker, just that they adapt to the required demand and the required demand at that instant isn't to lift maximal loads. The strength will come back extremely fast with an appropriate intensification &amp;amp; realization/peaking cycle (do some research on block periodization if you want to learn more about that). You can help this happen faster by still practicing the sports-specific skills on which you would like to express your strength all throughout your hypertrophy cycle (so for instance, if you were training for a powerlifting meet, keeping a large portion of squat, bench press and deadlift along with your bodybuilding exercises during your hypertrophy cycle in order to practice your form with lower weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T18:06:12.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28372" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28376" CreationDate="2015-12-22T19:21:31.177" Score="7" ViewCount="2367" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does it count as a set if you stand up after each repetition during deadlifts (to take a deeper breath and brace more properly) which also includes resetting your grip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: I am training for powerlifting &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2015-12-24T23:38:20.003" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T23:38:20.003" Title="Deadlift: Does it count as a set if you stand up after each repetition?" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28372" CreationDate="2015-12-22T20:24:28.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, depending on your goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resetting your grip &lt;em&gt;likely&lt;/em&gt; takes a bit of time, perhaps a few seconds, perhaps 10 or more. During this time, your hamstrings are (mostly) resting. This changes the results of the exercise somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a hypertrophy standpoint, the more you are 'resting' between reps, the more you're losing a bit of Time-Under-Tension, which means the muscles will have a little bit less stimulus to grow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a strength standpoint, the more you rest the more muscle-fibers will be ready-to-fire, so you'll have more strength to pull with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, if you're taking enough time to reset your grip so that your 5x5 protocol is becoming more of a 1x25 protocol, it's going to change what you get out of your workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T20:24:28.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-22T20:34:05.153" Score="2" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oops! This got longer than what I have intended, so please bear with me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me start off by saying that it's the first time I see a website about fitness where I can hope of receiving empirical answers, instead of the usual knuckle-dragging ones!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm no stranger to fitness, gyms and bodybuilding (although not as sharp as I would like to be on the biological side of things), and have great experience with all considering that in the last 4 years I've transformed into an excellent, healthy physique. However, it is only recently that I've been trying to pin down the most efficient ways of inducing muscular hypertrophy. The internet mostly brought up anecdotal or commercially-influenced evidence, and most papers I've found have been contradictory to one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This led me to turn to auto-experimentation. Each month I would pick a different workout routine and log my results. However, since measuring actual muscle gain is not feasible, the only things I measured were the amounts of soreness I would receive the following day. In other words, my evidence is unreliable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months ago I encountered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/articles/mechanisms_of_muscle_hypertrophy.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; paper published by BRAD J. SCHOENFELD, wherein it explains possible variables that affect muscle growth. To summarize, among many factors, the most practical and relevant seem to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total damage afflicted to the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Amount of metabolic stress during workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Duration of mechanical tension in the muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my understanding, the best way to afflict muscular damage is slow, eccentric movements, therefor allowing assorted fibers to &quot;slip and get torn off&quot; as they extend, as illustrated here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jld8P.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jld8P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best example of doing so is rapidly going UP in a push up, then ever-so-slowly descending down to earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All things considered, I composed a routine: a repeating loop of extremely slow descending, fast ascending push ups until relative exhaustion (usually around half a dozen) followed by an extremely slow descending, fast ascending squats. Repeated indefinitely. Note that there is NO time to rest in between, although after trying this I sometimes give myself 30 to 60 seconds if I feel especially exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a week of waiting, I began this workout. On the first day, I experienced my muscles shaking towards 30 minutes, which is normal after that time of not working out. After I started to automatically drop in the squat section from my legs feeling like noodles, I called it a day. Total workout of around 40 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the next day I felt soreness which you feel after not exercising for a while or for the first time. I skipped this day and the day after it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4th day, felt no muscle shakes towards the end, and eventually stopped due to limbs feeling like noodles after about an hour. On the next day, I felt soreness, yet very marginal and unlike the one described previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like people to take shots at disassembling and disproving my understanding and practice, there are a lot of questions, so I guess it would turn into a discussion or a long answer list. I've heard a lot of talk that you cannot gain muscle (or at least not as much) from only bodyweight exercises, and I must disagree, simply because my half year at the gym was as mundane as my years doing bodyweight exercises. Overall, to clarify, I am always making progress, I am simply always looking to make it more efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are periods of rest between sores necessary at all? How does working out day after day hamper hypertrophy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it advisable to skip the concentric contraction part of the push up/squat routine by using external help, and only relying on eccentric workouts? (slowly descending down, using external help to get up, repeat...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my thought model for inducing damage to the muscle optimal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much of a wild card is the so-called &quot;metabolic stress&quot; from the paper I mentioned? Anyone have any experience or thoughts?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My primary work outs include push ups, squats, pull ups and/or chin ups, and lastly, sprinting. I've been doing these for the last year and a half and witnessed a great increase in muscular size. Pretty void, but can anyone suggest anything to improve?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking forward for answers! Sorry for the lengthy post and any pretentiousness that might have leaked! It would be wonderful if answers would be constructed biomechanically, rather than hocus pocus mike chang anecdotes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18857" LastEditorUserId="18857" LastEditDate="2015-12-23T00:03:22.587" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T00:17:28.677" Title="How far can you go with eccentric body exercises?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28372" CreationDate="2015-12-22T21:37:14.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;John's answer is correct - all in all, it's hypertrophy (TUT) vs strength (rest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wanna add that it's a matter of how long the stoppage lasts, and not the reason that made you stop (as long as you're remaining in the starting position). e.g. resetting your grip is equal to stopping for a breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no definition for how long the bar should lay on the floor between reps, but I'd say that the process of stabilizing yourself in the starting position and start getting up shouldn't take more than 2.5 seconds. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BArzbunIKCg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;'s a very random example I found that represents a good resting time between sets (1.5-2 seconds). When you go really heavy, for a set of 2 or 3 reps, the resting time goes up to 4-5 seconds, as I saw in some pro's videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing to mention, in competitions they perform 1 rep at a time, so for this subject your training habits don't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T21:37:14.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28372" CreationDate="2015-12-22T21:41:50.117" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a &lt;strong&gt;dead&lt;/strong&gt;lift, meaning the weight should be dead on the floor. Touch-and-go or otherwise bouncing around is not a deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I relax my grip and reset on every rep. My hands don't come off the bar, but I open my fingers, ensuring that the weight is indeed dead on the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extra second this adds to each set is negligible and the benefit to ensuring proper form far outweighs any loss. You also need to breathe between reps, and the bottom relaxed position is the perfect spot to dump the air in your lungs, get a nice breath, breath that out, then get another, hold it in, tighten the abs, get your chest up, and pull. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/mark-rippetoe-q-and-a/9166-pause-squat-reps.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are working with enough weight that you need multiple breaths&#xA;  to get each rep, take them, but don't just stand there and pray that&#xA;  the next rep will be easier. If you need 2 or 3 between, take them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for those 2-3 breaths between reps, you have plenty of time to relax your grip, brace for your next lift, and make sure you're lifting clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're deadlifting near your 5RM, your biggest concern should be proper form. If that takes you 1 second, 5 seconds, or 10 seconds, take the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding standing up in between, that might be a bit excessive, but if it's what you require to nail your form, then do it. For me, I don't want to get my hands off the bar and I want to stay mentally in dead-lift mode. When I stand up without a bar in my hand, I'm done with my set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I could see with standing up is that you are probably moving your feet as well, so you'll be fully resetting between each rep. If that's a net positive for you, causing you to have dialed in form, good breathing, and hit your numbers, then by all means stand up. But if standing up is a bit too much of a &quot;break&quot; as it is for me, then it might not be serving you well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-23T22:04:30.070" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T22:04:30.070" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28374" CreationDate="2015-12-22T22:19:01.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I don't think that soreness is measurable nor a tool to estimate your workout efficiency. That being said, yes - your muscles need to recover before you train them again. The resting time recommendation varies, but most trainers recommend 1-2 days of rest after a workout &lt;strong&gt;for the particular muscle groups you worked on&lt;/strong&gt;. Working out the same group of muscle over and over without letting it rest will put you in risk for damaging the muscle themselves, and for damaging tendons/joints due to improper form led by muscular exhaustion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means that a full-body workout is generally limited to 3 times a week while training programs where training sessions are split into muscle groups offer up to 6 days of trainings a week. There is a common advice to have a &quot;deload week&quot; once a 6-8 weeks to let your body some more rest, but I didn't see any research about this advice. Lastly (or firstly), most articles start with the disclaimer &quot;Unless you're not a professional athlete...&quot;, which refers to people who train more than once a day, but as far as I read you don't belong to this group &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the eccentric-concentric part, there are two main assumptions (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cgx2HGR5H8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The eccentric part of the move causes the most damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the eccentric part of the move we are &quot;stronger&quot;, means we can move the same weight easier than in the concentric part.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, for most of the muscle groups it's pretty hard to get to the eccentric part with a challenging weight without cheating in the concentric part (which is okay sometimes). This is a very important subject in the biceps training, where you'll often hear a recommendation to cheat a bit in the concentric part of the curl (using momentum) in order to perform more slow eccentric repetitions. For delts, i.e., you can perform only the eccentric part of the front raise by doing clean &amp;amp; press first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to squats, it indeed causes more damage when performing the eccentric part moderately slow, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's a push movement and the help you can get with momentum is limited.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's one of the main compound movements which in a functional movement (something that demonstrates a real life function), and therefore it's recommended to use it to improve your strength and not only for hypertrophy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About your program, I'd always suggest to stick to some starting program, which can be found easily on the web, in order to get &quot;back to business&quot;. After that, as Arnold said, you need to surprise your body. That means that there's no one optimal training plan, but you have to change it over time, again, and again, and again...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The following figure may answer your question (dashed is concentric):&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QuRQf.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QuRQf.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I don't consider soreness (&quot;tenderness&quot;, in the research) as a tool of measurement, this graph states pretty clearly the influence of both movements: eccentric causes more damage, but concentric does damage as well. To sum it up, when speaking about hypertrophy, I'd say that keeping TUT is more important than avoiding/cheating on the concentric part for more eccentric repetitions, and therefore I choose to slightly cheat on the concentric part using momentum when possible (mainly biceps), but not to avoid them and I also do not cheat on functional exercises (squats, bench presses, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The full research can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13827940_A_comparison_of_the_effects_of_concentric_versus_eccentric_exercise_on_force_and_position_sense_at_the_human_elbow_joint&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastEditorUserId="18858" LastEditDate="2015-12-23T00:17:28.677" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T00:17:28.677" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28368" CreationDate="2015-12-22T23:15:38.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;High intensity interval training (HIIT) is the key and you can do it at home even if you have small space.I recommend buy a nice pullup bar something like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/pull-up-bar/b?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;node=3408471&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/pull-up-bar/b?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;node=3408471&lt;/a&gt; and work on some sort of workout plan. Have a look at feeletics &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.freeletics.com/en?gclid=COnEwqHL8MkCFQxvvAodlXcONw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.freeletics.com/en?gclid=COnEwqHL8MkCFQxvvAodlXcONw&lt;/a&gt; and it's availabe in apple store and google play. If it's not free you can still find tons of HIIT exercises or you could build your own program once you get a hang of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical exercise would be, do one exercise for 45 seconds with high intensity then rest for 15 seconds and move on to the next exercise. Perform 4-5 exercises as one circuit and complete 4-5 circuits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample circuit:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50 pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 chinups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 Jump lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60 mountain climbers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T23:15:38.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28370" CreationDate="2015-12-23T02:24:37.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga has a more holistic approach to good health and well being. Its mind,body and soul and there are no specific program or ideology behind it.Do it as long as you are happy to do and you can physically do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example Sukhasana or shavasana are more to do with meditation, relaxation and has a calming effect on your body. If you are too stressed out or suffer from anxietypanic attack than you can do it 3-4 times a day or whatever you are comfortable with. It's a lifestyle rather than a exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can start your day with Suryanamaskar then nothing like it, also try to repeat the whole suryanamaskar cycle 10 times a day and keep on increasing the cycle. Focus on your breathing,unplug your mind from the daily chaos and practice it daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T02:24:37.627" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-23T03:33:57.197" Score="0" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 14 year old male. I am overweight and weigh about 60 kg. My height is 5feet 5inches . I want to develop muscle and loose fat for which I have bought a pair of fixed dumbbells 3 kg each. Can anyone suggest exercises with these to build muscle and get into shape? Also, are these weights sufficient? I cant do pushups /pullups. Also for how long will I be able to use these? Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18372" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T23:45:36.563" Title="Dumbbell effectiveness" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28381" CreationDate="2015-12-23T04:04:49.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For fat loss and maximum muscle gain you will have to do compound exercises 3-4 times a week combined with proper nutrition. Have a look at this exercise &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jih2uiAhl6A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jih2uiAhl6A&lt;/a&gt;. You can also do the following exercises with dumbbells however you might need some more dumbbells with different weights to target different muscles of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Over Dumbbell row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Flyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arnold Dumbbell Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Alternate Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Alternate Hammer Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Romanian lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just do a google &quot;image search&quot; of the above exercises and you will be able to understand how it performed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combine the above exercises with any kettlebell movement with high intensity and you have a perfect combination for fat loss and muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember when it comes to weigh loss,gym is only 30% rest is nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T04:04:49.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28381" CreationDate="2015-12-23T14:21:00.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to lose weight, you need to be in calorie deficit. According to your parameters, your daily calories intake for functioning is around 1950-2000 per day, so as long as you'll consume less, you lose weight. When performing aerobic training (running, swimming, cycling, etc) you burn more calories and thus your calorie deficit increases. Strength training will also help for two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscles require more calories than fat for maintenance, thus your required intake increases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You burn calories during strength training as well (though much less than in aerobic training).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more parameters to take into account (for example, body adaption), but that's the general idea. You don't have to perform any sports in order to lose weight, but it definitely helps, and has more positive effects on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to develop muscles, you need to stimulate your muscles, cause them damage and thus encouraging your body to support them and make them bigger and stronger. This is also not a simple topic to sum up in one paragraph, but my main suggestion for you is to have a plan. The web is full of beginner's plans, and some of them may be even bodyweight-based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you're not going to the gym, these are (in my opinion) the most essential bodyweight exercises. Each of them has dozens of versions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks (rather than crunches, though you can still do it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a version of each exercise that you're able to perform, preferably at least 8 reps. For example, here's a video of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vsWC6ao_To&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;16 pullup variations&lt;/a&gt;, from easy to insane. Find your level in these variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanna use dumbbells wisely, one set is not enough in the long term. You should build your own set, or, which is much easier, register the nearest gym.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T14:21:00.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-23T17:04:00.067" Score="4" ViewCount="1839" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6105/bench-press-grip-width&quot;&gt;Bench press grip width&lt;/a&gt;, i have noticed that if the width is closer, muscles on my right hand close to my shoulders (sorry as i am unsure what they are called however someone suggested it may have to do with my rotator cuffs) hurt and i am unable to lift as heavily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the width is sufficiently far apart, the pain isn't as acute and i am able to lift heavier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that a closer width bench press targets the chest more effectively however how do i avoid further aggravating the pain, increase strength and build muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18308" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T17:45:52.383" Title="Why does a closed width bench press hurt more than a wide width bench press?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28386" CreationDate="2015-12-23T17:27:56.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have trouble with the close-grip bench press, but you want to target the pectoralis muscles more intensively, I'd suggest you implement some flies into your program instead, while working on your possible injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chest fly can be done with dumbells or cables, and can be done standing up, or lying down on a bench. Alternatively there are machines for this as well, and they're found at pretty much any gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain is likely to stem from poor flexibility in the shoulders. This can be worked on by getting into the habit of properly warming up, and doing some light dynamic stretching before your workouts. Personally, I warm up shoulders and chest by doing shoulder dislocators (which isn't as bad as it sounds), and some arm rotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dislocators look like this. They can alternatively be done with a stick. With a sufficiently wide grip, you won't have any problems with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X6evB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X6evB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T17:27:56.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28386" CreationDate="2015-12-23T22:00:14.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on you not knowing what your shoulder muscles are called, I'm going to take a guess that you're not really doing any shoulder exercises to speak of, or at least over-emphasizing your bench press. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good rule of thumb for shoulder health is to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overhead press&lt;/a&gt; at least as often, and more like twice as often, as you bench press. Additionally, you'll want to be exercising the back of your shoulder (posterior deltoid) via things like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidPosterior/BBRearDeltRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rear delt raise&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bent over row&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the shoulder pain I've seen in the gym traces back to poor shoulder development. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Weaknesses.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EXRX has a good page on common muscular weaknesses&lt;/a&gt;, roughly half of which are related to shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, to fix your bench press, you should look towards your shoulder strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-23T22:06:22.830" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T22:06:22.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18189" CreationDate="2015-12-23T22:58:01.513" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should focus on your primary goal and don't stray away from that. You have a nice 12 week transformation and stick to it and complete that assignment first. it's not easy to change your body like Christian Bale does for his role and at times it can be outright dangerous. Get lean, get fit, get knowledgeable about nutrition and make it part of your daily life. Once you are done with your 12 week transformation then start getting serious about body building, hit the Gym and go for heavy compound exercise, start making diary of your routine and change your routine every 4-6 weeks to beat the plateau and muscle memory. Learn more about human body, physiology etc and set realistic goal like gaining 5 lbs of muscle mass in 6-8 weeks etc. It will require a lot of planning, focus and discipline. Stay motivated and hydrated :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T22:58:01.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28386" CreationDate="2015-12-24T07:53:06.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you asked how to avoid, remove the pain and increasing strength, for the causes I cant really say anything without seeing what you do. The usual suspects are already covered in the answers by Eric and Alec ... flexibility and or weak shoulders and I agree on the recommendations (i personally dont like flys as I dont see much benefits from them).&#xA;I would like to give you some ideas on additional exercises that may help in your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One arm bench press  (heavy) with max ROM &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips with weight  (close and elbows wide)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weighted push ups  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over rows with the same grip with as your bench (try to keep the torso as close to 90° as you can without loosing  form)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strict Military presses  (elbows in front and false grip - makes it more wrist friendly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;band pull aparts  (plenty of them after wprkout)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;face pulls (plenty of them after workout not heavy!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps in getting some ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-24T13:11:30.680" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T13:11:30.680" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-24T09:28:16.077" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle &amp;amp; Fitness &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/explosive-closed-and-open-chain-workouts-mass-gain?page=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most chest and shoulder closed-chain exercises &lt;strong&gt;aren't&lt;/strong&gt; practical for&#xA;  developing strength, so these routines substitute the incline barbell&#xA;  press and barbell overhead press. (emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, a small lady friend sitting on my back while doing push ups works well, gets a nice burn, and feels pretty cool. Now, how to do this without a spotter/partner/lady friend? I thought about throwing plates into a backpack, but that looks awkward. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T11:01:12.857" Title="How to do overloaded closed-kinesthetic-chain pushups without a spotter?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28394" CreationDate="2015-12-24T11:01:12.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups with a weighted west if available  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups with a band (ex. Iron woody bands)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one arm push-ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups with a sandbag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups with chains &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push-ups with a bulgarian bag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increasing the range of motion creates also a kind of overload &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T11:01:12.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28639" CreationDate="2015-12-24T12:41:33.453" Score="6" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do modern dancing and my teacher asked me to lead the warm-up / stretch for the other students before class starts. I know that individuals have different needs and should probably have specialized exercises, but are there general things I could let them do? Something that could benefit everyone without causing injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18873" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T15:50:09.803" Title="General stretches for a group of dancers?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28386" CreationDate="2015-12-24T15:33:41.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that can happen as you bring your hands in is the tendency to shift your shoulders forward to compensate for being in an unnatural position.  That tendency is something that you much not fall in to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have a hand placement that allows &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; to lift the most weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every inch closer or farther apart will diminish your ability somewhat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the extremes, your ability to move the bar diminishes quickly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you know when a hand placement is not good when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your shoulders come off the bench (this is how most bench related shoulder injuries happen)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your forearms can no longer be perpendicular to the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You experience pain with no prior injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get the effects of varying your bench grip without the pain.  As you change the hand position you'll notice that the bar will hit a different area on your chest.  The following guidelines will be good for someone without the experience to know when to go beyond them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will be strongest when the bar is in contact with your body somewhere between your solar plexus and your nipple line at the bottom position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Narrower grips move the bar down your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wider grips move the bar up your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to use a grip that is either narrower or wider than that range, do not force yourself to use full range of motion&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your shoulders back and in contact with the bench at all time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the weight on the bar and go for more reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you feel pain in a position, you've gone too far.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench Press Instructions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the best explanation I've run across is Paul Carter's &quot;Developing Your Raw Bench&quot; series.  He explains body position, bar position, arm position, etc. in greater detail than space provides here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/11/developing-your-raw-bench-part-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Developing Your Raw Bench Part 1&lt;/a&gt;: basics of bench press set up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/12/developing-your-raw-bench-part-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Developing Your Raw Bench Part 2&lt;/a&gt;: discussion of grip and assistance work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2011/12/developing-your-raw-bench-part-3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Developing Your Raw Bench Part 3&lt;/a&gt;: example programming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a little caveat here: I don't support all of Paul Carter's positions, particularly for people relatively new to lifting.  However, his treatment of the bench press as a lift is really spot on and he stays out of dogmatism with this series.  You'll get the most mileage out of the first two articles in the series.  I believe there are videos as well as still pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditDate="2015-12-24T17:45:52.383" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T17:45:52.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28227" CreationDate="2015-12-24T20:06:20.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the reason we usually see mixed results with stretching is that stretching is often used incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching to avoid injury&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you stretch to the ROM you plan on using in an activity, and you have sufficient strength throughout that entire ROM, you prevent strains/pulls.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because the stretch resets the muscle spindles from activating a protective measure for your joints which has the unfortunate side effect of damaging muscle.  As muscle heals easier than joints, it's an evolutionary defense system.  Also, slow stretches won't help if you have fast movement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most folks will do slow then faster action as their warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching that increases odds of injury&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you stretch to a ROM that is greater than the ROM you plan on using in an activity, or to any ROM for which you don't have corresponding muscle strength in that ROM, you destabilize joints and leave yourself open to joint damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short stretches vs. Long stretching sessions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your needs, which is minor ROM increases, cold sessions can work just fine.  Just don't go too fast.  You're mostly resetting your muscles to get out of the shortened positions you get from desk work - stretch hamstrings, get the shoulders back, spinal extensions, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most initial gains in stretching aren't actually lengthening the muscles - it's just getting the muscles to accept the lengthened positions they can normally take by resetting the muscle spindles' &quot;normal length&quot; settings.  For nearly anyone, just getting normal ROMs for daily life can be achieved this way.  Once you get around to exercising again, if you're looking for doing splits or such, then you can start looking at longer stretching sessions as being necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actual muscle lengthening takes a long process, and is usually not needed except for certain athletic specializations.  Aside from the fact that muscle remodeling takes time, the other problem is that if you attempt to force a ROM beyond what the muscles can achieve, you're now stretching tendon.  And unlike muscle, tendon, once lengthened, doesn't return to it's normal size - you end up destabilizing your joints, permanently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7485" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T20:06:20.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13569" CreationDate="2015-12-24T20:28:08.667" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current legs workout for explosive power is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many variations of jumps, for example with weight:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/nikita.kurtin/videos/vb.1061234957/10206658732401249/?type=2&amp;amp;theater&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jump with 10kg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 sets of 10 reps -&gt; Weighted squats (first set with 80kg, and then with 140kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of 10 reps (each side) -&gt; Weighted Lunges with 50kg. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of 5~6 reps -&gt; Weighted pistols (one leg squat) with 15kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in addition to that, since it has great pressure on knees, ankles, etc... I also train balance and static-slow exercises: indo-board squats, slackline &amp;amp; static squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18789" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T20:28:08.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16408" CreationDate="2015-12-24T21:53:41.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pistol a.k.a One leg squat is a great exercise and I suggest the next progression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the beginning you can assist with your hand from the opposite side, that helps with balance and also getting up when you haven't enough strength yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The next step is doing one leg squat, while the second leg is softly touching the floor - the less you assist with it - the closer you get to pistol.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol squat - when previous exercise become easy, you should be able to do a full pistol squat. Lift one leg in front of you and then slowly get down, wait 1 second at the bottom and then get up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted pistol - when normal pistol become easy, you can add some extra weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a video for all those steps:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roQUBRtv-QY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pistol progression&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; There is a common mistake, that many people do. When they get down they just fall down and bounce up. This way they do more reps, but squat become less efficient and increase potential for knees injuries.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18789" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T21:53:41.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28401" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28402" CreationDate="2015-12-24T22:57:07.490" Score="1" ViewCount="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the general fitness measurement for biceps, chest, stomach, hip and soon on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what weight is advisory for 180 cm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18336" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T23:21:20.467" Title="Fitness measurement for appropriate heights?" Tags="&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28401" CreationDate="2015-12-24T23:21:20.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than chasing size, which is largely dependent upon your genetics, you should consider aiming for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength standards&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you are &quot;only training for strength&quot;, you will pack on a large amount of muscle and will do so in a comprehensive way if you use &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a proper training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The BMI standards say that for your height, you should be anywhere from 60-78 kilograms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly than that however, would be focusing on strength standards and body fat. If you can get stronger and stronger while keeping your body fat under 15%, I think you'll find yourself pretty happy with the results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm giving you very generalized advice, but following it for a year will put you in a terrific spot to either go into body building, athletics, or just long term health and fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T23:21:20.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28381" CreationDate="2015-12-24T23:45:36.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With 14 I would not worry about gaining muscle. Just do cardio (running, cycling, swimming) for times up to 1h or more. Start with 20min and work your way up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start building muscle when you are 16-18. Testosterone levels are low at your age which won't yield noticeable results, because building muscle is even in the optimal age range a really slow process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T23:45:36.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28406" CreationDate="2015-12-25T01:43:10.620" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a research project on &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; actually.  I'm already physically active, run half and full marathons, and am involved in dance and Ultimate Frisbee.  BP is good and so is HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'd like to get a device that I can wear to bed, and the reason is that there is a point in time where I can &quot;feel&quot; my HR begin to drop and everything relax, and I'd like to punch a stopwatch off (and then just go to sleep), and then come back and compare the time start with the heart rate history and see how they correlate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18875" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T03:24:04.870" Title="what device will give a history of heart rate (not just current indicator) by the minute" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28404" CreationDate="2015-12-25T03:24:04.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For home use I'm not aware of anything that tracks overnight, and clinically (it would be way overkill as it is a heart tracing monitor) there is a Holter monitor, which monitors your heart tracings and records them for later viewing and analysis. Holters also need a doc to prescribe, if you talk to a cardiologist about why, he may be intrigued enough to participate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T03:24:04.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28407" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-25T06:10:50.527" Score="1" ViewCount="815" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just lost around 35 pounds of fat and now I'm looking towards building some muscle for the summer. I'm 5 11 and around 172 pounds. I've been looking around for some information and I've narrowed my options down to two programs. My goals are primarily to gain some muscle around my chest area; basically have more defined pecks and lose fat around my stomach area and make my stomach area more harder. Better defined biceps are triceps would also be great but not the main focus here. I was focused on Stronglifts 5x5 for a while and it seems like a great program, however I've been hearing that it is more geared towards gaining strength and not necessarily towards gaining a more defined look. The other program that I've found is the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jackedfactory.com/best-chest-exercises-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.jackedfactory.com/best-chest-exercises-workouts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program seems like what I want to do really but I don't know if Stronglifts 5x5 can provide me the same results. I'd rather go with Stronglifts 5x5 simply because of the app and more easier schedule. What would you recommend for me? How about something like Stronglifts 5x5 one day, then rest then pure chest workout and rest and so on and so forth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18878" LastEditorUserId="18878" LastEditDate="2015-12-25T06:37:39.163" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T17:19:08.113" Title="Stronglifts 5x5 or Pure Chest workout?" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-25T06:27:37.963" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing an exercise where I go into deadlift stance with an empty barbell placed a couple feet in front of me so my arms are outstretched. To elaborate, the barbell is far away from my center of gravity and stays that way for the duration of the movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then while staying crouched I do an explosive front lateral raise until the bar is overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I accomplishing by doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18877" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T17:29:29.197" Title="Front lateral raise from deadlift position" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-25T13:29:05.110" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some reason my shoulders are cramped up since last night. Lacking any other probable causes I blame temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I've been having trouble moving both my shoulders for a couple of hours already. What exercises would alleviate the cramp the fastest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18880" LastEditorUserId="18308" LastEditDate="2015-12-26T09:17:59.710" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T02:51:21.697" Title="Exercises to alleviate shoulder cramp" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-06-02T00:14:49.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-25T14:02:23.827" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are tons of apps for keeping track of your running performance, but most of them seem to share data with third parties, which I really don't like!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there apps that respect one's wish for privacy of data but still allows you to track and analyze your runs (distance, time, heart rate etc.)? Ideally all data should be stored on my phone only and then manually exported to a pc/mac...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW. If it matters, I do have a POLAR H7 BLUETOOTH SMART and an iphone 6. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18881" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T01:56:46.403" Title="Looking for iOS (runners) app for tracking GPS &amp; heart frequency WHILE keeping data truly private?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28407" CreationDate="2015-12-25T17:19:08.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really disagree with knocks against strength programs that they don't do anything for size. You simply cannot overhead press your bodyweight, or squat twice your bodyweight, without being big and powerful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never done a curl in over a decade and my arms are bigger than 90% of the people in a gym (which isn't saying much, to be honest). Because although I don't do curls, I do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell row&lt;/a&gt; around 200lb and do 60lb &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/WtUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weighted chinups&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For nearly anyone, and certainly in your situation, I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good barbell program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. Starting Strength is great too, but if you like SL 5x5, go with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intermediate strength standards&lt;/a&gt;. Honestly, until you are at least intermediate in your physical strength, it's just sort of silly to focus on anything else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After you get to intermediate on &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; of the standards (maybe take out the clean, if you really want to), you have a terrificaly balanced training program, a lot of good habits, and a foundation to go into body building, strength competitions, or any form of general athletics. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of gym rats who immediately opt for a body building and they are nearly always the same people a year later with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/3-reasons-youre-stuck-with-chicken-legs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chicken legs&lt;/a&gt;, blown out shoulders, and weak backs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T17:19:08.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28408" CreationDate="2015-12-25T17:29:29.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to avoid this. You're doing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBFrontRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell front raise&lt;/a&gt;, but adding in a ballistic motion with your &quot;explosive&quot; aspect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The front raise is basically a body builder isolation exercise, and with all shoulder activities you want to adhere to strict form given the ease of injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get a bar over your head, learn the (quite complicated) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Snatch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snatch&lt;/a&gt;. With the snatch, the force to get the bar overhead is via the legs and hips, the arms are simply there to act as ropes at the bottom and support struts at the top. Any &quot;lifting&quot; with your arms is bad, as you'll never be able to lift with your arms what you can explode with your hips and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to exercise your shoulders, I highly recommend the seems-easy-but-it's-not &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/overhead-press/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbell overhead press&lt;/a&gt;. This is a very difficult lift which humbles even the strongest people. It's also terrific for shoulder development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T17:29:29.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1116" CreationDate="2015-12-25T22:44:35.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For early runs I find there is no time to digest any foods for a comfortable run so I load up the night before so im not too hungry but the one thing I do recommend is spend some time on the lavatory when you wake up and 'empty' yourself. I find it helps knowing your as light as can be. It may just be a mental thing but whatever helps helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18882" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T22:44:35.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1309" CreationDate="2015-12-26T00:25:33.300" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Work out slowly but not too slow that you barley move after. Also stay hydrated and on a cool but not freezing room. Get on comfortable clothes and keep moving and you'll be just fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18884" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T00:25:33.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-26T00:57:41.963" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a Push, Pull, Legs workout program, why do the arms get two days training whereas the legs only get a single day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The arms are far smaller than the legs so shouldn't there be less emphasis on them? Wouldn't it make more sense to split the legs up over two days, such as upper and lower, or leg push/leg pull or something, and then give one day to arms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T02:11:34.283" Title="In PPL why is twice the amount of sessions dedicated to the smaller limbs?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28416" CreationDate="2015-12-26T02:11:34.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's actually a great question. As a PPL user myself, I think I can shed some light on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, we're not saying &quot;oh yeah, we get to do arms 2 out of 3 days&quot;. We're thinking we need to have one day for chest and triceps (pushing exercises), and then another day for upper back and biceps (pulling exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we do all that in one day, it's gonna be a LONG day. Also, the elbow joint can very easily end up with tendonitis if you do all of that pushing and pulling in one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The knee joint isn't as susceptible to tendonitis, so we can do all those extension AND curling exercises in one day, and not have to worry so much about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, on leg days, we do the heaviest lifts of all, namely the squats and the deadlifts. It's usually recommended to limit these a bit because while your muscles may handle the pressure, all that weight can really take its toll on your lower back, not to mention the central nervous system (CNS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, this is something you can tweak as you get some more experience, and learn how much your own body can take. If you find you'd rather consolidate Push and Pull into one single upper body day, feel free to. Also, if you'd rather do a PPLL split, that's fine too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T02:11:34.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-26T02:34:15.713" Score="3" ViewCount="566" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to improve my deadlifts. One trouble area is the bottom of the deadlift when I just pick up the barbell and my back wants to round--though I resist that. I want to figure out what muscle/muscle group it is that works at the bottom of the deadlift to stabilize the back and prevent it from rounding? I want to find exercises to strengthen those muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9909" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T18:12:09.020" Title="Identify the muscle group associated with back rounding and straightening" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-26T05:39:49.953" Score="2" ViewCount="633" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to an injury to my right knee, it precludes me from activities such as running and jogging as it places considerable strain and intensity which results in pains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since i have gained weight since the accident, i am attempting to lose fat by increasing my heart rate using squats and walking lunges with weights followed by push-ups and mountain climbers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is my current regime&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parallel squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 sets and 10 repetitions - 132 pounds/60 kilograms of parallel squats supported by a bench. I used the bench to signal squatting depth as well as to prevent further injury to my knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vB4yD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vB4yD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking lunges&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 sets - 38 pounds/17 kilograms similar to the form &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OYsCRAb5c4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The distance varies. The way i measure this is approximately 10 steps in total. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 sets and 10 repetitions of diamond push-ups followed by 30 second mountain climbers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 sets and 10 repetitions of decline push-ups followed by 30 second mountain climbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am however unsure if this is an effective way to lose body fat and build muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that diet plays a critical role and am attempting to cut back on sugars including natural such as fruits. I have however found that this is resulting in a loss of energy. My diet mostly consists of vegetables and legumes and as little white rice i can get away with. I don't take other carbs such as breads, pastas, etc. I also limit the intake of cheese and creams e.g. coconut. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been pointed out that my post may be a duplicate of the post on the differences &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss&quot;&gt;between aerobic an anaerobic exercises&lt;/a&gt;. I would like to point to the specific question of whether the exercises i am performing will help lose fat as opposed to the differences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18308" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T20:51:43.290" Title="Can exercises such as squats, lunges and push-ups replace running and jogging to lose fat?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28420" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28421" CreationDate="2015-12-26T05:45:53.450" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having watched videos such as those by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/JDCav24&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Athlean-x&lt;/a&gt;, the common theme appears to be progressive overload while increasing repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, someone I met seems to be doing the exact opposite however, and he has gained considerable mass and a leaner body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His regime is as follows (generalized):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15 minute cardio - either incline walk or run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets/20 repetitions of bench presses, dumb-bells, etc with no overload i.e. For example, he simply lifts 132 pounds/60 kilograms when performing a bench press and does not progressively overload.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do appreciate everyone is different, however I don't find it easy when there appear to be so many variations to the advice and recommendations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the rule of thumb or what is recommended as being the best approach when you are wanting to lose weight and gain muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18308" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-28T16:47:27.850" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T16:47:27.850" Title="Conflicting advice regarding sets and repetitions including progressive overload" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28420" CreationDate="2015-12-26T08:37:11.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please do not make the mistake in becoming a 'template hopper', just stick to your SL 5x5 program you started and stay with it for as long as you see progress. You will gain muscle and even loose fat if your diet is clean. Dont look at what the others may have done and use their regime as everybody is different. What works for him might not work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eric Kaufmann has given you a nice answer and advice on one of your questions about pec-specific training.&#xA;I could write some magic-fat burning-turn-you-in to hulk-program... in 30 days.&#xA;But that would be a lie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only general rule of thumb I personally can give you, and this is the only regime that works: Eat clean, train hard, dont miss a training session and the most difficult. .. be patient. The results will come, it just takes some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do some swimming or prowler work for additional 'fat burning' boost  between your training days but remember that rest and recovery is as important as training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-26T13:31:47.383" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T13:31:47.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24151" CreationDate="2015-12-26T09:24:13.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a brand called WODfitters which make those bands and other mobility related equipment. I got them from Amazon with the same intention as you, to use them with mobilitywod.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also be able to get a pair of lacrose balls stuck together (called the peanut) as an alternative to the gemini used on mobilitywod.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18834" LastEditorUserId="18834" LastEditDate="2015-12-27T12:27:50.997" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T12:27:50.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28419" CreationDate="2015-12-26T10:42:10.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes they can, I even would recommend doing them as a circle and shortening the rest period. ex. One set squat one set push ups one set lunges - rest 60secs and repeat. You might want to have a look at barbell complexes in addition for some more combination ideas... ex: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/screw-cardio-four-complexes-for-a-shredded-physique&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/screw-cardio-four-complexes-for-a-shredded-physique&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T10:42:10.503" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-26T20:17:09.600" Score="5" ViewCount="11409" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it recommended to be able to do 10 pullups before adding weight? I never really understood that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18475" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T00:43:17.560" Title="When to start weighted pullups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-26T21:28:32.613" Score="0" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Height/weight/age: 6'1 (185 cm) /200 lbs (90kg) / mid 20s (Have been working out seriously for at least 7 years, but martial arts/gymnastics, etc all my life, though my numbers are crap)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I need to add another day to my split - A/B/C, instead of A/B. Right now my routine looks like this (feel free to skim or skip to last part of post):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both A and B:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 minute warm up - stuff like arm and neck circles, etc&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 miles run @ 9 min/miles  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A (not necessarily in order):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 x 18 push ups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 18 hanging knee raises (for abs, legs bent)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4 x 15 second L-seat holds&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 6 bench @ 185 lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 x 8 barbell row @ 145 lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 10 &quot;stationary&quot; lunges (no step forward)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 x 6 pull ups/chin ups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5 x 6 OHP @ 135 lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 40 &quot;reverse toe raises&quot; (lean on wall, raise toes, for shins, opposite of calf raises)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 18 calf raises @ 30 lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4 bodyweight exercises for back/glutes that I use to make up for deadlifts, high reps or high time static holds + planks (e.g. supermans, alternating supermans, etc)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 8 single leg extension @ 50 lbs (on leg extension machine)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3 x 8 single leg flexion @ 50 lbs (also on machine)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stuff I am not doing but absolutely have to:&#xA;Glute bridges / other stuff for glutes/hams - I have lordosis, but I am positive it's due to hip flexor inflexibility rather than abdominal weakness (at least that's my guess since I can hold L-seats and such fine), but maybe I need to add more ab work, just always seemed...vain, but then I realized all the leg raise stuff I have been doing is mainly flexors, not abs.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem: I now workout every 3-4 days, so AxxxBxxxA or AxxBxxA. More commonly, the former. To me, that seems like a ridiculously long time between workouts. I used to do AxBxA. So, it seems that I need to split more so I am back to AxBxC or AxxBxxC. Running isn't holding me back btw, I just don't recover fast enough from the lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, looking for advice on how to split this up into A/B/C and any glaring deficiencies in my program. I won't squat or deadlift until I get the lordosis **** fixed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for any suggestions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18891" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T16:57:46.090" Title="Re-Evaluating Routine: Likely A/B --&gt; A/B/C split" Tags="&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28425" CreationDate="2015-12-27T00:43:17.560" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people treat pullups like some kind of special exercise where reps, sets, and weights are somehow on a different plane of existence and doesn't obey all the rules of fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's no different than any other exercise. You will increase your strength no matter what your rep range is, but you will increase your strength more if you do &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3095/where-should-our-legs-be-when-we-do-pull-ups-or-chin-ups/21014#21014&quot;&gt;weighted ones&lt;/a&gt; in the 3-6 range, get more hypertrophic results in the 6-10 range, and get more muscular endurance in the 10-18ish range. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what are your goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do think it's important to have the muscular endurance to do &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25909/will-chin-ups-hit-my-lats-or-biceps-more/25920#25920&quot;&gt;pullups (or chinups)&lt;/a&gt; in the 10-ish rep range. But honestly if you can do 5 weighted pullups with a 25lb plate chained to you, doing 10 with just your bodyweight will be cake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, regarding one of your comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It usually takes me 30 minutes of rest between sets of 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a lot of rest, like basically multiple workouts. Not that that's a bad thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;official strength standard&lt;/a&gt; but I think there's a bit of wisdom to the idea that 3x10 (or 3x12) chinups/pullups is a good idea. Pullups/chinups are multi-joint exercises affecting the back, trunk, shoulders, and arms. Having muscular endurance in that department is akin to be able to run a mile: it's just a handy thing for a human being to be able to do. For a variety of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, introducing weighted pulls/chins &quot;early&quot; isn't going to do anything but help. Just don't ignore the value and significance of the exercise for developing muscular endurance as well. In a year or two if you can't do 3x12 with a minute in between, you're probably missing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T00:43:17.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2015-12-27T06:35:12.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no general rules as such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get toned muscular arm u need to focus on what u are doing. Set your self a goal. If u want to have a muscular arms then concentrate on reps and sets and weight u are using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To begin with try &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beginner level&#xA;4 sets with dumbbells&#xA;1st set 4 kg 10 rep&#xA;2nd set 4 kg 10 rep&#xA;3rd set 4 kg 10 rep&#xA;4th set 4 kg 10 rep &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;once u get the technique and posture right ,We advance into next level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intermediate level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 sets with dumbbells&#xA;1st set 4 kg 10 rep&#xA;2nd set 6 kg 10 rep&#xA;3rd set 8 kg 10 rep&#xA;4th set 10 kg 10 rep &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;do this until u have attained the final objective of 10&#xA;kg 10 rep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;advance level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 sets with dumbbells warm up level to get that blood flowing into your vains&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1st set 4 kg 15 rep&#xA;2nd set 6 kg 15 rep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3rd set would be your best weight, with which u can do 10 rep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4th set would be slightly heavy to challenge your self for your personnel best of 10 reps with next heavy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure u rest in between sets for about 90 sec, Proper breathing technique posture, positives ( when u are lifting up ) and negative ( when u are bringing your weight down ), make sure you are not cheating while lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If u can log your proress using excel sheet on a day to day basics and compare it with your weight recorded on daily basis u can analyse how things have improved and u may want to push it more further&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T06:35:12.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28420" CreationDate="2015-12-27T12:43:58.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no certain rules/methods to be considered &quot;ideal&quot;. Each of the recommendations you see in videos &amp;amp; articles are based on research assumptions that may conflict (for example, progressive overloading means a very proper warmup and preparation for the final sets, but in contrast you may &quot;waste&quot; too much energy in these mid sets), but still most of them make sense, so the best way to test them is by trying and seeing if it's good for you (calculable gains as well as your general feeling). As long as you're satisfied with your program's results, in numbers and in the mirror, keep going, and keep in mind that results should be tested in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the rule #1 of dedication (diet and training), I follow a general recommendation by Arnold who says that you basically need to &quot;surprise&quot; your body since it gets used to your sessions over time. It means that you should change your plan and methods from time to time, sometimes the exercises order, sometimes the weight/reps for a set and sometimes the whole program. One of his videos where he mentions this can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9zCgPtsups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T12:43:58.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28435" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-27T20:54:37.103" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title says all, I'm a &lt;strong&gt;male&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;5%&lt;/strong&gt; body fat, &lt;strong&gt;18 years&lt;/strong&gt; smoker that is already struggling to eat enough to &lt;strong&gt;earn muscle with minimal fat gain&lt;/strong&gt; on a &lt;strong&gt;clean bulk diet&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(relying on supplements only when can't fulfill my needs and no junk food)&lt;/em&gt; but I also practice martial arts and my cardiovascular system can't keep up to my necessities. I can get out of breath like when you run a lot just by doing legs or abs exercises and doing too much heavy exercises without rest between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So which exercises would have the &lt;strong&gt;best ratio&lt;/strong&gt; of calorie spent to improvement on cardio measurements such as &lt;strong&gt;VO2 max&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or in other words, which HIT will be the most &quot;hard&quot; to my heart and lungs with less calories spent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure must be any studies, empirical evidence or hard data comparing the results of many HIT training methods, to see which is most effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Observations&lt;/strong&gt; : Ideally I would like to spend at most &lt;strong&gt;20-30 minutes&lt;/strong&gt; for this 3-4 a week, the less the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goals :&lt;/strong&gt; My first goal is muscle growth. I'm on a gray area about working on &lt;strong&gt;muscle growth&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;fat control&lt;/strong&gt;, and at same time improving my cardiovascular system, that's why I'm asking here, its essential to know things like to build a routine that's optimal according to my goals and desires and that is not at odds with others goals. I'll measure how long I can keep my heart rate at 80% and my &lt;strong&gt;V02 Max&lt;/strong&gt; weekly. ( I appreciate any tips on better measurements I could use) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15362" LastEditorUserId="15362" LastEditDate="2016-01-05T04:04:34.730" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T15:06:05.620" Title="Best exercises to improve cardiovascular system in relation to calorie spent?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-28T02:38:36.300" Score="2" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a lady in her mid-30s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before marriage in 2012 I was 5'4&quot;, 115 lbs, had a 34&quot; chest, a 26&quot; waist, and 37&quot; hips&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2014, I had a miscarriage after 12 weeks, and the weight stayed on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my weight is 145 lbs. I have a 36&quot; chest, a 30&quot; waist, and 40&quot; hips. For the past two months I have done following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning&lt;/strong&gt;: 16.9 oz bottle of water. 12 minute meditation, 48 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofliving.org/us-en/yoga/yoga-poses/sun-salutation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Surya Namaskars&lt;/a&gt;, Few inversion exercises. Then 16.9 oz of lemon water&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt;: Fruits, Egg in Olive Oil (with black pepper), Once Slice Whole Wheat Bread, Juice, Multivitamin, Fish oil, 24 peeled almonds after they've been soaked.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mid-Morning&lt;/strong&gt;: Green Tea   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Afternoon&lt;/strong&gt;: Coffee (tall Pike roast in grande cup, 4 inches for half-and-half, ZERO SUGAR), One slice whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter, 3 walnuts, 3 cashews, 3 pistachios&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mid-Afternoon&lt;/strong&gt;: Salad (no dressing), Yogurt with little salt and pepper&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Late-Afternoon&lt;/strong&gt;: Peppermint or Chamomile Tea&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt;: One whole avocado (mashed), with chopped onion, garlic, hot green pepper on slice of whole wheat bread.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before sleep&lt;/strong&gt;: One cup of warm milk with turmeric, cinnamon, cacao, NO SUGAR. 12 minutes of meditation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very upset that my stomach is not losing inches. It has been two months. I just visited my doctor, and all blood levels are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I resolve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Update&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forgot to mention I also eat 24 peeled, and previously soaked almonds each morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Update 2&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's relevant, obesity runs in our family (along with the related illnesses), and I've been known to have slow metabolism (cannot eat a few cookies without gaining weight), even when I was a little kid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-28T16:16:01.783" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T16:16:01.783" Title="Difficulty losing inches" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="12" ClosedDate="2015-12-28T19:00:05.200" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28439" CreationDate="2015-12-28T09:34:42.793" Score="1" ViewCount="1886" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out at home for a few months with mostly successful results. I just came back from a shoulder injury that I'm pretty sure was caused by improper form in both bench press and dips: I was pushing my shoulders forward during the movements instead of pulling them backwards having a scapular contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to come back to the gym after my injury and this time I'd like to make sure that I don't mess my body up again doing anything wrong. At this point, it's not completely clear to me if I should have a scapular contraction while bench pressing only, or also while doing dips, OH press, DL, rows, and pretty much any exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, is there any exercise where having a scapular contraction is actually advised against?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T21:46:24.943" Title="Scapular contraction: should I always do it?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28438" CreationDate="2015-12-28T12:01:35.993" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is you want your shoulder in a neutral position.  That doesn't necessarily mean full scapular retraction, but it's a cue that helps a lot of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering your level of experience, and the fact you came off of injury I would advise you to use that scapular retraction, but only to the point where your shoulder is in a neutral position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple caveats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips adds a vertical dimension you have to protect against.  Engage your lats, and keep the shoulder socket neutral.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts you can get to a point where you can lift more than you can fully retract your shoulder blades.  I wouldn't get too dogmatic on that lift.  On these, focus more on engaging your lats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's less about the scapular retraction than it is keeping the ball socked of the shoulder in the middle of the joint.  Retracting the scapula is easier to understand than engaging your lats on a number of these lifts, but I do find that more effective as the weights get heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T12:01:35.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28438" CreationDate="2015-12-28T16:50:02.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dont think that there is a general approach, there are some practical advices and each person need to test the effiziency and benefit of them.&#xA;Here are some recommendations that I follow, they might help you too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I contract while benching the whole movement through as I feel more stable,  I also focus on keeping the shoulders low (away from the ears)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;While Overhead pressing I contract only on the upper half of the press during the locker out and try to have my biceps as close to my ears as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;while deadlifting I only focus on having the breast up and the lats contracted to have the spine in a 'natural' position as much as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;during barbell rows I contract at the upper part of the movement as closer the bar to my breast I contract&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;for dips I actually focus only on keeping the elbows close to my body and not going down more then 90° as I am more keeping my body errect so my shoulders dont get any problems but I dont think that a scapulae contraction makes sense here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from my point of view it makes sense for all Overhead movements and flat benching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2015-12-28T16:56:35.327" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T16:56:35.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-28T19:39:36.550" Score="2" ViewCount="417" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are an ab wheel and plank exercises a good replacement for the good old but boring crunches? What effects are better and what it cannot replace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18779" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-29T00:08:50.170" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T03:46:45.257" Title="Can ab wheel replace crunches?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28419" CreationDate="2015-12-28T20:51:43.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question is Yes.  However, having said that, it's a little more complicated than just substituting an exercise.  You'll need to determine your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hanford.gov/health/?page=112&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;target heart rate&lt;/a&gt; for an effective fat burning workout.  And since &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/453845-ways-to-lose-weight-without-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle burns more calories than fat&lt;/a&gt;, adding a strength training program to build muscle should help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, now, the hard part.  I think you'll find you need to perform the exercises you've indicated in a slightly different way.  For example, adding strip sets or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_set&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;drop sets&lt;/a&gt; should help keep your heart rate elevated.  You may also want to try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/fat-busting-superset-workout-0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Supersets&lt;/a&gt;.  However you decide to structure your training, the goal should be to keep your heart elevated enough to burn fat.  A good heart rate monitor should help with that.  Of course, all of this means nothing if you do not maintain a clean, healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T20:51:43.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28445" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-29T02:25:55.603" Score="0" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;As part of my regime to build muscle, develop strength and lose fat, i am progressively loading weights as part of each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, once sufficiently warmed up, a bench press set looks as follows. Each set encompasses 10 repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45 pounds/20 kgs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;66 pounds/30 kgs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;88 pounds/40 kgs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;99 pounds/45 kgs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;110 pounds/50 kgs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when i start hitting 110 pounds/50 kgs, my muscles are tiring however i'll attempt to try and get as may repetitions e.g. 5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll then drop back to 99 pounds/45 kgs and attempt to get an additional 10 repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this affect the goal of building muscle, losing fat and developing strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does it affect muscle recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18308" LastEditorUserId="18308" LastEditDate="2015-12-29T18:28:21.563" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T21:56:55.083" Title="Does loading and unloading weight help build muscle, lose fat and develop strength?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28442" CreationDate="2015-12-29T03:42:16.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ab-wheel and products like it can give you much faster results than crunches and sit-ups alone. I would advise that you have to have almost perfect form when using wheel type products and must hold your abdominal muscles tight when pulling and pushing as well as focusing on maintaining a solid posture and working slowly. It is easy to hurt yourself when using these types of aides, I would not recommend them if you are not already in fairly decent shape with good to very strong arms, chest walls, abdominal muscles and supporting lower back musculature. They can be very challenging, consider first a sit-up bench. They are designed for ergonomics and with some care taken can easily give you the same results as well as offering the options to add weight on your chest or in your hands and being able to target &quot;spare tires&quot;. &#xA;As far as planking goes if you are not attempting very dangerous places to plank then it is always a good exercise for any spare time. I find in between television programs and during commercials its a good time killer. Always keep your core tight, back straight, and work on breathing and maintaining as long as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18905" LastEditorUserId="18905" LastEditDate="2015-12-29T03:46:45.257" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T03:46:45.257" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28627" CreationDate="2015-12-29T10:09:25.973" Score="3" ViewCount="8157" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last few years, I have found that if I don't exercise regularly, especially movements where my back is involved, I'm experiencing back pain and stiffness in the morning after waking up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that it's probably related to my age and due to structural exhaustion from heavy manual labour to some point, but it would be interesting to know why only in the morning and why it is gone if I do my Deads and presses regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-13T18:17:44.330" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T23:15:54.093" Title="Back pain and stiffness if not working out regularly" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28426" CreationDate="2015-12-29T16:57:46.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common 3-day split is PPL (Push, Pull, Legs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push - Presses (Bench, OHP, etc...)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pull - Rows (Pull ups, Cable rows, BB rows, etc...) &amp;amp; Flys (DB flys, Cable flys)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Legs - Leg exercises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the exercises you have listed, this is what it might look like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Push&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push ups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bench Press&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Dips&lt;br&gt;&#xA;OHP&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tricep extentions     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Pull&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell row&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Deadlift (or your deadlift substitutes)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pull ups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cable row&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Curls&lt;br&gt;&#xA;L-sits      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Legs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Leg Curls&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Calf Raises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Lunges&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Leg Flexions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally add a warm-up jog before, and a higher paced run to end the workout.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: this can be scaled up in frequency per week, just repeat the order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18914" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T16:57:46.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28410" CreationDate="2015-12-29T19:34:51.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strava should cover all these items. You choose to only share data you want to share&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.strava.com/privacy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.strava.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also has HR monitors that will work with your iPhone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I share all my data but you can keep everything private if you want. There is a free and a paid version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.strava.com/athletes/1946042&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.strava.com/athletes/1946042&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T19:34:51.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2015-12-29T21:56:55.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I've read about this topic, your method (called a triangle) is considered useful for hypertrophy, but your descending pyramid (the second part) should be taken to muscle failure on every set. This way, the ascending pyramid is considered a warmup and then you get to a few sets that do challenge you while letting you perform a decent amount of reps, unlike a fixed weight to-failure sets where you may find yourself reaching failure too early in the set withing a set or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned, it's good for building muscles, but I don't think that this method affects fat loss in some particular way. Obviously you can add it to a superset or a triset and then things are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T21:56:55.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28352" CreationDate="2015-12-29T21:58:21.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you should make sure you are not over doing in in your training, but having said that if your long run is at 13 miles then yes you can do a Marathon in 15 weeks. Ideally you want 16-18 weeks for training, but if you are already running 13 miles in sub 2 hours you are in decent shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should look at a Marathon training plan with a goal of around 4 hours. Look at you 1/2 marathon time and punching in the numbers &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&lt;/a&gt; you should finish in 4:02 which is a respectable number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You only need to remember that 13 miles is much easier than 26 miles and you really learn how you feel after 20 miles. (The real half way point!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at this plan, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51142/Marathon-Advanced-2-Training-Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51142/Marathon-Advanced-2-Training-Program&lt;/a&gt; then you are already a quarter of the way there. Just be careful not to ramp up you milage to quickly or you could get injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to practice you fueling and hydration during your weekend long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T21:58:21.180" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-29T23:46:57.297" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is this idea I just heard/read about, in particular running, where after you've completed a distance run you can reduce post-exercise fatigue by immersing your legs in water (hot or cold) thereby exerting a hydrostatic pressure on the legs and redirecting blood flow in the sore area back to the core. This process claims to allow for rapid recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I found interesting is that the pressure was more important than the temperature, although the temperature is important. I then wondered if there was a way to increase the pressure on the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone here have any experience using denser liquids or perhaps pressurized boots or another post-exercise recovery treatment for sore ankles? Would suction cup therapy exacerbate the soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18917" LastEditorUserId="18917" LastEditDate="2016-01-07T22:45:26.163" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T06:29:51.537" Title="Immersion Pressure Healing for Post-Exercise Soreness" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-30T01:09:01.553" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a machine in my apartment's gym that is similar to this:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/LVNarrowGripSeatedRowH.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/LVNarrowGripSeatedRowH.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that muscles around ** where the medium and lower trapezius are (possibly those muscles themselves) tend to tire much faster than my lats and are sore more the next days. I don't feel I'm getting a good lat workout because of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Any tips to use more lats and less of the muscles around that area? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps at all, my goals aren't muscle building or health perse. My main goals are to get thinner and smaller in most of my body except get a V shape from wider lats and shoulders. So if I lost fat and all of my muscles got smaller except lats, maybe upper pecs, and medial/rear delts which I hope to make bigger that would be great. There are benefits to being lighter on your feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18876" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T16:36:49.067" Title="How to use less upper back in weighted machine rows?" Tags="&lt;back&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28454" CreationDate="2015-12-30T02:47:21.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to target the lats specifically, try switching to pulldowns instead of rows. Rows are more of a compound exercise whereas pulldowns, especially wide grip, will target the lats. You can also try wide grip pullups for the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're simply going for aesthetics, this should be fine, but realize that you may end up causing muscle imbalances that can cause posture and other health problems down the road. It's always a good idea to choose compound exercises in order to make sure all the muscles are exercised to avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to stick with the rows, but add the pulldowns to target the specific muscles you want. Don't neglect your chest either - exercise both the pull and push muscles to avoid back problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T02:47:21.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28460" CreationDate="2015-12-30T02:52:49.447" Score="1" ViewCount="1477" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my mother got me a copy of Mark Lauren's &lt;em&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/em&gt; book, and I'm trying his workout plan. For the first week, everything is done as &quot;ladders&quot; where the plan is to do one rep, rest, two reps, rest, etc, until you've hit a number of repetitions where you feel failure might happen in subsequent sets, then do n-1 and so on down to one rep. He says that the rest period should be equal to the work period in length, and the ladder should take 7.5 minutes (if you finished a ladder before then, you start back at 1). The thing is, I was trying it with pushups and I barely made my way through two repetitions of the ladders (first time, with a high of five and the second one with a high of three) before my arms were rubbery enough that I couldn't get a single rep in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since each pushup was taking only a little more than a second, the rest periods were short too. I didn't even feel like I could exit the push-up position without running out of time. Should I be taking more time in between? Only count the time from when I'm out of position? Should there be rest periods in between ladders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know he has various DVDs and an app for his program, but I'm loathe to put more money in if the answer is simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-03-09T20:19:02.377" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T20:19:02.377" Title="Failure in ladder exercises - Am I misunderstanding rest periods?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;you-are-your-own-gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-30T04:46:33.303" Score="3" ViewCount="652" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a nationally competitive athlete, so I workout up to 7 times a week. I'm perfectly healthy and don't have any injuries. I also don't have any unusual pain while I workout, other than muscle fatigue (which is to be expected). I took last week off from training for the holidays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went for an easy hike today with a friend and towards the end my thighs started to burn and itch, almost as if I had some kind of wind burn or something. Seeing as I had pants on and it was 60 degrees out, that seems like an unlikely cause. This isn't the first time this has happened, and it only ever happens when I go for a walk, but it doesn't happen every time. It begins to cease as soon as I stop exercising. If I try to push through the pain it only gets worse and worse until I give up. Anyone know why this might be, or how I can stop it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18919" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T15:44:42.710" Title="Why do my legs burn when I go for a walk?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;burn&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-30T07:41:50.010" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a pullup bar and don't intend to get one at my current apartment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the apartment hand is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2io6M.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2io6M.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pull-down machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except it has two separate unconnected handles instead of a close grip handle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from using less weight, what are some things you can do in terms of positioning/the way you pull to use &lt;strong&gt;less&lt;/strong&gt; abs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really intend to work abs/core and don't want to make them bigger for aesthetic reasons - I never get lean enough to show them anyway and just want a smaller midsection overall and larger lats for a more v look &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently when I do this exercise, I almost always end up using some abs/core. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe does facing the other way help? Pulling the shoulders back? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps at all, I usually use unconnected handles and pull downward in a neutral grip for both hands- I'm going to use this position and won't be doing underhand chinup or wide grip for no other reason than I just like how a neutral position feels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18876" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2015-12-30T16:10:36.490" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T16:10:36.490" Title="How to use less abs/core in this exercise?" Tags="&lt;core&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28456" CreationDate="2015-12-30T08:06:20.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the reason is how you perform the push-up. You can do them as a Martial Artist and you are focusing on quick burst with near zero resistence on the 'down' movement or you see this as a strength and body building exercise where you focus on where the muscles have a longer time under tention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you should do your push-ups in a controlled motion ex. all the way with the same tempo  (you can force yourself slowing down if you try to pull your hands together during a rep)&#xA;or&#xA;You can do them explosively on the way up but slow (two second or more) when going down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general I personally prefer the second one with YAYOG and I tend to do the rest by feel ex. when the hardest burn inside the muscles stops I continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T08:06:20.710" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-30T11:06:20.837" Score="4" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm absolutely new to fitness and want to start exercising. So which should I start first? I want to build lean masculine body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18923" LastActivityDate="2020-02-08T19:45:05.960" Title="Cardio or Strength training?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28476" CreationDate="2015-12-30T12:14:34.223" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though shape of pectorals are purely genetics. Few Body Builders suggested me to do Incline Presses and Flyes for building squarer chest. &#xA;Are there any scientific evidence or research to to prove this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T16:22:57.190" Title="Incline Presses and Flyes for squarer chest" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24585" CreationDate="2015-12-30T12:17:29.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be done but it's not sustainable, particularly on the amount of calories consumed. 2 x 90 minute sessions would be the better alternative and as mentioned after you've built up to that point and it should be in the final stages of your &quot; cycle &quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cardio is that intense you will just burn muscle however and again, particularly for the mount of calories you're talking about having.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slow and steady. There is no quick fix. But when the time comes go nuts on the workouts as in go hard &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18925" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T12:17:29.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28459" CreationDate="2015-12-30T15:10:18.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than bracing your midsection, you shouldn't be using abdominals at all in that exercise unless your form is very poor. The abdominals main function is to either curl the upper torso towards the hips, or to curl the hips towards the chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big violator in either of those exercises is usually the lower back extensors, as people lurch backwards to gain momentum, mostly because they are trying to use too much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To minimize extra muscle involvement and place the most stress on the target muscles, use proper weight and strict form. Your upper body/torso should move minimally during the exercise. If you find yourself having to use your body to start/complete the movement, then you are using too much weight. Don't fall into the trap of having to have as much weight as possible, lower weight with strict form is much more effective than huge weight using momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T15:10:18.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28461" CreationDate="2015-12-30T16:48:47.260" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both cardio and strength training can be an excellent way to improve your physique, it all depends on what you like to do. Lean muscular body mass can be done by doing cardio for say 30 minutes a day and focus on 45 minutes of moderate to intense strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first start out with light weight until you get a feel of the weight, you can then gradually increase weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not a big fan of cardio, you can try decreasing rest intervals with strength training keeping the rest between sets to around a minute, this works well letting you burn fat and increase muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One training method I have implemented recently myself that has helped me not only drastically increase strength, it has also helped me increase lean muscle mass. It has been practiced by famous bodybuilders like Mike Mentzer and Dorian Yates, its called &lt;a href=&quot;http://steroidreviewer.com/high-intensity-training-hit/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HIT training&lt;/a&gt;, also known as &quot;high intensity training&quot;. The important thing is regardless of what training method you decide to adopt is to be consistent and you will achieve your gains, it just takes time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18928" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T16:48:47.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28466" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28467" CreationDate="2015-12-30T18:23:02.390" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started pilates (on machines) with the intent of reversing my 'computer posture'.  y arms rotate inward, and my shoulders slope forward.  This is a well-known problem that comes from using computers for too much time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've finished 4 pilates sessions.  It seems like we focus on front muscles, like the stomach, and not as much on back muscles, which are what I'm hoping to fix.  The last thing I want to do is make the front muscles tighter by working them out, and ignoring the back muscles.  Is the issue that we've just begun (fourth session)?  Do I simply fail to see the work the pilates sessions are doing on my 'computer posture' affected muscles?  Or, is pilates simply not good for computer posture?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T19:43:48.403" Title="Efficacy of pilates for fixing 'computer posture'" Tags="&lt;pilates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28466" CreationDate="2015-12-30T19:43:48.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any worthwhile pilates endeavour will ultimately strengthen your entire core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's easy to forget that a lot of abdominal work also engages the entire core, which includes muscles in the lumbar region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question; I believe that either you're &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;too early in your pilates journey, and are still learning more basic movements, or&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;not aware of the entire scope of the exercises, and misinterpreting what they're good for&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yes, pilates is absolutely a good place to work on fixing bad posture due to extended periods of sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T19:43:48.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28457" CreationDate="2015-12-31T05:20:34.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's generally referred to as &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://share.upmc.com/2015/03/prevent-runners-itch-save-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;runner's itch&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's caused by &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capillary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;capillaries&lt;/a&gt; in your skin being flushed with blood that they're not used to. Generally, it occurs in people who go for strenuous runs, hikes, or walks, when they're not conditioned to that type of workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what kind of national athlete you are, but I'm guessing that distance running (or really running in general) isn't part of your training program. If you do run frequently and still experience it, you might want to look at your clothing for some type of allergen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2015-12-31T15:44:42.710" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T15:44:42.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-31T06:56:45.573" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read many times, keeping track or keeping daily journal entries helps you stay motivated. However, I always find it hard to keep journaling hard alone. Can anyone knows a platform where I can keep my fitness journal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18923" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T17:40:11.170" Title="Can anyone please suggest a decent online community to keep track of daily fitness?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28479" CreationDate="2015-12-31T10:48:14.677" Score="8" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am puzzled as to why, during strength training, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/how-to-breathe-during-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;I need to exhale when I am using most force&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’re using strength training machines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start exhaling at the beginning of the movement – as you pull or push&#xA;the weights away from the weight stack. Inhale as you lower the&#xA;weights back toward the weight stack. If you’re using free weights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exhale as you work against gravity – as you lift, push, or pull the&#xA;weights away from the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inhale as you work with gravity, and lower the weights back to their starting position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the benefit of breathing in this manner? What is the scientific principle behind this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1616" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T18:30:14.610" Title="Why exhale when using strength?" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28454" CreationDate="2015-12-31T14:10:56.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to keep your shoulders down and not contraction the shoulder blades &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep your elbows close to the body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to find a grip where you 'feel' that the movement is targeting the muscles you want to work on &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;focus on the muscles you train &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T14:10:56.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-31T15:52:38.950" Score="0" ViewCount="481" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got stuck on  weighted pullups today(tried 3x5 with 3 extra pounds). It was 5/5/2. I rested 5 minutes in between sets. I started weighted pullups Tuesday and completed the 5/5/5 with 2 extra pounds (although the last set was hard) and same amount of rest between sets. Ideally, I'd like to continue training weighted pullups 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I kept my diet the same(if anything I lost weight) 23,5&quot; 11',M,157 pounds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to decrease rest time? How do I get better at this and still keep frequency the same or do I need to increase frequency? Do I need to increase volume? Should I just progress slower, at 0.5 pounds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the dumb question. Not a repeat question, I'm not going for a one-arm pullup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18475" LastEditorUserId="18475" LastEditDate="2015-12-31T19:10:14.443" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T19:10:14.443" Title="Plateau on weighted pullups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28462" CreationDate="2015-12-31T16:22:57.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe there are any studies to show that those particular exercises will help build a “squarer chest” (whatever that may be).  However, I think the intent of the advice was to suggest that you should introduce &lt;strong&gt;variation&lt;/strong&gt; into your training routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/TrainingPrinciples.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Variation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A basic prerequisite for continued adaptation is variation.&#xA;  Performance improvements will decrease if the same exercises and&#xA;  training loads are continued for a prolonged period of time (AKA&#xA;  Accommodation). Training variations inhibit accommodation and&#xA;  ultimately the exhaustion stage of SAID. Polarizing training stimulus&#xA;  around a target response between workouts can also help recovery&#xA;  between workouts. These variations indirectly assists recovery since&#xA;  the metabolic pathway are not taxed in the exact same way every&#xA;  workout.   As a beginner, progress can be made most every workout.&#xA;  Variation is inherent due to relatively rapid progress in the initial&#xA;  phases of training (see Initial Level of Fitness). As progress slows,&#xA;  subtle variations must be made in other ways for progress to continue&#xA;  (see variation examples below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without variation, you'll tend to become “stale” and gains will plateau.  That includes any chance at a “squarer chest”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T16:22:57.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28454" CreationDate="2015-12-31T16:36:49.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you watch the animation that you posted closely, I think you'll see two important adjustments to consider.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, make sure that the seat is correctly placed to target the&#xA;lats.  You'll notice in that animation that the top of the chest pad&#xA;is at the top of the chest. That's a good guide for adjusting the&#xA;seat.  You don't want the seat too high or too low.  You'll need to&#xA;play with it until you get the correct feel in the lats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Second, as shown in the animation, it's important to keep your chest&#xA;in contact with the front pad for as long as you can during the&#xA;movement.  Failure to do so will encourage other muscles to assist in&#xA;the training load.  That may be what you're experiencing in the&#xA;traps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, some seated row machines have a handle that would allow you vary the grip.  If yours has multiple grips, I would suggest you try that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T16:36:49.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28475" CreationDate="2015-12-31T18:04:01.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pullups are like any other compound exercise like the squat, deadlift, overhead press, or lunge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should start familiarizing yourself with &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/7-markers-of-a-solid-strength-program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overload programming&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, the question you're asking &quot;&lt;em&gt;how do I get stronger?&lt;/em&gt;&quot; has been asked many times before and there are solid answers that are time proven. There are also a lot of people wasting time by not using a good program. This includes routines you put together yourself and that are available in most magazines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than attempt to one-up world famous coaches, I'll layout the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength Novice Program&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 Squat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 Bench press / Press (Alternating) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chin-ups&lt;/a&gt;: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Squat&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Press&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bench Press&lt;/a&gt; (Alternating) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1x5 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 Squat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWPullup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/a&gt;: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone is going to be able to give you a program different from above that will make you stronger in any given amount of time. I'm assuming this is related to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/28430/7091&quot;&gt;your previous question about weighted pullups&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T18:04:01.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28472" CreationDate="2015-12-31T18:30:14.610" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not regard &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/about-stephanie/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;that author&lt;/a&gt; as focusing on strength. Instead, her experience speaks to &quot;weight loss and wellness&quot; camps, where the need for a rigid trunk during maximal and near maximal exertion is not necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What probably &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; worth highlighting in a weight loss camp however is proper breathing, since it's primarily an aerobic (with oxygen) affair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be fair, the debate is still on with the Valsalva Maneuver. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16757073&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A 2006 study&lt;/a&gt; studied it a bit and summarized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although breath control was shown to influence intra-abdominal&#xA;  pressure, it does not appear to influence isometric trunk extension&#xA;  force in a knees bent position. Further, the intra-abdominal pressure&#xA;  produced in such efforts appears to be unrelated to the amount of&#xA;  force produced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would add to that though is that the reasoning espoused by most lifters (and most vocally &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1P2LNsk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe&lt;/a&gt;) isn't necessarily about force production but rather spinal protection. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkeN_fkXrdE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a decent video from Ripppetoe explaining his views on it&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, by filling the lungs and tightening the diapgram and abdominal muscles, you're bracing the lumbar and thoracic spine, providing less opportunity for it to shift and get damaged. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a concern for the strength loads involved in a &quot;weight loss and wellness&quot; camp, but it certainly is for strength athletes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2015-12-31T18:30:14.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-01T12:13:29.727" Score="1" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, if i do more cardio like + 45 min more on my current 30 min, with proper diet and strenght exercises and calorie intake, could i preserve my muscle mass and just lose fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18779" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T10:35:39.303" Title="Can you do a lot of cardio to lose weight but keep your muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28482" CreationDate="2016-01-01T13:58:30.723" Score="2" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm male 24. I'm occupied with my office work so I'm trying to minimize the effort in exercise as best as I could. This means that I don't go to the gym, and I don't buy any equipment. The only thing I can do is making it as a habit in a daily basis, and make it harder everyday. In my &quot;definition&quot;, a simple plan is a plan that I don't need to remember or look up at all. My current plan follows this formula: &quot;yesterday I did x in exercise 1, y in exercise 2, so today I'm going to do x+1 and y+1&quot;. After every 20 days, I add a new exercise, so ultimately I will do every exercise. I only do the workout on a specific time in a day (around 6 pm). I don't have any set, just focus to finish one exercise, then take a rest, then move on to another one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I know this plan is to way simple, so I have set my mind that it can take year(s) for me to see the result, and time frame is not my worry. I haven't changed my diet, because I think it's starting to be complex, and more over I don't eat much fat or fried food. I have been doing this for about two months, and I can see how my body changes via the mirror. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q&lt;/strong&gt;: However, when looking down I barely see any different. If I stick to this plan, can my muscle be sharper in the future? Or do I have to take care with my diet, or follow a good program? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15036" LastEditorUserId="15036" LastEditDate="2016-01-05T05:42:22.923" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T05:42:22.923" Title="Would only doing exercises on a regular basis, without worry about anything else, help grow muscle?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28481" CreationDate="2016-01-01T15:53:44.710" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, we make exercise a habit, because only through regular training can we expect visual results. Of course, &quot;regular&quot; can mean a lot of things, so we have options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you look down and hope for visual improvements, we call this &quot;definition&quot;. In order to achieve this, we need to do two things;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;grow our muscles&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;remove fat that lies on top of the muscles and hide them&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to the abdominal muscles (stomach, 6 pack), the latter point is usually what holds people back. They can do situps for ever and ever, but if you don't remove the layer of fat that lies on top of it, it will never be visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are quite a few exercises you can do without any equipment. For instance, &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/gallery/FkVrO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is a pretty good program that someone made&lt;/a&gt;. A couple of my friends have had pretty nice success with this. The idea is that you need to train the &lt;em&gt;entire&lt;/em&gt; body, and not just abs and chest (situps and pushups). You need to train back and legs too, so you don't develop any muscular imbalances. That can be very harmful for your back and neck. If you want to keep your simple program, I recommend you to restart it, but this time do all the exercise at once to prevent potentially harmful imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, with any beginner, we need to mention diet. It doesn't matter how much you exercise unless you eat properly. If you eat horribly, it can pretty much cancel out your training. Common sense reigns supreme. But if you have any more specific question about diet, you could ask another question on this site. But keep in mind, you have to angle the question towards exercising, because questions purely about diet tend to get closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead of asking &quot;what should I eat?&quot;, instead ask &quot;what should I eat before/after this exercise program?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Timeframe&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We get a lot of people asking why they aren't seeing any visible improvements after 1-2 months. The answer is it simply takes longer. If it only took a couple of months to get ripped, everyone would get ripped. So when someone asks &quot;how long should I train before I get visible results?&quot;, I have a simple rule of thumb. &lt;strong&gt;A year.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, you MAY get some results before that, but if you can't stick with it for at least a year, you'll lose the results anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T17:28:34.387" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T17:28:34.387" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28483" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-01T23:21:17.273" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exercise 6 times a week, ab/leg/arm workouts containing resistance and some weights (I don't think my problem is due to weights since they aren't that heavy) 3 days a week, 2 short sprint runs, 2 fartlek runs, a long cardio run 4-7 miles, occasionally switching it up doing a cardio workouy. The rest of my body is extremely tone being abs, toned arms/thighs/legs, but the upper, inner part of my thigh doesn't have a 'thigh gap', how do I achieve this (not to be anorexic but I feel like I should have or try to get one due to all of my training). My inner/upper thighs do have 'muscle' there but is covered by 'fat', but not cellulite. My diet is okay, I eat a 5-a-day but also do have treats, but definitely don't overeat at all (I'm teenage female). I've been told reducing fat/toning upper thighs cannot be done through spot reducing so can my problem be resolved due to walking a lot more? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18939" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T23:34:26.257" Title="How to lose fat on inner, upper thighs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28483" CreationDate="2016-01-01T23:34:26.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gap is achieved by way of fat loss, and also by building a certain amount of muscles (by squatting) which will help tighten up the skin around your upper thigh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as you've already been told, let me just confirm it; no, you cannot pick and choose where you wish to reduce fat. You gain and lose fat all over, based on caloric surplus/deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T23:34:26.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28410" CreationDate="2016-01-02T01:56:46.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;iSmoothrun &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ismoothrun.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ismoothrun.com/&lt;/a&gt; is a GPS running app that has support for bluetooth heartrate sensors and does not have a built in &quot;social network&quot;.  It allows you to export to the online service of your choice or to a data format.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The FAQ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ismoothrun.com/faq.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ismoothrun.com/faq.html&lt;/a&gt; states it supports the Polar H7&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18942" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T01:56:46.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28495" CreationDate="2016-01-02T04:27:47.480" Score="1" ViewCount="2056" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XTbhc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XTbhc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this position is wrong?&#xA;and when bringing the weight down, Do i need to rest bar on my chest slightly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T10:21:55.230" Title="Is it ok, if i put my leg up on the bench while bench press" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28487" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28497" CreationDate="2016-01-02T04:56:15.520" Score="1" ViewCount="494" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of exercise is most beneficial, if I am spending most of my time sitting in the office?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for quite some time, with 60% of my workout targeted on pectorals and thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, things have changed  and I want to change my workout routine to suit my current lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-03T16:22:06.443" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T13:16:27.010" Title="Exercise for office worker who spend most of the day sitting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-02T05:15:50.690" Score="2" ViewCount="8297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 38 year old male 173cm height and weighing 80kgs and yes my bmi is little above normal. I have been on and off working out in gym through my 20s but never serious could bench max 80kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recent started cycling about a month ago  initially doing 6km in 16 minutes. I have a hybrid with single speed. Now I am able to to do 10km in close to 25mins but these surely leaves me lil drowsy post lunch hours but I feel happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Early this year I had started running but due to my own  mistake ended with left knee  inflammed and hence can't run though the knee is lot better now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it more interesting I brought some weights and started doing alternate days cycling and other days upper body exercise like curls,planks, push ups,shoulder press. My plan is to do 5 days of this mix and 2 rest days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether this approach is OK for for fitness and weight loss. I want my bmi to get lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18943" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T15:49:46.500" Title="cycling 10km everyday for fitness and weightloss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28486" CreationDate="2016-01-02T06:58:52.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you will see a lot of people doing this it is incorrect form, especially if you are lifting heavy weight,  your feet should be planted firmly on the floor and will help you maintain your balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18928" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T06:58:52.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2016-01-02T12:30:56.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use fit frappe protein powder. It is specifically made to add to hot water (I add one scoop to my morning coffee, delish). Their FAQ states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does heating up Fit Frappé affect the protein?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proteins are chains of large molecules made up of amino acids in different sequences. Denaturation of protein through such methods like heat, acid, or physical agitation is breaking the bonds between the amino acids. It is the amino acids that provide the nutritional benefits. Breaking the bonds can actually be beneficial because the body can access/use the amino acids much quicker than having the stomach acids digest or denature the protein.&#xA;For example, after a workout, some consume protein to build back the lean muscle mass lost during the workout. Consuming proteins that have been denatured is beneficial because the body will use/absorb the amino acids quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18944" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T04:55:48.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28486" CreationDate="2016-01-02T16:07:22.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This form is wrong because your stability is bad. It's very important to keep a stable &amp;amp; core-involved position during your bench press, which means contracting your abs and keeping your feet on the ground, pushing through your heels. Personally, I can affirm that my bench quickly improved by about 10 pounds since I started following this approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It depends on your goal. If you're training goal is developing pure strength, it may help, but then your should consider doing dead press (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk4Lu4VOmXA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's&lt;/a&gt; a video example). If your main goal is hypertrophy, there are better approaches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T16:07:22.813" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28470" CreationDate="2016-01-02T17:40:11.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitocracy.com/home/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fitocracy&lt;/a&gt;. It lets you log the workouts you do to keep track of your progress, and also publishes your workouts to a feed that your followers will see. So you can &quot;journal&quot; by adding a note to your workout, like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pull-up&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    7 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    7 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    7 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &quot;I think the flexed arm hang is increasing my range of motion on these. The first one especially I popped up way over the bar.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also numerous groups so if you have something particular to say about triathlons, you can pop in and talk to people who understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T17:40:11.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28486" CreationDate="2016-01-03T04:23:55.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This position is as much wrong as it is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is pure hypertrophy or you want to focus more on just the pecs and shoulders this type of 'style' is better also it does not have much impact on your spine. Please take care to keep the elbows closer to your body then the guy on the Image as it is healthier for your shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is strength, you should consider a different 'style' and treat the bench press as a whole body movement. Therefore you have to use your legs and a tight back. There are a lot of different youtube Videos out there and you should find the correct form for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The truth is actually quite simple – both ways can be valuable in your training, depending on your goal...&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://angrytrainerfitness.com/2012/01/fitness-fact-or-fiction-bench-press-feet-up-or-down/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://angrytrainerfitness.com/2012/01/fitness-fact-or-fiction-bench-press-feet-up-or-down/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general there is no prescription on what the correct form is, try to find it out for your goal and body and work on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part is to always think of shoulder and back development too, as people nowadays neglect the body Parts that are not visible in the mirror, but are important for muscular balance and health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-01-07T10:21:55.230" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T10:21:55.230" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28563" CreationDate="2016-01-03T05:46:06.127" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't really exercised for quite a few years now and I'd like to get back on the bandwagon this year starting with some treadmill running (along with some other gym based things like ellipticals and bikes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of running shoes would be good for an amateur runner with extremely flat feet? What types of things should I be considering when looking for shoes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18955" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T13:17:32.823" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T18:20:26.673" Title="Treadmill running shoes recommendation" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28487" CreationDate="2016-01-03T06:01:26.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spend most of my time at a computer, and consequently developed some &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; bad posture. What fixed it were a host of exercises that required &lt;strong&gt;thoracic extension&lt;/strong&gt;, and compound movements that recruit multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Great options are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conventional deadlift&lt;/strong&gt;: With proper form, (shoulder blades pulled back and low, neutral spine) I don't think that there is a faster way to fix &quot;slumped shoulders.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bent over rows&lt;/strong&gt;: A similar idea, but get your back in check, so that everything starts to work properly again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overhead press/ front squats&lt;/strong&gt; Help develop core stability, by forcing your body to keep balance. Esp. front squat, since the weight is displaced from your center of gravity, core strength and shoulder flexibility are essential if you want to keep good form and lift heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull ups&lt;/strong&gt;: I do pull ups absolutely every day, wider grip, chest flared a little bit, and keeping your core tight. Excellent exercise for overall development.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and happy lifting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18920" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T13:16:27.010" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T13:16:27.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31231" CreationDate="2016-01-03T06:39:24.203" Score="2" ViewCount="1168" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local gym has dumbbells up to 30 kgs. I can bench several multiples of that. How to do progressive flys and DB presses with this limitation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There is a pec fly machine, but it tops out at 80 kgs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I tried making my own DBs with short bars and collars, but the weights slide off)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T04:17:13.110" Title="Gym has max 30 kgs dumbbells; how to progress?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28499" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-03T07:23:48.213" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;How am I losing weight now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so, when I started working out, I went from a 44 inch waist to a 39.5, with a weight loss from 92 to 87 kgs. Ever since that, I pretty much quit working out. Whenever I did workout, it was not serious and got my heart beating barely enough. Eventually, I thought I was doomed to be fat and could not lose weight no matter what I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, recently I went aboard. While I was there, I noticed my jeans were slightly loose now. I chose to ignore the fact until later. When I came back, I started drinking green tea. Its been about 62 days since I came back. I took green tea every day at about an average of 3 cups. Then later on I have purchased a treadmill. It has been 42 days since I've been running on it, and now my waist is 33.7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why wasn't I able to lose this weight before? Was there something wrong with my metabolism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18956" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T14:23:52.237" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T14:42:41.340" Title="How did I lose weight now?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-01-11T19:23:34.817" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25797" CreationDate="2016-01-03T08:29:31.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You most certainly CAN build muscle on a sub-optimal diet. One way to think about this : there are two men , with virtually identical physiques. One decides to eat a very high protein diet , but does no training. The other sticks to his &quot;average&quot; diet , makes no changes at all to his eating patterns , but does an intense full-body weights workout , 2-3 times a week. After a year , who will have the better developed physique ? Bet the house on the second man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18957" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T08:29:31.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28498" CreationDate="2016-01-03T10:14:52.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use resistence bands or substitute with weighted dips while keeping the elbows 'out' - not close to the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider to use a small belt or rope with what you can hang more weight to the dumbell you are currently using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weighted wide push-ups or weighted trx  flys or furniture glider push ups simulate the same movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T10:14:52.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15612" CreationDate="2016-01-03T15:45:08.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A solid Hatha yoga practice includes forward bending poses, backward bending poses, twists, balancing poses and inversion poses, as finishes with the corpse pose.  There are hundreds of postures to choose from, some of which are more suitable for beginners and some of which are more advanced.  If you have done a practice with videos and taken any classes you are already familiar with the poses that are both comfortable and a bit challenging.  Make a list of the 3 forward bending poses and 3 backward bending poses, 1 twisting pose, 2 balancing poses and 1 inversion to do as part of your practice daily.  The poses should be the ones that are slightly challenging but not painfully so.  Make several lists which include various postures of the five types.  Change from one list to the other once in a while.  Regular practice will definitely enhance your ability to do the poses.  Videos are OK for learning, but practice is most yogic in quiet solitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18961" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T15:45:08.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28487" CreationDate="2016-01-03T16:26:01.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important exercise if you're sitting in the office all day is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/exercise/a-five-minute-walk-could-undo-an-hour-of-sitting-20141009&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regular short walks on the hour&lt;/a&gt;. Sitting has been shown to have negative effects on circulation in the legs &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/why-sitting-is-killing-you.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;which has a subsequent effect on mortality&lt;/a&gt;, but a short walk seems to solve the problem entirely. I've seen suggestions of 10 minutes every six hours, 5 minutes every hour... I personally just take a quick circuit of the office, generally refilling my coffee cup or water bottle at the same time so that I look busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T16:26:01.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28548" CreationDate="2016-01-03T17:47:57.227" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for effective exercises to strengthen the entire core while minimizing stress and flexing on the lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No exercises recommended here will be performed without a doctor's approval so please make recommendations freely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18963" LastEditorUserId="18963" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T19:15:57.420" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T08:36:08.467" Title="What core strengthening exercises put the least pressure on the lower back?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-01-07T21:25:20.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28532" CreationDate="2016-01-03T19:16:26.467" Score="2" ViewCount="900" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the approaches for gaining muscle mass is to do exercises to failure. Obviously some of the exercises can be quite dangerous if doing them without a spotter, like bench-presses. Others can be just &quot;messy&quot; like squats or pull-overs where you'd have to drop the barbell on the floor behind you without really knowing where the barbell might land. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm exactly in this situation, i working on building mass and i don't have a spotter. So i'm doing supersets instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it as effective replacing one exercise done to failure with a superset consisting of the first exercise done till 1-3 reps to failure and immediately followed by another exercise targeting the same muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press to failure --&gt; Bench press (stop 1-3 reps before failure) + Dumbbells fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats to failure --&gt; Squats + Dumbbells lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell shoulder press to failure --&gt; Barbell shoulder press + Shoulder press in a machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT (for clarification): Since i've just started on my mass building, i don't have plateau issue (yet).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18959" LastEditorUserId="18959" LastEditDate="2016-01-06T07:41:05.397" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T08:15:47.763" Title="Supersets vs Exercise to failure" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28549" CreationDate="2016-01-03T22:14:34.140" Score="5" ViewCount="424" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I achieve a similar flexibilty like &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/AvrzgKsRnJ0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; (not talking about the weight, just empty bar for example)? I like his squatting style alot and would like to be able to get into the same bottom position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the most important stretches (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/hip-and-ankle-stretches-for-olympic-weightlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; I found a good list)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I pin-point which muscles/ areas are my worst? I am searching for mobilty tests for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ankles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstrings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T00:00:52.017" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T16:35:29.223" Title="Olympic Squat Mobility" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28498" CreationDate="2016-01-03T22:50:48.753" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will recommend doing pyramid training with the weights i.e. Do 8-10 reps of flys with 30 kgs ( or whatever you are comfortable with). After that with no rest pick 20 kgs dumbbell and try doing 8-10 reps, then move to 15 kgs and so forth till you get to 1 kgs dumbbell and you can't do any further. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is too easy drop off weights by 2 kgs every set and focus on form and perform each rep slowly with full control and balance. Not only you will feel the real burn in your muscles but you will quickly build strength and definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18848" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T22:50:48.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28508" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-04T02:35:24.727" Score="6" ViewCount="1910" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very overweight, 6'1, 142 kgs (313 pounds) 36 years of age. I had a work accident a few years ago and never really got active after and then I felt too &quot;big&quot; to exercise but I want to fight that mentality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other issues: &#xA;I also have asthma and I find sometimes that causes issues.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have achilles tendinitis that can flare up occasionally. &#xA;When I ran today, the balls of my feet hurt the most, and now as I sit, I feel sore all over (which I can work through).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to run today at a track (just got a membership) and the most I was able to run was 200 metres without getting winded/feet aching beyond tolerance. I ended up alternating 200 metres jogging, then running, so I ended up doing 2000 metres at 26 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a goal of being able to run 4k in 20 minutes to start. Will it be possible for someone in my situation to be able to do this say in 90 days? What are some of the things I have to look at to prevent injury, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I don't know how to swim but I'm learning. Will swimming as an exercise improve my ability to run longer distances? I have a friend in my swim class who runs 15km every morning but he gets winded very quickly swimming.. will the same hold true in reverse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked at questions such as: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14580/what-should-i-do-to-run-6-miles-in-1-hour&quot;&gt;What should i do to run 6 miles in 1 hour&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt;: I'm going to keep track of my daily runs and will try to record my daily caloric intake as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit 2&lt;/em&gt;: I mentioned this in a comment but I figured I'd put it up here as well: This is the inspiration behind this effort: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/marshawn-lynch-saved-my-life-how-a-380-pound-man-went-beast-mode/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/marshawn-lynch-saved-my-life-how-a-380-pound-man-went-beast-mode/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At 3 o’clock that morning, Jake ran about a tenth of a mile, walked&#xA;  another four tenths, and said he felt like he was going to die. The&#xA;  next day, he watched the interview another 30 times and did the same&#xA;  thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A couple weeks later, he could jog the full half-mile without&#xA;  stopping. A couple months after that, he completed a five-mile race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit 3&lt;/em&gt;: Went for my second run. The pain on the outside of my feet is worse than the fatigue itself. Will try to get better running shoes (currently using Asics Duomax). However I do know that I have wide flat feet so I'm not sure what good selection there is for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18966" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T17:20:41.853" Title="Very overweight person trying to get fit" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28508" CreationDate="2016-01-04T02:47:18.687" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to lose weight my suggestion is to focus on your diet. Focus on eating less calories than you are expending and you will lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is great for your health but will do little (relative to dieting) for your weight. Since you're just starting to exercise I suggest not trying to do too much too soon as it may result in injury and frustration which could cause you to want to or have to stop exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start with just walk. Go for a walk every single day. Start off slow and easy, just a short 10 minute walk or whatever, but slowly increase speed and duration until you are doing an hour or so walk. Once you can walk at a relatively decent pace for an hour without getting too tired then you should look at more intensive exercises such as swimming and running, also some strength exercises would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of walking every day isn't so much to give a decent workout but to form a habit of exercising. Once you've developed the habit it's far easier to progress with more challenging workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T02:47:18.687" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-04T05:29:10.420" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is olympic dumbbell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a kind of dumbbell or just a dumbbell brand name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it something different from ordinary dumbbell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18971" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T20:17:55.810" Title="What is Olympic dumbbell?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28498" CreationDate="2016-01-04T05:39:01.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends what your goals are, possibly you don't need to even do flies or db press. Normal barbell bench and dips could do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T05:39:01.947" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28508" CreationDate="2016-01-04T06:49:09.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the first comment to your question, check with a doctor first and get a checkup (gotta make sure your body can handle the stress of exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are OK'ed by the doctor, 4k in 20 minutes within a 90 day timespan seems quite impossible. However, I have no idea about your past physical fitness but given the asthma and other problems I can only assume. Personally, I weighed about 120KG when I started running (no health/physical ailments) and my time for 4k was about 30~40 minutes depending on my drive to run faster. So getting to 20 minutes may be a long term goal for you. As others have said, start with walking (you gotta walk before you can run).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for avoiding injury, make sure to warm up and cool down after working out. Make sure to stretch before and after any work out (tight muscles hurt during a workout and muscles that tighten up hurt after a work out). My suggestion is to get a pair of shoes for walking/running that are either the &quot;wide&quot; version of a shoe you like or get a shoe you like in a slightly bigger size (half sizes if you are in the USA). A slightly bigger shoe will allow your feet room to swell while walking/running and may make your work outs less painful (but if the slightly bigger one is too roomy just get the size that fits you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is easy on the knees but it is a different kind of cardio that uses muscles in a different way so swimming faster won't equal running faster. I would suggest trying different kinds of cardio to find the one that works with your level of mobility. Rowing machine, swimming and spinning bike are all easy on the body cardio (in my opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18972" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T06:49:09.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28505" CreationDate="2016-01-04T14:14:31.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, yes. It does depend a lot on what you have been doing in the past and whether you're starting to plateau. If this is the case then you will probably notice that you will have much better workouts by changing up your sets and rep ranges as much as possible. Remember you can always alternate or do both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for which is actually better, that is debatable. Different things can work better for different people. I would suggest that you should try both and find what works best for you. Sorry I cannot give you a more definitive answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18976" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T14:14:31.030" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28508" CreationDate="2016-01-04T14:26:57.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the best thing for you to do would be to start off slow. Just try to do a small amount of cardio once a week for 30 minutes or so (you can run anywhere!). It doesn't matter how far you go for now you just need to change your current habits and get in to a routine (easier said than done, I know). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you feel comfortable with doing that on a &lt;em&gt;regular basis&lt;/em&gt; and have started to bring your diet back on track then, and only then should you start increasing the amount of time that you are exercising for. Consistency is key. Diet is also key. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18976" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T14:26:57.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25740" CreationDate="2016-01-04T14:53:39.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I would ask you this simple question : What is the point of your training ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it doing as many reps as possible, or is it building more muscle ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess the second one is your concern. In that regard, what you are looking for is destroying you muscle fibers in order for your body to overcompensate for your losses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember this :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When it comes to building muscle, weight is a mean to the end, not the end in itself.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So obvioulsy, you will be able to do less reps, and that is a good thing. &#xA;Most bodybuilders don't care about the weight they are pushing, as long as they feel it stresses their muscle enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are really tired at the end of your workout, it is normal - and a good thing - to be able to push way less. A good example would be doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/gain-greater-mass-drop-sets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;drops Sets&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is why a split makes a lot of sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18811" LastEditorUserId="18811" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T16:01:10.953" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T16:01:10.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28511" CreationDate="2016-01-04T15:09:27.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I heard of it the first time, I thought that would be a joke as I just knew about olympic barbells aka Bars with a specific diameter for holding olympic plates ex. Eleiko etc. on them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After looking around I noticed those dumbbells where you can do the same: &#xA;Dumbell bars for Olympic plates, holes no less than 2&quot; (50.8mm).&#xA;On Amazon you can buy some of these.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002OB2BT6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Olympic-Dumbbell-Handles-sold-Pair/dp/B002OB2BT6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T20:17:55.810" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T20:17:55.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28498" CreationDate="2016-01-04T15:59:23.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weigths in my gym only went up to 40kg, most guys who could do more than that would put 4, 6, 8 or 10kg dumbells on top of the 40kg ones. You could also try out other exercises. A similar exercise to chest press is Barbell Benchpress, it also won't limit you in the range of weigth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T15:59:23.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28505" CreationDate="2016-01-04T16:01:58.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your goals, if it is to build muscle and look good, you would probably use more exercises, because they will build different muscles from different sides. If you trying to become good at one exercise, I would recommend to do as much as you can of that exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastEditorUserId="18976" LastEditDate="2016-01-06T17:25:05.243" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T17:25:05.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28504" CreationDate="2016-01-04T16:07:41.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what your condition is, but an exercise not very taxing on the spine for core (mostly abs) would be: cable crunch (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/cable-crunch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/cable-crunch&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: But you should check with a doctor for sure!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T16:07:41.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28506" CreationDate="2016-01-04T16:12:13.053" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll have to keep in mind he is wearing Adidas lifting shoes, these have a raised heel (0,75 inch) which will give a tremendous advantage in mobility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for mobility exercises just roll everything out with either a foam roll or a lacrosse ball. That works for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T15:19:24.390" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T15:19:24.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28528" CreationDate="2016-01-04T16:49:10.863" Score="1" ViewCount="2940" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sprained my ankle 3 weeks ago and I was wondering if it would be bad to start lifting again. I'm thinking of doing Leg Press to get started before I tackle squats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still lack some mobility in my ankle (pain when stretching) but it is very light. Can I work out safely despite that? (No bar squats don't hurt, except for slight lack of mobility)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been skipping leg day because of this, but it's my favourite day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T20:31:22.143" Title="When to start lifting after sprained ankle?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28508" CreationDate="2016-01-04T19:13:25.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your post you seem to focus a lot on running distance and time as measure of achievement.  You should absolutely set yourself a goal to help your motivation, but I would advise you more caution in the beginning phase, to avoid injuries which are only going to set you back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an athlete, I've learned that the most important alarm bell you should never neglect is &lt;strong&gt;pain&lt;/strong&gt;. In your case, your feet pain and past achilles tendinitis are two warnings that you should be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid feet pain, go to a specialized running shop and have your feet measured so that they can advise you on shoes matching your foot arch. Properly fitting shoes are important for your health and comfort, so go for the best you can afford.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your achilles tendons, it's important to warm up properly (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/28513/18983&quot;&gt;as said in a previous post&lt;/a&gt;) and to stretch gently.  It's also very important to tone up your lower leg muscles as they are probably not used to the strain they are being put under.  The best way is to start by walking longer distances, and then try walking on unpaved/uneven terrain, and up hills and stairs. You can then start running short distances, while allowing your body to recover a few days in between runs.  As you get fitter, you can increase your mileage and decrease your recovery time between runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get fit faster, you can alternate with other types of exercise, allowing your running-specific muscles to recover while still working on your general fitness.  Improve your swimming as it is one of the gentlest form of cardio exercise on your body. It won't tone your legs muscles to make them good at running, but it will help you get fit faster, which in turn will improve your running. You could also go biking for a good leg workout.  A rowing machine is also great, it will strengthen your legs and tendons, and give you a full body workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18983" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T17:20:41.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28508" CreationDate="2016-01-04T19:49:55.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, start off slow. You didn't gain 150 lbs in a few months, you aren't going to lose 150 lbs in a few months. You will have ups and downs, and your losses will be disproportionately greater in the initial phases of your workouts than they will later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, get the doctor's OK first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slow. If you really want to get into running, make sure you have new shoes that fit well. That can cause just as much grief as your weight can. Old, broken down shoes are one of the biggest contributors to injuries as much as overwork. My recommendation is to find something to do that you enjoy. If you enjoy it, you are much more likely to keep on doing it. Repetition is the name of the game, being able to do the work day in and day out. That also goes back to the start slow. Everyone seems to thing that if you don't have soreness, you didn't work hard. Horsepuckey. If you work so hard that the next day you can't do anything, you're losing ground not gaining it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories are king. Various studies (One of my answers has links to them, I can dig them up if needed) show that the type of diet doesn't really matter, it is calorie reduction that produces results. Your comment about bread is a little misguided. Cutting out entire chunks of a diet isn't really productive. If you like bread, go ahead and eat it. Just don't eat as much of it. And, with your diet, just like with the exercise, go slow. Don't say &quot;Tomorrow I start eating Paleo&quot; or whatever. Instead, tomorrow say &quot;I will replace one of my bad snacks with some fruit and nuts.&quot; Do that for a week. Then make another small change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figure out some realistic goals, and write them down. Make some 6 month, 1 year and 3 year goals. Then figure out the steps needed for each one. Say your 1 year goal is to lose 50 lbs, and be down to 260. Your 6 month goal would be to be working out consistently for four days a week. Your diet goal is to be eating 75% healthy foods. Etc, etc. Figure out SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time limited) goals to where you can make small, consistent changes towards a bigger goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, don't get locked into any one activity. Try a bunch. See what you like to do, and just as important, who you like to do it with. If you like the activity, and you have friends that do it with you (or you make new friends in that activity), they will encourage and support you. That's another big element. If you don't enjoy the activity, or you don't like who you do it with, you are much more likely to abandon the program. If you like cycling, great, go ride. If you like gymnastic badminton, have at it. You're not earning a living at it, so enjoy it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make a good plan, stick to it, and keep your eye on the final prize, you'll get there faster than you think and will enjoy it more than you thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T19:49:55.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28524" CreationDate="2016-01-04T20:31:22.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how bad your injury is. When I went through a pretty serious sprained ankle injury, I did a lot of physiotherapy exercises for improving the stability and the ROM of this area before starting leg training again, including treatment with electricity and a very painful stretching massage. Only about 3-4 months after the injury I started working out again, starting with a high rep range (about 15/set) and putting a little effort into separated legs exercises (lunges, single-leg leg press, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My conclusions are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting back your stability and ROM is extremely important. My physiotherapist said I could stop when the leg was &quot;almost&quot; back to normal, but today, almost a year later, I still feel a difference in the ankles functioning. Keep going with this training even if you feel your functioning is relatively fine, because the process &quot;stops&quot; when you stop practicing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do single leg exercises. Lunges, single-leg leg press and later single-leg squat, single-leg leg curl, and maybe even single-leg calf raise (though I didn't try it myself). The strength difference between your legs increases on every day of &quot;rest&quot;, so this is important for &quot;balancing&quot; your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get back to everyday functioning as soon as possible (recommended by your doctor, of course), in order to shorten your recovery period.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you'll feel better soon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T20:31:22.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28505" CreationDate="2016-01-04T20:40:34.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that case I liked drop-sets as you will be able to exhaust the muscle as effective as with all out sets. But will be able to handle the weight on your own.&#xA;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do your work sets ex. 3 sets with your usual weight (1-2 reps shy to failure)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;4th set take 10 kg of the bar and do as much reps as possible to 1 rep shy to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Continue removing weight from the bar the next sets and do the same rep scheme as with the 4th set until you are doing the last set with the bar only.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could continue with body weight sets to failure for the same movement ex. Bench -&gt; push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is an intense approach and should not be used all the time ...after six weeks I would suggest switching to a less taxing method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If searching for a whole routine, I would suggest you look up Breathing Squats (20 rep squats) or German Volume Training for Mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T08:15:47.763" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T08:15:47.763" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-04T21:13:48.463" Score="2" ViewCount="710" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have to drop a little bit of some back story and a stat or two to give some context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a small-ish dude, 5'8, nothing special, and weighed 180lb when I really tried to jump start my &quot;fitness as a lifestyle&quot; (aka lifting weights just to stay moderately healthy), I did okay, nothing impressive, but for a completely natural dude who didn't really do anything special with diet except just eat a bit more at home and a lot less out on the go, I shed some weight, got down to 159lb, but I know I needed to lose more since my stomach still wasn't completely flat yet. I did StrongLifts 5x5 which was completely new to me at the time, got up to a 250 lb 5x5, and then, at my job where the gym was at, the gym closed for the winter holiday(it was a college). I took the time off from the gym(big mistake), etc, etc, fast forward a year + later, and now I'm back, put on a few extra pounds, and am just annoyed by having to start all over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my most annoying hurdles is whenever I drop out of going to the gym and try to jump back into things, I get kind of depressed easily when the weights don't really fly up. I was never a guy squatting 4 plates, so it's not like I'm dropping down from 405lb squats to 3 250lb and &quot;getting back into it&quot;, it's more of like, I'm dropping from a measly max of 250lb squats to 135lb or even less, depending on how I feel. And it just sucks because I'm like sore af for the first few weeks, and I'm not really sure if I should just jump straight back into the StrongLifts methodology of adding weight each work out. Should I take a few weeks to just &quot;warm back up&quot; into everything? Or is it okay to just hit it hard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's the thing. I've been an overweight guy my whole life. Not overweight by relatively -that- much, but still overweight, never had a great aesthetic, etc, etc. I just want to be thin and fit well in clothes, have a flat stomach, maybe abs one day. But what I really am not interested in is bulking, adding on tons of mass, squatting 4-5 plate, etc. I mean squatting 3 plate for me would probably be a great achievement and one I'd be completely content with if I was a skinny dude that didn't focus on &quot;bulking&quot; or &quot;eating over maintenance&quot;, and all of that other stuff. I know a friendly who literally just eats everything in sight because he's &quot;on a bulk&quot;. The guy squats 405lb 1RM but he's also like 6'2.. Frankly, I really can't stand the idea of eating just to eat or bulking, and, I know what you're thinking, it's ironic given my current status. I just admit that I've made poor life style choices that lead me to this state. I just want to cut and get thin, get rid of these b!tch tits, etc. I do not want to bulk, I don't want to be the next popular power lifter, or anything like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I guess what I'm trying to figure out is, are lifting programs like StrongLifts and Sheiko's destined to set me up for failure when my goal is to be &quot;perpetually cutting&quot; or just being at less or around maintenance calories? I find that when I try to cut and diet for real on programs like StrongLifts that I just don't have the energy to knock out all the 5x5s day in and day out, adding weight daily, resting only 60-90 seconds. And this just takes a mental toll because, like I said, I'm not really pushing that much weight at all. What kind of advice can you guys give me for lifting, as far as intensity, volume, or programs are concerned, that will help keep my sanity and central nervous system in check, to where I can achieve my goals of just becoming a thin, normal body weight dude, but won't also completely tire my brain out in the gym? I'm just not sure if I should just keep it simple with stronglifts, and just cater it to my needs. Would cardio be a better way for me to achieve my goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this all makes sense. Sorry for the livejournal entry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18988" LastEditorUserId="18988" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T21:19:14.340" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T17:57:28.750" Title="I really just want to cut and lose weight, while lifting, what should my expectations be?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28505" CreationDate="2016-01-04T21:17:57.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it's not as effective. To gain mass weight is crucial.  Supersetting may give you a great workout and can certainly be used to push over a plateau or be used on light days or whatever - it can be a useful tool.  But it cannot be a long-term solution for weight.  Doing this your gains are going to be slow and your body will just get used to doing that exercise quicker.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expect to burn more calories and possibly produce more definition but do not expect to make gains quick.  Your suggested routine is something someone that is fully produced would do to maintain.  If you are looking at getting bigger this would be a light or one-off day but you still need the heavy days in your routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastEditorUserId="6385" LastEditDate="2016-01-07T15:15:25.333" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T15:15:25.333" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28531" CreationDate="2016-01-04T21:36:26.997" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly I would suggest going very easy for a while, for the same reason you stopped for over a year when your gym closed for a month. You lost the habit of exercising every week. You need to get that back by having a routine even if it's not very much weight or very intense or whatever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your goals are purely to lose weight and you're not worried about maintaining muscle mass or strength I would recommend doing HIIT combined with a caloric deficit diet instead of a strength program like stronglifts. Even cardio would be better for your goals than lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T21:36:26.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28531" CreationDate="2016-01-04T21:58:30.773" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dude, don't stress it. Eat a high-protein diet without sweets or junk. Pick a lifting program with room for cardio. 5/3/1 is a common and solid choice for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see two templates working well. The first is cardio during the lifting workout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;warm up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;work up to one or more heavy sets of a compound lift, e.g. 3x5 squat or 1x5 deadlift or something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;run a few miles on the treadmill OR a circuit of bodyweight exercises done without rest OR whatever cardio you feel like&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go home, rest, repeat a few times per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second is cardio in a separate workout. So do your two or three lifting workouts a week, and run (or whatever) two or more times per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T21:58:30.773" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-05T00:52:42.740" Score="3" ViewCount="576" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a freshman in high school. I've been working out for a little over a year now.  I've finally reached a max of a 55 lb curl with one arm and now I would like to increase bicep size for my arms, which are only 11.5 inch when flexed. I would also like to increase endurance. Could anyone give me an ideal weight and rep range for increasing size and endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18980" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T13:19:43.050" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T11:11:28.837" Title="What's the best way to increase bicep size and endurance" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-05T02:13:13.990" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fitness tool which is somewhat between barbell and dumbbell.&#xA;I don't know what this is called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a bar that is 60cm (24 inches) long and is supposed to hold a steel plate or plates to add weights.&#xA;It should be held by 'two hands' but is too short to be called 'barbell.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18971" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T14:56:36.480" Title="Between barbell and dumbbell?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;&lt;plates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28508" CreationDate="2016-01-05T03:01:37.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, ensure you get enough sleep, at regular times. Eg go to bed every night at 10pm, wake up at 7am. Exactly when you go to bed and how long you sleep will depend on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, fix your diet. Exactly what diet is best will depend on your body and it's reaction. If you have trouble with hunger and/or blood sugar levels dropping, you might want to consider a ketogenic type diet (high fat, moderate protein, very low carbohydrate) for at least the short term. Unless low fat, calorie restricted diets actually work well for you in terms of both efficacy and compliance (which I'm guessing they don't, otherwise you wouldn't be in this situation - they don't work well for most people), then a low carbohydrate diet is probably a good option. The key is that everyone responds differently to diet, so you need to work out what works for you. Sadly medical professionals are generally pretty bad at doing this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After diet is sorted, you should lose weight fairly quickly. Once you've got to a weight where you feel comfortable exercising, then introduce exercise. You may need to alter your diet once you introduce exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18992" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T03:01:37.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28535" CreationDate="2016-01-05T06:03:01.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yup, look at gymnasts, they probably don't do bicep curls and have huge biceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend doing more back exercises that will engage your biceps like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bent-over barbell rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;neutral grip pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All those exercises will target your biceps on different angles as such they will get strong and big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hammer curl is the closest exercise you can get to isolating the brachialis muscle for getting it wider. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastEditorUserId="6625" LastEditDate="2016-01-05T23:46:10.573" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T23:46:10.573" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28554" CreationDate="2016-01-05T15:26:27.733" Score="4" ViewCount="424" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an effort to make a regular basis for working out, and as an extension of my previous question*, I am looking for a simple plan that satisfies these requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No equipment require, or simple equipment that I can find in my house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Uncomplicated formula&lt;/strong&gt; to work it harder everyday. For example, tomorrow I will do more than one rep for every exercises than what I do today. Having no set is my preference. I just want to focus on one exercise, then take a break, then move on to the next one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have the minimal number of exercises to save my time, but having enough to avoid muscular imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most program like &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/gallery/FkVrO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; is very good to follow, but it doesn't satisfy 2, since I have to look it up. If I have to look it up everyday, then I don't have to ask this question. I also understand that this plan will be so simple that it will takes year(s) to see any visual improvement, so I have made up my mind about that. I'm not sure if changing my diet is required, because usually I don't eat much fat or fired food. I don't think that gender is ever needed, but if it's ever needed, I'm male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;sub&gt;*&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/28481/15036&quot;&gt;Would only doing exercises on a regular basis, without worry about anything else, help grow muscle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15036" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-06-18T16:47:41.853" Title="Is there a simple program that I don't have to look up at all?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-22T18:16:28.133" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28539" CreationDate="2016-01-05T15:51:31.730" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The program for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345528581&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is pretty close to that. It's all bodyweight exercises with &quot;equipment&quot; involving tables, sills, boxes, and broomsticks. There's a suggested series of exercises which consist of a particular way to follow the routine and then four exercises for the session, which vary across the week. For example, for the beginning program, for your first day, you do a &quot;ladder&quot; (do one rep, rest as long as it took you to do the rep, do two reps, rest as long as it took to do two reps, etc until you decide to go back down the ladder in decreasing order) for 7.5 minutes of Push-ups, then &quot;Let me Ups&quot; (Inclined pull-ups with your feet on the floor), then Tricep dips, then &quot;Let me Ins&quot; (pulling yourself into an open door). That's 30 minutes of arm exercises. The next day a ladder of Backwards Lunges, Romanian Single-leg Deadlifts, Squats, and Swimmers. And so forth. You basically check what four exercises you're doing, then go at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two weeks are ladders. I don't have my book with me to check the later days or weeks, but it's always four exercises in a particular area and a simple way of doing a set number or a set time of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will give you warning that the simplicity of it does not make it easy. You probably will wake up sore the first few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-05T22:44:57.280" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T22:44:57.280" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28536" CreationDate="2016-01-05T18:07:44.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could just be a short barbell. They're usually used for exercises like straight bar curls which require a barbell but not necessarily long ones since you don't have to use a rack like you would for squatting or pressing/bench pressing, and can be done without a wide grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T18:07:44.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7543" CreationDate="2016-01-05T19:14:14.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is simply because the superficial muscle is the external most muscle that gives the body its contour. While deep muscles are deeper in the body closest to the bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18998" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T19:14:14.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2016-01-06T00:18:10.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too recently noticed this pain after doing pushups daily for about 3 weeks. It was my right palm. I am right hand dominant. I will assume you are left hand dominant. I decided to rest and took 4 days off. Did my pushup routine last night and didn't experience the pain. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to continue with my daily pushup routine or try the every other day schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watching videos and reading what some other workout buffs say about exercise routines when body building, most all seem to agree that rest is key to seeing results. Each session you are tearing muscle tissue and so when you rest the tissue repairs and grows. All of this said really didn't give a concise and proven remedy to the palm problem, but rest is my advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading what I've posted and editing a few times, I think I'll take my own advice and allow a day in between sessions for rest and try to keep the palm pain at bay. As someone mentioned, the pushup bars are another good suggestion. The knuckle technique is ok too but I do a variation pushup called the diamond, so the knuckle technique won't work in this case as the thumb and index finger of each hand need to meet thus forming the diamond shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19001" LastEditorUserId="19001" LastEditDate="2016-01-06T00:56:52.430" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T00:56:52.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15994" CreationDate="2016-01-06T01:08:21.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a wrist support band that you can purchase. It helps stabilize the wrist which in essence enables you to do strength training. Although not a cure, this will help tremendously. Healing may take some time as we use and flex our wrists daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19001" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T01:08:21.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28546" CreationDate="2016-01-06T02:49:49.653" Score="0" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get through Mark Lauren's &lt;em&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/em&gt; Beginner program, as per my earlier question on ladders, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/28456/failure-in-ladder-exercises-am-i-misunderstanding-rest-periods&quot;&gt;Failure in ladder exercises - Am I misunderstanding rest periods?&lt;/a&gt;. When doing the &quot;Let-Me-Ins&quot;, I'm finding that my legs seem to be taking the brunt of the effort. My arms, chest, and back are fine, but my legs are burning within a few reps. I know that I'm still hurting a bit from leg day, but is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPvK5FamZKY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPvK5FamZKY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T10:48:00.663" Title="Should Let-Me-Ins be affecting my legs this much?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;you-are-your-own-gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28545" CreationDate="2016-01-06T02:49:49.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, &lt;a href=&quot;http://yayog-fitocracy.wikia.com/wiki/Let_Me_Ins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yes, it's perfectly normal&lt;/a&gt;. While the exercise is supposed to work only the back and legs, a lot of people have trouble with the static position. Some tips from the Fitocracy wiki:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Use some rope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I noticed that I had the tendency to rock back on my heels, even every so slightly just shifting the weight. I felt less of that when I tried to keep my toes down and feet flat on the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Trying extra hard not to lean my weight back helped a little.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mainly, they seem to counsel just doing the exercise day after day and it will get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T02:49:49.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22182" CreationDate="2016-01-06T03:53:44.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would cut the cardio and do more heavy compound movements and body weight exercises, ie squats, deadlifts, bent-over barbell rows, standing barbell shoulder press, bench press, dips, pull-ups etc as in you'll be doing cardio (VO2 work) anyways while performing these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are only doing these exercises correctly if you are pretty much out of breath after a set, make sure the weight is heavy enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, forget isolation exercises or machines, focus on barbells or dumbells. For example for biceps do something like the following that targets the back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;bent-over barbell rows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;chin-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;neutral grip pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The beauty of compound movements is that more than one muscle is trained, for example I have visible abs from not doing a single ab exercise...squats, heavy standing shoulder press and a couple of others hit the abs hard. Most back work (like above) will work your biceps so you get to save time too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can provide my 3-day training split if you like, let me know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T03:53:44.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28504" CreationDate="2016-01-06T08:36:08.467" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you wrote the core, that would mean also obliques etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, here are some exercises you could do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;hanging knee raises and as progression leg raises.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/abs-exercises/videos/hanging-knee-raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/abs-exercises/videos/hanging-knee-raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;turkish get ups (you can use a dumbbell instead of a kettlebell or a weight plate)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/turkish_get_up_training.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/turkish_get_up_training.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;standing cable crunches as the kneeling  ones are making too much pressure on lower spine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;hand stands against a wall for time instead of military presses because of potential wrong technique and causing  pressure on lower back - squeeze your but and abs during the hold.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;side bends&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DBSideBend.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DBSideBend.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;take care and do the exercises with caution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T08:36:08.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28506" CreationDate="2016-01-06T09:05:43.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try the squat without shoes and if you cant get down or are falling backwards you might have to work on flexibility of the achilles tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For general squating flexibility gobblet-squats are great.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/how-to-do-the-perfect-goblet-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/how-to-do-the-perfect-goblet-squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For working on the achilles flexibility you should do some of these exercises:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mikereinold.com/2013/03/ankle-mobility-exercises-to-improve-dorsiflexion.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mikereinold.com/2013/03/ankle-mobility-exercises-to-improve-dorsiflexion.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T15:19:30.140" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T15:19:30.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28550" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-06T10:31:53.363" Score="2" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to increase my flexibility. Not necessarily every single part of my body but I would like to hit most if not all areas. I would like a set of several exercises that I can do one day or over several days for basically the rest of my life, to constantly improve my flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the simplest, most necessary/important/commonly used(as in the muscle's flexibility is needed commonly in real life situations, not the stretch itself is commonly used) set of stretches that I could do to increase full body flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:13:25.663" Title="Complete and minimal flexibility workout?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28550" CreationDate="2016-01-06T11:55:09.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could recommend some 'flows' like the 4 movement closed System from ido portal. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/D8QxbtcA5hU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/D8QxbtcA5hU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like those kind of stretch and mobility drills highly effective and timesaving also are more fun then static stretching routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T11:55:09.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28550" CreationDate="2016-01-06T12:39:12.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in my answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24160/is-there-a-stretching-equivalent-of-the-food-pyramid/24161#24161&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, I'm a fan of Craig Ramsay's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1607103982&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anatomy of Stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, which offers, along with a long list of stretches, both an hour-long comprehensive routine and a 15 minute &quot;essentials&quot; routine. Here is a low-res scan of the latter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kI983.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kI983.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Essential stretches&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T12:39:12.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28531" CreationDate="2016-01-06T17:57:28.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I'd advise against doing Sheiko if your goal isn't powerlifting as it's extremely specialized. I'd also advise against doing StrongLifts as it's just a dumb program in general (for various reasons, including the unhealthy mindset it creates in beginners, the poor technique it develops, and the fact that it's based on blatantly wrong assumptions). Assuming that you do like lifting weights, your best bet is to find a balanced program that can accommodate your desire (eating at maintenance, becoming more generally athletic rather than specialized in the powerlifts) and set it on autopilot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it was mentioned in another comment, 5/3/1 is popular because of its simplicity and its flexibility, as Jim Wendler (its creator) is very keen on making people strong and fit (in an athletic sense) rather than out-of-shape powerlifters (which he was before). I'd recommend picking up the books (5/3/1 second edition and Beyond 5/3/1 are good and complementary) and reading up as it's a program sustainable enough that you can probably do it for the next decade. There are also a lot of excellent apps for 5/3/1 (like Wendlerized, on Android) that can help you take the thinking out of the equation, even though I'd still recommend reading the books to understand the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T17:57:28.750" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28539" CreationDate="2016-01-06T21:35:34.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that the below exercises are the minimum to train the most amount of muscles that also requires minimal equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups (only requires a sturdy tree branch or similar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips (can be done between high chairs, or on the corner of a bench)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your goal is to get toned I would suggest doing one exercise until failure and then move onto the next one (a short break or even none is best), until you've done all of them. Repeat this every 2nd day, if you're body is still sore you should consider resting a bit more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you seem to want to save as much time as possible it may be worthwhile making the exercises more difficult if you deem they are taking too long, or if they seem too easy. You can easily make any of these exercises more difficult by wearing a backpack with filled water bottles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also as a side note, if you are looking to get toned you will also need to lose fat if you are overweight. The best way to do this is by eating less calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my two cents based on my knowledge, hopefully it's somewhat useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T21:35:34.850" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28556" CreationDate="2016-01-06T22:57:16.420" Score="5" ViewCount="1940" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to learn to Overhead press and while reading the stronglifts.com guide I came across a safety warning where it says your bones will hit by lifting at that angle and to ensure that this doesn't happen, that you &quot;Shrug your traps&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean? How do I do this and how do I know if I'm doing it wrong? Does it mean to lift the shoulders? Or the back? Do I do like a normal shrug, like up my neck?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-06T23:39:24.893" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T00:06:59.660" Title="Shrug the traps in Overhead Press?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28555" CreationDate="2016-01-06T23:43:53.650" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Terminology used on the Stronglifts.com wiki entry on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/overhead-press/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/a&gt;, consistently refers to it as &quot;Shrug your shoulders to the ceiling.&quot; That suggests that it is indeed the shoulders, and the image looks like it takes the shoulder up towards the neck:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/in80g.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/in80g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Images from the Stronglifts wiki&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Shrug your traps at the top. This creates space between your upper-arm and AC joint for your rotator cuff tissues. No shrugging is no space is shoulder impingement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shrug at The Top&lt;/strong&gt;. Shrug your shoulders towards the ceiling at the top. This engages your trapezius muscles and prevents shoulder injuries. The rep doesn’t count if you didn’t finish it by shrugging your shoulders. Press the bar until your elbows are locked. Then keep pressing by raising your shoulders up. You’ll achieve a stronger lockout position, build bigger traps and avoid shoulder impingement from the Overhead Press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ro3Mh9o7JPU?t=18m34s&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;their video&lt;/a&gt;, it looks like the entire shoulder is raised, all at once and it goes all the way up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-07T00:06:59.660" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T00:06:59.660" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28550" CreationDate="2016-01-07T08:50:12.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No static program will bring constant improvement. If you want to continue increasing flexibility over time, you need to do something like regularly attend a yoga class, where the exercises used progress over time and you're exposed to a wide variety of movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T08:50:12.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28568" CreationDate="2016-01-07T10:36:50.257" Score="2" ViewCount="1893" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 10 days ago I started feeling a strong pain in my right forearm in certain movements. I consulted the doctor and he said it's presumably a stretched tendon, the expected healing time is up to one month, and that I should avoid exercises that involve forearm stress at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned, it's noticeable only in certain movements and in the gym I faced it only in shoulder training. However, I prefer to avoid the risk and follow his orders. My question is which upper body exercises may be considered &quot;not putting stress on the forearm&quot;, if it even exists. For example, I thought at first that bench press may fit in when done with moderate weight (10-12RM), but in the end of the concentric part of the move I do stretch the forearm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea for such exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T08:16:11.120" Title="Exercises that don't involve forearms" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28558" CreationDate="2016-01-07T14:53:16.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just from thinking about it here are some recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted Push-ups on knuckles (as regular ones would cause a stretch of the forearm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sitting shoulder machines where you don´t have to grip a handle (ex. lateral raises)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zercher Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;get well soon ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T05:17:22.317" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T05:17:22.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28496" CreationDate="2016-01-07T21:28:57.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's any particular shoe you'd need, but a couple of things you won't need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waterproofness. You're inside on a treadmill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offroad / trial runners. They're generally heavier and can handle more traction which you won't need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High mileage rubber. The treadmill surface is much softer than a road, so you really don't need the durability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, any running shoe that works for you in general would be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T21:28:57.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28558" CreationDate="2016-01-07T21:57:08.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a plethora of exercises one can do. If your knowledge of possibles is scant, I suggest you look at free apps like iMuscle 2 or others freely available at no cost. Discover what exercises use which parts of the anatomy, you will be able to work-out no matter what part is giving trouble.&#xA;David, Cornwall U.K&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19022" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T21:57:08.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28453" CreationDate="2016-01-08T05:30:40.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding immersion, the term is generally referred to as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrotherapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hydrotherapy&lt;/a&gt;, and it comes in a few different forms. Sometimes it's simply immersion, sometimes it's contrasting between hot and cold water, and sometimes it's more along the lines of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryotherapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cryotherapy&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_bath&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ice baths&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are numerous studies that offer minimal and mixed results. There is certainly no clear consensus. &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2013/04000/Evaluation_of_Hydrotherapy,_Using_Passive_Tests.11.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A recent study&lt;/a&gt; echoes most of the others in rather lack-luster results and no smoking gun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although results from passive and power tests were inconclusive in&#xA;  determining whether cold water immersion or passive recovery was more&#xA;  effective in attenuating fatigue, results indicated contrast baths had&#xA;  little benefit in enhancing recovery during a cyclic week of rugby&#xA;  union.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072482/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inflammation in general&lt;/a&gt; and whether you should speed it up (heat, increased pressure, etc) or slow it down (cryotherapy, elevation, NSAIDS, etc), that's honestly still up for debate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inflammation is a natural body process and allows for an immune response. &lt;a href=&quot;http://drmirkin.com/fitness/why-ice-delays-recovery.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who coined the acronym RICE, has been trying to shatter it for a decade now&lt;/a&gt;. Her view is that it has been overused, new science has come out, and that generally speaking your body knows what it's doing regarding inflammation, particularly in the world of minor sports injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cryotherapy and hydrotherapy have shown small negative, small positive, or no results. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's best to avoid interfering with the inflammatory response. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;There's little you can do to attenuate DOMS&lt;/a&gt;, but you can prevent it by regular exposure and avoiding &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentric_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eccentric&lt;/a&gt; actions. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The odds that you can out-think your body's inflammatory response is small, and the odds that you'll exasperate the situation, have no impact, or create side effects is larger.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've try to link to and base this answer on is rather objective data. There are high level athletes who do ice baths, but they might also eat broccoli at every meal: it's the classic point that &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;correlation does not imply causation&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T05:30:40.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28567" CreationDate="2016-01-08T06:02:44.013" Score="1" ViewCount="704" Body="&lt;p&gt;My trainer suggested me to do &lt;strong&gt;3 days upper abs, external obliques and 3 days lower abs, internal obliques&lt;/strong&gt; alternatively in a week.&#xA;Is it a good approach to burn fat and get abs quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18753" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T06:00:52.393" Title="Is it good for training upper and lower abs in alternative days?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28566" CreationDate="2016-01-08T06:57:42.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For getting abs? Sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For burning fat? No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing ab workouts doesn't do much in the way of burning fat. Fat burning happens when you consume less calories than you spend over any given period of time. As such, this is something that is best accomplished in the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people, the size of the abs isn't the problem. It's the layer of fat on top of it. So unless you have really underdeveloped abs, doing a lot of ab work is mostly overkill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with that said, abs are muscles like any other, and will react to hypertrophy like any other. But since it's a rather small muscle group, it's very limited in how much volume you can hope to gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very confident in saying that you will have a lot more success getting a proper workout program with compound lifts, which will invariably strengthen your entire core, including the abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T06:57:42.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28558" CreationDate="2016-01-08T08:16:11.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To avoid stretching of the forearm, you should also try to avoid extension of the wrist under load. When performing most upper-body exercises, it's important to maintain straight wrists (regardless of injury or not). Wrist wraps can help a great deal with maintaining a straight wrist while performing a pressing movement. If holding something heavy for a moderate amount of time also causes pain, then wrist straps will also help remove some of the stress from your forearms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you can keep your wrists straight, most upper-body exercises should be fair game. Back exercises (rows, pulldowns, etc) are easy to maintain a straight wrist (and using wrist straps if necessary). Flyes (cable or dumbbell) are another good contender, as the weight is generally low enough that keeping a straight wrist isn't very challenging. Dumbbell bench (or shoulder) press may also be easier on your forearms than the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T08:16:11.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28569" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-01-08T13:10:37.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle definition is essentially about the appearance of muscle, both the visibility of the muscle, and the distinction between individual muscles. It is obtained by a combination of having the underlying superficial (close to the surface) musculature and having a low body-fat percentage so that the muscle is not obscured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T16:47:49.917" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T16:47:49.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28570" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-01-08T13:10:37.480" Score="0" Body="Muscle definition is essentially about the appearance of muscle, both the visibility of the muscle and the distinction between individual muscles." OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T16:45:25.247" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T16:45:25.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28499" CreationDate="2016-01-08T13:51:46.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;did you have a set plan? if not see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nowloss.com/how-to-lose-weight.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;How to Lose Weight Fast in 2 steps&quot;&gt;which of these 9 plans&lt;/a&gt; best fits your lifestyle so you can consistently stick to a regular plan&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;what was your calorie intake? if you don't know then that could be a reason for unexplained weight loss so again see #1 for a solid plan&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;your workout. how did it differ in intensity, time and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;other factors like did you spend more time in the cold or under 66 F where your metabolism increases? Or did you lower your carb and increase your protein intake to flush out excess water&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be any number of reasons but you need to STICK to something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13420" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T13:51:46.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28573" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-01-08T14:04:18.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rowing machines use different designs for providing a workout.  The most popular is the vertical fly wheel provided by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concept2&lt;/a&gt;.  Others use hydraulics or water in a horizontal enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T18:46:04.990" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T18:46:04.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28574" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-01-08T14:04:18.003" Score="0" Body="An exercise machine that mimics the on-water rowing motion thus providing a full body workout for strength and cardio.  Questions about the parts of the rowing machine and proper form when using the rowing machine." OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T18:45:59.970" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T18:45:59.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28535" CreationDate="2016-01-08T14:12:55.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How your muscle looks like is defined by your genetics. However, what I have learned is that also working as hard on the antagonist helps actually the targeting muscle to grow too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was an Old school Bodybuilder with tremendous Arms (including Biceps): Chuck Sipes you can try some of his biceps and arm building routines... they might work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/bodybuildings-original-superhero-chuck-sipes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/bodybuildings-original-superhero-chuck-sipes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General info: &#xA;My recommendation for a bigger arm in general would be to work hard on your triceps too as it is nearly 2/3 of your arm to get a bigger look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-01-18T11:11:28.837" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T11:11:28.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28499" CreationDate="2016-01-08T14:42:41.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say because you don't give very precise information, but if I had to hasard a guess I would say that you experienced a combination of factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slightly elevated lifestyle expenditure: maybe you just moved more. Add to that consistent aerobic training and even if you &quot;only&quot; ran on it 20 to 25 minutes a day, it still builds up a large caloric deficit over time (especially if you are overweight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slightly healthier lifestyle: you mentioned drinking green tea. Did it replace something else, like sweet soda? or treats? Not only does tea have some health benefits on its own, it's doubly the case when it takes the place of something that is less good (like a hot chocolate, or a starbucks capuccino, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You experienced what is called the &quot;whoosh&quot; effect among people used to diet/cut weight. Weight loss doesn't always happen linearly and quite often tends to slow down, stall, and then happen as a burst after a refeed, due mainly to water retention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T14:42:41.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4124" CreationDate="2016-01-08T16:43:32.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joints pop and crack due to synovial fluid build up.The body utilizes this fluid to lubricate joints and muscles so that they move more easily to help prevent injury. Synovial fluid also contains hormones that are beneficial in many ways which is why popping your knuckles feels good and usually develops into a habit. Generally this build up happens slowly, but when you work out your body produces more of it faster because working out causes stress on the body and more friction, which causes more heat, so more lubrication is necessary. For the most part, this is perfectly normal. however, you need to be careful of popping things out of place too often. Things are placed in particular spots for a reason and too much popping could actually injure you such as popping your arm and shoulders too often could possibly rub a muscle and bone or muscle and cartilage together too much and damage the muscle and you may not even realize it's happening so just be mindful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19025" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-01-08T20:11:46.427" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T20:11:46.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28566" CreationDate="2016-01-08T16:47:49.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anatomically there is no &quot;lower abs&quot;, you have the rectus abdomonis which is the six pack. This muscle looks like it may contain specific lower, middle and upper parts but that's not true.&#xA;So no, you don't need to split your ab training unto different days. Also your obliques will be trained when doing exercises like crunches so you don't necessarily need to train them specifically either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19026" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T16:47:49.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5426" CreationDate="2016-01-08T19:01:23.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have spin lock bars that I made permanent. I put a pipe wrench on a star on one side with the floor to hold it and wrench down the other side with another pipe wrench. So far they have stayed tight. No lock lite, this way if you want to take them apart you still can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19027" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T19:01:23.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28582" CreationDate="2016-01-08T19:23:57.443" Score="4" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a popular (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.novexbiotech.com/blog/best-exercises-boost-human-growth-hormone-hgh/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link 1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5-reasons-why-train-legs-squats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link 2&lt;/a&gt;) theory, that is, if you train big muscle groups (e.g. legs, chest), it will increase the overall growth of muscles all over the body; the trained muscle will release signals (what are they?) into the blood stream and in turn, triggers the release of muscle growth/repair hormones (insulin-like growth factor?) which have effects on any (skeleton) muscle cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this story true?&#xA;Will the muscle growth/repair hormones also enhance the smooth muscle or cardiac muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4783" LastEditorUserId="4783" LastEditDate="2016-01-09T05:57:06.767" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T05:57:06.767" Title="Does training of some major muscles groups enhance overall muscle growth?" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2413" CreationDate="2016-01-08T19:32:35.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mostly spot on info. One BIG thing missing though, If you are lifting heavy weight e.g. deadlifting/ squatting over 100 kg every week, you will STRUGGLE to gain weight, no matter what you eat. I am on a bulking phase and I need to eat 3200 calories every single day to gain. After six months of doing that, my waist has increased by 1.5&quot;. If I ate 3000 a day, (which I did for 4 weeks on a test phase - I gained ZILCh!!! Cardio sucks for calorie burn. Heavy weight? You can eat what the hell you want. My powerlifting buddies are banging back 5000 a day and struggling to gain weight and still have abs outline and NO they are NOT on roids!. Suck it and see guys! I put my Dad on it at 62 years of age, and the weight is dropping off him and he eats what he wants, when he wants. Healthwise? No idea guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19028" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T19:32:35.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28580" CreationDate="2016-01-08T21:15:50.707" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Performing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/23889-exercises-release-human-growth-hormones/&quot;&gt;compound exercise movements &lt;/a&gt; have been shown to trigger the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pituitary_gland&quot;&gt;pituitary gland &lt;/a&gt; to release Human Growth Hormone.  HGH does not discriminate against the muscle cells it targets.  In a paper titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7843068&quot;&gt;Growth Hormone and the Heart&lt;/a&gt;, it was shown that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;GH exerts direct effects on myocardial growth and function. Evidence&#xA;  from laboratory models shows that GH (or IGF-I) induces mRNA&#xA;  expression for specific contractile proteins and myocyte hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The data also support a role of GH in the maintenance of a normal&#xA;  cardiac structure and performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, cardiovascular researchers have also looked to HGH in recent years as a potential benefit for those with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bioidenticalhormoneinitiative.org/content/human-growth-hormone-and-its-cardiovascular-benefits&quot;&gt;congestive heart failure (CHF)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In summary, increasingly, scientific data exists suggesting that&#xA;  bio-identical hormone replacement might be crucial in maintaining&#xA;  adequate heart health and improving the lives of people already&#xA;  suffering from cardiovascular disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T21:15:50.707" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2016-01-09T04:21:14.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a mechanical hand held tally that i leave at the edge of the pool and i click each time I'm at that end,  so that counts the number of laps.  the tally costs around 15 dollars.  I've slightly modified it by removing the plastic cover that goes over the numbers so that i may clearly read the numbers.  since it's mechanical it's not affected by the water at all.  works very well for me &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19031" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T04:21:14.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9693" CreationDate="2016-01-09T10:10:42.013" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_trial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cycling time trials&lt;/a&gt;, ranging from 10 mile sprints to 12 hr endurance races. I train on Heart rate and power meters, so I know accurately when I've upped my endurance/fitness. I find if I have a training session, whether that be Turbo or out on the road and I've exceeded a burn of 3000 cals then that following night (without fail) I will suffer with drenching night sweats, to the point I Have to to have a bath towel under the sheet to aid in not ruining my mattress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had blood tests to check for anything sinister and all came back clear, It's the increase in training that causes my drenching night sweats. The second night the night sweats seem to be halved, then the following night is usually all clear until I push my training regime once again. Hope this helps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19036" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2016-01-09T16:42:50.420" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T16:42:50.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28585" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-09T13:10:00.090" Score="2" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 17, and I used to be really skinny, but I had great cardiovascular health. I decided to bulk up and I started bodyweight exercises and ate at a surplus. The thing is, I gained a lot of fat and muscle, and I don't want to lose the muscle completely while burning fat. I am 170 cm and during the summer, I was 52 kg; now I am 65 kg. I want to drop to 60 kg and do a recomp, I know recomp is possible only for beginners but I only exercised muscle for 5-6 months. When I was skinny I did go to a gym but I only got skinnier so yeah I think I can do it but I don't know how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-14T17:47:03.377" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T17:47:03.377" Title="How can I do a recomp?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28588" CreationDate="2016-01-09T13:59:01.060" Score="3" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read the old saying that one should focus on more weight and fewer reps for muscle gain and vice versa for endurance gain. I have also read about most exercises that a set should be between 8 and 12 reps and should be done with the weight that fatigues you on 12 reps. If you can do more reps using a particular weight, you should progress to a higher weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, I decided to go with 5kg for my dumbbell curls because that's the weight that fatigues me after 12 reps, which is fine. The only problem is that I can only do one set of 12 and another of 5 with that weight. Is it okay to continue like this or should I reduce the weight to be able to do more sets? My aim is to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I face the same problem with other weight-related exercises (pecs fly, shoulder press, etc.) as well. I can do only one perfect set with the right weight that fatigues me in about 12 reps but unable to follow through with subsequent sets. If I reduce the weight, I can do more sets but then it allows me to do more than 12 reps in the first set. I fear it might be less efficient but not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19040" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T18:48:03.363" Title="More sets with smaller weight vs. more reps with higher weight" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-09T14:32:56.740" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an 80 kg guy, height 5'6&quot;, and I have been jogging for like 5-6 months now. Initially, I used to jog in a park, 1-1.5 km a day. Then I gained a lot of weight and didn't have time for jogging, but I have resumed jogging. My stamina increased, and I started running 4 km — this was on hills, with little slope up and down. My quadriceps hurt like hell initially, but the pain went when I stretched a little. Then I had a break for a month or so, and again I started running. I tried to increase my pace of running to 10-10.5 kph, but this decreased my endurance and I could only run like 2.25 km in 2 laps. Also, now my legs hurt. The first 1 km is easy, then I take a break, and the next 1 km I feel pain. I also feel the pain in day-to-day routine as well. I haven't stopped running, but I only run like 3-4 days a week now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know what actually is causing this pain, and what I should do now; I want to be fit and keep running, and increase my pace and stamina as well.&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18781" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-09T15:48:13.180" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T16:32:24.570" Title="Pain in knees, quadriceps, ankle on jogging" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-01-11T16:21:03.330" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28586" CreationDate="2016-01-09T16:21:05.970" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything that allows you to put in more overall fatigue inducing volume will be good.  If you can do the first set at 12 reps, you have a few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 3 sets at whatever you can get, and focus on building up even one more rep each time you do the exercise until you have the full set/reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce weight for each set and use the last set to get as many as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead of 12 reps, do 8 or 10 reps per set and focus on more sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T16:21:05.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28587" CreationDate="2016-01-09T16:32:24.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be something more complicated, but generally I'll just say that &lt;strong&gt;running hurts&lt;/strong&gt;, especially when you're just starting or increasing your mileage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend following a training program like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;couch-to-5k&lt;/a&gt;. With something like that, the distance increase and schedule will be regulated. If you have excessive problems with pain or handling the workload, at least you know that you're starting with something proven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you invent your own running schedule, you introduce the variable of a bad schedule which can cause over-use injuries and generate rather poor results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T16:32:24.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28586" CreationDate="2016-01-09T18:48:03.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This answer is according to your goal, hypertrophy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reaching failure shouldn't be your goal. According to a few articles I read (a very good one can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-muscle-prof-training-to-failure-helping-or-hurting-me.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;), training constantly to failure may hinder your results. I have two main rules in this topic (both also appear in the article):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set weight that lets you reach failure only on the last set of each exercise (or lets you finish all the reps as you get close to failure).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use dropsets only as the finisher of the training session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T18:48:03.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28592" CreationDate="2016-01-09T18:54:16.980" Score="0" ViewCount="1020" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 51 and, when cycling or running, (I do about 120-150 km per week) I find myself comfortable at over 160 BPM and even at 180 BPM for a few km or when climbing a long climb (5-8 km, which means going at 175-184 for 40 mins). During short bursts I can peak at 189 without feeling dizzy or bad in any way other than without air for a while. My average heart rate for a normal workout can be between 150 and 160 and I can have a conversation-filled ride in which I average 145-150. Of course all this goes against the different ways of calculating the max heart rate (which for my age is supposed to be, depending on the method, around 170). What gives? Am I endangering my health? is max heart rate relative. Does anyone know cases similar to mine?  Thanks in advance &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19043" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-09T20:03:13.390" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T17:13:46.483" Title="Max heart rate over 190 at 51" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-01-10T15:46:11.103" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28591" CreationDate="2016-01-09T20:34:05.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your max heart rate is the maximum &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; heart will beat at and can be determined with a stress test designed to push your heart to that level.  All of the formulae are for estimating a maximum heart rate based on a statistical analyses of measured max heart rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Survey of max heart rate studies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those estimators really should include confidence intervals, but that kind of complexity goes over the heads of most people and tends to be omitted in articles aimed at the public.  For example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17468581#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gellish 2007&lt;/a&gt; indicates their formula fits 95% of their population ±20 bpm.  Note that is of the population being studied.  Some experiments involve much larger populations than others.  It is not unusual for one study to indicate how they utilized a different subject selection method in order to avoid some bias they believe a prior study had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until they devise a study that measures whatever determines maximum heart rate more directly than age and gender, the estimators are going to be rather broad and of limited utility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether your activities are healthy, consult your doctor - suitable stress tests should let them determine what are acceptable intensities for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10872" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2016-01-11T17:13:46.483" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T17:13:46.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28593" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-10T03:28:34.940" Score="1" ViewCount="782" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I stretch my hamstrings, I get an acute pain right behind my knee, what exactly is that pain? Is it ligaments? Is it my gastrocnemius? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19047" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T14:22:58.717" Title="When I stretch my hamstrings, what is the feeling behind my knee?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-10T04:17:25.670" Score="0" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for people to walk around the locker room completely nude and also sit there texting letting the penis and balls go where ever they want?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19048" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T06:36:32.023" Title="Locker room procedure" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-01-10T15:45:23.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28594" CreationDate="2016-01-10T04:48:26.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal? Yes and no. It's about people and their preferences, not procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etiquette? No rules against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't like it? Get over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;letting the penis and balls go where ever they want&quot; is just you exaggerating. So long as they're not touching you, they're not doing anything wrong. It's a locker room! They're allowed to be as naked as they please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they're getting uncomfortably close to you, let them know. Other than that, deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-10T06:36:32.023" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T06:36:32.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28593" CreationDate="2016-01-10T04:59:23.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be the inner and outer head of the gastrocnemius, but if you're doing the stretch where you lean forward into a stretched out leg, then that pain is perfectly normal. In my experience, it feels more like semimembranosus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yeah, I experience the same thing, so I do another hamstring stretch, which doesn't require full extension of the leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Is9Wd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Is9Wd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still do the leaning forward one too, specifically to work on the pain in the back of the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T04:59:23.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-10T08:34:38.590" Score="4" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I startet working out 5 months ago. Until now i havent used anything that didnt come from my kitchen table. Yesterday i ordered from bodybuilding.com a 5 lbs gold protein and 15 quest protein bars. Im a little hasty so this is after the decision question. Are they unhealthy for a growing teen. Btw im 18. Could they couse problems. My dad seems they will but still...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18779" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T15:19:33.610" Title="Are protein powders unhealthy for a teen athlete?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-01-11T16:16:53.910" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28597" CreationDate="2016-01-10T09:24:06.497" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, protein supplements are made of whey protein, which is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It's not a synthetic product of any kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't tried the Gold brand in particular, but I can see that it's being sold by some of the most reputable sites (including here in Norway), so I see no reason doubt its quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your father is right to be concerned, because you hear stories about people &lt;strong&gt;abusing supplements&lt;/strong&gt; all the time. But just to be clear, it's not protein powder that causes this. All of the scary stories are mostly surrounding those who abuse illegal or controlled substances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey is as natural as milk itself, because... well, that's what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T09:24:06.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28593" CreationDate="2016-01-10T16:07:55.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll assume it's tendons, as I can't imagine that you're loading up your ligaments with a standard hamstring stretch, but I guess it's possible. Either way, there's a lot of connective tissue in there and no relevant muscle so the distinction between ligament and tendon might not be of much material relevance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The anterior knee pain you're experiencing is bad though, to be sure. To solve the problem, try bending your knee slightly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A much superior stretch you may want to try is a standing forward bend, aka &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttanasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;uttanasana&lt;/a&gt;. Check out the reference below (&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/qt4Vg3o.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;higher res here&lt;/a&gt;), and note the beginner stance on the right where the person is using two blocks. Hand position is important, and I've always been advised to try to push my butt into the corner between the ceiling and the wall behind me, if that makes sense. Keep your butt up and push it up and back. Take your shoes off, keep your feet pretty close together, and spread the weight evenly from your toes to heels. A slight bend in your knees is completely acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YLrj8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YLrj8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T16:07:55.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-10T21:00:10.140" Score="5" ViewCount="695" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have been doing weight training for a couple of months now. Using the idea of progressive overloading I have been increasing the weight by about 5kg every week or 2 or 3. Since I'm working out at home without a spotter I make sure I'm safely below my max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that, with my deadlift, I can now do all the weight I can fit on the bar. My biggest plates are 7.5kg of which I only have 2 and 2x5kg and the rest are 2.5kg. So they are not very tall and thus take a lot of horizontal space on the bar and I can no longer fit any more weight onto the bar. I imagine that I will be having the same problem with my bench press soon as I am only 5kg the bar's maximum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently looking to buy/make some larger weights but won't be able to do this for a while. In the meantime I would still like to be increasing my strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I continue to increase my strength without increasing the weight on the bar? Should I do more reps per set? More sets of the same reps? Repeat the exercise daily or twice a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will these alternatives cause me to increase muscle size? I've been doing 5 reps as I've read that this or even less is optimal for training strength without increasing muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to increase strength without gaining too much muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-01-11T19:10:50.340" LastActivityDate="2019-02-16T01:56:43.280" Title="Can I increase strength without lifting more weight?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28602" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-10T22:35:51.960" Score="0" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mr. Olympia competitor Ben Pakulski advises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pre-workout. No carbs. Why no carbs? Neurological focus.&#xA;  Neurotransmitter focus. I find that I get much better brain focus in&#xA;  my training and ends up giving me better overall outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/WPIWsQhZ9CM?t=33s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/WPIWsQhZ9CM?t=33s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article from Forbes also says low carbs increase vigilance at the expense of hurting other traits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When consuming low-carb diets in the short term, this is certainly true. In a 2008 study, psychologists placed 19 women on either a calorie restricted low-carb diet or a calorie restricted high-carb diet for 28 days. Throughout the study, participants’ memory, reaction time, and vigilance were tested at regular intervals. While those on the low-carb diet enjoyed a slight boost in vigilance, they suffered impaired reaction time and reduced visuospatial memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2013/11/12/do-low-carbohydrate-diets-make-you-dumber/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2013/11/12/do-low-carbohydrate-diets-make-you-dumber/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of these sources explained why low carbs increase focus/vigilance. What is the reason? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastEditorUserId="613" LastEditDate="2016-01-11T08:14:41.960" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T01:20:57.127" Title="Why do carbs make you lose focus during your workout?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28601" CreationDate="2016-01-11T08:31:17.940" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't increase the weight on the bar, then you have to settle for moving the bar faster (good for strength and power), reducing rest periods between sets (good for conditioning, hypertrophy (sometimes), and endurance), increasing the number of reps per set (good for endurance, conditioning, and hypertrophy), increasing the number of sets (good for hypertrophy, conditioning, and a little bit of strength), or doing different exercises that challenge some of the same muscles and movement patterns as the exercise you're trying to get stronger in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises to supplement the deadlift in this way include Romanian deadlifts, single-leg deadlifts, power cleans, power snatches, paused deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, and snatch-grip deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are 15kg more than the maximum amount of weight that you can fit onto your bar, you should probably focus on getting good at high-rep deep squats (e.g. multiple sets of 20 with 65kg on the bar), power cleans, and Romanian deadlifts. Those are still useful at less-than-bodyweight amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-04-04T15:35:43.433" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T15:35:43.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28593" CreationDate="2016-01-11T13:57:20.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain in the back of the knee (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/blogs/admin/pain-back-knee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;‘popliteal’ region&lt;/a&gt;) does have some common causes.  The most common being a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/bakers-cyst#Overview1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;popliteal cyst&lt;/a&gt; caused by the buildup of synovial fluid in the knee that migrates to the back of the knee.  The underlying cause is usually related to arthritis, or, acute cartilage injury to the knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A popliteal cyst, also known as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/bakers-cyst#Overview1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baker’s&#xA;  cyst&lt;/a&gt;, is a&#xA;  fluid-filled swelling that causes a lump at the back of the knee,&#xA;  leading to tightness and restricted movement. The cyst can be painful&#xA;  when you bend or extend your knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a Baker’s cyst, then, stretching the hamstrings may cause some painful discomfort in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/knee-dictionary/popliteus-muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;popliteus muscle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T13:57:20.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28601" CreationDate="2016-01-11T14:43:31.903" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First we need to understand what strength is and what types of strength there are (Ross Enamait describes it nicely on this page &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/strength-training-for-fighters/&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.com/blog/strength-training-for-fighters/&lt;/a&gt;):&#xA;However, he is talking about fighters and their need for strength but the concept is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maximal Strength&lt;/strong&gt; – Maximal strength is defined as the amount of force that one can exert under voluntary effort. Max-strength is developed by lifting heavy loads, or through body weight methods such as isometrics and the use of strenuous rep-for-rep movements. Obviously there will be a time where you can´t progress if not adding weight to the bar or body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explosive Strength&lt;/strong&gt; – Explosive strength is defined as the ability to express significant tension in minimal time. You can increase explosive strength by executing the movements faster from a dead stop for example or using resistance bands with a moderate to light weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Speed Strength&lt;/strong&gt; – Speed strength is defined as the ability to quickly execute an unloaded movement or a movement against a relatively small external resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength Endurance&lt;/strong&gt; – Strength endurance is defined as the ability to effectively maintain muscular functioning under work conditions of long duration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question now that we know how strength is defined, we can work on the things we have to our disposal.&#xA;The best thing would be to work on all four types of strength for a well rounded program but in your case, as you are limited with adding weights, we can use a concept that is called contrast training. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/contrast-training-for-strength-size-and-power&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/contrast-training-for-strength-size-and-power&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; that the title is strength size and power, YOU will no add significant amount of size if not adding more weight to the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You simply execute a movement with a relatively heavy load for 1-5 reps, and immediately following a reactive or explosive movement.&#xA;An example for Bench-Pressing: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd7TI4vMRFA&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd7TI4vMRFA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information I can recommend: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/11/29/get-stronger-faster-french-contrast-method/&quot;&gt;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/11/29/get-stronger-faster-french-contrast-method/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;and&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/contrast-training-for-strength-size-and-power&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/contrast-training-for-strength-size-and-power&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-01-11T14:56:02.733" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T14:56:02.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28607" CreationDate="2016-01-11T17:21:07.817" Score="0" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started the gym 40 days ago , and ever since I managed to jump from 69 KG to 78 KG as I used true mass protein and amino X but now I have few fat around my belly which is I never had before.&#xA;this time I ordered :&#xA;- gold standard protein&#xA;- gold standard Casein&#xA;- 2222 amino&#xA;- Russian bear creatine Xtreme &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 184 cm tall and 78 kg , I am trying to gain volume .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what is the best way to start using these supplements ?&#xA;usually I wake up around 8:30 and I get my breakfast at 9:30 . train during the evening most of the time unless its my day off . I hope this will help .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19065" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T17:52:51.370" Title="how to use supplement nutrition?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-01-13T14:50:28.137" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28606" CreationDate="2016-01-11T17:52:51.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purely nutritional questions tend to get closed, but just to outline the idea;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take 2 caps of amino with breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take one scoop (~5 grams) of creatine with ~250ml of water 15 minutes before workout. Chug it immediately, and don't let it dissolve. It should look disgusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take one protein shake sometime after workout but before bedtime. Just before bedtime has been shown to have somewhat better effect (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;), but it might make you sleep uneasy as you're digesting while sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're already using Gold's (whey), then I see no reason to use a casein product simultaneously. But since you've already bought it, you could consider having a shake a couple hours before the workout. Casein is a more slow-acting protein, and takes slightly longer to digest as it releases amino acids into the bloodstream at a slower pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T17:52:51.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28601" CreationDate="2016-01-11T17:56:37.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;mitro's answer is really good, but I'd like to add on it. It's going to be hard to really build strength without weight, but there are a few things you can consider in the meantime:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Volume progression - good strength/powerlifting programs (Sheiko, Juggernaut, etc.) use volume as a main training stimulus rather than intensity. By increasing your training volume you can drive progress without having to touch a weight over 70-80% of your max. The fatigue you accumulate by doing a lot of submaximal volume, added to the extensive practice offered by doing thousands of repetitions, will give you tremendous strength gains. It's one of the rare things both the S&amp;amp;C literature and the world-class strength coaches agree on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Underloading - the principle of underloading is to use a harder variation of the lift in order to provide mechanical stress without using very heavy weights. In powerlifting we often do this with for example paused bench press, spoto press (paused bench without touching the chest), paused squat, paused/double-paused deadlift, deficit deadlift, and all kinds of tempo variations of the big lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed - speed days are a favorite of the conjugate system, even if they are quite controversial outside of it. It's basically form practice, where you do a lot of sets of very few reps, with very low weight, focusing on perfect form and maximal speed. For example, 10 sets of 3 with 60% (week 1), 65% (week 2), 70% (week 3), increase max and repeat. The Westside Barbell Book of Methods has a lot of information on the topic, along with traditional soviet training books.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using these 3 principles you can easily work for a couple of months with whatever weight you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T17:56:37.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27952" CreationDate="2016-01-11T18:02:47.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look up Alex Viada's work, he is a world class strength and endurance athlete. He has a great book on hybrid training, but even if you don't want to buy a book he has two blog articles called &quot;so you want to run and be strong&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completehumanperformance.com/want-run-endurance-training-strength-athletes-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;part 1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completehumanperformance.com/want-run-endurance-training-strength-athletes-part-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;part 2&lt;/a&gt;) as well as many other interesting blog posts on his website, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completehumanperformance.com/article-list/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;completehumanperformance.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T18:02:47.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27952" CreationDate="2016-01-12T07:40:28.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a look at &lt;strong&gt;Jerred Moon’s One Man One Barbell&lt;/strong&gt;, it would fit I guess. &#xA;As you have not specified any concrete goals, you should have a look at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the program conditioning is laid out, but CrossFitters do their own thing, cyclists do their own thing and runners do their own thing. It’s been used and tested effective with multiple different forms of conditioning.&#xA;Here is the link to the page, but you should be able to find the program layed out somewhere out there: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onemanonebarbell.com/#welcome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.onemanonebarbell.com/#welcome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T07:40:28.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-12T10:38:52.533" Score="7" ViewCount="3391" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running 5k since last month and slowly building up my pace. The only problem that I face is that my lower part of the feet heats up during my run. I wear &lt;em&gt;NIKE&#xA;DUAL FUSION RUN 3 MSL PRM BLACK RUNNING SHOES&lt;/em&gt; and cotton ankle socks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before consulting a doctor, I felt I should share with the community :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: FYI I can cover 5 km distance in 28-29 minutes at a constant pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18615" LastEditorUserId="18615" LastEditDate="2016-01-13T07:58:19.583" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T16:53:08.473" Title="How to keep your feet from heating up during your run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;&lt;foot-care&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-12T14:55:15.043" Score="2" ViewCount="418" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been getting in shape lately. I was kind of fat some months ago and I'm not anymore (thanks to a bit of running, a bit of sports like volleyball, and a bit of eating better). I have a decent body now, with a good BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My next logical step would be to gain a bit of muscle now. The problem is, I've tried to go to gyms, but I struggle to keep my pace to keep going to them or practice my abs exercises. However I never struggle about playing sports, because they're fun. So I'm wondering if there could be a way to get ripped by playing sports? If yes, what would be the best sport to do this? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19075" LastEditorUserId="19075" LastEditDate="2016-01-12T15:39:55.607" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T17:24:24.247" Title="Can one get ripped by just playing a/some sport(s)?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-01-13T15:54:01.247" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28616" CreationDate="2016-01-12T17:24:24.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your idea of ripped. Yes you can more easily lose weight doing sports but &quot;generally&quot; the answer to your question is no as it is not very easy to put on muscle when practicing sports due to the lack of increase in resistance each time you play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you are playing soccer (football for Non-US). Sure you may be able to run more each time but other than increasing playing time there is nothing that is giving resistance to your muscles. They will adapt to be better at doing the certain sport or activity for longer but in terms of growth you will see little to none. Take a look at soccer players or even basketball players. Would you consider them ripped? Personally I don't but everyone has their own views.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you do think they have very well developed bodies you also have to consider the fact that essentially all professional athletes spend time in the gym no matter how skinny or fat they are. This will add in some more bias as to what your body can look like purely from sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18499" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T17:24:24.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28438" CreationDate="2016-01-12T21:41:03.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My name is Ben and I'm a posture Alignment Therapist and Personal Trainer.  I've had the same issue you have had about 5 years ago before I learned the ins and outs of correcting postural position. Bellow I will discuss briefly why you are having this problem and what cues you should look at, pertaining to your own body, that is causing this issue...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulder issues are generally a direct result of shoulder position. In your case, it was more than likely improper shoulder position while lifting, causing to over use of your shoulders as oppose to your chest and back (the prime movers for these push and pull exercises).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often times people that have a rounded shoulder position due to dysfunctional posture have a difficult time attaining a neutral shoulder position.  What needs to happen before you lift is corrective exercises that address this shoulder position, often times also addressing other related postural issues such as kyphosis (thoracic rounding) and lardosis (excessive curve of the lumbar spine), as well as other postural dysfunctions that may be leading the improper loading of your shoulders during these movements.  Everything is connected and related, so you must look at your overall postural position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step would be to look at yourself in the mirror and analyze where the imbalances are in your structure.  Are your shoulders rounded?  Do you have forward head position?  Is one of your shoulders higher than the other?  Is one of your shoulders rotated more forward than the other?  Do you have an elevated hip? Do you have one hip that is rotated forward?  Do you have an anterior pelvic tilt or a posterior pelvic tilt?  Are your feet everted or inverted as oppose to neutral? There are other aspects to look at, but these will keep you busy in thought and research for now in how to address these dysfunctions leading to the compensation that caused your injury.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is to bring your body back into balance to attain a more ideal postural position. Once this occurs, your body will start to find proper function within movement in whichever exercise you are doing.  As a positive consequence to addressing your overall posture, your shoulder should be able to heal faster because you will no longer be over using the wrong muscles through compensatory patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I threw allot at you, so don't hesitate to ask further questions... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ben&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19034" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T21:41:03.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28438" CreationDate="2016-01-12T21:46:24.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't retract my shoulderblades fully, but engage pretty forcefully the muscles that retract the scapulae in most major exercises: front squat, back squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups, and so on. If you're rounding your upper back forward during any of those then something is weak and wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T21:46:24.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28447" CreationDate="2016-01-12T22:48:46.533" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Age certainly has a role in your back pain, but I would move more towards your daily routine over a number of years as to why your current state is a painful and stiff one when waking up. Once upon a time when you were young and spry, you had less miles, thus there was less spinal compression and use overall upon your joints and structure.  As time goes on, not only does gravity set in, but the repetitiveness of your job and habits lead to a creaky existence over time, similar to that of a car not being properly serviced. Also like an old car not being serviced, it has trouble starting in the morning, but once it gets going, it runs through movement. Keeping with this car metaphor, a car that is taken care of &quot;properly&quot; runs strong and powerful for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your remedy is to do daily hip, spinal and shoulder mobility corrective exercises (based on your current postural position) to unlock your body over time.  I say over time because it took you many years to attain your current state, thus change won't happen over night.  If you start on this process, over time, your mornings won't be so painful and stiff.  If allowed to re-find proper function, your body will find its way back.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19034" LastEditorUserId="19034" LastEditDate="2016-01-12T22:54:25.967" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T22:54:25.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27850" CreationDate="2016-01-12T23:21:11.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where are you located?  I work with people who are in pain with posture based corrective exercises, and can help you move back into using weights. If you're not in my area, I can still lead you in the right direction. The other aspect of joint inflammation is your nutrition, as this plays a big role in ridding your body of such issues, especially if you have an auto-immune disease.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as it's done within the proper eco-system, addressing whatever dysfunctions and compensations your body may have, lifting is good for anyone. Not only have I dealt with a number of injuries myself from a motorcycle accident that caused a great deal issues that I am now pain free from, but I've seen many people get through such inflammation diseases.  My sister, for instance, cured herself of loupes through proper nutrition.  A colleague of mine has rheumatoid arthritis and competes in body building figure competitions (without drugs).  It's all very much possible for you to get back to doing what you love, just as long as you have the proper tools and direction, as there is allot of bad and wrong information out there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't hesitate to reach out. I'm happy to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19034" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T23:21:11.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28625" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-13T12:01:39.040" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to run two days ago, but i am not sure if i am doing this correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in know if there is some tips and tricks about run, dos &amp;amp; don'ts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19085" LastActivityDate="2016-01-13T12:01:39.040" Title="Is there a correct way to run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;foot&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-01-13T12:39:32.960" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2016-01-13T12:56:22.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can sympathize with your problem. My feet get really hot when I'm running as well. My solution for the problem was to move to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalist_shoe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;minimalist shoes&lt;/a&gt;, in my case, a set of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xero_Shoes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Xero Shoes&lt;/a&gt; sandals. They don't work for everyone — and they do necessitate learning a different running technique for most people as you no longer have artificial cushioning around your heel, but I personally find them much more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of that, my impulse is that you could probably try adding venting to your shoes by cutting holes, albeit at the loss of structural integrity and waterproofing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-13T12:56:22.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28447" CreationDate="2016-01-13T18:03:46.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hurt my back in a football injury in 8th grade.  Speared right in the middle of lower back.  Was out a few days and have now had the exact same problem that you have for the past 20 years.  My family has pictures of me stretching out and dying in lines at DisneyWorld because I wasn't able to workout on vacation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do you feel better?  Blood flow and muscles expanding and contracting.  I find that even if I do an &quot;arms&quot; day that my back feels a little better after lifting, but not nearly as good as after I squat.  And definitely no where near as good after I run - hard (do about 4.75 miles 30 mins - not record breaking but good for a 200lb meathead).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I suggest?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get your body in better balance.  Whether it is tight hams or quads or gluts your lower back will face the brunt of your poor flexibility.  Also make sure that you keep you muscles in sync.  If your back is much stronger than your chest you will bow and put pressure on areas of the lower back.  Our bodies like symmetry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if you aren't looking to get bigger than vary your workouts and concentrate on less weight, more reps, and better form.  Often you can do this squatting and deadlifting by giving yourself just 60 seconds rest per set.   Years ago I was squatting well over 600... I had a workout where I did 5 sets x12 at 245.  Got them all in in less than 10 minutes.  I found that this was much harder than my heavy days and I literally couldn't move the first few times I did it.  The point is it emphasized working my legs instead of doing a shitload of weight and my whole body is pounded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do cardio that stretches your core.  If you have lower back issues I suggest only running on grass or a treadmill.  Also you should focus on your stride.  The longer your stride the more you stretch out your hams and lower back.  If you are lifting a lot running more than twice a week might not be doable.  I suggest some sort of nautilus or elliptical that has a large range of motion for your legs (I know this rules 90% of them out), walking on an incline, or a real stair stepper machine.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;start doing core movements a few times a week.  Doing good mornings may seem anti-intuitive but doing them with really light weight (start with bar) a couple times a week can not only strengthen your lower back but also stretches your legs.  And obviously you should hit your abs a few times a week (feet off floor exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your lower back issue in all likely hood is caused by a small amount of disc movement.  When you work out your muscles force them back into a good place - for you.  The fact is the situation will probably get worse as you get older.  You will have to start incorporating smart lifting methodology, specialized cardio and core routine, along with a stretching (yoga) routine to offset the effects of aging and the years of pounding you have put on your discs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also add that it really really helps to find a chiropractor that specializes in athletes.  I used to go to doctors that talked about surgery and if not surgery told me everytime my back hurt to not do anything at all for 4-6 weeks (yep that made it much worse).  A good sports chiropractor that understands that you are going to be active can help with alignment and stretching exercises and also deal with the 1-2 times a year your workouts don't fix the soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-01-13T18:03:46.577" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28628" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-13T21:14:17.160" Score="1" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to row competitively, but had to stop around 9 months ago due to bursitis in my right shoulder. I got treated, mostly cortisone, but it never really got a lot better– a new doctor diagnosed  scapular dyskinesis that could be either cause or symptom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then I've been doing some exercising here and there, and I would like to get back into it fully – probably not directly rowing but at least lifting/rowing ergometer or whatever, but I feel like I have to feel good about my shoulder first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I cannot go to a physiotherapist due to cross country insurance stuff (I live abroad), so my questions are: Are there any exercises, self massages (eg myofascial) I can do that will help my shoulder? Against both bursitis and (probably more important) scapular dyskinesis. Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19087" LastEditorUserId="19087" LastEditDate="2016-01-13T21:53:43.917" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T21:23:09.747" Title="Exercises/Self-massage with shoulder pain" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2016-01-14T08:26:30.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experienced the same problem and I might have figured out the answer:&#xA;The heat is caused by friction. This friction is produced because your feet can move within your shoe...so my suggestion is get some thicker, breathable socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18442" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T08:26:30.273" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6117" CreationDate="2016-01-14T11:16:10.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've heard it before. Everyone says &quot;engage your core!&quot; when you're in the midst of any exercise whether it's a plank, squat, or sprint, but what does it really mean to engage your core?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First we must get one thing straight. The muscles of the core consist of more than just the highly desired 6-pack, the rectus abdominis. While this muscle may be appealing, it doesn't do much for stability since its primary role is to curl the trunk. Contracting the spinal stabilizers, particularly the transversus abdominis (the deepest abdominal muscle) is the key to spine stability and truly engaging your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to Engage Your Core&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;To learn how to properly contract your core muscles try this exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lie on the floor and place your fingertips one inch above your hip bones and one inch in towards your navel. Continue to breathe normally as you draw your navel in towards your spine and up towards your ribcage and then slightly bear down, imagine lowering the navel towards the floor. You should feel your abdomen tighten; you may feel like you're on the verge of laughing or coughing. Keep the abs contracted about 30% throughout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to think of engaging your core is to imagine you're bracing yourself for a punch in the stomach. Hopefully no one in your pilates or aerobics class will throw any jabs, but bracing during exercise can be important for reducing nagging lower back pain that can feel worse than a single punch. I think core is not &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hubnames.com/best-posture-brace-reviews/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;posture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19093" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T11:16:10.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28488" CreationDate="2016-01-14T15:10:49.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your plan is OK for fitness and weight loss, however there are a few points you need to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMI is somewhat flawed, since it is unable to take body composition into account - if you build upper body muscle, your BMI may not drop even though you are in much better shape.  A better indication of your weight loss progress is a combination of body weight and waist circumference.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss is produced by creating a calorie deficit, unless you also control your diet, you may not lose weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cycles are quite short - ideally you need to slowly build up to doing at least an hour in order to increase the number of calories burned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19096" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T15:10:49.190" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28585" CreationDate="2016-01-14T15:38:14.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to reduce your calorie intake so you have a small calorie deficit (around 200kcal/day would be good, 500kcal/day as an absolute maximum) - this will facilitate the weight loss.&#xA;However at the same time you need to be very disciplined with what you eat, maintaining a high protein intake and continuing to work out is key to maintaining your muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful not to try and lose the weight too quickly - at 17 it is possible you are still growing, and your body needs the fuel to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19096" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T15:38:14.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28628" CreationDate="2016-01-14T20:59:58.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question brings back memories.  I’m a competitive rower and I had a similar situation.  Although, my symptoms were more situated in the rhomboid/trap region &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; shoulder inflammation.  I did, however, have some discomfort in the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the exercises/stretches I had to do as part of my rehab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thoracic Extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/selpj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/selpj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thoracic Rotation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xwMDI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xwMDI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cross Body Horizontal Adduction Stretch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AMSh1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AMSh1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleeper stretch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wMWn7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wMWn7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Para scapular strengthening (T’s and Y’s)&#xA;(sorry, no images)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is a small subset that should get you started.  I would recommend you go back to your doctor and get his advice on the above exercises &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; trying them.  I'd also suggest you suspend erg work (if you're doing it) until you feel no discomfort.  The last thing you want to do is have a setback if you’re trying to get back into a boat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T20:59:58.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28641" CreationDate="2016-01-15T15:34:01.210" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started following series to build muscle, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-building-trainer-nutrition-overview.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; page the calories is 2712, the author says to have 6 meals a day including calories from your workout. Now if i do simple maths as do breakdown of 2712, it is as following&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein : 241g &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Carbs   : 402g &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Fats    : 71g &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total   : 714&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if we do 714*6 = 4,284. That is like double of what he mentioned for training day. Am i doing the maths wrong or there is any typo?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T16:58:40.190" Title="counting total calories intake more than" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28638" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-15T15:40:01.137" Score="3" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just began fasting today to get myself into keto faster, only going to have 800-1000 calories of mostly fat (80%+) for the next 2-3 days.  My question is should i stop working out?  The easy answer in my head is no because I have worked out on little to no food in the past (not on purpose) and been just fine.  While i wont really be building any muscle and probably wont lift as much, just seeing what the recommendation is from others for this scenario.  This is my first time trying keto and my lifting is powerlifting, today would be deadlift day, tomorrow is accessory/light cardio day, then rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19102" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T02:34:53.287" Title="Stop training while fasting for keto?" Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28396" CreationDate="2016-01-15T15:50:09.803" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I danced for a long time and have a BA in it and was part of a modern dance company.  I would look at really some general yoga stretching to begin with, this is something that we always did.  A big key is to make sure you get the blood moving first to avoid injury.  A simple way is to just make the class do jumping jacks, but that is boring.  Since its modern dance, some more &quot;dancy&quot; warm ups might be more interesting.  Contact improv, improv across the floor, basic movement, etc.  Just get a little bit of a sweat up. You probably have done plenty of stretches in the past, so focus on the muscles you are intending to use when dancing, this would be obviously the legs, lower back, upper back, abs, hips, etc.  We used to do lots of hollow body and rolling movements as well to increase mobility.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if i rambled a little bit but i hope this helps. I'd say the yoga stuff is key if you are looking not to worry about injury since everyone can go at their own pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19102" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T15:50:09.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28637" CreationDate="2016-01-15T16:32:47.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming 2712 calories is your daily target and not the author's, that is the total daily requirement. Thus 2712 cals / 6 meals = 452 cals/meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T16:32:47.507" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2016-01-15T16:34:56.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to if your feet are rubbing or not, I find the socks I use make the difference.  I tried some short basic cotton socks and my feet get very hot.  Then I got some puma socks that are meant for running and breathe a lot (my shoes also breathe pretty well) and I noticed a major difference.  Make sure your shoes are good for your feet.  I'm not sure where you are located but there are running shops where they will look at you walk and recommend shoes as well as help you with the heat issue.  Where I live we have a place called fleet feet and they are great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19102" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T16:34:56.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28637" CreationDate="2016-01-15T16:58:40.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;protein, fat, and carbs all contain a different amount of calories per gram&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;protein = 4&#xA;carbs = 4 &#xA;fat = 9&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so your math is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;protein : 241 * 4 = 964&#xA;carbs : 402 * 4 = 1608&#xA;fat: 71 * 9 = 639&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so total is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;964 + 1608 + 639 = 3211&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If those are the macros, it looks like the math on the site might be off by a bit. If you are new to building, then you probably dont need so much.  Aim for a total of 2800 calories, reduce all three fats, protein, and carbs a bit to fit it and try that out for a month.  Adjust based on the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19102" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T16:58:40.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28496" CreationDate="2016-01-15T18:11:15.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A running shoe is a running shoe, but find the one that fits to your foot and your stride correctly.  The assumption is the way you run on a treadmill will be the same as inside.  Go to a store and try a few on and run around a bit in them, even if it looks a bit silly, just find the one that you feel wont cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19102" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T18:11:15.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28496" CreationDate="2016-01-15T18:20:26.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add to Eric's answer the two most important things I look for in a running shoe - I am all treadmill due to nasty shin issues I get running on hard surfaces - are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;light weight&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;cushioning&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stability, how well the shoe is made (toe/heel forms), and all the extra stuff is really nothing to worry about since you aren't cutting, your shoes are scuffing, you aren't hitting potholes, and such.  So I have been buying some running shoes lately that I would have never bought before if I were running outdoors as a lot of the new ones especially from Nike and Adidas have virtually no ankle support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T18:20:26.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28646" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-15T23:10:08.413" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 14 year old girl, and not in very good shape. 5 days ago I went to archery practice, with my 40lb bow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first 40 arrows weren't a problem for me, but when I got to 50 I began to shake. I stretched out and went home. The days after my muscles were very sore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 days later the soreness was gone. I tried to pull back the bow and I felt so much weaker than last time I used the bow. Did I do something wrong or do I just need more rest? Or is it something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don't know why I got weaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19106" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2016-01-16T04:49:30.813" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T04:49:30.813" Title="Weakness in shoulder a few days after archery. Why did I get weaker why?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;doms&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28646" CreationDate="2016-01-16T02:45:08.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The archery practice tears your muscle fibers. There are two things you need to get that back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Enough proper food&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Enough rest&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one/both of these are not met, your muscles will not be rebuilt properly, and you'll get progressively weaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's odd that you experienced this after only 5 days, but it does strongly implies that at least one of the two points have not been met.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T02:45:08.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28646" CreationDate="2016-01-16T04:48:29.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise breaks down your body a little bit. Done well, it breaks it down the perfect amount that allows your body to repair the damage before the next time you exercise. You can read this answer on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19322/7091&quot;&gt;how exercise adaptation occurs&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sticking with your archery:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you pick your bow up and put it down, you're not stressing your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you fired off a few arrows, you probably stress it enough that it can repair the damage within a few days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you over-do it too much, you cause too much damage and your body wasn't able to repair it by the time you tried to use it again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soreness you feel is called &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)&lt;/a&gt;. It's normal, and a typical cause is movements and load that your body isn't used to. The shaking you felt is typical of muscles at their maximum load, struggling to maintain tension. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19021/7091&quot;&gt;Here's an existing answer about shaking muscles under load&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should consider doing some regular exercises to get more accustomed to your bow. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kslinternationalarchery.com/Training/SPTs/SPTs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Looking around at professional archery resources, it seems that a typical way is simply using your bow&lt;/a&gt;. Draw the bow, relax, draw the bow, relax, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T04:48:29.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22182" CreationDate="2016-01-16T05:46:13.493" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main problem is your cardio. Because your calorie intake is moderate, if you do cardio, then you are losing more calories and thus your size isn't changing.  The best way to build  muscle  size is to forget  about your abs (for beginners). Follow  a high  carb and high protein  diet (high calories), do much less cardio when you want to gain your size. When you  get your perfect  size then change your diet to get abs. The most  important  thing  is to increase  the strength  of your forearm and wrist. The stronger your forearm, the more weight you will lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19111" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-20T18:43:12.370" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T18:43:12.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3351" CreationDate="2016-01-16T12:27:04.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tip: turn off the heater (or turn on the air conditioner)! Sleep in an ice-cold room, as cold as you can get it, underneath 3 blankets and while wearing warm clothes and socks. Try it out for a night, you will notice the difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19116" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T12:27:04.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28658" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-16T12:46:11.047" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a basic Polar HR sensor. Am in very good shape and do lots of cardio a week. In a 60 minute cardio session I can hardly break 400 calorie burn while my friends boast over 600 burn with a Fitbit and I am in WAY better shape physically than they are. My HR stays within the predetermined range and is average about 153 for about 45 minutes. I have checked and rechecked the data input info for my monitor.  I really just wanted the most simple device I can get for HR, calorie burn etc.  Is it because I do not have a lot of fat to burn and that my heart is in good shape and that I have a fast recovery?  BTW my heart rate drops very fast during a minute rest.  My doctor say my EKG is EXCELLENT!&#xA;Should I consider a different device? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19115" LastActivityDate="2018-02-10T14:45:59.863" Title="How close to accurate is a HR sensor for calorie burn?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28658" CreationDate="2016-01-16T15:08:31.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should consider using your device for just what it is meant to measure: Your heart rate (HR) and nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such devices are usually very accurate. If you do not thrust your device then you can easily test it by wearing two devices and comparing measurements or by manually counting heartbeats for one minute. Modern devices using green LEDs for sensing colour changes of your skin are considered very reliable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even it might have a read out of energy expenditure it is still just measurements of your heart rate converted into another number using some mathematical formulas. Such kind of calculations are subject to many significant errors: They are based on assumptions like energy consumption is related to oxygen transport, and oxygen transport is known from your HR. They will not work if your max HR deviates from the formula 220 minus your age or you are doing anaerobic exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T15:08:31.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28638" CreationDate="2016-01-16T16:10:27.560" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Participants in fitness competitions do keep a low calorie diet for a few weeks while they continue to do their usual workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that they calculate the daily amount of calories very accurately, and get supervision from nutrition experts or personal trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T16:10:27.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28628" CreationDate="2016-01-16T21:23:09.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A question at Stackexchange should never replace advices from professionals. Please, only view my answer as inspiration and not as recommendations for treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take into account that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scapular dyskinesis is a displacement of your shoulder blade&#xA;(scapular) often caused by short muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;18 muscles attaches to each shoulder blade&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapula#function&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapula#function&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows intensively trains a strong muscle called Trapezius, which&#xA;attaches to the shoulder blade&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You probably do not perform adequate stretching exercises (most&#xA;people don't) and do not care about training antagonistic pairs&#xA;equally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will first recommend you to get familiar with functional exercises (like crossfit) and stretching for your upper body to train it in a healthy way.&#xA;Popular speaking you should not do row exercises without doing an equally amount of push ups.(I know this is not really an option for top athletes). Ideally you should perform an equally amount of exercises for all your major muscles in your upper body and make sure to retain full movement by proper stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are out for specific video exercises for your situation, I think they are easy to find like&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesportsphysiotherapist.com/treatment-of-scapular-dyskinesis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thesportsphysiotherapist.com/treatment-of-scapular-dyskinesis/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Danish physiotherapists often recommends the book Robin McKenzie: &quot;Treat your own shoulder&quot;, which detailed explains stretching exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T21:23:09.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28638" CreationDate="2016-01-16T22:41:42.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you could better just keep on lifting. As said above you won't hit the same numbers, but there is always a technical flaw you could try to work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also use the time you are now not lifting to learn new movements. I can't tell how experienced you are but you could try other types of squats as example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;goblet squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;front squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;box squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;goodmornings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope I helped you and keep growing stronger!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T22:41:42.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28535" CreationDate="2016-01-16T22:55:12.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are saying you want to grow your biceps. There are multiple thing that you will have to keep in mind while saying that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bicep and tricep have to be in relation.&lt;/strong&gt; The strength on your bi's and tri's should be in a good relation to each other. If the bicep as example is a lot stronger you could develop elbow tendonitis and other joint related pains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tricep make up a lot of the arm.&lt;/strong&gt; Not only biceps, but also triceps make up a lot of your arms. You are saying you want bigger biceps. I used to be saying that too, but all I wanted were bigger arms. So triceps matter too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The best muscle building exercises are compound movements.&lt;/strong&gt; Compound movements are movements which require multiple muscles. Some examples: rows, pull-ups, push-ups and squats. These movements have been scientifically proven to be better muscle builders than isolation movements (E.G. bicep curl).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For muscle growth you will need hypertrophy.&lt;/strong&gt; Hypertrophy is a process in the muscle which causes it to grow. You will get hypertrophy when training with a minimum of 8 reps. Most people say 8-12 reps will be the best, but there is scientific evidence that has proven 30 rep sets to be just as effective as 8-12 reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry I wasn't able to put sources to my claims, but I hope I'll still be able to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T22:55:12.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28602" CreationDate="2016-01-16T23:05:14.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Pulaski stated he feels better training without carbs before his workout. As a number of studies have proven that when you eat carbs, protein and fats does not significantly effect your gains. So you could just try to do what fits you best. Also as stated above Pulaski abuses steroid and thus is not comparable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Most youtubers, suplement companies make money of of people who don't know what they're doing. Don't fall into these scams. They mostly use information from research that fits what they want to say and make a fuss about insignificant so-called 'muscle-growers'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T23:05:14.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28673" CreationDate="2016-01-17T00:41:51.787" Score="2" ViewCount="621" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy means that your muscles are bigger, but does this mean that they don't perform better or worse than smaller muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really possible for hypertrophy of the muscles to have no functional effects? Would you gain at least some strength? Are there any negative functional effects? I've heard that bigger muscles makes you less flexible, is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are the functional effects both positive and negative of hypertrophy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T19:04:58.337" Title="What are the functional effects of hypertrophy?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-17T01:28:32.880" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wondering what set of exercises do you recommend to be able to perform muscle ups ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19121" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T09:13:00.857" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T01:50:01.207" Title="What exercise to perform at the gym to be able to perform muscle ups?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28666" CreationDate="2016-01-17T02:42:39.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ring dips and ring pull ups (with false grip) in ordinary gym rings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one or both of these exercises are too hard then replace ring pull ups with pull ups (strict or with kipping) in the bar or lower the rings until your feets touches the floor during the exercise. Replace ring dibs for instance with dips between two boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also apply a rubberband between the rings and let your knees rest on the band for dips and sit on the band for pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are in the rings: Remember to do simple exercises pressing your shoulders in the opposite direction of gravity to avoid injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Muscle ups&quot; is an advanced exercise. You must have been doing core exercises and common functional exercises for your upper body for a while to stabilize your body and to avoid injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T09:12:29.360" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T09:12:29.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28674" CreationDate="2016-01-17T04:20:10.507" Score="2" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been following a routine where I warm-up to an exercise with smaller weights of the target weight (I maintain an Excel sheet to make sure I do at least as much as last time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squatting, I do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7 x 60%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 x 70%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 x 80%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x 90%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then 2 x 5-7 reps of 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just read a report that cardio may be better for warm-ups and full scale movement of the joints of the target muscle, eg.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/light-cardio-warm-up-best-before-strength-work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/light-cardio-warm-up-best-before-strength-work&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Could I replace these warm-up reps with simple few minute cardio exercises? (eg jumping, or no weight squatting etc)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5418" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T20:31:55.213" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T20:31:55.213" Title="Warm-up for weight lifting: cardio or smaller weight reps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-01-20T09:54:02.957" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28056" CreationDate="2016-01-17T04:40:07.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an expert or a doc, but IMHO paying attention to your inner instinct and fear is normal and being fearful of the sea is normal. Sea is not our natural habitat, and we are not the top predators there. Individuals do get attacked by sharks, medusas etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5418" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T04:40:07.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-17T08:45:09.273" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'1 and 90 pounds. For my age (I'm 13 years old), I'm underweight. Some of you may be like don't worry about this, you're so young but I still will worry about it. For those of you who say &quot;eat more&quot; it doesn't work that well for me, I have a small appetite. In 3 weeks I only gained around 1 pound which really concerns me. I wanna get in shape, to gain more muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19122" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T16:15:18.257" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T16:17:26.217" Title="Trying to get in shape" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28670" CreationDate="2016-01-17T09:10:55.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining weight as an underweight person (and I know this from experience) is having the balls to eat even though you're not hungry. This does not mean binging, but rather eating healthy food 5-6 times per day, in moderate portions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you can help yourself get a bigger appetite by joining a sport. I wouldn't recommend weightlifting just yet, but a form of martial arts or gymnastics is one of the best choices you could possibly make right now. It will make sure that as you grow, you grow in the right ways. It will make you both look good, and feel good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, I'm not discounting other sports, and you should go for whatever sport you really want to partake in. Martial arts or gymnastics are suggestions that I know will give you a strong and lean body whether you want one or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T09:10:55.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2016-01-17T10:54:21.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best warm-up for lifting weights is neither 10 minutes on an elliptical nor going straight to the first exercise using low weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catalystathletics.com/article/127/Catalyst-Athletics-Our-Warm-up-is-a-Warm-up/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Per weightlifting coach Greg Everett&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When it comes to warming up, what are we trying to accomplish? The name itself is a bit of a hint, but increasing body temperature is just one element. It might be easier if we rename the warm-up to training preparation. Now if we ask what we’re trying to accomplish, it should be obvious: we’re preparing our bodies for the training to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, my warm-up consists of ticking the following boxes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;raise my body temperature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;run a self-diagnostic on my body (&quot;Is everything working properly? Do any joints or muscles report an issue?&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;achieve sufficient mobility and flexibility for the exercises making up the main part of the workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;work gradually up to the first exercise of the workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process can take many forms. Sometimes I run or use a rowing machine, sometimes I don't. I usually do some form of arm and leg swings. I'll usually do a few air lunges, air squats, or use a lightweight stick to do snatches or overhead presses, depending on what I plan to lift later. I'll do a few movements that tell me if I'm limbered up or not, like pistol squats, Cossack squats, or overhead squats with something light. Then I'll progress from very light versions of my first lift to the heavy sets, for instance, air squats to squats with just the bar to loading the bar in increments of 20kg or so until my heavy sets. This works quite well for me and, to my knowledge, is well supported by exercise science as a near-optimal approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T11:04:28.333" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T11:04:28.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28665" CreationDate="2016-01-17T11:02:49.977" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy is the sole phenomenon of muscles getting bigger. (This can be considered a distinct physiological process, but is difficult if not impossible to trigger separate from increases in strength, endurance, and so on.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy &lt;em&gt;in and of itself&lt;/em&gt; slightly increases strength due to leverage advantages that come with greater cross-sectional area producing a superior angle of contraction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy &lt;em&gt;in and of itself&lt;/em&gt; says nothing about flexibility. Hypertrophy training can result in reduced or increased flexibility; this is determined by the program one uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy alone may create greater metabolic demand, that is, it's harder to fuel a bigger body during sustained cardio effects. But other training can obviate this effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But all in all, hypertrophy gets a bad rap. Excessive attention on bodybuilding in popular Western culture has caused lifting weights to be associated with bodybuilding's excesses, but the fact is that hypertrophy should generally be desired by everyone. It's a rational goal of working out that carries vanishingly few negative effects of any significance at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T11:02:49.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28668" CreationDate="2016-01-17T11:27:34.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the initial reps with lower weight are most useful for ensuring, that you perform the exercise with sufficient quality.&#xA;E.g. for squats focus on maintaining a very high tension in your lower back and the deep abs. Look in the mirror and check that your knees do not moves during the exercise.(vertical shins)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They work as a safety precaution too: You get an opportunity to feel if your body is not ready for max weight in the exercise.&#xA;Perhaps you did not notice a small injury, which could be fatal if you perform the exercise with max weight. Often injuries first show up at e.g. 50%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is common to go even much lower than 60%, and for squats your initial step could be (jumping) air squats (0% weight) as you suggest.&#xA;All trainers I ever had, always has told me to start lower and use smaller steps than I think I need myself. It does not means more reps: When you get closer to max, you just need one rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I perform squats, my first step is cardio for heating up the muscles and bringing fluids to the joints. Then static hindi squats for ensuring mobility and range. That means you can go deep in your squats, but you will also get a few seconds to be aware of &quot;changes&quot; in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T11:27:34.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28670" CreationDate="2016-01-17T12:25:05.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do not necessarily need to eat more, but you have to get correct nutrition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Six smaller meals a day containing &lt;strong&gt;20-25g protein each time&lt;/strong&gt; (this is much harder to plan than you think - use a kitchen scale and nutrition tables to check the amount of protein)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Healthy food: Fresh fruit rather than dried or canned fruit. Raw or&#xA;slightly cooked vegetables. No fast food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow carbohydrates: Prefer whole grain products and avoid sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choose some sports, which makes you &lt;strong&gt;feel happy&lt;/strong&gt; and that you have fun. Good feeling is usual the best motivation for using your body and gain muscles mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T16:17:26.217" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T16:17:26.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28677" CreationDate="2016-01-17T12:35:40.637" Score="5" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;After really enjoying running for a couple of years and running a few times a week and entering some races, I have lost the motivation to go out after work in the dark and cold and put in the hours. Do you have any advice beyond the obvious &quot;sign up for a race&quot; that I could try to get my groove back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19123" LastEditorUserId="19117" LastEditDate="2016-01-18T07:05:44.040" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T18:38:23.607" Title="How can I motivate myself if I am feeling bored of running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28676" CreationDate="2016-01-17T13:38:13.953" Score="7" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run for fun: Do not push yourself to reach a certain distance, speed,&#xA;time or any other criteria for success. Just do what you like to do&#xA;today, make a random choice each time you reach an intersection, jump&#xA;over smaller fences, run backwards and so on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change style: Try trail-running or something different from usual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy some fancy sportswear, which makes you look cool and &lt;strong&gt;feel&#xA;comfortable&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Think about other people who stayed at home. Tell yourself that you&#xA;are outstanding, what you actually are, when you get out in the cold&#xA;night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mix your runs with functional exercises like air squats, lunges,&#xA;push-ups etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get friends and have fixed times each week for running together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a personal trainer, which for sure will push you beyond any&#xA;reasonable limit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accept winter is not optimal for running and have fun trying some&#xA;other sports. You will most likely feel better at springtime.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T13:38:13.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28679" CreationDate="2016-01-17T14:20:21.493" Score="2" ViewCount="2461" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently added side planks to my regular workout in order to get a better workout for my obliques. However, once I've been in the plank for about a minute, I start to feel considerable joint strain on my shoulder and elbow. This is quite painful, and is a significant barrier to increasing my time. I've tried every modification of position I can, with no effect. Softer surfaces and cushions don't help either. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this issue? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19126" LastEditorUserId="19117" LastEditDate="2016-01-18T05:35:41.123" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T05:35:41.123" Title="Reducing side plank stress on arms" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28678" CreationDate="2016-01-17T16:13:54.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot tell you how to avoid the pain, only how to reduce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I have a much better understanding of such kind of issues after I began doing yoga. I can not repeat what yogis say here. This would just make you laugh: Strange statements like &quot;feel the energy running up from the earth and through all your body&quot;. However, when I do what I think they want me to do, I feel much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, press your hips upwards and keep a high tension in the deep abs. This is not yoga, but how you perform this exercise in a correct manner.&#xA;Then press your lower shoulder backwards and down and keep a high tension like you do in many other exercises. Never sack in the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you know the warrior exercises from yoga and how to press your legs together, it is an advantage.&#xA;While you keep the arm you rest on in a vertical position, then think about pressing your forearm down and towards the legs, and even it seems impossible, the legs down and towards the forearm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do things right, you will feel it like the weight of your body is suddenly reduced. So are the pains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a part of writing this answer, I did this exercise for 2½ minute and the only reason to I went down was that my abs was shaking. I felt only insignificant pain in the lower elbow. Before yoga, I always had to stop because of pains in elbow and shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T16:13:54.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28666" CreationDate="2016-01-18T01:50:01.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly you need to be able to do pull ups and chest dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train for muscle ups you will need to do lots of both of those two exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pull ups and chest dips account for most of the muscle up move however the most difficult part of a muscle up is the transition. False grip training is highly recommended to improve the transition part of a muscle up. So incorporate false grip hangs and false grip pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from that, all you can do is the full muscle up move but with assistance, the same as when you probably first started doing pull ups; rest your legs on a stool or something to take some of the weight. Do the move quickly with a bit of a jump at the start. Go to the top of the move and then slowly go down to a hang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T01:50:01.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28681" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-18T06:15:45.560" Score="4" ViewCount="1016" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every day I climb 8 stories of stairs. I'm 23, and my friends say if we daily climb 8 stories that in the future there will be knee problems and all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they right? If so can you suggest any better way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19133" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2016-01-18T07:09:53.917" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T21:55:28.633" Title="climbing 8 floor stairs daily is it a good practice" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-18T13:27:12.517" Score="0" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gluten-intolerance has surprises such as supplements with gluten, non-gluten products with gluten-contamination and non-absorption of necessary building products such as proteins and vitamins to the body. If hemoglobin going down during recovery due to stomach things, it can seriously affect running times and stamina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How should a gluten-intorelant endurance athlete design recovery lifestyle such as dieting and training schedule?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps related questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How should a gluten-intolerant design pre-workout diet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How should a gluten-intolerant design intra-workout such as supplements during pumping?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How should a gluten intolerant athelete design training and diet during intestine recovery phase? (Amount of calories/vitamins/protein&#xA;  up, detox training, more rest not to stress liver and other detox&#xA;  organs?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In general, which training schedules and resting schedules are most appropriate for the recovery time?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How should a gluten-intorelant design lifestyle during stomach-recovery when body mass going down and hemoglobins going down during intestine-recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More general question about gluten-intolerant dieting in &lt;a href=&quot;https://health.stackexchange.com/questions/4441/how-should-a-gluten-intolerant-plan-diet&quot;&gt;How should a gluten intolerant plan diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cooking related question about &lt;a href=&quot;https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/65561/surprising-foods-with-gluten-or-gluten-contamination&quot;&gt;Surprising foods with gluten or gluten contamination?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:53:20.273" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T13:39:50.557" Title="Recovery lifestyle such as training scheduling and dieting for gluten-intolerant endurance runner?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28681" CreationDate="2016-01-18T13:33:19.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's highly unlikely you will have any long term ill effects from climbing  8 stories stairs daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless you might want to consider the same supplemental excercises for the thighs that e.g. joggers or cyclist do, such as stretching thighs &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i9npl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i9npl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or massaging with a blackroll&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VysM2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VysM2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will prevent the musculature from becoming stiff and avoid unnecesarry pressure on the knee caps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19137" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T13:33:19.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28676" CreationDate="2016-01-18T15:14:55.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Along with Gyrfalcon's suggestions, I'd also recommend an app like &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://zombiesrungame.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zombies, Run!&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which gives you a narrative while running. I've got a mixed opinion on the &quot;zombie chase&quot; bits, which I feel do not properly handle courses with hills or other obstacles that prevent you from raising your speed for a prolonged sprint, but the actual storyline is kind of fun to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also listen to an audiobook, but my experience is that I find it hard to convince myself to listen to said book while running instead of listening in the comfort of my own home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T15:14:55.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4345" CreationDate="2016-01-18T15:21:08.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/fitrpg-turns-your-fitbit-into-a-game-you-play-with-frie-1602140820&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FitRPG&lt;/a&gt; fits your bill, I think. There is no storyline (their Kickstarter to add one failed to fund), but you do get to upgrade your character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T15:21:08.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28681" CreationDate="2016-01-18T15:24:41.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with any form of exercise, it is possible to accrue injury by doing it incorrectly. For stair-climbing, the key to avoiding knee strain is to keep your body over your knee while ascending. When going up a step, place your foot on the step, shift your weight over it, and then push up. Odds are you're already doing it, since climbing with your weight further back is uncomfortable for most people, but I figured it was worth mentioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T15:24:41.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28681" CreationDate="2016-01-18T16:02:16.240" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until elevators and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-beam&quot;&gt;steel girder construction&lt;/a&gt; around the turn of the 19th century, the tallest buildings were usually five stories. People worked in those fifth stories for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd&quot;&gt;jobs&lt;/a&gt; have people walking up and down hills all day for decades, starting as small children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's actually sort of sad that people consider eight flights of steps a day to be something that is beyond the scope of what a healthy human body can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have problems, it will likely be from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/health-topics/muscles-and-bone/overuse.shtml&quot;&gt;over-use&lt;/a&gt;, as you adapt to the load on your body. But if you've been doing it continuously without any ill effects, you can rest easy knowing it's fine. If something starts to hurt, cut back and ride the elevator up. If it feels good, keep doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And tell your friends to stop giving you poor advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T16:02:16.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28676" CreationDate="2016-01-18T19:49:57.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New places, music or podcasts.&lt;/strong&gt;  I need to occupy my mind, and that means listening to something or looking at something new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I'll drive to a city or state park for my workout, or run in a new part of the city I'm not familiar with.  Even areas you think you know are very different on foot than seem from the driver's seat.  You'll realize how much you miss driving.&#xA;I try to avoid suburbs...most are very boring and repetitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Music, comedians, and good podcasts are great for when you're running in a familiar area.  If you have something to think about the time passes quicker, and music can keep you pushing yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8474" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T19:49:57.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28691" CreationDate="2016-01-18T21:16:21.687" Score="9" ViewCount="461" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to recently events back at my parents house, I decided to help with some of the expenses, this lead me to sacrificing my membership to the gym. I know there are at-home workouts, but I am unsure of which one to follow since I am so used to lifting weights. I kinda regret cancelling that payment, but family comes first. I really don't know for how long I am going to keep my account cancelled.  Buying weights it's an option, but again I'm pretty tight budget wise and it would take time for me to get everything I would want to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any recommendations for an at-home workouts that can tire me as much as lifting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="19117" LastEditDate="2016-01-19T01:50:30.820" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T11:00:34.677" Title="No more gym, what to do?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4345" CreationDate="2016-01-18T22:12:09.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase that you want to look for is &quot;gamification&quot;, it's a somewhat new field of study in motivation, and it's basically how to apply game concepts such as higher reputation, achievement badges, privileges for higher rep players (Does this system sound familiar? :) ) to everyday concepts from play to work and achieve higher work levels and output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wellnessforce.com/resource/7-best-gamification-fitness-apps-for-2015/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wellnessforce.com/resource/7-best-gamification-fitness-apps-for-2015/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is one of the first hits when searching google for fitness gamification apps, and includes FitRPG as recommended above, as well as a couple others. I know that there are a LOT of cyclists and triathletes that use Strava as a motivating tool, so you just need to find the app and community that fits your interests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T22:12:09.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28689" CreationDate="2016-01-18T22:16:25.450" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not regret this break from your weightlifting and take the opportunity to become an even better weightlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trainers I have had, most often has used about half of the workout for yoga exercises to improve flexibility, range, mobility and core strength.&#xA;Exercises like over-the-head-squats demands extremely high flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can highly improve quality of your squats by doing air squats in front of a mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can improve your core strength and stability far beyond what you think is possible just by doing functional training and calisthenics - without any equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can afford a little for a smaller device, I will definitely recommend you a cheap suspension-trainer aka TRX (cheap ones are as good as the expensive ones), which you easily can attach to a door, and sliding exercises like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.6-directions.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.6-directions.com/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;You can just use floor-cloths for sliding exercises. I use to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you dare to try advanced exercises, Switch ball can take your weightlifting to the next level, but I recommends proper instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have room for more than that, then get inspiration from crossfit and use sandbags (or water bags), tires, logs, etc. as weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T22:16:25.450" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28689" CreationDate="2016-01-19T00:30:19.160" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you consider yourself handy then you could consider building some weightlifting equipment yourself. It is cheap and surprisingly simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I do recommend that you do buy the barbell since making one out of wood or other common materials would be considerably weaker or larger if you try to maintain the same strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKf0UqBiCQI4Ol0To9V0pKQ&quot;&gt;Buff Dudes&lt;/a&gt; have a Youtube channel where sometimes &lt;em&gt;Buff Dad&lt;/em&gt; has tutorials on how to make Gym Equipment. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dy5eyMDt3c&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is an example for a power rack. I've found that the procedure is quite simple and doesn't require any advanced tools. The material is mostly wood so it is very cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for weight plates, there are again many tutorials on Youtube (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpwewKou_R0&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; for example) where people show you how to make weight plates from concrete. It's about $5 for a 25kg bag of concrete, so you could make ~30kg (some water is retained from curing, I'm not sure how much) of weight plates for only the cost of a bag and a mould which would be less than $5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it would take a considerable amount of time you could build yourself a home gym for a couple of hundred dollars. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T00:30:19.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28702" CreationDate="2016-01-19T02:56:50.400" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am diabetic with surgical repair of both shoulders &lt;em&gt;total replacement&lt;/em&gt; and 2nd right toe amputation with right great toe partial amputation.  I have had neck surgery &lt;em&gt;C-6,7 ACDF&lt;/em&gt; and have lower lumbar &lt;em&gt;movement syndrome&lt;/em&gt; where my vertebrae juts out midway over the lower vertebrae causing severe pain and inability to walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sleep on my left side. There is no apparent difference in my walking or strength, yet the vast difference in my abdominal apron.  I have changed my diet over the last few years, with the last year turning more toward a decreased gluten and increased Paleo diets.  I used only coconut oil, sugar (some flour &amp;amp; milk), Almond Milk and Flour, sweet potatoes; NO: white rice, bread, flour, sugar.  I have lost 60# with 40-50 to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know of some exercises that I can gradually increase in duration and intensity to help alleviate the abdominal aprons uneven size and appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19140" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T20:31:29.907" Title="Abdominal Apron variance 3&quot; at base on left while 1.5&quot; on the right. Exercise Regimen to equalize" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-01-20T17:37:55.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28689" CreationDate="2016-01-19T09:14:59.293" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting&gt;family&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but really, you might be able to find a place to do chinups in a park or on a tree or something, it's one of the best exercises to do. Maybe you can buy a metal bar from a hardware store and make a chinup station yourself. Dips are also great. Other than that you can start a running routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19101" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T09:14:59.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28689" CreationDate="2016-01-19T14:18:17.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a pullup/chinup bar. You can get one for about $20.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy a couple of parallel bars where you can do dips. If you have a couple of sturdy chairs, they will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullups, chinups, dips, pushups, planks, bodyweight squats are all great exercises that could make up for a very decent routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T14:18:17.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28689" CreationDate="2016-01-19T14:46:47.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training is in essence applying force to a resistance. How that resistance looks like is just limited to your imagination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The World is your gym (phrase stolen from Ross Enamait)&#xA;go out and train outside in fresh air, you can do pull-ups, chin-ups, dips on trees or monkey bars on playgrounds, using heavy stones, barrels or kegs for overhead lifting or deadlifts or big logs.&#xA;Running up hills for conditioning is an challenging task... too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You are your own Gym  (phrase stolen from a title of a bodyweight training program od a farmer navy seal - Mark Lauren) you can do bodyweight exercises in addition or just alone, there are some outstanding programs outhere. I recommend: Never Gymless-Ross Enamait, YAYOG - Mark Lauren or Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make your own gym:&#xA;Depending on your Budget and available  space for training you could build some of the tools on your own, here is some Information on custom created  tools like bulgarian bags, sandbags, gymnastic rings, trx bands and kettle-dumbells.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&amp;amp;t=157&amp;amp;sid=03871eb27b3ff4b3f2230da5c9b07e97&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&amp;amp;t=157&amp;amp;sid=03871eb27b3ff4b3f2230da5c9b07e97&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;now go do something...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T14:46:47.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28700" CreationDate="2016-01-19T17:17:54.797" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;The description in the book describes touching the right hand in front of the left foot while the right leg goes up, then says to repeat it with the left hand going down, and that you've completed one rep when you've done that. Then, it says to switch legs. So, when doing ladders (1 rep, then 2 reps, then 3 reps, etc), is one to do the right leg twice as one rep, then do left twice, right twice as the second two reps, and so on? Or is &quot;one rep&quot; supposed to be twice on the right and twice on the left?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consult his website, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.marklauren.com/forum/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the forum&lt;/a&gt; seems to perpetually be down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T18:57:01.143" Title="Are there two or four movements for each rep of a Single-Leg Romanian deadlift?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;you-are-your-own-gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28699" CreationDate="2016-01-19T18:52:47.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would understand touching one leg twice as one rep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your actual ladder would look like this: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4 ... - because you are switching the legs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T18:52:47.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28699" CreationDate="2016-01-19T18:57:01.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don’t think you can use a literal interpretation of that exercise description and superimpose “ladders” on top of it.  As described, you won’t risk losing any benefit from the exercise if you modify it to fit your needs.  In my opinion, you would be better off rotating each leg after each set.  So, for instance, the sequence might be…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Set 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Right leg, 1 rep    Left leg, 1 rep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Set 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Right leg 2 reps    Left leg 2 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Set 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Right leg 3 reps    Left leg 3 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a minimum, the above scheme would certainly make it easier to keep track of where you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T18:57:01.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28693" CreationDate="2016-01-19T20:31:29.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think there exists any single set of simple exercises or advices, which can ease your situation.&#xA;You have too many and too complicated difficulties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I feel sure you will benefit much from appropriate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my supervisors has confirmed this story: &lt;a href=&quot;https://vimeo.com/41271653&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://vimeo.com/41271653&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I hope, you will get inspiration/understanding for how big difficulties you can overcome, if you really &lt;strong&gt;want&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes people ask me how I can afford a personal trainer. I think most people can afford one, if they have to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about your life in the next five years if you do nothing.&#xA;A skilled supervisor or personal trainer might heavily improve the quality of your life too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T20:31:29.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28727" CreationDate="2016-01-20T06:13:19.897" Score="1" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once heard that basic definition of cardiovascular exercise is &quot;exercise that increase heartbeat for a specific amount of time&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? If yes, can I choose any exercise(like toe touching,leg lifting,etc) for weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19149" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-20T18:29:28.407" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T20:50:11.287" Title="What is the basic definition of cardiovascular exercise?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28689" CreationDate="2016-01-20T11:00:34.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gymnastic Strength Training&lt;/a&gt; is a perfect option for you in my opinion. It is very well designed program with tons of progressions and requires almost negligible equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="692" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T11:00:34.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28704" CreationDate="2016-01-20T17:06:34.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are doing cardiovascular workouts to improve the transportation of oxygen in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say a person is in a poor shape, that is he or she becomes breathless just after short time of light physical activities, you actually mean he or she has a poor oxygen transportation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you do such workouts is usually by working as hard as possible in the aerobic area to maximize your need for oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have a good &lt;em&gt;individual&lt;/em&gt; indication of the level of oxygen transportation by measuring the heart rate (HR).&#xA;Note that you cannot compare the HR of two persons and conclude that the one works harder or has a better oxygen transportation than the other one. If you measure the HR of yourself during a single workout (but not during e.g. a year) it is common to assume that the maximal transportation of oxygen take place when your measure the fastest HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it use to be optimal to do exercises with many fast repetitions, you can do literally any exercise you want for cardiovascular workouts.&#xA;It is just extremely hard to work as hard as maximal oxygen transportation / HR takes place by doing a plank compared to running fast or jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That fact leads to a reasonable &lt;strong&gt;definition of cardiovascular exercises&lt;/strong&gt;: Exercises, which makes it easy to push your body to work in such a way, that maximal oxygen transportation takes place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T17:06:34.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28704" CreationDate="2016-01-20T18:39:55.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking, any activity that increases your cardiac and vascular levels by activity is indeed cardiovascular exercise. Whether it's walking, climbing stairs, boxing, or yoga, maintaining your heart rate at a higher level during activity. There are a couple of catches, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, heart rate is a symptom of the activity, not the activity itself. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/236/if-i-get-my-heart-pumping-with-caffeine-is-that-good-aerobic-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You can't improve your cardio by drinking a lot of coffee&lt;/a&gt;. I mention that in part because you mention toe-touching. Toe-touches, like any stretch, can be good cardio-vascular activity, but you're also inverting yourself, which messes with your blood pressure a bit, which may induce a higher heart rate for a time that has nothing to do with the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, to simplify things a bit, you're looking to reach an elevated heart rate for a sustained period. Doing a minute or so of fast walking will get your heart rate up and it will stay up for a bit, but your body will quickly catch on that it was only a short burst of activity and it won't give you as many benefits. The trick to good cardio exercise involves getting your body into a state where it's convinced that it needs to keep the engine idling, so to speak, just in case you need to start sprinting to escape the ravening wolves again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, not all exercises are created equally. Some will more efficiently exercise your system and, in general, it's best to do movements that apply to what you plan to do. There was a nice quote I ran into at one point about elliptical machines that pointed out that they do a good job of building up cardio, but the odd movement means that all you're really training your body to do is to more efficiently work the elliptical machine. Most people are better off running, or climbing stairs, because that's what they'll actually be doing in their life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T18:39:55.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-21T07:45:22.983" Score="1" ViewCount="967" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I go to the gym for e.g. a hard chest workout, the next day or two I can feel my chest be a little sore while it tries to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I never get this feeling with my thighs and calfs although I feel that during my workout I push them near their limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the exercise, I can feel them burning, like any other muscle, but I feel that they recover way too quickly after the exercise. I feel like I can work them out two days in a row and push them to their limit without any problem (I don't do this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have by no means extremely trained feet; they are normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16302" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T18:05:20.423" Title="Thighs and calfs never sore after the workout" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;calf&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-01-24T18:15:37.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28710" CreationDate="2016-01-21T11:59:19.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, soreness is definitely not a good tool to measure your training session quality. There is some correlation between the &quot;damage level&quot; and the feeling of soreness, but the lack of soreness doesn't indicate a too low-intensity workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few points I suggest you to think about in order to assess your training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Priority&lt;/strong&gt;: Do I train calves only in the end of the session? Am I considering other muscle groups to be more important in the session?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Volume&lt;/strong&gt;: Do I put more effort into other muscle groups over my calves? Am I performing significantly more sets/reps when training other muscle groups?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, remember that calves are actually used daily, so it's a bit harder to challenge them. Vary the reps range, do supersets, etc, anything that will shock your body. Don't train the same group on consecutive days, but find the way to increase the muscle stimulus in the current workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T11:59:19.567" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28712" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-21T13:21:21.537" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;this weekend my amateur team will be competing in a tournament (Quidditch - you can consider it as a high intensity exercise for 60 minutes.). We will play 4 games in a day with 1 or 2 hours between the games. Would it be a good idea to consume 150-200 calories of maltodextrin dissolved in water to replenish energy right after each game?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19164" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T01:12:26.120" Title="Is consuming maltodextrin a good idea for replenishing energy between games?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-21T13:30:53.230" Score="2" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22  1.75 m and 85 kg.&#xA;I started training about four months ago, starting with bodyweight exercises and one time I tried to do a full 'flag'. After this I showered and I saw stretch marks on my armpits. I moved to training in a gym and these marks only got bigger and longer. Now I have marks on both sides, looks like a bold red line. They are starting to move to the chest area in one direction and to the biceps in second direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that they will go away but they have only worsened.&#xA;I can live with them in my armpits because no one sees them, but if they move to my chest and biceps I'll look like a mutant.&#xA;Is there a way for me to stop them from spreading, other then by stopping my training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should mention that in that time frame, I was dieting, and I managed to lose about 4 kg amd gain them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19165" LastEditorUserId="19174" LastEditDate="2016-01-22T11:23:19.793" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T19:41:42.960" Title="Stretch marks from training" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28710" CreationDate="2016-01-21T18:05:20.423" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are having one or all of the issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You aren't doing enough weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You aren't doing enough reps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You take too much time between your sets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You are doing the lifts incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when I was at my peak and lifting 6 days a week with two leg days (at the time had been steady for 10+ years), there was not a single time I did legs and didn't feel it the next day.  Even if I totally felt horrible and half-assed a workout I would be a little sore the next day.  To me when I hear something like this I feel that you are spending a lot of time in the gym doing a lot of useless things.  I mean if you want to go to the gym to burn 50 extra calories and be a little active that is fine but if you are looking to get stronger or really tone up you should feel it the next day.  No pain no gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T18:05:20.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28681" CreationDate="2016-01-21T21:55:28.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your friends are idiots. (So are mine. That's not really a dig.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, as other posters have said, make sure you're doing it right. Don't let your knees cave inwards as you put pressure on the lead foot. keep the weight over that lead foot. That &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(That said, be smart. If you do start getting sore knees, no one will go hungry or have their village overrun if you take the elevator a few times. I promise.*)&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;*This promise is only 99.9% guaranteed. Acts of Gahd are not covered. &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T21:55:28.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28712" CreationDate="2016-01-22T00:17:47.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maltodextrin is absorbed almost as fast as grape sugar aka dextrose aka glucose.&#xA;It is just an industrial replacement of pure starch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While glucose can be useful for drinks consumed during the games, it is not recommend for restitution.&#xA;You will need slower carbohydrates preferably combined with smaller amounts of fat and protein to stabilize your blood sugar in the break and last during the next game.&#xA;Even 150-200 kcal is a &quot;small&quot; meal compared to supposedly 600 kcal burned during the 60 minutes game, your body prefers a stable supply of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like your blood sugar is low right after the game and you need a boost, I will suggest you to eat a banana, which contains about that amount of calories you ask for and small amounts of fat and protein.&#xA;It is absorbed much faster than whole grain products, but not as fast as maltodextrin dissolved into water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T00:17:47.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-22T05:07:59.403" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard many claims, and done some reading, but I am not qualified by any means to determine the truth of the matter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Will Intermittent fasting, increase growth hormone secretion significantly, and is this benefit not mitigated by some other consequence of fasting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in regard to wanting to gain strength and or size. Does intermittent fasting actually increase GH and not cause negative effects that cancel this benefit? Is it worth doing for strength training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If what I am reading is true, I have no idea why all bodybuilders and power lifters wouldn't be intermittent fasting. (This is how I feel about all wild claims like this. If they are really as effective as stated, why aren't they widely used)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19174" LastEditorUserId="19174" LastEditDate="2016-01-22T05:50:29.730" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T05:50:29.730" Title="Does Intermittent fasting increase growth hormone secretion without negating strength gain benefits?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-01-25T17:47:02.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24777" CreationDate="2016-01-22T11:06:39.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basicly any excercise you can do 30+ repetitions without pain. For rehabilitation you want a low load and a lot of repetitions, this will get the blood flowing and help the healing process. If push ups are to hard, try easier variations, e.g. leaning against an open doorway and performing the push up movement. Adjust angle by moving your feet either closer to the door or further away until you can do 30-50 reps. 3 sets are sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching also helps. Stretching is also a light eccentric excercise. Take a belt or elastic band and grab above your head. Slowly move your arms backwards till the belt touches your bottom, then reverse. Repeat 5-10 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19137" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T11:06:39.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28729" CreationDate="2016-01-22T11:36:33.297" Score="1" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suffered a knee injury back in July, that I had a friend of mine (he's a physiotherapist) look at briefly. His diagnosis was that I suffered either a minor MCL tear, or possibly a minor meniscus tear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working on it and it's almost back to normal, despite causing me some trouble in case of strong impacts on the fully extended leg, or with excessive strengths applied to the outer side of the knee.&#xA;(In those cases after a 30 sec / 1 min rest I'm 100% back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While so far I have been doing any type of workout I know involving legs in general in addition to tyring to lose some weight (being a little over 90kg doesn't help), I would like to focus more on strengthening especially muscles, ligaments, and tendons around the knee, to prevent future injuries as well as avoiding excessive stress on the injured area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of workout should I focus on? Body-weight exercises and running preferred over gym, cycling, swimming, etc., due do logistic reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19178" OwnerDisplayName="Michele C" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T00:08:33.297" Title="Exercises to strengthen muscles, ligaments, and tendons around the knee" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-01-25T17:03:39.223" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28368" CreationDate="2016-01-22T18:22:48.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak from personal experience, still being a bit on the scrawny side and only recently having started the program, but &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004GTLFNW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Are Your Own Gym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Mark Lauren comes with a fair amount of recommendations and you can see from his build that it apparently works. He includes both exercise programs and suggestions for diet in the book. There are apparently also apps and videos that he markets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T18:22:48.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28704" CreationDate="2016-01-22T20:50:11.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio exercise is any exercise that raises your heart rate. Face it our bodies were made to move. And we all know that to keep our muscles in shape we need move them. This movement makes them stronger and stronger muscles make for a more efficient and healthy body. Your heart is a muscle. Therefore working it makes it stronger. A stronger cardio-vascular system means more capillaries delivering more oxygen to cells in your muscles. This enables your cells to burn more fat during both exercise and inactivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19181" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T20:50:11.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-23T07:03:14.363" Score="7" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be some good additional exercises to do at the gym for 2 days a week with 7 days of tennis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Objective - Improve strength, mobility and endurance. (Not particularly in this order)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am pretty familiar with StrongLifts 5*5, which I have been following before this, but am afraid it has to stop now (don't have enough time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My routine, which I am aiming to follow is, 7 days tennis, Saturday Sunday gym, mainly compound movements like, squats (with lesser weight), overhead press, deadlift, bench press, pull ups, seated row/weight pull ups(that machine which has a rod).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me refine this plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me: 7-8 hours of sitting job, weight 60 Kgs, height 180 cm, 23 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10209" LastActivityDate="2016-01-27T18:44:33.113" Title="Gym routine with Tennis" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28725" CreationDate="2016-01-23T14:52:15.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to squatting (light and heavy are both beneficial), I'd suggest looking at Ido Portal's squat mobility routines, as superbly organized and referenced by Antranik. &lt;a href=&quot;http://antranik.org/the-floreio-project/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's the link&lt;/a&gt;; look into the Mobility-Hips/Legs/Spine section. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These drills should get you started, but don't stop at that. Look for other such drills and also explore your own mobility yourself and ask what would feel good to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been taking care of both my knees for some time now; another thing that helped was gauging the amount of intensity (i.e. load, as in weight taken) used on knee-involved motions (such as squats) so that if it felt good to go heavy I did, but if it actually felt better to go lighter, I'd do that too. I've actually &quot;reset&quot; back to bodyweight-only movements for quite a bit of time as I felt it would give my knees a chance to rebuild, while still remembering that it needs to get strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19119" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T14:52:15.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28676" CreationDate="2016-01-23T18:38:23.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running with other people can be fun alot of fun, like sharing here on StackExchange. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise destination running can be fun too. For me I used the Pikes Peak Marathon as a source of inspiration. Now I have Grindstone 100, Keys 100, Hardrock 100 and Nolans 14 as similar destination type sources of motivation.&#xA;I use Strava and Endomondo and seeing others accomplish things motivation me to get out there too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I had a goal to beat my times from the past, done, and have taken up my goal from the past to see how fast I can run. So self competition is a big factor for me to go run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So enjoy your runs :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T18:38:23.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28136" CreationDate="2016-01-23T21:30:06.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you eat the right amounts of the right foods, your blood sugars stabilize and your fat burning hormone glucagon can do its job (i.e. burning fat!!). When you skip the bedtime snack, your blood sugar crashes shortly after you fall asleep, and you don’t sleep well and pack on the pounds. So yes, skipping your bedtime snack can actually cause weight gain. And consuming a nicely balanced bedtime snack can promote weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19188" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T21:30:06.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6892" CreationDate="2016-01-23T22:29:26.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly your feet are not landing directly under your center of mass as you run. Scott Jurek and Greg McMillan both say that failing to do this is inefficient and can cause injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When landing in front of your center mass you are constantly breaking and putting stress on your muscular skeletal system. When landing behind you are not using the spring motion of your feet and legs and require more power to remain upright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T22:29:26.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28123" CreationDate="2016-01-23T22:40:43.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a marathon or any race many people, I cant think of a solid reference - maybe Greg McMillan, suggest to do a reverse taper. Using McMillan's it would be 50% of normal (20 miles) for following week, 75% of normal for the next (30 miles), 80-90% for the third week, and back to normal from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, Hal Higdon relates a saying from some other famous runner (Prefontaine?) who says take one day off for every mile raced. So kick back and relax :) or do some cross training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to jog the soreness off over 1-2 weeks. I like to think that this easy work out is helping me to recover and push my body to replace the muscle and add a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-01-23T22:40:43.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28725" CreationDate="2016-01-24T00:08:33.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the common leg exercises involve the knee (joint, tendons and muscles). Therefore you could just pick any exercise which involves the knee to strengthen it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscle you should be targeting the most will be the muscles of the quadricep (front leg). By strengthening the muscle you will also strengthen the tendons.&#xA;You should not over do it though, because knee injuries are very annoying in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T00:08:33.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28713" CreationDate="2016-01-24T00:22:13.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretch marks are caused by a rapid stretch in the skin. This can be caused by gaining a lot of weight (either muscle or fat). It's very normal for people who attend the gym very often to get them. I have got them too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people will have stretch marks where the skin stretches the most. This will most likely be under the armpits, as you mentioned. I have not heard of people with stretch marks on their biceps or chest. You'll probably not become a mutant after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretch marks can be 'cured' with some creme you could buy at a drug store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17954" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T00:22:13.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28869" CreationDate="2016-01-24T02:44:18.207" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;What workouts can you do to determine each threshold between your heart rate zones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example a lactate threshold pace can be determined by running as fast as possible for 30 minutes at a even pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something similar for each heart rate threshold and what is it?&#xA;Right now Im using 90 minute runs to determine any heart rate as being aerobic versus anaerobic, but I dont know how accurate this is nor feel that it is a very good measure. Really need something like this for knowing the threshold between aerobic and fat burning (or easy) zones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T23:28:38.637" Title="How can you determine each running heart rate zone using data from your runs or from specifically designed workouts?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;&lt;recovery-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28751" CreationDate="2016-01-24T06:11:56.250" Score="7" ViewCount="2051" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Is walking a warm up before brisk walking? if not what warm up exercise we should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Is walking a warm up before jogging? if not then what warm up exercise we should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3864" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T12:44:34.713" Title="Is walking a warm up?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16326" CreationDate="2016-01-24T11:17:22.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to increase reps on the pull-up. Some days you just seem to be going backwards as you cant even do as many as you did a couple of days ago!&#xA;This would indicate 'overtraining', perhaps leave them for a week and then go back and see if you can do more, this often is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19193" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T11:17:22.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-24T12:24:15.767" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking at two sports nutrition certifications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CISSN: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/CISSN.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/CISSN.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ISSN-SNS: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/SNS.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/SNS.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both seem to be offered by the same organisation but I am having a lot of trouble telling what the difference between them is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19194" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T12:24:15.767" Title="CISSN vs ISSN-SNS" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-01-25T13:22:16.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-24T15:36:26.990" Score="2" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 21 years old next week. I weigh 41 kilos (~90lbs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My light body weight lead me to depression. I've been smoking cigarettes for the past 5 years, but I've finally made up my mind to get fit and joined a gym last week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 I did 40 pushups, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 I did 40 pushups, along with other exercises and weight lifts. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've experienced muscle soreness for 3 days but now the soreness I gone. Surprisingly I've gained 2 kilos in just a week without using any protein but &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm not able to do more than 3 pushups. My body isn't supporting it. Why is that so?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I even stopped smoking and using 1 or 2 nicotine gums a day, it's helping me with cravings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19196" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2016-01-24T15:48:47.310" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T08:07:19.623" Title="cant do pushups or pull ups. please help me" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28742" CreationDate="2016-01-24T16:50:51.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Soreness&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cherish it. It's not a way of measuring how effective your workout was, but it should tell you that you've done something out of your comfort zone, and that's good!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you train, the less of it you'll have. But generally, don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Sudden weakness&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is important. Learn this immediately!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When you train, you break the muscle fibers down. When you rest and eat, you build the muscles back up, stronger.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So essentially, you failed your pushups, because your chest and tricep muscles were already weakened from your previous workout(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We like to go to the 48 hour &amp;quot;rule of thumb&amp;quot;, and suggest that you don't train the same muscle groups two days in a row, but give them at least one day of rest before you train them again. This can be overlooked if you eat and rest a LOT between each workout, but again, the 48 hour rule of thumb is a good place to start to see how you handle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Weight gain&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 kg in 1 week is fine, but it goes under &amp;quot;easy come, easy go&amp;quot;. A week is a very short period of time, and what you accomplish in a week can be lost in another week. But what you gain in a year, sticks with you for much, much longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Smoking&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, quitting smoking is the way to go. You know it, we know it, I don't think it warrants too much of a reply, besides... Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T16:50:51.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7134" CreationDate="2016-01-24T23:07:11.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ref foam rollers.They don't work for me!&#xA;Here is my story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 74 in a very good shape, I exercise regularly and I practice moderately a number of sports, including bicycling, kayaking and windsurfing in summer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last winter, one year ago, I had  sprained a back muscle while unsuccessfully resisting   falling on the ice on my way home. A week after,the acute pain  had subsided using Advil and cold packs. &#xA;Four months after, however, the pain was still lingering,  although tolerable. &#xA;I then  decided to see a doctor, because I didn't want to miss the windsurfing season( summers are very short round here!) &#xA;The doctor  prescribed an x-ray( non-resulting) and physiotherapy treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It finally healed ( so I thought) after three physiotherapy sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After another 6 months, however, the muscle pain mysteriously woke up again at the same place, for no apparent reasons, although not acute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time, before seeing a physiotherapist again,( expensive !) I tried self-treatment in various ways: &#xA;Voltaren Emugel was of absolutely no help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advil, on the other hand, did good : with only 1 pill before going to bed, the pain was gone the next morning and I applied hot packs for a couple of days.&#xA;I then felt so well  that I stopped Advil and the hot packs and I went swimming a few days after! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the pain came back. &#xA;At this point, I read your site and I got hold of a foam roller. &#xA;Regretfully, not only it  didn't work, but it worsened my condition: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First,it is very very painful on the sore muscle when rolling back and forth with the full body weighing on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the pain came back with a vengeance right after it and I had to go back to Advil and hot packs .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I think I am on my way out, but I'll be careful not to resume a full activity for a few days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still wonder though, why that lingering recurrent pain &#xA;one year after! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll see a physiotherapist if it is still there in a few weeks.&#xA;But for the moment NO FOAM ROLLERS, I am afraid !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Franco Vivona &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19198" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T23:07:11.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-25T01:27:00.047" Score="0" ViewCount="22068" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 15 year old freshman who ran a 3.54 at 30 yards. What would that translate to at 40 yards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19200" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-01-26T20:47:42.570" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T20:47:42.570" Title="What's a good 30 yard time?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-01-26T20:25:21.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28738" CreationDate="2016-01-25T12:44:34.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any form of movement that gets your blood moving in the parts of the body that you will be exercising without forcing them to exert themselves &quot;cold&quot; is a valid warm-up. If all you plan to do is a brisk walk, then a more leisurely stroll is a fine warm-up, certainly better than, say, couch-sitting. And many running programs suggest 5-10 minutes of brisk walking before running as a warm-up, so it sounds like you should be good there too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, though, for someone in decent shape, I'd probably say that you're probably safe starting right with the brisk walk in either case, as that level of exercise is not very stressful, so there may be no need for extra warming up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T12:44:34.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-25T14:42:02.553" Score="5" ViewCount="1388" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, I usually do 21kgs for my triceps, but if I have just started weightlifting that day, I can barely do a single rep or two and I have to rest. After 15 minutes, I can do the same 21kg with ease for several sets and sometimes even with higher weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why can't I do the same 21kgs I've been doing for months now from the moment I start weightlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I experience the same with primarily abdominals, forearms and traps but not with other muscles. Say, I can do the same weight as last time with my biceps as soon as I start weigthlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19207" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T15:27:54.937" Title="Why can't I lift the same heavy weight as last time for the first reps" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28665" CreationDate="2016-01-25T19:04:58.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Within-participant comparisons reveal and inverse logarithmic relationship  between ∆muscleCSA and V•O2max. In other words, although we all love adding muscle, it can absolutely be detrimental to some other exercise adaptations, like work rate in activities of middle and long durations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19210" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T19:04:58.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28763" CreationDate="2016-01-26T12:09:38.033" Score="3" ViewCount="3402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have flat feet. I don't think it's that severe though. It was my leg day a couple of days back and I did squats, lunges, exntensions, curls and some rope jumps. However, today, my left knee hurts. It's cardio day today. I feel running or jogging would make matters worse so I plan on sticking to the elliptical trainer. However, I feel jumping rope is an excellent exercise. This is why I wanted to ask you all whether it is advisable to do it given my condition or would I be better off not doing it at all. Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19192" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T17:23:54.637" Title="Should I jump rope even though I suffer from flat feet?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;feet&gt;&lt;jump-rope&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28759" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28780" CreationDate="2016-01-26T14:51:02.807" Score="3" ViewCount="928" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure I worded the question right, hope I can explain myself better here. If someone can help, please edit the title and remove this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suffer from APT and have been trying to fix it for months. I've seen a lot of improvement from foam rolling, static stretching and simply trying to keep a good posture at all times. However, since I started a new job I've been sitting 8+ hours everyday and don't have as much time as I used to to perform the stretches, which all together has deteriorated the condition again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not asking for stretches or exercises that will help fix the APT, as I know those already. Is there anything &lt;strong&gt;that would not be considered an exercise&lt;/strong&gt; that I can easily do either at the office or at home and will help fix my APT? I'm talking about things such as sitting cross legged or with wide open legs (probably one is better than the other, although I don't know which) or sleeping in a certain position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T21:40:12.100" Title="Can I passively do anything to fix an anterior pelvic tilt?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28758" CreationDate="2016-01-26T15:09:44.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, i think that you can definitely do it.&#xA;But what you need to use is some good shoes for it. The kind that makes your heels pretty up from the floor. Good for your feet and your back too.&#xA;Do not opt for converse/vans style for this kind of exercice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel that your knees hurt and that they're showing signs of fatigue, better give them some rest for the remaining of this week.&#xA;have a nice day &amp;amp; a Good jumping ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19219" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T15:09:44.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28752" CreationDate="2016-01-26T15:18:13.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;After much time without training, your &quot;other&quot; muscles are back to their previous state as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile your arms still have approximately the same power because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you use them in any other action you do during the everyday life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arms, calves and abs are what is called &quot;little muscles&quot;, this muscles tend to recover quickly from workouts and some people use to hit them 2 days a week with no signs of overtraining and with great results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion :&lt;/strong&gt; You should start training your back, chest and shoulders again like you've never done it before, start with mid weights and focus mainly on the workout and the technique you're using to lift the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Form is better than heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a nice day, hope you enjoy your workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19219" LastEditorUserId="19219" LastEditDate="2016-01-26T15:27:54.937" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T15:27:54.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28748" CreationDate="2016-01-26T15:33:11.347" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't run your 30 yard dash in 3.54 seconds.    You didn't even come remotely close.  If someone gave you that time seriously both you and them are deluded.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would be one of the fastest 15 year-olds in the world if your ran a 3.9-4.0, and I seriously doubt you can come close to 4 seconds.  Your supposed time translates to around a 4.1 40 yard dash which would break Deion Sanders combine record (if Bo doesn't own the record).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T15:33:11.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28758" CreationDate="2016-01-26T17:23:54.637" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should do some research on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_feet&quot;&gt;flat feet&lt;/a&gt;, and I think you'll see that it's not really anything to concern yourself with. I have rather flat feet myself, and have never noticed a problem except when others tell me I should deal with my flat feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if you start looking into &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16130646&quot;&gt;the research&lt;/a&gt; a bit, you won't find any smoking guns that indicate being flat footed, but you may see some that say very high arches are a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This study provides high-level evidence that foot shape has little&#xA;  impact on pain, injury, and functioning among military recruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, jump rope away. If you want to strengthen your feet, go ahead and (seriously) take some walks on the beach to strengthen your arches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T17:23:54.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28765" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-27T11:45:51.940" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm quite fit, been going to the gym since August (stopped just into January and is about to start again) doing 60 forward leg swings and knee tucks (from hovering position), 30 reps on the ab wheel, 45 pull ups (front and back facing arms), 3 reps of plank for 1 minute, 45 seated chest pulls (50-60kg) and 45 shoulder presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did the above 3-4 times a week, and started to go running (3-5 mile runs) on top of that because I didn't really notice a different to the amount of fat around my jawline, or any shrinking to the spare tire currently sitting around my hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm quite a slim guy, and lost a lot of fat at the gym and gaining mass. I'm roughly 5ft 11&quot; and weigh roughly 80kg (same as when I stopped going to the gym in December).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I lose the excess fat around my jawline (particularly under the chin) and around my hips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this ab exercise I do enough to get rid of the spare tire, or should I be doing different things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19234" LastActivityDate="2016-01-27T11:45:51.940" Title="Excess fat around jawline and hips" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-01-27T17:40:46.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28728" CreationDate="2016-01-27T14:47:09.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This link has a routine for tennis (3 or 4 days, which you can adapt to your needs):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik55.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik55.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here you can find a great exercise database with video demonstration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this USTA link has some good warm-up, drills and strength training, although they use bands instead of dumbbells or barbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/249182_Strength_Training_and_Conditioning_for_Tennis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/249182_Strength_Training_and_Conditioning_for_Tennis/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a free app called bodyspace that you can use to track your workouts, and there are some tennis workouts in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15519" LastEditorUserId="15519" LastEditDate="2016-01-27T18:44:33.113" LastActivityDate="2016-01-27T18:44:33.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4933" CreationDate="2016-01-27T16:15:41.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, and I do not have a history of knee problems. I have 2 pairs of compression tights I wear for cold weather runs. I also have several pairs of non-compression tights both insulated and not. I like the feel of the compression tight, however, I do experience knee discomfort and pain when wearing them on any run over a few miles.  It seems like the tights do not allow my knees to track properly. I experience knee issues only in these tights.  I've tried to pay special attention on where my knee is placed between the panels on the tights and have found that effects it but, can't always get the position right.  The pain can be a problem in either knee and with similar symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19235" LastActivityDate="2016-01-27T16:15:41.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28770" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28773" CreationDate="2016-01-28T05:30:55.037" Score="5" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get better at pull-ups. Currently I can do 3-4 unassisted* pull-ups, but would like to be able to steadily 3x10 pull-ups. What's the best way to achieve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I attend a gym which grants me access to the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-up bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rubber-bands for assisting in pulling up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assisted pull-up machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull-down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can also use the bar for reverse push-ups (supine row?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potentially more...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I just do unassisted pull-ups: 3 x 4-5. Would I be better using the assisted machine (where I can obviously do more) or using the rubber-bands to assist (where again, I can obviously do more), or should I avoid both and use the lat pull-down or supine row instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24731/assisted-pullup-machine-or-inverted-row&quot;&gt;this question about assisted pull-ups&lt;/a&gt; about problems with the assisted pull-up machine, and truthfully had already heard it's a bad idea because it limits movement and one doesn't get a chance to use their balancing muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3157/how-to-practice-pull-ups-without-equipment&quot;&gt;how to practice [sic] pull-ups without equipment&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/484/what-exercises-are-good-to-build-up-to-performing-chin-ups&quot;&gt;how to build up to a chin-up&lt;/a&gt; but this doesn't strictly apply because I &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; already do a pull-up, and I have access to equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3268/how-can-i-increase-my-pull-ups-reps&quot;&gt;This question&lt;/a&gt; about increasing pull-up reps seems to focus exclusively on pull-ups with no attention to any other exercise involving back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OP in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3096/how-to-train-up-to-50-pull-ups/3098#3098&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; seems like they're on a totally different level to me, as I want to work up to what they are already doing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For completeness, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/21074/how-to-increase-pull-ups&quot;&gt;this question about increasing pull-ups&lt;/a&gt; uses a machine I don't have access to (I go to the gym, I don't have a bar at home that I can practise on frequently. Also, I'm at work most of my day, and my colleagues probably won't appreciate me installing a bar and doing pull-ups while compiling code, but I'm open to the suggestion if it'll help).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* &lt;sub&gt; Although I'm not 100% sure on my form: perhaps I'm not lowering myself enough &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18169" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T13:17:02.997" Title="How to increase muscles for a pull-up" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28742" CreationDate="2016-01-28T06:33:14.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I understand correctly that you are not able to do any push-ups after 3 days  of your last workout? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you are attacking your problem wrong. You should not force your body to something, pick up a proper wprkout program, stick to it and watch your diet. Muscles and Strength will come - be patient, dont rush - what comes fast, goes fast ... you will be frustrated and stop your journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a an example you could start working out 3 days a week, doing compound movements ex. Deadlifting, Squating, Bech and Military Pressing as you said you joined a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With bodyweight only exercises you will sooner or later plateau or having difficulties gaining more mass as the stronger and bigger you get the more resistance you will need to progress further as the body adapts to the demands you put it through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dont give up, good things need time.&#xA;Consistency and patience is the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T06:33:14.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28770" CreationDate="2016-01-28T08:11:51.717" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just completed my 3×10 sets last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took me no more than 3 weeks to achieve it, from not being able to do even 4 repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How I did it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Before you start your workout session &lt;strong&gt;(every workout session, no matter if it's chest, shoulders or back day)&lt;/strong&gt;, have a good warm up and stretch your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to do as many pull ups as you can, rest for 45 seconds, then go for it again. Just do it 3 times like normal sets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, this exercise would go this way for me: 4 reps in the first set, 4 in the second and 2-3 in the third one. This seems to be &quot;disappointing and demotivational&quot; comparing with the results you're seeking. But trust me, as soon as your back get used to this intensity, you'll be amazed by your progress; normally you'll just jump from the 4 reps to 10 in a week or in 10 days. The strength will come and the motivation to continue along with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it, just a little bit of effort and courage and you'll achieve and you'll surely achieve everything you are dreaming of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19219" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-02T13:17:02.997" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T13:17:02.997" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28770" CreationDate="2016-01-28T10:40:41.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No better way to get better at an exercise that doing that exercise. I would only advise using rubber bands as assistance or doing negatives if you can't do a single pull-up. Since you can do several, keep at it and you will get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T10:40:41.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-28T12:40:21.930" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Earlier this week, I realized that I was only going to get this one workout this week. I usually do 3-4 per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to do a full body program with some extra focus on legs, and got a squat rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a squat rack, in which I could do a lot of different stuff, like squats, overhead press, pullups, barbell rows. But I also wanted to do a lot of leg exercises afterwards. So I had a dilemma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to keep the squat rack, since there is no guarantee that if I leave it, I'd get it back right away when I want it again&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to do other leg exercises (extensions, curls, calf raise), but I'd have to leave the rack&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any measurable drawback to doing one big leg exercise, then doing upper body work for a while, and then doing legs again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first instinct is that I'd have to warm up again, which is easily done by doing some light sets, and increasing gradually. But besides that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-28T13:03:02.430" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T19:34:59.373" Title="Resting muscle groups within one session" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28778" CreationDate="2016-01-28T15:17:53.923" Score="3" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought an empty punching bag for, well punching, and I am trying to find a good source of filler. I have a plentiful source of free packing peanuts and was hoping these would work, but this might be too light. I realize the typical weight should be 70-100 lbs for a bag also, and this would be hard to achieve with packing peanuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anyone have cheap suggestions for boxing bag filler?&lt;/strong&gt; Would packing peanuts work &lt;strong&gt;if I packed them densely enough&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19246" LastEditorUserId="19246" LastEditDate="2016-01-29T00:44:15.730" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T19:36:34.530" Title="Using packing peanuts to fill a punching bag?" Tags="&lt;beginners&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28777" CreationDate="2016-01-28T15:43:14.490" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sincerely doubt that packing peanuts will provide any resistance to your punches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rice is something you can buy cheaply in huge bulk, and is dense enough to provide the resistance you need. You can also help packing it by using old clothes you don't need. It doesn't have to be all rice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use a mixture of small particles (e.g. rice or sand) and bigger ones (e.g. packing peanuts), then you need to consider the Brazil Nut effect, aka &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granular_convection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;granular convection&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you shake a container with both small and large particles, the larger ones will jump, and smaller ones will fall through cracks. The smaller particles will then collect at the bottom, and create a weird imbalance in the punching bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using clothes in the mix will help mitigate this effect, and keep a steadier and more even mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-01-31T19:35:23.727" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T19:35:23.727" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28775" CreationDate="2016-01-28T18:48:56.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It mostly depends on your style of training (high volume vs intensity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certain things might be more difficult due to already accumulated fatigue in muscle groups you've already hit. For instance, if you were to start with squats and then did an upper-body movement, followed by deadlifts, you might find that breaking the bar off the ground might be more challenging, as that's the most quad-intensive part of a deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the main muscle group is different, or you're using a lighter (if you already went heavy, or heavier if you previously used a variation that required a lower intensity) intensity, you should be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I frequently start my session with cleans or snatches which then progress to front and high-bar back squats. Depending on the day, I'll follow those with deadlifts (sumo). The only time I avoid performing squats and deadlifts in the same session is when I do low-bar squats, as I can squat substantially more that way than high-bar and therefore it negatively affects my deadlifting performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are aware of what is getting fatigued and in the manner in which it's getting fatigued, you should be able to manage it to allow multiple compound movements back-to-back. For example, if you perform military presses in the beginning of your workout, you will be able to bench press afterwards, but perhaps not at an intensity that you would have been able to use had you benched before doing military presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When going for a higher volume approach, I find that it's often easier to string multiple movements that hit the same area, but in slightly different ways without having to have a separate exercise in between (pull ups and rows for example). In this case, rest between sets becomes more of a factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T18:48:56.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28759" CreationDate="2016-01-28T20:59:20.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are doing everything that can be done to help your condition. The best I can do is to give you ideas for inspiration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anteriorpelvictilthq.com/benefits-ergonomic-chair/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Get the right chair.&lt;/a&gt; Since you are sitting down all the time, there might be some special chairs that can help sit in a better position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://michalzuber.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/sitting-positions.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Change setting position every so often.&lt;/a&gt; Maybe once every 30 to 60 minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&lt;/strong&gt; Lay down while working if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4)&lt;/strong&gt; Work while standing. Get a table with adjustable height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5)&lt;/strong&gt; Try heat. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anteriorpelvictilthq.com/10-products-to-help-with-your-anterior-pelvic-tilt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; suggests that as well as some other products to fight pelvic tilt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zyllioninc.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/cd856005ddd771aead6c4187d4aaf078/z/m/zma-14-bk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Consider getting a shiatsu seat for your chair.&lt;/a&gt; They also come with heated seats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you already know exercises, &lt;a href=&quot;http://antranik.org/the-floreio-project/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;but consider some of the hip mobility exercises as described here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swolept.com/posts/fixing-anterior-pelvic-tilt-posture-tricks-to-make-your-butt-and-gut-smaller&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;know this page&lt;/a&gt;, but if you don't, it might be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to hear your results in the comments if you try some of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh yes, I can also warmly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm9L0RIhR3s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this special thoracic bridge stretch&lt;/a&gt;. It work wonders in loosening up your shoulder blades and thoracic spine (spine between your shoulder blades). Working on your spine might improve alignment in your hips. Who knows? Maybe your hip tilt is the result of compensating for an inflexible spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, that stretch will do wonders for your upper back and prevent rounded shoulders :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19248" LastEditorUserId="19248" LastEditDate="2016-01-28T21:40:12.100" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T21:40:12.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28770" CreationDate="2016-01-29T16:01:50.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing 10 pullups is a lot different than doing 50 pullups. 10 pullups is a feat of strength, while 50 is more about endurance. It's quite easy to build up to 10 chinups and you can do so in a couple months (the other answers have already answered how). If you want to do more than say 20-30 then you have to focus on losing weight, pushing to max reps every time and doing chinups every day. The reason I mention this is because you mentioned a post about building up to 50 chinups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One great workout that can help with chinups (other than doing chinups) is one arm rows with dumbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19101" LastEditorUserId="19101" LastEditDate="2016-01-29T16:08:09.207" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T16:08:09.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22257" CreationDate="2016-01-29T22:26:38.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is half an answer, but should help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink water when eating gels (usually has caffeine I believe) during a race, and dont drink Gatorade.  Alternatively, drink Gatorade when not using gels but still drink water. For any sugar or carbohydrates eaten you need water to help digest it and use it, so people usually talk about finding a balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, I try not to drink/eat too much during a race. For a 5k or 10k I would not eat anything during the race, and I think this is the common view for anything less than 90 minutes. One or two bananas before a short race is good for me. The GU packets recommend one gel before the race then one every 45 minutes, so that also supports this view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See ultra running and race reports for example dealing with the stomach problem issue because it seems to happen often and can be overcome during a race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T22:26:38.477" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22257" CreationDate="2016-01-30T02:44:45.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of my particular stomach discomfort is probably the acidity. Using small-volume caffeine shots like &quot;5 Hour Energy&quot; and generic equivalents worked much better for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tested a few options during hard tempo efforts and smaller races before finding a solution that has worked well during multiple target races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moral of the story is to experiment a bit in hard workout efforts and test races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10707" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T02:44:45.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-30T05:53:17.003" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok so if you lose a lot of weight very quickly and not focus on gaining muscle you will absolutely get loose skin. But it tightens back up anyway especially if you do gain muscle. I was thinking if you let yourself get loose skin wouldn't it just tighten back up in the same time that it takes to lose weight slowly and gradually?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19263" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T05:53:17.003" Title="Would lose skin tighten in the same amount of time it takes to lose weight the slow way?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-06T18:23:21.667" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-30T06:02:41.143" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My workout regimen involves the three major lifts (squat, deadlift, bench). I do not squat very heavy (not more than 400 lbs), so I do not use a belt. In all lifts, I focus on keeping a tight core and do accessory ab and posterior chain exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My father has hernia and I want to make sure I do not potentially aggravate what might already be a genetic disposition. Is there a legitimate concern of acquiring hernia, especially when doing heavy squatting and deadlifting, and if so, what can I do to prevent it from developing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is better for a professional to handle this question, then I would welcome suggestions regarding who in particular I should address.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19262" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T14:15:26.937" Title="Preventing Hernia During Major Lifts" Tags="&lt;hernia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28787" CreationDate="2016-01-30T14:15:26.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;as to my knowledge, you can prevent a hernia only by not exercising and not move at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that I mean that I've seen people get hernia from sneezing!&#xA;My advice is just train, do what you already are doing - working the core with the same intensity as with your main lifts, watch for correct technique and dont think about it. If it happens it happens and you cant' do really anything about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, being prone to hernia is not a big issue as it was some years ago. Todays surgery has pretty advanced and the 'repairing' of hernias is not a big deal anymore. There are good implantats  (meshes) for very active and professional athletes that let you actually forget that you had ever any issue with it. I ve seen people training again after a couple of weeks. I also belive that the psychological damage is more the problem then the physical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: &#xA;There are some pages out there and even some doctors are saying that by not keeping the air during a heavy lift helps preventing a hernia, but to my experience this is causing more harm them being a good advice as you are loosing stability if exhaling during a heavy lift and squat - even in lockout position. I doubt even that you can move the same amount of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T14:15:26.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28777" CreationDate="2016-01-30T14:19:26.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used a mix of foam, old clothes and corn for my bags. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some other ways to create a boxing bag - car tires:&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=tires+boxing&amp;amp;oq=tires+boxing&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3607j0j4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.google.com/search?q=tires+boxing&amp;amp;oq=tires+boxing&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3607j0j4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2011/06/01/homemade-punching-bag-ideas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rosstraining.com/blog/2011/06/01/homemade-punching-bag-ideas/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-01-31T19:36:34.530" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T19:36:34.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28791" CreationDate="2016-01-30T15:38:37.630" Score="3" ViewCount="3609" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do people, particularity boxers, throw punches into the air while running? Is there a reason and is there a name for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19264" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T16:35:13.917" Title="Throwing punches while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28790" CreationDate="2016-01-30T16:35:13.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Throwing punches in the air is usually called shadow-boxing, sometimes you see Boxers do it in front of a mirror. &#xA;The purpose of shadow boxing is conditioning and practicing technique (if done in front of a mirror).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shadow boxing during running can have three purposes, first it might be for loosening up muscles that start to teghtening up during running and the second one is simply for conditioning and the third reason might be just practicing throwing punches while moving forward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T16:35:13.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28777" CreationDate="2016-01-30T18:05:09.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe wood chips like the ones that pad the ground in children's play equipment in parks. This would be soft but maybe mix this with sand to add weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19264" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T18:05:09.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-30T20:42:29.440" Score="0" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen this infograph that explains what load, reps, sets etc. you will need to do for each goal or aptitude:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/m908W.jpg]]&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what would you do if your final goal was two of them? Say you wanted to get a lot of strength as well as endurance for example. How would you proceed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you follow the graphs recommendations for one day or week on one goal and then the next week is for the other goal? Would you average out the variables? Would you spend several months on one and then the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15315" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T18:34:01.600" Title="How do you train for multiple aptitudes?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-31T00:33:34.423" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently realised that I have very tight hamstrings - when lying flat on the ground, I can only lift each leg around 75 degrees off the floor when doing this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OWZma.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OWZma.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I'm keeping my legs straight, maybe I should bend them slightly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to get past 90 degrees, but I don't want to compromise strength or explosive power, particularly for jumps and sprints. Given this, my reading says to do an exercise that reaches peak extension of the hamstring whilst subjecting the muscle to a substantial force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm home-gymming with a very basic setup at the moment, so the less equipment required, the better. What exercise(s) should I do? I've tried the exercise shown above with rubber cords and some gradual movement, though my arms don't provide enough resistive force for my hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4301" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T16:49:14.203" Title="Exercise that loads hamstring whilst reaching its peak ROM?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2016-01-31T02:24:50.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you doing the swims all straight with no break?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to improve your overall speed (while also maintaining better technique), consider breaking up your swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1000m --&gt; 10x100 w. :10 sec rest at each wall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That little bit of a breather at the wall will do wonders in terms of helping you reset and refocus on the next rep and maintain that elusive technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body position and technique are everything in swimming. Use a pull buoy to help you get used to having your hips up, and spend some time on the kickboard to develop the endurance in your legs. As most triathletes and runners will tell you, leg endurance on land doesn't transfer very well to the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your legs help power you through your stroke, and if you watch the top swimmers in the world who have a gallop-style stroke (Phelps, for instance), the reason they can maintain steady propulsion is because their kick fills in the gaps between strokes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourswimlog.com/freestyle-drills/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;advanced freestyle drills&lt;/a&gt; to work with once you become a little more proficient with basic crawl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, ignore what the fella above said about crunches. Do planks, V-sits, things like that instead. All crunches are going to do is roll your shoulders forward and promote a banana-shaped posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bananas don't swim very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: Lifelong competitive swimmer. National finalist. Olympic Trials qualifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19267" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T02:24:50.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28638" CreationDate="2016-01-31T11:06:34.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If anything, I'd definitely avoid cardio in your case. Here's a study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7380688&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7380688&lt;/a&gt;) where people, who exercised after their glycogen reserves were already wiped out, burned away 13.7 grams of proteins per hour of exercise (that was measured through sweat alone), which is an equivalent of a little below 70 grams of muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your training performance will also drop once your glycogen reserves are depleted (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6865776&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6865776&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as muscle preservation (or even hypertrophy) is concerned, strength training shouldn't be as much of a problem IF you keep your protein intake high enough and don't interrupt ketosis with carbs. But studies on nitrogen balance while strength training in ketosis (especially with powerlifting) aren't exactly plentiful...at least not to my knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T11:06:34.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-31T11:34:05.610" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I basically jog for 30 minutes just after work at about 9:00 pm, before dinner. I sometimes have a full lunch at about 3:00 pm, but most of the time I have some fruit because I reach the office at about 12:00 pm, having had morning breakfast at 10:00 am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Is it safe to jog if I am feeling my stomach is empty? (sometimes to maintain the routine, I have to go there directly) I'd just be drinking half a glass of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) If I am feeling my stomach is empty, is it OK to take 3 bananas as they provide instant energy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Or it is mandatory to eat some light snack and before going for a jog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3864" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-01-31T14:11:35.727" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T16:37:31.140" Title="Food to take in before jogging" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28794" CreationDate="2016-01-31T14:46:09.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Romanian deadlift is basically the definition of what you're looking for: loading the hamstrings (and glutes, and spinal erectors) anywhere from lightly to substantially but sub-maximally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T14:46:09.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28797" CreationDate="2016-01-31T15:59:21.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be completely honest, not eating before a workout or run is actually best. That way you burn fat directly instead of working through what you just ate. However you'll probably feel tired if you've been fasting for a long time (ie: Workout before breakfast). If you do want to eat before a workout I'd give yourself at least an hour before going at it. Don't want to throw up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19270" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T15:59:21.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28797" CreationDate="2016-01-31T16:37:31.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're over thinking this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you personally feel like you need to have something because you feel lightheaded when you've previously jogged on an empty stomach you should definitely have something to eat prior to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise if you've felt worse eating before a jog, then don't eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any option you choose won't matter for a 30 minute jog. If you feel okay after your jog eat afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T16:37:31.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28794" CreationDate="2016-01-31T16:46:21.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing the exercise with a band I would recommend having your hands on the back of the leg that you are extending. This gives more support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend focusing more on straightening the leg as you pull it towards you and only once the leg is straight to keep pulling it closer maintaining the straightness of the leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should try and do this 3 times across the day if you're hamstrings are really tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For strength as someone else has mentioned Romanian deadlifts, deadlifts and good mornings are good, but they can often add to the tightness as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T16:46:21.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-31T22:24:22.980" Score="1" ViewCount="1186" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I wake up, I feel a surge of energy, so why waste it. I do a set of 50 pushups to start the day, and I feel great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my question is this: I am sure that this is good for my body, but how will this affect my energy level as the morning goes on during a demanding workday? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19273" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T14:39:42.030" Title="50 pushups as soon as waking up" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28770" CreationDate="2016-02-01T02:20:07.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to &quot;A Shot of Adrenaline&quot; and the sites under it's umbrella. One major way to increase pull up ability is to simply get the form right. Most people think it's all in the arms, but it's equally in the back. The articles will explain all of this way better than I possibly can. Check out Todd Kuslikis' stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19270" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T02:20:07.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28861" CreationDate="2016-02-01T03:12:33.800" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any exercise watches such as Apple Watch and fitbit watch that can monitor irregular heart beat? My heart beats irregularly for each hours approximately. I also plan to wear this watch to run. Is there any suggestion? Thank you very much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19274" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-01T11:08:37.950" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T13:46:11.540" Title="Exercise watches that can monitor irregular heart beats" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28803" CreationDate="2016-02-01T06:38:37.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't feel exhausted after doing them, it should have no negative effect at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't think that the exercise you do in the morning will effect a long work day at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel it in your body after a hard work day it's likely more stress from the day you may be feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just listen to your body, maybe have a rest every 10 pressups you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T06:38:37.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28803" CreationDate="2016-02-01T11:55:14.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good morning,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you always feel that energy just go on. there's nothing to worry about.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Morning pushups had a great effect on my body and specially my chest muscles when i was a kickboxer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Conculsion: the most important thing always is that you enjoy your workout, worry about lack of motivation and nothing else ;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nice day, and nice workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19219" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T11:55:14.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28811" CreationDate="2016-02-02T10:37:31.233" Score="1" ViewCount="10442" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do Sauna belts really help in losing belly, hips, and buttocks fat? How effective are they? Are there any side effects associated in using it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19283" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-02T13:15:01.443" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:46:21.293" Title="Do Sauna belts really help in losing belly, hips, and buttocks fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28812" CreationDate="2016-02-02T12:49:21.830" Score="2" ViewCount="671" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently came off a shoulder injury so I'm a little paranoid about using proper and perfect form for any exercise that involves my shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started the SL program and incorporated dips to workout A and chinups/pullups to workout B (alternating) to my plans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench presses or dips I definitely have no issues with, although they both have a bad rep regarding shoulders and I was worried about both (especially since I think I got injured last time doing them with improper form). Making sure to pull my shoulders back in both exercises, I have experienced no pain whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, after workout B I am feeling some discomfort on my shoulder. I don't think they were caused by OH presses, since I made really sure to follow Mehdi's advice and shrug at the top and I feel no pain or ache when I practice form weightless. But my shoulder does feel a little discomfort when I raise my arm in the front, which I assume is probably rotator-related. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can think of is that doing chinups was what caused it, since my power rack (which I just bought) has a really wide chinup/pullup bar and I had my arms positioned wider than usual while doing the chinups, which I also probably didn't do with proper form. Does it make sense and should I go back to using a door chinup bar, or wide grip chinups should have no effect on the shoulders and I'm being paranoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:40:33.033" Title="Shoulder discomfort after starting StrongLifts" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28809" CreationDate="2016-02-02T13:14:33.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sauna belts are yet another fad that the weight loss industry seems to perpetuate as a sure fire way to lose weight.  Unfortunately, there’s no scientific evidence that shows they are effective in reducing body fat.  They can, however, reduce water weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because they produce excessive perspiration, sauna belts are supposed&#xA;  to reduce water weight more effectively than fat tissue. Because the&#xA;  product does not provide any resistance or strain against the body, it&#xA;  is incapable of burning a significant amount of calories. So, while&#xA;  noticeable fat loss is not realistic, a person can effectively lose a&#xA;  few pounds through water loss. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/187012-what-are-the-benefits-of-a-sauna-belt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Livestrong.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, more importantly, Sauna belts seem to rely on the concept of “spot reducing”.  “Spot reducing” is widely accepted as a myth because targeting specific areas of the body for weight loss is not possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for side effects, they’re not all bad.  Since sauna belts increase heat at the site they are worn, they can be used as a therapy modality for pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heat application can effectively reduce pain as it warms the muscles,&#xA;  making them more flexible and relaxed which allows for better blood&#xA;  flow. Since sauna belts provide a constant supply of heat, some people&#xA;  wear them for hassle-free relief of back pain. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/187012-what-are-the-benefits-of-a-sauna-belt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Livestrong.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the negative side, the following are the more &lt;a href=&quot;http://watchfit.com/weight-loss/will-i-lose-weight-with-a-sauna-belt/#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;common effects&lt;/a&gt;…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can cause chafing, acne, or heat rash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can be uncomfortable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Increases risk of heat-related illness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Overexposure to belt can cause dehydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can cause electrolyte imbalance which may cause cramping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Does not provide long-term results&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T13:14:33.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28810" CreationDate="2016-02-02T15:40:33.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How have you done the chin-ups? Take care that you keep tension all the way during the repetition especially at the bottom of the exercise. Also if you go to wide you can injure your rotator cuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some good advice on chin/pull-ups: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jasonferruggia.com/the-shocking-truth-about-chin-ups/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jasonferruggia.com/the-shocking-truth-about-chin-ups/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it simply says that the best way to do those exercises is to use rings, as they allow for a natural movement, Otherwise to alternate the grips and not go wider than shoulder width apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... good luck with your shoulder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:40:33.033" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28809" CreationDate="2016-02-02T15:46:21.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;AFAIK, no (non-surgical, obviously) way is known to reduce fat &lt;em&gt;locally&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only fat reduction tool in existence remains a combination of increased energy output and reduced input - AKA exercising and not eating too much. Everything else is dishonest marketing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19286" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:46:21.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-02T16:13:37.090" Score="1" ViewCount="625" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very close to purchasing a Garmin Vivosmart HR. It appears to be a good 24/7 fitness tracker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However when I'm training, I would prefer to have the accuracy of a chest strap HR monitor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that the Vivosmart HR can not connect directly to external HR monitors and chest straps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is the Garmin Connect software clever enough to accept data from two devices, to use the Vivosmart data for 'general' monitoring, but to prioritize data from the chest strap when this is available during training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any advice or thought from those familiar with the devices and software. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19287" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T16:13:37.090" Title="Can the Vivosmart HR and a chest strap be used simultaneously with Garmin Connect software?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-06T18:23:40.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24495" CreationDate="2016-02-02T21:00:26.217" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight loss happens when your body doesn't have enough energy from food. It's forced to use it's own reserves to survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, if you're in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. However, you'll be eating much less than an active person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15097" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T21:00:26.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28827" CreationDate="2016-02-02T22:32:57.907" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a user on this website who may not be familiar to you nowadays; but I am wondering about if someone could provide a safe, detailed exercise plan that creates decent muscular and cardiovascular strength at the same time that only requires a few hours a week. &#xA;-No specific diet, please, I can handle that; just exercises.&#xA;-No specific exercises, please, just more broad terms like &quot;Chest,&quot; &quot;Cardio of choice,&quot; &quot;Biceps,&quot; &quot;Weightlifting,&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: 6 ft tall, 18 yr old male; 165-170 Ibs, about 15% body fat percentage, former bodybuilder(2 years ago)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: It's okay to be kind of specific; certain exercises however that others tend to like such as running and dead lifts I do not fancy. Please allow me to have freedom to choose the kind of exercises performed if possible, not exact, but for example, &quot;curls,&quot; and &quot;bench press,&quot; if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorUserId="16691" LastEditDate="2016-02-03T00:43:54.487" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T17:19:29.590" Title="Plan to get Crossfit for (relatively) young male who hasn't worked out in over a year?" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-02-04T18:47:25.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24495" CreationDate="2016-02-03T03:13:57.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with strength training and control of diet which @eric suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with that Yoga has some breathing techniques called pranayams. These are sitting and breathing techniques which synergies the body. Brasthikriya, kapalbhati and anulom vilom are few of the pranayam techniques in yogic literature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can find some information in this link: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yogicwayoflife.com/pranayama-for-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.yogicwayoflife.com/pranayama-for-weight-loss/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you find some youtube videos for these. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19294" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T03:13:57.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11510" CreationDate="2016-02-03T06:22:23.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For any antagonist exercise, reverse the primary exercise, and keep the same angles and range of motion.  For the pushup, that would be an inverted row with your hands on a fixed bar, with your feet elevated on a box such that your body is horizontal at the top of the row.&#xA;A ring row (with hands on rings or a suspension trainer) would similarly reverse a ring or suspension-trainer pushup.&#xA;You can do that with many upper body exercises (overhead presses/pullups, flyes/reverse flyes, incline presses/pulldowns, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19297" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T06:22:23.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-03T10:56:54.117" Score="3" ViewCount="2147" Body="&lt;p&gt;He wants to start out by doing rather strenuous, even slightly painful, static stretches, mostly in the legs, followed by 10-20 minutes of cardio and then the rest of the workout is mostly lifting. We had a bit of an argument about this. He claims that warming up first is more likely to cause cramps. Everything I have read seems to contradict this. Is he wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to make of our differing opinions. This is his profession, it seems disrespectful to doubt his experience and training. He is obviously a skilled athlete himself. I don't want to be like an anti-vaxxer mom ignoring a doctor because she did some googling. But what if he just doesn't do his research properly and doesn't keep up to date on the science? What if he just blindly follows the advice of his mentors from years ago or relies on his own anecdotal evidence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19300" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T22:02:01.207" Title="My trainer insists on stretching before any exercise, even warming up. Should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28820" CreationDate="2016-02-03T12:36:06.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Static stretching very slightly decreases the chance of injury at a strong detriment to strength. Its not necessarily wrong but if you want to lift heavy may be wrong for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio before lifting worries me though, as its likely that you will tire out many of your weakest muscles (much of your abdominals for example) before you even start lifting, causing you to fail at the lifting before you can reach the point of hypertrophy. I would advise performing cardio &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; lifting as the lifts will do the majority of the work and the cardio will essentially finish of the session, causing you to work yourself to the absolute highest point you can while remaining safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What he has set out for you will work, but is not necessarily the most efficient way of doing it. If you have no alternative trainer then it'll do fine, if you can find an alternative it may be worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, doing something is better than nothing. If its his way or nothing, then just play along and you'll still make significant strength and fitness gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19301" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T12:36:06.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28820" CreationDate="2016-02-03T14:13:28.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recent research indicates that stretching might be more of a pre-workout magical ritual than an actually useful functional component. It was taught as the &quot;correct&quot; way for decades and most people never questioned it (then again, so was &quot;a low fat diet makes you skinny&quot;), so you're likely to still run into it with PE teachers and fitness trainers, i.e. people generally not especially well known for their scientific rigour or critical thinking skills. Don't be fooled by an aura of professionalism, most personal trainers function merely as an outside supply of discipline, and provide obsolete, long-debunked information. You can safely skip stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.painscience.com/articles/stretching.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.painscience.com/articles/stretching.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19286" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T14:13:28.107" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28803" CreationDate="2016-02-03T14:39:42.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If anything, this should increase your energy levels throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike energy in physics, energy in fitness is not a zero-sum affair. You can actually get more of it by expending it. Maybe think of it as an investment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19286" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T14:39:42.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28820" CreationDate="2016-02-03T14:45:32.713" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, ask your trainer how many athletes he or she has trained that have won national, regional, or international titles. Personally, my belief is that unless you have trained someone that's made the Olympic team (or around there), you should probably put your ego in check and emulate what the Olympic trainers are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training isn't an art project where there's a lot of room for individual expression. Different athletes respond in different ways, but most things are quite concrete and should only be changed when appropriate peer reviewed research indicates as such. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, if you look around a modern gym you'll see &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of trainers doing ridiculous things with their clients. In my own observational experience, trainers are basically motivators and task masters, not people I would trust with exercise science before I observed them first. This the trainer's fault of course, but it's not made any easier by clients who don't really care about pushing boundaries and primarily just want the fore-mentioned &quot;someone to tell me what to do in a gym because I hate going.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Static Stretching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Static stretching before exercise is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10593217&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not considered helpful&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The basic science literature supports the epidemiologic evidence that&#xA;  stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally I'd reference &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise&quot;&gt;Ivo Flipse's excellent answer from 2005&lt;/a&gt;. Stretching for performance is still being figured out, but there is certainly no credible evidence that static stretching before weight training is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio Beforehand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one I actually think your trainer has right, or somewhat right. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24499/7091&quot;&gt;It is important to warmup&lt;/a&gt;, both your general body systems and the specific body components that you intend to lift with. There is still some squabbling over the benefits of stretching, but warmups are universally acknowledged to be critical to injury prevention, force production, and mental readiness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 minutes might be on the high side, but as a 40-ish year old man, I've adjusted my warmups from 3 minutes to 10, and remain relatively injury free. I actually need to &quot;warmup&quot; into my &quot;warmups&quot;, if that makes sense, hitting the jump rope for a bit before I do getups before I do air squats, before I grab an empty barbell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dealing With Your Trainer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your trainer is probably fine for a weekend warrior with no real physical ambitions, but I think you can quickly realize he or she isn't going to place anyone on an Olympic team any time soon. You'll also notice that you probably don't have a lot of high level athletes in your gym. These people train and work in difference circles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a good trainer is going to cost you, you'll need to switch gyms, and you'll need to travel. If you don't want any of that it's okay, but realize that &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; better training is out there: most people don't pursue it because it's just not enough of a priority. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trainers who place two national level athletes qualify for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Weightlifting/Coaching/Certification-Requirements/National-Coach&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;USA Weightlifting's National Coach standard&lt;/a&gt;. You can search around for USA Weightlifting clubs by &lt;a href=&quot;https://webpoint.usaweightlifting.org/wp15/Companies/Clubs.wp?frm=t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;going here&lt;/a&gt;. Many of these clubs have turned into Crossfit boxes, which is a whole different topic. But if you live near a major metro area, with a phone and a day's time, you should be able to talk to someone who (unlike your trainer) is truly qualified to get you to the next level of fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be blunt: ask them if they are USA Weightlifting licensed coaches, and ask if they are (or know any) National Coaches. I just googled around my own hometown of San Diego, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://crossfitfortius.com/jesse-malcomb-head-coach-co-owner/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a resume like this&lt;/a&gt; is what you're looking for. Concrete results, proven history, and official licenses from strong organizations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T14:52:32.117" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28794" CreationDate="2016-02-03T16:49:14.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing I can think of not requiring too much equipment is a glute ham raise (GHR). It's the exercise that provides the most hamstring activation, well beyond even RDLs and hamstring curls. A GHR bench is probably the best way to do them but it is very easy to rig your own homegym GHR bench with very little: see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsgym.com/homemade-ghr-options/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; for an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T16:49:14.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28816" CreationDate="2016-02-03T17:19:29.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand your question well, and I'm not sure I do because it is honestly mangled, you are looking for a way to arrange your training week in order to develop both cardiovascular fitness and decent strength/hypertrophy, in a minimum amount of time. That is actually possible and usually called hybrid training (coach/runner/powerlifter Alex Viada has a book dedicated to the topic called Hybrid Training). Here is a loose plan and set of recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're gonna need at least 3 sessions a week, mixing weight training and cardiovascular training. Your weight training needs to be full body, because it will save you time. If you can affort 4 sessions a week, you can do upper/lower/upper/lower, but it will take more time from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your recovery needs to be on point, if you want to improve on both sides of the spectrum you need to eat and rest properly. Now is not the time for dieting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to practice what is called consolidation of stressors: group all low-intensity-type training on one side of the week, and all high-intensity-type training on the other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want economy of time, you're gonna need to use a lot of compound barbell lifts, because they will give you the most bang for your buck. Good for you: squats, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, some form of rows, chin-ups/pull-ups, push-ups, barbell curls, barbell lunges. Bad for you: hyper-specific isolation exercises (they will waste your time and your energy that could be spent doing something more productive).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your training week needs to be intelligently organized. For example, on a 3 days a week schedule, you could do something like this:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1, &lt;strong&gt;Lifting&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;Max Effort training/Heavy day, use heavy weight, few reps, rest as needed. Go&#xA;for full body: squat, then press, then some form of deadlift, then a&#xA;couple of lighter exercises like chin-ups, curls, rows, etc. but not too much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1, &lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;: High-intensity. Prefer HIIT stuff, 6 to 10 short 30 seconds intervals, followed by a 90 to 120s of slower pace. If you don't want to do standard HIIT, you can try barbell complexes as a good alternative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2, &lt;strong&gt;Lifting&lt;/strong&gt;: Dynamic Effort training/Light day, use medium weight, few reps, rest as needed. Go for full body again, with lighter weight, it's more about using the day to practice your form and lift as explosively as you can. You can add more accessory lifts here (curls, rows, chin-ups, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2, &lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;: Drills &amp;amp; form practice. Medium tempo, submaximal distances, don't destroy yourself as it's meant to be a recovery day. A 30-40 minutes session ought to be enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3, &lt;strong&gt;Lifting&lt;/strong&gt;: Repetition Effort training/Medium day, use lighter weight and do longer set, closer to failure (but not to failure, remember that overall volume is still more important so 5 sets close to failure are superior to 2 sets to failure and then being gassed out for the session). Go full body again, obviously.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3, &lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;: Long slow distances. Go for a long session of grueling, soul-sucking, slow cardio. Go at a submaximal pace and go for time (60+ minutes is preferred) rather than speed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T17:19:29.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28713" CreationDate="2016-02-03T18:33:10.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about them. You are probably quite conscious of them at the moment and it's rubbish to feel like that at 22. However, aside from you, people generally won't notice/care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good thing is since you're relatively young your skin will adapt to the stretch. Assuming you're not training for body building competitions you will most likely plateau in terms of your general look and weight which should help things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do is to remain consistent with training (or not training), the yo-yoing won't help stretch marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T18:33:10.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28793" CreationDate="2016-02-03T18:34:01.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So first what you need to know is that chart, while a good general guideline, isn't the complete picture. You can achieve the same hypertrophy for instance while never lifting under 90%, provided you equate volume. Similarly, you can become very strong while spending most of your time under 70%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, to answer your question, all adaptations are not competing with each other and in fact some, like strength &amp;amp; hypertrophy, or strength &amp;amp; power, even tend to feed off each other where increased muscle mass will lead to a better strength potential, and a higher strength makes it easier to deploy that strength fast, developing more power. This is the essence of systems like Louie Simmons' version of the Conjugate System, popularized for powerlifting in Westside, where the lifters mix 3 types of training: repetition effort (hypertrophy oriented, long sets with low loads), dynamic effort (power oriented, several short sets with light loads and bands), and maximal effort (strength oriented, several short sets with maximal/circamaximal loads).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other adaptations like strength &amp;amp; endurance are a bit trickier to mix, because they don't tend to be very synergetic (although additional strength can help with endurance, by making the load feel lighter, and additional endurance can help with strength, by allowing you to train longer and more often). In that case the main approach to this kind of hybrid training, advised by some excellent athletes like Alex Viada (one of the rare persons who can brag about a 600+lbs deadlift and several marathons &amp;amp; triathlons under his belt) is to consolidate your stressors. Meaning you should train one quality at a time: this can be done at the weekly level (high rep low load and endurance stuff on Monday, low rep high load and high intensity stuff on Friday) or at the training block level (in a block periodization fashion, where you would focus on endurance and do minimal strength training focused on maintenance for several weeks, then switch around, leading up to a peaking block and a competition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T18:34:01.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28713" CreationDate="2016-02-03T19:35:53.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well as other answers have mentioned, stretch marks are due to skin being not that elastic. Skin elasticity differs from person to person and area to area. I consider them to be medals of bodybuilding and strength training, but still it gets me worried because I don't want too many of them.Newely formed stretch marks are red in color and lightes up after some time, but still one can tell them. I found that applying castor oil on the stretch marks and the area that are prone to get streatch marks can help. I am saying this from my own personal experience and didn't did lot of research, although if you will search online you will find people suggesting the same. You can try cold pressed castor oil, which is highly viscous and better than normally process castor oil. Besides being good for stretch marks, castor oil can be used for treatment of acne, insect &amp;amp; mosquito bites, dandruff, and fungal or yeast infection, i.e any external skin problem. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastEditorUserId="6356" LastEditDate="2016-02-03T19:41:42.960" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T19:41:42.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28840" CreationDate="2016-02-03T20:15:37.113" Score="6" ViewCount="981" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;em&gt;terrible&lt;/em&gt; general flexibility, which both causes discomfort and affects my form when exercising (for example, I fall off balance any time I try and do a squat). This is something that I'd very much like to change, but in the past I've never been able to make a dent in it, so I'd like to try and be a bit more objective and scientific in my approach this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, essentially - what is a reasonable schedule to gain flexibility for a given motion? I want to know this so that I can adjust my stretching to see what is and isn't working, and I want to give the stretching enough time to show noticeable improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general guidance, I'm looking to know, essentially, whether my gains will be mostly front-loaded or should they be consistent throughout the improvement phase, and &lt;em&gt;roughly&lt;/em&gt; (order of magnitude), how long should it take to go from poor flexibility (e.g. I'm about 20-25cm away from being able to touch my toes) to normal flexibility (e.g. touching my toes). One month? Three months? A year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Doing a bit of reading, I think I should probably clarify that from what I can tell, I'd like to improve &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.mit.edu/tkd/stretch/stretching_3.html#SEC20&quot;&gt;static-passive flexibility&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. It seems likely that I'll be able to consistently do static stretches, though I'm going to try my best to do PNF stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7730" LastEditorUserId="7730" LastEditDate="2016-02-03T21:58:08.617" LastActivityDate="2016-02-05T03:12:24.763" Title="What is a reasonable schedule for increasing flexibility?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-03T21:07:02.973" Score="3" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend and I are training for a 10K race, using a slightly modified version of C25K (running slightly longer, doing more repetitions in one run etc). We're doing about the same thing, but during a recent discussion we discovered that we walk differently during the walking breaks on the schedule. At this point the discussion is almost academic, because we're almost at the point in the schedule that abandons walking breaks completely, but I'm still curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The disagreement we have is &lt;strong&gt;whether the walking breaks in C25K should be &lt;em&gt;relaxing walks&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;power walks&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt; I've been doing relaxing walks (which, actually, feel almost [but not quite] like resetting to full rest after 3-5 minutes), while my friend has been doing power walks. Which of these is the better method (or intended method) of C25K training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19308" LastEditorUserId="19308" LastEditDate="2016-02-07T18:43:46.493" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T13:15:59.017" Title="What type of walking for the breaks in C25K?" Tags="&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28820" CreationDate="2016-02-04T02:48:08.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite some answers naysaying stretching, it depends on what physicals activities you are going to do and -- what I read -- was &lt;em&gt;consistency&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;The people who had fewest injuries were those who either regularly stretched before their workout -- &lt;strong&gt;OR&lt;/strong&gt; -- regularly &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt; stretch.  Those that stretched inconsistently were the most like to achieve the &quot;injured exerciser&#xA;boobie prize&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also the case that &lt;strong&gt;stretching to lengthen muscles&lt;/strong&gt; and increase range of motion, &quot; happen best when your muscles are &lt;em&gt;warm&lt;/em&gt; -- therapeutic temperature range for muscles is in the range 102-110°F.  According to references in the book &quot;Science of Flexibility&quot; -- highly recommended if you are into studies, science, facts and details of stretching, on p.69 in my 2nd Ed.; &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0736048987&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;w/3rd Ed. now avail: via Amazon&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;when stretching in that range, the amount of structural weakening produced by given amount of tissue elongation varies inversely with the temperature.  This is apparently related to the progressive increase in the viscous flow properties of the collagen as it is heated.&quot;  [It was also found that] &quot;allowing the muscles to cool&quot; [&lt;em&gt;likely&lt;/em&gt; to just below 102°F-bottom of the therapeutic range] increases the long-term effects of the stretch. Elsewhere it lists &quot;104°F as the point for a thermal transition in the microstructure of collagen occurs which significantly enhances the viscous stress relaxation of collagenous tissue, allowing greater plastic deformation when it is stretched.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only time I ever, comfortably did a full Chinese, legs-out-to-sides-split (also &quot;straddle-&quot; or &quot;side-splits&quot;), was at a yogic dance celebration through music and yoga of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.triyoga.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TriYoga&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  I had gotten much warmer than in any class with the dancing to live music (and maybe an ambient temp. of ~80F.  However, both before and since that time, no matter how much time I spent at home or in classes, I was never quite able to get my muscles warm enough to comfortably roll from font-to-back w/legs straight out (&lt;em&gt;sigh&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, as in whether you stretch (at all) and in how much, time of day and consistency of temperature when stretching correlate higher than almost any other factor in injury prevention (both during stretching and during later exercise practice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not you need stretching depends on how often you will high, fast-reaction contractions on the muscles, i.e. more so w/high speed running, or various martial arts, less so with controlled weight lifting (though post-weight lifting stretching can be very desirable to lower strength or mass-building's tendency to lower flexibility due to higher muscle mass).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Alex Hall:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He claims that warming up first is more likely to cause cramps. Everything I have read seems to contradict this. Is he wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is likely to be more correct for his own body because he is used to it.  But low-impact warmups like fast walking, biking or even passive heating in&#xA;a sauna or hot-tub would likely provide benefits -- with more benefits showing when you are cold (say coming indoors in winter), or morning training, when your body temperature is naturally, usually, at a daily low. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite my tendency to &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; stretching (as a centerpiece of a workout), I believe &lt;strong&gt;the statistics favor &lt;em&gt;consistent&lt;/em&gt; warm-up and stretch activities before heavy exercise&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than doing good warming up and stretches&#xA;on some or most days, but leaving it out on days when you are short on time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be just those days when you are in a hurry and skip normal pre-workout &quot;rituals&quot;, that you are likely to subject muscles and joints to abnormal strain and possible injury.  One can easily see how mental attitude affects their body: straying attention and thinking about whatever is causing the &quot;rushed-feeling&quot; vs. focusing on good form and on how much intensity you are &quot;throwing&quot; at your body (that is, otherwise, accommodated to warm-ups and stretching).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if your workout-coach can't adapt to a workout style you can live and thrive with, they may not be the best coach for your specific body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A*a&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19311" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T02:48:08.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34682" CreationDate="2016-02-04T15:24:35.923" Score="4" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been tracking my calorie intake and expenditure for 18 months.&#xA;I am maintaining my weight and getting stronger, which I assume means increased muscle and less fat. However my fat loss (by visual inspection) does not appear to be anywhere close to my predictions. IE I should have lost far more fat than I have seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have assumed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body fat is 7500 calories per kilo.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machines give an accurate estimate of calories burnt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food gives an accurate count of calories contained stated on the packet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have not included Basal Rate of Metabolism, it is effectively zero in my model.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yet I am losing far less fat that I should be.&#xA;Is there something I am missing? How can my predictions be so badly wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19264" LastEditorUserId="19264" LastEditDate="2016-02-04T22:00:26.197" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T01:01:38.123" Title="Weight loss does not seem to follow my calculations" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3167" CreationDate="2016-02-04T17:48:36.727" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein consumption timing is highly irrelevant. As long as you hit your macros for the day, you are good to go, whether that be from 8 small meals throughout the day or 1 huge meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19320" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T17:48:36.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28831" CreationDate="2016-02-04T18:26:12.730" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flexibility is training just like any other training. There is no gene for flexibility. And, just like any other training, it will follow the same sort of timeline as any other exercise regimen. Nobody can tell you with any certainty how &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; will respond to stretching, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase your flexibility, you need to be working all the major muscle groups in static stretches, each one held between 30-60 seconds for 2-4 reps. You want to do this when you are warmed up, typically you don't see as much gain and have a higher injury risk when aggressively doing static stretches on unwarmed muscles (And, there is some study evidence that static stretching before workouts negatively impacts strength/speed). Dynamic stretches are best before the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a typical adult, you've spent 8-12 hours a day sitting ever since you were 6 (School then college, then work). Your body is used to that. When you can't stretch past a certain point, that's your body reacting to new motion by limiting the distance in an effort to protect yourself. That's what you need to overcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progress is going to be related to your background, much like any other exercise. If you were once flexible, you will return to it quicker. If you never were, it will take more time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General timeline (And your results may VERY much vary) will somewhat mimic working out for the first time, so you want to follow the same kind of adaptation routine as you did when you first started working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week 1 : Stretch 2-4 times per week, 20-30 mins per session. Don't push it too hard, and only 1 or 2 time reps per stretch. Expect resistance, discomfort, and possibly some DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weeks 2-4 : Stretching will become easier, you may notice some gains in distance. Keep the 2-4 times per week, you can gradually move up to 3, possibly 4 reps per stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weeks 5+ : Add days. Ideally you should be stretching the major muscle groups 4+ times weekly, with 3-4 time reps per stretch. Once you get to wherever you are happy, you can drop the days to 3-4x per week, 2-3 time reps per group for maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your goals, you can start looking at more advance/aggressive stretching techniques (Such as PNF stretching) after you've gotten accustomed to regular stretching on a regular basis. But, like anything else, if you don't keep to a regular routine you will lose the gains you made. And (to sound like a broken record) like working out, you will notice bigger gains in the beginning, and slower, more incremental changes as you go along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-02-05T03:12:24.763" LastActivityDate="2016-02-05T03:12:24.763" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28836" CreationDate="2016-02-04T21:49:23.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Food packaging is based on averages it is more or less right sometimes you'll get more calories, sometimes less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of your calories are spent on maintaining your body's functions. (About 3/4 in fact)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would have to be doing some incredibly hard exercise to lose weight through exercise alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely thing is your not tracking your calories as well as you think you are. Your brain needs about 500 calories, so it's not surprising the organ makes you think you're tracking calories properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than tracking calories, the next time  your full measure fixed amounts in cups/jugs and be strict about the serving portions you measured when you were full. Write them down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't measure calories it's a terrible idea for your mental health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T21:49:23.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28820" CreationDate="2016-02-04T22:02:01.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I posted this as a comment to Eric's answer which is pretty much on the point but to add a bit more specifically to answer your points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A warm up and some dynamic stretches to begin with. You can static stretch at the end of the work out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a sports injury perspective a professional sports physio would get you to warm up for 5 minutes then dynamically stretch, workout and then static stretch at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You never work through actual pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple answer get a different trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-04T22:02:01.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-05T22:30:01.723" Score="1" ViewCount="1798" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 21 years 5ft 6in and my weight is 80 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started going to the gym about 4 months back and lost 5 kgs, but now I am stuck. I seem to look slimmer but the scale doesn't move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing 20 min cardio (treadmill and stepper) then 10 min cycling and then ab routine and then half hour aerobics including squats, lunges, jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to lose a lot of weight (at least 10 kg) and my target date is one year which will be completed in October.&#xA;My diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glass of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any fruit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 Brown slice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 cup tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Egg(occasionally)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half roti&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curry or generally I avoid lunch as I have my breakfast late &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snack&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Few nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half roti(not regularly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I drink warm water and go to gym 6 days, and I have a once a month cheat day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19331" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-02-09T15:11:27.767" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T20:32:33.310" Title="I lost 5 kgs in first 3 months of gym but now i am stuck" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7371" CreationDate="2016-02-06T00:17:21.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure using the short pool for technique work is such a great idea. By the time you push off, surface, and get a couple stroke cycles in you already have to turn around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps take advantage of the shorter pool length to work on your speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When one of my local pools is set up for long course there is a 17.5m width lane in the space where lane 0 or 9 would be. I'll hop in there and bang out some faster, high intensity efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing 30 x 17.5m fast with :15-:20 seconds rest at each wall is one of my favorite all-time sets. You can maintain speed and technique for much longer than you could performing the same intensity in a longer pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use your vacation from the big pool to work on your speed and save the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourswimlog.com/freestyle-drills/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;freestyle drill&lt;/a&gt; work for a longer pool where you can do more than a few stroke cycles before having to turn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me: National level swimmer, Olympic trial qualifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19267" LastActivityDate="2016-02-06T00:17:21.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28848" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28849" CreationDate="2016-02-06T12:37:41.767" Score="5" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started exercising regularly two months back. I used to go to gym 5-6 times a week and started with basic compound movements and cardio alternately. &#xA;I had an ankle injury two weeks back and was unable to go to gym. Not that I was bedridden but I just couldn't exercise. During this time, my diet more or less remained the same with respect to macro-nutrients. I went to gym today and measured my weight and surprisingly, I had lost ~1.4 kgs (from 66.4 to 65) over these two weeks.&#xA;Can anyone explain why this happened? I am quite surprised myself. Is this related to muscle degeneration? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19338" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T12:36:30.203" Title="Why does one lose weight even after stopping exercise for short time durations" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28848" CreationDate="2016-02-06T15:48:14.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's more likely to have been a matter of diet. Unless you actually track your food, there's a good chance that you might not have noticed a decrease in food consumption. Add to that variations in water weight and what clothing you're wearing (assuming you don't hit the scale nude) and 1.4 kg could be a reasonable change over two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-02-06T15:48:14.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-07T20:11:44.287" Score="0" ViewCount="356" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never heard of Kettlercise before so looked at some videos.&#xA;Kettlercise doesn't look very demanding.  Less heavy breathing than my 12 minute/mile pace jogs.&#xA;There are very impressive claims about how much calories Kettlercise can burn, like 657 calories in 45 minutes (24yo F, 5'6&quot;, of unknown weight)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I tried using the calories burnt as function of HR formula* on this page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12435/is-it-possible-to-measure-calorie-burn-from-heart-rate-alone?rq=1&quot;&gt;Is it possible to measure calorie burn from heart rate alone?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That formula comes up with numbers I think are credible for my calorie burn when I am jogging (*I have a pretty good estimate of my real VO2MAX).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the HR that would be required for a 24yo female to get to 657 cal/53 minutes, requires all kinds of extreme values in the formula above. VO2max = 50, 70 kg, avg HR = 195.  Do those numbers make sense(??)  Is the formula that inaccurate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or would I be right to think that Kettlercise energy expenditure is probably being over-hyped?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19342" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T18:57:52.440" Title="Kettlercise, calories burnt" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28832" CreationDate="2016-02-07T23:31:31.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no hard data, but my experience is that a fast walk is best if you can do it. It keeps the heart rate elevated, but gives you a chance to take a breather and works some different muscles. The Zombie 5K app directly calls out fast walking most of the time (although it has some intervals in the early weeks where you alternate fast and slow walking). The walking pace should be fast enough that your muscles stay warm and your heart rate remains elevated, but not so fast that you're tired before starting running again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-02-07T23:31:31.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28871" CreationDate="2016-02-08T05:34:11.217" Score="2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a novice and started running 6K. I am planning to step up to 12K.&#xA;My concern is that I only have concrete surfaces to run on and my frequency is 5 times a week. Will that tax my joints? What would you suggest. How can I minimize injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19325" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-02-08T13:40:02.900" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T23:12:33.687" Title="How to mitigate damage from running on concrete" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-08T11:22:46.050" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a while back that to get any real benefit from squats and lunges one should come down low past parallel. Indeed it has been encouraged in my Quads &amp;amp; Core classes (without weights), although the instructor says only come down as low as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been squatting with a barbell past parallel for a while (at least a year), but recently I've had knee pain when coming past parallel. I don't feel it is sensible to continue squatting whilst this is happening. An odd &quot;crunching&quot; sensation and sound has began to happen as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether I am going to benefit from squats &amp;amp; lunges if they are not below parallel, or if I should do some other exercises instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6974" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T12:20:11.943" Title="Squats &amp; Lunges above parallel - is there any benefit?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28856" CreationDate="2016-02-08T12:20:11.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's always going to be benefit from any movement (you're using SOME muscle, so SOME muscle will get trained), but of course, by limiting the range of motion (ROM), you're also limiting the effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's likely ill advised to do any squats or lunges while your knee is being repaired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T12:20:11.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28845" CreationDate="2016-02-08T12:46:57.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not worry, you are just doing great. In the beginning you lose weight very fast but with the training you still lose some fat but you also gain some muscle in the meantime. That is why you weight same but you get more muscle. You may have TANITA like tests (fat percentage determination) periodically to follow fat percentage lose. Keep the good work up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T12:46:57.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15963" CreationDate="2016-02-08T13:06:07.713" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually aerobics make you taller indirectly. When you put weight on your bones they will grow with proper diet. Keep up the good work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T13:06:07.713" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28836" CreationDate="2016-02-08T13:17:56.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting Basal or Resting Metabolic Rate Measurement will explain most of it. Please go to nearby laboratory and ask for it, they will explain what to do for the test and you will have accurate number for your Metabolism. I believe your BM is getting slower and you almost reached your plateau. Try different combinations of training such as intervals and for weight lifting 1 MR will help you get the next level and weight losing will start again. Diversify your training :-)Keep up the good work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T13:17:56.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28805" CreationDate="2016-02-08T13:22:50.717" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can get Polar HR monitor with HRV (Heart Rate Variability)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polar.com/us-en/support/Heart_Rate_Variability__HRV_&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Polar HRV&lt;/a&gt; Using these kind of watches you will see the rate between each heart beat intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T13:22:50.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28855" CreationDate="2016-02-08T13:30:50.287" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should get shock absorbing shoes for sure. Do not do eccentric type of exercises before/after running you will hurt your muscle fibers and the last apply ice on your joints after every running session. You may also try to have some BCAA before/after running. First ask your doctor and then you may try Glucosamine - Chondroitine complex that stimulates the synovial fluid secretion and it is good for your joint health. Keep up the good work :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="19346" LastEditDate="2016-02-08T13:40:37.290" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T13:40:37.290" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3167" CreationDate="2016-02-08T13:48:35.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since all necessary hormones for muscle growth will increase during the rest and will peak when you sleep so you may consider getting more before sleep. when you wake up your body will hunger for approximately 8 hours so you may get high amount of protein in the morning. You can split the remaining amount. Keep up the good work :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T13:48:35.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28852" CreationDate="2016-02-08T18:57:52.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercises with kettlebells can be as hard as barbell work, sprinting or high end sport activities if done correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Kettlecise' sounds like a group class which is typically aimed at anybody. So it might not be suitable for someone already quite fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try it out and then increase the weights as necessary. A 8kg kettlebell in a class feels a lot different to a 24kg one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much like a jog and a sprint are essentially the same but completely different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T18:57:52.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28737" CreationDate="2016-02-08T20:42:57.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose those are really good questions, because most the formulae just work on rules of thumb &amp;amp; probably we're all too individual for the formulae to work perfectly for everyone reliably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the question makes me wonder if the whole idea of zones is just a bit hokey, since the transition points are probably not fixed even for individuals; probably depends on how you feel on the day, even.  So then I wonder if it makes more sense to go with &quot;feel&quot; for each zone, rather than relying on precise numbers. There's a description below of what each zone feels like.  You'd have to really know yourself to know when you were in each zone, I suppose, so then people go back to inflexible numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20140808-Understanding-Intensity-2--Heart-Rate-0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20140808-Understanding-Intensity-2--Heart-Rate-0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19342" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T20:42:57.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28737" CreationDate="2016-02-08T22:32:42.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a rule of thumb that anything below 80%HRMax is working within the aerobic zone, whereas above you are heading towards threshold and anaerobic zones (being able to sustain these harder efforts for less and less time).&#xA;Personally, when training aerobically, I aim for roughly 75% and not higher, even when it comes to hills. There is thought within the coaching communities that if even a slight fraction of the run goes above the aerobic zone threshold,  then the aerobic training effect is greatly diminished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated by Julii above, there is no easy way to determine your own heart rate zones, lactate threshold etc, as they are all based on rules of thumb, and averages, and the fact is that everybody reacts differently to the exercise stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are options available, depending on how keen you are to determine your true zones - a wide number of sports institutions carry out VO2 testing, and with that they will help you determine your heart rates zones. This isn't cheap, however, and I imagine a good 12 months training and you would need to have undergo testing again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most casual runners, the algorithms carried out by Garmin, Strava, TomTom etc., will be good enough. Whilst these seem to be arbitrary to begin with (as in fact, they are often just percentages of your HRMax), you can start to adjust them by running by feel - which is something that seems to be lost nowadays with the masses of information available at our wrists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in a slightly more involved method of determining heart rate zones, and/or heart rate zone training, I point you in the direction of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.angio.net/personal/run/hadd.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Hadd&amp;#39;s Approach to Distance Training&quot;&gt;Hadd's Approach to Distance Training&lt;/a&gt;. If nothing else, it makes for a very good read for the more competitive casual runner, that is looking for a different way to train [I had started following this training method in November, just before I broke my collarbone, but intend to embark on it again!]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.angio.net/personal/run/hadd.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.angio.net/personal/run/hadd.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this has offered some insight, and I wish you the best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastEditorUserId="19348" LastEditDate="2016-02-08T23:28:38.637" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T23:28:38.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28737" CreationDate="2016-02-08T22:36:12.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Julii alludes to, &amp;quot;zones&amp;quot; are pretty much arbitrary, as you are burning fat as a fuel in all zones, just the percentage to which it contributes to the whole is different for different effort levels. As you get higher in intensity, the more you rely on stored carbohydrates (glucose), and the lower in intensity, the more you rely on fat. They are both still utilized, however, except in very short burst, 100% efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to do a couple of different stress tests to determine your approximate maximum heart rate, and use that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brianmac.co.uk/esource.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;with various charts&lt;/a&gt; to determine effort and fat utilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a few different formulae to approximate your maximum heart rate from run data, but it's not going to be as accurate as a couple of stress tests. Also realize that dehydration, sleep, muscle fatigue, many factors can affect the heart rate to where you think you are working hard but are actually not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T22:36:12.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28855" CreationDate="2016-02-08T22:47:02.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to say for sure how much you will tax your joints, as every person is different when they run - based on your weight, whether you heel-strike etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you want to mitigate any effects that running will have on your joints, then you should look into getting more cushioned running shoes - this will help 'soften' each blow, at the expense of 'feeling the road'. It can take quite some trial and error to get the best shoes for yourself, but you will know when you find the right ones. Many of the major brands have &quot;quizzes&quot; or questionnaires than can direct you to the correct shoe that they manufacture (eg Mizuno, Brooks), whilst there are a number of comparison tools on websites such as RunningWorld and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time, make sure that if you feel any discomfort in your joints or muscles, aside from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), that you rest. If you have have muscle soreness, you can help to treat that using RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation), however, it is often beneficial to alternate warming and icing (eg a bag of frozen peas and a warm wheatie bag) to help stimulate blood flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure also, that you do not go straight into the run with cold muscles - that is, to say, it is beneficial to warm up with 10 minutes of jogging, fast walking, or running at a reduced pace. The same principle should also be followed towards the end of the run, slow your pace for the last 10 minutes or so (as you do not want your muscles to cool and contract when you stop abruptly). On the same wavelength, getting into the habit of undertaking some static stretching after every run will help to keep you away from injury, and make sure the blood flows evenly throughout your muscles (preventing 'knots' from forming) - for example, target your quads, hamstrings, upper &amp;amp; lower calves in a variety of different stretches (my personal stretch routine takes about 10 minutes after every run).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A crucial way to avoid injury is to make sure that you don't increase mileage too greatly week on week, or increase your pace dramatically - your body will get used to running several times a week, with a certain mileage, which will then allow you to increase mileage or speed up (never do both on a single run!). You should aim to increase your weekly mileage by no more than 10% on the previous week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose another way that would be beneficial to you, is to try to get off of the concrete - running on local pitches, fields, common areas, woods etc. Not only will this help to reduce the impactive stress on your feet (the surfaces are much more cushioned than the concrete), you will help to build up strength in muscles that aren't used quite so much when road-running (muscles that help support during the uneven terrain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps, and keep up the good work - you'll reach your targets in no time :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastEditorUserId="19348" LastEditDate="2016-02-08T23:12:33.687" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T23:12:33.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2016-02-08T23:27:48.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building upon what others have said, the major part of the long run is to improve your endurance, and not your speed. Yes, you can argue that running your long run at closer to target pace will help to bring progress, however, you are not building your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I point you in the direction of Hadd's Approach to Distance Running - it may not be as strictly scientific as you are after, but I do find it a very interesting read (with some references to lactate studies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.angio.net/personal/run/hadd.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.angio.net/personal/run/hadd.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The part that stands out most to me, is when the author relates training to a tube of toothpaste - if you consistently train the upper thresholds (pace/heart rate), then you are only squeezing toothpaste out of the top of the tube. If you want to get all of the toothpaste out, you must squeeze all of the tube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I certainly do recommend reading the document - I hope it answers a portion of your question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T23:27:48.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-09T00:05:09.757" Score="9" ViewCount="2289" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I understand that different runners react in different ways to training, and so a specific case cannot be made to each runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When starting out running, there is a lot to be gained from incrementally increasing weekly mileage, eg going from 10 miles a week, to 20 miles a week. Generally, the improvement is brought about from the increase in cardio fitness, as well as the additional strength built up from the increased mileage. However, there must be a point at which the gains are very slight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Professional, or Olympic athletes, are known to train over 100 miles/week (I believe I read somewhere that Mo Farah's average week is ~120-130 miles). The top-end of non-professional athletes often train towards to 100 miles/week mark (although that must be tricky balancing work and training!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is; at what point does the performance improvement, brought about by the increased mileage, become marginal? Considering 3 popular race distances, 10km, Half Marathon and Marathon, and assuming an 80/20 (easy/hard effort) training load, with an easy long run taking ~30% of the weekly mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, for context;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a 22-year old male, currently sitting just below 70% on the age-graded times for 5km, 10mi and Half Marathon, (18:28, 66:38, and 1:28:14 PBs respectively [no 10km raced recently])  I am considering upping my weekly training load from ~50km (31mi) to about 50mi over the course of 3 or so months, in order to attempt to head towards the 80% age-grade times for 5km, 10km and HM (16:08, 33:35, and 1:14:04, respectively). The HM PB was the result of a good 12-week training period over the summer (50km/week during and for ~6 weeks after), and the 10mi PB hit in November, however I broke my collarbone shortly after, and am restarting the training again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastEditorUserId="19348" LastEditDate="2016-02-09T07:27:17.587" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T16:39:24.293" Title="At what point does the improvement from increasing weekly mileage become marginal?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28876" CreationDate="2016-02-09T05:58:16.627" Score="-1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently am running 6K but planning to go for 10K. I am doing it on concrete surface 5 times per week and there are no options available for me regarding surface.I am gonna take care of my body regarding good shoe, good posture,pre post stretching and others when it comes to running on concrete. Now to increase my longevity i am wondering what will be best breakfast for me so that my joints fluids and my joints are working in top condition. I am new to running world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently i am having :&#xA;- 1 glass lime juice (straight outta lime).&#xA;- 2 half-fry eggs&#xA;- 500ml milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19325" LastEditorUserId="19325" LastEditDate="2016-02-10T05:12:10.483" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T05:12:10.483" Title="What will be best breakfast post 10K runs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-02-11T15:47:50.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2016-02-09T06:05:12.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tie your shoes with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-shoes/the-best-knot-for-your-running-shoes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Runners Knot&lt;/a&gt;, if friction is the reason, friction as in movement of the feet in the shoes. It will keep your feet stable inside the shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19325" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-04-19T19:40:08.590" LastActivityDate="2019-04-19T19:40:08.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28874" CreationDate="2016-02-09T07:26:32.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of post-running nutrition, there are a lot of thoughts surrounding this - but there is one major theme, ensuring that you have carbohydrates to replace the energy you have used (refuelling), and protein for muscle repair (I can see that you already have eggs, and milk, which is good!). In terms of recovery, it is often touted that a 4:1 (or sometimes 3:1) carb:protein ratio is optimal, and that the protein should be consumed within an hour of finishing the run (as this is the time that it will have the most effect) - however, the body can only make use of so much protein per hour (based on your body weight), and different sources of protein act over different timescales (milk protein, for example, acts over a longer timescale than whey protein). Resources on websites such as RunnersWorld cover these topics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, having established the composition of what you should be eating - it's a case of working out a good way of having a wholesome breakfast that incorporates this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you run before breakfast, which naturally means your body is depleted, you must definitely ensure that you have carbs (porridge, etc) otherwise you may feel sluggish towards lunchtime as you increase your distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a nutrition section from RunnersWorld,&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tag/nutrition-for-runners&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/tag/nutrition-for-runners&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article for joint-health&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/joint-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/joint-food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article outlining the timings for protein intake&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/protein-timing-for-runners&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/protein-timing-for-runners&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are just starting out running, these sorts of articles will help you on your way - I hope this helps, and all the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T07:26:32.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28845" CreationDate="2016-02-09T10:00:19.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your description, it seems that you are facing a weight loss plateau, where in while losing weight after some time your body weight remains at the same level.&#xA;This is common thing while losing weight.&#xA;Things you can do while facing plateau are:&#xA;1) Re-evaluate your calorie intake.&#xA;   As you lose weight, not only does it become harder to lose, but your metabolism decreases, so you need to reevaluate your calorie intake to ensure that you are eating less calories than you are burning.&#xA;2) Carry out intense workouts and monitor and control everything you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16111" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T10:00:19.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28848" CreationDate="2016-02-09T12:36:30.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That could rather simply be water weight. 1.4 kilos is such a small amount that the weight of your most recent foods and the last time you went to the toilet could cause that sort of fluctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get back into lifting when you can (do upper body and core) and keep at it, you're doing fine. If you continue to lose alot of weight then you might need to try and adjust how much you're eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19307" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T12:36:30.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28832" CreationDate="2016-02-09T17:56:35.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I look at it, walk breaks are ideal when trying to achieve an intensity level that is somewhere between a walking and a running pace.  Thus, the running should be slow and the walking brisk so that both the walking and running segments are as close to the desired intensity as possible.  However, if you're going up a steep hill then a brisk walk might be too intense and you'll need to slow down further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19318" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T17:56:35.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28901" CreationDate="2016-02-09T23:01:01.590" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training for the last three months to complete a 90 Km route. I feel my legs are ready for that, but I'm affraid my weight can be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 31 years olds, 165 cm tall (5' 5&quot;), and my current weight is 65 Kg (143 pounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've increased progressively the intensity of my training. Now, I complete 10 Km 4 times each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think is the maximum weight (given my height) to accomplish this challenge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I increase my training distance before attempting that trip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other recommendation will be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BR,&#xA;Sebastian&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19358" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T10:51:14.177" Title="Am I ready for a long trip in bicycle?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-02-13T16:39:51.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28883" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-10T06:41:31.783" Score="0" ViewCount="6120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it good idea to run with your jacket on when temp is 25-30 degree celsius.&#xA;I run 7.2K (will do 10K one day :] ) 5 times a week. Is it helpful in reducing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19325" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T17:57:08.700" Title="Is it helpful in losing weight when running with jackets on in summer" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-13T16:40:04.297" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2016-02-10T06:50:49.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are protein powders made for heated liquids. I drink bariatric advantage hot chocolate but I know there are tons of unflavored powders for hot liquid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19361" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T06:50:49.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2016-02-10T08:00:41.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our feet absorb more force during running as compare to other body parts.So you should give extra care to your feet because foot  is the most frequently injured part of the body.Proper shoe selection should be there, once you purchase right shoes then you need to maintain them and replace them when they are worn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19363" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T08:00:41.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28883" CreationDate="2016-02-10T08:06:59.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As user19362 said, choice of clothing is very important when you are exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By wearing a jacket when the temperatures are elevated, your body will not dissipate heat as efficiently as it would if you were not wearing a jacket (sweating cools the body via evaporation, and you will be trapping the moisture under your jacket). This is not a good means for losing weight, although you may end up sweating more, you are losing water weight only, which is actually very important when you run - you need to stay hydrated! You could end up dehydrated, feeling faint, or suffer illnesses due to the heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to lose weight by running, given your other posts on the matter, ensure that you are eating healthily during the day (all meals), and ensure that, by running, you are producing a daily calorie deficit (burning more than you are taking in) - this means your body will start to burn other fuel sources (stored fat/sugars etc). However, this is not a message to cut back the food you eat - ensuring you have good daily nutrition is paramount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not be put off if you do not see results straight away - the loss of weight through exercise can be slow, but you need to stick at it to see results! All the best, I hope this has helped :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T08:06:59.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28889" CreationDate="2016-02-10T13:54:31.770" Score="0" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm doing a cardio session once a week, about 60 minutes, that looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 min cycling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20min Running (outside or on the treadmill)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20min Cross trainer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this session help me in losing body fat? Or should i focus more on doing one of those things but for a longer time? I also heard about High Interval training, how about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19366" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-10T16:17:21.363" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T05:57:35.860" Title="Is my cardio session good for losing body fat?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28888" CreationDate="2016-02-10T14:25:27.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will help you lose body fat although this is highly dependent on your diet. &#xA;If you are keeping your heart rate elevated and not leaving large gaps between each 20 minute session then you should drop body fat. You'll need to strategically reduce the amount of carbs you consume and cut out the foods with bad fats in them. 1 x 60 min session a week may not be enough for this. Again though this is highly dependent on your diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great article to read with tips for losing body fat: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson175.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson175.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19367" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T14:25:27.483" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28873" CreationDate="2016-02-10T15:59:50.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not going to be a huge issue if you bump up your training to 50 miles a week, you should still see some general improvements across your races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a tricky question asking only if the running will lead to increases without factoring wider concerns, such as different types of training, diet, and to some extent rest/sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what constitutes a marginal gain in terms of just miles ran? You could run a 100 miles but your pace might not increase at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd consider changing your perspective entirely to increasing the pace in those hours once your doing 50 miles a week. Also you should consider for the longer races how you tactically conserve energy and when you push a little harder. For a 5km the aim is to just maintain a really high pace from the get go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although running should be the focus you'll see greater gains if you mixed in some strength training for a couple of hours spaced out in the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think at the elite level you only really see marginal gains when you only 'do more' of the exercise. Greater gains come from rounding out your fitness in terms of flexibility / balance / endurance / strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Professional athletes might do 130 miles a week but it really tells you nothing about the team that's monitoring them or their rest periods, what they are eating and how they fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing 50 miles a week and setting achievable pacing targets will get you into the top 80%. I would seriously doubt after 70-80 miles a week anything is more than marginal gains for anyone if it's only through running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that you need to go 'bigger picture'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T15:59:50.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29086" CreationDate="2016-02-10T16:19:04.643" Score="2" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sprained my ankle a while back and my ankle feels good, so I attempted to squat. Air squats were fine, but when I added the bar and 25lbs, my ankle started to feel unstable. I decided to stop squatting until it feels better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my program's lower body day (Candito's Linear) says Back Squat, Deadlift and  2 Accessories. As for my accessories, I do  Leg Press and Hamstring Curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a good substitute for Squats while I get the stability in my ankle? I'm working on the strength of my ankle, so I need a temporary substitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&#xA;I go to a gym that has a decent amount of stuff. Leg Press, balance boards, leg raise machine, elastic bands, calf raise machine, hamstring curl machine. That's about all I can think of. I do Deadlifts, but that doesn't bother me unlike the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="18977" LastEditDate="2016-02-11T12:58:59.787" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T20:11:34.940" Title="Squat Replacement While Rehabing Ankle" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28883" CreationDate="2016-02-10T17:57:08.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a history of athletes training in sweat suits for weight loss, and in some very limited capacities it makes sense. As a fighter, you want to be as big and strong as possible for your weight class, but just barely in that weight class. As such, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauna_suit#Weight_loss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;running around in a sweat suit is a good way to dump a few pounds of water&lt;/a&gt; if you're getting weighed in the day before a match.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, you will &quot;lose weight&quot;, but it is entirely water weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running around in a jacket during 80F weather is not a good idea. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthermia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hyperthermia&lt;/a&gt; is a real problem, as is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hyponatremia&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There some &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24500/7091&quot;&gt;good answers on here pertaining to fat loss&lt;/a&gt;; I would encourage you to read them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T17:57:08.700" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28880" CreationDate="2016-02-10T20:44:48.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;[personal experience]&#xA;Am I ready for 1.5 hour mma/crossfit training since I did lower-intensity training before?&#xA;Thoughts: yep&#xA;Reality: half-dead and almost puking after 1.5 hours&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[example 2]&#xA;Am I ready for 40 km biking trip after travelling 2 x 10 km daily? &#xA;Thoughts: yep&#xA;Reality: carry me home please&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes me thing you should increase the distance you travel progressively until you travel the 90 kilometers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19376" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T20:44:48.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19253" CreationDate="2016-02-10T23:37:53.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are having trouble falling asleep, make sure that you don't have ANY caffeine within 5 hours of bedtime. I have experience with this, as I sometimes have a sip of Coke before I go to bed and I wind up staying up until the caffeine leaves my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19379" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T23:37:53.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28897" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-11T01:42:33.100" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;During workout at the gym, I see people busy with their phones. That made me wonder how does focus help in training? Although to common sense it appeals that I should focus but what exactly happens when we focus? Does it help in better circulation? Does it help to target a specific muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled and found &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/howtoachieveresults/a/trainingfocus.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;. There are related questions on stackexchange (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/16554/19380&quot;&gt;Q1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/3505/19380&quot;&gt;Q2&lt;/a&gt;) but all of these mainly focuses on 'how' to focus rather than 'why' to focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone throw light on this, if possible with good references? Has there been any study on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19380" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T16:06:55.670" Title="What is the importance of being focused during exercise?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28888" CreationDate="2016-02-11T05:01:51.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of having one session once a week try 30 min sessions 3 times a week. It will help you more than 1 session per week. During off days try to be active (walk, cruise around, do not use elevator etc) for at least 30 minutes. On diet part watch you total caloric intake especially from carbs as Caolan mentioned that we all mostly prone to consume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T05:01:51.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28880" CreationDate="2016-02-11T09:51:45.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you never cycle more than 10km in one ride, I would guess you are not ready for a 90km ride. A fast cyclist averaging 30kph will take three hour to complete such a ride, a slower one might have to stay on the saddle 5 hours or more. The following problems will surface for casual cyclists:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leg cramps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sore back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the dreaded &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bonk&lt;/a&gt; if you do not eat/drink adequately&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/462068-chafing-on-inner-thighs-from-bike-riding/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chafing&lt;/a&gt; problems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you gradually build up the length of your ride to a minimum of 50km before attempting your 90km. It's not like you won't manage it at all if you try, it's just that you are not likely to enjoy much due to the above issues. Try to follow a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/training-plans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training plan&lt;/a&gt; if you are unsure how to structure your training. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastEditorUserId="6169" LastEditDate="2016-02-12T10:51:14.177" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T10:51:14.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-11T13:30:59.930" Score="0" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night I did a bunch of calisthenic squats and now that it's the morning, my legs still feel like the way they felt right after the workout, weak and wobbly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19386" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T12:43:41.563" Title="Why are my legs still sore/untested?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-21T23:46:14.677" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28902" CreationDate="2016-02-11T14:28:45.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you read about DOMS or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt; I think you'll find a lot of the information that you're looking for. Your body generally needs a few weeks to become accustomed to exercise that it isn't used to. It'll be the worst initially, then tone down over the course of those weeks, until it's much less noticeable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18422" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T14:28:45.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28897" CreationDate="2016-02-11T15:17:46.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong about not being focused during your rest except for a loss of opportunity, because there is a number of things you could be doing to improve and make the most of your time at the gym:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moving around to keep your joints warm, so as to avoid injuries ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/strong-starts-mind-benefits-active-imagery-lifters/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;active imagery&lt;/a&gt; for your next lifts to improve your form and get stronger ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing breathing exercises to relieve stress and relax your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end what matters the most is what you bring when actually lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7436" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T15:17:46.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28911" CreationDate="2016-02-11T15:24:38.807" Score="5" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using a power rack to squat and press. So far I still haven't missed a rep (I started Stronglifts a few weeks ago), but I'm wondering what exactly would be the safest way to release the bar into the safety pins when squatting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bench press I can imagine myself just lowering my chest so that the bar doesn't hit me when I'm releasing it. However, I have no idea what I'd do if I was at the bottom of a squat and couldn't go up. Letting the bar roll through my fingers seems like it could break some of them with enough weight, and laying my whole body backwards until the bar hits the safety pins seems even more dangerous since my neck or head would be absorbing the force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen videos of people dropping the bar in different manners. What is the safest way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T07:31:23.963" Title="How to safely release the bar in the power rack when doing squats?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28897" CreationDate="2016-02-11T15:43:25.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only give anecdotal experience. I find many exercises &lt;em&gt;easier&lt;/em&gt; when I'm letting myself get distracted by reading a book, checking my phone, etc. However, if I let an outside observer watch me, it demonstrates that it's generally because I'm not doing the exercise properly. Sometimes I'm not doing the full range of motion. Sometimes it's because I'm finding ways to use inertia to my advantage (classic example is cycling where you can let the flywheel, meant to provide resistance, do much of the work), or enlisting other muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T15:43:25.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28897" CreationDate="2016-02-11T16:06:55.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don’t know that you’ll find any studies that address your question.  Your question delves more into exercise psychology and the “mind/body” link.  In that respect, I think focus is often related to (confused with?) effort.  Some may say that if you’re not focused during your training, you’re not providing enough effort to achieve your goals.  In order for that to be true, one would need to quantify how “focus” affects training.  You’re likely to find more anecdotal evidence than real studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, there’s an old saying attributed to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/77253-whatever-the-mind-can-conceive-and-believe-it-can-achieve&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Napoleon Hill&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe “focus” is the conduit that allows us to &lt;em&gt;achieve&lt;/em&gt; our training goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T16:06:55.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28906" CreationDate="2016-02-11T19:23:51.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question! Especially coming before actually having had bail out (that's the terminology) of a squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you're back squatting. When failing to stand up during a rep you'll at least have some power left to slow the weight down on the way back down. Use this opportunity and don't hesitate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Release your hands, sit up so the moves backwards, and jump forward. All on one fluid motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That should give you plenty of room for the bar to fall to the ground while securing yourself. Be sure to check that the bar doesn't keep rolling away and over someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a front squat, make sure your elbows are clear of the knees and simply lean forward, sort of just letting the bar drop to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have bumper plates and are in a gym that can tolerate it, I'd suggest actually practicing bailing a couple of times. When lifting heavy enough you will eventually have to bail out and then you'll be happy you can do so instinctively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5746" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T19:23:51.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28906" CreationDate="2016-02-12T04:43:40.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As AlexL suggests, since you are in a power rack, you can simply set the safeties to a couple inches below squat depth.  Then if you need to bail, simply lower your squat beyond your usual squatting depth, rest the bar the safeties, and wiggle your way out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly for the bench press.  You should be able to set the safeties in such a way that when your chest is puffed out, and your back is arched, you can touch the bar to your sternum, but when your back is flat and you &quot;suck in your chest&quot; the bar rests on the safeties.  Again, if your fail simply lower the bar to the safeties and wiggle out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend trying this ASAP with the unweighted bar.  Once you have the safeties set in the correct position with the unweighted bar (this may take a little guesswork), try it again with a comfortably submaximal load.  Then try it again with your working weight.  This should give you the confidence you need to bail out without injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T04:43:40.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28906" CreationDate="2016-02-12T07:31:23.963" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The safety bars should be set a few inches below the lowest the bar could conceivably go during a successful squat. This way, if the squat goes wrong in any way, you just lower yourself to the bottom of your squat. Do this fast if necessary; release tension in the core, if necessary; jump forward (if the bar is on your back) or backward (if the bar is in front of you) if necessary, but the goal is to stay as close as possible to a correct squat while the loaded barbell is still on your back. If you fall or stumble, the safety bars at this position will catch the barbell at a high enough position that it doesn't land on you in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a good mental reassurance exercise to set the safety bars at this height and then practice a fake failure with an empty bar at least once. Squat down correctly, then slowly release tension into a bad, round-backed, slack-hip position so that the barbell comes to rest. Maneuver yourself out from under the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T07:31:23.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28914" CreationDate="2016-02-12T18:46:36.780" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started walking 3 miles per day around October of 2015, before 2015 I did swimmimg , biking, treadmill, crosstraining and adding weights to my ankles and all sorts of things to shift weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am still walking 3 miles per day. Since I started I have lost very little in weight and I dont eat much already. I am not a cake, chocolate, crisp (Potato chips), fizzy drinks or junk food addict. I was raised on vegetables, meat, fruit, juice, and occasional biscuits (cookies) for a treat and I honestly mean occasional. I dont drink alcohol except on a rare social event in the family which is truly rare and then I'll only drink to tipsy merry no more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave up smoking 6 years ago this year, yet I have battled with my weight all my bloody life and I'm quite sick of making an effort for no true results. Some times my thyroid doesnt work correctly, doctor says my brain is not calling for the thyroid to work like it should. I also have an iron deficiency, I cant hold on to iron as it doesnt absorb, it leaves my body and so i have to take iron in tablet form and I am now 15st,13 and 3/4 in weight (About 206 lbs), I was 16 st 13. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I have been walking since Oct 2015, my legs still burn badly when walking and I'm breathless when there is an incline in the pavement! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's my issue why cant I shed weight like others I see exercising by walking? Why does it still hurt too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19397" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-02-12T20:22:52.770" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T21:40:02.033" Title="Walking my way to FATness?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28913" CreationDate="2016-02-12T21:40:02.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone might give you a better answer, but I'll point to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24500/7091&quot;&gt;some existing answers that you may want to consider&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, diet has the largest impact on your body fat stores. Unless you have meticulously counted your calories for several days (2 weeks is pretty good), then you really can't say that you're eating properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to count every calorie for the rest of your life, but you do need to do it long enough to understand, calorie-by-calorie, what you're putting into your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T21:40:02.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-13T07:22:27.927" Score="0" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gymmates told me that if I want to build my muscles, I should concentrate on one part of muscles ( eg: biceps) in one day, then move on to the next part of the muscles the other day. Never ever workout on two or more different parts of muscles on the same day because the muscles won't be built up that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find this a compelling argument because if you keep on working out on a part of the muscles, it will experience fatigue and hence the benefit will be diminishing. Won't it be better to train on different part of muscles so that resting time is properly given to the tired muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who's right on this? What is the proper workout routines as far as muscle building is concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1616" LastEditorUserId="1616" LastEditDate="2016-02-15T06:15:51.940" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T06:15:51.940" Title="Is working on the same set of muscles in a day a sound advice for muscle building, what is the scientific reasoning behind it?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-02-16T20:01:19.093" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28918" CreationDate="2016-02-13T09:11:49.353" Score="0" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to work my upper back to help fix my hunched &quot;computer posture&quot; shoulders.  I'm sitting with my legs extended, wrapping the band around my feet, and pulling the handles of the band to my torso.  I did 65 reps yesterday, some with my elbows bending downward, some with them bending out.  Today, I'm not sore!  What gives?  Is there a more efficient exercise for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T06:01:40.787" Title="Using a resistance band to work the upper back -- not working" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28917" CreationDate="2016-02-13T10:01:16.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your statement I understand that you did some sort of rowing motion. Since rowing is a motion where the lats are involved as major muscles, probably the resistence was not big enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your posture fix I would rather recommend band pull aparts:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OdlGz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Picture showing the motion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and rotator cuff exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some clips showing the exercises:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/A-MZOdHH3Nc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/A-MZOdHH3Nc&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;and&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/l2VQ_WZ8Bto&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/l2VQ_WZ8Bto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend working in multiple sets of 15-20 reps, instead of one all-out set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T10:01:16.337" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28917" CreationDate="2016-02-13T10:07:07.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soreness is not an indicator of effectiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bands do not provide the most strenuous resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more efficient exercise to work the upper back would involve pulling and bracing exercises using dumbbells, a barbell, or a pull-up bar, or something that can be jury-rigged into a pull-up bar. For instance, rows, pull-ups, or deadlifts. Proper shoulder retraction and depression during certain yoga poses (e.g. down dog, or its more vigorous relative, the Hindu push-up) could assist as well, but I find best return on time/effort investment from heavier exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-02-15T06:01:40.787" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T06:01:40.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-13T11:33:50.953" Score="8" ViewCount="16650" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should I do when my biceps becomes stiff? When I perform curls by using a rod, I am able to curl my biceps, but later on, when I move to dumbbell curls, even the lightest weight — say 15 pounds — becomes so difficult that I cannot even curl it. Initially, when I started doing workouts, there were no problems, but after about 5 months this problem developed. It has been a year since I started working out, but I really haven't found any solutions so please do help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19404" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-13T14:49:00.613" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T10:51:44.593" Title="My biceps becomes stiff after one workout. How do I fix this?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28921" CreationDate="2016-02-13T11:41:35.270" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_fatigue&quot;&gt;muscle fatigue&lt;/a&gt; and is &lt;strong&gt;absolutely normal and expected&lt;/strong&gt;. This happens to every single person who works out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles aren't going to be able to curl forever during a workout session. You're breaking down muscle fibers with each repetition. This means the muscle will be temporarily weaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting and eating repairs muscle fibers, and make your muscles stronger than they were before you trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going forward, try changing which type of curl you do first. For instance, next time, do dumbell curls first, and then the &quot;rod&quot; (by which I assume you mean an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.no/search?q=ez%20bar&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjcgf-I1PTKAhWPa5oKHZDsDKoQsAQIMw&amp;amp;biw=1858&amp;amp;bih=995&quot;&gt;EZ-bar&lt;/a&gt;) afterwards. It's good to have variety in the way you challenge your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-02-13T14:05:04.847" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T14:05:04.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18308" CreationDate="2016-02-13T16:17:55.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What really helped me understand proper back arch without overextension was &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TIP8eNJmMg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Kelly Starrett / Mobility Workout of the Day video&lt;/a&gt;. The key idea is just this: squeeze your glutes (your butt). That's the big trick. Arch your back, tighten the abs and the spinal erectors and retract the shoulderblades, but squeeze your butt. This mostly prevents an over-arching lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T16:17:55.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28921" CreationDate="2016-02-13T17:19:18.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be that by 'stiff' you mean getting a pump. If you have a bicep pump it will be hard to contract your muscle normally because it is 'pumped up'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that it is the pump, most people actually strive to get their muscles pumped up, mostly for ego reasons mind you, because it feels good and they look bigger. It doesn't actually help you get any stronger/bigger faster according to science (although most trainee's will argue this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19406" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-02-14T10:51:44.593" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T10:51:44.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28921" CreationDate="2016-02-13T19:27:16.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Hypothesis&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be encountering some &lt;a href=&quot;http://optimumsportsperformance.com/blog/hypertonic-vs-tight-muscles/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypertonicity&lt;/a&gt; in your muscle.  There can be quite a few reasons for this happening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salt imbalance can create an environment where the muscle is unable to balance itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertonicity is part of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/pain-spasm-pain+cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pain-spasm-pain cycle&lt;/a&gt;, which can create hypertonic movement patterns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A trigger point, which can occur in the muscle and stop it from contracting fully.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible Solution&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertoncity can often be hard to solve by yourself.  The body and mind have a natural tendency to follow the same pathways when doing an action.  Massage therapy can help quite a bit in this area.  If The bicep is not painful to the touch, the area can be worked on with a combination of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;direct manipulation and positional release or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By using a technique know as post-isometric relaxation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the muscle itself is painful it might be beneficial to use either&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reciprocial Inhibition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or Trigger Point Therapy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19410" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T19:27:16.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-13T19:58:21.113" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need your advice. I'm a thin guy who spends most of his time sitting (SW developer). I'm between thin and fit, and I want to get this &lt;a href=&quot;http://91ef69bade70f992a001-b6054e05bb416c4c4b6f3b0ef3e0f71d.r93.cf3.rackcdn.com/healthy-fit-young-man-in-underwear-100305431.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fit&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, abs and chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 26&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 1.79m (5' 10.5'')&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 60kg (133lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strong legs, weak arms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last summer &lt;strong&gt;I tried&lt;/strong&gt; calisthenics by myself, following &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G4PrF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; training, 2 times a week + running 6.5km in 45 minutes. I did it during 7 months with several interruptions. &lt;strong&gt;I lost&lt;/strong&gt; 2kg and achieved my lowest weight ever and my fittest view ever, photo &lt;a href=&quot;https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9xCpEIVtdJgTngtTDd3VE9JTTA/view?usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. However, for me 59,5kg is borderline &quot;below ideal weight&quot; according to BMI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I eat 5 times a day (breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner) and drink less than &amp;lt;200ml of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No red meat, usually white meat (4 times a week), sometimes fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always vegetables (broccoli once per week), always carbs (rice &gt; pasta &gt; bread &gt; potatoes), almost no sugar, low fats (cheese, milk, yogurt)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I'm &lt;strong&gt;not being effective&lt;/strong&gt; with my training. I can feel my abs below my belly fat, &lt;em&gt;but I can't lose any more fat!&lt;/em&gt; This spring I want to start it again, but with your guidance. I can train 4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which exercises do you recommend for my goal (chest, abs)?&lt;/strong&gt; It's hard to train chest with shaky arms (&amp;lt;20 push-ups straight). &lt;strong&gt;Any changes on my diet?&lt;/strong&gt; It looks wrong to eat chicken and broccoli every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: I don't want to get bigger, I just want to look fitter (dry body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19408" LastEditorUserId="19408" LastEditDate="2016-02-14T10:03:21.463" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T10:03:21.463" Title="Chest/Abs training for a thin young man (4 times for 6 months)" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-02-16T15:03:53.397" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="115" CreationDate="2016-02-13T20:36:51.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Experience suggests that firstly assess own condition, not just weight but all medical factors that, like a car engine, can gauge capacity. Then at a level apt for your physical state start running small distances on grassy hills for say 400m to one mile. Record how you feel and time taken. Initially every 3rd day will give your body time to adjust / recover as the most important thing for you now is to start a regime that is sustainable. Pointless gunning it early and getting tired/injured and give up. Think a year to graduate from 400m to 3 miles or further running around a park. Incorporate other easy body exercise with light weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are competitive so try to make sure the first 25% of the run is a canter, do not get carried away with the hype at the start, else you will suffer dearly for half the race,run, event and aim to find a steady state, ie revs where you are very comfortable at a certain pace and never up the pace....have the same revs for the duration. If you run up a hill do not try harder, but keep same revs and slow down with smaller steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By keeping a diary after a year you will have a very good overview of where you are at different levels of fitness and know your body and how much it can handle without tendons et al getting sore/strained. A fit fat person is healthier than a sedentary fat person. The body was created to adjust to the demands we put on it so work with the body and not crunch impatiently through the gears for ego sake. The principal aim is to be active for ever more, even into your 80's....a way of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can assist this with impromptu exercise by walking to the shops, cafe, work social sporting venues etc in addition to fitness sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A way of life and do not be affected by small weight variations, as in society, it is what you are and what you do above what you look like or a measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 96k and 6ft and 68 and run 5k weekly at &quot;Park Run&quot;. Look up this world wide organisation jogging events held in most areas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By running at 25% of my inate ability I am always comfortable in the run and never ever sprint...why bother to save a second if that sudden burst damages something. I often have minor niggles and recover within a day and train 2 or 3 times a week at honest plod pace where I am huffing and puffing for 10 to 20 and build up to 30 minutes around a hilly park. I know my engine can run xyz for 5k but my wheels will fall off if I tried, my young race days are over, it is now a more asthetic exercise in a challenge to keep sound such a burdened Lancaster Bomber going to get back across the channel each time I run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and listen to your body....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19411" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T20:36:51.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T01:59:01.700" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been thinking about getting a kickscooter (an adult one) and scootering from and to work for fitness and transportation. I need to go maybe 4-5km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just wondering, because you need to push with your leg, do the scooters wear out your shoes? Would they be suitable to wear work shoes with them? What are the best shoes for scootering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19414" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T01:59:01.700" Title="Would riding kick scooter wear out your shoes?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-02-15T13:42:32.113" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T02:39:11.890" Score="0" ViewCount="3193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I lift weights even in a circuit training format ( fast paced lower weights and high volume) I get extremely fatigued over the next two days, almost dizzy like and I am not myself. This happens only with weight lifting not cardio exercise.&#xA;I do run a few times(half hour run at around 7.5-8 mph) a week and my body recovers well from it. What can possibly be causing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T17:33:22.420" Title="Fatigue and brain fog after weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-02-18T17:09:08.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28921" CreationDate="2016-02-14T09:49:14.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you do your barbell curls first, and assuming that you are doing sets of 5-15 reps at somewhere between 50% and 75% of your max, how much time do you rest between sets, between the end of one set and the beginning of the next?  You should be giving yourself at least 45 seconds to 120 seconds between sets.  Also, you may be driving to failure, muscle failure, every set.  This is doing as many reps as you can , every set , until you cannot lift the weight, and this should only be done during a high intensity phase of your routine, maybe for a couple weeks at most, then only three times per year.  Other wise you over train and don't give your muscles, cartilage and tendons time to heal before you're tearing them down again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really trying to crunch when performing the dumbbell curl at the end of the movement anywhere beyond 130 degrees from the fully extended position of the arm to a positon pf the arm that is as bent as you can bend it, I agree that the pump you get will hinder flexibility in folding your joints.  If you just can't lift the weight, can you lift your arm without the weight? If so you are experiencing muscle fatigue most likely, but definitely consult your physician if the condition persists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do my heavier, more difficult exercise first, then move to the lighter, more focused exercises, but frequent switching up of the order of your routine is basically mandatory at least a few times a year, this can get you strength in normaly ignored ranges of movement, by pushing harder at a different position or range of the exercise, and by providing completely new exercises and ranges of movement,and it can get you over humps and stimulate even more strength and speed for a number of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you are getting sore, and by sore I mean the mild burn of the lactic acid eating slightly frayed muscles, not the sharp sting of a torn muscle or a torn ligament or tendon, each time you work out, then tearing your muscles down exactly how you are supposed to if you want to keep increasing strength and endurance, which is good because you have to introduce enough resistance to tear them before they will respond by rebuilding themselves stronger, and 1 to 6 days soreness is normal.  1-3 days for smaller muscles(biceps, triceps, delts), 2-6 days for large muscles(glutes, hamstrings, quads).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got most of my information from my own experience acquired from 25 years of power-lifting for strength and speed for sports, namely track &amp;amp; field, football and basketball, Muscle and Fitness Magazine and from Dr. Fred Hatfield's textbook for certification under INTERNATIONAL SPORTS SCIENCES OF AMERICA(ISSA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19421" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T09:49:14.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13054" CreationDate="2016-02-14T10:08:29.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is normal&lt;/strong&gt; It is muscle probably a combination of fatigue/nervous_system overload/glycogen(blood sugar and electrolyte)_depletion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had this all my life after very intense workout, or after games of basketball or football, or even after running or hiking very far or fast .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I rehydrate with gatorade , and i sleep, and i wait 4-6 hours, all twitching goes away.  Very rarely will continue for up to 12-24 hours but this is a random twitching of one muscle, not random muscles twitching randomly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19421" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T10:08:29.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28940" CreationDate="2016-02-14T15:54:16.017" Score="1" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have normal arms; not too much fat, normal face, normal legs e.t.c but my belly is fat. I have alot of fat in my belly and I want to specifically lose that to make my body look good. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a body like the person on the right:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://thumb1.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/140101/175972274/stock-vector-vector-silhouette-of-men-on-a-white-background-175972274.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;#39;image&amp;#39;&quot;&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I forgot to mention that i'ma computer programmer so i'm always sitting in front of the computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19424" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.760" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T00:52:35.913" Title="I have a normal body but fat belly. How to get rid of it?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-15T02:04:36.537" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28930" CreationDate="2016-02-14T17:49:56.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go to a doctor. This could be blood pressure or it could be something more sinister. It's best to check this with a medical professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T17:49:56.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28934" CreationDate="2016-02-14T18:00:47.470" Score="-3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never take rice at Night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid eating, just before you got to bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do some early morning exercise that brings out sweat, It makes you feel good for the whole day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid taking junk food at any time till you reduce your belly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19422" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T18:00:47.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28916" CreationDate="2016-02-14T18:05:27.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a general question but you could try 'starting strength' or '5x5 stronglifts' for overall training plans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're describing sounds like bodybuilding split training, which does involve training different groups of muscles on different days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are working out you're breaking down the muscle through micro tears and only through rest will it 'build'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only training biceps on a day sounds like broscience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T18:05:27.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28934" CreationDate="2016-02-14T18:26:32.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Visceral fat is the worst place to have it health wise. You should not only watch what you eat and drink, but how much. There are many places to get good advice in food and drink intake. &#xA;Exercise is not just a good thing, but absolutely nessesary for continued good health, trouble is it's tough and time consuming, but that should not put you off. As a general rule remember fat is generated at the dining table, exercise is for strength and fitness and alone can't shift that blubber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19426" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T18:26:32.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2016-02-14T21:09:53.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently was 200 lbs and went down to 160 lbs in about 6 months entirely by small and easy changes in my diet. Essentially, I decided 2 things: 1.) to be strict for lunches (no high sugar, carb or fat content), for example, white chicken breast with lemon zest, sauteed vegetables and a glass of water.2.) To stop munching around after supper. Other than that, I eat regularly and normally and have not stopped eating anything that I used to eat before. When in a restaurant, I still order the ribs if I want to. I actually found it very easy to lose the weight and I wasn't even aiming to lose that much. The trick is to not be too strict with yourself, you can cheat from time to time as long as you stick to your plan the bulk of the time. I also found out the effort of eating well is not really an effort because I quickly came to enjoy eating vegetables more than junk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also started jogging after I lost the weight. I do 10 km 3 times a week and I can tell you that the exercice has had no effect whatsoever on my weight. Whatever you spend exercicing your body will intake in surplus (sometimes unconsciously) in order to be able to go through your workouts. So my advice is If you want to exercice, do it to keep in shape, not to lose weight. If you really want to lose weight, change your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19428" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T21:09:53.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28934" CreationDate="2016-02-14T21:45:56.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise is the answer, as well as a change of diet - everybody stores fat differently, in different places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important thought to bear in mind is that you don't get rid of fat in certain areas by targeting that region - ie, crunches will not shift that stomach fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of burning the fat, cardio is a good route to go, or weightlifting, or a mix of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T21:45:56.170" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28916" CreationDate="2016-02-15T05:55:18.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It completely depends upon your frequency and intensity if workout, it depends on your goals too, a muscle takes 48 hours to recover after workout, so you should just see to it that there is a window of 48hours between your workout for same muscle &#xA;You can follow 1 day 1 muscle or&#xA;A n B on first day &#xA;C n D on second day &#xA;E on third day or rest if you need, &#xA;Again A n B on fourth day and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16111" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T05:55:18.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28945" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-15T07:22:16.997" Score="0" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a skinny person with 179cm height and 64KG (141 Pound) however I've a lot fat around my belly and this often prevents me wearing T-shirts. The belly fat gives a very weird shape to my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get rid of this belly fat I started Running and 1000 (2 sets)Jumping Rope (skipping) along with gym, but at the end of 2 months I end up loosing 4KG (68 to 64) but even though there was no visible change in my belly fat which made me appear even bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder what is the best way to reduce belly fat for me without loosing much of the other fat and at the same time increase muscles mass? Will crunches do a trick or I should cardio exercise and first loose all fat and then start gaining the muscles mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12265" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T15:07:17.817" Title="How to get rid of belly fat for a Skinny-Fat person" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-15T15:35:11.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2691" CreationDate="2016-02-15T10:16:32.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;USDA's &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/pdfs/scientific-report-of-the-2015-dietary-guidelines-advisory-committee.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee&lt;/a&gt; states (page 17):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Previously, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans&#xA;  recommended that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300&#xA;  mg/day. The 2015 DGAC will not bring forward this recommendation&#xA;  because available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between&#xA;  consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol, consistent&#xA;  with the conclusions of the AHA/ACC report. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cholesterol is not a&#xA;  nutrient of concern for overconsumption.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(my emphasis)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, just above that is a section on saturated fat the conclusion of which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Saturated fat is still a nutrient of concern for overconsumption,&#xA;  particularly for those older than the age of 50 years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would seem that the cholesterol in eggs shouldn't concern you, but perhaps the saturated fat should. Then again, apparently they got it wrong for the last 30+ years, so who's to say if this is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18078" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T10:16:32.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28902" CreationDate="2016-02-15T12:43:41.563" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to avoid eccentric contraction, which mostly cause muscle soreness, for the first couple of days of exercise, do concentric and get help for eccentric part. It will help a lot :-) Enjoy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T12:43:41.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28945" CreationDate="2016-02-15T15:07:17.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can find many writings about losing belly fat in a week but in reality body start to shrink fat cell size (lose fat) depending where it gained first. Since you didn't gain all the weight in a week it will take some time to lose it. That is why, first be patient and stick with your diet and exercise regularly. Do not google it, consult your physician and dietitian and follow their recommendations. To do list is somewhat long but as the time passes it will turn into your life style. At least give yourself 6 months to see the changes. Be patient and you will get rid off you belly fat for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T15:07:17.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2691" CreationDate="2016-02-15T15:15:45.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would also be a good link &lt;a href=&quot;http://cvdrisk.nhlbi.nih.gov/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Risk Assessment Tool for Estimating Your 10-year Risk of Having a Heart Attack&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Also consider vLDL&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total cholesterol - Total cholesterol is the sum of all the cholesterol in your blood. The higher your total cholesterol, the greater your risk for heart disease. Here are the total values that matter to you: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less than 200 mg/dL 'Desirable' level that puts you at lower risk for heart disease. A cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or greater increases your risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;200 to 239 mg/dL 'Borderline-high.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;240 mg/dL and above 'High' blood cholesterol. A person with this level has more than twice the risk of heart disease compared to someone whose cholesterol is below 200 mg/dL.&#xA;top &#xA;HDL cholesterol - High density lipoproteins (HDL) is the 'good' cholesterol. HDL carry cholesterol in the blood from other parts of the body back to the liver, which leads to its removal from the body. So HDL help keep cholesterol from building up in the walls of the arteries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the HDL-Cholesterol Levels that matter to you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less than 40 mg/dL A major risk factor for heart disease &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;40 to 59 mg/dL The higher your HDL, the better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;60 mg/dL and above An HDL of 60 mg/dL and above is considered protective against heart disease.&#xA;top &#xA;Smoker - Select “yes” if you have smoked any cigarettes in the past month.&#xA;top &#xA;Systolic blood pressure - Systolic blood pressure is the first number of your blood pressure reading. For example, if your reading is 120/80 (120 over 80), your systolic blood pressure is 120.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="19346" LastEditDate="2016-02-17T10:25:21.863" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T10:25:21.863" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13892" CreationDate="2016-02-15T15:23:21.013" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This most commonly is due to flushing of skin and this is a form of hypersensitivity or allergic reaction due to exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical activity can cause allergic symptoms in some people. The symptoms are hives or spots (large or small), itching of the skin, flushing (redness) of the skin and this can occur anywhere on the body other than the chest area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most symptoms can be controlled by taking medications your physician prescribes and by slowing down or stopping your exercise as soon as symptoms start. You should always exercise with a partner who knows about your condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some people, eating certain foods before exercise may make allergic symptoms more likely to occur. Keep track of what you eat before exercising for few weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try some antihistamine or epinephrine shots. Discuss with a physician who will follow up on your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ref: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Exercise--Fitness/small-red-like-blood-spots-in-skin-after-exercise/show/8428&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;small red like blood spots in skin after exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T15:23:21.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-16T05:33:54.717" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that eating after weight loss workout will reduce the effect of losing weight. I heard I should wait for at least 2-3 hours before eating anything or body won't consume fat or something like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyway this could be true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19059" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T16:33:41.250" Title="Is it really wrong to eat immediately after a weight loss workout?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28954" CreationDate="2016-02-16T06:57:46.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You save energy in form of glycogen, because it's the fastest way of storing and using energy. When you workout u lose a lot of this energy and you start taking energy from other resources like fat. That only happens if you already lost your fast way of getting energy. When your glycogen is restored with a big meal after training you stop using fat for energy but start to use the new and easy carbohydrates. Please don't take this as an advise to not eat after your workout. I think it's really important to eat after your workout because your body needs minerals and proteins. If you want to lose weight just eat well and you won't have any problem with eating after training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19444" LastEditorUserId="19444" LastEditDate="2016-02-16T07:09:40.673" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T07:09:40.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11896" CreationDate="2016-02-16T07:20:25.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try to change our feet position, and see if that changes the situation.&#xA;I found that if I slightly turn my heels a little outward and don´t spread my legs to wide, I have less strain in the hip region but enough stability to get a nice leg drive during the lift. Also, you have to really avoid raising your hips off the bench ... during the push movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T07:20:25.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-16T11:07:57.603" Score="0" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Background&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past 3-4 months, I seem to have gradually caused myself an anterior pelvic tilt, and it's gradually causing stiffness and pain in my lower back. I wish to analyze possible causes and receive some tips on how to actively counteract it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Workout routines&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I follow a very basic 3-split (push, pull, legs) doing the compound exercises you'd expect;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench press, incline bench press, pullups, barbell rows, cable rows, squats, deadlifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I of course supplement this with some isolation exercises. But in order to keep this question clean, I'll skip listing it unless any of you find it necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;My hypothesis&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At my gym, every monday, wednesday and friday, one of the trainers who works there has a little 7 minute session where we do some ab-work, no pause. We do a variety of exercises such as various planks and crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm well aware of the drawbacks to crunches/situps, and I make sure to take proper precautions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here's my theory: During these sessions, we often do &quot;ab exercises&quot; like knee raises, and static leg-raised holds. And I'm one of those people who don't get ANY ab-work done during this. It's all hip-flexors for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It seems to me that these exercises are causing my hip-flexors to stiffen up, and give me the anterior pelvic tilt.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Question&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could this be the reason for my anterior pelvic tilt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the time being, I plan on skipping these ab sessions, and rely on my own ab work (deadlifts), while catching up on stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this seem like the right plan? Any suggestions for more/other measures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-02-20T18:28:55.870" Title="Determining cause of, and counteracting, anterior pelvic tilt" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-16T12:53:58.310" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am asking this question on behalf of my friend. He says he has been regularly going to gym and doing workouts for 3 months for 1 and half hours daily, which consist of push-ups, leg-raises, dumbbell lifting, deadlifting, etc, which has shaped his body and also helped him to gain 4kg of weight which surely reflects in his physical structure. But somehow his tummy is protruding as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He regularly consumes Optimum Nutrition (ON) Serious Mass  due to his lean slim body structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know if these section is the right place to ask. If not then let me know, and I can delete it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19449" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-16T17:27:24.937" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T23:10:33.117" Title="Why is my weight-gain supplement causing unexpected abdomen growth?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28954" CreationDate="2016-02-16T15:59:45.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good Morning Sir,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you've heard has some true reasoning on it, but you can eat if you're starving because if not, you'll also hit your brain's performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should really care about is the energy deficit:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Our body just consistently consums fat to produce energy &amp;amp; therefore make our body work in a good way.&#xA;You should just pull apart any FAT rich meals &amp;amp; high energy plates so that our body will be forced to take that energy from your already stored FAT (the one you wanna get rid of).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the whole idea. Just set meals that are based on this simple trick and everything will go according to your plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a good day and a great workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19219" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T15:59:45.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28930" CreationDate="2016-02-16T16:20:48.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really checked your blood pressure and you're sure that your vitals are excellent, then check these 4 probable factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Diet:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Check if you're eating enough food, and by food I mean REAL food:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to eat at least 5 servings of veggies &amp;amp; fruits a day.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consume food that will give you enough energy to face your workout routine like granola, milk, quinoa ..(also Whey if you're into that kind of stuff too) &lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid soda, fast foods and high sugar snacks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Sleep:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should really get at least 7 hours of good sleep every night.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Favor nocturnal sleep between sunset and sunrise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Anxiety:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look out for stress symptoms that you might face at home, school or work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This can have a huge effect on your mind and body strength, and should be reduced.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can try relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, yoga or martial arts lessons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Overtraining:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This normally happens if you're still a beginner and don't give your muscles enough time to restore the damage cells and completely recover.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid going hard and intense in every session, normally one day a week is more than enough to challenge your body and mind. You can go easy and focus on good form and enjoying your workout in the other days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, fitness or bodybuilding is consistency, it's a whole life program where the tiny things can matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help you get pass that fog and dizziness and that you will soon be able to go back to your workout normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good day to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19219" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-16T17:33:22.420" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T17:33:22.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28954" CreationDate="2016-02-16T16:33:41.250" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two quick things. First off, there is a danger in eating after your workout in that your body will be demanding caloric intake and humans are bad at estimating just how much energy they burned. Go ahead and eat, but be aware of and log your calories to prevent yourself from taking in calories in excess of what you burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, if you're doing any sort of weight-training, the current recommendation seems to be to eat some protein right afterwards. It will be used pretty rapidly to build the muscles back up plus protein is relatively filling for its calories, so you're less likely to overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T16:33:41.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28961" CreationDate="2016-02-16T17:30:26.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is he experiencing more muscle there?  More fat? Is it just not going away as fast as he'd like? My gut reaction, no pun intended, is that he's taking in more calories than he's burning, which is resulting in weight gain. As to why it's the abdomen, well, you can't target fat-loss or gain. He should probably start charting out his calories consumed to make sure that his bulking powder isn't providing too many calories in addition what he's already eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's muscle, he may want to cut back on exercises that focus on his stomach and abdomen in favor of exercising the rest of the body in hopes of at least hiding what he has in favor of other muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T17:30:26.940" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28973" CreationDate="2016-02-16T17:40:30.230" Score="1" ViewCount="1615" Body="&lt;p&gt;I overdid my Single-leg Romanian Deadlifts this weekend. I was in a hurry and wasn't performing the exercise with proper control, which has led to me overstretching them a bit. I'm back to the point where I can walk without limping, but they do still hurt some. Is it safe to do running and my upper-body workout (push-ups, tricep dips, let-me-ins, and let-me-ups) for now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T03:03:17.757" Title="Should I continue other exercises while dealing with sore hamstrings?" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28966" CreationDate="2016-02-16T18:50:46.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it safe to do my upper-body workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. The most that your hamstrings will be doing during these will be acting as a stabilizer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it safe to do running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe. Start off slow, and make sure to warm up thoroughly (maybe more than usual) to avoid stretching your hamstrings while cold. While working up to a running pace, pay attention to how you feel. If they hurt (more than just being sore) you're better off stopping or slowing down to a pace that doesn't make them hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, you may also benefit from some active recovery directed at your hamstrings to get more blood flow to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T18:50:46.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28960" CreationDate="2016-02-16T19:15:29.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, deadlifts don't count as ab work. Sure they may involve your abs, but they also involve various other muscle groups. You don't do just deadlifts if you want bigger lats for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two common causes for anterior pelvic tilt (that I've seen personally) are either week abs compared to a stronger lower back or weak glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest re-including leg raises, but making sure to raise your legs high enough to move them beyond the range of motion that your hip flexors are capable of (to guarantee ab involvement). RKC planks (planks where you squeeze your abs as hard as possible) are another great exercise for ab strength. I'm also a personal fan of L-sits for as long as possible or in sets of about a minute each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glute strengthening is a little easier to tackle, as there is more variety and easier to integrate into your current program. Paused ATG squats, or stiff-legged deadlifts or RDL (or even sumo deadlifts), or glute bridges / hip thrusts are all great compound movements that involve the glutes to a large degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's often easier to simply start working on your possible weaknesses and reevaluating after a couple weeks or so than trying to guess which one is your weak link and only focusing on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T19:15:29.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28966" CreationDate="2016-02-16T21:42:25.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend &lt;strong&gt;doing&lt;/strong&gt; something, to second Alex here, for active recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid running and do some skip rope instead and after you properly warmed up, you can do your other exercise. The body is a unit and you will be using your hamstrings with the other exercises anyway indirectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be really sure that it is really soreness that you feel, if you somehow injured the muscle itself - it would feel different, I would not do something until the pain is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a personal preference, on days where I was overdoing it, I used ice-massage after the training.&#xA;Simply put a water cup  (small paper cones) fill it with water and let it freeze. Use some Oil on your skin before you massage the body part until the ice melted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people recommend stretching, but I personally have never felt any benefit out of it rather feeling worse afterwards. .. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T21:42:25.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28961" CreationDate="2016-02-16T23:10:33.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;men can expect to gain up to about half a pound of muscle per week&lt;/a&gt;, which is about .25 kg per week. This means one can expect about 6 pounds (or just under 3 kg) of muscle gained in three months. &lt;em&gt;Under optimal circumstances&lt;/em&gt;.  Most people don't train, eat, or recover optimally, which means 6 pounds may be slightly over optimistic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means the excess weight gained is due to water, bodily waste products, and increased fat mass. All of those can contribute to a larger looking midsection. The fact that your friend is using a mass gainer means he's consuming a large amount of carbs which also tend to cause water retention. I suspect a good portion of their 4 kg weight gain is at least water weight and increased fat with a minority of it being muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T23:10:33.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28966" CreationDate="2016-02-17T03:03:17.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bummer about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)&lt;/a&gt; in your hamstrings: it's one of the more annoying places to get it and makes it tough to do pretty much everything. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBGoodMorning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbell good mornings&lt;/a&gt; pretty much guarantee me DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you're fine, but start with a walk, then get to a warmup, and see what's comfortable. Usually once the blood is flowing it doesn't really hurt that much (technical: the pain is attenuated), although it will come back pretty much as soon as you stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had DOMS bad enough that I couldn't run, and other times where it was okay. It's really variable. The good news is that every few hours the pain should be a bit less after it peaks, so your luck is going up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Body Lifts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't think this is a problem at all, and honestly it's a pretty normal way to keep lifting despite injury (sprains, strains, and in your case, a nasty case of DOMS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often hear people say that it's completely safe to exercise with DOMS, and while that may be technically true I think it's a little narrow. In my own experience, the problem comes from the pain causing you to use bad form. With your hamstrings, as an example, during a squat you might shift your weight to your toes and round your back, in order to keep the pull off of your hamstrings. It's not conscious by any means, but rather a natural result of your body trying to keep you from using something that is in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T03:03:17.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28976" CreationDate="2016-02-17T09:46:03.393" Score="3" ViewCount="1873" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I know Yoga can give us many benefits in many ways to our body. I am a skinny guy and I think yoga will also help me to gain muscles. But is there any regular Yoga routine for Skinny Guy Rules to Gaining Muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19457" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T15:23:07.590" Title="Any Yoga routine for Skinny Guys to Gain Muscles?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28975" CreationDate="2016-02-17T10:15:02.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can help only of you can do &lt;a href=&quot;http://cdn-maf2.heartyhosting.com/sites/muscleandfitness.com/files/Yoga.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This kinds of exercices&lt;/a&gt; &#xA; and that's not even true Yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to be honest with you, if you think that you're really skinny and you're not hitting bodybuilding at the same time, yoga won't give you the result you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga helps you add strength to the small muscles and parts of your body that are normally neglected by other sports. It also helps with flexibility and stress fighting, but flexibility and strength are DEFINITELY NOT mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to go to a gym near you, try to focus on compound exercies&#xA;instead of isolation ones.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Favor good form over heavy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unable (for one of the reasons) to go to a gym, then you may look over on youtube for some body weight exercices that can be performed at home for mass building, it normally favors push-ups, squats, burpees and pull-ups (a bar may be necessary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I almost forgot, focus also on your DIET, which is a HUGE factor in bulking and adding mass to your body. Try to do a search on food and diets that can suit your reach and of course your pocket ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps you, have a good day and good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19219" LastEditorUserId="19219" LastEditDate="2016-02-17T19:21:49.953" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T19:21:49.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5256" CreationDate="2016-02-17T10:35:20.257" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you exercise with a full stomach you will have some digestion problems and it will bother you both during exercise and afterwards. Since most of the blood will be directed to your active muscle during exercise, you won't get enough blood circulation to digest the food that means the digestion will not be the primary concern. That is why, eat light meal 2 hours before the exercise than you can have a big meal! after your workout depending on what kind of exercise you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="19346" LastEditDate="2016-02-17T14:05:50.357" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T14:05:50.357" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-17T11:49:13.183" Score="1" ViewCount="549" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I front squat I tend to attempt to perform the same moment as the back squat, but with anterior loading. The only difference I have made from my back squat is I 'break' at the hips, rather than the knees - when I say this, I mean I try and initiate a break at the hips first, not isolate it. I try to do both simultaneously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also try to 'push my knees out', as I always was taught to do with a back squat. The cue I had been using (which I think I picked up from a Chris Duffin video was to 'screw my heels into the floor. I have transferred this to front squats. For clarity I have not front squatted extensively, it is a new movement for me. &#xA;I had read you should treat anterior\posterior squatting moments the same (as far as the squatting movement is concerned).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I am doing is giving me minor knee pain, it feels as if it is on the inside of my knee. Am I right to be pushing my knees out? I tried not focusing on this and I think it felt better (but this was at the end of a session so I don't have much data). This morning I have read a couple of articles that suggest 'knees not in' makes more sense than 'knees out'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible I am exaggerating 'knees out' and this causing me issues, but that it is more noticeable because of where I am loading with a front squat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19458" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-15T17:45:31.507" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T19:23:09.330" Title="'Knees out' cue with front squat - could this be a source of minor knee pain?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28978" CreationDate="2016-02-17T12:37:49.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I front squat i tend to attempt to perform the same moment as the back squat, but with anterior loading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not how I front squat. Though quite related and quite similar, they are distinct movements. For instance, the back position and hip angle are extremely different, and they sometimes do best with different foot placement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;knees out&quot; cue may indeed be the source of your pain, especially if you have been exaggerating that aspect of the movement. Though the cue is not necessarily wrong, it's not a goal in itself. The goals of the cue are to prevent the knees from collapsing inwards, to brace the knee musculature, to allow an upright back angle, and to allow the glutes to push the hips forward. I can certainly see tight glutes causing knee pain (or rounded lower back position, or forward lean...) with a &quot;knees out&quot; cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd focus on front squatting correctly according to the terms of front squatting, rather than trying to back squat while in a front squat position. I'd also experiment with different front squat stances and patterns while using an empty bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-10-15T19:23:09.330" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T19:23:09.330" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-17T14:25:33.673" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am student trying to improve my overall health and fitness level. I do also want to lose weight. I am very busy between work, school, and other obligations so I do not exercise at all. However, recently began to incorporate walking for and hour in my daily routine. My biggest issue is my terribly limited diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a diagnosis of gastroparesis and IBS so I really tolerate starchy carbs better than fats and proteins. I also have issues digesting food like dairy, wheat, fibrous food/vegetables/fruits, etc. Most of my current diet consists of gf farina, gf bread, bananas, potatoes, soy products (soy milk, tofu). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**My main concern is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the amount of carbs:protein:fats ratio making it difficult for me to lose &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;weight or is it the calories in our diet that ultimately matter? (I don't track &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;either one). I appreciate all and any advice! Thank you.**&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19461" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T14:40:47.640" Title="Calories vs Carbs" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-29T15:36:51.650" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28980" CreationDate="2016-02-17T14:40:47.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physics dictates that if the energy you take in is less than your 'energy out', you will lose weight. You can lose weight eating 100% french fries, as long as your energy expenditure is greater than the calories you consume. All foods have a 'thermic effect', including carbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This said, it is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; important to eat a balanced diet, this means a diet with the right amount of micronutrients and macronutrients for your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have heard of If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM), these days it's a bit misguided and there is a lot of misinformation associated with it, but basically if you track calories and macronutrients for your goals and eat at a modest calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight. &#xA;Introducing more walking into your daily routine is a GREAT start too and well done, simple energy system work (like walking) with a modest calorie deficit and healthy food selection (of foods you can tolerate) is an ideal start to a weight loss journey. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19458" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T14:40:47.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28982" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-17T05:20:48.237" Score="0" ViewCount="651" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also the answer can't be get fatter because especially in teens the hands tend to not want to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the best exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19475" OwnerDisplayName="Friendly Person 44" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-06-26T12:50:48.477" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T12:50:48.477" Title="What are the best exercises for very skinny hands (not arms) that need muscle and fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28985" CreationDate="2016-02-17T17:26:50.767" Score="0" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always wanted to incorporate daily jogs to my schedule, but at first I would get tired very quickly, out of breath, and I could feel my ankles aching so I assumed it was due to the over weight. Then when I finally committed to working out and eating right back in 2014 I did a lot of lifting but oriented towards resistance(more reps than weight) and also every Wednesday was HIIT followed by a tabata session day(which was quite the cardio workout). During that time I still tried to incorporate the jogging but 10 min is as long as I could jog without stopping. Even at my lowest weight 218 lbs(from 250 ish) and I didn't understand why if I was able to workout for even 2 hours with me ending up drenched in sweat. I thought that with my routine I would boost up my overall resistance, but running has never been my thing, I can't do it for long like I would want to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I'm 221lbs and I'm still considering incorporating jogging but I can already taste the failure. Does lifting(not heavy, just enough for me to do some effort, more focused into reps and short 30 sec breaks between sets) not help with developing a good/healthy lung capacity for jogging? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="17969" LastEditDate="2016-02-17T18:48:55.370" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T20:59:14.440" Title="Lung capacity for jogging much weaker than for lifting" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28984" CreationDate="2016-02-17T19:37:32.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight (resistance) training is considered &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anaerobic&lt;/a&gt; because it is typically performed in &lt;strong&gt;short&lt;/strong&gt; high intensity bouts of exercise.  As such, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1035&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anaerobic exercise relies on energy sources that are stored in the muscles and, unlike aerobic exercise, is not dependent on oxygen from (breathing) the air.&lt;/a&gt;    In order for you to improve your jogging ability, you would need to improve your &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/aerobic+capacity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aerobic capacity&lt;/a&gt;.  In your case, that would mean continuing to jog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you continue both activities as they will provide commentary benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T19:37:32.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28987" CreationDate="2016-02-17T20:42:59.527" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have exactly 2lbs of muscle on my bicep and I do a weight lifting exercise that involves only the bicep, is there a limit of how much weight I can lift for 1 rep if the muscle mass remains exactly the same between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, is it possible to recruit all the motor units (or all the muscle) for a given muscle mass? If so, I would need more muscle to lift heavier, if not, I should still be able to lift heavier with the same 2 lbs of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19214" LastEditorUserId="19214" LastEditDate="2016-02-18T00:22:41.793" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T07:17:03.440" Title="Is it possible to recruit all the motor units available?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28986" CreationDate="2016-02-18T01:38:00.853" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is sort of a complicated question from a physiological point of view. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle is made of myocytes (muscle cells), which are made of a few things of interest in relation to your question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's look at a diagram:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fnewc.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fnewc.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The myofibril (called out above) are the packs of fibers in the muscle, which are responsible for contraction of the tissue.  They're composed of many sarcomeres linked together.  Sarcomeres are sort of like -- for lack of a better analogy -- stacks of velcro that can pull themselves together.  Thousands of little motor proteins called myosin are attached together and run along filaments inside these sarcomeres, each one acting sort of like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitr.to/myosin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://fitr.to/myosin&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is the classic diagram of a sarcomere.  Don't get too caught up in the terminology here, but you can see the myosin heads are all married together and skip along the actin filaments, contracting the sarcomere, and thus contracting the myofibril:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CFTsZ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CFTsZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their movement is mediated by cleaving ATP, which is manufactured by the sarcoplasmic reticulum.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we understand that process, let's take a look at myocytes themselves, so we can understand the pathway that generates muscle contraction. Here's what a myocyte looks like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tW2DG.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tW2DG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole pathway, greatly simplified, is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The brain says &quot;contract!&quot; through the neural pathway to the muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The axon terminal releases a chemical signal to the myocyte&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The myocyte releases some chemicals to: (1) tell the myosin to bind to filaments inside the sarcomere (so they can start &quot;running&quot;, like in the above video -- normally they are not bound), and (2) tell the sarcoplasmic reticulum to manufacture some ATP to invigorate the myosin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The result is that the muscle contracts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you attempt to weight train, your feedback mechanisms (tactile, visual, and proprioceptive) may detect that nothing is happening, which maybe means you'll further invigorate the muscle with a stronger signal and more ATP is generated, more myosin are recruited, and more tension is generated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But -- as your question states -- say you'd like to maintain just two pounds of muscle cells for your specified muscle group.  What variables contribute to the effectiveness of the muscle?  In other words, how effective can those two pounds of muscle be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, depending on how you train, the myocytes may develop to be more densely composed of myofibril, or they may develop with a beefier sarcoplasmic reticulum (which is the part of the cell that generates ATP), or some where in the middle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If myofibril development is favored, much higher tension can be achieved in the muscle cell, because there is more fiber and more myosin to run along it. This would be desirable if one were training for a higher 1RM.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if sarcoplasmic reticulum is favored in cellular development, the muscle would have fewer fibers, but under anaerobic conditions it could endure longer.  This means there would be more strength endurance -- perhaps in this case it would be desirable if one were training for a 6, 8, or 12 RM (or some variation of that time under tension). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, how the muscle is trained will determine the myofibril and sarcoplasmic development of the muscle, and ultimately the effectiveness of a muscle under certain stimuli.  If the muscle group is forced to remain at a certain weight, the type of training done will dictate how good it becomes at an action, and thus the density of their respective cellular structure.  As diet permits, minor anabolic and catabolic metabolism will allow this transformation to occur as the result of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take olympic weightlifters for example: they maintain a certain weight class and train in 1RM modalities.  They develop extraordinary myofibril muscle.  On the other end of the spectrum are bodybuilders, who train for effective sarcoplasmic reticulum in their muscle.  The appearance of the muscle is different, as is the density.  An elite 180 lb bodybuilder would look quite different than an elite 180 lb olympic weightlifter of equal height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are two &quot;end-of-chain&quot; variables, yet there may be others in the pathway that need consideration, such as how good the neurons become at signaling the cells for contraction, or how well the brain is trained to recruit the muscle.  Part of weight training is reducing the number of feedback loop iterations that sort of &quot;nickel and dime&quot; that pathway. For example, in the space of milliseconds, the system may behave like so: &lt;em&gt;am I applying enough effort? no I am not -- must apply more effort.  how about now?  not yet, more effort.&lt;/em&gt;  You could see how this and other neuromuscular scenarios may deplete anaerobic resources and reduce effectiveness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2016-02-18T07:17:03.440" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T07:17:03.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11800" CreationDate="2016-02-18T06:28:51.400" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although it's not very common, there are software developers with an athletic build. Main thing is sticking to the basics: sleeping 8 hours a day, getting enough water, eating properly, and training in your spare time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19469" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T06:28:51.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28975" CreationDate="2016-02-18T09:45:40.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, yoga never ment to be about body physique. As stated in yoga &amp;quot;bible&amp;quot; - &amp;quot;Yoga Sutras of Patanjali&amp;quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms&#xA;(Vrittis)&lt;a href=&quot;https://archive.org/stream/RajaYogaAndPatanjalisYogaAphorisms/Raja%20Yoga#page/n51/mode/2up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is explained as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;yoga essentially consists of meditative practices culminating in&#xA;attaining a state of consciousness free from all modes of active or&#xA;discursive thought, and of eventually attaining a state where&#xA;consciousness is unaware of any object external to itself, that is, is&#xA;only aware of its own nature as consciousness unmixed with any other&#xA;object &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iep.utm.edu/yoga/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can quite easily say that yoga is a form of religion or a philosophical school. Asanas or body postures are just instruments to attain required state of mind, just like prayers in Christianity or meditation in buddhism. Asanas were invented as a form of distraction for the mind, so it can let go of thinking process concentrating first on holding asana and then concentrating on itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, if one to examine yoga from physical prospective, it is more about endurance and flexibility and some strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After analyzing the data, researchers found that the regular practice&#xA;of Hatha yoga significantly improved the subjects’ flexibility,&#xA;muscular strength and endurance, and balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/YogaStudy2005.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Council on Exercise: &amp;quot;Does Yoga Really Do the Body Good?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-your-health/health-conditions-library/general-health/Pages/yoga.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Osteopathic Association&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to grow muscle in size you have to basically damage them so they can repair themselves and when they do, they become bigger to be able to withstand the stress next time and not be damaged. In order to achieve visible growth in size you have to progressively increase the stress your muscles endure, which can only be achieved by so called &amp;quot;progressive overloading&amp;quot; i.e. gradually increasing the amount of weight your muscles have to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In yoga, which is a body weight exercise (again, just from physical prospective), it is impossible to progressively overload. You can extend the amount of time you're exposed to stress, but in this case you'll be targeting muscle endurance, not size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It needs to be mentioned, that if you're an absolute novice then ANY physical activity will result in muscle &amp;quot;toning&amp;quot; and muscles will appear bigger due to slight growth and reduction in body fat. But in order to achieve any significant gains in size, you have to start using heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to sum it up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance training leads to trauma or injury of the cellular proteins&#xA;in muscle. This prompts cell-signaling messages to activate satellite&#xA;cells to begin a cascade of events leading to muscle repair and&#xA;growth... The most adaptable tissue in the human body is skeletal&#xA;muscle, and it is remarkably remodeled after continuous, and carefully&#xA;designed, resistance exercise training programs. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/%7Elkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18959" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T09:54:27.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28845" CreationDate="2016-02-18T12:33:25.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have stalled in your weight loss it's possible your calories are too high or you are you are weighing yourself too frequently, or at irregular times. DO NOT take daily scale weigh as an indicator of weight loss, weigh yourself weekly, at the same time of day and pay attention to transient water weight. For example, my scale weight can fluctuate WILDLY in a 24 hour period due to salt and carb intake. Also, if weight loss is your goal and you are not tracking calories you are selling yourself short. Track calories (you can even do it on a piece of paper), be honest and be consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19458" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T12:33:25.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-18T17:46:20.150" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a question about subsetting: &#xA;My week is broken up to two muscle groups on 4 days a week. Let's say I'm doing back and Bis on the same day; would it be bad if I subset my back exercises with my bicep exercises to cut down on time? Or is that going to effect my gains or cause injury? I was just thinking that I could utilize my rest time by using it to hit the exercises I need to do for the other muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For clarification let's say it back/bi day. I do 4 back exercises (1 is a set of 4 and the rest are sets of 3) and 4 bicep exercises (1 is a set of 4 and the rest are sets of 3)&#xA;I'll do back exercise 1 set 1 and immediately follow it with bicep exercise 1 set 1 and then have a short rest before doing set 2 of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16188" LastEditorUserId="16188" LastEditDate="2016-02-18T18:05:40.867" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T18:05:40.867" Title="Subseting with second muscle group" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-19T15:59:08.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28984" CreationDate="2016-02-18T20:59:14.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running for 10 minutes straight is fine for a beginner. You can easily build on that (provided of course you had a physician check that there's nothing wrong with Your joints, bones or muscles). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run for 8 minutes then walk for 2 to 3 minutes. No problem to walk longer if you need longer to get back your breath. Run 6 minutes. Walk again. Run 5 minutes. Go home. Stretch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this 3 to 5 times a week for 2 weeks. After that do the same with running 10, 7 and 6 minutes for 2 weeks. Try to shorten the walking parts a few seconds. If it doesn't work - don't. Go on prolonging the runs every 2 weeks. Play with the rythm of running and walking. Don't overdo it.&#xA;If you stick to that programme you should be able tu run about half an hour straight within three months. &#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19474" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T20:59:14.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28845" CreationDate="2016-02-19T21:36:32.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First make sure to do medical checkups to rule out metabolic diseases, like e.g. thyroid problems. The amount of food you eat during the entire day is similar to what I eat during breakfast alone ( 5ft 6in is similar to my height, but I weigh just 55 kg), so there might well be a metabolic problem here that needs to be addressed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, assuming there is no underlying medical problem, you should increase the intensity of aerobic exercise and keep that up for longer. You should build up your fitness so that you can maintain at least 200 Watts for 45 minutes or longer. You'll then burn more than 500 Kcal, and in addition the fitness you will have build up allowing you to exercise at this level, will have led to an increased basal metabolic rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-02-19T21:36:32.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28994" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29110" CreationDate="2016-02-19T23:04:47.553" Score="2" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running once up to twice in the week , mostly saturday morning, one hour from 4-5 a.m, I'm wondering if there is some positive impact on my lung ( smoker lung) other than just normal positive impact a runner can get? I mean like somehow it cleans nicotine from my lung? I'm sorry if this is a dummy question ( as some might say, &quot; well smoking is bad anyway&quot;) but as you know that nobody smoking doesn't realize the risks they can probably get from the bad activity, but we're smoking because we get addicted, and quitting on it, is not a short time goal). One thing for sure that I always notice is that during 2 days, after running, I feel like a ciggarete tastes very bad (like food without salt, some think like that). I need some advices. Thank you very much for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16278" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T19:42:16.533" Title="Running impact on lung for smoker" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-20T18:07:43.947" Score="15" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all - I expect this question to get very little attention: It's amazing how little attention people who work out seem to give to joint health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, it seems that moving the joint &quot;passively&quot; (which seems to vary in definition from the joint being moved through ROM by a machine to moving the joint on you own with very little resistance). There is a study of rabbits that shows that rabbits with damaged cartilage healed faster when the injured joint was put through passive motion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At three weeks this assessment revealed that in the adolescent rabbits, healing of the defects by hyaline articular cartilage was present in &lt;strong&gt;8 per cent of forty defects in ten animals whose knees were immobilized&lt;/strong&gt;, in 9 per cent of forty defects in ten animals whose knees were permitted intermittent active motion, and in &lt;strong&gt;52 per cent of forty defects in ten animals whose knees were managed immediately after operation by continuous passive motion&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7440603&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7440603&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - two things from this study:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The idea that cartilage can heal, which most surgeons will vehemently deny.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The idea that a joint put through &quot;CPM&quot; is 5 times more likely to heal than a joint that is not. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if we look at a summary of studies, the results seems more vague:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reported clinical results, combined with the existing basic science evidence, suggest that there may be an ideal combination of all 3 treatments—CPM, AROM, and early weight bearing—that is most advantageous for both quality of life and quality of healing. Appropriate basic science research and focused clinical research are needed to generate postoperative rehabilitative protocols that will maximize benefits of articular cartilage repair and restorative procedures as they continue to advance and gain popularity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4297055/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4297055/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also an article by some guy named Doug Kelsey that stipulates that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Injured joints like movement, generally, and dislike being still. For an injured knee, I suggest things like a furniture slider, or even a paper plate to place your foot on and slide the foot forward back while in a sitting position. You can do this for 5-10 minutes a few times a day and most people find it quite helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His example of AROM (basically moving joint lightly with no resistance) is shown in this picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N0kUP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N0kUP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dougkelsey.com/knee-cartilage/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dougkelsey.com/knee-cartilage/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that he is just jumping on the &quot;synovial fluid circulation promotes healing via nutrient delivery since blood flow is poor&quot; idea. Edit: Also seems that his book isn't on sale on Amazon, so there aren't any real reviews, which makes me skeptical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR: Is there any conclusive reason to believe that motion with no resistance heals joints? If so, how much and what kind? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16841" LastEditorUserId="16841" LastEditDate="2017-06-21T14:19:11.030" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T08:48:35.697" Title="&quot;Continuous Passive Motion&quot; (CPM) for Joint Healing, Effective? How?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28960" CreationDate="2016-02-20T18:22:50.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mikereinold.com/2014/03/true-hip-flexor-stretch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hip flexors&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthen &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/8bbE64NuDTU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glutes&lt;/a&gt;. I actually recommend having your shoulders on a medicine ball to start out if your glutes are weak shit. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthen &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlDNef_Ztsc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;enter link description here&lt;/a&gt;. Edit: Watched video, it's good, use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch lower back. These are your basic &quot;touch toes stretches&quot;. And yes, they will target hams too, it doesn't matter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16841" LastEditorUserId="16841" LastEditDate="2016-02-20T18:28:55.870" LastActivityDate="2016-02-20T18:28:55.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-20T19:25:01.567" Score="0" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting for several years now,&#xA;I can see good progress in most of the muscle groups i've worked on,&#xA;except one - chest, it just would not grow, regardless of the amount of work I contribute to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it fair to say that due to physiological or other reasons people are more likely to develop certain muscle groups, and not the others - or am I just not trying hard enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19491" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T06:50:07.490" Title="Why certain muscle groups just dont grow" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-27T15:40:25.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29015" CreationDate="2016-02-20T19:57:26.537" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In college, I had the honor of participating in a wrestling training seminar led by a coach of an elite wrestling program in the States. During the lesson, he (the coach) mentioned that he didn't allow his team to sit during training except in a &quot;seiza&quot; (Japanese word) way (meaning sitting with the lower half of the leg beneath the thigh).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I've become a coach myself (in striking/mma), and I'm wondering whether or not I should tell my squad to avoid sitting except in the seiza way (unless they're injured). I naturally understand the desire for the squad members to want to sit between rounds on their butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to impose something that brings no or little benefit to my squad. So my question: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Generally put, is there any scientific justification/benefit (explicit or likely) to instructing the athlete to not sit/sit on their butt during intensive combat sports training (as opposed to just weight lifting)?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If yes, what?&lt;/strong&gt; (if possible, w/ links to articles, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, let's take a session of 10 rounds of intense kickboxing sparring where 1 round is 3-5 min. If a fighter does 3 rd, and rests out 1 rd (the 4th rd), to then join back on the 5th round:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any strong enough/plausible scientific reason/merit to have him/her not sit/sit on his butt during that 4th round, and instead remaining standing, or sit in a seiza way? (You can vary the example if the answer depends on the duration of rest, intensity/type of exercise, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This seems partly related to topics covered in discussion/explanation on cool downs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Relevant threads:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/140/is-it-bad-to-sit-down-immediately-after-the-exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/492/what-is-the-purpose-of-cooling-down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Relevant articles:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajp.physiotherapy.asn.au/AJP/vol_53/2/AustJPhysiotherv53i2Law.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cool down doesn't reduce muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10732850&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cool down can be beneficial for respiratory system&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kemibe.com/distancecoach/labreports/cooldown.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The benefits of cooling down&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19492" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-02-23T11:35:28.393" LastActivityDate="2016-02-23T11:35:28.393" Title="What is the best posture (stand, sit, etc) to take when resting during intense training (such as for kickboxing)?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16029" CreationDate="2016-02-21T04:40:25.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've seen the reason Crossfit is given a bad rap is because it attempts to use exercises originally used in areas such as powerlifting and olympic lifting for &quot;exercise/workout&quot; value. In other words, crossfitters are not aiming to &quot;lift the most weight&quot; or &quot;gain the most size&quot; (e.g., bodybuilding) -- they are doing those exercises to get the most &quot;workout value&quot; (e.g., essentially do the most amount of &quot;work&quot;, possibly also burn the most calories, etc...). Same thing with those &quot;kipping&quot; pullups --&gt; you might not do them in the strictest form, but you're doing &quot;more work/exercise&quot; (for better or worse) via the kipping pullups instead of the regular ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also why crossfit sometimes gets a bad rap for &quot;incorrect form&quot;. However, &quot;proper form&quot; is often relative to the weight --- for example, you wouldn't get into a deadlift pose just to pick up some change you dropped on the ground! Of course, if you're doing heavy weight, &quot;proper form&quot; then become a lot more imperative. But, that's the whole point --- the &quot;work&quot;, not &quot;the weight&quot; -- is more towards crossfit workouts' primary goals. Granted, when doing things with &quot;improper&quot; form --- you're only &quot;safety&quot; is in the (sometimes quite significant) &quot;lightness&quot; of your load!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T04:40:25.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29009" CreationDate="2016-02-21T06:27:54.707" Score="2" ViewCount="2410" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work on my computer at office in 45-50 minutes blocks and then take a break. During the break, I walk around and drink a glass of water and do a fixed number of pushups. Just over a year ago, I started with a fairly small number of pushups (20) during every break. For an 8 hour day, it would result in 8×20 = 160 pushups. Every week, I would add 1 or 2 pushups for every set. So for the second week, I had 8×21 = 168 pushups. This continued for the whole year and now I am on a count of 64 per set and 8×64 = 512 pushups per day. Also, in the last set, I continue without stopping and usually go to 100 pushups or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I continue this routine for decades and then experimentally find out what kinds of problems it caused, I want to know if I am doing the right thing or should I change something about it. And beyond what count will it actually start hurting my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="anon" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T00:31:09.143" Title="How many pushups are harmful for the body?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-26T22:52:04.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29007" CreationDate="2016-02-21T11:56:03.877" Score="4" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I daily plan to workout and hit at the gym but I come home fully exhausted. I lack the amount of energy that needs for a good workout at gym. How can I cope up with this? Anything that could keep me energetic and motivated to exercise when I come back home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19283" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T22:20:19.620" Title="Lacking the amount of energy that needs for a good workout at gym" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-21T14:12:57.670" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know around how much calories am I taking everyday. How can I do that? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3588" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T17:49:24.583" Title="How do I know how many calories I take daily?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-21T23:45:24.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29004" CreationDate="2016-02-21T17:49:24.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One extremely simple way for a single person is to record the total calories on all the food packages you purchase when you get home from the store. Over a few weeks, the packages you buy and finish will average out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more accurate way is to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt;, where you can scan barcodes, pick from a database (eg, you can enter fast food calories just by typing in &quot;Wendy's cheeseburger&quot;), or enter your own recipes and portions. MyFitnessPal also calculates fat and protein calories and makes graphs, which is instructive. It's usually quite surprising to see how things work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T17:49:24.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29003" CreationDate="2016-02-21T22:20:19.620" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't go home&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop at the gym before going home. If you go home, your mind tells you your work day is done, and you give yourself permission to crash. If you go to the gym before going home, you're still in the &quot;Get things done&quot; mindset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Change your timing&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might find it easier to go before work, or later in the evening after you've had dinner and would normally be watching TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be less ambitious&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If work leaves you too tired for a long, intense workout, then find an shorter workout you can do at home. Adjustable dumbbells, kettlebells, and calisthenics are all compact ways to do strength training at home, or you can try running outdoors, jump rope, or yoga. And if you are efficient, you can do a very intensive workout in half an hour and still get decent improvement, or at least maintain if you are in excellent shape already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Just Do Saturdays&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have the time and energy to exercise at all during the week, exercising only on the weekend can at least keep you from losing much fitness until you can change your lifestyle and exercise more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6627" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T22:20:19.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28997" CreationDate="2016-02-21T22:33:06.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following up on JohnP's comment...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from the obvious, proper rest, nutrition, genetics, etc.  I'll offer one other possible, although &lt;strong&gt;speculative&lt;/strong&gt;, reason.  Most people who train have one or more body parts that don't seem to grow, or, need more work.  Only those who are gifted genetically can just look at weights and grow.  Assuming a “natural training” framework, the rest of us need to put in lots of time, effort, proper rest, and sound nutrition to eek out any possible gains.  One common mistake often made in “hard gainer” situations is over-training a body part.  The desire to make gains for a specific body part tends to force some people to seek more sets, reps, etc. for the expected gains.  It's the old, &quot;more is better&quot; approach.  In my opinion (and experience), a better approach is to briefly back off training a stubborn body part.  In a sense, “reboot” training that body part by taking some time off, and, going back to basics once training resumes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question, it may not be that you're “&lt;em&gt;just not training hard enough&lt;/em&gt;”.  But, rather, you're training too hard for your chest to recover and make gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T22:33:06.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29001" CreationDate="2016-02-21T23:09:02.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Edit: The assumption is that you are healthy, and have no weight issues, especially that you are not over-weight, and not too old.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Supposing you have 10 minutes to train per &quot;break&quot; (not really a break any more...), the maximum amount of push-ups you will possibly be able to do (down the road) during one single break is perhaps around 400 to 800 push-ups. If your maximum is 600, your daily limit will be 600 x 8 = 4800 push-ups. If 800, it will be 6400.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Starting at 20, if you increase your push-up counts by 45 each year, you will possibly reach 400 push-up per 10 minute in around 9 years (meaning in 8 more years).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;So your first question is whether or not, after a gradual progression, you can keep doing, let's say, 400-600 reps in 10 min x 8 sets with 50 min break 5 times per week with perhaps two days (weekend) of rest throughout much of the year without considerable harm to your body (edit: until a reasonable age (40? 45? 50? 55?)).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Edited) While I'm tempted to suggest other approaches... (if it's important for you to achieve a high numbers of reps of push-ups) I'd answer: you may possibly do around 100-250-400* reps in 10 minute as described above under the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That you keep following a gradual progression with fixed numbers so that the exercise remains endurance centered.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That you at least avoid maxing out on consecutive days (what you seem to be doing with your last set). I'd even suggest perhaps halving the overall routine on the day subsequent to a max-out day (as in, doing only 4 sets on the next day w/ no max-out). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&gt; Edit: Ideally, you should not intensively workout the same muscle group on consecutive days. Depending on the load, you may even need to rest an entire week for proper recovery. But considering the fairly low load for many years, I think you could also consider adopting these two types of alternating menu: (a) one day push-ups, the next day something else; (b) one day 8 sets of push-ups, the next day only 2-4 sets if you simply love push-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest a whole day (as in no push-ups) if your body says it needs a real break. -&gt; (Edit:) I think this is the best approach to determining what is reasonable for your body. You will probably be fairly comfortable continuing this routine until your pass the 100 reps mark. Then gradually you'll see if you need to rest out a day or two or more to recover. Your body should indicate the safe maximum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: *I've picked 100-250-400 based on the information that Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury used to do about 3000-4000 push-ups a day at different intervals. If 250-400 feels too strenuous for your muscle or joints, fall back to 100-250, and consider adding more rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As to whether or not you are doing the &quot;right thing&quot;, the question doesn't really stand as you have not set a real goal to your activity. If you just want to safely keep increasing your push-up routine during your break time, 1-2 weekly increase in reps sounds reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And as long as you stick to the very gradually increasing rep limit and to the time limit (hypothetically 10 min), and especially with at least 2 days of weekly rest, I think you can possibly fairly safely go up to 100/10 min and maybe up to 250/10 min by following common sense rules (eat/drink/sleep well, listen to your body, don't force it when your body is tired/sick...) but you may end up needing to take alternating day off in the end, and it's hard to guess how your body will react beyond 100. I'm only guessing based on testimonies of Guinness record holders for push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As to possible suggestions, unless you're aiming to beat the Guinness record for push-ups, I'd suggest (1) not focusing on the number of push-ups, but to vary the types of push-ups to provide greater stimulus and overall training effect. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'd also suggest (2) setting one day for another muscle group such as with squats. One day push-ups (w/ variations), the other day squats, perhaps even a sit-up day in the middle. Or throw in pull-ups after work, etc. You can push one muscle group more on one day, and rest it the next day. I'd simply rest the muscle more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;All in all, setting a good, meaningful goal for yourself is the most important of all. (Unless you are trying to break the GB record, I don't think you should focus on the # of reps of push-ups, and on doing them at such high-rep on consecutive days.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19492" LastEditorUserId="19492" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T00:31:09.143" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T00:31:09.143" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27317" CreationDate="2016-02-21T23:20:12.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to add that doing much more than 100 push-ups will likely not make your muscle much bigger. That's not how muscles grow bigger as far as I understand it... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi rep push-ups based on a gradual progression of increase in rep is like an endurance run. Once you build the base muscle, you will be maintaining the endurance, and your muscle will not grow notably bigger (unless you start varying the type of push-ups and add weight to the push-up (ex: have someone sit on your back while pushing-up, etc)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19492" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T23:20:12.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-22T06:02:07.550" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing push exercises, such as the bench press and military press, what is should the angle of the wrist be to prevent injury? Should the wrist be straight or should it be bent like the following image?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dsrjR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dsrjR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T09:34:55.623" Title="What is the safest wrist angle for pushing exercises?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28997" CreationDate="2016-02-22T06:50:07.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just a comment but a rather long one so I can't put it in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is certainly not enough information in your question to answer the question.  Your question doesn't even quantify what it means for a muscle group to grow.  Are you defining this by mass or by strength?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting is not only personal and factors in sleep, eating habits, weight, intensity, routine and so on but it is also a factor of the other habits of your life that are a bit impossible to quantify.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just looking at mass you really have to look at body builders.  You gain much more mass when you are loading weight.  That is why body builders go on this roller coaster ride sometimes a few times a year.  They don't do this because it is counter productive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have to look at your overall body structure.  Let's be honest, the bench (and chest muscles) are a shorter man's game.  That is why you have a ton of superhuman 300 pound 6'7&quot; behemoths in the NFL that bench 225 just 20-25 times.   Their arm length is a hindrance.  The tricep failing will disable their chest muscles from growing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to them... Who cares?  It isn't functional for them to bench 600 pounds.  They need endurance and speed and flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me use my personal experience as an example.  I worked out my chest once a week.  Really hard but just once a week.  At my heaviest weight I was squatting/deadlifting well over 600, cleaning over 320, skull crushing over 150 for sets...   My bench never went over 325ish.  I could rep 225 20-22 times but could never bench real weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why?  Because I touched my chest once a week.  Every other muscle probably got some kind of work 3 times a week but the chest?   It doesn't get used.  Double down on that I was playing basketball for 4-6 hours a week at college practice level and running another 10 miles a week - it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out why my bench was never great.  Now my chest muscles are in line with my body structure but the weight was never there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you want your chest to get big:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;gain weight for at least 8-12 months&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;double up on your chest workouts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;limit where you are spending other energy&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(and remember your chest grows with your trunk so do stop working out the legs)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T06:50:07.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28057" CreationDate="2016-02-22T09:26:57.240" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if you have any lab or rehabilitation center near you but if they have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alterg.com/products/anti-gravity-treadmills/m320-f320/health-wellness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anti-Gravity Treadmill&lt;/a&gt; you can try it. It reduces gravity so you don't have too much pressure on your knee and you can walk or run without the effect of gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, weight training, pool and bike is the best solution for your weight loss and knees :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-18T19:35:44.890" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T19:35:44.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29011" CreationDate="2016-02-22T09:34:55.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a good article about &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ptonthenet.com/articles/biomechanics-of-the-bench-press-4019&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;biomechanical explanation&lt;/a&gt; of bench press with references at the end.&#xA;To make the long story short; &#xA;Grasp the barbell with an opposing thumb grip (thumbs wraps around the bar) with your hands shoulder-width or slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.&#xA;An opposing thumb grip provides more security and control of the barbell.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Grasp the bar with the wrists positioned directly under the bar. This position helps avoid hyperextension of the wrists.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Retract your shoulder blades (scapulae), bringing them closer together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T09:34:55.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28998" CreationDate="2016-02-22T10:14:35.653" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is little bit complicated but let me explain it from heart rate, blood pressure and energy expenditure point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During sitting body consume less energy and HR and blood pressure will be lower. For your situation, the athletes will rest approximately 3-5 minutes (4th) which is good time period to save some energy and  lower heart rate and blood pressure. Meantime, energy stores will be replenish and some amount of Lactate will be removed.  You may need to choose between energy saving and replenishment of store and LA removal. To me, I recommend you to make the athletes sit.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26467968&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref 1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/39/6/932.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T10:14:35.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19540" CreationDate="2016-02-22T10:28:58.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fingertip push-ups as stated in an answer before,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Broom stick push-ups or peaces of wood (approx 20 cm in length) &#xA;  (you have to hold the sticks in your hand with the thumbs pointing up, and&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   the broom-stick or wood is touching the ground) so only your feet and the &#xA;   two peaces of wood are touching the ground. Tremendous forearm builder!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture from the book Bodyweight Exercises for Extraordinary Strength:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jQ3AA.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jQ3AA.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what I agree on the other answers that the push-up is not the best tool for forearm development, you should include pull-/chin-ups with a lot of variations in your program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T10:28:58.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29018" CreationDate="2016-02-22T12:01:58.300" Score="3" ViewCount="1340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to predict 1RM using a formula but I am not sure which is the best to use for the male athletes ages rages from 18 to 30 years old. For example,  if I can bench press 80kg 4 times what could my 1RM be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="5071" LastEditDate="2016-02-22T16:54:44.903" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T11:54:26.840" Title="What is the best 1 RM prediction formula" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29017" CreationDate="2016-02-22T12:25:44.440" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different formulae for calculating one's 1RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll list some of the easiest-to-use ones. They'll all use two single variables;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;w&lt;/em&gt; = the weight used for testing, measured in kilograms (kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; = the number of repetitions managed by the athlete at&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Lombardi&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4W7r6.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4W7r6.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say I can do 4 reps at 80kg, my expected one-rep max would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h2YaY.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h2YaY.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel comfortable with rounding to nearest integer here, because of the overall inaccuracy of any such formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Epley&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k9epC.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k9epC.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's use the same example, from your comment. With 4 repetitions at 80kg, my expected one-rep max would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AvOWz.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AvOWz.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;More formulae&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a list of these at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-repetition_maximum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;One-repetition maximum article&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Which is best?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite frankly, there is no way of telling, simply because of the diversity of people. One formula might be best for me, but for you, it might be a different one. But I think if you try them all, they should all land pretty close to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these dealings, there will always be inaccuracies. You can't rely on any such formula to give you anything too precise, so the whole &quot;which is more precise&quot; question seems unanswerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-02-22T13:25:29.617" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T13:25:29.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19540" CreationDate="2016-02-22T19:09:31.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want big forearms, get a bar or a piece of wood and hang from it as long as you can.  Do sets like this.  When you can do 4 sets of 1 min start adding in some wrist movements to target the area even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T19:09:31.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29021" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29062" CreationDate="2016-02-23T07:28:19.620" Score="1" ViewCount="17371" Body="&lt;p&gt;when I'm doing russian twist I can feel air went out of my mouth with slight wheezing sound. I mean the physics is obvious (ofc gas go out when I do exercise that put pressure on lung) but I just want to make 3x sure that this is okay/normal esp with the wheezing sound? It's not my lung get punctured slightly? Currently I'm not doing this, and as I breath normally and I don't feel anything different except maybe 5% more difficult to breathe (like when you're underwater, but not that much) and after 10 minutes it's gone (still feel this air going out when I twist). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I'm worried about punctured lung (or any kind of possible weird but potentially fatal trauma) is because I fell during ski and instead of bruising muscle pain, I feel weird ticklish-every 15second kind of sharp pain deep inside near the liver/under ribcage area. I really don't think it's punctured lung because it should produce more noticeable symptom (like collapsed lung) and should not cause air to go out... but I'm triple checking because I'm not an expert on this kind of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this help: I skied once in my life and I was on green slope so it was fine except I didn't know how to stop/turn, I go straight full speed from top to bottom and fell on my left side at the bottom with pretty high speed (for me) and went unconscious for 1 minute. Then this sharp pain happened on my center-right side, but it wasn't bad so I ignored it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 25y/o female, physically at the normal weight (120lbs/5'4&quot;) but I've never exercised until 2-3 weeks ago (the &quot;go upstairs 2 floors and out of breath&quot;- kind of person). I have a slight asthma when I was young but never bothered me much. Recently I started to do more cardio-type exercises (bike/run) and like a normal unfit person I ran out of breath very easily etc. This has happened for 2-3 weeks and I'm better at endurance. This wheezing thing never happened ever, even when I ran out of breath with other cardio type exercises. Only noticed after I started to do this russian twist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks people!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19514" LastEditorUserId="19514" LastEditDate="2016-02-23T07:40:18.680" LastActivityDate="2018-04-18T11:28:30.167" Title="Gas out of lung while doing russian twists" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-04-18T14:33:53.970" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-23T11:13:46.603" Score="0" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started going to the gym for one week now, but I found that, for the last three days, I am not getting proper sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am usually asleep at 11pm after I did cardio (running, ESF and cycling) from 6pm to 8:30 PM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I go to sleep, I wake up early around 2:30 AM. After that I cannot go back to sleep until 4 AM or 5 AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot change the gym time at the evening, because this is the only time I can go and I want to reduce my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19515" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-24T12:49:34.063" LastActivityDate="2016-02-24T12:49:34.063" Title="I can not sleep after gym at night time" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-02-26T22:50:05.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29022" CreationDate="2016-02-23T15:44:51.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difficulty in falling asleep is because exercise &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/basics/how-to-fall-asleep1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;raises your body temperature&lt;/a&gt; for two hours and you need a lower body temperature to sleep. I feel like weight lifting might produce less of this effect than cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you work out from 6-8:30 PM. If that means &quot;for an hour inside that time window&quot;, try to make sure you start at 6, not 8:30. If that means &quot;I am working out for 2.5 hours continuously&quot;, you should shorten your workout. That long of a workout puts too much strain on your body and your long-term motivation. Some professional athletes work out less than that. Working out less should mean less stimulation and more time to cool down for sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't hurt your results to exercise less, as long as you don't quit entirely. The calorie burn from exercise is not directly linked to weight loss. Typically your body just adjusts your hunger to make up for it. Exercise only helps by causing you to adopt the healthier eating patterns that reaching fitness goals requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-02-23T15:44:51.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-25T00:27:58.713" Score="1" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently trying to lose ten lbs, and was not doing so well, until a few minutes ago I hopped on the scale, and it turns out I've lost 20. That's down significantly more than 10 lbs from when I weighed in before I worked out. I didn't workout very hard, but today was something of a fast day. I allowed myself no extra snacks, no food other than strict meals. I drank 64 oz of water. This was probably at my peak calorie burning time. How did  my weight do this? I assume I will gain it back in a few days, if not already. (I ate dinner afterwards, and can feel my stomach swell.) I am only 17, so its possible that my metabolism is unsteady, although my weight generally is pretty stable.I was actually at plateau the last few weeks. I am positive it's not the scale, my parents say it works consistently for them, as does my sister.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T20:04:37.963" Title="Do I have to feel worn out to be losing weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29001" CreationDate="2016-02-25T01:33:37.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to spoil your dreams pal, but I would say you could, at maximum, only do a &lt;strong&gt;truly&lt;/strong&gt; safe number of about 300 push ups, three times per week. Sorry to rat on your accepted answer, but doing 5000 push ups a day five times a week will damage you for good. Here will be some side effects of 100-200 push ups twice a week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Developed chest, tricep, shoulder, and forearm muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overall increase in core strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stronger, healthier bones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here will be some results of 5000 push ups a day five times per week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extreme muscle soreness/tiredness &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Damaged cartilage in your wrists&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weaker immune system leading to several colds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Permanent nerve damage in most areas of the upper body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arthritis will develop too early in your hands, wrists and fingers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss in muscle mass/weakened bones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical deformity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extreme hunger/dehydration &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In rare cases, death&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now which one would you rather choose? I still would suggest working out at an actual gym however, because just like running can hurt your feet over the years if you do it often, push ups can sometimes do the same thing to your wrists. Again, I am just trying to be safe with you here, doing push ups on occasion is not that bad, usually. Good luck, pal. These are the true guaranteed effects, don't just shove them away. You will hurt yourself if you overwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-02-25T07:51:18.563" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T07:51:18.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2016-02-25T03:31:01.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I might know the problem - exercise order. The exercises that you do first will probably progress the most and the exercises that you do last will probably process the least. The ones in the middle will probably show medium improvements. The solution is to change the order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19531" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T03:31:01.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29017" CreationDate="2016-02-25T11:18:59.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-repetition_maximum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One-repetition maximum&lt;/a&gt; at Wikipedia, in the 'Further Reading' section is this link, which should help you understand the issues involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Campanholi Neto, José; Cedin, Luísa; Dato, Carla Cristina; Rodrigues Bertucci, Danilo; de Andrade Perez, Sérgio Eduardo; Baldissera, Vilmar (Jun 2015). &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.asep.org/asep/asep/JEPonlineJUNE2015_Neto.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Single Session of Testing for One Repetition Maximum (1RM) with Eight Exercises is Trustworthy&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (PDF). Journal of Exercise Physiology - JEPonline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the idea of 1RM is understood, we can take multiple repetition tasks and attempt to extrapolate further information. As with any statistical inference method, the more data we have, the more accurate the prediction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if for example you can benchpress 70kg six times, we have much better information to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method is to consider an average of several of the formula listed on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15402" LastEditorUserId="15402" LastEditDate="2016-02-25T11:54:26.840" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T11:54:26.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29032" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-25T11:40:08.750" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've started playing a game called Beatmania, where you repeatedly press 7 different buttons and also here and there spin a disc.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IHfDy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IHfDy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible to press the buttons with a lot of different hand positioning methods, but right now i'm having trouble deciding to either use my thumb, index, middle and ring finger for the four buttons on the right-hand side or my thumb, index, middle and pink finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be better for my hands in the long-term? Rapidly pressing with my middle and pink finger feels a lot more fluent than with my ring finger (assuming because of the shared tendons), but my pink finger is a lot weaker and takes more power to press down than with my ring finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19533" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T11:40:08.750" Title="RSI-prevention wise, should I be using my pink finger or my ring finger for pressing keys/buttons?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-03-03T09:47:07.170" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29034" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29046" CreationDate="2016-02-25T16:25:04.717" Score="5" ViewCount="509" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a step counter on my phone, my work offers a challenge/incentive to achieve more steps than other coworkers, and the primary function of virtually every fitness tracker is step counting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm skeptical that taking the stairs versus the elevator is going to make much of a difference in my overall health, but there are many fitness programs/systems/plans that claim it can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is step counting an effective measure of physical fitness compared to cardio exercise plan (treadmill running, cycling, etc..)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19221" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-02-27T03:34:23.240" LastActivityDate="2016-02-27T04:02:27.963" Title="Can step counting goals be considered effective exercise?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29026" CreationDate="2016-02-25T19:33:54.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted by the comments from @Eric Kaufman and @Sean Duggan, losing that kind of weight in an hour is likely not possible and certainly not safe. By comparison, I weight close to 220 lbs and will lost 2 lbs through persperation after one hour high-intensity exercise. I did lose close to 7 pounds once, but that was due to taking a purgative in preparation for a colonoscopy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight loss that you see is therefore probably an artefact:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Per @Sean Duggan ensure that you are wearing the same/similar clothes at each weigh-in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regardless of the opinion of others, your scale may not be working properly. Try re-taring it. Ensure that it is level. And try a different scale.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16295" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T19:33:54.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28873" CreationDate="2016-02-26T01:17:55.090" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very nice PBs :) I was approaching those times this winter but now Im taking a break to get rid of heel pain so that I can start attempting to figure out the whole speed work thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think miles is a bad mark to go off of. Time on your feet is the key factor combined with the number of days your training. The main reason is because those professional athletes can jog at 6-7 min/mile and their hard workouts are 4-5 min/mile. Thats about 40% faster than me so their 100 mile week would change to about 60 miles which is funny because Ive been doing 50-70 miles/week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may be playing the statisticians game by making the numbers match my opinion, but Greg McMillian says the same thing about training. In fact his training plans in &quot;YOU (Only faster)&quot; are mostly time based except for marathon training where there are minimum distances req'd for the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive also noticed that more miles or time on my feet helps me keep a good effort going for a longer amount of time. Last winter I stopped running longer runs and my mileage dropped while I focused on a fast 5k. After a few months my times got faster but I had a harder time to go at a strong effort for the whole distance, so I am wondering now if I ran more often maybe my times would have been even faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to brag and make a final point let me add that before taking a break I hit a half marathon at 92% average heart rate and nearly broke 1:30 on a very windy day with winds averaging at 15 mph. After freaking out about my heart rate I found an example of a professional targeting the same for a marathon, so I could possibly achieve an even higher heart rate. I got in pretty good shape to hit this heart rate by doing just 50-70 miles per week, so in my opinion doing more than 100 miles per week would result in over training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few people here that can give a better answer - maybe even a coach or two, so dont accept one until a few more answers are posted. Though I hope mine will help some :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T01:17:55.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29047" CreationDate="2016-02-26T19:42:19.850" Score="8" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may seem like an odd question, but outside of exercise, when I have to run, I usually don't have an opportunity to warm up. It's jogging down to the store during my lunch break, or running to catch a bus, things like that. I would like to be able to run those short distances with less sweat and heavy breathing. The rule of thumb I keep hearing for exercise is that you train for what you want to attain, but I also know that jumping into an exercise without warming up is a good way to get injured through exertion of cold muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my best recourse to just increase my general endurance by running in a conventional manner and hope that the effects bleed over, or is there a better way to train for spontaneous effort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T01:10:46.463" Title="How to train for running without a warmup" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-26T21:30:31.923" Score="1" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am desperate. I've always heard that when you hit a plateau you can adjust your workouts or your eating habits. I've done BOTH, and seen absolutely no progress in my weight loss. I started out at an all time high weight of 133, (I am a 5' flat female) and a few weeks ago I managed to get down to a very shaky 126, where I knew I would probably gain back a few lbs in the near future. I was stable at 128 for nearly 3 weeks, and now am back to 132. Here's exactly what I ate today, and this is what I always eat like, (Used to just be more of everything, and I used to eat a LOT of gluten) but lately I've really cut back on amounts in my attempt to lose weight. Everything in my house is made from scratch with very high quality ingredients. I actually wonder if I eat too well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brekki:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oatmeal with honey. (Big breakfast, normally I just have toast)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch brought from home:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cucumber slices&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whole strawberries&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;chicken soup&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had dinner yet, but last night I had the same chicken soup and strawberries. &#xA;I haven't been eating any snacks between meals for the last few months, but today I was so furious with the scale I ate two slices of homemade bread and some chocolate. This is the first time I've ever done that. Its also the first gluten I've eaten in a month and now I'm feeling rather sick. &#xA;I'm also in such a rotten mood I'm not working out right now, when I usually do for around an hour. &#xA;This is a part of my workout from yesterday just to give you a taste of what I like to do: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;front squat and weighted lunge&#xA;10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 rounds&#xA;250 single unders &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;modified WOD&#xA;5 rounds &#xA;30 pushups&#xA;40 butterfly sit ups&#xA;50 weighted squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also did a glute and arm workout. This was an easy day. I think that I work out HARD. &#xA;What the @#$% is wrong with me???&#xA;I've worked out for years, not with the intent to lose weight, mainly in training for track, and never lost weight from any of that. Am I just destined to be one weight? I don't even think I've been changing my body consistency. No muscle gains or anything. Actually maybe a little bit in my arms, and maybe if I'm lucky, I'm seeing something in my stomach. I don't want to look like a supermodel (Gross) I just want to be happy with my body. &#xA;My mom said I was fat, sparking all of this @#$$. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-02-27T00:29:12.970" Title="Weight loss plateau" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29042" CreationDate="2016-02-26T22:10:32.393" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should do cardio exercises. If you build up your cardio fitness, you should be able to run for an hour or longer at a fast pace (13 km/h or faster). You'll then burn more than 1000 Kcal per day. You should actually eat a lot more to get there, try to eat a lot more whole grain bread, brown rice and whole grain pasta. The total calorie intake should be large enough to allow you to run fast for a long time. You should not worry about weight gain, as the focus should be on  building up your cardio fitness. You'll find that even with a much higher calorie intake, your weight will not increase or even decrease a bit, provided you exercise hard enough and only eat healthy foods (only whole grain products, a lot of vegetables, at least 400 grams per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also think of it this way. If you start to run then the reason why your cardio fitness will improve is fundamentally because your body will do whatever is necessary to facility your new activity. The biochemical changes are not the fundamental reason because these mechanisms were developed as a result of evolution. Now, an activity like running would only be done by our ancestors or other animals because of survival needs. Running more switches on all sorts of processes that enhance the capability of an animal to be able to run well. And that includes weight loss too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T22:10:32.393" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29042" CreationDate="2016-02-26T23:16:45.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You're doing great!&lt;/strong&gt; Keep it up! For your best health and fitness, don't worry so much about weight. Worry more about body fat and how you feel. Muscle weights much more that fat because of its density and water. Another factors contributing to your weight is how hydrated you are. The more active you are the more water you'll need. Because of these things you may actually gain weight from proper diet and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oatmeal is great, bread and chocolate, not so much. Really, if you can see some shape in you stomach than you're doing great! Don't listen to your mom just laugh at her idiocy and tell her to shut up! Seriously, mothers should never say such things to their daughters. I don't want to start a conflict but really this kind of remark from a mother leads to insecurity and eating disorders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body Fat and how you feel:&lt;/strong&gt; If you had a higher than your desired body fat and you keep up the good work, you may notice your cloths becoming looser and you skin may sag a bit (don't worry it will correct its self). Don't measure your progress by the scale but instead measure it with calipers and other methods of measuring body fat. Also, listen to your body and how you feel. You may notice that you can lift more, run longer, have more energy etc. Let these things drive you! But be careful not to over do it, only you can know what this means but in other words don't push yourself into injury. I'm not sure how new you are to working out but you sound like you know a bit about it. You may know that consistency is key to personal fitness. you're not going to become fit overnight. Any diet will not produce immediate results. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is just trying to sell you something. Don't Buy it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet:&lt;/strong&gt; Whatever you do don't get sucked in to dieting fads. Many of these only produce short-term results and will wear you out. Like juicing diets that make you have diarrhea. This will make you loose water weight and result in short term colon damage, an short-term inability to absorb nutrients, and leave you feeling tired and unable to go to the gym. Don't starve yourself as your body need natural sources of nutrients to keep you going. Just eat healthy. Eat lots of vegetables, some fruits, less carbohydrate loaded foods, and plenty of meats as some dairy is okay. Meats and lower card veggies are loaded with great nutrients. Just 3 ounces of meat has more nutrients twice that of most fruits and veggies. (I'd post more links but sadly I cannot do this at the time. Use google to verify the info I stated.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritionfacts.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrient facts.org&lt;/a&gt; for more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's okay to cheat once in a while and have some chocolate and ice cream and such. The point is don't make a habit out of it and go with out it at more often than not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fitness:&lt;/strong&gt; Strength training will burn more kcals and sooner than cardio/pulmonary (Not vascular, this never made seance to me.) workouts. Keep your fitness routine well rounded. For women, it is important to do bone strengthening activities to prevent osteoporosis later in life. Track helps with this but weights and strength training should be utilized as well. You don't have to get big muscles and strength training will not inevitably do this unless you aim for it. You'll of course still want to do you're cardio/pulmonary workouts as well, just keep them balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're young, don't stress too much about this stuff. Sure, build up good fitness habits but don't let them get you down. Good luck to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-02-27T00:29:12.970" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29034" CreationDate="2016-02-27T04:02:27.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a surprisingly tricky question to answer. What is fairly unambiguous is that, for most people, increasing activity will correlate with better health. As a race, we are becoming more sedentary with longer periods of inactivity due to the large numbers of jobs that involve sitting at a desk combined with recreation such as web browsers and video games that similarly keeps us immobile. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2894114/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; concluded that &quot;intervention participants can realize modest changes in BMI and blood pressure with increases of physical activity&quot;. Now, the question is, are these step goals useful since, as you said, this could be taking time away from more effective activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&amp;amp;arnumber=6240359&amp;amp;tag=1&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D6240359%26tag%3D1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a study of pedometer tracking software&lt;/a&gt; with various forms of reminders, &quot;participants found it beneficial to have secondary and primary weekly goals and to receive non-judgmental reminders.&quot; According to one summary I found, the reminders needed to be geared toward the participant's goals and did better when they provided specific goals such as getting 2000 more steps in rather than general &quot;you should exercise more&quot; reminders. On the other hand, other features, such as the provision of the number of calories burned, indicating &quot;how much you can eat&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.today.com/health/fitness-band-frustration-users-complain-weight-gain-trackers-t66146&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;have been correlated with weight gain&lt;/a&gt;. This is actually in agreement with general philosophies on exercise where it's been shown that people take the provided measures of calories burned as &quot;free calories&quot; and will consistently eat more than they burned as a method of rewarding themselves. So basically, the trackers seem to be providing benefits in terms of convincing people to be active more consistently throughout the day, but as with any form of exercise, you'll need to control your diet and not treat those calories burned as &quot;free&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as per my comment, yes, it's more efficient to do more intense exercise. Raising your heart-rate into a higher zone will improve your cardiovascular health. Doing resistance training will improve your strength. Doing activities at a higher intensity is more efficient because you're fitting the same amount of burned calories into a shorter amount of your time and you're challenging your body to get even better. That said, there's a reason why most people agree that exercising at least three times a week is a good idea but so few people do it. Most people are averse to extra pain and stress in their life, and face it, exercise programs generally involve pain and stress if done right. Yes, if you save five minutes of time by parking closer to work and you use those five minutes to exercise five minutes longer in a cardio or strength workout, it's going to be more effective in the end. But how many people will use those five minutes productively versus the number of people who'll use it to check their Facebook feed, to spend a bit more time at the water cooler, or to run one more check on their code? Providing feedback, and goals, for constant activity seems to just work in terms of getting those people more active, if not necessarily lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, I think you're looking at two different axes. Counting steps is meant to promote an overall activity level through the day. Strength and cardio training is meant to promote more strength and endurance. Both contribute to your health, but in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-02-27T04:02:27.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29041" CreationDate="2016-02-27T07:17:37.013" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, &lt;strong&gt;for the question of preventing injury&lt;/strong&gt;, it's entirely relative to one's current fitness, nutrition, age, and current physical status. There is never a guarantee that stretching and warming up will prevent injury. The point of warming up is to limit the likelihood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: if one in relatively good shape and is relatively young and have no physical limitation such as a leg cramp, then in the cases you mentioned the risk of injury, in exercising with out warm-up, is relatively low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, in the other extreme, if one is relatively old, over weight, never works out, eats unhealthy, and currently has a leg cramp, then injury would be highly likely to occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In both cases, however, injury is neither guaranteed to occur or not occur.&lt;/strong&gt; Sorry the answer is not definite but in this case one cannot speak in absolutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That said, Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, it would be helpful in preventing injury to increase your fitness in a given activity in spontaneous things like running short distances before engaging in them to better condition your body. &lt;strong&gt;Spontaneous efforts will, at first, engage the fast twitch muscles so you'll also want to add a strength training regiment.&lt;/strong&gt; Strength training will benefit you most for explosive efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your ultimate goal is simply to do it with less hard breathing and sweating then cardio/pulmonary workouts [i.e. exercises that strengthen the lungs and heart] can increase lung and heart efficiency. Strength training is great for your heart but does little for lung endurance. This is where HIIT may become useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As for sweating&lt;/strong&gt; though, arguably, if you have to exert less efforts to receive same benefit then your body will need to sweat less but, at the same time, &lt;strong&gt;the more fit you are, the more easily you will sweat.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://certification.acsm.org/blog/2013/may/the-science-of-sweat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;See this article.&lt;/a&gt;. Other factors come into play as well such as ambient temperature, hydration, etc. For the issue of sweating, you can wear clothes that well breathe well and dissipate the sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT is great for the lungs and heart but &lt;strong&gt;it is not a replacement for strength training&lt;/strong&gt; and will not produce the same results in the short term or even long term. &lt;strong&gt;HIIT is the perfect method for losing fat while retaining muscle mass. It is also a good way to train for spontaneous activities especially&lt;/strong&gt; if you also desire to burn calories. Some people define HIIT differently, so I'll add this qualifier Weight training being -i.e. weighted squats, leg press, calf extensions, lunges, etc. and HIT being non-weighted High Intensity Workouts. Some HIIT techniques involve weighted exercise but they're applied with a different methodology. &lt;strong&gt;The focus with HIIT is to burn calories not to build muscle strength.&lt;/strong&gt; One of the &lt;strong&gt;drawbacks of HIIT is that many of it's activities may put you at risk of injury.&lt;/strong&gt; If you're concerned about injury or have had a recent injury, I wouldn't recommend HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More on &lt;strong&gt;why HIIT is not a replacement for strength training&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“EMG techniques make it possible to study recruitment order, the relationship between stimulation and the amount of force developed, the type of muscle contraction (concentric vs. eccentric) and the effects of fatigue. EMG analysis in my study showed the approximate percentage of the recruitment of muscle fiber types in the quadriceps of a trained athlete during execution of a one repetition squat with progressively increasing loads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting with 60% of one-repetition maximum, the slow-twitch fibers contribute 60 percent to the effort; fast-twitch fatigue resistant fibers, 30 percent; and fast-twitch fatigable 10 percent. At 100 percent maximum effort, however, the percentage of slow-twitch fibers involved is only 5%, while fast-twitch fatigue resistant is 15 percent, and fast-twitch fatigable is 80 percent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implications for athletic-type strength training are clear. To develop strength in the fast-twitch fibers you have to train with heavy weights. Light weights contribute little to optimizing strength and power performance. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For complete article see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=412352&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=412352&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T01:10:46.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-27T15:00:31.760" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately I have been trying out some new excercises to train my legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of which is the Lunge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I noticed that when doing them without weight, I had no problem at all. But when I took about 10kg each hand (which should be easy since I'm not new to training legs) I had a very painful stretchy-like feeling in my hamstring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm keeping my back straight and making sure that my knee doesn't come over my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any idea on what this might cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Personal Trainer said that form wasn't causing the pain, I switched to different hamstring excercises)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T19:54:38.370" Title="Lunge - Deep painful stretch in Hamstrings" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29061" CreationDate="2016-02-28T03:00:43.350" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know we have the question about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9876/recovering-from-rolled-ankle&quot;&gt;what to do immediately after a rolled ankle&lt;/a&gt;, but this is different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 5 months ago I rolled my ankle, and I rested it and went to physio. However, it's still weak and I keep re-rolling it. I'm going to go back to physio. Is there anything I can do in the mean time? Is it safe to run, bike and swim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also when I rolled it the first time they gave me a cane. Was this good to use because I heard in the past doctors were much more into immobilizing an injury but then they found the muscles didn't really heal properly if they overdid it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T17:20:57.270" Title="Strengthening rolled ankle" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29051" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29065" CreationDate="2016-02-28T16:54:15.063" Score="6" ViewCount="3610" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does regular upper-body workout lead to an increase in the circumference of the wrist? I'm thinking of exercises like bench press, curls, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19566" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-07-08T21:39:48.943" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T21:39:48.943" Title="Relation between upper body workout and wrist size" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;bones&gt;&lt;skeleton&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-28T17:41:37.267" Score="1" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good day everyone. I've been &lt;strong&gt;wanting to improve my physique&lt;/strong&gt; for some time now but I haven't still because I'm scared. I've &lt;strong&gt;been leading a very sedentary life&lt;/strong&gt; and it's made me &lt;strong&gt;unhealthy and weak&lt;/strong&gt; to a point I feel unattractive and don't have any confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My goal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to &lt;strong&gt;lose a lot of fat and also gain muscle&lt;/strong&gt;. Generally just &lt;strong&gt;getting&lt;/strong&gt; that &lt;strong&gt;perfect body&lt;/strong&gt;, like Chris Evans A.K.A Captain America. I want to shape all parts of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm scared&lt;/strong&gt; because I've heard that if I &lt;strong&gt;don't do everything&#xA;correctly&lt;/strong&gt;, i.e eating right, exercising right it might actually&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;worsen my physique&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;don't have access to a gym&lt;/strong&gt;, but I do &lt;strong&gt;own&lt;/strong&gt; some equipment. I have a&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;pair of 3KG (~7lbs) dumbbells, a treadmill,&lt;/strong&gt; and a &lt;strong&gt;bench&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've &lt;strong&gt;tried doing weight-exercises&lt;/strong&gt; with the dumbbells &lt;strong&gt;to build muscle&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;with reference from www.dumbbell-exercises.com/ but I didn't feel&#xA;any stress on my muscles. At first I thought the weights were too&#xA;light but then I read articles where people say they've built a&#xA;decent amount of muscle with light weights. So clearly I'm &lt;strong&gt;not&#xA;exercising right&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've &lt;strong&gt;also tried body-weight exercises&lt;/strong&gt; but it was the same. I didn't&#xA;feel like they were having any effect. I might have &lt;strong&gt;also doing it&#xA;wrongly&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't have access to protein powder either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I don't know&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What exercises&lt;/strong&gt; I need to do, &lt;strong&gt;how&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;when&lt;/strong&gt;, or how much I need to exercise to achieve my goal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to &lt;strong&gt;use&lt;/strong&gt; the &lt;strong&gt;equipment&lt;/strong&gt; that I have to &lt;strong&gt;benefit my goal&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much to eat&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; to eat, and &lt;strong&gt;when&lt;/strong&gt; with regard to exercising.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those who have knowledge about physical fitness know how to plan their diet because they have an idea of how strenuous their workouts are. I do not have knowledge about physical fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I do know:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know that &lt;strong&gt;my goal is big&lt;/strong&gt; and it will take a long time for me to achieve it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know that &lt;strong&gt;diet&lt;/strong&gt; is a &lt;strong&gt;big part&lt;/strong&gt; of any body &lt;strong&gt;transformation&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know the &lt;strong&gt;basics of nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;, i.e what a &lt;strong&gt;calorie&lt;/strong&gt; is, what &lt;strong&gt;macro&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;micro nutrients&lt;/strong&gt; are, what &lt;strong&gt;BMI&lt;/strong&gt; is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My specs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Age: 18&#xA;Height: 68in&#xA;&#xA;//Circumference&#xA;Waist: 35in&#xA;Hips: 39in&#xA;Forearm: 10in&#xA;Wrist: 6.2in&#xA;&#xA;Weight: 160lbs&#xA;Fat percentage: 18.3%&#xA;Fat weight: 29.3lbs&#xA;Lean weight: 130.7lbs&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My motivation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My motivation behind doing so is that I want to &lt;strong&gt;feel more active and confident&lt;/strong&gt;. And also because of &lt;strong&gt;my S/O&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The actual question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may not sound like a question but please. I need guidance on &lt;strong&gt;how to achieve my goal&lt;/strong&gt; based on the information I've given. I want to learn what I do not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can advise me what do personally, give me some tips on getting started, or point me in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you require any other information I'll let you know. Thanks in advance!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19563" LastEditorUserId="19563" LastEditDate="2016-02-28T17:46:53.933" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T13:10:50.473" Title="Need some guidance to begin body transformation" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-03-02T15:25:45.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29067" CreationDate="2016-02-28T18:49:36.183" Score="7" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I did a fairly heavy upper body workout around 11am. I worked my arms until I could barely move the EZ bar to put it away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A while later, at around 7pm, I had had a couple drinks, and felt the need to workout again (I don't know why). I did another workout, almost as intense at the one earlier in the day; working the exact same muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you're supposed to give your body time to rest between workouts, but it's within the same day, and I'm not doing any lifting today (the day after). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what was likely the result of the second workout that day? Was it more likely to be beneficial, or harmful? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 23 year old male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10226" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T23:00:44.703" Title="Is it wrong to workout more than once a day?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29058" CreationDate="2016-02-28T19:00:17.673" Score="8" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know that sleep is important for gains, but does that sleep need to be contiguous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What if we slept in phases, each time waking up after REM sleep, and then going to bed a couple hours later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or more practically, sleeping for say 5 hours, and then taking naps throughout the day (making sure the naps last long enough to get us through deep sleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would we get the same benefits, or must sleep be contiguous?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastEditorUserId="19532" LastEditDate="2016-03-01T03:33:09.537" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T03:33:09.537" Title="Do we need contiguous sleep for gains?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29041" CreationDate="2016-02-28T21:34:09.027" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When jogging to the store, you can still use the concept of warming up by starting off slowly until your circulation increases, your muscles warm up and your joints lubricate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running to catch a bus is different and requires that your body can handle a sprint.  The most likely injury here is a pulled calf muscle or Achilles tendon injury from the sudden maximal contraction as you push off. To help prevent that type of injury, a general exercise program of running and &lt;strong&gt;daily&lt;/strong&gt; stretching is a good way to go. (See this q/a for calf stretches. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24512/developing-calf-and-hip-flexor-flexibility/24515#24515&quot;&gt;developing calf and hip flexor flexibility&lt;/a&gt;).    By increasing your overall fitness, the body is better prepared to handle sudden exertions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specificity - You may want to also include sprints or high intensity intervals in your exercise program.  HIIT is an efficient and effective way to train, esp. cardio.  If your joints are not in the best shape, you may find sprints or HIIT are easier to begin in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T21:34:09.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29053" CreationDate="2016-02-29T01:32:14.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not exactly wrong, at age 23, at least. However, working out twice a day is not really more beneficial than working out once a day either. The explanation for this is because after your first workout your muscles already began to recover, so all working out several hours later did was break them back down again and now the recovery process will have to start all over again. Usually you should rest the entire next day to recover properly, so as you state that you are doing that, you probably should be fine. So, I wouldn't really call what you did harmful or beneficial, it is just not necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16691" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T01:32:14.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29054" CreationDate="2016-02-29T09:54:24.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You’ve likely heard of human growth hormone (HGH), a hormone that fuels muscle growth and recovery. Well, this hormone is released during sleep, particularly during deep sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a good brief info about sleep and muscle growth &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.xpisupplements.com/sleep-and-muscle-building/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;with the references at the bottom.&#xA;Usually, you fall into REM sleep 90 minutes after you fall asleep.&#xA;Since leucine and growth hormone are the key for protein synthesis and they are released during REM sleep which takes about 1.5-2 hours (Adults can spend up to 20% of their sleep in the REM stage) 2x4hours would also be an option. It looks like at least 3-3.5 hours straight sleep is a must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Growth hormone promotes growth and repair of muscle tissue, so HGH release during sleep is crucial for muscle building.[2]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growth hormone also plays a role in carbohydrate metabolism, affecting energy supply to muscle. Sleep deprivation may slow muscle growth by altering supply of energy substrate to muscle.[3]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If deep sleep is interrupted, the release of growth hormone is halted.[4] Thus, a good night’s rest is crucial for growth hormone’s benefits to take full effect.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T09:54:24.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29052" CreationDate="2016-02-29T12:30:56.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;It isn't complicated&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physique improvement process isn't as dangerous or difficult as your post seems to imply. It is very difficult to &quot;worsen your physique&quot; and especially to do it without noticing it's getting worse. You don't need to &quot;do everything right&quot;, rather just follow a few basic principles. The hardest part is actually maintaining motivation to keep following your plan! There are so many ways to reach your goals and all of them tend to work within reason. I've used a variety of different techniques to train and found out how effective each of them was for me in my situation. (spoiler: yes they all work, but only if you put in the work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone like yourself who is thinking about the process and looking for the correct way of doing things will be just fine, I feel there is unnecessary apprehension going on. The most important thing for you: just getting started with a plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Building muscle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two main stages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You work the muscle. This causes stress that the body isn't used to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You rest. This allows your body to build up your muscles in order to adapt to the stress you imposed on it in stage 1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You repeat, increasing the work on the muscle over time to ensure your body keeps improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a bit more depth to it, e.g. for your goals your 3kg dumbbells aren't going to cut it (ignore what people online said about building muscle using light weights, that sounds horrendously out of context here). I'd suggest a gym membership where you can start using barbells and working up in weight properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you, you want to be aiming to lift heavy stuff for sets of 5-15, working out your whole body every time you're in the gym, and going to the gym as often as you can/want (minimum 3 times a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your aims (first few months)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get used to lifting weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn some basic lifts (squat, bench, row, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(once you've done a few sessions) Start pushing your muscles! Aim to increase weight/sets/reps over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Even if you do this all wrong..&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry. It's a journey, and you'll take some incorrect steps as you go, but you learn from it. I wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't made a whole bunch of mistakes along the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trust me doing &quot;permanent&quot; damage to yourself is very, very difficult unless you specifically want to. Any mistakes you make will at worst lose you a bit of time but at the same time provide you with priceless experience. Embrace mistakes. Experiment and push your limits. Have fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T12:30:56.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3378" CreationDate="2016-02-29T12:50:42.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Upper lower imbalance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's actually quite common on stronglifts/starting strength/etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few factors at play here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are consistently doing a heavy lower body lift first every single workout. The first exercise you do in a workout when you're fresh will tend to be the most effective. For some that means that latter exercises progress slowly because they tire themselves on the first one. This might be happening to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats are notorious for sucking your energy. Meaning you have less effort left to apply to bench and rows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most importantly and quite obviously: you are squatting and deadlifting a lot more than you are working upper body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The result of all of this for SOME PEOPLE (not everyone) is imbalanced lower body development compared to upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had the same issue on Starting Strength and similar 5x5/3x5 programs. The result for me was huge thighs and not much else. It was only when I started prioritising upper body have I begun seeing actual chest/shoulders/back development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you will probably notice your legs and hips and glutes growing faster than your upper body if you keep going. If that's cool with you then keep doing what you're doing. If however you want to prioritise your upper body development then you need to change stuff up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's about your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-03-01T16:06:22.063" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T16:06:22.063" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29050" CreationDate="2016-02-29T14:05:16.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've sprained both of my ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To strengthen them back up the physio gave me lots of balancing exercises to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Started out simply  balancing on one foot. When you're trying to balance you move your ankle a bit and this strengthens it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can move onto balancing on a bosu ball if you find this is too easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also close your eyes to make it more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to do this for your good ankle too. You don't want an imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't do this if it is still really swollen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15658" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T14:05:16.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29021" CreationDate="2016-02-29T14:53:23.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not worry about your lungs, they are completely normal. Punctured lungs is a very different clinical condition that needs to be operated. Clue: When you do the twist do not let the motion make the air out of your lungs, you need to contract the side you twisted toward and you squeeze the air out in your control. You will get more benefit by doing this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T14:53:23.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29051" CreationDate="2016-02-29T15:46:39.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wrist and ankle size is more like genetic characteristics dependent besides as your bones and muscle grow the wrist size gets larger but limited. The is no hidden secret to make the wrist size bigger :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T15:46:39.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29051" CreationDate="2016-02-29T18:57:08.183" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In short, Yes!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two aspects to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bone:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Any exercise that places regular stress on a given bone will increase bone density overtime. For the wrist specifically, strengthening the forearm and hand muscles (in the forearm) will have the greatest effect. When you do these other exercises these muscles are still indirectly strengthened as supporting muscles and, in the case of the bench press for example, there is a lot of stress placed on the bones when in the starting and ending positions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process of bone density and growth is a relatively slow process and depends on many factors. Some factors are genetic in nature but the most notable are related to gender, age, hormones and nutrition. If you're a female beyond menopause then your bone density cannot increase and you should limit these high impact activities especially if you're at risk of osteoporosis. This is one reason why women should participate in strength training and high impact activities while they're young as they're bones will become more dense and therefore stronger to prevent osteoporosis later in life. For males bone growth may slow with age but it does not normally stop altogether unless there are other genetic, nutritional, and/or hormonal factors. (See below for more detailed explanation on bone growth.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;The term wrist is literally where the carpus or carpal bones are but many people actually mean the lower forearm when they refer to the wrist. There are also muscles in the forearm, such as the Flexor Carpi Ulnaris and pronator quadratus. The pronator quadratus is in the wrist where you would wear a wrist watch, but not in the wrist proper, (where the arm meets the hand or where handcuffs go). These can be strengthened as well. These muscles can increases in size as well with weighted movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VevGK.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VevGK.png&quot; alt=&quot;pronator quadratus&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TFPP1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TFPP1.png&quot; alt=&quot;Forarm anatomy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forearm and Wrist Exercises include:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wrist Curls For Flexion &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Reverse Wrist Curls For Extension &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Behind The Back Wrist Curls &lt;br&gt;&#xA;One-Arm Cable Reverse Curls &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To specifically target the pronator quadratus:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;Seated forearm pronation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Side lying forearm pronation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Standing forearm pronation with rope attachment&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Flexbar forearm pronation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Band seated forearm pronation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Band standing forearm pronation&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal Advice:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt; While you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; increase the thickness of your wrist with physical activities, this should be in no way be a goal nor a hindrance unless there are mitigating factors. The reason being is that the process is relatively slow and not significant. Anything that stimulates the production of HGH will have a net effect of bone gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Detailed Explanation on Bone Growth:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are several types of bone cells that preform different functions. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SqJ9F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SqJ9F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bone Cells&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteocyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Osteocytes&lt;/a&gt; are the cell in the bone that maintain the bone mineral concentration. &lt;a href=&quot;http://boneandspine.com/bone-mineralization-process/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(1)&lt;/a&gt; Stimulated as stress is placed on the bone through gravity or exercise by &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanotransduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mechanotransduction&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/endo.139.4.5949&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(3,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7494/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3688455&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;11,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteocyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;12)&lt;/a&gt;, the Osteocytes will increase mineralization (aka calcification). Bone mineral is initially deposited in “hole” zones between the ends of collagen fibrils of the matrix. As bone matures, hydroxyapatite crystals enlarge and by crystal growth and aggregation. The process of mineralization takes place throughout the entire life. &lt;a href=&quot;http://boneandspine.com/bone-mineralization-process/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(1)&lt;/a&gt; Osteocytes die as a consequence of senescence, degeneration/necrosis, apoptosis (programmed cell death), and/or osteoclastic engulfment. The percentage of dead osteocytes in bone increases with age from less than 1% at birth to 75% after age 80. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteocyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(12)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OeqTV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OeqTV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;![Osteocytes&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoblast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Osteoblasts&lt;/a&gt; are the cell responsible for bone growth. &lt;a href=&quot;http://boneandspine.com/bone-mineralization-process/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(1,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-musculoskeletal-system-38/bone-216/cell-types-in-bones-816-12058/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2)&lt;/a&gt; Osteoblasts are stimulated by &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hormone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human Growth Hormone (HGH)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/endo.139.4.5949&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(3,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7683248&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;4,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17698843&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8364969&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;6,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mpo.10342/abstract;jsessionid=D461C947EE61AF32D62B2A64A390B690.f03t02&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;7)&lt;/a&gt; which is produced in higher amounts during and after strenuous exercise. &lt;a href=&quot;http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/endo.139.4.5949&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(3)&lt;/a&gt; Osteoblasts are found in the growing portions of bone, including the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periosteum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;periosteum&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endosteum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;endosteum&lt;/a&gt;. After bones are fully developed in adulthood, the bone will not increase in length but can/will increase in diameter given the right conditions of nutrition and hormone stimulation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HGH is naturally produced by the pituitary gland during sleep. HGH production will wane with age. To both, maximize bone gains as well as muscle, you need to maximize HGH production. HGH is produced by the body every night. Production is increased after anaerobic activities. To maximize production of HGH, you'll need to get good rest (8 hours sleep) and ample nutrition including protein and vitamins. Some people supplement with BCAA's, Vitamin D, Glutamine, GABA, A-GPC, L-arginine and L-lysine to improve HGH performance. Some suggest avoiding sugar after workouts. They say that consuming sugar (especially fructose) within 2 hours post workout will cause your hypothalamus to release somatostatin, which will decrease your production of HGH. Simple sugars that are high-glycemic also spike insulin levels. Not only does this lead to body fat storage, but it severely decreases the release of growth hormone. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thebodywellusa.com/dr-mike-carraghers-top-10-ways-to-increase-your-human-growth-hormone-hgh-levels-naturally/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(13)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Osteoclasts are the cells responsible for breaking down the bone back into raw materials. These are the antithesis to the Osteoblasts. Together they make up a process called bone remodeling and facilitate appositional growth. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-musculoskeletal-system-38/bone-216/cell-types-in-bones-816-12058/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(2,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.iofbonehealth.org/introduction-bone-biology-all-about-our-bones&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;8,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-musculoskeletal-system-38/bone-216/growth-of-bone-818-12061/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;9)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The result is an increase in the overall rate of bone remodeling,&#xA;  with a net effect of bone accumulation. The absence of GH results in a&#xA;  reduced rate of bone remodeling and a gradual loss of bone mineral&#xA;  density.&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mpo.10342/abstract;jsessionid=D461C947EE61AF32D62B2A64A390B690.f03t02&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(7)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rLhqd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rLhqd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Osteoblasts&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, here is proof that the introduction of Growth Hormone along with exercise/stress on bone will increase both bone size and density in experiments done on rats. Assuming the biological processes are the same in humans, we can expect the same results give similar circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The mild exercise [in control group -without GH] doubled the&#xA;  mineralizing surface but did not influence the bone formation rate&#xA;  significantly. The combination of GH injections plus exercise,&#xA;  however, resulted in a further increase of 39% in bone formation rate,&#xA;  primarily at the anterolateral aspects, and an increase of 5% in&#xA;  cross-sectional area compared with the group injected with GH only.&#xA;  The femur ultimate breaking load was increased by 37% and the&#xA;  stiffness by 42% in the group injected with GH compared with the&#xA;  saline-injected group.&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/endo.139.4.5949&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(3)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bone minerilaztion/density increases with any stress placed on the bone including working out. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and other hormones will help to facilitate this as long as there is simulation by mechanotransduction. Osteocytes are the cells responsible for this and have an average lifespan of 30 years so bone minerilaztion will decrease with age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bone size can and will increase as well. This is heavily dependent on Human Growth Hormone levels that increase with high intensity and anaerobic workouts. Overall, HGH decreases with age without HGH treatment. In women post menopause, bone density nor size will not increase due to reduction of various hormone levels, however, this too can be mitigated by HGH treatment and hormone therapy but with possible side effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://boneandspine.com/bone-mineralization-process/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://boneandspine.com/bone-mineralization-process/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(2) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-musculoskeletal-system-38/bone-216/cell-types-in-bones-816-12058/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-musculoskeletal-system-38/bone-216/cell-types-in-bones-816-12058/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(3) &lt;a href=&quot;http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/endo.139.4.5949&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/endo.139.4.5949&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(4) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7683248&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7683248&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(5) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17698843&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17698843&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(6) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8364969&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8364969&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(7) &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mpo.10342/abstract;jsessionid=D461C947EE61AF32D62B2A64A390B690.f03t02&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mpo.10342/abstract;jsessionid=D461C947EE61AF32D62B2A64A390B690.f03t02&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(8) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.iofbonehealth.org/introduction-bone-biology-all-about-our-bones&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.iofbonehealth.org/introduction-bone-biology-all-about-our-bones&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(9) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-musculoskeletal-system-38/bone-216/growth-of-bone-818-12061/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-musculoskeletal-system-38/bone-216/growth-of-bone-818-12061/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(10) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7494/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7494/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(11) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3688455&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3688455&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(12) &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteocyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteocyte&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;(13) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thebodywellusa.com/dr-mike-carraghers-top-10-ways-to-increase-your-human-growth-hormone-hgh-levels-naturally/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.thebodywellusa.com/dr-mike-carraghers-top-10-ways-to-increase-your-human-growth-hormone-hgh-levels-naturally/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More Reading:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; 1. &lt;a href=&quot;http://nof.org/exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nof.org/exercise&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA; 2. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2013/12/11/weight-lifting-bone-density/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;builtlean.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA; 3. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/bonemass.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.unm.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-06-23T22:34:57.527" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T22:34:57.527" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29076" CreationDate="2016-02-29T20:22:14.473" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which single exercise can you recommend the most to train the lower abs at home without any required tools?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19574" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T16:04:18.290" Title="What is the most effective exercise for the lower abs that one can do at home without any tools?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29053" CreationDate="2016-02-29T22:15:30.263" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My question is, what was likely the result of the second workout that&#xA;  day? Was it more likely to be beneficial, or harmful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could have injured yourself, for starters. Following that first workout at 11am, you broke a lot of tissues down in your body and weakened yourself. With rest and recovery your body heals, plus a bit of size and strength to overcompensate. That alcohol was floating around in your system further impaired your coordination, muscle recruitment, force production, and healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was more likely to be harmful, by quite an extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some people who exercise multiple times a day, but generally these are Olympic lifters where the limiting factor is explosiveness and coordination, not raw power output. You will generally not find strength athletes training more than once a day, unless it is very imbalanced (doing a run or some conditioning, then later doing some lifting, etc). Even then, I don't see it much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend finding and adhering to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a successful strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. The guesswork will be removed for you, you'll get much better results, much safer, and much quicker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T22:15:30.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29053" CreationDate="2016-02-29T23:32:17.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working out twice a day is quite typical when reaching advanced and elite levels. When people ask this question, I constantly make reference to olympic weightlifters, who lift heavy hours per day, often twice or three times per day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically every elite (strength-related) athlete lifts or utilizes their muscles to a similar extent multiple times per day.  Take professional football players for example: weightlifting and practice almost every day. There are some exceptions to this rule, but those are folks who are lifting at inconceivably large tonnages (if you're squatting 800+, this is you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love this quote by John Broz, coach of 2011 and 2012 US national weightlifting champion Pat Mendes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you can't go into the gym and squat heavy twice a day, every day,&#xA;  you aren't overtrained, you're undertrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Love him or hate him, I think Greg Glassman hit the nail on the head with this quote as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why is it that those most inclined to worry and ask about&#xA;  “overtraining” are about as likely to set a new record in the Olympic&#xA;  Decathlon as they are to ever overtrain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main concern is injury.  Injuring (straining) muscle tissue is a concern, but more important are the other soft connective tissues which can take months to heal.  Cartilage and discs of the spine are also easily damageable when overdoing it.  So it's important to gradually increase your volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, I would imagine the additional volume was beneficial, at least in acute bouts such a single day.  It generally takes a long time to start seeing positive or negative effects of modifying training volume and frequency.  If you want a legitimate answer, you need to be scientific about it and &lt;em&gt;measure&lt;/em&gt;.  You know, stick to twice-per-day on your arm workout for six weeks and see if your strength improves.  Get a measuring tape and measure your upper arms.  That sort of thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frequency is just another variable in the progressive overload equation, which, by the way is a pretty complex equation once you start being scientific about it. Bret Contreras lists these 12 methods of progressive overload in &lt;a href=&quot;https://bretcontreras.com/progressive-overload/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt;, a couple of which are relevant to your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting the same load for increased distance (range of motion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting the same load and volume with better form, more control, and&#xA;less effort (efficiency) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifting the same load for more reps (volume)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting heavier loads (intensity of load) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting the same load and&#xA;volume with less rest time in between sets (density) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting a load&#xA;with more speed and acceleration (intensity of effort) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing more&#xA;work in the same amount of time (density) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing the same work in less&#xA;amount of time (density) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing more sets with the same load and reps&#xA;(volume)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifting the same load and volume more often throughout the&#xA;week (frequency)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing the same work while losing body mass&#xA;(increased relative volume) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting the same load and volume and then&#xA;extending the set past technical failure with forced reps, negatives,&#xA;drop sets, static holds, rest pause, partial reps, or post-exhaustion&#xA;(intensity of effort)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure, especially at 23, it was almost a non-issue for your body.  Just get enough rest and eat.  Here's some further reading if you're interested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24923/is-this-overtraining/24949#24949&quot;&gt;Is this overtraining?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24986/will-this-be-overtraining/24987#24987&quot;&gt;Will this be &amp;#39;Overtraining&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2679/can-you-overtrain/11495#11495&quot;&gt;Can you overtrain?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T23:53:07.470" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29069" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-01T11:24:45.333" Score="3" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought an elliptical cycle to lose weight. After losing some weight and getting used to it now it feels as easy as walking. It is basically useless now. But I don't want it to go to waste. So I'm looking for a way to make it useful for my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I increase its resistance by modifying it somehow? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would wearing a 40lbs rucksack while using it a good idea? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hepsiburada.com/dynamic-e16-eliptik-bisiklet-pm-spor1dybse16&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is the cycle I have.  It has 11-pound magnetic flywheel, which is why it is so easy I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15717" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T20:54:23.127" Title="My elliptical cycle is too easy for me... I don't want to throw it away. What can I do with it?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;elliptical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29052" CreationDate="2016-03-01T13:10:50.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be honest, you will not gain muscle with 3kg dumbbells. They are simply too light. A single push-up will have you moving more than five times that weight. I understand if you can not get a gym membership, but you will be better off with bodyweight workouts until then as they allow you to progress. Your assumption that callisthenics is too easy is unfounded as there are any number of progressions to do to build strength (read the link before for more information from someone more qualified). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barbrothersgroningen.com/calisthenics-workout-plan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.barbrothersgroningen.com/calisthenics-workout-plan/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with your assumption in the comment for hamza_tm's answer that you could easily worsen your physique I would say that is very hard. Simply losing fat will improve your physique as it will make all of your muscles appear larger. It also takes an extreme amount of work to overbuild muscle in a specific area, we're talking years of only doing triceps, or only doing core work, for something that to happen. Follow a full body routine and you will be ok. And with your fear of losing too much fat in the wrong areas of the body I would say that you should not worry about that, as nearly any part of your body that you judge to be too skinny can be filled with muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leighpeele.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/10-percent-body-fat-male-pictures1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.leighpeele.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/10-percent-body-fat-male-pictures1.jpg&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both those men are 10 percent bodyfat, but as you can clearly see one has a very high muscle mass, where as one has very little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This idea that fitness is extremely hard is one sold by the fitness industry to sell products and supplements. Choose a premade plan and follow it consistently and you &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; see results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now while you begin this program I would also advise you using an If It Fits Your Macros calculator(link below) and using it to slowly cut fat. You will be far happier with your body skinny first, and it is much easier to cut before bulking. Use the calculator and lose at the 15 percent option so you still have the energy for bodyweight workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a food log using either an app like myfitnesspal or a diary and stick to it as best as you can. If you can not always get enough protein, or you eat 20g's too many carbs do not beat yourself up over it or worry. Simply try your best the next day and continue your program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you maintain both of these things for a few months you will see results. If you follow the program consistently and finish the entire 6 months you will look and feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a photo log of your progress to encourage yourself and make your change easier to see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do it alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19307" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T13:10:50.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29071" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-01T14:43:28.003" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 6 foot, 330 pounds. I'm 18 years old and I've been big all my life. I want to lose body fat and build muscle. I work out everyday now. I don't know if I should focus more on my workout or my cardio... Before I've just focused on lighter weight and more reps, then I now do more cardio than weights. I'd rather lift more weights than do more cardio. Someone please tell me what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19577" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-01T17:00:25.757" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T17:01:57.890" Title="What should I do?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-03-02T14:31:40.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29071" CreationDate="2016-03-01T15:12:43.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of excercises which burn fat. F.e. squats, burpees or even take a look into crossfit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one of the most important things to make sure you get right is your diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(edit your question with some more details, this makes it easier, f.e. since when did you start working out, what are you doing now (scheme) and what is your progress so far?, do you have a current diet?)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T15:12:43.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29071" CreationDate="2016-03-01T15:17:04.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you should focus on both with the same weight, 50% cardio, 50% weight lifting. I suggest you do a 3-day Workout where you do your full body every workout, that help's you to get a good basic for later weight lifting. On off days you put in 20-40 min of cardio, try especially HIIT Cardio (just google what it means and how it works), it will help you burn fat a lot faster. So you could do something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: Full Body Workout (1-2 Exercises per Body part, chest back&#xA;shoulders abs legs biceps &amp;amp; triceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: 20-40 Min of HIIT Cardio, outside or in the gym doesn't&#xA;really matter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Full Body Workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: 20-40 Min of HIIT Cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: Full Body Workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: 20-40 Min of HIIT Cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: Rest Day, don't do anything and just get ready for the Monday&#xA;workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why i can relate to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was on a similar point at what you are right now, and this plan really helped me out to build up some basic muscles and burn fat, after 3-4 Month i switched it up, but i think it should help in the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good links i can provide to you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://muscleandstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscleandstrength.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both have a ton of workout routines and exercises, check them out and experiment. You will soon recognize which exercises you may want to keep doing or some that you really dont like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any questions just hit me up in the comments :) Hope it gave you a good beginning on how to start,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cheers Budd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19366" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T15:17:04.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29071" CreationDate="2016-03-01T15:52:34.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look I'm going to be honest, the biggest factor in you losing weight will be your diet. Cardio helps, doing weights helps, but the primary factor is always diet. A lot of cardio and weights cannot overcome a bad diet. But that doesn't mean ignore them - they are important to complement a good diet and will help your results!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that out of the way, doing more weights than cardio is fine. Once diet is on plan, you should find the combination of weights and cardio that helps you &lt;strong&gt;stay motivated&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;reach your goals&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Some Suggestions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest using heavier weights for sets of 5 - 15. Low weights for lots of reps is going to waste your time. You need to build serious muscle, it will help you look in shape much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plan Noshii outlined in his(?) answer is a good start, but don't feel limited to lifting only a few times a week. If you like it then lift as much as you want. 5 times a week, 6 times, 7 times a week is fine. You can aim for a minimum of cardio (twice a week is great) and lift as much as you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T15:52:34.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29071" CreationDate="2016-03-01T15:55:29.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do not need to do lots of cardio to burn your fat, as long as you are willing to eat much less than you've been doing previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your preferences, this is what I would do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calculate your TDEE&lt;/a&gt; based on your activity level and substract at least 25-30%. This will be your caloric goal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy a food scale and start measuring -if not to the gram, at least roughly- the food that you intake every day to make sure that you stay as close as possible to your caloric goal. You can get one for about $10 in Amazon, so no excuses. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat whole foods with nutritional value and avoid processed crap. Keep your protein high.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a gym with a squat rack and olympic barbells, and pick a proven beginner weight-lifting program. &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; are staples here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not quit. If you've followed all the previous steps for a month or two, the results will be so obvious that it will be very hard for you to stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastEditorUserId="16789" LastEditDate="2016-03-01T17:01:57.890" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T17:01:57.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29066" CreationDate="2016-03-01T16:04:18.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure, you can do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dead%20bugs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dead bugs&lt;/a&gt; or similar exercises. A tip while doing these is to ensure your lower back is pressed into the floor at all times, don't let it arch (otherwise the hip flexor takes over the movement instead of the lower abs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the following (called a leg drop or something):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie down and then raise your legs towards the ceiling. Tighten abs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly lower your legs until they’re a few inches above the floor (or as low as you can go without lifting the small of your back).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat. Try to get a breathing pattern down (exhale when lowering legs works well). Do these until you feel the burn, count the reps and monitor how many you do as you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(note, if lowering both legs is too hard you can lower one at a time, or you can bend at the knee. There are lots of ways to make it easier)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T16:04:18.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24777" CreationDate="2016-03-01T16:11:33.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to find what works for you, depending on the severity and manner of shoulder impingement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some people a flat bench press hurts but an incline one feels strangely fine. Others find that barbell work is problematic but dumbbell work doesn't cause issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest some experimentation, but again this all depends on how severe your impingement is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T16:11:33.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-02T02:44:52.260" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, what I've been doing is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a treadmill, run .1 MPH faster and .05 miles further than I did last time, every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, my calves are often sore for several days; at 210, I probably qualify as a heavier runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know if it safe/effective for me to use this ramp up plan?  Should I wait until I am no longer sore to continue?  Should I run each speed/distance combination more than once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19585" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-02T13:21:53.727" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T13:21:53.727" Title="Is this running plan a good idea?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-03T09:47:18.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29078" CreationDate="2016-03-02T03:33:44.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are you trying to achieve?  If it is endurance, extend the TIME you are running by 5 min/week.  If you are happy with the time, you can speed up the pace.  Try and check your heart rate to gauge your level of exertion.  If you get pain google the symptoms - you may have shin splints or ITB or other issues which may require different shoes or specific stretching or other exercises (slant board, yoga stretch band...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1800" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T03:33:44.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-02T10:03:30.023" Score="4" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have bronchitis (both asthmatic and allergic). I'm allergic to pollen (among other things) and live in a place surrounded by lots of trees, plants and flowers. I love being outside: working around the yard, exploring nearby trails with my dog, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this time of the year I can smell the Acacias (I'm specially allergic to those) and the pollution from the passing trucks. I'm starting to get bronchitis just by walking the dog for 30 minutes in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to practice Muay Thai, but I can't any more (health related issues), so I haven't done any &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; physical exercise in 5 years. I need to start getting fit again, because I'm getting old and fat, and I want to make sure my health stays in good shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried running, but since I haven't done it for so long, the bronchitis starts in the first 5-10 minutes. My legs are fine, my heart rate is fine, my lungs are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get fit and improve my cardio (lungs)? The easiest way would probably be running, but it's extremely difficult for me. I don't want to get buffed, I just want to make some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to clear something, because I have both allergic and asthmatic bronchitis, my problem isn't only the pollen allergy. The asthmatic part makes running/cycling/whatever a pain. In short, after 5 to 10 minutes of running I already have difficulty breathing because my lungs don't &quot;open&quot; as they should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answering to some questions placed in the comments: I have suffered this condition since I was a baby, from what I know. I never smoked (I'm actually allergic to tobacco smoke). I don't live in high altitude, but it's a &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; humid area, and my condition got worse when I moved here. Not sure if I feel better when away, will have to wait for the next holidays. My wife has no difficulty breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday my motorbike didn't want to start, so I ended up pushing it uphill for 50 meters to the garage. Had a bronchitis crisis, so I had to sit down for a while to calm down. I have one inhaler but try as hard as I can not to use it because it causes tachycardia. Actually, riding my motorbike is good for my bronchitis, I believe it's because of the air flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10104" LastEditorUserId="10104" LastEditDate="2016-03-09T08:56:37.663" LastActivityDate="2016-07-30T10:29:04.343" Title="Physical fitness and bronchitis" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29078" CreationDate="2016-03-02T13:13:17.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you run ~6mph, you're not adding very much daily, maybe 30 seconds. That shouldn't be an issue, no. What will affect it, however, is how far/fast you're running, and how long you've been running for. Second is how frequently you follow this plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just started a week ago, your calves will not be used to the exercise and will be unused to the change, therefore taking longer to recover while being in a little more pain. Just stretch it out, and try not to run more than once every couple days. Which is the second point, if you're running 5 days in a row, your body won't have ample time to recover. I'd suggest 3-4 days a week, if you need to supplement other cardio, walking or cycling can be assisted without the same high impact exercises as running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say 210 is on the heavier side either, that shouldn't affect you too too much. Your calves are most likely sore because you're not allowing enough time for recovery between runs, or you're still in the beginning stages. If you'd like any other info, feel free to give a little more insight and I'd be happy to give more specific advice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18422" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T13:13:17.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29092" CreationDate="2016-03-02T16:57:37.887" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do 5 sets of push-ups every other day. I do alternating workouts, like in the first day, I do push-ups for increased reps, then the next day I do weighted push-ups for 2 sets  with added weights and 3 sets without added weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing the increased reps workout, when I start to work out, I do about 28-30 reps in the first set, then I can do only 15 reps or so in the second set, and thus I am unable to go near my first set rep count in set two. For increased rep days, I take 2 minutes rest between sets, but in weighted push ups I take 3 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why can I do so many fewer push-ups in the second set?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-02T17:17:29.127" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T09:25:49.760" Title="Unable to compete nearly 1st set reps?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29084" CreationDate="2016-03-02T17:19:08.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most likely case is that you're at an upper limit in the number of push-ups you're doing in the first set such that your arms and chest are already fatigued by the end of the first set. When you start the second one, despite the rest, they may still be too fatigued. Are you training for a faster recovery or a larger number of push-ups overall? If it's the former, you're basically training it correctly by forcing yourself to strive despite the fatigue. If the latter, I'd advise cutting down the amount of reps in the first set so that you can more evenly divide your fatigue and energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, it might be worth taking a week or so off to let your body recover. Sometimes that's what it takes to get past a plateau. Your body's so busy rebuilding itself that you have fewer muscles fibers to recruit into performing your exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T17:19:08.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28892" CreationDate="2016-03-02T20:11:34.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I think leg press and Romanian deadlift for compound movements that focus on quads and hamstrings respectively. Finish with some leg extensions and leg curls.  Don't do any of these if they aggravate your injury.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19590" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T20:11:34.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29158" CreationDate="2016-03-03T01:27:15.740" Score="2" ViewCount="1360" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was younger, I was always given some training plan where I had to do, lets say, as an example, 3x8 bench presses. Also, another rule was that if I could only do this with 70kg, I could not do 75kg 3x6 to build up to eventually being able to do 3x8 bench presses with 75kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was never able to get any results from this. In the example above, I would be stuck with 70kg 3x8 bench presses for months, and then just give up because I was not making any progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With other heavy lifting, like pull ups, the advice is quite different; If you cannot do one, do a half. In this case, I was able to make progress. I can now do five pull ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes me suspect that I should have been allowed to build up to lifting more weight. Any time I have made progress have been when I ignored the &quot;lift as much weight as you can lift nxm times&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most training plans online also involve doing an exercise nxm times. The question I have is, how do you make progress? Are you supposed to lift x kilos until you can lift x+y kilos the same number of times as you could lift x kilos previously?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T17:27:35.013" Title="The n sets and m reps formula" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29154" CreationDate="2016-03-03T01:56:51.017" Score="2" ViewCount="624" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of questions here regarding training while sore. Most of the answers seem to agree that it is okay to train while you are sore. However, none of them address the core of the issue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you know that it is okay to train again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used soreness as a measure of this in the past (i.e. if a muscle group is no longer sore, I can train it again). However, according to a lot of people here, that is a bad measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking for both aerobic training and weightlifting; I reckon the answers will be different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-07-14T08:22:15.920" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T08:22:15.920" Title="Is lack of soreness adequate to determine whether it's time to train again?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29090" CreationDate="2016-03-03T01:59:15.280" Score="3" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week, I joined a gym for weight loss. On the first week, my instructor gave me a workout cycle of 15 min of treadmill, 15 min of afx, 15 min of cycling, sit-ups, and lateral lunges. And suddenly this week he instructs me to do bench-presses with 5 kgs, also cable shrug and cable triceps with 15 kgs. In those workouts, my left hand is much weaker than my right. My instructor is suggesting protein powders. Is this necessary, or can't I do it with regular diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is my workout schedule correct for weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19594" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-03T17:24:28.390" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T08:49:39.170" Title="Is Protein powder necessary for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29089" CreationDate="2016-03-03T03:07:42.663" Score="7" Body="&lt;h1&gt;About the program&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know your size and shape, so we're in no position to second-guess your instructor. For now, go with what he says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;About the diet&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein powder is something we use when our regular diet doesn't offer enough protein. It's a supplement, nothing more. It doesn't replace anything, it just adds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You are right!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most cases, you can cover your protein needs simply by eating more protein-rich meats like tuna, chicken, turkey, etc. It's not really necessary to start using protein powder yet. Always try to fix your diet by tweaking your food, instead of adding supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;To answer your question&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. It is NOT necessary to add protein powder to your diet in order to lose weight. I recommend tuna in particular, because it's very cheap, and has a very high protein-per-gram ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T03:07:42.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29084" CreationDate="2016-03-03T09:25:49.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that 30 reps is about the maximum push-ups you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For training purposes and if you want to do several sets. You most of the times don't go for the maximum reps in the first set. You intentionally do less to be able to complete your 5 or N sets routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you I would cut down the reps and try to start with 20 reps or so and build from there on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Increasing reps&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally what helped me increase my rep range was to change my routine every other week or month. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Normal sets: N reps for M sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted: I would do less reps. Don't take too much weight you can't handle. I would keep the rep range +10.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pyramid: You would start with 1 rep for the first set, take a short break, then 2 reps, break, 3 reps and so on. When you hit your limit say 10, you go down, 9, 8, ...2, 1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half pyramid: same as pyramid but without going down. Make sure to really go to the max.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Modified pyramid: when I got in the higher range reps (+50), instead of increasing my reps by one, I increased them by 2 or by 5. For example: 2, 4, 6, 8 ... 18, 20 or 5, 10, 15, 20 ... 45, 50.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Max reps every set: you would notice decrease in reps here the more sets you do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally the pyramid routine really helped me a lot: I once noticed a progress of 10 extra reps the next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Side note:&lt;/strong&gt; the numbers may seem arbitrary. They partially are, try to figure out what works out best for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;About rest time&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people would say 2-3 minutes for beginners. Some would go boot camp style and suggest 30-60 seconds. Some would take 90 seconds. I personally even go for 5 minutes depending on the situation. Bottom line: it depends on your condition, your goals (and motivation :)). Listen to your body but do try to break the limit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19601" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T09:25:49.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-03T10:12:48.923" Score="4" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the literature there are some contradictory findings about the food intake after exercise. What is the effective time to start eating after exercise and how many hours later the effectiveness decrease for recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T19:26:07.427" Title="What is the effective time interval limit for recovery right after the exercise" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-06T16:37:24.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27252" CreationDate="2016-03-03T10:33:00.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The muscle up could be viewed as a 3 steps exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transition (the hardest part)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push down or sometimes called dip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems you have a problem with the last step. The exercise I recommend the most is &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/Z8C3d9Gcdk0?t=56&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;straight bar dips&lt;/a&gt;. In the beginning you might not be able to go that deep but don't fret about it. After a while you will be able to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, it would also help doing the muscle up in reverse but slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the question at hand: I don't think that push-ups would effectively help you. The closest I could think of are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN7e-APdfhc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tiger bend push-ups&lt;/a&gt; in combination with close or diamond push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19601" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T10:33:00.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29088" CreationDate="2016-03-03T14:31:12.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For weight lifting, the rule of thumb is waiting 48-72 hours before training a muscle group again. This will differ slightly between how long you've been training for, how long your workouts are / how heavily you work that group, ect. If you've been working out for at least 3-4 weeks at the same style (i.e. 'Chest day' of bench, dumbbells and flies) 48 hours should be plenty. If you don't do more than 45 minutes - 1 hour of heavy working out, 48 hours should be plenty. However, if you're either new to working out or have lengthy workouts &gt;1 hour, I'd advise waiting 72 hours. That's why most programs will have you work your muscle groups 1-2 times per week, because recovery is EXTREMELY important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So rule of thumb is 48+ hours if you're having a standard workout. I'd suggest 3 days, or creating different workout routines for different days of the week, but to answer your question 48-72 hours is generally fine for everyone. Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18422" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T14:31:12.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28832" CreationDate="2016-03-03T16:12:40.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the NHS C25K programme, it specifically says in the voiceover that the walking pace should be conversational. You should be working hard enough to raise your heartrate and warm your muscles, but be able maintain a conversation. Presumably therefore, the walking pace could get a bit quicker as you get fitter and less out of breath. You shouldn't be just having a gentle afternoon stroll, but keeping active and making good progress. This should still be enough to recover in between runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19605" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T13:15:59.017" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T13:15:59.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-03T18:36:15.393" Score="3" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing nearly 60 of what I call &quot;sit squats&quot; a night (You sit on your knees and push up, almost like when you're riding a horse and stand up in the saddle, bad explanation sorry). 10 crunches, some random exercises for thighs that I've found on Instagram and 20 second plank every night without fail for three weeks now. I know it's working, my thighs are slowly becoming more toned, it's easier to do the squats and crunches but the number on the scale goes up. I started at 12 stone 3 pounds. I recorded a new weight the next Thursday (I weigh myself every Thursday at around 6pm) and had not gained or lost, (I re-weighed the next morning and was down to 12 stone 1 pound) but two weeks later (tonight) I am currently at 12 stone 5 pounds. That's the heaviest I can remember. I don't know if it's because of the food I ate for dinner, or the muscle mass increase (though it weighs the same as fat) but I am gaining according to the scale. I am going to re-weigh tomorrow for sure but I'm just wondering why? I am on a diet, I know the amount of exercise I'm doing isn't really enough to lose weight, just enough to tone some muscles but is there anything more I can do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am 16, female, 5ft 5 inches tall. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can't join a gym until I am 18, legally anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My lowest weight I can remember was around December 2015, at 11 stone 13. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ANYTHING back would be amazing! I need to know why the scale has gone up when my stomach feels smaller, I will keep going and not give up because it must be working but I am wondering if I'm doing something wrong? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19607" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T20:51:34.283" Title="I'm losing weight, I can tell but why does the scale go up? Am I doing it wrong?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29087" CreationDate="2016-03-03T20:09:03.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Making “progress” is a very individual thing.  And, contrary to what some on this site will have you believe, there's no “magic” training methodology to making gains/progress.  Rather it's the result of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=synergy&amp;amp;oq=synergy&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2037j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;es_sm=122&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;synergy&lt;/a&gt; among optimum training, nutrition, recovery, and genetics.  If one aspect of your training is deficient, it will affect the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the above in mind, I would suggest you take a step back and begin with self inspection.  Try to determine what, if anything, is holding you back.  To that end, you should consider recording your training sessions and nutrition.  It's somewhat difficult to correct a problem if you don't know the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as corny as this may sound, I liken training to the stock market.  Most of us want short term gains when, in fact, the real gains come long term.  The same holds true for a fitness lifestyle.  Expecting quick gains is somewhat realistic unless you are genetically gifted.  Making gains/progress requires hard work, dedication, and long term commitment. Find out what works for &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; and stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T20:09:03.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-04T01:57:14.350" Score="4" ViewCount="3076" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently taken up trail running, but I know a person who permanently damaged her knee in a momentary fall.  Are there any knee pads in existence that are meant to protect your knees from impact while running? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly intended for trails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bicycle commuter, I can't afford to loose my knees :/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19585" LastEditorUserId="19585" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T04:01:06.103" LastActivityDate="2016-03-27T20:50:42.377" Title="Do knee pads exist meant to protect your knees from falls?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29089" CreationDate="2016-03-04T03:24:31.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The very short answer - you do NOT need protein powder to lose weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Actually, you don't need exercise to lose weight either!)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. Expend more calories than you take in (or the equivalent - take in fewer calories than you expend).  There are other more complicated factors that determine your body composition, especially how your metabolism is dictating how much you are in fact &quot;expending&quot;, but raw body weight comes down to &quot;Calories in vs calories out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, however, for long term weight management exercise and a high protein diet will both contribute to improved body composition.  There are massive numbers of studies which prove both of those points, for a host of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on what you say, I have doubts about the quality of your trainer, but he isn't entirely wrong to suggest protein powder.  Physiologically, it's probably a premature recommendation.  It is, however, a good habit forming suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, the best way to get lean and stay lean is to build more muscle.  Having more muscle causes you to burn more calories everyday.  As a ballpark, an extra pound of muscle will burn extra 15 calories per day.  That doesn't sound like much, but let's say you gain 10 pounds of muscle.  That results in burning an additional 150 calories everyday right off the bat.  In a month, that's 4,500 more calories you'll burn.  These numbers make a difference in the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a very basic argument in favor of your trainer's recommendation, protein powder will help you build muscle, which in turn will lead to less fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19609" LastEditorUserId="19609" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T03:37:44.737" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T03:37:44.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-04T05:41:43.890" Score="4" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Height: 5'11&#xA;Weight: 160 lbs (fluctuates anywhere from 156 - 160)&#xA;Body fat percentage: According to the internet, I'm at about 13% &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi, I'd like to know how I can &quot;start&quot; working out. I'll be 16 in two weeks and throughout high school, I've done a lot of cardio for basketball. I've never consistently lifted because I don't have enough money for a gym membership and I've never invested in weights. I'm looking to transform and gain muscle for sports. Is it possible to transform without weights and only body weight? I've tried home exercises, but I never know what parts of my body to work and when. There are so many different websites and places to get advice, but each sound so contradicting and suggest different things. Is there a plan or specific beginner workout I can try that only uses body weight? If i absolutely have to invest in some workout equipment, what are the most essential items? If anyone can please give me a &lt;strong&gt;CLEAR&lt;/strong&gt; sort of instruction or guidance on what workout outs to do, when, and what days. I &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; follow the plan, i just need some guidance. I feel like I have the kitchen part down, because I already eat healthy anyways. I never really gain weight, but I feel like i can't get rid of my stomach fat (i can feel muscle under after flexing). In the past two years, I've lost a ton of weight, but sadly, I've lost a lot of arm muscle as well, which I hope to get back. If anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19611" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T11:59:55.543" Title="Teen Looking to transform" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29041" CreationDate="2016-03-04T06:19:34.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 69 years old jogger. have completed 17 marathons, last one on last Valentine's Day here in Los Angeles. I do try to run 4-5 days a week, 40 minutes each. Most of the year I run on a treadmill to protect my joints! No warm up, just start the machine on 6 miles/hr and move on to 7.5 miles/hr in 5 minutes and stay there, ending the run with 5 minutes of slow pace at 5 miles/hr.&#xA;My last official time at the L.A. marathon was 5:50, but I had 3 bathroom stops, each taking 15-18 mins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been slowed down recently, but don't have any limiting injuries. Doctors tell me part of loss of performance is because of my 2 years of chemotherapy, but I think normal aging has been a culprit too. I have not taken exercise too seriously. Even when running a marathon, if tired, I slow down. I was kind of a hobbyist runner and skier all my life. My motto is, &quot;easy does it!&quot; Yes, you can keep running even while fighting stage 4 cancer, and up to an advanced age. I feel I can keep running for the rest of my life! My heart and lungs are pretty strong, 125/76 and 55 resting heart beat. I keep my heart beat at 160 over half an hr every time I run. Not sure if it's the right thing to do but I am beyond these worries, I'm still here!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all my life, I have been jogging and running without any warm up. I don't mean to advise this for everybody. But I'm sure that for people like me who have kept a steady schedule of exercise there should be no problem unless they have an issue they are aware of. If any thing, I guess my body anticipates what is expected of it when I put on my running shoes. I feel my heart race a bit when I'm mentally all whipped up to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19612" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-05T00:44:44.713" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T00:44:44.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29100" CreationDate="2016-03-04T08:00:44.507" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are what I found on the net that may help you. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tenbestreview.com/holiday-sports/top-10-best-knee-braces-for-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;knee support&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Top 10 Best Knee Braces For Running In 2016&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Copper Knee Brace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active Athletes Knee Brace Support for Running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fitoby Knee Support Sleeve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Copper Wear Compression Knee Sleeve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shock Doctor Knee Compression Sleeve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ACE Knee Brace with Dual Side Stabilizers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aegend Sport Elastic Neoprene Open Patella Knee Brace Sleeve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crescendo Athletics Knee Sleeve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pro-Tec Athletics Gel Force Knee Sleeve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bracoo Breathable Neoprene Knee Support&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T15:11:21.437" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T15:11:21.437" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29102" CreationDate="2016-03-04T11:33:45.927" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TLDR;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to actually &lt;strong&gt;just do it and start right away&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;Searching for the perfect scheme in the beginning is a waste of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reality check&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will go straight to the point and have to disappoint you: &lt;strong&gt;there's no bullet proof magical formula&lt;/strong&gt;. That's why you find different routines, plans, diets and sometimes even contradictory advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason behind this is variable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Marketing &amp;amp; sale purposes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different ideologies &amp;amp; backgrounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different body types&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Etc ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Personal experience&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started from 0 to 20+ pull-ups, 0 to 30+ dips, 30 to 80+ push-ups. Two years ago I just turned on a switch and went to a nearby park and started working out (bodyweight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning I had not much of a structured routine. I went once a week and trained my whole body. Mainly because my reps were really low so I couldn't do proper sets. After a few weeks I could do more and started training twice a week. Separating some exercises on two different days. After a while I started training three times, four, five until I got so accustomed to it I would even go six times a week (I'm not per se saying you should go 5+ times a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I got some basic strength, I started searching for ideas and new exercises. Since doing only normal push-ups, pull-ups and dips is boring. Trying out a few routines was also fun. In the end, you need to challenge those muscles. After some time, you will learn to listen to your body and might even change/mix routines &amp;amp; exercises you found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Structured approach&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn that mental switch and start working out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set some goals: short and long term. Make them &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria&quot;&gt;SMART&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;I want to get ripped&quot; isn't specific enough. &quot;I want to gain N lbs in a year&quot; is better. Note: keep it realistic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a spot where you can workout by preference nearby. Whether it be a calisthenics park, your backyard, gym or a child's playground&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;. Basic requirements: somewhere you can do pull ups, dips and push-ups. The nearby requirement is essential: you want to make the mental challenge as low as possible. A spot that's far away might demotivate you to not go train on bad days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assess your current level. Are you a beginner? Then don't think too much about routines. Working out once or twice a week isn't uncommon for beginners. Not having a fixed routine doesn't mean you should do nothing at all: keep it challenging. Are you starting to become an intermediate? Search for routines, try them out and see what feels best for you. Changing routines can actually benefit your growth by stimulating your muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tips&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food and rest is important&lt;/strong&gt;. Make sure you got it covered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training with friends can be both motivating &lt;strong&gt;and demotivating&lt;/strong&gt;. Make sure to pair up with the right friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your own plans, if your friend can't train and suggested to go another day. Stick to your plan. It happened to me several times that I agreed to not train that day and something came up the day we did agree on: sick, bad weather, school etc... In the end I missed a training day and in some cases several days. So again, &lt;strong&gt;stick to your plan&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the training gets boring, try to look up for some advanced exercises: muscle ups, russian/korean dips, explosive push ups, maybe even human flag. Important note: you can mess up quickly and get injured with some moves. Make sure to not overestimate yourself, always warm up (especially in the beginning) and look for proper progressions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not drop out&lt;/strong&gt;. &quot;Oh skip it, I will go next week&quot; is in most of the cases equal to &quot;I will never go again&quot;. Trust me, it's hard to start over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a source of motivation. Whether it be a goal you've set, admiration or religion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay focused. You wouldn't know how many times I was approached by strangers (and even friends) to change my form, routine or plan. Stay open minded and research their claims before blindly applying it. In a sense, you should discard all I have just said and review it yourself :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* Be careful if you train in some children playground, someone once got stopped by the police for &quot;inappropriate usage&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19601" LastEditorUserId="19601" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T11:59:55.543" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T11:59:55.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-04T12:45:52.710" Score="1" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;How important is a periodization planning in a weight, force training? I mean the exercises you do in a gym besides the cardios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a professional in the field, but I started to study periodization of training. I understand that it's a methodology created for high level athletes, but there are authors that adapted it to force training and I don't see anybody using it in gyms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the benefits of a periodization are smaller for non athletes? What's the difference between doing the same exercises with no recuperation microcycles over 2 months or doing a periodization where I follow weeks less intense and others more intense? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19614" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T12:36:56.770" Title="How important is periodization in force training?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;periodization&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29107" CreationDate="2016-03-04T13:20:38.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess the reason you haven't seen it, is because it might be hard to notice other people's periodization. But it's pretty widely used, and the most common periodization we have is what we call a &quot;deload&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few months of training heavy, it's inevitable that you'll hit a plateau in terms of progress, because let's face it, we can't have linear progression forever. If we did, we'd all be benching tons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deload is a period where we really let the body recuperate in terms of resting. We might still train in this period, but it's going to be light weights, and not really fatiguing yourself all that much. The idea is to just give the muscles, as well as the central nervous system, some time off. A vacation if you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We often experience a surge of power just after the deload, feeling stronger than ever. This pretty much lets us know that a deload was a good idea, and we can get back to the usual routine again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say the benefits are smaller for non-athletes. Of course, if you compete, you have a bit more to gain from a well-time deload, but a non-athlete experiences the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T13:20:38.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28418" CreationDate="2016-03-04T15:15:14.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost ensure that you are using the proper lifting techniques. This means you should be able to lift in slow, controlled movements as opposed to jerky and unstable movements. If your new to lifting, you may see lifters who are capable of working out with 85% of their 1RM and you may struggle with 85%. Keep in mind that they may have been doing it a long while and that they have conditioned their &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ptdirect.com/training-design/anatomy-and-physiology/skeletal-muscle-roles-and-contraction-types&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;antagonist, synergists, and fixators muscles&lt;/a&gt; to be able to control the weight better.&lt;/strong&gt; This is essential to preventing injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deadlift involves many muscles and stabilizers, so the answer to your question likewise involves may different muscles but often there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lifting techniques&lt;/a&gt; that will help as well. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is a great site for information on proper techniques for deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One technique to avoid rounding is to simply take a &lt;strong&gt;wider stance&lt;/strong&gt;. This will naturally make your back want to be less rounded. I am not suggesting the sumo stance, although you can try this and see how it feels. I am suggesting to try a stance that places your feet slightly wider than your shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another technique is to incorporate &lt;strong&gt;'pause Deadlifts'&lt;/strong&gt; into your workouts. See illustration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gLIpO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gLIpO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pause Deadlift&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick up your weight just a few inches off the ground and pause for a few seconds. This will have the effect of forcing your body to be in the right position and help strengthen your supporting muscles &lt;strong&gt;(the Synergists and Fixators)&lt;/strong&gt; and thereby help you maintain proper form as you progress in weight, but don't do these with a lot of weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you increase the strength and flexibility hamstrings, along with the all the other muscles involved, this will improve your control over your form. See Deadlift anatomy illistration:&#xA;[&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q8AQj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Deadlift Anatomy[3]&quot;&gt;&#xA;Also the antagonist muscles are helpful in controlling the weight as you come back down. If you struggle with maintaining proper form and controlling the weight coming down then also consider strengthening the antagonists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More on proper lifting techniques:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/weight-lifting-101-the-definitive-guide-to-weight-lifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/weight-lifting-101-the-definitive-guide-to-weight-lifting/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T18:12:09.020" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T18:12:09.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28994" CreationDate="2016-03-04T16:13:20.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, exercise will increase your health and your body's operating efficiency. &lt;strong&gt;Things like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cheetah-medical.com/content/introduction-stroke-volume&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stroke volume&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-a-persons-lung-size-ca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lung efficiency and capacity&lt;/a&gt;, and red blood cell efficiency &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824146/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;including oxygen and co2 delivery efficiency&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt; See the Diagram below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/45fzN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/45fzN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Circulatory system diagram&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Not only does blood efficiency increase but so does red blood cell production and the exchange of nutrients/wastes at the capillaries in the liver, kidneys, brain and the lungs. Potentially, your cognitive functions will be more efficient as well or, &lt;strong&gt;in short&lt;/strong&gt;, you can become smarter (arguable of course, depending on how you define intelligence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your blood operates better, you will get rid of toxins/waste from all areas of your body thereby lowering your chances of cancer and increasing your energy and the overall health of all your other cells, even non-skeletal muscles. This effect is very noticeable to people who have had a very sedentary lifestyle or who have been poisoning themselves with smoking. &lt;strong&gt;In short, exercising will make you feel like a different person.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=YHZtv4XKeCMC&amp;amp;pg=PA159&amp;amp;lpg=PA159&amp;amp;dq=red%20blood%20cell%20delivery%20exercise&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=2hU6YrSYX_&amp;amp;sig=QEGaIexDhTNu1zUS33j839ZTE1E&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiD45_LsKfLAhULx4MKHVr5AaYQ6AEIOzAE#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=red%20blood%20cell%20delivery%20exercise&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More about anatomy and exercise.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You must exercise caution, however,&lt;/strong&gt; (hey that's pretty punny) exercise can undo &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; damange to the lungs but not most, so &lt;strong&gt;QUIT SMOKING! ;)&lt;/strong&gt; You also need to be aware of low oxygen symptoms such as dizziness, lightheadedness, etc and heed these warning signs or you may pass-out on the treadmill for example and become injured.  Also, you're at greater risk of heart disease so take it easy and slowly work your way up. Don't push your self too hard and consult your doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More articles about smoking and exercise:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/can-exercise-smoke-cigarettes-10406.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HealthyLiving&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/482679-can-you-exercise-smoke/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;LiveStrong&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitnessblender.com/blog/stop-smoking-exercise-plan-how-exercise-can-help&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FitnessBlender&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFIciyGWJb4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More on stroke volume.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T19:42:16.533" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T19:42:16.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-04T17:30:30.547" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;After baby number 2, I weigh 70kg and am trying to lose weight ideally to 60kg. Can you please advise on which exercise machine to purchase for cardio. Something that does not take up a lot of space as I live in an apartment. I have been thinking of a mini exercise bike but I am not sure how effective this will be. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19618" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T09:51:17.120" Title="Advise on Exercise machine for weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28418" CreationDate="2016-03-04T17:31:51.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of them. At first blush, you have the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_spinae_muscles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;erector spinea&lt;/a&gt; muscles which you can imagine like a bundle of angel hair pasta running along the sides of your vertebrae. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But left alone, there's no way the erector spinea can accomplish this since the lower attachment point is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrum#Articulations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sacrum&lt;/a&gt;. The pull on the sacrum is countered by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluteus_maximus_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;glutes&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collectively, everything from your &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltoid_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;posterior deltoids&lt;/a&gt; to your heels is affectionately known as your &lt;a href=&quot;http://boxlifemagazine.com/strengthening-your-posterior-chain/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;posterior chain&lt;/a&gt;, because like a chain any given single link is irrelevant unless it can rely on its neighboring link to be steadfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically answering this in your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to figure out what muscle/muscle group it is that works at the&#xA;  bottom of the deadlift to stabilize the back and prevent it from&#xA;  rounding? I want to find exercises to strengthen those muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer can vary for a lot of people depending on their body dimensions, level of training, and deadlift form. Longer femurs, a bar too far away from your shins, and a gym career of out-of-balance broscience lifting will cause a very different set of challenges than someone who's been attacking the problem directly and following &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a solid strength training program&lt;/a&gt; for some time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some key pointers I would give anyone for deadlifting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your chest up. Don't drop your hips. If your chest is up, your back is probably plenty flat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the Valsalva technique. Hold a bunch of air in your lungs, and tighten your abdominals like you're readying for a sucker punch to the gut. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/28479/7091&quot;&gt;This isn't going to increase your strength, but it will increase your safety and cause you to have a strong brace up front&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on engaging your abs. If you're doing it right, your abs will be a smidge sore after deadlifting, in the beginning at least. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to &quot;screw&quot; your feet into the floor. Don't let your feet move, but apply force like you're trying to rotate your toes outward while keeping your heels planted. This will cause your glutes to engage in a serious way. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tight abs. Tighter.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T17:31:51.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29041" CreationDate="2016-03-04T18:11:43.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally I think warming-up is overrated.  I'm pretty sure evolution selects &lt;em&gt;against&lt;/em&gt; people who stretch and do a warm-up jog in response to a crisis situation.  If you're healthy, a spontaneous effort shouldn't hurt you.  Case in point: I regularly chase my dog up the driveway at full speed after her nightly walk.  I also run 20 miles a week so my legs are very used to the motions of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should point out that &quot;full speed&quot; is relative.  With a bit of a warm-up, &quot;full speed&quot; becomes noticeably faster.  I suspect that when my muscles are cold, they don't have their full range of motion and limit my stride length thus slowing me down.  So warming up is good if you're about to enter a race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warming up is also good if you're going to be doing a lot of jumping, turning, etc, as if you were playing basketball, soccer, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never injured myself due to failure to warm up.  However, I have been injured from continuing to exercise on fatigued muscles.  This has been both in the form of over-use injuries such as runner's knee, and catastrophic injury such as a pulled hamstring when diving after a Frisbee (but it was a highlight reel catch to be sure :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19318" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T18:11:43.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29111" CreationDate="2016-03-04T19:18:09.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest foregoing the machine altogether and focusing on these two things:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try and find some kind of fun, 30 minute or so, workout plan that includes a mix of resistance training and cardio. Do this ~5 days a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reign in your diet.  A lot of these workout plans come with meal plans and suggestions.  Small changes can go a long way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep your calories roughly 25% less than your maintenance calories ( not lower or it'll make you feel like crap ) and workout for a few months you'll most assuredly get where you want to be.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a ton of free workout plans available online.  Beachbody workouts are also very solid in my opinion.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19590" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T19:18:09.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29094" CreationDate="2016-03-04T19:26:07.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are my thinking and beliefs on the subject:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) One of the most important things for muscle recovery is replenishing muscle glycogen.  Consuming carbohydrates within the first hour or two after exercise has been shown to expedite this process.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Since high glycemic carbs digest rapidly they work the best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Since your body will respond with insulin when you consume these carbs it seems beneficial to pair it with a moderate amount of protein and amino acids ( they get shuttled into muscle tissue because of the insulin ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chocolate milk works great.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19590" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T19:26:07.427" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29098" CreationDate="2016-03-04T23:35:55.743" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congragulations on getting going! You are starting a habit that will do you very well throughout your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going by measurements rather than weight may be better way for you to measure your progress since you are young and may still be growing (adding weight but not necessarily fat). Muscle always weighs more than fat, so you are right that some of the weight gain will be from gaining muscle mass while losing fat. Keep paying attention to how you feel and how your body looks when you look at it rather than the number on your scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding some cardio to your exercise regime will help burn more calories (jumping jacks, walking, running, cycling, skipping, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating a low fat diet with more protein and smaller amounts of carbohydrates may help. Protein is important for building muscle; carbohydrates provide energy but make them &quot;as close to the ground&quot; as possible. In other words, eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruit and whole grain rice, pasta, &amp;amp; low-fat breads. Avoid processed food whenever possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key when eating processed food is to look at food ingredient labels to discover the number of grams of fat in each serving. Generally, we consume much more fat than we need each day. Look online for the formula to calculate the number of grams of fat you NEED according to your size and other physical statistics and then stick to that number or a little less each day. Keep track of your fat intake daily and be sure it does not go over the recommonded amount for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just a start. Continue to search out, as you have been, different diet ideas and learn what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best wishes for continued success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19620" LastEditorUserId="19620" LastEditDate="2016-03-08T20:51:34.283" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T20:51:34.283" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29098" CreationDate="2016-03-05T06:08:58.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure you weigh yourself in the morning after you use the bathroom. Your weight can fluctuate if you weigh yourself at different times. The law of thermodynamics dictate that as long as you use more energy as you intake, you will lose mass. So diet plays a huge role so you need to keep tack of the amount of calories you're eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T06:08:58.840" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29126" CreationDate="2016-03-05T16:00:16.717" Score="11" ViewCount="4809" Body="&lt;p&gt;For workouts, I know that it's not effective to train the same muscle group every day because the muscle needs time to recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the same principle also apply to stretching? Is it still effective to stretch the same muscle group every day or should I make a pause of 48 hours to give the muscles time to recover? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: It's actually two questions: Is it okay for the muscles to stretch every day, and is it still effective or can the same flexibility be reached with stretching just 2 or 3 times a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19571" LastEditorUserId="19571" LastEditDate="2016-03-07T14:28:55.957" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T13:13:11.777" Title="Should I stretch every day?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29122" CreationDate="2016-03-05T17:58:17.797" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Harvard Medical School recommends &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/everyday-stretching&quot;&gt;stretching every day&lt;/a&gt;, and at least 2-3 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As with all types of exercise, you need to engage in stretching regularly in order to reap lasting benefits. If you only stretch occasionally, the effects are shortlived. One study found that the greatest increase in hamstring length occurred right after the stretch and began to diminish within 15 seconds, though there was a noticeable effect for up to 24 hours. A daily regimen will deliver the greatest gains, but typically, you can expect lasting improvement in flexibility if you stretch at least two or three times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, in the link provided, you will find a nice list of daily stretches, with video demonstrations of each one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For credibility, I don't see them sourcing any particular studies, but HMS and their publications are very trusted sources in and of themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T17:58:17.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29125" CreationDate="2016-03-06T01:56:54.757" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it unhealthy to lose too much fat, build too much muscle too fast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a health and realistic pounds of fat reduction or pounds of muscle gain in a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastEditorUserId="6634" LastEditDate="2016-03-06T15:47:55.687" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T18:04:40.357" Title="How realistic are those 1 month or 21 day body makeover?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29124" CreationDate="2016-03-06T02:23:49.763" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;a realistic weight loss is around 1 pound a week. If considered obese then 2 pounds a week is fine. If the bodyfat level is below 10 percent then half a pound a week is probably best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle gain for a beginner who eats the right amount of protein, enough food and follows a good mass building routine consistently I would say slightly under half a pound of muscle gain a week is realistic. Some with better genetics may build more, some less. Of course the more muscle already on your body, the slower you will gain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19307" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T02:23:49.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29122" CreationDate="2016-03-06T08:05:16.323" Score="11" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I know that it's not effective to train the same muscle group every day because the muscle needs time to recover.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, the key parameter here is that training the muscle essentially involves damaging it (micro-tearing the muscle fibers) and then letting your body act as the repair man; this is a process that as you noted takes time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With streching there is no &quot;damage&quot;/tearing inflicted on the muscle (except possibly by over-streching a muscle) rather &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.mit.edu/tkd/stretch/stretching_2.html#SEC13&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;there is a &quot;lengthening&quot; of the fibers&lt;/a&gt; (see comments for more on this)*. To sum up, it's something you can do daily if you need to but as the following recommendations/studies show, that isn't necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it still effective to stretch the same muscle group every day or should I make a pause of 48 hours to give the muscles time to recover?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add another source for this, I was recently looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273886/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Current Concepts In Muscle Streching For Exercise and Rehabilitation&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; which, as described in the Abstract, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The purpose of this clinical commentary is to &lt;em&gt;discuss the &lt;strong&gt;current&lt;/strong&gt; concepts&lt;/em&gt; of muscle stretching interventions and &lt;em&gt;summarize the evidence related to stretching&lt;/em&gt; as used in both exercise and rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The information presented is probably more than what is required to answer your question but it does provide a referenced answer to most things streching related. In the recommendations section we see that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For a general fitness program, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4139760/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the American College of Sports Medicine recommends&lt;/a&gt; static stretching for most individuals that is preceded by an active warm-up, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;at least 2 to 3 days per week&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Each stretch should be held 15-30 seconds and repeated 2 to 4 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Note: static-streching)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The referenced recommendation is a book continuously updated every 4-6 years with contributions from many authors; I can't see any reason to doubt its validity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, this does give a frequency for streching but doesn't necessarily answer if doing it daily might have negative effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that, another study, namely, &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2012/08000/Effect_of_Stretch_Frequency_and_Sex_on_the_Rate_of.15.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effect of Stretch Frequency and Sex on the Rate of Gain and Rate of Loss in Muscle Flexibility During a Hamstring-Stretching Program: A Randomized Single-Blind Longitudinal Study&lt;/a&gt; whose goal was to: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This study evaluated the effects of 4 different weekly stretching protocols on the rate of gain and decline in hamstring flexibility over an 8-week period, across sex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Helps. The conclusion reached in this study shows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stretching appears to be equally effective, whether performed daily or 3 times per week, provided individuals stretch at least 2 times each day. Moreover, although women are more flexible than men are, there was no sex difference in terms of stretching response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Note, no mention of the &quot;type&quot; of streching they used)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I have added the &lt;em&gt;(Notes)&lt;/em&gt; in the preceding quotations is because the type of streching you do is important. Recent studies have indicated that performing &lt;em&gt;static&lt;/em&gt; streches before a work-out can be detrimental whereas &lt;em&gt;dynamic&lt;/em&gt; streches might reap benefits (and *static ones after done with the work-out). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mention this over here because it is an important aspect of streching, there's different kinds that need to be understood and incorporated correctly. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleforlife.com/stretching-before-aerobic-exercise-or-weightlifting-yes-or-no/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;referenced article&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;em&gt;muscleforlife&lt;/em&gt; seems to break these down nicely, give it a look if you want to learn more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*) The comments by &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/3736/johnp&quot;&gt;JohnP&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/19550/jaredw82&quot;&gt;JaredW82&lt;/a&gt; contain further information regarding the effect streching has on the muscle, for a good read, check them out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19632" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T08:08:20.020" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29089" CreationDate="2016-03-06T08:49:39.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Protein powder is nothing more than food. It doesn't do anything magical that a piece of chicken or turkey won't do.&#xA;It's used as a matter of convenience&#xA;As far as how much protein you should eat that is an entirely different question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T08:49:39.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29098" CreationDate="2016-03-06T08:53:47.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not weigh yourself on the evening as it will be impacted much by what you are that day. Weigh yourself in the morning.&#xA;Body measurements and blood work are a much better health marker than the scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T08:53:47.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29111" CreationDate="2016-03-06T09:00:31.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise bike is great as it's not that hard on the body like a treadmill is. You can perform hiit or steady state cardio on it. Bare in mind weight loss is achieved through calorie deficit and exercise is just a means of assisting in creating a deficit. If you eat more than you burn it won't make a difference what exercise you do, you won't lose weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T09:00:31.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-06T12:44:25.820" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to reduce my body fat percentage. I tried the low carb high protein routine but that made me very dizzy and I wasn't able to concentrate at all. I figured that my body doesn't respond well to low carb intake. I wanted to know how much percentage of my daily caloric intake should come from carbs so that I reduce body fat without getting dizzy. Also Currently, my lunch is the biggest meal of the day constituting to about 50% of my daily carb intake. How should I go about diving my meals so that carb usage by my body is optimal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height - 5 feet 9 inches&#xA;Weight - 150 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19633" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T12:44:25.820" Title="Carbohydrate intake query" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-07T06:40:11.617" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29131" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-06T14:17:26.197" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 20 years old, female, and my body weight is OK. I'm interested in starting an exercise regime to &lt;strong&gt;slim&lt;/strong&gt; my entire body (legs, chin, arms,  and stomach mostly and in that order...) &lt;strong&gt;Without building bulging abs&lt;/strong&gt;. I'd also like to improve my agility. &#xA;I'm interested in specific exercises that can do this, (for example: Walking, Sit ups) or an exercise regime (such as yoga). Take into account that I'm doing this at home, without special equipment. Please fully explain why these regimes will help me achieve my goal, or post links to sites that fully explain the regime and it's benefits.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You do not need to explain to me &lt;strong&gt;how&lt;/strong&gt; to do these exercises, just &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; exercises, and &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that dieting must go together with the exercise to fully achieve my goal, and I currently am dieting. &#xA;I assume that all exercises will strengthen my muscles, and that's a good thing, obviously. I'm not trying to avoid that. It just seems that all the exercises I looked up are concentrating on &lt;em&gt;toning those abs&lt;/em&gt; which is not my goal at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a total newbie to this area, So try to elaborate as clearly as you can, and If my question is mixed up or unclear please comment and I will fix it. Thank you all!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19635" LastEditorUserId="19635" LastEditDate="2016-03-08T12:39:32.070" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T19:20:51.570" Title="Which exercises target agility and body slimming?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4197" CreationDate="2016-03-06T14:34:35.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I'm doing it now and have not had any issues. I don't do any other exercise but I eat well and will walk at least 12k steps in my job. My runs consist of 5k speed on a Wednesday and a 20k run that adds an extra 2k each week. No injuries this year or even the year before. The time in between gives you ample time to recover and to get your speed and distance better each week. This method allows inexperienced runners to get to distance runs in training with some speed. It is not ideal, and not great for times, but this method allows for growth each week. NB you can't miss a session ever. If you do you would in effect be running a long run every two weeks and as I discovered running 36k fter a two week gap is hellish. That said if you are overweight or don't have a base level of fitness I would not recommend this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19636" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T14:34:35.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29139" CreationDate="2016-03-07T09:26:16.047" Score="2" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently learned that good, safe squat form could change based on body proportions, specifically the factor femur/spine length ratio. How exactly does one measure them both (from where to where, I mean) and how should squat form (width of stance and angle of feet, mainly) change based on these proportions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16789" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T14:51:56.543" Title="How should squat form change based on proportions?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29140" CreationDate="2016-03-07T12:53:43.053" Score="5" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today, I won a ticket to a local 10k (6.2 miles) event and now I would like to participate. I've been casually running for ~5 years in regular intervals (~2x/week), but didn't run for at least 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last 5 years I casually attended this event 3x with a time slightly below an hour. However, this time I'd like to train a lot harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal would be to run the distance in approximate 50 minutes on April 3rd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this doable? Sorry, I know that's a very fuzzy question. What type of training should I do to minimize the 10.5km time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two similar posts. However, the post below answered my question perfectly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19647" LastEditorUserId="19647" LastEditDate="2016-03-08T13:34:49.977" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T13:34:49.977" Title="Optimizing 10k finishing time until April 3rd" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="39205" CreationDate="2016-03-07T14:38:29.213" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing the guillotine press for two weeks due to the unavailability of an incline bench at my gym. I heard that it can cause serious rotator cuff injury when used long term. I wanted to know the method to perform this exercise safely and some rotator cuff exercises that can help mitigate rotator cuff injuries caused by guillotine press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19633" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T16:18:21.860" LastActivityDate="2018-11-22T21:56:23.313" Title="Query on Guillotine press" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29135" CreationDate="2016-03-07T14:51:56.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Caveat: Proportions is an indicator of how your squat form &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; look. Actually measuring your limb and torso lengths and trying to mathematically deduce &quot;correct&quot; form is rarely beneficial, and can lead to someone trying too hard with a form that simply doesn't work for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is partly because no one has a handle on all of the significant factors that will influence your squat form. For example, I have very long femurs and should theoretically do well with a wider stance allowing me to stay more upright and minimise back involvement. In real life however, a moderate stance allows me to generate the most power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that out of the way, for the purpose of experimentation, I find that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/picking-the-squat-thats-rght-for-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; provides some solid information and general guidelines on methods of squatting depending on your body proportions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the femur averages 26% of the body’s total height, so measure from your hip to the outside of your knee joint.  Divide that number in inches or centimeters by your height in inches or centimeters.  If you get .26 on the dot, then you’re average.  If you get more than .26, you’re erring farther towards “long femured” and if you get less than .26, you’re erring farther towards “long torsoed.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then follow the guidelines on what you should do if long/short femured/torsoed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Again, use such recommendations as a starting point, but be sure to experiment and find out what works for you and allows you to feel strong and squat to depth.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also mention that your &quot;best&quot; squat form can and often does change over time as you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T14:51:56.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29136" CreationDate="2016-03-07T14:59:15.283" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;With only a month to go before your target event, and not having been running for the last 3 months you are going to have difficulty getting into really good shape.&#xA;Generally when training for any event it takes a few months of basic training followed by a few months of more specialised training to get the best results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that doesn't stop you from trying your best with the time you have.  I would suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get out and run 3 times per week, 4 times if you feel you are recovering well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 to 3 longer runs (45-60 mins) at slightly slower than your target pace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One shorter run (~30 mins) with hard 5 minute intervals at well above your target pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer runs are the priority to get miles in the legs, but going slowly enough to not build too much fatigue.  If the distance is no problem to you, then you will feel physically and mentally confident to push the pace on race day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one shorter session is to build your speed and high end fitness which will help trim off those few minutes you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19096" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T14:59:15.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29111" CreationDate="2016-03-07T16:11:18.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my humble opinion (I'm not a physician nor a personal trainer)if you want to lose weight the better option is (as other have pointed out)changing your diet (that could just be reducing the daily calories. But since you asked for a machine I'll suggest a rower. Why a rower and not an exercise bike or treadmill ? &#xA;Because it's equally (if not more) effective at cardio conditioning and it makes you use more muscle groups (you are pushing with your legs, pulling with your arms and back, flexing your core to stabilize yourself ...). More muscles recruitment (in a simplified view) mean more calories burned. If you have space issues you could buy a foldable rower &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19653" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T16:11:18.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28982" CreationDate="2016-03-07T16:22:10.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggests grip training (crushing, gripping, pinching ...), forearm training, climbing and hard physical labor. Some scientific researches have found that competitive climbers hands have thicker and denser bones, muscles and tendons. That is due to the body adaptation to externals stimuli. In the same way woodworkers, lumberjacks, smiths and many hard workers develop strong and bigger hands&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19653" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T16:22:10.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29107" CreationDate="2016-03-07T16:44:52.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Important? Not particularly, but it can be a very useful tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is commonly used in some capacity in basically any programme designed to get you stronger once you are past the first few years of training. You can try to incorporate it into your training and see how you like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's the difference between doing the same exercises with no recuperation microcycles over 2 months or doing a periodization where I follow weeks less intense and others more intense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just a different method. You focus on certain characteristics of your training at a time and really give them your all. So instead of trying to be a jack of all trades constantly; you instead become a master of one type of training at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it make you stronger faster? Some claim so. Depends on your goals and training advancement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T16:44:52.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29098" CreationDate="2016-03-07T17:08:38.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's discuss an obvious problem here that probably needs to be sorted out first before adjusting other things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Weighing yourself&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably your biggest issue. Allow me to point out a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have only weighed yourself three times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You weigh once a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You weigh in the evening at 6pm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may or may not weigh yourself wearing the same clothing etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that weighing scales are often not entirely accurate, and your weight varies a lot throughout the day. To really get a handle on your weight, you may find the following guidelines helpful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weigh yourself daily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate a weekly weight by taking the numbers you get for each day that week and averaging them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weigh yourself first thing in the morning before eating, but after using the bathroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weigh yourself each time wearing the same clothing so that it doesn't affect the day-to-day weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will let you track your weight much better. You shouldn't assume anything about how much you weigh until you start tracking properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a good hold on your weight every week, you can start adjusting your exercises or diet based upon what your weight is doing. It may take a while, so be consistent and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T17:08:38.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29124" CreationDate="2016-03-07T18:04:40.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the secret to many of these makeovers or rapid weight loss success stories:  Start with somebody who is already active and fit, but has to take some time off due to injury.  Have them gain a lot of weight while recovering from the injury.  After they've recovered, have them go back to their old active and fit lifestyle and add in whatever miracle makeover plan you're trying to sell.  Voila, impressive weight loss and fitness improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19318" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T18:04:40.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29098" CreationDate="2016-03-07T19:49:53.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, congratulations on recognizing a potential problem, and starting to take steps about it while you are still young. Building a lifetime of fitness habits is much easier to do starting at your age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things that I would point out that may help. As others have stated, muscle weighs more than fat, so if you swap out the same amount of fat mass for muscle mass, overall you will weigh more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the fitness and eating, there are a few red flags, which I'll outline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No plan - You're doing &quot;some sit squats&quot;, some random things you found on the internet, and a few planks here and there. It's having a small effect, but towards what? You need to define some goals. Short (6 month), medium (6 mos to 2 years) and long term (longer than 2 years) type goals. Then come up with a complete, well rounded overall body workout plan geared towards those goals. Without a plan, you'll just kind of lumber around doing stuff and wondering why it's not really working. Figure out that goal, and the other planning will be easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No eating plan - Note I don't say diet. A diet is a short term thing, usually abandoned after the initial success wears off. An eating plan is persistent, long term habits designed to ensure the success of your fitness plan (See note #1). For weight loss, you simply need burn off more calories than you eat. Take a look at your fitness/weight plan, and see how your diet really stacks up. There are tons of calculators around, use them as a starting point but realize that you may need to adjust up or down, since they are all just educated guesses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a diary/logs - Wondering why you gain weight in the spring? Or why you seem to always feel droopy by Thursday? You can't know what might be causing it, if you don't track the history. Also, until you &lt;em&gt;REALLY&lt;/em&gt; know how many calories are in the various foods you eat, keeping a food diary/log religiously can be very enlightening as to how many calories you're really eating. This can include borrowing or buying a food scale. You'd be astonished at what actually constitutes a serving vs how much your probably eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, a few caveats and things to think about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find an activity/exercise that you really enjoy. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, it will be difficult to maintain it for the long term. Too many times people join a gym, find out it's hard work and that they don't really &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; going to the gym, and they'd rather go ride a bike. Great! Go ride the bike. Just find something that you can do that you enjoy and will also provide the fitness benefits you are looking for. If it's not a full body exercise, figure out what you can supplement with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thing with your eating plan. If you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; like eating Paleo, or China Study, or whatever, then fine. As long as it meets your workout needs and you enjoy the foods, have at it. Just keep that diary, because you can overeat on the good stuff just as easily as junk. Don't base a plan on deprivation, just remember that if you have that bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles, you've got to accommodate it in your calorie count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the scale over a month is short term. Weight can fluctuate by a few pounds up and down in a day. Weigh yourself at the same time under the same conditions, and look at long term trends. Don't really obsess over what you weighed yesterday, or what you weighed last week. Worry about what you're going to weigh in 6 months or a year. Use the little steps to build towards the big ones, and if you gain a little one week, don't beat yourself up. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 16 years old, you may still be growing. Weight and other things may fluctuate over the next few years, just remember that and keep your eye on the end goal. It's absolutely wonderful that you are starting this, but doing it correctly from the beginning will save you time, get you closer to where you want to be, and minimize the chance you'll quit or have to try to erase bad habits later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T19:49:53.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29150" CreationDate="2016-03-07T20:18:41.297" Score="0" ViewCount="706" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've added 300 push ups per day for the last few months to my routine. Is this building muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19654" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T18:56:10.020" Title="Do push ups build/increase mass?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-03-08T19:07:47.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29149" CreationDate="2016-03-07T22:14:40.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely &lt;strong&gt;if you're able to do 300 a day then the answer is YES, probably, but NOT significantly&lt;/strong&gt;, it isn't build any significant mass. If your able to do 300 push ups then, for your body weight / strength ratio, it's more than likely below 15% of your 1RM in say bench press. Therefore, this activity is best described as an aerobic or endurance training without adding much in strength or mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go beyond &gt;15% of your 1RM then there is little measurable increase. With the traditional Push up, you're &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/444004-how-much-of-your-body-weight-do-you-lift-in-a-pushup/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lifting around 65% of your body weight&lt;/a&gt;. I assume that if you're doing 300 that you're probably doing 50-75+ in each set. There has bee considerable amount of research on this subject. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trainingscience.net/?page_id=471&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article explains it very well.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to build mass you need to be lifting at a higher weight / lower rep ratio. With extreme of the bulk building exercise philosophy, typically this means lifting weights that are around 85%-95% of your 1RM with a lot of sets resting around 2-3 min between and targeting around a maximum of 6 in each set. You could adjust it to as low as 50% of your 1RM, though there may be &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt;, there wouldn't be much of an increase in mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dx7Kw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dx7Kw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lift Chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thant said &lt;strong&gt;push ups &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; increase muscle mass under certain circumstances&lt;/strong&gt;. It's all relative to your 1RM and your body weight. For example, if the person doing push ups can only do =&amp;lt;25 at a time. This follows the high weights/less reps model. So, if you're only able to do less than 25 per set than this could definitely have a measurable impact on mass/strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition also plays an important factor. For example it your not getting enough protein your body will not have enough resources to build mass with. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calpro.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;protein calculators like this one for more info.&lt;/a&gt; Personally, I think it over estimates how much you need but it gives you a general idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some endurance activities will have some measurable effect on strength but when it is this low of a percentage relative to your 1RM, it will have very little effect on mass/strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up, it's all relative you your 1RM how much any given exercise will potentially increase your mass. The lower the percentage of weight relative to 1RM the lower the mass and strength gains. The gains in strength will decrease exponentially as the weight goes down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For More Information See: &lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/09/15/percentage-based-programs-revisited/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/09/15/percentage-based-programs-revisited/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=MassGainPrograms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=MassGainPrograms&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek11.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek11.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-03-10T18:56:10.020" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T18:56:10.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28480" CreationDate="2016-03-08T00:20:59.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In short, Yes you can.&lt;/strong&gt; But, as you qualified, you'll still want to do your strength training as it will help you burn the fat much more quickly along with continuing to build and maintain your strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exact answer on whether you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; do 45 min of cardio depends on your fitness goals. Do you just want burn fat? Do you want to build muscle? Or do you want to train to run a marathon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If burning fat &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; important and endurance or long distance running isn't important to you then another possible alternative to cardio is HIIT. HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training, is &lt;strong&gt;the perfect method for losing fat while retaining muscle mass&lt;/strong&gt; and it is great for the lungs and heart as well. It is also a good way to train for spontaneous activities especially if you also desire to burn calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See these these articles on &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailyburn.com/life/fitness/high-intensity-hiit-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dailyburn.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw40.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; for more info on HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HIIT is not a replacement for strength training&lt;/strong&gt; and will not produce the same results in the short term or even long term. Strength training will burn more calories but will not necessarily do your lungs as good as HIIT or Cardio. HIIT also &lt;em&gt;isn't&lt;/em&gt; a replacement for cardio if your goal is long distance endurance. Some people define HIIT differently, so I'll add this qualifier Weight training being -i.e. weighted squats, leg press, calf extensions, lunges, etc. and HIT being non-weighted High Intensity Workouts. Some HIIT techniques involve weighted exercise but they're applied with a different methodology. The focus with HIIT is to burn calories not to build muscle strength. One of the drawbacks of HIIT is that many of it's activities may put you at risk of injury. If you're concerned about injury or have had a recent injury, I wouldn't recommend HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;More on why HIIT is not a replacement for strength training:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“EMG techniques make it possible to study recruitment order, the relationship between stimulation and the amount of force developed, the type of muscle contraction (concentric vs. eccentric) and the effects of fatigue. EMG analysis in my study showed the approximate percentage of the recruitment of muscle fiber types in the quadriceps of a trained athlete during execution of a one repetition squat with progressively increasing loads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting with 60% of one-repetition maximum, the slow-twitch fibers contribute 60 percent to the effort; fast-twitch fatigue resistant fibers, 30 percent; and fast-twitch fatigable 10 percent. At 100 percent maximum effort, however, the percentage of slow-twitch fibers involved is only 5%, while fast-twitch fatigue resistant is 15 percent, and fast-twitch fatigable is 80 percent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implications for athletic-type strength training are clear. To develop strength in the fast-twitch fibers you have to train with heavy weights. Light weights contribute little to optimizing strength and power performance. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For complete article see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=412352&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=412352&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fitness goal &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; endurance, then stick with more cardio and less HIIT and strength. In either case, you'll still want to do some strength training. See these articles on why &lt;a href=&quot;http://myweb.wwu.edu/%7Echalmers/PDFs/Benefits%20of%20strength%20training%20for%20enduance%20athletes.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength training is important for runners.&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/04/strength-training-for-endurance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5 Essential Elements of An Endurance Training Program That Most Athletes Neglect.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T00:20:59.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24973" CreationDate="2016-03-08T00:42:51.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dehydration has a negative effect on metabolic rate in skeletal muscular metabolism in that it hinders metabolic efficiency with strain and heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/hydration-affect-metabolism-2886.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this link for the full article&lt;/a&gt;. And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22543739&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one for a research publication.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Based on three previous studies that found dehydration depressed metabolic rate, a team of graduate students at the University of Utah undertook a study to determine how hydration affected resting metabolism. E. Wayne Askew, director of the Division of Foods and Nutrition at the university’s College of Medicine, led the research study. Research subjects were divided into three groups: The first group received four 8-ounce glasses of water daily, the second got eight 8-ounce glasses and the third got 12 8-ounce glasses per day. Test subjects -- all of whom were measured at rest -- who received eight or 12 glasses of water daily burned calories at an accelerated rate, compared to those who were not fully hydrated.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a follow-up to their 2003 findings that drinking 500 milliliters of water quickly induced thermogenesis -- the calorie-burning stage of metabolism -- in men and women of normal weight, German researchers repeated their study with patients who were overweight or obese but otherwise healthy. Their findings, published in the August 2007 issue of “The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &amp;amp; Metabolism,” showed that test subjects experienced an average 24 percent increase in energy expenditure within one hour of drinking the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see this research on &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/109/6/1989.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mechanisms of aerobic performance impairment with heat stress and dehydration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Greater relative exercise intensity increases cardiovascular strain, which is a prominent mediator of rated perceived exertion. As a consequence, incremental or constant-rate exercise is more difficult to sustain (earlier fatigue) or requires a slowing of self-paced exercise to achieve a similar sensation of effort.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T00:42:51.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29087" CreationDate="2016-03-08T04:27:58.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the calculation you're looking for has more to do with &lt;strong&gt;1RM - 1 Repetition Maximum&lt;/strong&gt; in a given lift. &lt;strong&gt;You 1RM will be the way to measure your strength progression and decide on how much to increase your weight.&lt;/strong&gt; This may go without saying, but never attempt to find your 1RM without a spot. See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/other7.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article for suggestions on how to calculate your 1RM.&lt;/a&gt; And this one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.weightrainer.net/training/coefficients.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;for more mathematical theory on the coefficients.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to build mass you need to be lifting at a higher weight and set to lower rep ratio. For body building this typically &lt;strong&gt;this means lifting weights that are around 85%-95% of your 1RM with a lot of sets resting around 2-3 min between each set and targeting around a maximum of 6 reps (See Table Illustration) in each set&lt;/strong&gt;. Sets/reps ratio may vary depending on your particular goals. This is the extreme of the bulk/mass building exercise philosophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w9GfH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w9GfH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;1RM Rep Table&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As muscle mass increases so will your 1RM and you likewise adjust your weight lifting resistance using the same formula. You can adjust the percentage if you don't want to do a strength training program at the extreme levels. In fact if you're inexperienced it would be advisable to work up it more slowly until you can safely control the movement. Most of the time this type of workout will require a lifting partner to spot you AKA save you from killing yourself, literally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For More Information See: &lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/09/15/percentage-based-programs-revisited/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/09/15/percentage-based-programs-revisited/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=MassGainPrograms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=MassGainPrograms&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek11.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek11.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.inetsolutions.com.au/workhab/help/Equations.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.inetsolutions.com.au/workhab/help/Equations.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind if your about to start a strength training program that rest and nutrition are very important factors. You'll want to research this of you haven't already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For table illustration credit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://passyworldofmathematics.com/weight-training-mathematics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;see this link.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-03-08T17:27:35.013" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T17:27:35.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29088" CreationDate="2016-03-08T05:50:14.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question! &lt;strong&gt;In short, No, soreness is not a good indicator of rest/recovery.&lt;/strong&gt; And you're right the answer is different for strength training vs aerobic and, if I may add injury. In many cases, with notable exceptions, for aerobic workouts you can usually go by soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allow me to address each aspect of soreness as soreness can be defined in a number of ways:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lactic Acid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anaerobic or Micro tears/DOMS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic or Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Injury&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lactic Acid:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The burning soreness that people refer to is caused by lactic acid buildup as a byproduct of &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/understanding-energy-systems-atp-pc-glycolytic-and-oxidative-oh-my&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ATP energy breakdown in the muscle cells&lt;/a&gt;. The circulatory system cleans the acid out as quickly as it can but &lt;strong&gt;just because lactic acid is no longer present, it doesn't necessarily mean that the muscle has recovered.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength or Anaerobic:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Soreness can also be caused by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.m.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/sore-muscles-dont-stop-exercising&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;micro tears in the muscle fiber&lt;/a&gt;, affectionately referred to as ripping by body builders. These micro tears are also called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). For people accustomed to lifting, they might not notice this as much as others by the time the lactic acid has been cleared out. For people who are new to exercise, on the other hand, they may find it hard to tell the difference between lactic acid, muscle tears, or even crams and spasms. Age is also a factor to consider with DOMS and muscle recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quote From &lt;a href=&quot;https://muckerfitness.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/no-pain-no-gain-not-quite/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;When we experience muscle soreness, commonly referred to as DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), we are actually experiencing the chemical response from ours bodies due to the result of the inflammation caused. This inflammation is caused by micro tears of the muscle, where muscle fiber is broken down and needs to be repaired. The inflammation causes the muscles to experience heat, tenderness and they will swell. Don’t be worried by this, as this is a natural response caused by overload, where our body develops so that it can cope if this situation were to arise again.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5gQzfm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5gQzfm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;DOMS&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U6Zn3m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U6Zn3m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Muscle Tears&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery can be highly dependent on the individual and the muscle. Given an active healthy person, for strength training it can take &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/470514-how-long-does-it-take-for-muscles-to-recover-after-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;up to 7-14 days&lt;/a&gt; for the muscle to fully repair and rebuild itself, however, it's generally okay to workout 48-72 hours after on the same muscle group. It is vitally important to give the muscle this time to recover for maximum results and preventing injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio or Aerobic:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For aerobic workouts, it depends on the person and the type of aerobic workout. If it's high intensity and/or rough terrain then the rest time will need to be greater. The soreness may be caused by micro tears or lactic acid depending on the intensity. Given an active healthy person, they can generally workout doing to same activity within 24hrs or when they no longer feel the soreness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Injury:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another way of defining soreness is muscle fatigue, cramps or spasms, and pulled and injured muscles. These need to be taken under special consideration and should not be placed under any stress until they have been given proper time to heal. After pain/soreness subsides, immediately engaging in heavy lifts of activities is not recommended at all. Gradually working up to greater weights or activities with caution is recommended. Just how gradual is highly dependent on the severity of injury and the type of activity. I recommend consulting a doctor for specifics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More reading on DOMS:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/south127.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/south127.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More on Lactic Acid:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-lactic-acid-buil/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-lactic-acid-buil/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/exercise-and-lactic-acidosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/exercise-and-lactic-acidosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/science-of-lactic-acid/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/science-of-lactic-acid/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="19550" LastEditDate="2016-07-14T06:42:45.443" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T06:42:45.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29087" CreationDate="2016-03-08T12:32:47.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know where you got it from that you should not increase the weight if you cannot do it, this is simply not true. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to achieve some form of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt;. The idea of progressive overload is to try just a little more each time. If you keep benching the same weight at the same intensity, your body will adapt to it and you won't see any improvement. No more, no less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many tried and true programs incorporate this principle in their programming. &#xA;For example: Stronglifts,Starting Strength, Wendler 5/3/1, Sheiko, Johnny Candito's programmes, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, a program already instructs on increasing the weight if you can perform the exercise as stated. For example, in the case of Stronglifts, you increase the weight by 2.5 kg the next time you do it if you can do a certain weight 5 x 5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your program does not incorporate progressive overload in some form or another, it is a bad program and you will need to introduce progressive overload. So in your example, if you can bench 70 kg for 3 sets and 8 reps, try to do 3 x 8 at 72.5 kg the next time you do it. If you fail at rep 6, that is fine, try it again the following 2 workouts. You should be able to perform it within the following workouts. If you cannot, you simply lower the weight and slowly increase again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this answers you question a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19663" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T12:32:47.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29131" CreationDate="2016-03-08T13:03:10.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Toning&quot; your muscles is not something that is possible and it a very confusing term. It simply does not exist. The idea of a toned image is one that is (1) &lt;b&gt;lean&lt;/b&gt; with some (2) &lt;b&gt;muscle definition&lt;/b&gt;, or put otherwise: you will have a &quot;toned&quot; look if you lose fat and build muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This simply means that you need to build muscle and shred fat. No more, no less. You seem to know that to lose fat you need to have a caloric deficit, meaning you use more energy than you consume, so that is great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second part is to build muscle, and this you can do in many ways. Bodyweight exercises are a good start, squats, lunges, push ups, planches, box jumps are some exercises that come into mind you could do easily at home. I believe you want to have an overall healthy look, so I'd suggest working out all your body parts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last note: you won't get &quot;bulging&quot; abs from simple strength training. Getting that muscular look you are afraid of requires lots of dedication and knowledge and you won't just transform into a she-hulk the moment you touch some weights. So you don't have to stress about that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: as for the second part of your question. You can increase your agility by increasing your balance, explosiveness, strength and range of motion. Something you can achieve with strength training and proper stretching&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19663" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T13:03:10.633" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29131" CreationDate="2016-03-08T17:46:28.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is irrelevant. I'm just searching for exercises which purpose is not making bulging abs but slimming down the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't want Muscle definition either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to slim down the body, diet is not irrelevant. However, the two comments that you make are at odds with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary functions of muscle are to move the body to perform tasks, such as walking, seeing, eating, digestion, sitting, etc etc etc. Your muscles will adapt to whatever exercises you do, in order to be more efficient at doing the exercise. Part of this adaptation includes growth both in size and density. This will only occur to the extent to which you do the exercises. The reason an overweight, blobby video game addict looks the way they do is they don't exercise at all, and only move when necessary. Part of the reason a competitive bodybuilder looks the way they do is they specifically train to look that way. Your image is somewhere in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is nobody can &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; what &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; mean by slimmer, what you consider &amp;quot;bulging abs&amp;quot;, etc. It might help if you could post a picture of what you want to look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My biceps started bulging more than I would like, and I could clearly see abs starting to define in my abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then either do lighter weights, or less repetitions/sets. As I stated above, your body adapts to the workload placed on it. If you do exercises A, B, C and D for 3 sets of 10 reps each, and you start getting more &amp;quot;muscley&amp;quot; than you would like, do 3 sets of 6 reps each, or 2 sets of 10 reps or use less weight. Find what maintains the look you want, and keep doing that. If you like the way your biceps look and you're doing 3 sets of 6 reps on curls with 10 lb dumbbells, doing that over and over won't stimulate new muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T17:46:28.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29131" CreationDate="2016-03-08T19:20:51.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, I'd recommend doing something like gymnastics (many gymnastics schools offer an &quot;adult tumbling&quot; class so you won't be sharing the mat with 8-year-olds in leotards) or a martial art like Kung Fu or Capoeira which emphasizes mobility. In both cases, you're constantly moving, and building muscle tone to support yourself in various positions, but bulk is limited by the fact that you're balancing building enough muscle to support yourself against the need to keep bulk down so that you have strength enough to lift yourself. Plus, they tend to be fun, with a variety of different exercises so that you're not likely to get bored with it any time soon. Lastly, they obviously promote agility, since it's a core aspect of the work. Parkour is another possibility, albeit one that's more daunting for many people, and more difficult to find classes for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If taking an actual class is not feasible (I work full time and have other activities, so I know I haven't had room for a class in ages), these activities often have home study materials you can use. I'd probably edge towards martial arts in that case. If you live in a decent-size town, the odds are that you can get a Capoeira workout DVD from the library for free. Parkour is a bit trickier in that a) there are fewer codified resources and b) it can be tricky to learn to do safely without a teacher, although there are some very good YouTube videos (I highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EemFtE9V0R4&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amos Rendao's roll tutorial&lt;/a&gt;, both amusing and informative). Lastly, gymnastics may seem daunting for practicing at home without a teacher, but doing handstands against walls and practicing controlled cartwheels is doable without specialized equipment or instruction with little risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T19:20:51.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-08T21:39:16.683" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently been trying to lose weight. I walk up to 20 km a day and I usually lose more calories than I eat. Walking is my hobby and I walk for around 3 hours a day with no breaks. I was wondering because I read a while back that as long as you walk or run alot while using whey protein you can lose weight because the whey protein apperently can boost metabolism. I have a slow metabolism and I find it hard to lose weight and I was hoping that whey protein can help with it. I am 5'7&quot; and I weigh 170 pounds. I want to drop to 150. Any helpful advice will be appreciated and thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19670" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T07:26:37.423" Title="Is whey protein good for losing weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-08T23:46:35.553" Score="1" ViewCount="659" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I can remember, my knees have pointed inward when bending at the knees. If I stand with my feet an inch or two apart, facing forward, and start bending my knees, they quickly knock into each other. From what I've read online, this is called knee valgus and has a number of causes, such as poor ankle dorsiflexion, weak hip adductors, tight calves, and tight abductors. I've tried various things to improve in each of these areas, though nothing has had an affect on the angles my knees point inward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently started to suspect that this is because I am flat footed. When I rotate my foot outward so that I'm standing on the outside of the foot, my knees point forward normally. I believe the problem is that my collapsed arches are causing my ankle to be rotated inward, which is in turn causing my knees to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to fix this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2429" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T06:24:12.143" Title="Flat feet causing knees to point in" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-03-11T09:39:52.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-09T03:11:35.470" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hate to wear armbands when working out and my headphones seem to get snagged.  Has anyone used this shirt before? &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U4kjV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U4kjV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T15:40:15.900" Title="Has Anyone found a comfortable way to wear your mobile device when exercising?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29164" CreationDate="2016-03-09T06:07:27.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly I don't think there's any comfortable way to wear a large and rather hefty piece of electronics on your body if you're bouncing about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For running and lifting, I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1QCsR7A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a small mp3 player&lt;/a&gt; that I plug some behind-the-ear headphones into. Beyond the tiny profile, I also like it because I'm not distracted by notifications. My workout time is mine, if something is that &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; important someone can drive over to the gym or track me down on the streets. Otherwise it can wait. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other sports where I want a phone for emergency use or to stay connected with friends (snowboarding, etc) I park my phone in my jacket pocket and use &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1Uda6dn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a bluetooth controller&lt;/a&gt;. My phone stays protected from crashes and the environment, and I can control things with a gloved finger.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T06:07:27.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29163" CreationDate="2016-03-09T06:24:12.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fail to see why the base of the foot being flat should cause the leg to tip over, rather than being a normal leg that just has more of the sole of the foot on the ground. If your hip, knee, and ankle are misaligned like the following image, then I think you should work on the knee valgus. Use &lt;a href=&quot;http://bretcontreras.com/knee-valgus-valgus-collapse-glute-medius-strengthening-band-hip-abduction-exercises-and-ankle-dorsiflexion-drills/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bret Contreras' diagnostic tests&lt;/a&gt; to see whether your valgus is caused by ankle mobility, hip mobility, or lack of coordination.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RRrWh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RRrWh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T06:24:12.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29570" CreationDate="2016-03-09T06:46:13.720" Score="1" ViewCount="1907" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chirunning.com/blog/entry/improve-your-walking-and-running-with-pelvic-rotation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chirunning.com says yes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step, once you've learned how to level your pelvis, is to learn to move that level pelvis as you walk and run. This happens by allowing your pelvis to rotate in the direction your rear leg swings. This rotation is crucial to injury prevention and efficiency. By allowing your whole lower body to rotate around the vertical axis, you can gain from 1 to 4 inches with each stride. Any amount that your pelvis rotates along with that leg as it swings behind you will add inches to your stride and ease the amount of work done at the hip joint. A longer rearward stride (without the heel striking that comes from overstriding) can reduce the amount of impact to your knees, hips and lower back. In addition, rotating your pelvis around the vertical axis allows you to tap into a very powerful set of core muscles deep within the abdomen - the iliopsoas. This big muscle elongates at the back of your stride. Then, as your foot leaves the ground, it naturally recoils from its stretched position which returns your leg to the support phase of your stride without engaging your quadriceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... I go one step farther and tell runners to imagine that their legs begin at this juncture point (T12/L1). If your entire lower body rotates from this point, while your upper body remains &amp;quot;fixed,&amp;quot; your running will be much more efficient and easier on your body. On the other hand, if your pelvis doesn't move when you walk or run, it means that all of the swinging motion of your legs originates at your hip joints. Over time this can create overuse injuries in the hip area such as hip bursitis, hamstring pulls, IT Band inflammation and hyper-extension of the hip flexors, especially when you try to run or walk faster with a bigger leg swing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some strides this feels natural to me, with others (such as running on inclines) it does not. I had always avoided twisting at the lumbar spine, but recently learned to do it correctly (using hip muscles) for 3-turns in ice skating. I want to find out in what other activities I should use these newly discovered muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T14:15:25.247" Title="Should your pelvis rotate when you walk and run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;hip&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29162" CreationDate="2016-03-09T09:56:25.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You most likely don't have a slow metabolism, as this is quite rare. To lose weight you need to establish your BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate. Your BMR is dependent on your body size: the more mass you have, the more energy you use; and composition, muscle requires much more energy than fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lose weight you simply need to be in a state of caloric deficit. Meaning to lose weight you have to consume less than what you use on a daily basis. Anything you eat or drink - save for water -contains energy. Hence, if you eat a caloric surplus - be it from healthy food or unhealthy food - you will gain weight. You see that in essence it is quite simple. Consume more than what you use =&gt; gain weight, consume less than what you use =&gt; lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I mentioned losing weight and not losing fat. What weight (fat or muscle) you lose depends on what type of exercise you do and at what intensity. &#xA;Something to consider: many &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.nl/scholar?q=weight%20loss%20and%20strength%20training&amp;amp;btnG=&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0%2C5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;studies&lt;/a&gt; have confirmed that one loses more fat and less muscle if they do strength training in combination with diet vs diet alone. And this is where protein becomes handy as it preserves muscle mass during a caloric deficit if one exercises the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep in mind that whey protein is a supplement, no more no less. This means it is not necessary at all if you consume enough protein via your diet alone. However, it can be an easy way of protein supplementation if you don't consume adequate amounts of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this was clear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19663" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T09:56:25.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29162" CreationDate="2016-03-09T13:12:27.633" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the 50,000 foot view, weight loss is about having a calorie deficit, so the idea that you're going to &quot;add&quot; a food and &quot;lose&quot; weight is simply wrong.  If you have a calorie deficit, you can lose weight while eating Twinkies (reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whey protein is good for building muscle.  It digests quickly and causes an insulin spike which will signal your body to store nutrients and build tissue.  It is the refined sugar of proteins.  If you do strength training and have a calorie surplus with ample protein (whey or otherwise), you'll build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19318" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T13:12:27.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29176" CreationDate="2016-03-09T14:52:59.980" Score="9" ViewCount="20966" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if it is possible (probably with lot of training) to control each of my toe independently of the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Big toe and pinky: no problem, but the three middle ones: I can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question came to my mind, when my Yoga teacher explained that she needed long time to control her pinky toe. From what I understood (and I'm clearly not an expert), yoga is also about getting aware of each of your muscles and learn how to control them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if some people (maybe a Yogi) are able to control each of their toe individually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I Googled the question, but the answers I found contradicts each other and are often not clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19677" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T14:54:46.127" LastActivityDate="2019-09-08T01:19:15.037" Title="Is it possible to move each toe individually?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29164" CreationDate="2016-03-09T15:10:56.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stopped bothering for the exact same reasons above, too clunky. A good solution might be a running jumper with a pocket at the top;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uW2jQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uW2jQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Adidas cheat running hoody&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19678" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T15:10:56.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29100" CreationDate="2016-03-09T15:36:57.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are afraid of damaging your knees smashing them while falling, the first thing you could do is learning how to fall properly. Any judo-like training class or parkour class should be fine. This way you minimize the chance of hurting yourself even without pads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding knee pads I have never used a pair specifically built for knee protection while running, but the best hard knee cups pair that I have ever tried was Arc'teryx Kneecaps ones. They have a soft lining that absorbs part of the force of impact and the hard exterior shell prevents piercing damage from hard objects like rocks. They are quite comfortable and hold their position well. Their primary use was telemark skiing, but they gained a lot of popularity thanks to military use. I think that they could be your best bet, albeit they're quite expensive. But be aware that running with knee pads could alter your posture, leading to muscle imbalances and injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19653" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-09T18:20:40.680" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T18:20:40.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25929" CreationDate="2016-03-09T15:54:54.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without being an expert on bouldering, I'd guess your bouldering skills depend on a few things: technique, strength, mobility and flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technique is something you develop by doing it often. &#xA;Strength, mobility and flexibility is something you can develop by bouldering and also something you can train with exercises that target the muscles/tendons/joints used in bouldering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On your question on how often you should do this, it is difficult to recommend anything without knowing your schedule but I'd say as often as you like and when you have the time for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19663" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T15:54:54.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29164" CreationDate="2016-03-09T18:10:10.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For carrying my tablet, I actually had my mother sew me up a small backpack that slings across my back. It holds snugly to my back, so there's no real bouncing to worry about, and she made it in a way where I can rotate it around my body for when I don't feel like contorting to reach it. For the tablet I own with a strap on the back, I'll sometimes just carry it in my hand, switching hands when one arm gets tired. It adds an additional small workout and keeps it handy (it's also in a shock-resistant case so I don't have to worry about dropping it or falling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For headphones, I used to just use cheap Dollar Store ones. The wires were long enough to reach from the backpack and the low cost meant that replacement them every half year or so was a small impact to me. I now use a Bluetooth headset I picked up at Aldis for about $15. Fewer wires to worry about, although it does mean one more thing to keep charged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T18:10:10.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29171" CreationDate="2016-03-09T19:10:47.083" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, with practice, you could learn to control every toe individually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason it is difficult, is that the part of your brain which is responsible for voluntary movements, the motor cortex, has relatively little area devoted to your toes. Here is a representation of the relative area each body part has in the motor cortex:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ATIdr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ATIdr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;motor humunculus&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more area devoted to the body part, the better voluntary control you have over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The motor cortex also shows a high degree of plasticity. That is, practice induces measurable changes in the brain: the area devoted to the specific body part increases, and control over a body part improves as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amputees are a living proof of this. Some of them have developed the ability to carry out everyday tasks using their toes, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqCug-o6W1Q&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;even writing&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, should you spend time learning such skills? Most likely, not. Also, &quot;getting aware of every muscle and learn to control them&quot; is too generic to have any meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the toes are extremely useful in balancing. (Try balancing on one leg with an injured big toe!) If you practice a lot of yoga poses balancing on one leg, your toes will develop the necessary skills to work together with the rest of your body to achieve balance. You, then, might become conscious of your toes working skillfully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably what your teacher meant when she said it took her some time to control her pinky toe. She did not spend her time trying to &quot;control every body part&quot; separately. She has practiced specific skills, that were relevant and useful to her. For example, balancing, which involves the whole body, with the parts working together in harmony. Then, she became aware, that the parts, eg. the toes, have improved in their skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T19:10:47.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25929" CreationDate="2016-03-09T19:40:53.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your bouldering training schedule should be dictated by your previous climbing years (that translates into how strong are your hands' tendons) and goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a beginner I suggest to have one day of rest between hard bouldering session otherwise it's easy to go too hard on your finger (tendons are slow to strengthen). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a couple of years (or if you haven't climbed too hard the day before) you could climb two consecutive days or boulder one day and campus the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to progress quickly the only option is to climb a lot so you could aim at four climbing/training sessions per week.&#xA;You can dedicate one day to hard bouldering problems, two to moderate-easy ones (to build endurance and consolidate technique) and the last to calisthenics.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I share you a link where you can find other short guidelines :    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/magic-ratio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/magic-ratio&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19653" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T19:40:53.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29178" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-03-09T19:48:13.490" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-03-09T19:48:13.490" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T19:48:13.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29179" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-03-09T19:48:13.490" Score="0" Body="Form of rock climbing that takes place on boulders or other rock formations without ropes and harness to protect the climber. The climber is protected by spotters and crash pads. Usually bouldering problems are less than 6 meters (20 ft.) tall." OwnerUserId="19653" LastEditorUserId="19653" LastEditDate="2016-03-09T22:30:43.053" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T22:30:43.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-10T01:10:43.270" Score="4" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you help me with the muscles involved in the downward movement of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14579/7091&quot;&gt;V sit&lt;/a&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Downward would be eccentric but what muscles are the primary movers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19680" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T09:46:26.307" Title="What muscles are involved in the downward movement of the v-sit?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29080" CreationDate="2016-03-10T04:44:40.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, you should go see your doctor and discuss getting a steroid prescribed, something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://qvar.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;QVAR&lt;/a&gt;. That have you have one inhaler makes it sound like you only have a rescue inhaler, and for the severity of your lung issues you are a clear candidate for continual treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.globalasthmareport.org/burden/mortality.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Global Asthma Report&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Avoidable asthma deaths are still occurring due to inappropriate&#xA;  management of asthma, including over-reliance on reliever medication&#xA;  rather than preventer medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a physician friend of mine is quick to point out, most asthma deaths occur in people who have rescue inhalers on them, know they have asthma, and have managed to keep it under control for decades with rescue inahalers. And then they die, despite all of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your two paths look something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get your asthma under control with a preventer medication, like QVAR, although there are other options you can discuss with a physician or nurse practitioner. Beyond asthma specific medications, talk to your provider about allergy medications as well. You may even be prescribed a small batch of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prednisone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prednisone&lt;/a&gt; to keep handy, as it can honestly be the difference between life and death in severe cases. Again, talk to your provider about this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise only in a climate controlled and air filtered room. HEPA filters and an air conditioner can go a long way towards keeping the air in such a state that it doesn't aggravate your condition. During exceptionally challenging seasons (spring pollen, a bitterly cold winter, etc) you may end up using this as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you really shouldn't need to live in a bubble. There are good, safe medications out there that can dramatically increase your quality of life. You can spend 30 minutes with any decent medical provider and have a new lease on life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T04:44:40.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29100" CreationDate="2016-03-10T07:01:03.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first line of advice would be to consider &lt;strong&gt;how to&lt;/strong&gt; better &lt;strong&gt;avoid falling in the first place&lt;/strong&gt;. I have run over two hundred trail races and fallen twice. Both occurred under the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(a) later in the race when already tired &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(b) steep downhill sections on technical terrain and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(c)  using bad form.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is &lt;strong&gt;bad form&lt;/strong&gt; ?  May be one of a number of traits: here are some I had been guilty of: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pointing your toes downward. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not being &quot;light&quot; on your feet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Committing&quot; yourself to big steps - instead of taking more smaller ones: What happens if that &quot;big&quot; step hits a rock?  Take more and smaller steps.  One should strive to use several small/quick steps instead of one &quot;heavy&quot; one. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now .. to your original question about knee pads.  They will not &quot;save&quot; you if you take a bad fall  -especially if you were taking big heavy steps as described above.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However they can certainly be  &lt;em&gt;helpful&lt;/em&gt;.  Look into either &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Volleyball knee pads&#xA;Skating knee pads: many varieties are available &#xA;  of lesser or greater protection - and corresponding &#xA;  greater or lesser flexibility.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have worn &lt;code&gt;volleyball knee pads&lt;/code&gt; in trail races - and won handily. They can make little or no difference in your performance: in one 8Km race I tied my own course record wearing the pads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; (two weeks later..).  The &quot;light on your feet&quot; just saved me in a 10K trail race. I hit an uneven portion of the trail badly and started to fall forward. But I had been using the lighter steps and keeping the knees a bit raised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the other foot stayed underneath me and several small and quick strides later I recovered proper form.   The arms went wide and the body went nearly parallel to the ground but the face plant was avoided.  That all happened at about a 6:30 minute/mile running pace on a fairly steep downhill: so hitting the dirt would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; have been pleasant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The added safety of putting more effort into each downhill stride &lt;strong&gt;does&lt;/strong&gt; come with a cost: I find my downhill pace &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; slower. It also does use more energy: just kind of &quot;falling&quot; downhill is easier on the legs and faster (*).  But - as just shown - the extra few seconds is well worth the slight performance hit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) This approach is useful for higher downhill speeds on smoother surfaces such as pavement or well maintained fire roads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8486" LastEditorUserId="8486" LastEditDate="2016-03-27T20:50:42.377" LastActivityDate="2016-03-27T20:50:42.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29181" CreationDate="2016-03-10T09:46:26.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The muscles used during both directions are the same, just in the opposite order of intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with V-sit in general, the muscles used are the rectus abdominis, obliques and hip flexors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondary movers are triceps and forearms due simply to the fact that they are the muscles that support the weight of your body during the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T09:46:26.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27782" CreationDate="2016-03-10T15:34:51.030" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Official gymnastic rings are 2,8 cm wide while most gyms ones are 3,0 cm wide. As gymnasts wear padding/gloves the ring they use feel fatter. Many crossfit like rings are 3,2 wide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main difference between various thicknesses is how easy you can achieve a &quot;false&quot; grip. Narrower rings make it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have small hands and you want to practise strict muscle ups, crosses or other advanced gymnastic movements I suggest to buy 2,8 - 3,0 cm rings. If you just want to do dips, rows, kipping muscle ups and other basic movements you could buy whatever you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wooden rings are better (indoor of course) than metal or plastic ones  because they are more grippy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19653" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T15:34:51.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18193" CreationDate="2016-03-10T20:56:47.193" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends. If you train in the morning without breakfast it's not a good idea to do HIIT. If you train in the evening with a good dinner before it then you can burn many kcals in short time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you are low in body fat percentage then HIIT is not the right choice because in low bodyfat ranges your body is more likely to burn muscle in hard cardio sessions. Some say you can save your gains by eating a large amount of protein but I don't think that helps a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19683" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-03-11T03:29:41.703" LastActivityDate="2016-03-11T03:29:41.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-10T23:42:55.987" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I suffered a serious sprain about a year ago that made it so I couldn't lift any weight for months; I guess it wasn't bad enough to require surgery but it still was a hit, and the (wrist) joint is pretty much healed but the un-injured (left) side still feels stronger and the right seems to be more sensitive; is this something to with that others have claimed there is a chance the joint you hurt if it is serious it will heal mostly but will always be a little weaker? I am 19 years old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user19684" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T05:51:43.760" Title="If you suffer from a break or serious sprain, is it likely that joint will never feel exactly the same again?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29187" CreationDate="2016-03-11T03:27:35.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this is very much individually determined, but there are a few things that you can look out for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have persistent soreness, it may not be healed or may not be healed properly. If that is the case, you may need to visit your health care provider and possibly be referred to a specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still note weakness, that may or may not be unusual. If you can't use a muscle or limb for a long time, there can be significant muscle atrophy on that side, and without diligent training specifically to address this, it may be a long term weakness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally breaks heal and can even be stronger than surrounding areas, but if you are still noticing weakness and tenderness it might be a good time to revisit the doctor/physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as an n=1 experience, I ruptured my achilles and was unable to use the calf for 3 months. When they took all the casts/boots off, my calf was the size of my wrist. 4 years later, I have a full recovery but it's still not &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; the same strength as the other leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-03-11T03:27:35.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-11T04:13:10.013" Score="2" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to use the gym to get in shape for mountaineering and rock climbing on my vacations.  I don't have access to rock walls or mountains so I try and use what I have: a gym, and running routes. I also enjoy running, and the added benefits of a better cardiovascular system, so I want to fit that into my fitness plan as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have lost about 7 kilos in the past three or so months through just general getting in shape. This has included its fair share of strict dieting, as well as weeks of beer drinking (vacations). I currently have some muscle definition but I definitely also still have a layer of fat.  I weigh 78 kilos and am 177.5 cm, and I can't see my abs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet: I eat oatmeal with milk and banana and peanut butter for breakfast.  I have a hard boiled egg at 10 am.  For lunch I eat leafy greens, lentils or flaxseed or peanut butter, occasionally sweet potato, and an apple.  For a snack I have nonfat yogurt and some sunflower seeds before I go to the gym.  For dinner I have more green vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, and 2-3 eggs.  I live in Thailand so protein supplements are very expensive and I don't enjoy eating low quality protein (chicken breast) from grocery stores.  My protein is low, but I don't want to be putting on a lot of muscle weight so I don't see it as a major concern.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training: I do 8-9 exercises with 3 sets of 10 reps.  I have switched between single muscle splits and full body routines - this is a major point where I want suggestions.  I do this 3-4 days a week.  The other 3 are spent running (6 miles) in about an hour, sometimes longer if I am tired. On my cardio days I also work on pullups and body weight core routines.  Occasionally (maybe 1-2 a week) I do HIIT cardio on a treadmill. I also have a problem with hip and ankle flexibility so i regularly stretch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking to improve my relative strength, and get lean. I want to lose my last layer of fat in the next 12 weeks, while improving/maintaining strength. For strength I am most interested in improving core, pull, and grip strength. I do a pullup regimen of 5 sets every other day with 4 sets of 50% of MR and one set of 80% MR (I can do approximately 10 open hand pullups right now, but I really want this to improve).  I want to know if it is bad to do long cardio 2-3 times a week - will this cause muscle degradation? Also what is the best split for lifting?  How should my strength training and cardio be mixed together? Do I truly need 2 times my body weight in proteins? This just seems unrealistically high, broscience.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the length - any suggestions about how to better present my stats would be appreciated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19686" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T18:34:01.397" Title="What is a good training program for a beginner/intermediate mountaineer/rock climber?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18193" CreationDate="2016-03-11T13:11:40.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;HIIT isn't really the factor here, I would say your diet is. You need to calculate your TDEE and find out a deficit including the calories burned from HIIT training(which is a lot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an amateur boxer and do HIIT workouts 4 times a week, 2-hour sessions each. One 2-hour session easily burns 1500 calories if not more. Hard sparring is included in these. In periods where I need to maintain weight, I calculate my TDEE and try to land a break-even on calories on the days I work out(to have energy for it, also), and eat less the days I don't work out(which isn't many.. in fact..) The &quot;puzzle&quot; has to go together on a weekly basis for me, though. In periods where I cut, i have a calorie deficit of around 400 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to conclude - you need to plan your diet after your workout intensity and frequency, and go on a daily calorie deficit that is not too big(because then you WILL lose muscle). Consistency and steady progress is the key. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastEditorUserId="18493" LastEditDate="2016-03-12T07:35:38.930" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T07:35:38.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2016-03-11T15:45:53.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sincerely hope no-one reading these answers in the future get's the wrong idea here. Hence I feel the need, four years after the original asker was here, to add some context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Starting Strength does&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength is designed to add maximal strength as quickly as possible whilst not specifically building hypertrophy or work capacity. It does this very well and if that's what you want do it but stick precisely to the program, it works. FYI the program lasts no longer than a month or three for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Starting Strength doesn't do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it doesn't do for the average person is build a nice physique, or prepare you for the best strength progress in your future lifting career. It's very much a one-trick pony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be better, be stronger, and look better than the average person who wants a bit of strength, you would be well advised to do a lot more work. Build yourself a base of work capacity, and focus on the one aspect of your training career that anyone aiming for maximal strength or maximal muscle should be focusing on: building muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to understand the other answers here&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these answers above about how the three day setup in starting strength is somehow &lt;strong&gt;better&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;more effective&lt;/strong&gt; are correct ONLY if your goal is as much immediate strength as possible in the next few months, and you don't care about slowing down your long term strength and physique potential by having to backtrack and work on building a base later on once those beginner gains die and you are left stalling like a grounded whale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl, dr; if you feel you can do more and you want to actually make long term progress, then please do what your brain is telling you and do more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone wants further advice, how to build more work capacity, how to set up a routine to do more work etc, feel free to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit addition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;So what else can I do? What program lets me do more?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://strengtheory.com/complete-strength-training-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://strengtheory.com/complete-strength-training-guide/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Check the link in that article to download the complete package of programs, which has a well laid out beginners program that has you training 4 days a week and doing 4 main lifts (S/B/D/OHP) in each session plus accessories. If you want to do more, here you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And through that link you'll find a powerlifting world record holder's informed take on how to master your training career to get as strong and as big as possible. Covers beginners, intermediates and advanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To anyone confused by my views, this should be an interesting read. Hope it's enlightening.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do you have anything else? I don't jive with that program&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one here is another awesome program and just so happens to be Mon - Fri: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&amp;amp;t=1726&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&amp;amp;t=1726&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-03-13T14:19:47.247" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T14:19:47.247" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-11T16:25:10.767" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend and I had started working with Zumba Gold at the end of June 2015 for 5 days a week, from 20-30 minutes. We enjoy exercising to music which makes it less monotonous. We have also found Jessica Smith videos that we like to follow. We do low impact aerobics. We have lost weight and inches.  We didn't have much weight to lose and we have no sagging skin. Now we're at a point that we need to firm up. What do we need to do-the same exercises plus concentration on triceps and also floor exercises concentrating on glutes &amp;amp; thighs, use weights, or do we just continue what we've been doing? We'd really appreciate your input! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19691" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T18:25:43.957" Title="How do we tone up at this point?" Tags="&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29193" CreationDate="2016-03-11T17:54:40.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Toned&quot; basically means &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/13572/7091&quot;&gt;lower body fat with more musculature&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training (weight lifting) is the most effective way to build muscle. Diet is the most important aspect to reducing body fat (eating less than you're expending), and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;strength training is going to be more effective than cardio for fat loss&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically to answer your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do we need to do-the same exercises plus concentration on triceps&#xA;  and also floor exercises concentrating on glutes &amp;amp; thighs, use&#xA;  weights, or do we just continue what we've been doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;A good strength training program&lt;/a&gt; is going to get the job done a lot faster, and provide numerous other medically documented benefits. Low impact cardio is great, but it doesn't increase bone density like higher impact training or strength training does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9927006&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a 1999 study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Over the past 10 years, nearly two dozen cross-sectional and&#xA;  longitudinal studies have shown a direct and positive relationship&#xA;  between the effects of resistance training and bone density. ...&#xA;  High-intensity resistance training, in contrast to traditional&#xA;  pharmacological and nutritional approaches for improving bone health&#xA;  in older adults, has the added benefit of influencing multiple risk&#xA;  factors for osteoporosis including improved strength and balance and&#xA;  increased muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coupled with a good diet (eating less than you're using), if you enjoy Zumba and other low impact aerobics, you can get &quot;toned&quot;. But it will take longer and not yield the same results as strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dial your diet in. Use something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;myfitnesspal.com&lt;/a&gt; to track &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; calorie for a week or two, just to understand how much you're putting into your body. Likewise, use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;calorie estimator&lt;/a&gt; to determine how much you should eat of what. This gives you good concrete information on how to eat, what's too much, and what's not enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1QRUxTX&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, follow the A/B workouts near the back of the book. Try to do 2 or 3 workouts a week. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep doing your Zumba and whatever other aerobic activity you enjoy. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would be a pretty ideal situation. You'll have doctors and exercise folks high fiving you on your plan, and you'll fast track all of your goals. Plus, you'll be making some big swings towards long term health. A plan like that will have positive impacts going decades into your future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-03-11T17:54:40.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-11T21:36:09.890" Score="4" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;Previous &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16102/how-much-protein-per-muscle-mass&quot;&gt;topics&lt;/a&gt; have examined the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6362/is-there-a-maximum-amount-of-protein-the-human-body-can-absorb-a-day&quot;&gt;absorbable amount of protein per day&lt;/a&gt; (&amp;lt;0.8g/lb), but how much protein can the body absorb during a post-workout meal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is of particular interest in intermittent fasting protocols, where one might want to have two feeding episodes, say post noon workout and dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T00:19:20.240" Title="How much protein can the body absorb within a meal?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29195" CreationDate="2016-03-11T22:17:51.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body will absorb nearly all the protein that you consume in a meal. Depending on the source, your body will absorb anywhere from 1.3g per hour on the low side (Eggs come in around 3g/hour), up to 8-10g per hour on the high side (whey protein). (Unfortunately, I do not have access to anything but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16779921&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abstract rather than the full study&lt;/a&gt;). Protein stays in the digestive tract for quite a while, which leads to the full (or nearly so) absorption of ingested protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study also appears to address other factors in excessive protein consumption, such as excreting the excess nitrogen and other wastes associated with protein digestion and utilization. However, I cannot confirm since I don't have a source for the full article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the abstract they suggest a maximum safe upper limit of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;25% of energy requirements at approximately 2 to 2.5 g x kg(-1) x d(-1), corresponding to 176 g protein per day for an 80 kg individual on a 12,000kJ/d diet. This is well below the theoretical maximum safe intake range for an 80 kg person (285 to 365 g/d). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that they give it as a 12,000kJ diet which is in the neighborhood of 2800 calories a day, which is fairly substantial in the average non athlete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the question that you cite, I think you're misinterpreting it a bit. You can &lt;em&gt;absorb&lt;/em&gt; more, but it may not be beneficial. The cited article in that question &lt;a href=&quot;http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reviews a few different studies&lt;/a&gt;, and concludes that .75g/lb/day is the highest limit that benefits structural changes (i.e. muscle building). You can eat more safely, and absorb more safely, but it may not really be of any benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-03-11T22:17:51.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-11T22:18:31.440" Score="1" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am newly climbing stairs and I clock myself to about 60 minutes of climbing up and down a single floor(2 sets of stairs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I did this for a week easily, I found that in the subsequent week I started having minor intermittent pain peeks in my knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal and just a passing phase or should i mellow down my time..??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise as I want to lose weight but not at the cost of my knees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8204" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T11:45:14.323" Title="Can Climbing stairs lead to good weight loss..?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29200" CreationDate="2016-03-11T23:16:52.590" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;How fast can fat be burned?&#xA;I am not asking about how quickly weight can be lost but how much of a human's calorific need can be met by fat alone? Is it healthy to work at the maximum power output of fat for sustained periods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19264" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T09:24:15.780" Title="Maximum wattage of a fat cell" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-03-14T13:58:13.357" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29197" CreationDate="2016-03-12T04:17:53.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You basically have two questions here. First, is stair-climbing good for weight loss? Honestly, not much. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.stepjockey.com/content/docs/Stair_Climbing_Facts_StepJockey.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This document&lt;/a&gt; calculates about .17 calories burned per step going up and .05 going down. If you assume that you're taking 1 step every second and continuously doing so for an hour, that's about 1800 steps up and 1800 steps down. That comes out to about 396 calories burned, or a bit more than the calories in a cheeseburger or about 150 calories more than walking the same amount of time. Frankly, exercise is a lousy way to lose weight. You're better off reducing the amount of calories you take in. That said, it will be helping to get you in better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As regards the knee pain, any form of exercise can cause injury, and repeating the same motion over and over again, as with stair-climbing, can cause injury through &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/health-topics/muscles-and-bone/overuse.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;over-use&lt;/a&gt;. Your best bet is to scale back a bit and see if the pain gets better or worse. If the pain gets bad, or doesn't go away, see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T04:17:53.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29198" CreationDate="2016-03-12T09:24:15.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although it changes from person to person (weight), approximately 60-85% of maximal heart rate are accepted as fat burning zone. If you keep your intensity (lower is better) between above mentioned intervals, up to 70% of the calories burned can come from fat . This article may somewhat help you. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3810/psm.1998.09.1143&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fat Burning During Exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;how fast? do the math :-)&#xA;every 45 minutes your run you lose 1 pound&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T09:24:15.780" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27201" CreationDate="2016-03-12T19:34:21.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out www.dojofitness.io&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this app covers all your needs. It allows you to work with your trainer via the app to design workout &amp;amp; diet plans and track / monitor progress. It also allows you to post results and compete with friends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19698" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T19:34:21.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-13T01:45:12.837" Score="2" ViewCount="1278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually take creatine before and right after my workout with maltodextrin. Is it beneficial to take creatine on rest days too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19700" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T10:42:47.237" Title="How much creatine should I eat on off-days?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29202" CreationDate="2016-03-13T10:34:47.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, creatine can be taken on rest days as well. Here is an excellent article with research backed data on creatine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Creatine monohydrate can be supplemented through a loading protocol.&#xA;  To start loading, take 0.3 gram per kilogram of bodyweight per day for&#xA;  5–7 days, then follow with at least 0.03 g/kg/day either for three&#xA;  weeks (if cycling) or indefinitely (without additional loading&#xA;  phases).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As Creatine is stored in the body, you can take it any time. While&#xA;  some personal trainers recommend taking it after a workout, this has&#xA;  no difference in uptake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18959" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T10:34:47.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29202" CreationDate="2016-03-13T10:42:47.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use creatine as a supplement for boxing, to increase endurance when I'm training up to a fight(I cut it 3 weeks before a fight to throw off the water weight that it adds. For me, it's around 2kg.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've experimented a bit and ended up taking the same amount every day, be it rest day or not. As far as I've read, it's stored and will just build up over time. This is of course assuming you're taking it consistently and not doing the whole load/unload phase etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question: It doesn't matter, take it at the same time every day for consistency. I'd suggest making it a morning routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T10:42:47.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-13T12:59:04.803" Score="3" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to run more than 10Km daily(except weekends), on a desperate attempt to develop some muscle on the thighs and calves, but 7months ago I stopped jogging.&#xA;Of course doing daily runs didn't help, and instead I lost a lot more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact is now I started jogging again, but I also want to gain weight and build muscle.&#xA;So my question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knowing that I am an ectomorph, can jogging at most twice a week(10 - 15Km) cause a negative effect If I am following a strict gym program/routine, even if I have a strict diet and sleep for the minimum required amount of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jogging became a habit for me, so now it will be very hard to just completely stop(if I have to). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is the first time in my life that I am planning to join a gym and I don't remember ever weighting more than 63Kg my average weigh has mostly been 50-60Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19705" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:49:05.190" Title="Is jogging prejudicial for ectomorphs trying to gain weight?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;ectomorph&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-13T19:52:58.160" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My posture is really bad. I believe that I have upper-cross syndrome. (I think that is what it's called?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have searching the web and YouTube but nothing seems to help with my posture. When I do try to sit or stand up straight my back gets sore after a bit. I went to jump america and after about 30 min my back just starts hurting I am not sure if it is about my posture but I'm just saying maybe you guys know something. My bad posture may be giving me really bad headaches and again I am not sure if it is because of my terrible posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know something that will help tell me? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19706" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T20:31:59.417" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T20:31:59.417" Title="Help with my posture please?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-14T13:59:34.910" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29209" CreationDate="2016-03-14T01:53:04.313" Score="5" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently stump shoot (ie: jog/run/jump cross-country and take pot-shots at around 85% of full draw weight/length) with self-bows I carve. My average draw weight is 90lbs @ 28.5&quot; full draw, but occasionally I break out my 120lbs @ 28&quot; full draw yew war bows to add some challenge. There's a certain satisfaction in sending an arrow the size of an axe handle at 220'/s across a lake. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/8qkJJhr.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For non archers, this is like holding a resistance band in each arm and pulling it apart until the resistive force is &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt; pounds with my two hands &lt;code&gt;28&lt;/code&gt; inches apart, with one arm using mainly upper back and biceps, and the other using triceps and shoulder muscles.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to become comfortable with stump shooting with a 135lbs bow, but seem to have hit a plateau. I personally think the biggest problem is no specialized weight training or plyometrics training methods available. At the advice of forums members from PrimitiveArchery and other archery sites, I've read all four volumes of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.3riversarchery.com/traditional-bowyers-bible-complete-set-of-books.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Bowyer's Bible&lt;/a&gt;, but could only find historical information on the builds (and deformities) of English longbow archers, and nothing about their training regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any resources on training to use well above average draw weight war bows, or training regimens that could aid me? It seems like a very specialized action, so no particular exercises or tools/equipment come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken care not to over-bulk, am currently at 270lbs @ 13% BF, and have tried various shoulder and back plyometric and powerlifting drills, but they have little impact, while adding extra (un-needed) weight. Any advice is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19708" LastEditorUserId="19708" LastEditDate="2016-03-14T03:18:02.797" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T08:13:06.607" Title="Training for using war bows" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;plyometrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29187" CreationDate="2016-03-14T05:51:43.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sprains in joints only get better as they heal and working with the range/weight they support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the pain is particularly bad or recurring I suggest visiting a sports clinic or other suitable health care provider and getting an x-ray done. When I had a really bad sprain I had this done and the doctor checked to make sure cartilage, joint and bone had no damage done to them. If you got damage I suggest getting it taken care of so you can get the underlying cause of pain (damage in this case) taken care of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing as your injury was in the wrist joint I would suggest working with the joint and doing what does not hurt (in terms of range and weight) under the advisement of a trained care professional. The hardest thing about sprains is getting back the range of motion you had and weight that it supported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18972" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T05:51:43.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29207" CreationDate="2016-03-14T08:13:06.607" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although it is in different language (may use google translate) in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.atli-okculuk.com/2010/10/okculuk-ve-atl-okculuk-icin-antrenman.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;link here&lt;/a&gt; there is a movie about training (pulling 92 lbs bow 57 Times) and pictures of different drills on bow training. &#xA;You may also try &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZzFARh-HLY&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Korean Method&lt;/a&gt; for archery training. (read the comments in the page. It can be helpful)&#xA;I hope all these helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T08:13:06.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29210" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-14T08:19:04.827" Score="1" ViewCount="1152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following 5/3/1 with the boring but big assistance template for about 3 months now. I hurt my knee playing soccer a couple of weeks ago, which got me thinking about the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really want to get into some calisthenics stuff (L-pull ups, typewriter pullups, muscle ups, etc). The ultimate goal being able to do at least one muscle up. Does anyone have any suggestions for a 5/3/1 template that includes calisthenics say? Assuming my knee heals and I can train all 4 movements properly, my idea is this. &quot;Bbb&quot; stands for boring but big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bench 5/3/1, overhead press bbb, dumbell bench, calisthenics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Squat 5/3/1, squat bbb, calisthenics&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Overhead press 5/3/1, bench bbb, calisthenics&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift 5/3/1, kroc rows, calisthenics&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I implement this calisthenics stuff in such a way that I can track my progress? The great thing about 5/3/1 is that I can track progress, and I would like to be able to do the same with the calisthenics stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I don't do 5x10 on the deadlift because many people have advised me not to. In theory I should be substituting this with a more back friendly variation, such as RDLs or GHRs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13379" LastActivityDate="2019-11-11T15:58:02.957" Title="Suggestions for Wendler 5/3/1 template with calisthenics" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29210" CreationDate="2016-03-14T08:48:42.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercises at the end of the workout improve the least. That doesn't mean they don't improve, they just improve more slowly than things put earlier in the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a muscle-up is your goal then I'd find a way to do bar pull-ups, bar dips, ring dips, and false grip ring pull-ups as close to the beginning of the workout as you're willing. Doing those instead of or before the BBB assistance is my first thought. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, be very wary of &quot;goal accretion&quot;. There is a good way and a bad way to add more goals to your accomplishments. It's good to set new goals after achieving a milestone, and then put your old work into &quot;maintenance mode&quot; while doing the new work. But simply adding goals without removing any previous work &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; lead to distraction and lack of focus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T08:48:42.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29214" CreationDate="2016-03-14T13:03:59.593" Score="1" ViewCount="3458" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there anyway I can tell a difference between a muscle cramp and a muscle tear?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was running today on the treadmill, and decided to increase the speed a little bit, but after some time my left calf suddenly &quot;froze&quot; (thats the best description I can give), accompanied by a sudden but brief stab of pain, so I immediately stopped. I went on to stretch my legs a little bit, and was able to walk (although with some slight discomfort).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The area near the muscle is not swollen, but it is slightly tender and I can feel some slight twinging if I rotate my foot. Can someone please tell me if this is  a muscle tear or just a cramp?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It may be pertinent to mention that I did strength training yesterday focusing on my legs and calves.Also, I do drink a lot of water (&gt;2L a day).&#xA;Should I wait before I can do anymore lower body exercise or can I continue if I feel OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19610" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T04:51:01.207" Title="How can I tell if it is a cramp or tear?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-03-15T10:29:12.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29228" CreationDate="2016-03-14T13:25:10.293" Score="3" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a relatively fit guy (180 cm, and normally 81 kg athletic) and a few weeks ago I started a daily routine to lose fat and gain some core muscle. I train martial arts so the goal is to get faster and stronger. The problem is that I have actually gained some fat in the process and apparently I'm not gaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm doing is waking up at 6:20 everyday, having a big glass of a fruit shake, running 40 min on the street, then lifting some weights for another 30-40 minutes, another big glass of fruit shake and go to work. Then at night I train martial arts every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day I try to eat a bit every time I get hungry, whether it's some light healthy eating or an actual meal. This generally means (in addition to the shakes I mentioned) to have a small lunch about 11:30 am, a sandwich around 15:00, another sandwich around 17:00, dinner around 19:00 and then some other snack at 21:30.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it kind of hard to keep track of the calories I'm spending during the day in order to balance that out with the calories I eat (since I don't have any means to know how many calories I burn by running or hitting the gym or fighting) but with the amount of exercise I do regularly, I find it really hard to comprehend me to be eating more calories than I'm using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19713" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-14T14:34:28.163" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T21:58:26.773" Title="Daily routine to lose weight, but I'm actually increasing weight. How do I fix it?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29212" CreationDate="2016-03-14T13:27:08.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It look like a muscle cramp to me, but we have to wait one more day to tell if it was a cramp. If the pain goes away, then it is a cramp, if not, it might be a tear. Here is more info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;What is a Cramp?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cramp in a muscle is caused by an involuntary spasm or contraction. It is usually sudden, can cause significant pain and can limit the use of the muscle for a short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Cramp Causes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cramp will present as a knot or hard spot in the muscle. Cramps are usually caused by problems such as overworking a muscle, poor hydration, electrolyte imbalances, insufficient blood flow to the muscle or nerve compression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;What is a Muscle Tear?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A pulled muscle is actually a tear in the muscle tissue. This occurs when the muscle is strained to the point where the muscle is damaged. The more significant the strain, the more the muscle can be torn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Pulled Muscle Causes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pulled muscles are usually the result of not preparing the muscle for work through proper stretching, placing too much tension on the muscle or over-using the muscle. Soreness in the affected muscle is usually the first symptom. Using the muscle will be painful and difficult. In severe pulls, bruising may be present. The affected muscle will become very tender to the touch and some swelling may occur.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/38541-difference-between-pulled-muscle-/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-14T14:05:17.267" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T14:05:17.267" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29218" CreationDate="2016-03-14T13:56:12.603" Score="3" ViewCount="1293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am inclined to understand that the current wisdom is that there's &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/21/effect-of-protein-intake-on-muscle-recovery?rq=1&quot;&gt;a certain period right after exercise where protein consumption is most beneficial&lt;/a&gt;. At work, which is where I generally get my exercise right after my workday, I have a bag of milled flax seed that I use as a snack during the day. I know that not all proteins are equal, and that vegetable proteins tend to have fewer of the amino acids one needs. I do normally consume the usual amount of meat for someone in the United States (that is to say, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/06/27/155527365/visualizing-a-nation-of-meat-eaters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;too much&lt;/a&gt;), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/southfacts_flax.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flax seed&lt;/a&gt; seems to be well thought-of in terms of being a protein source, but I'm curious as to whether it's beneficial for this particular purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T15:05:19.817" Title="Is flax seed (milled or raw) an appropriate after-workout protein?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29216" CreationDate="2016-03-14T15:05:19.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are ok with the flax seed, as it is a complete protein. It's not as high a source of protein as beef, as it comes in at 19 grams protein per 100 grams (Beef is 26, chicken is 30).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common wisdom is that protein is protein as far as the body is concerned, and to a large extent that is true. A plant protein produces many (but not all) of the same effects in the body as a meat protein, with many of the same outcomes (calcium leeching from bones, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what does have to be taken into consideration is what happens in the body with what gets bundled with the protein, such as fiber, healthy/unhealthy fat, salt, and newer items such as heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which the US based National Institute of Health have now put on their list of items &quot;reasonable expected to be a human carcinogen&quot;. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/cooked-meats-fact-sheet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fact sheet on grilled meats&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/133/3/862S.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This study short reaches the same conclusion&lt;/a&gt;, in that the protein reacts in the same way in the body regardless of source, but that what comes along with it causes different body responses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/31/8/1312.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This study short&lt;/a&gt; performed two different trials on plasma cholesterol in women when substituting soy protein, and in both cases, plasma cholesterol was lower on the more plant based diet, suggesting that the fats that come along with meat proteins have a detrimental effect on the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harvard School of Public Health&lt;/a&gt; has a pretty good writeup on protein as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, if you eat the flax seed, you may not get as much protein as you would from a meat source, but it may have other benefits that the meat wouldn't, especially if you already do consume animal proteins at other time. I wasn't able to find a study that compared body response to protein source post workout specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T15:05:19.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-14T15:27:31.307" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a team driver, and I'm trying to get fit I have changed my eating habits but I feel I really need to work out. I wanted to know what are some good work outs to do in my sleeper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19717" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T15:27:31.307" Title="Truck driver looking to get fit" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-03-16T20:56:33.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-14T22:47:53.780" Score="1" ViewCount="815" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just bought a heart monitor. It looks like the fundamental number for my training is my &lt;strong&gt;Maximum Heart Rate (MRH or Max HR)&lt;/strong&gt;. This number changes if you are cycling or running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen protocols to measure it running or cycling outdoor. I believe I'll get a more precise measurement if I do it in cycling indoor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody here can give me a protocol to measure my MHR it in a stationary bike?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18796" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T22:57:14.350" Title="How to measure my Maximum Heart Rate with a stationary bike and a heart monitor?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29222" CreationDate="2016-03-14T23:38:21.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maxworkouts.com/articles/entry/is-the-maximum-heart-rate-formula-sabotaging-your-workout-and-your-results&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;, I've found this protocol:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up thoroughly.  I suggest spending about 5 minutes until you break a light sweat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run or Bike for 4 minutes.  You should be too out of breath to talk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active rest - walking or easy cycling for 3 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run or Bike for 4 minutes.  You should be too out of breath to talk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active rest - walking or easy cycling for 3 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run or Bike for 2 minutes at which point run or bike as fast as you can until you reach exhaustion and can’t continue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Immediately take your heart rate.  This is your MAX HR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still leaving the answer unmarked to see if someone gives me a better answer. I'll choose any one that improves this one (also  marked as a community wiki).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some doubts: how much time before to eat? At what time of the day? Should I set any resistance on the bike?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T22:57:14.350" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-03-14T23:38:21.623" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29222" CreationDate="2016-03-15T08:25:57.840" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK. I do not suggest you to try to get your MHR alone at home. Here is the list of protocols including cycle ergometer protocols &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/testing/aerobic.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in the link here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stay on the safe side you may try this formula.&#xA;You may try karvonen method to calculate you THR&#xA;For you max HR you can use 220-age formula then&#xA;Target Heart Rate = ((max HR − resting HR) × %Intensity) + resting HR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you insist on getting your MHR you need to go to exercise physiology lab where there is a physician, ECG and defibrillator ,just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BE CAREFUL&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T08:25:57.840" CommentCount="16" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29213" CreationDate="2016-03-15T10:04:48.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy a kitchen scale and get an app for calorie tracking. &#xA;Calculate your sedentary BMR and try to eat 300-500 calories less than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should lose weight if you track your calories correctly. &#xA;If you happen to lose too fast, recalculate your BMR with a higher activity level. Then substract 300-500 again and make sure your calorie intake is at that level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a little trial and error to find what your BMR is, but once you do it should be easy to calculate how much you should eat depending on bulking/cutting. . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19663" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T10:04:48.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29189" CreationDate="2016-03-15T10:22:39.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long Cardio is fine and won't cause muscle degradation so long as it doesn't interfere with your strength training by making you really tired before / unable to do the strength workout.&#xA;I'd advise a cycle of a Strength day followed by a cardio day and then either strength again (but less intensity) or a full rest day.&#xA;For the pull ups, I'd look to start adding weight as you're up to 10 pullups. There's plenty of progression guides online that will be a useful in understanding how to achieve this.&#xA;I understand that you don't have access to rock walls or mountains, but the best way to train for rock climbing is always rock climbing! With that in mind, see if you can get access to a fingerboard, or if there's any hardcore climbers in the area, a homemade training wall (or make your own).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19723" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T10:22:39.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29213" CreationDate="2016-03-15T12:42:21.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is extremely difficult for most people to lose weight without tracking their diet, especially when exercising. The long and the short of it is that the human body evolved over a period of thousands of years where you ate what you could when you could because the odds were that you'd have to go without for a time. Therefore, our natural reaction to burning calories is to eat, to replenish those energy stores, and they've proven in one study after another that people tend to consume more than they burn unless they track it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is compounded with that most measures of how many calories are burnt in exercise are overly optimistic. Give people a Fitbit and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.today.com/health/fitness-band-frustration-users-complain-weight-gain-trackers-t66146&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;they'll gain weight&lt;/a&gt; even as they're moving more. That seems to be in part because they're being told that they've burned X calories, which translates into &quot;I can eat that much more&quot;. To some degree, it's the same thing without tracking. Run a mile and your body will be telling you that you deserve a hamburger for it despite the massive disparity in calories. It's just generally not sustainable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what then? Well, as k88 said in their answer, you need to start tracking your food intake. You may be able to get away without the scale — I know I don't use one — but it's good to start noting down what you eat and how much of it, and to start totaling up the calories. Most people find they've been eating much more than they thought. A scale is better because a) many companies lie on, or are at least deceptive about, the the &quot;serving size&quot; on their food and b) again, we as humans are bad at estimating things and we tend to underestimate the amount of calories we're taking in. Where I will disagree is the amount of calories. You're actually pretty genuinely active, which adds to the amount of calories in your day. Cut it too far and you'll lose out on gains due to your body being insufficiently fueled. Doing a quick Google will get you an idea as to how many calories you're burning at a particular exercise. I would recommend cutting about 100 calories off of each measurement just because of the difficulties in getting exact values. At that to your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), and subtract from your calories consumed. Is it positive? Then you're probably going to gain weight. If it's negative, you're probably going to be losing weight. It's really that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T12:42:21.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29232" CreationDate="2016-03-15T15:03:06.643" Score="5" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flexonline.com/training/back/complete-arnold-back&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;something Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote&lt;/a&gt; about how to increase the number of pull-ups you can do in one set:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let’s say that before you start training back one day you tell yourself you’re going to do 50 total reps of chins. For the first set you may do 10, then perhaps you struggle for eight on the second set. You have 18 reps now. If you make five for the third set, you have 23 reps. Continue to add them in this way until you’ve reached 50 reps, even if it takes you 20 sets to do it. Over time, you’ll find that you’re able to reach 50 reps in fewer and fewer sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a safe strategy? If it is, is it an effective workout plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't just mean in regards to pull-ups but calisthenics in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-15T18:39:47.197" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T19:55:43.553" Title="Arnie's pull-up strategy" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29229" CreationDate="2016-03-15T15:31:57.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The beauty about bodyweight exercises is, generally, that they're much more difficult to hurt yourself with than weightlifting. What you're describing is basically do sets until failure, which is very commonly used for calisthenics as you see in, for example, military training or hard HIIT training for some sports(martial arts, specifically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a safe strategy? Yes, if you're healthy and listen to your body. Obviously, stop if it hurts or if your form/technique drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it effective? That's impossible to say. Effectiveness can't be measured unless the goal is known. What's your goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T15:31:57.877" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29229" CreationDate="2016-03-15T18:48:54.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's as safe as exercise ever is. You can still pull muscles. You can still tear tendons. Both of these are generally more likely to happen if you're not paying attention to your body or trying to rush through. Bodyweight exercises tend to be a bit safer overall because all you're supporting is your own weight, something that your body is accustomed to in the first place. Also, since every part of your &quot;weights&quot; is firmly attached and has sensors, there's less chance that you'll have weights slide off, or bang into the framework, sending you off-balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important thing to do is to not rush through the exercise, even if you think you'll be able to power through one more rep if you do so. You've heard the tales of people lifting cars in a crisis, but injuring their body in the process? Hysterical strength isn't necessarily limited to times of crises and some people draw upon it more readily than others. If you're not paying attention, you may pay that one extra rep with barely being able to move the next morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't be afraid to rest between sets. My personal experience is that if I wait a few seconds after completely exhausting myself on a set, I can usually immediately do 1-2 more. If I give myself 30 seconds, I can generally do almost as many in the next set without straining myself. If you ignore rest periods, you're more likely to lose focus and hurt yourself through sloppy technique or dipping into hysterical strength, and you're likely to only get one or two reps at a time anyhow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for efficacy, I've had mixed success. I am one of those people who finds it a little too easy to push too hard, so a program like this with a large number of reps, I'm likely to finish it out one night and then have to wait a week to get back to it. That said, I know that it works for other people. It's psychological as much as anything else, &quot;proving&quot; to yourself that you can do that many reps in a single session, if not a single set. Because there's no fixed amount, you're encouraged to continue pushing a little further each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-03-15T19:55:43.553" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T19:55:43.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-15T21:42:05.297" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an athlete for professional football club. However, I feel like I'm with the physio more than the grass. When I get over my hamstring strain, I don't want to sit on the bench again. I want to keep myself in peak condition to avoid injuries. I get through a lot of growth spurts and I have been advised to do more stretching so my muscles can adapt easier. I want to get stronger in the gym from head to toe. What are the key things I need to do to make me stronger and avoid injury? Please help. I want my career to last a lot longer, so, please come up with some goods ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19728" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T12:30:31.553" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T12:49:21.100" Title="Recurring Sports Injury" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-16T01:35:11.003" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that kettlebells training does not isolate the muscles, contrary to dumbbell or dead-lifts. What does this mean to the effects in the body? If you look at someone and try to guess how he was training, would you be able to see it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19730" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T14:29:08.077" Title="What difference does training with kettlebells make to the appearance?" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29238" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-16T08:28:57.243" Score="1" ViewCount="12217" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ashwagandha&lt;/em&gt; is referred as one of the best T-Booster supplement as mentioned &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anabolicmen.com/ashwagandha-testosterone/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cellucor.com/p6-red&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cellucor P6 T-Booster&lt;/a&gt; has Ashwagandha in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is can i take &lt;em&gt;Ashwagandha&lt;/em&gt; root/pills before workout? Will it improve the performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18753" LastEditorUserId="18753" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T08:37:19.350" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T09:18:13.803" Title="Are there benefits of having Ashwagandha / Withania somnifera as pre-workout supplement?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29245" CreationDate="2016-03-16T08:37:41.893" Score="1" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I start off I do apologise if this is an obvious question, however I am new to this so bear with me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started getting myself back into shape lately. Yesterday I started with a 20 minute strength training workout using a pair of 5kg dumbbells consisting of:- seesaw rows, dumbbell squats, dumbbell shoulder press, calf raises, bicep curls, chest press, overhead tricep extensions &amp;amp; upright rows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the workout I had some muscle weakness which is to be expected, but no soreness. I was eating right before and after the workout watching the protein intake and staying hydrated throughout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning when I woke up I have soreness/stiffness in my hamstrings/backs of thighs, crease of my arms(inner elbow) and my traps? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this DOMS or have I injured these areas, as looking at other places there seems to be a lot of mixed information regarding this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for reading and for any help, greatly appreciated :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19735" LastEditorUserId="19735" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T08:43:24.250" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T11:41:56.727" Title="Soreness...DOMS?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29238" CreationDate="2016-03-16T08:44:51.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) supplementation helps to have significant increases in muscle mass and strength and it is suggested to be taken twice a day, one right after you wake up and again one right before you go to bed (300 mg of starch or 300 mg of a high-concentration ashwagandha root extract). &quot;Ashwagandha is a member of the family of herbs referred to as “adaptogens”. The term “adaptogen” is applied to a herb with phytonutrients that regulate metabolism when a body is perturbed by physical or mental stress, and help the body adapt by (a) normalizing system functions, (b) developing resistance to future such stress, and (c) elevating the body’s functioning to a higher level of performance&quot;&#xA;Here is a good newly published article about it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26609282&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomized controlled trial.&lt;/a&gt;. Besides, it is also good for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729375/?tool=pmcentrez&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anxiety&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="19346" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T08:51:27.273" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T08:51:27.273" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2016-03-16T08:56:24.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a well answered question but I wanted to add extra information about DOMS here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness may occur after an acute training session, especially resistance&#xA;training. The soreness manifests itself as stiffness, tenderness, inflammation&#xA;and/or pain, and as it occurs between 24–48 hours following the training&#xA;session is referred to as delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). The exact&#xA;mechanism for DOMS is not fully understood but it appears that acute exercise,&#xA;especially eccentric contractions, causes damage to the ultrastructure, potentially the Z-lines, of the muscle cell. Plasma creatine kinase is used as a marker for muscle damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T08:56:24.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29239" CreationDate="2016-03-16T11:41:56.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The soreness and stiffness at the back of your legs, and the pain in your traps, likely is DOMS. It happened in about the right timeframe and it's muscles that you'd expect to be using with those exercises. Pain on the inside of the elbow is slightly more likely to be tendonitis, specifically something like Golfer's Elbow (the flipside of Tennis elbow where the pain is on the outside). You can often tell that one because it hurts considerably more when you try to straighten your arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The DOMS is of minor concern so long as it doesn't prevent you from being able to keep moving the next day. If it is tendonitis, that's slightly more worrying, because it can be a precursor to more permanent damage if you continue overstressing those tendons, but honestly, it's pretty common with dumbbell bicep curls when you're starting out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T11:41:56.727" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29233" CreationDate="2016-03-16T12:49:21.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would assume that since you are part of a professional team, you have access to a strength and conditioning coach.  If that’s not the case, I would suggest you seek one out to improve your overall conditioning and fitness.  Secondly, I would seriously think about looking into &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/sport-specific-training-what-specifically-do-you-mean-by-that&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sport specific training&lt;/a&gt;.  By that I mean, changing your weight room training to include movements that closely resemble what you would be doing on the “grass”.  For example, I am a competitive rower.  My training targets the muscle groups that are engaged when I row.  This typically involves legs, back, and arms.  Rowing is mostly a pushing movement, so, training legs using exercises to increase my ability to “drive” is a goal.  Secondarily, the back is involved while driving with the legs because it draws the oar through the water.  So, I include exercises on a seated row machine, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, make sure you include stretching and other modalities to help in the recovery process.  This would include making sure you get proper nutrition and enough rest to handle the demands of the “grass”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T12:49:21.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25632" CreationDate="2016-03-16T12:55:48.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overhand grip will focus on your forarms more than a underhand grip. Most people will be better at a overhand grip. Ref: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.umich.edu/~mvs330/f00/domination/main.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.umich.edu/~mvs330/f00/domination/main.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimal position for your hands on the bar depends entirely on how your body is built. Someone with strong arms can do a vertical hang (narrow grip) easily and someone with strong back will excel at a wide grip hold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimal would be a over and under grip (same as a deadlift) at slightly wider than shoulder width. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T12:55:48.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-16T14:10:00.477" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I commute by bike and go to the gym two or three times each week. At the gym, I usually do upper body workouts, since I already cycle a lot. Not all my lower body muscles are exercised when I cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you recommend me good lower body exercises that would complement my cycling routine? With explanation, please. I'd like to know which muscles I'd have to focus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want recommendations based in a health standpoint, not to increase my biking performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18796" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T07:21:31.420" Title="Lower body exercises that would complement my cycling" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-03-31T19:56:52.153" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29253" CreationDate="2016-03-16T14:28:14.090" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 24 year old male, my height is 5'9&quot; and weight is around 80 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I reduce it to around 65 kg in short span of time (around 6 months)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will Protein powder help in reducing my weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19742" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-17T06:05:15.123" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T19:55:27.393" Title="How to reduce Weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-03-18T13:47:11.597" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29234" CreationDate="2016-03-16T14:29:08.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your original statement is not correct. Deadlifts are compound exercises that, when completed, activate a large group of muscles [1]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The grip strength (finger flexors) and the lower back (erector&#xA;spinae) work isometrically to keep the bar held in the hands and to&#xA;keep the spine from rounding. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gluteus maximus and hamstrings work to extend the hip joint. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The quadriceps work to extend the knee joint. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The adductor magnus works to stabilize the legs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is extremely hard to guess how someone is training by their physique. If you assumed that all people train in a *optimal way then you could say that of people lifting weights, newbies are aiming for compound exercises with no isolation. Intermediates are working on a mix of compound and isolation and advanced are working mostly isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, in practice does not work as a estimation method. For evidence, go to a gym and ask around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(* optimal according to source [1])&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[1] Mark Rippetoe with Lon Kilgore, Starting Strength, The Aasgaard Company Publishers, 2005, ISBN 0-9768054-0-5&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T14:29:08.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29248" CreationDate="2016-03-16T15:15:10.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty much anyone who doesn't regularly lift weights at a &lt;strong&gt;intermediate level&lt;/strong&gt; should be focusing on doing basic compound lifts in the gym. These lifts will give your entire body a workout so that you can develop all your muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend either Starting Strength by Rippletoe or 5x5 Stronglifts by Mehdi. The documentation on each of these is vast and positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lower body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For above the waist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Benchpress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(* note: I classify Intermediate level as: you train 4-6 days a week in the gym and have graduated off a starter program like 5x5 Stronglifts or Starting Strength)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-17T07:21:31.420" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T07:21:31.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29249" CreationDate="2016-03-16T15:32:47.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, to lose weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories in &amp;lt; Calories used up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use tools like IIFYM.com, myfitnesspal and Stronglifts 5x5 to calculate how to plan your diet, track your intake and work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T15:32:47.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29249" CreationDate="2016-03-16T16:00:05.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need a steady calorie deficit. How you achieve this deficit is up to you - you can exercise to burn them off, or you can change your diet to achieve a deficit - or even better, both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15kg in 6 months isn't far fetched at all. I suggest logging your meals through myfitnesspal or similar(and be honest with yourself) and aim at a calorie deficit of around 400-500 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is Protein powder will help you in reducing my weight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's impossible to say. It can assist you in recovering after workouts and get a better proportion of protein. But again.. You need a goal and stay calculated, and not chug down protein shakes without a purpose. Because no, they don't magically burn off extra fat or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T16:00:05.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-16T23:14:14.023" Score="2" ViewCount="2218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was doing overhead press and felt some pressure in my neck (I think I was straining my neck while I did them - weight was too heavy?). My neck was pretty sore after and I had trouble rotating it, but that went away after a day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did overhead press a week later; felt alright during the exercise, but afterwards, I had the same problem with my neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days later, I did back squats, and I think I aggravated the problem probably because sometimes my bar position wasn't ideal and it rested on a vertebrae for a little (shit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no pain now, but a decent amount of discomfort that extends to my right upper back, and my neck's range of motion is a bit screwy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a certain amount of time I should wait before convincing myself that this is a serious problem and not something that will go away in a couple of days?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side question: &lt;strong&gt;Has anyone had this experience after overhead press - any tips?&lt;/strong&gt; However, I think there's a greater chance that this is because of the back squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; It actually feels a little better when I press on my right upper back with my right hand. Not sure what that means. Lifting my right arm seems to alleviate pain - left arm not as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Long over due, but nothing ever came out of this. I was fine in a few days. A now, a couple years later, no neck issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastEditorUserId="19532" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T14:14:14.793" LastActivityDate="2021-03-19T14:14:14.793" Title="Neck discomfort after Overhead Press - is it serious?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-03-20T05:09:54.240" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-17T09:24:02.247" Score="0" ViewCount="615" Body="&lt;p&gt;My chests are not equal.My left chest is fully outward and developed and where as my right is full pressed in.PLEASE help me to make both sides equal. this is affecting my abs to making them unequal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19750" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T19:46:08.950" Title="MY CHEST IS UNEQUAL.Help me make them equal.please" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-04-18T10:50:13.383" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-17T10:16:22.663" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday i was faced with a strange &quot;injury&quot;.&#xA;Last week i lightly strained my achilles heel when making a strange twist with my foot. after a week of complete rest the pain fully subsided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday i went for a small/slow run. I still felt something odd in the achilles heel but no pain and I could keep on running. I ran 5.5 km (didn't want to overdo it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday morning I still wasn't feeling anything so i decided to do a light run in the evening (9.5km). Which is not unusual for me (I normally run 40km+ in a week).  I started running and for the first 6k i did again feel that achilles heel with some very, very slight dull pain. At the 6k mark my achilles heel snapped twice (almost lost my balance) in 30 - 50m. At first a sharp pain but then again the pain disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first i panicked. I stopped on the side of the road to see what was wrong. The achilles heel could still support my weight.So I walked some meters but then i was able to run the remaining 3k to home. Constantly feeling a light dull, non-hampering (my tempo didn't suffer) pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home there wens't any redness or inflammation visibile. To be sure I iced it, still feeling the light pain. This morning I awoke with the same light pain.But by now (10 AM) the pain is again gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem obviously isn't a tear or a rupture in/of the tendon. Any significant injury would have prevented me from continuing the run. Nor can i find any information about the snap (without rupture) on the net. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happened to tendon to snap like that? Is there something i should worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By snapping I mean the following:&#xA;It was just like a large amount of pressure suddenly got released by the heel. Like the heel couldn't handle the stress anymore and it give way in an instant, releasing all the stress in a single burst. This gave me the weird sensation of &quot;falling&quot; through my foot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I have had no Achilles heel injuries prior to this one. Or any other injury in the last 4 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. 2: I'm made an appointment with the doctor. But i would still like the input from some seasoned runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="18339" LastEditDate="2016-03-18T13:33:28.993" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T13:33:28.993" Title="Achilles heel snapped twice without permanent damage" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2016-03-20T05:05:46.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-17T13:01:01.097" Score="1" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunatly, all the people I've asked nearly describe it as a 'relaxed jog,' which tells me nothing. (This may be a shock to some, but my locomotion consists of stumble and sprint, never anything else).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm told to compare it to a dog walking, but my mind can only think of limping. I don't know why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again; what is a Dog-Trot and what does it look like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19751" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T13:08:29.473" Title="What is a Dog-Trot in regards to humans?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29261" CreationDate="2016-03-17T13:08:29.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can make it happen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run a bleep/multi-stage fitness test on yourself and at some point you will stop walking really fast and break into a jog. If you slow that jog speed down a bit and push off the ground so you have both feet off the ground during your stride you will have the &quot;dog-trot&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T13:08:29.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2016-03-17T19:46:37.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;whatever will allow you to exercise better.&#xA;chemically is no difference. food eaten right before will not be digested until way after your workout unless it it pure sugar or the like(which i dont recommend you eat for breakfast..).&#xA;your nutrition a couple hours before will more likely affect your energy levels&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T19:46:37.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29249" CreationDate="2016-03-17T19:55:27.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;create a calorie deficit .&#xA;thats it.either through eating less or moving more or the combination of both.&#xA;Fist step is to figure out your TDEE(total daily energy expenditure)&#xA;There are many calculators online.Google for them and get your number.&#xA;Cut your calorie intake by a few hundred calories. Make sure that number is sustainable that you feel ok with that amount of food.&#xA;Protein powders dont help weight loss at all. They are a powdered form of food . that's it.&#xA;Its important to get in a certain amount of protein a day to minimize muscle loss .(once again you can google for the amount as there are various opinions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hard time hitting that number protein powders are your friend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T19:55:27.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29080" CreationDate="2016-03-17T21:31:45.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too have asthma, though I don't think mine is quite as servere as yours. My asthma is primary provoked by cold weather so it is (only) a real problem during the Winter - during the Summer, I can normally live well without any sorts of medication. (I also occasionally get an asthma attach for no apparent reason, so I expect that I'm allergic to something as well - unfortunately I don't know what it is yet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use two different sorts of inhalers - see the details below. One I use regularly morning and evening and the another on demand and when I do sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using my inhalers correctly I can participate in cardio sports like everybody else. I usually run 40-50 km/week and commute to and from work 150 km/week. I run 3-4 marathons a year as well as 15-20 half-marathons. As long as I'm careful with the inhalers, I have no problems at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you contact a specialist in asthmatic diseases. I have yet to find an ordinary doctor that knows enough to handle the complex cases correct. The special interest group for asthmatic diseases in Denmark states that well-treated asthma should not limit your life and sport activities...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, did you know that an estimated 25% of all elite athletes are affected by asthma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that some sorts of asthma medications will require a TUE (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/science-medical/therapeutic-use-exemptions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Therapeutic Use Exemptions&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My Medication&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drugs.com/symbicort.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Symbicort Inhaler&lt;/a&gt; - contains budesonide and formoterol. Budesonide is a steroid that reduces inflammation in the body. Formoterol is a bronchodilator that relaxes muscles in the airways to improve breathing. Without this, I fell like I have a very tight belt around my chest. I take two doses morning and evening and with that I basically don't feel the asthma during the day. Most people can do with just a single dose twice a day, but that does not seem to be enough for me - if I forget a dose, I'm in for a very bad day. (I can see that different countries have very different views on the use of Symbicort: in Denmark it is common to use this for long term asthma, whereas it seems to be used by exception in the US...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second inhaler - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drugs.com/uk/bricanyl-turbohaler-leaflet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bricanyl Turbohaler&lt;/a&gt; - contains just terbutaline. Terbutaline is a fast-acting bronchodilator (which again relaxes muscles in the airways to improve breathing). I primary use this before and after I run or bike. How much is needed depends both of speed and length of the exercise. Without this, I will cough my way though most sorts of hard sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T21:31:45.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28566" CreationDate="2016-03-18T04:46:27.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We all have abs the problem is the fat. So reduce that fat by eating less than your calorie maintenance level but not too much or you will lose more muscles in the process. So the solution to your question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your calorie maintenance level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then eat little less than that and if you see you are losing weight then you are doing it right but don't be unrealistic 0.5-1.5lbs is fine per week especially if you're looking to keep those precious muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, if your goal is to show that abs the key is DIET and not so much on the workout. I've done 100 sit-ups 3 times a week for 3 months and I didn't even look different from the first time I lifted weights and all thanks to my instructor. It was a case of the blind leading the blind. So do your research about diet and always be skeptic about what other people tell you and match it with scientific evidence there are a lot of resources available in this day and age!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19757" LastEditorUserId="19757" LastEditDate="2016-03-18T06:00:52.393" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T06:00:52.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29274" CreationDate="2016-03-18T09:02:33.423" Score="3" ViewCount="561" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;BR&gt; Can moderate (sweating) workout trigger migraine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;My wife had migraine twice before joining a gym when she was studying in classroom in May 2014 (at a gap of 2+ weeks) and then it never re-triggered. (Was on medications for a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year (July 2015) I pulled her to my gym. I go for workout early in the morning and we started going together. During July-Sep 2015 she went to gym for about 8 weeks (almost regularly 4-5 times a week) and had migraine triggered for about 7 times within an hour after the exercise (Rough workout schedule: 15 min cardio + 20 min weight training + 10 min stretching/crunches etc). We visited couple of doctors and gym fitness trainers who said exercise can never trigger migraine, and in fact it is helpful in suppressing it. Since then she left the gym, and there was not a single occurrence of migraine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I insisted her to rejoin the workout routine (Partly to stay fit and partly because we paid for the whole year). And asked her to go to gym in the evening instead of morning. She did cycling at mild pace for 10 min and joined a group dance activity for 1 hour. After about an hour of the activity the migraine triggered again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the migraine attacks were similar with following flow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blurred vision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe Headache&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomitting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe headache continues&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves cycling and dancing for hours and it never causes any issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;Should my wife immediately stop exercising? Might she be doing something wrong about workout or diet causing this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15930" LastEditorUserId="15930" LastEditDate="2016-03-18T13:18:41.140" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T15:59:45.107" Title="migraine after work out" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-20T05:06:39.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29269" CreationDate="2016-03-18T09:33:08.657" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the migranes are hereditary. Biological states may cause&#xA;increases in free fatty acids and blood lipids, increased platelet aggregation, decreased serotonin levels and increased prostaglandin levels, which can cause the vasodilatation that precedes migraine headache.&#xA;One possible reason for this is that a part of the physical reaction may be the elevation of blood pressure (important).&#xA;The other possible reason can be the physical exertion of the body during exercise, and sudden drop of blood sugar which is the trigger for your exercise-induced headaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you do? drink water and get well hydrated, have good warm-up before exercise, begin slowly then increase your intensity, choose less forceful or lower-impact exercises (by the way, weightlifting seems to be more likely to cause migraines, you may try some preventative medication before exercising, decrease the intensity of the exercise slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some studies about it&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1526-4610.1985.hed2506317.x/abstract;jsessionid=19E39B62D17BBC3C1FED9C79592D7D11.f02t03&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Prevention of Exercise Induced Migraine by Quantitative Warm-up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cre.sagepub.com/content/17/6/624.short&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The effects of exercise and exercise-related changes in blood nitric oxide level on migraine headache&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the good site, Nitric Oxide which is released during exercise may help to relieve the pain (more info: pls, read the article above)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T09:45:31.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13255" CreationDate="2016-03-18T14:57:39.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start slowly into an exercise routine do not over exert at first to prevent from becoming too sore or injured.  Create a calorie deficit by burning more than you take in.  Start eliminating sugars from your diet and eat more protein.  Fitness trackers like a fitbit are also helpful to keep you on track and motivated.  Find activities that you enjoy and start participating in them as a hobby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19765" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T14:57:39.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29269" CreationDate="2016-03-18T15:59:45.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened to me once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was staying at a hotel, and decided to go to the gym to work out. I had never had anything like a post-workout headache before. I had never had anything like a migraine before. About 15 minutes into the workout (once I started to really warm up and sweat), a headache started, and within minutes it became debilitating -- I spent the rest of the afternoon in bed in the dark. Two days later, I tried working out again, thinking it was some kind of fluke, but the same thing happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went home and asked my doctor about it, who suggested that it might have actually been an allergy to something I'm not normally exposed to, like a specific cleaning product. I went on to become an athlete in college and never had a post-workout migraine again -- they only ever happened at that one hotel. So I'm inclined to believe the allergy hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe your wife is allergic to something at the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19767" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T15:59:45.107" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29277" CreationDate="2016-03-18T20:17:20.700" Score="9" ViewCount="5715" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to lose weight, and was thinking about doing squats to lose weight because they exercise most of the body.  My brother, however, tells me that you shouldn't do squats if you are severely overweight like I am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?  And if so, what all can go wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19770" OwnerDisplayName="Zauber Paracelsus" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-03-18T21:50:09.603" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T02:10:01.817" Title="Are squats a bad idea if you are overweight?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29276" CreationDate="2016-03-18T22:32:04.550" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, on the scary side, squats can lead to lower-back problems, spinal compression, torn ligaments in several parts of the body, burst capillaries, blown knees, or compound fractures of the leg. On the other hand, major injuries are rare, and even the minor ones are unlikely with good technique (keeping your knees over your feet and a straight back). And &lt;a href=&quot;http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/700496/too-fat-for-squats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;multiple sources&lt;/a&gt; say that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner-part-6.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squats are fine&lt;/a&gt; even &lt;a href=&quot;http://tonygentilcore.com/2011/05/training-the-obese-or-overweight-client/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;if you're overweight&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, you'll be doing bodyweight squats, and likely with something to hold onto to ensure proper form and to give you a weigh to bail safely, but you can definitely do squats. As regards losing weight, exercise is good for you, weightlifting will build muscle which burns more energy, and it will help with health issues you may have due to your weight. However, other than a small amount of exercise to kick the body into gear, your primary route of weight loss is going to be decreasing your calories below your Metabolic Base Rate (and only by 400-500 calories per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2016-03-29T02:27:46.880" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T02:27:46.880" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2016-03-19T04:42:48.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should get at least half of your energy needs from carbs. This will build up large stores of glucose in your liver and muscles, allowing you to exercise on any time of the day. What matters is that you eat large amounts of carbs every day, it doesn't matter exactly when you eat, except that you'll find it difficult to exercise after your main mail of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. I eat 6 meals per day, I eat breakfast twice, at midday I eat lunch and a few hours later I eat lunch again. By that time I will have eaten 500 grams of bread, which is contains about 1000 kcal worth of carbs. I then need just half an hour or so before I can do my one hour of running exercise. Then comes dinner, I'll then have 300 grams of whole grain pasta, which contains 1000 kcal worth of carbs.  Before sleeping I'll eat another meal. The total calorie intake of the 6 meals is usually around 4000 kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weight loss efforts won't be compromised by eating a lot, I lost quite a bit of weight (from 63 kg to my current 55 kg) by increasing my calorie intake from 3200 Kcal per day to the current 4000 kcal per day and exercising a lot harder (running almost every day, faster and longer). What happens is that running triggers all sorts of changes in your body that are designed by evolution to make it easier for you to run, and that includes optimizing your weight as well as becoming fitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating enough to prevent feeling hungry will also help you to lose weight. If you regularly feel hungry and don't eat enough, then that will trigger feedback responses (implemented via hormones) to keep larger fat reserves. The algorithm that is implemented here makes the assessment that food shortages are more likely, therefore there is a need for larger fat reserves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T04:42:48.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29282" CreationDate="2016-03-19T06:01:37.467" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to make a brief stretching session even during physical activity, and not just at the end?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18245" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T07:14:54.033" Title="Stretching during exercises?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29648" CreationDate="2016-03-19T11:00:25.917" Score="-2" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you train hard for lean mass gain once a week+/-.  How should you adjust your diet through the week?  Assume fat-loss is a goal, but not direct fat-loss from exercise.&#xA;(How should I eat around a training session, and at what point can i eat &quot;normally&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am especially thinking of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caloric balance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance between different macronutrients&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating healthy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case I split a program between early Saturday and early Sunday, and it is easy to have a calorie  deficit Wednesdays.  I eat quite healthy, with some semi-fasting, but perhaps to much cheating.&#xA;One priority is to minimise DOMS and other kinds of soreness.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am quite far from the state and ambitions of a body-builder, about 27% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly diet cycle should follow exercise, but it can also be the other way around. The main principles are quite fixed, esp diet principles, and not training the same muscles very often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2016-04-23T16:27:25.047" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T11:56:41.240" Title="How do I adjust diet to the exercise cycle" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2016-03-19T13:40:59.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite the technical verbiage above, OP is correct to be questioning why a sprinter should have such pronounced upper body musculature. Not only would you naturally have to perform regular and intense hypertrophic exercise to develop such muscles, not the best use of energy for a sprinter, but the intense regime and diet of an Olympic athlete should really reduce any gains. As soon as you go down to that sort of body fat level you will be losing unused muscle faster than fat. The human body evolved to be efficient, not look good on a beach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to argue that biceps stabilise the upper body, as they serve only to flex the arm and turn the wrist - and sprinters don't do this dynamically, they hold their arms in place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that the only way that a sprinter could gain and maintain such great (and, as you point out, counter-productive) upper arm mass is if they are cycling some kind of anabolic steroid, insulin, growth hormone, or other form of doping agent. Steroids are proven to actually stimulate muscle growth without any stimulation (i.e. exercise) and prevent muscle wastage associated with extreme training and dieting programmes. HIIT is not going to create such anabolic stimulus on its own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We like to believe that doping is not widespread in sport, but don't forget that sport is entertainment, underneath it all. Audiences pay a lot of money for their subscriptions, athletes get paid to win. If one lumberjack uses a chainsaw, soon every lumberjack will be swapping their axe for a chainsaw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19771" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T13:40:59.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29279" CreationDate="2016-03-19T19:23:20.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, there's no credible studies that show static stretching during exercise is helpful.  In fact, as a result of some recent studies, the opposite seems to be true.  That is, static stretching before and &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; a training session can have a negative effect.  A study by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning, &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2013/09000/Chronic_Effect_of_Static_Stretching_on_Strength.14.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chronic Effect of Static Stretching on Strength Performance and Basal Serum IGF-1 Levels&#xA;&lt;/a&gt; found that strength training, performed without any form of stretching before or during, can more effectively increase muscle and basal serum IGF-1 levels (a muscle building hormone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the new study, the participants either performed strength&#xA;  training with stretching done before hand, strength training with&#xA;  stretching done during sets (the sort of thing you see all the time in&#xA;  the gym), and strength training alone. They compared the strength&#xA;  results and levels of IGF-1, a muscle building hormone, in each of the&#xA;  three groups after 10 weeks of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/static-stretching-before-during-and-after-lifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/static-stretching-before-during-and-after-lifting&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These findings were supported by a second study that was published in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22316148&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports&lt;/a&gt;, leading many to believe that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“stretching before exercise is not only unnecessary, but it may&#xA;  actually be counterproductive, as well.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Scandinavian study concluded that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“We conclude that the usage of SS as the sole activity during warm-up&#xA;  routine should generally be avoided. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since these studies were relatively short with a small control group, more research is needed. But, the general consensus is that static stretching is best when performed at the &lt;strong&gt;end&lt;/strong&gt; of your training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T19:23:20.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-19T20:06:44.437" Score="1" ViewCount="2812" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started working out consistently at home for the first time. My workouts include some daily exercises for improving posture (I have rounded shoulders and anterior pelvic tilt) and also some muscle building exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm doing push ups on one day then pull ups the next day, always alternating between the two. Not working out on weekends at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's incredibly important to give your muscles enough time to recover. This is why I'm concerned about overtraining. Surely some muscles are involved in both push ups and pull ups and I wouldn't wanna deprive them of their recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I combine my exercises into one workout day and give them a full day of recovery or am I safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of splitting the workouts is that I'm able to put more energy into the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19775" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T05:37:49.743" Title="Is alternating between push ups and pull ups everyday overtraining?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29283" CreationDate="2016-03-19T20:37:34.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is different for every person first of all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although to answer your question I believe you won't be Overtraining that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a serious workout routine to start with I can recommend the following which is free:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://freebodybuildingworkoutprogram.com/thtdownload/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://freebodybuildingworkoutprogram.com/thtdownload/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do it myself and so far I enjoy doing it. The explanations are very easy to follow and every exercise is explained in detail with videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the Substitute Exercises List if you lack the equipment for some exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19776" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T20:37:34.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2016-03-20T00:58:53.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Center of gravity is far different. The most obvious ramification is that losing it and falling with a dumbbell means you fall over about 3 feet before the weight stops at the floor. Falling over with the barbell behind your head means you stop when your face hits the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like dumbbell squats especially in the garage when no one is there to save me. I cut a barbell in half and modified it with a grip 90 degrees to the bar for comfort and the added length of a half bar for the weights to clear my knees when going up and down. It is a much safer arrangement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full length barbell deadlift style won't work because knees get in the way when the rump gets down by the floor. In dead lift the rump is high and the shins vertical so the bar clears. Not so with squats, thus the dumbbell solution for safety. The loss is the need to develop balance when the weight is over your neck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rather not do a face plant if I ever pass out. Or get injured from a twisting tilting failure to maintain control. (Never know, illness, age etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19778" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2016-03-20T05:12:49.367" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T05:12:49.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-20T17:54:56.510" Score="8" ViewCount="722" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out what MET values for various exercises mean. Cardio exercises seem pretty clear to me: 6 MET for bicycling means that one hour of bicycling for a person weighing 70 kg burns 6 * 70 = 420 kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what about exercises such as weight lifting, where you need to rest between sets? Are MET values calculated to include rest or not? For example, I see in many charts that MET for weight lifting is 6. If the person weighing 70 kg trains for one hour, lifting for one minute and then resting for one minute (so the total lifting time is 30 minutes), does he burn 420 kcal or 210 kcal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19785" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T01:16:13.747" Title="Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) values for exercises with rest" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;met&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4473" CreationDate="2016-03-21T08:02:22.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is likely a reaction from lack of oxygen due to shortage of breath. Your cells need oxygen and when they are starved, there is a build up of adenosine triphosphate that can cause a burning sensation. It's not a bad thing. It essentially means your muscles want more energy and oxygen than you can produce at that time. No damage is done and you recover quickly afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you are obese, this isn't likely to get better simply by repeating the process again and again. The only things that will help is feeding your body properly at breakfast, say with good amounts of protein, keep yourself hydrated ideally with an electrolyte drink at breakfast. This will help reduce, but don't eliminate. You really need to drop some pounds to get yourself into a situation where your muscles can properly support you. Not judging, just the reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19789" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T08:02:22.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29288" CreationDate="2016-03-21T09:24:05.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK. Let me start with that; the MET values are not 100% correct. It sometimes over or underestimates depending on the individual (lean body mass, age, sex etc.), but it is used widely. Yet, it can be used by just carefully taking all the considerations into account. &#xA;The thing is, all the MET calculations includes the resting time because during recovery after weight lifting, stores are replenished by using oxygen which may keep the MET value high (I mean higher than resting value of 1 MET or 3.5 ml/kg/h). It may be under or over 6 MET but it is a rough estimate anyway so it can be ignored. I believe, that is why, all the MET values are calculated based on hourly basis and at last, he burns approximately 420 kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some studies related to it&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/10589865&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Circuit weight training and its effects on excess postexercise oxygen consumption.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/75/4/1847&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Effect of acute resistance exercise on postexercise energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="19346" LastEditDate="2016-03-21T15:55:07.207" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T15:55:07.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28536" CreationDate="2016-03-21T14:56:36.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made 2 of these to use for dumbbell squats. It allows the weights to clear my knees going up and down. So the bar is a one handed thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19778" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T14:56:36.480" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28845" CreationDate="2016-03-21T19:34:49.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems like your body have reached a plateau which is quite common.. &#xA;You should increase the intensity of your workout regime and should try different workout activites which involves whole body movement or activity rather than isolations. You can also try compound exercises. Plus, strength training helps reduce much weight as compared to cardio exercises. You can try to implement by switching alternative days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19795" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T19:34:49.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13255" CreationDate="2016-03-21T19:49:55.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, your specified goal is achieved by a healthy lifestyle. &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; hardcore workout and protein diet doesn't count. Your goal is a long term goal. It will take almost a year if you follow a good fitness regime..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plenty of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cigerattes and alchohol are strict &lt;strong&gt;no no&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;healthy food( carbs protein fibres and healthy fats in proper&#xA;amount acc. To your body requirement)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exercise with an elevating graph of intensity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;proper sleep ( 8 hours best)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do something for your mental peace and satisfaction ( except&#xA;things mentionred in second point and the illegal activities)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all this being followed you are good to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19795" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-03-21T20:17:57.260" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T20:17:57.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-22T03:54:52.957" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently 19 years old. I tore my acl 4 times and have gotten 3 surgeries. I am not very eager to go through a 4 surgery. My last tear was about a year ago and ever since then I been gradually working my legs harder. I do a semi-intensive leg press and squat exercise about once a week, I cycle 5 miles everyday ( I try usually 5-6 times a week) and I work my calves everyday. I haven't seen a significant progress in the rehabilitation of my knee though. I have full range of motion but I have a constant soreness in my knee. And the other day the damn thing gave out on me out of nowhere (hasn't done that in months). I also have this very unatural snapping sound everytime i extend my leg . Fortunatley it's not followed by pain it just causes me discomfort to feel it everytime i walk. I keep wondering if it's because I been doing leg extensions not too long after my injury. I stopped doing them after 3 months after i found out their horrible for your knees. Could my 3 months of doing leg extensions cause any permanent damage to my knees? And what could i do to get my knee at least to not cause me any discomfort. I don't plan on doing sports every again I just wanna be able drive long distances or use the rudder pedals on a plane (i am a pilot) without it hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19799" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T17:47:49.087" Title="Do I have a future with a torn acl?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-23T15:40:33.297" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25596" CreationDate="2016-03-22T08:32:30.567" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Q1. The iron supplementation in the nondeficient state does not improve performance. That is, taking more iron into the body will not increase your hgb level beyond what it was earlier. (Herbold NH, Visconti BK, Frates S, et al.: Traditional and nontraditional supplement use by collegiate female varsity athletes. IntI Sport Nutr Metab 2004, 12:586-593.). In another study it was indicated that although iron supplementation can raise serum ferritin, increases in ferritin unaccompanied by increases in hemoglobin concentration have not been shown to improve endurance performance (Garza, D., et al. The clinical value of serum ferritin tests in endurance athletes. Clinics in Sports Medicine, v. 7, p. 46-53, 1997.). There are other ways of increasing your hemoglobin level such as high altitude (2700m-3500m), EPO, blood doping (last two are not recommended and forbidden) etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q2. Hemoglobin has an oxygen-binding capacity of 1.34 mL O2 per gram and it contains 4 heme groups each with one iron atom that are able to bind one molecule of oxygen. That is, if you have high hgb level you can bind more oxygen but it does not guarantee you to have higher cardiorespiratory capacity because iron and hgb are not the only factors that affect cardio performance, there are so many. However, having high enough level of hgb and iron may help cardiorespiratory performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T08:32:30.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29303" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29311" CreationDate="2016-03-22T13:55:58.530" Score="3" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am transitioning from a beginner program (5x5 Stronglifts) to an intermediate programme. Lots of exercise regimes recommend squats, but what is more suitable for developing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Powerlifting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing a high back squat but the following are appearing in intermediate programmes, what are their benefits/focus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sumo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-22T15:19:50.287" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T15:19:22.507" Title="Compare &amp; contrast squat types" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-22T16:00:31.320" Score="1" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for a little over a year now. I'm not in great shape, but I do believe I have a better-than-average diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is how I can get my bench press and pull ups to increase. Right now I'm maxing at ~190-200lbs. I'm not happy with it at all, almost all of my other weights have gone up, I can squat 375lbs max, and haven't dead lifted in a few weeks because I don't like all the pressure on my knees from squatting and dead lifting heavy as well as running, but last time I maxed it was 385lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only do ~5 wide grip pullups without a 20-40 pound boost from a machine, this is with full stretch, not going halfway down and back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh ~195 and I'm 5'11&quot;. I'm not happy with the amount of muscle in my chest and back and I've been pretty much stuck with these two workouts for months, I just don't have time to do a whole lot of research on the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last semester I was in school and I was running anywhere from 12-20 miles/week and I stopped doing that because I didn't want to lose muscle. I'm pretty busy now so I do about 1-2 days of sprints a week for about 10 minutes total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm missing any additional information please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do 3-4 sets of bench to start 135x12, 155-165x10-12, 185x3-4, 135x10-12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 sets of medium crossover flys (30x12, 35x12, 40x10-12), 3 sets of low crossover flys (25x12, 30x12, 35x10-12) and 3 sets of high crossover flys (25x12, 30x12, 35x10-12)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline dumbbell press (45x12, 50x8-12, 55x6-10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;JUST BEGAN doing bench for burnouts. I'll put on 25-45 on each side and do as many as I can. Usually this is 135x4-6, 115x4-6, 95x10-15.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups on a pull-up counterweight machine. 40 counter x 12 wide-grip, 30 counter x 10-12 wide-grip, and 20 counter x as many as I can 6-10 then switch to a pegged grip and finish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pull-downs 115x12, 135x12, 155x6-10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Bent-Over Rows with Bench Bar. 115x12, 125x12, 135x6-10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Lat Pulldowns. 50x12, 55x12, 60x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back Extensions. Body-weight x 30, Body-weight x 25-30, Body-weight x 15-25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I add an additional workout or two to these, but that varies week-by-week if I do at all. It widely depends on time availability, but this is generally what I hit each week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19803" LastEditorUserId="19803" LastEditDate="2016-03-22T16:22:18.980" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T13:20:18.837" Title="Plateau Chest/Back - Need New Routine" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29303" CreationDate="2016-03-22T16:07:06.263" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fact both are effective. Your body grows when it has to adapt to a new challenges. It will quickly stop growing if you always do the same thing. You can increase weight and reps or change/alternate exercises to give it some new stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Polls show that Hypertrophy seems superior to Powerlifting. Although I would bet that you will profit even more if you switch between them every 10 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the squats I would recommend Standard Ass To The Grass Squats. They are most effective and cause the least problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Box: Not full range of motion, brings your knees in a unstable position that can cause knee pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sumo: Not bad, you can try them once you mastered the standard squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front: Only used with light weight for people with back problems. Not effective .&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hack: You want to tire out your legs, not your forearms. If you want to train your traps you'd better do shrugs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead: Again you want to train your legs. If you want to build your shoulders you'd better do military press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19776" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T16:07:06.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29304" CreationDate="2016-03-22T16:34:44.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're spending too much time benching light and doing heavily-counterweighted &quot;pull-ups&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing 36 light bench press reps and 3 or 4 heavy reps, do 15 to 25 heavy reps. Three to five sets of 5 at 175 sounds about right. Every week add a pound or three or five. Doing that a few times a week, plus eating and sleeping well, should have you benching around 200 for a set of 5, giving you a higher max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, skip the two dozen &quot;pull-ups&quot; that are basically just floating bouncing on a see-saw. Do five sets of 3 unassisted pull-ups, then a half-dozen sets of negatives, then a half-dozen sets of static holds at the top. After a week or two of that you should be able to switch to three sets of 5 unassisted pull-ups, then four sets, then five sets. Then you should be ready to pick a target number of total reps--say, 40 or 50 or 75--and do as many sets as necessary (using negatives if you have to) to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're only lifting once per week, then the progression will be half as fast or even slower. One lifting workout per week is not a lot for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T16:34:44.410" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29301" CreationDate="2016-03-22T17:47:49.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tore my ACL about half way, and was told at the time i would be on crutches for a minimum of six months, so that was over 30 years ago.  I was working on fire protection on the 8th tallest building in the world at the time, and taking 6 months off was not in the cards.  So i started working out like a fiend, and rehabbed my way out of the worst of it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Fifteen years later, I finally dislocated my lower leg and took out what was left of the ACL and most of the cartilage.  So I had the graft done then.  I walked un-aided out of the hospital that day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Such is the benefit of living a long time, medical technology got better faster than my ability to break things.  Dude, three knee injuries at 19 means you are headed down a dark road, wake up and fix yourself before the Docs can't fix YOU.  As of the first injury, i have suffered with knee issues for 40 years, and now, finally, I am getting my left knee replaced at age 62.  I keep thinking had I warmed up before sports, had I worn a brace when playing, had I thought things through I would not be in the position of having suffered with knee pain all that time.  Kid, this means at your age, you will have to suffer 43 years of crappy knees for what you did on 19 years just to get where I am!  Unless you think your jersey is going into the hall of fame someplace, best change course now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19807" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T17:47:49.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="41940" CreationDate="2016-03-22T20:32:30.943" Score="2" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you really increase Testosterone by exercising in certain ways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of exercise routines support higher testosterone levels?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How aligned with boosting Testosterone is increasing mass?  How does a program focusing on Testosterone differ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Youtube videos claim compound movements and changing program often is good for boosting testosterone. Any reason to think it is &lt;em&gt;particularly&lt;/em&gt; good for Testosterone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume men in their 4Oties with slightly low levels and normal physical shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T14:24:19.627" Title="Boosting Testosterone with exercise?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29303" CreationDate="2016-03-22T21:01:49.177" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to powerlifting, a large portion of lifters will use a low bar squat which places the bar lower on the back to sit on a muscular shelf made by the rear deltoids. This also allows the lifter to have more forward torso lean throughout the squat and shifts some of the tension to the posterior chain. This together tends to allow a lifter to lift more weight maximally. However, low bar squatting is not a requirement for powerlifting; high bar squats (with the bar on the traps) is also perfectly valid. For powerlifting, which ever allows the lifter to lift more weight during competition is the better variation for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For hypertrophy, high bar squats might be more effective to a degree as it places more demands on the quads than low bar squats. This doesn't mean that low bar squats are bad for hypertrophy either. It really comes down to which is more comfortable to use and the particular rep scheme you're using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Box: a variation in which a bench or other sturdy device is placed around where you'd squat to parallel. The purpose is to squat down and touch the bench (or box, etc) and come back up, or pause slightly before coming back up. It is a tool to help with both technique and to help with driving out of the hole, since there is no stretch reflex available in this variation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sumo: a variation with a very wide stance. This will shift some of the load onto the hips and adductors. This will allow for a shorter range of motion that still allows you to squat to parallel. Lots of geared powerlifters appear to use this kind of squat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front: in this variation, the bar is racked across the front of the body in the channel created by the front deltoids and clavicle. This variation places more demands on core stability, as you need to maintain a very upright torso position to avoid dumping the bar. This also causes more demand on the quads. This is also one of the most important accessory lifts for Olympic weightlifting, as it is the second half of a clean.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hack: you can think of these as deadlifts with the bar behind you. In a normal deadlift, the hip tends to be high enough that the quads contribute little compared to the hamstrings and glutes. In a hack squat, it's much easier to get into a lower hip position which will allow the quads to play a larger role in lifting the weight up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead: for most people, this variation only serves as a way to help with core stability, since you need to stabilize the barbell overhead while also squatting with it. If you have tight shoulders, avoid this movement until you can comfortably hold the bar overhead in a snatch grip with a slight forward lean of the torso. Olympic lifters also use this variation to help strengthen the squat portion of the snatch (the bar is caught in an overhead squat position in a snatch). They also use it for mobility and technique training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastEditorUserId="16204" LastEditDate="2016-03-23T03:11:00.450" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T03:11:00.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28057" CreationDate="2016-03-23T12:13:04.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, it's going to be extremely difficult to regain your prior level of fitness. Taking off 6 kilos, in and of itself, is probably going to take you at least 3 months if not half a year, and you've got the additional constraint of also improving your physical strength and stamina. Add to that that you're not as young as you used to be, and it adds up to that a more realistic goal is to be the best you can be at your current age rather than to chase that past dream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right, with that out of the way, the first thing I'd note is that you will likely want to see a doctor, maybe a physical therapist, about the knee. It sounds like there may be some lingering trauma there from your prior years of playing that's been exacerbated by your increased weight and decreased conditioning. Knees are always tricky things regarding injury, and I'd recommend the doctor both to prevent more permanent injury and also because even a minor recoverable injury can hurt your motivation to get fit and stay fit. Complicating things, as a former athlete, you're used to being in good shape and will have to actively check your expectations in workouts to prevent injuring yourself and burning yourself out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like this is sounding overly pessimistic. That is not my intent. As someone who has been in shape before, you're also in a good position to get back in good shape, if not at the top of your game as before. Specifically exercising for improving your basketball skills, you're going to be looking at cardio, of course, for endurance and for overall caloric burn (cardio isn't as efficient for weight loss as High-Intensity Interval Training or lifting weights, whether bodyweight or external, both of which will boost your metabolic rate more, but it's a lot easier to maintain for a longer amount of time). Plyometrics is pretty much a given since you're looking for explosive power in your limbs, particularly jumping skills. With both, you're going to want to start slowly. Normally, the advice would be to listen to your body, but you're probably used to pushing your limits, so at least for the first week or two, you're going to want to follow a relatively easy plan, probably half of what you automatically assume you can do. If you can do that for a few weeks and you're not waking up in pain, you can start scaling up and listening for what your body is telling you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also want to address diet. At first, you're not going to be burning that many more calories than you did when sedentary, so you're not going to be sharply increasing your caloric intake, but you're going to want to keep track of what you're eating and how much. Reduce junk food intake as much as possible and ensure that you're getting sufficient amounts of protein in your diet. When your workouts get more intense, you're going to want to increase your intake a bit to accommodate the extra energy needed to build muscle, but continue tracking things to ensure that you're not eating 500 calories to compensate for a 300 calorie workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck! Like I said, you've got some unique advantages and pitfalls ahead of you as someone who previously professionally played sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T12:13:04.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29310" CreationDate="2016-03-23T13:14:29.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a myth that exercise increases the secretion of testosterone. In fact, short duration intense exercise increase testosterone level in the blood while long duration endurance type of exercises decrease. Yet, there is no extra testicular secretion of testosterone. What happens is that the rate of clearance of this hormone from the plasma decrease. Because the liver is a major site for the clearance of testosterone and liver blood flow decreases during exercise. The other reason of increased testosterone could be accounted for by haemo-concentration. That is, during short duration intense exercise you have increased level of testosterone in your blood but it is not due to the testicular secretion of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T13:14:29.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-23T19:14:06.827" Score="-1" ViewCount="1100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Info: 20/M/165(75kg)/6'1/16%BF(omron fat loss monitor). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been dieting since February (175lb/79kg), and began losing weight two weeks later (when I bought a food scale). I was eating around 1300cals a day, coupled with 17min HIIT and sloppy lifting (apartment complex gym, only did 1x30/30lb chest press, 1x40/60 leg curls). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the end of the week, I would lose around 1.5lb. Then decided to go all out and get a gym membership and do the Push/Pull/Legs (PPL) program. Two weeks ago I stalled at 165lb(75kg) and got upset and decided to go a little more extreme (I probably messed up my calories that week anyway or my body adjusted, who knows) and do 1000cals or under/a day. Last week I dropped from 165lb(75kg) to 162(73.5kg). Waiting until Saturday for the next weigh in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My PPL stats: &#xA;(I still don't know how much the barbell weighs in my gym so these could be way higher or lower. Just added 20lb to everthing to be safe.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts: 60lb(27kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell rows: Tomorrow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seated cable rows: 60lb/27kg(?)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Face pulls: 35lb(17kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hammer curls: 25lb(11kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell curls: 25lb(11kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench press: 50lb(22kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overhead press: 40lb(18kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incline dumbbell press: 40lb(18kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Triceps pushdowns: 35lb(17kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lateral raises: 25lb(11kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overhead triceps extensions: 20lb(9kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat: 50lb(22kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Romanian Deadlift: 50lb(22kg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg press: No free weights, the sled is heavy already.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg curls: 80lb/36kg(?)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm cutting because I want to get rid of this gut and thighs that are really annoying. Then I will have well defined muscle tone. But some people are saying to bulk and the gut will go away or do a small bulk and revamp(?). I don't know what's going on anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I be doing for my end goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19828" LastEditorUserId="19828" LastEditDate="2016-09-01T03:53:00.523" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T07:09:24.177" Title="Bulk or cut? (pics)" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29304" CreationDate="2016-03-24T13:20:18.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at your sets and reps it seems like you're trying to add muscle, so here's my two cents:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep it at 4 sets of 8-12 reps, in your case I would recommend going with a higher weight in the beginning, say 155-165lbs (after a light warmup set of 90ish lbs). If you're challenging yourself properly you will only add 5-10 lbs at a time and your reps will decrease by around 1-2. Your last set you will be struggling to reach 8. Keep in mind, this is with a good spotter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your spotter will let you struggle with the weight, only lightly assisting, just enough to keep the bar moving. They will need to let you know if you can keep going. If you do have a spotter, you can also try negatives. This will bring your bench up fast, but you will lose some endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your periods of rest between are really important too. Keep it between 30-45 seconds, in some cases give an extra 10 seconds if you must, to properly finish your next set. If you have long rest periods you will be able to do more, but on your off days your muscles will be noticeably softer. Also, I wouldn't do chest twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The incline dumbbell press is looking good. Your reps are two high on the fly's though. Keep it to 4 sets of 8-12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that you can bring the bar to your chest, but struggle to get it past the halfway point, this is where your triceps are supposed to kick in. You'll want to throw in 3 exercises after you do chest to give those a boost. You can do dips, single arm overhead extensions, flat bench skull crushers, cable tricep extensions with the rope or bar since both hit it differently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately if this doesn't help then you may want to consider a change to your routine, 3 sets of 5 lifting heavy with 3 to 5 minutes rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19825" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T13:20:18.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29314" CreationDate="2016-03-24T15:18:49.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're in a pretty good spot to start bulking. If your main concern is your gut, then I'd try doing your best towards a clean bulk. Prioritize your protein (I'd suggest 1g per 1lb of body weight) while keeping sugar low, and a moderate amount of carbs/fat. You can find more detailed information on diet here - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/graniero1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/graniero1.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main benefits of bulking at this point are that it will allow your body to recover faster between workouts, and in turn lift heavier weights. If you wish to get stronger and appear stronger, this will be the quickest most efficient path to follow. Also, because you're tearing your muscles, a majority of the food you eat (Especially the protein!) will be going to these muscles and not your gut. It likely won't disappear, at least not overnight, but because the rest of your body will be increasing in size, it will become proportional and give you a better figure to cut around in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will only work if you're sticking to a good gym plan! PPL isn't a bad idea, though I'd say that's more for intermediate and beyond lifters. If you haven't heard of starting strength or stronglifts 5x5, I'd suggest looking at one of those, as they're great for beginners. Don't be afraid to add accessory exercises and cardio if you're on a binge and wish to go above and beyond, they will help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18422" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T15:18:49.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29314" CreationDate="2016-03-24T16:42:55.233" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are skinny-fat. Stop dieting. Lift heavy, eat more: this will make you strong. What you eat should be high-quality food; skip the soda and sweets. Don't think of it as a &quot;bulk&quot;--just eat as much high-quality meat and vegetables as you need to fuel your lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a few months, after you have some muscle mass, start doing some cardio to lean out. But right now you are weak and skinny and fat. Lifting heavy and eating more will fix that problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T16:42:55.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29342" CreationDate="2016-03-24T21:27:48.983" Score="3" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been stretching my legs recently as they were feeling a bit tight. I'm doing a series of different stretches but I've been concentrating mainly on my hamstrings. I can now touch my toes for 60 seconds (longer if I wanted, yay!) however I've noticed I'm struggling with one stretch in particular...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I stretch my hamstring by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.somastruct.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TowelStretch.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;laying on my back and using a towel&lt;/a&gt; to pull a leg towards me I noticed it still hurts and I cant pull my leg straight yet (my left leg can go further than my right). However if I use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://flexpt-2734.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Wall-HS-finish.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;door frame to stretch my hamstring&lt;/a&gt; I can get my legs completely straight and without anywhere near as much strain on my hamstring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to understand why by using the towel I cant get my legs anywhere near as straight as I can using a door. Do I need to concentrate on stretching some other muscles with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My end goal is to be able to lift my legs straight up in the air without having to use a towel or wall. I'm 24 and female. Any advice you guys have would be great. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19839" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T04:36:02.620" Title="Having difficulty stretching legs on my back with towel" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29370" CreationDate="2016-03-24T22:02:37.900" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi fellow fitness enthusiasts and personal trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to my gym closing down and me moving, I'll need to train at least 6 months without a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home I have a 15kg dumbbell. Since I'm not very strong, this will be enough at least for biceps, triceps and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my routine I'm using now (all using just this one dumbbell)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Biceps:    Sitting biceps curl    Standing biceps curl    Hammer curl&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Triceps:    Overhead push&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shoulders:    Lateral raise    Front raise    Dumbbell shoulder press &#xA;  Back fly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chest:    One arm chest press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Back:    Back row&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this exact order. Not training legs because I'm running and cycling quite a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any tips to optimalize this routine/things I'm doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is muscle growth and I was wondering if I could achieve this with this routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-03-27T16:41:38.877" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T10:59:49.143" Title="Optimize single dumbbell routine?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="51" CreationDate="2016-03-25T00:25:53.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've posted some of the standard equations in my answer to: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14961/metabolic-equations-for-anaerobic-exercise&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equations for Anaerobic Exercise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially if you know the duration of the exercise, your body Mass in Kg, and either the MET score for the exercise, or an average of your heart rate through the exercise, and an estimated or measured VO2max figure for yourself, you can estimate the KCal/min figure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T00:25:53.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29288" CreationDate="2016-03-25T00:37:08.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;MET&lt;/strong&gt; tables are only estimates, and depending on whose you're looking at you'll find values between 4 and 6 for weightlifting. So you could obviously see a 1/3 difference in the KCal estimate, for supposedly the same activity, if you pick 4 over 6. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the ability to measure your own heart rate, before, during, and while recovering from a lift, you can estimate a more accurate figure via the VO2 / VO2max route, and / or determine your own MET estimate for your own particular take on weightlifting; per the maths and examples I gave in my answer to: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14961/metabolic-equations-for-anaerobic-exercise&quot;&gt;Metabolic Equations for Anaerobic Exercise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T01:16:13.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-25T08:31:11.257" Score="3" ViewCount="980" Body="&lt;p&gt;So if I want to get fitter and be able to run faster, does trying to lose weight at the same time hinder this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that on a calorie restricted diet, one has to take care to make sure they are still eating enough protein. Other than that, can trying to lose weight (or I guess, more specifically, trying to lose fat since that's just 'dead weight') by calorie restriction hinder attempts to become fitter and run faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19842" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T07:04:19.150" Title="Weight loss vs. running speed" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3660" CreationDate="2016-03-25T10:04:06.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usualy the form of performing is really important. Now knee pains might come from many areas not just from squatting, but it might manifests there. &#xA;I would advise you to go through few of the basics of squatting before squatting and a proper warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/no_pain_squat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/no_pain_squat.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthy-joints.net/sport/how-to-squat-to-avoid-knee-and-back-injuries/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://healthy-joints.net/sport/how-to-squat-to-avoid-knee-and-back-injuries/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19845" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T10:04:06.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29325" CreationDate="2016-03-25T10:06:24.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing weight can be achieved through running and losing weight would probably give you advantage of running faster.&#xA;Furthermore the more you practice running (although try to not overdo it seems your knees might hurt) would help you run faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also another great option is to perform exercises like squats and deadlifts that would strengthen and give you a lot more power to put with your legs when running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19846" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T10:06:24.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29325" CreationDate="2016-03-25T14:25:04.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common lore is that you gain between 2-4 seconds per mile in pace per pound lost for the same amount of effort. So, if you run an 8 minute mile at about a 80% of race pace tempo, and you lose 10 pounds, you can generally expect to be at 7:40 to 7:20 per mile for the same amount of effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the calorie restrictions, if you are attempting to be a faster runner (I'm assuming that you are talking about endurance, such as the 5k and up, not sprinting), then your carbohydrates are more important. Yes, sufficient protein is necessary, but it's not quite as critical as it would be for a lifting/bulking type of program. I'd shoot for 50-60% carbs, 20-30% protein and the rest in fats. As shown by one of the linked articles &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29195/how-much-protein-can-the-body-absorb-within-a-meal/29196#29196&quot;&gt;in this answer&lt;/a&gt;, .75g / lb is about the highest limit that you would need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as improving at running, the best way to do that is to run more. As Scout7 (great poster on another forum) puts it, Run. Run lots. Mostly slow, sometimes fast. If you want a great program to progress, &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1612485;search_string=runtraining;#1612485&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;check out these articles&lt;/a&gt;, most especially the top 3, &quot;The Program&quot; 1 2 and 3. I've detailed the plan in brief here in a few different answers, but it's a great progressive running method. Save the weights for when you're at the last nth degree and needed that little extra.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T14:25:04.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="830" CreationDate="2016-03-25T16:12:41.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Life Fitness stationary upright bike was a disaster. The narrow seat dug into my croch and created a painful prostate. I was an aggressive user of the bike. I was shocked when my PSA test was elevated. I stopped using the bike and allowed my inflamed croch to heal and my PSA went down to normal. I would only use a recumbent bike now to alleviate the bearing down on my croch and wear biker shorts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19849" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T16:12:41.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-26T00:22:26.753" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 31 years old, overweight, and prior military.  I used to run a lot and work out, but I've gotten lazier and lazier about it over the years.  I haven't worked out at all in probably 8 to 9 years.  I smoke, and I am currently dieting to try to lose some weight.  I just quit drinking and I am just nervous about going to the gym again.  I really want to start off light and easy on me, but I'm also nervous that if I don't go hard enough I won't see any results.  I want to do it, but I could use some guidance on where to start.  My cardio is basically negligible and my muscle is pretty damn close as well.  What kind of foods should I stick to and exercise regime should I start after so long of a time of not working out or taking care of myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19854" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T06:59:36.313" Title="Trying to start Exercising again after almost 9 years" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29332" CreationDate="2016-03-26T00:47:46.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best option is to start slowly and take small, sustainable steps to also small goals that you can reach relatively soon (so you don't get discouraged). Quitting drinking is a major step (and success!) towards a healthier you. It wouldn't be surprising if that causes some weight loss on its own (depending on how much / frequently you drank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to losing weight, diet is, by far, the largest factor in determining your success. You don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to exercise to lose weight, it just helps put you into a deficit or eat more food while still losing weight. To lose weight you should calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and aim to eat 10%-15% less than that in order to lose weight in a sustainable way that won't burn you out. Increasing protein and fiber intake are both good for increasing satiety (so that you can go longer between meals without getting as hungry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of exercise, weight training (or any resistance training) can have the largest effect on your physique. I would personally recommend a beginner's strength program (StrongLifts 5x5, Starting Strength, Ice Cream Fitness, etc). In the beginning you &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be able to lose fat while gaining some muscle (after a while that becomes really hard to do simultaneously). You should try to stick to a beginner's program until you stall out of it. By that time, you can continue with a more intermediate strength program, or look into a hypertrophy (muscle building) based program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, it's a good idea to exhaust your beginner gains on a strength program, as it will allow you to establish true one-rep maxes which will allow you to use a hypertrophy based program more effectively. If you start a beginner strength program with just the empty barbell, you shouldn't have much trouble with starting too fast. You'll progress quickly with the program, but you'll also adapt to the stress of the program quickly too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2016-03-26T00:47:46.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-26T19:58:17.343" Score="3" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would describe myself as an &quot;ex-athlete&quot;, having done athletics for the bulk of my years up until age 18, culminating in very demanding training for my crew team (3+ hour cardio sessions and weights). After that, I decided not to pursue rowing in college, deciding to focus on academics. The last two years I played soccer and lifted weights fairly frequently, and stayed in reasonably good shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This academic year, however, I have decided to take my studies a lot more seriously and apply for a PhD program in the fall. As a result, I spend an average of 10-15 hours studying per day in the library, during which I have almost no access to healthy food. The only convenient place to get food during these hours is from the Café adjoining the Library which has generally unhealthy snacks. I can't cook in my apartment because it takes too much time, and because of a room-mate, my kitchen is unsanitary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a schedule of working out for ~1.5 hours in the mornings 5 or 6 days a week, which I stick to barring illness. My main concern is the &quot;kitchen&quot; aspect of my fitness: although snacks and supplements are not good substitutes for healthy cooked meals, is there anything I can do to substitute (as best as possible) cooked meals during my long days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19861" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T20:28:11.210" Title="Coping with a Lack of Access to Healthy Food &amp; Lifestyle Changes" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-28T21:39:57.593" Score="7" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is being asked for my friend who is an inmate.&#xA;&quot;I have gone from doing 1000 push ups every day (what else is there to do here?) with Sat/Sun rest days. To doing 1000 on Monday and Thursday with 2 day rests in between.  Feel that I am losing any gains from original plan.  Which is the better routine?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19875" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T06:33:52.973" Title="Inmate workouts" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29321" CreationDate="2016-03-28T21:53:47.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason is, that when you use a towel to pull your leg, two things happen at the same time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your hamstring is stretched, as you flex the hip and extend the knee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;but it is also contracting, as the pull of the towel has to be balanced by the same amount of push from your leg, that means both your calf and hamstring will have to work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching and contracting a muscle at the same time this way is a very effective way to stretch, but with a towel, it is very easy to pull just a bit too much and cause pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep your leg straight but make a bigger loop with the towel and let your leg lower than vertical (possibly much lower) until the pain is gone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put the towel away and work on supine leg lifts. Lie down, bend one leg for support, straighten the other leg (the one you would like to stretch) and lift it as high as you can without pain. You can assist by pointing/flexing the foot, as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ielyTVNXDoc&amp;amp;t=3m42s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shown here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if you have a rubber band, you can try a few closed chain stretches as well, for example the standing split stretch and the one-legged stretch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VHLKU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VHLKU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;split stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rXif1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rXif1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;one legged stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: you can also use some weight eg. a medicine ball or dumbbells instead of the band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are quite effective for stretching, and also strengthen the leg muscles at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2016-03-28T22:18:35.053" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T22:18:35.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29341" CreationDate="2016-03-29T07:30:49.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing anything at that severe high volume will eventually not become as useful as it originally was. With any exercise, if you keep repeating it your body will adapt to become good at it and you will plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he has a lot of time and wants to improve his fitness, suggest some of the exercises listed here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/training_guide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/training_guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is progression there and a opportunity to do some very impressive exercises that he will find much more beneficial than 1000x of any single exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T07:30:49.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29335" CreationDate="2016-03-29T08:03:01.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need is a bit of a lifestyle change but the first step, wanting to make a change, has been made by yourself and this should be your driver when being healthy is difficult and the café muffins call to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important next step is to fix this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't cook in my apartment because it takes too much time, and&#xA;  because of a room-mate, my kitchen is unsanitary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tidy the kitchen, clean it, sort out a rota if you need to. You cannot eat on a sensible budget in a healthy way without cooking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take some time, each day, few days or week to prepare your food for the day. Get some Tupperware and plan out your meals using a calorie tracker (myfitnesspal or similar). Your meals should be ready to pick up from the fridge in the morning and should last you all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken/Roast Veg/Rice (microwaveable) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salad (rocket) &amp;amp; Cooked Steak&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken &amp;amp; Pasta (cold)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many more exist, go look for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snacks:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for a place locally that sells fruit and dried nuts/berries (UK have Holland &amp;amp; Barret, whole foods, Bulk Powders on amazon). Work out portions of them, tupperware them, and snack on those. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T08:03:01.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-29T10:13:29.950" Score="4" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Councils in my city have started installing what I think of as adult playgrounds, things called &quot;fitness stations&quot; or &quot;outdoor exercise equipment&quot; apparently that have unusually shaped static objects and machines.  For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/recreation/fitness_training/exercise_equipment_in_parks&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/recreation/fitness_training/exercise_equipment_in_parks&lt;/a&gt;  Some of this equipment is quite traditional and in wood, which I remember from childhood as the &quot;really boring playground.&quot;  Other equipment is ornate mechanical machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strangely I've found it difficult to find people suggesting fun &amp;amp; safe ways to use this equipment.  The manufacturers and installing councils don't seem to suggest ways to use the equipment online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more complex machines seem to make sense as their form implies natural kinds of use (rowing, skiing, cycling) that are limited in their movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simpler machines, like an oblique twist seat, don't imply their function because they seem useable in so many ways to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The static objects seem even stranger to me, as an angle bar about waist/knee height could be used in any number of ways.  So could three upright poles at ankle-knee height.  I assume each object has an implied function or set of functions that's beyond me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only source I could find for suggested methods of using these devices was one authority's video'd sessions (  , &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBRw-_fyyk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBRw-_fyyk&lt;/a&gt; ), but these aren't named by device and aren't exhaustive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes installed equipment have panels explaining their use, but these rapidly degrade to unreadable due to graffiti, sun exposure or rain exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that there are &quot;go to&quot; works in print for enjoying these objects, because there don't seem to be compilations online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no health or fitness goals, I'm just interested in safely playing on the new equipment I keep seeing while cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19882" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T12:00:59.670" Title="How to use equipment in outdoor &quot;fitness stations&quot;?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29346" CreationDate="2016-03-29T12:00:59.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do a lot of core exercises on these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples: Pullups/chinups on the high bar. On the two low parallel bars, you can do different variants of dips. Usually, there'll be a very low bar to lock on your feet - so you can do situps. And the ground layer is soft and nice(but firm), making it really good for pushups(rather than on concrete).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing too fancy, no. But a good amount of core bodyweight drills can be conducted with that setup :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T12:00:59.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-29T12:10:51.263" Score="3" ViewCount="1595" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I take an 'off the shelf' starting strength workout and increase the repetitions to the 8-12 range per set, will it be an effective hypertrophy workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  Day 1&#xA;  Squat 3x12&#xA;  Bench 3x12 &#xA;  Snatch 5x8&#xA;&#xA;  Day 2&#xA;  Squat 3x12 &#xA;  Press 3x12 &#xA;  Dead  1x8&#xA;  Chins &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T21:08:31.890" Title="Can starting strength be morphed to fit hypertrophy purposes?" Tags="&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29348" CreationDate="2016-03-29T12:25:35.327" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength is developed with a purpose, and it's written the way it is for a reason. You can morph it however you'd like, but then it's no longer SS3x5, and for better or worse, you can't expect the same results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-03-29T19:42:11.607" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T19:42:11.607" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29348" CreationDate="2016-03-29T12:27:02.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Progressive overload is considered the most important principle behind hypertrophy, so increasing the weight, repetitions (reps), and sets will all have a positive impact on muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, SS is designed carefully for new lifters, changing the volume in such a way will not benefit you as well as picking a intermediate hypertrophy programme and going with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T12:27:02.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29348" CreationDate="2016-03-29T14:30:26.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Changing Starting Strength to Sets of 12&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heart of Starting Strength is an interdependent synthesis of the following factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progressive overload every workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squatting every workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on few compound lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sets of 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other contributing elements, but I'd argue those are the core of the program. The key is that each element depends on the others. Changing sets of 5 to sets of 12 cannot be done without upsetting the balance: the progressive overload scheme will have to change, since sets of 12 respond differently than fives to increased weight. Total volume will go way up, which might affect later sets in the workout, especially the power cleans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Your Specific Situation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not do snatches in sets of 8. First of all, sets of 8 in the snatch are ridiculous for anything except conditioning or sport-specific training for Olympic lifting. Second of all, snatches aren't in Starting Strength--and power cleans--which are in Starting Strength--are a &lt;em&gt;totally&lt;/em&gt; different animal with sets of more than 5, just like snatches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a hypertrophy program, a hypertrophy program would be a better choice than Starting Strength with a different rep range slapped on the box. Hypertrophy-specific programs add volume and hypertrophy-rep-range work using more appropriate exercise selection and ordering than this modified pseudoprogram. Or, just do Starting Strength and eat a lot. People get bigger doing that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T14:30:26.503" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4324" CreationDate="2016-03-29T18:32:01.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of good answers, but I don't see mine on here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem, since I am also a software engineer. My solution was to rock in my chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it. The chair has a slight recline to it, and so as I'm coding, I lean forward so the chair is neural, then lean back while pushing against the incline; rocking back and forth for a few minutes every couple of hours. It helps to have some music on (earbuds) and just jam out to a couple songs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was enough to strengthen my core muscles, including the muscles in my lumbar area, over the course of a couple months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my problem is shin splits lol :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19885" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T18:32:01.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2016-03-29T21:40:34.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because androgen receptor concentration &amp;amp; sensitivity is highest in the muscles around the shoulder girdle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19888" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2016-03-30T16:22:10.780" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T16:22:10.780" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29303" CreationDate="2016-03-29T21:53:04.980" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your body type. Something between extreme low bar and high bar that allows you to lift the most weight without injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19888" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T21:53:04.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29341" CreationDate="2016-03-30T06:33:52.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building on JJosaur's answer, there's also the issue of muscular imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest muscles pull your shoulders forward. Back muscles pull your shoulders back. If one set of muscles is completely over-developed compared to the other, your posture, and in turn your back, will take a severe hit in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is usually never a problem for the case of back muscles overpowering the chest muscles. But the other way around is quite frequent, and if you pay attention, you can literally spot people every day that suffer from this, unknowingly or not. They'll be hunched forward over a hollow/concave chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing thousands of pushups every week can very easily lead to this, but thankfully, there are bodyweight exercises for your back as well, namely pullups. I would think that a person who can perform a thousand pushups in a day will be able to do at least &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; pullup variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T06:33:52.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29364" CreationDate="2016-03-30T07:50:40.067" Score="3" ViewCount="331" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am using a workout routine to gain more muscles in the upper body. For many months (5 so far) I've been following a plan which caused a 2cm (almost 1 inch) girth increase in my biceps and forearms but I think I could get more. I am following a healthy diet (lots of protein, vegetables, healthy fats e.t.c.). The plan I'm following says to work out twice a week (Mondays, Thursdays) for about 45 minutes (first 5 minutes is a warm-up). It's a full body workout. 4 sets with 12 reps per each muscle group. And I gained these 2cm but in the mirror I see nothing. My current age is 36.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand my lower body, especially my legs are extremely well built, full of muscles and almost no fat. And I gained these muscles when I was young (around 15). I didn't follow any diet and no workout plan at all. I was riding a bicycle, about 30-50km a day just for fun, sometimes faster, sometimes at slower pace. I was eating whatever I found in the fridge (and not directly after the ride as I never feel hungry directly after a physical activity). And sometimes I was eating only 2-3 times a day, big meals (not 6-7 small meals like it's recommended nowadays). And I didn't have 2-3 days for muscle regeneration as my workout plan recommends. What's more - my plan says (and many articles on the web) that cardio is bad for muscle gain but... this is actually what I was doing on my bicycle, right? My legs are full of big muscles until today although I don't train them too much now. I built them doing cardio for 1-2 hours everyday on my bike. Maybe the key was in my diet? (I was eating a lot of potatoes and bread during that time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's more: my friend is a physical worker and he doesn't go to the gym but he just uses his muscles at work for 8h a day. 5 days a week. No breaks for regeneration, no special diet and his upper body is really well built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I can show many more counterexamples like these that contradict the modern workout plans that recommend to avoid cardio, sleep a lot, work out every 2-3 days for 1h max. So is there something wrong about the current recommendations for body building?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19896" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T19:13:12.363" Title="What's wrong with workout routines for muscle building?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29362" CreationDate="2016-03-30T08:36:29.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. The main reason you're not having the same results as when you were 15, is simply because you're not 15 any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the teens, your body is still growing, and whatever training you do, will impact HOW your body grows. In your case, you were bicycling while your body was undergoing huge changes, so it was essentially preparing you for a lifetime of bicycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio and muscle growth&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a saying in the fitness industry; &lt;em&gt;cardio kills gains&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's kind of a rule of thumb, but it's a half truth at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle building is linked to gaining weight, but cardio is linked to losing weight. Of course, there's the &quot;gain muscle, lose fat&quot; deal, which is coveted in the entire industry, but reportedly hard to accomplish. If that's your goal, you should be very specific in your endeavors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Genetics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never underestimate the power of genetics. Your friend who doesn't go to the gym is probably simply genetically gifted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T08:36:29.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29362" CreationDate="2016-03-30T09:50:02.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of questions here, I'll try to answer each of them individually:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's wrong with [my] workout routines for muscle building?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a look at them, you do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You work out twice a week &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;45 minutes in each workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 sets with 12 reps per each muscle group (implying compound exercises).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, that is a relatively low level of working out, to actively build muscle and use the protein from your diet you should be working out for 45-60 minutes at least 3 days a week, potentially more (depending on your exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can describe your workout in detail I could give you more pointers as to whether it should be working or not (for your goals) and why. You should be working to progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side Note: Your sets-reps are more suited to a Sarcoplasmic style of hypertrophy with high volume which is suited to the bodybuilder style which is as opposed to the powerlifting style linked with myofibrillar hypertrophy. Strength training typically produces a combination of the two different types of hypertrophy: low-rep, high weight causes myofibrillated hypertrophy to dominate whereas several repetitions (generally 8–12 for bodybuilding or 12 or more for muscular endurance) against a less weight leads to more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. IF your end-game is being able to look good you should aim for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy but if your aim is to be strong, myofibrillated hypertrophy is for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's a full body workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't optimal for your specific described situation (your time in the gym is short), even with beginner programmes like starting strength or stronglifts you have a body split on each of the 3 days, e.g. 5x5 instructs Monday/Friday is Squat, Deadlift, Bench; Tues is Squat, Row and Overhead Press. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not be doing the same exercises every time you go to the gym because your body will get good at doing those exercises only (again, see principles behind progressive overload).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And I gained these 2cm but in the mirror I see nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2cm is significant! You should be measuring your whole body if you are whipping out the measure though. With your full body workout you would expect your thighs, waist, neck etc. to all increase in size. Biceps are only a small part of it. Next, you are unlikely to see the difference as you see yourself every day. To get a sense of transformation, take a photo every month or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can personally relate to your exact story, I did regular cycling in my youth and some martial arts and it would be fair to say that I have a overly developed lower body (my current 1RM squat is 145kg and my bench is 60kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As explained by other users, you recover faster in your youth, and your body is full of hormones and is ripe for fast muscle growth. You have more energy as well to be able to recover faster and develop. You also sleep better and for longer which is important in muscle development. However, if you changed your diet and training plan when younger to be bodybuilding orientated you would see a massive difference in your build. As I mentioned before, your body adapts to get good at what you do regularly, if you did a exercise a lot when you were younger then your body will develop to be good at that exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To conclude:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will never be able to change your body in the speed with which a young person can change their body. Sleep and diet are both very important to shaping your body. Go to the gym 3 times a week and pick a established programme to stick to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining muscle AND lose fat is not a pleasant or easy experience. Use the principle of cutting/bulking to gain muscle and then lose fat. Working out at a calorie surplus to gain muscle and then working out at a calorie deficit to cut excess fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day you need to set goals and then exercise in a way that meets them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Want to get a runners body? Go run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Want to look large and bulky and strong? Go powerlifting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Want to have a cyclers legs? Go cycle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, pick what you want your body to look like and exercise in that way to achieve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T14:48:10.830" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T14:48:10.830" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-30T11:47:55.867" Score="4" ViewCount="5495" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would be a good farmer's walk routine for a beginner? How heavy should be the weights? How long the distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T09:05:48.447" Title="Farmer's walk: weights and distances" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-04-01T23:00:08.363" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29365" CreationDate="2016-03-30T12:03:52.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very subjective to your personal build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginner to the concept of farmers walks: Male - 25kg, Female - 20kg (each hand)&#xA;Use principle of progressive overload to steadily increase the weight to the maximum dumb/kettlebell you can use in your gym and then increase the volume of the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep to 50-100ft for distance covererd&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T16:03:54.733" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T16:03:54.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-30T17:52:19.943" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems that during heavy deadlifts my upper back bends, this happens around heavy deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that my heavy deadlifts aren't that heavy, they are around 110Kg @ 67kg body weight. I am able to lift it 5 times for 5 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a bit less weight on the bar my form is much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this time my lumbar spine is neutral, so that is good, but my I can't keep my upper back tight during heavy deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that my posture is not that great also, around the thoracic spine, so probably there is a thigh/weak muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideas how to troubleshoot this form issue are welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19901" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2016-04-02T22:25:08.290" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T22:25:08.290" Title="Toracic flexion during heavy deadlifts" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29367" CreationDate="2016-03-30T19:29:39.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thoracic flexion is absolutely something you should work on improving, so first of all, kudos on the self-analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is indeed a problem that arises when you lift weights closer to your max, and it's simply caused by the fact that the muscles used to maintain thoracic extension, aren't as strong as the combined strength of the muscles used to actually perform the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thankfully, there's assistance work to help you get these lower back muscles up to scratch, like back raises, straight-leg deadlifts, and a sleugh of others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with that said, it should be noted that the weight at which people do 5 reps per set, is on the high end on the spectrum. If you can do 5x5 at 110kg, then you can probably do 3x8 at 95-100kg, and if you can do that with better form, then that's one way to actually work on your form too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to the amounts of weight we pack on when we do sets of 1-5 reps, it's pretty high, and at some point, when you're testing your max, you have to think &quot;just lift the god damn weight&quot;. Even though your form breaks, you're still working the muscles involved. It's just that if you make a habit of this, that's when it gets critical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T19:29:39.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29335" CreationDate="2016-03-30T20:28:11.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JJ says, you need to have the kitchen clean to be able to cook/prepare healthy food, even if it's only once or twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the bright side, it can easily be accomplished to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen and still eat healthy for the week, it just takes some prep time/planning, and possibly a little bit of $$.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would spend a little money on a couple of implements, such as a crock pot (if you don't have one), and a decent automatic rice cooker. Then pick one or two days a week where you make food for the next few days. You can make a large batch of rice, and have it as a side/staple carb in many dishes and many ways. Easy to dump a cup of rice in a wok, add veggies and precooked chicken and have stir fry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at your local grocery store. Often they have rotisserie chicken. You could have chicken one night, then take the extra meat, combine it with sliced bell peppers, tortilla, salsa and avocado for a wrap on the go, and then use the final leftovers in a salad or similar. Cook 5-6 chicken breasts on Sunday, and have them as go to quick meals along with prechopped veggies for sides. Crock pots make great &quot;dump and forget&quot; meals, you dump all the stuff in, set it on low and when you get home, voila. Dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating healthy and smart on short time just takes some planning. Invest in a small softside cooler case, with a refreezable ice pack you can keep stuff cool and available for eating while away from the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T20:28:11.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29322" CreationDate="2016-03-31T10:59:49.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not exactly the answer you are hoping for but the following resource could prove very useful: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get some significant strength gains using just your bodyweight and very basic playground style equipment (bars/boxes). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are set on using a dumbbell here is a resource that gives you more options: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dumbbell-exercises.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dumbbell-exercises.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T10:59:49.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29371" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-03-31T11:08:01.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle hypertrophy involves an increase in size of muscle through a growth in size of its cells. Two factors contribute to hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased muscle glycogen storage; and myofibrillar hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased myofibril size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the bodybuilding and fitness community and even in some academic books skeletal muscle hypertrophy is described as being in one of two types: Sarcoplasmic or myofibrillar. According to this hypothesis, during sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell increases with no accompanying increase in muscular strength, whereas during myofibrillar hypertrophy, actin and myosin contractile proteins increase in number and add to muscular strength as well as a small increase in the size of the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is greater in the muscles of bodybuilders while myofibrillar hypertrophy is more dominant in Olympic weightlifters.[1] These two forms of adaptations rarely occur completely independently of one another; one can experience a large increase in fluid with a slight increase in proteins, a large increase in proteins with a small increase in fluid, or a relatively balanced combination of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1]  Kraemer, William J.; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M. (2006). Science and practice of strength training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. p. 50. ISBN 0-7360-5628-9.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T19:41:52.853" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T19:41:52.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29372" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-03-31T11:08:01.537" Score="0" Body="Muscle hypertrophy involves an increase in size of muscle through a growth in size of its cells. Two factors contribute to hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased muscle glycogen storage; and myofibrillar hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased myofibril size." OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T19:42:29.137" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T19:42:29.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29373" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-03-31T11:09:54.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pertaining to the erector spinae or spinal erectors, a set of muscles that straighten and rotate the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T19:42:25.607" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T19:42:25.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29374" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-03-31T11:09:54.937" Score="0" Body="Pertaining to the erector spinae or spinal erectors, a set of muscles that straighten and rotate the back." OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T19:42:06.480" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T19:42:06.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29365" CreationDate="2016-03-31T15:00:21.123" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dan John recommended one-half bodyweight in each hand to me as a starting benchmark to strive for. (Apparently this is his goal for high school girl athletes.) I found this useful. I don't go beyond 100 meters when I train this lift--usually 50m to some landmark, then 50m back without putting it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further benchmarks, &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strongman/strongman-series-the-farmers-walk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strongman Chet Morjaria says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s likely you’ll be able to pick up and walk with more than you can deadlift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much you should start with depends on how much you can do today. For how much you should strive for in the near term:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believe that 0.75 x bodyweight in each hand is a good starting point for both men and women. Bodyweight in each hand is a great aim and very achievable. Being able to do 1.25 x bodyweight will put you well above the majority into advanced territory, and 1.5 is exceptional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His recommendations appear specific to people doing strongman training, but the benchmarks provide some context. Regarding distance, he differentiates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Light weight and long distance (40-60m)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mid weight and mid distance (20-30m)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Heavy weight and short distance (10-15m)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-04-01T09:05:48.447" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T09:05:48.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6858" CreationDate="2016-04-01T03:10:25.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, not from my experience, minimalist shoes don't force you into good form or improve fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, since there is less protection on your feet you are more likely to injure your feet. If your not doing 5-10 hours a week running and running on soft trails - not gravel, stony trails, mountains, or pavement - then maybe you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know how your experience has been. Hopefully in full contradiction to my post your running strong and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you experienced any improvements then I believe it is more likely due to your attention of form due to your new footwear and maybe some additional running - and sprinting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good training program will make you run better and faster, and with this comes proper form. I've discovered the importance of cadence and heart rate through training first and reading second. I think Im on the edge of getting the technique for a longer stride, but Im waiting out an injury. I've discovered several different forms of injury from wearing minimalist shoes, and now I'm leaning more to the opposite side of shoe wear and might buy the extra soft / maximum protection shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best to you :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T03:10:25.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29399" CreationDate="2016-04-01T03:21:10.867" Score="4" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Marathon training has greatly helped build my cardio in running such that my rare bicycle ride has been the longer than ever - and faster. This and the pushing part of the pedal stroke seem to be alot stronger from running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talking to an avid biker I found out this is a known that you can run into biking shape but not the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the bike is focusing on different muscles than running then do these muscles turn into strengths for running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think maybe it can help your sprinting, cadence, and speed. Could this be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What benefit for improving your running, if any, comes from biking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T16:55:50.877" Title="What does road biking do to improve your running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29378" CreationDate="2016-04-01T08:28:35.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body adapts to whatever you are doing. If your job involves cutting up vegetables then your mind learns the movements required and over time improves the speed and efficiency with which you can complete the task until it becomes a subconscious level of response. This is discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06zqpcg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;What is Reality&quot;&lt;/a&gt; in reasonable detail and in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/35815226&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this interview&lt;/a&gt; with a cup stacker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of that learning process when completing a task is that your muscles are also adapting to be good at the task. Fast twitch growth is nurtured if you do lots of &quot;explosive&quot; exercises and slow twitch if you do more aerobic-style exercises like long distance running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The upshot of all of this is that: &lt;strong&gt;Your body will adapt to be better at whatever you are doing the most&lt;/strong&gt;. If you run all the time, your body will get efficient at running, same for cycling, fishing, weightlifting, swimming etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be careful with taking fitness facts from anyone who is a &quot;expert&quot;, make sure you fact check their comments before taking them as complete truth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Onto your main question: &lt;em&gt;What does road biking do to improve your running?&lt;/em&gt; Road biking predominately develops your leg muscle groups due to the constant resistance of pedalling and will improve your general fitness (reducing resting heart rate, improving muscle endurance etc.) Both of these can help with running. Road biking can improve your understanding of how to push your body and how to manage your fatigue, both of which are important for running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T08:28:35.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29381" CreationDate="2016-04-01T19:27:55.380" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out regularly but want to improve my core/ab strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day I sit on a yoga ball or stand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All to often my stomach muscles relax when I grow lax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched for an ab belt that would shock/remind me when the stomach is pooching out to much.  No luck yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19911" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T08:08:20.840" Title="How to tighten core during normal activities?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29380" CreationDate="2016-04-01T21:44:39.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do, is to forget about trying to consciously tense your abs during daily activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing inherently wrong with relaxing the stomach muscles, especially during normal activities. For example, consciously keeping your abdomen pulled in all the time can restrict basic bodily functions like breathing or digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to improve 'core strength', forget about sitting on a yoga ball and wearing ab belt for extended periods during the day. Rather, focus on living an active life as much as possible, and walk, lift, run, carry, climb, and throw as much as you can - they all involve your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abdominal region is very complex, it moves and stabilizes the spine during a wide range of activites: standing, walking, running, lifting, climbing, throwing and so on. The abdominal muscles must be responsive to these challenges, each activity needs a different pattern of tension-relaxation. Therefore, the absolute &lt;em&gt;worst&lt;/em&gt; thing you can do is to put a belt around your abdomen during the day, and think it will make you strong. Quite the opposite: it will make you weak and rigid at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many fitness exercises which are very effective at training your core. In general, exercise is more effective for the core if it involves more muscles around the trunk, not only the abdominal muscles. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessnetwork.com.au/filex2013/fsn/a4g.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(ref)&lt;/a&gt; That means variations of planks (mountain climber planks, side hovers), as well as strength training (&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/core_stability_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;squats&lt;/a&gt;, deadlifts, pullups, presses, loaded carries) will all be great exercises for the core. For more tips, there are also many great answers on this site, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/12246/5752&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/868/how-to-engage-your-core?rq=1&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/4622/what-is-core-training-and-who-should-be-doing-it?rq=1&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/core&quot;&gt;others&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T08:08:20.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29385" CreationDate="2016-04-02T09:56:43.480" Score="0" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;By most incluse I refer to activating the most muscle groups. The background of my question is the following thought:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you had to choose one single exercise to do every day, which one&#xA;  would it be because it activates the most muscle groups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19574" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T18:39:04.710" Title="What is the most inclusive exercise that does not require tools?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-04-03T03:29:16.930" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29383" CreationDate="2016-04-02T18:39:04.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest 2. Push-ups and squads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pushups works: chest, shoulders and triceps. Mainly focused on chest. And this exercice have many variants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squads: low-back and quadriceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These 2 exercices can be done at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are excelent fat burnners&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19446" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T18:39:04.710" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29362" CreationDate="2016-04-02T19:13:12.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to change your routine now and then. Our body is really smart. In words of Arnold: &quot;It know all your tricks, it know your routine. And its ready for it. So you must shock the muscle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of reps is not as important as the intensity is. I rather prefer to focus on the technique in order to go all in with the less chance of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work carefully the technique. The right position of the body at every exercice and prevent your self from future injuries. Don't worry about how many weight can you lift right now. You will become stronger over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19446" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T19:13:12.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29391" CreationDate="2016-04-03T11:37:23.220" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AHblk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AHblk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After my regular 4 sets of flyes, I  do one more set with heavy weight stretching my pectorals as long as I can just like the image attached, Stretching can last 10 to 15 seconds depending upon the weights that I use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like your critics on this stretching workout of mine. &#xA;I would like to know how safe is this workout in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10751" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T20:17:14.787" Title="Holding weights on bench press flyes" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29388" CreationDate="2016-04-03T16:10:50.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretching chest for any long wont make it look better or bigger. Ppl do it bc how these exercices make'm feel after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do stretchs for warm up. With elastics or low weight. 15-20sec.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Little advice. If you keep doing your 15sec don't hold breath for that long. If you do it standing, stretch abs and keep'em contracted all along these 15 secs. Then you will be working core and chest at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ends up liking functional exercices, try to do some workouts with TXR. Best exercices ever :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19446" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T16:10:50.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4585" CreationDate="2016-04-03T19:56:21.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's simple. Compound exercises increase testosterone levels more than isolation exercises. The Hodge twins are right in what they say. It is correct. It works for me. Testosterone is the muscle building hormone and this is increased with compound lifts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19929" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-04-04T13:06:16.130" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T13:06:16.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29388" CreationDate="2016-04-03T20:17:14.787" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll preface this by saying this is purely my opinion based on many years of training and experience as a trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, personally, would not perform &lt;em&gt;“one more set with heavy weight stretching my pectorals as long as I can “&lt;/em&gt; after 4 sets of regular flyes.  Assuming hard work with heavy weights, your shoulders and pectoral muscles will be pretty exhausted.  Adding heavy weight and holding the stretch as long as you can, will force your shoulders and pectorals to counteract the force of gravity.  This could leave you susceptible to strains and tears of the pectoral, and, rotator cuff injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Causes of a pectoral strain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A pectoral strain often occurs suddenly due to a high force going&#xA;  through the muscle and tendon beyond what it can withstand. This&#xA;  typically occurs during weight training especially when performing a&#xA;  bench press, chest press or &lt;strong&gt;pectoral flys&lt;/strong&gt; (especially with free&#xA;  weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes a pectoral strain may develop over time due to &lt;strong&gt;repetitive or&#xA;  prolonged activities&lt;/strong&gt; placing strain on the pectoral muscles. This may&#xA;  cause gradual degeneration and weakening of the pectorals predisposing&#xA;  them to further injury. Pectoral strains tend to occur more commonly&#xA;  in the older athlete and particularly following an inadequate warm-up.&#xA;  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/14703550/pectoral-strain-torn-pectoral-physioadvisor.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/14703550/pectoral-strain-torn-pectoral-physioadvisor.htm&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, since there's no definitive study to suggest that stretching the pectorals like you do adds any benefit, why risk injury?  Especially since while lying flat, your shoulders and pectorals will act like levers resisting the weight and force of gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T20:17:14.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29238" CreationDate="2016-04-04T09:04:32.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please be cautious when experimenting with Testosterone.  The body usually balances your increased T-levels with Estrogen, because too much testosterone can cause testicular cancer. There are estrogen blockers such as DIM that can be taken as part of your stack.  Again, use caution and do your research on Examine.com.  Look at the general ads on TV for law firms advertising their services, if you have ever used products such as Androgel etc.  There is a reason for those ads. If the reason for your post is that you feel like you're plateauing, look for other ways to exercise. Look up Weider principles, get more sleep/rest, but be careful when you mess with hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19934" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T09:04:32.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29431" CreationDate="2016-04-04T09:20:16.970" Score="4" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first, I'm a 25 year old male and I'm currently 280 lbs. I've finally admitted that there is a real problem with my lifestyle and I'm hoping to drop my body fat from about 35% to 15-20%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've been looking at numerous videos, I've been using all sorts of calculators and reading countless articles and it seems like they seem to be all differ greatly in terms of how much one should be eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not in a rush and I understand that this is a lifestyle change more than anything and I'm actually really excited, but as for how many calories I should consume daily I'm completely lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently eating 1750 calories a day, I signed up for a gym earlier today and want to start doing cardio &amp;amp; lifting three times a week. What's the best way to determine how many calories I should really eat? I feel like 1750 might be too little but that's what MyFitnessPal put me at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for daily physical activity, I walk an average of 2.5 miles a day on campus but that's about it. Other than that I lead a rather sedentary lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice/help is appreciated. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19936" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T14:43:04.430" Title="As a beginner, I'm quite confused as to how much I should eat" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29378" CreationDate="2016-04-04T16:55:50.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bike and running both use the leg muscles. They don't focus on &quot;different&quot; muscles, it's the same muscles producing the same type of motion with a different emphasis on where the power is placed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you improve one by doing the other? It depends. If you are at the low end of the scale (just starting, getting back into shape, etc) then yes, running can help biking and vice versa. This is because anything is better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, due to sports specific adaptations, the best way to get better at running is run more (With an intelligent training plan). Similarly, the best way to get better at cycling is to cycle more (Again with a plan).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of triathletes and multisport athletes that will tell you different, and there is some crossover effect due to using the same muscles and developing cardiovascular systems, but overall the impact isn't as great as you might think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T16:55:50.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-04T19:23:19.670" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wanting to lose half a stone maybe a stone before the years out. I have just started. I am doing a intense 15 minute work out (push ups, planks, star jumps, forward lounges etc) then 3 different sets of sit ups doing 30 of each then a mile jog at night. Does this seem sufficient? Any other non gym and non equipment ways of losing the weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19941" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T01:19:20.857" Title="Best routine to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-09T13:42:20.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2016-04-04T23:40:59.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding an educational note: salts are compound molecules, such as sodium and potassium chloride, not pure sodium! They're chloride salts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rehydration, REI sells rehydration salts, but I think those have some sugar too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19943" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T13:50:46.337" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T13:50:46.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29396" CreationDate="2016-04-05T01:12:24.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There will always be many formulas out there and no one here is going to provide you with a more authoritative formula.&#xA;That being said they don't differ that much and you should be OK with any formula for weight loss for the whole being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get closer to your weight loss goal you may need to fine tune it.&#xA;It sounds like you are trying to lose 2 pounds a week as at 280 your tdee is going to be pretty high.&#xA;You might want to slow it down to 1 pound a week if you are not feeling OK&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T01:12:24.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2016-04-05T01:15:52.180" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those symptoms usually come from electrolyte loss.&#xA;I agree sport drinks aren't the best for replenishment. There are many supplements which will accurately replace electrolytes list in the proper proportions.I'd recommend the one from the company saltstick &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastEditorUserId="19416" LastEditDate="2016-04-05T05:37:31.830" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T05:37:31.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29400" CreationDate="2016-04-05T01:19:20.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing specific which will cause you to lose weight. Being in a caloric deficit will do that. Amy exercise that helps you lose weight is simply because it puts you in a caloric deficit meaning you are burning more calories than you are taking in.&#xA;Is 15 minutes of any exercise really enough to put you in a major deficit that would cause significant weight loss ? Probablyy not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T01:19:20.857" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29406" CreationDate="2016-04-05T02:59:48.450" Score="-4" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to reduce the fat at my lower belly, but not at other parts of my body. Is this even possible? What exercise/diet routine that I can follow to achieve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1616" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T03:17:16.877" Title="Is it possible to reduce lower belly fat without reducing the fat at other parts of the body?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-04-05T04:07:10.177" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29405" CreationDate="2016-04-05T03:17:16.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Fat is stored energy and is not relevant to the body section or organ it is stored on. Your body's metabolic system will pull the stored energy from wherever it wants to when it needs the excess energy. Many people do report that fat loss occurs in the order of first on, last off ..however this is purely anecdotal and not scientific&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T03:17:16.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2016-04-05T07:21:56.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say 'range of motion', both a muaythai kick and a leg press have the same ROM...which is zero. Range of motion is determined by the final joint angle minus the initial joint angle, and since both movements are a cycle, you get zero. So maybe that's not the best vocabulary to use.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as 'the muscle responsible for stretching the leg', muscle is responsible for stretching the leg if the contraction is what is called an 'eccentric contraction' -- meaning the fibers lengthen during the contraction. You get this often when you are resisting gravity, like trying to maintain a moderate speed when running downhill. I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muay thai kicks follow the classic 'stretch-shortening cycle', where force is developed using eccentric contractions followed quickly by a concentric contraction. This is the same strategy you will spot in many high-power generation movements. As such, the hip flexors (illiopsoas) will contract but isn't a prime mover, as opposed to karate-type snap kicks that have a tremendous demand on the flexors. If anything, the posterior chain will contribute more during the preparation phase than the flexors on the anterior of the body, since that's when the GRF has time to develop, being that you are in double support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the reason you are seeing more hypertrophy around the patella is because, if you knew it or not, you are now training for hypertrophy in a closed-chain movement. Your volume, intensity, speed, and recover time is now totally different than it was in muay thai.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are seated and aren't challenged for balance, like in kicking -- thus you can apply more force as you do a knee press.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leg press is symmetric, meaning you can overload the muscles in the leg in a safer manner, which gravitates you towards moderate to high loads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leg press puts higher eccentric demand on the quad than you could ever get in muay thai, and it's the eccentric demand that leads to the hypertrophy you are noticing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T07:21:56.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-05T09:15:45.793" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering once you are in Ketosis, what is the fuel used to produce the ketones: stored body fat or the fat I eat in the meals? Or both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19945" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2016-04-05T14:36:35.223" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T03:36:28.070" Title="In ketosis, does ketone production comes from stored fat or eaten fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-04-20T00:45:09.073" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29415" CreationDate="2016-04-05T14:49:46.580" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know the difference between cardio workout and fat burn workout. What is preferable in which case of training? &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: &#xA;I would like to know if in the cardio training phase someone is burning fat or not . And if it is preferable for someone with low body fat trying to build muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19951" LastEditorUserId="19951" LastEditDate="2016-04-05T15:28:18.033" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T10:56:20.087" Title="Cardio vs. Fat burn workout" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14483" CreationDate="2016-04-06T06:35:02.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an Personal trainer for several years in Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of it is genes, and part is your workout routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have more fast twitch muscle fibers, and some have more slow twitch muscle fibers. These can also vary between the upper and lower body. That said, you can increase your width of your biceps, but it will require much more effort than someone who maybe has better &quot;genes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trick I do with many of my clients, is that if there is a certain body part that needs more work than another, I let them train that muscle 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, I make an split program for that muscle. What I would call program A, and program B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, with biceps, on program A I would focus of the peak, and on program B on the width.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to find the logic in what you are doing. The Biceps ( BI = 2) have two muscle heads, this means that with different angles, you can focus more on one side than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lack width, you need to play with the holding width (pardon if my English is not perfect). Most of the time when people say they have an lack of width in their biceps, it is the inner biceps area that is not really devolved.&#xA;I would then provide you with many exercises with wide grip and normal grip.&#xA;Wide grip focuses more on the inner biceps, and normal grip on both.&#xA;Also, a big mistake made by many people is not training the brachialis, which you can activate with a hammer curl for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19965" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-04-06T13:01:56.117" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T13:01:56.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-06T08:20:48.940" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am guessing that I eat(or ate) too much (before) and that is why I am obese. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I eat include a Asian diet with occasional eating out. It also included regular snacking until about a year ago but now I only irregularly eat snacks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have thought of a method to lose my weight without having withdrawal symptoms of starving without food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought of listing my normal recurring diet food items by calories in them and then removing up to four items entirely. Such that it puts me slightly below the amount of calories for my Basal metabolic rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this method work or do you think that it needs improvement/personalisation/scraping? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your answers in advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19969" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T08:20:48.940" Title="Will this method make me lose weight and reach my maintenance goal weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-04-06T21:27:52.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29408" CreationDate="2016-04-06T08:46:16.827" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen a video by science research program BBC Horizon that say ketosis doesn't actually make you lose weight. You can watch it at &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/NfsWuvh3eAY?t=28m20s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/NfsWuvh3eAY?t=28m20s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It answers the question with the answer ketosis is a placebo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19969" LastEditorUserId="19969" LastEditDate="2016-04-07T03:36:28.070" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T03:36:28.070" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29409" CreationDate="2016-04-06T10:25:17.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answer specific to the modes on a crosstrainer (or similar gym equipment)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to know the difference between cardio workout and fat&#xA;  burn workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, the &quot;Cardio Workout&quot; mode is linked to a &lt;em&gt;Aerobic&lt;/em&gt; style of exercise. They are designed to be long duration, low intensity exercise. A &quot;fat burn&quot; workout program is usually interval or pyramid based where the emphasis is more on &lt;em&gt;anaerobic&lt;/em&gt; activity; high intensity over (usually) a shorter duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is preferable in which case of training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I will answer this once question asker has defined his/her goals&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 3&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to know if in the cardio training phase someone is burning fat or not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understanding the best way to burn fat starts with some basic facts about how your body gets its energy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The body primarily uses fat and carbs for fuel. A small amount of protein is used during exercise, but it's mainly used to repair the muscles after exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ratio of these fuels will shift depending on the activity you're doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For higher intensity exercise, such as fast-paced running, the body will rely more on carbs for fuel than fat. That's because the metabolic pathways available to break down carbs for energy are more efficient than the pathways available for fat breakdown.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For long, slower exercise, fat is used more for energy than carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it comes to weight loss, &lt;strong&gt;it doesn't matter what type of fuel you use&lt;/strong&gt;. What matters is how many calories you burn as opposed to how many calories you take in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my earlier answer, we could group &quot;cardio training&quot; as medium intensity exercise and &quot;fat burn&quot; as high intensity. Based on a 40 minute session you are burning more calories over a high-intensity session than a medium intensity session. Therefore, you will lose more weight. Exersise.about.com gives some data on this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chart below details the fat calories expended by a 130-pound woman&#xA;during cardio exercise: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                                 Low Intensity  (60-65% MHR) | High Intensity  (80-85% MHR) &#xA;Total Calories expended per min.                 4.86                        6.86 &#xA;Fat Calories expended per min.                   2.43                        2.70&#xA;Total Calories expended in 30 min.               146                         206 &#xA;Total Fat calories expended in 30 min.           73                          82 &#xA;Percentage of fat calories burned                50%                         39.85%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In this example, the woman burns more total calories and more fat&#xA;  calories at a higher intensity. This isn't to say that low intensity&#xA;  exercise doesn't have it's place. In fact, endurance workouts should&#xA;  be a staple of a complete fitness program along with shorter, higher&#xA;  intensity workouts or interval workouts, which are a great way to burn&#xA;  calories and build endurance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your answer is &lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, you will be burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if it is preferable for someone with low body fat trying to build&#xA;  muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Defining goals is important, if your goal is to build muscle for either strength or aesthetic then you need to start lifting weights as the majority of your fitness sessions. If you have concerns or questions about lifting weights search for an answer here or ask the question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T10:25:17.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29409" CreationDate="2016-04-06T10:56:20.087" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer to you comes as an amateur boxer who has done both training to cut down body fat percentage, but also training to get in better shape to perform HIIT(which a boxing fight essentially is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;would like to know the difference between cardio workout and fat burn workout. What is preferable in which case of training?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat burn workout will have you working consistently over a longer time, but at a lower heartrate. It works the aerobic system which should burn fat.&#xA;For example, if I want to lower my bodyfat percentage, I'll do long runs of maybe 10-12km every other day, at a steady pace(but quite slow, at least for me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, cardio workouts are the opposite - you have a high heart rate and therefore work on the anaerobic system. This can be interval training(i.e. sprint 100m, jog very lightly next 100m, then spring next 100m), constantly pushing your heartrate to the maximum and calming down afterwards. Anaerobic exercises are so short in bursts that they do not per se burn fat, but rather carbs. Which is why, for example, a ketogenic diet is a nightmare for anyone doing sports that include HIIT exercises - you simply gas out almost instantly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question - if you want to burn fat, do aerobic exercises(long workouts at low heartrate). If you wanna improve anaerobic capability(HIIT capability), you do short bursts of intervals - it could be rowing, running, boxing.. Anything, really. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And if it is preferable for someone with low body fat trying to build muscles&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not that relevant, this is for conditioning purposes mostly. Muscle comes from either weight training or bodyweight exercises. Either aerobic or anaerobic training can support both. Depends on your end-goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T10:56:20.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29424" CreationDate="2016-04-06T11:14:56.750" Score="1" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 32 years old, and a few months ago I had a lower back pains which kept me up at nights, NSAIDs eased the pain but I was left with a mild pain in the lower back. &#xA;I had an x-ray which showed a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/guide/spinal-stenosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lumbar&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbar_spinal_stenosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spinal Stenosis&lt;/a&gt; in L5-S1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout routine prior to the injury was somewhat extensive including hanging leg raises v-ups squats etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, with the guidance of a PT, I am doing a mild all machine workout routine consisting of pull down, push, pull, leg curl, leg extension etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My PT said I should only do planks for the abs because any other ab workout is strenuous on the lower back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What workouts are suggested as ab workouts for this situation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this kind of machine pull-push  recommended for this situation?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16162" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T21:25:02.973" Title="Ab workout with lumbar spinal stenosis" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-06T16:28:01.060" Score="1" ViewCount="8648" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today is Wednesday, and last Saturday I started using a treadmill (I'm 5'11' and weigh about 210 lb). Since I'm just starting out, I know my body needs to get used to it. After jogging for 30 minutes on Saturday, I did experience DOMS for 1-2 days but it wasn't too much. Yesterday I did my second jog (45 minutes) and now the DOMS is significantly more I think (I couldn't sleep that much this past night). Question is, should I go for treadmill again today or do it every alternate day or something ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19973" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T14:55:30.220" Title="Legs sore after starting treadmill. Should I continue or wait?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-11T09:19:00.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13138" CreationDate="2016-04-06T16:45:48.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My yoga instructor told me to fold my fingers over my hand with the four fingers reaching towards my wrist and my thumb goes up against the side of my pointer finger so the pad of my thumb is flat with the topside of my knuckles.  This provides stability in the wristt and no injury to the fingers or nails. I sprained my wrist really bad 6 months ago and have had to switch my pushups/mountain climbers/planks, etc to doing them this way.  My wrist feels good when doing them this way although it is harder on my opinion.  Better than stressing my injury though.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19974" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T16:45:48.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-06T17:38:26.897" Score="1" ViewCount="5065" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started off just taking L-glutamine before and after my workout and creatine after my workout.  I just started taking whey protein and noticed it contains L-glutamine.  Should I continue to take the L-glutamine with the Whey that also contains L-glutamine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19975" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T22:27:07.210" Title="Do I need to take L-glutamine if the whey protein contains it?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29419" CreationDate="2016-04-06T18:05:51.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though the cause of DOMS still isn't totally understood, most contemporary research suggests that the pain comes from nerve sensitivity caused by bradykinin during the muscle repair process.  Having said that, if you're still sore, your body is probably still repairing--let it do its thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would hold off on jogging at the pace that's causing the soreness for a day or two until it subsides.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a comparable exercise in the &quot;off-days&quot;, consider walking uphill/incline at a slower pace.  While the workout might be just as cardiovascularly intensive, work at an incline has been shown to cause less damage to your muscle fibers (when compared to downhill surface; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1664987/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1664987/&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15962" LastEditorUserId="15962" LastEditDate="2016-04-06T18:11:38.320" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T18:11:38.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29421" CreationDate="2016-04-06T21:04:59.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Glutamine&lt;/a&gt; falls into the lower-tier category of supplements, where it would be extremely difficult for anyone to prove that it's going to make measurable impacts to performance. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/16011/7091&quot;&gt;Glutamine has positive impacts related to DOMS, as an example, but the impact is minor&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glutamine is an amino acid found in a variety of dietary sources (most meats, eggs, beans, wheat, etc), and as you noted it's also found in whey. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, it's a &lt;strong&gt;non-essential&lt;/strong&gt; amino acid, meaning your body can generally synthesize whatever it needs from other components. Occasionally your body would be unable to cover its glutamine needs from synthesis, but again you (most likely) get it in your diet already from a variety of sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when you hear people talking about the benefits of glutamine, take all that into account. Anyone who swears up and down about the benefits of glutamine would need to prove that they require the supplementation of it, as they aren't naturally providing enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's mighty hard to prove, anecdotal otherwise, and shows the overall marketing hype related to glutamine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T21:04:59.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29416" CreationDate="2016-04-06T21:25:02.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull-push question probably should be separated from here, so I'm sticking with the abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab-wheels are great, and for anyone that's in pretty top notch shape with good shoulders and good body mechanics, I'd recommend them. But they're an advanced exercise and it's easy to hurt your back, shoulders, and wrists if you're not there yet. No need to jump the progression ladder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I'd go a little further than your physical therapist but still basically staying in their guidance: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stir The Pot.&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://seannal.com/articles/training/stir-the-pot-exercise.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;more info&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/czdCM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/czdCM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you firm up your glutes and abs, and get your forearms resting on the ball. Then start moving your arms around. A bit forward, and back. A bit to the left, then back. To the right, then back, etc. Make little circles, make patterns, whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will keep you in that isometric plank position, but provide a much more taxing exercise as it works a lot more angles as well as your obliques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T21:25:02.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29321" CreationDate="2016-04-07T04:22:01.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to supplement with the suggestion to implement SMR (Self-Myofascial Release) techniques to your flexibility (stretching) routine.  SMR helps to release hypertonicity (tightness) in the connective tissues and muscles in the body (In Clark, In Sutton, In Lucett, &amp;amp; National Academy of Sports Medicine, 2015, p. 133).  It helps to do SMR first and then follow with stretching, as opposed to just going straight into the stretching itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do SMR by using a &quot;foam roller&quot; along the targeted muscle, rolling it along until you find the tight area.  You can find about 3 spots along the muscle and hold the foam roller on the spot(s) for 30 seconds, then move along to the next spot.  Even if you don't hold the foam roller in one place, just rolling it back and forth along the muscle can be quite helpful in alleviating the tightness.  Then you would follow through with the stretching.  You might find that it allows you to have greater range of motion with the stretching afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19980" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-04-07T04:36:02.620" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T04:36:02.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-07T11:46:50.097" Score="3" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 28, 174 cm, 110 KG of pure fat :D and I always feel tired.&#xA;I used to cycle to work about 20 KM per day but In a low pace, about 9-10Km/h.&#xA;Now I changed my job and I cycle 15 km to get to drop my kid at school and go to work and about 4 or 5 to go back home.&#xA;I also started the gym about 3-4 months ago, doing mostly weight lifting on average 3 times per week and after a few weeks increasing the weight.&#xA;Even though I always feel tired (I have hypothyroidism but I take hormones for it and I sleep well but I struggle to wake up always tired), my bad cholesterol is high and good cholesterol is down and I don't seem to be losing weight.&#xA;Do you have any tips to give?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19983" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T19:35:14.087" Title="Feeling always tired even doing exercices" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-07T13:29:18.427" Score="0" ViewCount="1206" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://evilcyber.com/fitness/home-workout-plan-for-teenagers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://evilcyber.com/fitness/home-workout-plan-for-teenagers/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started doing this workout plan. Is it OK? I aim on all muscles, but mostly on abs and biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~57.5 kg&#xA;172 cm&#xA;16 years old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way instead of pull-ups, I do chin-ups by holding over the pull up bar a few seconds and then slowly going down. (That's because I can't really do actual pull ups yet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19984" LastEditorUserId="19984" LastEditDate="2016-04-07T14:08:04.853" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T14:08:04.853" Title="Is my workout plan good ? (16 year old male)" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-04-11T09:17:55.503" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29428" CreationDate="2016-04-07T14:07:31.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a complete beginner, a good workout routine would ideally to conform to these points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Linear progression. Since the workload is light compared to your absolute physical potential when you're a beginner, you have the capacity to completely recover from one workout to the next while adapting too. Aim to increase workload each workout or each week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full body workout. Because of the above points regarding recovery and adaptation, there isn't a point in doing workout splits. This doesn't mean you have to do the same workout multiple times a week, but each workout should train the full body. As a young male beginner you will recover in about 48 hours so leaving more time between training the various muscle groups is a waste.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three workouts per week. This follows from the above point. You do still need recovery. You might feel like you can handle two full body workouts on consecutive days after a few weeks (when delayed onset muscle soreness is no longer an issue) but doing this regularly would accumulate stress exceeding recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program you linked conforms to this to some extent. You get a full body workout, you can do three workouts per week and some form of linear progression can be achieved by increasing the number of repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I don't think it is ideal. If you have some option to join a gym where you have access to a power or squat rack, bench, barbells and weight plates, I would strongly encourage you to go there and follow a program that focuses on progressive overload and linear progression through increases in weight on the bar. You will quickly exhaust your potential for progress with only the bodyweight exercises and end up on high repetition sets, which aren't very useful for an increase in strength. Gaining muscle is a response of the body to stress imposed on it, when neurological adaptations and improved form no longer suffice. Doing these bodyweight exercises without some way of providing a linear increase in loading will mostly provide adaptations for endurance. If a gym is not an option, seek ways to provide this overload in a different way. Weight plates on your upper back during push-ups (not very convenient), a dipping belt with weights on pull-ups and/or chin-ups (works well) and maybe dumbbells or kettlebells to hold during squats. You'd find pretty soon, however, that the investment in material would have better served for a gym membership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For abs, the program suggests crunches. While certainly a popular exercise, much is to be said for the bicycle maneuver, which has shown in a study to have much higher EEG readings from the muscles. It can be done without equipment. I myself also like ab rollouts using a wheel, which is inexpensive. Inform yourself of proper form since it can be taxing on the back, and start with low repetitions (e.g. 2 sets of 5 reps) or you may find yourself having trouble rising from bed the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this blogpost to provide a good overview of what constitutes a decent beginner routine: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/beginner-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/beginner-workouts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a gym membership is absolutely not an option, seek out various bodyweight routines and judge them based on what I told you and what you read in that post. If you can use a gym, I'd highly recommend Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5x5 as a starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T14:07:31.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29433" CreationDate="2016-04-07T14:31:59.527" Score="5" ViewCount="1104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently searched about the idea of the ketogenic diet and found it very interesting. I have understood the basic principles but can someone please emphasize what's important in order to feel energetic enough? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should someone try to apply the diet progressively so that the side effects at the start are not that intense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19951" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-10-09T18:22:08.770" LastActivityDate="2018-12-16T10:56:04.843" Title="Ketogenic diet , side effects and precautions" Tags="&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29396" CreationDate="2016-04-07T14:43:04.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are countless personal factors, such as your genetics, current fitness level, past exercise and daily habits, that will determine your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). The calculators don't, and can't, take all of those into account. They can provide a decent ballpark figure, but that's about it. So instead, I suggest you simply take the empirical approach to find actual hard data that applies to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you say you are not in a rush (very wise) I suggest the following. For the following three weeks, track EVERYTHING you eat in an application such as MyFitnessPal. Eat as you usually would. Don't let the sudden awareness of your consumption habits suddenly change them. There's a first pitfall here: you must be &lt;strong&gt;extremely&lt;/strong&gt; critical of all entries you find on MyFitnessPal because, my word, many of them are wrong. When consuming food with labels, cross-check any entry you haven't made yourself with the label and correct if necessary. When consuming whole foods, I like to cross-check with the Nutritiondata database, which is an excellent resource. Weigh your food using a kitchen scale (preferably an accurate, electronic one), don't just eyeball it. Use weight measurements instead of things like &quot;cups&quot; or &quot;portions&quot; because they can vary too easily. While doing all of this, weigh yourself daily and record the weight in a spreadsheet (such as on Google Drive). Preferably use an electronic scale that provides accurate information with a small resolution (down to 0.1 kg or lbs would suffice). Weigh yourself in the morning, immediately after going to the toilet but before eating or drinking something. This will give the most consistent results. There will be perfectly normal daily fluctuations in weight; ignore those. At the end of each week, take the average of the weigh-ins. That's your average weight for the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you can observe how your weight evolves over those three weeks. Does it increase? Then on average you are eating more than your TDEE. Does it decrease? You're in a caloric deficit. If it stays more or less the same, bingo, you're eating maintenance. Suppose you're 280.2 lbs the first week, 280.3 the second and back to 280.2 the third, it would be the latter case. Seeing a rising or sinking trend would indicate surplus/deficit. Find out how much you ate on average by averaging the daily calorie intake over those three weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's weight gain, your TDEE is lower than what you currently eat. How much lower depends on the actual weight gain and absolute calorie consumption. It's the other way around for weight loss (you're eating less than TDEE). A good start for adjustment would be about 250 kcal for a male. If you're very patient, you might repeat the experiment above with an adjusted calorie intake and see whether the weight gain/loss stops (or reverses) to zone in further on the exact number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Armed with this experimental knowledge of your TDEE, you can now decide on the calorie deficit you wish to create and stick to that by using the tracking you've become accustomed to. Let me give you a fair warning: too great a deficit cannot be maintained. Build habits that can be kept in the long run (as in, your entire life) and make the deficit a scaled-down version of what you'll be doing after you've lost sufficient weight and eating maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T14:43:04.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29419" CreationDate="2016-04-07T14:55:30.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting DOMS when you start working out is normal and after some weeks you probably won't get it anymore, unless you add a sudden increase in workload (beyond your normal progression) or do some exercise you didn't previously do and to which your body hasn't adapted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also frequently noticed that it tends to be the worst the second day after working out, and doing a workout while still having it can in fact decrease it. But that might be because a beginner adapts very quickly to any new stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, given how it's worse now than before, I believe you are letting the stress you impose on your body exceed its capacity for recovery. So you have two options (or combination thereof):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave a longer rest period between your workouts to allow for recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease the intensity of your workout to lower the amount of stress imposed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say the second option is the better one. As JohnP noted in his comment, running 45 minutes as a beginner is quite a lot. Even if you can do it &lt;strong&gt;during the workout&lt;/strong&gt;, it doesn't mean the stress you imposed on your body isn't in excess of what it is accustomed to. So now you have to rest longer to recover, limiting the number of workouts in a week and reducing the efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The jump from 30 minutes to 45 is also a factor in this. The stress increase must be a bit more gradual. Going from 30 minutes to 35 would have been more realistic. You could also have increased the speed while keeping the time the same (again, in a sensible amount).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you rest now until the DOMS has disappeared, then do a 30-minute run again and increase the workload at every workout (time or intensity) in a much less dramatic way, while respecting one rest day between workouts, to allow your body's adaptation to exceed the demands placed on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T14:55:30.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29430" CreationDate="2016-04-07T16:05:10.513" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done the ketogenic diet for some months last year. Some of this is thus anecdotal and highly personal, your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I'll go with some actual objective stuff. The ketogenic diet, before becoming a health fad (not necessarily a bad thing) had been used to treat epilepsy. This means you can find some medical literature about it and there's clinical info out there. There are possible side-effects, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constipation. Although limiting digestible carbs does not have to exclude fiber, it does usually imply low fiber intake. You might want to take some fiber supplements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased blood acidity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased blood sugar level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raised blood lipid levels (cholesterol).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Possible deficiency in some micronutrients.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A higher risk for the formation of kidney stones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how my experiences/opinions correlate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constipation: kind of. When I started the diet I ended up not, eh, having a good number 2 for ten days. Needless to say I was very worried. I went to the doctor who didn't find evidence of something serious like bowel obstruction and got prescribed a fiber supplement which helped considerably. What I found out is that if you eat mostly fat and protein, which can have a considerable absorption rate in the body, coupled with a significant caloric deficit and limited food volume, you can actually absorb frightening amounts of your food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Didn't notice something indicating blood acidity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't know about blood lipid levels. I never had it checked.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(opinion) Deficiency in micronutrients could occur on any diet. That said, by almost eliminating one of the three macronutrients, there's a good chance your nutritional variety takes a hit. Try to eat varied and consider supplements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fortunately didn't get any kidney stones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to feel energetic enough, I think there's little you can do besides not making the caloric deficit too great. Slow and steady wins the race, too fast is just gonna lead to a crash. For the keto diet specifically, you will want to make sure you consume enough electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium) and consume more water than usual, since you'll experience more frequent urination and possible dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for easing into the diet, I do see frequent suggestions that you don't just jump into the deep end, but reduce carbohydrate intake gradually. Eventually, though, whether ketosis occurs or not will depend on whether the glycogen and glucose in your body becomes depleted enough for it to turn to ketones as its energy source. You'll have to reach a low level of carb intake and keep it there for some time before this happens. Doing this more gradually may reduce the profoundness of the discomfort commonly known as &quot;keto flu&quot; but might also make it last longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The medical literature shows evidence in favour and against the ketogenic diet. There's some amazing-sounding things (lowered LDL cholesterol, increased HDL cholesterol, lowered blood glucose, normalization of insulin response) and scary-sounding things (kidney stones, skeletal erosion). If you want my 2 cents... It's not worth it. In the end, what will lead to weight loss is a caloric deficit. The keto diet has a nice advantage of eating foods that provide good satiety and that makes it somewhat easier to adhere to (in my opinion, the secret to its success) but it is also very difficult to maintain due to how strict you must be in carb avoidance. Also, doing sports on minimal glucose levels sucks and cardio is a great way of increasing the caloric deficit. I'd say limiting carbs but not to the extent of keto will do you more good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T16:05:10.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29426" CreationDate="2016-04-07T16:12:15.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tip is... see a doctor. And if you did and they didn't really find anything, consider a second opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, there are so many possible causes of this that just giving you some tips is unlikely to solve it. And because the underlying cause might be a serious issue, it would be irresponsible of me or anyone who isn't a health professional to give you advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only things I can think of personally is that you do weight lifting and the stress you impose exceeds your capacity for recovery, or you're lifting very heavy relative to your conditioning. Recovery occurs mostly during sleep. I've noticed that when doing serious workouts frequently I might need as much as 10 hours to feel rested. But you mentioned increasing the weight only after a few weeks (a beginner is capable of increasing weekly or even every workout) so I doubt that is it. Maybe the hormones aren't sufficient to counter the hypothyroidism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only consider the above paragraph if you've ruled out anything more serious, which requires a professional medical opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T16:12:15.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29426" CreationDate="2016-04-07T17:07:27.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you didn't talk about your diet, which is the largest contributing factor to your body fat. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;What you eat, and how much you eat, is the biggest component of your body fat far beyond whatever you do with exercise&lt;/a&gt;. Get your diet sorted out as a priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your time at the gym sounds like it could have been better spent. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;I'd recommend adhering to a proven and successful strength training program&lt;/a&gt;, don't try to wing it and follow whatever advice you've picked up from magazines and your own experiences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cholesterol levels could very well be related to your thyroid issues, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3109527/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this is pretty well documented&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thyroid dysfunction can have an important effect on lipid profile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're making the time and prioritizing your health, which is terrific. Now it's just about being a bit more effective and using the right tools for the job. Diet, effective strength training, and talking to your healthcare provider about options with your cholesterol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T17:07:27.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-07T17:11:24.517" Score="5" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I read about strength training, the advice often comes with the assumption that the reader wants to get &quot;big&quot;. I want to achieve strength, but would prefer not to increase size too much if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there a difference in how one should train to increase muscle size vs how one should train to increase strength? If so, what is the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19988" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T14:57:38.907" Title="Should strength training be altered according to whether you're seeking size vs strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29436" CreationDate="2016-04-07T18:23:09.527" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;respected strength training programs&lt;/a&gt; focus on exactly that: strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8238/what-are-the-trade-offs-of-weight-versus-repetition/8239#8239&quot;&gt;rep ranges are your biggest lever to play with with strength vs hypertrophy vs endurance&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also relationships between muscle cross-section size as it compares to strength. Boiled down, the idea is that 2 square inches of muscle can generate more force because of physics than 1 square inch of muscle can. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19026016&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;But that relationship isn't clearly understood&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is commonly believed that maximal force and CSA (cross sectional&#xA;  area) are strongly related. Studies examining varying levels of&#xA;  training status display discordant data suggesting complex&#xA;  relationships between training status, CSA and peak force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The F/CSA relationship seems complex, and future studies are required&#xA;  to elucidate the relationships among key factors in the expression of&#xA;  strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiled down, you basically want to follow a strength training program, and be suspicious of a lot of work in the hypertrophy rep range. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually a strength athlete will get big. If you can squat 600lb, deadlift 700, and bench 315, you will be large, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. Just to put that into the equation as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any evidence of this, but in &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/1VBj7xm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pavel Tsatsouline's kettlebell books&lt;/a&gt; he talks about &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kb training&lt;/a&gt; being as being desired by a law enforcement folks because you get a decent level of strength, conditioning, and don't get &quot;big&quot;. Again, just something to consider. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T18:23:09.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29426" CreationDate="2016-04-07T23:55:32.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A problem with hypothyroidism is that you cannot fully correct for it. While you can bring your thyroid hormone levels back to the normal range, a person with a normal functioning thyroid will have small fluctuations in the level of thyroid hormones due to changes in energy demands causing a feedback on the metabolism. E.g. exercising hard for a few days increases the energy demand, the metabolism goes up a bit as a result. This fine tuning of the thyroid hormone levels will be missing in your case, as you'll take in the same prescribed dose every day. As pointed out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/hypothyroidism/exercise-plan#2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having hypothyroidism doesn’t mean you can’t participate in competitive sports or train for a race or marathon. But, a recent study of highly-trained male athletes found that it may be more difficult to do any kind of high-intensity exercises. Athletes may need to adapt their training plans to let their bodies recover from this effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise isn’t a substitute for hormone therapy to treat hypothyroidism. Some studies even suggest that in spite of prescribed medication, those with hypothyroidism may experience greater discomfort during exercise. Still, when practiced safely, many forms of exercise offer specific benefits to individuals with hypothyroidism. Always discuss your exercise plan and goals with your doctor before starting a new routine or regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T23:55:32.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29441" CreationDate="2016-04-08T04:29:02.207" Score="0" ViewCount="6495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel a lot weaker with weightlifting since going ketogentic.... does anyone else have this experience? Are there hacks to get around this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19992" LastActivityDate="2020-02-14T15:03:44.183" Title="Weakness in weightlifting with Keto Diet" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29439" CreationDate="2016-04-08T07:07:17.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite normal to feel &quot;weak&quot; on a ketogenic diet, at least compared to one with a normal amount of carbs in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need energy from either fat or carbs. Fat is stored for longer and the energy &quot;lasts&quot; longer(but spikes less), whereas carbs spike quite fast and drop off more steeply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the sound of it, perhaps you aren't getting enough good fats in your diet? What I used to do when I did keto + running was to eat a good handful of nuts about an hour before I went out to run. It helped greatly. Same thing with certain fruits that aren't that bad in carbs(like a pear or an apple) to also get the spike from fruitsugar helped me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T07:07:17.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29439" CreationDate="2016-04-08T08:02:36.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The immediate energy source for your muscles is adenosine triphosphate (ATP). When exerting force with a muscle it gets depleted (quickly) and when exhausted you fail to exert the same force. After 5 reps with the maximum weight you can do for 5 reps of some movement, a 6th rep fails. Fortunately, ATP can also get replenished relatively quickly. When being used, ATP is broken down and yields a different substance called adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Your body can create new ATP from the ADP. Of course, this requires it to perform some chemical actions. If the use of ATP chemically breaks it down and energy is released, it will take some energy to restore the ATP and make it available to the muscle again. Storing chemical energy in one place and then using it in another is essential in the energy transport throughout our body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The creation of ATP from ADP occurs through metabolic pathways that are a bit too complicated to start describing here in full, but the gist of it is that the full pathway requires carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. Look up &quot;citric acid cycle&quot; and &quot;oxidative phosphorylation&quot; for more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what does all of that mean for you? Here's where we get to glucose. Glucose is used later in the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation to yield ATP. It becomes oxidized, with as &quot;waste&quot; products CO2 (which you exhale) and water. Quite some water in your body is retained in the form of glucos, which is why you lose a lot of water weight on a keto diet. All of this means that glucose plays a key role in ATP formation, which your muscles need for producing force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a keto diet, you strongly restrict carbohydrate consumption and deplete the glucose (and its stored version glycogen) in your body. Indeed, such a depletion is essential to the diet because it prompts the body to switch to ketosis for obtaining energy from fats. So how is it gonna get its glucose? For that, it turns to gluconeogenesis. This is yet another metabolic pathway that generates glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. One of the ways this can occur is through breakdown of proteins and fats. Now, where the glycolysis pathway described earlier has a positive net yield of ATP, gluconeogenesis is going to consume some ATP. Also, glycolysis can occur directly in the muscle, while gluconeogenesis occurs mostly in the liver.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can imagine, this is not going to be quite as fast. When your muscles have a comfortable amount of glucose at their disposal they're happily gonna churn away on turning that ADP back into ATP. But when you're in ketosis, not only are you quite low on glucose throughout your tissues, making new glucose is gonna require gluconeogenesis. It's no wonder then that weightlifters tend to &quot;carb load&quot; before a heavy workout, and that you get exhausted faster on a keto diet when doing strength sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you've asked for hacks. When looking at it logically, the only possibilities are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to optimize ATP creation from ADP.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to optimize glucose available in the muscle without disrupting ketosis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find out if something in the glycolysis cycle can take the place of glucose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find out if there are other aspects of ATP creation that can be improved.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately glycolysis is impossible without glucose. I'm afraid I'm running into the limits of my knowledge on the subject now, but here's some things you can try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a creatine supplement. It improves the formation of ATP. Creatine is safe, inexpensive and easy to use. You'll just need powdered creatine monohydrate. Don't bother with anything else or anything more expensive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you get enough protein. Too much could disrupt ketosis, but you do need it for gluconeogenesis and to make sure your body isn't gonna try to get it where it can (your muscles).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want my personal opinion, the ketogenic diet is very hard to get right combined with weightlifting and, to be frank, not worth it. I've done keto for some months and don't care to revisit it. It certainly worked for weight loss, but I found it very counterproductive for strength and muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T08:02:36.310" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29442" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29446" CreationDate="2016-04-08T12:19:58.610" Score="0" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are daily consuming 1 Lemon with 500ml of water as juice with sugar and salt, while workout we are taking a sip to stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And whether it lose our weight or burn only fat? (mostly abdominal)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whether it's recommended to take daily?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are taking whey protein as supplement after workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19994" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T16:28:24.100" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T16:28:24.100" Title="Lemon Juice while workout" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-15T00:09:39.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27907" CreationDate="2016-04-08T13:01:45.820" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you can try air squats(google it ) in front of a mirror for example .As far as the shape is concerned , the number of 'heads' of the quad depends on how shredded you are . The first two visible are the two you already mentioned . My opinion is that squats are the best workout for quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19951" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T13:01:45.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29122" CreationDate="2016-04-08T13:13:11.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is recommended to do non static streching-warming up before working out and static streching after workout for each muscle group..try this in general&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19951" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T13:13:11.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29442" CreationDate="2016-04-08T13:55:26.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's look at the two most prominent nutrients found in lemons that could play a role. These are vitamin C, and citric acid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lemons are rich in vitamin C. One fruit will deliver from 50% to 75% of the daily recommended amount, depending on the size of the lemon. That's nice, because it is an essential nutrient; humans can't synthesize it in their bodies. Now, does it promote fat loss? Doing a search yields a lot of articles that seem to state so, but many of them are from sources that I deem questionable at best. The source of this idea seems to stem from one study, conducted at the Arizona State University. Here is a link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16945143&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16945143&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study observes that fat oxidation was reduced in the test subjects who had a vitamin C &lt;strong&gt;deficiency&lt;/strong&gt;. Note that this does not mean extra vitamin C is going to increase fat oxidation, it only concludes that there appears to be a correlation between vitamin C deficiency and slower fat loss. Articles reporting on such studies often make faulty leaps in logic. They think &quot;if a shortage of something reduces fat loss, then a surplus it of will surely accelerate it!&quot;. Unscientific. However, you'll want to avoid a vitamin C deficiency and lemon juice is a good way to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So then there's long-term effects. Although long-term consumption of excess vitamin C could be harmful, there's no reason to believe that one lemon each day on top of a regular diet comes anywhere close to such an excess. In fact, there's common foodstuffs much richer in vitamin C which you can eat frequently without any cause for concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Onto the citric acid. There is a metabolic pathway in your body called the &quot;citric acid cycle&quot; that plays a major role in the energy supply to tissues, not in the least your muscles. One of the metabolites needed in this cycle is citrate, a derivative of citric acid. So getting some extra from your food seems like a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything bad about citric acid? Dosages that are too large can cause side-effects, but again, one lemon is not going to get you even close to that amount. You'd probably have to take medicinal concentrations to be at risk. The only long-term effect I can think of is that frequent consumption could affect the tooth enamel. Since you're adding sugar and salt (creating a sort of homebrew isotonic drink) it could be comparable to some sodas, although I suspect your drink is less damaging to teeth than, say, a cola. If it worries you, perhaps use a straw, or avoid letting it wash over your teeth when taking a sip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I'll add another consideration. Apart from the vitamin C and citric acid discussed above, lemons also contain specific polyphenols. Here is a study that investigates the effect of those polyphenols in modulating the weight gain &lt;strong&gt;in mice&lt;/strong&gt; when provided with a diet that would &lt;strong&gt;induce obesity&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2581754/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2581754/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conclusion of the study is that a positive effect can be seen in reducing weight gain in the form of fat when supplementing the diet with these polyphenols. Since this is a study on rodents you can draw no hard conclusions on how it will affect humans, and it wouldn't prove that lemons would actually assist in weight &lt;strong&gt;loss&lt;/strong&gt;, it only suggests they can have a positive effect in slowing weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a lack of evidence that your drink will assist in fat &lt;strong&gt;loss&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Current evidence suggests that the polyphenols in lemons can assist in reducing fat &lt;strong&gt;gain&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is evidence that a lack in vitamin C will reduce fat oxidation. In this case the lemon drink would only help if you are otherwise deficient in vitamin C.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no reason to suspect that drinking the juice of one lemon daily would have negative long-term effects.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leaves us with the sugar and salt. If the sugar is not in excess of what your target for daily carbohydrate consumption is, and doesn't negate a caloric deficit, then it's fine. If the salt doesn't put you over the daily recommended allowance for your sodium intake, that too is not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I foresee no negative long-term effects but there isn't hard evidence that it will assist in fat burn. So it's a case of &quot;if it doesn't help, at least it's not going to harm you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-04-09T07:15:45.270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T07:15:45.270" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27907" CreationDate="2016-04-08T14:24:21.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might consider &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/bodyweight-squat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body squats&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/bodyweight-jump-squat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body jump squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZQA08SlJnM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burpees for full body involvement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stair steppers or step ups (or a similar lunging motion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/wide-stance-45-degree-leg-press.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leg press machine&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/narrow-hack-squat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hack squats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you could begin to add dumbbells to your body squats or lunging exercises. If you get to a place where you're starting to utilize heavier dumbbells, you could then consider the gym and using a barbell through a squat rack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T14:24:21.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29449" CreationDate="2016-04-08T16:34:16.713" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to hormonal issues(hypothyroidism) I stopped working out around a week after my last post here (feb 17 2016). When the levels of the thyroid hormone are low, the person becomes more lethargic, always feeling tired, the metabolism slows down, and more prone to feel like a Debbie-Downer, although I wasn't too deep in this situation, recovering from it takes a while. I changed my dosage and I'm starting to feel better again, more energized and less tired. I put on a couple of pounds and I'm pretty sure my resistance has decreased as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I don't want to wait any longer and I want to hit the gym again, so after all the background I've given you, I wanted to ask if its advisable to go straight back to my old routines(I mentally feel like I have the strength to do it, but I don't know if my muscles feel the same way) or should I tone it down the first weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T16:53:02.573" Title="Coming back from a &quot;break&quot;" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29448" CreationDate="2016-04-08T16:53:02.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting back from a layoff is easier than starting out as a complete beginner. One of the reasons for that is that you've learned the motor patterns before and had achieved the neurological adaptations that must precede muscle hypertrophy. Strength increase will actually occur before muscle growth starts, and the other way around, a decrease in strength will begin before muscle mass is lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your previous training (assuming you had done it for a non-trivial amount of time) has incurred some long-lasting changes in your physiology. With slightly less than two months out of the gym, these are still very much applicable. However, some muscle mass has probably been lost (how much depends in part on your protein consumption in the meantime) as has the capacity of your body in recruiting all motor units on a movement for maximum efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this means that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you're not as strong as you were when you stopped,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;but some work capacity remains and you'll see a much faster catch-up to your previous level than when you had to initially build up to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it means that you can pick up your old routine, with lower weight on every exercise, and catch up within a matter of weeks. On the other hand, the efficient motor patterns you've developed along with some of the longer-lasting neurological and muscular adaptations can make it possible for you to lift weight in the gym, seemingly within your range, that exceeds your current capacity for recovery. And that can lead to a rather spectacular case of DOMS. Remember how sore you could be from a workout when you just started? Imagine that, only with the possibility of lifting much, much heavier weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, do a solid deload. Make sure that the weight feels somewhat challenging but not too heavy. Every set should leave you feeling like you had several reps left in you, and after the last set you should feel like you could have done more. Just keep it at that and apply linear progression from workout to workout until you're at your previous level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: you were best adapted for your old routines so those will serve you best. But you need to reduce the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T16:53:02.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29426" CreationDate="2016-04-08T19:35:14.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excusme in advance for adding an answer instead of a comment. I can not add comments yet and I could not resist to give a different point of View.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why gym? Why weight lifting? Do you like such routine? There're thousand ways to lose weight and to carrie a healthy life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any sport or physical activity that you like? Football? Basketball? Tennis? Swiming? Rollerblading? Jogging? Fitness? Martial arts? ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why don't you start by something that put you through that mod that makes you feel inspired and motivated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any physical activity done with the right intensity will be healthy for you. It will change your mind and your mod in no time. Later if you feel like going hard into another activity, then go and enjoy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to encourage to you look for 'Plan B' to the gym routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my lifetime I have practiced:&#xA;Martial arts, soccer, Tennis, Biking, Spinning, Rollerblading, Fitness, Crossfit and jogging (now and then). Weight lifting is the only one I have had to force myself to keep going :-). Finally I could change that mod and now I go very motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you do it should motivate you. Once you find it, go to the doctor for support. Tell to him/her your plan and ask him if hyperthyroidism is a problem. Ask for advice. And go.for it ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally how mates here pointed out, don't neglect your diet. It's the basic of everything else :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it help you. Don't give up!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;S.N: Feel free to edit my answer. My english is still little and I'm sure I have made many mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19446" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T19:35:14.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29436" CreationDate="2016-04-09T10:15:20.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;People don't accidentally gain a lot of muscle, even by strength training. Gaining a lot of muscle requires hard work in the gym and at every meal. This is not something you should worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important, however, to make sure that the sources you are reading and watching focus on &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt; training, not bodybuilding. Strength training is for athletic performance with muscle size as a side effect (or as something to encourage for athletic benefit); bodybuilding programs are designed to encourage size regardless of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T10:15:20.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29496" CreationDate="2016-04-09T18:59:28.483" Score="3" ViewCount="1211" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that we need to give our bodies ample rest between workouts, how is the Bulgarian Method so successful (or successful at least for the lifters who trained under Ivan Abadjiev)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it purely because of &quot;recovery agents?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or does the body just adapt to the continuous workouts and magically speeds up the recovery rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastEditorUserId="19532" LastEditDate="2016-04-10T04:31:30.127" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T15:09:40.890" Title="How is the Bulgarian Method so effective?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29455" CreationDate="2016-04-09T20:31:22.470" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to go this gym which had an equipment for back muscles training. The equipment helped me get rid of horrendous back pain I had for several years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking to buy one of these for myself but I don't know the name. Could someone please tell me the name and possibly refer me to a photo/website that shows one of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a sketch of the equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CNwP1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CNwP1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20003" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T12:20:46.203" Title="Fitness equipment for back muscles" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29454" CreationDate="2016-04-09T21:13:44.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the exercise is commonly referred to as a &quot;back raise&quot;, and is done on a pretty rudimentary piece of equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some you can buy on eBay: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.com/bhp/back-extension-bench&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ebay.com/bhp/back-extension-bench&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, you might feel the need to add resistance, so you could incorporate holding some weight plates, or something equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-04-10T12:20:46.203" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T12:20:46.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-10T09:31:09.830" Score="0" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have Lumbar Spinal Stenosis as described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29416/ab-workout-with-lumbar-spinal-stenosis/29424&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my injury I have been using the elliptical machine, but sometimes I still dream of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before my injury I usually ran either 2-3 miles at 7mph or short distances sprints as part of interval training, anywhere between 50-200m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this kind of activity recommended in my condition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16162" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T16:10:03.880" Title="Running with lumbar spinal stenosis" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-20T00:45:44.963" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29457" CreationDate="2016-04-10T16:10:03.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I'll echo Alec's comment.  If you've been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, you should seek the advice of a qualified therapist.  Additionally, you may wish to get another opinion and an MRI as x-rays are not the best indicator of spinal stenosis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The X-rays can show the doctor various signs associated with spinal&#xA;  stenosis, including loss of the normal intervertebral disc height, the&#xA;  presence of bone spurs (osteophytes), and spinal instability (abnormal&#xA;  motion between the vertebrae). The ultimate diagnosis of lumbar spinal&#xA;  stenosis is made by an MRI scan (magnetic resonance imagining scan)&#xA;  or CT scan (CAT scan or computerized axial tomography). These are more&#xA;  advanced tests that are used to visualize the nerves in the lower back&#xA;  and detect if they are being compressed from lumbar spinal stenosis. &#xA;  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/lumbar_stenosis/page4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.medicinenet.com/lumbar_stenosis/page4.htm&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, having said that, and, as someone who has had prior experience with your condition, I can offer you some advice.  I would caution you to not be overly aggressive in your recovery.  As I commented in your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29416/ab-workout-with-lumbar-spinal-stenosis/29424&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt;, spinal stenosis is a generic term for the narrowing of the spinal canal.  It typically presents as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/herniated-disc/whats-a-herniated-disc-pinched-nerve-bulging-disc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;herniated, or, bulging disc&lt;/a&gt;.  The disc protrudes into the spinal canal thus causing nerve root compression.  The resulting symptoms can be debilitating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, running would typically be contraindicated in your present condition because the force exerted on your spine would further add to any existing spinal compression.  I would suggest you seek less aggressive exercises like swimming, or walking.  Additionally, if you haven't already started a therapeutic stretching program, that's something you should consider under the guidance of a physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T16:10:03.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29461" CreationDate="2016-04-10T18:45:51.960" Score="2" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;I climb stairs to work (20 floors) every day . The least amount of work my body is doing my gaining potential energy (P.E) = m&lt;em&gt;g&lt;/em&gt;h where m is mass , g is acc. due to gravity and h is height . Assuming every floor is 1 metre high . Mass -&gt; 70kg Work Done Comes out to 70*10*20 = 14000J . 1 calorie = 4.2 Joules . So I am burning somewhere around 3000 calories . Right ? But this calculation seems way off . I do not feel this tired after climbing 20 floors . What am I missing ? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20007" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T20:00:02.647" Title="Climbing Stairs and Calories Burnt" Tags="&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29460" CreationDate="2016-04-10T18:56:15.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;14000J = 3346 calories = 3.346 kcal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, you forget that our calorie measurements are commonly done in kilocalories, so you're off by a factor of 1000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, your physics calculation is solid enough. Energy spent during ascension is simply proportional to the change in elevation, or more precicely, change in potential energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I highly doubt that each floor is only 1 meter. That &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T18:56:15.010" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29506" CreationDate="2016-04-10T19:54:12.290" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to improve my at-home body-weight training routine. It's a kind of circular training I've devised to balance my rock climbing. Climbers who don't do complementary training end up with over developed back, sunken chest and bad posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to stretch and strengthen the rest of the body with different kind of exercise. That includes major muscle groups in the core, chest, abs, arms and legs. Key part of this routine is to avoid gripping and pulling anything because that's what climbing is for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine is as follows (not including warm up and stretching):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 push-ups with high legs, 10 squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 crunches, 20 calf raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 pistols each leg, 10 &quot;1.5 push-ups&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cycle this 3 times with 1 minute pauses between each number. Is this ok or am I actually counter productive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20008" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T22:10:59.137" Title="At-home routine to balance rock climbing" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29460" CreationDate="2016-04-10T20:00:02.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While Alec is close, there is one factor that is not taken into account. The body is about 25% efficient, so for kcals to joules, it's about a 1:1 conversion ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical set of household stairs is 8 feet in height, so to get meters multiply by .305 = 49 meters climbed for 20 flights. Plug that into your equation, and you get 33,476.8 joules of potential energy, which is about how many small calories (defined as the energy needed to raise 1g of water 1 degree C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, take your 33,476.8 joules, divide by 1000 to get kilocalories, and you're burning ~ 33.475 or 33.5 food calories to climb 20 flights of stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T20:00:02.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-10T10:39:11.200" Score="3" ViewCount="906" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been a week since I started swimming in a long course pool. I am not able to swim more than 50m freestyle at a stretch.  I am having issues with stamina at the end of 50m. I swim everyday for 1 hour. How much time will it may take for me to do 200m freestyle? I am male, standing 185 cm tall, and 75 kg in weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="karthikeya" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T18:34:50.340" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T16:17:17.587" Title="Endurance and stamina issues in swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29466" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29467" CreationDate="2016-04-11T12:55:00.413" Score="2" ViewCount="3316" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says, I'm a bit confused about the standard Couch to 5k. The common recommendation will have you running 3 times a week with intervals changing from walking to running. I myself followed this program for about 8 weeks before a bad pair of shoes completely ruined both my wallet and my schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I want to start all over and I went to a shop specializing in runners, bought a pair of running shoes, and the guy behind the counter who has completed several IRONMAN challenges told me to start out easy and follow a similar schedule, but only run twice a week, the justification for this being that starting out with 3 times a week invites problems with the both knees and shins in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I want to take the extra precaution, and he certainly has the experience over me, but I can't seem to find anyone reporting issues like he (and the pamphlet the shop makes) claims, and that sticking to twice a week should save me down the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is, is the guy right about the possible damages long term, or are all the people who, supposedly, are professional trainers wrong in pushing beginners too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20014" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T13:37:31.440" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T10:26:18.977" Title="Couch to 5k, twice a week or 3 times a week?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29466" CreationDate="2016-04-11T13:48:13.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite honestly, it's hard to give you a direct answer because this is a highly individual thing. My experience with the C25k program as someone more or less starting from scratch was that the 3 times a week schedule did not lead to shin splints or knee problems. Frankly, the ramp up is slow enough that you're walking for a good bit of the time, and by the time you get to actually running a decent amount of time, you've built up enough endurance that you're not likely to be causing yourself damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you mentioned that you nearly completed the program before (I'm assuming since you said you were doing it for 8 weeks and it's a 9 week program). That actually introduces a new risk in that you've done the running before. On the plus side, it will improve your confidence and your body is already partially conditioned, which means you'll probably get into shape even faster. On the minus side, the first few weeks are probably going to feel boring and you're going to be tempted to run more than they say. Be wary about following that impulse because the mind is a powerful thing, and can get you pushing yourself too hard too fast. If you get bored in the earlier weeks, don't skip more than a week ahead at a time, and always listen to what your body tells you the next day. If you wake up in pain, or barely able to summon the energy to get out of bed, the chances are that you pushed it too far, and you need to scale back to the schedule. Fortunately, the rest day will usually soothe most of the aches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your running!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T13:48:13.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29466" CreationDate="2016-04-11T13:53:32.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the answer is that both are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general a beginner at any physical pursuit improvement will come from regular 2x per week sessions, but improvements will come faster at 3x per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, humans are all different, we adapt to training stimulus at different rates, we have various different issues with our gait, leg lengths etc that can cause pain and/or injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guy in the shop is just playing it safe, which is quite a valid approach when giving advice to a relative stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19096" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T13:53:32.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-11T15:00:35.237" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe an off-topic question, so if so please let me know where to post this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What at-home stretches/exercises/practices have helped you guys reduce the risk of a lower back injury, specifically the common &quot;thrown out&quot; back incident? The Internet is surprisingly devoid of information on this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20015" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T16:03:03.517" Title="Practical steps for preventing lower back issues (e.g. &quot;throwing out&quot; back)" Tags="&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29465" CreationDate="2016-04-11T15:00:41.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While your question is somewhat confusing, the most common reason for beginners to get out of breath or tired after a very short distance is usually due to poor form and breathing problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common beginner mistakes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kicking from the knees, not the hips, with toes that are not pointed back, but instead pointing down at the bottom of the pool. This almost completely negates any forward propulsion from the kick and just wastes energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Letting the elbow drop early, and &quot;sliding&quot; your hand back rather than using it to propel you forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper breathing. This is very common, and one of the biggest problems that beginners struggle with. A lot of people hold their breath while their face is in the water, and then try to exhale/inhale during the time their face is exposed. This leads to hyperventilation and early fatigue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without being able to see a video, those are the most common things I've seen when teaching adults to swim properly. I would highly recommend that you get with someone that knows how to instruct swimming and have them evaluate you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T15:00:41.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29469" CreationDate="2016-04-11T16:03:03.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;thrown out&quot; feeling is the body's emergency response to the situation &quot;this joint has been forced beyond its range of motion! It's unstable and needs to be stopped &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;!&quot; It activates all kinds of muscles with the goal of shutting down movement. But it doesn't work: the original feeling of instability was caused by the body not being able to stabilize normally, and muscle spasms don't help. Three reasons for the unstable feeling: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The muscles that normally stabilize the joint are inhibited. Nerve signals don't reach them due to disuse, with bigger muscles inefficiently taking up the slack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The muscles that normally stabilize the joint are overworked. Poor posture has left them permanently lengthened, or compensating for weakness in other muscles has left them so tight that they have little room to contract further.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The nerve signals reaching the brain are erroneous. An old injury stimulated the nerves that carry pain to the brain so often that they fire chronically, or nerve signals carrying pain signals from one area are interpreted by the brain as coming from another area (referred pain).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, the kind of exercises that help are those that a) restore normal bodily function, or b) rebuild nerve connections between the brain and the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For restoring normal function, you're looking at mobility exercises and basic movement patterns. For my upper back, that meant lower trapezius and serratus muscle training, and learning thoracic mobility. For my lower back, that meant learning proper form for deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, and squats, then using them to identify weak points. Those weak points were generally addressed by learning about muscles that act on the hips and pelvis, such as the gluteus medius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rebuilding nerve connections, you're looking at stretching, massage, and isolation exercises. Stretching is for the case when the brain is wrong and the source of the pain is not there any more. By moving the joint through its range of motion without pain, the brain learns the movement is safe. Isolation exercises are for finding movements you're shaky on, can't do at all, or do wrong, like raising your leg with overactive hip flexors instead of the iliopsoas. Repeating the exercise reinforces the nerve connection so that your body will recruit that muscle when needed, instead of compensating with others. Massage is for stimulating the nerves and blood flow enough that the brain can get a signal to and from the muscle and begin to re-establish the mind-muscle connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking also helps a lot. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T16:03:03.517" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-11T18:20:19.970" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in starting out jogging. I live in California (northern CA and occasionally southern CA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any resources / websites that will identify and categorize local exercise and jogging trails by difficulty, such as length of the trail, the inclination, and the surface? Are there standardized metrics for these characteristics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20019" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T19:26:26.627" Title="How do I find exercise / jogging trail difficulty?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29474" CreationDate="2016-04-11T18:46:43.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. There are no standards which determine the level of difficulty related to jogging or any exercise  simply because the level of difficulty varies from person to person in every case.And also, there can not exist a standard specifically for a person because what may be difficult for you might be easy after sometime or somedays  because our body adapts it gradually. So it can not remain a standard. A standard has be generalized for all and also can not vary by the period of time. &#xA;In your case, you should start jogging for some days and should increase the intensity. By &lt;strong&gt;intensity&lt;/strong&gt; i mean to &lt;em&gt;increase the length of trail&lt;/em&gt;, to &lt;em&gt;jog on inclined path&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;to set a time to complete the minimum distance as per your stamina.&lt;/em&gt; &#xA;By the time your stamina will increase, the level of difficulty will be increased by itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19795" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T18:46:43.470" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29474" CreationDate="2016-04-11T19:28:25.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Atul points out, creating a &quot;standard&quot; difficulty rating is not easy, as people have various level of skills, physical abilities and training. However, this problem applies to any sport that uses trails as a primary pathway. The International Mountain Biking Association &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.imba.com/resources/freeriding/trail-difficulty-rating-system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has a basic primer&lt;/a&gt; on how to try this. Note, they only address technical difficulty, they don't assess elevation gain or trail length as part of it. That is presumed to be only physical, and unrelated to the technical skills needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as finding places, there are any number of different websites that list trails, some have their own difficulty ranking system, a lot of races, but there doesn't seem to be a single codified source. (Unsurprising, trail running for other than recreation is still a very young sport). I'd try and find a site such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.trails.com/stateactivity.aspx?area=14607&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trails.com&lt;/a&gt; or similar that lists trails in your area. Mapmyrun will also have a lot of individually made trails/maps, some may or may not have rankings along with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T19:28:25.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29474" CreationDate="2016-04-11T20:21:42.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.strava.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strava&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It lets you find segments (trails) in your area using your GPS, and they are created and curated by the community, but also moderated by... well, moderators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It lets you look at segments by length, whether it's flat or hilly, and the level of inclination/steepness. I assume that's what you mean by &quot;difficulty&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It keeps track of your records, so you can compete with your previous times. It also lets you publish your times, so you can compete with others who have completed the same segment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It allows you to choose between running/cycling too, in case you want to diversify your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T20:21:42.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31668" CreationDate="2016-04-12T04:13:11.060" Score="4" ViewCount="1646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I apologize if this is a bit esoteric. Due to vagaries of my excretory system, I'm prone to the occasional anal abscess, basically a swelling around the anus that's itchy and painful to the touch. They develop and disappear within about a week. The catch is that I was starting to get up to a decent 5k pace lately and the last time I ran with an abscess, it got much worse for a few days, presumably because it was getting rubbed by the repetitive motion. I'd prefer not to take time off, particularly since sometimes this does last weeks. I'm using a cream to reduce swelling, but I would appreciate any input on how I could reduce the impact of the running on my ailment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some useful advice at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18181/how-to-run-with-hemorrhoids&quot;&gt;How to run with hemorrhoids?&lt;/a&gt;, but it largely seemed to be about preventing hemorrhoids rather than how to cope with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2018-05-08T20:32:59.157" Title="Running with an anal abscess" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29487" CreationDate="2016-04-12T09:31:48.447" Score="0" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is my &quot;chronological weight loss&quot;: when I was 23 I weighed 103 kg then I started to walk long distances (sometimes 10 km per day and 3 times a week). I also decreased food rations (1/3 of what I was eating before), with no cola (no cola for real), no sugar in my coffee, etc. After that I lost 35 or 40 kilos (I weighed 67 kg after 2 years so I was 25 years old) but now I'm 28 and 75 kg. What I see when I face the glass is that I have fat hips! If you see only my face or legs and you just see my hips separately you would say that it's not the same body! So I'm a skinny fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If me and my brother we eat same things, I gain weight and not him! Even if we eat something not much fat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have enough muscles it's obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what kind of &quot;sport&quot; I can do to gain muscle and lose fat hips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm open to any suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I'm a &quot;good&quot; amateur runner (I can run 30-45min and for about 3-4 times a week). I walk a lot too (7-8 km a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20026" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T16:28:15.850" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T16:28:15.850" Title="how to lose fat hips after weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:35:27.283" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29479" CreationDate="2016-04-12T09:48:31.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing weight and losing fat are most often going hand by hand. Sometimes stress can be a very big factor that stops us from achieving our goals, as well as not getting enough sleep. Make sure to stay hydrated and don't drink too much alcohol. I used to struggle with fat in some areas but I found out that I had to be calmer during the whole time. Then I started seeing results. Do not compare yourself to anybody else and don't do too much cardio. Generally lifting weights a couple of times a week and doing a moderate amount of cardio will do the work. But don't forget to eat clean! That's what matters most. Most of the questions here are regarding losing fat from a specific area. It's your body that decides from which area you will lose fat. You can only help it by adjusting your training and nutrition properly. &#xA;I hope this answer helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18116" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T09:48:31.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3490" CreationDate="2016-04-12T12:28:54.633" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you will not learn authentic martial arts by yourself. But even going to classes does not guarantee that you will be able to protect yourself in times of emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT YES, you can teach yourself basic self defense which may protect you in case need arises. I personally liked the system given in this book -  Method of Self-Defence - The Best of Judo, Jiu Jitsu, Karate, Savate, Yawara, Aikido and Ate-Waza : Monika Budo Stuff : Free Download &amp;amp; Streaming : Internet Archive. The techniques are :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy to learn, not requiring years of training.&#xA;Quick defense and attack oriented.&#xA;Mostly use your gross motor skills.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you want to refer to other sources, assess the techniques taught based on the above three variables. The techniques which pass the above three tests can be kept in your arsenal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incase, you dont have a training partner, practice with an imaginary opponent (doubtful if it will work for grappling techniques) . You may make a hitting pad by tying a cloth around a stick. Then ask someone to simulate a kick or punch with that stick (this tip is there in the above mentioned book). This way you will not injure your partner and can some feel/ pratice of blocking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20028" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T12:28:54.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29486" CreationDate="2016-04-12T13:50:44.297" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to change my routine (lifting weights twice a week) to lifting weights once (on Mondays) and doing an interval training (on Thursdays). By interval training I mean running 1 minute at top speed and 2 minutes at low speed interchangeably (up to 15-20 minutes). Plus of course a few minutes of a warm-up beforehand and a cool-down afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right that this approach will still let me build lean muscle mass along with losing fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit bored with going to the gym on and on and wanted to combine it with some other activity but still getting the same results (getting more muscles). I am also aware that I have to avoid cardio as it burns muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19896" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T07:13:31.253" Title="Is it good to lift weights and do intervals for muscles?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29483" CreationDate="2016-04-12T19:22:26.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to increase muscle mass, your body must be forced to adapt. A state of balance is called homeostasis. The essence for inducing a strength and/or hypertrophy increase requires disrupting homeostasis. The way we do this with strength training is by lifting weights in a manner that exceeds what our body is adapted to. There's a number of ways to do this. You can increase the weight on the bar, increase the number of repetitions, increase the number of sets, or a combination thereof. If you do not in some way alter the variables to place a stress on the body that disrupts homeostasis, no impulse is provided for it to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this disruption, the body will prepare for a repetition of this stress in the form of altering muscle tissue, bone density, vascularity and more. This occurs in the period of 48 to 72 hours after the workout, for a novice lifter. This means that any muscle group is ideally trained every 48 to 72 hours to maximize efficiency as a novice. After the adaptation, there is a period where one's performance is somewhat increased, making it possible to increase the workload by altering one or more of the parameters (weight, reps, sets, rest time). Doing this regularly in a way that doesn't exceed your capacity for recovery is what increases the baseline over time. After a workout, however, if no new stress is induced, you will gradually move back towards your previous baseline. When you stop working out, the body will no longer feel the need to maintain the metabolically more expensive muscle tissue and return to its old homeostasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are working out only once per week, you'll have started back on that downwards slope before the next workout is done. Even if you do an extensive full-body workout on that one day, this is a frequency that is very sub-optimal for a natural trainee (read: someone who doesn't use steroids). Perhaps you'll still be able to make progress, but it will be much slower compared to working out each muscle group twice per week. In the worst case you will see no progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, trying to provide a stress that is enough to spur adaptation to avoid returning to baseline before the week is over will be difficult with just one workout. Total volume over a week is also important. You can't take the volume that you'd normally do in two workouts and try to cram it into one workout, because you would go well over your capacity for recovery, which might lead to injuries, or even a negative &quot;return on investment&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd strongly advise you to stick to two workouts per week. This leaves us with the interval training. HIIT is cardio training and will mostly benefit endurance, fat burning, adaptations for oxidative stress etc. It is not a substitute for weightlifting to induce strength gain and/or hypertrophy. That said, just doing cardio alone is not enough to negate muscle gain. As long as you maintain a caloric surplus, with sufficient protein intake, muscle gain can occur. However, unless you are a beginner, or very overweight, gaining muscle while burning fat could prove challenging or impossible. Hypertrophy requires a caloric surplus while weight loss is only possible using a caloric deficit. Trying to do a &quot;recomp&quot;, slowly reducing body fat while gaining some muscle, requires very precise calorie intake and the progress will likely be slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you want to make your workouts a bit more varied and include some HIIT for fat burn, or maybe save some time on your workouts. So maybe try this: do weightlifting twice a week, and do the HIIT training immediately after that. It will have some benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will already be warmed up for the HIIT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The weightlifting will have depleted some glycogen and glucose from your body, shifting more quickly into the use of fat storage once you get to the HIIT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You'll already be in sportswear and will only have to shower once after the workout. Maybe details, but silly stuff like that can end up taking quite a bit of time and it's easy to forget to take it into account.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sticking to a program for your weightlifting that has some variation between the two days can also keep things interesting. When you try to improve on your previous workout every week, or have to work on periodization (if you're past beginner stage) the whole thing becomes a lot more interesting than just getting to the gym every week and just lifting &quot;whatever&quot;. It becomes a game, where your opponent is you from the past week, every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-04-13T07:13:31.253" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T07:13:31.253" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29479" CreationDate="2016-04-12T22:21:56.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that your body type is &lt;strong&gt;the pear&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rRQhj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rRQhj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your hips will be the last zone where you will losing fat. You just need to loose enough to hips began to slim down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand, most of your workouts are cardio (running and walking). So you need to add some strength exercises. And at the same time, you do not need to grow big muscles and just burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way is to mix strength and cardio exercises and do it in a short interval of time. It is called HIIT (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;High Intensity Interval Training&lt;/a&gt;). You can do it at home, and it usually takes about 20 minutes, but it has long lasting fat-burning effect.&#xA;You can find many workouts on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/XFitDaily&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;XHIT Daily&lt;/a&gt; Youtube channel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just do not start with very intensive workouts.&#xA;If you are newbie, you can start with the mix of pilates and HIIT.&#xA;See the most popular fitness blog on Youtube for women - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/blogilates&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Blogilates&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20033" LastEditorUserId="20033" LastEditDate="2016-04-12T22:27:03.900" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T22:27:03.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-13T02:29:17.193" Score="3" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 59 yrs old, 6'5&quot; and I currently weigh 245lbs, up from my lowest of 230lbs, after having lost 110lbs last year. I have a desk job during the day and I work out with weights 3 times a week for about 45 mins per session then some cardio for 25 to 30 mins after.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am eating protein 40%, fat 35%, carbs 25% as instructed by my weight-loss coach and RD. My BMR is 2700-3600 cals/day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am gaining weight but I don't think the weight I have gained is muscle. How much protein should I be eating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know for serious bodybuilders and weightlifters its at least 1-to 1 ratio or more, but what should it be for me?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20036" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2016-04-16T17:30:42.483" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T13:10:16.027" Title="How much protein should I be eating?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29436" CreationDate="2016-04-13T10:15:32.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know of one study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787090&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787090&lt;/a&gt;) that shows that 12 weeks of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high rep/low weight training produced 2.6% increase in muscle size and 19% increase in strength, versus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low rep/high weight training produced 7.6% increase in size and 35% increase in strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you could conclude from that study, that high rep/low weight gives you more strength gains per size gain. But all the usual reservations apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20037" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T10:15:32.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29479" CreationDate="2016-04-13T10:59:31.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most stubborn fat in the majority of women is lower body subcutaneous fat around the hip, butt and thighs. Hormones make women likely to deposit fat around the hips to support childbirth and lactation. Countering nature and losing fat from the hips specifically is challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20038" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T10:59:31.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29491" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29493" CreationDate="2016-04-13T11:55:18.533" Score="0" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note: my goal is hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have stopped for half a year working out. Now I lost practically all of my muscle I had built up before. I'm trying to get back into fitness, preferably 3-4 times a week. I wanted to start off good so I searched a bit on the internet and found a lot of different schemes to train muscle groups for 3x a week. F.e. a 2-split scheme and not being restrained by 7 days in a week, and that training 1 muscle group once a week wouldn't cut it. &lt;em&gt;(source: bodybuildingforum url unknown)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this inconsistency I was wondering, what theoretically (for a 19-year old male who just started training again), would be a correct scheme for training 3x a week and what would be a correct scheme for training 4x a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current scheme is for 3x:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an optimized workout-plan or should I edit something? And what would be an optimized plan for 4x a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T13:22:18.373" Title="Scheme 3-4 times fitness a week - Hypertrophy" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-20T00:50:00.903" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29491" CreationDate="2016-04-13T12:35:56.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your plan looked similar to the one i was starting with, except 2 things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I like to do a leg-only-day, so you can first of all focus fully on&#xA;the one half of your body and second, i'm always so exhausted after&#xA;legs, i can't train shoulders then. So if you are not that fit atm,&#xA;you might consider this. I trained shoulders on chest day, because&#xA;your shoulders get involved in chest-movement either way, so why not&#xA;train them then?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I splitted chest / triceps and back / biceps, the reason for this&#xA;was to get enough rest for each muscle group. If you train chest,&#xA;you triceps gets activated so you use him passiv, that's why i&#xA;trained triceps active on chest-days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just some things from my experience, the changes i would make. Hope it helps in any way :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19579" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T12:35:56.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29491" CreationDate="2016-04-13T13:22:18.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering you have not trained for 6 months, and you state you've lost &quot;practically all your muscle&quot;, I think you should consider yourself a beginner again. There are many workout plans out there suitable for beginners. The ones that work well are those which keep certain aspects of the novice trainee in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A focus on strength development, which will have the greatest potential during the novice phase.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training each muscle group every 48 to 72 hours, since for novices this is sufficient time to recover from each training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Linear progression for the weight lifted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rrirower commented that there is no perfect plan since much depends on individuality. This is true, but tuning a plan requires plenty of experience with one's own strengths and weaknesses, with training in general, and a knowledge of the theory behind programming. Instead of doing some homebrew program without really knowing if it would benefit you, it would be better to go with one of the beginner programs that are highly popular, because they tend to be so for a reason. Good choices for 3 workouts per week would be Starting Strength, or StrongLifts 5x5. A good choice for 4 workouts per week that I have (positive) experience with is Johnny Candito's linear program. There are 3 variations for a focus on form, explosive power or hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some problems I see with your program is only training your lower body once per week, which neglects a lot of development potential. In the worst case this infrequent stimulus would not be sufficient to drive the adaptation needed for linear progression. In the best case it's a lot slower than it could be. Also, as Noshii mentioned, triceps might be better to combine with chest and biceps with back, since you tend to use triceps on chest exercises (like the bench press) and biceps on back exercises (like rows and pull-ups). It's also more convenient from a warm-up perspective. However, if at least 48 hours are allowed for recovery between workouts you could mix it up the way you did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than take a wild guess at what might be optimal, rely on the experience of professionals out there and follow a well-designed program for novices. You'll find a large set of reviews for programs in this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-programs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-programs/&lt;/a&gt; This is with regard to how well they would benefit a powerlifter, but you should find some useful information regardless of your goals. If multiple programs seem suitable and you're wondering which one to choose, go for practical considerations: does it look like you would enjoy the exercises, does the program's layout appeal to you and is it feasible for you to follow it? For example, if you don't care that much about explosive power because you don't need it for some particular sport, and your gym is highly unsuitable for olympic lifts, maybe avoid programs involving them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T13:22:18.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29442" CreationDate="2016-04-13T14:08:16.953" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I cannot comment on the answer above, here are my remarks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't be particularly helpful for weight loss, and it won't be particularly harmful for your body on the long term. Yet it &lt;strong&gt;will be harmful&lt;/strong&gt; for your teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's not a case of &quot;there won't be any negative longterm effects&quot;, because there will be, for your teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2016-04-14T08:41:18.697" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T08:41:18.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29436" CreationDate="2016-04-13T14:57:38.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, strength vs size is a matter of rep range and overall intensity of your working weights. If you're looking for strength while keeping the same size, much of it will depend on neural efficiency (or the ability of your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers) which will be developed over time as you gain some muscle memory of movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, however, it's hard to get stronger without building mass or vice versa. I've heard it compared to something along the lines of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength and size is a lot like good sex; you can't make love without a little ****ing and you can't **** without making love&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words... strength and size both go hand in hand as your body adapts to stimulus. If you're looking for strength, go with lower rep ranges but if you're still new to strength training, hypertrophy is still a good idea as it will give you more wiggle room to adjust to new movements. You want to learn the movements safely and comfortably before going all out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T14:57:38.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29453" CreationDate="2016-04-13T15:30:29.327" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to preface all of this by saying that this is from memory so a lot of this is sort of foggy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, yes, a lot of the Bulgarian lifters were apparently on performance enhancing drugs and I believe many of them were banned from any sort of Olympic Weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, the Bulgarian method is effective because it takes advantage of the body's ability to adapt. If I'm training 4 times a week, maybe doing squats in two of those workouts, and find that my squat is starting to stall, my options are as follows: do more volume (per workout), use a higher intensity (use a heavier weight), or use a higher frequency (more times a week). There is some science behind it which I can't entirely recall but it goes something like this: with more frequency, but less volume, your body is able to recover in time for the next day. If you're going all out 2 times a week, your fatigue is high and your recovery will take longer. A main principle of the Bulgarian method is also that is it auto-regulated and is more of a schema than a set program. If you are feeling horrible one day, you can cut it back a little and maybe do a few less sets. If you are feeling great, go for it. Another principle is the idea that every rep has to be controlled, with consistent and good form, and not be a &quot;grinder&quot; (as that will cause greater amounts of fatigue). See chart (taken from &quot;The Bulgarian Manual&quot;, StrengthTheory.com) for visualization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qfvyg.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qfvyg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I have read, the Bulgarian method is an advanced lifting paradigm. Those that worked under Ivan Abadjiev were professional lifters, who did this as a living. They literally only ate, slept, and lifted--equivalent to working a full-time job, which is why this is not really advised for beginner or intermediate lifters since there are other programs that could be used that would also yield result. Lastly, if you begin to stall while on the Bulgarian method, there is nowhere else to go when it comes to frequency. Your body can only recover so quickly (naturally) and the average person will want to commit to other things than just lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Omar Isuf &amp;amp; Greg Nuckols wrote a pretty comprehensive 40-pg manual on the subject which you can probably find online named &quot;The Bulgarian Manual&quot;. Another one that I can think of off the top of my head is &quot;Squat Everyday&quot;, I don't recall the author and I haven't read it but it's highly recommended. Lastly, you can check out this site for a quick overview: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/the-bulgarian-method-for-powerlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/the-bulgarian-method-for-powerlifting/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr Less volume (along with other things) but higher frequency leads to less fatigue that can be recovered from sooner, letting you adapt more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T15:30:29.327" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29164" CreationDate="2016-04-13T15:40:15.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use this waistpack from Nike. It's literally just a small fanny pack. It's just big enough to fit my phone (Galaxy S6) comfortably but it can fit my wallet in it as well. I also keep my keys on a small carabiner, so I can clip them onto the waistband if I'm just walking around. I usually just have my headphones' wire behind me, down my back, and the waistpack turned around so that the phone is on the small of my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;$20 for it is a little expensive but I find a lot of use out of it. I use it mainly for listening to music while weightlifting, but if I'm playing tennis or any other sports that involve running around or just biking, I prefer using it over having stuff bouncing around in my pockets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OldKm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OldKm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pd/lean-running-waistpack/pid-10313873/pgid-10313874&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pd/lean-running-waistpack/pid-10313873/pgid-10313874&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T15:40:15.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29189" CreationDate="2016-04-13T18:34:01.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been climbing and competing in this sport for a long time. I am not a mountaineer but I have done a lot of sport climbing in the past and have been primarily bouldering for the last 8 years. For hand strength I suggest being very cautious in how hard you push yourself in this regard. Always use open hands when doing training specific to finger strength (no crimping). Be cautious of your tendons in your fingers. They take longer then your muscles to improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For hand strength I use a rice bucket about 5 gal filled to train both grip strength and the antagonist muscles in my hands. I push my hands as deep as possible and squeeze the rice. Near the bottom of the bucket should be quite a lot of resistance. For the antagonist muscles I use my wrist and fingers to push the rice back. This should engage the back side of your wrist and forearms. This is an odd but fairly common tool in the climbing community. The following workout I do not recommend if you have not been working grip strength regularly for at least 6 months. I also do dead hangs to train hand strength. Because you do not have access to a climbing wall and I am guessing you do not also have access to a hang board for climbing a sturdy door jam will likely work. For sport climbing I usually hung with an open hand grip for 30 sec then rested for 30 sec for ten reps and I would do this three times.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lock off strength without access to a wall I am sure someone here can help you find a routine with weights for that. If you have a pull up bar you can train most of the range with frenchies. This is a modification on a pull up where you hold the up position for 4 - 6 sec and then hold the half way down for the same time and then if you want repeat holding at the 3/4 and 1/4 positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously this is only part of what you need to climb hard but I think other people on this site are more qualified to help with those aspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20042" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T18:34:01.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29474" CreationDate="2016-04-13T19:26:26.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For trail running I've found &lt;a href=&quot;http://alltrails.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;All Trails&lt;/a&gt; to be the perfect companion.  You can find just about any trail, nationwide, and most people rate it (hardness + overall quality of the trial).  It's definitely worth the download and try.  I think you'll find it useful in your new ventures.  Enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18054" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T19:26:26.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-13T20:31:59.163" Score="3" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand the formula for calories burned based on hear rate. According to it, a person with a lower weight, doing the same exercise for the same amount of time will burn LESS calories than someone with more weight. It sounds counterintuitive as you would assume that more energy would be required to move greater mass. Am I missing something from these formulas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20043" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T15:31:12.090" Title="Calories burned" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29530" CreationDate="2016-04-13T21:19:40.603" Score="0" ViewCount="1293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2.5 years experience, have been cutting since January 1th, and I think I'm done cutting after April. This will be my longest and by far the best cut so far, I've counted calories with MFP, been active and trained with an ABA full body routine instead of the usual UL/UL routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just changed my ABA full body to Stronglifts 5x5, mostly because I want to test out this official app from the authors team: &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stronglifts.app&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stronglifts.app&amp;amp;hl=en&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm done cutting, I'll be at around 10-12% bf. This is where I'll start maintaining for at least a month before going over to a lean bulk during the summer and a bulk in the fall/winter. This has proven to work for me before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is:&lt;/strong&gt; Is it a wise tactic to start Stronglifts 5x5 at very low numbers (around 70% of my 5RM) in a caloric deficit, then when I reach my 5RM OR I reach 10% BF, I'll transit over to a maintenance or ~200-300 kcal over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus while cutting will as always be form and explosiveness, with some body weight accessory lifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some stats:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting since November 2013, almost w/o skipping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 1.95 cm, Weight: 88 kg, Age: 21 y.o&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1RM in KG (Squat/Bench/DL)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before bulking August - Desember: 125/85/145 @91.5kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After bulk in Desember: 135/100/160 @95.8kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Today, after cut since Desember: 120/90/150 @88kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20044" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T14:14:09.653" Title="Stronglifts 5x5: Start in deficit and move to surplus when reaching 5RM on lifts" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29479" CreationDate="2016-04-13T21:59:40.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me share with you one of the websites I follow. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/goulet5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case I shared a post about Muscle toning because is the first approach we all think inmediatly when we read your case. It's easy to end up suggesting to you to do aerobic workouts, low weight and many reps. But It's not allways that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body is not just a bunch of muscles. Everything matters. The point is to find out a balanced diet / workout routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do thousand times the very same workouts for ages wont end up as expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In bottom lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trainning goes through different statges. The first one use to be Cut Trainning. Oriented to cutdow our weight. Fatburn routine plus hypocaloric diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next stage use to be a strengh trainning. In order to achive a toned shape, both woman and man should not be afraid to lift weight. Intensity here matters, so don't be afraid to lift weight (enough to make you feel unconfortable but still doable). Many reps. 10-12, 12-15 depends the muscle group we are exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goal here is to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Circuits are just great at this stage. Working intensely mltiple muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any aerobic activity should be moderated. Low-mid intensity. Otherwise we may end up burning muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here diet changes too. It's hypercaloric. To gain muscle demans calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to be able to say all the workouts you should to do, but there's not a universal routine or plan valid for everyone :-).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you are familiar with the 2 stages that matters (in your case), see a personal trainner or trainner at gym.&#xA;Ask for a customized plan. Don't miss any muscle ;-) From shoulders to toes, going through shoulders, chest, arms, abs, back, low back, buttocks, legs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 6-8 weeks review your plan and change it. It's important to change it over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be shy!!! Google any doubt and ask your trainner. She/he is probably the best one you can ask to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may seems hard or too complexe but it's not. Just don't give up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19446" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T21:59:40.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29501" CreationDate="2016-04-13T21:59:46.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think starting SL5x5 should be a problem, because the first thing you do is test your 1RM, and have the numbers for your program set to percentages of that. So at the end of a cut, if you're weaker than normal, then it's perfectly reasonable to work with lower weights than you normally would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So long as you rely on a fresh 1RM test, and don't use a previous one that is possibly higher than your current, you won't stagnate as fast, so you'd also be able to cut a bit longer before phasing into a surplus regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T21:59:46.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29462" CreationDate="2016-04-13T22:10:59.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you have described above is similar to what I do for my antagonist training for bouldering. I do recommend adding something like supermans, the ones where you lay on your stomach and lift your shoulders, head, arms, and feet off the ground, these will build the muscles that climbers neglect in the back. I would also recommend training the antagonist muscles to your grip. This will help protect your elbows as you progress in climbing. I do this personally using a rice bucket but you could use a rubber band or something else. The main thing is you are trying to train your strength for opening your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20042" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T22:10:59.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18762" CreationDate="2016-04-13T22:19:27.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to expand on Megasaur's post and say that most of the reading I have done agrees with my experience and that is that a climber should avoid campusing on this type of board until they have been climbing for about a year and a half or more and is climbing in the range of V7. If these requirements are not met I would recommend a system or Moon board to train on in the mean time. I have seen strong climbers end their climbing careers on these boards by getting on them too soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20042" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T22:19:27.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33150" CreationDate="2016-04-13T22:36:53.090" Score="3" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been climbing for 13 years now and have been competing for most of that. I have reached a plateau or at least a point where simply measuring progress with the grading system is not accurate enough. I am climbing in the V9/10 range now and am actively training on both system and campus boards. I log those workouts. My question is does anyone have any idea on ways to determine and quantify progress in this sport?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;What I am currently thinking I may do to measure progress is to video myself while I do my training routine and climb then afterwards rate my smoothness and control on some sort of scale 1-10 for example and see how it changes from week to week. Does anybody have any better ideas or improvements? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20042" LastEditorUserId="20042" LastEditDate="2016-04-18T19:59:17.397" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T10:42:40.527" Title="Measuring progress in Bouldering" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;progress&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-13T23:58:25.390" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stop working out few months ago because of work I travel a lot and I lost a lot of muscle . I got me a membership at a gym but is so hard for me to concentrate and motivate myself while I'm at the gym what can I do to get back at it and be able to concentrate . I was a very active and hard worker person before I stop my work outs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20048" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T12:23:52.993" Title="I need help to be able to focus during my work outs" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-04-18T10:50:21.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29501" CreationDate="2016-04-14T07:00:40.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm getting this right, your approach would be to start the program at an artificial deficit and apply linear progression until you are at your actual 5 RM. After that, you'd try to introduce a moderate caloric surplus to maintain linear progression. Correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I might foresee with this is that maintaining linear progression on a strength-based program like this is something that would be typical for a novice. At 2.5 years of training, assuming your programming prior to this was okay, you should no longer be a novice. Let's find out if you do still qualify as one regarding relative strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've entered the data you've provided in the symmetricstrength.com website, which I consider a good resource for estimating your level because it is based on generally accepted strength standards and research. Here's the results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before bulk in August: 56.6 score, novice level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After bulk in December: 62 score, intermediate level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After cut, now: 58.7 score, novice level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bulk managed to put you into intermediate level. After the cut you've dropped back a bit into novice but you're still stronger overall. Now, this isn't the whole story of course. The real question is: had linear progression on your bulk stalled to the point that adding weight to the bar on at least a two-weekly basis didn't work anymore? No longer being capable of linear progression, and no longer being able to fully recuperate between successive workouts without some sort of periodization are signs you'd no longer be a novice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because your strength dropped a bit on the cut, you can probably maintain linear progression again for a while. But I think your approach could have some problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By first introducing an artificial deload, you'll also artificially stretch out the linear progression. However, since you're working at submaximal loads for a while you aren't really making any substantial progress. It might be best to start at your actual 5 RM, or very close to it, and try to increase each lift by 2.5 kg every week, or possibly every 2 weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because you're close to intermediate level, doing full-body workouts three times per week with increasing loads might not let you fully recover from workout to workout. A true novice, due to lifting weights far from their physical potential, can recover in about 48 hours, max 72. You possible can't, so you'd need periodization.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you attempt to maintain linear progression after having reached your actual 5 RM, you will probably need a bigger caloric surplus than the suggested 200-400 kcal. Which would end up undoing your cut, and at the very least take you over 12% body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I look at it, what is actually happening is that you're attempting to introduce some periodization into your workout. But rather than working up to an actual max effort and then cycling back, you'd try to keep linear progression going. StrongLifts 5x5 is a beginner program, you are starting to move past that stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd advise you instead to look into intermediate programming. A good intermediate program would have some periodization, so your increases in weight lifted are now on a monthly or even 6-week basis. You could do a short run-up using StrongLifts 5x5 with linear progression until you start missing lifts, but once you hit intermediate stage, it will have mostly exhausted its usefulness for your situation. If you wish to design your own program with the concepts necessary for an intermediate, you might want to check out the book &quot;Practical Programming for Strength Training&quot; by Mark Rippetoe and Andy Baker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T07:00:40.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29509" CreationDate="2016-04-14T12:23:52.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, this splits into two primary situations: either you're having an issue getting &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; the gym consistently or you're having trouble actually working out once you get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Getting to the gym&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the more common situation in my experience, and is a major part of the business plan for most gyms. It's hard to wake up early in the morning to exercise before work. After work, you're stressed and tired, and maybe hungry from not having eaten since lunch. If you go home for a bit, the odds are you don't leave...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, reading your question, it doesn't seem that's actually the case for you yet, but for me, the key is to simply be there. Schedule your time at the gym. Make it a priority and pick a consistent time. Even if you're not feeling in top shape, even if you'd really prefer to go home and curl up with your computer, go to the gym. Track it on a calendar so that it quickly becomes obvious if you start skipping going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exercising while at the gym&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm kind of prone to this one myself. I go to the gym and I wind up just sort of faffing about, doing random exercises or taking long breaks in between to &quot;recover&quot; or check my email. My solution has been to have a consistent routine and stick to it. Your gym may have a posted circuit which you can follow. Set your goals and push through them. Set a timer for breaks so that you never spend more than a few minutes, and preferably stay up and moving, walking around, while on break, to keep from tightening up and to keep your bloodflow up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T12:23:52.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29515" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-14T14:06:42.467" Score="1" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;My left chest is smaller 50% than the right. My left back and butt are 30% bigger than the right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am right handed so this might have happened. It wasn't so noticeable before but after I started working out at home recently, it's starting to look uneven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem worsened when I started doing push-ups focusing on the left one in order to balance both the chests. Now the chest looks barely even and the left back is growing while the right isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I even them out? Any specific technique to workout at home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20054" LastEditorUserId="20054" LastEditDate="2016-04-17T05:46:01.493" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T05:46:01.493" Title="Home Workout: My body has been disfigured. How do I even the both sides?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-04-21T21:02:47.183" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29280" CreationDate="2016-04-14T19:36:21.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to consume 0.8 gram per pound protein a day and add HIIT program in your workout regime three times a week. In this way you will gain more muscle and HIIT program will boost your metabolism for increased fat loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19795" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T19:36:21.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29259" CreationDate="2016-04-14T19:46:08.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there's a lot of difference which can be noticed easily then you should definitely go to a doctor and let it be examined. If the difference is minor then it is quite normal because no one ever has an aesthetic and proportionate physique naturally. Even professional bodybuilders struggle a lot for perfect aesthetics. Normally, difference between some of body parts can be seen commonly, like size of right and left biceps,, size of left and right traps and chest too &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19795" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T19:46:08.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29048" CreationDate="2016-04-14T19:54:38.370" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No worry ivaro, you switched to 10 kgs of weights in both hands directly from null. You should have increased the weight gradually like 2.5, 5 then 10. Even though you are not a beginner still it really doesn't matter how better you are in doing other exercises... Our body react differently for different exercises. Infact this is the way our body adapts it.. But it is only correct if the intensity is increased gradually. &#xA;My suggestion is to start doing lunges but with less weight and you'll be good to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19795" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T19:54:38.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29532" CreationDate="2016-04-14T22:02:08.933" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently restarted my gym lifestyle and as expected DOMS made their appearance, specially chest shoulder area, now my issue is not how to deal with them on a daily basis but specifically when I require those muscles to do another exercise in my case, squats; I've been trying to stretch my shoulders all day trying to reach a similar position as if I was holding the bar behind my neck(like for squatting) but the discomfort is really bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering how can I deal with DOMs while working out, stretching, avoid movements that cause aching, or just suck it up and do the routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T14:53:37.127" Title="Dealing with DOMS" Tags="&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29500" CreationDate="2016-04-15T01:48:27.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has nothing to do with the formula based upon heart rate , it's the way it works even when you are not exercising.&#xA;Every single part of your body from your organs to your muscles requires energy to survive. That is what your basal metabolic rate is based upon.&#xA;The more of you there is, the more energy is necessary to keep you a float. When you are exerting yourself more than just existing like walking or standing even sitting you need to expend more energy to support that.&#xA;The amount of energy necessary once again goes up if there is more of you.&#xA;The formula of calculating calories based upon heart rate is simply a way of correlating hr to energy output (FYI it's not a highly accurate formula).&#xA;So naturally the same principles will apply to the formula that it will assume your output is more if you weigh more&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T01:48:27.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29521" CreationDate="2016-04-15T03:12:31.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often enough a foam roller can accomplish what stretching cannot.&#xA;I would recommend you add that into your routine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T03:12:31.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29529" CreationDate="2016-04-15T04:50:40.473" Score="3" ViewCount="4667" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 20 year old male. I never had this problem before. I stopped running for almost a year, but am now again starting to jog to remain fit. I have been running now for almost two weeks, but I get this weird pain in my legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OaUdx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OaUdx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Shin splints&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels like my bones are hurting. How do I treat it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20059" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-04-15T12:48:02.840" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T02:05:11.720" Title="Why do my legs hurt so bad while running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;bones&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29524" CreationDate="2016-04-15T05:31:11.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way is to stop running, at least for a while.&#xA;Like other bone injuries shin splints can take a long time to heal, several weeks or longer. Try stopping for a week and see if your legs feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why it is important to start slowly when you start running again and not do too much too quickly. Start off running one day a week, then slowly increase to 2 days and so on. You can do other activities on the other days to vary your fitness routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise you may end up with injuries like shin splints or tendon injurues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lack of magnesium you mention can cause muscle cramps which are quite different to &quot;bone pain&quot; Muscle cramps are a short term but etremely painful tightening of the muscle. You will not be able to walk at all if you have a cramp. Massage it and it should pass in a minute or two. I have had some success myself with eating a handful of almonds every day to prevent muscle cramps because they are high in magnesium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20045" LastEditorUserId="20045" LastEditDate="2016-04-15T21:44:08.193" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T21:44:08.193" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29280" CreationDate="2016-04-15T11:38:10.010" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that eat whatever you want to eat. Try making diet plan, have meals on time, 30 minutes morning and evening exercise is must. This will definitely work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20038" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T11:38:10.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29280" CreationDate="2016-04-15T12:50:29.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining muscle mass requires a caloric surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing fat requires a caloric deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can clearly see the contradiction. It isn't going to work, and especially not if you train &lt;em&gt;for mass&lt;/em&gt; only once a week. You see, if you're in a caloric deficit, meaning you consume less than you expend, your body will have to provide the missing calories itself to maintain function. That energy is going to come from fat stores and possibly muscle, should protein consumption not prove sufficient for things it considers more vital (such as, say, keeping your liver running). Building muscle mass is an anabolic process which will require energy, thus calorie intake. If you are in a deficit, it is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a priority for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, from this it is maybe not unreasonable to believe that it could be possible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. After all, if you provide a stimulus to your body in the form of heavy weightlifting that signals it that its current state is inadequate so it must improve muscle tissue, while at the same time being in a slight deficit, maybe there's no reason to believe our biology isn't clever enough to invest in muscle tissue &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; burn excess fat (which is there as an energy store anyway). You'll find sources out there that state this is indeed possible for beginners in strength training, and that with a careful calorie and nutrient balancing you can &quot;recomp&quot;: slowly lose fat while also slowly building muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with all of that is, that it's mostly hearsay. Conventional wisdom can be wrong, and just because something is repeated enough doesn't make it true. Even if it were true, progress in this way would be slow. What you can be sure of, however, is that a caloric deficit will result in weight loss, and that a caloric surplus (at least on top of your total daily energy expenditure without considering training and additional protein synthesis) is a requirement for muscle gain. So rather than gamble, you might want to go with what has been proven time after time to work. Focus on one goal, then the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T12:50:29.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29524" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:01:06.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tag/shin-splints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shin splints&lt;/a&gt;, as per your picture, the first step is to stop running for a bit and to ice the area to reduce inflammation. To be perfectly frank, the pain you're feeling is due to injury, and continuing to operate despite the injury is courting greater damage. This is also important because stress fractures are sometimes mistaken for shin splints, and you definitely do not want to keep running on one of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of that, stretching can sometimes help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gently stretch your Achilles if you have medial shin splints, and your calves if you have anterior shin splints. Also, try this stretch for your shins: Kneel on a carpeted floor, legs and feet together and toes pointed directly back. Then slowly sit back onto your calves and heels, pushing your ankles into the floor until you feel tension in the muscles of your shin. Hold for 10 to 12 seconds, relax and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a sitting position, trace the alphabet on the floor with your toes. Do this with each leg. Or alternate walking on your heels for 30 seconds with 30 seconds of regular walking. Repeat four times. These exercises are good for both recovery and prevention. Try to do them three times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, the Runner's World article I posted said that some people have luck with wrapping their legs during running. According to Dr. Sheldon Laps, DPM, a podiatrist, &quot;What you're doing is binding the tendons up against the shaft of the shin to prevent stress.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am far from an expert on the situation, so this is largely regurgitated material I've found elsewhere, but I hope that it is helpful to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-08-03T10:55:03.823" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T10:55:03.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29501" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:45:00.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Bulking on SL for you is problematic&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I answer your question, your problem is you are trying to bulk/cut on a massively sub-par program while being past your beginner phase. For bulking and cutting, up your volume and focus on hypertrophy. I'd advise you to read The Scientific Principles of Strength Training by Israetel, Hoffman and Chad Wesley Smith for more information. To be clear, Stronglifts is not a good program for most people after their initial exposure to lifting intelligently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging from your weight/height and cut/bulk results on strength, you likely need to up your volume and stop focusing on minimalist strength programs, whether your goal is strength or size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;But can I cut until I hit my 5RM?&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: if you start on a deficit and keep going until you hit your 5RM, you are wasting all of that time in between not making much progress (you'll get some small technique benefits, some nervous system work for strength maybe a bit of muscle but not much else). StrongLifts isn't a magical program. As mentioned if you don't up your volume you'll find it challenging to make gains at your weight and height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly once you hit your 5RM on SL you'll already have cumulative fatigue from the program built up. You won't be able to just start off a small bulk and make progress again. I assume you would stall repeatedly, and even after multiple resets you would not get very far on SL after hitting your 5RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A note on your goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your cut and bulk cycle it seems like your body image is quite important to you. If your major goal is strength, at your height you just need to bulk right up (adding just 5kg of BW is probably not a sufficient bulk). I'd also recommend switching to a higher volume program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your major goal is aesthetics, then your cut/bulk cycling is fine, but again you'll need to get on a program that reflects your goals. That program is not StrongLifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-04-15T14:14:09.653" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T14:14:09.653" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29515" CreationDate="2016-04-15T14:49:23.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Non symmetrical musculature is very common. Everyone has this to some degree. It's usually not something to worry about unless it's serious or it's affecting your body image too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your training you should use more unilateral movements. Things like single arm presses, rows, or lunges, step ups etc. To start with, just be sure to do an extra set or two every workout for the weaker muscle. When doing things one side at a time, do the weaker side first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T14:49:23.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29521" CreationDate="2016-04-15T14:53:37.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't mess with it too much outside of the gym. Some light stretching just to maintain range of motion is good but be careful not to go too far!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can very easily train through DOMS, if it's just soreness then go through it but if your joints feel terrible or you feel you cannot produce force then it'll be better to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general muscular DOMS is fine, but if you manage to damage your connective tissue (tendons etc) then you'll need to rest it for a while before continuing to work out a bit less intensely. Rest is the key, not trying to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T14:53:37.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29488" CreationDate="2016-04-15T14:53:58.553" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every clinical trial involving weight loss shows the same results, where people lose weight for up to 6 months and then &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/zoneatkinsjama.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;graph of weight loss over time&quot;&gt;start to regain from that point&lt;/a&gt;. It is commonly believed that weight is regained because people start increasing calories. In fact, as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17341711&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A-Z trial&lt;/a&gt; shows, and as you already know from experience, when people get on the scale and find that weight is coming back on, they redouble their efforts, further restricting calories and working out harder. Unfortunately, and counter intuitively, further caloric restriction does not help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason is that as weight is lost, the body responds with hormonal regulation. Ghrelin and Leptin, which regulate appetite and energy balance, are affected. Energy levels change; BMR changes in ways we don't quite understand. Anyone who has &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2004/05001/Weight_Gain___Marathon_Runner_Triathlete.705.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;participated in marathon training and gained weight&lt;/a&gt;, which many have, knows that something more is going on than calories in and calories out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you have found that counting calories is not working for you anymore, perhaps it is time to look at regulating hormones. Many people find they can regulate Ghrelin and Leptin, and therefore hunger, with a very low carbohydrate and moderate protein diet. More importantly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jci.org/articles/view/10842&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Insulin resistance must be countered&lt;/a&gt;. Insulin resistance is caused by two much insulin due to blood sugar regulation (eating too much carbohydrate), and insulin too often (eating too often). To fix this problem, eat fewer carbohydrates, and eat less often. I suggest thoroughly reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://intensivedietarymanagement.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intensive Dietary Management&lt;/a&gt;. Unfortunately, there are not yet clinical trials to directly support the approach. But, there are numerous trials that debunk the approach of further lowering calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T14:53:58.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29453" CreationDate="2016-04-15T15:09:40.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly your body can adapt to a lot of crazy things within limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now lifting every day applies differently to different lifts. Doing the olympic lifts everyday is a different beast to doing squats/bench/deads every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition squatting everyday (getting popular nowadays) is again a different animal to deadlifting every day (which you may have noticed you never tend to hear about), or even bench pressing every day (suspiciously absent from current trends too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talking about ultra high frequency programs in general, remember that there are three major variables that have to be manipulated together: volume, intensity and frequency. If you up the frequency like on Bulgarian training methods, you have to lower the intensity and the volume. Now Bulgarian methods maintain a pretty high intensity, but it's not a true max - applying Bulgarian frequencies to regular weight training necessitates using an &quot;easy max&quot; to prevent you dying. This is also called a daily minimum. So frequency is very high, intensity is pretty high, and as a result volume is super low: you train mostly singles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all about mastery of fatigue management, but there's different kinds of fatigue. Without getting too hairy, lifting super frequently is mainly excellent for improving motor learning: technique and how good you are at using your existing musculature to apply strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus you'll find that Bulgarian style training can work well for people who have good levels of muscle mass but are not very efficient in terms of strength. It just makes them very good at lifting singles, very quickly. It does not build mass well though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to be clear, a lot of people crash out or get injured when trying Bulgarian training, it's not for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T15:09:40.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-15T17:46:47.877" Score="4" ViewCount="5329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 25 years old female, doing WTF taekwondo(Olympic) for over 10 years(black belt). My height is 165 cm, weight 53 kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is - what to do in the gym to help my sparring? Especially I want to increase speed of my movements and kicks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I have 2 taekwondo and 3 gym sessions per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My routine is such:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mon: Taekwondo &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tue: Gym - shoulders and abs, stretching&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wed: Taekwondo &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thu: Gym - back and legs (machines, experimenting with weights and reps - not sure what is best type of doing exercises)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fri: Gym - chest, biceps, triceps, plyometric exercises - box jumps, jumps from squat. Goblet squats,lunges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve my taekwondo performance &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build some upper body muscles, because they are not used much in taekwondo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look good :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help and examples of taekwondo -specific workouts appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My leg flexibility is quite good, I have full right split, almost have left, and around 10 cm to cross split. I stretch before every Tkd training and on Tuesdays. Pretty standard stretching routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have bad spine flexibility, so I recently started doing yoga-style exercises for spine, I do it 15 minutes every day. Will see if it helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing more taekwondo and plyo is logical, but I am really tired after Tkd(we have hard trainings), can't do it two days straight. Only if one of these is light training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I love any kind of training, so I added strength sessions to do something of other kind and not overtrain. Also I obviously need some rest days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20064" LastEditorUserId="20064" LastEditDate="2016-04-15T19:44:07.077" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T16:13:42.473" Title="Gym routine for advanced taekwondo practitioner" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;&lt;explosiveness&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29607" CreationDate="2016-04-15T18:39:27.977" Score="1" ViewCount="1355" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine has arms that are so long that when he stands with his hands at the collars, the barbell hangs well below his hip crease.  He doesn't know what to do at the explode/second pull.  If he does what comes naturally (gets to a power position and explodes) he makes contact with his genitals often enough that he naturally isn't willing to do that anymore.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should he explode early?  Then the barbell is brushing/making contact at his thighs, more like the rest of us when we clean.  There's a lot written about this isn't optimal, but perhaps this is a case of you-do-what-you-gotta-do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should he bend his arms during the first pull?  This is a recreational athlete, so I do not feel comfortable trying to teach him about arm bend.  He'd have to practice a LOT to learn to relax his arms at the explode, and I don't believe he'll invest that kind of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other options that I'm not seeing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note:  My question is similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19438/arms-are-too-long-to-snatch-advice-please&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; except my athlete cannot possibly widen his grip any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20065" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T19:24:55.083" Title="Arms too long to snatch properly" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29536" CreationDate="2016-04-15T19:08:23.250" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to be better at Taekwondo, do more of that. Training twice a week is not enough. When I was training at junior level, I was doing 4 brutal training sessions a week plus a plyo/cardio weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no coach, but I think that random weight training could make you actually worse at taekwondo because being strong an slow is a thing you don't want. I'm sure you can find taekwondo-specific exercise program on-line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20008" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T19:08:23.250" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18188" CreationDate="2016-04-15T19:49:00.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a lady with a broken wrist who did front squats &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/H1eOVrJIQpQ?t=1m27s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this way&lt;/a&gt;.  If you add in clean pulls, then you're working two major phases of the clean without putting yourself in that painful position (although you mentioned powerlifting, not weightlifting, so perhaps you do not care about cleans).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20065" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T19:49:00.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29536" CreationDate="2016-04-16T02:53:14.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a TKD practitioner, but I train in several other martial arts.  Here are some things to consider when developing a workout program for martial artists:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since you are female, you don't need to worry about this, but I'm dropping a note for any men who may find the question later: &lt;strong&gt;Carefully manage bulking&lt;/strong&gt;.  Women won't bulk the way men do, but men should be mindful bulking, because overbulking can impair martial arts movements.  &quot;Overbulking&quot; in this context means &quot;taking on muscle size without an adequate increase in flexibility to preserve quality of movement&quot;.  You've probably seen bodybuilders who walk like stiff old men -- that's what I'm talking about here.  Men: to maintain your martial arts performance, you should consider programming to keep your size increases slow and easy (so that normal martial arts training is enough to provide needed flexibility gains), or make flexibility work part of your regular routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The research in unclear as to why women with normal hormone profiles don't bulk the way men do.  This is even more confusing since we develop &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/19983337_Muscle_hypertrophy_in_men_and_women&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;about as much muscle fiber for the same amount of strength increase&lt;/a&gt;. Some folks have argued that it's a perception difference: that a 14% increase on a woman doesn't look as big as a 14% increase on a man because she started out smaller.  Others have argued (couldn't find a cite for this one) that the difference has to do with how much intramuscular adipose tissue (fat mixed among the muscle fibers) the typical strength athlete retains depending on whether they are male or female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male-female isn't the only marked difference, by the way: bodybuilders tend to be bigger and less mobile, on average, than strength athletes (powerlifters, etc.) with the same lifting maximums.  There's some discussion around &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengtheory.com/sarcoplasmic-vs-myofibrillar-hypertrophy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sarcoplasmic hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt;, i.e. the idea that adding sarcoplasm faster than fiber to muscle fiber to muscle tissue gives more size than strength, but I'm not sure how well-founded those ideas are.  More interesting, and mentioned in passing in that article, is the fact that &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengtheory.com/your-drug-free-muscle-and-strength-potential-part-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strength is a combination of muscle and skill&lt;/a&gt;.  This is one of the reasons that, for a martial artist who cares about performance more than figure competition and so on, I recommend freeweights and compound movements below.  Generating more muscle is only one part of the puzzle: for maximum efficacy in martial arts, one must also have reasonably balanced muscle development, and train kinetic chaining, body awareness, and other skills relevant to coordinating that muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Martial artists need to be strong everywhere.&lt;/strong&gt;  I &lt;em&gt;highly&lt;/em&gt; recommend getting into barbell work and focusing on the &quot;big lifts&quot;, that is compound movements that use many muscles together.  Squats, deadlifts, rows, overhead press, and bench press are examples of these.  Avoid using strength machines too much, because unlike freeweights they don't make you work the small stabilizer muscles along with the big ones.  Avoid isolation exercises, such as bicep curls, because they don't improve your kinetic chaining ability (your ability to coordinate many muscles together, like when you use your core muscles to put more oomph behind a punch or kick) and take a lot of time to try to cover everything you need to work out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High weight, few reps.&lt;/strong&gt; There's a myth out there that multi-discipline athletes like martial artists (we need strength AND endurance AND flexibility AND dexterity) should do very little weight and a ton of reps in order to avoid getting too...I have no idea what.  People keep repeating it anyway.  You will progress the fastest in your strength training if you do small sets at a high (for you) amount of weight in a few compound exercises, then &lt;em&gt;get on with your day&lt;/em&gt;.  You have skill drills and other stuff to do besides lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't just repeat the same routine endlessly.&lt;/strong&gt;  Prepping for a belt test vs. focusing on strength vs. trimming or adding fat vs. building work capacity...we all have different goals at different times.  Break down your training into a number of weeks that makes sense to you (I do 6 or 8 week blocks, YMMV) and force yourself to re-assess your program regularly.  Sometimes I lift 4x/week.  Sometimes I lift 2x/week.  It depends on what I'm working on.  Additionally, there's a concept called &quot;periodization&quot; that's a bit complicated to thoroughly cover in this post, but the gist is: sometimes you can help your progress by backing off your lifting loads and then increasing them again.  In any case, figure out what you most want to work on RIGHT NOW and then re-assess regularly based on your progress and changing goals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider that significantly upping any aspect of your training regimen will suck for a few weeks.  How long depends on a number of factors...anything between a few days and six weeks of increased DOMS (delay-onset muscle soreness) and decreased energy levels is normal.  If that sort of thing really bothers you, consider introducing strength training in smaller increments.  OTOH, if you are the &quot;I want progress RIGHT NOW&quot; type, consider hitting it hard (within safe limits) and powering through the discomfort with the knowledge that it will end.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I revamped my training program a couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to work with an excellent personal trainer.  However, since then I've had to become more independent with planning my programming.  My favorite resources are the forums at &lt;a href=&quot;http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com&lt;/a&gt; and the excellent Tactical Barbell books available at &lt;a href=&quot;http://tacticalbarbell.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://tacticalbarbell.com&lt;/a&gt; .  The former is a useful community of folks with a lot of knowledge.  The latter are books by a former selected unit member and personal trainer that outline some heuristics for developing strength training (book one) and conditioning (book two) programs for various types of field operators, such as military, SWAT, SAR, and so on.  Most of the principles also hold true for martial artists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1409" LastEditorUserId="1409" LastEditDate="2016-04-26T14:21:26.103" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T14:21:26.103" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29547" CreationDate="2016-04-16T10:23:20.687" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;The accepted wisdom for converting a daily calorie deficit to resulting weight loss is roughly 3500 kcal to half a kg, with the amount of weight loss getting smaller with body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm curious if any more accurate models have ever been created, specifically based on empirical evidence. The 3500 kcal figure seems to be based on a rough estimate of the calorie content of body fat, and not on actual observed weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't be that difficult to do a simple study where a diverse sample of people follow a calorie deficit diet and do some exercise, and to fit a model from the basic variables (age, wieght, height, starting weight, calorie deficit) to the weight loss on a given day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would seem to me that such studies have most certainly been done, but unfortunately the internet is not giving me anything more that the figure above. Can anyone provide more in-depth research?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;I should perhaps stress that I'm not doing this to set out a diet plan or to calculate my own weight loss. I know there's no predicting personal weight loss to this level of accuracy. I'm just curious.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20069" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T01:57:30.530" Title="Calorie deficit to weightloss: evidence-based model" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29536" CreationDate="2016-04-16T10:42:07.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not qualified to give a full answer, this originally started out as a comment, but got too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I would add to HedgeMage's answer is, that risk assessment and fixing possible issues of eg. symmetry and core bracing would be a good idea before starting with a weight program aimed at explosiveness. &lt;em&gt;Do not assume that you are ready for explosive lifts, because you have experience in another sport.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight training is not inherently more risky than any other sport, but any major change in the way you train assumes risk (that is, you can do everything &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt; and still get hurt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assessing and managing possible risks is therefore a good idea. For example, issues of symmetry, one side weaker or less flexible, is a risk. Excess mobility is also a risk. Lack of spinal stability is a risk (therefore, working on yoga-style spinal twists might be good or counter productive - it depends).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, building up your new weight routine gradually makes sense. You can check out the work of Dan John, he has many good introduction books to strength training for athletes. To quote him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an athlete needs explosive movements, check patterns, grids and symmetry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don’t ignore that ‘if.’ Throwers, collision athletes and jumpers might need to snatch and clean &amp;amp; jerk. Grandma probably doesn’t. Take the time to really search and deal with gaps, asymmetries and poor movement patterns before tossing bodyweight overhead at an Olympic lifting meet. The injuries come fast and hard in the quick lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend quality time mastering the push press, the swing and the Litvinov family. For many of us, these three will be enough to break through any physical barriers or limitations. The O lifts changed my career, but I was physically, mentally and emotionally ready for the challenge. I also had months to master the movements before I had to compete in my main sport, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not have the years it takes to walk up the path to explosive movements in the weightroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do, get going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T17:57:51.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29545" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-16T19:06:33.537" Score="0" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;You sit on top of heels. You try to get back to the floor straight while bending backwards. A picture is &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Rfmx.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The ideal position has the lumbar spine almost touching the floor, specifically the vertebrae such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WCK9k.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;L4-T7&lt;/a&gt; closer to ground. Anatomically, this is related to muscle chains connecting psoas, hip flexors, back muscles and tight hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can you improve the sitting on heels position with backwards bend?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the name of this position? Its yoga name? Its fitness term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How to improve the position?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is the anatomic analysis correct about hip flexors, psoas, back and hamstrings? How to find more specific muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T15:09:09.340" Title="Improvements to Curved Back while sitting on Heels and trying to get Back aligned with floor?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29545" CreationDate="2016-04-16T21:16:27.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The position is pretty extensive on the knees. This video suggests to use a block under the hip not to damage the knees &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac4z-bvplMs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; where the practioner sits inbetween the heels (not on top of the heels). However, there are many different varieties to the position such as internal thights wide and sitting on heels &lt;a href=&quot;http://runnersfeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/reclining_hero.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and sitting on heels with thighs side-by-side &lt;a href=&quot;http://conversationswiththequeen.blogspot.fi/2013_03_01_archive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the enumarate list, I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reclining Hero or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supta_Virasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Supta Virasana&lt;/a&gt; that has easier version called thunderbolt, seiza or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrasana_(yoga)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vajrasana&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improving the flexibility all over the body is important such as hamstrings but also muscles around the shoulder scuff. Tight hamstrings and tight muscles particularly on the front-side torso can make excessive strain on the back such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/14744/6066&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. So stopping activity causing the tightness can contribute improvement backbend. Also limiting training to times when body is healthy and receptive is crucial, things such as allergies and over-training can make ideal training damaging. Rapid growth during prenatal period can also be excessive to the body, a coverage &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/29719/6066&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; where legspan comparison between prenatal period and its postperiod: the pictures show how the proportions of body change from youth to adulthood, an important detail to understand. Also people mature in different space so the backbend must always be done with caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supta_Virasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; suggests that this improves &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;the extensor muscles of the leg and the deep psoas muscles that connect the legs to the trunk&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T15:09:09.340" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-04-16T21:16:27.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29542" CreationDate="2016-04-17T01:57:30.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that you'll find better research on the subject currently.  Here's why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Until &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; recently, there was such a strong taboo in the medical community against acknowledging hormonal impacts (other than thyroid hormone deficit or overproduction) on basal metabolic rate (BMR) that nobody could get studies funded on it.  People like me with hormone disorders that impact our BMR are still to this day often told by more &quot;old school&quot; doctors that we are simply lying about our food intake or activity levels rather than treated for those disorders.  The problem is changing...slowly...but the associated social taboos have impacted research funding as well as clinical practice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The US government has been weirdly focused in recent decades on &lt;em&gt;weight loss&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;fat loss&lt;/em&gt;.  Most of the research money they pump into health studies has focused on weighing people rather than doing serious study of body composition, so muscle gain, water retention changes, and so on have messed with results.  Some studies &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; track fat rather than weight (or in addition to weight), but not the majority.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The obsession with weight means that the impact of muscle on BMR is also ignored in many of the studies I've seen.  I.e. a 5'10&quot; tall, 26yo male who is a 230 lb. weightlifter is assumed to have the same BMR as a man of the same height, weight, and age who is a chubby desk jockey carrying minimal muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study would have to be done and re-done for a number of different scenarios to be generally useful.  Due to impacts on insulin production and uptake, as well as other hormonal systems, a calorie isn't just a calorie.  The balance of macronutrients and micronutrients in a diet can have a noticeable impact on fat gain/loss, even with all else being equal.  As an extreme example, if I eat 1600kcal/day in cookies I'll gain fat while being miserable and hungry and maintaining or losing muscle, but if I eat 1600 kcal/day in eggs I'll lose fat while gaining muscle and feeling overfull.  (This is not an endorsement of an all-egg diet; I said it was an &lt;em&gt;extreme&lt;/em&gt; example.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, a minute of activity is not a minute of activity.  We'd need a great deal more studies to improve our estimation of caloric burn based on activity level and relative body composition vs. age and other factors to know what people are actually burning before calculating deficits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, I'm not too worried about &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; having the data you are looking for.  We have enough data for people to know what variables to experiment with in tuning their individual diets, and given the number of variables in play, no straightforward calorie-to-activity accounting is possible.  To get more data than we have now, a huge swath of individuals would have to do years of tightly-controlled studies isolating each of those variables...and all we would get for the money, time, stress, and hassle would be slightly better predictive models that still need experimentation to tweak for the individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1409" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T01:57:30.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-17T15:58:56.173" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm overwhelmed by the number of choices currently available and was hoping that someone here could help me out. I am looking for a wearable heart-rate and fitness monitor that fits the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wrist or ankle band, i.e. not a chest-strap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heart-rate monitoring is continuous, i.e. not just when I push a button&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can set a heart-rate goal and be notified, either via vibration of the device or smartphone app&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus features which would be nice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sleep monitoring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20076" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T12:08:41.830" Title="Continuous HRM with notification" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18188" CreationDate="2016-04-17T16:23:07.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So if I get this straight you can perform pulling movements but not pushing movements with your hand/wrist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be a perfect time to focus on some bodybuilding, especially back and posterior chain training. Basically all kinds of pulling movements. Deadlifts, shrugs, rows, pull ups/downs, just hit your back from all angles with high volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower body shouldn't be an issue, use the leg press machine keeping tension on the quads, get some hamstring and lower back work in with deadlifts or leg curls, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can find a way to train your chest/arms/shoulders without pain then go for it. It's really a matter of trial and error when it comes to injury, see what feels good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That kind of muscular base built with higher volume will really help you out once you return to your beginner strength routines, and you won't lose strength or anything like that. You are in a great position right now and get to really build up that back (something too many novice powerlifters don't give enough importance to), so don't despair!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T16:23:07.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29551" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-17T18:28:18.133" Score="1" ViewCount="780" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately I have been trying to correct my bad posture (curved shoulders and anterior pelvic tilt). Among all the possible solutions I found, the most common were the stretches and other exercises to strengthen some weak muscles. The problem is, those exercises are only done two or three times a day for more or less 10 - 15mins and they only seem to help naturally keep a straight posture for less than 20mins after that, the struggle once again starts (trying to remember to keep the good posture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across this posture braces online (both shoulder braces and back braces) which seem to help with both keeping the shoulders and the hips straight while wearing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about combining both, keep doing the exercises and wearing a brace to maintain that posture for the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This brings me to my question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will wearing a brace on a daily basis (for let's say a month) help strengthen those weak muscles and allow the me to keep that good posture even after I stop using it, or can it worsen the situation by making the body dependent and weaker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19705" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:01.187" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:01.187" Title="Can posture braces help strengthen muscles?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16436" CreationDate="2016-04-18T02:46:45.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Funny I thought muscles were required to produce movement from a dead stop, pre stretched position.  Now it is obvious that starting from the top is easier and if your sport is setup that way then only a fool goes against what's easier.  Actually it would be like competing natural and without gear against guys on the sauce who use gear.  Anyway starting from the hole is much safer.  Either you can lift it or you can't but squats from the top give little info on what's going on as leverage decreases and muscle force must increase.  Although man has found ways to cheat gravity with a power rack or mono lifting man is built to use raw starting strength.  Hence rate of muscle fibre recruitment is a lifters measure of force development.  All lifts are safest when started from full stretch rising to full flexion or started from a point in the lift that is below full contraction.    It's the only way to ensure the muscle can't rebound off  the myotatic reflex essentially each muscle must lift like a deadlift.  The pause must be greater than 2 seconds actually resetting each rep is best to prevent sudden jerks.  I want to be sure I am not trying to go up while my body is still heading down so I must disconnect between reps and reset.  Very important never to get winded during any set or rush because I am strength building not stretch reflex building. Lastly the energy wasted holding weight during a up/down continuous set can be applied to the drive from a full or partial depth.  A muscle is best developed when trained from at least two but preferably 3 depths.  Starting from the shortest depth and increasing the depth.  This is super loading and allows greater loads to be used as range of motion is increased. Basically raises the tension in the fast twitch fibres and stresses the skeleton to increase in density.  The skeleton often is under stressed in training with only full range of motion loads.  Partials depths allow the skeleton to strengthen and that allows the tendons to be stressed enough for the Golgi tendon to be trained to reduce inhibition of shutting off a muscles max force or sub max force.  Read power by DR squat Fred Hatfield he recommended ballistic deadlifting using super max loads and jerking the weight 1-2 inches off the floor to train the Golgi tendon.  First man to squat 4 times BW without today's gear.  1016lbs@254lbs belt and knee wraps only with a walk out. Powerlifting uses speed and reflex actions in squatting and benching.  Hatfield used to jump before performing deadlift attempts on the platform to initiate the stretch reflex.  Remember as I said earlier the sports allow for modified staring positions.  Ground based pulls still and will always be a test of true starting strength. Hole squats and hole benches are not ego lifts they are pure starting strength lifts. Torque gets you going horse power keeps you going.  Takes more guts to get under 500lbs in the hole then staring from the top.  All jumping movements and running uses stretch reflex but in partial depths.  In full range that is just dangerous and stupid.  Why do you think power lifters squat breaking parallel?  To activate a stronger stretch reflex in a partial position and that is all the depth the sport requires.  Always remember we ask our body to do all sorts of funky movements but the funny thing about compound movements in weight training is they are actually designed to be started from stretched to full contraction back to stretched 1 rep.  Now my muscles will need to produce more torque to create acceleration on a dead weight but while lowering a weight I am always producing less force than what is on the bar otherwise I have a static hold.  Force X leverage = % of muscle fibre requirement.  That gave birth to nautilus equipment, band and chain training to combat the advantages of leverage.  However one must be as explosive as they can while gaining leverage or they become slower.  Bands especially and chains to a point compensate for compensatory acceleration by working with it to make the movement yield more overall results.  Read articles or watch videos by Louie Simmons from westside barbell on bands and chain training, Arthur Jones on nautilus equipment training and Fred Hatfield's book Power. Happy safe training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20081" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T02:46:45.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29557" CreationDate="2016-04-18T09:48:49.943" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now that I've hit middle age, I find that my back is often stiff in the mornings and that it doesn't wear off until mid-afternoon. I also discovered I can't do the Fullerton &quot;stand test&quot; (sit down on the floor unaided, then stand back up without using hands) without using one hand on rising. Neither of these augers well for my future fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sedentary or overweight: I cycle to and from work, which takes about 20 minutes each way and includes a hill in each direction. I tend to walk or cycle rather than taking the card, and I occasionally walk and cycle for pleasure when I have the chance, which isn't often. But while these may be helping me maintain baseline cardiovascular fitness, they're not working on my core strength and balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you suggest some short exercises I can do of a morning, without specialist equipment, that will specifically help me with balance and both flexibility and strength in my legs and back? It'd be nice to be able to touch my toes again :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8702" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T16:04:39.820" Title="short exercises to improve core strength, balance and flexibility?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;balance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29556" CreationDate="2016-04-18T11:58:31.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short exercises I can do of a morning, without specialist equipment, that will specifically help me with balance and both flexibility and strength in my legs and back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look to reddits r/bodyweightfitness for more help with these but here is a list of the recommended exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg Work (progression)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squat Progression&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/pistol-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pistol Squat Progression&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/deep-step-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deep Step-Up&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/shrimp-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shrimp Squat Progression&lt;/a&gt; (work in progress) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/2C-uNgKwPLE?t=57s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bulgarian Split Squat&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uA1PLNIWK8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Single Leg Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more, &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthunbound.com/comprehensive-list-of-leg-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Core Work (progression)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/l-sit-progression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;L/V Progression&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/compression-work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compression work&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/bodyline-work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bodyline Work&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/hanging-leg-raises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hanging Leg Raises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretches&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;By completing the exercises above to full range-of-motion. You will end up gaining a good degree of flexability. However, there are a vast playground of stretches you can do. It is a little open ended to say you want to stretch your &quot;back and legs&quot; so I would recommend googling &quot;Stretch for {activity}&quot; i.e. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&amp;amp;ei=s8sUV5vJEfLS8AeSkKrICQ&amp;amp;gws_rd=ssl#q=Stretch%20for%20touching%20toes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stretch for touching toes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T11:58:31.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29549" CreationDate="2016-04-18T12:08:41.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably want a Fitbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on the specific product offerings (for trackers with a heart rate monitor): &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitbit.com/uk/purepulse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.fitbit.com/uk/purepulse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had a fitbit before and I would wear one again. The app is very aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. Only downside is that you might be slightly off with your heart rate monitoring compared to a chest strap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T12:08:41.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-18T14:19:33.643" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to build muscle/burn fat/generally get in shape for the past two months, but I have not been noticing much difference in my appearance. I don't expect to have lost 10lbs, but I can at least tell I'm making a bit of progress because I can lift a little more or run a little longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't bother weighing myself since I figure that, since I'm both trying to burn fat and build muscle, my weight may not be an accurate representation of progress. Some people might try measuring their waist and keeping track of that, but most of my excess fat does not actually sit on my waist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other methods I can use to try to keep track of my physical progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some new context is that I've realized that my insulin resistance can affect my ability to burn fat. So, I may be building muscle, but not losing much fat, making it hard to see progress. With this in mind, what can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user20088" LastEditorDisplayName="user20088" LastEditDate="2016-04-19T14:16:26.993" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T21:20:08.023" Title="How can I measure my physical progress if I am gaining muscle faster than I am losing fat?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-04-25T07:07:59.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29560" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-18T14:34:56.700" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past few months I have been trying to lose fat/build muscle/generally become more fit, but have not been seeing any progress. After a bit of googling, I found that insulin resistance, which I was diagnosed with years ago, can hinder attempts to lose fat. Are there methods I can use to try to account for this difficulty? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already try to avoid carbs when I can - and when I do eat them I opt for whole grain - but are there things I can eat/exercises I can do that will make my attempts more fruitful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it helps, my usual work out routine is minimum 2x week 30min weight training w/ 10 min cardio warm-up, + 30 minute elliptical as many times as I can fit into my schedule, and my average caloric intake is about 1500 mostly from meat, veggies + fruits. 22yo female 5'4 ~140-145lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user20088" LastEditorDisplayName="user20088" LastEditDate="2016-04-20T17:16:32.303" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T17:16:32.303" Title="How can I adjust my fitness routine to account for my insulin resistance?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29556" CreationDate="2016-04-18T18:21:15.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally use a YouTube yoga channel and just do the mellow beginners videos in the morning. There are a lot of options and different people providing videos so with a little investigation I would suspect you could find something that fits your style and time availability. You don't need any specialty equipment and it works balance, core and flexibility. I personally like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene/videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;YogaWithAdriene&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; instructors style and pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20042" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T18:21:15.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2016-04-18T19:20:52.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an ectomorph. I'm 6'2 and, maybe 140lbs. The only exercise I do are push ups, chin ups, sit ups, and triceps dips. I can easily lift my own body weight. I can carry over 200 lbs on my back. But, no matter how strong I get, I'm still skinny as hell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love the ripped sinewy look. I have cool veins. I can walk forever, and, I can climb a rope with just my arms and can fly over any terrain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evolutionarily, we are the scouts, runners, hunters. We might not have the warrior build of mesomorphs, but there's obviously benifits to our body type or evolution would have snuffed us out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20090" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-04-18T19:34:10.390" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T19:34:10.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29556" CreationDate="2016-04-19T08:59:52.140" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm, never heard something about Feldenkreis? &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldenkrais_Method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldenkrais_Method&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love sport. I'm not superstitious. I think it relax and stretch the muscles and tends in places that are very difficult to stretch. For example after 20 min working on the neck the circumference roundabout is larger. Same for other joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thing Feldenkreis helps you to know your body better inside and how it work. + it will stretch you body considerably after 1 month exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for my english...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20095" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T08:59:52.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29551" CreationDate="2016-04-19T09:28:19.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm, i dont  think you will see the fruits after 1 month wearing the bracers. I think to bring you body back in a correct way needs time. Stretching, toning the right muscles and wear the bracers is the antidote. Maybe a roller foem can help you to.&#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20096" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T09:28:19.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29559" CreationDate="2016-04-19T12:33:23.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take pictures. I assume you're still a beginner, hence trying to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. This is only achievable by beginners because the body is not used to the exercising/weightlifting yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take pictures once a week/month to keep track of progress. The reason you don't see progress in the mirror is because you look at your daily progression and compare to yesterday. If you compare to last month and you lost 5lbs, you see the difference 5lbs made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way is to check if your clothes still fit. Muscle is denser than fat, so your waist line will be smaller and your pants should start to feel loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T12:33:23.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28102" CreationDate="2016-04-19T16:07:42.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I don’t have a specific answer for marathon running, I can relate it to a somewhat similar requirement.  I feel the methodology utilized would share some of the same characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a competitive rower, I am faced with racing long distances in a “Head” style race.  The typical distance is 3.2 miles (~5000 meters).  Granted, this is not a marathon distance, but, the energy requirements and strategy are similar in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our races are typically broken down into three separate phases each with its own strategy and energy requirements: Start, Body, and Sprint.  The goal is to try to provide a consistent effort over the three separate phases.  Obviously, energy requirements would need to be managed to handle the demand of the distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In rowing, there is a term called “fly and die”.  This is a common strategy in which a boat starts a race at a very high stroke rate (defined as “strokes per minute”) and tries to maintain it throughout the race.  The typical result is the boat “dies” (thus, the “fly and die”).  A more widely accepted methodology is to start the race at a higher than normal race pace, but, then, after a predetermined (short) distance, drop the stroke rate to a more &lt;strong&gt;manageable&lt;/strong&gt;, relatively uncomfortable rate that can be &lt;strong&gt;maintained&lt;/strong&gt; throughout the “Body” of the race.  This strategy would correspond to what you see as an “even pace”.&#xA;In the last phase, the “Sprint”, the rate is again increased for the final predetermined sprint length.  Obviously, the distance strategy is going to be determined by the level of fitness of the boat crew, and any in-race adjustments.  And, setting an early manageable rate allows for the opportunity to sprint at the end of the race.   I would expect the same thing to be true for a marathon runner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either sport, managing the energy requirements seems to be the key goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T16:07:42.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29167" CreationDate="2016-04-19T16:24:42.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that you've already answered above in the question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd just like to add at least two thoughts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st is that &lt;em&gt;there are several running techniques&lt;/em&gt;, such as pose, and evolution running, to mention just two others. I believe that pelvic rotation should play a part in all of them, but perhaps in different ways. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd, is that it'd be useful if you post these stuff on the link you're quoting, maybe they can give you a good follow up, and you can get a direct response by the creator of that technique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you want to improve your body motion (and I believe so, since you ask about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18476/how-can-i-build-up-the-flexibility-to-do-a-ballet-wide-plie&quot;&gt;flexibility&lt;/a&gt; in another post) in this case at the waist, I believe you can use another suggested movement by Danny Dreyer, from ChiRunning: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI3nAF9meic&amp;amp;nohtml5=False&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Butt Walk&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On yet another note, you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2011/04/most-important-information-you-will.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;differentiate between active and passive pelvic rotation&lt;/a&gt;. And ChiRunning suggests to get better at pelvic rotation doing uphills, giving the torso and arms the larger amount of movement and effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20063" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T14:15:25.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29560" CreationDate="2016-04-19T17:15:14.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;High intensity interval training and weight lifting are both very good protocols for insulin resistant people. &#xA;Studies that point to weight lifting increasing insulin sensitivity &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20351587&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20351587&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15628572&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15628572&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;HIIT effect on insulin resistance study&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2640399/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2640399/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can search around as there are a lot more, i just quoted a few&#xA;As with all studies the only way to know if they are really true is to try them out (where there is no risk) and see for yourself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastEditorUserId="19416" LastEditDate="2016-04-19T20:07:40.700" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T20:07:40.700" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29608" CreationDate="2016-04-19T21:06:47.737" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOAc8yn6qec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;acro yoga move&lt;/a&gt; called, where the base is standing bent at the waist, the flyer stands next to them and leaps onto the shoulder of the base, while the base supports and lifts them with both hands?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="5296" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T07:38:33.030" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T07:38:33.030" Title="What is the name of this acro yoga move?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-20T04:42:16.847" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I do to help me bowl faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20106" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2016-04-20T16:18:04.127" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T13:47:49.157" Title="Arm strength for cricket" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-04-25T07:07:30.347" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-20T06:38:30.967" Score="-1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very energetic when it comes to work. But once I reach home why I feel so tired that I can't focus on anything except sleeping. What could keep me going and keep me energized after office?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19283" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T06:48:45.537" Title="How to stay energetic after work" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29574" CreationDate="2016-04-20T06:48:45.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bring your gym kit with you to work. Don't allow yourself to go home before your go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T06:48:45.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-20T07:13:08.693" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm quite the thin tall guy (75kg, 198cm) who recently began to switch up my usual exercise routine. When doing so I discovered that during most exercises done lying down, I have a bit of a problem with my spine and tailbone taking a lot of my bodyweight towards the ground, hurting like hell if I move around. The same goes for my hip when facing the ground, although to a lesser extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having a hard time trying to solve the problem as I often enjoy groups training sessions, and those usually include a lot of lying down in my hoods. Is there anything I should be aware of about this problem or anything that can be done to help it a bit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20107" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T09:07:25.347" Title="Bones in the back hurting while doing lie-down exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29576" CreationDate="2016-04-20T09:07:25.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any lie-down exercise should be done on a mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your group training session involves lying on your back on the ground without any mats, you should immediately STOP doing that, and seriously question the competence of whoever is arranging these sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T09:07:25.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29536" CreationDate="2016-04-20T17:26:32.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase your speed of movement and kicks, then HIIT type training is going to be your friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles have basically two different types of fibers, Type I, and Type II. Type I are traditionally known as the &quot;slow twitch&quot; muscle fibers, and they are much more efficient at using oxygen (aerobic) metabolism to produce energy. These are generally used in the slower, endurance type of training (light weight/high rep, or such things as distance running, cycling, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Type II fibers can be subclassified into Type IIa and IIb. IIa (Fast twitch oxidative) is somewhat in between type I and type IIb, in that it has slightly higher endurance than IIB. IIB (Fast twitch glycolytic) is the short duration, high force/power output muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to increase the speed, you need to increase the efficiency of the type II fibers, which is going to result from high intensity, short burst activities. Plyometrics, sprints, explosive lifts, things like this will help recruit your fast twitch fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-tips/5-ways-recruit-more-fast-twitch-muscle-fibers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a decent short article&lt;/a&gt; on gym lifting to support fast twitch development, I would recommend something like this once or twice a week. The rest of the time I would devote to high intensity technique training, with speed bags, reflex kicks, spped kicks, etc. You can also add resistance bands to your thighs/ankles to increase complexity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/1ni43gQ38iU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is a good video&lt;/a&gt; demonstrating the type of drills I'm talking about, and you can look &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13597/flexibility-training-for-taekwondo&quot;&gt;at this question&lt;/a&gt; for some stretching ideas, as limber muscles will react faster and have a greater reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a note: I can't find them at the moment, but I have read studies that suggest you can turn slow twitch fibers into fast twitch. As soon as I can find that, I will add it into the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I am in TKD class 4 hours a week. Two hours on traditional forms, 1 on weapons, 1 on groundfighting/knife defense/similar topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the week, I do a lot of bodyweight and bag work at home. Generally I do 1/2 hour to an hour of HIIT type training, followed by 30 mins of stretching. The exercises that I do are as follows, mixed up pretty much by whatever I feel like doing that day. I do this 4-5 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine ball toss - I lay on my back, and push throw a medicine ball (8 lbs) straight up from the chest. I emphasize as little time as possible between catch and throw, and really work on an explosive push. Usually 6 sets of 30 tosses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine ball slam - I stand with feet close together, and slam the ball down to one side by twisting my torso. As the ball comes back up I immediately twist and slam it down (both hands) on the other side. 6 sets of 30 slams.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine ball twists - I hold the medicine ball in my hands, and get into a &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.dynamiteclothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/V-UP-Twist.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;V-up position and twist&lt;/a&gt; with straight legs, again emphasizing speed. 6 sets 30 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situps - Put legs in a butterfly stretch position. Lay back, hands over head on ground. Sit up and touch floor past feet with hands, making sure to curl torso on way up/down. I usually do 10-15 in between punch or kick sets (See below)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups - Lower body to ground completely, lift hands off floor then place hands and press. I also vary with clapping pushups, medicine ball under one hand with a roll every pushup, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Punch sets - Generally it's a single to four punch combo (one, one two, one two three, one two three four), then drop for either pushups or situps. Lather rinse repeat, 10 run throughs is one set, generally 3-6 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kick sets - We have a specific 6 kick combination that we do as part of a fitness test, so I'll do that kick combo 10 times with pushups/situps in between each combo.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Punch/kick combos - 30 seconds of full out combinations, 6-10 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Agility - I have small agility hurdles and ladders, and I will work on plyometrics and foot speed/movement. Generally 5-15 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyometrics - Along with the hurdles, I have aerobic steps and I do a lot of the same drills that can be seen in the video and variations thereof.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have the Skilz ankle cuffs with bands that I use, exercise bands, and I recently got a wall mounted bodyweight set &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.trxtraining.com/products/trx-pro?c3ch=PLA&amp;amp;c3nid=TRXPRO3&amp;amp;gclid=CO-jnbrYrMwCFVBbfgod1CYMHA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;similar to this&lt;/a&gt; that I will incorporate. I also do a lot of exercises such as lunges with weights, burpees, etc. While I advocate lifting, I am not lifting at the moment as I'm still trying to get rid of some muscle mass in my legs from when I was cycling and doing triathlons quite a bit. Our sparring style (Both regular and stick sparring) are very much speed games, rather than the WTF &quot;trembling shock&quot; style of scoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T16:13:42.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28102" CreationDate="2016-04-20T21:15:52.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;General Answer&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to economize I'd say that you'd be best at keeping not pace, but &lt;strong&gt;the same &lt;em&gt;effort&lt;/em&gt; all along&lt;/strong&gt;. If someone states that you should be running faster at the end, the question would be: to what aim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience the key is to do proper training to &lt;strong&gt;get familiar with which is your own real long slow distance (LSD) pace&lt;/strong&gt;. (This also applies for ultras.) It's the mind frame of not trying to push harder than you can, and simply setting to what you already know you can get to with your training. If you can or should sprint at the end of a race seems optional, but mostly arbitrary. In any case, a rule of thumb for most experienced runners is: &lt;strong&gt;don't overtrain&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Personal Experience&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran the Buenos Aires Marathon a long time ago, in 2004, and I did not try to speed up at any time. (Noted, I did an awful time, but still) It was my first marathon and I felt perfectly at the end. I just ran as slow as I could and leaving it flow as the time passed. I did my first half of the race in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. After that I just kept going completing the next half in two hours. So, yes, I did run slightly faster at the end but without &lt;strong&gt;no rule imposing&lt;/strong&gt; that on me, it just came because &lt;em&gt;I felt well to run faster at the end&lt;/em&gt;, but I wouldn't have done so if I was tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to support my argument let me wrap it up a bit with my own conclusions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effort is more easily measured by your own bodily sensation, more I'd say than looking at your pace in a gps watch that checks your pace. Depending on your age perhaps a HRM is an intermediate device that may be mandatory for you, and is closer to &quot;natural perception&quot;. I'm more for natural perception, but each person has their own favorite ways of measuring state of health and mind during training/race. You can &lt;strong&gt;pick your own tailored way&lt;/strong&gt; after reviewing many different strategies. No need to get into the obligation of doing one certain way because someone just said so. Trail and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Some references&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you may find useful to see other references, for other arguments, some  perhaps different to my own. A simple online article states that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/peak-performance/how-to-run-your-best-marathon-pace-guaranteed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;you shouldn't run beyond your Brain-Body potential / Listen to your body&lt;/a&gt;, a good reference recommended by &lt;a href=&quot;http://runblogger.com/2013/04/marathon-training-long-run-pacing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Peter Larson&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On yet another note, I'd suggest that you look for the classic opinions on the matter. I'm reading the bibliographic material from James Fixx's book &lt;em&gt;The complete book of running&lt;/em&gt;. He points out that one of the first to intoduce and tackle the LSD subject was &lt;strong&gt;Joe Henderson&lt;/strong&gt; with the 1969 book &lt;em&gt;Long Slow Distance: The Humane Way to Train&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20063" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T21:15:52.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29559" CreationDate="2016-04-20T21:20:08.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hydrostatic weighing is your best bet. For roughly the price of a massage (typically less) a company will tell you your &lt;strong&gt;exact&lt;/strong&gt; BF %.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to google around to see if there is a company near you but if there is you can at least get a baseline and then reschedule for a follow up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="386" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T21:20:08.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29280" CreationDate="2016-04-20T22:06:41.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest a calorie deficit of 10% of you calculated calorie needs for fat loss.  For example if you estimate you calorie needs to be 3000 kcal you would subtract 10% or 300 kcals which is 2700 kcal a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as nutrients, try to strike a 30/40/30 balance between Protein/Carbs/Fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that the best way to eat healthy is to eat as clean as you can 80% of the time.  Lean whole meats, whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, fish, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid sugar of all kinds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20116" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T22:06:41.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-20T23:38:41.123" Score="3" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to build muscle size. There is lot of information online which says like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/31-arnold-approved-training-tips.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arnold&lt;/a&gt; says(3rd point) you need to lift heavy to increase muscle size and there's other information as well like on this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flexonline.com/training/light-vs-heavy-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flex&lt;/a&gt; website you need to lift light to increase your muscle size. What should I do? Lift heavy or lift light to increase my muscle size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20120" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T10:53:36.510" Title="Heavy weight vs Light weight?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29594" CreationDate="2016-04-21T01:24:14.097" Score="3" ViewCount="3888" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started the 5x5 SL program 2-3 months ago, and have had doubts about the quality of my barbell rows. I do them like Mehdi suggests: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/barbell-row/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/barbell-row/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I hear that it can be difficult to really feel it when you start out, I don't feel it in my back, but in my glutes, hams, and my quads, which I think is strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried doing Yates rows and felt it significantly more in my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would that be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I feel it more with Yates, should I do those instead, or is something still happening with the Pendlay rows even though I can't feel it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastEditorUserId="19532" LastEditDate="2016-04-29T08:04:25.710" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T08:04:25.710" Title="Don't feel anything with Pendlay barbell rows. Should I switch to Yates rows?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29623" CreationDate="2016-04-21T01:34:00.083" Score="3" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that I grind out the last 1 to 2 reps of my back squat for the last 2 to 3 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes this involves doing something funky with my hips or knees, which I don't like, but I have the urge to do what it takes to finish the rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that technique is critical, so should I resist this urge and instead fail the rep? Or should I push myself and finish it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it makes a difference, I'm doing the SL 5x5 program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T20:04:36.970" Title="Should I grind or should I fail?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29584" CreationDate="2016-04-21T02:05:45.973" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle size increases when exercise causes microtears in your fibres, and your body recovers. The repair process strengthens the muscles by increasing its size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can microtear your muscles both ways (heavy and light), although the standard rep scheme for bodybuilding is 3x8 (heavy enough to tear effectively, and light enough that you can tear multiple times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PPL is a popular weightlifting routine to build muscle size (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.ca/search?q=ppl+routine&amp;amp;oq=ppl+routine&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.0.0l6.2447j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.google.ca/search?q=ppl+routine&amp;amp;oq=ppl+routine&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.0.0l6.2447j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, your body releases more anabolic hormones when you lift heavy, while it releases catabolic hormones when you lift light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, you can't go wrong with 3x8. (under 6 reps taxes more your CNS [central nervous system] than tears your muscles - for example, at 8 reps, each rep tears the muscle by 0.1%, while at 5 reps each rep tears the muscle by 0.12% (20% increase), you tear 3 x 0.8% = 2.4% with 3x8, and only 3 x 0.6% = 1.8% with 3x5).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16171" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T02:05:45.973" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29586" CreationDate="2016-04-21T02:07:47.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Injuries will hinder your progress more than lifting lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on technique if you want long term gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16171" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T02:07:47.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29592" CreationDate="2016-04-21T05:53:00.233" Score="1" ViewCount="3478" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best crawl that helps to broaden your shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is is possible to tell that theres a crawl, according to the specific movements, better than the others for this aim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18245" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T19:07:07.360" Title="Best swim crawl to enlarge the shoulders" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25125" CreationDate="2016-04-21T06:04:58.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought the &lt;a href=&quot;http://spydergrip.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spydergrip&lt;/a&gt; because I couldn't find anything better out there. I am glad I did because I will never go back to an armband. I love my Spyder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bUgZr.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bUgZr.png&quot; alt=&quot;Spydergrip image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20121" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T12:56:40.313" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T12:56:40.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29584" CreationDate="2016-04-21T08:22:57.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to increace the size of your muscles, this process is called muscle hypertrophy  and it involves an increase in size of skeletal muscle through a growth in size of its component cells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two factors contribute to hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased muscle glycogen storage; and myofibrillar hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased myofibril size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, the effects of exercise are thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-6 reps (&gt;85% 1RM) of work is generally accepted/acknowledged towards building Myofibril Hypertrophy (actual muscle fiber hypertrophy). Also &lt;strong&gt;increases overall strength&lt;/strong&gt; (which influences #2 and #3) [1]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6-12 reps (70-85% 1RM) is work is generally accepted/acknowledged towards building Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy (tissues surrounding the muscle fibers). [1]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12+ reps (&amp;lt;70% 1RM) develops mitochondria and fatigue resistance of a muscle, particularly Type I, predominantly aerobic fibers. Also allows you to tolerate more total work capacity. Note: Lower-intensity, longer-duration aerobic exercise generally does not result in very effective tissue hypertrophy; instead, endurance athletes enhance storage of fats and carbohydrates within the muscles [2]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So matter of fact, &lt;strong&gt;it is not better or worse to lift light or heavy, they just lead to slightly different outcomes&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the information above, my recommendation is to lift a wide variety of rep ranges from high intensity (which means low reps, high weight) to medium intensity (traditional 8-12 body building approach) to light intensity (endurance fiber training/fatigue resistance up in reps of 15-50 in some cases) at various times in your program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&#xA;Just lift, both light for high reps and heavy for less reps.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AMuscle_hypertrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Note, the principles behind muscle growth are still debated&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Kraemer, William J.; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M. (2006). Science and practice of strength training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. p. 50. ISBN 0-7360-5628-9. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] van Loon LJ, Goodpaster BH (2005). &quot;Increased intramuscular lipid storage in the insulin-resistant and endurance-trained state&quot;. Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology 451 (5): 606–16. doi:10.1007/s00424-005-1509-0. PMID 16155759.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T10:53:36.510" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T10:53:36.510" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29589" CreationDate="2016-04-21T08:28:05.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have broken down the main strokes into their activated muscle groups. Note, you will have to do a lot (and I mean a lot) of swimming to see a big increase in your shoulders. It would be more efficient to follow a bodybuilding/powerlifting programme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Freestyle and Backstroke&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core abdominal and obliques are important in rotating the torso for a longer stroke.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hip flexors are used to maintain a compact and steady kick.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Butterfly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core abdominal and lower back muscles lift the body out of the water when breathing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glutes ensure the legs move as one like a dolphin or mermaid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaststroke&#xA; - Pectoral and Latissimus dorsi muscles are used to sweep the arms inwards against the water.&#xA; - Glutes and Quadriceps muscles power the breaststroke kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dO7ud.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dO7ud.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR Butterfly.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.myactivesg.com/sports/swimming/how-to-play/did-you-know/what-muscle-groups-do-swimming-develop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[source]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T08:28:05.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29586" CreationDate="2016-04-21T08:44:38.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a dive through the 5x5 website squat page &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, you don't count reps with bad form. If you complete a set of 5 with 1 bad form rep then you only record 4 for that set. This will cause you to repeat the same weight or de-load next session (automatically if you are using the app).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T08:44:38.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29585" CreationDate="2016-04-21T08:54:36.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Glenn Pendlay said, all Barbell Rows should be Pendlay Rows because it’s more effective.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper-back: You must &lt;strong&gt;pull your shoulder-blades back at the top&lt;/strong&gt; to get the bar to your chest. This works your broadest back muscle that give you a v-shape: your lats ((latisimus dorsi). It also works your traps, rear shoulders and all the small muscles of your upper-back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/barbell-row/#Common_Issues&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/barbell-row/#Common_Issues&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Why should you not switch to Yates Rows while on stronglifts?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Targeting the “lower lats” is a waste of time. Your lattissimus dorsi is one muscle that runs from your arm to your lower back. How low it attaches to your spine depends on your genetics. Yates Rows can’t change your lat attachments. Yates Rows can’t turn tendons into muscle. The only thing you can do is increase the size of your lat muscles as a whole. The best way to train your lats is with heavy Deadlifts and Barbell Rows. Deadlifts force you to keep the bar close using your lats. Barbell Rows force you to lift the weight using your lats. Strengthening your lats increases their muscle size. It gives you a v-shape because your lats are your broadest back muscle. Your genetics determine the final shape of your back. But combined with a healthy self-esteem, you’ll be happy with the result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yates Rows are indeed easier than Barbell Rows. The underhand grip on Yates Rows uses more biceps. This makes Yates Rows easier for the same reason Chinups are easier than Pullups. More muscles working is more strength. But few wrists and elbows can handle an underhand grip on Yates Rows. They’ll usually hurt, especially if you grip too wide and lack flexibility. Dorian Yates stopped rowing underhand after &lt;strong&gt;tearing his biceps&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yates Rows are also easier because the range of motion is shorter. Your torso is incline and the bar touches your belly. On Barbell Rows the bar starts on the floor and your torso is horizontal. You must move the bar over double the distance to hit you chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barbell Rows use more muscles and strengthen them over a longer range of motion. That’s why they’re harder but also more effective to gain strength and muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barbell Rows are a more natural movement than Yates Rows. Barbell Rows are similar to rowing on a boat. Your torso stays perpendicular while you row the resistance to you. Your torso moves slightly back and forth to add momentum. This helps your upper-back and arms row the weight. You wouldn’t row a boat by keeping your torso incline like on Yates Rows. You row like on Barbell Rows because it’s more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can’t use your hip muscles on Yates Rows. Your back starts incline and remains incline for the duration of the set. Your upper-back and arms have to lift the weight alone. With Barbell Rows each rep starts on the floor. You can open your hips to get the bar moving. This helps your upper-back and arms handle heavier weights. And as long as your torso doesn’t rise more than 15°, it won’t take work away from these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yates Rows are stressful on your lower back. Your torso stays incline the whole set. Your lower back must stay neutral to avoid compression of your spinal discs. If your trunk muscles get tired mid-set, your spine will bend. This can cause injury. Barbell Rows are safer because each rep starts on the floor. Your lower back gets a break between reps. And you can set it neutral and tight to avoid lower back rounding on your next rep. Barbell Rows are safer and more effective. Don’t do Yates Rows. Do Barbell Rows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/barbell-row/#Barbell_Row_Variations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/barbell-row/#Barbell_Row_Variations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T14:44:15.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29584" CreationDate="2016-04-21T10:39:51.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll need to do both to some extent, and as always it depends on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Notes on the articles linked&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly the Arnold article also mentions he recommends doing higher reps at a lighter weight (8-12 reps) for some exercises so the &quot;going heavy&quot; recommendation isn't absolute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly the VERDICT in the Flex article is an example of misconstrued conclusions. The study involved doing 4 sets of 4 on the leg extension, compared to 4 sets of around 25. 4x4 on leg extensions is useless for testing the effect of heavy weights, no one does that in real life. What we can take from this article is an indicator about the effectiveness of high rep sets on isolation movements (legs particularly) for building muscle, but we probably can't take away information on the effectiveness of heavy reps. Regardless, the SENTENCING part at the end is solid and as you can see promotes a variety of rep ranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So frankly the solution is to do a variety of rep ranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sarcoplasmic vs Myofibrillar hypertrophy is a fuzzy area in current literature, I wouldn't bother worrying about it. What we do reliably know is that volume (how much work you do, more sets or more reps at more weight is more volume) is the primary driver of hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What should I do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the bulk of your muscle building work in the 8-12 rep range as it's been repeatedly shown to allow for the most work in an efficient time period in a safe manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some of your main compound lifts lower (3-8 reps) and push for strength on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some of your isolation work higher (above 12 reps to as high as you like) for the size building benefits this rep range offers too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always bear in mind regardless of this: none of your lifting should be &quot;easy&quot;. Whether heavy or light you are going to want to push yourself on every set to give your body a reason to grow. If you're just coasting gym workouts you won't get anywhere. You don't need to kill yourself in the gym either, but find that balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T10:39:51.403" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29596" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-21T11:41:45.230" Score="13" ViewCount="5328" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference for my abs between raising my legs, and raising my body? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that the whole lower abs/upper abs training is BS. It's like trying to train the lower or upper biceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastActivityDate="2018-05-13T19:45:34.063" Title="Effect on abs: leg raises vs crunches" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29596" CreationDate="2016-04-21T11:50:51.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of developing the strength of your abdominals, both will work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different exercises activate different muscles more or less. Generally, you cannot split out upper and lower abdominals by exercise and both mentioned exercises will activate both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T11:50:51.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29596" CreationDate="2016-04-21T12:43:55.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, albeit without professional experience or references to back it up, crunches tend to feel like they're only really working the front of the abdomen, while leg lifts always feel like they engage more of the sides, possibly due to differences of stability and how far off of straight legs can go versus the torso.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T12:43:55.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29573" CreationDate="2016-04-21T13:47:49.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your weight training should involve anything that increases your overall strength and musculature of the arms and supportive muscles used in bowling, and that can be incrementally loaded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as an assumption, stuff that targets the back, shoulder capsule, core, posterior chain etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest focusing on squats, deadlifts, and overhead press all using a barbell. Aim to become decently strong on these exercises relative to your bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T13:47:49.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29596" CreationDate="2016-04-21T14:25:37.923" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let's see how the exercises square up on the whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies have been performed regarding the EMG (electromyography) activity for various abdominal muscles in a variety of exercises. You will find the results for the exercises in stimulation of the rectus abdominis and obliques, relative to the traditional crunch, in this Wikipedia section: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_exercise#Types_of_abdominal_exercises_and_effectiveness&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_exercise#Types_of_abdominal_exercises_and_effectiveness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the durability of this answer I'll reproduce the table here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Activity in rectus abdominis                      Activity in obliques&#xA;Exercise                  Mean activity      Exercise                  Mean activity&#xA;&#xA;Bicycle crunch            248%               Captain's chair           310%&#xA;Captain's chair           212%               Bicycle crunch            290%&#xA;Exercise ball             139%               Reverse crunch            240%&#xA;Vertical leg crunch       129%               Hover                     230%&#xA;Torso track               127%               Vertical leg crunch       216%&#xA;Long arm crunch           119%               Exercise ball             147%&#xA;Reverse crunch            109%               Torso track               145%&#xA;Crunch with heel push     107%               Crunch with heel push     126%&#xA;Ab roller                 105%               Long arm crunch           126%&#xA;Hover                     100%               Ab roller                 101%&#xA;Traditional crunch        100%               Traditional crunch        100%&#xA;Exercise tubing pull      92%                Exercise tubing pull      77%&#xA;Ab rocker                 21%                Ab rocker                 74%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this study, the highest mean activity is to be found in the captain's chair exercise (also known as power tower or knee raise station) and the bicycle crunch maneuver, which exceed the other activities rather dramatically on the rectus abdominis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has also been some tests done by Bret Contreras, who looked at a larger number of exercises, but did all tests himself meaning there's far less data points to extrapolate from. Here is the article: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/inside-the-muscles-best-ab-exercises&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/inside-the-muscles-best-ab-exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conclusion here was that chin-ups, hanging leg raises and the ab wheel had the highest mean activity for the rectus abdominis, ab wheel (from feet and from knees) and body saw for internal obliques and ab wheel (from feet), hanging leg raises and bodysaw for external obliques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see there doesn't seem to be a consensus amongst there articles, although I'd say the actual study would be the most reliable. The hanging leg raise and captain's chair are very similar and an excellent workout provided you focus on using your abdominal muscles and not just the hip flexors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the data it seems like the reverse crunch (raising your legs) is a better option than the traditional crunch (especially for the obliques), and leg raises or captain's chair an all-around superior option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as for upper/lower muscle groups, the Wikipedia article claims that a crunch with the arms stretched out over your head (effectively lengthening the moment arm) will result in increased activation of the upper abs, although I'm a bit wary of the reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Bret Contreras article references previous tests of his that claim that different exercises do vary between the ratio of upper/lower ab recruitment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study referenced in this article shows activation of lower and upper rectus abdominis: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acefitness.org/prosourcearticle/4934/can-you-train-upper-and-lower-abs-separately&quot;&gt;https://www.acefitness.org/prosourcearticle/4934/can-you-train-upper-and-lower-abs-separately&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are big differences between the general activation for various exercises but insignificant differences between upper and lower ab activation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;s&gt;All in all, there doesn't appear to be much evidence that exercise choice will greatly affect upper/lower activity ratio, but there is evidence that there's a big difference between exercises in general utility.&lt;/s&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I've done some more digging and am going to have to revise my above answer. I've found two studies (which are very similar) that deal with this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 2011, 10, 322-327. &quot;Selective activation  of the rectus abdominis muscle uring low-intensity and fatiguing tasks&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Muscle Activity in Upper and Lower Rectus Abdominus During Abdominal Exercises&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Links, in order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leb.usp.br/andfkohn/SELECTIVE%20ACTIVATION%20OF%20THE%20RECTUS%20ABDOMINIS%20MUSCLE%20DURING%20LOW-INTENSITY%20AND%20FATIGUING%20TASKS.pdf&quot;&gt;http://www.leb.usp.br/andfkohn/SELECTIVE%20ACTIVATION%20OF%20THE%20RECTUS%20ABDOMINIS%20MUSCLE%20DURING%20LOW-INTENSITY%20AND%20FATIGUING%20TASKS.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993%2896%2990195-1/pdf&quot;&gt;http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993%2896%2990195-1/pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these studies there is a comparison between a supine trunk raise (or curl up, a crunch where the chest is raised towards the knees while maintaining leg position) and a posterior pelvic tilt exercise (a lying leg raise, where the pelvis is tilted towards the chest while maintaining upper torso position). The conclusions seem to be that separate portions (upper/lower) of the rectus abdominis can, at least in part, be individually activated. Furthermore, the ratio of the upper rectus abdominis activity to that of the lower, was much greater for the curl up exercise than for the leg raise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So not only do certain exercises seem much more effective than the traditional crunch, it does appear that you can indeed train specifically for upper or lower abdominals, at least where the rectus abdominis is concerned. It seems possible that any exercise where posterior pelvic tilt is favored (which is the case for the captain's chair exercise and reverse crunch) will put emphasis on the lower RA, while exercises favoring the upper trunk (like the traditional crunch) would emphasize the upper RA. I should hasten to say that the studies can't be generalized like that (it's speculation on my part) and also that this concerns &lt;strong&gt;relative&lt;/strong&gt; recruitment of the upper and lower portions. The leg raises still worked the upper RA considerably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:18:58.293" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T20:18:58.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29596" CreationDate="2016-04-21T14:53:19.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything that either causes your ribcage to curl down towards your pelvis, or or pelvis to curl up towards the ribcage will work primarily the abdominals, with support from the obliques and hip flexors. If the spinal column doesn't flex, you're not really using the abdominals except as in support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that I mean that if by leg raises you mean keeping your legs straight and just lifting them (&lt;a href=&quot;https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSED7-9qGcTm9RXEnSwCnCO05hpMxwd02M7-vQrDemQdjewSfFGuA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as seen in this picture&lt;/a&gt;), then you are only minimally using the abdominals as support, and the primary motivation for the exercise comes from the hip flexors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T14:53:19.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29589" CreationDate="2016-04-21T19:07:07.360" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shoulder muscles that contribue to the broad shape are primarily the deltoid muscles. This is the muscle that forms the bulk of the shoulder muscle mass, with three heads (Anterior, medial and posterior) that inserts on the humerus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This muscle is primarily involved with shoulder abduction, or moving the upper arm out away from the body. So for swimming, all the traditional racing strokes (front/Australian crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfy) will work the shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some differences, and things to consider however. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front crawl - Will mostly work the anterior (front) and medial (middle) portions of the deltoid, and the biggest portion of the stroke where the muscle is used is while the arm is in the air, so minimal resistance and lots and lots of repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butterfly - One of two strokes with the longest range of motion for the front and middle deltoid, with some involvement of the posterior (rear) deltoid at the beginning of the arm recovery (As the arms are coming out of the water). This stroke tends to be a bit more explosive than the others as both arms are out of the water at the same time and needing to recover to the front very quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Backstroke - The other stroke with the longest ROM, and the stroke that will (arguably) work the rear deltoids the most, as all of the motion is up and backwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breaststroke - This stroke alongside the butterfly will work the front/middle portions of the shoulders quite heavily as the stroke recovery is underwater, and hence against resistance. It's a toss up as to whether this will work the delts more than the butterfly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As JJosaur points out, however, while swimming will give you fairly defined shoulders, it's not going to layer slabs of muscle over the shoulder area. Part of the reason that swimmers appear to have such huge shoulders is because of the large lats and extreme taper into the waist. Additionally, given the emphasis on the front/middle delts, many swimmers appear to be slump shouldered because the front portion of the muscle overpowers the rear and pulls the shoulders forward. If you do a lot of swimming, you should supplement with dry land training as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T19:07:07.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-21T19:12:04.940" Score="-1" ViewCount="1181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5.8&quot; and 67k. My chest is 38&quot; bt belly at the middle 34, which is full of fat in lower abdomen. It seems really bad. I do not need a six pack but a lean abdomen. Plz help me to get rid of the belly...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20131" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T09:29:57.673" Title="Skinny guy with belly fat" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-04-22T13:09:27.537" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29537" CreationDate="2016-04-21T19:24:55.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, firstly, its a difficult issue to find good information on, simply because bent arms or &quot;pulling early&quot; is such a common rookie mistake. Generally, bent arms are indicative that a lifter is trying to more or less reverse curl the bar into position RATHER than harnessing the explosion in the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are plenty of very accomplished lifters who incorporate slight bends in the arm to get the barbell in the optimal position. Anthropometry varies. What works best in the ideal situation doesn't work for your friend, and is therefore NOT ideal. Provided any changes made are purposeful and improve his lifting (both by allowing him to use more weight and/or not crush his junk), they are improvements, even if not classically ideal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mo3uW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mo3uW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Gwen Sisto snatches more than me... with bent arms!!&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a discussion of this snatch with the &quot;mistake&quot; of the bent arms pointed out, followed by the acknowledgement that she then completes the lift perfectly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://weightliftingacademy.com/snatch-analysis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Weightlifting Academy - Dr. Herrera analyzes Gwen Sisto's snatch technique&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T19:24:55.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29572" CreationDate="2016-04-22T03:47:51.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Reddit, it's called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/AcroYoga/comments/4fkmlm/what_is_the_name_of_this_acro_yoga_move/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shoulder bird&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T03:47:51.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29606" CreationDate="2016-04-22T05:19:14.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot target fat burn to one specific part of your body. The only thing you can do is lose weight and eventually it will come off. I would recommend lifting some weights and making sure you get in enough protein so you don't lose muscle while you lose the fat you want to lose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T05:19:14.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29606" CreationDate="2016-04-22T07:35:11.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As yisrael said in his answer, so-called &quot;spot reduction&quot; through exercise is now generally regarded as a myth and impossible. But there can be other factors that affect fat distribution and how easily it accumulates. There's multiple studies showing an inverse relation between testosterone levels and abdominal fat, although some of it is specifically visceral fat (which can still add to waist size). Perhaps you should get your testosterone levels checked and see if they fall within normal levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you're slightly taller than me and the same weight. I've been strength training for over a year and also still have quite a bit of abdominal fat to lose. So I'd say you probably just need to bring the body fat percentage down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T07:35:11.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29611" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-04-22T08:24:47.603" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-04-22T08:24:47.603" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T08:24:47.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29612" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-04-22T08:24:47.603" Score="0" Body="Fatty deposits around the front midsection of a person. " OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-04-22T18:18:58.917" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T18:18:58.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29613" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-04-22T08:26:11.220" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-04-22T08:26:11.220" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T08:26:11.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29614" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-04-22T08:26:11.220" Score="0" Body="An exercise where a weighted barbell is moved towards the chest with a pulling motion." OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-04-22T18:18:29.060" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T18:18:29.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29616" CreationDate="2016-04-22T08:27:17.053" Score="3" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nypost.com/2016/04/01/what-2000-squats-per-day-get-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; says these twins do 2000 squats per day. I'm up to 75. I squat straight down, then straight up, even holding a 5 lb weight behind my back. My jeans only feel tight around my thighs. What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hmo9W.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hmo9W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;4 foot butts&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20139" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T08:47:48.337" Title="How do I get a four foot butt?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29615" CreationDate="2016-04-22T08:47:48.337" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where to begin...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lets assess what is right:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats are a great exercise to build muscle in the glutes (butt).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To build muscle in a specific area, you need to use weights to build up the muscle in that area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is wrong:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats alone will get you a 'four foot butt'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pictured physique is healthy for you and your spine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a look at the article, there are some good points to take away:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the sisters sustain their fit frames using the regimen he created,&#xA;  which includes a mixture of boxing, weight training, MMA, plyometrics&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A solid exercise routine is only half the battle for these two, as they maintain their 36-22-46 measurements with an identical diet of smoothies, salads, protein shakes and fat burners as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“We generally stick to a healthy diet and it’s the same all the time. We are very strict about this,” Miriam notes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in summary, these two ladies get their physique from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weightlifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boxing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MMA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyometrics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(implied) Bodyweight squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Protein Diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat burning supplements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the above contribute to their physique but I am confident that the key to their posterior size is down to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weightlifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plyometrics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Protein Diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer your question &quot;How do I get a four foot butt&quot;:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have good genetics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a lean, high protein diet matched to your workout regime&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start weightlifting, squats, deadlifts are your key exercises here. You should be aiming to lift a significant amount of weight (up to and exceeding 1.5x your bodyweight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work with a expert to develop a fitness plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise 5-6 times a week for substantial time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer your question &quot;Why are only my legs getting bigger&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the size of their legs, they are huge. Squats work your quads a lot which explains your tight jeans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To track your progress, get out a tape measure and take photos. You will not see the difference if you look in the mirror everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T08:47:48.337" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29606" CreationDate="2016-04-22T09:17:29.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There may be a lot of visceral fat in the abdomen, and round the heart which may explain the shape. This should be of some concern. The answer is the same however , regardless of the motives, be they vanity/pride or concern for health. More fat burning activity, and less fat producing eating, simple as that!&#xA;David form Cornwall U.K&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19426" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T09:17:29.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29606" CreationDate="2016-04-22T09:29:57.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add some advice for your problem (kinda got the same) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't starve yourselfs. Eat enough, but good nutriments. If you eat too much or bad aliments, you will take weights. But if you don't eat enough, you will loose some fat only temporally. Once you will eat a little more again, your body will stack more fat, just in case of another starvation. Just by eating proper meal, you can get ride of your problem. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to do abs exercises everyday. The key is not training your abs, but to burn fat. You can't loose fat only on a part of your body. Try some cardio, like running, bicycle... Or some weight lifting move, to reinforce your body and gain muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20140" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T09:29:57.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29586" CreationDate="2016-04-22T11:28:11.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on your goals. For pure strength you should avoid going to failure or doing grinders, as soon as technique gets bad, stop there ex usually let 2 reps in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For building some mass you can go to failure and should more then less and I would use some slightly lighter weight not to injure myself. You can imagine that your form will suffer short before failure ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running something like SL5X5 it is recommended to having a technique and strength related focus... style of training. As  for pure mass building there are better protocols. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T11:28:11.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29585" CreationDate="2016-04-22T11:39:06.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The barbell row is a beast. It depends how you are executing them. Are you stretching the back when you let the barbell down? By that I mean you should use the full range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to maintain a near 90° angle with your torso&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;let the arms fully extend and your shoulder blades too...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a grip-width as you would do a bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pull the barbell to your belly and squeeze the shoulder blades together hard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if having the barbell at you stomach or chest, keep the weight there for a second, dont let it down immediately &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to 'feel' the muscle during the lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2016-04-23T21:37:15.153" LastActivityDate="2016-04-23T21:37:15.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29624" CreationDate="2016-04-22T18:56:37.947" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of discussion around optimal sets/reps for various types of adaptations to be triggered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone is interested only in maintenance, or a minimal workout, they might want to know what is the minimum amount of work needed to trigger an adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About this amount, I'm wondering is there a &lt;strong&gt;physical sign&lt;/strong&gt; that &lt;strong&gt;guarantees it has occurred&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, suppose I load up 70% of my 1RM and start doing reps, and will do only set until one of the following occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle pump&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle burn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shaking / instability during a rep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inability to perform another rep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any of those an indicator that I have achieved a minimal level of work to maintain muscle or possibly grow more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7067" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T21:20:03.230" Title="What indications are there that a muscular adaptation has been triggered?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29586" CreationDate="2016-04-22T20:04:36.970" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's acceptable &quot;grind&quot; and unacceptable grind, and I don't trust novices to tell the difference. Someone in your position--which I assume means, a beginner doing a novice program with an unfamiliar exercise--should not try to make this distinction oneself, but rather get a trusted coach to review your form in person, or do an online form check using video and a forum one trusts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if grinding just means a small deviation from perfect form, that can be fine. But grinding can also mean not hitting full depth, losing tightness at the bottom, &quot;good morning-ing&quot; the squat, tremendous &quot;butt wink&quot;, and other significant and problematic form errors, and those aren't OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T20:04:36.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29622" CreationDate="2016-04-22T21:20:03.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is somewhat overly simplistic and assumes that if there were an evidenced base solution, it would be the &lt;strong&gt;same&lt;/strong&gt; for everyone.  That's not the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to think of adaptation as a synergistic, complicated process that requires more than just weight training.  Neglecting all other aspects (eg. Nutrition, recovery, genetics, etc.) that contribute to the process is a mistake.  You must also consider additional factors that contribute to adaptation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/adaptex/adaptex.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overload, specificity, reversibility, and individual differences&lt;/a&gt;.  Thus, looking for a guaranteed “physical sign” from the list you provided is not possible in my opinion.  They are simply indicators of  possible different reactions to training resistance.  For example, the “&lt;em&gt;pump&lt;/em&gt;” occurs as “&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/PumpBurn.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a compensatory increase of blood pressure forces plasma from the congested capillaries into the interstitial spaces of the muscle cells&lt;/a&gt;.  And, similarly, the “&lt;em&gt;burn&lt;/em&gt;” is a result of lactic acid build up in the muscle.  Neither is an indicator that adaptation has occurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think of  adaptation as a moving target.  Especially for experienced trainers. Once it has occurred, there typically needs to be a subtle change in the training regime to force it occur in the future.  Otherwise, improvement is stagnant.  I would rather look at the accumulated effect of training (over several months/years) as an indicator of success.  Especially, if one plans to train for many years to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T21:20:03.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29625" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-22T23:11:13.070" Score="1" ViewCount="980" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been fooling around with some variation in grip width on the bench press lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a trainer help me find my &quot;ideal&quot; width, which I use most of the time. I.e. the width where my forearm stays as perpendicular as possible to the floor for most of the lift, while neither flaring nor tucking the elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these cases, my form looks like this. (Not me depicted, just an example.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FBAHo.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FBAHo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I some times like to use a slighly more narrow grip - about a palm-width in on each hand. Just outside the shoulders. It looks something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HlYPG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HlYPG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the implications as far as muscle group intensities? Does it fill the role of &lt;em&gt;if your muscle X is weak, do more of this&lt;/em&gt; for any particular muscle group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This question is similar to, but not a duplicate of, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6105/bench-press-grip-width&quot;&gt;Bench press grip width?&lt;/a&gt;, as I am not looking to discover the optimal width, but simply clarify benefits/drawbacks of a slightly narrower-than-normal width.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:41:06.673" Title="Difference caused by grip width on bench press" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29625" CreationDate="2016-04-23T00:54:57.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The major muscle groups in any variation of bench press are the pec major and minor, and the triceps (with various other muscles playing stabilizing roles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the narrower one's grip, the more the triceps tend to become the primary mover. The &lt;em&gt;close-grip&lt;/em&gt; bench press is, indeed, a vary popular accessory for people who have weaker triceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, the wider one's grip, the more the pecs will tend to become the primary mover. This can be seen with flyes. The grip is extremely wide which allows the pecs to be the primary source for abducting the arms. A wider grip, though, does come with added risk to the shoulders which should be kept in mind when exploring an extra wide grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16204" LastActivityDate="2016-04-23T00:54:57.327" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29632" CreationDate="2016-04-23T11:12:33.650" Score="3" ViewCount="1243" Body="&lt;p&gt;As question states, I can life a lot more on deadlift and squat by using a belt to brace against, why? Is it cheating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T18:02:52.883" Title="Why is it easier to lift weight using a belt?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29628" CreationDate="2016-04-23T18:35:50.840" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short - belt gives better stabilization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not to use it? Well, you wish to have great stabilization... You would like to use that muscles, not to support them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it cheating - since that is legal - it is not cheating. Same as wrist/knee stabilization, special pants. All that helps you lift higher values - if that is your target? On the other hand why use hooks? If you can't handle that much - leave it. You need to find out your balance, do not judge others, just do your job and be the best! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastActivityDate="2016-04-23T18:35:50.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29628" CreationDate="2016-04-23T19:06:11.237" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've often felt there were two aspects to  using a weight belt.  The first being the psychological sense of security that the belt provides.  Belts make us feel “locked in” and ready to lift thus providing a positive framework to perform the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second and more important aspect is the potential support that a belt provides thus reducing the opportunity of injury when lifting heavy.  Two separate studies: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17047531&quot;&gt;Effect of a stiff lifting belt on spine compression during lifting&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10619094&quot;&gt;Effects of abdominal belts on intra-abdominal pressure, intra-muscular pressure in the erector spinae muscles and myoelectrical activities of trunk muscles&lt;/a&gt; concluded that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Wearing a tight and stiff back belt while inhaling before lifting&#xA;  reduces spine loading. This is caused by a moment generated by the&#xA;  belt rather than by the IAP. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Wearing abdominal belts raises intra-muscular pressure of the erector&#xA;  spinae muscles and appears to stiffen the trunk. Assuming that&#xA;  increased intra-muscular pressure of the erector spinae muscles&#xA;  stabilizes the lumbar spine, wearing abdominal belts may contribute to&#xA;  the stabilization during lifting exertions. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, belts may help prevent injury to the low back during heavy lifts and can increase performance from the stabilization they provide.  On the negative side, however, using a belt may inhibit motor learning in the abdominal muscles as well as reducing the opportunity for the lower back to get stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-04-23T19:06:11.237" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-23T20:42:45.287" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;19 years old .Height 5'9 , weight 45. It is my first attempt. I am a Gamer. I don't go out much. Got dumped For being a thin person,just yesterday. Help please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20151" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T12:11:28.657" Title="How to gain weight?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-04-25T07:07:15.333" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-23T21:09:17.873" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;A guy of 19 ,5'9 of height,49 of weight, Asian. My first attempt to Gain weight after Being dumped By my Ex. The reason: i am too thin. Need help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20151" LastActivityDate="2016-04-23T22:24:39.383" Title="How to gain weight for a thin person?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-04-25T04:34:41.490" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29634" CreationDate="2016-04-23T22:24:39.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you want muscle, or fat? If you want fat, it could be easy. If you want muscle, it'd be more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, start tracking your calories. Use something like MyFitnessPal or one of the many alternatives, but always double-check entries with the nutrition labels on food, or for whole foods nutritiondata.self.com, which is an excellent database for those. There's a lot of very inaccurate and downright wrong entries on trackers where the users supply the data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the tracking, you'll find out how much you really eat. It's possible it ain't as much as you think. If you chow down something like 3000 kcal per day and yet don't gain any weight, given your height, maybe check with your doctor. Conditions such as hyperthyroidism could affect your metabolism. Maybe you have difficulty actually taking up the nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat what seems like a normal amount for your body mass, and medical conditions are excluded, it's time to eat more. You might've tried this, and found it hard. So focus on foods that go down easy but can pack good calorie density. Full-fat milk, if you're not lactose-intolerant, can be consumed throughout the day in place of water and can provide 600+ kcal per liter. Fat is the most calorie-dense of the macronutrients, and particularly oils are some of the richest foods known. Quality olive oil would be a good choice to keep things from getting excessively unhealthy. Carbohydrate-rich foods digest quickly, so if you're not gluten-intolerant and digest carbs well, large portions of pasta would help. Need some sauce on it? Pesto is very high in calories, owing to the aforementioned olive oil and pine nuts. Nuts and seeds are very nourishing too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you like to gain more lean mass and keep the fat in check? Then resistance training with heavy weights is your best bet. Find beginner programs that utilize linear progression and focus on the heavy compound lifts: squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, pull-ups, rows, perhaps some explosive movements like power cleans. Starting Strength and StrongLifts 5x5 are popular choices. You'll need to consume a substantial amount of protein. Chicken and turkey are good sources but can be quite lean. Using cuts (or the whole bird) with the skin on ups the fat content. You might want to look into protein supplements. They may seem expensive, but some math will show you that unless you go for the overpriced isolates (simple whey or egg protein will do) the price per gram of protein will be quite a bit lower than when getting it from whole food sources. Mixes perfectly with the full-fat milk. Keep in mind they're supplements, though. You'll still need quality food besides them to get a complete micronutrient profile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People tend to make fun of the GOMAD idea in Rippetoe's book Starting Strength. GOMAD stands for &quot;gallon of milk a day&quot; (or about 3.7 liters). However, it's his way of showing people who claim that they just can't gain weight that it is most definitely possible in the absence of serious medical conditions. If you can digest it, drinking a gallon of whole milk each day, every day, on top of what you normally eat, will result in weight gain. If it doesn't, see your physician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-23T22:24:39.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29633" CreationDate="2016-04-24T12:11:28.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start with a &lt;strong&gt;CONSISTENT&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;diet&lt;/strong&gt; first. This means that at certain times of the day you will eat a certain amount of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesnt matter what you will eat. Weigh yourself every day. If the weight stays within a 1kg tolerance you can safely say you are &quot;maintaining&quot; your weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight increase the amount of food you eat e.g an extra meal before you go to bed or having half a plate of fries instead of quater and do it for a week weighing yoruself every day. Then just increase/deacrease the amount of meals or food to suit your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20157" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T12:11:28.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12681" CreationDate="2016-04-24T12:13:03.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be a little late now, but I think the pain is in your rotator cuff, which can lead to injuries. I had the same pain, exactly as you mentioned but an easy fix will prevent/stop this pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your elbows tucked as close to your body as possible while doing a press up. Think of pushing through your armpit as you push up, making sure your elbows don't stick out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20158" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T12:13:03.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29639" CreationDate="2016-04-24T12:39:46.637" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I buy a product, and it says like Nutrition per 100g is  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Fat 100g&#xA;  Saturated 30g&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I count my calories then, should I write that the amount of fat is 70g and the saturated is 30g, so it totals to 100g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should it be 100g fat and an extra 30g saturated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19848" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T13:51:31.130" Title="Fat and Saturated Fat" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-25T07:08:31.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29638" CreationDate="2016-04-24T13:51:31.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that there is 100g of fat total, and &lt;em&gt;out of that&lt;/em&gt;, 30g is saturated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T13:51:31.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16279" CreationDate="2016-04-24T15:02:47.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be that you need additional mobilization... but after doing that I've lost a lot of power. All that what kept my junctions in place was removed, but muscles ware not familiar with my typical load. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other case - you need to build both antagonist muscle groups. For instance strong chest, and weak trapezius moves your shoulders to the front, and can lead to pain in your back. That is why people use full training plans, works with personal trainers, or read a lot. Personally - I'm in the last group - I love to know how it works. No matter what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW: Asking for medical advice is off-topic here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T15:02:47.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29645" CreationDate="2016-04-24T19:06:50.090" Score="4" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is conflicting information available on what your feet position should be for squats. Older sources state that you need to have your feet out at 15 degrees from forward. Newer sources states that you should have your feet straight forward to mitigate the leg/heel rotation caused by the hip abductors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the optimal position for feet to be in during a squat and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastEditorUserId="20149" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T07:49:13.053" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T15:01:49.600" Title="feet position for squat" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29687" CreationDate="2016-04-24T21:55:02.197" Score="1" ViewCount="1515" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;strong&gt;misconception&lt;/strong&gt; that women generally have greater lower body strength &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; men. This isn't what I'm asking. My question isn't to directly compare women's lower body strength to men's. It's been shown that men in fact are &lt;strong&gt;generally&lt;/strong&gt; all around more muscular than women ( including lower body strength ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is on the proportion of strength between the upper and lower body across the two genders. For example if by default men had a upper body strength of 10 ( measured in how much they can lift/push ), and their lower body strength was a 5. Would women have something along the lines of upper body strength: 7&#xA;and lower body strength: 4. The difference between the two numbers being less for women, represented by closer numbers. Meaning that compared to their overall strength, women have a stronger lower body than men do ( with each respective gender being compared to their own overall strength ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20164" LastEditorUserId="20164" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T04:05:15.207" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T10:53:27.047" Title="Compared to their overall strength, do women have greater lower body strength in proportion to their upper body than men do?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-25T07:26:21.787" Score="0" ViewCount="660" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Please note this is not a duplicate from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29643/treating-pain-on-inside-of-elbow-possibly-tendonitis&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29643/treating-pain-on-inside-of-elbow-possibly-tendonitis&lt;/a&gt;. The background is the same hence the same start, but this question is about prevention through exercise substitution, the other is about reactive treatment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several months ago I foolishly did a deadlift with a mixed grip, which I'm not accustomed to, to grind out an extra rep. Even more foolishly, I used my non-dominant left hand for the supine grip. Predictably this did a number on my left arm. For some time after that I had some pain around my left elbow, both front and back. It wasn't severe, but enough to be noticeable on some exercises like lying triceps extensions (&quot;skull crushers&quot;) and rows and pull-ups. Now, after a couple of months, some of it is still noticeable. I tend to feel some pain at the location indicated below, which I believe will be either the distal biceps tendon (on the lateral wide when standing with supinated hands) or the brachioradialis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6WB1I.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6WB1I.png&quot; alt=&quot;location of pain&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain isn't sharp, it's rather a dull pain, and only light to moderate. It is usually noticeable the day(s) after doing deadlifts, and during compounds involving the biceps such as rows and pull-ups. I'm currently looking into switching out some exercises for alternatives that don't aggravate it to prevent things getting worse. Here's the exercises that have a noticeable effect on it and what I've done or might do for them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: my favourite lift and the one with the best progress. I'm not planning on ditching this, but I'm never using a mixed grip again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell row: I do Pendlay rows, or something that has to pass for them. These make the problem worse. I do them to balance out bench presses and neither hate them or love them. I don't mind switching these with something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-ups: make the problem worse. Also, I sort of hate pull-ups. I wouldn't mind finding an alternative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell curls: I do these with the EZ-curl bar and curiously, they don't seem to have much effect on the pain. I think it's because of the more pronated grip with the EZ-curl bar, putting more load on the part of the tendon that doesn't hurt (medial side).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying triceps extensions: or skull-crushers, if you will. I switched these out with standing cable triceps pushdowns which seems to have taken care of pain on the back of the elbow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline flyes: started using a pronated grip (back of hand turned up) instead of a hammer grip (palms facing each other) with slightly more elbow flexion. This again puts more load on the medial distal biceps tendon instead of lateral which seems to help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leverage ISO rows: don't mind switching this with something. Being a short guy also means that on some machines (the plate-loaded ones) I really have to stretch forward to grab the handles, which definitely seems like a bad idea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm looking for alternatives for barbell (Pendlay) rows, pull-ups and machine rows. Anything involving less biceps or elbow flexion would be great. Preferably exercises that can be done for strength and not just hypertrophy, but I realize this may be difficult because they tend to be compounds and would involve elbox flexion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No need to suggest rest since I've done that without great effect (mentioned in related question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29643/treating-pain-on-inside-of-elbow-possibly-tendonitis&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29643/treating-pain-on-inside-of-elbow-possibly-tendonitis&lt;/a&gt;). I'm looking for preventative measures in adjusting my workout plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T09:48:05.793" Title="Alternatives for exercises to prevent pain on inside of elbow" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29641" CreationDate="2016-04-25T08:32:18.650" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a very useful analysis of a selection of multiple studies to be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/exercises/squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/exercises/squat/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll start out by assuming that you adjust your feet angle to your stance width (or vice-versa) to keep the femurs and tibias in the same plane as the line from mid-heel to mid-toe. I know this isn't exactly what you're asking — I'll get back to that later — but let's do so for a moment for the sake of discussion. Here's the effects of hip angle on various aspects according to the studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EMG activity: greater for a wider stance compared to narrower stance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadriceps activity: no differences found for width variations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring activity: no differences found for width variations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adductors (outward hip rotation): some conclusions that there's no difference for width variations, but contradicted in another study that concluded activity increased for wider angles, up to 30 degrees. Beyond 30 degrees no further difference was noted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gastrocnemius and soleus (calf muscles): greater muscle activity in &lt;strong&gt;narrower&lt;/strong&gt; stances compared to wider stances.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peak trunk angles: no difference between stances. (This would actually depend more on the location of the barbell on the back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peak hip joint angles: same as for trunk angles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peak knee joint angles: same again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peak ankle joint angles: greater shank angles for narrower stances.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peak hip extensor moments: no differences between stance widths.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peak knee extensor moments: same.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peak ankle plantar flexor moments: no difference between narrow and medium but much greater for wide stances.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External hip moment arms length: no differences, except at 45° knee flexion in the lowering and lifting phase, where it was greater for the medium and wide stance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External knee moment arms length: same as above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External ankle moment arms length: large negative length for wide stance, small negative length for medium stance, small positive length for narrow stance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the actual foot angle, rather than just stance width. The section for quadriceps mentions that with the feet turned out 20 to 30 degrees, compared to a neutral forward direction, there was no difference to be found in quadriceps activity. The same conclusions hold for hamstring activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read, &lt;s&gt;both in Rippetoe's Starting Strength and&lt;/s&gt; (&amp;lt;- not sure) on Powerliftingtowin.com that a wider stance will result in smaller horizontal moment arms. See my crummy Paint image below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1z1uM.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1z1uM.png&quot; alt=&quot;squat moment arms&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the black line is the barbell, kept over the middle of the feet, and the grey lines are the legs seen from above (narrow stance on the left, wide stance on the right) then the moment arms between bar and knees would be the green lines, and between bar and hips would be the blue lines. For a wide stance the horizontal moment arms are clearly shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm actually critical of this assessment&lt;/strong&gt;. I could be wrong, but I believe it to be a mistake to look at this horizontal moment arm, which would only play a role if one assumes the knee and hip joints remain perpendicular to the bar. They don't. I believe the actual moment arms are between the point where the bar's plane bisects the legs and the knee/hip joints, in which case the moment arms remain the same between stance widths. The studies discussed above seem to confirm this, but I might be misinterpreting something. It sort of stands to reason: if the moment arms were actually shortened, they would vanish with increasingly wide stances, to the point where, if the legs were almost parallel with the bar, there would barely be any. Obviously that's not gonna happen because otherwise we'd see people squatting standing like clowns. I'm thinking of asking about this, possibly here, or maybe on the physics SE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So stance width notwithstanding, how would the foot angle affect anything? If you widen your stance and push your knees out during the squat, while keeping the toes pointed (more) forwards, you're introducing torque. In this case, at least where the ankles are concerned (but probably also the knees) the moment arm does operate at a different angle, closer to that perpendicular angle, because now your femurs and tibias aren't in the same plane anymore. So you're introducing another angle at the knee and ankle joints. According to Starting Strength this is in fact done by some advanced powerlifters, however it suggests you refrain from doing so if you're not in that category and know exactly what you're doing. I think that's solid advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what does that mean for &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt;? It's probably best to keep your femurs and tibias in the same plane, with the knees tracking over the toes, meaning your foot angle would mostly be a function of stance width. And you can do all the math you want, but in the end it'll be most effective to find out what works well for you. I myself notice that as I take a narrower stance, I can squat slightly more weight (or at least my work sets on less than 1RM feel easier) but my knees tend to come more forward and can end up hurting. Too wide seems to cost me some strength, and can lead to pain in my left hip, although it gives the knees a break. In the end I found my sweet spot with feet probably slightly below a 30° angle and ankles at shoulder width or slightly less. I'm not sure it lets me squat the most weight, but this way my hips and knees divide the load properly without either of them hurting afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm not claiming that moment arms between bar and knees/hips aren't important or won't vary, but I believe they'll vary only by bar placement on the back and the angles of the back, hip, knees and ankles during the movement. Not stance width.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T15:01:49.600" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T15:01:49.600" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29280" CreationDate="2016-04-25T11:56:41.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Focusing on your question alone and ignoring the rest of the information provided:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Say you train for lean mass gain once a week. How should you adjust your diet through the week to support this?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking your weight as a good example, it is fruitless (useless) to weight yourself every day because your weight fluctuates, weekly or even monthly is better because you will end up with an overall average snapshot of change. In the same way, your diet can be averaged over a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 5-2 (while arguably is silly) diet plan uses this fact to help people lose weight. It removes 2 days worth of calories and causing a net-decrease over the week. If you were then to total the calories-in vs calories-out during the week you would see calories out would be  (usually) more than calories in and so you will lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, your diet over the week should be well balanced and based on your comments about your level of exercise and diet you should be eating at a calorie maintenance or minor deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your other question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I minimise DOMS?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you may not be able to prevent muscle soreness entirely, you may reduce the intensity and duration of muscles soreness if you follow a few exercise recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Progress Slowly. The most important prevention method is to gradually increase your exercise time and intensity. See the 10 percent rule if you need some exercise progression guidelines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm Up thoroughly before activity and cool down completely afterward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cool Down with gentle stretching after exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow the Ten Percent Rule. When beginning a new activity start gradually and build up your time and intensity no more than ten percent per week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hire a Personal Trainer if you aren't sure how to start a workout program that is safe and effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid making sudden major changes in the type of exercise you do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid making sudden major changes in the amount of time that you exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, on a personal note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear your want to lose weight and gain muscle, and it is likely you can do this at your level. However, you need to make more sensible choices in diet and exercise if you want to achieve your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise 3-4 times a week, try to give yourself a day between each session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise for about a hour each time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a consistent exercise regime, for strength try 5x5 Stronglifts or Starting Strength and for running try Couch-to-5k.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cut the fad diets and fasting. Use a macro calculator and a calorie counter to accurately track your calories and adjust your diet to be consistent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on your CUT (diet) before you decide to increase calories to build muscle. You should only really consider BULKING after you reach a happy bodyfat percentage (~15-20%).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T11:56:41.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29652" CreationDate="2016-04-25T14:10:35.293" Score="0" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 years old boy, who is a 'picky eater'. It's almost impossible to get him to eat any big meal during the day. He usually eats a small bowl of oats or toast in the morning, one cheese sandwich (or toast) while he's at school. When he's back home he rarely wants a dinner, all he needs is some popcorn or fruits while he's playing on computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's very tall (compared to other kids his age) and skinny. After the summer I want to sign him for volleyball class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that he doesn't eat as much as he needs to. I am thinking about buying a protein powder, and make him one shake a day (preferably in the evening) to supply his protein intake. Is there any real reason why I shouldn't? I've read that protein shakes are not healthy for kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20171" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T17:53:27.660" Title="Protein shake for children?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-04-27T06:03:58.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-25T14:57:32.313" Score="1" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like I strain my supraspinatus too often when bench pressing with my standard bar w/ overhand grip; how do bench presses with a swiss bar compare using a grip parallel to my torso?  Would that place less strain on my shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10329" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T20:14:35.160" Title="Is a bench press with a swiss bar easier on the shoulders than with a standard bar w/ overhand grip?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-25T17:41:10.717" Score="2" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK - I know this has been discussed and over-discussed here, and all over the web - but for me, I cannot seem to find any solutions.  I am hoping there are either professionals, or kindred-spirits with the same problem, who can offer some insights, advice or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I get out of breath or leg fatigue = particularly when running (or walking) any kind of incline or stairs.  The same thing happens when I do any kind of squat-like exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I run, essentially what happens is that I can run a few paces (20?) and then either my legs just get tired, or out of breath and I have to walk 10-20 paces. On a completely flat surface I can go up to 100 paces without stopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I get a deluge of knee-jerk advice, a few facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am in my late 40s, and in very good health and shape.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This problem has been with me since I can remember (in my 20s).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have had thorough medical workups - stress tests etc - from the Mayo clinic. In perfect health. (My wife and many friends are cardiologists).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have been running for 15 years or more ...  in the past 5 years I have been running an average of 8-11 miles, 3 times a week.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the past 18 months, I have run a few 10ks and a half marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My running times have really never improved (due to this breathing/leg fatigue issue. The running times are embarrassingly bad (for someone who runs so much).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;every other day I work out with weights, and do some stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have  also tried combinations of vitamins and albuterol inhaler ... with no real effect  (I measure almost everything about my runs ... from the temperature, elevations, to caffeine intake, sleep etc)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maybe, in 1 out of every 30 runs, I have a few good uninterrupted stretches of running (100-200 paces) ... &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;in the half marathon last year (flat surface) I was able to run for an uninterrupted 1200 paces in one stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Overall this breathing/leg problem has not gotten any better or worse over the past 5+ years, except that recently I moved to an area where my runs are always on some kind of slight incline. (incidentally my running does not improve all that much on the decline!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really running out of solutions and getting to the point where I don't want to run anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insights from experienced runners? inexperienced? trainers? faith healers? I'll try anything any this point!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19526" LastEditorUserId="19526" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T14:21:07.077" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T14:21:07.077" Title="Breathing and Leg Fatigue while running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-28T18:55:15.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29649" CreationDate="2016-04-25T17:53:27.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes are mainly based on whey protein, which is the leftover when milk is coagulated during the process of cheese production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the same type of protein that you'll find in a lot of dairy products like milk, ricotta, etc. As such, there is no reason to fear protein shakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am reluctant to recommend using protein powder. As with boys of any age, whether he's 10 or 100, regulating the diet should be the first course of action. While I don't have the full knowledge of what you've tried, and how long you've tried it, I suggest trying to feed your boy some smaller meals of high-nutrition foods, rather than resorting to supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Because that's what protein powder is; a supplement.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is meant to go &lt;em&gt;alongside&lt;/em&gt; a healthy diet. Not to replace it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that protein isn't everything. He needs carbohydrates and fats too, and all of this is more adequately given by a meal than a shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, I recommend trying to feed him smaller meals of more well-chosen foods. Any dinner should consist of a protein (meat/fish/eggs/google-more), a starch (potato/rice/google-more) and vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he can eat one salmon fillet, one potato, and a couple vegetables, that would be far more healthy than a protein shake for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If push comes to shove, at least make sure that he's lacking protein in particular. Replacing dinners with a protein shake can lead him to lack carbohydrates and/or fat instead, which in turn can lead to symptoms like chronic exhaustion and tiredness. So be alert, whatever you choose to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if all else fails, go see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T17:53:27.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-25T21:25:00.633" Score="3" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 128 Kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been escaping most physical problems but recently 2 things caught my attention:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pain in knees when subjected to prolonged cold weather/sitting in a position for too long. I am scared to death about this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lot of my clothes don't fit me. I hate having to kill my dressing sense, just to find a pair of clothes that fit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest some exercises that can help me lose weight/fat. I know about cardio and lifting etc. I want to know that I am doing enough to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question may be too generic for you all but I have been listening to a hundred opinions. I have begun doing weights lately, but they don't seem enough to me and cardio is kind of boring, except when it's done for warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limitations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat out. Don't know how to cook much. I am a vegetarian. I also don't want a keto diet, it drove me crazy and I couldn't concentrate on anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing: I am Indian, so a lot of stuff which I find if blogs isn't available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limited money, so can't afford costly programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strengths: Although hard to believe, I have stamina, strength and can work hard. Willing to workout for about 1.5 hrs per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20176" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2016-04-26T06:44:33.967" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T09:09:38.847" Title="What kind of interesting exercises can I do to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-07-01T18:36:55.220" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29653" CreationDate="2016-04-25T23:51:52.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit; meaning you expend more energy from the combination of your daily activity plus exercise than you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not tracking both your intake and your output, you will have no way of knowing if you are doing 'enough' to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many calculators online that can assist you with calculating your daily caloric burn, just Google tdee(total daily energy expenditure) calculator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend you attempt to create a caloric deficit through exercise alone, as you will need to do a ton of exercise (which can also have adverse affects on your body) every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastEditorUserId="15315" LastEditDate="2016-04-26T06:44:21.963" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T06:44:21.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29653" CreationDate="2016-04-26T05:39:27.077" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in yisrael's answer and Aequitas' comment, you're gonna need to track your calorie intake. Combining a caloric deficit by diet with exercise is going to be a lot easier than just doing one. Without exercise you may find that eating little enough for the deficit can leave you too hungry or make it hard to resist sneaking in some extra food, while exercise alone would require tremendous efforts daily, which you may have the willpower and stamina for, but your body might not agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said, cardio is boring for you. It sort of depends on the cardio, though. I get bored spending too much time on an exercise bike or elliptical trainer, and jogging is a hassle and hard on my knees. But I like to swim. Excellent cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your title you ask for &lt;em&gt;interesting&lt;/em&gt; exercises. I do have one suggestion you may want to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z26mS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z26mS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;DDR&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's right, a video game. It's called Dance Dance Revolution or DDR for short. The game consist of stepping on arrows in four directions according to instructions on the screen, on the rhythm of music. There's various difficulties, ranging from extremely easy to outrageously hard. Once you get past the absolute beginner stage, which happens quite fast with some practice and tips, the more energetic songs are gonna leave you sweating. It is my favourite form of cardio and I tend to push my heart rate and total calories burned in one session higher than through jogging or even swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately you don't have to find an arcade where they have a machine. There's dance pads available for home use. A powered USB hub is often recommended because they tend to draw a lot of power. There's flat, sheet-like pads that I don't recommend, pads with foam in them that can be very decent, and more expensive high-end stuff that'll last ages. I've got a bunch of the foam-filled ones that have been on duty for some years and still work fine. I put heavy books around them to keep them from sliding around. For playing on your computer, there's a program called StepMania which is free and open-source, and you can find an almost inexhaustible supply of songs to play around the web.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do I like DDR so much as cardio? First of all, it's intense, but not non-stop. You play a song, typically around 2 minutes in length, then take a breather while you select the next one. You can play it right at home, no need to even get out. You're playing a game, so it's entertainment. You get to know new music. You'll want to constantly improve to make it on songs of a higher level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a warnings too. This tends to be high-impact so don't overdo it, it's heavy on the knees and hips. Some of my problems with these are at least in part to being a bit too eager when I just started playing DDR. With a bit of technique in footing you can minimize this, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as &lt;em&gt;interesting&lt;/em&gt; cardio goes, you can't beat this in my opinion, unless you really get into a sport and want to push yourself technically. But actually, that's what DDR does for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T05:39:27.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29651" CreationDate="2016-04-26T10:48:56.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might experience leg fatigue because of incorrect posture or technique while running. Running in a straight line and at a constant speed tends to be more efficient compared with running erratically or at various speeds. Lowering your center of gravity while running could increase your balance and power, making it easier to run without becoming fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20183" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T10:48:56.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29653" CreationDate="2016-04-26T11:55:18.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with the Tom Gray's answer. Don't follow the meal plan. Everybody is different, and have different needs. You have to build a meal plan that can help you with your need. This meal plan can be perfect for someone, or (more likely) really inappropriate for someone who have some sportive activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to add some advice for your problem :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't starve yourselfs. Eat enough, but good nutriments. If you eat too much or bad aliments, you will take weights. But if you don't eat enough, you will loose some fat only temporally. Once you will eat a little more again, your body will stack more fat, just in case of another starvation. Just by eating proper meal, you can get ride of your problem. Vegetarian or not, you need proteins, so don't forget to add some. (tofu, grains etc...) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be reasonable with your goals. Be motivated like this is a good thing when you want to start something new. But if you want to do 1,5H a day of workout, you can easily loose motivation.&#xA;It's my case. Every time, I want to do so much. And after 2 weeks, I skipped a day because I don't have motivation this day, said I will do it tomorrow. And 1 month later, I realize I abandoned everything. So, set a reasonable goal, like 30m or 45m, and keep doing it !&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want some program, you can start to look at Focus T25, P90X3, Insanity or P90X (the BeachBody products). Work for people so far, if this kind of think can interest you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20140" LastEditorUserId="20140" LastEditDate="2016-04-26T12:02:00.740" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T12:02:00.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29651" CreationDate="2016-04-26T12:15:14.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your problem is either medical or expectation-based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you expecting it to be as easy? You are going uphill and so are working your muscles a lot more. You are in the Anaerobic zone for incline runs which is not the pleasant experience you will get when running in the aerobic zone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to a doctor and explain all of your ailments. You could ask to be taken through a fitness assessment at a clinic where they will measure your VO2 and heart rate, this may help diagnose your problem if you have one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, go running up hills. If you have no medical ailments then your body will adapt over time and you will get better at running up them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T12:15:14.183" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29628" CreationDate="2016-04-26T13:13:48.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned it increases IAP. An effect of it is that it may also allow your core muscles to fire harder by giving your CNS a reason to reduce limits on certain muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;It probably isn't cheating&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I disagree with the apparently common belief that wearing a belt will reduce the opportunity for the lower back to get stronger. Numerous studies have found no significant decrease in spinal erector activity when training with a belt compared to without, in actuality one study found an increase in muscle activity. Sources at end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add to that the anecdotal point that getting stronger with a belt also increases your beltless strength more or less directly, even if you don't train beltless during that time period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wear it. Most of the time&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the whole, wearing a belt increases your performance in the gym, which will help you achieve the goals of muscular size and strength. There are a few instances where it would be better to train beltless (if you train for a sport that doesn't depend on lifting maximal weights for example), but the bulk of your training should probably be done belted. It isn't cheating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For a more detailed and highly recommended write up, refer to: &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengtheory.com/the-belt-bible/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://strengtheory.com/the-belt-bible/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies about spinal erector activity with and without a belt:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17047531&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17047531&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10619094&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10619094&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11932579&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11932579&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1999/11000/The_Use_of_Lumbar_Supporting_Weight_Belts_While.14.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1999/11000/The_Use_of_Lumbar_Supporting_Weight_Belts_While.14.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2304406&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2304406&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T13:13:48.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28873" CreationDate="2016-04-26T16:39:24.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two big mistakes that most amateur runners make. They go too hard on their easy days, and not hard enough on their hard days. This usually means they don't get as much out of their speedwork as they could, and they don't go easy enough to really get a good recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the average runner targeting a 5k, they can usually get by with 30ish miles a week. Add another 10-15 for a 10k, and 50+ for a half marathon. I advocate a time based program with 3 short runs, 2 medium runs and 1 long run per week with a rest day. The long run for a half marathon program should be anywhere from 1:30 to 2 hours. Your medium run is 1/2 that, and your short runs are 1/2 your medium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So say that you have a long run currently of 80 minutes. 2 medium runs of 40 minutes, and 3 short runs of 20 minutes. Your 5k race pace is right under 6 minutes, so I wouldn't be going much faster than 7 to 7:30/mile. That brings you to a little over 30 miles at 7 min pace. Every couple of weeks, add a couple minutes to your short runs (So if you add 2 mins to the short run, it will add 4 to the medium runs, and 8 to the long). Keep that progression until you get to 50ish miles per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get to that point, you can keep the mileage, and start adding speedwork. There are two types, interval and threshold. Interval is short distance, long recovery, done at faster than race pace. So for your 5k, current race pace is 6 minutes, or 1:30 per quarter mile. A good interval set would be a mile or two warmup, and 8-12 x .25 mile at 1:15 or 1:10, with 2-3 mins rest between each quarter, and then a mile or two warmdown. If you easily make every quarter, then next time lower the time (So 1:05-1:10). If you make most of them and then start missing by a few seconds, you're in the ballpark. This type of workout is designed to increase your top end speed (race pace).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second type is threshold work. This is longer distances, done slower than race pace but somewhat near it, shorter recovery. So again for your 5k, a couple miles warmup, then something along the lines of 8-12 1/2 mile runs, at 1:40-1:50, on 20-30 seconds rest (This is also called on the 2:00, as your run time + rest = 2 minutes). Again, if you make them all, or miss, adjust times accordingly. (Although, if you could go out now, and do 12 1/2 miles on the 2:00, you should probably have a better 5k PB). Threshold workouts are designed to increase the time you can spend at or near race pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest, nutrition and hydration are key elements, but those vary from individual to individual, so you will need to experiment with what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, don't be a slave to your schedule. If you go to do a workout and you truly are just dead, don't be afraid to bag it and take a rest day. Learn what your body is telling you, sometimes it's just &quot;I don't wanna&quot;, other times you really need that rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the racing, especially the short distances (5k and to some extent 10k), you need to be able to both take it out fast, and bring it home fast. If you get into the quarter mile sprint for position on a 5k and that kills your legs, that's something you need to train for. Same for the finish, if you just can't get your legs to move faster, you either paced it just perfect or went too hard. But you should be able (most of the time) to summon a last 2-300 meter dash for the finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T16:39:24.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-26T18:26:04.747" Score="1" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to ask you a question about my waist size. It's been about 87.5 cm (34.25 inches) for a few weeks now and there is still a lot of fat around my lower back and lower abs but despite eating at a deficit i cant lose these inches. I have also been eating at a deficit for about a year now because i used to weigh 90kg so i don't know if this may have something to do with it. I have recently started bulking in hopes to gain more muscle so i can boost my metabolism but I don't want to get even fatter. I also realize that bulking will not help me lose fat as i will be in a calorie surplus but if i keep on cutting then i will be extremely skinny. I have good definition in my abs and chest etc. but it is this lower back/ab fat that wont go during my cut. I'm not sure if this could be due to insulin resistance or other factors but i have been doing intermittent fasting to try to make myself more insulin sensitive. I want to get to a 80 cm (31.5 inch) waist but it seems impossible as my waist wont go down in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since bulking for the past 2 months I have gained about 5kg and went from 65KG to 70KG and my waist is now at 88.5CM, and the size of my arms and chest has also gone up. I want to have a narrower waist as the holidays are coming up and i want to look good when i go to the beach and take my top off but i don't know if cutting will mean that i lose my muscle. I fear that i will start to cut and lose muscle but no fat whatsoever and i will remain with a large waistline and the same amount of muscle i started the bulk with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are my stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height:178CM (5'10&quot;)&#xA;Weight:70KG(154 lbs)&#xA;Age:17&#xA;Chest:105CM (41.3&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much your time and help and sorry for the long read&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20187" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T19:05:34.133" Title="Lower Back fat (can't lose it)" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-04-27T06:03:48.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29664" CreationDate="2016-04-26T19:05:34.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you bulk you also gain fat, when you cut you also lose muscle the question simply is what is the majority. Your goal in a cut is to lose mostly fat and vice versa in a bulk.&#xA;There is no way to avoid this. With proper training and eating you can guide your bulk or cut in the direction you would like it to go&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to cut now you will definitely lose a bit of muscle ,however if your protein intake is adequate and you are lifting weights ,it will be minimal.&#xA;Many people store fat in various different areas , this is not controllable. The bottom line is, if you continue eating in a deficit you will lose it ,it will simply be a question of how lean do you personally need to be in order to lose it&#xA;Some people will see abs at 15% body fat some will require to be of lesser percent it has a lot to do with the shape of your muscles,skeletal structure, and where you store fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T19:05:34.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-27T11:22:05.380" Score="7" ViewCount="8807" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'd like to do a prefect exercise for biceps, really isolate them and make them work 100% in order to get them bigger. I use barbells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering, which of the following two exercises is optimal for my needs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing biceps curl:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/68H7D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/68H7D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;standing biceps curl&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sitting biceps curl:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GMa7X.gif&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GMa7X.gif&quot; alt=&quot;sitting biceps curl&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your answers and / or suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20195" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T18:49:01.070" Title="Barbell biceps curl - standing up or sitting down?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29666" CreationDate="2016-04-27T11:37:27.027" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, know that there is no ONE best way to curl. There are a few factors here to be aware of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing vs. seated&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you curl standing up, it's very important that you try to keep your upper body as static as possible. It's easy to help out with your entire body by swinging the bar, taking focus away from the biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is, however, its own exercise, called &lt;em&gt;cheat curls&lt;/em&gt;. The point of this is to get the bar up with assistance, and then focus on lowering it as slowly as possible. This is a very good exercise in its own right, and can be used to overload the biceps with heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When seated, with your elbows on a sloped pad like in your second picture, this is called a &lt;em&gt;preacher curl&lt;/em&gt;. Here, cheating is impossible as your elbows are static, and you put more focus on the biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Straight bar vs. EZ-bar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bar the lady is using is called an EZ-bar, and are especially made for curling. The straight bar puts a lot of tension on your wrists as you come up, but the EZ-bar takes this away because your wrist is turned slightly inward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one of these you want to use is up to you, but your first priority should be to see if the straight bar causes pain in your wrists. If they do, use the EZ-bar instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The upside of the straight bar is that your grip will be more supine, and a supine grip better facilitates building the peak of the bicep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more info on this, check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO70v8F9VeQ&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this YouTube video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do all the variations. Don't stick to just one of them, because your biceps will just adapt to that particular motion, and hinder progress. There are a LOT of variation out there, both with a bar, and with dumbbells, and you should do as many of them as possible in order to get the best progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T18:49:01.070" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T18:49:01.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28506" CreationDate="2016-04-27T16:35:29.223" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats w/o shoes gives better ankle flexibility. &#xA;To go lower, most of my problems came form hips. Here is set of exercises to start:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/6-mobility-exercises-for-an-a-to-grass-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/6-mobility-exercises-for-an-a-to-grass-squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps there are better pictures, better explanation. But as a set - good one. I've tried on youtube, but all are joga... Looks great, but IMVHO too great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be warned. Making your joins more mobile, drops power. That is somehow temporal, but please be sure to go down with load after aggressive stretching. And that has to be aggressive, since you are attacking not muscles, but collagen, fascias. Number two from that set was killer to me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T16:35:29.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-27T17:03:14.240" Score="2" ViewCount="619" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some solid input from you guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend let me try his Inzer lever belt, it's a size medium, here's the thing though, the medium measurements for the lever belt are 30 to 33.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I used the inzer belt, I was basically 1 hole from the tighest setting, if you've used the lever belt it has the plate on the back side that you adjust when you cut/bulk. This setting pinched me a bit more than I liked but I felt like the amount of support I had was perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ordered a single prong inzer belt, sized medium, because I prefer the prong over the lever. But here's where I made the mistake and just want you guys to confirm or give thoughts. The single prong medium is measured for 33 to 35.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got my single prong medium today and honestly, it cucked me. I'm like literally one hole away from where I feel like the belt would give me the support I'm looking for but I cannot get it in. So the next hole down I just don't have the abdominal pressure I want compared to the inzer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm thinking damn, it all makes sense now, after looking at the measurements. The inzer lever belt for me felt the best on nearly the tightest setting, that means the belt for me probably fit in the 30 to 32 range since the 33 would be too big, considering the lowest range of the medium prong is 33 inches, and it's just 1 hole away from probably being a good fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The small prong is 28 to 32 inches, so I have the top end of the fit on that belt to fit in the 30 to 32 inch fit on the lever belt. So obviously, I should've gone with the small prong belt to begin with, right? Or am I just retarded and the pronged belts don't give as much support as the lever belt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still have at least 3 more holes on the medium belt before it's completely tight. Would I even benefit from a smaller size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7705" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T08:47:32.760" Title="Inzer single prong belt, need thoughts and/or comments about size issue" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-27T17:49:41.383" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got plantar fasciitis when I was training to become a spin and yoga instructor. I overworked my feet by doing hours of spin and yoga a day for 3 weeks. By the time I realized there was a problem, I couldn't walk, had to get cortisone shots, needed to go to physical therapy and see an orthopedist regularly. The reason that the fasciitis and tendinitis got so bad was because I have neuropathy in my feet so I don't feel pain when I'm supposed too. I do plan on retaking my training in a few months (although maybe this is a bad idea) and I would like to start spinning again in a month. Until then, what type of cardio can I do? I am trying to lose weight. I currently am doing Pilates regularly but need some cardio. I do not have access to a pool. Suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20198" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T11:29:31.963" Title="Cardio with Plantar Fasciitis?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29670" CreationDate="2016-04-27T22:07:46.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll start this answer by saying I'm somewhat biased (as in my user name, &lt;em&gt;rrirower&lt;/em&gt;).  But, I'd be remiss  if I did not suggest using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rower&lt;/a&gt; for your cardio.  In my opinion, a rower provides one of the best overall training experiences because it works many muscles concurrently.  And, since it's considered to be relatively low impact, you should be able to use it with minimal or no discomfort while you rehab your injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you take a look at my answer to a similar question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25489/how-can-i-train-for-a-marathon-with-a-damaged-toe/25493#25493&quot;&gt;How can I train for a marathon with a damaged toe?&lt;/a&gt; for further insight into why a rower may be a good fit for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T22:07:46.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-28T01:56:21.167" Score="1" ViewCount="1285" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you learn how to swim without water or a pool? We are going to a waterpark but I don't know how to swim and I don't have a pool. I also don't have time to go to the pool or somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20203" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-04-28T06:14:12.890" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T14:16:50.993" Title="Learning to swim without water or a pool" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29722" CreationDate="2016-04-28T07:53:53.483" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm preparing for a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran 15km yesterday evening. First 10km were ok but at faster speed (10.76Km) than usual. Than the last 5km were tedious. I experienced cold hands, which I've never experienced so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I arrived home and craved for anything with sugar. After 15mn, the cold left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I experienced some cramps this evening, not massive though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question are the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I put a tiny stash of sugar in my pocket to be able to avoid having cold hands?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How come I experienced cold hands? This is not the first time but this is the first time, it was so intense I had to stop running &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I drink much more before starting a 15k training in the evening, after a day of work?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your input&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20206" LastEditorUserId="20206" LastEditDate="2016-04-28T08:02:31.843" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T17:33:40.590" Title="cold hands after 15km run - evening training after work" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29669" CreationDate="2016-04-28T08:22:19.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or am I just retarded and the pronged belts don't give as much support as the lever belt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opinions seem divided on whether a lever and prong can be made just as tight. Some say the lever can be put on tighter, but apparently using a rack as an anchor point when putting on the prong belt can get it just as tight as with a lever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I still have at least 3 more holes on the medium belt before it's completely tight. Would I even benefit from a smaller size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I getting this right that you could get the medium on tighter, but the jump in prong holes just isn't as convenient as where you sat with the lever? Of have you actually run out of holes on the medium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless I'm mistaken (someone correct me if so) the hole spacing for lever and prong should be the same. So if it's a matter of sitting somewhere in the middle between two holes, it's due to a slightly different offset with the lever. Maybe you'd be better of with the lever then anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a matter of the medium being too big, a smaller size should do the trick. I'd be really surprised if the suitable sizes don't overlap. There should be some surplus holes. They list them as distinct intervals on the site but I think that's just to find out which size category you fall into depending on measurements. So if you're at the inner limit of a medium you'd probably fit comfortably in small, regardless of some variations depending on meals and progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contact your vendor or Inzer to see about replacing the belt with a smaller size and maybe use the opportunity to get more precise info from them about what would fit you best. I bet they get these questions all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: oh yeah, I forgot. You could also go for the Inzer PR belt which has a ratchet for being able to adjust as finely as you want, and I suppose a ratchet could be made really tight. But it costs a lot more than the prong or lever belts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-04-28T08:47:32.760" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T08:47:32.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29670" CreationDate="2016-04-28T11:29:31.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rower is great tools for cardio, you should definitely try it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that, stationary bikes sometimes works. Intensity is much lower, also usage depends on your condition. If you need higher intensitivity? Even push ups can be used as cardio exercise. For me kettlebell works fine, but my heels are OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question is - what is target intensitivity. Can you try a bit of different exercises, and check one that do not hurt you? It can be that stationary bike, you have access to has great sit position, and that is 100% accurate? Maybe rower give right intensitivity? No one can tell that, but you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What ever you choose. Rest is best treatment for your heels, so be wise, listen to your body, and train with out pain, at least with your heels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T11:29:31.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29679" CreationDate="2016-04-28T14:09:36.707" Score="6" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of claims made from comments on CNS impact to squats being more important...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Ice Cream Fitness: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deadlifts are 1x5 for a reason. They are taxing on your CNS and if you mess around you will get hurt. So don't be the tough guy who wants to do 5x5 deadlifts, because you will fail miserably&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mehdi also &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/1x5vs5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;talks about it in StrongLifts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone give a definitive answer? &lt;strong&gt;Can a routine be designed around deadlifts? If so, what does it look like?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume the routine would be primarily aimed and increasing 'strongman' strength and deadlift 1RM weight. The goal is to be strong, not 'ripped'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-03T13:55:11.713" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T20:14:40.493" Title="Can a routine be designed around deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29585" CreationDate="2016-04-28T14:32:18.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend doing Yates rows if you can feel it in your back. Right now it sounds like your method of doing Pendlay rows is not working for you. Doing Yates rows will not affect StrongLifts negatively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People are being helpful suggesting how to fix your form to make Pendlays work for you, but frankly you need to weigh up the pros and cons of even going down that route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pros of fixing form and doing Pendlays: you can do a slightly strength oriented movement. Not much else really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cons: you have to spend time and effort working on form, not progressing, you may not ever &quot;get&quot; the correct form anyway so the time could just be wasted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goals are just to get bigger and stronger, don't bother with Pendlays. Just do Yates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T14:32:18.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29677" CreationDate="2016-04-28T16:39:20.803" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;5x5 deadlift is &lt;strong&gt;absolutely fine&lt;/strong&gt;, but not during the SL5x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Aequitas nails on the head, the Stronglift 5x5 program already includes 5x5 squats, 3 days a week, and as such, your legs, glutes and lower back will constantly be in a state of recovery. Adding a lot of sets of deadlifts on top of this will very likely hinder your progress, as you might never get to reach an anabolic state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, squats and deadlifts target the same primary movers, but with slightly different ratios of intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you do a program with, say, 1 leg day per week where you do deadlifts, then it's absolutely fine to do 5x5, 3x8, or whatever you see fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that deadlift is typically the exercise where you move the largest amount of weight, and people are correct to point out that this is very taxing on your CNS if you do it too often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Designing a program around deadlifts (example)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add deadlifts to one day of the week&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider this leg day, add squats, and vary/alternate which one of them you do first. Accessorize with leg/lower back movements like back raise, leg extensions, leg curls, as these will facilitate more gains on the deadlift-relevant muscle groups&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train at least one other day of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if you only train one more day of the week, make it an upper body day, and make sure to incorporate both pressing and pulling movements, and at least one compound exercise of each category&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if you train two more days of the week, make it a pull day, and a push day&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the alternative of considering deadlifts on back days, and having a separate leg day with squats. However, if you're unsure, err on the side of caution, and have only one leg day. If you feel super ready to have two leg days (i.e. having deadlifts on back day), then research (or come back and ask for) some tips on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-05-03T12:52:33.103" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T12:52:33.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29628" CreationDate="2016-04-28T18:02:52.883" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Previous answers all missed a crucial aspect... the belt works by allowing you brace your abdominals against it. It doesn't &quot;support&quot; the back. It allows YOU to better support your midline/trunk/core/fad-name-for-that-area more effectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, you should do as much work as you can without the belt (get used to generating that intra-abdominal force without something to push back on), but put it on when the reps get heavy (or the pauses in the bottom get long). That said, &lt;em&gt;practicing&lt;/em&gt; with the belt, even at low weights, to get used to it, won't hurt either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not about your erector spinae. Its about how you set-up your breathing and contractile force to keep those erector spinae safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote Mark Rippetoe (read everything he's ever produced, trust me):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First, the lifter’s belt provides a way to increase the effectiveness&#xA;  of the muscular contractions around the thoracic and abdominal&#xA;  cavities during a heavy lift. It works by giving the muscles around&#xA;  the spine something to contract against, so that they can produce a&#xA;  harder isometric contraction with the belt than they can without it.&#xA;  Like throwing a wiffle ball versus a baseball, or like learning to&#xA;  clean with a piece of PVC instead of a barbell, it is hard to produce&#xA;  force against little or no resistance. The belt provides this&#xA;  resistance to the trunk muscles, and the result is a harder&#xA;  contraction when the belt is worn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From bodybuilding.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Increasing intra-abdominal pressure is similar to inflating a balloon&#xA;  inside your abdominal cavity. The pressure inside the abdominal cavity&#xA;  pushes on the spine to support it from the inside, while the core&#xA;  muscles in the abdominal wall and lower back push on the spine from&#xA;  the outside. This inside and outside pressure acts to stabilize the&#xA;  spine and reduce the stress it receives when lifting heavy weights.&#xA;  This is how lifting belts can help to protect against back injuries&#xA;  during lifting. It's not due to the belt supplying the support, it's&#xA;  due to the way that the body reacts to the belt that supplies the&#xA;  spinal support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References and suggested reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/archive/index.php/t-13539.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Want Stronger Abs? Use a Belt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/article/the_belt_and_the_deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;The Belt and the Deadlift&quot;&gt;The Belt and the Deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/3-key-benefits-of-wearing-a-weightlfting-belt.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 Key Benefits of Wearing a Weightlifting Belt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16824" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T18:02:52.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29683" CreationDate="2016-04-29T05:11:00.503" Score="2" ViewCount="4900" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When should I be doing accessory work?&lt;/strong&gt; Does the timing largely depend on me, or is there a conventional/preferred time to do them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I stick it at the end of a workout day after the core lifts are completed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I do some of it at the beginning and some of it the end and then do the core lifts in the middle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be doing them on a separate day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it matter that much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T06:34:58.683" Title="When should I do accessory work?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29681" CreationDate="2016-04-29T06:12:32.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All in all, I'd say it doesn't matter too much, as long as you get them done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you place them before your compound movements, they will provide a good warmup so that when you jump into the squat rack, you're properly warmed up, and there is less risk of injury. However if you went hard on the accessories, you might have to sacrifice some plates. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Squatting on already tired quads and glutes is beneficial in its own right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you place them after the compound movements, you will help further break down muscle fibre, and that is what we want, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you place them on a different day, you get a chance to have two anabolic states per week, which is also worth keeping in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all boils down to preference, and when in doubt, vary! Try each method for, say, 3 months and track your progress and general feeling, and see what you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T06:12:32.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29681" CreationDate="2016-04-29T06:34:58.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying I can back this up with strong direct evidence, but doing things in any order other than&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Primary heavy compound core lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accessory work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...feels insane and wrong to me. So yes, I feel there's a convention, and that is to put the important stuff first (after a general warm-up and specific warm-up, of course) and the accessory stuff after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do accessory work first, then it kind of stops being accessory work. The first (non-warm-up) exercise you do in a workout is generally what you spend the most focus and energy on, and it's what improves fastest during recovery, so you're making that your core lift. As the saying goes, &quot;don't major in the minors&quot;. Do the core lifts then the accessories, unless you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; want to try focusing on, say, pull-ups rather than barbell squats. Which you can do!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Caveat: it's also possible to do separate workouts, often made to be less intense, to get accessory work in. These can be morning workouts that are part stretching and warm-up but also part calisthenics, or it could be a calisthenics-only workout at your regular workout time but not using the heavy lifts, and so on. A circuit format is best to avoid making the first exercise your core movement, unless that's what you want.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T06:34:58.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29686" CreationDate="2016-04-29T09:12:21.740" Score="0" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started a period using &lt;em&gt;Testosterone&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;Nandrolone&lt;/em&gt; intramuscular injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I inject a 100mg/100ml Testosterone &amp;amp; 25mg/100ml Nandrolone together twice a week (Saturdays &amp;amp; Tuesdays)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to inject 8 doses of Testosterone (100mg/100ml) and 8 doses of Nandrolone(25mg/100ml) in 4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How dangerous is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20217" LastEditorUserId="20217" LastEditDate="2016-04-29T21:07:44.833" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T21:07:44.833" Title="Testestrone &amp; Nandrolone Injection Safet" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2016-05-01T13:18:36.183" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29685" CreationDate="2016-04-29T10:08:19.017" Score="9" Body="&lt;h1&gt;In a word: Very&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not going to address the issues with self administering IV injections of 125ml in terms of safety (bubbles, infection, needle site issues) but instead look at the effects of both. You are artificially increasing your testosterone level without a medical professionals assessment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Testosterone&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mental Health Effects&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most studies have also found testosterone to be associated with behaviours or personality traits linked with criminality such as antisocial behaviour and alcoholism. Many studies have also been done on the relationship between more general aggressive behaviour/feelings and testosterone. About half the studies have found a relationship and about half no relationship [1]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies have also found that testosterone facilitates aggression by modulating vasopressin receptors in the hypothalamus.[2]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies conducted have found direct correlation between testosterone and dominance especially among the most violent criminals in prison who had the highest testosterone levels.[3]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;Physical Health&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adverse effects of testosterone supplementation may include increased cardiovascular events (including strokes and heart attacks) and deaths based on three peer-reviewed studies involving men taking testosterone-replacement [4]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, an increase of 30% in deaths and heart attacks in older men has been reported.[5] Recent studies also raise concerns.[6]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physicians are cautioned about the cancer risk associated with testosterone supplementation.[7]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adverse effects may also include minor side-effects such as acne and oily skin, as well as, significant hair loss and/or thinning of the hair (which may be prevented with 5-alpha reductase inhibitors). [8]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exogenous testosterone may also cause suppression of spermatogenesis, leading to, in some cases, infertility. [9]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;Benefits&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone has successfully been taken to enhance muscle development, strength, or endurance. They do so directly by increasing the muscles' protein synthesis. As a result, muscle fibers become larger and repair faster than the average person's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nandrolone&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not much has been established about this drug in terms of side effect studies on a large scale but i'll summarise what I found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;Physical Effects&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abuse can cause erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular damage, as well as several ailments resulting from the drug's effect of lowering levels of luteinizing hormone through negative feedback. Erectile dysfunction is attributed to the weaker action of dihydronandrolone in the penis since dihydrotestosterone is a known sexual modulator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a study here which may provide more information: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15076791&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15076791&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially the findings were that the administration of 200 mg. of Nandrolone (intramuscularly) for 8 weeks significantly increased body mass, whereas fat mass, bone mineral content, bone mineral density were unaffected. These data indicate that the changes can be attributed to an increase of muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarise, tests show that using both drugs can enhance your body's recovery and paired with the right training can boost muscle growth. Is it worth it? Unlikely. A well rounded diet with correct levels of protean and a heavy gym routine will get you the same, clean, results. IF you want evidence, google John Cena; John has tested clear on every single drug test over his entire life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Wright J, Ellis L, Beaver K (2009). Handbook of crime correlates. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-12-373612-9.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] Delville, Y.; Mansour, K. M.; Ferris, C. F. (1996-07-01). &amp;quot;Testosterone facilitates aggression by modulating vasopressin receptors in the hypothalamus&amp;quot;. Physiology &amp;amp; Behavior 60 (1): 25–29. doi:10.1016/0031-9384(95)02246-5. ISSN 0031-9384. PMID 8804638.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[3] Archer J (2006). &amp;quot;Testosterone and human aggression: an evaluation of the challenge hypothesis&amp;quot; (PDF). Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 30 (3): 319–45. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.12.007.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[4] Finkle WD, Greenland S, Ridgeway GK, Adams JL, Frasco MA, Cook MB, Fraumeni JF, Hoover RN (January 2014). &amp;quot;Increased risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction following testosterone therapy prescription in men&amp;quot; (PDF). PLOS ONE 9 (1): e85805. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085805. PMC 3905977. PMID 24489673.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[5] Vigen R, O'Donnell CI, Barón AE, Grunwald GK, Maddox TM, Bradley SM, Barqawi A, Woning G, Wierman ME, Plomondon ME, Rumsfeld JS, Ho PM (Nov 2013). &amp;quot;Association of testosterone therapy with mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke in men with low testosterone levels&amp;quot;. JAMA 310 (17): 1829–36. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.280386. PMID 24193080.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[6] &amp;quot;Testosterone Products: Drug Safety Communication – FDA Investigating Risk of Cardiovascular Events&amp;quot;. FDA. January 31, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2014.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[7] Gaylis FD, Lin DW, Ignatoff JM, Amling CL, Tutrone RF, Cosgrove DJ (Aug 2005). &amp;quot;Prostate cancer in men using testosterone supplementation&amp;quot;. The Journal of Urology 174 (2): 534–8; discussion 538. doi:10.1097/01.ju.0000165166.36280.60. PMID 16006887.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[8] &amp;quot;Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety&amp;quot;, Adverse effects of testosterone replacement therapy: an update on the evidence and controversy, October 2004&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[9] &amp;quot;Contraceptive efficacy of testosterone-induced azoospermia in normal men. World Health Organization Task Force on methods for the regulation of male fertility&amp;quot;. Lancet 336 (8721): 955–9. Oct 1990. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(90)92416-F. PMID 1977002.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T10:15:12.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29642" CreationDate="2016-04-29T10:53:27.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to train in a powerlifting orientated gym where several UK champion powerlifters (both male and female) called home. I can distinctly remember talking to one of the female lifters about her deadlift, and how at a bodyweight of about 60kg, she pulled a 170kg deadlift, but could only bench 60kg, whereas some of the guys I knew could bench around 150kg and squat around 200kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my gut answer on this is that women would have a larger disparity between upper and lower body strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I decided to actually figure it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the UK unequipped powerlifting records as a guide in the open age category (details for men &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gbpf.org.uk/docs/records/GBPFMensUnequipped.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and women &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gbpf.org.uk/docs/records/GBPFWomensUnequipped.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) and taking the percent bodyweight used on the bench press and squat, I created a quick excel sheet to work out the ratios, and the result surprised me... They're actually pretty similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can view the spreadsheet &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZSPJs922syIyX0AfDm5IGKkLVZ1iYQupTkRX70tA1GM/edit?usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but essentially men came away with a Bench / Squat ratio of &lt;code&gt;3.04 : 4.43&lt;/code&gt; whereas women scored a &lt;code&gt;3.04 : 4.89&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few stipulations here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;this is based off of UK powerlifting, so that's obviously a small&#xA;sample size. Also, the number of women in powerlifting is going to&#xA;be less than men, so again, you're looking at a relatively small&#xA;sample size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;both the bench press and squat, even unequipped, are dependant on a number of different factors, different body sizes and shapes mean vastly different numbers, and the numbers I used are based upon the individual records for the lifts, so the bench and squat in the same weight category could have been performed by persons of completely different shape with different attachment points, limb lengths, etc, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given those two points, hopefully this'll give you a rough answer, or at least point you in the right direction of how to do more thorough research yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T10:53:27.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-29T10:56:43.117" Score="1" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is a straight back, as it is the case of ballet and also gymnasts, the result of stronger muscles or just a case of learning the  &quot;Correct Stance&quot;, that is, how to keep your back straight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T11:58:14.353" Title="Ballerina's straight back" Tags="&lt;back&gt;&lt;ballet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19497" CreationDate="2016-04-29T11:35:30.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just reading a book by Matt Perryman called Squat Every Day, where he talked about frequent training (hence the title) and his finding when experimenting with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dan John also covers this with his Program Minimum works, as I believe does Pavel Tsatsouline in his Power To The People work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basis of all of those, from my understanding, is to view your training more as practice than working out. The idea is that you're frequently &quot;practising&quot; the movements that you do in order to gain greater ability in those movements (as Dan John says, if it's important, do it everyday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dan John and Pavel's ideas on daily training are all based around getting stronger, but personally I don't think that's the only application of this type of training. You can also use it to learn new skills (which, arguably, is you getting stronger anyway), for example, I got pretty damn close to a free standing handstand when I trained it for 20 minutes every evening. Likewise I've found that spending 20 minutes doing some basic mobility work has improved my squat form no end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the drawbacks of shorter bouts of exercise, I suppose the main drawback is making sure you're adequate prepared for the exercise (though I've found that if I squat every day, back squat in the gym, goblet squat on off days, I actually need less of a warm up to hit upwards of 85% of my 1RM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given all this, the only way to really know is to try it, track it, and see how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2019-11-21T09:31:55.147" LastActivityDate="2019-11-21T09:31:55.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-29T11:41:13.787" Score="2" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 300+ lbs Obelix.  Still struggling with Obesity.  I am NOT looking for recommendation - &quot;Oh you dont need this ... have you tried this ...tried that ? &quot; &#xA;I have a precise question. If I spend 2 hrs walking out in the Natural env. walking down those trails .. watching not to step on any kinda dog poop ....VS  doing a tread mill  at a slightly faster speed ( about 0.3 -0.5 mph ) but with  DEF a lot of incline ( Range  8-11 . Most times 8-9 ) ... which one burns out more calories and melts fat &#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Treadmills&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Faster speed &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Way Higher incline &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Makes me sweat ( but in this place and time of yr- sweat but not wet )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking :&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;slower pace ( sorry - I cant manage jogging ) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I maybe able to give longer times &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In treadmill the belt keeps moving so there's some kinda aid on your steps ..vs walking., have to  walk without anything happening below you .&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body gets acclimatized to the same routine in treadmill vs walking is different . Every moment is different &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fresh air exposure while walking &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can  enjoy hearing / seeing  something  on  my iphone without getting distracted , that needs attention. In treadmill - cant do something serious that needs attention - with the settings I use - just make do seeing something mindless like CNN. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Want to know which is the &quot;better deal&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20220" LastActivityDate="2019-09-10T06:56:07.770" Title="treadmills vs walking" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29688" CreationDate="2016-04-29T11:58:14.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not entirely sure what you mean by straight back without pictures (do you mean generally, or when they're holding specific poses?), but I know in some gymnastic based programs, they recommend training a position called the Hollow Body position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f8NlD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f8NlD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It involves flattening the back against the ground with resistance provided by the rest of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that it leads to a &quot;straighter&quot; body when performing a handstand (and presumably other positions as well)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ukbDh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ukbDh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T11:58:14.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29672" CreationDate="2016-04-29T13:44:45.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are sad photos of people during wartime and economic depressions taking swimming lessons on land, with swimsuits on, balanced on pieces of wood or the like. Unfortunately, you'll make little progress in this way. The main things to overcome are comfort in the water and then taking advantage of breath holding, balance, and floating for efficiency. There is nothing to replace practicing in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can do at home is to practice submerging your head in cool water and holding your breath for a few seconds, and then recovering after raising your head. If you do this with water that is warmer than the water park will be such as bath water, you may not trigger the same instincts and fears we are all born with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are scared of water, you should only stay in areas of the park meant for novices. Kids slides and shallow pools with only gentle waves or currents. Breathing in water accidentally if you are not comfortable can become very dangerous for you and those around you, even after you leave the water. Read up on dry or secondary drowning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastEditorUserId="773" LastEditDate="2016-04-29T13:55:01.753" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T13:55:01.753" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29556" CreationDate="2016-04-29T16:04:39.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For lower back and lower body strength , mobility and flexibility you can do the check out the following links: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foundation workout&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPwG2hqnOx0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ido's Squat Clinic Routine - Mobility &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20223" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T16:04:39.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29650" CreationDate="2016-04-29T20:14:35.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would depend on the grip and the width of that grip on the swiss bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suprispinatus abducts the upper arm (Moves it away from the torso), so if you do a swiss bar with a wide grip, you are still going to need to move the upper arm out to accommodate. The primary thing the swiss bar would achieve is rotation of the grip (And thus the forearm), which would not really have a significant impact on the overall motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are alternatives (with better results) than the traditional bench press, such as flyes, crossovers, things of that nature. However, anytime the upper arm moves away, you're involving the supra. Since it's primarily a stabilizer, that you strain it quite often indicates to me that either you're using too much weight or you have a form break somewhere. I'd recommend having someone take a look at your form for evaluation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T20:14:35.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29691" CreationDate="2016-04-29T21:07:12.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treadmill of-course. Your body will get used to the park or any env. Where you considor walking whereas treadmill will help you in varition. &#xA;And as you said you can put more time and walk some more distance without treadmill, it will not help as much.. Because the more efforts you make in least the time, the more you will lose weight as compared to the other method you mentioned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19795" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T21:07:12.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18323" CreationDate="2016-04-30T01:39:55.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing BodyPump for &lt;em&gt;decades&lt;/em&gt;, since the 90s. I started doing BP when they were playing New Zealand cover music, when they played the Haka.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; combine BP and lifting (and cardio). In fact, I think BP is a great &lt;em&gt;intro&lt;/em&gt; to lifting. You'll get a lot of volume and get into decent shape with BP. You'll also get some basic instruction, emphasis on basic. You'll get some basic variety. You will get better muscle tone but you will not gain much mass. If you want mass, you have to lift heavy, what's heavy for you. But before you lift heavy you will first need training volume (lotta reps before lotta weight) and BP will provide that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BP will get you into the gym knocking out an hour of sets and that's a start. But there's a lot more to learn after you're comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20225" LastActivityDate="2016-04-30T01:39:55.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-30T01:41:30.483" Score="-2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was doing my workout for nearly 8 months continuously without any break, but unfortunately I was forced to take a break for 3 months. This past week  I started to go to the gym, doing some cardio. For weight training, I am confused about where to begin. So please help me with a workout plan to regain my strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to do squats with 60 kg on both sides, and lunges with 20 to 25 kg on both sides, deadlift with almost 90 kg. Once, I lifted 120 kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also need a diet plan with supplements. I used to take GNC Wheybolic and supplements like multivitamin tabs and liv5s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20226" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2016-05-03T02:12:17.630" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T02:12:17.630" Title="What should be my next workout plan?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-05-11T17:41:42.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-30T13:06:50.917" Score="3" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lost around 33 pounds using intermittent fasting (skipping breakfast by substituting BCAAs).  Since then, I have started lifting, first with Starting Strength and now with Texas Method, regaining about 11 pounds.  I am over 40 and am only training twice a week (Monday and Friday).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On workout days when I lift in the morning, I skip my IF, have protein throughout the day and allow myself extra carbs.  On the remaining days, I adhere to IF and go low carb (still trying to keep protein high).  This seems to be working well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what to do on the day after a workout?  I know protein is important the day of the workout.  Will IF the day after workout adversely affect recovery?  Looking for any recommendations from those folks both attempting to increase strength while staying lean on IF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20228" LastActivityDate="2016-05-01T20:50:42.680" Title="Intermittent Fasting Post Workout" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21104" CreationDate="2016-04-30T20:15:22.450" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;to fix uneven muscle is simple look in the mirror and find out which part of your muscle is bigger or smaller than the other mark that point and hit it with high reps with 4 or 5 set with extreme squeez...improve your weakness part by visualising wat exercise I should do to make this right whatever it takes feel the muscle and pump it..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20229" LastActivityDate="2016-04-30T20:15:22.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29691" CreationDate="2016-05-01T09:56:17.373" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer which one burns more calories, that's pretty straightforward math.&#xA;Steady state cardio burns calories based upon intensity level x amount of calories per minute .&#xA;In order to get that number you would need to know your heart rate during exercise and either have the hr monitor calculate the calories burnt totals for you or plug it in to a online calculator. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way it's pretty simple.&#xA;Sounds like the treadmill option is more intense and is burning more per minute however if you are doing it for less time you might be burning more with walking outside.&#xA;My advice,Collect the data and run the numbers.&#xA;Once you have clear which one is burning more, that still doesn't answer the question of which one is the better deal. The best exercise for you is the one you will stick to , only you can answer that question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-01T09:56:17.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29708" CreationDate="2016-05-01T15:38:35.083" Score="-3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/body-beast-workout.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body Beast&lt;/a&gt;. I was using &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beachbody.com/product/supplements/p90x_peak_performance/p90x_peak_recovery_formula.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;P90X Recovery Formula&lt;/a&gt; after workout but it's doesn't have enough protein for me to reach my goals. So I've decided to use Whey protein too. What is the best time to use it? With P90X Recovery Formula after workout or any time during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements I use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre-Workout: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.optimumnutrition.com/en_US/products/gold-standard-pre-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ON Pre-Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post-Workout: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beachbody.com/product/supplements/p90x_peak_performance/p90x_peak_recovery_formula.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;P90X Recovery Formula&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post-Workout: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.optimumnutrition.com/en_US/products/creatine-powder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ON Creatine Powder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;???: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.optimumnutrition.com/en_US/products/gold-standard-whey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ON Whey Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20233" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T11:14:18.447" Title="Can I use ON Whey Protein and P90X Recovery Formula together?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29703" CreationDate="2016-05-01T20:50:42.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do 5x5 and IF and have no problem with recovery.&#xA;If you are concerned with fatigue and CNS recovery than the answer really is it depends on how well your body recovers and how you feel. This will obviously be impacted by the type of workout you do also. So try it and see what happens. There is no right answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're feeling fine and you are just concerned with muscle synthesis , there are some studies that have been done by Layne Norton to show optimal muscles synthesis takes place every 4 hrs and there is benefit in consuming protein every 4 hrs or so.&#xA;However this is just a few studies not hundreds of studies, it's not set in stone and even if the conclusions are true they only claim a slight benefit nothing more . you will still make gains without it.&#xA;You need to weigh out the before of IF to you over the slight improvement in muscle synthesis.&#xA;If IF is what's keeping you in your diet ,it's  way more important than these minute benefits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-01T20:50:42.680" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29706" CreationDate="2016-05-02T11:14:18.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While once considered essential in bodybuilding, the importance of nutrient timing has been severely downplayed in the last few years since plenty of studies fail to show significant results and the anabolic window of increased muscle protein synthesis is quite a lot longer than used to be thought. As in, it won't matter that much whether you take your protein shake immediately after training or several hours after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when taking whey protein, options roughly fall within these categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before your workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shortly after your workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Later on the day after your workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're taking a pre-workout, assuming you are not in (too much of) a fasted state, I don't see that much use in taking it beforehand since digestion could interfere with comfort during the workout. Taking it shortly after would be a good option. Taking it later is no problem, but might reduce appetite for a meal following shortly after. Since powdered whey protein digests very fast but other protein sources may digest much slower I'd say you might wanna keep some time between meals and your whey shake. Also, taking it directly after a workout is an easy timing to remember so you don't accidentally forget to take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for taking it along with a recovery formula, I'm not aware of any bad interactions between whey protein and anything that isn't medicine. If you get more protein, it'll just take a bit longer to digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T11:14:18.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29700" CreationDate="2016-05-02T12:29:38.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to choosing a plan after such a long break, a good approach will be treating yourself as of a beginner. That means starting with a full body workout about 3 times a week. The reason for doing that is to let your body accommodate to the &quot;new&quot; stress it's going through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't avoid compound &amp;amp; heavy exercises such as deadlift and squat, but don't go too heavy too soon: in this &quot;coming back&quot; period, maintain a relatively high repetitions range for such exercises (8± per set), start with light weight and increase it rapidly from day to day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about 4-6 weeks, it will be a good time to move on to your next plan based on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T12:29:38.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-02T13:08:52.410" Score="4" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend, who is one of our planet's elite athletes, explained to me that it is best to eat immediately after exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said that there is a short window after exercising where the body can use the calories and nutrients most efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming he is correct, how long is this window, and what are the benefits of eating right after exercising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15773" LastActivityDate="2018-06-21T07:58:58.640" Title="What are the benefits to eating immediately after exercising?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29710" CreationDate="2016-05-02T14:47:56.217" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;What your friend is referring to is commonly called the &quot;Golden hour&quot; or the &quot;Golden Window&quot;. It is also dependent on the type of exercise that you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many studies have shown that for endurance exercisers that have a need to replace glycogen in both muscles and body storage, that sooner is better, as the body is primed to deliver glycogen to the muscles when it is ingested soon after the workout is finished. A 3:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio has also been identified as being ideal, which corresponds with the profile of chocolate milk. This window used to be thought of as 1-2 hours, but that has been changed to 15-30 minutes as being the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was extrapolated by the supplement industry to blanketly include all exercise as needing refueling immediately after the workout, however this has not been borne out in studies as being more efficient. It can help recover some of the muscle glycogen, but the repair and results are not affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T14:47:56.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29710" CreationDate="2016-05-02T17:38:33.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The premise for this notion is based upon glycogen depletion. Replenishing glycogen allows the body to recover better and start working on muscle repair, however,&#xA;You would need to work out for a few hours to consider that your glycogen might have been depleted.&#xA;Assuming your friend is an athlete like you claim he probably trains for hours at a time and therefore does benefit from refueling.&#xA;For most people there is no need to eat right away.&#xA;Supplement companies will try to convince you otherwise the same way cereal companies will try to convince you breakfast is the most important meal of the day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T17:38:33.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29700" CreationDate="2016-05-02T20:51:11.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's irrelevant what you used to do.&#xA;You may have some head start with weight lifting but if you haven't lifted in a while , you probably lost a nice amount of strength.&#xA;Either way pick a beginner weight lifting program like starting strength or 5x5 stronglifts and it will help you progress properly and safely. It will help you choose your starting weight also.&#xA;There is no need to do a full body workout at this stage&#xA;You don't need any supplements.&#xA;If you don't get in enough nutrients you can take a multivitamin &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T20:51:11.793" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-03T01:24:54.043" Score="3" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is about something I've been experiencing consistently for some fifteen years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm training consistently in running, say putting in 8 miles a day, five days a week, I experience a &quot;lethargy&quot; which begins sometime in the middle of the first rest day and becomes much more intense on a second consecutive day of rest, after a full day of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not exactly fatigue; it is something else, like a groggy, sleepy feeling. A few times I experimented with using running to make it go away and it worked. For instance going outside and doing a few wind sprints of several hundred meters --- it was like hitting some big, red &quot;wake up&quot; button in the brain. It's a paradox: I don't want to do anything, just lie down. But the energy is there to run explosively, and feel completely opposite afterward, like a bipolar swing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't experience this if I replace running with some other endurance activity, like a decent volume and intensity of cycling. With cycling, I will be tired at the end of a bout of five days, and feel &lt;strong&gt;better&lt;/strong&gt; with consecutive rest days, as one would expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is definitely not a case of overtraining.  The effect doesn't require a high volume or intensity of training, and as I wrote above, it &lt;strong&gt;increases&lt;/strong&gt; with prolonged rest, at least over a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It rather seems to resemble some kind of drug withdrawal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this effect known and documented somewhere? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4550" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T23:30:53.253" Title="What causes an annoying &quot;lethargy&quot; which increases on consecutive days of rest from running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29677" CreationDate="2016-05-03T08:20:30.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can absolutely design a program around deadlifts, but the real question is should you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few years back, I wrecked my shoulder in a climbing accident, and I found that all I could really do pain free was deadlift, so I deadlifted every day. I can't remember the exact program, but it was based around multiple singles every day, increasing the number until I reached a point, then adding weight and starting again (i.e. start with 80% of your 1RM, pull this for 5 singles. Add a set every day until you're pulling 12 singles, add 5kg and start again with 5 singles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By following that program for a couple of months, I went from a shakey and occasional 160kg max to an easy feeling 170kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a program based around deadlifts, think about multiples singles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something as described here would be good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strongfirst.com/daily-dose-deadlift-plan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.strongfirst.com/daily-dose-deadlift-plan/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T08:20:30.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29714" CreationDate="2016-05-03T10:09:26.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finding precise studies seems to be hard, but I think we might be dealing with two factors: psychological and physiological.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a psychological level, there is habit formation. Taking an extract from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Habit formation is the process by which a behaviour, through regular repetition, becomes automatic or habitual. This is modelled as an increase in automaticity with number of repetitions up to an asymptote. This process of habit formation can be slow. Lally et al. (2010) found the average time for participants to reach the asymptote of automaticity was 66 days with a range of 18–254 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the habit is forming, it can be analysed in three parts: the cue, the behavior, and the reward. The cue is the thing that causes the habit to come about, the trigger of the habitual behaviour. This could be anything that one's mind associates with that habit and one will automatically let a habit come to the surface. The behavior is the actual habit that one exhibits, and the reward, a positive feeling, therefore continues the &amp;quot;habit loop&amp;quot;. A habit may initially be triggered by a goal, but over time that goal becomes less necessary and the habit becomes more automatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A day without running after consecutive days with running would be a break in the habit loop. Even if your habit is stated in your mind as &amp;quot;go running 5 times a week&amp;quot;, that's what you believe the habit to be on a cognitive level, but subconsciously you've been conditioned to do this daily. So as a day passes without running the loop is broken and the impulse towards activity is lessened. The longer you wait, the further you are on the drop-off of the habit formation curve towards automaticity and it will once again take an act of willpower to start again. But upon successfully doing so you'll quickly move towards the previous level again; if you didn't wait too long you'll still be way better off than starting from scratch, and the downtime will in retrospect seem like a little hickup in what is otherwise a well-established habit. I think this might have some effect on that &amp;quot;wake-up&amp;quot; feeling you get when you go for a run when the lethargy is setting in. The positive effect on mood from re-establishing the habit loop would definitely have an uplifting effect. I know for one that if I spend a whole day lazing about inside watching YouTube, or spend the day going to the park, sitting in the sun and reading, the latter will leave me in a better mood and feeling more fullfilled and awake, despite both arguably having been &amp;quot;unproductive&amp;quot; leisure time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case that doesn't seem to cover the whole story, though, since you mention this is specific to running and in other activities like cycling the time off actually contributes to recovery and a new-found readiness to take up the activity again. So we'd need to dig into the physiological aspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possibility is that it is in fact a function of recovery. Namely, with the cycling you might be accumulating fatigue to the point where rest is needed after five consecutive days or you'll start seeing a negative return on investment (overtraining). Whereas with the running perhaps the applied volume and intensity is of a level you are already accustomed to, so without increasing these parameters recovery isn't as big a factor anymore and the habit formation becomes much more important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article on Wikipedia investigates the neurobiological effects of exercise: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Of particular interest is the section &amp;quot;Psychological stress and cortisol&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;stress hormone&amp;quot;, cortisol, is a glucocorticoid that binds to glucocorticoid receptors. Psychological stress induces the release of cortisol from the adrenal gland by activating the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis). Short-term increases in cortisol levels are associated with adaptive cognitive improvements, such as enhanced inhibitory control; however, excessively high exposure or prolonged exposure to high levels of cortisol causes impairments in cognitive control and has neurotoxic effects in the human brain. For example, chronic psychological stress decreases BDNF expression which has detrimental effects on hippocampal volume and can lead to depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be a difference between the cortisol release for running and cycling, possibly specific to your case. Are you more accustomed to running than cycling? Perhaps cycling causes a cumulative overload whereas running no longer does this for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is the famous &amp;quot;runner's high&amp;quot;. A prolonged bout of exercise (and I'd say running 8 miles might fit the bill) can result in feelings of elation due to the release of what is known as &amp;quot;euphoriants&amp;quot;, which &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; in fact addictive drugs. Getting these on multiple consecutive days and then denying yourself them for a few days would very much lead into withdrawal symptoms. An example of such a substance playing a role in runner's high is beta-endorphin, an analgesic which has a (substantially) higher potency than morphine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this specific to running, or some sports but not including cycling? A search around online yields some anecdotal evidence from cyclists that they too can experience this same feeling of euphoria and get &amp;quot;in the zone&amp;quot;. But I'd hazard a guess that given the nature of cycling versus running (relative intensity, distance, possibility of letting momentum carry you for a while or downhill) you might need longer cycling workouts compared to running to produce the same effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best guesses would be that you are perhaps more accustomed to running and training specificity can have a profound effect on the produced results, or perhaps being our natural means of displacement (as opposed to cycling), running is more effective at resulting in the release of the euphoriants. But both are pure conjecture on my part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone would find some specific studies regarding this it'd be very interesting. I'm coming up empty-handed without taking more time to dig through archives with the right keywords.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T10:09:26.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29718" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-03T12:08:15.593" Score="3" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many factors contributing to the legspan and rarity of people achieve maximal legspan such as different splits. The legspan affects functional skills such different running styles so having an impact on different running styles and different forward movements such as galloping. It is hard to assess legspan such as dynamic legspan while the non-dynamic legspan is somewhat easier to assess. Yet even in non-dynamic legspan assesssment, things such as core twisting can make it hard to assess. So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to asssess legspan in different running styles? Where can you find procedures for legspan asssessment particularly for runners?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" OwnerDisplayName="hhh" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T12:34:50.977" Title="Legspan requirements for different running styles?" Tags="&lt;technique&gt;&lt;running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29718" CreationDate="2016-05-03T12:08:15.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maximal legspan contain lateral and vertical movements such as vertical splits and lateral splits. Rarity of people achieve sufficient technique and strength to maintain different splits and rotational movements of thighs so they are hard-to-use benchmarks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many factors contribute to legspan. Factors contain core flexibility, core strength, pelvis tilt and lateral hamstring movements. Fractures in vertebrae can lead to kyphosis i.e. dowager's hump (Life Span Motor Development, p.54, 2nd ed) that can stress muscles such as psoas muscle worsening movements of leg. The postnatal development contain rapid development of supranals (adrenal glands) until about 20 years old and uterus. Also the fat distribution from core and extremities change from adolescents to maturation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The range of leg motion changes over time. Maturition contain progession while the old age contain regression. Hence the patterns of motion change. Life span motor movements in legs contain learning different gaits such as walking, running, skipping and galloping. Running is a symmetric locomotor skill while galloping is asymmetric. Running is more energy efficient than galloping because less need for stability in waist than with galloping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple ways to assess leg span contain ruler. Measurements should assess the proportions of different limbs. Also as mentioned in the question, the core twisting should be acknowledged. A more straightforward way to assess running can be muscle mass analysis. Because advanced runners have more muscle mass in legs, it makes it natural to assess it directly with different resistance measurements such as InBody measurements. The impact of a single legspan characteristic can be quite meaningless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A beginning runner has a limited range of motion. The arms and legs swing to the side rather than rhythmic forward-backward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KnAAo.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KnAAo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The range of motion develops over age (p.128-129, Life Span Motor Development 2ed, Kathleem Haywood). The examples contain the beginning runner and the advanced runner. Running is more advanced motor skill than let say walking requiring sufficient legspan for advanced technique.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An advanced runner has larger range of motion such as longer stride length, eliminated lateral leg movements, smooth strike with heel first to forefoot, limited out-toeing (second child picture on the left has excess stress to knees, bad) and better trunk rotation to allow longer stride. The arms in 90 degree swing in shoulder cups with the torso leaned slightly forward while the core is straight along the leaned axis (back leg to head). The weight comes over the support knee which requires strength and flexibility particularly from core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olympic-level runner Moses Mosop &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMgIViinuQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; has running specs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;fast backleg forward&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;body lean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;0.133-0.167s ground contact&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;no bending in waist&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;32 steps per 10 seconds (almost 200 spm)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;speed even at 3 min per km&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the running style has high cadency like in gliding running style and long stride like in gazello running style. This technique is extremely tiresome. For more typical gazello running and gliding running see the comparison &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJWPwVF30yo&amp;amp;t=6m6s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; between triathlonists. The legspan requirements are more demanding in the gazello running style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running comparison to galloping&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Galloping is favored by four-limb animals for fast movements while two-limb animals such as people do not favour them &lt;em&gt;&quot;gallop metabolically more expensive and involves high muscular stress at the hips&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/early/2012/12/06/jeb.074690.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Biomechanics of human bipedal gallop: asymmetry dictates leg functions&lt;/a&gt;) with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The transition from running to galloping requires about 6 months after learning running. The galloping has opposite motions between legs and arms similarly to running. A difference is that the ground times for strides are longer in galloping than running. The asymmetry of galloping means that it requires more stability from the core than running with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The galloping of child can be seen on the page 143 of the book with opposing arm and leg motions. In comparison, the galloping is similar with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_gait#/media/File:Muybridge_horse_gallop.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;horses&lt;/a&gt; where the arms act as supports so less stress to waist than with people. This is the &lt;em&gt;&quot;first asymmetrical locomotor pattern a child learns&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (p.142). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary and motivational areas&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting areas for further research contain the assesssment of biomechanics on different running styles. At the time of writing, the author does not know whether different legspan characteristics have been analysed for running. A simple asssessment methods contain ruler methods and muscle mass analysis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" OwnerDisplayName="hhh" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T12:08:15.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29733" CreationDate="2016-05-03T14:38:12.857" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have finally come back into meal prep mode, and before I never actually gave thought of the order of my snacks or if it matters at all, I usually have a protein or carb snack with some green tea. The time I'm aiming for is 11am for first snack and 5pm for second snack. But I was wondering, does it matter if I eat the protein snack first? or should I eat the carb one first? I go to the gym around 7pm, if that helps to give some insight. Other than my whey protein I haven't found a good substitute to consider switching the protein snack options. So any suggestions will be greatly appreciated as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T07:22:35.250" Title="Snack time, protein or carbs?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;snacks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29677" CreationDate="2016-05-03T15:19:32.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Why 1x5 deadlifts so often?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One heavy deadlift set to five reps can be plenty for most people. Most novice programs don't include a lot of deadlift volume because there's no need for more than one set of 5 if you're also doing plenty of squat volume. Plus, bad form in the deadlift is Bad News, plus novices trend towards bad form after a set of heavy deadlifts, which equals Maybe Let's Wait A Few Months for high-volume deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Can a routine be designed around deadlifts?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of routines &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; designed around deadlifts, and they work fine. They're just not usually for people without some experience and strength under their belt. The Coan deadlift routine comes to mind as the most common. If you're designing a program around deadlifts, the first thing to keep in mind is Don't, because you probably don't know how. But if you do, then you probably already know that it will probably involve starting every workout with some form of deadlift, probably with some pulling variations (e.g. Romanian deadlifts, rack pulls, power cleans, snatch-grip deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, speed deadlifts), some variation in rep schemes from day to day or week to week, and a heck of a lot more volume than 1 paltry set of 5. Oh, and other exercises too, because one-trick ponies we don't want to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2016-05-03T20:14:40.493" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T20:14:40.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29673" CreationDate="2016-05-03T17:33:40.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a doctor but I'm theorizing a little here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your hands don't need much blood when you're running - thus you're body is taking blood from them and sending them where it's needed (i.e. your breathing muscles and your legs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could explain the cold hands. I'd probably just wear some gloves for a while until your body adapts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sugar-craving and cramps are probably a separate issue. You are probably under-fueling. You don't say how long it took you but 15km is probably around 90 minutes.&#xA;I would consider taking at least an electrolyte supplement during your run. That would deal with the cramping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two causes of cramping. One is that your muscles are under-trained for the loading and have run out of the capacity to keep firing. The other is that there's not enough calcium and magnesium (and, to some extent, sodium and potassium) for them to fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also re-consider your fuelling strategy. You should practice whatever you're going to drink or eat at the race. You can choose to use some kind of sports drink (e.g. whatever the race provides or something that you do).&#xA;It's quite possible to train your body to run off your fat metabolism and thus only take water and electrolytes - this is an advanced strategy that I wouldn't try for your first marathon though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T17:33:40.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29732" CreationDate="2016-05-03T18:08:20.983" Score="2" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been weightlifting for sometime but my muscles are not growing as much as I would like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout plan consist of daily light weightlifting and some cardio excerise.&#xA;And my diet is traditional Indian diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But still i have not developed muscles at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20249" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-05-03T18:23:56.587" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T06:46:41.300" Title="Why am I not growing muscularly?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29741" CreationDate="2016-05-03T20:01:39.720" Score="4" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question regarding max heart while exercising. I'm 28 years old, in relatively good shape, 6' 1&quot; 230 lbs. According to the old formula my max heart rate would be 192, and the new formula 195. I've read several articles around the internet saying working out above 85% or 90% max heart rate (depending on the source) is not good for your health. When I asked my doctor about it a few years ago she said you shouldn't go higher than 85% or about 160 bpm for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is I do 30 minutes a day on the MAX5 which is a fairly intense workout, and my heart rate is usually around 165 - 170 bpm. Sometimes it will creep up around 175 bpm. However I feel fine, I don't feel winded or out of breath. Some days if I go more intense I can hit 185-190 region, and I get a little winded but still not out of breath. Is it dangerous to work out in this zone? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I grew up playing sports my entire life, football, baseball, weight training. I remember sprinting over and over again, and truly being out of breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20251" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T14:34:51.100" Title="Question About Max Heart Rate?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25759" CreationDate="2016-05-03T21:26:52.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The good news is that since you will be in a fairly cold water (colder than your body temperature), your body will exert energy to keep warm, thus burn fat, even if you only float around. So, being in a swimming pool is definitely one of the best way to start loosing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to on more specifics regarding the actual type of swimming. I'd suggest breaking down your workout into parts:&#xA; - warm up (slow, easy swimming with an occasional quick burst) - let's say 200-500 meters&#xA; - drills/kicking (moderate speed, some technique oriented swims) -ex: 8x50 with 20 seconds rest (odd- kicking, even - swim with one arm)&#xA; - main set (good endurance or speed set to get your heart rate up into the burning zone) 4x200 with 30 seconds rest, 4x50 sprint with 5 minutes rest&#xA; - long warm down (very easy swimming)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it was already mentioned before, mix of different strokes, speeds and distances will make your workout fun. Also, if you are up for some water jogging, you can put that in there to get some more fat burning in you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20252" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T21:26:52.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25458" CreationDate="2016-05-03T21:30:41.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try a technique involving moving your soft palate into the right place by saying the letter 'T'. Try mouthing the letter and you will see that you cannot breath through your nose, so water will not get in to choke you. Here is a more detailed explanation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.swimator.com/2011/04/getting-water-up-my-nose-while-swimming.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.swimator.com/2011/04/getting-water-up-my-nose-while-swimming.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20252" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T21:30:41.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18987" CreationDate="2016-05-03T21:44:36.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, reading your question (I know it is old, so you probably are healthy now, but perhaps others can benefit), not having the ability to use ones arms is a blessing when it comes to improving your swimming. Let me explain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention that your weakest point is swimming, so you have a lot to gain if you learn to swim efficiently right? Since you cannot give into the temptation to put on your paddles and go for a grueling swim session from which you get almost nothing out of in terms of swim efficiency, you can actually learn to swim properly and be good at it :). I can tell you that focusing on your upper body strength is not the way to go (as you probably found out after 6 months of strengthening:)), so forget gym memberships and such, go daily into your local pool and you will see a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the good news is, efficient swimming is mainly about proper body position for which you actually do not need any arms at all (just have them relaxed by your body), so my suggestion for you would be to take it as a blessing that you cannot use the arms and go back to the basics. Improve your body position and at the same time kicking efficiency and effectiveness and when you are ready, you will come out of the next triathlon swim fresh and ready to do some mad biking and running afterwards. This should get you started: &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.swimator.com/2011/01/how-to-swim-faster-easier-learning-to.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.swimator.com/2011/01/how-to-swim-faster-easier-learning-to.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps to someone in the same position as you. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20252" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T21:44:36.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2016-05-03T21:49:14.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a good list of potential solutions. Even though it is for a scuba mask, it pertains to any goggles as well. (ex: burn glass with lighter, toothpaste, saliva, baby shampoo, glycerin soap). &lt;a href=&quot;http://scuba-diving-explained.com/no-more-fog-in-my-scuba-mask-secrets-to-a-clear-mask&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://scuba-diving-explained.com/no-more-fog-in-my-scuba-mask-secrets-to-a-clear-mask&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20252" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T21:49:14.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29724" CreationDate="2016-05-03T21:50:09.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is rather vague, but there are a few potential reasons you aren't gaining muscle.  Remember, these are only possibilities, since it is hard to diagnose the problem off of very limited information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) You have not been lifting for a long enough period of time.  After two months of lifting, you &quot;might&quot; notice changes in your body, assuming you have been doing some other things correctly (such as the following).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Not lifting enough weight.  Is lifting extremely easy when you do it?  Do you lift for 5 minutes a day or 90 minutes?  You said you lift light, well, light might not be working for you if your goal is to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Not eating enough calories.  I am doubtful of this one, simply because the previous comments are more plausible, but if you do not consume enough calories, you'll have difficulties gaining much muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps... edit your question and provide details if you seek a more specific answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20253" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T21:50:09.427" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29724" CreationDate="2016-05-03T22:12:52.360" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;light weightlifting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will not build muscle for you. Lift heavier weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;some cardio excerise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This fights your effort to gain muscle. Consider doing less cardio if you want to grow muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;traditional Indian diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not giving much detail here, but more food, particularly more protein, would almost certainly help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To recap: to grow muscle, you need to lift heavier weights, stop doing stuff that doesn't help, and eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T22:12:52.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29720" CreationDate="2016-05-03T22:55:30.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No meal timing does not matter , only concern would be if you have energy at the gym. You may find you have more energy consuming carbs a few hours before. Other than that there is no difference.&#xA;For protein other than whey, I use Greek yogurt , sometimes i make protein pancakes . you can Google for recipes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T22:55:30.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-04T03:25:50.217" Score="2" ViewCount="2052" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is best way to burn calories? Some of my friends do cycling and I do running.  I have seen statistics from fitness App and I found that I am burning more calories then them if we keep distance constant. However If I do stairs I feel more tired than running if we keeep time as constant. &#xA;My question is which one is fastest and efficient way to loose fat and gain strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20257" LastActivityDate="2016-05-07T06:26:33.127" Title="Running vs Cycling vs Stairs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29724" CreationDate="2016-05-04T06:46:41.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditional indian diet means carb-loaded with a lack of protein, at least from what I've experienced of Indian cuisine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your macros are likely not good with such a diet. You have to adapt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's 90% diet and 10% what you do in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T06:46:41.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29720" CreationDate="2016-05-04T07:22:35.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking the assumption of a carb-bar and a protein-bar where there is no crossover: Carbs (when presented in bar form) usually give you fast energy, and is the primary reason they are popular with outdoor sport enthusiasts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A protein bar is usually intended as a supplement to your diet to replace what carbs you would have ingested, with protein. Protein on its own doesn't usually give you a lot of energy but it helps your body with recovery. This is why it is commonly accepted that around 30 minutes after weightlifting, drink a protein shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all of this, follow the principle of &quot;If it meets your macros&quot;. If you are getting enough protein from your diet. Simply, aim for &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.8-1g protein per pound body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.35-0.45g fat per pound body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.7-0.9 carbs per pound body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iifym.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.iifym.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to easily get your protein for the day by eating lean meat and dairy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T07:22:35.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29734" CreationDate="2016-05-04T07:26:02.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends entirely on intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interval training on a treadmill for 50 minutes will burn more calories than a steady bike ride for 50 minutes. All of the exercised have their benefits and drawbacks in terms of impact to your body but it is generally accepted that a cross trainer has the least impact on your joints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T07:26:02.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29734" CreationDate="2016-05-04T07:45:05.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot depends on the intensity and the duration of a training. You'll find lots of articles on the internet about this. Just to give you an example I've placed 2 links below which compare running &amp;amp; running stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&amp;amp;art_id=11681&amp;amp;sc=128&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ask the Personal trainer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/burns-calories-running-climbing-stairs-7572.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Running vs Stairs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running on stairs does in fact burn more calories than running on the flat. But the question you should be asking yourself: &lt;strong&gt;Can I run as long on stairs as on the flat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example in my case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can run (easy pace) for 90min without problems/excessive fatigue, which burns according to my garmin between the 700 and 1050 kcal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can only run/walk for 30min on stairs in the gym (before i'm bored out of my mind). This burns according to the device around the 300-500kcal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case running would be more beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark:&lt;/strong&gt; My personal advice (if your goal is to lose weight) is to start with a maintainable(healthy) diet combined with some light sports to start with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="18339" LastEditDate="2016-05-04T07:51:38.773" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T07:51:38.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29725" CreationDate="2016-05-04T14:34:51.100" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little while ago I was playing Dance Dance Revolution and finally managed to make it through the most intense song I'm currently capable of without dying. That is, running out of health meter in the game. But I also didn't die physically. I wear a heart monitor while playing and at the end it showed 203 BPM. My age at that moment (it's about a month ago) was 30. My maximum heart rate &quot;should&quot; have been 190. How come I'm alive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a year and 4/5 months ago (end of 2014, start 2015) I did quite a bit of cardio to lose weight. When jogging my heart rate would typically float around 175. About the same when swimming. I then picked up an interest in weightlifting and soon getting stronger was all that was on my mind and the cardio went largely out the window. Having cultivated a nice layer of fat from eating for muscle gain I've started a caloric deficit and gradually increased cardio again since about a month ago. I fully expected it to kick my butt after sitting on it when not lifting for most of a year, but instead I immediately destroyed my fastest time for a 1 km swim on the first session. And surprisingly, my heart rate would stay lower for what felt like the same intensity as a year prior. Getting it to 175 and keeping it there extensively, like before, now requires a lot more effort, to the point where I don't feel it's worth it if I wanna get any distance. I'm mostly sitting at around 162 now for what feels like sufficient intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm only one data point, but it does show two things. It is in fact possible to push the heart rate into what would be deemed a &quot;dangerous&quot; zone, at least for short bursts, without dropping dead on the spot. And your age alone is a poor indicator for relating heart rate to intensity. A year of getting stronger, momentarily increasing blood pressure (dramatically) using the valsalva maneuver on lifts, increased lean body mass and more has left me in a state where the same effort now requires a lower heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;220 - age in years&quot; formula is the most common one encountered. It was, most likely, devised by doctors William Haskell and Samuel Fox. Rather than being the result of a study by them, it was actually the result of a meta-analysis of 11 other investigations. It wasn't intended to be used as a serious guideline for exercise or training but rather an observation on the trend line through data points. Studies revealed a large inherent error of 7 to 11 BPM. However, the simplicity of the formula and it being quoted led to it increasingly being used, with the result that it is now considered the standard and general knowledge, reinforced by being plastered on cardio equipment and touted by doctors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all due respect to the medical profession, but despite their long training not all doctors can be expected to excel in it. They too get taught things by others, have to accept some of it as axioms and not all of them are critical enough to question everything presented, or will have the time or ambition to study further into every piece of info they must provide to their patients. A doctor is mostly concerned with you not keeling over and dying, not necessarily with allowing you to &lt;em&gt;possibly&lt;/em&gt; compromise your health for the sake of excellence in sports performance or &lt;em&gt;possibly&lt;/em&gt; get some benefits from optimizing your heart rate during cardio exercise. They want what works for most, and the 220 - age recommendation seems a safe one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many other formulas have cropped up, and a list is available on Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate#Maximum_heart_rate&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate#Maximum_heart_rate&lt;/a&gt;. Of interest is the graph showing their differences. While it may not seem spectacular, note how some are purely linear and others follow a curve, and the difference between extremes exceeds 10 BPM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so all of these are based on age. With only that one piece of info to go on, not even weight or body fat percentage or sex, this can only be so useful. There will be vast individual differences. How long have you been exercising? Which intensity? Have you done strength development? What's your lung capacity? How adapted is your body to oxidative stress and how much efficiency has been gained in the metabolic cycles providing energy? The heart itself is subject to hypertrophy under increasing demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with the formulas themselves being substantially unreliable, who's to say what constitutes &quot;dangerous&quot; or would have adverse effects in the long term? A search for &quot;heart rate exercise&quot; on PubMed Central yields 82000+ results. You can find studies that draw some scary conclusions regarding possible adverse structural changes to the cardiovascular system as a result of frequent physical activity (both short intense bouts and endurance). There's studies that expound the benefits for cardiovascular health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one looks into the accuracy of several formulas with regards to overweight individuals: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3081386/&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3081386/&lt;/a&gt; (Maximal Heart Rate Prediction in Adults that are Overweight or Obese, Shawn C. Frackowiak et al., J Strength Cond Res. 2011 May; 25(5): 1407–1412). There are significant flaws depending on age group and the level of obesity. The Tanaka et al. equation (208 − 0.7 × age) performed best. But looking at figure 1 I'd still say measurements are all over the shop and individual differences are significant enough not to rely on blanket equations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching for information regarding dangers of training in different percentage zones of these proposed maximum heart rates yields mostly articles greedily jumping onto several studies of the past few years that show excessively much or intense exercise can have adverse effects. These then twist the tentative conclusions of the studies (based on marathon running) to state that &quot;doing cardio might be bad for you&quot; because headlines confirming people's desire for laziness to be the key to a healthy life sell. If you read an article starting with something along the lines of &quot;(a) new study/studies show(s) that&quot; and doesn't reference said study anywhere, close it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, I can't find any decent consensus on whether training close to 100% of the calculated max heart rate is in fact dangerous on the short or long term (in the absence of pre-existing conditions) and that calculated max itself is very sketchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want my opinion? Trust your body's feedback. The many hundred millions of years of evolution that led up to it have given it some pretty damn good tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T14:34:51.100" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29743" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-04T22:42:03.877" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23033844&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;publication&lt;/a&gt; claims increasing prevalence of allergies in elite athletes and &lt;em&gt;&quot;[o]ver 80% of allergic [elite] athletes are poly-sensitized&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. Yet this is not just an issue of elite athletes, exercise-induced (EI) allergic symptoms can also occur in recretional atheletes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why does there exist increasing prevalence of allergies and poly-sensitivity in athletes? How do recretional atheletes compare to elite atheletes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T22:42:03.877" Title="Increasing prevalence of Allergies and Poly-sensitivity in Athletes, why?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-05T20:16:37.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29743" CreationDate="2016-05-04T22:42:03.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise-induced (EI) hypersensitivity disorders contain EI-asthma, EI-bronchoconstriction, EI-rhinitis, EI-anaphylaxis and EI–urticaria. They can occur in both recretional athletes and elete athletes as mentioned in the question. The reasons for EI hypersensitivity contain &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;airway dehydration (risk for EI-asthma and EI-rhinitis), &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;increasing exposure to pollutants in air (risk for EI-asthma and EI-rhinitis), &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;exercising too early after food (such as wheat and shrimp IgE sensitivity causing anaphylaxis) and &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;urticaria with unusual temperature change such as elevated temperature in endurance atheletes. The last can be associated with things such as whear, blisters and anaphylaxis. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is to some extent discussed on pages 959-960 in &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1398-9995.2008.01802.x/epdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise-induced hypersensitivity syndromes in recreationaland competitive athletes: a PRACTALL consensus report (what the general practitioner should know about sports and allergy)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why increasing prevalence?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Environemntal factors such as pollution could be a factor for the increase. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Elite atheletism has developed over years to distributions having flatter tails: only minority get the rewards and can maintain their career and health. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Technological development such as IgE microship inference testing&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Better knowledge such as improved classification of urticaria with different classifiers such as tryptophan&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EI-urticaria and associated anaphylaxis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many different types of urticaria such as immunoglobulin-dependent urticaria (mostly IgE), physical urticaria (cold urticaria, solar urticaria) and complement-mediated urticaria (such as heat-urticaria, serum sickness). Other possible pathogenetic mechanisms are in Table 3.2 of the book Urticaria&#xA;by Beate M. Czarnetzki, 2012.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many meditators to urticaria such as histamine, probably the most researhed so far. Histamine leaves marks of urticaria on the skin with the following ways: initial red mucula, then surrounding erythema and edema last (skin ballooning, filled with fuild). This is commonly associated with burning pain and itching. More in 2.3.1 of the book. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Histamine does not readily cross the blood-brain barrier&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (2.3.1 Section in the book). According to animal tests, injections of histamine into the ventricle can cause symptoms such as increased blood pressure, hypothermia, prolactin secrecation and increased adrenocorticotrophin by the book. Histamine has high concentration in particularly hypothalasmus. Neurons have H1 and H2 receptors and histamine acts as neurontransmitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Serotonin is other mediator besides the histamine. There are differences such as vasocontriction but also similarities such as that both serotonin and histamine can be increased with estrogen. Both serotonin and histamine can be considered as inflammatory mediators:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;[serotonin] is considered to be an inflammatory mediator, along with histamine. Edema, bronchoconstriction, immunosuppression, and joint swelling are produced by the release of serotonin from platelets or other cells. &lt;strong&gt;As inflammatory mediators, serotonin and histamine are directly involved in asthma, hives, gastrointestinal damage from alcohol, nerve cell damage, edema, and shock.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Web article &lt;a href=&quot;http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/serotonin-depression-aggression.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The drugs used to treat the inflamation contain anti-histamines (probably most popular nowadays) and anti-serotonins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the body recovers from food-induced inflammation such as beans rich in estrogen, too early physical exercise can cause anaphylaxis and urticaria signaling to stop augmenting the inflammation. So a mechanism for EI-hypersensitivity is an imbalance in neurotransmitters (serotin and histamine) that is caused here by estrogen-rich foods. In order to avoid shocks again, it is important to analyse the whole diet over past 24 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EI-asthma and EI-rhinitis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author has not yet investigated the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The increasing prevalence in allergies and poly-sensitivity seem to be due to multiple factors such as pollution, other environmentaral reasons, food supply and more athletic demand. There are also causes to which athletes can affect such as proper hydration and lack of rest. Certain symptoms such as EI-urticaria and EI-anaphylasis require closer attention to diet such as knowing precisely the diet over the last 24 hours before the shock to understand it better and ensure healthy athletic participation in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comparison between recreational athletes and elite athletes is in the publication &lt;em&gt;&quot;Exercise-induced hypersensitivity syndromes in recreational and competitive athlete&quot;&lt;/em&gt; that was discussed to some extent in the answer above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T22:42:03.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2016-05-05T09:55:05.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel a little awkward submitting this answer as, unlike the majority of the answers above, I have no personal experience, only anecdotal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I used to climb, there was a regular at the climbing wall who was a fantastic climber and had a below the knee prosthetic (he actually came up to a couple of us one evening and asked if anyone had an allen key he could borrow to tighten his foot... probably one of the oddest things I've ever been asked while climbing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend giving climbing a try. You can climb in a style according to your abilities, personally I use my feet a lot and climb in a very relaxed manner, whereas my regular partner climbs in a more dynamic way, using a lot of his upper body strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, I don't know if this is a fair suggestion based on your personal circumstances, but it may be something to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-05T09:55:05.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-05T15:50:10.540" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be able to ride my bike for miles and do spin classes with no problems. I stopped when I started working a graveyard shift. It entailed sitting for hours on end. I did this for a few years. I am no longer able to ride due to severe hip/groin pain, primarily on the up stroke. Do you know of any specific beginner exercises/stretches that I can ease into to start alleviating this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20269" LastActivityDate="2016-05-05T20:19:41.463" Title="What can I do to alleviate hip/groin pain on the upstroke?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29748" CreationDate="2016-05-05T20:19:41.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the pain in your hip is coming from your hip-flexors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This group is comprised of the: Illiopsoas; Sartorius; and Rectus Femorus.&#xA;Their purpose is to: Flex your hip joint; Flex your trunk forward; Pull your thigh upward; and to help stabilize your lower body (at the pelvis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rHVvA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rHVvA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This images shows how your weight should be distributed for a hip-flexor stretch...&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/I80jJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/I80jJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;While this image shows an alternate form that also forces that weight more into your hip because it forces a fixed point (the floor) that the other does not.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; This picture doesn't do a great job of showing the weight distribution, though. Or... Maybe the drawing just has &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; tight hip-flexors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following 2 links have more in depth descriptions with videos to describe the basic stretch (as it can be hard to conceptualize via images). &lt;em&gt;Some info is repeated&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitbodyhq.com/fitness/12-great-stretches-for-tight-hip-flexors/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hip-Flexor Videos 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theptdc.com/2015/11/why-doing-hip-flexor-stretches-may-not-loosen-and-open-up-the-hips/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hip-Flexor Videos 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2016-05-05T20:19:41.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-06T10:03:15.750" Score="3" ViewCount="705" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any high quality examples of progressive crossfit training plans over a longer period of time say a few month or a year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting at an assumed fitness and skill level, it should be desined in such a way that it progressively builds skills, strength, power, endurance and flexiblity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't find anything like that by searching the web, just blogs like wodstar or from invictus crossfit to follow along without any regognizable progresssion. Perhaps there are any publications in books or journals about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="499" LastEditorUserId="499" LastEditDate="2016-05-06T10:11:27.990" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T04:03:59.373" Title="Crossfit training plans: progressive programming of fitness and skills" Tags="&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29778" CreationDate="2016-05-06T15:21:02.713" Score="0" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got quite into recreational running over the past 8-9 months, having started out with some extremely cheap trainers I bought off-the-shelf at a large sports store. Last week I finally got round to heeding the wisdom of getting my gait analysed and fitted with some proper shoes at a local shop that a number of friends have recommended. Being quite flat-footed and tending to over-pronate they kitted me out with some stability shoes (Asics GTS-1000s). However, having gone on some short runs since (3-6k) I've been getting a lot of twinges. Generally it's just a lot more exhausting during the run, and getting blisters on my arches if I go beyond 4k or so, but in the hours afterwards I'm getting some discomfort on the inside of my heel up along my achilles, the inside of my knees and round to the bottom of my hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've spoken to the shop on the phone and they've suggested I keep trying a few more light runs, and if necessary go back and get them changed. But I don't really want to change them if I'm just going to get the same issues with my next shoes. Is this a normal experience? I have wondered if the last few months have got me into some bad habits with my technique which I need to get out of, but I'm not sure what they would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20292" OwnerDisplayName="Si Wilkins" LastEditorUserId="20292" LastEditDate="2016-05-08T07:55:01.283" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T12:41:53.370" Title="Pain when adusting to stability shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29756" CreationDate="2016-05-07T05:06:39.267" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I am a beginner and trying to learn breast stroke(some say it is the easiest of all strokes). I am fine with the leg movement in this. However,after maybe one or two leg strokes, I can't bring my face (mouth to be precise) out of the water surface to take a breath. I see people around using their hands and come up in a very relaxed way but for some reason I am unable to do so. How to get my face out (and in a relaxed way) ? Is it only tilting the neck or do we use our back to stretch or is it the hands that help to come up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20281" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T16:04:20.493" Title="How to get my face (mouth to be precise) out of the water for breathing while doing a breast stroke?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29753" CreationDate="2016-05-07T08:49:24.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing breast stroke your arms should naturally push downwards. The technique as far as breathing is concerned is that your head does not change position throughout the stroke and instead, the force of the down push will lift your head, shoulders and part of your upper back out of the water. If you watch a video of an Olympic breaststroke event you can see this technique being used from both above and below water cameras which is highly useful for teaching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that you watch these videos and also think about the down push while performing breaststroke. The movement needs to be natural and instinctive. After you start thinking about the down push, you may notice that your technique lacks in your arm movements or position of your back during the stroke. &#xA;Unfortunately there are many factors to consider during a stroke but practice really does make perfect here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20283" LastActivityDate="2016-05-07T08:49:24.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29766" CreationDate="2016-05-07T19:40:43.073" Score="-1" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often read &quot;if you exercise your PC muscles every day you will see great results&quot;. This is counter-intuitive to me, having been working out for many years. I know for sure that if I don't rest enough, the worse the results. So why many people recommend exercising the PC muscle differently (every day)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15556" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T05:32:42.063" Title="Does the PC muscle recover faster in comparison to the other muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29761" CreationDate="2016-05-08T05:32:42.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say because most of the (non-scientific) advice I've seen around the web is &quot;endurance&quot; stuff. So start with x squeezes every day and build up to 600 per day or whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you exercise like that you're not really gaining strength (at least after a certain point), but simply building up endurance. So it's kinda like running longer and longer every day (at roughly the same pace) instead of weight lifting with progressing difficulty for strength/mass gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To bring my point home, the way most people exercise their PC muscle can be done on a daily basis. But if you truly trained your PC muscle to reach peak strength (which is definitely what you need if you're after the male multi-orgasm thing), then you'd get better results with longer recovery periods. Because, at least to my knowledge, the PC muscle responds to training no differently than any other muscle in our body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T05:32:42.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-08T11:12:40.987" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering getting myself a sling trainer, after I was able to try one at a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found one major difference between cheap ones, and expensive ones (as the one on the gym), which is the wheel, which makes the string between the handles move really easy I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is one without wheel: (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.de/SportPlus-Schlingentrainer-Professional-Karabinerbefestigung-Transportbeutel/dp/B00KE4JXAK/ref=sr_1_1?s=sports&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1462705218&amp;amp;sr=1-1&amp;amp;keywords=schlingentrainer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Product&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here one with wheel: (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00SHAIBVA?psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Product&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking, the wheel is important and in order to get the full effect of a sling trainer I should get one with wheel, but before I put the order I'd like to get some input from some more experienced people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-06-09T19:11:44.897" LastActivityDate="2018-06-09T19:11:44.897" Title="Is the wheel important in a sling trainer?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29771" CreationDate="2016-05-08T13:16:48.987" Score="6" ViewCount="3023" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/I-go-to-gym-every-day-and-I-follow-good-diet-but-I-cant-get-rid-of-my-tummy-fat-It-is-really-so-big-and-it-really-bothers-me-What-should-I-do/answer/Anthony-Cooke-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; that the body stores fat in a FILO format, which means it stores fat in this order: belly, chest, thighs, then arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we workout, the fat gets burned in the FILO format, which means it first gets burned from the arms, then the thighs and then finally, from the belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this scientifically true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18607" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:38:57.030" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:38:57.030" Title="Does the body store fat in a (First in Last out)FILO order?" Tags="&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29768" CreationDate="2016-05-08T13:24:29.033" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, this is false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to understand that when you gain fat, you gain it in all fat deposits on the body. It doesn't fill one deposit first, then move on to another. And on the other side of the coin, the same applies when you lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, some fat deposits are larger than others, and more fat will be directed there. That's why you have more fat on your belly than on your arms, for instance. But still, when you gain/lose fat, it will be gained/lost from all deposits. Just in different amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T13:24:29.033" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29767" CreationDate="2016-05-08T15:59:36.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With regard to the query. The pully wheel is vital to get right. I have constructed a couple of my own, only to discover that I could purchase the whole unit online much cheaper.&#xA;Go for a large wheel with swivel, check the dimentions well, and study the photos to see if it is robust and well constructed. The sling straps need to be abrasion resistant also. Good luck with your search.&#xA;David of Cornwall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19426" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T15:59:36.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29768" CreationDate="2016-05-08T21:35:19.347" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say it's first in/last out, but there are reasons why you may (or may not) put on belly fat first and lose it last.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat cells receive a number of different hormone signals that tell them whether to store or release fat.  Depending on the area of the body, the fat cells will have more or less receptors for the various messages.  For example, visceral fat (sometimes called belly fat) has more cortisol receptors, so if you're stressed, your belly fat responds more than fat in other areas of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In evolutionary terms, during times of starvation this serves to move fat from the periphery to the vital organs.  In modern times, when you're well fed and stressed, it means you get belly fat, diabetes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A contrary point is sumo wrestlers.  They gain lots of fat, but it's evenly distributed around their bodies, and not concentrated in the belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16353426&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16353426&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fit/lose-weight/belly-fat-and-cortisol-connection&quot;&gt;http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fit/lose-weight/belly-fat-and-cortisol-connection&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/12/20/the-two-types-of-fat----visceral-and-subcutaneous----and-which-poses-the-greatest-risk-to-you.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/12/20/the-two-types-of-fat----visceral-and-subcutaneous----and-which-poses-the-greatest-risk-to-you.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19318" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T21:35:19.347" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29776" CreationDate="2016-05-09T00:36:01.930" Score="7" ViewCount="1704" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long can I wait between reps before I can't count the rep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't specific to deadlifts, but when I've watched lifters deadlift, they start the next rep immediately after. When I deadlift, after a couple reps I take a longer break (2-3 seconds). Should I count these reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I start the next rep immediately after the previous one, or can I take a short break?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing the SL 5x5 program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T00:54:17.840" Title="How long to wait between reps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29772" CreationDate="2016-05-09T00:54:55.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to Deadlift with Proper Form: The Definitive Guide&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Proper Deadlift form starts with the weight on the floor. Pull the bar&#xA;  until you’ve locked your hips and knees. Return it to the floor by&#xA;  moving your hips back first and then bending your knees. Rest a second&#xA;  between reps and repeat. Do five reps total on the StrongLifts 5×5&#xA;  program. Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between Reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Start each rep from a dead stop. Rest the bar for a second on the&#xA;  floor between reps. Don’t cheat your Deadlifts. Read more:&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/#Between_Reps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/#Between_Reps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SL says to rest a second between reps to reset yourself, but this one is subject to opinions at which points it becomes a 5x1 instead of 1x5. Since you're following a program and it is defined within that program, I would adhere to its definition. (Realistically up to 3sec)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T00:54:55.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29777" CreationDate="2016-05-09T07:06:17.380" Score="3" ViewCount="1466" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 months ago I joined a gym. I am following a diet and doing mostly cardio workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To date I have lost 5-6kg (I weighed 85kg before I started).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a couple of questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I continue with my current plan?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I need to gain muscle, and I'm taking whey protein to help. What else can I do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I first focus on losing weight and then gaining muscle, gaining muscle and then losing weight, or both at the same time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20273" LastEditorDisplayName="user20345" LastEditDate="2016-05-15T13:18:24.360" LastActivityDate="2016-05-15T13:18:24.360" Title="What should be the best plan for me to lose fat and gain muscle" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29774" CreationDate="2016-05-09T08:50:59.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recently(3 months) joined gym, I am following diet and doing workout (mostly cardio). Till date i have lost 5-6 kg(85kg before), mainly following diet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's decent weight loss and progress. Keep it up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does i have injured my knee forever?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't know. Go see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also i have query whether i first lose weight then gain muscle or both goes hand in hand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, you'd have periods of &quot;cutting&quot;(losing weight) and &quot;bulking&quot;(gaining weight). With the first, you aim at a calorie deficit, however not too big(because then you will lose muscle). On the second, you aim at a calorie surplus with a good macro balance(proportion of protein, good carbs and healthy fats)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T08:50:59.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29772" CreationDate="2016-05-09T11:52:04.980" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the deadlift (and other lifts that begin with the bar at a dead stop on the floor, such as the Olympic lifts), then taking a second or two between reps is usual, and arguably safer than doing the reps touch-and-go style (where you pretty much &quot;bounce&quot; the bar off the floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason, again, pertaining to deadlifts mainly, is to allow you to reset your body and pull with decent form (i.e. not rounding your lumbar spin overly much).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With other lifts where you support the bar (i.e. bench, squat, overhead press), my opinion has always been that if you're supporting the weight of the bar, then you're still working in the same set, because your body is still working. During high rep sets of squats, I've stood gasping for air for several seconds before doing another rep. During the bench press I consider it normal to take a breath between reps with the bar at the top, which can take a second or two, with the overhead press, I rest the bar at my shoulders for a second to kill any momentum before I press again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to think about it is to be honest with yourself and not worry about it too much. If you walk away from the bar, then the set is over (I used to say if you let go of the bar, but I've seen some powerlifters stand up to take a deep breath between reps), if, in your head, you're still in deadlift mode, but need to shake our briefly, then I'd say it's the same set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2016-05-11T07:44:35.370" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T07:44:35.370" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29774" CreationDate="2016-05-09T12:29:07.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Recently(3 months) joined gym, I am following diet and doing workout (mostly cardio).&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excellent progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Till date i have lost 5-6 kg(85kg before) Should i continue with my plan?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends on your specific long-term goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Also i need to muscle gain, taking whey protein (for same?).&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IF you take whey protein you will have more protein in your system which can be used to build muscle when paired with weightlifting if you are not getting enough in your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a magic substance that creates muscles, it has to be balanced in your diet like all food and supplements. You probably want to achieve  0.64lbs/0.82g protein per pound of body weight per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Also i have query whether i first lose weight then gain muscle or both goes hand in hand:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially they will happen at the same time but your weight loss will plateau at some point and your maximum lifting weight will do the same. At that point you should focus on cutting (less calories with same/similar weight) or bulking (more calories, combined with heavier weights to aid recovery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T12:29:07.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29752" CreationDate="2016-05-09T12:41:53.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That doesn't sound normal.  I also started out running in some very cheap shoes and then switched to stability shoes.  They do feel different, and you may get some &quot;new shoe&quot; issues such as blisters until they break in.  However, I never had any obvious muscle or joint pain caused by the shoes, and the general sense was that I could run further in the stability shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possibility is that you're running slightly faster in the new shoes, which would explain the exhaustion and heel/knee pains.  &quot;Better&quot; shoes will have more support and padding, and thus will tend to be heavier than &quot;cheap&quot; shoes.  If you're suddenly running faster in heavier shoes, the body would need time to adapt to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consistent training is more important than having the perfect pair of shoes.  A good shoe will let you run perhaps 25% more weekly mileage than a mediocre shoe.  Consistent training will let you increase your mileage about 10% each month.  Thus, a good shoe will effectively give you a few months head start on your training relative to a mediocre shoe.  The wrong shoes, or trying to do too much too soon, will leave you injured and obviously that won't do much for your pace or distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would alternate runs between the new shoes and the old shoes, and if the new shoes don't feel obviously better than the old shoes in a couple weeks then they aren't for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19318" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T12:41:53.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5819" CreationDate="2016-05-09T13:01:46.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds to me like you have a food intolerance or allergy that's making you bloated and generally upsetting your stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a few weeks (if possible, I'd recommend 28 days) try eliminating all wheat, gluten and dairy from your diet and see if the bloating, and the trapped wind reduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wheat, gluten and dairy are the most common food intolerances (not including nut and shellfish, but people generally know if they have those as the reactions can be pretty severe).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is one of these, then you should see reduced bloating with a week or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for saying to stick with it for a few weeks is that it should allow your gut to repair any damage that's occurred because of the intolerances / allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the 28 days, try adding in a little (note: I mean little) bit of each food group, one at a time, and see if you start to bloat again. If you do, then you know what the issue is, and just avoid that particular thing in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few years back I went through the same thing, though I did have a few other, more &quot;interesting&quot; issues as well. I did an elimination diet for 28 days where I only ate green vegetables, meat and fish, and lost 4 inches from my waist without any noticeable change in strength or other proportions (turns out I have a pretty bad wheat / gluten intolerance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things you can try are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating fermented foods (kimchi, sauerkraut, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking a probiotic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplementing with L-Glutamine (powder preferably)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing your green veg intake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T13:01:46.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29774" CreationDate="2016-05-09T15:13:03.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The New York Times (and other media) recently &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reported the results of a study&lt;/a&gt; which followed the winners of the &quot;Biggest Losers&quot; weight loss reality TV show for 6 years. Most of them regained most of their weight, despite their proven willpower and knowledge, which certainly must be far above average. (Some of the neurological aspects are covered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/why-you-cant-lose-weight-on-a-diet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in another article.&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I take away for the average person from these relatively new findings is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our knowledge about the interactions between exercise, nutrition, weight, metabolism, our psyche and health is still incomplete.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't stress out about anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do exercise as much as is fun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make moderate changes to your diet. Focus on diversity above all else. Avoid explicit dieting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not try to fundamentally change your body. The attempt is bound to fail long-term. Instead, make gradual changes which just stop the creeping weight gain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20302" LastEditorUserId="20302" LastEditDate="2016-05-10T07:24:48.683" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T07:24:48.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29782" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-09T21:25:46.877" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife is making me some &quot;cooling&quot; clothes out of material from Frogg Toggs (evaporative cooling towels).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the best places to have that are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck (all the way around)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lats (along my side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My forearms up to just above my elbow (interior of my arm &quot;inside&quot; the elbow more so than the outside)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temples would be good but a bit hard to keep cloth there (and it's a very small surface area)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qqB59.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qqB59.png&quot; alt=&quot;demonstration&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2148" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:25.143" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:25.143" Title="What are the best places on the body to cool off during exercise?" Tags="&lt;cool-down&gt;&lt;overheating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-05T13:43:02.703" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-10T03:16:34.207" Score="2" ViewCount="2632" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought my wedding dress back in December and it fit perfectly. I have been away for 4 months for a ski season and have come home to find my dress is too small around my rib cage and won't do up. Their is nothing the tailor can do, so basically I need to lose it or I won't have a dress to wear. Therefore I need to to lose 2 inches around my rib cage in 5 weeks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other half has suggested low intensity exercise for long ish periods of time, which I agree is a good plan. I'm currently doing about 1-1.5 hours a day, which is consisting of 50% step-ups and 50% rowing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that rowing may have the opposite effect, in that I'm concerned that it's not fat around my ribs which is the problem but muscle gain from 4 months skiing and now rowing 4 times a week. My other half completely disagrees as he says it's not possible for women to gain muscle mass due to our hormones, so he thinks rowing is fine. Note that he has trained as a personal trainer, although does not work in this field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have put on some weight whilst away (1.5kg) and some of that is fat. However &#xA;I'm struggling to see how I can have gained 2 inches around my rib cage (which does not seem fat at all) when I have gained so little weight?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be very gratefully received! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I stick to rowing or would I be better off with exercises which don't involve using my back muscles?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20309" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-11T17:42:39.917" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T13:14:55.857" Title="Weight loss/gain around rib cage (women)" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29784" CreationDate="2016-05-10T08:10:43.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like you've gained some muscle on your back because of all the skiing and rowing, both of which work the latissimus dorsi muscle (which, I believe, has it's lower attachment point at just above hip height).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Women don't build muscles as readily as men due to their lower levels of testosterone, but they can build muscle, especially with the amount of work it sounds like you've been doing (to answer the question of if women can build muscle, look at female Crossfit athletes, figure athletes and female strongman competitors in the under 63kg category).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the bit you don't want to hear... from my understanding, it takes between 2 and 6 weeks for muscle to start to atrophy (i.e. get smaller), the shorter end of that is for trained athletes. Now if you've been doing a lot of skiing and rowing, then it's entirely possibly that you'll start losing muscle if you stop doing exercises like rowing and put yourself on a calorie restricted diet, but for what you're trying to do and in the time frame you want to do it in, I'd seriously suggest consulting with a personal trainer (NOT your partner), possibly even talking to more than one (you may have to shop around, asking someone to help you lose muscle is a very rare thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find some luck asking someone who trains female athletes for sports that have weight classes, since making weight can be an issue, but even then, trying to lose muscle isn't a very common ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I know it seems like an odd suggestion, but you may have more luck asking on a dedicated figure athlete forum, &lt;a href=&quot;https://forums.t-nation.com/c/figure-athletes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like this one&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry I can't help any more than that, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T08:10:43.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29792" CreationDate="2016-05-10T14:02:17.283" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had visible abdominal muscles before. After eating unhealthily for a period of time I want to get back to my original shape where my abs are visible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to have visible abs by December 2016.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 84kg and 185cm. I workout 5 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout plan is: 5 day per week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet plan is:  70% protean and 30carbs and have cheat day at 8th day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20312" LastEditorUserId="20312" LastEditDate="2016-05-10T14:17:19.190" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T11:17:54.593" Title="Recoving figure after eating unhealthily for a period" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-10T14:02:55.150" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ankles and muscles foot to knee are particularly challenged. Similar question to this &lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/4/what-are-some-good-strength-exercises-for-marathon-runners?rq=1&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on marathons but now focus on skiing and external weights can be used: this can be related to roller skiing, ice skating and skateboarding where the legs, pelvis and core strength are demanded. So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are some good strength exercises for different skiing practises?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" OwnerDisplayName="hhh" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:55:24.100" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T01:47:24.850" Title="What are some good strength exercises for different skiing practises?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;skiing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29788" CreationDate="2016-05-10T17:02:21.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's plug in your data for a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) estimate. I don't know your age so I put in 30 as a rough estimate (close enough to a younger or middle age). I've selected a sedentary lifestyle, because in my opinion a raw TDEE estimate without formulas guessing your calories burned by activity is more useful as a baseline. You come out at an estimate of 2222 kcal per day. What a nice number! Note that this is an &lt;strong&gt;estimate&lt;/strong&gt;. To get more accurate data you'd need to track your full calorie intake every day for a few weeks (at least two). Then weigh yourself every day (preferably right after waking up and going to the toilet and before drinking or eating). Then check the average weight every week and see if it changes to any significant degree. If it hardly changes over the course of a few weeks when eating about 2222 kcal every day, that's your average TDEE. If it drops, you're eating a bit below, if it rises, you're eating a bit too much. This is a good starting point to begin working on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to create a caloric deficit through diet, exercise or a combination of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My goal is to have visible abs by December 2016.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a fairly good start. Your goal is not unrealistic. With that time frame you could focus on a small caloric deficit to lose weight very gradually, which will be easier to do than an overly aggressive approach. But keep in mind that building muscle will be hard or impossible in a caloric deficit (it is feasible for beginners), so maybe the time frame is even a bit too long. At 185 cm, given your weight of 84 kg, I can't imagine your body fat percentage is really that high. 3 months might in fact be sufficient. Get your body fat low enough to bring out visible abs, then eat at maintenance to keep your physique, or slightly above your TDEE (which by then will have changed, so re-estimate or repeat the above experiment) in combination with weightlifting if you want to gain muscle. If you want to avoid new fat deposits, your gains in muscle and strength will necessarily have to be slow. So see if you're okay with that. If a pleasing look is your goal rather than raw strength or gaining a lot of lean body mass (and fat in the process), that's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My workout plan is: 5 day per week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio or weightlifting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weightlifting, there's a ton of programs out there. Which ones are suitable depends on your goal and whether you're a novice or intermediate. Unless you are accustomed to this volume, there's no need to work out 5 days per week. 3 or 4 days could get the job done just fine and would allow for better recovery. If you are going to work out 5 times a week AND you are not adapted to such volume, start the workouts light. Try to get each muscle group in twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardio, the same goes. Don't go overboard on volume unless you've built up the tolerance to it, and even then it's still a good idea to respect recovery. Cumulative fatigue can get the better of you. 5 moderate workouts per week could work well though, if it's more manageable than 4 or 3 more intense ones for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My diet plan is: 70% protean and 30carbs and have cheat day at 8th day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you mean here. You want to get 70% of your calories from protein and 30% from carbs? This will not work for two reasons. The first is that you'd need to eat about 389 grams of protein at 2222 kcal per day. That is fairly insane. Not to mention completely unnecessary. 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of (target) body weight is sufficient. Anything more than that is, according to all dependable sources I've seen on the subject, a waste. The second reason it wouldn't work is because you'd die. You need fat to survive. Literally. Of the three macronutrients, two are essential: protein and fat. You can do without carbohydrates, but the glycogen depletion would make working out pretty harsh. I'd say you should aim for about 25% protein MAX, then fill the rest of your daily allowed calories with fat and carbs. The ratio of those two will depend on your training. If for example you're already lifting a decent amount and would like to maintain strength as much as possible, some more carbs would help on the workouts. You could also cycle a bit: some more fat on some days, some more carbs on others (especially around training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cheat day isn't a bad idea, provided you don't go overboard and undo a lot of hard work over the week. On the &quot;cheat&quot; day (although you should call it a &quot;break&quot; day or &quot;replenish&quot; day) eat at your TDEE or slightly over it. Say, 250 kcal extra. It's a lot more maintainable, both physically and mentally, than a non-stop deficit for months. It could be useful to eat slightly less protein on that day and take advantage of a higher carb load, replenishing some glycogen for your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T17:02:21.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29751" CreationDate="2016-05-11T01:16:14.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are your goals with crossfit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compete in the open? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attain better fitness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lift more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lose/gain weight/strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many crossfitters complain about the lack of balance in workout plans, so you may find that the best course of action is to create your own plan based on the style of crossfit. This is not recommended for beginners, because this may lead to an unhealthy combination of exercises in the same workout, but you said 'assumed fitness and skill level' so I'm assuming that you aren't a beginner. My favorite websites that I find helpful for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of crossfit so that I can formulate my own workout plans based on what pre-made plans don't give me are breakingmuscle.com and theboxmag.com. Both have pre-made workout plans available online, they may be what you are looking for, or they may provide some insight for making your own. Check out the crossfit open prep plans on breaking muscle if you want a long, continuous plan. Both have articles on how to improve your fitness based on crossfit, not to mention both are full of good reading and insight on anything crossfit related or what makes a balanced workout. If you don't find any help here, consider heading to a local box to ask if they can help you come up with something. Most boxes take an interest in other crossfitters, even if you don't workout with them. Let me know if this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T01:16:14.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-11T01:43:33.797" Score="2" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only weightlift at home since we have a bench press with a preacher, bicep curl, leg extension, and leg curl. And also stationary bike with elliptical for cardios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning (Fasting):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio: Biking/Elliptical for 30 mins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evening or night:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machine Bicep Curls (50 lbs.) - 5 sets X 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extensions (65 lbs.) - 5 sets X 20 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Leg Curls (45 lbs.) - 5 sets X 15-20 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat Bench Press (60 lbs.) 10 sets X 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Rest 15 minutes-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Upright Rows (20 lbs.) - 5 sets X 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Triceps Extensions (20 lbs.) - 5 sets X 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Wrist Curls (20 lbs.) - 5 sets X 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Rows (20 lbs.) - 5 sets X 15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I avoid lifting that puts pressure on the spine because of my scoliosis. I also tried the Bicep Concentration Curls on dumbbells but everytime I do it the next day my friends tell me I seem to become shorter so stopped doing it &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Goal is: Gain Muscle Mass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats (bodyweight, height, build) are: 5ft6 120lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20316" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T10:22:28.707" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T08:13:10.743" Title="Is this workout plan sufficient" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29794" CreationDate="2016-05-11T07:54:58.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: no, not really, especially not unless you have a decent way of incrementally loading these exercises with more weight. Long answer...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wish to gain muscle, and, I assume, some strength. The two go hand in hand anyway. This requires inducing an adaptation in the body. You must produce a stress that your body is currently not equipped to handle without requiring recovery. That does not mean you must overexert yourself or exceed your capacities to the point of injury, but it must be enough for your body to notice that its current state would not suffice if the stress would be repeated frequently, so it will produce adaptations: better neuro-muscular efficiency, adjustments of present muscle tissue and hypertrophy. As it catches up to the imposed stress, the stressor must be increased to continue to drive adaptation. For a beginner the weights used are such that recovery can fully complete from workout to workout (assuming 3 workouts per week), meaning a simple linear progression works best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get the most bang for your buck (meaning: best return on your time investment) with the big compound lifts that work multiple muscle groups and joints at the same time. They allow you to train the largest number of muscles with the most weight and will progress the quickest. These are the squat (back squat, low bar or high bar, is a good starting point), deadlift, bench press, overhead press, pull-ups or chin-ups, rows and possibly some explosive movements. Sets of 5 are great strength builders; enough to allow you to get a feel for form and adjust as necessary, and not so many that heavy loads can't be used. The rep ranges you are using are mostly in the hypertrophy and endurance range, which aren't good choices to start with since your primary focus at first should be building strength. Even if you use such rep ranges it would be best to do so in a cyclic program along with strength development or as assistance work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you have an obstacle in the form of your scoliosis. I'm not a doctor or physical therapist and don't know if it's congenital or acquired in some other way, so I'll refrain from making recommendations directly for that. If you have a physical therapist or see some other specialist, express your desire for gaining strength and ask what would be realistic in terms of exercise. Maybe, however, a strengthening of the muscles in the back and surrounding the spine could actually benefit you. But that's for a specialist to determine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's assume spinal loading is to be mostly avoided for starters, and also that you want to work out at home. Let's see what could be done or substituted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back squats are inherently loading the spine. But there's an alternative: hip belt squats. If you get a dipping belt, some weight plates and boxes to stand on, you could do squats with the weight hanging from the hips rather than being loaded at the top of the spine and could get linear progression. It's not gonna be the same movement as a barbell squat and the biomechanics will be different, but it would still be a good leg builder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts require a bar and weight plates, so I'm not sure you have the equipment. Since these stress the back quite a lot, this exercise may not be safe for you. Then again, with light enough weight they could strengthen the erector spinae. Perhaps something to discuss with a health professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bench presses use the upper back and clavicles as a platform. This avoids direct vertical spine loading, but keep in mind that performing them with correct form will still require quite a bit of tension all across the upper body. They are a great chest and triceps builder provided you have the means to do them safely with enough weight. If done using a bar and no safety pins, get a spotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overhead press would definitely load the spine. In fact, a standing overhead press requires a very rigid upper body for correct execution. My favourite exercise (and strongest one) is the deadlift yet I still tend to feel it in my back if I launch an overhead press with some backward tilt. Doing the exercise seated would be a better option. Perhaps using a slight incline on the bench could be even better, although it changes the biomechanics and leans towards an incline bench press. Using dumbbells for a seated shoulder press might be a good option for you. But again, you'd need to be able to incrementally load the exercise, so get adjustable dumbbells with weight plates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pull-ups and chin-ups are great exercises. Once you manage to do a good number at body weight, you can use a dipping belt with weight plates to load these and make linear progression. This presents the reverse challenge of the overhead press and squat: you're hanging from your hands and the weight would be pulling on your hips, effectively stretching the spine. Whether this is beneficial or dangerous for you is, again, not within my capacity to judge. Check it with a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rows, when done with a barbell, also require a rigid core and keeping the back tight. Allowing your back to curve outward on these would be a bad idea, just as with the deadlift. A better choice for you is to do dumbbell rows with one hand, with the other hand and leg on that side on a bench for support. This will isolate the lats without as much stress on the lower and upper back as a barbell row would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other observations regarding what you posted: the overhead triceps extension can also be done lying. You start with your arms vertically over your shoulders, neutral grip on the dumbbells, then bend your elbows to lower the weight towards your head. You can also let the upper arms move back a bit to move the weight just over the top of your head, then move them back and stretch the arms again (like you're throwing the weight towards the ceiling). The triceps are a two-joint muscle and work not only elbow extension but also the shoulder adduction. If you happen to have an EZ-curl bar, it's very good for this. As for the wrist curls, not sure if these serve much of a point for you right now. I'd focus on strength development in bigger muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, overall, try to focus on heavy weights on compound exercises where you can complete sets of 5 or 6 reps, using linear progression in increasing the weight. Isolation exercises such as bicep curls and leg extensions are better kept in the higher rep range, say 8 to 12. This will let you build strength, and with strength will come size. Make sure to consult a professional regarding the safety of exercises concerning your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T07:54:58.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29794" CreationDate="2016-05-11T07:57:42.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, this plan is not efficient and therefore you should change it. There is a couple of reasons for that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your program should be progressive and not static. There are a few ways of making progress from one workout to another:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase weight per set&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase reps per set (or adding sets)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce rest time between sets&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every single gaining-mass program out there is progressive for a reason; If you follow the same workout with the same numbers over and over, your body gets accustomed, the exercises become easy and eventually you will fail to damage your muscles, which means the workout becomes useless.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most of the sets are too high in reps. The general rule is that for gaining muscle mass, especially in single-join exercises, you should aim for 8-12 reps per set. As I mentioned, it's a general rule and shouldn't be blindly followed, but in my opinion your reps amount is too high in most of the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This plan puts focus on the wrong muscles. It's nice and visually-effective to work on your arms a lot, but it's bad in the long term. I'm currently facing a serious deficit in legs power to due unbalanced plans in the past. When ranking the commonly trained muscle groups in order of &quot;how important it should be in your plan&quot;, arms come in the end after legs, lower back, upper back, chest &amp;amp; shoulders, maybe inline with calves and the rectus abdominus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Following the previous reason, you should consult your doctor about how to start adding lifts that put pressure on your spine to your regular workouts, because they are vital to your overall strength. Sooner or later you'll be willing to add squats, deadlifts, etc to your plan (I suggest sooner).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a side note, as your goal is getting muscle mass, remember that nutrition is crucial, and almost no gains will be made with a bad diet. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastEditorUserId="18858" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T08:13:10.743" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T08:13:10.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12709" CreationDate="2016-05-11T12:02:30.867" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you shake, especially if your a beginner is because of autogenic inhibition. For example on bench press, your arms will shake because as the tricep (agonist) is contracting the bicep(antagonist) is being stretched, therefore your muscles spindles are detecting this strength and sending signals to contract to protect the bicep from over stretching. So basically, both muscles are attempting to contract which causes shaking. As you continue to strength train you body will adapt and your antagonist will 'learn' to shut off as the golgi tendon relaxes, making you stronger and less shaky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20319" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T12:02:30.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29794" CreationDate="2016-05-11T13:38:02.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking a slightly different tact, given your lack of equipment, why not go for a mostly bodyweight workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trained exclusively with bodyweight for a few months when I was really concentrating on my climbing, and I was amazed at the amount of muscle I gained (and the amount of fat I lost).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some very good resources for bodyweight workouts, some of my favourite at from &lt;a href=&quot;https://gmb.io/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gold Medal Bodies&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alkavadlo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Al Kavadlo&lt;/a&gt; and Paul Wade (no link, but you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/no-weights-no-limits-an-interview-with-paul-wade.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;read an interview with him&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want something you can do in the short term, then pick one exercise from each category below (given in roughly ascending order of difficulty) and if you can do a 2 solid sets of the progression reps or time (in brackets), move onto the next exercise in the list for your next session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower body 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wall sit (30 seconds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight squat with assistance (use something to pull on gently to&#xA;give some assistance with standing up, 30 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight squat (25 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assisted pistol squat (use something to pull up on for assistance, 10&#xA;reps per leg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol squat (keep reducing the amount of resistance until you can do these)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower body 2 (start with your weaker side first)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split squat  (15 reps per leg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse lunge OR Bulgarian split squat (15 reps per leg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrimp squat (5 reps per leg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrimp squat from a bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pull (this assumes you have something to pull on, do more than 2 sets of these, they're important)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted row (20 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Negative chin up (basically, let yourself down from the top of a chin&#xA;up over a 5 count, 10 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin up (10 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press up with hands on bench (30 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press up with hands on floor (20 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press up with feet on bench (20 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press up with hands close (15 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press up with one hand elevated (start with a low block and keep&#xA;elevating the block until you're doing an elevated 1 handed arm press&#xA;up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One arm press up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core / Abz / Stomach area&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying knee tuck (15 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying leg raise (15 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging knee raise (15 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging leg raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to also throw in some handstand work, because it looks cool, and some bridging work ONLY if you can (basically, I'm not familiar with scoliosis, so I don't know if bridging is a good idea or not).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Some of this is based from my personal experience, some is from what I've read in various books. It's a guide, not a bible. I'd highly recommend looking into some of the resources I mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 2: If you're worried about your arm gainz (there is a LOT of arm work in your proposed routine), then you can do some curls at the end of each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 3: If you don't have anywhere to do inverted rows or pull ups, then you can do one arm dumbbell rows off the bench, do sets of 10, when you can do 4 sets of 10, increase the weight. This may lead to a situation where you can row more than the dumbbell handles will hold, in that case, use the barbell to do one arm rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T13:38:02.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29802" CreationDate="2016-05-11T14:24:31.590" Score="1" ViewCount="2411" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had periods in time where I'm just sitting in the office and all of the sudden one of triceps would start twitching like once per second or a bit more spread out. It doesn't hurt, but it's somewhat &quot;annoying&quot; cause it won't stop no matter what I do. I has happened to my triceps, my biceps, shoulders, and one of my legs. Not all together but those are the muscles were this has happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These &quot;episodes&quot; happen on a period at least 13 hours after my last workout. But I haven't found a relationship between the last workout and the muscle that twitches(If I do leg the day before, is not necessarily my leg that is twitching). Although they don't hurt, should I be concerned? Is it an intake deficit of something or just aftermath of previous workouts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T14:52:19.660" Title="Muscles twitching during non-workout activity" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-05-13T01:46:54.867" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29801" CreationDate="2016-05-11T14:52:19.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you describe is most likely a &lt;em&gt;fasciculation&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciculation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciculation&lt;/a&gt;), commonly known as a &quot;muscle twitch&quot;. This is usually benign, but there can be more severe underlying conditions causing this. I know giving medical advice would be frowned upon here (especially by someone without a medical background) but we can't really go running to the doctor for every minor thing that can possibly be a symptom of something more severe, or you wouldn't ever get out of his/her office. So unless this is taking severe forms, lasts for a really long time, starts presenting itself with other weird symptoms or starts interfering with quality of life it's probably not something to be worried about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Electrolyte imbalances are often indicated as a possible culprit for muscle issues such as cramps, spasms and twitches. Especially magnesium is singled out as a possible cause for such twitching. You could try taking a magnesium supplement if you don't have any medical issues counter-indicating this. Regular supplement quantities of something like magnesium citrate are safe and it's an over-the-counter substance. Or you could go for dietary sources rich in magnesium, such as seeds and nuts, cocoa, chives and bananas. If it's a simple lack of magnesium this could solve it. I take a magnesium supplement daily in the evening as I find it helps sleep. My sleep went to crap when I was on a ketogenic diet, and I got heart palpitations; a lack of electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and magnesium was most likely at least partially to blame for that, since things improved with higher intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you happen to consume quite a bit of caffeine (could be in pre-workouts too) you might wanna cut back a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T14:52:19.660" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-12T01:28:38.627" Score="-2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guys I want to get in shape. I want to know how can I reduce belly fat. I am of 5ft 3 inches. Having a weight of 70 kg. With a lot of fat on my belly. I am 22 years old. I want to know what workout should I do in gym. I am a beginner. And also what type of diet plan should I follow as a vegan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20325" LastEditorUserId="20325" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T01:38:13.113" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T06:52:18.213" Title="Want to get in shape" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-13T19:47:57.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29804" CreationDate="2016-05-12T06:52:18.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't target specific areas of the body for weight loss. You need steady weight loss, and it'll come off your intended area at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For workouts, if you aim at losing weight, the obvious choice is to burn it off by doing cardio. What you should do in the gym(or out of it) is up to you: Do you like running, cycling, rowing? Then target those machines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a vegan you should focus on your macros(proportion of protein,carbs and healthy fats). Vegan food can be carb heavy and lack protein(which saturates a bit - and is therefore good for weight loss). You need to learn which vegan foods are good in protein(green beans for example) and ramp it up there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T06:52:18.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2016-05-12T08:39:13.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recording the sets, reps and weight is enough for a lot of people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make the most out of this tool you can also use your training log to write out the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use it to set goals for the week.&lt;/strong&gt; Progression happens via knowing what you did last week and doing it a bit better this week. Having a clear record of your training history means that you are always striving to progress and improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note the important out-of-gym stuff.&lt;/strong&gt; I keep brief notes each day/workout on the previous night's sleep and how well I ate. The previous night's sleep, in my case, is easily the most determining factor of how well I perform in the gym that day. Keeping track of how well I sleep means that I am more focused on insuring a good night of sleep each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Write notes and thoughts.&lt;/strong&gt; Your workout log can be just as much a training journal where you jot down thoughts on your workouts. Writing out my workouts has become part of the workout ritual/habit. I make notes of things that felt good, felt bad (handy for warding off injury), and thoughts on the next day of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Share it with your coach or trainer.&lt;/strong&gt; If you work under the guidance of a trainer it can be helpful for him or her to go over your workout log from time to time. Better educating your trainer on how you respond to specific workouts and training regimens will only help them better plan your future training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19333" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T16:56:34.573" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:56:34.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2016-05-12T08:59:34.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to plug Jefit. Its a App (free) which has some paid for features depending on the level of information feedback you want. The main benefit is that it has images of the exercises you want to do, records your data and saves it online and guides you through whatever workout you select.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pros:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Select from one of a million workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;App is free and signup is free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;App provides information on how to perform exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can design or edit your or other peoples workouts to tailor it to your needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No need for pen and paper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to pay to remove ads from the app&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to pay to get advanced graphs and advanced tracking of your workout data.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Might take a little learning to get used to the app&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lots of bad workouts as well as good ones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T08:59:34.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29809" CreationDate="2016-05-12T09:29:32.730" Score="2" ViewCount="1127" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of praise for Push-Pull-Legs style routines where you have a session mainly &quot;pulling&quot; focusing on back and then next week you are &quot;pushing&quot;, focusing on your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that working all muscle groups is important but what is the basis, scientific or otherwise around why PPL routines are deemed so successful compared to a simpler routine like Madcow or ICF?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T10:23:37.363" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T10:40:51.673" Title="What is the basis behind Push-Pull-Legs routines?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29808" CreationDate="2016-05-12T10:22:19.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, it might be useful to distinguish &quot;push/pull&quot; and &quot;push/pull/legs&quot;. In PPL, the legs get a separate day. Let's assume PPL for the rest of this post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I see it, but I could be wrong, is that for the intermediate or advanced lifter (it isn't that great for a novice) PPL is simply very convenient. A novice would want to do 3 full-body workouts per week because they can recover from that, but in the intermediate stage that's often no longer really feasible, or at least not in a way without intra-week cycling (say, intensity on one day and volume on another). PPL provides the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separation of muscle groups. Push would be benches, overhead press, triceps work... Pull rows or explosive pulls, pull-ups and chin-ups, biceps work. Legs would be squats and/or deadlifts and maybe assistance. That leads to...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough recovery. Finish a push workout and the corresponding muscles get several days of recovery before the next one. If you did benches one day and overhead presses the next, the triceps get worked two days in a row, or with only one day in between. 48 hours might be enough recovery for a novice, but for an intermediate that OHP would suffer from the previous benches and you're cutting into triceps recovery. Also...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout efficiency. You might need less warm-up on your OHP if you did benches first, and no warm-up on triceps isolation work, because your workout is focused on one muscle-group and there's some carry-over in the warmup. Same for squats and deadlifts. If you're not averse to doing both on the same day, squats will already warm you up pretty well for deadlifts, meaning you'd need less warm-up sets on the latter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout length. An upper/lower split can lead to long workouts, especially on upper body, if you want bench presses, OHP, rows, pull-ups/chins AND some assistance work in the same day. PPL is at its basis taking the upper day and splitting it up. Great if you have limited time in a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Convenience of scheduling. You could do each workout twice per week (PPLPPLx, with x a rest day) which gives you a weekly schedule, or go for an average of 5 workouts per week with specific rest day intervals. Example: week 1 could be PPLxPPx, week 2 LxPPLxP, week 3 PxLxPPL, week 4 xPPxLxPP, week 5 LxPPxLx, and week 6 would be back on the week 1 planning. Or, if you like to work around your weekends, how about this: week 1 is PPLPPxx, week 2 is LPPLPxx, week 3 is PLPPLxx, and on week 4 you've looped back to the week 1 schedule. There's a lot of possibilities, but you still get 1.6 workouts per muscle group on average each week with both options. Less intense than 3 full-body workouts per week or 4 workouts per week in an upper/lower split (2x per week per muscle group), which might be too intense for the intermediate and advanced trainee. But you get more than 1 workout per week per group which is sub-optimal for the natural trainee. You can adjust scheduling based on recovery and the intensity you can handle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because you can go for 2 workouts per muscle group per week, or 1.6 (or even a different spread) a PPL routine can be adjusted over time in scheduling to aid in the recovery that gets harder and harder as the weights rise. It works for the new intermediate and more advanced intermediate alike!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a template it allows for variation. You could have the first push, pull and leg workouts of a micro-cycle of 6 focus on volume, then the second push, pull and leg workouts of that micro-cycle focus on intensity. Doing that builds on a basic concept of the Texas Method: use volume conditioning to provide a stimulus and then, when you've recovered from it and your strength baseline has shifted up momentarily, use it to go hard on intensity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, statistically, most lifters who are serious about their workouts and don't give up after a couple months or a year will be intermediates. The novice phase is usually over after 6 to 18 months, but the majority of recreational lifters won't get to the advanced stage, which is usually the domain of competitive athletes. So if you scour forums and other online resources, you're bound to run into a lot of folks who've gone on a PPL routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently doing an upper/lower split where the first two days I do an intense lower and intense upper workout, and the last two days to a lower and upper workout with some more volume and assistance. Sometimes a workout ends up taking more time than I'd like, particularly the upper ones. When thinking about a way to maybe spread it out more, the most natural idea that came to me was something that essentially is PPL (although I'd prefer an LPP order). As your workouts get more complex and some cycling starts to become necessary, it is desirable to spread them out over more days. PPL almost comes naturally then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the way I see it, it's a pretty natural and logical progression for people who've left the novice phase and exhausted their progress on a transition program, rather than something inherently beneficial to the routine itself. The ones you mention, Madcow and Ice Cream Fitness, seem better for a novice or to transition from a novice routine into intermediate. ICF is absolutely a novice program. Madcow shares some superficial similarities with the Texas Method and is more an intermediate program. On the Powerliftingtowin review, it is stated that it seems better suited to a late intermediate lifter and I tend to believe the judgement on that site. Most people out there who aren't after big powerlifter totals want muscle hypertrophy, and PPL just seems like a much better fit than, say, Madcow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If folks have actual scientific insights into the efficiency of PPL routines, that'd be pretty great. But I'm afraid a lot of studies out there will be too limited in length, or focused on novice lifters, to really provide insights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T10:40:51.673" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T10:40:51.673" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31295" CreationDate="2016-05-12T12:07:46.123" Score="1" ViewCount="1658" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;:I have suffered a severe shoulder injury, and have therefore been completely bedridden the last four months. This has resulted in some extra kilos around my belly, enough to make me look like a stuffed sausage in some of my clothes. Under normal circumstances I would consider myself an athlete (I did an Ironman, a marathon and a few long bike races last year). I've never had problems getting in good shape fast, but this time everything goes much slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current status:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Due to the shoulder injury, there are a few exercises I can't do (for instance running, swimming and pushups). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until now, (after the injury), I've been riding my bicycle trainer for 30-60 minutes (approx. 30 km/h, 180 rpm, 80% of max HR), followed by a three sets of 30 crunches, 60 sec plank, and 10 reps with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/49/01/b1/4901b1f0afc61d2f51c429dbc08ee682.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;superman&lt;/a&gt;. In the end I do my mandatory shoulder exercises (resistance band for the rotator cuff, something &lt;a href=&quot;https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/49/01/b1/4901b1f0afc61d2f51c429dbc08ee682.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like this&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time I have available is 60 minutes three times and 90 minutes once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Is there something I can change, in order to loose some belly weight faster, not including dieting (I have found a lot of information about this already). I'm pretty much restricted to the exercises I mentioned above, so it's mainly a question of intensity, order, number of repetitions etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be better to do intervals on the bike? Lower intensity? Or maybe mix it up: 10 minutes with high intensity on the trainer, then one set of core exercises, 10 minutes on the trainer etc.? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 1: I know it's not possible to reduce the fat percentage on one body part alone. However, my belly is the only place I have (visible) fat. My arms are skinny and my legs are well-trained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 2: I have no problems with motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 3: I do not have a gym membership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 4: My BMI is exactly 25, so I'm not &quot;overweight&quot;. The problem is that all the kilos are on my belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20326" LastEditorUserId="20326" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T12:23:59.167" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T08:13:36.033" Title="Getting back in shape after being bedridden for 4 months" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29811" CreationDate="2016-05-12T13:51:51.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exactly. You say &quot;not including&quot; diet, so if you're unwilling to sacrifice calories from food then you will have to increase calories burned through exercise, and keep calorie intake the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20327" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T13:51:51.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29813" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-12T14:36:23.283" Score="1" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to keep this question general, but it's rather situational so excuse the extra fluff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of February I finished 6 months of doing Johnny Candito's linear program, control variant. Since then I've started a caloric deficit to lose some excess fat and my focus shifted on maintaining strength and muscle mass, making a little progress where feasible. So I changed to the hypertrophy variant of the program, with some personal modifications. I do 3 sets of 5 to 7 reps on the compound movements like squat and bench press on the heavy day (once per week for upper/lower body), with one extra set at a higher weight for 3 to 5 reps. The hypertrophy day (also once per week for upper/lower) uses lighter weight or other exercises for more reps and sets and is a sort of volume day for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My progress is basically: do the 3 sets of 5 with a certain weight, next week try 3x6, the week after 3x7. After that I increase the weight by 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) and do 5 reps again, then 6 etc. This scheme has worked very well and I'm making progress despite the caloric deficit. Now, since my squat is seriously lagging (especially compared to the deadlift) I'm also doing 3 heavy sets on the lower hypertrophy day for squats, with two lighter sets at higher reps. So squat progress could look like this for the following weeks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Date       Weight (kg) x sets x reps&#xA;Thu 12/05  75x3x5,   65x2x10&#xA;Mo  16/05  75x3x6,   82.5x1x3&#xA;Thu 19/05  75x3x7,   65x2x11&#xA;Mo  23/05  77.5x3x5, 82.5x1x4&#xA;Thu 26/05  77.5x3x6, 65x2x12&#xA;Mo  30/05  77.5x3x7, 82.5x1x5&#xA;Thu 02/06  80x3x5,   67.5x2x10&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I've gotten some 0.5 kg micro-plates, letting me increment weights by 1 kg. So another option has become: increase the weight each week, but stick with 5 reps. Progress could then look like this (only showing heavy sets):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Date       Weight (kg) x sets x reps&#xA;Thu 12/05  75x3x5&#xA;Mo  16/05  76x3x5&#xA;Thu 19/05  77.5x3x5&#xA;Mo  23/05  78.5x3x5&#xA;Thu 26/05  79.5x3x5&#xA;Mo  30/05  80x3x5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the micro-plates are 0.5 kg each and the next lowest eight per plate in the gym is 1.25 kg, sometimes there'll be a 1 kg jump, other times 1.5 kg and yet other times 0.5 kg. I figure the above would be decent since the bigger jump is earlier on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, by the time Monday 30 May rolls around, the weight, sets and reps would be the same, just a different progression. Which of these approaches would be best right now for me? The 5,6,7 scheme has worked well until now, and by the time the weight increases and the reps drop back to 5 it doesn't feel &lt;strong&gt;too&lt;/strong&gt; taxing because the 7 reps at 2.5 kg less were actually harder. I'm inclined to go with what works. But at the same time, I'm expecting every time to suddenly hit a wall on the weight increase, even if the reps drop, and stalling out again. So maybe small weight increments could be better in keeping momentum and staying at 5 reps which appears to work well for me as a strength builder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm only concerned with this progression up to the start of June. After that I'm switching back to a small caloric surplus and reviewing what would be the best course of action. I just want to hit that 80x3x5 as a short-term goal, because small goals like that keep me going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found this answer, by the way: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13001/what-are-you-views-on-progress-between-rep-range-vs-fixed-reps&quot;&gt;What are you views on progress between rep range vs. fixed reps?&lt;/a&gt;. I understand from it that both approaches could work well, I'm just wondering if someone has any insight in which would be better right now for the following month. So, very situation-specific question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T15:22:17.500" Title="Stick with progressing rep ranges or switch to small weight increments?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;progress&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29816" CreationDate="2016-05-12T15:06:26.277" Score="4" ViewCount="699" Body="&lt;p&gt;This week I started doing the StrongLifts 5X5 program but I already have some questions regarding 2 situations. I know posting 2 questions is not very well received but I'd hate to post 2 questions back to back about the same program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What happens if I reach a limit? Like I fear I will reach my overhead press limit in around 3 weeks(doing the math and based on past maxes) while still being able to increment the weight for squats and dead lifts. Can I just stay in that weight til I overcome it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The program suggests resting between workout a and workout b for a day, but that would leave me Saturday and Sunday free, I used to rest these days but I used to workout out 5 days a week, with only 3 days a week of routine is it okay if I plan to do something less intense than weightlifting(jogging, walking, core exercises) during one of these days? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T15:28:56.613" Title="Doubts about the SL 5X5 program" Tags="&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29813" CreationDate="2016-05-12T15:10:52.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your specific situation, I would suggest to go with the latter, 3x5 routine or even consider 5x5 depending on your ability. There is a lot to be said for doing splits but in your case, because of the weight being lifted and the goal of wanting to lift more that you focus on doing the lift in a consistent way with progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest you change from twice a week to every session (where possible). If you really want to amp your squat numbers up to those triple figure ranges then you need to be squatting nearly every day, if not every other day (definitely at least 3 times a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, squatting is a major activity and needs supplementation, make sure your body is getting enough food. Cutting and trying to increase your squat max weight won't effectively work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stick with your high bar squat and focus on powerlifting principles of big weight, low reps, longer rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary:&#xA;Deload 5-10 kg, go up to 5x5, increase volume to at least 3 times a week, squat at the start of your session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 5x5 maxes out, deload 5kg and go to 3x5 and carry on from there. You will have heavy gravity days when its harder to lift the same weight, that is normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T15:22:17.500" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T15:22:17.500" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29814" CreationDate="2016-05-12T15:17:20.403" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What happens if I reach a limit?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#What_if_I_fail_to_get_5_reps&quot;&gt;What if I fail to get 5 reps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#What_if_I_keep_failing_at_the_same_weight&quot;&gt;What if I keep failing at the same weight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will probably reach your 5x5 limit on OHP quickly, the program tells you to deload and move to 3x5 after 3-4 sessions of failure. The website has all the information on deloading. Essentially though, yes, you will reach a point of doing the same weight while your other lifts increase. I maxed out my 1x5 deadlift at 135kg and squat at 100kg but my 1x5 OHP had stalled and stopped weeks before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I exercise on rest days?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mehdi advices not to exercise on rest days. Once the weights get towards your 1RM you will absolutely need those days to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just graduated off the programme and am very happy with my noob gains and progress on my form. I feel stronger as a result and would recommend it again, that is for sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T15:28:56.613" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T15:28:56.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29791" CreationDate="2016-05-12T20:03:30.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Running backwards.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Have you seen people running marathons and they need to run it backwards halfway because of too much pain in knees?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because of overdoing forward motion. Ortopedists and physiotherapists often find such customers and interestingly this is related to strength exercises for skiing: when people overdo going forward, they forget the other motion that is going backwards. Skiing requires balance between backwards and forwards particularly in lower legs. Going only forward can compromise your balance so integrating both directions to training is healthy way to improve the strength for skiing because the strength must be balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the easiest way to work the &lt;em&gt;&quot;ankles and muscles foot to knee&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is to go backward: &lt;strong&gt;backward running works the muscles such as calves, shins and front thighs. Going backwards also improves the balance in lower legs. More &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wackynation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/100_wackynation.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;benefits&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt; Then combine this with things such as Backward skating, Backward slalom skinng like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EstEZl_mmQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and have some fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to find balance in many levels such as muscular level, neural level and coordination. It is a bit like frontstroke and backstroke in swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More balance workouts.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Motivating instructions on balance from novice to advanced &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.online-skating.com/learn-roller-skating&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on roller skating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6066" LastEditorUserId="6066" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T20:17:19.600" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T20:17:19.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-13T00:27:34.300" Score="2" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a popular fb page that represents bodybuilders in my nation , admins always speak about how you should eat lots of food to pack on muscle mass.They actually recommend that people should eat lots of carbohydrates along with protein to bulk up . I don't get it , i mean from what i've learnt carbohydrate is just only the fuel we need if i ate the carbs i need daily for my daily activities including the workout i won't gain fat weight plus i would be gaining muscle mass.Then, why should i be eating more than my needs ???&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe, I need to get my facts corrected ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20334" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T06:53:17.367" Title="What's the reason for bulking up?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29820" CreationDate="2016-05-13T05:38:25.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you can be strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only eat enough calories to replace what you burn through exercise your body will not have the extra energy it needs to build muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20335" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T05:38:25.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29820" CreationDate="2016-05-13T06:53:17.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expendature. There are 2 questions here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do you need to eat more than normal to pack on muscle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why can't you use carbohydrates only?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Question 1&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat at your TDEE level you should not put on or lose any weight provided you don't change your daily activities drastically. To efficiently gain muscle you need to work out, this raises your TDEE to a higher-than-normal level. To ensure your body has both the fuel it needs to work at a sustained intensive rate and that your body can recover, creating muscle mass: you need to eat at your new, higher TDEE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Question 2&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its not just matching activity to TDEE there are other factors to consider. Lifting heavy weight means your central nervous system will take a pounding. It will also mean your sleep is more important. If you over eat, you will have more energy to hit the higher weights in your workout. The protein is there to give your body the bits to build muscle and the carbs are the fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can match your activity to your TDEE and eat just enough but it is much, much harder than if you are eating OVER your TDEE. The principle is Bulk and Cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T06:53:17.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2016-05-13T08:22:36.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've experience this for a long time, it get much better right now but not solved completed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First reason cause it is your foot may be supination/pronation, at least this is what I had.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can go hospital and do a simple test with a result like this : &lt;a href=&quot;http://2.im.guokr.com/gkimage/34/vn/tp/34vntp.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://2.im.guokr.com/gkimage/34/vn/tp/34vntp.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The left one is normal/good arch, and make sure yours looks like that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ask doctor to explain, if this happen to you, you may get an insole to solve this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second possible reason is overlaping toes, even it's not overlap but the nail facing outside or inside like this : &lt;a href=&quot;https://usercontent1.hubstatic.com/9908266_f260.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://usercontent1.hubstatic.com/9908266_f260.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;as you can see the last toe is facing right, not top.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This may break your outside arch line like this : &#xA;cms-assets.tutsplus.com/uploads/users/110/posts/21733/image/lateral-arch.jpg&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(I don't have enough reputation, and stackexchange prevent me to post more than 2 links, please copy/paste in new tab by yourself)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;and result bad foot preasure image like upon.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This problem does not only happen to little finger, it may break inside arch when you get overlaping on thumb.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third reason may because the relationship between muscles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, my Gastrocnemius muscle is tight but not hurt.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It cause my Tibialis Anterior muscle hurt, that's what doctor said.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also noticed main area of pain sometimes came from Extensor digitorum longus, but it spread to Tibialis Anterior muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some more possible reasons, but you may need provide more details like photo of your foot, so everybody can help on? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all these, I help myself with special insole, toe socks, and warm up longer before exercise. &#xA;If I wear these and at least warn up 30 mins, I get pain free even play 3 or more hours of soccer. &#xA;Some plus are typing, and message after exercise (with tennis ball).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So yoga after exercise to extend your muscle or foam roller would really helpful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20338" LastEditorUserId="20338" LastEditDate="2016-05-13T08:32:01.780" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T08:32:01.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29827" CreationDate="2016-05-13T08:30:54.450" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supersets combine two or more exercises with similar motions with an aim to maximize the amount of work of an individual muscle or group of muscles. The exercises are performed with no rest period between the exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example would be doing bench press, which predominantly works the pectoralis and triceps muscles, and then moving to an exercise that works just the triceps such as the triceps extension or the pushdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the benefit of this beyond doing just &quot;more exercise&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T10:41:45.827" Title="Why do we superset?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9502" CreationDate="2016-05-13T08:40:48.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you stretch and pain gone, congratulations.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By stretch, I would say less than 30 seconds before exercise, and 90 seconds plus after exercise.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Remember to stretch other muscles like Extensor digitorum longus, &#xA;Gastrocnemius muscle, or any muscle nearby, muscle tight may cause other muscle pain.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, you may take foot pressure image, and some possible topics like : overlaping toe, and supination/pronation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;look at my answer here : &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/29823/20338&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/29823/20338&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20338" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T08:40:48.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12712" CreationDate="2016-05-13T08:45:19.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not normal because you only walk, not running fast or exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your calves may lack stretch, try some like following : &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drnickcampos.com/health-newsletter/Los%20Angeles%20Chiropractic--shin%20splints.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.drnickcampos.com/health-newsletter/Los%20Angeles%20Chiropractic--shin%20splints.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to stretch less than 30 seconds before exercise, or any long/fast walk, and 90 plus seconds everyday before sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that does not solve your problem, you may have same issue like me. &#xA;Search on topics like : overlaping toe, and supination/pronation &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or read my answer here : &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/29823/20338&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/29823/20338&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20338" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T08:45:19.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29824" CreationDate="2016-05-13T10:41:45.827" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's this idea in hypertrophy training that rest periods should be kept short to keep metabolic stress on the muscles high, and that this will be conducive to growth. Taking your example, suppose you want to focus on triceps. You could do benches to get both triceps and chest work, then superset with triceps extensions which isolate the triceps. The chest gets some rest between bench sets while the stress is kept high and recovery lower for the triceps. However, there's plenty of studies where all sorts of variables like numbers of sets, numbers of reps within sets and rest times are compared with regards to strength gains and hypertrophy. And it would seem that rest times don't have much of an impact. Far less than intensity and total volume, at any rate. Here's a meta-study looking at a variety of sources with that subject: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25047853&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25047853&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;The effect of inter-set rest intervals on resistance exercise-induced muscle hypertrophy&lt;/em&gt;, Henselmans M, Schoenfeld BJ, Sports Med. 2014 Dec, 44(12):1635-43). It concludes that there's no evidence of shorter rest intervals providing superior muscle growth and in fact found one study where shorter rest had an adverse effect. The full text is behind a pay wall, but some conclusions (as well as other studies) are referenced here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengtheory.com/hypertrophy-range-stats-adjustments/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://strengtheory.com/hypertrophy-range-stats-adjustments/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hard to say if supersets do in some other way increase metabolic stress or have other effects that would influence hypertrophy. With a lack of evidence of rest intervals being that important (and actually indications that more rest might be better, because it's likely more total volume can be accumulated), I can't think of anything that would make them superior to doing the exercises in sequence where the same muscle groups are concerned. Unless specific muscles catch a break on one exercise as in the bench/extension example (the chest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually tend to use supersets for the exact opposite: to make better use of my time while letting muscle groups rest long enough between sets. To that end I superset antagonist muscles. For example, bench presses alternated with rows, or overhead presses with pull-ups. While resting from a set of one exercise, I do the other. Because the movements use complementary muscles the fatigue doesn't carry over much, meaning I get long rest times between sets while actually doing something in those. It can cut quite a bit of time from the workout total. It's also a small boost for burning energy when you're cutting because you're keeping the heart rate higher compared to complete rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T10:41:45.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12712" CreationDate="2016-05-13T11:33:12.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the exact same issue when I was younger.&#xA;Walking &quot;fast&quot; caused my shins to cramp up. (I assume you mean the shins with the front part?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, you should consider taking a magnesium supplement. This did wonders for me and helps push out the lactic acid your muscles.&#xA;As soon as I started taking a small magnesium supplement for about a week the pain just went away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me this was mainly an issue with my shins but while running I did notice the same in my calves and the magnesium worked fine for this too.&#xA;You will not need to take this forever but once you build up enough of it you can cycle it when needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15987" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T11:33:12.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-13T11:43:28.677" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are sleeves for the elbows and knees which trap heat and, depending on thickness and elasticity, provide compression. They're typically made of neoprene. Ignoring the aspects of support and stored elastic energy assisting in some movements, is there evidence to support the notion that these would reduce the potential for injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warmer muscles (up to a certain point, I assume) are said to be less prone to injury, and I've also heard a higher heat would lubricate the joints better, presumably because it could affect the viscosity of synovial fluid. After all, we &quot;warm up&quot; before exercise. Is there actual scientific proof that warmer muscles, connective tissue and joints directly benefit from this heat, or is it possibly a case of correlation being mistaken for causation? As in, the heat is merely the effect of the metabolic processes and/or mechanic action taking place in the body and what actually prevents injury is a gradual increase in load and intensity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same for compression. Does this actually provide a benefit during exercise other than support and taking over part of the stress on the body tissues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-05-13T13:21:23.917" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T17:46:04.977" Title="Do heat and/or compression provably aid in preventing injury?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;compression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29833" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-13T18:01:58.890" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea if I have my whey protein before I go out to workout in the morning (around 7am)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my place to gym is around 40 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20346" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T08:01:58.073" Title="Is it a good idea to drink whey protein before going out to gym?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:26:50.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29833" CreationDate="2016-05-13T18:04:19.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing in particular regarding the timing of your protein consumption that will make any significant difference according to our current understanding. Keep in mind however, that some people experience minor gastric distress from whey protein and this could interfere with training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Farts. I'm talking about farts.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T18:04:19.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29835" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-13T18:53:01.380" Score="0" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I plan on eating at least 100-200g of mixed nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds) everyday (on top of regular diet) for the purpose of gaining weight. I was wondering, can eating too much nuts cause bad health side effects? I want go gain weight because im underweight for my age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20347" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T17:34:05.237" Title="Gain Weight because im under weight to my age" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-17T19:30:58.547" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-13T23:21:18.120" Score="1" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this pic I added the first day of my MadCow spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question(s) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When do I stop (start over)?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, if I started &lt;code&gt;Week 6&lt;/code&gt; and I will try to &lt;code&gt;squat&lt;/code&gt; &lt;code&gt;5 reps&lt;/code&gt; of &lt;code&gt;110kg&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I only manage to do &lt;code&gt;4 reps&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I then update my &lt;code&gt;Squat&lt;/code&gt; and start again on &lt;code&gt;week 1&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or should I keep going until I am unable to do even &lt;code&gt;1 rep&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I fail at doing &lt;code&gt;5 reps&lt;/code&gt; in &lt;code&gt;squat&lt;/code&gt;, but I manage to do &lt;code&gt;5 reps&lt;/code&gt; in &lt;code&gt;benchpress&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;IF&lt;/strong&gt; I have to restart my &lt;code&gt;squat&lt;/code&gt; then, do I also have to restart my &lt;code&gt;benchpress&lt;/code&gt;, or can they be on seperate weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat is reset and is now on week 2&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Benchpress is still going and is on week 8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8CnFU.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8CnFU.png&quot; alt=&quot;MadCow First Day&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19848" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T05:34:02.140" Title="MadCow Routine - When to stop / restart?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29794" CreationDate="2016-05-14T01:37:00.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quick answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, not a good routine, you probably won't get much stronger or bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend HST training and eating 30g of protein within 30 minutes of each time you lift, and lift every other day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will gain strength and mass and will not plateau. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13521" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T01:37:00.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2016-05-14T01:45:35.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lactic acid is a byproduct of the energy used in a muscle, like exhaust in an automobile. ATP or adenosine triphosphate comes in and removes the lactic acid. ATP is made up of calcium and creatine and adp. We can only get creatine from red meat or supplements. Could be something to look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20350" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T01:45:35.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29836" CreationDate="2016-05-14T05:34:02.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't &quot;start over&quot; unless you stop lifting for several months. The point is to &lt;em&gt;always be stronger for the rest of your life&lt;/em&gt;. The point is not to lift the weight and then pretend you can't lift the heavy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you miss a rep on one exercise, it doesn't affect the others. They track separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you miss one rep of, say, a squat, then try that weight again the next workout. If you miss again, then back off by 10% in the next workout (or &quot;rewind&quot; a week), then continue progressing. Never go back to Week 1 unless you quit entirely and are restarting the program months later after you're weak again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T05:34:02.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-14T10:37:37.153" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it incredibly easy to gain weight, both muscle and fat. I'm a normal weight, but I keep to a reasonably diet and exercise regularly (squash and weights)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My housemate cannot gain weight to save his life. He's 20kg lighter than me, can pile his face full of food all day everyday without exercising and lose weight. Clearly, we have very different body types and metabolisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say that being able to put on weight is healthy, but conversely, being overweight is widely regarded as having a negative impact on health and longevity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does scientific literature say anything about which [body type - easy or hard weight gainer] is healthier, which leads to a longer life or which body type is predisposed to certain diseases?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've searched for answers but since the internet is full of weight loss tips, most of what I've come across pertains to dieting and fascicle metabolism boosters. Any literature I've found relating to my question is too dense for me to understand in layman's terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20351" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T01:45:17.500" Title="Is it healthier to be able to put weight on easily or with difficulty?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:30:26.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29835" CreationDate="2016-05-14T13:23:14.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's take a look at the three nuts mentioned (peanuts, cashews, almonds) on Nutritiondata to see what looks interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Peanuts. 100 grams amounts to 567 Kcal. 49 grams fat, of which only 7 grams saturated. 16 grams carbohydrates of which 8 grams fiber and 4 grams sugar. A nice 26 grams protein. Peanuts have an outstanding amino acid profile making them an excellent protein source. Of the fat content, most of it is mono-unsaturated and a good deal poly-unsaturated. However, note that in 100 grams there's a whopping 15 grams of omega-6 fatty acids, yet only 3 mg of omega-3 fatty acids. Regarding vitamins you'll get a good dose of vitamin E, thiamin, niacin and folate; this is all pretty good. Regarding minerals there's good amounts of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc copper and a hefty dose of manganese. All of this is pretty nice too, and would be especially welcome if you'd happen to combine your diet with weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Onto cashews. 100 grams gives you 553 Kcal. 44 grams of fat, of which 8 saturated, 18 grams of protein (lower than peanuts) and a much higher carb content at 33 grams. Outstanding protein quality. 7.8 grams of omega-6 but only 62 mg of omega-3. A different vitamin profile from peanuts: high in vitamin K, thiamin and B6. Again good to have. As for minerals, you'll get iron, a lot of magnesium, good deal of phosphorus, some potassium, good deal of zinc, more copper than you need, nearly all the manganese you require in a day and some of the rare selenium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally almonds. 575 Kcal per 100 gram serving. 49 grams of fat, of which only 4 saturated. 22 grams of carbohydrate (in between cashews and peanuts). 21 grams of protein. Nice amount of dietary fiber (12 grams of the 22 grams carbs). Great protein quality but less so than peanuts and cashews. 12 grams of omega-6 versus only 6 mg of omega-3. A lot of vitamin E and much riboflavin (good thing to have). A really nice overall mineral profile, with the important minerals all well represented and some spikes in magnesium, phosphorus, copper and manganese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutritionally nuts and legumes are great food sources that tend to be under-represented in western diets. The balance of mostly unsaturated fats, carbohydrates and protein makes them great food to add onto a regular diet. Also packing a good deal of vitamins and minerals, they are a great choice of snack provided you don't get too excessive with sodium intake (salted varieties).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So onto the negatives. In some cases an excess of vitamins can be detrimental. Regarding the vitamins found in the above nuts I don't think you should worry about this, and not in the amounts found in them. Some values exceed the daily recommended intake but there's no reason to think anything is gonna exceed a daily upper limit. As for minerals, most of it is pretty useful and again doubtful you're gonna get a dangerous excess of anything. For example, you'd have to go through heroic amounts of cashews to get too much selenium. The one thing that doesn't look so good is the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Nuts are very high in omega-6 while giving you very little omega-3. Since the ratio of these two fatty acids is important and omega-6 already tends to be dominant in a western diet you might want to pay attention to that. A fish oil supplement could be useful, unless you already regularly eat good sources of omega-3 such as fatty fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally there's another matter, namely that of phytoestrogens. Particularly the type known as lignans tend to be high in nuts and seeds. These are compounds that can affect your hormonal system, either by activating or blocking receptor sites. Undesirable for men, possibly beneficial for women. However, the effects in humans are not well established, perhaps somewhat controversial and the fear of these possibly greatly overstated. Studies haven't really shown significant effects thus far. To be honest, I have the feeling that some folks, particularly those in the bodybuilding community, are focusing on things such as avoiding soy for absolutely minor effects while doing their bodies much graver injustices by other means. I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in conclusion, not only would the nuts you mentioned be a convenient source of calories (and lots of them) but also a very healthy one. The main thing requiring some attention is to keep that omega-6 to omega-3 balance in check, introducing some additional omega-3 to the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, apart from nuts, you may also want to consider (whole) milk. If you could happen to find good quality milk obtained from pastured cattle, feeding on grass instead of grains, that'd be perfect. Grass-fed cattle produces milk and meat that has a much better omega-3/6 ratio than grain-fed cattle. Which is logical, because grass is what happens to be cows' natural source of food. The same goes for butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T13:23:14.520" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29833" CreationDate="2016-05-14T17:20:09.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First lets set aside that you haven't shared your goals and have in mind that a pre-workout whey protein shake can't fix general poor or low protein diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part for me here is that you are working out early in the morning, after not having consumed any protein (or food) for a long period of time. Your insulin levels are low, cortisol is high - this is not optimal environment for weightlifting. So yes, drinking whey protein before going to the gym is a good idea. Make sure to also consume some carbohydrates as well. Easily processed fruit like banana or handful of raisins will do just fine. Most importantly - don't weightlift in the morning in fasted state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some articles with decent amount of medical research references that could help you figure it out (leave aside promoted specific proprietary products in the articles):&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/top-10-post-workout-nutrition-myths&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/top-10-post-workout-nutrition-myths&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/post-workout-nutrition-is-dead&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/post-workout-nutrition-is-dead&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T17:20:09.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29835" CreationDate="2016-05-14T17:34:05.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another 500-1000kcal coming from natural unprocessed food is unlikely to have negative side effects. I would be more concerned with the amount of calories you are about to start introducing to your diet. If you don't reduce anything else (which you probably will, subconsciously), 500-1000kcal is quite a huge increase. Start with 50-100gr and further increase if it seems to help you get closer to your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are extremely cautious - have in mind that peanuts contain large amounts of linoleic acid (omega-6) that should be limited in consumption (given that most foods contain them, while not providing any omega-3). It's ok to have them in some quanties but sticking more towards almonds in the long run is better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T17:34:05.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29829" CreationDate="2016-05-14T17:46:04.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For compression specifically - in my experience, it's often quite the contrary. Wearing compression sleeves, braces and especially belts all the time, leads to certain muscles staying relaxed or more strained in compound exercises when they shouldn't be. Your nervous system learns how to activate (also under-activate and over-activate) muscles based on previous patterns. If it has learned to do that with belts that let your abdominals stay relaxed or compression sleeves that provided additional resistance, it could result in an injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I firmly believe (without having medical data to support it but speaking out of personal experience) that &quot;special&quot; aid should be used only in &quot;special&quot; cases - either when you are recovering from an injury and capable physician has suggested that you need that equipment to support you. Or when you are performing work that pushes yourself to the limit and only then you need the extra security.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T17:46:04.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-14T18:26:54.307" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently told that one should buy running shoes at the end of the day because our feet will swell over the course of the day. The thinking was if you bought them at the start of the day you might get shoes that are too small. This made me think that perhaps a daily jog might influence foot size (and thus shoe size) as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before buying shoes, should I go for a run to get my feet to the right size?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20355" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T07:25:15.200" Title="Should I go for a run before buying running shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-15T02:33:07.727" Score="2" ViewCount="4289" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I actually have a question about supplements. I am female and 24 yrs old. I am currently taking 4 capsules a day of L-Carnitine (Levocarnitine Tartrate) by Vital Strength I believe each capsule has 500 mg, I want to use a new protein powder that has 100 mg of L-Carntine per serve. Is it safe to still do both? How much is too much? Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20358" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T07:54:51.730" Title="Taking L-Carnitine, how much is too much?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:22:24.587" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2016-05-15T03:40:08.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well when it comes to the perfect time my personal opinion says, MORNING  is the best time to weigh. After you wake up and go to the toilet, ur bowel,bladder and stomach all becomes empty. And to be added at that time of the morning you wear light clothes so all possible chances of wrong measurement can be excluded. And always try to weigh yourself in same interval of time.Say for once a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20359" LastActivityDate="2016-05-15T03:40:08.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29850" CreationDate="2016-05-15T11:33:10.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, taking more than the 2 grams per day you'd get on top of the capsules might be useless. Above a certain threshold saturation seems to be reached and no further absorption occurs. (study for reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16988205&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16988205&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, L-carnitine has shown promising health effects but evidence for its usefulness in exercise supplementation is not definitive. Anecdotally, though, it has generated interest in the bodybuilding community and people seem to believe it has helped them. So if you find it does something for you, it can be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, you need to know whether you are getting precisely L-carnitine or some variant. There's an acetylated form called acetyl-L-carnitine (often abbreviated as ALCAR) which you might also find as a supplement, amongst others. The dosage for such forms would be different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A safety study up to 3 grams daily for 3 weeks in men showed no adverse effects. Evidently there's a &quot;too much&quot; for everything, but in standard supplemental dosages I figure you're unlikely to reach it for L-carnitine. Your 2000 mg supplements a day combined with one or a few servings of the protein powder aren't gonna put you over some dangerous threshold, and absorption at elevated rates is going to be tapered anyway. One thing to note: at these dosages an unusual body scent described as &quot;fishy&quot; got noticed. So as far as side-effects are concerned, there's at least that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-15T11:33:10.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29853" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-15T19:41:56.143" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a footballer at a high level and I am undergoing problems with regards to growth. In November 14 I shattered new bone in my knee due to growth I was out for 10months and returned September Last year. I am stretching around 3 times a week and foam rolling with it for about 30 minutes a day. Throughout this season I have had little niggles with injury. However I have noticed I have quite poor from what I used to had knee mobility. When performing a simple quad stretch I am around 2&quot; from by bum on the one leg and just touching on the other. When performing the stretch I get pain mainly around the tendons in my knee at the front patella and the tendon connecting knee to quad also I get some pain at the tendons at the rear of my knee with the connections of calf and hamstring. Is there something to do that I will eventually be able to sit on my heals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19734" LastActivityDate="2016-05-15T19:41:56.143" Title="Knee and muscle mobility following injury" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:33:09.957" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29840" CreationDate="2016-05-15T23:38:18.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be the luck of genetic draw, specific genetic makeup helps determine your body weight and how quickly you gain or lose pounds. Researchers studying the human genome have isolated genes that influence fat distribution and development, body mass index and appetite, reports the National Institutes of Health. Genetics play a big rule, however there are other factors such as when you undergo chronic stress or get insufficient sleep, you may gain weight more easily than other people. Stress affects food choices by driving up the desire for unhealthy “comfort foods” like fatty, sugary choices. It may also lead to insomnia, which disturbs the normal function of the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which signal your body when to eat and when to stop. Techniques like yoga, deep breathing, listening to music or reading can help keep your stress levels. Gaining weight easily is definitely healthier  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20363" LastActivityDate="2016-05-15T23:38:18.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29848" CreationDate="2016-05-16T07:25:15.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good shoe will adapt to your foot over time of using it. You want it to be comfortable at all times during running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would stick with the suggestion of buying it at the end of the day. A walk into town should warm your feet up to their normal working size and shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T07:25:15.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29840" CreationDate="2016-05-16T07:30:03.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking - the less food you consume through your life, the less oxidation happens (metabolic processes use oxygen and it is poisonous in a way). Less risk of cancer, less stress on liver, kidneys and heart. Also low body weight reduces the stress on joints and tissues. Having excessive body weight is correlated with many health risks. I don't have any data, just empirical observations - it's the smaller and lighter people that live longest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body weight and genetics are very important factor, but still just a factor. There are hundreds other lifestyle and environmental factors that determine your long-term health and lifespan.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have in mind that light people with fast metabolic rate do not eat all that much as perceived. You need to have a lot of active tissue (muscle), or be extremely active to burn large quantities of calories. Sure, people with high metabolic rate have a slightly higher body temperature, have more energy and are subconsciously more active (have stronger desire to walk and exercise). But there is no magic and the food does not &quot;disappear&quot;. Such person might eat a huge amount of food at one meal but &quot;forget&quot; to eat through the next day because they don't have the appetite. In the long run the average total calories consumed per day are just enough to cover the metabolic expense - and that number will be lower for 20kg lighter person, if you have similar activity level. Else they would be storing the extra calories as body weight (fat and/or muscle depending on many things). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T01:45:17.500" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T01:45:17.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29850" CreationDate="2016-05-16T07:54:51.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lets take a look at the one-stop-shop for all things nutrition: examine.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;L-Carnitine and the related compound Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) are&#xA;  compounds able to alleviate the effects of aging and disease on&#xA;  mitochondria, while increasing the mitochondria’s potential to burn&#xA;  fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ALCAR is often used as a brain booster, due to its ability to increase&#xA;  alertness and mitochondrial capacity while providing support for the&#xA;  neurons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ALCAR has been shown to be very effective at alleviating the side&#xA;  effects of aging, like neurological decline and chronic fatigue. ALCAR&#xA;  supplementation is also a very safe method of improving insulin&#xA;  sensitivity and blood vessel health, particularly for people with&#xA;  delicate or weakened cardiac health. ALCAR can also protect neurons&#xA;  and repair certain damage, such as that caused by diabetes and&#xA;  diabetic neuropathy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Theoretically, &lt;strong&gt;ALCAR supplementation for fat burning should work well,&#xA;  but studies on ALCAR in isolation do not show very good results&lt;/strong&gt;. Fat&#xA;  loss is typically attributed to the increased activity done by people,&#xA;  from the increased energy they have from ALCAR supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the name implies, supplementation should only be used for additive effects - your primary fitness goals will be mostly achieved via diet and exercise. Still, with that in mind, there are three supplements that are frequently cited as known useful for general health and building muscle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Creatine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin D&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Omega-3 Supplement such as Fish Oil (note that flax/chia seeds are not sufficient)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On to your question on dosage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The standard dose for L-carnitine is between 500-2,000mg.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are various forms of carnitine supplementation available.&#xA;  Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) is used for cognitive enhancement.&#xA;  L-Carnitine L-Tartrate (LCLT) is typically used for physical&#xA;  performance and power output. Glycine Propionyl L-Carnitine (GPLC) is&#xA;  used to alleviate intermittent claudication and blood flow issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;L-carnitine is supplemented daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The equivalent dosage range for other forms of L-carnitine are as&#xA;  follows: 630-2,500mg (ALCAR), 1,000-4,000mg (LCLT) and 1,000-4,000mg&#xA;  (GPLC).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, ditch this supplement, you will get the benefits of it through a well rounded diet and good exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on the substance and studies, go to: &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/L-Carnitine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://examine.com/supplements/L-Carnitine/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T07:54:51.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29833" CreationDate="2016-05-16T08:01:58.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;h3&gt;How important is nutrient or meal timing?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under most circumstances and in the grand scheme of things, it's not critical. Of far greater importance is hitting your calorie, macro- and micro-nutrient needs over the course of the day. After that, consistency and commitment should be applied to an appropriate workout plan that suits your performance and/or body goals. If you tend to train in a fasted state, getting your post-workout nutrition in as soon as possible is a good idea, but the first two points (daily diet goals, consistent training) still take precedence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a good paper reviewing the literature examining the ideas and research behind nutrient timing and the &amp;quot;post-workout window&amp;quot;, check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3577439/pdf/1550-2783-10-5.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this meta-review&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a review specific to protein timing and it's effect on strength and muscle building, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879660/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this review&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T08:01:58.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29500" CreationDate="2016-05-16T08:03:41.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many calories did I burn while doing [ACTIVITY]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, any answer to this question can only be an estimate at best, and it is not wise to trust any number to be 100% accurate. However, there are a few reference lists that can be used as a rough estimate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes-of-leisure-and-routine-activities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harvard Health&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/exercise/art-20050999?pg=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Remember F=ma? (or Ek=0.5mv^2) you need to exert a force to do a activity which requires energy. The amount of force (and hence amount of energy required) is equal to the product of mass and acceleration. More mass that needs to be accelerated (bodyweight) the more force required and so the more energy used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T10:17:20.670" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T10:17:20.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29861" CreationDate="2016-05-16T08:12:28.877" Score="1" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have general fitness goals: Lower resting heart rate, low bodyfat percentage, good BMI, healthy skin etc. How do plan my diet to achieve this when combined with my general fitness exercise regime of Cardio + Weightlifting + Sport (3 times a week)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T10:43:24.210" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T10:43:24.210" Title="I need help making a diet / meal plan for [Exercise Regime] to lose weight. What do I do?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;meal-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29860" CreationDate="2016-05-16T08:13:45.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best meal plan is always going to be the one that you create yourself. It is important that you take ownership of your meal planning - It will be easier to adhere to and easier to hold yourself accountable if you can't abdicate the responsibility onto someone else making your eating choices for you. Consistency is the most important part of getting results when changing your diet, and the easier it is for you to be consistent, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most important factors in making dietary changes stick is that they not be too drastic. This is another reason it's important that you create your own meal plan - &lt;em&gt;No one knows what foods you like better than you do.&lt;/em&gt; Including as many foods that you already know that you like is crucial to promote adherence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple and straightforward process for creating a meal plan might go something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_fixing_your_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calculate your approximate calorie&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_how_do_i_calculate_my_macros.3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;macronutrient needs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a list of foods and recipes that you already know that you like. Use Google or reddit's &lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/r/fitmeals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;r/Fitmeals&lt;/a&gt; to find additional ideas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use resources like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; and nutritional labels at the grocery store to calculate the nutritional content of the foods from Step 2. If you're trying to do this on a budget, this is also a good time to calculate the cost of each food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arrange your foods and recipes until your calorie and macronutrient needs from Step 1 are met. A common way of doing this is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iifym.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;If It Meets Your Macros&quot;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;flexible dieting&quot;&lt;/a&gt; method.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enjoy your delicious food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A note about eating the same thing every day: This is a really easy way to ensure you are always hitting your calorie and macronutrient requirements, however, &lt;em&gt;it is not for everybody&lt;/em&gt;. Some people will get bored with this method and their adherence can suffer as a result. Feel free to create multiple different meal plans for different days that all meet your nutritional requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T08:13:45.677" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-05-17T07:06:07.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29863" CreationDate="2016-05-16T08:30:47.710" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that by telling people about my goals I am more likely to achieve them. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T08:30:47.710" Title="Should I tell people about my fitness goals for better accountability?" Tags="&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29862" CreationDate="2016-05-16T08:30:47.710" Score="5" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Telling someone your goal makes it less likely to happen. This is because the social satisfaction of telling your goal substitutes for the satisfaction of achieving it.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kurt Lewin, father of social psychology, called this phenomenon &amp;quot;substitution&amp;quot; in 1923.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Symbolic_Self_completion.html?id=29xuRaMr1sIC&amp;amp;redir_esc=y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gollwitzer wrote a book about this in 1982&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;more recently published&lt;/a&gt; some tests about it. 163 people in 4 tests, wrote down their goal. Then, half announced their goal to the room, and half said nothing. Then, they were given 45 minutes of work toward achieving their goal, but told they could stop at any time. Those who had said nothing, worked the full 45 minutes, and at the end still felt they had a long way to go. Those who announced their goal, worked 33 minutes on average, and felt they had gotten a long way to achieving it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Substitution&amp;quot; is now a well known psychological effect: when you announce your goals to people, you receive psychological satisfaction, and it makes it less likely you achieve them. If you walk around telling friends &amp;quot;I'm going to lose 80 lbs&amp;quot;, this makes it less likely you will lose it. If you must tell them something, tell them what you've already done: &amp;quot;I have lost 10 lbs&amp;quot; but don't talk about your goal (although you should certainly have one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no two ways about this: when someone says &amp;quot;My goal is to lose 80 lbs and it starts today! Hold me to it&amp;quot; that act alone makes it less likely they will succeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This TED talk&lt;/a&gt; goes into this topic in more detail&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T08:30:47.710" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-05-25T07:38:48.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25700" CreationDate="2016-05-16T09:11:25.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Can I lose fat and build muscle at the same time?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ability to gain muscle while losing fat is dependent on the relationship between your fatness and muscularity. An overly-fat and under-trained person will be able to achieve simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain. A very lean person near his/her limit for muscle growth will not. As one moves away from the overly-fat, under-trained status towards a leaner, more muscular body this ability is diminished. At some point, the vast majority of people will see better/quicker results by choosing to do one or the other (gain muscle, lose fat - often referred to as 'bulking' and 'cutting', respectively) at a time. For a highly general rule of thumb: if you have been training effectively for a year or more, you're better off with a bulk/cut cycle. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;See Lyle McDonald's Adding Muscle While Losing Fat - Q&amp;amp;A for more discussion.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/51113664_Effect_of_two_different_weight-loss_rates_on_body_composition_and_strength_and_power-related_performance_in_elite_athletes?ev=pub_srch_pub&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2011 paper&lt;/a&gt; suggests a weekly rate of body-weight loss of 0.7% can permit muscle gain in both men and women while losing fat mass. Women were also able to increase muscle while losing fat at a weekly rate of body-weight loss of 1.0-1.4%. Men, however, lost muscle mass at this increased rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In real terms, 0.7% body-weight loss was achieved via a daily deficit of 3.2 calories per lb of total bodyweight (or 7 calories per kg of total bodyweight). At this rate, your &lt;strong&gt;goal calorie intake = &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_fixing_your_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TDEE&lt;/a&gt; - [BWlb x 3.2kcal] (or TDEE - [BWkg x 7kcal])&lt;/strong&gt;. This is a good place to start. The 1.0-1.4% range works out to a daily deficit of 4.5-6.4 calories per lb of total bodyweight (or 10-14 calories per kg of total bodyweight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T09:11:25.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28199" CreationDate="2016-05-16T09:15:47.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The additional weight could be due to a number of factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have ignored the weight of the bar. A Olympic barbell is 20kg (sometimes 13.5kg). A Ez bar (cambered) is usually 7.5kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A thicker bar means your forearms are working harder to hold the weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand on a pair of scales with either weights and then work out what the difference is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T09:15:47.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15507" CreationDate="2016-05-16T18:29:52.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple rule is this: Replenish the fluid you lose. It's worrying to see gymmers sipping on electral or glucose water when your body doesn't need the electrolytes or calories they contain. Drinking glucose water sends your blood glucose levels into a tizzy, pushing you towards a mild addiction to sugar. You need it only if you play an outdoor sport like cricket or football.&quot; Having small, quick gulps of water instead of sips is better since in the latter, fluid is likely to leave the stomach more rapidly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20368" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T18:29:52.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29867" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-16T21:36:52.000" Score="2" ViewCount="1735" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been researching into the Osta-Red supplements online. From the reviews I have been reading they seem to be great for lean muscle mass building without water retention or potential side effects that are normally associated with Steroids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an effective suppplement? And should I be taking any other supplements or be taking any pre-cautions simultaneously. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20371" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T17:11:48.680" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T17:11:48.680" Title="Osta-Red Supplements" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:21:52.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29868" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-16T21:50:12.323" Score="2" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running about 2 months ago to lose weight and along with this I also eat a lot less (1000-1500 calories a day). I started off around 200 lbs and got down to 188.6 but a few weeks ago the weight loss stopped at 188.6 and it's stayed at that for a few weeks even though I still run 5 days a week and eat right. Just wondering if I am doing something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20372" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T04:49:50.623" Title="I've been running and eating significantly less but weight loss has seemingly stopped" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29874" CreationDate="2016-05-17T01:26:54.023" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly asking this question to make sure that there isn't something I'm overlooking.  I've been eating a fairly specific diet for about the last 6 months - mostly because I like it - and I've gained about 15 lbs over the same period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday for breakfast I have a Shaklee Soy Powder protein shake mixed with a banana; crushed ice; water; and either blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries. (And 2 cups of coffee)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For lunch I have a mixed green salad with cashews, sunflower seeds, and golden raisins, with Ranch dressing.  Also - 2 pieces of Pepperidge Farm Whole  Grain bread with Country Crock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then for dinner I have various things.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking if there is something in what I listed for breakfast or lunch that would be the culprit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It very well may be whatever I have for Dinner, but I want to make sure that what I presume to be a healthy diet (that I enjoy) isn't  the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - additional info:  I quit smoking in October.  I've never thought twice about my diet before this period - my favorite dessert was a can of Vanilla Frosting.  I weigh (now) 216 lbs, 6'1, 37 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20374" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T10:22:28.620" Title="Is there something that I'm eating that is causing weight gain?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:22:43.260" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29869" CreationDate="2016-05-17T04:46:02.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are indeed eating something that causes weight gain: food. Track it. Weigh what you eat, track it in an application such as MyFitnessPal or any of the alternatives, and make absolutely sure you're using a correct entry (correcting based on the food label as necessary) or using, say, values from the USDA database. For whole foods you can often find this straight away typing something into Google (try &quot;cashews&quot; for example). If you want to be precise in finding out where you go wrong and how much you really consume, you need to track. Ignore the fact that many people seem to do just fine not ever paying attention or thinking much about what they eat (other than &quot;what would be tasty today&quot;) because it's not working for you. You've got to be precise and turn it into a science. Measure, correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'd had to pick out the foods you listed that would be most tricky, it's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cashews. Nuts are very calorie dense. Very healthy and nutritional, too, but lots of calories. 50 grams doesn't look like much but it'd be over 270 kcal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunflower seeds. Same thing goes for seeds as for nuts. Good food, but &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; calorie dense.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raisins. Dried fruits are high in sugar. Easy to go overboard on these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ranch dressing. Could be fine, but it depends on the dressing. It might be loaded with fats and sugars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bread. Carb-dense food sources like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice can give a heavy hit of calories for what seems like not such a big amount, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; aren't very good for satiety, so you might end up eating more at dinner than you otherwise would.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, eh, kind of listed your whole lunch there. I think you'd be better of eating a salad with a lean source of protein like roasted chicken breast or shrimps. Or at least lower the amount of cashews, sunflower seeds and raisins, and find out the nutritional values of that ranch dressing. See if there's a lower-calorie option. A &quot;light&quot; variant isn't always great because often what they take out in fat they partially replace with sugar (taste gotta come from somewhere) and if anything I'd say you're worse of with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T04:46:02.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29868" CreationDate="2016-05-17T06:41:34.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone reaches plateaus during their weight loss. Provided you continue to eat at a sensible deficit of calories (recommendation is between 10 and 20% of your TDEE) and are tracking them well you should start to lose weight again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As correctly explained by ddinchev, if you eat too little your body will go into &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_response&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;starvation mode&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, eating ~1000 calories would potentially put you here. However, going into 'starvation mode' requires you to actively &lt;strong&gt;starve&lt;/strong&gt; yourself and is relatively difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know your height &amp;amp; weight you can plug it into a TDEE calculator online and reduce that number by 10-20% to achieve a calorie deficit. Without more detailed information about your diet plan and your body statistics I cannot help beyond general advice there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The principle of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt; is that to improve yourself and constantly work your body at a high rate you need to continually make the exercise harder. In layman's terms this means that you should be aiming to put the same amount of effort into each activity you complete. Activities will become easier with time and it is up to you to make them constantly harder so that your body is working to constantly improve and adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, losing weight has diminishing returns, as your reach your &quot;peak&quot; low weight it will be harder and harder to lose weight and easier to gain it back again. Going from 30% bodyfat to 27% is much easier than going from 15% to 12%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, you need to consider what your doing as your lifestyle. If you stop exercising and eat the same your weight will pile back on. Achieving and Maintaining a healthy bodyweight and physique is a lifestyle change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also look at doing a &quot;re-feed&quot; week, it has worked for a number of people on a diet to eat at or slightly over their TDEE for 1 week to &quot;reset&quot; [sic] their metabolism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-11-14T12:52:12.443" LastActivityDate="2016-11-14T12:52:12.443" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29867" CreationDate="2016-05-17T07:05:20.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Osta-red is ostarine, or more commonly known as, Enobosarm. Answer below is adapted from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-steroids/so-you-want-try-ostarine-mk2866-here-facts-wonderful-sarm-879383.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;reputable source&quot;&gt;elite fitness forum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is Ostarine?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ostarine is the SARM (Selective androgen receptor modulator) that &lt;a href=&quot;https://dx.doi.org/10.1021%2Fjm900280m&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Mohler ML, Bohl CE, Jones A; et al. (June 2009). quot;Nonsteroidal selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs): dissociating the anabolic and androgenic activities of the androgen receptor for therapeutic benefitquot;. J. Med. Chem. 52 (12): 3597–617. doi:10.1021/jm900280m. PMID 19432422.&quot;&gt;GTx&lt;/a&gt; is developing for the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting.&lt;/strong&gt; It is currently undergoing clinical trials and may eventually be the medical prescription for prevention of cachexia, atrophy, and sarcopenia and for Hormone or Testoserone Replacement Therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SARMs create selective anabolic activity at certain androgen receptors and not others, hence their name.&lt;/strong&gt; Compared to testosterone and other anabolic steroids and pro hormones, the advantage of sarms such as (Ostarine) MK-2688 is that they do not have androgenic activity in non-skeletal-muscle tissues.&#xA;Ostarine is effective in not only maintaining lean body mass (LBM) but actually increasing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SARMs were banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in January 2008 despite no drugs from this class yet being in clinical use, and blood tests for all known SARMs have been developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enobosarm (Ostarine,&lt;/strong&gt; MK-2866, GTx-024) – affects both muscle and bone, intended mainly for osteoporosis but also general treatment for andropause and reversing muscle sarcopenia in the elderly and for cachexia in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Meetings/Abstracts?&amp;amp;vmview=abst_detail_view&amp;amp;confID=74&amp;amp;abstractID=52947&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;M.S. Steiner; et al. (June 2010). quot;Effect of GTx-024, a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM), on stair climb performance and quality of life (QOL) in patients with cancer cachexiaquot;. J Clin Oncol 28 (1534).&quot;&gt;cancer patients&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How does it work? (The science bit)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) bind to the androgen receptor and demonstrate osteo (bone) and myo (muscular) anabolic activity.&#xA;Androgen receptor activation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Binding and activation of the Androgen receptor alters the expression of genes and increases protein synthesis, hence builds muscle.&#xA;So in essence, sarms such as Ostarine causes muscle growth in the same manner as steroids, however unlike testosterone and other anabolic steroids and prohormones, sarms (as nonsteroidal agents) don’t produce the growth effect on prostate and other secondary sexual organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ostarine in particular exerts its anabolic effects on muscle tissue almost exclusively. So not only does it represent a new potential treatment option for a wide spectrum of conditions from muscle wasting diseases (from age-related to AIDS or cancer-related), but is also has immense potential for muscle building for Bodybuilders, fitness, athletes and an agent to minimize atrophy during recovery periods from serious surgery or similar situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Evidence of Ostarine’s Abilities?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To date, &lt;strong&gt;GTx has evaluated Ostarine in eight clinical trials involving approximately 600 subjects including three efficacy studies&lt;/strong&gt;. A four month Phase IIb clinical trial enrolled 159 patients with the study meeting its primary objective of an absolute increase in total lean body mass (muscle) compared to placebo and the secondary objective of muscle function (increase in strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In particular application to bodybuilding, there have been many logs of users on various forums using Ostarine as an aid to increase lean body mass and strength levels.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Uses of Ostarine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Lean muscle gains (bulking)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Ostarine is the most anabolic of the available sarms, its first and foremost use must be when trying to gain lean muscle. The gains in absolute weight won’t be comparable to steroids such as diannabol, however what will be gained will almost exclusively be lean mass. Due to the lack of shutdown in comparison to steroids/prohormones, a PCT - post cycle therapy - period is not needed and almost all the mass that is gained on Ostarine is kept once the cycle is finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Doses of 25mg for 4-6 weeks are the most common protocol for such goals&lt;/strong&gt;. Over this 4-6 week period will typically produce 6lbs or 3kg of lean, keepable gains. However the abundant side effects of steroids/prohormones will not be present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Users have as high as 36mg [only recommended for those who weigh in at 210lbs (95kg)+] for periods as long as 8 weeks. However the potential for suppression from such doses is higher and users would have to look into a PCT - post cycle therapy - protocol after undergoing such a cycle.&#xA;As the majority of Ostarine supplies come in 30ml bottles at 25mg/ml, a dose of 17.5mg per day will give the user a 6 week cycle from one bottle, a very good compromise between an anabolic dose and cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Losing Bodyfat (cutting)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ostarine would primarily fit into a cutting protocol for the maintenance of muscle mass whilst reducing calories.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The drop in metabolic rate and hormone levels (T3, IGF, Testosterone etc) with the lack of calories is a perfect catabolic environment for loss of muscle tissue. &lt;strong&gt;As Ostarine has anabolic effects, the dieter can cut calories without having to worry about muscle or strength loss.&lt;/strong&gt; Ostarine has also shown noticeable nutrient partitioning effects among users, another reason why it can be of great help when cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 12.5-15mg dosing protocol for 4-6 weeks is good for cutting with Ostarine without undergoing any side effects or suppression.&#xA;However it must be stated that due to the lack of androgenicity, muscle hardness and overall results are not as prominent as with the SARM S-4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Recomping (gaining muscle and losing body fat at the same time)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recomping is where Ostarine really shines.&#xA;The recomping effect of losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time is what the majority of users are looking for. Trying to achieve this when you are not absolutely new to training is extremely difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where Ostarine shines for recomping is in its nutrient partitioning benefits.&lt;/strong&gt; Calories are taken from fat stores and calorie intake is fed to the muscle tissue. In fact many users report that Ostarine consumed at maintenance calories produces weight loss, whilst still getting increases in strength and muscle mass!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most important factors of recomping is TIME. As you are trying to achieve multiple objectives, it requires a longer time period to notice good recomp effects so even when running steroids, these would have to be longer run injectible compounds as oppose to the short used liver toxic oral steroids/prohormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although Ostarine is taken orally, as it is not methylated it is not as liver toxic as other oral steroids/prohormones. Therefore it can be run for longer than the standard 4 week period with the aforementioned compounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dosing protocol of 12.5-25mg for 4-8 weeks will give excellent recomp effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet must also be optimized to where calories are just above maintenance with at least 30% coming from lean sources of protein to get the best recomp effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Injury Prevention&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The effects of MK-2688 translate to anabolism in bone as well as skeletal muscle tissue, which means it could be used in the future for a wide variety of uses such as osteoporosis and as a concurrent treatment with drugs that reduce bone density. Therefore, it has great application as a compound to use for rehabilitation of injuries, in particular bone and tendon related injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doses of 12.5mg per day is recommend for such purposes and improvement in joint movement that can be seen after just 6-8 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Timing of Doses&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Ostarine has a half life of around 24 hours, each of these doeses only has to be taken orally once a day, therefore its also offers an extremely convenient supplementation intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Advantages Of Ostarine when compared to Steroids/Prohormones&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no need for pre cycle supports such as Hawthorn berry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no need for on cycle supports such as milk thistle for the liver, policosanol or RYR for cholesterol etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some suppression may be present at doses of 25mg+ run for longer than 4 weeks, however a stringent PCT - post cycle therapy - of prescription serms like nolva or Clomid is not necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High oral biovailabilty without significant damage to your liver as with oral steroids/prohormones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great sense of well being while on, (without the aggression which can often detrimentally impact users daily lifes).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No need for a long time period off between cycles; the recommended time of period for normal cycles would be Time on +PCT - post cycle therapy - , so for a typical 6 week cycle and 4 week PCT - post cycle therapy - , a user would have to wait another 10 weeks after PCT - post cycle therapy - to start another cycle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Advantages Of Ostarine when compared to other SARMS&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The metabolite M1 wich seems to cause toxicity in S4 (temporary occular disturbances) is not present in Ostarine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unlike S4, Ostarine does not have androgenic properties in non muscle tissue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Ostarine Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anabolic even at doses as low as 3mg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great for strength&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great for lean mass gains&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great for body recomposition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great for endurance (aerobic or anaerobic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joint healing abilities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half life of circa 24 hours – only once a day dosing required&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T07:27:25.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29867" CreationDate="2016-05-17T07:17:59.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you'd need to know what it is you're getting. Osta-Red contains ostarine, which is another name for a substance known as enobosarm. Its chemical formula is (or should be) &lt;code&gt;(2S)-3-(4-cyanophenoxy)-N-[4-cyano-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-2-hydroxy-2-methylpropanamide&lt;/code&gt;. However, the name &quot;ostarine&quot; has also become associated with andarine, which has chemical formula &lt;code&gt;(2S)-3-(4-acetamido-phenoxy)-2-hydroxy-2-methyl-N-(4-nitro-3-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-propionamide&lt;/code&gt;, which is a similar but still different beast. From the Osta-Red site it seems that what you're getting is enobosarm, so let's focus on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enobosarm was originally developed by pharma company Merck &amp;amp; Co. and is now developed by GTX, Inc. They're specialized in drugs influencing hormonal pathways. The formula given above was not publicly disclosed but it can be found through patents. It is an &lt;strong&gt;investigational&lt;/strong&gt; substance, meaning its full range of effects and side-effects cannot be expected to be completely known. Anyone who'd try to sell this claiming it is safe or fully approved is lying through their teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say there is no medical literature, but certainly not as much as is needed. On PubMed Central the most interesting thing I'm finding is this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3177038/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3177038/&lt;/a&gt; (The selective androgen receptor modulator GTx-024 (enobosarm) improves lean body mass and physical function in healthy elderly men and postmenopausal women: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II trial; J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2011 Sep; 2(3): 153–161). There are other studies regarding selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs), of which enobosarm is one, which might be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important thing of note is that this stuff is banned by the world anti-doping agency, meaning that if you want to compete in a sport there will be plenty of federations who could find it a reason for exclusion, and you could get into trouble for things outside of competition, such as drug tests in other contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second important thing is that this is a drug influencing your hormonal system. The idea behind SARMs is that they get some of the benefits you could get from hormones such as testosterone or anabolic steroids, while being selective enough in receptor activation to avoid side-effects that would occur from the effects on non-target tissues (for example, anything outside of skeletal muscle). Just because they aren't technically anabolic steroids or hormones doesn't mean it's safe to be messing with your hormonal regulation. With steroids and hormones, despite the potential for negative effects at least they've been extensively studied and you get some idea of what you're getting yourself into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the Osta-Red site at least seems honest about a lot of these points. They note how the substance can make you fail doping tests, that this stuff is experimental and they don't seem to try to peddle it to folks who have no business hopping onto supplements. That's something that speaks in their favor. I'd still go looking for reports doing actual chemical analysis to make sure you're getting enobosarm, and &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is, this thing is a wildcard and I don't think you should feel comfortable being the guinea pig for testing it. Could SARMs turn out to be amazing things that will benefit muscle growth and retention with nearly no side-effects? Certainly. But we just don't know enough yet and, at least to me, that makes the potential risks outweigh benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T07:17:59.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29869" CreationDate="2016-05-17T07:50:27.527" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have done a lot of legwork for you here, lets take a look at the meals mentioned in myfitnesspal's calorie checker:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TWtzs.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TWtzs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Holy cow, that's a lot of calories&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have assumed 2 tbsp of each dried fruit &amp;amp; nuts with lunch. Ignore the goals at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I plug in your height, weight, age into IIMYM.com I get that your BMR is 1961 calories and your TDEE is 2298 calories. &lt;strong&gt;If you want a nice gentle cut you need to aim for between 1950 and 1838 calories per day&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;(I am a 5ft6 Male, 25, aggressively cutting, working out 5-6 times a week doing weightlifting. I redid my target during this and now I have gone from 3 to 6 days a week exercise and am now targeting 1898 calories on a cut)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While my Macros might not match yours, the outcomes from the breakfast and lunch tell a story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;797 calories for lunch is a LOT and doesn't leave you much for snacks and dinner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are eating a lot of carbs. Banana, Berries, Raisins and Bread are the main offenders. Fruit is great for providing vitamins and minerals but watch out for too much of it in your diet as it contains lots of sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You aren't eating anywhere enough protein. Eating more lean mean (chicken, fish) will help you eliminate your appetite. Consider brown rice, chicken and veg for lunch, for example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are eating too much sugar through fruits, cut down on the sugar intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Sources:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T07:50:27.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-17T09:40:21.050" Score="3" ViewCount="412" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which are the most common mistakes people make when using a food tracker such as &lt;em&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/em&gt; regarding making entries and utilizing these? How can we avoid them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: if you can think of more pitfalls that would be common in using a food tracker, feel free to add as a comment or answer and I will upvote accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="17969" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T17:12:09.070" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T17:12:09.070" Title="What are the most common mistakes in using a food tracker such as MyFitnessPal?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-05-18T20:25:11.607" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29875" CreationDate="2016-05-17T09:40:21.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Making and correcting entries&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;General considerations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where possible, utilize grams. Metric units are easier for conversions and calculating serving sizes. Furthermore, MFP lists nutrients in grams and milligrams, so basing yourself on grams just gives an overall better picture of what you're getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the values for a certain nutrient are unknown, leave it blank. I see people filling these in with 0's, but the message you're sending is different. If a food lists fats and tells you how many of those are saturated, that doesn't tell you how many are poly- and monounsaturated. Stating these are 0 is probably incorrect. Leaving the fields blank says &quot;I don't know&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go with the information on a food label if there is any. Even for whole foods, where generic entries may be found, it pays to use specific values for a specific product of a brand if these are listed on the packaging. If information is lacking, sometimes a brand's website can provide it. &lt;strong&gt;Don't go taking values out of other user-submitted entries on other sites and applications such as FatSecret, because these are just as vulnerable to incorrect information&lt;/strong&gt;. This would only make things worse, because now people see these values in multiple places and assume they must be correct. For whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and more, use information from well-estabished databases such as the USDA. An excellent reference database is that of &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/&lt;/a&gt;, which provides info for various serving sizes, always including 100 grams (see further) and plenty of other info such as micronutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, note that sometimes for the same brand and product, values can be different per country based on local production or legislation. If so, it may be best to make a separate entry with the country mentioned after the brand name or product name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Serving size &amp;amp; servings per container&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, provide a serving size of 100 grams. This is the easiest to work with. If a different unit is used, &lt;strong&gt;always prefer weight units&lt;/strong&gt;. I see things such as &quot;1 cup&quot;. This is simply not accurate. For a liquid it is hard to measure exactly one cup, since it may be filled until the surface is slightly above the cup edge or right below. For flour, 1 cup can be very different depending on how finely it was milled and how densely you pack the cup. This can make for a difference of up to serveral dozens of kilocalories, which may not seem much but adds up over the days and weeks. Serving sizes of &quot;1 slice&quot; for things like bread are completely useless because there can be too much variation. There's no proper standards there, and even if there were it is unlikely a user cared to find out. If they did, they'd have bothered to use weight. If a serving size is given on a label using a different measure (for example, 125 grams) it's still better to do the conversion for each nutrient and list the 100 gram values. You just multiply everything by 100 g/x g where x is the listed serving in grams. So if for example values are given for 125 grams, just divide everything by 1.25. Your computer's calculator app is your friend. I'll state the reason for this below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Servings per container can be given as stated on the container, but I'd suggest just keeping this at 1. You may find a pasta sauce that comes in containers of 250 grams and 500 grams. If someone can't figure out that 250 grams is 2.5 servings of 100 grams they are beyond your help anyway. Besides, these aren't always accurate. I frequently buy jars of 500 grams of yoghurt but when measuring I manage to scrape out at most 490 grams because some always stays behind in the container and some water content may have evaporated. When getting oven baguettes I've found that they list the weight for one as 125 grams but in practice they end up weighing a little more. A company would rather give you a bit too much than risk getting sued for not providing what they sell. So don't just go by what's on the packaging, &lt;strong&gt;weigh your food&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the reason why providing values for 100 grams is preferable, because it lets you state the measured serving yourself without too much math involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Calories&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are kilocalories. The biggest mistake here is people stating a certain serving size, but then using the kilocalorie value from a different serving size. For example, they state serving size is 100 grams (good) but then mistakenly read the kilocalorie value on a label that gives it for, say, 70 grams (bad, you've now underestimated your calorie intake). Another thing to look out for is kilojoules. Some labels state values in both kilocalories and kilojoules. Don't mix these up. If a label provides only kilojoules (yes, I've had this happen) multiply that value by 0.239 to get the kilocalorie value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you'll usually find on a label is &quot;fats&quot; and then &quot;of which saturated&quot;. If no information is provided regarding exactly how much is poly- and monounsaturated, or trans fats, don't fill in anything for those fields. Stick to fats (most important) and saturated (may be important for some people), only providing the other types if they are properly listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cholesterol&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to the fact that this field is listed in milligrams. Since there's no distinction between various types of cholesterol, and the relation between dietary and blood cholesterol has come under scrutiny, I'll admit I usually don't pay much attention to this field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sodium&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important note: one of the most common sources of mistakes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodium is a chemical element with chemical notation Na (from &quot;natrium&quot;). Salt is a molecule consisting of a sodium cation (Na+) and chloride anion (Cl-). Its chemical notation is NaCl. The sodium cation makes up about 40% of the molecular weight. This is not &lt;strong&gt;exact&lt;/strong&gt; but close enough for all practical purposes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodium and salt are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; synonyms. Salt will often be the main source of sodium in food, but it is &lt;strong&gt;not always the only source&lt;/strong&gt;. What you're supposed to provide in MFP is the sodium content. Whether a label lists sodium or salt varies, and what it is obliged to list can depend on jurisdiction. It can be different in various countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a label lists sodium content, use that. If a label lists only salt content, multiply it with 0.4 to get sodium content. Note that if sodium content is listed, you'll know exactly how much sodium is in there, but if salt is listed you've only got &lt;strong&gt;a lower limit for the sodium&lt;/strong&gt;. There could be other sources of sodium than the salt. But if it's all you have to go on, then it's better than nothing. Again and again I see entries where the salt content on the label is listed as sodium, which will give a gross overestimate. I'll repeat, sodium is 40% of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind that sodium is listed in milligrams, not grams. So if you are given sodium content in grams, multiply by 1000 to get the the milligrams. If you get salt content in grams, multiply by 400 to get sodium in milligrams (this is effectively x 1000 x 0.4). I've seen people just literally copying what's on a label. So a label stated &quot;1.9 grams salt&quot; and they put 1.9 in the sodium field, meaning they failed to both convert to milligrams AND realize sodium and salt aren't the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll give an example: if the label says 1.9 grams salt, that means it has 1900 milligrams of salt, and that in turn means you get 0.4 x 1900 milligrams of sodium, = 760 mg. THAT is what goes into the field in your MFP entry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sodium intake is important for some people so pay attention to getting this right for their sake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Carbs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important note: one of the most common sources of mistakes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbs consist of sugars, fiber and starches, amongst possibly some other things. You'll usually find entries for total carbs, sugars and fiber on a food label. Now here's one of the main sources of confusion: this is different in the US and Europe (and around the world). A US label would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total carbs: x grams&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;of which sugars: y grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;of which fiber: z grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A label in Europe (or at least in Belgium, where I live) would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total carbs: x grams&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;of which sugars: y grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fiber: z grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a subtle but important difference. In the US, fiber is counted towards the total carbohydrates. In Europe, total carbs are typically listed &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; the fiber, and fiber is listed separately instead. &lt;strong&gt;MyFitnessPal uses the US standard.&lt;/strong&gt; So if you're outside of the US, interpret the label correctly. This means you'd have to &lt;strong&gt;add&lt;/strong&gt; the fiber content to the total carbs. Here's an example of what you may see on a European label:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total carbs: 10 grams&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;of which sugars: 5 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fiber: 3 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means there's 10 grams of carbs consisting of (5 grams of) sugar and probably some starches, and &lt;strong&gt;on top of that&lt;/strong&gt; there's 3 grams of fiber. In MFP your entry now needs to look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total Carbs: 13 grams&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dietary Fiber: 3 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sugars: 5 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see some entry where the sugars and fiber add up to more than the total carbs, that's a red flag. This is something I have to fix on pretty much 95% of all entries I find and, along with the sodium, is the most common mistake. This is important for people on low-carb or keto diets. Dietary fiber doesn't (or only partially) count towards their carb intake. So they'd look at their total carbs per day and then subtract the fiber. If the fiber wasn't accounted for in total carbs to begin with, they're getting less carbs than necessary. Not so nice when you're already seriously carb restricted and you believe you're still eating too much of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Protein&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this, the general considerations just apply. I don't tend to see as much mistakes with this as with sodium and carbs or calories and serving sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Micronutrients&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are given in MFP as a percentage of daily recommended intake. But note that confusion may arise here. For some things there's a daily recommendation, while for others there's a daily allowance that you should try not to go over. Don't mistake one for the other. Also, this is different for women, men, adults and children, and can depend on body mass. I usually leave these blank unless they're precisely stated on a label. For whole foods you can consult the aforementioned Nutritiondata. Mind that some labels are sneaky (for example, some fortified breakfast cereals) and will give values for a certain weight for one thing and then values for a serving size for another (with milk included sometimes for cereals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Correct use&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how can you use MFP correctly given the above? First of all, if you notice incorrect entries, &lt;strong&gt;correct them&lt;/strong&gt;. You're doing yourself and others a favor. Use the comment field to specify what you've changed and why. I've got a couple of very typical lines. For example: &quot;Adjusted sodium content, salt content was given.&quot; &quot;Added fiber to total carbs.&quot; If there's an entry that can be corrected, prefer correcting that instead of making a new one yourself. This would only make it more confusing and harder for people to find accurate entries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If adding a new food to the database, share it with other members. The checkbox is off by default. If you follow the above guidelines and make complete, accurate entries, they are an asset to the database and community. Choose names that are as complete as possible. Say you have a brand and they provide carrots, specify if they're frozen or not, and if they're whole or sliced. Try to go with exactly what's on the packaging but don't be afraid to add some qualifiers yourself, it'll help people search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weigh everything&lt;/strong&gt;. Weight listed on packages isn't always entirely accurate. Get a kitchen scale. A digital one with at least 1 gram resolution is preferable. It doesn't have to be very expensive, just invest in something that looks durable and is accurate enough. A flat scale without a bowl is best. A bowl may seem useful but some larger foodstuffs can be inconvenient to weigh with it. If you want to put the food in a container, you can first place it on the scale, then tare the weight so it reads 0 and then add the food to get the net value. Most digital scales let you do this easily, which makes them more convenient than analog ones (which can also be hard to read with enough precision).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you weigh foods raw or cooked? This is a difficult one. Raw is usually best; it's less hassle to weigh something before you've cooked it (and want to start eating it) and it will usually be more accurate. Entries for cooked foods may be different from what you have depending on how long it has been cooked and how much fat and moisture has come out of it. Take a chicken for example: when roasting, water will evaporate and fat drippings will come out. The very same chicken may end up quite differently depending on how long it has been roasted and how moist or dry the meat has become. A tactic could be to use entries for raw poultry, weigh it raw, then after eating weigh the bones to find out how much net raw chicken you've consumed. But even there you'll find some variation, because the bones will have lost some weight depending on cooking time. When weighing raw it can in this way sometimes be easy to slightly overestimate calories. If you are trying to lose weight, overestimates are better than underestimates. When trying to gain weight, it's the other way around. If you're on a serious bulk all that fat that's dripped out of your chicken or bacon and that you may have counted in your raw entry would be lost, so, eh... drink it, or use it in soup stock or (for bacon) use it as lard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This concludes my advice on the use of MyFitnessPal which is based on more than a year of diligent tracking, studying many sources regarding nutrition and trying to be as accurate in correcting and making entries as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T09:40:21.050" CommentCount="1" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-05-19T05:52:08.020" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29869" CreationDate="2016-05-17T10:22:28.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite anything learned to the contrary, it is simply a question of physics, calories in v calories out.&#xA;If you modify the ratio of exercise, to diet, you will either loose or gain weight, or stay the same. &#xA;The ratio is important, so start eating and drinking less, and do significantly more exersise. Weigh yourself as a rough guide once a week. If it goes up, cut down more on food and drink, and work harder during exercise. If down, keep going until you reach goal weigh. To maintain the desired weigh, adjust ratios so you keep within a kilo a week.&#xA;Don't over complicate things, don't cheat, and it will work every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;David from Cornwall U.K&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19426" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T10:22:28.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-17T13:07:32.950" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love my body, but I want to know what exercises I should do in order to improve it and to obtain thicker and more toned thighs and legs, and a larger (more lifted) butt. My thighs are already somewhat thick, but not on a muscular level, more in a fattier way. Would my fat be able to turn into muscle? I also want to know, is there a negative effect if I only do lower body exercises? (since I don't care to improve my upper body). Also, would my diet play a role in getting a nicer lower body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20377" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T19:38:55.820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T19:38:55.820" Title="I want to improve my lower body!" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29878" CreationDate="2016-05-17T13:26:48.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The obvious answer regarding exercises: squats. Stay away from the smith machine, please. Learn how to do squats with the barbell. They are safe when proper form is used and the safety pins are correctly set in the squat/power rack. You can just set the bar down if you fail a set. If you want to focus on posterior chain, low-bar squats would benefit you best. These would give a proper workout to hamstrings, glutes and the lower back. For the ultimate guide in form I suggest you read Starting Strength 3rd edition by Mark Rippetoe. The StrongLifts 5x5 site also has some pretty good form articles which would be a good place to start. If you want to focus on quadriceps development, high-bar or front squats could prove more beneficial. You could mix it up, of course, but progress could be slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift would also serve you well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would my fat be able to turn into muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not directly. Fat and muscle are very different beasts. Fat is fat, muscle is composed of protein (a bit simplified, but you get the idea). Indirectly, yes. If you are a beginner in weightlifting, you are at a stage where burning fat while gaining strength and muscle mass is possible, and far easier than it'd be at a later stage. The fat gets used for providing energy while the training (and a sufficient intake of protein) enhances muscularity. So while you don't &quot;turn fat into muscle&quot;, you can lower one and raise the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also want to know that is it okay if I only do lower body exercises? (since I don't care to improve my upper body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly suggest you attempt to train your whole body. Balance is not just good for looks, but for general health. There's always gonna be a weakest link somewhere, which is what will eventually lead to problems later in life. Trying to get that weakest link stronger and not letting it lag behind too much will benefit you. Full-body workouts don't have to take ages. Beginner programs with 3 workouts per week focused on compound lifts, such as Starting Strength and StrongLifts 5x5 will give you the best return on time investment. Allowing your whole body to progress will provide a better balance in physique, which will be perceived as better looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, would my diet play a role in getting a nicer lower body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like how spot reduction is generally considered impossible, so is the other way around: gaining fat to specific areas without the others. For muscles, it's a different story. Muscular adaptation will occur mostly where necessary, meaning targeted exercise can enhance a particular region. At any rate, diet will play a critical role in weight loss, weight gain, muscular hypertrophy and muscle retention. As they say, &quot;you can't outrun your fork&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you are too skeptical about me suggesting strength-based programs and exercises, that you'd typically see the big burly men do in the gym, know that these will work just as well for a woman. In fact, they'll work better than anything else. Shy away from anything that uses the term &quot;toning&quot; or the women's magazines that can only sell copies by repeatedly coming up with new stuff that doesn't work. The basics have been established for ages and don't change, but they can't go printing the same articles every month, now can they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; become she-Hulk or some scary-looking bodybuilder. With much lower levels of testosterone as men, women simply don't have the raw capacity for packing on muscle as men have. I've been training my butt off with a strength focus for 15 months now and look nowhere near what I'd like, and I'm a guy. You won't wake up one day and find &quot;oh my, I've become too muscular&quot;. The big compound lifts, with a focus on linear progression for strength as a beginner, will provide the best progress you can get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T13:26:48.627" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29882" CreationDate="2016-05-17T20:25:18.377" Score="4" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering if Torso / Back twisting exercises (like twisting from side to side, with weight or without weight) can be harmful to the back. Mainly, if you'd have a herniated disc - would a twisting exercise aggravate the condition? If you're healthy, could such exercise create an injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mmmglawblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/10.-Spine-Twist.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mmmglawblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/10.-Spine-Twist.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://urbanwired.com/health/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/08/Kettlebell-Workouts-for-Russian-Twist.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://urbanwired.com/health/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/08/Kettlebell-Workouts-for-Russian-Twist.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5417" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-05-18T05:05:24.133" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T09:17:29.303" Title="Body twisting exercise after back injury" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29880" CreationDate="2016-05-18T06:07:26.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Listen&quot; to your body. If you feel pain during exercise (not one of lactic buildup in muscles), with or without injuries, it's best to immediately stop. Make sure you are doing the exercise properly and that you don't have an underlying condition that limits your ability to perform the exercise safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I'm occasionally doing twists, starting with low range of motion before starting to push myself or use weight (for Russian twists). I occasionally feel lower back pain from all kinds of seated ab exercises thus I prefer exercises like the &quot;Hanging Pike&quot;, ab-wheel (which can also be taxing to your lower back if not performed properly) and full range of motion chin-ups (which activate the abdominals most)&lt;sup&gt;[1]&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is given that you have an actual health condition - be very cautious, always start doing the twists slowly, warm up well and stay on the safe side. Don't ignore any pains and if in any doubt - consult a physician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/inside-the-muscles-best-ab-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/inside-the-muscles-best-ab-exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-05-19T00:47:11.923" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T00:47:11.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29868" CreationDate="2016-05-18T06:22:55.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recovering from plateaus is hard because they are both frustrating and usually you have to do the opposite of what seems rational - like take a step back. When people struggle to lose more weight, they usually cut the calories more and increase running/other physical activity which actually worsens the problem. Your body goes into &quot;starvation mode&quot;, meaning it starts loosing more muscle to become more efficient, slows your metabolic rate and soon your hunger becomes unmanageable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience and the things I've learned to work for me, this is a short list of things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Substitute some of the running sessions with weight lifting or sprinting (HIIT). Running is great if you want to be a marathon runner. But more intense workouts are more efficient for fat loss. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might be eating too low. Don't cut more then 25-30% of your energy expenditure. If you have already been under-eating for a while - try matching the estimated calories burned for the next 2 weeks (which means yes - increase calories and focus on the long run, not on the short lack of progress). But focus on eating healthy foods and ideally no sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Analyse your diet - try to reduce carbohydrate consumption in general, increase protein consumption to at least 1 gr per pound of bodyweight and increase fat consumption to match your calories (fats from fish, meats and nuts are all great). Protein helps your muscles repair and is more filling and low carb environment improves your insulin sensitivity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T06:22:55.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29488" CreationDate="2016-05-18T08:20:31.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer will focus on a general analysis of protein intake among all types of people who do all types of exercise and conclude with recommendations for you, specifically, based on the information you have given. &lt;em&gt;Hover over the links to view the full citation, follow them to find the source.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a lot of Xg protein per lb/kg of bodyweight in this answer, &lt;strong&gt;If you are obese, using a protein intake relative to body weight is a bad idea&lt;/strong&gt;. You should either calculate your lean mass (overall weight after subtracting fat mass, which can be calculated by body fat percentage) or use your goal/target weight for calculations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crux of this problem is &amp;quot;how much protein will be absorbed by my body and how much will be ejected as waste?&amp;quot; It is commonly known that if you eat too much you will absorb the calories and 'eject' the un-absorbed protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As quite rightly pointed out in the comments, One gram of protein per pound of body weight (1 g/lb) or 2.2 grams per kilogram (2.2 g/kg) is the &lt;em&gt;traditional recommendation&lt;/em&gt; for protein intake. However, this can be considered the upper bound of target intake, with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-do-i-need-every-day/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Examine.com article&quot;&gt;suggested range&lt;/a&gt; spanning 0.45-1g/lb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Protein: Athleticism and Body Composition&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two Studies in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15212752&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Phillips SM Protein requirements and supplementation in strength sports . Nutrition. (2004)&quot;&gt;Phillips SM (2004)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1763249&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Lemon PW, Proctor DN Protein intake and athletic performance . Sports Med. (1991)&quot;&gt;Cambell WW, et al (1991)&lt;/a&gt; indicated that 12-15% of calories from protein is sufficient for active individuals (60-75g of protein for an individual eating a 2000 calorie diet). However, more recent studies &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14971434&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Tipton KD, Wolfe RR Protein and amino acids for athletes . J Sports Sci. (2004)&quot;&gt;Lemon PW, Proctor DN (2000)&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17908291&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Campbell B, et al International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise . J Int Soc Sports Nutr. (2007)&quot;&gt;Lemon PW (2004)&lt;/a&gt; argue for higher intake - the 2000 study reports that greater than 1.6-1.8 g/kg of bodyweight (0.7-0.8 g/lb of bodyweight) may be necessary, while the 2004 study indicates that up to 3.0 g/kg of bodyweight (1.4 g/lb of bodyweight) isn't harmful, and may have additional minor benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17908291&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Campbell B, et al International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise . J Int Soc Sports Nutr. (2007)&quot;&gt;International Society of Sports Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;, protein intakes of 1.4-2.0 g/kg of bodyweight (0.6-0.9g/lb of bodyweight) for physically active individuals is not only safe, but may improve the training adaptations to exercise training. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19278045&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Rodriguez NR, DiMarco NM, Langley S; American Dietetic Association; Dietetians of Canada; American College of Sports Medicine Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and athletic performance . J Am Diet Assoc. (2009)&quot;&gt;American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine&lt;/a&gt; also support high protein intake for active individuals in the range of 1.2-1.7 g/kg of bodyweight (0.5-0.8 g/lb of bodyweight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for the above recommendations are outlined in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18500966&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Wilson J, Wilson GJ Contemporary issues in protein requirements and consumption for resistance trained athletes . J Int Soc Sports Nutr. (2006)&quot;&gt;Wilson J, Wilson GJ (2006)&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17908291&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Campbell B, et al International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise . J Int Soc Sports Nutr. (2007)&quot;&gt;Campbell B, et al (2007)&lt;/a&gt; and focus on the increased leucine oxidation (a marker for amino acids being used for fuel, by being turned into glucose) that requires a higher intake of amino acids to negate and preserve nitrogen balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16831747&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Jeevanandam M, et al Influence of increasing dietary intake on whole body protein kinetics in normal man . Clin Nutr. (1986)&quot;&gt;Jeevanandam M, et al (1986)&lt;/a&gt; explains that increasing protein intake above the US RDA 'daily allowance' of 46-56g for adults (female/male) will increase protein synthesis and, at levels higher than double this total, decrease protein breakdown. Increased muscular hypertrophy is seen as beneficial to sports performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Protein: During Weight Loss&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study of obese and pre-obese women by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16046715&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Layman DK, et al Dietary protein and exercise have additive effects on body composition during weight loss in adult women . J Nutr. (2005)&quot;&gt;Leidy HJ, et al (2007)&lt;/a&gt; and a study of atheletes by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17299116&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Mettler S, Mitchell N, Tipton KD Increased protein intake reduces lean body mass loss during weight loss in athletes . Med Sci Sports Exerc. (2010)&quot;&gt;Mettler S, Mitchell N, Tipton KD (2010)&lt;/a&gt; both showed that high protein diets have been found to preserve lean body mass when dieting. In addition to these findings, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16046715&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Layman DK, et al Dietary protein and exercise have additive effects on body composition during weight loss in adult women . J Nutr. (2005)&quot;&gt;Layman DK, et al (2005)&lt;/a&gt; concluded that a high-protein diet improves overall body composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study of healthy men by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18379214&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Pikosky MA, et al Increased protein maintains nitrogen balance during exercise-induced energy deficit . Med Sci Sports Exerc. (2008)&quot;&gt;Pikosky MA, et al (2008)&lt;/a&gt; found that a doubling of protein intake from 0.9g/kg (near the daily recommended intake for the general population) to 1.8g/kg is able to preserve lean muscle mass during short-term and relatively drastic drops in calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Protein: What is too much?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A meta-analyses of 35(!) studies by &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/can-eating-too-much-protein-be-bad-for-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;examine.com&lt;/a&gt; concludes the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about it if you have healthy kidneys and control your&#xA;protein intake if you have damaged kidneys. It may be prudent to&#xA;gradually increase protein intake to higher levels rather than jumping&#xA;in both feet at a time, but there isn't much on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is generally recommended to consume more water during periods when&#xA;protein intake is being increased. Whether or not this has biological&#xA;basis is not known, but it may be prudent to do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Protein: Your specific question&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarise, you are eating at a 45/35/25 split which is the standard recommendation for someone who is weightlifting and looking to gain muscle. It provides you with the protein you need to develop muscle in recovery, and the fats and carbohydrates you need to function and have energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You estimate your BMR at 2700-3600 per day. This strikes me as a lot. Plugging your height, weight, age and gender into the iimym BMR calculator I get a BMR of 2064. With an average difference between my estimate and yours of 1000 calories, I recommend you have another look at &lt;strong&gt;how&lt;/strong&gt; you calculated your BMR and perhaps re-do it across lots of calculators to get a sensible average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: If I plug in your exercise data I get a TDEE of 2500 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We shouldn't be &lt;a href=&quot;http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-eats-about-821-pounds-of-cod-per-year/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;holy mercury levels batman&quot;&gt;the rock&lt;/a&gt; and eat 400g protein per day. Looking at the information I have presented above and the studies referenced it's fairly clear that your macronutrient breakdown (ratio of carb/fat/protein) is fine. What is made clear is you should perhaps look at how many calories you are consuming, below is one sites (iimym.com) recommendation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LDMpt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LDMpt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Eat less&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T12:03:13.643" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2016-07-18T09:16:28.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29886" CreationDate="2016-05-18T10:12:25.533" Score="9" ViewCount="1446" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background: This question was prompted by a few comments from user:&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/939/michael&quot;&gt;michael&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GXGnz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GXGnz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Quote 1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ssay6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ssay6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Quote 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading through a recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Kolata, G. (2016). After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight. The New York Times. Accessed 18 May 2016.&quot;&gt;New York Times article&lt;/a&gt; related to the subject prompted me to prove further into the topic of metabolism and how it is affected by exercise and weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The biggest loser&amp;quot; is a show where contestants compete against each other to lost weight the fastest. It has come under a lot of criticism for &amp;quot;fat shaming&amp;quot; and there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://nypost.com/2015/01/18/contestant-reveals-the-brutal-secrets-of-the-biggest-loser/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;many controversies&lt;/a&gt; surrounding the show. In a recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Kolata, G. (2016). After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight. The New York Times. Accessed 18 May 2016.&quot;&gt;New York times article&lt;/a&gt; there was evidence put forward that some people just cannot keep weight off due to the changes in metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the article, Dr. Hall, an expert on metabolism at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health is quoted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has to do with resting metabolism, which determines how many&#xA;calories a person burns when at rest. When the show began, the&#xA;contestants, though hugely overweight, had normal metabolisms for&#xA;their size, meaning they were burning a normal number of calories for&#xA;people of their weight. When it ended, their metabolisms had slowed&#xA;radically and their bodies were not burning enough calories to&#xA;maintain their thinner sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Researchers knew that just about anyone who deliberately loses weight&#xA;— even if they start at a normal weight or even underweight — will&#xA;have a slower metabolism when the diet ends. So they were not&#xA;surprised to see that “The Biggest Loser” contestants had slow&#xA;metabolisms when the show ended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...As the years went&#xA;by and the numbers on the scale climbed, the contestants’ metabolisms&#xA;did not recover. They became even slower, and the pounds kept piling&#xA;on. It was as if their bodies were intensifying their effort to pull&#xA;the contestants back to their original weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking online, there are articles that state that exercise can improve your MR and even your BMR:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.21501/abstract;jsessionid=C4FFBE4D670B64AA977431A6732B5953.f03t03&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Hames, K. C., Coen, P. M., King, W. C., Anthony, S. J., Stefanovic-Racic, M., Toledo, F. G.S., Lowery, J. B., Helbling, N. L., Dubé, J. J., DeLany, J. P., Jakicic, J. M. and Goodpaster, B. H. (2016), Resting and exercise energy metabolism in weight-reduced adults with severe obesity. Obesity. doi: 10.1002/oby.21501&quot;&gt;Hames KC et al. 2016&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/how-can-I-speed-up-my-metabolism.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;National Health Service: &amp;quot;How Can I Speed Up My Metabolism?&amp;quot; (2015)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/h08-097&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Perry, Christopher GR, et al. quot;High-intensity aerobic interval training increases fat and carbohydrate metabolic capacities in human skeletal muscle.quot; Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 33.6 (2008): 1112-1123.&quot;&gt;Perry, C. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (2008)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/fitness-fact-article/2672/trimming-off-the-fat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Council on Exercise: &amp;quot;Trimming Off the Fat.&amp;quot; (no date)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413114000060&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Lee, Paul, et al. quot;Irisin and FGF21 are cold-induced endocrine activators of brown fat function in humans.quot; Cell metabolism 19.2 (2014): 302-309.&quot;&gt;Lee, P. Cell Metabolism (2014)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And even the odd article that conclused the opposite of the finding of the NYT! &lt;a href=&quot;http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=181605&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Svetkey LP, Stevens VJ, Brantley PJ, et al. Comparison of Strategies for Sustaining Weight Loss: The Weight Loss Maintenance Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA. 2008;299(10):1139-1148. doi:10.1001/jama.299.10.1139.&quot;&gt;Svetkey LP, Stevens VJ, Brantley PJ, et al. (2008)&lt;/a&gt; finds,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/strong&gt;  The majority of individuals who successfully completed an initial behavioural weight loss program maintained a&#xA;weight below their initial level. Monthly brief personal contact&#xA;provided modest benefit in sustaining weight loss, whereas an&#xA;interactive technology-based intervention provided early but transient&#xA;benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is weight regain following a diet inevitable due to changes in metabolism or can a sustained better lifestyle which includes exercise change your BMR to bring it to normal levels for your reduced weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus: Is The Biggest Loser a indicator of a larger (forgive the pun) problem with losing weight or is the show a outlier due to its nature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Notes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not focus on why the weight was gained in the first place. There are many reasons as to why Americans have a greater level of obesity but this question does not want to discuss that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give full sources for all statements made in your answers, and clearly indicate what you believe to be common knowledge or your (or others) opinion. Bonus points for citing like I have using the description of a link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: This article has been discussed further on reddit's r/fitness &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/4hhgjk/new_york_times_article_summarizing_longitudinal/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/4hhgjk/new_york_times_article_summarizing_longitudinal/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T12:34:38.490" Title="Can weight lost be sustained through exercise influenced metabolism changes?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29885" CreationDate="2016-05-18T12:57:30.277" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warning, wall of text incoming. Sorry, but there's a lot to look into. TL;DR at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's first take a look at what seems to influence (base) metabolic rate the most. For starters, when we look across species, there appears to be a neat relation between the average mass of a subject in that species and its metabolic rate. A linear relation, in fact, between the metabolic rate and body mass to the power of 3/4. This is known as Kleiber's law. The slope varies a bit among single-celled organisms and cold- and warm-blooded animals, but in general the relation holds within each group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that metabolic rate scales with body mass among animals, perhaps it isn't far-fetched to expect it also will for subjects within a species, including humans. Here is a fascinating study digging into what correlates with basal metabolic rate (BMR) for people: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/5/941.full&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/5/941.full&lt;/a&gt; (Factors influencing variation in basal metabolic rate include fat-free mass, fat mass, age, and circulating thyroxine but not sex, circulating leptin, or triiodothyronine1,2,3; The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within-subject effects, meaning within the same person, accounted for a variability of only 2%, with 0.5% being analytic error. Of more interest are the between-subject effects, looking at what are the best predictors for BMR. We find the following percentages for explaining BMR:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;63% for fat-free mass (FFM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6% for fat mass (FM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2% age&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;26% unexplained&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last portion was found not to be explained by circulating leptin (the hormone driving satiety) or triiodothyronine (a thyroid hormone). Interestingly, thyroxine (another thyroid hormone) showed no relation to the variance for women but did account for a whopping 25% of the residual variance in men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that there's more to our BMR than FFM and FM, but it can be seen that FFM is one of the biggest factors and FM isn't negligible. So there's some conclusions some folks aren't gonna like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is that fat-free mass is important and height plays an important role in that. Evidently people with the same height can have an important variation in FFM depending on things such as bone density and muscularity. This supports the notion that strength training and hypertrophy can be useful in supporting sustained weight reduction, since it would raise BMR. However, the amount of muscle that can realistically be gained without the use of anabolics isn't without limits. So while strength training can be a nice boost for an individual, it simply isn't going to make up for the difference in FFM between two people who are at respectively 60 kg and 90 kg at the same body fat percentage. You can expect taller people to be able to get away with eating a lot more than shorter people for maintaining a similar body fat percentage (conversely, they may also require a lot more to build muscle when training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, fat mass is significant at 6% but not so dramatic that it is going to grind your metabolism to a halt when significant fat loss occurs, which is what some people claim. This makes sense from a biological point of view. Maintaining lean body mass including bones, muscle, internal organs, skin and more is metabolically expensive. It wouldn't make sense for the retention of fat mass to be particularly metabolically expensive because that would make it a pretty poor source of energy, which is its primary function. That'd be like a very significant factor for a car's fuel consumption being the fuel present (it has some bearing due to weight but not &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; much) or it using fuel when it's just standing in the garage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, circulating hormones, to the extent of the ones investigated (which are significant for metabolic rate) aren't gonna be the make-or-break deal. People diagnosed with actual hypothyroidism are going to see significant effects regarding fat loss and gain, but in the presence of a normal functioning of the thyroid and hormonal system, the frequently heard claim that someone just can't lose weight or gains too easy due to hormones, when they've never had any tests done in that regard, must be seen as an excuse. Sorry folks, but you can't blame medical issues without evidence of such issues having been established in you, and I'm afraid it has been shown time and time again we are all very adept at lying to ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there are other factors at play which could be significant and might have some bearing on why with two people of similar stature one can sometimes seemingly eat at will and the other will have a hard time keeping body weight down. But since there can be too many confounding factors there and this would lead away from the question at hand, we'll continue with what can be quantified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as weight is reduced by fat loss, this will lead to some drop in BMR directly related to fat mass but not enough to warrant claims that BMR dramatically slows, enough to cause a major rebound effect when after a diet one resumes what should be a total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) consumption. So does weight loss in some other way lower BMR?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here we arrive at the dreaded &quot;starvation mode&quot;. Many people believe that as less calories are consumed, the body in reaction will slow down metabolic processes and/or redistribute priorities to prolong functioning in the face of what could be a crisis. It certainly doesn't seem impossible, because there's quite a difference in peak performance and &quot;adequate&quot; performance. However, it's one of those unique things for which I wish I had a name. One of those ideas that originate somewhere, from a source that at that time may very well be reliable but might be incomplete, becomes invalid in the face of newer evidence or just gets outright misinterpreted. The simple version becomes popular, spreads, and soon its frequent repetition cements it in the mind of the general population as &quot;common knowledge&quot;. But as new information becomes available and those on the forefront of gathering it become frustrated with the dissemination of the old &quot;common knowledge&quot;, they begin labeling it as a myth and will provide counter-arguments. Since people like to feel clever and on the cutting edge, now the &quot;myth&quot; gets vehemently attacked, much to the annoyance of those who lived by it and now either feel lied to, misled or personally under attack. Prepare to see a lot of such swinging pendulums in nutrition and exercise (&quot;calories in/calories out&quot;, &quot;a calorie is a calorie&quot;, nutrition timing, barbells-&gt;machines-&gt;barbells).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So IS it a myth? First its origin. The source seems to be mostly the Minnesota Starvation Experiment (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment&lt;/a&gt;). In the experiment it was found that physiologic processes which are important indicators for BMR were indeed lowered. However, the subjects in the study were &lt;strong&gt;actually starving&lt;/strong&gt;, not on some manageable fat-loss diet. A nice counter-point comes from this study: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11010936&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11010936&lt;/a&gt; (full text: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/4/946.long&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/4/946.long&lt;/a&gt;, Energy metabolism after 2 y of energy restriction: the biosphere 2 experiment, Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Oct;72(4):946-53). When it comes to human studies it doesn't get much better than locking them up in a biosphere for 2 years when you're staying on the legal side of things. The study concludes that there &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; an effect, but let's look at the magnitude. Weight loss on average was 15% of body mass, and most of that was from fat loss because while diet was restricted, it wasn't nutritionally poor. The average response in TDEE was a 180 kcal reduction. That isn't much to start with. 60 kcal were explained by the loss of body mass itself (FFM and FM), 65 kcal from a reduction in fidgeting and 55 kcal dismissed as statistically insignificant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that BMR will be seriously lowered as the result of a diet, and especially the concept of starvation mode, have been increasingly labelled as myths recently. While there is &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; truth to it, enough nails have been driven into that coffin to conclude for now that this is not what causes so many people to rebound after a diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what was going on in The Biggest Loser? I figure, two things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, calorie restriction for the people on this show, being encouraged to lose as much weight as possible, as fast as possible, was closer to the actual Minnesota experiment numbers than what should be considered a sane and sustainable diet. Dr. Hall who is quoted from the interview in the question has published an article about the show which says as much (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3660472/&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3660472/&lt;/a&gt;). Quite importantly, the dramatic approach to weight loss doesn't just affect fat. Some lean body mass would have been lost as well, notably muscle, which we've previously seen would affect metabolic rate a lot more. So now we've got people who've lost fat as well as useful lean body mass, have a lowered metabolic rate and are then released from their harsh crash diet. Two guesses as to what's going to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This brings us to the second point: a terrible misconception about &quot;diet&quot; rooted in ideas that should by all means be outdated. You've seen it in the magazines... The &quot;banana diet&quot;, all the &quot;detox&quot; diets, low fat diets, recently the keto diet. People have been led to believe that a diet is something you do for a limited and uncomfortable time, until the situation has been &quot;fixed&quot; and the diet can then be ended. The problem is that it wasn't a momentary lapse in judgement that caused anyone to become overweight, it were usually sustained poor nutritional habits that caused weight gain, probably imperceptible on a scale of weeks or even months, that accumulated over time. The right approach to a &quot;diet&quot; is to establish better habits, at a scaled-down version of what can be done after reduction in body fat has been completed so that the new weight can be maintained. I'm not gonna dig up further studies but it has been observed that diets, in this sense, are in fact an indicator of future weight gain. Also, the harsher a diet, the more difficult it is going to be to sustain it for any significant time. When you are pitting survival instincts honed by hundreds of millions of years of evolution against cognitive processes which are toddlers in comparison, your &quot;willpower&quot; ain't gonna win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Hall also shows in the above article that if a more moderate caloric deficit had been maintained coupled with exercise, over a longer period of time, not only would the same weight loss eventually have been reached, it would have been so while maintaining lean body mass, leaving the contestants in better shape and better equipped to maintain their new body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that sense, yes, the program is an extension of a much larger problem: that diets are still approached in this crash-and-burn manner rather than seen as a gradual change towards better, sustainable habits. It peddles to the impatience of people in wanting results immediately and the fact that a plan which takes years to complete is very daunting. I guess following someone for 3 years while they lose 0.25 kg per week wouldn't make for very thrilling television, but that person would make excellent progress when starting off obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat-free body mass is the main contributor to basal metabolic rate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat mass also contributes to BMR but to a much lesser extent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Starvation mode&quot; won't occur from simple caloric restriction, unless you are actually starving yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR won't slow down dramatically as a result of fat loss or a moderate caloric deficit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR can slow down quite a bit as a result of a drastic caloric deficit, which may at least in part be due to losses of lean body mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight can be lost and kept off with a proper approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-05-18T13:20:41.837" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T13:20:41.837" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29887" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-18T14:45:46.177" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I easily get out of breath when I am:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Climbing stairs - not quickly but normally&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I go for jogging in ground (stadium/park)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when I run on treadmill I can easily run for continuous 15 mins at 1 level up incline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does this still shows that I have high cholesterol levels in body?&lt;/strong&gt; I am 31 years old, I am not skinny, I am not heavy build, I am not fat. I weigh 176 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do running, heavy lifts on 'n' off, not regular basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10100" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T20:40:59.330" Title="Cholesterol level in your body and Running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;cholesterol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29901" CreationDate="2016-05-18T18:07:01.413" Score="3" ViewCount="524" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am about 5 months into training and I am struggling to come up with a suitable routine. My gym buddy suggested me to do what &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/train-like-dwayne-the-rock-johnson.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rock does&lt;/a&gt;, which is simply-put, one muscle group a day, 2 day rest, repeat (arms/legs/back/chest/shoulders).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But from what I have read, I will reach super-compensation way before I repeat the muscle group in my schedule, as I do it 1/7 days. So to reach super-compensation, I need to hit every muscle group about twice a week, but that seems to be a lot to cover in a day(about 6 different workouts for each group). So I am not convinced that what I am doing now is the best schedule for me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what should be my approach to get efficient results. Should I take super-compensation into account? Workout multiple muscle groups and hit  them more often? Or should I just hit one muscle group a day like the rock does? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S I do take protein supplements and follow a fair diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height - 6',&#xA;Weight - 173 lbs,&#xA;BF% - ~15%,&#xA;Squat - 120 lbs,&#xA;Bench press - 135 lbs,&#xA;Dead-lift - 105 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20328" LastEditorUserId="20328" LastEditDate="2016-05-19T16:02:58.120" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T18:35:38.310" Title="What is wrong with a beginner following the Rock workout schedule?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2016-05-18T18:27:11.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience the climbing &quot;pump&quot; has a lot of factors involved. I believe it is from too much blood staying in the forearms as JohnP said. I have found that hydration and anything that effects my overall strength impacts the quickness that I get pumped while climbing. If you are feeling a little weaker you tend to have to rely more on your hands and less on your core. I find that my climbing endurance is very sensitive to my overall health and mental state. I would say that the cause of your extra quick pump is probably related to your cold but I am not a doctor so I can not say for sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20042" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T18:27:11.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29892" CreationDate="2016-05-18T19:41:32.290" Score="2" ViewCount="655" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a long time I've suffered from back pain, neck pain and pain around the eye--all on the right side. Just recently I found out that I can make the facial pain immediately disappear (during the stretch) if I push my chin/head back (still looking forward), and tilt my head the side about 1/3 of the way to the shoulder. I've noticed that if I tilt my head more than that, I lose the helpful stretch and just feel a stretch on the side of my neck).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done all kinds of supposed scalene, levator scapulae, and trapezius stretches in the past, with no results. But this chin-back-side-tilt stretch seems to really help. So what muscles/anatomy am I specifically targeting with this stretch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20384" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T20:45:11.027" Title="What muscle am I stretching when I pull my chin back and tilt my head to the side" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29887" CreationDate="2016-05-18T20:40:59.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, cholesterol levels being high is not a direct contributor to being out of breath or short of breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one possibility is that if you do have high cholesterol, you have some of the associated problems such as narrowing of the arteries due to plaque buildup, and the reduced blood flow can create the short of breath feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise you to go get a physical and have them do a cholesterol test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T20:40:59.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29890" CreationDate="2016-05-18T20:45:11.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a little hard to tell, but since you have ruled out the scalene, trapezius and levator scapulae, my first suspects would be the sternocleidomastoid, or possibly (if it is towards the front of the neck), the platysmus muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.innerbody.com/anatomy/muscular/head-neck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This website, innerbody.com has a face muscle interface&lt;/a&gt; that is pretty nice, you can either hover over the muscle or the name, and it will highlight it for you, along with a description of the muscle and function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T20:45:11.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29885" CreationDate="2016-05-18T23:37:44.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've unwittingly done a long term experiment on myself. The answer, in my case at least, is yes. I used to weigh about 63 kg and eat about 3000 kcal/day a decade ago. Today I eat about 3800 Kcal/day and weigh 54 kg. The main change is that I increased my exercise effort, it used to be about 20 minutes of running 3 times per week, while now it is one hour of running, 5 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never aimed to lose weight, my aim was to improve my fitness. I did not reduce the calorie intake, I did the opposite as my thinking was that to build up fitness requires getting in more calories and nutrients. Also, 63 kg isn't all that heavy anyway, so losing weight was not something that crossed my mind. And that probably helped me to drastically improve my fitness and as a side effect lose weight. Had I reduced my calorie intake, I would probably have struggled with the effort to increase the exercise time and failed to reach my fitness goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now consider the initial state where I was at 63 kg and the final state where I am at 54 kg. In the initial state my weight was stable I was not gaining or lowing weight on the long term. So, there was an equilibrium between energy intake and energy used. And this was also a stable equilibrium, particularly the expended energy would fluctuate, but my weight was still stable. This is presumably due to feedback mechanisms that adjust the metabolic rate in response to fat cells getting emptier or more filled.  That equilibrium was reached at energy intake  = energy use = 3000 Kcal/day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the final state I am now at, a different equilibrium is reached at a higher level: energy intake  =  energy use = 3800 Kcal. The weight of 54 kg is irrelevant, other than the fact that this is constant indicating that I'm indeed at equilibrium. The only reason why this change happened was because I build up my fitness to the point I can exercise a lot harder. I burn about 700 Kcal a day now, which is more than 20% of the calorie intake. In the old equilibrium state I burned a factor of 5 less, this was only about 5% of the energy intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did I lose weight? We can in principle invoke all the relevant biochemistry here and ultimately the long term changes in the fat reserves due to the change in energy use and the change in energy intake. But i.m.o. this is not the right way to analyze the problem. If you slow down and stop your car at a red traffic light, you do so because you are programmed to stick to the traffic rules. But in principle you could explain what happened by analyzing all the processes at the molecular level and then invoke signals send through your nerves to your feet that then hit the brakes and how that then causes the car to slow down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all correct, but it's also mostly irrelevant because the system was designed to work that way. This means that had the car design been different and had we evolved in a different way, we would still have had to resort to traffic rules, and we would have ended up implementing the same process where you need to slow down or stop, but it would be implemented in a different way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, I believe that I lost weight because by exercising a lot more, my body executed a different algorithm for energy management with the specific goal of making running easier. This involves both becoming fitter and losing weight. Hundreds of millions of years of evolution has led to a body that uses such algorithms for survival. Animals don't start to exercise a lot more for fun, if they end up expending a lot more energy then that means they have to do this to get the food they need. The body has evolved to maximize the survival probability, so when this happens it will factor in this new situation and adjust the optimal strategy. The amount of fat reserves will then be adjusted. The metabolic rate will be adjusted until the desired optimal state given the amount of exercise, energy and nutrient intake, is reached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T23:37:44.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29888" CreationDate="2016-05-19T07:53:56.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you have linked seems to be, at its heart, a fairly simple 6 day body split. This is not a new or special routine; in fact, a lot of routines commonly work on a 3 day repetition cycle for the exact reasons your identify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super-compensation is simply your body over compensating during a recovery period. By hitting those muscles in super compensation you will be able to train harder and get more effective results. The below image explains it well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DJlLt.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DJlLt.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This routine is comparable to a 6 day, +1 rest day, push-pull-legs (PPL) routine but instead of pushing/pulling, the focus is on hitting every single muscle group twice over the week in the super-compensation period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Your Question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the Rock's routine suitable for a beginner? It is not optimal, a beginner should really focus on a compound lifting routine to build strength (like starting strength, 5x5 stronglifts) before moving onto a PPL or body split. That way you will be able to get significant noob gains and then hit progressive overload on your PPL/split without stalling too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it suitable for you? I will edit my answer once you provide the information I asked for the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T07:53:56.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29880" CreationDate="2016-05-19T09:17:29.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Dr Stuart McGill, twisting your spine is generally safe without a load, not safe with a load (discussed around 20:00 &lt;a href=&quot;http://rdellatraining.com/dr-stuart-mcgill-the-truth-about-optimal-back-health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).  However, things may be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/the-painful-lumbar-spine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;different&lt;/a&gt; for people with bad backs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, flexion-intolerant backs are very common. Stretches such as pulling the knees to the chest may give the perception of relief (via stimulation of the erector spinae muscle stretch receptors), but this approach only guarantees more pain and stiffness as the underlying tissues sustain more cumulative damage. Eliminating spinal flexion, particularly in the morning when the disks are swollen after bed rest, has proven very effective with this type of client. Realize that the spinal disks can bend only so often before damage ensues. Reserve the bends for essential tasks, such as tying shoes, rather than abdominal training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;McGill believes there is a tradeoff between strength and flexibility in the spine, because stretching works by making the annulus between the discs more gooey, which makes it perform worse under load. If you plan to load the spine and are exercising to build sufficient muscle to lock it in place, you can train oblique strength without twisting by doing asymmetric carries such as farmer's walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This stuff is gleaned from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/the-painful-lumbar-spine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but I am honestly not that familiar with McGill's work so I may be misrepresenting him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T09:17:29.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29551" CreationDate="2016-05-19T11:10:25.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably bad form to just post a link as an answer, but honestly I don't think anyone could explain this better than Paul Ingraham on his blog PainScience, with the references and studies to back everything up: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.painscience.com/articles/posture.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.painscience.com/articles/posture.php&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.painscience.com/articles/structuralism.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.painscience.com/articles/structuralism.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding braces (this is about external braces for implants, but there's some carryover in ideas): &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.painscience.com/biblio/external-back-braces-fail-to-relieve-pressure-on-vertebral-joints.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.painscience.com/biblio/external-back-braces-fail-to-relieve-pressure-on-vertebral-joints.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some key points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's probably best not to attempt to change your posture if it's just out of principle rather than a serious medical need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bracing may not do much at all, and if it does something it is more likely to cause a dependence and weakening of the muscles. It could be somewhat useful as a tactile feedback cue to correct your posture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T11:10:25.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29885" CreationDate="2016-05-19T14:19:59.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Maintaining Weight Loss: Who is the biggest loser?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Introduction&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot to consider when examining the impact of changing lifestyle in the short or long term with the goal of losing weight. In my answer I will compare the findings of the longitudinal study of TBL against similar clinical trials that assess the success of long term weight loss and its attbutation to changes in basic metabolic rate (BMR).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question focuses on the use of the TV show “The Biggest Loser” (TBL) which debut in October 2004. In the show, obese, contestants compete to win a significant cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight (Wikipedia, 2016).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;TBL: Weight loss regimen: Risks and Criticism&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, to fully understand what is happening to the bodies and minds of the contestants in TBL prior to finishing the show, I will explore some of the criticisms of TBL over its broadcast history. The show starts with a disclaimer, which states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Our contestants were supervised by doctors while participating in the&#xA;show, and their diet and exercise regimen was tailored to their&#xA;medical status and their specific needs. Consult with your own doctor&#xA;before embarking on any diet or exercise program.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite this claim of supervision by a certified medical professional, all contestants are required to sign a waiver which states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;…no warranty, representation or guarantee has been made as to the&#xA;qualifications or credentials of the medical professionals who examine&#xA;me or perform any procedures on me in connection with my participation&#xA;in the series, or their ability to diagnose medical conditions that&#xA;may affect my fitness to participate in the series&amp;quot;. (Pitney, 2010)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exploitative nature of the show is attacked by Dr Charles Bruant (Edward, 2016), director of the Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center, who states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I’m waiting for the first person to have a heart attack. I have had&#xA;some patients who want to [follow the show's regimen], and I counsel&#xA;them against it. I think the show is so exploitative. They are taking&#xA;poor people who have severe weight problems whose real focus is trying&#xA;to win the quarter-million dollars.&amp;quot; (Edward, 2016)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Bruant’s asserts that the mental strain placed on the contestants due to the 'competition' aspect of the show leads to significant mental trauma is reaffirmed by information supplied by the contestants themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ryan C. Benson, the winner of the program’s first season (Wikipedia, 2016), publicly admitted that &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;[I] dropped some of the weight by fasting and dehydrating myself to the point that I was urinating blood&amp;quot;.&lt;/em&gt; Since the show completed, Benson has regained almost all of his weight (Edward, 2016).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2009, Kai Hibbard (runner-up from the third season) told The New York Times that &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;contestants would drink as little water as possible in the 24 hours before a weigh-in&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; and would &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;work out in as much clothing as possible&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; when the cameras were off. She further stated that two weeks after the show ended, she had regained about 31 pounds, mostly from staying hydrated (Edward, 2016).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, In a June 2010 interview, Hibbard (another contestant) said, &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;I do still struggle [with an eating disorder]. I do. My husband says I’m still afraid of food... I’m still pretty messed up from the show.”&lt;/em&gt; (Poretsky, 2016).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear that TBL is a harmful show for those competing and this has had a significant effect on their mental health, this trauma culminates just before they move into a self-lead period sustaining their weight loss. It is clear that, for some contestants, the psychological trauma of taking part in the competition has directly affected their ability to sustain a healthy weight in the long term but this is not true for all those involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The triggers for many weight gain relapses are known to be linked to depression spirals from self-image hate. Food is treated as a comfort for these people who are disgusted when they see themselves leading to a compulsion to eat to feel emotionally 'better'. An examination of the psychology of the show (Domoff SE, et al., 2012) concluded that Participants in The Biggest Loser competition had significantly higher levels of dislike of overweight individuals and more strongly believed that weight is controllable after the exposure which could lead to future depression and faster rebound to original weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;TBL: Longitudinal Study&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2016, the results of a long term study by the US National Institute of Health (NIH) were released which documented the weight gain and loss of contestants in Episode 8 (in which Danny Cahill achieved the show's record-setting loss). The study found that most of the 16 contestants involved regained their weight, and in some cases, gained more, than before they entered the contest. (Kolata, 2016).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The New York Times article continues to assert the reasoning behind the general trend of TBL contestants to regain lost weight as being primarily linked to a slowing metabolism, meaning they burn fewer calories at rest then expected for a person of their current size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article continues to explain how dieting affects metabolism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Researchers knew that just about anyone who deliberately loses weight&#xA;— even if they start at a normal weight or even underweight — will&#xA;have a slower metabolism when the diet ends. So they were not&#xA;surprised to see that “The Biggest Loser” contestants had slow&#xA;metabolisms when the show ended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, rather than the metabolisms of the contestants recovering to&#xA;match that of someone of their current size, they instead plummeted as&#xA;if their bodies were fighting to put the weight back on. In one&#xA;extreme case Mr. Cahill who gained 100lbs since the show has to eat&#xA;800 calories less than a man of his current size to maintain his&#xA;weight. (Kolata, 2016)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article continues, quoting Dr. Michael Schwartz, an obesity and diabetes researcher who is a professor of medicine at the University of Washington:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“The key point is that you can be on TV, you can lose enormous amounts&#xA;of weight, you can go on for six years, but you can’t get away from a&#xA;basic biological reality,” ... “As long as you are below your initial&#xA;weight, your body is going to try to get you back.”  (Kolata, 2016)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, Dr. David Ludwig, the director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, who was not involved in the show is quoted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“This is a subset of the most successful [dieters]&amp;quot;...“If they don’t&#xA;show a return to normal in metabolism, what hope is there for the rest&#xA;of us?”…“that shouldn’t be interpreted to mean we are doomed to battle&#xA;our biology or remain fat. It means we need to explore other&#xA;approaches.” (Kolata, 2016)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article concludes that for the vast majority of TBL contestants, all of them have a significant fight with their metabolism following the show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shock-and-awe tactics of the show to strip the weight off fast could be potentially causing a substantial deficit in leptin levels for a sustained period, and that lead to a higher baseline hunger level. The article (Kolata, 2016) supports this theory somewhat, referencing a one-year study similar to TBL format funded by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (Sumithran, Prendergast, Delbridge, Purcell, Shulkes, Kriketos and Proietto, 2011), Dr. Joseph Proietto of the University of Melbourne and his colleagues recruited 50 overweight people who agreed to consume just 550 calories a day for eight or nine weeks. They lost an average of nearly 30 pounds, but over the next year the weight was regained. Dr. Proietto and his colleagues looked at leptin and four other hormones that satiate people. Levels of most of them fell in their study subjects. They also looked at a hormone that makes people want to eat. Its level rose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“What was surprising was what a coordinated effect it is,”...“The body&#xA;puts multiple mechanisms in place to get you back to your weight. The&#xA;only way to maintain weight loss is to be hungry all the time. We&#xA;desperately need agents that will suppress hunger and that are safe&#xA;with long-term use.” (Sumithran, Prendergast, Delbridge, Purcell,&#xA;Shulkes, Kriketos and Proietto, 2011)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the aforementioned article (Kolata, 2016), Dr. Hall, an expert on metabolism at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, is quoted for stating that the researchers involved in the show knew &lt;em&gt;“[the contestants] will have a slower metabolism when the diet ends”.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following the show, Dr. Hall released an article that fully details the magnitude of dietary restriction and exercise intervention that the contestants experience. The findings of “Diet versus exercise in “the biggest loser” weight loss competition” (Hall, 2013) concurs with many of the points previously discussed here with respect to the contestants maintaining and continuing to attempt a diet that was known to not sustainable in the long term. Using simulation, Dr. Hall showed that the weight loss that contestants craved could be achieved by less drastic methods, thought the time needed to achieve and maintain their goals successfully would be in the domain of years and not months as was suggested by the competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other Relevant Studies&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those who are successful at maintaining weight lost often experience positive associations with their new, lower weight. On TBL it is clear that negative associations with food can and have developed which might raise the probability of longer term relapse. The psychological symptoms for those who have been successful at long term maintenance of weight loss (Klem et al., 1998) are those of positive general mood and self-confidence, with many involved in the study stating that is was easier to keep the weight off. In this study, it was entirely down to those involved to decide how much weight they wanted to lose and at what rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, the body takes many years to respond to the change needs it has placed upon it. A recent study (Wing and Hill, 2001) found that the period that it takes for your body to adapt to new diet and exercise regimes is longer that that expected; the chances of long term success of keeping weight lost off also greatly increase after keeping weight off for more than 2 years due to continued adherence to diet and exercise strategies, low levels of depression and dis-inhibition, and medical triggers. This may go some way to explaining the reasons for relapse when the average cycle time for a diet and sustain is 1 year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study of resting metabolic rate (RMR) by the National Weight Control Registry (Wyatt, 1999) of those who have reduced their weight concluded that in at least some reduced-obese individuals there does not seem to be a permanent obligatory reduction in RMR beyond the expected reduction for a reduced lean mass through rapid dieting. This is supported by additional analyses of resting metabolic rates among formerly obese subjects (Astrup, 1999); this analysis concludes that formerly obese subjects had a 3-5% lower mean relative RMR than control subjects; the difference could be explained by a low RMR being more frequent among the formerly obese subjects than among the control subjects. Whether the cause of the low RMR is genetic or acquired, the existence of a low RMR is likely to contribute to the high rate of weight regain in formerly obese persons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The metabolic rate is known to scale with body mass, which can be broken down into fat-free-mass and fat mass. Studies (Weinsier, Schutz and Bracco, 1992; Cunningham JJ, 1991; Fukagawa et al., 1996) agree that changes to the amount of fat-free-mass a person has directly affects their metabolism but the level which other factors affect metabolism: fat mass (FM), gender, age and hormone levels (Leptin, triiodothyrionine (T3), and thyroxine (T4)) is still not completely understood.  A study by the American Society for Clinical Nutrition (Johnstone et al., 2005) investigated the effects of these secondary factors, concluding that both FFM and FM are significant contributors to the basal metabolic rate. However, it also found that leptin, gender and T3 levels are not statistically significant in determining the BMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important factor to consider is the research conducted as part of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment (Keys and Drummond, 1950). A follow up study published in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition re-created the MSE but in an improved environment, utilising the Biosphere facility to investigate if the findings of the MSE, that during starvation the body drastically changes its metabolism, were accurate. The results of this study (Weyer et al., 2000) were that six months after exit and return to a normal diet, body weight had increased to pre-entry levels; however, adjusted metabolism was still significantly lower than in control subjects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study by Weyer et al. concluded that in lean humans metabolism adaptively decreases to account for “Starvation Mode” and in response to sustained (&amp;gt;5 years) energy restriction. On average, those involved in the biosphere study lost 15% of body mass on a nutritionally rich diet which points to fat-mass (FM) being lost and not significantly lowered levels of fat-free-mass (FFM). However, it is also worth noting that the average change described to BMR was 180kcal, broken down by the study to indicate that the reduction attributed to changes in FM and FFM were equal to those attributed from a reduction in fidgeting. (~60kcal ea.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Effect of Exercise on Changing Metabolism&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training has shown, especially for men, to contribute to a rapid improvement in RMR (resting metabolic rate) (LEMMER et al., 2001). An earlier study of 50-65-yr-old men also agrees with these findings that the BMR can be improved with resistance exercise (Pratley, 1994). A 2001 review concludes that &lt;em&gt;“More recent research demonstrates that resistance training may positively affect risk factors such as … resting metabolic rate … which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer”&lt;/em&gt; (Winett and Carpinelli, 2001). In addition to the findings that resistance exercise improves RMR, cardiovascular training has shown to be effective at maintaining weight loss (Pollock et al., 1998).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, other analysis of TBL show indicate that exercise alone would not have a significant impact on RMR compared to that of changes to diet, an analysis of the show simulated that exercise alone was predicted to decrease RMR by only 1% versus baseline whereas dietary changes alone was predicted to suppress RMR by 25%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusions (TL;DR)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examining &amp;quot;The Biggest Loser&amp;quot; (TBL) it is clear that the contestants are taking part in a weight loss exercise program that makes it harder to maintain long term. The detrimental physiological and physical impact on the contestant’s bodies sets them up for long term failure. This matches the 6 month re-test data that was gathered on the RMR and weight of those who took part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies have found that by completing a doctor-recommended weight loss regime that is driven by the individual (as observed in the national weight control registry) that sustained weight loss/lost is more likely to prevail. Pairing a sensible weight-loss/maintenance program with resistance exercise can help the body in bringing the BMR back to normal levels for a person’s build following a diet, provided that there has not been significant fat-free mass (FFM) lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TBL's target market is those who subscribe to the “all-or-nothing” principle of dieting that became popular after the millennium. With contestants providing entertainment through their extreme ‘journey’ viewers are sucked in to watching the show. One can assume If the weight loss was 0.5kg per week with 1 hour of exercise per day, instead of its current format, many would not tune in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TBL feeds the growing trend of “fad diets” which promise huge results in very little time, often misrepresenting facts to sell a product or service to appeal to modern expectations of immediate gratification.&#xA;For real, sustainable long-term weight loss the conclusion is a simple one. Sensible weight loss targets combined with a mild 10-20% calorific deficit and regular varied exercise will lead to sustained weight loss; post-diet, balancing exercise and diet will lead to an easy weight sustain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;References&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Astrup, A. (1999). Meta-analysis of resting metabolic rate in formerly obese subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, [online] 69(6), pp.1117-1122. Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10357728&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10357728&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biology of Human Starvation. (1952). Nature, 170(4318), pp.177-177.&#xA;Cunningham JJ, J. (1991). Body composition as a determinant of energy expenditure: a synthetic review and a proposed general prediction equation. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 54, pp.963-969.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edward, W. (2016). &amp;quot;On ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Health Can Take Back Seat&amp;quot;. The New York Times. [online] Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091125/ZNYT01/911253011/1109/SPORTS?p=2&amp;amp;tc=pg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091125/ZNYT01/911253011/1109/SPORTS?p=2&amp;amp;tc=pg&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fukagawa, N., Bandini, L., Dietz, W. and Young, J. (1996). Effect of Age on Body Water and Resting Metabolic Rate. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 51A(2), pp.M71-M73.&#xA;Hall, K. (2013). Diet versus exercise in “the biggest loser” weight loss competition. Obesity, 21(5), pp.957-959.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Johnstone, A., Murison, S., Duncan, J., Rance, L. and Speakman, J. (2005). Factors influencing variation in basal metabolic rate include fat-free mass, fat mass, age, and circulating thyroxine but not sex, circulating leptin, or triiodothyronine. American Society for Clinical Nutrition, 82(5), pp.941-948.&#xA;Keys, A. and Drummond, J. (1950). The biology of human starvation. Minneapolis, Minn.: Univ. of Minnesota Pr. [usw.].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Klem, M., Wing, R., McGuire, M., Seagle, H. and Hill, J. (1998). Psychological symptoms in individuals successful at long-term maintenance of weight loss. Health Psychology, 17(4), pp.336-345.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kolata, G. (2016). After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight. The New York Times. [online] Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LEMMER, J., IVEY, F., RYAN, A., MARTEL, G., HURLBUT, D., METTER, J., FOZARD, J., FLEG, J. and HURLEY, B. (2001). Effect of strength training on resting metabolic rate and physical activity: age and gender comparisons. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 33(4), pp.532-541.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pitney, N. (2010). &amp;quot;Biggest Loser: Contestants Admit Dangerous Practices, Can't Speak Out&amp;quot;. [online] The Huffington Post. Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/biggest-loser-contestants_n_370538.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/biggest-loser-contestants_n_370538.html&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pollock, M., Gaesser, G., Butcher, J., Despr??s, J., Dishman, R., Franklin, B. and Garber, C. (1998). ACSM Position Stand: The Recommended Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory and Muscular Fitness, and Flexibility in Healthy Adults. Medicine &amp;amp; Science in Sports &amp;amp; Exercise, 30(6), pp.975-991.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poretsky, G. (2016). &amp;quot;Bigger Loser Finalist Says Show Gave Her An Eating Disorder&amp;quot;. [online] Jezebel.com. Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jezebel.com/5564997/bigger-loser-finalist-says-show-gave-her-an-eating-disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jezebel.com/5564997/bigger-loser-finalist-says-show-gave-her-an-eating-disorder&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pratley, R. (1994). &amp;quot;Strength training increases resting metabolic rate and norepinephrine levels in healthy 50-to 65-yr-old men.&amp;quot;. Journal of Applied Physiology, [online] 76(1), pp.133-137. Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8175496&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8175496&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sumithran, P., Prendergast, L., Delbridge, E., Purcell, K., Shulkes, A., Kriketos, A. and Proietto, J. (2011). Long-Term Persistence of Hormonal Adaptations to Weight Loss. New England Journal of Medicine, 365(17), pp.1597-1604.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weinsier, R., Schutz, Y. and Bracco, D. (1992). Reexamination of the relationship of resting metabolic rate to fat-free mass and to the metabolically active components of fat-free mass in humans. Americal Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 55, pp.790-794.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weyer, C., Walford, R., Harper, I., Milner, M., MacCallum, T., Tataranni, P. and Ravissin, E. (2000). Energy metabolism after 2 y of energy restriction: the biosphere 2 experiment. American Journal for Clinical Nutrition, [online] 72(4), pp.946-953. Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11010936&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11010936&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 19 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia. (2016). The Biggest Loser (season 1). [online] Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Loser_(season_1)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Loser_(season_1)&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia. (2016). The Biggest Loser (U.S. TV series). [online] Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Loser_%28U.S._TV_series%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Loser_%28U.S._TV_series%29&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Winett, R. and Carpinelli, R. (2001). Potential Health-Related Benefits of Resistance Training. Preventive Medicine, 33(5), pp.503-513.&#xA;Wing, R. and Hill, J. (2001). SUCCESSFUL WEIGHT LOSS MAINTENANCE. Annu. Rev. Nutr., 21(1), pp.323-341.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wyatt, H. (1999). Resting energy expenditure in reduced-obese subjects in the National Weight Control Registry. The American journal of clinical nutrition, [online] 69(6), pp.1189-1193. Available at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/69/6/1189.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/69/6/1189.long&lt;/a&gt; [Accessed 18 May 2016].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T15:45:30.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29888" CreationDate="2016-05-19T18:35:38.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common mistake made by beginners to weight training is to assume that an increase in training volume (eg. more training days) is required for muscle gains.  Based on your comments and goals (eg. muscle build/mass ), I would offer that your main problem is not the type of routine to follow, rather, it is over training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan to train drug free, you'll need to learn to walk a fine line between training &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;recovery&lt;/strong&gt;.  That would imply selecting a training routine that best fits &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; needs.  And, while there's &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; perfect training system that fits &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; people, learning what works for you and constantly adapting it to avoid training plateaus is more important than training to a specific system.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscular gains don't come from a &lt;strong&gt;specific&lt;/strong&gt; training program.  They are the result of consistent, hard work over a lengthy period of time, coupled with proper nutrition and rest. Spend time learning about yourself and finding what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T18:35:38.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29905" CreationDate="2016-05-19T22:42:28.297" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a program that looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1uOrI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1uOrI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roughly, it's a leg day, arm day and cardio day. It was put together for me as part of the &quot;bonus PT sessions&quot; on joining a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would one normally write in the boxes on the program? Is it simply a tick to keep track of each date you did it, or would you normally keep track of &lt;em&gt;how long&lt;/em&gt; each set takes and try to decrease it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7733" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T08:28:10.553" Title="What do I write on a program schedule?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-19T23:05:58.497" Score="6" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have access to a treadmill that has speed workouts and incline workouts. There are two types of each - intervals and ramps. In an interval, it alternates between a resting speed or resting incline and a working speed or working incline, with each interval being 1-2 minutes. In a ramp, the speed or incline starts low and increases to a maximum about half way through the workout and then starts to decrease. There's also a combination ramp that changes both speed and incline through the duration of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that there's no one best choice - there are benefits to intervals and benefits to ramps. I typically do two treadmill workouts a week - one focusing on speed and one focusing on inclines. I'll do other easy runs or long runs on a treadmill if the weather is bad (or it's winter) or I'm crunched for time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some information about &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/move/treadmill-workouts-incline-or-speed-intervals&quot;&gt;speed versus incline intervals and the merits of both&lt;/a&gt;, but it doesn't discuss speed and incline ramps where the whole workout is a build up followed by a decrease. &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/treadmill-improve-run-times-8204.html&quot;&gt;Another article mentions &quot;hill training&quot; for use if outdoor areas tend to be flat&lt;/a&gt; (which is true for me), which sounds like incline ramp, but doesn't compare it to intervals. &lt;a href=&quot;http://tryabouttime.com/incline-treadmill-to-tone-up-well-yes/&quot;&gt;Another article talks about general benefits of incline training&lt;/a&gt;. Finally, there are many articles which suggest that you should have an incline of about 1% on a treadmill if you are training to run outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I decide if I should do an interval or a ramp? My instinct is that I should mix them up, but I'm not sure if I should favor one or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I continue to separate speed and incline workouts or should I tend toward the ramp that increases both speed and incline?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastEditorUserId="1867" LastEditDate="2016-05-20T00:19:07.743" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T22:01:02.517" Title="When should I use incline and speed intervals versus incline and speed ramps?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29902" CreationDate="2016-05-20T07:20:14.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So I'd basically just keep writing, say, '3/12' each day unless I happen to not be able to make that many sets/reps on a particular day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, but you'd better aim at getting these numbers up every session if possible. Always doing the same amount of sets and reps will bore you at some point, and block your progress in your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you can continue with the same volume of training, but keep track of the weights you use, and try to increment from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T07:20:14.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29902" CreationDate="2016-05-20T08:28:10.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at what's in there currently, you'd write in your sessions sets and reps or time for the given exercise, i.e. 3 / 12, 3 / 60s, 30s, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue with this way of recording things is that it doesn't really give you much room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the key things when trying to get in shape is to get yourself stronger (everything is easier when you're stronger), and one of the best ways to do this is to constantly increase the weight that you're lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'd suggest you do instead is buy a cheap notebook and record your workouts in that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits of a notebook are you can record a lot more information about weight, sets, reps and times, but you can also record other things that may be worth noting...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Didn't sleep the night before and really struggled with the workout? Write it down!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretched your chest at the start of the session and found the lat pulldowns a lot easier? Write it down!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did some hip flexor work at the end of each session and found your squat for improved? Write it down!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tried to perform a 50kg snatch without any training and dropped the bar on your neck and shoulders, popping one of them out of joint? Write it down! (To paraphrase Dan John, surgery is God's way of telling us we did something wrong).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may seem like a lot of notes to take, but there's nothing quite as motivating as flicking back through your notebook at the end of a session and seeing that you just benched more than you ever have before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Success leaves clues (another Dan John-ism) and everyone is different. Record things, look back and figure out what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T08:28:10.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29907" CreationDate="2016-05-20T15:30:46.003" Score="1" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was in middle school, I could do full side and front splits. I even occasionally did at school the party trick of setting one foot on each chair and controlling my descent into a full split as the chairs slid apart. I was actively studying Tang Soo Do and it was a priority for me. I got older, hit puberty, and stopped training actively. Now, I'm 36 and trying to regain some of my lost flexibility. I know that not everyone can do splits, that some people just don't have the right hip sockets for it. Given I could do them as a child, does that imply that I can do them as an adult, if I just start training for it again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T16:39:12.350" Title="If I could do a split as an adolescent, can I relearn to do a split now?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29906" CreationDate="2016-05-20T16:39:12.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way to find out if your hip sockets are the limiting factor, is to try and do a split, and if you can get an angle between your legs of 110 degrees or more, you're pretty much good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue with people who can't do splits because of their hip structure, is that their greater trochanter puts too much pressure on the iliofemoral ligaments before they have the 180 degree angle between their legs. This is something that doesn't normally change between adolescence and adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aDOG6.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aDOG6.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should definitely try to learn it either way. If you find out at 160 degrees that your hip structure isn't allowing it, that's still an impressive range of motion, and the flexibilty provides synergy with other movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;P.S. I assumed you were asking about side-splits, and not front-splits. That would be a different answer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T16:39:12.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-20T16:48:59.593" Score="4" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing CrossFit on a regular basis. However, this summer I will be on a 4-week-long vacation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25120/whats-a-good-exercise-regime-for-when-traveling-vacationing-etc&quot;&gt;What&amp;#39;s a good exercise regime for when traveling/vacationing/etc.?&lt;/a&gt; and this one: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/271/what-kind-of-cardio-exercises-can-be-performed-without-a-gym-or-fitness-equipmen/10242&quot;&gt;What kind of cardio exercises can be performed without a gym or fitness equipment?&lt;/a&gt;, the latter recommending this list of &lt;a href=&quot;https://cfmoncton.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/comprehensive-bodyweight-workout-list-v15.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body Weight Workouts&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, not only do I expect to have no access to fitness equipment, but doing pull-ups, muscle-ups, etc. will be challenging without a rack of some sort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What types of exercises should I perform to stay at least somewhat in shape while traveling? Especially considering the broad nature of CrossFit (I am looking to do more than &quot;just&quot; jogging).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20396" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T22:31:42.823" Title="How to stay fit on vacation?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;tips&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29912" CreationDate="2016-05-20T19:55:26.310" Score="7" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a computer science major. All I do is stay seated and code, 24/7, which made me a nocturnal,obnoxious, and anti-social creature. I want to make a change in my sedentary lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to run on a regular basis and make it a habit. To note, I'm a heavily caffeinated creature and I smoke a wide range of stuff. I tried running a couple of times and I run out of breath. However, each time I run, I feel so exuberant and my inclination to smoking and cigarettes get exceptionally reduced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get rid of smoking, run each morning, but perhaps I could never get rid of coffee. My question is, after getting all in-depth context about me, how long and how often should I run? Each day? What time? Early in the morning? Without or with breakfast? How long? 30 minutes? 1 hour? I live in a school that's on a mountain.I enjoy walking quietly but now I want to enjoy running quietly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20399" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-05-21T01:21:08.907" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T02:43:41.570" Title="Running-101: For beginners who would like to give up smoking" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;smoking&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29910" CreationDate="2016-05-21T01:14:05.977" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is pretty subjective, because nobody can tell you how much to run, or whether or not you'll even enjoy it as a regular activity. Same with diet and time of day, that's all personal and you'll have to determine it for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first item that I would stress (Other than your already recognized need to quit smoking), is that given your history and sedentary lifestyle, is to make an appointment with a doctor and let them know your proposed workout regimen. They can do a physical exam, and let you know if it's safe to start exercising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once that is done, what I would recommend for you initially is a program called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml&quot;&gt;Couch to 5k&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which is a program designed to take people that are not runners to a level where they are capable of running a 5k (Just a little over 3 miles). (The link also has an associated app). By the time you get to that point, you will know whether you really enjoy running, or it's just the endorphins produced with exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find you don't enjoy running, that's ok. Try biking. Swimming. Hiking, whatever. Find an exercise/activity that you enjoy doing, because if you enjoy it you are much more likely to keep with it, and that's the name of the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-05-21T01:21:52.367" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T01:21:52.367" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29916" CreationDate="2016-05-21T07:48:11.720" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;For someone of a healthy weight and in good cardiovascular shape (swimming and cycling) how long should I wait before my first marathon? Until last month I never ran more than 5 miles in my life, but I now run 15k+ about once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to run a marathon in about 5 months. I've found a 16 week plan that seems reasonable to me. Would that be too soon since I have been only running for 1 month? Based on my run last weekend (16k) I am guessing I could complete a half marathon in under two hours today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20403" LastEditorUserId="20279" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T04:04:55.890" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T04:04:55.890" Title="How long before first marathon?" Tags="&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-25T09:14:50.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29910" CreationDate="2016-05-21T07:54:07.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never smoked but know runners that do or used to. Running may not make you quit smoking immediately but as you increase your mileage you will want to more and more. I know a lot of smokers who run short distances but very few who run long distances regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about your caffeine addiction, many runners have one and there is no consensus that it will harm your running. In fact some may feel the opposite:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/fuel-school/5-truths-about-running-and-caffeine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/fuel-school/5-truths-about-running-and-caffeine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginner like yourself I would suggest a program like couch to 5k (c25k), which will involve a combination of running and walking at first. Over time your running duration will increase. Do no worry about running fast now. You need to build you endurance for which speed work it not required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20403" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T07:54:07.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29908" CreationDate="2016-05-21T14:32:08.210" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's an old saying you may be familiar with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Where there is a will, there is a way&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to realize is that whatever you decide to do, it will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; be the same as CrossFit.  That does not, however, mean you can't get in a good workout.  In addition to some of the recommendations in the links you posted, I would look to purchase some &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01DCC5R7I&quot;&gt;resistance bands&lt;/a&gt;.  They're relatively inexpensive, easy to travel with, and can offer a variety of exercises to train various body parts.  In addition, don't overlook common everyday items that can be utilized in body weight exercises.  For example, stairs.  With a set of stairs you can do push ups, step ups, and triceps dips.  There's also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/life/gearandtech/packable-workout-gear-to-stay-fit-on-the-go&quot;&gt;“packable workout gear”&lt;/a&gt; that can provide resistance work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you might want to consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/isometric-exercises.html&quot;&gt;Isometric Exercises&lt;/a&gt; that do not require any equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T14:32:08.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29913" CreationDate="2016-05-21T15:16:55.507" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would rather say it is not about waiting if not about preparation and training. I've seen people starting from the zero(in terms of running, otherwise in a good fitness) with 16 weeks plans and successfully completing their first marathons, so i would say the 5 months you have ahead of you should be enough. however don't go crazy and set some realistic goals, if you think you are able to run half marathon in less than 2 hours, then the 4 hour mark should be good starting target, so make sure the plan you have found is appropriate, that being said try to stick to the plan, dont push it too hard, dont underestimate the importance of the rest days, pay attention to the nutrition and hydration (not just before during and after a running session), you can practice these in the long runs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20279" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T15:16:55.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-21T15:38:34.773" Score="2" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a month, I play three games of ultimate frisbee in a single day for an ongoing competition. I usually start getting calf cramps halfway through the third game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I know the main ways to prevent this (proper hydration, conditioning, magnesium), but they do not guarantee that the problem does not occur. Since I have plenty of recovery time afterwards, I'm looking for tricks to finish the game if the cramp does hit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice that the cramps hit when the muscle is fully flexed. would it help to tape tightly around the whole lower leg at one or two places, to stop the calf from fully flexing? I guess I wouldn't run at my maximum speed, but that's better than not running at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20069" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T16:43:06.787" Title="Taping for calf cramps" Tags="&lt;cramps&gt;&lt;ultimate-frisbee&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29917" CreationDate="2016-05-21T16:43:06.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taping for a cramp seems to be an excessive measure considering the causes are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/muscle-spasms-cramps-charley-horse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many&lt;/a&gt;, and, the taping may actually exacerbate the situation if it affects circulation.  Since there's no definitive study to indicate the exact causes for cramps (there seem to be many possibilities), I think your best course of action is to prepare yourself ahead of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a similar situation as a rower.  During practice, it's not unusual to row for 20 minutes without a break.  This may be repeated several times over the course of practice.  There's no guarantee that a cramp will not rear it's ugly head even making sure that I consume the right amount of water, nutrients, etc.  I have only anecdotal evidence, but, in my case, I've found that following a &lt;strong&gt;stretching program&lt;/strong&gt; for my calves before rowing, and, keeping my calves &lt;strong&gt;warm&lt;/strong&gt; cuts down on the frequency of calf cramps.  It may be related to increased blood flow.  I use a neoprene calf sleeve that's made specifically for rowing that provides protection and warmth.  Here's a sample...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EJlT6.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EJlT6.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the sleeve isn't a preventative, it seems to cut down on the frequency of cramps.  If you've exhausted all other solutions, it may be worth trying a calf sleeve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T16:43:06.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-21T23:29:12.523" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it really healthy to run that much for my age? I so how much should I run. Should I do it in moderation, or do it all in one day. I'm not sure if this is safe for my body. Please give me some feedback. I'm currently a long distance runner, so naturally I can handle that amount of stress on my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20407" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T07:35:59.250" Title="Im 14 and I ran 20 miles is that healthy" Tags="&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-05-25T09:15:07.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29919" CreationDate="2016-05-22T07:35:59.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body should be the one giving you feedback.&#xA;How is your body responding is the question you need to ask yourself and not just afterwards rather while you are running &#xA;If you end up feeling overly stressed or ill than you probably want to tone it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T07:35:59.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29908" CreationDate="2016-05-22T07:41:02.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously you will be limited to bodyweight exercises.&#xA;I would try to get in some basics bodyweight resistance training and some plyometric style cardio as it will help with the explosive power of your muscles.&#xA;There are plenty of portable equipment options too for relatively cheap should you choose to invest such as bands which generally come with a door catch so you can work both push and pull muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T07:41:02.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29922" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29954" CreationDate="2016-05-22T11:45:18.210" Score="-1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;During what period of time after a training session is it optimal to take an Epsom salt bath or use magnesium oil, when you expect DOMS/muscle soreness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-05-22T13:22:45.040" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T21:37:52.520" Title="When to take Epsom salt baths / use Magnesium oil?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29923" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-22T15:06:14.503" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I'm doing french-press:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQJl5yYOEbE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQJl5yYOEbE&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;with two options. Once with wide grip, and elbows kept wide. Next time close grip, elbows - the same. Other parts of move - the same. I mean head touched at the same point, same about end of move. Question is about load I can take in short grip, or better to say it's drop. &lt;strong&gt;Why is that narrow grip gives big drop at load?&lt;/strong&gt; I can expect that it makes long head playing main role, while wide grip activates side heads. Can anyone explain that in details? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-07-05T13:47:45.747" LastActivityDate="2018-07-05T13:47:45.747" Title="French-press and load" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29927" CreationDate="2016-05-22T22:06:52.810" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I commute to my work by bicycle everyday except weekend 12.6 km and back (totalling 25.2). I cycle this route in low-intensity between 60%-70% MHR. I would like to add some abs exercises as my belly is a bit bigger than it should be. A friend of mine recommended me some excercises (crunches, leg raises, planking etc.). but I am a bit worried that this might be too much for a body to handle and I might hurt myself or stop losing weight/start gaining weight. I am not even sure if my standard commuting length is not too long and thus counter-productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it allright to combine cycling (considering the length) and abs exercises in one day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20410" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T09:41:17.753" Title="Cycling and abs exercises" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-05-26T15:56:56.947" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29908" CreationDate="2016-05-23T02:28:19.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that you mentioned that you do crossfit regularly in your question. A quick google of crossfit travelling WODs will give you lot of options. This list, which happens to be at the top of the google search, has a lot of good examples. &lt;a href=&quot;http://reebokcrossfitone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Travel-WODs.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://reebokcrossfitone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Travel-WODs.pdf&lt;/a&gt; I also like this website, which is designed specifically for working out while travelling and has a little more variety than others. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thetravelingwod.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thetravelingwod.com/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Get creative and look for unlikely things to use for equipment. You can do a lot with a tabletop or chair. If you want to get a little crazy you could even fill a container with water or use heavy books as weights. If you find it impossible to workout without equipment, most places have parks and playgrounds where you could improvise something. If all else fails, you can always do a few sprints outside. If none of that helps, remember body weight exercises and HIIT are usually equipment free. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T02:28:19.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29929" CreationDate="2016-05-23T03:51:06.203" Score="9" ViewCount="4389" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can a person who is 160 KG and 180 CM tall change into a healthy person who weighs 75~80 KG? How can one plan for this? Jogging is not possible because he has a leg injury and spine problem at L3 L5. Is &quot;jogging/walking&quot; in swimming pool okay? Water can help support his body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not see this question as duplicate because this person is very stubborn and has a lack of determination, normal methods of weight-loss will not likely work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20412" LastEditorDisplayName="user5376" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T12:53:49.757" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T01:24:17.723" Title="How can a obese person with a spine and leg injury lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29924" CreationDate="2016-05-23T04:16:52.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of ab specifics exercises I would suggest full body exercises that will work more muscle groups. I am a high mileage cyclist and often lift on the same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest this plan:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;StrongLifts 5×5 consists of two full body-workouts: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout A: Squat, Bench Press, Barbell Row &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout B: Squat, Overhead Press, Deadlift,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your abs will definitely be worked. If you want to do even more ab specific work try adding hanging leg lifts and and pull ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20403" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T04:16:52.287" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T04:20:38.863" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is count calories and burn more calories than consumed while still getting enough other nutrients. However since discipline is the problem the answer will need to be more personal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He needs to find his own motivating factor if not for himself then for his loved ones who want to see him live a long and healthy life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20403" LastEditorUserId="20445" LastEditDate="2016-05-24T12:37:08.070" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T12:37:08.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T05:41:52.200" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;TL/DR: Any sport (and swimming is an excellent one) will work, if done consistently, with applied hard effort and together with healthy diet and caloric deficit. No way to do it without clear goals and determination. To lose 80kg of mostly body fat, one would need 2 years focused effort, at least. It could be the one of the hardest yet most rewarding journeys one could take. Such that will not only improve the health but likely also self-esteem, general lifestyle, lifespan, work ethic and basically just about everything for this person.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To burn 1kg of body fat, you need to get a deficit of 7000kcal (actually 1kg of pure fat has 9000kcal but the body stores water and other tissue to support the stored fat, so if you lose 1kg pure fat, you would have lost more body weight). If by including sports one burns on average 2500kcal a day and consumes 2000kcal a day (500kcal average daily deficit), it would take abound 2 weeks for a kg of body fat. But this can be a consistent long-term reduction. Good guideline to achieve sustainable fat loss, without yo-yo effect, is staying on deficit of about 20-25% of caloric consumption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This caloric deficit can be achieved by consuming less food (less calories in) and being more active (more calories out), preferably both at the same time. Eating healthy, calorie-sparse unprocessed foods makes it easier to manage appetite. Those foods are nutrient dense and fulfil your body needs unlike heavily processed thus named &quot;junk&quot; foods. And working out harder makes your body burn more energy and build/maintain muscle - the tissue you need to keep burning fat. Combination of high-effort activity and healthy higher-protein, low-sugar diet would make your body increase it's caloric expenditure, maybe such a huge person could burn 3000kcal a day, then the daily deficit could be 600-700kcal and lose 3kg a month instead of 2kg...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And actually swimming is much better than jogging for fat-burn - it burns more calories and allows to make more intense workouts (bursts or fast freestyle swimming) without straining joints or spine. The key to be taken is that any activity that helps burn substantial amounts of energy will do. But even if you work out a lot, it's very easy to out-eat the benefits of physical exercise. One hour of continuous swimming will burn 700-800kcal. One pizza is between 1000 and 2000kcal. Sport and diet (healthy, calorie-conscious) should be used together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is why weight loss is result of long-term habits. It has taken years of caloric surplus to get to gain substantial amounts of weight, it can't take months to reverse the process. This is slow (yet, very rewarding) process. There is no quick-fix, there is no diet or pill that can do this without hard effort and determination. It requires huge amounts of long-term motivation to stay focused on your goal. The goal of losing around 80kg of body weight is achievable within about 2 years of hard work. In my experience coaching people, the motivation to change yourself usually comes from break-ups, ultimatums, sometimes as attempt to get out of long term depression, new-found health problems or other sources of personal epiphany. But I have never seen it work if the person doesn't really want it and is doing it for someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: One book that I read and really helped me was &quot;Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle&quot; by Tom Venuto. I really liked it because it emphasised not on specific foods or routines but how to set goals, measure progress and change your mentality towards a consistent healthy lifestyle. It thought me that there are no shortcuts but that you could look the way you dream, not the way you believe it's possible. Hard work and consistency is the only way but once you change your mentality it gets much easier. It also explained macronutrients and how to make smarter food choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-05-26T01:24:17.723" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T01:24:17.723" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T07:05:15.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It requires determination and some guts to lose such a large amount of weight, but it is definitely possible. I lost ~27kg in ~5-6 months (and another 20kg 2 years before that), so he could do it in ~1.5-2 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is not exercise, specially at his weight, since even when doing some like water exercises (which include &quot;acquagym&quot; (and similar aerobic exercise in pools), swimming, etc), he is much more likely to get an injury. He needs to seriously reconsider his diet. At  the moment, he needs to eat ~3k calories to maintain his weight. As such, he should reduce it to below that level. Since a kg of fat is roughly 7.7k, you can decide the calorie deficit based on how fast you want to lose weight. If he started eating like someone who's ~80kg (with his height and a sedentary lifestyle) should eat (~2100 calories/day), he would need just short of 2 years to lose all his weight (although that is a simplistic calculation, since his TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) will go down as he loses weight). He can try water jogging for a short period every day, since it'd speed up his weight loss, but it is not fundamental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend a diet focused on fats, while avoiding carbs, as fat makes you fuller for much longer. More meat, eggs, fish, and full-fat dairy, and less bread, pasta, etc. Have a look at keto for foods and recipes to try. I didn't follow keto to lose weight, but I gained inspiration from it. If he lacks determination he might benefit from a cheat meal per week, where he can eat whatever he wants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he is down to ~100-110, he can start doing heavier exercise (light swimming, for example), and once he is even lower he'd benefit from going to the gym to lift weights (lifting is VERY useful to lose weight and fix your body (e.g. loose skin) after being fat). This would also benefit him due to his health issues (I have weak knees and a bad back, but lifting actually helped me to a degree (always remember to have proper form when lifting)), since things like squats can help build up strength in your legs and protect your knee, and deadlifts can strengthen your back, which will protect your spine. He should talk to a doctor beforehand though, obviously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make him stay committed, you will need to inspire him somehow. Once the results really start showing it is easier, but he needs to be fully motivated until then. You are the only person who knows what would motivate/inspire him, so I can't help much in that department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR: It isn't hard, there are ways, but he needs commitment. There is no way around that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20414" LastEditorUserId="20414" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T08:00:31.083" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T08:00:31.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29923" CreationDate="2016-05-23T07:31:22.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Correct me if I'm wrong, but you want to understand why you can lift heavier with a wider grip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this isolation exercise, I think the grip is not the most important : it is the elbow stance that plays the most part. Indeed, the wider the elbows, the easier it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try doing dips with elbows close to your body (i.e. parallel to the bars), it will be more difficult than with your elbows open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T07:31:22.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29924" CreationDate="2016-05-23T09:04:50.410" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abs is the worst or one of the worst thing to do if you want to lose belly fat. It is a misconception that fat get lost locally. Do abs if you what to streng that part of your body. Keep doing cycling or running to lose your fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling it is really good for losing weight. I went from 84 kg to 68 in less than a year by only cycling. I use and still use the bike for most of my displacements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18793" LastEditorUserId="18793" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T09:41:17.753" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T09:41:17.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29936" CreationDate="2016-05-23T09:20:41.833" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started to visit a gym 2-3 times a week, because, as a programmer, I need some movement. Additionally, I have very low blood pressure which causes me nearly to faint sometimes when doing simple body-weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm male, 19 y/o, 192cm, 85kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you recommend a weight loss and condition gaining plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently; I'm about 90-120 mins in the studio:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 min warmup on the bike (ca. 250 kcal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row 2000m (ca 120 kcal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x 25 crunches (25kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x 25 biceps curl (33kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x 25 triceps press (17kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x 25 shoulder press (25kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x 25 pull downs (29kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some leg stuff (can't remember the names)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 min on empty devices&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 min final on bike (ca 110 kcal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I could optimize?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20420" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T12:38:19.950" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T12:38:19.950" Title="Workout plan for fitness-studio" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T09:51:02.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just adding to other answers, which contain some good technical information re. calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short version:&lt;/strong&gt; it's been very helpful to me, when feeling &quot;not up to it&quot;, &quot;not in the mood for it&quot;, or &quot;too sore&quot;, to start with the exercise session regardless: once one start to warm up, the pulse rate goes up, and the sweat flows, all those feelings vanish like the morning fog, one feels so much better and &lt;em&gt;alive&lt;/em&gt; afterwards, and really &lt;em&gt;glad&lt;/em&gt; to have done the session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer explanation: there are some &lt;strong&gt;endocrine&lt;/strong&gt;-related factors related to low motivation (and perhaps depression?), which are maybe more difficult to quantify, but nevertheless important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At a certain level of effort (which may differ from person to person and from exercise session to exercise session) &lt;strong&gt;endorphins&lt;/strong&gt; come into play. I don't want to use the word &quot;addictive&quot; :-) but it is beneficial to start to enjoy exercise so much that it is done for its own sake.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion this can be improved on even further for people with an &quot;indoors lifestyle&quot; if the exercise can be done outside in fresh air and &lt;strong&gt;sunshine&lt;/strong&gt;, preferably around lunchtime/noon - this improves Vitamin D levels, if done without sunscreen. (Ultraviolet radiation is needed for VitD production from cholesterol in the skin, a session of 20-40 minutes per day should suffice, but for longer exposures obviously the appropriate protective measures should be taken. The time limit nicely ties in with an adequate exercise session's duration.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise and sunlight also play a beneficial and not unimportant role in &lt;strong&gt;serotonin&lt;/strong&gt; levels, again playing into the feeling of well-being. Also, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan#Dietary_sources&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tryptophan-rich foods&lt;/a&gt; may help to increase serotonin levels - tryptophan seems to be absorbed better if taken with some carbs. (In general I am in favor of low carb (LCHF, banting, atkins, keto....) diets, but it does seem that &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; carbs are needed in this respect.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience for an unfit person, one would need to increase distance/effort every now and then to keep up the challenge. My practical experience confirms the 2-year estimate, although improvements can already be seen after a few months or even weeks, every time that the previous distance is not challenging enough any more. These improvements are very gratifying and motivating, besides feeling more fit and well and being able to &quot;do things&quot; in general life much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle pains&lt;/strong&gt; can be demotivating, this can be counteracted a bit by supplements of magnesium (and zinc, and selenium). Magnesium is important in any case for people middle-aged and older, and these minerals also tie in with the whole VitD/calcium metabolism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some other points to consider:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good &lt;strong&gt;sleep routine&lt;/strong&gt; is also very important and beneficial in so many ways: stress relief, hormone normalization, well-being, energy levels, clarity of mind, muscle repair... The person should go to bed at the same time 7x365 (9 or 10pm latest) and sleep until rested (waking without an alarm). &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin#Regulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;No &quot;blue&quot; lighting 1-2 hours before bed time&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A diet being propagated these days is derived from &lt;strong&gt;intermittent fasting&lt;/strong&gt;, in that you only have 2 normal meals a day, late morning (say 9-10 am) and late afternoon (say 3-4pm). Without snacking. People on high-fat diets that keep one feeling satiated, may already have experienced something along those lines, just by eating only when hungry. In addition to decreasing calorie intake, those intermissions between eating help the digestive system to properly and completely digest all nutrients, while the inactive period is used for cleaning and self-repair, which optimizes digestive efficiency even further. The body gets all the necessary nutrients, &quot;feels well-fed&quot;, and sends less craving (for carbs) signals. Modern carb foods are often much processed and refined, thus containing not many of the other needed nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is helpful if exercise/eating/working/relaxation/sleeping can all be combined into an &lt;strong&gt;integrated lifestyle&lt;/strong&gt;, then things tend to get done without much thought. Unfortunately the artificial or competitive nature of gyms and clubs may sometimes counteract this. I have taken up bicycling after &quot;walking around the block&quot; lost its challenge. (It is also easy on joints and spine, but can be done outdoors in colder weather.) To save time I combine my ride with other necessary chores like a trip to buy groceries (smaller amounts of &lt;strong&gt;fresh&lt;/strong&gt; vegetables 2-3 times a week to help with a more healthy diet) or the library, or even to work (as many are able to do). A downside can be the dangers and exhaust fumes of traffic, if no dedicated paths are available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20416" LastEditorUserId="20416" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T13:41:29.883" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T13:41:29.883" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29938" CreationDate="2016-05-23T10:19:16.767" Score="-4" ViewCount="2456" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to practice the &lt;code&gt;BIG 5 WORKOUT&lt;/code&gt; at home with minimal equipment? Is there a video or pictures I can use for it? Does practicing with the BODY SCIENCE method helps to improve the aerobic level? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19512" LastEditorUserId="19512" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T10:28:33.617" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T20:31:50.497" Title="BODY by SCIENCE - THE BIG 5 WORKOUT for home" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-26T15:56:31.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29933" CreationDate="2016-05-23T10:31:11.110" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Programs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are programs already made for you. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your current program&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the program you're doing right now, it's no good, I'm afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with the exercises, but the fact that you do the same amount of reps, same amount of sets, same amount of weight every time. Your muscles need to be challenged, and if you just do the same thing over and over, you're not getting any stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Metaphor&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solve these math problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 + 2 = __&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 + 2 = __&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 + 2 = __&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 + 2 = __&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you get any better at math? No, right? Because you've done this before, and there is &lt;strong&gt;no progress&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your caveats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what's causing your low BP, and I'll assume that it's your doctor that recommended exercise. Even so, I'm not sure 1.5-2 hours in the gym is needed. If you get the compound exercises in (which it looks like you're already doing, and the programs I gave you would incorporate them too), you're gonna have progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T10:31:11.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T10:33:11.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The advice no. 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't do any diet on yourself&lt;/strong&gt;, always contact an expert (if the patient have any problem related to metabolism, diabetes or other it is likely a diabetologist will not suffice, and that the patient require support from other kind of specialists) be warned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Traditional diets (even created by experts) can have side effects, in particular, most diets will end up triggering body mechanism that will reduce fat burning (the body will try to save energy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are doing a wrong diet the metabolism will just go down and you will feel tired, and once you start eating again you will regain ALL LOSS WEIGHT + some extra&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General purpose diets are to be avoided, if a specialist is not creating a diet based also on your blood analysis, than it is a general purpose diet, such diets will end up with regaining the loss weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People doing diets on their self are just fu****g up their health because a wrong diet can be much worse than a non-correct alimentation (depends on how much trash someone eat of course). I want to specify that because all those forums/web stuff that cause anoressy are just fu****g the health of a lot of persons.&#xA;This is the most important advice since everyone seems to be an expert at some kind of diet these days. Diets are harmful, only an expert should prepare a diet for you, and those expert are NOT You, your friend, your family member, your favourite blog. If an &quot;expert&quot; is just writing you blindly a diet on a piece of paper also take opinion from another expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The advice no. 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Burn more energy&lt;/strong&gt;, you should start gradually doing more exercise, if you do not enough exercise you will not burn any fat, if you do too much exercise you will ends up doing damage to your body (injuries etc.). Contact a doctor, but walking should be a good exercise, be sure to have a Hearth beat counter, when the weight of a patience is too much even walking too slow can be difficult so you don't want to ends up walking but doing the same exercise equivalent to a slim person running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is a good exercise, as usual be sure to receive advice from an expert, if the exercise is to intense, you will just ends up burning sugar in blood instead of burning fat, and if you do exercise for too short time you will anyway not trigger fat burning of the body (fat is not the only energy store of our body in fact).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The advice no.3&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat well,&lt;/strong&gt; I'm not advising any diet, instead replace junk food with healthy food. Avoid sugar drinks, eat really slow (rule of thumbs, try to chew the same bite of food 30 times slowly), drink as less as possible during meals, and drink at least 1.5 liters in the whole day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good foods are foods without preservatives, fresh vegetables, fruit. Try to not overcook foods (list is not exaustive)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad foods are: fast foods (not only because of fat, also eating fast is bad), fried stuff, sugar, light or diet foods (list is not exaustive). Be warned, in our days sugar is everywhere, read carefully about ingredients of your food (&lt;strong&gt;sometimes even canned vegetables have sugar, added as preservative&lt;/strong&gt; u_u O_o) and avoid it like hell (instead don't avoid good carbohydrates, wholemeal bread is really not that bad ;) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By eating really slow you should become fully satisfied without eating tons of food. Eat as slow as you can and you will see that you are introducing less food in your body without getting hunger, this contributes to introducing tons of calories and other crap in your body. Also food should be a pleasure, so by eating it slow you are also taking some relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are tired of drinking only water try milk or sugarless tea (make the tea on your own). Avoid fruit juice (lot of sugar and anyway no vitamins), instead make your fruit milkshake (DON'T ADD SUGAR!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advice no° 4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take less stress&lt;/strong&gt;, stress damage body as much as smoke and alchol. &#xA;Of course avoid alchol and smoke too, 2 bottles (50 cc) of beer OR 2 glasses of wine (1 glass = 20 cc) sohuld be your maximum in a week. What do you like? Bath? Music? WALKING? Do also what you like (unless is something that damages your health XD)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advice no° 5&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contact an expert, setup a realistic weight loss plan ( 2 Kg/ month is not very much but should be doable) AND KEEP WITH IT. By following the advices above you should be able to lose much more than that without effort (keep in mind that a person with more weight will also burn more energy during exercise), if you don't lose weight then there can be plenty of troubles that needs attention from a specialist)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FINALLY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your time to experiment with food of course, you for sure don't want to ends up eating only food that you dislike, so it is your time to learn cooking you self new recipes (still avoid fried stuff), and especially experiment with fruits and vegetables (there are always vegetables that someone like and someone don't like, YOU WILL NEVER FIND WICH ONE if you don't take time to try em all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LOVE YOUR LIFE, IF YOU DON'T LOVE IT CONTACT A PSYCHOTHERAPIST. Try to search for happiness (be warned, just please don't enter any cult or sect XD there are just too many people out there trying to brainwash other people).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20423" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-05-24T06:48:51.680" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T06:48:51.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29935" CreationDate="2016-05-23T11:25:30.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Big 5 workout consists of these exercises (or rather categories thereof).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper body pull. This is a horizontal pull. Getting some dumbbells that can be plate-loaded would allow you to do dumbbell rows, but for good strength development you'd end up with weights that aren't very practical for dumbbells, and a seated row or barbell rows would be better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper body push. A horizontal push, antagonist to the above. The bench press is the classic here, but dumbbell bench presses can be an excellent exercise. Loading them very heavy isn't as easy as with a bench and barbell, though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pulldown. This is the vertical pull. Pull-ups and chin-ups are outstanding exercises that can be started with body weight using nothing but a pull-up bar, which isn't very expensive. Or, if you can't do so at first, using assistance like elastic bands or jumping up and doing a slow eccentric. Once you can do a decent amount of body weight pull-ups, some weight plates and a dip belt can be used for extra loading. Or holding a dumbbell between your feet, although that becomes impractical for larger weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press. This is the vertical push. Dumbbell shoulder presses can be outstanding exercises and allow for progress for substantial time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press. Obviously a machine would be needed for this, but I'd argue you can get more out of squats anyway. For progressively loading the squat dumbbells could be used, or a dip belt with plates (look for &quot;hip belt squats&quot;). Once squats get very heavy, though, a bar would be in order, and it requires a rack for safe performance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you can get somewhere if you get 2 dumbbells with a bunch of plates, a pull-up bar and a dip belt. However, how far this will take you depends quite a bit on what your goals are and your personal stats. An older trainee looking for some exercise might not need weights beyond what dumbbells offer, but someone looking to gain quite a bit of strength and/or muscle mass is going to need more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you're better served checking out a gym with good equipment where you have an option to quit membership whenever you want. It'll give you an idea of how far you want to take this and how motivated you are. If you do decide to pursue strength at home, a home gym is certainly an investment but doesn't have to break the bank or turn into a huge garage gym. A quality power rack, good barbell, bunch of weight plates and a flat bench will pretty much have you set for doing all the most important, fundamental exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for resources, I suggest you choose exercises you find fitting in each of the categories (horizontal/vertical push, horizontal/vertical pull, legs) and just consult the wealth of videos and texts out there on the web. The StrongLifts 5x5 website has pretty good descriptions for proper form on a bunch of fundamentals, with pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;body science&quot; method itself, I don't know it, but starting off with the major compound movements is a solid principle. I am wary of its &quot;in less than 13 minutes per week&quot; claims, though, because to be honest that is bull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For aerobic conditioning, it's probably best to pose that as a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T11:25:30.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29941" CreationDate="2016-05-23T11:36:46.767" Score="3" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm at age of 43 and I practice martial arts. In sparring and competition I struggle with breathlessness. Is &lt;code&gt;HIT&lt;/code&gt; the best way to improve my cardio and aerobic level? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there additional ways to improve it? Since in the conventional practice (3 hours a week training and in addition, running and light dumbells; lifting of 2 times per week and I don't get the required results).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19512" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T16:42:21.827" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:42:21.827" Title="Is HIT (High intensity training) is appropriate for improving cardio aerobic for competition?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T11:39:11.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This person is stubborn, but lacks determination you say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way forward has but one milestone then, change his motivation. A stubborn person can lose a tremendous amount of weight since stubbornness is an excellent trait to avoid losing motivation. Get him motivated, formulate a plan for &lt;em&gt;diet&lt;/em&gt; mainly. Water jogging sounds like a great idea, but first and foremost trim the diet down to what is sustainable for a 80kg person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20426" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T11:39:11.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29939" CreationDate="2016-05-23T12:38:57.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Sparring IS HIIT training, of course depending on the intensity you go. But it's pretty well known that more and more martial artists are doing HIIT training to prepare themselves for more and more rounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, as an amateur boxer, I get do HIIT training once a week by running sprints. 2km warmup, then 10 x 100m sprints. Then 2km run back home.&#xA;Other than that, my training sessions by themselves, for example intense intervals on the heavybags, is also HIIT training preparing for fights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For sparring(I don't know your sport?) you need a good base of condition. I'd rather suggest you to cut a session a week of martial arts and then do 2-3 jogs a week and then 1 day of sprints like suggested above. Then once you reach an adequate level of fitness, cut it down a bit and tune up your martial arts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T12:38:57.127" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29945" CreationDate="2016-05-23T13:17:14.250" Score="5" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 43 old and I have practiced martial arts for the last few years. My thighs have strong muscles but I don't think they are strong enough. Some of the practitioners in my martial art have thighs that are strong as iron 'literally'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strong thighs are important since we absorb hits using them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to strength the thighs at home with minimal equipment and minimal time (I have dumbbells and Iron Gym Upper Body Workout)?&lt;/strong&gt; Are there some drills relevant to Body by Science method (Big 5)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19512" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T07:50:49.413" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T07:58:31.170" Title="Developing very strong Quadriceps" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29939" CreationDate="2016-05-23T16:27:03.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Although there may be some improvement, HIT isn't designed to improve upon cardiovascular fitness in any way, shape or form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_intensity_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIT (High Intensity Training)&lt;/a&gt;, as popularised by Arthur Jones in the 1970's, is designed to improve strength and muscular hypertrophy by performing weighted exercises, usually on machines (such as the Nautilus ones created by Jones) for one set to absolute failure, followed by a prolonged period of rest to allow those muscles to recover. My understanding is prolonged can mean anywhere up to a week of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As cbll explained in his answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)&lt;/a&gt; would be an idea way to train up for sparring in pretty much any martial art.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your limited equipment, you could perform HIIT with some bodyweight exercises (hindu squats could work), sprints, rope jumping (skipping ropes are pretty cheap and you don't need much room) or, if appropriate, just work a heavy bag. If you have access to them, kettlebell swings are pretty good as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to get to the point where your training either matches or exceeds your sparring, though probably with standard interval training, not high intensity interval training (so, if you spar for 4, 3 minute rounds with 30 seconds rest between rounds, then build up to the same with something like rope jumping).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T16:27:03.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29935" CreationDate="2016-05-23T16:38:03.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly with some bodyweight exercises, though I'd recommend against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a quick look into the &quot;Big 5 Workout&quot;, it seems like a standard HIT program, so performing one set to absolute failure. The key word there is &quot;absolute&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're performing an exercise to muscular failure, then your form goes all to hell. If you're performing an upper body horizontal push using dumbbells, then there's a fairly good chance you'll end up dropping them on yourself if you're not careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably one of the reasons why, when Arthur Jones (the founder of Nautilus) recommended HIT, he recommended using Nautilus machines. It's a lot harder to drop a weight on your head when you're using a machine (hard, but probably not impossible if you're determined).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to try bodyweight alternatives, then you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Body Horizontal Push - Press ups (worst case scenario, you face butt the floor)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Body Horizontal Pull - Inverted rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Body Vertical Push - Hand stands, though be careful not to drop onto your head too hard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Body Vertical Pull - Pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legs - Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of those exercises have progressions and regressions you can try to work through, though I'm not sure if the progressions would be too big of a jump on some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T16:38:03.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29942" CreationDate="2016-05-23T16:40:27.947" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats. Lots and lots of squats. Squat variations. Lots and lots of squat variations and progressions. Lunges and lunge variations as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at something like Convict Conditioning and work your way up to pistol squats. When you can perform 5 consecutive ass to grass pistol squats, chances are you'll have some pretty strong thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T16:40:27.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29959" CreationDate="2016-05-23T18:12:05.783" Score="6" ViewCount="705" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone explain to me cumulative benefits of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friend and I went for a Saturday walk at a park. We each had a kettle bells and they weighed 35lbs and 55lbs respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The track was 1 mile. The workout was as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kettle Bell A - 35lb&#xA;Kettle Bell B - 55lb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each person gets a Kettle Bell. Walking at the same time. We went&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25 steps One hand overhead press holds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25 steps one hand rest on shoulder holds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switch hands &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25 steps One hand overhead press holds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25 steps one hand rest on shoulder holds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switch From KB &lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt; to KB &lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt; and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did this for 0.5 miles or roughly 10 times with each KB. I would consider this Lower intensity, as we weren't running. (Correct me if I'm wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We stopped and did &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;200 swings 100 with &lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt; 100 with &lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt; each.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walked 100 ft. with Both KBs overhead&#xA;Switched Hands&#xA;Walked 100 ft. with Both KBs overhead&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think the above were stabilizing each shoulder because of the different weights..?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then farmers walk the rest of the mile, minimal to no rest the entire time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end I felt utterly destroyed, and I'm curious was this CNS work? Core is probably an obvious one, shoulders, what else was affected? Is this actual Low Intensity or High Intensity? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2018-04-26T09:32:46.970" Title="Benefits of Overhead KB Walks" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29947" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29965" CreationDate="2016-05-23T18:18:26.963" Score="5" ViewCount="5370" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that my front squats are seriously lagging behind. I know that most people have a weaker front squat than back squat, but mine is about 50-60% behind in terms of 5-8RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that among all the muscle groups that are worked by both variations, there is a subset of muscles that are holding me back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which muscle groups are more central to the front squat than the back squat? What accessory exercises would assist me in developing a stronger front squat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How I do them&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of stance, I have a semi-wide stance, feet pointing only slightly outward. Akin to riding a horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cross my arms over the bar, rather than the backward wrist bend. I find I have no problem keeping the bar on my shoulders as I raise my elbows in front so that they are always parallel to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I place the bar just inside the front delt, so the bar is very close to my neck, and since the front delt is flexed by raising the elbow, the bar has additional support which prevents it from going anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-05-24T05:41:28.070" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T09:23:15.677" Title="Front squats lagging behind back squats by too much" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29947" CreationDate="2016-05-23T18:29:09.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two major issues for me were core and flexibility in my Lats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that you should focus on more core work which have a variety of different exercises that can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I would foam roll lats before attempting any front squats. Not sure what you're currently doing, but a huge reason why my front squat was lagging so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually as I got the weight heavier, the stress on my arms in the hole would be too much mixed with a weak core and as I went to get up out of the hole, my elbows would drop from traditional front rack position and the weight would be too much to support on my arms forcing me to bail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push your elbows up on the way up to make sure the weight stays front racked. Loosening up your lats will help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep working in that rep range and keep front squatting. Add core work in the form of hanging leg raises, knees to elbows, sit-ups, planks, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T18:29:09.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T20:18:21.260" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good diet. Some swimming but not swimming just be helped in water . And massage. But most important a good diet and some small exercise &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20437" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T20:18:21.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29926" CreationDate="2016-05-23T20:24:58.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fast breathing exercises ( pranayama) I think will help for less mobile people. Ofcourse swimming is another best option, but one can do breathing exercises from ones own comfort, whenever they want with out any gadgets or special help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20438" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T20:24:58.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29946" CreationDate="2016-05-23T20:56:27.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is likely some CNS benefit to the number of repetitions (so be sure you are using proper form)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since intensity is relative low from a strength standpoint is seems like a strength/cardio hybrid workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal primary purpose for the farmers walk is to improve my grip strength for deadlifts. If that is your goal too then consider increasing weight for than portion (decreasing distance substantially to compensate)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20403" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T20:56:27.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29922" CreationDate="2016-05-23T21:18:15.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some scientific debate about its effectiveness but most people that use it do so after strenuous workouts where DOMS may be expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preference is to deal with DOMS after lifting. After very long runs I have occasionally tried taking an ice bath and did not experience many benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/121914-benefits-epsom-salt-baths/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/121914-benefits-epsom-salt-baths/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20403" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T21:18:15.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29908" CreationDate="2016-05-23T22:31:42.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just how much you want out of any workout is going to be determined primarily by your mental attitude (goals, persuasion, &quot;want-to&quot;) towards your workout. There are plenty of workouts people do not do because they're &quot;hard&quot;--e.g. difficult. There are plenty of workouts people do not do because they're &quot;boring&quot;--no gear/equipment is involved, it's not social enough, it's too &quot;different&quot; (too slow, too long, too repetitive, looks weird, afraid to look odd doing it). I daresay we've all been there when looking for different workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... as long as you can convince yourself it's a worthwhile workout, as long as you can mentally prepare yourself to WANT IT, you can experience results with almost anything if you put an appropriate amount of effort into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some ideas for low-to-no-gear workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/fitness/no-gym-bodyweight-workout-infographic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Body weight workouts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=9&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwibn5WonvHMAhUp4YMKHfYXBOgQFghJMAg&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.military.com%2Fmilitary-fitness%2Fworkouts%2Favoid-gym-by-using-calisthenics&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNFLh7kblyjc49cpbr4CeimQDdGOXA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calisthenics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=2&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiS6YmanvHMAhUl04MKHXHcDr8QFggwMAE&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goruck.com%2Frucking&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNEVFRlBKy46hshoVPgs3v1ikL_8eA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ruck Sack&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running (mix it up: do intervals or sprints, try a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/tag/fartlek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fartlek&lt;/a&gt;, go further/longer than you ever have before, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming (don't go it alone; minimally have supervision/lifeguard and a capable swim buddy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've linked to some examples for you, and you will find some overlap, but any or a combination of these should provide you with some good options to consider using while on vacation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also mention that it's a longer vacation (4 weeks or so). If you will primarily be in one geographic location, you may even be able to find an athletic club or other school (e.g. martial arts, etc.) where you can sign up for a 1-month trial just to try something fun and different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20401" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T22:31:42.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29956" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-24T01:33:42.657" Score="2" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the  Stomach Vacuum have some opposite exercise to it, like expanding the stomach? Or is this useless? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T03:03:52.213" Title="Is there another exercise opposite to the Stomach Vacuum?" Tags="&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29947" CreationDate="2016-05-24T06:10:51.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried doing them with straps? I had similar issue, given my limited flexibility - I also was doing them with crossed arms in front. Then I found out that doing them with straps drastically improved my form - and the amount of weight I can lift. This way I can comfortably do front-squats with around 25% less weight compared to back squats. Here is a video that explains the technique:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVTkbggmxR0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVTkbggmxR0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T06:10:51.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29956" CreationDate="2016-05-24T06:29:30.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stomach Vacuum is contracting the transverse abdominis or TVA. Doing it regularly helps you tighten up those muscles which is both aesthetically desirable and has other health benefits. Aesthetically desirable because it makes your waist look smaller (front-to-back width) and helps you keep your stomach flat and tight while resting/walking. TVA also plays a huge role in preventing back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the questions is what would you want to achieve with an &quot;opposite&quot; exercise? If you want more muscular abdominals, you should increase the workout volume on them just like with any other muscle. But this is by no means opposite to doing &quot;Stomach Vacuum&quot; exercise - actually it could only help you achieve better overall definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T03:03:52.213" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T03:03:52.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29946" CreationDate="2016-05-24T07:52:32.047" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations, you found the secret muscle group, technically known as the &quot;everything&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being slightly more serious, &lt;a href=&quot;http://romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/loaded-carries/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;loaded carries&lt;/a&gt; are one of the best exercises you can do to improve strength, muscle mass and general athleticism (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/secret-of-loaded-carries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;according to Dan John&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right in that your core will be worked, but probably a lot more than you'd imagine. If you think about waiters walks (walking with a weight held overhead in one hand) with every step the muscles of your body, from your feet right up to your hand, are having to fire to keep the weight from coming crashing down on your head. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're having to keep everything tight to keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strongfirst.com/the-tension-day/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;training tightness&lt;/a&gt; is, in my opinion, overlooked quite frequently by casual lifters. Even if you get tight on sets of an exercise, walking for a prolonged period while having to keep your body tight is probably something your body is unfamiliar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the reason you felt so wrecked afterwards is it's probably an unfamiliar exercise (or a series of unfamiliar exercises), so you'll have CNS fatigue and attempted adaptation, as well as a serious whole body workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2018-04-26T09:32:46.970" LastActivityDate="2018-04-26T09:32:46.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29960" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29961" CreationDate="2016-05-24T12:44:03.507" Score="0" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise is great, but should someone who is underweight (approximately 168cm and 49kg for a BMI of 17.4) focus on gaining weight (until a healthy weight is reached) before beginning strenuous exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend has no history of anorexia or bulimia (that I am aware of) or any health problems. There are some famous female endurance athletes (runners, etc) who are similarly underweight, however she is an exercise novice without their level of cardiovascular fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned (knowing her personality) that she will push herself too hard and and risk injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the health risks associated with too much exercise while underweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20403" LastEditorUserId="20403" LastEditDate="2016-05-24T15:52:13.373" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T18:24:01.163" Title="Should an underweight person avoid strenuous exercise?" Tags="&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29960" CreationDate="2016-05-24T15:41:01.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to find out is if there's underlying medical conditions for the lack of body mass. It might be unlikely if there's no constant problematic weight loss, just a general long-term low body mass, but only a medical practitioner is in a position to determine this. Any conditions could affect the safety of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the absence of such conditions, I'd say it's quite the opposite. Resistance training is an outstanding way of gaining body mass; muscle hypertrophy, increased bone density and, if wanted and a large caloric surplus can be tolerated, an increase in body fat. It must be understood that gains in lean body mass will be slow and require a lot of time, as well as a lot of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What possible risks I can think of are attempting a training load that exceeds the body's capabilities for supporting (either because of skeletal muscle or bone density and structure), or a volume or progression that exceeds the capacity for recovery. But that's what any decent beginner routine is for. Start every exercise at a weight with which it can be performed with good form and used to learn that form in the first place. Then focus on linear progression in realistic increments while respecting the rest days and getting the sleep and nutrition required for driving such progress. For an underweight female trainee the increments might need to be small, but linear progression can still be done and should yield good results for someone who is untrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is probably most important to avoid injury, whether resistance or endurance training is used, is to make it clear a workout shouldn't be considered &quot;good&quot; on the basis of being exhausted at the end or working to failure. Start with manageable weights, volume or (for cardio) time/distance that feels easy enough. Increment a bit per workout, no too dramatic jumps. The point at which workouts start getting challenging and spur adaptation will manifest itself soon enough. I'd say for increasing body mass, strength training would be the best choice, combined with eating like you mean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T15:41:01.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29960" CreationDate="2016-05-24T18:24:01.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since G_H already gave a pretty detailed answer, I'll keep it short. If it is getting injured that you're worried about, I would suggest starting off with very basic and fundamental bodyweight exercises such as push ups, body weight squats, dips, pullups, chinup. Reason being, it is much harder to injure yourself with your own bodyweight, provided you have somewhat sufficient form. These, combined with a caloric surplus containing sufficient protein intake (minimum around 1g/lb of bodyweight), are enough to &quot;prepare&quot; this individual's body for more strenuous exercises to come. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T18:24:01.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-24T18:27:01.723" Score="-1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following specs describe my physique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 23 Years&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 75 kgs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 5'9''&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a typical Indian IT professional with average diet. The only time I could spare to keep myself fit is at night. And the only activity I can do is walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html?ctype=metric&amp;amp;cage=23&amp;amp;csex=m&amp;amp;cheightfeet=5&amp;amp;cheightinch=10&amp;amp;cheightmeter=175.26&amp;amp;printit=0&amp;amp;x=59&amp;amp;y=13#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this calculator&lt;/a&gt; to get the recommended weight for my physique and it came out to be about 68 kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm looking for a correlation between the &lt;code&gt;weight&lt;/code&gt; I want to loose, the &lt;code&gt;number of days&lt;/code&gt; in which I want to lose it, and the total &lt;code&gt;number of steps&lt;/code&gt; I need to walk each day to lose the targeted weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched a lot but could not get a satisfactory answer. I've also seen numerous posts explaining how 10,000 steps per day can help me lose weight. But I walk more than that in a day. And the weight loss it very slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20451" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T19:50:13.723" Title="Correlation between weight to loose, target number of days and steps to walk each day" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29956" CreationDate="2016-05-24T18:27:38.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've ever heard professional powerlifters talk about how they squat, they often mention the concept of &quot;blowing up&quot; their core. What I mean by this is, right before they descend to the squat position, they will take a deep breath in through their stomach (NOT chest), and keep it fully engaged throughout the rep. I've heard that this is why most lean powerlifters have &quot;blocky&quot; abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T18:27:38.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29947" CreationDate="2016-05-24T18:36:08.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One obvious difference in the muscles engaged from the two exercises is your quads. The back squat will use more hips and back (although it still uses the quads quite a bit), whereas because of the vertical position of your torso in a front squat, your quadriceps are engaged considerably more, as well as your core. To improve your front squat performance, there are a few things I suggest, keep in mind I'm not an expert but these have worked for me and I can front squat around 405 for sets of 3-5 depending on my energy for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you must utilize exercise priority. Simply put, if you want your front squats to get better, just do them... do them FIRST in the workout and do them OFTEN. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, add in some quad specific work, i.e high bar squats, leg press, lunges (maybe even leg extension although there are better exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, work on your ankle mobility. Look at getting some olympic lifting shoes, these have elevated heels and allow for much more comfort and therefore strength in the long term. If this isn't an option, get some 2.5lbs or 5lbs plates, and place them under your heels when you do front squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fourth, work on core strength. This really goes without saying, as your core is fundamental to any compound movement that you do, but I'll mention it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last, just practice, practice, repeat. Eat BIG on the days you're gonna front squat, do them first, and do them with intensity. Look up some youtube videos (the one by Mark Rippetoe is very good) on proper form, and get at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T18:36:08.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29963" CreationDate="2016-05-24T19:31:57.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your request is overly simplistic.  That’s why you haven’t been able to find any reliable information.  It’s difficult to develop the correlation you want because each of us is an &lt;strong&gt;individual&lt;/strong&gt; capable of losing weight at our own individual pace.  Having said that, it is still possible to lose the weight.  You’ll need to set a realistic goal, and, expend more calories than you consume.  That may mean adding more walking, or, bodyweight exercises to your regime.  Additionally, I would suggest you write down the foods you are consuming to get a better idea of what your caloric intake is.  It’s hard to know how much calories to cut if you don’t know what you are consuming.  Start by keeping a nutrition diary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things just don't fit into a nice neat formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T19:31:57.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29963" CreationDate="2016-05-24T19:50:13.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to sound rude but what you're asking leads me to believe that you haven't really done any research into this. Walking a certain EXACT amount of steps won't help with realistically anything, other than ...well counting your steps. If your goal is to lose weight, the NUMBER ONE thing you need to focus on is your diet. Given that your diet is proper, you will lose weight regardless of what activity you're doing. I can link you to a bunch of articles about this, but I think you should research some of this on your own. Nonetheless, I'll give you some tips on how to achieve what you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, forget about this correlation business. Weight loss, nutrition, etc are NOT linear processes, and vary on the individual greatly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best advice if you want to lose weight, would be to follow an established diet like a low-carb high fat (since you're only walking, you don't really need carbs for any intense exercise, other than fibre of course). A good baseline, would be to take your bodyweight in lbs and multiple this by 14. That's more or less the amount of calories you need to maintain the weight you're at right now. So depending on over how long you want to lose this weight, for example, if you want to lose about 0.5 lbs a week, subtract 500-600 calories from this number and achieve to consume that amount every single day. So if you weigh 165lbs, then you would need approximately 1700-1800 calories a day to lose half a lbs each week (note again this will not exactly be linear). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of these calories, since you'll want to maintain muscle, make sure you get at least a gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight, i.e 165g since more muscle equates to higher metabolic rate. Around 20-30% of your calories should come from fat, and the rest from low glycemic carbohydrates, focusing on fibre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T19:50:13.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29972" CreationDate="2016-05-24T21:35:26.037" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been exercising regularly for about 2 years and completed my first half Ironman earlier this year. I am currently recovering from ACL injury (from recreational basketball game). It has been about 3 weeks since surgery and I can put some weight on it again. I am told that rehab will be about 3-4 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I can start swimming again relatively soon but expect it will be at least a few months before I can do most of what I was accustomed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know my VO2 max will fall (it probably already has to some degree) but how large of a decrease in VO2 max is expected during recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20455" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T09:10:57.277" Title="How quickly will my VO2 max fall off if I stop all exercise?" Tags="&lt;rehabilitation&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29942" CreationDate="2016-05-25T07:58:31.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your first step would be making sure your body has the fuel to develop and recover with your exercise. To develop muscle effectively you should be at least eating at a maintenance, preferably at a bulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, carry on doing martial arts! I did Tae Kwon Do for about 6 years in my youth and as a result I have a very well developed lower body. MY legs can take a battering too due to the conditioning that I did. If you have time and money, pick up another martial art that focus on legs: TKD, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do a lot at home too once you have mastered squats (credit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/playground/squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;r/bodyweightfitness&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Advanced Progressions:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: In terms of mobility, the more weight you bring backwards, the more your knee has to go over your toe, so shrimp squats and deep step ups require more ankle mobility than pistols&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deep Step-Up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrimp Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T07:58:31.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29974" CreationDate="2016-05-25T08:40:41.853" Score="5" ViewCount="4663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to body-building ( started 4 months ago; workout 4 times a week ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to my lifestyle ( choices ), my diet only contains occasional white meat servings and very little red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My intake of eggs is limited due to my high cholesterol levels &#xA;( I have been taking low doses of Statins to help control this condition ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking that my body might need more protein for muscle growth, repair and workout recovery ( I feel very zonked and drained after every session ), I thought I'd use some Whey protein supplement as a means to supplement my regular diet to provide my body with extra protein.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However my trainer tells me that the use of Whey protein will adversely affect my cholesterol levels and that I should use amino acids instead.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here then are my questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.) Can the use of Whey Protein supplements adversely affect/increase blood cholesterol levels? Is this a known fact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.) Could the use of BCAA instead help with muscle tissue growth and repair  &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; affecting blood cholesterol levels adversely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.) For how long would one usually take BCAA's and would there be any serious adverse health effects in the longterm from taking them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I usually commence workouts later in day after a full working day, I start gym sessions in an already fatigued state, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4.) Can the use of Creatine help with energy levels? Like helping you kick start your gym sessions with a little boost ( and thus overcoming the fatigue from a day's work )?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20457" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T19:06:07.643" Title="Effect of whey protein on blood cholesterol level" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;bcaa&gt;&lt;cholesterol&gt;&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29969" CreationDate="2016-05-25T09:10:57.277" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The negative effect on VO2max due to detraining varies a bit with different studies, with losses ranging from 4-14% when training is stopped for less than 4 weeks [1-8]. Obviously, the longer the inactivity, the more the negative impact on VO2max., to a point. For example one study found that endurance athletes lost 7% of their VO2max in the first 21 days of inactivity and eventually stabilized at a 16% loss after 56 days (1). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A different study found that over a 2400 meter run, women averaged 21 seconds slower following 15 days of inactivity. [18]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better trained you were before the inactivity (higher trained-state VO2max), the bigger its decline when training is stopped (1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find the references in the following link&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activespineandsport.net/news/mitigating-declines-in-fitness-while-injured/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T09:10:57.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29981" CreationDate="2016-05-25T09:13:15.130" Score="2" ViewCount="1572" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Questions:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the following routine suitable for my goals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the routine balanced and efficient? (eg. Am I doing too much of a specific exercise)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;I am:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25, Male, 78kg, 5ft5.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Graduated off 5x5 SL with following 1RM:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift: 135kg (Limited by grip strength, i'm getting chalk!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 120kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench: 62.5kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OHP: 45kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pendlay Row: 72.5kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a good level of fitness (Can get a good pass on a British Army Fitness test),&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you can work out, I have a triangle body shape; lots of strength in my lower body, weaker chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I get popping/grating shoulder when doing dumbbell presses so I don't do them!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;My goals:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order of preference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aesthetics: I'm doing this to look good. I am pairing my exercise with a 10-15% calorie deficit to reduce my BF% from mid twenties to high teens.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance: I want to achieve what I deem to be a balanced body. My squats and deadlifts are good for that of my goal bodyweight but my upper body is lagging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve my main lifts (Deadlift, Squat, Bench).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Routine:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put this together from a range of different PPL routines. Its a 6 day rotation, either PPL[rest]PPL or PPLPPL[rest]. I lowered individual set volume on the big lifts to continue progression to higher weights. I do accessory AB work at home with planks and ab-wheels on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Warm-up: (WW = working weight)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only usually bother with this for the first lift of a muscle group. I don't do a full re-warm up when going from squats to deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Empty bar x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50% WW x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;75% WW x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;90% WW x3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Main Routine (Sets x Reps):&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 3x5 + 1xAMRAP (as many reps as possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Seated Row 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DB Bicep Curl 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable rope face pull 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer Curls 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Crunch 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Bench 3x5 + 1xAMRAP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OHP 4x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Bench 4x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dip 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral Raise 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep Pushdown 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 3x5 + 1xAMRAP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extension 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf Raises 5x15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wood Chops 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pendlay Row 3x5 + 1xAMRAP (as many reps as possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BD Bicep Curl 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat Pulldown 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EZ Curls 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Crunch 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OHP 3x5 + 1xAMRAP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench 4x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dip 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BD Fly 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral Raise 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep Pushdown 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 3x5 + 1xAMRAP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Press 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Curl 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf Raises 5x15&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wood Chops 3x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T13:51:57.073" Title="Is this PPL routine suitible for my Goals?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29971" CreationDate="2016-05-25T10:16:12.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, BCAAs are branched-chain amino acids, and amino acids are the building blocks for protein. Your body can get amino acids from protein sources by catabolism just fine. Eat good protein sources, eat varied and supplement only as needed. Paying a premium for things that are needlessly complex (such as whey isolate instead of simple concentrate) rarely makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.) Can the use of Whey Protein supplements adversely affect/increase blood cholesterol levels? Is this a known fact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching for &quot;whey protein cholesterol&quot; immediately yielded a study observing the exact opposite: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20377924&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20377924&lt;/a&gt;. Supplementation with whey protein in this case yielded a notable decrease in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the &quot;bad one&quot;) compared to  non-supplement and casein supplement control groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One study isn't conclusive when it comes to complex nutritional issues but at least it should set off your BS alarm when a trainer claims whey protein is going to affect your blood lipid levels in a bad way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2.) Could the use of BCAA instead help with muscle tissue growth and repair without affecting blood cholesterol levels adversely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of what I find seems to study BCAA supplementation effects on groups with specific pathologies, where increases in blood lipid levels may in fact be required. I'm not finding resources suggesting BCAA supplementation would adversely affect cholesterol levels for healthy people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm finding some claims for reductions of serum levels of cholesterol by intake of taurine, arginine and carnitine, but none of those are BCAAs (and taurine is not strictly an amino acid in the dietary sense). I'd be critical of this anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3.) For how long would one usually take BCAA's and would there be any serious adverse health effects in the longterm from taking them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amino acid and protein supplements don't require cycling or tapering. They simply provide some extra nutrients which you'll already find in food in similar levels. That's it. There's no reason to believe there are any long-term problems with taking them if they don't displace an otherwise healthy diet. Claims that a high-protein diet would be harmful to the kidneys are also total bunk based on the protein restriction prescribed to people who already &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; kidney dysfunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4.) Can the use of Creatine help with energy levels? Like helping you kick start your gym sessions with a little boost ( and thus overcoming the fatigue from a day's work )?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe a little. Creatine will assist in ATP (adenosine triphosphate) turnover from ADP (adenosine diphosphate). This could help with recovery between sets, maybe a some extra strength available before a muscle fatigues. I don't think it's going to do much for your general energy levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anything would help when you feel low on energy during workouts, it would be carbohydrates. These provide the glucose needed by muscles for force production. Protein is required for building muscle and can also provide energy, but when it comes to energy levels during a workout session you'll find glucose levels have a much more profound effect, and carbs are simply the easiest and most direct source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I leave you with some further notes. The relation between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol levels has come under scrutiny. Dietary cholesterol used to be thought of as the primary driver for blood levels for a long time but that stance is being re-examined (and outright rejected in some cases). So it's possible that leaving out the eggs isn't really helping you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's been a lot of flipping on the cholesterol issue with new surprises springing up every so often. Cholesterol used to be bad. Then it was found there's HDL and LDL with the latter requiring reduction and the former actually needing to be higher for some folks. Meanwhile the idea that dietary fat is a big problem came under scrutiny. Then it was said saturated fats were the problem while unsaturated fats were actually beneficial. The blame for the obesity epidemic shifted towards carbohydrates. But only refined carbohydrates. Then red meat was discovered to give you bowel cancer. Must be the saturated fat. Oh wait, no, saturated fat actually isn't the problem, we're thinking it must be the carnitine now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there's controversy over statins regarding whether they're actually needed at all, if their benefits outweigh the risks and if the cholesterol scare isn't even an artificial problem in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see where I'm getting at? Each piece of the puzzle brings 5 other pieces out of alignment. Doctors can't be expected to be completely up-to-date with all the latest nutritional studies, and even if they are they can only operate on the current state of knowledge. Which is also what doctors did 20 years ago when they told you to eat less fat, and a couple centuries ago when mercury was the magic cure-all. So with that in mind, how do you expect a trainer to know much better? With all due respect to some of the good trainers out there, most PT's don't know sh*t.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I can say is, learn as much as you can from the information out there, be skeptic of everything (broscience and actual science alike) and find out what works for you. Long story short, protein supplements probably won't do much for your cholesterol level, creatine is useful but no miracle supplement (it's actually quite subtle) and some carbs would help you with that workout energy. Don't panic if increasing carbs leads to some quick weight gain, that'd be water retention from the glucose/glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2016-05-27T06:55:28.383" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T06:55:28.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29973" CreationDate="2016-05-25T11:03:28.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any immediate problems with it. But it sure is a lot of volume. Make sure you can properly recover from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some programs I'd consider an excellent step up from a linear progression on a beginner program, like SL 5x5, that could be a good prep for going towards higher volume and specific goals. The Texas Method is a great template that will allow for continued progress in strength gains as an intermediate while leaving room for customization. I've also done Candito's Linear Program which is great for novices (and I did it in that context) but felt like it would make a great graduation from a simpler program into intermediate territory. His 6-week program might also be a good fit. Maybe doing one of those for a brief period would make for a smooth transition into PPL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For balancing a program, a good point was made on aworkoutroutine.com (good blog with a common sense, no-nonsense approach). It stated that creating a balanced routine should try to achieve similar total reps on opposite movements. So if, say, you do 3 sets of 5 reps for bench, then somewhere in the program there should be 3 sets of 5 reps for rows. See about totals for each major movement pattern and how they add up compared to each other. That could give you a good idea. Now, this does depend on goals. If you're going for a bodybuilding approach and feel specific areas of your body need more work, then that's going to skew some volume. But a balanced physique is still a good thing to have and over time would naturally result from a balanced program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good call on the chalk. Have you tried a hook grip on the deadlifts yet? Also, if grip starts becoming a limiting factor, straps might be useful. You obviously don't want to use them all the time so grip can become stronger, but there's no need to let that one component hold you back from the benefits of progressing on the deads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T11:03:28.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29973" CreationDate="2016-05-25T11:06:34.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to &quot;look good&quot;, I assume you want to have quick results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, it seems you have a weak chest. In general, people going to the gym to &quot;look good&quot; put the heavier weights on bench presses (normal, incline...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should therefore concentrate on your upper body, thus doing longer sets for bench press, and switch exercises randomly.&#xA;For example :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bench press 4*10, incline press 4*10, dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;incline press 4*10, bench press 4*10, decline press 4*10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flys 4*10, bench press 4*10, dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an example. You did SL, so you know how to keep track of your progress : write down what you achieve, and either change the number of reps, or the weights, but the most important thing is to avoid doing the same routines. You can also use the pyramid technique (don't know if it is exactly called like that) : start with many reps but low weights, progress to few reps and heavy weights, and back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*12*50kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*10*55kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*8*60kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*6*65kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*4*70kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*6*65kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*8*60kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*10*55kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1*12*50kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that your chest is weak, you will use more your triceps at first, this is why it is a good idea to do the pec flys at the beginning, because you concentrate on them only when you are not tired yet (and you will be limited by your triceps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the dips, once you reach 12, you can use a belt and put some weight on it, start with 5kg for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, prefer the barbell exercises than the machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you have issues with dumbbell exercises : indeed it can be traumatizing if not well executed, but these give really good results, so maybe you should try again with quite lower weights, and ask someone experienced to watch your form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the back, you should and must do the same amount of pec and back days, in order to be &quot;symetric&quot; (not sure about the wording!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And continue doing the legs once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of your program seems OK, try to change the order/the reps and sets/the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T11:06:34.493" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29982" CreationDate="2016-05-24T19:13:36.933" Score="8" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good evening!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been running in an athletic club for two years. I've just noticed that I will have a 10 km run in two weeks (actually the 4th of June). I said two weeks to speak generally and make this question a guide for future athletes reading this post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm looking for training techniques and tips to prepare for the 10 km in two weeks, and, have the best postures and strategy on the day of the race.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doing 5 minutes 7 seconds for 1500m and did only two 10 km in competition.  I don't have the times for the 10km right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20474" OwnerDisplayName="Marine1" LastEditorUserId="20474" LastEditDate="2018-08-06T21:22:42.573" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T21:22:42.573" Title="How to train for a competitive 10 km in two weeks?" Tags="&lt;technique&gt;&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29973" CreationDate="2016-05-25T13:40:43.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I actually like what you've done. When I was cutting weight for a powerlifting meet, I did something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you say you want to look good (i.e aesthetics), balanced, and be strong. In other words, you want to lose body fat and keep or increase all your strength. Let me break it down a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To look aesthetic, you need to lose body fat, and hence you need to REALLY get your diet down.&lt;/strong&gt; I know, everyone will say &quot;yeah yeah I eat healthy its no problem&quot;, but no you NEED to have a very good idea of what your diet is going to look like. For example, since you're 171lbs, to lose about 0.5 lbs of body fat per week, you would need around 171x14 = 2400 calories roughly to maintain the weight you're at, and 2400-500= 1900 calories every day in order to drop 0.5lbs weekly. Obviously most of your calories should come from protein in order to keep most of your muscle and strength (1g per lbs of bodyweight should be good to start), and tweak your carbs and fats depending on how well you tolerate them. So basically...really get your diet down first, &lt;strong&gt;can't out train a bad diet ever.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, I see that you like doing 3x5 on the big lifts. This is OK, but you definitely want to change this up and add a bit more volume for these, since they are your bread and butter. For example, try doing 10 x 3 one week, 6x5 the next..etc. If you're gonna train them all twice a week like you laid out, try going &quot;light&quot;, and focus on speed work, for example 5-10 sets of 3 with about 50-60% of your 1RM, and the other day, go &quot;heavy&quot;, for example 5-6 sets of 5-3  for 75-95% of your 1RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up, for aesthetics, you need to lose body fat. This means DIET, and retaining muscle mass (best kept through strength training). To get better at the big lifts, you need to just do them. That's it. &lt;strong&gt;You want to perfect/improve something? Then you practice it as much as you can, while allowing for proper recovery.&lt;/strong&gt; Vary up your rep/set schemes, as well as your intensity, and you'll be golden. &lt;strong&gt;All of these assistance movements you added, should target your weaknesses in the big 3 lifts.&lt;/strong&gt; For example, if you're struggling at the lockout of the bench, work on your triceps for 2-4 assistance exercises, instead of just throwing a bunch of random exercises and doing them all for 3x10-12. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest reading up on some of Layne Norton's articles (natural PL, bodybuilder) who has a phD in nutrition, they are very informative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T13:40:43.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29973" CreationDate="2016-05-25T13:51:57.073" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, your question is very much rooted in opinion, so, here’s my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You stated that you want an “Aesthetic” physique.  Aesthetics implies balance.  By your own admission, you’ve indicate that your “upper body is lagging”.  Your current routine may not sufficiently address this concern.  You should consider rearranging your training to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/teen-locke32.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prioritize&lt;/a&gt; the “problem areas” you’ve indicated.  For example, if your biceps are lacking, make sure to do biceps exercises early on in your routine when you are fresh.  Don’t be afraid to change your routine occasionally to address the problem areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d also reconsider dropping your body fat percentage as you’ve indicated.  Most bodybuilders drop to the teens and lower, but, only for the months leading up to a competition.  Rather than concentrating on immediate calorie reduction, you should consider training for mass since &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-04-12/news/9504130151_1_calories-muscles-body&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle is more metabolically active&lt;/a&gt; thus allowing you to burn more calories.  In addition, added muscle should improve your aesthetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I’d also consider training 5 days or less.  One day of rest may seem sufficient, but, over the long term, given the volume of training you indicated, recovery may end up becoming a problem.  Remember, you’re not building muscle while you’re in the gym.  That occurs when your body has had a chance to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T13:51:57.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29977" CreationDate="2016-05-25T15:38:58.637" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used the time predictor from this site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/general/rws-race-time-predictor/1681.html&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/general/rws-race-time-predictor/1681.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your 1500m time I am getting 38:13 for the 10k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will not be able to improve your cardiovascular fitness much in time for the race&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on taking it easy for the week leading up to your race and concentrate on pacing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aim for a small reverse slit, perhaps 19:33 for the first 5k and 18:40 for the second 5k&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good night sleep before race day. Have a light breakfast (banana or oatmeal, etc) several hours beforehand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time predictions about may not be accurate because 1500m is not very close to 10k (more accurate predictions can only be made from recent races of similar length). The point is not to go out too fast and pace yourself, which will allow you to pass a lot of people who tire more than you for the later part of the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is another calculator you can use to help decide on your intended pace for the race: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot;&gt;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20455" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T15:38:58.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29935" CreationDate="2016-05-25T20:31:50.497" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can refer to the following &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSIH9boSLPc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; for demonstration of &lt;code&gt;THE BIG 5 WORKOUT&lt;/code&gt; for home. I don't know if the exercises can improve the aerobic level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19512" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T20:31:50.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29986" CreationDate="2016-05-25T22:20:54.437" Score="6" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this question may seem irrelevant since there are many good answers addressing it, for example &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/1341/20300&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;However, the questions and answers I found are all about losing muscle while regularly doing cardio exercise along the year or while following a diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My case is a bit different: I plan to walk the GR20 (France) in July, which is said to be one of the most physically difficult GR (French for &quot;Great Hiking&quot;, if I do not translate badly). It will probably last around 15-16 days (10km a day, but it is very intensive, because of the height difference — it is in the mountain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I exercise regularly: both bodyweight exercises and moderate cardio (running 30 minutes 3 times a week). I have no problem building muscle and eat accordingly. My goal is not to be muscular, but I do not want to lose (too much) muscle during this trip. How can I avoid that or, if it is not possible, reduce the impact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, sufficiently eating carbs and protein will be important, but should I expect an (important) loss of muscle, should I continue to exercise when I shall arrive at the shelter (since I do bodyweight exercise, it is possible)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20300" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T08:07:36.037" Title="How to avoid muscle loss when doing prolonged cardio (around 15 days in a row)?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29985" CreationDate="2016-05-26T02:59:41.703" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, unless you know more or less exactly how many calories you're gonna burn daily, you will lose some muscle. Obviously, if you have a good estimate of how much you will burn, try to eat over this amount + your bodyweight in lbs x 15 (which is the amount of calories required for bodyweight maintenance for an average male) in calories. I will discuss, where these calories should come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a training perspective, if you do have the time left over, you should definitely do some form of weight training, focusing primarily on strength. Now since you only do bodyweight exercises, this is a bit tricky. I'd say the best you can do at this point is to just try to do weighted pushups and pullups. Dips, if possible. Don't kill yourself doing these, you just want to invoke protein synthesis to counteract the protein breakdown that will occur during extensive cardio. So don't rest only 10-30 seconds between sets and burn even MORE calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, perhaps the most important factor for your goal, is your diet. To give you a high-level, overly simplified overview: when you do cardio (or any physical activity for that matter), your body will breakdown glucose for energy. If it doesn't have sufficient glucose, it will start breaking down proteins for energy (this is VERY overly simplified, but won't affect the arguement), and hence you will have more protein breakdown than protein syntheis, and therefore lose muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given this, to minimize muscle loss, I would suggest very high amounts of low glycemic carbohydrates(oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat stuff) throughout the day, and especially before you walk. This way your body will have some fuel to burn over a long period of time. Additionally I &lt;strong&gt;very strongly&lt;/strong&gt; suggest supplementing with BCAAs (take during the walk and/or right after). These will supply your body with amino acids essential for protein synthesis. Furthermore, you will raise your insulin levels in order to counteract the elevated levels of cortisol (worst hormone for losing muscle) that's due to your &quot;cardio&quot;. Moreover, I suggest you consume high-glycemic carbs right after your walks (white rice, some fruits such as grapes, even candy...etc) in order to replenish your glycogen stores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last, try to get about a gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight you have at the VERY minimum, for optimal protein synthesis, and muscle retention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worst comes to worst, after you lose some muscle, just go to the gym, start training with weights, and you'll make what we call &quot;newbie&quot; muscle gains in a very short amount of time, given that you eat sufficiently, since you're not used to weight training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T02:59:41.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29985" CreationDate="2016-05-26T08:07:36.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, you won't lose your muscles in 15 days, that is too short.&#xA;I know that hiking can be tyring sometimes (I live near the alps and hike often), but that is not enough to really lose muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year I spent one month in South America, at high altitudes (+3500m), most of the time hiking, I did not lose any muscles (but I burned fat, that was cool!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for the GR20 you need to pack very light, so you won't have room for supplements and stuff like that anyways!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T08:07:36.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29947" CreationDate="2016-05-26T09:13:45.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the main issues I've had with front squats in the past is that of thoracic mobility and mid / upper back strength, particularly when it comes to moving out of the hole (the bottom of the squat position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have poor thoracic mobility, or a weak mid / upper back, then you tend to curl forward as you try and push out of the bottom of the squat. I always use a clean grip (backward wrist bend) to do front squats, and since I have less range of motion around the shoulder in a clean grip than I do with a crossed grip, the issue of thoracic mobility becomes more pronounced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In simpler terms, it could be that you're actually leaning forward too much but compensating by lifting your elbows higher, which is a lot easier with a cross handed grip (as an experiment, sit up straight assume a clean grip on an imaginary bar, and push your elbows as high as you can, then assume a cross handed grip on an imaginary bar and see how high you can get your elbows. My guess is a fair bit higher).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, mobility in the hips and ankles could also be something to look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how to fix it and improve your front squats, I'd say first off work on your thoracic, ankle and hip mobility daily. It doesn't have to take a long time, something like the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-counter-stretch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;counter stretch&lt;/a&gt; is easy enough to do a few times a day and has helped my a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More weight related, train your front squat first in your workout, and you can try doing supramaximal holds in the front squat position, something like 3 sets of 30 seconds at 110% of your 1RM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to make sure you really are racking the bar close enough to your neck. I was told by an oly lifting coach that if you can breath comfortably, then you're not doing them right :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of good &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/when-in-doubt-do-front-squats-25-tips-for-better-front-squats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggestions here&lt;/a&gt;, though they do assume a clean grip front squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2016-05-26T09:23:15.677" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T09:23:15.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25951" CreationDate="2016-05-26T11:28:03.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;so 108 sun salutations.One Suryanamaskar contains 12 asanas that complete one cycle, so one cycle per each leg (Right &amp;amp; left) complete one round. So 54 sets of this round will give 108 Sun salutations. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20472" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T11:28:03.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29993" CreationDate="2016-05-26T12:17:36.873" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been on the same program for about 2 months now while trying to lose weight. I typically change programs every 3-6 months (Depending on the length of the program). However, I am really enjoying this program and would like to continue it while losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it generally advised to change programs while on weight loss or is adaptation not a concern? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in a general sense, I have not hit a plateau yet as far as weight loss and I typically manage to add 5lbs every 3-4 workouts on compound movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T13:29:15.643" Title="Mixing Things Up When Losing Weight" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29990" CreationDate="2016-05-26T12:31:28.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will only loose weight if your eating less than your daily required amount of calories. I would work out how many calories your consuming a day, apps like my fitness pal will help with this. Then every couple of weeks reduce the total daily amount by around 100-200 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20473" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T12:31:28.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29910" CreationDate="2016-05-26T12:37:54.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm kind of the in same boat as you and I would reccomend buying a single speed bike to get your fitness up and then start running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20473" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T12:37:54.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29990" CreationDate="2016-05-26T12:54:04.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's working for you, keep with it. The reasons for switching are generally either for novelty (keeping the same diet for a prolonged amount of time can lead to more &quot;cheat days&quot; because you're tired of watercress sandwiches and grapefruit smoothies, and the fun of trying something new might motivate you) or to deal with accommodation (if you're doing the same exercise over and over again, not only might you get bored, but you might also start getting too efficient with the movements, burning less energy because you're learning to do the movement with less effort. If your diet and exercise is still working for you, there's no real reason to switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if you're incorporating strength exercises and you're not bored, I'd argue that you're at an advantage keeping up with it. Getting in better shape means lifting more weight, which means more energy burned in the same amount of time. Compare it to something like cardio or endurance calisthenics where your rate of energy burned plateaus, but you're spending more time at it. I don't know about you, but my exercise time is carved out of a busy schedule, so I would prefer to work harder for that half hour rather than add another half hour of time I need to account for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as a general bit of advice, as stated by user3049698, the primary aspect of losing weight is burning more calories than you take in. Some amount of exercise is good because it boosts your metabolism a bit, but watch that you don't eat more &quot;refueling&quot; than you're burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T12:54:04.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29990" CreationDate="2016-05-26T13:29:15.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming your diet is on point, then yes, you should change program to avoid adapting to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to lose weight is somewhat different to trying to get strong (though yes, you can do both at the same time to a certain degree). Whereas getting stronger is all about increasing the efficiency of the exercise, be it tweaks to your form or the ability to recruit more of your fast twitch muscle fibres through CNS adaptation, &lt;a href=&quot;http://mikemahler.com/articles-videos/fat-loss/inefficiency-training-for-rapid-fat-loss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;losing weight is more about inefficiency&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote Dan John, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/how-to-train-for-non-stop-fat-loss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the more you suck, the leaner you get&lt;/a&gt; (damn, that looks like click-bait if ever I heard it...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do an inefficient exercise, your body struggles because it doesn't know the best way to respond to the demands placed upon it, so you'll use more energy (burn more calories) because you'll be using more muscles in unfamiliar ways (think, &lt;a href=&quot;http://correct-weight-loss.net/how-fast-would-lance-armstrong-run-a-marathon-and-why-this-affects-your-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;when Lance Armstrong ran the New York City Marathon&lt;/a&gt;. Despite being possibly one of the fittest guys on the planet, he finished 856th).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're training and getting stronger, which is fantastic, and is, in of itself, a form of inefficiency (adding more external load changes the demands on your body), so by increasing the weight you're lifting, you'll be getting stronger and burning more calories (muscle has a higher metabolic demand than fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, should you change your program to avoid adaptation? It depends...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're getting stronger and losing weight on your current program, and are enjoying it, then I'd stick with it for the time being. Enjoyment is often an overlooked factor in losing weight and getting fit; it's very hard to stick at something when you don't enjoy it, your motivation just fades out, despite best intentions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your weight loss starts to plateau, then you can either play around with adding finishers to the end of your workouts (kettlebell swings or jump rope intervals are great for this), or try changing up the exercises your doing to increase the inefficiency of the exercise (swap from barbells to dumbbells for instance). Changing up the exercises in this way won't have as greater impact as throwing in something you're completely unfamiliar with, but it can eke out a little more from a program you're enjoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T13:29:15.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29910" CreationDate="2016-05-26T13:32:32.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should consider getting into a sport that involves other people as well. Running is great, but unless you have a running budy, it's yet another lonely activity where you need to rely on your own discipline. Everyone can get started, do a few runs and feel good. The hardest part of running as an exercise is the discipline involved with doing it regularly &quot;in the long run&quot;. Getting out of bed when you don't feel like it, skipping a few days because of the rain, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is something to be said for meeting people at a set time and training together. Having a place where people expect you to show up gives you extra motivation for those days when you don't feel like training, and also provides some measure of social life, which is kind of nice when you're spending most of your time alone with the computer (same story here). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Team sports are great, but it's tricky to integrate a team for real when you are way out of shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best advice would be looking into martial arts like Judo or BJJ. It might sound rough, but it's actually quite fun, and you'll find that the same qualities that make a computer nerd also make a BJJ/Judo nerd. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4868" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T13:32:32.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-26T13:40:58.390" Score="1" ViewCount="1476" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just home from the gym, always finish my session with a few 10 seconds sets of planks followed by a small cool down on a treadmill. However this time round while doing my first set of 10 seconds my head felt like it was going to explode! Battled through thinking it was nothing and finished 3 sets with 5 seconds of a break in between. Now I'm sitting feeling like my brain is going to explode! Has anyone else ever felt like this and if so how do I make this stop. It's starting to annoy me cause it's not sore it's just like a pressure headache :/ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20476" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T14:32:11.833" Title="Sore head during planking?" Tags="&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-26T15:55:17.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29997" CreationDate="2016-05-26T14:32:11.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few possibilities. Worst common case is that it's a blood pressure issue. That's unlikely if this doesn't normally cause you problems and you're fine with other exercises. Other possibilities include bad technique. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/374149-i-have-a-headache-when-doing-pushups/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; is about push-ups, but it covers similar ground. Holding your breath, straining your neck or shoulders, or clenching your jaw can all lead to headaches. Lastly, there's a possibility that this is related to your horizontal position. Trying just lying down and seeing if there's an issue. If so, this might be due to blood moving toward your head or due to stuff in your sinus cavities settling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T14:32:11.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T03:11:16.623" Score="5" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really don't know what I am doing wrong this time. I am going to the gym 5 times a week (every workday). I am eating 1600-1700 calories (TDEE recommended I eat 1800 to lose weight). And I am being consistent! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age: 27&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sex: Male&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: 178cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight: 230lbs as of today&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caloric intake to maintain weight: 2,283&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caloric intake to lose: 1,783 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast : (about 3 hours after waking up)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 cup steel cut Oats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LUNCH 1 :&#xA;Whey Protein 1 scoop&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LUNCH 2: &#xA;Either Chicken Salad or Chicken soup or Egg salad sandwich + 1 Avacado&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch 3: (After workout)&#xA;Whey protein 1 scoop&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner:&#xA;2cup white rice + chicken curry or some other indian curry food&#xA; + Maybe Whey Protein 1 scoop (if I worked out extra hard that day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing this for about 2 months now. I am stronger than before, I can lift more, be on the elliptical longer, but don't seem to be losing any weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've lost 3lbs last month, which I seem to have gained back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WTF am I missing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am counting every single calorie through Myfitnesspal: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/zoobear2014&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/zoobear2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I am not logging the calories burned during workouts. On weekdays I do 10k on elliptical daily (about 600 calories burned) + half hour of lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mistakes I've made&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I've made some mistakes that I am trying to fix:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not getting enough sleep: I work 9 hours a day, plus commute takes 3 hours + I spend 1.5 hour at the gym everyday. So I get about 5-6 hours of sleep on weekdays. On weekends I try to make up for it by sleeping 10 hours + 3 hour nap&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I go off track and eat extra some days. But I make sure to burn it by working out harder on those days&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20481" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T13:37:00.003" Title="I am trying to lose fat but keep fluctuating between losing 5lb and gaining it back a week later" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T03:43:35.700" Score="4" ViewCount="364" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if, excluding genetic reasons, as much muscles I have I'll live longer and avoid more disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19614" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-05-28T13:36:29.023" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T05:53:34.527" Title="Is there any correlation between weightlifting and increased life expectancy?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30001" CreationDate="2016-05-27T09:47:41.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you measure your body fat percentage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very important because weight alone does not indicate what your are losing/gaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the food you eat, that seems good except for the rice at each dinner : that's way too much carbs in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lose weight more effectively, you should be very careful at what you eat before sleeping. I only eat meat and vegetables at dinner, nothing else : no carbs (rice, pasta..), no desert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the &quot;cheat meals&quot; : it's ok to have one from time to time, the important thing is that you must allow several days between them. In my experience I've seen that it is way worst to eat several extra meals in a row, than a big extra once in a while. Also, if possible, try having these cheat meals for lunch, avoid dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the salads you eat at lunch, do not use too much sauce, try avoiding bread (really hard, I know!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, don't focus on having an exact amount of calories, you can have as many calories as you want if you eat lean meat for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if your goal is really to lose a lot of fat, you could try a high-protein diet, but you will have to stop doing cardio. This is a subject for debates I know, but there is the Dukan diet (I can give more info on that if needed) : I lost 15kg in 45 days !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T09:47:41.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30007" CreationDate="2016-05-27T10:09:46.753" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know, brain fuzziness isn't a technical term, but hopefully it makes sense...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train in the mornings before work (because the gym is waaay too busy after work), usually around 0700, after waking up somewhere between 0600 and 0630.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally eat a banana and have a glass of beetroot juice before training, just so I've got something in my stomach to train on (note: I never used to do this and used to feel really sick part way through the session, so this does solve one issue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training is either Squats &gt; Overhead presses &gt; Chin-ups or Squats &gt; Kettlebell swings &gt; Turkish get-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The workouts are tiring, but I wouldn't say excessively so and I generally leave feeling pretty good, but knowing that I've trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Post workout I have a whey protein shake, followed about 30 minutes later by something along the lines of roast butternut squash / sweet potato (or stir-fry veg) and some form of protein, normally fish related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, when I get to work (I work as a software developer), my head gets a bit &quot;fuzzy&quot; or &quot;foggy&quot; and I really struggle to concentrate on things for a few hours. If I'm working on something I know well, then it's not an issue, but if I'm working on something unfamiliar, I really struggle to work through things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else come across this? Could it be some form of low level dehydration (I'll admit, I normally forget to drink during the training session, but tend to chug up to a litre of water when I wake up). Any suggestions as to how to avoid it (aside from not training in the mornings).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T11:03:15.860" Title="How to avoid post-training brain fuzziness" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;dehydration&gt;&lt;brain&gt;&lt;tiredness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T12:00:02.893" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am searching for some test or competition, what measures the level of GPP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The test should be:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;complete - it should test absolute strength, relative strength and endurance (maybe more types of endurance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;easy measurable and repeatable - every healthy person should be able to do it with standard equipment and minimum time of preparation (to learn the test skills safely should not take more than few weeks).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the test should emphasize balance - it should not be possible to obtain good score with just one skill. Rather the test should cause a bad ranking for everybody with lack in one of the skills.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all exercises in test should be save and not stupid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;test should be universal (the results should not be directly dependent on bodyweight or height)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Optionally:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it would be great if the test already have long scoreboards across population from amateurs to elites validated by some authority&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other notes: (edit)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to first answer I realized few other points. Keep them in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups for high reps are endurance test (not the relative strength test)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Benchpress and situps are not directly related to GPP, thus they are irrelevant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the above points, all military/firemen/... selection tests what I find out have only small value from GPP point of view. Those tests mainly consist only from endurance or irrelevant events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have found just the &lt;strong&gt;Tactical Strength Challenge&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strongfirst.com/tactical-strength-challenge/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.strongfirst.com/tactical-strength-challenge/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20424" LastEditorUserId="20424" LastEditDate="2016-05-30T14:06:27.390" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T14:06:27.390" Title="Competitions / tests for General Physical Preparedness?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30001" CreationDate="2016-05-27T12:35:37.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've been following the same diet for all this time, it's very likely that your body has adapted and your metabolism has slowed down to cope with this. I won't give too many details here, but first of all, if you're trying to lose weight, the only times I would eat carbs would be right when you wake up, and before and after your workouts. The 2 cup white rice for dinner might have worked at first, but you're consuming a high glycemic carbohydrate with a decent amount of fat and protein, once your metabolism slowed down, its likely that this is either enough to fill up your glycogen stores and hence make u gain water weight, or just be stored as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to carb cycle if I were you since your body will not really adapt to this diet as you're constantly changing it up. I.e eat high carbs 1-2 times a week when youre going to go VERY hard at the gym, eat medium carbs 2-4 times a week, and low carbs on the days that you don't workout. Furthermore, I would add in a cheat day every 2 weeks or so, in order to reduce your cortisol levels, and spike your metabolic rate up, basically shocking the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that you barely eat in the morning, and hence this will definitely make your metabolic rate go down over time. Try to get the bulk of your calories from morning to after your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T12:35:37.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30004" CreationDate="2016-05-27T15:50:08.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is anecdotal from personal experience.&#xA;You could very well be crashing post workout. Does your &quot;fuzzybrain&quot; go away after you eat and drinking?&#xA;Have you considered blood sugar levels post workout, or eating something more then a protein shake post workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest. Throw in some (teaspoon or less) honey in your protein shake, to get glucose levels up quickly after workout, and have oatmeal or some other complex carb source to follow.&#xA;Make sure you are drinking plenty of water so you are not dehydrating yourself.&#xA;Additional blood pressure, how is your BP post training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20486" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T15:50:08.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30009" CreationDate="2016-05-27T18:58:04.460" Score="0" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've kind of been at a plateau for a while now. I'm currently 159 Lbs I am about 5'9. I started off the November of last year at 195 Lbs. I didn't know much about health or exercise or anything I had not done adequate research. My approach to the weight loss was do lots of cardio and I actually went on a vegetarian diet for maybe 3 months, which consisted of mostly carbs and processed vegetarian foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all the weight loss my stomach is still huge and there is fat well all over my body. I know that through the journey I lost muscle and fat. Now I'm wondering what to do? I am hitting the gym now and lifting weights. Do I just keep a caloric deficit with the adequate Macros or should I not worry about calories build muscle then go on a cut?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20488" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T13:01:01.877" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T13:01:01.877" Title="Lost weight wrong" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30008" CreationDate="2016-05-27T20:16:24.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you're a beginner, you can get away with what most of us can only dream of now. Gaining muscle AND losing fat very quickly, for a short limited time of course or &quot;newbie gains&quot; as it is called. Since your body is not used to weight training stimulus at all yet, if you start following a basic weight lifting program, cut out junk food, consume adequate protein, get proper rest, etc, you will definitely add some muscle and lose a little bit of fat for a short period of time. I'll try to layout some sort of a basic plan for you as it seems like you're just beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, pick a well-established weight training program based on compound movements (squats, presses, deadlifts, pulls). I suggest doing either Starting Strength, Madcow 5X5, or if you feel comfortable enough, a regular bodybuilding split (Chest &amp;amp; triceps, Back &amp;amp; Biceps, Legs &amp;amp; Shoulders). I'm more about diet so if you want more information (and you should), go on the internet and look up some beginner weight lifting programs. This is ESSENTIAL because first of all, the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn (without even doing anything), and second, obviously, you will also burn more calories through the act of lifting weights as well as get stronger and improve mood, confidence, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, perhaps the most important, and something that a lot of beginners misunderstand, is your diet. You say you ate mostly carbs and vegetarian, so it's safe to assume you didn't consume enough protein, and as a result, your protein breakdown was greater than your protein synthesis. Basically, you broke down muscle for energy. Since you already know what you did wrong, you already know what to do! Eat more protein! I would focus on consuming anywhere from 1g to 1.5g of protein per lbs of bodyweight that you have, in order to invoke protein synthesis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get your protein down, you can tweak your macros (carbs and fats). I suggest that you limit your carb intake to right when you wake up in the morning (as you are more sensitive to insulin in the morning) and right before and after your weight training sessions. This will ensure that you use the glycogen provided by the carbs as fuel and not proteins. Make sure you don't eat an excessive amount of carbs any other times, since they will just turn into fat if your insulin is high enough, and if you don't care and still are gonna eat carbs other than the morning and around your workouts, make sure they are complex carbohydrates (i.e brown rice, sweet potatoes, oatmeal), so you don't raise your blood sugar too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot more things to be said, but since you're relatively new, I would just focus on getting your training down, protein intake, and nutrient timing (I shouldn't even have to mention that you don't wanna eat ANY junk at ALL, this means no coca cola, no doritos...no alcohol etc). Once you follow this approach for a few months, you will see some changes, and eventually adapt. THAT's when you can post back here or do your own research, and tweak everything to your needs. Don't worry about cutting first or bulking first, if you cycle your carbs properly, you can do both, easily as a beginner...although it will be near impossible once you become a novice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, if you're REALLY unhappy (ive been down this path) with your body fat levels and how you look. You could utilize a low carb high fat diet in order to shed some body fat very quickly (3-4 months). I've done this before in the past and lost about 6lbs of fat in 2 months, and after that I was able to add on 10-15lbs of muscle in 8-9 months and looked better than ever. There are lots of great online articles about this and I suggest the one by Layne Norton, phD in Nutrition the most : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-norton-the-most-effective-cutting-diet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-norton-the-most-effective-cutting-diet.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoot me a message if you need any more help, or are unclear on something!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T20:16:24.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30005" CreationDate="2016-05-27T20:22:57.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you want something universal, with validations, easily measurable and repeatable as well as measuring endurance and strength. Why not just use standard military training fitness tests? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A basic one is the US Army Physical Fitness test, which includes pushups, situps, and a 2-mile run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/a/afpt.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/a/afpt.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look at some of the US Marine Corps ones, which are slightly different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not broad enough, or is too simple, there are some VERY GOOD special forces ones that I've used in the past. For example, JTF2 (Canadian Special Forces) has one that encompasses the bench press, pullups, pushups, situps, and a 1.5 mile run, with validated scores and all the fun stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cg.cfpsa.ca/cg-pc/London/SiteCollectionDocuments/ENGLISH/Fitness/Specialty%20Tests/JTF2%20Pre-Selection%20Physical%20Fitness%20Evaluation.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.cg.cfpsa.ca/cg-pc/London/SiteCollectionDocuments/ENGLISH/Fitness/Specialty%20Tests/JTF2%20Pre-Selection%20Physical%20Fitness%20Evaluation.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T20:22:57.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T21:57:59.630" Score="1" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m at 25% body fat and weight 87.5 KG. I use the cross trainer for 2-1 splits. My heart rate is 194-196 at resistance 10 recovering down to 186 at resistance 3. I can keep this routine up for 60-90 minutes 5-6 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel I am quite adapted to this routine, I have built it up gradually. I breathe normally throughout and I feel generally fine afterwards — it’s getting better over time. I sweat profusely though and my heart rate concerns me — it has always been high during exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d like it to be normal but at a stride of 150 and resistance 2-4 my heart rate will stay in the 170-180 range so lower intensity isn’t the key -- especially since my lungs and muscles are adapting as normal. I’d need to stick to walking to be in the MAF formula 180-35 (+15) range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I sweat like mad I assume my body fat percentage is making it hard for my body to loose heat and I’d need a higher heart rate to cool my body down. Should I  expect to have a more normal exercising heart rate once I get down to the 10-15% body fat range ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6146" LastActivityDate="2016-05-28T00:20:50.483" Title="Relationship between body fat percentage and heart rate / perspiration during aerobic exercise" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T22:24:48.383" Score="0" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out how long I should rest between exercising a particular muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have any studies been done that correlate the muscle-mass gain with the number of days between sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard 72 hours, but I don't know where that number  comes from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20489" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2016-05-28T16:34:39.623" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T08:40:06.110" Title="Studies About Rest Time" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30011" CreationDate="2016-05-28T00:20:50.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cardiovascular fitness and genetics are likely to play a larger role on your heart rate than your body fat%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally I would recommend long durations of lower intensity exercise in order to  build cardiovascular exercise (long slow runs, etc) however you say &quot;I feel I am quite adapted to this routine&quot;. Can you tell us what your resting heart rate it? Some people naturally have higher resting heart rates than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you continue to exercise and your bodyfat drops I would expect your resting heart rate and heart rate at your current intensity level to also decrease. You weight is not the primary causal factor of your cardiovascular fitness, just a symptom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20455" LastActivityDate="2016-05-28T00:20:50.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30015" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-28T04:16:24.467" Score="7" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I.e. If I want to live longer and avoid diseases. Should I target to build muscles or to be resistant as a marathoner? Is more exercise always better? (Besides risk of injuries of course)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19614" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-05-31T07:18:00.210" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T12:55:57.700" Title="What kind of goals should I have if I want to be as healthy as possible?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-28T14:49:59.660" Score="1" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;So far I've been trying to build bigger and bigger muscles because I thought that it will lead to having more testosterone in excess, therefore have all the benefits that a man can have with high levels of testosterone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgsTjdX2NTg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video John Gray gives an example which totally makes sense to me but I am not so into this, so I'd like to ask here. He says that the bigger the muscles the more testosterone gets used up for building more muscle or simply maintaining it, which must be true. He also &quot;asks&quot; &quot;Why then do they(huge muscles guys) take all these libido boosting herbs&quot; which kind of makes sense, since they have used up all the testosterone for building or maintaining these big muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, does building big muscles lead to having not enough testosterone? If yes, then what would be an optimum, I guess having very little muscles isn't a solution either..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15556" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T14:32:20.347" Title="Building big muscles leads to not enough testosterone?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30018" CreationDate="2016-05-28T16:29:04.183" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;During two quite active weeks, I lost about three kilos. After those weeks, I have been feeling low on energy, and more affected by how much food I have eaten the last few hours than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, in the past I could go without food for hours without feeling like I was low on energy. After the two aforementioned weeks, I can no longer do that. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to add that I am about 180 cm tall and now weigh 87 kilos. So, I am definitely not underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastActivityDate="2016-05-28T16:52:45.047" Title="Energy low after weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30017" CreationDate="2016-05-28T16:52:45.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds overwhelmingly likely that the caloric deficit that lead to the 3kg/2weeks was a bit too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For reference, &lt;em&gt;caloric deficit&lt;/em&gt; means we consume less calories than we spend per day.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is continued weight loss, I would recommend adding some more carbohydrates to your diet. Yes, it means increasing your caloric intake, but like I said, it sounds like your low caloric intake is causing your lack of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very good way of adding &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; carbohydrates throughout the day, is chomping on some fruit every now and then. If it's been a couple hours since your last meal, your blood sugar might decrease, causing a feeling of low energy. Fruits are high in natural sugars, and will help combat that, and provide a boost in energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we lose weight too fast, it's very likely that a good portion of that weight loss is muscle atrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, instead of losing 3kgs over two weeks, you start to lose 1kg every two weeks, that's a far more healthy rate of weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-05-28T16:52:45.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8221" CreationDate="2016-05-28T17:28:40.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a tree surgeon myself and climbing daily, I think you need a good balance of strength and endurance, because yes you need to be strong but you also need to last all day.  I'd say body weight exercises are the best because having too much muscle mass will make it hard to move around the tree (ALTHOUGH IT DOES BENEFIT WHEN MOVING LOGS.)  I suggest pull ups, muscle ups, dips, press ups, etc, mixed with compound lifts like deadlifts and overhead presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;YOU NEED FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20494" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2016-05-30T01:59:08.337" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T01:59:08.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2016-05-28T23:06:12.880" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read this article on the topic and I think is a very good read and very informative piece of advice &lt;a href=&quot;http://hypertensionnaturalremedies.com/is-it-safe-to-exercise-with-high-blood-pressure/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://hypertensionnaturalremedies.com/is-it-safe-to-exercise-with-high-blood-pressure/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20496" LastActivityDate="2016-05-28T23:06:12.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30001" CreationDate="2016-05-29T04:22:52.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are eating in a caloric deficit you will lose weight.period&#xA;Given your stats, there is definite reason to assume you will lose weight on 1800 calories certainly if you are eating less whether it's all carbs or all fats, it makes no difference(obviously for other reasons you want to get proper amounts of macronutrients)&#xA;Are you truly eating that amount?&#xA;The foods you listed don't really make it clear how many calories you are taking in a day.&#xA;Chicken salad or curry for example could be 1000 calories for all we know&#xA;Are you weighing (not volume measuring) and tracking every ingredient?&#xA;Also it's important to weigh yourself the same time (preferably in morning after going to the bathroom)once a week on the same day to accurately measure progress, as your weight will vary from day to day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T04:22:52.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30001" CreationDate="2016-05-29T05:54:18.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Replace white rice by brown rice or whole grain pasta. This contains a lot more minerals like e.g. magnesium that you need to burn energy. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_in_biology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;As pointed out here:&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Magnesium is an essential element in biological systems. Magnesium occurs typically as the Mg2+ ion. It is an essential mineral nutrient (i.e., element) for life&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_in_biology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;[2][3] and is present in every cell type in every organism. For example, ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the main source of energy in cells, must be bound to a magnesium ion in order to be biologically active. What is called ATP is often actually Mg-ATP.[4] As such, magnesium plays a role in the stability of all polyphosphate compounds in the cells, including those associated with the synthesis of DNA and RNA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Over 300 enzymes require the presence of magnesium ions for their catalytic action, including all enzymes utilizing or synthesizing ATP, or those that use other nucleotides to synthesize DNA and RNA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also make sure you eat at least 400 grams of vegetables per day,  about 50 grams of tree nuts like e.g. walnuts and at least 200 grams of fruit. You should aim for a total magnesium intake from your diet of at least 500 mg. You can boost the magnesium intake by using supplements, but note that if you are not getting 500 mg from your diet then your diet is not healthy as it will be lacking other essential minerals and vitamins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T05:54:18.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30002" CreationDate="2016-05-29T12:05:37.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Correlation - two events happening together (like observing if carrying lots of muscle and living long go often together) shouldn't be confused with causation (hyphotesizing the more muscle you have, the longer you live).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High protein, higher calorie diets, typical to people that carry lots of muscle, add strain to your liver and kidneys. Lifting heavy and often pushing the boundaries of your capabilities, leads to injuries and decreased mobility in the long run. Heavy lifting needed to build lots of muscle, forces high blood pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If lifespan is your goal, regular exercise, healthy unprocessed food, plenty of sleep, avoiding injuries and stress and being generally happy is the way to go. Many of these factors are also necessary to build and carry more muscle - you can't get big and lean without living rather healthy (although &quot;healthy&quot; is very relative term). For some people, being muscular improves their self-esteem, which improves their lifestyle, happiness and this could have a major impact on life. But even if there is data to suggest that there is positive correlation with lifespan and amount of muscle you carry, it still would be just a correlation. It wouldn't mean that the muscle itself is somehow making you live longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact many of the most muscular people in the world - like professional bodybuilders and weightlifters die very young (30s to 50s). Needless to say there are other factors involved (like drugs) but compare that to professional swimmers or skiers or just people who are just light, live actively and not carry significant amount of muscle. It draws a different picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-05-31T05:53:34.527" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T05:53:34.527" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-29T14:38:16.327" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am following the below routine at home in evening hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 sets of 20 reps with 2 minutes break between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;squats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;inclined pushups&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hip thrust&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;walking lunges&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Normal pushups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;crunches&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;followed by 1 set each of below pushups. any number which i can do in one go with 30 seconds break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diamond pushups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;normal pushups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;wide grip pushups.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible i also perform &lt;strong&gt;skip rope&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been performing this routine for more than a month now. Should i continue the same for some more time or should i change it in any way as it doesn't seem to be adding any mass to my body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20160" LastEditorUserId="20160" LastEditDate="2016-05-29T14:49:50.107" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T07:55:38.797" Title="Overall body fitness routine at home" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30016" CreationDate="2016-05-29T16:46:40.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, building muscle does not lead to the body having not enough testosterone. The body produces testosterone itself and when it is stimulated properly (through exercise and diet) more will be produced and used according to the bodily needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13784" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T16:46:40.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30027" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-30T00:27:56.873" Score="4" ViewCount="4577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been trying calisthenics and when doing pushups I find that the next day the muscles that I feel sore are the lats (gods know why) and my upper chest. The part near the clavicle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there is any way to target the lower chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16807" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T17:47:53.427" Title="Lower Chest Pushups?" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30027" CreationDate="2016-05-30T01:04:22.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're just doing push-ups, it's all about the angle. As your hands go higher, you're targeting more of the upper-chest. As your feet go higher, you're targeting more of the lower-chest. The catch is that lowering your hands (or elevating your feet) will also make it harder because you're supporting less of your weight with your feet, increasing the amount of work your arms, shoulders, and chest have to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-06-02T17:47:53.427" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T17:47:53.427" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30025" CreationDate="2016-05-30T07:55:38.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing all of these will be good for general conditioning and endurance. But for building strength and mass, not so much. That adaptation requires progress, which can take these forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the resistance (usually done by increasing weight lifted).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase reps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decrease rest times between sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing reps is not very useful for a beginner, because once your body has adapted to performing an exercise with a given resistance for a certain number of reps, doing longer sets will lead to more adaptation in endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing more sets isn't particularly useful either for the same reason: if a set of a certain number of reps isn't heavy enough anymore that doing multiple sets requires a lot of rest in between (say, 3 or more minutes) then it isn't going to challenge you enough to initiate an adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limiting rest intervals between sets also targets endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that leaves us with increasing resistance, for which weight training is a necessity. A linear progression, where the weight is increased every workout while the focus is kept on sets of 5 reps, is considered optimal for a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have the possibility of doing so, I suggest to choose bodyweight exercises which can be varied in such a way that they become progressively heavier, and target sets with low repetitions, where no more than 8 can be done. Some options you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats: find some way of loading the squat. Having dumbbells could work, or a large jug that can be filled with water and held in front of you as would be done with goblet squats. Note however that you won't be able to keep loading this to the extent that would be possible with a barbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups: changing the angle can work here. Putting your feet up on a surface that can be gradually increased in height would progressively make the pushups harder, but would also change the biomechanics of the movement. It would slowly move towards a motion that resembles a handstand pushup. Other options are variations in hand position (you already do these), explosive pushups (pushing yourself off the floor and doing a hand clap in between) and one-armed pushups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking lunges: if you happen to have dumbbells with weight plates, keeping these in your hands can add some weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progressive overload is the basic principle for strength adaptation, without it you can't expect to gain much strength. Weighted exercises are simply the most convenient, quantifiable way of doing this. Doing bodyweight only training is always going to result in some limits, since there's no practical substitute for squats with 60+ kg on your back or deadlifts over 100 kg without equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't expect to see much change in body mass in just one month. Improvements in form and neurological adaptations will contribute a lot to the initial strength gains, and even with a linear progression in weightlifting and a good caloric surplus, you shouldn't expect highly noticeable body composition results in only one month. The truth of natural bodybuilding is that it takes a substantial amount of time. Look for improvements over a longer time frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T07:55:38.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30012" CreationDate="2016-05-30T08:40:06.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're actually asking about is &quot;recovery&quot;. The term &quot;rest time&quot; usually applies to the time between sets within a workout. For example, if you'd do several sets of squats, you might rest anywhere between 2 to 5 minutes or even more depending on the intensity between those sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe likes to underline in his works (Starting Strength, Practical Programming for Strength Training) that strength and muscle are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; built by lifting weights, but by &lt;strong&gt;recovering&lt;/strong&gt; from lifting weights. The weight lifting constitutes a stress to the body which forces an adaptation. Initially, after the stress is applied, there's a period of reduced performance, during which your body is recovering. At that point performance is below the original baseline. As recovery completes, supercompensation occurs: in order to guard itself against a repetition of the stress the body adapts, increasing strength through muscle hypertrophy and other mechanisms. Performance now rises above the original baseline. If the stress is not repeated, detraining starts to occur and a return to the original baseline begins. Here is a diagram showing this effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AQWKR.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AQWKR.png&quot; alt=&quot;Fitness level curve&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what must happen is that the new training stimulus is provided within the window of supercompensation, when heavier weight can be used, this constitutes a new stress that the body is not adjusted to, and the cycle repeates with a higher baseline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CxHpt.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CxHpt.png&quot; alt=&quot;Fitness level progression&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the stress is repeated too soon, when recovery hasn't completed, overtraining occurs. Trying to lift heavier weight when you're still in the reduced performance zone will work against you, since you're likely to miss reps and are actually shoving the baseline lower. Wait too long, and you're not getting the benefits of the supercompensation window. If a beginner would only train each muscle group once a week, progress would likely be very slow or absent. There's plenty of people who do the exact same thing for years in the gym with little to show for it, since they're missing the crucial aspect of increasing the baseline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question, then, is what the time frame between the stress and the maximum of supercompensation is, which would be the optimal time to repeat training. That is going to be dependent on a lot of factors. First of all, the level of training. A beginner will usually fully recover and adapt within 48 to 72 hours, since the weights used are still low in an absolute sense, and so far from their physical limit in terms of strength in a relative sense. This is why a simple linear progression (weight increase each workout) and about 3 full-body workouts are concepts you'll see in many of the most popular beginner workout programs. For an intermediate trainee, where linear progression is no longer sustainable, things become more complicated. A single workout probably can't induce sufficient stress for enough adaptation to occur, so it's no longer just a matter of choosing the right recovery time. Stress from workouts needs to be accumulated in a way that uses multiple parameters, such as the intensity of an exercise (number of repetitions and percentage of max weight used), the number of sets, the way these cycle and more. Recovery will no longer be just a matter of how much time there is between workouts, but also what the workouts consist of. The Texas Method, for example, utilizes a scheme where one day is a volume day, a second day is a light day that doesn't inhibit recovery and adds no new stress but keeps neuromuscular efficiency up, and finally an intensity day which, driven by the recovery from the volume day, allows for setting new personal records and driving the baseline up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from those things, other factors will influence recovery such as adequate sleep, nutrition, the normal daily level of activity, personal life and stress... So in the end it's hard to say &quot;this time frame of rest is optimal&quot; because it will be a very individual matter. It is constantly going to vary depending on your level of training, program adherence, life factors and training history. I'm hesitant to go for actual studies, because they're frequently flawed in this respect. A lot of them work with untrained individuals or groups that are too coherent, who are going to respond very differently than you or I might, or someone with an athletic history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the true novice, however, the vast majority are going to be capable of recovering and being ready for a new training stimulus within 48 to 72 hours. So that is why you'll see beginner programs often consisting of 3 full-body workouts per week. The edge between overtraining and suboptimal volume hasn't become as sharp yet for these trainees, so things can be quite simple. Once you're past that phase, you should dig into some literature regarding programming (the aforementioned Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe &amp;amp; Baker is a good read) and have developed the sense to figure out whether you're doing too much or not enough. There's going to be recommendations that tend to work well for the largest portion of trainees, but there is, and can be, no single recommendation that is going to be optimal for everyone, in every situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T08:40:06.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-30T08:51:47.277" Score="1" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an eating disorder. I want to recover right know I am at healthy weight 60 kilograms but eating under 200 calories per day. I want to know how to look like pre eating disorder. How to boost my metabolism without gaining weight. Is my body fat higher than pre ed as I look fatter even when I an at the same weight, or it is my eating disorder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20505" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:19.610" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:19.610" Title="Eating disorder recovery" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-05-31T18:06:49.327" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30031" CreationDate="2016-05-30T09:30:15.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An eating disorder is going to require professional help, because there are underlying causes that aren't just going to be fixed by nutrition and exercise. You may not even know them yourself. Don't be averse to getting psychological help. When we're ill, we go to the doctor, right? And you don't blame yourself for getting a flu or inflammation. Neither should you think there's anything wrong with trying to fix psychological issues that may be beyond your control. Refraining from letting others help is stubbornness or misplaced pride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are getting help, some points to assist you. First of all, 200 calories a day is quite simply &lt;strong&gt;not enough&lt;/strong&gt; and will not be sustainable for any decent amount of time. You are not getting the nutrition your body needs, whether it's macronutrients or micronutrients. If you eat at your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) you will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; gain weight over time. Don't worry about it. I'd need body stats beside weight (height, age, sex, activity level) to estimate a TDEE, but it's likely well over 1600 kcal per day. Just eat that every day, and the average weight over a week should hardly budge. You may lose or gain a small amount of weight, in which case the TDEE can undergo minor adjustments (say, 100 kcal more or less) to fine-tune it. Note that I say &lt;strong&gt;average&lt;/strong&gt; weight. Daily fluctuations are to be ignored entirely. I'll routinely weigh 2 kg more after a weekend because I tend to eat over maintenance, or be less strict, or eat a lot more carbs, and 2 days later it's all gone because it's water weight. Only a trend line over weeks is any solid indication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And how to boost my metabolism without gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training is widely considered the best approach. As lean body mass increases your metabolism will slowly too. Weight will only increase in a good way like that. Low body fat and more muscle mass is what many people dream of, and will enhance looks for men and women alike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And is my body fat higher than pre ed as I look fatter even when I an at the same weight or it is my eating disorder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't enough information to go on, such as, did your eating disorder consist of overeating or undereating? If you're at the same weight as you used to be but you believe you look fatter, it is possible body composition changed and lean body mass was lost. But it is also very likely you might have body dysmorphia and pay an inordinate amount of attention to minor changes, or seeing changes where there are none. Increasing caloric intake can quickly lead to some changes since replenishing glycogen and glucose retains more water. Simply ignore this. Things will stabilize where they need to be over time with the right caloric intake and exercise levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I can say for sure is that if you continue to eat such low amounts of calories each day, you will encounter health issues. Cultivate a better body image. Eating so little each day must be exhausting; that work can be applied towards something you can take pride in and is actually healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T09:30:15.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30031" CreationDate="2016-05-30T10:13:22.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have been eating 200kcal a day for any significant amount of time, you should contact a physician on a proper advice on how to start to recover. Not only this is not enough energy to sustain basic body functions like body temperature or heart beat but also such amount of food keeps you deprived from all basic essential fatty and amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Any advice from people that do not know your personal case (and it does not look like a common case) should be ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body burns over 1000kcal a day just to maintain its basic functions (and actually for a 60kg person, male or female, no matter how sedentary, that figure will be higher) thus while eating that much, it is physically impossible to store fat. And under that - your body is desperately destroying tissue to try to reduce the energy expenditure. Any weight gain after you increase your calories to a figure close to your maintenance level (and at least 1000kcal) will be due to water retention and stomach content, not body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-05-31T07:41:15.710" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T07:41:15.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30027" CreationDate="2016-05-30T13:22:25.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say that you're doing calisthenics and you want to target the lower pecs. You have effectively just described the need for dips! My personal favourite exercise. I'm sure you already know how to do them and what they are. But a few pointers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The more horizontal of an angle your torso is in equates to more of the chest being worked. This will still hit your lower pecs a lot regardless because of your hand positioning. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The more vertical your torso is, the more triceps you will engage (although your chest will still get worked quite a bit).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you wan't to target the lower chest in pushups, basically the lower your hands are positioned relative to your torso, the more the lower chest will come into play. A very effective pushup for this purpose would be the elevated pushup with a little modification. To perform: put your feet on an elevated surface (chair, bed, bench...whatever), and position your hands a little lower than you would for a regular pushup, and push in a straight line, squeezing your pecs in the meanwhile. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to make an entire workout of this. I would suggest starting with dips (3-4 sets of as many reps as you can do). Then moving onto to the pushups that I described above. After these two, presume your regular pushups. The reason being, that once you do these two predominant lower pec exercises, your lower chest will be exhausted and therefore will have to work harder for regular pushups, hitting them even HARDER! As you get more advanced you can try supersetting the dips with the pushups and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T13:22:25.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9490" CreationDate="2016-05-30T13:58:29.197" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;exactly what the others said but if your legs are sore sleep with compression tights! My legs feel like new every morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20507" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T13:58:29.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30015" CreationDate="2016-05-30T14:25:08.103" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though it's a very general question, here's a few guidelines I follow for a healthy life:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go active&lt;/strong&gt;. The Western culture have become way too inactive, a way of life our body is not accustomed to. Especially if you spend hours in a deskjob, make sure you exercise or perform some jogging on daily basis. Saying that, you shouldn't go hard &amp;amp; heavy everyday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch your diet&lt;/strong&gt;. It's easy to get lost in all the trends around, but the basic rules are quite simple. Maintain a sufficient intake of protein, consume fat from healthy sources and fit your carbs amount to your weight goal. The last sentence summed up the topic very briefly and you should go deeper to understand it better and create your daily menu. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't overdo&lt;/strong&gt;. More is definitely not always better. Create a routine that is sufficient but not extreme, so you would be able to follow it in the long term + you wouldn't exhaust your body to injuries. There are plenty of beginners plans for strength training online, most of them are more or less the same (or following the same principles). Marathoners and others who practice sports with extreme physical demands are not improving their health by doing so - health is improved by performing a considered level of sport, and as a hobby, and not a pro, I recommend to stick to this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep enough&lt;/strong&gt;. That's pretty simple actually - sleep is important and you should make sure you sleep enough (at least 7 hours, 8~ recommended).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was a brief. If you are really hardcore into this subject, you should read about recommended foods as well as foods to avoid, but keep in mind that most of these researches are based only on statistics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T14:25:08.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30040" CreationDate="2016-05-30T15:08:18.620" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some parts of the world smog is common year round. Should running outside be avoided in these areas? I prefer to run outside and have no health problems but am concerned about exposing my child to these same risks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If running in smog can make it more likely to develop asthma how should an aspiring long distance runner train? Are treadmills alone sufficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20508" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T18:54:44.620" Title="Is running in smog a risk factor for developing asthma?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30038" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30039" CreationDate="2016-05-30T17:53:29.683" Score="3" ViewCount="677" Body="&lt;p&gt;Who have the higher average testosterone levels? I know that bodybuilding boosts testosterone due to its exercises but what about fighters? All this danger they face.. not necessarily being afraid but there is certain amount of danger in fighting which stimulates the production of T. For example I've noticed before when preparing for a fight or when I am in any danger in general I can lift close to 2 times more weight and can endure much more, let's say doing push-ups for this example. This is clear sign of testosterone being produced from my body. There are many other examples that I can write about before fight preparation but you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand preparing for fighting can be very exhausting which lowers T levels at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So who are the guys with higher average levels of T?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15556" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T00:07:25.200" Title="Testosterone levels. Fighters vs Bodybuilders" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30038" CreationDate="2016-05-30T20:33:31.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has more or less nothing to do with testosterone. You can lift more weight when you feel like you're in &quot;danger&quot; because of &lt;strong&gt;adrenaline&lt;/strong&gt;. Basically, when you do weight training, your body and CNS only let you exert a certain percentage of your total muscular contractions. This is because your body is trying to make sure you don't get injured by applying more force than you can actually handle. When you have an adrenaline spike, your body lets you increase this percentage that I mentioned above, and therefore you can use more of your total strength. This has nothing to do with testosterone. For example, I'm sure you've heard of mothers lifting/pushing cars in order to save their babies etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to answer your actual question, if we are talking professional level of bodybuilding and fighting, then it is bodybuilding WITHOUT QUESTION. At the pro level of bodybuilding, you can be sure that at least 90% of the athletes are supplementing with anabolic steroids, which are just derivatives of the testosterone compound. For example, on average a young male will produce somewhere around 6mg of testosterone per day. Now, a bodybuilder trying to turn pro, or already pro, will supplement with MINIMUM 500mg of testosterone a week!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if the bodybuilder is natural, then it could go either way. The amount of testosterone that an individual has will largely be impacted by genetics and their lifestyle. What I mean by lifestyle is largely composed of their diet and sleep. The training won't have much effect, given that both of them are doing some form of strength and high intensity training. Keep in mind however, that the fatter a person is, means the more estrogen they will have (opposite of testosterone basically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that answers more or less all your concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T20:33:31.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30037" CreationDate="2016-05-31T18:54:44.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breathing in any irritant is bad for overall lung health. I suggest following @cbll 's information on identifying air pollution and guidelines for your given location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of &quot;...are treadmills sufficient?&quot; Yes and no. Running on the ground is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; harder than on a treadmill. Being able to run longer on a treadmill does equate to overall aerobic endurance... Just not on a 1:1 scale. You can try to accurately mimic courses with grade (though downhill sections would require a specialized treadmill mimicking that downward-slope); but, ultimately the treadmill is assisting you to some degree. Defining long-distance is also important... Half-Marathons, Marathons, Ultra-Distance Marathons all require similar but different training that also include strict diet and sleep schedules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are serious about becoming a long distance athlete, it would be a good idea to find a local trainer for more advice. Also, consult your physician to make sure nothing in your medical history contraindicates long distance/endurance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T18:54:44.620" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30047" CreationDate="2016-05-31T23:20:15.490" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the ideal exercise foundation that will prepare me to for muscleups? Some ideas I am considering are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Losing weight until my BMI is well under 25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Negatives&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead hangs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything I am missing? Which is most important? My BMI is about 26 right now and I can complete about 12 consecutive pull ups at the moment. Which grip(s) should I be using?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I a not a cross fitter so my goal is not a &quot;kipping muscleup&quot;. I can do that already with no training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20455" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T16:16:39.013" Title="Preparation for the muscleup" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-01T18:59:03.570" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-01T01:24:38.303" Score="3" ViewCount="12169" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm working out with a new weight that i'm not used to (I actually do calisthenics, but I use a weight vest) towards the end of my work out, when I'm really feeling it, I notice that as I'm doing exercises like push-ups, I sometimes get a tingling feeling in my arms. As soon as it starts, it continues on every rep until I stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's not painful&lt;/strong&gt;, it feels like tiny strings snapping almost. (I'm not very familiar with anatomy). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intuitively, since it's not painful I would assume it is good because the whole point is to break down muscle right? This literally feels like I'm breaking down my muscle, but I'm too naive to understand if this is actually what's happening or if there's some other cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone else get this feeling? Is it normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes I notice afterwards some slight pain in my arms, but I don't know if it is related. I usually stop around this point and I feel fine after a bit of rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10441" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T07:35:21.337" Title="tingling feeling in arm muscles while working out" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-06-02T03:09:15.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30041" CreationDate="2016-06-01T02:33:39.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the exercises you listed are good, and of course, reducing body weight is helpful as well. However, the most difficult part of the strict muscle up is the transition between the pull-up and the dip, and the best way to train this movement is to do it. Like any other exercise, you will improve by working through a progression. If you wanted to increase your bench press, you might do different number of sets at different weights. You can do the same with muscle ups by using a pulley system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place a pulley above your ring setup. Connect a rope through the pulley with one end of the rope lifting a set of weights that is easily changeable. Connect the other end to a climbing harness, or just create loop to sit on or wrap around under your arms. Do a variety of sets over time, decreasing the weights on the pulleys and therefore increasing the weight you are using for the muscle up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite part about this approach is that you can measure your progress in real numbers to see how you are improving, and how close you are to an unassisted muscle-up, rather than just feeling like you might be getting closer. If you want to continue with some of your listed exercises, also add in a piece where you specifically work back and forth through the transition point without doing pull-ups or dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as grip goes, you must use a false grip. There is no other way to get through the transition at strict muscle-up speeds. However, the false grip can be painful, and you don't necessarily need to use it every time you are training; just when you go through the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T02:33:39.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30042" CreationDate="2016-06-01T07:35:21.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When people describe a feeling in limbs as &quot;tingling&quot; or &quot;pins and needles&quot;, they're usually talking about the phenomenon known as &lt;em&gt;paresthesia&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paresthesia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paresthesia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you check the causes section of that article, you see there's countless things that can lead to this. When it comes to exercise, some things coming to mind are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some mild dehydration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A nerve getting compressed or irritated by repetitive motions. Or by the muscles and veins engorged from the workout (the &quot;pump&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using a pre-workout with beta-alanine (or using it straight up).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fluctuations in blood glucose levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyperventilation. A too drastic reduction of the CO2 levels in the blood causes its pH level to rise and results in narrowing of the blood vessels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if it's not getting worse, you don't notice anything else that's off, there's no persistent pain or anything that wouldn't be expected from exerting yourself, you can probably just ignore it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people will do reps until they feel &quot;the burn&quot;, a burning sensation in the muscles. It's possible you're feeling a form of that. Even if not, if folks think it's alright to feel that I hardly see a problem with minor paresthesia provided it's not coupled with cramping or loss of strength in the extremities (like no longer being able to form a clenched fist). This &quot;burn&quot; is commonly and tragically attributed to lactic acid, which is unfortunately a misunderstanding that is now so entrenched I'm not sure we'll ever see the end of it. What gets actually produced is lactate, which gets lumped together with lactic acid even in the darn Wikipedia article about it at this time, and the lactate might not even be the cause of the burning sensation. But that too is not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T07:35:21.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30041" CreationDate="2016-06-01T16:16:39.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you've laid out actually looks like a well laid out plan for your goal, so good job for that. I'll just throw my few cents in for additional tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight will certainly help you with pretty much every bodyweight exercise, however it's very important that you maintain most of the muscle you already have. Consume adequate protein (about a gram per lbs of bodyweight you have) and make sure you don't train fasted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weighted bodyweight movements are great for developing power, make sure you are progressing in some form. The progress can be increasing the weight, increasing the reps, or just the total volume that you can handle (reps x sets x weight). Also, it's &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; important that you understand that your body will recover from bodyweight exercises &lt;strong&gt;faster&lt;/strong&gt; than major muscle weight training exercises (squats, deadlifts, etc). Therefore I HIGHLY suggest that you do these movements (pullups and dips) with a lot of frequency (at least twice a week), if you find that you're recovering ok, I would even increase this upto 3 or 4. Basically, with any sport, practice makes perfect. So if you want to do muscle ups, you MUST practice the two main movements, the pullup, and the dip, as often as you can, in a smart manner.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The assistance work that you listed are fine, but make sure you don't overdo them. For example, don't do negatives too often, as they are just a way to shock the muscle group, and overdoing them will set you back more than anything. There's actually a few studies of beginners working out with straight sets as opposed to shock techniques such as supersets and negatives, and the first group gained at least 30% more strength and size. So, just stick to the basics, make sure you get your pullups and dips down right, and do them often, you can add assistance work once or twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a final note, the grip that you should be using is what you are most comfortable with, it is as simple as that. Everyone's built a bit differently so one grip that works for someone might not be the best option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To conclude and make sure you really understand what I'm trying to say. If you want to do muscleups, you absolutely MUST master the basic fundamental movements first (dips and pullup variations). Do them as often as your body lets you, at LEAST twice a week (maybe once with weights for strength focus, and once focusing on high reps for muscle size and endurance). DON'T rely on the assistance work, practice your sport; do your pullups and dips and do them well, ONCE you stop progressing in these movements, find out where your weaknesses are and incorporate the assistance movements accordingly. For example, if you find out that as you're doing your pullups, your grip is slowing you down, THEN incorporate some dead hangs and grip work. You know the cliche, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If you're finding that you can't push yourself up when you get to the top, work on overhead press, work on getting stronger triceps with DIRECT TRICEPS work, close grip bench, anything...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say it once again, if you want to do muscle ups (i.e an explosive pullup into a dip), then you must do exactly that. Pullups and dips, as best as you possibly can as often as you can. It's the same with any sport, if you wanna get better at golfing, you go to the pitch and you practice your swing, you play golf!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T16:16:39.013" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30015" CreationDate="2016-06-01T16:17:27.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Neria answer, but he missed one crucial point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cold showers&lt;/strong&gt; (cold exposure in general) has immunostimulating effects. You can see for example this study &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/87/2/699.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jap.physiology.org/content/87/2/699.short&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cold showering is often overlooked, because it is way too painful in comparison with exercise and diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20424" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T16:17:27.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29465" CreationDate="2016-06-01T18:12:23.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been teaching people of all ages how to swim for 5 years, and everything that JohnP said is correct. However, there is one thing that most people don't realize--it takes a while to build up swim endurance and stamina (several weeks to months depending on the person/workouts/etc.) and the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; way to increase swim endurance and stamina is by swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So get evaluated, like JohnP said, so you know what part of technique you need to work on. But, don't be discouraged when you don't see immediate results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20518" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T18:12:23.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30051" CreationDate="2016-06-01T19:13:56.893" Score="7" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a long-time reader, first-time poster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some brief background info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm between 5'11 and 6' tall. I used to be a long distance runner in my 20s. I ran half marathons, 10ks, and 5ks, regularly for years. I weighed about 165 - 170 depending and I got skinny in doing so (as expected).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shortly after that, I got into some basic body-weight only lifting as well as some HIIT. I enjoyed it and noticed some muscle gain via the lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we had kids so my entire scheduled changed and over the course of a couple of years (we have two [precious] daughters now), I gained about 40 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through diet and exercise, I got back to 168lbs. A year and a half later, I'm still working, and I'm focusing on adding muscle, so I've been working out six days a week with a combination of cardio, resistance, and stretching (once a week), with a single rest way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the year, it's paid off and based on my notes and my performance, there are noticeable strength gains and some visible gains, too. My weight is up to about 185lbs at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm hitting that point where I'm hitting the body-fat plateau (if there's such a name for it ;). I can't seem to get down past 12 - 14% (depending on the week) body fat percentage no matter what I try or how hard I work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't eat fast food except for the occasional meal on a long road trip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I drink 0 coke/soda/pop/etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I drink 0 alcohol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I drink water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I drink coffee with no sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I eat fruit, meats, some carbs (wheat bread, rice, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't smoke&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't do any drugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't eat sweets save for the occasional birthday party&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I have a cheat meal, it's normally a personal size pizza on Friday nights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For whatever reason, I &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; shed this layer of body fat on me. People say &quot;Oh you look great don't worry about it,&quot; but then I see results some of you are getting and then I read various books, and I know I'm missing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, I have no idea where to go from here. I don't overeat, I don't snack on junk, I workout wearing a weighted vest to help build a bit more muscle than I've previously done in my life, but this persistent layer of a little bit of body fat is preventing me from realizing what I'm capable of doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To that end, I'm looking for some advice and guidance. I've read through some Leangains, and I've read about IF, but I'm still not sure how to incorporate this into the lifestyle of a self-employed work-at-home computer programmer with the standard demands of an early 30s dad (who's happily married; that is, I'm not a single father) with two kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I also have a standing desk that I use throughout the day, so I'm not sitting for hours-on-end. All that to show that I'm not a desk jockey for the majority of the day except for when I'm working on my fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some realistic, practical advice for someone in my stage of life on how I can begin cutting back these last few points of body fat given all of the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for whatever advice you have!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20519" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T19:53:41.303" Title="What's the best way to begin cutting down to lower (and even single) body fat percentages for an active, healthy father with a standard work schedule?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30050" CreationDate="2016-06-01T19:53:41.303" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a very similar problem when I was getting ready for my first bodybuilding competition, I know exactly what you mean. So you're around 185lbs with 12-14% body fat (which is very good, nice job). To get to even lower body fat levels, it will be hard work, but it is definitely doable. The main factor when you get to this point is fine tuning your diet in an exact manner. Not eating junk, sugar, etc will definitely get you lean but after a certain point, it's just not enough, your body has adapted to your caloric intake and will not metabolize any more fat as a &quot;survival&quot; mechanism. I will give you a few tips on how to overcome this. I can help you further if you comment back with your current diet as well. Also I'm assuming that you have your training down relatively OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, once you get to the level of body fat you are at, it is crucial for success to start counting your calories and macro nutrients (carbs, protein, fats). As a rough example, generally speaking an adult male will need about 15 x bodyweight in calories in order to maintain weight. So if you weight 185lbs, then you would need 2775 calories to maintain the weight you are at. If you want to lose, let's say half a lbs a week (you can't lose much more than half a lbs of fat in one week physiologically) then you would subtract 500/600 from this, and so you would aim to eat around 2175 calories a day. I realize counting calories isn't exactly fun but it is very helpful, and made quite simple with apps such as &quot;myfitnesspal&quot; (what I currently have used to success). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After you get your calories down, you have to fine tune your macros according to your individual attributes. First and most important, you're going to want to maintain all your muscle mass. This is because more muscle equates to higher metabolic rate (metabolism), strength, mood, and obviously physical appearance. To do this, you must invoke protein synthesis, which is usually done through just consuming protein. Now since you're an adult, a good amount would be about 1-1.5g of protein per lbs of bodyweight (180g- 270ish g). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info regarding age and macros: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.biolayne.com/articles/nutrition/anabolic-eating-for-your-age/&quot;&gt;https://www.biolayne.com/articles/nutrition/anabolic-eating-for-your-age/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now, this part is a bit tricky and will depend on your carb (and ultimately insulin) tolerance. For the most part, the best (well, at least quickest) approach to the other two macros (fats and carbs) would be to adopt some sort of low carb high fat diet, especially when you get to very lean levels. The reason for stubborn fat, generally, is due to insulin and insulin resistance. Insulin, a storage hormone, gets released when you eat foods high in glucose (white rice, candy, coke, white flour, potato, etc), in terms of fat loss, insulin basically inhibits fat burning and stores fat instead (VERY overly simplified but u get the point). Also, since you're not in your early 20s or teens anymore, it's reasonable to assume you've built some sort of insulin resistance over the years so this is key. So clearly, if you wanna get VERY lean, you must inhibit periods of very low insulin (fat-burning periods). In order to achieve this, you're going to want to minimize carb intake, and when you do eat carbs, eat ones with high fibre and low glycemic index (brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, vegetables). I'm guessing you already know that the human body metabolizes glucose (usually from carbs but CAN be from muscle if not enough protein). Since you will have low glucose levels due to low carbs, your body will need some sort of other fuel source, and that will be fat! Once your body gets efficient at breaking down fats (ketosis) from food, it will also break down fats in your body since it wont have any glucose for energy. Therefore, I recommend anywhere from 20-30% of your calories come from fat, i.e for you this would be, 400-600 cals which is roughly 40-70g of fat a day. Try to stick to healthy sources like fish, eggs, some cheeses, avacado, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Well, now we are left with carbs, so we had 2175 calories minus 270g (4 cals/g) of protein and 70g of fat(9cal/g) which is 465 calories from carbs, i.e around 110-120g. Note how I maxed protein and fat calories above, you don't have to do this, you can do 40g of fat in order to increase carbs and etc. Now of this 110-120g of carbs, basically all of them should come from high fibre, low GI foods like I mentioned above. But if you want to take it to the next level, then you should utilize nutrient timing. Which is basically only consuming carbs at the points of the day where you are most insulin sensitive (the more sensitive the better since you will release less insulin in response to lesser sugar). These times would be right when you wake up (your body has metabolized most of the food during the night and you are now in a catabolic state) and right before and after your workouts. Also note that, working out increases insulin sensitivity. So divide up your carbs around that. For example you could eat oatmeal for breakfast, brown rice for post workout, and skip pre workout all together if you want, or etc. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another great article by Layne Norton regarding cutting: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-norton-the-most-effective-cutting-diet.html&quot;&gt;http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-norton-the-most-effective-cutting-diet.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T19:53:41.303" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T03:43:58.317" Score="0" ViewCount="415" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 10 months back I got a pull up bar set up at home.It was very thick.I had problems gripping it.I couldn't do a single chin up on it.However after several days of trying,I was able to do a chin up.Then I kept on practicing chin ups and after about 2 to 3 months or more(I am not sure),I could do about 9 chin ups at a time.But after that I lost interest in it and didn't practice it for about 6 to 7 months.A few days back I tried doing chin ups.I managed to do 6 and every next day the number is decreasing.Today I was just able to do 3.5.How can I again increase that number? For how much time should i practice? Should I practice everyday?I can understand that i can't do as many chin ups as before due to lack of practice but why is the number decreasing every next day?Please guide me.BTW my age is 16 if that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Chinmay Karnik" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T02:19:42.460" Title="I can't do enough chin ups" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30052" CreationDate="2016-06-02T07:14:56.953" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your workout's level of success depends on many variables, so don't deduce that you have serious problems after 4 days. It may be related to stress, insufficient sleep, some hard work you've done, and some days we are not at our best for no apparent reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, if your goal is to maximize your chin up reps &lt;em&gt;while not doing other exercises&lt;/em&gt;, I recommend the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead of doing a set every day, do 3-4 sets every other day. One set, especially with low amount of reps, is way too low volume &amp;amp; intensity for developing muscles &amp;amp; strength. When doing these sets, don't do your max every set, but try to find a number of reps that lets your success in all sets, perhaps (but not necessarily) failing in the end of the last set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In each set, target a higher reps range (if possible). In the beginning, the best approach would be using and assisted pull up machine (if handy), like this one:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LI4iy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LI4iy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If using the machine, reduce the level of help from one session to another. if not, just follow the first clause and increase the number of reps when you feel ready (± twice a week).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But more than all of these, I strongly recommend you to change your goal. Chin ups are great but they definitely don't cover all the major muscles of your body, so unless you train for a &quot;max chin ups&quot; contest, you should go for a different program, which eventually will also lead in the long term to more reps in chin ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastEditorUserId="18858" LastEditDate="2016-06-02T08:16:54.527" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T08:16:54.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30052" CreationDate="2016-06-02T08:22:50.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you've got a chin up bar at home, I'd recommend something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/greasing-the-groove-how-to-make-it-work-for-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pavel's Greasing the groove method&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used this in other exercises to great effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, take half the maximum amount of chin ups you can do (note: chin ups  are with your palms facing you in an underhand grip, pull ups are with your palms facing away with an overhand grip) and do that number of reps every time you walk past the chin up bar. If it's somewhere you don't walk past, then set an alarm and do it every hour. Essentially, do lots of mini sets constantly throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to view this as practice. Strength is a skill, you need to learn the skill in order to improve. You want to get better at chin ups, then practice chin ups. You get better at a skill by constant practice, so you get better at chin ups by constant practice of chin ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T08:22:50.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30080" CreationDate="2016-06-02T10:41:58.380" Score="2" ViewCount="1059" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 120 km bicycle race coming up this weekend, which is just outside of my comfort zone and I need a plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cycling with a team, I can keep 30 km/h for about 2:20 or so and do my fair share of leading and taking the wind before I start to hit the wall, so the average 70 km tours are fine and I can manage 80 km myself in just under three hours but after about 2:20-2:30, it's no longer possible to raise my heart rate to catch up in any uphill anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried 100 km myself once but the last 20 km took over one hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at my results, I can squeeze in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;151 bpm for 2:14, or 337 bpm-hours of work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;138 bpm for 2:56, or 407 bpm-hours of work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is to squeeze in 120 km under that area somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being overweight, any uphill is a struggle when riding in a group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a) Conserve energy by riding in a group at all costs from the start, with the downside of peak pulse many many times from start to finish?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;b) Take it easy at the start and loose the group in up-hill and hope for a new, slightly slower team to ride with, with the downside of having to ride myself for long distances?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20525" LastEditorUserId="20525" LastEditDate="2016-06-04T17:11:16.390" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T17:11:16.390" Title="Plan for 120 km bicycle race" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30052" CreationDate="2016-06-02T10:46:04.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the answers by Neria Nachum and Dark Hippo, but I think there's one very important aspect that might be the main reason for seeing diminishing strength and endurance from day to day. You simply shouldn't be doing this every single day. Physiological adaptations for strength are &lt;em&gt;cued&lt;/em&gt; by resistance training, but the actual adaptations themselves occur during recovery. Directly after training there will be a period of lower performance, which must be recovered from. After recovery and adaptation you will be (slightly) stronger and can increase the workload. If you go right back to training those same muscles while they are in a state of decreased performance, you're piling fatigue on top of fatigue. Not only can recovery not occur this way, but the training itself will be inefficient since you can't reach a number of reps that would properly initiate an adaptation. So, wait about 48 hours between sessions to give your body a chance to recover and adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also this answer for a primer on the theory behind recovery: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/30030/19986&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/30030/19986&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T10:46:04.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30055" CreationDate="2016-06-02T11:03:15.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c) not do something you aren't ready for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry to be a bummer, but unless you've worked up to a level where a 120 km bicycle race seems like a fair challenge that might be difficult but not too far outside of your comfort zone, trying to force it seems like setting yourself up for either disappointment, injury or a very long recovery afterwards (or combination thereof). If you &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; do option a, you should. But you'd probably know. If you can't you're just burning yourself out to the point where you'll hit a physical limit. Option b seems more realistic, but again only if you an. Even if it takes you ages or you'd finish last, if your goal is to get that 120 km, that's what matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you did 100 km and the last 20 km were disproportionally hard, 120 km just doesn't seem like a good idea. No short-term plan is going to to fix that. Set it as a goal for the future and train until some next race. I don't wanna discourage you if there is a chance you'll make it, but excessive overreaching only ever seems to result in injuries or otherwise bad stuff. It's a fine line between pushing yourself for consistent progress while showing tenacity, and going overboard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T11:03:15.347" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30015" CreationDate="2016-06-02T12:55:57.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with most of the above. But please remember to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;6&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enjoy life. There is no reason to live a long and healthy life if you spend all of it being worried about making it healthy or long enough. Live life for life's own sake, life is not a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Travelling Salesman Problem&lt;/a&gt; to be solved.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if I were to be so bold, I'd amend Neria's answer a little:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go active&lt;/strong&gt; - find something you like to do that uses your body. Bowling, fishing, carpenting, talking walks. Don't be afraid to try something new and there exists not a single activity which you cannot make a game of. Make activity a)routine and b)fun and you end up doing it by habit. Remember your brain, it withers as your body without use. Play games, seek out new experiences, learn calligraphy or astronomy or whatever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20426" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T12:55:57.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30060" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30063" CreationDate="2016-06-02T16:14:56.490" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am newbie in running and I am not interested in long runs or any records.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I start to run weekly 10km 6 months ago, now I run for 20km (with a bit of effort).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to understand what the body asks during exercise, is it possible to find indicators to understand if it is better to drink water or take sugar or anything eslse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18245" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T18:35:29.783" Title="How to listen to the body during a run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30060" CreationDate="2016-06-02T18:35:29.783" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very much an individual question, as everyone has different requirements and reacts in different ways to fluid and food intake when running. It's just very much trial and error to find what works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what you can do is start tracking your runs, time of day, how you feel, what you ate, things like that. Over time, you will get data such as &quot;Ate right before run, felt really bad&quot;, or &quot;Took gatorade, cramped up&quot;. Once or twice isn't really significant, but if you consistently cramp up or feel bad after doing something, you know that you shouldn't do that during a run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is being able to tell what your body is telling you, such as if you are really tired, and should postpone or cancel your workout or if you are just kinda blah and should work out anyway. That will also show up if you track how you feel in your journal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of ways to go about it, but the biggest thing is just analyzing different situations and how your body reacted to it, to be able to know that when X happens, Y will follow soon after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T18:35:29.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-03T08:15:32.177" Score="2" ViewCount="1071" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive recently looked into the bronchial dilator clenbuterol for fat loss and body fat reduction aid. I'm wondering what if any comments anyone here had about this, mainly the dangers of it and long term side effects if could produce? Thank You!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20542" LastActivityDate="2016-06-03T12:44:27.367" Title="Clenbuterol dangers?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-06-03T20:53:48.937" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30067" CreationDate="2016-06-03T12:44:27.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Clenbuterol  is a sympathomimetic that works on the sympathomimetic nervous system. There are several receptors in the body a sympathomimetic can act on. In the case of Clenbuterol, the beta-2 receptor is the area of interest and action. Clen, as it’s commonly known, actively stimulates the beta-2 receptor. Through such stimulation, this actively reverses airway obstructions and provides improved breathing for those who need it. This same stimulation can also be used to enhance the metabolic rate of the individual. Clenbuterol does not actively burn fat by attacking fat cells, but rather stimulates the metabolism by increasing the body’s temperature. This occurs due to the beta-2 stimulation stimulating the mitochondria of the cells to produce and release more heat. In turn, this heats up the body’s temperature (slightly), enhances the metabolism and causes the individual to burn body fat at a greater rate. In reality, the functions and traits of Clenbuterol are very simple and very straightforward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several possible side effects to Clenbuterol use, and the primary will surround its stimulating nature. No surprise, after all, Clen is a stimulant. The side effects of Clenbuterol can be very strong and often very annoying to say the least, and they will generally affect most people in one way or another. The most common side effects surround a jittery or wired feeling, shaky hands and increased sweating. Most all who use Clen will experience such effects to a degree, but they will commonly be very pronounced during the early stages of use. As the individual becomes accustomed to the stimulant, such related effects should begin to subside, but they will be so strong in some people that some will not be able to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using Clenbuterol, many often inaccurately assume that when the stimulating effects of Clen began to fade that the thermogenic effects are no longer working. Most will find that the stimulating effects will greatly subside after a week or so of use, but assuming the fat burning properties have vanished due to this lessened stimulation is highly inaccurate. The same dose of Clenbuterol Hydrochloride can actually keep the metabolism revved for as much as five weeks. Granted, by the fifth week mark it will be minimal as the body does most certainly adapt. Due to the body’s ability to adapt, necessarily adjustments must be made to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aforementioned side effects of Clenbuterol are the most common, but there are other possible effects of note. As with many stimulating substances, some will experience headaches as well as possible nausea. One of the more bothersome possible side effects of Clenbuterol Hydrochloride will be muscle cramps. Cramps are not exceedingly common, but they will affect many people. Athletes are often at the greatest risk due to the hard and often intense training they are already undertaking. Staying well hydrated is often enough to avoid or remedy this problem, but supplementing with taurine can also help. Clen has been shown to deplete taurine, so supplementation may be necessary for some. Some may also have issues with insomnia; in fact, some may find sleep becomes extremely difficult. Again, this is very common with many stimulating substances, but with Clen it can, for some, be impossible to avoid. Clen has an active half-life that stretches to the 34 hour mark, and that can make sleep impossible for some people. Many will, however, find if they take their Clen first thing in the morning they will not have any issues with sleep, but due to the long half-life some will find insomnia occurs regardless of when they take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of Clenbuterol Hydrochloride also carries with it possible side effects that can be severe; in fact, dangerous would be a more accurate description. Such effects are most commonly associated with abuse through high doses and far beyond recommended extended periods of use. The severe side effects of Clenbuterol include high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, trembling and even panic. Some studies have also shown that Clenbuterol abuse can also lead to cardiac hypertrophy, which could potentially lead to death. It is very possible to use this compound without such effects, but as with so many things in life it will require responsible use and a thorough understanding of Clen.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: various online articles, not my own writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BEFORE&lt;/strong&gt; you start taking such strong supplements to aid in fat loss, &lt;strong&gt;PLEASE&lt;/strong&gt; make sure your diet is down perfect, or one, you will waste the true effects of the drug, and two, you will do more harm than good in the long run. I won't take the same position as some people that strongly advocate against &quot;steroid&quot; like drugs (clen is NOT a steroid) but since you're asking for the side effects of a drug that is WELL documented on the internet and online journals, this gives me the impression that you're a beginner. As a result, I STRONGLY advise you to maximize your fat loss through proper caloric deficit diet and high intensity exercise FIRST, once you do that, then clen can help you lose the last bit of fat very easily. Think of it this way, if you want to get better at math, what is the point of learning calculus, if you don't even know simple arithmetic ? You should have at least a few years experience dieting properly and you should already be relatively lean before you start. You DO NOT need this drug to lose fat if you are already above, let's say 20-30%, that part can easily be lost through natural diet and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note also that, if you don't have your diet down, you are likely to lose way more muscle than fat and therefore end up even unhealthier than when you first began the drug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-03T12:44:27.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30083" CreationDate="2016-06-04T02:08:35.273" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Steep being 12% grade or more, where is the longest steep run in the eastern United States?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or more broadly, where is the best place to train in the eastern US for races like the Hardrock 100 or Pikes Peak Marathon? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these races there are long stretches of +12% grade for 3, 4, 5 or more miles at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-08-28T13:50:08.320" Title="Where is the longest steep run to use for training in the eastern United States?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30071" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30081" CreationDate="2016-06-04T02:18:16.620" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;After running, descending, long miles on a steep trail I'm finding that the worst pain/soreness in my legs are due to loose earth like gravel. Its hard to tell which muscles are hurting and Ive only experienced the pain two times, and ran this type of long run on steep trails only twice. Im a flatlander... I feel it the most after the run while walking on loose gravel, but also while running I feel it enough to change the way I descend down a trail which slows me down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, any side-wards motion due to slips or bumping against roots. This has only happened twice but the pain was definitely below the knee and maybe mostly on the front outer side of leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to say what muscles are hurting me can someone tell me what muscles are responsible for stabilizing your feet and some suggestion for strengthen them in general or for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What muscles are these and how do you strengthen them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-06-07T23:31:11.453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T12:11:49.083" Title="What muscles are important for running down steep loose ground and what exercises strengthen them?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30073" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31083" CreationDate="2016-06-04T09:42:11.617" Score="1" ViewCount="9523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a teen, 15 I do quite a lot of gym work along with football. I am constantly sore and I feel that my work doesn't achieve anything because there isn't enough protein to repair and make my muscles grow stronger. Therefore I want to start having Whey Protein Powder to add that extra protein to my diet. However I have heard that if you have not fully grown then the protein powder has effects that you may not need. I have heard that it may stunt your vertical growth which I do not want this, is this true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19734" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T14:48:33.430" Title="Does Whey Protein cause damage to teenagers who haven't fully grown?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-05T17:14:22.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30073" CreationDate="2016-06-04T12:14:13.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein powders are not different than &quot;natural&quot; high protein foods such as cottage cheese, poultry, eggs, etc in terms of &quot;being natural&quot;. It's sort of real food with other ingredients removed so you'll be able to consume a lot of protein without consuming other organic compounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, I actually read about a few researches which state that high protein diet affects your height for good. An example from the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-of-human-height/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can special treatment and nutrient supplements increase the height&#xA;  further? The answer is yes. The most important nutrient for final&#xA;  height is protein in childhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though, the affections is very minor (about 2 cm range).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up, studies from recent years actually state that high protein diet is good for most of us, so if such powder may help you to increase your overall protein consumption (which is presumably not high enough according to your post), I recommend you to take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T12:14:13.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6392" CreationDate="2016-06-04T12:22:40.223" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, carrying hand weights is not a bad idea.  It is a good idea, despite the naysayers.  I'm on day 651 of my running streak.  (1 mile or more every day, no stopping, no breaks, no excuses, no exceptions.  www.runeveryday.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I frequently run with two 15 pound dumbbells, sometimes with two 8 pound dumbbells.  It's a lot.  You might consider using less.  Today I will run 3 miles with 30 pounds in hand weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has had a profoundly beneficial effect on my cardiovascular health and endurance, and I am not just talking about endurance while running, if you catch my drift.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my twenties and thirties, I ran faster, but could not run everyday.  Running gave me knee troubles.  But now, in my fifties, I have no trouble at all with it, even with the weight, perhaps because of the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It tends to hunch me over as I run.  It's not permanent.  Some might object to that.  For me, the previously mentioned benefits outweigh looking hunched while running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ankle weights on the other hand, have caused me trouble.  I believe the additional cyclic reversed loading stretches the knee ligaments, increasing the shock loading on the cartilage during footfall, and reducing the lateral stability of the knee joint.  I only ever use ankle weights for floor exercising.  I am very intentional never to laterally load my knees, and load them only in their axis of rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is much misinformation about this topic, even by professional coaches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if your goal is to tone your arms and shoulders, there are probably more efficient ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep on trucking.  Do what you can, and then try to add 0.01 more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20554" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T12:22:40.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31176" CreationDate="2016-06-04T15:18:34.450" Score="3" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;For interval runs what are the common types of workouts for runners training for distances of 5km or more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 10 repeats of 800 meters with 200 meter rests or 10x 200m with rests until HR drops far enough. I see examples in books but Im curious what is the common practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T08:50:32.020" Title="What are the most common interval workout routines?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30073" CreationDate="2016-06-04T15:40:48.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing to worry about, it's just milk protein. Many baby food formulas contain whey and casein protein. Read about &quot;whey protein&quot; in wiki. There is just lots of misinformation about supplements in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They key to proper recovery and muscle growth is to have enough daily protein intake, regardless of the source - about 2 grams per kg of body weight (without counting non-animal protein sources). If you have a poor diet, whey protein won't help you much. Strive to consume enough protein from food and add protein shakes here and there to help you match that figure, or as a bonus intake on training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T15:40:48.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30079" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-04T16:53:19.087" Score="5" ViewCount="735" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what is the &lt;strong&gt;tempo&lt;/strong&gt; for a rep in any kind of the four workouts mentioned above in order to gain the best result in the relevant workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it is correct to give each workout a specific tempo or there is a tempo for exercises group in a specific exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand, a tempo is a fundamental to gain best result in an exercise in addition to set, rep and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_(exercise)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exercise form&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only result I could find is that the recommended tempo for strength goal workout is 1-1-0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The following text was summarized from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/likness15.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DANCE TO THE TEMPO&lt;/a&gt; article) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tempo simply refers to the rate at which you move the weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tempo is written with 3 and possibly 4 digits and read from left to right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;THE FIRST DIGIT - Negative or eccentric phase - in other words, when you are lowering the weight or when you are moving in a direction opposite to the muscle contraction. (For a squat and a bench press, this would mean lowering the weight. For a cable row, this would mean returning the plates to the stack)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;THE SECOND DIGIT - The pause after the first phase is complete. (For a bench press, a pause as the weight is held stationary just above the chest)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;THE THIRD DIGIT - The concentric or positive phase - the contraction. (For a bench press, this would be driving the bar upwards. A digit of 1 here typically means, &quot;explode&quot; - in other words, you may do it faster than 1 second)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;THE FOURTH DIGIT - Usually left out, but if present - The pause at the top of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20555" LastEditorUserId="20555" LastEditDate="2016-06-05T19:06:19.323" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T14:47:11.937" Title="How fast should a rep be in strength, power, hypertrophy and endurance goal workout?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30055" CreationDate="2016-06-04T17:09:33.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Option d) Get lucky and find a bunch of slightly overweight but otherwise well trained and motivated guys who took it really easy uphill for the majority of the course and some huge teams near the end to draft. Was struck by the competition devil and did lead for quite some distance but tried to keep my peak pulse below 160 bpm. &#xA;No issues up to 3:00 and felt strong, around the 4:00 hour mark it was noticeable that the peak pulse was lower. After 4:30 it was a real struggle in every uphill. Finished in just under five hours total time, or about 4:35 effective time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Managed to qualify in the top 1/3 in the end, but with less luck in terms of teams, it could just as well have been the last 1/3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@G_H. No disappointment and the weather could not have been much better. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20525" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T17:09:33.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30071" CreationDate="2016-06-04T23:36:08.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a barefoot/minimalist runner with lots of experience on hilly trails with the terrain your describe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to more bones than any other part of your body, your feet have multiple muscles such as the anterior tibial, which enables the foot to move upward; the posterior tibial, which supports the arch; the peroneal tibial, which controls movement on the outside of the ankle; and the extensors. The best way to strengthen them is to gradually increase exposure to type of loose gravel surfaces you mention. The more minimalist your shoe the more you will feel the ground which is either a positive or negative depending on your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, based on my experience I actually would question the loose gravel being the primary cause of the pain and soreness in your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For people used to running on flat surfaces (of maybe with treadmills on a slight incline) the type of running that will cause the most soreness is downhill running. The fact that you mentioned a need to change running form downhill strengthens my theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am right then focus on your calf muscles (and other muscle groups worked while running downhill).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want an isolation exercise try calf raises, however I would recommend squats and deadlifts because they will work more muscle groups that will help you as a runner (including your core).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you prefer running outside over the gym, don't mind looking funny and don't frequently have access to hilly trails, trying running backwards (I am not joking). Running backwards is great for strengthening your calves, quads and shins (and will help you improve balance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20455" LastEditorUserId="20455" LastEditDate="2016-06-04T23:53:46.363" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T23:53:46.363" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30079" CreationDate="2016-06-04T23:44:44.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specific tempo advice for maximizing strength, power, hypertrophy and endurance will depend on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your exercise of choice (sqauts for example require a much greater recovery time than curls)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your level of training (beginners and those who have been lifting for many years recover at very different speeds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I will say that strength and power workouts (heavier loads) will require more recovery time between sets than hypertrophy and endurance workouts (which often require more reps at lighter loads).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am glad you mentioned form as being critically important. Unfortunately many people ignore than and develop bad habits that are difficult to change and increase risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20455" LastEditorUserId="20455" LastEditDate="2016-06-04T23:49:47.293" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T23:49:47.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30070" CreationDate="2016-06-05T01:22:07.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From researching, &#xA;Mount Sterling run from Big Creek campground, NC is a pretty good trail rising about 4200 feet over 5.9 miles.&#xA;Also Mount Washington in NH is paved and rises 4700 feet over 7.5 miles.&#xA;Very cool possibly found another from Gatlinburg to Monte LeConte rising about 4000 feet over 7 miles. This is probably a well traveled trail as well which means faster running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What others are out there??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-08-28T13:50:08.320" LastActivityDate="2016-08-28T13:50:08.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30073" CreationDate="2016-06-05T14:48:33.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to hear the same from my parents and grandparents when I was around your age. &quot;That powder stuff can't be good for you&quot;, &quot;it's gonna make you fat&quot;, &quot;it's like doping, stop taking it&quot;, &quot;you're gonna get kidney stones&quot;...you get the point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's important that you don't just come to a site like this and blindly follow the answers we give you but that you actually understand the entire process, and understand the logic and reason it for yourself. I'll state some facts first, give you my opinion, and you can reach the conclusion by yourself. If you do not believe the things I say, let me know in the comments and I'll also post a few articles/journals but I'm gonna keep it relatively &quot;technical term friendly&quot; so you can understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you must understand how one can actually stunt their growth in the first place. The most common reason seems to be due to inadequate nutrition. Think about it, if you don't eat your vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, what is your body going to use to build it self to be bigger and stronger? Nothing. It's similar to trying to build a house with no bricks or wood, how are you going to build it ? You simply can't. Note that this is also usually seen at very early ages, as in anywhere from birth until around 7-8. Since you haven't had stunted growth so far, it's pretty safe you have had good (at least not horrible) nutrition to date. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you sound like a healthy teenager (no serious diseases) we can rule out serious immune system deficiency from birth, and thus you are fine in that regard as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the most common other causes of stunted growth are due to genetics, serious illnesses, complications during your birth, and now my favourite one, and one that EVERYONE will mess up, is due to your hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hormone part of the above, is where basically every single parent gets their myths from. You see, back in the day, when my parents were just teenagers, they used to watch the olympics and olympic weightlifting. One common theme between all the weightlifters were that they were very short athletes, at least compared to some of the other athletes in the olympics. Throughout the years, wives tale after wives tale later, people somehow reached the conclusion that these weightlifters are short since they lift heavy weights. Now, what's one of the most common things associated with lifting weights ? Supplementing with protein! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another example, if you look at the bodybuilders of the 80s-90s, they are all rather average height, or shorter (with the exception of Arnold). What do bodybuilders eat to get bigger and stronger? Protein! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is, whey protein is just a supplement. It is similar to those Flinstones vitamins that we used to take as kids. When we can't get enough nutrients from our daily food (diet) alone, we turn to supplements such as whey protein, vitamins, fish oils, in order to. You know what else has a lot of whey protein ? MILK! That's a bit ironic isn't it? But don't we hear that drinking milk will make our bones stronger and make us grow? But how can that be if milk is just a mix of whey and casein protein? Well...as I'm sure you've understood by now, taking whey protein (or ANY proper supplement for that reason), provides your body with extra nutrients that you can't get from your diet..so, if anything, whey protein HELPS with growth. Think about it , how could something that gives you extra nutrients possibly make you stop growing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for where the myth comes from, as I was mentioning above, bodybuilders and weightlifters have generally been short athletes, and at least back where I'm from (Eastern Europe), all the parents will believe that lifting weights stunts growth, as a result since protein is tied to lifting weights, it gets a bad rep among people who just refuse to think...granted they are just worried about their children. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ACTUAL reason for why these athletes are short are due to many things and noone can narrow it down to just one thing. I know for a FACT, that many weightlifters (especially the pros) will start supplementing with anabolic steroids from their teenage years when they are still growing. Now, remember how I said hormones play a huge role in growth? Well anabolic steroids are the grandfather of hormonal supplements, and they will cause your hormones to be very irregular and unbalanced. This is because, when you take steroids, youre injecting yourself with extra hormones. Your body, accordingly thinks, &quot;hmmm, well if I already have all these extra hormones, I should stop producing my own&quot;, and so it stops your natural supply of hormones. And as a result, if used improperly, your body never really recovers, and your growth slows down greatly.There's ALOT more that goes on in this process, but this is enough for the sake of arguement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next time your parents make such a claim, show them this entire answer, and keep working hard, you have nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T14:48:33.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31084" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-05T18:27:36.533" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a DEXA reading?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another question, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/16127/what-doctor-specialist-can-assess-fat-and-body-composition/20892#20892&quot;&gt;&quot;What doctor/specialist can assess fat and body composition?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, an answer suggested getting a DEXA reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My brief research shows that it checks bone density, but I don't understand how that gives body fat percentage or lean mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.  While we're all here, include what DEXA stands for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20490" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T13:31:16.750" Title="What is a DEXA reading?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;bones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2016-06-05T18:38:15.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it were me, I would just take it easy and rest. Why risk it? Go see the doctor and make some life style changes. Some of the healthiest people in the world drop dead because they just over do it. Why be healthy and dead? Enjoy life and take care of your body. Remember, you are not a machine. My blood pressure was just a tad bit higher than yours today. I was going to go biking, and now, I will just watch it on television today. Be smart and keep a heart!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21560" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T18:38:15.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16127" CreationDate="2016-06-05T18:58:28.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drgourmet.com/askdrgourmet/measurebodyfat.shtml#.V1R0SZErLIU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This question on another site&lt;/a&gt; seems to suggest the following types of experts for measuring your body fat composition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;certified&lt;/strong&gt; personal trainer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A physical therapist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A dietitian&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Someone recommended to you by your regular doctor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There doesn't seem to be much information on this. I assume that is because a wide variety of doctors probably have the ability to check body composition using equipment ranging in accuracy, from the very simple and rough-estimating to the very complex and accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone who specializes in fitness is probably more likely to have more accurate equipment for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20490" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T18:58:28.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30079" CreationDate="2016-06-06T07:59:51.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Time-under-Tension is when you are moving, holding and otherwise doing work to keep the weight in a particular position. Think of doing a slow bodyweight squat, this will get hard if you repeat it because your muscles are under a constant strain, building up lactic acid and creating a few micro-tears. This principle is why doing a plank works out your abs, they are under constant strain and thus are doing work, which will (efficiency of the plank aside) develop the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To develop strength and power, the time-under-strain is small butt strain is great, for endurance and aesthetic development, your strain will be less and time-under-strain will be greater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For Strength&lt;/strong&gt; (ability to move heavy objects) &lt;strong&gt;and Power&lt;/strong&gt; (Ability to move heavy objects, fast) You want to really focus on your form and explosive drive. For both these activities a lot of lifters use breathing cues to help build tempo. Your focus for this should always be controlled movement of the weight to make sure your form does not break and cause you injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using deadlifts as an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set: Check form is correct before lift (1-2 seconds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathe in: Brace your body (1 second)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drive: Lift the weight (1-2 seconds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold: Checking form at top of lift, neutral lower spine etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower: Controlled opposite movement of drive (1-2 seconds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathe out: Go back to 1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be a rhythm to the movements but that is set to the exercise, but most of the major lifts (dead, bench, squat, press, row) should follow the above cadence. Advanced lifts (Olympic) have their own tempo and that is best taught by a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;strong&gt;Endurance&lt;/strong&gt; (ability to keep going) and what I'm guessing you mean by &lt;strong&gt;Hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; (lifting for aesthetic only), you will have a longer time under tension by performing more successive repetitions of a exercise.  (3-4 sets of 10 as opposed to 3 sets of 5 for strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For these, you can usually combine some of the above steps, lets look at a curl:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set: Check form &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; breathe in to brace core (1 second)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift (1 second).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower (1 second) and breathe out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Return to 1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, form is most important, if your form breaks down doing curls, reduce weight (not reps) and finish the rest of your sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is nothing wrong with changing the above to less repetitions and increasing the time taken to lift and lower. There is nothing wrong with doing very slow curls for a set of 5. It's all about &lt;strong&gt;time-under-tension&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;TL:DR&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on the exercise, match your cadence to your breathing. Time-under-tension and tension-amount determines your development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T14:47:11.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31090" CreationDate="2016-06-06T13:29:24.947" Score="0" ViewCount="1485" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has one of these: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.precor.com/en-gb/commercial/products/strength/plate-loaded/super-squat-624&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.precor.com/en-gb/commercial/products/strength/plate-loaded/super-squat-624&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You load up some weight (180kg in my case), face it, shoulder under and do calf raises. This is the only machine we have suitable for lower leg exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, my I have small shoulders and the leather pads leave bruise lines from the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you suggest some alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: To clarify, I currently hit calves using my main compound exercises (Squat/RDLs/DLs) but on my lower hypertrophy days I wish to add an accessory to focus on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-06T15:16:41.673" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T15:16:41.673" Title="What are some good alternatives to Calf Raises?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31084" CreationDate="2016-06-06T13:31:16.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;DEXA stands for dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Apparently it is often abbreviated as &quot;DXA&quot; these days, for reasons I'm not sure about. The technique consists of taking an X-ray image of the body at two different energy levels of radiation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When taking an X-ray image of someone's body, some portion of the rays is going to be absorbed by the body, while the remainder gets through and is captured on a photosensitive film or a detector. The absorption rate is different for various tissues. Bones contain much calcium, which has a high absorption rate. Taking an X-ray image to examine bones is basically taking a picture of the bones' &quot;shadow&quot;. The higher the bone density, the less of the radiation reaches the recipient (film/detector). How that is visualized depends on the used film or detector.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, bone mass isn't the only tissue absorbing some of the radiation. This means that trying to establish exact bone density based on a single exposure will have limited accuracy because of factors such as lean body mass, fat mass, water retention and more. Now, above I mentioned that different tissues will have different absorption rates. This also depends on the energy of the radiation. Taking an image at a different energy level will result in less or more of that energy being absorbed by body mass other than bone mass. This allows us to refine the result. It is basically an example of more data points increasing accuracy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it like this. Suppose I have two sheets of different colored glass, each of which will filter certain light frequencies. I know how much of each frequency is going to be filtered out per centimeter of glass thickness for each color. If I put these two panes together and shine a beam of white light through it, the light that gets through, and its color, can tell me something about the two sheets of glass combined. But I might not be able to figure out the exact thickness of both. Maybe it could be 2 cm of sheet A and 1 cm of sheet B, but maybe 1.5 cm of both A and B would give the same result. But, if I shine two beams of light through the composite, with each beam having different frequencies (say, one beam blue light and one beam red light), then knowing how much of each frequency is filtered out by each sheet of glass and putting it all together lets me figure out the exact thickness for A and B. In our first situation, we have two variables but one equation. That situation could have infinite solutions. In the second situation, we have two variables and two equations, which will typically have one exact solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a DXA scan is typically a technique for measuring bone density, it can also yield information about lean body mass and fat mass by combining the measurements of the two exposures. For fat measurement it's possible that different energies are used rather than those for bone density, but I don't know that for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's simplifying things a bit, though. A DXA scan won't be 100% accurate. First of all, because there are many tissues in the body with different absorption rates, and second because you're still only taking the two images in one plane (front to back of body, or the reverse). A thicker bone with lower density could still yield the same result as a thinner bone with higher density. The results would have to be combined with something like a CT-scan or MRI, or multiple DXA's from different angles, to get the complete picture. After all, we're 3-dimensional creatures, we don't live in Flatland. For its purposes, however, a DXA could well be accurate enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, and this paragraph is purely opinion on my part, I'm not sure a DXA scan is worth it. Like any other measurement technique for body composition, it has its limitations. On top of that, you'd receive a dose of radiation. Perhaps not a dramatic one, but the stance on radiation is commonly that exposure should be kept as low as possible over an entire lifetime. For anything other than critical medical examination, I'd go with a different method. Hydrostatic weighing, while not cheap either and being a hassle, can also provide good results. Body fat calipers can be very inaccurate, both the calipers themselves (if they're cheap plastic things) and their use (method, location) but if you're consistent in where you're measuring, they provide excellent feedback regarding relative fat loss. That is, you can find out how subcutaneous fat is being reduced from week to week and month to month if you always use the same calipers in the same spot. I don't think most people really have any need for a body fat measurement at the accuracy of hydrostatic weighing or a DXA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T13:31:16.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31088" CreationDate="2016-06-06T13:47:30.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could load up the bar on the Smith machine, put it on your traps like with squats (never directly on the cervical spine!) and do them like that. A wooden board, plates or step plate can be used to put the balls of your feet on to reach proper depth. However, at 180 kg you may find that the load on the spine and whole upper body could be too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option are seated calf raises. Again, these can be done in the Smith machine (at least that way it's good for something). Set up a bench in front of it, set the bar at a height where your legs, when seated, fit just under it, have the bar close to the knees (but still well on the upper legs) and push it up by contracting the calves. If there's a bar pad available, this could make it less uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that different exercises are said to put emphasis on different muscles. Standing calf raises apparently stress the gastrocnemius most (the outermost calf muscles that are visible and have two heads), while the seated variant, due to the knees being flexed (relaxing the gastrocnemius) puts more emphasis on the soleus, a deeper muscle layer. I'm not sure if it's broscience or not, but it seems to make some sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, with the calf muscles being as strong as they are, any exercise not done on a machine feels difficult to load enough without something else in the body getting taxed too much. A barbell on the back could have to be loaded with a lot more weight than is used for squats, holding it would require a heavy deadlift and would really test your grip (or tendons, if using straps) and using dumbbells just seems like it would never add enough weight past a certain point. Then again, if you can handle it in a shoulder-loaded standing calf press, a barbell or smith machine could work. Unless you have a specific calf press or seated calf raise machine, I'd suggest you stick with the standing calf raise machine available to you, discomfort and all, and maybe using a Smith machine or barbell in a rack for seated calf raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T13:47:30.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30079" CreationDate="2016-06-06T14:04:47.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question. Before you can understand the answer, you need to understand some of the principles involved in how &quot;tempo&quot; relates to performance. Performance relating to either hypertrophy and endurance or power/strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is generally well known and accepted that to invoke proper hypertrophy, you need to introduce enough stimulus to the muscle to break it down, so that it can rebuild itself via protein synthesis later. Now, how do we actually do this? Well, no one REALLY knows, but from various research papers, journals, studies, and just experience, it seems that time under tension (TUT) is a key factor in this, as it stimulates the mTOR pathways which are also key in building muscle (hypertrophy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we know we need time under tension to invoke hypertrophy, we need to come up with a tempo to achieve this in a systematic matter. Now, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you understand there is no ONE right tempo. In fact, you should NOT use only one tempo for all your hypertrophy goals (or any goals) as your body will adapt and you will halt your progress. Moreover, you will miss out on the benefits of other tempos, miss out on different muscle stimuli, as well as cause muscle imbalances in the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there are definitely some tempos that are better suited for hypertrophy rather than power, since they are achieved differently. For example, since hypertrophy (and endurance) require greater time under tension, you will spend more time in the repetition than for power/strength movements. A very good tempo for this goal would be to explosively lift the weight up, so 0.5-1 second lift, 1-2 second hold, and 2-3 lowering the weight. It is important that you understand why I chose these numbers. First, throughout many studies it has been established that the concentric part of the movement (lifting it, i.e pressing, curling up, squatting up) stimulates the most muscle fibres through explosive movement, I can reference many articles for this but a quick google search will show the same answer. It is NOT true that you should lift the weight up slowly, DO NOT DO THIS, you want to lift the weight up as fast as possible, explosively, with proper form assuming you warmed up sufficiently. Now, the isometric part ( the static part in the middle of the lift), you should always hold for at least one second in order to invoke your stabilizer muscles and get a good blood flow for nitric oxide transportation to your muscles to deliver nutrients to them. However, this part shouldn't be too much longer than a second, since we are trying to maximize TUT and you will be resting your muscles in this position, taking away tension. Now, the part of the lift, that breaks down the most muscle fibres and therefore influences the greatest size gains, is the lowering portion (eccentric). This is the part where your muscle is lengthening itself, and therefore the more time you spend doing this, the greater this effect will be, and thus a minimum of 2 seconds and max of about 4 is ideal since this is very stressful on the muscles and you don't want to overdo it, or you won't recover well. So that's hypertrophy, right ? No...not really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember how I said time under tension is what matters? Well, the above portion takes care of the time part of the equation. But what about the actual tension, i.e the weight? Well you can also invoke a slightly different form of hypertrophy (there's two, one being volume based with high reps, and one density based with low reps heavier weights). To do this, you just lift heavier weights for lower reps (but not too low). So for example, if you do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps for the first form of hypertrophy, you could do 5-10 sets of 3-6 reps with heavier weights for the second form. Tempo wise, you COULD apply the same tempo but it is not advisable, since with heavier weights, the eccentric part of the movement will be very hard on your muscles if you do it for longer than 2 seconds. So a good tempo for example could just be 1-1-1 or 1-2-1 etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for power and strength , you must first understand what they are. Strength is how much weight you can move and is mostly determined by your CNS, i.e your neural ability to lift weights, the density of your muscles, and form. I'm not an expert but I am a national level powerlifter for Canada so I can help out a bit with this. Power, on the other hand, is how fast you can apply that strength over time, think &quot;move weight fast&quot; as opposed to &quot;move weight&quot; for power vs strength. Now, from the way we constructed the above analogy, you might already know how to structure tempo for power... Yup, FAST. As a matter of fact, most explosive athletes like olympic powerlifters and football players will completely skip the eccentric part of the movement (the lowering) so they can spend more time on the other two parts which will maximize power, neural efficiency, and form. Since you're probably not either of these, it is sufficient to just minimize time in the last part of the lift so you can focus more on developing power, so don't spend more than a second lowering the weight. This means, if you are trying to improve your power, for the bench press let's say, you would pick a weight that you can move fast (50-60% of your 1 REP MAX), unrack the weight, lower it for no longer than a second until it touches your chest, pause at least a second or two at the bottom (isometric) in order to make sure you don't have any rebound, and PUSH up and explode as fast humanly possible with good form (should ideally take less than a second)...that is more or less how you improve power, and train for power. So the tempo would be around 0.5 seconds lift, 1-2 seconds hold, 1 second down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength isn't much different, but you must understand for strength, that the main factors are your form and your neural efficiency. Your neural efficiency is basically how well your CNS is able to recruit muscle fibres under heavy loads. The only way to improve this efficiency, is to do a lot work in the lifts you want to get stronger at. I.e if you want a stronger squat, you must squat A LOT, as in sets, reps, overall work over time. Generally, you would want anywhere from 5-10 sets of 1-6 reps for this purpose. The tempo, accordingly, will ALWAYS (specially for power and strength) be as fast as you can up, i.e max 1 second lift, I suggest 1-2 second isometric hold (middle of movement) to strengthen your connective tissues and tendons for more strength work, and no longer than 2 seconds eccentric (down) since heavy weights will take their toll on their body if you spend too much time under tension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, assuming your form is good, what is the key to all of this? For hypertrophy and endurance, we want to break down as much muscle as possible, this means lowering the weight for a longer time (i.e 2-4 seconds) on the way down of a curl, or descending the bar into your chest in bench, or lowering yourself in the squat. The amount of reps you do will determine hypertrophy and endurance. 6-12 reps is generally better for hypertrophy, while anything plus 15 reps will always be endurance based. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For strength and power, since you will be working with relatively heavier weights, the weight is what takes care of the tension and thus you won't need to (or should) lower the weight for longer than a second or two at most, as you'll get injured and it ll be hard to recover in general if you don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's common to all tempos? The beginning portion of the lift, the concentric phase. It is basically never beneficial to spend a long time, i.e longer than 2 seconds to lift the weight up, since lifting it faster breaks down more muscle, recruits more fibres, and also, training your muscle to move weight up slowly is generally a horrible idea. They will become adapted to that speed, and as a result, any relatively explosive movement will be more likely to cause injury. Please don't train your muscles to be slow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T14:04:47.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31088" CreationDate="2016-06-06T14:35:46.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I want to make sure you're not making the same mistakes that most people make when it comes to calves. Doing calf specific work won't necessarily make your calves bigger, unless your chemically enhanced via steroids. When you're a natural lifter, most of your muscle growth (except for when you first start lifting weights for a few months) will happen on a systematic basis. What this means in a nutshell, is something I'm sure you've heard before...big compound movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Big compound movements, release more hormones, invoke more protein synthesis, and improve neural efficiency as they recruit more muscles, and energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of calves, think about this for a second, when's the last time that you saw someone who could deadlift or squat over 500lbs and had small calves? Probably very rarely...if at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now think about how many people you've seen at the gym with a massive upper body with basically twig calves? I know, I've seen a lot. This is due to not doing lower body compound movements, or just not doing them enough... for example squatting once a week may not even be enough...think about it! Let's say you do bench one day, shoulders another, and arms another...you are engaging your triceps THREE times a week as opposed to training your legs only once, I'm not saying you do this, I'm just trying to show you a picture. Now, when I had small calves, the way I overcame it was by focusing on working my legs more frequently in general, i.e twice a week, and of course adding some calf work at the end of these workouts. Because remember, you can't have big calves without somewhat of a big squat or deadlift...unless you have some great genetics, or are old (old ppl have massive calves usually)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to work calves, I would suggest, first do a lot of squats and deadlifts, as your lifts go up in these two movements you'll be surprised how much your calves grow. Remember, when you're natural you're more likely to grow systematically, so you need big movements like these. Particularly, a GREAT exercise for calves that most people don't seem to know about is the stiff legged deadlift, or romanian deadlift. I'm not gonna go over the form here as I'm sure you can look up the details online. But it is VERY good for your calves and a compound movement so even better. If you don't believe me, stand up straight with your legs straight, knees slightly bent, and try to touch your toes...feel the stretch in your hamstrings and calves? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get the big movements out of the way like squats and deadlifts, THEN you should be focusing on some direct calf work if they're your weakness. I will tell you about a very nice trick for working calves at any gym. First, the machine that you have is actually great, and over time as you keep doing it, your shoulders will adapt and so you shouldn't really stop...maybe just go a bit lighter and do higher reps until u can move up. Now, your calves do not need a lot of weight in order to be stimulated...they are one of the few muscle groups that respond well to high rep work, such as forearms and traps. (This is because you use your forearms and calves EVERYDAY in any activity so they need slightly different stimulus in order to invoke growth). Furthermore, something most people don't know is, that your calves mostly function as stabilizers! Now given these two assumptions (they're more or less facts by now, but I'm sure some people won't agree so...), you can do A LOT of different movements to invoke calf growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favourite would be to lay down two 5  or 10 or 25 lbs plates on the ground. Grab two dumbbells , one in each hand, (weight about 20-60lbs ...really depends on you). To begin, place the balls of your shoes, on the weights on the ground so that your heel is still on the ground but your upper feet are on an angle (similar to how you would start on a calf raise machine), then with the two dumbbells by your side, slowly do a calf raise, going ALL the way up , pausing at the top for 1-2 seconds, squeezing the muscle, and going ALL the way down and feeling the stretch . Do this for about 2-5 sets of 10-25 reps...increase the weight as you progress. You can also do this on a smith machine with barbell on your upper traps, but I would really suggest away from this, since like  I said, your calves are stabilizers, so stay away from machines until the very end where you can overload the muscles with more weight. I.e, you can just get in a normal squat position with the bar on your back with more or less the same weight you squat with, but just do the weight elevated calf raises instead. At the end, go find a leg press machine, horizontal or vertical doesn't matter...push the weight up with your legs so that your legs are almost straight, but NOT fully locked as this will destroy your knees, keep the weight on the balls of your feet, i.e from half way up your shoes, keeping your heels not touching the platform at all, and do calf presses there for a few sets of 10-20 reps. Search up leg press calf raises for more information if you want. But after squats or/and deadlifts, you shouldn't need more than 1-2 movements for your calves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, other than your basic calf raising movements, another great way to stimulate your calves would be to do explosive plyometric jumps. Find a hip-level box, step on it, then &quot;walk&quot; (NOT JUMP) off of it so you impactfully land on the balls of your feet and IMMEDIATELY jump up as high as you can, focusing on pushing and following through with your calves...again you should look this exercise up online as well for more help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final note, if you REALLY have tried everything and your calves just won't grow, it would be a good idea to switch things up and work out your calves FIRST in the workout. Exercise priority (order of exercises performed in a workout) actually matters quite a lot in the long run and will benefit lagging muscles. So go to the gym, start with 1-2 of the calf movements I mentioned above (there's tons online as well, way more than any of us could list), after these your calves will be tired, so that when you perform big movements like a squat or a deadlift, your calves will be exhausted and thus will have to work twice as hard in order to keep up...effectively making the exercise more biased towards training calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T14:35:46.520" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16127" CreationDate="2016-06-07T02:08:19.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go to either a person certified in sports medicine or someone who coaches physique athletes as they would both have a pretty good idea ability how to properly analyze your situation and provide good treating&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T02:08:19.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10116" CreationDate="2016-06-07T02:14:04.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyponatremia is specific to sodium not all electrolytes.&#xA;Ingesting salt water or salt tablets will solve that problem.&#xA;Either way you want to replenish all your electrolytes, I would advise using a pill supplement if you don't want to drink a sports drink. There are many electrolytes supplements pills available for purchase.&#xA;Complex carbs or any type of carb for that matter will not replenish your electrolytes unless by some coincidence that contain those specific minerals.&#xA;Your headache can be caused by way too many things to diagnose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T02:14:04.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31097" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31105" CreationDate="2016-06-07T11:09:05.277" Score="0" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My shoulders have some catching up to do, compared to the rest of my torso, and I'm set on doing more overhead presses to have my compound exercises geared towards defining shoulders more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I need some inspiration for shoulder isolation exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some isolation exercises that will facilitate building broader shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own mind goes straight to the front/side/rear deltoids, but I definitely feel like there are some other muscles that help build defined shoulders. If so, which muscles would that be, and how would I target them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T14:13:51.053" Title="Shoulder isolation exercises" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31097" CreationDate="2016-06-07T11:44:58.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your shoulders need to catch up, I assume they are smaller than you would like them to be. The answer is : overhead press. This is the most (only?) useful exercise to get big shoulders, especially when you go heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards, if you seek for definition, the first step is to lower your body fat, and only after that you can proceed with isolation exercises, and you already know the three classical exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front raises will help define the area between the pecs and the shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side raises define the biggest part of the shoulder, and the traps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;rear raises&quot; (don't know the exercise name !) : when your arms start stretched in front of you, and when you pull them apart to be inline to be on your sides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But honestly, if you need to catch up, stick with the overhead press first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T11:44:58.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31099" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31108" CreationDate="2016-06-07T11:57:02.123" Score="3" ViewCount="444" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spend a good portion of my day sat in a office chair. I have heard from various sources about the importance of breaks for eyestrain and physical wellbeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, how often should I take breaks and what physical activity should I incorporate into either the breaks or whilst sitting down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21569" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-07T14:26:04.793" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T15:25:48.900" Title="Ensuring Physical Health while sat idle most of the day" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31100" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31101" CreationDate="2016-06-07T12:03:26.380" Score="1" ViewCount="2554" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally just leave my hands hanging on the bar while I squat, however I sometimes find myself pulling the bar downwards or pushing the bar upwards. When I push the bar with my hands, the weight feels lighter. I'm not sure if there are any benefits to this or if it is just psychological, after all, the weight is still being lifted by my legs, right? I try not to do anything with my hands, but I sometimes grind that last rep using this technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I push the bar up with my hands, pull it down on my back or not do anything during a rep? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T14:14:08.863" Title="What should hands do during Barbell Squats?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31100" CreationDate="2016-06-07T12:32:07.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m a firm believer in making sure to remove any unnecessary movements that would otherwise affect my technique/form.  I think that’s important to reduce any risk of form break or injury.  And, extra movements tend to reduce the impact on the targeted muscles.  For example, while doing barbell curls, I don’t bend at the waist and swing the bar up.  In my opinion, there’s no added benefit to engaging extra muscles if I’m targeting the biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/#Grip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grip&lt;/a&gt; is important for maintaining proper form, I would resist the urge to push or pull the bar especially if you progress to heavier weights.  I don’t see any added benefit to it, and, it can only lead to bad habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T12:32:07.200" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31100" CreationDate="2016-06-07T12:50:52.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Echoing rrirower, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/#Grip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/squat/#Grip&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Main takeaway is that on a high bar or low bar squat your traps/back sholders will be supporting the weight and your hands are there to keep the weight in place on your back and stop it slipping down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a heavy squat and a relatively weaker back and so I found the bar slid down sometimes at around the 110kg mark and was experiencing pain in my wrists from holding the bar in place. I read through the above link and used it to improve my grip (wrt. Squeezing, bar position, etc.) and the outcome was reduced wrist pain and a better squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, it is not a behind-the-neck press, do not try to push the weight of the bar with your hands, doing that is a free ticket to rotator cuff issues. Conversely, pulling it down means it will fall off your supporting back muscles and potentially break your form, back, or elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T12:50:52.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31097" CreationDate="2016-06-07T12:54:50.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to agree with your instinct that you should look to target the major deltoid muscles.  I think a good recipe for shoulder development is to continue with compound movements, but, also add movements like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY_hTH2OBAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reverse Pec Deck/Machine Flyes&lt;/a&gt; that target the rear deltoid.  If you have access to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/equipment/id/4/equipment/cable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cable crossover machine&lt;/a&gt;, there are a whole host of exercises you can perform to build, shape, and define &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; aspects of the deltoids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven’t already, you should consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/teen-locke32.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prioritizing your training&lt;/a&gt; to improve any lagging body part.  You also make no mention of lat development and waist size.  These also contribute to the appearance of broad shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, again, most importantly, go with your instincts.  They’re usually always right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T12:54:50.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31097" CreationDate="2016-06-07T13:29:21.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answers courtesy of ExRx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders are built up of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deltoid &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anterior &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Posterior &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supraspinatus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also visible in the area are your Trapezius, Upper Fibers &amp;amp; Levator Scapulae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll give you a good example of the most popular (based on reddit's opinion) exercise for each:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deltoid&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anterior: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBShoulderPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shoulder Press&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/CBLateralRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lateral Dumbbell Raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Posterior: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidPosterior/CBStandingReverseFly.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reverse Fly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supraspinatus: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Supraspinatus/DBFrontLateralRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Front Lateral Raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trapezius, Upper Fibers &amp;amp; Levator Scapulae: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/BBShrug.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shrug&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal opinion? For a intermediate lifter integrate a combination of: Row (Pendlay, upright or other), Overhead Press, Reverse BB Fly and Shrugs/Lateral raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beginner lifters would be fine with just Overhead Press and Rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advanced lifters should know either what their body needs and/or should consult a professional trainer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T13:29:21.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31097" CreationDate="2016-06-07T13:49:01.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I commented to clarify the question, but since &quot;toning&quot; up the shoulders is physiologically impossible unless you plan to lose body fat, I'll give some exercises that have worked for me in the past in terms of getting bigger and stronger delts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, absolutely nothing beats an overhead press when it comes to building shoulders (proven both by EMGs and years of experience), and since you're already doing these, fantastic!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, in terms of pure isolation, there are a few options here for each head of the shoulder...I'll give my favorites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to shoulder isolation work, one thing that many people don't seem to be aware of is that, your hand position actually matters quite a lot as seen from numerous studies. What I mean by this is for example, it's been found that when you do dumbbell front raises, you get the most activity from your front deltoids when your hand position is neutral (palms facing your body like a hammer curl) as opposed to palms down or up. With that in mind, a very simple but very effective isolation exercise for front delts is obviously just front raises. As opposed to most, I actually don't recommend doing these with dumbbells, since most of the other shoulder movements are done using dumbbells, you want to introduce some new stimulus. Instead, grab a weight, 25-45lbs will do, grab it like a steering wheel, with your arms basically fully straight, and do a front raise to VERY slightly above parallel your shoulders (NOT MUCH or you risk impingement) and squeeze your front delts. This is works a lot of core as well and you can handle more weight with a plate as opposed to a dumbbell so all the better. As another twist on these, you can do them with cables obviously or just plain dumbbells if you feel them better. Also, I know this may seem weird but it's been found through EMG scans and just my personal experience, that pec dec (the chest fly machine) actually works your front delts to a great extent, if you want to add that in occasionally. As an additional tip, on top of overhead press, if you incorporate some push presses into your shoulder routine, you will work all three heads of your shoulders to a great extent, you won't really need more than 1-2 isolations after this. Also builds great power and helps you get &quot;toned&quot; if your diet is right, since they burn a lot of calories and release hormones (just look at olympic lifters and their shoulders).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of side delts, there's only two primary isolation movements that are well accepted and have been studied. Lateral side raises and upright rows. There's no need to complicate things here, if you want to isolate your side delts do side raises. To get the most out of these grab lower on the dumbbell, i.e get your pinkies higher than your first 3 fingers, almost like you're pointing your elbows up but not much. You can also do these with cables to change things up. Just make sure you focus on lifting with your elbows and not wrists. You can also do upright rows but I don't recommend it since these put you in a very good position to get injured and they're not really worth it in my opinion. That's more or less it for side delts, note these also work rear delts to a good degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of rear delts, a very good exercise is just a reverse pec-dec (if your gym has this machine), it's pretty straight forward how to do this, so I'm sure you know how to do it pretty well anyways. Another good variation is seated reverse flies. To do these, sit at the edge of a bench, grab a pair of dumbbells, your palms can either face you or they can face back (it's been shown that more rear delts are activated in the latter while more side delts are activated in the previous), slightly bend over (don't round your lower back too much or at all if possible) so that you're upper body is about 45 degrees or a bit lower to the ground, and do the same motion as the reverse pec dec, i.e do a reverse chest fly, LEADING WITH THE ELBOWS, with arms as straight as possible but not fully straight. Note that also, in shoulder exercises the arms are kept straight only to spare the biceps of extra strain, so keeping them mostly straight with a slight bend is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, these aren't isolation movements but shrugs and rows and pullups work the side and rear delts to quite some degree as I'm sure you're aware. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final note, I want to point out that while isolation work for shoulders is great, you obviously know (I'm assuming since you have a high rep) compound movements (since muscle growth happens on a systematic level in natural lifters i.e from big movements) and a caloric surplus with adequate protein are the first two necessary things for shoulder and muscle growth in general. Isolation movements for shoulders in my opinion have their place, but I wouldn't do heavy weights with these. Your shoulders already take quite a beating from working back, chest, etc... so it's really not necessary and it will be harder to recover. Most bodybuilders and strength athletes will usually do &quot;fluff&quot; work with shoulder isolation, i.e they will just do pump work with 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps in order to deliver proper nutrients to promote recovery and to get a nice full look. I made the mistake of going heavy with shoulder isolations before and it cost me, so I advise going for volume and frequency as opposed to intensity, but of course everyone is different, and you will find what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T13:49:01.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31100" CreationDate="2016-06-07T14:14:08.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main purpose of your arms during the back squats is to keep the bar &quot;locked&quot; in place, and to promote a tight upper body in order to minimize energy leaks in the kinetic chain. Think of a car, if one of its tires are flat (leaking air) then it won't perform to its best. Similarly, if your upper torso is not tight, you will leak energy and therefore power, if your upper body is loose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of grip, look at a few powerlifters online and you will see that some of them grip the bar with their thumbs around the bar, and some of them without (called a false grip), this is really just preference and won't affect your lift much at all. I suggest going on YouTube and looking for Mark Rippetoe and his back squat video which has an entire 15 minute section on what your hands should be doing and what they help you achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, once you get under the bar, i.e the bar is resting on your traps, you want to pull your elbows back, almost like your doing a pullup, or that you're trying to &quot;break the bar&quot; over your back. This will ensure that you have a rigid torso that minimizes energy leaks and will ensure that the bar does not move during the squat at all, so you can focus more on the actual squat rather than the bar or fixing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an additional note, I mean pull the bar down and break it over your back to clarify. I.e, the bar should already be resting on your upper back/ traps in the first place. Then you squeeze and pull it down and try to &quot;break&quot; it over your back. Generally, you would want to place the bar between the little &quot;crease&quot;/space that is naturally there between the top of your rear delts and your mid/lower traps...sort of like the bar is resting on a shelf, and all your doing is making sure the bar stays in that shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T14:14:08.863" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31099" CreationDate="2016-06-07T14:35:30.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct, the human body wasn't made to sit down for long periods of time. It is very unnatural, but with the information age, it is basically inevitable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work as a software developer and understand your pain. There are a few things you can do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get a stand up desk, so that you limit straining your lower back and engraving an unnatural position for your spine. If this is not an option, try to get up and stretch every 20 minutes or so, go for a little walk, get a cup of tea, if your building has stairs, go up and down these stairs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really know your situation so I can't recommend any specific exercises but if none of these are an option, try to offset the time you spend sitting down by the time you spend standing up and moving. So if you work all day and sit down all day from 9-5, then when you get home, go to the gym, go for a long walk, go for a jog, go biking, play a sport, go gardening, anything that's movement will be beneficial. Just stay active :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T14:35:30.563" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31109" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31290" CreationDate="2016-06-07T14:59:28.340" Score="20" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;How effective at improving flexibility/posture/fitness/general health is using a standing desk instead of a sitting desk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2019-02-03T15:58:14.070" Title="How effective are standing desks?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31112" CreationDate="2016-06-07T15:09:42.687" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's common knowledge that weak individuals tend to pick up strength at a rapid pace given some 3x a week barbell training program. Some (starting strength) say there's massive lean body mass (LBM) development during this time. Others say it's just central nervous system (CNS) development during this period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done some searches for actual studies and can't find any. Is the rate of LBM development of untrained individuals higher than trained individuals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21570" LastEditorUserId="21570" LastEditDate="2016-06-07T15:31:08.353" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T15:38:15.173" Title="scientific papers on muscle growth in (severely) undertrained males?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31099" CreationDate="2016-06-07T15:25:48.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time you have an opportunity to do something physically exerting, do it. Health &amp;amp; Safety Executive recommends:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;short, frequent breaks are more satisfactory than occasional, longer&#xA;  breaks: e.g., a 5-10 minute break after 50-60 minutes continuous&#xA;  screen and/or keyboard work is likely to be better than a 15 minute&#xA;  break every 2 hours;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are a million ways to exercise and keep active while at work...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always take the stairs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set an alarm to go off every hour while working. Stop gaming, do 5 minute walk, reset alarm, start working again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use half an hour of your lunch break to explore the area around your office on foot. Find a pleasant walk (if you can) and walk it at breaks. Bonus: de-stress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand up during meetings, if it's socially acceptable to do so. If you can, stand on one leg. Subtly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always offer to do the coffee run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set an alarm to remind you to stand up and stretch every hour at your desk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink lots of water all day at work. Forces you to get up frequently and pee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace your chair with a yoga ball.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For squats, squat all the way down when picking things up off the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your foot suspended in the air as you're putting a shoe on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knee raises, heel raises, and toe raises while waiting in line.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a grip trainer and put 15 minutes into it each day while reading the news. Brain and forarm/finger gains!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold your feet off the floor while reading emails.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kegals (look it up, not at work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a standing desk (not sure how effective this is though)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T15:25:48.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31110" CreationDate="2016-06-07T15:32:40.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've mentioned both strength and LBM development, and these aren't all that related as you might think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An untrained individual will have greater muscle growth simply due to the fact that they are untrained. As in, their body has never been introduced to this external stress and stimulus caused by weight training and as a result, it adapts to these new conditions, and grows. This rate is of course higher for untrained lifters as opposed to trained ones. You can convince yourself of this by just thinking, don't even need any scientific studies, although I'll link one at the end. Just think, if the rate of LBM development WASN'T higher in less trained individuals than trained ones, then wouldn't it become easier for bigger people to get even bigger than they are? What I mean is this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose that the rate of LBM development was the same or higher in trained individuals than untrained. Then, it follows that as you keep training and stepping more in the &quot;trained&quot; category, your LBM development &lt;strong&gt;would increase proportionally and you would keep gaining muscle indefinitely!&lt;/strong&gt; I'm sure you now realize how absurd this would be... The world would be full of The Hulk. Look at professional bodybuilders or any strength/physique athlete, look at their development throughout the years...once they reach a certain size, they almost can never increase size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or just reach your own conclusion through big data! Look around in the world, how many people do you see that are lightly muscular, medium, and heavily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article can maybe shed some light on your concerns, and also look up the protein myostatin to understand why the things I mentioned above seem to be so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength, however, is a different ball game. &#xA;Yes, strength will somewhat be related to the cross-sectional area of your muscle fibres (basically, somewhat of your muscle size), but it is primarily CNS driven. This may be where your confusion is coming from. &lt;strong&gt;Strength gains are mostly CNS while muscle gains are mostly due to adaptation and new stimulus&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't want to write you an essay but this is the main idea. Your body, invokes different systems based on the different stresses that it is put under. If you do 6-12 reps with moderate weights, your muscular systems with type 2 fibres will step in and do most of the work effectively working hypertrophy. If you do 1-3 reps with very heavy weights, your muscles won't even have the time to be simulated enough and your CNS will take over with very heavy weights. What I mean by CNS is, basically, when you lift heavy weights, your body says &quot;wow that is some heavy weight, I must recruit more of my resources&quot;. Well, you recruit more &quot;resources&quot; by recruiting more motor units (part of your CNS). More motor units = more muscles and tendons recruited = a stronger you. In untrained individuals, your motor pathways are very &quot;dusty&quot; and inefficient, since they haven't had to do this job before. It's basically their first day on the job in a way. But once you start training (first few weeks/months), your motor pathways start becoming more efficient and your motor units become better at their jobs (like any human working at any job, they will get better over time, they will adapt), your motor units adapt, and as a result you get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/muscle-growth-part-1-the-science-behind-why-and-how-does-a-muscle-grow-and-get-stronger.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.simplyshredded.com/muscle-growth-part-1-the-science-behind-why-and-how-does-a-muscle-grow-and-get-stronger.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, just think in terms of strength (CNS) and muscle growth (hormones, stimulus, anabolic environment due to diet and etc.) They both use different muscular systems which is influenced by your rep and weight ranges, although there is some overlap obviously (2-6rep range is decent overlap).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-07T15:38:15.173" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T15:38:15.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24531" CreationDate="2016-06-07T16:21:07.977" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not count &quot;protein eaten for muscle construction&quot; towards calories at first. Because at first, it's added as structure, not energy. The resulting muscle structure can later be used (at a calorie cost) as energy, but meanwhile it actually burns calories until then (1 pound of muscle burns about 50 calories per day) and therefore, consuming protein can result in a negative calorie input over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An analogy is, making many lawnmowers out of gasoline (which isn't possible obviously,) and running the mowers constantly, feeding them more gasoline. When the gas runs out, each lawnmower can be fed into the others for more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is considered calorie intake needs to be purpose-driven. So the answer is contextual. &quot;&lt;em&gt;Calorie Intake&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is simple enough. But &quot;&lt;em&gt;meaningful calorie intake&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is something that needs context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21572" LastEditorUserId="21572" LastEditDate="2018-11-18T21:17:19.483" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T21:17:19.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-07T17:15:59.910" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am suffering from a cold right now. I didn't want to break my workout routine, so, I continued to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But during my session, I was not that energetic. Also, I have read on the internet that working out with a cold does not allow the body enough time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I want to know if it's OK to work out with a cold as my energy itself was low. And, is it true that the body doesn't get enough time to recover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20160" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-06-07T17:20:28.073" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T17:54:56.607" Title="Should we workout with a cold?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31114" CreationDate="2016-06-07T17:54:56.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If depends on your regular exercise routine. If you only do light exercise then it's not a problem to skip exercising for a week or longer. People who do heavy exercise almost every day may experience problems. Heavy exercise burns a lot of energy (1000 Kcal in my case), it is burden on the body that has become part of the regular routine. You are used to eating and sleep while exercising this hard. If you suddenly withdraw the exercise part of this routine then the eating and sleeping part may suffer. If you are very ill, then that illness will force you to do this, you may not be able to eat much due to the illness and the need for sleep will increase anyway, so in that case there isn't an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is when you are only a bit ill, like the cold you are suffering from. Then withdrawing the exercise part completely may overcompensate things, after a few days you may not have a good appetite and not sleep well. This may then feed back on your recovery of the cold, as not sleeping well and eating less well won't help. Obviously it's no good to become unwell during exercise either, so taking things easy during exercise is the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T17:54:56.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31109" CreationDate="2016-06-07T19:38:43.073" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;At a first glimpse the standing desks seem like another &quot;improvement&quot; companies throw to an item to make customers upgrade and re-buy the same thing. Essentially it's just a desk, right? That's what I thought until I started my current job which provided me with a standing desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My job is sedentary and very static. I experimented and on some days remained sitting without raising the desk for the whole day. As a result my lower back would start hurting a little(old injury) and my legs would start feeling bloated. I would have to go for a long walk afterwards to get rid of this uncomfortable sensations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I spend the first hour at work standing, having my desk raised. Then I sit down and switch every hour or so. I would work standing until I get tired. I cannot really say that it gets my blood going but it provides me with a chance to change my posture to something more natural than sitting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do a quick research you will find out that a lot of the back problems are developed by office jobs. By sitting on a chair for hours. Like for example -  Discopathy, Disc Hernia and so on and so forth. Standing tall, straightens your back and allows you to avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am personally about to buy a standing desk for home too. It's a game changer for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4954" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T19:38:43.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31109" CreationDate="2016-06-07T19:50:34.100" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Dr. Jos Verbeek of The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/17/470713717/stand-to-work-if-you-like-but-dont-brag-about-its-benefits&quot;&gt;What we actually found is that most of it is, very much, just fashionable and not proven good for your health.&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T19:50:34.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31118" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-08T06:49:09.720" Score="0" ViewCount="453" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to calculate the calorie burned by any person.If i have the height ,weight,sex,distance walks or run.Is there any formula that help me to calculate the calorie burned just by above four factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21578" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2016-06-13T22:38:03.527" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T22:38:03.527" Title="Calculate calories burned" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;met&gt;&lt;burn&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-06-09T15:35:35.687" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31118" CreationDate="2016-06-08T07:15:54.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. There are formulas for estimating basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). For exercises like walking or running you could estimate the calories burned based on measured performance data. Say, you have height, weight, sex, distance traveled and the time for this, as well as a measurement of burned calories, then those first parameters could be used as a prediction of the last one. These are the sort of methods used in machine learning, where inputs are used to &quot;train&quot; an algorithm for finding predicted output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so, there's simply too many unknown parameters left that will have a large impact. If you're running on an incline or decline, the &quot;distance&quot; as would be measured on a map would be different from that actual traveled, yet the intensity of the walk or run would be influenced. Height and weight don't tell you anything about body composition. You could have two people for which these parameters are identical yet one has a large body fat percentage, the other a very low one with a lot of muscle mass. Fitness level and adaptation to exercise is going to affect efficiency and heart rate, further making estimates inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest thing to do is to use a heart rate monitor that takes said input and then uses the heart rate measured at short intervals to constantly calculate energy expenditure. But even that won't be entirely accurate. Possibly, if you have a monitor that allows you to export the heart rate data for a workout, it could be plugged into program that takes body composition into account as well. I wouldn't know about the existence of something like that. (If it doesn't exit, making something like it sure sounds like a very interesting project. It would take only a basic knowledge of machine learning and a technique like gradient descent.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple formula, however, is at best going to be very inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T07:15:54.000" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31121" CreationDate="2016-06-08T12:10:26.300" Score="5" ViewCount="1728" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I've started a weight loss plan 2 months ago and I'm steadily losing weight. However, I usually gain 1-2lbs over a week, then suddenly shed 3lbs overnight. This cycle repeats itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weight myself first thing in the morning before I shower. Typically, the weight loss happens on either Fridays or Saturdays. I tend to eat out of Fridays as a cheat meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption is that this is water-weight building up over the week and then it disappears at the beginning of the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what could be causing this pattern? I don't see anything wrong with it; I don't expect weight loss to be linear. However, during the week I often find myself thinking I should be cutting more calories, which I do not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional info: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I work out 6 days a week, Sunday-Friday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I eat about 2450 cals per day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I drink about 2-3L of water during my work day (7-3) after which I slowly drink less outside of my workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I skip breakfast (I'm just not hungry)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During work days, I eat at the cafeteria at work (600-1000 calories&#xA;depending on what is offered) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner varies a lot, but usually carbs and proteins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein shake if I didn't achieve my calorie count&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reviewing my food log, I notice that it is mostly carbs and proteins. Pretty close to what MyFitnessPal recommends me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="18977" LastEditDate="2016-06-08T21:02:59.877" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T19:59:24.073" Title="Weird weight loss pattern" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31120" CreationDate="2016-06-08T12:28:25.473" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn to choose your data&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah, you shouldn't place too much value in everyday weight measurements, because they are too impacted by small factors like how much water you drank with your last meal, second servings, how much you pooped/peed today, and an array of other petty things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should do is keep measuring every day, but instead of looking at each measurement, calculate the average over a week, and instead keep track of those averages. That way, your calculations aren't as impacted by the small stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: 85.6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: 85.2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: 85.0&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: 87.2 (because you ate a particularly large dinner.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: 86.3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday: 85.9&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday 85.1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Average of week 1: 85.8&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how this average doesn't fool you into believing that you belong at 87kg+. Weighing 87+ was just a momentary thing, and doesn't matter in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2017-09-01T19:59:24.073" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T19:59:24.073" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31120" CreationDate="2016-06-08T13:15:38.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will also edit my answer once you post your food logs, but this is actually pretty common and there is a pretty clear and well-studied conclusion here. Obviously, I can't 100% be sure since I haven't seen your diet, but you say your cheat day is on Friday and that over the weekend you gain weight. Well...this is pretty expected, happens to me all the time during contest prep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's happening is your manipulating your glycogen stores via carbohydrates or excess calories during a single day. Think of your glycogen stores like little balloons that hold water (more accurately, promote water delivery and holding onto them), except instead of air blowing up the balloon, in this case it is carbohydrates and in some cases if you don't eat much carbs, it is due to excess calories from other sources (your body can turn other macros into glycogen). Glycogen is simply just an easy access tank of energy that your body has access to. When you're in a caloric deficit and your carb intake isn't too high, these &quot;balloons&quot; start losing volume and therefore weight, but just like a regular balloon...you can still blow it back up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been proven in various studies that the difference between max glycogen levels and min glycogen levels can vary up to 7lbs!!! The exact amount does depend on the individual's genetics and insulin sensitivity however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you don't work out on saturdays also confirms/strengthens the fact that your glycogen stores will be fuller than usual and hence you will be holding more weight. Try this for an experiment, have a really hard workout on saturday (legs if you don't fear death), and weigh yourself Sunday morning (glycogen manipulation does take time), see if this is still occuring...I can almost guarantee it won't, at least to the same extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, note that excess sodium can also have the same effect of holding water. So if, on your cheat days, you eat a lot of fast food and processed foods (which have higher sodium than most foods), then this sodium will also make you retain more water. Combining this with glycogen manipulation, these two can lead to some large fluctuations, so just be aware. Lucky for you (and me), weight/fat loss seems to not really care about a few days, and the process usually depends on your overall weekly calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I just looked into this a bit more, and when I said above that glycogen manuplation does take time, I should specify that it can take upto 2-4 days depending on a lot of factors. Until that time, the combination of excess carbs and proteins will reduce release of body fluids, so once there is an impulse in these amounts, your body will get confused and release a lot of water through urine, sweat, even air through CO2, and thus this is yet another effect for fluctuating weight. This is because since you just cheated, you increased your blood sugar more than usual and thus reduced your cortisol (the most evil hormone to ever exist for muscle building) by a considerable amount, so your body stopped holding on to water for a brief time, had your glycogen stores been depleted, this wouldn't have had nearly the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-08T14:29:27.323" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T14:29:27.323" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31120" CreationDate="2016-06-08T13:49:54.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically water/carb weight swings are much larger than fat-loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like water-retention cause by Cortisol caused by calorie-restriction in the week, which is dropped when you &quot;cheat&quot; on Friday night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Half-way through the study the men were allowed a relief dinner to celebrate their progress. One big meal of 2300 kcal was served; roasted chicken, potatoes, gravy and strawberry shortcake. That night everyone got up more often than usual to urinate. The next day they discovered that they had each lost several pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water-weigh changes can also come from changes in Glycogen, but that would have the opposite pattern of what you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2016-06-09T06:58:30.000" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T06:58:30.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31118" CreationDate="2016-06-08T14:28:39.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a simple general formula to calculate BMR (calories you burn per day without exercise). It is rather accurate as long as you are not far from &quot;average&quot; person. Eg very lean, very muscular, very obese:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;English BMR Formula&#xA;Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )&#xA;Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )&#xA;&#xA;Metric BMR Formula&#xA;Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )&#xA;Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a formula based on body fat that is more accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there is a Harris-Benedict equation that helps you calculate the calories burned based on your activity lavel. Here is a simplified version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR x 1.2  if you are sedentary + little or no exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR x 1.4  if you are lightly active + light exercise/sports few days a week. This is where most people with office job and working out few times a week are.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR x 1.6  if you are moderately active. For example if you are cycling/walking to work, or work a standing job, and exercise a few times a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Above that are mostly people that workout hard, everyday and combine it with a physical job of some sort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is a good guideline to plan initial caloric intake if starting a diet. As everyone has slightly different metabolic rate, different lifestyle and daily activity routines, caloric intake should be adjusted according to progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-06-09T12:59:40.933" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T12:59:40.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31126" CreationDate="2016-06-08T15:16:29.037" Score="1" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing a lot of physical activities and I'm in doubt what kind of carbs I need to ingest to avoid exhaustin mid-training. In my mornings I usualy lift weights (for this, my nutrition is fine and I get a nice performance), but every tuesday and thursday I have 1 hour Muay Thai training (at 7 PM) and something between 1 hour &amp;amp; half to 2 hours of Kung Fu training (starting at 8:30 PM, sometime as late as 9 PM). My Kung Fu instructor is also a Crossfit coach and both martial arts classes are very intense, most of them involving bodyweight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually have less than half an hour between these two trainings to eat and I'm unsure if I should ingest carbohidrates with high or low glycemic index, before and/or in the interval. I usually ingest around 40g in carbs by drinking maltodextrin before both trainings, along with other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what's best to eat before and in that interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10351" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T16:30:41.977" Title="High or low glycemic index between training?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31125" CreationDate="2016-06-08T15:55:38.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question! I'm gonna reference my answers based on &quot;Cribb, Paul J, Hayes, Alan, &quot;Effects of Supplement-Timing and Resistance Exercise on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy.&quot; Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 38(11). Pp. 1918-1925. ISSN 0195-9131, 1530-0315.&quot; and &quot;Tipton, et al, &quot;Timing of amino-acid carbohydrate ingestion alters anabolic response of muscle to resistance exercise.&quot; American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1 August 2001, Vol, 281 no.2, E197-E206 DOI:&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, before your workout, you want to consume something that's going to slowly release you solid amounts of energy over a long period of time. In other words, you want a food that releases your blood sugar minimally so you don't spike your insulin as much and do all of the nutrient transport work at once. Foods that accomplish this task are complex-carbs or as you mentioned low-glycemic carbs, which include oatmeal, brown rice, most veggies and some fruits.  Also, it is not wise to think ONLY in terms of carbs for pre-training as protein is equally as important but luckily not anywehere near as complicated. Simply consume some protein with this carb-meal, (20-50g is ideal). By ingesting protein before and during a workout, you spare muscle protein, negate protein degradation, and set the muscle up for regeneration and remodeling. Loading protein and carbs before and again during the workout also leads to fat oxidation that continues long after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand what you must consume &quot;during&quot; your workout , i.e in that little interval you have, you must understand what's happening in your body. First, If intra-workout insulin is low, glucagon robs muscles of amino acids so it can convert them to glucose. Low insulin makes it possible for catabolic hormones to &quot;steal&quot; your energy and ultimately muscles. Muscles need carbs to do work, but they also need protein. During a workout, amino acid requirements go up 500%. &#xA;Based on this, and a few other studies that I've looked at over the years, it is best to consume a BCAA (branched chain amino acids) supplement. There are tons of these available, and I'll let you look online to find one that suits you economically. &#xA;Furthermore, if you read the above carefully, I also mentioned a bunch of negative things happening while your insulin is low during the workout. Well, what raises insulin then? The complete opposite of complex carbs...simple carbs (or high-glycemic foods). A VERY VERY good high GI carbohydrate that also has a bunch of other benefits are bananas! So eat a banana or two during this interval with some BCAAs and you are golden. You can also eat carrots, melons ,pineapple, quick white bread sandwich with protein in it (ham, turkey whatever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't say you wanted post workout nutrition help but if you comment that you would like to then just let me know :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I completely forgot another supplement that raises your insulin that you could consume during your workout, and this might surprise some people, but it is just plain old whey protein. Whey has been shown to spike insulin in hundreds of studies (primarily caused by leucine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T15:55:38.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31120" CreationDate="2016-06-08T19:45:33.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight is a terrible indicator of general health.  In reality it's just 1 piece of the puzzle, and a very misconstrued one at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What has weight?&#xA;Bones&#xA;Muscle&#xA;Water&#xA;Organs/rest of your parts&#xA;Fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is fat is a very tiny portion of this (under 10% let's say), and if you're exercising, muscle ends up weighing more than fat anyway so people who are focusing on building muscle will actually gain weight.&#xA;Significant losses in weight over time are sometimes related to osteoporosis/bone degrading or other major body issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really don't gain/lose much weight eating unless we're trying to split hairs.   Your diet can influence how much water your body holds however. (salt intake)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case in point--scales lie, a lot.  For instance, many people don't realize it, but when men loosen a belt later in the day--it's because the waist expands after standing/being upright most of the day.  Even your feet slightly change size throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21586" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T19:45:33.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-09T04:41:35.883" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lost about 100 pounds in the past few years.  The arteries in my forearms are beginning to become much more visible, and they appear to show up more, but my weight has gone back up 10 pounds and my pants are getting tighter again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing a lot of ab, back, and side-plank workouts, which may be why I'm gaining weight and, especially, getting tighter pants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Like the visibility of arteries in my forearms, is there any body part that is known to be consistent in revealing muscle vs fat changes visually?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20490" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T13:29:47.840" Title="What is the body part used to track fitness progress?" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31137" CreationDate="2016-06-09T05:22:42.897" Score="0" ViewCount="7980" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lost about 100 pounds over the past few years, focusing primarily on weight loss.  Now that I have lost the weight, and I look kind of scrawny underneath what was fat, I'm trying to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't see a change in my appearance, at least not yet, because I have only gained 10 pounds since I started attempting to gain muscle, and if anything, I am more toned in my arms, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;but my pants are getting tighter again!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing the following exercises among others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Planks &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side-planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They all target the area around where I wear my pants; &lt;strong&gt;is this normal for muscle gain to make a noticeable difference in 2-3 weeks on waist/hip size for pants?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference isn't even one belt notch yet, but I am hyper-aware of how my pants fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20490" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T10:51:17.497" Title="Is muscle gain making my pants tighter?" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31131" CreationDate="2016-06-09T07:10:45.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you have gained a noticeable amount of muscles while doing exercises for your obliques (obliquus externus abdominis), it makes sense that your waist circumference has minorly increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, you should look at it in a positive way because it represents the gains you've made, and anyway it's not gonna significantly increase anymore due to this muscle's structure. You can see some crazy obliques &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/LfIaygH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; - you probably notice that it has a limited effect on hip size (yet it does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read once an interview with a coach who recommends his bodybuilding trainees not to do too much of obliques training because it may be a hindrance on their way toward the V-shape. Yet, if you're not going for such contest, core workout for strength &amp;amp; stability is more important than avoiding another cm in your circumference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T07:10:45.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31130" CreationDate="2016-06-09T07:30:42.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fat distribution in your body is entirely linked with your genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, for men, the last/hardest area to burn fat is located on the belly, and above the hips (side of the belly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this can really differ from one guy to another, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have remaining fat on the belly, and on the whole back (top to bottom), but no fat at all on my chest, or below the belt. My arteries in the forearms are really visible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My brother has fat on the belly as well, but nothing on the back, and a bit more on the arms, so less visible arteries (he trains harder than me though)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is that there is no universal area on your body that will reveal muscles, and the abs are in general the last part to show unfortunately! Legs and shoulders/arms tend to show quite quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the plank exercises you do, I doubt this is what makes your pants tight, are you sure you don't do additional legwork?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing your other post, if you talk about your waist getting wider, it is possible, and you might see the difference if your pants are really tight. But if you were talking about your thighs, planking will not make them bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T07:30:42.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31135" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-09T13:25:25.980" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I decided to recently try create my own cycling training plan, but I think I misinterpreted some of the info and am overtraining. I used Strava to get a lot of information and also read up from online searches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started off the a Strava training plan, combined with this info for custom HR zones: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.strava.com/athlete/training-plans/cycling-training-glossary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.strava.com/athlete/training-plans/cycling-training-glossary&lt;/a&gt; but interpreted the &quot;% hr&quot; as &quot;% max&quot; and not &quot;% CTS&quot;, and am guessing it's not a sustainable plan. I've just read up on % Threshold, with this breakdown:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gm4wU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gm4wU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;heart rate zones&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from &lt;a href=&quot;https://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/six-things-need-know-training-zones.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a &quot;tempo&quot; training ride today and got feedback that &quot;its more like a threshold workout&quot;, so am here wanting to clarify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's 2 specific workouts that I got from a training plan and how I interpreted it, and wanted to validate the correction I should be making:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 x 12m Steady State - Initially: &quot;Steady state = 92% - 94% of max, i.e. 174 - 176bpm&quot;. Adjusted: &quot;92% - 94% of CTS 8m avg, i.e. closer to 78% - 80% of max or 145bpm - 150bpm&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 x 20m Tempo intervals - Initially: &quot;Tempo = 88% - 90% of max, i.e. 164bpm - 168bpm&quot;. Adjusted: &quot;88% - 90% of threshold, i.e. 74% - 76% of max or 138bpm - 142&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These new zones feel super conservative to me, I can comfortably ride at 90% max for 3 x 20m intervals (6m rest between each), and feel like this is improving more than 75% for 3 x 20m. Am looking for a slightly more aggressive training plan and wondering how I should be training (1 - 2 hours available a day, 5 - 6 days a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21594" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:24:43.917" Title="Training zones and training plans" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31130" CreationDate="2016-06-09T13:29:47.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, as a minor note, you're not seeing arteries, you're seeing veins. Hence getting more &quot;vascular&quot; due to shed body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can almost guarantee that working out your core is not the reason for gaining 10lbs. Maybe, and that's a MASSIVE maybe, side planks led to your obliques being developed and added maybe a lbs of solid muscle which could lead to a blockier waist (not fatter, but obliques are on the sides of your torso) but that's a very long shot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's way more likely is that your back workouts are simultaneously working your lower back and since you're not used to weight training, the majority of the muscle you added is around this region. What do you do for back? Deadlifts, bent over rows, and lots of other back exercises could do this. If not, it is almost certainly due to your diet. Can you update your post to give us your diet? If you've followed the exact same diet for a very long period of time, your body may have adapted and since you weigh less, if you didn't adjust your calories accordingly, you may be eating an excess..or you might have followed a crash diet, or you changed your diet to manipulate carbs, glycogen, and therefore cortisol and this may be causing fluctuations in the weight...very hard to tell unless I know your diet and your daily habits as well as workout routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your actual question, while this is more or less different for everyone due to genetics, there are some obvious tells. Your veins are certainly one of them, and this isn't limited to your forearms (I actually got a few bicep and shoulder veins sometime before clear forearm veins). Given that it is different for everyone, the safest way would be to just compare some past pictures of yourself to your present self. Your waist size isn't really the best indicator after a while. The most obvious way is to just look at yourself in the mirror (sideways) and see how much your belly sticks out compared to before, how much love handles you have...etc. From my experience the muscle that sticks out the most as you lose fat tended to be the biceps (there is a major vein on your bicep that'll become more visible at even moderate-high bf levels) and the little &quot;cut&quot; or seperation between your shoulders and your arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone has a unique body, you should try not to compare yourself to anyone but yourself. Most common/obvious places for the purposes of your question though, are abs, arms including forearms, your head (this is actually a pretty big one, and your close ones will have noticed), and in some cases, your hands and feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T13:29:47.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31131" CreationDate="2016-06-09T13:35:45.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like I said in your other question. All three of those exercises effect your lower back, obliques, and some of your actual abdominals to a degree..i.e they all work your core. Since you're a beginner, no matter what you do, you will gain muscle where ever you do the work. In this case, you're doing back extensions (lower back), side-planks (your whole core, but primarily obliques, the muscles on the side of your torso and hence waist), and planks (entire core)...Since pants are sized based on the diameter of your mid waist in inches, even a very slight increase in muscle mass in this area will cause somewhere around 0.3-1.5 inches of difference and hence your pants will get tighter lol. So don't worry this is good, unless you plan on becoming a physique model in which case stop working obliques because they'll hurt your v-taper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not gonna rant about it here, but why are you doing back-extensions? Please do some research regarding this exercise and come to the conclusion on your own how unnecessary and harmful it is..there are SO many better exercises you could be doing, which would all incorporate more muscle mass and strength, and spinal health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T13:35:45.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12901" CreationDate="2016-06-09T14:13:32.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple mental tips that I'm finding useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change the way you think about stopping soda from &quot;I can't have soda anymore&quot; to &quot;I'm not the kind of person who downs a ton of soda every day.&quot; I'm not a fan of judging other peoples' habits in this way, and I don't think not drinking soda makes me a better person, but thinking this way is powerful for me. When I say &quot;I can't have soda anymore&quot;, the implication is that I still want soda, but I'm denying myself something that I want. When I tell myself &quot;I'm not the kind of person who drinks soda&quot;, it fits in with a long-term vision of myself. I want both things, and I want the long-term thing more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn about how habits work. From what I've read, a habit works by having: 1) Stimulus. 2) A behavioral response. 3) A reward. By recognizing a craving for soda in step 1, you can work to change step 2. For example: When I receive the stimulus of wanting a soda, I've changed my behavioral response to either buying chocolate milk or drinking water. Not ideal, but better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18763" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T14:13:32.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31131" CreationDate="2016-06-09T14:15:41.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining muscle after huge fat loss should be done slowly as it takes long time for your body to get accustomed to lower body fat level and could gain fat rather easily. Waist shouldn't increase from muscle gain significantly. Take regular measurements of waist and tights. **&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand most people that lift weights seriously have problems finding pants because of big tights. If you regularly squad/deadlift, you will soon have to forget about most &quot;skinny fit&quot; jeans and go towards &quot;loose fit&quot; or certain models of &quot;regular/straight fit&quot; jeans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;** Fat gain is a major concern if you are above 15% bf - if so, try to maintain weight while training with bigger weights and consuming same amount of calories that you burn. After a while go for another cutting period to get to around 10% bf before focusing on muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T14:15:41.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-06T20:13:53.660" Score="3" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is two parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, can tightening your muscles repeatedly increase their strength similarly to lifting weights? Second, if this is true, can electrical stimulation of the muscles make this happen automatically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Daffy" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T23:45:49.427" Title="Can simply tightening your muscles replace lifting weights for gaining strength? And if so, can electrical stimulation cause it?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31140" CreationDate="2016-06-09T01:41:40.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your first question: no. If done correctly, isometric contractions of any muscle WILL cause an increase in strength, but it will not be comparable to the increase in strength from lifting weights. &lt;strong&gt;Whether your goal is pure strength or hypertrophy, you need to break down the muscle tissue by taking it to its absolute limits, and with the absence of a load you won't be doing that.&lt;/strong&gt; Again, it's not to say that isometric contractions are completely useless, but you will probably not see any significant changes in muscle size from it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to answer your second question, EMS by itself probably wouldn't do much, but combined with a proper training regime it could potentially be a useful tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21589" OwnerDisplayName="Pearu" LastEditorUserId="21589" LastEditDate="2016-06-09T22:12:35.823" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T22:12:35.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31120" CreationDate="2016-06-09T17:39:18.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are using a FitBit or Withings scale (or just tracking your weight on the FitBit site) you can use the &lt;a href=&quot;https://trendweight.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TrendWeight&lt;/a&gt; site to track your weight. It will help you smooth out your daily weight fluctuations and gives you great insight into what your fat mass and lean mass are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that during some periods I am not losing weight but I am gaining lean mass and losing fat mass instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="175" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T17:39:18.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31148" CreationDate="2016-06-09T21:40:55.127" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite some time ago I trained has a shot put athlete, only at a regional level. I trained hard but only about 1h30 per day, 3 to 4 day per week. I never made great marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later I had to abandon the sport and start working on a summer job at a big supermarket, filling shelves. I didn't had to make big efforts, besides piking the ocasional fridge or washing machine, I simply had to keep standing for 8 hours a day. Sometimes I had to make double shift, but very rarely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually I left the job and my trainer asked me if I could do one last competition and, to my surprise, I've made my best mark ever, by far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To this day I have no idea what happened. Could it be because my muscles got rested and preformed better? Or could it be that doing physical effort  for longer periods of time, even if non specific and with weaker intensity, is more efficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21569" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T10:31:08.897" Title="Training: quality vs quantity" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25330" CreationDate="2016-06-10T03:03:11.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Id say up to 50k the first half is a jog, second half is a run and last quarter is hard running. This matches my favorite race strategy that tends to work so this is most likely biased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its interestimg to see what happens for a run of +6 hours when the half way mark is much longer than a normal long training run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T03:03:11.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="37786" CreationDate="2016-06-10T04:09:54.770" Score="4" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to improve or maintain your speed at any distance by doing the following:&#xA;Hard workouts 1-3 times every two weeks where 75% or more are races and the rest are race pace workouts.&#xA;Easy workouts 3-5 times a week.&#xA;Over a months average 12 runs, so its likely to be low mileage but many high intensity runs due to the races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2018-05-07T16:39:58.980" Title="Is it possible to maintain or improve as a runner doing mostly races?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-10T07:18:36.740" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 23 yo, 6'4 and 180 pounds. I've been working out for approximately 3 years. This includes weight training and calisthenics. I also play basketball here and there. So I consider myself fit and active.&#xA;The thing that I find intriguing and somewhat bothersome is that my muscles get fatigued quick. I also get the swelling of it usually after 1 set. I find it bothersome because it makes my continued sets harder, in which I end up doing less total reps. &#xA;For instance, I can plan to do 3x8 of bench press @ 135lbs. On the first set, I will knock out the 8 reps. After resting 60-90 seconds, my second set will usually consist of 5-6 reps because my arms are too swollen and I can't get the full ROM. For the last set, to accommodate, I will probably drop the weight so I can get the 8 reps. If I keep the weight, then I'll end up doing about 3-5 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone point me to the probably cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I forgot to mention. To be more precise, as I do more reps and get more of a pump, the pump/swelling is always in my arms. Whether I'm doing pull-ups or bench press (usually any exercise), my arms get pumped which restrict my ROM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21607" LastEditorUserId="21607" LastEditDate="2016-06-10T17:14:12.430" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T19:30:29.807" Title="Rapid fatigue and swelling" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-10-10T21:39:32.910" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31147" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-10T10:10:54.647" Score="0" ViewCount="782" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the best foods and exercise for quick weight gain? what are BMI increasing diets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21595" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T13:11:50.590" Title="How to increase BMI and gain weight in a healthy way?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-06-14T14:46:25.497" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31143" CreationDate="2016-06-10T10:25:54.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few principles at play here. I'll keep it in simple English to make this as useful as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before that, yes your muscles are rested and ready to perform better. Doing physical effort for long periods of time is good to maintain your musculature but it won't directly help your sport. It basically means that the negative effect of time you spent off from training is less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some other stuff going on too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;CNS&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, related to &lt;strong&gt;neural adaptations&lt;/strong&gt;. Your central nervous system (CNS) learns movements (like the shot put), i.e. it gets more efficient at it, thus increasing your performance. The more you do it the better it gets. The problem is, when you practice regularly for an extended period of time without breaks, depending on the calibre of your coaching you often (almost always) develop bad habits or inefficiencies. If you keep on practicing you will keep ingraining those bad motor patterns. You may notice technique flaws and try to make your body perform the correct movement pattern, but often it will persist in the inefficient one it is used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But once you take an extended break (more than a few weeks, depending on the movement in question) your CNS actually forgets a lot of what it learnt. Now, the minute you get back to practicing the movement again, you no longer have a CNS longer trying to use dodgy motor patterns. However, what you do have is a CNS that is already primed from previous practice to learn this movement as quickly as possible. So you have a chance to develop a superior movement pattern and additionally this time you know what you're doing. Result: the movement feels fresh. You start feeling things differently, your muscles activate better, your body listens to you efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Staleness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, &lt;strong&gt;staleness&lt;/strong&gt;. Your body adapts to a stress (throwing the shot put taxes your muscles in a certain way) and gets better (builds stronger muscles). Initially the adaptation happens very fast, but as you keep stressing it with a similar stressor the adaptations slow down (this is called the noob effect, super fast progress at the start then slow thereafter). The longer you spend training the same stressor/movement the more stale it gets. Often you will hit a plateau where you keep on pushing a movement but it just doesn't improve, or it does so very slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you take a break from that stressor for a while (can't be too long though) and come back to it, the noob effect repeats: you find very quick initial progress before slowing down again. But often (for athletes who aren't too advanced) the heightened progress is enough to blast past a plateau and get stronger than you ever were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Staleness happens physically (muscles stop getting strong) but also psychologically (you just get tired of that movement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the reasons periodization exists btw, you can't train the same quality for ever so you transition from one quality to the next through your training cycle. By the time you come back to the first quality you are fresh and progress quickly on it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Practically&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why athletes have off seasons. Training for a particular sport constantly leads to staleness, burnout, and progress stops. If you take a few months off every year you have a chance to regain mentally and physiologically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it depends how elite you are at your sport. The staleness and CNS learning concepts are more pronounced for beginners than they are for advanced athletes (i.e. you can afford to take longer breaks and still have beneficial quick adaptations once you come back)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;References&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer to The Scientific Principles of Strength Training by Chad Wesley Smith and Mike Israetel. Lists studies and further references in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-06-10T10:31:08.897" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T10:31:08.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23705" CreationDate="2016-06-10T10:44:38.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;For anyone actually wanting to do that workout&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these answers are correct when applied to the workout linked above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bodybuilding.com email response is also wrong when applied to this workout, I assume they have given a generic answer on what 5 x 3,2,1 means but it has nothing to do with the workout linked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The workout calls for five sets of 3,2,1 reps in a &lt;em&gt;rest-pause&lt;/em&gt; style of training.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you use a heavy weight that you could do for about 3-4 reps max, and crank out 3 difficult reps (you can just manage to do them). Then to get your breath back you rest for just a few seconds (10 seconds or so), then force 2 more reps. Then you rest a few more seconds, and do the final rep. It's a way of pushing you to do (3+2+1=6) reps with a weight that normally you can only do 3-4 reps with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is one set. You repeat this process 5 times to do 5 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, this isn't the usual meaning of 5 sets of 3,2,1, but this is the meaning in this context and for this workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T10:44:38.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31147" CreationDate="2016-06-10T12:44:19.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, BMI is based on weight and height. and since you can't really increase height, you need to gain weight as you say. You also say in a &quot;healthy&quot; way, I'm going to assume this means max muscle gain with minimal to no fat increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your fitness history, this will determine how &quot;quick&quot; the weight gain is. For example, if you haven't weight trained at all previously, then your body has no idea what weight training stimulus is and as a result, it will have to immediately adapt as a survival mechanism to this external stress. Basically, you'll gain weight faster regardless at this stage. If you have some weight training history, it'll be a little bit slower but since you're asking this question, it's safe to assume you're still at the beginning stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking, you can only add on weight if you consume more calories than your spend, i.e you eat more than what you burn off during exercise or due to your resting metabolic rate. Since you said &quot;healthy&quot; weight gain, it's a little bit more complicated since you want minimal fat gain. Well, a guideline is you would consume around 14-15x your bodyweight in lbs to maintain the weight you are at, so, depending on how quick you want results and how much fat gain you want to limit, you're going to want to consume around 15-20x your bodyweight in lbs. Of these calories, you need at the very minimum 1g of protein per lbs of bodyweight. We need protein because when you breakdown your muscles during weight training, proteins are the main way your body builds them back up, and back up stronger and bigger (given you ate enough). The rest of your calories will come from carbs and fat obviously...how much will depend on your carb tolerance. Generally, you don't want to eat too many sugary foods as they will make you become insulin resistant, and insulin is one of the most anabolic, if not the most, hormones in the body (anabolic means building the muscles back up, whereas catabolic is the opposite, together these two constitute your metabolism). Anyways, there are lots of great weight gain diet articles out there but this should point you in the right direction, it's always better to do your own research and your own experiments on your own body, since noone will know your body and your habits better than you. Everyone is unique, and genetics do play a role, so just keep that in mind. If you are VERY new, then you could argue that you don't even need to keep these tips in mind, and that you should just eat..eat alot, eat often, then eat more...just keep eating until you can't...then do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll quickly mention that sleep is CRUCIAL since rest is when your body builds itself back up, therefore if you don't get enough sleep (AT LEAST 6 hours at the very very minimum), you will halt your weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of exercise, PLEASE don't be one of the people that weigh 100lbs of all bone and go to the gym only to work arms...this is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen and yet it happens every day. Just think, if you want to become larger, WHY would you train the smallest muscles in your body? I'm not saying don't train them at all, but definitely not anything more than twice a week for now, as you get more advanced you can play around and see what works. Now, the easiest way then, to add mass, is to work your larger muscles...makes sense right? This means start doing compound movements, i.e your squats, your deadlifts, bench, rows, pullups, overhead press, dips...etc. Not only are these movements going to recruit more overall muscle fibres, they also release more hormones due to their recruitment patterns, this is CRUCIAL for lifters who do not supplement with hormones (steroids and hgh). You don't need to over complicate things, just go to the gym 3,4, or 5 times a week (make sure to get at least 2 rest days since your muscles wont grow unless they recover), lift some weights...have a training plan, train certain groups of muscles on certain days or do full body or split into lower and upper. You don't need to do the &quot;bro&quot; split, which is when the entire universe does chest &amp;amp; triceps, back &amp;amp; biceps, legs, shoulders &amp;amp; arms if you don't want. Just go to the gym and train hard. For optimal growth, grab a weight that you can barely get 12 reps with and do that for 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps, and NEVER forget to progress in the gym... This means if you benched 135lbs for 4 sets of 8 reps last week, try 140-145 for 4 sets of 8 now, try to improve, try to overload the muscles, this is the only way they will grow. Once again there are lots of training articles, way more than I can cover here, so just go look them up, experiment yourself, do your research, and most of all just stay dedicated...at the end of the day, the people that you see that are more muscular, stronger, leaner, bigger, just wanted it more, and they did the work to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should take from this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat a lot and then some more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train big movements not calf raises and forearm curls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep...a lot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't believe in these online scams and magic diets and pills, and gain &quot;50lbs in 4 weeks&quot; claims.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put in the work and stay dedicated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most importantly, always try to progress, beat your previous self.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-10T13:11:50.590" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T13:11:50.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31146" CreationDate="2016-06-10T13:21:30.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;6'4 and 180 lbs sounds VERY lean (so you probably just need to eat more to be honest, more complex carbs to be concise). Assuming it's not an injury since you didn't describe pain, the most likely cause of this is that your ATP or glycogen levels are low. If you are depleted in glycogen, your first set will always be more or less regular, and then you will start to see decrease in reps or weight, since your body already used a chunk of the available glycogen it had. But I would need more info to conclude anything, do you eat enough carbs ? What's your diet like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that, if you need to rest more than 90 seconds in order to get the full 8 reps, do that, it's a massive bro myth that if you rest more than 45-90 seconds that you won't get the benefits of lifting the weight. There are a few studies showing that resting as long as you need to in order to apply the most tension is better. That means if you do 135 for 8, and u can only get 135 for 6 after a 90 second rest, it would better to rest 120 seconds, or 200 seconds, or however long you need, in order to get the 8 reps again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-auto-regulate-your-rest-periods&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-auto-regulate-your-rest-periods&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article is well written and backed up by a very convincing study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, you may just not be getting enough recovery. Maybe you're training too often? Maybe you're not getting enough sleep? Not eating enough or correctly? Maybe your form is lacking...there are A LOT of things that could be causing this, the carb thing I mentioned above was at least the case for me, your body is your own and it is unique to you so you will need to put in the time and work and experiment. Ask yourself what your daily habits are, are the foods you're eating helping your goal? Are you doing excessive cardio via basketball before lifting weights? ARE YOU DRINKING ENOUGH WATER? (this is a huge one for your problem you described) If you don't have enough water in your muscles they will quickly get tired. Etc...you get the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As additional help, there is actually a supplement you can take in order to get more reps per set via increasing ATP supplies (what your muscles need in order to contract, think &quot;muscle energy&quot;). That supplement is creatine. Taking 5-10g a day can increase your reps in hypertrophy range (i.e 6-12) by a rep or sometimes two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-10T13:27:17.500" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T13:27:17.500" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31152" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31179" CreationDate="2016-06-10T18:58:01.073" Score="3" ViewCount="1082" Body="&lt;p&gt;Attempting body recomposition by cycling calories on workout/non-workout days... but, I can't find any sources that really agree on how many calories I need to eat. For instance here's two articles written by the same guy that give me an 800kcal difference between them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/calorie-calculations-for-body-recompositioning/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/calorie-calculations-for-body-recompositioning/2&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-basics-of-body-recomposition-how-to-lose-fat-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-basics-of-body-recomposition-how-to-lose-fat-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, one thing most of these calculations (including the above) have in common is the calories are based on your maintenance calories or BMR, plus some modifier for the muscle building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, basing it off your average maintenance calories seems like it should create an overall caloric deficit. So, if I normally burn 2,400kcal on an average day then I go weightlifting I'm burning an extra 500kcal for a total of 2,900kcal. Yet a formula that adds 15% to maintenance would only have me eating ~2700kcal for a roughly 200kcal deficit. (And that's assuming I don't do extra cardio!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is it basically a matter of beating your &quot;maintenance&quot; so your body knows you have enough to maintain itself and will build muscle? Or should it be more than my actual calorie burn, meaning I should calculate/track calories I've burned and try to eat a little more than that? (I have a Jawbone UP3 fitness tracker, so the latter is doable... I just need to figure out the right thing to do.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also still a beginner and fairly overweight, so I know things work a little bit in my favor on this... but I'd like to optimize so I can improve faster, and get in the right habits for when I'm thinner/fitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6544" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T09:17:17.690" Title="Do I need to be over my maintenance or my actual calories burned to build muscle?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31152" CreationDate="2016-06-10T20:04:35.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah I was wondering the same thing a few years back. But let's just reason this out here. So, in order to build something, anything, you need something to build it with. That's obvious right? You can't build a brick wall without bricks or a staircase without stairs. Now, let's say you order 1,000 bricks and you want to build a wall with 900 bricks. Assume, on the way over, from shipping, about 150 bricks are lost so now you have 850 bricks. Well, can you now build a 900 brick wall ? No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, at least if you're thinking purely in terms of calories in vs calories out, then you need to beat your calories burned. Your maintenance calories, i.e your resting metabolic rate, is how many calories your body burns on average in one day, even if you were to not do anything. Well, even if you overcome this number with food, what is your body going to use to build itself if it doesn't have anymore calories left since you exercised and burned, lets say 500 more calories? It wont. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, think of it the reverse way, when bodybuilders are cutting for a show, or a gym rat is cutting to get leaner, why do they add additional cardio? Obviously to burn more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body can't build muscle if it doesn't have the ingredients in the first place because they were burned up doing other things. But to be fair, it isn't so black and white. Yes, calories in vs calories out plays a huge role, but so does protein synthesis. In fact, this is the most important process when you're trying to build muscle. For example, let's say you start to eat over maintenance, (by the way, it's usually recommended that you eat 16-20x per lbs of bodyweight for weight gain, while 14-15x for maintenance, so this alone should answer your question, look online). Well, if most of these calories are from carbs and fats, then you're not going to invoke protein synthesis. Remember, all muscle building is, on a technical level is Protein Synthesis vs Protein Breakdown. To invoke protein synthesis, you guessed it, you have to consume a lot of protein, manipulate insulin correctly, and make sure your diet lets you consume the max amount of amino acids, as well as lots of sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to your actual question, whatever you do, DO NOT listen to any post on myfitnesspal regarding fitness or even diet, the quality and accuracy of the articles are actually horrifying. I should also mention that while it is good that you're trying to look up information on your goals online, the best way to accomplish your goal is through time with experimenting and seeing what works best for your body, it is unique to you. Some guys can get massive with pop tarts and coca cola, while some will look like a sumo wrestler the second they even look at white rice (look up insulin sensitivity if you want to &quot;optimize&quot;). There is NOTHING that will beat pure hard work in the weight room combined with lots of and lots of quality food, I wouldn't even start counting until after a few months of figuring out how your body responds to weight training. Just my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-10T20:09:54.297" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T20:09:54.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10086" CreationDate="2016-06-10T22:05:55.063" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a full-body, two-hour workout twice a week. I progress at a normal rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I can lose about two to three pounds of fat a month (roughly 240 to 360 calories loss a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not much, I know, but it's better than nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you need is 1 gram of protein per lean body weight, and just enough carbs for workout days to get you through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating tons of protein and carbs is a stupid myth! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21614" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T22:05:55.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-11T09:18:17.883" Score="1" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 21 years ols, and o I have noticed that my left butt chick is lower than my right one. I tried for the last 7 weeks to concentrate on &quot;lifting&quot; it, but I can't seem to see any differences. What should I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21617" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T11:27:58.567" Title="Uneven butt question" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-06-14T14:46:36.233" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31152" CreationDate="2016-06-11T09:57:50.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt; you have to consider the actual calories (the remaining amount after burning calories off).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Let's say I ate 2800kcal, burned 500kcal off and I need calculated 3100kcal to gain weight. On this day I won't gain muscle theoretically, because 800kcal are missing for that goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one day does not matter. Always talke your weekly average calories into account!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T09:57:50.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31156" CreationDate="2016-06-11T11:27:58.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a very common muscular imbalance which can be brought on by tendencies in your sitting position, standing position, and a lot of other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What NOT to do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be inclined to work one side more than the other to catch up, but &lt;strong&gt;that is a mistake!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say your left buttcheek is sagging because the right gluteus medius is stronger than the left one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start working out the left side more than the right side, you might end up with the same problem, but now your left gluteus maximus is stronger than the right side one, and you're back where you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should do squats. It's an exercise which works your gluteal muscles a lot, and since it's a symmetrical movement, you will be training both sides until they are equal, avoiding the mentioned mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T11:27:58.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-11T16:31:55.057" Score="4" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for some specific exercices for fingers, hands and wrists to improve the flexibility and not the strength.&#xA;This is because I suffered of a bad tendinitis mostly to the flexor tendon of the third and fourth fingers of both hands after playing many years the piano in the wrong way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I am looking for totally relaxing and flexibility improving exercices only for hands and wrists. I know some very famous books, like Bob Anderson's &quot;Stretching&quot;, but they do not include thorough hand, finger and wrist specific exercices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that what is needed now is to improve the flexibility of muscles and body tissues, especially the membrane of the tendons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does someone have some tips? Some suggestion about relevant books or guides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21563" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T19:02:54.320" Title="Fingers, hands and wrists specific stretching exercices" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-11T23:16:09.380" Score="2" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gone through multiple transformations from fat to fit to fat to fit to fat. I did many things until I found the ketogenic diet which worked great for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I am on a ketogenic diet, I am extremely dedicated. Workout 5 days a week, drink no alcohol, extremely disciplined about my food, literally no cheating. Sleep on time, wake up early, drink plenty of water, socialise less, or even when I do hang out with friends, I eat clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I switch back to a normal diet after achieving my target weight because of family and cultural reasons with a view that I will maintain my weight with exercise and clean eating habits in a normal diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However when I am on a normal diet, where the expectation is to do everything in moderation, it clearly doesn't seem to work for me. I socialise as normal which is largely around drinking and eating the good food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do that I don't feel motivated to work out as I am not eating clean anyway and then this goes on for months and slowly I have gained all my lost weight back again and the only way to discipline myself is to go back on a ketogenic diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight gain greatly affects my moods and my moods greatly affect my motivation to workout or do anything and I resort to eating junk. And it's a vicious cycle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need something that I can do long term and not have to struggle with this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My near and dear ones tell me it is self discipline and will power, but I know it's not that there is something more. Why when I can stay disciplined for over 8 months at a time on a ketogenic diet, can't do it in a normal diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there others who have gone through the same? How do you guys do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21622" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-19T09:54:27.520" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T19:11:57.203" Title="Lose weight-&gt; Gain weight-&gt; Lose weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-12T04:03:56.060" Score="1" ViewCount="1051" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am at a loss as to why I still can't swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a college swim class taught by the school's men's varsity swim coach (at a Division I program in the United States), we learned all the building blocks of swimming. We did lots of breathing practice, learning how to take a stroke, then put it all together to do half-laps and full-laps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I practiced a great deal, and perfected my breathing technique and was able to swim laps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But after the semester, he told us that we can't take advanced swim class, because that's all done at the deep-end of the pool, and that there's no intermediate training to help us get to that level of swim. I never got better at this college swim course, even after plenty of personal training swim sessions at my local gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is: Once I attempt to swim in the deep end, I somehow can't tread water, and so I always sink, and panic and need to be rescued, either by friends or trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone ever experienced this phenomenon?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a quick fix?  Do I just need to add on the skill-set of treading water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that I've tried everything already - I've practiced treading water in my friends' pools many times.  I always sink.  Everyone's confused about why I can't do it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21625" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T10:24:45.350" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T16:09:19.253" Title="Can't swim, even after a semester's worth of swimming classes, practice, and personal training," Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-12T14:46:04.190" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a skinny guy and want to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do regular exercises and decided that I need to eat more in order to gain weight. I made a protein shake weighing about 300g and it has 1672 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering my daily intake is about 2000ish calories with my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) being about that much, will adding 1600 calories everyday be bad for my health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will eat this much for about 30 days therefore I will gain about 7kg which is my goal. I will later convert some of the fat that I gained into muscle (not directly of course) but that's a different story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way my question is: &lt;strong&gt;can adding 1600 calories hurt me somehow?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21626" LastEditorUserId="7733" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T05:27:01.193" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T05:27:01.193" Title="Can too much calories pose a health risk?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31165" CreationDate="2016-06-12T17:32:17.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;TL/DR: You must change your goals and mindset so that you can gain lean weight in sustainable manner - longterm. If you gain 7kg in one month, it will be either mostly water retention (bloating) or fat. Fat can not be converted to muscle. Any fat gained will make it harder to gain muscle by worsening your insulin resistance.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One meal of 1600kcal is not healthy. I hope you mean it's 300gr in weight, not 300gr of protein in single meal. The protein from that meal will not be absorbed properly (in single portion depending on number of conditions you maybe can absorb something in the range of 20-50gr of protein, unless you have extraordinary genetics or have fasted for long). Such huge meal will probably make you feel sick and you will most likely not have any appetite for most of the day. After several days of trying to push that much calories in - you will feel sick from the thought of eating any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you however manage to consume that much calories (which again I highly doubt), you could in fact gain 7kg in a month - the problem is that most of them (5 or more) will be just fat. That will not make you look better and is not healthy at all. You will worsen your insulin resistance and will rise your cholesterol levels at the very least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realistically, with average genetics you can gain just about 1-1.5kg of lean weight per month, with proper resistance (weight) training and nutrition. However if you gain 7kg of lean mass over the course of 6 months, you will look much bigger, it will be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So focus on increasing your caloric intake by up to 30% over your burn rate as a start. Eat 3-4 times a day - balanced, protein rich meals and maybe have a protein shake here and there if it helps you boost your calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-06-12T17:32:17.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31167" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-12T21:06:25.237" Score="1" ViewCount="812" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently on a workout plan. for lunch I have one pouch of tuna and one whole avocado. I am getting a little sick of tuna. Can I replace my pouch of tuna and avocado for a protein shake? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protein powder that I have, if I have two scoops- &#xA;has 1 gram of sugar, 50 grams of protein and is 220 calories- I also have it with water instead of milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21630" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T13:27:04.910" Title="Protein Shake VS. Tuna" Tags="&lt;meal-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-13T14:24:12.710" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-13T01:23:28.810" Score="2" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Female, 15, 110 pound, 5'3&quot; &#xA; Goal: smaller figure and toned body &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started weight training about a week now. I start with a very light weight 1kg for arms. The next day it became very sore and after 3 days the soreness was gone but to only end up with big arms. It increases at least half of an inch bigger. I trained my legs and now they're sore and massive. What to do? Continue or stop? Is it true that u become bigger before u become smaller? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21631" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-13T14:25:31.087" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T14:37:40.860" Title="should I continue weightlifting even though it makes my body bigger?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-22T21:24:32.333" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31167" CreationDate="2016-06-13T07:02:58.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hardly possible to give you a handy tip without referring to your whole diet program, and it also depends on the type of protein shake you take (whey or blend), but in general, both gives you a decent and clean portion of protein and you can rely on the first as much as you can rely on the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, consuming a lot of tuna on daily basis is considered problematic due to the high level of mercury in it. On the other hand, protein shakes, especially with water, don't make you satiated at all, so if you're on a low calorie intake diet, consider eating vegetables around that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T07:02:58.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31168" CreationDate="2016-06-13T07:57:47.310" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your muscles haven't gotten any bigger, they are slightly swollen (or &quot;pumped&quot;) after your workout, because of inflammation. This is a standard response of your body to this new challenge you are throwing at it. If you keep training, at some point this effect will last only few hours after working out, if at all. Because your body would have adapted and gotten used to handling your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a female, you likely will not be able to gain any significant amount of muscle, no matter how heavy you train. And even if your goal is to gain some muscle - it won't happen overnight. It is a slow process that takes lots of time and you are in complete control of it. Building some muscle will help you have well defined &quot;toned&quot; figure. Only gaining fat can drive you away from your goals - and weight training is helping you to go in the other direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So bottomline is - keep training most importantly - keep challenging yourself. If something feels easy, it in fact is too easy and most likely doesn't help you make progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T07:57:47.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31162" CreationDate="2016-06-13T09:39:56.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to stay on track - you must set proper measurable goals. Define your goal as specifically as possible and write them down - weight, body fat, circumstances of different parts. Calculate your caloric needs and start keeping a food diary. And plan your days accordingly. If you don't plan, it's easy to lose focus and do things you regret.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could recommend you two books on the topic of setting proper goals. One is &quot;Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle&quot; that has a section specific on how to do it for weight loss / muscle gain and also has tons of other proper advice. Other is &quot;Psycho-Cybernetics&quot; by Maxwell Maltz which is more general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked for my opinion on Ketogenic diets. I actually like them quite a lot. Well, not exactly Ketogenic - when I'm losing fat, I'm going on very low carb diet but probably not Ketogenic as I try to eat lot's of vegetables and some low-carb fruit (like some berries or a piece of apple).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As your body tries to use as primary energy source the type of macronutrients you are consuming most. So when you are on low-carb diet, that is fat and it starts using fat (including your own) more enthusiastically. This is part of the reason you are not as hungry - your body just uses more of the fat as it now does 24/7 instead of &quot;asking you&quot; for more carbs. When you are on moderate/high carb diet, the primary energy source is carbs, and they are just so easy to process - who would bother breaking down fat if you have sugar around!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your blood sugar is stable. You are not as moody which further helps you control appetite. Also helps you stay on track. You have noticed yourself it's harded to staying focused and training almost every day when on higher carb diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your insulin sensitivity improves a lot (which is a major problem when&#xA;you have excess fat). This makes you more effective on handling more calories even if you overeat. If however you overeat with carbs, combined with the low insulin sensitivity, it is a recipe for storing that whole huge meal as fat. Insulin sensitivity is one of the reasons fat people get fatter easier and eventually develop diabetes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low carb diets make food choices quite simple. Your main problem becomes &quot;what should I have as with my steak/sausage/burger patty/eggs&quot;. Which ideally ends up being some vegies and a bit of sauce like mustard/ketchup :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main concern with low carb diets is if you consume too much processed meats, which are not healthy at all. I'd strongly advice you to stick to less processed food most of the time and eat lots of fish. Try to get free-range eggs and higher quality food if you can afford it. Also, it could be a concern if you completely cut out veggies and fruit from it. And I personally have a training high-carb day in the week where I try to match my calories to be a bit higher than the average of my total daily expenditure. Out of 4-5 meals on that day, I have one that I could eat some cheat food if I really crave (pizza/beer/ice-cream) but generally it's just enough to have some fruit, some nice bread and other foods I generally miss. So this makes it quite impossible to stay in ketogenic state, but the fact that it's all planned makes it really hard to get out of track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T06:44:38.380" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T06:44:38.380" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31167" CreationDate="2016-06-13T13:27:04.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tuna is very high in protein and certain amino acids such as leucine (most essential BCAA for protein synthesis, i.e to build muscle), vitamin b-12 and a decent amount of potassium. Avacados are high in healthy fats, slow burning carbohydrates and a bunch of other minerals and vitamins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you were to switch these two for a protein shake, you would be sacrificing some healthy fats and healthy carbohydrates for a little more protein. This really depends on your goals, if you're trying to build muscle, I wouldn't make the substitution since your effectively sacrificing calories as well. If you are trying to lose weight, this wouldn't be such a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to remember though that whey protein supplements are exactly that, supplements. They should supplement what you are deficient in that you can not get through your regular diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T13:27:04.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31168" CreationDate="2016-06-13T14:37:40.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To insinuate that after such a short time doing weights with very minor resistance that your are now &amp;quot;big&amp;quot; could be construed as insulting to people who would hack off a limb to put a inch on our arms/legs/chest/back within that timeframe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As correctly pointed out, you have a &amp;quot;pump&amp;quot;. This happens in a major way during exercise and lasts afterwards to some extent as you repair your muscles and build more. The only way to track progress is with a measuring tape and you are unlikely to see any major change in your body shape while working out as the change is so minor. It is worth noting that psychology plays a big part in self-perception here, always get a second, third and forth opinion (reddit's r/progresspics can give you some indication/help).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for setting your targets clearly. Those goals are achievable but you need to understand what the 'real world' implications of those goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Goal 1: Smaller Figure&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to achieve: Monitor your calorie (and macronutrient) intake and simply eat less than you use up. Websites like IIFYM.com can help you set your target calories and apps like myfitnesspal help you track daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Goal 2: Toned body&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to achieve: This is achieved with increasing muscle size and decreasing body fat. Tone is a myth, it simply doesn't exist, you only have fat and muscles. To achieve the &amp;quot;toned&amp;quot; look you need to have a balanced program of lifting weights and cardiovascular exercise (Ask here for a program if you want!). Pair that with a diet to reduce your body fat percentage and you will get the &amp;quot;toned look&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Side Note: Soreness&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscular Strain). Basically, you did something your body isn't used to and your body is working overtime to repair itself, it is not a injury; if you go for a 5 minute run you may notice that the ache vanishes as blood pumps round your system. Keep training, warm up and cool down properly and they will pass with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T14:37:40.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-14T01:40:54.983" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can read &lt;a href=&quot;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/52/1/146.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that the Yanomamo Indians do fine on a diet that hardly contains any salt. They live in hot humid conditions so they'll certainly lose liquids in the form of sweat of the order of 1 liter or more, yet their sodium intake measured via urinary excretion is around 0.05 grams per day. It has been argued that this level of intake is optimal for us as our bodies have evolved under conditions where there was hardly any salt available. A typical &quot;low salt&quot; Western diet where you take care to avoid excessive salt intake, will typically yield salt intakes that are 50 times higher than a prehistoric diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Yanomamo have blood pressures that are lower than seen in healthy Western people, and blood pressures don't rise with age, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritionfacts.org/video/high-blood-pressure-may-be-a-choice/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pointed out here&lt;/a&gt;. So, it could be that a &quot;normal&quot; blood pressure of 120 mm Hg is actually a hypertensive blood pressure. If this is true then it seems to me that getting rid of salt in the diet, reducing it to something of the order of 0.1 grams or less per day, could not only prevent essential hypertension as we age, but it could be used by athletes as a way to enhance performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I was wondering if tests have been performed to see if long term severe salt restriction enhances athletic performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T08:29:52.093" Title="Does long term severe salt restriction enhance athletic performance?" Tags="&lt;sodium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30076" CreationDate="2016-06-14T07:02:25.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you are looking to break down a 10km run into intervals that are suitable for helping you develop anerobic fitness for competing. Hopefully you understand that to improve at X activity, the common advice is to DO X activity A LOT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, progression through intervals can be beneficial for a variety of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Main types I am aware of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Heart Rate: Limited and changed by your heart rate, this can vary enormously and be a little fiddly to execute:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm up, measure your heart rate after 5 mins gentle jog and 30&#xA;seconds fast jog/run. These will be your lower and upper bound&#xA;respectfully (imagine mine is lower of 150bpm and upper of 190bpm)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a stopwatch, and a known fixed distance you then run for 1/2/3/4&#xA;minutes and then jog for 1/2/3/4. The interval length and rest length&#xA;progression is up to you but you need to be able to nail your target&#xA;heart rates within 10bpm. Once you have nailed it and it becomes&#xA;easier then move onto next progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jog/Run Linear Progression: 4/1, 3/1, 2/1, 1/1, 4/2, 3/2, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Linear: Limited by time/distance&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple to execute and requires no equipment, using the intervals from&#xA;the heart rate exercise but this time you do not worry about heart&#xA;rate and focus on improving your time over fixed distance (or distance&#xA;over fixed time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With known distances (school track works well here) follow the linear&#xA;jog/run progression: 4/1, 3/1, 2/1, 1/1, 4/2, 3/2, ...&#xA;Aim to improve your distance covered in each of the intervals till you stall on distance and then move up a place in the jog/run progression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Decreasing Linear: Harder as a single run goes on&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one requires a little measurement on a map first but you&#xA;essentially want to break a 9k run down thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3k run, 3k jog, 1k run, 1k jog, 300m run, 300m jog, 100m run, 100m&#xA;jog, 30m run, 30m jog, run, rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your exercise gets harder as you have less and less rest time between&#xA;the intervals. You can also run this in reverse (if you hate yourself&#xA;and want to induce fatigue)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T07:02:25.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31162" CreationDate="2016-06-14T07:12:46.250" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a popular answer but you have found the problem with &quot;dieting&quot; by putting yourself into a state where you perceive it as &quot;less fun&quot; or &quot;different from the norm&quot; you are bending your will and having to try hard to maintain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good diet doesn't need to be maintained. You need to adjust your diet to meet your lifestyle goals and then accept those portion sizes and those foods as the norm. For the rest of your life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not implying you should never go out and eat a whole portion of fried chicken. Everyone needs to binge in moderation once in a while. But, the majority of your diet should be clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are using a cut/bulk cycle like a lot of weightlifters/powerlifters do then a keto diet is great! You significantly lower your body fat percentage faster when using a keto diet compared to a conventional diet (for all the reasons ddinchev pointed out in his answer). Again, this is a lifestyle choice and requires strict control of calorie intake and potentially you having to use a calorie tracker for a significant part of your future to help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a psychological aspect in this that is clear but I am not experaicend enough to explain beyond this: A known-good diet that has strict structure (like keto) is easier to maintain as a routine than a more &quot;open-plan&quot; diet where you can pick and choose what you eat. It's a simple question of what is/is not allowed and in what volume. Keto usually limits calorie intake well and conventional diets can have a lot of hidden calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final note on eating 'clean': You can put on muscle if you are not eating clean. Is it optimal? No. Is it healthy? Not really. Does it happen? Yes. Its a simple as calories in vs calories out. You take in more than usually and work out to spend those extra calories and your body will grow and develop using the food as fuel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T07:12:46.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31175" CreationDate="2016-06-14T08:29:52.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't compare yourself to other societies adapted to entirely different environment for generations. Yanomamo are in central South America. While many more people have lived near the ocean with access to plenty of salt since ancient times. Also there are many other factors in the lives of Yanomamo people I would guess that haven't been taken into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any data on low sodium intake benefiting athletic performance. On the opposite - there are claims that very low sodium intake could cause different problems to athletes - like muscle cramps, heat illness, inability to rehydrate and others. Also trying to avoid any salt in current society will be extremely hard - almost all food and drinks contain some. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So given that there is no evidence that this could help you - I would just focus on &quot;healthy&quot; intake as described in western health journals. If you stay under 2000mg of sodium intake and drink plenty of water, any difference in athletic performance will come from other factors. Your kidneys are very capable of shedding the extra salt and compensating when you don't consume enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T08:29:52.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31152" CreationDate="2016-06-14T09:17:17.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem here is what you are defining your &quot;maintenance&quot; as. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you've found a magic maintenance calculator, plugged in your details and got a number? In that case you want to add calories burned through training on top of that. What you need to worry about is total calories burned in your day. If you go above that you gain weight, if you go below that you lose it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the reality isn't that simple.  Building muscle isn't an exact mathematical formula (it's not just &quot;if I eat above maintenance I can build muscle, otherwise I can't&quot;), your body is constantly simultaneously building muscle and breaking it down as a continuous process. When you do weight training you signal your body to build more than it breaks. When you eat in a surplus the signals are stronger. If you are in an overall deficit the rate of muscle gain is either the same as or normally a tad lower than the rate of muscle loss. Also, this means that the instant you eat a meal, even if you are overall eating under maintenance over the course of the day, at that point after the meal your rate of gain is higher than rate of loss. Once that influx of calories runs out things change. etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to change body composition, think of it like tending a garden. You can't force changes to happen when you like, regardless of what your calories do. Just focus on making all the conditions right, and your body does the rest as and when it feels like it, in very random and sometimes inexplicable ways (you may not gain any muscle for months, then one month suddenly gain 2kg etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep at it over a long period of time = success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few pointers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As on overweight beginner, it's very likely for a short period of time you can build muscle at the same time as losing weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calorie calculators are very inaccurate, and only useful as a &lt;strong&gt;starting point&lt;/strong&gt;. The best tool to determine your caloric needs is a weighing scale. Weigh yourself daily, and take a weekly average. If the scale is going up you week to week are in a surplus, if it's going down you are not. Adjust calories only once every few weeks, and check the results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't try to control exactly what's happening, it will be frustrating and not beneficial. Just make the conditions right.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T09:17:17.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31145" CreationDate="2016-06-14T09:52:19.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short- Yes. But...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12 workouts on average is not such a small number, but as I perceive from your question, that they are scattered around and not very planned2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think doing scheduled workouts is the best option to go. You know when you're going to train and can eat and rest accordingly. There are many training plans and things you can do to advance in little steps instead of trying to go up a lot each time with hard workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually when I train for the sake of training, I increase the length of my run, and when I'm training for a race I set myself a static amount of kilometers which each workout I must complete in shorter time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you can get better at running, but you're not maxing your full potential in those trainings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16597" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T09:52:19.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-14T12:00:15.673" Score="1" ViewCount="27266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gone through many questions on this site and others, but, I can't find exactly what exactly I'm looking for, so, I am asking it again here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 23 year old male. I am trying to gain at least 10-12 kg. I am looking for a healthy &lt;strong&gt;VEGETARIAN (only) diet chart&lt;/strong&gt;. I am doing regular 1 hour workouts daily in a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current diet is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Morning -: 4 Bananas and 1/2 lt. Milk before going to Gym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Breakfast : 2 chapatis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lunch : 4 Chapati, 1 cup of Rice, Salad, some vegetables&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dinner : 5-6 chapati , 1/2 Milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE: I am a Software Engineer (Programmer) so its not possible for me to Eat all the time in office.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can you suggest a vegetarian diet chart to gain 10-12 kg weight. My current weight is 55kg.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21642" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T12:27:18.327" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T06:45:58.443" Title="Diet chart to gain 10-12kg weight" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-19T00:58:45.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31181" CreationDate="2016-06-14T12:47:21.093" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's break it down. Credit:myfitnesspal &amp;amp; reddit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7XpS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7XpS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Holy crap that's a lot of carbs&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is bad for a whole host of reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Micronutrients? One serving of salad and veg is not enough. You need to have more variety or get a multivitamin in there. This WILL NOT address your low mineral intake though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Macronutrients? Broken down your carb/protein/fat ratio is 1/0.18/0.12 which is abysmal. Far too much carbohydrates and far too little protein. Your body will struggle to build muscle using that fuel breakdown; you simply need more protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than put you down any more, let's focus on what you need to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How do I make a meal plan that is good?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best meal plan is always going to be the one that you create yourself. It is important that you take ownership of your meal planning - it will be easier to adhere to and easier to hold yourself accountable if you can't abdicate the responsibility onto someone else making your eating choices for you. Consistency is the most important part of getting results when changing your diet, and the easier it is for you to be consistent, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most important factors in making dietary changes stick is that they not be too drastic. This is another reason it's important that you create your own meal plan - no one knows what foods you like better than you do. Including as many foods that you already know that you like is crucial to promote adherence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple and straightforward process for creating a meal plan might go something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_fixing_your_diet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Calculate your approximate calorie&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_how_do_i_calculate_my_macros.3F&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;macronutrient needs&lt;/a&gt; (more on this later).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a list of foods and recipes that you already know that you like. Use Google or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitmeals&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;/r/Fitmeals&lt;/a&gt; to find additional ideas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use resources like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;MyFitnessPal&lt;/a&gt; and nutritional labels at the grocery store to calculate the nutritional content of the foods from Step 2. If you're trying to do this on a budget, this is also a good time to calculate the cost of each food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arrange your foods and recipes until your calorie and macronutrient needs from Step 1 are met. A common way of doing this is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;If It Fits Your Macros&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;flexible dieting&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt; method.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enjoy your delicious food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A note about eating the same thing every day: This is a really easy way to ensure you are always hitting your calorie and macronutrient requirements, however, it is not for everybody. Some people will get bored with this method and their adherence can suffer as a result. Feel free to create multiple different meal plans for different days that all meet your nutritional requirements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How do I calculate my macros?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Macros&amp;quot; is short for macronutrients. These include dietary carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Alcohol is a fourth macro, but it is not usually budgeted for on it own and its consumption typically comes at the expense of the carbohydrate allotment. Key to setting up your macro split is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_fixing_your_diet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;knowing your total calorie intake needs&lt;/a&gt; and the fact that protein and carbohydrates have ~4 calories per gram, while fat contains ~9 calories per gram. (Alcohol clocks in at ~7 calories per gram.) While everyone will have different needs and preferences for their macronutrient breakdown, the following is a generic guide to get you started. We calculate macros from the ground up, but always in the context of total calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein intake is the starting point. If calories are king, protein is queen. There is a large body of evidence emerging that shows adequate protein intake as a key element to achieving body weight and composition goals. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22935440&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12174324&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23446962&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19927027&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;4&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23645387&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;5&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23221572&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;6&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18469287&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;7&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24472635&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;8&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One gram of protein per pound of body weight (1 g/lb) or 2.2 grams per kilogram (2.2 g/kg) is the traditional recommendation for protein intake. However, this can be considered the upper bound of target intake, with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-do-i-need-every-day.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;suggested range&lt;/a&gt; spanning 0.45-1 g/lb (1.0-2.2 g/kg) of total body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fats are essential&lt;/a&gt; for many bodily functions including metabolism, brain function, and hormone production. For this reason, and despite decades of the low-fat dieting trend, fat calories are not &amp;quot;worse&amp;quot; than other calories. After your essential fatty acid needs are met in the diet, the remaining allocation for fat intake is largely determined by personal preference. A general rule of thumb and good starting point is 0.4 g-0.5 g/lb (0.9-1.1 g/kg) of total body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that the essential macros have been calculated, we must refer back to the goal calorie intake to tie it all together. As such, the remaining allotment for carb intake is determined by subtracting your goal protein and fat intakes from your calorie intake. Basically, whatever caloric intake is left over after determining your protein and fat needs is met by carbohydrate consumption. So your goal carb intake in grams = [Goal calories - (Px4 + Fx9)] ÷ 4 where P and F are target grams of protein and fat, respectively. This result can range from 0.0-2.2 g/lb (0-4.8 g/kg) of total body weight and beyond depending on performance needs and personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give an example of this process, let's look at a typical scenario: Billy is 22, 5'9 (175 cm), and 175 lb (79 kg) and works out 3x/week. His estimated TDEE is 2450, but he wants to lose fat and gain muscle, so he is taking the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_can_i_lose_fat_and_build_muscle_at_the_same_time.3F&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;advice given above&lt;/a&gt; and planning to consume 1890 calories daily. Using the suggestions above, Billy decides he should aim for 140 g protein (0.8 g/lb), 70 g fat (0.4 g/lb), and 175 g carbs (1 g/lb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that protein is the cornerstone of any macro split. Once you set your protein goal, the remaining allocation of fats and carbs is largely personal in nature. Given matched protein intakes, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/x994l/westerners_burn_as_many_calories_as/c5kegb9&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;diets differing in fat and carb make-up do not perform any differently in terms of weight or composition changes&lt;/a&gt;. Don't be afraid to experiment with different intakes to find the set up that works best for your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to base your macro calculations on your own body stats - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/6/1/12&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;especially protein&lt;/a&gt;. Calculating macros as a percentage of calorie intake can create situations where some intakes are inadequate or overkill. Also, if you are significantly overweight, using your total body weight would be inappropriate for this activity and would heavily skew your macro split. In this instance, instead base your calculations on your lean body mass. Conversely, if you are significantly underweight, you may instead want to use your goal body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How do I estimate my calories?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you know all about macronutrients/caloric needs of the body, a question that's often asked is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;I don't make my food, how do I calculate it?&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for this range from &amp;quot;I live at home/college/with a significant other who is the cook&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;I live in hotels for work/am a food critic&amp;quot;. Regardless, learning to estimate how much you're eating is a skill everyone should have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use a Calorie Counter's &amp;quot;Meal&amp;quot; function&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/resources&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Many sites&lt;/a&gt; have pre-entered estimates from other users already in their respective databases. Use this until you feel comfortable with foods you know. Familiarity with sizes/numbers is the best way to learn how to estimate what you're eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use &amp;quot;rule of thumb&amp;quot; charts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1987&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SparkPeople&lt;/a&gt; has the most well-known of these charts, but they are everywhere on the Internet. The same basic concept is here as with using an actual calculator, but it doesn't require as much repetition to learn. You can even carry cheat sheets with you, or just leave them at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use &amp;quot;real-life&amp;quot; objects as portion size estimators&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's much easier to estimate sizes if you have something to relate it to that you deal with every day. Whether that be an &lt;a href=&quot;http://remakemyplate.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/serving-portion.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;unrelated set&lt;/a&gt; of objects that you can visualise, or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://topsytasty.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Serving-Size-of-Common-Foods1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;set of objects you deal with every day&lt;/a&gt;, knowing that the meal the waiter just dropped in front of you is roughly 2 cups of potato and a pound of steak makes it much easier to either use your online calorie counter, or your rule of thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Finally, Can I still get strong if I am a Vegetarian / Vegan?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Protein requirements vary, but you will probably want to consume a protein supplement in addition to your normal diet if you are strength training. Rice protein, hemp protein, and gemma pea protein are good options, as is soy. Egg or whey protein is ideal if that is allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain important factors to keep in mind when considering vegetable protein. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_Digestibility_Corrected_Amino_Acid_Score&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDCAAS&lt;/a&gt;, the FAO/WHO standard for determining protein quality, considers soy protein to be just as useful as whey or animal protein. Unfortunately, recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/127/5/758.full.pdf#page=1&amp;amp;view=FitH&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;research suggests&lt;/a&gt; that measurements such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_value&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;BV&lt;/a&gt; and PDCAAS do not take into account important factors such as anti-nutritional factors and chymotrypsin inhibitors. These anti-nutritional factors limit the extent to which your body can utilize the protein and are commonly found in soy and other vegetable protein isolates. Thus, it is important to keep in mind that you may require a higher dosage of vegetable protein to gain the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aim for a more moderate but still adequate protein intake (1-1.2 g/kg bodyweight or lean mass), then you can achieve this through a healthy and smart diet. Just be aware to eat varied sources for a more complete distribution of amino acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/veganfitness&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;/r/veganfitness&lt;/a&gt; for more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;High Calorie Complex Foods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of foods to consider if you are looking to bulk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Almonds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pumpkin Seeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peanut Butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greek Yogurt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wholegrain rice/pasta and potatoes (sweet/normal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beans (black beans are great)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lentils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000078000000000000000-w.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Full list of foods listed by protein amount is here (ignore anything with meat in)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T06:45:58.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31181" CreationDate="2016-06-14T12:47:38.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your diet is like 85% carbs. I mean yeah you can gain weight like that, but it's just fat and bloat. From your diet, I take it that you're indian. Indian cuisine(it's a big country, I know) is generally terrible for your health since it's carb-based either on rice or some kind of bread(like chapati, as you eat quite a bit of).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your protein intake is slim to none; a little from the veggies and milk, but it is perhaps 5-10% of your intake whereas it should be 30-40% if you want to build somewhat lean mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T12:47:38.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-14T12:55:19.997" Score="1" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 6-8 weeks ago I started have a green drink/protein shake for breakfast lunch and sometimes dinner. I eat meals on the weekends. I have a few beers. I exercise 5-6 days a week, usually during about 400-500 calories doing some form of cardio and also light weights 2-3 time per week. I was 211 lbs when I started and went to about 199 lbs in 2 weeks or so. Pretty much same routine over the next 6 weeks but weight hasn't budged one bit. My calorie intake is much lower than before the shakes and I am exercising more...why am I not losing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shake consists of 1 scoop of each of these + 12oz water, ice and a banana:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00K7ICBMK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K7ICBMK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004GSKZQQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GSKZQQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21643" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T14:43:44.093" Title="Why is my big calorie deficit not resulting in weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-06-17T14:25:48.217" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31184" CreationDate="2016-06-14T14:03:46.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there not a simple rule that &quot;if you burn more calories than you take in...?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer if &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, but...&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. The body gets accustomed to a state of calories deficit and enters a more &quot;efficient&quot; mode where it uses less calories to survive, in addition to muscle mass loss which results in less energy required for weight maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a proper diet. Yours is unclear from the post, but if your carbs intake comes from a single banana and a few beers, it's far from being ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do a carbs load once in 7-10 days. It helps maintaining your metabolism rate, which becomes slow in a long period of calories deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When other things don't work, reduce a bit more your deficit, changing your diet or adding a cardio session.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T14:03:46.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31184" CreationDate="2016-06-14T14:33:24.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You haven't asked for a diet plan so I won't provide one. You are just asking why your plan is not letting you lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I would go to MyFitnessPal to find out how many calories and what the macronutrient breakdown is for your shakes but that is out the window. We are also missing vital information about your build and what else you eat (snacks/dinner/weekends). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can say is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise should be challenging. Doing the same thing every time you go will result in your body doing the minimum to become efficient at that activity. You need to constantly move your goals as you get better at a activity. In beginner weightlifting most programs start at 20kg (bar only) and add 2.5/5kg every time you go in a linear fashion. This is the principle of progressive overload and it is proven to force your body to constantly do work and develop itself into a more muscular, lean (and good looking) machine. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body fat percentage. I can use myself as a great example here. I am 80kg, 5ft5 and male (look at my profile for my lifts). I work out 4 times a week lifting weights with a known program, track my macros and micros via myfitnesspal AND I was not losing weight. I checked my bodyfat last week and compared it with a long time ago when I was at the same weight and I found that I have gone from 32% down to 23% while maintaining the weight (same measurement technique). This may be the case for you, lots of beginners gain muscle and lose weight simultaneously. It was just my period of that got extended beyond my first 9 months of sustained lifting. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T14:33:24.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31184" CreationDate="2016-06-14T14:43:44.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct in thinking that a caloric deficit over a period of time will result in weight loss. Don't listen to anyone else when they say it's more complicated than this because it's not. The only thing more complicated is how you manipulate your macros to reach a certain body composition. For example, if you don't eat protein, you will lose more weight via muscle loss, or if you don't eat carbs, you will lose relatively more fat via ketosis but the end result is the same...weight loss. I see what you're describing all the time...whether it is someone skinny person saying &quot;I eat a lot but can't gain weight&quot;, or someone little overweight &quot;I eat less now why am I not skinny yet&quot;. Usually, the most common mistake is, you don't ACTUALLY know how much you're eating. You also need to play around with your diet, everyone is a little different. Your ability to lose weight is technically determined by calories in vs calories out but how are you so sure that you're actually in a deficit without counting ? I made this mistake for a solid 3 years, trust me, it makes a huge difference. You're 200 lbs, so this mean your resting metabolic rate is somewhere around 2800-3000 calories (this number could be much lower if you don't have adequate muscle, so start lifting more often and dont lift &quot;light&quot;). Now, knowing this rate, in order to lose about half a lbs a week, you need to consume 2800-3000 minus 500-600 calories on a daily basis, so anywhere from 2000 to 2500 calories to be safe. Use myfitnesspal or a daily log and actually record the calories on everything you eat, are you ACTUALLY consistently eating around this many calories? And please don't fall into the trap of thinking you burn 400-500 calories from these cardio machines, its been proven time and time again that the numbers you observe from these machines are so far from the truth it's not even funny...should be illegalized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another big mistake that I see here is the excessive cardio that you do. You need to remember that more muscle equates to more calories burned and hence a higher metabolism. Combined with &quot;light&quot; weights, this is a recipe to lose muscle mass. If you lose muscle mass, your metabolism will slow down accordingly, and hence the amount of food you used to consume before hand, may now be too much in order to reach a deficit. Fix: start lifting weights consistently (not light but not too heavy just yet), stop doing cardio so much and if you are going to not stop doing this cardio, consume most of your calories around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Actually count your calories, and make sure you consume less than the numbers I said above.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start lifting weights more often and cardio less often. It's known that excessive cardio (keep in mind I mean low intensity cardio) will make you lose muscle mass and hence lower your metabolic rate, as a result you will need to consume even less calories than you used to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to consume around a gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight in order to maximize protein synthesis and hence get a higher metabolic rate through building muscle, this will help you maintain a deficit easier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't go too hard on the alcohol, beer can certainly mess with your fat burning hormones as alcohol is a known fat burning suppressant. Think about it, why does the term beer belly exist? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T14:43:44.093" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-14T18:39:31.480" Score="2" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the answer is &quot;No.&quot;  So here goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to lift 60 pounds smoothly about 45 times in an hour (to assist with archery target practice with 60 pound bow).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I can only lift 60 pounds about 5 times before I start shaking (read: overbowed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I reach this goal, it is not necessary for me to continue growing in strength or endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to train with weights that are around 20 to 40 pounds and reach the stated goal?  Or is it inevitable that eventually I have to work out with 60 pound weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21648" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T10:19:34.650" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T11:58:37.650" Title="Can I reach a target strength using high reps of lower weights?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31181" CreationDate="2016-06-14T20:25:03.697" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;your weight is only a matter of calories (as shown by medical research and basic thermodynamics). the amount of fat, carbs, sugar and protein are irrelevant. every 3000 calories is approximately 1 lb. the average person burns 10 * weight (in lbs). at 121 lbs (55kg) you would burn 1210 Calories per day just sitting there. any exercise will detract from that. so if you run for an hour and burn 500 calories, you'll need to eat 1710 calories to not lose nor gain weight. simply eat more to gain more weight. if you add 1000 calories per day, you'll gain approximately 1 kg (2.2 lbs) per week. it'll take 10 weeks to add the weight you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21651" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T20:25:03.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-14T22:28:32.627" Score="1" ViewCount="1539" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out for the past 9 months and I have lost around 30kg. I started at 130kg and now I am at 100kg but at the same time I have built up a lot of muscle in my arms, back, chest, and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My waist measurements have shrunk a lot but the shape of that region is still not nice and I see excess fat that is very 'watery'. It feels like I am carrying a sack of water around and it does not seem to go away. I understand that this is the hardest fat to get rid off but I would like to know how common/typical is this situation and why it is so watery unlike in the past or unlike some other parts of the body where fat is more rigid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for good diet and exercise what other tips are there to improve this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18784" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T10:21:48.507" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T10:21:48.507" Title="Why is my belly fat so loose/watery/un-rigid?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31163" CreationDate="2016-06-15T00:15:53.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well two days and no answers (though a few comments asking for clarification).  So here's my two cents:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have experienced, treading water is quite different from swimming.  It's definitely a different skill.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a child I learned to swim underwater well before learning any proper swimming strokes. I would pretend I was a seal.  Eventually I learned to tread water (similar to babies and dogs and deer) because when you are completely submerged you learn to &quot;scull.&quot;  Think of how a bird's wing does not just flap straight up and down but does a graceful little semi-twist at the top and bottom of each stroke.  When treading you &quot;flap&quot; side to side like a hummingbird.  You also learn to flutter kick (short rapid kicks with a little knee bend at the end of each kick).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically, it can be harder to learn to tread water if the water is too shallow. If you don't have enough room to extend your legs and flutter kick then you wind up tucking your legs in and then you have to rely on your arms much more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would recommend: first: swim underwater a lot and come up for air in the shallow part so you don't drown.  Feel how to drive yourself through the water while you are completely submerged.  It's different than surface swimming where half of your stroke is actually above the water line.  (Underwater swimming might help you get over any fears too, as you realize just how long you can last before you do drown.)  Second: go to where your head is just below the surface (so you can jump up from the floor if you sink) and try sculling and flutter kicking.  Hold the edge of the pool with one hand if you feel you are sinking too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't feel bad!  You'll get it soon!  And please don't drown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21648" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T00:15:53.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31191" CreationDate="2016-06-15T06:10:25.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Belly fat is not unlike fat in other deposits on the body. It's just that the belly has a larger deposit, so its viscosity (or lack thereof) is more noticeable due to the volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, abdominal muscles aren't very large to begin with, so the layer of fat on top of it will seem softer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For information on how to get rid of belly fat, see this answer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/870/8828&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/870/8828&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T06:10:25.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31189" CreationDate="2016-06-15T07:39:14.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, the answer is no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be strong, you need to lift heavy weights, there is no way around that. You will never get strong if you limit yourself to light weights with high reps : that will just build up your endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, marathon runners have a lot of endurance, but cannot compete with 100m athletes (which have a lot more power).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to get yourself used to lift these 60 pounds, you must train eventually with 60 pounds, but of course you can reach this goal progressively. &#xA;This is the same in all sports, and to compare again with athletism, a 100m runner will never train himself just for 80m and say &quot;the last 20 meters are easy, no need to train for that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you reached 60 pounds, continue training at that weight to build endurance, your muscles will get used to it, and you won't shake anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;60 pounds is quite heavy for one arm (shoulder muscles mainly involved), keep in mind to train the other one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T07:39:14.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31189" CreationDate="2016-06-15T07:57:41.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Minor story detour before my answer. I am 5ft5, 80kg, and I work out regularly and have respectable lifting ability compared to the average joe. My friend is 80kg, 6ft and cannot lift their bodyweight in any lift. We did some archery last week, after half a hour I look over and my friend is struggling a lot to keep his shoulders level, chest flat, arms straight, etc. Afterwards we had a chat and he stated that it became really hard to fire the bow after about 15 minutes of doing the activity. I had no such trouble, I could have gone for another half a hour. The only difference was a bit of height and a lot of practice using muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are correct, the answer is no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;To get good at doing X activity, DO X activity, a lot.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscle memory, strength and endurance will grow over time with continual practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You body takes the easiest route to make any repeated activity require less work and cause less CNS stress. So you should be working out at a weight that is greater than your draw strength. Don't limit your lifting to your sport though, aim for big numbers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back (weighted rows of any form help here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest (to balance back)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders (lateral raises, overhead press)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abs and Oblique's (for stability) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bi's and Tri's (curls and skullcrushers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Great exercises for you:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pendlay Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One arm dumbell rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Face Pulls/Lateral Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fly &amp;amp; Reverse fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T11:58:37.650" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T11:58:37.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-15T09:59:10.737" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am finding that my hard runs (5.31min/km) my avg HR is around 160, but I am not running to exhaustion by any means, and recover pretty well after 10min rest or so.  Usually use a harder negative split (5.15 min/km) for last 2 km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am i running too hard for my age? Should I back off my training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60yr old male - fairly unfit 12 months ago - 91kg, 172cm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;started walking/jogging and reducing calorie intake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Introduced running 6mnths ago - around 15km/week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added gym (stretches/weights/rowing) 3 months ago, around a 55min session -4/week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increasing running (3xweek) up to 25km/week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently working as 4x per week at gym (55 mins) and 3x per week running (up to 25km total)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now down to 78kg, and resting HR is around 64bpm (via fitbit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I aim for one hard run/week (7km), one longer run (60 minutes), and one easier run 7km in around 45minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21661" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T10:08:01.057" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T20:47:49.300" Title="Is my training working for me" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-22T18:16:51.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31199" CreationDate="2016-06-15T10:11:18.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, well done! That is great progress over 12 months. Welcome to Physical Fitness SE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you should continue to train at your current rate is entirely down to your body. You need to listen to your body and understand if it needs more food/rest to keep up with the exercise you are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know a few ultra marathon runners in their late 50s, early 60s so arbitrarily saying that &quot;at X age, you should only do X exercise&quot; is rubbish. You should set some goals and work to achieve them, it will help you sustain and celebrate your success. It may be beneficial to check with your GP (Doctor) if your goals are suitable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summing up, listen to your body. If you are getting enough sleep and eating enough food and you are still struggling to recover then consider reducing the frequency of your exercise (never the volume/duration!). ALWAYS give yourself at least 1 rest day a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T10:11:18.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31163" CreationDate="2016-06-15T10:32:58.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A different take, here is a simple progression you can practice. You should start in the pool and at a depth where you can push off the bottom to the top relatively quickly but cannot touch the bottom without going completely underwater by ~30cm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the below progressions, once you can comfortably do 3 sets of 20 seconds then add the next. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold onto the side of the pool with arms as horizontal as possible. Use only your legs to flutter kick and push your torso up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice in the shallow end pulling your knees up and using breaststroke movements to hold your torso vertical and hovering above the bottom of the pool.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a pool float and repeat the exercise from 1. again. This should be harder and help you get over the fear aspect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with 3. and then release the float, use your hands in the same motion as 2. and tread water. Remember the movements of flutter kicks and circles with your hands.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T10:32:58.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-15T10:57:09.177" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a very busy person so I can't spend an hour a day cooking things, so six month ago I made a method which consisted of having vegetables already cut in the fridge and every time I need to eat I just cook rice with a rice cooker and add those. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this takes me 5 mins per meals and it's a huge time gainer but I fear this is not the best thing to do. I'm not really good at nutrition so I kind of have no idea of what I'm doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I basically eat for dinner :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;300 gr of rice with 100 gr of quinoa&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 Cup  of carrots and Broccoli&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 gr of lentils &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been eating this for 6 month and I don't really mind but I classify myself as an ectomorph and &lt;strong&gt;I can't seem to gain weight with this&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should I change it ? And if so, how ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ps : I know this meal looks like a vegetarian's one but I'm not, I just find it convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot in advance !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit :&#xA;Thanks for the answers, you raised a lot of imprecisions in my first post, so here you can find some more info : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;at breakfast I usually drink a milkshake of :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;70 gr of this : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/total-breakfast/10530574.html?_ga=1.78190164.1717126440.1462449839&amp;amp;countrySelected=Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/total-breakfast/10530574.html?_ga=1.78190164.1717126440.1462449839&amp;amp;countrySelected=Y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that at lunch I eat a lot of various things as I have to eat with my coworkers but it's usually the fish of the day (around 150 gr of it) with vegetables and rice&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After workout I drink this ( one cup) : &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.prozis.com/fr/en/optimum-nutrition/serious-mass-6-lbs-2721g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.prozis.com/fr/en/optimum-nutrition/serious-mass-6-lbs-2721g&lt;/a&gt; with water or milk if I'm at home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 20, I am 1m84 tall for 68 kg and I sleep 6 hours a day &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym 2 days a week for upper and lower body using freeletics for the actual program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21662" LastEditorUserId="21662" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T21:16:30.263" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T07:29:38.313" Title="Should I change my diet based on rice and vegetables?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-17T14:24:57.683" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31202" CreationDate="2016-06-15T11:49:44.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;edit: Now we are getting somewhere!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets break it down (credit: myfitnesspal/reddit) before I show you your meal, I added your targets at the bottom of the breakdown. I used the information provided, slammed it into iifym.com which is pretty well established as a good way to inform dieting and I got the following macro breakdown:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aCucO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aCucO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lots of calories!&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose the options I did because they are the safest options and are the ones I, any many others, have successfully used to get lean gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets look at the food now we have some targets. Is your mass gainer and protein shake making you up to your macro needs for the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nM5DB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nM5DB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Nope&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not even close. (You said 1 cup of mass gainer which I took as 1 scoup, if you are using a whole cupful you have more issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at each macronutrient:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calories total: Still under eating but not by much. This is your key to understanding why you aren't putting on weight fast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs: For someone doing 2 sessions of exercise per week you are eating far too many carbs. Carry on like this and you will gain only fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: For 2 sessions a week doing exercise your number is slightly below what I would expect you needing. But, as you are bulking you are MASSIVELY under. You cannot use shakes and powered to get there, you need to eat lean meat like fish and lean chicken.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: You could do to add more fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get some chicken breast, flavour, grill and refrigerate/freeze portions. 2 mins in microwave will reheat it. 1 cup of chicken breast is about 40g protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that please go and read my post here about how to gain weight: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31181/diet-chart-to-gain-10-12kg-weight&quot;&gt;Diet chart to gain 10-12kg weight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what should your meals look like? Although I have 2 shakes each day when bulking which isn't optimal, I struggle to meet my protein macro with regularity. I sometimes skip one shake and add a extra portion (4oz) cod fillet for dinner but I still get all the nutrition I need from my food. Note, I pair my bulk with 4-5 days a week exercise, for at least an hour each time at a high intensity. I also take creatine and vitamin D, C and Zinc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kt34c.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kt34c.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Here&amp;#39;s me trying same diet.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T07:29:38.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31109" CreationDate="2016-06-15T12:09:59.117" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anecdotal, I've been using a standing desk for about a year. I write software so it used to be ~8hrs sitting.  Now I'm always standing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dont notice a difference tbh. Some days my legs and lower back are sore if I happened to walk to work that day. If anything, now when I sit for a long time my lower back feels some soreness on getting up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7267" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T12:09:59.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31202" CreationDate="2016-06-15T13:20:47.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JJosaur pointed out, this meal is around 520 calories. However, this number is utterly useless unless we know more about you. What do you weigh, do you exercise? if so, what do you do? how often? how old are you, how much sleep do you get? you get the point. Although he mentions that you should eat protein, which you definitely should if your goal is muscle gain, you won't actually gain much of anything unless you break down the muscles through exercise to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll make it very simple though, in order to gain weight, you must consume more calories than you burn off. Everyone burns a certain amount of calories via their resting metabolic rate, which is around 14-15x your bodyweight in lbs, i.e if you weighed 180lbs, you would burn 2500-2700 calories a day just to get your body to function. Hence, your meals throughout the day must not only reach this amount of calories, but they must SURPASS them in order to gain weight on a regular basis. This means you would need to eat 3000-35000 calories if you weigh 180lbs, daily, over a certain period of time, in order to gain any weight at all. Now, the macros that comprise your foods will have an impact on how your body looks, i.e 90% of your calories coming from carbs and fats won't make you the most muscular guy in the world, but you will still gain weight. Ideally, you'd want to lift weights regularly (at least 2-3x a week), and get over 30% of your calories from protein, and the rest can vary depending on your lifestyle, if you want to gain weight via as much muscle as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T13:20:47.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31208" CreationDate="2016-06-15T18:27:20.910" Score="8" ViewCount="1616" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know a guy who follows a very strict diet and trains regularly, but once a week he will have an extremely indulgent cheat day (5,000-10,000 calories, typically ice-cream-based).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this impact your health on a physical level? On a mental level? Is this safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for short-term and long-term answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20458" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T13:36:05.570" Title="Impact of weekly collossal cheat days" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32299" CreationDate="2016-06-16T02:26:55.007" Score="4" ViewCount="908" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought running repeats were a long distance version of intervals but Ive been reading up on intervals and found mile and km long interval workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whats the difference between running intervals and repeats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-07-29T02:42:43.557" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T08:30:42.033" Title="What is the difference between running intervals and repeats?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;interval-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31206" CreationDate="2016-06-16T06:50:20.880" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let's look at what your acquaintance actually does to the diet itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose that his normal TDEE is 2500 kcal. That means, at his regular activity level given his job and physique, training not considered, he'd need about 2500 kcal per day to supply his body with the energy it needs. Eating that, there would be neither weight gain from excess energy being stored as fat and glycogen, nor weight loss from having to burn fat and use stored glycogen. Now suppose that on his diet he &quot;consumes&quot; a net 1750 kcal per day, either by caloric restriction, training, or a combination of the two. There is a 750 kcal deficit per day, which will have to come from &lt;em&gt;somewhere&lt;/em&gt; since the body still needs its energy for functioning. Suppose he maintains this 6 days per week. That makes for a 4500 kcal deficit over those 6 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if he then eats 7000 kcal on that remaining day, basically the whole deficit has been undone, since 7000 equals his regular 2500 TDEE plus the 4500 deficit built up over the week (see also note [1]). The exact impact will depend on how much is consumed on the cheat day, as well as the caloric deficit during the other days. If by diet you mean he just eats very strict and clean, but there's no deficit, then the cheat day is basically just a ticket to weight gain. The cheat day may end up achieving a caloric surplus over the entire week, an exact balance, or still leave a deficit. It depends on his basal metabolic rate, activity level, training and what is consumed over the entire week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for your specific questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How does this impact your health on a physical level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't imagine it is too healthy. Carbohydrate-rich food tends to lead to a spike in blood sugar (particularly simple carbs with a high glycemic index, like the sugar in ice cream). Because the spike is excessive, the pancreas has to secrete much higher amounts of insulin, which will bring blood sugar levels down by promoting glycogen storage in the liver and muscle tissue. Since the insulin spike is excessive too in response to an abnormally large carb load, once the blood sugar has been lowered it then dips below its normal level, leading to the so-called &quot;sugar crash&quot;. Actually, ice cream might not be the worst thing for this. Because it also contains a lot of fat and some protein, being milk-based, it does provide some slower-digesting, useful macronutrients. That could offset the effects of the sugar somewhat. The blood sugar and subsequent insulin spikes are lower for foods with a lower glycemic index, often the case for complex carbohydrates such as whole-grain products, oats, brown rice instead of white etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having the pancreas work so hard suddenly and having a large insulin spike isn't particularly good. Although I'm not sure if it is really problematic when this happens infrequently. The lifestyle problems that lead to type 2 diabetes are usually of a more pervasive nature. Also note that the body can only store so much glycogen. Unless the rest is used as energy (which could be the case if training is performed on this cheat day) it will be stored as body fat. Eating strict during the week and training while using the readily available glycogen storages, which will probably be refilled over the week as well (assuming this person isn't eating very low-carb outside of the cheat day) and then having a sedentary day eating a large surplus of calories when the only thing your body can do with it is increasing fat deposits doesn't seem like a great body composition strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On a mental level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly, this might in fact be a good thing on a mental level. At least, if it's kept in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really like the term &quot;cheat day&quot; if such a day is applied in a planned manner. &quot;Refeed&quot; is a lot better. On a refeed, during one or more days you eat at the TDEE level or above. This has physical and mental benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, it makes diet adherence easier. A lot of folks have this classical notion of a diet where you need to eat very clean, scarfing down stuff like salads and maintain a daily caloric deficit (often a big one). This is foolish. In my opinion, unless there is an eating disorder people will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; win in a battle against hunger. Our drive for seeking food is one of the most basic, important instincts, based on biological factors that have been around a lot longer than our higher brain functions. Trying to use &quot;willpower&quot; against hunger is like pitting a karate white belt against an MMA fighter. You're going down. Maybe some folks will last weeks, and others even months, but you will go down eventually. A diet should be a manageable caloric deficit, eating good foods that fit a template which you'll wish to follow afterwards as well. So it's kind of a dialed-back version of what you'd normally eat to maintain weight, with some adjustments here and there. Where does a refeed come in? Well, even if you have a very manageable, realistic diet, caloric restriction and having to keep track of your food all the time is still exhausting, both physically and mentally. A refeed gives you a break. It's like a refreshing nap when you spend long days with not enough sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going back to the physical stuff for a moment (but this will also affect you mentally, it's two-way traffic) refeeds make sense too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, a prolonged caloric deficit is going to cause the body's metabolism to slow down, beyond what is expected from decreases in body mass. This is mostly a factor in severe caloric deficits, but even so it's still something to keep in mind (see note [2]). If there is a day every now and then where you indulge or eat over maintenance you are showing your body &quot;See? We're not starving or in a food crisis. Keep going.&quot; It isn't unexpected that your body would downregulate metabolic function during a food shortage, just like how you can save on fuel in your car by driving a bit slower; fuel consumption doesn't rise completely linearly with speed (there's a point of diminishing returns) so if your tank is getting empty, sacrificing speed for fuel economy still lets you get to the next station, just a bit later. A refeed is that gas station for your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, eating some more carbohydrates on a refeed day could well assist in your diet throughout the week. Topping your glycogen levels back up will provide some energy for training. And there's evidence of carbohydrate overfeeding actually increasing blood plasma levels of leptin (the satiety hormone staving off hunger) whereas fat does not (see note [3]).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I can attest for the usefulness of having at least one refeed per week when you are at already fairly lean levels of body composition. Better workouts, better sleep, an easier time to keep weight loss going and a chance to indulge in some food I would normally not eat over the week. It never &quot;messes up&quot; my diet. The past weekend I was abroad with friends for 4 days and basically ate what I wanted. I weighed 3 kg more after that weekend. This weight is almost fully gone again now, 3 days later. Most of it is water retention from having eaten a lot more carbs than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, does your friend have a refeed day? I'd say no, it's more like an actual &quot;cheat&quot; day. Eating up to 10000 kcal of ice cream is just excessive. A proper refeed should be part of your nutrition plan and fit into it, it's not a free-for-all buffet. Even if it's not particularly planned (for example, you're going out to eat and don't know what you'll be getting) some restraint should be practiced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Safe&quot; is pretty relative. I wouldn't say it's wise. I wouldn't say it's disastrous either. Binging on some ice cream seems like a better choice than smoking a pack of cigarettes or downing a six-pack of heavy ale in a day. I strongly doubt that one day per week of eating like that is going to be a death sentence, considering how many people eat crap throughout the week and still manage to be relatively okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice for your friend is to start thinking of it as a refeed rather than cheat day, keep things in check and maybe use the day to eat a variety of satisfying foods rather than emptying a gallon of ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, search on YouTube for the sketch &quot;Butterfield diet&quot;. It's comedy, but it's actually just too perfect for this question not to mention it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note [1]: In reality things are a lot more complex than a simple sum. People like to repeat &quot;calories in, calories out&quot; and quote the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) in this context. The reason for this is that a lot of folks simply don't want to believe that their biology isn't highly unusual or they don't have some rare disease that makes them resistant to utilizing body fat, so things have to be hammered into their heads in the simplest, most straightforward way. Obviously the first law of thermodynamics will always hold, it's just that the many ways energy is added and subtracted from the system are misunderstood or underestimated — human beings aren't bomb calorimeters and as you'll have noticed we don't excrete ashes. On top of that, there is a limit to the accuracy of the caloric contents food is labeled with. But for all practical purposes in everyday life, thinking of things in the &quot;calories in, calories out&quot; way and just using data on labels and from sources such as the USDA is sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note [2]:  The &quot;starvation response&quot; discussion has been done elsewhere. See here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/29886/19986&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/29886/19986&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note [3]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs001250050686&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs001250050686&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;Carbohydrate intake and short-term regulation of leptin in humans&quot;, Diabetologia, February 1997, Volume 40, Issue 3, pp 348-351);&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11126336&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11126336&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;Effects of short-term carbohydrate or fat overfeeding on energy expenditure and plasma leptin concentrations in healthy female subjects&quot;, Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000 Nov;24(11):1413-8)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T06:50:20.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-16T08:35:09.457" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training 4-5 times a week for a 10K race, I gave myself a target pace that I can probably achieve. The race will be in 2 weeks, then I'll add a couple of trail races 3 weeks and 6 weeks later (11km with 300m positive gain, then 12km 500+).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After these races I won't have time to train regularly for a few months due to my job. I'll struggle to find (less than) 1 hour no more than twice a week, but I would like to keep my pace after all the training I've done.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it possible to keep the acquired running pace for a few months with lower training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21672" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T08:58:53.400" Title="Training advice to maintain run pace when you have less time" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31528" CreationDate="2016-06-16T08:41:59.313" Score="2" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for nearly 5 years and I am vegetarian(not even eggs) . Although I am in good lean shape but I wonder how bodybuilder shred almost all the fats from their body and look so ripped. I know they reduce water intake and some supplements to gain that max physique but still there must be something more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried whey protein,BCAA, creatine etc but still getting those ripped muscles look impossible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can we not get that physique without using fat burner etc ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21673" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T21:55:12.603" Title="How to shred max body fat although my physique is athletic" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31209" CreationDate="2016-06-16T08:58:53.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It entirely depends on you. The only real answer I believe would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do as much running as is possible to get as close to maintaining your times. Make sure you adjust your diet as your TDEE will go down now you are doing less exercise per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T08:58:53.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31213" CreationDate="2016-06-16T09:21:37.813" Score="3" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have question with regards to rest days &amp;amp; recovery runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last three days I ran rather intensely (Interval &amp;amp; Intesive Durationrun). Today i was supposed to take a &quot;rest day&quot;. (To be honest I never ran more then 3 days in a row).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I feel like running today, but I don't want to risk injuries or risk overdoing it. So I was thinking of doing a small recovery run (3 - 4k).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to read up on the key differences between an actual rest day &amp;amp; an light recovery run. I read (including &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/96/importance-of-rest-days&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; interesting post) that both are very important yet none actually compare them although the benefits seem to be mostly the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are the key differences between doing a light recovery run &amp;amp; take a full day off? Do I risk overtraining from a light recovery run? Can a recovery run replace a rest day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thank you for your time  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T20:21:52.623" Title="Recovery Run vs Rest Day" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31212" CreationDate="2016-06-16T09:43:28.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your body only builds muscle when you are resting. Hence, the importance of good sleep and at least 1 rest day a week. Without rest, you simply won't improve as much as you could be able to because of fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many factors at play here with sleep, ability, prior training, training cycle, diet, etc. to be able to say to what level the impact will be. Your answer will be unique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T09:43:28.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31212" CreationDate="2016-06-16T09:51:14.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally only run back to back days when training for an event. If not, i average 3.5 days a week with plenty of rest in between. Unless you are working toward a race or trying to lose weight, running alternate days is more than enough. &#xA;Very often, especially while running, one can end up with very small microfractures in their legs, especially if they run in a heel-ball-toe fashion. Not giving these small injuries time to heal will cause them to aggravate over time and result in quite painful injuries. &#xA;Best to give those legs a break for a day before taking them out again&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21674" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T09:51:14.997" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31210" CreationDate="2016-06-16T10:01:40.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was at in a similar situation about 6 months back. I had worked out a lot and put on many kgs of muscle mass (I was really skinny to begin with). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took whey protein too, but gave it up as soon as i realized that lentils and milk gave me my protein in a tastier way (I'm vegetarian, but i eat eggs). Also, since i had to eat much more food than normal to put on that mass, I got accustomed to eating that much, so when I eased off intensive exercise, within a week I started putting on visible fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One month later I had to flex for my abs to be visible. I went back to eating normal amounts of food, shifted to High Intensity Interval Training cardio workouts and got rid of that fat layer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building muscle and making them show is very different. Body builders put on muscle offseason while going up to 10% body fat (that's still unnaturally low, but quite high for them). Then as they approach show season, they go into similar fat burning cardio workouts and diets to go all the way down to about 5% body fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do lose some muscle because of their dieting though. So to answer your question, you really have no choice, hit that cardio hard if you want your muscle definition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21674" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-16T10:09:39.260" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T10:09:39.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31206" CreationDate="2016-06-16T13:36:05.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;G_H covered more or less everything regarding this topic but there is something else that's pretty crucial that most people are completely uneducated about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, it's important to understand that fat isn't simply just a storage tank for excess calories or &quot;potential energy.&quot; Fat is actually an endocrine organ, like a thyroid or adrenal gland, for example. This means that fat – in this case white adipose tissue – secretes hormones, and leptin is one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leptin is a polypeptide hormone produced by fat cells. The more fat the cells contain, the more leptin is released. Think of leptin as a metabolism controller and a hunger regulator. It links changes in body fat stores to CNS control of energy homeostasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat a caloric surplus over a period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you eat more, fat cells fill with triglyceride, which increases the release of leptin into the bloodstream.&#xA;The hypothalamus in your brain has an intricate system of communication with fat cells which include leptin receptors. When leptin levels increase, leptin binds to leptin receptors in the hypothalamus, sending the message that you're &quot;fueled up.&quot;&#xA;The hypothalamus then sends signals to the brain and the rest of the body, decreasing appetite and turning up your metabolic rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat below maintenance calories over a period of days or weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fat cells shrink as you diet, not eat, etc., and fat cells release less leptin.&#xA;Your brain senses that leptin levels are low, and that you are no longer &quot;fueled up.&quot;&#xA;The hypothalamus senses the decrease in leptin levels, lowering metabolic rate and decreasing energy expenditure. It also sends a &quot;hungry&quot; signal, increasing appetite and encouraging you to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leptin and insulin signaling have a very close relationship. When insulin increases, so does leptin. It makes sense – you eat a big meal, your insulin levels go up, and then leptin goes up, signaling to the brain that you're full and to keep the metabolism chugging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas also have leptin receptors, where leptin is a negative regulator of insulin release. So there's a tight intertwined relationship between these two hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how it looks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat some wild salmon and a big sweet potato. The beta cells in your pancreas produce insulin in response to your blood glucose level.&#xA;Insulin stimulates leptin production in your fat cells.&#xA;Leptin levels go up, triggering the hypothalamus to decrease appetite.&#xA;High levels of leptin also tell your pancreas to stop making insulin.&#xA;But here's how it looks when you have leptin resistance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat some ice cream and a shit load of mix-ins from Marble Slab with some pop tarts because yolo, as you're in &quot;permabulk&quot; mode. The beta cells in your pancreas produce insulin in response to your blood glucose level.&#xA;Insulin stimulates leptin production in your fat cells, overwhelming your body.&#xA;Leptin levels go up but leptin resistance starts to set in.&#xA;High levels of leptin try to tell your pancreas to stop making insulin, but you're leptin resistant so the pancreas doesn't get the message to stop!&#xA;We now have chronically high levels of insulin, leading to insulin resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, other than what G_H said, it will lead to insulin/leptin resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source - TNation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T13:36:05.570" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-16T13:53:54.703" Score="1" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I am normally a bicycle commuter.  Also, I am normally late, so I sprint through company property (occasionally being chastised) to get into position on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, I have been diagnosed with tendinitis (I imagine from the treadmill.)  Therefore, I've been told I should try not to run or bike for two weeks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, my question is: &lt;em&gt;what &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; I do to maintain cardio?&lt;/em&gt;  My access to a lap pool is limited, but it exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Looking, basically, for what cardio I can do that does NOT involve my lower legs supporting much weight or taking a beating.  The nature of the restrictions are to rest my left Achilles, if possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19585" LastEditorUserId="19585" LastEditDate="2016-06-16T14:28:20.613" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T12:22:13.420" Title="Can't run can't bike.. how do I maintain cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-06-27T05:52:40.660" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31223" CreationDate="2016-06-16T15:08:10.987" Score="1" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Previously I had asked for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/28539/15036&quot;&gt;a &quot;minimum&quot; program&lt;/a&gt; that requires me minimum effort to remember the schedule, and minimum time to do it. The answer is to doing pull-up, squat and dip until failure every 2nd day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question here is: how should I do these exercises properly? Should I do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fast (1 second pull, 1 second push)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slow (4 sec pull, 4 sec push)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;holding my pull until I can't handle no more, then count it as one rep, until I really can't do one more rep?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the last one is best, then how should I breath when I do it? Do I have to hold my breath when I stay my pull?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a pull is acceptably defined as an up in pull-up, and a down in dip and squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15036" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T11:05:02.897" Title="How to do exercises properly?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31221" CreationDate="2016-06-16T15:22:20.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You develop muscles during recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Amount of recovery done depends on how much of your muscle has been broken down by the exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Amount of muscle with micro-tears is directly a result of time-under-tension.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull fast (1 second), release (lower/pull) slow (2-3 seconds).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat reps until failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your understanding of exercise and lack of willingness to undertake a proper beginner programme like 5x5 stronglifts or a bodyweight routine will get you nowhere fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T15:22:20.443" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31221" CreationDate="2016-06-16T15:30:28.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your previous question you say you're not sure if changing your diet is required...this couldn't be farther from the truth. If you want to maximize results, diet is by far the most important factor in addition to sleep and recovery. Also, this &quot;minimum&quot; concept is horribly flawed but I won't even address that here, I'm sure you're already aware anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your actual question, you want to recruit the most muscle fibres in any given exercise that you do. Studies with EMGS as well as my own and various others' experiences show that the most effective way to achieve this from a tempo perspective is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're lifting the weight (concentric), i.e pushing, pulling, squatting up, you want to do this portion of the movement as fast as humanly possible in order to recruit max motor units and develop a faster motor firing rate...effectively improving muscular contraction and overall power/strength. This should be anywhere less than or equal to one second. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're lowering the weight, i.e descending on the pullup/pushups/squat/dip, you need to maximize time under tension (to a certain limit) in order to break down the most muscle fibres (so you can build them back up stronger and bigger through protein synthesis hence why I said your diet is crucial). This means you need to control the descent which implies that this portion should take around 1-4 seconds depending on your energy levels. You can tweak this number all the time in order to keep your muscles confused. E.g maybe one day keep this number at 4 seconds, but the next day keep it at 1 second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The isometric portion of the movement, i.e the part where you're at the top in the pullup or parallel in the squat can vary depending on your goals and won't affect anything too much as long as you make sure to actually utilize it. What I mean is, you should be &quot;squeezing&quot; the necessary muscles with EVERY rep at the isometric &quot;hold&quot; ANYWAYS, how long you do it however depends on what you want and really won't make too much of a difference and won't make you stronger or bigger...although it will make you better at holding isometric positions. So as long as you do this part for at least a second, and squeeze hard, you're fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a working example, let's go over how you would do a pullup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start with your arms extended fully and pull your scapula back and engage your lats and arms, squeezing the bar as hard as possible in order to recruite the most muscle fibres.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exhale in order to promote nitric oxide flow as you pull your self up as fast as possible in an explosive manner, make sure your form is good.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you're at the top , hold the position for at least a second, and squeeze your back so you can feel the right muscles working.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is highly debated whether you should inhale or exhale at the top of the movement, and doesn't really matter to be honest, but since for the pullup you already exhaled, start to slowly inhale.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lower yourself over 1-4 seconds while slowly building up oxygen by inhaling small amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reach your starting position again, and use the oxygen you just built up by the slow inhaling to explode up by exhaling and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to exhale hard during the lifting portion of ANY move as releasing the oxygen suddenly will allow your muscles to contract harder and faster. For example if you watch sports, you'll notice that boxers and fighters will exhale and make sounds as they throw punches or kicks...(Bruce Lee used to just make crazy sounds but that's still exhaling) and that sprinters will repeatedly exhale short bursts of air very fast in order to be more explosive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-16T15:35:39.173" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T15:35:39.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31271" CreationDate="2016-06-16T21:03:01.403" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a retinal hemorrhage a week ago and was told by my doctor to not work out for a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to minimize the amount of muscle that is atrophied over that month, without stressing/over-exerting myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Any tag recommendations?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T11:47:28.950" Title="How to stay in shape during a workout hiatus?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31229" CreationDate="2016-06-16T22:44:30.813" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blood flow restriction is one technique that is often recommended.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11128848&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11128848&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18379217&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18379217&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19416" LastEditorUserId="19416" LastEditDate="2016-06-19T21:26:00.727" LastActivityDate="2016-06-19T21:26:00.727" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28498" CreationDate="2016-06-17T04:17:13.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I solved this by asking a partner (or just a random person) to press down on the dumbbells during the lifting or the negative phase. This burns so good, plus I made new gym friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15682" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T04:17:13.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-17T04:22:43.870" Score="0" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am a 17 year old &lt;em&gt;fat&lt;/em&gt; boy with a height of 5'9&quot; and weigh around 183 pounds. I &lt;strong&gt;can't&lt;/strong&gt; change my eating habits, I just love fast food and could't resist. So I decided to exercise as much as possible. Currently, per day, I cycle 14 klicks daily on a flat road and cycle around 7 klicks in the gym. I walk 4 klicks on a flat road and jog for around 1 klick on a treadmill. I spend around 10-12 minutes on an elliptical, burning about a hundred calories. Is this too much? I feel very tired sometimes. P.S: I &lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; lift weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21687" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T12:14:13.227" Title="Am I exercising out too much?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-06-24T09:49:02.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31232" CreationDate="2016-06-17T06:31:21.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So in total, you cycle/run 22km, plus 12 minutes on the elliptical (5km I guess).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it too much? That depends on what your goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to lose fat, that's not enough, given that you eat junk food (every day?). And you don't tell much about the intensity of your training, which also plays a role in that. As said by @cbll, the first step to lose weight is your diet. Unless you train like an athlete several hours per day (more than 5 hours), don't expect to burn more calories than your fast food provides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you just want to do cardio, it might be a bit too much, because you don't give your body enough rest, that's why you feel tired. But it is also linked to your diet : if you don't eat well, you won't rest well. Your body needs good &quot;fuel&quot; to perform.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T06:31:21.880" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31217" CreationDate="2016-06-17T06:45:59.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very good cardio activity that does not induce any shock in your body (like running) is swimming. You said you have access to a pool (although limited), I advise you to go swimming as much as you can, and alternate swim types (crawl, butterfly, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you already have good cardio, you won't &quot;lose&quot; it after two weeks rest!&#xA;And after these two weeks, start cycling first again if possible (in a gym maybe), that does not traumatize your body compared to running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastEditorUserId="21789" LastEditDate="2016-06-28T12:22:13.420" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T12:22:13.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31232" CreationDate="2016-06-17T06:52:57.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are you exercising too much?&lt;/strong&gt; If you have no rest day in your week then yes. Otherwise, no (assuming you are getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is your diet making you tired?&lt;/strong&gt; Yes, lots of junk food is not providing your body with fuel it needs to recover, eventually you will just be tired and fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T06:52:57.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31238" CreationDate="2016-06-17T08:50:21.687" Score="3" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;Early this year, I asked a question to make an uncomplicated plan/program that requires me minimum effort to remember the schedule. That is, I don't need to open a schedule to check the plan. I understand that this is a trade-off, and I have made up my mind that it will take me years to get toned. At that time I had this answer: &lt;strong&gt;every 2nd day do dips, squats and pull-ups until failure&lt;/strong&gt;. It has upvotes and no criticism so I have thought that someday I will see the result (1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, yesterday I was informed that it is not (2). I would like to know why. If you have a better plan for me, I think it is better for everyone if you answer it in the first question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&#xA;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/28539/15036&quot;&gt;Is there a simple program that I don't have to look up at all?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(2) &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/31221/15036&quot;&gt;How should I do when doing the “minimum” program?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15036" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-06-18T20:19:00.227" Title="Why is this &quot;minimum&quot; program flawed (every 2nd day do dips, squats and pull-ups until failure)?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31236" CreationDate="2016-06-17T11:15:11.607" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a sense your program isn't that bad. Here's some good points I see with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats as the lower-body exercise. The squat is one of the most effective builders for lower-body strength. While deadlifts would make a good addition, if you're going to do only one thing, squatting would be the best choice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips and pull-ups are quite complementary. Dips will work the triceps and, depending on form, the chest. Pull-ups will work the biceps and back (particularly the latissimus dorsi).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assuming you are a beginner, 48 hours between workouts and making each a full-body workout is a good approach. Beginners can recover in that time frame so 3 full-body workouts per week, or every 2 days, is good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's some flaws as well, going by the information you gave here and in your other questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No equipment. Without any barbells or other methods of increasing the weight, your only options are to increase the reps and/or lower rest times between sets. Especially for squats that will quickly exhaust the potential for stimulating strength gains and muscle growth. Even with pull-ups and dips you should be considering doing weighted versions once you can do 15 with good form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very limited exercise selection. You'd do well to add in some deadlifts, bench presses and rows. While you could do push-ups instead of benches and inverted rows from a bar or something else you can grab onto (for example, edge of a sturdy desk) you'd face the same problem with progressive overload.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I may be honest, I think your whole approach to training is flawed. You want to use minimal or no equipment at home, instead of going to the gym. And you don't want to keep a schedule, even though this is very easy and these days facilitated by websites and apps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not wanting to use equipment or go to a gym is like only spending time in a driving simulator on a PC with a keyboard, and then expecting you'd do fine in actual traffic behind the wheel of a real car. Sure, it's better than nothing, but don't expect anything but minimal results and grinding to a halt in your progress soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not wanting to keep a schedule or notes seems like a bad mindset as well. It really doesn't have to be complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no shortcuts in decent training. You do what is necessary or spend your time running on the spot, going nowhere fast. Sorry pal, but hobbies take an investment of time, effort and quite usually some money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T11:15:11.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31236" CreationDate="2016-06-17T11:45:09.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;1. Doing something is better than doing nothing.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you are working out regularly makes you already far ahead of someone who doesn't. Your plan is way better than no plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So once that is understood, now we can look at how good this workout actually is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. What effect does your workout have?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are using bodyweight only, and your method of progression is number of reps you can get before failure (progression is vital, no progression = no gains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the reps you can do is under 10, you'll build good size and strength.&#xA;Once the reps you can do get over 15-20, you're building muscle endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you care about &quot;toning&quot;, the effect of size and strength is good for you. But the effect of muscle endurance is not going to help you look much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: No matter how long you do this workout, if you only use unloaded squats/dips/pull ups, once you get above 15-20 reps you are not going to get appreciably bigger and stronger any more (depending on genetics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3. Will I progress on this program?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Remember, no progression = no body improvements. This is always the case)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends on you. If the number of reps you can do are increasing, you are progressing. But if you do the same workout every day, your body will adapt and you will stop progressing. You CANNOT do this workout for a few years and progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also remember, if that progression is with reps over 15-20, you won't gain much visible improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;4. What can I do to reach MY goals?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goals are aesthetic, you want to progress in the 5-15 rep range (mostly 6-12). You want to use a heavy enough load that you reach failure in that rep range, and you want to increase the load you can use over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean? It means you're going to have to use loaded movements. The best thing you can use is a barbell in a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes: You do NOT need a fully planned out 30 day workout where every workout is different, that's the most garbage thing I've ever seen. You want to get into a gym and learn to squat, deadlift, press and row. You can then incrementally add load to every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will keep you progressing for size and strength, which combined with a good diet will get you that &quot;toned&quot; look you want. You won't get &quot;too muscular&quot;, unless you take drugs or are gaining kgs of bodyweight every month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;5. Give me a plan!!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out StrongLifts. Super simple workout, don't need to remember much, even has an app telling you exactly what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-06-18T20:19:00.227" LastActivityDate="2016-06-18T20:19:00.227" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-17T11:50:40.067" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an athlete and run around 5 times a week, often 6 miles each time, how often should I have a rest day? Should I cut the 5 times a week down to 3/4 times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21689" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T11:50:40.067" Title="How often should you rest? - Running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-06-17T14:23:15.573" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31232" CreationDate="2016-06-17T12:14:13.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from what @Boris and @Josaur said, I would like to suggest you some tips as you are only 17 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Durability and quality of structure always depends on the raw materials that has been used for its construction. So, to start with &lt;strong&gt;you can't just think about having a healthy body without following proper healthy diet&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you are just 17 years old and consuming cold drinks daily along with junks 2 times a week, its not good for your body in longer run. May be you wont feel the difference for next 7-8 years but gradually it'll take its toll.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For losing weight, this exercise in not that much sufficient given that you are having junks, chocolates and cold drinks so often. Reduce junks to once in a week at least along with cold drinks. Bro, you should watch out for the heavy amount of sugar that you are taking. It will surely hit your body hard and bad in long run inviting several diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are 2 things because of which you might be feeling tired:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You are not taking taking proper rest (7-8 hrs is a must if you are involved in physical exercises)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your body is not getting proper energy from the food you are eating. You can't expect a bike to run on water , it needs petrol. Similarly you need to consume protein &amp;amp; carbs rich diet to fuel your body&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, give utmost respect to your body because &lt;strong&gt;you can change everything but your body&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21673" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T12:14:13.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-17T13:04:45.570" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really really want to train for a marathon, but I can't find anybody to do it with me, and I just can't seem to be able to train alone. At the beginning of the year I found someone to do these things with, and we did amazing things, from regular jogging to cycling to obstacle courses. But now he is busy with exams. How can I motivate myself to train alone? Or where can I find someone to train with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21691" LastEditorUserId="21691" LastEditDate="2016-06-17T13:11:40.657" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T18:49:25.427" Title="How to train for marathon" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31243" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-17T17:04:27.263" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a couple of months I'm trying to get leaner, therefore I'm logging my overall food intake in order to keep a constant amount of calories deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a male, 22 y/o, 186 cm/6'1&quot;, 82 kg/181 lbs. Using 6 different RMR calculators, I've gotten the following results: 1875, 1878, 1968, 2167, 2253, 2254. The major disparity between the results got me wondering how do these calculators work, since they are not aware of my fat percentage and of how &quot;fast&quot; my metabolism is. Is there any way to estimate my RMR more precisely? In addition, your I entirely count on RMR when deciding how much calories to consume every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T18:02:44.060" Title="How to calculate your RMR accurately?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31243" CreationDate="2016-06-17T18:02:44.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is absolutely no calculator or formula that can give you a 100% accurate figure of your actual RMR. It depends on way too many factors and some of these factors aren't even understood. People have varying metabolisms, muscle mass, BMI, activity levels, environmental stress factors, external stress factors, recovery rates, genetic conditions...hence why you get different numbers from different calculators...it's almost like an insurance premium. That being said, as you can clearly see, the numbers you listed are relatively close to each other and really...that's all you need. A deficit/surplus of 12.86 calories isn't going to do much of anything, specially because this stuff matters more in the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to get leaner, I would say the absolute best RMR estimation is the one I've seen from Tnation and Layne Norton, it's worked for them and it works for me. You weight 181lbs =&gt; 181x14 = 2534 cals roughly. Now, if you wanna lose half a lbs of fat a week, then you would do (-500/600) and get around 1900-2050 ish calories. So eat anywhere between 1900-2100 calories a day in order to lose weight at a good rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would always suggest starting at the highest range possible since drastically reducing calories is a sure way to slow down your metabolism and is unrealistic in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum up, the calculators are all just estimations to narrow down your approximate rate. Noone except yourself can know your true metabolic rate and you actually won't until you start experimenting a bit. Which is realistically the whole goal of fitness...to learn more about your body and improve it. Start at about 2100-2200 calories a day, do this for a week or two and see if you're losing any weight, if not then reduce by another 100. When you do lose the weight, you know that the previous caloric intake goal was your maintenance rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T18:02:44.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31242" CreationDate="2016-06-17T18:49:25.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.meetup.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Meetup&lt;/a&gt; is a useful place for meeting people with similar goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most towns, especially college towns, have a local running club; surely you can Google around for more info. Or inquire at your local running store. They're usually very familiar with the local clubs and events. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The track club in my college town even led a marathon training program every summer. Perhaps you can find something like this. These are often very friendly to first timers. You can run with the group while making new friends to train with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who has been running for 12 years and has trained for distances from 13.1 all the way up to 100 mile races, I will say this about marathon training. You will fail if you rely too heavily on other people for motivation. You have to figure out why running a marathon is important to YOU, and let your actions match those values. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running should be fun amid all the pain. If it's so miserable you can't do the occasional training run alone, something's wrong. Concentrate on what you like about it and don't give yourself time to picture the hard parts before you're out the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21694" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T18:49:25.427" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31217" CreationDate="2016-06-17T19:42:01.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been sidelined with achilles tendinitis for 8 months now. I can't run or bike either; the only thing I can do is swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming has worked well for me; I highly recommend it. You won't mess up your achilles further but you'll retain cardio fitness. Any stroke works, and swimming is gentle enough that you can do it for hours if you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word of precaution for when you start your usual activities again: biking can exacerbate achilles tendinitis just as bad as running, especially if your saddle is either too high or low, or you're biking on hills. Pay attention to these things and do only a little at a time at first. Re-injuring yourself by going too hard those first days back out can be even more psychologically excruciating than the original injury, in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21694" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T19:42:01.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31212" CreationDate="2016-06-17T20:21:52.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recovery run does not replace a rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery runs are most effective when you already have a solid base of strong bones, tendons, and joints built by months of steady training + rest cycles. If you don't have such a base, an extra run in your week may do more harm than good. When in doubt, rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To find out whether you're at risk of overdoing it, you need to review what your running schedule has looked like recently. Did the last 4 weeks include similarly intense 3 day blocks? If so, your body has proven it's well acclimated and a recovery run might not be a bad idea. If this intense week is an anomaly, you definitely risk overtraining by going for a recovery run today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21694" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T20:21:52.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34671" CreationDate="2016-06-17T20:34:10.640" Score="1" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5'10&quot;, 192 lbs., 28 years old, male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My BMR (just using the average from online calculators) is: ~1960 calories. I average 5 miles (walking) per day, usually around 2.5 hours of activity. Using another online calculator, this comes to ~600 calories. I do not do any weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to lose weight in the healthiest way possible on a balanced diet that I can maintain after I get to a target goal. If I understand correctly, I would need to have less than 1960 + 600 = 2560 calories per day in order to lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cook most of my meals and use measuring cups which makes it easy to estimate calories. I aim for 500 calories for a meal, three meals a day. The meals are a balance of fat, carbs, and protein according to daily requirements but I typically cannot eat more than 60 g carbs per meal. I drink an average 80 oz. of water per day, based on thirst or urine color. I don't normally snack. This has worked well as a basic diet for the last two years for me and I feel satisfied after each meal. With some room for error calculations, I am definitely in the range of 1800-1900 calories per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I eat out (2-3 meals a week max) in a place that does not list calories, I will simply eat half. If I am still hungry two hours later, I know that I didn't get enough so I will eat a snack. But typically, meal portions are so calorie-dense at most restaurants that eating half is more than enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite doing this for months, my weight has either stayed the same or increased slightly (4 pounds over 6 months). Why? The only major thing I have noticed that has changed is my appetite has suddenly been bigger over the last few months. Going with my usual 500 calories per meal means I get hungry within two hours which gives me really bad headache. I am concerned eating less is unhealthy but I am concerned eating more will not help me lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should my caloric intake be per day?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How should I divide this per meal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any other suggestions to stay healthy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21699" LastEditorUserId="21699" LastEditDate="2016-07-05T05:05:23.830" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T18:53:39.837" Title="Am I estimating my caloric intake correctly for a healthy diet plan?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31199" CreationDate="2016-06-17T20:47:49.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your training is working well for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building up to your current routine over 12 months is not overdoing it, provided the following is true:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're still able to sleep well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't feel constantly hungry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your eating habits aren't out of control; that is, you don't feel urges to drastically overeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't dread your workouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're not sacrificing important things to fit your workouts in&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You feel generally healthy and happy during your chosen activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21694" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T20:47:49.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31217" CreationDate="2016-06-18T08:46:23.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the limitations the questioner encounters, a simple solution would be to either to hit the heavy bag for half an hour a day, or sit and perform lightweight dumbell exercises going through the entire range of possible joints and muscles, also for half an hour. Keep up a steady pace, elevate the heart rate, and keep going for the full 30 mins. In my many years of training (over 60), injury has been a problem I have also encountered. Don't let injury of one bit of the body deter you from exercising the bits that still work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19426" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-06-26T11:46:57.540" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T11:46:57.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31274" CreationDate="2016-06-18T14:31:59.407" Score="0" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found topic about burned calories formula which is available &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25472/how-to-calculate-calorie-from-pedometer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. But as a I am looking at it, some lines are not as clear understandable for me as I expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, there are some conversation factor that I truly don't know what is for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he use calculation for burned calories per kilometer and then count steps per mile? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/COJ0p.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/COJ0p.png&quot; alt=&quot;text&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20447" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:38:45.203" Title="Burned calories formula with conversation factor" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24808" CreationDate="2016-06-18T20:21:15.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All studies what I have found (mentioned in other answers) are using only the world records to validate the Wilks formula. What does not really make sense for the purpose how it is used today (for comparison of ordinary lifters at competitions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the following post about this issue:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://physicalpreparedness.com/wilks-validation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://physicalpreparedness.com/wilks-validation/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;In this post is validation of the Wilks formula with big amount of records of raw powerlifters from recent years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to statistical tests in this post, it seems that Wilks normalization is kind of alright, but slightly not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20424" LastEditorUserId="20424" LastEditDate="2018-02-08T11:26:22.043" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T11:26:22.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-18T04:33:44.153" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do the decathlon and am very weak in the pole vault, do you guys think that gymnastic will aid in strength and help increase my athletic ability. Does it aid in speed also I want to really know&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Vincent" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T22:18:31.840" Title="I am a track athlete, Does gymnastic help a track and field athlete, in terms of getting faster, pole vault and throwing?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31257" CreationDate="2016-06-19T00:12:47.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say absolutely yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gymnasts perform some of the most impressive feats of physical strength of all time. This is because at all times, they perform feats using only their own bodies as resistance. That gives them an amazing ratio of strength to bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it will generally improve your lean muscle gain, I believe it will decidedly aid you in improving other athletic endeavours, especially track and field type events, such as pole vaulting, shot putting, discus, hammer and javelin throwing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for running speed, I can't really say. It will entirely depend on what type of gymnastics you will be doing. Bar work engages mostly upper body for movement, and lower body only for balance. However, tumbling will have it distributed more evenly. Here you'll be looking for explosive leg work, which is more general and not gymnastics specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But overall, I'd recommend anyone to try gymnastics. It's a fun and diverse way of training, and will yield amazing physiques to those who try it long enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-06-19T00:12:47.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31260" CreationDate="2016-06-19T16:38:29.847" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I finished an anual bike race - 100km of cross-country riding with 6000m total elevation that many amateurs (over 2000) around here attempt. For most people it takes between 5 and 12 hours to finish and it is quite taxing. It's my 6th year doing it and while I usually manage to feel quite fine within 24 hours, some of my friends with less praparation complain of soreness and nausea for 2-3 days. What would be best strategy to recover after that? Including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to decrease muscle and joint pain and cramps?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to treat inflamated legs / butt?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine marathon recovery tactics might be similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T02:47:25.140" Title="How to help recovery after long-distance cycling race?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31259" CreationDate="2016-06-19T18:03:30.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Marathon recovery for me is generally very very easy jogs, riding a bike, walks, stretching 2-3 times a day, drinking water, and massages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically stretching, massages, and light 30 min workouts of the affected muscles simply to get blood flowing in them are the keys in my opinion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its kinda funny that the best way to recover from this is to do more of it at an easy effort for 30 minutes. I still have doubts about this method before doing it while Im sore but it works pretty well everytime so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Id say reverse taper but if your friends weren't well prepared then telling them this likely wont be helpful to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-06-19T18:03:30.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31262" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-19T18:14:25.803" Score="2" ViewCount="2509" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have too much belly fat and trying to burn them. But because of my chronic sinusitis (it's affecting my throat) I'm not able to swallow CLA pills, they are too big. I see that there are no liquid CLA. I'm looking for an alternative to CLA to achieve my goal (burning belly fat). I used L-Carnitine but didn't see any improvement. Which supplement should I take to help burning my belly fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Body&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: 179 cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight: 86 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any hearth problem but I didn't take any test about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have scoliosis so I'm not able to do basic belly fat burning movements (like sit-ups) properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Workout Routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to GYM at least 2 times in a week. Usually starting with light cardio for warming, and then working with weights and then finishing with intense running &amp;amp; cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually I've lost about 9 kilograms in 3 months by going to gym regularly. I was 95 kilograms before starting to exercises. But now my weight lost is really slow and I'm not losing weight anymore. I know weight can be same because I'm gaining muscles while losing fat but body proportion not changing. My belly fat and chest fat are still there  There is no visible progress. Because of this I'm think it's time to start taking some helpers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3916" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:29.720" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:29.720" Title="I can't swallow CLA pills, looking for alternatives" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-07-22T21:24:48.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31272" CreationDate="2016-06-19T18:34:10.067" Score="5" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;For instance, say you're doing an HST (Hypertrophy-Specific Training) routine, and you can choose between Routine 1 ad Routine 2. In Routine 1 you would be doing 3 full-body sessions per week, and in Routine 2 you would be doing 6 upper and lower body sessions per week. Assuming that each workout is done on a separate day at roughly the same time of day, are there any advantages to one routine over the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;    Routine 1:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;S M T W T F S            &#xA;  F   F   F      &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;    Routine 2:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;S M T W T F S            &#xA;  U L U L U L     &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I do realize that there may be psychological and time advantages in both routines; however, I am asking strictly from a physiological/physical standpoint.        &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21710" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-06-20T23:02:32.233" LastActivityDate="2016-06-24T06:51:42.947" Title="Are there advantages to breaking up a workout?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31262" CreationDate="2016-06-19T19:29:21.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may not like to hear this but a pill is not your answer. You cannot spot reduce belly fat. Exercising one muscle group (such as your abs) can increase muscle in a specific area but fat is lost all over your body, not in one area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing all the ab exercise in the world will only result in a visible 6 pack for people who are relatively lean. There is no such thing as an obese person with a well defined 6 pack although some obese powerlifters (for example) have significant ab muscle (that is covered up with fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep eating at a deficit to your TDEE and exercising. You will lose weight all over your body, including your belly area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran your stats and your BMI is 26.8 so you are not obese (just marginally overweight). Your goal is obtainable with more hard work (diet and exercise). No pills are needed!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myheart.org.sg/article/hearty-tools/tools/bmi-calculator/239&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myheart.org.sg/article/hearty-tools/tools/bmi-calculator/239&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20508" LastEditorUserId="20508" LastEditDate="2016-06-20T19:59:55.273" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T19:59:55.273" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31263" CreationDate="2016-06-19T19:41:51.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Psychological issues aside (as requested), there is the big, BIG issue of physiological restitution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've probably heard of the muscle group rest period of 48-hours since both your layouts seem to follow it. But your central nervous system (CNS) is going to be taking a hit 6 days in a row if you follow the second routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your muscles may be getting adequate rest, your CNS might now, and this regimen of overtraining is something that can cause severe and chronic tiredness and exhaustion, even on rest days. People often find it very hard to stick with such routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of course, there are people who do this, with great success. But in order to achieve success with such an overpowering schedule, you need to be extremely vigilant with your diet (getting enough of every macro AND micro nutrient) and your rest (enough hours of sleep every night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How we deal with it will differ from person to person, but discipline in diet and rest can very well make up for the harsh workouts. But keep in mind, a lot of people will find the combination of that much training, and that much attention to diet and rest, very challenging to keep up in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps try it for a few weeks and see if it's for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-06-19T19:41:51.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31262" CreationDate="2016-06-20T00:18:32.783" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Milk from grassfed cows has lots of CLA. At least if you do eat butter the best solution is to switch to &quot;grassfed butter&quot; like Kerry Gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T00:18:32.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31262" CreationDate="2016-06-20T00:23:19.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The real question you seem to be asking is how to lose the remaining weight. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/31264/18169&quot;&gt;Yao Choa raises multiple good points in their answer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A pill is not the answer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You cannot target fat loss areas: you can only improve muscle in a single area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely you want to look at what you're eating (i.e. how many calories per day) and changing your routine. It's best to seek a professional's help on this matter, and as you are already going to the gym a PT should be able to help you out (some PT's have special training in nutrition, but it's likely most PT's have good information regardless). It helps to track what you are eating, and there are plenty of mobile apps that can aid this. Make sure you aren't eating more than you need to, but also make sure you aren't starving yourself (it doesn't help: your body will just store fat instead)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider also measuring your fat% instead of weight. Again, a PT should be able to help you do this, but it's possible to do alone. This statistic is a better one to measure rather than weight, because as you point out you will put on weight due to muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a high muscle% (&gt;40%) you can likely drop the weights altogether and focus on HIIT. A PT could help with this further, but you probably want 3 high-intense training sessions per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18169" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T00:23:19.277" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31283" CreationDate="2016-06-20T01:28:35.547" Score="1" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I started the &quot;whole 30&quot; diet, which is a little more strict than paleo but for 30 days. My hope was that I would build better habits and identify some foods that may be causing problems. We eat a lot of fresh veggies, some fruit, eggs and a variety of meats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a week my energy level was low. I cut down on my workouts and I started drinking more caffeine. I was mentally exhausted by mid-afternoon and when I came home from work (4:00pm) I was pretty much useless. No conversation, no chores, no exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a medium length bike ride (28 miles) on day 8. Day 9 I was a wreck. On day 10 I tried to go to spin class but had to walk out after 20 min. I came home, laid down on the couch and couldn't even lift my phone up to look at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5'11 (1.8 meters) and 200lbs (91kg) with 23% body fat. On an ideal week I lift weights for an hour on Mon and Wed, do a 40 min walk 5-6 times and bike about 90 miles over 3 days (10 hours total exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weighed myself on day 10 and I was down to 198lbs (down 2lbs) but 25% body fat (up 2% points), which leads me to believe I've lost 2lbs of lean mass in 10 days. That is not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last summer I lost 30lbs and my goal is to lose another 25lbs this summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the principle of the &quot;whole 30&quot; and paleo diets, but I have to make a change or it's not going to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this sound like a blood sugar problem, and if so, any suggestions on how to adjust my diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: After day 10 I made a concerted effort to boost my carbs. I started eating at least one serving of sweet potato a day, but tried to add additional quality carbs with green beans and some additional fruit. I'm on day 16 now and I'm not sure there's been much improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I'm recouping lost energy, maybe I'm not eating enough carbs, or maybe that's not the right solution at all. I wish I knew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21713" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T06:47:29.230" Title="I tried a new diet and I think my blood sugar is too low, do I need more carbs?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;paleo-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31269" CreationDate="2016-06-20T03:05:59.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Significant diet changes often have a transition period while your system adapts, so I wouldn't immediately panic. On the other hand, without a lot of detail in your post, it seems to me your fat intake may be too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cut carbs you need to make up the fuel somewhere&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21714" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T03:05:59.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31229" CreationDate="2016-06-20T03:26:56.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Rest.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't see appreciable muscle loss in a month. Keep your calorie intake at maintenance and take it easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative is light exercise against your doctors instructions that could risk your eyesight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2861" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T03:26:56.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31263" CreationDate="2016-06-20T09:19:07.490" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first routine is low on overall weekly volume in terms of sessions in the gym and I would recommend if you chose this route to achieve hypertrophy what you understand that as you develop into a intermediate/advanced lifter that the time you spend in the gym during these 3 session will increase to a significant amount. Whole-body programs are designed to maximise neural efficiency more than hypertrophy for the average person and thus incorporates more recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second routine is a more familiar hypertrophy body split and will allow you to break up your exercises over more days, thus making your sessions shorter than the first routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By having more sessions you can spread the volume from the first session over the week eg.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;M       T          W         T                 F            S &#xA;Bi+Back Upper Legs Tri+Chest Lower Legs/Glutes Sholders+Abs Rest&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on what your goals are but having a equal distribution of legs to upper body will mean your legs may develop faster overall than what is traditionally an &amp;quot;aesthetic build&amp;quot; (there aren't as many muscles in legs as there are in arms+chest+back+sholders).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both work well and have their own benefits and issues. It also goes without saying that to progress on either you need good food and sleep. From an efficiency perspective you may meet your goals faster doing the hypertrophy routine but in reality the real winner will be whatever routine has the most overall exercise volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The preference is really personal, best not to overthink it (try both for 6 weeks each with linear progression and see what works better!). If you don't want to be at the gym every day but don't mind spending a long time there when you are, go for 1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like being at the gym but cant spend a long time there, go for 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-24T06:51:42.947" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31229" CreationDate="2016-06-20T11:47:28.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep moving without straining yourself. You're not going to want to do anything that's going to raise your blood pressure, but there's a lot of movement that can be done without exerting yourself that will nonetheless keep your body in the spirit of movement. Even doing something so simple as taking a long walk every night around your neighborhood, or doing walking laps in your house, will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T11:47:28.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31255" CreationDate="2016-06-20T13:14:54.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is probably a typo. If you look at what they're trying to achieve, it becomes quite obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;conversationFactor = CaloriesPerKilometer / stepCountMile;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is clearly trying to get a factor (As per the name, good job captain obvious!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is to figure out how many calories are burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;CaloriesBurned = numSteps * conversationFactor;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is &lt;strong&gt;Converting&lt;/strong&gt;, not &lt;strong&gt;Conversing&lt;/strong&gt;, the number of steps into Calories. Which means it is either a typo, or someone who's not well versed in English that wrong the code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T13:14:54.483" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31276" CreationDate="2016-06-20T14:12:01.800" Score="2" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the mechanisms that must be present in order for me to gain lean muscle mass (purely from a training perspective)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T14:12:01.800" Title="How is hypertrophy (muscle-gain) provoked?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31275" CreationDate="2016-06-20T14:12:01.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you look at building more lean muscle mass you must remember the fundamental rules of hypertrophy, which I feel is sometimes forgotten among everything else going on within your training program. There are 3 really key fundamentals which all go towards building muscle: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increased Tension&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To illicit a hypertrophic response you need to stimulate the muscle as much as possible, which basically means forcing as much stress via tension as possible with each rep. This is why slowing your rep tempo down builds muscle effectively, because it immediately increases the stress and tension. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason this works is because added stress and tension equates to more &quot;NEED&quot; from the muscle, which equates to increased involvement from high threshold motor units (HTMUs). Exciting these motor units is the fastest way to stimulate more muscle fibres which ultimately equates to global muscle breakdown and hypertrophy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive Overload&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progressive overload is another key principle of accelerating your rate of hypertrophy, which basically means that over a period of time you introduce extra stress via more weight, more reps or more time under tension. Something which equates to creating an environment where your muscle has NEVER had to deal with these stress levels before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Planned Periodisation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Periodisation is something which I feel the majority of the gym community fail to utilise which is why they end up plateauing and failing to break past it. It isn't enough to just go into the gym each week and train hard, there needs to be a methodical approach in place to avoid plateaus from setting in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, different training volumes and rep ranges will illicit a different response and stress on your CNS (central nervous system) which means that by rotating these each week you can avoid plateaus. As a direct result of this you're able to continue growing faster, which makes your training more productive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately continuously creating hypertrophy is about understanding the science behind building muscle and knowing how to manipulate these in a positive way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is purely from a training perspective and diet isn't mentioned although it is a crucial and very large topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: Neil Hill, and lots and lots of research from various journals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T14:12:01.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-20T14:30:58.600" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;What actual evidence is there, for or against, towards somatotypes on a physical level.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21718" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T15:53:34.213" Title="Scientific evidence for physical, not psychological, somatotying" Tags="&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31277" CreationDate="2016-06-20T15:32:13.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of great answers regarding this topic on this very site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19550/why-do-so-many-fitness-websites-still-reference-somatotypes/24869#24869&quot;&gt;Why do so many fitness websites still reference somatotypes?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have my own theory regarding this topic that I've developed over the years by reading a lot of nutrition articles and journals. Although there is research in this field, from my point of view it all boils down to insulin and leptin sensitivity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I describe the effects of leptin and insulin here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31206/impact-of-weekly-collossal-cheat-days/31216#31216&quot;&gt;Impact of weekly collossal cheat days&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I developed this theory over the years after experimenting on myself. As a kid, I used to have a very &quot;sugary&quot; diet. I'm talking cake and chocolate milk for breakfast, a jar of nutella for a snack, and a bunch of other high-glycemic foods like white rice and pasta for lunch and dinner, with barely any physical activity. Now, if an individual does this for some time, they become insulin resistant (and hence leptin resistant). Now, in VERY basic terms, this equates to an &quot;endomorph&quot;...this person will find it really difficult to lose excess fat compared to the other groups, since insulin resistance will make it so that this person's body won't utilize carbs effectively and consequently it will be easier for this person to add fat. Now, obviously this doesn't have to be your childhood diet, I'm just giving you a specific case for which this happened to me and I was able to fix it through years of proper diet, and am no longer an &quot;endomorph&quot;. Similarly, anyone with a diet high in simple carbohydrates (high GI) will end up like this over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An obviously, a person who follows a healthier diet (not even necessarily healthy, just lower in high GI foods), does more physical activity, has a higher BMI and thus a higher metabolism usually gets grouped to one of the other two somatypes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Genetics DO play a role however. For example, people have different metabolic rates with different genetics, different muscle mass, different activity levels.&#xA;So it's important to note this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen so often in the past that a &quot;skinny&quot; person will eat whatever they want and not gain any weight, whereas a &quot;normal to overweight&quot; person will eat a bag of chips and instantly turn into a balloon. What most people don't realize about this scenario is that the &quot;ectomorph&quot; most likely has better insulin sensitivity that he has developed over years of a relatively healthier diet, and now he's seeing the &quot;benefits&quot;. Furthermore, while this person may be skinny, he may actually have more muscle mass relative to his body than the &quot;endomorph&quot; and thus a higher metabolic rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just what I've observed over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T15:53:34.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31263" CreationDate="2016-06-20T15:54:25.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Is 6 days better?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. You can bring more energy to each workout and get the same work done to higher quality which leads to better progress. Also you have more room for variation to keep you progressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you need to lay out the routine correctly. There are no black and white answers. Can you give an example of the routines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Ideas for setting it up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ULULUL facilitates overloading and high fatigue, is usually more effective as a muscle building approach. However it can be done as a very effective high frequency strength program. You would normally do shorter workouts compared to doing FFF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;F-F-F has extra rest which would benefit a more strength oriented training approach. In general gains would be a tad slower though, three days a week is limiting your potential. As you progress workouts will have to get longer and longer, at one point the quality of work will suffer because the workouts are so long. That's when people are forced to split the work into 4/5/6 days per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally the sweetspot is 4-5 days a week of training for most people. The extra rest is valuable psychologically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-06-23T15:44:36.653" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T15:44:36.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31280" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-20T20:30:53.273" Score="3" ViewCount="1035" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a pull up bar from a friend, but he was missing the mounting brackets/cups to put it up in the doorway. Since I can't find the mounting brackets sold separately anywhere on the internet, I'm thinking of heading to the hardware store to find an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pull up bar is similar to this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.ca/Everlast-EX2405BK-Chinning-Sit-Black/dp/B00091RXLY/ref=sr_1_1?s=sports&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1466453777&amp;amp;sr=1-1&amp;amp;keywords=pull+up+bar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.ca/Everlast-EX2405BK-Chinning-Sit-Black/dp/B00091RXLY/ref=sr_1_1?s=sports&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1466453777&amp;amp;sr=1-1&amp;amp;keywords=pull+up+bar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plumbing flanges are unlikely to work because the molding on our doorways protrudes (inwards) and is exactly the same size as the diameter of the bar, so there is no space for the outer ring (though, I could only screw it in in 2 places — the top and the bottom)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am considering trying a PVC cap, with holes drilled into the bottom, though I have concerns about it's ability to hold up my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other ideas or suggestions? Do you know where I can get pull up bar mounting brackets? Do you think a PVC cap will hold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21721" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T20:18:58.793" Title="Missing mounting brackets for doorway pull bar. Alternatives?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-22T21:12:38.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31262" CreationDate="2016-06-20T21:53:36.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;CLA is available in powdered form.&#xA;This can be ingested by simply mixing with water and drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bulkpowders.ie/cla-powder.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Example available here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8630" LastEditorUserId="8630" LastEditDate="2016-06-21T02:02:09.110" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T02:02:09.110" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29051" CreationDate="2016-06-21T04:52:17.250" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't really increase your wrist size, because it depends on genetics. You can still try HIIT upper body workout and see if it works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21675" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T04:52:17.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31269" CreationDate="2016-06-21T05:48:02.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do need to regain that lost lean mass and better to remake it from proteins than carbs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'd stick to the diet, but gain calories from proteins like lentils and nuts(which also have fat so be careful) rather than carbs(even healthy ones like sweet potato).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know people who have lost up to 30 lbs in two months by about 70% of their daily caloric intake as proteins.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You probably are losing lean mass due to muscle atrophy since they are not getting enough nutrients to recover after your workouts. So ease off on the muscle-building exercises and keep up the cardio. Remember, even body builders lose some muscle mass just before season because of their heavy dieting to reduce body fat %. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21674" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T05:48:02.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31287" CreationDate="2016-06-21T11:45:22.250" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started excercising and following diet to lose weight this January. I weigh 110 kilogramms now, and I was somewhere around 125 before. I've lost the first 10 kgs in one month, now nearly nothing, it totally stopped. I'm usually eating 60-80g of carbohydrates and 140g protein, which comes from chicken, fish, vegetables, and fruits. I take absolutely no sugar, and no wheat. I excercise 2-3 times a week, one hour of jumpy-runny kind of cardio (no more time for that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a little confused about a lot of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some articles say that I should take more carbs because my body is starving, but they are also calculating with more excercise, if I'd stick with 100-140 gramms, I'd literally eat the same meals like before I started&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they also mention that I need at least one gramm of protein per 1kg of body weight, but some say that per lean body mass, which is about 60 gramms, considering that ~50% of my body is fat (if the measuring device is correct)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nearly every source states that 5-6 meals a day is the best for losing weight, but I'm not sure that then the glycogen breakdown even starts?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've been thinking about following the ketogenic diet as well, but I'm not sure if the amount of fat it advises is good for me? I mean if I don't really count calories, only carbs, it's all right?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if not, how much calories should I take, and how is that broken down into carbs, protein, and fat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you really-really much in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21726" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T14:07:32.590" Title="Weight loss stopped (even gaining a bit weight)" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-22T18:15:28.383" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31288" CreationDate="2016-06-21T12:44:40.770" Score="14" ViewCount="3004" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm entering on this &lt;em&gt;fitness&lt;/em&gt; life now, aged almost 30. I never used to care about it, but I realize I'm late on this as I have stopped all my sporting life and become sedentary. I've been in the gym for about 2 months and I'm learning about training and nutrition stuff. I realized how much feeding before training is important to provide energy so I can put in my best on the activities. I've started eating fruit just before the training and this just made a big difference to my training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I started wondering what's the deal with the eggs eaten by Rocky in the first movie, where he eats about 3 raw eggs before starting training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21728" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-06-22T00:12:45.193" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T22:06:57.583" Title="What's the deal with those raw eggs eaten by Rocky before training" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31285" CreationDate="2016-06-21T13:26:29.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The boxing world - especially in the era where the &quot;Rocky&quot; movies were made - is notoriously bad at developing new methods for nutrition and exercise based on research and findings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole &quot;drink raw eggs, run 5 miles every morning and beat this frozen pig&quot;-method isn't really something you should strive for today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T13:26:29.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31284" CreationDate="2016-06-21T13:46:49.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;some articles say that I should take more carbs because my body is starving, but they are also calculating with more excercise, if I'd stick with 100-140 gramms, I'd literally eat the same meals like before I started&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure what you're confused about here. What they mean is, when you initially start a diet, don't all of a sudden cut out all carbs because your metabolism will slow down. This is because carbs are muscle sparing, and without carbs for energy, you will at some point lose muscle, if you lose muscle, your metabolism slows down and you don't burn nearly as many calories, hence why your weight loss came to a stop. When you DO eat carbs, make sure you eat them right around your workouts and or around the morning, since this is when you are most insulin sensitive and least likely to store carbs as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;they also mention that I need at least one gramm of protein per 1kg of body weight, but some say that per lean body mass, which is about 60 gramms, considering that ~50% of my body is fat (if the measuring device is correct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;first of all, this should be 0.8-1.5g of protein per LBS of body weight (not kg), and no, this doesn't depend on lean body mass, although it would be more important, the more muscle you have. Protein is absolutely essential for fat loss since it is the hardest macro to turn into fat, has high thermogenesis (your body burns more calories during breakdown), spares your muscles and provokes protein synthesis (good for metabolism), makes you feel full and more...make sure you get at least 0.8g per lbs of bodyweight.DON'T listen to anything else, this lean body mass thing you heard does not apply here, eat as much protein as possible without going over your caloric limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;nearly every source states that 5-6 meals a day is the best for losing weight, but I'm not sure that then the glycogen breakdown even starts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the biggest myths in nutrition, you do NOT need to eat 5-6 meals a day. People think that since eating meals has thermogenic effects on metabolism, then the more often you eat, the more calories you burn. This is NOT true, there's lots of studies disproving this (the amount u eat is proportional to thermogenesis not frequency). The reason 5-6 meals is usually suggested is because it is easier to divide your macro intakes into 5-6 rather than 3 big meals. Also, eating frequently will make you feel full more often. However, you mention glycogen breakdown and you are actually right. The more often you eat, the less you're in a fasted state and hence the less time your body has to breakdown carbs for energy (i.e you won't reach fat breakdown since youre constantly breaking down carbs), and this is why I said eat your carbs around your workout and not any other time if you're actually SERIOUS about fat loss. This means before and after the workout (1-2 hours withing both). A good approach would be to eat breakfast, lunch, preworkout meal with carbs, post workout with carbs, then dinner...this way you have lots of time between meals to burn fat while burning carbs for the workout and not muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've been thinking about following the ketogenic diet as well, but I'm not sure if the amount of fat it advises is good for me? I mean if I don't really count calories, only carbs, it's all right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't the question that you should ask yourself.  Ketogenic diet has its benefits and downsides. It's hard to follow but will give you results. However, if you care about your gym performance, it is not the best. If you really care about fat loss, keto works...no questions about it. The amount of fat is obviously really high since that's the definition of keto but assuming you get your fats from healthy sources like eggs and avacado it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if not, how much calories should I take, and how is that broken down into carbs, protein, and fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You weigh 110kg, so that's around 242lbs. Your RMR is probably around 3000 calories as a result, and thus if you are consuming 3000-600 = 2400 ish calories daily every day consistenly, you will be in a caloric deficit and hence lose weight. Of this, 1g per lbs of bodyweight from protein means 242lbs x 4 = 968 calories from protein, and the fat and carbs are upto you to manipulate. A good rule is to let fats be 20% of your caloric intake and the rest from carbs. If this isn't working, then you slowly dial the fats up while tuning the carbs down. Your body is unique to you and hence you will have to experiment a bit to find out what works for you. If after a few week 2400 calories isn't resulting in fat loss, then you simply reduce this number by 100-200 and repeat..it is THAT simple, what is not so simple, is being dedicated and sticking to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why you gained weight, you simply decreased calories too much. To the extent that your body had to adapt by slowing your metabolism down. If your metabolism is down you burn less calories, so if you stayed on the same diet, your caloric excess would have increased more than before. Furthermore, you probably lost some muscle as well which would mean your metabolism slowed down as a result once again. As with everything, make gradual adjustments next time and you'll be fine in a short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-21T14:07:32.590" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T14:07:32.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31285" CreationDate="2016-06-21T14:04:42.523" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eggs, by their nature, have a substantial amount of good protein in them, 6 grams in a large egg, along with the cholesterol and calories needed to sustain exercise. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2006/12/do_boxers_drink_raw_eggs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In the 1890s, it was believed that cooking the egg removed some of the nutritional values&lt;/a&gt; and this tradition was carried on through the worlds of bodybuilding and boxing as word-of-mouth &quot;truth&quot;. I suspect some degree of machismo was involved as well, since many people find raw eggs to be nauseating, so choking them down was a way to demonstrate your self-control. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/466788-can-humans-digest-raw-eggs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Modern science has since established&lt;/a&gt; that humans can absorb 90% of the nutrition in a cooked egg, and only 50% in a raw egg, including the protein. Some exercise and raw-foods gurus have latched onto part of that science and claim raw eggs as a good source of protein with fewer calories, ignoring the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2483/do-raw-eggs-contain-protein-inhibitors&quot;&gt;reduced protein aspect&lt;/a&gt;. And, of course, raw eggs are a potential source of salmonella and e. coli, something they knew at the time of &lt;em&gt;Rocky&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, it's bad science that was obsolete at the time the movie came out, which has since been discovered to be even more fallacious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T14:04:42.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31109" CreationDate="2016-06-21T18:31:45.793" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent meta-analysis of 23 published studies is MacEwen, MacDonald, and Burr, &quot;A systematic review of standing and treadmill desks in the workplace,&quot; &lt;em&gt;Preventative Medicine&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;70&lt;/strong&gt;(January 2015):50-58.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article is here:   &lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.11.011&quot;&gt;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.11.011&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting from the paper's summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Treadmill desks led to the greatest improvement in physiological outcomes including postprandial&#xA;  glucose, HDL cholesterol, and anthropometrics, while standing desk use was associated with few physiological&#xA;  changes. Standing and treadmill desks both showed mixed results for improving psychological well-being&#xA;  with little impact on work performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21732" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T18:31:45.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31280" CreationDate="2016-06-21T19:41:09.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The PVC cap may of may not work depending on your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This design looks attractive to me if you are able to adopt it to fit your specifications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/Doorframe-Chin-up-Bar/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.instructables.com/id/Doorframe-Chin-up-Bar/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20508" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T19:41:09.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4142" CreationDate="2016-06-22T04:05:22.543" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey alright just yesterday I had the same problem train karate and hurt myself acouple of times , so I thought maybe become stronger I started doing mauythai a few weeks back (about 1-2) anyway my instructor told me to front kick the pads ( this mauythai pad was hard) anyway soon as I front kicked it incorrectly it hurt like hell but I still trained it hurts still but not as much. Now always check where you hurt yourself (my case I strained my left toe next to the big toe) so I found out if you rest and where thick shoes that put pressure on your toes so like school shoes something that's thick not loose see the doctors just in case if it's sprained, strained, broken , fractured, so the doctors said to me to rest for the day don't train and apply this cream VOLTAREN EMULGEL so 3 times a day ( so basically I hit the pad incorrectly ) And some answers I'm seeing have a point ( do toe excercise because pulling back your toes for a front kick and isn't fully back) your gonna get hurt , anyway so take my advise also ( the sports is kids do is LEATHEL and another reason we get hurt often is if where skinny and young ) my case I'm skinny yet fast and strong with kicks and punches- remember STRETCH, DRINK WATER Atleast everyday - Don't back down when your about to hit the pad/ bag hard do not back out thinking your gonna get hurt because that always turns into pain a lot of pain You get hurt you get hurt that's kickboxing/ mauythai / boxing for you - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21737" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T04:05:22.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-22T05:33:56.360" Score="6" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm discovering the running and I like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have race two 10km events (1 hour) and one 22km (2h 15') autonomy in a park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the 20km race I had very little bad knee, perhaps due to the fact that the path had many ascents and descents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I can train for 5/7km no more than once a week, but I would try to run a marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than this run I go to swim twice a month (about 1h+30') and 2/3 time cycling (about 4/5h each time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not care the end time (the limit is 5 hours and I should be able to do it), but I want to finish it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What risks could meet without adequate preparation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18245" LastEditorUserId="18245" LastEditDate="2016-06-22T16:22:57.557" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T23:37:43.583" Title="risks of running a marathon without adequate preparation" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29811" CreationDate="2016-06-22T06:20:11.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given a primary goal of fat oxidation (burning), I would suggest lowering the intensity of your workouts.  80% of HRmax is an anaerobic level of effort -- at this intensity, you're burning mostly carbohydrates and not much fat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By lowering your cardio intensity to 65% of HRmax, your workout fat burn rate will roughly double [see, for example, Figure 2 of Acten and Jeukendrup, &quot;Optimizing Fat Oxidation Through Exercise and Diet,&quot; &lt;em&gt;Nutrition&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;20&lt;/strong&gt;(2004):716-727.]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21732" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T06:20:11.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29811" CreationDate="2016-06-22T08:13:36.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excellent you have sorted your diet! You have 3 options based on working out for the same time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weightlifting: Boosts metabolic rate, builds strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Intenisty Workout &gt;70%+ HRMax: High calorie usage during activity, develops recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medium/Low Intensity Exercise &amp;lt;60% HRMax: High &quot;Fat burn&quot; rate, builds endurance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to do all 3. Keeping your exercise varied and goal-based will enable you to make the most progress by utilising the benefits of all the different ways to burn calories. 3 days a week could be Push/Pull/Legs weightlifting, pair that with some light cardio work and the rest of the time you can do high intensity cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T08:13:36.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31293" CreationDate="2016-06-22T09:14:34.757" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;5km or 7km mileage once a week is nowhere close to proper preparation for a marathon. You greatly increase risk of injury by running a marathon unprepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go see a doctor about your knee pain from the 20km race and forget about a marathon anytime soon. Many marathon plans have a long run of over 20km once a week for several months (and often with a run or two of close to 30km). You total mileage goal of 5 to 7km once a week is completely inadequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your knee is the problem, wait and let it heal.  If time constraints are holding back your mileage then focus on training for much shorter races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;42.195 kilometres is a long distance. Follow a proper marathon plan and take it seriously:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rw.runnersworld.com/training-plan-finder/index.html?section=run-a-marathon&quot;&gt;http://rw.runnersworld.com/training-plan-finder/index.html?section=run-a-marathon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20508" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T09:14:34.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31975" CreationDate="2016-06-22T11:31:36.860" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Next autumn &amp;amp; winter we would like to participate in some nighttime-trails. The distance is in no way a problem for us. But as we are unfamiliar with nighttime trailruns, I was wondering if someone here might help us along. If he (or she) might give us some tips,tricks,advices from personal experience. With regards to visibility, fighting sleepiness &amp;amp; fatiguee, handling the dropping temperature, avoiding unfriendly wildlife, faults you made on your first night trail,...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this question might be to broad. Therefor I apologize! I've read up on some internet posts but they seem extremely general. Some links I've found so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://relentlessforwardcommotion.com/2013/11/tips-for-trail-running-at-night/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tips-for-trail-running-at-night&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/trail-running-training/basic-tips-for-trail-running-at-night&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;basic-tips-for-trail-running-at-night&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aravaiparunning.com/2013/07/26/tips-for-night-trail-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tips-for-night-trail-running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be dearly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="18339" LastEditDate="2016-06-22T14:11:14.943" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T15:38:16.223" Title="Runners advice for Night Trails" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31309" CreationDate="2016-06-22T13:41:59.427" Score="1" ViewCount="7858" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using the JFit categories here. The workouts fit into Bulking, Cutting, General, Sport. I understand that progression on a cut will be limited and you should assume that both the cut or bulk are clean (good macros) and accompanied with good sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What (if any) are the key differences in terms of progression, exercises and volume of a program that is designed to be paired with a bulk (like German Volume 10x10) and those which are meant to be paired with a cut (ICF).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T15:34:30.137" Title="What are the differences between a &quot;Cutting Workout&quot; and a &quot;Bulking Workout&quot;?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31293" CreationDate="2016-06-22T16:17:40.933" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to decide to attempt a marathon given the training level you've described, there's an interesting academic article that may be helpful in estimating your likelihood of finishing without injury.  The paper is by Yeung, Yeung, and Wong, &quot;Marathon finishers and non-finishers characteristics:  A preamble to success,&quot; &lt;em&gt;Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;41&lt;/strong&gt;(Jun 2001):170-176.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The researchers surveyed 113 registered runners at a Hong Kong marathon, of whom 55 finished and 58 were unable to finish.  The predictive variables that had overwhelming explanatory power (p &amp;lt; 0.005) as to whether or not a runner would finish were:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) weekly training mileage -- the training distance, per week, of the average finisher was 52km (32mi) whereas for the average non-finisher, it was 9km (5mi);&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) length of the longest run accomplished during training -- 28km (17mi) for the average finisher vs. 5.4km (3.4mi) for the average DNF (did not finish);  and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) the runner's personal opinion of how much training was needed to do a marathon -- that is, how difficult did the runner &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; a marathon would be?  The average finisher assessed 72km (44mi) per week as optimal marathon training whereas the average non-finisher thought that only 29km (18mi) per week would be sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your question it seems that all three predictive variables (in their current state) are pointing towards a prediction of non-finishing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question also asked about what the risks were if you did decide to attempt the marathon at this point.  The same paper includes a breakdown of the non-finishers, that is, why did the non-finishers not finish?  Of the non-finishers, 43% dropped out of the race from exhaustion, &#xA;35% stopped at the 10km mark due to missing the time cut, &#xA;19% were injured, &#xA;2% were advised at a medical tent to stop, and &#xA;2% reported &quot;other.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21732" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T16:17:40.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31300" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-22T17:39:30.143" Score="6" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I do my reps slower, will it have a similar effect to increasing resistance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to building muscles or improving max strength for example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume I go to failure / same level of fatigue in both cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;7 DEC&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: In my current pull exercise, with the highest resistance, I can do 20 reps.   I can continue to increase reps, but over time I want to increase resistance (with less reps).  So I am thinking I could do it slower, with some of the same effects as high resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is &quot;effective&quot; is not really the question, more if it works similar to high resistance vs high rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Personal directions in profile)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2094" LastEditorUserId="2094" LastEditDate="2016-12-09T07:48:16.720" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T07:48:16.720" Title="Does SLOW reps have the similar effect as high resistance" Tags="&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31257" CreationDate="2016-06-22T22:18:31.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. but not necessarily in the way that you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will have some impact on the pole vault in being able to possible improve body position, but the larger part of the pole vault is technique and core/upper body strength to get the twist/push off of the pole correct. You may get some effect from ring work, but you're more likely to see better results from specific weight training solely for the pole vault. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where you are possibly more likely to notice improvements are the long jump, javelin and high jump. One of the core concepts in gymnastics for the floor and vault routines is called blocking. Blocking is basically just taking horizontal momentum (The runup) and turning it into vertical momentum. Mastering that will give you definite gains in the high jump and long jump, as you will get better at the launch point, and possibly in the javelin as well. You might think that blocking would help in pole vault, but there really isn't a definite &quot;stop&quot; point, you tend to run a bit through the plant of the pole to produce the tension/bend in the pole before pushing off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T22:18:31.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18484" CreationDate="2016-06-23T04:55:31.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gather that your HR device provides you with instantaneous measurements only (no recording feature) since your observations seem to consist of periodic checks of your monitoring device, sanity checked via manual measurement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that taken together your HR observations seem a bit odd, so would suggest a next step of obtaining a more complete data set -- namely once-per-second measurements of HR for an entire run (from warm-up to cool-down) using a chest strap (for accuracy) HR monitor, obtainable for under $100 if you don't already own one of this type.  I would suggest ensuring that whatever monitor you buy uses a wireless communication standard (Bluetooth and ANT+ being the two modern protocols) that your smartphone also has built-in, so that you can cost-effectively use your smartphone as a session recording device -- this saves you the expense of buying a running/GPS watch for recording your HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you'll end up learning a lot given this granular data, especially if you record several runs on different days and compare/contrast the results.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21732" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T04:55:31.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31303" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31304" CreationDate="2016-06-23T06:17:20.967" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in maintaining current physical form with minimal training time, including situations with forced breaks from training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I train 3 times a week for about 80-100 minutes, most 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps (last reps being around failure in base exercises)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brief description:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;day 1: chest + triceps, bench and inclined bench, dumbbell chest fly, weighted bars, isolated triceps&#xA;&#xA;day 2: back + biceps, weighted pull ups, lat pull down, cable row, weighted hyperextension, isolated biceps&#xA;&#xA;day 3: legs + shoulders, squats, leg press, seated and lying leg curls, shoulders&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose I stopped increasing weights at certain point, and routine and diet is fixed, will I keep my form? People often write that routine needs to be changed often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can this routine be changed in order to reduce overall time of training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, now I'm taking a forced break from training due to wrist injury(it's going to be a month or two), I'm on a small caloric deficit and visually losing some fat and muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are best strategies to recover to the same form I had before break after I start exercising again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T07:21:29.523" Title="Maitaining current form" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31303" CreationDate="2016-06-23T07:21:29.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Will I maintain my sets x reps?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you achieve AxB sets x reps on an exercise and keep at the same reps and weight but do it every week you will get good at doing that exercise. It will become easier and your body will adapt. You won't gain any significant muscle but you will most likely maintain your current physique (based on your regime).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How can I reduce my training time?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put more compound exercises in and reduce isolation exercises. Madcow 5x5 could work, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;day 1: 5x5 Squat (heavy) + 5x5 Bench (heavy) + 5x5 Barbell Row (heavy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;day 2: 6x5 Squat (light) + 5x5 Military Press (heavy) + 5x5 Deadlift (heavy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;day 3: 5x5 Squat (heavy) + 5x5 Bench (heavy) + 5x5 Barbell Row (heavy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What are best strategies to recover to the same ability I had before break after I start exercising again?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deload weight by 60%, a month break is a lot. Use a linear progression program to get back to your original ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T07:21:29.523" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31300" CreationDate="2016-06-23T07:37:12.013" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;no&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Christian Finn from MuscleEvo.com states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that you need to make a set last for a fixed amount of time&#xA;has also given some people the idea that slower lifting speeds work&#xA;better for muscle growth — a theory that’s been refuted in a few of&#xA;studies [1, 2].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tanimoto M, Sanada K, Yamamoto K, Kawano H, Gando Y, Tabata I, Ishii N, Miyachi M. (2008). Effects of whole-body low-intensity resistance training with slow movement and tonic force generation on muscular size and strength in young men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22, 1926-1938&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nogueira W, Gentil P, Mello SN, Oliveira RJ, Bezerra AJ, Bottaro M. (2009). Effects of power training on muscle thickness of older men. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 30, 200-204&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concurred on Fittit by user Tsahyt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Artificially lowering bar speed in order to maximize time under&#xA;tension seems to be ineffective [3]. The main driver of hypertrophy&#xA;seems to be just volume. In that way, more volume of course also means&#xA;more TUT, but the TUT itself doesn't seem to be the deciding factor.&#xA;Personally I'm a fan of the idea that the best way to measure volume&#xA;for hypertrophy purposes is &amp;quot;reps at full muscle activation&amp;quot;, but if&#xA;you're doing normal sets (i.e. no rest pause, myoreps, etc) and going&#xA;to 1-2 reps within failure, the number of sets is pretty much an&#xA;equivalent measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a sidenote, if you're interested in performace at all, bar speed&#xA;makes a huge difference there [4]. According to this, going at half&#xA;the velocity on the concentric results in roughly half the gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;González-Badillo, J., Rodríguez-Rosell, D., Sánchez-Medina, L., Gorostiaga, E. and Pareja-Blanco, F. (2014). Maximal intended velocity training induces greater gains in bench press performance than deliberately slower half-velocity training. European Journal of Sport Science, 14(8), pp.772-781.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Schoenfeld, B., Ogborn, D. and Krieger, J. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T07:37:12.013" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-23T11:33:55.993" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pantry in my workplace has various kinds of cereal-like food, which might contain some dry berries or bran or ..., and look good. &#xA;It doesn’t offer beans, pasta or rice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know cereal-like food is usually eaten as breakfast. So I wonder if it is healthy to eat cereal-like food instead of beans, pasta or rice for three meals a day, for 5 days each week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. The pantry has no salad, but fresh carrot, celery, blueberry, black raspberry, strawberry, banana, apple, and orange. It also has eggs, yogurt, cheese, bars of mixed nuts. I base my three meals a day on the pantry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="163" LastEditorUserId="163" LastEditDate="2016-06-23T12:13:27.907" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T12:17:27.753" Title="Is it healthy to eat cereal-like food instead of rice or pasta each meal five days a week?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-06-23T14:36:52.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31306" CreationDate="2016-06-23T12:17:27.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's essentially all carbs and no good fats/protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, that will not be healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T12:17:27.753" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31298" CreationDate="2016-06-23T12:57:31.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With such a broad question, I will try and give you an overview of some of the main differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, workouts designed to bulk you up will be shorter sets with &lt;strong&gt;fewer repetitions with weight getting progressively heavier.&lt;/strong&gt;  Workouts similar to these when paired with a high-calorie diet will bulk you right up and pack on muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cutting workouts work the opposite: usually a few more sets with &lt;strong&gt;more repetitions and less weight.&lt;/strong&gt;  You really need to watch your diet with this one, but if you figure out what works right for your body, you will start reducing your body fat, getting more definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18641" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-23T13:28:44.603" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T13:28:44.603" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31298" CreationDate="2016-06-23T15:20:19.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can think of &quot;cutting&quot; or &quot;bulking&quot; workouts as additional supplements to your actual cutting or gaining phase. Just like how you would use extra carbs for bulking, you use &quot;cutting&quot; workouts for losing weight. While there aren't any black and white rules for separating the two, there are some important factors in these workouts that will greatly enhance your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when you are cutting (from a diet perspective), you must understand that you will NOT gain muscle. Unless you are on some heavy hormones that is. This is a fact, if you are in caloric deficit, you can not put on muscle mass. With that in mind, let's break down the goal of &quot;cutting&quot; quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you want to maintain as much mass as possible. How is this achieved? Well, in traditional bro science, people will tell you to do high reps and high sets with lighter weights to &quot;tone&quot; the muscle. This is one of the biggest fitness myths in the history of the industry. It's been shown in hundreds of studies this is not true in any way, you can not &quot;tone&quot; muscle, you can either make it bigger or smaller (I'm sure you already know this but I'm trying to address a general audience). So then, how do we maintain the most muscle? Well, when you use light weights and high reps, you're basically telling the muscles you don't need them because you're not recruiting all the muscle fibres and motor units that you could be.  So, the answer is rather obvious now, the most important thing for maintaining muscle mass, is maintaining STRENGTH (you can ever get stronger on a cut!!). When you maintain lifting heavy during a caloric deficit, you're telling your body &quot;I really need these muscles in order to keep lifting these weights&quot;, as a result your body is less likely to break down those muscles for energy during a caloric excess. So, &lt;strong&gt;key point: lift heavy weights on a cut&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you want to aid in fat loss by burning extra calories, working your metabolism more. Traditionally, the easiest and most common way that this is done is through reduced rest times between exercises. For example, on a bulking workout you want to maximize tension to prove muscle growth, so you can sacrifice rest times for lifting heavier weights, i.e 3-4 sets of 315lbs bench press for 8 reps, with 2-3 min rest times is perfect for bulking. Now, on a cut however, we know that we're not going to gain muscle and we just want to give our metabolism a boost. So if we reduce our rest times between exercises and sets, then your heart rate will be elevated more often and for longer durations, and as a result you will be tapping into your metabolic energy system and burn more calories. For example, on a cut, (After the main strength move I talked about above), you want to limit rest times to max 60-90 seconds, and gradually reduce them. It's important to note that gradually reducing your rest times is also a means of making progressional overload and will only make you a better lifter in the long run. &lt;strong&gt;Key point: reduce rest times gradually.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of volume, this is highly variable and usually depends on the individual. Dorian Yates, a 6x Mr Olympia was known to do 10-15 sets per workout while Jay Cutler, another Mr Olympia was known to do 10-15 sets per EXERCISE. Generally speaking though, the more volume you have the more calories you will burn, but consequently it'll be harder to recover, so it's a double edged sword. In terms of progression, in a cut, you want to progress on reducing rest times and maintaining (and even improving) your strenght, since its impossible to gain mass. In terms of exercises, you obviously want big strength movements that will burn big calories and also make you stronger, the definition of compound movements. Doing calf raises on a cut isn't going to do much other than make you better at calf raises...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on a bulk, we want to maximize muscle tension and overload, and keep progressing. In order to keep progressing, it is a good idea to periodize your workouts and introduce various shock techniques such as dropsets and supersets so your body never adapts and you can keep growing. Now, unlike the cut, the rest times can be as long as you need in order for you to lift the most weight for the most reps (max tension). With volume, like I said, it depends, do enough volume to feel that your muscles are reaching failure but make sure it's not so much that your muscles can't recover and don't grow efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-06-23T15:34:30.137" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T15:34:30.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31217" CreationDate="2016-06-23T18:25:51.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indoor rowing (ergometer) might be another option to explore with your medical advisor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21732" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T18:25:51.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4588" CreationDate="2016-06-24T00:14:52.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had the same problem before.. if you breath in when lowering and breath out when pushing up it should relieve the pressure/ear sound that's so irksome. I have a tendency to hold my breath, but when I'm conscious of it and breath regularly I have no problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21763" LastActivityDate="2016-06-24T00:14:52.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4588" CreationDate="2016-06-24T06:56:10.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;pressure increases in my head, eyes, ears&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing deadlifts with standard breathing causes this sometimes too, hence why most programs restrict them to a set of 5-8 and no more without a rest. In a deadlift you hold your breath for the entirely to brace your core, which can lead to high blood pressure blackouts in some extreme cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on breathing, out when you move up and in when you move down. Also make the up movement fast and the down slower, you want to explode up and lower gently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-24T06:56:10.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31109" CreationDate="2016-06-24T18:10:50.360" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being immobile in one position (whether sitting or standing) for long periods of time is just not good for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit too long and you get all those posture problems and what not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stand too long and blood pools to your calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The natural state of man is to go between periods of rest and motion. Either you are laying around loafing or MOVING (walking, running, building). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is NOT the natural state of man to be immobile in one position for 4-8hrs at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21767" LastActivityDate="2016-06-24T18:10:50.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31325" CreationDate="2016-06-25T14:01:14.850" Score="6" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand, push the muscle to the failure state in 5 to 15 reps will help me increase muscle growth production. If I need to do more than 15 reps to get failure, I simply build endurance, not much growth. If I'm excess 15, I can add more weight to keep it under 15. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is the need to do more than one set? If the purpose of it is to get your muscle workout harder, then adding weight is sufficient, right? Or is it a way to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; adding more weight but still gain growth production, maybe for economic reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15036" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T00:33:03.250" Title="Workout to the failure is enough to get stronger. What is the need to have sets?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;sets&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31189" CreationDate="2016-06-25T16:24:44.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 basic ways to progress training. More reps or more weight. Both work to some extent. You could try doing say 30 reps with 20lbs or 5 reps with 60lbs and get some strength gains as a beginner.  But in general keeping the reps in the 4-10 range gives better strength results than doing more reps. For fun try lifting a 40lb weight for reps. You can probably crank out 10+ with the first half dozen feeling super easy. Now imagine you boost your strength so that you can do 5x90. Now when you go to lift 60lbs those first 5 reps will feel super easy.  For something like archery where you lift, shoot and then have a decent rest, bumping up max strength can help a lot in terms of building &quot;endurance&quot; and just as important you will be more stable/relaxed when you only need to recruit say 40% of your strength instead of 80%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21774" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T16:24:44.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28337" CreationDate="2016-06-25T20:29:08.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The external things mentioned above might help in a pinch, but if you want the real, scorching kind of motivation you need to look inwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Progression is the ultimate motivator.&lt;/strong&gt; As a former athlete who trained 10+ times per week (swimming) I can tell you that burnout is misunderstood. It's not from exhaustion, but from a lack of improvement and progression. This means you should be setting goals and targets for your time in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Be realistic about what you hope to achieve.&lt;/strong&gt; Unrealistic expectations are the worst. Not only do they set off a negative feedback loop that teaches us we can never achieve our goals, but they are simply not grounded in reality. Tracking your workouts is one way you can see how long it takes for you to actually improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19333" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T16:55:42.653" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:55:42.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12982" CreationDate="2016-06-25T23:06:48.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 times a week. M/W/F 7 sets of 15 max.  After 6 weeks or when able to complete, change to wide, then after that, change to narrow.  After that start using step or stair 1.  Up to 3 steps.  When you use 50 percent of you bw you do 15 reps.  When you use 100 percent, such as pullups or dips, you do 7 reps.  15 sets of 7, but only 1 or 2 times per week.  Kinda like German volume training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21777" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T23:06:48.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31321" CreationDate="2016-06-26T00:27:10.933" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number of sets you do increases what we call the total &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt; of work being done. The more volume of work you do, the stronger signal your body gets that it needs to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do only one set, you aren't giving your body a very strong signal to grow. If the set is heavier than last time (even if you push it to failure), you give a &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; stronger signal to grow, but at one point that just won't be  enough. Your body will need a stronger stimulus. So what do we do? We add sets. That produces enough of a stimulus so you will continue to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, every time you exercise you do a certain amount of &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;. Then you rest for a day or whatever, and meanwhile your body responds to the work and grows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that amount of work you do has to meet a minimum requirement to be effective. There is a minimum threshold. If you do a little bit of work, but you fall short of that threshold, your body won't get stronger/bigger (much or at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interesting thing is, that minimal threshold constantly changes. As you get stronger the minimal threshold also increases. So you need to do more work to get even stronger. Think about it, you can't keep doing the same amount of work and expect to keep growing (otherwise everyone would be walking around jacked af).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you meet that minimal threshold? How do you do more work? The basic methods are you either lift heavier weight, or you do more sets. If you're new, just adding weight will work for a short while, but at one point you'll find that it's no longer enough to get you stronger. That's when you'll need to add sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot more to it, but you're better off doing some research yourself. What we've discussed here is &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt;. It's part of a few variables that determine how much and how well you grow. Look up &lt;strong&gt;volume, intensity and frequency&lt;/strong&gt;. Do some googling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-06-26T00:33:03.250" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T00:33:03.250" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-26T15:24:18.820" Score="1" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Should the shoulder blades be constantly retracted or retracted at all when doing lateral raises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Should the elbows be straight or have a a bend in them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15858" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T15:48:16.510" Title="Lateral raises - shoulder blades and elbows" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31327" CreationDate="2016-06-26T15:48:16.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Retract your shoulders, and try to minimize trapezius involvement. The lateral raise is aimed at the deltoid, and the trapezius can take focus away from the primary goal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Straight, but not locked out. If you find yourself bending the arm more to cope with the weight, the weight is too high. Grab something smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T15:48:16.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8272" CreationDate="2016-06-26T20:06:26.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; carrying water or carrying smaller quantities, you could be creative with your running routes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a neighborhood, running track or path where you can park your car to retrieve water. By running short loops or out-and-back patterns, you can either simulate a race by getting water every two miles or, what I prefer, which is to carry small quantities of water and run longer laps in between stops. A plain water bottle works in either case. You can take a few sips or carry one and replace it as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has advantages of not requiring any additional gear and allowing you to simulate the water availability during the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T20:06:26.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T05:19:29.533" Score="6" ViewCount="2076" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in my mid-30s now, and much of work is done in front of a computer - all day and night.  Gone are the days in which I play basketball, run track, and hit the weight room 5 or 6 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now have chronic neck issues -- really stiff knots on the left side of my neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go for chair massages in the nail salons.  If I get lucky, I find a person who doesn't b.s. me to get me to add more money and time to the massage and really fixes the issue for me, by applying lots of pressure to the tension areas of my neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the problems eventually come back, and I have to go for massages again, and hope to find someone who will fix the problem.  Unfortunately, most massage therapists at the nail salons just kind of stall and do other things during the massage session and only rub out the tension areas for a minimal amount of time, in order to make me go back for more sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is:  Is there something I can do on my own to fix this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I hit the gym again and maybe work on dumbell shoulder presses?  Bench press?  Pull-ups?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I seek a medical doctor?  A chiropractor?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried massaging myself...which doesn't seem to work at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21785" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T07:15:11.947" Title="Neck problems, are massages the best answer?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;stiffness&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-06-27T05:58:03.300" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a balanced and proven strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. The typical office job tends to provide numerous posture issues and strains from being in awkward positions for hours at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good strength training will simultaneously strengthen and provide flexibility across all your major muscle groups, including your shoulders, neck, and upper back. As a beginner you really don't want to train these things in isolation. It's not as effective, takes longer, and you're much more prone to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and you're at a great age to start getting some terrific benefits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T12:35:37.853" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31189" CreationDate="2016-06-27T06:22:25.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No you will not be able to lift 60 pounds by practising with 20 and 40 10 miles pounds, Just continue with the 60 pounds, it doesn't matter for 5 times in the beginning, slowly improve the number of times you lift it. I can't run 10 miles by walking 20 miles a day, If I want to run, I have to start running, it might start with 1 mile but slowly I can increase the distance and speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21675" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T06:22:25.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-06-27T07:29:22.373" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cant diagnose you but a doctor might be able to identify if you have any of the following: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/05oAT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/05oAT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you may have Thoracic Kyphosis/Forward Head (&quot;Computer Guy&quot; Hunchback): Upper cross syndrome is another posture issue caused by sitting while hunching forward (at a computer, over books, etc). The pectorals and the upper back/next tend to be tight, while the scapular muscles (shoulder blades) and neck flexors tend to be weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/exgiu/a_guide_to_fixing_computer_guy_posture_upper_body/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This reddit post&lt;/a&gt; has excellent information on why you're doing different exercises, but many of the links have degraded. &lt;a href=&quot;http://kaasplateau.com/stretches.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This pdf&lt;/a&gt; demonstrates how to do the specific exercises mentioned (skip to page 4 for the specifics for this section, although all of the stretches are good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx on Common Postural Deficiencies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: reddit.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T07:29:22.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7798" CreationDate="2016-06-27T07:46:01.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;By lifting weights you will:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get stronger (higher bone density, stronger CNS)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burn calories/lose weight/reduce body-fat percentage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gain muscle mass &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Definition&quot; of a muscle is 100% determined by the amount of bodyfat that covers it. A lot of young guys look very defined when they are 16-19 because they have a very low bodyfat percentage and as a result you can see their muscles. Bodybuilders use fasting and dehydration to achieve the same look when working up to a competition. To get &quot;definition&quot; you need to diet to reduce body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the subject of high reps to build muscle size. There is a lot of theories and science behind why bodybuilders find higher reps at their 60-80% 1RM to be better for building muscle than low reps at 85-95% that powerlifters use. Currently, it is believed that lower reps at higher weight builds strength more optimally than higher reps at lower weight which builds muscle size more optimally. This chart may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D3XuZ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D3XuZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;from starting strength by mike rippletoe&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are working out, if you are doing high repetitions with medium weight then you will get a &quot;pump&quot; where your muscles are engorged with blood, this last for about a hour or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most people in the bell curve of bodies, following a simple strength routine like stronglifts combined with a sensible diet plan would give you good results in both strength and &quot;definition&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T07:46:01.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31341" CreationDate="2016-06-27T09:27:09.813" Score="1" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once increased my weight very fast (around 2-3kg/week), that time without doing workout, and using so called &quot;supplement&quot; by doctor. However, it left some stretch marks when my weight is decreased quite faster after did not consume that &quot;supplement&quot; anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much is the most ideal weight increment if I aim to do it again + workout this time + help of Personal Trainer and consumption of gainer + whey (I prefer whey better to avoid bloating) without leaving stretch marks in future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20346" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T18:19:44.520" Title="The most ideal weight increment in 1 week without stretch mark?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9887" CreationDate="2016-06-27T10:02:24.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone can build muscle/lose fat over time, it's called recomping. It's just that this is a very fast process for beginners, and significantly slows down for more intermediate/advanced athletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, it's not a biological process that only fires up when you're a beginner and then shuts off at some arbitrary point. Muscle building and fat burning happens along a continuum. Your body is continuously breaking down fat and building up new muscle at all times (and also storing new fat, and breaking down muscle). All training/recovery does is induce signals that adjust the rate of each of these processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of them as a continual, random biological processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the optimal conditions for muscle growth include a caloric surplus. Similarly, the optimal conditions for fat loss include a caloric deficit. But all this (&quot;optimal&quot;) does in reality is make the signals to do either process strong&lt;strong&gt;er&lt;/strong&gt;. But you can still perform both muscle building and fat loss even if it's not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're a beginner (you don't have much muscle/you have significant fat) these equations are more favourable (for muscle growth and fat loss). As you get more advanced (approach your muscle limit) these equations reduce in magnitude of effect and you can no longer to any meaningful degree (compared to what could be achieved through dedicated cut/bulk cycles) do both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why is it fast in beginners?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything is faster as a beginner. Your body reacts to a stimulus very rapidly the first time it experiences it. However the reaction slows down every time the stimulus is repeated. Your body actually works to ensure the response is lesser over time. Sucks but that's life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important bit is that this happens over a continuum and you don't suddenly switch from beginner to nonbeginner all of a sudden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Note on common perceptions of &quot;noob gains&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For marketing reasons, it's beneficial to sell consumers this idea of a &quot;magical&quot; beginner phase that you have to take advantage of or you will lose it. Some well known programs in fact work on this premise, twisting expectations with half-truths so that an uninformed consumer would begin to think that they have to train a certain perfect way as a beginner or they lose a huge opportunity. Of course such programs/diets/coaches will then offer you their expertise to tell you exactly how you should be training. This normally involves some sort of payment/book purchase/etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reality is there is no magical beginner phase, and you can't waste it. The closer you are to your genetic potential the slower progress is, the further away from it you are the faster progress is. Training is simple, ignore the hype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why don't people just recomp all the time then?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of how fast (or slow) it produces gains. After a certain point of advancement, even though you are still building muscle/losing fat, the rate at which it happens is just slow. In such situations people wanting maximum progress switch to bulk/cut cycles because they can overall make gains faster like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to achieve multiple contradicting goals and do each of them to a mediocre level, or you can focus on one goal at a time and master it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T10:02:24.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31189" CreationDate="2016-06-27T10:10:08.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes... to an extent, but even then it's very ineffective. Any work under about 15 reps will build your muscle size which will help strength. But not much, and only noticeably whilst you're a relative beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be FAR easier, faster and more effective for you to work up to using 100lbs as your maximum weight for low reps, and at that point 60lbs will be an utter walk in the park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible effective method: start off lifting a challenging weight for about 15 reps, then increase the weight every workout (which will force you to drop the reps) until you hit the heaviest weight you can manage a good few weeks later for 1-2 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Note&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training in the gym for a sport you don't want to spend your time mimicking the &lt;strong&gt;exact&lt;/strong&gt; actions of your sport in the gym. That's a common mistake. Use the gym to build overall muscle and general strength in the basic movements, and this will translate to your sports practice you do outside the gym. Your sports practice is the fastest way to improve at your sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(lots of sports science literature on this issue if you're interested)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19570" LastEditorUserId="19570" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T10:20:23.100" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T10:20:23.100" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31338" CreationDate="2016-06-27T11:55:27.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You look like you are trying to gain weight for whatever reason. Most sources state that when losing or gaining weight you should aim for a 0.5kg change per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is highly individual and you should diet plan to eat 10-15% above your Total Daily Energy Expenditure and then measure your weight change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your breakdown of protein, fat and carbs is sensible and you are exercising regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T11:55:27.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T12:08:16.320" Score="2" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the last six months I've lost around 34/35kg. Though I'm skeptical myself a lot of people have told me that I've lost a lot of weight and they can see it. My initial goal was to get to 75kg and reassess my options there. However I'm now considering starting exercises to tone up my stomach area as of the start of next month (&lt;strong&gt;the time I usually add a new exercise to my regime)&lt;/strong&gt; and was looking for advice on how I go about doing this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll list my current exercise regime in case it can assist at all/for general feedback on what people think of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking&lt;/strong&gt; around 5 kilometers a day (Can vary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt; 300 meters three days a week (Varies now since I run a bit more)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt; 700/800 meters two days a week (Also varies, did three up until this week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kettlebell swings&lt;/strong&gt; (6 days a week, 3 sets, 10 reps, 16kg) (Did this in an attempt to improve my back, I was in a car accident and it got pretty messed up two years ago and was a source of a lot of pain so I wanted to work on it and fix that, looked into it when I started as even the little running I was doing was resulting in my back hurting a lot, has gotten better as times progressed though)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg curls&lt;/strong&gt; (6 days, 3 sets, 10 reps, 40kg) (Started doing these this month. I decided to try these to see if I could tone my legs up a bit and make them stronger. Initially when I started this exercise regime at the beginning of the new year and I was doing a little bit of running and my legs and ankles were in agony. Though this had improved drastically in the months since I thought adding leg curls might be helpful as I am determined to increase my running distances over time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Continuous running&lt;/strong&gt; (Saturdays) (Did 1km Saturday, would've had 2 or so small breaks looking at my distance, weak as I know. I was aiming to do 2 kilometers when I started but unfortunately I just caved in too easily. I'll build up to 2 kilometers and reassess when I get there)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a rest day on Friday so I'm going six days a week normally. If I'm really busy or the weathers really bad I'll sometimes not do a full six day week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also probably important to add that I've been dieting and still am. At times you could also most likely say that my dieting had been very aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current diet: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/strong&gt; One yohurt, around 90 calories and low fat, flavors and exact calories vary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch:&lt;/strong&gt; Salad sandwich, sometimes there's also chicken in it maybe once a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner:&lt;/strong&gt; Salad alongside a main meal containing some kind of meat (Varies, use to just be salad normally until I started my leg curls)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drinks:&lt;/strong&gt; Water, two coffees a day (completely cut out sugar with my coffee now), green tea with lunch and half a cup of milk after I exercise (No alcohol now unless I'm out with friends)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If I'm out with friends the diet can fluctuate, coffee count can also if it's during the day. Never see them anymore though so it's hardly relevant unfortunately)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional info:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6ft tall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Started at 117kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Around 83kg now, just went into the healthy weight range BMI category &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gained a lot of the weight in 20 months but not all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice or feedback is gratefully appreciated. If you need any additional advice please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21788" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-29T08:35:40.503" LastActivityDate="2016-07-17T10:40:02.233" Title="Ways to tone my stomach area up?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-06-30T10:18:14.423" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-06-27T12:12:19.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have a lot of neck problems from playing the saxophone. Two things helped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't bend your neck to do your work, adjust your screen and your chair until you can sit comfortably. Take time to do this properly. Adjust and use the armrests. Read the ergonomic guides and believe them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ask the fitness studio guy for exercises to help your special problem. They should be trained to do exactly this, and are pleased to get a challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21754" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T12:12:19.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31342" CreationDate="2016-06-27T12:34:22.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Ways to tone my stomach area up?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, read the top answer here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/best-exercise-to-lose-belly-fat-fast&quot;&gt;What exercises should I perform to reduce fat on a specific area of my body?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you do need muscles there and will need to work out. The optimal exercises for building muscle your core muscles are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab Wheel (kneeling or standing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging Leg Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kneeling Cable Lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise Ball (weighted) Crunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turkish Get-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make a circuit out of some or all of them. They are in order of importance/effectiveness. However, you could adjust your weights routine to mean you don't need to do many isolation exercises like above (more info below)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;General Feedback on Routine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking/Running: Try to incorporate interval training, walk for 500m then jog for 200m and then repeat. Shorten the walks and lengthen the jogs over time until you are comfortable with jogging/running for 5k. Check out the Couch-to-5k program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weights: Kettlebell exercises are fine and leg curl is a ok assistance exercise but if you really want progression and to build strength then check out the Stronglifts (5x5) Program (and ditch the leg curls). As a minimum you should do: Barbell Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press. Squat and Deadlift (and Overhead Press) all work out your core as it is used to stabilize during the lifts. Alternatively, join a crossfit/body-pump/kettlebell class at your gym and go twice a week. &lt;em&gt;If you a program designed just for you ask in the comments here and I'll draw one up.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet: Overall looks good for losing weight but I would be concerned that it is not sustainable, track the calories and macronutrient value of your daily meals and ensure you are getting what you need. IIFYM.com can help tell you your needs and myfitnesspal.com (and app) can help you track.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T12:34:22.677" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31342" CreationDate="2016-06-27T12:39:44.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, congratulations on your weight loss, that is really good what you have achieved and you should be proud! First step is always the hardest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet is pretty good, maybe add in a bit more protein like chicken breast and other lean meat. Potentially when your workouts get a bit more aggressive, you might need to add in a little bit more carbohydrates to give you energy, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Working on your core&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you want to work or tone up your stomach area, I would suggest beginning to work on your core as well as your cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please follow this link here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://greatist.com/move/best-bodyweight-exercises-abs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://greatist.com/move/best-bodyweight-exercises-abs&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This details different exercises you can try out from your own home and so you can try at your own leisure (I usually throw in core workouts at the end of my regular workout). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just from home, my favourites are the &quot;Bicycle kicks&quot;, &quot;Flutter kicks&quot;, &quot;Reverse Crunches&quot;, &quot;Leg Raises&quot;, &quot;Russian Twists&quot; and planking. After a 3 or 4 weeks you can see results if you work the core once every couple days, and depending on your body fat percentage. I usually do 30 seconds worth with 30 seconds rest per exercise (3 or 4 sets). You can up the difficulty when you begin feeling more comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, everyone is different, so just experiment with the different types of ab exercises and see what suits you :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend using Youtube to find different types of ab workouts when you feel confident :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potential lifestyle changes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also have you considered going to workout at the gym? Different free weight exercises and exercises that target specific areas like bench press (chest), squats(legs), or even shoulder press (shoulder) all work the core as a secondary muscle as well (granted not as much as the target muscle). If not, maybe its time to start incorporating a strength workout into your routine? Start with pushups and see how you feel after that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you could take up a team sport. Nothing helps to motivate me than knowing i'm part of a team! I'm pretty rubbish at most sports but when people see how badly you want to win, and how much effort you put in, they're really inclined to help you to do well and continue on with the sport! For me, it is basketball and football, and both are quite cardio heavy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other misc advice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, can you measure you body fat percentage? It might not be accurate, but could be a decent indicator as to what we are working with. You could google what a 10% body fat percentage person looks like, and a 20% body fat percentage looks like, just to see how you rank with your own bf% percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like you have too much skin so your abs cannot show, you may need to consult a doctor to see what you can do. They may also be able to calculate your body fat percentage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally may I ask how old you are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other queries please feel free to ask me! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21789" LastEditorUserId="21789" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T12:45:47.813" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T12:45:47.813" CommentCount="22" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31354" CreationDate="2016-06-27T12:40:55.587" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have all seen it on countless cardio machines and some may have questioned its validity. There is (nearly) always a mode/program you can select called some variation of &quot;fat burning&quot;. This is usually linked to heart rate (measured by the machine) but not always. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the &quot;fat burning zone&quot; and what science backs its claims that it is better than the other programs for burning fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T17:09:44.930" Title="What is the &quot;fat burning zone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28337" CreationDate="2016-06-27T12:52:22.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Music can help keep you motivated. Something up tempo and upbeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watching motivation films or video clips can also help you to change your mindset. The mind and your thoughts are your strongest motivator. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question whether or not you really want it, and why you want it. You are doing it for a reason, and remember that reason when you feel like you are giving up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good way to stay motivated is to bring a buddy. It can become fun talking to him/her during rest and helping you to drain out every last rep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's getting me through nowadays is heartbreak and making sure she will regret missing out :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21789" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T12:52:22.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31378" CreationDate="2016-06-27T13:29:37.107" Score="4" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand they are meant to work out different muscles and RDL is meant to hit glutes more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is a normal strength standard for them? If my Deadlift is 130kg 1RM what should I start at when incorporating RDL?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What cues should I be thinking of for RDL? &lt;em&gt;I.e. deadlift: neutral spine, looking forward, braced core, vertical shins, push ground away, screw feet into earth, etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is RDL a touch-and-go or is it a &quot;from stop&quot; exercise like deadlifts?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T08:35:48.090" Title="What is the difference between a Deadlift and a Romanian Deadlift?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32035" CreationDate="2016-06-27T14:07:40.497" Score="1" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question differs a little from others which I found here!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically I need to gain weight, both general weight and muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I eat &lt;strong&gt;just after&lt;/strong&gt; finishing my workout? Is it okay to eat carbohydrates first, to bring a big amount of calories, and eat some proteins later (let's say a couple of hours later)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I gain both general &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; muscular weight by doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21793" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:10.283" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T06:35:09.947" Title="What do I have to eat immediately after workout?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31350" CreationDate="2016-06-27T14:13:28.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eat more calories than you use and you will put on weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With reference to gaining muscle by timing your meals: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879660/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;current evidence does not appear to support the claim that immediate (≤ 1 hour) consumption of protein pre- and/or post-workout significantly enhances strength- or hypertrophic-related adaptations to resistance exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just eat 5-15% above your TDEE with a sensible macronutrient split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T14:13:28.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-06-27T14:16:27.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to join the commentary because I too started having upper back problems around my shoulders and neck when I entered my 30s**. I spent a full year trying a number of different things including going to a chiropractor, seeing my doctor, and going to numerous physical therapy sessions before I finally found a regimen that worked for me. Here is what I found that helped:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: Please note I am not a doctor so I would encourage you to discuss this with your physician before taking any of this as word.... I'm simply repeating back my experiences and what I was told by medical professionals.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Turning &quot;off&quot; the problem muscle&lt;/strong&gt; - Every muscle in your body is basically an on/off switch. When you flex, your body is just forcing blood flow to the muscle in order to turn it &quot;on&quot;. If your problem is muscular (which neck and back problems usually are), a trick that most physical therapists will do is to identify the muscle that is stuck in the &quot;on position&quot; and use pressure to restrict blood flow and turn it &quot;off&quot;. You can do this at home yourself most easily with a tennis ball or with another person using their thumb. Identifying the taught muscle can be difficult to do but usually it is at the point of pain/stiffness. Simply apply pressure for around 30 seconds to the taught muscle and you should feel noticeable relief when the muscle turn &quot;off&quot;. This is a real art form to get the hang of and you have to do it relatively sparingly as you can cause bruising if you over use it. It is also important to note that this is only a temporary solution as there is typically some underlying issue that is causing a muscle to get stuck &quot;on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibuprofen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ibuprofen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - My doctor actually prescribed me 3x Ibuprofen twice a day and a bunch of exercise to correct my issue. I thought he was nuts at first but after doing this for a month, my symptoms were relieved more than anything else I did. Ibuprofen helps relax the muscles as well as provide pain relief and when paired with careful exercise is outstanding for physical therapy. You can actually take quite a lot of ibuprofen (unlike acetaminophen and other NSAIDs) and I still take it on occasion if my back starts bothering me. After experimenting with other muscle relaxers he prescribed me, I would hands down recommend ibuprofen over any other &quot;meds&quot; for back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt; - Often times muscular problems result from the body attempting to protect some previous injury. You pull one muscle and all of the muscles around the area respond to &quot;protect&quot; that injury. Unfortunately this often results in your body getting used to bad form and now your muscles are operating in a manner that isn't healthy (and in turn is causing you pain). Targeted exercise is absolutely necessary for weak and recovering areas. Learning what routine exercises you should perform to get your body healthy is the best argument I can recommend for doing physical therapy. You might find it worth taking a few sessions and collecting a list of exercises that are right for you. Then once you know what you should be doing, make sure to practice them religiously and you really will see miracle results. Back pain actually convinced me to get back into shape and when I find myself getting lazy and neglecting my exercises only then do I start to see my pain coming back. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching/Yoga&lt;/strong&gt; - Yoga is a brilliant solution for keeping your body healthy and limber and for reducing stress (neck and upper back is a common area for people to collect stress). When you find yourself &quot;all bound up&quot; your best course of action is to turn off problem muscles and then carefully stretch around the problem area. I have a list of around 10 Yoga poses that help me greatly especially when I'm experiencing issues around my shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ergonomics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - A few posts have already mentioned posture and proper desk setup and this is an important point that you don't want to neglect. By itself it probably won't cure you, but improper form can most definitely contribute to an increase in symptoms. I would recommend doing some research on best practices so that you can make your work space as &quot;livable&quot; as possible. For me it was moving my screen closer to my eyes, getting a good chair that supports good posture, and keeping my chair height appropriate. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attitude&lt;/strong&gt; - I was almost hesitant to list this but I think it is an important point when talking about physical fitness and aging. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C.K.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Louis CK&lt;/a&gt; has a funny routine about having problems with his ankle in his 40s and having the doctor tell him &quot;yeah, it's going to start doing that from now on&quot;. Pain and physical ailments are something that come with aging which is why it is so important to take care of your body. Your mental mindset plays a big role in dealing with these challenges and really should not be ignored. My Dad, who is a cancer survivor, had a term he called &quot;leaning into the pain&quot; when dealing with severe pain. You would be greatly surprised the amount of pain your body can tolerate and I can certainly attest to having a greater threshold now then I did 3 years ago before my problems started. Always remember to stay positive and keep your physical therapy goals forefront in your mind. Doing this will help you get through the rough patches and keep you from getting discouraged when your neck is really bothering you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things that didn't work for me:&lt;/strong&gt; Seeing a Chiropractor, heating problem area (this only temporarily works and the muscles tighten again as soon as you remove the heat), pain killers, muscle relaxers, massages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So to summarize:&lt;/strong&gt; 1) See your primary care doctor, 2) Consider doing a couple physical therapy sessions, 3) Learn how to deal with the issue when it gets bad by stretching and turning off muscles, 4) Find an appropriate exercise routine for your needs 5) Improve your workspace to support good practice 6) Stay positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck to you! I hope this works for you as well as it did for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;** My Symptoms: I started waking up some mornings, unable to move my neck in any direction and my trapezius muscle on my right hand size would stay completely taught for days at time resulting in severe pain. After a catscan and several doctors visits I was diagnosed with a bulging disc in my neck and upper back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21791" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T14:16:27.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-06-27T14:18:38.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;mid-30s now&quot;,  &quot;Gone are the days&quot;....  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body has a long way to go (hopefully).  It is a good idea to make the time now to set up an exercise/recreational program that increases your chances for a healthy, long-term active lifestyle.  Your neck is a warning sign, the &quot;canary in the coal mine&quot;, pointing to more musculo-skeletal problems as you age.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;chronic neck issues&quot;, &quot;Is there something I can do on my own to fix this problem?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, but you may need professional guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chronic suggests that you are chronically causing your neck problems.  A professional assessment is due.  First see a doctor or physical therapist to evaluate the cause, then plan a strategy to undo your chronic problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your neck pain is a musculo-skeletal problem, your therapist can:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;treat what is wrong (muscle, joint, nerve, fascia, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;posture&lt;/a&gt; etc.) anywhere in the body including your hips and back, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;help you determine what you are chronically doing that aggravates your neck, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;give your exercises (stretching, strengthening and postural) or ways to correct these problems on your own on a daily basis, and&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;hopefully get you back in the gym!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Massage may be a part of the treatment.  Your physical/physiotherapist may also show you ways to use tennis balls, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theracane.com/exercises.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;theracane&lt;/a&gt;, foam roller or other methods to self massage with better results than you are having now.  They may also give your short-duration, corrective exercises or moves to do while at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6994/i-have-extremely-bad-posture-what-can-i-do/7015#7015&quot;&gt;Exercise&lt;/a&gt; - Although massage can be helpful, exercise will probably give you better long term results.  Again, professional guidance may be helpful, saving you time and energy to find the specific combo of exercises that work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your therapist can give you an explanation of the proper ergonomic desk set up as this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.osha.gov/Publications/videoDisplay/figure3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;OSHA diagram&lt;/a&gt; shows. Tweaking your workstation set up may make a big difference to your neck posture, joints and muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However you decide to tackle this problem, make sure to follow-thru.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T14:18:38.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31346" CreationDate="2016-06-27T16:02:36.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19855335&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this n=36 study&lt;/a&gt;, the optimal fat burning zone - i.e. the point at which one has the highest fat oxidation rate -  occurred on average at 54.2% VO2max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the great variance between the participating individuals makes it hard to pinpoint this as &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; fat burning zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://alanaragon.com/myths-under-the-microscope-the-fat-burning-zone-fasted-cardio.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article by Alan Aragon&lt;/a&gt;, suggest that while fat burning is seemingly higher during low-intensity cardio, post-workout fat oxidation was higher after high-intensity cardio, and that if one measures the effects of the two after a 24-hour peroid, &lt;strong&gt;it evens out&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also gives some insight into the difference between pre-workout meals, and lack thereof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It then states the following, which I will quote directly to avoid any errors caused by interpretation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In long-term studies, both linear high-intensity and HIIT training is superior to lower intensities on the whole for maintaining and/or increasing cardiovascular fitness &amp;amp; lean mass, and are at least as effective, and according to some research, far better at reducing bodyfat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Discussion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think these findings only serve to strengthen what we already know about the fitness industry; individuality is too prevalent to really make any foolproof claims about which regimen is best for the goals we aspire to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially, anyone who claims to have a be-all end-all piece of information should rarely, if ever, be taken seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only you, by trying both/all regimens, can discover what works best for your particular body, which is surprisingly different from everyone else's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suggestions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want results, you should start by picking the regimen which makes you most excited. Not only does it seem like it will be equally effective as the others, but it might be even more so if you enjoy it, and are able to keep motivation high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try one regimen for a few months, and measure your progress as best you can. Then you can try another regimen for the same period, and see how you feel about the execution and the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the most enjoyable one isn't the most effective over a short span of time, it will likely keep you motivated for longer, and yield the best long-term results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T16:02:36.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31346" CreationDate="2016-06-27T16:46:35.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be a simple matter of energy output. Spending half an hour at 200W should have the same effect as a whole hour at 100W. So it all comes down to how much time you want to spend exercising and how exhausted you want to feel afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relatively more energy will come from fat &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; low intensity workouts, but the type of energy storage used doesn’t matter. Your body will just use more of the muscle’s glycogen storage during high intensity workouts and you’ll have to eat to replenish those afterwards. There is no magic way of doing exercise without energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21796" LastEditorUserId="21796" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T17:09:44.930" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T17:09:44.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-06-27T17:03:16.517" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can easily fix your neck problems by &quot;HOLISTIC&quot; methods, which include massage, chiropractic, rei-ki, osteopathy, etc ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You DON'T want (or need) surgery or pills (especially pain-killers !!), or other pharmaceutical drugs.  They will only upset your body-chemistry and aggravate the problem !!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of drugs or pills, try herbal teas.  They are very-powerful,  mainly because they obey the first rule of medicine, which is to &quot;Do no harm&quot; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21797" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T17:51:25.713" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T17:51:25.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T17:45:56.303" Score="-1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 14 year old athlete who plays football at academy and also internationally with a few caps. My pre-season has started and I need some protein to assist with my training and training goals. I need to stay lean, keep my body fat % really low. I need to become stronger but I must stay lean and athletic. What is the right protein for me? Please could you give some examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19734" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T17:54:34.497" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T22:44:21.880" Title="What is the right protein for me? I'm struggling to find one" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-06-28T01:21:26.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31350" CreationDate="2016-06-27T18:01:04.687" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good post workout meal is pizza. Pizza is high in both protein and carbohydrate. The protein will be used for recovery and for building mass, you may need additional protein depending on workout. The base of the pizza is your carbohydrate which will put the 'weight' you want to put on. Then the ham, sausage, pepperoni, Cheese is your protein value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most benefit you need to strip your muscles. By this work to a point where your muscles feel like they are snapping, then you will build them back stronger and bigger than if you worked a little but didn't shred your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19734" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T18:01:04.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31338" CreationDate="2016-06-27T18:19:44.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretch_marks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stretch marks&lt;/a&gt; are a “tearing” of the layers of the skin (dermis).  As you’ve already figured out, they’re usually the result of a rapid expansion of the skin surface and can have many &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretch_marks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;causes&lt;/a&gt;.  Unfortunately, since each of us is an individual, there’s no standard “rule” as to how much weight the body can add without resulting in stretch marks.  Logic would, however, dictate that to avoid them you should try to gain weight &lt;strong&gt;gradually&lt;/strong&gt; over an &lt;strong&gt;extended&lt;/strong&gt; period so that your body can adapt and adjust to a larger skin surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T18:19:44.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31364" CreationDate="2016-06-27T18:58:02.253" Score="2" ViewCount="31309" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started training, but because I don't have the time to go to a gym, I decided to do push-ups instead.&#xA;However, I've read that push-ups won't increase muscle mass.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have the following routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 x 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 x 20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 x 1 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total: 240 each day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last 100, I also add some weight by using a schoolbag filled with books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, does this really not increase muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21798" LastEditorUserId="21798" LastEditDate="2016-06-30T08:08:37.587" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T07:17:26.863" Title="Can I gain muscle mass doing push ups?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31360" CreationDate="2016-06-27T19:11:15.257" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to gaining muscles is progressive overload.  Take a look at the link below, Christopher Bibbs explains the importance of progressive overload when designing a program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3447/how-to-get-bigger-and-stronger-with-no-gym-or-weights&quot;&gt;How to Get Bigger And Stronger with no gym or weights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user21799" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T15:33:40.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-06-27T20:15:26.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to a proper Registered Massage Therapist instead of someone at a nail salon. Often they will be covered by extended medical (in the same category as physios probably) and they actually know what to do to help with longer term relief. Additionally, THEY will be able to tell you what exercises and stretches to do to release tension and perhaps improve strength in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you said &quot;chair massage&quot; at the nail salon: my RMT works my WHOLE back to help with my neck problem. Muscles all work together and even if one area is sore it can certainly influence or be influenced by stresses and strains in other muscle groups. I can't imagine a massage being done in a chair being remotely helpful except for very superficial and temporary relief...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have similar problems (computer work + I'm a gamer = sore and stuff neck and shoulders to the point of causing frequent headaches). What the RMT does often HURTS but it feels better afterwards. That being said, because I don't really have the ability to change my working situation (my desk is too low to allow proper ergonomics for me) and I'm unwilling to give up gaming - the pain and stiffness comes back. I have started doing yoga and generally exercising more and the overall increase in exercise seems to be helping quite a bit. Taking frequent breaks to stretch throughout the work day also helps a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that my RMT told me (and it may apply to you) is that my pectoral muscles are SUPER tight. So you could work at stretching those out and seeing if that helps much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall though my advice would be to see a RMT on a monthly (or more frequent) basis until you start feeling better consistently. They should be able to guide you in more specific stretches and exercises to do. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21794" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T20:15:26.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31357" CreationDate="2016-06-27T22:44:21.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any protein you get from meat and dairy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are 14 years old and not fully developed, which means that if you are even semi-aware of what you eat, you'll reap huge benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just eat what your parents serve you, and finish your vegetables!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T22:44:21.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31360" CreationDate="2016-06-28T04:34:14.607" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you've read is false. You may not end up with a bodybuilder's body, but push ups is a fundamental exercise everybody does, whether going to a gym or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It definitely helps you gain muscle mass as long as you keep challenging yourself and altering your workout to target different areas of your chest as well as to prevent your body from adapting to the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find some great push ups variations &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/bodyweight/5-killer-pushup-variations-for-greater-gains&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TIP&lt;/strong&gt;: A nicely shaped, muscular chest is considered the one that is full and symmetrical, so be sure to target a lot the upper chest with decline push ups. Regular push ups don't target it as effectively, since the targeting angle is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QdQvY.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QdQvY.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warning&lt;/strong&gt;: Your routine has to be fundamentally changed in order to see yourself gain muscle mass. Currently, by doing 140 push ups everyday (I counted 240 from the sets you provided) all you achieve is to overtrain your mid-chest section consecutively without allowing your body to repair your muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advice&lt;/strong&gt;: What you should be doing instead, is follow a gym-like routine and train as if you were actually going to gym. That means that you should be training 2 days per week with at least a 48-hour rest period in-between to allow proper muscle tissue repair and recovery. You should also, use 3-4 different variations of push ups in order to target all different angles and thus train all the muscles of your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Routine&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standard push ups: 4 sets x 10-15 reps, 60 sec rest between sets, last one to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decline push ups: 4 sets x 10-15 reps, 60 sec rest between sets, last one to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevated push ups: 4 sets x 10-15 reps, 60 sec rest between sets, last one to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional (if you can still move your chest after the first three)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before anything else&lt;/strong&gt;, read &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; on overtraining and refrain from the kind of routine you have in the future to avoid both the physical and psychological ramifications that will otherwise occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**Failure means until you can no longer complete another repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20536" LastEditorUserId="20536" LastEditDate="2016-07-01T11:57:52.577" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T11:57:52.577" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31366" CreationDate="2016-06-28T04:58:57.810" Score="2" ViewCount="581" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 26 years old guy and I used to be super skinny until I increased my weight recently by limiting my physical activities and forcing myself to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my BMI is 19, which is considered &quot;normal&quot;, however I'm still close&#xA;to being underweight. My goal is to be a little bigger and more muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When should I start working out?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it better if I continued&#xA;my strategy until I'm 65 kg for example? (FYI: I weigh 56kg now).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21805" LastEditorUserId="20536" LastEditDate="2016-06-28T06:01:27.017" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T11:45:55.477" Title="Should I start exercising right away or increase my weight first?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31365" CreationDate="2016-06-28T05:19:19.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With all due respect, you are wasting your time. This weight you are gaining is not the kind of weight you want to gain. As long as you do not train and you do not follow a strict muscle gaining diet all you earn is fat. It may not be visible (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcutaneous_tissue#Subcutaneous_fat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subcutaneous fat&lt;/a&gt;), but it is still there and this kind of fat is even more dangerous (&lt;a href=&quot;https://draxe.com/visceral-fat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;visceral fat&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't leave for later what you can do now. Start training as soon as you can and don't be discouraged if you don't see any visible results immediately. I've been like you, about 55kg 4 years ago and now I am 75kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can achieve your goal by following a training schedule that is aims for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjD9dHo-snNAhUFvhQKHaqMBIMQFggcMAA&amp;amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reference.com%2Fhealth%2Fmuscle-mass-523607f5a3e9182e&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNFEuGLPjaNs7QifErRl3kh5CnRkoQ&amp;amp;sig2=TDqL2IDKHftLkbgTFQvw5g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle mass&lt;/a&gt;. The training routine is different for each body section, but all follow the same rule, High Intensity - Heavy Load. In fact there is also a debate regarding which is better &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/volume-vs-high-intensity-which-style-training-best-growth.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but I like to combine them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TIP&lt;/strong&gt;: Life has taught me and later I was told by a physician as well, that the number one reason one does not manage to gain muscle mass is the fact that they do not train their legs enough, so be sure to train your legs enough when you actually start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One last thing&lt;/strong&gt;: I believe it is of vital importance that you know and fully comprehend the significance of avoiding overtraining and its ramifications so when you have time read &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/overtraining-can-kill-you-the-3-stages-of-overtraining-part-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20536" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T05:19:19.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31365" CreationDate="2016-06-28T07:02:49.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When should I start working out?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as possible. At 26 you still have the ability to quickly adapt to new exercise and develop muscle relatively easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it better if I continued my strategy until I'm 65 kg for example? (FYI: I weigh 56kg now).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weight is just a number that tells you how much of a effect gravity has on you. I suspect what you really care about is how you look. If you want the ever-popular &quot;ripped&quot; physique then you should design a sensible diet plan that has total calories in 15% over your TDEE and has a good macronutrient breakdown (most people suggest 1g protein per 1lb bodyfat). Pair that with a newbie strength workout like Starting Strength or Stronglifts and in 6 months time you should be a little more muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T07:02:49.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-28T13:12:23.397" Score="5" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sixteen years old and I used to consider myself decent. My position is usually RW/RM. But lately I can't understand what is happening to me. The main part of my game is my dribbling, and for this, I have always been very fast and could accelerate very well. This was when I was around fourteen years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now though, I can't seem to sprint. I can't accelerate, I can't reach my top speed. I don't have that energy, explosiveness that I once had, anymore. This is where, what I believe, my mental problem starts to take place. My legs always feel heavy during matches. Even when we do warm-ups before the match. This has happened for maybe around two seasons now. I see people my own age in my school and my football club still accelerating and sprinting, while I am slower and heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was younger I scored around 25+ goals three seasons consecutively, then I injured my knee. Ever since then, mentally I just can't seem to use my legs. I can't control right, I can't do anything. I've recently moved club to see if this would help and now I just feel nervous and small. I feel that if I make a mistake, that's it, everyone will judge. I've also noticed that everyone around me is more 'developed' (running gag that I'm the most pre pubescent one in the team). I'm skinny and haven't really grown much in my eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Note: Game days I don't eat much, if anything, because I get to nervous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone please help, I'm sick of feeling like this. I just wan't to enjoy football again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21809" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:22.597" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:22.597" Title="Need Help Urgently? Mental and Heavy Legs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;football&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-04T21:40:30.557" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31369" CreationDate="2016-06-28T13:36:20.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is kind of outside of the scope of the PF SE but you seem genuinely in need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First point of call would be to talk to your parents, you are saying you are feeling pushed too much into the older team and dealing with the changes in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are 16 and hopefully you understand what puberty is and you are feeling the very real effects of it on your body. Your limbs are growing at a drastic rate and as a result your body control (balance, ability to produce controlled explosive power, etc.) is weakening. The more senior members of your team have had a few years experience in dealing with the changes and so are more food-sure. There is nothing you can do to slow down your bodies development and everyone develops differently and at different rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically there are some things you can do to help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do more football&lt;/strong&gt;, the more you practice the movements, the better you will be. You should be practicing at least 4 times a week for a hour each time on drills and game skills.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat proper food&lt;/strong&gt;, I understand that your diet may be influenced by your parents significantly but try to make sure they are feeding you the fuel you need to develop. You shouldn't really be eating tonnes of sugar and processed food if you want to reach peak potential.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Talk to someone&lt;/strong&gt;, be it a parent, coach, teacher, student support, etc. Chatting through a issue with someone may help you come up with ways to fix it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do another activity&lt;/strong&gt;, football is not the be-all of sport. Like with weightlifting, people practice assistant lifts (dumbell fly, incline press) to help with major lifts (bench press). You can use the same principle; martial arts/boxing are great sports to pick up (even for just 2 sessions a week) and will help you with both balance and developing explosive power. If you like the idea of being strong you could consider a powerlifting/Olympic lifting class in your area, i'm sure most of the coaches would love the idea of a young guy wanting to start lifting. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finally&lt;/strong&gt;, relax! Do what you enjoy and don't worry about others. Only measure success against your own achievements. Set some goals and work towards them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T13:36:20.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9734" CreationDate="2016-06-28T16:45:33.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the other answer to this question. I like the &quot;if it isn't broken, don't fix it&quot; mentality. However, I'll add advice regarding the transition to VFF or barefoot running. Follow the guidelines mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10061242-barefoot-running-step-by-step&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barefoot Running Step by Step&lt;/a&gt;. Overall, you want to avoid Barefoot Running Exuberance Syndrome (BRES), which is what the author calls it when you go all out with this new, different form of running before you are ready. As with any workout, don't do too much, too soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the book specifically recommends going completely barefoot for a while, &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; going to the VFFs. Going barefoot first helps you to strengthen your feet and ankles. It helps your body to get used to this change if you do it gradually. Once you do this for a while (the timeframe might be different for everyone), you can slowly transition to the VFFs. The author actually believes (and I think backs up with data) that your shod running will improve even if you're just doing some light barefoot work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So given that you asked this question about 5 or 6 months prior to the marathon, I'd say no, you shouldn't work VFFs &lt;em&gt;or barefoot running&lt;/em&gt; into your routine. However, after the race you should be able to try some barefoot running, then work up to VFFs after a period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T16:45:33.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12681" CreationDate="2016-06-29T06:01:39.267" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be a bulged disc in your upper spine irritating a nerve that runs through your back. Some activities like lifting can compress the discs further and aggravate the situation. This can cause painful muscle guarding and stiffnes in an effort to protect the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21815" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T06:01:39.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31342" CreationDate="2016-06-29T07:02:23.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you want to end up being as thin as a chopstick I would suggest that you &lt;strong&gt;don't drop below 80kg&lt;/strong&gt; as this is pretty much around the ideal weight for someone standing 6 feet tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To tone your stomach area I believe it's best to &lt;strong&gt;stick with HIIT&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw40.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High Intensity Interval Training&lt;/a&gt;) from the training perspective and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Intermittent Fasting&lt;/a&gt; for your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more about the effectiveness of the combination of the two &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2014/09/26/intermittent-fasting-hiit-workout.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you follow &lt;strong&gt;a HIIT training schedule combined with Intermittent Fasting&lt;/strong&gt; for about a month, training twice a week, you will be able to shed 3-5kg of fat from your body and allow your abs to start showing themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you add up a day or two (depending on how much free time you have) to train your abs and strengthen them, at the end of the month you will have some very promising results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some effective ab exercises&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V-Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Russian Twists&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oblique Driving-Knee Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V-hold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already do a decent job with your diet keeping the sugar intake at a minimum, but you should consider increasing the protein intake throughout the day and also, get a good dose carbohydrates after your training to replace the lost energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20536" LastEditorUserId="20536" LastEditDate="2016-07-17T10:40:02.233" LastActivityDate="2016-07-17T10:40:02.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31376" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-06-29T08:35:09.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A commonly misunderstood term that is often used alongside low-intensity low-resistance exercises. Many believe that by doing these exercises you are shaping the muscle to appear more &quot;defined&quot; while changing nothing else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toning actually occurs when you have or have gained muscle mass underneath a layer of body fat and then proceed to reduce the thickness of the fat layer through dieting and exercise. This brings the muscles more visibly into view under the skin and shows their definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-29T10:43:31.217" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T10:43:31.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31377" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-06-29T08:35:09.080" Score="0" Body="Used to describe the process of lowering body-fat percentage to highlight the muscular structure underneath." OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-06-29T10:43:40.263" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T10:43:40.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31349" CreationDate="2016-06-29T08:35:48.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think the strength standard for RDL should be near the DL. As you can already lift 130kg in DL : after warming up, start with 60kg in total to see how you feel (or take 60% of your DL 5RM). Depending on your program, you should not necessarily do both exercises on the same day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First of all, you start standing up (take the bar from a rack). Feet should be a bit narrower than on the DL, same grip. Unlock your knees, push your hips back, lower the bar while preventing your knees from bending too much (during the whole movement actually, they should not go forward). Of course your core is braced, and your back flat. Once your back is parallel to the floor (the bar should be just under the knee, depending on the length of your limbs), reverse the movement, and don't forget to push your heels against the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Touch and go : the important part to keep in mind is not to stop when the bar is at the bottom, so you should &quot;rebound&quot; a bit, because hanging a heavyweight in the air for a few seconds in that position is not a good idea for your back. However you can pause at the top to breathe for example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T08:35:48.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-29T12:30:25.030" Score="4" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 15 year old boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Height: 5 feet 6 inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight: 61kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am unable to do push-ups properly. I can do up to 8 knee push-ups. However after that I can't keep my shoulders in their place and they come up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't do even one complete push-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to do complete pushups? Please suggest some progressions. I have been doing knee push-ups for about 2 months now. Any help appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18372" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-06-29T12:43:34.997" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T18:13:50.220" Title="Push-ups form and progression" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31380" CreationDate="2016-06-29T12:42:24.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should keep doing knee pushups, but you should also start doing regular pushups at an incline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FXTz0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FXTz0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find an angle where you can do 10-15 repetitions. If you can do more than that, find something lower. With time, you'll be coming down onto the ground, doing regular pushups!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T12:42:24.380" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31384" CreationDate="2016-06-29T15:06:10.737" Score="2" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started working out a few months ago and just yesterday decided to try whey protein to help with my fat loss, which I haven't made much progress in even after switching to a healthier diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought Whey Gold Standard from Optimum Nutrition, please refer to picture below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday before dinner I decided to try a scoop of it with cold water. I drank a few gulps and immediately started to feel tingling around my body. I brushed it off and started eating my dinner consisting of brown rice and some meat and veggies. Throughout the dinner the tingling got stronger, I started feeling light headed, and my heart started racing. I called my friend who uses the same product and he said I am one of those people sensitive to whey protein and my blood glucose level is dropping. I ate some more and started feeling better after a few hours, although I don't know if I felt better because of eating or just because of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I worked out at the gym and afterward I ate a bigger dinner than usual consisting of fried rice, chicken, carrots and cabbage, to prepare myself to try the whey again. This time after drinking the whey I did get some tingling particularly around my head, but rather mild. My heart did not race. As I am typing this my head is still tingling, but it's very mild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions: what is this reaction? And is it safe for me to keep taking whey protein?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S5n6n.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S5n6n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;label&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VsHau.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VsHau.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;facts&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21821" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:27.440" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:27.440" Title="Is whey protein safe?" Tags="&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-07-01T18:36:12.577" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31382" CreationDate="2016-06-29T15:18:14.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check it is not past its use-by date&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have any dietary medical condition e.g diabetes or lactose intolerance then check with your &lt;strong&gt;doctor&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might just be in your head. Might not be, we aren't doctors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T15:18:14.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31382" CreationDate="2016-06-29T16:17:49.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you don't have any allergies to any of the ingredients in the box, and even if you did, tingling isn't really tied to allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also assuming, that you tried drinking the protein out of two separate bottles. Since maybe there's some residue of some agent causing this in one of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally assuming that this is the only supplement you're taking. If you're taking ANY pre workouts or creatine supplements, the beta-alanine amino acid will definitely cause tingling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the thing with Optimum Nutrition's protein supplements is that they contain high amounts of amino acids. As you can see from the container, 4-5.5g of them. It is VERY likely, and I'm almost 100% certain of this, that because you are just getting accustomed to this new supplement, your body is very sensitive to alanine, which is present in high amounts in that exact supplement. This amino acid is basically known for causing tingling sensations. The beta alanine itch is simply the result of nerve endings underneath the skin which are stimulated and firing at a higher than normal rate. It is not a cause for concern and is experienced by the majority of the lifting community at some point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily, (and kind of unluckily), your body will slowly become insensitive to this, just like it would with caffeine. This is why your second time was milder than the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum up, nothing to worry about, Optimum Nutrition has very high amounts of BCAAs, which are essential for protein synthesis, after a few more times of taking it, you won't notice the beta alanine tingles. I wish I still could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, it could also be possible that you're psyching yourself out, there's research showing that you can placebo yourself into getting amped up for a workout, with the same effect as some pre workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T16:17:49.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31382" CreationDate="2016-06-29T18:11:37.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question, as written, requires a certain amount of opinion, speculation, and detective work.  So, here goes.  I use the same product you pictured without any side effects.  However, what you describe sounds very much like a reaction to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/niacin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Niacin&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Niacin Side Effects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Common Side Effects of Niacin:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Itching under the skin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Warmth, redness, or tingly skin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mild dizziness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sweating or chills&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nausea, burping, diarrhea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Leg cramps, muscle pain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insomnia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Serious Side Effects of Niacin:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nausea and vomiting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Skin flushing combined with dizziness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Severe allergic reaction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Light headedness, fainting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Uneven or fast-pounding heartbeat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grayish stool color&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Skin itching or rash&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Severe stomach pain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shortness of breath&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dark-colored urine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yellowing of skin or eyes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muscle pain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Flu-like symptoms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, the “tingling” you describe sounds very much like “skin flushing”.  As evidenced by this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/1eul0e/good_whey_powders_without_niacin/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reddit post&lt;/a&gt;, others have had a similar reaction.  And, while Niacin may not be listed as an ingredient on your label, that doesn't mean it's not in the product.  I'm not sure that products with “trace amounts” of a substance are required to list that substance on the label.  (If you look at the Reddit post, you'll see Niacin is listed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question, Whey protein is generally safe.  You could very well be reacting to an ingredient in the product.  You should confer with your personal physician to see if you are subject to any allergic reactions to food stuffs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T18:11:37.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31380" CreationDate="2016-06-29T18:13:50.220" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lowering about 1/3 to 1/2 way done and HOLDING there&#xA;will help you build the strength to do the full depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lost ALL strength from illness - was in the same predicament&#xA;and this is how I recovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21822" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T18:13:50.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31387" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-29T18:15:13.887" Score="-1" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to lose some percent of body fat again but the biggest problem I face is that I'm hungry all the time. I'm still working out 5 days a week by the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I'm looking for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get rid of any appetite or hunger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consume as few calories as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's fine if it contains a lot of protein.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12067" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:38:48.013" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:38:48.013" Title="What should I eat so I'm not feeling hungry anymore while consuming as few calories as possible?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-06-30T13:27:21.277" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31387" CreationDate="2016-06-30T07:28:20.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, regarding schedule, I'd recommend you to consider adapting the &lt;a href=&quot;http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intermittent fasting&lt;/a&gt; method. Since I began to eat according to it, my hunger became much easier to handle as I am not much hungry during the fasted state and my meals became biggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding food, the answer is vegtables. They are rich in fibers and have low glicemic index, therefore helps your feel sated for a relatively long period. The choice of which vegtables to consume is not crucial, but try to primarily plan on on green ones (lettuce, cucumbers, etc). The best way would be probably preparing a homemade salad with some high-protein food added (chicken breast, tuna, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T07:28:20.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31387" CreationDate="2016-06-30T10:17:04.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Intermittant fasting works well. Caffiene is a appatite suppressant so black coffee or a cup of tea could be helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find the following advice to be most helpful: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;If you are hungry, drink a glass of water, if you are still hungry then consider eating an apple. If you are not hungry enough to deal with eating a apple then you aren't truly hungry. If you are, then eat the apple.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T10:17:04.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31394" CreationDate="2016-07-01T04:40:44.260" Score="0" ViewCount="797" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like others I am looking for weight loss. For this time I have two options buying a bicycle or joining a gym to lose extra weight and get the body in shape just like a normal human and not a gym body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for suggestion on these two options: bicycling or gym (exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21835" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:17.033" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:17.033" Title="Cycling vs Gym(Exercise) for weight loss" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-07-04T21:40:00.587" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31393" CreationDate="2016-07-01T08:24:36.510" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few misconceptions here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You will never ever get that &quot;gym body&quot;, so don't worry about it&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds harsh, but it's true for a few different reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to achieve in the first place. You need to put a LOT of time and effort, and even money into it, in order to get the &quot;gym body&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people try, and don't succeed, even WITH the time and money spent.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It takes years. Yes years! In plural!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can only conclude that someone who doesn't even want it in the first place, will &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; accomplish it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As for your question, it's all about the diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio &gt; weightlifting, when it comes to losing weight. But even then, weight loss is primarily done in the kitchen. If you can't get your diet straight, then no matter how much you run or cycle, you won't lose any fat. In fact, you'll just gain more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T08:24:36.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31393" CreationDate="2016-07-01T11:04:37.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For either of the two to deliver the weight loss you want, a fair amount of &lt;strong&gt;discipline&lt;/strong&gt; is required. Assuming the same level of discipline with either, I think buying a bike would deliver the best result. This is not so much a cardio vs weights thing, as you can clearly do some cardio in the gym, but it is much easier to make cycling regularly part of your daily routine and has a few extra positives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling is more time-efficient because you don't &lt;em&gt;waste time&lt;/em&gt; getting to the gym, changing, etc ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling to work daily is exercise time that you would have spent driving&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycling can save you money if you normally drive or take public transport&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/30-reasons-to-take-up-cycling-23965/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;longer list&lt;/a&gt; of benefits you could expect from picking up cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T11:04:37.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31393" CreationDate="2016-07-01T13:58:41.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you mean weight (resistance) training when you say “Gym”, you're actually comparing two somewhat different, but, complimentary activities.  So, if at all possible, why not do both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Alec states, your worry about a “gym body” is unfounded for the reasons he lists.  However, that should not discourage you from participating in an exercise program to add/improve muscle mass since &lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/84/3/475.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;studies have shown&lt;/a&gt; that there are numerous advantages to building a base of muscle.  Also keep in mind that muscle is metabolically active, thus assisting in the burning of unwanted calories.  In fact, a recent study found Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) was indeed lower for those individuals with lower amounts of mass:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As expected, the RMR of women was lower than that for men&#xA;  (4,12,13,19,27), and the RMR of older adults was less than that for&#xA;  younger adults (9,13,22). Some of the differences between the sexes&#xA;  and age groupings could be related to muscle mass being lower (e.g.,&#xA;  less metabolically active tissue) in women and in older adults. RMR is&#xA;  mostly dependent on the amount of metabolically active tissue in an&#xA;  individual; mainly muscle mass (18,35).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4535334/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Examining Variations of Resting Metabolic Rate of Adults: A Public Health Perspective&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bicycling, as a complimentary activity, can assist in further burning calories, as well as, providing the many benefits that can be achieved from cardio exercise.  Many gyms offer various cardio equipment &lt;strong&gt;including&lt;/strong&gt; bicycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, whatever path you decide, your weight loss success will be directly related to consistent work, sound nutrition (as Alec reminds us), and a long term commitment to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T13:58:41.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-02T14:02:21.153" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sacred-destinations.com/tibet/mount-kailash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;circumambulate around Mount Kailash&lt;/a&gt; on foot. This is roughly 33 miles of mountaineous terrain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people do this for spiritual reasons, i.e circumambulate once to wash away your sins, circumambulate 108 times to attain nirvana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to circumambulate around Mount Kailash because I want to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of training do I require? I understand this can take years, even decades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some information about me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lady in mid-30s (people swear I am in early 20s)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5'4&quot;, 140lbs (last time I weighed myself was Jan 2016)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mostly eat fruits, veggies, fiber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exercise 4 to 5 days a week, perform &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skinsheen.com/userfiles/image/sun.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Surya Namaskar&lt;/a&gt; (started with 3 reps in Summer 2015, I'm up to 69 reps now, goal to reach 108 reps by end of 2017), plus light weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T15:08:05.097" Title="Train to Circumambulate Around Mt. Kailash" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25509" CreationDate="2016-07-03T00:53:50.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the &quot;formula&quot; for gaining muscle mass &lt;strong&gt;is pretty much the same for all people regardless of age&lt;/strong&gt;. You should take into consideration, however, that to achieve the end result that you want, &lt;strong&gt;it will require more effort&lt;/strong&gt; than it would require from somebody in their mid-twenties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything is going to progress as planned as long as you &lt;strong&gt;adhere to muscle-mass-gaining workout routine&lt;/strong&gt; and a favourable diet for your plan with a &lt;strong&gt;high intake of protein&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*Important&lt;/strong&gt;: It is a scientifically proven fact that, even after ceasing working out for a long time, &lt;strong&gt;muscle memory stays whereas muscle mass and strength don't&lt;/strong&gt;. Namely, if you have been training in the past the patterns of moving heavy weights still exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That can be a great ally or an equally great enemy, as you can &lt;strong&gt;advance faster&lt;/strong&gt; by using your muscle memory, but also &lt;strong&gt;injure yourself&lt;/strong&gt; if you lift more than your body can currently take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a big fan and advocate of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt; I post in my answer &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/over_40_beginner_training.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this guide&lt;/a&gt; for reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20536" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T00:53:50.007" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2016-07-03T14:42:38.040" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Progress to zero drop shoes, and slowly progress to a forefoot strike. Had months of problems with this and ended up being compartment syndrome. It will shift the focus from your shins to your calves. Progress slowly and strengthen your calves every other day, otherwise you risk other injuries. I found running forefoot in zero drop shoes (or barefoot) is the only thing that completely prevents the pain, anything else I get pain after 3km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make your feet 'ready' for the transition, walk barefoot as much and as often as you can, everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21856" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T14:42:38.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12204" CreationDate="2016-07-03T23:29:12.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One ex sprinter I talked to mentioned similar pain from running long distance. The doctor told them its common for sprinters to have problems adjusting to the different running form needed for long distance since sprinters paw or run on their toes alot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T23:29:12.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31400" CreationDate="2016-07-04T07:08:47.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to do this route, I strongly suggest that you use a tour operator. They know the area, weather, locals and will make your trip very safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on a popular pilgrimage tour operator the route takes 3 days. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yowangdu.com/tibet-travel/mount-kailash.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.yowangdu.com/tibet-travel/mount-kailash.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Tibetans will make the whole 32 mile (52 km) circuit in a single long day (like 14 hours), but it is common for visitors to take three days, with this basic itinerary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1: Darchen – Drirapuk Gompa&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2: Drirapuk Gompa – Zutrulpuk Gompa (Also Dzutrulpuk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3: Zutrulpuk Gompa – Darchen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2 will be the hardest day, as you will have to cross the Dolma la pass, at 18,471ft (5630m). This pass is blocked by snow until April.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a4RgO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a4RgO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendation for you is to call up a tour operator and ask them what training you should do. From a acclimatisation perspective there is value in going on a 3 day hike over the same distance in Scotland (again, with a mountain leader for support).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;But I want to go there without support, guides, insurance etc.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to throw away all shackles of using a tour to give you sensible, experienced, advice on training for the region and wish to make the trek then you will want to train reasonably hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, you need to get a permit and getting to the mountain isn't the easiest either, see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Kailash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Kailash&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training you need to do will be linked to the terrain that you will be in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unfamiliar Terrain Navigation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height above sea level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;1. Unfamiliar Terrain Navigation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train for navigation a good practice would be to get a crudely drawn map of an areas landmarks (hand drawn/public information map). Buy the ordinance survey of the area and try to navigate off-path around a route of all parts. An event like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tentors.org.uk/challenge/about&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ten Tors&lt;/a&gt; (but for adults) is ideal for practicing this skill. Hit up your local rambling/hill-walking group or local outdoors shop for some help in finding events to practice at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately the route is reasonably well travelled and so you should not have a huge amount of difficulty staying on path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;2. Height above sea level&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The route at the mountain is in the region of 4-5000m above sea level. At this height it is recommended that walkers (anywhere in the world) carry oxygen tanks. In addition to a few days acclimatization as you make your way to the mountain you should definitely try and get some exposure to walking at height. This can be done anywhere there is a mountain or hilly range. You want to aim to get as much time walking at close to 5000m as you can, ideally with a mountain leader for support and advice. Plan a couple 3 day walks at heights 2, 3, 4/5km above sea level on different weekends. Keep the distance short but the exposure high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T15:08:05.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31407" CreationDate="2016-07-04T07:34:43.727" Score="2" ViewCount="752" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a balanced sportsman doing crossfit (1x to 2x per week), should I drink coconut milk or diary skim milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a sportsman trying to have a defined body and the energy to exercise can be complicated sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that protein is important for muscle gain, and that to be defined, fat (specially saturated fats) should be avoided. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I have started to see a huge increase over the number of crossfit celebreties that drink coconut milkshakes after workouts and an ever increasing number of sportsman (and women) recommend coconut milk instead of regular milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is specially true among vegans or among those who avoid taking protein from animal sources. According to them, coconut milk is healthy and good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was surprised when I checked the nutrition label for coconut milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the sources from USDA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.es/search?q=coconut%20milk%20nutririon&amp;amp;rlz=1CAASUA_enES699ES699&amp;amp;oq=coconut%20milk%20nutririon&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57.6298j0j1&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#q=coconut%20milk%20nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coconut milk nutrition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.es/search?q=milk%20nutrition&amp;amp;rlz=1CAASUA_enES699ES699&amp;amp;oq=milk%20nutrition&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57.1919j0j1&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diary milk nutrition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can immediately see a problem with this: coconut milk has 104% of the recommended amount of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, fat is not bad nor evil per itself. There are two main kinds of fat (unsaturated and saturated), one is good for your heart and circulatory system overall (unsaturated fat, like in raw olive oil), the other is what gives you heart attacks (saturated fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with coconut milk, is that is filled with saturated fat (the one that gives you heart attacks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have to wonder, how can something with so much saturated fat, be considered so healthy by the community?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So at this point I am pretty much confused:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is one type of milk healthier?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why is coconut milk regarded as healthy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why is coconut milk used by sportsmen and women?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should I take?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional Note&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please consider that I am not lactose intolerant, and that for a normal person, there are also lactose-free diary milks as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15408" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-04T08:47:58.940" LastActivityDate="2019-04-22T11:13:18.330" Title="Coconut milk or normal skim milk?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;&lt;milk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ClosedDate="2016-07-04T21:35:29.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31406" CreationDate="2016-07-04T08:37:42.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: Why is coconut milk used so much by sportsmen and women?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutritional content:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2fVBI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2fVBI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Based on raw from the water and grated meat&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you rightly asserted, there is a high quantity of saturated fat this is due to the high level of coconut oil, The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-FDA1-6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FDA&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-WHO1-7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WHO&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-JCardiovascRisk1-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ICoN&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-USHHS1-9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DHHS&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-ADA1-10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ADA&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-AHA1-11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AHA&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-BNHS1-12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;British NHS&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk#cite_note-ADA1-10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DoC&lt;/a&gt; recommend against consuming in significant amounts due to its high levels of saturated fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/supplements/Coconut+Oil/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the effects of coconut oil aren't insignificant&lt;/a&gt;. Examine.com highlights that the main reasons that coconut oil is consumed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The majority of coconut oil (65%) is made up of medium chain&#xA;  triglycerides (MCT). Studies suggest &lt;strong&gt;replacing&lt;/strong&gt; calories with MCTs&#xA;  without exceeding daily caloric requirements can result in a small,&#xA;  but significant, increase in the rate of fat loss over time. This&#xA;  effect appears to be slightly more powerful in overweight people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Coconut oil &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; also temporarily increase metabolic rate and the&#xA;  speed at which fats are broken down to release fatty acids, a process&#xA;  known as lipolysis. This effect occurs when coconut oil is first added&#xA;  to the diet and disappears after two weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adding coconut oil to a diet is unlikely to cause noticeable fat loss&#xA;  effects, but it can replace other dietary fatty acids in order to&#xA;  fine-tune a diet plan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarise, coconut milk has a high fat content due to coconut oil. Coconut oil has been shown to help people who are overweight improve their fat loss rate (provided diet is at calorie deficit). All of this points to coconut milk being most helpful to those on a keto diet. Keto diets are preferred by athletes on a cut because it &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/are-there-health-benefits-of-a-low-carb-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;enables them to retain muscle mass while losing weight&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For a balanced sportsman doing crossfit (1x to 2x per week), should I&#xA;  drink coconut milk or diary skim milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends entirely on your dietry requirements, if you are on a cut (probably? as you mentioned 'toning'). To get to a low body-fat percentage (and get 'toned') you need to eat less calories than you put out. Dietry fat as a food type does not have significant impact on body composition. I suggest you have a read though this &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/is-saturated-fat-bad-for-me/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;examine.com&lt;/a&gt; question. The only way to definitively know which ones to use would be to work out your calorie and macro-nutritional breakdown and compare it to your diet design.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-04-22T11:13:18.330" LastActivityDate="2019-04-22T11:13:18.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31409" CreationDate="2016-07-04T11:30:01.530" Score="2" ViewCount="412" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do jogging in the morning, around 5 days a week, from 6 to 6.30.&#xA;I jog for around 1.3 Kms and then return walking from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I consume some sugar content throughout the day, like tea (at 8AM), curd(in breakfast, 9AM), coffee with biscuits(at 11 AM and then at 4 PM), all these with around 1 to 1.5 teaspoon Sugar added in each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I want to know if I am doing enough to compensate my sugar consumption?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21867" LastEditorUserId="21867" LastEditDate="2016-07-05T05:51:00.627" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T05:51:00.627" Title="Is 30 minutes jogging enough for good amount of Sugar consumption?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-07-04T21:41:07.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31408" CreationDate="2016-07-04T11:54:43.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calories used during jogging varies greatly based on the incline and your body statistics. The &quot;average male&quot; jogging for 30 minutes burns about 250 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are around 15 calories in a teaspoon of sugar. You have about 6 teaspoons maximum per day, totaling 90 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Am I doing enough in jogging so as to compensate my sugar consumption?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Probably&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Converting sugar into energy does not work like you think it does based on this question. Just convert your calories for the day of all food and make sure its equal (or less if trying to lose weight) than your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-07-04T21:38:23.703" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T21:38:23.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-04T13:40:01.787" Score="1" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do jogging in the morning, around 5 days a week, from 6 to 6.30.&#xA;I jog for around 1.3 Kms and then return walking from there.&#xA;But my jogging route is a &quot;tarmac&quot; road and I have heard that jogging should not be done on hard surface, it might harm the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I want to know that will jogging on the road harm me, in any terms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21867" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T14:47:10.527" Title="Is jogging good on &quot;Tarmac&quot; road?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-07-04T21:40:17.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31410" CreationDate="2016-07-04T14:47:10.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.outsideonline.com/1784266/best-running-surface-your-knees&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The are mixed results &lt;/a&gt; with regard to whether tarmac, concrete, or asphalt is harmful. Tarmac/asphalt is harder than dirt. Concrete is harder than tarmac. Though the differences are not &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; much. People are probably more likely to get injured because of bad running form, or other factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will get more benefit from proper training, form, and shoes than worrying about the running surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also for perspective. 5Ks, 10Ks, half, and full marathons are typically run on roads. These distances are substantially longer than what you are running. Some runners get injured, but most don't. They run for many, many years without any knee problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, the injuries I've sustained where not because of what the surface was made of. One was because the sidewalk was slanted so my ankles got twisted up after running on that for miles. Another (more common) was just running through pain that ended up making things worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T14:47:10.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31408" CreationDate="2016-07-04T20:01:20.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's pretty important to note that while it may be enough now, your body won't always burn the same amount of calories. The human body is amazing at adapting to new situations, hence why weight training is so effective. Similarly, with jogging, as you keep repeating this process, your body will burn less and less calories over time as your energy pathways become more efficient. Think about it, that's how people get better at running (or anything really), you just keep doing it, and you will progress. So assuming you burn the &quot;average&quot; calories mentioned by @JJosaur, 250, this number will slowly decrease over time and you will have to change up your training, i.e run for longer or run the same distance faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, this is actually pretty important but no one EVER mentions it. The more sugar you consume on a regular basis, the more insulin and leptin resistant you will become over time. The same principle of adaptation occurs here. I'm not going to give many of the details here since I already wrote them in another answer here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31206/impact-of-weekly-collossal-cheat-days/31216#31216&quot;&gt;Impact of weekly collossal cheat days&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But basically, this example should suffice: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how it looks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat some wild salmon and a big sweet potato. The beta cells in your pancreas produce insulin in response to your blood glucose level.&#xA;Insulin stimulates leptin production in your fat cells.&#xA;Leptin levels go up, triggering the hypothalamus to decrease appetite.&#xA;High levels of leptin also tell your pancreas to stop making insulin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here's how it looks when you have leptin resistance (that you gained over time by eating sugar regularly) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat some wild salmon and a big sweet potato with some pop tarts (or anything sugary). The beta cells in your pancreas produce insulin in response to your blood glucose level.&#xA;Insulin stimulates leptin production in your fat cells, overwhelming your body.&#xA;Leptin levels go up but leptin resistance starts to set in.&#xA;High levels of leptin try to tell your pancreas to stop making insulin, but you're leptin resistant so the pancreas doesn't get the message to stop!&#xA;We now have chronically high levels of insulin, leading to insulin resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are now way more likely to store food as fat and will find it harder to feel &quot;full&quot;. When people eat delicious food and can't stop until they hate themselves, it is because of this, your brain THOUGHT you were hungry because of the leptin and insulin resistance you built up over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the purposes of this question though, as long as you progress in your workouts, you'll be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T20:01:20.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31250" CreationDate="2016-07-04T23:08:20.303" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you're on top of your game with maintaining a healthy lifestyle and weight.  I give you cuddos for that type of dedication.  I read that you do not weight train but, I did not see you mention if you took your body measurements?  I ask this because I completed the Body for Life Challenge once and lost a total of 17 inches with very little weight loss and weight training.   I know you do not weight train at all but even the slightest bit of physical activities changed to your daily routine can add muscle weight (body resistance training for example).  I suggest you try taking you're body measurements just to see if this is the weight gain culprit (or even better getting your muscle mass weight recorded by doctor at your next physical).  Supposing this isn't the case I recommend a cheat day (no exercise and eating more than your routinely calorie intake, once a week onky).  It is a good way of getting your metabolism raised more to burn even more fat than usual, regardless of how high it is already.  In return you will positively lose weight.  Authors of health and fitness books and fitness pros both agree on this, and alot more others.  I know it worked for me.  For being hungry and getting headaches more often than usual is your body trying to tell you something.  I highly recommend talking to your doctor about these experiences to get more answers.  I hope I've helped in anyway possible.  God bless and good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21871" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T23:08:20.303" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31417" CreationDate="2016-07-05T09:53:58.650" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running on a treadmill and you've nearly completed your defined goal for the day. Say, 5K @9K/h. You feel the need to go that extra mile - but you're stuck. Which is better for long term physical fitness? Should you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run for longer - run that last 200-300m until you hit your limit?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run faster - push up the speed for the last 200m of the run, simulating a sprint to the end?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn up the incline for the last 200m - keeps your stats neat and tidy, while still putting in that extra bit of effort?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take it easy, and make a self promise to increase the speed/distance/incline of the next run, or moving the next run forwards a day?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take it easy - you've managed to achieve your objective. Enjoy the fact you've still got some breath left!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not that I've spent the last ~35 minutes obsessing over this while running at 9k, you understand. Help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21876" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:38:51.157" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:38:51.157" Title="Optimal way to end treadmill run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-07-07T15:43:22.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31416" CreationDate="2016-07-05T10:20:49.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All exercise progression can benefit from the principle of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should (in the first year or so) try to push yourself to the same extent. Working until failure can be useful for building endurance but doing this every time you train can affect your recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you push yourself to the same level of physical strain each workout then your ability to do that activity will improve, whether it be you running for longer or faster. With that in mind your workout goals should be adjusted to constantly challenge you. This is the principle of progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Provided you have a good fitness plan then you should trust and stick to it. Don't make it artificially harder.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, remember you have to do a &quot;cooldown&quot; after a run which should consist of a slow jog/walk and stretching. Working till exhaustion may diminish your ability to do this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note: If you want advice about your specific running progression programme then that is a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T10:20:49.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T14:01:22.593" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently timed myself running a 5k. I don't have any previous serious exercise experience, although in the past there have been periods when I've run a bit. My time was a bit under 30:00, and I've done it a few more time since, going as quickly as 26:50. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also discovered, via simple googling, various race training plans. These all seem to be focused on training for a particular race in a certain number of weeks, and combine a bunch of different types of runs at varying paces, distances and intensities. I have no reason to doubt that such plan is the best way to train for a specific race, but that's not my goal -- I just want to add exercise to my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be bad forgo such a plan and just run a 5k a few times a week? I'd like to do the simplest thing possible, because I think it will make me more likely to stick to it. I would of course reconsider, however, if a more varied routine would confer significant additional benefits or help avoid injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Why 5k? No reason in particular, it just happens to be a standard length that matches up well to the amount of time I want to spend running each session.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21877" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T21:22:40.933" Title="Is a training plan necessary/preferred when I don't have the goal of running a specific race?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T15:37:46.960" Score="0" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the possible ways to increase my weight with proper body shape?? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21879" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T07:04:28.913" Title="I am 170 cm tall and i am only 47 kgs. How to increse my weight??I have not tried any proper exercise." Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-06T12:12:33.007" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31419" CreationDate="2016-07-05T18:03:30.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you seem like a COMPLETE beginner, I'm going to make this really easy for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ONLY way to increase your bodyweight is to eat more calories than you burn. Simple right? Now before you think &quot;well I don't exercise anyways so I don't burn any calories&quot;, you have to understand that your body burns calories on its own everyday just to make your body function properly. This is what is referred to as your resting metabolic rate (or metabolism ...doesn't really matter to narrow down at this point). You weigh 47kgs, so that means your metabolic rate is probably around 1500 calories roughly. So if you ate less than this on a regular basis, you won't gain weight. Basically...just eat a lot more than 1500 calories and you will gain weight, you don't really need to count, just ballpark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you say &quot;proper&quot; body shape, I assume this means you want muscle. Well...muscle isn't weightless obviously, so in order to gain muscle, you must first eat more than you burn like I said above. The rest is very simple. Go to the gym and workout. There are millions of workout guides online for beginners, it would be naive to give you only one way on this site. Go look it up and pick one. The way this works is when you lift weights, you're breaking down muscle fibers (catabolism). Now, when you eat an excess of calories (primarily composed of protein), these muscles are built back, bigger and stronger via the calories you just fed them (anabolism). One key to this process is that in order for this to work, you must feed your body the correct building blocks, called amino acids and you get these from your proteins; milk,chicken,beef,eggs,tuna,whey and on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, your body must have adequate time to do this building process. This means you need to sleep and sleep often. This is typically around 7-8 hours minimum to be safe. The muscle growth happens when your recovering, and you recover when you're sleeping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to very naively conclude: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat more than you burn. And then eat some more. This is fundamental to gaining weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do eat more, make sure the majority of your calories come from protein. A basic guideline is to consume a gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight, so in your case, aim for at least 105g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to the gym and lift weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleep, rest, repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really is THAT simple, I'm not going to write an article on all the things you need to do because what I mentioned above is basically 99% of it. The rest just comes to consistency and dedication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again: &lt;strong&gt;EAT&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;LIFT&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;EAT MORE&lt;/strong&gt;, AND &lt;strong&gt;SLEEP&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T18:03:30.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-06T05:40:27.503" Score="3" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started exercising. I follow the Fitness blender videos to workout. In some of the videos, few mins of cardio followed by few mins of weights is shown. Is it wise to mix them both? The total duration is only 30 mins for the whole workout. Since I am a beginner am taking it slow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16195" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T19:46:06.777" Title="Cardio and weights in the same workout" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31422" CreationDate="2016-07-06T06:04:03.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a problem with mixing them if you are going above 50-60% max.  Your tendons get stretched during cardio.  When you lift you want them tight.  This can lead to numerous injuries but I would be most concerned about my knees.  I am sure someone can give you a lengthy explanation but for the most part leave your cardio to after weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T06:04:03.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31419" CreationDate="2016-07-06T07:04:28.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to keep it even simpler. Your question boils down to &quot;lean-gains&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can guarantee you aren't eating enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T07:04:28.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31422" CreationDate="2016-07-06T07:11:27.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;YES&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weights they use in those videos are still geared towards &quot;cardio with resistance&quot;. IT is fine to mix both, &quot;les mills body pump classes&quot; do exactly this and have been effective for people wishing to increase their cardio activity.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T07:11:27.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31422" CreationDate="2016-07-06T14:48:03.893" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly do you mean by &quot;wise&quot;? It has its ups and downs depending on what your goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is weight/fat loss then yes it is fine. You will burn through your glycogen stores via weights and most of the calories you burn via cardio will have to come from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is strength, it's not the best. It's been shown that there is a linear interference between strength gains and cardio. Simply put, the more LOW INTENSITY cardio that you do, the more strength you will sacrifice (within reasonable limits). Hence why you will never see a powerlifter jog on a treadmill. If the cardio is high intensity, then I don't see a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to build muscle, then mixing in cardio will take away from the intensity of the workout, i.e you won't be able to give training your muscles 100% the intensity and concentration that you need. Alternative: do the cardio after your workout is done, or not at all, if your goal is muscle building (assuming your diet is proper).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to just be &quot;fit&quot;, then yes it's fine absolutely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T14:48:03.893" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31250" CreationDate="2016-07-06T15:45:29.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're forgetting something VERY important here. As an example, consider this, if someone starts to workout their arms using 20lbs dumbbells (with no previous experience), they will eventually get stronger and the 20lbs will be easier than they were before right? So, now what if that person kept lifting 20lbs even after they got stronger? Do you think they're going to keep getting stronger? If that was the case, why would the gym need a bunch of dumbbells ranging from 10 to 200lbs, if you could just not change things up and progress? Do you get what I'm saying here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must understand that the human body is incredible at adapting. If, for example, you burn X amount of calories by walking 5 miles per day, your body will adapt. It will make its energy pathways more efficient and you will burn less than the X amount of calories that you used to burn, your body loves trying to save energy (hence why it stores extra as fat or glycogen). Same goes for any other physical activity you do, you MUST progress, either walk faster, longer, or more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we got the most fundamental point down, there's still a lot of reason that can cause your situation, and I will outline the most common/reasonable explanations. Also I have no idea why you're adding 600 calories to your RMR, you should be subtracting it. If you're not losing weight with the amount of calories you're eating, its very simple...just reduce the calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you want to lose weight in the healthiest way possible but you also say you don't lift weights. This is almost a contradiction. If you don't lift weights, when you do actually lose the weight, you will undoubtedly lose muscle as well (even if the majority of the weight was fat). If you lose muscle, you lower your metabolic rate. If you lower your metabolic rate, you now need to consume even less calories than before in order to lose weight. So if you needed 2000 (your RMR - 500 for example) calories a day to lose weight, and didn't weight train, and then you lost 5 lbs (3 lbs fat 2 lbs muscle). And after this, you STILL consumed the same amount of calories, you are now going over your maintenance calorie levels since you dropped your RMR by losing muscle, and hence you will actually gain weight! And since you don't weight train, you definitely didn't gain muscle, and now its gonna be even harder to lose this weight since your RMR is dropped! Do you see the contradiction now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, you can still lose weight in a healthy way without weight training, it will just be a lot harder and not the &quot;healthiest&quot; way possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your apetite increasing in the last few months can be explained by leptin.You eat below maintenance calories over a period of days or weeks. Your fat cells shrink as you diet, not eat, etc., and fat cells release less leptin.&#xA;Your brain senses that leptin levels are low, and that you are no longer &quot;fueled up.&quot; The hypothalamus senses the decrease in leptin levels, lowering metabolic rate and decreasing energy expenditure. It also sends a &quot;hungry&quot; signal, increasing appetite and encouraging you to eat. Leptin action isn't confined to just the hypothalamus. There are leptin receptors all over the body. This allows leptin to precisely coordinate appetite, metabolism, and energy expenditure.This is nature at its finest. Your body is programmed to survive. To combat this, it's actually not a bad idea to have &quot;refeed&quot; days. This would be a day (every two weeks or something) where you eat above your maintenance level calories in order to shock your body, so it doesn't adapt to lower calories and stall your progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, the sources of your calories matter. The less protein you eat, the more you risk muscle loss and hence lowering your metabolic rate which will make losing weight harder and even cause weight gain. The types of carbs you eat also matter. For example, if the majority of your carb sources are high-glycemic foods such as white rice, white bread, cereal, pasta, fries...etc, then you will over time build up insulin and leptin resistance (remember leptin is key). Insulin resistance will make it so that you can't utilize future carbs effectively for fuel and make you store them as fat easier. While leptin resistance will increase your apetite without you actually needing more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, sorry I went on a huge squeal about this stuff, I just saw your real 3 questions, but luckily they're easy to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Caloric Intake per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, every person is unique and will respond differently to different situations. You say your RMR is around 1960 from online calculators and this is a good place to start but you have to remember to experiment. There is nothing linear in the world of fitness and nutrition. If you're eating 1900 calories a day per weeks and not losing any weight, obviously the only sensible thing to do is reduce the calories, personally I would reduce by around 200.  Also note that you added 600 to your RMR. What I personally do is reduce 600 not add it so that's interesting. Im currently prepping for a competition and have been steadily dropping a pound each week for 5 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How should you divide per meal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is highly individual and depends on your goals. However, the best time to consume carbohydrates are period of high insulin sensitivity. This would be right in the morning when you wake up, and right before and after your workouts. Remember the main function of carbs is energy, so ideally you want to minimize their intake when you don't actually need them or it will be harder to burn fat. On the other hand, you don't wanna eliminate them completely because you will lose muscle easier. So for example, morning meal: high protein med carbs low fat, snack: high protein low-med fat, pre-workout: high protein med carb, post workout - high protein med carb, lunch/dinner and rest of the snacks- high protein med-high fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, just eat carbs around the workout and the morning. Eat fats when you dont eat carbs for energy. Eat protein ALL the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any other suggestions to stay healthy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lift weights. I can't stress this enough. When you first lift weights, you will gain muscle (healthy weight) increase your metabolism and so many more hormonal benefits its actually crazy not to workout. Also, do some research around the internet (from cited articles) regarding your goals. There are lots of great sites for this, bodybuilding.com, simplyshredded.com etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T15:45:29.580" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-07T02:58:44.463" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I follow a paleo-style diet and eat 3 big meals a day with occasional snacking on fruits or nuts. In addition, I exercise both cardio and weight-lifting 5 days a week. Ever since getting on paleo, my body fat levels have fluctuated between 8-12%. Anytime I drop below about 10%, I experience a lack of energy and often get drowsy throughout the day. How common is this lack of energy and drowsiness for people with low body fat percentages, and what do they do to avoid it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional Details:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Measurements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I measure my body fat with calipers and the 7 skin fold measurements. I know that calipers typically underestimate body fat, so I add 3-4% to my results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I typically eat around 3000-3500 calories per day. Although I do not calorie count regularly, so my numbers may vary from meal to meal and day to day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakfast: 500-1000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch: 500-1000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner: 1000-1500 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snacks (usually 2x daily): 300-500 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21710" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:39:07.343" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T13:39:07.343" Title="Low Body Fat Energy Levels" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-07-07T15:43:04.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31431" CreationDate="2016-07-07T11:24:09.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Potentially your issue could be water weight. The more dehydrated you are the more lethargic you can be, not sure how calliper's reflect this but the handheld composition devices are heavily skewed by water level, more dehydrated means lower bodyfat numbers on those devices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T11:24:09.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31422" CreationDate="2016-07-07T19:46:06.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some study has shown that if you do both heavy with few repetitions and lighter with higher repetitions, the muscles grow more than doing just one kind of workout. Also variations in sets can be used, like stripping weights lighter, then doing more reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start with warm up movements. That can contain various exercises and stretching. Some people warm up with lighter weights. You should do heavy compound weight lifting first, then other lifting, and any cardio later, because you can't do heavy lifting well as exhausted. It is also good practise to do heavy short 30 second sprints after workout, because it doesn't take long but activates the muscles well. Remember to stretch afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also consider the time between the sets. If it is shorter, there is less waiting around, but the weights get a bit lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21904" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T19:46:06.777" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31360" CreationDate="2016-07-08T07:17:26.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;YES and NO!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with push-ups is that at some point you will need to add more resistance to provide more challenge and your body has to adapt to.&#xA;Doing more push ups will not provide more muscle!&#xA;Getting bigger (more muscle mass) it is important 1. to have a good diet,&#xA;2. a challenging routine (with slowly increasing the weight or choosing a more difficult exercise for each body part - where for calisthenics your limit is your body weight and 3. REST, for your body to repair and build more muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best example are martial artists, who do tons of push ups, also different variations ... for the reason to stay in a certain weight class for competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups are a very good basic exercise, not only for beginners, I would also recommend it as a finisher after an intense pectoral weight training, to tax even the last part of the pecs, that may have not been challenged by the weights :-).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as a side-note, if you have never done strength training at all, of course you will build muscle, as your body wants to adapt to the new demands put on the body... but then you will stagnate at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T07:17:26.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31439" CreationDate="2016-07-08T13:14:24.967" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Height 5' 2&quot;. Weight 96 KGS. Taking medicines for hypothyroidism for 13 years. I want to loose fat and improve my stamina. Suggest me workouts cardio or weight training? Is it possible to reduce weight with hypothyroidism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7690" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T08:47:47.713" Title="Workout suggestions" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31436" CreationDate="2016-07-08T13:18:25.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The majority of weight loss is going to come from nutrition. What are you doing nutrition wise at the moment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as workouts, what you do at first is not as important as you enjoying it, and doing it consistently. Do you have experience with cardio? With weight training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21910" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T13:18:25.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31436" CreationDate="2016-07-08T14:17:15.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your goals are losing fat and improving stamina. Let's break each one down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lose fat, you must be in a caloric deficit (burn more calories than you eat). The usual way to this would be to ballpark your resting metabolic rate (RMR) and consume 500/600 calories less than this and see if you make progress, and adjust accordingly. You would want to eat the majority of your carbohydrates around your workouts so you're less likely to store them as glycogen and eventually fat, to make this fat loss process easier. You'd also want to consume at least a gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight in order to minimize muscle loss, so that your metabolism doesn't go down even further. It is a myth that it is the workout itself that does the fat burning, that's not true. It's the caloric deficit. The workout just helps increase metabolism via muscle mass and activity levels. HOWEVER, you say you have hypothyroidism, so your metabolism isn't like the general public. I don't know the extent of this in your case, but if it is VERY noticeable and is affecting you, then talk to your doctor about some medicines that can help with this. While very dangerous, talk to your doctor about Clenbuterol and Cytomel T3, both have the potential to increase your metabolism but are very dangerous if not used properly so MAKE SURE you talk to a doctor. If it is not that bad, the easiest and most effective way to increase your metabolism would be to increase muscle mass. Start weight training at least 3x a week with proper sleep and lots of food to add 5-15 lbs of muscle to kickstart your metabolism, you can lose the fat later when your metabolism is normal. So for fat loss, just experiment with a few calorie goals, and stick to the one that you make progress with, then decrease over time. It's hard to determine this number since your RMR is affected by your condition. Just experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve stamina (going to assume cardiovascular), you need to just work on it. There's no secret to this, if you want to get better at something, you just do it, do it often, do it well, and do it again. One key to this however that most people forget, don't get comfortable! If you get comfortable you're no longer making progress and thus aren't &quot;improving&quot; anything. For example, if you can do a 30 min walk right now without problem, either time your walks and try to get a faster time each time, or walk for longer. Your body adapts quickly so always strive to progress. Don't be shy to add in other cardiocascular activities as well, maybe join a recreational sports club, start biking, running, anything you want, it doesn't have to be something you hate, just pick somethings and look to always improve upon it. It is also very well documented that natural bodybuilding is amazing for cardivascular health, so do some more research into working out on your own on the internet and work out with intensity, always trying to beat your previous self. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to both of these goals however is just consistency. You won't see any results over night, you need to be patient and just put the work in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if you have any other concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T14:17:15.490" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31418" CreationDate="2016-07-08T14:27:17.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of your goals, I would say a training plan is not necessary.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some people, say who struggle to run their first 5k, a plan is needed to build them up to that point.  That isn't necessary for you however because you are already able to accomplish your goal which is running a few 5ks a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real thought I would suggest putting into it is just keeping an eye out for any lingering joint pain.  If that occurs, then change something (shoes, mileage per week, running form).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T14:27:17.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25907" CreationDate="2016-07-08T14:36:09.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, bench is going to exhaust you less because less muscle is being used.  This means it makes a smaller metabolic impact.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, if your deadlift is lower than your squat it isn't the end of the world, it just means you have a strength imbalance.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Deadlifts can exhaust you faster for many reasons.  It could be form issues, it could be that you are under-recovering (because deadlifts take longer to recover from than other exercises), or a lack of muscular endurance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To correct this I would suggest spending a bit more time on deadlifts than you were before.  Increase the weight when you feel comfortable.  Focus on what you are bad at, in this case, high rep sets.  Do sets of 8.  Keep plugging away and come back if you see no change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T14:36:09.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18789" CreationDate="2016-07-08T14:42:48.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that as you start to get in the really high weights things can get dicey, but short of having an injury mid-lift (which can happen) you should be able to lower even a 1 rep max weight down to your chest.  That being said, you should know how to dump weights to the side on bench press.  If you don't use clips, you can just tilt the bar to the side and all the plates will slide off.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T14:42:48.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31454" CreationDate="2016-07-08T14:50:38.400" Score="4" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;After some time heavy belly breathing it feels like the throat shrinks and it becomes hard to breathe in. Eventually I have to stop breathing for a few seconds, while still running, to be able to breathe in normally again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this happen and is there a way to prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19214" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T18:25:07.690" Title="Why does it become hard to breathe in when running fast" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31418" CreationDate="2016-07-08T17:31:13.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a walk-run plan to anyone who wants to start racing or running at all. Walk-run hurts a lot less to beginners and gives you a more rounded fitness level in aerobic and anaerobic capability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to have a serious plan by any means, but I see having a plan making running more enjoyable and helps you stay on it since cardio in general is extremely beneficial to your full body health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A basic weekly plan using the walk-philosophy could be...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: (5 minutes run easy -&gt; 3 minutes walk) x4-5 &lt;strong&gt;20-25 min total&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: (7 minute warmup)...(1 minute run hard -&gt; 2 min walk)x10-12...(7 min cooldown) &lt;strong&gt;24-26 min total&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednsday: (5 minute run med -&gt; 2 minute walk)...(15 minute run easy -&gt; 5 min walk)...(5 minute run med -&gt; 2 minute walk) &lt;strong&gt;25 min total&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thurday: &lt;strong&gt;off&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: (7 minute warmup)...(2 minute run med-hard -&gt; 1 minute walk)x5-6...(7 minute cooldown) &lt;strong&gt;24-26 min total&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: &lt;strong&gt;30-35 min easy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday &lt;strong&gt;off&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this every week for about 3 weeks(or until you feel yourself improving), and than you can slowly bump up the distance you run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. This is just a basic example and if you are interested, you can find more on it using a simple google search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this is way more than you asked for haha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21913" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T17:31:13.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31447" CreationDate="2016-07-08T18:25:35.617" Score="3" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would like to understand the importance of weight training? Why cardio alone is not enough in reducing fat? Pointers towards the above would be greatly appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7690" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T02:37:07.157" Title="Why weight training?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31445" CreationDate="2016-07-08T18:44:29.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With fat loss as a goal, weight training is generally not the solution. And to be honest, neither is cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat loss is achieved by regulating your diet. Spending 1000kcal on cardio can take hours, but saving 1000kcal in the kitchen is done in two minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training you do simply dictates how your body is going to adapt to the changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read some answers from related questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/best-exercise-to-lose-belly-fat-fast/870#870&quot;&gt;What exercises should I perform to reduce fat on a specific area of my body?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/718/how-to-lose-manboobs&quot;&gt;How to lose manboobs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3624/are-calories-the-only-important-aspect-of-a-diet&quot;&gt;Are calories the only important aspect of a diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2498/cardio-vs-weight-lifting-which-one-is-better-for-losing-weight?rq=1&quot;&gt;Cardio vs. Weight lifting. Which one is better for losing weight?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T18:44:29.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31445" CreationDate="2016-07-08T19:34:38.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The importance of weight training as it pertains to fat loss specifically depends on your goals. Weight training, when done properly, will add muscle mass. Increased muscle mass equates to a higher metabolic rate, i.e a faster metabolism. This makes losing fat and keeping it off a lot easier, i.e you can eat more calories relatively, you have more room. Vice versa, when you're in a caloric deficit in order to lose fat, you will undoubtedly lose some muscle in the process. When you lose muscle, your metabolism also slows down and hence fat burning will become harder and harder over time. In order to minimize muscle loss during a fat loss program, you need to signal the muscles that you still need them so your body doesn't burn them for energy and this is achieved through strength training. You will also improve your insulin sensitivity which basically dictates how efficiently you use carbohydrates. A higher insulin sensitivity means the person is more likely to store the carbs as fat and hence you can see how weight training comes in here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio alone IS enough for fat loss, and moreover, you dont even need cardio to lose fat. You just need to have a very good diet, and to be exact, a caloric deficit. But cardio and weight training are tools that help make this process much quicker and easier. Changing your lifestyle is a big part of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T19:34:38.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-08T20:22:11.060" Score="4" ViewCount="30014" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have scoliosis and also going to gym at least 2 times in a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For 2 years all my gym coaches said me &quot;deadlifts&quot; and &quot;squats&quot; are not suitable for scoliosis because it's pressing the back too much. So I never did these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I find a website (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scoliosisworkouts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.scoliosisworkouts.com/&lt;/a&gt;) and this website's workout program it's suggesting deadlift and squat. I'm not sure if I should trust them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt; : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scoliosisworkouts.com/index.php/strength-training-for-the-back/2-uncategorised/12-rami-s-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.scoliosisworkouts.com/index.php/strength-training-for-the-back/2-uncategorised/12-rami-s-workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift&lt;/strong&gt; : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scoliosisworkouts.com/index.php/strength-training-for-the-back/2-uncategorised/17-fat-burning-leaning-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.scoliosisworkouts.com/index.php/strength-training-for-the-back/2-uncategorised/17-fat-burning-leaning-workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really want to do these exercises because my back and my legs are weak. But i'm really wondering if they harm my back because of my scoliosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these exercises suitable for scoliosis?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3916" LastActivityDate="2018-11-14T14:54:26.157" Title="Deadlift and Squats for Scoliosis" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25907" CreationDate="2016-07-09T00:40:02.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My top three guesses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You don't squat right.  You go down to about 60 degrees and call it a rep.  When you deadlift you are beyond the point where your squat ends.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You haven't done enough deadlifts.  It will take a few months of doing a lift before your helper muscles adjust.  A person never doing deadlifts can't just naturally deadlift more if they haven't done them.  Some people may take a few weeks, some a few months.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You don't like doing them.  Your attitude towards the lift decreases your adrenaline and you feel tired faster.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T00:40:02.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31443" CreationDate="2016-07-09T01:09:25.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be caused by gas, you can should be able to breath better using chest breathing instead of belly breathing. While belly breathing is touted as being superior to chest breathing, there has been no rigorous science done in this area. Some results suggest that there may be some health benefits for patients suffering from asthma to practice belly breathing. Arguments like chest breathing being a lot shallower and therefore bringing in a lot less oxygen is pseudo-scientific nonsense, you can run just as fast with either breathing method, unless, of course belly breathing is obstructed by e.g. excessive pressure due to gas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastEditorUserId="8763" LastEditDate="2016-07-09T05:39:07.130" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T05:39:07.130" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31445" CreationDate="2016-07-09T06:03:52.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio is all you need to lose weight. You must build up enough cardio fitness to be able to run fast and long enough, but one hour of running can burn 1000 Kcal or more. Burning the same amount of energy from lifting weights would require you to lift a weight of 100 kg over a total height of 1 km. So, you'll need to lift a heavy weight on a training machine an incredible number of times before you come close to what you can burn in just an hour of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also think of it this way. The only way your excess fat can leave your body is by burning it with oxygen and converting it to CO2 and H2O. The CO2 can only be lost by exhaling it, while the H2O can also be lost as urine. In total about 84% of the lost fat mass will end up being exhaled in the form of CO2 gas, so the vast majority of your excess fat will have to leave your body via your lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do an hour of running you'll breath a lot faster during that hour than when you do strength exercises, also you'll keep on breathing at a faster rate for quite a while after the exertion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T06:03:52.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-09T08:35:38.230" Score="0" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that the key to success in weight training is consistency and regime: never skipping a workout and so on. I manage to be consistent sometimes, sometimes not (and these tend to be periods of 4-6 months). When the real life breaks the balance and consistency, I don't manage to be get to the gym for 1.5 hours 3 times a week, sometimes it's two times a week with 5 day interval, sometimes skipping a week and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's obvious that any really good results can't be produced during such periods, what could be the best approach to the training in such circumstances? Focusing on few base movements like squat and press and doing all of them each time? Or trying to do as much different exercises as possible for less sets? I'm not looking for a definite silver-bullet solution, but what are the options which make sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10119" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T17:42:10.840" Title="Approach to the irregular weight training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2016-07-09T14:17:16.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been kayaking quite a bit with my Fitbit flex. No it is not accurate as far as actual steps since obviously paddling isn't walking. I don't think there's a way around it unless Fitbit makes an option for it. But, it's still nice to use the activity tracker to see where you went. Also, the question about mileage- What I think is that even though it's tracking the entire route as say 10 miles, it's only tracking the actual distance you paddled and not the part where you are drifting. It's like going on a 10 mile walking trip but floating for half of it. I apologize if my answer is in the wrong place or format. I'm not experienced in this forum and was looking for kayaking/Fitbit tips myself and thought maybe my input would help someone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21915" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T14:17:16.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31443" CreationDate="2016-07-09T15:41:58.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/for-beginners-only/help-i-get-out-of-breath-easily&quot;&gt;Runner's World article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Breathlessness may also be due to fatigue of the inspiratory muscles, primarily the diaphragm. Just as we condition and build the endurance of our skeletal muscles, the diaphragm also requires similar conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for preventing it, here are two things that have really helped me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm Up&lt;/strong&gt; - Start by walking briskly for a minute or two.  Begin jogging slowly, then gradually increase your pace.  Think at least 5-10 minutes of warming up before you get into the &quot;meat&quot; of your run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slow Down&lt;/strong&gt; - If, despite warming up, you keep getting out of breath while running, you may be trying to go faster than your current abilities.  Slow down your overall pace and/or take regular walk breaks.  With time and consistency, your body will become more efficient, and you will be able to run faster with the same effort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21905" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T15:41:58.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31452" CreationDate="2016-07-09T17:42:10.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone with job, and family likely experiences what you describe, and has the same question. What is the best routines for time available. I think personally basic movement patterns and exercise to counterbalance the repetitive nature of work (long hours of sitting, standing, bad posture etc..) in combination with stretching is the best the non athlete can aim for. A well rounded ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is likely no silver bullet. Train your weakness and maintain your strengths on time crunch weeks. And do more when you have time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20486" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T17:42:10.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31445" CreationDate="2016-07-10T02:37:07.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise has been traditionally misunderstood as the way to reduce fat.  While you can induce a caloric deficit by burning more calories than you take in and thus lose weight (&quot;The Thermodynamics Diet&quot;), it will likely be temporary and hunger will encourage you to return to a calorie-neutral or positive diet.  &quot;Calories-in vs. Calories-out&quot;, though simple and true in a physics sense, completely ignores the endocrine system with its appetite-regulating hormones and multiple metabolic pathways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much more effective to adjust the macronutrients of the diet, reducing the carbohydrates that increase blood sugar and insulin secretion, because insulin inhibits the utilization of stored fat for energy.  Can't burn much fat when on a blood sugar roller coaster and hungry every couple of hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, weight-training is an ideal stimulus to the body that more muscle is needed.  Muscle is metabolically expensive, so consumes calories even when not in use, and when used hard burns through a lot of glucose, improving insulin sensitivity and blood sugar levels.  It can be a very time-efficient way to maintain general fitness and increase physical resiliency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio, while fun, is mostly good for conditioning the body for, well, more cardio. Medium-intensity activity utilizes the aerobic pathway in muscles, which only slowly depletes glycogen stores and glucose.  Weight training (or high intensity interval training) utilizes the anaerobic pathway that blows through glucose at ~20x the rate.   While most forms of exercise are good for increasing levels of &quot;fitness&quot;, cardio's applicability to weight loss can be assessed by surveying those who daily use the treadmill at your local gym.  Some will be slim, some will not, more or less independent of number of hours spent.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a book called &quot;Body By Science&quot; that discusses a more researched and nuanced view of exercise than is traditionally taught.  It recommends surprisingly short but very intense intermittent sessions of resistance training-- a stimulus designed to provoke the desired response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21920" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T02:37:07.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31468" CreationDate="2016-07-10T02:42:24.370" Score="3" ViewCount="9968" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder whether I should place my arms across my chest or behind my head when doing abdominal crunches. I am interested in both the effectiveness of the exercise as well as injury prevention (eg lower back or neck injuries).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pxchZ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pxchZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;demonstration&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zrk9f.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zrk9f.png&quot; alt=&quot;demonstration&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastEditorUserId="18641" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T13:38:54.373" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T22:07:38.607" Title="When doing abdominal crunches, should I place my arms across my chest or behind my head?" Tags="&lt;crunches&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31458" CreationDate="2016-07-10T09:40:54.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you do not pull your head - it does not matter. You can also keep hands side by side, or straight. Try different positions, and choose best for you. From time to time change it - maybe something goes better over time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can stress muscles isometrically, or move chest and hips closer. That is other topic, but can influence hands position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T09:40:54.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31458" CreationDate="2016-07-10T10:46:30.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think placing the hands behind the head is more difficult for doing crunches than placing hands on the chest. So it's upto you. Placing hands behind the head can cause injuries if you do it improperly that is if you pull your head while doing crunches  so be careful and use proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18372" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T10:46:30.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31332" CreationDate="2016-07-10T17:57:54.453" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fighting with this problem too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In front of a computer 12 hours / 7 days of week / round year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could take my way. As you have mentioned: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;hit the weight room 5 or 6 days a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The background theory of my way: Why does neck hurts? Muscles too light to keep it properly straight. Because of lack of physical job. I'm not a hard worker, not a red-neck, I don't walking more than 1 hour a day even! It is like astronauts situation. You'd seen how they did returning from year of flying.....  In wheelchair, like completely mutilated mans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery means a weight lifting. They are building their body. What does it mean? It is bodybuilding!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must looking here not a neck-related question, but program for novice to build your body. Right food, not drugs. Right life-style...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is why, I've bought barbell, bench and rack, plus 120kg in &#xA;25kg*2, 20kg*2, 10kg*2, 5kg*2 load. Approximate 1k$, not a higher equipment for top-athletes, my barbell would load 300kg at max, looks like it is Chines forgery, anyway break it will be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of its are staying right in front of me, behind this monitor, in my room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recovered in my memory three years of University's gym class...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovered this enigmatic word &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerlifting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Powerlifting&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And started!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to increase muscles masses around neck, additionally, likely, part of your vertebra too suffer under high charge. Moreover, I'd like to start from spine to heal neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Powerlifting is one of the easiest set of exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press ( shoulder girdle )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift ( lumbar area )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat ( all of back )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, All of this three exercises are training your back. Increasing muscle masses on the back decrease load on the spine bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of advices, which you will hearing everytime anyway, if you gonna get my way: Right Food - is 80% of success. For example, I'm eating vitamins everyday after meal. And everyday I'm pushing around 13,825kg in sum. After training - there is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_window&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metabolic window&lt;/a&gt; ( 40min ), I'm eating Porridge with milk and finishing it with vitamins. Non-stop, 365 days...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21921" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T17:57:54.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-10T18:16:39.093" Score="4" ViewCount="606" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep a regular workout routine, and due to living constraints I have tried to use bodyweight workouts as much as possible, with as little equipment as possible. So far I have been able to find exercises for almost every muscle group using no equipment, however I have not been able to find an equipment-free workout for biceps. Is there a bicep exercise I can do with absolutely no equipment (this includes bars, resistance bands and the like). Ideally I'd like something that I can do using only my body and a floor or wall if need be.&#xA;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19126" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T18:07:46.530" Title="Is there a bicep exercise that uses no equipment?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31462" CreationDate="2016-07-10T18:47:17.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A useful resource when looking for targeted exercises is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRx.net&lt;/a&gt;.  It isn't comprehensive but it is close.  It also shows the mechanics of many exercises which shows why you have a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To work the biceps you need to be contracting the arm from the extended position to having your hands approach your shoulder.  Without lifting objects or pulling your body towards a bar, I cannot imagine how to achieve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10872" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T18:47:17.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15850" CreationDate="2016-07-10T19:20:27.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The medical community does not apply to athletes, they advise on joe public that does little to nothing. If you want to consult relevant professionals, look to sports coaches. The medical community is woefully outdated when it comes to sports- it still uses the BMI to assess obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your question- you only need to do the VM for 1 rep maxes. It is not possible to hold your breath for multiple reps and the whole point is to be able to lift much heavier loads than you could otherwise manage. The 3-5 rep range for example, does not require the VM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a beginner to lifting or squatting in particular, VM is not really relevant to you because you would not be handling weights heavy enough to require this technique if you were squatting to proper depth. (Proper depth is minimally butt level with top of knees, optimally, hips level with top of knees). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For general breathing practice, you should breathe in on the non exertion and&#xA;out on the effort. This is why you will often hear shouting, because the lifter is vocalising at the time of exertion, forcing out their air, the result of which can be VERY loud.&#xA;Weightlifter and Powerlifter for 20 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21924" LastEditorUserId="21924" LastEditDate="2016-07-10T19:33:41.877" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T19:33:41.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-11T08:47:39.430" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use the food supplement &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.n11.com/arama?q=Carnitine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Le Carnitine&lt;/a&gt; to burn fat. When using this, do i need to do cardio before or after workout? Which one is more effective for burning fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR can you offer &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.n11.com/fitness-ve-kondisyon/besin-takviyeleri&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another product&lt;/a&gt; to burn fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21925" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T12:31:54.130" Title="How to burn fat while doing workout?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-12T14:21:34.593" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31465" CreationDate="2016-07-11T12:31:54.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please don't forget that you can't &quot;buy&quot; results. You can use all the L-carnitine in the world, which will certainly help a little, but unless you're actually in a caloric deficit, your cardio and supplements won't lead to anything but disappointment. I learned this through my years in high school, you can NOT outtrain a bad diet, so please make sure your diet is appropriate first!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For burning fat it's been proven that cardio &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; the workout is a lot more effective. This is because when you do a workout, you are burning the glycogen that your body has stored via carbohydrates. Since after the workout your glycogen stores are lower than they were when you started, when you do cardio you have to burn less glycogen in order to get into the fat burning zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also burns more fat indirectly since the workout itself actually has quite an effect on fat burning. There is something that occurs called post exercise oxygen consumption, which is basically your body using energy in order to repair the muscles you've damaged through the workout, i.e higher metabolic rate. So, if you put more energy into your workout by not doing cardio first, this amount will be higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's 2 very good reasons to do cardio after the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for other supplements for fat burning, I won't give specific ones but there are some proven ingredients for this purpose. The first is the ECA stack, stands for ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin (ive never actually used the aspirin part I don't see a point). Just pure caffeine is also pretty good, it mobilizes fat cells for you to burn them faster. Yohimbe and l-carnitine have also been shown to be effective. Green tea extract helps with insulin levels and apparently has been shown to help metabolism to a very small degree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in my honest opinion, nothing beats a proper diet with caffeine as the fat burning/ pre-workout supplement in terms of pure simplicity, price, and effectiveness. The rest of the supplements you see have very questionable ingredients using bogus science studies to say false and over hyped claims to make people think they can &quot;buy&quot; fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T12:31:54.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31462" CreationDate="2016-07-11T13:04:56.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are also possible biceps workouts with a towel or rope: &#xA;Towel biceps curls like: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4lG8xKD1Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4lG8xKD1Q&lt;/a&gt; or&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthylivingart.com/strength-training/home-grown-arms.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.healthylivingart.com/strength-training/home-grown-arms.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or using a partner:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kalimuscle.com/kalis-blog/biceps-curl-using-plastic-bag-or-towel/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://kalimuscle.com/kalis-blog/biceps-curl-using-plastic-bag-or-towel/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you could perform pullups on a door, which is essentially also minimal equipment :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15141" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T13:04:56.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31458" CreationDate="2016-07-11T13:14:12.323" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your core likes it when all your limbs are close and stable to your body. When you put your arms to the side or behind your head, your core has to work extra hard in order to balance things out. So to answer your question, across your chest will make the exercise easier while behind the head makes it harder and works a bit more stabilizers. Keep in mind, putting them across your chest makes it easier to round your upper back, which is not what you want out of a crunch. Similarly, behind the head can also make you pull with your head, which is also not good. When you do put them behind your head, don't actually touch your head, maybe just with the fingertips, the exercise only benefits from your arms being away from your body, all actually touching your head does is make the exercise lazier and easier to get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T13:14:12.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31462" CreationDate="2016-07-11T14:35:20.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above, &quot;towel curls&quot; are typically the go-to action, using items you have in your house. Similar exercises involve placing your hands on a fixed counter or bar and straining against the fixed object (although I would warn you to pick something firmly moored. It's surprisingly easy to uproot a kitchen counter or porch railing because they're built to resist forces from the other drections). Lastly, if you're allowing fixed objects, there's always the option of grabbing a fixed rail (or edge of a table), resting your heels on a smooth surface (such as a kitchen floor), and pulling your bodyweight back and forth under the area you're grabbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theoretically, you could do &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/isometric-training-what-it-is-and-how-to-do-it-correctly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;isometrics&lt;/a&gt;, either providing resistance by flexing your triceps or by using your other hand to push down. I'm personally skeptical of isometrics, finding that they don't seem to have much positive exercise benefit, but I've known people who swear by them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T14:35:20.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31462" CreationDate="2016-07-11T15:12:31.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to the anatomy of the upper arm, I think you’ll need to concentrate on trying to perform exercises that allow you to “curl” your arm while also providing some level of resistance.  With that in mind, you might consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXMA484O4-Y&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Door way row&lt;/a&gt; with one arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fitbodybuzz.com/body-weight-bicep-exercises-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Inverted rows with an underhand grip&lt;/a&gt; if you can adapt a table or some other structure to support your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/exercise/5-best-body-weight-exercises-for-your-arms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Front Double Biceps pose (Front flex)&lt;/a&gt; - while not a mass builder, is a form of isometric contraction that can help shape and define the arms.  That’s why body builders spend countless hours practicing poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T15:12:31.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31491" CreationDate="2016-07-12T01:00:20.543" Score="0" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I`m training in order to take the American Red Cross Lifeguard pre-test/screening. &lt;strong&gt;In order to pass, I need to:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Swim 20 yards, head-dive, retreive a 10 lb brick, swim on my back the 20 yards with the brick out of water, and get out of the pool without a ladder. (In under 1 min 40 sec)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tread water with only my legs for 120 seconds (2 minutes)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swim 150 yards freestyle/front crawl and 150 yards breaststroke&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that I can do the first two. I also know that I can swim about 75 yards of each stroke. I haven't been swimming in ages, and my pool just re-opened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is this:&lt;/strong&gt; What out-of-water exercises can I complete that will strengthen the muscles I use for these two strokes? I don't have a lot of time in the water, so I need something that I can do for 30 mins before bed or during free time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21930" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:50:09.213" Title="What Exercises Replicate Swimming?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31486" CreationDate="2016-07-12T01:42:36.673" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a good way to control my breathing while doing push-ups? I really want to be able to do 100 push-ups come next school year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I can do 40 per set if I push myself. However, my breathing is terrible. I`m never sure when to inhale and exhale, so I end up holding my breath without realizing it. Then, after 5-6 push ups when I realize it, I inhale a ton of air. After repeating this over and over, I get tired out faster and I do push ups more slowly than I should. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21930" LastEditorUserId="21930" LastEditDate="2016-07-13T14:42:23.753" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T14:42:23.753" Title="Best Way to Control Breathing During Pushups?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-12T02:40:13.963" Score="0" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;When people in parkour videos do flips, they look cool, but is it really important to do it? To what extent should you do a flip (i.e. heights, obstacles)?&#xA;Also, what flips should a beginner learn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21931" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T10:50:57.417" Title="What flips are unnecessary in parkour/freerunning?" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-07-12T14:21:50.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-12T08:19:47.703" Score="1" ViewCount="919" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I do my workout in the morning right after breakfast. How do I distribute my protein intake through out the day. I am going to be basing my diet on &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beef&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Baked Beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eggs &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also for workout in the morning right after breakfast, what is the best time for carb intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6532" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T08:03:35.620" Title="how to distribute protein intake throughout the day" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31488" CreationDate="2016-07-12T09:23:24.763" Score="4" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since power yoga includes many postures which involves lifting self body weight. For example 5th step of Surya Namskar makes one bearing whole body weight on arms,shoulder and feet fingers. There are many such Asans like Kandrasan, sarvangasana, halasana, naukasana etc. Each of these Asans have postures which centers body weight on a particular body part. So are these as effective as lifting weights in gym because here one is lifting own body weight for several stretched period of times in one session of an hour? Will they improve muscle mass thus Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21900" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T18:16:04.123" Title="Is power yoga equivalent to strength training in Gym?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31483" CreationDate="2016-07-12T10:41:31.870" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, power yoga does not offer the same benefits as weight training. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but one thing that is not satisfied by power yoga, is progressive overload by increasing resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In weight training, this is one of the two primary markers of progress, alongside increasing repetitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, I'm not saying one is better than the other. Power yoga is far better when it comes to developing flexibility, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, which one you choose should be decided by what goals you wish you achieve. And if in doubt, do both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T10:41:31.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31477" CreationDate="2016-07-12T10:50:57.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of them, and none of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't ask about both parkour and freerunning at the same time, since they are two different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In parkour, you aim to overcome an obstacle as fast as possible. Flips are almost always unnecessary, but they can be added for flair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In freerunning, you aim to simply perform tricks, which makes flips very satisfying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But at the end of the day, it is completely opinion-based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T10:50:57.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31475" CreationDate="2016-07-12T11:37:40.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exhale on the push up, breathe in on the lower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower slowly and explode upwards each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T11:37:40.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31480" CreationDate="2016-07-12T14:43:18.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;How important is nutrient or meal timing?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under most circumstances and in the grand scheme of things, it's not critical. Of far greater importance is hitting your calorie, macro- and micro-nutrient needs over the course of the day. After that, consistency and commitment should be applied to an appropriate workout plan that suits your performance and/or body goals. If you tend to train in a fasted state, getting your post-workout nutrition in as soon as possible is a good idea, but the first two points (daily diet goals, consistent training) still take precedence. (reddit.com)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879660/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Meal timing does not have significant impact on muscle development&lt;/a&gt;. However, your digestive tract may find it easier if you spread your protein evenly over all your meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: There is no limit to amount of protein you can eat in one sitting: &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-can-i-eat-in-one-sitting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-can-i-eat-in-one-sitting/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T06:57:03.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31483" CreationDate="2016-07-12T18:16:04.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends what you mean by effective. You asked at the end about improving your RMR via increased muscle mass. In terms of this, it doesn't even come close to strength/weight training. Alec mentioned a very key aspect for this, but it's even more fundamental than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You break down most of your muscle fibres during the eccentric part of an exercise (the lowering part of the bench press or the dumbbell curl for example). The eccentric part of an exercise compared to the concentric (lifting) and isometric(static) is MUCH more effective and efficient for muscle building purposes. Note that I'm not saying you CAN'T build muscle with isometrics and concentrics, it's just way harder. And since power yoga is mostly isometrics, it can't be considered equivalent to weight training, at least for muscle building purposes for higher RMR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are actually a lot more factors than this, for example, hypertrophy has been shown to be caused by tension, time under tension, progressive overload, and metabolic stress. All of these are more efficiently worked on via weights. Moreover, weight training promotes the release of certain anabolic hormones such as hgh, testosterone, improves insulin sensitivity (insulin is very important for building muscle), as well as protein synthesis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is only in terms of building muscle. In that regard, they can't be compared. But like Alec said for flexibility and basic strength, you can certainly get away with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T18:16:04.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31493" CreationDate="2016-07-12T20:27:00.603" Score="2" ViewCount="1580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started bodybuilding and I also practice swimming,I ask if i can practice swiming in the morning and train bodybuilding in the evening..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or should i make a day for swiming and a day for bodybuilding ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your answers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21929" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T20:48:06.533" Title="Can we do swiming and bodybuilding in the same day" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-13T14:26:20.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31474" CreationDate="2016-07-12T20:39:07.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an American Red Cross Lifeguard Instructor I can say with absolute certainty that for the 300 yard swim it does not matter how much of it is front crawl or how much of it is breaststroke, but you can only swim those two strokes and can only switch strokes at a wall (not in the middle of a the pool).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it is likely that your instructor will have you do the 300 yard swim, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; the timed brick retrieval swim, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; the 2 minute tread with out hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this isn't what you want to hear, but the best (and really only) way to get better at swimming is to swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If absolutely cannot carve out much time to swim then I would work on the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cardio (Running/Biking/Running Up and Down Stairs, Etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core (Push Ups, Sit Ups, Plank, Etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulders (Push Ups, Plank, Etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also work on  your breaststroke technique by laying on your bed with your upper chest, neck, and head hanging off of the bed. Laying this way will prevent you from pulling your arms too far down, and you can practice your arms and legs this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20518" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T20:39:07.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31490" CreationDate="2016-07-12T20:42:52.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can do both in one day. I have done (and seen many others) a body-building workout immediately followed by a swim work out many times. Just make sure you stretch and stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20518" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T20:42:52.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31490" CreationDate="2016-07-12T20:48:06.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do whichever one that fits your schedule. Note that if you choose to do the swimming in the morning and working out in the evening, then your nutrition needs to be looked at a bit more carefully. For example, if in the morning, after you finish your swimming workout, and you don't eat an adequate amount of carbs and protein in order to replenish your glycogen stores (basically, your energy), then your workout in the evening will suffer greatly and vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would do them on separate days just because, bodybuilding routines require rest days. This way, instead of fully resting, you will have an active rest day which will help speed up your recovery for the next bodybuilding day. Aerobic activity has been shown to increase muscle recovery and thus this is a good option to consider. This would also be beneficial from a fat loss point of view since you would never actually be inactive. Furthermore, your nutrition could slack a little more than compared to doing both on the same day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you work out at 100% intensity, I would personally find it taxing to do two gruelling workouts both in a day, regularly. This could potentially be taxing on the nervous system and leave you more tired overall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what I'm trying to say is, you COULD do both on the same day if you pay great attention to your diet and make sure you're fueled with enough carbs and protein so you don't lose muscle and energy as well as making sure to stay hydrated. However, it would be much easier to just do them on separate days, both mentally, physically, and from a nutrition point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T20:48:06.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31462" CreationDate="2016-07-13T03:27:21.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try sitting down with one ankle crossed over the other leg. Then, using the bicep closest to the crossed over leg, raise it. I read this from Bret Contera's Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18389" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T03:27:21.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31499" CreationDate="2016-07-13T14:22:43.680" Score="4" ViewCount="12045" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing some hanging knee raises and honestly, they are not hard at all on my stomach or legs, but the problem is that I cannot keep my hands up there on the pullup bar, they are constantly slipping and this is preventing me from doing multiple reps — I get to 15 reps per set max when I really feel that my stomach and legs could handle a lot more. I've tried using gloves, which actually make my grip worse, and I've also tried using flour to cover my hands in it, but neither of the mentioned helped... Can anyone help me with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21949" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T14:48:05.007" Title="How to prevent hands-slipping from a bar?" Tags="&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31498" CreationDate="2016-07-13T14:42:24.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you either have weak grip or your hands are actually physically slipping. Both very fixable issues, so don't be discouraged!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is ACTUAL slipping, then there's a few things you can do. First, flour doesn't work NEARLY as well as just pure chalk. You know the stuff that olympic lifters use? You can get some at any supplement store or sports store for at most $5. Just thoroughly rub it on both your palms and you should be good to go. Flour really doesn't compare to chalk in my opinion, so FIRST thing you should do is go invest in some. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next option, change your grip. Try using a hook grip, where your wrap your thumb around the bar then wrap your thumb with your hand (should google a picture or something). This will hurt your thumb at first but over time you'll get used to it and you won't slip this way. You could even try a false grip, hanging off of your palms like a monkey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next option (and most effective) use lifting straps. There is absolutely NO WAY that you could slip using these. Just wrap the straps around the bar and tighten the straps and you could basically hang off of the bar forever until your lats give out. You could also get these at any supplement/sports stores or the internet. The one downside to these is that you won't get to work on your grip strength at all, but if your main focus is core, then you can and should do this. You can work on your grip in other exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an additional note, gloves won't actually do anything for your grip at all. All gloves do is basically help with your hands not hurting and prevent calluses. I definitely don't recommend gloves so your hands can toughen up on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the above 3 are basically guaranteed to prevent further slipping provided you do them right, so try them. Now, the only other explanation is that you have a weak grip...like half the gym population. Now, if you don't care about this, then use lifting straps. But if you do actually care, then you need to work on it. There are lots of grip workouts that you can do that you will online. But the simplest way to get better at this is to just practice it. Your forearms are used everyday so they need a different kind of stimulus. Also, bodyweight exercises are more motor function oriented rather than just basic muscle strength. This means if you want to be able to hang off of the bar without trouble, then you need to just practice hanging off the bar. Start with 3-4 sets of hangs on the bar as long as you can, and strive to improve the duration/sets with each workout or week. You can add on reverse/hammer curls to work on your brachialis, as well as wrist curls to directly work grip. You should also try to incorporate some towel pull ups in order to really improve grip strength. This is where you would hang a towel (or any cloth really) off of a bar and either hang off it or do pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fix this, you just need to be able to diagnose yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, &lt;strong&gt;if it's actual slipping&lt;/strong&gt;, then use real chalk, lifting straps, or a hook grip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it's just pure grip weakness&lt;/strong&gt;, just practice. Add direct hanging and pulling work and work on the primary muscles involved such as the lats, biceps , and forearms. Research some grip workouts, everyone is different and it's up to you to find one that you enjoy and works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you don't care at all about grip strength&lt;/strong&gt;, you can just use lifting straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it's a mix of both weak grip and slippery bar&lt;/strong&gt;, use either chalk or a hook grip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-07-13T14:48:05.007" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T14:48:05.007" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31501" CreationDate="2016-07-13T14:54:59.113" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that personal trainers are usually well educated about the human body so that they know which exercise engages which groups of muscle. They often have very good awareness of how to use your surroundings the same way as gym equipment. For example, a park bench can be used for elevated push-ups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not completely clueless about our muscle groups and types of exercises, I can also deduce what the effect of a particular exercise is. I would like to educate myself further though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which resources should I use to study this particular topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21950" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T15:06:43.827" Title="How can I educate myself about the human body to be able to come up with useful exercises" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-07-14T15:13:18.153" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31500" CreationDate="2016-07-13T15:06:43.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ExRx.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of a better resource to learn about every exercise ever thought up. Most &quot;new&quot; exercises are variations on these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T15:06:43.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31503" CreationDate="2016-07-13T15:16:05.190" Score="1" ViewCount="522" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in decreasing my body fat percentage.  Right now it is hovering around 24% which is (at least) 10% higher than I would like it to be.  I have started going to the gym to help rectify this, in addition to modifying my diet to include better quality foods, and little or no &quot;snacking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this:  while at the gym, during my weight lifting sessions, is it better to do: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 set of 20 reps of a lower weight, or&#xA;3 sets of 10 reps of a higher weight?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, my goal is not to bulk up, but rather to slim down.  I wan to have a lower body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21951" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T13:26:20.603" Title="For decreasing body fat percentage, many low-weight reps or few high weight reps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31502" CreationDate="2016-07-13T15:42:54.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your goal main goal is fat-loss. You say your diet now includes better quality foods and little to no snacking, while this is an improvement, it's usually not enough. In order to actually lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. In case you're not aware, your body burns a lot of calories daily on its own without you doing anything in order to function. The amount is determined by something called the RMR, go online and calculate this value. Or if you're lazy, whatever your bodyweight is in lbs, multiply by 14-15 and subtract around 500-600 calories to be safe, and aim to eat that amount of calories everyday. Eat the majority of your carbs around your workouts in order to improve insulin sensitivity and speed up fat loss. Eat at least 0.8g of protein per lbs of bodyweight in order to minimize muscle loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I very quickly gave you an overview above but your diet is the most important part of fat loss by far. I would go as far as saying fat loss is 90% diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, since you can't gain muscle on a caloric deficit, your goal should be to maintain the most amount of muscle possible.The more muscle mass you have the higher your metabolic rate. The higher your metabolic rate, the more efficient your fat loss process becomes. So in simple terms, more muscle increases your metabolism. If you lose a considerable amount of muscle during the weight loss, your metabolism will slow down and you will find it extremely hard to lose additional fat and you will most likely gain fat. So you basically just traded fat for muscle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in terms of the actual question. High-intensity strength exercises (in the 70-100% range) are better than low intensity strength exercises (in the 40-70% range) while dieting. The higher training loads help you preserve strength and muscle while on a hypocaloric (reduced calorie) diet much better than super-high volume/low intensity workouts. We've been brainwashed by the various muscle magazines to believe that you should do high rep training for definition. This is absolutely ridiculous! Sure, you use a little more energy during your session, but think about it: the higher the training volume you perform, the more energy you need to recover from your workout. The more glycogen you burn while strength training, the more carbs you'll need to recover and progress. If you're on any kind of cutting diet, chances are that you've lowered your carb intake quite a bit. So you need more carbs, but you're actually giving less to your body!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, while on a hypocaloric diet your body has a lowered anabolic drive, meaning that it can't synthesize as much protein into muscle as it does when you're eating a ton. A super-high volume of work (with high reps) leads to a lot of microtrauma to the muscle structures; a lot of microtrauma requires a great protein synthesis increase, which your body can't do at this point. Of course, using Maximum Strength HOT-ROX will allow you to maintain muscle while on a hypocaloric diet, in addition to helping you burn away fat.&#xA;So if you use high-volume/low-intensity training while dieting, you'll break down more muscle and build up less. Not exactly good news! Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of high-rep training is an increase in blood and nutrient flow to the muscles, but if you have a reduced amount of nutrients available in your body, this benefit is pretty much wasted! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully at this point you understand the message of this answer: &lt;strong&gt;During a fat loss diet, strength training (intensities above 60%)  is used to prevent muscle loss and even stimulate muscle gain. It shouldn't be used as a fat loss agent! The bulk of your fat loss will come from your diet and energy systems work.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: T-Nation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T15:42:54.010" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-13T16:43:09.507" Score="1" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in using spinning (group stationary bike class) as part of a long-distance-running training plan (from half marathon to ultra marathon). Typical plans include running at least 4 days/wk and weekly mileage of 20mi to 50mi (or more). I've completed marathons before without including cycling (or much cross-training) but I want the added benefit that comes with cross-training on days off from running (avoiding injury and adding fun are also motivating factors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be given that I go easier/harder based on feel, I do not spin the day of a long/slow run, and that there are day-to-day variations (e.g. the instructor and their plan for the day, the bike itself, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering how to choose the right level of intensity and whether it is more beneficial to focus on cadence (speed) or resistance. Or is the random nature of this form of cross-training the main benefit? (I'm thinking this is similar to the fartlek run style of training.) Lastly, classes are 1 hour long - is it wise to let this type of training actually supplant some amount of running? i.e. each week let N hours of spin reduce running by N hours (up to a point).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2016-07-13T17:52:38.470" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T07:35:17.243" Title="Guidelines for using spinning (stationary bike) as cross-training for long-distance running" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31480" CreationDate="2016-07-13T22:24:11.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is how I have achieved what you are seeking to achieve.  First, while I only eat three reasonable-sized &quot;meals&quot; a day, I do consume small amounts of high quality food between meal times.  This is what I strive for in my protein consumption:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;7 am  - 2 deviled eggs with breakfast&#xA;10 am - 1/2 cup of mix nuts&#xA;1 pm  - turkey (or ham) sandwich for lunch&#xA;4 pm  - yogurt&#xA;7 pm  - A portion of fish, usually salmon with dinner&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My protein does vary quite a bit more than what is pictured here, but this is the gist of it. It is HARD to get enough protein.  According to the head trainer at my gym, you are supposed to get 1 gram per lb. of body weight.  For me that would be 190-ish grams of protein, which is near to impossible (so it seems to me).  So finding ways to consume lots of protein without exceeding your caloric goals is a fine trick to pull off.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21951" LastEditorUserId="21951" LastEditDate="2016-07-14T03:15:49.900" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T03:15:49.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27537" CreationDate="2016-07-14T05:34:18.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, regular physical fitness routines will indeed make a difference on bone structure and growth as well as muscle mass giving net result as an increase in shoulder distance. The younger you are as you begin, the greater the effect will be. Specifically, weight training and other anaerobic and high impact routines will have the greatest effect on both bone and muscle growth. This, however, needs to be consistent training over a long period of time in order to realize the effects long-term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is to naturally increase your growth hormone (GH) levels as osteocytes and osteoblasts are stimulated by GH and by mechanotransduction. Actual bone length may not be effected at all and may have more to do with genetics. See my other answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29051/relation-between-upper-body-workout-and-wrist-size&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (relating to wrist size, but also relevant for other bones and muscles) for a detailed explanation. HINT: Read the section entitled &quot;Detailed Explanation of Bone Growth&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet also plays an important role. You need to have enough protein as well as many other nutrients in order to support and maintain the muscles and bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just about any upper body workout involving the shoulders, chest, or upper back overtime will give the impression of a greater shoulder distance and increase bone density and growth overtime. You should, however, not endeavor to make this your main goal. Ideally, overall health and fitness and proportionate body strength should be the main goal to strive for. Besides, as your leg and glut muscles are the largest in your body, they will therefore have the greatest net effect in increasing your GH levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29051/relation-between-upper-body-workout-and-wrist-size&quot;&gt;Relation between upper body workout and wrist size&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T06:01:11.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31718" CreationDate="2016-07-14T06:34:36.440" Score="4" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm preparing for a couple of 10km race taking place in 2 and 3 months. I've started 4 weeks ago a training program suggesting specific training based on heart rate, and each week I should do a long slow run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that keeping a steady HR means that my pace go slowly down during the session. I run for more that 60 minutes, my heart rate should stay between 145 and 150, and in the first 20-30 min I can keep a peace lower than 6:30 min/km, later I should slow to 7:00 or even more to avoid my HR going over 155.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that normal? Am I training wrong or over-training? Am I simply not well trained yet and my body isn't used to run for more than 30 minutes or so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21672" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T07:01:51.530" Title="long run pace not stable" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31504" CreationDate="2016-07-14T07:10:09.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Were you aiming just for 10k or half marathons I would recommend using bike to perform HIIT, focusing on improving cardiovascular ability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you want to do marathons and ultras I would recommend that you practice by running long distances, 5-6 days a week, every week, for a year or two. Once you have completed a marathon or ultra then you should look at improving your time through targeted training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T07:10:09.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31508" CreationDate="2016-07-14T07:38:36.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a run there are great deal of influences on your heart rate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wind: Wind can be a great factor in lowering/raising your HR. 2 days ago i did a run in 3 bft. Running with the wind/against the wind at a constant pace did change my heart rate by 5 to 10 bpms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fatigue: The further you run, the more fatigued the muscles get. This causes your running form to suffer (if you aren't trained well yet). this makes you run less efficient. Making you need more energy/effort to run the same distance at the same pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Terrain: I don't need to explain to you that running uphill causes your heart rate to increase. Even a slight incline (barely noticable to the eye) can influence the effort needed/heart rate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Environment: The temperature &amp;amp; humidity can influence the heart rate. Although you shouldn't notice the difference after 30 min unless you're running in a very warm or cold region&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehyrdation: The losing of fluids causes the blood to thicken. Causes your heart to increase the effort to get the blood around and thus increasing the heart rate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HR-Monitor ineffectiveness: Some (older/cheaper) heart rate monitors can give faulty data over time. They tend to show inrelieable data.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some further factors (like illness,food intake before the run,...) but those are of course not an issue here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience I wouldn't stare blindly at your heart rate monitor.&#xA;The most important thing is that you learn to listen to your body. And learn to run based on what your body is telling you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some great reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activesalem.com/factors-affecting-heart-rate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Factors affecting the heart rate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polar.com/en/running/factors-affecting-running-heart-rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Factors affecting running heart rate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.copacabanarunners.net/i-heart-rate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Factors that affect the heart rate during training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="18339" LastEditDate="2016-07-14T08:09:42.227" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T08:09:42.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31480" CreationDate="2016-07-14T08:03:35.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pre-workout snack of a protein shake plus a complex carbohydrate like brown rice or oats 45 minutes before exercise can give the energy needed to go harder&#xA; during workouts. Try splitting your 3 (large) main meals for 5 smaller ones, eating every 3 hours. Refernece from www.health365.com.au.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21948" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T08:03:35.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31513" CreationDate="2016-07-14T10:39:56.570" Score="1" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;Progressing well for the last couple of months on Stronglifts 5x5.&#xA;(25 y/o, male, 6ft, 80 kg / 176 lbs weight / eatting a surplus of 3200 kcal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to stop my Bench and Overhead Press lagging behind on SL5x5?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the next couple of months I will hopefully achieving my goal of 'Proficient' level of strength standard on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.symmetricstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.symmetricstrength.com&lt;/a&gt;, that is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Exercise   |Started SL 5x5 |Current 5x5       |Strength 10RM Goal&#xA;&#xA;Back Squat |35 kg / 77 lbs |100 kg / 220 lbs  |110 kg / 243 lbs&#xA;Deadlift   |40 kg  / 88 lbs|110 kg  / 242 lbs |130 kg / 287 lbs&#xA;Bench Press|40 kg / 88 lbs |62.5 kg  / 144 lbs|80 kg / 176 lbs&#xA;Penlay Row |45 kg / 99 lbs |70 kg  / 154 lbs  |70 kg / 154 lbs&#xA;OH Press   |25 kg / 55 lbs |42.5 kg / 94 lbs  |55 kg / 121 lbs&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of my lifts have been progressing nicely towards this goal apart from Bench and Overhead Press. What is the best course of action to bring them inline with my other lifts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A related question - what SL5x5 accessorises would help to increase muscle mass in a more balanced way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My chest and arms seem to be lagging. I have already recently added dips and chins on their respective days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would it be a good idea to add in Incline DB Press or Inline flyes to target the clavicular head of pectoralis major?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I add lateral raises to target the lateral head of delts?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any other muscle groups being neglected?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coming to the end of the program in the next couple of months - what would be the best program to move onto after SL5x5?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will then be focusing on aesthetics (good overall physique) and hence am looking for a program for someone who:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;only has free weights (I have a home gym with squat rack, bench, barbell &amp;amp; dumbells, dip/pull-up station)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;likes 3 times a week (4 at a push)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21959" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T16:07:40.250" Title="Stronglifts 5x5, Balancing and What Next?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-07-20T14:42:47.203" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31512" CreationDate="2016-07-14T12:36:46.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To improve your OHP do more volume of OHP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trust the 5x5 program and add accessories but not to the detriment of your main lifts, dips and chins are fine. For accessory work after 5x5 consider the PHUL program which will prescribe you those exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Texas Method or 5/3/1 is usually the go-to for strength, for aesthetics consider Jacked &amp;amp; Tan 2.0 or PHUL/PHAT. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T12:36:46.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31515" CreationDate="2016-07-14T13:10:33.997" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can one make sure that while exercising with healthy diet muscles don't get bigger. Rather amount of fat reduces and only internal lean muscles get build so that metabolic rate increases and one doesn't start looking bulkier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21900" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T13:29:02.967" Title="Building Lean Muscles" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31514" CreationDate="2016-07-14T13:29:02.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're asking is more or less impossible. To build any kind of lean mass you need a caloric surplus (eat more calories than you burn), and to reduce fat you need a caloric deficit (burn more than you eat). So you need to work on one of them at a time. I mean unless you take steroids or have found a breakthrough carb cycling diet that is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you don't want muscle to get bigger but to build internal lean muscles. Basically, you want more density based growth (strength athletes) as opposed to volume based growth (physique athletes). To achieve this you need to be lifting sub-maximal to maximal weights (70% and higher of your 1 rep max) for reps of 1-5, usually around 3-5 sets. This will ensure you employ a more density based muscle growth as opposed to the 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps which is more volume based. An obvious real life example is if you were to compare any powerlifter/weightlifter to a professional bodybuilder. I suggest that you look up a strength program online that fits your needs, Starting Strength is not bad. You MUST understand you can only add on any kind of lean mass when you're in a caloric excess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, for reducing fat you need to be in a caloric deficit. It is a HUGE misconception that you achieve fat loss through exercise. You achieve it through a proper diet. So figure out your RMR (there's lots of online calculators), from this subtract around 500 calories and aim to eat that amount of calories every day. Make sure the majority of your calories come from protein in order to preserve lean muscle so your metabolic rate doesn't go down. Also, consume the majority of your carbs around the workouts so your body uses them and doesn't store them as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an additional note, this fear of getting bulky via exercise is pretty irrational in my opinion. Most males spend a lifetime trying to get &quot;huge&quot; and only a few handful can actually do it with perfect diet and lots of chemical enhancements, so trust me when I say, you're not going to get &quot;bulky&quot; regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T13:29:02.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31512" CreationDate="2016-07-14T16:07:40.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also consider getting some washers and/or microplates to allow for microloading. I say washers because I read somewhere that they're significantly cheaper and work, but I haven't even tried micro loading myself so I can't recommend anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18389" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T16:07:40.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31520" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-15T08:01:39.033" Score="1" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 23&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height: 180cm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight: 70kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BMR: 1715 Calories/Day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;TDEE: 1972  Calories/Day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I live an inactive life with highly irregular visits to the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a skinny-fat (mainly lean) physique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have weak lower back and some spine-related problems, including lumbosacral radiculitis, which thankfully didn't bother me much for some years now.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goals:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to become leaner and have a flat stomach without the need to actively, deliberately strain abs. Visible abs is the next step, but it is the protuberant belly that bothers me the most, not absence of visible 6-pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21966" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T09:37:13.177" Title="Visceral fat (-&gt;cardio) or weak abs/back muscles (-&gt;power training)?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31520" CreationDate="2016-07-15T08:41:21.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good news! You can't become a heap of muscles! No-one &quot;accidentally-Arnold&quot; when working out. It takes YEARS AND YEARS of full dedication to get to a bodybuilder physique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly everyone's belly pokes out a bit. That's because you have organs in there. When you tense a well built six pack you push them back and flatten out your chest. This look can be achieved easily by maintaining good standing posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Firstly: Go see a doctor about your spine condition, show/explain the routine you want to follow and ask if it is suitable for someone with your back condition.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks like you need to do 2 things. Keep/Reduce your body-fat percentage and put on some muscle. Good news for you is that because you are a beginner you can do both at the same time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to reducing body-fat percentage I recommend 3x7 fork put-downs. Just eat less or just enough calories. Track calories using a food tracker and use IIFYM.com to calculate how many you need in a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to putting on muscle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stronglifts.com/5x5&lt;/a&gt; - Complete this program first. There is a helpful app and lots of videos to instruct you on form and educate you about weightlifting. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you have been working out for around 6 months and you have stalled on most of your 5x5 lifts (following the de-load schedule). Then consider some of the following: 5/3/1, Texas Method, Greyskull LP, Jacked &amp;amp; Tan 2.0, PHUL, anything from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/programs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In targeting abs specifically (in addition to the above) get yourself a Ab-wheel and do kneeling and standing variations. Build up to 5 sets of 25. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-15T08:47:45.670" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T08:47:45.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31524" CreationDate="2016-07-15T10:11:06.790" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not too sure how or why but I find myself in a position where i'm slowly obtaining more injuries year-by-year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In college I could go to the gym 4/5 times a week, play football (soccer) or basketball on the same day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst I wasn't lifting as heavy back then as I am now (progression yay!), i'm doing much less exercise but feeling more pain, and more tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In College/University:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Chest + Legs (morning), Basketball (2 hours of scrimmage/training)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: Back (morning), Basketball Game 40 mins max (evening)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Arms + Intense Core (morning), Football 2pm til dusk depending on numbers (afternoon/evening)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: Shoulders + Legs (morning, light legs), Football match 40 minutes max (evening)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Basketball (1hr 30 scrimmage)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday: Nothing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday: Once every 2 weeks, Basketball Training (Scrimmage, shooting drills, resistance)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now working:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday: Chest + Leg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday:Rest, maybe light core workout at home, jump rope&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: Shoulders OR Back (depends on how busy gym is)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Football OR Gym (Arms and Core if I go) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: Back OR Shoulders (whichever I did not do on Tuesday)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Basketball (2 hours)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday: Rest or depending on how I feel, I pick up whatever I feel wasn't done well during the week (Chest, Leg, Shoulders, Back, Arms whichever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 2 years removed from College, and I never injured my body apart from the occasional ankle sprain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried i'm not getting enough rest, but my body could take a larger beating beforehand, so i'm scared something is seriously wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend or make adjustments in my workout schedule or shed light on their experiences? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you balance your working life, sports, and lifting in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21789" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T10:42:27.703" Title="Fitting sports around weightlifting schedule and work" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31522" CreationDate="2016-07-15T10:42:27.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right, you can't recover as well as you could when you were in college. Such is the nature of the human body. However, you can do a few things to give your body the best chance at recovering:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat enough.&lt;/strong&gt; If you want to progress and work at 70-90% RM in your gym workouts then you need to eat enough to help your body recover. Work out your TDEE and use that as a guide.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep enough.&lt;/strong&gt; 8 hours is what you should aim for. Best amount varies from person-to-person so try some different numbers. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practice form&lt;/strong&gt; with perfect form its near impossible to give yourself a injury (except maybe dropping the bar on yourself). You have been working out for a while which means you are nearing the end of a cycle (working out usually at 90% often failing last rep). Consider restarting with a de-load to practice form. Throw in mobility exercises to help with this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Set your priorities straight&lt;/strong&gt; Set yourself some goals and design your day around meeting them. I would love to be able to fit a cooked breakfast, 9.5hr work day, 3 hours gaming, 2 hours gymming, a nice cooked dinner, 1 hour playing with my cats and 8.5 hours sleep but there are not enough hours in the day. If you want progress in the gym you need to make time for GYM, FOOD, AND SLEEP&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T10:42:27.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-14T15:42:06.410" Score="3" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is really a two-part question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which muscle &lt;em&gt;keeps&lt;/em&gt; the neck upright?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How does one strengthen it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Michael Baucum" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T01:05:33.957" Title="How does one strengthen the muscle that keeps the neck erect?" Tags="&lt;back&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31526" CreationDate="2016-07-14T22:54:33.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lie on your back against a flat surface with your head resting on that same surface (i.e. not on a pillow). Lift your head as far as possible and hold for 5 seconds; repeat about 10 times. Do this again with your head pointed to the left and then to the right. Also, it's a good idea to work out your abdominal muscles, as they provide a foundation for the spine, which ultimately supports your head. (I cannot provide citations for this, as it comes from my physical therapist. I have a pretty bad neck, and this is the only thing that keeps my neck more or less pliable.)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; You can also use a 30-inch towel to move your head from one extreme to another. Hold one end with your hand against the chest and the other end holding the towel with it wrapped around the back of your neck and around the cheek. Using the hand not against the chest, force your head in the direction away from the cheek it's against.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;This helps me.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;Edit:&lt;/b&gt; Make sure your back remains flat against the surface upon which you are laying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21969" OwnerDisplayName="BillOer" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T23:01:45.540" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31210" CreationDate="2016-07-16T18:02:21.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alright so first of all don't get your hopes up too much. Bodybuilders are probably the most shredded individuals on the face of the planet during their contest prep! The key word here being contest prep. They will start being extremely strict with their calories and macronutrients around 12 weeks out from a bodybuilding show. There are a lot of tricks that they use to achieve a very cut look (I competed a few times), but for the most part it's just drastic calorie and macro manipulation on a VERY consistent basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So first of all, you have to understand, it is NOT the supplements that give you a ripped look, not even close. ESPECIALLY not the legal ones, BCAA and creatine have absolutely nothing to do with shredding fat so I'm not sure why you even brought them up. Whey protein and BCAA are of importance during this intense cut only because they help the athletes maintain the max amount of lean muscle that they can. And since more muscle equals more metabolism, keeping more muscle will make it easier to lose fat. Other than this there's no purpose for these supplements in a fat loss cycle. All fat burners do is make your fat cells more mobile during workouts so you're more likely to burn them, but if your diet isn't 100%, good luck...it won't happen, especially when you get to single digit fat percentages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now they do use some illegal supplements of course. Testestorone, clenbuterol, t3, trenbolone acetate...etc, these are all used to help with the ultimate shredded look. Some of them help increase metabolism, while some of them help with the mobilization of fat cells, to a much greater degree than any supplement out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if you want that look, you're gonna need to be honest with yourself. Do you actually have enough muscle such that when you do get that cut, you're going to look good ? Otherwise you'll just look very skinny and most people tend to not want to look like that. But if you still do wanna look like that it's very simple, NOT easy, but simple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alright so in order to achieve that look, all you need is a very consistent caloric deficit. When you get to very low levels of body fat, you absolutely HAVE to count in order to make progress. There is no other way around it unless you have the genetics of Zeus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to figure out your RMR and subtract at least 500 calories from this number and aim to eat that amount of calories every single day for a week. If you lose weight then good keep going, if you didn't you need to adjust it down by 100-200 calories and try again. Once you have the calories down you need to manipulate your macros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to be safe it is crucial to get at least 1g of protein per lbs of bodyweight in order to preserve lean muscle. You can even increase this to 1.5g. Once you get the protein down you need to manipulate your carbs and fats. Usually, you'd avoid all carbohydrate intake until around your workout (pre and post). This is so you don't raise insulin and inhibit fat burning. If your body doesnt have carbs as energy it will either burn fat or muscle but since you have lots of protein, it's more likely to burn fat. But when you workout, you don't wanna take this risk, and your workout will suffer without carbs, so eat most of your carbs (70-90%) around your workouts. If you are going to eat them at other times make sure they are complex, low GI carbs so you don't raise your blood sugar. For other meals, replace the carbs with fats, always keeping protein high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when you get very close to contest, there is a pretty neat trick that is done in order to look incredibly ripped. Since you've been depleting carbs throughout your entire diet, your body basically &quot;forgets&quot; how to handle them efficiently. So, for a few days, you eat very high amounts of carbs. Once you do this, your body overcompensates and stores even more glycogen than previous in your muscle cells and you look a considerable amount fuller and bigger. If you have low amounts of body fat, this will make you look a lot more ripped than you actually are. Combine this with extreme water cuts and voila, you look &quot;ripped&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you HAVE to understand that in order to make this work, you need to be at a low body fat level in the first place throughout weeks of hard dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, that &quot;look&quot; that you see is only maintained for a few weeks at the very most. If you look at fitness models/bodybuilders in the off-season, their body fat levels are a lot higher than photoshoot/contest days, so it's important to be realistic. Just don't believe any supplement that will get you &quot;shredded&quot;, you can't buy fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-07-16T21:06:29.767" LastActivityDate="2016-07-16T21:06:29.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31526" CreationDate="2016-07-17T00:35:25.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The major muscle that keeps the neck erect is the trapezius.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tDNuE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tDNuE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fairly simple to strengthen it assuming you put in a consistent effort. To strengthen it in the best way possible, you should strengthen both the neck directly, and also the traps which support it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To work your traps, the best way would be weight training. The most fundamental exercise that you can do in the gym to strengthen your traps is the shrug. You can do this with a barbell, smith machine, shrug machine, kettlebells, or dumbbells. Just load up a weight that you will be able to do 8-15 reps with, and do 3-5 sets. Basically just hold hold the weight, maintaining a neutral spine, elbows almost straight, literally just shrug like you normally would, but as high as you can, and hold for a second or two until you feel the burn, lower all the way down and feel the strech and repeat. Make sure to progress in some way with every workout, whether it is more weight, more repetitions, more volume or duration. There are also alot of exercises that indirectly work the traps like deadlifts and side raises so just look up on Google how to work the traps and you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the neck itself, you could wrap an exercise band around your neck, move far away until you feel the tension and simply turn your head from looking front to looking to your side for high reps for each side. You could also use something called a neck harness that's found in many gyms by putting it around your head, looking down then looking up. There's lots of ways to do this and you can easily look up many workouts for the neck online until you find a few that you like and work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/the-top-5-exercises-to-strengthen-your-neck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/the-top-5-exercises-to-strengthen-your-neck&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-07-17T00:35:25.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-18T08:42:52.390" Score="3" ViewCount="1792" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there passive ways of work out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically I'm quite lazy, for example running is tiresome, stretching is also somewhat painful. So pls suggest some passive ways of work out, that are easier to keep doing , instead of normally active ways ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example of passive work out is massage: it build up muscles but one only need lie down ( and endure some pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar one is lie on the bed on the back, stretching out the head and shoulder, so to stretch the neck back -- office life make my neck a bit curly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one is like horse riding , as the horse keeps jogging , one need maintain the balance hence exercise the muscles on the waist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another passive way, I'm not sure if it's true, is to work out muscles on the arms by tying one's hand to a hook or rope and lifting him up, then the body weight will stretch the arms and strengthen them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9972" LastActivityDate="2018-12-17T16:27:04.600" Title="Passive work out?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31531" CreationDate="2016-07-18T08:51:30.883" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A passive way of working out sounds like a paradox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to become stronger, you need to exert your muscles. And exertion of the muscles is an &quot;activity&quot;, which is an antonym to &quot;passivity&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get in shape by lying in your bed, you'll be disappointed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, the problem isn't that you're lazy. Most of us are. But we work out anyway. It's discipline. If you don't have that, getting in shape isn't going to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Misconceptions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention massage, but that is not a workout. It relieves stress on the muscles, but it does not stimulate any measurable muscle growth. It won't get you in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Laying on your bed and stretching is not a workout. It relieves stress on the muscles, but it does not stimulate any measurable muscle growth. It won't get you in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horse riding is somewhat valid. You need to exert some muscular force to remain upright, but still, unless you plan on galloping for hours on end, it's not going to get you in shape. And you won't find any horses willing to do this for you, unless you have a whole stable full of them. Buy or rent, it's going to cost you way more than a gym membership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the last one, tying your hands and stretching them out, is NOT going to build muscle. I don't understand where you're getting this from. At this point, you're grasping at straws. And literally grasping at straws seems like a better option than what you've suggested so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-07-18T08:56:50.080" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T08:56:50.080" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31531" CreationDate="2016-07-18T13:52:55.323" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have no physical limitations, your problem seems to be a lack of motivation.  Rather than doing things you don’t like, you should find an activity that can keep your interest for a minimum of twenty minutes or more.  Setting achievable goals may help with improving motivation.  Ask yourself, “What do I want out of exercise?”.  Once you’ve answered that question, set several small goals to help you achieve what it is you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/exercise-motivation&quot;&gt;many ways&lt;/a&gt; to improve motivation.  One of the best is to work out with a partner.  Finding someone who shares the same goal(s) can add a dimension of fun and responsibility to your exercise program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you truly feel unmotivated, you should ask yourself why that is.  The benefit you receive from regular exercise is going to be directly proportional to the effort you expend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T13:52:55.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31531" CreationDate="2016-07-18T16:39:48.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the others have indicated, the best return on exercise involves concerted effort, pushing yourself to the limit. That said, casual exercise can also be worthwhile, at least for the purpose of staying relatively healthy. It's not &quot;lying in bed and doing nothing&quot;, but it's also not &quot;8x5 strong-lifts of maximum weight&quot; or even &quot;10 push-ups and 10 pull-ups every morning&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, for general exercise, walking is not a bad start. It generally doesn't require much exertion and with the addition of a book, a smart phone game, or a podcast, it can be entertaining at the same time (obligatory note, avoid distractions that prevent you from noticing your environment). If you're willing to set aside the book, you can add a bit more to your workout by making up little games to vary your routine, such as ascending the staircase into the park along the outside instead, traversing the playground equipment however it makes sense at the moment, or even just walking along a curb, trying to balance yourself. It's not intense work, but you get some of the benefits as with the horse-riding of your body having to work to maintain your equilibrium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to incorporate some sort of exercise in your times when you're stationary. A stress ball squeezed while reading forum posts online is still exercise (and good for stress relief as you imagine squeezing the necks of commenters). With a small dumb-bell, or even a bag with some books in it, you can do curls with a free hand. Even keeping yourself upright at the edge of the seat instead of leaning back in your chair works core muscles in a fairly passive manner. If you're willing to make an investment into more equipment, there are people who work on a treadmill or exercise bike (or have something under their desk to simulate the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there's a technique called &quot;greasing the groove&quot; typically used for pushing one's limits, but also usable casually, where you don't bother with a regular workout, but rather just do a few reps whenever the idea occurs to you. You can do a few pull-ups everytime you pass the door frame, do 5 push-ups every time you get up for coffee (pushing up against a wall or your desk if you want to make it easier), or doing a few lunges while your code is compiling. It's low effort, and won't build up muscle, but it's generally painless and it does reinforce the idea to your body that exercise doesn't have to hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T16:39:48.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31531" CreationDate="2016-07-18T19:03:04.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dieting is sort of like a passive workout in that you get more physically fit by &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; doing something -- ie, not eating. After I lost 100+ lbs by by tweaking my diet, physical activity suddenly became fun. Now I look forward to going to the gym to lift weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, if you live a sedentary lifestyle like I do (being a software developer) I would suggest doing simple &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/426262-leg-exercises-at-your-desk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;leg workouts at your desk&lt;/a&gt;. You can pick up a set of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Ankle-Weights/b?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;node=3408291&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ankle weights&lt;/a&gt; to intensify your at-desk leg workouts &lt;a href=&quot;http://livehealthy.chron.com/ankle-weights-good-office-chair-exercise-5369.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for even more benefit&lt;/a&gt; -- but don't leave them on all day, or walk around the office with them on, as this can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/danger-walking-ankle-weights-13395.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bad for your joints&lt;/a&gt;. If you already have joint problems, you probably want to avoid ankle weights altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21985" LastEditorUserId="21985" LastEditDate="2016-07-19T13:03:24.460" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T13:03:24.460" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31541" CreationDate="2016-07-18T19:27:51.630" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm getting ready to go to college in about 7 weeks. But, it's too far to walk and if I was to take the bus, it would use the money they give me for transportation. I'm also not allowed to take a taxi due to them giving me money to travel, so, I thought why not a bike? But, the bike ride is 2 hours, so, what should I do to prepare for the bike rides?&#xA;And, what should I watch out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S it the closest college to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user21987" LastEditorDisplayName="user21987" LastEditDate="2017-03-29T17:44:48.193" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T17:44:48.193" Title="How would I prepare for long distance biking?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;long-distance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31531" CreationDate="2016-07-18T19:43:03.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Others have already pointed out the obvious paradox. I disagree with some of the answers (esp. regarding the horse riding). I thought I'd add my opinion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horse riding should build muscle because the core stabilization and leg muscles are used a lot while you try to stay on the horse and giving the horse signals by pressing together your legs etc. If this does not feel like an excercise to you this might be suitable for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to try some light yoga - in the beginning it is basically a matter of keeping your balance. That alone will start to build the supporting muscles. And with a bit of training you might get motivated to try ever harder / more exhausting positions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These things will not get you in perfect shape (whatever that is) quickly but at this point it is really more important to get you to do something regularly. So pick anything that does not feel like much of an exhaustion to you and do it... and don't get demotivated by others saying that &quot;if you are not sore afterwards it was not a real workout&quot; or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21988" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-19T07:04:43.813" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T07:04:43.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31540" CreationDate="2016-07-19T04:01:27.277" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to a website the speed of Jogging is around 4 to 6 miles per hour, I'm doing something around (very little faster) 4 miles (6.4 Km) per hour, but I'm doing that uphill, so I go 213 feets (65 meters) up per mile (or per 1.6 Km)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) heigth (yeah, I'm pretty small) and I weight 165 pounds (or 75 kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only problem is that running on that hill with that speed and going up that amount of meters... I could maintain that intensity for about 16 minutes, the idea would do that for 40 to 50 minutes to remove fat from my body, is that enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13512" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T06:50:55.227" Title="Is this intensity of Jogging good to reduce fat?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-22T20:46:15.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31539" CreationDate="2016-07-19T06:50:55.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You remove fat from your body by using more calories than you put in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jogging for 20 mins burns around 200 calories (&lt;strong&gt;ish&lt;/strong&gt;). Most people need 2200 calories per day. Therefore, you cannot out-exercise a bad diet. If you want to lose weight then focus on &lt;strong&gt;diet&lt;/strong&gt; instead of micromanaging the gym activity; doing that will lead you to be more successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked at running intensity in this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31346/what-is-the-fat-burning-zone&quot;&gt;What is the &amp;quot;fat burning zone&amp;quot;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mantra is true for this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;eat less, move more.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T06:50:55.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31536" CreationDate="2016-07-19T06:57:56.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;at first how fit you are ? how experienced you are on bike ? what kind of bike you have ?  it is ready or enough for that use ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should just ride and see for you self what you are capable of. After that you can plan better your training. You can chose a &quot;bike friendly&quot; route around your town better if it have long uphills. It should be longer that your commute. Also a right bike to do the job it would help a lot and it is really important how save is your route. It take some time to get used to drive between cars. Be aware of state of the roads of your route and how fast cars go there and how good it is the visibility. Try get aware of most dangerous points: tight turns whit out visibility, cross roads, thin country roads (where people drive like crazy)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did the same that you at first try was breath dead after 400m. But in few weeks I was making 18km around my town few times per week. In my case my institute was just 5km away so it took me 20min to get there but I needed to get in some shape to push the pedals at a decent rithm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is said that bike it is the most efficient way of transport but it is un natural for your body. You need to get used to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18793" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T06:57:56.087" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-19T13:19:29.807" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a typical office goer who sits around &lt;code&gt;9 - 10 hours&lt;/code&gt; in front of my &lt;code&gt;system&lt;/code&gt;. There are no possibilities here to do any ground exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I play &lt;code&gt;badminton&lt;/code&gt; after office hours for atleast an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any simple tricks or workouts like stretching(&lt;code&gt;during my office hours&lt;/code&gt;) which could be really get me through out the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Needed a reply which could help in making me active all time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31099/ensuring-physical-health-while-sat-idle-most-of-the-day?noredirect=1&amp;amp;lq=1&quot;&gt;Ensuring Physical Health while sat idle most of the day&lt;/a&gt; Question is different and same as the answer. Please provide a good solution according to my criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21997" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T09:14:37.583" Title="What kind of Exercise can be done amidst in office hours?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-07-21T07:43:15.243" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31551" CreationDate="2016-06-06T08:58:33.443" Score="3" ViewCount="562" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started going to gym with my wife and we are focusing on strength exercise. We do rotations (by doing 5-8 times on max weight we can do for that specific muscle training) on each gym apparatus then moving to next one until we are done with all gym equipment. We then take a 5-10 minute break and do another round. 3 rounds in total which usually take 90-100 minutes in total including resting. I also try to switch between arms and legs to give more rest to muscles. I have noticed that some people that are coming to gym (that do seem quite fit) do same type of muscle training 3 times on one machine and only then move to different one. The way I understand muscle growth is all about ripping the muscles not tiring them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which way is better for strength: do one type of training at once or rotate different ones and save time needed for resting (or neither)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19244" OwnerDisplayName="Matas Vaitkevicius" LastEditorUserId="19244" LastEditDate="2016-07-20T08:20:31.870" LastActivityDate="2017-02-27T10:01:15.730" Title="Strength training gym equipment exercise rotation" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31544" CreationDate="2016-06-07T13:20:08.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are currently doing sounds like it will keep you very well rounded and fit but not so much specific muscle strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is generally agreed that doing multiple sets e.g. 3-5 of a number of reps 5-15 on the same muscle group or piece of equipment is optimal for strength training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Progressive overload is one of the basic principles of strength training and basically means that you have to increase the weight, intensity and/or number of repetitions/sets to create an adaptive response.&quot; - &lt;a href=&quot;https://bretcontreras.com/10-keys-to-optimal-strength-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bretcontreras.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most popular strength training programs is called 5x5, in which you do 5 sets of 5 reps with as much as weight as you can do safely on one piece of equipment e.g. bench press. On this kind of program you wouldnt be doing many different exercises per day though e.g. 3. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stronglifts.com&lt;/a&gt; is an example of such a routine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But at the end of the day it is really what you prefer doing and if you specifically want to get stronger at something doing more than 1 set will help you do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22024" OwnerDisplayName="Lomas" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T08:47:01.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31549" CreationDate="2016-07-20T03:37:26.133" Score="1" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two days ago at the evening (30 h ago) I did interval excercise after a month of inactivity (except for everyday biking to and back from work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I felt little soreness and did nothing more than biking to and back from work (I thought that soreness was everything I could expect and I would be ready to excercise the next day, i.e. today). But today I feel horrible, soreness is really extensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why it happened 2 days after (30 hours later)? What did I wrong? How could I prevent the soreness from appearing so late?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22004" LastEditorUserId="22004" LastEditDate="2016-07-25T07:43:04.703" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T07:43:04.703" Title="Why soreness happened as late as 30 hours after excerising?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-07-22T21:24:07.987" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T05:53:28.683" Score="1" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;My name is Jake and I'm 15 years old. I'm 5'10&quot; and 140 pounds. I have been working out in gym for 2 weeks now and as I calculated my body fat percentage is around 14%-15%. My goal is to get a six pack and build up some muscles (Chest, Biceps,etc.) How can I get a six pack? Do I need to lower my body fat percentage to 10% by running and cycling or do I just workout? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22006" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:36:52.220" Title="How Do I get a Six pack" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-21T04:55:59.467" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31547" CreationDate="2016-07-20T07:13:32.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a helpful visual guide on what 10% looks like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Glhq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Glhq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see it is possible to be 10% without a 6 pack. You need to do targeted strength exercises to get it. Your calculated maximum weight potential is 185 lbs at 10% body fat, based on Martin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/12/maximum-muscular-potential.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Berkhan's formula&lt;/a&gt; so you can put on more weight and still looked ripped as hell. But that weight must be muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than go into a full explanation of each of the below I suggest you pop over to reddit/r/fitness and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;read their wiki&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you want to be aesthetic due to your post. Before you can do targeted workouts on being aesthetic you need to develop a strong base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is your 3 year plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read up and complete the StartingStrength or Stronglifts 5x5 program. Add the accessory ab work, keep this level of ab workout forever. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate your TDEE/Macros and start trying to plan your calorie intake where possible through a diet plan (you are 15, you might be able to influence your parents choices).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read Mark Rippetoe's book in-between sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn about periodization.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After 6-12 months of your first chosen program you will be stalling a lot on nearly all lifts. You should then reassess your options and your diet.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to be strong like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haf%C3%BE%C3%B3r_J%C3%BAl%C3%ADus_Bj%C3%B6rnsson&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mountain&lt;/a&gt; then move towards 5/3/1, Texas Method, BigButBoring, Greyskull LP. (more on reddit wiki).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to be aesthetic like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aziz_Shavershian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zzyz&lt;/a&gt; then move towards a plan like PPL, ICF, PHAT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Re-introduce Cardio into your workout if you haven't already. Cardio is great for maintaining a healthy heart and &lt;strong&gt;assisting&lt;/strong&gt; in dropping body fat percentage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now you have a pretty good base of strength and should have visible muscles. Hopefully you will be hovering around the 15-20% bf mark due to your eating lots so you can continue to progress on lifts. Adjust your diet onto a cut and maintain your lifts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cut to 10-15%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Mire your 6pack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no&#xA;  heavy-ass weights.” ― Ronnie Coleman&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-20T15:36:52.220" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:36:52.220" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31546" CreationDate="2016-07-20T07:20:23.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congrats, you got &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness&lt;/a&gt; (DOMS for short).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are fine. If you warm up before exercising again your should have more blood pumping around your muscles and it will go away. After a few sessions you should not get them any more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOMS take 24-72 hours before they hit sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T07:20:23.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31546" CreationDate="2016-07-20T07:24:18.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &quot;Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness&quot; (DOMS), keyword being &quot;Delayed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soreness is caused by eccentric exercise, that is, exercise consisting of eccentric (lengthening) contractions of the muscle. Isometric (static) exercise causes much less soreness, and concentric (shortening) exercise causes none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's normal for DOMS to occur a day or two after the training, and last for another day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.no/books?id=ueMh1x7kFjsC&amp;amp;pg=PA59&amp;amp;redir_esc=y&amp;amp;hl=en#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muscle Soreness and Damage and the Repeated-Bout Effect&lt;/a&gt; by Ken Nosaka, PhD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T07:24:18.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31544" CreationDate="2016-07-20T09:37:03.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;h3&gt;To get strong, lift heavy&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By constantly moving on you elevate your heart rate and fatigue takes over. Don't think of your muscles getting fatigue but instead think of your whole body. For example, deadlift and bench press use completely different muscle groups but you won't find anyone going to do a set of heavy deadlifts after a heavy bench set. What you are doing is basically &lt;strong&gt;circuit training&lt;/strong&gt;, still a valid activity but you aren't going to &amp;quot;get strong&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your definition of strength may be different but most common one is &amp;quot;ability to move something heavy, once&amp;quot;. Your routine develops muscular endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Which way is better for strength: do one type of training at once or rotate different ones and save time needed for resting (or neither)?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neither&lt;/strong&gt;. You need compound movements, drop the machines and pick up a barbell. Squat, deadlift, press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T09:37:03.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4358" CreationDate="2016-07-20T12:53:12.650" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Late to the party, but as per James's answer, there's a good chance this is tied to your tendons. You may have some variety of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golfer%27s_elbow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;golfer's elbow&lt;/a&gt;. You mention that you were using dumbbells. One of the easy ways to inflame that tendon is putting it under stress while gripping something tightly, especially if you curl your wrist. Which, as you might guess, is pretty much a description of how many people do bicep curls initially, tightly gripping the dumbbell and curling their wrist as they left the weight and put strain on the tendon. I've been there before, right down to the arm largely feeling OK, but being unable to straighten my arm. It does pass within a few days. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory and pain medication will make your life more bearable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T12:53:12.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="429" CreationDate="2016-07-20T15:01:53.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the two strokes you say you know, breaststroke is very difficult to learn to swim fast, and certainly hard to use as a cardiovascular exercise for any significantly long time. Assuming (by the fact that you only know half the strokes) that you are not a competitive swimmer, freestyle is best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add to [Ivo Flipse]'s&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/8/ivo-flipse&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; answer: in addition to swimming longer distances, like that 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 set, another good cardio set is to do shorter distances in many repeats. For example, I like to do 10x100 free or 10 or 20x50 on an interval that keeps my rest down to 5-10 seconds (for 50s) or 10-15 seconds (for 100s). These days, for me, that is about 45&quot; (long course) and 1'25&quot;; what it is for you, you'll have to experiment for yourself. This way, you get your pulse up to a high enough rate to be close to the anaerobic threshold, yet give yourself enough rest between to be able to swim at that speed for longer than just, say, a 100 metres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you are good enough at breaststroke, you can use it too in a set like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get more serious about swimming, you should see if your local swim club has a Masters (adult swimming) program and learn the two other strokes so you can swim those 10x100s medley. That really gets the pump going. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:01:53.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25283" CreationDate="2016-07-20T15:10:37.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to the other answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there are no particular disadvantages to getting your nose full of water. Pools are generally rather clean, and lakes and oceans are too, at least where you are likely to swim. And if you are feet down head up, your nostrils are down, making it hard for the water to enter if you close your epiglottis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you should of course exhale under water through your nose to avoid any discomfort. Even if you are swimming strenuously, or doing other exercises in the water that make you breathe heavily, you can always exhale partly through the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:10:37.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25458" CreationDate="2016-07-20T15:25:20.727" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exhale through your nose, too, in addition to the other advice. Even if you're swimming fast (or, rather, particularly then) you can exhale both through the mouth and nose. Benefits are at least twofold: you get the air out quicker, getting ready to inhale properly, and the air going out of the nose keeps you nose nice and comfortably not waterlogged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:25:20.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15014" CreationDate="2016-07-20T15:35:14.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is normal. Not just after swimming open water, although the waves and unpredictability of conditions make it harder to keep water out of your nose than in a pool. It is also completely normal to have water in your ears, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:35:14.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31474" CreationDate="2016-07-20T15:50:09.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A device often used by swimmers for strengthening the swim-specific muscles of the arms and torso while out of the water is a rubber hose. There are several types commercially available, although I have also used a simple rubber hose with knotted handles at the ends to do the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you do is attach the middle of the tube/hose to something sturdy, bend at the waist so that you mimic your position in the water, and go at it. It is of course possible to vary the way you pull the handles to mimic different strokes, but in your case, I don't think you need to be all that specific. Breaststroke and freestyle use the same muscles in slightly different positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, just as in the water, keep your elbows high, both to avoid practicing something you don't do in the water, and to avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RupdC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RupdC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T15:50:09.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29753" CreationDate="2016-07-20T16:04:20.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common mistake beginners make is not to shove their faces under the water. And they forget to exhale before inhaling. Really. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is your problem, you should get yourself a proper pair of swimming goggles and practice at really getting your face under water as you stretch your arms forward in the reach part of the arm stroke (which immediately follows the end of the leg kick). Reaching further forward also makes your arm stroke more powerful and will get you that extra momentum to get your torso upp enough to inhale. But remember to exhale as you reach, as you kick, otherwise your lungs won't be ready for a new breath of fresh air when your head pops up out of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An added benefit for those of us who are crap at breaststroke is that in reaching and gliding in the middle of the stoke cycle we get to rest a bit before taking the next stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you will get hooked on swimming and go on to learn the three other strokes. Learning to breathe in breaststroke will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T16:04:20.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29465" CreationDate="2016-07-20T16:17:17.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the two previous answers by Amanda R. and JohnP, here's another very important point: Keep your head down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body position is extremely important in swimming, and your saying that you get out of breath already after less that a 50 tells me that you probably have your legs sinking behind you – as a result of your lifting your head out of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 185 cm and 75 kg you probably do not have much subcutaneous fat to float on, so every bit of your head that comes out of the water diminishes your buoyancy. If you lift your head, your legs sink, and when your legs sink, drag increases &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try consciously shoving your head under the water and you'll see that you can float horizontally at the surface with almost no effort. Bring that experience into your swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T16:17:17.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28276" CreationDate="2016-07-20T16:36:08.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess your avatar means you normally play curling? That means you might want to get the benefit of swimming to strengthen your core muscles. You don't mention what kind of strokes you know, more than freestyle (&quot;front crawl&quot; I suppose) and backstroke (&quot;back crawl&quot; I hope?). Either of those will, when executed properly, strengthen your core by the rotation that the body makes by each stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question, though, is yes, do both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And stop doing &quot;laps&quot;. Do 50s and 100s and, as you progress, longer and longer distances. You could try, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x25 back + 1x50 free &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x25 back + 1x100 free &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6x25 back + 1x150 free &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8x25 back + 1x200 free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or some set akin to that as your fitness level in the pool increases. And if you really get hooked, contact your local swim club's masters (adult swimming) coach, and make your weekly session one together with other enthusiasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T16:36:08.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2016-07-20T16:48:57.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the other answers are good to, but really:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2'20&quot; per 100 in a straight 1000, by someone who only swims 3000 over 3 sessions per week is not at all &quot;bad&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, swimmers don't count &quot;laps&quot;, and if they do, it's the same as &quot;length&quot;. Swimmers count metres (or in the US, yards). And if you want to get better than the current state of &quot;not too bad&quot;, you should do more metres, and do them in a way that is more effective than just doing a straight 1000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a set for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x50 + 100&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x50 + 200&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6x50 + 300&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8x50 + 400&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fifties are there to get your pulse up properly, and the following distances are there to build stamina. And this set, and similar ones, is a good way to trick oneself into swimming a 2000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, as other answers already pointed out, technique is key to increasing speed in swimming, so use both increased milage (yes, sorry, we count metres and yards, but refer to them as miles) and improved technique. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastEditorUserId="22010" LastEditDate="2016-07-20T18:14:06.583" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T18:14:06.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28056" CreationDate="2016-07-20T17:00:24.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit bewildered that you say your problems started after you started wearing goggles. Were you able to see the bottom of the ses before that? Or did you just close your eyes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the latter is the case, I would say you should try using goggles, but closing your eyes like you used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, one great obstacle in both open water swimming and scuba diving is that all mammals, including humans of course, have a diving reflex. When we get water on our face, we instinctively close our epiglottis. In the pool you have long since overcome this, but in the ocean it comes back. It comes back to me every open water season. (Where I live, open water is not a year-round activity.) And it usually takes some getting used to when you practice at taking off your mask and replacing it during scuba diving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I think you should have an easier time getting past it in a rather clear ocean, than we do over here in murky lakes. So I'm confident that you'll do fine after some practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:00:24.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27882" CreationDate="2016-07-20T17:21:21.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are serious, do contact your local swim club to join their masters (adult swimming) group where you'll learn all the strokes and how to design a proper swimming workout. It is practically impossible to get the full benefits of swimming if you only go about it alone, with no-one to train with and no-one to show you the ropes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that: even if you do go at it on your own – only reading advice from triathlon websites – you will get some benefit from swimming, enough to motivate the time spent on it. You could always replace one running session per week with two swimming sessions and get better for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:21:21.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2016-07-20T17:53:10.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimming 1000m straight is nuts. Even seasoned swimmers like myself only do that when we have to – that is in preparation for a race that is that long. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an easier way to keep track of how far you've swum, and one that will give you better training than just doing it straight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x50 back + 100 free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x50 back + 200 free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6x50 back + 300 free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8x50 back + 400 free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oops, that turned out to be 2000, which you did without getting bored and definitely without getting lost about how far you swam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you really do want to do 1500's in practice, counting on the clock is the thing. Know your 100 m pace and look at the clock at every turn. That is, during the first 500 or so, look at the clock to se how fast you swim each 100, multiply your 500 time by three, and keep track of that you get to 1500 in around that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:53:10.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12722" CreationDate="2016-07-20T18:27:05.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you say 500 and you're European, I assume the race is open water? That assumption is strengthened by that it is the first leg of a team triathlon. In that case, I'd say you worry for no reason at all. Without the turns you get in the pool, your mindset will be so different anyway, there's no way you'll sprint hard enough to not finish well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, in open water swimming, you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; want to get out ahead before the first buoy, so &quot;sprinting&quot; a bit at the start actually is something you do want to do. And being a properly trained sprinter, you have enough stamina to finish such a race – and definitely faster than any non-swimmers in the triathlon crowd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: just do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T18:27:05.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5725" CreationDate="2016-07-20T20:23:05.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you work out on the level you describe, there is no reason to worry about this one way or the other. Take a day off if you like, if that makes it easier for you to keep to the habit. Work out twice a day if you feel that is right for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like any other swimmer, I've done fourteen swimming workouts a week, and two swimming sessions and one weights session in the same day, and survived it. &quot;Rest days&quot; we're days of only one swimming session and slightly shorter than the normal two hours. For a non-competitive person with a considerably less intense schedule to worry about rest days feels a bit silly, and probably comes from some philosophy in bodybuilding, which I assume you're not doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do what feels right for you, and enjoy it. That is the most important part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:23:05.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12954" CreationDate="2016-07-20T20:32:01.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you describe yourself as a sprinter in another question I'd like to add explosive exercises like Olympic lifts and box jumps to the advice you already received. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend a short swimming session after a hard gym session, if your gym is at the pool. It feels so much better afterwards, I promise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:32:01.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19125" CreationDate="2016-07-20T20:44:41.467" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Since the workout names five types of drills right after saying 5x50, I'd interpret that as one 50 of each. The interpretation of the second set is also right, especially if you take time to use equipment in the pull and kick. But you could of course divide that 400 as four 100s, eight 50s or even sixteen 25s. If your coach is not on deck, you decide, I'd say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck on getting more fit in swimming, and don't be hesitant to contact the local club (you've probably seen them at the pool) to see if they can help you or if they have a masters group you can join so that you get some company working out, wich makes it so much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:44:41.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3849" CreationDate="2016-07-20T21:18:07.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer depends so much on where you are. Winter by the Mediterranean, southeastern US or Southern California or the like is no worries. Winter in the English Channel or in Seattle would be troublesome. Open water swimming where I live is not pleasant in winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming in a dry suit defeats the purpose, so I assume we are talking wetsuit swimming. And in cold enough water you need a neoprene cap. Slightly colder than that, gloves and boots too. If that is not enough, don't do it for any length of time. Really, if you get so cold you can't get at least half an hour in, there's not much point in the trouble of donning the wetsuit, I'd say. That threshold is probably somewhere between 12 and 15 °C, depending on your gear and how intensely you swim to stay warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you stay away from hypothermia, which is a potential problem with prolonged exposure in any season as long as the water is not above 30 °C, I can't see there would be any particular hazards in open water swimming that are exclusive to winter. There are waves, currents, boats, difficulty navigating and so on in any season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are competitions where they make a 25 meter hole in the ice and have races, without wetsuits but with a sauna nearby, if you get really into winter swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I recommend something like this to stay visible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01FTV2TM6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;swimmer&amp;#39;s buoy&quot;&gt;A swimmer's buoy at Amazon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T21:18:07.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14159" CreationDate="2016-07-20T21:37:59.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It'd be interesting to know how well your learning turned out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an answer to the original question, first of all, it is actually a good idea to augment a once-a-week swim class with practicing on your own (or with a friend from class). Your instructor would probably agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for equipment, you should be able to borrow the most common equipment at the pool. They probably have classes there too and thus will have noodles and kickboards. Use the kind of stuff, and the kind of exercises you use in the class. Don't try to experiment until you have learned proper technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you advance, do learn freestyle. Breaststroke is a lifesaving technique. If you know it, you can keep your head over the water, and also have a good sense of how to tow another person. But for exercise, freestyle is superior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, oh, much more important than kickboards or pull buoys are proper, well fitting goggles. Proper breaststroke puts your face in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T21:37:59.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31578" CreationDate="2016-07-20T22:51:58.833" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've been jogging and working my arms with some exercises. Although I feel both legs and arms more or less equally tired I also feel I have much more strength with my leg and right arm. I also feel that the right side of my abs are more tired (one or two days after the exercise), besides this I can see that my right shoes are more worn... so I was worried about this. Now that I'm starting to do more exercise I would like to have both sides of my body more or less equally developed. What should I do? Should I try to put more effort in my left side consciously?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13512" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-21T12:07:05.007" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T03:01:17.383" Title="Right abs are more worked (and possibly poor posture), how can I correct that?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="428" CreationDate="2016-07-20T22:54:07.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clarify some of the points made by others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you do breathe out through nose and mouth simultaneously to exhale most effectively. If you haven't finished exhaling, your inhale will be too late and your stroke will suffer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternating sides, taking an odd number of strokes between breaths, is good for balancing your stroke. If you breathe to one side only your technique is more likely to become a bit sloppy. Particularly the arm on the breathing side may shorten its stroke, and the other arm is likely to cross the mid-line. Thus you should strive to breathe on both sides. This can be done even if breathing every two, by simply changing sides regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there is no specific number of strokes you are &quot;supposed&quot; to take between breaths. In fact, a good drill is to swim a number of 50s while increasing your breathing within the 50 from every three to whatever number you can manage, or to increasing the breath interval by 50s eventually doing the whole 50 without breathing, whichever you prefer. And swimmers who race use different patterns all the time. When I raced properly, my 50 was without a breath, but my 100 was consistently every three. These days I have to use every two when I race anything longer than a 100. Breathing on every stroke is only used as a drill. That said, breathing every three is the standard for most swimmers in practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22010" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T22:54:07.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31576" CreationDate="2016-07-21T02:50:28.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, given we don't know much about the exact situation - have in mind there could be an underlying medical condition so you should consult a doctor if you have any such doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said - having more strength on your right side, especially in the beginning is not unlikely. Your strength is not solely determined by your muscle shape and size but how well your nervous system knows how to coordinate your muscle tissue to produce work (muscle unit recruitment). Actually when a person starts weightlifting for first time, there are massive strength gains first few months mostly because of improved muscle unit recruitment. Given that through your life you have used your right hand for many demanding tasks, or have your right leg stepping first when climbing stairs etc, there could be such natural imbalance. It's significance should decrease over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tactic strength athletes (especially bodybuilders) apply to have equal development is doing unilateral exercises at the end of their workout. Eg one hand biceps curls or altering leg lunges - doing equal number of reps on either limb. But have in mind that you should focus on big movements and full-body workouts in the beginning (squats, deadlifts, vertical and horizontal pushing/pulling), not using isolating exercises. Those basic exercises will work your abs much better than crunches. You might however include isolating (single joint) exercises at the end of your workout to help you feel more confident that you are equating the development of your sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T02:50:28.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-21T06:38:36.173" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that there are different types of stretching, such as dynamic and static. How many other types of stretching do exist and what are the basic differences between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21563" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-07-22T21:17:57.250" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T01:12:42.963" Title="Types of stretching" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31576" CreationDate="2016-07-21T07:18:04.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ditch the cables and machines and pick up a barbell. Squat, press, bench and deadlift should suffice in developing your whole body. These big compound movements (if used with good form) should help your body account for imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unilateral: For example, my left arm is weak so I do a set to failure of bicep curls on my left arm first, counting the reps. I then repeat that number of reps on my right arm, no more, no less.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DO NOT ONLY EXERCISE ONE SIDE OF YOUR BODY&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T07:18:04.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31576" CreationDate="2016-07-21T12:03:21.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're seeing uneven wear, it is worthwhile seeing a doctor. It's not out of the question for there to be a fundamental unevenness. I had a mild case of undiagnosed scoliosis as a child and, possibly as a result, my arms are slightly different lengths, which means I have to modify my bench-press and push-up motions slightly. I do not advise seeing a chiropractor as my experience with them, and from seeing others with them, is that they will diagnose a spinal imbalance and &quot;vertical subluxations&quot; no matter what your condition and will immediately try to push you for weekly woo sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with JJosaur's advice, do some more whole-body exercises. Don't worry too much about working one side or the other. If you work them equally, things will likely even out. I do applaud you for wanting to be balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-07-22T03:01:17.383" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T03:01:17.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-21T21:04:14.313" Score="2" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the minimum water temperature for swimming workouts, like 1-2 km swims? I love swimming in lakes and rivers and am generally okay with cooler water (especially if swimming intensely), but I'm concerned about under-cooling my organs (most of all prostate and kidneys). Of course, if it feels too cold or I start freezing, I get out immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21944" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T12:48:51.633" Title="Minimum water temperature for swimming workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;sea-swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31588" CreationDate="2016-07-22T04:57:39.427" Score="3" ViewCount="871" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little background I have been lifting for a couple years now as a newb but have been able to get my muscles a bit toned and defined they were a bit flabby but not to the extent they are now. This is after having started the 5x5 stronglifts program which I have made some progress in strength but stagnated in some areas (squats, bench press). Is this normal? My arms are really soft and flabby, you touch them and can easily wiggle them, and have lost what little definition they used to have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 5'8&quot; @ 137lbs trying to gain weight but trying to stay toned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22041" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T20:40:06.823" Title="why arms flabby after 5x5 stronglifts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31584" CreationDate="2016-07-22T07:24:05.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your diet hasn't been on point. I have to make some linguistic assumptions, but &quot;flabby arms&quot; and &quot;you can easily wiggle them&quot; sounds to me like you've gained a bit of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you read up on how to lose fat, but keep in mind, it's going to revolve around your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See answers for &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/best-exercise-to-lose-belly-fat-fast&quot;&gt;What exercises should I perform to reduce fat on a specific area of my body?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T07:24:05.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31583" CreationDate="2016-07-22T12:48:51.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your body and acclimation. I had a friend who was an excellent swimmer who died after being stranded in Lake Michigan when it was 45F. I was at a 1 and 2 mile race once where the water temperature was 68F, and it was early season so people had only acclimated with warm pool swimming. Out of 500 or so people, 3 women without wetsuits became hypothermic. They recovered with warm showers and ER visits. No men had issues and no one wearing a wetsuit had issues. I swam with no wetsuit and was fine. Men on average have more mass and about twice the muscle mass in proportion on average, and this helps them. People who are both strong and have a fat layer may also have an advantage. I have heard of people swimming distance in the San Francisco Bay daily without a wetsuit, and that is quite cold. I recommend that with boat support you start with very short swims and see how you react, and this will also allow your body to acclimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T12:48:51.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31584" CreationDate="2016-07-22T20:40:06.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're trying to thread the needle a little too much, and I'm basing that off of a couple of things you've said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm 5'8&quot; @ 137lbs trying to gain weight &lt;strong&gt;but trying to stay toned&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have made some progress in strength &lt;strong&gt;but stagnated&lt;/strong&gt; in some areas&#xA;  (squats, bench press). Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a comparison, I'm two inches taller than you and weight 185, roughly fifty pounds more than you. I tend to bounce around between 10%-15% body fat. Regardless, I'm barely taller than you and weight a lot more than you, and I fit a size medium shirt. I'm not in anyway implying that we have the same body types or that I'm &quot;normal&quot;, but just to give an anchor point to the conversation because I think &lt;strong&gt;you need to add on a lot of muscle weight&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very hard to do &quot;lean gains&quot;, to the point that it's just not worth trying. Honestly the only people I've seen reliably accomplish this were using anabolic steroid supplementation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a common statement tossed around to new lifters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chain yourself to the squat rack, drink a gallon of whole milk every&#xA;  day, and call me in a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's not a lot of magic to this; I'm betting you know this already but you're hoping / believing that you can escape the reality. It sucks, but you can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;Building muscles, long term, is better for fat loss than aerobic exercise&lt;/a&gt;. Diet trumps all, but on to point #2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to lift heavy and eat in caloric excess to get stronger/bigger. It sucks, you'll get a little fat, but you need to accept that. This doesn't mean you need to be 500 calories a day over budget. The exact amount isn't dead on, but what is known is that you can't be in caloric deficit. Nailing the number dead on every day is impossible, so you need to go a little over. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you've gained a significant amount of strength/size over a period of months, maintain the weights you're lifting, incorporate interval training and pull your diet in. You'll scrub 1-2 pounds a week. 8 pounds in two months is a huge difference: for your body, that's roughly a 6% body fat swing. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try to stay in your &quot;lean gains&quot; mode where you want to get big but don't want to put on weight, you'll basically stagnate forever like you are now. You don't need to eat cheeseburgers every day, but if you're lifting heavy you need to sleep and eat a lot to get bigger. Lift like a crazy man for 3-4 months, scrub the goo for 1-2 months, rinse/repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T20:40:06.823" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-23T19:24:18.473" Score="0" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run a half marathon in January 2016, completed this in 2 hour 40 mins. After that I got little lazy and didn't spend much time in training. Sometimes I go for running around 8 KM, around 2-3 days a week. Problem I face is after 1 km of running I got exhausted so after a kilo meter I brisk walk for around 200 meters and then start on running again. I am basically a very slow runner :( &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have another half marathon coming in December 2016 and I want to complete this in under 2 hour. What should be my plan of training? How many days a week? How many KMs daily? How to resolve issues with 1 KM exhaust? What I should eat to meet these goals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know these are lot of questions but any help would be much appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4203" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T03:27:08.503" Title="How to finish Half Maraton in under 2 hour? I have 4 months to prepare" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-25T11:27:11.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31590" CreationDate="2016-07-24T03:27:08.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you like to use a challenge to pursue to find motivation to run. For running a half marathon many people like follow a marathon training plan. This isn't necessary but many people do it because the plan incorporates nice long distance runs once a week and builds up millage to 40 miles/week or more. Runs per week are about 3-4 and as high as 6-7. About 1-3 hard runs a week with 2-4 easy runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, many people do alot of training in order to run that distance fast. Since you want to finish in 2 hours and have a hard time doing a few kilometers I think you can achieve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few tips. Walking fast can be just as exhausting as a jog or slow run so keep that up. Dont try to run at a hard effort for any specific distance until you have run that distance for 2-3 weeks and have done at least one run at the distance were the pace has been changed between easy and hard (like intervals, progressive runs, or fast finish runs). Build up a routine that includes a long run for 2-3 hours. Dont jump up to any pace, distance, or time without bulding up for it. Build up to 2 hours for the long run and dont worry about taking walking breaks. Eat and drink water for any run close to 2 hours which includes any breaks. Mentally accepting to take a break at any time can allow you to run farther and faster without taking a break - well at least for me. Dont run hard unless you feel good. Dont bother running for more than 3 hours until you need to do it for meeting a training plan distance during your future marathon training :) Running easy means you can talk, you are not breathing hard, and you actually find yourself paying attention to your surroundings. Running aerobically means your breathing rate has increased noticeably, your conversations are limited to short statements, your moving well but not reaching or pushing too much, and your not feeling your heart beat. Run long runs easy. Build up to 1-2 aerobic medium to hard effort runs to about 15-18 km about 4 weeks before half marathon - at or near goal pace. In the weeks leading up to the half make sure to taper but by reducing your overall distance without slowing down your pace (or speeding it up :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. A short list of popular coaches and authors that might help through their books and websites are Greg McMillan, Hal Higdon, Jack Daniels, and Pete Pfitzinger. A good source of motivation to get out there and run can be found by seeing what others are doing by checking out running apps for your phone and PC like Endomondo and Strava. Endomondo is popular in Europe and Strava in the US. Strava is great for finding places to run and Endomondo is great for tracking your improving fitness &amp;amp; speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T03:27:08.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31593" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-24T13:15:34.473" Score="1" ViewCount="542" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a bit of back story, I did a lot of sports when I was younger, but stopped when I went to University, put on a lot of weight and ended up weight 14 stone. To slim down I took up running, and lost a lot of weight (down to 11 stone), but hit a plateau and then took up the Insanity Workout. To try and get bigger muscles, I added the Insanity Upper Body Weight training to the program, and do that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on top of the usual workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've hit a plateau with that now, and feel as if I'm not losing the fat around my abdomen, and not really gaining any growth on my arms despite the weight training. I looked into P90X, and was ready to start that, but I noticed some reviews stating that it's too long a workout, and can cause injuries. I must admit, I'm doing 90-100 minutes now on 3 days a week, and it's probably too much, every day at 90 minutes does sound too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading up on some workouts online, I found the 21 minute Bodyweight Burn (BW3) workout and it was an attractive prospect, as it would significantly reduce the time I spend every morning working out, and give me free time. Same goes for the  Mark Lauren workouts, and that's only 3 times a week. Can 20 minutes a day, or even just 3 times a week be enough? Or is this too good to be true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to note, I want a DVD workout that I can do in my garage every morning, as it works well for me at the moment. And my goals are bigger arms and a flatter abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22062" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T14:02:58.037" Title="Is 21 minutes of bodyweight training really enough?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31593" CreationDate="2016-07-24T19:40:33.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, personally, it sounds like very little time. But it has to be said that it's not how long you work out, it's how much you accomplish in that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do 21 minutes of super-setting compound exercises with max 30 seconds rest between sets, then I think you might be able to call that a worthwhile session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But extending the workout time allows you to spread the workload more evenly, and take the time to focus on a good warmup, good form, a good pump and a good stretch. And that is, in the long run, certainly more productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in short, I vote nay. 20 minutes is too little. I think you'll stagnate before making any measurable, positive difference to your body, and you'll get stuck in a rut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't buy into the promises of huge gains with minimal effort. If it was that easy, everyone would be ripped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T19:40:33.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31579" CreationDate="2016-07-25T01:12:42.963" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/Stretching.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;four types of stretching&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Static: you hold a position, not really bouncing around on it. This is what most athletic stretching tends to be since it's the easiest, doesn't require a partner, and is what most of us learned in PE class.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dynamic: this very much looks and acts like a warmup. As an example, a golfer might start practicing swings right up to the normal range of motion until they feel limber enough to operate through the normal swing range. A weight lifter might start squatting the bar, increasing through weights until they are comfortably moving through their full range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ballistic: generally, this is where you use inertia or a bit of help to stretch beyond your range of motion. An example of this would be to hold onto a dumbbell when bent over, which will cause your body to bend more than if the weight wasn't there. Adding a bit of a bounce will make it ballistic. &lt;em&gt;This type of stretching is generally frowned on for being an injury magnet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation): this is a bit advanced, and typically only seen performed by professional trainers. It's a combination of muscular contraction followed rapidly by isometric contraction. You can sort of play with this one yourself by flexing your bicep with your fist against your shoulder (knuckles down), which should make your bicep cramp up a bit. Then extend your arm and stretch your bicep (usually by having your fist at an angle against a wall with your arm extended), while contracting your bicep a bit. &lt;em&gt;Generally this type of stretching requires a partner.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't ask about these, but I'll toss them in because they're relevant. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/470/7091&quot;&gt;Ivo has a great answer from nearly ten years ago that is still current regarding stretching&lt;/a&gt;. Boiled down, what I've found is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's a good thing to have a wide range of motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That wide range of motion should come from activities that cause you to use your body, as opposed to simply being flexible for the sake of flexibility. Not that the latter is inherently bad, but the former is certainly better. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/24497/ideal-warm-up-and-cool-down-durations-for-weight-training/24499#24499&quot;&gt;You should warm up your body before strenuous exercise&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether you want to call it dynamic stretching or warming up, a good warmup will progressively allow you to safely handle the load you're about to introduce, through a wide range of motion (which you have, because you're fit and exercise properly, right?). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So if you have a great range of motion for your great full body exercises you do, and you can dynamically-stretch-warmup your way into them, I think this is where the question often comes up with &quot;what are you statically stretching for&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T01:12:42.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31604" CreationDate="2016-07-25T03:26:16.813" Score="4" ViewCount="899" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 33 year old male that has recently taken up skateboarding for the physical and mental health benefits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first few weeks I became cardiovascularly and respitorially fatigued before becoming fatigued in my muscles and frame.  After a month or so, my cardiovascular and respiratory stamina has greatly increased, and I can often skate until my muscles become weak, and often will because I am having a great time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After skating I am always very sore.  Mostly this is in my muscles, which is actually somewhat pleasurable as my brain uses the soreness as a motivational tactic (you're getting stronger, better, keep it up!)  I also  sometimes develop soreness in my knees, especially after vigorous sessions.  The knee soreness is not &lt;em&gt;pain&lt;/em&gt;.   It does not bother me when I walk, but standing up from a sitting position and crouching into a squat position produce a dull strained feeling in my knees.  I also sometimes feel sore in my ankles, but this is only rarely notiable. All the soreness I described has, so far, always gone away after a day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to continue this hobby because it is having great benefits, but I do not want to injure myself chronically or acutely.  I'm trying to take progress slowly, I'm careful not to attempt maneuvers am not prepared to learn, and I always wear wrist, elbow, and knee padding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, given where I am, my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any signs here that I am risking injury, long or short term?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What strategies can I adopt to better prevent/lower risk of injuring myself?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are stretches before or after a good idea?  If so, what should I be focusing on?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are other exercises a good idea?  If so, which ones will help?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22064" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T06:01:31.720" Title="Skateboarding After Thirty" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;&lt;cool-down&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32016" CreationDate="2016-07-25T11:30:00.300" Score="3" ViewCount="803" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most articles nowadays seem to favor High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) compared to Steady State Cardio (SS), for various reasons like faster fat loss and getting higher levels of cardio fitness in the same time period. Not only that, but exercise retention among individuals has been much better due to shorter durations of HIIT workouts, which is a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are even articles which claim that &lt;a href=&quot;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/115/24/3086&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HIIT might improve aerobic capacity and quality of life in people with heart diseases&lt;/a&gt; (compared to steady aerobic cardio). Articles which warn against excessive endurance excercise (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538475/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Potential Adverse Cardiovascular Effects From Excessive Endurance Exercise&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140513/ncomms4775/full/ncomms4775.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercise training reduces resting heart rate via downregulation of HCN4&lt;/a&gt;) mostly deal with marathon runners and cyclists - although it's not clear whether it's the &lt;em&gt;endurance&lt;/em&gt; part that should be emphasized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, some articles note that there is a difference in heart adaptation between HIIT and SS cardio: on one hand there is a Concentric Hypertrophy of the Heart in HIIT (due to anaerobic stresses), vs the Eccentric Hypertrophy of the Heart for SS, which increases the stretch reflex (less energy used per beat). &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventricular_hypertrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;According to Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, concentric hypertrophy is the less appealing type of hypertrophy, because it increases wall thickness without increasing the chamber radius, which can &amp;quot;impair filling and lead to diastolic dysfunction&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(Update)&lt;/strong&gt; Again, regarding endurance, there is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://content.onlinejacc.org/mobile/article.aspx?articleID=2108914&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article which describes an &amp;quot;U-shape&amp;quot; distribution of mortality&lt;/a&gt; as a function of exercise pace, quantity, and frequency, i.e. a potentially reduced benefits of endurance cardio if taken too far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jogging up to 2.5 h per week at a slow or average pace and a frequency of ≤3 times per week was associated with the lowest mortality. Those who jogged &amp;gt;4 h per week, at a fast pace, and &amp;gt;3 times per week appeared to lose many of the longevity benefits noted with less strenuous doses of jogging&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this study, the dose of running that was &lt;strong&gt;most favorable&lt;/strong&gt; for reducing mortality was jogging &lt;strong&gt;1 to 2.4 h&lt;/strong&gt; per week, with &lt;strong&gt;no more than 3 running days&lt;/strong&gt; per week, at a &lt;strong&gt;slow or average&lt;/strong&gt; pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ub9tP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ub9tP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;jogging pace&lt;/strong&gt; in the image above might be related to HIIT, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, while everyone agrees that regular exercise improves cardiovascular fitness, lowers resting heart rate and increases longevity on average, it still appears that &lt;strong&gt;hypertrophy effects of HIIT might be more problematic in the long term&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22069" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T08:27:05.000" Title="HIIT vs steady state: long term health effects" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31600" CreationDate="2016-07-25T12:23:13.060" Score="3" ViewCount="682" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having trouble &quot;reconciling&quot; having a proper posture while doing abdominal breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I understand correctly, proper posture should involve &lt;em&gt;pulling the abdomen in&lt;/em&gt;, among other things, while &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diaphragmatic (belly) breathing&lt;/a&gt; involves exactly the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to keep the abdomen tucked in, and breathe abdominally at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22069" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T12:37:59.113" Title="Abdominal breathing vs proper posture" Tags="&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31599" CreationDate="2016-07-25T12:37:59.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common issue, you misconceive that pulling belly in is correcting your Lumbar Lordosis, or Anterior Pelvic Tilt (APT). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your erector spinae (lower back spinal muscles) and hip flexors tend to be tight (and should be stretched), and the glutes and abdominals tend to be weak (and should be strengthened). This typically causes one's butt and gut to stick out. Check here for some guidance on fixing your posture: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1prg6b/update_to_the_anterior_pelvic_tilt_fixing_thread/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1prg6b/update_to_the_anterior_pelvic_tilt_fixing_thread/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T12:37:59.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31593" CreationDate="2016-07-25T13:40:02.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In summary: &lt;strong&gt;Is 21 minutes of bodyweight training really enough? My goals are bigger arms and a flatter abdomen.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you exercise that amount you will gain some muscle strength in your upper body and you might lose some weight. &lt;strong&gt;What is most likely is that nothing will visibly change in the mirror based on your current plan.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/30079/how-fast-should-a-rep-be-in-strength-power-hypertrophy-and-endurance-goal-work/31087#31087&quot;&gt;time-under-tension is not just the key to gaining muscles, the amount of tension you apply plays a key role&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.codyapp.com/2013/11/07/you-cant-out-exercise-a-bad-diet-what-does-this-even-mean/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you can't out-exercise a bad diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/best-exercise-to-lose-belly-fat-fast&quot;&gt;you can't spot-reduce your belly fat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;progressive overload is essential for gaining muscle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Guidelines.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;order to see gains you'll need exercises that can take you to exhaustion in 6-12 repetitions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T13:40:02.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31610" CreationDate="2016-07-25T15:10:57.307" Score="3" ViewCount="13773" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always do my pull-ups with my legs stretched out, no matter the height of the bar. But, the thing that bothers me is that I can't manage to keep my legs in a straight line with my upper body during the workout — they almost always move forward when I lift myself and I feel like that is actually helping me do more pull-ups — it feels like my legs are making the exercise easier on my biceps &amp;amp; back muscles. I have also noticed that bending my legs backwards is making the exercise harder than when my legs are straight. Why is it so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21949" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T22:43:38.060" Title="Is moving the legs forward on pull-ups a bad thing?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31602" CreationDate="2016-07-25T15:21:26.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether your legs are bent, in an 'L' form (to add abs), or straight down, the importance is consistency...so find your comfort zone and stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22073" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T15:21:26.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31596" CreationDate="2016-07-25T18:51:51.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an over 30's (nearly 40) skate boarder, surfer, and (mainly) snowboarder, I'll take at a crack at these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any signs here that I am risking injury, long or short term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well let's be clear that you're risking injury by skateboarding at all. You're one rock, one crack, or one obstacle away from flying onto the asphalt, and it &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; happen. If you're talking about exercise induced injury, you can pick up overuse injuries if you pump a lot of miles, especially in the beginning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What strategies can I adopt to better prevent/lower risk of injuring&#xA;  myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protective equipment. Helmet, wrist guards, knee pads, and elbow pads. Most skateboarders don't wear these which is insane to me because in snowboards most folks wear helmets, and I'd much rather crash on snow than asphalt. It's just a style thing, but I stopped acting like a 13 year old a long time ago. Especially if you're pushing your limits, gear up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop riding if you develop overuse injuries, which is basically &quot;the -itis's&quot; (tendinitis, bursitis). You can can get problems in your ankles, toes, and various parts of your feet (including the tops). Overuse injuries like this can take weeks for the swelling to go down. Get used to taking periods of from skating to let your body heal up fully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are stretches before or after a good idea? If so, what should I be&#xA;  focusing on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise&quot;&gt;Stretching is a big topic&lt;/a&gt;, it probably won't help you much. If you like it and it feels good, go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are other exercises a good idea? If so, which ones will help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest injuries in skateboarding come from crashing. And while you can't prevent it entirely, the more skilled you are and the more you ride within your skillset, the less you'll crash. If you're going to learn some new stuff or bomb some big hill, gear up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding exercises in particular though, these are ones that I find pretty handy for board sports:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkbFEMCyuE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Medicine ball squat toss&lt;/a&gt;. I usually aim for a wall in front of me, drop down with the catch, and jump/push getting my feet off the ground. For boards you want to be able to move your weight up and down &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAMBVWe65Qo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Single leg romanian deadlift&lt;/a&gt;. Even on snowboards, and definitely on skateboards, you're frequently only really on one foot, articulating around. Having that strength and coordination is awesome. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldZQHh5XuAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cleans&lt;/a&gt;. Probably the hardest thing to learn in a gym. Basically teaches you to move ridiculously fast, uses a ton of muscles, and super good for board sports it transfers through the ankles/feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTXSoJrKfks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Crab walking&lt;/a&gt;. As long as you have a conventional board you can crab walk/dance. It's especially good for rainy days in the garage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T18:51:51.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-25T22:27:38.447" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am a boy scout, and for one merit badge we have to make some fitness improvements. I followed the plans we had to make practiced and such, but throughout the twelve week program, I didn't manage to increase my flexibility. We have to do a sit and reach, where we touch a board while sitting down. Before I started, I couldn't even touch the board, but now I can touch it, but I can't hold it for the required 15 seconds. My question is - is there any sort of stretch I can do to at least temporarily increase my flexibility so I can finish this tonight?&#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22080" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T00:52:08.350" Title="How to quickly improve flexibility" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2701" CreationDate="2016-07-26T04:05:18.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good idea to take a few lessons, mainly to get confidence in the water so as not to fear training alone. Once you have control in the water you might experiment with these tweaks that made my strokes better later in life in favor of basic swim class instruction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These techniques would hamper speed for competitive swimming, but are excellent for training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid getting water in the nose hum when the face is under water, this allows for a slow escape of air which saves the breath, and water can't get in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hands&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relaxed bear paws instead of the tense cupped hand with closed fingers.... you'd be surprised how much faster you go, with less effort to pull yourself along (as well it feels like more chest and arm muscles are engaging).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flat on the water&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The instruction to keep the body flat on the water is a bit misleading, and could be one reason why doctors recommend those with bad backs to avoid the breast stroke and crawl (these strokes arch the back awkwardly compressing vertebrae of the lower back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dismayed at this advice I analyzed my posture in the water and realized that it's not so much that we should be flat. We need to hold the body in a way that straightens the arch, yet also allows it to relax along the water into a cohesive swimming position. Once I made these postural changes I found even more ways harness the power of the eddies made by whip kick feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breast stroke&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make a half heart with each hand rather than making wide sweeping strokes with straight arms that slow you down with the drag. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whip kick&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whip kick is hard and takes a while to master (much more efficient once you get it than the frog kick). You can train the feet and lower legs for this any time, even in the bath, or in bed. Practice whip kick in the water on both front and back, using figure eight hand movements to keep afloat. Keeping the knees and feet as close together as possible scoop the feet, lower legs moving in half circles, toes drawing a half heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the first attempts it can be hard to get moving, but after a day or two the lower legs get coordinated and this kick permeates into all the strokes. As well  the body is better positioned to be flat yet relaxed on the water, back supported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crawl&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with running, even though the crawl is a fast stroke it can not be learned by going fast or you end up going nowhere fast and getting tired. Either in an attempt to keep the hair dry or to prevent water inhalation people often do odd crawl strokes with heads out of the water, turning it quickly from side to side, swimming with arms akimbo, all interfering with the crawl. The flailing swimmer quickly becomes tired from over exertion and lack of breathing and cohesion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid inhaling water when doing the crawl, don't turn the head out of the water, instead roll the body on to one side. The head follows the body so there's no need to turn it. There is no need to gasp for a breath because you are in control of how long it takes for the other side arm stroke to complete its cycle, before bringing you face down again in the water... to do more strokes and expel the next breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid neck pain, when coming up for air, turn to both sides rather than always using the same side. And keep the shoulders down while swimming. The body has to be relaxed in a face down float, chin down to elongate the back of the neck and avoid stress and crunching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trickle breathing, odd number count and upper body&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means keeping the head in the water while you do odd numbers of arm strokes for the duration that it takes for the air to slowly trickle out. Taking short pauses to hold the breath while the air depletes enables you to hold the air longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ensure that body alternates both sides time the breaths with odd numbered arm stokes (3,5,7,9). Lower numbers for slower, higher numbers for fast plowing arms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lower body&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learning this tip quickly made the crawl possible to do well. Let the legs trail behind (rather than fast hard kicking). Kicking is not what propels the body, it's the upper body paddling the arms that moves you along. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the upper body is relaxed and in sync the legs kick in on their own propelled by only a gentle shimmy from the hips that whips power down the legs into the feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you work up the amount of time between taking breaths you end up paddling more strokes. When you need a breath you roll out of the water, and if necessary, recover while doing other stokes with the face out of the water. For more intense cardio spurts work up to paddling 9 strokes with a faster arm speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came to see that swimming inevitably causes us to use the breathing apparatus as is in yoga and meditation exercises. I was thrilled to find this article, he so well describes this concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.universal-yoga.com/?id=65407&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.universal-yoga.com/?id=65407&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22058" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-07-26T12:15:40.770" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T12:15:40.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31602" CreationDate="2016-07-26T13:47:53.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're moving your legs forward while pulling yourself up, it's a way to &quot;cheat&quot; a little bit on the movement.  You're using the momentum of your legs swinging up to help you pull yourself up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not really a problem, since it'll help you get some more pull ups in, but you should try to keep your legs stationary throughout the movement.  (You can keep them up, down, or crossed, but try to keep them steady regardless of where you are during the pull up)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as why it feels harder if your legs are kept back, that's likely caused by two things.  First, it may have the opposite effect if you're kicking your legs back.  Second, by keeping your legs behind you, you're stretching your core and using that during the pull up in addition to your other muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For best practice, try to keep the upper part of your legs (down to your knees) straight with your back, and bend your knees slightly so your feet are behind you.  Do not flail/kick your legs and focus on your back/lats/biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T13:47:53.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31606" CreationDate="2016-07-26T14:31:18.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this for Sports merit badge?  I'm not sure I remember it being too strict on them making sure you made improvements.  Granted that was probably 8 years ago so I'm sure it's changed a bit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure you keep stretching and warm up your legs a bit before you attempt it.  Get a nice stretch in for a few minutes, then maybe go for a little jog to get the blood flowing in your legs, then stretch for another minute.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you don't make it, I'm sure the counselor will be able to see that you've made improvements and you should be able to satisfy the requirement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T14:31:18.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-26T17:13:17.833" Score="2" ViewCount="30383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started using from last one month. After getting up from beginner level, I am moving to alternatives of few exercise. I am asking this to know about One arm dumbbell row alternatives. Recently I asked one of Gym friend and he suggested me go through &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onearmdumbbellrow.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this website of one arm&lt;/a&gt; which looks me really helpful. Please suggest me some other alternatives you have tried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22088" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T13:25:44.013" Title="What are the Alternatives of One Arm Dumbbell Row?" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31613" CreationDate="2016-07-26T19:56:20.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say alternatives, are you looking for exercises which also isolate one arm?  Or exercises that mimic that movement?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm not sure which one you're referring to, I'll list a few exercises that mimic the movement and I'll specify if you can do them with one arm or not.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T-bar row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable row &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer grip seated row (Can be done with one arm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer strength pull downs (Can be done with one arm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over barbell row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T19:56:20.187" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4661" CreationDate="2016-07-27T07:36:53.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is complete nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anything, constantly tensing your abdominals will decrease metabolism, because it makes more difficult for food to pass the gut. Chronic tension in the abdominals can result in constipation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will not see much fitness benefits either. The abdominal muscles are no different from any other muscle. It is not possible to get much stronger and healthier by voluntarily contracting the biceps the whole day against no resistance, so why would it be any different for the abs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The effective way to increase metabolism through exercise is to work as many muscles as possible. The biggest muscles in the body are the quads, glutes, and back muscles. So get some serious exercise and stop focusing only on abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2016-07-27T08:19:10.333" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T08:19:10.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31618" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-27T07:37:11.457" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working with lighter weights and doing endurance workouts for the past year or two. I have been using heavier weights that I can only usually do about 4-8 reps on at a time. My only query is when I do the lighter weight i feel my muscles &quot;burn&quot; and kind of tense up. When I do the heavier weights I feel none of this burning, I don't feel anything when I do them ! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need someone to confirm I'm doing this right, thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oliver&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22093" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T09:19:05.833" Title="Felling the &quot;burn&quot;" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;burn&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31618" CreationDate="2016-07-27T09:05:56.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tensing of your muscles is due to them filling with more blood than at rest to ensure that the transmission of oxygen to the cells matches the increase in demand because of your activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During power exercises such as sprinting, when the rate of demand for energy is high, glucose is broken down and oxidized to pyruvate, and lactate is then produced from the pyruvate faster than the body can process it, causing lactate concentrations to rise &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_am_i_doing_something_wrong_if_i.27m_not_sore_anymore_after_a_workout.3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;. It's is commonly understood that a surplus of lactic acid causes a &quot;burning&quot; feeling in muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising for longer at a lighter weights could b described in this case as akin to running 200m. Your body can't keep up with the increase in lactic acid because of the long duration (and isolation) of the strenuous activity. You feel the burn. If you were sprinting 30m you would not get overloaded with lactic acid and you would not feel the burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Endurance training is all about developing your mid and body to deal with this lactic acid build-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side Note: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_am_i_doing_something_wrong_if_i.27m_not_sore_anymore_after_a_workout.3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Being sore is not evidence of a good workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_am_i_doing_something_wrong_if_i.27m_not_sore_anymore_after_a_workout.3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid#Exercise_and_lactate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid#Exercise_and_lactate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T09:05:56.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25055" CreationDate="2016-07-27T09:10:40.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights with proper form while maintaining a healthy diet will not stunt growth. In fact, weight lifting has many benefits for youths including increased strength for sports and higher self-esteem. (1) (2) (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/YouthMisconceptions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Misconceptions About Training Youth, Knowledge To Share With Parents And Administrators, Lon Kilgore PhD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2216562&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strength training in children and adolescents, Center for Sports Medicine at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, Webb DR.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16437017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Resistance training, skeletal muscle and growth. The Ribstein Center for Sport Medicine Sciences and Research, Falk B1, Eliakim A.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T09:10:40.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31613" CreationDate="2016-07-27T13:08:52.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one-arm-dumbbell-row is a compound back exercise. It works out similar muscles to the barbell/pendlay row. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many isolation exercises for back (eg. Reverse Fly, Pull-over, Chins)  but for a compound back exercise look towards:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over/Pendlay Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T-bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Literally anything here under &quot;General Back&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/BackWt.html#General&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/BackWt.html#General&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-27T13:25:44.013" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T13:25:44.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12709" CreationDate="2016-07-27T15:09:01.470" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I welcome and look for, during weight resistance training or when using stairs as a training tool, subtle shaking during eccentric contraction at 'sticking points' (weak areas along the muscle being trained) and is an indication of neural impulsing motor unit recruitment, that muscle is being built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going down stairs is eccentric motion that also elicits tremors. Each step down a stair is an opportunity to harness eccentric resistance using body weight and foot action to guide the descent. Deliberately peel each foot from each stair keeping them pointed straight takes them through full range of movement working calves legs and butt. Foot peeling forces a controlled decent, and a longer stance on each leg revealing the sticking points. Breathe though the tremors, with time the descent will be more solid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those who get winded ascending stairs a concentric contraction lifts the body upward. Each concentric motion upwards acts alternately as a one legged squat upward when pressing off the heel-butt connection. A two part breathing cycle to a two part step up prevents being winded. The tremors are less obvious on the concentric ascent but it is still possible to tune in to the resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the subtle shake occurs you know you are getting to the deeper layers and actually building muscle which will be apparent as the legs become stronger and more cohesive to your gait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://org.ntnu.no/styrke/program/v47_ecc.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://org.ntnu.no/styrke/program/v47_ecc.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;forum&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://transformetrics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10602&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://transformetrics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10602&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22058" LastEditorUserId="22058" LastEditDate="2016-08-01T08:40:16.327" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T08:40:16.327" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31632" CreationDate="2016-07-28T02:12:43.113" Score="5" ViewCount="1041" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can swim a mile (66 lengths, 1650y) of breasstroke in about 40 minutes - 45 mins. But I cant swim more than 3 or 4 laps of freestyle. They use the same muscles. Why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21930" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T09:50:33.780" Title="I can swim a lot of breaststroke, but not freestyle. Why?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-28T05:08:17.673" Score="5" ViewCount="18465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a female. 113 pounds. I am going to start working out because I want my butt to get bigger. I have whey protein. These are the questions I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much protein do I need overall in order to gain mass/muscle in my butt?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What types of food should I eat? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I make a protein shake, how much protein should it have? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What do I need to do/eat before a workout?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I drink a protein shake before or after my workout? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. Any advice would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22099" LastActivityDate="2018-09-11T07:58:10.440" Title="How Much Protein Do I Need To Build Mass?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;recommended-daily-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31626" CreationDate="2016-07-28T07:03:48.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;Eating more calories than you need&lt;/a&gt; (known as a eating a surplus/bulk) will cause you to put on weight. Weight gain is really as simple as calories in vs calories out. In terms of planning how much protein you should be eating &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29488/how-much-protein-should-i-be-eating&quot;&gt;studies are divided&lt;/a&gt; but around 1g per 1lb body weight seems to be the middle ground. Note: Resulting body composition (fat/muscle ratio) is majority to do with your macro nutritional breakdown.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat healthy ones! It's easier to tell you what you should avoid: High-Carb Low-everything-else, foods are the worst for your goals. Avoid crisps, lost of bread, sugary sweets. Eat wholegrain and 5 fruit &amp;amp; veg a day. Lean meat is great! &lt;strong&gt;Healthy food, everything in moderation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No one can possibly tell you.&lt;/strong&gt; Protein shakes are a &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt;. They are there to give you the protein you are missing from your normal diet. People drink them because after certain weights is it really hard to take in the protein required through food alone. Not that it is impossible, if you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-eats-about-821-pounds-of-cod-per-year/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;enough cod&lt;/a&gt;. You need to track your carb/protein/fat and overall calorie intake over a few weeks to work out how much your need.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Warm-up before any routine. Unless you particularly want to take pre-workout you don't need to. Your diet choices should provide you with the energy you need. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In terms of protein timing, in the grand scheme of things, it's not very critical&lt;/strong&gt;. Of far greater importance is hitting your calorie, macro- and micro-nutrient needs over the course of the day. After that, consistency and commitment should be applied to an appropriate workout plan that suits your performance and/or body goals. If you tend to train in a fasted state, getting your post-workout nutrition in as soon as possible is a good idea, but the first two points (daily diet goals, consistent training) still take precedence. For a review specific to protein timing and it's effect on strength and muscle building, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879660/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this review&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3167/best-timing-and-amount-of-protein-intake-for-building-mass&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, for more information on the workout required and someone else's experience of a similar question, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29615/how-do-i-get-a-four-foot-butt&quot;&gt;look here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T14:51:25.890" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31630" CreationDate="2016-07-28T11:21:27.263" Score="-2" ViewCount="1530" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can i take shower immediately after taking whey protein? Some of my friends suggested after workout(Taking whey) is not good for me. They said protein will not absorb as much. Any suggestions appreciated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22101" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-07-28T12:15:41.190" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T12:15:41.190" Title="Can i take shower immediately after taking whey protein?" Tags="&lt;post-workout&gt;&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-07-28T15:22:18.800" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31629" CreationDate="2016-07-28T12:15:24.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Showering does not affect the bodies absorption of protein. Timing of protein is not that important for majority of people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31626/how-much-protein-do-i-need-to-build-mass/31627#31627&quot;&gt;How Much Protein Do I Need To Build Mass?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19631/short-term-and-long-term-effect-of-delaying-protein-intake-after-workout&quot;&gt;Short term and long term effect of delaying protein intake after workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T12:15:24.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31625" CreationDate="2016-07-28T15:29:39.340" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without actually seeing your stroke, I am going to make the guess that it is related to breathing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breastroke, it is easy to do a slow stroke (and a 40 minute mile qualifies) and breathe in and out regularly while your face is above the water. In freestyle, the tendency for people that are not competitive swimmers is to hold their breath while their face is in the water, and then try to breathe out and in while their face is out of the water. This leads to hyperventilation and early fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A proper freestyle is breathing out &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; while your face is in the water, then breathing in during the recovery phase when your face comes out of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, while they do use many of the same groups of muscles, they use them in different patterns which can also contribute to fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T15:29:39.340" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31636" CreationDate="2016-07-28T21:23:22.910" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to the pool nearly everyday, and I swim laps (25y lengths, 50y laps). I noticed that swimming 10-12 laps (250-300y) doesn't really tire me out, so I can do it daily. But, swimming a mile (33 laps, 1650y) does tire me out, so much so that I need to rest for a couple days (1-2). The two patterns (~11/day and ~33/ 3 days) have the same daily lap average. Which is better for me? 11 laps per day, or 33 laps one day with a 2 day break?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess was (Because it takes about 3-4 days for the microtears in muscles to rebuild) that the 33 laps is better than the 11. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21930" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T20:45:50.747" Title="Short + Frequent or Long + Rare swims?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31207" CreationDate="2016-07-29T02:49:27.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that intervals limit the time for your recovery before the next hard effort, and in repeats you fully recover between each hard effort. Ive seen intervals more often in training programs online where your building up fitness to run a 5k or 10k, and repeats mainly for speed work which probably helps avoid injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually I just started reading up on speedwork when I asked this question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T02:49:27.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31508" CreationDate="2016-07-29T03:21:55.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thats normal for me and I think in general its true. Heart rate is really a measure of effort though limited and dependent on many internal and external factors. Note that HR shouldnt necessarily be constant throughout and some coaches (Greg McMillian) say that its normal for it to increase over the total distance and for older runners like myself its even normal to be at a higher %maxHR. See Greg McMillian's book &quot;YOU (Only Faster)&quot;, Chapter 13: The Endurance Zone, under &quot;Nerdy Note: The Science of Endurance Zone Training&quot; first paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For long runs at an easy effort I let myself run a little fast mainly just to establish a good easy effort. After 2-3 miles or about 20 minutes my heart rate stablizes and pace slows/stablizes but as the distance gets longer my pace will still drop slightly at the same HR &amp;amp; effort. Lately I have been trying to keep the same rhythm and pace near the end of a long easy run and even though it feels like Im pushing harder and harder to keep the same pace my heart rate only goes up slightly. Its kind of shocking because near the end I'll feel like Im running a faster run or a tempo pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at race prediction times (which tend to follow the curve of world records scaled to your most recent race time) then you'll see there is a large change in pace for shorter distance than longer ones. I think effort over distance is kind of proportional to this curve, and can be used to understand how effort changes over distance in a single run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-07-29T22:25:29.430" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T22:25:29.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31633" CreationDate="2016-07-29T15:29:54.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A combination would be best. Swim 11 laps 4-5 days a week (consider doing 20 or so laps one of those days), and then one day a week swim 33 laps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every day that you skip swimming, you lose the feel of the water and your strength and stamina begin to decrease. At the same time, you won't ever get better without pushing yourself, so swimming distance 1 day a week will help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20518" LastEditorUserId="20518" LastEditDate="2016-07-29T20:12:56.503" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T20:12:56.503" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5807" CreationDate="2016-07-29T20:12:32.510" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not do a superset unless you are already in great shape and are where you want to be. The concept is that you are sacrificing a muscle tear so you cant cheat on your cardio. There is no cheating in this!! There is no hack to get you in better shape, just hard work and discipline.  Basically , you are half assing your lift and your cardio.Stay home and eat ice cream. Dont be Lazy- maximize your lift AND DO YOUR CARDIO!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you must do a superset make sure you only do it once in a while when you are in a time crunch. Some gyms ( planet fitness or Curves) might have a circuit station.Dont rest between exercises, it defeats the purpose and at that point your just monopolizing equipment for no reason at all. Also, respect you fellow gym members, don't create a circuit during peak hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22114" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T20:12:32.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28191" CreationDate="2016-07-30T07:44:37.390" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should never breath through your mouth because it causes to get tired more quickly than breathing through your nose. You should be jogging with the inhaling of air from the nose and also exhale from the nose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22116" LastActivityDate="2016-07-30T07:44:37.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17882" CreationDate="2016-07-30T17:52:45.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glucose is 6 carbons. You don't need to promote ATP synthesis, enough is produced from fat / ketones. Also, neither ATP nor carbs have any anabolic potential, but an insulin spike after taking D-ribose can have &amp;mdash; but it will kick you out of ketosis. Having carbs in muscles makes them bigger just temporarily, it won't increase number / size / strength / endurance of muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glycogen stores are not depleted by ketosis, only by prolonged high intensity workouts. Try HIIT instead. Body can replenish glycogen from fat, it just takes longer (1-2 days) than from eaten carbs. Endurance (as in: prolonged low intensity effort) shoud be increased in ketosis, since the body can exert longer on fats than on carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ketosis does not induce any muscle wasting, quite contrary. If the body knows how to use fat, it doesn't need to turn proteins (amino acids) into glucose. That happens only when the body is carb-addicted, not in ketosis. Re strength, it's not lost, you can prove it by carbing-up for a high intensity workout, occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it appears to me, you are quite confused with regards to how body works, so please read up on metabolism and esp. ketosis first. If you really experience all those negatives, you're doing it wrong and maybe you even were not in a real ketosis. Forget about D-ribose and fix ketosis first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4235" LastActivityDate="2016-07-30T17:52:45.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31646" CreationDate="2016-08-01T12:10:02.727" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am man! I have been running and I would like to add to my diet some protein bars or powder [vegetable] protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I am intolerant to milk and I can only consider the vegan ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have realized that some of them contains soy protein (is it bad?) and a large amount of sodium? 1) Should I avoid these ones? Or soy protein is ok? 2) How about sodium? What is an acceptable amount of sodium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) The one presented below is acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SwNoL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SwNoL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) What are the best proteins for the ones that cannot drink milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22133" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T16:44:33.903" Title="How to choose the best type of vegan protein to take?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-03T02:31:57.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31643" CreationDate="2016-08-01T12:23:39.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no &amp;quot;best type&amp;quot; unless we know significantly more about you, and what you're trying to accomplish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything on the shelf in a store is approved by higher powers, and won't do you any immediate harm unless you're allergic or otherwise intolerant to one or more of the ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or soy protein is ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one presented below is acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes and yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no, there can be no more detailed answer, because there is no detail in the question. It's like asking &amp;quot;is bread ok?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the best proteins for the ones that cannot drink milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That depends on factors that you aren't giving us. Your goals, your weight, your workout regimen etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T12:23:39.267" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31643" CreationDate="2016-08-01T15:25:43.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert but I know:&#xA;  - Soy is good.&#xA;  - It will be great you don't consume more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day (in all your diet).&#xA;  - The best proteins are not industrials. It is better if you eat lentils or peas (it's an example) to get your protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21911" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T15:25:43.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31643" CreationDate="2016-08-01T16:44:33.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience as a vegan trying to gain muscle mass, I don't recommend protein powder. It's expensive and frankly not worth it. You can do the same by eating right and healthy, and working out properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are many great alternatives to it! Obviously, you should never consume extreme quantities of anything, and it is generally healthier to have many sources of protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal favorite is a meal of beans and rice. Beans are filled with protein (35-45 grams per cup), and can be made into lots of different foods (Bean burgers, re-fried beans, steamed green/string beans, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nuts and seeds are also great. I am quite attached to sun flour seeds and chia seeds. Sunflour seeds are great in salads or plain, and you can get them toasted or raw, salted or unsalted. Chia seeds also have lots of protein (57.8 grams per cup), and can be great. Grind them up and add them to milk overnight for a great pudding, add chia seed powder to soups or other dishes for thickener.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also happen to love &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.swansonvitamins.com/bobs-red-mill-tvp-textured-vegetable-protein-10-oz-pkg?SourceCode=INTL405C&amp;amp;CAWELAID=558417630&amp;amp;catargetid=530002460000120888&amp;amp;cadevice=c&amp;amp;mkwid=n7yGusgM&amp;amp;pcrid=80480719327&amp;amp;gclid=CjwKEAjw5vu8BRC8rIGNrqbPuSESJADG8RV0JpQeYmeSrrddryKymRWcuju89x5A8aQSgzZsQh_TTxoCIm3w_wcB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TVP&lt;/a&gt; (Textured Vegetable Protein). Its very filling, very high in protein, and you can add it to sauces, or add hot water and eat it alone. Its just great. Plenty of protein, fiber and potassium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're into that kind of stuff, bugs are also pretty great. I read an article about the UN encouraging people to consume bugs. They have lots of protein and nutrients. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/news/world-22508439&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UN Article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of 2013, the general guideline for the average male under 51 (above is 1,500 mg) is to consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, but far less is advised. Unsalted sunflour seeds have next to no sodium, and the same goes for chia seeds and most nuts (unless you buy salted). Beans have sodium, but if you cook/soak your own beans overnight, you can control the sodium level and keep it to a minimum. The specific brand of Vegetable Protein I mentioned above has just 2 mg of sodium per serving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically for me, I eat lunch (Usually beans, whole wheat tortilla, feta cheese [has 21 grams protein serving], salsa, in-season fruit), go workout (at the moment for me, this means swimming for an hour or so and biking a few miles), then I like to get more protein in some way, whether it's downing a cup of sun flour seeds, or eating a handful of nuts. I dropped from 170 to 165 eating like this, and I put on easily 5 lbs muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another favorite of mine is to make my own protein/snack bars. I just pull out the food processor, and add some dried fruit and nuts. Usually I use almonds and walnuts. For fruit, I use dried figs, dates, cranberries, raisins and cherries (Lots of fiber, and energy from sugar). I just pulse it all together until it combines, then I pack the mixture into 1/4 cup measure cups and wrap them individually in wax paper for storage in the fridge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21930" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T16:44:33.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31650" CreationDate="2016-08-01T19:58:45.460" Score="0" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to do three arm exercises A, B, and C. For each exercise, I perform 2 series of 10 repetitions. I can only work with one arm at a time. Which of the following sequence is preferable to maximize muscle gain and minimize the risk of injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do all exercises A, B, and C with left arm. Then, do all exercises A, B, and C with the right arm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate arm between each exercise, i.e.: Do the two series of exercise A with the left arm. Then, do two series of exercise A with the right arm. Do the same for exercises B and C.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate arm between each series, i.e.:  Do the first series of exercise A with the left arm. Then, do the first series of exercise A with the right arm. Then, do the second series of exercise A with the left arm. Then, do second first series of exercise A with the right arm. Do the same for exercises B and C.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2016-08-02T06:07:40.680" Title="Arm exercises: when to alternate arms?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-08-03T02:33:21.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7076" CreationDate="2016-08-01T20:13:29.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199910283411804&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;heart-rate recovery is defined as the &lt;strong&gt;decrease in person's heart rate&lt;/strong&gt;, measured &lt;strong&gt;1 minute&lt;/strong&gt; after &lt;strong&gt;peak exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with &quot;peak exercise&quot; described as being as strenuous as possible, possibly even larger than the theoretical maximum heart rate (220 - age). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also defines a certain cut-off point: recovery rate of &lt;strong&gt;less than 12 bpm&lt;/strong&gt; (in 1 minute) after peak exercise as being an indicator of poor cardiovascular health, with recovery rate of &lt;strong&gt;20 to 30&lt;/strong&gt; being the &quot;sweet spot&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TnJwl.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TnJwl.png&quot; alt=&quot;Relative risk depending on heart rate recovery, dashed lines are 95% confidence interval&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the chart shows that heart rate recovery of ~10 bpm suggests ~4 times larger risk than the baseline (2 to 7 times with 95% confidence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also defined &quot;peak exercise&quot; as being &lt;strong&gt;as strenuous as possible&lt;/strong&gt;, possibly even larger than the theoretical heart rate reserve:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The patients were encouraged to reach symptom-limited maximal exercise; the achievement of the target heart rate (based on age) alone was not a sufficient reason for the termination of testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the article which describes the experiment notes that patients with abnormal heart-rate recovery also had &lt;strong&gt;other indicators of poor cardiovascular health&lt;/strong&gt;, meaning the cause-effect relationship might not be so clear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As compared with the patients with a normal value for heart-rate recovery, those with an abnormal value (≤12 beats per minute) were older, had higher resting heart rates, were more likely to have hypertension or diabetes, were more likely to smoke, and were more likely to have Q waves on the electrocardiogram or a history of coronary artery disease. They were also more likely to take nondihydropyridine calcium-channel blockers or vasodilators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Increasing levels of physical fitness were strongly correlated with decreasing rates of abnormal values for the recovery of heart rate among men and women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which suggests that &lt;strong&gt;achieving higher levels of fitness might increase the heart rate recovery value&lt;/strong&gt; and help reduce the health risks, as most studies suggest anyway. Athletes and fitter persons might have heart recovery rates larger than 30 bpm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22069" LastEditorUserId="22069" LastEditDate="2016-08-01T20:43:45.763" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T20:43:45.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31648" CreationDate="2016-08-02T06:07:40.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the first set on your weaker arm and then do the exact same number of repetitions on your stronger arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your weak arm should fail first and this method means you don't end up over developing the stronger arm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changing between reps or sets is best as it will help you achieve the aforementioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-08-02T06:07:40.680" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31663" CreationDate="2016-08-02T10:54:19.753" Score="3" ViewCount="4629" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working my way through Wendler 5/3/1 (i'm on the second cycle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After my main lifts I do accessories, 5 sets of 10 for each exercise as per BoringButBig. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the option in the program of doing complimentary compound lifts (Deadlifts with Squats in same workout) but I don't want to do that for lots of reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recover fast during my workouts and enjoy spending time at the gym, hence the large amount of volume in accessories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt; (eventually the 1000lb club, currently at 770lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;QUESTION: What accessories are best for squat day on Wendler 5/3/1?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bonus: Out of my routine below, what accessory exercises should I be including that I don't already?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current workout plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deadlift&lt;/strong&gt; - 1RM 135kg&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian Deadlift   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T-Bar Row (alternating horizontal and ez-grip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Iso-Lateral Pulldown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wide Grip Pull-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bench&lt;/strong&gt; - 1RM 85kg&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Bench (DB/BB alternating)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Fly (high/low)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/strong&gt; - 1RM 55kg&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oly lifts (clean, jerk, push press, powercleans, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat DB Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Face Pulls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt; - 1RM 130kg&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf isolation   - &lt;em&gt;Front Squat?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/3b51gz/if_i_could_remove_one_piece_of_equipment_from/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not leg extensions&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I do some ab isolation daily in the form of weighted planks/wheel-outs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T06:44:37.173" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T06:44:37.173" Title="Accessories for Squat day on Wendler 5/3/1" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-02T16:15:17.210" Score="0" ViewCount="533" Body="&lt;p&gt;My routine on triceps and chest workout, as of now, is: every first week — pushups twice and dips once; every other week — vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't do dips and pushups in the same day, so basically, that is three days in a week working on my triceps and chest. Is this too much work for these muscles? Should I start doing both pushups and dips only once a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21949" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T17:19:31.647" Title="Dips and pushups in the same week?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14408" CreationDate="2016-08-03T05:45:55.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I can't answer for sure and it cannot be concluded. After being on Protein supplements for 2 years I developed issues with my Lever including fatty lever/inflammation and a failed SGPT report. I don't drink Alcohol/Smoke or use Tobacco. For me this was a accidental finding and I am on many medicines now and hope to recover 100%. My liver was all well 2 years ago. My Doctors have advised me against using Protein shakes. I have been very conscious of what I eat all my life so there is little opportunity to suspect anything else that might have caused it. Now I am in the process of losing all muscle that I made with these shakes :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T05:45:55.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31657" CreationDate="2016-08-03T06:08:35.783" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started workouts 3 months ago.My muscles are becoming stiff while workout. My trainer suggest me full body massage. Is this the right way to go full body massage or what is the reason behind the stiffness and how to get rid of this stiffness. Any suggestions appreciated.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22101" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T06:43:21.260" Title="My muscles becoming stiff while workout" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-04T20:27:58.557" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31656" CreationDate="2016-08-03T06:43:21.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not enough sleep:&lt;/strong&gt; You need at least 8 hours good sleep a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not enough food:&lt;/strong&gt; Your body needs good, nutritional food to recover effectively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not enough warmup:&lt;/strong&gt; Before doing exercise, perform some light movements and appropriate stretching. For example, before I do my back workout I start with rowing 1000m and 5 mins of stretching.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T06:43:21.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14408" CreationDate="2016-08-03T07:52:35.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Can eating too much protein be bad for you?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answered under the premise that protein shakes are a direct protein supplement to diet, ignoring their detailed composition and basing answer on the above title. As with ALL supplements, read and understand the ingredients list and what makes those ingredients up. Look for full disclosure of ingredients on the labels and you can always check &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; supplements on labdoor.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Click the next link for a comprehensive answer tailored to &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/whey-protein/#summary7-2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Whey Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Healthy kidneys&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking at active male athletes and measuring urinary creatinine, albumin, and urea no significant changes were seen in protein dosage ranges of 1.28-2.8g/kg bodyweight.&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/can-eating-too-much-protein-be-bad-for-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt; The aforementioned study lasted 7 days, but survey research supports this lack of association (in post-menopausal women). &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/can-eating-too-much-protein-be-bad-for-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Too much, too fast&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There do appear to be functional changes in the kidneys related to protein intake [4]. As protein does modulate renal function,[5][6] these interactions may lead to damage if imposed acutely onto mice (from 10-15% of the diet, up to 35-45% of the diet immediately)[7][8] and one study in healthy humans going from 1.2g/kg to 2.4g/kg (doubling) was associated with higher than normal blood values of protein metabolites; a trend was noted for adaptation (increasing GFR) but it was not enough to clear uric acid and BUN over 7 days.[9]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These studies are likely indicative of a 'too much, too fast' situation, as controlled changes do not lead to adverse changes in kidney function.[10] Thus, it would be prudent to slowly change protein intake over a moderate length of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Damaged or unhealthy kidneys&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Restricted protein diets are recommended for those with kidney damage, as it slows the seemingly inevitable progression of kidney damage.[11][12] If protein was not controlled for in those with renal damage, it would accelerate (or at least not reduce) the decline in function.[3]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The role of the Kidneys&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kidneys can acutely increase the Glomerular filtration rate (GFR), or the rate of filtration of the blood. They do this in response to dietary protein intake[13], and the &lt;strong&gt;lack of this compensation in some forms of kidney damage are a reason protein intake is controlled for in kidney disease management&lt;/strong&gt;.[14]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the kidneys serve to regulate acid-base balance in the body via the sodium-bicarbonate buffering system.[15] Disorders in acid:base balance can further pathophysiology (symptoms and signs of the disease) of renal complications.[16][17]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;These protective measures appear to be preserved in healthy kidneys, but begin to fail when they kidneys are otherwise damaged.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;In Summary:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about it if you have healthy kidneys and control your&#xA;protein intake if you have damaged kidneys. It may be prudent to&#xA;gradually increase protein intake to higher levels rather than jumping&#xA;in both feet at a time, but there isn't much on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is generally recommended to consume more water during periods when&#xA;protein intake is being increased. Whether or not this has biological&#xA;basis is not known, but it may be prudent to do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Major: &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/can-eating-too-much-protein-be-bad-for-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Examine.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Minor:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poortmans JR, Dellalieux O Do regular high protein diets have potential health risks on kidney function in athletes . Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. (2000)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beasley JM, et al Higher biomarker-calibrated protein intake is not associated with impaired renal function in postmenopausal women . J Nutr. (2011)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knight EL, et al The impact of protein intake on renal function decline in women with normal renal function or mild renal insufficiency . Ann Intern Med. (2003)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brändle E, Sieberth HG, Hautmann RE Effect of chronic dietary protein intake on the renal function in healthy subjects . Eur J Clin Nutr. (1996)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;King AJ, Levey AS Dietary protein and renal function . J Am Soc Nephrol. (1993)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dietary protein intake and renal function&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wakefield AP, et al A diet with 35% of energy from protein leads to kidney damage in female Sprague-Dawley rats . Br J Nutr. (2011)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aparicio VA, et al Effects of high-whey-protein intake and resistance training on renal, bone and metabolic parameters in rats . Br J Nutr. (2011)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frank H, et al Effect of short-term high-protein compared with normal-protein diets on renal hemodynamics and associated variables in healthy young men . Am J Clin Nutr. (2009)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wiegmann TB, et al Controlled changes in chronic dietary protein intake do not change glomerular filtration rate . Am J Kidney Dis. (1990)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Levey AS, et al Effects of dietary protein restriction on the progression of advanced renal disease in the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study . Am J Kidney Dis. (1996)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[No authors listed Effects of dietary protein restriction on the progression of moderate renal disease in the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study . J Am Soc Nephrol. (1996)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;von Herrath D, et al Glomerular filtration rate in response to an acute protein load . Blood Purif. (1988)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bosch JP, et al Renal functional reserve in humans. Effect of protein intake on glomerular filtration rate . Am J Med. (1983)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skelton LA, Boron WF, Zhou Y Acid-base transport by the renal proximal tubule . J Nephrol. (2010)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yaqoob MM Acidosis and progression of chronic kidney disease . Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens. (2010)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kraut JA, Madias NE Consequences and therapy of the metabolic acidosis of chronic kidney disease . Pediatr Nephrol. (2011)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T07:52:35.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31660" CreationDate="2016-08-03T10:42:29.990" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the best supplement for lean person with workout when he want gain healthy muscle quickly.And I also like to know what will be the supplement intake routine.&#xA;Height 5Ft 6Inch and Weight 50.5kg. Almost 10-15KG under weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7037" LastEditorUserId="7037" LastEditDate="2016-08-03T10:46:57.583" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T11:05:47.967" Title="Which is the best supplement for lean person with workout?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-04T20:25:51.447" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31659" CreationDate="2016-08-03T11:05:47.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the supplements in the world won't fix a bad diet. You're underweight because you're eating too little. You need to eat more. To put on lean mass, stick to having good macro proportions of protein, carbs and healthy fats, and eat at a caloric surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no, you do not have &quot;fast metabolism&quot; nor anything else. You just eat too little, and some pills won't make the difference to that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T11:05:47.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31651" CreationDate="2016-08-03T15:24:24.420" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best accessory to any powerlifting movement with regards to your strength goals is/are the ones that improve the weakest part of the lift. For example, if you're getting stuck on the deadlift at the lock out portion of the movement, you'll want to incorporate rack pulls, block pulls etc...(I'm sure you personally know what I mean but I'm not so sure about other readers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although Wendler (not Wedler ;) ) is VERY against customization of his program, he does run a forum on T-Nation and is pretty active in answering any questions, so you could ask him if you wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But he'll just tell you what I'm suggesting. Find the weakest portion of your squat, whether that's out of the hole at the very bottom, or locking your quads out towards the top of the movement, or just descending into the hole....whatever it is, find it and address it through the proper accessory. This is what every single high level powerlifter does and it makes sense right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll give some examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hard time on the positive portion of the movement, (i.e out of the hole), you can incorporate box squats, pause squats, jump squats, dynamic effort speed squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hard time locking out, this points to weak quad strength and is easily addressed through front squats, hack squats, partial squats, different variations on the leg press, high bar squats etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hard time descending into the squat, i.e you feel really weak and unstable, then first, in addition to the 5/3/1 schemed squat, you can actually accessorize with the same squat just with higher reps, I know lots of people who do this in order to become more efficient in the movement and build more relevant muscles for the exercise. You can literally just do a regular squat, just with a different rep-scheme and call it accessory. Second, high-bar/olympic squats will help with this greatly. Although you say you don't want to deadlift, you could do stiff-legged deads which is my favourite exercise and it doesn't tax the CNS as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the bonus, the same principle applies, if your main goal is strength, only you can realistically know the accessories that you actually need. I suggest that you honestly assess what your weaknesses are in the big four movements, and incorporate accessory work to help correct them. If you have trouble locking out in the bench press, do some close grip work or pin/board press work. If the problem is off the chest, do more shoulder work, paused benches, wide grip benches. If the problem is controlling the weight on the way down, work some more lats and biceps. You get the idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T15:24:24.420" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31625" CreationDate="2016-08-03T22:04:48.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get someone to watch you and see what you are doing wrong. If it is breathing start with every two strokes (but change sides each length or you will get a bad neck, that might also be an issue) even do as a friend did to begin with get a snorkle. You can work on stroke, such as a pull boy between your upper leg to stop legs wondering out. Start from the beginning, get someone to watch you and don't worry of you go slower to start. When I train I am often mid pack in training and drills but top few on pace, all about the drills and training, speed is the sum total. But do do look after your shoulders/neck as you increase your distance as I managed to lock mine and that hurts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8279" LastEditorUserId="222" LastEditDate="2016-08-13T09:50:33.780" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T09:50:33.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-03T22:14:59.440" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the exercise goal of enhancing cognitive function (higher energy levels, better memory and/or better reasoning skills), what is the Minimum Effective Dose of exercise required for a young adult (ages 20-35)? As in, what is the minimum amount of time spent exercising (with no constraints on spacing, types {cardio vs strength} or intensity) per week that has the maximum amount of cognitive benefits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am using the term Minimum Effective Dose to mean &quot;the point of maximum benefit and minimal cost&quot;, as taken from &quot;The 4 Hour Body&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/13874/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-minimum-amount-of-exercise-per-week&quot;&gt;Is there such a thing as a minimum amount of exercise per week?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; addressed the idea of a general minimum of exercise, but it seemed to only target general health.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://brainblogger.com/2015/02/04/can-physical-exercise-improve-cognitive-abilities/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; (mentions a U-shaped curve) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodbot.com/Cognitive_Health.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this product&lt;/a&gt; seem to insinuate that there is a specific exercise regimen for cognitive enhancement, but they're not very convincing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6640" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T20:19:00.263" Title="Minimum Effective Dose of Exercise for Cognitive Enhancement" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-04T20:26:18.463" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29478" CreationDate="2016-08-03T22:15:14.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't run through an injury. It is something everyone ignores but see the right person, a doctor in this case. I don't know what top and shorts you have but ensure they are breathable and not adding to sweat. Tea tree can help around the front but before you put anything the other side medical advice. Might be worth trying some bike rides as.a control test to see if it is running rubs or sweat. Narrow it down a bit. End of the day doctors... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8279" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T22:15:14.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-04T03:59:53.233" Score="0" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hopefully there are some avid swimmers on this exchange that can help me out here.  I recently have taken up swimming as an exercise since my gym has a great pool.  However, I have noticed that my goggles will fog up almost immediately.  Within the duration of one lap across the pool I cannot see anything at all.  What is the secret to keeping clear goggles?  Is it the fit?  The type? The brand? Are some goggles so good that they just resist fogging?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21951" LastEditorUserId="21951" LastEditDate="2016-08-04T14:58:28.227" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T16:29:45.010" Title="How to prevent swimming goggles from fogging" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-04T20:23:31.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31669" CreationDate="2016-08-04T11:21:50.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find from experience that wiping the insides with a dry cloth and making sure they are water tight helps, but after a while the moisture on your skin will condense on the goggles so there isn't any permenant fix. Some goggles are better than others, I find Speedo's Powerskin range works the best for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23162" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T11:21:50.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28191" CreationDate="2016-08-04T11:24:35.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The deal is that you will get more oxygen through your mouth for sure and you may have a chance to produce more energy depending on the type of exercise. However, if it is too hot or cold you may experience some problems with your respiratory tract. You can use some mouth protector to keep the moisture inside especially during the winter or in cold weather, which may help to some degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T11:24:35.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31673" CreationDate="2016-08-04T13:13:32.853" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 5.6FT tall &amp;amp; my weight is 115 KG. i'm sitting all the day in the office &amp;amp; because of that i have a Big Stomach. i want to reduced it.. can any one advice me is their any medicine to do this &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23165" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T14:07:52.957" Title="How to Reduce my Stomach?" Tags="&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-04T20:25:31.650" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31672" CreationDate="2016-08-04T14:07:52.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the most important is what you eat. Search information of a what to eat, basically is avoid sugar, eating a lot of vegetables and having a low-calorie diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second step is burn calories, to do that you can run or swim. It's necessary to do cardiovascular activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rely on frequency of your cardiovascular activity on week, you will see the results at same frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21911" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T14:07:52.957" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31669" CreationDate="2016-08-04T16:29:45.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised nobody posted the old classic: spit :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apply a little saliva to the inside of the goggles (the panes, obviously), and rub with your finger. Works every time. Well known among scuba divers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3076" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T16:29:45.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31677" CreationDate="2016-08-04T18:07:00.400" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am exercising in this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-First i make one set of max weight i can lift like 15 kg(33 lbs) for 12 rep.Then i lower it to 12 kg and one more set and so on until my arms feel exhausted and i cant event lift 5 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this method my arms really burn and develop &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there name for this workout and do you think it is a nice workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am beginner bodybuilder,no previous sports life)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23168" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T18:21:34.483" Title="Is there name for this Rep Set?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7902" CreationDate="2016-08-04T18:14:03.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel your pain! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking that I should be ready to swim under any circumstances I hopped in the water last summer completely cold, sprinted a 50m freestyle and tore an intercostal muscle in my rib cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warming up properly before you go swimming has a heap of benefits, not the least of which is injury-prevention. Increased oxygen delivery to muscles, increases respiratory system ability, and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I usually do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. 5-8 minutes of arm and leg swings.&lt;/strong&gt; Forward and backward, make figure 8's, lateral arm swings, leg swings to open up your hips and hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. 400-600m of easy swimming.&lt;/strong&gt; Nothing crazy here (unlike my example above). Alternate strokes to open up your shoulders. I like to alternate freestyle and backstroke by 25 or 50 depending on whether it is a short course or long course pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Add in some moderate/high intensity stuff at the end.&lt;/strong&gt; Build up to about 70-80% effort over the last 100m to get your heart rate up and &quot;prime&quot; your body for the work to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: National level swimmer, Olympic trials qualifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19333" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T16:57:26.470" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:57:26.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31675" CreationDate="2016-08-04T18:21:34.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are called drop sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/gain-greater-mass-drop-sets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscle And Fitness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WHAT ARE DROP SETS?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Drop sets are essentially a technique where you perform an exercise and then drop (reduce) the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure. Called the ‘multi-poundage system’ this method was discovered in 1947 by Henry Atkins, who was the editor of Body Culture magazine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drop sets are good, but are more geared towards intermediate or advanced lifters. If you're truly a beginner, look for a beginner program that takes advantage of your lack of experience to get stronger faster. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3963/18977&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; gives you more insight on beginner workouts / how to get started in body building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T18:21:34.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31350" CreationDate="2016-08-04T19:05:12.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general just eat more calories than you're burning while working out and you'll notice yourself gaining muscle mass.  That's the simplest form which you should follow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timing your intake of food and the order of your macros doesn't ultimately matter.  Just make sure that you are properly supplying your body with a surplus of the nutrients it needs and you'll be fine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'm a fan of chicken after I workout so I'll usually go for 8-12 ounces after a workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T19:05:12.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31633" CreationDate="2016-08-04T20:45:50.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go with 33 laps per day with rests and in a month you'll be able to do that (or even more) every day. Swimming is a physical activity - you get better at it by training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5804" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T20:45:50.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31602" CreationDate="2016-08-04T22:43:38.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you aren't swinging to get extra momentum and doing those asinine &quot;kipping&quot; pull-ups that seem so popular these days, it's really simple physics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, in order to be balanced, the pull-up bar needs to be directly over your center of gravity. Think about a pendulum, it will always come to rest directly under its support. Well, the same thing holds when you do a pull-up. As you do a pull-up, you naturally have to lean back as you pull your head over the bar (otherwise you'll bang your head, not recommended), which brings your center of gravity back. To compensate, your legs will naturally float forward to bring you back into balance. If you fight it and force your legs back, you have to apply an additional torque through your core and arms which will naturally make it harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second reason is that when your feet go forward, your upper body will lean back slightly, putting your lats and traps it a more advantageous position, allowing more of your muscles to be used while pulling you up. Think the difference between a lat pulldown and a seated row; by having a slight lean you are slightly closer to a seated row-type motion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23172" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T22:43:38.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28108" CreationDate="2016-08-05T08:38:37.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do concur with Alec's answer but I wanted to give a different perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 4 cycles you go through when you train:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initial fitness (what you walk into the weight room with).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training (weakening your body through targeted stress).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery (your body is actively repairing you through active and passive rest).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supercompensation (your body is bigger/faster/stronger by a small margin).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zpqpx.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zpqpx.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mitochondria take up to 8 days to recover and have no super-compensation period. So long period of training with no deload can cause the damage to mitochondria to build up to a level where you cannot progress without letting them recover (up to 8 days, depending on individual and diet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While recovering during this period you are still building muscle which means your body still needs the same fuel you would have been eating while exercising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat at sustaining calories (maintaining weight); then deload workouts and reduce calories at the same time to your new, lower TDEE then you will lose some weight as your body is still expending more energy to recover.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T08:38:37.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31626" CreationDate="2016-08-05T22:26:52.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1. How much protein do I need overall in order to gain mass/muscle in my butt?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pretty good rule of thumb that's used in fitness circles is 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight each day, though various newer studies have shown 0.7g per lb to be just as effective. In your case, 80g of protein would be a good target, with 90g to 113g being ample. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for overall calories, the discussion between JJosaur and mirower is quite informative. If you're only just starting resistance training, you may be able to get away with overall caloric maintenance (even deficit) and still build muscle as your body adapts to the new demands. Later on though, an overall caloric surplus will ensure that you continue to gain muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few good calculators out there on the internet where you can enter your bodyweight and level of activity to work out a basal metabolic rate, and then from there you can work out how much you need to eat to be in an overall surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2. What types of food should I eat?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain weight in a healthy way, it's best to go for foods which are both nutritious and calorically dense. There are so many bodybuilding staples out there on the internet, but really you can't go wrong with eggs, nuts, seeds, fish, whole milk, butter, chicken, red meat, dark leafy greens, and as many vegetables as you can comfortably fit in. Fruit is generally good, being mindful of the sugar content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;3. If I make a protein shake, how much protein should it have?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually a single serving of whey powder will contain between 20g to 40g of protein. Again, there's some more recent evidence out there suggesting that 20g is a sufficient amount for a single shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;4 What do I need to do/eat before a workout?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're trying to build muscle, I'm going to suggest that you focus primarily on resistance and weight training. ExRx.net is an excellent resource showing you how to correctly perform movements with weights, minimising the risk of injury and getting the most out of the exercise. It's always a good idea to try the exercise with very light or no weight first to get the correct form, pacing and range of motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you mentioned wanting to work your butt, you'll likely be interested in movements like weighted squats and glute bridges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;5. Should I drink a protein shake before or after my workout?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I agree with JJosaur that diet is really the critical component to be concerned with, there is a decent trend in the literature showing that 20g to 40g of protein consumed within a few hours before resistance training, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; within 90 minutes after resistance training, is a good method of giving yourself the best chance of building muscle. Either can be as a meal or shake, and is largely down to preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23170" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T22:26:52.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31686" CreationDate="2016-08-06T03:59:07.797" Score="0" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately I have read many articles, all of which explain that a short workout is good and even better than a longer workout. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/is-a-short-but-intense-workout-best&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IS A SHORT BUT INTENSE WORKOUT BEST?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/1-minute-of-all-out-exercise-may-equal-45-minutes-of-moderate-exertion/?_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1 Minute of All-Out Exercise May Have Benefits of 45 Minutes of Moderate Exertion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true? Is it better to exercise several minutes than 1 hour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If yes, how long it should be? 1, 10, 15 min?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5200" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2016-08-07T15:46:25.737" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T15:46:25.737" Title="how useful short workout?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31685" CreationDate="2016-08-06T06:49:29.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The articles are probably based on variations of Tabata style training, a form of HIIT, which has been studied and does indeed show better overall improvements in both aerobic and anaerobic capacities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High intensity interval training (HIIT) is based on short periods of maximum effort, usually 30 seconds to 1 minute, followed by 1 - 2 minutes rest, repeatedly performed for 'sets'. The type of exercise and the time allowed is interchangeable, as long as it's a sensible way to put in maximum effort. Running sprints or cycling machines with high resistance are favourites. Here's an inspiring video of former Olympic weightlifter Dmitry Klokov performing a Tabata with a barbell, and &lt;em&gt;ridiculous&lt;/em&gt; amounts of weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/2zIp1zYTTTg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/2zIp1zYTTTg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many sets you do is down to your current level of fitness. Four or five rounds is plenty for a routine session. Stay safe when performing an intense exercise; it goes without saying you should pick one you're already well practiced in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23170" LastEditorUserId="23170" LastEditDate="2016-08-06T06:57:50.417" LastActivityDate="2016-08-06T06:57:50.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-06T12:16:18.363" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm 16 years old at 56.8 kilos and I was pretty much your typical &quot;skinny&quot;. I joined a local gym about 9 months ago and in spite of some occasions where I would skip a week I've been going regularly with an average of 4-5 days a week. Until about the 6th month, I had reached 60 kilos. But, I got seriously ill for two weeks and fell back to 56 kilos. I've been having a hard time regaining my lost weight since. Despite my weight, I have gotten a lot stronger and my body does look a lot bigger, but, I would love to see some more meat on my body. I can't afford a nutritionist and I don't trust what I find on the Internet either. Therefore, I'm not sure if I am asking a proper question, but, what do I need to do in order to gain some weight? Simply &quot;eat more&quot; doesn't work for me since I can't eat if I'm not hungry (excluding snacks). Thank you all very much in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23180" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-08-06T17:56:19.310" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T07:20:08.087" Title="How can i get some weight efficiently?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-09T14:45:08.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31689" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-06T12:23:55.303" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am training to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sacred-destinations.com/tibet/mount-kailash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;circumumbulate Mount Kailash&lt;/a&gt;, 32 miles of mountain terrain nearly 18,000 feet above sea level. And I understand this will take years!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training is 5 days a week, Monday and Thursday are rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the exercises I am doing is backward lunge. I am at 4 reps, 1 set. For few days I was happy doing this exercise, now it is causing pain on right knee (started late yesterday morning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning when I woke up, I am unable to do this, or other bending exercises, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofliving.org/us-en/yoga/yoga-postures/surya-namaskar-sun-salutation12-poses-leaner-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Surya Namaskar&lt;/a&gt; (I'm at 72 reps, 12 yoga poses each!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have to wait a few days till I get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give alternate exercise to Backward Lunge. Perhaps I can do this till my knees are strong enough to do both Backward and Forward Lunge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T13:38:02.723" Title="Easier Version of Backward Lunge" Tags="&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31688" CreationDate="2016-08-06T15:31:45.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, listen, if you want to gain weight, there is no gym that does it for you. Gaining weight is a case of consuming more calories than you spend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Simply &quot;eat more&quot; doesnt work for me since i cant eat if im not hungry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's wrong. It's uncomfortable, yes, but that's what we skinny-boys have to do. There is no physical blockade stopping you from putting food in your mouth, chewing it, and swallowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(excluding snacks)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exactly. That just means it's a case of discipline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All fit people who used to be skinny, had to go through this. It's a rite of passage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting fit isn't comfortable. Most of us are lazy, but if you want something, you're going to have to work for it, and sacrifice some comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have the discipline to eat properly, then you're not going to get fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I couldnt really afford a nutritionist&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's ok. Nutritionists are quacks. The title &quot;Nutritionist&quot; is not protected, and anyone can say that they are one. If you do need professional help with your diet, you go to a &lt;em&gt;dietician&lt;/em&gt;. It is a protected title, used (legally) only by those who have the proper education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-06T15:31:45.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31688" CreationDate="2016-08-06T16:50:28.513" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; In light of something I've seen in the meta discussion, I may drastically shorten this post and remove personal notes about myself shortly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 16 years old and 57kg you really don't need to worry about professional advice. The principles of gaining weight and muscle are actually quite well understood by lots of people, and easily accessible by yourself. It's true the only way to gain weight is to eat more calories than you use, and if you want to do it in a healthy and efficient way, you're going to need to purchase and consume a lot of quality food. Alec correctly points out that eating enough to gain weight can be uncomfortable, and will require some effort and sacrifice, but there are smart ways of approaching your goal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look up cheap bodybuilding staple foods. Eggs, whole milk, chicken breast, rice, tuna and tinned mackerel were all helpful when I was younger. Whole milk in particular is great, as it's cheap, densely caloric, sold everywhere, and easy to drink with meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sketch out a simple plan to regularly eat a little more of these foods than you normally would. It doesn't need to be a complex plan, just make sure that it's something that you know you'll follow through with. Even if it doesn't work, it's useful as you can then adjust the plan or try something else. Or in other words: &lt;strong&gt;you'll get a sense of what works for you and what doesn't&lt;/strong&gt;, and the &lt;strong&gt;more you try, the better sense you'll get, and the more you can refine your method&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're still living with family and eat meals with them, it would be well worth mentioning you want to get stronger and fitter. Show them you're hitting the gym, that you're dedicated, and ask if you can plan an extra meal or two a day. Something as simple as a side dish with breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal, or a late evening meal, would help you cram in more calories. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't worry too much about having difficulty eating the amount you'd like to. The body is amazing at adjusting to things, provided you give it enough time. That means even eating a little bit more than you normally would for a while will allow you to fit in even more next time. Focus on slow progression; picture yourself eating twice as much a few years from now, simply because you stuck to eating a little more week by week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similarly, you probably have a really specific idea of what you want to do with your body, and that's good, but try to keep the bigger picture in mind. Things that appear unrelated at first can actually have a big impact on how you get to your goal. For example, do you get good, refreshing sleep? It may appear unrelated to diet and weight gain, but it's far easier to recover from workouts, keep focused, as well as beat any morning nausea, if you're in a good settled sleep pattern. The more you focus on your overall health, the more you'll find one good habit feeds into the next, and getting your body how you want it to be becomes much easier. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General health is always worth thinking about for it's own sake, too. After all, how do you want to look and feel by the time you're 21? 25? 45? Good habits now will pay double the dividends down the road, believe me. I've continued lifting weights and looking after my health from my teens while my peers smoked and stayed sedentary. It's without a doubt one of the best things I did for myself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23170" LastEditorUserId="23170" LastEditDate="2016-08-06T17:30:14.923" LastActivityDate="2016-08-06T17:30:14.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28120" CreationDate="2016-08-06T23:51:37.683" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of thoughts:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;* You &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; some pull exercises. Some sort of rowing-movement and pull ups would be nice too.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;* Progressive overload is very important. &lt;br /&gt;Meaning that you try to do &lt;i&gt;more&lt;/i&gt; this workout than you did the last. &lt;i&gt;More&lt;/i&gt; can be more reps, more sets or (most commonly) more weight (or shorter breaks or better form or...).&lt;br /&gt;Keeping a log will help with this&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;* If you want to loose the belly fat, you need to eat less. For most people, how much you eat (calories) is much more important than what you eat (&quot;clean&quot;, vegetarian etc.). &#xA;* Changing your body composition is not done in a few months. Depends on the person obviously, but you shouldn't expect to see dramatic changes in less than a few years of consistent training and getting stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23181" LastActivityDate="2016-08-06T23:51:37.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29466" CreationDate="2016-08-07T15:53:49.700" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a beginner (40 years old) who started running the 5k three times per week.  It took about three or four weeks but I started to develop shin splints.  Not to mention aches and pains in my hips and joints.  I'm back to running just twice a week which gives my body plenty of recovery time.  And I'm doing great, have my 5k time down below 24 minutes.  I also weight train twice a week and I'm considering biking on the weekends for cross training.  It doesn't sound plausible but twice a week is working for me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23186" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T15:53:49.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31418" CreationDate="2016-08-07T21:22:40.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like Avery Bartlett's plan, but if you want simple then try this. Run easy for 30 min every other day and for one hour on the weekend. No pace or distance. Skipping is fine but try not to skip the hour run, and dont try to make up fo missed runs. This is generally called based building and the goal is to get out and run before actually starting any kind of training program. That seems to fall in line with your approach too which is nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this for a month and if you want more then first get your weekend long hour up to 2 hours then start a program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way most of the training programs are very similar, and consist of running hard 1-2 times a week, easy 2-3 times a week, and long 0-1 times a week (2.5-3 hours once a month minimum).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T21:22:40.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29466" CreationDate="2016-08-07T21:46:27.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have to limit yourself to running 3 times per week or less to avoid injuries, then you need to make sure you do some cycling or swimming a few times per week to make the total amount of cardio work to be at least 5 times per week sessions of at least half an hour of quite hard exercise. Otherwise, your cardio fitness won't improve a lot. Now, you can start out at 3 times per week of running, but as soon as you can run the whole length and are able to increase the speed, then it's time to double the cardio exercise frequency, which you can do just as well by adding swimming and cycling to the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T21:46:27.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29903" CreationDate="2016-08-07T22:01:02.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll give this a try since no one has yet.&#xA;Intervals are more commonly known and used whereas the progression run is not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An interval run has fixed amount of running medium to hard at a fixed effort or fixed pace broken up by fixed times of rest or easier efforts which can be short enough not to fully recover or long enough to recover but at an easier pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A progression run is most similar to a ramp workout except in your case it slowly builds down. This workout is generally considered to be harder since you are continuously controlling both effort and pace while steadily increasing it to some point. A progression run can be run off the cliff effortwise but in the case of a treadmill I think this would be very dangerous. The key for a good ramp workout is picking a hard pace to peak at but slow enough to ensure you always stay in control and remain on the treadmill. Make sure you use the clip that will pull out the key and shut off the treadmill if you do a ramp workout. The good thing about ramp workouts or progression runs is that your running easy to medium efforts for 75% of the workout and med-hard for only 25%. For intervals its usually done at 50% or more with a hard effort, and repeats and/or sprints are about 10% hard or even less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally both methods are meant to change from one type of pace, HR zone, or effort to another in order to spend more time training at the harder, faster pace or incline. I think that is the goal you should focus on to get the most out of a treadmill training. The choice between the two comes down between simply a specific method of achieving your goals and a way to target your strengths. For example, if you lean liking long and easy workouts instead of short and fast then the ramp is better since there is less time spent at the harder effort and the transition between easy and hard is not as clear and easier to begin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont run on a treadmill much but I feel that it is an exercise that demands alot of control already, so I'd recommend ramp workouts for pace based running over intervals as long as your not pushing too hard. For inclines I dont think it matters as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the 1% incline rule there are some studies, at least one, that recommend this for making your running form on a treadmill closer to that off of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mixing it up is good if you can do it. In fact a interval session of slow high incline then fast and flat sounds like a great simulation for hills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know of a few people who are pretty fast who use a treadmill to get through winter or to improve climbing ability. There was even an Olympian from Alaska who did most of his(?) training on a treadmill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T22:01:02.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31698" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32020" CreationDate="2016-08-08T03:11:18.767" Score="4" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm facing a long run, an ultra, that I'm pretty sure I can't do without walking. I can and will try to practice doing it at least once, but I don't really know how to best use walking breaks or how they work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What strategy works?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And why does it work? Does it help control overheating? Maybe helps remove waste from the muscles? Allows time to burn more fat? I know I'm reaching here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;------After ultra run-------------------&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didnt practice any run/walk methods, and let my weekly mileage drop to 20-30 3 weeks too early. I used Galloway's 5 minute run to 30 second walk ratio and kept in mind how it changed (referring to his book) for slower paces. Previous 50k runs last year always resulted in a slow shuffle at about 12 min/mile, but in this 46 mile run I was at 11 min/mile up to 36 miles. The run/walk helped finish the ultra. I'm still no closer to understanding this really, and if asked to run another half mile at the end I might have quit. 100 miles still feels impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other runners had different methods and results. Many who ran faster ended up spending a lot of time at aid stations and fell way behind. One speedy lady ran the first 20 miles then did a run/walk of 8 min/ 2 min, or at least that was her planned before she disappeared down the trail. Inspiring to watch. The winner according to his Strava data ran much if not all of the course at an unbelievable pace. Most people seemed to shun walking as much as they shunned running fast which was anything faster than 10 min/mile in the first few miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still digesting the one answer here, but maybe the answer is in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No way can I do 100 miles sucessfuly the first time without understanding this first, but maybe failure is worth the lessons learned...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-09-10T03:42:35.870" LastActivityDate="2016-09-10T03:42:35.870" Title="How and why should I use walking breaks for running long distances?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-08T03:28:53.957" Score="0" ViewCount="595" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 17 and have been working out for about a year but in the recent months i started seeing the progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a skinny guy and i began to take a mass gainer and a few days ago after my instructor gave me a pre workout sample and my workout felt significantly better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went to buy a box of pre workout and after my workouts i also drink my mass gainer muscle tech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23190" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-08-08T07:39:21.753" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T07:57:25.943" Title="Can i use a Pre workout and after my routine is done drink my mass gainer" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31688" CreationDate="2016-08-08T05:46:11.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To gain weight, you have to combine exercise training and a proper regimen. &#xA;Firstly, exercise training will allow you to put on weight by building your muscles. Chest, abdominals, triceps, shoulders and hamstring are major groups that you should put each exercise in. You can also speed up the process of practicing by adding two or more exercises to each group when your body gets used to these activities. Effective strength training is composed of overhead presses, bench presses, squats, chin-ups, bicep curls, barbell rows, dips and leg curls. Remember that consistency is always leading the way to reach for long term success.&#xA;Secondly, to build a proper regimen, you should remember the listed factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat nutrient-rich foods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating more protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating lots of calories: If you want to gain weight slowly, about 300-500 calories more than your body burns per day is enough. If you want to gain weight faster, 700 to 1000 calories more than the maintenance level is necessary. Even If you are not hungry, you should eat. Five meals per day should be taken into consideration. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting enough sleep: you need to last your sleep t least eight hours in case you are planning to take in plenty of protein as well as practice exercise training. Getting enough sleep during the night facilitates your body condition to rest enough and thereby developing the sufficiency of muscle mass since the body can build up muscle and tissue when you fall asleep.&#xA;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://authorityremedies.com/how-to-gain-weight-fast/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://authorityremedies.com/how-to-gain-weight-fast/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23192" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T05:46:11.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31688" CreationDate="2016-08-08T07:20:08.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I joined a local gym about 9 months ago and in spite of some&#xA;occasions where I would skip a week I've been going regularly with an&#xA;average of 4-5 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great! &lt;strong&gt;What program are you following?&lt;/strong&gt; If you aren't following a program you are going to struggle to progress onto heavier weights and cultivate lots of muscle mass. You need to set goals, do you want to be strong?/big?/explosively powerful?/fast?/good fighter?/etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't afford a nutritionist and I don't trust what I find on the&#xA;Internet either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good, nutritionists are unnecessary. &lt;strong&gt;Don't be mistrustful of the internet&lt;/strong&gt;, there are some folks at reddit/r/fitness, t-nation, youtube and here that really understand what it takes to develop strength at all levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I need to do in order to gain some weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Eat more.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply &amp;quot;eat more&amp;quot; doesn't work for me since I can't eat if I'm not&#xA;hungry (excluding snacks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You aren't going to get big if you can't get more calories into your system.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My usual advice would be to get a cookbook and start making some meals, learn to enjoy cooking as it really is a fun activity that you can learn from and is a great life skill. But at 16 you probably are living at home so its a bit harder. I suspect the hardest part will be persuading your parents to buy and cook more food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as you are young and don't have experience weightlifting I can guarantee you will benefit from performing GOMAD for 2 months or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What is GOMAD?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking a &lt;strong&gt;G&lt;/strong&gt;allon &lt;strong&gt;O&lt;/strong&gt;f &lt;strong&gt;M&lt;/strong&gt;ilk &lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;D&lt;/strong&gt;ay&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A gallon of milk is about 4 litres. You need to do this EVERY DAY for at least 1 month. You will gain around 25lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to Do GOMAD&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOMAD won’t work if you drink 1 gallon of milk 3 days out of 7, skip workouts and neglect eating. Be consistent!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1 US Gallon Milk Daily&lt;/strong&gt;. Equals 4 liters. Spread your intake. Example: 1/4 at breakfast, 1/4 at lunch, 1/4 post workout, 1/4 at dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat Every 3 Hours&lt;/strong&gt;. Eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, pre-bed and post workout. Milk as snack is ok. Don’t be hungry: eat your stomach full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/weight-lifting-101-the-definitive-guide-to-weight-lifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lifting weights&lt;/a&gt; gives your body the stimulus to build muscle. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Squat a lot&lt;/a&gt;. Check &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5×5&lt;/a&gt; if you don’t know where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Track Progress&lt;/strong&gt;. Take pictures front/back/side, track body fat using a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B002VAPHXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fat caliper&lt;/a&gt; and weigh yourself every 2 weeks. &lt;a href=&quot;http://strongliftsinnercircle.com/forum/training-logs-f10.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Keep a training log&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Track Calories&lt;/strong&gt;. Unless you’re very active, you’ll need about 5000kcals/day to gain weight. You’ll get this doing GOMAD + eating every 3 hours. Track your calories with an app like myfitnesspal so you know you’re getting what you need. Don’t second guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Follow GOMAD and pair it with a heavy, structured workout like Stronglifts or Starting Strength and you will gain weight and most of that weight will be muscle.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T07:20:08.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31699" CreationDate="2016-08-08T07:57:25.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of those items are supplements, meaning they supplement (add to) your diet to fill in the gaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre-Workout is for providing you with energy required to workout harder (and potentially: have a bigger pump, recover faster, synthesise muscle mass better)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mass Gainer is just that, it is a powder containing lots of calories, usually in a lean, high protein, form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;As both are supplements, you are fine to take both alongside a nutritionally rich diet.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HOWEVER you should know what is in your powders&lt;/strong&gt;. Hopefully, you wouldn't just eat anything you were given by a stranger and especially not if it is in powder form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The website you can look up MOST powders on is labdoor.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://labdoor.com/rankings/pre-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://labdoor.com/rankings/pre-workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://labdoor.com/rankings/protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://labdoor.com/rankings/protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the labdoor articles for MuscleTech's products,&#xA;I am going to go out on a limb and guess that your pre-workout is the same brand as your mass gainer (muscle tech).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://labdoor.com/review/muscletech-nitro-tech&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://labdoor.com/review/muscletech-nitro-tech&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://labdoor.com/review/muscletech-phase8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://labdoor.com/review/muscletech-phase8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://labdoor.com/review/muscletech-nano-vapor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://labdoor.com/review/muscletech-nano-vapor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a surprising finding, MuscleTech NITRO-TECH contained over 1000mg&#xA;of taurine, or more than 2x the taurine content in a Red Bull. In&#xA;known clinical trials, Taurine content of 1000-9000mg has been&#xA;analyzed for energy; early data is positive but inconclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T07:57:25.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18789" CreationDate="2016-08-08T09:01:30.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw a video of a guy catastrophically fail at benching and drop the bar from an almost locked position&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw it too. He had a thumbless grip. Wrap your thumbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He even had 3 spotters, so I no longer consider spotters to be a reliable fail safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The job of the spotter is not to catch the bar when you drop it from a high place. The job of the spotter is to help you get the weight back up if you fail a rep. You still do most of the pushing, and the spotter does that last bit that gets the bar up. They're not responsible for your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The key difference between what he was doing and what I do is that I never max at bench. I always work in the 5 rep range&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a max too. If you're working at your highest possible 5-rep max, then the last rep of each set should be as hard to finish as your 1RM, and so you have the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So my question is: how concerned do I need to be about catastrophically failing like that in a submaximal rep range? Will one always be able to slowly lower a stalled lift in higher ranges or should one lift in a power rack if they want 100% safety?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't have to be worried, because you should have a spotter whenever you attempt a set that you know will have some hard-to-perform reps. Either that, or a safety cage to catch the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't discount spotters just because you saw that one video where they weren't able to catch the weight, because that's not their job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T09:01:30.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31689" CreationDate="2016-08-08T13:38:02.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There’s a myriad of exercises that you can do to train your legs and glutes with just dumbbells.  However, I would caution you that changing the exercise may not alleviate your knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a change, you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These two variations of Split Squat movements.   The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/split-squat-with-dumbbells&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;first one&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;uses a bench to elevate your rear foot, while the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/leg-exercises/videos/dumbbell-split-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second one&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;is simply a split legged squat.  Both more closely resemble the&#xA;movement you were doing (lunges).  Each positions your feet on stable&#xA;platforms, so, you may be able to perform them without discomfort. &#xA;Again, that’s dependent upon you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/how-to-do-the-perfect-goblet-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Goblet Squats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;are an additional movement for developing the quads and glutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T13:38:02.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-09T03:37:35.780" Score="1" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen different questions about getting in shape like &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19347/getting-in-shape-after-age-30&quot;&gt;the importance of age&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/14553/is-it-possible-to-workout-too-long&quot;&gt;how long to workout&lt;/a&gt;, or similar questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, my question is about food. I recently started going to gym with a friend of mine, who acts as my trainer too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He and others keep telling me to use egg, potato, and red meat, and consume protein/bulking powders and have a healthy food/meal plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of my job, I can't go beyond my routine: ordinary everyday food/meal plan. Eg. eating home-made food one meal a day, eating ready-made food at work, and eating a simple breakfast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned about losing my muscles instead of growing them, or even if not growing, at least keeping them the size they are now, and only form them to get more separate and more rounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They talk about catabolism and tell me that your muscles might lack energy after a while and instead of forming or growing, undergo a destructive phase. Thus if you can't change your meal plan, better to not workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please I need your help and scientific explanation for this. Let's forget about me growing muscles. Is it possible to only form my muscles with my everyday meal plan? Without eating more times, or more specific foods. My everyday food contains fast food and healthy food and vegetables and stuff, just like any other guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23204" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T07:27:46.743" Title="Is it possible to achieve an athletic physique with my diet?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31710" CreationDate="2016-08-09T03:44:21.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do not need special powders or foods to achieve any fitness goal. Everything can (and for most people, probably should) be done with &quot;normal&quot; foods. So long as you're eating an adequate amount of calories and protein and you're exercising, you will not lose muscle. To gain muscle, eat a little more calories and protein AND progressively lift heavier weights over time (you must do BOTH). To lose weight and retain muscle, eat fewer calories and eat more protein AND progressively lift heavier weights over time (if you're no longer a beginner, this may not apply--you may be only able to maintain your strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since calories and protein are found in normal foods, you can achieve any of these body composition goals eating normal foods. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23203" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T03:44:21.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31710" CreationDate="2016-08-09T04:31:36.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be a bit difficult, but it's possible as long as you gain enough amount of protein and minerals throughout your daily meals. Furthermore, avoid high fat meals specially fast food and junk food which are extremely detrimental to your shape. As a fact any extra calories more than your daily need (considering your exercise) might lead to an ill-shaped body in long-term. So check your meals nutritional facts to avoid fat and sugar as well as gaining sufficient protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23205" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T04:31:36.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31710" CreationDate="2016-08-09T06:35:20.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The breakdown of muscles is metabolically triggered under circumstances when the body begins to break down proteins for generating glucose as an energy source in response to starvation. The chemical markup required to trigger such a pathway is complex, but usually, before that, it is likely that you would have switched to more readily available source of energy for metabolism, such as ketones from fats, potentially breaking down the fat tissues surrounding your organs, such as the heart, which can be disastrous when your diet is not managed by a professional. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all, it can be easily said that if you do have a nutrition you shouldn't be worried. That said, if you do being to reduce readily available sources of energy, you may trigger different chemical pathways that may begin to regulate how muscle cells are killed and disassembled (in response to damage, for instance), which can be desirable under circumstances, though these are questions best directed towards biochemists, trained nutritionists, but certainly not fitness trainers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a loose recommendation, then make sure you have a steady calorie intake of carbohydrates that are easily ingested and that you have healthy gut flora. I wouldn't recommend relying too much on proteins, even though they may be converted to glucose, as they're a poor source of calories and you can safely ingest only a limited amount as part of a healthy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="441" LastEditorUserId="441" LastEditDate="2016-08-09T06:41:09.807" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T06:41:09.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-10T05:51:53.597" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked up which is better and Google seems to give plenty articles supporting either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing it depends on the person's work/study schedule, being fat or not, type of exercise, exercise goals, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some factors to consider as to when one should exercise, assuming work/study schedule is sufficiently flexible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16010" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T11:53:25.180" Title="Morning or evening exercise?" Tags="&lt;performance&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-10T14:17:53.730" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31508" CreationDate="2016-08-10T07:01:51.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look into cardiac drift - what you're experiencing is a greater effort to maintain the same pace as you go on (so by keeping the same effort, the pace must drop). It's a perfectly normal phenomena, and affects everyone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T07:01:51.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-10T08:11:10.317" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a big guy, I was 6 feet 2 and weighed 110 KG when I decided to get into better shape. I have had a fear of Gym and never went to one till now. I started doing weight lifting 4 days a week and cardio twice a week. I divided my Gym workout into Upper &amp;amp; Lower body workouts and also started to eat healthy high protein low carb diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first 2 months I got very good results and lost 6 KG but then after that I have stalled and nothing I try seems to be working. I consume less than 1800 calories per day and keep my carb intake to less than 150 grams. Still for the past 2.5 months I haven't seen any change in my measurements or in the weight. The problem is that now when I train in gym some of my body parts don't feel the heat. When I try to do chest press with 15 KG dumbbells, I feel I am not  lifting enough weight, but I cannot go above 15 KG because my arms are not strong enough to support that weight. I need advise from someone who has been down the same road on what I am doing wrong and how to get out of the mental frustration state where I feel I am putting a lot of effort but it's not paying off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing moderate cardio. I run for 30 minutes at a speed of 7.5 twice a week. HIIT is something I just cannot do in my current bad shape. Would really like to hear an advice from you guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23219" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-08-10T10:59:41.620" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T10:59:41.620" Title="How to progress in gym after you hit weight loss plateau?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2016-08-10T14:19:46.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31717" CreationDate="2016-08-10T11:53:25.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't have know medical problems (especially cardiac) you may exercise in the morning. This also make you burn more calories during the day. However, if you have cardiovascular problems you may prefer doing exercise in the late afternoon, since testosterone hormone secreted early in the morning that may cause some heart beat abnormalities and can give you hard time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T11:53:25.180" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29784" CreationDate="2016-08-10T13:32:12.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;he says it's not possible for women to gain muscle mass due to our&#xA;  hormones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is blatantly wrong and, to be honest, I'm shocked that your partner would say something like that especially if he acted as a personal trainer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From reading your situation it seems very likely that you've put on some muscle in your back which is one of the contributions to you not fitting properly into the dress anymore.  The other factor to this is also likely fat.  Two inches around the waist/ribs isn't unbelievable, especially if you've been increasing your physical activity.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've got a bit of a restricted timeframe, I'd recommend staying away from any back exercises (such as rowing or skiing) for the next two weeks to let your muscles get &quot;flat&quot;.  In addition, I'd say some extra cardio/proper dieting would have you lose some fat which should have you fitting in the dress just as before.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T13:32:12.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31724" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-10T15:35:26.873" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have downloaded some apps illustrating sign language from the Android play store, but I have something remotely related to muscular dystrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is fitness of the arms and hands and face muscles a prerequisite for doing sign language? What if one cannot due to fatigue, sickle cell anemia, or ano other drug-induced or other tiredness condition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also, why are the [face] and [mouth] tags missing from the list of tag choices)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20506" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T15:35:26.873" Title="Fitness and ability to do sign language" Tags="&lt;arms&gt;&lt;neck&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2016-08-10T18:32:01.773" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats should be first, do three sets of 8, then do deadlifts at three sets of 6-8. Do them at least twice a week with 3 days in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23225" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T18:32:01.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-10T18:34:05.913" Score="0" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, during the 1 hour I was at the gym, someone forced the lock and got into my locker.  When I was done showering I came back to my locker and opened my combination lock as normal, and opened the locker to discover that everything was messed up and rearranged, with my wallet out and on top of my pants.  Luckily, nothing was missing.  (Not even my phone!)  I took a closer look at the Master combination lock and saw that there was significant damages to the outside of it.  Interestingly, whatever tool the thief used to force open the lock, left the lock in a usable state.  They were able to lock it again when they were done rifling through my stuff, and I was able to open the lock with the combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question for this community is:  what is the best type of lock to use on the lockers in a typical gym?  Clearly the Master combination lock is vulnerable (although the version I had was slightly smaller than a full sized combo lock).  Do the people here use anything in particular to guard against tool-equipped gym thieves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21951" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T11:01:33.417" Title="How to protect valuables at gym" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2016-08-11T15:35:21.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31729" CreationDate="2016-08-10T20:40:31.027" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many strength training programs describe sets something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 sets 8-10 reps, 10-12 reps, 13-15 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what this actually means.&#xA;Does it mean, 8-10, 8-10, 8-10 (drop the weight here) then 10-12, 10-12, 10-12 (drop the weight again) 13-15, 13-15, 13-15?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or does it mean 8-10, 10-12, 13-15 (drop the weight here); 8-10, 10-12, 13-15 (drop the weight again); 8-10, 10-12-13-15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or does it mean something completely different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, what I want to know is this:&#xA;Do you do three of the first range, three of the second range, three of the third range &lt;em&gt;OR&lt;/em&gt; Do you do three of all three ranges, three of all three ranges, three of all three ranges? (In both scenarios a total of 9 sets will occur)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23226" LastEditorUserId="23226" LastEditDate="2016-08-10T22:27:22.643" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T22:30:11.430" Title="Interpreting descriptions of sets" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2016-08-10T20:49:34.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you read is actually a bit misleading. Doing compound movements, and especially dead lifts and squats, will not make your entire body grow...only the muscles that you target depending on the variation of the exercise that you're doing. What they do specifically in terms of promoting overall muscle growth is just in terms of hormones. You will release more IGF-1, growth hormone, and increase testosterone levels as opposed to not doing them at all. Now, why am I saying this ? How is this relevant ? Well, your hormones aren't like caffeine pills or pre-workout supplements, you don't just increase them and see an immediate effect (like in the same workout), instead, you promote an anabolic ENVIRONMENT, you prime your body for muscle growth purposes, not for one single workout, but in general. So you could do legs on Day 1, and arms on Day 2 or 3 or 6, and still benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm absolutely shocked no one has mentioned this on this site but I could strongly argue that it is actually worse to train them on the same day than separate. Reason ? Well, it's very simple. I think everyone here knows that the squat and dead lift (excluding olympic lifts) are two of the most taxing exercises on your body. Now, let's say you did 5 sets of 5-10 reps of squats and the same for deadlifts. Let's further assume that your arms are a weak point and that you are trying to bring them up desperately. Now, you just did two of the most difficult exercises that are available to you, with relatively heavy weights (you need to go heavy in order to get this muscle growth promotion effect in the first place), that means you spent most of your &quot;anabolic environment&quot; nutrients/hormones, or...in simple terms, your energy (via muscle glycogen) already. Now, you're going to work out this weak part of your physique that you really want to improve without half or more than half of the building blocks that you had available to you! Furthermore, if you didn't eat sufficiently that day, or if you took too long to finish the first 2 exercises, your cortisol levels are now going up, and you are now way more likely to actually break down muscle for energy. All this...when you could have just trained arms on a separate day, without two of the most energy consuming exercises known, and trained them at 100%, you see what I'm saying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have suggested some fancy arm workouts and such, and I'm assuming you're a beginner, please don't do these. Stick to the basics, you don't need anything other than intensity and the basics to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T20:49:34.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31727" CreationDate="2016-08-10T22:05:04.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would do 3 of the lower range at a heavier rep range, then progress rep range upwards lowering the weight of muscle exhaustion is the goal. Alternatively, depending on the hardness or the training you could also go 1 8-10 heavy, lighten load go to the next rep range, lighten load go to the next rep range with pauses and that would be the set. The second example would be a lot harder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastEditorUserId="19271" LastEditDate="2016-08-10T22:30:11.430" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T22:30:11.430" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29784" CreationDate="2016-08-11T06:53:22.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you can't lose weight at one specific area of the body. You either lose weight all over the place, or you don't lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, it's probably a bad idea to workout your back muscles (rowing) when it's back muscle you need to lose. The best way to lose weight in this situation is probably doing cardio which doesn't involve your back to much, whilest being in a caloric deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, this isn't healthy, but it will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, obviously women can build muscle, it just happens at a slower rate because of multiple reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T06:53:22.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31733" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31735" CreationDate="2016-08-11T10:11:37.520" Score="4" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout hard at the gym I'm training for like 6 months now and I am wondering why do I never have muscle soreness at my back, I workout very hard, after every training my arms, chest, feet every muscle group suffer muscle soreness except my back, and I really train it until exhaustion until I cannot go any further but nothing. Do not get me wrong I see improvements, a lot of them and my back muscles are a lot more developed than from the start of my training but I never had muscle soreness on it and I am wondering why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-08-11T10:37:11.760" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T18:36:20.523" Title="Why do I never have muscle soreness at my back?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31733" CreationDate="2016-08-11T10:42:20.193" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is primarily something you feel when you stretch out the eccentric portion of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excerpt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The soreness is caused by eccentric exercise, that is, exercise consisting of eccentric (lengthening) contractions of the muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;eccentric portion&quot; refers to when you lower the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not feeling any DOMS in your back, it could be because you're lowering the weight too quickly. Try instead to lower it slowly and controlled. Remember that this portion of the lift also helps with muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb, I try to lower the weight over twice as much time as the actual lift. So for instance, I'll spend 2 seconds lifting the weight, and 4 seconds putting it back. Rinse and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, this has always provided me with that amazing DOMS the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T10:42:20.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31726" CreationDate="2016-08-11T11:01:33.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Place your phone and wallet in a small bag and have it with you inside them gym.I doubt anyone would steal your clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T11:01:33.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7739" CreationDate="2016-08-11T22:12:55.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a guy that's on month 4 of living in hotels, I'd add 2 others. The doorknob rows are super useful, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bathroom door pullups. This was weird at first, but I've gotten used to it. Before you attempt these, slide something under the door to stabilize it. I also like to throw a towel over the top of the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under the desk rows. 80% of the rooms I stay in have a desk. Move the desk out where you have some room. Slide yourself under it lengthwise. Grab bith sides of the desk and pull yourself up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23234" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T22:12:55.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-12T13:41:00.440" Score="0" ViewCount="1375" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing full (regular) pull-ups for 4-5 months now. I never really did more than 7 reps per set, but my form has always been proper before. Today, during pull-ups, I noticed that my left arm was doing most of the work and that I was moving my wholebody towards the left side all the time. I always knew that my right hand had a weaker grip on dead hang and hanging leg raises, but what happened today has never happened before — this is the first time ever. Can it be that I had overtrained my right arm or maybe even slightly injured my right shoulder or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21949" LastEditorUserId="21949" LastEditDate="2016-08-12T16:08:59.010" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T16:24:39.463" Title="One side stronger than the other in pull-ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-12T13:55:29.667" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is a good post, it might indeed be a very bad one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to know whether it is possible to inject the body with a substance that will temporarily, say for half and l an hour out for hours, cool the interior parts off the body via the blood system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20506" LastEditorUserId="20506" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T12:42:23.447" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T14:50:31.053" Title="Blood-compatible liquid for cooling body" Tags="&lt;blood-flow&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T22:45:43.330" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31740" CreationDate="2016-08-12T16:24:39.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can't really tell you if it's a muscular imbalance, or an injury, or overtraining, because... How could we possibly know? We know exactly as much as you've told us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should be doing (and this extends to ALL exercises), is to perform the movement symmetrically. If you find yourself leering to one side, because one side tires before the other, it could be a muscular imbalance, which is corrected by training both sides equally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DO NOT&lt;/strong&gt; be tempted into training one side more than the other. You'll only create new imbalances. Keep the exercises equal on both sides, and let them fall into place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T16:24:39.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2016-08-12T17:53:35.307" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wide grip, and palms facing forward will help to isolate the lats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, as many people do, you use a narrower grip with palms facing towards you allows shoulders, core and arms to carry too much of the work load, so you wouldn't be as sore afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T20:08:20.843" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T20:08:20.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31625" CreationDate="2016-08-12T18:00:54.227" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They don't use the same muscles, and certainly don't use them in the same way, so I'd dispute that premise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the breastroke motion is not as naturally explosive than the other strokes in its movements, so it makes sense that you'd be able to go further without getting as fatigued.  I can't think of any stroke where you'd be able to keep going as much as breaststroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T18:00:54.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31161" CreationDate="2016-08-12T19:02:54.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did different martial arts and as part of the warm up routine we would always do hand/wrist stretching. As it would be a bit difficult to explain them via words, I looked for some videos and found this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6nS7F8ospQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6nS7F8ospQ&lt;/a&gt; and several recommended ones on the side of youtube&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They explain the stretches in a nice and understanding way. Googling for &quot;martial arts stretch wrist&quot; can give you other examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My PT also does something like this at 1:40: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AufR9l265NE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AufR9l265NE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, like BackInShapeBuddy I would also recommend to first visit a hand therapist to rule out anything serious and &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; ask someone who knows the excercises to practice them together, so you don't hurt yourself while doing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23242" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T19:02:54.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-12T23:03:12.510" Score="0" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to build up some basic fitness from basically zero. But, I have to spend quite some time in front of a computer-screen. Gyms drive me crazy (too many people around...) and running just is not for me (yet... who knows?). What I CAN do, though, is short little workouts during screen-breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is that even effective? Is, for example, bringing my heartrate up with about a minute of cardio-excercises going to help me burn fat, or am I just going to look silly?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Layna&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10786" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T16:49:53.523" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T19:49:13.577" Title="Can a workout be too short?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31757" CreationDate="2016-08-13T08:57:49.477" Score="0" ViewCount="729" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I'm a 14-year-old who wants to maintain a low body fat, and also have a muscular physique in about a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5' 11&quot; (about 180 cm) and weigh around 126 pounds (about 54 KG).  I think I maintain a low body fat since my ribs are very barely noticeable.  I have ab muscles from working out in the past (as a 12-year-old) and have put my focus on my triceps and core so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a pull-up bar, a bench, and 15-pound (about 7 KG) dumbbells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What weight dumbbells should I be lifting?&#xA;What exercises should I do?&#xA;How long will it take for me to grow a visible muscular physique?&#xA;What should my diet be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23251" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T19:04:06.683" Title="Muscle-Mass Workout Routine for 14-Year-Old" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T22:48:59.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31754" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31755" CreationDate="2016-08-13T09:21:53.833" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a chart describing via a figure or set of figures, with explanations, the different kinds of back pain one can experience and their causes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about medical computer simulations, depicting accidents, pain visually, and a set of remedies, including a set of steps and procedures the massage therapist can use, from which one can learn to become a therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People can simulate driving through a computer, I see no reason why one could not sinulate an accident and giving a massage through a computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We already have crash-test-dummies, to simulate the injury. We need to combine this with pain models, and pain elimination techniques, models for simulating physical activities of injured people, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20506" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-08-13T11:16:18.467" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T11:20:08.377" Title="Back pain chart" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T22:48:33.483" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31754" CreationDate="2016-08-13T11:20:08.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.no/search?q=back+pain+chart&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiyvoCQor7OAhVjP5oKHTq9Ca4QsAQIHQ&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=995&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yes there are back pain charts.&lt;/a&gt; But in the grand scheme of things, any such chart is going to have a lot of missing information, because there is simply too many types of back pain to put onto a single chart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the rest of the question, I don't see what you're trying to ask. It looks like you're just speculating about whether or not there exists injury simulation software, and that falls outside the scope of this StackExchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic&quot;&gt;on-topic guide&lt;/a&gt; before asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T11:20:08.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31753" CreationDate="2016-08-13T11:35:00.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, do not worry yourself with lifting weights just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teenagers have a lot of natural growth yet to do, and that's going to happen with or without weightlifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to get a lean and muscular body, your best bet is to enlist in some sports club. Not only will that type of training help you achieve your goal, but you will have a coach who can make a strength program specifically for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, simply knowing your age and weight isn't enough for us to create a safe program for you, because we don't know if you have any conditions. And you might not even know about them yet either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find that in certain sports, the athletes are very well built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;American football&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;rugby&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;gymnastics&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;track and field&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;soccer&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;tennis&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find that most athletes in these sports have very lean and muscular bodies, as is required to perform optimally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-08-14T16:11:07.080" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T16:11:07.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31788" CreationDate="2016-08-13T12:06:38.843" Score="1" ViewCount="1904" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: What is the thinking behind turning to breathe every stroke (i.e. every two arm pulls) in freestyle?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't this wasteful, since breathing necessarily disrupts your flow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a keen swimmer, swimming 3-4 miles a week freestyle. I breathe every 3 strokes (six arm pulls) and thought this was a great idea since   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it doesn't disrupt my stroke to keep turning to breathe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it presumably means I have decent lung capacity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then I see Michael Phelps and all the others breathing each and every stroke, and I can't exactly argue with them. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23252" LastEditorUserId="12111" LastEditDate="2017-01-16T10:31:48.187" LastActivityDate="2017-01-16T10:31:48.187" Title="Why do professional swimmers breathe every stroke in freestyle?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;olympic&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31753" CreationDate="2016-08-13T12:26:12.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You display far too much concerned with details. Don't get hung up on any aspect, and whatever you do don't sweat the small stuff. Let your body dictate how much you do and how much you lift. Go for perfecting technique rather than attempting very heavy weights. Research established sites you can trust. Look at what you eat, and remember no fads, no silver bullets. Just good balanced diet, with plenty of variety. Forget supplement, pills, and energy drinks. Water is fine and inexpensive.&#xA;Remember there are very many great routines using just body weight. Don't neglect the aerobic element, and keep off the scale. You will get fit, strong, and build the muscle you need in good time using a variety of exercises. Hope this is not too much information to digest in one go. David W Cornwall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23253" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T12:26:12.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6766" CreationDate="2016-08-13T16:23:25.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add some research evidence to back up the two other answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Cochrane systematic review: Leeder, Jonathan, Conor Gissane, Ken van Someren, Warren Gregson, and Glyn Howatson. &quot;Cold water immersion and recovery from strenuous exercise: a meta-analysis.&quot; British journal of sports medicine (2011): bjsports-2011. &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=17487784705795906396&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=17487784705795906396&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&lt;/a&gt; ; &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008262.pub2/full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008262.pub2/full&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was some evidence that cold-water immersion reduces delayed onset muscle soreness after exercise compared with passive interventions involving rest or no intervention. There was insufficient evidence to conclude on other outcomes or for other comparisons. The majority of trials did not undertake active surveillance of pre-defined adverse events. High quality, well reported research in this area is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more detailed abstract: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Delayed onset muscle soreness commonly results after sports and&#xA;  exercise activity. Cold-water immersion (CWI), which involves people&#xA;  immersing themselves in water at temperatures of less than 15°C, is&#xA;  sometimes used to manage muscle soreness after exercise and to speed&#xA;  up recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our review included 17 small trials, involving a total of 366&#xA;  participants. Study quality was low. Fourteen trials compared&#xA;  cold-water immersion applied after exercise with 'passive' treatment&#xA;  involving rest or no treatment. The temperature, duration and&#xA;  frequency of cold-water immersion varied between the different trials&#xA;  as did the exercises and settings. There was some evidence that&#xA;  cold-water immersion reduces muscle soreness at 24, 48, 72 and even at&#xA;  96 hours after exercise compared with 'passive' treatment. Limited&#xA;  evidence from four trials indicated that participants considered that&#xA;  cold-water immersion improved recovery/reduced fatigue immediately&#xA;  afterwards. Most of the trials did not consider complications relating&#xA;  to cold-water immersion and so we cannot say whether these are a&#xA;  problem. There were only limited data available for other comparisons&#xA;  of cold-water immersion versus warm or contrasting (alternative&#xA;  warm/cold) water immersion, light jogging, and compression stockings.&#xA;  None of these showed important differences between the interventions&#xA;  being compared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While the evidence shows that cold-water immersion reduces delayed&#xA;  onset muscle soreness after exercise, the optimum method of cold-water&#xA;  immersion and its safety are not clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few other systematic reviews:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ranalli, Gregory F., Julianne K. DeMartini, Douglas J. Casa, Brendon P. McDermott, Lawrence E. Armstrong, and Carl M. Maresh. &quot;Effect of body cooling on subsequent aerobic and anaerobic exercise performance: a systematic review.&quot; The Journal of Strength &amp;amp; Conditioning Research 24, no. 12 (2010): 3488-3496. &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=8065838624919032849&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=8065838624919032849&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Torres, Rui, Fernando Ribeiro, José Alberto Duarte, and Jan MH Cabri. &quot;Evidence of the physiotherapeutic interventions used currently after exercise-induced muscle damage: systematic review and meta-analysis.&quot; Physical Therapy in Sport 13, no. 2 (2012): 101-114.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=3409581060760059325&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=3409581060760059325&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T16:23:25.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31795" CreationDate="2016-08-13T16:38:58.133" Score="-1" ViewCount="1083" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't use the peck deck machine. If someone say can do 100 kg on the peck deck how much can he do with dumbbells flyes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23254" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T21:28:25.883" Title="Peck deck machine vs dumbbells flyes" Tags="&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T22:47:34.550" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31764" CreationDate="2016-08-13T17:14:18.153" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does protein help girls that work out at the gym? When I say workout I mean weightlifting not aerobic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="8332" LastEditDate="2016-08-14T22:01:05.113" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T22:01:05.113" Title="Does protein benefit women the same way as men?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T22:49:16.240" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31761" CreationDate="2016-08-13T17:29:20.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if the weight-stack is 100kg, all the pulleys make it so the actual weight you need to push, is far less than 100kg. And the number of pulleys, as well as their size, lubrication and distance between each other, is different depending on manufacturer. So there is no one-to-one relationship between how much you can do with free weights and how much you can do on the machine equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T17:29:20.953" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31762" CreationDate="2016-08-13T17:31:14.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein has various functions in our bodies, most notably for rebuilding muscle tissue after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this, there is no difference between genders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you read up on the cellular functions of proteins for yourself, as the question is so vague that a full answer would fill books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein#Cellular_functions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein#Cellular_functions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T17:31:14.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31748" CreationDate="2016-08-13T18:08:47.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends what your goals are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is exercising to burn fat, then it's possible but you need to exercise enough - it doesn't matter that it'd be split to very short sessions - important is to have enough of such sessions. (Though, I don't say this is the most effective way to burn fat.)&#xA;In general, to burn fat, you need to have caloric deficit and the best way is to eat less and exercise more than you normally do. If you don't burn fat, you just need to eat a bit less again and train more. Decreasing amount of food and increasing time / intensity (e.g., speed, weight, ...) / ... of exercising. You could burn fat without exercising but food intake would be so low that most people wouldn't feel very well therefore exercising is useful for majority of people when burning fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is exercise for health, then definitely exercising even a minute several times is better than no exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23259" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T18:08:47.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20995" CreationDate="2016-08-13T23:53:01.640" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only is it legit, but, he explains it at in the seminar in the following video: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/QJskWqVcaE4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/QJskWqVcaE4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23264" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T23:53:01.640" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31769" CreationDate="2016-08-14T00:22:54.717" Score="1" ViewCount="404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/rvdyJwxgcKM?t=37m24s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Conor McGregor's media workout&lt;/a&gt; (2016-08-12) in preparation for UFC 202 and saw that his training includes being hit in the abs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IK4OW.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IK4OW.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the point in hitting abs during a workout? E.g., does it aim at developing abdominal muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T00:51:21.373" Title="What's the point in hitting abs during a workout?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31768" CreationDate="2016-08-14T00:51:21.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For Conor McGregor, the point of that particular ab training, is to develop the ability to take a punch, which is as important as being able to deliver.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collaterally, it will probably also cause some muscle gain in the long run, but probably a negligable amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that this is not something we should replicate in our own training, as it could cause internal bleeding if done as often as he trains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T00:51:21.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31758" CreationDate="2016-08-14T02:20:47.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect they breathe that much because that's just how much they need to... when going all out at that pace. From what you described of your own experience, you seem to be doing more long-distance/endurance swimming, which is pretty different from sprinting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking for myself, when I do long distance, I definitely breathe less often than when I'm sprinting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be that simple? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3076" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T02:20:47.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-14T09:33:43.003" Score="4" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started running and bought myself a pair of running shoes, but from what I've been told, I need to make sure they are the right fit for me. I've been reading about pronation and I've come to learn that my shoe wear is different from left to right. Could someone help me out and offer advice as to what kind of shoe to buy in terms of neutral, over pronation, or under pronation when you have a mix of the two. I seem to have neutral wear in one foot (right foot) but over pronation (left foot) in the other. I have come across asics and they seem to have shoes that you can wear if you are both neutral/over pronation according to their pronation guide, but not sure how this works if my feet are different from one another. I should also mention that after a wet test, both feet look neutral to me which is surprising I thought. I have had a knee injury recently on my left leg and an ankle injury on my right leg. Both times pain was gone in a day or two. Regarding my knee injury, I am not sure if it is a result of running (didn't feel any pain during my run until a few hours after) or because I sometimes sit on my leg when seated at a chair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a diagram I drew up showing wear in my shoes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rGZX5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rGZX5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23266" LastEditorDisplayName="user23266" LastEditDate="2016-08-14T09:38:46.893" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T15:13:25.553" Title="Pronation in shoe wear" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;foot&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-14T20:04:19.703" Score="0" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I start my workout with a 5 minute very fast run to warm up. Then I start sweating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I move to weights which causes me to sweat more in the first 20 minutes, after that my sweat usually goes away and I finish the rest of the workout without sweating or only minor sweating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does sweating have any correlation with how effective my workout is? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the early parts of my workout I am sweating more, I probably have a higher body temperature, is the weight lifting I am doing at that time more effective than the lifting I am doing at the end of the exercise when I am not sweating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23269" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T15:54:48.480" Title="Does sweating have any correlation with how effective my workout is?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-15T02:25:05.977" Score="1" ViewCount="671" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can a person with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo do push ups,does doing more push ups increases vertigo attaks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23271" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T12:40:47.790" Title="Can I do push ups being a vertigo patient?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T22:48:08.273" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31780" CreationDate="2016-08-15T08:57:18.617" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of weightlifters and especially rugby players tie some weights after them most of the times a sled and pulling it at full speed for a distance,I understand it could make a rugby player get used pushing high weights because he needs to push other players in games but does in help in any other way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="23220" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T09:08:06.777" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T10:17:54.183" Title="How does dragging weights after you help?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31777" CreationDate="2016-08-15T10:12:08.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, ask yourself this; how does it benefit a rugby player? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles are multi-purpose. Even if you train the muscles in one particular way, the muscles will be able to perform other movements too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take bench press. When will you ever need the ability to lay on a completely flat surface, and press a completely symmetrical and balanced object up and down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never. But you train the chest and triceps, and these muscles are used for all kinds of pressing movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, consider the same concept, but with the muscles trained by dragging weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's what we call a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;functional exercise&lt;/a&gt;. It's a type of movement that mimics things we might need to do in daily life, and also, it covers so many muscle groups at the same time, that you get a LOT of training done with every set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an exercise covers so many parts of the body, it not only builds a lot of muscle, but helps with developing balance, endurance, and the central nervous system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T10:17:54.183" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T10:17:54.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31776" CreationDate="2016-08-15T12:40:47.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could not find exercise induced vertigo specific to push ups. However,&#xA;If someone has vestibular—inner ear— disorders , he/she often experiences problems with balance and position or movement-related dizziness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, you have to identify the movements that cause the dizziness, he/she can begin an exercise program to repeat those movements—a concept that seems contradictory. In order to get rid of his/her dizziness, you have to repeat the movements that make him/her dizzy. It is important that you repeat them at least five times in a row and do them twice a day. If you find there are five different movements that make you dizzy, pick two to work on at a time. Once you no longer experience dizziness in response to these movements, add two more. Don’t try to do exercises for more than two movements at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vestibular.org/sites/default/files/page_files/Vestibular%20Rehabilitation_0.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vertigo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T12:40:47.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31784" CreationDate="2016-08-15T13:19:43.520" Score="4" ViewCount="6122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always thought that the weight listed on a weight stack (putting the pin at 100lbs) meant that you were lifting 100lbs after all factors were taken into account. After reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/31763/18977&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, I am uncertain about the meaning of the weight on the weight stack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also recently switched gyms and went from 90 to 40 on rope pulldown, which I attributed to the conversion between weight units (It matches which could be a coincidence). Could it have simply been the different brand of machine that meant the weight is actually different due to the setup of the machine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T16:31:47.027" Title="On machines, what is the weight listed?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31775" CreationDate="2016-08-15T13:25:32.287" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, it doesn't have a direct relationship with the efficiency of your workout.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're sweating, that could be caused by a multitude of things (clothes your wearing, temperature of gym, speed of workouts, etc.)&#xA;Usually sweating while working out is a good indicator that you're get a nice workout in, but that doesn't mean sweat=good workout/no sweat=bad workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people sweat a lot during workouts, some don't sweat much at all.  In short, it's very hard to find a solid correlation between sweat and an &quot;effective&quot; workout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to sweat more while at the gym, try to keep your heartrate up while you train.  This can be done by taking shorter rests between sets, and working with fewer reps and higher weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T13:25:32.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31782" CreationDate="2016-08-15T13:27:29.340" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no direct relationship between the numbers listed on the stack, and the weight you're lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could well be that the marker with &quot;100&quot; indicated that the stack now weighs 100lb or 100kg, but since the machine uses &lt;strong&gt;pulleys&lt;/strong&gt;, it leverages your force by a lot, so you're not actually lifting that much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, since different manufacturers uses a different number of pulleys, and different sizes, and different lubrication, 100 is going to be different from machine to machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is yes; if you switched machine brand, 100 is going to feel different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: To answer your question in the comments; no, they don't use pulleys to boost your ego. They use pulleys so that when you push forward on the machine, you're lifting the weight straight up. I mean, that's what pulleys do. They allow you to shift the direction of force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T15:40:55.897" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T15:40:55.897" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31782" CreationDate="2016-08-15T13:34:32.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The weight in which you are lifting does not perfectly correlate to the numbers on the stack.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weighted plates that you put the pin into are showing the weight of the stack up to where the pin is.  If you see the stack increasing in 10 lb increments that means that each plate is 10 pounds.  Due to the mechanics of the machine, you are not necessarily doing 10 more pounds of work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best example of weights that actually show how much weight you're lifting would be with free weights.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T13:34:32.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31782" CreationDate="2016-08-15T14:45:10.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the weights might not be consistent between different brands, the weight increases on a particular machine are consistent meaning the increase of approximately 10 pounds is the same whether you're going from 40 to 50 pounds or 80 to 90 pounds. The number doesn't exactly correlate to the weight you are lifting but it's still a useful number for tracking progression. If you went from 40 pounds to 50 pounds on the weight stack then you've gotten stronger, regardless of if you actually went from 37 pounds to 47 pounds once the leverages of the pulleys etc is taken into account..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23276" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T14:45:10.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31741" CreationDate="2016-08-15T14:50:31.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds pretty drastic.  Maybe ingesting something like a fruit slushy, a Slurpee/Icee, or even just blended ice and some water would do the trick, as normal blood flow in and around the stomach-full of slushy ice-liquid would even out that temperature differential and cool down the body.  Beware of brain, neck and back freeze, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what I do, because I otherwise keep sweating and feel hot for one to two hours after a decent workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T14:50:31.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31758" CreationDate="2016-08-15T15:04:57.567" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;since breathing necessarily disrupts your flow&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the amount of disruption relates to how far from perfect your form is. Since they need to breathe, they put a lot of work in perfecting their body and stroke movement so there is almost no additional body movement related to breathing.  If the catch and pull are done correctly, the body is swiveling back and forth along the center-line/spine axis with every stroke cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if they do it efficiently, there is just a minimal turn of the head and opening of the mouth.  At that level, swimming as form-perfectly as they do, lactic acid build up and maximizing oxygen intake is a major consideration that trumps any very minor form imperfections that breathing brings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are swimming 7, 8 or more miles every &lt;strong&gt;DAY&lt;/strong&gt; during peak conditioning training, so avoiding that kind of oxygen deprivation is much more important for their training than someone who does half of that in a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T15:04:57.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31775" CreationDate="2016-08-15T15:54:48.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, No.  Sweating is a physiological reaction to heat.  It’s a mechanism for your body to control heat.  It’s a means of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/thermoregulation#Overview1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thermoregulation&lt;/a&gt;.   In a nutshell, when your muscles “heat” up (from exercise), your body works to cool you down.  And, contrary to some opinions, sweating also does not correlate to fat loss even though you may see a slight decrease in weight due to water (sweat) loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T15:54:48.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31782" CreationDate="2016-08-15T16:31:47.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a real-world example that you can verify for yourself in gyms with those large multi-station cable machines with a pull-up bar in the middle.  Typically, they have a pair of lat pulldown stations, a pair of cable row stations, a pair of triceps pushdown stations, and the interior pair is a multi-purpose cable cross.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you observe the pulleys for the triceps pushdown station and compare that against the pulleys for the cable cross station, you'll see that the cable goes through an additional pulley on the latter.  This halves the force needed to move the same amount of weight (it also doubles the distance needed to pull the cable to lift the weight the same height off the stack but this is not relevant to the amount of exertion needed).  So if you were to set up the stacks with the same amount of weight for these stations, and you configure one of cable cross station pulls to do the same triceps pushdown, you will find it easier on the cable cross station because you're only using half the effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the takeaway is that the weight of the plates on a machine only tell part of the story in terms of the &lt;strong&gt;force&lt;/strong&gt; needed to lift the weight, and it is the amount of force that relates to the exertion or effort.  Consequently, for a machine of a given, fixed mechanical design, the relationship is also fixed, but it may vary from machine to machine.  The only way to maintain comparability of the weight of the plate to the effort needed to lift it, is to look at the same machine or machines of equivalent design.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T16:31:47.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31748" CreationDate="2016-08-15T17:05:17.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To burn fat, you simply need to eat less calories than you consume. So if you need 2000 calories, eat less than that and your weight (muscle/fat) will go down. Use resistance if you want to retain as much muscle as possible. That answers the burn-fat tag related question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the cardio, short bursts of high heart rate will be fine. The gym is not the best place for cardio. It is very expensive if you're only there to run. Try to run or bike outside. A lot of people get bored running on a treadmill due to lack of stimulus. Outdoors offers better scenery if you're into that. If you live in the land of eternal winter, you are lucky. Save yourself some money and start shoveling your entrance, that's a pretty good work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option for cardio is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). HIIT will spike your heart rate during a short period of time and then give you a short time to recover before you start over. These sessions can be very short (Mine last about 12 minutes including 2min warm-up and 2min cool-down). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Discussing &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/18977&quot;&gt;HIIT vs Steady State cardio&lt;/a&gt; is a different question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T17:05:17.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31748" CreationDate="2016-08-15T18:49:14.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is 'No', whether your aim is to burn fat or build muscle, both can be achieved by burning a number of calories and breaking a number of muscular tissue respectively, if you manage to burn that number of calories or break that number of tissue in 30 min 1 hour or 4 hours then the workout remains as effective, the means are the important part that will impact on the time you take to reach the goal, as for the other answers that mention eating less in order to burn fat, that's not always the case, a nice diet with high carbohydrate intake can aid in boosting your metabolism so eating less is not always the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23278" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T18:49:14.683" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31753" CreationDate="2016-08-15T19:04:06.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience let me recommend you: continue to do bodyweight-exercise for 2-3 more years then switch to weight-lifting but without completely leaving bodyweight behing, do of every variation possible, chin-ups, pull-ups etc; push-ups, diamond push-ups, elevated push-ups, etc; dips, one-handed dips, dips with elevated-legs, etc; crunches, biking, running, etc; add weight to the different exercises, and after you feel you're not progressing as you used to then start weight-lifting. You'll get big while keeping vascularity, seriously, this is the best approach you could ever have, look at the story of many professional bodybuilders and you'll see they where already vascular when they started, most people who start lifting weights and were never athletic fail to acquire that aesthetic look, and they look so lame even after continuous years of training and all kinds of dieting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23278" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T19:04:06.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10172" CreationDate="2016-08-15T21:22:09.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the nasal passages, with hair-lined mucous membranes are well suited for catching a certain amount of dust, particles, pollen, etc, if you are worried about a wayward swarm of locusts getting inhaled into your lungs, maybe you should select a different swimming location (and, no, I'm not being hostile or belligerent towards the person asking the question, I'm using the general/universal &quot;you&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday breathing, or even jogging?  Sure, inhale through the nose.  Swimming, where with every stroke except backstroke your face is in the water the vast majority of the time?  You don't have the luxury of inhaling whenever you feel like it or over an extended period of time.  Since you have to fill your lungs in that brief moment when your face gets clear of the water, you have to breath in through your mouth, practically speaking, if you are swimming at any kind of a decent rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T21:22:09.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31761" CreationDate="2016-08-15T21:28:25.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the point @Alec made, that the pulleys reduce the amount of force the user needs to apply (I think usually by about half), there's two other considerations that come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The lever-arm: when using dumbbells the force is applied where the weight is held, at the hand. Thus, the torque that you need to apply is (Weight x Arm Length), that's why it's so much easier to do flys the more you bend your arms (and makes it harder for people with long arms, given the same amount of weight). In a pec-deck, the weight is applied at the point where the cable attaches to the handles of the machine. This is typically much closer to body than the hands, maybe at about elbow length, give or take. Since you are applying force at your hand length, but the resistance is applied at roughly half that distance, you need to apply roughly half the force. (And, since the resistance point is fixed, the pec-deck doesn't &quot;penalize&quot; people with long arms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, rough estimate, about a quarter of the force of the weight stack gets applied at the hands, depending on the pulley system and arm length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The pec-deck applies force much more consistently throughout the range of motion. Regardless of whether your arms are fully open or nearly closed, the handles are pushing back with nearly equal force. With DB flys, the force is always straight down. Thus, the force that is needed to close your arms is proportional to the cosine of the angle between your arm and the floor. That means that in the fully open position, the DBs are completely resisting the movement. At about 2/3rds of the way through the motion, they provide half the resistance, and by the end, all the effort is just holding the weight up, not pushing them together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#2 is the primary reason why it doesn't really make sense to compare the weight done using DB flys with the pec-deck (and, of course, the fact you don't have to balance machines like you do free weights). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23172" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T21:28:25.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31797" CreationDate="2016-08-16T10:08:41.700" Score="1" ViewCount="1749" Body="&lt;p&gt;there is an exercise called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one arm dumbbell bent over row&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sometimes I like doing 10 sets of 10 reps alternating arms of this exercise with 60 Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes me feel very good, and after 24 hours or more, I feel my back muscles when I contract my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do back twice a week, one of them I do only the exercise described above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would this cause injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would this make me stronger on this exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what type of muscle development can be expected?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qUGpd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qUGpd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Kd65.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Kd65.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wxsTU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wxsTU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5WIki.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5WIki.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TmWjR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TmWjR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;disclaimer: I don't own the pictures that I have posted here, I got them through ann internet search, and I have added them here for educational purposes only, and for my own personal reference as they show the muscles involved and motivate me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18296" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T10:29:21.513" Title="one arm dumbell bent over row - is it a complete exercise for the back?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;strength-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31796" CreationDate="2016-08-16T10:20:31.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;would this cause injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No more than any other exercise. This all depends on your form. If you are relentlessly contorting your back in order to pull 60kg, then yes, it probably will cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are selecting a moderate weight, and keeping a good, strict form, then no. It probably won't cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;would this make me stronger on this exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That depends on whether or not you achieve &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt;. If you just use the same weight and same set/rep scheme over and over, then no, it will not make you stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;what type of muscle development can be expected?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is highlighted in your first image. It tells you which muscles are used to facilitate the movement, and these are the muscles that will develop &lt;strong&gt;strength and size&lt;/strong&gt; IF you achieve progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;sometimes I like doing 10 sets of 10 reps alternating arms of this exercise with 60 Kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sounds like way too much. First of all, are you sure they're not 60lb dumbbells? Second, 10 sets of 10 does not sound like a worthwhile use of your time. If you have time to do all that, I'd instead get three different exercises done and get your back muscles developed in a more well-rounded fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;what about setting aside one day a week just to do this particular exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend against it. Having a day for back exercises per week is absolutely fine, but having a day for one single exercise can be very unproductive if you have goals of say strength and size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some exercises that can be recommended to spend a day on, exclusively, and those are exercises that target a large number of muscles, and give you a large. Ideally, these would be olympic lifts, and possibly deadlift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do want to spend a day on dumbbell rows, I'd suggest not doing it more than one per month. It's OK to do something if it makes you feel good, but everything in moderation. It would be bad if you replaced back day with one single exercise every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-08-16T10:29:21.513" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T10:29:21.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-16T12:23:06.570" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m trying to follow the advice from the following video and sit up straight and sit on my sitting bones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkDNMuG46kk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkDNMuG46kk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel the muscles on the sides of my lower back (I suppose those are the lats) and the whole position is extremely tiring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make matters more worse, I read it's not correct to sit straight, but one should rather be leaned backwards. That seems sketchy to me, since the neck then seems to be in unnatural position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should I be sitting on my sitting bones?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should I sit up straight or be leaned backwards (neglecting the weird position for my neck)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;why are my lats hurting me whe trying to follow the advice from the video?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(bonus) is there anything about sitting the science is settled in?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;why are we advised to stand up every 20 minutes?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15784" LastEditorUserId="15784" LastEditDate="2016-08-17T14:54:30.343" LastActivityDate="2016-08-17T14:54:30.343" Title="How do I sit properly and why?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-17T15:04:31.530" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31823" CreationDate="2016-08-16T12:35:45.973" Score="3" ViewCount="389" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most yoga poses, we are reminded to relax our shoulder muscles.&#xA;I don't understand: why do we have tension then? It seems to be a natural inclination to make them active in these poses, so why is it wrong to keep them tense? And why is it a natural reflex to have them tense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15784" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-08-18T13:04:04.583" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T15:32:42.707" Title="Why are beginners told to relax their tense shoulders muscles in yoga?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-16T21:38:34.547" Score="5" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training for my first 10k (the race is in a month and am in a good position from a training perspective).  With where I'm at training wise, I'm starting to look ahead to the next goal for me.  I'm looking at doing a half marathon next year but am wondering about how I should go about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, my pace for running is around 13:00-13:30 a mile.  Yes, I'm that slow.  Because of that, I'm wondering if I should spend some time on speed before starting a training program for the half.  I have plenty of time before any half I'd do (it wouldn't be until next spring) and I'm wondering if speeding up my pace would have benefits.  I know training for the 10k, I used one of the couch to 10k apps which are all time based (they get you to run for an hour), but that left me short of being able to actually finish a 10k (I finished my program a couple weeks ago and am working on the gap between the hour and how long it will take me to finish).  As I go for longer distances that gap will only grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, does it make sense for me to spend a couple months working on speed before diving into a half marathon training program or is there not a lot of benefit and I should just go into the next program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23285" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T13:41:51.427" Title="Running - Speed vs Distance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31800" CreationDate="2016-08-17T01:09:20.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speed walk the goal distance you plan to attempt 1-3 weeks in advance as part of your training program. Generally I think speed walking would help you improve both on your running pace and meet your goal of running longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, once a week as part of training more than 1-3 weeks out run about 25% of your normal longest run at a hard effort. Use 5 minutes to warm up and cool down as part of the 25%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For longer distances you'll find more plans will recommend that you run at least 60-80% of your goal distance at least once 3-4 weeks before the race. For the marathon most will recommend no more than 18-22 miles for first timers, so training doesn't necessarily require the full distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im not familiar the couch to 5k plan (I like the time vs distance idea) but adding a 90-180 minute run on the weekend will help you meet your distance goals, and this long run will help you gain the endurance to run harder and faster for shorter distances. In fact getting this long run in at least once a month can help you do faster sessions. Almost guaranteed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-08-17T01:09:20.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-17T12:49:25.933" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume one of those online calculator determines I need a calorie intake of 1,600 per day to lose 2 lbs per week. Could I consume more than 1,600 assuming I'm burning that off in exercise (say I consume 1,900 calories -- but I run until I burn off 300 calories). Would I still lose 2 lbs per week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23294" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T07:39:28.200" Title="Losing Fat: Calories In?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31807" CreationDate="2016-08-17T15:31:55.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what the specific site gives you: BMR, RMR, or RMR + estimated calories that you burn according to your lifestyle. Most websites offer the later two. If you're not working in a physical job, the best approach will be sticking to the RMR calculator and add the calories that you burn in your workout (100-150 for a strength session and whatever the machine says in a cardio session).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to remember is that these calculators never reflect precisely the real needs of your body. Track your progress and change your total intake if things are going too slow/fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-08-17T15:31:55.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31839" CreationDate="2016-08-17T16:36:54.683" Score="3" ViewCount="6129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am shopping for a heart rate monitor that I can wear during exercise (I am ok with wearing a chest strap), and I'm very confused about compatibility of monitors with gym equipment (treadmills, elliptical machines, stair-masters, etc). I would like the monitor to transmit information directly to the exercise machine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gym in my apartment building has Nautilus treadmills (probably fairly old ones). I know for a fact that they support external HRMs (there's a &quot;fitness test&quot; mode that displays the message &quot;chest strap required&quot;), but there's no information on compatibility, wireless standards, etc. anywhere. Also, I'm thinking of joining a local gym, so ideally I'd like to get a monitor that's compatible with as many machines as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there pretty much one wireless standard that all manufacturers follow? Or are there different standards for each manufacturer? What are these standards called?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where can I find information on compatibility of gym equipment and HRMs? I tried the Nautilus website but it was of no help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23296" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T06:16:31.860" Title="Heart rate monitor compatibility" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31838" CreationDate="2016-08-17T17:48:18.607" Score="2" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do bench press twice a week. Tuesdays and Fridays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;every week I do 180 Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing this for months now.&#xA;OK I cycle every 6 weeks how I get to 90% or 100% but I keep it high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes things happen, like the other day my son woke up many times during the night, and daddy needed to take care of him... can't expect the best bench, still we manage to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And before this I was doing it once a week, very difficult to miss one week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avAI7w4aQDU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video of me lifting 200 Kg (440 lbs)&lt;/a&gt; for illustration purposes only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and here are 2 pins I have on my left shoulder due to a motorcycle accident in 2012.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2fZCT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2fZCT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently changed the bench press position from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;bodybuilder&quot;&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPressPowerLift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;powerlifter&quot;&lt;/a&gt; because of inflammation and pain on my chest tendon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has really helped a lot the chest tendon, but it takes some time to get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what can I do to maintain this level of training with the possibility in due course to try new PBs (personal bests) once in a while?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked my doctor, he says the chest tendon can snap without a warning when submitted to heavy weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take vitamins and supplements,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;try not to get too stressed at work,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;try to have minimum sleep,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am vegetarian, and try to keep a good diet (though I am a bit on the overweight side now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18296" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T05:47:07.477" Title="how can I carry on doing heavy bench presses for a long time?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31812" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-17T20:47:18.203" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somebody does it, somebody not. What is the correct way and are the advantages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15784" LastEditorUserId="15784" LastEditDate="2016-08-18T06:52:11.490" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T06:52:11.490" Title="Do pull-ups, push ups and planks benefit from external shoulder rotation?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-19T22:00:02.207" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31826" CreationDate="2016-08-17T20:57:38.217" Score="0" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need this community's help to solve a problem that doesn't seem to have an answer that I can find online anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, let it be known that I am following a ketogenic diet plan which disallows all sugars and (almost) all starches, which results in a very low daily carb count.  Virtually all of my carbs come from green leafy veggies (and other veggies).  What this means is that:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eating a &quot;protein bar&quot; that has more than a trivial amount of carbs is not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I recently read a book called &quot;The New Rules of Lifting&quot; in which the author asserts that in order to prevent muscle degradation (and actually promote muscle build up) after a weight lifting workout, one should consume &quot;6 grams of essential amino acids&quot; immediately after the work out. (Exactly how soon after I am not clear on, but that is the subject of a different question.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Between the time that I lift my last weight, and the time that I can get home and cook a proper keto meal, at least 1 hour passes, sometimes more, depending on how bad traffic is that day.  What this means is that:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I need a convenient source of protein to consume after a workout that amounts to at least 6 grams of the essential amino acids without this source being a common protein/energy bar or a protein shake (both of which are usually very high in carbs).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are my options?  Is there anyone on here that has faced this situation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21951" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T15:37:40.767" Title="6 Grams of Essential Amino Acids Post Workout on Keto Diet" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31807" CreationDate="2016-08-18T07:39:28.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously I don't know your bodytype, so I don't have exact numbers for you personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on how much calories you burn during the day. If you consume 1900 calories but you burn 2000 for example, you'll lose weight. You will have to find how much exactly you have to burn in order to lose the 2lbs a week if that is your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T07:39:28.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-18T07:52:28.543" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was on about 87 kg to 88 kg. With my height of 1,94 m, it was pretty damn good in terms of my BMI :) I nearly hit exactly the middle of the target value of a mid-twenty male. &#xA;However, I started to train for a run a few weeks ago. I'm running nearly every second day (8 to 11 km) and do a few push-ups (20) and sit-ups (30) twice per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that I've gained about 3 kg! Okay, I just would've thought &quot;Yep, have to be the additional muscles&quot; but it concerns me, that my BMI is out of range. Is the BMI reliable when it comes to added muscle mass? Should I try to stay in the target range regardless of the training? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23303" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T18:56:00.557" Title="Home training works against my BMI" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31815" CreationDate="2016-08-18T08:07:00.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI is just an average target, being healthy and fit varies per person. I used to be really underweight according to BMI measurements while feeling fine and working out almost daily (cycling, running) and eating properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started doing weight training about 2 years ago and gained about 20kg (44lbs) in muscle, and according to BMI I am now your average joe, even thought I'm very muscular, and able to do things that most people in my gym cannot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm trying to point out is that BMI isn't a 100% accurate measurement. Gaining a couple of pounds/kg is a good thing, don't let it put you off. You are getting healthier from doing a mix of cardio and weight training, that's for damn sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T08:07:00.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31815" CreationDate="2016-08-18T08:10:14.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, do not use BMI to gauge your fitness level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, and I love pointing this out; the person who invented the BMI scale said that it should NOT be used to indicate the level of fatness in a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second of all, it was invented between 1830 and 1850. Our knowledge of the human body has evolved so much now, that it's a marvel that it's still being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMI categories are generally regarded as a tool for measuring whether sedentary individuals are underweight, overweight or obese with &lt;strong&gt;various exceptions&lt;/strong&gt;, such as: athletes, children, the elderly, and the infirm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at that list of exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;athletes&quot; in this regard is really anyone who actively works out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources and extra reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adolphe Quetelet — The Average Man and Indices of Obesity&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/03/29/ije.dyu061.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Commentary: Origins and evolution of body mass index (BMI): continuing saga&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T08:10:14.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31520" CreationDate="2016-08-18T08:58:46.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you don't need to train abs to remove belly fat. You either remove fat around your whole body, or you don't remove fat at all. You can't target where to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you don't have to do ab workouts to remove belly fat, you can just go for a run or grab a bicycle. This combined with a proper diet will get you the desired results. By diet I don't mean eat salads and drink water, I mean a balanced healthy mix of foods with give you the required nutrients to be able to work out and function during the day, while not consuming to many calories to make room for weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T08:58:46.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-18T11:59:30.717" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently using Runkeeper to track my runs, but I'm not happy with the acuracy it provides. Even when I run in a perfectly straight line, the recorded track has quite a few deviations. I also found the current pace to vary massively, although I keep a steady pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an app that is more acurate than a pure GPS tracker, e.g. by using map data to correct the GPS position to the closest road/trail or reading the accelerometer and compass to determine that I'm running in a straight line?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23308" LastEditorUserId="23308" LastEditDate="2016-08-19T08:24:36.427" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T08:24:36.427" Title="What's the most acurate running app?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-30T08:27:13.913" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31799" CreationDate="2016-08-18T13:13:54.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fundamentally, this is a matter of that yoga is fundamentally a combination of exercise and relaxation. Moving into, and through, the poses exercises your body because it has to work to maintain the positions, countering the forces of gravity on your body. Thus, your muscles, including your shoulders in any pose where you're supporting your weight on your arms, will tense during the poses and their transitions. However, part of the point of yoga is relaxation, and far too many of us carry tension in our shoulders, so they specifically encourage people to release tension there. This also has the potential benefit of getting people to use their entire body to support themselves in the poses rather than putting the stress on a few overused joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, although this may just be my personal experience, if you're supporting yourself in a position with your arms, you're often in a situation where a good bit of your bodyweight is pushing your upper body and head toward the floor. If your shoulder cramps up, the resultant spill could cause additional injury between your head potentially striking the floor and the contortions you automatically go into on your already-stressed shoulder to prevent the fall can screw that part of your body up too. Yoga is not an injury-free exercise, even when you're under proper guidance and respecting your body's limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T13:13:54.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31821" CreationDate="2016-08-18T14:46:39.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used most of the GPS tracking apps on iPhone. Below is my rundown -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walkmeter - This one is very satisfactory as far as accuracy is concerned. And it is very flexible for creating routes, workout types, screens, graphs etc. Its only drawbacks are that it is limited to iPhone, doesn't save workouts to some online website (backs up on iCloud) and some of its versions are not free. I still use it but then I have to upload the workouts to strava or something so that I don't lose the history if the phone stops working.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Runkeeper - It's great for presentation but its GPS readings are really bad. I never use it for any serious workouts because it loses GPS signal too often.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;MapMyRun - It's reasonably accurate for walking but I never used it for running. Many of my friends use it and it works well enough. I don't like the interface (too busy, too many ads etc) much. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strava - Works great for cycling. I never used it for walking/running but I see no reason it shouldn't work for those activities as well. It is on par with Walkmeter more or less. It is very popular, I like it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;GarminConnect/Nike/MovesCount - Too proprietary unless you own their watches/devices as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used walkmeter for a long time but then I switched to using Garmin FR15 for casual / training runs/walks and Suunto's Ambit2 for serious stuff.  When I don't have any watches with me, I still use Walkmeter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23311" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T14:46:39.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31773" CreationDate="2016-08-18T15:13:25.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases, it is not as much the feet being physically significantly different in structure as it is the leg length and imbalance in leg muscles causing slightly different movements in different feet. These issues result in an inefficient running gait even if there's nothing wrong with the feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do the following to help fix the problem -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check for leg muscle imbalances - Most people have a stronger right leg than left and they tend to unconsciously leverage it by pushing harder on it or using the left leg at angles different from the right leg. In many cases some leg muscles are stronger on the left than on the right. There can be many variations to this problem which can cause your feet to hit the ground differently or otherwise result in inefficient gait. The fix here is doing running specific pilates and similar exercises with an experienced trainer. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check your running posture and gait - An experienced trainer can videotape you running and then analyze the running gait and posture to advise on how to change things. He can work closely with your pilate instructor as well to come up with leg muscle strengthening exercises to balance things a bit and use the optimum gait.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sports Doctor - If your region has them, there are sports doctors that have special machines/treadmills on which they make you run. The machine records the gait and the doctor can analyze it on the computer. This is the preferred and most scientific/analytical method that is highly advisable to all running enthusiasts. The doctors will be able to recommend both running shoes and exercises for your specific case.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simplify the shoes - I've personally stopped using the over-engineered shoes with this or that support. I now use neutral shoes with minimal (0-4mm) heel differential. Once you try them and if they work, you'll never worry about pronation and stuff. The idea being that you should use too much &quot;support&quot; only if your feet have some real structural issues requiring them, shoes should protect your feet from the environment but not get in the way of how your feet naturally work. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23311" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T15:13:25.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31813" CreationDate="2016-08-18T15:37:40.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, the &quot;immediate&quot; in &quot;immediately after the work out&quot;, is always greatly exaggerated. Waiting 75 minutes instead of exactly 60 is not going to have an effect, there's tens of studies showing this, so feel free to look them up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, most protein supplements, will usually specify the amount of BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) they provide. Generally this varies between 4-8g, which is pretty good. I'm not sure why you think these are high in carbs ? A protein supplement, on average, will have at most 3-5g of carbs, if that...and if that's a problem, there's tons that have 0 carbs, just go to a supplement store and look for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, you can just get the amino acids from a pure BCAA supplement. It will list how much of each amino acid is present. You can find these supplements at literally any supplement store like GNC, Popeyes, bodybuilding.com...etc, even at Walmart or Shoppers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fourth, 6 grams of essential amino acids is a bit over simplified, what you really need to focus on is at least 3 grams of Leucine , which is undoubtedly the most &quot;essential&quot; of essential amino acids, at least in terms of muscle building via its effects on the biosynthesis of protein. You can usually get that much leucine from 1-2 cans of tuna, or a few eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T15:37:40.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-18T17:15:04.033" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if my arms are weak, so that they hinder my progress in compound exercises like bench-press or pull-down. I know that, for beginners it is generally advised to focus on compound exercises, as they will also help arm development. But I think it is also possible that, due to weaker arms, chest and back can not get enough tension. If this is the case, then concentrating on biceps/triceps first may be more beneficial. So, do you have any suggestions to figure out if biceps/triceps is the limiting factor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23314" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T17:15:04.033" Title="What are typical work-out weight ratios for some compound and isolation exercises (bench-press weight vs. triceps push-down weight for example)?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-30T08:26:37.113" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31815" CreationDate="2016-08-18T18:56:00.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The respondanse have been correct, B.M.I is a flawed way of measuring fat to bone/muscle. Hip to waist measurements provide far a better idea of how much fat you carry. More sophisticated techniques give accurate measurements but are costly.&#xA;What to do??? Not always easy to do, but simple to quantify, use more calories in exercise than consumed by mouth will ALWAYS do the job. A more simple take home message &quot; Don't eat it if it takes too much effort to burn off&quot;&#xA;David W Cornwall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23253" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T18:56:00.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-19T00:13:28.493" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I commute by bike. After sitting at my programming job all day, I'm pretty wound up and I start off my trip home with a mighty sprint that leaves me panting, and with a high heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing my heart rate goes from 70 to about 170 in 20 seconds or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this bad? I feel like I can remember being warned before about making my heart rate spike upwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23317" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T12:51:13.080" Title="Safe to send heart rate up quickly?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19263" CreationDate="2016-08-19T04:39:57.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All I can wonder is how your diet is compared to how much exercise you do. You seem to be working out a lot and may not be supplying your body with what it needs. It is more important that you check why your heart rate is low, that in itself will make anyone more sluggish because your heart is not supplying your body with the necessary oxygen levels it needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23318" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T04:39:57.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15185" CreationDate="2016-08-19T04:51:02.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What may also help you, that I still do, is wall push ups. It's a different approach but really helps. You can adjust the angle somewhat too. Try it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23318" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T04:51:02.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27473" CreationDate="2016-08-19T05:12:34.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is to set up a healthy diet and work to build muscle and burn off the weight you currently have on your waist. There is no need to go &quot;off season&quot; per say when you are just starting out. You don't have enough muscle mass to get rid of it efficiently. There are many bodybuilders who don't even add any more to their calorie intake but just to maintain, but that's further down the road. For now, stick with a healthy diet and weight train and get to know what works with your body. One exercise can work at one point than not at another. The challenge is to get past your body getting used to a muscle building activity and pulling out another exercise to get it to grow a little bit more. Keep in mind, that we can reach a great physic naturally without resorting to unnatural ways of doing it. So, we may not turn into Ronnie Coleman but you will still feel bigger and this time, it will not be your stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23318" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T05:12:34.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31811" CreationDate="2016-08-19T05:47:07.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, all I can recommend in your case is to look into Bands. Here is a link to T Nation website. I hope this can help you out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/bands-for-size-and-strength&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/bands-for-size-and-strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23318" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T05:47:07.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31810" CreationDate="2016-08-19T06:47:49.857" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart rate monitors can be broadly classified into thee groups based on how they communicate with the fitness equipment. They are -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bluetooth - Most latest HRMs these days use bluetooth to communicate with the fitness devices, including fitness watching and gym equipment. If you use the latest models, it is very likely that they use bluetooth. One extra benefit of bluetooth based HRMs is that they will have higher probability of being compatible with your smartphone (there may not be 100% compatibility because of variations in models and supported standards and what not but most phones have bluetooth so there are very good chances that a fit can be found).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;ANT / ANT+ etc - These communicate with the fitness equipment using ANT. Many of the somewhat older equipment should be compatible with these because this came before bluetooth. Their added benefit is that they might be somewhat cheaper than bluetooth models because it's an older technology and rest of the world is moving towards bluetooth now, but if your exercise equipment supports ANT based HRMs then you'll save money. Another thing is they can cast the data to multiple fitness equipment at the same time (say, your treadmill and your phone at the same time), I'm not sure if bluetooth can be paired to multiple devices (but it might be worth finding it).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wired - Some HRMs use wires to transfer data to the exercise equipment. They have the benefit of being able to transfer much more data aside from just heart rates. These are usually used for medical testing and stuff but I listed them here just as one more possibility, just in case the exercise equipment in your gym use those.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23311" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T06:47:49.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="335" CreationDate="2016-08-19T14:19:11.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy your self a weighted vest and do sets with less reps than your 15 max. Depending on the weight maybe do 5-7 sets of 5-10. After a few days of rest you should be able try to do a few more than your previous limit as the first set and then go back to your weighted sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23321" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T14:19:11.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31848" CreationDate="2016-08-19T16:28:15.953" Score="2" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;This week I am starting a program of squats twice a week - Mondays and Thursdays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will not be heavy squats, but a volume training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 sets of 10 reps with 100-110 Kg &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats in this case, are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/izzy-low-bar.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;powerlifting style&lt;/a&gt;, when you go down below parallel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this sometimes I do some leg press, not so heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should I include anything else on this routine so that it is complete for the legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it is, I already feel it after 36-48 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have just noticed that there is a very good question/answers here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5847/leg-exercises-that-complement-squats?rq=1&quot;&gt;Leg exercises that complement squats?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but there it does not mention the situation when you are doing squats twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18296" LastEditorUserId="18296" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T11:04:42.083" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T01:26:05.000" Title="is the squat a complete exercise for the legs?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31843" CreationDate="2016-08-19T16:49:57.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are enough squat types that would allow you hit legs in a complete way. Back, front, goblin, hack...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, in the case of regular (e.g. Back) squats, I would consider train calves with some sort of isolation exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another consideration necessary to answer your question, is to understand the goal. What is your goal? If it is just general aesthetic, then the above holds true. If your goal is setting new powerlifting records, obviously it won't be enough &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23324" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T16:49:57.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31733" CreationDate="2016-08-19T18:36:20.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per your request in your comments, I'd refer you to my answer to a similar question pertaining to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27365/why-i-never-feel-doms-on-my-abs/27370#27370&quot;&gt;ab training&lt;/a&gt;.  As I indicated in the answer from the referenced post, DOMS is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a valid indicator of progress &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; muscle growth.  Studies have shown that there's no causal relationship between DOMS/EIMD and muscle hypertrophy or &quot;progress&quot;.  You should look for a more reliable indicator for your training progress.  Progress should be based on whatever you've decided on for a goal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T18:36:20.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31847" CreationDate="2016-08-19T20:02:02.593" Score="2" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 5 feet and 4 inches high. I am weighing 83kg these days. My tummy has bulged out, looking bad. I am caring for my diet, having lemon water in morning. But now i want to do gym exercises to reduce weight. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have seen many people having good shaped body but they look bulky, even they have 6 packs but their tummy looks fat similar is for legs and biceps, triceps. I have also seen skinny people with good shaped bodies. By skinny i mean &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.pk/search?q=skinny%20men&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=613&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;imgil=QznUZtMRX3gaNM%253A%253BVA7su8Qvd3sK4M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fnextluxury.com%25252Fmens-health-and-fitness%25252Fhow-to-gain-weight-supplements-for-skinny-guys%25252F&amp;amp;source=iu&amp;amp;pf=m&amp;amp;fir=QznUZtMRX3gaNM%253A%252CVA7su8Qvd3sK4M%252C_&amp;amp;usg=__PZ96N-AgVyWL3s0XQltikfCA010%3D&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjtrL2bos7OAhUMXh4KHYG9Cb4QyjcIKg&amp;amp;ei=KmW3V-3vLIy8eYH7pvAL#imgrc=QznUZtMRX3gaNM%3A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;How to do exercise in gym to look like skinny body? Which exercises i should do? Is this possible what i am asking? Having skinny body, does that depend on exercises you do or on nature of your body? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6848" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T06:34:17.123" Title="What Gym exercises should i do to reduce weight instead of shaping muscles?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-09-23T18:54:04.700" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31846" CreationDate="2016-08-20T03:11:37.037" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are putting too much emphasis on the exercise portion of your goal. You say that you are &quot;caring for your diet&quot; by drinking lemon water in the morning. The number one way to change your body composition is going to be your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not already tracking your daily calorie intake, you should start. This will be the most effective way to produce better results. If you are looking to get skinny and avoid building much muscle, you need to be in a calorie deficit to induce weight/fat loss. You can use MyFitnessPal for this, it becomes pretty easy once you get used to it. I have all of my clients use it to track their' diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the exercises, you can have a mix of weight training and cardiovascular exercise. Assuming you stay in a calorie deficit, you are not going to build a lot of muscle mass, which it seems you are trying to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23327" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2016-08-23T09:17:05.127" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T09:17:05.127" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31843" CreationDate="2016-08-20T03:26:02.910" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Squats do activate all muscle groups in the legs to some degree. With that said, I do not think it is the only exercise that should be done for your legs. I noticed that you mentioned powerlifting. Even powerlifters aren't specializing in just the Squat. They also train their lower body/back with deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most powerlifters also include variations of Squats in their routines (front squats, pause squats, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The degree in which it hits each muscle group is going to depend on depth and width of your foot placement. Narrow stance squats will hit your quads a little more than wide stance squats, which will focus more on your posterior chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squatting twice a week will be fine. The volume you have is a little high for my liking, but it can be done if the weight isn't unrealistic. You said you might do Leg Press after your Squats. I wouldn't. Instead, I would do some Romanian Deadlifts to target your hamstrings more, which I feel are are the least activated with Squats, besides your Calves. Calves can be trained with some simple calf raise exercises thrown after the Squats and RDLs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23327" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T03:26:02.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-20T16:36:40.323" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to go to gym in the mornings right after I wake up. I'm always working till failure and I've realized that if I don't eat a good meal before workout, I don't have the energy for a good workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting to gym takes around 30 minutes. I'm also trying to lose weight, what is recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23269" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T19:29:14.623" Title="What are easy fast digestible breakfast before workout?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;breakfast&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-21T03:53:22.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31851" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-20T17:59:18.563" Score="1" ViewCount="50657" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Intermittent fasting is a technique where you adjust your eating&#xA;  schedule between two states: the fed state (the period of time during&#xA;  which you eat) and the fasted state (the period of time when you do&#xA;  not eat). This optimizes fat-burning periods when you're cutting, and&#xA;  minimizes fat accumulation during a bulk due to the increase in&#xA;  resting metabolism and utilizing body fat for fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may drink water or consume extremely low-calorie beverages such as&#xA;  herbal tea and black coffee during the fasted state, otherwise the&#xA;  fasted state breaks and you enter the fed state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does chewing gum break intermittent fasting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23269" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T19:24:56.550" Title="Does chewing gum break intermittent fasting" Tags="&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-21T03:52:50.687" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31851" CreationDate="2016-08-20T19:24:56.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sugar free gum isn't a problem for intermittent fasting. Martin Berkhan, the creator of the popular Leangains IF program, allows you to have chewing gum, artificial sweeteners that are zero calories (so, diet soda, coffee with Splenda, etc), and he even says you can have 1-2 tbsp. of milk in your coffee, which amounts to more calories than a stick of gum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23327" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T19:24:56.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31850" CreationDate="2016-08-20T19:29:14.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training fasted almost always leads to less energy in the gym. Since you are trying to lose weight, make sure that you are tracking your calorie intake daily to ensure that you stay in a calorie deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the deficit in place, you can eat some fast digesting carbs and protein to give you energy. The old school of thought is that sugar causes you to gain fat, but recent studies have shown that this is not the case as long as you are in a calorie deficit (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/content/the-science-of-sugar-and-fat-loss.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/content/the-science-of-sugar-and-fat-loss.html&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend a combination of fast digesting carbs and a fast digesting protein. For the protein, no question, a whey protein shake will do the trick. For the carbs, you have a choice: fruits, coffee with sugar, Gatorade, your favorite sugary cereal with non-fat milk, etc. You have a lot of choices that can digest rapidly and provide you with more energy in the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can look into pre workout supplements if you aren't interested in the sugary route. They definitely improve energy levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23327" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T19:29:14.623" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-20T20:22:41.757" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you only eat protein and workout with weightlifting, does your body burn fat for energy or digest your muscles or use the protein you’ve eaten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23269" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T16:50:45.043" Title="Do you burn fat directly if you only eat protein?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-25T15:28:38.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28283" CreationDate="2016-08-20T22:13:51.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many years ago, a neighbor had a stroke, and lost the strength in his right hand, wrist, &amp;amp; arm. He could no longer remove the lids from any jars or bottles -- large (e.g., mayonnaise), medium (cranberry juice), or small (plastic soda-pop).  A physical therapist had him do simple isometric exercises that required no equipment or expense, and they worked like a charm:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - To simulate opening larger lids, hold your left hand in a tight fist, wrap the finger-tips of your right hand around the fist, and try to twist your hand off...of course, you can't, but it really exercise the right muscle-groups.&#xA;   - For medium-size lids, the exercise is almost the same, but open your left thumb away from the fist, then grip down on the first two fingers of your left hand with your right thumb under the finger-tips, and the right index finger against the palm-knuckles of the left hand, try to twist the fingers open.  Again, you can't, but the attempt closely resembles removing a juice bottle lid.&#xA;   - For smaller bottle-tops, just wrap your right hand around the base of your left thumb, and once again, try to twist it off.  On this one, be careful to grip the BASE of the thumb...farther out will be painful to the left thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that you could do the exercises with real bottles of mayo, juice, or pop, but if you want to do these exercises many times each day, sometimes you simply don't have immediate access to the real bottles...but it seems like you always take your left hand with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What surprised my neighbor, he didn't even have to squeeze or twist really hard.  He'd just do each exercise for about ten seconds each, then repeat them.  He went through this routine four or five times a day for a month, and regained most of the strength in his right arm/hand.  He had no trouble opening bottles and jars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23332" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T22:13:51.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-21T02:16:27.780" Score="0" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to join the Canadian military, and need to pass the FORCE fitness test. I have never really kept up on my fitness, and for the test, I need to be able to do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sandbag Lift: 30 consecutive lifts of a 20 kilogram sandbag above a height of 1 metre, alternating between left and right sandbags separated by 1.25 metres. &#xA;Standard: 3 minutes 30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Intermittent Loaded Shuttles: Using the 20 metre lines, complete ten 20 metre shuttles alternating between a loaded shuttle with a 20 kilogram sand bag and unloaded shuttles, for a total of 400 metres. &#xA;Standard: 5 minutes 21 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;20-Metre Rushes: Starting from prone, complete two 20 metre shuttle sprints dropping to a prone position every 10 metres, for a total of 80 metres. Standard: 51 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sandbag Drag: Carry one 20 kilogram sandbag and pull four on the floor over 20 metres without stopping. &#xA;Standard: Complete without stopping&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would the best exercises to start with to be able to work out for this? I'm training for it at home I'm not going to get a gym membership because I will be getting one through school when it starts up. At home I have a barbell, and a dumbbell with the equivalent of 135 pounds of plates. (I have so many because I bought them both used, and they both came with their own sets of plates.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23333" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T13:01:26.970" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T13:01:26.970" Title="What should I start with to gain upper body strength" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31863" CreationDate="2016-08-21T05:15:11.840" Score="0" ViewCount="2598" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wake up early in the morning (About half an hour before sunrise). I drink 2 glasses of water. I don't have any bowel movement at that time. My bowel movement occurs most of the times after &lt;strong&gt;2-3&lt;/strong&gt; hours later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For better health, I love to walk in the morning. I walk for around &lt;strong&gt;4-5 Kms&lt;/strong&gt;. Is it okay to walk (neither very fast, nor slow) before bowel movement? Would it give me almost same benefits as walking after bowel movement? Or is it harmful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, I would like to know if I change from &lt;strong&gt;walking to jogging&lt;/strong&gt;, what would be your answer? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I work on changing the bowel movement times or everything is fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: (I'm not overweight. I don't walk (or don't want to jog) to lose weight. It's just because it makes me feel good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23334" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T15:04:21.900" Title="Is it okay to go for walk without bowel movement early in the morning?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-23T21:47:56.297" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31860" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-21T07:29:24.413" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the Q&amp;amp;A about (sets/reps/time to raise/time to lower/rest time) here are about getting stronger, faster, bigger, more endurance etc.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the optimal values for these if you are trying to achieve being healthiest you can be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Health = Less diseases, less injuries, less pain, mentally and physically better quality of life, living longer, a shot at surviving the zombie apocalypse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23269" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T12:10:58.077" Title="What is the healthiest sets/reps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31860" CreationDate="2016-08-21T10:00:10.687" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no set/rep scheme for overall health. That's like asking which computer mouse best prevents cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want functional strength, do functional exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_training&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T10:00:10.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31858" CreationDate="2016-08-21T10:20:30.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, these tests are definitely not limited to upper body strength. In fact, lifting and carrying heavy weights require very strong legs and lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have at least 3 months of preparation, I strongly suggest following some strength training plan such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;, etc. These  strength plans for novices may help you increase your overall strength significantly in a pretty short time, and since the tests you mentioned are consisted of short &amp;amp; concentrated challenges rather than endurance challenges, I think that this will be the best approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18858" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T10:20:30.103" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31859" CreationDate="2016-08-21T15:04:21.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poop when you need to poop. For a walk as short as 5km, emptying your bowels beforehand isn't important at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T15:04:21.900" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-21T18:33:00.297" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started to enjoy working out. However, my hands often feel achey and fatigued after a good workout (I mainly use various dumbbell exercises). How can I help avoid this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user18084" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T12:32:57.790" Title="Prevent hand ache during workout" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31878" CreationDate="2016-08-21T19:31:38.163" Score="0" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym in the morning (1 hour) and run in the evening (&amp;lt;1 hour). My goals are GAINING MUSCLE, INCREASING SIZE and BEING FIT. Since both running and weight are essential components of any fitness regime, I don't want to get rid of either of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gym schedule -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Chest, Back, Biceps, Triceps, Shoulder, Legs (1 muscle group each day, 6 days a week). &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My running schedule - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Basic running drills and warm-up, running 2.5kms in 12 mins, vertical jumps and post-running stretches (same everyday).&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My height - 181.5 cms; Weight - 73 kgs/160 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does my running habit affect my muscle gain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I modify my schedule for effective results?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is welcomed. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23339" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-08-21T19:42:40.573" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T10:22:28.613" Title="How to optimise running and weight training for complete fitness?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31860" CreationDate="2016-08-21T19:38:01.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What would be the optimal values for these if you are trying to&#xA;  achieve being healthiest you can be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question to answer since we all respond to training in our own way,  Additionally, “being healthiest you can be” is a very &lt;strong&gt;subjective&lt;/strong&gt; thing.  Your definition of “being healthy” may not agree with others definition.  It's typically dependent upon more than the number of sets and reps.  And since there's &lt;strong&gt;no current correlation&lt;/strong&gt; between disease, pain, injuries, etc. and the number of sets/reps, that's something you'll need to learn on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T19:38:01.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31865" CreationDate="2016-08-21T20:40:14.953" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio and strength training counteract each other a bit. As long as you aren't running too much, it shouldn't affect your results too much as long as you are eating more calories to counteract the calorie burn from the extra cardio work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your gym schedule should be changed to be more effective for a natural trainee. Most bodybuilders who are following a once per week frequency for each muscle group aren't natural (ie PEDs). For naturals, muscle protein synthesis is the most important factor in muscle gain for the most part. MPS is only elevated post training for 36 hours, meaning training each body part at least 2 times per week is more effective. The most effective would be 3 times per week, but that can be hard to recovery from. You can read more about maximizing protein synthesis here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mmfitstrong.com/maximizing-protein-synthesis-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mmfitstrong.com/maximizing-protein-synthesis-part-1/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23327" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T20:40:14.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-22T06:39:29.333" Score="1" ViewCount="542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know exercises that are helpful for arm wrestling content only?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23304" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T05:33:31.347" Title="What exercises are best for arm wrestling?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31869" CreationDate="2016-08-22T12:48:37.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don’t know that there are any “best” exercises for arm wrestling.  But, I would assume that any exercise that targets the muscles involved in arm wrestling would be of benefit.  To that end, I would tend to train forearms (hammer curls), biceps (curls), triceps (extensions), and, probably shoulders (presses).  A strong forearm should help with your grip.  Strong biceps and triceps will help stabilize your arm against your opponent.  And, lastly, strong shoulders may provide that last little push when your opponent is susceptible to being pinned.  If you’ve got a set of dumbbells available, they should allow you to train each of the body parts I’ve listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T12:48:37.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31873" CreationDate="2016-08-22T17:04:00.573" Score="2" ViewCount="7729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got suggested some exercises to reduce my double chin. They normally involve tilting the head back and, looking at the ceiling, and either making a tense kiss in the air or sticking the tongue out for some seconds, or putting some tension on the neck muscles, like when pushing the under jaw forward. An alternative are neck rolls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these exercises work? Are there better alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T19:13:05.010" Title="Do double-chin reduction exercises work?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31872" CreationDate="2016-08-22T17:33:08.880" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A double-chin is a collection of fat, so in order to get rid of it, you need to reduce the amount of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there is no way to target where you want to burn fat. You burn it all over your body, or nowhere at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the best way to get rid of double-chins, is to take a look at your diet, which is the number one way to reduce fat naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, after losing a lot of fat, you still have a semblance of double chins, it could be residual skin, which is something that is most commonly fixed with minor, non-invasive surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the exercises you mention, I have tried to find some sources for it, but all I can find are some articles here and there, written purely for clicks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of them involve slapping your chin, pinching your chin, and doing a bunch of - let's be honest here - stupid stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notably, none of them source any actual research, so as far as we know, some dimwits are actually writing these articles for clicks and ad-revenue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, all evidence suggests that this is all bullshit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: If you have too much fat, you should adjust your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T17:33:08.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31876" CreationDate="2016-08-22T18:19:50.103" Score="2" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a (very) dirty bulk, I have now been losing weight for about 39 weeks. (It has been going OK.) At the start of my diet (at the end of November, 2015) I was about 110 kg. I planned my weight loss proces to be slow and long, so as to maintain as much muscle as possible. As a guideline, I used several 'total daily energy expenditure' (TDEE) calculators to find a baseline for my diet. All of the calculators I used gave me a TDEE of about 3,000 kcal. (Of course, including exercise, cardio, etc.) I eventually cut down to a weekly average caloric intake of 2,500 kcal per day. This, given the calculated TDEE level of 3,000 kcal, should be an average deficit of 500 kcal per day, which was the deficit I was looking for, and planned to maintain for as long as necessary (until I was happy with my bodyfat level). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the time of writing (late August, 2016) I am about 90-91 kg. Suppose for the sake of simplicity that I have now lost 20 kg, since the start of my diet. That is an average of about 0.5 kg per week, which is fine. Assuming the '3500 kcal per pound of body fat' rule is true, and that my weight loss has been mostly due to fat loss, we can calculate that my daily caloric deficit should be around 500 kcal (it is actually more like 560 kcal). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using 'myfitnesspal.com' I have logged my daily caloric intake and expenditure due to cardio carefully. Over the course of my entire diet I have calculated that my average daily caloric intake is about 3,000 kcal. Taking the above calculation into account, that would give me a TDEE of about 3,500 kcal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does this discrepancy come from? On the one hand we have a TDEE of 3,000 kcal, based on age, weight, height, 'activity level', etc. On the other hand, we have a measured TDEE level of 3,500 kcal. How can this difference be explained? Is it common that the online calculators are this inaccurate? Or is it simply because my measurements (e.g. actual caloric content of food may not be as said on the package, caloric expenditure due to cardio may not be as calculated by the treadmil) are too inaccurate? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As some added information which may be important: even though my measured average daily caloric intake is about 3,000 kcal, this is not actually the amount of calories I ate daily. During weekdays I would always eat around 2,500 kcal per day. On training days this would make a net intake of 2,000-2,200 kcal, depending on the amount of cardio I did that day. During the weekend I would then 'cheat' (not really, because it was incorporated as part of my diet) by eating a lot more. The amount of calories I ate during the weekends would vary a lot; sometimes it was around 3,000 kcal, sometimes 4,000-5,000 kcal or more. Could the discrepancy be explained by the erratic daily caloric intake? I can imagine that the weight loss by such an erratic eating pattern would be different than for a diet where the caloric intake is exactly the same each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23349" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2016-08-23T13:07:36.843" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T13:17:27.263" Title="Discrepancy in TDEE calculations" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24546" CreationDate="2016-08-23T01:32:48.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run with weights almost every day.  They do not make me run faster.  The opposite is true.  They make me run slower, even when I'm not carrying them.  A very distinct benefit however, is that the weight helps me avoid injury from running.  It's counterintuitive, but is true and can be explained mathematically.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20554" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T01:32:48.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31874" CreationDate="2016-08-23T02:38:06.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all the discrepancies doesnt stem from one single factor; all of your suggestions for explanations of the discrepancie are a part of the puzzle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said the major source is probably the TDEE estimate. The discrepancie from the TDEE estimate might stem from you being an outlier, it might be that your intepretation of activity level differs from the authors (creators) of the calculator, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caloric content listed on the package is usually very accurate, as it is strongly regulated (depending a bit on which country you live in, what companies that produced it and so on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your last note on splitting the kcalories unevenly around the weak; this might affect your NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis). To put it simple, if you are not feeling especially hungry during the days you eat little, so that it doesnt affect your energy level and thus almost &quot;subconscious&quot; activity, you will burn the kcalories the calculator says you are supposed to during that day. If you simultaneously feel extra energized on the days you eat more, and thus move around more (at random) you will use more kcalories than the calculator suggests. Normally the effect of distributing your kcalories on NEAT evens out over a week, but it doesnt have to be so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23277" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T02:38:06.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31865" CreationDate="2016-08-23T10:22:28.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to address one misconception first (for people viewing this post in future):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since both running and weight are essential components of any fitness regime, I don't want to get rid of either of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is not the only cardiovascular activity. Variety is the spice of life, and all of the following are great alternatives: rowing, stair-mastery, cross training, cycling, swimming, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goal: Gain Muscle Mass&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are on a weird bro-split, you could work out more effectively by reducing the number of days you do strength training, upping the weight and focusing on compound movements. By doing compound movements you can hit most muscles twice a week. You are trying to build a shrine without having any good foundations. Focus on spending a year or two building good strength foundations. Look to &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5x5 Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt; to begin and then move onto something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-fitness-5x5-novice-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;IceCreamFitness&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=149807833&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PPL&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;You will gain muscle mass on all of those routines provided your diet is adjusted accordingly.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goal: Increase Size&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Height? Not possible&lt;/strong&gt;, your genetics have already decided what height you will be. If you want to &lt;strong&gt;appear&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;quot;bigger&amp;quot; read the paragraph above about increasing muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goal: Be Fit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio/Conditioning is important, and contrary to (bro)science: Cardio does not kill gains. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_does_cardio_impair_muscle_gains.3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;It does effect those at the pro/elite end of the spectrum of bodybuilding but most people can happily do both and end up looking good and being fit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running is nice, but as I said, look towards other ways to exercise. There is a well established &lt;a href=&quot;https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3TYR3d9S1s1dFpwa3E4NmZfOW8/view&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;basic running progression&lt;/a&gt; that you would get from any PT which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 3 miles every other day, 3-4 days per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add additional days per week until you run 3-5 miles, 5-7 days per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gradually increase the mileage of every 3rd or 4th run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add Runs of Quality (higher intensity workouts) 1-3x per week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add secondary runs (doubles) to your schedule&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase the duration of your secondary runs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add running training tailored towards explosive power then look towards doing interval training (lots of posts online about this). &lt;strong&gt;Your running schedule is fine&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, your goal for running (be fit) isn't a good one. Pick a time (5 min mile), distance (complete a 10k run) or event (Spartan/tough mudder/marathon) and have that as your goal so you can tailor your running plan to meet it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T10:22:28.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31860" CreationDate="2016-08-23T12:10:58.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, being healthy is a somewhat subjective thing to aim for. So instead, I'm gonna aim to answer, as much as I can, your definition of health:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Less diseases&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a particularly subjective one, and all I can offer is impressions from what I've read.&#xA;There has been a fair amount of research &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=inflammation%20linked%20to%20disease&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0&amp;amp;as_vis=1&amp;amp;oi=scholart&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjNubavt9fOAhVsKsAKHYciAA8QgQMIGjAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;linking inflammation to disease&lt;/a&gt;, and several authors have already written a fair amount about regular exercise to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.precisionnutrition.com/research-review-inflammation-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reduce chronic inflammation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There doesn't seem to be one particular exercise regime resulting in reduced chronic inflammation that I could find, it was more a case of &quot;do exercise stuff&quot; where exercise stuff is taken to mean resistance training as well as cardio type stuff (both aerobic and anaerobic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Less injuries&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://danjohn.net/2012/05/training-for-middle-age-and-beyond/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dan John is a big fan of saying, the keys to living to a ripe old age are don't smoke, wear a seat belt and learn to fall&lt;/a&gt; (amongst others). The first two seem pretty self explanatory, but the last one sometimes confuses people. Basically, the older you get, the more likely you are to have a fall, and if you land badly, that's when things go snap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, so being slightly more objective, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2013/12/11/weight-lifting-bone-density/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heavy resistance training increases bone density&lt;/a&gt;, and the more dense your bones are, the less likely they are to snap upon impact. Along the same lines, if you carry a fair amount of muscle on your body, you effective have a form of natural &quot;armour&quot; between your bones / insides and whatever it is that you decide to impact on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Less pain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this is rather subjective, mainly because it depends what hurts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking from personal experience, I've found that getting myself stronger and constantly working on my mobility has helped keep me reasonably pain free for the past several years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've fixed back issues by working on my deadlift strength and hip mobility; I've fixed knee issues by working on my squat technique and hip mobility; I've fixed shoulder issue by building strength around the shoulder joint (Turkish get-ups) and loosening up tight pectorals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want general suggestions, go with what &lt;a href=&quot;http://danjohn.net/2012/05/training-for-middle-age-and-beyond/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dan John suggests&lt;/a&gt; and strengthen the phasic muscles, and stretch the tonic ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mentally and physically better quality of live&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/strength-articles/iron-henry-rollins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I'd suggest reading this first.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a certain joy in being strong that isn't easy to express, because it's not until you realise what it's like to not have it that you realise what a great thing it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's those times when you open tough jars without thinking (sometimes by them being handed to you by someone else), that time you helped a little old lady load something into the boot of her car, the time you helped your friend move house, listening to the laughter and joy as you lift your grand kids up onto your shoulders, that time you had the strength to catch your pregnant partner when they passed out, that time you helped your dying father sit up in his hospital bed so he could watch the sun set one last time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Had I not have had the strength to do any of those at the time, it's not just my quality of life that would've suffered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A shot at surviving the zombie apocalypse&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zombielandrules.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Despite rule #1&lt;/a&gt;, I'd say that being strong is one of the key factors here. If you can't break down doors when needed, fight off the undead craving your flesh, or pull yourself up onto that roof to get away from the hordes, then your chances of survival are pretty slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always valued strength above all else. There is something to say for putting on muscle and looking good naked, especially when you're younger, and it can honestly do wonders for your self confidence if you don't feel the urge to kill the lights before stripping off in front of someone. But &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/XTMjzv22FuQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(NSFW!!!) there's something beautiful about watching how someone strong enough to have full control over their body moves (NSFW!!!)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do sets of 5 for the big lifts (deadlift, squat, overhead press, chin up, row) and sets of 10 for the not so big lifts (curls, lunges, triceps extensions).&#xA;Finish off with a few sets of heavy carries for distance, and spend a little time stretching where you're tight. That should see you pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T12:10:58.077" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31874" CreationDate="2016-08-23T13:05:41.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lies, darn lies and statistics...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a half a dozen formulations of the TDEE calculation, which yield numbers that vary by as much as 17%, between formulations. Add to this the notoriously inaccurate KCal counts on food packaging, which legally only need to be within ±20% of the an Atwater estimate, which in turn is approximation, and things are muddled eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/26799-calorie-counts-inaccurate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calorie Labels Inaccurate, Experts Say&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2273331/Calorie-counts-food-labels-inaccurate-50per-cent-rely-100-year-old-calculation-method.html#ixzz4I9w3YOH4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daily Mail - Calorie counts on food labels could be inaccurate by up to 50per cent as they rely on 100-year-old calculation method&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/oby.20185/asset/20185_ftp.pdf;jsessionid=EAB754AE8985CDB6BDB906496F0CD000.f03t02?v=1&amp;amp;t=is7huqc4&amp;amp;s=d5a7802609922254241f9fa2cefa548dc02964fd&amp;amp;systemMessage=Wiley%20Online%20Library%20will%20be%20unavailable%20on%20Saturday%203rd%20September%202016%20at%2008.30%20BST%2F%2003%3A30%20EDT%2F%2015%3A30%20SGT%20for%205%20hours%20and%20Sunday%204th%20September%20at%2010%3A00%20BST%2F%2005%3A00%20EST%2F%2017%3A00%20SGT%20for%201%20hour%20%20for%20essential%20maintenance.%20Apologies%20for%20the%20inconvenience&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Food Label Accuracy of Common Snack Foods&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you're left in a position where any numbers churned out need to be taken with a large, 0 KCal pinch of salt. A 500 Kcal daily arithmetic error in quite possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10175" LastEditorUserId="10175" LastEditDate="2016-08-23T13:17:27.263" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T13:17:27.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31864" CreationDate="2016-08-23T22:40:05.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've recently started to enjoy working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then On the answer of this question below, you will find useful info regarding how to improve your grip:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1141/painful-grip-on-deadlift-and-lat-pulldown?rq=1&quot;&gt;Painful grip on deadlift and lat pulldown&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After some time though,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you might find out that you enjoy more lifting heavier weights (some of us do)&#xA;then for the rows (&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31796/one-arm-dumbell-bent-over-row-is-it-a-complete-exercise-for-the-back&quot;&gt;like one arm dumbbell rows for instance&lt;/a&gt;) I would try &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&amp;amp;ion=1&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#tbm=shop&amp;amp;q=weight%20lifting%20straps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;weight lifting straps&lt;/a&gt;, they will reduce the strength you need to put on your grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for the pushing exercises, like dumbbell presses,&#xA;I would try &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&amp;amp;ion=1&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#q=liquid%20chalk%20bodybuilding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;liquid chalk&lt;/a&gt;, it helps with your grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18296" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T12:32:57.790" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31864" CreationDate="2016-08-24T09:23:54.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IF they are truly feeling achey and fatigued then you can reduce the amount of fatigue by continuing to do what you do. As you train you will be developing your muscles involved in gripping the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could use straps or chalk to help hold the weights in your hand but you should try specifically training your grip first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These answers give great information on how to train your grip:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/15357/how-do-i-improve-my-grip&quot;&gt;How do I improve my grip?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/297/low-tech-grip-strength-exercises&quot;&gt;Low-tech grip strength exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18736/how-to-improve-left-hand-grip-strength&quot;&gt;How to improve left hand grip strength?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR Train your grip strength specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T09:23:54.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31864" CreationDate="2016-08-24T11:37:17.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you are recently started, as I read from above, I would say that the fatigue is something very normal. Your ligaments and tendons of your hands are going through a process of adoption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would avoid grip helping utilities until you really start training with heavy weights, as your muscles are taking less time to get used to the stress as your tendons and bones and you will probably cause more issues then avoiding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be to rotate the workouts to include an exercise without using 'grip' specific movements ex. Push-ups, sit ups etc. &#xA;Taking more rest inbetween workouts helps too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T11:37:17.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-24T15:18:28.137" Score="5" ViewCount="2776" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a skinny guy trying to gain weight. I stand &lt;strong&gt;6 ft (1.82m)&lt;/strong&gt; tall and weigh &lt;strong&gt;53Kgs (116 lbs)&lt;/strong&gt;. I am currently 23. It's been 4 months now and I have noticed little to no gain in weight. This pushes me down morally seeing that all my hard is going in vain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Gym Routine&lt;/strong&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday I do one muscle i.e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps/Triceps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to gym on weekdays in evening. (Want to go in morning but I just can't get up early.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;According to apps/calorie counter, I need 2500 calories every day. I try my best to reach up to that but I fail due my nature. I eat really slow. I have smaller appetite. I don't play much sports other than Snooker/Pool.&#xA;Initially I took weight gainer, which I realized was a big mistake. Now I recently switched to &lt;em&gt;ON Whey Protein&lt;/em&gt;. I am planning to take two scoops/day. One in morning and one in evening (after gym).&#xA;Daily water intake is around 1-2L.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progress&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;The only progress I have noticed is that initially I could do only 15 improper push ups which now is 45 proper pushups on daily basis. Similary I couldn't do pull ups at all, now I can atleast do 5 pullups. &#xA;There is a jump in weights which I lift as well but that is really minor jump. (Eg 4kg to 6kg dumb bell for bicep excercise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concern -&lt;/strong&gt; Little to no weight gain. I am not sure where am I going wrong with my above plan. I was expecting &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; weight gain at least. Even though I am not able to reach 2500 calorie benchmark, I feel there should be some gain here or there but no luck so far. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure how to increase my appetite or how to increase the speed of my consumption. My stomach gets filled really fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT - I am a vegetarian but I eat eggs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight Details - &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/afdOc.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/afdOc.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23331" LastEditorUserId="23331" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T15:37:10.663" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T12:46:21.053" Title="No gain after 4 months of continuous excercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-31T14:54:27.020" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31885" CreationDate="2016-08-25T04:36:56.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way of gaining weight in muscular terms is, is gradual increase in intensity and variation. Our body is very intelligent, to cope with the changes you want to do to it. One of the ways to get gain is to shock it. Shock it doesn't mean lifting 50lbs of added weight. Shocking it means doing compound training. Change in your routine. Also, pushing yourself off the limits. If you are doing 10 reps on 135 lbs, try doing 12 instead. Do leg workouts or various intensities often. Legs workout help in boosting testosterone levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body just doesn't need protein, but vitamins, minerals, carbs and enough water, to be fully nourished.  Above all, think positive and keep trying. Muscle building doesn't come up with instant gratification. It takes time, and above all patience and effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T04:36:56.507" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31872" CreationDate="2016-08-25T04:57:10.223" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say Alec has provided a brilliant answer. It's true, there's no way to target a specific area for fat reduction. Your overall body fat should reduce, in order to reduce fat from anywhere.People who sell products to melt love handles or belly fat, or techniques to reduce double chin, are usually frauds. They just need money, and sell things that never works. Workout and bring about a change in your diet, and above all, change your body if you feel like changing it. Don't do it to impress others. Just live up to your own expectations. &#xA;Peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T04:57:10.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31869" CreationDate="2016-08-25T05:33:31.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arm wrestling is more about technique than strength. Check this video.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkkL-bAH8H4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkkL-bAH8H4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The world's strongest man competition winner loses to professional arm-wrestler. he has the strength and he's twice the size of the winner, but he lacks skills. Of course strength is required, but without technique, it's of no use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T05:33:31.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31885" CreationDate="2016-08-25T11:57:14.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are lifting very light weights, so your body is not working hard enough to break down muscle. Because you are not working out heavily, your body will not need a lot of food to keep up with this, hence why you struggle to eat your calories. For example, when I take a week off and don't work out, I have a rather small (normal) appetite. When I work out heavy, I can never find enough food to satisfy my appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would recommend, start with &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; or a similar beginner program. These programs are great beginner programs, they revolve around compound movements to use a lot of muscle and they take advantage of your &quot;noob gains.&quot; What you will be doing is slowly adding weight every time you workout a muscle group, starting exclusively with the bar. The early days are light, which allows you to practice form and then it picks up fairly quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you're very skinny, so don't be scared of putting on &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; fat, if anything it'll help you maximize your gains. Follow the program to the letter, you may think early on that you can do more, but in the long run, it will affect your progress. Just stick to it. Always find a program that has been proven to work and stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T11:57:14.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32015" CreationDate="2016-08-25T12:46:39.657" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm taking part in a short but steep uphill run. It's only 910 meter, but it goes up 314 meter. The course record is 7:58, while the average exerciser (male) is probably around 14:00-15:00. Last years results (male only):   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;#       Time:&#xA;1       08:00&#xA;10      08:54&#xA;100     10:33&#xA;500     12:12&#xA;1000    13:15&#xA;2000    15:18&#xA;2500    16:43&#xA;3000    19:28&#xA;3300    34:00&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always finished somewhere between 11:00 and 12:00. This year I'm in worse shape than ever, so I'm hoping I can cut some seconds by reducing my weight. I'm wondering though, will I gain a lot by dropping 1,2,3.. kilos prior to the race, or will the loss of muscles prevent me from performing better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 187 cm, 86 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record: I don't really want to lose weight in general, but I'm willing to do so temporarily in order to get a good time. I don't have the time to exercise any more than I do now, so the way to lose weight for me is simply by consuming fewer calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other tips are of course well-received!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pure physics (if it was straight up)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this was a pure climb (straight up), and assuming a race time of 12:00, and body weight of 86 kg, this would require an average of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(9.81+m%2Fs%5E2)+*+(86+kg)+*+(350+m)+%2F+(12+min)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;410 W&lt;/a&gt;. Assuming I'm still able to output the same power after a weight-loss, then the finishing time will just be &lt;code&gt;12:00&lt;/code&gt; scaled by a factor of &lt;code&gt;New weight / 86 kg&lt;/code&gt;. So, if I go down to 83 kg, I'll be able to finish in about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=12+min+*+83%2F86&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;11:34&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But, this isn't a straight up climb...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10745" LastEditorUserId="10745" LastEditDate="2016-08-25T15:18:11.683" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T08:14:58.157" Title="Dropping weight before an uphill run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-25T12:59:15.730" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to go to the gym regularly. Several years ago, for a combination of reasons, I stopped and the amount of exercise I was doing gradually declined to nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't returned to a gym, but have incorporated cycling into my daily life routine. During the week I cycle between 18 and 36 km most weekdays, depending on my schedule. I have been doing a combination of press-ups with various arm separation widths, sit-ups, and lifting of household objects, but with no strict routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a mostly vegetarian diet, but it is generally well balanced. I eat a lot, but my weight hasn't changed much over the past decade, even since stopping exercising. I seldom weigh myself, and have no scales, but whenever I do weigh myself it is usually pretty much the same weight. I'm not much of a fruit eater, but then again I haven't really got a taste for sweet things at all most of the time. I don't eat snacks regularly, and I don't drink much alcohol (but plenty of water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since starting exercising again I have seen all sorts of improvements, but my pectoral muscles, which were once fairly good, still seem flabby. I believe this is partly due to my posture, which is often criticised but causes me no pain or inconvenience, but not completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to firm up my pectoral muscles, preferably without any extra equipment or visits to a gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23371" LastEditorUserId="23371" LastEditDate="2016-08-25T17:36:45.790" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T13:07:17.013" Title="How can I firm my pectorals back up?" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31885" CreationDate="2016-08-25T15:56:23.657" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you're not working out the other half of your body...your legs. When you're a natural lifter (no anabolic supplements like 90% of the instagram and gym rat population), the most efficient way to grow is systematically, maybe even the only way. For those not using buckets of steroids, hypertrophy (muscle growth) is not a localized process. For the most part, given sufficient stimulus, muscle growth happens all over your body instead of in one teeny location. As such, doing work that stresses the whole body – putting a big load on the spine that the entire body must support – will cause more growth in your biceps than working the biceps directly. To put it another way, doing heavy trap-bar deadlifts will do more to make your arms bigger than doing curls. A popular rule of thumb in the lifting world states that in order to gain an inch of circumference on your arms, you need to gain about 15 pounds of muscle, and that's pretty much right. Otherwise you'd see guys walking around who trained nothing but biceps and, as a result, were inverse T-Rex types with huge arms and tiny little bodies. But you don't.So Curls Don't Work? Of course they do. A biceps-specific program will surely add some arm size as long as you're doing everything else right, but the results would generally pale in comparison to what you'd get if you did a program that was biased towards the deadlift or some other big, total body movement. Likewise, a biceps-specific program would help if you've been doing the big movements all along but need an area-specific catalyst. Steroids, however, make your whole body ultra-responsive to any kind of mechanical stress. If you're using sufficient quantities of steroids, anything works. All those body part-specific routines issued through countless bodybuilding mags &quot;written&quot; by bodybuilders did us all a huge disservice. They convinced many of us to concentrate on curls, kickbacks, shrugs, anterior delt raises, and leg extensions when we should have spent a lot of that time putting big systemic loads on our spine with compound movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that's not even really related to the question but I needed to rant. Your ACTUAL problem is, you're not eating enough. It's THAT simple. 2500 calories is just a guideline, a starting point, there's no cookie cutter calorie count to gain mass. If you're eating 2500 cals and you're not growing, ALL you need to do is up your calories, like I can't stress this enough, it is actually that simple...eat MORE, eat 3000 cals. If that doesn't work, eat 3500. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having trouble digesting like you say, then just add more liquids to your diet. Make a protein shake with 2 scoops of whey, a banana, cup of milk, peanut butter...that's already over 500 calories, you see where I'm going with this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last, doing 15 reps won't do much for muscle growth, ESPECIALLY when you are natty. You need to be periodizing your training in order to take advantage of all the different kinds of hypertrophy stimilus possible. You need to add in a few weeks of heavy lifting on the compound movements, 5-6 sets of 3-6 reps. Then some pure bodybuilding work of 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps with moderate weights. Then you can do a week of light weights for 15 reps, but that's just for metabolic stress. If you want mass, stick to the 6-12 rep range and lift heavy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="20453" LastEditDate="2016-08-30T17:18:42.360" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T17:18:42.360" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31885" CreationDate="2016-08-25T16:11:17.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was skinny enough in my early adolescence that my biology teacher singled me out as someone who might fill out, but would never be muscular (talking about genetics).  She was actually wrong about that, but that's besides the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added a lot of muscle when I changed my resistance training routine to one more focused on breaking down the muscles vs general fitness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing one muscle group on a rotating basis per day, break it down so you cover them all in two sessions, then you'll be working each of the muscle groups more frequently than up to 1.75 times per week (if you work out every day and never miss).  I did torso (chest, back, shoulders/neck) on one day, extremities (legs, arms) on the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how much time you have, you should do a program that adds weight training in a way that will allow you to isolate and overload muscle groups.  If you use free weights, there will be a self-consciousness hurdle to overcome as more experienced people will be moving bigger weights and will seem to know what they are doing.  Don't worry about that.  Most people who notice how much weight someone is moving will be inclined to respect that someone is trying to do it, more than worry about how much weight someone else is moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, heavier weights with lower reps are going to develop more muscle mass.  Lighter weights at higher reps will improve strength, but will develop more performance over time (endurance), and that doesn't add as much mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to go full-on body-builder, but check a body-building book out from the library and take note of some of the specific exercises, then adapt the sets and reps to fit what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you want to try out swimming, that heavily develops torso, arms and core because you're propelling yourself almost exclusively with the upper body, which is the opposite of how we normally get from point A to B.  It will fill out your chest, shoulders, back (especially) and triceps.  Learn proper technique, and then do interval training (shorter swims on specific time cycles) vs. just swimming continuously for a long period of time.  Even as you get more fit and lose fat, when you swim, you tend to put on muscle mass.  And regular, hard swims will make you hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you.  In terms of general fitness exercises, make sure you do a pretty steady routine of warming up before lifting weights or doing resistance exercising, and static stretching afterwards.  Maintaining flexibility is very important, for life in general.  It's much easier to get earlier, or to maintain, than to try and get back if you lose it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2016-08-26T13:24:30.257" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T13:24:30.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-26T04:17:41.603" Score="0" ViewCount="2435" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/article/who_wants_to_be_a_novice_you_do#.Uk2wDmSieLg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startingstrength.com/article/who_wants_to_be_a_novice_you_do#.Uk2wDmSieLg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The deadlift uses only ONE heavy set. ONE. Really. Sets-across deadlifts do not work, because for the deadlift more is not better. Trust me on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he recommend to do only one set? Does this only work for novices?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18442" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T00:13:18.660" Title="Why does this author recommend that you should do only one set of deadlifts?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31900" CreationDate="2016-08-26T04:44:22.860" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different instructors would say different things when it comes to lifting. Heavy is subjective. What's heavy for me, may not be heavy for you. It make have worked for the author, but may not work for others. That's why some people take years knowing their own body's response to various exercise routines before sticking to any. Having said that, may be he's concerned, about injuries. If not, I don't see why it should be a problem if someone can do more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T04:44:22.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-26T04:54:43.883" Score="1" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motivated by &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/872/is-it-healthy-to-exercise-a-muscle-when-its-still-sore&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I wonder if it is beneficial to trade less volume for less rest days. &#xA;Currently I workout three times a week, every day two muscle groups. For example, wednesday is my chest day with 3 exercises 4x10 reps per exercise and one week rest. What is different to doing only 2 exercises but with only 4-5 days rest instead of 7 ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I only took me as an example, I am not looking for personal advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18442" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T23:10:28.480" Title="Less rest time vs more volume in one workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31900" CreationDate="2016-08-26T09:10:18.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All research pretty much agrees that to build muscle you need to stress the muscle to fatigue. There are a number of techniques to achieve this. Some like a 1 set to fatigue some even like a 1 rep-max to fatigue. Most people find it easier mentally to go the several sets of a number of reps at lower weights. Which one is best? Short answers is the one that works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastEditorUserId="23382" LastEditDate="2016-08-26T16:33:59.260" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T16:33:59.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31902" CreationDate="2016-08-26T10:49:57.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you work out, the 2 days following to this your muscles will be recovering, after that you don´t have any extra gain from &quot;resting&quot; that muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're better off doing less volume per work out, and train a muscle group twice a week, than doing more volume and working the muscle group once a week. I'll give an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train once a week:&#xA;You might do 5 different exercises for chest, the last 2 or 3 exercises will probably not be as efficient because your muscles are already very exhausted. After 2 days of rest, your chest is basically recovered, the next 5 days don't do anything for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train twice a week:&#xA;You will do 2 or 3 different exercises for chest, you'll be able to execute every exercise to it's fullest potential, making your work out more efficient. After 2 days, your chest will be recovered, and you will hit your chest again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday&lt;/strong&gt;: Chest, Biceps, legs, mid-abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday&lt;/strong&gt;: Back, shoulders, triceps, side-abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday&lt;/strong&gt;: Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday&lt;/strong&gt;: Chest, Biceps, legs, mid-abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday&lt;/strong&gt;: Back, shoulders, triceps, side-abs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weekend&lt;/strong&gt;: Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Your chest might be a bit sore when you go for the second workout of the week, but as stated in the post you linked to, that's perfectly normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T10:49:57.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31900" CreationDate="2016-08-26T11:56:32.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure why Starting Strength says to do only 1 set specifically, but StrongLifts 5x5 has an explanation and it might answer your question. The basics of it is that Deadlifts works a lot of the same muscles as your Squats and are very exhausting on your Central Nervous System (CNS)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#Deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrongLifts: Why only 1×5 Deadlifts, not 5×5?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deadlift is only one set of five reps instead of five sets of five like the other StrongLifts 5×5 exercises. This is because Deadlifts take more out of you.Here’s why: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Deadlifts has each rep starting from a dead stop &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Deadlift uses more muscles than any other exercise &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Deadlift allows you to lift heavier weights than other exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep in mind Squats and Deadlifts work similar muscles. Getting stronger at Squats will get you stronger at Deadlifts. You rarely need more than one set of five reps to increase your Deadlift to 180kg (400lb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T11:56:32.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32025" CreationDate="2016-08-26T14:13:51.060" Score="2" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been digging and digging at this and am finding all the information completely overwhelming. I want to get to the point where I can dependably run 3-4x per week, for about 6-8km. Since starting about 2 months ago, I've been bonking (maxing out) at about 3km every second or third run. We're not talking about marathon training here — I'm bonking about 3km!&#xA;I ran twice this week, one 6km and one bonk at 3km, under extremely similar conditions. Let's look at the differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A TALE OF TWO RUNS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good run: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supper: big salad + chicken/mozza ravioli &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pace between 5:35-6min/km (great for me) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run at 9pm 4. Almost all downhill till about 4km&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Awful run: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supper: fish tacos with rice and beans and avocado &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pace between 5:35-6 to start &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run at 9pm &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slight hill at 1.5km &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complete bonko at 3km. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These runs are so frustratingly similar I can't get to the bottom of it. My current thought is the extra exertion on the hill does me in? That's the only real variable between each day.&#xA;My next few runs, I'm going to see if I can avoid all hills and stick religiously to a 6min/km pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other ideas? This is getting really frustrating. My goal was to do 6km last night, but at 3km I thought I was going to have to lie down on the ground ( and die ).&#xA;Thanks all!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ UPDATE ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey all!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turns out the advice given below is pretty good. I was doing a few things way wrong: I was running fast as much as possible, I was not being careful on hills, and I wasn't watching my breath/heart rate...etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I figured out that my NikeWatch does intervals, I've set my watch to 3:1 walk:run. I'm going to stick to that for a few weeks, then move to 4:1, then 5:1 etc etc...I'm being ultra careful on hills (often I'll just walk rather than let my heart rate jump up too high), and I'm also being really careful about my pace overall. I'm generally trying to stick to above 6min/km.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, I'm trying to just go slow. In doing that, I haven't had a single bonk in about 2 weeks now. Thanks a lot for the replies here, really appreciate the time! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4483" LastEditorUserId="4483" LastEditDate="2016-10-07T15:14:11.267" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T15:14:11.267" Title="Constantly bonking on short runs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31911" CreationDate="2016-08-26T14:16:58.380" Score="0" ViewCount="506" Body="&lt;p&gt;When ever I do circuit training I feel sick for hours afterwards.  I do squats, lunges, bent over rows, push-ups, standing shoulder press, alternate biceps, over heads triceps, and abs and then rest for 60 seconds and do it all over again 2 more times.  I usually do it in the morning but I feel sick even if I eat before my workout.  Does anyone know what could be going on?  Has anyone else experienced this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21963" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T20:40:07.060" Title="Circuit Training makes me feel sick" Tags="&lt;circuit-training&gt;&lt;nausea&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-30T08:26:08.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31902" CreationDate="2016-08-26T16:04:25.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...I wonder if it is beneficial to trade less volume for less rest&#xA;  days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These types of questions inevitably generate lots of opinion based responses.  And that's because there's really no right or wrong answer (from current research).  The way each of us responds to  training stimulus and our recovery ability is going to vary from individual to individual.  Removing recovery days will tax the ability to recover for the next session.  That's not to say it can't be done.  It surely requires an understanding of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19691366&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;training response&lt;/a&gt;.  The “Holy Grail” of fitness training and making gains is to determine and understand what it is that works for each of us.  &lt;strong&gt;Individually&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A frequent stumbling block to many exercisers is the dreaded “plateau”.   Varying sets, reps, &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;rest days&lt;/strong&gt;, etc. can be effective response since it forces your body to adapt to a newer training regimen.  The type of adjustment is typically determined by your personal fitness goals.  Additionally, on an individual basis, some muscles may respond differently to increased volume.  For example, I may be able to handle an additional leg day while you may not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A valid approach would be to try less volume in favor of less rest days and see what gains, if any, occur. Keeping accurate sets/reps/weight records should provide the answer to your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T16:04:25.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31902" CreationDate="2016-08-26T20:38:05.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of maximizing protein synthesis, you should train each muscle every 36 hours, since MPS is back to baseline after 36 hours. So, every other day training is &quot;optimal&quot;, although joints and connective tissue need recovery too. I usually stick with two training sessions per muscle group per week to have a balance of great recovery and increased muscle protein synthesis beyond training each muscle once a week. As for training volume, a study showed similar muscle hypertrophy from 9 sets to failure in a week versus 21 sets to failure for a muscle group, so more doesn't always mean better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mmfitstrong.com/maximizing-protein-synthesis-part-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mmfitstrong.com/maximizing-protein-synthesis-part-1/&lt;/a&gt; (personal site)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23327" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T20:38:05.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31908" CreationDate="2016-08-26T20:40:07.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very common with circuit training. How long have you been doing it? Most people tend to lose the sickness feeling after a few weeks because their cardiovascular endurance catches up to the amount of work it is getting. I train my clients in groups and use circuits a lot. When they first start out, some even throw up. However, the feeling goes away after they get in better shape after a few weeks. That should be the same for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23327" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T20:40:07.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31915" CreationDate="2016-08-27T00:28:46.093" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;What determines the best way of gaining muscles?&#xA;Is it necessary to keep low on fat while high on proteins? I have heard fats help in building new muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are mass gainers really effective?&#xA;How are they different from usual protein supplements?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While buying them what should we be looking for? &#xA;There are so many brands out there. Its a bit confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do testosterone pills help to increase mass gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastEditorUserId="23387" LastEditDate="2016-08-27T00:40:52.507" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T03:57:13.737" Title="Fastest weight of gaining mass" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-30T08:26:17.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31914" CreationDate="2016-08-27T03:57:13.737" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mass gainers are carbs + protein. Most of them use Maltodextrin a cheap and quickly digestible carbohydrate that's produced from starch. Considering that they are mostly starch the price per gram on commercial products is not good. Make your own higher quality gainer by adding to your protein shake a mix of bananas, instant-oats or canned chickpeas. A tbs of peanut butter will add some fat and pack on the protein unless you are going for a low-fat diet. Liquid Mass gainers are great for adding calories to your diet just remember to have them in addition to your regular meals instead of replacing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T03:57:13.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31919" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31934" CreationDate="2016-08-27T17:16:15.557" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the fastest way of building massive biceps?&#xA;I weigh 75kg. I am5 '11'' tall. I take 150gms of proteins.  I do 5 sets of barbell and dumbell curls each. My biceps currently is 14 inches. I work out my biceps thrice a week . I gradually increase the weight of barbells(7.5-12.5kgs) and dumbells (10-20kgs). &#xA;What else can be and needs to be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T15:19:20.243" Title="Bicep training. how to get maximum from it?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-27T19:10:17.893" Score="0" ViewCount="948" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear it said (in BBC's Rio 2016 commentary, for example) that the optimal body type for an Olympic weightlifter is short legs, short arms, &lt;em&gt;and long back&lt;/em&gt;. The benefit of short levers is easy to understand (less distance for the weight to travel) - but what does a weightlifter gain from having a back that is longer than average?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23396" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T21:04:33.767" Title="Optimal body dimensions for Olympic weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31920" CreationDate="2016-08-27T21:04:33.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most successfull general body type for Olympic lifters (especially lighter weight classes) is an Endomporph. Endomorphs are characterized as having  short limbs and more normal length torsos, which will appear longer. In effect giving the appearance of a long back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T21:04:33.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31858" CreationDate="2016-08-28T04:03:33.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have 3 months and aren't currently doing any strength training, just join a gym and undertake the Stronglifts 5x5 program. On your off days, go for a run and do some burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a beginner, a program like Stronglifts is very effective and is very easy to follow. Three months of that, and you'll be amazed how much stronger you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23398" LastActivityDate="2016-08-28T04:03:33.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3342" CreationDate="2016-08-28T18:26:14.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my legs are that sore, honestly I just skip that sore day until the next day.  I have tried to still do my squats while sore and only successfully did about 20 because my legs were so sore. But once you're completely used to doing them, it won't hurt anymore...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23402" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-08-30T16:25:52.620" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T16:25:52.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31919" CreationDate="2016-08-28T19:18:05.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are drug free, there is &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; “fastest way” of building &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; muscle group.  Muscle growth is a long term contract in which you agree to train consistently, eat nutritionally sound foods, recover effectively and continue the process for a &lt;strong&gt;long&lt;/strong&gt; time.  Any so called “fastest way” typically tends to be at the risk of your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your limited training description, I would suggest that you are training biceps too often.  Considering that you'll get some supplementary work (for biceps) from the other exercises you do for other body parts, and, you leave yourself open to over training your arms.  You should also consider symmetry and proportion when training different body parts.  Having large upper arms at the expense of the rest of your physique, in my opinion, is not a good goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all tend to have one or more stubborn body parts that just don't seem to respond.  That's not to say you can't improve what you have.  Take a closer look at what you are doing for arm training.  Can you use different equipment, change the number of sets/reps, change the exercises?  Sometimes, a simple adjustment in your training can help you overcome a training plateau and aid in muscular growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-08-28T19:18:05.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31929" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31932" CreationDate="2016-08-29T00:32:38.967" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does it really help to add a few sets of  power training exercises for bodybuilding workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it help in  building bulky muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is cheat curls a power training exercise for the biceps? &#xA;If power training is useful  then any other power training exercises for the biceps?&#xA;I do 1)bench, deadlifts, squat, bent over rows&#xA;   2) heavy upright rows, push press, good mornings&#xA; on alternate days.&#xA;I have just begun training (2 months).&#xA;Do you think it will be effective? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T09:47:30.947" Title="Effectiveness of power training for bodybuilding" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-08-30T16:16:17.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31931" CreationDate="2016-08-29T01:43:29.937" Score="1" ViewCount="2508" Body="&lt;p&gt;a fitness beginner here. Hopefully someone can share some alternatives on cardio training for a skinny person? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some background, I can commit to hit the gym at least 2-3 times a week. I have ectomorph body-type, which means I have high metabolism and lose weight very easily. My goal is having the stamina to play casual basketball game without panting too much, or running consistently on 5K. I have been jogging for about 4-5K once a week for 3 months, because I am afraid to lose too much calories if I ran too often. I do not really feel any improvement on my stamina, every jogging still feels as tiring as before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I keep this pace? Or do jogging more often like 2x a week and increase my daily calorie intake? Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23406" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T05:56:12.373" Title="How to improve stamina without burning too much calories?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;ectomorph&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31930" CreationDate="2016-08-29T09:42:09.500" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have ectomorph body-type&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The somatotypes is a very old theory, and one that has been under a lot of scrutiny in the actual scientific environments. It is deemed suggestive, but not conclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that said, I understand what you mean when you say you are ectomorph, so if nothing else, at least it serves as a starting point for this conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;which means I have high metabolism&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the wrong interpretation. The reason why &quot;ectomorphic&quot; people have a hard time gaining weight, is not because they have a high metabolism, it's because they have a &lt;strong&gt;low appetite&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're simply not eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I know what you're going to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dude, when we have tacos I eat like 6 huge shells and chug a litre of coke. My appetite is huge!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this simply boils down to the fact that your appetite isn't measured by your largest meal of the week. It is measured by how much you eat overall during the course of a week. Hell, even that is too short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of looking at how much you eat in a day (which can vary by large percentages), you should be looking at how much you eat in a month. Because when you eat super-huge meals one day, you'll just be eating less the next couple days, and you're back where you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, if you want to gain weight, you have to eat more calories than you spend over any given period of time, preferably measured over a week or longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the same coin, if you want to keep your current weight, you need to consume and spend equal amounts of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and lose weight very easily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah, that's fair enough. But don't blame your metabolism. Blame your appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, it's not supposed to be easy to gain/lose weight, when your body type dictates something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know that fat people have a hard time losing weight because their appetite is big. Skinny people have the same, but opposite problem. And if it were easy to change it, we'd all be ripped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer the question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How to improve stamina without burning too much calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're asking the wrong question. Instead of being worried about burning too much calories, you should be worried about how little you're eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be doing all the cardio you can muster, and then you should be eating enough to sustain yourself. That's all there is to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And again, I know it's not simple because you don't have the appetite to keep eating, but that's simply the problem you're going to have to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For fat people to lose weight, they have to refrain from eating when they're hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For skinny people to gain weight, they have to eat when they're &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you want to change your weight, or stay where you are, that's the problem you have to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T09:42:09.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31929" CreationDate="2016-08-29T09:47:30.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're just starting out, then it doesn't really matter if you take a powerlifting or bodybuilding approach. You'll be getting bigger and stronger regardless of which type of regimen you follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say the question is premature. When you've been working out for a year or two, you can start deciding which branch to follow. For now, stick with whatever program you enjoy doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T09:47:30.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-29T15:18:33.650" Score="0" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know if there is a connection between delayed onset muscle soreness and pain tolerance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always had a high tolerance for pain and have never experienced a lower tolerance for pain before now. My body is very sore after exercising yesterday and some of my movement is restricted slightly, but this is nothing I haven't experienced after a workout before. What's new is I react more quickly and sensitively to pain stimuli (a sharp poke, a firm pinch) today, one day later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has never happened before so I'm wondering if there is a connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd appreciate any input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not exercised regularly in years (I used to go to the gym 3 times a week for personal training sessions but that was in 2012). The last time I exercised before now was about half a year ago, and I was only able to keep the routine for a couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night, I worked out for the first time in a while, following a couple of Fitness Blender's workout videos (roughly 1.5 to 2 hours of beginner cardio, beginner HIIT and Tabata, with a little yoga/pilates at the end before the cool down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt it was a pretty vigorous workout for someone just starting up again so I thought perhaps this is the reason for decreased pain tolerance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23413" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T08:57:18.983" Title="Is the presence of delayed onset muscle soreness related to one's pain tolerance?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;doms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31919" CreationDate="2016-08-29T15:19:20.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is taken from my rant on another question: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31885/no-gain-after-4-months-of-continuous-excercise/31894#31894&quot;&gt;No gain after 4 months of continuous excercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're a natural lifter (no anabolic supplements like 90% of the instagram and gym rat population), the most efficient way to grow is systematically, maybe even the only way. For those not using buckets of steroids, hypertrophy (muscle growth) is not a localized process. For the most part, given sufficient stimulus, muscle growth happens all over your body instead of in one teeny location. As such, doing work that stresses the whole body – putting a big load on the spine that the entire body must support – will cause more growth in your biceps than working the biceps directly. To put it another way, doing heavy trap-bar deadlifts will do more to make your arms bigger than doing curls. A popular rule of thumb in the lifting world states that in order to gain an inch of circumference on your arms, you need to gain about 15 pounds of muscle, and that's pretty much right. Otherwise you'd see guys walking around who trained nothing but biceps and, as a result, were inverse T-Rex types with huge arms and tiny little bodies. But you don't.So Curls Don't Work? Of course they do. A biceps-specific program will surely add some arm size as long as you're doing everything else right, but the results would generally pale in comparison to what you'd get if you did a program that was biased towards the deadlift or some other big, total body movement. Likewise, a biceps-specific program would help if you've been doing the big movements all along but need an area-specific catalyst. Steroids, however, make your whole body ultra-responsive to any kind of mechanical stress. If you're using sufficient quantities of steroids, anything works. All those body part-specific routines issued through countless bodybuilding mags &quot;written&quot; by bodybuilders did us all a huge disservice. They convinced many of us to concentrate on curls, kickbacks, shrugs, anterior delt raises, and leg extensions when we should have spent a lot of that time putting big systemic loads on our spine with compound movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't just work out biceps 3x a week, when you're not on any steroids, and expect to get bigger biceps. At least, not after you make the most of your &quot;newbie&quot; gains. Go do some heavy barbell/dumbell rows, pullups, rack pulls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, obviously the &quot;curl&quot; is more or less the only way to directly isolate the biceps, but if you always do the same stuff, you'll look the same. You need to introduce new stimulus. Your biceps will adapt  (especially since you do this three times a week) very quickly to the two exercises that you are doing currently. You need to hit them from new angles, do preacher curls, do incline curls. You need to hit them from new grips, do reverse curls, hammer curls. You need to hit them with new intensities and tempos, do heavy curls, do supersets, dropsets, rest-pause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, OK, you take 150g of protein, which isn't bad. But are you actually eating a caloric surplus? You can eat 200g of protein and that will only be 800 calories still, you need to figure out your resting metabolic rate, i.e your maintenance level calories, and eat at least 500 calories more than that level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T15:19:20.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31938" CreationDate="2016-08-29T16:41:30.077" Score="2" ViewCount="525" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much warm up is supposed to be done?  And for how much time? I workout for two hours but adding the warm up makes it very exhausting. How much time should be spent on warm up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it necessary to do stretching after workout as well? &#xA;Is it ok to skip warm up?&#xA;My age is 19 years.  Will not doing warm up affect my performance as I grow old?&#xA;Is it also necessary to warm up with a lighter weight before starting with a heavier one?&#xA;Does it really help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T17:34:10.997" Title="Duration of warm up during workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31936" CreationDate="2016-08-29T17:34:10.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you want to warm up is to loosen up your muscles and raise your heart rate a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going with the cardio way of warming up, typically you would get to the point where you start to break a sweat and maintain it for at least 5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/Warm-Up-Cool-Down_UCM_430168_Article.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Warm Up, Cool Down&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you exercise, think about warming up your muscles like you would warm up your car. It increases the temperature and flexibility of your muscles, and helps you be more efficient and safer during your workout.  A warm-up before moderate- or vigorous-intensity aerobic activity allows a gradual increase in heart rate and breathing at the start of the activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tips:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Warm up for 5 to 10 minutes. The more intense the activity, the longer the warm-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do whatever activity you plan on doing (running, walking, cycling,&#xA;etc.) at a slower pace (jog, walk slowly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use your entire body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about weightlifting warm-ups, then typically start light and work your way up. For example, I start squatting with the bar do a set of 10, slowly add a 25lbs plate on each side until I am sweating (No breaks). After I break a sweat, I keep adding 25lbs, but I lower the amount of reps (1-5) until my working set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I keep adding weight slowly is to prevent injuries. They give you feedback on your form or your mood and boost your confidence. For myself, I never look forward to leg day. However, once I start squatting, I remember just how much I love leg day and why it's my favorite day...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for stretching, you don't need to stretch, some people do just fine without stretching... But later on in life, it might affect your mobility. Prevention is the best treatment. These don't have to be done right after your workout, but it is the best time to do so. You can do them first thing in the morning, last thing before you go to bed, it doesn't matter much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/Do-I-need-to-stretch-before-or-after-a-run-or-sports-and-exercise.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Do I need to stretch before exercising?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some evidence that regular static stretching outside periods of exercise may increase power and speed, and reduce injury. The best time to stretch is when the muscles are warm and pliable. This could be during a yoga or pilates class, or just after exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T17:34:10.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-29T20:03:42.027" Score="1" ViewCount="4990" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the last month I started a diet. I ate about 1500 calories daily and every second day I used to workout for about 45 minutes. My daily work is in front of computers, so I barely move at work. However, I was walking to work every day (30 mints) and returning home walking as well (30 mints). However, by the end of the month I only lost about 1 KGs and that was too frustrating. I need to note that on the weekend I wasn't exercising. So now I decided to make my diet stricter, but I have no idea why the previous plan didn't work well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to recap on my previous diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- workout 3 times a week: Monday, Wed, Friday. I used to warm up using this workout: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0mMyV5OtcM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0mMyV5OtcM&lt;/a&gt; I used to do this twice to warm up. After the warm up: I do push ups 3 sets, each 12 reps. Then crunches also 3 sets 12 reps. Then Squats 3 sets 12 reps, and finally dumbbells lat-pulldown. I used to do two exercises at the same time, but different muscles, eg. Crunches and lat-pulldown. The entire workout took about 45 minutes. Also I walk 1 hour everyday as my daily trip to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- I used to eat around 1500 calories daily. Breakfast: 2 pieces of toasts with some cheese + protein shake (one scoop). Lunch: around 900 calories. Dinner: 2 pieces of toasts with some cheese + protein shake (one scoop). I also ate a banana at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- Results: lost only 1 KG.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thus now I decided to make it stricter as the following&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- Workout 6 times a week: one day my weight lifting workout, the second day walking and burn 500 calories. I will have only Sunday as a rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- I will eat similar to above, but I will skip toasts at the dinner and only have the protein shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My questions are the following&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- is my new strict diet healthy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- If I stick to only eating 1500 calories a day and then burn 500 calories everyday, is that also healthy and ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- can you estimate how much calories does my workout that I described burn? Because I feel that I don't burn much. I don't end up sweating as I do when I walk for 2 hours for example. I feel like I only burn 100 calories with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T10:45:54.593" Title="Is burning 500 calories every day on 1500 calories diet unhealthy?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31944" CreationDate="2016-08-30T01:36:19.833" Score="4" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner looking for advice on how to practice for a 5k run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some background, I finished my last 5k in 35 minutes because I ran out of breath easily. I played basketball (for fun) and work out 2x a week, but since that 5k I realized how bad my stamina is. My goal is to be able to run a 5k within 20-25 minutes for starter.&#xA;I have been jogging once a week: 2.5k jogging, then having a short rest, then doing another 2.5k jogging. This routine has been continued for about 3 months, but I do not feel my stamina or endurance improved a little bit - even my heel and ankle ached a bit during each practice. Do I need to run more often, like 2-3x a week? I assume the pain will go away once I do practice more often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has a training plan that works for him/her, please kindly share it here. Also, when would be appropriate to expect an improvement? Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23406" LastEditorUserId="23406" LastEditDate="2016-08-30T01:42:24.627" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T10:14:51.110" Title="How to practice and improve my time for a 5k run?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31940" CreationDate="2016-08-30T01:40:18.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Things work differently on different people. We belong to the same species, but the way our bodies work, and respond to different inputs differ. So, expecting quick results, just because it worked for someone, wouldn't do any justice to you. Relax, frustration is not getting you to your goal. Neither does motivation. Motivation gives you a start, but habits and grounded efforts help you reach your goal. It has been just one month, and loss is 1 kilogram, so what's next? Go extreme? Extreme to what levels? Let's break it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said you are 79kgs, that's roughly around 175lbs. 173 cm, means 5'8&quot;. Your goal is 10% body fat. You know what it looks like? Have a look at the below&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthiack.com/images/body-fat-percentage-chart-men-women.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://healthiack.com/images/body-fat-percentage-chart-men-women.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it may not be accurate, it's close enough to what people look, with the % body fat mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying 10% is not achievable, but with that, you need to re-evaluate your workout regime, an diet plan. If you are looking for those results, just stick to no cheat days, till you get what you want. Weight exercises are fine, but cardio is a must. You haven't mentioned anything other than 1 hour of walk to your work. Walking is good, but for the results you expect, you need to do more than walking: Running, jumping roles, climbing stairs, doing the elliptical, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do weights training in-between cardio, something like cross-fit would be beneficial. 10% is a great goal, but it can't be achieved in a month. To see any kinda transformation in your body you need a year at least. Don't go too extreme on day 1. Reach your goals gradually, but yes, you need to build up more on cardio, and do higher reps (10-15), lower weights (60-80% 1RM) if you want to drop body-fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Before doing anything extreme, consult your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not cut down calories &lt;em&gt;drastically&lt;/em&gt;. You are not 500lbs. You need them to feed your muscles. Without enough nourishment your muscles would starve and give up, you would notice this by feeling fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink plenty of water and have adequate rest. I know stress is an integral part of today's lifestyle, but it kills us from with in. Keep it under control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to get plenty of rest, you need 6-8 hours of good sleep every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be too harsh on yourself. Everything is achievable, just give yourself time, and stay positive. You may have to push harder that others, but your goal is not to beat them in want they are doing, but to get better than what you were yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-08-30T10:21:57.280" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T10:21:57.280" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31941" CreationDate="2016-08-30T02:03:57.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stamina gets built over time, and that time varies for everyone. Jogging and running are 2 different things. All you need to do is break down your goals and achieve it in fragments. Start with a 1k run, and try finish it in 6 minutes and do it below 5. go for 2 k and try doing it below 10. Likewise, build up till you do that 5 in 25 and then work on reducing time further. Let your body get used to something first and then move on to next level. Now it seems like you are in a course of breaking it. Don't do that. Take a slow and gradual approach and east healthy. Practice jumping ropes and do some leg exercises like raises, lunges etc to strengthen your leg muscles. Best wishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T02:03:57.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31945" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-30T02:43:44.520" Score="1" ViewCount="676" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout early in the morning for about 1 hour. &lt;br/&gt;Recently, I've begun noticing ammonia like smell on my towel. I researched and found out that my body is burning amino acids to provide energy during workout. &lt;br/&gt;So, does this mean that whatever muscle I'm building, is getting burnt away during my workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of food should I eat about half an hour before workout to alleviate the ammonia smell? That's as much time as I have in the morning.&lt;br/&gt;All advice welcome, thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18067" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T16:21:27.020" Title="Ammonia in sweat from workout - Protein (Muscle) Loss?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-08-31T14:58:20.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31930" CreationDate="2016-08-30T05:49:54.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to what Alec has said. You mention feeling same tired after running once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To see the improvement in cardio you need to run at least 45 minutes (not the distance) for at least 3 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That of course in turn will increase your calorie burned weekly. Which you should cover by eating more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But remember that just eating more may not be right statement. If you are looking to increase stamina all you are saying you want your muscles to be stronger and have more endurance (that includes your heart which is also a muscle). Saying that - eat more protein rich food - meat, eggs, milk etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;UPD:&lt;/code&gt; Also just running with comfortable speed is not going to increase your stamina and show you good results. &lt;strong&gt;To actually see improvements you need to run above comfortable speed&lt;/strong&gt;. In running, with pushing your limits and having sufficient nutrition (to restore what you burned and have enough material for muscles to recover from stress) you will see improvements in less than a month. But this comes with a big fat &lt;strong&gt;WARNING&lt;/strong&gt;, you need to make sure that you have no heart issues before you try to push your limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15806" LastEditorUserId="15806" LastEditDate="2016-08-30T05:56:12.373" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T05:56:12.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31941" CreationDate="2016-08-30T10:14:51.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same way you would have built up your first 5k jog, using intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Jogging' would be your 5k-in-35-min pace&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Running' would be your 5k-in-20-min pace&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with a 4min jog, 1min run, 4min jog, 1 min run...etc. (repeat until you complete the 5k)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once that is comfortable then increase the run time by 1 minute and/or decrease the jog time by 1 minute. Repeat until you can do the whole thing at a 'run'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T10:14:51.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31940" CreationDate="2016-08-30T10:45:54.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your main issue at this level isn't going to be the amount of calories you take in but the macro-nutritional breakdown of those calories. To achieve a very low bodyfat percentage while expecting muscle growth you need to be ensuring that you get sufficient protein for muscle repair/growth and sufficient carbohydrates for energy (assuming you don't want to do keto).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plugging your details (assuming age of 25) into a TDEE calculator I can get an idea about your Basal Metabolic Rate and it indicated that you should be &lt;a href=&quot;https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&amp;amp;g=male&amp;amp;age=25&amp;amp;lbs=175&amp;amp;in=68&amp;amp;act=1.2&amp;amp;f=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aiming for 1600 calories on a cut&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditional cutting means that most advice would be to avoid carbs but in your case, with working out on both cardio and weights, you are going to need all the energy you can get to avoid becoming fatigued and giving up. Id recommend a 35/35/30 split of Protein/Carbs/Fat so you would be looking at 140g protein, 140g carbs and 60g fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All off this advice should get you started but you need to listen to your body closely, if you are still fatigued then trade some fat for carbs and go for 35/40/25 or 30/50/20 as long as you are hitting &lt;strong&gt;around&lt;/strong&gt; 1600 calories per day you should continue to lose weight and gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How ripped could you get? According to Martin Berkhan's formula, your maximum muscular potential is 160 lbs at 5% body fat. Most people have no desire to be 5% body fat though, so you'd be 168 lbs at 10% body fat &amp;amp; 176 lbs at 15% body fat. FYI, you will not maximise your muscular potential using your current workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where do you stop? At some point you are going to hit a wall with weight loss and muscle gain. You will eventually only be able to do one or the other, not both. Keep this in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No its not unhealthy, you will be fine at 1500.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't bother trying to offset exercise. Focus on getting enough sleep and eating the right macro-nutritional breakdown, you should have energy to complete workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You probably burn a lot less than you think, it's highly individual and the only way would be to use a chest-strap heart rate monitor to work it out. Your strength workout is probably not breaking the 300 calorie mark.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T10:45:54.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31945" CreationDate="2016-08-30T16:21:27.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your research is probably leading you to sites with essays like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ammonia.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. The answer is there as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this explanation, it is clear that your sweat will smell like ammonia only if &lt;strong&gt;an excessive amount of amino acids are being used&lt;/strong&gt; for energy, or you are &lt;strong&gt;not receiving adequate water&lt;/strong&gt;. This helps us find a solution to the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people &lt;strong&gt;mistakenly believe that ammonia sweat means that their protein intake is not high enough&lt;/strong&gt;. The body will only utilize protein for energy when it does not have a sufficient supply of fats and carbohydrates. Muscles can use glucose and fat for energy, but your brain requires glucose. Since there is no direct metabolic pathway from fat to glucose, your body will use amino acids instead. If your protein intake is high, there is a chance that the amino acids that supply energy will come from ingested food and not your hard-earned muscle tissue - but why take that chance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's look at an oil lamp. If you fill that lamp with Citronella oil, it will have a distinct odor when you light it. To eliminate that odor, do you add more Citronella? No! That's just fanning the flames. You'd use a different type of oil instead. The same goes for the ammonia smell - this is just the smell of amino acids being &amp;quot;burned&amp;quot; in your body. You don't solve that by adding more amino acids. Instead, you need to supply the fuel that your body prefers - the &lt;strong&gt;fuel that can be easily broken down to glucose&lt;/strong&gt; in order to supply energy to your muscles and your brain - &lt;strong&gt;carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;: No, this does not mean your muscles are being broken down, and carbohydrates and sufficient hydration are the keys to avoiding the ammonia smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T16:21:27.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31954" CreationDate="2016-08-30T23:07:12.550" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;How often one must  work out in a week to get maximum from it? Is it ok to workout seven days a week. &#xA;What should be the duration of rest between two workouts? &#xA;what is the amount of sleep required during workout? Does sleeping for more than 8hours help?&#xA;Does duration of workout depend on how much heavy weight you lift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T06:13:10.253" Title="Frequency of work out" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-31T14:58:41.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31953" CreationDate="2016-08-30T23:15:24.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How often one must work out in a week to get maximum from it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has no definitive answer. It depends entirely on you, your body, your diet, your sleep, your workout program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it ok to workout seven days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, but don't. If you continue to strain your muscles and central nervous system (CNS) without giving them a break, they WILL falter, and they will not grow stronger, but instead grow weaker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because muscles grow AFTER the workout, when you rest and eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What should be the duration of rest between two workouts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See answer to first question. This depends on all those other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good place to start is to workout every other day. That is, give your body approximately 48 hours between each workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;what is the amount of sleep required during workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See first answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does sleeping for more than 8hours help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more the better, but 8 hours is generally fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does duration of workout depend on how much heavy weight you lift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's entirely up to you. After a set of heavy bench press, for example, you might feel fatigue in your entire body. This is because your CNS has been under a lot of pressure. But it's still up to you whether you continue the workout, or go home and reap the rewards of your work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T23:15:24.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31953" CreationDate="2016-08-31T06:13:10.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that Consistency is key in making and maintaining gains. Working out once a week every week is much better then working out 7 days every other month or so. If you start right of the bat with a 7 days regime you are likely to burn out mentally in a short time. Duration of workouts largely depends on how much rest you like to take between reps and sets. Personally I take 1 minute between sets and 3 minutes between exercises. My 6 exercise plans take about an hour to complete. I find that to be optimal for me, if they get too long it gets harder to find time and get motivated. I advocate for 2-3 gym sessions a week. Unless you are an athlete preparing for competition one really don't need any more then that to keep healthy and in great shape. A 7 day program is possible just make sure to design it so each muscle group gets at least 2 days of rest after targetting. You will not see any gains if you simply keep tearing them down without giving them a chance to rebuild back up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T06:13:10.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31885" CreationDate="2016-08-31T06:30:36.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With your height of 1,82m and only 53 kg weight, your BMI is rather underweight. While this is not fit-for-all metric, it still can serve us a useful guideline for future improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmi-m.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmi-m.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you really need to sort out your diet. Since weight gain is only a function of caloric surplus [&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/5/899S.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;] you need to eat and eat a lot more then what your are doing now. Granted, with such a slim body frame you might need less calories than average, but still 2500 you are eating is just enough for maintenance for an average guy. There are several protocols available for gaining weight and ideally you want to put on lots of muscle and as little fat as possible - a so called &amp;quot;clean bulk&amp;quot;. But in your case i think it is rather acceptable to do a &amp;quot;dirty bulk&amp;quot; where you basically eat whatever you want, as long as you eat A LOT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of online calculators available where you can estimate your caloric maintenance level, i use this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.telenet.be/WBtE/cunning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://users.telenet.be/WBtE/cunning.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In average you'd add 10% to your caloric maintenance and see how it works but you can be a lot more aggressive with your parameters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as supplements go, really all of your requirements (calories and nutrients) should be handled by natural foods. But considering that you are a vegetarian, supplementing creatin and protein is a feasible idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The importance of supplemental creatine is elevated in vegetarian and vegan diets due to the elimination of creatine’s main dietary sources [&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein powders can be from either animal sources or plant sources, it is generally advised for vegans and vegetarians to consider protein supplementation due to the chance that their diet may be subpar [&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/Protein+Supplement/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second is you training program. Since 4 months is an absolute beginner level, really any physical activity involving work (as exertion of force to move objects) will result in muscle tissue breakdown and repair, which is the way your muscles grow. But unless i'm reading your  workout log incorrectly you are working one muscle group per day with 5 consecutive exercises, which is really just a waste of time, since by the second or third exercise your muscles are so fatigued that you can't use the weights heavy enough to cause muscle tissue breakdown. It's more akin to bodybuilders hi volume pre-contest routine for &amp;quot;pump&amp;quot; and muscle definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ancillary exercises, which are by their nature inefficient isolation-type exercises, produce very slow progress. Anybody claiming rapid gains on triceps extensions or barbell curls is not utilizing particularly strict form and should be criticized for such foolishness [4]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, like it was noted before, heavy compound lifts are your best friends for both size and strength - squats, bench presses, deadlifts, pullups, rows, etc. I have nothing against StrongLifts, but Starting Strength is my favourite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since the best way to produce athletic improvement in novices is to increase strength, a program that increases total-body strength in a linear fashion is the best one for a novice athlete to use if he is to improve his performance the most in the shortest time possible [5]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, since you are an absolute beginner, first several months should produce the most rapid gains in size and strength in your lifting career, given proper nutrition and proper training program. If you are not seeing any results think of it as a good sign though too, at least you managed to realize that what you are doing now is incorrect and thus must be changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;4 - M. Rippetoe &amp;quot;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;5 - M. Rippetoe &amp;quot;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(PS: throughout the day i will try and add some links to proper sources and research material to support some of the claims, so it is not all broscience)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18959" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T12:46:21.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31957" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32012" CreationDate="2016-08-31T10:28:23.273" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a case that I ran into in one of the professional basketball teams. Athletes train both in the morning and late afternoon and they must sleep between 1:00pm and 3:00pm during the weekdays except Friday because they have games on Friday at 2:00pm. What I wonder is that since the body and metabolism are accustomed to sleep between the above mentioned hours during the weekdays, how these sleeping routine effect game performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: does napping from 1pm-3pm on Monday to Thursday affects game performance on Friday at 2pm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS. These practice and sleeping hours are mandatory so they cannot be changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2018-05-14T09:47:11.457" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T09:47:11.457" Title="How does sleeping routine effect game performance?" Tags="&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2016-09-12T21:54:40.980" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-01T00:02:47.583" Score="2" ViewCount="933" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lift weights 2-3 days a week, spread as evenly as possible throughout the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday is my &quot;do nothing productive day&quot; which helps me stop burning out (this actually really helps me stay disciplined as I know there will be a light/release at the end of the tunnel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. I do no work (as in my job's work), don't gym, will read a book/watch a movie, check my facebook, let myself eat junk food (note I do not end up eating &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt; more calories, I just end up substituting something unhealthy for lunch or dinner), and just generally lounge about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;should my unhealthy eating day be on a day I lift or not?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am wondering is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situation 1: I eat junk food and a slight calorie excess on lifting day, once a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Situation 2: I eat junk food and a slight calorie excess on non-lifting day, once a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would applying situation 1 make more of the excess calories turn into muscle (or less of it turn into fat)? I.e. does how much muscle you build/fat you lose depend on time between eating something and time between working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23440" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T10:01:32.680" Title="Should you eat junk food on the day you work out vs on a non gym day?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2016-09-03T16:46:54.557" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31961" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31966" CreationDate="2016-09-01T01:48:32.237" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is it possible to motivate yourself for work out? Also during workout I sometimes face problems to move beyond two exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like after I am done with 5 sets of bench press and 3 sets of deadlifts I start feeling very fatigued.  How can this be overcome.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would protein drinks do? Or should I prefer energy  drinks?&#xA;Any other way to motivate myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T22:51:31.477" Title="How to motivate yourself while working out" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-09-03T16:47:13.860" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31960" CreationDate="2016-09-01T02:00:21.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to keep your diet as healthy as possible. This will help on the long run in weight control as fats take a long time to burn.&#xA;It is recommended to keep at least 1-2 hours of gap before eating and working out. &#xA;This is because muscles need  blood for circulating nutrients and oxygen essential to get maximum results from your workouts while digestion of food will divert blood to the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will not give you the required benefits of working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T02:00:21.610" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31961" CreationDate="2016-09-01T02:31:19.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question regarding motivation, I'd say there isn't a definite way of getting motivated. Different people get motivated by different things. The fact is, motivation doesn't get you to your goal. Grounded efforts and habits do. Just like you brush your teeth everyday, while no one tells you to do so. You don't look for motivation for that or to take a shower. That's because they have become a part of your daily routine, they have turned into habits. Likewise, you need to transform the workout task into a habit. After that, you wouldn't look for motivation. I'm not saying there's something wrong in being motivated by something, but in most cases, motivation is temporary. Habits are permanent and they die hard. Do it till the point you feel like doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding feeling exhausted and fatigued, there may be several reasons for that. First thing is  your diet. You need to eat enough in order to sustain energy all day long and to get fully nourished. Keep drinking water regularly, to keep yourself hydrated. This is very important as we are made up of 70% water. You also need to get adequate sleep. When you sleep, your muscles undergo the repair work, so it's very important to have a good sleeping pattern. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert on protein drinks and energy drinks, so I can't advise on those. Now taking your workout pattern into consideration, 5 sets of bench press? The things to be considered  are the rep/set, the weight you lift per set. Also, if you are doing it right with correct form, or just getting it done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ask me, 5 sets of press with an average of 10 reps for set, gives you 50 reps. That's good enough for a day. I usually lift heavy, so I never go beyond 3 sets of any exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-09-01T22:51:31.477" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T22:51:31.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-01T04:20:19.683" Score="1" ViewCount="744" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am  30-year-old healthy male working in academics from India. Right now working as a researcher and hopefully would be working as an assistant professor very soon. I am a regular gym goer. I have this burning desire in me to excel at some physical activity for a very long time. But could not pursue due to various reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very much interested in pursuing a parallel career as an amateur athlete with the hopes of becoming pro one day. Please also explain my possibilities in Girevoy. Options other than endurance sports are also welcome&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this very late? If not what sports are feasible for me? please suggest using these parameters (but not limited to):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Probability of participation in competitions.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The time and monetary costs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The facilities required.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23442" LastEditorUserId="23442" LastEditDate="2016-09-03T07:09:48.717" LastActivityDate="2016-10-22T12:48:19.607" Title="What sports a 30-year-old male can pursue other than endurance sports?" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-09-03T16:46:00.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29314" CreationDate="2016-09-01T07:09:24.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking the barbell weight away we can get a good idea of what weight plates you are lifting in your PPL program. Taking into account that you are 20, 75kg and 6ft 1in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only care, and you should (at this stage) about your main lifts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts: 40lb(~18kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press: 40lb(~18kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press: 20lb(9kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 30lb(~13kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, if someone was doing PPL at your height/weight, I would expect those to be the first warm up weights. Everyone is a special snowflake and we are only in competition with yourselves etc. BUT...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reality check&lt;/strong&gt;, you just aren't experienced enough to benefit from advanced programming. Get back on 5x5 Stronglifts. Everything you said points towards you being skinnyfat, no-one I know ever finished 6 months of 5x5, following the diet advice on the website and stayed skinnyfat if they followed the program to the letter. You are over-assessing your current lifting ability and experience. You are the definition of a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, &lt;strong&gt;stop cutting!&lt;/strong&gt; What are you cutting to show off? At those lifting numbers, you have no real muscle growth that will be visible without starving yourself. Its likely that your gut is showing because your posture is bad and/or your core is not strong, because you aren't lifting any heavy-ass-weight on a regular basis. Lifting heavy weight will help fix both of those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat at a maintenance calories or more. NOT LESS.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ditch PPL and pick 5x5 Stronglifts back up, do the entire thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you follow 5x5 Stronglifts to the letter, you should achieve 5 reps of:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts: 180lb(~80kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press: 135lb(~60kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press: 90lb(~40kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 180lb(~80kg)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T07:09:24.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31961" CreationDate="2016-09-01T07:24:51.253" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Outside of the gym, motivation can take many forms. Some known to be 'better' than others. (See: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29862/should-i-tell-people-about-my-fitness-goals-for-better-accountability&quot;&gt;Should I tell people about my fitness goals for better accountability?&lt;/a&gt;). But the most effective by far seems to be making the gym a habitual thing, like brushing teeth, making your first coffee of the day at work, brushing your hair, taking a shower, etc. You want to trick your body into the routine of going to the gym because it 'feels the need to'. I feel weird these days if I don't go to the gym after work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inside the gym, there are a few ways you can fight fatigue that you might accumulate, particularly around stuff like deadlifts which tax the whole CNS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre-workout!&lt;/strong&gt; You could blow a load of money of fancy pre-workout. Or buy a pot of 200mg caffeine tablets and take 1 before you start, or just have a energy drink, or even just a strong black coffee before. All these things will give you energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Music/Podcasts.&lt;/strong&gt; Nothing gets me more pumped than the symphonic tones of Dimmu Borgir caressing my ears before going onto my next set of reps. Podcasts help for running long distance as it distracts you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Having a work-out-buddy.&lt;/strong&gt; Can't motivate yourself? Get someone else to do it for you!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drinking water.&lt;/strong&gt; Most people get fatigued really fast because they are dehydrated, make sure this isn't you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating more food.&lt;/strong&gt; Low-carb diets do rob you of easy energy and do make it harder to lift (if you aren't in keto). Consider timing a granola bar into your diet to help or eating at a maintenance of calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep enough.&lt;/strong&gt; Seriously, at least 7 hours of good sleep everyday, more if you feel you need it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T07:24:51.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31967" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-01T07:38:28.550" Score="0" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not being a native speaker, I am not sure whether the word &quot;stamina&quot; is proper. I hope you understand what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to improve the stamina for study. I want to be spending more time on studying not being exhausted or losing concentration. It would be better if I can sleep less. Many people around me claim that I need to do exercise for that. I have no idea if that's true, but I'm going to try it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to my understanding, roughly there are two types of exercise: cardio and strength training. And it seems that doing one type of exercise can cause a negative effect on the other. For instance, they say long distance running destroys your muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to try both running and weight training, and I want to know on which I should spend more time for my purpose. Is there any research on this topic? Or could you share your personal experience?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23443" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-09-01T07:49:00.160" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T06:11:23.763" Title="Can Cardio/strength training improve &quot;stamina&quot; for long study periods?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31967" CreationDate="2016-09-01T08:26:38.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For instance, they say long distance running destroys your muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a new person to fitness, forget about it. Yes running 20-40km in one session might deplete your levels and burn off muscle, but for most people, this doesn't apply at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to try both running and weight training, and I want to know on which I should spend more time for my purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do both, and see what you enjoy? Something inbetween could be doing a bodyweight workout before/after running and incorporate both. Just remember to start slow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastEditorUserId="18493" LastEditDate="2016-09-01T14:27:17.947" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T14:27:17.947" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31960" CreationDate="2016-09-01T10:01:32.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Should my unhealthy eating day be on a day I lift or not?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I have previously answered, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31480/how-to-distribute-protein-intake-throughout-the-day/31487#31487&quot;&gt;meal timing isn't important&lt;/a&gt;, generally you should view you food intake as a weekly (overall) thing and don't bother trying to micromanage it on a daily/hourly basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a practicality perspective you should look at what effect food has on your workout. I personally find if I eat fish and veg before a workout as dinner then I am a little low on energy and need to compensate with some caffeine to give me more energy. If I have a beef stir-fry (higher carb) then I have that energy and don't need the caffeine to perform well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;BUT&lt;/em&gt;, this varies week-to-week! &lt;strong&gt;The true answer to this question is that you need to listen to your body and see what it feels like.&lt;/strong&gt; If your cheat meals make you lethargic then use it as a rest day, if not then use it as your heavy lifting day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Listen to your body and adapt your plan accordingly.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T10:01:32.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31893" CreationDate="2016-09-01T12:58:16.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you to do push ups ,if you say going to a gym is not a option you would like you can take the slowly but surely route of doing push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And always try to do them in different positions ,if you want to firm them up try doing push ups with your hands on two chair and try to do as many as you can until you start feeling the burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 series of Wide-grip push ups of 12-15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 series of Wide-grip push ups with your hands on the chairs and your feet on the floor of 12-15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 series of Wide-grip push ups with your hands on the floor and your feet on the chairs of 12-15 reps  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But do not expect a 2 day miracle. You must do them and have at least 36 hours of rest before you do them again,depending of your body some people need more rest than others .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-09-01T13:00:32.603" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T13:00:32.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31893" CreationDate="2016-09-01T13:07:17.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to grow muscle in your pectorals and you are perfectly placed to follow a barbell program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should focus on doing Bench Press with a barbell (and/or Dumbbells)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accessories to help you grow your chest could be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decline Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without using weights or a gym you could follow a bodyweight routine. It will take longer to grow muscle than a traditional barbell program but will still work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/pushup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Press-Up Progression&lt;/a&gt; (should be paired with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rowing Progression&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/dip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dipping Progression&lt;/a&gt; (should be paired with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/pullup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pullup Progression&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T13:07:17.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-01T14:57:36.757" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;Went for a 5km jog at 4pm today in Cambodia (90 degree heat) and my girlfriend got muscle cramps the same as yesterday. She stopped and then went jogging at around 5pm with no problems. &#xA;Started to eat more salt due to the sweating like a pig at the end of it (englishman).&#xA;My legs never feel that great either jogging in the heat, but i've got a bad back anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, she's been jogging like this for awile now but got abit disheartened that she hasn't lost any weight (although she only weighs 50kgs). She's well pissed off about that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm abit worried she's gonna pack it in, but i reckon she should just run abit later and she'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the above normal? I thought we might just be a couple of lightweights but then today i read they banned distance running in Florida during the summer because of the heat so maybe we aint that bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a limit one should run at certain temperatures for normal non athlete fokes like us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23445" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T07:01:28.867" Title="Jogging in 90 degree heat" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31973" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-01T15:22:04.900" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;This year is my first time running regularly, but as the autumn is approaching (and consequently winter, about which I am more concerned about), I would like to know a little more about healthy practices of workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, my workout does not consist of only running. After running (usually about ~6 km), I come home and do about 2 x 50 push-ups, then about 2 x 40 and some stretching (about, as I am slowly increasing the amount of repetitions in series). During summer, this poses no problem, because I will eventually cool down.&#xA;(I do this 2-3 times a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But in autumn / winter, what should I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run -&gt; Push ups -&gt; Shower&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push ups -&gt; Run -&gt; Shower&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run -&gt; Shower (and just do the push ups other day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In winter, the temperature can drop to about -15 Celsius, but that's extreme in my city, usually the average temperature is about -3 Celsius in January&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I usually finish my running cycle near my flat, so being exposed to cold and not running isn't an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23423" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2016-09-01T18:00:24.160" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T18:00:24.160" Title="Exercising and running in cold / winter" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-09-03T16:44:38.510" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31973" CreationDate="2016-09-01T15:25:19.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry yourself with details such as this. Whichever order you feel like doing them in, is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's going to make no difference at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T15:25:19.063" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31297" CreationDate="2016-09-01T15:38:16.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been a competitive Adventure Racer and Ultra-Runner for the past 15 years, and have spent a lot of time traveling at night. The most important part of making it safe and enjoyable, is good lighting. I find that small, LED headlamps are either not strong enough, or cast shadows on the ground which make it hard to see. Make sure to get a light that you can switch to Halogen, or can increase the lumens on. This is necessary when you are route finding, or need to get a bearing on your surroundings. I've also seen people use Red or Blue lights at night, which helps you to see variation in the terrain better. Some people like wearing a light around their waist, others on their head, and some like to just carry a hand light (or a combination of all three). You will have to experiment to see what works best for you. I like to wear a headlamp, but after many hours, the weight of the battery pack can give you a headache. I alternate with a lightweight Surefire hand light. Expect to spend a bit of coin in this department. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rarely get cold at night, as long as I keep moving. Don't stop for too long if you can help it, and &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; pack warm clothing. A wind jacket, rain jacket, hat and gloves should be part of your basic kit. Layering is key. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good trick to combat sleepiness, is packing chocolate covered espresso beans, or small 5 hour energy shots. Just keep in mind that caffeine is a diuretic, so don't forget to stay hydrated (even if you're cold and/or not thirsty). Some people get a bad case of &quot;Sleep Monsters&quot; when going for long periods of time, others don't. It just depends on the person. If you've been going for over 40 hours, it's proven to be more efficient to take a quick 10-15 min nap. You will wake up refreshed, and re-energized. Most people do not need to sleep when running overnight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've rarely encountered wildlife at night, but don't be surprised to see eyes reflected back at you in the bushes. Mostly you'll just see bugs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running at night is magical. It's a whole different world that few people have the opportunity to experience. Enjoy it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23446" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T15:38:16.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-01T19:16:14.847" Score="5" ViewCount="6300" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should seated leg press be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-most-debilitating-exercises&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-most-debilitating-exercises&lt;/a&gt; advises against using seated leg press:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you're an 86-year-old grandmother rehabilitating a total knee replacement or Brach Warren working on showcasing another vein through his left VMO, you have no business on the seated leg press. It simply hurts people!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are not the type of injuries that people get over in a few days.&#xA;  The leg press has the ability to cause massive structural damage to&#xA;  the spine that's likely to haunt your functionality for the remainder&#xA;  of your skinny-legged life&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's break down the mechanics of this movement from a practical&#xA;  standpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The seated position, more specifically the 45-degree seated position,&#xA;  places the lumbar spine in a forward flexing position before your legs&#xA;  even begin pushing through that torturous 8-inch range of motion. This&#xA;  is the equivalent position to squatting with your chest facing the&#xA;  ground – I wouldn't recommend it if you want to remain ambulatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The accentuated deep flexion of the hip joints not only causes some&#xA;  heavy compressional forces shooting through the hips that cause joint&#xA;  irritation and degradation, but it also causes a dysfunctional&#xA;  compensation pattern in the lumbar spine, bringing it into further&#xA;  flexion as each segment buckles. Remember, this piss poor posture is&#xA;  just in the setup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adding a dynamic component to this setup is where this exercise&#xA;  becomes downright outrageous. Sure it's easy for some uncertified&#xA;  newbie personal trainer to program it because you just sit and push,&#xA;  similar to a bathroom break in the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The simplicity of this movement is what keeps it continually being&#xA;  brought back to life in an industry of alleged experts that are just&#xA;  as confused as the clients they're being paid to coach. The simplistic&#xA;  nature of little-to-no stability throughout the spinal column and hips&#xA;  is what intrinsically makes this the most debilitating exercise in the&#xA;  gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bottom line, protecting the spine must be a primary focus at all times&#xA;  during any activity, not just weight training. The seated leg press&#xA;  not only lacks the ability to protect the spine, but also flaunts an&#xA;  unstable, maximally loaded nature that's a powder keg waiting to blow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean that no matter what precautions and position we take when using seated leg pres,s one always incurs the risk of low back injuries? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T19:11:15.270" Title="Should seated leg press be avoided?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31976" CreationDate="2016-09-01T19:31:13.573" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it should not be avoided. Like any machine, it's a tool, and it has a purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article seems to refer to the fact that during a seated leg press, the weight presses down on your feet, and cascades through your legs and into your lower back, which is pressed against the seat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They neglect to mention that all weightlifting exercises has this problem, one way or another. Especially the heaviest lifts such as squats or deadlift, the weight will eventually have to propagate through your posterior chain and into your lumbar spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But do we neglect these exercises? Of course not! They are tools, and they have a purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ALL exercises have risks, and 90% of what we do at the gym is focus on form, so that risk of injury is minimized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article goes on to list bench press, barbell deadlift, and deep squats as &quot;most damaging exercises&quot;, and that really puts the nail in the coffin as far as I'm concerned. I don't care what kind of &quot;doctor&quot; this John Rusin is. He has clearly written this article just to stir up some shit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At the end of the day&lt;/strong&gt; injury prevention is not achieved by excluding exercises that strengthen you. It is achieved by doing these exercises &lt;em&gt;properly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as seated leg press goes, I will say that I consider it an auxiliary movement, and I always prioritize freeweight alternatives like squats. But that doesn't make it a bad exercise. Tool, purpose, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T19:31:13.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31976" CreationDate="2016-09-01T20:35:56.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does this mean that no matter what precautions and position we take when using seated leg press one always incurs the risk of low back injuries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, that's not what the author is trying to say. You certainly COULD position yourself in such a way, as to minimize any injury risk. Which, you would then have to consciously reinforce throughout the entire set, because it is not even close to a natural movement (pressing up due to pure leg isolation on a stabilized core up on an incline? C'mon now.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, although all exercises have risks as mentioned by Alec, this one stands out from the rest. I'm sure everyone here has seen a random dude at the gym loading up 568 45lbs plates at the leg press machine, but the guy can't squat 200lbs. The reason why pretty much everyone can use more weight on the leg press as opposed to squats is because the machine itself provides all the external stability – there’s no inherent challenge to the body to stabilize anything. You just load and press, that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With squats, the body itself has to utilize its internal stabilizers to perform the movement correctly in order to maintain balance, posture, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point being, with squats (and almost all freeweight exercises), your body will do a pretty good job of defending you against injury assuming your form is not awful. But with leg press, your body doesn't have to stabilize anything, so, you can load more weight than what your body is ACTUALLY capable of, and even if you do it correctly, there will be a higher chance of risk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, isn't this the case with all machine exercises though? Not really. I'll quote Dr. Stuart McGill here, (probably the smartest dude out there in regards to sports science and injuries):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“the leg press sometimes causes the pelvis to rotate away from the back rest when the weight is lowered. The resultant lumbar flexion produces herniating conditions for the disc!”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There aren't many machine exercises, if any, other than the leg press, that can actually cause this. So I don't think it can really be compared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is, you could certainly do leg press and not get injured, assuming you don't let your ego take over and load up too much weight, and additionally assuming you reinforce proper posture, disc position, rep speed, etc. But obviously the chance of getting injured is higher, as compared to, well basically any other machine (except for that rotating side-side oblique twist, that's awful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T20:35:56.613" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31979" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31980" CreationDate="2016-09-01T21:06:33.360" Score="3" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to use the pushups as biceps workout by changing the position of hands? I searched the net for bicep pushups and tried it. I don't know about my biceps but my wrists were very sore. Is it because the bicep muscle is used to turn the wrists? However, I am not sure if I used the correct method. Can someone explain the correct method or provide some reliable link? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-09-02T13:33:52.607" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T13:43:17.233" Title="Variation of pushups for bicep work out" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31979" CreationDate="2016-09-01T23:17:24.223" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bicep workout is a pulling workout. Pushing ones targets your shoulders, chest and triceps to large extent. They target biceps too, but not as much as pulling and curling do. Having said that, muscles growth happens all over your body, and not in a specific area. So, in order to tone or build bicep, you need to do full body workout. Even while doing regular pushups, biceps undergo contraction and relaxation, but if you just do pushups to gain biceps, I don't think you'd end up with the results you are trying to achieve. I'd suggest along with pushups and other body workouts, try doing resistance band exercises, if you have no time to hit the gym and want to do it at home. Those bands are really cheap and available online or at any gym store.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T23:17:24.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31976" CreationDate="2016-09-02T00:32:06.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before arriving on any conclusion, let's check the physics related to both version of workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://d16kc6rd0714uz.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SquatsAndSpine-300x168.jpg&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the squat one, you can see your spine holding the whole weight. In the seated press, there's no vertical stress on the spine because of the weights. Spine injuries are usually due to vertical stress. In seated press your back is held firm against the seat and of course, there's stress on hip join area and some on the back, but which workout doesn't have its downsides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workouts are not harmful by themselves, but doing them the wrong way out, without proper form and adding more weight than the body can handle could lead to injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.777" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T05:05:07.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31972" CreationDate="2016-09-02T07:01:28.867" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle cramps are mostly caused by premature fatigue but the hour that you work out is not that important.Here is a tip on how to stop them :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching the muscles &lt;code&gt;Very important&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink pickle juice or another salty solution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay hydrated&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;And this is to support my claims and some more information about cramps:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/09/ways-to-stop-muscle-cramps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/09/ways-to-stop-muscle-cramps/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as for training in the heat, as doctor Emil Hodzovic said &quot;Performance will always suffer proportionally to an increase in temperature&quot;but there are some hints on how to help you keep cool while training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydrate above and beyond what you expect you’ll need sweat needs to be replaced and you’ll lose litres an hour, far more than you can absorb by drinking,continue glugging even after you’ve showered, and switching to an electrolyte drink if it’s been a heavy session.They won’t improve or extend your performance, but may aid recovery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you experience lightheadedness, hot or red skin, blurry vision, extreme fatigue, weakness, an excessive heart rate or vomiting, then rest in the shade and rehydrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When there’s more water in the air, less evaporates from your skin, which impacts your natural cooling systems. In humid heat, sweat becomes less effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T07:01:28.867" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31964" CreationDate="2016-09-02T07:13:33.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could give you a real life example of my brother that is a 35 year old male and did go to the gym regular but didn't push it hard just did it to make some movement as he is held at a desk 8 hours daily.&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now he is jogging and cycling for like a year and has started to get really decent results running over 25 km a day and cycling over 45 km per day(note:he doesn't jog the same day he cycles) .You just need to be motivated and have 1 hour per day after work to spend for training.&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said it's a lot better to run than go to a gym cause it took him like 30 minutes only to get there in the traffic as for running ,you get out and...start running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T07:13:33.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31964" CreationDate="2016-09-02T09:56:47.303" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;At that age, men lose speed but gain endurance. If you look at cycling tours or marathons, most of the guys are over 30. So you should focus on any sport where endurance is more important that strength/speed if you want to train for competition and actually have a chance. So march, marathon and route cycling. Running is cheap. High quality shoes can cost you like 100$+. You may get a hearth rate monitor and gps. For cycling, you have to get a bike capable of competing and that can cost up to 1000$ minimum. That would be like a mid range road bike. You would need some thing with at least shimano 105 group and carbon fork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this needs a few times per week training, and, as you are training endurance it will take few hours per session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You only need a road for a bike and a ground for you foot to run/walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also practice some unpopular sports. Where the small number of people bring bigger chances to people who take them seriously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18793" LastEditorUserId="18793" LastEditDate="2016-10-22T12:48:19.607" LastActivityDate="2016-10-22T12:48:19.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31979" CreationDate="2016-09-02T13:43:17.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have two fundamental issues here. First, a push-up is, as per its name, primarily a pushing exercise, while biceps are used for pulling, so it's only on the negative movement that you'd be targeting the biceps. Secondly, a pushup properly done targets the torso as much or more than the arms. Which leads us to a fundamental question, why push-ups? Is it because you want a bodyweight exercise? Because you're trying to avoid needing equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't actually have something to do bicep curls with, I'd recommend an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/11/06/inverted-row-are-you-missing-out-on-this-great-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inverted row&lt;/a&gt; instead. You can do it with a waist-high bar or the edge of a table, so there aren't many equipment requirements. To work the biceps and back, use an underhand grip. As with push-ups, it's the entire upper torso that's used. If you're looking to isolate the biceps, and want to avoid having to buy barbells, your best bet is to either improvise weights (plastic bags or bookbags with canned goods in them aren't a bad substitute. Filled milk jugs work too) or to provide bodyweight resistance via a towel that you're pushing down on with one foot (also works balance). There &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31462/is-there-a-bicep-exercise-that-uses-no-equipment?rq=1&quot;&gt;aren't really any non-equipment bicep exercises&lt;/a&gt;, but there are some good ones with little equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T13:43:17.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-02T17:05:09.690" Score="1" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I did a testosterone test and the result was &lt;strong&gt;25.77 nmol/L&lt;/strong&gt; (normal range &lt;strong&gt;9.9 - 27.8&lt;/strong&gt;). Can somebody tell me what this means in terms of muscle growth? (age almost 30)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23454" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T03:46:55.623" Title="Relationship between testosterone and muscle growth" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sports&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-09-07T13:41:02.887" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31976" CreationDate="2016-09-02T19:11:15.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a more appropriate response to your question should include a discussion of any prior history of back/hip injuries.  As someone who has dealt with these types of issues, I can tell you that I don't avoid the leg press.  I do, however, make it a &lt;strong&gt;secondary&lt;/strong&gt; movement for leg training rather than the “go to” movement.  And, when I do decide to leg press, I make sure to use a weight hat I can comfortably handle.  I do not attempt any personal records or max lifts with my history of prior back issues.   If you train smart and have no limitations, you should be able to use just about any piece of equipment without risk of injury.  That's not to say injuries don't occur.  They typically happen due to a form break, loss of concentration, or, too much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T19:11:15.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-29T05:00:25.040" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a recurring issue where, for a week or two at a time randomly with anywhere from weeks to months in between, one wrist will exhibit excruciating pain when attempting to bend it up or down past a certain angle. That angle varies as it get worse and better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, normally I am able to do a push-up with my hand in the normal position (as though you were gesturing &quot;STOP&quot; to the ground), but when this pain comes, I cannot do this and instead must use a fist. Ibuprofen taken for anti-inflammatory purposes has no effect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never experienced tingling/numbness with respect to this. I saw a doctor about it who also did tests and believes it is not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. They ran X-Rays but did not see anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a long-shot, but &lt;strong&gt;are there any exercises I can do to strengthen my wrist in such a way to prevent this from occurring?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23468" OwnerDisplayName="iAdjunct" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T16:56:55.870" Title="Preventing weird wrist pain" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31993" CreationDate="2016-08-11T10:44:09.240" Score="0" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 163 cm high and have 96 kg. I've been like this since I was approximately 6-7 years old, and this year I'll be 26. Naturally, my body weight escalated variously throughout my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some 3 months ago I went to the gym and had an instructor there with whom I had between 3-4 hour sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a decrease in my weight during that period and I dropped to app. 88 kg, where my weight wouldn't drop anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I started going to a different gym without my previous instructor (he was too expensive). The instructor there (and he's not working with me) told me about hour and a half should be enough if I exercise regularly. I'm mostly running on a treadmill, doing push-ups, sit-ups and some other arm muscle exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think this is beneficial for my health or can it be counterproductive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Boris Jakovljević" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T04:56:38.820" Title="What would be the optimal exercise time in a gym for my structure?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31992" CreationDate="2016-08-12T08:36:56.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretext: I have successfully trained people past weight loss plateaus and work with new gym members at my gym on inductions and starting off their programs. I am not a fully qualified coach but I understand what works and what does not. My answers are base don knowledge form experience but a lot of them can be found on: &lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to lose weight&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat less, move more. Eating less is 90% of the reason for reduction in weight. Its as simple as less calories in vs calories out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to lose belly fat&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer to &amp;quot;how to lose weight&amp;quot; there are no exercises that burn or spot-reduce belly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Is what you are doing productive?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is doing pushups efficient at growing chest muscle? &lt;strong&gt;Not really&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your routine efficient at burning calories? &lt;strong&gt;Only a little&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your PT/Trainer any good at his job? &lt;strong&gt;Not by the sounds of it&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is what you are doing any use at all? &lt;strong&gt;Definitely&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being at the gym and exercising is infinitely better than sitting at home munching snacks in front of the TV. You don't appear like you want to spend more than a hour at the gym so you should specifically target your activity whilst there. The activity should target your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Primary Goal: &lt;strong&gt;Lose weight&lt;/strong&gt; - This is done by eating less calories than you need. As a result your body uses your fat stores to make up for the deficit. Simple stuff. By doing cardio activity (interval training, rowing, cycling, running, jogging, cross-trainer) you will burn some extra calories and improve your general heart health. Focus on this until you are at your &amp;quot;goal weight&amp;quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Secondary goal: &lt;strong&gt;Build muscle&lt;/strong&gt; - Read this entire site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://stronglifts.com/5x5/&lt;/a&gt; I'm not kidding, the whole thing. Once that is done, get to your gym and start performing the routine. There is a helpful app. Eat enough calories to sustain your lifting progress and you should see muscle starting to build over the space of 4-6 months or so. Keep up with some cardio but don't overdo it, you need the calories you eat to help you lift more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Special note:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trainers/PT's have one thing in mind, your wallet. In the vast majority of cases they are aiming to keep you coming to the gym so that you can keep paying them. They don't often care if you gain muscle or change your look, so long as you keep turning up and regularly paying them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can learn literally everything you need to know about fitness by doing some reading, hit up reddit first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" OwnerDisplayName="JJosaur" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T08:36:56.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31967" CreationDate="2016-09-03T06:11:23.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run for 10-30 minutes daily. There are too many studies that point out how cardio boosts brain power and releases endorphins. Here's my personal experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) It helps me avoid being sleepy in the afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) It helps with another activity that requires alertness / stamina: Whenever I go on a long car drive (5 to 8+ hours), I get up bit early to run/jog for 20-30 minutes in the morning before my drive. When I do this, I arrive at the destination without much strain. On the other hand, if I don't do this, I arrive at my destination totally exhausted and not in a position to do any further activity for that day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Helps me sleep better at night and feel rested in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23461" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T06:11:23.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32002" CreationDate="2016-09-03T19:04:17.777" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;My club has a rowing machine.  The staff does not instruct anyone on how to use the machine, so, I'd like to know the right way to use the machine, and, how to get an effective workout.  By effective, I mean one that stresses my whole body and my heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T19:04:17.777" Title="How do I use the rowing machine for a more effective workout?" Tags="&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32001" CreationDate="2016-09-03T19:04:17.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an avid rower with over 4 million meters logged, and, a member of a rowing club, I've been asked this question often.  I often see it in the clubs I've trained at.  Club members use the rower incorrectly and almost to the point of risk of injury because the vast majority of the staff have little to no experience with the rowing machine.  For the purposes of this answer, I'll be describing the usage of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concept2 rowing machine&lt;/a&gt;, or, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergometer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ergometer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to understand is that rowing, for the most part, is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a pulling movement.  The majority of the rowing stroke does not involve “pulling”.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/technique-videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rowing stroke&lt;/a&gt; is divided into 4 parts: the &lt;strong&gt;Catch&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Drive&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Finish&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;Recovery&lt;/strong&gt;.  Each has a distinct purpose and movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How it works...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The drive is the work portion of the stroke; the recovery is the rest&#xA;  portion that prepares you for the next drive. The body movements of&#xA;  the recovery are essentially the reverse of the drive. Blend these&#xA;  movements into a smooth continuum to create the rowing stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing to remember is to drive with the legs &lt;strong&gt;first&lt;/strong&gt;.  The arms are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; drawn into the body (“pull”) until the legs are down and the upper body is about 10 degrees past vertical.  The recovery starts with the arms and back moving away from the body while keeping the legs down.  Think of pivoting over your hips until your shoulders are past the hips.  This allows the handle (and chain) to move in a &lt;strong&gt;continuous&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;horizontal&lt;/strong&gt; motion without adjusting to avoid striking the knees.  If the chain moves up or down during the recovery, you are releasing the legs too soon.  Releasing the legs too soon will force your hands up to avoid crashing into your knees.  Please view &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/technique-videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; for the basics of the rowing stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An effective workout can be achieved by utilizing the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/tips-and-general-info/damper-setting-101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;machine damper&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/performance-monitors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;performance monitor&lt;/a&gt;.  You'll often see someone setting the damper all the way forward to the “10” position thinking that it adjusts the resistance/intensity.  &lt;strong&gt;It does not&lt;/strong&gt;.  It simply controls the air flow into the fly wheel.  The higher the number, the faster the wheel slows down, and, the more work that is required to accelerate it on the next stroke.  Intensity is actually a result of how much you use your legs, back and arms during the stroke.  A typical damper setting for a beginner is 3 to 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The performance monitor provides the functionality to monitor your work load and its effects on your heart rate.  It provides the ability to design several types of rowing “pieces”.  A rowing “piece” is the work to be undertaken during a prescribed time or distance.  You can set the monitor to provide feedback on several metrics including strokes per minute, heart rate, overall distance, average time, etc.  With the monitor you can set up just about any type of rowing experience including high intensity intervals, or low and steady work.  Utilizing the &lt;strong&gt;damper&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;performance monitor&lt;/strong&gt; with &lt;strong&gt;correct form&lt;/strong&gt; will provide you with an effective overall body workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T19:04:17.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31350" CreationDate="2016-09-03T21:19:23.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just after finishing a weight workout, you can eat whatever you like, not eat, snack, you name it. As long as you are meeting your overall calorie ratios and goals for the day, force type workouts don't require any special post workout nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where the confusion comes in is everyone talks about the &quot;golden hour&quot; to refuel, but that is really only relevant to extended aerobic endurance type exercise. Studies have shown a 3:1 carb to protein ratio intake (Such as chocolate milk, which is why it gets advertised as the perfect post workout drink, it really kind of is) gets carbohydrates/glycogen back into the muscles faster than other intake, especially when consumed within 10-45 minutes (ish) after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T21:19:23.397" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-03T22:26:25.143" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question about running:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- I do random sessions of jogging and athletic sports (sometimes at night, sometimes 5 sessions in a week, other times i go through a blank month) because i have engagements / work and it is hard for me to stick to a regular agenda for good, am I doing it vainly ? does it have side effects or is it somehow harmful ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23469" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2016-09-04T14:34:24.593" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T14:34:24.593" Title="random unscheduled jogging?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32005" CreationDate="2016-09-04T00:03:46.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;am I doing it vainly ? does it have side effects or is it somehow harmful ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, it is not in vain. Any exercise is better than no exercise, and you should keep doing it whenever you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also in the morning when i begin a jogging session i feel like an inner body reaction that provokes me to throw up, is it due to something grass i eat at night ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what you mean here. Do you eat grass in the evenings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and what is the proper diet to prevent this ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no single diet that resolves all your problems. If you have problems with recurring nausea, you should see a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now, make sure you don't run for at least a half hour after a meal. And if you still get sick, try eating something else, but keep it healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T00:03:46.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-04T02:10:54.747" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My name is Malek and I have recently purchased a Squat Cage, Barbell, and Weights. I have done weight training before but have not in 7 months.I would truly like to get back into it. I have started a 20-rep-squat program and am wondering what weight should I start at.  I am 16 years old and 120lb. My squat 7-months ago was 225lbs. Will I still make good gains with this program if I start at 100lbs for 20 reps? Or is this too low?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your consideration,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malek&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23470" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T08:07:23.157" Title="How to do the 20-rep-Squat routine?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-09-05T19:06:56.980" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32007" CreationDate="2016-09-04T07:15:59.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight it's relative to your purpose.&#xA;You are going to make progress, hypertrophy-wise, as long as you provide a stimulus either &lt;strong&gt;mechanical&lt;/strong&gt; and/or &lt;strong&gt;metabolic&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, Resistance Training ( training with weights ) provides both of these stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with a weight you're comfortable with. Then build your way up by periodizating volume and intensity ( a good loading paradigm for beginners its 2:1 - 2 microcycles incrementing volume [total reps of training] and one decreasing ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use this approach or just go with undulating periodization, that according to recent litterature in the field of research is the best for either strenght and fat free mass gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T07:15:59.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31986" CreationDate="2016-09-04T07:41:04.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a healty testosterone level means only you dont have any disorder in your Hypotalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal Axis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you perform a workout you have a transient increase in in the levels of some of your hormones: testosterone is one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It regulates the homeodynamic state of muscle by some signaling patterns involving certain molecular actors ( Akt-mTORC1 ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Women are also capable of increasing muscle mass, even with their pratically non existent level of testosterone. The basal levels of this hormone are not a good predictor of ones potential to grow mass-wise, but they only influence the actual initial level of fat free mass ( and obviously other variables related to sex differences ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T07:41:04.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31957" CreationDate="2016-09-04T07:54:02.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should not create any problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such short resting periods do not create an adaptation worth of notice in ones circadian rythm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, what you want to take in account here is neural function and &lt;strong&gt;reactivity&lt;/strong&gt; of CNS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they have the game they dont sleep, so the problem its not there. If they were sleeping also before the game, and for such a long time, then it could be problematic to switch from a low activation profile to a high activation profile ( depending on &lt;strong&gt;sympathetic nervous system&lt;/strong&gt; activation ).&#xA;In this case you could have a decrease in performance not fitness-wise, but mental-wise ( attention performance ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally &lt;strong&gt;power napping&lt;/strong&gt; is used ( but includes briefer times of sleep, at most 15'-20' ) to enhance attention for a certain period of time just after you wake up. This is not the case however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer is: no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T07:54:02.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31933" CreationDate="2016-09-04T08:03:23.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, there's not a unified model for DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majour hypotesis and models are five, but they all fail to unify insurgence of pain depending on time with the actual culprit ( in terms of biology, the molecule or mechanism that should cause them ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. DOMS have nothing to do with ones pain tolerance. The amount of pain you feel from DOMS is subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T08:03:23.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32007" CreationDate="2016-09-04T08:07:23.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literally nobody knows what weight you should use. You need to find the correct weight for your 20-rep-squats by trial and error. You must balance bravery and confidence (to challenge yourself) with caution and prudence (to avoid failure and injury).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend starting with the bar and adding weight in each set until you find the right &quot;heavy&quot; for the person you happen to be right now. So, do 20 reps with the empty bar, then rest a minute or two, add 10 pound plates on either side, and do another set of 20. These should make you sweat and breathe heavily but the force required should be easy. Keep adding weight in small increments until you find a weight that you almost can't complete the 20 reps with. Stick with that weight or a little more for the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T08:07:23.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31892" CreationDate="2016-09-04T08:14:58.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The improvement you think you will hypothetically do is very high. Biomechanic is different. And so its bioenergetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reducing your weight will put you in a metabolic unfavourable state for power output ( lower levels of testosterone ). Not only that it could probably lead to a decrease in your lactate tolerance that with those kind of times ( around 8-12 min ) is crucial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will feel weak. And the less time you have to drop that weight, the worst will be. ( Assuming you are a natural athlete ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T08:14:58.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31597" CreationDate="2016-09-04T08:27:05.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldnt take in account the last longitudinal study by default, due to study design.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that HIIT is just a tag. Every dynamic exercise with a high enough intesity will provoke hypetrophy of the hearth wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soccer players have this type of &quot;problem&quot; too. Even in static exercise sports such as weightlifting and bodybuilding there is the same effect on the hearth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything brought to the extreme will give you &quot;side effects&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T08:27:05.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29107" CreationDate="2016-09-04T12:36:56.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let's make this clear&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Periodization is a way to conceptualize training developed by russian coaches that helped to &lt;strong&gt;manipulate the time&lt;/strong&gt; with which an athlete reacted to training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even for a beginner periodization is actually more useful than going blind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue between advanced athletes and beginners is about &lt;strong&gt;two majour points&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1&lt;/em&gt;- &lt;strong&gt;Minimum load necessary&lt;/strong&gt;: the minimum load that an athlete requires to produce a supercompensation and thus results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2&lt;/em&gt;- &lt;strong&gt;Heterogeneity of skills targeted&lt;/strong&gt;: dividing the workload on multiple target will diminish the amount of workload each one is going to get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If for beginners is good to target multiple skills at the same time ( because each one of them will get the right amount of load ), its not the same for an advanced athlete. And when I say &quot;skill&quot; I'm referring either to a conditional capacity like anaerobic power or a coordinative skill like trowing a hammer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this purpose in the 80s, Vladimir Issurin came up with the Block Periodization: a multipeak performance concept of periodization that helped to reduce the &lt;em&gt;hours&lt;/em&gt;/&lt;em&gt;year&lt;/em&gt; ratio of training and eventually improve performance. Right now is a concept widely adopted from most of the top level coaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway what you're asking is simpler: yes, you will actually benefit of periodizing your training regimen EVEN if you're a novice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The timing is based mostly on how well you know the athlete and his/her body ( or yours, in the case you wanna apply this to yourself ) and the reaction it has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reduction of volume in strenght training is actually crucial, because at the same time intensity goes up if its a realization microcycle and in that time you notice most of your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T12:36:56.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31832" CreationDate="2016-09-04T12:51:13.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hearth rate is a consequence of how you use your body. It is regulated by &lt;strong&gt;catecholamines&lt;/strong&gt; ( a class of hormones that includes &lt;strong&gt;adrenaline&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;noradrenaline&lt;/strong&gt; ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a problem if you do that in such short amount of time. A lot of sports require immediate changes of pace in terms running or cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T12:51:13.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31698" CreationDate="2016-09-04T13:02:37.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to build economy in the tecnique of run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you want to increase your speed as much as you can but without going above the 4 mmol threshold of lactic acid in the blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the breaks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use them in training, you can use repetition of 1/3 or 1/4 of the distance you want to run at slightly higher intensity ( for exemple 4x10km at &gt;10 beats x min of your normal %HR )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you can train even for the distance itself, trying to improve the running skill aswell as the metabolic machine to endure such a race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all about the total weekly workload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that you require instruments to measure your Hear Rate and use it as a parameter to work in the right &quot;zone&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you wanna use it during a race just use it whenever your pace is starting to decrease or your movement is not synchronized ( sign that fatigue is starting to build up ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will prevent you from overheating as long as you are hydrated, and yes it will remove waste from the muscle ( that is a process always ongoing ) as quickly as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im telling you &lt;strong&gt;as soon as you feel tired&lt;/strong&gt; because you dont want to indulge in glycolitic metabolism too much expecially if you dont have a great oxidative system or your muscle are still not at that level of fenotypization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T13:02:37.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2756" CreationDate="2016-09-04T15:13:13.897" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to lose fat, you need to be in a caloric deficit, that's all &amp;amp; trainings should increase your total energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23475" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T15:13:13.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31991" CreationDate="2016-09-04T16:56:55.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends which part of the wrist you want to reinforce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest to strenghten your hand muscles and your forearm muscle. Any grip based exercise will be good. &#xA;Armwrestlers use &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captains_of_Crush_Grippers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these type of tools&lt;/a&gt; to strenghten their grip power and aswell their wrist and forearm muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try to work on your &lt;strong&gt;range of motion&lt;/strong&gt;. Remember that having a healty fascia tissue is key to avoid injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oylx0Up7nG8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common stretching exercises&lt;/a&gt; for forearms are not so complicated and you can find them anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T16:56:55.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31907" CreationDate="2016-09-04T17:13:56.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all you have to build &lt;strong&gt;your speed&lt;/strong&gt; up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this I intend that you have to slowly adapt to a certain speed you consider ideal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pace between 5:35-6min/km (&lt;em&gt;great for me&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do this you have to run in sets at that speed increasing the &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt; of training. Instead of doing straight 3Km, try and do 3x 1.&lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; Km ( where the x stand for a certain amounts of meters that you will decide ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; will be your incremental each time you feel your comfortable at that pace and that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to take in account that going uphill or downhill will be a variable that you must take in consideration ( so if you can avoid, do it ).&#xA;On top fo that, try to be on point nutritionwise  ( cannot give you any advice because largely depends on you nutritonal habits ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have done that you will find that your maximal anaerobic lactic speed will go up and eventually you will end up being capable of running more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In between sets try active rest ( reduce your pace trying to stay around 50% HRmax ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T17:13:56.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31653" CreationDate="2016-09-04T17:19:31.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can absolutely do them on the same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no way why you should restrain on doing them. You just have to manage your total workload based on how you feel physically and mentally or based on your overall periodization regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T17:19:31.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31448" CreationDate="2016-09-04T17:28:35.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common sense is that you avoid any load on your back, and expecially from squats and deadlifts ( direct putting load on vertebrae ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotal experience is not reliable at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24095102&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a study&lt;/a&gt; that shows how a load can worsen idiopatic scoliosis ( that is the less severe case and reversible ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if its a transient load and not a constant one, I wouldnt recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Those workout you linked are absolute garbage: not a single indication and just no consideration of any personal characteristic, they are just there to be. No mention to squat or dead for scoliosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T17:28:35.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-04T17:36:33.073" Score="5" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle memory is a reality more than ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting back to training after a long period of inactivity that made me lose all adaptation in terms of size, strength and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been training for 5 years and before I had to stop my weight was around 92 Kg and right now is approx. 81Kg. (I don't have an accurate measure of body fat but its pretty much the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I maximize muscle memory to get back to my previous level, and how to translate that in an efficient periodization?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-19T03:21:59.037" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T04:20:04.067" Title="How to influence the pace of muscle memory?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31907" CreationDate="2016-09-04T22:56:16.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think its pretty likely that your trying to run fast every time you go out for a run. Most people run fast in the middle of the week Tuesday or Wednesday and usually on a track for more serious runners. On the weekend its a long slow run 2-3 hours long. Some also do a second fast day during the week or tempo type runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would be 1-2 days per week at a fast pace. Its not the fast workouts that will help you get past 3km going fast in a predictable way. Its the long slow runs that will give you a good gas tank for pushing through a fast run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now this is for a normal runner in my view, but from what you say your just building up. There is a huge difference in energy level for me from the first 15 minutes to anything greater than 30 minutes. For long runs I try to ignore pace until after this initial time to avoid starting out too fast which is something that you may be doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your just starting to build up consider a run/walk plan like 3min run/ 30 sec walk when you realize your about to hit the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you could hit the wall on purpose then plan to keep jogging for some pre-determined amount of time. This would be a more extreme method and should be done with care and some study. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For run/walk strategies see Jeff Galloway and for purposely hitting the way see Greg McMillian's 2-3 hour long run without any gels or any calories during or before the run (no breakfast).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of ways to hit your goal. Mainly its just about selecting the method that fits you best. That can be difficult and so usually to get a good answer from someone else you will have relate a short biography and training history to get a good answer. Join a running club or hire a coach for the best answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps some. Enjoy your running :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-09-04T22:56:16.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32031" CreationDate="2016-09-05T04:32:54.503" Score="3" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old and my height is 166 centimetre. I used to weigh about 184 pounds two years ago, as a result of which I joined a gym and started working out under the supervision of a trainer. My workout there basically focused only on cardio, core muscles and glutes. After several months, I found my weight to be near about 144 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After getting a new job and settling down to a new place, I joined another gym pretty recently (~ 4 months) where the trainer suggested that I should start bodybuilding if I am interested. I started bodybuilding exercises under his supervision (-- the majority of which are bulk up ones) for 90-100 minutes a day and 6 days a week, but he asked me many times to not continue any cardio-based exercises at all because he says, they prohibit muscle build up rate or decelerates their growth rate (in other words) and I listened to him. This is somewhat disturbing to me, now, because I can still clearly see a considerable amount of fat in and around my waist, including love handles, chest, thighs and glutes. I also started taking creatine monohydrate after checking seeing some popular forums and take ~ 2gm per day mixed extremely well with 16oz luke warm water. Moreover, I weigh 157 pounds now. Of course, I do exercises which focus only on my core, but these haven't been as effective as I thought they would be and I am now somewhat worried what would happen if I start taking whey protein along with creatine and continue the current workout and diet pattern. I want to avoid fat burners because I have anxiety issues and because of the high caffeine concentration in some of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any valuable suggestion and/or feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22139" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:12:04.717" Title="How much cardio is advisable for an overweight person who is new to bodybuilding?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32030" CreationDate="2016-09-05T05:12:04.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What your trainer said you is in part right. Just in part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you have to understand why it works like he said. Muscle activity i mostly based on contraction, and on firing rate of muscle fibers. When you have a low and constant rate of contraction you activate different proteins inside the muscle and tend to &lt;strong&gt;change you muscle fenotype&lt;/strong&gt; thowards an &lt;em&gt;oxidative type&lt;/em&gt;. Vice versa, with higher peaks and stronger contractions you will get a glycolitic type of muscle; and this type of muscle is the one you want to get if you are trying to aim at power/strenght sports and/or hypertrophy ( composed mostly of IIa and IIx fibers ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two actors of this tale are the &lt;strong&gt;AMPK&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;mTOR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What your trainer said to you happens when the AMPK and and some of its downstream transcription factors are activated in a much robus manner than mTOR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vice versa, when you practise resistance training ( train with weights ) something different occurs. There is a higher appearance in the muscle of the mRNA ( that indicates at which level a protein is transcribed and this present, in this case ) that transcribe mTOR and other of his downstream targets. &lt;strong&gt;This means hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is that you do cardio actually before training with weights. This will be &lt;em&gt;no detrimental at all&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to the one of the studies I'm referring to: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24408998&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exercise-induced AMPK activation does not interfere with muscle hypertrophy in response to resistance training in men.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:12:04.717" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31135" CreationDate="2016-09-05T05:24:43.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your goals actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on what you want to improve. Instead on focusing on zones, why dont you focus better on volume of training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you dont even mention about it: its just a 3x meters and thats it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel a certain zone is conservative try to increase volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, it really come down to what feature you're trying to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:24:43.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29205" CreationDate="2016-09-05T05:49:05.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want two things at the same time, which is good, but you have to put them in the right order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can run on the same day you workout at the gym ( I'm assuming with weights ), but just do them in this order: jog and then resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The motivation is one actually, and I've already gave an answer in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/32030/how-much-cardio-is-advisable-for-an-overweight-person-who-is-new-to-bodybuilding/32031#32031&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;strong&gt;not bother&lt;/strong&gt; about somatotype. The main misunderstanding of this concept by William Sheldon is that this has nothing to do, mostly, with fitness in general, but was a theory set to predict &lt;strong&gt;criminal behaviour&lt;/strong&gt; ( psychology ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So remember, it's the &lt;em&gt;order&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;magnitude&lt;/em&gt; that matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:49:05.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32028" CreationDate="2016-09-05T05:56:03.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say take a step-by-step approach. Your muscles don't remain in the same condition, when you give up training for long. In order to gain the same level of strength, you need to work in parts. Start with free hand training and get your body used to it. Slowly keep on increasing the resistance part with time. It may take weeks, or months to get back to previous level, but being safe is the first priority. Any injury would again keep you out of practice for long. So, break your goal into fragments, and achieve it. Best wishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:56:03.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31350" CreationDate="2016-09-05T06:35:09.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let's make this clear and net&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you can also avoid eating just after a workout if you're not hungry ( it's relly common ); just wait an hour or two maybe and then eat, unless you have a second workout later on the same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is actually using the energy from pervious meals to replenish what you have used ( mostly in terms of glycogen ) during your workout. This is called an &lt;strong&gt;excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption&lt;/strong&gt;. The slow component of this phenomenon happens in actually about 1h after you train ( mostly at high intesities ). Your body is actually consuming more oxygen than normal resting condition and relying mostly on the oxidative type of energy. This untill your energy stores are replenished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is crucial for one reason: you have to replenish your energy levels &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;then starting the adaptation cycle&lt;/em&gt; in terms of &lt;strong&gt;protein synthesis&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein synthesis is an extremely expansive process that tends to not occur when you have low energy levels, due to some molecular signals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I set this straight, we shall proceed with nutritional advices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all I want to quote the most comprehensive review of litterature on the subject ( at the best of my knowledge ) in regards to the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12617691&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Determinants of post-exercise glycogen synthesis during short-term recovery.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an article published on Sport Medicine, so I don't know if you have full access ( if you don't, you can request the article &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8074306_Determinants_of_Post-Exercise_Glycogen_Synthesis_During_Short-Term_Recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; ); I will try to quote the highligts of the article referring to your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Timing&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] it is interesting to note that recently it was&#xA;  shown that whole body and leg protein synthesis, as&#xA;  well as net protein deposition, &lt;strong&gt;is enhanced when&#xA;  nutrients are consumed immediately after exercise&#xA;  as opposed to 3 hours later&lt;/strong&gt;.[97] These data and those&#xA;  of Ivy et al.[43] indicate that the timing of post&#xA;  exercise nutrient intake may affect the rate of mus&#xA;  cle glycogen synthesis, as well the rate of whole&#xA;  body and leg protein synthesis.&#xA;  Thus, it can be concluded that athletes should&#xA;  consume CHO immediately after strenuous exercise&#xA;  as this may increase the rate of muscle glycogen&#xA;  storage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrients&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recently, we investigated&#xA;  whether the addition of an insulinotropic protein&#xA;  amino acid mixture to a larger amount of CHO&#xA;  (1.2g/kg/h) would further increase muscle glycogen&#xA;  synthesis rates.[86] This study demonstrated that&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;when the total CHO intake is very high&lt;/em&gt; (1.2 g/kg/h),&#xA;  the presence of a protein-amino acid mixture &lt;strong&gt;does&#xA;  not further increase the rate of muscle glycogen&#xA;  synthesis&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;despite a much higher insulin response&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  The results of this study,[86] and those of&#xA;  others,[17,94] suggest that insulin is not the limiting&#xA;  factor for muscle glycogen synthesis when total&#xA;  CHO intake is high (1.0–1.2 g/kg/h). The availabili&#xA;  ty of CHO post-exercise, on the other hand, &lt;strong&gt;seems to&#xA;  play a more important role when maximal rates of&#xA;  muscle glycogen synthesis are required&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein Synthesis&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It should be&#xA;  noted that although protein and/or amino acid inges&#xA;  tion may not always have an effect on muscle glyco&#xA;  gen synthesis, there is evidence that amino acid&#xA;  ingestion in combination with,[109] and without,&#xA;  CHO[110] &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; increase &lt;em&gt;post-exercise protein synthe&#xA;  sis and net muscle protein balance&lt;/em&gt; (protein synthesis&#xA;  minus protein degradation). Furthermore, studies&#xA;  have shown that an increase in insulin levels when&#xA;  plasma amino acid concentrations are high &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  further increase net protein balance.[111,112] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Type of carb&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, the data clearly indicate high muscle&#xA;  glycogen synthesis rates during the initial hours&#xA;  after exercise can occur when a &lt;strong&gt;high-GI&lt;/strong&gt; CHO diet is&#xA;  ingested. (High glycemic index)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that there are several other factors that the article covers ( but not in line with strictly what you ask ), that I'm not going to quote here but you can find in the article and are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training status&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding schedule&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Magnitude of muscle glycogen depletion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle fibers type&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mode of exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really advice you to get this paper and read it. It's not complicated, and in my honest opinion is the best aviable right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T06:35:09.947" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2016-09-05T17:28:14.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is an old question, but I can provide this with a different approach and a different perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advices are provided and to be utilized as long &lt;strong&gt;as you are healthy&lt;/strong&gt; and don't have any majour disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of what I'm actually writing is taken from a book I've written myself that has the structure of a notional book with plenty of reference and research in the scientific field ( so I will try basically to make a big sum of what the book is about, since it answers the exact same question you're making ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here the key factor is: &lt;strong&gt;as soon as possible&lt;/strong&gt;. Thus we want to focus on two particular stimuli taken by training: &lt;strong&gt;metabolic&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;mechanic&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the question: why didn't I just come up with the old &lt;em&gt;sarcoplasmic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;myofibrillar&lt;/em&gt; hypertrophy tale?&#xA;First of all because it has &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; convincingly been proved by academic research and still dwells in the limbo &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; broscience and science.&#xA;Secondly, most of the people in the field tend to approach the argument with an only regard to cytoplasm ( also known as sarcoplasm ) and myofibrils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophy is far more complex than that. Expecially if you want to comprehend all its mechanism ( and yet not everything is understood ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm going with &lt;strong&gt;mechanical hypertrophy stimulus&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;metabolic hypertrophy stimulus&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may argue that is basically the same thing, but actually I'm putting emphasis on the cause and not on the consequence and that is crucial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Metabolic hypertropic stimulus&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;The metabolic hypertrophy stimulus actually involves &quot;no&quot; part in mechano transduction ( how biologically the body translate the loading on the muscle in molecular signals ).&#xA;Actually this signal is translated as the &lt;strong&gt;amount of work at the given intensity the body does&lt;/strong&gt;. The molecule that does that is called calmodulin, and is sensitive to calcium transient inside the muscle cell and actually targets its downstreams and produces changes in the muscle ( changes in the organelles, enzymes, and structure ). [&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/99/2/414.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Mechanical hypertrophy stimulus&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;This particular signal relies mostly on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2043154/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mechanotransductors&lt;/a&gt;. These molecules are actually not yet fully understood, but some of these molecules are being proposed and proven as effective mechanotransductors.&#xA;Their role is to actually translate the mechanical stress on the muscule architecture in actual molecular signals that enhance protein synthesis.[&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/91/2/693.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-nutrition-society/article/mechanotransduction-and-the-regulation-of-protein-synthesis-in-skeletal-muscle/B5829D3E21F268F166BC0D53BB20F419&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1357272511001312&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;4&lt;/a&gt;]&#xA;And this stimulus is important because one of the main actors in this scenario is the cytoskeleton ( &lt;strong&gt;never mentioned&lt;/strong&gt; in any discussion about hypertrophy ).&#xA;Why is important? Because cytoskeleton has a crucial role in the muscle ( besides all the others ): transmitting tension to the whole structure and transversely.[&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-essr/Abstract/2003/04000/Lateral_Force_Transmission_Across_Costameres_in.4.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this all important? Because now it all boils down to understanding why I'm giving you these advices regarding the periodization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two approaches on the subject, but I'm going to take the most succesfully proven one in terms of scientific reference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But first, two &quot;&lt;strong&gt;MUST DO&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; before you get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always work on your flexibility&lt;/strong&gt;: at least one day in every microcycle you have to work on whole body flexibility to keep that fascia healty. The reason is because cytoskeleton, to work at his best, needs tension to be transmitted evenly and nicely along the whole muscle lenght and width. Only having a good and healthy fascia you will maximize your mechanical stimulus and avoid injuries. This workout session can be put either on a separate day as the resistance training ones, or you can utilize the time before training  ( &lt;strong&gt;I strongly recommend&lt;/strong&gt; ) to perform an active stretching mixed with warm-up exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always work the tecnique of the main exercises&lt;/strong&gt;: I am referring to basic foundations on &lt;em&gt;squats&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;deadlifts&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;overhead press&lt;/em&gt; ( I don't recommend Bench Press to anyone ). Tecnique work is more a mental work. You're trying to build the neural patterns and actually internalize the movement so the motor skill become as familiar as possible in the correct way. You have to learn with proper emulative exercise ( splitting the exercise in chunks and work on the muscle to activate in that particular moment ) to activate muscle groups and use them all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we can go on with the actual periodization finally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if litterature has tons of good reviews on the subject resistance training for beginners, I want to give you my approach.&#xA;However, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263746347_Recommendations_for_natural_bodybuilding_contest_preparation_Resistance_and_cardiovascular_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this is a comprehensive review&lt;/a&gt; that at the best of my knowledge is the most accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goin on from this you want to focus on mostly one thing: &lt;strong&gt;FREQUENCY&lt;/strong&gt; over volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all because is a known FACT that novices needs not big training loads to induce a supercompensation phenomenon and I could reference you with plenty of books, but I limit myself to two: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Periodization: Theory and methodology of training&lt;/em&gt; &quot; &lt;strong&gt;Tudor O. Bompa&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;G. Gregory Haff&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot; &lt;em&gt;Block periodization: breakthrough in sport training&lt;/em&gt; &quot; &lt;strong&gt;Vladimir Issurin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this out of the way give frequency the priority in the microcycle. For exemple if you want to have a total volume of 30 sets, don't burn them all on the same workout but divide them by 3 or by 5.&#xA;Give this characteristic to your microcycle and you will grow AS FAST as your body can possibly do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intensity/voume ratio&lt;/strong&gt;: you can actually utilize the Undulated Periodization ( at microcycle ); it means you're actually changing in a wave fashion the ratio between the two ( Ex. one micro is high volume - low intensity, next is medium and medium and next is low volume high intensity ).&#xA;This will provide the best of the two types of stimulii I've explained to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nutrition advices&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the thing is more simple. But I dont know if you have any ethical standpoint on nutrition or if there's any food you can't eat for mediacal reasons so I will keep myself in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not go crazy on protein!&lt;/strong&gt; It has been long debunked and litterature is FULL of biased studies on the actual link between grams of protein x Kg body mass. &#xA;Just eat enough carbs and you will be good to go. Focus more on having a sustainable lifestyle approach to nutrition that benefits you first with great health, and only after muscle mass will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are energy replenished your AMPK inside the muscle cell will not be phosphorylated by the low AMP:ATP ratio and will not inhibit the Akt/mTOR pathway and your protein synthesis will work smoothly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert on nutrition so I'm not going to make the step longer than my reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helped, I tried to fill as much info in less lines possible.&#xA;If anyone has any question be free to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T17:28:14.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13030" CreationDate="2016-09-05T18:46:22.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest approximation to starting strength is the 3x8 progression routine from startbodyweight.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/exercise-progressions_12.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/exercise-progressions_12.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a starting strength barbell routine focused on squats and deadlifts on Mondays and Fridays, and do a start bodyweight routine on Wednesdays focused on push ups, pull ups, and pistol squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T18:46:22.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-05T23:52:19.113" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVaEhXotL7M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this exercise&lt;/a&gt; which obviously puts some strain on the knee.&#xA;I'm a 20-something male, 1.76 m , 65 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need sources to claim for the safety of this exercise on the knee, if I can get chronic injuries for doing it too much, how much would be too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18686" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T01:09:57.767" Title="How safe are &quot;squat jumps&quot; for the knee" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32038" CreationDate="2016-09-06T01:09:57.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not to isolate squats and jumps? If you are concerned about injuries, break down the whole thing into components and do it separately. Squat jumps require perfect balance and technique to implement. Also, the shoe you wear and the floor on which you do them make big difference. Regarding how safe it is, it depends on how you do it. People have been doing it for years and have no problem, while you may stuff things up on the first go. Safety is the first things you should take into consideration. If you have any doubts in mind, don't do it. Half-heated and doubtful approach won't take you too far. Having said that, if you separate squats and jumps, learn the right ways of doing them. Risk is always there in everything, but with proper form and technique, those risks can be minimized, or avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T01:09:57.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-06T01:10:54.520" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuE_ScvXwtg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; exercise which obviously puts some strain on the knee. I'm a 20-something male, 1.76 m , 65 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to know if this exercise might cause me a injury on the knee. It seems there is a lot of load weight in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I confused injury with strain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18686" LastEditorUserId="18686" LastEditDate="2016-09-06T05:24:05.060" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T18:11:31.610" Title="Are “single box squats” safe for the knee?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;knees&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32063" CreationDate="2016-09-06T04:02:10.550" Score="5" ViewCount="5548" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know about Yoga, then you know we have to lie on our back during &lt;strong&gt;Uttanpadasana (Raised Foot Pose)&lt;/strong&gt;. I do this comfortably. But I'm doubtful if I'm lying down properly or not. How I lie is in following way:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PZark.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PZark.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if you &lt;strong&gt;1st position&lt;/strong&gt; in image, the knees are relaxed but &lt;strong&gt;spine is curved&lt;/strong&gt; upwards (&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; that the curve doesn't represent belly, it's about spine) and there is space between ground and spine (maybe 1-2 inches).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;2nd position&lt;/strong&gt;, I have to apply a little effort to 'relax' the abdomen and the spine becomes straight (probably) and space is &lt;strong&gt;negligible&lt;/strong&gt; (I'ts like when we walk without our spine straight, like slouching). But at the same time, the knees are raised a bit, so to bring them down and make legs straight I've to force, so this position &lt;strong&gt;doesn't&lt;/strong&gt; make me feel relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While in 1st position, I feel relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I just want to know if 1st position is right or wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, during Yoga (Raised Foot pose) I feel pressure at lower spine, and also in the belly, like stretching). Is this what this Yoga is intended to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I raise feet around 30-40 degrees).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23334" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T16:03:10.603" Title="How to lie down on your back properly during Yoga?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32040" CreationDate="2016-09-06T05:20:15.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's always strain on the knee when you use it for something. Actually this mode is probably safer than a full squat olympic style for a reason: Range of Motion is reduced and the starting point at the bottom of the movement is actually inertia free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In cheaper words, its different from a half squat because when you are in the lowest position you sit on the box and so tension on the knee and ankle joint is heavly reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, it's going to put strain on your knee, but nothing to worry about as long as you perform the movement correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T05:20:15.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27727" CreationDate="2016-09-06T05:27:46.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise stimulus is a pro-inflammatory process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do a quick search in scientific litterature you will notice. The best way to reduce inflammation was thought to be cold exposure, but has been widely debunked in recent decades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to reduce inflammation is probably recovery, and with this I mean every kind of low intensity active recovery type of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will actually increase blood flow in the district area and reduce inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are referring to whole body inflammatory process, oriental meditative disciplines are claimed to be useful in this sense: but no real proof at all of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T05:27:46.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32040" CreationDate="2016-09-06T06:49:44.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason some people say deep squats are bad for your knees is because they heard it from someone and are just blindly repeating it. &lt;em&gt;Some&lt;/em&gt; knowledgeable people say this because the patellar tendon is in a stretched position at the bottom of a squat. However, this is not a problem if you don't have pre-existing knee problems (if you do, see a doctor): the tendon will strengthen to handle bigger and bigger loads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you perform any exercise without warming up you are more likely to get a strain/minor-injury. The movement is perfectly fine and as it is a unweighted (no barbell) movement, even more so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, the bottom half of the movement that is restricted by the box is generally considered much more difficult as it requires better balance and flexibility to be able to push out of the position. Having a box means you won't do this part of the movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T06:49:44.060" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13030" CreationDate="2016-09-06T06:56:15.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, this topic is popular as heck and there are some great trainers over at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reddit's r/bodyweightfitness&lt;/a&gt; that can point you in the direction of a well written &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommended routine&lt;/a&gt; based around the compound movements you can do with bodyweight and some simple equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Warmup (~10-15 minutes)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dynamic Stretches&lt;/strong&gt; to get the joints nice and loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodyline Work&lt;/strong&gt; to remind you of the proper positions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Skill work (~10 minutes)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5-10 minutes Handstand progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2-3 minutes Support practice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Strength work (~40-60 minutes)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pairing two exercises means doing a set of the first exercise, then resting 90 seconds, then doing a set of the second exercise and resting 90 seconds, and then repeating until you've done all sets of that pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First Pair&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x5-8 Pullup progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x5-8 Dipping progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second Pair&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;We recommend doing barbell work for legs. If you have access to barbells (and a squat rack), see below on how to incorporate this in the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x5-8 Squat Progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x10sec-30sec L-sit Progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Third Pair&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x5-8 Pushup progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3x5-8 Row Progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T06:56:15.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32040" CreationDate="2016-09-06T18:11:31.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Safe” is a somewhat relative term.  There’s really no way anyone can give you a reliable answer to your question, or, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/32038/how-safe-are-squat-jumps-for-the-knee&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; without clarifying some things about you.  For example, your propensity for injury/strain, any prior knee injuries, and, your ability to recover from each session to name a few.  In all actuality, weight training/exercise is not a risk free activity.  It’s designed to put stress on your muscles and joints so that growth can be accomplished.  And, that’s why some clubs/gyms make their members sign waivers when they join. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are not guaranteed to be injury/strain free even if your form is perfect.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alterg.com/treadmill-training-rehab/athletics/injury-prevention/what-is-overuse-syndrome/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overuse Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; is common for beginner weight trainers.  The most you can hope for is to reduce the risk of injury by using correct form, recovering sufficiently from each session, and supporting your efforts with a nutritionally sound diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T18:11:31.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32041" CreationDate="2016-09-07T02:49:24.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As best I can tell, the intent is to get your spine relaxed with your lower back down to provide more or less a straight line. Indeed, the recommendation is to &lt;a href=&quot;http://bodypositiveyoga.com/savasana-when-you-have-junk-in-the-trunk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;raise your knees&lt;/a&gt; or to even put a bolster or pillow under your legs to prop them up. Some people also get relief by letting the legs fall out (which reduces the profile of the buttocks). For Savasana that makes your legs look like they're in sort of a butterfly pose. When doing Uttanpadasana, it's kind of like a frog stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the feeling in your lower spine and belly is likely a combination of muscular effort and stretching. Both sides are getting worked because you're suspending your legs in a position between all the way up and all the way down, forcing both sides to work against each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T02:49:24.840" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12604" CreationDate="2016-09-07T03:06:58.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Static stretching where you hold a muscle in a elongated position is now discouraged pre-run, as it has been linked to injuries. A gradual warm-up is advised instead. &#xA;1. Walk for three to five-minutes&#xA;2. jog lightly for 3 minutes&#xA;3. Gradually accelerate over the course of 60 to 100 meters, then gradually decelerate. (exact distance is not important and NEVER time, it is just a warm-up)&#xA;4. After each stride, walk around and shake out your legs for 1 to 2 minutes.&#xA;5. stride back in opposite direction&#xA;6. repeat 3 - 4 times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T03:06:58.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31986" CreationDate="2016-09-07T03:37:41.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While increasing testosterone levels above natural levels with the use of  steroids can help add appreciable mass, increasing T levels within the natural range does not seem to have the same effect. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16210377&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Endocrinology. 2006 Jan;147(1):141-54. Epub 2005 Oct 6.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt; In short, being close to the top of the range will not make you a effortless star athlete. You must still work hard like everyone else &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastEditorUserId="23382" LastEditDate="2016-09-07T03:46:55.623" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T03:46:55.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32058" CreationDate="2016-09-07T08:40:52.047" Score="5" ViewCount="782" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a lot of forearms exercises and most of the times I barely feel them actually doing something ,so I want to ask the community about some forearms exercises for building mass and muscle (especially isolating exercises) using weights,even some &quot;unorthodox&quot; exercises would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T00:55:21.313" Title="Training your forearms with weights?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32056" CreationDate="2016-09-07T09:08:49.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the forearm muscles is to provide gripping power. Using oversized grips (Oversized grips are thick rubber grips that fit over barbells and dumbbells) is a easy way to work on your gripping power and forearm muscles while going about your normal routine. The thicker the bar the more gripping power it requires and the harder the forearm muscles have to work&#xA;&lt;/p&gt; Plate Pinching is also a very good exercise that can be performed while loading/unloading plates on bars or machines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T09:08:49.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32056" CreationDate="2016-09-07T09:43:45.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forearms are grown the most through training grip. Heavy deadlifts are a great way to train forearms, Farmer carries train forearms hard as well. Functional strength for forearms can come from exercises like sledgehammer swings or squeezing sand in a bucket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a general list of catch-all exercises for forearms look to ExRx: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ForeArmWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ForeArmWt.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to combine the functional exercises mentioned above with grip training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good beginner routine to build a base for more advanced grip training: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/basics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/basics.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the program doesn't include any pics/videos &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPkx4VxwNz4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here's a video&lt;/a&gt; demonstrating the first two exercises, the two hands pinch (you can use loose plates or make a pinch block but the idea is the same) and barbell finger rolls. Here are the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMrgVl-2tnc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wrist Curls&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW7URAaC-vE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reverse Wrist Curls&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Equipment&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've built up some base strength with the basics above you can start to branch out. One can take many routes and specializations, but here are some good overall 'first picks' beyond the basic gym tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=FatGripz&amp;amp;view=detailv2&amp;amp;&amp;amp;id=DF53C5140FBE00F47E717C7180360258BB51E948&amp;amp;selectedIndex=8&amp;amp;ccid=GyffghfN&amp;amp;simid=608050212135504564&amp;amp;thid=OIP.M1b27df8217cdbc2e113d4a8f3a9c6708o0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FatGripz&lt;/a&gt;/Thick bar - attachable fatgripz are an economical way to add an open hand challenge to lifting a barbell. Padded PVC pipe also works for weights under 60kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Loadable%20pinch%20block%20&amp;amp;view=detailv2&amp;amp;&amp;amp;id=41130544BDEE6523CB85E889361D1F6ECA086FBE&amp;amp;selectedIndex=3&amp;amp;ccid=HCLXkeYc&amp;amp;simid=608036236319851676&amp;amp;thid=OIP.M1c22d791e61c4dfe7e83974a903d8d31o0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Loadable pinch block&lt;/a&gt; w/loading pin - allows smaller increments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Block%20weights&amp;amp;view=detailv2&amp;amp;&amp;amp;id=B3584EFCE91C3DAE65EE3C32E632E033CA5FBAD8&amp;amp;selectedIndex=0&amp;amp;ccid=FossZurK&amp;amp;simid=607998749836378421&amp;amp;thid=OIP.M168b2c66eaca375e9b8d0803d5451308o0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Block weights&lt;/a&gt; - these are the sawed off ends of hex dumbbells and train your open hand at multiple widths. some alternative options are regular hex dumbbells, a loadable blob, or picking up a stack of 5 or 10lb plates to simulate block weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Gripper%20grip%20training&amp;amp;view=detailv2&amp;amp;&amp;amp;id=6BE5BB0D29328D58596CAF25945817E24B8910C6&amp;amp;selectedIndex=2&amp;amp;ccid=hugDOeM2&amp;amp;simid=608020435133595699&amp;amp;thid=OIP.M86e80339e336b6b6903d511802f41b87o0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gripper&lt;/a&gt; - small portable crush grip training available in fixed or adjustable varieties, see below for more info&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Grip%20machine&amp;amp;view=detailv2&amp;amp;&amp;amp;id=87B94FBF1076F8C9E1C7AE6486B19550A2A1318A&amp;amp;selectedIndex=2&amp;amp;ccid=VUwFwj8e&amp;amp;simid=608000854380906376&amp;amp;thid=OIP.M554c05c23f1e77a6d62a65c8c6c6f1abo0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grip machine&lt;/a&gt; - a bit more costly than grippers but a great plate loadable way to increase crushing strength, advantages include low learning curve and no increasing resistance as you close like you get with gripper springs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pony%20clamp&amp;amp;view=detailv2&amp;amp;&amp;amp;id=7F41B5132F748CEE6A9853B49E999924DFD5EDCE&amp;amp;selectedIndex=1&amp;amp;ccid=7fO8JNUZ&amp;amp;simid=607995120603236885&amp;amp;thid=OIP.Medf3bc24d5199e7c694b500116b24d7eo0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pony clamps&lt;/a&gt; - these spring loaded clamps are a great cheap way to train your dynamic pinch strength (ie your thumb). add and remove regular rubber bands from the clamp to incrementally increase/decrease the resistance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Titan%27s%20Telegraph%20Key&amp;amp;view=detailv2&amp;amp;&amp;amp;id=342DEC7FDAFC7A807E60C09B48A9063FC50196C4&amp;amp;selectedIndex=6&amp;amp;ccid=JrnxVe7B&amp;amp;simid=608000983233399681&amp;amp;thid=OIP.M26b9f155eec1aba77157a3c40c30afc3o0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Titan's Telegraph Key&lt;/a&gt; - a more expensive plateloaded option to train pinch (thumb) strength in a dynamic moving way, the advantage here is an even resistance curve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OF course you can build most of this equipment with some pipe, wood and some plates/water jugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T13:35:15.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32056" CreationDate="2016-09-07T12:34:59.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One “unorthodox” exercise that has somewhat fallen out of favor is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/zottman-curl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zottman Curl&lt;/a&gt;.  And, it’s a shame because it works both the &lt;strong&gt;biceps&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;forearms&lt;/strong&gt;.  You’ll be able to spot a former bodybuilder because he’s the one still doing Zottman curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T12:34:59.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32056" CreationDate="2016-09-07T13:32:11.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find a tree branch, 2-3 inches thick from end to end, and cut it down to about shoulder width.  Get some nylon rope, 1/2 inch thick.  Attach it to the middle of the branch with some fencing staples (U-shaped nails).  Make a loop knot at the end of the rope.  Put the loop knot of the rope through the middle of some 10 lb plates (maybe start w/ 20 lbs total and work your way up as you see fit).  Now slide the branch through the eye of the loop knot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you have the only piece of forearm workout equipment you'll ever need. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hold the branch out in front of you shoulder width, shoulder-height, and parallel to the ground.  With an overhand grip, roll it up until the weights touch the the stick.  Now roll it back down.  Reverse the motion the other way and roll it up again and then back down.  Now do the same thing with an underhand grip (you may find it better to lower the branch to about belly button height with slightly bent elbows).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you can roll it all the way up and back down again in all 4 sets, increase the weight by 10 lbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10329" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T13:32:11.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32061" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-07T14:33:02.763" Score="0" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if the above mentionned watch is suitable for high intensity, specially with bodyweight workouts and shadow boxing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10096" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T14:37:57.570" Title="Garmin Forerunner 225 for High intensity workouts" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-09-07T19:39:44.873" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32061" CreationDate="2016-09-07T14:37:57.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its main feature is that it measures your heart rate and can use it to calculate calories burnt over any exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not as good as using a heart rate monitor strap because it measures at the wrist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, it seems like a pretty good fitness watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T14:37:57.570" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32041" CreationDate="2016-09-07T19:13:15.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most people, the lower back will curve a little bit in a lying down position with straight legs. The reason is, that when the hip is extended, the pelvis will tilt a little bit forward from the weight of the legs. Also, the psoas major attaches to the spine, and does not let the it down when the hips are extended. Bending the knees slightly reduces the extension in the hips and the spine can be flat on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;correct&quot; posture will depend on what your goal is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is to relax fully in a passive way, the best is to put a pillow under the knees. This allows for the spine to relax on the floor, with the abdominals, back, hips, and legs relaxed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rSH6m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rSH6m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Relaxing&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your goal is to exercise, then activate the abdominals and force the spine flat on the floor. Start with the legs 90 degrees from the floor and lower them gradually. Most people will find it very difficult to let the legs below 30 degrees and keep the spine on the floor. This is because the abdominal muscles are not strong enough to keep the hips from tilting from the leverage of the legs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IhCD7.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IhCD7.gif&quot; alt=&quot;uttana padasana 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An extreme version of this is known as the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlDNef_Ztsc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hollow body hold&lt;/a&gt; in gymnastics, with the legs only slightly lifted from the floor, while keeping the spine flat. For most people this is a really difficult position to hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/knt82.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/knt82.png&quot; alt=&quot;hollow body hold&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In yoga, however, it is not necessary that you achieve this level of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; - Expanding this point. In yoga asana, you should always try to remain comfortable and not overly exert yourself. In practice it means, that you should approach the pose gradually. Do not lower your leg so much that your breathing, or spinal alignment is compromised. Do not compare yourself with others, because how difficult it is depends on many factors (your weight, body proportions, level of training etc). The &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; pose for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; might not look exactly like someone elses, so if your leg is higher than shown on pictures/videos then accept that. Gradually increase the time you can hold the pose with ease, and slowly  lower your legs. With time, your body will adapt and the pose will feel much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is usually not a good idea to let the spine off the floor in this pose, because the forces compress the lower back and this can be painful for some people. However, there is a way to do Uttanapadasana with the spine off the floor, which is reasonably safe for the lower back, but it requires that the neck is strong and healty:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/btqUY.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/btqUY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;uttana padasana 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works because the torso is elevated using the head, which reduces the arc in the lower back. Needless to say, this poses a certain risk for the neck, so only do this if your neck is strong enough to support and balance the weight while the neck is extended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2016-09-09T16:03:10.603" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T16:03:10.603" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-07T20:05:41.470" Score="4" ViewCount="3817" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a set of weights 10 pound dumbbells and lift them for about 3 or 4 hours while watching tv on my wide screen primarily game of thrones, star trek and the walking dead does this qualify as exercise or no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23510" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T18:38:45.970" Title="Lifting weights while watching tv does that qualify as exercise" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32065" CreationDate="2016-09-07T20:30:51.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's good that you've decided to exercise with weights, the real answer to your question can only be found in the amount of &lt;strong&gt;effort&lt;/strong&gt; you expend while you perform each movement.  Some would argue that the distraction of the tv would reduce your effort, and, there's probably some truth to that.  While others will say that at least you're doing some physical activity.  I, personally, find using a tv as a distraction while performing aerobics (rowing) helps keep my mind off the pain and effort I feel when pushing myself for more gains.  But, at the same time, I fully understand that the tv is for &quot;background noise&quot; and &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; to be used to grab my attention.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, you're the only one that can decide whether watching tv and exercising is of any value to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-09-07T20:37:04.057" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T20:37:04.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2986" CreationDate="2016-09-07T21:28:27.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you are cramping isn't necessarily dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's most likely that you are experiencing neuromuscular fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it might not be dehydration, that certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't be staying on top of your hydration, but the cause is most likely simply that you aren't in good enough shape yet to do the work you want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without fail at the beginning of every swim season our pool deck would be littered with swimmers cramping up because they were coming back after a long layoff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19333" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T16:58:22.307" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:58:22.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32065" CreationDate="2016-09-07T23:33:49.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Human mind is not designed to do 2 things at a time. You may have heard people multi-tasking, but in reality, they are just switching focus between 2 things. What they claim as multi-task, is actually jumping back and forth between 2 tasks. As a result, productivity suffers at both ends. This may not apply to your situation fully, but if you are watching TV, you are focusing on the show, not on the workout. I'm not saying there isn't any benefit at all, but not as much as a fully-focused workout regime could deliver. There are also chances you may hurt yourself. I know 10 lbs is not much, but good enough to hurt if you drop them by accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not to take a break from TV while they show those funny ads, and get pumped during that time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-09-08T04:53:12.400" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T04:53:12.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32056" CreationDate="2016-09-08T00:55:21.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from what others have mentioned above, in my own experience, pull-ups help a lot in building forearms.They are quite beneficial in building forearms, because forearms do major work there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T00:55:21.313" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32077" CreationDate="2016-09-08T10:26:43.213" Score="1" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9.2% body fat ,1.80 m and 81 kg and still I have enough fat on my abs...I diet and workout hard I always check to have enough proteins,calories,etc every day.I had 5 months ago 19% body fat and I am thinking maybe that is the problem,maybe I lost body fat too fast? Or am I doing something wrong?I have a 7 day training program and I work my abs 2 day a week and my hips another 2 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T14:25:53.000" Title="Body fat and abs" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-09-08T17:11:09.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32070" CreationDate="2016-09-08T11:03:04.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you get a dexa scan or similar things conducted, bodyfat measure is at best something that can be done with, i dont know, a 5-10% deviation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are likely not sub-10% bodyfat or even remotely close given your own description of your stomach. Either that, or you abs are widely underdeveloped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T11:03:04.697" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32041" CreationDate="2016-09-08T12:30:14.297" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some reason yoga is still being considered physical exercise, although it was never ment to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms (Vrittis) [&lt;a href=&quot;https://archive.org/stream/RajaYogaAndPatanjalisYogaAphorisms/Raja%20Yoga#page/n51/mode/2up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is explained as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;yoga essentially consists of meditative practices culminating in attaining a state of consciousness free from all modes of active or discursive thought, and of eventually attaining a state where consciousness is unaware of any object external to itself, that is, is only aware of its own nature as consciousness unmixed with any other object [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iep.utm.edu/yoga/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a school of thought, philosophical school (whatever you want to call it) and body physique is just a by-product of application of special tools (asanas) to attain special state of mind. You can equate asanas to prayers in Christianity, for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are just exercising, naturally do whatever requires the most muscle straining to either build muscles (although yoga is extremely inefficient in this regard compared to weight lifting) or stretch them, whatever your goals are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to practice yoga as philosophical school then provided you have proper theoretical knowledge, start with the asanas where you have to actively focus on performing them, because this will help you silence your &quot;inner dialogue&quot;. Relaxation asanas in yoga are actually considered to be quite difficult to perform with shavasana widely considered to be the most difficult and demanding asana in yoga. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, yoga lacks the knowledge of term &quot;proper form&quot; as weight lifting has it. There is &quot;canonical form&quot; that you try to achieve gradually as your body becomes more and more accustomed to this or that asana. But the primary idea is that you have to feel comfortable in an asana without any pain or excessive straining. As long as you can hold the resemblance of the form and do the &quot;mental&quot; work (the real goal of yoga) you are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18959" LastEditorUserId="18959" LastEditDate="2016-09-08T12:43:22.297" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T12:43:22.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-08T12:49:54.233" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been following Mark Rippetoe's program and training exclusively with heavy compound lifts. In his book, he advocates application of Valsalva manoeuvre during heavy lifts. But I was not able to find a step by step guide how to properly perform it (except just &quot;Take a deep breath and hold it&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence the question, what is the proper of way of performing Valsalva manoeuvre?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the way I do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inhale and exhale deeply 3-4 times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a deep belly breath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue inhaling filling up the lungs now&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close the glotis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform the lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exhale&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat steps 1 through 6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there is really anything else to it, but maybe I'm still missing something. For example, I'm not sure if I'm locking the pressure correctly, because during the heaviest lifts I get a feeling that the pressure from the abdominal cavity &quot;leaks&quot; into my head and I get a feeling as if a balloon is being inflated in my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18959" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T22:31:58.087" Title="What is the proper way of performing the Valsalva manoeuvre" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="344" CreationDate="2016-09-08T13:29:04.247" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Train every week. AM 13YEARS old and i used to run 26s in the 200m but after after  3 week of training i ran 24.14 am still 13 though. I ALSO made it to junior champions ship. All i can say is never give up. When you train and your legs are dying just do one more sprint thats when you improve. At the start of the race run about 85 to 90% of speed when you get to the turn run full speed cause your body can run a faster 150m race. Keep your head down the first 20m and ac accelerate.&#xA;Good luck. May god be with ya&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23519" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T13:29:04.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32070" CreationDate="2016-09-08T14:25:53.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just quit the whole body fat mentality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This advice of mine is really generic but you can take some benefits from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the main reason could be that you're dieting wrong, or as someone suggested your abs are underdeveloped. Or you could be genetically prone to lose belly fat later than the other regions of your body ( and with this there's nothing you can do ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're basically asking if you're doing something wrong. Probably even your training regimen could be flawed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High volumes of training during these phases are detrimental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I advice you to go back to a bulking phase a study a better plan for next dieting window. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T14:25:53.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-08T14:45:27.647" Score="0" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 16, 6'1 and I weigh 132 pounds. I have checked and this is under what I should weigh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently go to a gym every other day. I'm looking to gain a bit more weight, muscle and hopefully a 6 pack. I am tall but skinny. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot do some exercise due to I have hypermobility. But I can do most as long as I remember not to lock my arms or legs out. Due to this, I cannot do some arm workouts, is there other exercise that will build muscle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23522" LastEditorUserId="23522" LastEditDate="2016-09-08T15:25:19.843" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T16:04:37.937" Title="How can I gain more weight and a 6 pack?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-09-08T17:10:34.660" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32078" CreationDate="2016-09-08T15:44:20.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in a very similar situation to you at your age. One thing you have to understand is your metabolism is likely at or close to it's peak right now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining weight is as simple as more calories in then calories out. I would suggest counting your calories for a few days and seeing how many you're currently eating per day. Then try adding 250 per day(preferably healthy calories, but at your age/size it doesn't really matter). Once you are doing that comfortably, try adding another 250 per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for working out, try focusing on compound movements and low rep ranges. For example, deadlifts, squats, and bench press are very good compound movements. Try to hit around 4-8 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even this you can't expect to gain a lot of weight quick. About 0.5 lbs per week is sustainable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if you have any other questions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23523" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T15:44:20.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32087" CreationDate="2016-09-08T17:18:42.073" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I follow reddit's bodyweight fitness and have been doing it on and off for a few years. However, it was only this year that I have been seriously doing it with only a couple months of break this summer due to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am noticeably stronger than before. I have moved most of my exercises to rings and I've gained considerable weight. Just as a reference of my current level, I now do 3 sets of ring pushups at low reps(5-8). I'm 6' and 175lb and from appearance I may be around 24% bmi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still feel pretty good progression on my workout and feel confident that I can gain more mass as long as I eat well. However, I am getting slightly put off by the extra fat. Is this time for me to cut? Am I still considered a beginner in the sense that I can lose fat and gain muscle at a TDEE deficit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for diet I'm not calorie counting but I have been taking effort to maximize my protein intake. I also have a good feel of how much food I am eating and can generally control my calorie intake +/-500 relatively ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal isn't to be extremely buff but be fit and lean but not skinny. I think 15% bmi is my ultimate goal, just have some ab definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2119" LastEditorUserId="2119" LastEditDate="2016-09-08T17:28:41.813" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T06:39:58.170" Title="No longer an absolute beginner, unsure of diet" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-08T19:46:12.163" Score="2" ViewCount="1934" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, especially after I deadlift, the prospect of pulling the plates off the bar and carrying (rolling) them back to their place seems an unpleasant chore.  I work out in my garage, so leaving the weight on the bar does not inconvenience anyone but myself.  I don't leave it racked, I feel like a loaded barbell lying on the ground should not be under tension, and should be fine. Are there other concerns I'm failing to consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16458" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T01:05:14.810" Title="Will leaving weight on my bar when I'm done damage it?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32082" CreationDate="2016-09-08T21:11:19.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When on the ground the load on the bar is negligible. Since you asked to consider all concerns then you should know that when you have dissimilar metals in contact one of them can experience accelerated galvanic corrosion. How pronounced the effect depends on the specific materials in your equipment and your basements conditions &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.galvanizeit.org/design-and-fabrication/design-considerations/dissimilar-metals-in-contact&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dissimilar Metals in Contact Chart&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23382" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T21:11:19.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32082" CreationDate="2016-09-09T00:38:41.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It won't do much damage to the bar. The bar is your case supported on 2 ends, rather than it's weight distributed all along it's length. Bar is just 45 lbs, and it's not carrying any additional weight, when the plates touch the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, if you rack the weights on a bench press bar raised above the ground by the support, the load on the bar would be immense, which is equal to the bar's load and load of the plates. The concept of moments in physics applies to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-09-09T00:44:44.707" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T00:44:44.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32081" CreationDate="2016-09-09T06:39:58.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really is no correct answer, its entirely down to you. Do you want to look 'ripped'? If so, cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to continue to progress then continue your eating at a slight bulk or look at leangains/clean bulking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your goals I would say you should start a cut, when you can see your muscles more then consider if you should continue to a low bodyfat percentage or bulk back up and build more muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T06:39:58.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-09T12:05:42.250" Score="0" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to loose weight for a while but have had pretty limited success.  I lost a couple of kg's earlier in the year by cutting calories, but nothing since. Details below: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My latest regime is a two day fast (with tea and filter coffee with milk) and 4 days 20 minute kettle bell snatch x 2 (40 mins a day) 15 mins on 15 mins rest.  My weight is staying around 64 - 65kg (target 56kg). I've been on the new regime for 4 weeks with no difference, I'm trying to work out what I could do next, or whether I should just wait it out some more and see.  I definitely feel better, stronger and more toned, I just wish the tape measure or scales would move!  On a side note - maybe the tape measure did move a little - it's actually really hard to measure accurately and the differences are so small. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say on my non fasting days I generally eat yoghurt or omlettes with quark cheese for breakfast.  Lunch is savory yoghurt with soft boiled eggs, omlettes, turkey mince with eggs and cabbage, sardines on rye bread, peas and paneer... that kinda thing.  I'm supposed to eat low histamine, but I struggle, plus I love fish, so I guess maybe I have inflammation from the reactions a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do eat out a couple of times a week - pretty much every meal on a saturday and takeout midweek and sometimes on a sunday , alcohol is no more than two glasses of dry white or gin and tonic 0 - 1 times a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't sleep especially well, I'm a light sleeper, I'm trying to limit screen time before bed.  My room is by a noisy road and I have sensitive ears so can't use ear plugs.  I'm a pretty stressed person, but working on it.  So I know those don't help.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips or advice would be appreciated. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23533" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T13:08:32.117" Title="No weight loss despite exercise and fasting" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-09-12T21:54:55.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32065" CreationDate="2016-09-09T18:38:45.970" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any kind of sustained physical exertion could be regarded as &quot;exercise,&quot; but the real question is, is it &lt;strong&gt;productive&lt;/strong&gt; exercise for your desired fitness goals?  Is the intensity, duration, and mechanics consistent with what you want to achieve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, consider the safety issues of such a thing.  Any kind of exercise program should be practiced with mindfulness toward the activity, especially any kind of weight training, to avoid injury.  Ideally, you should not be distracted from mentally observing your motion and form.  Lapses in attention are potentially dangerous, even with 10 pound weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you may discover that, overall, it is more productive and enjoyable to separate your leisure activities from you training activities, because if you focus on each one separately, you will find you spend less time exercising to gain at least as much, if not more, in terms of your fitness goals, and you will be able to pay full attention to your television programs.  In a way, just like it is important to be mindful during training, it is also important to be mindful during entertainment, because this creates a more immersive experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T18:38:45.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32093" CreationDate="2016-09-09T18:45:12.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a Doctor or a dietitian/Nutritionist here, but going by logic only reason you would target 56Kg is to satisfy a BMI index value. if not you should check that out. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a link&lt;/a&gt;! to calculate it.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;(you did not mention height so i reverse looked up the BMI table)&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;so a height of 5'3&quot; is ok with 141 pounds or 64Kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to your question why are you not losing weight there could be many factors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are gaining bone and muscle mass. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailyburn.com/life/health/why-am-i-gaining-weight-exercising/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;net calorie intake is more than expended &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;body is adapting and storing energy ( considering your fasting)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you work with a dietitian/Nutritionist and work out a diet plan and meditation may help with stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23535" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T18:45:12.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32099" CreationDate="2016-09-09T19:56:09.673" Score="1" ViewCount="509" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the pros and cons of using a grid vs. flat foam roller?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00KAEJ3VI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example of a flat foam roller&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5pPgn.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5pPgn.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0040EKZDY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example of a grid foam roller&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SyxRx.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SyxRx.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T20:43:40.517" Title="Grid vs. flat foam rollers" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;foam-rolling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32097" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-09-09T19:57:24.823" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2016-09-09T19:57:24.823" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T19:57:24.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32098" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-09-09T19:57:24.823" Score="0" Body="Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique that is used by athletes and physical therapists to inhibit overactive muscles." OwnerUserId="3806" LastEditorUserId="3806" LastEditDate="2016-09-12T13:23:54.800" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T13:23:54.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32096" CreationDate="2016-09-09T20:43:40.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Initially, this is a matter of taste. If you haven't foam rolled before, then it can hurt. In that case, the first one distributes the weight more, and will be less painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to reap the real rewards of foam rolling, then you should be doing it with the gridded one, because it will dig deeper into and between the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, when you're more used to it, I highly, HIGHLY recommend advancing to the rumble roller, which focuses the pressure even more for that real massage feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LhrSM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LhrSM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the only cons you need to consider is pain. If one is too painful, go to a softer/flatter one. But the pros of the grid roller and rumble roller are that they give more reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T20:43:40.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32093" CreationDate="2016-09-10T01:07:59.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, let's focus on nutrition. That's the real key in weight management. Exercise helps, but since it's hard to really estimate calories burned by that (because of variability in the workouts, like form or intensity) let's just assume you want to lose weight only with nutrition (which is completely doable). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But before that a little quick note about measuring progress.&#xA;Weight and tape measurements it's a pretty good combo to measure changes, but it's not all down to that, don't forget the mirror. So take pictures of you with less clothing possible from a couple of angles once a month, you could spot changes that the scale or the tape can't tell you. You could have changed by now without knowing! Also: weight it's an immediate measure which is subjected to water fluctuations, bowel movements and such. You don't have to focus about your weight, you have to focus about your trend weight. You have to figure out if you are, in a reasonable amount of time, losing, stalling or gaining weight. There are a couple of apps that helps you with that. Wake up, use the bathroom and weigh in, then log the weight. You'll have a trend soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But let's assume again, that you are indeed stalling and not making visual progress. Weight management is all about energy, or calories in / calories out. Nutrition is not THIS simple, but if you are, for the moment, just trying to figure out how to lose weight, this assumption is all you need to know for now. So your expenditure of the week (all your steps, workouts, any activity plus your basal metabolic rate that you naturally burn by just being alive) is compensated by your intake, which is all you drink or eat. There's no escape from that. So we have to either increase the expenditure or decrease the intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step would be: figure out how much are you actually eating. Portion size is everything! Sauces adds a lot of stealthy calories too, and drinks too. I'm sorry if this looks boring, but if you are serious about it logging everything you eat or drink in an app will definitely help you.  Log everything you eat or drink (that contains calories) there, eat normally for a week or two and you'll have an idea of your average daily intake. From that you start again to log everything you eat but this time you aim to lower your average daily intake by 300-500 kcals. This will create in your body all the conditions needed to lose weight, even if you'll see fluctuations you'll see a clear, straight trend line that tells you are actually losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating out will be a problem with this method: you can't really figure out the kcals of a meal just by looking at it. You should try to work around it.&#xA;You can keep the alcohol in moderation, try to stick to liquors which are less sugary (less kcals). If you want to really keep fasting just make sure of adjusting the kcals in the non fasting days and keep a look at portion sizes, it's easy to overeat when you come back from a fast (I've fasted several times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23538" LastActivityDate="2016-09-10T01:07:59.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-10T05:17:09.853" Score="0" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's this long going notion that you cannot re-shape a muscle through trainig: what do you think about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T21:57:35.023" Title="Is it really possible to re-shape a muscle?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;shape&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32103" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-10T07:35:44.367" Score="7" ViewCount="3070" Body="&lt;p&gt;What will happen if i weightlift using a bar with has 8kgs on one side and nothing on the other side of the bar? Will it affect my body? If it affects, what will be the impacts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23539" LastActivityDate="2018-04-02T22:06:51.597" Title="Weight-lifting with unbalanced loads" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32103" CreationDate="2016-09-10T08:44:02.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the exercise but I wouldn't recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you can develop &lt;strong&gt;muscular imbalances&lt;/strong&gt;. Second thing, you could actually injury yourself due to uneven load on passive structures ( ligaments and joints ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only case in which you can use different loads is &lt;strong&gt;in isolated circumstances&lt;/strong&gt; due to a recover from an injury. For exemple you are using a leg extensor machine first with one leg and then with the other leg that is actually recovering from an injury or vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loading the barbell with highly uneven load in some cases will cause you majour balance issues and make impossibile to perform the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-10T08:44:02.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32103" CreationDate="2016-09-10T16:27:05.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;An asymmetrical load on a rigid barbell will move the center of mass to the end with the greatest load. Such asymmetrical loading is generally considered unsafe and inefficient, especially involving the spine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You always want an even distribution of the load. If you have muscle imbalances, you should in most cases continue to do regular exercises with an appropriate load and perfect execution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2016-09-10T16:27:05.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-11T00:34:03.770" Score="5" ViewCount="616" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fairly reputable yoga instructor with 16 years of experience in various fitness-related roles who claims that increasing range of motion through stretching actually reduces stability. The reasoning is that having looser muscles can actually make you weaker to some degree and even reduce explosive strength. However, after looking through many documented research papers, I have not found any evidence to support this claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23542" LastActivityDate="2020-04-02T20:51:59.600" Title="Is there an inverse relationship between range of motion and stability?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;stability&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32082" CreationDate="2016-09-11T01:05:14.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the building quality of the bar. A normal oly bar is rated for about 400-500kg, so if you leave 100kg on the bar in the squat rack and there is no noticeable bend to it, it's going to be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a quite cheap bar at home, where I frequently leave 90-140kg on it in the squat rack. 7 years later and the bar is still fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T01:05:14.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32107" CreationDate="2016-09-11T12:43:40.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is actually the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;strong&gt;increased health of the fascia&lt;/strong&gt; you will actually get a structure called CRIMP that is found in young and healthy connective tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will garant an optimal transmission of kinetic energy through the muscular-skeletal structure and &lt;strong&gt;improve your stability&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you stretch you do not act only on the myofibrils, but the part of the muscle you modify is the cytoskeleton ( intended as the whole structure ) and the connective tissue ( comprising of tendons ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T12:43:40.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32112" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33577" CreationDate="2016-09-11T14:05:43.447" Score="7" ViewCount="5667" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any research-based list of muscles and muscle groups by their volume or mass, in average men (or even any subset of healthy human population)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easy to find statements like gluteus maximus and quadriceps femoris being among the biggest muscles in the body, but without precise data. With some effort I can also find research such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12012082&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12012082&lt;/a&gt; for specific muscles and extract basic information such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_abdominis_muscle#Size&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_abdominis_muscle#Size&lt;/a&gt; (from 3 papers):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's typically around 10 mm thick (compared to 20 mm thick superficial fat),[2] or 20 mm thick in young athletes such as handball players.[3] Typical volume is around 300 cm³ in non-active indivuals, or almost 500 cm³ in athletes (tennis players).[4]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't however find an overview. Any suggestion? Another question asks about &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/22260/average-muscle-breakdown-by-percentage-by-weight-of-the-total&quot;&gt;relative size with a focus on upper vs. lower body&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18233" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T16:19:19.340" Title="List of muscles by volume in average man" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;measurements&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="37362" CreationDate="2016-09-11T18:06:11.583" Score="5" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running on trails for almost five years now. On my high school cross country team, we had a historic rule of thumb: Running at X-minutes per mile pace on trails requires the same amount of energy as running at (X-1)-minute pace on roads, for most reasonable paces (6:00-9:00 pace, in general).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read quite a few articles, and all seem to support the idea that trail running requires more energy. It makes sense; uneven surfaces are a lot more challenging to run on than flatter, even surfaces. However, I haven't found anything to support our rule of thumb - that is, that the difference in energy usage is so drastic. Have studies shown that running on trails consumes as much energy as running a minute faster per mile on roads, or is the difference less drastic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My primary motivation for asking is that I've continued to run trails in college; as in high school, I run in a relatively hilly area. We run quite a bit more on roads than I did in high school, and so as I run higher mileage, I'm trying to figure out if I should run this much slower on trails in order to maintain a constant of effort in my training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23546" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T14:44:51.933" Title="Does running on trails require substantially more energy than running on roads?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32103" CreationDate="2016-09-11T23:23:32.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea of weightlifting is to have balanced range of motion, and have equal distribution of the load. When you alter the balance, your body has to do extra work on any particular side to work through the imbalance. It's unsafe and could lead to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like any side of your body is weak, you need to work on both sides to get stronger. If left arm is weaker, do isolation exercises and you may add more reps, but curling with a barbel with more load on the left is not going to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T23:23:32.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32107" CreationDate="2016-09-11T23:29:14.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The reasoning is that having looser muscles can actually make you weaker to some degree and even reduce explosive strength.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is simply not true. Flexible, and loose are 2 different thing. Flexible means how easily your parts move away from the zero potential, and back. A loaded spring is flexible, but does it lose it's explosive power? No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ask me for an example, I'd suggest check the person named &quot;Elliot Hulse&quot;. He believes in the importance of range of motion to avoid injury and increase muscle memory. He won a strong man competition in 2009 where you need explosive strength as well as flexibility, especially while moving those atlas stones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you'll be fine. I'd say full range of motion would rather do you good. After all, you wouldn't like to have a body that's too rigid to even move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T23:29:14.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32102" CreationDate="2016-09-12T01:20:59.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reshaping, or re-sculpting or chiseling the look of the muscles are done in various ways. First, reduction of fat. What looks like reshaping, is actually loss of fat and gain of muscles, but yes, when you have peaks on your bicep, that's a whole different story. In short, yes, whether chest, or arms, working out different sets of muscles with varied load, technique  and intensity would definitely reshape them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T01:20:59.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2016-09-12T07:08:29.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you get proper coaching and feedback on technique, &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;. You will develop bad habits and likely hurt your hands/wrists by doing improper technique while working the bag. Hand wrap technique and proper gloves as well as boxing basics are needed, otherwise you have a high chance of hurting yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T07:08:29.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-12T10:30:05.893" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live at south of Spain and we have extremely hot summers. Because of that I did almost any exercise during 3 mounts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I practice long sword fencing and we did some training last Sunday and I noticed that I have lost a lot of fitness and what is worse muscular endurance. After few minutes of combat I could barely rise my arms. The problem is that we have a big event in two weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to gain muscular endurance in such sort time ? what kind of exercises I should do ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18793" LastEditorUserId="18793" LastEditDate="2016-09-12T11:25:39.100" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T13:23:12.417" Title="It is possible to gain muscular endurance in two weeks?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2016-09-12T21:54:15.793" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-12T11:12:25.453" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a condition which does not allow you to have a too low glucose level, how can you lower your fat percentage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I do that by gaining more muscle? (I.e. since my body will be consuming  more calories, will my body weight stabilize at a lower number with the same blood glucose level?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T05:41:53.473" Title="Losing fat without low blood glucose" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32093" CreationDate="2016-09-12T13:02:32.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fasting is not the answer to weight loss. Fasting results in fat storage. Stay clean/natural in what you eat. use an online calorie/macro-nutrient calculator to find the amount of carbs, protein, and fat. Also, remember that strength workouts combined with high intensity cardio intervals are the best way to burn fat/calories for long term. cardio alone does not burn fat for longer than the actual exercise lasts. Finally, cut your eating out down to once a week and make sure not to eat the entire thing, save some leftovers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(just so you know, I am not professional, this is just information i have picked up after a lot of studying health and fitness)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23549" LastEditorUserId="23549" LastEditDate="2016-09-12T13:08:32.117" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T13:08:32.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32120" CreationDate="2016-09-12T13:23:12.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possibile but not that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two weeks are yet only two weeks. Your case has a problem: that you've been inactive for a long period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't provide a tremendous amount of workload just from nowhere; you must at least restart the machine and try to acquire all lost physical skills ( flexibility, strenght, and conditional capacities ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also depends on you as individual and how you tolerate training loads and how your body responds to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T13:23:12.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32102" CreationDate="2016-09-12T21:57:35.023" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you can't change the shape of your muscles without injury or surgery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can change the size, which can change the appearance, but if you have a biceps with a short muscle belly and a long tendon, (So that your bicep peak doesn't reach to the inside of your elbow), you can't change that shape, it's genetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example is your abdominals, the connective tissue that forms the &quot;x pack&quot; bulges is genetic. You may have 3, you might have 8, or whatever, but you can't change that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T21:57:35.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32129" CreationDate="2016-09-13T07:55:50.653" Score="9" ViewCount="10455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always wondered ,I played volleyball for some years and I saw my reflexes on the field improve amazingly,my brain could process the information faster.But outside of the field my reflexes were not better than other people in normal tasks.For example reacting to a accident,or catching a phone that slipped from the table.&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:Is there a way to improve your brain reactions/reflexes generally?Any exercises to improve them?&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you can do certain exercises to improve them because It's a skill and any skill can normally be improved.&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I should ask this question on this SE site but I got no idea where to ask it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="23220" LastEditDate="2016-09-13T14:03:09.437" LastActivityDate="2017-02-12T18:12:14.363" Title="Is there a way you can you improve your reflexes and reactions generally?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;&lt;brain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32128" CreationDate="2016-09-13T13:34:02.447" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reflexes can be improved for SPECIFIC actions. The rules of thumb are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you react to stimuli, you strengthen neural pathways responsible for that action. In addition to that, you take out the element of &quot;decision making&quot; since your mind now immediately knows how to react. For example, you can train yourself to automatically block a round-house kick and follow up with a front kick counter. The more you do this, the faster it will be. This does NOT carry over to any other situations. In other words:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A soccer player, for example, can improve his running or kicking, and in the process, his knee jerk might get faster. But those kinds of improvements are specific to the activity. A soccer player's feet and legs might develop faster nerve conduction than average. But if that same soccer player were to engage in a contest of finger speed with a classical pianist, the pianist would win, hands down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The real key to reaction time is practice. By repeating the same&#xA;  movements, you make them almost automatic. That's why professional&#xA;  baseball players can dive to catch a sizzling line drive. And it’s&#xA;  also why once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&amp;amp;ContentID=562&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&amp;amp;ContentID=562&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your mind has multiple avenues of action (counter with round-house or counter with grab leg and sweep), your reaction time SLOWS down, because your mind has to decide between two well conditioned alternatives, and that takes time. I don't know if this was discovered by, but it's well understood in the SOF community, since seconds count, so they try to figure out what slows them down if, say, their primary jams - do they clear the malfunction, go for their sidearm, etc?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is some evidence that video games &quot;increase reflexes&quot;, but it seems to have to do with mental processing, not actual reflex speed. See here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/22692/do-video-games-improve-reflexes-reaction-time&quot;&gt;https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/22692/do-video-games-improve-reflexes-reaction-time&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, reflexes slow down with age, but apparently it can be reversed to some degree. From the same article as above (though without any &quot;why&quot;):&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reflexes do slow with age. Physical changes in nerve fibers slow the speed of conduction. And the parts of the brain involved in motor control lose cells over time. But the effect of age on reflexes and reaction time varies tremendously from person to person. You can actually slow down — even reverse — the effects of aging by staying physically active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Remember the saying: If you don't use it, you'll lose it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, this is a very good and important question. Reflexes fall into two categories - reflexive action with little processing, and more complicated actions involving a lot of mental processing. The actual speed with which signals travel &quot;to muscles&quot; cannot be improved. It is speculated to be somewhat genetic and faster in shorter people, simply due to nerve length, but I would imagine the difference is minuscule considering the speeds we are dealing with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, I am pretty discontent with this answer and hope we can discuss it more. What I wrote is true, but I feel like it's just scratching the surface of the topic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16841" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:42.333" LastActivityDate="2017-02-12T18:12:14.363" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32132" CreationDate="2016-09-13T17:04:46.183" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get a better mobility and flexibility. A first goal I have is touching my feet with outstretched legs. Also, I want to be able to lift the outstretched leg into a horizontal position while standing upright. How can I accomplish that? Is it effective to do a stretching workout on one day a week? Or is it better to stretch before a 'normal' workout? I really appreciate any help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23495" LastActivityDate="2016-09-13T22:25:06.257" Title="How can I get a better mobility and flexibility?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32130" CreationDate="2016-09-13T22:18:25.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of activities you can do.  You can do activities where the flexibility is a by-product, and important to the activity, but not the main goal, itself - dance, yoga, martial arts are a few obvious candidates.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to improve your flexibility, at all, stretching once a week won't cut it.  If you want to drastically improve it, daily is more like it.  Maybe you could see some decent improvements with every other day, but much less than that probably won't do much of anything for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are exercising with other activities more active or &quot;ballistic,&quot; movements as part of the warmup are okay.  Traditional static stretching before a workout is pretty useless and actually increases the likelihood of injury.  That kind of stretching is much more beneficial as part of your post-activity warm-down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My daughter is flexible to the contortionist level.  She says she spends about 45 minutes every evening exclusively doing stretching/flexibility work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2016-09-13T22:25:06.257" LastActivityDate="2016-09-13T22:25:06.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32136" CreationDate="2016-09-14T00:45:22.850" Score="12" ViewCount="5819" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have bought a weight vest, 10kg. I am wondering if it will help me burn more fat during a bike riding? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logically, it makes sense, but someone told me our body would become used to this new body weight and adjust itself accordingly so that this increase in calorie burning will gradually wear off over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23462" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T09:47:34.773" Title="Would wearing a weight vest increase my calorie burn during bike riding?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32133" CreationDate="2016-09-14T06:14:27.463" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;What they told you actually make sense in some contexts. The only way you could consume less calories with added physiological work is if you develop economicity in your motor skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be more clear, architecture of &lt;strong&gt;type I fibers&lt;/strong&gt; allow you to produce less power stroke in the architecture of sliding filaments but at longer leghts compared to type II fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this you can actually mantain a certain pace exploiting the viscous properties of the type I fibers along with their architecture and their chemical features ( phosphorylated ATP stays longer on type I myosin heads as ADP, that's one key characteristic that make these fibers less susceptibles to stretch/strain and suitable to work at higher lenghts ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the moment you add weight to yourself, you actually will do more physiological work no matter what.&#xA;The fact that you can develp efficiency doesn't mean you will consume the same amount of calories no matter how much work and weight you add to your routine; this just make no logical sense at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding 10kg to yourself will not help you burn more fat, or anything else. Burning fat is for a large part depends on the actual total time or/and intensity of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could go at a &lt;strong&gt;low intensity for a very long amount of time&lt;/strong&gt;, and you will burn fats ( this is highly variable upon individuals and training level/muscle cell phenotypization ).&#xA;Or you could go at a &lt;strong&gt;high intensity&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;strong&gt;intermittent intervals&lt;/strong&gt; and build a very big EPOC that will help you burn fats while you recover ( remember that &lt;em&gt;RER - Respiratory Exchange Ratio&lt;/em&gt;, drops at &lt;strong&gt;0.7&lt;/strong&gt; after high intesity exercise ); for this, is better dynamic exercise ( like cycling ) instead of static exercise ( like weightlifting ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T06:14:27.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32133" CreationDate="2016-09-14T06:20:04.983" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on the distance you are biking. Always use the physics behind every workout, to calculate the load, or calorie burn. In your example, you are adding 10 kgs to the weight of you bike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are biking on a flat surface, majority of the work is done is against friction between the road and bike's tires. The force of friction is uR where u is the coefficient of friction and R is normal reaction, which is your weight+ that of bike and added 10 kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work done is force x displacement, so any added weight is going to make it count when it comes to calorie burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when you go uphill, you are doing work not only against friction, but the downward pull due to the gravity as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body may become used to it in time, but by the time it will be in better shape than what you started with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-09-15T00:34:55.650" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T00:34:55.650" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32138" CreationDate="2016-09-14T07:09:01.303" Score="0" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 33 years old now. 3 years ago I had good muscular body with 65 kg weight and used to go gym regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three years ago I got married, and my life got changed. I gained 15 kg weight, huge belly fat. Also thanks to my software IT job, now my weight is 80 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm thinking of joining gym to lose weight. My aim is to lose at least 10 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my friend suggested me that, it's better that I start running every morning on roads/garden rather than joining gym which is going to cost me 4-5% of my monthly saving. And in India, even good gyms have really dumb, 10th class pass trainers, who don't even know spelling of diet and believe in spot reduction. So it's useless to join gym for trainer's help here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm worried that, only running+dieting is going to reduce/lose my muscles as well, for which I have worked very very hard in last 3 to 6 years by joining gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still I think joining gym will help me build muscles or at least not lose them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it worth for me to join gym and exercising Strength+Cardio+Diet to gain muscle or at least not lose them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4568" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-09-14T07:22:21.290" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T07:22:21.290" Title="Can I gain muscle(or at least stop losing muscles I have) at age 33 by going to gym and targeting weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32137" CreationDate="2016-09-14T07:21:14.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to become more muscular, you'll have to lift weights. Cardio won't do that for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you have all the muscles you want, and just want to lose fat, then you can focus mainly on cardio, but there should be a weighted component to your training if you wish to keep all the muscle mass that you have. But if you just want to maintain, and not grow the muscle mass, you really don't need to go to the gym. You can get a good maintaining workout program by just using bodyweight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/what-exercises-can-i-perform-to-reduce-my-belly-fat&quot;&gt;What exercises should I perform to reduce fat on a specific area of my body?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T07:21:14.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32141" CreationDate="2016-09-14T07:23:32.773" Score="7" ViewCount="745" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lactate inflection point (a.k.a. Lactate Threshold), is the exercise intensity at which the blood concentration of lactate and/or lactic acid begins to exponentially increase. Often expressed as 85% of maximum heart rate or 75% of maximum oxygen intake. When exercising at or below the LT, any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a view to improving cycling/running times when working at that lactate threshold point, could specific training help improve my lactate threshold over time? If so, what type of training would be best suited?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T01:26:07.837" Title="Can I train to improve my Lactate Threshold?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;lactate-threshold&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32142" CreationDate="2016-09-14T09:37:48.437" Score="2" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exercises are good to train the external oblique and serratus anterior muscles from beginner to advanced exercises?I am interested mostly in isolated exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T09:53:12.883" Title="How to train your external oblique and serratus anterior?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32139" CreationDate="2016-09-14T09:53:02.367" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all we have to look at what you need in terms of real conditional capacities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lactate thresholds have been used to asses one's &lt;strong&gt;endurance capacities&lt;/strong&gt; related to many sports such as cycling, running or swimming.&#xA;What you are asking is basically if you can improve the delay in onset of lactate accumulation that is &lt;em&gt;correlated&lt;/em&gt; ( not cause ) with the &lt;strong&gt;aerobic-to-anaerobic energy system transition&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Problems of the thresholds&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We must understand first of all what we are referring to when we talk about &lt;strong&gt;LT&lt;/strong&gt; ( &lt;em&gt;Lactate Threshold&lt;/em&gt; ). For exemple, your wikipedia extract is not precise in describing effectively what Lactate Threshold is or are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;85% of %HRmax and 75% of VO2max are still only general measures that are based on general indications aswell; these measures have been shown to coincide with the &lt;em&gt;anaerobic thresold&lt;/em&gt; in some, but not all individuals (expecially adv. athletes ) and I'm not going to take these indicators in consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To focus only on LT, there are two thresholds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one is called &lt;em&gt;Aerobic Threshold&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;strong&gt;AT&lt;/strong&gt;), and the second one is called &lt;em&gt;Anaerobic Threshold&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;strong&gt;ANT&lt;/strong&gt;) ; even for the AT there is a general observation that put it in correlation with the 50% of VO2max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The AT is considered the upper limit of the exclusive aerobic mechanism usage ( this doesnt mean that glycolysis does not occur ), while ANT is considered the upper limit after which the anaerobic system become more and more consistent and the body relies more on a glycolitic/fast type metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what we want is to consider ANT to answer your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Yes you can improve your ANT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several protocols of training for improving ANT. On top of that a big body of research over the years has accumulated work that shows how the ANT can be found at different lactate concentration in blood ( ranging from 2 up to 10 mmol/L )[&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7333753&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;-&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10862542&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This however do not correlate with performance. When you improve your ANT you actually have a shift of this limit upward thowards the exerted power ( it means you can exert more power and sustain more intense workload without the accumulation of further lactate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens because you have improved your aerobic capabilities, but I won't get in depth in this argument just because it would lead to an enormous Off Topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to improve your Lactate Threshold (ANT)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It largely depends on your sport but the key thing you have to keep in mind is that you must target what you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can perform in two different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training your CVS ( cardio vascular system ) or Central Training&lt;/strong&gt;: This is done by putting volume in the equation; just accumulate volume following a linear fashion periodization ( high volume that will decrease over time ) and at an intensity slightly lower than ANT.&#xA;You can actually also follow a &lt;em&gt;Non Linear periodization&lt;/em&gt; style, but this is really up yo tou. The key is to actually accumulate volume that will lead to central adaptation of your CVS at a slightly lower intensity than your ANT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training your muscles enzymatic capacity and overall buffer capacity or Pheripheral Training&lt;/strong&gt;: this part of the training will lead your body to broader adaptation in your muscles. You will build more oxydative enzymes like SDH ( &lt;em&gt;succinate de-hydrogenase&lt;/em&gt; ), crucial in oxydative metabolism. You will develop more capillaries and more mitochondria in the muscle.&#xA;This is just a brief sum of the anatomical adaptations. This type of training is performed at &lt;strong&gt;slightly over the ANT&lt;/strong&gt; for prolonged periods of times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically this is it. Periodization advices could be given more in depth if your objective was more specific and in relation to a known sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to asses ANT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of tests to asses the ANT. The main problem here is actually the sport in which you perform. For cycling you want to use a cyclo-ergometer, but for running there are plenty of field tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take in consideration that you want to asses the correlation with speed/power and the time it takes to reach exhaustion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; some good indication on some tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T09:53:02.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32140" CreationDate="2016-09-14T09:53:12.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;ExRx is your friend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obliques: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/WaistWt.html#Obliques&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/WaistWt.html#Obliques&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Serratus Anterior: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ChestWt.html#Anterior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ChestWt.html#Anterior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T09:53:12.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32133" CreationDate="2016-09-14T13:11:16.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't want to debate the correctness of the accepted answer, the heavier you are the more energy you need to invest to build up and maintain speed. However, saying that the majority of the work is done against friction is not correct at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Air Drag&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On a flat road, aerodynamic drag is by far the greatest barrier to a cyclist's speed, accounting for 70 to 90 percent of the resistance felt when pedaling&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/aerodynamics1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bicycles are very inefficient when it comes to Aerodynamics, as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; illustrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23570" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T13:11:16.357" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32128" CreationDate="2016-09-14T14:21:33.557" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because reflexes are automatically programmed, they do not rely on conscious or unconscious brain activity.&#xA;The interaction between reflexive and conscious responses can be more complex.&#xA;In certain situations, a brain-moderated response would be too slow, so reflexes come into play. Reflexes are automatic, hot-wired responses to particular, extreme stimuli. For example, if you pick up a very hot plate, you will probably instantly drop it. But if you pick up a hot plate that is valuable, you might reflexively drop it and, a split second later, consciously catch it. The two responses might vie with each other for a second or two as you juggle the plate while searching for a surface to place it on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the above answer, you may learn to quickly react to certain stimuli, but if you generally want to get better reaction time then I recommend working on your agility(mental and physical) for reaction time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start by &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improving physical agility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improving  your balance. Practice balancing exercises to increase overall agility. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/in_the_gym/workouts/newsid_3160000/3160287.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Visit link for exercises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Run multiple cycles of suicide runs. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Suicide runs are a great way to improve your speed, and ability to&#xA;  switch direction quickly and effectively. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.health.com/2014/08/01/4-fat-burning-exercises-that-improve-your-agility/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do ladder drills. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bench taps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The main objective of agility ladder programs is to promote a wide&#xA;  range of different foot and movement patterns. Through practice these&#xA;  movements will become second nature and the body will be able to&#xA;  respond quickly to various sport specific movement patterns.[&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.brianmac.co.uk/agility.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improving mental agility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat the right breakfast foods. Hard-boiled eggs (vitamin B) to increase verbal and visual performance. Bran cereal (rich in zinc) because Zinc plays a pivotal role in cognitive stability and memory formation. It also improves your skin tone. Antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables, they help with the increase of mental capacity and memory. Small cup of coffee (caffeinated tea) first thing in the morning to improve your mental performance and memory as well as increasing your concentration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eating the right kind of breakfast is one of the primary ways you can&#xA;  boost your focus at the beginning of the day. Dr. Mehmet Oz from The&#xA;  Dr. Oz Show told his audience it is important to consume three foods&#xA;  during breakfast that have been linked to boost your concentration to&#xA;  prevent short term memory. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicaldaily.com/ways-naturally-improve-your-focus-all-day-long-morning-night-249371&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;4&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise during the day.A short workout at any point during the day to increase mental performance. It also helps with mental health and agility by reducing stress, boosting mood improving chemicals in your brain, relieving anxiety, increase relaxations, and increasing creativity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Working out can have positive effects far beyond the gym (and beach&#xA;  season). Gaining self-confidence, getting out of a funk, and even&#xA;  thinking smarter are some of the motivations to take time for exercise&#xA;  on a regular basis. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/mental-health-benefits-exercise_n_2956099.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read more. Reading engages many parts of your brain linked with memory, cognition, and imagination. Reading also improves mood and increases relaxation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reading is a great activity because it can stoke the imagination and&#xA;  ignite so many different parts of the brain. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/mental-fitness#Techniques4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;6&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play games (with friends). Choose those games that require skill and multiple levels of cognition to help improve focus and memory retention. Play the game a few days a week to engage your mind and increase your cognition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Games are a great way to build up your brain muscle. Even fast-paced&#xA;  action video games may boost your ability to learn new tasks,&#xA;  according to a study in the journal Current Biology. The study found&#xA;  tentative evidence that video games may increase your attention span,&#xA;  reaction time, and task-switching ability. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/mental-fitness#Techniques4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;6&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn something new. Learn a new way to complete your normal routine and your everyday tasks. These tasks help your brain create new neural pathways.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to the Alzheimer’s Association, research shows that keeping&#xA;  your brain active increases its vitality. Doing new things in new ways&#xA;  appears to help retain brain cells and connections. It may even&#xA;  produce new brain cells. In essence, breaking out of your routine can&#xA;  help keep your brain stay healthy. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/mental-fitness#Techniques4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;6&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23561" LastEditorUserId="23561" LastEditDate="2016-09-15T13:45:47.570" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T13:45:47.570" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32133" CreationDate="2016-09-14T19:06:19.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated by r41n, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On a flat road, aerodynamic drag is by far the greatest barrier to a&#xA;  cyclist's speed, accounting for 70 to 90 percent of the resistance&#xA;  felt when pedaling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've witnessed several cyclists who wear small, controllable &quot;parachutes&quot; to vastly increase resistance the faster they are going.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9a2VU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9a2VU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bike Parachutes&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, (next to uphill training in mountains), is one of the best &quot;boosts&quot; to your cycling workout, as it is fairly consistent (unlike mountain/hill training, with varying gradients).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23574" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T19:06:19.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-14T20:02:51.300" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to avoid overtraining certain part of my body with respect to other parts, I'd like to maintain a certain equilibrium in my body. What I want is basically a ratio of the weights i should lift with different part of the body. To do a simplistic example with random number: if you do 10 reps at 10 (some weight unit) at the bench press you should be able to do 10 reps at the lat machine at 9. I'm not sure if I've been clear enough. I know there isn't a perfect ratio but there must be something to be around, more or less. If your bodyweight 70 Kg, you bench press 100 kg but you can't do more than 2 pull ups it means you're doing something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for any answer and i hope i made myself clear&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23575" LastEditorUserId="23575" LastEditDate="2016-09-15T10:13:13.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T10:13:13.740" Title="Lifting Ratio between different parts of your body" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-09-20T15:03:09.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-14T23:19:45.667" Score="1" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 53 years old, male, 82 kg and BMI of 26, with an abdominal girth of 100 cm. I am a very skinny person, and frankly, I am ashamed of my muscle size, especially the upper part of my body. I started regular exercise last April, and presently I train every other day by dividing upper and lower body exercise one after another. I got some confidence, built some muscles, lost some abdominal fat and feeling great. However, I think the routines are repetitive for most of the muscle groups, and I wish to have a whole body routine, preferably compound one for three times a week with 60 to 90 minutes per session.  Please look for my current workout routine below.  I prepared this list based on reading different books and online forums. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone recommend a simplified workout based on the attached list or any alternative ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Upper body exercise&#xA;&#xA;    Triceps Dip Machine&#xA;        Straight Bar Cable Tricep Extension&#xA;        Pushdown&#xA;    Back    Lat pulldown&#xA;        Single-Arm Bent Over Row (dumbbell row)&#xA;        Seated Cable Rows&#xA;    Chest   Incline Dumbbell chest  Press&#xA;        Seated Machine Chest Press  &#xA;        Cable Crossover&#xA;    Shoulder    Dumbbell Shoulder Press&#xA;        Dumbbell Upright Row&#xA;        Machine shoulder press&#xA;    Biceps  EZ  bar curl&#xA;        Hammer Curls with Rope&#xA;        Hammer curl&#xA;&#xA;Lower  body exercise    &#xA;    Legs        &#xA;        Leg Press Exercise&#xA;        Seated Leg Curl&#xA;        Leg Extensions&#xA;        dumbbell  lunge&#xA;        Lying Leg Curls&#xA;        Calf Raises&#xA;&#xA;    Abdominals&#xA;        Ab Crunch Machine&#xA;        Cable Crunch&#xA;        Dumbbell Side Bends&#xA;        Flutter kick&#xA;        Plank&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23577" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T07:01:18.147" Title="whole body workout routine, 3 times/ week for a 53 years male" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;compound-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T02:58:15.623" Score="1" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;So let's say today I'm doing back, and biceps. For simplicity, let's assume I want to do 3 different exercises to target by back (Back 1, Back 2, and Back 3), and 3 different exercises to target my biceps (Biceps 1, Biceps 2, and Biceps 3). Let's assume I want to do 4 sets of each exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I arrange them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I'm alternating the exercises to give my muscles a rest. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Repeat until I complete 4 sets for each exercise)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm noticing some people at the gym who instead just do all four sets of one exercise at once and then move to the next. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And so on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some don't even alternate the exercises. They just go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And so on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, which is the right way to organize your sets of exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23500" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T11:57:12.507" Title="What is the best way to arrange your sets at the gym?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-09-20T15:04:40.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T03:39:41.490" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my work out begins, I normally begin strong. For example, I can lift up to 30 Lbs doing bicep curls, I can feel the burn, but it's not difficult at all to do the curls in good form; but as the workout progresses, I find myself having to lower my weights in each set. For example, by the second set of bicep curls, I have to lower the weights to 27 Lbs to maintain good form. By the third set I'm doing 25 Lbs, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not that I start feeling tired, low energy or anything, it's just that my muscles simply can't take it. What am I doing wrong? I was hoping I could maintain the same number of pounds throughout the entire workout. What do I need to change? Should I start with lower weights even though they'll feel too light?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23500" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T16:23:57.270" Title="I keep having to lower my weights by a couple Pounds on each set. What am I doing wrong?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-09-20T15:04:54.797" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32151" CreationDate="2016-09-15T03:50:01.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good warmup is very important, when it comes to a good workout. Many lifers I know don't like the idea of warmup, but it's a way to get your body prepared for what coming next. Make sure you start with good warmup before you even think of lifting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, if 30 lbs is the max that you can curl, then don't go for 30 in the first set. First set should be something light for you(may vary for experienced lifters) to pump the blood to the muscles and get them ready. Gradually keep on increasing till you reach your peak, then do drop weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifting heavy right from the word go, would not only hamper the form, but lead to injuries as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T03:50:01.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32150" CreationDate="2016-09-15T03:54:25.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say try different sets and see what works the best for you. Everyone is different and different routines leads to different results in different people. Try out and check the results. The one that you find effective, stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T03:54:25.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32121" CreationDate="2016-09-15T04:04:07.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can, but if you have any condition, it's best to check with your doctor before starting any workout. I think you are referring to type II diabetes, but I may be wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blood glucose level and fat are 2 different things. Even though inter-conversion happens between them, as body undergoes its natural process of gaining and shedding fat, losing fat and lowering of blood sugar levels are 2 different things.Check with your doctor the ways to maintain sugar level while working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle building is a good idea as muscles feed on calories, but at the same-time, you'd need calories to build muscles. If your condition makes you breathe heavy, gives you dizziness and you don't feel easy during workout, then talk to your doctor about it. Also, always have someone around, or notify the gym authorities about your condition, so that they will be aware.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd not suggest doing any high-intensity workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T04:04:07.907" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32133" CreationDate="2016-09-15T04:10:26.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take the advice of Eddy Merckx, &quot;Ride lots&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More weight == more work, plain and simple, unless you are coasting downhill all the time. How much benefit (i.e.: weight loss) the extra work will get you depends on any number of factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The top level Tour competitors are, in one respect, in a &quot;grams per bike&quot; competition. Lightening the load they have to move down the road, or up the mountain means less energy expended getting to the finish, which means a better chance for a podium finish, all other things being equal (which they never are -- people vary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Riding with that extra weight once a week for a short period will probably just get you sore legs once a week. Riding with that extra weight for an extended period multiple times per week (3 or more?) should yield more weight loss. Your body reacts to the demands placed upon it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If calorie intake isn't changed while the workload increases, yes, your body will become more &quot;efficient&quot; and store more intake as &quot;ready calories&quot;, because it expects to need them available. Over time, an &quot;intake to work&quot; equilibrium might be reached, but that doesn't diminish the benefit of the extra weight/extra work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23579" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T04:10:26.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32146" CreationDate="2016-09-15T04:28:57.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While maintaining a balance is good, some muscles can't withstand the load some others can. Lats is a pulling exercise, while bench is pushing. I know people who bench 500 lbs, but haven't seen them pulling 500 lbs on lat machine, though i don't observe people much in general. Also, you can always squat heavier than what you can lift overhead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main goal should be to exercise the full body and try to strengthen the weaker areas. How much weight you are lifting for which one, is immaterial, as long as you are doing it with proper form, and getting better than before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T04:28:57.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32150" CreationDate="2016-09-15T05:23:32.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to maximize mechanical and metabolic stimuli you want to be &lt;strong&gt;consequential&lt;/strong&gt; in the exercise order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best option is to target for first the muscle group you want to prioritaze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a misconception in the bodybuilding/online community that you can isolate a certain muscle group. That is actually not realistic.&#xA;There will be always more than one muscle group involved, the difference is in the amplitude of stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the fact that biceps ( for exemple ) are fatigued prior to back training is not taking anything away from your back training and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just a matter of focus and precision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T05:23:32.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32146" CreationDate="2016-09-15T05:40:52.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no perfect way as such ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you have a misunderstanding of overtraining. That is a complex syndrome, not some simple thing that you get from doing too many bicep curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just periodize your volume and intensity and you should be good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T05:40:52.220" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32162" CreationDate="2016-09-15T06:02:57.437" Score="0" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally work out 2 muscle groups per day,a big one and a small one for example &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;back/triceps&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;chest/biceps&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;legs/shoulders&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;etc...&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But,sometimes I am in a hurry and I must hurry up the pace and I do them combined,for example I do a 15xLeg press I wait 20 seconds and I do 15xDumbell military press then I wait 1:30 minutes and again Leg press,20 seconds pause, Dumbell press,1:30 minutes pause a.s.o.&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I stressing my body too hard when I do this?Should I train only 1 body part when I really am in a hurry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T08:23:33.010" Title="Is it wrong to work 2 muscle group at once?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32160" CreationDate="2016-09-15T06:07:28.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it's not wrong but is not the same thing as training a single muscle chain/section consequentially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a volume of 70 reps total ( divided in 4 exercises ) for, let's say chest, you want to perform all of those ( if you're going with 70%-80% intensity ) with at max 60 to 90 seconds of pause between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do like you said your metabolic stimuli will be different while mechanically its the same thing. It's not &quot;bad&quot; but for hypetrophy is better going consequentially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T06:07:28.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32160" CreationDate="2016-09-15T06:18:06.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not the question of wrong or right, but what works for you. The conventional regime is to workout back and biceps and chest with triceps. When you are working on your chest, you are already moving your triceps, they get secondary workout. So stressing them again with back workout may not work for everyone. Ideally the rest time is 48 hours, for a set of muscles, but having said that, people are built differently when it comes to what their bodies can handle. I know some people who have been doing everything on a single day for last 5 years, and it's working for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd say try out various routines and see what works for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T06:18:06.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32148" CreationDate="2016-09-15T07:01:18.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;STRONGLIFTS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Equipment: A gym with a barbell, bench, deadlift platform &amp;amp; squat rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week A: On Monday, Weds and Fri:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Row 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An Ab exercise (Hollow body hold, captains chair, ab wheel rollouts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Week B: On Monday, Weds and Fri&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 1x5 (1 set of 5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An Ab exercise (Hollow body hold, captains chair, ab wheel rollouts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternate week A and B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can complete a workout then add 5lbs/1.25kg for that exercise next time. If you fail, try 3x again and if you stall then deload by 10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T07:01:18.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32133" CreationDate="2016-09-15T08:24:25.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are already riding at a certain intensity (power) the weight will only make you slower when accelerating or riding uphill. E.g.: If you are capable of outputting 200W for an hour (and riding at that power) that output power and thus calorie consumption won’t change, you’ll just be slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21796" LastEditorUserId="21796" LastEditDate="2016-09-15T08:33:51.633" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T08:33:51.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32133" CreationDate="2016-09-15T09:47:34.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, and it might even make you burn fewer calories!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The power (energy per second) that you put into cycling is spent in two ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overcoming &quot;rolling resistance&quot; (e.g. flexing the tires)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overcoming &quot;wind resistance&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At about 20 km/hour and above, &quot;wind resistance&quot; is the larger/dominating term. It increases as the square of the speed (so, e.g. to increase your speed by 20% would require 45% more power).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the canonical way to spend more power into a bicycle is to travel faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To go faster you might want to pedal more rapidly in a lower gear (the &quot;cadence&quot; of your pedalling should definitely be above 60 cycles per minute ... maybe 90 or more with practice and with clips or cleats on your cycling shoes). It's better to spin faster with medium force that spin slower with big force ... if the pedal-spinning slows below 60/minute then you need a lower gear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, once you're cycling (after you've warmed up, e.g. after the first 20 minutes) you ought to be getting wet, either because it's raining or because you're sweating. Generally you'll be hot and sweating. One of the things that makes cycling bearable (or pleasant) is that there's always a wind when you're cycling ... and that wind helps to keep you cool. Cyclists wear &quot;moisture-wicking&quot; clothing which helps to keep them cool (helps sweat to evaporate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the limits, one of the things which may limit how much work you do, is how hot you get and how quickly you can shed that heat. Imagine: you could work harder in a hot gym in front of a cooling fan than you could without the wind from the fan. Similarly you can bike harder if you don't get too hot, and if you start to get too hot then you have to stop or slow down (or risk heat stroke etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, don't wear a &quot;weight vest&quot; which would keep the heat in and not transpire. Wear lightweight clothing and cycle faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2790" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T09:47:34.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32188" CreationDate="2016-09-15T11:16:35.620" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get a better mobility and flexibility. Therefore, I am going to start stretching several times a week. However, I don't want to get super skinny because of it. Does the stretching have negative influences on building muscles? Will I lose muscles because of too much stretching? I am a little afraid that could happen. Is my fear justified or am I worrying too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23495" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T06:31:38.410" Title="Is stretching bad for building muscles?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32150" CreationDate="2016-09-15T11:57:12.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You said at the gym, so I will start with gym etiquette.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't reserve multiple stations, dumbbell, etc... So in the scenario, unless you use the same machine or dumbbells, the best way to organize your set is to use only one piece of equipment at a time and do whatever you want with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that basic gym etiquette is out of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are really two main trains of thought when it comes to &quot;GAINZ&quot;. The first one is to trickle down from compound to isolation and the second is to start with the muscle group you want to prioritize first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing back/biceps today, in the first case you will start with your back exercise. The reason is that you use your biceps in the majority of your back work outs. Later, once you get to your bicep workout, they have already have a workout. Sure, it will be lighter, but you're doing more volume. If you were to start with your biceps, your back exercise would suffer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you work out shoulders and chest on the same day. Say you want a bigger chest, you would start off your day with the bench press. This will allow you to put on more weight or do more volume on the bench, rather than say overhead press. If you want bigger shoulders, start with overhead press for the same reason. The reasoning behind this method is that you have more energy to devote on a body part at the beginning of a workout as opposed to the tail end of one. It is pretty self explanatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method you can use is just alternate between body parts. From what I've gathered, people tend to take this approach when they have a primary movement and finishers. You would start with bench, then do overhead press, then triceps. Move onto flies, shrugs and then more triceps, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no wrong order to do exercises. Some people do supersets, others take long breaks between exercises. It depends on your goals, if you need the break before repeating a muscle group, do it. If you need StackExchange to find the answer to this question, you are probably not at the point where you will benefit from this type of optimization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T11:57:12.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32174" CreationDate="2016-09-15T15:50:51.233" Score="0" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to do a full squat, heels on the ground, for a while.  It's become apparent that my ankle dorsiflexion is the weak link in the chain - my hip mobility is good, thigh strength OK, back strength and flexibility is fine, but I have trouble getting my knees far enough past my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best exercise I've found is to stand on one leg and bend my knee as far forward as it can go, loading the ankle tissues.  About half the time, I can feel a stretch there, but the other half of the time, it feels like nothing is happening.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried propping the ball of my foot up and doing the same stretch, with slightly better results but nothing feeling as predictable as, say, the stretch when touching my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I try the classic calf stretch (lean against a wall, one leg forward, one back) I only feel things happening in my calves, which is great but it feels like it's not working the ankle much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, one and a half questions here - is that calf stretch actually working ankle dorsiflexion more than I think?  And, are there any other ways for aggressively targeting ankle dorsiflexion (bands, rolling...)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19796" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T02:30:00.423" Title="Improve ankle dorsiflexion for full squat" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T21:49:05.693" Score="1" ViewCount="1546" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have worked out for five years. I am 18, 5' female. I am fit, fast, and strong. I know I have made a lot of progress in five years. If I watch what I eat for a week, abs pop out. Yet, I can look at photos from when I was about 12 and I look nearly identical, other than obvious maturing in my face, better posture, and slightly more muscular legs, and slightly broader shoulders. I have gained about 40 lbs, from when I was say, 13, yet I look no different. I even own some of the same clothes. I have totally different eating habits and lifestyle from when I was 12-13, yet I look like I've never been in a weight room. My workouts are designed for me, and they are really good. How come I never got ripped? I want to see those muscles that I can feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T18:12:03.353" Title="How come I don't look fit?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32170" CreationDate="2016-09-15T23:24:00.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscles don't come that easily. Getting ripped means you have to shed a lot of body fat and gain muscles at the same time. Also, your body's appearance depends on genetics to some extent. There are some sources that claim that some people added like 50lbs of muscles in a month. That's not true to any extent. It's marketing trap. No matter how hard someone tries, body's natural tendency would only enable you to put on 6-10 lbs of muscles a year. So, so see around 20 lbs of muscles you need to workout  for at least 2-3 years, eat well and also keep your fat percentage maintained. Above all, I'd say being and feeling fit matter more than looking good, but that's my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T23:24:00.487" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32172" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T23:39:54.400" Score="1" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 25 year old male weighting about 165 Lbs. I'm trying to lose some body fat, but I'm still going to the gym 4 days a week to prevent as much muscle mass loss as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm consuming slightly more than a gram of protein per Lb of body weight, but I'm concerned that this protein might be going to waste because the body might not have the calories to properly repair muscle after a workout, resulting in a net muscle loss. I'm currently consuming about 2,000 calories on workout days, and about 1200 calories on rest days, for an average of about 1,800 calories a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it at all possible to lose muscle like this? Does my concern have any grounds? If so, how can I prevent it? Fat loss is my priority right now, but I want to lose as little muscle as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23500" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T07:25:18.853" Title="Is it possible to lose muscle mass by going to the gym while in the middle of a calorie deficit?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32172" CreationDate="2016-09-16T01:53:29.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take this as a very extreme answer, and not something that you put into practice, but rather as an example. I used to fast every other week for three days, in order to allow myself to eat like a normal unhealthy person in front of my friends. This lasted for about two months. I would phase out of the fast by gradually building up to carbs in time for the weekend, and I managed to keep weight gain minimal on the binge days. I worked out the same regardless of the fast, and usually by the third day I could see that my muscles were smaller when I flexed, but I was no less strong, and I never had any problem with the workout. After a few days of carefully eating lean protein and lots and lots of raw fruits and vegetables, I would always see my muscle increase in size. In retrospect, I made a lot of physical gains during that time, although the eating habits were not very smart. I had increased my strength and endurance. I took photographs throughout, and a few weeks after I stopped fasting, got my eating in order, and continued to workout in the same way, I definitely had permanent muscle gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are gaining strength, but losing mass, don't worry. Eventually this will even out, if you lose enough weight, the areas that we generally expect to look muscular will, due to less fat surrounding everything. Let me know if was helpful! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T01:53:29.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32169" CreationDate="2016-09-16T02:30:00.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick google search found these three suggestions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Self-myofascial release for the calf and plantar fasica&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching of the calf&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ankle mobility drills&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The search also suggested doing these barefoot, something I would heavily agree with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does your squat form look like? Bending your knees that far forward in a bend, is not particularly healthy, especially when practiced frequently. A deep squat still calls for good form. Have you tried pistol squats, goblet squats, split squats, or lunges? Is your squat wide enough? Are your glutes and hamstrings engaged enough? Are you attempting to do these with weights? I find it easier to go really deep in squats if I am weighted. I like to do squats barefoot, in order to feel exactly what I am doing, but that may be just me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stretch against the wall thing is not really my favorite, but you will find better results if you keep both of your legs back, and then lean against the wall as close as you can, with your body straight. I would suggest a downwards dog stretch to be more effective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hobbling your ankles with a band, and then taking small steps to feel where you might be going wrong could be helpful, but don't stop there. There are a lot of options with a band. Also try balancing on a pillow or balsu ball with one leg. Try throwing a ball to someone while balancing on one leg, and eventually work your way up to doing medicine ball tosses on one leg, or twisting your torso from side to side while holding the medicine ball and balancing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plyometric or hiit workouts in general should help because of the amount of jumping they often involve. For that matter, break out a jump rope! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try laying on your side with your leg in the air, as if to do a leg raise, and then do ankle rolls with your leg suspended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being completely warmed up, and doing lots of ankle rolls are really what I think it comes down to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T02:30:00.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32172" CreationDate="2016-09-16T04:00:54.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on your training. If you focus only on cardio, there are chances you may lose muscles mass over long run. Muscles feed on calories, so they need constant feeding in order to maintain the mass. Sometimes what feels like muscle loss, is lack of glycogen in muscles. So once you eat right and workout, they will gain size again. Without strength training/resistance training, you won't be able to maintain the muscle mass in long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T04:00:54.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-16T08:59:21.287" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that even &lt;strong&gt;only 10-15&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;min&lt;/strong&gt; of morning exercise at 130 BPM has a positive effect on my mood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would that make sense from a biological point of view ?  Or is this more likely to be just placebo effect ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is 10-15 min not too short to have any effect on mood ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related link:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23597" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T05:56:28.043" Title="Better mood even after only 15 min of morning exercise - is this placebo or real effect?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32176" CreationDate="2016-09-16T11:53:38.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a better mood because when you work out especially in the morning when you can accelerate the recovery from lethargy caused by sleep (most of the times you won't even need your morning coffee ) because you release endorphins that lead to an effect known as a &amp;quot;runner's high&amp;quot; that give you a feeling of good mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Sources:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/13/health/endorphins-exercise-cause-happiness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/13/health/endorphins-exercise-cause-happiness/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T11:53:38.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32166" CreationDate="2016-09-16T16:18:02.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does the stretching have negative influences on building muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;del&gt;A stretched muscle is longer, and is therefore looser.&lt;/del&gt;  This can increase the difficulty of producing a stretch reflex (in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/squat_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squat [PDF]&lt;/a&gt;, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will I lose muscles because of too much stretching? I am a little afraid that could happen. Is my fear justified or am I worrying too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will not lose muscles because of too much stretching, unless you stretch so much that you tear muscle (which you will recognize via pain) and then do not recover (that is, nourish and sleep) enough to rebuild the muscle; this is unlikely.  You are worrying too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastEditorUserId="20213" LastEditDate="2016-09-16T17:49:49.593" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T17:49:49.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32151" CreationDate="2016-09-16T16:23:57.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to @xCodeZone's answer, consider resting longer (for example, three to five minutes or more) between each set.  When training for strength, it's more important to complete your repetitions in each set than to complete sets with fewer repetitions, and/or less weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T16:23:57.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32170" CreationDate="2016-09-16T16:34:41.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @xCodeZone mentioned, looking &quot;ripped&quot; is essentially synonymous with having a low body fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite your &quot;worked out for five years&quot;, you may yet be able to benefit from &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/articles/novice_effect_rippetoe.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the novice effect [PDF]&lt;/a&gt; if you are willing to put on both muscle and fat for a few months, and then adjust your diet to reduce your body fat to display your stronger and bigger muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are female, you have less testosterone (than most males), which increases the difficulty of building muscle, so you probably will need to eat more protein (at least 1 gram of protein per pound of total body weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider revising your training scheme so that you include compound barbell movements (squat, deadlift, press, and bench press), performed for multiple sets of few repetitions (for example, three sets of five repetitions; later, five sets of three repetitions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T16:34:41.493" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-16T19:01:51.393" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if there is a quota of muscle building. For example : If I train my arm only, will it be more efficient than if I train my arm plus my leg the same day ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13826" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T04:25:29.697" Title="Is there a quota of muscle building?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32184" CreationDate="2016-09-17T04:25:29.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein synthesis and adaptations are sectorial. If you train only your left arm only that arm will grow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training other muscle parts will not impair the capacity of growing in the muscle itself, but can just fatigue the part if the exercise uses more than one muscle group ( actually is the case for every exercise ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The misconception is that you can isolate a target muscle. This is not correct and actually is not detrimental but beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's not a rate/quota for muscle building. It depends on a moltitude of variables and cannot be predicted with ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T04:25:29.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32176" CreationDate="2016-09-17T05:56:28.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I've found some reference that state in a very well designed study that the improvement in mood occur regardless of the time of the day[&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=1992&amp;amp;issue=06000&amp;amp;article=00015&amp;amp;type=abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;( &lt;em&gt;Take in consideration that in this particular study the exercise protocol was only lasting 20 minutes&lt;/em&gt; ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to consider that some times the improvement in the mood &lt;strong&gt;is even not related&lt;/strong&gt; to measurable parameters of exercise ( it doesn't depend on the nature of the exercise itself ).&#xA;Experimental procedures to assess exercise impact on the mood should be very precise because there are a lot of studies out there that are not so precise[&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jpsychores.com/article/0022-3999(95)00554-4/abstract?cc=y=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, to answer your question: &lt;strong&gt;yes is it possible that your mood improves in such short time&lt;/strong&gt;. But there will not be ONLY strictly scientific clues to that; mood is not a scientific concept in close sense, and there will always be other variables that influence it other than hormones and neurotransmitters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second reference however, if you can get it in full paper, is a comprehensive meta-analysis on all mood studies.&#xA;You will not see in the tables the duration of the exercise protocol, aswell as the type and the intensity ( actually more influent variables ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T05:56:28.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32172" CreationDate="2016-09-17T06:17:33.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously the amount of &lt;strong&gt;protein&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt; in the diet are crucial while you're going in a deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, training with weights is going to decrease the catabolism in your muscle tissue ( &lt;em&gt;catabolism is a wide concept, and always occur in your body in different contexts&lt;/em&gt; ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is due to the molecular axe &lt;strong&gt;Akt&lt;/strong&gt;-&lt;strong&gt;mTORC1&lt;/strong&gt; and their downstreams. The anabolic nature of this axe will prevent you from loosing more lean tissue than you would if you didn't actually train while you are in a deficit.&#xA;This particular pathway is enhanced also by the pulsatile secretion of testosterone due to training, and so has a good protective effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to consider that this process is happening even while you are on a hypercaloric regimen and trying to bulk up. But in this particular scenario you're in its blunted depending on you dieting pattern.&#xA;I'll explain you how:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caloric deficit amplitude&lt;/strong&gt;: If your caloric deficit is too high you will not replenish efficiently your muscle glycogen stores; this substrate is actually of prime need when you have to train and its the first choice of the muscle in caloric deficit. Only after a large part of your glycogen is replenished you will actually start build muscle tissue.&#xA;This is because of &lt;strong&gt;AMPK&lt;/strong&gt; that is hierarchically higher than mTORC1. If AMPK senses that the energetic status of the muscle cell is too low, it will phosphorylate TSC2 ( another protein complex ) that will in sequence block mTORC1 from inducing its anabolic benefits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Macronutrients ratio&lt;/strong&gt;: If you go really high on proteins ( thus amminoacids ) you will have ( expecially from leucine ) a positive stimulant effect on the axe Akt-mTOR, but take in consideration that this is hierarchially &lt;strong&gt;INFERIOR&lt;/strong&gt; to the action of AMPK ( &lt;em&gt;this has some biological fundation - a cell will never go through mitosis, even though its not the case of muscle cell, if energy levels are not high enough to support its course&lt;/em&gt; ). So you want to have a high carbs/protein:fats ratio. Never understimate the power of carbohydrates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to do is having the smaller deficit possible and recharge your glycogen stores on rest days ( you can do this by having a calorie/week deficit but eating more, and expecially carbs, on rest days ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer your question&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;yes, you can and will lose muscle mass&lt;/em&gt; but the magnitude and the onset of this loss will depend by several factors you didnt even mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long you've been training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How is your weekly calorie deficit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the bodyfat you're aiming to&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How is your training ( very important )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T06:17:33.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32166" CreationDate="2016-09-17T06:31:38.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretching is actually crucial for improving the health of the fascia tissue. And this will actually improve your muscle building.&#xA;I'll explain you why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you have to understand that hypetrophy occurs by two different stimuli, and one of that is a &lt;strong&gt;mechanical hypertrophic stimuli&lt;/strong&gt;: if you want the full explaination of hypertrophy you can find it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle/32036#32036&quot;&gt;my answer to this question right here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mechanical tension is distribuited throughout the muscle by the cytoskeleton, and this structure is thightly linked to the fascia/connective tissue of the muscle cell itself.&#xA;When you stretch you actually improve the health of this tissue by increasing the turnover in the collagen proteins and modifying the structure itself of the tissue texture ( &lt;em&gt;that will get what is called a &quot;CRIMP&quot; structure&lt;/em&gt; ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the transmission of kinetic force is optimal, you will not only have a whole bunch of benefits in terms of injury prevention, and performance, but you will also allow the tension to be transmitted to Z discs and basal lamina of the outher sarcolemma that are know to contain &lt;strong&gt;mechanotransductor proteins&lt;/strong&gt; such as &lt;strong&gt;MAPK&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These proteins translate the mechanical stimuli in actually protein synthesis signals and will improve hypetrophy expecially of the sarcomere and myofibril structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will happen only if you have a good transmisson of transversal force by costameres of the cytoskeleton and a healty CRIMP-like fascia to support it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that take in consideration that mechanical stimuli ( eccentric phase ) is also fundamental in the paracrine secretion of IL-6 by macrophages. &lt;strong&gt;Interleukine 6&lt;/strong&gt; is a potent stimulator of satellite muscle cells differentiation, and this is crucial for the repair and the growth of your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to optimize passive and active force transmission with a healthy fascia, and you can do this through stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T06:31:38.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-17T18:16:42.803" Score="1" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently training for the 5-kilometer run. It's what I specialize in. The track I'm running along is a 1k loop with a lot of ups and downs. My current time is an average of 5:15 per loop (I haven't run in a while).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get it as close to three minutes as possible. Fact is, I can do 1 loop in 3 minutes, but I'd fade away by my second loop around the track. And herein lies the question, for training would you recommend that I start at 3 minutes for my first loop and try to get as close to three minutes for my second and then my third, and so on and so forth; or should I do a gentle 5 minutes for all loops and reduce each lap by approximately 10 seconds every week simultaneously until I'm as close to three minutes as I can get? (PS: I have quite a bit of time to train)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23611" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T20:57:41.073" Title="Is gradual progressive training better than greasing the groove for longer distances?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-17T18:34:31.327" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;What causes more calories are burnt per min during an activity? Is there a list of all major factors? Ideally answers should be scientifically proved or backed but if not then just a list / ideas what it could be is fine.&#xA;(Just for clarity, by activity I don't mean, e.g., eating but an exercise like walking, running, bike, gym, ... .)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd assume the biggest (or only ?) factor is increased heartbeat that an activity causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are more factors than this then what is the ratio that they contribute to calories burn per unit of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23259" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-09-25T07:07:52.440" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T14:26:51.743" Title="What causes a greater rate of calorie burn during an activity?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32191" CreationDate="2016-09-17T20:17:15.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Easy running will give you cardio and hard running will give you speed. If you are just starting out perhaps running 5x 5 minutes are better at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After building up your cardio do both. Run easy the day after running hard. Alternatively run an easy five then a hard five for a good 10k. Besides running easy on sore legs is hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Variety is very important in a running plan, so sticking to one workout is not good. Think in terms of weeks and months including hard weeks and easy weeks. Never run hard too much and always ensure your rested and recovered before running hard again. Thats the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T20:17:15.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-18T15:06:48.863" Score="1" ViewCount="1265" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am the type of individual that looks at myself in the mirror every morning and night briefly to make sure I am not drifting off into an undesirable body shape. Sometimes, this will warrant me exercising a lot. For example, if I run a bit and lift weights over the course of a couple weeks, I notice a very quick increase in muscle mass, which seems counter intuitive to the notion that building muscle takes time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do an array of comprehensive exercises and reps for weight training, and my running is intense. However, I notice that in a few weeks, once I reach a threshold, I start gaining lean mass too quickly and excessively, to the point where my shirts that fit quite loosely and are rounded around my back and shoulders. My back and shoulders seem to gain muscle mass the quickest, and I get a v-shape along my lats very quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if work creeps up or I have a lot of tasks to do, (I know excuses aren't good) I stop working out. I lose everything in a matter of days. What's the explanation for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a brief history of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medical&lt;/strong&gt;: Genetic cause of moderate anemia, type 2 diabetes on my father's side, I am about 5' 9&quot;, 160, lean, but have latent insulin resistance (fasting around low 90s)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;: clean for the most part, I have a penchant for fried meats, I avoid sweets. I eat a moderate amount of protein, fruits/veggies in every meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleep&lt;/strong&gt;: bad, I sleep 5-6 hours on weekdays and 10 on weekends. Inconsistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;: Bimodal. Either sedentary or very intense. I try to get in something brief like 30 minutes a day on some days where I'm very busy..but these usually involve things like playing with a soccer ball around my neighbrhood or pushups/pullups..no formal cardio/weight training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23619" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T18:49:23.370" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T19:05:00.843" Title="I seem to gain and lose muscle mass very quickly- what gives?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-18T18:43:59.680" Score="1" ViewCount="469" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to reduce my belly fat for the last two years without much progress, I need your counsel in trying to understand what is that I am doing wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have issues cutting down my diet. I feel very tired during the day, and constantly feeling hungry, and also since I try to have a light dinner around 7, I have trouble falling asleep, and feel very hungry that the stomach starts making sounds by the time I get to bed around 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sleep for 7-8 hours everyday, but not feeling refreshed in the morning. My job is sedentary. I think my other muscles have got stronger like arms, thighs, chest, but except that I have 4 inches of flab on my abdomen (just hate it!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Details:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast - (250 ml) tea or coffee with milk - very little sugar + a&#xA;slice of wheat bread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch - Usually visit subway (12 inch), Sushi, Thai restaurants (like a bowl of curry &amp;amp; rice), take from home anything like pasta, rice, salad bars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evening - 1 banana + 1 apple or a small cup of berry when possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner - Baked food, Veggies, Curries light food, sometimes a glass of Turmeric milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do cardio (running, or yoga) - 3 times a week for 30 minutes  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do weights, push-ups, pull-ups and crunches - 3 times a week for about 30 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 8-minute abs - 3 times a week &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Habits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't smoke, have a glass of beer once every week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I take vitamin supplements like B12 (morning), Fish Oil (lunch), and D3&#xA;(night) regularly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, any suggestions on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What I am doing wrong &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to minimize the hunger at night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to feel fresh in the day? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to get the 6-pack abs? ;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23624" LastEditorUserId="23624" LastEditDate="2016-09-18T18:49:54.593" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T02:26:13.427" Title="Flat abs, Feeling tired during the day and hungry at night if I cut my regular diet" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1191" CreationDate="2016-09-18T19:52:29.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems to me like everyone here is thinking about the exercice as the main point. Doing cardio helps you focus, helps your brain to learn better. If your point is to understand better your study material than cardio will help you study and be more fucos&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23627" LastActivityDate="2016-09-18T19:52:29.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32201" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-19T00:02:22.390" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;To see results should I train where I want my result to be? For example, on Tuesdays part of my workout is 8 x 100m @ 90% effort. Should I run at my 90%, or what I want my 90% to be? This is something that I am only trying to apply to running for now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T00:24:38.737" Title="Should I train at what I want my best to be?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32201" CreationDate="2016-09-19T00:24:38.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question in the title. No, dont train at what you want to be able to run at. Do a mile, 12 minute, or 2 mile test run at your best then use this to base what your training should be. Look up Jeff Galloway's magic mile table or use McMillian's calculator to figure out what your goal distance time would be using the test run time. This time is what you should expect to do or better. During training never run more than 60% of your goal distance at this pace. 2-4 weeks out run no more than half of the distance at this pace several times to train at your this pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training at the proper paces will eventually bring you into range of achieving your goal ignoring things that are out of your control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;McMillan has some suggested goal paces you can use and I just paraphrased what he says. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T00:24:38.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32222" CreationDate="2016-09-19T00:33:41.743" Score="0" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say your training in the same conditions as a recent race, you have completely recovered from the race, and the distance is a half marathon or less. What pace should you train at when running the same distance as your goal race distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a 19:30 5k race would mean what training time for a 5k distance in order to improve race time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T14:44:14.903" Title="What is a good training pace vs a recent race pace?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32203" CreationDate="2016-09-19T01:04:03.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training to prepare yourself for the race is different, and training to beat the time is different. During recovery, your muscles need to gain back the condition they were in. If your focus is to condition your muscles and keep your body prepared, then you don't need to run the whole distance to make it happen.In order to beat the time, you need to keep your last performance in mind. If you have covered the whole thing in 19:30, then it should be around that. Bettering the time doesn't mean you have to beat it every time you run, but to have a day or 2 in the training where you aim to do that. If you are able to finish around the targeted time, then you'd have the level of confidence to get yourself through. Remember, training yourself for marathons is not just limited to training the body, but mind as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T01:04:03.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32209" CreationDate="2016-09-19T04:38:34.290" Score="3" ViewCount="8785" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been taking 2-3gm of creatine per day mixed extremely well with 16-17oz lukewarm water, that too on workout days (i.e. I avoid the non-workout days) for at least 2.5 months now. However, I feel that the paunch/belly fat I had, as mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/32030/how-much-cardio-is-advisable-for-an-overweight-person-who-is-new-to-bodybuilding&quot;&gt;this post of mine&lt;/a&gt;, has increased considerably. Now, if I start taking whey protein, would the cons (from the pov of fat in belly/waist) overweigh the pros significantly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I linked a wrong thread instead of the one I intended to, earlier. The correction has been made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22139" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T21:17:13.530" Title="Does supplimenting creatine cause belly fat to increace or stomach to bloat?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32207" CreationDate="2016-09-19T05:31:01.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can, but I can't tell for sure it's causing the problem in your case, or the other part of your diet is. The fact is, different diet plans work differently on different people. You may be allergic or intolerant to certain components of your diet, or the supplement you are taking. You get yourself checked by a doctor if the issue persists. Why not to go off it for a few weeks, and see how it works? If you just want to look good, you don't need those, but that's just my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T05:31:01.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32207" CreationDate="2016-09-19T08:39:15.980" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the valid question here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Does Creatine cause bloating?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the water retention usually seen with higher (&amp;gt;10g) loading doses can exceed five pounds (more than two kilograms). Lower doses may cause less water retention. While water mass is not muscle mass (though both count as lean mass), prolonged creatine supplementation is met with an increased rate of muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/#hem-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/#hem-weight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you need to load creatine? No. &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-load-creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-load-creatine/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However: &lt;strong&gt;you are retaining more water, not more fat&lt;/strong&gt;. Your weight is going up as a result of supplementing creatine increasing water retention but that weight is &lt;strong&gt;not fat&lt;/strong&gt;. Some bodybuilders cycle off creatine for competitions but it varies from person-to-person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Some body-fat measuring scales (using electrical resistance) which claim to tell you your body-fat percentage are affected massively by your hydration/water level. Taking creatine may make it read falsely that your body-fat has gone up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that first post was from you I'd say that personally it sounds like you are trying to cut to show abs you probably don't have. Based on the original questions statistics (weigh/height) my personal recommendation would be to focus your main effort on your strength training, following a structured barbell program will help a lot. Consistency is key here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T14:44:25.850" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32207" CreationDate="2016-09-19T14:37:13.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;@JJosaur's answer is correct. Creatine will slightly increase the amount of water your muscles hold. It will not, and in fact, it can not, increase body fat. That is literally impossible. The amount of water bloat that you get will largely depend on your genetic muscle fiber makeup. Since creatine works better with fast-twitch muscle fibers, individuals with a higher percentage of these fibres will see more effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, the recommended dose is generally 5mg, not 2-3...so I can even argue that your body is barely saturated with creatine enough to cause any effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you mean by &quot;would taking whey outweigh the cons&quot;... All whey will do is supply you with protein that you couldn't get through your diet. In terms of muscle building, this helps insure proper protein synthesis and recovery. In terms of weight loss, this helps insure you minimize muscle loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can confidently say your issues have absolutely nothing to do with creatine/protein or any supplements, work on your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T14:37:13.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-19T15:31:05.320" Score="-2" ViewCount="519" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son is a 15 year old competitive gymnast. He is being impeded by the fact that he has very poor ankle dorsiflexion. When asked to squat he can barely squat down. If asked to go further down, his knees collapse in, feet pronate, and heels come up. What are some good ways for him to improve dorsiflexion? &#xA;I should add that 2 years ago he was evaluated by a sports medicine doctor, had xrays done and was refered for physical therapy. He was found to have no flexibility problems in back, hip flexors, etc. Slight tightness in calf muscles though nothing serious. He did make some progress with physical therapy but has since lost the exercises he did and can't remember them. We have moved far from that doctor since then. He currently can get nowhere near parallel to the floor. In fact almost as soon as he starts to squat his knees go in and heels up. He has been stretching his gastrocnemius, soleus with no improvement. He has just started the exercise with the band around the ankle and knee coming to the outside of a dowel that is commonly listed to help with this problem. I just wondered if there was anything else out there someone has found to be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23631" LastEditorUserId="23631" LastEditDate="2016-09-20T21:33:59.677" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T21:33:59.677" Title="Son is unable to squat without heels coming up and knees collapsing in" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-09-20T15:05:22.070" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2016-09-19T18:55:51.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're kicking high enough up that your feet are going beyond your head, you've at least conquered the fear that results in most people not getting their feet high enough. As mentioned in some of the prior answers, a wider spread of the legs does help with balance. Also, the wrists and forearms are very important for fine adjustment of balance (pressing more towards your fingers or the heel of your hand to adjust forwards and back). Lastly, it's worth trying different ways of entering into the handstand. The three primary ways to enter a handstand as a beginner are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Split-leg&lt;/strong&gt;: Probably the most common way people learn. One leg acts as the support while the other swings up to bring you into the handstand with the supporting leg then joining it. This has the advantage of combining the swinging strength of the leg to pull you up with the support of one leg being down initially. Drawbacks include that it involves a fair amount of forward momentum and some degree of torso twist as you come up, not to mention coordinating the two legs to find equilibrium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Both legs together&lt;/strong&gt;: This requires more core-strength. It's basically the same as the split-leg handstand, but you kick both legs up at the same time. This eliminates the torso torque, and allows you to start with your legs parallel, which can aid in not falling sideways, but in my opinion tends to be more difficult to do, particularly getting enough momentum to get both of your legs above your head.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat to hand-stand&lt;/strong&gt;: The third way, and the way that I initially found easiest, is to start in a squatting position, put one's hands on the ground in front of you, kick your feet up above your head while staying in the squat, then to push them toward the sky. This lets your center of gravity stay close to the ground right up until the end, and requires less effort to get your feet above your head, but also requires more precision of timing as to when to kick up, and the upward motion unbalances some people. Still, it's a very viable technique, and that upward motion makes it very clear whether you're aligned (as otherwise you will launch yourself out of the handstand).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, it's basically practice and listening to your body as to where you are on or off balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T18:55:51.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32197" CreationDate="2016-09-19T19:05:00.843" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's more or less impossible to answer a question like this over the internet, but since you said &quot;I lose everything in a matter of days&quot;, that gives me two possible reasons for your case right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is just the obvious answer. It's your genetics. Some people respond extremely well to exercise. Here's something by T-nation: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A landmark study by Hubal used 585 male and female human subjects and showed that twelve weeks of progressive dynamic exercise resulted in a shockingly wide range of responses. The worst responders lost 2% of their muscle cross-sectional area and didn't gain any strength whatsoever. The best responders increased muscle cross-sectional area by 59% and increased their 1RM strength by 250%. Keep in mind these individuals were subjected to the exact same training protocol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for this aren't perfectly clear and have only been hypothesized from what I've seen. The actual genetics ranges from the number of signaling molecules, to the cell's sensitivity to the signals, to satellite cell availability, to satellite cell pool expansion, to miRNA regulation. Nutrition and optimal programming play a role in hypertrophy of course, and certain genotypes may be associated with hypertrophy too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could go on but to answer your question (possibly), it's just pure genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the second possible answer is, and I actually see this a lot in myself as well, is just good ol' plain sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (high rep work). Increasing the volume of the tissue that supplies energy to the muscle or is involved with the neural drive: Intimately involved in the production of ATP are intracellular bodies called ‘mitochondria’. Muscle fibers will adapt to high volume (and higher rep) training sessions by increasing the number of mitochondria in the cells. They will also increase the concentrations of the enzymes involved in the oxidative phosphorylation and anaerobic glycolysis mechanisms of energy production and increase the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid inside the cell (including glycogen) and also the fluid between the actual cells. This type of hypertrophy produces very little in the way of added limit strength but has profound effects on increasing strength-endurance (the ability to do reps with a certain weight) because it dramatically increases the muscles’ ability to produce ATP. So basically...doing pump work will make your muscles carry a bit more fluid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with that in mind, it's been proven, specially in untrained people (such as when you take a break from working out), that the level of fluid increase in your muscles due to this type of training, can be as large as 30% of your total muscle volume. BUT, when you stop the high rep work, your cells will adapt once again, and you will lose all of it. So maybe that's the case with you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20453" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T19:05:00.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32217" CreationDate="2016-09-20T01:32:04.427" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between workouts I tend to be a little lazy about stretching, so I'm wondering if I'm hurting myself or my performance by not stretching much between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any one of these more specific questions might help answer this if my question is too general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As your muscles are healing between workouts do tight muscles influence recovery at all?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If muscles are tight all the time then are your tendons going to be worn down, pulled off, or injured in any way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any known injuries that are associated with or can be mistaken for tight muscles instead of the injury?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I'm running a hard workout as soon as I recover so I'm living in a state of light pain all the time. If I wait an extra day then I usually find that all the pain goes away around the time I would normally do another workout. So I realize that I just lost a day of training. Which stinks so I'm curious how other thoughtful exercise freaks deal with this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T13:01:48.943" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T13:01:48.943" Title="Will tight muscles stop you from becoming stronger or cause injuries?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32216" CreationDate="2016-09-20T05:45:19.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle stiffness can cause issues. Muscles  are not rigid like a bricks. They are made out of stretchable fibers, connected to tendons, that attach them to bones. Muscle fibers are elastic in nature, and when you do the stretching, you are making them prepared for the stress they will undergo next. Any sudden and unusual change, or movement can cause injuries, because sudden force mean more power, high impulse and so is the damaging effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, I think your muscles need more recovery time to recover from the previous workout. If your pain is concentrated to any specific body part/parts, get them checked. They may have injuries, but if it's general fatigue, then you need more resting time and make sure your muscles are getting enough calories and nutrients to be fully nourished and to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why not to train different set of muscles every alternate day, if the pain persists? That way you won't be training the same group of muscles, and also not lose any day of training. I know complete isolation exercise for any specific muscle group is not possible(not that I know), but still, doing things like arms and legs on one day, then chest and shoulder on the other would be a good idea in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-09-20T07:05:52.437" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T07:05:52.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32211" CreationDate="2016-09-20T12:27:07.760" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For critics of what I said, here is a real paper by real scientists on just this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2465055/][1]&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2465055/][1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the paper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions&#xA;Calf muscle stretches provide a small but statistically significant increase in ankle dorsiflexion, particularly after 5–30 minutes of stretching&#xA;It is unclear whether the change that occurs with calf muscle stretching is clinically important.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TLDR;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, attempts to increase dorsal flexion through stretching may not amount to much in the real world (be clinically important) although they are detectable (statistically significant). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can improve the flexion &lt;em&gt;a little bit&lt;/em&gt; but if there is something structural about your body which prevents you from assuming a position, then stretching, trying, practicing, hoping and praying is not going to change your anantomy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My original comment: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try the full squating motion without any weight. Start standing and squat until you can no longer keep in form (whatever form you're aiming for, heels n floor etc. as you described). At the point you deviate from the target form, stop and go back up just a little to the point where the form is once again correct. Then go down very slowly, stopping just at that point where the form is just about to go bad again. This is the position we'll call the &quot;stretching position&quot; Keep this position for 30 seconds. Rest one minute then go into the stretching position again for 30 seconds. Stop and do no more for a full day. Do this once a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a few days or weeks you may notice you're able to go further down in good form (bad form doesn't count). Continue this regime until you can go all the way down. Do not do more or more often. If you CAN do squats in good form, this will get you there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it may be true that because of your particular anatomical structure, you're not able to assume the position needed to do squats in good form, and especially you're not able to do them safely in good form, without permanently injuring yourself. This is more common than you might realize if you hang out in the gym or with athletes. Those are people who by definition were not excluded from squating because of their particular anatomy. So in this case, it might not be advisable to listen to an expert if by expert you understand an excellent squater or coach who works with a lot of squaters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take this last point seriously. I cannot do overhead presses because of the way my shoulder and scapula are. If I persisted when I was getting the pain signal, I would be a person with a shoulder problem now.  No big deal, it's just one movement and there are other movements which together work the same shoulder muscles as well. Ditto with squats. Take seriously the notion that not everyone can do every motion. Anyone telling you squats is a &lt;em&gt;must do&lt;/em&gt; for some purpose or any purpose does not understand how muscles move limbs. Leg extensions, squat machines, hip flexion machines, lower-back machines or deadlifts, calf raises and leg curls collectively work all the muscles a squat does and more directly than a squat does. You do not need to do squats to have real and explosive leg strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the big names in running- it may have been Frank Shorter or Jim Fixx -ran with a somewhat weird gate that professional coaches tried to talk him out of. He ran that way naturally because of his specific anatomy. He tried to change for short while, then went back to his weird way, winning everything in sight.  I am telling you this because you have to have the autonomy to withstand well meaning coaches' and experts' strong opinions about what you should do if something never  feels right to you. You have to have the confidence to be the final arbitrator of what is OK for you and end it there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastEditorUserId="23637" LastEditDate="2016-09-20T15:04:43.933" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T15:04:43.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32203" CreationDate="2016-09-20T14:44:14.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Endurance racing such as 5k and longer is all about putting in the base and the time. 19.30 is a respectable time, so you've got something good to build on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So lets break this down. I'm assuming that for your 5k, you're putting in at a minimum 30 miles per week, and have been doing so for some time. Your time is about a 6.17 pace per mile, I'll use that as a reference. You should include two types of workouts, interval and threshold. Intervals are done faster than race pace, with long recovery between. Threshold are done a little slower than race pace, with short recovery. Intervals will increase your top end speed, and threshold workouts will enable you to stay at your race pace longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is how I would structure a sample week, mid season:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday - Rest day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday - 4 miles, steady pace. Aim for around 7, 7:15 per mile pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday - Interval day: 1-2 mile warmup, 12 x 400, 1 mile warmdown. Your 400's should be all at 1:20 or faster, go every 3 minutes. (That should give you 1:40 to recover between each one). If you find you can't make them, or start to fade the last ones, either increase the time a bit (1:25 or so), or shorten the workout slightly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday - 5 miles, steady state&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday - 5 miles, steady state, throw in some :30 second pickups (Slowly increase to race pace over 30 seconds) throughout the run. Aim for 5-8 depending on how you feel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday - Threshold day: 1-2 mile warmup, 4-6x800 at 3:20 pace, :15-20 seconds recovery. That's a little slower than your race pace. If you can't quite make the last one, increase the recovery a little bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday - 6-10 miles, easy pace, slower than steady state.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest mistake that most uncoached runners make, is that they go way too hard on their steady, easy days and not hard enough on their hard days. And, as noted, that is a mid season type workout. Early season, you should be concentrating on just getting in miles for base, lots of easy pace, steady running. Tapering for races is more art than science, you will have to experiment and know your body to find what kind of taper schedule works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, each time you run a race, use that time to recalculate everything. Macmillan Running has &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a nice calculator&lt;/a&gt;, and Cool Running has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/4/4_1/96.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good pace calculator&lt;/a&gt; as well, where you can play with times to see what kind of pacing you would need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T14:44:14.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-20T14:48:21.203" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a history of injuries, and am no stranger to dealing with them. I had shin splints that developed into stress fractures a year ago. After healing, I have so far managed to prevent their re-occurrence, but at times, I can feel random pain in my tibia. I have been doing careful warm-ups and stretching, and so hope to continue prevention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a strange pain in my left calf, along the back side. It is always in the same exact place, and normally subsides after a while. It hurts the worst when I take a step, and have never noticed it when running, only after running. I don't notice it when standing or sitting. I can't figure out what is causing this. It feels like muscle pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two runners knees, and this is developing into quite a serious issue. Two weeks ago I went into complete rest, took a lot of painkillers, and iced multiple times a day. After a week I felt like I was at about 95%, weaned myself off painkillers, and went back to training. For the next week for training I continued icing, and rarely took painkillers. This week the pain is back. It has changed to cover a larger area, travelling into my thighs at times, and sometimes the pain is so great I have difficulty distinguishing where it is coming from.  I am not uncomfortable, I can still walk and run, I PR'd last night on my 200m, but I am in constant pain. I've heard that runner's knee is basically just swelling caused by rubbing of the patella against the thighbone. It is not a worrisome pain, it is just painful. I have always had weak knees that popped or bothered me when doing lunges and split squats, and I can no longer do either with a very heavy weight. I have only a month to go before the biggest competition of my life, and I refuse to miss out on this. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have looked into k-tape and braces for competition, but don't feel like either would be very helpful. The only thing that makes me feel better is ice and painkillers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T00:51:53.760" Title="Running injuries when competing" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;shins&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32223" CreationDate="2016-09-20T15:26:33.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No matter what I, or anyone else recommends, in the end, your decision should be based on your pain tolerance and the risk of further serious injury.  At a minimum, you should consult a professional for a proper diagnosis if you haven’t already.  Having said all that, I’ve been in your situation while participating in a different sport.  I chose the same modalities you have (ice and pain killers), and, it allowed me to compete.  I also added stretching before and after my event(s) and made sure to get plenty of rest in between training sessions.  In addition, I did find K-Tape helpful, at least psychologically, but, that may be due to the extent of my injury and its location.  You may not get the same results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, you’ll need to assess what competing in the event means to you in the context of a potentially chronic injury.  Weigh that against taking time off to &lt;strong&gt;fully&lt;/strong&gt; address an injury to prevent it from becoming chronic, and, the ability to race &lt;strong&gt;pain free&lt;/strong&gt; in the future.  Only you can make that choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T15:26:33.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32228" CreationDate="2016-09-20T16:03:10.343" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I still can't find a good answer for this: to what extent does age matter when it comes to bodybuilding and athleticism? I've been leading a sedentary lifestyle for almost 26 and I'd like to change, is it too late to gain good mass and a good physical strength? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16513" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T23:04:24.033" Title="working out at 20's" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32225" CreationDate="2016-09-20T16:12:23.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know some people are going to flip out that you're asking if 26 is too old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it's a short question, deserving of a short answer, let me just go ahead and say no. 26 is laughably young, and you should get started right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T16:12:23.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32225" CreationDate="2016-09-20T16:31:33.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is never too late to do something for your health. 26 years is not that old and it's a good thing you want to do something for your health and strength. Before you start, you should collect enough informations about what is best to do in your situation. Especially if you want to get super good and have really high ambitions: don't rush into working out. Begin slowly and take one step after another. You should do that at any age if you start something new, otherwise you can easyly be disappointed because you might ask too much of your body very soon and might even lose your ambitions. You can shape and strengthen your body at any age - even if you were 62 you could start doing something, the only difference would be that you had to take smaller steps to avoid you asking to much of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23495" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T16:31:33.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32225" CreationDate="2016-09-20T17:35:32.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ed Corney didn't get into bodybuilding until he was 33 &#xA;(cf. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson247.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interview with Ed Corney&lt;/a&gt;) and did very well for himself winning the Mr. Universe  and being a Mr. Olympia contender. You can see a YouTube video of him at various ages here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3uPwmMPXqU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ed Corney Posing&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More to the point, muscle strength (and size) begins to decrease in adult men and women largely as a result of simple disuse. There is nothing about being in your twenties or even thirties which will inhibit your ultimate potential as a bodybuilder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, unless you actualize 100% of your potential you will probably always be able to get bigger and stronger, even into your 50s and 60s and beyond if you haven't used drugs as an ergonomic aid. The reason for this is that muscular hypertrophy in response to bouts of intense exercise - what we call getting bigger- is an inherited response built into muscles. That response doesn't cease to &quot;work&quot; at any particular age just the way your skin's response to sun (getting darker) never ceases to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took my grandmother into the gym at age 72, had her perform 5 sets total for her entire body, each to failure. I kept careful records of weights and time-working  and each time we returned to the gym, she was measurably stronger in weights or reps or both. We kept this up for months until I moved away and there didn't seem to be any slow down in her progress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How quickly you recover from high intensity exercise may decrease with advanced age as may how much exercise you can tolerate. Those may ultimately be the limiting factors in upwards gains of strength. But certainly in your 20s you have absolutely nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One caveat is- if you reach a high level of strength through drugs, you won't be able to sustain it after you go off those drugs. So you will reach an artifical high quickly, then go down no matter how you train. In this case only, proper training will lead to a decrease in strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T17:35:32.837" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32225" CreationDate="2016-09-20T23:04:24.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 26, most people are in their prime when it comes to how their bodies respond to workout and building muscles. Even if you haven't lifted ever, or done any kinda workout, it's not late to start, but keep in mind, you can't build a rock solid body overnight. To see any transformation, it takes a lot of dedication, hard work, focus, diet, good rest and above all, time. So, start slow, and keep on building gradually. It may so happen that you won't be happy with the results after a couple of months, but don't give up. Note your progress, and see yourself when it's around 7-8 months and then after a year. You'd definitely see the difference, if you are disciplined with your workout and diet. No, it's not late, I'd say it's a good time to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T23:04:24.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32223" CreationDate="2016-09-21T00:51:53.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not do any self-diagnosis. Consult a musculoskeletal specialist and get yourself diagnosed. Never assume anything, as similar symptoms may be because of different reasons.If given proper attention at the right time, any issue can be fixed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T00:51:53.760" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32235" CreationDate="2016-09-21T11:18:04.647" Score="3" ViewCount="1019" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really liked this question below and its answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2206/improving-my-bench-press-what-muscles-are-used-during-what-phase?rq=1&quot;&gt;Improving my Bench Press - what muscles are used during what phase?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for to increase &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avAI7w4aQDU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;my bench press from 200 kg&lt;/a&gt; to 220 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one way I believe could work for me is instead of going heavy all the time, &#xA;I am doing now 10 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;currently I can do 10 reps on 140 kg. &#xA;I want to increase this to 10 reps of 160 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I will start going heavy again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any system that supports this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what are the possible (and proven) paths to increase the bench press for high reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18296" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T23:18:21.617" Title="possible paths to increase bench press from 140kg (308 lbs) to 160 kg (352) - for 1o reps" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32234" CreationDate="2016-09-21T11:58:08.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are looking for something along the lines of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/luis13.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;German Volume Training&lt;/a&gt; which has you working in 10x10, starting at 60% of your 1RM. Most GVT is linear in progression and so you miss out on the potential benefits of doing periodization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, based on your current level of lifting you would probably benefit from reading up on some of the more advanced (benching) programs written by coaches and picking one you like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00GLX42U4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;GZCL Method&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Jim-Wendler/e/B006P5V4RC/ref=pd_sim_351_bl_6?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;pd_rd_i=B00DT5FIYQ&amp;amp;pd_rd_r=NV18J7WXK62MCR9CWVK3&amp;amp;pd_rd_w=lRdNn&amp;amp;pd_rd_wg=jmAt6&amp;amp;refRID=NV18J7WXK62MCR9CWVK3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5/3/1 by Jim Wedler&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sheiko-program.ru/training-programs/examples-of-programs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sheiko Programs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/jdxdi/xpost_from_radvancedfitness_in_case_anyone_wanted/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Smolov Jr.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would you really look at getting a personal lifting coach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T11:58:08.917" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-21T17:44:25.807" Score="3" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to start running. I live in the city. I see many people running on a sidewalk next to 4 lane street/avenue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could help but asking myself the question, is this running healthy given the exhaust fumes from all the cars? It's like putting your mouth on an exhaust pipe!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, the people who run on sidewalk are so numerous. Am I wrong for thinking this is unhealthy or are they wrong for running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I can't afford a treadmill or a gym membership).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23652" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T12:40:32.943" Title="is it healthy for lungs to run on a sidewalk next to a busy street?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-09-24T16:57:13.007" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32234" CreationDate="2016-09-21T23:06:45.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to do it in progressive way. If you load the bar with any extra weight, than what your muscles are prepared for, that may cause injuries. I'd say go do a progression of 2.5 lbs for a couple of weeks. In a matter of 36 weeks you'd be able reach the goal of 45lbs which is 20 kgs. By that time your muscles would be stronger to handle the load. That's the safest way to do it. In this ego driven fitness industry, lifting heavy may matter, but staying safe matters more. After all, you don't want to hurt your shoulders or any other muscles and be out of training for months. Then start from ground zero. So, give yourself the time, and do it gradually. I'm not against heavy lifting, but I have seen people who bench 500 lbs, but they could barely play with their kids or do some daily normal activities without pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So follow the weekly approach and get ready for the heavy thing, and keep eating clean and give your muscles adequate rest time which is around 48-72 hours at the level you are, or which ever break suits you. Also, as Jj has suggested, going for a personal trainer would be ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-09-21T23:18:21.617" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T23:18:21.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32237" CreationDate="2016-09-21T23:16:09.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though we live in a society where avoiding pollution completely is not possible, we can minimize it to an extent. Why not to tray some trail, or a playground and so a few rounds of it? Also, running on soft grounds is good for your knees compared to sidewalks. The issue could be also avoided with a goo pair of shoes, but then it's up to your convenience. If nothing helps, get a jumping rope and start skipping in any area away from instant pollution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T23:16:09.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32237" CreationDate="2016-09-21T23:22:34.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/expert-answers/air-pollution-and-exercise/faq-20058563&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt; suggests that you try and avoid exercising in the highest pollution areas (e.g. within 50 feet of a roadway), if it is possible to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe078139&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A study&lt;/a&gt; (behind paywall, sorry) from the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;The pathways linking air pollution exposure to the increased severity of exercise-induced ischemia observed in this study are unclear.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18487" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T23:22:34.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32237" CreationDate="2016-09-22T12:40:32.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer (expanded more &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19181/what-will-be-the-impact-of-cycling-20-km-a-day-in-a-city-on-my-lungs/19182#19182&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;), the effects of the air pollution are bad, but are outweighed by the benefits of exercise. More worrying is the increase in mortality from exercising next to vehicles that consist of a ton of solid material traveling at a speed of over 25 MPH, although that's less of an issue on a sidewalk than on the street itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T12:40:32.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28100" CreationDate="2016-09-22T14:54:31.587" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a simple answer that lies in both your question and in the chart you provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question says, “…is it bad to train...”.  Training implies you are trying to improve.  Zone 5, is not improving and therefore not training.  The chart says zone 5 is “Recommended for: Very fit persons with athletic training background.”  Have you already been training (in the improvement zones) for several years?  If the answer is not yes, you are not ready for zone 5.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand you are new, so you are smart for asking.  Doing a google for “exercise target heart rate” returns 1,700,00 results.  Taking just the first one says “It is recommended that you exercise within 55 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate for at least 20 to 30 minutes to get the best results from aerobic exercise. The MHR (roughly calculated as 220 minus your age) is the upper limit of what your cardiovascular system can handle during physical activity.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to understanding why is understanding aerobic exercise.  To oversimplify for this context, aerobic exercise is the process in which the body has time to use oxygen and nutrients from the body to generate energy.  Anaerobic exercise is when the body has been forced in to emergency or survival mode, thus it must find a faster way to generate energy.  Essentially the faster method consumes resources the body has already stored and may need, such as energy used by the brain to function.  The anaerobic method is more destructive to the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, some athletes (sprinters, football players, etc.) need burst energy.  So, yes, some athletes need training that includes anaerobic exercise.  Those same athletes will do large levels of doing cardio vascular training first or at least at the time same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23658" LastEditorUserId="23658" LastEditDate="2019-04-16T14:15:59.567" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T14:15:59.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="32243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32245" CreationDate="2016-09-22T15:09:24.963" Score="2" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;in relation to this question below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/32234/possible-paths-to-increase-bench-press-from-140kg-308-lbs-to-160-kg-352-fo&quot;&gt;possible paths to increase bench press from 140kg (308 lbs) to 160 kg (352 lbs) - for 1o reps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;rest time which is around 48-72 hours at the level you are, or which&#xA;  ever break suits you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;why exactly lifting heavy (at least 1.5 x body weight) makes us require more resting\recovery time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it also change the metabolism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18296" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T21:02:45.923" Title="why do we need more rest when lifting heavy?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32243" CreationDate="2016-09-22T19:03:45.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“why exactly lifting heavy (at least 1.5 x body weight) makes us&#xA;  require more resting\recovery time? “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, it's hard to quantify the exact amount of recovery time on an individual basis.  There are many factors that will affect recovery including genetics, nutrition, training status (newbie vs. experienced), sleep, fatigue, etc.  While it is generally accepted that the &lt;em&gt;recommended&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;guideline&lt;/em&gt; for recovery is 48-72 hours, it is only a &lt;strong&gt;guideline&lt;/strong&gt;.  Individual rates of recovery vary depending on some of the factors I've indicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In their paper, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/recoveryUNM.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Recovery in Training: The Essential Ingredient &lt;/a&gt;, doctors Jonathan N. Mike, M.S. and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.  Explain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“The greater the stress of the workout, the greater the overall muscle&#xA;  recruitment, and the greater the potential for muscle damage and&#xA;  soreness, therefore the need for longer recovery time. Muscle recovery&#xA;  between resistance training sessions for most individuals is also&#xA;  influenced by other types of training performed, such as&#xA;  cardiovascular training, interval sprints and sports conditioning&#xA;  sessions. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, paraphrasing from one of their sources, they indicate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10871510_Rhea_MR_Alvar_BA_Burkett_LN_Ball_SD_A_meta-analysis_to_determine_the_dose_response_for_strength_development&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rhea&#xA;  (2003)&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  concluded that for untrained individuals and trained individuals a&#xA;  frequency of 3 and 2 days, respectively, per week per muscle group is&#xA;  optimal, which translates to 1-2 days rest between sessions. However,&#xA;  this will vary depending on total volume of resistance training,&#xA;  individual training status, and overall goals (e.g., training for&#xA;  hypertrophy, strength, endurance, etc.).“&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no indication in any of the literature that metabolism is directly affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-09-22T23:25:56.723" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T23:25:56.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32243" CreationDate="2016-09-22T22:30:24.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called recovery, which means your muscles are recovering from any possible damage and fatigue from the lifting. They need a break to be ready for the next lifting. What do people usually say, when you have a very stressful day?It's, &quot;I need a break&quot;. The problem with muscles is, they can't speak for themselves, so there are guidelines to follow, in order to keep them in good condition and help them recover and grow. In that break time, they undergo repair and get nourished and grow stronger. If you keep straining them heavily everyday, that would hinder the repairing process and as a result, they will fail. That's what you call injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T22:30:24.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-23T11:47:02.263" Score="2" ViewCount="640" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very recently, I seriously injured my left knee. My current diagnosis is MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament) tear. This means up to 12 weeks recovery time until I can return to any sports activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing plenty of cardio by running (12-16 km 3 times a week). With this injury I (obviously) cannot do that and I'm afraid I'll start losing cardio fitness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way I will lose plenty of muscle tone in my both legs. But I am wondering what exercises involving only upper body can replace a cardio workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15806" LastEditorUserId="19319" LastEditDate="2016-09-25T18:40:36.187" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T12:55:20.003" Title="Which exercises are effective for a cardio workout when having injured legs?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-23T12:06:08.417" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it harder for people in wheelchairs to lose weight? The weight poses an extreme hazard to the cardiovascular system, in many cases. What can be done about it? Diet obviously plays a key, but if you cannot move, then you cannot burn the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would I be wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can a fitness trainer do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the user can use the arms, for instance, can they burn the fat contained in the stomach and legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20506" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-09-23T15:27:27.310" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T05:32:27.563" Title="Wheelchair users (including levers-powered) and losing weight" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;&lt;diet-tools&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2016-09-28T14:59:48.960" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32247" CreationDate="2016-09-23T13:01:49.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=665&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;arms ergometer&lt;/a&gt; or home mini pedals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fO1rJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fO1rJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Use of a set of minipedals to work arms&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16498" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-09-23T19:22:49.870" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T19:22:49.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32247" CreationDate="2016-09-23T16:00:22.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try using a Pull Buoy and swim freestlye (front crawl) arms only in a swimming pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water will be low impact on your knee&#xA;and the buoy in-between your thighs keep you buoyant and will add resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and you could also combine this with a pyramid style workout;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 lengths then rest&#xA;9 lengths then rest&#xA;8 then rest &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;until you get to 1 length and then go back up the pyramid. increasing effort as you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion this would be great cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23668" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T16:00:22.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32247" CreationDate="2016-09-23T18:44:30.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio is anything that raises your heart rate and breathing, so it's pretty wide-open in terms of activities. With your knee injury, I assume that most types of aerobics are going to be outside your reach (no bending, twisting, etc). Which is why I'm going to suggest &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/chair-aerobics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chair aerobics&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, I know that this type of exercise is stereotypically something done by senior citizens and people who want to pretend to be exercising while sitting in front of the TV, but if you put the effort into it, you will get a workout, and the fact that you're doing it from a sitting position means you're not putting stress on your injured knee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is to focus on core exercises like crunches, leg lifts, and twists, but frankly, it's difficult to do those exercises and not start squeezing with your legs to get that extra bit of leverage, so that might be contraindicated by your injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-09-24T16:24:55.043" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T16:24:55.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18755" CreationDate="2016-09-23T18:53:24.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the others have this fairly well covered (and I have my doubts as to whether you'll ever see this), but also consider making the exercise easier at first. I do not recommend doing &quot;girl pushups&quot; on the knees, as I feel like that's harmful to the knees, but one easy way to make pushups easier is to raise your hands higher. Put them on a chair. Or, if you have trouble with even that, push them on a wall. It may sound silly at first, but you can get exercise just pushing yourself from a bit off-vertical to vertical and it will get your body used to the proper movement. As you get better, you move closer and closer to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As regards pull-ups, the classic advice for people who can't even do one unassisted pull-up is to either do assisted pull-ups or negatives. For the former, you simply don't take your feet off of the ground. If the bar is low enough, just stand. If not, stand on a chair. Put as much of the weight on your arms as you can, but use your legs to give yourself that extra bit of lift. For negatives, it's even easier. Jump (or step off of a chair) into the position of having completed a pull-up and then lower yourself as slowly as you can. It's much the same exercise as an actual pull-up, but you're only using a fraction of the force since you're only slowing yourself, not countering gravity completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T18:53:24.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32243" CreationDate="2016-09-23T21:02:45.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exact reason you require more time for recovery as you get stronger is easy to  see if you consider  the difference between an untrained man with a 12 inch pipe-stem for an arm and a well-developed bodybuilder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mr. Pipestem, when he does curls, is forcing a small and weak muscle to work very hard. Mr. Huge if he does the same thing is causing a huge muscle to work very hard. For Mr. Pipestem, the cost to his recovery system is small, to Mr Huge the curls represent a bigger cost to his recovery system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're ability to recover from exercise might go up 50 or even 80% from your untrained baseline if you become very fit. But youre ability to generate that cost may double or even triple as you get stronger. Your ability to generate bigger stressors to your body by improving the strength of your muscles outstrips your ability to improve your ability to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the issue in a nutshell. If you're big and strong and work out very hard, you've really imposed a very large burden on your underlying metabolic system which gates your recovery rate. That's a bigger burden than you did when you were not so strong, relative to that same recovery rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HTH. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T21:02:45.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32248" CreationDate="2016-09-23T23:06:42.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically its not as simple as &quot;more exercise means less fat&quot; though in my opinion it might help. The answer is for them to start seeing a nutritionist who can help get to a balanced diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only reference is a documentary &quot;Fed Up&quot; (2014)... well and testimony from everybody who says they gain weight by looking at a doughnut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a fitness trainer I think the best thing you can do is not help them lose weight but help them improve their cardio and raise their spirits. There are many things that a good healthy heart can help avoid, and having a good outlook will help them also be more healthy. Generally being more active can help improve lives in many different ways but its not a garrantee to lose weight so I think you should avoid using that as an argument and help them avoid it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can testify that running for more than 5 hours will result in an appetite that will not go away for a few days no matter how much I eat. That to me is evidence for some form of a biological control that you have no control over and can be thrown off balance by exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can also testify that a coworker changed his diet with the help of a doctor to start eating many small healthy meals and lost ALOT of weight. I don't know the details but I've heard of this diet from several different places over the last few years. So they should see a doctor or a nutritionist to get a good weight loss result instead of trying to use exercise to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to say fasting from food and water during the daytime may help but only 1-2 times a week. I don't think many people do this though, just another opinion of mine. It puts your body into a fat burning mode where your likely to have ketosis to some degree during the fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps some. Kudos to you for taking on such a challenge to help other people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T23:06:42.757" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32198" CreationDate="2016-09-24T02:09:49.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The flab on your stomach is just a part of the flab which is all over your body. The people who are telling you you can't target it specifically are right; you have to just lose fat and your body will remove it from all over your body. So you should reconceputalize your goal as just &quot;losing weight&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;note that everyone has an inherited pattern of fat distribution. That means that when you gain weight, the fat tends to go some places more than others. By the same token, when you lose weight, the fat loss will come off in the same way it went on. If you tend to put fat around your stomach when you gain weight, then you'll tend to lose fat from your stomach first when you lose weight.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight is a game of numbers and you need to know them and track them in order to succeed. Here are the numbers you need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Your resting metabolic rate. This is how many calories your body needs in a day to just exist- breath, sit upright and keep yourself alive without losing or gaining weight.  There are ways to guess pretty accurately and there are ways to find out with certainity that involve specialized equipment. This is something for you to look into- trust *.gov and *.edu sites for accurate information; there's a lot of quackery out there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)The total calories in the food you did in fact eat during each day, every day. You have to track these scrupulously every day.  You need a calorie counter which lists the actual foods you ate and you need an oz or gm scale so you can know for a fact how much of each thing you ate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) An equally accurate record of your calories expenditure over the day. There are three parts to this. One is your RMR as discussed before. That is the baseline number of calories you're guaranteed to have spent even if you're sick in bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second part is the calories above your RMR you spent just tooling around, working and living life. This excludes exercise. You can accurately guesstimate these numbers by characterizing your daily life as sedentary (office job where you sit), mildly active (sitting for most of the day but with periods of walking or standing)  or very active (being a nurse, say). Go online and find a trustworty site which takes your weight and height and your activity level and gives you back a percentage of your RMR (in calories) that your daily life requires over and above your RMR. There's of course an app for this too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third part of the calorie calculation is the calories you spent deliberately exercising. Again there are .gov tables and tables from various .edu sites which have been assembled using thousands of test subjects over decades and you should find and use those tables. They are accurate. Be careful with apps not all of which may not give accurate information. It is very important that you're numbers are accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your RMR is generally fixed and unchanging. The calories and exercise are numbers that vary and you have to track them both every day. You should write them down as you eat them in and exercise them off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you know what numbers you need to track on, here's what you should do with them. You should make sure that you're consuming 500 fewer calories than you're using each day. That is a high goal to achieve, but it is effective and realistic. It will result in the loss of 1 lb. (2.2 kg.) per week (1 lb of fat = 3500 calories; 7 days of the week x 500 calories a day = 3500 calories). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that rate it's unlikely you will even have to diet 20 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So starting with your RMR, add the calories from your dialy life and the calories from exercise. That is your daily caloric expenditure.  Now try to adjust your calories from food, so you're 500 calories short of what you expended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means getting to know how many calories are in any serving of food that passes your lips. That means weighing or measuring the food, looking up the calories and writing it down. Pretty soon you'll be an expert in calorie count for the foods you regularly eat. You have to do this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also means truly knowing how many calories each exercise you do burns per minute. Some burn more than others but you can't do them for long- i.e. weightlifting. You only count the minutes you are actually exercising, not the time you spend between sets or standing and breathing hard or anything else. Mild aeorbics doesn't burn as many as weightlifting as a rule, but is better for losing weight because you can do it for longer than an anerobic exercise like weightlifting. It just amounts to more calories burnt!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be a little OCD about counting calories and exercise records and you also have to be realistic in your goals. In the beginning, really the first week or so, just counting calories and accurately tracking exercise without trying to limit your food intake is &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; enough discipline to have to adjust to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second week, try limiting your food so you come in 250 calories under what you calculated you used. You'll feel real hunger there and you have to teach yourself to cope with that real hunger. I would say a couple of weeks of being successful at that is a real milestone many people fail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you're aware of how long you have to exercise to burn off a banana or a piece of toast and you're looking at those foods differently, thinking things like &quot;if I eat this, then it means another 15 minutes of cardio, and that's a lot of work!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third week you can step things up so you're realizing a deficit of 500 calories. Don't think this is easy- it's truly hard dieting, but not so hard it's undoable. The chief reason people fail is, well, they don't know to do any of the above, LOL but for those who DO do the above, the chief reason they fail is they get greedy and try to go on too hard a diet and because food supplies the energy needed for willpower, they run out of willpower!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really a 500 deficit is full gallop and will get you anywhere you need to go in excellent time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing- exercising the area you want to lose fat from doesn't work. Specifically, exercising your abs to lose fat around them doesn't work. The energy your body needs to do exercise is not drawn from the fat stores around the muscle you're working. It's drawn from the energy (glucose) in your bloodstream as a result of your last meal OR it's drawn from adipose tissue evenly, from all over your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot induce your body to lose weight around your stomach by doing exercises for your stomach. Just lose weight, and the adipose which is covering your abs will shrink in size then, as a consequence, you'll then see the ab muscles clearly, muscles you always had, but were hidden under fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very best of luck to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastEditorUserId="23637" LastEditDate="2016-09-24T02:26:13.427" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T02:26:13.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-24T06:29:36.627" Score="0" ViewCount="1065" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read through the numerous answers on this site for getting bulkier legs. It seems that it is largely based on genetics, aided by the type of exercise. However, I do not have access to a gym and yet, I would like to increase my leg size. My plan is to do high intensity squats. By that I mean, doing full sit-down squats 40 times in a minute and repeating this 4 or 5 times. I'm trying to replicate a sprinting uphill type scenario while I'm at home during study breaks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this be helpful? Or should I employ a different method to gain leg mass? I am a vegetarian, so other things I'm doing to gain mass are drinking milk and whey protein. Any tips here also?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23673" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-09-27T20:00:54.020" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T04:03:55.357" Title="Sprinting to increase leg size" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-24T12:22:47.460" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new to lifting. I have my own benchpress and dumbbells, I have 10kg on the dumbbell and 20kg on my benchpress. From what I seen on the net, I should (apparently) have more weight on. I myself am way out of shape (110 kg) and I've recently quit smoking as well, and was wondering how much I should be benching. I know the obvious answer would be &quot;only as much as I can handle so I don't hurt myself.&quot; I start with 20 reps, then 3 sets of 10 and a set of 15. I also do 10 reps 4 or 5 different ways with the dumbbell. I just want to know what weight a 110kg, ex smoker at the age of 23 should be doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23675" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-09-27T20:03:06.423" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T20:00:59.520" Title="beginner benchpress" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32260" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32274" CreationDate="2016-09-24T13:47:17.333" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I do sports, I sweat really much - no matter whether I play soccer or do some bodyweight exercises. My fitness level is quite good and I don't get out of breath that easyly, but still I am sweating very much every time. What could be the reason for this? Does it mean that I am not as fit as I think I am? Other people, who don't have a fitness level like me don't seem to sweat very much. I am a little confused about what all that means. Should I have my heart circulation system checked or something like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23495" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T00:24:11.377" Title="What does very much sweating mean?" Tags="&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32257" CreationDate="2016-09-24T14:14:34.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should do that. The high intensity squats you describe are typically bodyweight training. The biggest advantage of it is that you can build muscles and get super fit - in only a really short amount of time. If you put your muscles to pressures they are not used to they get bigger. I do that too and I am drinking much milk, as well. Furthermore, I eat cheese, two eggs a day and every evening I eat a lowfat quark mix. Bodyweight training is perfectly suitable for your goals, as it requires a minimum of time and brings you maximum of results - no matter what your goal is. I recommend you the book “You are your own gym“ by &lt;strong&gt;Mark Lauren&lt;/strong&gt;. He describes the backgrounds and advantages of bodyweight training, gives you a lot of exercises you could do (of course, for all parts of the body) and explicitely tells you why you don't need a gym at all to get fit and to build muscles (at least not to build them to an extrem level like some bodybuilders do, which is normally naturally impossible for the body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know about your fitness level, but if you are able to do that many squats, then why not? Keep in mind that three to four days a week is enough if you exercise hard enough, which is required to actually build muscles doing bodyweight training (If you only want to train your legs, once or twice is enough). You should work out until your muscles can't work anymore. I can't stress enough how important resting is afterwards! Also keep in mind that you should do different exercises for the same muscles. Change them every four weeks - that way your body has to get used to the new pressures (even if it requires the same groups of muscles) and can build muscles, so that you can increase your leg size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23495" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T14:14:34.570" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32259" CreationDate="2016-09-24T14:47:38.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no one particular weight that is appropriate for everyone who is 110kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever weight you can do 8 reps with, do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find you can do more than 8 reps of something, increase the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure you warm up properly beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T14:47:38.923" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24483" CreationDate="2016-09-24T15:27:45.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Savasana or the Dead Body pose is a relaxation technique and to benefit from it you don't need to spend a long time in the pose.&#xA;This is from my personal experience,what you need to do is try to feel each and every part of the body from head to toe while taking deep breaths.          &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this process does is it will relax your muscles by focusing your attention on that part, and when i say feel i mean mentally not by physically moving.You have to remain still.Do this for about 5 minutes. This was the technique i learned in school.I hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23676" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T15:27:45.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32259" CreationDate="2016-09-25T09:41:22.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isnothing about your age weight or ex-smoking status that is related to how much you should be benching. The only thing that matters is how strong are you, that is, what is the most weight you can bench for 1 rep. You don't know the answer to that question. But you have to know it before you can choose a weight to work out with. Everything is based off your approxiamte 1 rep max. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, finding that out on your own is dangerous. What if you try too heavy a weight, what are you going to do once you realize you can't get it off your chest? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason you really should go to a real gym and have a either yoru friends or an employee stand over you ready to lift the weight off you while you try successively heavier weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you know what your 1 rep max is, then the susual advice is to take 75-80% of that and try to do 6-8 reps with it. That is your workout weight. If you can't manage that many reps, then lower the weight until you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can do more than 12 reps, up the weight by a very small amount such that the resultant weight is one you can barely get 6-8 reps with again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is called &quot;progressive resistance&quot; execise. Each time you work out you should be a tiny bit stronger and should should try to do more reps, or more weight or both. You don't need to do a lot of sets; there's even an entire weighlifting philosophy which says you should only do one set, if that set is hard enough, you will grow from it -after you've rested for 3-5 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout philosophies are like religions and I don't want to sparka  religious war in a beginner's question, so the advice I gave you 75-80% of your max for 6-12 reps with days off in between is very mainstream advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good for you for changing uyour life in this huge way! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T09:41:22.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32192" CreationDate="2016-09-25T09:48:30.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean- what is the best easily observable indicator of rate of calorie burning during exercise, then in general for any given exercise the harder your heart and lungs are working, the more calories you are burning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With calorie burning though, you're better off keeping your heart down so you can sustain the activity for a longer time. If yo're doing something and your heart rate is 80%, 90%, 100%  max, and you're burning 20+ calories a minute then  by definition you're doing high intensity exercise, possibly anerobically, and you won't be burning 20 cals a minute for long because you'll have to quit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To burn the most calories, it's more important to exercise at a rate you can sustain for a longer time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T09:48:30.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32267" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-25T10:35:17.957" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am no exercise addict, but I do have the willpower to exercise almost every day. Hell, I'll even exercise twice daily! Though I suspect I shouldn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read a bit about exercise recovery (I'd like to say &quot;A lot&quot;, but by comparison, I suspect it's not that much). There's a lot of emphasis about exercise recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do we need to recover from? I know our body starts out using glycogen (first the glycogen stored in the muscle, then the liver?), and if we continue to cause trauma to the muscle without letting it heal properly first, we will lose more than we gain. But how much time do we need to recover from different types of exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I've come across claims that you should get a day's rest between HIIT sessions. However, in the Tabata study (I have very little patience. a 4-minute workout? PERFECT! though I do get too close to vomiting...), the subjects worked out &lt;strong&gt;5 days a week&lt;/strong&gt; (4 days a week on the Tabata protocol, 1 day 30-min endurance followed by half the tabata protocol - 4 sets), which means at least 2 consecutive days of HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, what does one need to recover from, and how long would it take for, say, someone who isn't especially well-conditioned? (of course, I know this is variable, so I don't expect a precise answer. I'm asking for you to shed as much light as you can on the subject :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15924" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T10:32:31.410" Title="Recovery from different exercise types" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32273" CreationDate="2016-09-25T11:17:10.540" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm skinny and want to gain some weight.&#xA;I joined a gym 3 months ago but still there is no gain.&#xA;Now I want to try creatine supplements. &#xA;I chose two products &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Myprotein Creatine Monohydrate&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;BULK POWDERS Creatine Monohydrate Powder, Pure and Micronised&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose them because they are cheap.&#xA;But I don't know which one is good or which brand is good.&#xA;Please help me. Which one is good ???&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And please suggest some cheap products like protein powder, carbohydrate powder, multivitamin,  fish  oil etc...  or anything which can help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13670" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-09-25T14:50:25.883" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T23:53:39.693" Title="Which brands of creatine are good?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-09-27T02:19:55.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32267" CreationDate="2016-09-25T15:08:54.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is somewhat generic, although, I think my response to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/32243/why-do-we-need-more-rest-when-lifting-heavy&quot;&gt;why do we need more rest when lifting heavy?&lt;/a&gt; should provide some of the insight you are seeking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to pay close attention to the paper that is referenced (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/recoveryUNM.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Recovery in Training: The Essential Ingredient &lt;/a&gt;) and the study (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10871510_Rhea_MR_Alvar_BA_Burkett_LN_Ball_SD_A_meta-analysis_to_determine_the_dose_response_for_strength_development&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rhea 2003&lt;/a&gt;).  In particular, the study looked at training and recovery in &lt;strong&gt;trained&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;untrained&lt;/strong&gt; groups of study subjects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T15:08:54.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-25T21:39:54.107" Score="3" ViewCount="582" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different sports and exercises produce different physiques. Runners become skinny if they run long distances or bulky if they do sprint work, track cyclists have big legs, rowers build large chests. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder what physique would be produced by a routine based primarily on burpees, over a long period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that different people have different natural body shapes and respond to exercises at different rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4151" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T14:02:44.210" Title="What kind of physique would a lot of burpees build?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-25T22:01:04.897" Score="3" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently attempted to get going with my speed-walking routine but I get a lot of neck/jaw pain.  I have bruxism and usually wake up with real tense jaws/neck (despite wearing nightguards and also trying to do relaxation practices).  So as soon as I get going, I feel the awful rising tension in my neck, I can hear pulsating and my own breathing in my ear, and in short, it sucks.  It usually leads to tension headaches.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, I live with high level of stress, but it was for this very reason that my therapist had suggested doing daily exercises as a way to combat stress.  But neck/jaw are notoriously tough places to relax and you can't exercise when you feel like you're wearing an armor of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are way too many different books and views about what to do and I'm confused and I don't want to get hurt.  Any suggestions, books, websites, articles, videos, whatever for jaw/neck that you know from personal experience or your background knowledge, that work, are much appreciated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23686" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T11:34:34.747" Title="Are there stretches/exercise/yoga movements for tight jaws/neck?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32270" CreationDate="2016-09-25T23:28:33.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to conclude. As you have already mentioned, people have different body types, also they follow different workout and diet plans. For examples, soldiers, gymnasts, track athletes. All hey do, are free hand workouts, and they are all different when it comes to what they do in their respective workout times, and their body shapes differ. Even 2 people following the same set of exercises won't look the same. If you want to find in general, you can look up some links, but that would be again the author's perception, not something that could be used as a guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T23:28:33.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32268" CreationDate="2016-09-25T23:45:26.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 months is not  big enough a time for a beginner to see changes. In 3 months you hardly build 2-3 pounds of muscle mass, no matter what supplement you use, and that 2-3 pounds will be distributed all over your body, so it will hardly make any difference to human eye. To see any transformation, it will take at least a year of dedicated effort. If you stick to your schedules, eat and rest well, you'd add up 6-10 lbs(remember, it's not a linear growth) of muscle mass in a year. Not that you'd look like a competition athlete, but you can see the change. Now, if you continue, by the end of 2nd or 3rd year, you'd be able to see the real transformation when you add up to 20-25 lbs of muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplements as the name suggests, are there to supplement your food intake, they are not main food sources by themselves. If you are not eating right, there's nothing much they could do. Food along with supplements, would provide you the proper benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-09-25T23:53:39.693" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T23:53:39.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32260" CreationDate="2016-09-26T00:24:11.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not always it means something. While your body is quite responsive and flushes out waste quite frequently, it also loses water and electrolytes. Make sure you hydrate yourself properly and regularly. If you have every seen Brock Lesnar workout, that guy loses around half a gallon to a gallon of workout during one session, but have we ever seen a fighter like him? Whether in the octagon, or in the ring, I have never seen a man close to 300lbs in weight move so swiftly. So, don't worry, you just need to keep yourself hydrated and the salt levels in your body maintained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T00:24:11.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32275" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T03:26:38.313" Score="0" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been swimming for 5 hours straight. Now I'm out of the pool and I've been out for an hour. I have homework but I'm extremely sleepy. I've read why this is caused, mainly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cold temperature in the pool&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The amount of energy needed to swim.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even after all my research no one said how I can feel energetic again. What can I do to feel better after swimming? I don't drink coffee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23687" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T03:39:03.620" Title="Feeling exhausted after swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;tiredness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32275" CreationDate="2016-09-26T03:39:03.620" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;5 hours of any workout would exhaust you for the rest of the day. Now regarding what to do next? Eat food to help you with your calorie needs and if possible, take a nap. That may not remove all the exhaustion, but would give you enough energy to get other things done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T03:39:03.620" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32248" CreationDate="2016-09-26T05:32:27.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question, if using arm can result in fat loss in belly and legs, is yes, it can. To lose fat you need to lose overall body fat. There's no exercise targeted to lose body fat from any specific body part. So, by using your arms if you burn enough calories, it would result in fat loss wherever required and your body is quite intelligent to figure that out. &#xA; Red Nick Scott's interview if you like, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cutandjacked.com/cutandjacked-interview-wheelchair-bodybuilder-nick-scott&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.cutandjacked.com/cutandjacked-interview-wheelchair-bodybuilder-nick-scott&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's wheelchair bound since he was a teenager, but not only he successfully lost tremendous amount of fat, he built an impressive physique as well.So, by having a control over your diet, working out regularly and having adequate rest, you can achieve any goal you want. Best wishes to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T05:32:27.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T09:58:02.317" Score="0" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine told me you burn fat on one area of the body, and then the body weight readjusts itself so as to maintain the same proportions within a week or ten days or so of you quitting the exercise routine. However, someone on this Stack Exchange group mentioned that this is false?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the original claim/conclusion true or false?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20506" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T10:17:14.653" Title="Body weight readjustment (post-(exercise fat burn))" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32278" CreationDate="2016-09-26T10:17:14.653" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you burn fat on one area of the body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This alone is already &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_reduction&quot;&gt;false&lt;/a&gt;, thus the entire statement is false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot spot-reduce fat. Either you lose it everywhere, or not at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T10:17:14.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32247" CreationDate="2016-09-26T12:55:20.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your position I'd try to get my hands on a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handcycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;handcycle&lt;/a&gt;.  A proper one, not one designed to bolt on to a wheelchair.  Second hand ideally, and sell it on afterwards so it shouldn't cost you too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're used to getting about actively, you'll probably want a form of exercise that allows you to get out and about.  You don't say whether you'll be able to walk much, but I suspect you'll be strapped up tight and on crutches.  I also don't know whether you've got any budget, so this may not be a viable option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6482" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T12:55:20.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32257" CreationDate="2016-09-26T13:03:09.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think short max effort sprints would definitely help increase leg mass. &#xA;It will promote skeletal muscle growth, and testosterone release.&#xA;It would also develop fast twitch muscle fibres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These sprints could also be performed on a bike aswell as running. For instance look at the size of the legs of a pro track cyclist - Sprinters like Chris Hoy and notably Robert Forstemann!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pair this with a solid bodyweight routine including movements like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calf Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Donkey Kicks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Box Jumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stiff legged dumbbell deadlifts (if you have any dumbbells)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slosh pipe lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and I think you'll be on your way to gaining some good lean mass without going to the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to always eat well with plenty of protein and drink lots of water to help repair muscles and promote growth post workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you're doing the right thing by drinking Whey.&#xA;You could also supplement Creatine (5g per day) to help with water retention to assist with muscle repair.&#xA;BCAA's to help your body synthesise new proteins. &#xA;Glutamine 5g directly after workout and 5g before bed&#xA;also possibly a half scoop of whey with half scoop of casein before bed as a slow release protein shake to keep you fuelled throughout the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to take it to the next level and see real leaps in size, you really do need a good gym with a squat rack/power rack for squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23668" LastEditorUserId="23668" LastEditDate="2016-09-26T13:12:12.903" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T13:12:12.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T13:11:31.700" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background: I work as a programmer, so I probably have a few posture related issues. I try to sit back as much as possible and relax shoulders and head, which has helped in getting rid of most of my back pains, but when I get home I don't pay much attention to it, for example I lying on one side a lot. I have been working out more than my usual this year, which seems to have brought out the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming to my problem, the muscles in my neck feel tense most of the time, the range of motion is slightly reduced compared to 1 year ago because of said tension, whether it's lifting my head up or turning it to one side (one side more than the other). I feel most of the tension in the sternocleidomastoid, and occasionally the soreness hits the top of the trapezius as well.&#xA;Push-ups or small weight lifting are usually enough to make me feel it even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I should exlude from my workout at least for a brief time period? What can I do to prevent this from happening and relax these muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19178" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T15:21:13.693" Title="Tense neck muscles" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-09-28T15:00:19.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32270" CreationDate="2016-09-26T14:02:44.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a really general question so I'll keep my answer general by sticking my the sports-science mantra:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;If you want to get good at X, practice by doing X &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; a lesser amount of Y;&#xA;where Y is functionally similar to X.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get good at running 1 mile, then run 1 mile a lot. Throw in some short printing exercise and a few slower 2 mile runs and you have a pretty good regime which will improve your 1-mile time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The is the very basic principle behind programming for sports. You don't see rowers spending &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; of their time on the bench-press, because they are rowing. If I was training for a running race and spent all my time on the cross trainer had did a couple runs then I wouldn't do as well as someone who did the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What will doing burpees develop (muscles)?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will get good at doing burpees and find them easier as your mind develops the connections required to execute a burpee without thinking about the motions and balance. &lt;strong&gt;You will develop your brain (sort of)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, burpees consist of a squat-thrust followed by a squat-jump. Both are variations of performing a squat but both aren't really as good as just a pure, full-depth, ass-to-grass, bodyweight squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, burpees don't really provide any significant resistance or work to ANY part of your body, there is a lot of stabilising going on and movement but for the most-part you are just moving fast. &lt;strong&gt;You won't develop any specific type of physique that can be categoried using normal descriptions (lean/bulky/ripped)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T14:02:44.210" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32257" CreationDate="2016-09-26T14:47:30.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background/Qualification:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm 5ft 5in, 25 years old and I have a 3 plate, 3 rep squat maximum (3 reps @ 140kg/315lb) at 75kg bodyweight. &lt;em&gt;My thighs/quads are BIG&lt;/em&gt;, if i'm standing straight with my legs together then my quads are wider overall than both my waist and hips. I don't know anyone my age and height with legs comparable to mine (who isn't obese/powerlifter), i'm hovering at around 17-20% bf (estimated). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want big thighs then you need to &lt;strong&gt;eat big&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;squat big&lt;/strong&gt;. I can guarantee you aren't eating enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided you are starting lean (&amp;lt;20%bf) and have the ability to eat around 3000 calories a day and workout for a hour and a half 3 times a week then you are all set:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve your muscle size, you need a equivalent to a barbell program. Grab a piece of scaffold and tie on some water jugs or grab a heavy object and do front squats. &lt;strong&gt;The key is that you need something you can add a small amount of weight to every time you work out&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Correctly designed barbell training programs take advantage of the&#xA;  fact that barbells can be incrementally loaded and gradually made&#xA;  heavier, thus forcing the body to gradually become stronger at a rate&#xA;  that can be supported by each individual. If you only use your own&#xA;  bodyweight for the resistance, it severely limits your ability to&#xA;  tailor the resistance to meet your current level of adaptation, and to&#xA;  gradually increase that adaptation so as to improve your strength in a&#xA;  predictable, directable way&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Mark Rippetoe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight and barbell programs will both make you &lt;em&gt;strong&lt;/em&gt;, there are many stories of people who don't weight train and end up lifting very large amounts their first time out, due to body weight skills. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95D7lj-A6tA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a video&lt;/a&gt; of Ross Enamait deadlifting 495lbs (at 170lb body weight) with no deadlift skills and a primarily bodyweight-only training routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to get &lt;strong&gt;BIG&lt;/strong&gt; you need a barbell (or equivalent) and a big diet, this is why bodybuilders do mostly barbell work and not mostly bodyweight work. Take supplements (creatine/protein) if you need it but you should be tracking your diet and understand you macronutrient breakdown to see if you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T14:47:30.883" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32285" CreationDate="2016-09-26T15:21:13.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't exclude exercises, if the muscles get weaker or less use, then they will probably be less able to handle the daily stress of working at a computer station and typing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a computer programmer, and I'm a frequent swimmer, so that adds up to the same kind of neck and trapezius soreness/knots that you talk about.  I try to combat it in two ways that seem to work for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I feel things starting to tense up some, I try to take a minute or two and do stretching.  Not on any kind of schedule, but &quot;as needed,&quot; though maybe making sure you do some before bed on a regular basis, regardless, might be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.self.com/fitness/2015/02/stretches-relieve-sore-neck-sitting-all-day/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stiff neck from sitting all day stretches&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that works, for me, is self-massage, particularly targeting trigger/release points where you can feel those muscles knotting up.  Quite often these points are where several bands of muscles come together.  When it gets really bad, I sometimes ask my teenaged daughter to get behind me on the couch and lean in and attack the trapezius knots with her elbow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing any kind of release or pressure point work, what happens is the muscles initially will contract or spasm, but if you keep the pressure on, you will feel the muscles begin to relax in response to the pressure (&quot;release&quot;).  When my daughter gives me the requested elbow treatment, I usually notice it especially when I wake up the next day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The points that most often need attention, for me are the top of the trapezius or, more often, just to the spine-side near the top of the scapula, which I can feel running up the back of my neck and to the base of the skull, and, when it is bad enough to spasm, can make if feel like someone is squeezing either my eyeball or my inner ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.painscience.com/articles/self-massage.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Self-Massage tips for myofascial release points&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I can't get a helper for something like that, if the back of the chair is high enough, or the couch is firm enough, I place a tennis ball between my back and the chair or couch (or you can do this lying on the floor), make sure the ball is directly on the sore muscle, and slightly move/rotate my shoulders and back so the ball is massaging that area.  Tennis ball is great for this.  I'd image an racquetball would be pretty good, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T15:21:13.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32311" CreationDate="2016-09-26T17:48:13.870" Score="1" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22-year-old software developer that started with fitness one and a half year ago and I am looking for some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Starting weight&lt;/em&gt;: 86 kg - 189 lbs Actual weight: 73 kg - 160 lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Activities - ALWAYS BEFORE DINNER (~5pm)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: Chest and back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday: Legs and core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Arms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: 1 hour of swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: Shoulders and back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: Chest (a bit), legs and core&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: 1 hour of swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Food&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: 1 egg (only egg-white), oatmeal with skim milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: 1 egg (only egg-white), oatmeal with skim milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 hour before workout: Banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: Whatever my mom prepares (I only eat normal portions), Low fat &amp;amp; high protein Greek yogurt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drinks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Open to shakes/energy-drinks if they could help increase energy/mass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sleep&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7-8 Hours a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have grown a lot of muscle but I almost always feel a shortage of energy before my workout. I am not sure how I could increase it, what kind of food should help me out here? Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23697" LastEditorUserId="23697" LastEditDate="2016-09-26T18:14:28.117" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T13:13:19.933" Title="Energy shortage before workout" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T18:37:44.783" Score="5" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are both generally fit, neither of us run and both of us are interested in introducing it to our fitness plan.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I study (and teach) Taekwondo while she does extensive aerobic exercise every morning.  We both have good cardiovascular systems and good endurance.  It would be great to introduce recreational distance running to the exercise plan since we live in an area that offers a lot of gorgeous options for it.  However, we're both middle-aged now so we're trying to be sensible about getting started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are some risks for us to watch out for?  Skeletal stress?  Muscles?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should we be looking for different gear?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the target stride change as you get older?  The pace?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I've seen this older question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/15170/what-are-the-basics-to-slowly-becoming-a-runner&quot;&gt;What are the basics to slowly becoming a runner?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &quot;Use Couch 2 5K&quot; is a suggestion, it doesn't really address age-related issues beyond &quot;this is a pretty good app.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7239" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T20:22:07.413" Title="What strategies should a fit middle-aged novice runner use to get started?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;age&gt;&lt;novice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32290" CreationDate="2016-09-26T20:23:16.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that you should pay close attention to any kind of joint pain, and to avoid running if you encounter such pain in the hips, knees, or ankles.  As we age, the cartilage and synovial fluid in our joints become less robust and able to deal with the high impact of running.  Recovery takes longer, and if the joints experience excessive wear, this is something that no amount of recovery time will fully resolve, unlike many of the muscle pains typically encountered in running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Care should be taken to go slow at first, to not run with a speed goal in mind, and to not run in a way that requires a long stride.  Shorter strides and avoiding extending the foot beyond the knee, are recommended:  this avoids heel strikes and reduces ankle and knee joint stress.  In terms of cardiovascular fitness, you can get significant benefits from running even if it is not particularly fast or tiring.  I would begin on a treadmill and focus on your running form, before running outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good shoes are a must, but there are so many possibilities here, and everybody's individual biomechanics are a bit different, so what works for me might not work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T20:23:16.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30016" CreationDate="2016-09-27T00:27:47.730" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 'theories' that the more natural muscle, the more receptors, thus the need for more T. Conversley, those taking T (specifically) lack adequate receptor health or quantity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot more than T (remember, it converts to estrogen, androgens, etc) to be considered age, health conditions and how your body is genetically programmed to react to the need or presence of &quot;any&quot; hormone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However... People that are in great shape naturally and making gains are typically making residual gains (and maybe losses) over time. SOME, but not all, will make certain sacrifices to further gains (leaner diet, fewer calories, an extra hour to spend working out) and could be approaching 'adrenal fatigue'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adrenal fatigue. Sometimes 'borderline eating disorders' as well, that rarely are identified when someone is otherwise in perfect health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to override a need to understsnd all this, lol, is to simply take what you need. Enough rest, food and progress with fitness ... And time as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23701" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T00:27:47.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30038" CreationDate="2016-09-27T01:05:34.143" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brofessor offers a very accurate insigh. Let's build on that - assuming the question is asked with the assumption that 'the more testosterone, the better' -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Testosterone is a hormone that requires certain things to be produced in the body. It also converts to other things when there is too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When young and healthy (lifestyle and general health),  it peaks in the morning and drops through the day. This is sometimes less dramatic or relevant later in life. Yes, certain things can alter levels throughout the day (and on average) - research tends to imply higher levels yield a leaner body. Lower levels yield higher body fat and may also signal the presence of a bad habit, poor health or something else that may have to be addressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guys with higher levels are typically those who aren't seniors... Or  those whom are young (and/or) healthy (and/or) physically fit. Also included would be those taking artificial testosterone ... And a portion of balding guys with gyno or balding due to having too much for ANY reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, who has more social skills? A politician or a business man? Are social skills relevant if you are not in an environment with tons of people? What if you're unable to communicate because you can't talk or write? What if you have no social skills, but had them earlier in life - so you have more friends and relationships regardless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My intention is not to discredit the roll of testosterone. You ask a great question. Just illustrating that it's most important to reach your own potential and not match someone else's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23701" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T01:05:34.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32759" CreationDate="2016-09-27T02:41:18.020" Score="2" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;McMillan running calculator states that your heart rate for speed work should be +90%maxHR. My heart rate takes about 45 seconds to rise from resting during track workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should it peak at +90%maxHR by the end of a 200 meter repeat that is 35-45 seconds?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should it peak or average at +90%maxHR for longer distances?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should it peak or average during the first repeats of a workout or later on?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate monitors are easy to use for a 20 minute tempo run but what about these shorter times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im asking about the dynamic change in heart rate at the start of a repeat like below. The 100m sprints arent even long enough I think to use heart rate...right?&#xA;Here the maxHR is 184 bpm so 90% starts at 165.6 and Im just getting to that at the end of each 400m. Initially I thought 90% was closer to 170 bpm. Basically Im trying to hit 92-95% maxHR and Im wondering if Im chasing a ghost?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7NgAf.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7NgAf.png&quot; alt=&quot;Heart rate during speedwork on the track&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-09-29T00:24:41.663" LastActivityDate="2016-12-04T19:13:44.703" Title="How do you use a heart rate monitor for track workouts and speed work?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32290" CreationDate="2016-09-27T03:12:56.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Join a local running club. Usually there are similar people with similar fitness levels and they are a great resource for learning what is best to do, avoid, and what is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Include walking breaks in your running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't pay attention to your paces or distances but focus on getting some time on your feet even it includes walking. In my opinion, this is the basis for why couch to 5k type of apps work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is any pain go to a doctor first before trying to self treat by completely stopping your running routine or other self aide that might delay the doctor's visit. Find a doctor who runs when possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink lots of water but only when you're thirsty. Bring food for runs more than an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use those gorgeous options you mentioned for motivation. Mine was Pikes Peak and is now the Smokies. These goals have stopped me from overtraining and running them have been more memorable to me than any fast times I've ever posted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stride and cadence will change based on your relative speed between your fastest to your slowest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as gear goes I don't have much to say except take care to not tryout new fades when it comes to shoes, and don't run in shoes that could be worn out and no longer protecting your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be shy about considering to hire a coach because they can save you lots of time and save you from many potential problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an amateur but there are a few running experts on this site and I hope they will see and answer your post. If not then a good running club always have a few too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T07:52:05.007" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T07:52:05.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32296" CreationDate="2016-09-27T07:05:29.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that, for example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If resting heart rate is 50bpm and VO2 Max HR is 200 bpm (easy numbers), then your 'working heart rate' for the majority of your speed work should be 90% of your VO2 HRMax, (90% of 200 = 180 bpm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working heart rate is your average heart rate &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; the exercise. If you have a watch-style monitor readout then if you checked it during the sprints you would expect to see around 180bpm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using something like Strava Premium (paid service) or Garmin Connect (free with a Garmin HR Monitor) can help you understand how your heart rate changes through the exercise, eg:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bY1M9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bY1M9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XWyjN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XWyjN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zHj8d.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zHj8d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T07:05:29.200" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31207" CreationDate="2016-09-27T08:30:42.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This clearly depends on which definitions you're referring to as there may be several different ways to interpret these terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I refer to how Jack Daniels defines these terms in his 'Running Formula' (with speaking about interval and repetition pace, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Daniels_(coach)#Interval_.28I.29_pace&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intervals&lt;/strong&gt; are meant to stress the VO2max and raise the maximum oxygen uptake capacity. In general, interval workouts have a short recovery phase such that the impulse is built up over the whole workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Repetitions&lt;/strong&gt; are meant to improve speed and running economy, mostly over 200m to 400m with full recovery intervals in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use these terms without referring to special paces. I use 'repetitions' for longer distances as well with the main point of full recovery between intervals. For example, for 3x3000m repetitions it does not matter how much recovery time you use in between as long as you're fully recovered when starting the next trial. For a 3x3000m interval workout it's important to specify the recovery time (e.g. 800m).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23704" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T08:30:42.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32296" CreationDate="2016-09-27T08:31:31.777" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The % of your peaks and averages ccompared to max and resting HR may change over time. If you're in great shape and have been sprinting for two years on a regular basis, you may not see much of a change if your intensity has been the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take it after your first and then your final sprint, you'll get a good understanding how your HR is for that type of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a heart condition and are monitoring for health, then a Dr. Would likely recommend to measure  at different times during the day... and then take it (and other tests) professionally in their office while in a controlled environment/circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23701" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T08:31:31.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30076" CreationDate="2016-09-27T08:50:32.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can probably choose any distance from 200m to 5000m, use a factor such that the total distance at target pace is somewhere between 2k and 10k and use ca. half the distance as recovery and you have a list of common interval workouts. 5k runners do in general more of the shorter ones while marathon runners may even do something like 3x5k at marathon pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a table with workouts from the german &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.la-coaching-academy.de/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;LA Coaching Academy&lt;/a&gt;. The table is in German but I think it's pretty straight-forward. The number of repetitions are quite challenging, doing only 10x400m and 6x1000m is quite common for slower runners, but these numbers are meant for runners running 31 to 33 minutes on 10k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Hguo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Hguo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'd have to choose my five most common workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20x200m, 200m recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15x400m, 200m recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8x1000m, 400m recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4x2000m, 800m recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3x3000m, 1200m recovery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23704" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T08:50:32.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15221" CreationDate="2016-09-27T11:01:22.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can start to think from most simple and common causes of metallic taste:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.allexperts.com/q/Medical-Research-Internet-1426/METALLIC-TASTE-MOUTH.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Allexperts site&lt;/a&gt; you linked, mentions &lt;strong&gt;mouth dryness&lt;/strong&gt; as one of the causes. 10 minutes into running you could have dry mouth from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breathing through mouth (also, intense breathing through nose can cause dryness of the nasal mucosa possibly resulting in a &quot;metallic smell.&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adrenaline release due to stress (running) resulting in a similar dry mouth as when you are anxious&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mild dehydration (not that 10 minutes of running will dehydrate you, but being mildly dehydrated before you start running can add to mouth dryness during running)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acid reflux&lt;/strong&gt; can cause metallic (bitter, sour) taste (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/tc/gastroesophageal-reflux-disease-gerd-symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;). You can have acid reflux without typical heartburn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any minor &lt;strong&gt;mouth (gum/teeth) or nose condition&lt;/strong&gt; (with or without blood) can be associated with metallic taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About ketosis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not go into &lt;strong&gt;ketosis&lt;/strong&gt; in 10 minutes of running (if you are healthy and not on a ketogenic diet). If you had ketosis before starting running, you would also likely have metallic taste before running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10526" LastEditorUserId="10526" LastEditDate="2016-09-27T20:27:26.060" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T20:27:26.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2016-09-27T12:15:16.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Counting calories won't do much help. It was already stated the calorie system is broken as it applies differently to different people (&lt;a href=&quot;http://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2016/01/why-the-calorie-is-broken/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;ArsTechnica&quot;&gt;ArsTechnica&lt;/a&gt; article - if anyone interested). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve your effectiveness in loosing weight i would suggest replacing any processed food (including bars / protein snacks and etc) with whole food. Add more greens to your diet, spinach, kale leaves, spring onions and whatever is in your local food store. Add oils, cold pressed olive oil and/or coconut oil. Simple carbs replaced by complex carbs as we still need those to optimally function. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be miss not to mention physical activities. Do something outdoor that is enjoyable and it'll help you burn calories and get fitter. If you do not have  a pet, i would suggest getting one preferable young with loads of energy and enthusiasm for going out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10732" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T12:15:16.707" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30016" CreationDate="2016-09-27T19:20:32.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The implied mental model you have of T in your body is in error and leading you to incorrect conclusions and suppositions. It is not a substance that gets used up, like gasoline in a car's engine. It is a hormone that circulates in your bloodstream and when it is taken up by a receptor, kicks off other processes in organs and your brain. You always have plenty of this stuff circulating. There are feedback mechanisms for this and all hormones in your body which causes the hormone quantity to increase when it is low and decrease when there is enough. You cannot meaningfully effect that feedback mechanism through diet or exercise, at least, not enough to make a difference to you in anything you'd notice. Specifically, you cannot do anything to &quot;use it up&quot; so that you're somehow short of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some weightlifters take anabolic steroids which are a synthetic, exogenic ( that is, external to your body, specifically, your testes which make testosterone) source of testosterone. When they do this their testes STOP making testosterone because of that feedback mechanism I mentioned. Essentially, by injecting themselves with an external source of testosterone, they are telling their body's feedback sensors that the body has enough and doesn't need to make any more. So it doesn't.  The quantity they inject is actually greater than their bodies would naturally make. The problem is, the testes shrink (since they are not making testosterone anymore) and as soon as they stop injecting themselves, they have very very low testosterone for a long while because they aren't getting any from their bodies and they aren't injecting it either. Then their strength goes down and they lose muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also say that as your muscles get bigger, the muscles cells and receptors do NOT multiply. A bigger muscle just has bigger and thicker muscle cells, but not more. Hyperplasia is the term used to describe a muscle cell which HAS split. This is a disease or injured state of muscle, not something you're after. You do not &quot;injure&quot; your muscles when you  lift weights , or at least you don't want to!  Inducing hyperplasia in a muscle cell more or less ruins it because individual muscle cells are multi-nucleated (they have multiple nuclei) and they can't function any longer if they are torn in half such that each &quot;half&quot; only has one nucleus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hypertrophy&quot; is the name of the natural, non-disease process by which you get bigger and stronger as a result of lifting weights. It's not a result of injury and healing, as people often think. It's a thing unto itself- a natural process specific to your muscles which your muscle undergoes in response to the signal it gets from you that  it's not strong enough to manage in your environment. The way you send that signal is by lifting weights. Your muscles understand your strenuous activity as a specific signal that they need to grow stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like tanning. Tanning is a natural built-in response on the part of your skin in response to the signal it gets that it needs to make more melanin to protect you from UV rays. Sunburn is the injured state of your skin from too much UV. Tanning is the non-injured response by your skin to a little UV radiation. You want to tan. You don't ever want to burn. Burning interferes with tanning. Burning gives you diseases later on in life. Burning is bad. The exact same thing holds for lifting weights. You don't want to induce hyperlasia, you want to invoke the hypertrophy response. Too much exercise will induce hyperplasia. The right amount of high intensity will invoke hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the thing with testosterone. You naturally ALWAYS have MORE than enough to get bigger and stronger from each bout of exercise. If you are not getting bigger and stronger, then you are probably either training too much, or not hard enough, or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't fret about your hormones; if there was anything wrong in that department, you'd already know about it for other reasons. Your body knows how much you need and supplies the right amount. You cannot interfere with this process (thankfully) unless you engage in some very extreme behaviors for a long long time (starvation, chronic exhaustion) , but then you've got bigger issues than being low on T.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped. Best of luck to you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastEditorUserId="23637" LastEditDate="2016-09-27T19:35:23.637" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T19:35:23.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32028" CreationDate="2016-09-27T19:25:48.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well ,  muscle memory  cannot be maximized.&#xA;The effect  is in  a number  of cell nuclei. During initial  training  the  number  becomes higher and then  remains the  same  &quot;forever&quot;.&#xA;The new nuclei are taken  form  stem cells.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pnas.org/content/107/34/15111&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.pnas.org/content/107/34/15111&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, by now you  have all the  memory  you  need.&#xA;Just  use the  most efficient  muscle building  program and eat  and sleep  well and you  could gain  your muscles back very soon. Depending  on  your genetics  and AAS usage status  it may  take a year ,   or a  month ,  see &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://muscleoldschool.com/the-colorado-experiment-and-casey-viator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://muscleoldschool.com/the-colorado-experiment-and-casey-viator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8149" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T19:25:48.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32289" CreationDate="2016-09-27T20:01:05.030" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK I am going to get basted for this perhaps because &lt;em&gt;weightlifting beliefs are form of religion&lt;/em&gt; , but since I am also a sw dev. I feel for some reason you need to be told what you're doing wrong. You are training way way way too often.  I am going to guess you are doing multiple sets and multiple sets of different exercises for your arms back chest legs etc.  Here's what's going on with your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either you are training hard enough during the course of at least one of your multiple sets to induce growth, or your not. If you are training hard enough for one of your sets then all the other ones are a waste of energy and just causing you to release yet more stress hormones and depleting you of energy you need to recover from your growth-inducing set. You only need one set for each muscle group to trigger off the maximum hypertrophy (muscle growth) you're going to get. Your muscles are looking for a &quot;signal&quot; that they need to grow. Once they get that from you, they will grow as much as they can in response to that signal. This is also known as 'training to failure&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing set number 2 is just sending the same signal again. But your muscles understood you the first time. Yet you do it again. And again. And again. Then you go to another exercise for the same muscle group. You are beating your body down operating under the false premise that &lt;em&gt;more is better&lt;/em&gt; . More is not better in weight lifting. Specifically, doing a second and third and fourth set is NOT going to get you more results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other mistake you're making is related to the first. Since you're doing multiple sets, and it takes time to do those sets, you can't work your entire body in one session. So you go back the next day (and abuse those other muscles). The problem is, all of your body's subsystems which deal with stress are getting worked out again, along with the &quot;new&quot; muscles. You are releasing the same stress hormones, the same exercise-related waste products into the same bloodstream yet again. Those systems are being stressed every single day according to your schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the way hypertrophy works is, your body has to RECOVER from exercise or it won't grow as much as it could have, or at all.  If you never let it recover, you're interfering with its growth. You never let it recover. You just keep re-stressing it. By continually doing this, you're driving yourself into a state of over-training. Soon, all progress just stops and you're tired all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this. Pick one exercise for each muscle for at most a total of 8 or 10 (or even less, 5 or 6). So that's like leg presses, leg curls, pullover machine, bench or flies, bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, and lateral raises for your shoulders.  Do ONE set of each of those choosing a weight you can only do for 8-12 reps despite your greatest effort. When you can't do another rep during a set, try like your life depended on it to do another one anyway, and keep trying  like that for 30 seconds. This should be a real tribulation for you. It's no fun to work until you truly and really can't do another rep then continue to try to do one as hard as you possibly can, with no movement of the bar, every  second  for 30 full seconds. That's why you never see anyone do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is called &quot;high intensity exercise&quot;. That is the unique and specific signal your muscles evolved to understand. That and nothing else will kick off maximum hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, after you're done with all your sets, get out of the weightlifting gym for FIVE full days. FIVE. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to swim after TWO full days of doing absolutely nothing except using your thumb to push the buttons on your remote, then go ahead but don't exhaust yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the SIXTH day go do it again, with a very slightly heavier weight, or strive for more reps, or both. Keep accurate records to insure yourself that you are in fact getting stronger each time. You'll see. Every time you go back to the gym, you'll be significantly stronger. You won't be tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to also get a cardio workout, then &lt;em&gt;move from one exercise to the other as fast as you can bear&lt;/em&gt;. Notice how hard your heart and lungs are working. Much harder than they do when you're swimming. Moving fast between sets and going again to failure is murder. You're probably find you're disinclined to keep doing it. If you do, however, you are getting 3 days of cardio every six days and you're getting really fit without grinding yourself into nothing by overtraining. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason it's so hard is because your heart and lungs cannot supply you with enough O2 during anaerobic exercise, by definition. Weightlifting in a high intensity fashion is anaerobic. Moving from one anaerobic exercise to the next is going to drive your heart and lungs into despair.  Moving quickly from one to the next to the next for 6 or 10 sets is going be so stressful it will be the thing that stops you from completing your set and not the weight. So in this way, it can actually interfere with maximizing the muscle-building potential of your workout- you quit not because the individual muscle was exhausted, like you wanted,  but because your heart and lungs were! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will never get any better, because you can't keep that level of heart and lung stress up for 10 minutes. This is the same as saying no one will ever sprint a mile, no matter how fit they become. Your body is not made to work that hard for that long and it will force you desist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what I am saying is- you can get a good heart/lung workout in lifting weights, but gate the rapidity with which you move from set to set, if you want to maximize muscular hypertrophy in the gym and not heart lung fitness. You should always fail at an exercise because the muscle you were working failed, not because you were about to collapse from heart / lung exhaustion. You're there to lift weights and increase strength after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HTH. Give this a try and see if you don't have more energy and better results and more time in your life for non-gym things too ! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastEditorUserId="23637" LastEditDate="2016-09-27T20:25:42.430" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T20:25:42.430" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32289" CreationDate="2016-09-28T05:52:39.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you need to have break days. You are working out all 7 days a week, and that way your body doesn't get enough rest to recover. It's not any specific recovery, but the recovery of your system to prepare for the next workout. I know some people who workout all 7 days a week and are doing fine, but in your case, it's not the same are you feel drained out. Your sleeping hours seems okay, but what about sleeping pattern? Do you usually go to bed at a particular time? That also determines how you'd feel the next day. From your diet plan it seems like you are heavily focused on protein, to gain mass, but remember, muscles need fuel or calories. If you feel like you have gained enough of muscles, you need to feed them with sufficient amount of calories. So, you need to make sure you are including the right amount of cards in your diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T05:52:39.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31504" CreationDate="2016-09-28T07:35:17.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing ultra marathons as well as spinning for some years now and I always heard a lot different arguments pro and con spinning as cross training for (long distance) running. I neither have concrete numbers nor specific studies to quote, only my personal point of view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best training for running is running and the best training for running long distances is running long distances. Replacing a running session by a spinning workout is better than skipping the session completely, but keeping the running session a running session is - in general - the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is different if you're actually adding spinning workouts to your regular training plan, especially if adding another run to your weekly schedule is counterproductive because recovery time for your legs would be too short or you already hit your personal limit of weekly mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of intensity while spinning you don't have much of a choice if you're visiting a typical spinning class. Of course, you can decide on which parts to put full effort, but in general spinning classes are a combination of HIIT, switching between cadence and resistance work. HIIT on the bike can improve your running performance by a really small amount, I guess, but it's not the main target for long distance running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal advice, or at least, what I'm doing: two consecutive spinning classes once per week as cross training (mainly because it's fun and something different for the body, but I won't skip an essential running session for it) and a long spinning session for myself on low intensity (mainly for my mind and for another long but still easy workout on a regular rest day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23704" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T07:35:17.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25127" CreationDate="2016-09-28T08:03:12.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the numbers you've given, you're eating 720 calories + the dinner you're having. And the rule which everybody seems to have agreed upon on is that you lose weight by expending more calories (through exercise, walking and just by simply living) than what you eat. Strictly speaking, protein, fat or carbs won't dictate whether you'll gain weight or not. &lt;strong&gt;It's calories in vs calories out.&lt;/strong&gt; But having a proper and balanced diet will help you achieve that goal since, there are foods that fill you up or satiate you more but gives less calories for the same amount of satiety. Examples of these are unprocessed foods with fiber in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the height, weight and age you've given and using this &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calorie Calculator&lt;/a&gt;, your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is around 1500~1600 calories. This means that based on your height and weight and other factors, your body expends 1500 calories just by the virtue of you living. Let's say you're eating dinner with 500 calories, that still just puts you on 1220 calories and an apple or banana, would put you around 1400 calorie intake. This calorie intake is less than what your body is expending without taking exercise into account. You shouldn't be gaining weight though you should kind of just break even. And with exercise, you should be able to shed weight. It could be just simply walking or light exercise, jogging for 30 minutes burns around 200 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also when you're tracking your weight loss, you should remember that it's supposed to be a slow process. 1 lb/week of weight loss is recommended and not too much higher than that. There are things you should remember when weighing yourself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to weigh yourself early in the morning before you eat, drink or intake anything and after you pee and take a shit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove all clothes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weigh yourself everyday and observe that your weight could be erratic when seen from day-to-day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight is erratic and should be checked after doing numbers 1 and 2 to reduce its randomness. I can weigh 5~10 lbs heavier with my clothes, food eaten and water drank when my day is done. Also, you need to accept that weight loss happens slowly and is usually observed one month if you weigh yourself but will be seen 2-3 months by other people just by looking at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, since you're already counting calories, there could be other foods and &lt;strong&gt;drinks&lt;/strong&gt; that are not being taken account. So, to really ascertain if weight loss is happening, you should stick to a diet and/or exercise plan for at least 2-3 months. Also, recording your weight and calories properly is a must. Remember, it's a slow process and it'd help if you can find fulfillment in following your routine instead of focusing on the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TLDR:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein does not dictate whether you lose weight, it's calories in vs calories out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Track both your progress properly, in eating and weighing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remember it's a slow process and you'll see results in a month from the records of your body weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9960" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T08:03:12.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32160" CreationDate="2016-09-28T08:23:33.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the scenario you've given, I say it's alright. Leg press works the lower part of your body, your quads for the most part whereas military press works out your shoulders and a little bit of triceps. And it's okay since your workout plan involves you to target legs and shoulder for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting completely without doing military press after your leg press lets you recuperate a bit more for the next set of leg press. So, you'd be able to do a little bit more on your leg press if you just rested completely. So, you're basically trading off your gain in both leg press and military press for the amount of time saved. But, for me, that's fine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9960" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T08:23:33.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32289" CreationDate="2016-09-28T11:29:58.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to stab in the dark and assume you are getting home-cooked-style meals (which usually have around a 20:40:40 protein, carb, fat macronutrient split). I don't need a calorie counter to tell you that you are cutting pretty hard with that diet, by restricting both fat and carb intake and trying to fill your calorie needs for the day through protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works (as you have no doubt found out) in helping you lose weight and gain some muscle (called re-composition). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, if you are working out 7 days a week at a &lt;strong&gt;high&lt;/strong&gt; intensity then you are going to run into fatigue pretty fast with that listed diet. You simply are running on &quot;empty&quot;. Your lifting progression will stall, your running times will stall, you will feel tired all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ensure your rest is good quality&lt;/strong&gt;, you need around 8 hours good sleep every day. This varies by individual, keep increasing it till you have a balance that suits you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ensure you are eating enough&lt;/strong&gt;, if you are happy at your weight (and I would be), then calculate your TDEE and eat at a maintenance of calories using a sensible recommended macronutrient split (40:X:Y protein/fats/carbs). Again, this is highly personal so play with it and check the scale every few weeks, maintain consistency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Put in a rest day&lt;/strong&gt;. You don't need to do nothing, a walk for 20 minutes or so is fine but don't do anything above low intensity on at least 1 day a week. The amount of rest you need depends on your movements in the gym: lots of compound movements (barbell: squat/bench/deadlift/row/press) will need more rest days than accessory-focused work (curls/tri-extns/flys etc.) if you want to progress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cheat.&lt;/strong&gt; You could get some caffeine tablets, drink a energy drink, have a strong black coffee, eat a carb-bar, etc. All these provide quick energy for your workouts, just be wary of what you put into your body and do your research on pre-workout using labdoor.com or similar sites.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T11:29:58.033" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32259" CreationDate="2016-09-28T20:00:59.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no specific weight that you &quot;should&quot; be doing, it all depends on what you are able to handle.  Obviously, the closer to you get to your capacity in any combination of X weight, lifted for Y reps is going to stress and work your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're new or just getting back into it, stay away from getting close to your maximum capability until you've done a few workouts, and your body is used to the activity, otherwise you'll be so sore that you won't be able to exercise for a long time, plus it will be unpleasant and de-motivating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what are your goals?  If you are overweight and are interested in improving your stamina and fitness levels, then working lighter weights for higher reps per set will help develop more endurance.  Less reps, higher weight, more strength or explosiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it sounds like you are just getting back into it, and aren't sure about how much weight you can or should be doing, &lt;strong&gt;either start pretty light, or make sure you have a spotter&lt;/strong&gt;.  You are setting yourself up for a dangerous situation if you don't.  Both, actually, would be best, but if you can't get a spotter, don't push too close to your limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T20:00:59.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32028" CreationDate="2016-09-29T07:12:24.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends entirely on what level you were when you finished. Had you exhausted the most popular workout programs likes stronglifts/PPL/PHUL and needed to do focused programmed periodization, or even had a personal coach do your programming? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully after 5 years you should be reasonably good at listening to your bodies feedback and using it to mould your planning along with some form of goal setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personally, I'd recommend Jacked &amp;amp; Tan 2.0&lt;/strong&gt; if you want block periodization in your training, it requires some reading and for you to sit down and plan out your training but the write up is good and the results speak for themselves. : &lt;a href=&quot;http://swoleateveryheight.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/jacked-tan-20.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://swoleateveryheight.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/jacked-tan-20.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, don't be afraid to do stronglifts 5x5 again&lt;/strong&gt;, you took a long break and might need some time at lower weight to practice form, its really up to you and requires you to listen to your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T07:12:24.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-29T16:16:45.413" Score="0" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to this site, and I am not a body builder, I am just curious about some information about fitness and muscle building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is well known for females to have a round big butt, they  should do squat.&#xA;So that, when doing squat with a healthy nutrition intake, muscles are build, giving the desired shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is , when building muscles in a specific position of the body (let us say the butt), what happens to the fats present in this position? Does they all converted into muscles? Or  muscles are build from the enough protein intake so the fats will be kept?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it similar to the case of  abs fat, in which Doing crunches and other abs exercises will not burn belly fat, but just build your abs muscles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T21:16:02.913" Title="Does muscles burn fats" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32319" CreationDate="2016-09-29T17:09:17.277" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The spot reduction fat loss controversy is still in the air, many believe you can many believe you can't. Consider this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/can-you-spot-target-fat-deposits.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article from BodyBuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't get into the details of that. My belief is that spot reduction, overall, is not possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When building muscle in a specific area, let's say the stomach, the fat cells actually never &quot;burn up&quot; or disappear. Essentially the energy they carry inside them gets sucked out to be used by the body as energy, thus the fat cells become deflated. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperplasia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hyperplasia vs Hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fat cells do not get converted. A simple metaphor is that fat, as we see it, starts out like a grape - full of fat juice. Then when we burn that fat, the juice gets sucked out and the fell cell becomes a raisin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, to burn fat you need to take in a caloric deficit. When your body has fewer calories from foods, it turns to itself for energy via fat cells and muscle tissue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest doing more research on your own about fat loss through various fitness and diet websites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15340" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T17:09:17.277" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32319" CreationDate="2016-09-29T17:17:31.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it similar to the case of abs fat, in which Doing crunches and&#xA;  other abs exercises will not burn belly fat, but just build your abs&#xA;  muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, just like abs workouts, you will not spot reduce fat. Fat is loss over your entire body when you are at a caloric deficit. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3291/how-to-lose-fat-and-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time&quot;&gt;There are exceptions&lt;/a&gt;, but generally speaking this is the only way to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are exercising and gaining muscle while at a caloric surplus, the fat does not go anywhere, it stays on your body. In fact, you will actually gain some fat. The proportion between fat and muscle gain will depend on your caloric intake and activity level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, when losing fat, you also lose some muscle. The amount depends on how much protein is consumed and activity level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you consume as much calories as you burn, your weight will remain stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where your body will store fat fluctuates a lot between individuals, but will mainly be stored in areas where there is a lot of space for them to be packed in. (Butt,Thighs,Belly, Breasts) You cannot control this and your body will decide what is the best place to store it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My question is , when building muscles in a specific position of the body (let us say the butt), what happens to the fats present in this position?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're asking this question, so I will assume you are new to weightlifting / exercising. You will lose fat (if overweight) as your body will use a lot of energy while you progress through your beginner's gains*. Realistically, your fat will either remain on your butt if you stay at maintenance caloric intake. Your butt look and feel a lot firmer however, seeing as your muscle-to-fat ratio will be higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*As long as you eat at your current maintenance or a caloric deficit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T17:17:31.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24932" CreationDate="2016-09-29T18:01:10.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since strength is your goal, consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training#Realization_of_training_goals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strength training&lt;/a&gt;.  Compound barbell exercises (for example, squat, deadlift, press) train the &quot;core&quot; muscles in addition to many other muscles, and provide more benefits than planking endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T18:01:10.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32344" CreationDate="2016-09-29T19:10:45.127" Score="0" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to run simple marathons. Especially marathons that ring in New Year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my physical activity so far (6+ days a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofliving.org/surya-namaskar-sun-salutation12-poses-leaner-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Surya Namaskar&lt;/a&gt;, 90 repititions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;10 minute bike, or alternate day, 5 minute jog&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;9 weight exercise (8, 10 and 15 lbs), three sets each, 4 reps per set&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lady, mid-30s&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5'4&quot;, 147lbs&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise starter indoor exercises that don't require extra $$$&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Springtime (May 2017) I hope to run outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I wish to run simple marathons, to expand circle of friends and enjoy myself ----- all while maintaining health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rather run New Years Eve marathon than sit home and stuff my face while waiting for Ball to Drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastEditorUserId="15909" LastEditDate="2016-09-29T21:32:44.133" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T07:03:18.250" Title="Train to Run Marathons" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2016-10-05T17:41:41.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32319" CreationDate="2016-09-29T19:55:44.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spot Reducing fact is not possible. There is no controversy. Many youtube videos and journals on this. See here &lt;a href=&quot;https://dx.doi.org/10.1152%2Fajpendo.00215.2006&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blood Flow and lyposis..&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat is not converted into muscle. Beginner weightlifters can loose fat, and gain muscle at the same time. Generally after six months this is not possible by 99.99% of the population, unless incredible genetics are present. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea after losing your &quot;noob gains&quot; (The fact that you are able to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time during your first several months of lifting), is one of the following&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To gain weight by maintaining a caloric surplus. A caloric surplus is generally the only way to gain muscle after the first several months of training. There are other more advanced methods involving recomposition, but this is generally what happens. Note that lifters can expect to gain muscle, and gain fat at the same time, depending on the caloric surplus&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To lose fat, but expect to lose slight amounts of muscle while loosing fat. I.e caloric deficit&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You cant spot reduce fat. &#xA;You can lose fat.&#xA;You can gain muscle.&#xA;But they don't convert into one another.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23726" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T19:55:44.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32319" CreationDate="2016-09-29T21:09:49.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“My question is , when building muscles in a specific position of the&#xA;  body (let us say the butt), what happens to the fats present in this&#xA;  position? Does they all converted into muscles?“&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipose_tissue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adipose&lt;/a&gt; (fat), like muscle, is an internal body tissue.  It's main purpose is to store energy and insulate the body.  As such, it &lt;strong&gt;cannot&lt;/strong&gt; be converted into any other type of body tissue including muscle.  When you exercise, the body will use the stored fat as an energy source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Or muscles are build from the enough protein intake so the fats will&#xA;  be kept? “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sufficient Protein intake is one of the required factors that leads to muscle &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt;.  The calories from Protein (4 calories/gm), Carbohydrate (4 calories/gm) and Fat (9 calories/gm) all serve as an energy source.  The calories are stored as fat when you consume more calories than you expend.  In that case, the fat will be retained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Is it similar to the case of abs fat, in which Doing crunches and&#xA;  other abs exercises will not burn belly fat, but just build your abs&#xA;  muscles? “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have indicated, you cannot spot reduce. However, that does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; imply that you will simply build muscle tissue instead.  Several factors need to be present in order to build muscle tissue.  Some of those include proper protein intake, rest, recovery, genetics, training status, and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, since &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/438693-a-pound-of-fat-vs-a-pound-of-muscle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;muscle is more metabolically active&lt;/a&gt;, increasing muscle mass is one way to control your weight and burn calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-09-29T21:16:02.913" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T21:16:02.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-29T22:40:16.397" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had surgery and radiation 3 years ago on a tumor inside my spinal cord in my thoracic spine. This causes weakness, numbness and uncontrolled movement in my left leg to the point where people often comment on it, but I can live a relatively normal life.  Still young (23), and would prefer rigorous exercise involving progressive overload to help recover. I have a gym membership, so I have access to standard gym equipment. What exercises can I do to help recover from this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ps. I've different forms of exercise with varying degrees of success, but nothing worked 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23727" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T22:40:16.397" Title="What exercises would help recover from thoracic spinal trauma?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32324" CreationDate="2016-09-29T22:54:51.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice to you is to stay sport specific. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are relatively serious the only thing you need to do is : &lt;strong&gt;RUN ALOT&lt;/strong&gt;. Presumably you are not a professional or amateur level athlete. That being the case, the only thing you really need to work on is getting your endurance to the point where you can actually finish a marathon(Which I presume you can't do). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to do this is to gradually increase the distance you run every day. Keep track of how much you are running perhaps on a treadmill or on a track. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep it simple. &lt;strong&gt;RUN ALOT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23726" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-10-04T07:03:18.250" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T07:03:18.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-30T08:22:05.477" Score="0" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is about shoes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being more narrow inside (at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportsandortho.com/UserFiles/metatarsalgia.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metatarsal heads&lt;/a&gt;) than the bare foot would be when stood on comfortably&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping toes together; at best hardly letting the toes separate, at worst squishing them into a point (rather than offer a wide toe box)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soles sometimes being even more narrow than the part above it (frequent in soccer cleats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pinoyfitness.com/2010/09/thoughts-on-the-benefits-of-barefoot-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as though barefoot&lt;/a&gt;, weight on forefoot much of the time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In shoes recommended to me, the forefoot feels cramped and I can't engage the toes for fear of mangling them. I notice the same with other people, but they tend to not pay it any attention (their general attitude being &quot;I don't have time to question such trivialities&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my point of view - verified best I could - it feels as though the design is dictated more by some shallow, arbitrary definition of &quot;elegance&quot; than anything else, and since fashion fads do frequently override practicality, it is absurd to assume that &quot;someone smarter than me must have already proven this is healthier&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I expect these designs to be responsible for bunions, hammertoes, corns, calluses, ingrown nails etc. &quot;Sports&quot; shoes are better, but rarely deviate from the &quot;slender foot&quot; aesthetic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, with all this in mind - what are the benefits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23728" LastEditorUserId="23728" LastEditDate="2016-09-30T12:22:57.957" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T13:39:34.437" Title="Any health/performance benefits to the narrow design of shoes?" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32324" CreationDate="2016-09-30T11:28:24.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Join a local running club. There is always someone there that is training for a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-09-30T11:28:24.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32329" CreationDate="2016-09-30T17:50:57.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your experience growing up that you went barefoot a lot?  I did, as most of my youth was spent at swimming pools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My doctor once commented that I had &quot;luau feet&quot; - a wider spread that he attributed to being barefoot a lot over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shoes are not designed to be narrow and constricting, they are narrow because most people, at least in the USA, have feet that are shaped like that, so they produce for the &quot;average&quot; foot, for better sales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of shoes that are much wider in their design.  Look for ones labeled &quot;wide-width,&quot; or the company &quot;New Balance&quot; which specifically produces more of their shoes (they do running and athletic shoes) in wide size than others.  Another online retailer that specializes in all varieties of wide sizes for shoes, both exercise and otherwise, is Hitchcock Shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wideshoes.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hitchcock Shoes web site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoes should always fit comfortably, if your feet are feeling pinched, you're not wearing one that's right for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2016-10-03T13:39:34.437" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T13:39:34.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-30T21:27:56.317" Score="1" ViewCount="1223" Body="&lt;p&gt;They say do Dynamic Stretching before run. Will train for Couch to 5K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofliving.org/surya-namaskar-sun-salutation12-poses-leaner-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Surya Namaskar&lt;/a&gt; considered Dynamic Stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are there other Dynamic Stretches to do in addition to Surya Namaskar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KzjWQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KzjWQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2018-09-17T01:58:30.413" Title="Is Surya Namaskar Considered Dynamic Stretching" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32333" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32336" CreationDate="2016-10-01T02:18:46.897" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;This morning I came across website that demonstrated dynamic stretches, it swing leg side to side, pike stretch, walking lunge, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snow I cannot find the link to this website. It actually included video if lady demonstrating these exercises. I believe it is from active.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well I just tried the dynamic stretches I remember and my hips feel million times better (I had mild tightness for 2 weeks but thought it would go away on its own)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Please recommend more dynamic stretches that improve hip mobility. That will open up the hips.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also recommend other dynamic exercise for running, esp for couch to 5K.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you kindly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2016-10-01T13:06:55.540" Title="Dynamic Stretches for Couch to 5K" Tags="&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-01T09:11:17.180" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;My staple is Matta rice as a native of India. I eat the most at lunch. I regularly go 9 hours between lunch and dinner with a coffee in between, which I cannot do with any other food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently started eating half as much as a belly-full for dinner. I noticed some weight loss, no loss of energy and slightly better sleep. Is this okay to sustain or will I lose out on nutrition which can be gained only by dinner? I believe big dinners help replenish energy reserves of those who are really active but I work out at home 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2338" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T01:35:05.907" Title="Is a tiny dinner okay?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-10-03T18:03:29.660" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32334" CreationDate="2016-10-01T12:56:53.897" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most studies have shown meal timing isn't relevant in terms of weight gain. At the end of the day of course- it just matters on the calories from the specific macronutrients you are eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being the case, its probably better to eat the majority of your food during a time you are generally active, or right after a workout, just so you get the energy from the food. The reason you are losing weight is because you aren't eating enough, it has nothing to do with when you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not worry about your meal timing, just make sure you are eating enough for whatever goals you have in mind ( losing weight, gaining weight). Try to schedule some meals around the times you will workout or do something relatively active, since it might give you a boost of energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritionreviews.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/69&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritionreviews.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/69&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that increased meal frequency contributes to any noticeable caloric loss and thus leading to potential extra weight loss has been debunked and has never been proven by any scientific studies. Please feel free to comment a study that says otherwise, however please make sure it has references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23726" LastEditorUserId="23726" LastEditDate="2016-10-04T01:35:05.907" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T01:35:05.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32333" CreationDate="2016-10-01T13:06:55.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be considered a stretch ,or may not be, but most lifters generally use this machine called the hip abduction. You can find on how to use this machine on youtube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v3vzb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v3vzb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have no access to a gym (get a membership!) you can try the exercise in the picture below. This will work as the same effect, but make sure you are pausing at the highest point of the abduction. If you are new to this you probably can't raise your legs too high. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OYqYF.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OYqYF.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an actual exercise, but I recommend to do it with no weight at all so it actually becomes a dynamic stretch really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing here is that you have to go ALL the way down, and when you come up, push your hips out during the squat. This is probably hands down the best way to improve hip mobility. At first you want be able to squat all the way down that low, but trust me if you practice you will be extremely flexible and the squat transfers well into running sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dzuol.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dzuol.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U9Mzv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U9Mzv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a static stretch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heres another good hip movement which is great for flexibility. I'm actually not too sure what this is exactly called, but I and several other athletes generally do this at the end of the workout ( this is a static stretch)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23726" LastActivityDate="2016-10-01T13:06:55.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32354" CreationDate="2016-10-01T13:39:56.653" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have pain in the lower part of my back. When I go to the gym I try to not overload that part of my body. I just bought a foam roller to stretch out my back before and after my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also seem to have a 'flat lower back' when I bend over (red line), I can't bend any further because I hurst to bad otherwise (in the lower back):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DfBci.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DfBci.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you guys suggest I should do, keep stretching? See a doctor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23697" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T23:15:25.270" Title="Flat lower back and pain" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-03T18:04:53.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="42474" CreationDate="2016-10-01T14:48:58.583" Score="2" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 6ft and currently weighing 83Kgs. I keep fluctuating on this weight from 82 to 85 kgs. I was 95kgs and managed to lose 13kgs with running, gym and rollerblading and skating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also made some diet changes like eating within 1200 calories limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are times I go for a party have some beer or some junk food. I leverage this by going to my regular workout. This has helped me to maintain my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is how strict should one be to lose belly and hip fat. I know there is nothing like spot reduction. Is it that if a person wants to lose fat he should eat clean, for like 6 to 12 months or till his belly is flat, without eating any junk food for the period of time. Do I have to give up all the bad food? Or is it that belly fat takes it time to lose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18382" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T11:51:15.193" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T16:16:54.150" Title="How strict should one get with their diet to lose belly and hip fat?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="32339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32338" CreationDate="2016-10-01T16:29:42.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you may know, at your height, 83kg is not an unreasonable weight. However fat distribution is important. Gut or visceral fat is linked to higher levels of heart disease, and should be dealt with. It will be costly to discover if you have internal fat round your vital organs, so even though outwardly slim, some individuals still carry internal fat.&#xA;What is usually classed as junk food is as a rule best avoided, and a good Mediterranean diet should be followed, it is enjoyable and healthy, stick to that and moderate the booze, you can't go wrong with that. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23253" LastActivityDate="2016-10-01T16:29:42.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32343" CreationDate="2016-10-01T18:04:30.270" Score="2" ViewCount="2000" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen the terms Split Squat and Bulgarian Split Squat used as if they refer to different exercises (i.e. in the same program) but my web searches make it seem as though they are two names for the same exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both seem to be a squat done with one leg behind you on a bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a distinction between Bulgarian Split Squats and Split Squats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16131" LastEditorUserId="16131" LastEditDate="2016-10-05T16:33:27.707" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T17:40:22.220" Title="Difference between 'Bulgarian Split Squat' and 'Split Squat'" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-01T20:24:30.710" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;When to begin Couch to 5K Program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can do 108 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.artofliving.org/surya-namaskar-sun-salutation12-poses-leaner-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Surya Namaskar&lt;/a&gt; in one sitting (takes an hour). And I can stationary bike 15 minutes at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have left tight hip for past 2+ weeks. I feel the discomfort when performing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ1Xuz9D-ZQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;donkey kicks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told to perform dynamic stretching for relief. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I wait till hips are better, or can I gradually start couch to 5K now? Is there other stretches/exercises I can do to prepare for couch to 5K? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T07:35:51.770" Title="When to begin Couch to 5K Program" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32340" CreationDate="2016-10-01T21:41:30.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference. In fact the proper name of the exercise is actually &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Bulgarian Split Squat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However in weightlifting culture, perhaps whatever you read was referring to the &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Bulgarian Squat Method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Bulgarian squat method was the method used by Bulgarian weightlifters during the period that they dominated the Olympics in the C&amp;amp;J and snatch.The method consisted of squatting to a daily maximum several times a day practically every day of the week, among other Olympic lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23726" LastActivityDate="2016-10-01T21:41:30.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32340" CreationDate="2016-10-02T00:36:12.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a slight distinction between the two.  And, it may depend on your training experience.  Older trainers tend to refer to the Bulgarian Split Squat as the one in which the rear leg is typically elevated on a bench while performing the squat.  However, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1jukGZPnZI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;split squat&lt;/a&gt; is a somewhat different movement in that the rear foot remains planted on the floor.  A split squat is often done with dumbbells for variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in the end, the only difference is really the rear foot placement while performing the movement no matter what you call the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary: a Bulgarian Split Squat may imply that the rear foot is elevated on a bench while a Split Squat may imply that the rear foot is not elevated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="16131" LastEditDate="2016-10-05T17:40:22.220" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T17:40:22.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32324" CreationDate="2016-10-02T03:26:15.920" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Source: I've done one marathon, a 50k, and many, many, many runs at distances under that. I'm no expert just relaying what I've learned and come to understand. Hope you find it helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Running&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to running marathons is, well, running. Strength training is important as well, as building your core and supporting muscles will aid in your overall stamina. I think most marathon training programs advise having a base of 15-20 miles/week, and are structured something like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long, recovery, rest, run and strength, run, run and/or strength, rest, repeat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the peak of training I think you get about 35 miles/week. I've seen a couple other posts by you asking about the Couch to 5k program, which I've heard is awesome. Keep in mind that's an 8 week program, and building up to a 10k takes additional time. You'll eventually see whether you have the desire to keep going or not. Marathons aren't for everyone, and they're not simple. I encourage everyone to try it out, I personally love running, but there are people out there who have zero desire to run for 3-6+ hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training for a marathon is a commitment, and I encourage you to take it seriously if you really want to complete one. Don't skip runs, do the distance on the schedule, push yourself up those hills and try to get better each time, run those speed workouts with power, not letting tired muscles or hard breathing convince you to walk. Much of running is a mental game, figure out your breaking point and see if you can move past it, challenging yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can probably run a marathon within a year if you go about it smart and can remain dedicated that long. Training plans are 12-20 weeks, depending on intensity and who wrote them, then you need to add the additional time for the other milestone distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nutrition&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to keep in mind, and is different for everybody, is nutrition and hydration. On your long runs through training, you need to experiment with different calorie sources and hydration strategies, not only during your run, but the hours leading up to it. Do you need to drink a liter of water before you even start the run? Coffee? Coke? How about eating cereal, bagel, eggs, toast, banana, super green power smoothie, ice cream? What is it that helps you feel good during your run, is what you need to figure out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not eating enough, waiting too long to eat/drink, too much or too little water, electrolyte loss/intake can lead to nausea, bloating, cramps, exhaustion, etc. You can still most likely finish a race feeling like this, but your mind is very persuasive in telling you to give up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Gear&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having the right shoes will help you a lot. Check out stores around you and see if any provide gait analysis. The plethora of running and athletics shoes is astronomical these days, so finding a knowledgeable person who can fit you in the right shoe is pretty critical to helping prevent injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting clothes specific for the sport will help out too (especially for the proper seasons...running in 20 degrees in sweat pants instead of winter tights is a terrible idea!). Shirts, tanks, shorts, skirts, tights, socks, hats, etc can all drastically change a run, so find what brands, materials, and sizes work for you. Since you're a lady, I'd also highly recommend getting fitted for sports bras. I don't pretend to know much in that area, but if you don't have the right one, it can lead to unhappy times I've heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While road marathons have aid stations quite frequently, I'd still advise the purchase of a water bottle. I prefer handheld, but they have ones that slip into a belt or are strapped around you waist. You can also consider hydration packs (think CamelBak) specifically for running. Lots of pouches/pockets for food, phone and id, jackets, gloves, anything you might need on a long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Finally, this guy's done talking!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thing, I promise: &lt;em&gt;enjoy yourself&lt;/em&gt;. Running is great! Whether you run solo, with a friend, or with groups of people, you have to enjoy it. If you pound through every step with frustration and a dismal outlook on the next x miles, it makes the run so much harder to complete, and even harder to lace up the next morning and do it again. Take in your surroundings, have conversations, solve problems...whatever it is that makes you happy, see if you can incorporate it in your run!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23737" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T03:26:15.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32345" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32359" CreationDate="2016-10-02T06:18:50.960" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;After trying very hard and keeping diet continued i actually don't see any change after months.but what if it is there but i don't see it. Please tell me how can i personally know that my body is getting correct shape and weight (apart from simply measuring weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T07:39:10.000" Title="What are the indications of fat reducing?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32350" CreationDate="2016-10-02T08:45:08.780" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to start both jogging and meditation since both these activities have huge benefits. I really want to make these two activities my habits. I read it somewhere that a person should focus on one thing at a time if he or she wants to make it a habit. So should I add jogging and meditation to my routine simultaneously or should I practice one thing for some time and then start doing the other one too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23739" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T22:11:29.893" Title="Jogging and Meditation" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-05T17:40:42.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32362" CreationDate="2016-10-02T19:54:17.870" Score="1" ViewCount="11290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to start Couch to 5k soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to logistics, family, etc, I am confined to exercise in my apartment (at least till it warms up again)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to do couch to 5k standing in one place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know how to jog in place, but how to walk and run in place? There must be a way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.c25k.com/c25k_metric.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Couch to 5K&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2018-08-02T06:14:49.343" Title="Simulate Couch to 5K at Home" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32346" CreationDate="2016-10-02T22:11:29.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot; I read it somewhere that a person should focus on one thing at a time if he or she wants to make it a habit&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you get up in the morning, you take a shower and also brush your teeth. You eat breakfast and do other stuffs like brushing your hair and getting ready for work or school. No one tells you to do so. When you practice so many habitual things on daily basis, why nor running and meditation? I know this may not related to you, but some people have damaging habits like smoking and alcoholism and other stuffs at the same time, while some have habits like exercising, reading and eating healthy. Everyone is different and there's no single rule to practice things. If you consistently do both, there would arrive a time when they'd turn into habits. Keep the timings separate like mediation in morning and jogging in evening, or the other way. If you could combine them and jog to a park where you mediate and then jog back, that's even better. See what works for you the best and then start practicing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T22:11:29.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32341" CreationDate="2016-10-02T22:38:17.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are feeling discomfort in any part of the body, the best thing to do is not to strain it any further. I'd say get yourself checked. The problem may be minor, but if not given proper attention, it may aggravate in time. Yes, wait till you feel completely fine. Your goal is to gain fitness and reach your target without pain. So, get the root cause of the discomfort and get rid of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T22:38:17.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32338" CreationDate="2016-10-02T23:01:08.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To attain any goal, it requires effort, focus and dedication. First of all, you need to cut down anything that's putting in excess of calories into your body. Eating clean is the best thing to do, but every human has temptation for what they like, so once a while it's okay, but don't get overwhelmed by junk and always stick to a limit. They day you eat more, make a point to workout a bit more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, eating healthy should be a habit to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Even after you attain your goal, you'd not like to spiral down again. So, try to cultivate the habit of healthy eating and healthy living. It's not an easy thing to do, but it fetches great returns on a long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T23:01:08.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32334" CreationDate="2016-10-02T23:12:45.633" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is weight loss, your aim should be to consume lesser calories than you spend. Regarding the gap between dinner and lunch, it's a bit too long. Why don't you break your lunch into 2 parts? That way, your system wouldn't starve for 9 hours and you won't end up eating tons during dinner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating small dinner is fine, if you were not active during the evening. Also, eating right is very necessary when it comes to attaining any goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T23:12:45.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32337" CreationDate="2016-10-02T23:15:25.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest getting yourself checked. Never guess or assume anything when it comes to pain. The cause would be anything, but with proper attention at the right time, any issue can be fixed. Don't deal with the pain, just get diagnosed by a doctor and eliminate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T23:15:25.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-02T23:54:06.263" Score="0" ViewCount="571" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to rest from exercise at least once a week. Maybe twice, but hope to make it just once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can we do dynamic / static stretch those days. Especially if we have have joint stiffness, i.e hip stiffness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T16:08:19.033" Title="Can we do Dynamic/Static stretch on Rest Days" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-02T23:56:16.547" Score="0" ViewCount="1049" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 400m distance is used to prepare for 5k races apparently, so can the times done in training be used to predict a 5k race time accurately?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not then is racing a shorter distance the only way to predict a 5k time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually this is the same as asking if there is a similar workout for 5k as the Yasso 800s workout for a marathon prediction time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-10-03T01:52:12.850" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T01:52:12.850" Title="How much does a 400m time correlate to a good 5k race time prediction?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;racing&gt;&lt;5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32356" CreationDate="2016-10-03T00:33:50.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you can't predict 5k race time from 400 meters timing, unless you decide to run at the same speed and are able to maintain it over the distance of 5k. You can sprint the whole of 400 meters, but for 5k you need strategy over pure speed. It requires stamina and periodic speeding and slowing down to have an edge over other participants when done at competitive level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are 2 different categories. To judge your 5k run's timing, you need to run 5k. Even if you run 1-2 k and record the timing, it may not give the accurate estimate for 5k either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T00:33:50.983" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32341" CreationDate="2016-10-03T07:35:51.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Playing devils advocate here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See your doctor if the pain...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Started in the middle of your workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is sharp and localized&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pain persists for longer than 4 days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, if it is a dull ache and you &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; still run then you should feel/be able to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T07:35:51.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32345" CreationDate="2016-10-03T07:39:10.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Ideal: DEXA body-fat scan&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2nd best: Take tape measurements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measure your:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thigh&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper Arm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower Arm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;3rd Best: Take photos every month and compare them once you have 6 months passed.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T07:39:10.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32369" CreationDate="2016-10-03T13:03:58.127" Score="0" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;People here asked about couch to 5k training twice or week, and I believe my situation is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've always had knee problem did lot of knee strengthening as a kid/ adult&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Did hours on stationary bike on and off throughout teen and early adult years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not athletic. Only in past year I was able to build up to 108 Surya Namaskars, plus do little stationary bike and lifting 10, 15 lbs at home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Currently dealing with hip tightness (posted separate thread)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lady, will turn 37 in few days, 146lbs, 5'4&quot;, excess belly fat&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these thing make me wary about training for Couch to 5k three times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do wish to run marathon in few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is it to do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2 days Couch to 5k training&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2 days Surya Namaskar (takes 45 minutes)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2 days stationary bike (I can easily climb to 1 hour)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&#xA;With the above plan can I still run marathon in a few years and maintain healthy joints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind if it takes longer to run in marathon, I'd like to know if above plan is feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastEditorUserId="15909" LastEditDate="2016-10-03T14:38:53.093" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T09:45:15.123" Title="Couch to 5K twice a week" Tags="&lt;joints&gt;&lt;couchto5k&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-05T17:39:19.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32349" CreationDate="2016-10-03T13:15:35.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your goals. If you want to run a 5k, there are a lot of variables to learn and practice: cadence, pacing, joint fatigue, and many more that you just won't experience by doing jogging on the spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are logistical/mathematical issues with measuring 5 kilometers jogged on the spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really need to look at how much you value your health and fitness. A gym membership can be affordable in most countries and even supplemented by local authority in some too (USA has the YMCA, UK has council gyms, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-10-03T14:56:56.910" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T14:56:56.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32349" CreationDate="2016-10-03T13:17:23.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much space do you have? Is there a clear space of at least 5 foot by 10 foot, that you could use? It doesn't even need to be entirely clear, just enough that you can move without constantly tripping. Hallways can serve the purpose if you don't have room in your apartment. This is what I do in inclement weather, or when I don't feel like dressing up to work out (obviously less feasible for the hallway method).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, if you feel that you must practice in place, walking in place is just a matter of picking up your feet alternately. Unlike running or jogging, you always have one foot on the ground. As with other forms of stationary exercise, I'd advise lifting your knees a bit more to compensate for not having the extra effort of actually moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for differentiating running and jogging... honestly, that's largely a matter of semantics. For the purpose of stationary exercise, they're basically the same thing, just a matter of how intensely you're moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, you will likely be using the time method rather than the distance method, really not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T13:17:23.443" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33182" CreationDate="2016-10-03T16:30:51.330" Score="5" ViewCount="851" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently working my way up to a freestanding handstand. The issue I am facing is that my wrist simply does not feel sturdy enough to do a handstand. In other words, if I start falling, there is no way my forearms will be strong enough to correct my position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the question is... How can I build forearm strength to be able to do the handstand relatively comfortably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T20:42:33.217" Title="Forearm strength for a hand stand" Tags="&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-03T19:13:36.030" Score="2" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just reached out to ask you guys' ideas on weight lifting stunt growth myth. I am 15 years old, and I am 5&quot;7&quot; tall. I've been working out since last month, and I use a pair of dumbbells which is a bit heavy for me. I used to do overhead presses and bench presses, but was forced to stop it. So, I minimized my workout to the basics, and now I'm only doing push ups, dips, hammer curls, and dumbbell bicep curls. However, there still are people warning me and I wanted to make sure if this won't stunt my growth. &#xA;My question is&#xA;1. Do overhead presses or bench presses stunt growth?&#xA;2. Do push up, dips, hammer curl, dumbbell bicep curls stunt growth?&#xA;3. Are there any other exercises that stunt growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23748" LastEditorUserId="23748" LastEditDate="2016-10-03T20:35:40.567" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T15:36:27.347" Title="Weight lifting stunts growth?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-10-05T12:26:37.260" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-03T21:01:25.260" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read in many articles regarding the usual macro division in a diet for those which train that is the 40% of the calories from proteins, 40% from carbs and 20% from fats; but, in others, I can see people saying that you don´t need to count calories once you fit 2.2~3g of protein per body/kg you have, 2~4g of carbs and 1g of fats per body/kg you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one you have to increase proteins/carbs to reach out the calories count. The second one, the calories count is increased by the high fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what to count then... calories or grams? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23750" LastEditorUserId="23750" LastEditDate="2016-10-04T00:54:05.660" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T00:54:05.660" Title="What is the most efficient strategy to build a balanced diet for muscle gains?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-10-05T17:41:58.133" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32365" CreationDate="2016-10-03T23:12:31.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no evidence to &quot;weightlifting affecting growth&quot; claims. People warn you because of several myth related to exercises. Do they workout? Do they have enough experience, or are they certified or qualified when it comes to weightlifting?. Ask any informed and qualified  gym instructor, or a certified coach, and their answers would vary to what you hear from people. Most of the guys who play football at high school, start lifting at your age. They all grow big and strong. Pro-wrestlers lift early as well. So no, weightlifting is not the culprit,  doing it wrong with improper form is. Improper form affects your posture and leads to injuries. Keep it safe and do it right, you will be fine and above all, eat right and get good amount of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-03T23:18:20.660" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T23:18:20.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32366" CreationDate="2016-10-03T23:29:25.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Below are a few links that you may find useful when it comes to deciding what kinda nutrition suits you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musclebuildingfoodshq.com/the-best-bodybuilding-diet-for-muscle-building/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.musclebuildingfoodshq.com/the-best-bodybuilding-diet-for-muscle-building/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/13-arnold-schwarzenegger-approved-nutrition-tips.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/13-arnold-schwarzenegger-approved-nutrition-tips.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: just use the above as reference, not as  a rule, as every individual is different so are the needs based on body-type , weight and size, but what applies as a generic thing is, to keep supplying your body with constant feeding on energy. You can't gain muscles magically out of noting, so eating right is what you need to do. Also, try out different nutrition techniques see what works the best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-03T23:50:15.677" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T23:50:15.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32360" CreationDate="2016-10-04T09:45:15.123" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to keep this as simple as possible. Hopefully some of these answers will help others in similar situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Injury:&lt;/strong&gt; If you have a injury then you should ask ONLY your doctor what you can do and they can advice you on specific sporting activities. There is no point asking here on SE if you can run/walk/cycle/swim/juggle with your dodgy knee/foot/hip/lungs/balls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fitness you have previously done:&lt;/strong&gt; Unless you have been active in doing your activity in the last 6 weeks, assume you have lost a &lt;strong&gt;significant&lt;/strong&gt; amount of fitness level over that time compared to your previous peak. It is wrong to assume that because you ran a marathon when you were 23 that now you are 48 you can do a few weeks/months training and run a ultra-marathon. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: If my barbell squat working weight is 120kg and I take a 6&#xA;  week break from squatting; then I expect to start at a lower working weight&#xA;  (e.g 90kg) when re-starting regular exercise. I will have to slowly work back up to my previous weight and the time that takes is variable on a lot of &lt;strong&gt;personal&lt;/strong&gt; factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yoga gives transferable fitness&lt;/strong&gt;: here is a controversial &quot;opinion&quot;: Yoga ONLY makes you good at similar yoga-based activities, eg. muscle stabilization (balance) and mindfulness (There are some others but the studies are a bit wishy-washy). Yoga does not mean you are able to run a mile/5k/10k/marathon in a good time. In the same way that me being able to lift X weight does not mean I can easily swim a mile. *Note: This doesn't hold true for &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; sports; a person with a sub 20 minute 5k time will probably be able to cycle 20k in a pretty good time. Use your brain.*&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Injury, that isn't&lt;/strong&gt;: Only by doing exercise, regularly, consistently, and most importantly: listening to your body and PUSHING YOUSELF can you make any progress at anything. &lt;strong&gt;You&lt;/strong&gt; need to go do some exercise and learn how to listen to your body to understand how far you can push yourself. &lt;strong&gt;Don't focus on the micro and lose sight of what you must do to achieve your goals.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: Just because I overdid it on squats 2 days ago and have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  doesn't mean i'm skipping my 10k run today, I just plan to do a longer&#xA;  warm-up and expect to dig a little deeper mentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy ass weights.&quot;  &lt;em&gt;Ronnie Coleman, Ronnie Coleman: The Unbelievable!&#xA;  (2005) (DVD).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gender/Weight is the reason I can't run/jog/walk&lt;/strong&gt;: If you can't run, jog. If you can't jog, walk. If you can't walk then stop until you can walk again. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitness is all about YOU, you are aiming to beat only &lt;strong&gt;yourself&lt;/strong&gt; and trying to hold yourself up to the standard of others only will result in disappointment. We can't all be the fastest/strongest but we can be faster/stronger than our past selves.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, long distance running has a huge mental-only aspect to it. Having the mental grit/determination to carry on after the 10th mile requires a lot. You need to develop your &quot;don't quit&quot; attitude through practicing doing long-distance runs (10k/Halfs). This determination is highly personalised and what gets your through &quot;the wall&quot; depends on your goals and motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personal Recommendation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check with your doctor about your hip/knee issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to train for a marathon, go out and RUN.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T09:45:15.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-04T14:03:40.370" Score="0" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can build muscle mass being a vegan?&#xA;The proteins from veggies are somehow limited&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23754" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T21:26:25.527" Title="Is there any way I can build muscle mass being a vegan?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-10-05T15:13:59.410" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32370" CreationDate="2016-10-04T14:29:15.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The very same way an omnivore would. Eat more calories. If you are lacking protein then there are vegan protein powders if you want to take that route. Otherwise eat more foods that contain proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no work around this. There are vegan power lifters, so being vegan is not what is stopping you achieving your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T14:29:15.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32365" CreationDate="2016-10-04T15:39:47.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;growth plate&quot; is the area of active bone growth, and is more prone to injury than the more hardened areas of bone or the bones after that growth plate has closed.  That's were any claim of stunted growth due to injury is going to come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the degree that a growth plate injury could effect bone growth, sure, weight lifting &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; effect your growth.  So could walking down the street, playing soccer, or any other activity where the injury occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the real question to evaluate is whether weight lifting carries an inordinately high risk of causing a growth plate injury vs other physical activities that are not deemed &quot;unsafe.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not.  Of course, this assumes that you follow the common sense practice of performing the exercises properly, in technique, amount of weight and spotters.  That's true in general to avoid injuries, though, not exclusive to this type of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2016-10-05T15:36:27.347" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T15:36:27.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32375" CreationDate="2016-10-04T20:32:06.083" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to plan a new lifestyle. My goal is to lose some weight and get healthier. I think this is the time for me to make some self-progress.&#xA;Is there anything I should keep in mind or know before I start?&#xA;Regarding metabolism and body type, I'm  an endomorph. Please suggest the dos and don'ts for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that you (maybe some are) are not nutritionists or dieticians, but  any word of advice would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23759" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-05T07:33:21.443" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T22:16:20.857" Title="How can I plan my diet from scratch?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-05T17:38:46.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32370" CreationDate="2016-10-04T21:26:25.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you pick the right source, you'd get ample amount of protein. There are also supplements for protein, but those are just to compensate what you lack from your food. Your primary aim should be to eat good. Nuts, tubers, certain grains, soy, veggies would help you attain your protein requirements, but remember, your diet should consist of all nutrients in proper amount. Body grows when it gets overall nutrition, not just protein. Just eat proper and workout. There are many vegan bodybuilders, if you want to look up see what they eat, that may help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T21:26:25.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32373" CreationDate="2016-10-04T21:37:37.727" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All you need to do is eat clean and eat regularly. If you are not working out, make sure you don't eat more than what you actually require. The idea is to keep the complete nutrition in mind. Make sure the sources you pick, provide you with all the necessary nutrients for your body to get nourished and stay in proper condition.  I don't know what your prior eating habits were like, but if you were into junk, and unhealthy food, then cut those as much as possible. I know it's just hard, but to lead a healthy lifestyle, you need to give up certain stuffs. If you can't resist the craving, keep it down to 1 day a week, but eat those in limit.  Drink plenty of water and rest well. Maintain good hygiene which is very important. Above all, have a positive mindset and just focus on the goal. Once you attain it, maintain it. Don't spiral down back to where you started. Wish you the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-06T22:16:20.857" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T22:16:20.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2016-10-05T22:21:27.843" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a six-foot tall, 225 pound runner. In my heyday, at 200 pounds, I ran 5 Ks in about 18.5 min, every other day. This is the best advice I ever got:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want a straight torso, lean forward, and &quot;pick up&quot; your heels. Don't land on your heels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice running as &quot;quietly&quot; as possible. Practice running with as little up-and-down movement as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23768" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T22:21:27.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-06T04:02:27.927" Score="2" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to be delivering a lecture 75-80 minutes in length. In practicing it lately, I find that my throat/vocal cords are a little fatigued afterwards and sometimes during the rehearsal. I'm not used to talking that much or for that long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can do either to help prevent this strain (exercises? drink orange juice? beer?) or to help soothe my pipes afterwards, to be ready for the next vocal marathon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may eventually do a couple of these performances per week, and I find that my voice sounds better when it's rested and &quot;strong.&quot; It starts sounding &quot;overworked&quot; and croaky otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought of asking this on the &quot;health&quot; site, but figure that is more about illnesses and ailments, whereas this question is more about fitness, perhaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23771" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T04:02:27.927" Title="What are some preventives or palliatives for vocal cord strain (from &quot;overuse&quot;)?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32355" CreationDate="2016-10-06T04:55:48.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer would be that light work (walking / light jog, other low intensity work) and stretching on your &quot;rest&quot; days will help your recover from intense workouts. You should actually look for ways to be more active on off days instead of avoiding any work. Make sure you stretch after warming up to avoid injury (contrary to what many people do - stretching before warming up or as a warm up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I feel you might have a misguided understanding of the &quot;need&quot; to rest. If you feel like training more, you could (and probably should) train more. Overtraining does not happen as easy as some people try to make it and definitely has not happened if you feel like doing more. In fact you should avoid doing very intense workouts more than 3 days in a row but very few people do such taxing workouts every time anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you say you'd try to have only 1-2 rest days per week. I would advise you to make your goals to be that you train in a way that lets you progress in a measurable way. Training more often will at certain point help you achieve that. But as an example - if your workouts consist of running, you could run more total distance per week, or run longer distance same time or run faster the same distance or combination of those. For weight training it could mean to lift more total amount of weight (sets x reps x weight) on your exercises or do same work in less time or combination of both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's enough that you start somewhere - let's say 3-4 times a week and make sure to progress based on your goals. At some point you might feel you need to start working 5 or 6 days a week (and maybe more frequent shorter workouts will feel better), maybe some days purposefully lighter, with some stretching. But again the goal should be to progress, not to train every day for the sake of it. If you start by working out (almost) every day driven by high motivation you might soon burn out as CNS (central nervous system) fatigue accumulates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastEditorUserId="20354" LastEditDate="2016-10-08T16:08:19.033" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T16:08:19.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-06T05:24:25.970" Score="3" ViewCount="1362" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to hold dumbbell in right hand for right leg squats, and vice-versa (it feels most comfortable for me). Or should I use 1 dumbbell for each hand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12044" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T11:49:44.873" Title="Adding weight to one leg squats" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32382" CreationDate="2016-10-06T08:55:37.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trickiest part of doing one-leg squats is balance and being able to push more weight is not the main goal of the exercise (you could do regular squats for that). Very few people manage to do single full one-leg squat - your gluteus almost touching the ground with one leg extended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tjx1N.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tjx1N.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And even fewer can make a meaningful set of many reps like that. And you definitely need both of your arms for balance. If you don't do full one-leg squat, focus on going the whole way (you can google for videos / articles for &quot;Pistol squats&quot;). However if you do manage to get many full one-leg squats and they feel too easy, you can try to grab and hold a dumbbell with both hands in front of your chest. And definitely shoot a youtube video - it will be impressive to see :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20354" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T08:55:37.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32382" CreationDate="2016-10-06T09:17:46.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, there are few things to keep in mind. Symmetry and load distribution. While the whole weight of the dumbbell and your body rests on the one leg you are using, and you are feeling comfortable, your body is not having the center of weight properly balanced through the line of symmetry. Though, it's okay in case of exercises like bicep curls and shoulder flys, in case of squats, having both hands involved gives you better stability. As you responded to my comment saying you are planning to go higher, why not use a barbell, or a kettlebell? As you go heavy, concentrating the weight on one side of the body will disturb the balance and may lead to injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T09:17:46.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32382" CreationDate="2016-10-06T11:49:44.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are using the dumbbell to stabilise yourself but in a way that isn't great. Rather than using your stabilising muscles to help you pistol squat you are using a weight to offset the need for balance. The whole point of the pistol squat is really to develop stabilisation (more on this later). By using a 1-sided dumbbell you are potentially sabotaging your own progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add weight onto the pistol squat then you should use either the &lt;strong&gt;arms straight position&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ksqCW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ksqCW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;though still mainly for balance&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or the goblet position once weights get a little heavy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hEVi7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hEVi7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are struggling to do a un-weighted pistol squat because of balance only then use the opposite arm to stabilise yourself against a wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Pistol squats re cool but they are not the progression from body-weight squats. They are more of a progression cul-de-sac, they aren't great for building more strength and focus more on developing stabilisation/balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal progression from a body-weight squat is a single leg step-up: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=487aR3A7HvM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=487aR3A7HvM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that is mastered then a deep-leg step-up: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/p/1jdRZorwdE/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.instagram.com/p/1jdRZorwdE/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do a set of 10 of these you really are going to have to look at using a barbell to progress into higher strength levels &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T11:49:44.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32289" CreationDate="2016-10-06T13:13:19.933" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For anyone who thinks over-training is not an issue, and is telling other people the same,  please educate yourself before posting. Overtraining is not only real, but also dangerous. No responsible person should be insinuating to anyone that it does not apply, both to ordinary and elite athletes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is not only a real, acknowledged phenomena, it has been the subject of intense study spanning decades at institutions like the NIH and all accredited universities. There is no controversy amongst academic researchers, doctors and exercise PhDs. that overtraining is very real. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, it pays to consider your sources with respect exercise advice. You can listen to the hit and run postings of anonymous internet posters and end up hurting yourself, possibly permanently, or you can listen to what people whose entire professional lives have been dedicated to studying exercise are telling you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some links to what is the tiny tip of the iceberg of current research on overtraining being conducted by doctors and PhDs. Such research extends back at least 40 years and more &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining Syndrome&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Mark Jenkins, MD  Rice University:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/overtraining.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/overtraining.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining: Undermining Success?&#xA;Paige Kinucan and Kravitz, Ph.D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/overtraining4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/overtraining4.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Urhausen, A., Gabriel, H., &amp;amp; Kindermann, W. (1995). Blood hormones as markers of training stress and overtraining. Sports Medicine, 20, 251-276.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/csa/vol13/urhause1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/csa/vol13/urhause1.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bishop, P.A, Jones E., &amp;amp; Woods A.K. (2008). Recovery from training: a brief review.&#xA;Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research., 22(3):1015-1024.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18438210&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18438210&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gleeson, M (2002). Biochemical and Immunological Markers of Overtraining. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 1: 31-41.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24688268&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24688268&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meeusen, R, Watson, P., Hasegawa, H, Roelands, B, &amp;amp; Piacentini, M.F. (2006). Central fatigue: the serotonin hypothesis and beyond. Sports Med. 36(10):881-909.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17004850&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17004850&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seiler, S. &amp;amp; Hetlelid, K.J. (2005). The impact of rest duration on work intensity and RPE during interval training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 37(9):1601-1607.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16177614&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16177614&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weiss, LW. (1991). The obtuse nature of muscular strength: The contribution of rest to its development and expression. Journal of Applied Sports Science Research. 5: 219-227.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/abstract/1991/11000/the_obtuse_nature_of_muscular_strength__the.9.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/abstract/1991/11000/the_obtuse_nature_of_muscular_strength__the.9.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T13:13:19.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32392" CreationDate="2016-10-06T16:01:46.950" Score="0" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;The (unsophisticated) idea that different types of blood might have different abilities to absorb oxygen/ different concentrations of red blood cells has me wondering!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21619" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T19:10:35.123" Title="Is there any relationship between blood types and VO2Max?" Tags="&lt;vo2max&gt;&lt;blood-flow&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32411" CreationDate="2016-10-07T17:44:06.227" Score="5" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does it mean to bonk or hit the wall during a run or a bike ride?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the main question, but to generate a more detailed answer here please consider these corollary questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can this can be a fairly serious thing, so what are the effects of this that makes it so serious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is bonking the same as hitting a wall??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please explain what causes a bonk to occur, what things you would experience before, during, and after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there benefits to bonking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If hitting the wall is different then please elaborate on this too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-10-12T02:03:21.647" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T02:03:21.647" Title="What does it mean to bonk or hit the wall?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-10-10T21:32:17.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32387" CreationDate="2016-10-07T19:10:35.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question assumes that each blood type offers a different capacity to carry oxygen.  Without going into scientific explanations, the easiest way to answer the question is to understand the role of &lt;a href=&quot;http://sickle.bwh.harvard.edu/hemoglobin.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hemoglobin&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hemoglobin is a protein that serves as a transport mechanism to deliver oxygen to the body tissues.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VO2Max&lt;/a&gt; is a measurement of how quickly the body consumes that oxygen.  While there are factors that can impact Hemoglobin's &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-respiratory-system-39/transport-of-gases-in-human-bodily-fluids-222/transport-of-oxygen-in-the-blood-841-12086/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ability to carry oxygen&lt;/a&gt; (ie. disease and environment), blood type is not one of them.  That's because &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0877658.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blood types&lt;/a&gt; refer to the protein on the &lt;strong&gt;surface&lt;/strong&gt; of the red blood cells.  Hemoglobin is a solution &lt;strong&gt;inside&lt;/strong&gt; the red blood cell membrane.  Think of it in terms of a rubber water balloon.  The rubber would be the membrane and the water is the hemoglobin.  Blood types are properties of the membrane.  The hemoglobin (inside) is the same regardless of the outer (protein) blood type.  As such, the blood type is not a factor in VO2Max because it does not influence oxygen transport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T19:10:35.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32404" CreationDate="2016-10-07T22:26:30.227" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the impact of temperature on running performance increase with distance?&#xA;This would mean something like for a 5k maybe a decrease of 3% in avg pace but for a half marathon a decrease of 8% avg pace. These numbers are just random values to try and make the question clear. Also Im asking in respect to the hot side of the ideal 50-60F running temps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T20:15:49.603" Title="Does temperature have more of an impact on longer runs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;heat-tolerance&gt;&lt;overheating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3320" CreationDate="2016-10-08T04:16:59.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look up &quot;10 Signs You Have Candida Overgrowth &amp;amp; What To Do About It&quot; this really helped my condition. You can find pills to help fight this issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23782" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T04:16:59.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32531" CreationDate="2016-10-08T13:59:12.823" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for about 2 years and could do a 25 minute 5k. I recently started doing squats, 5x95, 5x105 so on and up to 5x125. I used to be able to Squat about 190. My runs are much slower after starting weight lifting. I believe that my legs aren't recovering enough between days, but I have reduced squats to twice per week and am still slowing down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to increase my ability to power up hills without compromising my endurance. How should I be approaching this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23785" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T02:01:13.217" Title="How can weight lifting and running be done concurrently?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32398" CreationDate="2016-10-08T16:03:27.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you just want to be good at running, then squats will not help. Include a hill in your daily runs, and some sprints. But if you are after overall fitness keep mixing weights and endurance. You will be stronger, and you will have more overall endurance for a variety of activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23786" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T16:03:27.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-08T18:15:31.953" Score="2" ViewCount="3035" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working on a school project and I need a simple equation for calculating the number of Calories burnt when running from time(in milliseconds, could be seconds, minutes, and so on..) and distance(in meters, could be in kilometers, and so on..). Do I need a bodymass? if yes it can be included. Can somebody help me? I've spent 3 days of googling and didn't find a proper answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23787" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T05:36:46.573" Title="How to calculate Calories in KCal from time and distance running" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32401" CreationDate="2016-10-08T19:47:40.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;.First of all, there's no specific formula. Running involved various factors when it comes to calorie consumption. Like, at what speed you are running, what's your weight and what's the wind resistance also the slope . There are other details, but if we keep in mind the above, you can get a rough estimate. Remember, those treadmills that give the results of your calorie expense after running, just do an estimate, it's not accurate. Your calorie expenditure could be anywhere between +/- 20% of what the results show. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, you need to start from the amount of force your legs generate during impact on the ground. That multipled by distance you run, is the work done of calories burned. It's not that easy as the distance has to be liner. Physics says work = force X displacement, which means if you are running in a circle and end up at the same point, your displacement is 0 so work done is 0, correct? Doesn't make sense when you are so beat after running 20 rounds of the soccer ground.  So for the sake of your ease, just keep it limited to the distance you cover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are running up the slope, your work done will be against gravity. Instead of distance, you need to consider the height you have reached above the point where  you started and multiply it with your weight. That's the potential energy gained by your body, or calories lost. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it will all give you a rough estimate, not anything absolute. Also, there are several factors like breathing, chemical reactions in your body that's not taken into account, because body burns calories when when you are at rest. So, I'd say it's complex and differes for every human. If you go by physics that I explained above, remember, that the margin of error would be around 20% or even higher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Dont fall for scams that claim they can get the exact count of your body's calorie expenses. Those products are just to make money, and to trap people with limited knowledge about how the stuffs work. Wish you the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T19:47:40.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32393" CreationDate="2016-10-08T20:15:49.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it does. Higher temperature acts as a catalyst when it's comes to your body's energy expenses. Your body does spend more calories, and loses energy faster compared to when it's cold. Lowering of the pace would result in maintaining the balance with high temperature environments. I don't know the exact figures, but on a very hot day performance degrades on a long run. Short sprints may not be affected by the temperature though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, 50-60 F would be average or ideal temperature for the body while working out. What I said above applies to 90F and above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T20:15:49.603" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32407" CreationDate="2016-10-09T05:51:05.173" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a workout plan that you stick to and your goal is to build muscles: is it counterproductive to work physically after you have done your workout already? For example, if you just did your workout and then, an hour later, you do the washing up or you work in the garden or something. Is such a “habit“ bad for building muscles or gaining strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user23495" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T18:43:04.990" Title="Influence of physical activity besides the workouts?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32406" CreationDate="2016-10-09T11:22:57.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea of fitness and building muscles is to get strong and enhance every aspect of your life. Working out is a part of your day, not the only part of your day. That being said, it's absolutely fine to do other stuffs after your workout, but make sure your body gets enough energy and nutrients to recover and good rest afterwards. So, it's not counterproductive or a bad habit, but just something that's dependent on an individual's capability and necessity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-09T18:43:04.990" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T18:43:04.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-09T16:42:45.317" Score="0" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to create a workout plan for a friend. He has absolutely no access to any sort of equipment, and unfortunately lives a couple hundred miles from me, so cannot share mine. He is interested in working out, but knows nothing about it. He has good basic skills, for instance can hold handstands, do pullups, pushups, etc; He also has expressed an interest in trying yoga, after hearing me rave about it. I would like to put together a four week plan for him, using body weight/minimal equipment exercises. I don't know yet what his fitness goals/interests are, and I also don't know if he is at all interested in running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edits:&#xA;He has only one interest: gymnastics. His only equipment is a 5lb weight. He has no goals, and does not see himself as an athlete at all. It is this lack of motivation, and yet a desire to try that has me a little lost. He is small for his age, no more than 5'5&quot;, and rather on the underweight side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19529" LastEditorUserId="19529" LastEditDate="2016-10-10T02:39:56.633" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T20:10:21.290" Title="Trying to get 15 year old male into fitness" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-09T21:29:06.593" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am fat and I am already trying to eat less and eat healthy. I figured the muscular route to be the best way to get my muscles to show(my body is able to burn fat and gain muscle at the same time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a bodybuilder but I would rather be muscular than fat like I am now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure which muscles to start with. I don't want to lose so much fat that my menstrual cycle stops but at the same time, I want muscle definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember one time I successfully lost weight while gaining muscle. This was when my Abs were starting to show(upper Abs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what muscles should I start with? I know that ideally you'd want to do all of them but I can't do that. Should I start with Abs like last time(first to show up, first to atrophy, prone to injury)? Or should I start with other muscles first? I think I should do arms and legs last since those will be indirectly exercised the whole time. For the same reason,I don't need to do much for my chest muscles(all abdominal exercises also exercise the chest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why I think my Abs should be done first even though it will take the most work to keep the definition. But there is a little of a drawback for me as far as Abs are concerned. No matter how much I do,I can't get my lower Abs to show. Upper Abs, easy, lower Abs, super hard. Lower abdominal exercises(for example leg raises), doesn't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So should I do Abs first or not? If yes then will my lower Abs ever show up? If not, then what should I do first muscle group wise? I don't have weights or any muscle specific exercise machinery so exercises with those are off my list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23792" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T23:31:04.130" Title="Where should I start?" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-10-10T21:31:53.600" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32409" CreationDate="2016-10-09T23:23:35.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, there's no way to target fat loss from a specific part of your body. In the same way, you can't build muscles at a specific part. To lose fat, you need to lose the overall body fat. Your body is quite intelligent and it would take care of where you need to lose it, but you just can't lose gut by doing crunches, or gain abs by doing the same. In the same way, muscle development happens all over the body, not just targeted to specific area. So, to answer your question, in order to build abs, you need to work on your legs, arms and your whole body, along with abs. Your lower abs would only show up, when you have a muscle layer below the fat. If you do, then you need to lose the surrounding fat. If not, you need to build lower abs, and lose fat at the same time. You can trigger the muscle growth by doing specific exercises targeting certain muscle-heads, but without full body workout(chest,arms, legs and core, shoulders, back etc), it will be very hard. Make a plan, like what muscle you want to workout on what day, and stick to it. I'd say combine aerobics with weight training. Eat clean and drink a plenty of water. Regarding recovery time, you need to figure out what amount of rest is appropriate for you and prepares you for the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said you don't have equipment, you can stick to free body workouts like pushups, squats, running, biking etc. Here's a link giving some details about freehand workout, but please keep the safety factor in mind before starting any of those that involves chairs, or bed railings as support.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/the-15-best-beginners-exercises-to-do-at-home&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/the-15-best-beginners-exercises-to-do-at-home&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-09T23:31:04.130" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T23:31:04.130" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32391" CreationDate="2016-10-10T09:09:10.690" Score="7" Body="&lt;h3&gt;What does it mean to bonk or hit the wall during a run or a bike ride?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In endurance sports such as cycling and running, &amp;quot;hitting the wall&amp;quot; or the &amp;quot;bonk&amp;quot; is a condition of sudden fatigue and loss of energy which is caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Can this can be a fairly serious thing, so what are the effects of this that makes it so serious?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a logistical perspective, on a bicycle you are at most risk. You could lose balance, swerve into the road, or fail to be able to un-clip from your pedals. In this case the risks vary from a bruised ego to death by oncoming lorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a scholar perspective you will have a lower power output:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In one study, &amp;quot;reduction in preexercise muscle glycogen from 59.1 to&#xA;17.1 mumol X g-1 (n = 3) was associated with a 14% reduction in maximum power output but no change in maximum O2 intake; at any given&#xA;power output O2 intake, heart rate, and ventilation (VE) were&#xA;significantly higher, CO2 output (VCO2) was similar, and the&#xA;respiratory exchange ratio was lower during glycogen depletion&#xA;compared with control.&amp;quot; (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Is bonking the same as hitting a wall?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. The term bonk for fatigue is presumably derived from the original meaning &amp;quot;to hit&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term is used colloquially both as a noun (&amp;quot;hitting the bonk&amp;quot;) and a verb (&amp;quot;to bonk halfway through the race&amp;quot;). The condition is also known to long-distance (marathon) runners, who usually refer to it as &amp;quot;hitting the wall&amp;quot;. The British may refer to it as &amp;quot;hunger knock,&amp;quot; while &amp;quot;hunger bonk&amp;quot; was used by South African cyclists in the 1960s. It can also be referred to as &amp;quot;blowing up&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Please explain what causes a bonk to occur, what things you would experience before, during, and after.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Athletes engaged in exercise over a long period of time produce energy via two mechanisms, both facilitated by oxygen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;via fat metabolism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;via breakdown of glycogen into glucose, followed by glycolysis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you run out of glycogen you are operating under fat metabolism only and your power output will decrease. You will feel like you have rapidly lost a lot of energy over a short period (1 mile running or so, varies by individual).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards you still feel like you have no energy but this is where the mental ruggedness/determination of endurance running becomes more important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Are there benefits to bonking?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically yes, you are more effective at burning fat after bonking because it is all your have left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, generally no. Your body is not designed to operate without glycogen for an extended period and thus you should not aim to bonk during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How can I prevent bonking?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several approaches to prevent glycogen depletion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrate loading is used to ensure that the initial glycogen levels are maximized, thus prolonging the exercise. This technique amounts to increasing complex carbohydrate intake during the last few days before the event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consuming food or drinks containing carbohydrates during the exercise. This is an absolute must for very long distances; it is estimated that Tour de France competitors receive up to 50% of their daily caloric intake from on-the-bike supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lowering the intensity of the exercise to the so-called 'fat max' level (aerobic threshold or &amp;quot;AeT&amp;quot;) will lower the fraction of the energy that comes from glycogen as well as the amount of energy burned per unit of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1): Heigenhauser, G. J.; Sutton, J. R.; Jones, N. L. &amp;quot;Effect of glycogen depletion on the ventialatory response to exercise&amp;quot;. Journal of Applied Physiology. American Physiological Society. 54 (2): 470–474. ISSN 1522-1601.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-10-10T09:09:10.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32408" CreationDate="2016-10-10T17:08:59.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I answered a similar question on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Sports&lt;/a&gt; site: &lt;a href=&quot;https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/12807/motivating-players-to-train-on-their-own-time&quot;&gt;Motivating players to train on their own time&lt;/a&gt;.  That answer may help you determine an approach.  In your particular situation, I would seize on his interest in gymnastics by explaining how weight training can improve an activity that he appears to like.  But, whatever approach you decide to take, you’ll need to make sure that exercising, for him, is not work.  It should be fun in order to pique his interest.  When he’s ready to make the leap to a formal training program with goals, you’ll need to provide the support he’ll need.  In the end, the decision to partake in a formal exercise program will be his no matter what you may want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:55:24.100" LastActivityDate="2016-10-10T17:08:59.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32413" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-10T23:07:52.197" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training to increase my explosiveness for basketball so I'm doing high intensity workouts at the gym and sprints, the goal is to build as much fast twitch muscle as possible. I've &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/13935/23589&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;read&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; that you should aim for quick sets which could mean either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Lower reps at higher weight with less speed&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Higher reps at a lower weight with higher speed&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a sensation in the muscles I could look for after a set to know if I've done the workout properly for fast twitch? I suspect I'll need to experiment at the gym because everyone has a different body type but I'd like to know what has worked for other sprinters/jumpers. I just found an &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3064/23589&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; to a question that suggests maximum speed with 70-90% of 1RM (I'm looking at the power column in that answer's table). This answer is from scientists, Soviet scientists so the answer seems pretty conclusive to me but I'd like other's opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23589" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T00:05:09.200" Title="Finding correct weight and speed of exercise for explosive power" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;explosiveness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32460" CreationDate="2016-10-11T08:01:23.260" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work out in a well-equipped gym 4 times per week, and this question is about weightlifting in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I work out, I'm always painfully aware of what my weaknesses are, and I want to be able to catch them up in a way that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept of &quot;weakness&quot; in this context should be understood as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;an exercise that is disproportionately lagging behind or&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;an aesthetic shortcoming, e.g. visually underdeveloped deltoids&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My idea&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to try and stimulate my weakness by performing 1000 repetitions of said exercise or an exercise for said muscle group, over the next 10 workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After one such cycle, I will find a different weakness, because it would likely be disastrous if I were to continue with the same one for consecutive cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This regimen will not &lt;em&gt;replace&lt;/em&gt; a normal workout plan, but rather be done as an auxilliary type movement, with a very modest choice in weight. I.e. I will continue training my entire body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any exercise chosen will be a compound lift, and not an isolation exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I deem my deltoids underdeveloped, I will attempt to fix this, not by lateral raises, but with military press, shoulder press, or maybe jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reasons of self-preservation, I'd likely not attempt this with the heaviest of heavy lifts. Specifically, I'm thinking of excluding deadlifts from this regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any concerns about this idea that can be attributed to documented cases of this going wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally, success stories are equally, if not more desirable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Side notes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to avoid this being flagged as opinion-based, I'm looking for concerns based on research. Anecdotal evidence, if documented, is also welcome of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as a solid answer might require more information, please ask and give me the opportunity to elaborate, rather than flagging on sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-10-11T08:29:53.573" LastActivityDate="2016-11-12T21:19:27.783" Title="Working on weakness - 1000 reps in 10 workouts. Need critique" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32415" CreationDate="2016-10-11T10:03:56.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101077382-boring-but-big&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Welcome to the boring-but-big method!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(more correctly, a &lt;em&gt;modified&lt;/em&gt; version of it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BBB is a assistance program for traditional intermediate strength workouts (5/3/1 being where this was popularised). The concept was made popular by Jim Wendler though his version of 5/3/1 and you can read more in his book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, by aiming for 1000 over 10 workouts you will end up doing 10x10 instead of 5x10 (sets x reps). This method is closer to German Volume training, which focuses on using 10x10 for main lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, you only really want to be doing 10 sets of anything if you are looking to push lower working weight (60% 1RM) and stimulate growth. Jim makes it clear that he only does 5 sets because more would be counterproductive to your other exercises and you could use the second 5x10 to effectively develop another portion of your lifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IT's also worth noting the different volume stimulates muscles differently. People regularly accept that for calf raises you should aim for ~50 reps total per session but for Squat, 20-30 reps is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-10-11T10:24:45.993" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25125" CreationDate="2016-10-11T20:25:17.337" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally use the bodyband it's a comforatable design and it allows for you to re-attach your cellphone with ease and no slipping. Here is the link &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybandusa.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.bodybandusa.com&lt;/a&gt;, cheers!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23810" LastActivityDate="2016-10-11T20:25:17.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-12T00:20:44.257" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I follow the recommendation that it's good practice to run with a close to 170/180 bpm pace, at any speed (slow or fast). That is, when running you should be hitting the floor around 180 times per minute, which is near to 3 per second, in a somewhat waltz rythm. I understand this bpm timing is also recommendable for riding a bicycle. &#xA;One available resource to get to this pace is a &lt;strong&gt;metronome&lt;/strong&gt;, that is many times included in the features of different watches, such as the &lt;strong&gt;gps&lt;/strong&gt; type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The broader question is if it's possible to find musics that have this type of rythm. There's &lt;a href=&quot;https://cycle.jog.fm/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a page that does this for you: jog.fm&lt;/a&gt;. It's awesome but it just offers song by song ideas. &#xA;I'd like to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is there a software that grabs a music collection at 180 bpm?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...perhaps possible to fetch from my hard drive directly, or online music. Most likely a fitness instructor, or even &lt;em&gt;a dj should be able to answer&lt;/em&gt; this. Open source options? Maybe there's even a certain amount of &lt;strong&gt;music genre&lt;/strong&gt; that can answer this directly, say a set of &lt;strong&gt;LPs&lt;/strong&gt; that have this pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Is there at least one LP that has a 180 rpm?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think perhaps something by Kraftwerk, but just guessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20063" LastEditorUserId="20063" LastEditDate="2016-10-12T12:37:40.887" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T19:10:02.413" Title="How to find music at 60/90/180 bpm to sync with exercise?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2016-10-13T20:31:44.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-12T07:40:50.687" Score="0" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a solid fitness plan (types of exercises, sets, repetitions, etc.) for kind of getting in shape. I want to train the whole body, use some weights, but I'm not trying to get bulked up or anything. I'd rather do more reps with lower weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this: www.bodybuilding.com/content/the-female-training-bible-everything-you-need-to-get-the-sexy-body-you-desire.html&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it seems a bit too generic. Are there any professional workout plans that have been accepted by the majority of the fitness instructors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any kind of help, links or directions I should take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23815" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T08:04:01.607" Title="A fitness workout plan for a female" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-10-17T22:25:08.383" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32420" CreationDate="2016-10-12T08:04:01.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, read this wiki: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/index&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Women aren't some special snowflake and beginners of all genders respond well to the same stimulus. Fortunately you won't get &quot;bulky&quot; without years and years of dedication and focused mass cultivating because women generally find it more difficult to put on muscle mass (not strength!). Doing 50 repetitions of 1kg dumbbell raises won't do anything for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best plans for a beginner looking to get into weightlifting and train the whole body are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20150329092601/http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:Introduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; (barbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; (barbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kb/recommended_routine&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;r/bodyweightfitness&lt;/a&gt; (bodyweight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/zc0uy/a_beginner_dumbbell_program_the_dumbbell_stopgap/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Stopgap&lt;/a&gt; (dumbbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T08:04:01.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32430" CreationDate="2016-10-12T08:20:01.283" Score="1" ViewCount="1084" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you can't overtrain youself too easy but I want to ask if this is ok to do.I do on each muscle group 4 exercises 4 sets of 12 reps and I was thinking that after every set to reduce the weights and do more reps.&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I start doing bench presses with 90 kg,and I do like 10-12 reps after I am exhausted and immediately when I am done I take off some weights and start doing 12 more reps with 40 kg. &#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it more clear I don't do 2 sets with 90 and 2 sets with 40 to be 4 sets,no.I do 4 sets with 90 and 4 sets with 40,just to be clear.&#xA;&lt;p&gt; My question is,is it worth it?My main goal is to build muscle and have well defined muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:12:01.583" Title="Is it ok to lower the weights after each set?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32433" CreationDate="2016-10-12T09:32:57.147" Score="2" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught once by my trainer (he is 75 yrs old) how to train to get defined and how to train to get bulked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower weights,more reps(like 15-20 reps) and slower+controlled movement to get defined &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High weights,lesser reps(like 5-6 reps) and controlling only when you are under tension(the lift can be helped by another friend) to get bulked &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt; My question is,is this something true?And if not what training should I do to get defined and what training to get bulked?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:22:46.963" Title="Defining muscle vs building muscle" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;definition&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32423" CreationDate="2016-10-12T13:27:12.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weightlifting will help you grow muscle mass when paired with an appropriate diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body-fat percentage determines how 'defined' your muscle look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To increase weight, eat at a calorie surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To grow muscle, eat at a calorie surplus and lift heavy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lose weight/reduce BF%, eat at a calorie cut and (optionally) perform exercise to maintain a healthy body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T13:27:12.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32423" CreationDate="2016-10-12T15:25:16.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a former Bodybuilder, I can relate to the comment by your trainer.  His comment reflects one of the theories that was prevalent years ago.  As Bodybuilding and Weight training evolved, there have been many advances in training theory.  Some of the theories that we thought were valid are no longer the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to getting more defined, I can tell you from anecdotal evidence that I found that maintaining the same number of reps and weight while tightening up my nutrition is what works for me.  This seems to be borne out by a University of Alabama study, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.builtlean.com/2012/07/19/high-reps-vs-low-reps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High Reps vs. Low Reps for Fat Loss&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“One study from the University of Alabama in Birmingham showed that&#xA;  dieters who lifted heavy weights lost the same amount of weight as&#xA;  dieters who did just cardio, but all the weight lost by the weight&#xA;  lifters was fat while the cardio group lost muscle along with some&#xA;  fat.3. The common belief is that high reps magically get rid of fat.&#xA;  While high reps with light weight to fatigue can create a muscular&#xA;  response, it does not necessarily remove fat better than low reps with&#xA;  heavy weight. While more studies are needed to compare the fat loss&#xA;  effects of high reps vs. low reps, substantial evidence is mounting&#xA;  that &lt;strong&gt;it’s not necessarily the amount of weight that is used, or the&#xA;  number of repetitions that helps burn the most fat, but the intensity&#xA;  of the workout.&lt;/strong&gt; The goal is to create muscular failure with less rest&#xA;  between exercises, which can have powerful hormonal, metabolic, and&#xA;  calorie burn effects (See: afterburn effect). In addition, for fat&#xA;  loss, proper nutrition will have a MUCH greater impact on fat loss&#xA;  than the specific rep range, or even workout.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, for one, would rather tinker with my diet and keep the same number of reps and weight. I feel this approach provides me with a better chance to retain muscle mass while restricting my diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for “Bulking”, I’m not a fan of that practice since I see it as a form of yo-yo dieting.  I’d rather gain muscle in a linear fashion without having to gain excess &lt;strong&gt;extra&lt;/strong&gt; fat along the way.  I do this by maintaining my reps and weights while supporting my body with sufficient nutrition and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T15:25:16.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32451" CreationDate="2016-10-12T15:50:36.697" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.womenshealthmag.com/sites/womenshealthmag.com/files/images/1006-poolside-glute-bridge.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hip bridges&lt;/a&gt; for the last two weeks (I exercise three times a week). I am not  aiming to get a muscular body; I am just training to improve my body shape (I am not that fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with the bridges is that, when doing them and trying to raise my hips up, I feel pain in my quadriceps, as if I am targeting the quadriceps and not the glutes. Is this normal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, what makes me more confused, is what stated in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/21032/how-to-activate-glutes-on-a-pear/21036#21036&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;. He said:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What this tells me is that you don't have a strong mind-muscle connection with your glutes. This is called a neuromuscular recruitment pattern, which basically means you use your quads to do most of the work because that's how you've developed. This is really common&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? If so, am I using only my quads ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If yes, how to activate my glutes? &#xA;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2016-11-12T09:07:14.050" Title="Quadriceps pain after hip bridges excercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;hip&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32434" CreationDate="2016-10-12T19:05:38.827" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a fitness enthusiastic person. I don't go to gym but choose to workout at home. So that I select some exercise like push ups,biceps curl,tricep dips,squat,crunch,dumbel row each side, plank,sit ups . But I am confused what of these exercise should do first and what to next??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23821" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:44:02.970" Title="Which workout to do 1st?" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-12T21:49:24.457" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 15 year old male, standing at a tiny 5 foot 6 inches and weigh in at 8 stone and 1.1 pound, my fat index is only 10.7% and from my research this suggests that I should go on a lean or &quot;shredding&quot; fitness plan. The problem is I only go to the gym once a week due to school and training. Is this a dieting problem or Can I do more in the gym? It could also be useful to note that I usually stay away from the freeweights section as it is usually packed! Can anyone recommend a fitness plan or even an app on android that could help me out? Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23780" LastActivityDate="2016-11-14T08:21:06.287" Title="Fitness plan suggestions?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32422" CreationDate="2016-10-12T22:12:01.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are aiming for drop-sets, you have to do it immediately after the heavy lifting. It's same as cheating reps, or with some support from a spotter. Usually you lower it by 30-40%(depends on individuals how much weights they lower) and do a few more reps. That being said, if you are already done with your 90kg press for 12, dropping it to 40 and doing 4-5 more or even 7 is fine, but if you are aiming 12, it depends on what your point of failure is. If they could sustain another 12 at lower weights or not, only you could find out by doing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do drop-sets for arms, because it's easy and you can switch to low weights easily on machine or picking up the right dumbbells. In case of bench press, by the time you remove the plates, you'd have already taken 30-40 seconds of break, unless you have a spotter to help you. So it's same as doing another set with lower weight than doing drop-sets(which by definition is doing things right after), unless that's what you aim for. That's more like doing lower reps for the pump, but that can't be categorized as a drop-set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:12:01.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32423" CreationDate="2016-10-12T22:22:46.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Lower weights,more reps(like 15-20 reps) and slower+controlled movement to get defined&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily, definition comes from lesser fat surrounding muscles.All you need to do is, get rid of the fat, and if you don't see the result, that means you have to build up muscles. That's simple. I have known several instructors giving the low rep advice for cutting, but that really doesn't help. Though, that's not a good advise, but that's what they have heard from their mentors and instructors as a guideline, and pass it on to others. In this age of information, we have the access to knowledge at our finger-tips, so many old age body building myth are debunked. &#xA;Rather doing cardio and weights training together for definition would be a good idea. Also, eating right and clean is very necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:22:46.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32428" CreationDate="2016-10-12T22:44:02.970" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you said you want to reduce fat, you need to focus on what you are eating first. Your energy expenditure should be more than your calorie intake. There's no specific guideline on what to do first. Also, there's no exercise to reduce belly fat. You need to have a overall reduction of your body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding workout, you need to mix cardio and weight training in right proportion, to build mass and reduce fat. As you said you workout at home, I'd suggest going out for a run would be a good cardio, or skipping the rope. Carry on with your usual workout, but divide it into parts, and do one part per day, like arms on a day, chest on the other, legs on another day and accordingly, to give your muscles some recovery time to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:44:02.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-13T03:49:59.663" Score="1" ViewCount="567" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say a person can do a 400m run in 1:00, but is unable to do a 1600m in 4:00. What is most likely the main limiting factor in this? What is holding back being able to keep going at this pace for longer? The respiratory system? The lungs? I am assuming that the legs, etc. are strong enough to perform this. I am more interested in what the relative importance of things like the heart and lungs are in this task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe another way to look at it is for a person who is fairly physically fit through years of exercise, how important are the heart and lungs and other systems in anaerobic exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, it seems like the lungs and the ability to get oxygen to the muscles are more important than the heart being able to increase to a high beats per minute, but I am not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23826" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T00:27:37.123" Title="What is Limiting Factor in Running Fast?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-20T21:07:47.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32438" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-13T04:11:22.777" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a very active person, I started going to the gym in my freshman year in university in 2012, and I gym 6 days aweek. I use weights for squat,I go for 30 minutes running , eliptical and rarely do circuits (my stamina for circuits is very low). I recently started kickboxing which I am enjoying a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, and given that I am 5'2'' , I find it hard to lose weight around my thighs! I don't eat junk food at all, I gave up dairy recently in all of its means - I rarely drink lattes- and I eat vegetables daily. I spoke to my trainer who told me that because I am short, running will actually make my thighs even more bigger! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to be honest I don't consider myself fat (im 120lb), but I aspire to be much leaner. Perhaps , would eating bread (for breakfast and lunch in the form of sandwiches) be the reason for me not losing any weight in my legs ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any recommendations ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I stopped counting my calorie intake a while ago. However, I only burn around 500 calories in the gym, which I think is low given that I love incorporating carbs in my diet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23827" LastEditorUserId="23828" LastEditDate="2016-10-13T13:26:10.757" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T20:52:42.323" Title="I don't eat dairy products yet I cant lose weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-17T22:24:42.087" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32438" CreationDate="2016-10-13T04:45:21.930" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to the fitness board, Emma. First of all, dairy has nothing to do with your issue, but your calorie intake does. How much your food intake is, and how much you spend as energy expenditure during the whole day is what matters. Regarding your instructor's comment I'd say that no, running doesn't make your legs look fat, but instead stocked and toned. There's no specific exercise to lose weight from legs, but as you are already active, I wouldn't recommend anything, but to keep doing what you are doing. Just make sure your calorie intake doesn't exceed your energy needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-10-14T20:52:42.323" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T20:52:42.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32437" CreationDate="2016-10-13T04:54:10.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several factors that restricts humans to run at very high speed over longer distance. Muscle fatigue, body's ability to consume oxygen and making use of the stored energy are a few. In simple terms, when you move at fast speed, you'd need more fuel. Your body has a limit under which it works. When you do intense workout, you'd need constant supply of energy and your muscles fibers need to handle the breakdown appropriately. That's why sprinting and marathon are 2 different things. In the first you give it all you have over a short distance, on the other, you conserve by restricting the speed to make it over a larger distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T04:54:10.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2016-10-13T05:03:13.403" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to wear 20 lbs through out the day. This was a big stress to my knees, which are perfectly healthy. Now i wear only 4 lbs. It may not seem like a lot but its been 3 days constantly and my legs are still not used to them. I run with them, wear them to work, and wear them at home. I estimate another week or two and my legs will be used to them like they are my own weight. Unless you work out with them they wont do too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23829" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T05:03:13.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25125" CreationDate="2016-10-13T05:40:37.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hbtune.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HB Tune&lt;/a&gt; hand band. It wraps around your hand and holds your phone without requiring you to grip it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23830" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T05:40:37.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7899" CreationDate="2016-10-13T06:24:30.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one knows your body better than you do. Most people in the fitness industry,  even the so called expert trainers make recommendations based on their own experiences. If you workout under a trainer's supervision it is very important to have a trainer who implictly understands your bodytype or at least takes continuous feedback and makes course correction. Though you need to push yourself to make gains but keep in mind not to push yourself over the cliff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm up and postworkout stretching is very essential, not only for beginners but also for the conditioned. You may be a conditioned athlete but if you are stiff in the neck from sleeping in an awkward position and go bang-on to your main workout without warming up, you can injure yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never make an overzealous workout plan, especially if you are a beginner. An unnecessary injury can derail all efforts. Have a progressive plan and always remember to warmup and stretch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23831" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T06:24:30.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32438" CreationDate="2016-10-13T06:27:13.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Understanding your daily life as an equation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat more than what your body burns daily you will gain weight- &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you eat less, you will lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to calculate your daily calorie number? there is numerous website provide calculation for your kcal instake daily using your weight/height/age&#xA;Keep it simple&#xA;Use quality food -&#xA;Replace bad fat with good fat &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23790" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-10-13T08:09:46.260" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T08:09:46.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7899" CreationDate="2016-10-13T07:30:39.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine#wiki_warm-up.3A_dynamic_stretches_to_get_the_joints_nice_and_loose_.28.7E5-10min.29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a link&lt;/a&gt; to a great warm-up which is recommended for people doing dips and pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a video you can follow here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lDC4Ri9zAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lDC4Ri9zAQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T07:30:39.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3408" CreationDate="2016-10-13T08:25:34.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well before asking for the budget for your rowing machine, you should ask yourself what kind of rowing machine you want?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are multiple types of rowing machines available in market such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydraulic (piston) Hydraulic rowing machines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Magnetic. Quieter in operation than hydraulic rowers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Air &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water rowing machines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you decide what kind of machine you want, you can explore various models available in market accordingly. Generally if you are looking for rowing machine for just daily exercise purpose, it makes sense to go for lower end models but if you are preparing for some rowing competitions - then you have to go for high end models such as Concept2 rowers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fitnesstep1.com/best-rowing-machines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this useful article&lt;/a&gt; where the have mentioned all the rowing machines for newbies and experts according to pro and cons of every rowing machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23832" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T08:25:34.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32426" CreationDate="2016-10-13T08:36:20.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &quot;activate&quot; a muscle you need to actively isolate and tense it, that is what &quot;mind-muscle contraction&quot; is (similar to when someone writes the word &lt;strong&gt;kegals&lt;/strong&gt; on the internet and the reader will consciously be able to think about and do them. Its that thinking and contracting that is important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain in your quads &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; be due to tight hip flexors, a common issue with bridges. Doing flat foot lunges and other hip-flexor mobility stretches can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just focus on squeezing your ass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T08:36:20.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-13T10:34:01.117" Score="2" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider a person who can't make a routine plan to go to gym (because of a lot of personal problems) who wants to get in shape, a really good and fit shape and gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As that person you can search and see hundreds of exercises with body weight all over the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is, why do we need dumbbells and other weights? What they offer more than body weight for fitness and gaining muscle programs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23204" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-10-18T13:32:07.933" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T11:23:30.227" Title="Why use weights, if body weight execises can make you get in shape and gain muscle?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32452" CreationDate="2016-10-13T11:38:58.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight skills definitely have an upper limit, unlike weightlifting which is limited only by how many plates will fit on the bar, leverage can be varied quite a bit, increasing the difficulty of these skills. Progressive resistance makes you stronger. It does not matter if this comes from varied leverage, or extra weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both bodyweight and barbell training will help you gain muscle but for example with squat you cannot add more resistance with bodyweight to develop raw power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, its well established that for barbell training, if done correctly at high intensity, will stimulate more muscular growth than bodyweight exercises for the same muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many stories of people who don't weight train and end up lifting very large amounts their first time out, due to body weight skills. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95D7lj-A6tA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a video&lt;/a&gt; of Ross Enamait deadlifting 495lbs (at 170lb body weight) with no deadlift skills and a primarily bodyweight-only training routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply, it's going to take me too long to develop the strength to squat 495lb if I go down the bodyweight-only route compared to if I were to go down the barbell route. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T11:38:58.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32455" CreationDate="2016-10-13T14:14:29.310" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm running my first half marathon on 10/23. I had been training with a schedule that added a mile to the long run every week. The last three weeks of the schedule look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;| Week |  M   |   T   |   W   |   Th  |   F   |   Sa  |   Su   |&#xA;|------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------|&#xA;|   8  |  0   |   4   |   4   |   5   |   0   |   2   |   12   |&#xA;|   9  |  0   |   3   |   3   |   5   |   0   |   2   |   5    |&#xA;|  10  |  0   |   3   |   3   |   4   |   0   |   2   |   13.1 |&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to travel, I didn't run at all during week 8. Now I'm trying to decide how to adjust weeks 9 and 10. Should I just leave it as is? I'm mostly interested in keeping my joints happy and healthy. Maintaining/Improving upon my ~11 minute mile pace for long runs is secondary to that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23834" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T15:35:32.627" Title="How should I adjust my half-marathon training schedule after missing a week?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;half-marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32454" CreationDate="2016-10-13T15:35:32.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the week as-is. As the 13.1 miles is on the week after I would not suggest bringing the 12 miles run week forwards.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T15:35:32.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32452" CreationDate="2016-10-13T15:40:26.713" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two words - progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With bodyweight exercises, no matter how hard you try and how fancy you go with exercise, eventually you will hit the limit in muscle and strength growth because you will not be able to apply resistance sufficient enough to cause the process of muscle tissue damage and repair, i.e. muscle growth. You'll be limited by your own body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, with free weights you are absolutely not limited in anything except your genetics and physical abilities. You can continue loading the bar infinitely even by the smallest possible increments and still have enough resistance for your muscle and strength growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't think though of your muscle and strenght growth as in y=|x| function. It's more like y=sqrt(x) function. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18959" LastEditorUserId="18959" LastEditDate="2016-10-13T15:55:53.393" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T15:55:53.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-13T16:17:45.857" Score="4" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing full body weight training 3 days a week like most people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to do a 5-20 minute workout on my off days that can compliment my weight training without messing up with my muscle's rest-period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would appreciate if the suggestions are bodyweight exercises I can do when I've recently woke up. (Some physical activity also helps waking up from naps and sleep)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23269" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T15:36:39.597" Title="What kind of exercises will help out in rest days?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32457" CreationDate="2016-10-13T18:19:03.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Better to do stretching exercises or yoga to make body more flexible and good muscle growth. &#xA;Do surya namaskram which is in yoga . And it related to body weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23703" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T18:19:03.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32419" CreationDate="2016-10-13T19:10:02.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love to run based on BPM. I find that my feet tend to sync with whatever I am listening to anyhow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Spotify&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently playing around with Spotify. They have a feature (under Browse... Running) in the mobile app to use a running playlist and when you fire it up it asks you to start running and they will detect your cadence or you can skip that and manually set it. I like it but it burns through my mobile data too much because you can't cache those playlists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also worked a bit using &lt;a href=&quot;http://smarterplaylists.playlistmachinery.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SmarterPlaylists&lt;/a&gt; to create playlists by BPM. This helps because I can download those playlists for offline use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Other&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some other solutions that I have used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;download techno music from &lt;a href=&quot;http://podrunner.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://podrunner.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;search for songs by bpm at:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bpmdatabase.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bpmdatabase.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jogtunes.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jogtunes.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://runningmusicmix.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://runningmusicmix.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or &lt;a href=&quot;http://runningplaylist.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://runningplaylist.net&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck to you and happy running!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="175" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T19:10:02.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32415" CreationDate="2016-10-13T20:38:40.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read and re-read your post looking for something positive from your 1000 repetition plan.  As a former &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acefitness.org/default.aspx?adpos=1t1&amp;amp;creative=85969792284&amp;amp;device=c&amp;amp;matchtype=e&amp;amp;network=g&amp;amp;gclid=CK2i2djH2M8CFQpbhgod2i0I4w&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACE&lt;/a&gt; certified trainer, I decided to offer my critique (opinion) based on anecdotal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were my client, I would try to persuade you to &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; add 1000 repetitions to an existing program.  Here's why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 workouts, in my opinion, is too short to expect noticeable improvement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding 1000 repetitions onto an existing program adds the risk of over training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That many extra reps can lead to overuse syndrome due to the increase in volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I would first have you look at body part &lt;a href=&quot;http://how2getbig.com/training-priority/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prioritization&lt;/a&gt;.  By training a lagging body part first in your sessions, you should have plenty of energy to attack that body part.  Simply rearranging your routine may also help to force new growth as the body will need to adapt to a newer sequence of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you've indicated that you are not interested in isolation movements, but, I think you're missing an opportunity to really fine tune specific muscle groups.  Rather than doing only compound movements, I would suggest you mix in isolation movements as well.  Granted, there's more bang for your buck with compound movements, but, isolation movements allow you to segregate the work load so that you can target a specific muscle group.  When thinking of isolation movements, I think back to Arnold Schwarzenegger comparing himself to a sculptor in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY1FmHjpYU8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pumping Iron&lt;/a&gt;.  Arnold offered that a  bodybuilder is like a sculptor because he looks in the mirror and decides what body part is lacking and performs specific exercises to improve that body part.  In terms of aesthetic improvement, I would definitely suggest you look to mix in isolation movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're still unsure about isolation movements, I would have you take a look at &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9459538&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A comparison of strength and muscle mass increases during resistance training in young women&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, a study that compared compound movements with isolation movements.  The study showed that isolation movements may help with strength and hypertrophy gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T20:38:40.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32457" CreationDate="2016-10-13T22:31:03.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After your wake up, your body would be in it's lowest potential to do something intense immediately. All you need to do is, make it prepared first. That being said, I'd say just brisk walking on rest days would help. Or jogging, but nor running. Rest days means you are giving your muscles a break. Walking would also help you after sleep or nap, to get your system ready for anything you are up to next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T22:31:03.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-14T11:55:13.997" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not kidding about exercise allergy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to go for regular jogs when I used to stay in India (I am from India). Then I moved to Germany a couple of years back and jogging became infrequent since I found the weather really cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I got used to it and when I tried to start jogging again last summer I developed  this allergy. They are basically hives which cover my entire body and stays there for half an hour to one every time I do any sort of heavy exercise. These hives are extremely itchy and I feel a little out of breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot jog or do heavy exercises anymore since the allergy is pretty strong now.&#xA;Has anyone faced anything like this? Is there a solution to this problem?&#xA;Any comments on how this can be dealt with would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23837" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-15T17:45:39.307" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T17:45:39.307" Title="Exercise Allergy" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32463" CreationDate="2016-10-14T12:59:48.453" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you might be dealing with &lt;a href=&quot;http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/exercise-induced-urticaria.html&quot;&gt;Exercise-induced Urticaria&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exercise-induced urticaria is a condition that causes hives and other allergic symptoms. It can occur during or after exercise. Hives or &quot;welts&quot; are usually raised, flat bumps on the skin that are more red around the edge than in the middle. Hives may also look like red spots, blotches or blisters. They can occur on any part of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For treatment, the Treament page of the site I linked has the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do if I get hives during exercise?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;  You should stop exercising as soon as you notice the hives. If the hives don't go away in 5 to 10 minutes, or if you have other symptoms, call your doctor right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can exercise-induced urticaria be life-threatening?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;  In severe cases, symptoms may be life-threatening, but this is very rare. If you ever have severe symptoms, your doctor may prescribe a medicine called epinephrine for you. You inject this medication as soon as symptoms start. It stops the symptoms before they become life-threatening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do I have to give up exercise?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;  You probably don't have to quit exercising. Most symptoms can be controlled by taking the medicine your doctor prescribes and by slowing down or stopping your exercise as soon as symptoms start. You should always exercise with a partner who knows about your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In some people, eating certain foods before exercise may make allergic symptoms more likely to occur. Keep track of what you eat before exercising for a few weeks. If you notice a pattern to your symptoms that seems related to a certain food, stop eating it for a while and see if the hives stop. Also, your doctor may tell you not to exercise for 4 to 6 hours after you eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What treatment is available?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;  Medicines, such as certain antihistamines, can prevent symptoms in some cases. Your doctor can help you identify things that trigger your allergic reaction and prescribe medicine, if necessary. For some people, it may be necessary to avoid certain types of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, go see your doctor and they can likely prescribe something for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T12:59:48.453" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32457" CreationDate="2016-10-14T15:36:39.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely do some stretching. It TREMENDOUSLY helps with weightlifting. Also, any time of cardio will be good. Their are countless studies their that show that cardio can help with nutrition portioning. Also cardio just helps keep your heart fit &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23841" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T15:36:39.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32438" CreationDate="2016-10-14T19:17:26.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about calories in vs calories out, I suggest tracking your caloric intake again and make sure you're eating less than what you need by 500 or so calories. Other protocols that have helped me lose weight in the past are intermittent fasting and fasted cardio, hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23844" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T19:17:26.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32463" CreationDate="2016-10-14T20:35:11.567" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: The following is just my personal experience and I'm certainly no professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had similar experience 4 to 5 years ago. I also know a friend who does as well. I remember reading somewhere that 10% to 20% of people have hives induced by various conditions more or less so that's probably not such a life-threatening big deal. I and my friend certainly didn't take any medicine and the itch just stops after about half an hour or so if I continued the exercise. I certainly didn't feel the need to &quot;stop exercising immediately&quot;. The doctor prescribed some drugs but I felt I'd better not take them as they apparently had side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually the situation only lasted for about a year and then it basically stopped happening. You can refer to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WP page about hives&lt;/a&gt; for some clues. Generally I'm personally against excessive medicines but I'm not doctor so it's just my personal beliefs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18654" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T20:35:11.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2016-10-14T22:12:25.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sprinting causes natural increases in growth hormone produced.  Ideal sprinting for this effect is about 10-15 minutes of short 30 seconds sprints.  With adequate rest between sprints.  This increase is roughly 600% from base line growth hormone that occurs naturally.  This effect doesn't happen with long distance marathon running because they do not pass the lactate threshold or in other words its not high intensity, where the heart rate reaches nearing 90% of max.  It's weird, but basically short extremely intense exercise, will just naturally develop a better physique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23845" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T22:12:25.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-15T07:52:59.107" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a theme I keep hearing repeatedly from Yoga teachers: when you start Yoga for first time or after a long pause all past body ailments will somehow reappear for some time (supposedly until you &quot;really cure&quot; them through practice). Is there any proof of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23848" LastEditorUserId="23848" LastEditDate="2016-10-21T20:36:35.873" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T20:36:35.873" Title="Will yoga practice make previous body problems reappear?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-17T22:24:25.937" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32471" CreationDate="2016-10-15T10:36:39.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga is to heal, and to make you internally strong. It is to cure some ailments, and I have never heard of such claims where it says past problems would re-appear. Though western medicine and fitness industry may not approve what yoga claims, but if you look at its origin, it has originated in Far East  and people from that part of the world get many benefits out of it. It's all about using natural ways to get better, improve circulation, breathing, flexibility, get stronger and above all, achieve internal peace and calmness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, everything has a way to get things done and ways to do them right. The former one is the shortcut that may fetch some benefits, but risks are always there when it's not done right. So when you start things after a while, make sure you are doing then right. May be that's what their concern is, that you may have lost the right way to do things which may create problems for you. Other than that, I don't see how things could go wrong if done right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-15T11:09:55.677" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T11:09:55.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32479" CreationDate="2016-10-15T20:14:54.483" Score="1" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 30yo (183 cm and 101 kg) men and I started workout on the gym about 4 months ago. I also have a diet (that is 2200 calories for me - but usualy I do not go over 1800 cal. a day).&#xA;I was starting form 113 kg (so I've lost 12 kg already in first month now I stuck with a weight) but my BMI is still showing me that I'm overweight.&#xA;What I need is a perfect workout plan for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep loosing weight (but only fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep building musculs (gain muscle mass)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try hard to get 3 times a week for a gym for a 1 hour (I can't get more because of work and family), so I should make some extra exercises in home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody advice me (in the context of my two goals from above):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which exercises should I do on the gym and which at home to fill out my weekly plan?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23851" LastEditorUserId="23851" LastEditDate="2016-10-15T20:26:44.200" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T20:57:19.143" Title="The workout plan for build muscle and fat burn" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32476" CreationDate="2016-10-15T20:39:57.657" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CTS&lt;/a&gt; (in my right hand) because of most of the symptoms (of the same) do match, and as a result, I haven't been to the gym in a week. I train regularly for 5-6 days a week with weights for building my strength and body, apart from keeping myself fit. I have the following questions provided my hunch turns out to be right after the diagnosis: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it recommended to workout with heavy weights and maintain the previous workout chart, now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kind of exercises and safety measures are recommended as well as forbidden, in general, for those who are suffering from CTS before as well as after &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexor_retinaculum_of_the_hand#Clinical_Significance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;surgery&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22139" LastActivityDate="2016-10-16T18:36:15.613" Title="Exercises recommended for patients suffering from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32474" CreationDate="2016-10-16T15:19:58.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from anecdotal evidence, depending on the severity of the symptoms, there's no need to restrict your gym time or routine.  Again, that's going to depend on what your tolerance for pain/numbness is.  Personally, I would back off a little on the weights until you have a firm diagnosis.  The surgery is a safe and quick procedure (~20 minutes) that mostly entails snipping the ligament to decompresses the nerve(s) within the wrist. The ligament will scar over, yet, provide enough room for decompression of the nerve(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going forward, PT can be prescribed, again, depending on the severity of the condition.  In most cases, using a rubber ball (on your own) to work on strengthening the wrist, hand, and forearm is typically sufficient within  a ~three week recovery.  Additionally, you may want to invest in some &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00WILCCYG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hand therapy putty&lt;/a&gt; and/or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0178VORZ2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hand grip exerciser&lt;/a&gt;.  Neither are required, but, could help with recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for contraindications, you should avoid any movements that press directly on the surgery site.  To help prevent that, a good pair of padded workout gloves (in the palm and lower wrist) is essential.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-10-16T18:36:15.613" LastActivityDate="2016-10-16T18:36:15.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32473" CreationDate="2016-10-17T07:20:14.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;BMI is a shitty way to categorise if you are overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided you do not have self-image mental issues you should use the most accurate weight analysis tool, a mirror. When you are happy with your reflection then move onto a maintenance of calories and reset your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 times a week in the gym for 1 hour means that you will be suited to the following beginner barbell programmes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20150329092601/http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:Introduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; (barbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Strong Lifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; (barbell)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also do some cardio:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;HIIT, Running, Cycling, Swimming, Rowing, Walking, Burpees, &#xA;Jumping Jacks, Sled Pulls, Sledgehammer Swings, Boxing, MMA, Football, &#xA;Tennis, Badminton, Squash, etc.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By combining the above with &lt;strong&gt;eating less calories&lt;/strong&gt; than you use up in a day you will lose weight and gain muscle mass (over 6 months to a year). Once you have completed either then you should know what you want to do and reset your personal goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T07:20:14.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32471" CreationDate="2016-10-17T07:50:54.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The explanation is air-y fairy nonsence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'ailments' are just another way of describing DOMS: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T07:50:54.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32290" CreationDate="2016-10-17T20:13:10.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can recommend what works for me. I tried different methods, from spontaneous random style to become consistent, keep and elevate pace and increase time, also doing hills and intervals. Every kind of exercise was a pain. I usually started fast and got tired very quickly. Nothing worked well because I was too tired every time I run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things got changed dramatically since I read &lt;em&gt;Running With Lydiard&lt;/em&gt; book and started to follow Lydiard approach. First of all I started to run very slow and keep the pace low and consistent. I forgot of all types of running exercises. It started to work, pain went away. Right now I'm building aerobic capacity running on 135-145 bpm which is a beginner's phase. Yesterday I was able to run 18km without any problems, more to say I accelerated at the very end and was impressed how my body reacts. &lt;em&gt;Start slow, stay in aerobic zone, keep heart rate low&lt;/em&gt; approach this is what I was looking for!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took from this book that without proper aerobic base it is not possible to run long distances, so marathon runners spend most of time in aerobic zone, which require them to build aerobic capacity before, maintaining low heart rate alongside with fast pace ratio.  This book is great investment to make running fun again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re your questions: right shoes/insoles help to provide injures, better to get a consultation in local runner shop. Stride length depends on the surface you are running on and elevation, this is a general rule to keep cadence up to 170-190 depends on a runner's speed, many devices (like Garmin) help to answer that particular question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15890" LastEditorUserId="15890" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T20:22:07.413" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T20:22:07.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-17T20:34:23.327" Score="3" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 25 years old, 5'10&quot; and weight 160 Lbs. I'm trying to lower my body fat percentage, but trying to keep the muscle I already have. So, this is what I'm doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm going to the gym 4 days a week to maintain muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm consuming at least 160 grams of protein a day to also maintain muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm consuming no more than 10,500 calories per week to lose fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently not doing any cardio at all, but I'm thinking of doing it the 3 days of the week I'm currently not going to the gym, but I'm concerned about two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've read that cardio is really good at fat burning but works against maintaining muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can easily run about 4 miles each day, which assuming burns about 100 Calories per mile without even including the after-burn, would deduct an extra 1,200 Calories a week, leaving me with a net 9,300 Calories, and this does not include the Calories I burn in my gym days either. This leaves me with a 4,700 Calorie deficit for the week, assuming a 2,000 Calorie TDEE. Is this too much? I've read that it's bad to lose too much weight over a short period of time. Does this only apply when the weight is lost purely through diet? Or is it OK to speed up the weight loss through exercise as long as you consume a reasonable amount of food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, should I stick to my current program, or should I include cardio? Do my concerns have any validity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23500" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T11:34:55.247" Title="Should I include cardio?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32452" CreationDate="2016-10-17T21:14:39.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, we don't, but for some people, that works better for them or is more enjoyable.  With so many different kinds of weights and ways to employ them, if it is your desire to isolate and overload specific muscle groups, that will be much easier with weights than natural body movements which tend to incorporate more of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T21:14:39.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32485" CreationDate="2016-10-17T22:39:44.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I've read that cardio is really good at fat burning but works against maintaining muscle mass.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not true in your case. 4-5 miles won't cannibalize your muscles, as you are already taking care of them by eating well and doing weights. Also, don't drastically cut down calories, because your body needs them to feed your muscles and keep you going all day. What's good for you, only you can find out by trial and error and check what works for you the best. As you are into a healthy lifestyle, you don't need to worry much. Also, 160 lbs for someone who's 5'10&quot; is not overweight, unless you have very high percentage on fat in your body with very less muscles mass. I don't think you'd run into the issue of losing way too much with your life style, but as I mentioned earlier, keep tracking your progress and keep doing what you are doing, and bring  in slight modifications whenever needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T22:39:44.520" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32485" CreationDate="2016-10-18T11:34:55.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite a few questions in you question so i'll break down what you told us and answer each based on your specific goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Diet:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet is fine for cutting, you aren't going to progress much on your lifting weights with 1500 calories and 1g/lb bodyweight protein. Very little carbs to provide you with energy though which will compound your issues with progressing on lifts in future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Current Exercise&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could be more optimal with your current program to maintain muscle. Something like Greyskull LP would probably be of use as it is balanced to most aesthetic goals and is 3x per week with reasonably low volume (3x5). Do whatever you want to do but: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE 1 REST DAY A WEEK MINIMUM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Adding Cardio&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Does cardio impair muscle gains?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. No. Maybe. Despite the general attitude that &amp;quot;cardio kills gainz&amp;quot;, this question - and thus its answer - is far more complex in nature. While resistance training and endurance work have many overlapping benefits, they also have many distinct and often times conflicting adaptations. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/2006/11000/Concurrent_Strength_and_Endurance_Training__From.13.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17095927&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;) Simply put, you cannot be an elite bodybuilder AND an elite marathoner. Again, there is a matter of degrees involved here, with the ultimate answer depending on your training status and the modality, volume, intensity, and timing of your endurance work (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22002517&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If general health and fitness is your main goal, then including both forms of exercise is a good move. If maximizing muscle gain at the expense of all else is your primary concern, then endurance work should be minimized or eliminated entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What cardio should I do?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run, swim, cycle, play sports, whatever you ENJOY. If you enjoy it, you are more likely to put effort into it and will continue to do it. Don't force yourself to run if you prefer to cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What are the different types of cardio?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HIIT&lt;/strong&gt; - This is short duration, very high intensity training that is distinguished by a high heart rate followed by a recovery and repeated several times. This has the effect of training your heart and lungs to deal with spikes in effort. In my opinion, this is what prevents heart attacks. It also has the side effect of influencing body composition so it's a good choice if someone wants to lose fat and gain muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conventional/LISS&lt;/strong&gt; - running cycling, etc. This means getting your heart rate to a given level and keeping it there for an extended time. This is good for stamina and getting better at whatever it is you're doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long slow easy activity&lt;/strong&gt; - walking, sports, hiking, swimming, etc. This is stuff that is fun and relaxing. It burns some calories but mainly it's fun and relaxing. This improves your whole well being is subtle ways, and walking a comparable distance has been shown to be just as beneficial for cardiovascular health as either LISS or HIIT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Should I balance my exercise with my calorie-intake.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, sort of. If you are doing 3x 30 minute runs a week you probably don't need to adjust by much. You add that many calories back in through a very small amount of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally run 3x 10k runs a week and sometimes one will be longer. Based on my heart rate monitor, I burn &lt;strong&gt;approximately&lt;/strong&gt; 1000 calories per run. As a result &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; need to eat some carbs beforehand to ensure I have energy to perform the run and get a good time. I know this because I did some runs without adapting and suffered because my diet is low-carb and I do intermittent fasting. The point of all of this is that you should not adapt your calorie intake to account for 'calories used' number from a machine. You should &lt;strong&gt;listen to your body and adapt to its needs&lt;/strong&gt;. It's not as cut and dry as taking the number of calories burnt from the treadmill and eating that much food to balance it out. Only you will know what is the right amount of food to lose weight and have enough energy to do exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Footnotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you start running your weight will probably drop more than usual over a week or two, this is normal because your body is not used to it and will massively over-compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably also get DOMS, you can workout with DOMS, just do a gentle warm-up and they will melt away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to hydrate during the day a lot so that you will not need to re-hydrate too much after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T11:34:55.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-18T17:56:03.040" Score="2" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around 6 weeks ago I started to get pain in my IT band.  I tried resting with stretching for 2 weeks almost immediately after the injury, and the problem has persisted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm swimming 3 times a week, occasionally cycling and trying to get running again.  I have been trying to stretch before and after workouts and this seems to help relieve the pain at first, however it is noticable (if not very bad) after 2/3km and painful at 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is are there negative consequences to training with the injury?  ie, if i continue to run, with lots of stretching, am i going to gradually lengthen/loosen the IT band, or am i just going to make the problem worse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to specifically running, should I still cycle and swim, Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23747" LastActivityDate="2019-09-27T23:03:15.427" Title="Negative consequences to training with IT band injury?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32518" CreationDate="2016-10-19T01:42:20.997" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sprinting is an all out effort with the longest stretch of distance being about 600m. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing speedwork with interval distances greater than 600m should a portion of the distance be done at a sprint? (For example, if I am running 8x800m, should each 800m be 200m at pace, 200m sprint, 400m at pace.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;McMillan.com defines training paces for sprinting and speedwork separately and Im wondering if the speedwork (which is not necessarily an all out effort) requires you to avoid going all out in order to properly perform the run and benefit properly from the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-10-21T19:05:22.887" LastActivityDate="2016-10-23T08:09:05.823" Title="Should sprinting be a part of 10x800m or similar speed work?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10303" CreationDate="2016-10-19T06:06:19.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need to work on is waist pullups. Basically pulling the bar to your hips in a pullup without momentum or explosiveness. Requires great forearm strength and strong wrists and flexibility. A lot of core and lats are used in this once you cross the range of motion of a standard pullup.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by doing eccentric and isometric waist pullups by finding a bar or a ledge to the height of your chest. Grab the ledge or bar as you would when you are in the highest position for a pullup. Then try to pull yourself as much as you can so that you can bring the bar to your waist, using the support of your legs (because you should be standing while doing this).  Over time you will develop great strength and then you need to reduce support given by your legs. Finaly you will unlock this range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I use two chairs in parallel to each other and I bend down while mimicking the pullup to the hip from the chin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23873" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2016-10-19T06:58:04.293" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T06:58:04.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32494" CreationDate="2016-10-19T07:05:18.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that speedwork is sustaining maximal effort over a fixed distance which is usually short (ish). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally: I do 'speedwork' for 500/1000m intervals. While it's not sprinting flat-out it is a very hard &lt;strong&gt;run&lt;/strong&gt; at my anaerobic threshold (using a heart rate strap helps find this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-10-19T12:30:04.630" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T12:30:04.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-19T10:34:32.067" Score="0" ViewCount="1522" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been having a few issues with my neck recently.&#xA;I think I got a neck strain because it was painful also when resting and it's been lasting for two weeks now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process that got me here I think is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First day:&lt;/strong&gt; shoulder day (mostly lateral raises and high pulls with a bit of external rotation to avoid shoulder impingment and a bit of rotator cuff extercises)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second day:&lt;/strong&gt; deadlift (here I think I just didn't realize how much effort the upper back is put through not to allow the shoulders to be pulled down by the bar. so, my bad)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Third day:&lt;/strong&gt; side plank with poor warm-up. again, my bad&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The evening of the third day the pain started during leisure activities.&#xA;After a few days I went to my massage therapist and she found the sternocleidomastoid to be tight. She treated it and I did some pinching treatment to that muscle as well in the following days and that helped a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm almost fine, will see an osteopath soon for an adjustment but I would like to know if you have any suggestions to prevent this kind of injury again. I mean beside allowing the upper back muscles to recover properly before side planking and warming up decently, is there any exercises you suggest to strenghten the right muscles and to try to prevent this from happening again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8337" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T12:43:17.017" Title="Neck strain after side plank" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32502" CreationDate="2016-10-19T10:51:18.330" Score="1" ViewCount="2996" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose some body fat. Currently 173 cm, 82 kg. I am on a &quot;no carbonated beverages&quot; diet and keeping my calories as low as possible. I am not trying to lose weight. Gaining muscle is good for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently do not have access to a gym and I can't go out (too cold outside), no chin-up bar either. Can't do jump-roping to wake up the neighbors (the suburban jail cells we live in these days, sigh). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I decided to have a personal goal of 1000 push-ups a day. I'm currently at 150 a day. I'm not sure if this counts as high-volume training and I have no clue about the outcome once I reach 1000. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much will 1000 push ups a day help in losing body fat? Am I overdoing this? Or is doing pushups just not an effective compound exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23877" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2016-10-19T12:05:59.187" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T12:43:39.277" Title="1000 push-ups a day to lose body fat?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32498" CreationDate="2016-10-19T11:15:56.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Push-ups are an effective compound exercise if you have no way to incorporate weights into your training. &#xA;However, if you are looking to lose fat and build some muscle along the way, it would be a better option to start a caloric deficit and increase your daily push-ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of recovery of your pectorals and triceps however, I would recommend to squat every other day instead of your push-ups. This way you will burn the same amount of calories while giving your muscles some more time to recover. 1000 times any exercise will be hard to start doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you can do 30 push-ups every time and only need 1 minute of rest, you would be doing 1 exercise for over an hour. This will burn bodyfat but it's not the most effective way to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23489" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T11:15:56.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32452" CreationDate="2016-10-19T11:23:30.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some muscles are simply not possible to train with just your body. How would you train your deltoids, traps, obliques without using any kind of resistance? To create a aesthetic look, you need to train muscles you can't target properly using just your body. As others have pointed out, there is also a limit to how much you can stimulate a muscle to grow without increasing the resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23489" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T11:23:30.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32497" CreationDate="2016-10-19T12:43:17.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 2004 article from The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1769463/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sternocleidomastoid  syndrome: A case study&lt;/a&gt; followed the diagnosis and treatment of a patient with your symptoms.  The study found that posture may play a part in the occurrence of symptoms, and, exercises were recommended for that.  Additionally, during a 4 week treatment phase, the following exercise modality was used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wall angels (shoulders abducted, elbows flexed, gradually brought&#xA;back to sides, while retracting scapula)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bruegger exercise (sit at the edge of chair, anterior pelvic tilt,&#xA;chin tuck, hands turned outward, thumbs up pointing upward and behind&#xA;shoulders, fingers wide apart)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin tucks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead bug (supine, knees and hips bent, spine in neutral position,&#xA;maintain abdominal bracing as arms and legs are moved back and forth)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadruped (on hands and knees, spine in neutral position, abdominal&#xA;bracing, head neutral position, arms and legs raised)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upper back cat (on hands and knees, chin tuck, move buttocks toward&#xA;ceiling).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, the study found that,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Proprioceptive exercises play an important role in retraining primary&#xA;  stabilizers of the spine and reprogramming subcortical connections to&#xA;  improve balance.  Both rocker and wobble boards were used for&#xA;  proprioceptive training with eyes open for the first week and eyes&#xA;  closed for the second and third week.  Isometric neck exercises were&#xA;  conducted during the first week using a medium size ball against the&#xA;  wall to strengthen weak neck flexors, extensors, rotators and in&#xA;  lateral bending. During week three the ball was replaced with surgical&#xA;  tubing which would allow full neck ranges of motion with resistance.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you may be able to perform some of these exercises on your own, it’s probably best that you work with a &lt;strong&gt;physical therapist&lt;/strong&gt; to insure proper exercise form and follow up.  Failure to do so, may result in a chronic condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T12:43:17.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32498" CreationDate="2016-10-19T12:43:39.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;How much will 1000 push ups a day help in losing body fat?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not enough to out exercise a bad diet, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/How-many-calories-does-50-good-form-push-ups-burn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is a great breakdown from quora on the amount of calories 50 press-ups do&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;doing 50 push ups, depending on your body weight won't burn that many&#xA;Calories, 10 at the most&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Am I overdoing this?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Is doing pushups just not an effective compound exercise?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a compound exercise but only in 1 direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Your plan will lead you to:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;develop shoulder issues (probably)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;develop muscular imbalance (definitely)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;develop muscular endurance (definitely)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gain a small amount of muscle mass (dependant on nutrition)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T12:43:39.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32494" CreationDate="2016-10-19T19:50:04.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the distance that you are training for. With something like a marathon, I would place little importance on all out sprint training. The only likely time it might matter is in a sprint for a finishing place, and that is going to depend much more on the pacing you did up to that point rather than the 12x200m workout you did three weeks ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it might matter more is the closer that you get to the sprint distances is for starts. Often the first 200-500m of a 5k race is done at a near sprint to get position, and as you go shorter, the amount of time you spend at or near that speed increases. And, being able to transition to a normal race pace after that initial burst of speed is also a critical skill at shorter distances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are training for 800m up to 5k races, then yes, most definitely include all out sprint training (We even did them up to 8k and 10k training in college), as you increase in distance over that, not as much emphasis is needed on pure sprinting ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T19:50:04.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-19T21:23:33.690" Score="1" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've searched high and low for this, but all I could find was articles on the best number of reps and sets (rep and set range etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how long should &lt;em&gt;one rep&lt;/em&gt; be for maximum hypertrophy, given, say, a 5x5 routine (does that change for more reps/sets?)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, what is the most effective rest period between reps within a set?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this depends on the individual, as does everything else, but are there any studies or recommended values?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="5296" LastEditDate="2016-10-20T01:13:43.130" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T14:38:42.177" Title="Optimum rep duration for muscle/size gains" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-10-20T21:07:57.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32437" CreationDate="2016-10-20T00:27:37.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you use a calculator like McMillan.com then you'll see what you should be able to do - equivalent efforts - for different distances like going from 400m in 60 seconds to 1600m in 4:40. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the reason for the difference that you or the person your talking about is that the 400m run is being done more as a sprint than the 1600m run which cannot be done as a sprint. Perhaps the problem is exaggerated by trying to sprint a lap or two in the 1600m run which can typically be sustained only about 45-60 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some proof of this can be found in the McMillan calculator where the sprint time for a 400m sprint is a good bit faster than the 400m speed pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/voN4x.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/voN4x.png&quot; alt=&quot;Sprint and Speed training times&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive also been experiencing something like this at 800m and I suspect its because Im sprinting much of the 400m but not sprinting much in the 800m. Im starting to think its about running close to VO2 max pace instead of all out since VO2 max pace corresponds to a 8 minute race and going all out is only 1-2 min of race pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T00:27:37.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32504" CreationDate="2016-10-20T01:49:12.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I suggested on most of my posts, is to figure out what works the best for a person. What works for me, may not work for you, as we are all different. Some studies say something, while others say other things, because they are performed on different people, and as everyone differs, so do the studies, unless they are based on some basic rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the length of the rep, there is no basic rule, as it depends on what you are doing. Some people do explosive workout(for example the cross-fit). There every rep is quick and explosive, but that can't be done with super heavy lifting, which requires proper form and balance. Whatever is the case, you need to find out what feels the best for you, and also, what your body can handle. So, trying out different things is the only way to figure it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-10-20T04:57:27.477" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T04:57:27.477" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32504" CreationDate="2016-10-20T07:45:27.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://strengtheory.com/speed-kills-2x-the-intended-bar-speed-yields-2x-the-bench-press-gains/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lifting fast will make you stronger&lt;/a&gt;, but strength is not hypertrophy. However, strength will help you increase volume, and volume is one of the primary causes of muscle growth. For more on volume's relation to hypertrophy I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengtheory.com/the-new-approach-to-training-volume/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strengtheory's article on volume&lt;/a&gt;, which has plenty of references. The bottom line there is that hypertrophy is largely determined by the number of challenging (read: to failure or near-failure) sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation for someone doing a 5x5 with the goal of hypertrophy is to do the reps relatively fast. It's even recommended for strength gains to be explosive, even on &quot;slow&quot; lifts like the squat. This helps with recruiting fast-twitch muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the time between reps &lt;em&gt;within a set&lt;/em&gt;, I'd recommend not referring to this as &quot;rest&quot;, since that confuses the issue with actual rest periods between sets. It also doesn't reflect how that time should feel: if standing with the bar on your shoulders during a squat set is easy, you're not squatting enough. It should be slightly taxing. But time-between-reps-within-a-set should be between half a breath and a few breaths. For something like squats or presses, where you're bearing the weight between reps, it's really up to you regardless: if you're doing a 20-rep squat set and want to take ten breaths between rep 18 and 19 (and you should!), then go ahead. It doesn't make rep 19 any easier or less effective. For exercises where you're not bearing the weight, try to keep that time minimal, within the context of &quot;a few breaths&quot;. For example, if between deadlift reps you take five breaths at the bottom, then it's not really a single set anymore because you're taking true rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T07:45:27.273" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32508" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-20T12:09:21.697" Score="1" ViewCount="1017" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to loose weight 1 year ago, when I began to practice MMA. Few months ago I realized I lost too much weight so I began weightlifting. I was around 79 kg ( 174 pounds ) last year and my current weight is 68.5 kg ( 151 pounds ) and I am about 179 cm tall ( 5 feet 10 inches). My scale shows me I have around 17-18% body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet consists of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast - around 8:00 AM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;canned tuna in water ( 120g )    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whole egg ( medium )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sometimes, but rarely ( since I try to cut )  1 smashed banana with oatmeal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack - around 10:00 AM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein shake with water/milk ( 42g protein, 0.4g carbs, fiber 1.1g )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;usually chicken breast with cheese and rice/potatoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack - around 2:30 PM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein bar ( 16g protein, 25g carbs-15g simple sugars, fat 15g ) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack - around 5:00 PM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;greek plain yogurt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner - around 9:30 PM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;usually chicken breast with rice/potatoe, but in smaller portion than lunch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23882" LastEditorUserId="23882" LastEditDate="2016-10-20T12:30:17.180" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T10:26:30.137" Title="Can't go below 16-17% body fat. What is wrong with my diet?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="15" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32504" CreationDate="2016-10-20T14:38:42.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My philosophy has recently changed on this in as far as I was thinking in the terms you are thinking of - what is the magical combination of reps/sets and rest. This doesn't matter so much. A person who is cardiovascularly more fit than you (I.e they have more stamina and endurance) will be able to do higher reps and sets than you, but really they are both means to achieving the same goal -- complete teardown of the muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is basically the only thing that matters. Are your workouts completely tearing down those muscles and working them to failure so that you force your body to adapt and rebuild them larger for next time? (And as a given, do you have the proper nutrients in your system for this process both pre -during and post workout? protein, carbohydrates, glycogen, vitamins, micronutrients)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't really matter how one gets there, just tear those suckers down each time and they will come back stronger. Just remember you can't do the same thing over and over and expect the same gains, so you will need to add variation to your workouts to cause the muscles to adapt and change again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3999" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T14:38:42.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-20T22:41:47.557" Score="0" ViewCount="4884" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has two types of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_(exercise)#Chest_fly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chest fly&lt;/a&gt; (= pectoral fly = butterfly) machines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bodybuildingplaza.blogspot.com/2012/07/pec-deck-machine-for-chest.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Type 1&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOEQ3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOEQ3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O9ZtD.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O9ZtD.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://jet.com/product/detail/37093113329d4d658d16db64e6e7ef3b?jcmp=pla:ggl:gen_sporting_goods_a1:exercise_fitness_weight_lifting_a1_other:na:PLA_345660300_23686986540_pla-161706659820:na:na:na:2&amp;amp;code=PLA15&amp;amp;ds_c=gen_sporting_goods_a1&amp;amp;ds_cid=&amp;amp;ds_ag=exercise_fitness_weight_lifting_a1_other&amp;amp;product_id=37093113329d4d658d16db64e6e7ef3b&amp;amp;product_partition_id=161706659820&amp;amp;gclid=CjwKEAjw1qHABRDU9qaXs4rtiS0SJADNzJisFJec-sQkbBYIXspDN9MG0gQpHWlncloL-mxtLuNy4BoC0Vvw_wcB&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Type 2&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V0n2X.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V0n2X.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sg7gZ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sg7gZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros/cons of using type 1 vs. type 2? E.g. injury prevention, effect on muscle growth, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T18:20:07.973" Title="Different types of pectoral machines" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29772" CreationDate="2016-10-21T00:54:17.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://wiki.dandascalescu.com/summaries/tim_ferriss_-_the_4-hour_body/from_geek_to_freak_-_gaining_muscle#Exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Occam's Protocol&amp;quot;, Tim Ferriss&lt;/a&gt; advises to not pause between reps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not pause at the top or bottom of the movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perform every repetition with a 5/5 cadence (5 seconds up, 5 seconds down) to eliminate momentum and ensure constant load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One-Set-To-Failure: Follow Arthur Jones' general recommendations for one-set-to-failure (80-120 seconds of total time under tension per exercise set), for 7 or more reps (the leg press is to be performed at 10 or more repetitions at the same cadence). Do not just drop the weight when you hit failure. Hold it at the limit for 5 seconds. Then slowly lower it for 5-10 seconds. &amp;quot;Do not underestimate the severity of complete failure. [Failure is pushing as if] you had a gun to your head.&amp;quot; The last rep is the one that matters. If you feel you could do another set a minute later, you didn't reach failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note expanding on that last rep, from the Wikipedia page on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training#Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to widespread belief, this is not the point at which the individual thinks they cannot complete any more repetitions, but rather the first repetition that fails due to inadequate muscular strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T00:54:17.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32510" CreationDate="2016-10-21T02:34:25.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, after using both of these machines as well as done dumbbell fly while supine on a bench, I prefer the free weights above either machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hazard with machine 2 is easy to identify:  it will tend to put a lot of strain on the elbow joints.  Machine 1 does not suffer from this problem.  But both machines have the potential to put excessive stress on the joints of the shoulders and arms, because they force the movement to occur along a predefined curve, rather than what is biomechanically natural to your body.  What this means is that some people might use these machines for years and never have any issues, while others, no matter how they attempt to adjust the seat or arms, will find the motion painful or unnatural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend using free weights instead, and start with a minimal amount of weight, concentrating on developing proper form and range of motion.  This also has the benefit of activating stabilizing muscles.  Then build up the weight, but never to an extent where exertion comes at the cost of precise form and complete control.  With this type of exercise, the amount of weight isn't as important as the proper movement and muscle activation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T02:34:25.253" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32508" CreationDate="2016-10-21T11:22:46.533" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing you can do - move rice/potato from dinner to breakfast. No carbs at dinner. MMA and other fightings makes you weight stable. To run lower your BF percentage - go to fitness club and work with heavy iron. Heavy training accelerates your metabolism by 24 hours, while MMA 2-3 hours after training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23887" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T11:22:46.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9642" CreationDate="2016-10-21T14:56:48.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, lookup the original Reg Parks (very old school) beginners' program which contributed much of the DNA of StrongLifts 5x5, in fact you could say that StrongLifts is like Reg Park's routine repackaged and reduced a little for the modern app using masses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will look very familiar to anyone who's followed Stronglifts 5x5, you know the drill: 3 times a week, alternating workout A and B, starting every workout by squatting 5x5. The first thing you'll notice is how similar it is to StrongLifts (to be fair to StrongLift's creator Mehdi, he always acknowledged Reg Parks as his starting point)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing that jumps out at you, is that in the Reg Park's plan, workout A on the had back-squat and workout B Reg had front squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like StrongLifts, Starting Strength etc and wish to mix up  front/back squat routing, you'd do well to review Reg park's beginner strength program!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23888" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T14:56:48.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32510" CreationDate="2016-10-21T18:20:07.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to slightly disagree with heropup's answer because I believe that the Pec Deck machine (type 1) and the Machine Fly (type 2) should &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; be discarded as training equipment since machine training does provide some advantages as well as disadvantages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two machines you show train different parts of the chest muscles.  The Pec Deck provides a greater range of motion at the &lt;strong&gt;finish&lt;/strong&gt; when the elbows come together.  Compare that with the Machine Fly where the elbows are wider apart at the finish.  This means that the Pec Deck is better for developing the &lt;strong&gt;inner&lt;/strong&gt; chest.  However, since the Machine Fly provides a greater overall ROM because of the alignment of the upper arms, the &lt;strong&gt;outer&lt;/strong&gt; chest is targeted more effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The design of the Pec Deck does not allow for the shoulders to assist in the exercise.  This means better isolation work.  While on the Machine Fly, the front deltoids can assist thus helping in building the outer chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advantages of using these two machines are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gravity is not involved as it would be in a supine dumbbell fly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Typically, no need for a spotter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less chance of injury because you can't go past parallel like you can&#xA;in a supine fly potentially injuring the shoulders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The disadvantages are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restricted movement – this may or may not be a disadvantage.  It&#xA;typically depends on the individual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Typically used for isolation work so will not provide the same &#xA;benefit as compound movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a firm believer in using &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; available equipment to build a more complete physique.  Machines do have a place in a training program, but, it's up to the &lt;strong&gt;individual&lt;/strong&gt; to decide based on his/her goals what, if any, that place should be.  I &lt;strong&gt;do not&lt;/strong&gt;, however, suggest that they replace free weights.  I believe they should be used to &lt;strong&gt;supplement&lt;/strong&gt; a training program by providing resistance that is typically overlooked by those looking to build a more complete, balanced, and symmetrical physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T18:20:07.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32494" CreationDate="2016-10-23T08:09:05.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I've done these the coach has said to run the intervals at a steady target pace. Assuming you're on a track with 1 lap recovery you would be running 12000m with 8000m at pace, I would expect the pace to be your target 10000m pace although it tends to work out slightly faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't sprint except for the final 200m of the last interval. Each interval should ideally be equally paced, the last one may be faster with a sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprinting during each interval is likely to slow you down on each subsequent interval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19268" LastActivityDate="2016-10-23T08:09:05.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32557" CreationDate="2016-10-23T15:02:13.943" Score="3" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a formerly overweight person who has lost weight and is interested in endurance sports such as distance running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel my previous overweight frame has left me with chunky/rounded calf muscles rather than long lean muscles seen on other athletes who have always been lean. I am a naturally thin framed person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to lose excess muscle weight to improve endurance but can't find much information on how to achieve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A famous example would be Sir Bradley Wiggins who reportedly lost around 2 stone to go from an Olympic track cyclist to Tour de France winner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19268" LastActivityDate="2017-02-25T09:47:49.870" Title="How to lose muscle weight to improve endurance?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32519" CreationDate="2016-10-23T19:08:28.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just goes to show that there are very different notions of the ideal body...I'd love to have &quot;chunky&quot; calf muscles!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I'm a believer in the adage, &quot;form follows function.&quot;  In other words, what matters here is how your body performs at the activity of interest, rather than how it &lt;strong&gt;looks&lt;/strong&gt;.  Your question is based on a presumption of a cause-and-effect relationship that is reversed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to have a leaner musculature, then this is driven by doing the kind of activities that result in that kind of development.  However, if your goal is to perform better at the kind of activities that you enjoy irrespective of what your body looks like, then that is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; automatically driven by changing your body to look like those who do well in those activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2016-10-23T19:08:28.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32530" CreationDate="2016-10-24T12:33:29.433" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm reasonably fit, I run and cycle fairly regularly (at least 10k run total a week and 40k cycle) as well as some weightlifting (3x a week, currently running GSLP).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My running schedule usually consists of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5K race once a week (parkrun).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5-10k endurance 'jog' (very comfortable pace).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40mins interval/hill-repeats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This weekend I did a 14k run for the first time &lt;strong&gt;at a comfortable jogging pace&lt;/strong&gt;. I have done 6-7 10k runs in the last 6 months but had got some energy gels and wanted to push to a higher number with a view to doing a half-marathon next year. My 5k race pace is 5:10min/km and my 10k relaxed pace is 6:20min/km&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recently invested in a heart-rate monitor (HRM) from Wahoo fitness (I have also checked its data against another HRM to confirm my findings). I used it on this run and knowing my maximum measured heart rate (from interval training) as 200...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ASKKg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ASKKg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;WTF&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Surely something is wrong? I could have happily continued running for at least another 5k.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Question: Would continuing to train at this intensity on my endurance runs eventually lead to a reduction in AvgHR?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Is this a sensible HR graph for a half-marathon?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Are the heart rate zones about right? If not, how could I work them out?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Should I re-evaluate what is a &amp;quot;comfortable pace&amp;quot;?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-11-26T02:12:26.493" Title="Should/How-do I reduce the time at threshold HRM" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-24T14:41:00.333" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a person goes from consistently consuming 2,500 calories and burning 2,500 daily, to consuming 4,000 and burning 4,000 (the extra load coming from cardio), does that person put on lean mass and does that person's body fat percentage go down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23905" LastEditorUserId="23905" LastEditDate="2016-10-24T18:17:37.603" LastActivityDate="2016-12-23T18:42:01.107" Title="Increasing physical activity with no calorie deficit or surplus" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32522" CreationDate="2016-10-24T17:08:47.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;At caloric equilibrium, the body will remain at the same weight. Whether the body fat percentage changes, will depend on what kind of activity causes you to burn a whopping 4000kcal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T17:08:47.410" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32192" CreationDate="2016-10-25T14:26:51.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just plain old physics. The amount of calories burned is based on the amount of work it put in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work = Force x Distance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Force = Mass x Acceleration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So based on that, you can put in more work (thus burn more calories) by either moving more mass at the same pace, moving the same mass at a faster pace, or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10,000 joules of energy (Work) is equivalent to roughly 2 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, say you had a 100 kg sled.  You were able to push it at a rate of 10 m/s^2 (because you're extremely fast and powerful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;100 kg x 10 m/s^2 = 1,000 Newtons (N) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1,000 N x 10 m = 10,000 joules or roughly 2 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this is a very simplified view of the whole picture. Pushing a sled is harder than running. Running is harder than cycling (on a flat surface). There are other factors that go in to play like friction, surface angles, wind resistance if you're outside, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point I'm trying to get across is the amount of calories that burn is determined by the amount of work that is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding heartbeat, this can be a way to measure the amount of effort a person is pushing. People who have been working out for years will be more efficient than people just starting out, so they will burn less calories for the same work. Likewise, experienced people will also have slower heartbeats because of how relatively efficient they are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T14:26:51.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32528" CreationDate="2016-10-26T12:06:51.470" Score="4" ViewCount="1415" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a while I've noticed that I lean a lot on my right leg during my squats and it went on for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently squatting 200lbs, which is great, but lowering all the way down to 145 and I still notice that I am cheating on my right side. I took a hit to my ego dropping this low, but it is for the better and I will keep lowering my weight until I find a spot where my form is correct (95lbs is fine during warm up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week, I added unilateral leg press and this made it very clear that my left leg is weaker than my right. My left glute is definitely weaker too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to help with my form? Is unilateral workouts the way to go until I fix this imbalance and my squat form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T12:31:53.553" Title="How to stop relying on dominant leg in squat?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32527" CreationDate="2016-10-26T12:41:38.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unilateral work will assist you in making sure you train both sides equally. And do make sure you train them equally. Training one side more than the other will only lead to another set of imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you should still be squatting, while being mindful of symmetry. This is of course because you still need to practice good form in order to learn good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-10-26T12:41:38.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32521" CreationDate="2016-10-27T01:52:17.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your maximum heart rate is programmed in too low, or the HRM is incorrect. It is possible to run as much as 95% during a half marathon, and I've actually managed just under 92% &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.strava.com/activities/472407846&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in one race&lt;/a&gt;. Ive heard somewhere that some professionals aim for just as much for the marathon, but per &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/page/8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;McMillan's Zone Graph&lt;/a&gt; this unlikely for marathon times that are 2.5 hours or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;McMillan's Zone Graph can be used for determining your heart rate zones. I use these following rules for myself based on that and other reading. Threshold for Z2 to Z3 is approximately around the limit of what an easy effort is and around the time you start to breath more. Threshold for Z3 to Z4 is the lactate threshold which is your hour race pace. Threshold for Z4 to Z5 is the VO2max threshold which is your eight minute race pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optical based HRMs seem to get off track by several different things, and I have to wear my kinda tight thanks to my monkey hairy wrists. A few runs ago it seems to have measured my cadence when I wore it one notch looser, and at your pace I bet the recorded heart rate is pretty close to your running cadence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figuring out your maximum heart rate is difficult and many people seem to have a problem determining this. This &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2002/finding-a-personal-maximum-heart-rate&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; has some good information on trying to determine it, how it changes from different exercises, and how much it might matter to your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware of any heart rate that is too far off from the common estimate of HRmax = 220 - age. This formula is not accurate but it is generally not too far off, so anything 20 bpm or more off should be suspect. Technically maximum heart rate occurs right before passing out so keep this in mind when using intervals to estimate your HRmax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use effort to determine your comfortable pace. Usually this will occur for the same HR but many things can change your HR from normal including heat, caffeine, and sore muscles. Cant rule out a health condition too - see your Doctor just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heart rate is a great truth-meter that can tell you if your pushing too much or not hard enough, but keep in mind the zones will change as your fitness changes. Enjoy your running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T01:52:17.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32398" CreationDate="2016-10-27T02:01:13.217" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treat squats like a sprint workout. Take 1-2 easy days afterwards on your legs. This means any runs should be only 30 minutes at an easy pace. Even if your not too sore the next day take that day easy by running no more than 1 hour at an easy pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T02:01:13.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32267" CreationDate="2016-10-27T10:32:31.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;General rule is for HIIT 24 hours is enough to recover (dominantly;ATP, CP and Glycogen)but recovering from long distance running takes more time to recover because energy sources used in these type of exercises are mostly glucose and fat. Replenishing these energy stores takes more time due to the physiological pathways and the availability of enzymes used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone who isn't well-conditioned may get injured during HIIT unless the intensity of the exercise is well programmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T10:32:31.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-28T19:01:04.700" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 13 and would like to improve my overall fitness levels (see goals below). I do not have ANY exercise equipment except a pull up bar. I also have a steep hill for running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My daily diet is:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;burrito, cereal, meat, salad, bread, a small candy, and fruit if I have some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goals:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sum 10:00 mile run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complete 50+ consecutive push-ups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complete 50+ consecutive sit-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complete 20+ chin-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Able to touch toes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Able to lift a decent [sic] amount of weight. &lt;strong&gt;????&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Restrictions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Max 1 hour per day available for exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Achieve goals in 2 months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23933" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-11-02T14:06:56.320" LastActivityDate="2016-11-02T14:06:56.320" Title="I am out of shape. I need a routine to be able to do push ups, curl ups, run the mile, touch my toes, and lift weight in 2 months" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-10-29T15:40:14.297" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13126" CreationDate="2016-10-30T09:21:24.667" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per my understanding all the above comments r not complete I want to share my experience regarding weight loss . I also tried a special diet like I fully eliminated chapatis from my diet n instead concentrated on fruits, veg n protein but my weight increased to 3 kg in 3-4 days .. Than I included chapatis in my diet within only 2-3 days my weight went to its previous KGS.. No idea why it happened I don't starved but changed diet n the opposite happened. This has changed my thinking that wheat/ chapatis make u fat.. No I think the chapatis r absolute necessary.. While u shud not eat protein all d time.. V shud eat every real food in one qty.. Excess of anything is bad.. So astha try to eat 2 medium size chapatis in whole day ..r sufficient n fruits n veg ..then c...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23939" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T09:21:24.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-30T14:02:23.947" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;6'1, 84kg, 25 year old, male, resting heart rate 90, during this routine gets up to 167, as measured with Garmin Forerunner with heart rate sensor attachment strap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New exercise routine is 3 sets of 15 chin-ups (alt. day pull-ups) superset with 3 sets of 16 jump lunges, followed by superset of 45kg barbell (3x 8) squat and (3x 8) standing barbell shoulder press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Haven't gotten to the next part of my routine yet, so won't mention it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heart rate spikes during each exercise and then near the end I start to feel really sick and lean against some equipment then leave (my routine unfinished). I did faint after going too hard on single legged dumbbell squats 6 months ago, so have avoided them since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only attempted this new routine twice, and I got further into it this time (barely got the first set of squats last time, this time I did all but last superset of squat+press).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this normal, and I should just man up, should I run more to get fit before getting into this, or is this something I should get checked by a medical doctor?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23944" LastEditorUserId="23944" LastEditDate="2016-10-30T23:20:48.483" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T23:20:48.483" Title="Feel like throwing up / fainting during new exercise routine" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-10-31T12:04:18.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32536" CreationDate="2016-10-30T18:13:45.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOT NORMAL&lt;/strong&gt;.  Stop what you are doing.  You should not have to feel this way when you exercise, no matter what you are told by personal trainers or coaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are describing--exercise induced syncope and nausea, and the heart rate you are reporting, is not safe.  You do not mention your age range, but I suspect your HR is too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you do not suffer physiological damage from such circumstances, just the possibility of a partial loss of consciousness is an immediate threat to your safety during a workout.  You could lose muscle control; you could fall or have an object fall on you.  This is completely unacceptable.  The internet is littered with &quot;workout fail&quot; videos depicting people passing out while squatting.  It may look funny but it is seriously dangerous, even with a squat cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heart rate is a sign that there's too much exertion going on:  your heart is trying to pump more oxygenated blood to your tissues to keep up with the rate of energy expenditure.  The syncope and nausea are a sign of insufficient oxygenation to your brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line:  you aren't taking enough rest between sets and between exercises, for your own body.  Everyone is different.  What works for someone else may not work for you.  You may well have an underlying health condition, and I am not a doctor, so I can only recommend that you see a physician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T18:13:45.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-31T10:36:23.163" Score="0" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am now following a healthy eating cookbook by a body coach. &#xA;I am doing an HIIT training routine he has suggested for 20 minutes, 4 times a week.&#xA;The confusion I have is the amount of fat I am consuming following his cookbook.&#xA;His logic is to have carbohydrates only after the HIIT session and food with healthy fats the rest of the time. &#xA;He suggests eating healthy fat helps to lose weight? How is this possible? Can someone explain this to me please? &#xA;Having a full avocado with bacon for breakfast, is that healthy with the amount of workout I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23883" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-10-31T12:06:23.987" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T13:19:13.540" Title="Am I eating too much fat? How healthy fat help to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;food&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-10-31T21:46:34.703" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32541" CreationDate="2016-10-31T13:19:13.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lose weight: Calories In &amp;lt; Calories Out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating Fat does not make you fat. Eating too much makes you fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The specific fat/carb/protein breakdown of those calories influences your energy levels and rate of muscle growth (amongst many other things) but &lt;strong&gt;does not directly affect your weight loss&lt;/strong&gt;. Again, to lose weight: Calories In must be less then Calories Out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You eat more satiating (filling) foods by cutting carbs in favour of fats. You get more food and feel more full eating that way. Cutting carbs and increasing fat to counteract the calorie change is a fine way to lose weight provided you remember, Calories In &amp;lt; Calories Out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T13:19:13.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32544" CreationDate="2016-10-31T16:03:40.390" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of articles and studies that have found sitting for long periods is harmful. A lot of them cite cardio exercise as a way to help combat the harmful effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something specific to the sitting action, or is it more related to being stationary and not engaging muscles? More to the point: Do cardio exercises that involve sitting (e.g. cycling or rowing for longer distances) pose any of the same risk factors as stationary sitting (especially if a large portion of the rest of the day is a sitting desk job)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23563" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T12:59:29.507" Title="Are cardio exercises that involve sitting prone to any of the same risks of prolonged stationary sitting?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32543" CreationDate="2016-11-01T12:59:29.507" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sitting becomes a problem when it translates into a pattern of (sedentary) behavior that often results in a lack of regular exercise.  More to the point, most of the studies define sitting as a &lt;strong&gt;prolonged&lt;/strong&gt; behavior with little to &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; movement (eg. Watching tv, working at a desk, etc.).  And, to confuse things more, a relatively new study suggests that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencealert.com/sitting-for-long-periods-is-no-worse-for-your-health-than-standing-study-claims&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;sitting for long periods is no worse for your health than standing&lt;/a&gt;.  The study states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Our study overturns current thinking on the health risks of sitting&#xA;  and indicates that the problem lies in the &lt;strong&gt;absence of movement&lt;/strong&gt; rather&#xA;  than the time spent sitting itself,&quot; said one of the researchers,&#xA;  Melvyn Hillsdon from the University of Exeter. &quot;Any stationary posture&#xA;  where &lt;strong&gt;energy expenditure is low&lt;/strong&gt; may be detrimental to health, be it&#xA;  sitting or standing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/10/09/ije.dyv191.full&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Associations of sitting behaviours with all-cause mortality over a 16-year follow-up: the Whitehall II study&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there seems to be confusion and a lack of consensus, I would suggest, from my own experience, that using a rower for an extended piece certainly does not qualify as a lack of movement, or, energy expenditure.  And, while other studies suggest that sitting is harmful even with exercise, in my opinion, given the lack of consensus, there needs to be a more complete study that examines exercise and its potential to counteract any harmful effects of sitting as it applies to a pattern of &lt;strong&gt;sedentary behavior&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T12:59:29.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32552" CreationDate="2016-11-01T15:14:57.010" Score="1" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a personal reason I will not be capable to get enough calories (or proteins for that matter). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether lifting weights will only contribute from now on to &quot;destroy&quot; the muscle I've already built, because I understand that the principle of bodybuilding is to cause the muscle to grow by partial destruction of tissues and their subsequent reconstruction (fueled by food and rest). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any chance I could lift without only causing my muscle to shrink ? I suppose not since, ultimately, it's about calories intake and overall caloric balance. But since I still have some fat tissue (and quite a lot of it since I am 20-25% body-fat percentage), I thought I could at least make this an opportunity to lose fat by training without really going for bigger weights, thus I would be at least capable to maintain muscle while dropping the fat, does this reasoning hold ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for enlightening me and giving me suggestions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my stats : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight : 170 lbs / 77 kgs ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height : 5'11 f / 178 cms ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23955" LastActivityDate="2016-11-02T13:33:50.183" Title="consequences of lifting weights without enough calories" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32559" CreationDate="2016-11-02T05:25:46.177" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 15 and my height is 5 ft. 7. I started working out about two months ago. I only did tricep push ups, bicep curls, and skull crushers because I was warned that workouts will stunt my growth. I just bulked right away without cutting. When I reached two weeks of work outs, I had stretch marks on my shoulders and biceps. I first thought that it was a scar of honor but as time passed it grew larger and deeper. Right now, it is very visible when I wear tank tops or sleeveless shirts. I want to cure this, but if it is hard to do so, I want to know how to prevent it. &#xA;Now I want to ask about the second part of this story. So, my father said that I am growing up and building mass at the same time, and by now my fragile skin cannot take it. He recommends me to workout when I am about 17, when I would already have strong skins that can endure such circumstances. Is this true? or do I just have to live with it. Lastly, this is not that important, but what would people think when they notice my stretch marks? Would they freak out or give me a disgusting look? &#xA;People who have already gone through this process, I would be grateful if you help me out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23748" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T22:46:31.087" Title="Stretch marks during weight training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32550" CreationDate="2016-11-02T12:10:41.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When body is making more mass &amp;amp; skin doesn't get enough time, you will get stretch marks.&#xA;         and it all depends on your daily intake, so try to gain good muscle mass, as they say it takes 6 months to build a Rolls Royce and 10 hours for a Toyota.&#xA;         as if now what you can do is get an alovera Gel or if you have Alovera plant use its gel.&#xA;         use it twice.(you can also mix it with coconut oil.)&#xA;         1. Before Going to Bed.&#xA;         2. Before Taking Bath.&#xA;         You can also buy the liquid alovera to drink daily empty stomach in morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;     it helped me, hope it helps you.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23962" LastActivityDate="2016-11-02T12:10:41.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32545" CreationDate="2016-11-02T13:33:50.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_atrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscle atrophy&lt;/a&gt; (decrease in muscle size) is triggered by lack of activation of that muscle (can be triggered by various diseases and syndromes too). A real-world example would be if you had your arm in a cast for a long time, you would sense a lessening of strength and maybe be able to measure a size difference. Basically: &lt;strong&gt;&quot;use it or lose it&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your assertion about micro-tears reducing muscle size is false. You have enough energy stored in the fat in your body and you will have some protein in your diet which will be used to grow muscle. However, your lifting progress will be slow and you will stall often if your diet is not supporting it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-11-02T13:33:50.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-03T01:44:29.930" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 6' 2&quot; 150 pounds and I'm looking to put myself at atleast 165-170. I lift weights for baseball and although I look very fit I'm not as strong as I would like to be. I am very fast for my age and I'm looking to play football. I've been lifting weights on and off with the baseball team for 2 years and haven't seen major improvements in strength, I think my late puberty might have also played a role. I try my hardest and am very motivated in the weight room but I can never gain anything. I always hear my friends say it's because I don't have any fat to build on but I diet strictly on twice my body weight in carbs at least a day and as much protein as I can find ( over 130 a day ). I've tried protein shakes as directed as they've been recommended to me by my coaches. I even tryed the heavyweight gainer 900 by champion performance as a last ditch effort to gain something. I've gained 5 pounds in probably a year. I don't avoid sugars and have never tracked my calories before but I always figured it would be pretty high. I've been dieting like this for almost a year 3 meals a day and a bedtime snack and a granola bar here and there in class. I've been fairly light my whole life. My mom also has trouble gaining weight like me. To get to the point, what would be the best way for someone like me to gain weight? And no it's not a tapeworm. I've asked my doctors about my dilemma and they've just told me its my metabolism and eventually it will slow down. I figured there's something I can do to gain weight. I just need some advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23967" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T08:09:07.107" Title="What would be the healthiest way to gain weight?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32555" CreationDate="2016-11-03T08:09:07.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The technically healthiest way to gain weight is to take a 'balanced' diet and then increase the portion size to result in a calorie surplus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common way for young people to gain weight and be successful in progressing in strength is to pair GOMAD with a compound barbell routine like Starting Strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GOMAD&lt;/a&gt; stands for Gallon Of Milk A Day. The principle is simple: whole milk, every day, 1 gallon, pair with compound exercise and your standard diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T08:09:07.107" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32519" CreationDate="2016-11-03T10:48:05.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are your golden rules for losing muscle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Control your calorie intake.&lt;/strong&gt; This is the good old general approach for weight loss. Because you want to lose muscle, pay special attention to protein. Having this in mind, reduce meat intake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go for long cardio sessions.&lt;/strong&gt; As you want to do distance running, include many long sessions in your training program (preferably longer than 45'). Use the weekends to do even longer ones (perhaps twice as long). On this stage, mileage is not important, just the number of hours you run a week/month. Intensity should not be higher than moderate (not higher than 75% from your maximum heart rate. Also, get acquainted with training zones if you aren't yet.) By keeping a low intensity you don't burn your legs, that way you avoid triggering muscle growth mechanisms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise in a fasted state.&lt;/strong&gt; If you are running up to an hour, try to do it in the morning and before breakfast. This way, your body will start using muscle tissue, instead of whatever you've already eaten, when the energy levels are low. I don't recommend this procedure for longer sessions unless you know yourself very well (meaning, how your body responds to training for very long when your sugar levels start falling).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am supposing you can keep running for the durations I mentioned. If not, start your session running and switch to walking to recover (do not stop). Get back to running as you have your breathing under control again. Repeat until you finish the session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the sessions at least once in the weekend (longer one) and 2 or 3 times in the week. If you are not comfortable yet with so much running, substitute a session with walking instead, but keep the duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rules are simple and easy to understand. Sticking to the routine might be more difficult. If you are committed to it and definitely want to achieve this goal, give it a try for 1-2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23972" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T10:48:05.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32550" CreationDate="2016-11-03T22:39:14.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 35 years old and started lifting weights when I was 13 years old. I also have stretch marks where my pecks (pectoral muscle) chest connects with the shoulder. Stretch marks are due to the elasticity of your skin. Skin can stretch a certain amount, but it's ability to stretch is highly affected by what you consume (eat). Sugar intake will make your skin very inflexible and not able to stretch. I recommend eating 14 to 28 grams or less of sugar a day if you want to have the most skin elasticity(stretchability). This will be the case if you are 13, 17 or 35 etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What people think of your stretch marks is irrelevant. If someone is judging you by your appearance then they have missed a great deal and are clueless. All bodies fade to dust and there is always someone stronger than you. I recommend working out to gain strength to use for the greater good of all humankind. Pick up someone who has a broken leg, lift a log off of a child, carry a heavy object for someone... etc. I started working out to defend myself from bullies at school and over the years I have grown quite a bit mentally and I realize that things here can be very confusing and only you personally will be able to figure this life out with contemplation and experience. One thing that is hard to learn is that a positive attitude has far more weight on attraction than just the physical body. A great attitude with a big smile is key, muscles won't get you there alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others are correct lifting is a lifelong process and two months is nothing (I know you worked hard and I do not de-value any of your hard work). I highly suggest you workout every other day for the rest of your life... only skip when necessary or on rare occasion. It is this sort of consistent workout which will serve you well. Your body will acquire the ability to heal very quickly compared to non-lifters because of the constant micro-tearing and healing of your muscle tissue. This ability to heal is not isolated to just your muscles... your whole body can heal faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think drinking the aloe is a great idea... also I would drink at least a quart of water 30 minutes before your workout to help with lubricating your joints and helping with flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would concentrate on bench press and squat for maximum benefit for your time. They work out a large grouping of muscles and give much more benefit than isolated muscle exercises. Remember form and consistency is more important than weight. Form first weight second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best brother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23978" LastEditorUserId="23978" LastEditDate="2016-11-03T22:46:31.087" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T22:46:31.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32563" CreationDate="2016-11-04T08:15:36.137" Score="3" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a problem to assess when it's ok to stop during a stretching exercise.&#xA;My pain tolerance is pretty high and some people say you have to stop the moment you start to feel pain/discomfort ( stop or hold the stretch, it depends on what protocol you are following ), some other instead say you have to go a little bit further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am about confused on the topic. Is there anyone that can show me some evidences on how to perform a stretch in terms of pain perception?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2016-11-04T13:11:41.787" Title="Stretching and pain perception, when to stop?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32561" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32562" CreationDate="2016-11-04T10:16:23.967" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today, a man in the gym told me that it is useless to do more than one type of shoulder press exercises. I do two exercises, one with dumbbells and one with a lift. Is he right or not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23980" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-11-04T13:00:14.283" LastActivityDate="2016-11-05T12:33:37.103" Title="Shoulder press exercise - Useful to do more than one type?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32561" CreationDate="2016-11-04T10:25:16.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing more than one shoulder exercise for increased hypertrophy is perfectly logical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there's a diminishing return on how much hypertrophy you can achieve by simply doing more of the same type of exercise in one session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for instance, if you've done 3 sets of barbell OHP, followed by 3 sets of dumbbell OHP, I don't see a problem. But if you're doing 10 sets of the first, and another 10 sets of the latter, that's definitely overkill. You might achieve more muscle growth by splitting that up into shoulder AND chest for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-11-04T10:25:16.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32560" CreationDate="2016-11-04T13:11:41.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I've had the same issue, high pain tolerance, and I don't have a definitive answer. Half of the time, I stretch and wind up in pain the next day even if it didn't hurt when stretching. However, I have found a few things which have helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always warm up before stretching&lt;/strong&gt; - It doesn't have to be much. Walking around the gym a few times while swinging my arms does it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go slowly and gently into the stretch&lt;/strong&gt; - It's very tempting, particularly when you &quot;know&quot; how far you can go into the stretch, to just drop into it. That's a good way to hurt yourself without even realizing it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consider going by strain rather than pain&lt;/strong&gt; - If you don't tend to feel pain when stretching, consider going by the tightness of the muscles and connective tissue. When they feel tight, pause in your stretch and only advance slowly, paying attention to whether things are feeling tighter. If your muscles start trembling, back off a bit, because, from my experience, that means they're hitting the point of failure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn your limits and only push a little past them each time&lt;/strong&gt; - This one's a hard one since it's basically encouraging you to not strive to do your best, but when you find a depth of stretch that doesn't result in strained muscles the next day, don't push yourself much further than that on the next day. It's slower, but it will cut down on the damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be wary of holding yourself in a prolonged stretch&lt;/strong&gt; - This is one I'm guilty of. The current wisdom is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNF_stretching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PNF stretching&lt;/a&gt;, going to a lesser level of stretching and then flexing there. Personally, I find myself combining that with a deep stretch, getting myself low and then pushing myself to hold on for &quot;just a few more seconds&quot;. The adrenaline from forcing myself to hold the position often leaves me unaware that I really am past my limits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope some of these tips help you. Let me know if there's anything else I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-11-04T13:11:41.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32564" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-04T13:17:28.443" Score="4" ViewCount="607" Body="&lt;p&gt;The view that more protein is better generally prevails, though some people advocate occasional protein fasts (for example, and recently, Mark Sisson, a former advocate of high-protein pretty much all the time). Protein Fasts supposedly help with, among other things, protein absorption on high protein days and with the autophagy/recycling of proteins (thereby perhaps mitigating the risks of a high protein diet)... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By protein fasting once a week, you are essentially allowing your body a day to use its digestive machinery to perform self-maintenance. This is because dramatically lowering your protein intake once a week induces autophagy (&lt;a href=&quot;https://blog.bulletproof.com/what-is-protein-fasting-bulletproof-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What Is Bulletproof Protein Fasting&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering, though, if protein fasts are necessary on an intermittent dieting regime? I think (but can't find them again) that studies using nitrogen balance suggest that by morning most people have depleted their amino acids (particularly if they aren't enjoying casein before bed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marksdailyapple.com/should-you-eat-less-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Sisson seems to think intermittent fasting is enough&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Intermittent fasting imposes periods of zero protein and zero food,&#xA;  giving your body a dose of autophagy and a respite from mTOR/IGF-1&#xA;  activation, and likely making higher protein intakes on feeding days&#xA;  safer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will resistance training in the morning while fasted, and staying in a fasted state until 10 am or even 12 pm (similar to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leangains.com/2010/05/early-morning-fasted-training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lean gains early morning routine&lt;/a&gt;), provide enough protein recycling that &lt;strong&gt;protein&lt;/strong&gt; fasting (say, once a week) isn't really necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it still beneficial to do a whole day protein fast regularly (aiming to get under 15g or 25g ...)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE:  By a protein fast I mean still eating other macronutrients but avoiding food that is more than about 2% protein by weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FURTHER NOTE: To make the 'Physical Fitness' context of the question clear - I'm pondering if low protein days are necessary in an intermittent fasting regime because: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; increase physical fitness (better protein absorption,&#xA;healthier mitochondria/more energy, autophagy/general health, this being the main benefit) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or conversely they &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;limit recovery (through, for example, extended time without proteins for&#xA;recovery, particularly for people who train often and fast [a little]&#xA;often).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FURTHER NOTE: To put the question differently I could ask, &quot;How much autophagy and protein recycling occurs during intermittent fasting, particularly in the post-workout fasted hours at T = 14h to 17h, compared to 24-40 hours of low-protein (25 g or even less) and minimal exercise?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23982" LastEditorUserId="23982" LastEditDate="2016-11-04T15:14:02.170" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T11:36:00.553" Title="How useful are protein fasts when intermittent fasting?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32561" CreationDate="2016-11-05T12:33:37.103" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about Over Head Presses, I would suggest against doing them, reason being &lt;strong&gt;Shoulder Impingement&lt;/strong&gt; and restriction of shoulder moment due to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shoulderpaininfo.com/shoulderBiomech.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;BASIC SHOULDER BIOMECHANICS&quot;&gt;shoulder biomechanics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Shoulder doesn't performs the function of pushing the arms upward. Rather shoulder raises, front, side and back would be more beneficial without any negative effect. Please look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKIYPLt7wbk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;video&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastActivityDate="2016-11-05T12:33:37.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32575" CreationDate="2016-11-05T15:04:53.860" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two years back I had fallen from a tree from a height about 2 stories straight standing on the ground. I had the x-ray at that time which showed I was ok. I ignored it and later on the pain grew to start in the back. A year before I had done an MRI scan and the reports were -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMPRESSION: - OLD PARTIALLY DEPRESSED FRACTURE IS SEEN IN ANTEROSUPERIOR ASPECT OF L4 VERTEBRAL BODY WITH SURROUNDING FATTY MARROW CHANGES? POST-TRAUMATIC SEQUELAE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DISC DESSICATION IS SEEN AT L5-S1 WITH DIFFUSE DISC BULGE AND SMALL POSTEROCENTRAL DISC PROTUSION CAUSING MILD INDENTATION OF THECAL SAC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am having my treatment with a good doctor(best hospital in India) and they have suggested me few exercises and said 95% cases like this can be cured with  exercises without surgery. The problem is I am a computer science student and I have to do a lot of work sitting.  Because of that, I have gained a lot of weight. I want to do exercises for weight loss but I am afraid that it could affect my back. So, kindly anyone suggests me exercises for my weight loss and might be some diets along with so that it can go along with my back pain exercise. And I am a pure vegetarian(not even egg). I am 22 years old. Weight nearly 85 kg, height 5.7 f and BMI 29.3. And I feel pain lying on my back straight, so I just lay on side and sleep. So is there a proper posture for sleeping in this case?&#xA;Thanks In Advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23987" LastEditorUserId="23987" LastEditDate="2016-11-05T15:13:34.430" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T17:22:07.073" Title="I want to know specific exercises for (preferred yoga) for weight loss considering my slip disk" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-11-10T14:37:20.550" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-05T19:59:03.657" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago I injured my right shoulder (collar bone area) playing contact sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't played or done much training at all since then. I joined a gym recently and they did a body composition analysis thing which showed less muscle mass in my upper right body (where the injury is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started doing some training, weights and cardio etc... Nothing massively strenuous and I noticed that with the shoulder press I was struggling with my right side. At the end of the second set my left arm was still going strong but my right arm just couldn't complete the lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It wasn't painful, just had no strength. Obviously, I don't want to injure myself and I will try to find someone to speak to in the gym but I was looking for advice on how to balance up my strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I try less weight until my right shoulder gains more muscle? Should I keep going at this weight but stop when my right arm can't go on? Should I do different weights between my arms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best approach here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that I have provided all the required information but if there is anything else that would help I'd be happy to provide it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23988" LastEditorUserId="23988" LastEditDate="2016-11-05T20:35:59.240" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T17:29:48.927" Title="Shoulder strength imbalance after injury" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-10T14:21:57.903" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19650" CreationDate="2016-11-05T23:59:37.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a problem with negative pull ups in the past. I also had wrist issues when doing the band assisted pull ups.There are three main grips to doing pull up exercises, overhand, underhand, parallel grips (neutral). The overhand is the hardest and it didn't take along for me to have tendinitis. The underhand grip the chin up version was just as hard on the joints. The Neutral grip palms facing each other was the best for me. Its far less stress on the the joints and I achieved good pull up strength from doing just that grip to start. You just have to be careful of how much you do and keep the volume reasonable. Eventually as you get stronger with neutral grip negative pull up, you will also get good at other grips as well. That is how it worked for me. I do inverted rows because it is easier on the lower back compared dumbbell rows. Everyone is different, I am just explaining what has worked for me in getting to doing pull ups. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23990" LastEditorUserId="23990" LastEditDate="2016-11-06T00:06:12.053" LastActivityDate="2016-11-06T00:06:12.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32571" CreationDate="2016-11-06T10:49:31.197" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can easily do pistol squats on my right leg, but I am not able to do the same on my left leg. Why is there this kind of strength imbalance and how can I correct the imbalance? I never trained my right leg separately i had always trained them equally (trained them with same no. of reps).. Does this mean my form has been defective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23689" LastEditorUserId="23689" LastEditDate="2016-11-07T08:45:09.330" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T08:45:09.330" Title="How to improve my leg strength to perform pistol squats?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-11-10T14:37:42.873" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32570" CreationDate="2016-11-06T20:50:21.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer to your first question is that your left leg probably isn't as strong. For how to correct the imbalance, your best bet is to start training that left leg. Since you cannot currently do a pistol squat with that leg, do progressions. If you can lower yourself into the pistol squat position, do it as a negative, trying to go down as slowly as possible. If that's still too difficult (and I'd advise not pushing too hard because you don't want to lose control and have your bodyweight take your knee or ankle in the wrong direction), reduce the effective weight and improve your balance by holding onto something while lowering and raising yourself. As you get better, you rely less and less on the surface you're clinging to until you can do the movement on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-11-06T20:50:21.517" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32574" CreationDate="2016-11-07T02:28:23.217" Score="0" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your HRmax when biking different then for running, or can you train to raise the HR you can achieve when biking to comparable levels?&#xA;I think your absolute HRmax - the point when you faint - is different than the HRmax achievable by just running, so maybe its different for different activities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T13:19:57.993" Title="Why can I run at 90-95%HRmax but not bike at more than 80-85%HRmax?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;target-heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32573" CreationDate="2016-11-07T13:19:57.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Faster Road Racing, by Pfitzinger and Latter, there is a section about cross training. They make a point whereby your MaxHR for different activities is in fact different. If I recall correctly, they also noted that the MaxHR achieved by cycling was not as high as that for running - you you can expect to &quot;max out&quot; at a lower HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T13:19:57.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32567" CreationDate="2016-11-07T17:22:07.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem aware of this already, but for clarity: In order to lose weight, you need a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_deficit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;caloric deficit&lt;/a&gt;.  You can achieve a caloric deficit by reducing your energy intake (consuming fewer calories) and/or increasing your energy use (using more calories).  I am not a dietician, but I recommend that you focus first on consuming fewer calories, because it is far simpler -- if you have sufficient discipline -- to achieve a caloric deficit in that way than to use more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry to hear that you are dealing with such pain; it sounds rather uncomfortable.  I know of no reason not to sleep on your side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please consider training to strengthen your back, using &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/get-started&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a linear progression with low-bar back squats and deadlifts&lt;/a&gt;.  If you avoid using your back, then its supporting muscles will continue to atrophy, which and your risk of further injury and pain will increase.  If you strengthen your back, then you will reduce your risk of further injury, and may find some relief from your back pain, as (anecdotally) other people have found from strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T17:22:07.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32568" CreationDate="2016-11-07T17:29:48.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a doctor, but here's my advice: Since you have no pain in your previously-injured right shoulder during exercise, and it's simply weaker than your other shoulder, then, yes: reduce your work-weight as much as necessary to allow you to complete your intended exercise scheme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train your shoulders progressively by, for example, doing three sets of five (&quot;3x5&quot;) &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/video/lifts/main-lifts/the_press_with_brent_carter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overhead shoulder presses&lt;/a&gt; two or three times per week, increasing your work-weight by an appropriate amount (say, 1 kg to 2.5 kg) each session.  With training, the strength disparity between your shoulders will diminish or disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T17:29:48.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13283" CreationDate="2016-11-07T20:37:31.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, I have found that a correctly-performed overhead press (OHP) directly helped to correct my own shoulder impingement. I would agree upright rows are absolutely NOT a good alternative because if your shoulders are rounded you will not have the movement pattern or flexibility to achieve a technically correct upright row. Doing an incorrect upright row will exacerbate any current shoulder issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think bad OHP form may be a contributing factor of shoulder impingement. I have found that an OHP, done with the proper form (as detailed here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/overhead-press/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://stronglifts.com/overhead-press/&lt;/a&gt;), and beginning with an appropriate weight, will strengthen the rotator cuff muscles and all three shoulder muscle heads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two crucial parts of the OHP lift are at the top of the movement: 1) shrugging the shoulders and 2) locking the bar out above the shoulders. I had shoulder problems before I was correctly doing the shrug and lockout. Now that I'm getting better at these two components, my shoulder impingement is gone. I think this exercise can be beneficial even with a very light load because of the muscle activation achieved at the top of the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of adding assistance exercises for the shoulders I have found that using a foam roller for the thoracic area of the spine has helped immensely with my own rounded shoulder issue, as shown here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://homegymr.com/foam-roller-exercises-for-thoracic-spine-mobilization/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://homegymr.com/foam-roller-exercises-for-thoracic-spine-mobilization/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23998" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T20:37:31.467" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25760" CreationDate="2016-11-07T22:25:58.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry to hear that you are (or were, 15 months ago) in pain.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/article/inflammation_sullivan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anti-inflammatory medications&lt;/a&gt; (for example, NSAIDS) might reduce pain and inflammation.  As you may know, these are relatively inexpensive and available without restriction, at least in the U.S.A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find some relief, and accelerate the healing process, by returning to your squats, &lt;strong&gt;with emphasis on &quot;perfect&quot; form&lt;/strong&gt;, and temporarily using lower weights.  For example, if you had been squatting 100kg for three sets of five, then squat 50kg for three sets of eight during your first workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that the cause of the pain is not a hip flexor strain, but instead an impingement of soft tissue between your anterior inferior iliac spine (AIIS) and your femur.  To avoid this, be sure to angle your toes approximately 30 degrees outward before you squat, and shove your knees outward (laterally) over your feet as you squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T22:25:58.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32073" CreationDate="2016-11-07T22:31:58.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The feeling of pressure in your head, especially during a heavy lift, is normal.  That feeling is accurate, as the increase in intra-thoracic pressure extends into the cranium via increased blood pressure and increase cerebra-spinal fluid (CSF) pressure.  This means you're doing the maneuver at least partly correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T22:31:58.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27852" CreationDate="2016-11-07T22:55:06.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To strengthen your shoulders, I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/video/lifts/main-lifts/the_press_with_brent_carter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overhead barbell presses&lt;/a&gt;.  Consider performing (after appropriate warm-up sets) three sets of five (3x5) presses, during two to three workouts per week, increasing the work-weight by an appropriate amount (say, 1kg to 2.5kg) at each workout.  Your first press workout will involve both learning the movement and working up to an appropriate initial weight, that is, a weight that you can press 3x5.  Given that you can hold a 25lb kettlebell overhead for three minutes per arm, your initial work-weight (after starting with the empty bar, and learning the movement) might be as much as 55lb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbell presses are a more-quantifiable way to increase your shoulder strength than static kettlebell holds, which merely increase your endurance, rather than your strength, after an initial modest strength increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to press &lt;em&gt;correctly&lt;/em&gt;.  In particular, be sure to shrug at the top of the press so that you avoid shoulder impingement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T22:55:06.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32401" CreationDate="2016-11-08T05:36:46.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here you go. You just need to have avarage HR and time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the more standard and most accurate ways to calculate the equation is to use the calorie expenditure formula below .  It comes from the Journal of Sports Sciences and provides a formula for each gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Men use the following formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) — (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) — 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Women use the following formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) — (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) — 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ref: &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitnowtraining.com/2012/01/formula-for-calories-burned/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://fitnowtraining.com/2012/01/formula-for-calories-burned/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or less accurate formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running (total calories spent per mile)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.75 x your weight (in lbs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running (Net calories spent per mile)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.63 x your weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adapted from &quot;Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running,&quot; Medicine &amp;amp; Science in Sport &amp;amp; Exercise, Cameron et al, Dec. 2004.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ref:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T05:36:46.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32413" CreationDate="2016-11-08T14:55:34.690" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Explosiveness&quot; refers to the rate and efficiency of neuromuscular recruitment: how quickly, thoroughly, and intensely you can cause your muscles to contract.  This is largely determined by your genes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider training for &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt; via heavy squats and deadlifts.  Stronger muscles produce more force than weaker muscles, and therefore can produce greater bodily acceleration.  Please note that strength training (coupled with proper recovery: food and sleep) probably will increase your muscular bodyweight, but this will &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; reduce your explosiveness, because muscle is obviously able to lift itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T14:55:34.690" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2274" CreationDate="2016-11-08T20:05:58.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Surface Area vs Volume&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Not only does fat provide insulation...it also affects a body's surface area-to-volume ratio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Volume represents how many cells are in a body (and cell size, like in fat). Larger and more numerous fat cells means more volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also means more surface area. But because surface area grows at a square rate and volume grows at a cube, your volume-area ratio will get tipped as you gain fat or muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because we cool our body via an evaporative process on our skin (surface area), if volume goes up 70% and surface area goes up 30%, we'll have increased the thermal load without a commensurate ability to cool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sweat Glands vs Volume&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Also, your sweat glands don't increase as you skin stretches to accommodate a larger body. A larger body doesn't have more sweat glands for a larger heat load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus it's more difficult to cool a fat body than a skinny body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24005" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T20:05:58.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32585" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-08T22:44:47.890" Score="0" ViewCount="1578" Body="&lt;p&gt;My progress on bar curls has dropped. I understand any form of bar curl is the &lt;em&gt;staple&lt;/em&gt; bicep exercise so i'm wondering what is a good change up or strategy to improve (increase) the weight I can curl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a separate day for arms so I target biceps with back. This typically involves starting with 4 sets of pull ups, then a 2 back exercises (4 sets each) such as rows, deadlift or lat pulls. I then move onto biceps and do 4 sets wide grip ez bar curls followed by 3 sets with the narrow grip. By the end my forearms are aching and I have a good pump in my biceps. However the weight isn't really increasing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my train back and biceps together i'm&#xA;hesitant to target arms first, to avoid fatiguing them and subsequently not hitting the back hard enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24006" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T22:52:30.960" Title="How to increase bicep (bar) curls?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-09T05:54:48.930" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing stronglifts 5x5. I workout at Mon, Wed, Fri. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized from my previous program that my core was very weak in compraed to other parts. If I added extra core workout in the rest days would it be beneficial or would it interfere with the rest of muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23269" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T08:06:22.750" Title="Will core training in off days be helpful or harmful to my main training?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-11-10T14:36:10.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32588" CreationDate="2016-11-09T08:06:22.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rip suggests that its not necessary to add core work to the program because you are heavily using your core to brace in OHP, Squat, Deadlift and Row. However, this doesn't mean you will develop washboard abs doing the routine, there isn't enough volume for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to build and grow your abdominal muscles, you need to add core-focused movements in the 10-20 rep range. Popular core exercises at the moment are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AB wheel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Captains Chair/Hanging Leg Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T08:06:22.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32585" CreationDate="2016-11-09T08:13:03.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biceps are 1, small muscle. Growing strength and size in that muscle after noob gains have passed is a lot slower than legs because there is simply more muscle mass on your legs to grow. The same goes for shoulders, If I could add 2.5kg onto my overhead press for 6 weeks on the trot, I would be at an Olympic level in a very sort amount of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To combat the diffuclty in adding weight to bicep curls, I suggest weight-rep modification. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1: 20kg 4x10 (4 sets of 10)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 2: 20kg 4x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 3: 22.5kg 4x8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 4: 22.5kg 4x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 5: 22.5kg 4x12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fail a week, keep going at it until you can reach that rep-weight goal. If you are still stalling, remember that to grow muscle you need to eat a lot and to grow really strong, you may not achieve the 'ripped bodybuilder look' but will get the 'strongman' aesthetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T08:13:03.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32527" CreationDate="2016-11-09T12:31:53.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should first set the weight limit in which you feel your that both the legs are working in parallel. Once this weight becomes comfortable, you can start to add load. In this way you can manage the symmetry and balanced workout for both your legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24008" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T12:31:53.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33455" CreationDate="2016-11-09T14:37:52.700" Score="0" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I work out my biceps I do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1: 4x15 chin ups (84 kg me)    &#xA;2: 4x15 barbell curls (30 kg)    &#xA;3: 4x12 concentration curls (22kg)       &#xA;4: 4x12 cable preacher curls (62 kg)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is with my forearms ,they hurt badly when I start doing barbell curls but not while I am training but when I am done with each set of 15.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a problem with how I am holding my arms?Am I using the wrong barbell maybe?Or my forearms just cant handle this much weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized I have this type of pain :&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CudqmKQIRRA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CudqmKQIRRA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you consider his tips viable to help with my problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="23220" LastEditDate="2017-01-20T08:22:43.340" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T08:12:55.307" Title="What is the proper way to hold your arms while training your biceps?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32592" CreationDate="2016-11-09T14:49:24.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without more specifics on the type of pain you are feeling, it's difficult to say that there is a problem with the way you are holding your arms. However, unless you are twisting them in some peculiar way, I would suggest that due to the total amount of repetitions you are performing, that the pain is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8255" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T14:49:24.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32594" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32601" CreationDate="2016-11-09T15:49:30.680" Score="4" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just joined the gym and it has been a month since I have started the gym. I have done cardio for 3 weeks and 1 week body building&#xA;but the problem is that while doing cardio I used to get tired little early and wasn't able to do little hardcore cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: I couldn't do plank continuously for 1 minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my coach told me that I don't have stamina and I should start taking  protein or prework out which will help me in my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have started doing body building and my coach ask me to do 20 - 25 reps in each of my sets like biceps, shoulder, chest etc and so what happens is&#xA;while doing 3 sets, in 2nd or 3rd rep I do some 10 -15 repetitions so my coach is telling me to take protein powder but I have a concern that using protein&#xA;powder have some negative effects on body and when I will quit gym, I will lose all my pumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16583" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2019-03-27T20:28:46.250" LastActivityDate="2019-03-27T20:28:46.250" Title="Is it good to take protein supplements?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="32595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32594" CreationDate="2016-11-09T16:21:49.677" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein supplements such as whey protein powder can be very beneficial, especially to strength trainees and bodybuilders.  If your stamina is reduced due to under-nourishment (for example, a caloric deficit) then protein supplements may improve your stamina; but, if you are under-nourished, then you will have a very difficult time trying to build your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multiple sets of 20-25 repetitions is are not ideal for increasing muscular strength or size; they are essentially a form of metabolic conditioning.  Instead, consider doing three sets of five repetitions of compound barbell movements such as the squat, deadlift, and overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T16:21:49.677" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32429" CreationDate="2016-11-09T17:52:38.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I've converted units correctly, then &quot;8 stone and 1.1 pound&quot; is 113.1 pounds.  At 5 foot 6 inches -- which is not &quot;tiny&quot;, in my opinion -- you are grossly &lt;em&gt;underweight&lt;/em&gt;.  As @xCodeZone commented, &quot;you don't need to cut down your calories&quot;; on the contrary, please consider eating enough food to increase your total bodyweight to, say, at least 170 pounds.  Note that you cannot exclusively gain (or lose) muscle or fat: while gaining muscle, you'll gain some fat, and while losing fat, you'll lose some muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to eating more, I suggest heavy squats, deadlifts, and presses for your one day per week in the gym.  This will spur muscle protein synthesis, so you'll gain strength and muscular bodyweight (again, in addition to some fat, which you can lose after getting stronger and bigger).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T17:52:38.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28112" CreationDate="2016-11-09T19:57:10.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of what you've described sounds like normal human movement, and unlikely to harm you; however, a disclosure: these ways (fast and slow) are how I ascend stairs, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A minor note: I suspect that your feet are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_motion#Flexion_and_extension_of_the_foot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in plantar flexion&lt;/a&gt;, not &quot;flexed out&quot;.  This position, coupled with flexed knees, provides &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; shock absorption than dorsiflexed feet and extended knees; you could try the latter to convince yourself of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T19:57:10.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32594" CreationDate="2016-11-09T22:50:37.930" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your primary nutrition should be from food. Protein powder as the name suggest are supplements, if you are using them as food, it may come up with side-effects. Regarding your coach, it's time to get a new one. You are a beginner, and with proper diet, nutrition, rest  and workout, you can see benefits, not just by pumping yourself with protein powder. It's obvious that your coach is trying to sell you stuffs, or has something to do with the product supplier. I have known such people personally, who egg newbies to goon high dosage of protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Build your stamina slowly by doing cardio. Nothing comes overnight magically, and you shouldn't be expecting it. Remember,your journey towards good health is a marathon, not a short sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T22:50:37.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32592" CreationDate="2016-11-10T21:12:34.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One technique mentioned by strength coach Charles Poliquin is to do your curls with wrists extended down and back. It will feel a little weird and you may have to decrease the weight slightly but it ensures that &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of the stress is on your elbow flexors. You may be able to extend the set my moving your wrists back to a normal position.&#xA;A more general piece of advice would be to make sure that you're doing some reverse curls or other exercise for your wrist extensors, so that you're not developing any imbalance in your forearms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23984" LastActivityDate="2016-11-10T21:12:34.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-11T03:15:22.153" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just started walking a little bit again with the help of crutches and braces after 5 years in a wheelchair but my calfs and knees are extremely tight and hurt after just a few minutes of walking. My doctor and trainer suggested stretching my calves but didn't really give many suggestions as to how. I still don't have much movement in my legs without assistance and could use some suggestions as to the best way to keep them loose so that they don't knot up and keep me from straightening my legs all the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24017" LastActivityDate="2017-01-14T16:47:16.690" Title="In need of calf stretch ideas for someone with minimal use of legs?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;&lt;calves&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32429" CreationDate="2016-11-11T07:50:51.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goal: Build Muscle Mass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experience: Beginner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet: Tracked at a calorie maintenance + &lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GOMAD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise: &lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5x5 Stronglifts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you completed the above program, work out if you want to go for a &quot;ripped&quot; look or be strong af. And pick a suitable program accordingly. That is at least 6 months away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-11-11T07:50:51.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32607" CreationDate="2016-11-11T09:41:05.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a good calf stretch you can do in sitting - loop a rope or towel around the ball of one foot, pull on the rope-towel to raise your leg until it's as straight as possible, and then pull as hard as is comfortable to get a nice stretch in your calf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23984" LastActivityDate="2016-11-11T09:41:05.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-12T20:23:36.143" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I eat anything besides fresh oranges, tomatoes pineapples and watermelons I get dumb, slow and loose all track of time. Why? Eating nothing cases completely different problems. Right now I pretty much juice 18 pounds of oranges a day and 2 pounds of chicken every 4 days. This is not due to BMI as I am underweight and have been as far back as I remember. Google says 10 lb of oranges=2,126 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8229" LastEditorUserId="8229" LastEditDate="2016-11-12T20:49:57.750" LastActivityDate="2016-11-12T20:49:57.750" Title="I can only eat oranges without becoming lethargic. Why?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-11-14T00:59:04.510" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32107" CreationDate="2016-11-12T21:27:26.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excessive joint mobility and muscle flexibility can cause instability and lack of strength at end ranges of motion. Most people need to improve their range of motion because they are so immobile. But for people who are extremely mobile, pushing to further ranges of motion can cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many sports, tasks, and health in general, we want to maintain some level of mobility, but not too much, especially in some areas. For &lt;a href=&quot;https://firstpull.net/2014/03/04/the-importance-of-joint-stability-for-weightlifting-performance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;instance&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The chances of injuries are high whenever stability is sacrificed at the expense of excessive mobility because parts of the body structures that should be stable (such as the lower back) are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or consider the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.orthopaedicmedicineonline.com/downloads/pdf/B9780702031458000648_web.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shoulder&lt;/a&gt;. It is an extremely mobile joint, and too much flexibility in the musculature of the shoulder can impede maintaining stability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, your instruction may also be referring to the short-term decrease in power output that comes with static stretching: if you stretch for instance your hamstrings deeply, you won't be able to sprint as fast in the same workout. Explosiveness is reduced at end ranges of motion both from lack of strength and automatic inhibitory effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2020-04-01T13:30:43.277" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T13:30:43.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="32616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25679" CreationDate="2016-11-14T16:34:57.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might need to obtain prescription swim goggles in order to spot the surface of the water (or other visual reference points) more accurately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many divers think that simply “feeling” the dive in the air is enough, but in order to dive consistently, you must learn how to spot. For most, learning to spot is a challenge, but there are some tricks you can use to help you pick up your spots and learn this important skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://diving.isport.com/diving-guides/how-to-visually-spot-in-diving&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://diving.isport.com/diving-guides/how-to-visually-spot-in-diving&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-14T16:34:57.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32617" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32619" CreationDate="2016-11-14T22:22:44.820" Score="0" ViewCount="977" Body="&lt;p&gt;i am 23 years .I want to be taller,on this age i cant get be taller?I would like only six inches.I dont want to wear shoes or anything to make me seem like i am taller.My body can obtain 6 inches or little  more ?If it can be which exercises you suggest me about this age?Second, i lift small weights 11 on each hand(i make 4-5 reps to 20) i make my biceps too.I also do and flexion for chest.Anyway,i dont eat sugar too much i eat healthy and i will describe what i eat now.The morning i do this and after  i eat quaker,honey,milk,eggs,apple,bannana,peanut butter,cornflakes,Orange juice rarely(eggs not everyday,one day i eat the second i dont,that what they told me i dont know if it good or not).After i eat what home has,it can have chicken or spinach,pasticcio,spaghetti,gumbo,lentil and much more but not fast foods.Vegetables like broccoli too.Evening i eat what it was having for lunch sometimes cornflakes and yogurt.The worst i eat is pizza 1 time on 2 weeks.Conclusion,my question is combine both.If i 23 year make this gym exercises(lifting this weight to build muscle) i stop my growing taller(if it can be obtain some extra inches)?if it could be &quot;easy&quot; to you to give me information what exercises can i do to get taller.Thanks a lot &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24032" LastActivityDate="2016-11-15T08:36:26.633" Title="Can i be taller after 23 and how to gain muscles" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-16T19:47:20.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32617" CreationDate="2016-11-14T23:36:21.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding an inch at 23 is very unlikely, 6 inches naturally is impossible unless your body undergo some hormonal imbalance(which does more harm than good). At around 17-18 you reach almost 99% of your height. Any extra increase won't be noticeable. Whoever tells you otherwise, is selling lies or just trying to sell you some marketing scam. Just accept it and focus on getting and staying fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-11-14T23:59:48.787" LastActivityDate="2016-11-14T23:59:48.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32617" CreationDate="2016-11-15T08:36:26.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you gain height after puberty? &lt;strong&gt;No.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you gain height through exercise? &lt;strong&gt;No.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your bone structure determines your height and after puberty has passed, that is fixed. Get used to being the height you are, accept and embrace it. I'm 5ft 4in and I think its great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exercises to build muscle, do compound barbell movements building up to heavy weight with a linear progression (add 2.5lbs every time you go to the gym), go for 5 sets of 5:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add some accessories to your barbell work, consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ab work (ab-wheel, hanging leg raises, planks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull/Chin Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: To measure progress, invest in a tape measure and properly measure yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-11-15T08:36:26.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32623" CreationDate="2016-11-15T20:42:51.503" Score="6" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I have started running regularly with a partner who has a smaller stride than I do. Because there is only so much time in the day, my partner-running workouts have replaced my normal solo-running workout. The partner-running workouts are something I would like to continue with for multiple reasons beyond fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem:&lt;/strong&gt; My partner-running workouts last the same duration as my normal running workout (~50 mins), but because I am matching my running partner's pace, I am not getting my heart rate up into my target training zones as I would when running on my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; I have heard tips of exaggerating motion (e.g. high knees) to increase the effort / heart rate, but I do not want to regularly practice poor form (practice makes permanent) since this is something I have started doing every other day. Is there anything else I can do to improve my own cardio benefit while running with a partner that does not require poor form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23563" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T20:20:33.453" Title="How to get a better cardio benefit while running with a slower partner?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32624" CreationDate="2016-11-15T21:40:26.030" Score="0" ViewCount="1022" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually don't have any serious issues with controlling my breath during exercising, but with hanging leg raises it's just something else. I'm literally unable to exhale while raising my legs and inhale while lowering them. I always end up having to take a short break after each rep just to get my breath back. How do I improve my breathing here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21949" LastEditorUserId="21949" LastEditDate="2016-11-16T14:13:56.713" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T14:13:56.713" Title="How do I control breathing during hanging leg raises?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32621" CreationDate="2016-11-15T22:32:04.883" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider wearing a weight vest.  To maintain a given pace with additional weight, your power output must increase, so your cardiovascular efficiency must improve.  This has the unfortunate side-effect of increasing the stress on your body, especially your joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-15T22:32:04.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32622" CreationDate="2016-11-15T22:36:28.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your current approach -- breathing between repetitions of hanging leg-raises -- is acceptable.  Breathing during the repetition is unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-15T22:36:28.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32629" CreationDate="2016-11-16T11:50:35.233" Score="1" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just found about isometric training and wanted to try it out but from what I see you have to do bench presses,squats and deadlifts. My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is isometric training made for any exercise or muscle group or only for those above? And how does isometric training help us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T13:15:30.303" Title="Isometric training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;isometric&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32628" CreationDate="2016-11-16T12:41:40.230" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Isometric versus Concentric Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each kind of training produces the greatest improvement when strength tests used are similar to those of training. Most improvements are observed when the test routine matches the training routine. Exercise-type specificity is supported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improvement in functional (sporting) performance is the most practical criterion for comparing training effectiveness of various types of exercise, despite functional activities usually being more complex and employing additional capacities to the performance of the trained muscle groups. It appears that concentric training may be superior to static training for improving performance although more research needs to be conducted to conclusively define an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Isometric versus Eccentric Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is unclear as to whether isometric training is superior to eccentric training in increasing isometric strength, with the majority of studies indicating no difference. One study has reported eccentric training superior for developing eccentric strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no reports comparing the effects of the two forms of training on functional strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;, there seems to be a tendency that the modality of training is the modality of function you'd be improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: Morrissey, M. C., Harman, E. A., &amp;amp; Johnson, M. J. (1995). Resistance training modes: Specificity and effectiveness. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 27&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anecdotally&lt;/strong&gt; I feel the need to mention that my preferred isometric exercises revolve around smaller muscle groups, where size growth is harder to accomplish (e.g. forearms, calves). Particularly training grip strength isometrically has allowed me to increase the weight at which I need to start using wraps for deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T12:41:40.230" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32628" CreationDate="2016-11-16T12:49:40.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isometric exercise aka 'isometrics' are a type of strength training in which the &lt;strong&gt;joint angle&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;muscle length&lt;/strong&gt; do not change during contraction (compared to concentric or eccentric contractions, called dynamic/isotonic movements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometrics are done in static positions, rather than being dynamic through a range of motion. The Plank is one of the most popular isometric exercise, as it challenges many core muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Critical Analysis&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric exercises allow for more force generation than concentric exercises because they are not &amp;quot;overcoming&amp;quot; -- you're not actually moving the load, which affects how the cross-bridges cycle (but note that actin/myosin do still cycle during isometric contraction, in humans).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, isometric muscle action is important to coaches who emphasize the triphasic model of movement because these coaches believe that movement is not eccentric -&amp;gt; concentric contraction, but eccentric -&amp;gt; isometric -&amp;gt; concentric. Thus, these coaches like to train the isometric component of movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the Soviet system placed a lot of emphasis on explosive isometric training, again influenced by the triphasic model as well as research that demonstrated some pretty impressive improvements. There were some issues with joint angles and things but I won't get into that here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Isometric lifting is a valuable training tool, but it should not be the focus of your training program. Instead, perform functional lifts, which closely resemble athletic movements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Personally/Anecdotally&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like weighted planks a lot, I feel that they have helped develop my stabilization. I also like using them for smaller muscles: forearms, traps, calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T14:03:14.530" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-16T13:23:57.197" Score="0" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I regulary do between 1 - 2 hours of Cardio (usually on 'Wave' machine, Cross Trainer or Stepper) most week days and then long walks at the weekend but don't seem to be able to lose much weight or lose my beer belly, I eat healthy but am partial to drinking beer/wine at the weekends. I wouldn't consider myself over weight but would just like to burn off a bit of flab (small beer belly) without cutting out the alcohol. Any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24043" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T13:59:18.637" Title="How to reduce beer belly" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-22T19:29:02.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32631" CreationDate="2016-11-16T13:59:18.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of us think we are eating healthy.  However, without tracking what you eat (and drink), it’s mostly a guess.  And, while there’s &lt;strong&gt;no way&lt;/strong&gt; to spot reduce your “small beer belly”, you can drop excess weight by consuming less calories than you expend.  But, in order to do that, you first need to know how many calories you are consuming on a daily basis.  Pay particular attention to excess non-essential calories (ie. alcohol) and portion size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’ve read any other posts on this site, you’ll see that a common theme is to keep a food journal for a few weeks.  Doing that will give you a more accurate picture of your caloric intake rather than guessing.  Having that bit of knowledge then allows you to make the necessary calorie reductions to affect a weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, all of us have some guilty pleasure that we find hard to give up.  Rather than a total restriction, think about cutting back.  For instance, pick one day per week to consume alcohol, or, any other guilty pleasure.  At that rate, your diet would be spot on 85% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T13:59:18.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32649" CreationDate="2016-11-16T15:54:14.130" Score="4" ViewCount="32969" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was trying to do the exercise  &quot;Leg raising&quot; :&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rr5xK.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rr5xK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that : First it feels very difficult while raising my legs with a sharp  lower back pain. Inaddition, during moving  my legs up and down , it is very difficult for me to keep my  back steady on the ground. For these two reasons, I used to put my hands under my butt, the exercise becomes easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal to feel such lower back pain ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about my unsteady back?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does Anterior Pelvic tilt affect performing such exercise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is putting my hands under my butt corrupting the exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-11-16T15:59:46.527" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T19:35:24.563" Title="Lower back pain when performing lying leg raise" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32647" CreationDate="2016-11-16T19:10:10.993" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question refers to pull-ups mostly, as I tend to always do a bigger number of sets of pull-ups, hoping it will increase my pulling strength. Is this, for example (where each number is a number of reps in one set)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;9/6/4/3/3/4/3/2/3/3/4/2&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in any way better than this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;9/6/4/3&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21949" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T16:54:41.333" Title="Pull-ups: What are the pros and cons of doing a big number of sets?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32638" CreationDate="2016-11-16T19:54:44.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With respect to the example that you provided, the additional sets might benefit you in subsequent attempts at longer sets (for example, 10/8/7), if you recover and adapt from the additional sets.  The additional sets probably will increase your recovery demand, and the additional fatigue may negatively impact other exercises that require those muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T19:54:44.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32621" CreationDate="2016-11-17T09:01:06.837" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will be surprised the benefits you will gain by running slower - you'll be exclusively working your aerobic system. Unless these partner-runs are replacing any hard workouts (tempos, intervals, etc.), then you may end up doing yourself more good than you realise - on the basis that easy running provides a good base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T09:01:06.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32635" CreationDate="2016-11-17T09:26:11.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I see nobody wants to answer this so I will give it a try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.No.It is not normal to feel back pain no matter what exercise you do.(And I experienced people saying they had the same pain you had during the same exercise but after placing their hands right they had no problems at all)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Your back is unsteady because I presume you are holding your hands under your butt not under your back.Try putting your hands under your sacrum bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Why do you think it would?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4.Look at (2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T09:26:11.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-17T11:35:34.603" Score="1" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says I have some &lt;em&gt;doubts&lt;/em&gt; about my routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it enough to reach my goal?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short term&lt;/strong&gt; goal: relatively &lt;em&gt;flat belly&lt;/em&gt; and reach &lt;em&gt;5&lt;/em&gt; complete &lt;em&gt;pull-ups&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long term&lt;/strong&gt; goal: roughly &lt;em&gt;10% body fat&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;balance&lt;/em&gt; strength and endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer strenght and endurance over hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;nutrition is balanced&lt;/strong&gt; and correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brief description about &lt;em&gt;my fitness journey&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start&lt;/strong&gt; at age 20 with &lt;strong&gt;97 kg&lt;/strong&gt; weight, &lt;strong&gt;214 lb&lt;/strong&gt;, 168 cm tall, 5 ft 6 in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; had any kind of fitness activity &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; few years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was &lt;em&gt;very fat&lt;/em&gt; until &lt;em&gt;2 years ago&lt;/em&gt; when I've joined a gym and started a mixture of bodyweight exercises, weight lifting and cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout routine was scheduled by the gym trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've &lt;strong&gt;gained&lt;/strong&gt; some &lt;strong&gt;strength&lt;/strong&gt;, some muscle &lt;strong&gt;volume&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;lost a lot of fat&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;My health improved consistently and I'm happier than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After ~&lt;strong&gt;14 months&lt;/strong&gt;, I've switched doing my &lt;strong&gt;own schedule&lt;/strong&gt; and after my membership ended I've &lt;strong&gt;switched&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;train&lt;/strong&gt; at the &lt;strong&gt;park&lt;/strong&gt; that has a wonderful structure to do bodyweight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the fact that I'm a University &lt;strong&gt;student&lt;/strong&gt; I had to schedule my train during the entire week, with access to the park &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; in the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;routine&lt;/strong&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Monday&lt;/em&gt; | Rest or Jumping Rope&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tuesday&lt;/em&gt; | Aikido&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wednesday&lt;/em&gt; | Jumping Rope&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thursday&lt;/em&gt; | Aikido&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Friday&lt;/em&gt; | Jumping Rope&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Saturday&lt;/em&gt; | Upper Body&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sunday&lt;/em&gt; | Rest or Lower Body&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jumping Rope&lt;/strong&gt; | &lt;strong&gt;5 sets&lt;/strong&gt; of jumps | &lt;strong&gt;60s rest&lt;/strong&gt; between sets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Body&lt;/strong&gt; | 3x5 Negative &lt;strong&gt;Chin-Ups&lt;/strong&gt; | 3x8 &lt;strong&gt;Inverted Row&lt;/strong&gt; | 3x16 &lt;strong&gt;Push-Ups&lt;/strong&gt; | 3x10 &lt;strong&gt;Pike Push-Ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lower Body&lt;/strong&gt; | 3x5 Assisted One Leg &lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt; | 3x20 &lt;strong&gt;Calf Raises&lt;/strong&gt; | 3x10 Parallel Bar &lt;strong&gt;Dips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aikido&lt;/strong&gt; is a martial art that I do every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 20:30 to 22:00, 1h 30m a day, 3h a week total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now&lt;/strong&gt;: Age 22 years old and 72 kg, 159 lb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jumping Rope | I usually jump as long as possible during a set, 5 sets can last from 30 to 45 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason of the Rest|Jumping Rope on Monday is due to the fact that sometimes I give my body some break, it depends on what I've done on Sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper Body | Negative chin ups due to the fact that I can't do 1 regular chin up yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24054" LastEditorUserId="24054" LastEditDate="2016-11-17T15:03:28.687" LastActivityDate="2017-02-25T09:45:21.470" Title="Doubts about Bodyweight Workout to lose fat and gain strength" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32644" CreationDate="2016-11-17T11:54:28.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lower body fat, provided nutrition is correct: &lt;strong&gt;Calories In&lt;/strong&gt; must be less than &lt;strong&gt;Calories Out&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I eat for weight loss?   Eat less. Different diets can&#xA;make this easier, so pick whichever one best fits your lifestyle.&#xA;Ultimately, you need to reduce your caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;examine.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise will help you reach this goal but your focus for weight loss should be diet. Opinion on what a balance of strength and endurance looks like is very subjective so you wont get an answer for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T11:54:28.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32657" CreationDate="2016-11-17T14:17:12.240" Score="3" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in the title I wish to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What each of them is?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What each of them is good at?(muscle building ,strength building,resistance building,etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why should we include them in our training program?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the downsides of each of them?What about upsides?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give a real life example on how to do each of them reported to ones 1RM at an exercise on choice(bench-press for example).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to correctly execute each of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="23220" LastEditDate="2016-11-17T16:17:31.857" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T15:43:02.957" Title="Isometric,Eccentric,Concentric training differences and what each is good for?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32638" CreationDate="2016-11-17T16:54:41.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Volume is an independent variable that can be used to overcome the body's acclimatization to training stimulus. This is particularly useful when the exercise is done for high reps, such as with simple bodyweight work like chin-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, and dips. (More complex bodyweight work would mean gymnastic variations to increase the difficulty of the move, usually through disadvantageous leverage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I've found that pull-ups of 15/14/12 would stop doing anything. Increasing volume through extra sets, e.g. 15/14/12/8/8/8 or 12/12/12/10/10/10/8/5 or 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1, helped build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T16:54:41.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32585" CreationDate="2016-11-17T17:25:03.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You haven't mentioned what your strength levels are, so I will answer your question assuming you are not an advanced or elite athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The number one key for your workout to be effective is to &lt;strong&gt;progressively increase volume&lt;/strong&gt;. If you want to gain size you have to lift more than you used to. If you cannot add weight or do more reps you can try adding one more set in your workout. You also have to &lt;strong&gt;be patient&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't expect to gain strength very fast especially in a small group like biceps. If you are doing a lot of volume for a long period of time do not forget to &lt;strong&gt;deload/take a week off&lt;/strong&gt;. You will come back stronger and avoid stalling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A good pump doesn't imply gains&lt;/strong&gt;. The fact that your forearms are aching and you have a good pump on your biceps doesn't necessarily mean that your workout is effective. As I said above the &lt;strong&gt;key is volume&lt;/strong&gt;. I could be doing 10 sets of 10 with minimum rest and get a crazy pump. Yet I would have no results if the weight is insufficient. Make sure you &lt;strong&gt;don't take very small amounts of rest&lt;/strong&gt; between sets.If your rests are too brief then you will not be able to accumulate enough volume to grow your muscles. Anything less than a minute is waste of time if you do not pursue endurance (well you will grow but it will take a lot longer). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is kinda obvious, but do not expect to gain strength or muscle if you are losing weight, except if you are a beginner. I would advise you to be on a &lt;strong&gt;caloric surplus&lt;/strong&gt; of +300-500 calories. You could also gain strength eating around your caloric maintenance but that would take a lot of time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unless your primary goal is increasing your biceps strength you should not do bicep isolation first and then back compound movements. By doing compound movements like lat pulldowns first you can still exhaust your biceps later on even though you will be using less weight. However, if you start with bicep curls your biceps will get exhausted before your back and hence your back gains will suffer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all you have to be realistic and don't expect that you will put on 5kg every single month on the barbell curl. It might even take 2-3 months to add 2.5kg if you have reached an advanced strength level so just make sure you are consistent and patient. Accumulate more volume over time by adding more sets if you are not able to do more reps and do not forget to eat and sleep well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15299" LastEditorUserId="15299" LastEditDate="2016-11-17T22:52:30.960" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T22:52:30.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32635" CreationDate="2016-11-17T20:44:39.580" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you feel sharp pain in the lower back, then you need to adjust the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why lying leg raises are often painful, is that the lower back gets pinched and compressed as the weight of the legs tilts the hip and pulls the lower back upwards. The main leg lifting muscle is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psoas_major_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;psoas major&lt;/a&gt;, which connects your thigh bone directly to your spine. Resisting the anterior pelvic tilt in the lying leg raise is very difficult, as the forces on the hip and spine are very strong because of the leverage of the legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to fight those forces is bracing the abdominal muscles, those, that in a neutral position would bend the spine forward (in the opposite direction). However, most people do not have the abdominal strength to counterbalance the weight of the legs when they are lowered, a very disadvantaged position because of the leverage of the legs on the psoas (and thus, the spine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the reason why putting your hand under the back works, because it supports the back and decreases leverage. &lt;strong&gt;However, this is not the way I recommend approaching this exercise.&lt;/strong&gt; It is better to gradually approach it by doing &quot;one-leg raises&quot; (with the other leg bent and supporting), making sure your abdominals are braced and the lower back is flat on the floor throughout. When you can do as many of these as you want with control, tension in the abdomen, and pain free, then progress to two leg raises, but lower them only to 60 degrees (lower back always flat on the floor), then 45 degrees, and so on. Only progress if you are completely pain free and easily in control of your legs and spine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2016-11-18T12:07:40.970" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T12:07:40.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32652" CreationDate="2016-11-18T05:41:00.600" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to get big. I can't eat too much because Im not allowed to (family problems). I'm trying to find a way to gain weight with even thhough I work out. Ive heard of intermittent fasting and protein pouders, but I'm not sure what to do. My fast metabolism is a big issue for me. I would like to know your opinions on how I should be treating myself in order to get big.&#xA;thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24058" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T08:59:50.307" Title="How to gain weight with a fast metabolism and constraints on nutrition?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-22T19:31:19.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32651" CreationDate="2016-11-18T07:38:44.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Intermittent fasting or protein powders will not help you gain weight. Eating above your caloric maintenance will. So if you cannot eat much the answer is not more protein as protein is not as rich in calories as fat and carbohydrates. Obviously, intermittent fasting will not increase your caloric intake either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot eat more then the only solution to gain weight is to limit activities that burn a lot of calories. That is not so as easy as eating more calories. Your activities during the day are limited and you cannot stop walking in order to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise you to find a way to put a little more food in your diet. You can try eating peanut butter,honey or other similar products that are rich in calories. Try incorporating foods in your diet that do not fill your stomach easily but are rich in calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that people who say the have a fast metabolism usually do not eat as much as they think they do. Start tracking your weight and if it is possible for you track your calories as well. I know several people who started counting their calories and were surprised when they found they didn't eat as many calories as they thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should count your calories or estimate your food intake and if you see that you are not gaining weight then add a little more food. If you do this for some time then you will eventually surpass your caloric maintenance and gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind there are two factors that influence weight. Your activities and caloric intake. There is no way for you to gain weight if you are eating less calories than you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15299" LastEditorUserId="15299" LastEditDate="2016-11-19T08:59:50.307" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T08:59:50.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32651" CreationDate="2016-11-18T07:53:46.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Is my metabolism super fast?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/you-are-not-different.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Actually, it's probably not.&lt;/a&gt; Excluding rare and serious metabolic conditions, which should be diagnosed by a doctor, people's metabolisms &lt;a href=&quot;http://examine.com/faq/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tend to be within 200-300 calories of each other&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goranlab.com/pdf/78.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A review article of 67 scientific studies&lt;/a&gt; found that &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;when adjusted for differences in fat-free mass, resting energy expenditure values in obese and nonobese individuals tend to be comparable&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and that there is &amp;quot;no association of baseline resting energy expenditure with weight change among 775 men during a 10-year period&amp;quot;. The review draws the conclusion that &amp;quot;Regarding metabolic factors, available data indicate that although there are variations in resting energy expenditure and in the thermic effect of food, there is little evidence that these variations contribute significantly to the observed trends in weight gain.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You aren't eating enough.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Eat more.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to have a frank discussion with your family about nutrition. Tell them you need larger portions of lean meat and veg to help you &lt;strong&gt;recover&lt;/strong&gt; from your exercise (assuming you are exercising because you enjoy it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intermittent fasting is a diet plan for reducing weight. A cheaper option is whole milk. A gallon of milk a day will definitely lead to weight gain (muscle gain if paired with exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein Powder may help but they are SUPPLIMENTS, you should know what your macronutrient breakdown is and where your nutritional gaps are before using them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T07:53:46.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32655" CreationDate="2016-11-18T13:37:14.930" Score="1" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about the place of your body where you sweat more during  workout and fat burning, Is there any correlation between them ? &#xA;For example, Having more sweat around your belly, means you are burning fat from your belly  ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T14:05:29.533" Title="Correlation between Sweat and fat burning" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32654" CreationDate="2016-11-18T14:05:29.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an indication that you are burning some calories but there is no definite relation between fat burning and sweating. You may sweat while you are burning fat or you may sweat while you are using carbs as an energy sources but since you have sweat around your belly it does not necessarily mean that you are burning fat from your belly. Fat burning is not happening locally, by the way. In addition, environmental conditions also affect sweating ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T14:05:29.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32646" CreationDate="2016-11-18T15:43:02.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, some definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Muscle length&lt;/em&gt; is (for practical purposes) the distance between a muscle's origin and insertion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Isometric&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;same length&quot;) muscular contraction occurs without a change muscle length.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Concentric&lt;/em&gt; muscular contraction occurs with a decrease in muscle length.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eccentric&lt;/em&gt; muscular contraction occurs with an increase in muscle length.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replies to your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could identify or contrive exercises involving isometric, eccentric, and/or concentric contractions, and build a training program upon these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Each of these types of muscular contraction can be trained to increase strength (&quot;resistance&quot;), and therefore muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most strength training exercises (and, therefore, training programs) will include all three of these types of muscular contraction, because they are &lt;em&gt;how muscles work&lt;/em&gt;.  For example, in the squat, the glutes and quadriceps (among other muscles) undergo both eccentric and concentric contractions, which the trunk muscles (for example, the spinal erectors and the abdominal muscles) undergo mostly isometric contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eccentric contractions tend to cause more muscle soreness than the other types of contractions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bench press involves both eccentric and concentric contractions of the triceps and the pectoral muscles, and isometric contractions of the spinal erectors and the abdominal muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There aren't incorrect ways to execute these types of muscular contractions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-18T15:43:02.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32139" CreationDate="2016-11-19T01:26:07.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training at or just below the lactate threshold is the main way to improve it. Well, at least the most direct. The lactate threhold pace is approximately a race pace that can be held for one hour. Considering this, Tempo Runs which are hard fast efforts lasting 20 to 40 minutes will train your body to run while producing and tolerating more lactate than can be cleared up. Steady State Runs are Med-Hard efforts that are run just a bit slower than the lactate threshold pace for 45 to 90 mins. This trains your body to run close to the lactate threshold pace withour crossing it and trains it to efficiently clear up lactate acid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T01:26:07.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-19T04:53:43.130" Score="4" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be more precise I've been following a HIIT on a cycloergometer and I found out this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beginning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BPM: 105~120&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pedaling Rate: 60 rpm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BPM: 90~105&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pedaling Rate: 60 rpm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically my heart rate is diminished even though at the same resistance ( difficulty set on the c.e. ) I could exert the same rpms.&#xA;What kind of adaptations are happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take in mind that this measures are taken from the warm up phase before I begin my HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T16:16:28.347" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T16:16:28.347" Title="What is actually happening to my body during HIIT on a Spin Bike?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5263" CreationDate="2016-11-19T23:30:14.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of factors to consider:&#xA;-The maximum and minimum hart rate is individual&#xA;-You should vary your training between long slow and shorter more intensive running. When you are doing intensive running such as intervals you should keep an eye on how quickly your hart rate is dropping in the pauses.&#xA;- It is important for beginners to &quot;build a base&quot; before doing intensive sessions.  This means months of low to moderate session, before any more intensive training can be done.  This will build up your body to be able to benefit from more intensive training without injuries. The majority of running injuries comes from increasing amount and/or intensity too rapidly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your resting hart rate is a good measurement of over-training. If the resting hart rate (you may measure this in the morning) is increasing over time it is a sign of over-training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24071" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T23:30:14.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-21T00:53:43.990" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best overall way and types of exercises that can help? For exercises, how long and frequent? My body build is that of a female East Asian, and it is rather difficult for me to gain muscle, especially in the arms (think of the goal as strong punching and kicking strength).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24076" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T06:32:19.603" Title="What is the best/correct way to increase muscle/strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-22T19:31:29.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32661" CreationDate="2016-11-21T06:32:19.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Generally&lt;/em&gt;, training for muscle mass involves relatively high repetitions per set and high volume (total work), while training specifically for strength involves heavier weight and fewer repetitions per set. There's a lot of overlap, though, even in the extremes of the fitness world:  In theory, bodybuilders, for instance, don't care about strength, but increasing weight lifted is an invaluable way to 'challenge' a muscle to grow as it gets stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that muscle size isn't directly related to strength. A person with skinny arms might be able to press much more than a person with developed arms...or think about it this way:  A bodybuilder might spend 3 years to gain an inch of muscle on his arms and 50 pounds of pressing strength, but a person training for strength as well might spend 1 year to gain the same 50 pounds but only a fraction of the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, training for both mass and strength/power would be best achieved through relatively heavy compound (multi-joint/multi-direction) movements performed frequently, maybe 2 or 3x/week per movement. Your goals are typical, and the movements and workout scheme I'm prescribing are pretty universal because they're so effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats, deadlifts, push presses/push jerks, dumbbell presses, dips, pull-ups, etc. would be some of the most valuable movements to learn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Generally avoid 'filler' movements like dumbbell triceps extensions or chest flyes; will lead to more soreness (slower recovery time) and these are poor strength builders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good workout might last 45 mins to 1 hour and consist of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A full-body warm-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell push press, 4 sets: 8, 3, 2, 2 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-ups, 3 sets to failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell back squat, 4 sets: 10, 10, 3, 3 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear-foot elevated squat/split squat, 2 sets per leg: 12, 5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here there are challenging barbell movements (push press/back squat) followed by movements that target individual muscles more directly for added hypertrophy. And as the number of repetitions decreases, weight lifted should increase. A set of 2 reps should be difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to punch or kick harder, use a punching bag in addition to weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat plenty of carbs, salt, protein, and fat to gain weight. I don't have much experience in the nutrition department, but weight gain is as simple as calories in/calories out. Get plenty of sleep, aim for ~1 gallon of water per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep workouts simple, frequent (5 to 7 days/week; perform given movements 2 to 3x/week as I said earlier), free of fluff, focused on wholesome, compound movements that keep the core strong. If you're lucky enough to have tires to flip or ropes to climb, include some of that. And I could write a few paragraphs on this, but avoid selectorized machines, as they often force the user to move in unnatural ways and don't allow muscle groups to work together properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use good technique, heavy weight, and tear it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24078" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T06:32:19.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32769" CreationDate="2016-11-21T16:32:13.027" Score="4" ViewCount="3924" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to increase the range of motion in my legs. I do many different static and dynamic stretches, 5 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day I often feel mild soreness similar to DOMS. Is this a sign that I am over doing the stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am getting improvement in my range of motion, but I don't know if this is from days where I stretched heavy or light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24083" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T18:04:29.683" Title="If I feel muscle soreness the day after stretching, am I over stretching?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32667" CreationDate="2016-11-21T17:39:16.240" Score="5" ViewCount="2420" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a little excited at the gym yesterday doing barbell squats and now my legs are really sore. Not just fatigue -- sharp pain in my quads. I've done it before and I know it will take a few days to get over enough to run or cycle again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to spend the next few days without any exercise -- I'd like to do some upper body resistance stuff, but I don't want to do it without doing some cardio for warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I warm up without using my legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24084" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T19:49:24.493" Title="Warming up without legs" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-11-22T19:31:51.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32666" CreationDate="2016-11-21T18:03:14.797" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly common to warm up your upper body by simply doing upper body work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're doing bench press, for instance, let your warmup consist of 5-6 lightweight, high-repetition sets of bench press, before you jump into your working sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In between these sets, I recommend some light, dynamic stretches, just to keep the blood flowing even while resting, and also to get the joints ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same applies for any compound exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T18:03:14.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32666" CreationDate="2016-11-21T19:49:24.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, if your gym has a heavy rope station, use that. I always find myself winded after just 30 seconds or so of vigorously using them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12096" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T19:49:24.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-21T23:19:41.293" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am morbidly obese based on my BMI (41-ish% body fat). I want to lose 1lb/week, which I believe equates to a 500 Calorie deficit/day. My BMR is 2660.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference in the context of weight-loss between consuming 2160 Calories with no additional exercise, and consuming 2660 Calories and additional exercise to burn 500 Calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Math-wise I believe they are equivalent, however I'm not sure if there are any bodily functional differences between the two of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user20345" LastEditorDisplayName="user20345" LastEditDate="2016-11-22T03:30:30.217" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:11:20.487" Title="Is there a difference between consuming (BMR) calories and burning n calories vs. consuming (BMR-n) calories?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6293" CreationDate="2016-11-21T23:27:41.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt;, it is possible to reduce the thickness of subcutaneous fat, if the layer is is not too thick.  But probably &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt;, to the literal wording of the question, as while the fat mobilization is biochemically observable, it is unlikely to be of a sufficient magnitude that it could be easily observable on the scales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is research showing that lipolysis may be increased adjacent to contracting muscle.  The study was with voluntary muscle contractions in overnight-fasted adult males, but presumably EMS-induced contractions may work equally well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16985258&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Credit for literature search: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/spot-reduction-is-real&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lonnie Lowery, PhD | 02/01/11&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24088" LastEditorUserId="24088" LastEditDate="2016-11-21T23:41:12.800" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T23:41:12.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32670" CreationDate="2016-11-22T14:11:20.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure there is. Benefits of exercises are not only limited to instant energy ependiture but also recovery energy consumption after exercise (which will increase your total energy expenditure). In addition, since you will gain more muscle with exercise it will also increase BMR. It is a win win sutiation :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:11:20.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-22T23:15:49.717" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;People usually say that if you eat less calories than you spend, than you'll lose mass (and this is not my objective, since I want to gain muscle, but lose fats), and if you eat more than you spend, you gain mass (and this is my current objective, but I only want to gain muscle mass, and lose fats). How much should I eat to gain muscle and lose fats? ( Considering that I work out for 1 hour about 4 times a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24097" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T00:12:49.310" Title="Diet for losing fats and gaining muscle" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-23T01:50:00.133" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dislocated my shoulder a year ago. It has completely healed and right now I do not feel any pain there. But i am kind of afraid to do any workout such as push up, pull-ups and weightlifting. But I am keen on doing exercise and want to develop muscle mass. How to go about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24098" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T00:56:43.097" Title="How to do exercise with past body injury?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32676" CreationDate="2016-11-23T11:08:36.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you go into caloric deficit, you'll lose far more fat than you'll lose muscle. Any type of maintenance workouts will help you retain muscle mass. The only issue you'll have is that the caloric deficit might make you more exhausted, and not lift as heavy as you would during a bulk, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read MacUserT's answer (now deleted), and I somewhat disagree with the notion that you should be focusing too much on your protein intake. If you eat too much protein, the body will simply convert the surplus to fat during a process called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gluconeogenesis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since we don't know your build, we can't give any detailed advice, but in general, you should be able to make all the changes you want, just by keeping track of what you eat, and how it affects your weight. You'll soon find that you can make small adjustments and see the changes on the scale after a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every one is different, so you're gonna have to find what works for you through trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T11:08:36.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33264" CreationDate="2016-11-23T11:23:40.517" Score="1" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love calisthenics, but once i tried to perform a muscle and ended up with an injury in my right shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any exercise like DeadLift that could help me to do muscle up and press handstand ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More over for last 2 weeks i have started weight lifting in a gym, and now my shoulder feels better.&#xA;i have read a lot of things like to increase my strength right time is in super-compensation period (when i can lift more after recovery).&#xA;i am following 3 days full body heavy workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23962" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T07:26:54.047" Title="Can DeadLift help me to perform muscleup and press handstand?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32680" CreationDate="2016-11-23T15:10:33.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle-ups and handstands require upper-body strength, which are best built by deadlifts, (overhead) presses, bench presses, chin-ups, and pull-ups.  Muscle-ups also require some neuromuscular explosiveness, the potential for which is dominated by each person's genes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle-ups and handstands both involve risk of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impingement_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;impingement&lt;/a&gt; of the soft tissues of the shoulder between the humerus and the acromion, so take care to elevate and medially rotate your scapulae during those movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T15:10:33.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-23T15:18:28.633" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is known that you need to have good timing when eating protein, because this way you'll maximize muscle gain. But the problem is that I can only take albumin (no whey protein), and it is a slow absorption protein. So what if I take it before training? As it takes about 2 hours to be absorbed, would it be more efficient to take it before or after training??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24097" LastActivityDate="2017-02-12T07:15:29.710" Title="Timing for slow-absorbtion protein ingestion" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32684" CreationDate="2016-11-23T18:45:23.357" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello Im new to this website and Im sure that everyone here frequently gets asked about Creatine. Currently I have been taking C4 Cellucor along with Creacore Creatine by MuscleTech. I weigh 171 and I am trying to bulk up for the next season of Football. I am 5'10' and I am 15. I am trying to become a defensive lineman but I am dumbfounded of what to really use. I work out twice a day and I have been working out for over a year now. Anyone have any suggestions if I should take protein powder instead? or what else to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24102" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T21:24:24.447" Title="Creatine at its Finest" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;energy&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;&lt;caffeine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32683" CreationDate="2016-11-23T21:24:24.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to bulk up, then make sure you're eating a surplus amount of calories every day and that you're working out.  Twice a day is not necessary, and might even lead to more harm than good.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein powder is another supplement which might be beneficial if your diet is lacking protein.  I imagine if you're eating in a surplus that you likely wouldn't need to take any additional protein supplements.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep lifting heavy weights to promote muscle growth and eating enough so that your body has the materials needed to actually build the muscle.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You'll gain muscle mass in time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T21:24:24.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32682" CreationDate="2016-11-23T21:29:49.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Timing your protein is a theory that I've read has been debunked many times over.  You'll still hear this being said from even the most seasoned lifters stuck in their ways, but ultimately it doesn't matter.  The most important factor is to ensure you're consuming the proper amount of protein.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really headstrong on protein timing, then I'd say the logic seems sound that if you're taking a slow absorbing protein and you want it to start absorbing after your workout, you should take it before/during the workout to compensate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T21:29:49.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32677" CreationDate="2016-11-23T23:28:47.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, consult with your doctor, and tell them about your past history of injury, before staring any workout. The doctor who diagnosed you and helped you with the healing would be the best one to suggest anything. Even if you have no pain, there's quite a possibility that the healing hasn't happened 100%. If you are given green signal by your doctor, only then think of any workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slow, go with light weights. Do assisted pull-ups, and always be around an instructor who knows what he's doing. Doing things right is the key, so just ensure you do everything with the correct form, without stressing yourself too much. Don't go too extreme, and achieve your goals slowly and progressively, in fragments. Eat well and rest properly, to recover. Above all, have patience. You are only going to deal with yourself and not anyone else, so give yourself the time. Results will show up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that is fine, but doctor's consultation or that of a therapist is a must, just to ensure you are allowed to workout based on the history of your injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-11-23T23:46:59.077" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T23:46:59.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32703" CreationDate="2016-11-23T23:49:53.853" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I trained for my first marathon, I began feeling pain in my lower legs. My doctor said that this could be due to stress fractures in my bone from overworking my body. So my questions are, what is a stress fracture and how can you avoid one while training? Does a stress fracture mean you should stop running altogether until it goes away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23341" LastEditorUserId="23341" LastEditDate="2016-11-25T06:14:49.433" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T15:21:48.180" Title="What is a stress fracture and how can you avoid it when training for a marathon?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-12-12T16:12:21.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4434" CreationDate="2016-11-24T12:23:34.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do yoga in the morning and strength training in the evening. When I follow this routine for a long time I have noticed that   doing yoga in the morning has helped me a lot to over come&lt;br&gt;&#xA;DOMS while doing previous day's heavy lifting. So I feel very comfortable and do 4 workouts for a week,plus almost 4 yoga sessions &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24108" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T12:23:34.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24871" CreationDate="2016-11-24T18:37:29.223" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Haha I ended up here while looking to find out where I stand with my visceral body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading around a bit and more so speaking to different people in the field, I would say that you shouldn't be looking at going below a 5% BF composition for sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Got mine checked out last year while I was racing and I was at 5.4% (Age : 25, Height : 175, Weight : 56 kgs). Based on the generic ranges that are available, my report said that I should put on another 4 kgs of muscle and 7 kgs of fat! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The experts, that work in the health and fitness side of motorsport, said that I need the muscle and not the fat. Then again, it's probably specific to the field, along with body building, where it's alright and in fact good to have such low levels of BF. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not working towards either, then 8% is probably the ideal place to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not too sure about the visceral fat though, because it's measured as a percentage. Though comparing it with my numbers, I think you're extremely low on that front and would advise you to check it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a rating (not %age) of 5.0 and I was told as well that it's almost unheard of. Again, it was very good for me as a driver though I was told that I shouldn't drop below that. It's the perfect place to be as long as you can maintain it consistently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at it objectively, and considering you're a few cms taller than me, a few kilos lighter BUT with a higher Body Fat percentage, it makes sense to me that you're Visceral fat would definitely be lower than my score of 5 which is probably not a good thing in the long run. That's just my two cents, though I take it that you'll probably understand the logic behind me saying that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24111" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T18:37:29.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32696" CreationDate="2016-11-24T23:41:11.073" Score="0" ViewCount="3152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am unable to perform a squat with both feet flat on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of the &lt;strong&gt;maximum&lt;/strong&gt; depth I achieve without falling (while holding the table). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KeGE3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KeGE3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it is a problem of ankle mobility, because my feet have a very high arch and in the picture I can't put my knees farther in front of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if it is a problem with the strength or flexibility of my hamstrings?&#xA;When I go down I feel that they are very solicited. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will it be possible for me to perform a full squat one day?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you have some advice for me to improve my range of motion without falling? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15673" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T04:37:20.107" Title="I can't perform a squat without falling" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32695" CreationDate="2016-11-25T04:37:20.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;place your foot several inches from a wall. Now, try to move your knee forward until it touches the wall. If your big toe is 4-5 inches from the wall and your knee can’t reach the wall then your ankles are not mobile.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blueprintfitnessatlanta.com/squats-why-you-cant-do-them-why-you-should-how-to-fix-it/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://blueprintfitnessatlanta.com/squats-why-you-cant-do-them-why-you-should-how-to-fix-it/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;for improving your ankle mobility&#xA;get a band and wrap it around a solid post and move your foot as far away from the post as possible, repeat on other foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24103" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T04:37:20.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-25T08:25:01.857" Score="0" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been planning to follow some personal training program. I just came to know about &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.freeletics.com/en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Freeletics&lt;/a&gt;. Can someone who has already using freeletics, explain what freeletics is, how does it work? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24115" LastActivityDate="2016-11-27T18:03:55.690" Title="Can someone please explain how freeletics works?" Tags="&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-11-30T11:42:40.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32702" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-25T15:18:22.037" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;i make workout only friday,Saturday,Sunday.Rarely and other days.I am 24 years old and  my weight is 66.My height is 1.78.Can someone build chest,biceps and triceps making workout only the days i reffered?i am doing twice a day ,morning and afternoon from 1 hour and after each my workout i eat protein and fruits and food.I only can workout these days.Will i succeed ?which is the pefect weight  you think for my pounds and for my height to be presentable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24116" LastActivityDate="2016-11-27T04:10:54.297" Title="obtain mass on chest,biceps,triceps program" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-12-12T16:08:38.690" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32687" CreationDate="2016-11-25T15:21:48.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this could indeed be due to a stress fracture, there are actually a number of things that could be causing you pain. First, a stress fracture is a small crack in the bone typically due to overuse. It cannot be 100% diagnosed without some imagery (bone scan, xray etc), but if you have a tuning fork, you can try placing it near the site of pain. While not the best test, if the vibrations reproduce the pain you may very well have a stress fracture and you would have a good case for your doctor to refer you for xray. If you do in fact have a stress fracture, you would have to stop running and wait for it to heal. A couple of other issues that could cause pain, but are not a stress fracture could be shin splints (very common) or compartment syndrome (not as common). Shin splints happen when the muscle attaching to you anterior tibialis (shin bone) are overworked and become tight. The muscles pull on the shin and cause pain. Consistently stretching and strengthening your calf muscles is the best way to deal with this issue. Compartment syndrome is when blood flow becomes so great in the calf muscles that pain results. Both compartment syndrome and shin splints can be treated conservatively with stretching, strengthening, rest and possibly anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen). You could also try massage or other manual therapy. In both cases you can continue to run if you can deal with the pain, but realize it may delay healing. Slowly building up your mileage is the key to avoiding these issues. Also, make sure you give yourself time in between runs to fully recover from the previous run. A general rule of thumb is to not increase your weekly mileage from week to week by more than 10%. I hope this helps. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24048" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T15:21:48.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32702" CreationDate="2016-11-27T04:10:54.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can someone build chest,biceps and triceps making workout only the days i reffered?i am doing twice a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, 3 days per week is adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will i succeed ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know. It depends entirely on your discipline, your diet, your sleep, and your motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;which is the pefect weight you think for my pounds and for my height to be presentable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That depends on our individual notions of what is presentable, and such opinion-based questions/answers are off-topic here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The question you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be asking&lt;/strong&gt;, or rather the question I should ask you is; are you really going to just train chest and arms? Because if so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will i succeed ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. You will end up with ridiculous proportions, and more importantly, back pain, neck pain, and the resulting loss of quality of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any workout program should work your entire body!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-11-27T04:10:54.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-27T09:13:02.027" Score="2" ViewCount="770" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that overuse of a joint will likely wear it out faster than usual and may cause osteoarthritis. Overuse of the knee joint by running too much and in bad form is a typical example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is around possible overuse due to weight training. Weight training usually involves far less repetitions (10-30 per session and 2-3 sessions a week, compared to cardio types of exercises that can have hundreds of repetitions of the same joints). With that in mind, would weight/strength training (low reps, more weight) qualify as the type of overuse that may result in osteoarthritis? For example, if I do 3x8 squats (with manageable weights), can it cause osteoarthritis? If it can, then how would the level of damage compare to running? And does it apply to other joints as well; for example, would doing 3x8 shoulder presses cause arthritis in shoulder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23311" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T22:39:22.380" Title="Can weight training cause arthritis?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32699" CreationDate="2016-11-27T18:03:55.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have looked at freeletics and started using it but I didn't want to pay and the app functionality is limited without getting through a paywall. The app itself is designed to basically give you a full personal training telling you what to do everyday of the week along with videos of the form you should be using. Personally I think the idea in and of itself is great. For some pretty small fee you basically get a personal trainers worth of advice and planning without the 100$ a session for a plan. That being said I am still a cheapskate and I don't like paying for things so I would recommend Nike Training club. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Transformation and motivation not guaranteed but the app covers two basic things as far as I can see: getting a plan and showing the right form. Given that you have those two things covered the rest is up to you. Freeletics also has a dietary one which I don't know how well it works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/strong&gt; I have no personal interest in any of these platforms just my experience&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2016-11-27T18:03:55.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32711" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-27T18:14:41.380" Score="0" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from southern part of india. There is no comprehensive diet plan exclusive for south indian where rice is the major staple food &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15282" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T17:04:33.143" Title="Bodybuilding diet for south indian" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-12-12T16:13:39.037" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32709" CreationDate="2016-11-27T22:41:19.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's compare the body with a machine. There are machines that work a lifetime without fail, and there are some that fail in a year or so. Why? Right maintenance is the answer. By maintenance it means, load testing, lubricating, replacing faulty parts and loading it effectively with right process. If you leave a machine laying there for 5 years, can you guarantee the safe operation when you start it? No, because unused machines and that are not attained, always undergo rusting and malfunction overtime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, body is a very complex machine. When you are lifting, you have to lift with proper form, and proper loading, also rest well. That's the correct maintenance for body. Any overloading would result in wear and tear and so does improper form. Regarding joints, your joints always undergo natural lubrication when you are active. With weight training, you rather make things better than worse, if you are doing it right. There are people have been cycling for over 70 years/ lifting for 50+ years and still walk without cane or pain. In the same way as machines, if you keep your body dull and inactive, body is intelligent enough to know its not being used regularly and there starts the rusting process. Your muscles go weaker and body loses strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, everyone is different. There's no proof that body building and weight lifting causes arthritis, or keeping it idle does. So, just stay safe, work under your limits in proper form, eat well and rest proper to avoid injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-11-28T22:39:22.380" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T22:39:22.380" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32719" CreationDate="2016-11-28T15:22:20.363" Score="4" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always ran with a Polar HRM sync'ed with my Nike+ SportWatch. I recently got a Microsoft Band 2 and I noticed the avg HR for every run have big differences.&#xA;I'm a 38 yo man and las Saturday I ran 7.50 km at a 5'21&quot; pace (which is fine to me) and I got an avg HR of 138 with the Polar and 167 with the Microsoft Band, which has an integrated HRM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't pretend people to tell me what was my true HR, but does anybody know why the big difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3172" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T15:13:22.040" Title="Big difference in Heart Rate Monitor meassures" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;polar-wearlink&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-12-12T16:10:27.943" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-28T16:50:17.007" Score="1" ViewCount="1474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 15 years old. I study in class 11. Please don't go to my age. I still want to gain some weight. Well, I haven't weighed myself, really. I am thin. I have no muscles. In my school life I was teased a lot. Now in college I want weight. I'm underweight. How am I going to get some weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited: my diet is just a glass of milk in the morning, then rice and vegetables, then college time starts from 11am to 5pm, and I come home and east last food (rice and others). I know this is less but I don't have time for eating. I go to college on my bicycle, it's a bit far so I lose calories. Shit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I have two 3kg dumbbells at my home. Will that work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24138" LastEditorUserId="24138" LastEditDate="2016-11-28T17:32:01.363" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T23:01:11.967" Title="I am 15 years old and I'm thin. I want to gain weight and muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-29T07:35:00.033" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32716" CreationDate="2016-11-28T20:06:37.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading heart rates accurately can be a tricky thing. The bands and watches use a little bright light that flashes really fast to read blood density changes in the veins of the arm and wrist. Chest straps read electrical signals in the chest. Chest straps tend to be more accurate than light sensors. Light sensors (I've found) tend to lose a lot of accuracy as the heart rate goes up.  Another common issue that can effect reading of light sensors is other light that may seep in between the wrist and band. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4000320&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;band has to be firmly on your wrist&lt;/a&gt; and not shift around otherwise it's going to effect the reading. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/forerunner225/EN-US/GUID-0F2A5B47-78ED-40F3-A390-CD94BB285F40.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Same for Forerunner 225.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't know which Polar HRM you used, but my guess is it's a chest strap one (I'm not sure if Polar has any other kind). The Microsoft Band uses light. I used to have a Basic watch which would not be able to read heart rate faster than 130-140 bpm. Microsoft may have some way of compensating for the inaccuracy in which case it seems to be shooting way passed target. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2016-12-05T12:50:28.440" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T12:50:28.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19650" CreationDate="2016-11-28T20:28:45.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inverted rows do help but it will not get you to doing pull ups by itself. The negative pull ups have to be thrown in there as the next step. I can do inverted rows before doing eccentric pull ups and I still had struggles with regular pull ups. If you really want to get good at pull ups then you will have to incorporate the eccentric pull ups which is just the lowering phase of the pull ups. The reason why I am recommend the neutral grip because it is easier than the other grips and it is safer on the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24139" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T20:28:45.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32717" CreationDate="2016-11-28T23:01:11.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All I can say is, you need to eat enough to gain weight. Eat something with that milk for breakfast(like a bowl of cereals, or some oats). You spent 6 hours at school, that's a pretty big time, and as you bike to school,so you are losing calories and also losing all through out those 6 hours no matter what you do. Can't you carry a small snack box with you, with something healthy in it to eat during breaks. Or a bottle with some home made shake in it? Also, try sticking to a diet that gives you complete nutrition. As you are growing, you need to eat well and eat more and eat proper, in regular intervals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding workout, do free hand workouts at home if you don't have time. Pushups, free hand squats, lunges, stretching etc. Whether those 3kg dumbbells will help or not, it depends on what you do with them. Check out some you tube videos, if you want to know what you could do with them and how to use them to workout your overall body. If your goal is to put on some weight, and you are disciplined, sticking to the above would do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T23:01:11.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32724" CreationDate="2016-11-29T13:28:14.853" Score="3" ViewCount="464" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 kg of human fat tissue contains about &lt;strong&gt;7000 calories&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;30 minute&lt;/strong&gt; cardio session(60-70% of max heart rate), on the other hand, can burn roughly &lt;strong&gt;200-400 calories&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if we count these calories as fully supplied from fat(which is far from reality), the resulting number of burnt fat is only about &lt;strong&gt;50 grams&lt;/strong&gt;, meaning that &lt;strong&gt;to burn 1kg of pure fat, 10 hours of cardio exercises are required at minimum&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm growing more and more pessimistic about cardio exercises as I look into these numbers. Am I missing something, or are cardios just not effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24146" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T10:48:03.193" Title="Is cardio really effective in fat-burning?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32723" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32768" CreationDate="2016-11-29T13:46:40.117" Score="1" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find myself getting fairly busy to where I don't really feel like I have time to work out. As a matter of fact, I really only get sporadic exercise. The other day I had a thought that I &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be able to give myself at least 5 minutes. Obviously I'm a little out of shape so I won't be able to press myself super hard, but the thought that I had is that I could run around the neighborhood - and especially sprinting to really get the most out of the short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that thought correct, or will doing a short intense exercise be worse/not as good as doing a more moderate exercise for the same period of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main goal is just to be generally more fit. It would be nice to increase my strength (which running isn't going to help a whole lot of course), but I definitely want to not get so tired when I do physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16648" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2016-12-05T17:10:29.977" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T17:10:29.977" Title="will doing a short intense exercise be worse/not as good as doing a more moderate exercise for the same period of time" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32722" CreationDate="2016-11-29T15:26:40.307" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only that, but to burn the extra calories from cardio you have to subtract the &lt;em&gt;amount of calories you would burn otherwise not doing anything.&lt;/em&gt; So really that 30 minutes of cardio only burns an extra 100-200 calories.  This is also why they say &lt;strong&gt;diet is king&lt;/strong&gt;. It's very easy to out-eat the calories burned from a workout. So no matter what you do, you need to get your diet in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though, there are other factors in play. A 30 minute cardio session is only 2% of your entire day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For one, that 30 minute cardio session will only help if you improve. So let's say you chose running for cardio. In 30 minutes you run two miles.  In a couple months, you improve and get that up to three miles. Three miles = more energy spent in 30 minutes. Then you get even faster over time and get 4 miles. So now you've increased your energy expenditure in that same 30 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, there's EPOC. Shortly after a workout there is a period called EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) which is a small window where your metabolism rises slightly in order to heal the damage done during the workout. The more damaging the workout (intense), the longer the EPOC period. Steady state cardio lasts maybe a few minutes. A HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout will last maybe a few hours to a day. A full-body weightlifting program could last a couple days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2016-11-29T15:45:24.337" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T15:45:24.337" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32711" CreationDate="2016-11-29T17:04:33.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a south Indian myself, and I understand your difficulty. Are you a vegetarian? If you are, soy is a major source of protein. It's also called as mealmaker, and it is available in most places. Also, sprouts and groundnuts are very good sources of proteins. If you are really serious about bodybuilding, then there are vegetarian protein supplements available online. But be careful, buy only from reputed vendors. If you are a non-vegetarian, eggs, chicken and milk should be your staple food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24147" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T17:04:33.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32722" CreationDate="2016-11-29T22:52:44.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if you do nothing and sit there, you are still burning calories, because your body burns calories when you breathe. You heart needs calories to pump, your cell needs calories to survive and your brain needs calories to think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is, to consume less than what you spend, when it comes to calorie burning and losing fat. The idea of working out is to help you shed extra calories. So, don't be too concerned about if you are losing it all during a workout session or not, because you lose calories all day. Also, fat burning happens several hours after workout, because it's a slow process, not right when you workout. It's a cumulative and gradual process, and if you are working towards it, it's going to happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T22:52:44.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32732" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32735" CreationDate="2016-11-30T11:12:07.950" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to start working out and would like to ask you what is your motivation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is that! Thing that keeps you going and performing every day..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24156" LastEditorUserId="24156" LastEditDate="2016-11-30T13:16:45.843" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T14:22:06.283" Title="Motivations for long therm" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-11-30T19:38:57.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32723" CreationDate="2016-11-30T11:34:15.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;down vote&#xA;Your thought process is right. Doing high-intensity workouts will force your body into EPOC(Excessive Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) where your body is burning fat even hours after your workout. There are many types of HIIT programs that you can follow. One of them is sprinting for a certain amount of time, let's say 20 seconds and slow jogging for 10 seconds. Repeat this for 5-10 times. For higher difficulties, you can increase the intervals or the number of times. If you want to stay indoors, you can experiment and create your workout routine with different combinations of sit-ups, burpees, jumping jacks, push-ups, squats,etc. The idea is to get your heart pounding and keeping it there for the whole workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24147" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T11:34:15.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32732" CreationDate="2016-11-30T14:22:06.283" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a Female, and from my experience, what makes me very motivated to do work out every day, is just I have a look on the pictures of  fitted girls posted on social  media.  Then watch some videos  for those fitted  girls  doing differnt exercises with thier  flexible bodies, then nothing can keep me sitting on my chair  !  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T14:22:06.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-30T17:15:03.257" Score="5" ViewCount="1061" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out with calisthenics recently, and I want to workout my shoulders using only hand stand push-ups. Will that be enough to have good looking strong shoulders?&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24159" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T17:42:34.393" Title="Do handstand push-ups hit all the three shoulder heads?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32737" CreationDate="2016-11-30T17:42:34.393" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it doesn't hit all three shoulder heads (assuming you mean the anterior, lateral and posterior deltoids.) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BWHandstandPressBench.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Breakdown of handstand push-ups.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mechanically I don't see how you can work all of the shoulder muscles unless you can encounter resistance coming from the wide range of angles the shoulder can direct force to.  A gymnast routine on the rings would probably do it, but does that count as a single exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to find a small repertoire of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ShouldWt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shoulder exercises&lt;/a&gt; that hit all the muscle heads and fit in with your calisthenics routine.  I cannot speak to how visible the development would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10872" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T17:42:34.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2914" CreationDate="2016-11-30T20:51:47.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had similar symptoms, and my doctor ordered a blood test. Specifically to test my thyroid, iron levels, and vitamin D levels. Turns out I had extremely low vitamin D levels, and slight hypothyroidism. It pays to have this checked out, if only just to be able to cross it off the list of possible culprits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24163" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T20:51:47.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-01T02:14:36.433" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of people's fitness goals are around achieving and maintaining a level of fitness - a curve that rises then reaches a plateau.  My lifestyle prohibits that, but I do find that I train up quickly.  I'll fit in a handful of runs each year, randomly spaced depending on my circumstances and motivation.  I managed two in the last week.  The first one was really painful, and I was overtaken by old ladies walking their tortoises.  On the second I overtook some fit-looking guys and ran up a big hill - still painful, but apparently much fitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That got me wondering if you can train yourself to train up quickly.  Perhaps my &quot;regime&quot; of intermittent runs is helping that?  Or is it more likely to be my genetics or some other luck-of-the-draw?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The clumsily-drawn graph shows how I think this &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; work.  The blue line shows a conventional fitness goal, while the red line shows someone whose fitness develops at the same rate (same slope) as the blue person on their first training iteration (until they stop training), then on the third iteration they get fitter much quicker (the up slope is steeper, and it tails off more slowly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6BZX4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6BZX4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;graph of fitness levels&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24169" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T04:22:01.523" Title="Can you train yourself to respond well to training?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32742" CreationDate="2016-12-01T03:58:19.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, welcome to fitness stackexchange.From your graph and explanation, it seems like your lifestyle and interests/motivation only permits you to do short training for specific period, and then go back to ground zero. Yes, initially, it may seem like it's all the same . You build up fitness up to a certain level after a certain period of time. This may be more or less same for you, but how it may apply to others, we can only tell after considering a few factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At what physical state the beginner is(Weight, genes, health history, fitness level, age, diet, rest).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much they spiral down after they stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From what level they start the next phase of training after the hiatus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets explain them one by one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some people have quite a good level of fitness even though they don't do any training. May be because of genes or what they do which may involve working in farms that involve strenuous physical work. So, if someone like that starts, their and someone who's regularly unfit and can't even move without help, their results won't be the same. Age, diet and rest also make some big difference in results you'd obtain. Someone who's 60, and someone who's 18, their result won't be the same over a period of time. Likewise people of same age group, where one rests well and eats clean would have better result than, another who lives on pizza and ice-cream and barely sleeps. Talking about diseases and ailments, someone with chronic illness and breathing disorder like asthma, won't be have the same results for the same goal, compared to someone who is medically fit without ailments.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When people stop, where do they end up? Do they still maintain their shape, or end up being 400+ lbs. Depending on that, the results of the next round may vary. Also, the age factor. We all know with age muscle mass degenerate and ligaments and joints become weak.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This one is closely related to point 1 and 2, and also includes any injury, how you maintain yourself in the period, how strong your muscles are, and what motivates them for the next.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it may work for you, but it may not work for everyone for all the reasons I mentioned above. Regarding your case, seems like after every training session you are stronger and ready for the next one after the break, which helps you boost up the training in the next session, as you are no longer a beginner, but someone who's back from break and his body is already used to what he did earlier. So, any progressive loading, or intensity may be yielding better results in consecutive sessions. Honestly, I'm not aware of any research, that supports your theory, but if that's your observation and you made effort to note it down, and it works for you that way, then go for it. Also, keep tracking it to see if it's consistent and progressive over longer period, or some random ups and downs. Good work I should say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-12-01T04:22:01.523" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T04:22:01.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-01T10:55:54.943" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Weight is 77 kg and height is around 5 ' 9 inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing body building and i want to share my diet plan with you so that i can get some best recommendations from you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go to gym in the morning around 8 am wihtout eating or drinking anything and after 1 hour of workout i come home but while coming home on the way i drink coconut water and after coming home i drink 1 glass of juice and after 10 - 5 minutes of shower i take my breakfast which includes 2 eggs with 1 chapati and little 100 gms of chickpeas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that i go to office and in office i eat 1-2 oranges,1-2 apples and in lunch i eat 3-4 chapatis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In dinner i eat maggies noddles some day and some day i eat 1- 2 chapatis(mostly i skip this) and before sleeping i drink 500 ml of milk daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On saturday and sunday i eat chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note:My trainer says without supplements you wont be able to build your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if there is any suggestion or something then please give me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16583" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T18:27:17.663" Title="Good recommendations on diet plan" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-01T18:58:03.290" Score="3" ViewCount="596" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm doing 3 workouts per week: Monday, Wednseday, Friday. There's two workout templates, A and B, which simply alternate. It's basically the StrongLifts 5x5 and Starting Strength approach. All workouts have squats, and until now the deadlift was on workout A (so one week there'd be two deadlift sessions, the other week one). The deadlift is only done for one work set after warm-up. Thus far, the weight on the squats was increased every workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plan was to turn Wednesday into a lighter back-off day for the squats once recovering started getting heavy, and at that point also do only one deadlift session per week. Since I'm feeling some lingering back stiffness from workout to workout, and progressing on the squats and deadlifts is getting increasingly difficult, now seems like a good time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question then is, which day would be best to put the deadlifts on? I can either put it on one of the heavy squat days (Monday/Friday) or on the lighter squat day (Wednesday). There's advantages and disadvantages to every choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On Monday I'd have to do it after heavy squats, with my back and legs already tired. But the last workout will have been 3 days ago and it being the start of the work week I'll still be fresh.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On Wednesday the squats will have been lighter and will interfere less with the deadlifts. But it's intended as a day to facilitate recovery and doing deadlifts on that day might defeat that purpose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On Friday there's the same problem as Monday: heavy squat + deadlift. But I tend to be enthusiastic cause the weekend is around the corner, the deadlift is the last exercise I do so I tend to have a &quot;let's go mentality&quot; and I'll get a whole weekend to recover from it, unlike Monday/Wednesday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any choice that's definitely better? My goal is to continue linear progression as long as possible and gradually move into the Texas Method programming style (where deadlifts are on the volume day, but I feel more inclined to put them on the intensity day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T16:00:20.790" Title="Combining squats and deadlifts: do deadlifts on light or heavy squat day?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-01T20:38:21.137" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;The doctors cannot find anything wrong with my heart, but it is in the region of the heart that I feel a discomfort close to dumb pain - maybe in front of heart, close to chest bones. It started after I increased to 40 minutes the time I used to run on the treadmill - before that I ran not more than 30 mins. Then, I took a week off, during which I did not run but only walked, and the chest pain disappeared. I resumed my workouts gradually increasing the time of running, but the pain appeared again, now after 20 minutes of running. I gave up running on treadmill for a whole month and the pain disappeared completely, but when I resumed and gradually increased the running time, the pain re-appeared after 10 minutes.  It is long since this became a permanent condition which prevents me from excercising. Can anybody recommend something to treat this?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24046" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T20:38:21.137" Title="How to treat chest pain due to treadmill overwork?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-12-03T05:08:58.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32744" CreationDate="2016-12-01T22:21:54.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to be specific about your goals first and eat accordingly. Muscle building always comes with a price. The price is in terms of hard work, diet and proper rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's break it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said, &quot;I go to gym in the morning around 8 am without eating or drinking anything&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a mistake. No matter what you want, a pre-workout meal is a must, especially in the morning hours. Something that body can absorb easily, like a home made shake(I'm not saying protein) there are plenty of shakes you can make at home. Else, some milk and egg whites can do. If you train with no food in your system, your body draws energy and nutrients from muscles and as a result you'd not see the result you want to. Contrary to old belief that fat loss happens during workout, no, it doesn't immediately, but hours after it. So, eat at least an hour before you workout. Also, in the morning you are already in starvation mode and your body needs energy after those hours of sleep. Jumping directly to workout, you'd do a disservice to yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second is post workout meal. You need to eat enough protein and carbs after workout to fill in the requirements and pump nutrition to your muscle cells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your lunch and dinner should contain good amount of macros and micros with at least a gram of protein per pound of body weight, as a daily intake from what you eat. Along with that, you need to eat enough fruits and vegetables to get the micro nutrients. Your primary source of nutrition is food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regrading your instructor's advice, you can prove him wrong if you eat well, workout properly and rest well. Supplements are to compensate the deficit in food, they are not food.&#xA;For a good diet plan, check in forums and YouTube. The best diet plan is the one you choose for yourself keeping complete nutrition in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T22:21:54.103" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32752" CreationDate="2016-12-02T11:10:45.003" Score="2" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose I did a weightlifting session at an intensity that stimulates muscle growth. At what period of time after the session does my consumption of protein stop contributing to the growth of the stimulated muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example after a workout, steak is consumed [1 hour, 24 hours, 72 hours] after the session. Does protein from the steak get utilized for muscle growth of the stimulated muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24181" LastActivityDate="2016-12-02T12:08:01.587" Title="Window to utilize protein after weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-02T11:36:57.093" Score="2" ViewCount="7254" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;QUESTION: what percentage of calories from protein, carbs, and fat do I need in my diet to remain in a caloric deficit and in a state of positive nitrogen balance?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz3AG-oCXTE&amp;amp;t=394s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz3AG-oCXTE&amp;amp;t=394s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just starting to exercise regularly (mostly focused on HIIT) and diet properly. Soon, I'd like to focus on also building muscle. As I still have a lot of fat to shed (I'm 5'11&quot;, 213 lbs / 96.6 kgs), I believe I need to remain in a caloric deficit. And in order to help my muscle building efforts, it seems that I need to be in a state of positive nitrogen balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson75.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson75.htm&lt;/a&gt;, I think I need at least 1.7 grams (maybe even up to 3.5 grams) of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. On the low end, that means I need &lt;em&gt;at least 96.6 kgs x 1.7 grams/kg = 164 grams of protein per day&lt;/em&gt;. In calories, that's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   164 grams of protein&#xA; x   4 calories per gram of protein&#xA;------&#xA; = 656 calories from protein&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a budget of 1,780 calories per day to remain in a caloric deficit and lose up to 2 lbs per week. So about 37% of my calories should come from protein. I have 63% to split between carbohydrates and fat -- and I'm not sure how to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mhptrans6.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mhptrans6.htm&lt;/a&gt; seems to suggest 45% carbohydrates, 35% proteins, 20% fats. Is this right? Would I achieve positive nitrogen balance with this ratio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23294" LastEditorUserId="23294" LastEditDate="2016-12-05T11:03:23.990" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T17:23:19.530" Title="Caloric Deficit + Positive Nitrogen Balance" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32750" CreationDate="2016-12-02T12:08:01.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a concept called the &quot;anabolic window&quot;, which is a belief that directly after a workout our body is primed for optimal muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth) and that this period lasts only a short while, with anything after that far less effective. When I say a short while, I mean on the scale of half an hour or so. There is however no sufficient scientific support for the idea that there is indeed such a window, rather than a prolonged period of increased muscle protein synthesis that gradually decreases back to base level over the course of days after a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the reasons for this belief is that strength training causes some muscle damage, and as such muscle protein breakdown. To immediately counter the effects of this and prevent further breakdown, it is suggested that some protein, and carbohydrates to elevate insulin levels (of benefit to muscle protein synthesis) is consumed immediately after a workout. As stated before, the evidence doesn't seem to support this logic, and the breakdown is in fact greatly exaggerated in the minds of those who believe that nutrient timing plays such a large role. Breakdown may be greater, however, when training fasted; for example, when training first thing in the morning after a night's sleep and without breakfast. In that case it may be of some use to consume some protein and carbohydrates sooner after a workout. For reasons such as this, the term &quot;peri-workout nutrition&quot; has started popping up, to indicate that the nutrition surrounding a workout is of more importance than simply post-workout or pre-workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the anabolic window theory is disregarded, the question then is how long after a workout an increased protein intake is actually useful, and from what point on it only really serves to add calories and could be lowered. Going by a number of sources, you'll find that the consensus is something like this: muscle protein synthesis increases fairly rapidly after a workout (a time frame of hours), remains well elevated for around 24 hours and gradually tapers down. However, it may still be elevated above baseline for as long as 48 hours or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically speaking, if you train 3 times per week or more, you'll benefit from keeping protein intake high throughout the entire week. Even during periods with less or no additional muscle protein synthesis a high protein intake would be useful for those who do strength training or aim for a better physique. Sufficient protein will limit muscle breakdown. Protein also has the highest thermic effect of the three macronutrients, making it useful for satiety while trying to limit weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conclusions are that increased protein intake will be useful for at least 2 days after training, that with a training regime of 3 or more sessions per week there's little point in varying protein intakes over the course of that week, and that it's useful to make sure you've got sufficient glycogen stored through carbohydrate intake in day leading up to a workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alan Albert Aragon and Brad Jon Schoenfeld did an nice review of related scientific literature in this article: &lt;a href=&quot;https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5&lt;/a&gt;. It can be useful if you want to dig deeper into the available information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-12-02T12:08:01.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32754" CreationDate="2016-12-02T12:32:06.697" Score="2" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hearing is sensitive to high blood pressure, so I am interested in the blood pressure of the head.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;May it be the type of excercise, circumstances or anything, I am interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24183" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T14:52:36.107" Title="What are some ways to keep blood pressure low during muscle-strengthening excercises?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32753" CreationDate="2016-12-02T13:54:42.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing certain lifts is going to cause a (significant) spike in blood pressure, so I doubt it can be avoided. In fact, doing so would put you at risk, since the elevated blood pressure is a result of taking a deep breath and increasing the intra-abdominal pressure using the valsalva maneuver. That should be done to provide the correct abdominal bracing and rigidity of the upper body during lifts such as squats, deadlifts and overhead presses. Even on bench presses getting some good pressure in your abdominal cavity will help stability. Failure to do so can result in poor form in the best case (folding over on squats, rounded back on deadlifts...) and increasing your risk for a back injury in the worst case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So doing big compound lifts requiring a rigid trunk is going to give you requirements that run opposite of keeping blood pressure neutral. Your best bet would be to choose exercises that cause minimal elevation of the pressure. Isolation exercises are good candidates for this, since they will have less muscles involved at any particular moment (meaning less blood pressure variations) and usually don't require the stability and rigidity of your whole body (so no valsalva required). It is suboptimal since you get the best return on your investment of time with the compound lifts, but given your constraints it might be the only way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say your hearing is sensitive to high blood pressure, is it actually a problem that would get progressively worse and cause damage? Or is it just a temporary inconvenience? If it's the latter, depending on your tolerance for it you may be capable of simply trying to deal with it. I can't think of some other solution short of putting a pressure cuff around your neck to block blood flow, but maintaining consciousness should probably be highest on your priority list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2016-12-02T13:54:42.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-03T09:32:46.773" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a gymnastics beginner who doesn't want to join a club, nor do I have rings, or a bar for pull-ups, front lever (progressions). However I do have paralletes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering they cheapest, easiest way to set up rings and a bar in my backyard (I think the rings would hang from the bar, which would be around 2.5 metres high). I have concrete/a flat surface to put a base on I was also wondering what kind of rings — wooden, plastic, Xtreme, etc.? Cost is a serious factor for me, I'm looking to build strength and coordination, not hyperthy or for a gymnastics competition. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="24140" LastEditDate="2016-12-03T22:00:59.743" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T15:21:17.607" Title="How can I set up gymnastic rings?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;rings&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1471" CreationDate="2016-12-04T01:29:16.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ride an average of 10 -15km per day. I'm a bike commuter, so don't ride super fast.  Roughly 20km/hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Living in Canada, there are at least two months of the year I cannot consistently ride (I try to ride all year). with the inconsistent riding over the winter, I'll put on 10 pounds of weight. I'm an average build, with an active life outside of biking. I eat good food, but too much of it. So, as to calories burned on a bike, I cannot say, but even a consistent, steady daily ride keeps the weight off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24190" LastActivityDate="2016-12-04T01:29:16.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32296" CreationDate="2016-12-04T19:13:44.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what I've learned from reading a few books and researching online, but still have to experience using this theory for myself. I think using HR properly should allow you to improve your running and adapt to different running conditions - like the great running antoganists heat and high humidity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One note on max HR. The value changes with fitness and actually lowers the better your cardiovascular system is. I suspected this for a few reasons of my own and finally have some confirmation &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/06/max-heart-rate-and-fitness.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; which points to a paper by Zavorsky, G.S. 2000, &lt;em&gt;Endurance and possible mechanisms of altered maximum heart rate with endurance training and tapering. Sports Med 29(1):13-26&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During sprint workouts according to Greg McMillan (2) you should not reach your max HR. One of these reasons appears to be the short nature of the workout. I think the HR curve over time during each sprint should be the same given the same effort and other physical conditions. This could probably be used to find your actual maxHR for running and can be used for targeting HRs for all other workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also makes sense for using a 12 minute test instead of a shorter time since an 8 min or shorter race should be at or above VO2max pace which will require being at an effort that should eventually reach maxHR. Reaching maxHR is probably a bad thing to do when testing physical fitness, and Im not sure if this means you will faint once reaching it or after staying at it for some amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For speedwork on the track the average HR should not be used due to the fact that maxHR cant be reached during sprints. The HR curve should level off given a minute or so and that level should be between 90-100% of your actual running HRmax. The actual HRmax is not the &quot;220 - age&quot; HRmax and I am doubtful that it is the HR that causes you to pass out regardless of the exercise used to come up with a number. Also it seems the HR curve levels off only approximately - not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2): YOU (Only Faster) Ch 19 Sprints, somewhere in the first few paragraphs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-12-04T19:13:44.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32751" CreationDate="2016-12-05T12:21:12.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nitrogen Balance is just how you measure overall nitrogen accumulation, which is a pretty reliable indicator of muscle growth; positive NB is more amino acids staying on your body than pissed out (muscle growth) and negative NB is the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition, a protein intakes of 1.4-2.0 g/kg of bodyweight (0.6-0.9g/lb of bodyweight) for physically active individuals is not only safe, but may improve the training adaptations to exercise training. [1]. The American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine also support high protein intake for active individuals [2] in the range of 1.2-1.7 g/kg of bodyweight (0.5-0.8 g/lb of bodyweight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for the above tend to be increased leucine oxidation (a marker for amino acids being used for fuel, by being turned into glucose) that requires a higher intake of amino acids to negate and &lt;strong&gt;preserve nitrogen balance&lt;/strong&gt;. [3][1] Additionally, increasing protein intake above the previously defined RDA 'daily allowance' will increase protein synthesis and, at levels higher than double this total, decrease protein breakdown. [4] Increased muscular hypertrophy is seen as beneficial to sports performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[1]: Campbell B, et al International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise . J Int Soc Sports Nutr. (2007)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[2]: Rodriguez NR, DiMarco NM, Langley S; American Dietetic Association; Dietetians of Canada; American College of Sports Medicine Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and athletic performance . J Am Diet Assoc. (2009)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[3]: Wilson J, Wilson GJ Contemporary issues in protein requirements and consumption for resistance trained athletes . J Int Soc Sports Nutr. (2006)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[4]: Jeevanandam M, et al Influence of increasing dietary intake on whole body protein kinetics in normal man . Clin Nutr. (1986)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: Examine.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;However....&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are massively over-thinking your food. As a beginner to weightlifting you will lose fat and gain muscle during a calorie deficit. However, as you progress past &amp;quot;beginner&amp;quot; and linear progressions no longer work for you, you should re-evaluate your diet and consider eating at a maintenance calories (if you want to maintain) or at a 'bulk' (surplus calories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Option's are divided as to the &amp;quot;optimal&amp;quot; macro-nutritional breakdown and current advice does not go into finer detail because only you know your body and how it is feeling and so only you can plan your dietary needs accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I went hard last week at crossfit and so I ate more this weekend to give me some fuel and protein to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of splitting up fat and carbs, just split however you want. More carbs will give you more energy but less overall food in your mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T12:21:12.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32753" CreationDate="2016-12-05T14:52:36.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question which often comes up and should be directed to a medical doctor. The doctors with whom I interact give this advice- &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Do NOT hold your breath while exercising; do not restrain your breath at all&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Do NOT grip unnecessarily- i.e. during leg machine exercises. Gripping hard directly raises your blood pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) As much as practically possible &lt;em&gt;relax&lt;/em&gt; the unused muscles of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are learned skills. Most people will grip a machine HARD, contort their face, hold their breath and otherwise strain even untargeted muscles when they are working hard. All of these things raise blood pressure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T14:52:36.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32757" CreationDate="2016-12-05T15:21:17.607" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Man I am going to tell you not to do this. Gymnastic exercises are done on secure equipment which is well maintained and practice is performed with spotters - for good and obvious reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really not going to be doing any double dislocates but essentially just hanging from it and lifting your body weight, then you want to consult someone who understands the strength of materials under stress- an engineer. Not someone here who may only know HOW to use equipment, but not make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you can buy equipment specifically made for this purpose, but you still have to worry about maintenance and attaching it properly. I am not saying it's rocket-science, I am saying it's high stakes for you if things go wrong and you owe it to yourself to get definitive answers to this question from truly qualified sources.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T15:21:17.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2016-12-05T15:46:06.467" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a word, anabolic steroids. Sprinters engage in anaerobic work to increase raw leg strength because this is what sprinting partly is- a measure of anaerobic leg strength- raw power. That leads to them to the weightlifting gym. For serious professional athletes (and others), that leads to steroids and steroids don't differentiate between your arm muscles and your thigh muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just giving someone steroids increases muscle mass irrespective of whether they work out or not. This is a large part of the reason why boys are boys and girls are girls in terms of strength (the rest is strictly genetic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steroids were introduced to the public immediately after WWII as a way for concentration camp survivors to regain loss body mass. If you look at athletes from BEFORE that era, the 1900's or 1920's say you'll notice their upper bodies while defined and muscular look nothing like today's sprinter's upper bodies. That's not because they didn't train hard; that is an across the board gross morphological change in the musculature and size of the athletes. That's steroids. Anyone telling you anything different is either naive, lying or in denial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastEditorUserId="23637" LastEditDate="2016-12-05T16:37:35.753" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T16:37:35.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32723" CreationDate="2016-12-05T16:35:22.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think about what five minutes could possibly yield in conditioning. Obviously you have to issue a challenge to your heart and lungs walking isn't going to help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose you did the opposite of walking. Suppose you did wind sprints for five minutes, that is, you ran 40 meters in one direction &lt;em&gt;as fast as you can- a full out sprint every step of the way&lt;/em&gt;, then immediately turned around and did it again in the opposite direction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you would find is you couldn't do it for five minutes. In fact, no-one can because &lt;em&gt;as hard as you can&lt;/em&gt; exercise is shorthand for anaerobic and no one's body can process the waste products of anaerobic exercise fast enough to keep the body working anaerobically for five minutes. The result is, you stop and your heart and lungs are working as hard as they can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now you have a formula for working out &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt; in five minutes. No doubt your conditioning will improve over what it is now, the thing is, it's not clear it would improve as much as if you were able to dedicate 20 minutes  or hard exercise interspersed with lower intensity exercise. 20 minutes 3 times a week is the minimum  of time usually cited as needed for progressive improvement of your heart and lung capacity and efficiency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under that assumption, repeated runs at achieving the impossible- a full 5 minutes of continuous wind sprints- would not be as effective for conditioning. That said, I am not aware of any researchers who have investigated the effects of a such specific and limited regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get in a completely challenging (to say the least) workout in five minutes. Whether it's a workout that will lead to progressively increased fitness and if so, what that fitness might yield in terms of capacity and endurance outside of doing wind sprints, I am not sure. I am not advising you to do this (consult your doctor), I am merely pointing out that 5 minutes is actually plenty of time to give your heart and lungs a real workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to think about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T16:35:22.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32665" CreationDate="2016-12-05T16:52:42.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe. I am not sure what you mean by &quot;dynamic stretching&quot; but if you mean bouncing while stretching in any form, then don't do it. You muscles tendons and ligaments have a range of stretch which you are trying to improve. That range has a limit. Beyond that limit, they don't stretch, they tear. The goal is to go to or near that limit for just 30 seconds or so, then rest and let your body  adapt during which time it will increase its flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know where that limit is because you can feel that tension increase as you approach it. When you can't stretch any further, you're at it. Going beyond this point by bouncing is just a form of throwing your body in a  direction which forces the attached muscles tendons and ligaments to extend past that point. Now they're tearing. That's possibly what you're feeling and why.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The response to stretching - increased flexibility - is invoked by staying merely near the limit of your current stretching range for 30-45 seconds. That's it. You do not have to exceed it, you gain no benefit from exceeding it, and you risk micro-injury and the cumulative effects of such injury by exceeding it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be consistent and work hard for many things in fitness. Flexibility isn't one of those things. To get flexible, you just have to be consistent. Every day, for 30-60 seconds max, stretch until you start to feel a &lt;em&gt;slight&lt;/em&gt; clearly non-painful  tension that is nevertheless more than you feel otherwise, stay there for 45 seconds or so and that's it, you're done. Changes will happen with all possible speed following that simple and easy regime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HTH&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T16:52:42.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27738" CreationDate="2016-12-05T17:36:16.150" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're referring to is possibly a muscle cramp, that is, an involuntary and forceful contraction of the muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23637" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T17:36:16.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32776" CreationDate="2016-12-05T17:58:44.940" Score="0" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past 2 years I have managed to lose about 75 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was a slow process as I am not as dedicated as should have been.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unique&lt;/strong&gt; Right now I am at the size I want to be, however I'm &quot;flabby&quot; I guess you could say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really dont want to loose anymore weight and also do not want to gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talking to a couple friends both of which I do not think have ever weight problems are telling me I either need to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Build muscle, protein drinks, weight lifting and lots of cardio &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tone muscle, Low cardio, light weight more reps weight lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I want to Tone the muscle I have and possibly Build muscle where I lack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they both right or is there a better way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also diet is important, is there foods that are better for what im trying to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unique&lt;/strong&gt; Also to help in my googling, does what Im trying to do have a name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is really nothing in the suggest duplicate that asks the main apart of my questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is geared toward people who have lost weight and have excess skin they are trying to tighten, find a question that is a duplicate of that and I will think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24206" LastEditorUserId="24206" LastEditDate="2016-12-06T14:27:21.260" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T14:27:21.260" Title="How to tone without losing or gaining weight" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32665" CreationDate="2016-12-05T17:59:19.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What Kirby225 said, muscles are like elastic bands. They can only expand so much until the tendons begin to tear. I would look into fixing any posture issues like pelvic tilt first before stretching. Say you have tight hip flexors, the rear or the pelvis will tilt up, elongating the hamstrings close to their tension limit. This can go unnoticed, so if you try to stretch the hamstring further, you might think you are doing a normal stretch, but you would be pulling the tendons since the muscle cannot expand anymore. This can be applied to any muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24207" LastEditorUserId="24207" LastEditDate="2016-12-05T18:04:29.683" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T18:04:29.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27727" CreationDate="2016-12-05T18:12:05.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to reduce inflammation, diet and environment are just as important as workouts. Minimal carbs/sugar, tons of vegetables, and cold showers definitely help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24207" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T18:12:05.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32772" CreationDate="2016-12-05T21:00:19.747" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congrats on the weight loss! That is quite an accomplishment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is, absolutely no such thing as &quot;toning muscle&quot; in the sense that people seem to think. There's building muscle and losing fat. Think of it as putting a tarp over a pile of objects. The tarp is your skin, the air under the tarp is fat, and the objects being covered is muscle.  You put more stuff under the tarp, the tarp gets bigger. You push air out, the tarp looks less rounded, and you start to see the shapes of the objects being covered. Same thing happens with body composition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you seem to be looking for is called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/webhp?q=recomposition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recomposition&lt;/a&gt; in which you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Doing so keeps your weight somewhat stable (you may gain or lose weight but not at extreme rates). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to do recomposition as it takes a carefully balanced diet with the appropriate macro-nutrients (protein, carbs, fat). It also gets harder to do as you progress over time. You build less muscle as you get to your genetic max, and you burn less fat as you get leaner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to recomp. I'm sure you can find a hundred different suggestions, but the two consistent factors are a good solid diet and a physically intense training regiment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good diet would require you to first figure out what your macro nutrients are. There are a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;online calculators&lt;/a&gt; that help. General guidelines are first you figure out what your &lt;em&gt;maintenance calories&lt;/em&gt; are. These are the calories you eat at where you won't gain or lose weight. Allocate calories 0.8 - 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass, 0.5-0.8 grams of fat per pound, and whatever's left in carbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to find a decent weightlifting program. Preferably full body workouts which would include things like squat and deadlift. Lift heavy and in good form. That means low-reps, high weight. Basically if you've done 8 full reps of something than the weight is too light and you should increase it. Practice &lt;a href=&quot;https://bretcontreras.com/progressive-overload/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt; which basically means do slightly more than the previous time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2016-12-05T23:17:24.187" LastActivityDate="2016-12-05T23:17:24.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32779" CreationDate="2016-12-05T21:34:18.183" Score="2" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a beginner who wants to L-sit, should I begin the appropriate progressions on the floor, or on parelletes (I have both)? Paralletes seems slightly easier. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T08:30:03.820" Title="L-sit on paralletes vs floor" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32825" CreationDate="2016-12-06T03:06:40.660" Score="1" ViewCount="1143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently began to use many movements that are stressful on elbows all at once — pull-ups, pull-up holds, L-sit on paralletes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My elbows were sore afterwards — so I sensibly chopped out most of the exercises (I am a beginner for many elbow heavy exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now after stretching and massages of forearm muscles, a week later, my elbow are no longer sore. However when I lock and twist them they crack like crazy — something I've never experienced before. Should I be worried? Should I rest them longer, or slowly incorporate more exercises? The last thing I want is tendinitis. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T03:40:06.027" Title="Elbows cracking and popping" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-12-12T16:10:03.847" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32777" CreationDate="2016-12-06T08:10:18.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;L-Sit Progression&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZJoSP66HI#t=40s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Foot Supported L-sit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit down on the ground with your legs straight in front of you. Put your hands next to your thighs and push yourself up (straight arms!), leaving your feet on the ground. Hold for the assigned time period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZJoSP66HI#t=2m33s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;One-Leg Foot Supported L-sit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do a foot supported L-sit, but raise one of your legs up from the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZJoSP66HI#t=2m59s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tuck L-sit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit down on the floor with your legs bent (about 90 degree angle at the knee, 45 degree angle at the hip). Put your hands slightly in front of your butt and push yourself up (straight arms!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced Tuck L-sit or One-Leg L-sit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either tuck less than before (extend your legs outwards), or stay tucked and extend only one leg straight like in a real L-sit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek76IXnE9tE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;L-sit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Common Issues&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I can't push up! Are my arms too short? Should I use paralletes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, your arms are not too short to do an L-sit. You just lack the ability to push down through the shoulders (depress the scapula), or to compress enough &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BamK6eoKZ_Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(see here for a demonstration of maximum compression&lt;/a&gt;)). The foot-supported L-sit from the progression will help with the former, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/l-sit#wiki_compression_work&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;compression work&lt;/a&gt; will help with the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My upper leg cramps up and hurts! What do I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Massage it out and continue onwards. It'll get better with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T08:30:03.820" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32781" CreationDate="2016-12-06T10:10:00.803" Score="4" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I go to a gym to train I get really nervous because I feel as though people are looking at me or that they think I look stupid. It just really makes me not want to go to the gym at all and I lose motivation, any pointers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24211" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T14:25:01.477" Title="How do I beat gym anxiety?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32780" CreationDate="2016-12-06T11:00:33.077" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be honest. When I am working out at the gym I &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; look around at other people doing their workouts. I mentally-applaud the new people I haven't seen before, especially if there is someone who is just starting what is obviously 5x5 or Starting Strength programs. I also mentally-cuss those who are ego lifting (or generally being annoying/disrespectful) or doing &lt;strong&gt;dangerous&lt;/strong&gt; exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reality of it is that nearly-everyone at the gym started at one point like you. They all started with the bar and had their sticking points and failed reps. Most people will occasionally glance around between sets but don't really care what you are doing unless its dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Actual Advice&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by going on the cardio machines to get comfortable at the gym, in the environment and if you go regularly you will see the regulars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you are comfortable with being in the gym then go do machines. They are easily shared with other people and its hard to get them wrong (as long as you follow the guide on the side of the machine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, add barbell movements. Most people start with bench press because everyone wants that sick upper-body. I'd suggest squats (but I'm biased).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually move to mainly or completely barbell/dumbbell workouts. Pick up 5x5 Stronglifts or Starting Strength. Watch youtube for guides on how to perform lifts like low-bar squat, front squat, deadlift, clean, whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Things that people will stare at you for doing:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crossfit WOD in a commercial gym&lt;/strong&gt;: There isn't much space and everyone needs to share equipment. The kipping pull-ups also look odd, just go to a Crossfit box and do it there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hoarding dumbbells&lt;/strong&gt;: You aren't Gollum, take only the dumbbells you need. You don't need 5 different pairs at all times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dangerous movements&lt;/strong&gt;: Anything that involves throwing free-weights around. Using the machines how they were not intended, swinging wildly. This does not mean &amp;quot;dangerous&amp;quot; movements like behind-the-neck press, its stuff like bosu-ball-barbell-squat (apparently that's a thing).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ego lifting&lt;/strong&gt;: Everyone started with lifting just the bar (except deadlift), no-one is impressed with you celebrating &amp;quot;achieving&amp;quot; a 315lb bench press for all of 2 inches of movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grunting like a gorilla&lt;/strong&gt;: Great, you are lifting heavy weight. I can see that. I know its heavy. Making some noise on a rep to help is good and deep breathing is helpful to lifting but no-one needs to hear your every-rep-grunts as you bash out your 4th set of 20lb dumbbell curls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not clearing up after yourself&lt;/strong&gt;: Put your weights away, I don't care if your house is a mess, put your dam weights back in the storage provided.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting in peoples personal space while lifting&lt;/strong&gt;: If you get waaaay too close to me while i'm over-head pressing or (god help you) push past the bar I am lifting then you best be ready to apologise like a 10-yr old who ate all the chocolate from the jar and got caught. Just wait till they finish their set the move past.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stinking the place out:&lt;/strong&gt; Sweating during exercise is common, and it a gym it's expected. However, have some self-respect and &lt;strong&gt;use deodorant&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;wear fresh gym clothes&lt;/strong&gt;. Seeing regulars in the same, smelly, sweat-crusted gym gear every day makes me want to puke. I have reported people to management for hygiene as I genuinely felt sick and they regularly and obviously made no effort to combat it (same clothes, not wiping down machines, no deodorant).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spitting&lt;/strong&gt;: If you spit, I am going to give you stink eye, tell you to clean that shit up and then report you to management as I leave. Generally, in life: spitting makes you look disrespectful, don't do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Men: Wearing Skin-tight Lyrca Leggings&lt;/strong&gt;: You NEVER look good in this, everyone &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; end up looking at your junk. If that is the effect you are going for then please seek mental help. If you want to wear them, stick some shorts over the top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Things that people really don't care about:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduced Range-of-movement Lifts&lt;/strong&gt;: This is not ego-lifting but can appear as such. I noticed that a regular was doing 1/4 squats one week with a LOT more weight that he usually lifts. I asked him about it and he said it was to help with his lockout and walk-out. I tried that method to help with mine and my max squat went up and I felt stronger in lockout. Reduced ROM means you can focus on a specific part of a lift. As a newbie, you don't need to worry about this just yet though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The fact you are small&lt;/strong&gt;: Everyone started somewhere with just the bar, even that massive guy. I have much more respect for people that do  that I do people who don't do any exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You struggling to lift what is &amp;quot;low&amp;quot; weight&lt;/strong&gt;: As above, struggling is part of becoming stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You sweating a lot&lt;/strong&gt;: Sucks for you, if you are one of those people who sweats buckets during exercise. But provided you carry a towel, wear fresh clothes each time and wipe down machines you use, no one should really care. Most gyms have paper towels for you to wipe down the equipment with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Making some noise on maximal lifts&lt;/strong&gt;: If I'm doing a PR or a set with burnout-reps or with drop-sets then I personally find it helps to make a small noise as I grind through a final rep. I don't do this often but it works for me. People will look at you if you start making noises and people will judge the noise you make. But as this is usually a 1-off, most don't really care.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really are not that interesting, go to the gym, have fun, get strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T14:25:01.477" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29303" CreationDate="2016-12-06T15:19:22.507" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Box squats are most useful for two things: 1) sport specific training where you want a shorter range of motion 2) equipped powerlifting because they teach the lifter to sit back into the suit and load it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23884" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T15:19:22.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32751" CreationDate="2016-12-06T17:23:19.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Positive nitrogen balance is an indicator of you being in an anabolic state, meaning you are synthesising protein.This is only an indication of what the protein in your body is being utilised for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are taking on too little carbohydrate, your body will utilise both protein and fat for energy; resulting in negative nitrogen balance. You are then likely to be in a state of catabolism, meaning you could be losing lean mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For strength training athletes, 2g protein per kg of body mass is a good starting point for protein synthesis. Any intake above 2.4kg body mass is considered to be of little benefit for gains in muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both carbohydrate and protein will add 4kcal per gram to your diet, fat will add 9kcal per gram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good fats are essential in your diet but are costly in terms of energy, aim to keep total fat below 20% of total energy allowance; aim for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat sources, avoid saturated and trans-fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on the intake of complex carbohydrates  i.e brown rice as opposed to simple carbohydrate i.e. white bread. Read about glycaemic index/glycaemic load and how it relates to exercise. Timings for the intake of different types of carbohydrate will make a huge difference to outcomes. If you time carbohydrate intake effectively, you can worry less about anabolic windows post workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb 3500kcal is equal to one pound fat. Aim to lose between 1 and 2lbs per week when stripping, any more and you will likely sacrifice lean mass. Be patient, it pays to be conservative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;REMEMBER:&lt;/strong&gt; protein is expensive fuel, train smart.&#xA;Focus on building a good feedback loop: record what you eat, and your training outcomes. Tweak ratios for what works for you, there are no hard and fast rules and good science will lead you where you want to go. The above are good starting points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24213" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T17:23:19.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32790" CreationDate="2016-12-06T18:45:25.577" Score="1" ViewCount="728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started Olympic lifting recently and have been looking around the internet for a good accessory routine that makes up for the muscle groups missed, but to no avail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goals in order are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to do the lifts that I enjoy, i.e. Olympic lifting, deadlifts, rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;but I also want to concentrate on Aesthetics, hence my question&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have Strength goals I want to attain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for the last year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will be lifting 3/4 times a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male, 26 y/o, 6ft, 87 kg, 13% body-fat, no injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I need to mostly add in chest and biceps, and hence I put together a program because I couldn't find a suitable one (I can't really program the Olympic part currently because I am just getting used the the movements):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The program is 3/4 days a week, alternating Workouts A and B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Row 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Bench 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead press 5x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts 1x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups / chins 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curls 3x10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progression:&#xA;If I manage all the sets for an exercise, increase weight by 2.5 kg (5 lbs) next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for advice, recommendations for a suitable routine or criticisms of the one I have suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21959" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T11:04:04.727" Title="Aesthetic accessory routine for Olympic Weightlifting?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;programs&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32780" CreationDate="2016-12-07T00:03:52.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, don't care about what others think. Secondly, don't care about others think. As JJosaur has brilliantly stated, they all started at one point. So, if they are 10 years experienced in lifting or have a lot of experience in what they do, they will surely appreciate what you are doing. Contrary to what most beginners believe, experienced lifters/athletes at gym are always humble and helping. I can tell from my experience, when I begun lifting, there were always people who walked down to me to tell me what I was doing wrong, and helped me with my form and shared valuable tips. I may not be 100% correct as everyone is different the way they think, but you'd hardly meet anyone who'd laugh at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, no matter if you are doing kick-boxing, weight lifting, running or whatever, just seek help if you have a complex. It's all in the mind. Go for a trainer, train, and get better everyday. That's the goal. Once you gain enough confidence, carry that attitude to other aspects of your life. The path to fitness is an amazing things. It's more of a mental struggle than physical. Once you overcome the obstacles, the rewards are quite sweet. Your way of thinking, lifestyle, confidence and many other things will change for the good. How? There's no magic to it. You have to keep doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-12-07T00:19:00.843" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T00:19:00.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32788" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-07T04:37:02.867" Score="1" ViewCount="536" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past two years I have been doing basic calisthenics(Push-ups,Pull-ups, Chin-ups, Squats). I do 1500 push-ups one day and a total of 600 chin-ups and pull-ups the other day, and 250 squats everyday.. I have decided it is time to progress to more difficult body weight exercises such as planche, muscle up, flag pole etc..&#xA;I don't know where to fit the training for them into my workout routine. I workout M-Saturday and Sunday off. After I am done with my workout I am too exhausted to train for them, and I need advice on when to do them and significantly progress in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24216" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T14:39:36.607" Title="How to progress in calisthenics?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32784" CreationDate="2016-12-07T11:04:04.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend that you pick the muscles you think are lacking and work those. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small Biceps? 4x10-15 (4 sets of 10-15 reps) of Hammer/Barbell Curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tiny shoulders? 4x10-15 of Strict Press/Face Pulls/Lat Raises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flat Chest? 4x10-15 of Cable fly/Incline Bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get the idea, just pick an exercise (ExRx has good resource on which exercises work which muscles) and work in the 'bodybuilder' rep ranges (10-15 reps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would save myself and do accessories to help practice and develop my Olympic lifts which will develop my physique and help improve my form and maximal lift strength: Hang Cleans, Power Clean/Snatch, Deficit snatch, Front Squat, Overhead squat, Snatch Balance, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided you are supplementing with some cardiovascular work to assist your conditioning you are doing a lot of the movements that most crossfit people do (oly lifts and conditioning). IF you do that 4 times a week and make sure your diet supports muscle growth, it won't be too long before you notice change in your physique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T11:04:04.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32788" CreationDate="2016-12-07T14:39:36.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've built up enough strength to be able to start moving onto some more advanced moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say If you want to learn new movements, just start learning, training, building, improving as you did with your current exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you didn't start out one day and do 1500 pushups without training!? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just need to incorporate these new advanced movements into your current normal routine.&#xA;Also check YouTube for instructions/advice on proper form to prevent injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On your pull up day swap a few sets of pullups for muscle ups, &#xA;&lt;em&gt;(before moving straight to muscle ups you may need to work on dips as you don't mention how many bodyweight dips you can do)&lt;/em&gt; &#xA;Also training to get more explosive at your pullups will help. so you can let go of the bar at the top and clap etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On your squats day throw in a few sets of alternating pistol squats, or bench lunges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On push up day try handstand pushups or jumping/clapping pushups, wide grip, narrow grip, diamond grip... there's lots of pushup variations to make it more difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also suggest looking at core, and lower back training as doing more advanced static hold moves like flagpole planche etc. you're going to need to be able to recruit good balance and stabilization skills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a couple of bricks or pushup bars and start trying to planche, see how much you can do and go from there... 5 seconds one day, 10 seconds the next and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also exercising in a weighted vest or with a heavy backpack will give you a jump in strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you're saying you're exhausted check that you're eating enough You don't want to burn out. especially if you're training 6 day splits!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But keep up the good work! &#xA;Sounds like your progressing well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23668" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T14:39:36.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32799" CreationDate="2016-12-07T15:46:18.720" Score="0" ViewCount="1666" Body="&lt;p&gt;I moved recently and the gym here doesnt have a free standing squat rack. Instead it has one of these racks with rails&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/354582/file-499385451-jpg/images/Equipment/About_-_Equipment.Smith_Machine.jpg?t=1400007711933&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/354582/file-499385451-jpg/images/Equipment/About_-_Equipment.Smith_Machine.jpg?t=1400007711933&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can feel my legs/glutes working but clearly it is not the same. The rails restrict the range of motion so I dont feel the full body workout Im used to. The muscles that would normally attempt to stabilize and hold the bar are not activated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing squats mostly since it has helped strengthen supporting muscles and helped me deal with lower back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I should continue using it. Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7267" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T21:49:55.153" Title="Is doing squats using a rack with rails defeating the purpose?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-07T15:50:30.273" Score="3" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've looked around elsewhere on the site, and other articles online, but I cannot seem to find anything to confirm either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always been a sporty person, playing different sports regularly as well as watching them. As recently as a year ago, I was able to eat large meals, the sorts of ones that come on a plate big enough to stretch 2 seats at a restaurant table, and that you get for free if you get through the full thing. I was working out a few times a week, playing football, running etc and staying slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I now struggle to eat large quantities and even some just above average sized meals now, and the only real change is that I play less football, but workout and run more regularly and more intensely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this have something to do with the loss of appetite or why I feel full a lot faster than before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even my other half has noticed a difference from when I've taken her out for dinner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love eating and working out, so this is a bit of rock and a hard place for me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24221" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T12:33:48.487" Title="Why has my appetite decreased so much since working out more frequently?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22140" CreationDate="2016-12-07T15:51:12.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just in the same way that overdeveloped frontal muscular (i.e. chest, anterior deltoids) will pull the shoulders forward, overdeveloped rhomboids can pull the shoulders back excessively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this matter? The ability to keep the shoulder blade flush against the rib cage during movement, as opposed to ‘&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_scapula&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;winging&lt;/a&gt;’, is important for stability (‘you can’t fire a cannon from a canoe’ - Fred Hatfield). This desirable scapular positioning can be compromised when the scapular retractors (back muscles) are overactive relative to the scapular protractors (mainly serratus anterior). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That’s the case where upper back is concerned. As for lower back: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hyperlordotic&lt;/a&gt; posture and associated malignancies can occur when the spinal extensors out-muscle the anterior core. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imbalances work both ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24223" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T15:51:12.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32793" CreationDate="2016-12-07T16:12:31.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the squat-like exercises that the Smith machine facilitates are less beneficial to the development of balance and strength than barbell squats.  Don't waste your time with the Smith machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T16:12:31.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32852" CreationDate="2016-12-07T16:23:39.873" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a calisthenics enthusiast training towards advanced exercises like (Tuck-) Planche, Handstand Push Ups, (Ring-) Muscle Ups, Human Flag, etc. Because of a torn muscle fiber in my left forearm, I have to pause doing such exercises for at least 6 weeks. Now I am afraid of loosing muscles in my arms and shoulders. Which other exercises can I do in order to prevent muscle decreases as best as possible? Other suggestions are greatly appreciated as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Recently, I talked to a sports student who encouraged me to do sports despite my injury. He told me it is fine (even beneficial) to load the injured muscle - provided it does not hurt - to strengthen it from the very beginning. Now, after two weeks of recovery, it actually feels okay to do some push ups or hand stands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Is he right that loading the muscle a bit can be beneficial for the recovery, or do you recommend to rest strictly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24224" LastEditorDisplayName="user24224" LastEditDate="2016-12-14T13:43:19.683" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T13:43:19.683" Title="Prevent muscle decreases after injury (left arm)" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32793" CreationDate="2016-12-07T21:49:55.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike CCCV, I would not summarily dismiss using the Smith Machine with the assumption that one does not work as hard while using the machine.  Granted, there is a restricted range of motion, but, that does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; totally remove any potential benefits from using this machine.  And, while I'm not trying to imply you should substitute machine squats for free standing squats, I am saying that machine squats can provide an effective leg work out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a 2009 study, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19855308&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A comparison of free weight squat to Smith machine squat using electromyography&lt;/a&gt;, researchers measured the activity of several muscles during the study: &lt;em&gt;tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, lumbar erector spinae, and rectus abdominus&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Electromyographic activity was significantly higher by 34, 26, and 49&#xA;  in the gastrocnemius, biceps femoris, and vastus medialis,&#xA;  respectively, during the free weight squat compared to the Smith&#xA;  machine squat (p &amp;lt; 0.05). &lt;strong&gt;There were no significant differences&#xA;  between free weight and Smith machine squat for any of the other&#xA;  muscles&lt;/strong&gt;; however, the EMG averaged over all muscles during the free&#xA;  weight squat was 43% higher when compared to the Smith machine squat&#xA;  (p &amp;lt; 0.05). The free weight squat may be more beneficial than the&#xA;  Smith machine squat for individuals who are looking to strengthen&#xA;  plantar flexors, knee flexors, and knee extensors. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(my &lt;strong&gt;emphasis&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the free squat is arguably the better movement, the study results do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; imply that there is no benefit to performing machine squats. It simply says that for some muscles, free squats are better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Machines do have a place in training, but, are often dismissed based solely on perpetuated opinions.  Rather than dismissing a machine outright, I would suggest using them on those occasions when a piece of equipment is not available, you don't have a spotter, or, simply to switch things up to keep the training fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the different feel to machine squats, there are many variations of the squat (eg. split squat) that can be performed to provide an effective workout.  And, if you're dealing with lower back pain, machine squats can provide a sense of security because the movement &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; restricted and there's less likelihood that you'll injure yourself further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T21:49:55.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-08T00:59:09.047" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 'necklected' neck exercises so far, and would like to change that.&#xA;What are some exercises for a strong neck? Is a one of those head harness necessary? The only device I have and use regularly is a kettlebell. I don't want it to be bulky, or strong enough for martial arts, I just want toned muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastEditorUserId="6634" LastEditDate="2016-12-08T18:04:31.827" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T22:47:14.800" Title="Exercises for a strong neck" Tags="&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32804" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-12-08T10:36:26.123" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-12-08T10:36:26.123" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T10:36:26.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32805" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-12-08T10:36:26.123" Score="0" Body="For questions pertaining to usage of gymnastic rings in exercise." OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-12-08T10:36:26.123" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T10:36:26.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36106" CreationDate="2016-12-08T10:37:07.960" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be a good progression to transition from where I am currently: Horizontal Ring Row and Ring Dip to a full ring muscle up (As opposed to a bar muscleup, which is an entirely different focus/movement)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is unique as it only focuses on the progression required for a ring-specific muscle up. Other questions here considered bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previous answers can be summarised to:&#xA; - Practice the transition (what transition? What are the cues/movements?)&#xA; - Develop strength (I am plenty strong for them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No-one yet has explained the technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T00:57:46.510" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T06:11:22.343" Title="How to perform a ring muscle up?" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;&lt;rings&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="428" CreationDate="2016-12-08T13:01:50.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all I would like to state that what you heard about breathing in freestyle swimming stroke is absolutely correct but it's sort of partial information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For breathing purposes in swimming, you should be aware of the bubbling phenomena and have mastered it with immense practice before applying it in practical swimming strokes. This bubbling process is used not only in freestyle stroke but is used in each and every swimming stroke. If you are not aware of this then I suggest you take a look at this useful article &lt;a href=&quot;http://hobbiesphere.com/index.php/2016/10/09/swimming-strokes-swim-tips-benefits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://hobbiesphere.com/index.php/2016/10/09/swimming-strokes-swim-tips-benefits/&lt;/a&gt; for learning the technique of bubbling plus some extra tips how to perform it with maximum effectiveness and efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In freestyle stroke, the proper way to breathe is to breathe air in from your mouth just when you pull your head out on the side and then breathe it out from your nose under water. This process is repetitive and is followed on both of the sides. The key here is to take in as much possible air from your mouth and let it out slowly under water from your nose. It may sound a bit tough but is quite easy to do in actual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this answers your query :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24229" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T13:01:50.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4758" CreationDate="2016-12-08T15:35:05.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jim Schmitz, former Olympic lifting coach offers good insights &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ironmind.com/articles/jim-schmitz-on-the-lifts/Running-and-Weightlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The other factors of running that might influence your lifting are the&#xA;  volume and intensity of your running. Sprints can be more stressful&#xA;  than jogging and long distances are more depleting than both. Running&#xA;  hills, stairs or cross country is the most demanding and will&#xA;  definitely fatigue your legs a lot. Whichever form of running you do,&#xA;  all can affect your lifting depending on how fast, hard, and long you&#xA;  run. So be aware—if you want to lift heavy the next day, run easy to&#xA;  medium the day before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also talks about backing off on either prior to competition, or when hitting PRs... in which case, when you're in the advanced phase of SL 5x5 (nearing 300lb squats) you'll probably want to dial back the running if you want to progress on the lifts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Running won’t adversely affect your weightlifting—and vice&#xA;  versa—provided you do it intelligently and systematically, and both&#xA;  are definitely beneficial for overall strength and health. Remember,&#xA;  though, if you are peaking for a competition (or planning workouts for&#xA;  some PRs), taper off your running—or weightlifting, if that’s the&#xA;  case—as the competition date draws near.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using the app with SL 5x5, it'll auto deload the weight for you if you fail to lift it three workouts in a row.  It also tracks your progression.  Remember that even the best trainers can't make predictions for you:  You know YOU better than anybody else.  My recommendation is if you find yourself deloading fairly frequently on squats/DL but aren't near a 250-300lb squat or 300lb DL first look at your diet:  Are you actually eating enough calories and protein for your muscles to build?  Are you getting 8hrs of sleep?  Getting these wrong will hurt you far more than a little cardio.  If you ARE getting these things, are you sure your lifting technique is correct?  If not that, THEN maybe look at running less frequently or try Jim's suggestion on interval training as a replacement for C25K:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Interval training— where you run for a certain distance or time and&#xA;  then walk for a certain distance or time—is a great running method for&#xA;  weightlifters. I have found interval training to be tremendous for&#xA;  developing one’s cardiovascular fitness, which then helps your&#xA;  recovery from weightlifting workouts. I have also found that running&#xA;  20 to 30 minutes (or 2 to 3 miles) two to three times a week on&#xA;  non-workout days, or after light-to-medium weightlifting workouts, has&#xA;  no adverse effect on one’s lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C25K as I recall, is exactly that:  interval training working up to Running 20 to 30 minutes.  If you keep it on off-days, I think you'll be fine.  Adjust diet, sleep, and technique first on your lifts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24232" LastEditorUserId="24232" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T16:02:20.813" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T16:02:20.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14775" CreationDate="2016-12-08T20:23:13.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While Masonk is mostly correct, one detail missed is that as you cut calories and lose weight your metabolism will slow down. For example, if you can maintain 190lbs on a 2000 calorie diet and you cut calories by 500 (to 1500) you will lose weight until you reach whatever weight is sustainable at 1500 calories. However, your metabolism is now slower so if you return to 2000 calories you will end up at a weight greater than the 190lbs you started at. This is the big issue in weight loss. How often have you seen people lose weight? Pretty often, but most of the time they gain it all back and then some. The solution is to slowly add back calories and give your body time to adjust. Using the above example, don't jump back to 2000 calories, add in 50 a day for a couple weeks, then 50 more and so on. Layne Norton, PHd calls this reverse dieting and he has put out tons of information on it. I would look into some of his research. Here is a video to get your started. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24048" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T20:23:13.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14775" CreationDate="2016-12-08T22:06:28.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You asked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How to keep your weight from rising (after lowering it) without a strict diet forever?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer, that you probably don't want to hear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can't.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, this all depends on your definition of &quot;strict&quot; but what I am picking up from your post is that you want to diet, lose a certain amount of weight, then go back to the food you ate before the diet. Again, this isn't going to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is construct a diet you enjoy. A diet is only successful if stick to it, forever. A diet doesn't need to be draconian no desserts ever, however it does need to be strict in that you limit them and you stick to it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a footnote: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;also exercises don't work, doing or not exercises don't change the speed of me losing weight&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is true, then you must go see a scientist so we can study your body to create a perpetual motion machine. What is probably happening is the age ole &quot;Man I worked out good today, I deserve a nice soda + ice cream to reward myself&quot; resulting in eating more calories than you actually burned. Or less drastically, you get hungry from working out and just eat more than normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24235" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T22:06:28.253" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32821" CreationDate="2016-12-09T08:03:58.570" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading the accepted answer of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8238/what-are-the-trade-offs-of-weight-versus-repetition/8239#8239&quot;&gt;What are the trade-offs of weight versus repetition?&lt;/a&gt; in which the user add this picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d1oIV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d1oIV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I get  surprised by the training tips given.  According to the picture, to get mass muscle you should practice at least five times a week  ! do 4 to 8 sets with 6 to 12 repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions&lt;/strong&gt; : Are those tips  in the picture correct (scientifically ) ? What about the rest days that plays an important role in building muscles ? On the other hand, if this is not the convenient training way, what is the optimal sets-reps programs  in order to get muscles mass ,  and how many times should one practice a week ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T08:08:48.177" Title="Training program to get muscles mass" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32820" CreationDate="2016-12-09T08:08:48.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Are those tips in the picture correct (scientifically ) ?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, they still hold true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What about the rest days that plays an important role in building muscles ?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest days are when your muscle mostly does its growing(/repairing)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;On the other hand, if this is not the convenient training way, what is the optimal sets-reps programs in order to get muscles mass , and how many times should one practice a week ?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends on you, your goals and your movements. If you are focusing on building mass then more volume (5-6 days a week) traditionally is popular. For those training strength, 3-4 times a week is popular. Avoid training 7 days a week, you need to rest at least 1 day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T08:08:48.177" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32778" CreationDate="2016-12-10T03:40:06.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you should be worried. Instead, here are some points to get you closer to a solution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm up.&lt;/strong&gt;  A general rule of thumb is to incorporate change gradually to avoid injury. Warm up your target muscles/joints with smaller weights or fewer repetitions.  Gradually increase until you are in a challenging rhythm for the remainder of your workout.  Doing this over the course of 3 to 6 sets will reduce shock to your joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest.&lt;/strong&gt; Give your body protein and other nutrients if possible within 30 minutes of your workout to help your body repair. Rest periods can be 2 or more days to help your muscles and joints recover properly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New excercises.&lt;/strong&gt; When your body is not used to something it has to adapt.  Greatly increasing the load on a muscle group that is not used to it will result in very sore muscles for several days.  The days of rest they need will decrease as you use them more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet.&lt;/strong&gt; Some food has been found to help our body repair/maintain our joints more effectively.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutrex-hawaii.com/foods-for-joint-health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Check this article out.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/arthritis/features/joints-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;And this one.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My experience.&lt;/strong&gt; I am young and my bones and joints have cracked from head to toe non-stop for the majority of my life. I go to the gym and the pain I get is in my wrists.  This is usually solved by changing my eating habits, rest periods, and/or excercises.  Switching from a high-joint-stress excercise (dumbell bench press) to a low stress excercise (machine bench press), for example, allows my wrists to fix themselves up (a week or two of this routine is sufficient).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T03:40:06.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32827" CreationDate="2016-12-10T16:29:43.657" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;My club has a rower.  It has an adjustment on the side that looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tkFX3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tkFX3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see other people using the rower with the adjustment set up high (7-10).  I asked the trainer and he said, that sets the resistance for the machine, so, I should set it high to get a good workout.  I wanted a good workout, so, I followed his advice.  It was hard for me to use the machine because it felt heavy when I pulled on the handle.  Was the trainer correct? Do I have to set it to a high number for a good workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T16:29:43.657" Title="What's the purpose of this adjustment on the rower?" Tags="&lt;resistance&gt;&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32826" CreationDate="2016-12-10T16:29:43.657" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;.  What the trainer told you is one of the many common misconceptions surrounding the use of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergometer&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ergometer&lt;/a&gt;.  That adjustment, known as a &lt;strong&gt;damper&lt;/strong&gt;, does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; set the resistance for the machine.  If you take a close look at the damper while you move it, you'll see that when you set it to a low number, the opening on the damper gets smaller.  And, when you set it to a higher number, the opening increases.  The damper actually controls the flow of air into the flywheel cage.  The higher the number, the faster the flywheel will slow down after each stroke.  That means it will take more work to spin the flywheel on the next stroke.  The opposite is true for lower numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the Concept2 web site, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/tips-and-general-info/damper-setting-101&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Damper Setting 101&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Damper Setting is Not…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many people confuse damper setting with intensity level or resistance.&#xA;  Instead, the intensity of your workout is controlled by how much you&#xA;  use your legs, back and arms to move the handle—in other words, how&#xA;  hard you pull. This is true regardless of where the damper lever is&#xA;  set: the harder you pull, the more resistance you will feel. Because&#xA;  our indoor rowers use wind resistance (which is generated by the&#xA;  spinning flywheel), the faster you get the wheel spinning, the more&#xA;  resistance there will be. Think about rowing on the water. Regardless&#xA;  of whether you are rowing in a sleek racing shell, or in a big, slow&#xA;  row boat, you will need to increase your intensity and apply more&#xA;  force to make either boat go faster. The difference is in how it feels&#xA;  to make the different boats go fast. Making a sleek boat go fast&#xA;  requires you to apply your force more quickly. Making the slow boat go&#xA;  fast also requires more force, but the speed at which you apply the&#xA;  force will be slower over the course of the rowing stroke. At a damper&#xA;  setting of 1–4, the indoor rower feels like a sleek racing shell; at&#xA;  the higher numbers, the indoor rower feels like a slow row boat.&#xA;  Regardless of the setting, you will need to increase your effort to&#xA;  increase your intensity.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/news/debunking-myths-damper-setting-stroke-rate-and-intensity&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Debunking the Myths: Damper Setting, Stroke Rate and Intensity&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;Myth: A damper setting of 10 will give you the best workout&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reality: A damper setting of 3–5 is likely to give you the best&#xA;  workout. Too often, we see indoor rowers set at 10, because the&#xA;  athlete thinks that a higher number must be more challenging (or will&#xA;  reward them with a better time). The real challenge is to accelerate&#xA;  the flywheel at a lower damper setting, where power must be applied&#xA;  such as in a sleek, fast, rowing shell. A damper setting of 10 is more&#xA;  like a slow heavy rowboat—still a workout, but more about strength&#xA;  than cardiovascular fitness. Keep in mind: the best rowers in the&#xA;  world who compete at the Olympics, do not row competitively at a 10!&#xA;  Emulate them; aim for 3 to 5”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question, if you are a beginner on the rower, I would set the damper to the recommended low setting of 3-5.  If after a while, you need a challenge, experiment with a higher setting.  But, I would &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; recommend going too high with the setting as this typically leads to bad form and a potential for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T16:29:43.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32828" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32881" CreationDate="2016-12-10T19:22:09.667" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;h1&gt;N.B This is an attempt at a &lt;a href=&quot;https://stackoverflow.blog/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping/&quot;&gt;good shopping question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please provide feedback in the comments rather than voting to close straight away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a lot of 'Top 10' lists, as well as amazon reviews, and I've looked over the questions in &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/tracking&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;tracking&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;tracking&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/app&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;app&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;app&lt;/a&gt;, but I've yet to come across a useful website or tool for figuring out which Activity tracker is best suited to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closest I've found is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/11/winter-sports-recommendations.html#dont-forget-the-comparison-tool&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, but it lacks details like sleep tracking and other 'features' (app compatibility, HR monitor, VO2 etc.) I feel I'd want in an activity tracker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a tool like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10007" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T13:16:05.237" Title="How do I find the best Activity Tracker for my needs?" Tags="&lt;tracking&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32802" CreationDate="2016-12-10T22:09:50.240" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, those head straps look kinda dorky. but you could try it, if you don't want to buy one you could always make one with a small plate, rope and a headband or vest tied around your head etc. Maybe you could use resistance bands somehow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally stretches and mobilty work will do wonders, things like Neck rotation, extension/flexion, chin tuck. Head lift/crunch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Mike Tyson famously had a huge neck and trained it with exercises like the neck roll/neck bridge, but if you attempt this please be &lt;strong&gt;VERY&lt;/strong&gt; careful and maintain strict form as you can seriously injure yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making sure you hit traps well on back day is very important as it will help support the back of your neck and keep your spine protected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23668" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T22:09:50.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2016-12-10T23:26:17.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just do a short loop close to home . Few mile circuit . Then just keep increasing more and more laps until you have decent fitness level . That way you can push yourself and you will still be close to home should you get exhausted .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24244" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T23:26:17.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32832" CreationDate="2016-12-11T07:29:26.027" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in high school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get better at gymnastics because I'm jealous of a kid in my class. So far I've made solid gymnastics-wise progress for ~5 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to run a 1500 in ~5 minutes becuase it was something most of my friends couldn't do. I joined the athletics club and got injured ~&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of people want to exercise to get bigger muscles, lose weight, six-pack abs popping, impress their friends, impress girls/boys, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something in me tells me this is stupid and unsustainable, that this is silly and will end badly. If these reasons weren't mine, I would laugh. It's really unglamorous when it's boiled down. Since I don't know how to phrase this, this voicing of insecurities, into a question, I will end with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thoughts, anyone? What's a good reason to want to exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ps. Please add good tags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: What are some good motives to exercise. Looking big and beating your classmates, I know they are not good reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="24140" LastEditDate="2016-12-11T21:17:24.813" LastActivityDate="2016-12-11T21:17:24.813" Title="Good reasons to exercise" Tags="&lt;motivation&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-12-12T16:26:46.033" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32831" CreationDate="2016-12-11T15:30:50.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some reasons I go to the gym and am also working on starting to run regularly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Well being. From my experience, and with several studies backing this up, in general you feel better.  Having a goal like yours of getting faster and working towards it and eventually achieving that goal gives you a big sense of purpose in life.  Not only this, but at some point in Intense excercise endorphins/dopamine (I am mixing these up I know it) get released in the brain and give a feeling of what some have described as a drug &quot;high&quot; or excitement.  A specific example: working out helped me defeat my depression in high school. I kept up the hard work and eventually my mind was rid of the constant negativity eating at me. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Health is a big reason. I have struggled with asthma for my entire life, and exercising actually strengthens my lungs.  Other problems like heart disease can be prevented from ever happening when exercising regularly.  I tie this in with a big interest in cooking good food and nutrition and how it can affect the body. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mental benefits. I have read on more than one occasion that excercise helps improve memory for people of all ages.  One study specific to school: Studying and then performing rigorous excercise increases your memory of what you just studied. I wish that I had known this on the day before finals!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stress reduction.  When I'm felling a little stress, going to the gym or running can be a way to work it off.  From personal experience it takes me from worrying about one thing into doing something with a goal. This not only puts me in a &quot;solution&quot; mindset, it also gives me something else to think about for awhile. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there will always be people that workout to look better or boost the number of random instagram followers that they will never meet. Big whoop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get yourself to the gym or the track and focus on improving. You will have plenty of benefits yourself and unlike the people obsessed with their image, you don't have much to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-11T15:30:50.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32833" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-11T18:45:15.357" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I eliminate certain movement from my routine, no matter what? Right now, I raise a weight overhead, crunch with a weight, and do ballistic movements. I do not feel they harm me. Are these a recipe for injuries, even with proper form? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastEditorUserId="6634" LastEditDate="2016-12-11T18:57:31.497" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T21:41:20.887" Title="Are there movements that are always unsafe?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-01-16T17:07:19.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-11T20:28:40.040" Score="4" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually train rear delts with the following exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;face pulls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pec deck (facing in)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one arm cable using the pulley&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end I do some internal and external rotation exercises to prevent injury and to strengthen my rotator cuffs so this includes doing four sets of an external rotation exercise on my side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is... Is it really necessary for me to do that external rotation exercise at the end if I've already done the three above exercises where the arm externally rotates anyway thus having already targeted that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24249" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T19:56:14.833" Title="External rotation exercises, when is it enough?" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32833" CreationDate="2016-12-11T22:10:39.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With proper form? Yes, they may lead to injuries, if you are attempting to lift more than what your body is capable of, or doing explosive movements without proper stretching and warmup. Everyone is different and the way our bodies respond to different exercises differ from person to person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent injuries, we need to keep in mind how much we are loading ourselves. Loading should be done progressively, and with proper care. If I want to overload 100lbs more in a week as a beginner, then I'm just asking for injuries, no matter how good my form is. Also, regarding explosive moments, yes, injuries may happen if not done under correct supervision. The problem with explosive movements is, sometimes it throws the form out of the window. We just get carried away and call injuries in. Does that mean we should give everything up? No, the idea is to make our bodies able enough to handle those. With nutrition, rest, and taking it easy, and doing things  progressively. When our muscles and tendons are strong enough, they can withstand the explosiveness, but don't forget to warm then up with light movements and do enough stretching to make them prepared for what coming next.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2016-12-11T22:10:39.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2016-12-12T11:52:28.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamstrings. When you're running on a level treadmill, you're essentially hoping up and down on a moving belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When running outside, you're also pushing yourself forward (hip extension), which recruits the hamstrings more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can overcome this by increasing the incline on the treadmill, but it's still a difference that I didn't see mentioned here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-12-12T11:52:28.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32890" CreationDate="2016-12-12T15:00:08.040" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tendency to tuck my chin in when doing exercises like the military press or overhead dumbbell triceps extensions, I find this brings my neck forward a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for the neck or would it be more appropriate to keep the neck neutral?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24249" LastEditorUserId="24249" LastEditDate="2016-12-12T15:05:18.180" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T17:42:41.207" Title="Tucking chin in during exercises, is it safe for the neck?" Tags="&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-12T16:13:28.960" Score="0" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a long time distance runner turned amateur triathlete who has had a long time achilles tendon problem in both legs.  I first injured my achilles in college about 15 years ago, and since that time the injury has flared up on and off.  In recent years I switched to triathlon training because it allowed for hard training every day while laying off the achilles completely (while swimming), or partially (while cycling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get to my question, I was wondering if anyone knows of a strength training program which can build up the calves in such a way that running won't aggevate the achilles, or at least will aggrevate it less?  Currently the only thing I do is standing one-legged calf raises, once per week, with a little added weight.  But I am open to doing much more work if it could help my problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI the reason I want to do this is because I only run at most every other day now due to the achilles problem.  But I have my eye on maybe doing a standard traithlon or a half marathon at some point, both of which would require much more running mileage than I am currently doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T14:17:51.100" Title="Strength training for calf muscles to avoid achilles tendonitis" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32840" CreationDate="2016-12-12T21:03:20.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Achilles is not just about the calves, it's also about the feet. Feet exercises such as picking up a golf ball with your toes and dropping it into a cup, or scrunching up a towel will help. If your feet are weak, your Achilles absorbs more stress. Standing calf raises are good but consider adding other lower leg exercises to your routine, such as squatting calf raises, to target the soleus, or more complex exercises.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't forget foam rolling the feet and calves (and other forms of SMR). Stretching may or may not help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2016-12-12T21:03:20.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32843" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-13T00:58:39.533" Score="3" ViewCount="1005" Body="&lt;p&gt;I decided to finally get in proper shape, and after lots of struggle, I managed it quite well. I lost 30+ pounds of needless fat, and gained several pounds of muscle throughout a few months of serious workouts. I went from not being able to run 0.5 miles to running nearly a 5K now. The caveat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am much weaker now than before. I have more muscle than I did when I was obese, but I have less strength. For example, I weighed around 200 lbs. and could deadlift 315 + lbs. without even barely exercising. I could also do chin ups and even climb ropes with just my upper-body -- no legs needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dropped down to 150 lbs., and built up to 165 lbs. with a good portion of that being muscle weight. My arms are bigger and more defined than they were when I was 30 + lbs. more, but now I can barely do chin ups and can only climb a rope the same as when I carried all of that extra fat. I find this pretty disappointing since it's like I traded in strength for better looks. I have been doing mostly strength training, but some hypertrophy too. I do all of the same exercises as then, but I just seem much weaker comparatively. My arms at 200 lbs. were 13 -- not at 165 lbs. they are 15 inches almost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why the hell would I not be any stronger if I was pretty much just fatter? Literally I would flex and have almost no muscle, and smaller arms when I was obese -- but I was just purely stronger naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After getting down to like 13% bodyfat and bulking for 4-6 months I gained considerable muscle mass with nearly no bodyfat change, but now I'm weaker -- can't barely lift my own weight nor other weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's as if being simply a fatass made me stronger without having to do much of any exercise. When I was obese I simply ate nothing but garbage/junk food and didn't even get 80 grams of protein a day -- now I eat extremely well and get proper protein, fats, and carbs. Basically, I cleaned up my diet, got the results I wanted, but the strength was traded in for it. When I was obese I would not even have a workout regimen -- I just rarely worked out -- maybe once a week or every 2 weeks. Now I do 2-3 times a week and vary workouts. I even had a trainer for a while and they said that fat helped with leverage and extreme energy surplus manifested itself as large bouts of power concentrated output -- or something like that. They called it &quot;fat strength,&quot; but said &quot;fit strength&quot; is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts? Is it just simply that I was fatter, I was stronger? As stated, I ate nothing but junk/garbage all day, and didn't get any healthy protein/etc. -- mostly all just 3,000+K calories of carbs, with high sat. fats and low protein (I didn't really eat much if any meat back then).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any illnesses/diseases, and I don't feel weak per se -- just weaker than when I was fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It interests me because I was fat but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Had a garbage diet with low protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Barely exercised and did zero cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Sat most of the day and didn't do much of any hypertrophy/strength training really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24260" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T02:57:01.510" Title="Got in shape, lost fat &amp; gained muscle, but I'm weaker now. Why?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14791" CreationDate="2016-12-13T06:54:19.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In pro armwrestling, it's a combination of speed AND strength, combined with technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In non-professional armwrestling, such as where both opponents don't quickly try to turn an upper-hand and throw the other over, it's definitely based more on strength and power since neither may know any techniques in the first place. Given the flux of continuous arm power and torque distribution from such various positions and angles of two arms, plus the application of force at that one specific time (including biomechanics, such as arm length, hand size, and the elbow's base to the end of the arms and shoulders, as the elbow is the pivot of the force), two amateurs may very well struggle to pin another's arm, even IF one is more powerful than the other. Usually, a significant strength difference is required to pin the other's arm due to these factors. For example, almost any adult can probably pin a little kid without much difficulty -- but try pinning someone who is close to your strength or a little above it -- chances are you'll tie each other, or whoever throws the towel in might be the loser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason this is true is also because, strength and power output aside, the length of your arms, size of your hands, and placement of your shoulders could give you a disadvantage in the mechanical motion of applying force against the other person, regardless of strength overall. In this case you will need to be significantly more powerful to drive their arm down -- probably close to twofold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some advantages/disadvantages from a Physics standing point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Long arms require greater torque to rotate and pin down. Even if your opponent is weaker, if they have longer arms it will take more torque as a counter-force in relation to their power output to get their arm down -- the opposite with shorter arms. A lot of or a lack of strength is the only way around this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.If your opponent has much larger hands, it immediately gives you a disadvantage -- especially if their hands are stronger too. Why? Because the hands are the points of contact. All force you drive against each other is exerted through the hands. With hands at a disadvantage your whole point of exertion is challenged. If the strength difference in the hands and size is minimal, this shouldn't make too much of a difference -- but note that bigger, stronger hands can make it very challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24261" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T06:54:19.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-13T11:56:30.643" Score="0" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been going to the gym for about a year. The last 3 months I decided to make my training routine a bit more, upper- back/ traps/ shoulder intensive. I basically am doing full body 3 times a week. On every training day after worm up I started with overhead pressing. The problem is that about 2 weeks ago i got injured. Started feeling pain from my neck area going trough my left shoulder. When I run my fingers trough my upper part of my spine I am feeling pain. My question is firstly is this due to bad form in your opinion or just the overloading I've been doing to my upper back. Second should I try and wait out the pain to disappear on its own or should I go see a doctor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24264" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T14:06:10.197" Title="Pain after overhead press" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-12-15T15:17:31.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32847" CreationDate="2016-12-13T14:06:10.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would take it easy, or do different exercises, until the pain goes away. If it persists, then I would go see the doctor. The impact from running can aggravate neck injuries. Stick to lower body exercises and no impact exercises for a week and see how you feel. If you are ready to re-introduce upper body strength exercises then, start with exercises where your hands stay below the shoulders (seated row, push ups... nothing overhead)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T14:06:10.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32840" CreationDate="2016-12-13T14:17:51.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, load management is what is most important to tendon issues. First, reducing the load (running and rehabilitative exercises) to a manageable amount. Then, slowly increasing it. Typically, we start with static calf exercises, then calf raises, then loaded calf raises, then hops like skipping for rehab. Careful monitoring of how much running and calf exercises you can handle. Indicators that you are doing too much: stiffness, especially the next morning. Pain- pain might not be a good indicator, I usually like to see that pain is no worse 24 hours later and generally not increasing with increases in load. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T14:17:51.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32834" CreationDate="2016-12-13T14:26:26.697" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, I wouldn't bother with it. Keep up the pulling exercises and focus on pulling your shoulderblades down in towards the centre of your back (lower trap activation). Keep the shoulder workouts balanced between pushing and pulling and do some t-spine extension (swan). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T14:26:26.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32798" CreationDate="2016-12-13T15:46:13.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you can do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optimize your rest- sleep well in a dark cool room and get 7-9 hours. This helps at a hormonal level (Human growth hormone and testosterone) to maintain/ build muscle. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;load the uninjured side. I don't know the mechanism for why this works. Perhaps it is hormonal as well. You don't need to worry about an imbalance if you do this for a short period of time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visualization- spend some time vividly picturing the exercises you are training towards. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat well- you need good nutrients to repair/maintain muscle. You could also do some core strength that doesn't load the injured area (like dead bug). Get well soon :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-12-13T16:06:37.507" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T16:06:37.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32828" CreationDate="2016-12-13T19:36:41.973" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had Fitbit before. Then I got a Microsoft Band 2 and I feel that it is much better in terms of hardware, software, data, and data visualization. Too bad they don't make it anymore but this fitness tracker is excellent. If it is not on your list at least check it out there is so much it can do compared to other fitness trackers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the negatives side its software is currently missing calorie intake tracking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23321" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T19:36:41.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22399" CreationDate="2016-12-13T20:24:44.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Engaging a muscle will increase the stretch on the tendon and decrease the stretch on the muscle. PNF and other techniques alternate between contracting and relaxing a muscle to overcome the &quot;stretch reflex&quot; and allow your tissues to lengthen more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can be value to contracting muscles at the &quot;end range&quot; of their range of motion. This is more like going through the full active range of motion on exercises, like all the way down on a push-up. This can help mobility but it isn't stretching. If you are still looking for more info on gently contracting a muscle when it is being stretched look up &quot;end range loading&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T20:24:44.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32833" CreationDate="2016-12-13T20:57:53.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, some movements are unsafe. Not every person will get injured but there are exercises and activities that have higher injury rates. Specifically, the crunches you mentioned place a tremendous load on the spine. &lt;a href=&quot;https://uwaterloo.ca/applied-health-sciences/hes-got-our-backs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is an article and video&lt;/a&gt; on why not to do crunches and what to do instead. Stuart McGill has a lot more info if you decide to dig deeper than the article and video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T20:57:53.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32843" CreationDate="2016-12-14T02:57:01.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you were fatter your own weight forced your muscles to build strength more than muscle. Since you mentioned barely doing any exercise, and then sparingly deadlifting and/or rope climbing, you probably then forced your muscles to build strength to handle your own weight through neurological means. In other words, your muscles got stronger because of the demand of your own weight. Since you mentioned a poor diet, odds are you had little reason to gain much muscle -- but you can certainly build power without barely any muscle. Also, you are weaker now because you probably slacked off during the weight loss and lost a good deal of that neuromuscular strength you had before which you used to carry your &quot;fatass&quot; as you called it. Since you got skinnier you could have lessened the challenge it once was to move yourself, and thus allowed your muscles to slack off in carrying your own weight around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes sense and is pretty simple: your heavy weight demanded you to utilize more power to move yourself and pull yourself up, so your body had to get stronger. When you lost the weight you took both a mental and a physical toll -- you had less to carry and thus were challenged less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your weight gradually declined you were lifting less and less mass proportionally, and you gradually traded that neuromuscular strength you had for more compound muscle and lower weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end you got weaker because you lowered your own weight, and made it easier on yourself. You gained new muscle, but mentioned hypertrophy in the mix, which doesn't build as much as strength as a 200 lb. guy brute-forcing himself up a rope on a regular basis. A heavy guy yanking himself up a rope will make the nervous system respond and force yourself to get stronger more so than 12 reps of 70 lbs. on a straight bar would -- and it would increase explosive strength too, which can help deadlifting and testosterone overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may sound counterintuitive, but you probably lost testosterone when dieting down to 150 lbs. You are building new muscle but not training with the same magnitude of power like you did with your own heavier set of mass. You need to go back to the older, serious workouts you did before at 200 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24275" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T02:57:01.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32862" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-14T08:58:00.600" Score="0" ViewCount="1015" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in public transport this day standing for about an hour. Now I noticed that I got quite a noticeable pain in my lower back (only 19 yo). I have noticed in the past that my lower back would hurt quite fast when standing still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm running or walking, I do not have this issue, able to walk 4 hours straight without a lower back pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, do more people have this issue and can it be explained? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(If not then this would be a general health issue and I would need to go to the doctor or a physician.)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;always seek a Physician's opinion before acting on any advise that has potential to worsen a condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6101/how-to-prevent-back-pain-after-a-long-day-of-standing&quot;&gt;How to prevent back pain after a long day of standing&lt;/a&gt; (not just about standing still)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not seeking advice, I'm seeking an explanation for why standing still for a longer time would hurt my back but walking for a couple hours wouldn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T16:22:04.693" Title="Back pain after standing still but not after walking" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-12-14T17:55:05.490" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32864" CreationDate="2016-12-14T09:00:10.297" Score="3" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doing gym for almost 5 months.I got nice shoulders and chest.But when it come to arms i feel something left out.I was thinking of doing arms 2-3 times a week.Is it good to do that and if i do that how i'm gonna cover my other body parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have chest of 38-40 inches and i got arms of 12 inches only. I like to go for 14-16 because my height is 5'11 and its feel like an average arms.&#xA;Please help me&#xA;Thanks in Advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24280" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T08:48:03.083" Title="Arms Workout per Week" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32863" CreationDate="2016-12-14T11:28:32.733" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Large muscle groups develop in a more obvious way than the smaller ones. That said, you clearly understand how to build muscle through effective diet and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arms can be trained through a number of means, there are 3 major muscle groups. I'll list the best exercises that have their major focus on that muscle group but are the best compound version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Biceps&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell Bicep Curl&lt;/strong&gt;: This is the simplest and when done standing engages your core and posterior chain to keep you upright. Play around with grip, some people struggle with standard grip. Overhand also works forearms as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dumbbell Bicep Curl&lt;/strong&gt;: Do this standing for the reasons above. Also start the exercise with your weakest arm to ensure that you don't over-work one side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cable Curl&lt;/strong&gt;: Same as above but you get linear resistance throughout the movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other:&lt;/strong&gt; Chin-ups, any rowing movement, any variation on above (preacher, seated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwAD78Z_1ck&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Triceps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips: And their best friend, weighted dips. Also builds chest. Seriously, everyone should be doing 3x10 dips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close Grip Bench Press: Bench. Press. Don't let elbows flare out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Tricep Pushdown: As with biceps, gives resistance across whole ROM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other: Skull crushers, Diamond push ups, Behind the neck plate raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avjzXagXYGY&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Forearms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts: Just lots of really heavy deadlifts with a normal, double overhand grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Farmers Walks: Pick up 2 32-50KG kettlebells or dumbbells and go for a walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold something heavy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang from something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T11:28:32.733" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32863" CreationDate="2016-12-14T14:03:39.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“I was thinking of doing arms 2-3 times a week.Is it good to do that&#xA;  and if i do that how i'm gonna cover my other body parts.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is a balanced, aesthetic physique, then, “more is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; necessarily better”.  Hypertrophy is a very &lt;strong&gt;individual&lt;/strong&gt; thing.  There’s &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; specific set of exercises that will guarantee you growth for a specific muscle group.  While exercise selection does contribute to muscle growth, I think it’s much more important to examine your approach to training.  Ask yourself, “&lt;em&gt;Is my training approach optimum for making muscular gains?&lt;/em&gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to understand that you build muscular size when you optimize your nutrition, sleep, and recovery.  If one facet of your training is “off”, chances are, you will not make gains.  Closely examining each of these should provide insight into any potential areas that are lacking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel that you’re training optimally, there is one change that may be effective for you. If you feel that a particular body part is lagging, you should take a look at prioritizing your routine.  An excerpt from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/NSCAs-Guide-to-Program-Design&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;National Strength and Conditioning Association&lt;/a&gt; indicates that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“The order of exercises within a workout significantly affects acute&#xA;  lifting performance and subsequent changes in strength during&#xA;  resistance training. The primary training goals should dictate the&#xA;  exercise order. Exercises performed early in the workout are completed&#xA;  with less fatigue, yielding greater rates of force development, higher&#xA;  repetition number, and greater amount of weights lifted.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel that your arms are lacking, you should consider training biceps and triceps earlier in your routine.  You should also consider using “pre-exhaustion” as a method to stimulate growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, achieving muscle growth, for those training drug-free, should be considered as a long term goal.  If you &lt;strong&gt;consistently&lt;/strong&gt; optimize your training, the cumulative effect should be obvious in later years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T14:03:39.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32886" CreationDate="2016-12-14T15:50:24.520" Score="2" ViewCount="4302" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on a plant-based diet and take 5g of creatine monohydrate every morning to compensate for the lack of its natural consumption. I work out 4-5 days a week, but now I am going on a vacation soon for 8 days, which means that there will be about 10 days without training. Should I be taking creatine during that period to &quot;maintain the load&quot;? Or is it unnecessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5804" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T07:50:18.103" Title="Should I continue taking creatine when on a long break from training?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;creatine&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32862" CreationDate="2016-12-14T16:22:04.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;More people do have this issue and similar issues. Generally, being still for long periods isn't easy on the body. Even if you have good posture, standing still for long periods of time can be hard to tolerate, especially if you have greatly increased how much time you stand for. People who sit for long periods of time have issues. Even people on bed rest who don't move get issues. We are built to move. Pain may still indicate a good reason to go to the doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else you could start with right away:&#xA;1. Take movement breaks every 20 minutes - walk, as you say that feels better. If you are stuck on public transit try walking on the spot. Others might think you need to pee, but it is worth it :)&#xA;2. Do a quick posture check in every 20 minutes &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/sQWG-krTyZY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is a video example&lt;/a&gt; of checking in and reseting your posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T16:22:04.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32866" CreationDate="2016-12-14T17:57:13.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For that short period of time I would not alter your diet.  You body is used to the intake, and I am sure you will do some sort of maintenance style exercising while on vacation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24287" LastActivityDate="2016-12-14T17:57:13.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-15T00:56:06.787" Score="2" ViewCount="818" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've attended many NHL games, and a friend of mine has a cousin who is married to a pro hockey player, although he plays for European teams (not NHL). Anyways, we hang sometimes, and I notice he's a skinny-ish looking guy with a little muscle, but he weighs close to 200 lbs.!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not too tall -- maybe 5'11&quot; or 6' -- and has a barrel chest with thin arms and large quads. I am around the same size and have built arms and a more overall muscular frame, and I'm 174 lbs.!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where is he hiding those extra 20+ lbs. if he's neither much fatter, taller, nor more muscular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I've flexed and seen him flex and his arms are maybe 14&quot; and he has not much muscle -- mostly just a big chest and quads -- but is pretty skinny everywhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He weighed in at around 197 lbs. for his team weigh in a few months back, I believe. I can even show you a picture of him and how narrow he looks. Is this some kind of inside secret?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/70u2l.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/70u2l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see he's not a buff guy -- a little build, but nothing too serious. He's not too strong either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also has a flat stomach (no abs), but just overall looks like a skinny guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I bulked to that size I'd look fat! Or I'd be need to be twice as muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean I'm a hockey player (not pro), but I can't fathom where he keeps that extra weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24296" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T05:27:20.893" Title="How do (pro) hockey players weigh so much, but look so small?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-12-16T04:14:44.487" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6195" CreationDate="2016-12-15T02:14:37.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/author/john-berardi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;John Berardi&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;em&gt;Scrawny to Brawny&lt;/em&gt; fame &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20120204031453/http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/advanced_workout_nutrition.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommends&lt;/a&gt; drinking a 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one question I’m often asked is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Can’t we just have a big post-exercise recovery drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;having high blood concentrations of glucose (from the carbohydrate) and amino acids (from protein) during exercise is advantageous as the blood flow to working muscles is highest at this time. So, with a lot of nutrient-rich blood flowing to your working muscles, those nutrients will be best used for performance enhancement and recovery. Simply put, carbohydrate protein drinks are more effective when ingested during exercise vs after exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T02:14:37.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32874" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-15T02:20:34.227" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a good old &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20120204031453/http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/advanced_workout_nutrition.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;writeup on Advanced Workout Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;, John Berardi recommends drinking 30g of carbs and 15g of protein per hour of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would eating the same amounts of solid food compare, say a small banana (~20g carbs, 1g protein) + 1oz edamame (12g protein, 12g carbs)? Tho goal is maximum muscle synthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastActivityDate="2017-01-15T19:10:54.590" Title="Is drinking carbs+protein during workout equivalent to eating the same amounts?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32872" CreationDate="2016-12-15T03:27:38.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He probably has more muscle than you think. I'm not aware of any pro hockey players having inflated stats, as that's only something common in professional wrestling, like the WWE. There's no benefit other than an ego stroke to say a hockey player is 30 lbs. heavier than he really is (implying muscle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that he weighed 197 off-season, and he slimmed down up to 15 lbs. and he's 182 pictured above. Weight fluctuations are normal. Also, he could've been weighed in full gear, which can add 5 or so pounds too. Also, does he claim he weighs this still? He could've been a bit fatter. You can lose over ten pounds of fat in a few months, which will probably bring the scale down a few pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24297" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T03:27:38.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-15T08:51:55.223" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;i have been taking weight gainers for last two months and gone from 66 kg to 74 kg.&#xA;But the problem is in india, they are pretty costly e.g. muscle tech mass tech 22 lbs costs 150 US Dollar after discount.&#xA;5 scoups a day adds 2000 calories to my daily intake.&#xA;But i can not afford it any more.&#xA;How should i take it to so that at least it remains there for two months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23962" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T14:38:44.943" Title="How to enhance the life of my weight gainer?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-12-15T15:15:27.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32877" CreationDate="2016-12-15T13:38:31.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;G O M A D&#xA;A F I   A&#xA;L   L   Y&#xA;L   K&#xA;O&#xA;N&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use WHOLE MILK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drink 1 GALLON per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;serving size 1 gal (4 kg)&#xA;total calories 2407 | % daily value^*&#xA;total fat 129 g     | 198%&#xA;saturated fat 81 g  | 403%&#xA;protein 129 g       | 257%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*percent daily values are based on a 2000 calorie diet&#xA;(averaged over different types of whole milk)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of protein, lots of calories, does the same thing mass gainer does at a fraction of the cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T13:38:31.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32877" CreationDate="2016-12-15T14:38:44.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight gainers are not special. They are just really calorically dense supplements with a very specific macro distribution. So if you look at say, the Optimum Nutrition Pro Gainer nutrients you can see this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1kQMd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1kQMd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see there's lots of protein, lots of carbohydrates, a little fat, and lots of calories for one serving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do instead is replace the weight gainer with foods that are far cheaper. I don't know what kinds of foods are easily available in India, so it is hard to make suggestions. You would want to look for things that are high in carbs and protein. You can mix and match foods. You don't have to have it in one serving, so it can be spread out through the whole day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T14:38:44.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32828" CreationDate="2016-12-15T22:01:32.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that you are going to find a better resource than you have already noted in your answer, for DC Rainmakers blog. His site is fairly comprehensive and non partisan (i.e. he doesn't make money from the manufacturers for ads or shill evaluations). If you don't find it on his site, you probably aren't going to find it. I personally am not aware of any site where you put in your &quot;desired features&quot; and it spits out models.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do, is work from the rarest feature that you want (i.e. the feature that is on the fewest activity trackers), and that gets you your narrowest list. From there, you can check the other features of the tracker, and see which one(s) come the closest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T22:01:32.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31800" CreationDate="2016-12-16T00:13:17.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would continue building base running fitness at your current pace until your about 3 months away from your race. You should see improvement in your pace without the speed work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No need to include speed work until much closer to the race. Even then, you want to get plenty of recovery between speed sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a good novice or beginner training program. These will typically be between 10-12 weeks. Here are a couple places to start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51131/half-marathon-novice-1-training-program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51131/half-marathon-novice-1-training-program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rw.runnersworld.com/training-plan-finder/beginners-half-marathon-plan.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://rw.runnersworld.com/training-plan-finder/beginners-half-marathon-plan.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listen to your body, make sure your eating well, and get plenty of rest. Don't let the training plan dictate your life. Be flexible; as long as you get most of the workouts in (especially the long runs), you'll be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24306" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T00:13:17.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32883" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-16T06:45:26.740" Score="-3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;We Indians are very crazy about food though we know that can affect our body. I want to know what will be the best diet and gym routine for Indians to get good muscles and flat stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are various similar posts on SO about fat loss, but I need answer particularly for Indians. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22013" LastEditorUserId="22013" LastEditDate="2016-12-16T08:27:19.607" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T10:19:01.690" Title="What is the best gym routine for Indians to get flat stomach.?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-12-16T15:46:42.807" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32866" CreationDate="2016-12-16T07:28:30.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You dont need to stop taking creatine if you are going for 8 days break, your creatine levels in body will decrease if you do so, &#xA;As you are not going to workout I would recommend you taking 5g alternate days, so that levels remain maintained. &#xA;I would have recommended to stop creatine intake if your break was more than 10-15days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16111" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T07:28:30.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32863" CreationDate="2016-12-16T07:48:22.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are principles given by Arnold &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Basically it you should consider training weak parts on high priority.&#xA;You can train then multiple times &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can train arms twice a week but you will need to make sure that hypertrophy is attained &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to give sufficient rest to your muscles to recover, biceps require min 24hrs for recovery, and it varies from person to person &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to take proper nutrition (I assume it is in place )&#xA;Taking care of all these things will lead you to results with bigger and stronger muscles &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I too had biceps of 12.5-13inches,  but now they are 15inches &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16111" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2016-12-16T08:48:03.083" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T08:48:03.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32866" CreationDate="2016-12-16T07:50:18.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creatine is a molecule in an energy system (creatine phosphate) that can rapidly produce energy (ATP) to support cellular function. Thus its performance-enhancing and neuroprotective properties. A well-researched supplement, creatine is remarkably safe for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;examine.com&quot;&gt;examine.com/creatine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have a good understanding of creatine and assuming your diet is unchanged during your holiday, you will have a reduction (possibly to baseline) of water retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the full effect of taking creatine you should keep taking it during your break as once you get back you will be loaded and ready to utilise its benefits in the gym. Otherwise you will need to wait for your body to build up its level as you either load or take normal dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't take creating during your break your levels will drop. As a basic understanding of what creatine is will tell you, you &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/do-you-need-to-cycle-creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;examine.com&quot;&gt;don't need to cycle creatine&lt;/a&gt;. And arguably &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-load-creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;examine.com&quot;&gt;you do not need to load creatine either&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of muscle mass preservation (understanding that you may retain less water and so cycling off creatine will cause you to lose weight) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15263100&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Candow DG, et al Effect of ceasing creatine supplementation while maintaining resistance training in older men . J Aging Phys Act. (2004)&quot;&gt;A study found no loss in strength or lean tissue mass when you stop taking creatine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line,&lt;/strong&gt; its up to you. You will probably end up cycling off if you take a break but it wont really impact your life in the marco unless you are aiming to set some PB's straight after your holiday break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T07:50:18.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32883" CreationDate="2016-12-16T08:00:42.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only good measure to reduce fat is training, train some period of day say 1hr (cardio + training ), you will start reducing fat, it will burn your calories, also at same time control your calorie intake. Both together will reduce your fat and maintain your weight &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16111" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T08:00:42.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12402" CreationDate="2016-12-16T10:10:59.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Tight hips' or limited hip mobility are a common problem for people who do a lot of sitting (e.g. office drones, like me). I have not exactly the same problem you do, but something similar involving a tendon by my left hip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limited mobility does not necessarily mean you &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; make a movement. It's an umbrella term which can also describe your experience of having trouble while moving in a certain range of the joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problems diminished greatly when I started doing targeted hip mobility exercises. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/blog/exercise-type/dynamic-warm-up-exercises/hip-mobility-drills/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Hip mobility drills&quot;&gt;This page has several drills, videos, and an explanation.&lt;/a&gt; HOWEVER. Mobility drills cannot solve everything: sometimes a tendon or muscle is attached under a non-ideal angle. If gently increasing the drills do not solve your problem, you really should contact a physical therapist and have them check the alignment of your hip area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24307" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T10:10:59.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32883" CreationDate="2016-12-16T10:19:01.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're all different, but the good news is we're not so different that you need a special routine because you're Indian. There are specific foods which are harder to tolerate for some groups than others (for example, northern Europeans can digest cow's milk more easily than most other people), but there will also be a significant difference within populations. It could be that you and I (Indian and western European) are more similar than me and my neighbour!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you could go with just about any no-nonsense advice: eat good food, and not too much. You can, however, never eat too much vegetables (as long as they're not smothered in a fatty sauce). Join a gym and get someone to show you how to lift weights. Lifting weights is one of the most effective weight loss exercises because it will increase the amount of calories you burn while you're &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a food and exercise diary. Track your weight, but more importantly, track how you feel and how you sleep. If you feel great a certain week, check what you ate and how you exercised that week - that's probably what's good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24307" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T10:19:01.690" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32838" CreationDate="2016-12-16T17:42:41.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some ways, tucking your chin in may be equivalent to performing a behind the neck press when considering the movement plane of the shoulders and arms.  I can tell you from anecdotal experience, that the behind the neck press is contraindicated once you've experienced a rotator cuff tear.  And, while a recent study in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254614000106&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Journal of Sport and Health Science&lt;/a&gt; found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“For participants with normal trunk stability and ideal shoulder ROM,&#xA;  overhead pressing is a safe exercise (for the shoulder and spine) when&#xA;  performed either in-front of or behind the head. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tucking your chin, in my opinion,  does not seem to qualify for “ideal shoulder ROM” and should be considered as improper form as it may result in compromising the ROM to counteract the “tuck”.  The simple fact you are asking the question indicates to me that you are aware that there's a potential for improper form on the movements you've indicated.  Why take a chance at injury?  Work with a spotter, trainer, etc. to ensure that your form is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T17:42:41.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32874" CreationDate="2016-12-16T18:40:24.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Theoretically it should not matter too much. The problem is that eating, for instance, fruit instead of drinking a protein shake can lead to different reactions from your body. I've been told by my trainer that cultivated food, whether it be fruit, meat or other things, will have less nutrition than the registered foods, since they can be grown on different soils or water cultures or what other. The other aspect is that when for instance eating meat, your body needs to digest the meat, which takes longer and your body will get the needed protein later. Drinking protein supplements will in most cases result in faster body intake, since you don't need to digest the whole cow before you get to the protein. The same is for the banana and the needed sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this is what I learn from my trainer. You eat your regular foods with the necessary carbs and protein. Your use the supplements before or after the training to enhance, protect or repair your muscles. It is therefore a combination of the two that is best for the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T18:40:24.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-17T15:32:56.860" Score="2" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started doing weightlifting. The first time I had quite a lot muscle pain, however I just purchased some dumbells and started to work out with these. I did bicep curls,hammer curl, bench concentration curls and zottman curls and tricep dips to work out my arms. My biceps were really exhausted (wasn't able to get the weight up anymore after I finished). The next day I was suprised that I had no muscle pain at all. So this raised a question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I KNOW that muscle pain is not linked to muscle growth, however when having muscle pain it is hard to lift some weight the next day (which kind off tells me that they were charged good last workout) So it's quite counter intuitive to me that no muscle pain is &quot;good&quot; because without the muscle pain I can workout fine the next day. So I'm interseted in &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; causes it that I don't have muscle pain after a training which really exhausted my muscles?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;P.s I have already read some topics about no muscle pain and intensive training: &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=115263591&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=113781631&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;, however they all say: &quot;it's not related&quot; however I'm interested why this is the case&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24314" LastEditorUserId="24314" LastEditDate="2016-12-17T22:36:52.937" LastActivityDate="2017-02-18T07:16:46.663" Title="why no muscle pain after fitness?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32894" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-17T15:38:00.793" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a thin guy but my abs are visible but there are small.I workout on floor my back face down my hands touching the head and I move up until the height of knees and I go back again.I am doing everyday at least 35minutes.I eat well nutritient etc. How can I increase those abs to be big?thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24316" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T20:37:15.107" Title="Why abs are small?how can i make them bigger" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-17T18:19:07.883" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;When raising the legs/knees for training the abs, I can hang from a pull-up bar, use parallel bars with my arms straight, or rest my elbows against a rail in the captain's chair exercise. Does it matter which one I choose, or are they basically the same (regarding effort, potential for injury, muscles involved)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T20:15:42.883" Title="Does it make any difference how I hoist myself up when I raise the legs/knees?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32897" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32901" CreationDate="2016-12-17T18:38:47.403" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on a routine of heavy weights, full body circuit training.  When I am done, I am obviously tired, but sometimes I feel like actually taking a nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any ill effects to taking a rest after a heavy weight workout?  ( or any weight training regimine? )  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always thought you should stay active for a bit after a workout...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24287" LastEditorDisplayName="user24287" LastEditDate="2016-12-17T18:50:15.557" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T22:12:07.527" Title="Heavy Weights Then Nap?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16592" CreationDate="2016-12-17T19:32:28.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our circuit training group we have some exercises that you could do with hand weights, like stretching out your arms like a 'T' and making slight rotating movements while holding the weights. This usually makes me want to cry in a minute or less, so I hope it's effective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24307" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T19:32:28.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32896" CreationDate="2016-12-17T20:15:42.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the exercises you mentioned, the targeting muscles are typically the hip flexors, rectus abdominus, and the external obliques. The position of your arms should have no effect on the work your abs receive in the exercises you mentioned if your goal is to train abs.  However, the position you choose may dictate how long you can perform the movement.  For example, most people that perform hanging leg raises tend to tire in the arms and/or shoulders before the abs.  Hanging leg raises tend to be one of the tougher movements in terms of effort for the reason I gave.  Performing the same movement on parallel bars would be akin to hanging in that, once again, the arms and/or shoulders tend to tire first.  And, doing leg raises on a captain's chair would engage the arms and shoulders with even less effort.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for potential for injury, assuming you have no prior arm/shoulder injuries, any of the movements mentioned should be ok to perform.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deciding what exercise to use should be predicated on the movement of your legs/knees and your goals.  You should aim to perform a &lt;strong&gt;complete&lt;/strong&gt; range of motion &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; any swinging of the legs.  Swinging of the legs will lessen the work the abdominals must perform as part of the exercise.  As with any other body part, you should consider variety when choosing ab exercises.  That would mean using all available equipment and movements to achieve your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T20:15:42.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32894" CreationDate="2016-12-17T20:37:15.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no one particular exercise that will force your abs to grow.  Each of us reacts to exercise stimulus in our own way.  Couple that with abs being a typically stubborn body part for most people, the best you can do is continue to train them with variety and consistency.  A search on a site like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; should provide plenty of exercises to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When comparing a particular body part, you should consider symmetry, balance, proportion, and aesthetics as well as size.  Everyone has their own perception of what a particular body part should look like.  However, we are all limited by a few factors.  Those factors tend to be genetics, recovery, nutrition, and sleep to name a few.  If your goal is to increase the muscle girth of your abs, you should consider how that would affect the rest of your body.  Will having large abs upset the rest of your physique in terms of symmetry, balance, proportion, etc.?  Often, taking a look at the “bigger picture” helps to set individual body part goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T20:37:15.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32897" CreationDate="2016-12-17T22:12:07.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd make sure to get some food right after training, but a nap after a hard training session sounds good to me. I'd just want to make sure my body has carbohydrate (to replenish intramuscular glycogen stores) and protein (for protein synthesis) and water (to rehydrate) before the nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T22:12:07.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32909" CreationDate="2016-12-18T01:19:33.493" Score="0" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have taken up a challenge to do 200 kg bench press, 200 kg deadlift and 200 kg squat within 8 months. I weigh 83 kg and can do 1 rep with 100 kg for the above 3 exercises. I take 150gms grams of proteins on a daily basis through different types like whey , eggs , sprouts , milk, chicken.  What are my chances of accomplishing it? Please let me know. How can I improve my chances of doing it?? Note I was able to reach my current level in 4 months time  . Would wearing a safety belt be beneficial to lift heavier weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastEditorUserId="23387" LastEditDate="2016-12-18T23:31:27.403" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T00:12:39.710" Title="200 kgs bench press, squats and deadlift challenge" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-12-19T01:08:57.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32906" CreationDate="2016-12-18T09:00:51.727" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard few times now that whey can cause bones to weaken up. I fell recently and broke my wrist fairly easily. I am wondering if whey does affect bones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15392" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T13:53:41.443" Title="Does whey causes brittle bones?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;whey&gt;&lt;bones&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-12-19T01:08:42.457" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31800" CreationDate="2016-12-18T13:41:51.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, speed aka (HIIT) is very good for fitness... &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4319131.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4319131.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18174" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T13:41:51.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32903" CreationDate="2016-12-18T13:53:41.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/5/1567S.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/5/1567S.full&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4180248/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4180248/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite a widely held belief that high-protein diets (especially diets&#xA;  high in animal protein) result in bone resorption and increased&#xA;  urinary calcium, higher protein diets are actually associated with&#xA;  greater bone mass and fewer fractures when calcium intake is adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18174" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T13:53:41.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-18T21:51:54.800" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm off work because of an accident. I'm in recovery at home and have plenty of spare time. Is it good if I constantly improve my flexibility with different exercises in different times throughout the day or should I do it once a day? I wanna practice ballet and I really want to take advantage of my time. I would do exercises that don't interfere with my recovery though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24320" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T01:07:57.443" Title="Is it a good idea to constantly train my flexibility throughout the day?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-18T22:05:55.160" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is weight lifting for children beneficial?  Does it have ill effects? I searched about it but didn't get any answer on this site. It is a bit debatable. will it be beneficial for those aspiring to be bodybuilders or weightlifters?  Would it affect their growth? Should I advise my child to give it a try if he really wants to? He is 11 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastEditorUserId="23387" LastEditDate="2016-12-18T22:51:56.490" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T12:10:35.860" Title="Weightlifting for children?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;growth&gt;&lt;physique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32902" CreationDate="2016-12-19T00:00:14.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see your question has been edited, and you are asking about tips to improve your personal best. You have also mentioned that you reached your current personal best of 100 kg, in 4 months after you started lifting. That's quite impressive. I'd like to share a few basics. When you start lifting, smashing personal records by progressive overloading is easier. Then you arrive at a point, where it feels like the saturation is achieved. 200 Kg is roughly around 450 lbs. That's a big goal to achieve in the time you have mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goal is to lift 2 times your current max potential/personal best in 8 months. Progressive overloading is the answer. That means add 5-10 pounds to the weight a week progressively. You have around 34 weeks. Does that mean you'll be able to lift 170-340 lbs more than your current personal best? To answer that I'd say, overloading is not linear. It works in waves. Also, after reaching a certain point, adding anything extra would take longer than what it used to be, when you begun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So some days you may end up smashing your own record, and the other day you may struggle to lift even 80% of it. Why? Human body works that way. Several factors including diet, rest, stress and fatigue level, condition of your muscles, injury etc are linked to your performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to get stronger, which is your goal, you need to give yourself plenty of rest and go for the right kind of nutrition along with lifting. Your protein intake is good, but to make it great, consume somewhere around 160-180 grams everyday. That means, 0.9- 1 gram per body weight in lbs. That's pretty essential for muscle repair. You have mentioned that you are 83 kg which makes you 180 lbs, so that's how the math works. Along with that, eat enough calories to fuel your muscles and right amount of micro nutrients for complete nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many risks involved. When you go that heavy, first thing to take care is safety. You said you want to wear a belt. Go for it while doing dead-lifts and squats, but that's not sufficient. Always and always have an experienced spotter to spot you, and a qualified trainer to check your form. Form is most important, and if you are just doing it to get it done, you'll face injuries. So try doing it right first. Use power racks while doing bench press and squats. You wouldn't like to hurt yourself and be out of training, or start again from ground zero.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Move on gradually. Keep adding weights every week, and never rush no matter how tempting it is. If it's a challenge from a friend or another competitor, losing it is better than being hurt and not being able to move. If it's for a competition, you can always compete next year, if you fail to do it this time.  Wish you the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-12-19T00:12:39.710" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T00:12:39.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32907" CreationDate="2016-12-19T01:07:57.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not the best idea to train flexibility continuously throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching, done properly, can be as much stress on your muscles and tendons as a cardio or light weightlifting workout. As such, you need to treat it as you would any other workout, i.e. make sure you have proper form, allow enough time for rest and recovery between sessions, proper nutrition and hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you mention you have aspirations for ballet, that is a sport that requires extreme ranges of flexibility. Due to that, I would suggest that you schedule at least a few sessions with a good ballet instructor/trainer, and get a list of recommended stretches. This will do you a lot more good than just random stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, since you say you are recovering from injury, make sure that your PT or whoever is monitoring your recovery knows about your stretching and approves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T01:07:57.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32911" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-19T01:50:42.110" Score="4" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I am 16 year old male) A few years back, I had a spinal cord injury and I couldn't move anything from my chest down. Now, I am very strong and can walk using a walker to assist my core balance. I also took up a healthy lifestyle which includes weight training and eating good foods about a year and a half back. I had always had a lot of body fat and my body fat has gone down quite a bit as I've been increasing my muscle mass but there's no steady decrease. I have a goal to decrease my body fat to about 12% body fat, right now I'm about 16 or 17%. Due to my current state, I can't run or do typical cardio machines. What would you recommend for me to drop body fat? When I first started my fitness journey I restricted calories drastically which did terrible things like loss of muscle and always hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19213" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T18:19:04.337" Title="How can I lower my body fat in my current condition?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32912" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32964" CreationDate="2016-12-19T06:00:25.217" Score="1" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am tall close to 6 feet.I was able to do squats with 18kg weights before  like more than 6 months ago and replaced it with running then i left doing exercise for legs.but one day i accidently used my back lifting water can of 20kg and got a pain in back but it was healed.Now i am trying to do squats again without weights but it feels so taxing on my body and i use my feet fingers to lift not the balls of the feet.&#xA;Can you give me any progression for squats and any tips to correct my form?&#xA;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16349" LastActivityDate="2016-12-23T13:36:10.373" Title="Squats for lower back pain before" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-19T10:59:34.860" Score="-2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;can someone create a lower pecs with no go to to gym?Could you give some workouts that someone could do at his home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24326" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T22:12:28.287" Title="lower pecs for chest workout not in gym" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32915" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-19T15:06:11.137" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say my workout for a given day includes 3 sets of squats, 3 sets of bench press and 3 sets of rows. Usually, one would do this in a 45 minute workout. Alternatively, I could spread out the exercises and sets over the duration of a full day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would one approach be more effective than another?&#xA;Is work work? Or is there an intensity component?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24328" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T15:28:11.477" Title="Distributing workout throughout day" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32915" CreationDate="2016-12-19T15:28:11.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two approaches are different. There is an intensity component. The state of your body qua warming up is different. Recovery between sets is different. Each can be effective, but usually one should do work in a workout rather than on its own. See &quot;greasing the groove&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T15:28:11.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32918" CreationDate="2016-12-19T15:50:21.580" Score="1" ViewCount="1050" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently shopping for a treadmill and I came across 2 models by the same brand that have a seemingly strange difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.0 CHP Motor with 2.5&quot; roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.5 CHP Motor with 1.9&quot; roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypothetically, if all other things were equal (features and price), what factors would go into deciding which one to prefer based on the motor and roller size alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18690" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T13:56:04.297" Title="Treadmill shopping: importance of motor vs roller" Tags="&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32917" CreationDate="2016-12-19T16:31:01.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The motor indicates how fast and smooth the treadmill will be able to sustain a continuous belt speed. Some treadmills simply can't &quot;keep up&quot; and the runner can move faster than the belt can go. In which case, the runner will be forced to slow down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.0 CHP seems to be the base for &quot;running speed&quot;. Track stars looking to stay in from the ice may need something bigger. Otherwise it may be suitable for most people. Although, runners who constantly train at steep inclines, and/or larger runners (200+ lbs) may need a slightly more powerful motor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger roller size on the other hand benefits the life of the treadmill. Wider rollers means the rollers themselves spin slower so there's less wear-and-tear over the course of a run. They have larger bearings so they can handle more pressure. Larger rollers are just flat out stronger. Then finally larger rollers have larger surface area to grab on to the belt which prevents the belt slipping (an especially annoying occurrence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know which one you should go as it's entirely based on your needs. If I was treadmill shopping, I would test out the 3.0 CHP treadmill at a slight incline to see if it struggles. Possibly even steeper incline than I would normally run so I know it's more than capable of handling my regular training. Then get the one with bigger rollers if it passes all the checks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2017-03-27T13:56:04.297" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T13:56:04.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32912" CreationDate="2016-12-19T19:27:04.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made a video of the common squat progression I use with my rehabilitation clients. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/08i3ZXMuil0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/08i3ZXMuil0&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other tip would be to find a way to do them that is pain free and very slowly increase the difficulty (weight). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you get better soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T19:27:04.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32927" CreationDate="2016-12-19T20:48:26.367" Score="3" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I was a little sick but I still went to the gym to do my workout.&#xA;I had a really annoying consistent headache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine warned me not to do all the sets because i could damage my brain from high blood pressure. Well he had no convincing argument so I didn't stop. However I am wondering if it is true and if there are other things I should consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the dangers of working out with a headache apart from passing out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15299" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T11:18:20.290" Title="Working out with a headache" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32911" CreationDate="2016-12-19T23:21:06.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keeping a balanced diet is essential for you to stay healthy. Regular medium intensity workout( whatever exercises you can do currently) on a daily basis will help. Going for regular walks in park during morning will be very beneficial as you will  get natural vitamin D as well as motivation on seeing other people walk. You need to first learn to try walking without the stick. You are very strong and you can do it with daily pactice. Once you master it you will be free to workout as you want. Take good amount of rest and interact with people especially those who can encourage and support you  as this will prove motivating to achieve your goals.  With some will power you will be able to achieve your desired goal. I am sure this will help. All the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T23:21:06.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32794" CreationDate="2016-12-19T23:41:44.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting stressed may affect your diet. It also depends on the type of diet . If you are eating a highly protein rich diet then you may not feel that hungry. Perhaps you are not enjoying your food. Try new dishes new cuisine. However try to avoid stress and enjoy life. Remember the good memories you've had in your past while you eat or watch tv. You will be shocked by your Real appetite.  Engage your partner in an interesting conversation about her interests you will not only enjoy your meal but also develop better bonding with her. Try to forget work while eating.  This is bound to help. Else consult your doctor. Check ypur weight. Maybe you wrte just overloading ypur stomach earlier. With age that is as you near 45 your metabolism tends to slow down. I am sure you will be able to get over this problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T23:41:44.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32920" CreationDate="2016-12-20T00:47:28.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is always good not to workout when you are not feeling well as you will be unable to give your best performance. Your headache might be from lack of sleep, work stress, sudden change in climate . In such a case working out may result in INJURIES so your body is not exactly fresh or in mood to perform the sets. Take a day off and see if the headache persists else consult a doctor. Note working out when you are undergoing stressful times,  or suffering from lack of sleep may also lead to cardiac arrest. Stay safe and get well soon. So it is better you take a day off from working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastEditorUserId="23387" LastEditDate="2016-12-20T11:18:20.290" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T11:18:20.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16016" CreationDate="2016-12-20T03:37:52.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I&quot;ve had this exact problem for 2.5 years and I think i finally found the answer..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's because we push our neck against the bench or seat when we press. Try not doing this for a bit and see if it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24332" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T03:37:52.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32920" CreationDate="2016-12-20T06:50:12.673" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It actually depends on the type of headache you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've been sleep derived or have a headache due to hunger and have been feeling weak, it is advised to not do a high intensity workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if your headache is, well, just a headache, working out can be really helpful.&#xA;Exercising and working out releases hormones and chemicals like &lt;strong&gt;serotonin, endorphins and dopamine&lt;/strong&gt;. All three of those provide pain relief and a change in mood (in a good way). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, &lt;strong&gt;it's never bad to exercise.&lt;/strong&gt; :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24334" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T06:50:12.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32949" CreationDate="2016-12-20T13:01:07.857" Score="0" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been three days that I have not hit the gym. I got a back spasm when I was doing squats due to heavy weights. My back is fine now but I feel pain sometimes in left of my lower back above my buttock and I feel a little stiffness in my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a software developer, so I have to sit for a long time so I am thinking of doing some flexibility training for my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of hitting the gym starting tomorrow. Will it be a good idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me out!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks in Advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24280" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-12-20T20:25:43.747" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T14:57:40.003" Title="How Long to Rest After Back Spasm" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32913" CreationDate="2016-12-20T16:04:04.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not much you can do about your lower pecs without gym. Try buying a home gym its both cheap and flexible. The best you can do is try pushups at a decline angle using a aerobic/step up board.  All the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T16:04:04.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32969" CreationDate="2016-12-20T16:16:09.263" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long is the duration for which we are required to rest after workout. Is it good to do 2-3 sessions of heavy workout every day? What should be the rest period between the two sessions.  I take 1 gm of proteins per pound of body weight. How I am I supposed to keep up my energy if duration of both sessions is 100 minutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T19:58:13.257" Title="Rest after workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32930" CreationDate="2016-12-20T16:24:55.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For all but perhaps a few elite professional athletes, multiple heavy (intense) workouts per day are not good/useful, because they almost certainly cause more fatigue than that from which the body can recover within one day (or possibly multiple successive days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that insufficient recovery usually prohibits the desired adaptation (for example, increased strength), so exercising more (that is, incurring more fatigue) does not necessarily increase strength -- it actually may decrease strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastEditorUserId="20213" LastEditDate="2016-12-20T19:15:25.677" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T19:15:25.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-20T16:58:32.507" Score="5" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today, I noticed that my my neck appears to have a small hunchback.  Do you know workouts that could improve my neck posture in order to straighten it?  Additionally, my bed is orthopedic and I have a soft pillow.  I think the way I sleep and my soft pillow may be a cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24337" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-12-20T17:46:53.393" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T07:40:38.313" Title="Neck hunchbacked: How do I straighten it?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32934" CreationDate="2016-12-20T19:53:43.773" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen videos of people using dumbbells that are somewhat flexible in the middle. I've only seen ones that are 1, 2, 3 pds. Each time, they were used for upper body injury rehab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for these special dumbbells? Google is giving me results that are not at all what I am thinking of. I'd really want to see a youtube video to confirm I am buying what I want. I want very light weight that flexes in the middle for upper body rehab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The premise is that these dumbbells need to be easy / safer to move when not in use. The user is injured / hobbled / old. So, minimal weight at both ends is ideal. Because the resistance generated by momentum is only there when you need it (while doing rehab exercises), and not there at any other time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best explanation:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Imagine a normal dumbbell. Increase the length by maybe 50%. Allow the middle to be semi-flexible. Doing normal dumbbell exercise with that will make the weight feel much heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24338" LastEditorUserId="24338" LastEditDate="2016-12-21T03:51:19.250" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T03:51:19.250" Title="What is the name of the dumbbell that is semi-flexible in the middle?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32933" CreationDate="2016-12-20T20:23:13.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you talking about &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shake_Weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Shake Weights&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IPEIo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IPEIo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Shake Weight&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or perhaps &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B006LN69NW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Softgrip Flexible Weights&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dCoIW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dCoIW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Softgrip weights&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They were created for physical therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;SoftGrip Flexible Hand Weights were the brainchild of a physical therapy patient who was having trouble using the rigid, 2 lb. dumbbells prescribed to her. What arose: a comfortable, non-intimidating Hand Weight that’s easy to grasp and great for light workouts. Soft, but not floppy and color-coded for identification, SoftGrip Hand Weights are perfect for working out and rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T20:23:13.207" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32942" CreationDate="2016-12-20T23:10:05.720" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a hard core gymer. I work out 2hrs a day at a single stretch. However I am unable to keep the intensity of the workouts halfway. I mean not being able to maintain the vigour and stamina with which I began. Currently I am working out for weight gain and lifting heavyweights so I warmup for 8 -10 minutes. Its  cold winters here in haryana,  india. Can you suggest ways in improving my stamina? Is there some thing I should do to improve stamina or take certain supplements before working out? Will taking lot of carbs before working out really help??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23387" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T23:12:23.480" Title="How to keep stamina for intense long duration workouts" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32943" CreationDate="2016-12-21T06:01:53.093" Score="9" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to gain strength, which leaves a lot of rest time in between sets (3-5 minutes). I am a beginner and have no clue what to do in between sets! I kind of just dag around. What are some decent things to do in between sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T04:23:56.993" Title="In between sets — what to do?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-12-27T22:22:30.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32937" CreationDate="2016-12-21T08:54:22.767" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always found something like working on antagonistic muscle groups, stretching tight muscle groups or just plain tidying up the gym a bit usually keeps me entertained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T08:54:22.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32937" CreationDate="2016-12-21T12:44:54.923" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Relax. Sit, lie down, listen to music, talk to friends. If you're outside, enjoy the sun. If you really want to do something related to the training, visualize the exercise you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where do you get the idea, that you have to fill your time? Actually, if you fill your time between sets with random stuff, you lose mental focus on your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T12:44:54.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32937" CreationDate="2016-12-21T13:59:35.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bring a book (or read one on a tablet), and walk laps while waiting. It's low-impact, but it's exercise, keeping me warmed up, and it gives me a chance to finish one of the half-dozen books I'm in the process of reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T13:59:35.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32937" CreationDate="2016-12-21T14:17:54.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep moving around.  I would suggest walking around the gym or using a treadmill to just walk.  Stretching to keep loose and to the keep the blood pumping is also sound advice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24287" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T14:17:54.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32936" CreationDate="2016-12-21T14:50:12.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Train smarter not harder™.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a serious note, most workouts plans can be finished within an hour. Even bodybuilding workouts generally don't take that long. Mostly because if you have enough energy to go two hours, then you probably aren't challenging yourself enough in the first hour. Also there is a period of diminishing returns in which more work doesn't necessarily mean more gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all that, the question is about energy. Some workouts you just feel sluggish and need a boost. Energy can be best derived from fat and carbs. Carbs will give you a quicker, faster boost. Simple carbs (sugar) will give you a much quicker boost of energy that goes away quicker. Complex carbs (vegetables, potatoes, grains, oats, beans, etc.) will give you a longer, more sustained energy. While fat can give you even more prolonged, sustained energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, before a workout, it would be beneficial to have a bit of both complex carbs and/or fat. I'm not sure what is easily available in India or what kind of dietary restrictions you have. I personally like eggs and oats. Eggs are a very good source of healthy fats and proteins. Oats are a very fibrous, complex carbohydrates which is great for a sustained energy. During more intense workouts, I will eat jellybeans which are basically pure sugar which is a simple carb for a much faster energy boost. About 30 grams spread throughout the workout is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can substitute for whatever food you like/have access to which follow similar macro-nutrients. Also use this advice as a guideline rather than a strict rule to follow. Not everyone responds the same so you should experiment with different variations to know what works best for &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt;. (Some people workout better on a completely empty stomach for example.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T14:50:12.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32937" CreationDate="2016-12-21T16:29:34.690" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're goal is strength than in between sets you should rest. Catch your breath. Have some water. Nibble on some sort of calories. Load more weight on the bar. Then go again. Not sure why you're waiting 3 to 5 minutes between sets as a beginner unless its training with partner / partners that are going in that time. In which case help them load their weight, watch what they're doing, and relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7148" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T16:29:34.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32936" CreationDate="2016-12-21T23:07:22.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are able to maintain the intensity till half-time of your workout, you, then you are almost done with what you are doing. Pushing a little further till failure would help, but pushing yourself more is only going to have negative effect on strength and mass. Have a look at the graph of strength/mass vs workout duration.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xNwoJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xNwoJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the site &lt;a href=&quot;http://scoobysworkshop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://scoobysworkshop.com/&lt;/a&gt;. &#xA;Credits for the image goes to Scooby and the site above and not me. The person is a qualified engineer and always uses science in all his workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as you see in the image, after a period of time( which is usually between 30 minutes to an hour for strength training depending on the person), anything done in excess only fetches you negative returns. Your muscles crave for energy and they break beyond repair.So, stick to a time that suits you. There's no reason to push yourself for 2 hours and look for stamina, if your goal is purely strength and mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2016-12-21T23:12:23.480" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T23:12:23.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-21T23:53:31.117" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't take protein - not even 1g on my rest days. On workout days I eat protein, more calories, etc. Should I also eat protein on my rest days? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24352" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2016-12-22T20:31:18.953" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T20:31:18.953" Title="protein in the rest days" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-12-27T22:22:13.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32946" CreationDate="2016-12-22T05:55:04.797" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not like your protein intake on rest days is actually zero (unless you eat &lt;strong&gt;NOTHING&lt;/strong&gt; on your rest days). I assume you are talking about a supplement source like whey protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is considered a good practice to consume almost the same amount of whey on rest days as you do on the days you workout. Building muscles is an easy but long process. Your muscles develop overtime and it's necessary that you keep on taking the important nutrients for that (protein being one of them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not like if you don't workout today, the protein needs of your body will decrease. It's advisable to take the same amount of calories, proteins and carbs. Or on rest days you can go with other protein sources like oats, chicken etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tM1LFFxeKg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Talk&lt;/a&gt; for more information on how muscles grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24334" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T05:55:04.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32952" CreationDate="2016-12-22T09:03:09.280" Score="3" ViewCount="812" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing Crossfit for couple monthes and still can't manage to always find a good weight for training according to weight exercises.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For instance, I can do deadlifts with 60 kg and front squat with 50 kg, but thrusters with only 40 kgs, while won't be able to do power snatch even with 40 kgs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Recently, my coach adviced me to take 30 kg on thrusters since &quot;that's an intensive exercise, not strength exercise; better take less weight, but do more reps&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, the question is what is an expected relative weights table? How do you know which weight to take for every exercise except for remembering &quot;my&quot; value for every exercise and reps number. Trying different weights doesn't work well, because this value changes with time and progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for me, I currently use then next &quot;formula&quot; (of course, approximately):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;x * reps coefficient * exercise coefficient&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt; is currently 60 kg (actually 1 RM Deadlift) and it changes while I progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Reps in round    Coefficient&#xA;1-2              1.0 (doesn't change)&#xA;3-6              0.9 (-10%)&#xA;7-10             0.75 (-25%)&#xA;11+              0.5 (-50%)&#xA;&#xA;Exercise         Coefficient&#xA;Deadlift         1.0 (doesn't change)&#xA;FS, BS           0.8 (-20%)&#xA;Squat clean      0.75 (-25%)&#xA;Pushes / Jerks   0.75 (-25%)&#xA;Power clean      0.7 (-30%)&#xA;Thruster         0.7 (-30%)&#xA;OH squat         0.6 (-40%)&#xA;Power snatch     0.5 (-50%)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if I see &quot;xxx rounds, 5 rep each, power cleans&quot;, I currently take 60 * 0.9 * 0.7 ~= 35-40 kg, according to my physical and mental state, and WOD intensity / rounds count. Or when I see &quot;Power snatch 3 reps EMOM&quot;, I would take 60 * 0.5 * 0.9 ~= 25-30 kg.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I manage to make deadlifts with 70 kg, I will recalculate weights for all other exercises. I will also increase coefficient if I improve my technique - for instance, recently power snatch coefficient was 0.35, because I couldn't do it very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it is very individual, but what are the general averages and ideas?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What weight are you taking for every exercise? I would also be happy to use this information to understand which exercises I am bad at, and what should I work on more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24354" LastEditorUserId="24354" LastEditDate="2016-12-22T09:08:22.983" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T21:15:44.073" Title="What are default weight ratios for different Crossfit exercises?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32928" CreationDate="2016-12-22T14:57:40.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are ready to get back to it. Flexibility training in the gym will probably not be as effective as taking regular breaks from software development to move around. Two things I would encourage you to consider with returning to exercise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start a little light and monitor the load. Keeping a close eye on how heavy and how frequently you lift are key. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check in on how you feel for 24 hours following. Especially with back injuries, it is important to monitor how much you do and how you feel inside and outside of the gym. Generally, you should be pain free and not getting cramps. 24 hours after exercise, you should have no more pain or tightness than before you started the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24259" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T14:57:40.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-22T15:09:23.877" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has been plaguing me forever, even when I was at peak physical condition when I was an athlete (martial artist).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, any exercise or movement that requires legs to stay straight, I feel some strain in the back of my knee, and I can't figure how to fix this, specially now that it is severely getting in the way of exercises I am trying to learn (example: it seemly makes straight leg L-Sit impossible)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of... mistranslation, I always believed THOSE were the hamstrings, and kept searching how to improve hamstrings, only some time ago I found out hamstrings are the muscles in the back of the leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found out then how to test hamstrings flexibility and strength, and both are actually fine, only the tendons themselves behind the knee that are feel short and stiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't even know the name of whatever I want to fix, so where do I get started?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7307" LastActivityDate="2016-12-23T02:20:42.463" Title="How I improve flexiblity of the knee?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20995" CreationDate="2016-12-22T16:40:46.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't read through everyone's TL;DR. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy answer: one leg is longer than the other significantly enough. He has addressed it in a snatch video tutorial and I went to his weightlifting course where he explained that. Also, that's why in the end of his jerk, he twists a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24356" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T16:40:46.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32948" CreationDate="2016-12-22T20:36:20.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing CrossFit for just over two years now, so I know what you're feeling. I have to say though, I think you're overcomplicating matters just a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, I know what my 1 rep maxes are for each movement, and so whatever is RX for that day's workout, I'll immediately know whether or not I need to scale it, based upon the weight and reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask my coach what percentage of my 1rm I should be shooting for, and they'll give me the answer, as different workouts have different purposes. You don't want to go too heavy and have your time/score way longer/less than everyone else, and same for going too light with weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question though, there aren't really general averages that apply to everyone. That's where you need to take your personal ability and realistically apply it to your workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your method works though from what I can see, especially since you're adjusting it as your skills improve. It's very technical, but if that's your style, stick with it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24359" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T20:36:20.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-23T11:50:48.937" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally alot of muscles are involved when you are running according to Google, but which one provides the most power?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T06:50:00.680" Title="What pair of muscles provides the most power for running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="32974" CreationDate="2016-12-23T11:54:17.810" Score="3" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google says the flight time achieved while running is the largest difference between athletes and us commoners, so I'd like to focus on these muscles alittle.&#xA;What muscles do we use to launch off the ground?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T14:36:32.797" Title="What muscles are responsible for the flight phase of running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32930" CreationDate="2016-12-23T13:27:33.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that 2 - 3 sessions of heavy work every day would be too much, but then with adequate nutrition and recovery, I imagine even that can be adapted to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It all comes down to what your goals are.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know of a few weightlifters who train multiple times a day, but these are people who compete at a national level, and by necessity, training for weight lifting tends to involve lots of sets of low reps, especially for the more skilled movements (snatch, clean and jerk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some old school bodybuilders used to train twice a day, morning and evening, with pretty full on sessions both times (names escape me at the moment, but T-Nation has posted a few articles on some of these guys).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Squat Every Day program gained some traction a year or so back (I've fallen out of touch, so maybe it still has some), the idea being that you work up to your squat max every day, and once you get over the initial week or so, your body gets used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For skilled movements, and arguably for pure strength without a lot in the way of hypertrophy, training multiple times a day can be very beneficial. Suck at pulls ups? Then do multiple sets throughout the day and watch your strength increase. This is commonly known as Greasing the Groove and from my understanding trains the CNS to more efficiently recruit the muscles required to carry out the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-12-23T13:27:33.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32912" CreationDate="2016-12-23T13:36:10.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look up Dan John's goblet squats, they're pretty good for improving squat technique, and can be loaded very easily once you're ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend squatting every day to improve technique and get more comfortable with the squatting motion. Also, sit in the bottom position of the squat, using an external object for balance if you need to, and try to move around a bit, it helps to loosen up the hips some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 6 foot 6 inches tall, and used to really struggle with squats. I manage to dramatically improve my squat technique by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squatting in some form every day (need to get something out of a low cupboard, it's an opportunity to practice your squat technique!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sitting in the bottom squat position for 5 minutes every night and &quot;wiggling&quot; back and forth to get more comfortable in the position, and loosen up the hips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-12-23T13:36:10.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27965" CreationDate="2016-12-24T03:19:40.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been practicing parkour for about seven years, and I of course have seen a huge amount of people wearing these oversized baggy pants.  I think there's a few different reasons for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's kind of a fashion style.  It started off with one or two famous parkourists adapting this style, and now it's the cool thing to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It makes some flashy tricks look really cool.  For example, aerials and other moves where you flare your legs, the baggy pant legs look pretty cool compared to regular pants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They're extremely comfortable to wear, and they give you a good amount of flexibility because they aren't constricting.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall theres a few more reasons, and I actually found a pretty cool article talking about it at &lt;a href=&quot;https://thebestparkourgear.com/parkour-clothing-pants/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://thebestparkourgear.com/parkour-clothing-pants/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While you don’t exactly need too long pants, they are very uncomfortable. If you’ve ever trailed on rough concrete in shorts, you will exactly understand the same feelings. Also, on concrete or bricks, you’ll quickly accumulate scratches and corrosion. Longer length sweatpants protect your legs. In addition, a pair of loose, flowing long sweatpants seems cooler than your (likely hairy and bloody) legs do in athletic shorts. The moves look cleaner because the material of the pants tends to make your legs look straighter, which looks better and also let you play conveniently. Exercises will become rather difficult if you’re wearing the kind of dress for games like athletic/basketball which are usually in short length. The cloth tends to fall and gather around your area, as well as, you come to the picture. The jeans material isn’t good for Parkour. They’re too tight and strict to skin, although they do a good job of protection which is a reason not helpful for playing the Parkour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24374" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2016-12-24T11:53:31.213" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T11:53:31.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32937" CreationDate="2016-12-24T04:23:56.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One word: cardio. Do anaerobic and aerobic routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between deadlifts I would do sprints and running and hurdles, combined with playing soccer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I would finish there I'd go catch my breath in 10 seconds or so and then get back at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key point here is that, even if you're &quot;resting&quot; between sets, you can keep doing other stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're resting from sets on the bench press, do pull ups or chin ups inbetween.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're resting from pulls ups/chin ups, do dips or squats; or just run around like a sneols.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point is, even when resting, some part of your body/system can always keep working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24375" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T04:23:56.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32930" CreationDate="2016-12-24T04:38:48.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all genetic for the most part. It has nothing to do with whether or not you're a rare, one-of-a-kind elite pro athlete that comes once in a generation; or if you're  a couch potato who can't lift 100 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long you need to rest and recover varies and depends based on each person and how much you prefer to recover before loading again. I know of at least one guy who trains 6-7 days a week and it works perfectly for him (and no, he doesn't use pro-hormones). Why? Apparently he recovers faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people take longer to recover, but nothing stops you from jumping the gun. As far as I can figure you can't reduce gains just by jumping back in a little quicker -- just don't workout constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, most people recover enough in 48-72 hours or less for more loading, but the point of diminishing returns depend on how much intensity. See, you can lift 7 days a week and curl paperback for 300 reps and I doubt you'll have diminishing returns -- but if you try and power curl 90% of your max every day you just might see no advantage. Interestingly, sleep helps repair muscles. If you just simply sleep more while maintaining a good diet you'll definitely see muscle repair faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you spend an entire 24-hour period sleeping 80% of the time and eating the rest you'll probably recover enough to jump back in immediately the following next day, fresh as a water buffalo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three things you should know/focus on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Intensity. If you do an extremely intense workout, odds are you won't recover the next day -- so give it several days at the minimum, unless you feel perfectly refreshed sooner. If you do low-intensity workouts, do it more times per week, possibly splitting up the days you do it if you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Recovery is genetic, but sleep helps. If you want to workout more and get stronger faster, consider sleep supplements if you're not a naturally good sleeper. Also, remember that good sleep is at least 9 hours (with REM) -- no less or you're slowing down recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Calories and protein help recovery. This doesn't mean eat non-stop, but it does mean that you should eat every 4-8 hours, and shouldn't let your net negative energy balance stay below -800 for more than 10 hours at a time. Most meals should be small-ish but packed. Spread your calories and do not simply think you must always be in a surplus/deficit -- don't think in extremes because the world doesn't operate that way. Consistent eating replenishes muscles and helps them recover, so try and eat well consistently but do not over/under eat. Good luck and may you grow powerful like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24376" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T04:38:48.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32962" CreationDate="2016-12-24T14:36:32.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;tl;dr- Core, everything below the waist, and throw in your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A coordinated running stride uses the arms for counterbalance, and the shorter or more intense the speed, you will use them for drive as well. The core keeps your balance, and obviously the legs are used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary drivers in the legs will be the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves. Hamstrings work with the hip flexors to bring the lower leg up and swing it forward at the beginning of the leg cycle, quadriceps extend the leg, glutes help bring the leg backwards/the body forward during the plant, and the calves push off the ground at the end of the drive phase, which gives you the &quot;flight&quot; phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So. Now, the flight time and leg stiffness (Helps get more energy from the ground/rebound) are what you need to train. Air time can be gained simply by adding high speed running such as hill sprints, intervals and fartlek type running. Leg stiffness can be increased by plyometrics and lifting. Just be sure that you don't overlift, large heavy leg muscles are a detriment when doing longer (2 mile and up) racing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing is if you are a heelstriker, switch to a mid foot strike. By that, I don't mean what part of your foot touches first, but what part of your foot is bearing the most weight when your center of gravity passes over it. A heel touching first (Especially with more padded shoes) may or may not indicate a heel strike stride. That's best determined by a video, which any decent larger running store will have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed drills, plyometrics, and heavy lower body lifting (to a point) will all be what you want to work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T14:36:32.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32979" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-25T17:25:01.020" Score="3" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am standing or walking, and thinking about something other than my posture, I exhibit a bit of lumbar hyperlordosis, a fair amount of thoracic kyphosis and a bit of forward head (both my professional and avocational pursuits involve computer use).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For about 18 months I have been working out regularly and working on stretching the hip flexors, strengthening the core, the glutes, rows, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I look in the mirror, I can engage the abdominus rectus, thrust a bit with the glutes, and put my chest up and I see a very good-looking posture.  However, when I am not thinking about it (which is 99% of the time) I regress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a standing/sitting (up/down) desk, but when I stand and I engage in a good posture consciously, then return to my work.  Invariably some time later I notice that I have allowed my belly to protrude and am resting a bunch of weight on my lumbar spine.  I then correct it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I find it easier to identify good vs. bad posture when standing vs. sitting, and when I am standing I can imitate a person who has good posture for brief periods of time.  But when I am sitting, I am less clear on what I am doing vs. what I should be doing, and how bad it actually is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is in two parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Do people who exhibit great posture have to think about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) How does sitting posture relate to standing posture?  In particular, what types of sitting posture mistakes contribute to lumbar hyper lordosis, thoracic kyphosis and forward head when standing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16131" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:58:27.497" Title="Good Standing Posture Without Thinking About It" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32979" CreationDate="2016-12-25T19:46:50.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do people who exhibit great posture have to think about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some do, some don't, some will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people exhibit good posture because they've had the adequate amount of physical exercise while growing up. For instance, young farmers will almost as a rule become very strong and lean because of the amount of physical labor that goes into their role as farm hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other people have had to work on their posture, until it &lt;em&gt;became&lt;/em&gt; second nature. I.e. they did it consciously for so long, it's now something they don't have to think about. (Personally, I fall into this category.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, some people simply have to make a conscious effort to keep their shoulders squared, chest and chin up etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How does sitting posture relate to standing posture? In particular, what types of sitting posture mistakes contribute to lumbar hyper lordosis, thoracic kyphosis and forward head when standing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not going to go very deep into what causes each of these, but you mention sitting vs. standing, and that's a valid concern, at least for lumbar hyperlordosis. A sedentary lifestyle with a lot of sitting is known to cause tight hip-flexors, which in turn is one of the main causes of lumbar hyperlordosis. A common counter to this is to stretch the hip flexors regularly, even daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoracic kyphosis is largely a symptom of more serious diseases such as Scheuermann's disease, osteoporosis with compression fractures of the vertebra, multiple myeloma or outright trauma (car crash, falling etc.). All in all, this is not something you should be worried about causing through posture changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forward head posture (FHP), unless caused by something dramatic, is something that can be corrected by daily habits, much like the issue with tight hip flexors. And to a large degree, you SHOULD treat it, because it can lead to bigger and worse things, like chronic neck pain, and everything that can be derived from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises for correcting FHP are many, and you can find a plethora of simple exercises for it by googling. I'm usually not a fan of WikiHow, but I'll concede that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Correct-Forward-Head-Posture&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;their article on this particular subject&lt;/a&gt; is pretty good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-12-25T19:46:50.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32982" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-26T01:29:58.760" Score="1" ViewCount="992" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have kept upping creatine intake and calories, including exercise and weightlifting, but I do not see any muscle gains. My arms have stayed the same size for over 3 years, and I've been to dietitians/etc. I even got a personal trainer. I have no diseases/illnesses that prevent or waste away muscle (i.e., cachexia). I have maintained bulking phases, but all I gain is 99% fat from a long-term surplus. For example, I gained 25 lbs. in 4 months, but did not look any bit muscular -- and my arm size did not change, nor did any other muscle group. My waist size just increases and I get a belly slowly, but never see any muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I upped to 500mg of creatine a day, plus 900mg caffeine and up to 1,000 grams of protein per day, including 5-10K calories (80% protein). This diet has cost me thousands over the months, but no results. People tell me to eat more, but I just get fatter -- I gain literally almost no muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been steadily working out for around 3 years, even some under supervision of trainer. I see no muscle mass results. My arms &quot;pump&quot; but never get bigger chronically -- they always still 12 inche.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5'10&quot; and 162 lbs. with about 15% bodyfat. I went to 180+ and just went up 4-inch pant sizes, but did not see any muscle gains while having a very strict, progressive overload bearing workout that involves low-weights and 8-12 reps for hypertrophy, 5-8 reps for power, and 15+ reps for endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I literally gain less than 1 lb. of muscle for every 20 lbs. of overall weight gained. I'd have to be the size of a superobese Walmart cart roller to have the muscle size of a 13 year old boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5-12K calories a day, every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;400-500g creatine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;700-1,000g protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen guys bigger than me that don't even workout, it's pretty shameful. I even see lots of women bigger and more muscular at the gyms than me. I have good power (bench 210, squat 180, curl 110, overhead press 150, can do 18 chin ups, 14 pull ups, 2 muscle ups, and even deadlift around 450 lbs.), but have no size. It's like a curse of tiny muscles with good strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle size flexed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps: 12 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quads: 27 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest: 38 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neck: 13 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forearms: 10.8 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrists: 6.9 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hand length: 7.1 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why am I so chornically small and can't gain any muscle for years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 100% confident that I rest well and have one of the best routines I follow very passionately and strictly as I have sought after gains my whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24390" LastActivityDate="2020-11-07T12:44:07.290" Title="Creatine, surplus, and weightlifting, but not gaining significant muscle" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32932" CreationDate="2016-12-26T08:38:58.723" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The spine is nothing to take lightly. If it's a question about the spinal column I always say get a professional to look at it in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19264" LastActivityDate="2016-12-26T08:38:58.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-26T09:00:44.473" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;From 'Building The Gymnastic Body'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'&lt;strong&gt;...our &lt;em&gt;strongest&lt;/em&gt; student won the push-ups competition with 350 push-ups [not in a row], but the student who came second, with 300 push-ups, was a mediocre athlete at best.&lt;/strong&gt;'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This got me wondering about how much strength crossovers to muscular endurance. I am NOT talking about marathon-like endurance (which weight training improves), but how, say, your bench press 1RM correlates with the amount of push-ups you can do, even if you've never trained push-ups endurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the amount of carryover, and the mechanism(s) of strength increasing muscular endurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2016-12-26T12:53:12.070" Title="Strength crossover with muscular endurance" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-endurance&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32984" CreationDate="2016-12-26T12:53:12.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an interesting question and unfortunately, I don't know of any specific studies that actually answer the question. My answer is more about logic and personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stronger you are, the more your muscular endurance should be at lower weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your max bench is 100kg, then you're logically going to be able to do more reps with 50kg than someone who's max bench is 60kg. As you get closer to your 1RM (1 rep max), then this does get somewhat distorted person to person depending on various ratios of muscle fibre types (so someone with a max of 95kg may be able to do more reps at 90kg than someone with a max of 100kg. I only have empirical evidence for this though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposite, however, is not always true. A training buddy of mine was working on a high rep squatting program in order to bulk up, he'd regularly do sets of about 35 reps at 80kg. His squat max was 100kg. I could only manage 10 reps at 80kg (then felt like I was going to collapse), but I also has a squat max of 100kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the amount of carryover, there are plenty of calculations knocking about that say you should be able to manage x number of reps at y percentage of your 1RM, which suggests that your muscular endurance is going to greater at lower percentages of your 1RM (so the stronger you are, the more endurance you'll have at lower weights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-12-26T12:53:12.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-26T19:19:58.387" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running in minimalist shoes for over 5 years now, mainly off-road in the U.K.  Yesterday I threw away my second pair of Vivo Trail Freaks, having also worn through 4 pairs of Merrell Trail Gloves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each has worn through the fabric on the instep, starting with what looks like abrasion and ending in a tear from ball to heel. Some shoes have lasted a year, others only a few outings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that being low to the ground the shoes don't cope well with small stones and twigs - should I look to my running or shoe style, or is this just a fact of barefoot running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T22:09:35.837" Title="Can I avoid instep tears in barefoot shoes?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32948" CreationDate="2016-12-26T21:41:37.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that your precision approach will somewhat modify the programming intent and result in less variety. That difference might appear only in time when using a weight heavier or lighter than intended as prescribed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the rep scheme in these WODs (and other Girls) to see the programming doesn't correlate reps to weight to the degree of your plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Diane”&#xA;Deadlift 225 lbs&#xA;Handstand push-ups&#xA;21-15-9 reps, for time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Elizabeth”&#xA;Clean 135 lbs&#xA;Ring Dips&#xA;21-15-9 reps, for time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Eva”&#xA;Run 800 meters&#xA;2 pood KB swing, 30 reps&#xA;30 pullups&#xA;5 rounds for time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Fran”&#xA;Thruster 95 lbs&#xA;Pull-ups&#xA;21-15-9 reps, for time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Grace”&#xA;Clean and Jerk 135 lbs&#xA;30 reps for time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps consider approaching each workout as an overall scale to your ability. Maybe you can accomplish 70% of Grace, but 100% of Elizabeth. This is a natural scenario and implies that Clean and Jerk is a weakness relative to your Clean ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24387" LastActivityDate="2016-12-26T21:41:37.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4641" CreationDate="2016-12-27T09:36:30.343" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;majority of stuff on internet related to Vitamins and Supplements in take is biased, wrong and incorrect.&#xA;what we should consider is every human is born different and all intakes of anything useable by human body must be based on person's body weight, body composition and health condition/history. not what is preached. Vitamins especially based on Per Kg of body weight, Protein is per Kg or Per Pound of Lean body weight.....etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24397" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T09:36:30.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33002" CreationDate="2016-12-27T12:17:09.710" Score="1" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, for bodyweight squats, the instructions are usually to bring your hands in front of you as you go down to counterbalance that your bodyweight is behind your feet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mattfurey.com/hindu_squats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hindu Squats&lt;/a&gt; operate the other direction with the recommendation generally being to have your arms in front of you when standing, and behind you when fully squatted. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My theories range from it making you work harder (because it's counter to how it's generally done) to &quot;it's just always been that way&quot; to it being a matter of that since you're going up on the balls / toes of your feet instead of flatfooted, the weight distribution is far enough forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T22:02:03.307" Title="Why does one swing the arms backwards in a Hindu Squat?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32982" CreationDate="2016-12-27T15:27:50.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few reasons you might not be seeing muscle gains and only fat gains.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll start out with the first one that comes to mind, and the most probable from my perspective.  &lt;strong&gt;You are&lt;/strong&gt;.  Take pictures, lots of them.  If you're in a surplus and gaining muscle you are naturally going to gain fat too.  This is going to look like you've gained mostly fat when in actuality you've gained fat and muscle.  If you've got pictures you can compare yourself within them.  When you lose the excess fat after your bulk, you'll regain muscle definition and you can see any gains made much easier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also curious about how you're training.  5-6 times per week?  Light weights?  1RM's?  High Reps?  Low Reps?  How long are your sessions?  Are you doing cardio?  What type of training are you doing?  These are all important factors in how you're training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're eating in a surplus and hitting your protein levels you will notice muscle gains providing you are working out adequately.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your body will develop more muscle if you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A.) Giving your body a reason to build more (working out so your body adapts)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B.) Giving your body the proper tools to build muscle (Protein, proper rest, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T15:27:50.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-27T17:25:38.540" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have standing desks and office chairs with wheels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get a mat to stand on, but if I had one under my desk i'd have to move it every time I wanted to sit in my chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the're standing desk mats that wheeled office chairs can roll over or work with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a solution to this problem? Is this the wrong forum for this, seemed like the most appropriate one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24401" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T17:25:38.540" Title="Standing desk mat with office chairs?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-12-27T22:12:13.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36718" CreationDate="2016-12-27T18:36:14.593" Score="4" ViewCount="1138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for alternative triceps exercises, either using body weight, free weights or with the machine. The twist: I have a golfer's elbow. Not the sort of golfer's elbow that regularly hurts (actually it never hurts), but it still feels weird when I bend my arm more than 90° while its under weight pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, exercises like Push-Ups, Dips, Bench Press are not optimal for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you think of any other triceps exercises that are effective but do not require the full spectrum of your arm movement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sorry for the english. If you do not understand, please tell me and I will try to clarify.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T10:01:21.540" Title="Alternative triceps training with golfer's elbow" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-27T18:39:08.510" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 27 years old my weight is 102 KG currently on Keto diet. I work at night and my shift ends at 3:00 AM. My last meal end at 12:00 AM, I go to gym at 11:00 AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is should I drink protein before workout or after workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24407" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T18:49:39.797" Title="Protein Pre Workout or Post Workout which one is better for me?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-12-27T22:22:03.560" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32996" CreationDate="2016-12-27T18:49:39.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes will be most effective when your muscles are in a state of disrepair. As such, you should drink it &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the workout, consider eating/drinking something that gives you more energy in the gym, such as fruit and/or a handful of nuts. Optionally, there are pre-workout supplements out there, but I'd rather advise that you look to food instead of supplements whenever possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T18:49:39.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-27T19:34:22.250" Score="0" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friends tell me that I am a virgin so I should not go to gym after school and workout because I won't build muscle. I am 13 years old and skinny, about 83 lbs. and 5'. I wanted to get in better shape and stronger because friends call me weak but they also tell me you cannot build strength or fitness if you are a virgin so I must have sex first. Is this true or what should I start do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24409" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2016-12-27T20:05:11.817" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T21:05:09.570" Title="NO reason to exercise if a virgin?" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-12-27T21:59:38.960" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32982" CreationDate="2016-12-27T20:04:01.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you should be aware of is that gaining appreciable, sustaining muscle mass is typically a long (&lt;strong&gt;l-o-n-g&lt;/strong&gt;) process especially if you train &lt;strong&gt;drug free&lt;/strong&gt;.  It requires consistent effort and attention to detail.  Having said that, it would appear from your post that you're making a concerted effort to achieve your muscular goals.  But, here are some observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think you're relying too much on external supplements.  More is not&#xA;always better.  Increasing protein and Creatine will certainly stress&#xA;your digestive system and kidneys.  Most people don't take Creatine&#xA;every day.  Rather it's typically “cycled”.  I would suggest you take&#xA;a hard look at your supplementation strategy and look to real food&#xA;for the bulk of your nutrients.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I understand your post correctly, your training seems somewhat&lt;br&gt;&#xA;haphazard in the amount of reps/work load you are attempting.  I&lt;br&gt;&#xA;would suggest you may be over training.  Don't be totally bound by&lt;br&gt;&#xA;what you read for rep/set recommendations.  Pay close attention to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;what works for you an stick with it.  Sometimes, the best routine is &#xA;a “non-routine”  because it provides variety and lessens any muscle adaptation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's no way for us to tell how well you are performing an&#xA;exercise.  If you “cheat”, or, do not perform full range of motion,&#xA;you are wasting valuable effort and time.  Strict/proper form should&#xA;be the goal on each and every exercise.  Consider posting video of&#xA;exercises for critique.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't compare yourself to others.  Be humble.  There will always be someone who is bigger or stronger.  Work your hardest at being the best &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; can be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T20:04:01.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32998" CreationDate="2016-12-27T21:05:09.570" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your friends are incorrect.  Virginity makes no difference in the results of working out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to building strength at that age, focus on building a solid foundation.  A proper diet is the most important thing at your age for getting in shape.  Sexual history/activity is irrelevant.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T21:05:09.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32990" CreationDate="2016-12-27T22:02:03.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought it had more to do with breathing than balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to follow Matt Furey's teachings, and remember him saying that if you could do them flat footed, then that was ok, they didn't have to be done on your toes (but most people can't get flat footed). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For breathing, when you're standing up, you swing your arms in front of you and breath in. It does help with balance somewhat, but it also makes it easier to take a lungful. Breathing in while squatting down and swinging your arms behind you just doesn't feel right (to me anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare the breathing to a standard, weighted squat, where you'd generally use the valsalva maneuver to brace yourself then exhale on the way up (more or less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T22:02:03.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32986" CreationDate="2016-12-27T22:09:35.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a pair of Merrell barefoot running shoes that I used to use for every day as opposed to running. They wore through in about 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went into a specialist running shop to get some more and asked about them wearing out so quickly, and was told that because of the minimalist nature of them and the soft material they were made from, they weren't particularly robust, and would probably wear out in 6 - 12 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wear I was seeing wasn't specifically limited to the instep, but as I said, I wasn't actually running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T22:09:35.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32982" CreationDate="2016-12-28T00:13:24.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may not be the answer you or anyone else would vouch for, but here you go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That's just how it is&lt;/strong&gt;. You are likely a hardgainer. You probably do build muscle, as everyone does, but the rate at which it's noticeable is negligible. It's not testosterone; it's not diet; it's genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are just not naturally apt to gain muscle quickly. It's a harsh reality, but there's little you can do. Some people just can't get very big -- and it takes them many times more effort to achieve small results. What does this mean? It doesn't mean give up -- it means accept the facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you're still building strength, right? Use that for motivation and let the muscle sink in slowly. You will get bigger eventually -- everyone will. You may take three times longer, but it will happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even someone dying from starvation will still be able to build some muscle over time, so anyone will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get fat from eating too much because there's a hard limit to how much energy your body will use for protein synthesis -- the rest is just added to glycogen and then fat, as there's nowhere else/nothing else your body can do with so much energy surplus. Energy can't be created/destroyed -- only changed. You realize there's an upper-limit for everyone -- even the most roid-stacked, genetically-gifted individual in existence. Your body can only use so much for muscle -- after that it's down to fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moderate intake and realize that eating more will NOT make you any bigger past a reasonable point. What you should do is, since eating more isn't helping build much more, simply eat what you normally do and workout, while sparingly throwing in small bouts of extra energy in some days when you're active/lift hard at the gym -- and then for down days you can have a very minimal deficit so as to never really throw your body too far in either direction without putting the brakes on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep using strength as a motivational tool to continue, while still keeping progress and slowly building muscle. You may not see much change with measuring tape, but it's almost assuredly true that some muscle is growing -- either by total muscle cells or cell size. Give yourself a break for a few days and re-evaluate -- work on your diet -- and go back in with your head up and be realistic. No, you may never have the &quot;bodybuilder&quot; body, but you can have a good body if you work at it and don't just give up because you can't get really big. It's not like everyone wants to be really big anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24411" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T00:13:24.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33019" CreationDate="2016-12-28T01:57:13.353" Score="4" ViewCount="604" Body="&lt;p&gt;When reading about gaining muscle mass and losing fat most (almost all) sources seem to recommend an alternating sequence of bulking and then cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't it be simpler and more convenient to just train a lot and eat enough and have this progress towards an equilibrium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24412" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:39:06.097" Title="Why bulking and cutting instead of just eating enough?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33006" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-28T02:34:14.453" Score="5" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I notice that days where I don't eat much, I sometimes fail to get up big lifts with weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On days when I sometimes get big surpluses, such as big feasts/etc., I feel powered and like there's lots of more driving force/energy in completing lifts. It's like a big surplus gives you more power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any explanation for this? Is this why a lot of heavy/obese people can get some big weights moving (like perhaps bench, deadlifts, presses, etc.), despite them not having too much training/etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like there's a correlation between intake and outward energy from the foods/etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24413" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:03:52.873" Title="Why does a giant surplus in calories result in immediate strength gains?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33013" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-28T14:38:03.440" Score="1" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;The back of my neck feels sore at one side sometimes after a long day working in front of the computer. Somehow it improves by massaging the proper spot and by stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like the muscles were disengaged, but not injured since it can improve rapidly by the proper actions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know what's the official name of this and whether muscle exercises, would help prevent it from happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24419" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T17:47:44.117" Title="Disengaged muscles in back of the neck" Tags="&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-16T19:33:18.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-28T15:35:26.733" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why would a boxer, for example, train jumping rope or doing anything that is not the same type of movement that happens in a fight? Can you just train by performing the activity you want to improve? Like a runner training exclusively through running, swimmer by swimming and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24419" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:44:31.420" Title="What's the point of training asymmetrically?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33006" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:03:52.873" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glycogen. Glycogen is stored glucose that your muscles use to move explosively. Moving heavy weights requires a lot of energy to be expended really fast. Your muscles use the stored glycogen to get that energy. You deplete it throughout the day, and you won't replenish it if you don't eat. Then you don't have enough when you workout, and you feel exhausted. When you have a big feast, you replenish the glycogen and then use it in the workout. It's equivalent to &quot;carb-loading&quot; in the running world. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being heavy/obese doesn't necessarily equate to being stronger. There's actually a question on this forum that deals with that topic in much greater detail than I'll ever be able to answer. I can't for the life of me find it right now. Though, a more heavyset person is more likely to have topped out glycogen stores simply because they would typically eat beyond their needs. They would experience the same phenomenon you are describing now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:03:52.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33014" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:09:11.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's more to training than just performing the movements of a specific sport.  In the example you provided of a boxer, jumping rope will improve cardio vascular fitness and endurance.  Think of how much power a boxer must generate &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; absorb while in the ring.  Add a time factor of 8 to 12 rounds and you begin to realize that having sufficient endurance and lasting power in the later rounds may be the deciding factor to winning or losing a bout.  Cross training is an effective method to improving overall fitness for specific sports.  That's why athletes will tend to do more than just the movements of their sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:09:11.410" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33005" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:13:55.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's called recomposition, and it works to a certain extent. Most people can probably do that for a couple years before it stops working. Then they need to do a bulking/cutting cycle as creating muscle becomes more difficult as time goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason to do the cycle is it's more intuitive for people. Recomposition requires constant tracking and recording to make sure you don't go over or under budget, unless you're really good at eyeballing food intake. Bulking (particularly a dirty bulk) is simple. You eat a lot. If you don't gain weight, then eat more. Cutting is the reverse of that. The bulk/cut cycle is a time-tested method that's worked for a lot of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:13:55.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33005" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:31:48.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from an anecdotal perspective, I agree with your statement.  As a former competitive bodybuilder, I too would often follow the advice of the day: bulk, cut and repeat.  I found that I was not as successful with that pattern of training.  The pattern felt like yo-yo dieting to me because you inevitably gain fat with any muscle you're lucky enough to gain.  And, during the cut phase, you have pay very close attention to detail and how you reduce calories to avoid losing any newly acquired muscle mass.  Good luck with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I soon switched to a more linear approach and was much more successful.  I would set an off season goal weight and not stray too far over it.  That meant constantly monitoring caloric intake and macro nutrient distributions.  This approach allowed me to maintain any muscular gains for a more extended period of time. It also allowed me to train worry free because I knew that I would not need to shed large amounts of excess fat gained during a “bulk” phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the bulk and cut philosophy has lingered due to the popularity of the sport of bodybuilding.  It's very difficult to apply the philosophy and methodologies of professional bodybuilders to the average &quot;Joe Fitness&quot;.  The average fitness enthusiast does not need to mimic and train like a bodybuilder to achieve their goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:31:48.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33005" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:39:06.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what most bodybuilders are after, you pretty much have to operate within a bulking/cutting cycle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to gain muscle mass effectively a bodybuilder (especially one who's been exercising for years) must eat in a surplus and work out efficiently.  In doing this, they will also accumulate fat to some degree.  This depends on how &quot;clean&quot; their bulk was.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then in order to lose this excess fat, they have to &quot;cut&quot; by eating fewer calories than they use.  In doing this, they also lose a bit of muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one were to follow the method you propose, they would indeed notice muscle/strength gains as well as likely gaining fat depending on their intake.  For most casual gym goers and the general population, this would be a more than acceptable regime.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However many people looking to get into working out research bodybuilding advice and therefore find themselves researching a bulking/cutting cycle.  For most people, it's not needed.  But for competition bodybuilders or those looking to make very large changes, it is the superior route to go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:39:06.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33014" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:44:31.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overall muscle development and training is very important for any athlete.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the example of a boxer like you provided, it is certainly most advantageous for them to practice hands on boxing, but this should be supplemented with other exercises.  This is for a few reasons.  First, a boxer needs training overall.  Jump rope provides training with speed and cardio, both of which are useful to a fighter.  Second, the body adapts to training very well.  Doing the same training (in this case hands on boxing) will eventually become less efficient.  This is why supplementing with other exercises is helpful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take powerlifters for example.  You can absolutely bet that a powerlifter will be practicing his/her squats often.  However he/she knows that in order to be better at squats, they should also perform some supplementary movements to focus on the specific muscles which are needed during a squat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:44:31.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32979" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:58:27.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep on getting stronger and more flexible. But, endurance is also very important for posture, so include more endurance training (minimum 15-20 reps) mainly for the posterior chain. Good posture is not something that can be maintained by conscious effort all the time, your muscles and nervous system must have the endurance to keep it up without much thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:58:27.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33023" CreationDate="2016-12-28T18:15:20.653" Score="3" ViewCount="4110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_reduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;misconception&lt;/a&gt; that doing lots of abdominal exercises/crunches helps to reduce belly fat. I want to bulk up at the moment, for which I believe I have to follow a calorie surplus diet. But, If I am not mistaken, doing cardio along with following a calorie deficit diet helps to reduce belly fat as well as overall body fat at a faster rate. Now, my question is how to reduce belly fat and bulk up at the same time by following a calorie surplus diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22139" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T22:41:36.787" Title="Is it possible to bulk up and reduce belly fat at the same time?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33022" CreationDate="2016-12-28T22:41:36.787" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First of all&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kudos for learning about the misconception, and adapting your approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're also going to have to tweak your question from &quot;how to reduce belly fat&quot; to &quot;how to reduce fat&quot;, because as you now know, you will either lose fat all over your body, or not at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gaining muscle while losing fat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the holy grail of fitness. The truth of it is that it is entirely possible, but it can be very difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to bulk up, yes, you're going to need a caloric surplus. But a bulk is meant for you to gain both muscle AND fat, and is traditionally followed by a cutting phase, whereby you diet down the fat you gained during the bulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're looking for is essentially a lean bulk, where you both gain muscle, and lose fat at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me just say this early; you're going to need to carefully study your diet in order to accomplish this. Fitness is the trifecta of training, eating, and resting. And the eating part is the most important one when it comes to gaining/losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How-to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, we can't tell you exactly how to go about it, because there is no training/eating plan that will work for everyone. It's something you're going to have to learn by trial and error, until you find that sweet spot where you're &lt;strong&gt;eating enough to gain muscle, but not so much that you gain fat&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to start out with any reasonable diet, and weigh yourself every morning after you poop. (That's where you get the best measurement because it's always going to be the same-ish amount of time since your previous meal.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow this for a month, and keep measuring your weight, and looking at your progress in the mirror. Take pictures if possible, because the difference will be more visiblee when you can look at a month's progress side-by-side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that you're going in the right direction, then yay! Otherwise, if you're staying put, take a close look at your diet, and see if you can cut down on the calories. Preferably not by removing meals, but by substituting ingredients into something more healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't necessarily switch it out completely. For instance, if you eat a lot of rice, that could be a high-calorie side-dish, but it's still good food. Try switching it out with a broccoli/cauliflower mix every other time you'd normally eat rice. Small changes are easier to cope with in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then keep measuring your progress until you find what works. Eventually, you'll find that sweet spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T22:41:36.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-29T03:50:56.357" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting doing push up at home, leverage for an easy start. When I place my hands on the edge of a sharp edge, like bed edge, my wrists are hurt. When I gripping a round bar, the hurt disappears. I know I shouldn't push up with the sharp edge anymore, but I would like to learn the mechanism behind that, for education purpose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eKgah.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eKgah.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15036" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T11:47:13.140" Title="Why is the wrist hurt when push up with sharp leveraged edge?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-30T00:21:21.577" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;About me , I am 25 year old male , with 100+ kilo weight, a pot belly that is lots of disappointment when I am in any trial room while shopping clothes .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently aiming to get fit and have been going outdoors for jogging as well as fast walking for 1 hours and on an alternative day I do exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want this weight losing process to be super rapid , I want effective one but I need to lose the weight around whole upper body as fast as you can suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of guide over the internet I tried to find but nothing comes for an fat/overweight dude so I am wishing someone could tell me how am I supposed to get fit and lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24428" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T04:21:59.473" Title="I am overweight and I want to lose weight but I don't know how!" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2016-12-30T15:12:55.233" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-30T17:00:44.313" Score="4" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know weight lifting makes your muscles tight. So is it possible to do weight lifting and still be able to maintain a flexible body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24434" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T02:07:19.097" Title="Is it possible to do weight lifting and have a flexible body?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-01-04T10:07:29.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33033" CreationDate="2016-12-30T17:12:12.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is absolutely possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you top off your workouts with a good full-body stretching routine. You can find a LOT of stretching routines online, they're a dime a dozen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I've had great success seeing a qualified chiropractor, because they will help reset your skeletal configuration (joints, ligaments etc.) which can suffer a bit of imbalance after a few months of serious training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no reason why a muscular body (within reason) can't maintain, and even gain flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T17:12:12.370" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-30T18:22:47.243" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recommended techniques to protect the skin from the sun running long distances in the summer?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running in the night is not an option.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reapply sunscreen is hard due to sweat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4477" LastEditorUserId="4477" LastEditDate="2017-01-01T05:39:06.323" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T15:59:56.753" Title="How to run long distances safely in the sun?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33108" CreationDate="2016-12-30T19:58:00.637" Score="1" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am losing weight on a keto diet, staying under 20g of carbs every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I slept late and didn't have time to pack my lunch.  Buying lunch at a gas station limited my options, and for lunch I went over my allotted carbohydrates.  I now at ~50g, and I'm wondering if/how this will effect ketogenesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how delicate is this diet?  Will I break ketogenesis, and have to restart it over the course of days?  Every time I do a few months of keto, it takes a few days to feel like it's gastrointestinally &quot;normal&quot;.  Will I have to go through this &quot;keto flu&quot; again?  Can ketogenesis be undone in one meal, or is more cheating required?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16458" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T13:24:36.910" Title="How delicate is a state of ketogenesis?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33033" CreationDate="2016-12-30T20:33:12.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly. Part of flexibility is fitness of the muscles, because the brain prevents movements which might be unsafe. By building up your muscles, you're training your brain to also recognize that you can support yourself in that position. As for example cases, type in &quot;flexible bodybuilder&quot; in YouTube and you'll find a bevy of cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are some aspects of bodybuilding which may work against being highly flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extra bulk&lt;/strong&gt; - At upper ranges, you may find that the muscle can get in the way, much in the same way that carrying a little extra weight around the middle can inhibit forward bends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time&lt;/strong&gt; - Becoming very flexible requires time. Body-building takes time. You will either have to expand your fitness regimen to include both, or skimp on one or the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Order of operations&lt;/strong&gt; - This is one of those tricky bits, when to stretch in one's exercise plan. Do it before you lift weights and you may weaken your muscles. Do it afterwards, and you run the risk of over-stretching while your system is still full of endorphins. And yet, if you wait too long between exercises, you have to warm up again, and you might just skip out on it because you're having to summon the motivation to do two separate workouts. I'd personally recommend stretching afterwards, but not relying on pain to determine when to stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T20:33:12.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33035" CreationDate="2016-12-30T21:23:27.100" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sun screen lasts for two hours. Spritzing more on at the two-hour mark (or simply setting up your run to be back at your car at the two hour mark and taking a quick break to reapply if you're not competing) is an option. Avoiding running when the sun is the highest (10 AM to 2 PM) helps. Lastly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/staying-safe-in-the-sun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;UV-blocking clothing&lt;/a&gt; is readily available. A long-sleeved shirt, pants, and a hat with flaps and a visor paired with sunglasses protects most of your vulnerable areas, and aren't too difficult to get in breathable fabrics so that you still remain cool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T21:23:27.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-30T21:59:11.680" Score="1" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost 10kg in 5/6 months this summer due to things like running for 30min 6 days a week, not eating carbs at night and never eating more than 1000 calories a day. My nutritionist gave me a meal plan and I stopped running and started strenght training instead (with 1,5 dumbbells), I'll admit I don't fully commit to the meal plan especially the quantities of rice/pasta. Now I always eat between 1300-1600 calories a day, I weight 42kg and heigh is 167cm. I'm scared to stop exercising bc the reason I started it was so I could lose belly fat bc i've always been skinny fat and wanted to stop being that and be comfortable in a bikini (which I still am not). I also love exercising, it makes me feel good, but I can't control myself, or add more calories than usual just bc of it. I have an eating disorder, and refuse to eat anything considered not healthy or anything that's refined like cookies, white rice or white bread (although sometimes I have to do it but feel awful afterwards). I dont know I know I need to gain weight but dont really want to if it means more belly fat, how do I gain weight the right way? And how much do you think I should be eating for each meal? I'm 18 and a girl&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24435" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T00:09:48.000" Title="I'm underweight. How do I gain weight without always being stuffed and without sacrificing exercise?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-12-31T13:52:19.360" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33039" CreationDate="2016-12-31T00:09:48.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should start to run again, because that's the way you can make your body feel that you need to eat a lot. It's easier to eat 2000 kcal or 3000 kcal per day and get to a surplus of a few hundred kcal per day when you're running a lot, compared to not burning a lot of energy. It looks like you can easily get to a surplus  energy intake when you need to eat a lot less, but the human body doesn't work that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our metabolism evolved hundreds of millions years ago, it's a very robust system. If you run a lot then because animals only exert themselves for survival (e.g. getting to food), mechanisms will kick in that make your body better adapted to this situation, so running will become easier. For most people this will mean that they'll lose weight, but if you are underweight, you'll gain weight (provided that you're not overdoing it, you must avoid overtraining).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, our brains only evolved a few hundred thousand years ago, it's not yet fully optimized, we're prone to depression and other mental issues. So, what you want to do is rely on the more primitive but robust mechanisms instead of your brain when it comes to gaining weight. Attempting to micromanage your diet when your body should do that by itself isn't a good idea. It's better to rely on the more primitive feeling like hunger and make yourself hungry by exercising a lot and then eat to make that hungry feeling go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet should consist of whole grains, brown rice, a lot of vegetables and fruits, moderate amounts of protein and moderate amounts of fats. The total calorie intake should be large enough so that you don't feel hungry and that then includes days when you've been doing heavy exercise. The amount of calories you should be eating should be at least 2000 Kcal per day but it can be a lot more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. I'm just as tall as you are and I weigh 54 kg. I eat about 4000 Kcal per day,  I eat 500 grams of whole grain bread and 250 grams (weighed uncooked) brown rice, or whole grain pasta or 1 kg of potatoes a day. I eat 500 grams of vegetables a day. I only eat a small amount of meat and add a small amount of fats to my food. Now being as big as you are, this shows that your stomach is not too small to hold large amounts of foods. But you need to gradually increase the quantities of food to get your body adapted to digest large amounts of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're still struggling to eat a large quantities, you should eat larger amounts of meat and add more fat, later when you are able to eat larger amounts of food you'll be able to get enough proteins and other nutrients from vegetables and grains and then you can reduce the amount of meat. You can reduce the amount of fat if you are able to get enough energy from carbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T00:09:48.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33054" CreationDate="2016-12-31T16:31:26.270" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to start going to the gym before work which is going at 7AM. My question is when do i have my breakfast? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before or after the GYM and if before the GYM how much time do i need to process the food And if after do i finish working out and directly eat or wait? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24439" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T02:02:30.970" Title="Workout in the morning" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ClosedDate="2017-01-04T16:45:30.063" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33035" CreationDate="2016-12-31T21:22:18.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like I've been breaking the 2 hour rule for most of those high spf sunscreens, but haven't been sun burnt because of it so far probably because its not the only thing I do. In addition to sunscreen you can...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay hydrated. When dehydrated you get sunburn faster - much faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cover up. I always use a hat and long sleeves. Lately I've been using a neck gaiter that is supposed to keep you cool as well. Compression shirt, sleeves, pants are supposed to help too - hot weather version.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run in shady areas. Luckily here in the eastern states there are alot of forests and parks with lots of shade. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run while the sun is low like Sean Duggan says.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave long runs for the winter time. Keep it to two hours and do more speedwork and more runs each week to make up for it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Double long run limited to 2 hours long. One Sat and one Sun or one in the morning and one in the evening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually it looks like I just repeated much of what Sean has said too. The best thing to do is to run in the dark early morning or late at night - make time for it! The sun is not very forgiving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T21:22:18.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33050" CreationDate="2017-01-01T01:30:11.663" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;what is the name of this exercise machine nunes is using to exercise punches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rys2C.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rys2C.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7554" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T17:49:29.217" Title="what is the name of this exercise machine nunes is using to exercise punches?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33049" CreationDate="2017-01-01T06:00:11.857" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really enjoy going to gym to build muscles or to put on some weight. I would love to find a challenge or competition which can help put on some weight or build muscles. For example to loose weight my friend ran a marathon. As a side effect he got healthy and lost 10 pounds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5673" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T14:38:39.023" Title="Which competitions or events can help gain weight ?" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33063" CreationDate="2017-01-01T09:03:01.600" Score="0" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to the gym for almost 6 months and have never once had a massage. I do yoga for relaxation and stretching. I don't like getting massages. Is this good for my body and its growth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24280" LastEditorUserId="24454" LastEditDate="2017-01-02T21:28:58.780" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T21:28:58.780" Title="Is it important to get a massage? Or is yoga is better?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;relaxation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-04T16:51:05.117" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33047" CreationDate="2017-01-01T14:38:39.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight gain is the same as weight loss in the fact that is is &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;all about sustaining a calorie controlled diet&lt;/a&gt;. One can gain weight purely through eating alone, how that food is processed and what final state it is on your body (fat or muscle) is determined by the amount and type of exercise you put it through as well as a the macro-nutritional (carb/fat/protein breakdown) profile of your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=muscle%20weight%20vs%20fat&amp;amp;oq=muscle%20weight%20vs%20fat&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2953j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscle is more weight-dense&lt;/a&gt;: 1 cube inch of muscle weighs more than 1 cube inch of fat. If you wish to continue eating at a maintenance of calories (&lt;a href=&quot;http://mytdee.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at your TDEE&lt;/a&gt;) then adding in strength-based exercise will help you do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/3ksm0z/is_body_recomposition_an_actual_thing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;re-composition&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to gain muscle then supplementing a sensible macro-nutrient breakdown with a surplus of calories (~500cal over your TDEE) and regularly (at least 3 times a week) doing strength-based exercise movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common competitions that require a high Fat-Free Mass (lean and strong) and low(-er than most) Fat-Mass:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strongman Events&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Olympic Weightlifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crossfit Open&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Powerlifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrestling Meets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of all of them, preparing for a strongman will lead you to the most weight gain due to the lack of weight-categories for a lot of events. Same (to a lesser extent) for crossfit. The other competitions are split down into weight classes which will pair you up with people of a similar weight and so you would train for your weight class. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be able to compete in any of the above you are going to need to join a gym: strongman gym, crossfit box, power/oly gym. Weights are heavy and gyms are the perfect place to keep them, adverse weather is not the friend of the weightlifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all the above events, having a calorie/macro controlled diet is extremely important to ensure that you are kept lean, strong and have enough energy to train up to 5-6 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on gaining weight, please read this post: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/i-am-underweight-how-do-i-gain-weight-and-muscle&quot;&gt;I am underweight. How do I gain weight and muscle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T14:38:39.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33046" CreationDate="2017-01-01T17:49:29.217" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;After having read your question, I was interested in finding out what type of equipment is being used in the picture you posted.  While I'm not an MMA fan, I am interested in different types of exercise equipment.  So, with a little bit of detective work, I was able to determine that Amanda Nunes trains out of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://americantopteam.com/virtual-tour/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Top Team&lt;/a&gt; Facility in Coconut Creek Florida.  The screen cap you posted does not provide a full perspective of machine, and, with it's position near other treadmills, I initially suspected that it was some form of tread stepper.  However, after watching her work out, I realized that she trains exclusively for her sport using specific equipment.  That led me to investigate further and I found this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IRb4Y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IRb4Y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, since gyms are typically organized with similar equipment grouped together on the floor, I took a chance that the machine was from the company that makes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tigerbarbell.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Real Runner&lt;/a&gt; and it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5IkkE.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5IkkE.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The machine is actually called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tigerbarbell.com/Torque-Machine_p_14.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Torque Machine&lt;/a&gt; that was designed to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“work the whole body through a complete push and pull resistance&#xA;  motion, utilizing resistance in the modes of both flexion and&#xA;  extension. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's obviously adapted its usage to fit her training for MMA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T17:49:29.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33051" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-01T18:34:14.583" Score="0" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a girl of 21 years old I'm so weak and look like a child. All people too much irritated me and too much hatred me to say that you are so weak. now i'm feeling so badly. These kind of people braked my heart completely.I have fade up of my life.My parents want to marry my as soon as possible.. I just want that i increase my weight and body structure please help that works soon.And please don't suggest me any exercise because i can't do any kind of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24445" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T18:34:14.583" Title="I'm a girl of 21 years old. I'm so weak.I want to increase my body fat" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33053" CreationDate="2017-01-01T19:26:33.950" Score="0" ViewCount="4325" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically what the title says. I just started working out for about a month now and my arms get veiny even when I'm not doing an arm workout, they also feel tight and I don't have much energy to use them, even though my muscles feel fine. Is this normal? Or should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24446" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T21:39:33.853" Title="Arms get tight and being during workout" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33052" CreationDate="2017-01-01T19:59:43.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having veins push up towards the skin layer is one of the bodies ways of trying to say you need more oxygen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscles feeling tight when not doing much especially after only about a month of working out is most likely due to not stretching enough. You should increase the amount of times you stretch or increase the duration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally stretch a bit in the morning after waking up. Then before a workout and then after the workout is over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a small &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bettermovement.org/blog/2015/why-do-muscles-feel-tight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt; that will help you to understand muscle tightness a little better. And help narrow down your actual problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having not enough energy could be a ton of things. Try to get some vitamin b supplements or energy drinks. You may also not have enough of potassium in your system. Try a banana. If it continues or gets worse I would see a doctor as they can tell you a lot more. You can look up some of the reasons on fatigue &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/fatigue/basics/causes/sym-20050894&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. There are many other articles that can help you out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is just a small muscle area that feels weak then you may be over-working that muscle group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24441" LastEditorUserId="24441" LastEditDate="2017-01-01T21:39:33.853" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T21:39:33.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33042" CreationDate="2017-01-02T02:02:30.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wake up at 5, eat a bowl of oats and a couple hard-boiled eggs, drink a creatine/citrulline-malate shake on my way to the gym, lift, and start work at 7. It isn't ideal, but your body will adapt to whatever schedule your life forces you to live because of work/school. The important thing is that you get in there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24448" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T02:02:30.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33033" CreationDate="2017-01-02T02:07:19.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We really need to start debunking the myth that weightlifting and body building decreases flexibility. I did body building for a long time before transitioning to powerlifting and strongman. If you are only doing bodybuilding and your exercises are being done correctly (full range of motion) then you will become more flexible and bigger at the same time. I never put a huge effort into stretching when bodybuilding, but I was much more flexible than the average person. Proper weight lifting will increase your flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24448" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T02:07:19.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33025" CreationDate="2017-01-02T11:47:13.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compare the angle of your hand to your forearm when gripping a sharp edge vs gripping a bar. I think you'll find you are bending your wrist farther backward (maybe even &quot;bottoming out&quot; the joint) when gripping a sharp edge and increasing the strain there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24452" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T11:47:13.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-02T13:08:55.893" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started two weeks ago after laying around too much &#xA;I finished 10,000 meters in 1:0245&#xA;Then                                     57:30&#xA;Then                                      56:45&#xA;Yesterday.                              54:43&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;61 years old.  Seven stents&#xA;5:9&#xA;225lbs&#xA;I Kayak in the ocean on a five mile course about six to eight times a month in the warm weather &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24453" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T20:49:16.387" Title="How am I doing for an old guy" Tags="&lt;machine&gt;&lt;rowing-machine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33062" CreationDate="2017-01-02T14:16:37.560" Score="6" ViewCount="1723" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out a couple of months ago. Currently, I can do 5-6 clean normal pull-ups and 7-8 clean chin-ups. So far my training has involved going to the gym 2-3 a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to increase these numbers, possibly doubling them, how should I proceed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read in various sources that greasing the groove (i.e. doing only so much pull-ups that you do not get exhausted, but every day and 2-3 times a day) is particularly good for pull-ups because of their low volume. Especially if one is a beginner and can only do so and so much pull-ups. At the same time, this strategy is contrary to everything you usually read about how muscles grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What has worked best for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T09:06:35.920" Title="Pull-ups - should I start greasing the groove?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33057" CreationDate="2017-01-02T14:27:51.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Concept2&lt;/a&gt;, the lead manufacturer of rowing machines, provides free access to an online &lt;a href=&quot;http://log.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;logbook with rankings&lt;/a&gt;.  It's a global community of rowing athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and everyday people who like using the machine for exercise.  The site offers encouragement, workout routines, and “challenges” to keep your fitness experience fresh.  If you'd like to compare yourself to others, you should create a &lt;strong&gt;free&lt;/strong&gt; profile on their site and upload your results.  The site will rank your workouts based on your profile.  However, it will not take into consideration any physical or other conditions that may affect your performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are using a Concept2 rower, I would encourage you to take advantage of the data capture capabilities of the machine.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/performance-monitors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Performance Monitor&lt;/a&gt; can easily track your workouts allowing you to keep a history of your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AbZRh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AbZRh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two basic ways to upload your results using the PM.  If you can, I'd suggest you purchase ($6.50) a “logcard” to record your workouts.  There are many card readers available on line that will connect to your PC to allow you to upload your results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CLIDu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CLIDu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;G_H's comment reminded me that there's an additional way to record your progress with the C2 rower.  Some of their PM's are equipped with Bluetooth capabilities.  If you load their app on your phone, you can track your workouts to the phone and upload them later from the same app.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-01-05T20:49:16.387" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T20:49:16.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28975" CreationDate="2017-01-02T15:23:07.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Practicing yoga is great for the body and mind, and yes, gaining muscle can be a nice perk. There are so many different types of yoga and practices, and you may have to experiment with a few to find one that suits your needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in browsing around and trying a few different 'styles' of yoga, I would recommend either going to a yoga studio close to you, or checking out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.yogaglo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;YogaGlo&lt;/a&gt;. It's a great website with lots of tutorial videos, different styles and classes of varied length. Most styles of yoga will help you gain muscle. Avoid a regular Yin practice as that is intense stretching (might be nice once a week on your 'off day'). Vinyasa-style classes are your best option for gaining muscle. You'll also build it in Hatha, but tends to be a less rigorous practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in hot yoga, try finding a Moksha/ Modo studio, or a Bikram studio. These are set sequences, and can be as intense as you choose to make them (effort-wise), just keep in mind that if you fall in love with a hot yoga practice, make sure to up your calorie intake. The heat helps to loosen the muscle and get into poses and build lean muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, an intense, muscle-building practice would be Ashtanga. It is not done in a hot room, but with the intense breath work, you can work up a good sweat. This is a great practice to do at home, but I would &lt;strong&gt;strongly&lt;/strong&gt; recommend going to a studio and practicing under the guidance of a teacher first (that goes for any style of yoga you choose). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that with yoga &quot;no pain, no gain&quot; does not exist. If it feels bad in your body, DON'T do it. With building muscle and practice, it is a process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24454" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T15:23:07.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24471" CreationDate="2017-01-02T15:42:40.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of variables related to this question, but a blanket answer of yes may suffice in conjunction with active weight-loss habits when 'off the mat'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously with attempting to lose weight, be mindful of the food you're consuming (minimal grains and pre-packaged food, lots of veggies) and drink plenty of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With yoga, it will depend on the style as to whether it will help you with weight loss. Yin yoga is lots of stretching, long holds, and relaxation - not helpful in losing weight. Hot yoga, like Moksha/Modo or Bikram yoga will aid in weight loss as the heat makes you sweat a lot more than you would in a non-heated class, elevates the heart rate, boosts your metabolism, and rids your body of toxins. This helps to shed unwanted pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the hot room isn't your style, any vinyasa-style class will help in weight loss as it is a cardiovascular work out, gets your heart rate up, and aids in gaining/ toning muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24454" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T15:42:40.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33058" CreationDate="2017-01-02T15:43:23.710" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The greasing the groove method of training isn't actually about muscle growth, which is why it seems contradictory to the usual advice about hypertrophy (gettin' bigger).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The greasing the groove method is more about training and practicing the movement pattern so it becomes more ingrained and your body becomes more efficient at performing it. I think it's sort of like training the CNS (central nervous system) to recruit the muscle fibres in the most efficient way possible to do accomplish the movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you try one of two approaches and see which works best for you (both have worked for me in the past):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greasing the groove (so do 50% of your max reps, for you, say 4 chin-ups) fairly regularly throughout the day, making sure you're fully recovered before the next set (fully recovered just means don't do 4, wait 10 seconds, then do another 4. You can do a set every time you walk through a particular doorway, every 30 minutes or between levels / matches when playing a computer game). Or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-russian-fighter-pull-up-program&quot;&gt;Russian Fighter Pull-up Program&lt;/a&gt; (also from Pavel).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give both a try, see which one works better. When you get to a certain point though, you will need to start adding weight in order to get stronger in this way. I'd say you're almost at that limit, so when you can do, say, 12 chin-ups, add 10kg and see how many you can do, then go back to greasing the groove with that weight and 50% of your max reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T15:43:23.710" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33048" CreationDate="2017-01-02T15:58:18.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While massages are helpful for relaxation, relieving muscle knots, and alleviating tension in specific, hard-to-reach areas, yoga is an excellent alternative; especially if you don't like getting massages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you enjoy yoga for relaxation and find that your muscles get adequately stretched in your practice and the body is free from tension, you will not be missing out if you don't get a massage. If you enjoy yoga, just do yoga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yin-style yoga is great for surface and deep muscle stretching. You can also use foam rollers, tennis balls or PVC pipe to work out any muscle knots at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24454" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T15:58:18.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33035" CreationDate="2017-01-02T15:59:56.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where you live will have a big impact. In the mid latitudes of North America I only need to worry about sun exposure during the summer months. Your mileage may vary in areas that get more intense sunshine (pun not intended). Here are some things that work for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apply sunscreen before you run. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear a hat with a visor and keep a shirt on. The head, face, neck, and shoulders are the main areas you need to worry about. I don't like the hat with flaps; too hot. I would try something with a wide back brim to protect the neck. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run early or late in the day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find as much shade as possible. Choose shaded routes and run on the shady side of the path or road.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run a loop route instead of an out-and-back. You can always cut the run short if all of the above still result in too much sun exposure. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24306" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T15:59:56.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-02T17:31:28.380" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gvujt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gvujt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if the red dot in the picture I took is my rotator cuff or what that part of my shoulder is called. I have been having a little pain in that spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23803" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T17:38:53.503" Title="What is this part of my shoulder called?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33065" CreationDate="2017-01-02T17:38:53.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to figure this out for yourself by looking at a picture. Each individual part of the shoulder joint is too small for that red dot to give any indication of what/where the problem is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nXj0y.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nXj0y.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T17:38:53.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-03T06:26:35.760" Score="2" ViewCount="3294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I try to do leg raises (or any other exercises that require the same movements of my hips), I get a very uncomfortable and sometimes completely irritating sensation, right about where my hip bone meets my pelvis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 15-year-old girl and am fairly flexible (can do my front splits but not my middle splits). It is not so much pain as irritation - sometimes it gets so irritating to the point where I see no point in continuing that exercise because I am not getting anything out of it (I do not feel the burn of the exercise, only the uncomfortable feeling of my pelvis constantly popping!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, when doing sets of 20 leg raises, my pelvis would pop at least 10-15/20 times. Is there any way I can get this to stop? I would really like to be able to do those exercises without this occurring constantly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24458" LastEditorUserId="24221" LastEditDate="2017-01-03T22:08:59.690" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T14:24:52.450" Title="Popping in my pelvis when doing leg raises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33078" CreationDate="2017-01-03T07:28:11.050" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live with my family who eat a regular western diet (or maybe slightly healthier becuase of me). They eat few and eat mostly storebought. They are not interested in being healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's fine becuase they don't care and I can't do anything about it (I tried). However I want to be different. We always eat dinner together, and they don't exactly make kale salads. Tonight is salmon noodles with 'things' like refined wheat noodles, soy sauce, fish farm salmon, honey, etc. If there's anything I'm trying to avoid, it will crop up in significant amounts from once a week to every night. They go out for dinner/lunch almost once a week, and it isn't nice to order salads at restuarant when everyone else indulges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say they can't order takeaway for dinner, or make 'fun stuff' more often because of me. Where can I draw the line between healthy and social? If they go out for ice-cream, I won't go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any conditions and have been 'different' for about a year (lots of nutritious food, little junk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="24140" LastEditDate="2017-01-03T23:41:55.513" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T01:42:00.533" Title="Diet balance between family and health" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-04T16:45:18.987" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33071" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33091" CreationDate="2017-01-03T08:44:42.877" Score="0" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I log my food intake on &lt;a href=&quot;https://cronometer.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CHRON-O-Meter&lt;/a&gt; and it comes out with 1500 calories. I am a 15 year old who is 180 cm tall and underweight, borderline healthy. However I am rarely hungry. Is this alright?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ps. I am not sedentary, I walk a lot throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-01-03T18:24:05.840" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T08:55:16.010" Title="Undereating not hungry" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-04T16:40:04.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-03T09:40:56.747" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I watched this video- &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvs3-puHdEk&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvs3-puHdEk&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is freaking perfect for me!! I am 15 and will turn 16 on Sep 8. Almost 2 months ago i was REALLY skinny but then i started doing daily pushups. Now I do 200-100 daily. And my body right now is the one he had when he was 15. So I am gonna adopt this strategy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is, I need some clarification about this. So, what he is saying is that we have to chose 2-3 exercises from every topic. Then do 4 sets of 8-12 reps of every one of those exercises everyday, 4 days of week? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also I have a bit of extra fat on my stomach and I want a ripped body but you can't get ripped with extra fat..so should I run every morning without eating anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: This is my first post here so sorry if there is something wrong with this post or if this is not meant here. Also thanks for watching the video!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24459" LastEditorUserId="26631" LastEditDate="2018-09-25T17:27:39.983" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T17:27:39.983" Title="Question about my new workout routine" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="33074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-03T11:32:00.307" Score="0" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 27 year old male. I am fairly new to exercise (~6 months). I am quite obese (110 kgs (6&quot;1')) although I have steadily lost weight (around 10 kgs in last 6 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My prescribed workout routine is fairly basic - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mon: Back + tricep day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tue: Cardio day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wed: Chest + bicep day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thu: Cardio day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fri: Leg day &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am doing however is -&#xA;Mon: Run 5.5 kms + Back + tricep day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tue: Run 5.5 kms + Chest + bicep day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wed: Run 5.5 kms + Leg day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thu: Repeat 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fri: Repeat 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sat: Repeat 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing anything wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4201" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T11:45:09.960" Title="Is it damaging from a muscle building and strength gaining perspective if I run 5.5 kms before my workout on the treadmill?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33074" CreationDate="2017-01-03T11:45:09.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would add this as a comment but I am not allowed to comment yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General advice:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Please be careful with overtraining. I suppose others who are more knowledgeable than me will comment on this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running advice:&lt;/strong&gt; From a strength-gaining perspective, it is generally better if you do the running after your workout, not before. From a running perspective, it depends on your goals. If your primary goal is to burn calories, your running schedule looks fine. If your primary goal is to burn fat, you should increase the time you spend running to at least 50 minutes. Distance and speed do not matter so much here. If that's your goal I would advise you to only run every other day (so your legs have some rest) but run longer times. If running 5.5 km for you means that you run for 50 minutes, do not increase anything but still take a break every other day. Similarly, if your goal is to become a better runner, try to stick with a &quot;at least 50 minutes&quot; routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T11:45:09.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33077" CreationDate="2017-01-03T12:11:07.307" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to start walking from my work place to my home. It will take 1 hour and 15 minutes(about 6 KM) to reach at my home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything strange ? Is it okay for a man aged 28 ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24464" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T12:16:21.580" Title="Walk one hour daily during evening" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-01-04T16:50:46.647" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33076" CreationDate="2017-01-03T12:16:21.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I walk to work most days (I'll admit, I do get lazy if it's raining sometimes), my partner walks to work, lots of the people I work with walk to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing strange with walking to work, it's good exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be ok for a man aged 28, assuming there is no medical reason why the man shouldn't be walking 12km a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it's a good time to listen to music or podcasts and get a little extra learning into my day (occasionally I'll read my Kindle, though that's probably not the smartest move)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T12:16:21.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33069" CreationDate="2017-01-03T12:36:30.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Note: I'm well aware this question will probably be closed because it's not related to exercise and is primarily opinion based, but I'll try and help anyway)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, well done on deciding to clean up your diet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there's no easy solution to this, it just comes down to compromise. You say you've tried changing their diets and they don't care about it, I'd be interested to know how you tried. I've always found that gentle nudges are much more effective than large pushes, and playing the long game can usually be successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that, I mean that instead of standing in front of your family and yelling &quot;You all eat rubbish and it's killing you!&quot;, try making small changes that they won't necessarily notice. Change the soy sauce for a low salt variety and see if they notice the difference, try rice noodles instead of the refined wheat variety (it's an arguable difference), add in some veg to the noodles to up the nutrient value a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this does necessitate you being able to have an input in the cooking process, either by helping make the food, or by being able to request small changes to the meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the ordering a salad when dining out, there are other options besides salad, such as changing chips for vegetables, ordering a side of seasonal veg instead of the burger bun, etc, etc. They're simple substitutions that most restaurants are happy to make for you. (I actually don't see the issue ordering a salad when the person opposite me is dining on a burger and chips, but then I'm used to getting odd looks for my food choices).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they're complaining about not being able to order takeaway or make &quot;fun stuff&quot; because of your food choices, then I'd suggest either cooking something for yourself on the evenings they want to order takeaway, or learn to cook and show them that healthy doesn't have to be boring!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, since this is more of an ongoing question than a simple Q&amp;amp;A style one, which is what StackExchange is primarily for, I'd suggest trying to post the same question on a forum such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/&lt;/a&gt;. People there are generally good at offering advice about how to get around problems such as yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T12:36:30.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11698" CreationDate="2017-01-03T17:42:13.073" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;380lbs is the answer you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was able to find a site that had the correct numbers but of course I lost the website. But I was able to print out a copy for my facility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24467" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T17:42:13.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-03T18:17:21.887" Score="1" ViewCount="631" Body="&lt;p&gt;For powerlifting and olympic lifting, the height of a person obviously has some affect. A taller person has a longer bar path which takes more power to travel. The height of a person can also affect their leverages and abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given two people with the same build and training, how much does a person's height affect their strength? Has there been any good studies on this subject?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question deals with raw totals and not wilks or percentage of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T07:55:24.843" Title="Powerlifting and Olympic Lifting: How much does height affect strength?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;olympic-weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7097" CreationDate="2017-01-03T18:34:38.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm personally fond of Craig Ramsay's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1607103982&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anatomy of Stretching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; which has a 15 minute essentials set of stretches which comes on a poster that comes with the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kI983.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kI983.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Quick Stretch Program&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T18:34:38.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32332" CreationDate="2017-01-03T18:44:13.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, Surya Namaskar is considered to be dynamic stretching the poses are not held longer than 10 seconds and there is constant movement while stretching. If you are new to the sun salutations, do your first two rounds with cobra pose instead of upward facing dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can include other dynamic stretches into your sun salutations as well to make it more effective for running. Banarasana (runner's lunge) is a great pose to include. Modify it with the back knee down for a deeper stretch in the quad or include a twist as well to warm up the spine further. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three different variations of Surya Namaskar (A, B, and C). &lt;a href=&quot;https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DVH-l9lAaTI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video on the different variations is fairly good.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're comfortable with them, mix them up a bit to suit your stretching needs.  For a good warm up, try doing 2-3 sets of each type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24454" LastEditorUserId="24454" LastEditDate="2017-01-04T00:23:16.013" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T00:23:16.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-03T19:05:14.870" Score="-1" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read here hot water helps increase the muscle size.In case we do a hot bath and after we do a workout.First, &quot;hot&quot; how much should it be?Shouldn't my self tolerate it or just relaxing hot?Second, how much time after bath should I do a workout for more gains? Example,I am doing after twenty minutes workout from my bath.I want answer to focused only to hot water not nutritients etc.Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24469" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T21:21:18.673" Title="hot water bath to gain muscles" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32271" CreationDate="2017-01-03T19:17:17.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the yoga poses listed below should help with some muscle relief. Some may seem to be more shoulder-muscle related but should help to relax the neck and jaw muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start to feel the muscle tension begin, take a deep breath in, then as you exhale, relax your shoulders, as if someone is trying to press the shoulders down away from the ears. Do this 5 times. If the tension isn't too bad, bring the shoulders up on te inhale, and drop them down on the exhale. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scalp massage will also help with the jaw. Take 3 extra minutes in the shower to massage the scalp all over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eagle Arms - find a comfortable seated position (on the floor or a wooden chair). Breathe in and reach your arms to the sky. As you exhale, bring your arms down and wrap your right arm under the left like you're twist-tying your forearms at elbows and wrists. Lift the elbows so they're at the same height as the shoulders and take your thumbs further away from the face. Stay here for 5 breaths. Repeat on the other side. *there are a number of YouTube videos that can guide you through this as well if a visual aid is more helpful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Camel Pose - stand tall on your knees. (Ears, shoulders, hips and knees are stacked in one tall line). Place the palms of your hands on your low back (a little higher than where jean pockets are). Relax the shoulder. Squeeze the elbows close together. Slowly bring your gaze up until you feel a long stretch in the front of the neck and chest. Keep your teeth together but not clenched. Stay here for 5 long breaths. Big inhales will help you feel the stretch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Head tilt - find a comfortable seated position. Reach your right arm away from you (if you're on the floor, with your right fingertips on the floor, walk the fingers away from the body). Drop your left ear to your left shoulder. Stay here for 5 breaths. Repeat on other side. Once the muscles warm up, between sets, alternate dropping the chin to the chest and lifting the chin to the sky. When lifting the chin, keep your teeth together but not clenched. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Downward dog - start on all fours with your hands on the floor under the shoulders and the knees on the floor under your hips. Curl your toes under, lift your knees off the ground and lift your hips up. Bend your knees as much as you need. Try and relax the shoulders. Press the hands into the floor to bring your chest closer to your thighs. Relax your head. Shake it yes and no. Separate the teeth relax the jaw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24454" LastEditorUserId="24454" LastEditDate="2017-01-04T00:25:15.943" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T00:25:15.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33083" CreationDate="2017-01-03T21:21:18.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would add this as a comment but I am not allowed to comment yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never heard about hot water being responsible for increased muscle gains. However, taking a hot bath can definitely have positive effects for post-workout muscle relaxation and active recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a cold shower after training, on the other hand, can have slightly positive effects on muscle growth because the cold will increase blood circulation and thus improve nutrient supply to your (muscle) cells. In addition, a cool bath will reduce possible swellings as well as tissue breakdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T21:21:18.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33404" CreationDate="2017-01-03T22:55:54.927" Score="1" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently trying to learn more about the signals my body is giving. One question I stumbled upon recently is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any information to be gained from muscle soreness at different time intervals after a workout? For example, I was doing an extended set of pull-ups 34 hours ago. The soreness in my latissimus dorsi peaked around 14 hours ago; the soreness in my chest peaked around 8 hours ago. Does that give away any information? Is my latissimus simply better adapted to the exercise? Worse? Is it not related at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the scientific evidence on muscle soreness in general is rather limited. Let alone this specific question. Still, if anyone has heard of any studies on the topic, I'd be curious to get to know them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T07:16:20.093" Title="Timing of muscle soreness - what does it tell you?" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33069" CreationDate="2017-01-04T01:42:00.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to find a compromise is usually not going to work. It's better to eat meals separated, so that you won't bother them and they won't get in your way. You can always make suggestions to them about how they can make their food more healthy, but whatever they do will likely be light-years away from the minimum standards you want to stick to. This way you'll respect each other boundaries which will help to keep harmony within the family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T01:42:00.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33089" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-04T01:53:43.453" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want workouts for teenagers in age  14 until 19 year.Genetics influence our body ,with no genetic is difficult to see results.I have some questions I hope to answer it in all if you could.1) Workouts that will increase high. 2) What foods-nutritients needs to help the growth.3)Sleep thinking that someone is sleeping with stretching his/her body I think will see some results. How many hours sleep I have read more than 9 and I have read only 7.4) sugar and all white similar to sugar(alats? I can't remember in English the right name) should be avoided because it delay the growing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24474" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T01:53:43.453" Title="Get taller schedule" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-04T16:49:35.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33071" CreationDate="2017-01-04T08:55:16.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing/gaining weight often has to do with battling hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overweight people who want to lose weight, will have to refrain from eating when they ARE hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Underweight people who want to gain weight, will have to eat when they are NOT hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't blame your appetite. Overcome it instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T08:55:16.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33068" CreationDate="2017-01-04T12:06:07.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get a popping/clicking sensation in my left hip joint when doing leg raises. It is also the side that tends to get the most easily irritated when doing squats with a wide stance, and I've had my share of knee pain on that leg. Then there's my right shoulder, which has consistently let out a crack with overhead movements for as long as I've known. Yet, neither of these things stands in the way of continued training, nor has it seemed to indicate some problem that has become worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our bodies are far from perfect, consistent or even symmetrical. Just the anatomy of the acetabulofemoral joint shows a lot of variation. Some people have deep hip sockets, others more shallow. With some there is a large femoral neck angle, with others much sharper. That can lead to some things happening, like sounds, that other people don't seem to have. There can be any number of causes, like a ligament snapping over a joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's important to determine is if it is an actual problem, or merely a small nuisance that doesn't necessarily develop into an issue. If continued training results in pain or a worsening of the phenomenon, you'll need to consult with a physician to help you and determine if there's some underlying problem, and if you can actually continue to train the movement. If however it's just kind of annoying, it might just be a thing you have to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On leg raises I find it helps if I do some outward rotation of the legs. That means, rotate your feet out, so they form a v-shape. Try varying angles to see if the problem resolves at any of them. I've likewise had success reducing constant shoulder popping on front raises by slightly adjusting my arm angle and making my hand a bit less pronated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the exercise just doesn't seem for you, there's alternatives to try. I've tried dips only twice in my life, and both times felt horribly wrong, beyond what some technique improvement would solve. So I don't do them. For leg raises, if you want to train the hip flexors, there's a lot of other exercises. Spread-eagle situps are pretty good. If you do leg raises for training your abdominal muscles, try to get less hip flexion in it and focus on contracting your abs to bring your hips &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; legs up, rather than rotating at the hips. That might also reduce the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T12:06:07.333" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33192" CreationDate="2017-01-04T13:00:15.580" Score="1" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started training at 87 kg with a 21% Body Fat Percentage I now have 83kg with a 10% Body Fat Percentage I would like to get to 90kg with a 5-6% body fat percentage.Would this program help me?(My dream? big arms rounded shoulders and well defined muscles everywhere on my body) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday Back training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts 4 x 12 to 15 reps 100kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat Pull ups 4 x 12 to 15 reps 83kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell bent over row 4 x 12 to 15 reps 22kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyperextensions 4 x 12 to 15 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pulldowns 4 x 12 to 15 52kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Cable Rows 4 x 12 to 15 52kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back Pullovers as many as I can close to 100 (finalizer) 20kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday Chest training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell chest press 4 x 12 to 15 20kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell flyes 4 x 12 to 15 14kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Grip Bench Press 4 x 12 to 15 50kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close Grip Bench Press 4 x 12 to 15 50kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest Pullovers with dumbell 4 x 12 to 15 22kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable crossover as many as I can close to 100 (finalizer) 22kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednesday leg day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barbell Squats 4 x 12 to 15 60kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leg press 4 x 12 to 15 50kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell Lunges 4 x 12 to 15 20kg each dumbell&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lying Leg Curls 4 x 12 to 15 45kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leg Extensions 4 x 12 to 15 40kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Standing Calf Raises 4 x 12 to 15 82kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seated Calf Raise 4 x 12 to 15 60kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday biceps/triceps training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mercy 30 4 sets 20kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barbell Curl 4 x 12 to 15 and after lowering the weight and again 12 to 15 reps 25kg first and after lowering 20kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell curl 4 x 12 to 15 and after each set doing 12 reps of hammer curl 10kg for dumbbell curl and 6kg for hammer curls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Overhead Triceps Extension 4 x 12 to 15 reps 24kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cable Triceps Pushdown 4 x 12 to 15 reps 30kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dips triceps 4 sets of reps till failure&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday Shoulder training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4 x 12 to 15 18kg each dumbbell&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Military Press 4 x 12 to 15 30kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lateral Raises 4 x 12 to 15 8kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Front Raises 4 x 12 to 15 8kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rear Raises 4 x 12 to 15 8kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell shrug 4 x 12 to 15 40kg each dumbbell&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Upright Barbell Row 4 x 12 to 15 30kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday Observation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saturday I train the muscle I consider it is behind and must get more attention&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with my program is that I cannot make use of the 48 hour recovery time that my body gives me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to point out that I do every exercise slow and with low weights 4 seconds down 2 seconds up and fully extend them(no cheating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I forgot to say before each training session I do 20 minutes of HIIT on the threadmill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastEditorUserId="23220" LastEditDate="2017-01-05T07:31:07.810" LastActivityDate="2017-01-14T15:01:40.687" Title="Reviewing my training program exercises for building muscle" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33068" CreationDate="2017-01-04T14:24:52.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;G_H answered this very well. Just to stress a few points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This happens to many people, so don't feel too worried&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because it does cause you discomfort, it's worth finding ways around the pop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This MAY mean you'll benefit from minor adjustments in your workout, but should NOT stop you from getting a solid workout, from doing any activity, or from &quot;being an athlete&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See what parts of the exercise cause the pop, and don't move through those components. (E.g. don't lower your leg past a certain angle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust your posture. I want to second G_L's tip to laterally rotate your leg so your foot is parallel with the floor, pointing away from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also try &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ofjUfbdKx8Q/maxresdefault.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this posture&lt;/a&gt;, and raise the leg you have on the floor. It slightly changes the muscle groups you're using, but it's still useful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Worst case scenario, if you have access to a gym, you can get a fantastic workout with all the same muscles using a hip abductor and a hip flexor machine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you've got the right attitude, keep it up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24479" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T14:24:52.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-04T23:36:00.863" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've been trying to gain weight and I changed from a relatively healthy diet to one where I eat whatever I want but I'm still struggling to put on any weight.&#xA;I don't currently lift weights but I do train in Muay Thai which includes body weight excersises (push-ups, sit-ups, squats) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was hoping someone could give me a few recommendations as to what foods I should be incorporating into my diet and also whether certain foods should be eaten at certain times of the day ?&#xA;Also I do struggle to find time to go lifting as most free time is spent Thai boxing which I don't want sacrifice so ideally any excersises would be body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24485" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T16:54:49.757" Title="Struggling to gain weight" Tags="&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-01-05T21:39:34.507" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-05T01:38:31.550" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you do one day workouts for one part from your body but you training 6 hours would you see faster results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Monday legs 3 hours in the morning and 3 before going to bed at night. The next day only biceps and shoulders the same tactic 3 morning and 3 night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After workout eat food plenty with protein and calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will a thin guy gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24486" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-01-05T15:25:52.590" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T15:25:52.590" Title="pass the limits to obtain muscle" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-05T07:12:28.413" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My name is Amrit, Age 23, Height 5.6 and weight 63 Kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that my body is not growing since I was 16. I did not take any medical assistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing is that my face looks very thin (Mango shape), other body is also thin. But I take 3 times a day very good diet, sometime juice fruits etc. I started morning walk, banana shake etc, but no results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing sitting job, so all the diet which I take effect on my tummy. Only front portion of tummy is effected, also no effect on side of tummy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me to fit my body and to gain fat on my face and other body fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24488" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-01-05T17:52:05.290" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T17:52:05.290" Title="Thin face and body Not properly growing" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33097" CreationDate="2017-01-05T08:36:29.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I would advice you to keep on your healthy diet.  However, in between the three meals a day, add some snack breaks. Make protien your priority, so that you eat daily at least one gram of protien per one pound of your body weight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Keep  nuts in your pocket, so that you  crash as much as you can (nuts are rich in calories plus healthy). Try to drink your calories, so instead of drinking water, you may replace three cups of water by three cups of milk a day.  Try too eat five fruits a day, like : Avocado, banana, sweet potato, grapes,... .  Dried fruits are also a good source of calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, and you achieve results quickly! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T08:36:29.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33097" CreationDate="2017-01-05T08:44:01.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of calisthenics myself and see great results, so bodyweight exercises can definitely get you muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing about gaining weight is simply, it comes down to calories in vs. calories out. If you do push-ups and eat enough (healthy foods), your chest will grow. Adding in things like nuts will help you increase your size since they contain a lot of fats and protein. Eat these in between meals as a snack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a hard time eating because you cannot consume big meals that often, you can try to turn some meals into shakes, like put some fruits in a blender and drinking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as exercises go, there are a lot of push-up variations, you can look it up on google. For shoulders you can learn to do handstands, and later handstand push-ups for more strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For legs you can try pistol squats for power, and box jumps for explosiveness. Lunges are good aswell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T08:44:01.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33058" CreationDate="2017-01-05T09:06:35.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can increase pull-ups in multiple ways, I can do about 3 sets of pull-ups with 40kg (88lbs) added weight now (and about 12-14 sets of 10-12 pull-ups of bodyweight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some exercises that will help your increase you pull-ups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull-ups&lt;/strong&gt;: Seems obvious, but try to incorporate them in each back workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative pull-ups&lt;/strong&gt;: This will help you increase the strength of the muscles you use during a pull-up, aswell as you're body getting more used to the motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inverted rows&lt;/strong&gt;: This is basically an easier version of a pull-up, since you lean on your legs. The more you straighten your body, the harder it gets. (contracting your abs and legs, basically doing a sort of plank)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assisted pull-ups&lt;/strong&gt;: Using a resistance band, doing pull-ups will help a lot, and you can increase the intensity with different resistance bands. Using this you can increase your reps because you can make normal pull-ups a bit easier, while still having the free range of motion you have doing a pull-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lat pull-downs&lt;/strong&gt;: If you go to a gym, it probably has a machine to do lat pull-downs. You can do this at different widths, to increase the strength of your entire back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T09:06:35.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33098" CreationDate="2017-01-05T09:34:51.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to disregard the whole &quot;limits&quot; part of the question, because limits are different from person to person (genetics), and it's unanswerable on an individual level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as training 3+3 hours per day, it's not unheard of. But as you correctly point out, you should be eating plenty of food throughout the week/month/year if you plan on attempting this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make no mistake, working out for 6 hours per day is NOT something I would recommend for a beginner. The amount of food and sleep you need for your body to recover from this is huge, and if you're a thin guy, it's very likely that you don't have the appetite to eat as much as you should, and the whole project will backfire into projectile vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best advice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stick to the tried and true methods. Get a regular training program, a proper diet, and sleep 7-8 hours per day. Don't overcomplicate it too early, because you might... no, you WILL burn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T09:34:51.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27738" CreationDate="2017-01-05T10:11:37.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is referred to as a &quot;muscle knot&quot; is also known as a &quot;trigger point&quot; or &quot;myofascial trigger point&quot;. They are medically controversial little things, because despite being talked about so much and all of the equipment and &quot;specialists&quot; (sorry, I'm definitely gonna have to leave that in quotes) out there that claim to be able to alleviate them, their exact causes or even nature are unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the theories is that they are local, painful spots in fascia. The fascia is thin, very tough yet flexible tissue surrounding muscles. It provide compartments for the muscles that protect them, transmits tension and reduces friction. There's probably still quite a bit to learn about them. The idea that these tissues could somehow become &quot;bunched up&quot; or otherwise develop &quot;knots&quot; which could be resolved with massage or foam rolling is contested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea is that these trigger points are actually localized patches of muscle tissue that are retaining waste metabolites. If true, massage and foam rolling could work by helping disperse these metabolites and improve blood flow to drain them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some information about the definition of trigger points can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_trigger_point&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_trigger_point&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a thorough, very long but &lt;strong&gt;highly&lt;/strong&gt; interesting read, I'd like to refer you to this article. Paul Ingraham has devoted enormous time to the study of pain, stays on top of the latest information and reworks his viewpoints and articles based on new evidence: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.painscience.com/tutorials/trigger-points.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.painscience.com/tutorials/trigger-points.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would take some time to read through that, but it's a good investment of that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the exact nature of muscle knots is not well understood, there are therapies that people report success with. One of the most popular ones is foam rolling, a form of self-myofascial release. The painful part of the muscle is placed on a foam roller, pressure applied (lots of it, usually using a good portion your the body weight) and the area and surrounding tissue are rolled on. A decent foam roller will last a long time (don't go with the cheaper ones, they'll break), it can be used at home or in the gym without assistance and it seems to help for a lot of people. There's still some study required about how to roll effectively and safely. For example, rolling your upper back is fine, but don't roll your lower back. Don't roll directly over joints, but rather over muscle and ligaments near them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've neither found foam rolling or stretching to seem to deliver noticeable benefit on a short term for me, which makes me a bit skeptical. Weight lifting, on the other hand, has provided immediately noticeable results (such as being able to lift more weight consistently with training progression) and seems to have made my body less susceptible to some muscle and joint pains I used to have. So I'd rather put my time into what actually works for me. Your mileage may vary. Of course, being 31, my opinion on this might be very different in 10 years or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T10:11:37.117" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33098" CreationDate="2017-01-05T10:41:30.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What limits? The point at which continued training starts being painful (not in the &quot;feel the burn&quot; way but &quot;something's gonna tear&quot; way)? The point at which you can't even lift a light weight anymore? The point at which injury occurs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training works by disrupting &quot;homeostasis&quot;, which is an equilibrium for your body. It is the state in which it resides, untrained, and towards which it will return if training is halted. Your body will adapt to new stresses imposed on it, but if that stress is removed, the adaptation will not last because maintaining it is physically expensive. An organism's body is like a self-tuning machine that wants to be functional and use its resources efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting stronger and getting more muscle tissue will always take this form, no matter what your training level:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do something that disrupts homeostasis. For example, lifting weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recover and let your body adapt to its new situation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat from 1, but with a stronger stimulus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once a situation is reached that is satisfactory, maintain it by applying the same stimulus over and over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 3 is important because, if you were to keep lifting the same weight, or keep using the same volume (reps, sets...) your body has adapted to it and it no longer is a stress that urges it to improve. By creating a stress, recovering from it and letting your body adapt, you'll now have a new baseline. From there you can impose a greater stress, that will repeat the cycle. Number 4 is important because if you were to stop training once you consider yourself strong and/or muscular enough, your body won't feel the need to keep all that around and you'll slowly regress to your pre-training state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in that respect, making any improvements at all will require that you pass your &quot;limits&quot;, if your current baseline is considered your limit. However, that's usually not what we mean by &quot;limit&quot;. Passing your &quot;limits&quot; is impossible because of the definition of a limit, or it means you've gone beyond some point that's within common sense and you'll suffer injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question then is, exactly how much stress must you impose? Judging by your question, you have a &quot;more is better&quot; mentality. That isn't true. You must induce enough stress to disrupt homeostasis, and also enough for the adaptation to be meaningful. But not so much that it can't be recovered from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say that you go into your first gym session and you start squatting. After getting technique down you start with the bar, and then do sets of 5 reps with 5 kg / 10 lbs increments. At some point it starts feeling heavy, so we see if an additional 2.5 kg / 5 lbs is manageable. If so, that's a good starting point. If technique starts suffering, maybe we take a little weight off and then do 3 to 5 sets (depending on program) with that weight. This is enough to disrupt homeostasis, but can also be recovered from. The rookie lifter will come back into the gym 2 days later and be able to do the same number of sets and reps with 5 kg / 10 lbs or 2.5 kg / 10 lbs more, and this will continue for a good amount of time, because the rate of stress, recovery and adaptation are right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if we take our beginner lifter up to a weight that feels challenging on the first workout, and then start screaming &quot;BREAK YOUR LIMIIIITS!&quot; and add another 5 kg / 10 lbs to the bar, and have them do 10 sets, no matter how much technique suffers and how slow the movement back up becomes, you'll either set your lifter up for great injury, or when they come back 2 days later they're barely able to stand up, let alone do another workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A martial arts champion will have started as a rookie one day. If we take a rookie and put him in the ring with the champion and tell them &quot;go nuts, boys&quot;, the rookie won't make quicker progress. He'll go to the hospital, or morgue. The rookie must start with rookie training, in the right dosage, to make progress. Then maybe one day he'll be a champion. Like coach Mark Rippetoe has stated a number of times: you don't get stronger by lifting weights, you get stronger by recovering from lifting weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 hour workouts seem rather absurd if you're not a pro athlete, not a pro bodybuilder or on a ton of steroids. If you're a skinny guy, doing Starting Strength, StrongLifts 5x5 or some other sensible beginner program without any extra crap, eating enough and sleeping well &lt;strong&gt;will make you gain strength and muscle&lt;/strong&gt;. And what's more, it'll be at a close to optimal pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T10:41:30.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33109" CreationDate="2017-01-05T10:45:43.403" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training Crossfit and heavy lifting for a year and have intensified in the past four months and am currently at ~75% of the Rx weights listed on various workouts. I'd like to prepare for entering competitions by regularly doing a series of benchmark workouts besides a regular strength programme and occasional participation in classes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossfitcvi.com/resources/benchmark-hero-wods/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dozens and dozens of benchmark WODs&lt;/a&gt;, how do I pick a versatile subset?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some of them involve too heavy lifting, others very many reps. The weight inevitably has to be scaled, but should I also scale e.g. 100 pull-ups by number, or simply pick the AMRAPs with fewer reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(A variation I've played with is a Team WOD where the number of reps are doubled, but a partner and I take turns, so we only do a subset of the reps at a time and rest while the other person works.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I focus on something other than benchmark WODs when preparing? Plans like &lt;a href=&quot;https://thetrainingplan.co/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Training Plan&lt;/a&gt; cost almost as much as my gym membership, so I'm holding back on that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3398" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-05T21:46:20.660" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T21:46:20.660" Title="Scaling benchmark workouts in Crossfit when preparing for competitions" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33099" CreationDate="2017-01-05T10:54:59.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're the same height as me. I know it's a bit short, but 63 kg is a healthy weight at that height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, what you want is some more body weight, but with a good distribution. Unfortunately, you can't influence the distribution of your body fat. Where it goes to is genetically determined. For men, fat tends to accumulate more on the lower belly. This is the increase in your tummy you're seeing. It gains fat first, and is also the last to lose it. For your body, this is your &quot;emergency backup&quot; it keeps around in case you're starving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we can influence is the distribution of body weight for muscle. Gaining muscle is a lot harder than gaining fat, but it also is distributed much more nicely and will make you look a lot better. Since you're willing to eat enough, you could do very well on a beginner strength program. Look into the term &quot;linear progression&quot;, learn about the compound movements (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, chin-ups, pull-ups, rows...) and check out some programs such as Starting Strength and StrongLifts 5x5, which have the right idea for a beginner strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight you'd gain on strength training would be a lot more useful. There would be some fat, but also muscle mass. The fat can be reduced later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the shape of your face, there's not that much you can do about it. I don't like to tell people &quot;be happy with who you are&quot; because I believe it's a good thing to want to improve. But don't spend time being unhappy or anxious over things you can't change. If you can gain some muscle and look less skinny, more &quot;filled out&quot;, you'll look better overall. People will notice, trust me. Also, I'm not sure if it's true, and its only anecdotal, but I've had people tell me my face shape looks better since I've started strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T10:54:59.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33036" CreationDate="2017-01-05T13:24:36.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is going to depend on a number of factors. By how big the excess of carbohydrates was, exercise, how long prior to that you were actually in ketosis and protein consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon depletion of glucose and glycogen, the body will first attempt to create glucose from protein via gluconeogenesis. This is why protein consumption must also be moderated on a ketogenic diet. If protein intake is not sufficient for this, the tissue protein stores are protected by switching to ketone consumption in the brain, supplied by fat stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you resupply some carbohydrates and/or protein, you may exit ketosis. That will depend on the carbohydrate and protein consumption. Slam down a burger with a side of fries and a sugared soft drink and you'll likely have enough glucose to fuel the muscles and signal your body that the brain can switch back to glucose consumption. So yes, one meal can definitely break ketosis if it is high in carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a more limited amount, it depends. If you've been in ketosis for some time, with glucose levels low and glycogen strongly depleted, then eat 50 grams of carbs, chances are there's not much impact. Even if you were to get out of ketosis, it won't be long before blood glucose levels are so low again that the body has to switch back to ketosis. If you get any keto flu at that point it will likely be less profound, or at least shorter, than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ate some excess carbs and then shortly after that went for a workout, whether it was endurance sport or strength training, you'll have used up the glucose very quickly, meaning its impact may have been almost negligible. Your blood glucose level and insulin level would have increased temporarily, but ketosis is moderated not only by a low insulin level but also by a high glucagon level, and breakdown of fatty acids is also promoted by epinephrine (adrenalin) which exercise increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't go eating extremely low protein in conjunction with low carbs to make up for the fluke meal, though, because protecting your muscle protein stores is important, and ketosis is also induced as a result of high gluconeogenesis. Just go back to what you did before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd like to take the guess work out of it, you can by some ketosticks which can detect levels of ketone bodies via urine (not sure if that's directly or indirectly via waste products). They can give feedback on your ketosis state in various contexts, so you'll get a better feeling of how your body responds to what you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T13:24:36.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33106" CreationDate="2017-01-05T14:41:59.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Benchmark workouts are usually designed to hit a particular metabolic pathway by forcing a particular intensity in a particular time domain. For example, some workouts are designed to be 100m sprints, some are 800m runs, others are 10ks. Set your weights so you can perform the workout in the time domain and manner that high level competitors do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take Fran (pull-ups and thrusters). High level competitors finish this workout in just over two minutes without resting. So, make sure your thrusters are light enough that you can finish in 2-4 minutes with very little rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Murph (running, pullups, pushups, squats), on the other hand, takes 45 minutes to an hour, and even the best sometimes rest between sets if they use a weight vest. So, don't be afraid to add some weight to this workout, even if it takes you longer. You will still be within the same metabolic pathways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because competitions are designed by individual gyms, rather than crossfit corporate, they will have very different focuses. Some will go very heavy, some will focus on endurance. You might want to tailor your workouts to specific competitions or choose competitions based on your own focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are thinking about the Open, which is coming up next month, look back a previous years and do those workouts rather than benchmarks. Open workouts tend to be lighter to include more athletes. Since you are 75% of benchmark weight, regional competitions will be out of your league for this year. Keep working, and you will get stronger over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T14:41:59.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-05T15:14:57.727" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout more than 6 months. I eat fruits, protein, vegetables and much more meals than my will to eat. The truth is 64 kg before and now I am  67 kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My body has shown results with little visible muscle. I have heard on three months someone building body with visible muscles. I don't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a nice program for full part of body, I sleep enough more than 8 hours a day, I drink a lot water at least 1 litre a day. I stop joking (only one time a week for 3 hours). Is true that muscles can be much visible of a thin guy or we are talking for peels (unhealthy way with &quot;drugs&quot;) in three months? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look my food I don't buy protein from shops. I take Quaker, eggs, chicken etc for protein not chemicals. Someone can build visible muscles in three months or I don't doing something right? Six months and not terrible results to be so obvious my muscles but yes I have progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24491" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-01-06T13:48:38.777" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T13:48:38.777" Title="three months workout building visible body" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-05T16:31:15.493" Score="2" ViewCount="4327" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experience a pretty intense tightness/pain doing the lying butterfly/groin stretch, in my right hip joint area. It almost feels like the joint is locking up. Doing this stretch when sitting is not so bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However my left leg is quite flexible, I can even sleep with my left leg in this position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels like pain in the  joint itself, not muscle pain. If I try this stretch for a period of time, even if I do it very gently, the pain persists for a few days afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also my side split flexibility is very poor, because of a similar joint lock sensation. My side split is most difficult when lying on my back with my legs up against a wall. Standing  upright side split is not so bad. My front split flexibility is pretty good. My hamstrings are short. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone with knowledge of hip joint anatomy have any idea what might be happening? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UKCOg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UKCOg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Not sure if this image is working&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24083" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T16:31:15.493" Title="Hip pain when doing butterfly stretch" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-05T21:39:49.623" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33110" CreationDate="2017-01-05T16:50:34.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try to record your body measurements. Many times I have been surprised (both good and bad) at the real indicators of growth or decline when I take a measuring tape to each body part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also gauge by how your actual progress is going. Are to steadily moving up in either weight lifted or reps performed? If not you may be in a rut and need to switch up your workouts. They should never be easy as gains are made from pushing your body to work harder than it has before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24492" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T16:50:34.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33097" CreationDate="2017-01-05T16:54:49.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be sure to eat relatively soon after your workouts as your muscles are starved for nutrients from the physical exertion. This is usually the best time to have a high protein shake to really feed the muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24492" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T16:54:49.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33117" CreationDate="2017-01-05T18:28:41.510" Score="0" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can run a mile, mile and half at 9.5 - 10 minutes per mile but after that my stomach starts hurting on the right side, right at the bottom of the rib cage. If I really push it, I could probably make it to 2 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to run for 5 miles at that speed. &lt;strong&gt;What's the best way to increase my running distance?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could run a mile, slow down to walking pace for a few minutes, then run another mile, or I can push it and run 1.5 miles for a few days and try to slowly increase from there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe, I could slow down my run and try to increase the distance and work on the speed after?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's the recommended approach?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly fit, maybe 10 lbs overweight but otherwise healthy. I recently started exercising again, I'm doing cardio at home 2 - 3 times a week and run/lift weights at the additional 2 - 3 times a week, so I'm not a couch potato, but cardio has never really been my strong suit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24495" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T18:48:34.023" Title="How to increasing running distance" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33116" CreationDate="2017-01-05T18:48:34.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running cramps are sometimes caused by your internal organs bouncing in time with your breathing. They get hit repeatedly by your diaphragm at the exact same point in your stride. You can see if this is your problem by changing up your breathing pattern. If you find yourself starting to breathe every 4th stride, for example, try to occasionally switch the foot on which you start your breath. Even better, try to breathe every 3rd or 5th stride, which will switch sides every time you breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having food or drink in your stomach when you run can exacerbate the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many causes of cramps, but this is a cheap and easy thing to try before looking at other approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separate from the cramps, many people have found that interval training is the best way to extend the distances you run. This is the basis of many books such as couch to 5k. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T18:48:34.023" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33110" CreationDate="2017-01-06T07:27:35.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to know if you're making progress, try to measure more than just your bodyweight. Measure your fat percentage, and maybe the size of things like your chest, arms and legs. If they are getting bigger and muscles are getting more visible, you're definitely making progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, &lt;strong&gt;everyone has different genetics&lt;/strong&gt;, and that determines whether you're gonna grow fast or not, so you can't really compare yourself with others in regards to your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see &lt;strong&gt;results&lt;/strong&gt;, get &lt;strong&gt;heavier&lt;/strong&gt;, and notice that your &lt;strong&gt;strength is going up&lt;/strong&gt;, I don't think you should worry to much about what you look like in comparison to others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T07:27:35.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-06T14:23:00.453" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Situation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;42 year old male, not in terrible shape, but definitely got a case of &quot;Dad bod&quot; going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Accomplish something I never did when I was in the Army: max the Army Physical Fitness Test.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;82 push-ups in 2 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;92 sit-ups in 2 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 mile run in 11:54 or less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Workout daily (6x/week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;50 minutes interval training on elliptical machine, increasing elevation and resistance ever two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running on treadmill at 10.1 mph pace. Starting at minute and thirty seconds, increasing duration by 3 seconds per day&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets (at least) of push-ups per day. Starting at 23 reps per set increasing by 1 rep every week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets (at least) of sit-ups per day. Starting at 33 reps per set increasing by 1 rep every week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 sets (at least) of chin-ups per day. Starting at 2 reps per set increasing by 1 rep every week. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addition Info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I actually started a few weeks ago, so I am currently at the levels I listed here.  Not sure about the increase on chin-ups.  Maybe I should adjust how often I increase or set a max. Sets of 50+ chin-ups a year from now sounds awfully high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T08:21:46.657" Title="Is this goal, and plan to achieve it, realistic?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" ClosedDate="2017-01-30T20:54:45.070" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="942" CreationDate="2017-01-06T15:05:33.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The calorie intake approximation increases based on you “activity” level, and in my case with a “sedentary” lifestyle it jumps from a BRM of 1700 to a calorie intake requirement of 2100 (more if you actually exercise). I’ve calculated mine @&lt;a href=&quot;http://bmi-calories.com/calorie-intake-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Calorie Intake Calculator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24499" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T15:05:33.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33087" CreationDate="2017-01-06T21:53:36.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle soreness (and the time after workout it takes to feel the soreness) is referenced by the term DOMS, which stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are asking about any relationship between the time in feeling the soreness, which from my knowledge/experience doesn't say much in regards to your personal health.  Only the &lt;em&gt;intensity&lt;/em&gt; of the soreness will usually correlate to how well you worked out that muscle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However having a delay of 12 hours in one muscle group and 24 in another does not say much regarding the training or status of those muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I feel muscle soreness in my chest the day after I trained it, but will always feel soreness in my legs two days after.  However, this information doesn't relate to the strength of those body parts or the intensity of the training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22085" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T21:53:36.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33123" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-06T22:44:04.443" Score="0" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now, I'm running twice a week, Wed and Fri. My Wed run is usually really good, I run about 5 miles usually with no problem (been doing the 10k trainer app). Fridays are usually much harder and I'm pretty winded and ready to quit by 2.5 or 3 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not doing anything different between the two, only the time of day, one is about 3 hours later in the morning (4:30am (wed) vs 7:30am (fri)). I would think that 2 days for recovery would be enough. Maybe it's not? What am I missing that I should do so that my Friday run can be as good as my Wed run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited:&#xA;In answer to @Ed W&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 43&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fitness level: Reasonable. I mostly work a desk, but I play racquetball 2 hours on Sat's, and do weights 2 days a week in addition to running the two days mentioned above. I'm probably about 30 lbs overweight, only a little paunch in the front, not too bad :-|&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goal: Mostly fitness, but interested in being able to complete a 10k if I wanted. Don't expect to get in top half of finishers, but maybe someday I'd like to increase my speed some.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pace your currently running: about 10 minute mile, pretty slow. Graduated the c25k (couch to 2k) app to the 10k trainer, and have been using that. I tried starting the c25k over once I'd finished it and running a much faster pace rather than jogging (to try and build my speed up), but kept getting massive calf cramps and went back to jogging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running experience: Nothing until the last 18 months. I broke my collarbone playing racquetball and then when I went back to racquetball after I was healed, I was really out of shape. I started with the C25k app to get into better cardio and have stuck with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other training or activity: See fitness level above, that's about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24503" LastEditorUserId="24503" LastEditDate="2017-01-07T23:47:19.447" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T16:13:44.873" Title="How can I improve my subsequent runs" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33123" CreationDate="2017-01-07T02:42:38.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are doing some distance stuff with moderate intensity. Might be fun to change it up with some 1/2 mile sprints with about 2 minutes rest between sprints. Do 4 our so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24448" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T02:42:38.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24972" CreationDate="2017-01-07T06:14:11.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I answer your main question—if meditation or yoga is helpful soon after working out—let me first address your claim about it causing an irregular heartbeat: your heart will increase gradually (or at least continuously) while your body endures stress from intense physical activity, and it will decrease gradually when practicing a physiologically calming action such as meditation; there should be no sudden increase or decrease in heart rate that could produce similar negative effects to experiencing a medically irregular heartbeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because meditation after working out won't kill you, doesn't mean it's helpful either.  Meditation involving limited to no movement is not optimal for allowing your body to recover from the stress of an intense workout.  Gentle and moderate movement involved in cooldowns is important for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It prevents dizziness or fainting caused by blood pooling in your extremities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Helps your muscles clear lactic acid buildup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aids in reducing tensions from tightly contracted muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga could be far more effective in cooling down, depending on the style and type of movements.  When cooling down, it is important that you are moving to achieve optimal results; yoga that involves lengthy static holds would not be optimal immediately after working out, but stretching in short repetitions can help to gradually relax muscles and maintain flexibility and range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24504" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T06:14:11.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33120" CreationDate="2017-01-07T06:34:32.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, thank you for your service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very hard to gauge the effectiveness of a plan like this without more information about you (different bodies respond differently to the same workout) and without more specific information of the time frame of your workouts.  When you say &quot;3 sets...per day,&quot; there is a big difference between doing three sets four hours apart from each other and doing three sets sixty seconds apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to test your max for each event.  If your listed starting points are your event max's, it would be ineffective to max out every day or even three times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand this is more a comment than an answer, but I only recently joined and do not have enough reputation to post a comment yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24504" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T06:34:32.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32961" CreationDate="2017-01-07T06:50:00.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;strong&gt;gluteus maximus&lt;/strong&gt; (butt) and &lt;strong&gt;quadriceps&lt;/strong&gt; (front of your thighs) provide the bulk of the power while sprinting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your glutes and quadriceps work to absorb vertical forces and push into the ground to propel your body forward, extending both your knee and hip.  While they work in tandem to produce this power, the gluteus maximus is the more significant of the two muscle groups—to answer your question: the gluteus maximus produces the most power when running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24504" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T06:50:00.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33120" CreationDate="2017-01-07T08:21:46.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether you achieve the goal is speculative. If you have already tried to achieve the goal when you were younger (consistent workout over at least a year) and failed it might be indication that it is not possible for you, but not necessarily so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the training, following advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running (2 mile run in 11:54 or less)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely possible in general. In your particular case, we would need to know your current 2 mile, 5 mile and maybe 1/2 mile times. As for the training, I would skip the elliptical machine. It is often argued (see for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://running-advice.com/blog/?p=469&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) that the best way to improve your running is by running. Instead, do &lt;strong&gt;50 minutes of slow and comfortable running once a week&lt;/strong&gt;. This will have the same effect on your cardiovascular system as the elliptical machine but also get you used to the movement patterns. It is important that you do not worry/plan increasing speed or duration here too much because it will come very naturally soon. In addition, and instead of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Starting at minute and thirty seconds, increasing duration by 3&#xA;  seconds per day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend doing &lt;strong&gt;one interval day per week&lt;/strong&gt;. Say 8 times running 400m at 6 minutes/mile (if you can already do that, otherwise start slower) with slow running breaks of a minute in between. Every other week, do 4 intervals a 800m (a bit slower). If you can tell me your current 400/800m interval times, I will edit the post. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can add a third running day, it would obviously help but that's something you personally have to decide. In case, you have the time go for a second slow 50 minute run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push-ups and Sit-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems generally possible but something most people would not want to achieve because after a time you only train the endurance of your muscles. If you can already do 23 push-ups and 33 sit-ups, it will only be a matter of increasing the number of repetitions. Your plan seems reasonable here. If you get to a plateau after a while try adding some weights and do lower repetitions once in a while. (Still, I am not an expert for high-repetition of push-ups or sit-ups, so let's see what others can add to that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chin-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You did not provide any goal for the chin-ups. Please do so, and I will update my post. In any case, be aware that adding one chin-up every week should work very well in the beginning but the plateau effect comes much earlier than for push-ups or sit-ups. Anything above 10/15 seems like a reasonable goal, above 20 seems rather unrealistic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T08:21:46.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33131" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-07T16:50:45.510" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I go for a run around the time I would get hungry and would soon eat, say early afternoon just before lunch or evening before dinner, I often feel a noticeable sharper drop in energy after ~20min of running or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A while after I finish I mostly recover to normal or &quot;hungry normal&quot;, even if I don't eat anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see it as a problem, medical or otherwise, I am just curious what it means under the hood. For example, while I call it a &quot;sugar drop&quot;, even for a non-fitness freak it seems quite early to have depleted muscle glycogen and be drawing on blood sugar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24509" LastActivityDate="2019-05-25T04:05:26.310" Title="Biochemistry behind sudden drop in energy shortly after starting exercise?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33136" CreationDate="2017-01-07T21:33:05.283" Score="9" ViewCount="1802" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing Crossfit full-time (5-6 days/week) for a year now, and I have a really, stubbornly weak squat. It's so weak that it's always my limiting factor on compound movements like thrusters, cleans &amp;amp; jerks (not my upper body). I have very long limbs in general and especially long femurs, but it would surprise me if that's the only problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;My stats and 1RMs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Body weight: 135 lb&#xA;Sex: Female&#xA;Back squat: 103 lb&#xA;Front squat: 93 lb&#xA;Deadlift: 183 lb&#xA;Squat snatch: 68 lb (the limiting factor is the squat)&#xA;Power clean: 103 lb (better than my squat clean because no squat)&#xA;Strict press: 68 lb&#xA;Strict pullups: 5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some hypotheses I have considered and ultimately dismissed (but correct me if I should reconsider):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hypothesis #1: I should do Starting Strength.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Counter-evidence&lt;/em&gt;: I did SS assiduously(*) for 9 months before starting Crossfit. It worked moderately well for most of my lifts except my squat, which plateaued extremely fast. Now that I'm doing Crossfit, my other lifts are again improving, while my squat rarely budges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hypothesis #2: I should eat more.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Counter-evidence&lt;/em&gt;: I eat around 2400 calories/day with a lot of protein, and my squat is the only lift that's so stubborn, so I assume this isn't the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hypothesis #3: I have a mobility problem.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Counter-evidence&lt;/em&gt;: If anything, the coaches at my gym comment that my mobility is unusually good. I can sit in an ass-to-grass squat with my knees touching my chest and my butt touching the ground, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hypothesis #4: I have a squatting form problem.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Counter-evidence&lt;/em&gt;: I'm lucky that my Crossfit gym has a strong emphasis on lifting technique, and the coaches think my squat form is reasonable. Their main comment is that I have a hard time keeping my torso upright (especially in back squats, but also front squats). I've tried to work on this, but it seems partly like a necessarily evil given the extreme length of my femurs compared to my upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;So what should I do to suck less at squatting? Are there diagnostics I can use to figure out what the problem is?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) Pun intended. Not going to lie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10391" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-01-17T02:31:50.343" Title="Fixing a disproportionately weak squat" Tags="&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33123" CreationDate="2017-01-07T21:49:11.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We need more information to provide a reasonable answer. Some things that would help include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fitness level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goal (are you training for a race or running for health/fitness)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pace your currently running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running experience&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other training or activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Five miles seems like a long distance if you're only running two days a week. If you're training for a race a two day a week training plan is a little unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: Thanks for the additional info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your information, I think you're going too far and too fast. I would cut the distance back to 2-3 miles for each run, and add about a minute to your pace. You should feel like you could cary on a conversation while running (a slow to moderate jog). Even though you're reasonably fit, your body has not adapted to running yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you get comfortable at that pace and distance, start increasing the distance slightly. Here is a good article explaining why slow is better while building your aerobic base: &lt;a href=&quot;https://philmaffetone.com/want-speed-slow-down/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://philmaffetone.com/want-speed-slow-down/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you decide you want to tackle a 10-K, find a good training program. You should only need about 8 weeks to get ready for the race. Here is a good place to start: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51122/10K-Novice-Training-Program&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51122/10K-Novice-Training-Program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that even for a 10-K, the mileage for the long run is modest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24306" LastEditorUserId="24306" LastEditDate="2017-01-11T01:33:07.673" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T01:33:07.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33135" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-08T07:03:04.983" Score="5" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I had a dollar for something along the lines of... &quot;lots of sitting every day gives you tight hip flexors and hamstrings/calves...&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am skeptical of that claim. It's plausible, but seems taken for granted everywhere. Some muscles (eg adductors) seem to be in a constantly tight state. I've never heard &quot;keeping your legs together gives you tight adductors&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there is any science based evidence showing sitting actually reduces flexibility of you hip flexors and hamstring/calves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2019-07-18T10:45:31.930" Title="Does sitting really reduce ROM?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33132" CreationDate="2017-01-08T11:56:09.587" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a hybrid hypothesis: your squat form is wrong and has been wrong for close to two years, you're not working on fixing it, and you're spending your recovery budget on WODs and other lifts. Conversely, your squat--like anyone's--will get better if you do it right and focus on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the part where I say that we can't really know anything without seeing a form check. It's impossible to know what's wrong with your squat without seeing you squat. It's impossible to know what went wrong with your prior lifting experience without reading your hopefully detailed lifting-and-eating log. These facts should be self-evident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why do I suspect the problem is just bad form? Because ~100 pounds is right where otherwise relatively athletic women your size often see trouble in the squat. It's where the lift stops being a challenge that can be overcome by blindly pushing a little harder. The good-morning'd squat stops working. It's when you have to actually lift the weight correctly or it will not work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say your mobility is great because you have a deep squat, but how upright is your chest while you do that? Mobility for the squat is not limited to what you describe. Is your back properly arched in its natural curve at the bottom, or do you have to hunch forward? In your loaded squats, maybe you're losing tightness with an extreme butt wink in the bottom, or you're unable to maintain an upright torso. You even hint that this is the problem, but try to get off the hook on grounds of anthropometric idiosyncrasy. I have long femurs too--the solution was &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; of a focus on impeccably upright front squats and chest-upped high-bar back squats. Weird dimensions often mean one benefits from unusual focus in another area, like ankle mobility, hip flexor flexibility, or mid-back strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what the problem is, I bet that front or high-bar back squats before each CrossFit workout would solve the problem. Doing 3 to 5 heavy sets of 5 at least twice a week and 70-80% of that on the other days would probably suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="1771" LastEditDate="2017-01-09T17:20:46.653" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T17:20:46.653" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33123" CreationDate="2017-01-08T13:53:00.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be many variables. Two days is enough to recover but it seems you might be pushing too much the first day, although 6 min/km seems fairly okay as a speed given your described physical fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should get enough sleep and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food also matters, you shouldn't eat 1 hour prior to running because you might get sore stomach, but try eating something with carbs during the recovery day (Thursday). Proper nutrition is another topic which doesn't seem related to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always warm up at least 5 mins. before the start of a run. This could even include several 30m sprints. This way you prepare the body for longer running and should prevent you from cramping. Consider magnesium supplements if cramps are still occurring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try adding 5-10 50m sprints after the end of your runs with about 80% intensity. This should give you more breathing and heart training for endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the app training plan includes but consider running the 5 miles on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fartlek&lt;/a&gt;. This also should give you more speed and endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultramarathon runner for 5+ years, running on trails and mountains. Also ran some city marathons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24512" LastActivityDate="2017-01-08T13:53:00.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-09T08:57:46.497" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to measure my reaction time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal  is to have a simple way to measure how fast I react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;light on the left side, I press a button on the left side&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;light on the right, I press a button on the right.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No running or big movements, just measure time from eye-input to finger/hand movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be an android app, an app for PC or a standalone device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to practice at home and pay less than 80$.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want a long term benchmark to see if I am getting better or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: I am learning tennis and I think my general reaction time is up to now not very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to check my reaction time daily to get a diagram like this in the long run:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rxblj.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rxblj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24515" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T19:44:15.530" Title="Measure reaction time" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33146" CreationDate="2017-01-09T11:59:05.820" Score="1" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently don't have access to a bench but I wan't to target my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3105/how-should-i-do-push-up-to-get-better-chest&quot;&gt;How should I do push up to get better chest?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;has some great info about targetting your chest with push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an ez-curl bar and dumb bells. Are there any other exercises that I can do to really target my pectorals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T19:24:50.060" Title="Chest excercises without bench" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33141" CreationDate="2017-01-09T13:41:50.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Press ups, as stated in the question you linked to, are always a good option. You can use progressions and regressions, depending on your strength level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumbbell floor presses are also a good alternative if you don't have a bench and you can probably do a dumbbell fly variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got a couple of sturdy chairs, you can do dips between those (they target the chest if you lean forward slightly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T13:41:50.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33139" CreationDate="2017-01-09T19:44:15.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well there is this site that I've used - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as likely as everybody else will tell you, go play and train - that's how you're going to improve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a runner and running made my reaction times with legs and balance really great - literally I can count on my hand how many times a year I fell on my butt, even during the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some apps but they do the same as the web site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chingy1788.reactiontime&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chingy1788.reactiontime&amp;amp;hl=en&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qiwii.Reaction_Time&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qiwii.Reaction_Time&amp;amp;hl=en&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.SuperAwesome.Fastest&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.SuperAwesome.Fastest&amp;amp;hl=en&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24512" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T19:44:15.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33131" CreationDate="2017-01-09T20:00:45.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't give enough information as in what is your physical fitness and how long have you been doing this. Also running on empty stomach should normally feel like that most of the time unless you are an endurance athlete and have been doing it for some time. Also no age, training plan and what is your goal, even for how long after 20 mins. are you running and with what speed or for what distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short. That's exactly the time - around 25 min. from the start of a run when the body switches your metabolism to burn more fat. This switch could be quite noticeable if you are still a beginner in running which seems like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dummies.com/health/exercise/busting-the-great-myths-of-fat-burning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dummies.com/health/exercise/busting-the-great-myths-of-fat-burning/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24512" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T20:00:45.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33141" CreationDate="2017-01-09T20:50:11.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using an inexpensive &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/products/exercise-balls.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exercise ball&lt;/a&gt;, or, some other &lt;strong&gt;stable&lt;/strong&gt; platform will increase the types of chest exercises that you can do.  For example, you would then be able to perform a dumbbell fly and a dumbbell pullover, as well as, dumbbell presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, you can look into:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decline pushups with your feet on a stair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline pushups with your hands on a stair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T20:50:11.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33149" CreationDate="2017-01-10T07:42:14.870" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can be produced a powerful punch.What muscles needs? I workout biceps and triceps,does this play a role or is clearly about technique.What should I improve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T09:08:53.283" Title="Strength biceps-triceps" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-01-16T17:00:05.460" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33147" CreationDate="2017-01-10T07:51:05.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscles contract when they do work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you contract your bicep you perform a pulling motion, for triceps it is a pushing. For a punch you will be pushing, so triceps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, chest/pectoral strength plays a important part in the pushing motion of a punch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T07:51:05.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33147" CreationDate="2017-01-10T09:08:53.283" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been a number of years since I've studied any form of striking art, but from what I remember, it's mainly technique followed by a surprising amount of the core / trunk and lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, one study of 100+ amateur boxers (conducted by Filiminov) used tensiometric dynamometers to determine the origin and nature of punching power. Their findings concluded that almost 40% of the power from a punch is produced by the lower body. As much as 38 percent is associated with trunk rotation. Their research confirmed that the initiation of a punch starts at the ground (feet) and travels up the legs through the hips (multiplying in force). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://rosstraining.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=816745#p816745&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T09:08:53.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29508" CreationDate="2017-01-10T10:42:40.527" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're trying to do is, unfortunately, not that easily accomplished. Boundering grades are always a little subjective (depending on the climbers strengths / weaknesses, body mechanics, proportions, etc), so you may find that you struggle on a V8 whereas you fly up a V9.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember reading an interesting article a while back that the best boulderers in the world were reaching a point where they were setting very high grade problems that, completely unintentionally, may be close to impossible for other people to climb. Someone like Adam Ondra has a particular technique that he's trained to work for his body type, so someone who doesn't have that exact body type, may simply be unable to complete the moves to complete the route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all that, your edit about videoing your technique is a very good idea, but I would add in one thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd create a workout log style record of the routes and record two additional values; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating_of_perceived_exertion&quot;&gt;Rate of Perceived Exertion&lt;/a&gt; (RPE) and Rate or Perceived Technique (RPT). Both on a scale of 1 - 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RPE has been fairly well explained elsewhere, but is essentially how hard the route felt (so an overhang on crimps is going to use more exertion than a slab on jugs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RPT is something I've taken from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://gmb.io/&quot;&gt;Gold Medal Bodies&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://gmb.io/&quot;&gt;GMB&lt;/a&gt;) training programs. The idea being that you can rate your technique on a scale of 1 to 10, based on how it feels (and possibly on video review); so if you're ascending an overhang, and you're an upper body dominant, gorilla style climber, letting your feet hang free and swinging from jug to jug, then you're technique is going to be pretty low. If you're moving up the same overhang, but twisting your hips into the wall to increase your reach and heel hooking / knee baring to chalk up, then obviously your technique is a lot better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The by-necessity variation in bouldering routes means that unfortunately, there's never one metric you can measure to gauge improvement. You know where your weaknesses lay, so maybe monitor those as you train them as they should show the fastest improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T10:42:40.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33156" CreationDate="2017-01-10T13:51:43.537" Score="2" ViewCount="434" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did my first 10k with 59.34min recently one month back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I'm running 5 day a week.Wed and Sunday are rest day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week 20Mile(32Km)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tread Mill&#xA;Monday    6Km 9.4Km/hour 39&#xA;Tuesday   6Km 9.7Km/hour 37.24&#xA;Wednesday Rest&#xA;Thursday 6Km 10Km/hour 36.30&#xA;Friday    6Km 10.5Km/hour 35&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outdoor&#xA;Saturday  8.1 5:49/KM(pace) Time 47min (used strava)&#xA;Sunday    Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This Week 25Mile(40Km)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tread Mill&#xA;Monday    7Km 10.6Km/hour 39&#xA;Today     7Km 8.9Km/hour  48&#xA;Wednesday Rest&#xA;Thursday  7Km ?&#xA;Friday    7Km ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outdoor&#xA;Saturday  12Km ?&#xA;Sunday    Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to add 5mile each week till 50mile/week mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I reduced my speed after seeing lot of people injured themselves&#xA;by pushing hard and I was doing the same thing in treadmill.&#xA;I want to build mileage with my run then I want to increase my speed. I am targeting 40-43min 10k right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest at what pace(speed) I should run to avoid injury and build my stamina and endurance. And how should I achieve my target time without injury&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest/Recovery plan? if any&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24530" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T01:44:12.613" Title="How to prepare for 10k run with 40-42min timing" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33135" CreationDate="2017-01-10T15:02:11.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer? &lt;strong&gt;Yes it does.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chairs are designed to help us maintain an upright position, while taking the load off our legs. They aren't designed to sit on for 8 hours a day, every day. Once a human being starts doing this, bad things happen to the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A squatting position is a lot more natural, and sitting on a chair for hours can actually harm our spine, hips and make us less flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resources:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOJLx4Du3vU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; explains how the shape of our spine naturally let's us sit in a squatting position, and how the shape of our spine has shifted since by the usage of chairs, causing back pain and other injuries that countries which use chairs a lot less don't have, or in less quantity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.core77.com/posts/37902/Theory-that-American-Lifestyle-has-Changed-the-Shape-of-our-Spines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; also talks about how the shape of our spine changed due to what they call the &quot;american lifestyle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://besynchro.com/blogs/blog/10612681-your-chair-is-killing-you-time-to-start-squatting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is another&lt;/a&gt; article.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T15:02:11.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33094" CreationDate="2017-01-10T19:42:26.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gaining mass is about workout volume and previous comments on over training may be valid but that can depend on how you feel. Most things I have read state gains can be limited by the HIIT. Personally Looking at the program I would try cutting that down and change your target reps to 8-10 range with increasing weights. Also try to change up your workouts to make sure you are really challenging our muscles to work harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24492" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T19:42:26.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33151" CreationDate="2017-01-10T22:57:20.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that you've just started running? Since this is your first 10k ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you've noted - an injury is imminent. And as people in the comments have said - every person's body is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are increasing your mileage very steeply and rapidly which is the bigger concern, not so much as the speed. Your body will break at some point somewhere with these 5 times per week runs. Take all the hype a bit down and don't increase the week mileage by more than 15-20%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get what you are experiencing, which is the &quot;runner's high&quot; and it can give you crazy motivation but be objective about it. As a fellow runner I have made the mistake to increase rapidly the distance per week many times and this has always led back to 2-3 weeks of resting without runs because of some injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try and switch at some point from 5 training days to 3 because the body will start failing with recovery and couldn't cope with such a rapid increase in the distance. (also with the sprints, read below)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you want to increase your speed, you need to do speed exercises and not so much mileage. You should look around the Internet for speed training programs for 5k and 10k but in general here's what you have to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprints, SPRINTS, &lt;strong&gt;SPRINTS!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For starters you could incorporate a 10x50m sprint after your normal runs. (you should try and run at about 80% intensity during sprinting, so that you won't die and throw up at the second sprint :D)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm up, I mean it! Mandatory 5 mins. warm up before the start of running. Also before starting any kind of sprint run at least 1k to kickstart that body and switch to running mode - this is after the mandatory warm up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some days you could skip entirely the long runs (honestly, you need just one long run per week 10-12-15km.) and after the 5 min. warm up and a 1k. run just start sprinting. You can do several types of sprints at which you'll get better over time as you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly try 10x600m with 3 mins. rest between sprints (during the rest you could walk and breathe, don't just stay in one place) with about 80% intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is the 5x1km. sprints but these are a bit more advanced and you should first do the 600m ones. Again 3 mins. rest with 80% intensity or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are the 10x100m sprints with incline, on some hill or something and you give everything you have there, go down the hill and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovery after sprinting is going to be really bad, you will see. So no running on the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, let's summarize what you could do in 4 days of training per week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First day - Sprints&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rest day&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second day - Some recovery run with a convenient pace with perhaps a few increases in speed (no sprinting) for about 100m on every kilometer. About 8-10kms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rest day&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Third day - Try running 5k really fast, as fast as you can, always&#xA;warm up before that and do 1k-2k jog, then rest 1-2 mins. and start&#xA;the 5k speed run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fourth day - Long run day, slow recovery running for about 10-12km, no speed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rest, Repeat&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: &lt;em&gt;I've done all of these and you should notice increases in speed but don't get your hopes up, because it could take you from 6 months to more than a year to run the 10k for 40 mins. Also depends on your weight and your running form, shoes, injuries, etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: Me - Ultramarathon runner, currently will start working on my 5k speed again, because I stopped improving it last year just when I got to the 4:00/km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24512" LastEditorUserId="24512" LastEditDate="2017-01-10T23:29:08.090" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T23:29:08.090" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33161" CreationDate="2017-01-10T23:38:39.590" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen on internet a site that claims  you can become tall even after 25. You can take many inches. There are many fotos before and after from many humans. I search it and I find different aspects , some of them conflict but I didn't get from them a result if this is true or not. I am 22 I don't think I can increase my high but this gave me hope. Many in YouTube telling its a scam,is it? Can be a good scientific answer why it can't be this in age 25.I don't write the site but I think everyone can google it and find it. Additional to,genetics can be changing as i heard from a doctor in case you doing more than four hours a day hung up and give you few inches 2-3 ,is this true too? Workout could be used to be taller or this is a fake advertisement with only target the money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T03:51:54.940" Title="get taller advertisment" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-12T08:52:15.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33151" CreationDate="2017-01-11T01:44:12.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To give you an idea of paces to use with @Krasimir's answer, use the Jack Daniels' Pace Calculator: &lt;a href=&quot;https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enter the results from your 10K race and then click on the training tab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pay close attention to the easy run pace. Going to fast on your recovery days or long days is a recipe for injury and fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24306" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T01:44:12.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33157" CreationDate="2017-01-11T03:51:54.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;These kinds of programmes will have you do stretching exercises and eat food to raise HGH levels. They have no long term effect on your height whatsoever. They may have a very small effect on your height if you take measures to reduce disc compression in your back, for example weight loss if you are overweight or modifications to posture and lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T03:51:54.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33166" CreationDate="2017-01-11T12:47:59.147" Score="1" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;My physiotherapist has told me that slouching for 20 years was the main cause of my shoulder injury last year, and that I had to stand up straight from now on, and only lift a weight if my shoulders were back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few months, when the pain was gone, she discharged me and said to take up swimming. Having got into the water, I did the only stroke I know - breaststroke - and realised that I was spending 90% of the time with my shoulders rounded forwards (i.e. not back as I was told to!). I worried this might be unhelpful. My shoulders are only being pulled back briefly as my hands touch and my head emerges to inhale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is:&lt;/strong&gt; Is it correct that the shoulders should spend most of the time extended forwards during breast stroke? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've hunted the slow-motion YouTube videos but they don't happen to mention this specific point, probably because most people don't care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18523" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T21:27:31.883" Title="How should the shoulder blades move when swimming breast stroke?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-11T13:13:36.347" Score="5" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to actively prevent or fix/heal flatfoot by means of exercises (stretching, muscle strengthening etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Passive prevention or fixing would mean f.x. arch supports / orthopedic insoles - which is not what I am referring to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24412" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T16:33:42.490" Title="Can you actively prevent or fix flatfoot?" Tags="&lt;feet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33141" CreationDate="2017-01-11T19:24:50.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion Dips will be the best to shred up your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often cited as the equivalent of the squat for the upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a big fan of the big compound moves where ever i can get them. They also have the added benefit of being able to be done pretty much anywhere, and there are dozens of variations  that you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you can add difficulty/extra resistance with a heavy backpack/weight vest/dip belt/resistance bands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23668" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T19:24:50.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33162" CreationDate="2017-01-11T21:37:31.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your doctor probably advised swimming primarily as its great for mobility and is low impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching, extension and flexion of the muscles/joints will be infinitely better for you than slouching/hunching over for extended periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regard to the breaststroke the extension (glide) portion of the stroke would be practically impossible to do while trying to pin your scapula back. The only time you may feel it pull back is if you do an underwater stroke from your turns as the glide underwater is the only time the head should be below the streamlined arms (should be around forehead level in normal strokes) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the pull aspect of the stroke will likely be working your mid/lower back, shoulders and lats and you will naturally retract the shoulder blades as when your head comes out of the water your back will arch upwards slightly. but i don't think you need to over emphasise this as it may impede your stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might benefit from a few pointers from a swim coach if you only know breaststroke at the moment. &#xA;As swimming with proper technique will blow your mind how streamline a human can become in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Freestyle and backstroke are also wonderful strokes to learn also.&#xA;(perhaps not butterfly at this time) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If i was you i'd advise stick to enjoying your swimming and new found health benefits from improved posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Source - over a decade of being a competitive swimmer *&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23668" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T21:37:31.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8352" CreationDate="2017-01-12T03:23:42.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost certainly not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I routinely foam roll for at least half an hour a day, sometimes more (I train twice a day and hit the roller before and after practices). The benefits of using it are just too many to list; improved range of motion, improved bloodflow, reduced soreness, added flexibility (when combined with static stretching), and on and on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, misuse of the roller, or using it for an extended period of time first-time out can easily result in some unexpected soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24343353&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19333" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T16:58:45.157" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:58:45.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-12T04:29:28.280" Score="1" ViewCount="1090" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to see in the gym people that train with warm clothes while others are with shorts and undershirts. Some of them even put the capuchon on their head while training. What is the reason for those who train with warm cloths? (see an example &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2M1QrkEPM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnEiZsRTUWA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) it's supposed to be inconvenient and make the body too warm and sweaty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24544" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T06:08:44.427" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T09:18:51.920" Title="Why do some people train in the gym with warm clothes?" Tags="&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33168" CreationDate="2017-01-12T06:16:53.487" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keeping your muscles warm reduces the risk of injury. This is, among some other reasons (such as neurological efficiency) why people warm up before doing the actual hard work. If you're doing strength training, there are rest periods between sets of an exercise. Those might be less than two minutes, or substantially longer if you're doing very heavy sets. Keeping warm during that time is useful. In some cases people wear neoprene sleeves over joints (usually knees or elbows) to raise the temperature in those specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cardio, you might see people do the opposite. Long endurance exercise causes a lot of sweating. The sweat needs to evaporate to keep the body at a comfortable temperature. Since the exercise is continuous you're likely to keep up a good temperature in your muscles and joints anyway. This is why clothes for jogging tend to be airier and lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of that depends on other factors, though. The temperature of the environment (is the gym kept warm? is there airco?), the weather (humidity) and, perhaps most importantly, personal preference. For some folks hoodies seem to be a fashion statement, or something that lets them focus or stay in the background. It's not always a practical consideration. Some people like to stay very warm, while others prefer to keep cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I forgot something. Some folks might believe that keeping their body temperature higher will result in more calories being expended and more body fat being utilized. I don't know if there's any truth to that. Intuitively I'd say it sounds doubtful and a case of mistaken cause and effect. People might think it works, because the increase in sweating will result in loss of weight through water. Which, of course, is rapidly regained, especially after replenishing glucose and glycogen stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19986" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T09:18:51.920" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T09:18:51.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-12T08:17:31.753" Score="2" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am doing this workout-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3mu0L.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3mu0L.png&quot; alt=&quot;workout&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am a bit skinny and you have to do this 4 times a week to gain muscles. And so you have to keep 1 day off between 2 workout to let the muscles heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But at the same time I have a small belly and I want to get rid of it. So from today I started running in the morning with an empty belly(without eating anything) for 20 minutes. Should I restrict this running too to 4 day a week? Does running prevent the muscles from regenerating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I run everyday and running doesn't count as an exercise on my rest day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24459" LastEditorUserId="24459" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T09:24:03.573" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T09:24:03.573" Title="Can running for 20 minutes on your rest day prevent muscle growth?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33170" CreationDate="2017-01-12T08:47:16.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does cardio impair muscle gains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe. The adaptions from strength training verses cardiovascular activity to conflict to a extent. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/2006/11000/Concurrent_Strength_and_Endurance_Training__From.13.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;)(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17095927&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;) You cannot be an elite bodybuilder AND an elite marathoner. The ultimate answer depends on your training status and the modality, volume, intensity, and timing of your endurance and strength work (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22002517&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If general health and fitness is your main goal&lt;/strong&gt;, then including both forms of exercise is a good move. If maximizing muscle gain at the expense of all else is your primary concern, then endurance work should be minimized or eliminated entirely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, see this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18408/what-effect-does-restricted-oxygen-in-cardio-have-on-muscle-damage-repair&quot;&gt;What effect does restricted oxygen in cardio have on muscle damage &amp;amp; repair?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T08:47:16.563" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33163" CreationDate="2017-01-12T15:41:28.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having had flat feet for as long as I can remember, I've done quite a bit of research and tried a lot of things regarding collapsed arches. You'll find no shortage of people claiming they can &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fixflatfeet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fix flat feet&lt;/a&gt; if you buy their program or you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/397821-can-fallen-arches-be-fixed-with-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reverse it by using various exercises&lt;/a&gt;. Plenty of barefoot running websites that claim running barefoot will &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thebarefootrunners.org/threads/can-barefoot-running-and-walking-fix-flat-feet-by-dr-michael-nirenberg.5668/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fix flat feet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you have to look at the cause of flat feet. There's nothing that can be done if you are genetically predisposed to have flat feet (without something drastic like surgery). Saying you can fix genetics is like saying hanging upside down will make you taller by elongating your spine, ribs, and core muscles. The bones and tendons are set in their ways. You'll just have to live with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible to get flat feet from weak tendons or being morbidly obese. This is where you'll start getting a lot of mixed answers on whether or not this is reversible. Most of the more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/what-are-fallen-arches#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;medically orientated sites&lt;/a&gt; and podiatrists that I've talked to seem to think that collapsed arches are not reversible once they occur, so I'm going to go with that answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that isn't to say that stretching exercises are useless. They won't fix flat feet or increase the arch, but they will most certainly strengthen the tendons and muscles around the foot and ankle. Stronger feet leads to less pain and injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotal side note, I would refrain from trying barefoot running for strengthening feet. It's included in the answer because there are claims everywhere that it's the cure-all for collapsed arches. There is just absolutely no shock absorption with flat feet, so the full force of the impact of each stroke goes straight up your leg. Barefoot, or minimal-support walking though may have some benefit since the impact is considerably less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T16:33:42.490" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T16:33:42.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33162" CreationDate="2017-01-12T21:27:31.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hitchmo gave a very well rounded answer for you. I'd like to mostly emphasize and add to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure you clearly understand that recreational and fitness/competitive swimming are totally different. You are being asked to take up swimming for fitness. This means you must be able to do the strokes correctly for two reasons: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improper stroke techniques will not allow you to apply your muscles, momentum, body streamline, timing enough to make use of your time in the water for any meaningful workout. When you get your techniques to a certain level of efficiency, you'll be able to build on the exercise part of it a lot more. This doesn't mean you shouldn't &quot;just swim.&quot; It simply means you should seek help to get your techniques correct and efficient as soon as you can, because it pays back handsomely and quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are new to this, you will not be able to &quot;see&quot; better than trained eyes, and so seek out coaches to explain to you. Swimming involves a lot of elements, from your own body to the physics/hydrodynamics of its moving relationship to water. Fortunately, these matters are not complicated and have been studied very well already at this point in time. The knowledge is there, solidly. Nearly all competitive swimmers are taught these things, or at least trained on them by their coaches. There is no excuse not to seek it out and learn them well if you're going to use swimming as a   fitness tool.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimmers also need to supplement with strength and agility training on land. These are often very good calisthenic movements that you can also use to gradually adapt to your workout. Swimmers do not isolate movements like weight lifters but rather combine dynamic movement training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you heal enough, you may want to try the pullups bar. This simple bar is incredibly helpful for swimming, core, and just about one of the best thing you can use for shoulders and lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T21:27:31.883" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-13T03:48:05.823" Score="3" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That calculator requires to know my level of activeness. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I take a brisk walk of 10 minutes daily.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Personal info:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My height is 162.6 cm, age is 34, gender is female, and weight is 52 kg.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a job that requires 8 hours sitting on a chair in front of a computer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My aim is to _gain weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My metabolism is fast and I have low appetite. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have started brisk walk to improve my appetite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where do I fit? How to determine what qualifies for light activeness, moderate activeness, and extreme activeness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="1328" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T09:21:25.427" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T10:30:08.830" Title="How to determine my level of activeness?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32682" CreationDate="2017-01-13T07:13:38.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Timings won't matter as long as you are taking required amount of protein, also protein is very important post workout, if you can't take whey then you can try taking plant protein post workout, you need to try out different proteins to see which protein actually suits your body.&#xA;Just make sure your body is getting protein immediately  post workout. Rest as said, timings doesn't matter &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16111" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T07:13:38.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33174" CreationDate="2017-01-13T07:28:55.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is your time spent outside of the walks? Do you have a job sitting at a desk? Standing up? Moving about? This will all influence the end result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, on those calculators, I tend to just fill in &quot;sedentary&quot;. The problem with choosing an activity level is that it is a big guess on the calculator's part. They define &quot;lightly active&quot; as exercise or sports 1 to 3 times a week. I go to the gym 3 times a week, but spend about 1.5 to 2 hours there every time on strength training. It's not exactly light. However, if I would spend that time doing cardio, I'd be burning a lot more calories. Meanwhile, someone who's got a physically demanding job and doesn't do any exercise outside of that will use a lot more calories than me on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better approach is to try a number of calculators online, using the sedentary activity level every time, and take the average of their estimates. This will give you an indication of your total daily energy expenditure without exercise. It's only an estimate since the actual value depends on a lot more than the factors provided to such calculators. People of the same gender, height and weight will have varying metabolic rates due to genetic differences, body composition and lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you have the estimate, a good approach to get a more accurate number is to track your calorie intake using one of the various tools available online (MyFitnessPal is a popular choice), eat exactly the estimate and monitor your weight. The best method is to weigh yourself every morning, either before or after going to the toilet but before eating or drinking anything, and then take a weekly average of the measurements. This will reduce the impact of normal daily fluctuations. If the weight increases over a few weeks, the calorie estimate was a bit on the high side. If it decreases, you're in a caloric deficit. If it stays about the same, you've found the correct number to start from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number is going to change over time depending on weight loss or weight gain and activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T07:28:55.880" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33174" CreationDate="2017-01-13T07:50:41.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot expect a formula to be exactly right for you. The only way you will know what you need to eat (in terms of calories) to ensure that you can gain/maintain/lose weight is through experimenting yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use Sedentry as a guide and then if you aren't losing weight, reduce calories and vice-versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem with categorising exercise as absolute is thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comfortable 10k run for me uses around 1000 calories. I would class this is light/moderate activity, even though it is for 1 hour constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A crossfit class is 15-30 minutes of very high intensity but only burns around 400 calories. I would put that as hard/very hard exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do crossfit 5 times a week and run 3-4 times. My daily calorie intake to maintain is around 2300 but that calculator suggests I should be eating 2800. I know that 2300 is right through experimenting aver the last year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain weight, you must eat more calories than you use. Increased exercise does help increase appetite for some people (as does other things like reducing caffeine intake) but you just need to take in more calories overall. For people with a low appetite, eating more is hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are sedentary by the tool you linked, a walk doesn't really 'count' as exercise like the tool suggests. &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The difference in metabolism from the norm you have suggested isn't really a truth. Just eat 1 pop-tart to compensate.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T10:36:07.373" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T10:36:07.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33183" CreationDate="2017-01-13T09:29:30.627" Score="3" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3656/1328&quot;&gt;What are the pros and cons of running versus walking?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you run 10 miles, you will probably find it hard to do anything else the rest of the day. Walking 10 miles will leave you will more energy.[sic]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does walking leave us with more energy? Is there any evidence behind this claim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2017-02-18T19:30:02.817" Title="Why will walking 10 miles leave you with more energy?" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33174" CreationDate="2017-01-13T11:34:27.290" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not trust the calculator you referenced in the question. It merely does an average calories count and has little to do with your fitness level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The notions of calories in calories out relative to weight loss or gain is very simplistic and had been proven wrong already. See the well referenced Harvard Study in 2011 and other studies here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_calorie_is_a_calorie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Studies on Calorie Count Myths&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To objectively determine how fit you are, there are very good measures that you can use. The best one is a VO2 Max test.&#xA;Read more on it here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Article on VO2 max&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many universities have physiology or human performance labs, and they often offer these tests for the public at very reasonable to no cost. Do a search on V02 Max lab/university &amp;amp; you will find plenty, all over the world. Besides VO2 tests, the labs normally can run a series of other excellent and highly accurate tests from metabolic rate to blood levels that you should definitely try if you are serious about fitness. These would give you a very clear picture of where you are, and then come back in 6 months or a year to see how you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short of that, any modern fitness machine such as a treadmill or an elliptical machine that has a heart rate sensor should also be able to give you a reasonably useful fitness test that you can do in about 10-15 minutes. What these tests usually entail are your levels of effort against the resistance changes of the machine, calculated against your change in heart rate through the process along with your basic age, weight inputs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearable fitness bands with optical heart rate sensors costing no more than USD $50 nowadays can also give you some very good profile of your fitness and can be used for long term fitness tracking (I use one for training and overall fitness &amp;amp; sleep tracking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to the specifics of your question, you mentioned wanting to gain weight and that you have to sit in front of the computer for 8 hours.&#xA;I suppose you want to gain muscles, and not fat since fat gain is as easy as doing less and eating more bad-for-you food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining muscle mass, on a functional strength level (meaning looking solidly good and feeling agile but not wanting to be a huge competitive weight lifter body) involve building up resistant (weight or body-weight) exercises to challenge your body to &quot;grow.&quot; This would require that you either choose an assisted weight regiment or a body-weight regiment that force muscle tear, metabolic challenge at a level much more intense but shorter per round than your brisk walk (which is basal aerobic in nature). In this answer, it may be too much to go into details. However, know that you'd need resistance training for weight gain, and that you can use weights or your body weight, but they have to be proper and good movements with sufficient challenge to your body to induce growth. Proper nutrition, hydration, sleep, work-rest ratio, also come into play. I hope these ideas give you a good pointer to start looking further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for prolonged sitting, it's bad and irreversible. You can read this article below for a summary of recent research, but more has been known since as well. When you sit for a long period, your hormones begin to change, and adding it up through the years will take an irreversible toll on your well being. Not only that, staying in doors and looking at the computer all day also takes a toll on your brain, eyes (also part of your brain), and creativity, not to mention mood. I used to work the same way, then changed. My life changed like it dialed back the clock over 10 years. Article:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17sitting-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is Sitting a Lethal Activity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastEditorUserId="24550" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T11:39:52.190" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T11:39:52.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33185" CreationDate="2017-01-13T13:47:03.800" Score="2" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I swim with my fingers together, thumb at the side and a slightly cupped hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen some people in my pool swimming with small gaps between their fingers, which I found interesting (I have always been taught the way I currently swim as above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the hands make up a fairly substantial amount of propulsion, I was wondering if it is worth changing my form.  My question is principally, is it faster to swim with slightly spaced fingers, but I would also be interested in if anyone has attempted to quantify the difference in hand/finger/thumb position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for any help you can give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23747" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T17:51:48.803" Title="Hand position / form when swimming Crawl/Freestyle" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;form&gt;&lt;hands&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32364" CreationDate="2017-01-13T13:56:17.117" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are actually different types of grip strength, the type you use when balancing on your hands is going to be different to the type you use pulling a heavy deadlift. Yes, there will be some carry over, but since you're trying to accomplish a free standing hand stand, specificity comes into play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I would recommend stretching out your forearms regularly using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/exerciseImages/sequences/468/Male/l/468_1.jpg&quot;&gt;kneeling forearm stretch&lt;/a&gt; (on your hands and knees, rotate your arms outwards until your elbows are facing forward, palms flat, and lean back &lt;strong&gt;gently&lt;/strong&gt; to stretch the forearms). When you do this, make it a more active stretch by &lt;strong&gt;gently&lt;/strong&gt; resisting the stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it sounds like an odd suggestion, stretching like this can actually help condition the forearms to having to apply force in this manner (very similar to when you have your palms flat on the floor in a handstand position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, you can train the &lt;a href=&quot;http://img.mindbodygreen.com/image/upload/c_limit,w_738,f_auto/ftr/yoga-crow-pose-sample-b.jpg&quot;&gt;Crow Pose&lt;/a&gt; as a progression into a free standing handstand. To make it a little more interesting when you get reasonably good at it, &lt;strong&gt;gently&lt;/strong&gt; apply pressure through your hands to rock yourself backwards and forwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I stress gently so much is that to start with, your forearms may quite tight and you don't want to risk an injury (I've seen a climber trying to get rid of a forearm pump badly pull something by trying to stretch too hard).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to stretch your wrist in the other direction as well, since general wrist mobility and strength is important for a decent flat handed free standing hand stand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, just a general handstand tip, spread your fingers as much as possible; it'll help with balance and control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T13:56:17.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33179" CreationDate="2017-01-13T14:43:04.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of the question, I believe the answer was just saying that running is far more exhaustive than walking. Thus walking will leave you less drained than running will. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two aspects to look at, the effects of running on your energy levels and the effects of running on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding energy levels, the human body has various energy stores that are used to produce the exertion needed for moving. It takes more energy to move a single object over a set distance at a fast rate then it would to move the same object over the same distance at a slow rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there's how running effects the rest of the body. Mainly the muscles and bones. Depending on how fast you run, the muscles are going to break down and damage a little. Then they heal and become stronger next time. This is a necessary cycle for adaption, but there is this recovery time immediately after a run where your slightly weaker than when you started. The bones during the run also act like shock absorbers taking in the impact of each stride. Likewise, bones become hardened over time, but there is still a recovery period. Walking, in contrast, isn't as intense and does not have such a recover period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this is relative to the fitness level of the individual though. Most people can probably walk for ten miles given the right motivation. Those that don't walk often will feel exhausted because they have not adapted to the work. Those that walk often will feel great.  Likewise, an ultra-marathon runner could run ten miles and feel great afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T14:43:04.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33181" CreationDate="2017-01-13T15:04:53.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back in the 1970's, the theory was to hold your fingers together. Then people started applying engineering and science to sports. One of the early investigations was of Dara Torres, involving the hand shape that she used. She had ignored the prevailing theory, and swam with a 'relaxed' hand shape, with the fingers apart. And she was good (spectacularly so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you watch video of top current freestyle swimmers, you will see that their fingers are not closed up tight. One coach I've talked with suggests starting with a hand shape similar to how your hand naturally shapes itself while you stand and let your arm and hand dangle lazily - your fingers are not tight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a reference, this video on YouTube of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SONx52cyltI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Adrian Nathan&lt;/a&gt; makes it easy to see that his hand is not tightly held together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18061" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T15:04:53.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33181" CreationDate="2017-01-13T15:29:30.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You were likely taught to cup you hand in some beginner class.&#xA;That's not so much &quot;wrong,&quot; just ineffective  &amp;amp; unnatural. It also doesn't add to your propulsive power as you may think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cup has proven to not add any difference in propulsive power through enough studies. It also forces you to focus on a minor matter that actually adds unnecessary muscle tension where you do not need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://livehealthy.chron.com/fingers-open-vs-closed-swimming-4106.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a Summary Article on &quot;Fingers Open Vs. Closed for Swimming&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The slightly open fingers actually add to propulsive power, and if you watch the video by Gary Hall below, you'll see why. The slightly open hand increases its functional dynamic surface in relation to propulsion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/QxcqnWizJ3o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;View an excellent explanation for the slightly open hands by Gary Hall Sr&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many world class swimmers swim with a slightly (not widely) open fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/h2pVhaHmolo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a video of Michael Phelps hands&lt;/a&gt; (watch the first 16 seconds)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/SONx52cyltI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nathan Adrian via Speedo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/2b1Fiw9uekM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ian Thorpe's Hands&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice children who swim more naturally, they all tend to swim with just the right finger opening similar to the world champs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps and enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastEditorUserId="24550" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T17:51:48.803" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T17:51:48.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31163" CreationDate="2017-01-13T16:09:19.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to teach you the swim progression, I will try to address the issue you face and suggest how you may seek help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many swimmers actually would sink if we just let go (myself included). So, you're not alone- no worries that you're different here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does seem that you have some panic/fear in there and &quot;the deep end&quot; sounds like some prohibitive space only meant for super swimmers. It shouldn't be that way. Once you are able to really swim, it should all be the same for you regardless of deep or shallow. While the deep end is faster, that difference is not of concern at this stage for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps try to slow down your strokes and use the wall to help you at the deep end. Slowing down will help you sense what it is you're doing much better and help you have control over your body. Do a few strokes, then stop at the wall, continue to add until you're confident. Slow it down like a meditation. Set specific distance to know you will stop and hold on to the wall comfortably. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your experience with the coach also sounds very strange and somewhat discouraging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's help you get away from all the negatives first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming does have a lot to do with overcoming the &quot;strangeness&quot; feeling of your body's slow reaction time in water. The slight weightlessness sense means your body needs to re-learn how it moves and place itself in the water for maximal streamline, for minimizing drag, and effective propulsion when you swim. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposite takes place when you tread water in terms of maximizing surface area so that you sink more slowly. For example, if you slightly lean back a little while treading, you need less propulsion to keep afloat then if you keep a straight up/down body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Local swim pools often have lifeguards who do not have very deep technical experience teaching classes. I suggest you find a swim coach from a club or team and ask the coach to watch and give you some pointers. These coaches should be able to pick out at least 3 items for you to work on at the very first look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you are too tense, the coach should be able to see that immediately. Being too tense would often result in situations similar to what you described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T16:09:19.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33189" CreationDate="2017-01-13T21:48:31.363" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zXepC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;machine &quot;&gt;recently my family bought this.I workout my full body to gain muscle.First can someone like  this machine obtain muscles on legs?Second,how much time and how many days should a thin guy do it.Third question should it be &quot;normal mode&quot; ,&quot;soft&quot; ,&quot;hard&quot;(I mean the difficult of doing it .What is more helpful of those to obtain muscles on legs.I avoid to refer the mark for no advertisements reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T22:50:13.990" Title="Home machine legs workout obtain muscles" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33188" CreationDate="2017-01-13T22:50:13.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your photo appears to show an Elliptical machine for aerobic/cardiac conditioning.  These types of machines don't typically provide enough resistance to stimulate hypertrophy.  Gaining muscle, specifically over your entire body, requires resistance training, sound nutrition, and rest.  You should look to supplement this machine with a strength training program geared towards your particular goals.  Either by going to a gym, or, performing body weight movements at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the settings on the machine are concerned, that's something you'll need to decide based on your goals and your current ability.  Exercise machines usually have an owner's manual explaining their usage.  Consulting the manual should provide a starting point for you to decide on the settings.  Use your individual fitness goal as a decider on how often to use the machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T22:50:13.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33094" CreationDate="2017-01-14T15:01:40.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking for granted that your nutrition is on point, when i am saying on point i mean that you know and count your daily calorie intake and your macros by at least 95% correct (you can never by 100% sure if you have eaten 500 or 505 calories per meal, or that was 40carb/40prot/20fat or 37/41/22). Also, i asume that now you are in high calorie diet. Excuse me if that short prologue sound silly if you already know those things but i want to be 100% clear that this is your ticket, if you don't know it, and also be clear for everyone else that will read it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, let's go to your training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another thing I forgot to say before each training session I do 20&#xA;  minutes of HIIT on the threadmill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just stop it. It's ok to do a 5-10 minute warm up, but 20 minute HIIT before each workout? You can't expect nothing from that, either losing fat or control it. Think it in the other way, if you are doing now a 20 minute HIIT before each workout what are you going to do at summer? Or when you will be at, let me say, 95kg and 12% body fat? Your body will get used of it and then it won't be any surprise, so it won't trigger it anymore to burn the fat. Don't use strong weapons so early, unless your only goal is to lose weight (both fat and muscle) and only that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do a 5-10 minute warm up before the workout and &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; your workout a 20 minute &lt;strong&gt;fast walking&lt;/strong&gt; in treadmill with a medium incline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before we go to your split, i have to say that this not a split, this will just make your body sore and more sore and more. Maybe you will see results and you keep seeing when you are a beginner but not with the right way, so we come to the second of all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second of all:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem with my program is that I cannot make use of the 48 hour&#xA;  recovery time that my body gives me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that your program is so wrong organised, that's why you can't have a 48 hour recovery &lt;strong&gt;for each muscle&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtraining doesn't necessary mean that you will grow. Muscles grow when they rest, not when you train them. When you train the muscle you &quot;destroy&quot; it, giving him the time he need to recover will make him grow as it will need more &quot;space&quot; every time to reconstituted totally. That's the mucle building process or muscle growth or getting bigger and stronger. So, we will make an appropriate split that will let you get the time you need to rest and recover every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We finally come to last thing of the three, Nutrition/Rest/Training, the Training. Okay i have said it before, this is not a split, let me explain why. Could it be one of the baddest split. You are training the three big muscle groups every next day and you are training last arms and shoulders. &#xA;Not only you can't have the time to recover but you are burning you body in totally wrong way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all, we got to the point. Let's choose an appropriate split that will surprise your body and let you rest - grow. It's not that usual split but it's a correct and an excellent one. That's a 7-day split. You can start with Day 1 and end to Day 7 at any range you prefer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are free to choose the exercises you like but they shouldn't be escersices that you are doing too long, and you have get used of them, and they should be exercises thay hit the whole muscle group at every workout. Here is a proper split/exercise program:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1 - Shoulders/Traps/Triceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arnold Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Over Lateral Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High Cable Lateral Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pressdown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2 - Back / Abs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pulldowns with open grip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups with medium grip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Cable Rows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hyperextensions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Crunches&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Raise on straight bench&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 4 - Chest / Biceps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Barbell Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Dumbbell Flyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preacher Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Curls with straight back against the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Concentration Dumbbell Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 5 - Legs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Barbell Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Leg Curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian Deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Calf Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Calf Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Day 6 if you decide to add another workout, you can choose the excerises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that split what we can see is that we start the week with small muscle groups that will allow us to go as heavy as we want and let our arms grow much more (going heavy in Triceps is the point on big arms). Second day, we hit the one of the three big muscle groups, we hit it alone as we do on legs too, because chest works together when we train arms and shoulders. That's why we isolate the back at a single day, hitting lower and upper back and abs too. Third day rest, we will leave 48 hours pass before we workout arms again, we have hit them on first day and tomorrow they will work for chest too but they would have the time to recover. Also back will have it's time to recover before we need it again to workout together on leg day (yeah back collaborate with legs on some excersices). Forth and fifth day looks logical now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sixth day, again, i suggest resting but it's ok if you want to isolate a muscle group and hit it twice a week, i wouldn't suggest that to be back or legs, or even big lifts for chest. It would be ok to hit arms, if you want to and need to. But not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest to run this program for 12 weeks. For reps i would suggest to run a pyramid by changing the reps every 3 weeks. A nice pyramind would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 1-3 : 12/10/8 reps per set&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 4-6 : 10/10/8 reps per set&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 7-9 : 8/8/6 reps per set&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weeks 10-12 : 8/6/6 reps per set&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Abs and Calfs go to &lt;strong&gt;20-30 reps&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;strong&gt;4 sets&lt;/strong&gt;. On each day the &lt;strong&gt;first&lt;/strong&gt; excersice go for &lt;strong&gt;4 sets&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;first&lt;/strong&gt; will be a &lt;strong&gt;low weight warm up&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24560" LastActivityDate="2017-01-14T15:01:40.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32607" CreationDate="2017-01-14T15:19:34.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most calf exercises involve tip toeing. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/blog/targeting-the-calf-muscles/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This Articles does a good summary of the description&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are hurt more on land, you should find a swimming pool to do the walking exercises. You can start on the shallow side. Once comfortable, go the the deep end and walk without touching your feet much or not at all depending on depth. Still tip toeing though. You can walk at depth just enough to keep your head above, but full body under to allow more pressure exerted on you. Then as you get better, get to the depth where you are fully beneath, do tiptoe jumps so that you push your head out for a breath with each step. If you're not comfortable with deep water, you can buy a foam buoyancy belt that will keep you afloat but allow you the movement. Some public pools in the US even have buoyancy belts you can borrow. The pools that have water aerobics classes often have a whole bunch of them for the classes that can be borrowed when classes are not in session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend the pool exercises as the water adds overall pressure but also lessen the type of sharp pressure you get on land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short of this, use a few pain reliving patches such as the type from Japan (green and white box) while you use the steps to do calf raises. These will help lessen the pain for you and allow you to get through your &quot;phase one.&quot; Use them sparingly and stop as soon as you're more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastEditorUserId="24550" LastEditDate="2017-01-14T16:47:16.690" LastActivityDate="2017-01-14T16:47:16.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32364" CreationDate="2017-01-14T15:21:11.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;... so you want to be a handstander ...&#xA;Why not train something relating to the exercise itself? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fingertipp push-ups and adding more difficult versions to it&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pushups on your knuckles (for the wrist)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;reverse pushups (laying on your back)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if you have access to a barbell, proper military presses help a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;rice buckets where you twist and grab through the rice with your fingers&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="18502" LastEditDate="2017-01-23T20:42:33.217" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T20:42:33.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33196" CreationDate="2017-01-15T02:40:55.677" Score="1" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a video called Spartan Bows. On this video they train quads which is the part of the leg that I want to gain muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to grow the quads by doing this exercise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play once in a week football for two hours, does this affect bad the growth of the muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, i walk a lot in the day. Do that and football will make my muscles soft?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should i stop the workout i do or not? How much time should i train per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastEditorUserId="24560" LastEditDate="2017-01-15T11:51:04.330" LastActivityDate="2017-01-15T11:51:04.330" Title="Quads growth with spartan bows home workout" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33195" CreationDate="2017-01-15T09:11:51.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Playing football once i a week won't affect you bad at all. Neither walking a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to grow your legs you should consider doing a proper training. Spartan Bows can be a good excersice but it won't give you bigger quads just by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way is at the gym but if you can't go to the gym or you don't want, you can train at home. A good workout program for legs would be something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Body Squat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Step Up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;One Leg Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jump Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can add dumbbells if you want to get higher volume. That would be a good workout to start working your leg muscles and add some mobility. You can do this one in a week or two if you change some of the excersices the second time. Don't expect to see enormous growth but keep training on a regular basis with a proper nutrition will give you the result you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, excellent excersice for max quad growth is bicycle and all the variants. Especially trainining in incline will burn your quads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24560" LastActivityDate="2017-01-15T09:11:51.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2017-01-15T16:47:08.990" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;both are great sources of cardio. It all comes down to your goals. with that being said. Both sources of cardio tap into the Oxidative system because they are both low power and long duration exercises. which is 1 of your 3 energy systems that we use when interacting in certain activities? The oxidative system is estimated to burn 10 calories per min. This system uses a lot more oxygen and uses more fats as fuel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope all this makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24429" LastEditorUserId="939" LastEditDate="2017-01-16T16:18:07.460" LastActivityDate="2017-01-16T16:18:07.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33201" CreationDate="2017-01-16T03:39:21.430" Score="0" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard as an example that if you eat at night Pan Potatoes increase the body fat. Can this help me add some kg if I eat every night?( its unhealthy way?)&#xA;What about eggs and bread on Pans?I like workout the morning I don't eat everyday eggs(I think I will have issues even I am 24) so if I eat eggs with bread that have been mixed on Pan could I destroy Protein and cardio?With other word this meal isn't helping me to increase the muscle size?&#xA;Generally Pans foods aren't good for muscle growth,doesn't affect our body to get big or those foods are unhealthy but  help grow our muscle ?Should be avoiding or should it be in our food source?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastActivityDate="2017-01-16T10:26:38.103" Title="Pan foods and muscle gain" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-01-21T16:28:28.757" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33200" CreationDate="2017-01-16T08:18:53.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to clear and define what is a diet. There is no magic food that will increase your weight or decrease your body fat. A balanced, adjusted to your needs and your goals diet will bring you the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight (muscles) you have to make a calorie surplus diet. If you want to lose body fat you have to make a minus calorie diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just over eating you will just gain weight (muscles) + fat. On the opposite if you just under eating or not eating you will just lose fat + weight (muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me make it clear for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First&lt;/strong&gt; you have to calculate your daily calorie intake, there are several calorie calculators just try 2-3 of them and take the average, it will be about 90% correct but it doesn't matter for a beginner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you find your daily calorie intake, let's say ~2500cals, then you &lt;strong&gt;adjust the surplus on your needs&lt;/strong&gt;. If you want to gain about 1kg per month you should go to ~2750cals, if you want to gain about 2kgs per month then you should go to ~3000cals. But that's enough, &lt;strong&gt;don't go higher than that&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have to &lt;strong&gt;calculate your macros&lt;/strong&gt;. So, again, find some macros calculators and decide what your daily Carb/Protein/Fat intake will be. At a ratio for each 50/30/20, which is a moderate ratio, suitable for a beginner and not only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally you &lt;strong&gt;choose the number of meals you want to eat per day&lt;/strong&gt;, 5-6 will be great. Breakfast, Morning-Snack, Lunch, Afternoon-Snack, Dineer, Before-Bed is a regular daily meal plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example for all of these, for ~2750cals per day and 5 meals, the macros for 50/30/20 ratio will be 344 Carbs / 206 Protein / 61 Fat or per meal 69 Carbs / 41 Protein / 12 Fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you are done with the skeleton of your diet plan, you &lt;strong&gt;can adjust the foods&lt;/strong&gt;. This is just an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.myfitnesspal.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;excellent tool&lt;/a&gt; that will help you do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general here is a sample weight gain plan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Egg Whites &amp;amp; ~1 Whole Egg&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (Yes you can eat eggs every day, cholesterol is on the yolk and will harm you if you eat more than 3&#xA;  yolks every week. Eating 1 yolk will just benefit your body with&#xA;  excellent source of good fats)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Oatmeal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning-Snack&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can adjust it on what you prefer. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tuna, Turkey, Chicken&#xA;  Sandwich with whole wheat bread&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;greek yogurt, cottage cheese&#xA;  and a fruit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Plenty of choices&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Chicken &amp;amp; Rice or Potatoes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salad&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Olive Oil&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Afternoon Snack&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Same as Morning Snack&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Same as Lunch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before Bed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Greek Yogurt&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Almonds&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have red meat about 3 times per week, change the rice or the potatoes with pasta 3-4 times per week. You can have fish like salmod, tuna, tilapia 3 times per week. Beans or any other legume you like also 2-3 times. You can change the almonds with nuts or any other you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general for all these, &lt;strong&gt;don't fry your foods&lt;/strong&gt;, just prefer to eat your olive oil raw at your salad or your meal. Cooking at a stir fry, on grill or steam cooker are great choices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adjust the amounts of those foods&lt;/strong&gt; (the grams of rice,chicken,etc) per meal for your needs and you will see the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24560" LastEditorUserId="24560" LastEditDate="2017-01-16T10:26:38.103" LastActivityDate="2017-01-16T10:26:38.103" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-16T20:46:09.297" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started walking on the treadmill (usually 3.2 - 3.5mph) and I've been having awful shin pain. I noticed today that if I let my arms hang by my sides when I walk the shin pain goes away but if I bring my arms up to swing by my waist the shin pain immediately comes back. I've tried shin compression sleeves and new shoes but aside from leaving my arms hanging nothing works. I want to be able to use my arms more so what's going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24570" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T17:02:50.293" Title="Arm placement on treadmill" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33132" CreationDate="2017-01-17T02:31:50.343" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having done Crossfit myself, there wasn't nearly enough back squat work to get good at back squatting. Perhaps your body requires more volume that SS can't give you. Once your form is locked in, I would try a squat specific program like Smolov. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24572" LastActivityDate="2017-01-17T02:31:50.343" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-17T10:50:00.527" Score="2" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I very recently started exercising. I'm not extremely out of shape 95-100kg but still when on the treadmill my manboobs and my belly bounce up and down and are generally in the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do realize they'll go away with time and consistency but in the mean time what can I do? My best guess would be to use some sort of stretchy fabric to hold them down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24576" LastEditorUserId="10430" LastEditDate="2017-01-18T17:19:02.790" LastActivityDate="2018-01-03T16:20:55.150" Title="Man-boobs in the way when doing cardio" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33205" CreationDate="2017-01-17T12:05:45.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with son15's comment, a slightly tighter top might help. When I started running, my wife got me a &quot;workout shirt&quot; from Aldi's in my size. I later bought one a size smaller. In this weather, it's underneath a layer or two, but it holds everything in place. It's a little uncomfortable, making me have to work a bit harder to properly expand my rib cage when breathing, but it reduced the jiggling. If you run into issues with chafing, a bit of talcum powder or corn starch dusted on the inside can help by absorbing moisture and decreasing friction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-17T12:05:45.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33205" CreationDate="2017-01-17T22:52:22.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A compression garment would help to reduce movement, although it will not stop it entirely, even if it is very tight-fitting.  Sizing should be chosen to be as tight as possible without restricting circulation.  You can wear these under a looser shirt if you are self-conscious about your body shape.  As you lose weight, you should ideally adapt your sizing to match.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to consider is that the collagen and other connective tissues that are responsible for the elasticity of the skin exhibits a decline in function as one ages.  In other words, as you grow older, you have less of it, and you what you have doesn't perform as well as it used to, which is why the skin of the elderly tends to sag and lack firmness.  As you lose weight, depending on your age and extent of obesity, some of the skin's elasticity enables it to recover its former shape, but don't be surprised if, even after achieving your weight goal, your skin shows a considerable amount of sag or residual stretchiness.  If you undertake vigorous activity without adequate support, you can cause additional stretching to occur, although the science on this is not entirely clear:  I recall one study that suggested that women who wear supportive bras have less well-developed collagen in their breast tissue than those who have never worn a bra, suggesting that bras are a bit like a crutch, creating dependence over years of use.  It is possible that short-term stress to collagen in a healthy, young adult population, can stimulate repair and additional production, improving skin elasticity through a remodeling process.  But I'm not a dermatologist; for your comfort, I would advise using suitably sized compression garments throughout your fitness program regardless of weight or age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2017-01-17T22:52:22.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33223" CreationDate="2017-01-18T06:18:29.490" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been learning to swim (only freestyle) from last December 2016.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I try to take a breath, my head is under water and I end up either drinking water or stop swimming.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My coach tells me there are two things which are wrong when I swim&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping the hand in cupped posture - bad form&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping the lower back tensed.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through conscious practice I can overcome the first one, but for relaxing my lower back (hips), I do not know what to do.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Coach is telling me that, it is for this reason that my body does not stay afloat when in water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any specific drills or exercises that can help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12111" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:59:24.507" Title="How can I keep my lower back relaxed while swimming" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33013" CreationDate="2017-01-18T13:33:14.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; be Cervicalgia but only a doctor will be able to tell you what it really is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neck pain can be caused by a lot of things.. But they are 2 populars reasons :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should go see an osteopath/chiro, they will help a lot. You can also ask them how to exercise your back/neck at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also look on amazon for a corset to maintain your back right when you're sit. Cheap one are very bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T13:33:14.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32893" CreationDate="2017-01-18T14:54:24.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of it from a survival stand-point. To your body, working out is an environmental hazard that it has to adapt to. For example, it doesn't equate bench pressing as &quot;a workout&quot; or &quot;an exercise&quot;. It just knows that, for whatever strange reason, you need to bench press a lot. It needs to adapt to this environment where you bench press a lot, so it increases its ability to bench press so that it can better handle this environment and increase your chances of survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, you would not get to dictate when you need the ability to do something. You either are capable of doing it or not. So in this bizarre reality where you're constantly bench pressing, you need to be prepared for it as soon as possible. You would (to your body) risk serious harm or death if you couldn't do something because your muscles were too sore from the previous day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the reason why things hurt like crazy at first is the body doesn't necessarily &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to be in this environment. It takes energy to be adapted to such things, so it wants to use that energy to adapt to the environment that it's currently in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2017-01-18T15:01:11.183" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T15:01:11.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33225" CreationDate="2017-01-18T17:35:09.623" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;It maybe sounds that hasn't anything to do with fitness but it has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone has stress about something, lets say exams, new girlfriend, etc, not necessarily to do with the muscles. Are there workouts to help to calm myself down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think we all have stress, some too much some not. What workouts should someone do to calm his/her self from a stressful situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-01-20T08:35:26.497" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T08:35:26.497" Title="Stress-anxiety stop" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2017-01-18T22:29:01.313" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of buying anti-fog goggles (which no swim goggle is truly anti-fog--they all say so, but it's one of the biggest jokes amongst swimmers), make sure you are buying swim goggles that are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light for indoor use. Dark tinted goggles look cool, but aren't super&#xA;functional for poorly lit pools. Especially when the anti-fog&#xA;eventually wears off. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dark tinted for outdoor use. Seems obvious, but&#xA;you'd be surprised how often swimmers show up to outdoor lap swim&#xA;with clear-lens goggles. They end up squinting through their swim,&#xA;unable to swim backstroke without closing their eyes (and swimming&#xA;into the lane rope and other swimmers as a result).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do is to keep your fingers out from the inside of the lenses--wiping sweat, water, whatever--will peel away the film of anti-fog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19333" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T16:59:05.690" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:59:05.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33212" CreationDate="2017-01-18T22:34:11.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be swimming with a braced core (your core includes your lower back), so this is actually not a bad thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your issues with breathing properly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Try using a swim snorkel.&lt;/strong&gt; They are relatively cheap, and you can focus your arm stroke without having to turn to breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Breathe every three strokes and to the side.&lt;/strong&gt; Are you picking your head up to the front to breathe? Don't. You should be turning your face to the side, with your mouth breaking the surface of the water in order to inhale, without losing forward momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Exhale slowly under the water.&lt;/strong&gt; I find it helpful with beginners to exhale to a 3-count that matches the strokes they are taking. This way they aren't gasping for air. Your exhalation should be controlled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19333" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T16:59:24.507" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T16:59:24.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32893" CreationDate="2017-01-19T06:24:56.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my best attempt to explain this phenomenon.  No doubt someone has studied this more than me, but here is how I see it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will highlight some things that you already know beginning with your &lt;em&gt;very first&lt;/em&gt; workout..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After intense use, your muscle has small tears.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your muscle urgently requests resources to begin repairing and rebuilding for the next intense use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your muscle sends pain signals to your brain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now lets observe this, briefly, from an evolutionary perspective..  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the past you needed your muscles to acquire food and resources in order to survive  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain is a negative reinforcement for &quot;bad&quot; behavior  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your muscle tears, and your muscle sends pain signals to your brain, it is effectively incentivizing you to rest that muscle. This prevents you from damaging your muscle even more, which takes much longer to repair, and causes you to lose muscle mass, which ultimately makes it more difficult to acquire food and resources (less muscle, less food right?).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In effect, the pain discourages you from weakening yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does your muscle eventually &lt;em&gt;stop&lt;/em&gt; sending pain signals to your brain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your muscles have been able to repair themselves successfully several times &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain requires some attention and can be quite distracting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your mind at this point realizes that your muscle is going to be used intensely repeatedly, and it will usually be given the proper amount of rest.  And also at this point, your mind begins to drop or &quot;ignore&quot; the signals sent from your muscle (or muscle stops sending signals.. not 100% sure).  This has some advantages from a survival standpoint:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is much easier to repair your home or prepare for a harvest without aching muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is much easier to, say store food for the winter, without aching muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tasks require minimal muscle usage compared to intense workouts and were paramount to survival for many people across the world.  This ultimately helps you survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basically, reduced muscle soreness helps you do your day-to-day stuff more effectively in a modern day scenario.  In the past it helped you focus on staying alive.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I almost included that surviving a sudden bear attack would be hampered by sore muscles, however a different adaptation occurred that suppresses pain, increases strength, focus, and senses.  This one is called &lt;em&gt;adrenaline&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T06:24:56.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33221" CreationDate="2017-01-19T17:13:59.837" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise, in general, provides stress relief because it increases brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Endorphins&lt;/a&gt;.  Endorphins are “feel-good” chemicals that boost your sense of well-being.  The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/managing-anxiety/exercise-stress-and-anxiety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anxiety and Depression Association of America&lt;/a&gt; suggests that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Scientists have found that regular participation in aerobic exercise&#xA;  has been shown to decrease overall levels of tension, elevate and&#xA;  stabilize mood, improve sleep, and improve self-esteem. About five&#xA;  minutes of aerobic exercise can begin to stimulate anti-anxiety&#xA;  effects. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that's not to say that aerobic exercise is the only way to relieve stress.  Again, from the ADAA,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Psychologists studying how exercise relieves anxiety and depression&#xA;  suggest that a 10-minute walk may be just as good as a 45-minute&#xA;  workout. Some studies show that exercise can work quickly to elevate&#xA;  depressed mood in many people. Although the effects may be temporary,&#xA;  they demonstrate that a brisk walk or other simple activity can&#xA;  deliver several hours of relief, similar to taking an aspirin for a&#xA;  headache. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, while there doesn't seem to be a specific recommendation for types of exercise or duration, the key point is to do some form of exercise that will induce a release of endorphins.  In some people, exercise provides short term relief from stress, while in others, it has not effect at all.  Either way, exercising has more long term benefits than just stress relief and should be a part of any healthy lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T17:13:59.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33179" CreationDate="2017-01-19T19:25:07.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;Essentials of Exercise Physiology (2011) by V. L. Katch, W. D. McArdle, and F. I. Katch&lt;/em&gt;, the energy economy for walking at low speed is higher. Running becomes more practical (requires less calories) when higher speeds are required:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Walking speed relates linearly to oxygen uptake between speeds of 1.9&#xA;  and 3.1 mph; walking becomes less economical at speeds faster than 4.0&#xA;  mph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This explains why walking 10 miles (considering normal speed ~3 mph) expends less energy than running the same distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5804" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T19:25:07.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33221" CreationDate="2017-01-19T20:05:25.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stress is an interesting one, &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/20/the-goldilocks-principle-of-stress-too-little-is-almost-as-bad-as-too-much/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;too little stress&lt;/a&gt; and we don't build up a tolerance to it so struggle to cope when it does hit; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lifehack.org/296095/10-signs-youre-under-too-much-stress&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;too much stress&lt;/a&gt; and we want to fold, run for a place to hide, curl up and rock slowly backwards and forwards hugging our knees to our chest, we become ill, anxious and physically suffer; but the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200804/the-perfect-level-stress?collection=101848&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;right&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/stress.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;amount&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.berkeley.edu/2013/04/16/researchers-find-out-why-some-stress-is-good-for-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stress&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/why-a-moderate-amount-of-stress-is-good-for-you-according-to-a-cognitive-neuroscientist-a7079891.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Goldilocks zone&lt;/a&gt;, and we can thrive and achieve great things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kind of stress that you're talking about would fall firmly into the camp of too much / bad stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When stress levels are high, your mood is down and dark, you don't sleep, don't have a drive to eat properly or look after yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different people have different coping strategies for times like these, some find comfort in destroying themselves in the gym, pushing themselves to the point of collapse, throwing heavy weights on the bar and squatting until the only thought going through their head is one of surviving the next rep. I've seen people turn to training as the one things that they can control when everything else seems to be falling apart, and make great progress because of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying it's the healthiest option, replacing emotional stress with physical, but it is an option, and can have a kind of purify-by-fire approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I've always handled stressful times in my life is with a calmer approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back when I used to climb regularly, I'd find that traversing (moving sideways along a climbing wall, instead of up) in a slow and controlled manner a great way to calm me down and help me gain focus and insight into whatever was causing the stress. I've previously heard about this type of thing referred to as mindful movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that you lose yourself so completely in what you're doing, by focusing on the movement, that you kind of lose focus on the cause of the stress and enter a flow state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/5hnku6/stress_climbing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Traversing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kendallcliffs.com/exercise-and-stress-using-rock-climbing-for-stress-reduction/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;climbing&lt;/a&gt;, certain types of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/yoga-for-anxiety-and-depression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yoga&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/tai-chi/art-20045184&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tai-chi&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.itsaddictive.co.uk/turkish-get-up-and-mindfulness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Turkish get-ups&lt;/a&gt;, basically anything that forces you to focus on something causing a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.verywell.com/using-flow-psychology-for-stress-relief-3144676&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flow state&lt;/a&gt;, can be massively beneficial when dealing with stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T20:05:25.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33258" CreationDate="2017-01-19T22:41:38.363" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very new to running but have been weight lifting a lot the last one and a half year, mostly compound exercises. I was looking into the Maffetone formula but still have a question regarding the &quot;activity level&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;c)  If you have been training consistently (at least four times weekly) for up to two years without any of the problems in (a) and (b), keep the number (180–age) the same.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does training here means running 4x a week or just physical exercise. In other words, do my compound exercises count? 152 max hr VS 157 max hr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23697" LastEditorUserId="23697" LastEditDate="2017-01-20T10:47:04.957" LastActivityDate="2017-01-22T15:34:13.323" Title="Maffetone formula activity level" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-19T23:33:50.233" Score="1" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Untrained 50 year old looking to build strength with the intention preserving muscle while aging, joining a gym soon. Will not get a PT, is looking for 'gentle' exercises. Not willing to suffer much pain. Will something build strength while being (relatively) comfortable? For example, a lower weight than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to build and maintain strength for a beginner with little discomfort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="24140" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T23:46:00.793" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T00:10:49.140" Title="Gentle strength building exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33231" CreationDate="2017-01-20T03:02:05.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question varies from person to person, but to simplify it..  The more you exercise, the more comfortable you will become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscle Soreness:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There will be some muscle soreness if you want to build strength.  Soreness is generally a good thing, because it means your muscles are rebuilding and increasing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over time, soreness will diminish.  Your muscles might stop getting sore altogether (in a few weeks or months).  If you don't get sore in your first week, increase the weight of your exercises until they feel challenging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may be possible to not get sore and maintain muscle if the weight is at least an occasional challenge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Joint Pain:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fewer dumbbells will reduce joint pain.  Dumbbells put more stress on your joints. Machine weights and some barbell exercises will be best for you if you have joint problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For muscle growth, it is beneficial to throw in a dumbbell or barbell exercise into your routine occasionally.  Muscle grows best with a variety of challenges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Some tips:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use proper form! This will greatly help you avoid injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest your muscle! Give the muscles you train 2-3 days to recover before you exercise with them again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have some protein within 30 minutes of a workout!  This dramatically increases your muscle building potential and decreases soreness. If you live far from the gym check these out: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/whey.html?searchTerm=whey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;protein powder&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/bodybuilding-accessories/blender-bottle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bottle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seafood in general can help combat muscle soreness and joint pain with omega-3 fat and selenium while providing protein to your muscle.  Tuna is fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this was insightful.  Enjoy your weights!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T00:10:49.140" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33238" CreationDate="2017-01-20T08:55:17.453" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a female, I started doing exercises 3 monthes ago plus I managed my diet to become healthy. My aim is to have a healthy body with some muscles to stay fit. My problem is that, each time I do exercises, especially  complex ones  like: lunges, squat,  bench press with dumbells, each time I feel soreness again. Is that normal, or am I doing something wrong.&#xA;Is that really soreness, what I feel is  a pain in the muscle when I move it, especially my glutes, when I walk for example.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am worried that  may be I have some deficiency  in vitamins for example or water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastEditorUserId="23709" LastEditDate="2017-01-20T10:37:04.573" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T15:18:42.043" Title="Soreness each time I do exercises" Tags="&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33237" CreationDate="2017-01-20T09:11:10.380" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Manage to build muscles after 6-7mounths.Something change your life and your routine so you end ,stop workouts.After one year you start again gym and home workouts.The body will obtain faster muscle growth or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T10:25:23.723" Title="Muscles when we restart workout" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33231" CreationDate="2017-01-20T09:22:20.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A beginner like you, the age doesn't matter if you are starting now you are a beginner and it's not bad at all, shouldn't consider about strength if starts just now (beginner can be a person that is working out 0-2 years). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you have to get known with the place (the gym), the machines, the dumbbells, the barbells, etc. You have to learn how to execute the exercises in the proper way and understand how a training program (split) works. Only in this way you will understand how your body responds and reacts on your workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides your training the &lt;strong&gt;really first thing&lt;/strong&gt; you must schedule and define clearly is your &lt;strong&gt;nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;. Only with an appropriate nutrition you will be able to build muscles and strength properly. Combined with the necessary rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a nutrition plan based on your needs and your goals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a beginner's workout plan (You can get adviced by the gym stuff for all of those things)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 6-7 months and if you have hit a plateau you can move on strength training. Till then i strongly recommend you to learn the fundamentals and build a good base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24560" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T09:22:20.663" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33235" CreationDate="2017-01-20T10:25:23.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends how effective your workouts were and how experienced at lifting you are prior to your break. 6-7 months is not long enough to drastically change your physique. Muscle growth will not suddenly happen when you return, it takes time and a lot of effort to grow muscle and requires you to constantly use it to maintain: &quot;use it or lose it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Person A is a novice and lifts weight for 6 months then take a break for 6 months and then returns. Person A should start back near the beginning (just the barbell, no weight) but will be able to progress back up to where they were over the space of 3-5 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Person B is experienced, has been working out for 5+ years, gets a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/DeadliftStandardsKg.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;personal best deadlift that puts them in the &quot;Advanced&quot; category&lt;/a&gt;. They take a 6 month break and return. Person B will be able to return and lift weight at a high-novice/intermediate level because their body will not have changed in those 6 months but it may take a long time (years even!) to get their personal best again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T10:25:23.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33234" CreationDate="2017-01-20T10:46:53.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your deficiency is in anything, its calories but it sounds like you still are experiencing DOMS as you slowly progress onto heavier weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things you can do to help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;: After each workout you should spend 10-20 minutes stretching the muscles you primarily used to work out with. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ExRx&lt;/a&gt; can help you find stretches as can a google search.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm up&lt;/strong&gt;: We grow muscle by essentially breaking it down and then repairing it so it is bigger/stronger. DOMS are your bodies way of saying &lt;em&gt;&quot;we did a lot of damage yesterday, your heart isn't pumping much blood here to help repair, so we want to keep the muscle from breaking any more.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; By warming up before more exercise, your blood gets pumping around the muscles and you should feel them become less sore. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat more&lt;/strong&gt;: If you want to repair your muscles faster between workouts you need to provide your body with 2 things: Enough protein to provide the building blocks and enough calories to give your body the energy needed to repair the muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please review this question about DOMS: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/286/prevent-or-treat-delayed-onset-muscle-soreness&quot;&gt;Prevent or treat delayed onset muscle soreness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T10:46:53.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33239" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-20T12:33:59.353" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 43 year old man. I am 190cm tall and 85kg. I am slim with some belly fat. I am active, I do regular exercise and martial arts. My goal is to improve my general energy levels and sense of well being. I am also hoping to loose visceral fat and increase subcutaneous fat, and increase testosterone and growth hormone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently tried intermittent fasting, by delaying breakfast by 2 hours every day. I have a 16 hour period in the night and morning when I don't eat. I have also cut down on carbs a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel very good and have more energy in general. Although I feel light headed and I little shaky in the mornings before breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested to know if there maybe any benefits to cutting carbs even more, to the point where I would go into ketosis or semi-ketosis every morning before breakfast. I would then carb-up a little during the day, but by just the right amount so that I would go back into ketosis the next morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a know diet strategy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so what might be the advantages or disadvantages of this approach over a constant keto diet or over a non-keto low carb diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24083" LastEditorUserId="24083" LastEditDate="2017-01-20T18:33:18.773" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T18:33:18.773" Title="Any advice on a 24 hour cyclical ketogenic diet" Tags="&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ClosedDate="2017-01-30T15:33:38.620" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33234" CreationDate="2017-01-20T15:18:42.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After hard training:&#xA;- take a short jog, relaxing the body, about 5 to 10 min, and stretch.&#xA;- take a warm shower , then normal shower, and some ice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is also very important for avoiding injuries. You can check different articles on glycogen levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24605" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T15:18:42.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-20T20:57:32.437" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been using a pre-workout for the past 3 years, but I'm not entirely sure why.  I can drink my pre-workout 30-45 minutes before my workout starts and not feel a thing.  No &quot;tingling&quot; that so many people talk about.  No burst of energy and definitely no sustained energy.  I've tried many different brands, even did the much talked about 2 scoops.  Nothing.  My current brand is PreKaged by Kaged Muscle, I like the flavor, but still not feeling a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a high tolerance to a lot of medications; Ambien did absolutely nothing. Hydrocodone just gives me cotton mouth and nothing for pain relief. I can even drink a cup of coffee or a pop and take a nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24606" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T11:35:45.823" Title="Ineffective pre-workouts" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33242" CreationDate="2017-01-20T21:11:38.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using pre-workout for 3 years is way too long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;tingling&quot; comes from the Beta-Alanine, if you try standalone 1-1,5gr of Beta-Alanine you will definitely get the &quot;tingling&quot;, that doesn't mean i recommend you to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pre-Workouts basically include creatine,beta-alanine,bcaa,caffeine from various stimulants and extracs, might include citruline if it's a &quot;pump&quot;-labeled, arginine, taurine, agmatine, etc. They might work for the first 3-4 times but for the majority of them nothing much more than that. In general they are just waste of money, a mix of cheap ingredients labeled on whatever the selling company wants to promote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a pre-workout but not for too long time and not every day. Think it as a little weapon for the hard day workout, e.g. leg day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a wake up call before your workout drink a single espresso 30-45 minutes before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want an energy pump, a small fresh apple is just enough also 30-45 minutes before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24560" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T21:11:38.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33244" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-20T23:51:34.050" Score="4" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was wondering what would be more effective and make you stronger, 20 pushups without stopping, or 30 pushups with a 10 second break between each 10? So for example if I chose to do one of these three separate times a day, which one would make me stronger in one month?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24609" LastActivityDate="2017-01-22T12:32:51.143" Title="20 non-stop pushups vs 30 with short breaks?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-22T13:51:19.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33245" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-21T07:59:03.067" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an iPhone 7 and the app store is just to vast to search and try. Any specific recommendations would be much appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EB&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24611" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T08:13:48.600" Title="What are best iOS apps for physical activity monitoring" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-01-30T15:33:01.130" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33245" CreationDate="2017-01-21T08:13:48.600" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) For your iPhone, I like Lose it! and MyFitness Pal. But in addition, here are even &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wellness.com/blog/13280626/top-5-apps-for-getting-into-shape-this-summer/elijah-waeterling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;more.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) For nutrition overall, I like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.idropnews.com/apps/top-five-rejuvenating-health-and-nutrition-apps/6308/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrino&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24613" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T08:13:48.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16148" CreationDate="2017-01-21T08:21:14.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apple Watch heart rate monitor is surprisingly accurate for not having to wear a rib cage band. Especially with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.idropnews.com/news/watchos-3-to-feature-a-slew-of-new-apps-for-home-reminders-heart-rate-and-more/19978/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;watchOS 3&lt;/a&gt;, where there is a dedicated app for heart rate monitoring. Try it! I can't live without it now that the Apple Watch is swim-proof. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24612" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T08:21:14.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16148" CreationDate="2017-01-21T11:18:11.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have tested the Vivoactive HR, and it measures different times during the day, and pairs it to your activity. However it might be to bulky for small wrists.&#xA;I have not tested the apple watch 2, but some say it is improved a lot in measurements, like calorie burning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24605" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T11:18:11.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2017-01-21T17:59:59.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While taking the initial shower, I put liquid soap in them and some water, and live them for 1 min. Then I wash them thoroughly with water, and try not to touch the interior with my fingers. Be careful if you are sensitive to liquid soap, then rinse them good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24605" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T17:59:59.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-22T00:10:51.163" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a definite correlation with people who strength train and longevity. Even if it is just becuase they slow age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) people who strength train tend to live longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering when does the correlation end, or, more precisely, when does getting stronger become equivalent to maintaining strength if your goal is longevity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;strong&gt;example&lt;/strong&gt;, if I trained consistently for a year would I obtain any further longevity benefit from building more strength VS maintaining?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T00:57:37.600" Title="Strength training and longevity" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-22T05:01:49.263" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 15 years old and I've been working out for 4 months and swimming for a year. I'm stuck at finding an ideal workout routine, since I have to conciliate lifting weights and swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My routine is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday: workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday:swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday: workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday: swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday: workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My routine is a ABA - BAB, where in the first week I do A(anterior body) - B(posterior body) - A, and in the second week I do a B - A - B program, but my results are close to none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the best routine to optimize muscle growth? I was thinking about a full-body division, though my lats and shoulders wouldn't get enough rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24097" LastEditorUserId="24560" LastEditDate="2017-01-23T01:12:18.383" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T11:05:23.073" Title="Advices for workout routine" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33244" CreationDate="2017-01-22T05:48:07.803" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the 20. Although I'd still suggest that you make it a bit more challenging (back pack, one leg up, kids sitting on you, etc). I'm making the assumption that your push-up is perfectly formed to challenge you fully. Also, the answer is based on your specific question. If the question weren't as specific, I'd suggest some more work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reasons is simply because 20 is roughly about 10-15 seconds, perhaps 20 seconds if you do them slowly. Provided the push-ups are perfectly clean and challenging, the amount of time is close to the sweet spot for alactic anaerobic phase. I'd suggest you do 3 sets each time with rests in between. You can read more on the timing of the phases here. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saskcoach.ca/articles/training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Physiology of Training&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Tabata also did a number of studies in the 90's and found his magic numbers which were later popularly named the &quot;Tabata Protocol.&quot; It's 20 seconds at 170% effort and 10 seconds active rest for a total of eight bouts.&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Tabata Study via PubMed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This timed suggestion is only for push-ups per your question though. If you take it to a stack of weight, or up the pullup bar with a backpack, it'll be a different story&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why not the 10? As you can see, it's just not enough to induce a substantial demand on you. It may take you even less than 10 seconds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get more out of the push-ups, perhaps you may want to use time for non-rush, perfect ones in 20 seconds x 8 rounds, with exactly 10 seconds rest. This should be sufficiently challenging. As you get better and the work become easier, add some challenge such as keeping one leg raised (alternate), add weights or a back pack or a kid sitting on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend adding push-ups to a combination of work. For example, 20 pushups to a jump rope then a pull up bar, down to squat jumps or alternating side lunges and back to push-ups. Mix it up to add and address the full body work for more legs, core movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastEditorUserId="24550" LastEditDate="2017-01-22T12:32:51.143" LastActivityDate="2017-01-22T12:32:51.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33228" CreationDate="2017-01-22T15:34:13.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it means running (or the specific endurance activity you're training for). I've never seen it explicitly stated, but that's the impression I get from reading Maffetone and listening to interviews.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being new to running, I would definitely consider subtracting 5 from the formula. Your body will need time to adjust to the weight bearing stress of running. Be patient, the pace may be much slower than what you feel like you can do. Progress is measured in months, not days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24306" LastActivityDate="2017-01-22T15:34:13.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3613" CreationDate="2017-01-22T16:14:21.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pros and Cons in what context? It's hard to compare the two without knowing what you're trying to accomplish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have noted, running will burn more calories: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22446673&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22446673&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a rather narrow view, however, for determining which is better. If weight management were my main goal, I would focus on my eating habits and walk to stay active. One of the cons of running is the glucose dependency that can lead to excess carbohydrate consumption (Maffetone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An additional con of running is the increased risk of injury. There's a much smaller risk of injury while walking. This combined with the lower stress on the body will allow you to walk every day (even multiple times a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, the pros of running are that it's fun and it's the best way to train for races. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24306" LastActivityDate="2017-01-22T16:14:21.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32680" CreationDate="2017-01-22T18:34:14.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting, at least for me, is the king of all exercises as it involves the most amount of muscles and increases ones overall body strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also would need some sort of specialization for the execise you want to master so training those movements helps the most. Additional assistence exercises for most demanded body parts can and should be in your arsenal to see even faster results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would agree on the previous answer and also would use military press, benching, and dipps would be e good match to tax the upper body part more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for the impingement- simply try to touch your ears with your shoulders and keep your elbows in front, while doing military presses... a narrower grip helps here a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2017-01-22T18:34:14.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-22T22:53:41.560" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does aerobic training (cardio) help a 4-minute gymnastic rings performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;Overcoming Gravity&lt;/em&gt; Steven Low argues that an Olympic artistic rings performance is around 4 minutes, the same time as the world record for the mile. The mile is strongly influenced by aerobic capacity, so a 4 minute rings performance would be too (to a lesser extent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems really dodgy reasoning to me (the sports have many differences), so I'm asking the question here. Would cardio help a 4-minute rings performance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T11:11:13.287" Title="Rings performance and cardio" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;rings&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33256" CreationDate="2017-01-23T07:51:39.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you are not sure what specific routine you want to follow and as you are practically untrained when it comes to weights you would benefit from the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; routine. This routine teaches you the important movements, allows you to achieve a lot and then gives you the knowledge you need to transition onto a more specific program. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stronglifts 5×5 uses five free weight compound exercises: the Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Overhead Press and Barbell Row. You do three of these exercises each workout, three times a week, for about 45 minutes per workout. You Squat every workout, three times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read through the information on that page, there is a lot of good advice for beginners. &#xA;Stronglifts suggests that you should follow GOMAD (Gallon of milk a day) to support your nutritional intake and ensure that you are taking enough protein and calories to continue to progress an develop muscle. This does work but you may gain some surplus fat (easily remedied by cutting calories), alternatively you should eat just above your TDEE to maintain 'your sick abs'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, if you are working out that much and are working through puberty, GOMAD won't leave you with too much surplus fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-01-23T11:05:23.073" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T11:05:23.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33261" CreationDate="2017-01-23T11:11:13.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one of those you can prove by example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book is right, what it refers to is &quot;conditioning&quot; which is a method by which you increase your aerobic capacity to enable you to workout for a short interval and a very high intensity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not immediately obvious for someone who spends time either learning movements or doing reps and sets at the gym. 4 minutes is a long time to be moving your entire body for, especially whilst doing controlled breathing. You can see at the Olympics that athletes are breathing heavily after a rings performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To try it for yourself: Do 4 minutes of burpees. Go at a comfortably slow pace (1 every 2-3 seconds) and try to keep that pace for the entirety. The movements aren't the same as the rings but the process is. You are moving reasonably slowly but because your entire body is being used you need more oxygen, your breathing increases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T11:11:13.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32680" CreationDate="2017-01-23T11:23:44.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your definition of a muscle up. A gymnastic muscle up is pure raw power whereas a crossfit muscle-up has a high technique aspect (which can lead to the shoulder issues you mentioned if performed incorrectly). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift works (almost) everything at a level but primarily works your erectors and your hamstrings while the rest of your body stabilises. The movement required for muscle up requires you to be able to complete 2 specific skills with a transfer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The movements you want to do are really quite difficult and take technique to do well. Deadlifts alone wont help you get there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To train for a RMU&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ring pull-ups with false grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ring dips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice transition using a box to support feet (reduce help provided by box slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To train for a HSPU (handstand push up)&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with a supported hand stand (heels against a wall)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shift weight in handstand position to left and right hand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue 2. but try to remove one hand at a time off the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue 3 but progress to shoulder taps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attempt a HSPU but with a support and kip: With a mat for your head that is higher than your hands (higher it is the easier it will be), lower yourself into a headstand. Rest your butt against the wall and bring legs down to your chest, kick up and push up at the same time to kip yourself to the top position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower the mat to ground level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove the kip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feet off the wall at the bottom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feet completely off the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only let head brush the mat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use paralettes to remove the headstand element. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T11:23:44.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-23T14:22:10.910" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had really tight hamstrings. I have been stretching them for quite some time now and it improved remarkably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://theaposition.com/golfproformance/wp-content/uploads/sites/63/2014/04/earth-touch.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this picture&lt;/a&gt; I notice the straight upper an lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a picture of me, but I look basically like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jasonbarron.com/how-i-touched-my-toes-in-41-days/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; (except for being able to almost touch the ground with the palms of my hands).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you will say, do the earth touch more, but there is a problem with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I can clearly feel that I compensate lacking flexibility with spine rounding.  I feel, that if I only do the earth touch only my spine gets rounder over time.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is this still a hamstring problem or is it another muscle? Please give me specific stretch to achieve the position shown in the first picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Removed air squat part, because the focus should be first on the given stretch otherwise this thread gets to complicated in my opinion. I have a concrete problem at hand and I want to solve only this first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastEditorUserId="18292" LastEditDate="2017-01-23T14:52:45.110" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T14:52:45.110" Title="Stretch to achieve a good position in an &quot;earth touch&quot;" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33266" CreationDate="2017-01-23T14:40:18.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual reason for butt wink is insufficient flexibility in external or internal rotation of the femur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to create a 'groove' for your hips to sit into by pushing your knees out and pressing your hips forward, both by engaging glutes. Unfortunately it's more complex than that because at &gt;90 degrees flexion some external rotators switch to internal rotation, but basically stronger glutes, looser adductors and hip flexors = no buttwink&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stuart McGill - Hip Anatomy&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/IxAVJkbTf0M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/IxAVJkbTf0M&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many factors in being able to perform a A2G squat with no buttwink and weight both on the bar and on your waist can be a factor as well as hip and ankle flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is another god article which may help: &lt;a href=&quot;http://breakingmuscle.com/learn/6-mobility-exercises-for-an-a-to-grass-squat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://breakingmuscle.com/learn/6-mobility-exercises-for-an-a-to-grass-squat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On reddit and other sites there are places you can post a video to get help from total strangers on form. This may help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T14:40:18.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33269" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-23T20:10:25.953" Score="2" ViewCount="444" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to build a diy pull up bar very similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.instructables.com/FEE/FFAC/GLL4N9RI/FEEFFACGLL4N9RI.MEDIUM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, but I have a problem: none of the rooms in my house have the necessary frame-without-a-door setup that it requires. Does anyone know of a way that I can build a bar so that it mounts properly on a frame with a door limiting it's ability to brace on one side of the door frame? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to my height, this &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be a hanging bar. I can't use a bar that it screwed or torsioned into the sides of the frame directly, it needs to hang on one side and brace on the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19126" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T01:50:06.617" Title="How to build a pull up bar for a doorway with a door?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-23T21:16:20.183" Score="2" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o673A.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o673A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and noticed the straight upper and lower back. My hamstrings were tight, I stretched them a lot and I am able to touch the ground almost with the palms of my hands, but I think I am compensating lacking hamstring flexibility with a round spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at me doing the same stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jPzKF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jPzKF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can you see the bend in the lower back? How can I get rid of it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I isolate the hamstrings so that I don't compensate with my spine?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18292" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T04:05:44.583" Title="How can I achieve this position?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33289" CreationDate="2017-01-24T08:38:40.613" Score="0" ViewCount="2112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fast once a week to be healthy and improve performance. It is intermittent fasting (I restrict eating to a four hour window).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have insomnia almost every time and a quick google search shows multiple forums with the same issue — but no resolution. I almost never have insomnia when I don't fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to have insomnia, or is something else (eg. hormones out of whack) causing me to have insomnia when I fast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="24140" LastEditDate="2017-01-24T23:08:45.803" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T11:39:23.907" Title="Can't sleep while fasting" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-02-01T15:51:34.717" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33275" CreationDate="2017-01-24T08:53:46.327" Score="2" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I follow a very basic routine of squat, deadlift, pull-up (weighted) and bench press, and have for many weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some isolation, muscle-specific or machine exercises to 'fill-in the gaps'? One example that comes to mind is something for the rhomboids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T09:49:19.060" Title="Best isolation exercises for general routine" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33273" CreationDate="2017-01-24T09:15:11.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When following a strength routine, like yours (the three big lifts), you should include some optional excersices in order to have balance. Especially when you train for bodybuilding. It's prefered to be included one from the following excersises for each group &lt;strong&gt;per day&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machine Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulders:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated or Standing Dumbbell Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Military Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral Dumbbell Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biceps:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Hammer Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EZ Bar Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can optionally include one of the following &lt;strong&gt;per week&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lateral Dumbbell Raise (Strongly recommended)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Chest Fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Armed Tricep Extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skullscrushers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Leg Isolation, &lt;strong&gt;once or two per week&lt;/strong&gt;, you can include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any form of calf raise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single Leg Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three sets of 8-10 reps will be great for those excersices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24560" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T09:15:11.360" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33273" CreationDate="2017-01-24T09:49:19.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Continuing the theme of free-weight work you could try the following (for 3-5 sets of 8-15 reps, tracking and increasing weight slowly over time), &lt;strong&gt;those in bold are strongly recommended.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of isolation, if you aren't doing power cleans, you should!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell Overhead Press (strict)/Push Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dumbbell Lateral Raise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell Shrug&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Seated Shoulder Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Reverse Fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell Row (Pendlay/Kroc/Bent Over)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Literally any movement where you pull weight towards yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dips (weighted once you can comfortably do 10 unbroken)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Incline Bench Press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decline Bench Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fly: Dumbbell, Cable or Machine are all good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barbell Curl&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hammer Curl&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin Ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rowing (back) movements usually give you some level of bicep workout!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Triceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Close grip bench press&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skullcrushers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep pushdown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rollout with an AB wheel&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging Leg Raise/Captains Chair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Front Squat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SSB Squat (if you gym has one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hack Squat/Leg Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Leg Curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extension (careful with this as it can damage the knee joint at high weights, progress gently)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T09:49:19.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33277" CreationDate="2017-01-24T12:55:10.030" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;So essentially you get the olympic bar and then place a weight on one end and straddle the bar so that you can pick it up and then lift the weighted end towards your chest while the other end stays on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24636" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T13:37:43.133" Title="Please help me to name this exercise!" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33276" CreationDate="2017-01-24T13:17:26.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you talking about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bent-over-two-arm-long-bar-row&quot;&gt;Bent Over Long Bar Row&lt;/a&gt; also known as a T-Bar row when using a handle (Thanks @wdika)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/425Zs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bent Over Long Bar Row&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastEditorUserId="18977" LastEditDate="2017-01-24T13:37:43.133" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T13:37:43.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2017-01-24T21:20:28.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a Garmin fenix3 hr for all activities, including drumming, monitoring HR and temp. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on tempo and rhythm type, the HR  varies from the equivalent of a walk to a full on bike sprint. Temp rises throughout a 30 min session linearly, and this seems to also cause HR to raise. Temp gets to the point where you need fans or have to cool off to raise tempo further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Agreed with other commented, HR very individual. I can get 180 bpm just with a brief jog, and I am at 200 going hard on MTB. Means nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19947" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T21:20:28.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33272" CreationDate="2017-01-24T23:13:50.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh never mind, I found an equivalent post on the cognitive science stackexchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/5537/how-is-fasting-related-to-insomnia&quot;&gt;https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/5537/how-is-fasting-related-to-insomnia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will try upping the caloric intake and eating more veggies in the 4 hour window on my fast day (and taking magnesium, thanks s3v3ns).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:56:18.177" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T23:13:50.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33269" CreationDate="2017-01-25T00:39:21.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't have a problem with frames with doors. These bars latch-on to the door frames, and doors don't intervene if you keep them fully open. Just like the below. I have been using of of these and I have no problem doing pull-ups, chinups, or leg raises.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pj6R8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pj6R8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's another option as well like the one shown in the pic below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MEvgh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MEvgh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of them are available online, for very nominal prices, but as you said you want to build it, the first one would be more applicable to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, always keep the safety factors in mind while using them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastEditorUserId="23369" LastEditDate="2017-01-25T00:46:35.737" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T00:46:35.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33254" CreationDate="2017-01-25T00:57:37.600" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strength training definitely has its effect on overall health. It's not just the training itself, but other things related to it may add to your health and longevity. Let's focus on a few ground rules. Body, when taken care of properly, stays health and fit. When you do strength training, you not only get stronger and gain muscles, but in order to do that, you eat clean, you sleep well, drink a lot of water and stay away from unhealthy practices like smoking, recreational drugs and heavy drinking. Why, because body building is a discipline and those who do it, they keep it in mind. All these activities keep the body functioning normally. That's what you call the maintenance of the body. So anything maintained throughout, would last longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, doing it for a year may yield you some short teams benefits, but to live longer, you have to keep doing it along with other things that I have mentioned above. As always, there's no guarantee that anyone would live longer due to strength training or all other practices followed due to it, but it definitely increases your chances to it. Also, you have to do it correctly, to avoid injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T00:57:37.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33290" CreationDate="2017-01-25T01:13:39.813" Score="-1" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to do HIIT and want to buy one (cheap, under $100) piece of equipment for the whole body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot sprint because I live in a busy city with few open spaces, however I would be fine with equipment like a suspension trainer or skipping rope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a beginner, and wouldn't mind high impact exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not recommend bodyweight exercises — they are just not for me (I've tried), and not what this question is about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your piece of equipment has any other benefits (eg. portable, scalable), please put that in your answer as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastEditorUserId="24140" LastEditDate="2017-01-25T01:23:10.377" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T12:25:08.440" Title="Cheap form of whole-body HIIT" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2017-01-25T07:08:49.720" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't confuse burning calories with exercise.  Drumming certainly can be hard work but it is not exercise.  Well maybe if you are at the very beginning stages of exercise it has some beneficial element but it is not exercise unless you are using the broadest definition - way too broad for this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drumming again is work and you can burn a lot of calories working.  I used to carry tables and chairs all day.  I am sure there were hours I burned 500-1000 calories and had a high heart rate... wasn't exercise though.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is an activity that is good because it burns calories and it is fun.  Certainly burning more calories than playing the flute.  But you are not getting any of the health benefits of exercise while playing the drums.  You are just getting better at playing the drum, sweating, and burning calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T07:08:49.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32932" CreationDate="2017-01-25T10:11:36.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thoracic Kyphosis and Forward Head (&quot;Computer Guy&quot; Hunchback): Upper cross syndrome is another posture issue caused by sitting while hunching forward (at a computer, over books, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pectorals and the upper back/next tend to be tight as a result and the scapular muscles (shoulder blades) and neck flexors tend to be weak. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/exgiu/a_guide_to_fixing_computer_guy_posture_upper_body/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; has excellent information on why you're doing different exercises, but many of the links have degraded. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kaasplateau.com/stretches.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This pdf&lt;/a&gt; demonstrates how to do the specific exercises mentioned (skip to page 4 for the specifics for this section, although all of the stretches are good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JFguV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JFguV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: reddit.com/r/fitness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T10:11:36.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-25T11:28:25.483" Score="1" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently run, both outdoors and on treadmills, often around 3-6 miles. This feels great, both during and after. However, for about two years now my knees have been bothering me: a sort of mild pain around my kneecap plagues me whenever I stand for extended periods of time. This is problematic during e.g. my work (in a lab) or during cooking. I have really come to hate it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of this the tendon above my kneecap sometimes seemingly 'catches' and snaps into place when bending my knees more than 90 degrees, though this is painless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 22 years old and very fit and healthy apart from this. I have stretched and foam rolled the shit out of my quadriceps, hamstrings and calves but this does not rid me of my pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice/experiences/comments would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24645" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T09:52:38.597" Title="Why can I run for 6 miles without any problems, but standing still in one place for more than 10 minutes makes my knees sore?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;tendons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-01-30T20:53:58.703" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33270" CreationDate="2017-01-25T11:38:16.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you capable of activating the muscles in your lower back? Because that's what will keep your back straight in such a position. You are basically hanging on your spine in the picture, which is especially bad when doing e.g. deadlifts, though you should avoid it here too.&#xA;Also, the point of the stretch is not to reach the ground but to provide sufficient stretch to your hamstrings so that they may become more flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24645" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T11:38:16.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33272" CreationDate="2017-01-25T11:39:23.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If intermittent fasting gives you insomnia, the way to solve that is to stop intermittent fasting. The lack of sleep will do more damage to your health, performance and overall well-being than the intermittent fasting would help those things. Find some other way of achieving your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T11:39:23.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33283" CreationDate="2017-01-25T22:23:25.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For absolute cheap, I would recommend finding an outdoor fitness trail that has the exercise stations. Usually fairly well planned out with a variety of exercises and activities to hit most of the muscle groups, and if you maintain a high level of speed and exertion, can give you an excellent HIIT style workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an actual piece of equipment, if you are very lucky and persistent, you may be able to find a bench and a small set of dumbbells for under $100. That's just not enough money, however, for a decent (by that I mean won't collapse under you) piece of equipment. I know you said no bodyweight exercises, but for $100, you just aren't going to really find anything worthwhile that is safe. Exercise equipment, even used, is $$.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you could up your budget, I would look at something like the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.trxtraining.com/products/trx-full-body-workout-bundle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TRX Suspension Training&lt;/a&gt; systems. You can find them anywhere from the MSRP of mid $200's, or lower on Amazon or similar. They are fairly versatile, and when not being used, hang on the wall, so very minimal space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T22:23:25.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32680" CreationDate="2017-01-26T07:26:54.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can and will help you, but it certainly isn't necessary to do either of these movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a handstand, you use your fingers and core to stabilize, during a deadlift you strengthen your core a whole bunch, so that will help you to keep your handstand nice and straight. Once you can do a proper handstand, you can move into handstand push-ups. You might want to add in other shoulder exercises like shoulder press to get a bit more strength in the push movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for muscle-ups, it will help you a bit, in the way that you train overall strength of the body with a deadlift, but I'd say there are a lot better movements to train for a muscle-up than the deadlift, it won't contribute as much as doing dips, pull-up variations and negative muscle-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By pull-up variations I mean not only different grips, but also train for explosive pull-ups, do weighted pull-ups, do negative pull-ups. All these things will help you master the bottom part of the muscle-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The top part is basically a straight bar dip, so training dips with help you with that. The negative muscle-ups will help you get used to the transition from the dip to the pull-up, try to do this as controlled as possible for mind-muscle connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't do a crossfit muscle-up by the way, that's just plain wrong and will only hurt you in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T07:26:54.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33295" CreationDate="2017-01-26T12:23:34.077" Score="5" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I made the mistake of asking a random guy for a spot and letting him do a lift off for me. While I've never had any issues with this technique before, this guy clearly had no idea how to liftoff. He pulled it super high and I lost tightness, then he dropped it over my belly instead of my chest, then the bar just dropped and my shoulder made a popping sound and that was it for this workout. This is clearly my fault because I let someone spot me without establishing safety rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I'm out with a strained shoulder, I am wondering what is a safety checklist if you're asking for a spot? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T15:30:26.950" Title="Asking for a spot checklist?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33294" CreationDate="2017-01-26T12:36:21.213" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never had this problem, but I definitely recognize that it IS a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the best solution is for you to ask someone who is clearly more experienced. It might seem shallow of me to say, but I find it's very easy to figure out who is who in that regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you DO end up having to ask someone who might be inexperienced, I think you do in fact need to instruct them. Now, since our bench setup routine might be different, you might have to make your own, but here are some points I'd have on mine, should I need a checklist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When giving a handout, slide it off the pegs, and leave it over my chest. Hold until I give the OK.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do NOT touch the bar, unless I'm actually failing the rep. That is, if the bar stops completely, or starts going back down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On a failed rep, don't take over. Give me just enough help to get the bar moving upwards again. I can still do it if given the momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Re-rack after a failed/spotted rep, but don't rerack until I've completed the rep, and straightened/locked out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might seem weird to give someone all this info when I'm the one asking for help, but like I mentioned earlier, I'd rather just ask someone who has clearly been doing this for at least as long as I have. They know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T12:36:21.213" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-26T14:21:49.393" Score="4" ViewCount="12853" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a man who, due to privacy issues, do not like to go to the gym. But one of my biggest dreams, like any other men in my age (20's), is to have a beautiful body and ripped muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to do some home-exercise and have gotten some quite good results without even using any tools. However, decreasing the fat on my body is not my goal. I want to have a ripped body without going to the fitness and I was thinking about buying myself some dumbbells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to get a ripped body using dumbbells at home and following a good and healthy food-program? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24652" LastEditorUserId="12111" LastEditDate="2017-01-30T10:14:27.937" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T10:14:27.937" Title="Getting ripped only by dumbells" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33294" CreationDate="2017-01-26T15:30:26.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, you've discovered one of the risks of training alone.  And, while Alec's answer may be a start, asking someone who “looks” experienced is no guarantee that you will reduce the risk of injury.  For example, let's assume you ask an “experienced” person to spot you.  They won't be familiar with your training and what you expect from a spot.  Even explaining it to them leaves it open to interpretation.  And, then there's the matter of timing.  If your spotter's timing does not coincide with what you expect, your chance for injury may rise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better approach would be to train with a partner who knows what &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; expect.  While this is still not a perfect solution, having a partner that understands your goals and what you expect from each lift should reduce the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a partner is not available, there's one more solution that could lower your injury risk.  Assuming a bench press lift, I would try using a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_machine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;smith machine&lt;/a&gt; since it has inherent spotting capabilities built into the design.  And, while the Smith Machine has some disadvantages, one advantage is the ability to perform a lift &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; a spotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T15:30:26.950" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33297" CreationDate="2017-01-26T16:56:54.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 3 good programmes I am aware of that are dumbbell focused. They do require your dumbbells to go up to quite a high weight though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/zc0uy/a_beginner_dumbbell_program_the_dumbbell_stopgap/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Stopgap&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/2e79y4/dumbbell_ppl_proposed_alternative_to_dumbbell/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alternative Dumbbell Stopgap&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/frankoman-dumbbell-only-split.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Frankoman's Dumbbell only split&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A good program is one you will do consistently.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T16:56:54.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33302" CreationDate="2017-01-26T17:27:15.217" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I apply the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pomodoro technique&lt;/a&gt; while working (computer work/standing desk). That is, one works 25 minutes and takes a 5' break. Rinse, repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be healthy/safe to do exercises with moderate weights, like squats or deadlift during those 5 minutes without any warm up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The intention is just to pump some blood and introduce some regular physical effort during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24653" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T22:35:56.617" Title="Weight exercises while taking a short break" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33300" CreationDate="2017-01-26T22:35:56.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be healthy/safe to do exercises with moderate weights, like squats or deadlift during those 5 minutes without any warm up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a good idea to do these exercises without warm up. Especially with whole-body workouts like squats/deadlift. Warm up is crucial for these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be able to do some bodyweight squats/jumping jacks, but I'd avoid weighted squats/deadlift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T22:35:56.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33297" CreationDate="2017-01-26T22:38:19.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it possible to get a ripped body using dumbells at home and following a good and healthy food-program? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To look ripped you need low-body fat. If you lift heavy and eat at calorie deficit then it's definitely possible to achieve that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T22:38:19.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33339" CreationDate="2017-01-27T01:37:25.047" Score="1" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I  have been a labourer, chucking bricks, carrying timber, etc. for a month. Despite lifting things all day, our bodies aren't in good condition. We have a heavy risk of straining and wearing down our joints — especially our wrists and forearms (because we grip heavy things all day) and our backs (because of awkward postures for long periods of time). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know nothing about fitness or physiology. What can I do to reduce my risk of getting worn-out, inflamed, injured joints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T14:27:06.647" Title="What can a labourer do?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-27T05:02:03.443" Score="1" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am relatively flexible in general (ie able to do a backbend), and when I'm doing a split with my right leg in front I can bend backwards and touch my head to my thigh pretty easily. I cannot do the same with a left split.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are some stretches to target one side of my back?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24663" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T12:36:46.833" Title="Uneven back flexibility?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33297" CreationDate="2017-01-27T07:21:57.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can basically train every bodypart using dumbells, let me give some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legs: Squats and lunges.&lt;/strong&gt; You can start doing squats and lunges to train your legs, once this gets to easy, you can add resistance by holding dumbells in your hands while performing the exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arms: Various curls and extension movements.&lt;/strong&gt; To train your arms, you can do different variations of bicep curls and tricep extensions, while adding weight using the dumbells to increase resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abs: Sit-up variations.&lt;/strong&gt; You can do the same here, start with regular sit-ups, and when these get to easy, start adding weight by holding a dumbell in front of your chest, or behind your head to make it harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By now you've probably found the pattern in this. For the most part you can start out with small resistance and use dumbells to increase it overtime, making your muscles stronger and bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistency is key here.&lt;/strong&gt; You won't get ripped over night, you'll have to stick with it for at least half a year to get notable differences in your physique, but as you might know, most of these &quot;ripped&quot; guys have been training for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T07:21:57.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-27T09:24:38.937" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My left and right shoulders are asymmetrical. My left shoulder seems attached with my upper chest perfectly whereas my right shoulder and upper chest has a gap between them. How can i make them equal? Are there any exercises to build the gap between the upper chest and shoulder near the collar bone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24665" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T09:24:38.937" Title="left and right shoulders are asymmetrical" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33286" CreationDate="2017-01-27T09:52:38.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like the comments, it's impossible to say exactly what is happening over the internet, but, you're also asking for experience, and here is mine:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It could be that your knees just aren't used to standing. I used to sit down for long periods of the day (I was young and very fond of playstation), and one summer I got a job in a shop where I was standing most of the day - obviously, because my knees/legs weren't used to this, it gave me some trouble to begin with, but after some time it corrected itself, as my body got used to prolonged standing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you might want to check out this:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3252/why-does-standing-for-too-long-make-knees-sore?rq=1&quot;&gt;Why does standing for too long make knees sore?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As well as this:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-harder-to-stand-still-than-to-walk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-harder-to-stand-still-than-to-walk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24603" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T09:52:38.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-27T16:21:52.717" Score="4" ViewCount="2108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 13 years of solid weightlifting training, and I am switching to Calisthenics training. I would like to learn feats like handstands, muscle ups, etc. In what order and using what progression pattern should I attempt these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HandStand   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-sit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Human Flag  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Front Lever&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Back Lever&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Muscle up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full Planche&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One arm Push up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One arm pull up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24668" LastEditorUserId="16458" LastEditDate="2017-01-30T10:16:06.627" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T16:10:17.087" Title="Order of learning these excercises" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-27T21:17:40.917" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nicotine seems to be a performance-enhancing drug, like caffeine. But because nicotine is associated with smoking, it seems dangerous to try a nicotine patch to get better gym results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe? And if so, how should I dose it? Are there any unwanted side effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T08:49:03.833" Title="Is it safe to use nicotine to enhance performance?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33314" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33327" CreationDate="2017-01-27T21:55:43.627" Score="5" ViewCount="3360" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gyms in my area are overcrowded and full of smith machines. Some of the cheaper ones don't even have smith machines. I've decided to lift weights at home, but I have a limited amount of space and don't quite yet want to invest in a rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a few questions...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I get a small barbell like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roguefitness.com/the-rogue-c-70-bar&quot;&gt;C70 from Rogue&lt;/a&gt;, would I be okay with doing only the following exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent Over Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I'd be missing out on squats and the bench press, but (here comes the next few questions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can doing more dead lifts act a substitute for squats?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can push-ups act as a substitute for the bench press?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone speak about their experience with the Rogue C70? Can I do all of the above exercises with it, even though I'm just about 6'0?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If none of the above sounds like it would give me a proper full body workout, should I simply aim to use kettlebells or dumbbells instead?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thank you all for reading and for your help!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24671" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T20:54:05.770" Title="Is Lifting Weights at Home, Without a Rack, A Viable Option For Me?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-27T22:49:09.867" Score="1" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not good at rope-jumping so in order to warm up before my medium intensity training (some push-ups, some ab activities, etc) I do jumping jacks, sometimes up to 150 of them. I count every move, one for opening legs one for closing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to do too many jumping jacks? Can I do them in rest days? Do they interfere with my muscle recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24672" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-03-03T05:15:40.773" LastActivityDate="2017-03-03T05:15:40.773" Title="Is it possible to do too many jumping jacks, and can I do them in rest days?" Tags="&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33297" CreationDate="2017-01-28T20:28:20.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can get ripped even without dumbbels. The main reason or sideffect of getting ripped is due to caloric deficit. You need to eat less calories than you actually burn.&#xA;Additional exercise makes this a perfect combination for a 'ripped look'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you need is to never stop challenging your body weather that is with increasing the difficulty of calisthenic exercises or adding dumbbels or resistence bands or going to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, back to your basic question: YES you can. And I would recommend short crisp and intense whole body exercises like the burpee with dumbbels with adding a push-press into the movement to involve the shoulders a bit. (as an example)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2017-01-28T20:28:20.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33336" CreationDate="2017-01-28T21:40:02.423" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting for a couple of months, Mon-Wed-Fri, no problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I changed jobs and now I'm thinking about changing it to Sat-Wed-Sun — I am a lot busier on weekdays now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it will impede my progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't mind too much, becuase I'm expecting it not to matter that much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it be fine? Should I expect progress to be really slow? Or would it be best to lift Sat-Wed and keep Sunday for prehab?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T07:35:32.863" Title="Training On Saturday and Sunday" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33326" CreationDate="2017-01-29T19:30:25.657" Score="7" ViewCount="702" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new on bodybuilding and I know I should warmup before lifting. So how do I know whether I have warmed up enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24688" LastEditorUserId="24560" LastEditDate="2017-01-30T11:43:00.913" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T13:57:35.907" Title="How to know if I am warmed up?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-29T23:03:19.890" Score="4" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nearly every day in the morning, I get up and have a 5 min cold shower. I've heard of contrast showers before, but never tried one (I was too repulsed). I'm relatively adapted (6 months of 5 days a week) and impressed with my increase in recovery time. This is specifically for strength training recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if contrast (cold/hot/cold/hot...) showers would bring better recovery now. If so, what protocol to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-01-29T23:03:19.890" Title="Are cold showers or contrast showers better for recovery?" Tags="&lt;cold&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-02-01T15:49:16.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2017-01-30T12:47:33.517" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The mathematical sum of Cal versus Kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small &amp;amp; large calories&#xA;Small calorie (cal) is the energy needed to increase 1 gram of water by 1°C at a pressure of 1 atmosphere.&#xA;Large calorie (Cal) is the energy needed to increase 1 kg of water by 1°C at a pressure of 1 atmosphere.&#xA;Large calorie is also called food calorie and is used as a unit of food energy.&#xA;cal to kcal - small calories to small kilocalories&#xA;1 kcal = 1000 cal&#xA;The energy in small kilocalories (kcal) is equal to the energy in small calories (cal) divided by 1000:&#xA;E(kcal) = E(cal) / 1000&#xA;Example&#xA;Convert 6000cal to small kcal:&#xA;E(kcal) = 6000cal / 1000 = 6 kcal&#xA;Cal to kcal - large calories to small kilocalories&#xA;1 kcal = 1 Cal&#xA;The energy in small kilocalories (kcal) is equal to the energy in large calories (Cal):&#xA;E(kcal) = E(Cal)&#xA;Example&#xA;Convert 6Cal to kcal:&#xA;E(kcal) = 6Cal = 6kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should explain all, &#xA;Questions? ....surely not!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24691" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T12:47:33.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33322" CreationDate="2017-01-30T13:57:35.907" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your heart rate will be elevated by about 20bpm or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will feel warmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have mobilised your joints and feel limber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With weightlifting, warm up sets are usually sufficient after some mobility: 8-10x Reps at 50%, 70% and 90% of your training weight. Don't neglect to warm-up if you are attempting a 1RM, people often do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T13:57:35.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33314" CreationDate="2017-01-30T14:13:37.167" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.If I get a small barbell like the C70 from Rogue, would I be okay with doing only the following exercises? Deadlift, Bent Over Row, Overhead Press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, they used that bar in the last CrossFit games to deadlift over 400lbs. I'm sure you'd be fine with it. I would recommend getting a full size bar is it will help your stabilising muscles work more. As far as exercise types, (ignoring squats and bench) you have the main compound ones covered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2.Can doing more dead lifts act a substitute for squats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. Front squats aren't really a substitute for back squats either. Buying a small, simple rack on amazon is recommended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3.Can push-ups act as a substitute for the bench press?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up to a point, then no. You can do a floor press (bench press off the floor) or pick up a second-hand bench from craigslist or cheep on amazon (if you are looking at a $200 rogue barbell then you can afford a $30 bench).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4.Can anyone speak about their experience with the Rogue C70? Can I do all of the above exercises with it, even though I'm just about 6'0?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will develop less bar control which means that when you do use a full length bar you wont be able to move as much weight. It really depends on your long term goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5.If none of the above sounds like it would give me a proper full body workout, should I simply aim to use kettlebells or dumbbells instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stronglifts, StartingStrength and Greyskull LP all use the barbell movements described and they are all good for novice lifters (usually &amp;lt;1 year consistent lifting). I personally would add in power cleans to maintain explosive power and get a set of rings for pull-ups and dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T14:13:37.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33329" CreationDate="2017-01-30T19:41:21.437" Score="-1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently come into ownership of a large amount of very very tough beef jerky (I got it free because no one can eat it). And was quick to realize just how wimpy my teeth were.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just a few stripes and my teeth were loosening, and I think I might have cracked one. My teeth were painful, continually, for days. So ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does one exercise/strengthen ones teeth in a healthy and safe manner to build up strength in the muscle/bone/cartilage/etc. that makes up the teeth and their connection to the jaw?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15471" LastEditorUserId="15471" LastEditDate="2017-01-30T20:07:02.657" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T20:07:02.657" Title="Strengthen Teeth" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2017-01-31T18:01:59.217" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33328" CreationDate="2017-01-30T20:05:11.350" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, if you think you may have cracked a tooth, I highly recommend that you see a dentist. If your teeth are that loose, there is likely an underlying cause that you need to deal with comparable to someone with injuries having to be treated before being able to undertake strenuous exercises. However, I think you have a genuine question in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, exercise builds durability by applying mild strain, enough to bend but not break the body, where the body is healthy enough to undergo that strain. If you have been cleared by your dentist (because, as I noted in the comment above, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.deardoctor.com/inside-the-magazine/issue-15/splinting-treatment-for-loose-teeth/&quot;&gt;the most likely cause for loose teeth is gum disease&lt;/a&gt;), you're going to want to start with someone with a small amount of firmness, but which you can't get your teeth lodged into. Sugarless bubble-gum is probably your best bet (chewing gum tends to be more &quot;sticky&quot; and might cause trauma). If you can get ahold of a dental appliance such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arktherapeutic.com/blog/post/1203&quot;&gt;Y-Chew&lt;/a&gt;, that's probably even better. Your goal initially is not to apply a great deal of pressure, but rather to apply a moderate amount over a longer period of time by continuously chewing. If your body is in a decent shape, the mild trauma will cause your body to react by binding the teeth more securely with the useful side effect of also helping to strengthen your jaws. If your teeth are not in good shape (as per if your dentist did not medically clear you), you're likely to injure yourself further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of that, good dental health is really your primary line of defense. Rinse with a mouthwash that has a fluoride rinse at least daily, and brush your teeth 2-3 times a day (contrary to what might seem to be common sense, you're generally better off brushing before eating, as the primary goal is to remove plaque, and some foods can soften your teeth, making it so that your brushing removes enamel). One before heading off to bed and once in the morning isn't too bad of a plan. Also, don't forget to floss to get the food that gets stuck between the teeth, but be gentle, particularly with loose teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T20:05:11.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33317" CreationDate="2017-01-30T22:21:18.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will be fine. Your body needs time for recovery especially if you're a beginner then it's best to have 24-48 hours gap for the muscles to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T22:21:18.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8259" CreationDate="2017-01-31T13:29:30.270" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The aim most of us have is to have a more healthy, fulfilled life. Weight is no impediment to have a healthy life free from diseases, opposite to the opinions held previously by so called experts. However, if it becomes a matter of concern to you, and you want to lose weight to fit in a dress, for example, or if you feel only losing weight will make you feel better, you need to keep a realistic plan of action in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reduce 15 kgs in 2 months&#xA;Diet Changes&#xA;1. Eat Right&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay Hydrated&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Skip the booze&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep your taste buds happy too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise Plans:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find your Basal Metabolism Rate&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Set realistic calorie consumption goals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find an exercise you like to do. And stick to it!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Join a Gym&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24702" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T13:29:30.270" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33317" CreationDate="2017-01-31T20:15:13.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll be fine.  Try to work out different muscle groups on Saturday and Sunday to allow your muscles to recover.  A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flexonline.com/training/training-style-push-pull&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;push pull split&lt;/a&gt; is a great routine for your training frequency&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4464" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T20:15:13.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33315" CreationDate="2017-01-31T20:27:48.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/RPE-Rate-Perceived-Exertion-Scale-Exercise-1113267&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rate of Perceived Exertion&lt;/a&gt; (RPE) is a great way to intuitively gauge your workouts.  RPE works on a scale of 1 - 10 with one being almost no exertion and 10 be the max exertion you can endure.  For warming up you should try to keep around 2 or 3 which (for me) equates to carrying in a load of groceries.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measure your jumping jacks by this scale and you'll be in a good place to judge whether or not it is too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4464" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T20:27:48.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33314" CreationDate="2017-01-31T20:54:05.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just about anything can be made to work. So yes, your plan would work fine. But I don't think it's the best option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have to squat or bench? No. You'd be fine, really, just focusing on deadlifts and overhead presses. It's not ideal, but that's a fine &quot;bare minimum&quot;. It leaves things out but it's still a full-body program. You wouldn't get the benefits of squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do push-ups instead of bench pressing, but they're not really a &quot;replacement&quot;. They're their own thing. It's good to be good at push-ups but they don't produce the same changes as bench pressing does. You could also do floor presses with whatever barbell you end up with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to critique your specific plan, I'd recommend against spending $300 on an &quot;almost right&quot; bar. If you're going to spend real money then get a real full-size 20kg/45lb bar. If you're looking to save money, look on Craigslist for used bars. If you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; can't fit a full-size barbell in your space...buy a new house. Just kidding! Maybe think about kettlebells or dumbbells if your space can't fit a full-size barbell. Or get a small, cheap bar as a stopgap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T20:54:05.770" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33317" CreationDate="2017-02-01T07:35:32.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's not optimal, but you'll do just fine for an amateur/hobbyist.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason it's not optimal is you would want a maximum of 48 hours of rest in between working the same muscle group. I'm guessing you're doing bodypart splits? In that case there will be a lot more than 48 hours in between the workouts of the same muscle groups (up to a week probably).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a push and pull split with these trainingdays will probably work best, you should give it a go!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T07:35:32.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33304" CreationDate="2017-02-01T13:25:56.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I'm not an expert, just someone who's gotten good at using Google to quote other experts. More unfortunately, the majority of posts I've found are from physical trainers extolling the &quot;benefits of manual labor&quot; as opposed to a gym and a lot of testosterone-loaded accounts of &quot;I worked for a summer in the pineapple fields and that made me the man I am today. Then I went back to my air-conditioned office to do some filing&quot;. Fortunately, there are a few accounts of people discussing what to do to help with manual labor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Proper diet and sleep&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, you will want to eat a lot and eat healthy. A manual laborer can easily burn around 3000 calories in their shift, and if you're not getting sufficient fuel, you're going to be in worse shape. There's probably going to be a lot of carbs to give you the energy you need, but don't skimp on protein (good both for the muscles and the joints) and fat (good for energy). Try to avoid adding too much sugar, although don't worry too much about eliminating it since you are working off those empty calories. As for sleep... well, that's a Catch-22. You need more sleep, but after a 12 hour shift, and probably an hour or two commuting, combining with the usual exigencies of life, you probably don't have the luxury of sleeping a lot, even once you get past the aches and the pains. Still, at least do your best to avoid shorting yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional exercise&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know... you've already done this exercise. Why do more? And where do you get the time? The common thread in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/24381/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this conversation thread&lt;/a&gt; among those who were stating that they'd been doing physical labor for decades was that they added additional weightlifting and cardiovascular exercises. As best I can tell, it's a matter of that your typical day of labor works only the muscles you need, and overworks them. The additional workout helps strengthen other muscles that will help support those joints, and help build flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this is where my ignorance means I'm a bit at a loss. It sounds like most of these people were just doing the standard hour of regular lifts with the following caveats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ease back on exercises that involve the muscles you're using in your labor. They already got worked out, and you don't want to impede your work performance. Do a few light sets with them -- the light exercise helps condition those muscles to recover -- but don't overload them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're also looking to build muscle, delay those exercises for just before the weekend to allow recovery, and you may need to boost the weight just to get high enough to shock your muscles into accepting that they're actually doing more work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't neglect stretching, but do it after your exercise. Part of the stress of manual labor is that you're doing all of that work at odd angles, which means flexibility is key. And the stretching at the end of the workout will, much like the light exercises, help relax the muscle and get it into repairing itself. One tricky thing here, you may not be able to rely on your sense of pain (you're probably conditioned to work through it), so go easy, and consider relying on the sense of tightness instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Consider investing in a foam roller&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not too familiar with these myself, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.mysanantonio.com/fitnesscultures/2012/07/when-a-job-is-a-job-and-not-a-workout-the-paradox-of-physical-labor-as-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this guy&lt;/a&gt; suggests it in his essay on the perils of physical labor and why it's not glamorous exercise. Supposedly, they really do help in easing stiff muscles so that you can move again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said, I'm not the expert you need for the job. Hopefully Dave or one of the others more qualified to state exercises will chime in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-02-02T14:27:06.647" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T14:27:06.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33342" CreationDate="2017-02-02T00:38:31.707" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to have a good posture. I think that if someone hasn't good he/she cans obtain it with workout. We can't have all the time or money to go to a gym or somewhere else to do our posture good. I do push up I don't know if that helps my posture I thought that helps me. What workouts could do at home to obtain good posture? push up?what?thanks a lot :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T08:42:05.287" Title="Improve posture in home" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-02-03T16:06:16.357" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33340" CreationDate="2017-02-02T03:16:13.310" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a whole bunch of info on this fairly easily available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you're going to want to focus on your core and back through things like planks, back extensions, reverse dumbbell fly's. There's a great article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/better-posture-more-muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Menshealth&quot;&gt;Menshealth&lt;/a&gt; that goes over how to assess yourself and then goes into how to fix your posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24721" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T03:16:13.310" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33340" CreationDate="2017-02-02T08:42:05.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do a lot at home though, as you said. You could look into resistance bands. They can help getting a better posture a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to first find out what's currently &quot;wrong&quot; with your posture, and then find exercises accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your shoulders are rotated forward, push-ups will only make this worse, because it will strengthen the front of your upper body, and overpower the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important fact is that, a lot of possible posture &quot;malfunctions&quot; to call it that, are found in how you place your feet, how you move/rotate your hips, and if your core if strong enough, so keep in mind that, even though the top of your body might look like there is something wrong with your posture, the problem might be found in your hips for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T08:42:05.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33283" CreationDate="2017-02-02T12:25:08.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could do Farmer's Walks. All you really need is two dumbbells or kettlebells. You could also do Waiter's Walks or swings. These all can be done in a tabata fashion or slightly longer intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24572" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T12:25:08.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33345" CreationDate="2017-02-03T00:04:04.757" Score="3" ViewCount="6332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I an trying to get myself in shape to achieve goal if running 1.5M in less than 15 min. &#xA;Since it is cold I am currently running in the gym and my time is 18:00. &#xA;I am running 4 times a week.  What i was hoping to do is instead of running on treadmill 4 times a week maybe use stationary bike 3 times a week and then once a week to do run in treadmill.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How would I achieve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24726" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T05:33:23.353" Title="How to get to 1.5M in less then 15 min" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33344" CreationDate="2017-02-03T00:56:49.720" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your goal is being able to run at a speed of slightly less than 10 km/h for 15 minutes, which isn't all that fast especially considering that it's just 15 minutes. You are currently able to run at a speed of about 8 km/h which is just fast walking speed. This suggests to me that you should work on your cardio fitness a lot more aggressively. Instead of incrementally increasing the pace to meet your goal, you should run at a significantly faster pace, say 13 km/h and then do interval training where you run for, say, 4 minutes, slow down and then increase the pace again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while you'll find that you can run at a constant speed comparable to that 13 km/h for 15 minutes or even longer. This means that 11 minutes for 1.5 miles should be well within reach, even at training pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T00:56:49.720" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33351" CreationDate="2017-02-03T02:52:22.567" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just Googling, my BMR is ~1500cals, so I'll try to keep my daily intake to that. I'll aim to eat ~80-100g protein a day, ~100-150g carb and spread meals out 2-4 hours with each meal ~300 cals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample meal plan for a day (spaces out 2-4 hours, I'm guestimating the macros):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oatmeal, scrambled egg whites, strawberries (200cal, 25g carb, 10g protein)&#xA; - 2 Greek Yogurt cups (160 cal, 20g carb, 24g protein)&#xA; - Orgain Protein Powder, fruit (200 cal, 30g carb, 25g protein)&#xA; - Cooked chicken, vegetables (350 cal, 15g carb, 30g protein)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize I'm short of my nutrition macros/cals, but I literally can't think of any other foods that are easy to pack/make on a busy college student schedule and budget. Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For working out, I plan to do either strength/cardio on alternating days. Pretty standard. I'll plan to time high-protein after working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24727" LastEditorDisplayName="user24727" LastEditDate="2017-02-23T23:10:18.487" LastActivityDate="2017-02-25T09:50:22.370" Title="Input on planned diet/exercise regime" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33344" CreationDate="2017-02-03T05:00:21.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jerry, I'm a little bit more advanced than you, but I was in your shoes just 6 months ago. While I'm not a running coach or an expert, I can tell you what's been working for me. Maybe it's the blind leading the blind, but I know I've made very good improvements and I think I've been pretty safe and sane about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things I learned: Running outside is always harder than on a treadmill. That being said, I love to do my speed work on a treadmill. You're running on the treadmill at a pace of about 6 MPH right now. Which is where I started. Try and do a 5 minute warmup, then run 1 minute at 6 MPH and maybe 30 seconds at 6.5 MPH. Do maybe ten cycles of that followed by a 5 minute cooldown. If the &quot;sprint&quot; is too much/too fast then slow it down a bit or maybe dumb down the time intervals (1 minute &quot;ON&quot;, 20 seconds &quot;Off&quot;, etc...). If it's not enough, move it up at a little bit. You'll know pretty quick what's right and wrong, I think. You should be pretty good and tired, but not so much so that you're going to injure yourself on the treadmill (falls, etc...). I'll nudge my intervals up just a smidge (a scientific term) each week. Now, I'll do about 7.0 MPH jogging and 9.3 or 9.4 MPH running, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do speed work 2 times a week, and I ALWAYS have my &quot;long&quot; runs 2-3 times a week with the goal of running further than my target. So, if you're looking to break a 15 minute, 1.5 mile time, I would shoot for a long run of maybe 2 miles, 2-3 times a week to start. Try to go longer if you can, but increase your distance slowly. No more than 10% a week. If you can't, try to work up to 2 miles and don't worry about the time. If I am too sore, injured, etc... then I'll ride a bike or the elliptical to give myself a break while still getting a cardio workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with riding a bike to increase your run time isn't so much with the cardio, in my opinion. It's with the muscular, skeletal, and neurological changes your body is &quot;adapting&quot; to every time you run. In other words, every time you run, your body is &quot;learning&quot; how to cope with that type of stress. Riding a bike offers a different type of stress. It's a good stress, I believe, but a different one. That being said, don't ever discount the bike or elliptical if you're suffering from some nagging pains and injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else that has greatly helped me with my speed and preventing muscle fatigue while running is weight lifting. I'm not talking about stacking a deadlift bar with 700 lbs and doing powerlifts. But, I do like deadlifts (be sure to get good coaching advice on how to do this properly), Bulgarian split squats, and other leg exercises. Anything else that can work my hips and glutes are a bonus too. I've read a lot about how the hips and glutes are the beginning of the kinetic chain. Strong hips and glutes, they say, help prevent all sorts of running injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above, along with good diet and rest has enabled me to not only run a 5k, but really improve my times. So much so that I'm eyeing a 10k in 2 months with my eyes on a half-marathon at the end of the year. I'm still not some sort of speed demon, but I am now almost at the 10k mark on my long runs, maintaining the same speed the entire way, and when I go back and try to run a 1.5 mile run, I can really turn on the gas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TLDR: Get outside, do more intervals, do some weightlifting, and try to run further than 1.5 miles. Don't shoot for your goal, but past it. Just be safe, sane, and use common sense when you do it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T05:00:21.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33344" CreationDate="2017-02-03T05:33:23.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have to agree with @Count Iblis running a mile and half in 15 minutes is not very fast of a time. My son is a Junior in high school and he runs a mile in 4 minutes 15 seconds. My advice would be to start by walking instead of running. You did not mention what your weight and body type is, so I am going to assume you are over weight and trying to lose some pounds. IF that is the case then yes my advice would be to walk to start then work your way up to running. The following article talks about how walking is actually better then running for weight loss and overall health. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prevention.com/fitness/how-walking-healthier-running&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.prevention.com/fitness/how-walking-healthier-running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;If you are not a competition runner like my son is why run when walking is healthier. Hope the article helps you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15689" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T05:33:23.353" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33313" CreationDate="2017-02-03T05:48:21.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;here is a piece of an article I read on your question. &#xA;&quot;The performance-enhancing effects of nicotine included increased &quot;vigilance and cognitive function&quot; and &quot;reduced stress and body weight&quot;, the laboratory reported after a year-long study published by the Forensic Science International journal.&quot;&#xA;link to this article is as follows &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foxsports.com.au/more-sports/wada-to-move-towards-declaring-nicotine-a-performance-enhancing-drug/news-story/2ae65758bffffa095bcdd3aa29ca0b70&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.foxsports.com.au/more-sports/wada-to-move-towards-declaring-nicotine-a-performance-enhancing-drug/news-story/2ae65758bffffa095bcdd3aa29ca0b70&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;using Nicotine as an average Joe I Don't think it is much of a performance enhancing drug. The Anti Doping Agency made it a banded substance because they are dealing with world class athletes. Where an Athlete might try to find any kind of slight advantage to use in competition. Reducing stress in a sport like boxing might be considered performance enhancing. I can go on and on with examples but I think you get my point. I wouldn't try using a nicotine patch to reach a higher level of gains if what you are doing is lifting weights. You will get better results using creatine or something similar to creatine. Hope this helps you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15689" LastEditorUserId="15689" LastEditDate="2017-08-28T08:49:03.833" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T08:49:03.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-03T07:39:31.657" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;If found in litterature loads of papers challenging the concept of AT ( Anaerobic Threshold ). Most of them explain how this is only a construct and how and why previous expert were lead into believing that there is a POINT where metabolism shifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who can explain me better this topic and possibly clarify if in the scientific realm has finally someone drawn a endpoint to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23472" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T17:58:24.320" Title="Is Anaerobic Threshold a concept or a construct?" Tags="&lt;anaerobic&gt;&lt;lactate-threshold&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33346" CreationDate="2017-02-03T08:44:25.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your calorie intake is aroung ~2000cals for maintenance and ~1500cals for losing weight (around 1lb/per week). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as you are aiming for weight loss i suggest a 40carb/30protein/30fat macros ratio. For you that means 160gr/120gr/53gr.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that you are an athlete you should have a proper diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 Whole Egg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 Egg Whites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50gr Oats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After Workout&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 Scoop of Protein&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 banana&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40gr Rice Raw (or 250gr Potato/ or 40gr Whole Wheat Pasta Raw but&#xA;that could be better around 2-3 times/per week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70gr Chicken Breast Raw (or Turkey/ or Beef/Calf but also around 2-3&#xA;times/ per week / or Pork but that could be better around 1&#xA;time/2weeks / you can also add fish like fresh&#xA;tuna/salmon/tilapia/cod / or your prefered legumes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10ml Olive Oil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salad ( prefer green salads or vegetables like lettuce/broccoli and kale/ cauliflower, in general have a salad with your meal, don't think too much about the portion eat much as you want - in general terms)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Middle Meal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;250gr Potato Raw (or 40gr Rice Raw/ or 40gr Whole Wheat Pasta Raw but&#xA;that could be better around 2-3 times/per week)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;70gr Chicken Breast Raw (or Turkey/ or Beef/Calf but also around 2-3&#xA;times/ per week / or Pork but that could be better around 1&#xA;time/2weeks / you can also add fish like fresh&#xA;tuna/salmon/tilapia/cod / or your prefered legumes)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;10ml Olive Oil&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salad ( prefer green salads or vegetables like lettuce/broccoli and kale/ cauliflower, in general have a salad with your meal, don't think too much about the portion eat much as you want - in general terms)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40gr Rice Raw (or 250gr Potato/ or 40gr Whole Wheat Pasta Raw but&#xA;that could be better around 2-3 times/per week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;70gr Chicken Breast Raw (or Turkey/ or Beef/Calf but also around 2-3&#xA;times/ per week / or Pork but that could be better around 1&#xA;time/2weeks / you can also add fish like fresh&#xA;tuna/salmon/tilapia/cod / or your prefered legumes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10ml Olive Oil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salad ( prefer green salads or vegetables like lettuce/broccoli and kale/ cauliflower, in general have a salad with your meal, don't think too much about the portion eat much as you want - in general terms)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before Bed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;200gr Greek Yogurt&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;20gr Almonds (or Nuts/Walnuts/Peanuts as far as they are roasted-not&#xA;salted)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That diet would be around 1500cals 160grs of Carbs / 120 grams of Protein / 55grs of Fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Organize your time and your meals, have a meal around every 3-4&#xA;hours. You can chande the after workout meal at any time you're&#xA;working out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't get paranoid with grams and macros, as far as you are sure at&#xA;around 90%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure your food and weight the amounts you eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be tricky and play with the combinations in order not to get bored&#xA;and give it up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preparation:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can spend one day, when you have time like Sunday, and prepare food for the week or for 3-4 days. Then you would be flexible and you would be able to carry your food at any time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Important&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow this diet plan for as long as you keep losing weight, only when you hit a plateau and you cannot lose more weight (if you want to) then we can discuss it again. Till then eat well and train well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be sure that you are doing cardio at least 4 times/per week. Also weightlifting or strength training 3-4 times/per week is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24560" LastEditorUserId="24560" LastEditDate="2017-02-03T15:25:23.360" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T15:25:23.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33373" CreationDate="2017-02-03T08:44:38.257" Score="0" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;113KG male, lifting weights 4 times a week and aerobics cardio twice a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently started bouldering so technique is in its infancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Setting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor bouldering twice a week after a the gym. I normally successfully tackle 14-16 beginner problems in 60 mins to 75 mins.  I log everything and also rack up around 4-6 failures on intermediate problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dull ache inside of the elbow crease extending to the top of the forearms and also the bottom of the tricep/bicep.  Made worse on overhangs but lessens on slabs.   During a session it can get quite bad but is gone within a few hours of leaving the wall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I am pretty heavy for climbing. How do I climb in a more efficient manner to prevent injuries, particularly upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13531" LastEditorUserId="13531" LastEditDate="2017-02-06T16:41:29.797" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T16:41:29.797" Title="How boulder more efficiently to prevent elbow pain/injury?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;rock-climbing&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2017-02-06T16:13:45.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33350" CreationDate="2017-02-03T17:58:24.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most basic definition of the Anaerobic Threshold is where the body generates more lactic acid than it can flush out. So if you were to make a line graph in which one line represents the rate lactic acid increase and the other line represents the rate of lactic acid decrease, the point at which the lines cross would technically be the &quot;anaerobic threshold&quot;. Lactic acid builds up faster as the intensity of a workout increases. The rate at which it's disposed of is relatively constant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprinters can train above this point without much issue because their running is in very short bursts. Endurance athletes though need to stay below this point in order to continue on without having to stop for rest. You can, however, improve your ability to remove lactic acid through consistent training. As such, the speeds, distances, and times would increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the &quot;metabolic shift&quot; part comes from where people are told that at a certain intensity, your body starts generating energy through anaerobic (no oxygen) means rather than aerobic (oxygen). When you're aerobic, you generate energy by using fat whereas you would use glucose if you're in the anaerobic phase. The idea being that you would burn more fat if you stayed within this aerobic center.  You'll often see charts on cardio machines that say &quot;aerobic between 60% to 70% of VO2max&quot; or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a general over-simplification of how the body generates energy. What the body chooses as a source of energy is far, far more complex than that. It is based off a large number of factors. Also, the body is using both systems for energy pretty much all the time. You are in fact using both energy systems right now reading this while at rest (I assume you're at rest). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body will start using more of its anaerobic energy system as a workout increases in intensity because it needs that extra energy to perform its duties. It will, however, never stop using the aerobic system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T17:58:24.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-04T00:11:05.280" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I've gotten into swimming again recently, racking up 1km three times a week. Which is about all I can manage, practically, to get to the pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started trying to train by carrying out some of the same movements just in air. Just the arms, either in front of me, or directly up in the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trouble is, I've found this extremely fatiguing, after 10 or 15 strokes my arms ache and I'm not able to continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone got a clue why this is more difficult without the resistance of water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24737" LastActivityDate="2019-04-19T13:04:15.867" Title="How can swimming without water be harder to do?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33358" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33360" CreationDate="2017-02-04T04:25:39.603" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep up with some basic exercise, I've been regularly doing a fixed number of pushups (increasing a little over time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quality of my &lt;em&gt;form&lt;/em&gt; is admittedly quite sloppy, I'd not say they are &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H6PoVJHiBk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;cheating&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (where you only move the top half of your body, or even just bob your head up and down, I'm sure you know the sort!)&lt;/em&gt;. But they aren't slow and controlled either - I'm not lifting my body 100% to straight arms - and moving it all the way down either (maybe ~75% of the motion at a guess).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the same number of fully controlled pushups is obviously harder then less controlled movement, is there a strong argument to favor controlled exercise assuming you're equally as tired after both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is this simply different exercise? As 'crunches' are different to full 'sit-ups'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm asking this because for me it's motivating to set a number and reach it every time, If I'm tired I have worse form, if I'm feeling energetic I have better form. But at least it keeps the exercise regular and it gives me some goal to reach. However I'm wondering if poor form could be harmful in some way, or if there are significant reasons to force myself to do less reps with better form.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24740" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T16:21:21.930" Title="Pushups: Low quality vs high quality? (sloppy vs controlled)" Tags="&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-04T15:48:34.840" Score="1" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to ask if someone did only deadlifts as a workout what would there body look like. Would they have a disproportional body ? or would they have a symmetrical looking physique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking this because I heard that deadlifts are one of the best weight training/ strength training exercises that you do and they target many muscle groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone ever just deadlifted and if so what were the results in not just strength but also your physical bodily appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24743" LastEditorUserId="24743" LastEditDate="2017-02-04T16:26:10.243" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T20:18:48.523" Title="Deadlifts strength training" Tags="&lt;deadlifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33358" CreationDate="2017-02-04T16:21:21.930" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise form is something that seems to be invariably related to Range of Motion (ROM).  Although they are two separate concepts, they tend to be mentioned together since form usually affects ROM.  Intuitively, one would expect that “bad form” (ie. Sloppy) can lead to injuries since the movement tends to be fast, not controlled, and, the movements jerky.  I, personally, would not risk form break for the sake of reaching a rep goal simply for the potential of injury.  It becomes more important if you utilize bad (sloppy) form while handling free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is, however, a study that partial range of motion may provide some benefit.  The study, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15320644&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;An analysis of full range of motion vs. partial range of motion training in the development of strength in untrained men&lt;/a&gt; used the bench press (similar movement to your push up) to gauge the effectiveness of ROM on that particular movement.  The study concluded:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“These findings appear to suggest that partial range of motion&#xA;  training can positively influence the development of maximal strength.&#xA;  Therefore, those involved in the strength and conditioning profession&#xA;  can confidently including this method as an adjunct to their normal&#xA;  training protocols when working with individuals similar to those&#xA;  found in this investigation. It is suggested that additional research&#xA;  be conducted to further establish the effectiveness of partial range&#xA;  of motion training in developing maximal strength. “&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one thing that is not mentioned in the study is whether the participants were using controlled (strict) form.  Since they were under supervision, I would assume that the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, using bad form tends to reduce the likelihood that supporting muscle groups (in your case, triceps, deltoid) receive sufficient supplemental work.  In the long term, I would argue that using good form is more likely to assist you in achieving your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T16:21:21.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-05T04:10:04.873" Score="2" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've practiced doing chin-ups, both the full range:&lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;(entirely hanging to chin above the bar)&lt;/em&gt;, and approx ~90% of the full range, where I don't let my arms and shoulders 'stretch/hang', and instead hold my weight at the downward part of the chin-up so my arms remain slightly bent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I never became injured from doing full-range-of-motion chin-up's, I did it because I feel as if its doing less ware &amp;amp; tare on my shoulder joints (also elbows a little).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence for or against using a full-range-of-motion when doing chin-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24740" LastEditorUserId="24740" LastEditDate="2017-02-05T23:30:03.340" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T06:04:33.833" Title="Is full or partial range of motion better for chin-ups?" Tags="&lt;chin-ups&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7078" CreationDate="2017-02-06T02:00:31.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are looking for accurate distance measurement. Almost all stationary bikes, either traditional or spinners (more like an outdoor upright bicycle, but with an awkward method of determining resistance  -- which would be a combo of elevation and wind resistance) will tell you distance. The calculation is probably very particular to your model of bike or recumbent cyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to measure everything yourself, it's going to be very difficult unless you take your bike apart, revealing the size of the pulley wheel, which is often restrained by a very small wheel that is actually a brake, and all are connected to computer wires that go straight to the bike console. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bike connects wires to all of this and if you're lucky, they go to a male port which will allow you to plug it into the upcoming  (2017) Wahoo &quot;retrofit&quot; device which will upload to an app, and you can then import the data into your favorite fitness app. This will likely give riders more accurate information. Or that's the idea, anyway. But do be careful: I have a 9-10 year old stationary bike that still works well. I don't want break anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, if what you mainly want is a speed sensor, they are available from Garmin, Polar, Wahoo, and many others. They generally need cadence information to work most accurately. Cadence sensors are cheap and can attach to your shoe! Very easy. The speed sensor needs your wheel circumference because cadence is not the same thing as speed - a speed sensor, in concert with other information, will literally tell you your distance - how far you've traveled..It may be in your manual and if not, you can take one of the plastic shields off your traditional exercise bike and try to attach it. It probably won't fit. You might be able to attach it to the front spinner wheel, but that won't be easy because it's so thin: you need a hub, as on an outdoor bike.  This combo will give you fairly accurate distance information. Most bikes have a console that does this for you, but the accuracy of dedicated sensors is much better. That's well-known. I have to use the bike console for mph, and I am unsatisfied with its accuracy. Also, w/out a wattage meter, calorie count is usually way off: I let my app tell me. It's based on something called &quot;Corrected Mets&quot; and it's generally considered accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trouble is that all these sensors may be expensive for most people at home, as are aftermarket wattage meters. Gyms will have all of this technology, but not the convenience of having your own equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a single revolution is a difficult task for any indoor bike, and not even a lot of fun on an outdoor bike. But if you need this information, you can pull it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24755" LastEditorUserId="24755" LastEditDate="2017-02-06T02:22:57.203" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T02:22:57.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33363" CreationDate="2017-02-06T06:04:33.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to use a range of motion you need to use that range of motion. If you don't go all the way to the bottom of a chin-up then you won't grow strength in that end range of motion, you won't develop joint mobility keeping or making that a comfortable movement, and you'll leave out the development of muscles and tissues that are only engaged at that end range (for instance, the pectorals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time and age make us weak and constrict our movement. One of the best reasons to move is to fight that decline and retain the ability to move. I've therefore never seen the point of preemptively reducing ranges of motion. Specifically for chin-ups, I find the controlled stretch or even relaxation at the bottom a great way to keep my shoulders open and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T06:04:33.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33371" CreationDate="2017-02-06T08:52:00.910" Score="2" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to the gym 3 times a week. I am currently doing 5x5, but I was on 5/3/1 before and plan to do it again once I stall with 5x5, but my point is, over a few years I try different programs and workouts differ. I log all my workouts and I would like an objective way to compare my workout today to one I did one year ago, possibly in a different program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, today I could do 5x5x100, last week I could do 3x5x100 + 2x5x90. Is there an objective way to compare these intensities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24757" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T13:57:48.343" Title="Comparing intensity of different strength training workouts" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33368" CreationDate="2017-02-06T09:26:16.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there's no complete way of comparing performances like that, because those are only 3 variables (rep/set/weight), out of hundreds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to solidly compare them, you'd have to take into account form, variation, time spent during concentric/eccentric portions of the lift, rest period between reps, rest period between sets, and the list goes on and on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean, can you say that these are all completely equal every rep? Almost certainly not. And even if you could, there are still many other variables to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T09:26:16.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33368" CreationDate="2017-02-06T13:41:58.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The inherent problem with measuring intensity is that it tends to be very subjective.  Additionally, “intensity” can mean different things to different people.  Having said that, I would suggest you frame your question around the context of whatever your goal is.  For example, if your goal is to be a bodybuilder, then, body part measurements should be a starting point in contrasting your routines for efficiency.   If your goal is to lift increasingly heavier weights, then, collecting records indicating the poundage used on each lift should be your starting point.  The point is that you should use your particular goal(s) as the measuring stick to compare the “intensity” of each routine.  And, even with that, your results will be totally subjective at best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T13:41:58.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33368" CreationDate="2017-02-06T13:57:48.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could potentially try recording Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Rate of Perceived Technique (RPT). Both on a scale of 1 - 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RPE has been fairly well explained elsewhere, but is essentially how hard you feel you worked (so, a classic 20 rep squat session where you take your 10RM in the squat and squat it 20 times is going to be higher than polishing your guns with some cable curls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RPT is something I've taken from the Gold Medal Bodies (GMB) training programs. The idea being that you can rate your technique on a scale of 1 to 10, based on how it feels (and possibly on video review); so if you're squatting and your knees are caving in, hips are shooting up and you're doing a bastardised good morning / squat combination, your technique rating is going to be a lot lower than if you keep your knees out, chest up and back tight the whole time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also look at using some sort of heart rate monitor (yes, I know it sounds weird to use one with weight training, but I've tried it and it does reveal a surprising amount, probably because a heavy set of squats of deadlifts will make your heart try and burst out of your chest). I use one that gives you a breakdown of heart rate over the session, and an &quot;MEP&quot; rating for the whole workout (basically, a value of how hard you've worked. By itself, a single MEP value is relatively meaningless, but if tracked over a period of time, it gives you a measure of how hard you worked during the training session).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want metrics to compare, volume (so weight * (sets * reps) for total poundage moved) isn't a bad comparison to make, but that doesn't really get you the intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option would be to get a gadget to measure bar speed, the idea being if the bar is moving slower this week for a given weight than last week, then arguably, you're training less intensely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that your best bet is a combination of techniques. In your training log (you are keeping a training log, right?), record the RPE and RPT and get a heart rate monitor as described above, then, over time, you'll be able to track how intensely your workouts are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T13:57:48.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33352" CreationDate="2017-02-06T14:44:36.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bouldering places a lot of strain on the ligaments and tendons of the arms and fingers, moreso than weight training alone. It becomes particularly evident when you realise that you're having to hold yourself in a static position on the wall, keeping your arms locked at particular angles instead of steadily working through the full range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you are quite heavy for a climber. At my heaviest, I think I was just under 110kg and climbing / bouldering several times a week. That means that you're going to be placing a lot of stress on your joints (particularly fingers, elbows and shoulders) and since tendons take longer to strengthen than muscles, things like pulley injuries and elbow / shoulder complaints are fairly common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chances are, the pain you're feeling is because of unfamiliarity of the complex movements involved in bouldering, and as you yourself allude to, technique issues probably meaning you're relying on your upper body strength a fair amount, particularly on overhangs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer for this is basically time and practice. Assuming you're taking care of recovery and nutrition, your body should adapt to the demands you're placing on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more specific recommendations, then I'd try and climb on different days to when you lift, or at least leave a decent amount of time between the two (i.e. climb in the morning before work, lift after, or vice versa).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, use your feet more. Don't try and power up overhangs, deliberately place your feet, turn your hips into the wall, use heel hooks to take the pressure off your arms and hold yourself in the wall, don't grip the holds as tightly, watch female climbers and see how they tackle problems that you find yourself powering up, move slowly and with control instead of dynoing from hold to hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretch your forearms before and after bouldering sessions, and get yourself some soft tissue work on your forearms. I've seen tight muscles and muscle knots in the forearms cause elbow issues for climbers before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've made a fair amount of assumptions there, but they're all based on several years of introducing new people, male and female, into climbing and bouldering and observing the most common mistakes people make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T14:44:36.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33379" CreationDate="2017-02-06T21:49:30.233" Score="3" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I workout a lot and eat enough for my body to build muscle, I'm seeing gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't workout for 2 days a week, and I eat less on these days, will my body lose muscle on these days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example; If I am ill and I can't workout for 2 weeks and don't eat as much as I normally do, will I lose my muscle gains? When I start working out after these two weeks, will me body recreate the gains I had before getting sick, or will it take the same amount of time again to rebuild them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-02-07T14:05:39.587" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T16:16:31.867" Title="Will I lose gains in this situation?" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32932" CreationDate="2017-02-07T06:42:50.330" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a common problem for most of the IT guys as well as heavy social media users on mobile. I got this problem a month back I tried some good Yoga Pose suggested by Baba Ramdev( India). It helped me a lot. You can search for his reference in Google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24764" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T06:42:50.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7078" CreationDate="2017-02-07T11:19:39.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stationary bike can only give you an rough estimate of how far you might have gone on a real bike for a similar effort. This includes assumptions regarding your weight, gear length, wheel size, how aerodynamic you might be, etc ... It also can't account for wind resistance (which increases as the square of your speed when you actually move), road gradient, drive train efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A standard road bike using 700c wheels, 25c tyres, and a compact crankset (50:34 chain rings, 11:28 sprockets) has a development range of between 2.6m and 9.6m per crank revolution. You can calculate those using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_meters_of_development&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bike calculator&lt;/a&gt;. So your 2m are actually at the low end of a road bike range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better indication of your effort, which stay more consistent between real bikes and stationary trainer is power. Most modern stationary bike can provide reasonably accurate power number based on how fast you are spinning their resistance unit. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://mccraw.co.uk/powertap-meter-convert-watts-calories-burned/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt; give you an indication of how you can convert average power into calorie expenditure using a simple formulae &lt;code&gt;energy (kcal) = avg power (W) X duration (hours) X 3.6&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T11:19:39.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33375" CreationDate="2017-02-07T14:46:06.530" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 2005 study in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/99/1/87&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Journal of Applied Physiology&lt;/a&gt; found that for &lt;strong&gt;highly trained athletes&lt;/strong&gt;, 2 weeks of detraining seems to be the amount of time that muscle atrophy tends to occur.  This seems to be because of the differences in the initial muscle fiber size and the conditioning level of the athlete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Highly trained athletes have shown preferential atrophy of type II&#xA;  muscle fibers with 2 wk of detraining (34), which would reduce the&#xA;  relative proportion of type II MHC. Thus the present findings may not&#xA;  extend to highly trained athletes because of differences in initial&#xA;  muscle fiber size and level of conditioning.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, beginners (recreational athletes) tend to lose muscle mass at a slower pace during detraining.  The study group consisted of sedentary males and found that atrophy and decreased strength occurred aft &lt;strong&gt;12 weeks&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“After 3 mo of detraining these gains were lost…”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that several factors contribute to the rate of muscle loss including age and current fitness level.  Each person’s rate of muscle loss will vary based on these factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking time off (detraining), however, should not be looked upon as a bad thing.  It can be beneficial because it gives your muscles (and your mind) much needed rest.  And, kept to a minimum, planned rest periods should not negatively impact your ability to gain muscle mass in the future.  What’s important is that you do not let the rest period interfere with your training goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-02-07T16:16:31.867" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T16:16:31.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33434" CreationDate="2017-02-07T18:27:53.890" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfX3APC8lp4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Half Kneeling Dorsiflexion Mobilization exercise&lt;/a&gt; a lot as a method for improving ankle dorsiflexion. Here is Start: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fviEm.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fviEm.png&quot; alt=&quot;Start&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Ending position:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6p9yG.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6p9yG.png&quot; alt=&quot;End&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Why is it that it is recommended to have your knee outside your ankle instead of over it? Does this also apply to lunges in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18392" LastEditorUserId="18392" LastEditDate="2017-02-09T18:05:48.250" LastActivityDate="2017-02-17T15:17:40.667" Title="Why keep your knee towards the outside in dorsiflexion exercises?" Tags="&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33359" CreationDate="2017-02-09T02:38:03.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifting does not train all muscles. For starters, it is a &quot;pull&quot; exercise which means it hits the muscles involved with pulling or lifting the most: lats and lower back. This leaves the &quot;push&quot; muscles including the chest to do nothing but stabilize. While stabilizing is important, it's not as much work as pulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result of these potential muscle imbalances, the back muscles would assert more influence on the shape of the spine than the chest muscles. I'm guessing this would result in the shoulders being pulled back more than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, deadlifts ARE one of the best exercises (plural) you can do. For best results, do them with squats and bench press. Ideally while taking a multi and lifting heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T02:38:03.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33390" CreationDate="2017-02-09T03:18:10.540" Score="2" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to routinely run about 35 minutes each day. This was interval style running with 30 second sprints every 7 minutes or so. I kept this up for about 2 years. My stamina increased greatly doing this, but I didn't loose any weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've cut out the running and started to cycle to work, which is 20 mins each way, and in only 2 months I have lost heaps of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I do do 5 mins more exercise on the bike, I would have thought that running would be a more intensive work out, what with supporting your own weight more and not coasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just curious: is there any reason why cycling seems more effective for me?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24781" LastEditorUserId="24781" LastEditDate="2017-03-08T22:24:27.907" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T22:24:27.907" Title="Why am I losing more weight cycling than running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33387" CreationDate="2017-02-09T03:59:11.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lower intensity of cycling could be promoting more fat burning vs. glucose burning from the high intensity running. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/331651-burning-fat-vs-glycogen/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;LiveStrong&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the main factors, aside from diet, that influences the ratio of fat burning to carb burning is exercise intensity. At low intensities your body will turn to fat for energy, but as you start to train harder, it will switch to burning more glycogen, notes Dr. Edward Coyle of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're also working out twice a day instead of once; that could be having an effect as well. Have you noticed a change in cravings or eating patterns? Do you think you're eating more, less, about the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24306" LastEditorUserId="24306" LastEditDate="2017-02-09T04:07:41.527" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T04:07:41.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33389" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-09T08:53:17.437" Score="3" ViewCount="549" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALzFr2GT-Is&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; trainer &lt;a href=&quot;http://nicktumminello.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nick Tumminello&lt;/a&gt; recommends:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hands closer together, slightly elevated and slightly internally&#xA;  rotated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the comments, a &quot;Sylvester Koh&quot; (no idea who he is, but his comments sound informed and so I wanted to confirm or deny) agrees with a &quot;Kirstine Vest Have&quot; who says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Funny. A study using EMG says the hands should be externally rotated&#xA;  for max activation of the serratus ant.. Not internally rotated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Perhaps &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25364120&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt;, though it's for an unstable surface.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sylvester Koh also says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you [have] clinical reason in terms of muscle biomechanics and physiology,&#xA;  internal rotation will result in the recruitment of the pectoral&#xA;  muscles ( internal rotators) which defeat the purpose of this&#xA;  exercise. Push up plus serves to isolate serratus anterior muscle&#xA;  activation only and removes as much recruitment of pectorals as&#xA;  possible. Besides performing external rotation, at the shoulders,&#xA;  isometric shoulder horizontal abduction would further deactivate the&#xA;  pectoral muscle via reciprocal inhibition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In summary, in order to perform the perfect push up plus exercise,&#xA;  there should be thoracic kyphosis, lower cervical flexion, lumbar&#xA;  flexion with posterior pelvic tilt, shoulder external rotation, and&#xA;  isometric shoulder horizontal abduction, in order to fully activate&#xA;  the serratus anterior muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place your palms on the floor in a standard push up position such that&#xA;  your palms are directly under your shoulders. Try to contract your&#xA;  posterior deltoids such that your wanna bring your hands away from one&#xA;  another. Next flex your neck gently and focus on protracting your&#xA;  scapular as much as position. I would recommend that your keep your&#xA;  scapular protracted for as long as you can rather that continuously&#xA;  move through the range of motion like in this video. Make sure that&#xA;  your abdominal muscles and buttock muscles are contracted fully&#xA;  throughout the exercise such that your lower back is flat out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions are who is right, and what is the best form? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2792" LastEditorUserId="2792" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T11:25:53.633" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T11:25:53.633" Title="What is the correct Push Up technique for Serratus Anterior Engagement?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33387" CreationDate="2017-02-09T09:12:08.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's called the principle of specificity (or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bettermovement.org/blog/2009/0110111&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;specific adaptation to imposed demand, SAID&lt;/a&gt;), essentially, your body will adapt to demands placed upon it, so if you run in a certain way every day for 2 years, your body will be very well adapted to it and more efficient at doing it, greater efficiency means less work means less calories being burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling to work, although a lower intensity workout, is something your body isn't used to, so it hasn't adapted to it, learned the most efficient way to do it, so it burning more energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great example of this is opposite to your situation, but is when &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/sports/sportsspecial/06armstrong.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lance Armstrong ran the New York marathon&lt;/a&gt;. His body was very well adapted for cycling and performed it with amazing efficiency, but when it came to running, the efficiency wasn't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T09:12:08.667" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-09T09:59:32.690" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do a lot of swimming and am often in change rooms. What is good to wear on your feet? I'm thinking of getting flip flops or sandals and was wondering if there's any type in particular that are well suited for use in a swimming pool deck and change room. I once heard flip flops are bad for you as you tend to scrunch your toes to grip them. I probably should get cheap ones as if I'm leaving them by the side of the pool I can't keep an eye on them when I get in. The main reason I'm getting them is for sanitary reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4900" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:05:29.943" Title="Footwear for swimming pool and change room" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;foot-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-02-14T21:33:41.633" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33406" CreationDate="2017-02-09T11:20:21.330" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm learning swimming (only freestyle) since December last year.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The problem is I'm unable to swim continuously even for 30m.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is how I swim&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push off the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kick for few meters (no arm action)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start arm action with my first breath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breath after every 4 arm action (for three breaths only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop because of tired legs  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breathing was a problem in the beginning. Now I have the rhythm and proper head rotation (at least I think so).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm guided by a coach and he tells me that I'm gaining strength and it will take a little longer for me to catch up with others.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there any particular swimming drills that I can do to recover from this situation?&lt;/strong&gt;  I was thinking using kickboard might build strength in my legs - looks like it is not helping or I'm doing something wrong with the kickboard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learnt backstroke on my own (through YouTube videos) and able to do 50m comfortably. Why my legs mess up when doing freestyle?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12111" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T15:04:16.053" Title="Legs wearing out too soon in freestyle" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-09T16:40:11.377" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;What types of exercises or physical activities favor a body type that is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;small framed (thin bones, lighter bodyweight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;relatively tall (6 feet+)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;long limbs (arms and legs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what can a person with this body type can excel or just progress to advanced levels with low likelihood of injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This being my built, i noticed i do well on pulling exercises (deadlifts, pullups, chinups) and have a hard time with barbell squats, bench press, holding weights overhead with a wide grip (in a snatch or overhead squat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's obviously a lot of other factors, i can think of joint strength, explosiveness, flexibility but focusing on body proportions for this question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gymnastics/calisthenics favor small frame but not a lot of height.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;combat sports (eg. kickboxing) favor long limbs but not a small frame.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24784" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-02-10T09:04:55.960" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T10:04:44.483" Title="what exercises or physical activities where small framed, tall, long limbed people do well?" Tags="&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-10T09:41:22.177" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read about deep vein thrombosis on long airplane rides. Although I am in fairly decent physical shape, it's my understanding that this can happen to healthy individuals as well. Various articles I've read state that certain stretching and exercising can help to alleviate some of these problems. However, many of the articles don't really give specifics as to what these stretches or exercises might be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What stretches or exercises, either before, during or after the flight, can I perform to help prevent this condition? Obviously, confined space is an issue so something like burpees in the lavatory or sprints down the aisle aren't going to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:14:58.187" Title="Exercise Before/During Airplane Rides To Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33393" CreationDate="2017-02-10T10:04:44.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought on reading this was climbing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arguably the ideal body type for climbing is a small frame (light bodyweight), long limbs (ideally, positive &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape_index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ape index&lt;/a&gt;) and long reach. Look at someone like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Ondra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Adam Ondra&lt;/a&gt;, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The likelihood of injury is kind of down to you. If you take up climbing and immediately try to pull on crimps on an overhang for a few hours at a time, chances are you're going to get a pulley injury. Same could be said for an overhead squat, if you try and load up the bar but don't have the requisite shoulder stability, then you're likely to screw up your shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to anything is to build up slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With lifting, the key is to just keep working at it, take very small jumps and eventually you'll get stronger. As a guy standing 6' 6&quot; (just under 2m), I'm also a lot more comfortable with deadlifts over squats. It's honestly taken me several years of practice until I'm (relatively) comfortable squatting with my bodyweight equivalent sitting across my shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T10:04:44.483" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-10T18:49:42.703" Score="4" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok. So. I restarted running about a year ago and was doing regular Parkruns and managing 3 5ks a week. However, my working hours and need to do stuff for my children has stopped all that - I just can't justify (no matter how important my own heath is) coming home then going straight out for an hour or more in total when my children need their dinner. Plus, I was finding the runs REALLY exhausting, literally unable to put one foot in the other, every step a sheer misery. Never seemed to get the endorphin hit (which was a great part of every run when I was 40 but I don't seem to get it now that I'm 50 (NOT fair!)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So HIIT routines at home seem the way to go. I have weights and bands that I could utilise. However, this is my problem and is why I don't sign up for a class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got the following problems in order of 'severity':&#xA;Something wrong with my lower right back - sacroiliac so not fully stable&#xA;Right knee is a bit rubbish - I cannot and will not do Bridge (anyone who's done Hatha yoga will know that one)&#xA;Mild hernia on left hand side caused by an extremely over zealous fitness induction at my local gym where I was given an inappropriately difficult ab exercise to do - I actually felt the hernia occur so I have to take great care with that flipping thing so I don't make it worse&#xA;Then I also have an almost fully healed (after 4 YEARS) rotator cuff injury on my left arm - so I've got to be a bit careful with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I'm just about ready for the knackers yard! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the power moves, the rapid jump from here, squat, stand up, jump across that worry me re the knees and back and plus if I go to a class, I'll just do everything so some of the stuff that seems to make up HIIT routines like jumping jack squat thingies I just cannot do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not quite sure what exercises I could do that fall into that 'power' category but won't do bad stuff to back and knee. I can manage the shoulder pretty well but the back and knee is more of a worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas for combo's of exercises would be very gratefully received. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24790" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T20:23:31.043" Title="Lapsed 5ker seeks HIIT advice and 'injuries'" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-10T19:25:19.520" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to do multiple workouts throughout the day (let's say 4-8 times) when I'm at work. My office has a gym with free weights. The workouts can be from 5-10 minutes long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the importance of taking frequent breaks, but either walking or doing stairs doesn't seem sufficient for my upper body. I still get stiff shoulders/neck even though I'm taking these frequent breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do real workouts outside of work, 4 days out of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, what sort of plan would be effective irrespective of stiff shoulder/neck? I don't see too much material, if there is anything it's usually these body weight exercises that only seem good for someone who isn't in shape or actually lifts weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be better than a stiff shoulder/neck than lifting weights? Maybe stretches would be better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24791" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:59:22.593" Title="Multiple Workouts During Work" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33396" CreationDate="2017-02-10T20:23:31.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main thing with HIIT is to get your heart rate up to 80-90% max with hard work, followed by a period of what is called active rest, followed by more work. You don't need to do complex movements with rapid jump ups, squats, etc... (I'm picturing jump squat burpees). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although a lot of people think it's high impact, when done correctly, jumping rope is a low impact workout with high potential for reaping the rewards from HIIT. So, that's one thing you may want to look into. Although, admittedly, the learning curve may involve higher impact which may be detrimental. Also, since there is a somewhat significant (for most people) learning curve, frustration with learning the exercise properly may lead to quitting early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is a stationary bike. For the first six months of my weight loss and fitness journey, I got on the stationary bike, pedaled normal for 1:30, and then doubled the resistance and pedaled like hell for :30 seconds. I would do eight cycles of that and then I was absolutely done. Total time: 20 minutes. On that note, you can pick pretty much any cardio exercise (elliptical, recumbent bike, etc...) and do the same type of workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A third option I am thinking about is an agility ladder. Agility ladders are super cheap, and can even be made with something like duct tape on your floor. There are a ton of YouTube videos regarding HIIT agility ladder training. So, while some exercises may be slightly higher impact than others, there are such an infinite number of configurations you can do, surely you'll be able to find something that'll work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I'll give you an example of one of the HIIT workouts I do that a friend told me about. This one is harder than you think, and works very well!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 minute of Jumping Jacks, 1 minute of Mountain Climbers, 1 minute of Inchworms, and 1 minute of bodyweight squats. That's 1 round. Do 4 rounds with 1 minute rest in between rounds. That's a 20 min. workout. Admittedly, there is some minor impact with the jumping jacks, and potentially, with the mountain climbers. I suspect, based on what you wrote, that you'd be capable of doing that, but, of course, only you would know.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T20:23:31.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33391" CreationDate="2017-02-11T00:05:29.943" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get yourself a pair of Haviana flip flops. They're cheap and are perfect for wearing around the swimming pool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't know why you'd scrunch your toes wearing flip flops if they fit you properly. That only really happens if they're too big. If you're worried about that, just maybe go for a smaller size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24795" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:05:29.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33397" CreationDate="2017-02-11T00:09:42.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are you trying to do extra workouts during work when you have actual workouts planned outside of work? It sounds like you're overworking yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're referring to stiff shoulders/neck from sitting at a computer all day, the first thing you should do is get yourself an ergonomic chair with proper neck support. If you look like the Hunchback while working, you need to also work on proper, straight-backed, posture. In regards to workouts, I wouldn't bother trying to stuff them in while you work. Stretching is far, far more beneficial for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24795" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:09:42.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33394" CreationDate="2017-02-11T00:14:58.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/long-flight-bed-rest-easy-exercises-prevent-blood-clots/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/long-flight-bed-rest-easy-exercises-prevent-blood-clots/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what you're looking up, but I found this article literally within 2 seconds of looking on Google. I looked over it and it has some good exercises that you can do during the flight. I highly doubt you have to go to the extremes of burpees or sprinting to get your blood flowing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24795" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:14:58.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33397" CreationDate="2017-02-11T00:59:22.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are over training if you are doing those little workouts everyday.Posture would be my 1st guess to help with the stiffness in the neck and back without knowing the type of work you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a friend help you put 1 strip of athletic tape(or any tape really) on your back horizontally right below the top of your shoulder blades. It should start and end at the mid point of your shoulder blades. &lt;strong&gt;Stand and Hold Good Posture when the tape is applied.&lt;/strong&gt; You will find out really quick if your back stiffness is from posture by how often you feel the tape tug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscles that hold your back upright and shoulders back are mainly slow twitch/endurance fibers so it doesn't matter how strong or how often you lift.&#xA;Those bodyweight exercises will work perfectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24796" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:59:22.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-11T01:18:29.857" Score="3" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 24 year old male, roughly 6'0&quot; and 235 pounds. I've been more active in the past, but grad school and a recent shoulder surgery, plus a completely sedentary desk job, have caused me to gain a good bit of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done couch to 5k before, and I'd like to do it again to get back into running and to get in shape in general. However, I know running overweight is not ideal, and of course I'd like to avoid more injuries than I already have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would starting c25k be okay for someone of my weight, assuming I take it slow? If not, what might a target weight be I should look for after which it should be &quot;safe&quot; for me to start running again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24797" LastActivityDate="2017-09-17T21:42:42.053" Title="Ideal target weight to start running (C25k)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33087" CreationDate="2017-02-11T07:16:20.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you adhere to a stead workout regime, after a few weeks, months is some cases the soreness starts to dissipate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're first starting out, soreness is the result of lactic acid buildup in the muscles and can generally be interpreted as you having an effective workout that will improve whichever muscle groups are worked out and sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it very hard to get sore after a workout after 2.5 years of weightlifting at least five days a week and cardio at least as many, usually more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you stop getting sore, don't fret. As long as your strength is increasing and your muscles are growing you're still making progress. That being said, sometimes a shakeup in your routine will allow you to experience more progress than your regular workout for a given muscle group, and might even lead to soreness in muscles that haven't been sore in workouts for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24794" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T07:16:20.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33392" CreationDate="2017-02-11T15:04:16.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The technical biomechanics in swimming is still an evolving art &amp;amp; science but it is also pretty advanced nowadays. Since you seem very analytical on your endeavour, I suggest that you continue to research in depth as well as get your coach to break down the mechanics of the kick specifically for you and spot train you on how to fix it. The coach should see exactly what you do right or wrong and let you know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theraceclub.com/videos/secret-tip-legs-propulsion/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a helpful guide from Garry Hall, on leg propulsion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your technique is not yet helpful, or somewhat wrong, repeating it over and over on a kickboard may not help you improve. It might even cause you to build physical habits that become difficult to break at a later time. Stronger alone will not make you faster. Stronger techniques will surely do. So, get it right first, then train on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leg propulsion differ a lot from person to person​. This is true for beginners as well as world champions. Because swimming is a full body activity, the propulsive power balance through out the body can vary significantly to favor each person's strength. That said, the legs tiring in your case might not all be due to lack of strength. It is possible that you might be kicking from the knees &amp;amp; things too much and not yet allowing hip swing to help in your kicks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kicks should be hip and core driven with your legs being delivery extensions. If you tighten up throughout the motion, you will surely be tired twice as fast. You may want to do an easy test of just kicking about 10 kicks as you normally do and see how far. Come back to the wall, focus on hip driven kicks for the same 10 and see if you see a difference. Also try to observe some good swimmers at the pool to learn visually and make adjustments, measure and improve that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming is both simple and easy to enjoy, but can also be extremely complex when you dwell deep into the interplay between biomechanics and physics. It's a fascinating science that is executed artfully through the body and senses as it moves forward in a balancing act between propulsion and drag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T15:04:16.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33413" CreationDate="2017-02-11T19:59:56.103" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am using dumbbells three times in a week.  I have 9kg and 11kg.  I am doing two workouts and I count until 25. I am doing  2 sets on 9kg.  After this, I immediately do 11kg for the same workouts until the number 15.  I am doing two sets.  Should I increase my sets or should I workout more often? I want to increase my muscle size on my biceps as fast as I can.  I'd like my arms to improve in one month and for them to be more visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24803" LastEditorUserId="24803" LastEditDate="2017-02-12T18:50:21.947" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T07:31:53.607" Title="Biceps increase muscle size in 1 month" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-12T14:14:22.727" Score="1" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am a beginner when it comes to pull ups and I can't even do one. Currently I am doing pull up training to do my first pull up \o/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I adopted a new pull up training method. This method mainly requires you to do 2 things-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; Dead hangs- &lt;strong&gt;Jump up&lt;/strong&gt; to the bar, hold it and keep hanging for 5-10 sec, then get back down and &lt;strong&gt;jump up&lt;/strong&gt; again, do this 10 times, then during the 11th and 12th rep hang for as long as you can. Then rest and do the set again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; Negatives- Keep a chair/bench a little distance away from the pull-up bar, step on it with both legs and hold the bar. Then &lt;strong&gt;jump up&lt;/strong&gt; to get your chin over the pull up bar and come down as slow as you can back to the chair. Repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I think that the &lt;strong&gt;jump up&lt;/strong&gt; part in both these exercise is important because when you jump up and hold the bar in mid air, while coming down you have to resist against the momentum to reach the hanging position. And thats where the problem comes. Here is a pic of my pull up bar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jmn6l.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jmn6l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My pull up bar&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't actually find a pull up bar or find a place to fit it somewhere so I used the ladder of my previous bunk bed :P I didn't feel like buying one as I would go to the gym in some months anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as you can see, my improvised pull up bar has two bars on it. Now normally when I do pull up training I use the lower one as my body fits quite nicely in it and I don't really have to raise / jump to reach the bar. But now, in this new training method, I have to jump and for that I have to use the upper bar. But when I try to do these exercises on the upper bar, the part of my arm around the elbow clashes with the lower bar and its really difficult for me to do pull ups like that. Also my posture is ruined by that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this is the problem. Should I move the bar a little bit higher so that I can &lt;strong&gt;jump up&lt;/strong&gt; to the lower bar, or am I just overthinking and is jumping up really not that important? I am asking this because in most of the youtube tutorials they say &quot;jump up and hold the bar&quot;. They don't really give an emphasis on &quot;jump up&quot; but still..I wanna be on the safe side. Sorry if this question sounds a little weird... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the video link just in case you want to watch it and get a better idea of what I am saying. Its 6 mins long- &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAEua0zu_74&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAEua0zu_74&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for helping :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24459" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T21:35:53.553" Title="Question about my pull up bar" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33410" CreationDate="2017-02-12T16:48:13.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jumping&quot; is not a necessary part in the dead hang. The idea is hanging either from the chin-to-bar &amp;amp; then lower or just hanging for grip strength. You can do it with the bar as is minus the jump and bend your legs at the knees. Basically, grab &amp;amp; hang down with your knees tucking your legs behind you. That's also how you'll do the actual pullup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for you bar, you can do a lot with the existing placement &amp;amp; structure. You can cut it down to use just one straight pipe after you file down &amp;amp; smoothen the cut area. You can get another straight pipe (cheap larger conduit pipe will work -- don't use the small one). The grip that creates an open circle from the tips of your thumb &amp;amp; index finger is better than a tighter grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another note that might be helpful for you is that while the name &quot;pull-up&quot; suggests &quot;pulling&quot;, and &quot;up,&quot; it's not that at all. When I show someone new to it, they are often surprised they misunderstand it to be harder than it is. The staging part of the pull up is to engage your muscles so that your entire posterior muscle chain/sets (as seen very clearly in the video below) is ready to compress. The &quot;pull&quot; phase is this compression where your body goes upward to the bar from an angle almost like a big bear hug --just upward instead of hugging horizontally. Your core also contracts to pull the rest of your body together. This is why the move is also a good core workout with its many variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch this beautiful rendering of the pull up explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/eGo4IYlbE5g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Perfect Pull Up Video by Calisthenic Movement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastEditorUserId="24550" LastEditDate="2017-02-15T21:35:53.553" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T21:35:53.553" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33408" CreationDate="2017-02-13T07:31:53.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to be clear, bodybuilding is a sport of patience. You won't achieve your goals in 1, 2 or even 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if I'm reading your question correctly, you're already doing sets of 25. In this case, you're better off increasing the weight, rather than the amount of reps or sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't increase weight for some reason, you can try different variations of bicep curls, as well as concentrating on the negative part of the movement. Try some sets going up in 1 second, and down in 3 or 4 seconds. You'll find out it will get increasingly harder to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T07:31:53.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6349" CreationDate="2017-02-13T18:24:53.057" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body never burns muscle for energy, except in maybe in the most extreme cases of starvation and I mean holocaust starvation where you're dying. This is a myth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24817" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T18:24:53.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33420" CreationDate="2017-02-14T14:20:03.257" Score="2" ViewCount="1535" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have made the outline for a 4 days a week routine. Wondering how (and if) to incorporate the other lifts named in the spreadsheet and what rep schemes to use. Also learning Olympic lifting so the routine incorporates some practice of these movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qcunap2IdvbeCSXvCakS1SZdRuFtejsoFnpwJAb0uzM/edit?usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Workout Spreadsheet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My goals in order:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To get to my strength goals (see bottom of Spreadsheet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aesthetics (main goal after reaching strength goals) - arms, shoulder and chest lacking but focus will be on overall aesthetics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn the Olympic lifts (least important)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About me:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male, 26 y/o, 6ft, 90 kg, no injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have been lifting for about a year and a half, started on Stronglifts 5x5.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am on a slow bulk and will cut once I reach strength goals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21959" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T20:12:20.637" Title="How to finish this workout routine for strength &amp; aesthetics?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33418" CreationDate="2017-02-14T16:43:10.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its a bit fluffy and open to interpretation of the rules of SE so I'll answer but reserve the right to suggest this may be off-topic as its highly personal. We also have very similar numbers but slightly different priority on goals because I only care about strength, perfecting Olympic lifts and conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have pretty solid powerlifting goals and its clear your lower-half is much stronger than your upper body. Maintaining a slow-bulk should allow you to meet your stretch goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5x5 Stronglifts is good for those who don't squat and have tiny legs, I don't recommend it. You have a good base so I'd recommend you either change over to any of the following linear programes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthvillain.myshopify.com/collections/ebooks/products/greyskull-lp-third-edition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Greyskull LP&lt;/a&gt; - A simple beginner's linear progression program. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/0uiw7qW.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phrak's variant&lt;/a&gt; is a commonly used implementation. A 3 day or A/B routine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/44hnbc/strength_training_using_the_gzcl_method_from/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GZCLP&lt;/a&gt; - A linear progression template using powerlifter Cody LeFever's GZCL Method. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/gzcl/comments/4ipcos/gzclp_templates/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 and 4 Day spreadsheets can be found here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101065094-5-3-1-for-a-beginner&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5/3/1 For Beginners&lt;/a&gt; - Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program with some simple modifications to cater it more towards novice lifters. A 3 day routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Olympic Lifting:&lt;/strong&gt; Get a coach. Trying to learn anything apart from power cleans by yourself it is so much slower, difficult, dangerous and can lead to poor technique in the long run. Olympic lifting gyms cost the same as regular ones and usually chuck in coaching for a little more. They won't give you programming but can definitely help. Maybe heck out a local crossfit gym as they often do Oly Lifting classes. Alternatively, find someone in your gym who does do the oly lifts and befriend them. You can workout together and help each other, not prefect, but cheaper. Oly lifting is super fun and challenging but I sincerely recommend you don't try to develop it alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bodybuilding:&lt;/strong&gt; Once you have hit your strength goals you should change programmes to a bodybuilding split. The focus on these is less about macro and meso cycles, 1RM's and meticulous planning and more about isolation and volume. This is when you put in your extra exercises on the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Bodybuilding Programmes include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/37ylk5/a_linear_progression_based_ppl_program_for/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PPL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PHUL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.simplyshredded.com/mega-feature-layne-norton-training-series-full-powerhypertrophy-routine-updated-2011.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PHAT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Footnote: Don't forget Abs! Get a Ab-roller, do hanging leg raises and weighted planks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T16:43:10.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2017-02-14T19:25:08.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start exercise(weightlifting &amp;amp; cardio) first.  Get the body and your appetite adjusted to the shock of strenuous activity, then introduce a diet regimen based on your goals(fat loss/muscle gain/etc).  You should also consider creating a food journal so you can ballpark your current intake when you do start the diet portion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24649" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T19:25:08.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33418" CreationDate="2017-02-14T20:12:20.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have too many goals. Remove some of them. You can do them later. &quot;Focusing&quot; on strength, aesthetics, doing a bunch of exercises...just because? and introducing Olympic lifts is hard for any athlete, and is a bad idea for someone new to designing workout programs. Pick what's important. Do that. Do the other stuff later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you've proposed is essentially &lt;a href=&quot;https://jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101077382-boring-but-big&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5/3/1 Boring But Big&lt;/a&gt;. It's a known, successful version of your plan, plenty of people have done it and reported back, and it has built-in guidance on introducing assistance exercises like you want to. I would note that reports show it to be more on the bodybuilding side of &quot;powerbuilding&quot;, and many folks seem to have lost strength using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to say more until you provide more focus and information on what you've been doing and why it isn't working anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T20:12:20.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2017-02-15T02:30:49.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Easing your way back into a steady fitness regimen slowly isn't a bad idea. Psychologically you'll be graduating yourself through each step as you've proven to yourself that you're dedicated. Your biggest hurdles will be resuming a healthy diet and improving your &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitgalri.com/blog/cardiovascular-endurance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cardiovascular endurance&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Regarding your diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limit any restaurant meals to once a week as cheat meals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purchase lean meats, whole grains, loads of veggies and grab a large reusable water bottle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create healthy meals that TASTE GOOD TO YOU in order to not feel deprived&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Think about your favorite food items and find alternative healthy ways to make them. i.e. turkey burgers or lean ground beef burgers rather than 80/20 fat burgers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Regarding your cardiovascular endurance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run steps in your home&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform high rep body weight workouts with short rest periods etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting your heart conditioned for high activity will make your reintroduction to cardio in the gym less painful and thus easier to sustain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24831" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T02:30:49.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33431" CreationDate="2017-02-15T10:44:16.360" Score="1" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see woman with  swimwear and I am attracted by them. I wonder if a man with swimwear with abs,chest,biceps and more if is attracted to the most women. Example the most of us if we see a woman which is tall,she is little fatter and she has nice body we say she is amazing. For men especially for muscles guys this happens too or the women doesn't care about the muscle a man has? If a women attracted by muscles which muscles should I give emphasis? I am not workout only about women but I care and about this :) I want to be more attracted to them. thanks In advance :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24803" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T13:35:27.500" Title="which muscles are more attractive and should i focus on" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-02-16T00:25:32.423" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33429" CreationDate="2017-02-15T13:35:27.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are asking will larger muscles and in particular which muscles will make me more attractive to women? This is not really the type of question for this site, as it's so much about opinion. However in my experience, for most woman, yes larger muscles do make men more attractive. But it's a scale and most don't like too much muscle and prefer a more athletic look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of making this your goal - I don't think you should concentrate on one area - instead focus on building overall strength and size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21959" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T13:35:27.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-16T06:59:44.683" Score="7" ViewCount="3123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you can't get his size without them, but that's not my mission. I want to be as strong as him. You can be as strong as someone without being as big -- and vice-versa. From watching his videos on YouTube I know he can bench press 405 lbs. for at least 8 reps fresh -- and that's with full, perfect form -- no &quot;bouncing.&quot; I know he's strong and he is a bodybuilder, but I don't aspire to be one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5'10&quot; and 164 lbs. I am 14% bodyfat, DEXA. I will not be going any higher than this, and will only make lean gains. I bench currently around my bodyweight max, and I've been training consistently for 2 months. Is it humanly possible, without anabolics/etc., to bench what Rich Piana can at my weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw a guy on YouTube who was 150 lbs. and tiny -- 100% steroid-free -- push 400 + lbs. -- and he is leaner than I am. I am just wondering if you think I could bench 405 lbs. 8 reps perfectly at 160-180 lbs. at 14% bodyfat level. I want to reach his goals in only strength and power -- not size at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24840" LastEditorUserId="8395" LastEditDate="2017-02-16T12:40:13.257" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:57:28.027" Title="Is Rich Piana's strength achievable without anabolic steroids?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33432" CreationDate="2017-02-16T07:54:27.430" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get some idea as to the maximum you will be able to lift while being drug tested and maintaining 75kg we can look to the IPF (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/championships/records.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;International Powerlifting Federation) records&lt;/a&gt;. They perform checks for the main anabolics but I suspect they aren't a rigorous as the International Olympic Committee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few records of interest, you are looking for 405lbs which is a 4 plate bench (180kg):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Class    Category       World Record (kg/lbs)&#xA;-66kg    Raw            188.5&#xA;-74kg    Raw            211.0 &#xA;-83kg    Raw            208&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So technically, yes. Based on the information provided you can achieve a 180kg bench at your bodyweight without the use of steroids or equipment (bench shirt). Though looking at the current 74kg category record holder, you are unlikely to achieve this without dipping down to below 14% bodyfat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule of thumb, you need to 'eat big' to 'lift big', a large calorie surplus will significantly help you progress your strength rapidly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-02-16T14:17:47.283" LastActivityDate="2017-02-16T14:17:47.283" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33381" CreationDate="2017-02-16T11:10:16.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per my earlier comment, I have not found a good source for this information, but I feel comfortable enough from my own experimentation to provide it as an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercise involves you bending your knee past a standing dowel rod, presumably to give you a goal distance, past just vertical, but not too far to avoid strain on your knee. Due to the physical presence of the rod, you are unlikely to have your knee directly centered over your ankle (your knee generally being wider than your foot or ankle), so you're going to wind up with your knee either pointed a little bit inwards or a little bit out. The hip joint is built to more readily allow the hip to rotate outwards (as per a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/437557-sumo-squat-vs-regular-squat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sumo squat&lt;/a&gt;), which means your connective tissue is better able to sustain your weight as you lean forward. Compare to you having your knee move even a little bit inwards, which is a much more awkward position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, I think this is a case where it has less to do with your ankle (which is what you're exercising), and more to do with your knee (which is still bearing a fair amount of your body weight). You could probably adjust the location of the dowel to ensure that your knee is centered over your ankle, but you're better off going to the outside to err on the side of caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably irrelevant to this exercise, I do Capoeira, and we're taught to always point the knee a little outwards, but that's primarily so that, if someone kicks or stomps that leg, you can just open up your hips and collapse to the floor rather than suffer a blown knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-02-17T15:17:40.667" LastActivityDate="2017-02-17T15:17:40.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28100" CreationDate="2017-02-16T23:58:48.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm basing a lot of this on my own personal experience so, by all means, take it as anecdotal if you'd like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started exercising the week of my 34th birthday (about 8 months ago) after having smoked for 15-16 years and living a sedentary lifestyle. I discovered the heart rate zones early on, just like you, and I got my heart rate monitor (FitBit Charge HR) as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people will say that if you want an accurate heart rate, VO2 measurement, etc., you'll need to go see a medical professional, have a bunch of gear hooked up, and so on and so forth. They're right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I have measured my FitBit heart rate against probably 20-30 different types of cardio machines (treadmills, bikes, stair stepper, etc...) from different manufacturers, and my heart rate on the Fitbit almost always matches the heart rate on the machine within 1-2 beats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that the FitBit uses a different methodology than ordinary cardio equipment, I feel like it's a decent enough approximation. Might I see a difference between my FitBit and a professional medical device? Sure. Is it going to be significant enough to where one day you find out you've never even hit zone 5? I highly doubt it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the FitBit uses my heart rate to determine total caloric burn. Again... not a medical device, but considering that I've lost 35 pounds by studiously trying to keep to a -500 calorie daily deficit, and been successful with it, my guess is the FitBit is accurate enough to be useful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, that being said, the question is whether or not exercising at that heart rate is dangerous. Obviously, each individual is different, so it's not a one-size-fits-all answer. That being said, I imagine if you told your doctor you were doing this, they'd probably jump for joy. The first few weeks/months of exercise for me, as soon as I took a step, I was virtually in zone 5. Now... I have to push it very hard to get there. So, I somewhat suspect that the reason you're always in this zone is because you're once again challenging your body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my guess is that, over time, and especially if you don't vary your routine, your heart and the rest of your cardiovascular system will learn to very quickly adapt to this exercise routine. As a result, you'll probably struggle to get into that range as time goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For normal people, I haven't read that this is overly problematic. That being said, if you have an underlying or undiagnosed condition, I suppose it could be dangerous. One thing I noticed early on was that if I overtrained, the next day I might have a very mild heart flutter. It may have only happened for 2-3 seconds out of the entire day. It didn't happen all the time, and it was usually when I was at rest, but I knew that it was time for me to take an extra day off, and then I'd be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, you know how you feel more than any of us do. I'd say that if you're feeling great, then you're doing fine. The more you do it, the better you'll feel. I'm at a point now where missing my gym days puts me in a bad mood. I look forward to it. I love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the heart rate monitor. I have learned its intricacies, it allows me to gauge my current performance against past performance, and although I can say that &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; am responsible for my weight loss and lifestyle change, the FitBit was an excellent enabler. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-02-16T23:58:48.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33673" CreationDate="2017-02-17T14:32:27.387" Score="2" ViewCount="662" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing bench presses, it is commonly advised not to touch the barbell high on the chest (near the clavicle) but lower, at the bottom of the sternum. This avoids having the arms out at a 90° angle to the side of the torso, which can lead to shoulder impingement. The problem there is that at the bottom of the movement, the acromion runs into the rotator cuff muscles, leading to irritation and possible damage. Touching lower on the chest makes the arms move more towards a 45° angle, avoiding shoulder impingement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, do similar concerns play a role in barbell rows? I'm thinking more specifically strict rows that keep the upper body entirely or at least quite a bit horizontal, such as pendlay rows. Intuitively I would think that it's also best not to flare the upper arms out to 90° (or close to it) and keep them more around a 45° angle with the upper body, since otherwise at the top of the movement, when the barbell touches the chest, the same shoulder impingement could occur. But maybe the nature of the movement is different enough that this is not the case. I know a vertical push such as an overhead press does not cause shoulder impingement because the scapulae are kept mobile, while on a bench they're locked in place. On a row, they also get some freedom of movement, so maybe that avoids impingement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-02-20T09:58:00.807" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T15:12:53.457" Title="Do pendlay rows require the same adjustments as bench presses to avoid shoulder impingement?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;barbell-rows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-17T18:02:10.723" Score="1" ViewCount="756" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you go all the way down when doing pull-ups or chin-ups? Or should you stop when your arms are at 90 degrees?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T08:06:57.583" Title="Pull-ups: go all the way down?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-02-19T23:22:29.003" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-18T03:47:00.477" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;My recent bio scan gave me a fitness score of 71. How can I increase this in 6 weeks. I do 5 boot camp sessions per week. I weigh 67 kilos and 160 cams tall.&#xA;I need a training program to increase fitness score.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24868" LastActivityDate="2017-02-18T03:47:00.477" Title="Bio scan fitness score" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33522" CreationDate="2017-02-18T09:55:36.493" Score="3" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a professional pianist (female in my twenties) trying to get started with weight lifting, but I'm worried about the effect it might have on my hands in the long term. I'm mainly interested in building strength, not size, because I'm so weak from never having done any sport before that it interferes with my playing (I get tired much easier than I should, especially my shoulders). But when I started this week in a gym, where even lifting the bar without additional weight is a challenge for me, I noticed that my fingers get kind of &quot;stiff&quot; and lose a bit of dexterity if I try to play again after coming back from the gym. I tried to find information online about whether it's possible or not for a pianist to do weight lifting, or if I will end up ruining my hands, but I couldn't find anything consistent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does any of you know from experience? For those who lift a lot of weight, have your hands lost dexterity, and have your fingers become thicker with time? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24869" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T18:05:19.987" Title="Weight-lifting suitable for musician?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33458" CreationDate="2017-02-18T11:31:02.860" Score="0" ViewCount="4135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello my abs are seemed but I think I haven't created good.What I mean if you look me you can see that my abs are visible but I haven't created horizontal lines.I have the vertical between that separates 3abs and the 3abs from the other side.How to do horizontal  lines in my abs.Additional slope my abs seemed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24803" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T15:15:27.053" Title="abs visible but there arent horizontal lines" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2017-02-21T21:34:21.073" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33447" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-18T23:47:13.730" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question kind of seems like the &quot;am I working out too hard?&quot; question, but it's a bit different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question asks about whether or not one should trust their body or a timeframe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I worked my forearms very hard yesterday, but today I did a lot of cardio and got a lot of blood pumping, plus high carb and protein loading -- and I feel completely replenished. I feel as though I should maybe workout again today. I used to go by timeframes before and never listened to my body because people always told me &quot;rest 3-5 days between every used muscle group.&quot; I highly doubt I ever overtrain since I always see progress, however small, even if I workout two days in a row. I also use tons of supplements, so I never feel any muscle pain/fatigue/DOMS/etc. no matter how hard I go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I go REALLY hard -- no kidding. I can do over 50 sets in 30-45 minutes with little breaks at 50%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never had any injuries and I rarely get DOMS -- usually only in the calves, but don't know why since I'm a 5 year runner and have pushed my calves beyond what most would dare to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, instead of feeling pain afterwards (like the next day), usually just feel tightness for a few hours right after highly intense workouts -- and within 48 hours I almost always feel like I go very hard again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe my body is recovering fast enough, and it's just really hard to overtrain? I don't want to lose any greater results I could theoretically obtain from training more. So should I just listen to my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it seems to make more sense to workout 1-2 days in a row, and then rest for a few days, also throwing in some light exercises in between. I have more concern under training than over anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are some thoughts on this? Go the extra mile or don't be fooled by the green light?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24876" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T08:32:51.827" Title="I feel recuperated immediately the next day after an intense workout. Okay to workout more?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33451" CreationDate="2017-02-18T23:52:24.320" Score="0" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new to this and am looking for a good way to get abs. Does anybody know some fast exercises that could help me?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24875" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T16:40:02.687" Title="Tips and tricks for abs" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-02-19T16:58:29.177" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18263" CreationDate="2017-02-19T00:19:34.987" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it all depends on how often you are stretching during the time when you are upgrading your muscle mass. If you are consistent with your stretching routine you should have no problem stretching with the bigger muscle mass. If you have not been doing your regular stretching routine while upgrading your muscle mass you might feel like it is harder to stretch but that is not because of the bigger muscles its because you were not doing you regular stretching routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24875" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T00:19:34.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33439" CreationDate="2017-02-19T08:06:57.583" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the harder = the better. Going up and then all the way down is a harder variation and it has a better effect on muscle growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24878" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T08:06:57.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33448" CreationDate="2017-02-19T08:13:58.833" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leg raises, sit ups, planks, crunches, and knee raises. For abs, most important thing is the right diet plan, so no sugars and junks and those 5 exercises two times a week will make those abs to show up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24878" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T08:13:58.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33448" CreationDate="2017-02-19T16:40:02.687" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no “magic” set of exercises to get great abs.  That's because great abs are a result of genetics, proper nutrition, and a long commitment to hard work.  Each of of has one or more body parts that are stubborn, or, lack the degree of improvement we seek.  The only proven technique is committing to a regular exercise program that works the entire body, and, resisting any urge to quit when results don't come as quick as desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T16:40:02.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33454" CreationDate="2017-02-19T18:21:29.163" Score="2" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;All. I am a busy male engineer and father in my mid 20s. I try to ensure that I get 1.5 hours in every day for working out. I've been consistent for almost a year now, and I've had good results. I've worked out with off and on consistency during college. But I don't know that much about what I'm doing. I worry that I'm missing certain muscle groups or key areas for overall health. I've looked around online, but I haven't found evidence-backed advice on how to optimally fill my allotted workout time that meets my goals. Here are my goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase longevity and quality of life, mentally and physically&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase my physical attractiveness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not trying to be extremely strong, and I'm not trying to be a model. I just want to be fit and have a good appearance, and use that time as effectively as I can. So here's what I'm doing right now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even Days&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull Ups (5 sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rows (5 sets, first three sets increase weight, last two decrease)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press (5 sets, first three sets increase weight, last two decrease)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Military Press (5 sets, first three sets increase weight, last two decrease)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep Curls (3 sets, first two increase, last one decrease)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tricep extensions (3 sets, first two increase, last one decrease)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 minutes of Yoga and stretching.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1-2 miles of running if possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Odd Days&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free-body Squats (3 sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front leg curls (3 sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back leg curls (3 sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inductor/abductor extensions (3 sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butt raises (3 sets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back exercises (bend forward 3 sets, once with weight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two types of ab exercises (switch it up sometimes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 1-2 miles if I have time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 minutes of Yoga and stretching.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes I'll trade working out for biking to work and back (24 miles total)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just do the same thing over and over, and I want to make sure that I'm not missing something important, and that I'm balancing exercises appropriately. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24855" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T20:09:35.723" Title="Optimal Routine for 1.5 Hours Per Day" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33453" CreationDate="2017-02-19T20:09:35.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possible difficulty I see is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overtraining&lt;/a&gt;, a physical condition where your body - either as a whole or specific muscle groups - is been put under too much or too frequent stress for an optimal growth path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Too many reps, too low intensity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would start training much less and in turn increase intensity as described &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/73htR_-B-HI?t=6m35s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; by Jeff Cavaliere. The reason is the following: If you're doing 5 sets a 8 (?) repetitions of any exercise, you put too much stress in terms of duration and too little stress in terms of intensity on the muscle. If you can do 5 sets of 8 pull-ups, for example, you would be much better off, doing 1-2 sets of 6-8 weighted pull-ups (say, 5-10kg). The additional training time you put in does not help, it may even harm your gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Too few rest days&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second aspect is rest time. As I understand, you switch exercises every other day. This is very good in the beginning but as you get more experienced and since you already have been training consistently for a year, your muscles will need more time to adapt. I cannot say whether that stage is reached for you but it is something you should definitely keep in mind should you see that your gains slow down considerably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last point is about your running training. You write that you run 1-2 miles every other day. This is okay as long as you are having fun with it but it is not clear whether it achieves anything. Endurance-wise it would be more effective to just go running once a week but then for at least 40-50 minutes. (It is the same too many reps, too low intensity-principle here.) If you are running only 1-2 miles because you want to increase your speed, it would be better if you did one interval (say, half a mile fast for 5 times with breaks of slow running between) training session per week rather than 7 1-2 mile sessions. But here it's really about your goals/motivation for the running sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T20:09:35.723" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32592" CreationDate="2017-02-20T08:12:55.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a thumbless grip on the bar if you want to carry on with palms facing up. Point your thumbs down the bar. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a Ez-curl bar (curved). This allows your palms to face more inwardly which helps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a reverse grip, just turn your hands over. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use dumbbells. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T08:12:55.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33447" CreationDate="2017-02-20T08:32:51.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;rest 3-5 days between every used muscle group.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is nonsense, to optimize hypertrophy, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17326698&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this review paper&lt;/a&gt; recommends a frequency of 2-3 sessions per muscle group a week for novice to moderately trained individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go REALLY hard -- no kidding. I can do over 50 sets in 30-45 minutes with little breaks at 50%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;50 sets works out at 10 exercises for 5 sets, even if you discount warm-up sets that's only just above the average I see in my gym. 50% intensity is what I use on my deload days!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not that hard. Don't keep the intensity the same and at such a low level. You should be really aiming for 60-90% intensity on weight training where at 60% you would be doing 8-15 reps and 1-5 reps at the higher intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is currently asserted by a lot that people should lift 1-5 reps for strength, 8-12 reps for muscle size increase, and 15-20 reps for muscular endurance (Starting Strength says this). However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/the-new-approach-to-training-volume/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;more recent research&lt;/a&gt; has demonstrated that almost every rep range stimulates the same amount of &lt;strong&gt;muscle growth&lt;/strong&gt; so long as effort per set (i.e. closeness to failure) is the same between sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, a set of 50 reps taken to failure stimulates the same amount of muscle growth as a set of 5 reps taken to failure. Currently, evidence exists for loads as low as 20% of 1 repetition maximum and as high as 90% 1RM stimulating the same muscle &lt;strong&gt;growth&lt;/strong&gt;, so long as effort per set and number of sets are similar. This actually concurs with old bodybuilding 'logic' because by utilising high rep schemes and lower weights, they can recover faster and train more. Which produces more muscular growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, performance-wise, you will improve the most in the rep ranges that you practice. If you mostly lift with 1-5 reps, you will mostly improve performance in the 1-5 rep range. If you mostly lift with 15-20 reps, you will mostly improve performance in that rep range. This is likely due to neural adaptations rather than differences in muscle growth; you are “studying” that specific rep range, so your nervous system learns to perform it the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summing up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can train up to 6 times a week provided you carefully listen to your body and eat enough. If you work muscles in isolation then give them a day off afterwards. Change up your intensity and rep ranges based on your goals (and to stop things becoming boring).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T08:32:51.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32913" CreationDate="2017-02-20T15:09:21.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do both push-up and dip variations to target the lower part of the pectoral, and you can do both of these exercises at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do push-ups in a incline position to target the lower pecs. Do dips at a slight angle to target the (lower part of the) pecs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T15:09:21.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33444" CreationDate="2017-02-20T15:15:27.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, the way your abs look is purely genetics. If there isn't a big separation between your abs, you'll never really be able to see it properly, this is why some people have a 4 pack, some have 6, some have 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That being said, you probably have to lose a bit more fat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to do cardio to burn fat if you don't want to. If you keep your diet in check, doing compound movements is enough. They burn a lot of calories as well as build muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing squats and deadlifts will also be working your core, so you'd be losing fat and gaining core strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T15:15:27.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33460" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-20T17:32:25.563" Score="0" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to wear leg weights, say a kilo or more on each leg, and never took them off for a month or so, would your feet get stronger, would that benefit you, or would it give you issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would it be healthy?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24887" LastActivityDate="2017-02-21T09:20:02.840" Title="Would wearing leg weights 24/7 be effective?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-02-21T21:32:58.930" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32722" CreationDate="2017-02-20T18:05:37.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is &lt;em&gt;yes, cardio is an effective means of fat-burning&lt;/em&gt;. However, this discussion typically centers on if it's &lt;em&gt;more effective&lt;/em&gt; than other means and the answer to that question is no. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall studies show that a combination of proper diet, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitgalri.com/blog/strength-training-for-fat-loss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strength training&lt;/a&gt;, AND cardio is the most effective means of fat loss. The reason is because you cannot out exercise your diet, maintaining your muscle mass through strength training improves your metabolism and fat burning capability, and cardio helps widen your caloric deficit which is responsible for fat loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A person described as a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitgalri.com/blog/cardio-bunny&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cardio Bunny&lt;/a&gt; is someone who dedicates a majority of their fitness lifestyle to cardio. Eventually, that person's fat loss progress plateaus because the body adapts to the workout, they lose weight, their caloric needs decrease, and therefore the same workout no longer has the same effect. Therefore, you can also think of a cardio only strategy for fat loss as an uphill climb towards your goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24831" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T18:05:37.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33460" CreationDate="2017-02-21T09:20:02.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would be doing more harm then good because extra strain is placed on joints. This can lead to aching and painful joints and could cause more significant problems that inhibit your ability to walk. Wearing them for a month straight woudn't be a good idea. What are you trying to accomplish? Stronger feet? I have worn ankle weights before and they workout your legs not really your feet. Here is a link to an article that backs up my initial statement. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/287192-does-wearing-ankle-weights-all-day-make-a-difference/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/287192-does-wearing-ankle-weights-all-day-make-a-difference/&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;This is assuming you are speaking of ankle weights because you mentioned feet getting stronger. I do not believe I have heard of leg weights....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15689" LastActivityDate="2017-02-21T09:20:02.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33665" CreationDate="2017-02-21T18:10:56.263" Score="2" ViewCount="629" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having a lot of trouble working on my (high-bar) squat. The only way I'm able to squat to proper depth right now is with a hip wide stance, with toes pointed out very far (45 degree or even more). When I try to squat with a wider stance, I feel pain inside my hip. I'm not able to squat to parallel with a shoulder width stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already performed stretches for my hip flexors and hamstrings, but this doesn't feel like it's helping with the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to do this kneeling frog squat stretch and this also hurts, when spreading the legs more than hip wide. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yC33h.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yC33h.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this stretch a good way to improve my hip mobility?&#xA;Are there any other good stretches that I can try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24897" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-02-22T08:53:42.750" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T07:37:40.980" Title="Can only squat extremely narrow" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32722" CreationDate="2017-02-22T10:48:03.193" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not that you are missing something but more that to loose weight you need to eat less, eating less is much easier than moving more (the other option).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treat cardio as a way to be healthy and eating less a way to loose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing both is great, but if your sole goal is either, do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22024" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T10:48:03.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33471" CreationDate="2017-02-22T14:55:17.817" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some time ago, I got myself an &quot;elevation training mask&quot;, a device that basically limits airflow (with holes) and adds resistance with valves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, when I train with it, some friends point out to me, that I should be careful with it and that it's possibly dangerous for my brain, because of the lack of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering, because it doesn't simulate the altitude (less oxygen in the air), but just adds resistance, is it dangerous to use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the oxygen percentage in the air stays about the same and only the air pressure decreases, but that shouldn't matter with this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these devices dangerous?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What can happen and how can I prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24028" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-02-22T20:33:50.170" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T20:33:50.170" Title="Are respiratory training adds dangerous?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33470" CreationDate="2017-02-22T15:43:32.147" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we don't have enough oxygen in our system though exhaustion from physical exercise we slow down and/or stop. In extreme cases some may pass out due to lack of oxygenated blood supply to their brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wearing a mask restricts air flow and so will bring about exhaustion faster. To counter this your diaphragm will have to work harder and so over continued use this will lead to development of the diaphragmatic muscle. This my be more helpful for deep sea diving or similar breath activities but any data on this is anecdotal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are few studies as to the effectiveness of the mask and  I cannot find any scientific data but there are a number of personal reports on the effects of wearing these masks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Effectiveness of Masks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Key Points&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wearing the ETM during a 6-week high-intensity cycle ergometer training program may improve performance variables, such as VO2max,&#xA;PPO, VT, PO at VT, RCT and PO at RCT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wearing the ETM did not improve lung function, inspiratory muscle strength, or stimulate changes in hemoglobin or hematocrit levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ETM does not simulate altitude, but works more like an respiratory training device.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Porcari, J. P., Probst, L., Forrester, K., Doberstein, S., Foster, C., Cress, M. L., &amp;amp; Schmidt, K. (2016). &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879455/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effect of Wearing the Elevation Training Mask on Aerobic Capacity, Lung Function, and Hematological Variables&lt;/a&gt;. Journal of Sports Science &amp;amp; Medicine, 15(2), 379–386.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/running/comments/3iecrx/gas_maskhigh_altitude_training_mask/cufsiy6/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;User /u/elguiri on reddit.com/r/running&lt;/a&gt; provided the following great analogy to support the &amp;quot;train low, live high&amp;quot; principle of training at low altitude and resting at high altitude over using a mask to simulate this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First - you have to picture your ability to see ALL the gasses in the&#xA;air (which would be pretty nuts). When you are at sea level (Say&#xA;Boston, where I live) there is 20.9% effective oxygen in the air you&#xA;breathe. This means, whenever you breathe in, 20.9% of the gas is&#xA;basically oxygen, 78% is nitrogen and the rest is argon, CO2, methane.&#xA;At sea level, we have higher air pressure. Why? Because there are more&#xA;gasses on top, pressing down on you. If you could see all of the gas,&#xA;there would be a lot above you at sea level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now - take yourself to Leadville, Colorado, at 10,000ft above sea&#xA;level. At this point, you have 10,000ft less gas pushing down on the&#xA;you. That means, the gasses have more room to spread out because of&#xA;less air pressure. Because the gas can spread out with less air&#xA;pressure, the air contains 14.3% effective oxygen. Every breath you&#xA;take contains 6% less oxygen overall, which is 25% less oxygen (20.9%&#xA;vs 14.3%) than at sea level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The masks simply restrict the flow of oxygen to your lungs, however it&#xA;cannot change the effective oxygen % of the air you take in. Even when&#xA;breathing through a straw, you are still getting 20.9% relative oxygen&#xA;at sea level. Even with the mask on, it's still 20.9%. That doesn't&#xA;change, but yet effective oxygen is exactly the variable which needs&#xA;to be changed to truly see impact for the reasons of wearing one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bigger rundown of the effectiveness can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dirtinyourskirt.com/life/musings/stop-wearing-the-mask-it-just-makes-you-look-stupid/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dirtinyourskirt.com/life/musings/stop-wearing-the-mask-it-just-makes-you-look-stupid/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Anecdotal Evidence of Detrimental Effects:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fell for the Training Mask gimmick about 2 years back. Thought it&#xA;would help strengthen my weak ass lungs but what I actually was doing&#xA;was creating micro-tears in the lining of my lungs, I'd cough up&#xA;blood. Went to the doctor, told me I was a dumbass as the lungs aren't&#xA;muscles but bags of air, using this fake product was creating&#xA;unreasonable stress on my lungs because I was sucking air through a&#xA;straw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;/u/kamikazeska - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/running/comments/4fckiw/psa_trainingmask/d27qyyc/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;reddit.com/r/running&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Anecdotal Evidence of Positive Effects:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...When you take it off, you keep that same steady deep breath pattern&#xA;versus doing choppy short breaths. I noticed that even when I got&#xA;tired while running without the mask, I was able to tell myself &amp;quot;deep&#xA;breaths&amp;quot; and I picked back up a rhythm, before the mask, that was&#xA;never a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tiahnaon - &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B008B92FLO&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;amazon.com review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At best using a mask is a good way to help develop breathing technique when running. At worst it will cause significant damage to your lungs. There appears to be no scientifically-backed training benefit to using one over not and altitude athletes use different means to simulate working at low oxygen concentrations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T15:43:32.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16408" CreationDate="2017-02-23T18:46:59.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another option for progression, albeit one which might be trickier in a large class, is to reduce the distance that you descend. In the simplest form, this consists of a folding chair. Much as with a regular pistol squat, the person performing it will extend one leg and then squat straight down in a slow and controlled manner, except here, they're only squatting until they put their butt in the chair, then they push back up from there, again just using their legs and core. From there, you can progress to lower platforms, but honestly, I've found that the next best step is to just do negatives, just lowering yourself as slowly and in control as you can, then scrambling back up to standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't take credit for the chair tip. I learned it by watching the Pigmie &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVGdDwp02sw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Pistol Squat in Only 5 Minutes&lt;/a&gt;&quot; video. He has an even longer list of progressions in that five minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T18:46:59.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33476" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-23T21:39:12.040" Score="-2" ViewCount="1921" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://content.tigerfitness.com/masturbation-kill-gains/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://content.tigerfitness.com/masturbation-kill-gains/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to TigerFitness, masturbation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Lowers testosterone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Is catabolic like HIIT training, and eats away at muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Reduces glycogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4.Reduces energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5.Diverts you away from exercising, which further reduces muscle gains chronically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, it's saying that, by NOT masturbating, testosterone goes up -- but if you do it goes down and you are harboring in an environment where estrogen increases, test decreases, as well as muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24914" LastActivityDate="2017-02-24T20:11:29.917" Title="Does masturbation cause muscle loss?" Tags="&lt;sex&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-02-28T22:26:30.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33476" CreationDate="2017-02-24T03:41:01.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For point #1, &quot;Does sex lower testosterone?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that I point to this &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/does-ejaculation-affect-testosterone-levels/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on Examine.com.&lt;/a&gt; which is far more cited and scientific than that Tiger Fitness article. It does note that men who are abstinent for three weeks see a slight increase in overall testosterone levels. It does not seem to effect the amount of testosterone that's in the blood. The overall summary states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ejaculation results in changes in prolactin (increase) and dopamine&#xA;  (temporary decrease), but does not result in changes in testosterone.&#xA;  Although prolactin and dopamine are both involved with testosterone,&#xA;  they do not appear to influence testosterone levels acutely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of this, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9910/what-is-the-effect-of-masturbation-on-weightlifitng-ability?rq=1&quot;&gt;very lengthy stackexchange question&lt;/a&gt; that already covers this topic in far more detail. Oddly the top answer points to a lot of the same studies that are in the Examine article, but it comes to a overall different conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's missing is just &lt;em&gt;how much&lt;/em&gt; all this effects performance. There are no studies as far as I know that show a performance comparison between sexually active and abstinent men. We know that more testosterone typically means better recovery and performance (that's why steroids work). Overall though I do not think it would have &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; much of an effect on the average person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For #2: No. People do HIIT and still make massive gains.  In fact, people do HIIT because it's better for keeping gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#3 &amp;amp; #4: Please... Even the most intense session isn't going to put a dent in glycogen. And if there really is an energy problem, them maybe you could spare to do some cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#5: You could say this about literally everything that's not exercising. You'll make progress as long as you stay committed and consistent with training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2017-02-24T04:16:09.763" LastActivityDate="2017-02-24T04:16:09.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33481" CreationDate="2017-02-24T16:11:14.680" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I was observed that after the workout, basically run -&gt; weights -&gt; run, I noticed my heart rate was at 170 bpm at the end of my workout. After I finished, within half an hour, it came down to 100 bpm but then it stayed close to it for really long for about an hour. It took about 2 hours to completely come back close to base 75 bpm (my actual base hangs around 69 bpm at rest).  I was at rest most of this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I travel by bus to office which takes around 1 h 15 mins, I was trying to totally calm and rested all this time and I was expecting to get it back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is this all normal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24654" LastEditorUserId="24654" LastEditDate="2017-02-25T14:21:39.567" LastActivityDate="2017-02-26T15:45:59.547" Title="Heart rate took a long to recover back to base (70-75 bpm for me) after a workout. Is it normal?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-02-26T14:07:39.450" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33479" CreationDate="2017-02-24T23:52:26.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there is no point in giving you medical advice online and no one can say whether it is normal for you, it is nevertheless possible (though not necessary) that the causes behind your elevated heart rate are natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several studies, some of them referenced in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11882927?dopt=AbstractPlus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Schuenke, Mikat &amp;amp; McBride (2002)&lt;/a&gt;, have shown that human metabolism is much more active, even hours after the strength training. This results in a phenomenon called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)&lt;/a&gt;. In a period for hours after the training the body will need to replenish body fuels (synthesize ATP), repair any damaged (muscular or other) cells, balance hormones and so on. All of these tasks require more oxygen intake than normally and this &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; lead to an elevated heart rate. (While the last inference seems logical to me, note, that I cannot provide scientific evidence that EPOC must lead to an elevated heart rate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In short, one reason behind your pulse being higher than your pulse at rest could be that after a workout your body is not at rest. It is busy repairing and re-fueling your body!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional note: There is still a lot you can learn from your heart rate and monitoring it can be very informative. You just need to keep in mind that you have to compare your heart rate to other situations where you body was dealing with similar stress (and not to your heart rate at rest). If you do so, a high heart rate can be a sign that the training was more demanding than usual. It could also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.md-health.com/Elevated-Heart-Rate-When-Sick.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;point at an approaching illness&lt;/a&gt; and be an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicaldaily.com/5-signs-overtraining-racing-heart-rate-poor-sleep-396376&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;indication of overtraining&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, you should always seek medical help off-line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24406" LastEditorUserId="24406" LastEditDate="2017-02-26T15:45:59.547" LastActivityDate="2017-02-26T15:45:59.547" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-25T00:39:39.807" Score="0" ViewCount="520" Body="&lt;p&gt;I look at my body and it doesn't look masculine enough, so I don't feel too confident sometimes looking in the mirror. People tell me to lose fat and build muscle, but even after successfully doing that I still don't look masculine enough. I see a soft looking guy with little muscle, even with years in training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People tell me that's close to the best I'll get without testosterone/steroids and etc. I am basically never capable of being super lean and highly muscular, so I look soft and weak even with 137 lbs. of lean mass and 13% bodyfat. I have tried to go lower, but my muscle has gone down if I continue slowly dieting. I don't get it because I see other guys with less muscle, but they have manlier looking bodies. I look in the mirror and see a feminine looking body that only barely comes across as manly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Manly I believe looks cut, built and square/tank-ish looking in the torso. I have wider hips and my waist gets smaller as it goes up, much like a classical woman's shape. I have tried all ab/oblique/etc. exercises and I still have a womanly shape even though I'm a man. I have got testosterone checked and it's higher than average for a man of 25, but I still have a womanly body. As a reference, it looks like this shape (note though that &lt;strong&gt;this guy is not me, and I have more mass than he does&lt;/strong&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UV3tO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UV3tO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice he has the classical, feminine feminine waistline? A friend of a friend tells me that this means less testosterone exposure in the womb, which means the body genetically accustomed itself to a more female figure, like a woman with the brick, rectangle shape has more of a guy figure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it short, this means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Less testosterone exposure in the womb, so a more feminine body is the result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.No amount of exercise/etc. can change this since it's like trying to make a hand longer. You may be able to hide it a bit, but it's genetic and fixed the shape it is -- womanly looking on a man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen guys with way more bodyfat that still have the classic, tank-ish, bulky man shape (so that's evidence that bodyfat alone has nothing to do with it, because huge fat guys can still have manly looking frames/features, whereas lean and built men can still have ladylike hourglass figures).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems losing bodyfat doesn't make me look more manly -- and neither does gaining muscle either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've decided that perhaps steroids and lots of hormone augmenting/surgery is likely my only path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll repeat this again: guys with less lean body mass and more fat can have more masculine figures -- and guys with lots of leanness and mass can have womanly figures. The problem is congenital test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24922" LastActivityDate="2019-09-22T04:04:35.593" Title="Masculinizing exercises?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;shape&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-25T05:42:34.543" Score="5" ViewCount="681" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a viable post-workout method to make one's self sexually aroused for prolonged periods of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies show that sexual arousal increases test. in both males and females and etc. I assume this has to stay above baseline if the subject constantly forces themselves to remain sexually aroused for a longer duration. I could do an intense workout, and supplement with porn (or even imagination alone!) for 3-4 hours straight and not include masturbation so that the urge cannot be lessened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In such, this is forcing one's self to become as horny as possible to increase hormones. I believe this has to be a viable method since more test will speed up recovery. So would it be a smart move to make myself become sexually aroused for multiple hours, straight and steadily (no pun)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this isn't replacing sleep and a good diet, but how much can this help recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly doubt that many people try this solely for muscle recovery aid -- maybe &quot;edging&quot; though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any feedback on my discovery? No, this is not just &quot;abstaining&quot; because it's not about avoiding sex/masturbation, but solely about making yourself as aroused as physically/mentally possible for prolonged periods of time. This question is not &quot;too similar&quot; to any questions already asked here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24923" LastActivityDate="2018-09-30T11:00:51.137" Title="Sexual arousal to speed up recovery?" Tags="&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-27T20:59:23.577" Score="0" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told recently that eating meat will cause weight gain.&#xA;I fail to find any research on this and i call bs, but i am very curious about it.&#xA;If yes, what would be the amounts (for chicken/fish). &#xA;Any linked research would be welcome as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13810" LastActivityDate="2017-03-02T16:24:53.183" Title="Does eating meat causes weight gain, even in deficit" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;meat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-03-02T21:49:43.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33503" CreationDate="2017-02-28T07:48:21.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: This explanation does not concern itself with body health, wellbeing, the ability to follow/sustain the diet short/long term, impact to nervous system or the psychological impact of satiety that meat-centric diets can offer. It only concerns itself with the imaginary scenario of two identical subjects following the same total calorie diet but with macro-nutritional differences.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Does eating meat cause weight gain?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question asks if eating meat (henceforth referred to as protein) lead to more fatty mass gain than the other macronutrients: fat and carbohydrates (and alchohol), if consumed at the same calorie level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it another way: &lt;strong&gt;For weight change, does the macro-nutritional profile of a diet affect the rate and total amount of fat mass gained?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common tautology employed by people proving that macro-nutritional profile is not important when it comes to weight loss is &amp;quot;a calorie is a calorie&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Evidence For, or &amp;quot;A calorie is a calorie&amp;quot;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1Luq1wkRjtrQ8/collections/52134261/public/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Several metabolic ward studies have shown that there is no difference in weight loss when protein intake was held constant.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; If you're really looking for a metabolic advantage through manipulating macronutrient, you'd be far better off putting your money on protein. There's actually some evidence that higher intake levels do convey a small metabolic advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unsurprisingly, the studies into macronutrient impact on mass change are numerous but by no means perfect. One has to cast a very critical eye over all the conflicting evidence (and mud-slinging) and make their own decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good meta analysis of the above tautology by the well-respected Buchholz AC &amp;amp; Schoeller DA. concluded that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...Neither macronutrient-specific differences in the availability of dietary energy nor changes in energy expenditure could explain these differences in weight loss. Thermodynamics dictate that a calorie is a calorie regardless of the macronutrient composition of the diet...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Buchholz AC, Schoeller DA. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&amp;amp;pmid=15113737&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is a calorie a calorie?.&lt;/a&gt; Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79(5):899S-906S.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This referenced a ward study (amongst others which also concluded the same):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the high-carbohydrate and high-protein groups lost weight (-2.2+/-0.9 kg, -2.5+/-1.6 kg, respectively, P &amp;lt;.05) and the difference between the groups was not significant (P =.9).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sargrad KR, Homko C, Mozzoli M, Boden G. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15800559&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effect of high protein vs high carbohydrate intake on insulin sensitivity, body weight, hemoglobin A1c, and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.&lt;/a&gt; J Am Diet Assoc. 2005;105(4):573-80.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To continue the evidence-train for there being no win in carbs-vs-fat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a 2003 study by Bravata DM, et al. the conclusion was that nutritional-profile really doesn't affect total weight change at a significant level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is insufficient evidence to make recommendations for or against the use of low-carbohydrate diets. [...] Among the published studies, participant weight loss while using low-carbohydrate diets was principally associated with decreased caloric intake and increased diet duration but not with reduced carbohydrate content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bravata DM, Sanders L, Huang J, et al. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12684364&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets: a systematic review.&lt;/a&gt; JAMA. 2003;289(14):1837-50.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 2009 study directly comparing the weight loss &amp;quot;fad&amp;quot; diets concluded that provided you reduce calories, the method you do this is not of importance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sacks FM, Bray GA, Carey VJ, et al. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19246357&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Comparison of weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and carbohydrates&lt;/a&gt;. N Engl J Med. 2009;360(9):859-73.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 1996 study also concluded the same thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results of this study showed that it was energy intake, not nutrient composition, that determined weight loss in response to low-energy diets over a short time period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Golay A, Allaz AF, Morel Y, De tonnac N, Tankova S, Reaven G. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8561057&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Similar weight loss with low- or high-carbohydrate diets.&lt;/a&gt; Am J Clin Nutr. 1996;63(2):174-8.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An Australian study put them head-to-head over 12 months and didn't find a large difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under planned isoenergetic conditions, as expected, both dietary patterns resulted in similar weight loss and changes in body composition. The LC [low carbohydrate] diet may offer clinical benefits to obese persons with insulin resistance. However, the increase in LDL cholesterol with the LC diet suggests that this measure should be monitored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brinkworth GD, Noakes M, Buckley JD, Keogh JB, Clifton PM. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19439458&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate weight loss diet compared with an isocaloric low-fat diet after 12 mo.&lt;/a&gt; Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;90(1):23-32.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 2010 study went a step further and did a 2-year study across over 300 participants; patients lost an average of 7 kg or 7% of body weight, and no differences between the 2 groups were found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Successful weight loss can be achieved with either a low-fat or low-carbohydrate diet when coupled with behavioural treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PONTI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PONTI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;clearly no difference&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Foster GD, Wyatt HR, Hill JO, et al. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20679555&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Weight and metabolic outcomes after 2 years on a low-carbohydrate versus low-fat diet: a randomized trial.&lt;/a&gt; Ann Intern Med. 2010;153(3):147-57.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a different view and looking at weight gain, there are fewer studies but the evidence points to the same outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was no significant difference in fat balance during controlled overfeeding with fat, fructose, glucose, or sucrose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mcdevitt RM, Poppitt SD, Murgatroyd PR, Prentice AM. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10919929&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Macronutrient disposal during controlled overfeeding with glucose, fructose, sucrose, or fat in lean and obese women.&lt;/a&gt; Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72(2):369-77.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be also seen in this small 2000 study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...fat storage during overfeeding of isoenergetic amounts of diets rich in carbohydrate or in fat was not significantly different, and carbohydrates seemed to be converted to fat by both hepatic and extrahepatic lipogenesis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lammert O, Grunnet N, Faber P, et al. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11029975&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effects of isoenergetic overfeeding of either carbohydrate or fat in young men.&lt;/a&gt; Br J Nutr. 2000;84(2):233-45.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A important point to note is that dietary fat &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; what is stored as bodily fat, when a caloric excess is consumed. For dietary carbohydrate to be stored as fat then they must undergo a conversion through 'de novo lipogenesis' which will occur when the carbohydrate portion of someone's diet alone must approach or exceed ones total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). You can read more &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10365981&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, for a comprehensive primer on insulin and how it functions please check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/index.php/free-content/free-content/volume-1-issue-7-insulin-and-thinking-better/insulin-an-undeserved-bad-reputation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; on weightology which is summarised in layman on reddit by /u/ryeguy, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/j853z/insulin_an_undeserved_bad_reputation_plus_notes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Evidence Against, or &amp;quot;A calorie is not just a calorie&amp;quot;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot find evidence to support the opposite viewpoint. However there is criticism of the studies done these are found in the &amp;quot;Dear Sir&amp;quot;'s in the ASfCN/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/80/5/1445.1.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A post&lt;/a&gt; by Anssi H Manninen is critical of a Bravata study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bravata DM, Sanders L, Huang J. Efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets: a systematic review. JAMA 2003;289:1837-50.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She states that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...In the true low-carbohydrate group, the mean weight loss in trials was 17 kg, whereas in the higher-carbohydrate group it was only 2 kg. Oddly, the authors did not consider this significant. Only by intermingling the results of trials of low- to medium- and high-carbohydrate diets could the authors have reached the misleading conclusion quoted above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/80/5/1445.2.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In another article Richard Feinman and Eugene Fine&lt;/a&gt; dispute the assertation of &amp;quot;a calorie is a calorie&amp;quot; using the first law of thermodynamics by stating that the second law must also be taken into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conclusions&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I eat for weight loss?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eat less.&lt;/em&gt; Different diets can make this easier, so pick whichever one&#xA;best fits your lifestyle. Ultimately, you need to reduce your caloric&#xA;intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://examine.com/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many diets, fad or not, do work. This is mainly because they reduce calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-03-02T16:24:53.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33508" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-28T18:56:14.943" Score="2" ViewCount="1166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to master a kipping pull-up as a means of getting my kipping muscle up. I've probably watched 20 online tutorials, most of them from CrossFitters, since they're the ones who post the most videos online. I'm having difficulty discerning what exactly the hips are doing and where the power is generated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swing I understand. Hollow position at the back of the swing, arched at the front of the swing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then: From the arched position, close hips powerfully as you swing back. Some videos (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7q0UhxPdLY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7q0UhxPdLY&lt;/a&gt; for example) suggest that this is what generates the power. Other videos suggest that closing your hips is just a means to set you up for the pop OPEN, which is where the power comes from (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJMblG5apg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJMblG5apg&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does the power come from the closing of the hips or re-opening the hips? Which part of the movement is the priming, and which part should I make as explosive as possible? Are these two different techniques that are both fall under &quot;kipping pull-ups&quot;? Or is there really a hip opening happening after the closing that's concealed in the videos that don't talk about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Please don't answer that everything should be as explosive as possible - Imagine how jerky and chaotic it would be if your were transitioning from arch to hollow to arch as explosively as possible. You'd be flopping around like a fish instead of actually swinging.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24955" LastActivityDate="2017-03-01T01:39:24.960" Title="Hip mechanics in kipping pull-up" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;hip&gt;&lt;power&gt;&lt;muscle-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-28T20:56:17.133" Score="1" ViewCount="444" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately i have been doing a lot of cardio. I want to lose weight and I've been told that cardio burns a lot of calories.  But about 2 weeks ago i bought a heart rate monitor (polar M400 HR). I have been wearing it during cardio - mainly during elliptical training and it says that i burn about 300 calories an hour. I expected way more to be honest. The calorie counter in my elleptical trainer says i burn about 600 though..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what i was wondering: is the heart rate monitor always right? I am a young female with a normal weight, but yet I barely seem to burn calories even though I really train as hard as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24958" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T20:59:15.280" Title="Why do I barely burn calories with cardio?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33508" CreationDate="2017-03-01T01:39:24.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a former gymnast and a current crossfitter. I think of the kip a little bit differently than your other sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The arch where the stomach and the shoulders push forward create tension, the same way you would bend your knees and load your leg muscles to jump. This turns your body into a bow and gives you some extra pop as you pull up. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Raising the legs and hips raises your center of gravity up towards the bar. The higher you raise your legs, the less you have to pull your body up. The gymnastics kip to support (muscle up without the muscle) involves raising your hips all of the way to the bar and then rotating the body around the new center of gravity which is at the bar. It is effortless and requires very little upper body strength to accomplish (little girls can do it) and can be done with almost straight arms. So, raise your legs and rotate the body to the bar. For most people, getting that rotation involves kicking the legs down and opening the hips, but it's not strictly necessary for the rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The hollow body position at the back of the swing is just preparation for a little stronger arch and practice for the position you will be in on the way up as you start your pull. It's really unnecessary for the movement, but it's good practice. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't think any power in this movement comes from your hips. It's pull and rotation. Timing is important, but doing anything explosive with anything but your upper body is wasted energy. I would focus on being smooth rather than explosive. If you can do a strict pull-up, the kip raises your center of gravity and gives you momentum, allowing you to pull higher with less effort.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you actually get to the muscle-up, thinking about your hips being the focus of the movement can be helpful since that is what you actually need to get up to the bar. Also, it will help to have a slight swing, where you start your kip as you swing forward and complete the muscle up as you swing backwards, so you don't run into the bar (not a problem with the ring muscle up). A big swing, or a powerful swing is a waste of energy and probably makes things more complex without reducing effort.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were a coach (I'm not), I would teach the kipping pull up with no swing. I would raise your legs and tell you to rotate around your hips so you could get the feel and timing right. I think the focus on the swing and explosiveness is misplaced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2017-03-01T01:39:24.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33503" CreationDate="2017-03-01T02:14:28.857" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight gain and loss are controlled by hormones. Eating more does not cause children to grow, the fact that children are growing causes them to eat more. You can stunt the growth be restricting the food of a growing child, but first the body will try to compensate by lowering metabolism, causing the child to feel tired and move less, and increase their hunger, making the child want to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adults are still affected by hormones. In particular, insulin tells the body to store fat. Most people understand that if you eat a lot of carbohydrates, blood sugar will go up, which stimulates insulin, which leads to fat storage (and more hunger). If you eat carbohydrate and try to restrict calories, the body will respond by making you hungry and depressing your metabolism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animal protein stimulates insulin directly without increasing blood sugar. This can potentially cause you to store fat even when you are trying (and failing because your body is preventing you from doing so) to be in a calorie deficit. This is probably what people were talking about with meat causing weight gain. For most people without metabolic problems, protein is satiating and does not stimulate insulin enough to be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for someone who is obese and has insulin resistance, eating too much protein can stimulate enough insulin to prevent weight loss or even cause weight gain. That is where the low carb, high fat (LCHF) diet comes in. It lowers carb, obviously, but also keeps protein at a low level. There is more that happens with ketosis, but that's out of scope here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it may be true strictly speaking that the weight you gain or lose is calories in minus calories out, your body regulates both input and output in ways you just don't have mental control over, and which is very affected by the foods you eat. If a calorie is a calorie, then eating ice cream is the same as eating broccoli is the same as eating tire rubber. We all know intuitively that is not the case, and your body does too. Trying to defeat your body's hormonal system with self-control is a losing proposition for most people. It makes much more sense to understand that what you eat (and when) can effect your hormones in ways that can make your goals easier or harder to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2017-03-01T02:14:28.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33513" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-01T11:27:12.520" Score="4" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running for a few years now, but I still struggle with speedwork. I use an online training plan generator that takes previous race time and distance, target race distance, weekly distance, and schedule duration to generate a running plan that includes easy runs, tempo runs, speedwork, and rest or cross-training days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My training plan is based on a four week cycle. Monday is an easy run, Tuesday is an easy run on weeks 1-3 and rest/XT on week 4, Wednesday is speedwork on week 1 and 3 or tempo run on week 2 or an easy run on week 4, Thursday is an easy run, Friday is rest or cross train, Saturday is long run, and Sunday is rest or cross train. The plan also builds speed throughout, across all the workouts. Distance also increases. Total weekly distances range from 22 miles/week to 35 miles/week. The plan deviates slightly at the end, close to the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm on a treadmill, I tend to adjust the plan paces based on something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillrunner.com/training/tmillchart.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this conversion chart&lt;/a&gt; to account for the fact it's slightly easier to run on a treadmill than outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rarely take a rest day, opting for strength training and/or some time on an elliptical (usually strength + 15 minutes elliptical but sometimes 30 minutes elliptical or 30 minutes arc trainer). I do tend to take the rest days as rest days early on in the plan (which is usually following a race), very late in the plan (the week or two before a race), or if I'm not feeling well for any reason to avoid pushing myself too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give an idea of where I stand, my 5k PR is 29:00, my 10k PR is 1:09:51, my 15k PR is 1:57:21, and my half PR is 2:35:07. Unfortunately, last year, I was coming off an injury. I was healed before the spring, but my winter training was almost nonexistent so my times were far worse. Last years times were 32:55 for 5k (April 2016), 1:17:35 for 10k (June 2016), and 2:53:03 for a half (November 2016).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my training, I'm edging close to a 5k PR this coming April. My easy runs on a treadmill are recently around 10:50-11:10/mile. I could probably even push that up a little and be comfortable. I've only had the weather for one good outdoor run, and it was an easy run around 11:30/mile. My tempo runs are around 3-4 miles long and I'm running at around 9:40/mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though my easy and tempo runs distances and times are projecting a near PR, my speedwork runs are terrible. Today, I was scheduled for a speedwork run that consisted of a warm up, and 5 0.5 mile intervals at 8:20/mile, each followed by a 0.25 mile recovery interval (I used a pace of about 11:30/mile), and a cooldown for a total distance of 6 miles. By the middle of the third speed interval, I was physically worn down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing something wrong in my speedwork if I'm able to complete my easy and tempo runs on plan (and sometimes better than plan), yet struggle with my planned speedwork?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to specifically improve my speedwork without huge deviations from my plan which is tailored to my upcoming 5k race? Are there any modifications I can make on training days that call for speedwork?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1867" LastEditorUserId="1867" LastEditDate="2017-03-02T09:38:38.630" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T16:26:36.273" Title="How can I improve my ability to do speedwork?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-01T13:20:17.307" Score="3" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understood that people who train for mass (a.k.a bodybuilders) have a different muscle composition then people who train for strength (a.k.a powerlifters). Bodybuilders have more non-contractive tissue in their muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, if a both will stop exercising, will a bodybuilder loose muscle mass faster than powerlifter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16461" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T02:09:00.103" Title="Do bodybuilders lose muscle mass faster than powerlifters?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33514" CreationDate="2017-03-01T14:28:04.740" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ll reference you to a similar post I answered recently: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/33375/will-i-lose-gains-in-this-situation/33379#33379&quot;&gt;Will I lose Gains in this situation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure what you mean by “non-contractive” tissue.  I think you are referring to the difference between &lt;a href=&quot;https://quizlet.com/121039658/contractile-and-noncontractile-muscle-tissue-flash-cards/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;contractile and non-contractile muscle tissue&lt;/a&gt;.  Regardless, your argument assumes that the method used to add muscle mass somehow speeds up the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deconditioning&lt;/a&gt; phase.  It’s not the methodology or type of muscle tissue that dictates the rate of loss.  Rather its other factors including current physical condition, length of training experience, health history, and length of the deconditioning.  If your assumption were valid, I think we’d see more people powerlifting than bodybuilding.  Each discipline seems to have abundant adherents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2017-03-01T14:28:04.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-01T18:57:26.770" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just turned 15 yesterday and I seem to be in a pickle. I weigh currently 178 and I am 5 '10'. I am currently going to try and play outside linebacker or even a Defensive End. I have been taking C4 cellucore Pre-Workout, with Amino Energy mid workout, followed by Gold Standard Whey protein. I am looking for someone to recommend a plan of what I should do concerning workouts and or what other supplements I should take instead. I am a Freshman who next year will be a sophmore who is looking to start JV. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24102" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T20:58:35.737" Title="Football Training" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33519" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-02T11:01:38.487" Score="3" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bicep that is thick at the insertion point near the elbow and thin closer to the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I did various dumbbell​ and barbell curls and experienced soreness, the sore area was the thick part of my biceps closer to the elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently tried an exercise which I am not sure how it's called. The starting point resembles the German muscle up (or Hefesto) and Korean dips, set the bar to waist heights, you hand from the bar with hands stretched behind your back, holding the bar with a false grip (overhand), and using the biceps pull yourself up untill your back touches the bar. Chris Heiro from Thenex refers to it as a &quot;reverse Australian pull up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hand movement somewhat reminds the drag curl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soreness I felt afterwards was in the thin part of my biceps close to the shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that during conventional curls the load on the muscle decreases towards the end of the repetition as your palms are getting closer to your shoulders. To the contrary, During the drag curl the load increases towards the end of the repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This raises the following question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the load distribution during an exercise affects the loaded portion of the muscle lengthwise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16461" LastEditorUserId="16461" LastEditDate="2017-03-02T11:19:47.393" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T08:02:20.163" Title="Is it possible to load different areas of the muscle lengthwise?" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;biomechanics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33521" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-03T15:28:08.147" Score="3" ViewCount="662" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today at the gym after only being able to do about 3 pull-ups in a row, I decided to try the the lateral pull-down machine (this one has separate hand grips, not a single bar). After messing with different weights, I set it to about 10 lbs more than I weigh and found I could do 6 in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to keep my hands/arms in the same positions/motions that I have on the actual pull-up bar so I don't know why it was easier. I also didn't feel the same muscle strain as I do with the pull-up bar. Is there something I am missing or not understanding wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The machine I used was similar to this:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ITcH6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ITcH6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This image&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24979" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2020-07-05T14:39:37.420" LastActivityDate="2020-07-06T02:04:31.153" Title="Why is a lateral pull-down machine easier than pull-ups?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="33522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33443" CreationDate="2017-03-03T20:29:36.303" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Former principal keyboardist of a professional symphony orchestra here.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are journal articles from the sports medicine literature that address injury incidence in recreational (as in, non-competitive) weight lifters.  For example, the January 2011 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research included a study entitled &quot;Shoulder Joint and Muscle Characteristics Among Healthy Female Recreational Weight Training Participants.&quot;  Quoting from the abstract:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The findings of this investigation suggest that female [recreational weight training] participants are predisposed to mobility imbalanaces as a result of training.  The imbalances identified in this investigation have been associated with shoulder disorders in both the general and athletic population thus may place weight training participants at risk for injury.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the prospect of increased shoulder strength (which was one of the primary goals you stated) is likely to come at the cost of decreased shoulder mobility over time, which, as a pianist, should prompt some serious questioning as to whether weightlifting is the best possible way to get to your strength goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21732" LastActivityDate="2017-03-03T20:29:36.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33521" CreationDate="2017-03-03T23:28:38.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's awfully interesting. This is the first I've heard of someone lifting more than their bodyweight on the machine and only doing that many pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only answer I have for you is to really focus on your posture. When you do a pull up, your back is slightly arched so that the bar touches your chest at the top of your rep and you get a nice squeeze in the upper back. On the pull down machine, a lot of people cheat to pull more weight and end up pulling with their entire body and their back see-saws throughout the workout. When you workout on the machine, keep your back almost straight and your chest slightly puffed out (which will end up giving you a slight arch in your upper back). Keeping the entire upper body still, pull handles down to chest level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, maybe look for a lat pull-down machine that has a bar instead of those two handles. Machines with those handles put a lot of focus on control so that you don't end up wobbling all over the place. That might be why you weren't getting the same muscle activation. Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24981" LastActivityDate="2017-03-03T23:28:38.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33509" CreationDate="2017-03-03T23:32:50.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would look at the results of your heart rate monitor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have been initially burning about 600 calories/hour on the elliptical, but repetition of the same workouts of the same intensity (and maybe even at the same time each day of the week) will allow your body to adjust and plateau. That's why so many people stress the importance of variance in your workouts. You might try the elliptical one day, rock climbing the next, and stair-climbing the day after! See if that seems to make anything different. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24981" LastActivityDate="2017-03-03T23:32:50.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33311" CreationDate="2017-03-04T09:58:50.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you need to assess your body abilities with bodyweight training and calisthenics. These types of training are based on natural movement patterns, pure and natural bodyweight strength. As a beginner, you need to focus on the basics which are pull-ups, push-ups, dips, plank, chin ups. I personally recommend to set yourself goals for each of these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strict pull ups: 15/20 reps&#xA;Strict chin ups: 15/20 reps&#xA;Dips: 30/40 reps&#xA;Push-ups: 60/70 reps&#xA;Plank: 3/4 min&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get there already, good! Then move on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these exercises has progression, archer push-ups and pull-ups, diamond push ups, elevated push ups, negatives etc. You need to build solid foundations, before moving to more advanced moves such as planche, L-sit etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can follow &lt;a href=&quot;http://homefitnessinsider.com/beginner-bodyweight-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this workout&lt;/a&gt; to build your foundations. If you can already perform the exercises mentioned above and you would like to get more detailed tips I strongly recommend looking at Alex and Sven Website Calisthenics Movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also multiple ways to &quot;hack&quot; and speed up your calisthenics training. For example you could use resistance bands to support your bodyweight during planche, muscle ups, front, back levers etc etc. Watch this video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDwBcVlfRRY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDwBcVlfRRY&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To resume, build foundations with simple moves first then move on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know what is current level using the workout above. Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24983" LastActivityDate="2017-03-04T09:58:50.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4807" CreationDate="2017-03-04T10:33:51.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I can give you my opinion based on 8 years of bodyweight training, DO NOT RUSH, take your time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on one thing at a time, you said you would like to be able to do one arm push up, focus on that first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both movements are different and use different muscle groups. Push ups use pectoralis muscles mainly and as a second muscle group, deltoids. Handstand focuses on deltoids first and upper chest second. Therefore, the transition from push-ups to handstand is not the best strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that you are doing 30 push ups with speed. You could use first a tempo, let's say for example 1:0:1 which is from top starting position 1 second down, 0 at the bottom and push yourself up with power for 1 second. Use that tempo for each push-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, to train on your one arm push up and get the feel, you can use a medecine ball or a bench. Let me explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While keeping one hand on the floor, your second hand will be on the medecine ball. Slowly, roll the ball forward while lowering yourself down. Do this for about 10 reps and switch arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can use a bench. One hand is staying on the floor and the other one is used as a support on the bench. 10 reps each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT! Working on push ups only is definitely not the answer. You should train full body and focus on core. I wrote a &lt;a href=&quot;http://homefitnessinsider.com/beginner-bodyweight-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;full body foundation workout&lt;/a&gt; couple of weeks ago, have a look, you could try each moves and see how you feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best with your training and let us know if you need help.&#xA;Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24983" LastActivityDate="2017-03-04T10:33:51.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-05T15:01:51.677" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to buy a MINI Ellipcical machine for home that is good for slimmering legs and butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of machine should I look for? Is the Step-like machine better than the Biking-like one for legs and butt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see this one:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eNrMp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eNrMp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or this type:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tio3x.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tio3x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10106" LastActivityDate="2017-03-05T15:01:51.677" Title="Mini elliptical machine for slimmer legs" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;elliptical&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-03-07T20:34:48.033" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33517" CreationDate="2017-03-05T18:44:12.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep it simple. Do GOMAD (drink a gallon of whole milk a day) and run Starting Strength. You will get really strong and will pack on weight to properly handle defensive end. Once or twice a week, add in 20 hill sprints or Prowler pushes for anaerobic capacity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24572" LastActivityDate="2017-03-05T18:44:12.417" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11404" CreationDate="2017-03-05T21:55:11.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my research at Stanford, I found that EPO does in fact increase running ability because it catalyzes RBC production, thus increasing the amount of oxygen to vital muscles, in short increasing one's running performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24994" LastActivityDate="2017-03-05T21:55:11.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33521" CreationDate="2017-03-06T01:12:36.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, both have different range of motion, you don't do the lateral pull-downs the way you do pull-ups, but let's not go into detail of that, and focus on the main physics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You find it easier to do lat pull-down, that's because of the pulleys. Below diagram gives and illustration of how pulleys work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4v6Hm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4v6Hm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;image source:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.the-office.com/summerlift/pulleybasics.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.the-office.com/summerlift/pulleybasics.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, a 2 pulley system has divided the tension in the string into 3 parts. This may not be exactly your case, but how in general pulleys work. So, in the figure, the force required to lift the 150N object would be a little above 50N, which is 1/3 the force required to lift the object directly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same principle with some variation is applied to the pull-down machines. When you stack up the machine with your body weight equivalent weight, you are not really lifting your body weight, but a part of it. What's that percentage, it depends on how the pull-down machine is configured with pulleys. Nonetheless, the effort to lift will be lesser compared to pure pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T01:12:36.537" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34407" CreationDate="2017-03-06T15:16:35.327" Score="3" ViewCount="1022" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to do &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lying_triceps_extensions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;french press exercise&lt;/a&gt;, I want to use 1 &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbbell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dumbbell&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: It doesn't matter to this question if the exercise is done lying , or sitting, it's the same issue for both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the following problem: When gripping the dumbbell my hands are necessarily in a asymmetrical position, there is no way to grip symmetrically as far as I know (you can provide me counterexamples). So the problem is, the force done by each arm and hand could be really different, how to minimize this difference? Grip very strong with my hands? Alternate hand task left and right every new series?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is use a barbell in which then I can position my hands symmetrically, and thus the problem is gone, or to use two dumbbells, one for each hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 2: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/YbX7Wd8jQ-Q?t=48s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This guy&lt;/a&gt;(this is a timestamp, you need to see 10 seconds of the video only) has a dumbbell with weights with large diameter, so he can position his hand in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=hand%20triangle&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1517&amp;amp;bih=708&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwimhbDJmsLSAhUDEZAKHW2PDlEQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=b-thew8UyR_JmM:&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hand triangle&lt;/a&gt;, which seems a good grip, do you agree?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18686" LastEditorUserId="18686" LastEditDate="2017-03-06T15:38:40.053" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T17:06:30.090" Title="How to grip the dumbbell in french press, so I apply even force in both hands?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-06T15:31:13.883" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just purchased a  book called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00LPICJKA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jim Stoppani's Encyclopedia of Muscle and Strength&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. I have learned quite a bit from it. With that being said, I do have a question that I thought I would ask the nice group of folks you all are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jim says as a beginner to do one exercise per muscle group with 3 sets with about 2.5-3 min rests three times a week. So far so good. However, I like to work out during my lunch hour since I work from home and my gym is about a minute drive. I have family life and blah blah. However, mathematically, this takes over an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a problem with breaking up the full body exercises? Ideas in my head were something like half the exercises during my lunch and the rest of the muscle groups after work? As a beginner, is there a way to break up the full body exercises to a 5 day week to train all groups? I could incorporate weekends too but I was just following the suggestions in the book before I built my plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do all after work, but I like the feeling of working out during lunch to help me during my day. Before work isn't an option due to daycare and I'm the one that takes the kiddo to daycare. Any helpful suggestions would be SUPER!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25002" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-03-06T20:19:44.843" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T20:19:44.843" Title="Full Body Exercises Split Due to Time" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33538" CreationDate="2017-03-06T19:27:36.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Changing the order of exercises that fit your schedule should not cause any problems.  In fact, as you progress you should find yourself constantly ‘tweaking’ your routine for various reasons.  Once you’ve established your training goals, changing exercises, the order of exercises, training days, reps, and sets will assist you in combating boredom and training plateaus.  A natural progression would be to split your exercises per the type of work/goal(s).  For example, Push/Pull.  As a beginner, it’s more important to be &lt;strong&gt;consistent&lt;/strong&gt; and build a good foundation before moving on to more advanced training methodologies.  That also means giving yourself enough time to rest.  So, keeping weekends free is not a bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T19:27:36.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33541" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33542" CreationDate="2017-03-06T21:35:43.710" Score="0" ViewCount="869" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best calisthenics exercise to get a V-Shape as fast as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25008" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T13:36:48.603" Title="Best Exercise For V-Shape Without Weights" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33541" CreationDate="2017-03-07T09:31:12.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're referring to the V-shape created by a thin waist and wide latissimus dorsi, then I wholeheartedly recommend spending a lot of time doing pullups and its many variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the slim waist goes, I'm not in a position to give advice, as I've had a slim waist by genetic predisposition. My challenge was always gaining mass, and for calisthenic mass gain around the upper back and lats, I've found pullups to be the be-all, end-all exercise for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I urge you to take your time with each rep, as eccentric overloading has been serenaded for its effect on muscle building. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentric_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Read more.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But more than that, I find it dubious that you are looking for ONE single exeercise, instead of a complete regimen. One single exercise will do nothing for you, unless it's part of a well-rounded workout program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2017-03-07T09:57:57.467" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T09:57:57.467" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33543" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-07T13:13:46.707" Score="2" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;36 year old male, currently weighing 90 kgs, size 36 waist, I go to gym 5 days per week for 45 mins in the morning as it's the only time I can motivate myself to go due to how my work commute and energy levels work out in a day. I've been steadily increasing my gym frequency since the end of 2014 (2 times a week) until now (5 times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is general fitness, strength and building an appropriate upper body - I don't need to have a super hero physique, but defined arms and chest would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My weekly routine is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday - Cardio (5km run, treadmill at 1% gradient)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday - Strength (details below)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday - Cardio (5km run, as above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday - Cardio (5km run, as above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday - Strength (details below)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday - Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday - Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Strength Workout is as follows (in this order):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NB:&lt;/strong&gt; 1 rep = 2s extension, 2s retraction (I read this is the correct way to work with weights), all named exercises are using Life Fitness Optima Series machines of the equivalent name/exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 mins on Concept2 rowing machine at max tension (10) for warmup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chest press 49kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps Extension 49kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curl 35kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Row 49 kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat pulldown 49 kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pectoral fly  42 kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear deltoid 42 kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abdominal 49 kg - 10 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finish with 12-13 mins walking at 4% incline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I recently moved from doing &quot;Strength&quot; once per week to twice per week (2 weeks ago) - when I was doing once per week I could easily do 49 kg across all machines. Am I doing something wrong or is my current inability to maintain that weight level due to needing further development or more rest?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gym instructor who did my gym orientation session said I should stay on circuit machines for a while until I feel ready to invest in a few personal training sessions with the gym weights trainer - considering that 49 kgs is almost the maximum weight on a few of these machines, how do you decide that moving to full-on weights training is appropriate?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a better and more strength related exercise that I could do instead of the 12-13 mins walking? By the time I reach this point, I am usually quite tired and would not be able to do another circuit at that weight level - is it worth doing the circuit again at a lower weight?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25013" LastEditorUserId="25013" LastEditDate="2017-03-07T16:12:33.893" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T21:46:35.647" Title="Am I expecting too much too soon?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33543" CreationDate="2017-03-07T13:35:55.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're not necessarily doing something wrong. Could be that you're experiencing lasting fatigue due to lasting calorie deficiency. How is your bodyweight? Have you been gaining or losing weight?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, we all have off-days. You're not supposed to always lift heavier, or even AS heavy as the last time. Could be you just had a particularly good day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think you should have been training with free-weights the whole time, and used machines only as supplemental exercises. Although I agree that doing it under the supervision of a qualified trainer is the right way to go in the beginning. Learning proper technique and form is crucial, especially while you're forming habits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are PLENTY of exercises you could do instead of walking, but I'd rather focus on getting into proper weight training first, before micro-managing. I feel at such early stages, it's important to get settled into the rules of thumb, before worrying about tweaking details. It's easy to get overwhelmed if you jump straight into the deep end of the pool, as they say.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, I think two weeks is a very short time to gauge any progress, but if you're already lifting the entire stack on all the machines, you should be doing free weights instead, under supervision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T13:35:55.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33541" CreationDate="2017-03-07T13:36:48.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While building the lats is certainly a must for creating a “V” shape, there’s one muscle group that’s often overlooked.  Working all three heads of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltoid_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deltoids&lt;/a&gt; will add to upper body width thus enhancing the appearance of a “V” taper.  Additionally, building broader shoulders will create the illusion that that your waist is smaller.  This is important for those that cannot seem to develop narrow ripped abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T13:36:48.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-07T14:18:43.157" Score="4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, here's the deal. I have lost a lot of weight. And, kind of gained a little of it back. I am only 19 and wanted to lose about 10-15 pounds. I would be happy with 10lbs really. I go to the gym every day and do cardio for no less than 45 minutes. On every day, I do weight training on different body parts: legs/arms/abs/butt. I don't see ANY difference in the scale. No weight loss, no weight gain. I feel so freaking discouraged because I devote myself fully by eating healthy and getting my exercise in DAILY for almost two months now and absolutely nothing has happened. Maybe I have lost weight but gained muscle and that has caused me to remain the same weight? PLEASE HELP :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25014" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-03-07T15:18:50.650" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T18:33:37.073" Title="I need help with confidence because i have worked out hard for over a month and a half and still no weight loss on scale?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33543" CreationDate="2017-03-07T15:15:24.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, as a former trainer, I would suggest you might be over training given your own classification as a beginner.  A common mistake for some beginners is to assume that more training (ie. volume) is better.  It’s not.  Muscular gains are not made while you are in the gym.  Rather, they are made while your muscles have a chance to adapt and repair during rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should assess yourself for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fawnia33.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;signs of overtraining&lt;/a&gt;.  Additionally, if you&#xA;haven’t taken a training break for an extended period, consider a&#xA;short break to refresh and recharge your training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I agree with Alec in that you should use machines to supplement your&#xA;training.  Seek out a &lt;strong&gt;certified&lt;/strong&gt; trainer from a &lt;strong&gt;reputable&lt;/strong&gt; organization&#xA;to assist you in learning proper training form with free weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’m a bit biased when it comes to cardio/strength related exercises. &#xA;I prefer to use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Concept2 rowing machine&lt;/a&gt; for that part of my work.  Depending on its&#xA;damper settings, a C2 rower provides the ability to get a strength&#xA;and/or cardio workout.  A similar rower may also help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T15:15:24.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33546" CreationDate="2017-03-07T16:08:49.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To lose weight the rule is simple: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eat Less, Move More.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You clearly have the &quot;Move more&quot; sorted but it's not clear that you are eating less. Healthy food does not necessarily mean less calories. It is possible to gain weight eating a mostly healthy diet, staying at a caloric surplus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were untrained before starting it is entirely possible you gained muscle and lost fat, the proof would be in photos (or a DEXA body scan), not on the scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 Months is not that long a time, for losing weight it is recommended (and should be possible to achieve) that you aim for 1-2lb loss per week. At lower body-fat levels it takes longer to lose weight but the method is the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on why 'healthy' calories are the same as 'unhealthy' calories see my detailed answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/33505/19738&quot;&gt;here on why &quot;a calorie is a calorie&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Footnote: There &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be a medical reason why you cannot lose weight easily, if you are concerned this is the case you should ask your Doctor/GP and not people on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.460" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T16:08:49.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33517" CreationDate="2017-03-07T20:58:35.737" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you do not need all of those supplements. A sound diet(ie. getting your vitamins,minerals,and veggies) and a protein shake here or there(I recommend the EAS Complete) will be enough to see strength gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not strength training I suggest you start. 2 to 3 days a week. There are a ton of different programs out there, just find one and do it. Also be sure to do endurance cardio as well as power cardio(sprints). Cardio will help you maintain a high level of exertion for longer period of time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, position drills and skills training are super valuable in football.&#xA;Footwork drills like this(&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/6SiDrfWbMIo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/6SiDrfWbMIo&lt;/a&gt;) you can do on your own and will help with agility. Yes these are DB drills but quick feet and acceleration help all positions. For OLB the &quot;W&quot; style drills are perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24796" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T20:58:35.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33704" CreationDate="2017-03-08T01:00:17.620" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go to gym 4 times a week. I do various exercise using different machines (chest press, leg press, row etc). On each of these machines I do 3 sets with 10 reps.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also do 6 sets of bicep curls using 20 pounds dumbbells. I noticed that after using dumbbells my biceps look much bigger but after half an hour or so my biceps go back to same size where they were before the exercise.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My question is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do biceps grow so much right after the curls?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can i make my biceps permanently bigger?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24726" LastEditorUserId="24726" LastEditDate="2017-03-08T01:32:51.983" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:50:17.020" Title="Biceps growth after biceps curls" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33550" CreationDate="2017-03-08T07:58:35.223" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Because you are using them they become engorged with blood that is being used to provide oxygen to the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep doing bicep curls (in various styles) and keep increasing the weight so it is challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical weight progression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Month 1: 10lbs @ &lt;strong&gt;8&lt;/strong&gt; reps x 4 sets &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Month 2: 10lbs @ &lt;strong&gt;12&lt;/strong&gt; reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Month 3: 10lbs @ &lt;strong&gt;15&lt;/strong&gt; reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Month 4: &lt;strong&gt;15lbs&lt;/strong&gt; @ 8 reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Month 5: 15lbs @ &lt;strong&gt;12&lt;/strong&gt; reps x 4 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Month 6... carry on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-03-08T11:59:00.363" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T11:59:00.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33552" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33558" CreationDate="2017-03-08T11:42:33.433" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a software developer who spends a fair amount of time stuck in one position, sometimes not moving more than 5 hours straight if I have to concentrate on something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the time of the year I do a lot of MTB biking, keep walking and generally avoid being sedentary. I do some stretching and try to compensate for a bit of a hyperlordotic posture, which is partially in the family and partially down to sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently decided I need to get in better all over shape. Cycling keeps my legs trim but not much else. So I discovered this exercise called Burpee. I can do these near the computer so for me it's very convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I started these a few days ago, and not only has my posture and poise already completely changed, I feel like I have rigor mortis. The pain is nigh on unbearable and every single muscle in my body seems as though someone beat it repeatedly with a stick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone tell me if this is normal, or if I should do something different, eat something different, any suggestions? I am concerned I might do myself an injury like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19947" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T08:40:52.053" Title="Burpees get fit plan" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-08T17:08:57.717" Score="-1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My height is 5 11. In 2013 my weight is 65kg, after the delivery of my baby in 6. Months increased to 75kg, in 2015 Jan I got 88kg &amp;amp;. I went to weightloss center lost 7 kg in one year,then I stopped. now I increased to 90kg. Daily I promise to eat low calorie diet but I can't. When i am cooking I use to eat whatever in the cupboard. I am unable to control this habit . What can I do to keep my promise &amp;amp; to lose weight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25026" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T17:39:51.040" Title="I am 90 KGS plz help me to lose" Tags="&lt;recommended-daily-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-03-09T20:46:50.847" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33553" CreationDate="2017-03-08T17:34:28.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;try to get rid of sugar from your diet. maybe sounds tough but it helps to reduce all kinds of problems and work out regularly. it does not have to be a super hard gym program but some exercise(treadmill, situps, walking instead of driving if the distance is reasonable), no sugar should do and idk try to keep the same food that you eat on a table. best is not to take too drastic actions or diets. patience and a regular workout I mean exercise every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;no sugar means no coke, soft drinks, chocolates, syrup sweets etc. and don't fall for sweeteners its a trap. ad once you stop using it don't use it. because even one chocolate bar later makes me crave for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25027" LastEditorUserId="25027" LastEditDate="2017-03-08T17:39:51.040" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T17:39:51.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33543" CreationDate="2017-03-08T21:46:35.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the problems I see: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.) You've got conflicting goals&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My aim is general fitness, strength and building an appropriate upper body - I don't need to have a super hero physique, but defined arms and chest would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is aesthetics, you're going to need bigger muscles and less body-fat. The trick here is most folks can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. You need to pick one, do that for 3-6 months, then switch to the other. Either order works, you can grow some muscle, then strip fat, or vice-versa. Just pick one and stick with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.) You don't do any lower-body weightlifting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat. Deadlift. Lunge. Do them. Do lots of them. You'll get more upper-body development if you do both upper-and-lower than just upper-body stuff. Lower-body movements tend to trigger more anabolic hormones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.) Too much cardio, not enough weightlifting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio is great if the goal is 'Be able to do more cardio'. If you're training for a marathon, you better get running. If you can run a 5K, then you're probably pretty good in terms of general fitness. I'd go down to 1 day of cardio a week, and go with three days of weightlifting. You can narrow-down the rowing-machine warmup to 2-3 minutes, and cut-out the walking afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of which, you're not doing enough sets to really simulate muscle-growth. I usually 12-16 weightlifting sets per workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**4.) Find a real workout program **&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're running into a common problem. You started lifting, made some rapid progress, but now you're plateauing pretty bad. As others have stated, you need to change things up somewhat. A full program is beyond the scope of a post here, so I'd look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1583335366&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;The New Rules of Lifting&quot;&gt;The New Rules of Lifting&lt;/a&gt; or Mark Rippetoe's &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Starting Strength&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both have solid, full-caliber programs to make you strong, lean, and muscular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T21:46:35.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32413" CreationDate="2017-03-08T23:01:03.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You allready found the answer in the first link you provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do fast explosive compound movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no rep should last longer than 7 - 10 sec.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep the repetitions low&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep 5 - 10 minutes rest between sets for ATP system to restore (you should not fatique)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do plenty of sets and stop when you feel you are becoming slower with the movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;focus on the concentric portion of the lift and limit the time under tention for the eccentric portion &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional Power exercises for explosiveness:&#xA;- plyometric pushups&#xA;- jumping squats&#xA;- cleans and snatches, push press &#xA;- speed deadlifts&#xA;- sprinting&#xA;- jumping&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T23:01:03.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33552" CreationDate="2017-03-09T08:40:52.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's highly likely you got DOMS from performing a high volume of an exercise you are not used to. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/search?q=DOMS&quot;&gt;Searching for &quot;DOMS&quot;&lt;/a&gt; yields a lot of already-answered questions on the topic. If your pain is localised joint or sharp in feeling then RICE and consult your doctor if it does not get better &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T08:40:52.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28456" CreationDate="2017-03-09T20:18:37.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to mitro's answer above, about how I needed to do the pushups more deliberately, I also picked up the phone app, and learned that I was likely shorting myself for rest periods. Assuming a second per pushup, I was counting slowly backwards for the number of pushups, but it was at least a second going down, and one going up, so I was getting half of the rest I was supposed to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T20:18:37.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32911" CreationDate="2017-03-09T22:03:28.250" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to drop body fat, you need to perform some type of cardio. Most people think cardio has to be running or a variation of running. Cardio is actually the increase of your heart rate. Increasing your heart rate is easily done by different running movement because they are compound movements that call for more oxygen and therefore more heart beats to retrieve oxygen. So for your case you want to exercise in a way that is going to increase your heart rate. It seems like you enjoy weight training too. So maybe kill two birds with one stone. Keep your weight training for exercise but increase the 'intensity'. Start by shortening rest time in between sets on your compound movements(30 seconds MAX). You can also add an extra set to make sure you are exhausting your body. Also look into super setting certain movements. For example on arm day do a set of curls then a set of tricep movements back to back. repeat this sequence 4 or 5 times. By doing this it allows your muscles to recover in between sets because your switching muscle groups, but your not resting your heart therefore the heart rate gets higher. Boom! your doing cardio! You can start working out more days a week maybe 5 or 6 days and one rest day. In regards to diet, Everyone's different. One thing that does help me cut weight but not lose strength is carb adjustment. Start eating cleaner carbs like nuts, fruits and vegetables and cut out the white breads and pastas. AND ONLY DRINK WATER. Do all these and I bet you'll start to lean out real quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T22:03:28.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33546" CreationDate="2017-03-09T22:20:12.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle weighs more than fat. If you're lifting weights you should expect to gain muscle which would increase weight. But if you're doing cardio you should expect to burn fat which would be a loss of weight. So if those two ideas are put together maybe your weight wouldn't change at all? If your strength is increasing(you are able to lift more weight or do more reps of the same weight that you started with)you're probably increasing muscle. If you can do cardio longer before getting winded than when you started, you're probably burning the fat properly. Don't let the scale be validation that your efforts are working. Real diets take a while to start showing good results too. Stick with your diet for about 2 more months then reevaluate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T22:20:12.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-10T06:00:25.067" Score="1" ViewCount="1144" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal is to hit 600 lbs. RAW on a deadlift -- no straps, belts, suits, or steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently 160 and do not plan to gain anymore weight. My max dead is 315 lbs. now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would need to almost double my deadlift without gaining a single pound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to do this within 3 years. Is this possible without drugs or gaining weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe if I were to gain more (muscle) weight, I could then lose more fat and break even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be incredible as I'd be outlifting most guys on the gear if I could do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakdown:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5'10&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;160 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodyfat: 14.7%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat mass: 22.4 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pure muscle weight: 79 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skeleton weight: 23 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Organ weight/etc.: ~20 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water/etc. weight: ~16 lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25038" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T10:48:12.117" Title="Is a 600 lb. deadlift possible at 160?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33565" CreationDate="2017-03-10T06:20:25.407" Score="1" ViewCount="1209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard from my chemistry teacher that if you drink a Coca Cola you will get quick energy boost but after 40 minutes or so the takein of such a soft drink will actually result in a net loss of energy partly because it is a cold drink and partly because of the drink itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we compare the same amount of carrot juice and Coca Cola or Mountain Dew or Jolt, how big is the difference in energy difference from taking it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7026" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T12:59:55.343" Title="Is drinking a Coca Cola actually a net energy loss?" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;energy-drinks&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-03-13T02:35:28.797" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33564" CreationDate="2017-03-10T07:48:43.390" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The caffeine content in a normal 330ml coke does promote thermogenesis through metabolic stimulation but the amount it does this is so small that it is negligible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cold drinks do not cause you to expend significant amounts of energy heating them up either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to know the amount of energy a drink will provide then just look at the caloric content on the label.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T10:42:44.797" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T10:42:44.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33563" CreationDate="2017-03-10T08:00:31.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get some idea as to the maximum you will be able to lift while being drug tested and maintaining 74kg (closes category to 160lbs) we can look to the IPF (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/championships/records.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;International Powerlifting Federation) records&lt;/a&gt;. They perform checks for the main anabolics but I suspect they potentially aren't a rigorous as the International Olympic Committee. Unfortunately powerlifting is not an Olympic sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few records of interest, you are looking for 600lbs which is just over a 6 plate deadlift (272kg):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Date       Weight(kg)  Name                Country   Birth year  Bodyweight (kg)&#xA;07.05.15   327.5       GAISHINETC Sergei   RUS       1986        72.59&#xA;04.11.14   325.0       GAISHINETC Sergei   RUS       1986        73.16&#xA;04.11.14   323.0       GORIACHOK Anatolii  UKR       1979        73.54 &#xA;01.01.11   320.0       World Standard &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The world standard is 320kg (705lbs) and these are equipped (belted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So technically, yes. Based on the information provided you can achieve a 600lb deadlift at your bodyweight without the use of steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule of thumb, you need to 'eat big' to 'lift big', a large calorie surplus will significantly help you progress your strength rapidly. 3 years to double your deadlift without eating at a surplus is very difficult and most of the people in this weight class weigh more and then cut before competition to hit their weight class. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T08:00:31.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-10T10:47:39.570" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for about two and a half years and have been mostly using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitnessblender.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fitness Blender&lt;/a&gt; (which is wonderful).  I had reached the point where I could comfortably do one of their 40 minute level 5 workouts for five days a week (upper body, lower body, kickboxing + abs), then one of the 1,000 calorie workouts one day, and then a rest day.  I was on this routine for about two months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now for the past three weeks my legs have been sore and achy, to the point where I can't do jumping jacks for more than twenty seconds because the pain is too much.  It was worse in the first week.  I have tried toning it down and took three days off at a stretch once, doing only a brief warm up every day.  Otherwise I've gone down to 300-400 calorie workouts (instead of the 500+ I normally did) and have tried taking an additional rest day in a week.  Hasn't improved.  I went to a doctor as well, who did a series of blood tests, said he thinks nothing serious is wrong and prescribed painkillers and a multivitamin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I match some of the features of overtraining (unusual pain, low rate of improvement, excess fatigue, am going through a lot of personal stress) but not others (not much irritability or reluctance to exercise - in fact I want to).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am reluctant to simply stop working out.  So my question is, should I simply leave off lower body and do upper body and core for a week or two?  Might that resolve the issue?  Upper body doesn't seem unusually sore.  Or should I leave off training entirely for a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12069" LastEditorUserId="12069" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T10:52:42.157" LastActivityDate="2017-03-11T23:11:37.570" Title="Three weeks of sore legs - possible overtraining - how should I address this?" Tags="&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33563" CreationDate="2017-03-10T10:48:12.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a very similar case. My height is 5'10 and I weigh 165 lbs (75kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find all the world records &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/records/raw/world&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, tested and untested. &#xA;This guy Kjell Egill Bakkelund holds it with 716lbs (325kg) @165 lbs.&#xA;You can see him doing 320kg for 5 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD-UuLuRYcg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a few guys here and there pulling over 700 at this weight such as Paul Nguyen (717@165 and 740@167) BUT, you will notice that these guys are shorter than you. This considerably shortens the range of motion and makes it easier for them to pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 5'10 and 160-165 lbs, you and I are probably not likely to go for world records, at least not in this weight class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I do believe 600 at our height and weight is achievable.&#xA;I pulled 315 a little over two years ago. I can now pull 500 without a belt or straps. And I'm still seeing progress and definitely think 600 is achievable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important thing to consider is genetics. Some people progress faster and further. The majority will never pull 700 at such bodyweights. But 600 seems achievable for most young people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less than 3 years is possible too. Your programming, eating habits, sleep and overall stress levels are the biggest factors. A big thing is do not get injured because this will harm your progress and set you off for some time. Slow and steady. Form first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also your age will impact a lot. I assume you are in your 20's so this shouldn't be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T10:48:12.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33616" CreationDate="2017-03-10T11:26:46.813" Score="4" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on various calculations, I should, purely based on my VO2max, be able to run 10k in under 40 minutes. However, my PR is closer to 50. Why is this the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My VO2max was calculated at 59.9 ml/kg/min, which should put my 10k race time at 36(!) minutes, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/racepaces/equiv?VO2=59&amp;amp;age=35&amp;amp;gender=M&amp;amp;Submit=Calculate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the most likely factors limiting my speed. If more data is needed please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25041" LastEditorUserId="25043" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T13:33:17.980" LastActivityDate="2020-02-08T21:18:17.020" Title="Why am I unable to run as fast as I should be able to, based on my VO2max" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;speed&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33564" CreationDate="2017-03-10T12:05:27.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JJosaur says, calorifically, it's a definite &amp;quot;No&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Metabolically, you may well find that you are more tired an hour after drinking a Coke (or any other sugarry drink, or a chocolate bar), due to a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_crash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Sugar&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Glucose&amp;quot; crash&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is period of &lt;em&gt;low&lt;/em&gt; blood-sugar caused by the body over-compensating to the sugar spike (the initial 'high', or 'sugar rush'), and over-producing insulin which then draws that glucose out of the blood stream into the liver for longer-term storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The low blood-sugar can be experienced as fatique or loss of energy (amongst other symptoms), which might lead one to believe the original claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18649" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T12:05:27.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33603" CreationDate="2017-03-10T12:33:02.857" Score="1" ViewCount="1476" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been an year now that I'm doing a proper workout 6 days a week without a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started as a newbie with a small pair of dumbbells. I wasn't able to do push ups or pull ups (Chin Ups). After 6 months I was able to lift heavy dumbbells and also able to do push ups but no pull ups. I thought maybe my arms are still not that strong to lift my self. But now It is around an year. I have transformed myself very well into a good shape and everything looks good. I do heavy weight exercise of each and every muscle of my body. I can list heavy weight while I'm working out on CHEST, SHOULDERS, WINGS, ARMS (Bicep-Tricep), Thighs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am still not able to do the pull ups(chin ups) effectively/properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you please let me know where I am wrong or what I am doing wrong in my workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;EDIT:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout plan that I am currently following.(Monday to Friday). On Saturday I usually run and do few cardio exercises for abs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1: Chest&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell bench press - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with 15kg to 25kg(on each&#xA;side) gradually.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline dumbbell press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps&#xA;with 12kg to 20kg dumbbells gradually.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell flyes bench&#xA;press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 12kg to 20kg dumbbells&#xA;gradually.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butterfly chest press - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with&#xA;40kg to 60kg gradually.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vertical bench press machine - 3 sets&#xA;of 12-15 reps with 50kg to 70kg gradually. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Crossover - 3&#xA;sets of 8-12 reps with 16kg to 24kg(on each side) gradually.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull over - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with 16kg to 24kg gradually. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 2: Back/Wings&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups - Unable to do it properly even a single one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behind the neck lat pull down - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 34kg to 44kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse grip front lat pull down - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 39kg to 49kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over barbell row - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 20kg to 30kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight arm standing lat pulldown - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 29kg to 34kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Cable Row - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 39kg to 49kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T Bar Row - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 20kg to 30kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Shrug - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with heavy dumbbells &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3: Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Plate Raise - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with 15kg to 20kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 3 sets of 8-10 reps with 16kg to 24kg dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upright Barbell Row - 3 sets of 8-10 reps with 20kg to 30kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell shoulder press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 20kg to 30kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side Lateral Raises - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 10kg to 12kg dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machine Shoulder Press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 34kg to 44kg &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 4: Arms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close grip barbell bench press - 3 sets of 6-8 reps with 20kg to 30kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps pushdown - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with 34kg to 44kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Hammer Curls with Rope - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 34kg to 44kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Triceps Press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 10kg to 15kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EZ-Bar Curl - 3 sets of 8-12 reps with 15kg to 20kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Bicep Curl - 3 sets of 8-12 reps with 12kg to 16kg dumbbells&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing Biceps Cable Curl - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with 34kg to 44kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep Machine Curls - 3 sets of 12-15 reps with 20kg to 30kg &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 5: Legs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simple Squats - 3 sets of 20-30 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Squats - 4 sets of 4-6 reps with 40kg to 50kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press - 4 sets of 8-10 reps with 40kg to 80kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying Leg Curls - 3 sets of 8-12 reps with 39kg to 49kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Extensions - 3 sets of 8-12 reps with 39kg to 49kg &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25043" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T00:08:55.547" Title="Why I can't do pull ups/chin ups properly however I am lifting heavy weight and also doing lots of push ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;chin-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33564" CreationDate="2017-03-10T12:59:55.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With numbers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes 1J to heat a g of water by about 0.24K. Hence, heating 330ml of colored+sugared water from 7°C (fridge) to 37°C (body temperature): 330 * 30 / 0.24 = 41250 J = 9852 cal = 9.8 kcal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Energy content from the sugar of your coke: 330ml * (10g/100ml) * 4kcal/g = 132 kcal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can heat a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of water with the energy content of a coke. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever makes you drowsy is certainly a physiological effect as aluded to in the other answers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that had been your biology teacher, his statement would have been fine; from a chemistry teacher I would not expect that!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25048" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T12:59:55.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33568" CreationDate="2017-03-10T23:22:33.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your body is not recovering properly. You could try adding more sleep to your routine. You should definitely look at your diet too. You might be missing some macro nutrients that are key in recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T23:22:33.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33572" CreationDate="2017-03-10T23:27:46.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull ups aren't easy because you're pulling up your whole body weight. Also a pull up is a compound movement that should activate your back muscles. What kind of back lifts are you doing?(rows, lat pull downs, etc) Those could help strengthen your back to accomplish some pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T23:27:46.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32112" CreationDate="2017-03-11T21:02:19.063" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here, I made a list :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;#   cm^3    muscle&#xA;1   879.65  Gluteus maximus&#xA;    674.00  Vastus lateralis&#xA;    599.20  Adductor magnus&#xA;    580.00  Vastus intermedius&#xA;5   531.90  Soleus      &#xA;    461.00  Vastus medialis&#xA;    458.29  Gluteus medius&#xA;    323.45  Rectus femoris&#xA;    306.73  Psoas major&#xA;10  262.30  Latissimus dorsi        &#xA;    256.80  Medial gastrocnemius&#xA;    242.73  Trapezius&#xA;    233.35  Biceps femoris long head&#xA;    231.13  Semimembranosus&#xA;15  230.82  Pectoralis major sternocostal       &#xA;    210.78  External obliques&#xA;    196.47  Semitendinosus&#xA;    182.50  Adductor Longus&#xA;    181.80  Sartorius&#xA;20  180.89  Deltoid (acromial)      &#xA;    174.45  Triceps brachii long head&#xA;    171.49  Gluteus minimus&#xA;    171.23  Lateral gastrocnemius&#xA;    166.80  Tibialis anterior&#xA;25  164.50  Subscapularis       &#xA;    158.35  Rectus abdominus&#xA;    149.92  Internal obliques&#xA;    147.91  Longissimus thoracis&#xA;    147.20  Multifidus&#xA;30  143.70  Brachialis&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few main papers on this topic, and I combined them as best I could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021929006004428&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021929006004428&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ofaj/80/2.3/80_2.3_47/_pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ofaj/80/2.3/80_2.3_47/_pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3017737/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3017737/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/113/10/1545.figures-only&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jap.physiology.org/content/113/10/1545.figures-only&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10255840008908000&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10255840008908000&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these are for one copy of the muscle (hence the difference from your rectus abdominus value). Two of these studies use elderly cadavers and one is a simulation. For those, I computed the geometric average ratio where there were overlapping datapoints and used this ratio to extrapolate implied volumes for the remaining datapoints. Anywhere there were 2 or more resulting datapoints I took the linear average. Finally, I used about 10 other studies of individual muscles that aren't cited here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gluteus medius, psoas, and erector spinae were particularly hard to get data on. Despite the erector spinae being 843cm^3 in one study, and possibly more, I only found individual data on longissimus thoracis and 2 other of the 9 muscles involved. It could be that at least one of the missing ones belongs on the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if you want more muscles on the list, muscle groups, or my spreadsheet. I'm pretty confident that these top 30 are close, but any further extension to the list might have many missing items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25006" LastActivityDate="2017-03-11T21:02:19.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-11T21:10:38.563" Score="0" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the claims in the following video true regarding &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/images/2015/how-to-overhead-press-a-beginners-guide-graphics-3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overhead Press&lt;/a&gt; (also known as military and shoulder press) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://fitfrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/arnold-pendlay-rows.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pendlay rows&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/VKDlyhvZLaA?t=6m50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overhead Press Video Section&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/VKDlyhvZLaA?t=5m57s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Row Video Section&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, does the Overhead Press increase your chance of getting shoulder impingement syndrome if done repeatedly over a number of years, and &#xA;does Pendlay rows (and bent over rows) increase the risk of developing herniated disks if done repeatedly over a number of years? Assume both exercises are done with good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21959" LastEditorUserId="21959" LastEditDate="2017-03-11T21:16:55.653" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T19:41:37.957" Title="Does Overhead Press damage your Shoulders? Can Pendlay Rows cause Herniated Disk?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-11T22:09:33.050" Score="1" ViewCount="4134" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have really tight hip flexors and weak glutes, abductors and abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to fix this problem by working my glutes, hamstrings and abductors but I want to slowly start doing ab exercises again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know if I do leg raises, situps and other ab exercises, that it's going to make my hip flexors tighter which is what I don't want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even though there isn't much hip flexion when doing planks, will doing planks tighten my hip flexors even more?? Is it a good idea to do planks with tight hip flexors? or should I wait until I have strong glutes, abductors and hamstrings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25057" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T05:19:46.690" Title="Do planks tighten up hip flexors? (Back pain when doing core exercises)" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33568" CreationDate="2017-03-11T23:11:37.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;sounds like you are not unaccustomed to the exercise regime. I suppose you could try taking a break and seeing if there is an improvement. If you are still not seeing an improvement you might investigate things like intermittent claudation or venous insufficiency. This generally happens to older folks with poor veins,  a test might be to see if there is a measurable benefit from wearing compression stockings. Your 20 seconds onset time is the clue here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming your dirty intake of sodium potassium magnesium is within bounds and that you stretch normally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25053" LastActivityDate="2017-03-11T23:11:37.570" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33482" CreationDate="2017-03-11T23:41:02.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Less testosterone exposure in the womb &quot; you're  probably talking about klienfelter syndrome,  aka 46xxy.  These men carry two copies of the x chromosome and are more likely to have autoimmune diseases, learning difficulties and a wider hip/shoulder ratio, less body hair and struggle to gain muscle. &#xA;The man pictured is not klienfelter, the condition is very rare,  there are always natural variations in body types. &#xA;Your testosterone level is normal/high but if your shbg (binding globulin)  is elevated this can tie up testosterone and the body has trouble using it. Your doctor or endocrinologist can test for both. &#xA;You are more than just T though,  nutrition , rest and will power during workouts are what I would focus on, you're 25 so still a bit of time to make shape changes yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25053" LastEditorUserId="25053" LastEditDate="2017-03-11T23:54:03.350" LastActivityDate="2017-03-11T23:54:03.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33584" CreationDate="2017-03-12T01:36:24.370" Score="1" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing fitness and bodybuilding for years and have heard people talk about the &quot;amazing&quot; effects of stretching. I would like to know if they are true and based on any scientific facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;stretching before and after abs workout prevents it from being asymmetrical.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;stretch after thigh workouts helps to make them slim instead of muscular. Asian girls consider that slim is beauty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;stretch after workouts reduce muscle pain and decrease recover time. I mean the days muscle consume protein and heal its fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19274" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-03-12T16:10:52.227" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T19:14:08.587" Title="Can stretching add symmetry to the abs or make legs slimmer and reduce muscle pain after workouts?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-12T07:10:19.243" Score="-4" ViewCount="788" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband has been icing his balls (testicles) and has seen some gains. He says that he gained 10 lbs. on his bench or more within a week by icing his balls everyday. I am a woman and wonder if there's an equivalency to this for women, or a similar way where icing of the gonads can benefit us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &quot;icing&quot; I mean dipping them inside a glass of ice water for 10-20 minutes a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can women get the same benefit of this as men?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25059" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T12:58:38.417" Title="Icing the balls for a woman?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33582" CreationDate="2017-03-12T16:59:35.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While stretching does have some benefits, it does not appear to affect symmetry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abdominals tend to be a somewhat difficult muscle group to develop for most people.  Part of the reason is that abs seem to be one of those muscle groups that tend to be more affected by nutrition and compensation. By compensation, I mean that we all have a dominant “side” of the body.  We tend to work one side more than the other.  While there's no evidence that stretching will affect symmetry, there is value in working the abdominals &lt;strong&gt;equally&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, there's no evidence that stretching will “slim” the legs.  In fact, if your workout induces hypertrophy (muscle gain), stretching will not affect the increase in muscle mass.  And, while you can't spot reduce any particular body part, your best approach is to follow a consistent nutritional plan that provides enough calories to support your training goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some initial evidence that stretching does aide in reducing soreness.  A study in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1250267/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Journal of Athletic Training&lt;/a&gt; asked the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Among physically active individuals, does stretching before and after&#xA;  exercise affect muscle soreness and risk of injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study looked at the results of several other stretching studies to identify the potential benefits of stretching.  In its conclusion, the study indicated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“The data on stretching and muscle soreness indicate that, on average,&#xA;  individuals will observe a reduction in soreness of less than 2 mm on&#xA;  a 100-mm scale during the 72 hours after exercise.“&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the study questioned the significance of the the findings and went on further to say in its conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“In summary, the results of this review do not support the role of&#xA;  pre-exercise or postexercise stretching as an intervention addressing&#xA;  postexercise muscle soreness.“&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It concluded that more significant research needs to be done to further quantify any benefit from stretching.  In my opinion, since there does not appear to be any &lt;strong&gt;detrimental&lt;/strong&gt; effect from stretching after a workout, I'll continue to stretch as part of my post training sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about asymmetry, I'd suggest you take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicaldaily.com/human-body-anatomy-and-physiology-asymmetrical-symmetrical-embryo-371024&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anatomy And Physiology: Human Body Becomes Asymmetrical After Embryo Develops Differences&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;, a short Ted Talk that does a nice job explaining asymmetry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T16:59:35.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33578" CreationDate="2017-03-12T17:20:53.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weight training injuries tend to occur due to muscular overuse.  Having said that, there are some exercises that should be contraindicated for some people.  In your example, the behind the neck press has certainly been indicated as a potential injury maker.  I think the key to your question is the phrase &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“...done repeatedly over a number of years”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, any exercise has the potential to cause injury even with proper form.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/313121-overview&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overuse Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; tends to occur after repeated trauma to muscular tissue.  Overuse Syndrome becomes more of an issue as we age.  Aging adults tend to require more recovery time.  That sometimes does not happen between training sessions.  Add repetitive motion to the mix for muscle tissue that has not fully recovered and you have the potential for an overuse injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, for one, try to change my training on a four to six week cycle specifically to avoid repetitive motions. But, also to introduce new exercise movements that hopefully continue to assist in my training goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T17:20:53.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-12T19:10:53.297" Score="0" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing abs workout (7 minute app workout 1-2 per day) for &quot;that slightly muscular sexy abs&quot; for 2 month now, but I don't really see any visual progress and this makes me really sad =(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I change my workout / do it more / try more strict diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to to check my progress (to keep my motivation and to be sure I am on the right way)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1,75m / 80kg / broad shoulders type&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25061" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T19:32:45.213" Title="Am I doing abs workout right and how should I check my progress?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33586" CreationDate="2017-03-12T19:32:45.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that getting bigger abs isn't going to give you &lt;em&gt;visible&lt;/em&gt; abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your abdominal muscles are situated behind a layer of fat, which makes them invisible. Any amount of ab workouts isn't going to help you unless you reduce your belly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I change my workout / do it more / try more strict diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes / no / YES.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to get rid of fat is to take control of your diet. And your workout routine should include your entire body, and not just one part of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any workout program that targets only abs, is a &lt;em&gt;supplemental&lt;/em&gt; program. Not a full program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T19:32:45.213" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33601" CreationDate="2017-03-12T22:36:09.653" Score="1" ViewCount="448" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lady in late 30s, wishes to train for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spartan.com/en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spartan Race&lt;/a&gt; to compete in about two years (slow and steady wins the race)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I can&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;perform 108 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spartan.com/en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sun Salutations&lt;/a&gt; in one sitting (takes an hour)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ride on Stationary Bike at maximum tension (that I can tolerate) for about an hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jog in apartment for an hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;max pushups I can do is 2 sets of three&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lift 5lb leg weights (various exercises, currently 2 sets of 3 reps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lift 8lb free weights (especially trying to strengthen deltoid)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried Burpees and for past few days can manage to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://physicalliving.com/5-beginner-level-burpee-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Level 3 burpees&lt;/a&gt;, 2 sets of 3 reps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish to work myself up to Level 5 burpees, i.e. including push-up and jump-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many Level 3 Burpees should I comfortably do before I attempt Level 5 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I attempt Level 5 burpees right away, even if it's only one or two per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And how many Level 5 burpees should I do per day to give strength and endurance for successfully competing in Spartan Race or in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15909" LastEditorUserId="15909" LastEditDate="2017-03-14T15:20:32.677" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T08:46:05.000" Title="What preparation and fitness level is required to be able to complete a 'Spartan Sprint' obstacle run" Tags="&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33305" CreationDate="2017-03-13T11:22:11.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are already really flexible - which should make this easier! I actually have the same struggle (only that I am less flexible lol) but my right side is definitely way more flexible than my left side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I decided to now work on my weak side with help of my favorite stretch - after generally warming up my back, I go for the standing scorpion (or yours might already be more of a needle) just for my weak side. Also you could use a wall placing your bad leg up as in needle pose while your other leg has the knee resting on the wall (foot leaning up the wall) and push your body up with your hands on the floor. You can also practice pigeon pose just with your bad side. Even doing your split on the floor while leaning back - pretty much every one sided back bend exercise will do while you just focus for a while to invest more time and effort on your bad side rather than the good one! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25067" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-03-13T12:36:46.833" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T12:36:46.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-13T18:36:00.187" Score="4" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is an &quot;active lifestyle&quot; enough activity for maintaining health? For example, I don't do any sports. However, five times a week I cycle to work (about 20-25 minutes one way, very slow pace), almost never take the lift and do yoga/pilates once a week. I used to go to the gym but I stopped a few months ago, because of lack of time. At first I thought I'm doing something wrong, but maybe just cycling and occasional activity is enough? I don't need to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25069" LastActivityDate="2018-11-10T07:11:04.060" Title="Working out vs. active lifestyle" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33590" CreationDate="2017-03-14T09:54:12.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good health outcomes generally come from cardiovascular exertion,  I think the recommended minimum is 3x20 mins /week. Your slow cycle to work is better than nothing but I'd suspect your heart rate isn't elevated much. The stairs probably does raise your hr,  but not for long. There are hormonal benefits of lifting weights and a multitude of health benefits from achieving regular intensive cardio. &#xA;Is it enough to maintain your fitness level,    well,  that depends on how fit you are. The fitter you are the harder you'll need to work to maintain it. Turn that bike ride into something that gets your heart rate into the 70% of your Max and it might be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25053" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T09:54:12.080" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33583" CreationDate="2017-03-14T12:58:38.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on a bit of research, it seems that the reasoning for the practice of icing testicles is to boost testosterone. The evidence is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thebroscientist.com/bullshit-cold-showers-youve-told-far/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;very shaky&lt;/a&gt; with most scientific papers actually being about cold water immersion, and the evidence seeming to show that it lowers testosterone production and boosts cortisol, which is counter to gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One thing is clear at the moment of this writing (November 2015).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There is no scientific evidence of a testosterone boosting effect caused by cold-water exposure.​&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Scientific data seem to report a lowering of testosterone levels upon cold-water exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what does help with boosting testosterone? Well, outside of taking artificial hormones, &lt;a href=&quot;http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1129/Ten_Rules_For_Raising_Testosterone_for_a_Stronger,_Leaner_Body.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the following seem to help&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise intensely&lt;/strong&gt; - This is probably a no-brainer since the reason why you want to boost testosterone is to increase gains, but sprints and weightlifting have a positive effect on testosterone production.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proper diet&lt;/strong&gt; - Low carbs, high animal protein, high fat, and reduced sugar are all positively correlated with increased testosterone. And, of course, fruits and vegetables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduce stress&lt;/strong&gt; - Stress reduces testosterone and cortisol also reduces gains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get sufficient amounts of sleep&lt;/strong&gt; - Sleep is an important part of how your body builds strength. This also helps with the stress levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduce your alcohol consumption&lt;/strong&gt; - Alcohol can have negative effects on testosterone, and muscle growth in particular.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that none of this quite fits with wanting a quick-and-easy solution, but it is what works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T12:58:38.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9684" CreationDate="2017-03-14T15:55:05.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the most important elements to a great gym mat are durability, grip, comfort, and size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoga and pilates mats are great for posing and stretching.  But if you're looking for something for cardio and bodyweight exercises, it's really nice to have something larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought a 7' x 5' Gorilla Mat that I absolutely love.  It not spongy thick, but really makes working out on my hardwood floor comfortable.  And I can do any exercise without worrying about staying on the mat.  It's huge!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link on Amazon: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01MSU203S&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Large Exercise Mat&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Extra-Large-Exercise-Mat/dp/B01MSU203S&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25073" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-05-19T21:42:02.197" LastActivityDate="2019-05-19T21:42:02.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="33594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33572" CreationDate="2017-03-14T17:31:38.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working out six days a week, week in and week out seems to me like it could be a problem. Your body needs time to rest as well. I think at the very least if you are pushing yourself to new goals you should work one day and rest the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out three times a week has always been the sweet spot for me. You can then always ramp up the exercise for a short term goal and then rest a full week. More is not always better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is your goal then loosing some weight may do you well. I certainly was never going to do a pull up when I weighed 130 kg but now that I weigh 105 kg a pull up is much more of achievable ambition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25074" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T17:31:38.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33546" CreationDate="2017-03-14T17:50:05.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can personally tell you that to get your metabolism out of a catatonic state is not easy. You have started excercising and this is good but for long term weight loss you have to eventually start feeding your body in a new manner. Your body is waking up. You are busy telling it that you expect it to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find that if you keep on exercising you will devlop an appetite that is unlike the one you had before. If you listen to your body and eat when you are hungry you will start feeding it in a better manner. Keep to the proteins, if you do eat carbs make sure it is complex carbs, avoid filler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also working out six days a week is not good. A days rest is just as good as a days work. You may find that your muscle is not building because you dont give it any chance to build. You need rest in between workouts as well. More is not always better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25074" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T17:50:05.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33443" CreationDate="2017-03-14T18:05:19.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should definately wear gloves when you lift weights, you will get calloused fingers if your lift with your bare hands. I think that a lot of problems people have with weights come from being over ambitious. Have reasonable goals with your weight in mind and have a structured plan as to how you would achieve those goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you as a woman what to bench 50 kg. Start of with 5 or 10 kg when you get comfy with that weight gradually start adding more. Dont be hasty and be willing to go down in weight if you think any weight is too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dont do weights to impress anyone, it is better to do it purely for self-enrichment. Dont feel like you have anything to prove to anyone but yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We as people in modern society have so many things that give people a false sense of achievement, let this be a real one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25074" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T18:05:19.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33546" CreationDate="2017-03-14T18:33:37.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you want to lose weight but my advice is to set non body image goals and find exercises you enjoy most. For example being able to lift higher weights or do a certain yoga move. Making excercise something you do for you and not your body image will keep you heathier as it becomes a habit. You're doing great ! A number on the scale is just that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25075" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T18:33:37.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33572" CreationDate="2017-03-14T20:49:59.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pull-ups are a fantastic exercise but it is a hump to get over before you can do them. If your gym has an assisted machine, try that. Or just place a chair behind where your bar is, hang from the bar then bend your knees and place your toes on the chair, and try the pull up giving yourself &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; enough assistance to complete the movement. If you are using your toes to make contact with the chair, you won't be able to give yourself too much help anyway. This will also build the coordination you need to do this compound move. Do the move in a controlled way, 2 seconds up, 2 seconds down. Work your way up to 5x5 like this, then take the chair away and you should be able to do at least 1x5. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also say that your volume is far too high. Cut back to 4 days a week and cut out some of the isolation exercises - focus on the compound moves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19987" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T20:49:59.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-14T21:09:36.410" Score="1" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard often things like guys bragging about having super-high libidos and how that explained why they're jacked and huge. The idea is that super-high libido in men is probably correlated with higher than average testosterone. For example, things like having an orgasm, but being up and ready to do it again (doesn't get &quot;worn down&quot; by sexual activity). I don't know about women -- maybe it's the same, but this is aimed more at males. Does a high-libido mean more test/muscle building potential?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or can a guy with low sex-drive be jacked, but a guy with a high-drive be a notorious hard-gainer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they that tightly correlated? Sex drive and muscle? I ask because I have a higher sex drive than most men and I barely gain muscle with proper training, rest, diet, and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By 'high sex drive' I mean having sex and/or masturbating 3-5 times per day, every single day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25076" LastActivityDate="2017-03-16T02:20:32.923" Title="Libido correlated with muscle-potential?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33604" CreationDate="2017-03-14T23:40:15.903" Score="3" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I current train for flat water kayak racing by doing 2 or 3 long days (2-4 hours) a week, 2 or 3 normal intervals (1-1.5 hours), and 1 or 2 rest days. But I've been able to do that because I work flexible hours. My flexible hour job is about to come to an end and I'm worried if I get a &quot;9-5&quot; type job, I won't have enough daylight to do longer workouts on work days. So I'm wondering if I can accomplish the same thing by doing my long days on the weekend, rest Mondays and Fridays and doing three consecutive HIIT days on Tues-Thu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25077" LastActivityDate="2017-03-16T11:14:15.733" Title="Doing HIIT instead of longer workouts" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33588" CreationDate="2017-03-15T08:46:05.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The Run:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Spartan Sprint race is 3+ miles and 20 obstacles. Compared to similar obstacle runs they run quite short with a less focus on running and more on the obstacles blocking your path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, &lt;strong&gt;you should be able to run 3-5 miles comfortably.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The Obstacles:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The race organisers don't release a full list of all the obstacles but do provide a breakdown of the standard obstacles that you will need to complete to progress. If you fail to complete a obstacle you will be required to complete a number of burpees before you can continue the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We strongly discourage skipping obstacles without attempting them, as it is unfair to others that do attempt them. Plus, aren't the obstacles the point of doing an obstacle course race?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you attempt an obstacle that you simply cannot overcome there is a mandatory set of burpees that you must complete before moving on. This is the case with ALL obstacles. That can add up to a lot of burpees - so try hard to complete those obstacles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a video of the burpee you need to complete. It aligns to the level 5 on your question. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4C_dYKzMAI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4C_dYKzMAI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spartan Race FAQ: &lt;a href=&quot;https://spartanrace.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202334438-Can-I-skip-an-obstacle-Is-there-a-penalty-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://spartanrace.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202334438-Can-I-skip-an-obstacle-Is-there-a-penalty-&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a full obstacle guide go here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spartan.com/en/race/race-types/race-types-overview?article=31569#survival_form&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.spartan.com/en/race/race-types/race-types-overview?article=31569#survival_form&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Atlas Stone&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A round concrete ball, slightly larger than a basket ball and probably around the 20kg mark (does not clearly state weight but looks like that weight based on my experience of stones).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pickup the stone at start flag.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carry it to the opposite flag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put stone down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 5 Burpees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Return Stone to Starting flag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This event requires you to be able to perform the 5 burpees as well.Failure penalty is 30 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To practice for this I would suggest grabbing a big, heavy, awkward object (medicine ball works well) and trying to replicate the ~50ft there-and-back walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Barbed Wire Crawl&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does what it say on the tin, get on your belly and crawl under barbed wire. There is no failure penalty, you are disqualified if you cannot complete the obstacle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To practice this, build up to sets of 50ft bear/belly crawl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bucket Brigade&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a standard (solid) garden bucket and fill it with gravel. Now carry that gravel around a course (there will be a hill/slope) and back without putting it on your shoulders, head or neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fail the obstacle you keep repeating until you succeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practicing this is pretty easy if you have access to gravel and a bucket. Otherwise practice carrying weight in the &amp;quot;hug&amp;quot; position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fire Jump&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jump over the fire or do 30 burpees. This is a mental challenge more than anything, you won't catch alight so just take a quick running jump. Try not to kick the wall of fire (around a foot high).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure how you can practice this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hurc Hoist&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rope is attached to a weight and goes up and back down over a pully. You pull the rope to lift the weight up and then gently lower it back down. The weight is not insignificant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Penalty for failure or dropping the weight is 30 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice by doing pulling movements in the gym any movement where you pull weight downward will be useful: lat pulldowns or pull ups or a similar machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Over and Thru&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You jump over the wall, crawl under the second then pull yourself thru the third wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A local park may have obstacles that are helpful there to practice the movements on. Otherwise, practicing pull ups to help with first wall will be helpful potentially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Penalty is 30 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rope Climb&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start in a pool of mud and climb 16ft up a rope already covered in mud to ring a bell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really hard. It required a technique to ensure you can hook and use your feet and it requires a lot of strength to hoist yourself up. Being on the lighter side of bodyweight so that your power-to-weight ration is good would help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with a lot of the previous exercises, the failure penalty is 30 burpees and the best way to practice would be pull-ups and actually practicing the movement on a rope (your local crossfit gym might be able to help).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Spear Throw&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one is a bit of a gimmick, you throw a spear at a target. Sounds easy? WRONG.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually very difficult to do technically well and you have to throw the spear very hard and very accurately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Penalty (most fail) is 30 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look up technique videos and start throwing sticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Transverse Wall&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You work your way round a makeshift climbing wall sideways. Faster is better as your grip wont get tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice by doing this at a local climbing centre in their bouldering area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Penalty is 30 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tyrolean Traverse&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is as hard, if not harder, than the rope climb. A rope is stretched out over a body of water and you pull yourself along it to ring a bell at the end. Then you drop into the water and swim to the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice: Make sure you can swim a length or two comfortably. At this stage you will be tired so the swim should not be the obstacle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heck if I know how to practice the movement of crawling along a rope. This is a very hard movement. Being able to move your bodyweight and remain balanced is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Penalty is 30 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wall Jump&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jump over a wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice this by jumping squats, jumping, pulling yourself up. A park near you might have a wall for practicing on. Pull ups are helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Penalty is 30 burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Summary&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit of maths, at 20(+) obstacles with a standard of 30 burpees on each fail you could have to complete 500 burpees over the course of the run. The run is not timed and you may be able to complete the obstacles and thus prevent yourself having to do the burpees but be prepared for around 90-250 &amp;quot;level 5&amp;quot; burpees on the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend doing level '5' burpees as soon as possible, building up to being able to complete 5-8 sets of 40 repetitions. Build it into workouts such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Cycle for 10 calories (@ max effort)&#xA;40 burpees&#xA;Cycle for 20 calories&#xA;30 burpees&#xA;Cycle for 30 calories&#xA;20 burpees&#xA;Cycle for 40 calories&#xA;10 burpees&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preferably you should be running instead of cycling. Cycling can help build your cardiovascular system but you will need to do some running to prepare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also recommend you should be able to comfortably complete at the very least 5 bodyweight pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T08:46:05.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33600" CreationDate="2017-03-15T08:47:27.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course you can. HIIT is very good for you and should be part of your normal workout regime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your program of fitness sounds pretty good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T08:47:27.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33572" CreationDate="2017-03-15T08:59:33.740" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;however I am lifting heavy weight and also doing lots of push ups&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets have a look at the movements that would help with being able to achieve a pull up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups - Unable to do it properly even a single one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behind the neck lat pull down - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 34kg to 44kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse grip front lat pull down - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 39kg to 49kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent over barbell row - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 20kg to 30kg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight arm standing lat pulldown - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 29kg to 34kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated Cable Row - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 39kg to 49kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Closest to a pull-up is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behind the neck lat pull down - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 34kg to 44kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Closest to a chin-up is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse grip front lat pull down - 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 39kg to 49kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those weights put you around 60-70kg for your 1 rep max. Try loading up the lat-pulldown with your bodyweight and try completing the exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To complete a pull up you want to work from an &quot;active hang&quot;. hang relaxed from the bar and then firm your abs and pull your lats down and back. Try to bend the ends of the bar away from yourself and squeeze your lats to give yourself some movement off the dead-hang position. Relax and repeat for reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to always pull-up from this active hang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great progression for how to move from leg assisted, jack-knife, cccentric, half and then full pull-ups: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/pull-up-progression.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/pull-up-progression.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T08:59:33.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33600" CreationDate="2017-03-15T09:01:20.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can perform 3 consecutive HITT training sessions with no problem but you need to pay maximum attention to your diet and resting period for a good recovery for the next HITT session, otherwise you may not get as much benefit from the exercise as you expect. On the other hand, the longer the exercise the longer the recovery.(you need to rest at least 2-3 days to recover from long runs). Have fun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="25053" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T11:14:15.733" LastActivityDate="2017-03-16T11:14:15.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33608" CreationDate="2017-03-15T17:00:04.513" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've entered a 100 Mile Cycling Sportive (that takes place in July 4 months to train) I intend to ride it on a singlespeed (non fixed gear) road bike. (with a gear ratio of 43-16)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be the second century ride I've done, but the first real distance I've done on singlespeed. I love the challenge and the simplicity of singlespeed riding so please no answers advising using a geared road bike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently train a progressive overload hypertrophy/strength 5 day split, and also go for a 30+ mile cycle on each Sunday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rough outline of my routine is below please note, not all excercises/warmups/warmdowns/stretches are listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mon - Back (e.g. Pullups, Rows, Deadlifts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tue - Chest (e.g. Bench, incline bench, weighted dips)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed - Legs (e.g. Squats, Leg Press, farmers walk, lunges)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thurs - Arms (e.g. Curls, pushdowns, skullcrushers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fri - Shoulders/Core/Auxiliary (military presses, planks, forearms &amp;amp; calves)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sat - Rest &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sun - Cycle (30+ mile singlespeed ride with a few taxing climbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I feel my cns can take quite a good beating and currently day to day I'm not fatigued and generally recover well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My nutrition is generally good - Lots of protein lots of nutrient rich vegetables and lots of low gi carbs, and I also get plenty of sleep each night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also supplement the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5g creatine monohydrate in water per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2x Omega3 fish oil gel caps and 1x multi vit per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A pre and post workout protein shake &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and I have an espresso (no sugar) as a pre workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also fuel properly while cycling long distances (one water bottle &amp;amp; one gel per hour on average depending on intensity/outside wind/temperature) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this. How can I effectively incorporate cycling training into my current routine to enable me to comfortably complete the 100 mile sportive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&#xA;Should I increase frequency of cycling and reduce time in gym?&#xA;should I increase time in gym but focus on including cardio?&#xA;Should I keep gym the same but add additional cycling training?&#xA;Should I alter my low rep high load strength focused training to hi rep low weight endurance based approach?&#xA;Should I rest more/less?&#xA;Will my work in the gym improve or hinder lactate threshold?&#xA;Should my long ride be spaced further away from squat day to increase recovery time?&#xA;etc etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also any tips on climbing steep gradients on singlespeed are welcomed :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23668" LastActivityDate="2017-03-16T06:17:50.633" Title="Incorporating singlespeed cycling training into current freeweight routine." Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33599" CreationDate="2017-03-16T02:20:32.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The association is poorly researched but this study concludes Libido and T concentrations are strongly related at the population level. However, the value of individual patient reports of reduced libido as indicators of low T levels is open to question.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16670164&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16670164&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes sense because sex drive is influenced by a wide variety of psychological and physiological factors  depression,  self esteem etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is obviously an association between testosterone levels and ones ability to gain muscle but there are no studies directly correlating muscle size to libedo.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's  worth noting that endurance exercise however is correlated with a lower libido &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28195945&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28195945&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25053" LastActivityDate="2017-03-16T02:20:32.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33606" CreationDate="2017-03-16T06:17:50.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any cycling background but I did mix endurance training (running) and strength training at some point.&#xA;The thing is you can't be good at everything. So I would suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I Reduce to a minimum what you don't need for you current goal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dedicating one day just for chest, another one for arms and another one for shoulders is definitely overkill for this prep. &#xA;I would suggest putting all this in one day a week. Focus on the main movements to maintain strength/size depending on what is most important to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;II More cycling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you're preparing for a cycling event, you need to up your cycling frequency, both to get better at cycling and improving your endurance. &#xA;I would suggest you &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B015QFXOBA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;this read&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Ben Greenfield. He suggests (among a lot of other things) that for endurance training, athletes should do 80% endurance work and 20% HIIT. For a 5-days a week cycling plan, that would mean 4 endurance sessions and one HIIT a week. &#xA;Endurance sessions should be longer or shorter depending on the training that day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III Keep the Squat and Deadlit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would never recommend someone to stop squatting or deadlifting in preparation for this kind of endurance event. Having powerful hamstrings will definitely help you produce more force.&#xA;However it seems like having only one hard day of training a week for each would be very tiring and less productive than splitting than into 2 workouts and do less each time, allowing for more efficiency when cycling after.&#xA;Studies tend to show that higher frequencies work better than once a week.&#xA;I would suggest you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strengtheory.com/the-new-approach-to-training-volume/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;this article&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; if you are interested in knowing which rep range to use and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IV The split&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I would do. Any modification is welcome:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 1&lt;/em&gt;: - Squat Max effort (wider stance for more hamstrings and glutes)&#xA;- Medium cycling session (whatever you find medium is for you)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 2&lt;/em&gt;: - Long cycling session&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 3&lt;/em&gt;: - Chest, arms, shoudlers, back. Focus on the main variations. Bench Press, Incline, OHP, Push press, Pullups, Rows... Just 4 sets of Bench Press, Push press, Pullups and superset curls with triceps extensions for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 4&lt;/em&gt;: HIIT session&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 5&lt;/em&gt;: Squat and Stiff Legged Deadlifts for volume (3*5 + 3*15 for example)&#xA;Short cycling session&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 6&lt;/em&gt;: Long cycling session&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 7&lt;/em&gt;: Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you can get plenty of rest, maintain strength and size where it doesn't matter now, get a bit stronger where it's important and improve you endurance a whole lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I would suggest aiming very low at the beginning of the prep when it comes to the length of the cycling sessions and weights on squats and deadlifts. &#xA;Start easy and do more and more over the weeks to make sure your body is adapting to the higher frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helped you somehow.&#xA;Best of luck for your event !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastActivityDate="2017-03-16T06:17:50.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33572" CreationDate="2017-03-17T00:08:55.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ex-competitive swimmer here, speaking from personal experience.  Pull-ups/chin-ups were something I found easy in my competitive years, but coming back to the gym after many sedentary years, I was in a world of hurt after about 3-4 pullups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Linear progression is what i found worked for me - start light, add weight each workout, don't compromise recovery by trying to do too much, and ditch the ego.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem seems to be too much volume, and little/no progression.  Doing the same weight/reps week in/week out will get you nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get stronger, you need to increase the weight each workout. For pull/chinups - concentrate on the lat pulldowns and rows, and check your form otherwise you're risking injury. Bring your volume down a bit, maybe to 4-6 reps, but you must increase the weight each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example if you can hit 4-6 reps for all your sets at 44kg, go up one increment in your next workout.  If you complete all reps for each set, move up again, and again and again until you hit your body weight.  If you fail to complete a rep, that's fine - try again next workout.  Only move up if you complete all reps/sets. If you fail 3x in a row, deload by 10% and start again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll take a few weeks, but stick to it, keep progressing and don't be in a hurry for gains. You'll get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally when you reach body weight on the lat pulldowns, ditch machine altogether and move to the pull up bar, again looking for the same progression - use a dip belt to attach weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a slow process over many weeks/months, but you're in this for life, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I suggest looking at your program - you're a beginner, so there's no need to do so much volume and isolation work.  Look at swapping out this &quot;bodybuilder's&quot; routine for a linear progression 5x5 program like stronglifts or starting strength, stick to it and watch the numbers grow.  These programs have been around for a while, and are pretty popular, because they work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25083" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T00:08:55.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-17T08:11:53.873" Score="3" ViewCount="450" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Gym has no Squat rack so I have to do the squats with lower weights. I'm following a classic PPL program and my 5 rep maxes are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;BP: 65kgx5&#xA;DL: 100kgx5&#xA;OHP: 45kgx5&#xA;Bent Over Row: 60kgx5&#xA;Squat: 75kgx5 :(&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to try using Smith-machine for squat, do you think is it a good solution? Or should I start doing Leg-press instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25097" LastEditorUserId="25097" LastEditDate="2018-04-04T11:56:15.123" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T21:41:12.507" Title="How to get rid off Squat Anxiety?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33610" CreationDate="2017-03-17T08:15:51.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The smith machine is not a substitute for a squat rack, unfortunately. If you have no way of getting the bar onto your shoulders, you might be better off doing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.no/search?q=goblet%20squat&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=vid&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiSwKiyjN3SAhWH2CwKHYioC3IQ_AUICSgC&amp;amp;biw=1148&amp;amp;bih=951&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Goblet Squats&lt;/a&gt; instead, either with a kettlebell, or dumbbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, you could supplement that with leg press, to get the more heavy stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T08:15:51.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33610" CreationDate="2017-03-17T09:00:13.300" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try and avoid smith machine squats for the time being. They take away a lot of the supporting strength from traditional barbell squats, and lock you into a very linear movement (i.e. up and down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also avoid the leg press as your main lower body movement, as it doesn't involve the spinal erectors as traditional squats do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you could consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulgarian split squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front squats from a clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of the above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years back Mike Boyle famously (infamously?) &lt;a href=&quot;https://strengthcoachblog.com/2015/04/14/why-we-dont-squat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;stopped his athletes squatting&lt;/a&gt; and instead concentrated on Bulgarian split squats (aka rear foot elevated split squats). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dan John has written extensively about the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&amp;amp;ion=1&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#q=dan%20john%20goblet%20squat&amp;amp;*&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;benefits of goblet squats&lt;/a&gt;, if you think they're easy, grab a 50kg dumbbell and knock out a few sets of 20 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunges, although occasionally given a bad rap as something 80's lycra clad aerobics class attendees would do, are an amazing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&amp;amp;ion=1&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#safe=off&amp;amp;q=lunges%20for%20strength%20training&amp;amp;*&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;strengthening exercise&lt;/a&gt;. Again, if you think they're easy, grab a couple of 30kg dumbbells and do walking lunges the length of your gym. Then turn round and do the same back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pistol squats, overhead squats and step ups I'd put more as accessory work / assistance lifts, but they're still very useful and valid squat alternatives (pistols can be difficult to load, overhead squats can be quite technically complex and step ups require something sturdy to step up onto).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front squats from a clean (because you don't have a squat rack) are a possibility, but there is a significant learning curve to the clean movement, meaning that other options may be better for basic strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T09:00:13.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-17T16:53:43.363" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my right shoulder tear while doing a Bicep Preacher exercise. I have been off from the gym since February. I have pain only during motion, but after two months, I think I have the same intensity of pain. Can anybody guide me on how long it takes for healing? I don't have any swelling or bleeding, but the pain is, I think, the same since from that first day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consulted with an orthopedist. He told me to leave off on the gym for two weeks, but it's been almost two months that I have not gone to the gym. Is there anything I can add to my diet to improve my healing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25100" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-03-21T12:55:38.117" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T12:55:38.117" Title="Shoulder muscle problem" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2017-03-21T15:04:39.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="43639" CreationDate="2017-03-18T20:42:57.003" Score="0" ViewCount="2013" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're doing both, should you use a roller to massage your muscles first, stretch first, or does it not matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My routine includes trying to do this twice a day which includes after running, biking, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-03T12:12:22.793" LastActivityDate="2021-03-17T00:50:15.513" Title="Should you massage then stretch or stretch then massage your muscles?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;foam-rolling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33570" CreationDate="2017-03-18T20:59:16.010" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;VO2 max is the amount of oxygen available for energy burn and is associated with runs that are shorter than 5-8 minutes total. Anything longer than this your body must deal with lactate acid buildup in your muscles. In other words I think its fair to say its good predictor for sprints assuming you are actually prepared and have been training to do this type of running. Most, if not all, of these predictors cannot be used alone to predict times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe a 12 minute test can better predict how fast you can run the 10k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get your body clearing up lactate better you need to do runs faster than, at the same as, and just slower than your lactate threshold pace about 1-2 times a week. Easy runs or cross training between with one 2-3 hour jog every 1-4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lactate threshold is definitely the most likely factor limiting your 10k speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy your 10k(s)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T20:59:16.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33610" CreationDate="2017-03-18T22:54:56.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Smith Machine isn't ideal, but in your circumstance, it's better than nothing. I think it is more important to do the movement safely since you don't have a rack to accommodate using heavy weight. You will still get leg, hip and back work unlike leg presses and leg extension/curls alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supplement it with other alternative leg exercises with some emphasis on free movement alternative, lunges, front squats, etc. This will help with core and athletic movements requiring balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25109" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T22:54:56.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33610" CreationDate="2017-03-19T19:01:53.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is a real bummer that the gym doesn't have a power rack.  I'm not sure that it could be called a &quot;real&quot; gym if it doesn't have one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a serious note, are you able to find a gym that does have a power rack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Performing a real squat is about the best single exercise you can do.  When it comes to single exercises, a barbell squat is the king, and the deadlift is the queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess a Smith Machine is okay if that is the only thing, but it still pales in comparison to the real squat.  First off, the Smith Machine, is exactly that, a machine; so it moves in an unnatural movement path.  Secondly, a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19855308&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;real squat activates up to 43% more muscle fiber&lt;/a&gt; compared to Smith Machine, all other things being equal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A leg press, depending on its configuration isn't a suitable replacement for a real squat either.  This might be opinion to some, but a leg press doesn't garner the same &lt;a href=&quot;https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/new-study-pits-barbell-squats-against-leg-press-machine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hormonal response&lt;/a&gt; (test and growth hormone) than a deep barbell squat.  Further, your lower back (lumbar) can be put into a compromising position (rounding), and that gets worse as the weight starts to get really heavy (rounding and compression).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A side note: Check out the book &lt;a href=&quot;https://smile.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or very similar program, &lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;StrongLifts.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T19:01:53.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33582" CreationDate="2017-03-19T19:14:08.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you state symmetry of the abdominals, I assume you mean whether they're staggered or their shape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is your question, abdominals are genetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T19:14:08.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33579" CreationDate="2017-03-19T19:20:22.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that you have overdeveloped your anterior muscles relative to the antagonistic muscles, meaning your glutes, hammies, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consider some barbell training by performing squats and deadlifts at a relatively moderate weight.  Both of these exercises are full body events, but they do put a significant amount of stress on your core (abs, obliques, erectors) and every muscle waist down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T19:20:22.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33578" CreationDate="2017-03-19T19:41:37.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of opinion on performing shoulder presses, a divided school of thought if you will.  The only thing that I agree with about their statements on the shoulder press is the motion behind the neck.  There may be some that can get away with that motion and not incur negative effects, but they're probably exceptionally flexible in their shoulder girdle; however, this is an edge case, not the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shoulder press, as Mark will demonstrate below, is the single best exercise for overall shoulder/trap developement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Rippetoe on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnBmiBqp-AI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Shoulder Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't agree with them about the barbell row exercise either.  It is one thing if you have a pre-existing lower back injury relative to your lumbar vertebrae; otherwise, with proper form, this is one of the best exercises you can perform for your upper back musculature.  If you want to perform a similar exercise and want to yield a similar effect, then you can perform variations of the lying row without stressing your lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/lying-t-bar-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lying T-Bar Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/incline-bench-pull&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Incline Bench Pull&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-incline-row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dumbbell Incline Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd like to perform the barbell row as it was intended, check out th article and associated videos from Mehdi at StrongLifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/barbell-row/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbell Row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T19:41:37.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33509" CreationDate="2017-03-19T20:10:27.260" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A heart monitor is only one data point or piece of the puzzle when it comes to calculating energy expenditure.  Both the elliptical and heart monitor by themselves aren't going to be accurate, at least not in the sense you care about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, when you want to get a more accurate reading on calories burned, you need a device (fitness wearable, Fitbit, Garmin, etc.) that will accept several data points like: age, gender, weight, height, body fat percentage, etc.  With this information along with your heart rate will you paint a more accurate expenditure of energy.  Even with this information, it is still an estimate, but certainly better than a heart rate monitor or elliptical on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For perspective think of this:  you have two people that are 150 lbs, but one is 5'2&quot; and the other is 6'0&quot;.  Now put them both on the same exact program in an elliptical or recumbent bike.  The net result is both of their calorie expenditures are going to be different.  In this case, the 150 lb person at 5'2&quot; will have burned more calories.  They're overweight relative to their height and have to work harder to perform the same program as the 6'0&quot; 150lb person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing to think about is your body adapts and becomes more efficient at performing the same exercises.  For example, when you started running for 10 minutes, you might have burned 100 calories.  After a month, and performing that same exercise at the same speed, you're now only expending 80 calories over 10 minutes.  This can be further exacerbated by your diet if you're in a caloric deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note:  if you want to burn fat and sculpt your body, lift weights.  You burn more calories lifting weights than you do performing cardio.  One exception is HIIT, or high-intensity interval training.  It provides a similar effect that strength training provides, EPOC, or excess postexercise oxygen consumption.  This is a fancy series of words for something known as the afterburn effect.  Which means, you continue to burn calories 12-48 hours after the activity is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleforlife.com/high-intensity-interval-training-and-weight-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why High-Intensity Interval Training Is Best For Weight Loss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T20:10:27.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33359" CreationDate="2017-03-19T20:18:48.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I think if someone decided to spend years at ONLY deadlifting, you would have asymmetrical musculature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, deadlifting is one of the single best exercises you can perform.  However, your workout is incomplete as you need others to balance your physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to get away with the least amount possible and build a solid muscle base, then you would need to perform a series of exercises like barbell squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, and bentover rows.  A good argument could be made to add a few more exercises, but you can still build an impressive physique with just those 5 exercises a few days a week (this assumes you have proper programming and a proper diet in place).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T20:18:48.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33625" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-19T23:04:48.130" Score="0" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 years old and I have been working out for about 6 months. Over the first 3 months I've noticed some considerable changes in my muscles, but recently I haven't noticed many changes ( actually, muscles like my chest have been pretty inconsistent, and it's size has been varying). &#xA;Could it be my age that is limiting my gains? Or is it my routine or nutrition that are bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Routine:&#xA;Monday- workout &#xA;Tuesday - swimming&#xA;Wednesday - workout&#xA;Thursday - swimming&#xA;Friday- workout&#xA;Saturday and Sunday- I play volleyball and rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition - I eat considerably well, with 4 meals a day and protein shakes, but I don't measure exactly my macros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body info - &#xA;1,70m tall&#xA;65.5 kg &#xA;14% bf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24097" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T17:29:29.363" Title="Is muscle growth limited on teens" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-20T02:03:31.783" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question asks about whether or not anabolic steroids (test, tren, dianabol, inhibitors, insulin, HGH, etc.) are required to reach a specific level of strength or musculature. Some people, even medical experts, have told me that there are certain &quot;sizes&quot; that are only reachable with anabolics -- but some people (and there are plenty) claim they're natural and that these levels of musculature came through years of work. You also have people claiming that steroids/anabolics don't change genetics -- so you can't just take testosterone and look like Arnold Schwarzenegger even over a lifetime of training and perfect diet. This brings up a few interesting points that have no clear or reasonable answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there really a limit to how big someone can get (musculature) without steroids? Or does it just become so difficult to continue seeing progress that people just end up maintaining after a while?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If steroids don't change genetics, they can't change potential much, I've heard. If so, would it theoretically be possible to be IFBB level or elite bodybuilder without steroids, assuming the right genetics? Because if steroids DID alter DNA/genes in the muscles, clearly the opposite could be true -- that theoretically anyone COULD also affect how big they could truly get if no drugs were involved.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everyone on steroids won't be as big. Some guys take them with a lifetime of training and never get as big as some of those unbelievably large bodybuilders. If this is true, wouldn't that imply the fact that genetics CANNOT be changed too much with steroids? If so, genetic potential would be somewhat UNCHANGED -- so the &quot;end result&quot; would not be affected whether or not one DID steroids -- which could mean that, in theory, with good genetics, anyone can get &quot;huge&quot; without the need of steroids in general (since steroids may not actually help much in potential, but just speed up the initial process).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, would steroids change potential? If so, they would do something impossible to do naturally -- which implies they alter DNA/gene expression in muscle cells and synthesis/satellite cells/etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If steroids did NOT alter potential much, it implies you can get as BIG and STRONG as steroid users, in theory, assuming your genetics are &quot;right.&quot; That means steroids aren't &quot;required.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25118" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-03-21T12:59:10.680" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T12:59:10.680" Title="Are anabolic steroids required to achieve certain strength and musculature?" Tags="&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-03-21T15:24:41.933" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3991" CreationDate="2017-03-20T06:28:45.637" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yoga and Cardio both seem to be similar, but yoga is far better when compared to cardio as yoga helps in improving peace and concentration and also helps to overcome both physical and mental stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25120" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-03-21T12:56:54.350" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T12:56:54.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33625" CreationDate="2017-03-20T08:01:48.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fitness is a marathon, not a sprint&lt;/strong&gt;. 3 months may see some level of progress but provided you are exercising enough at high enough intensity on a regular basis and supporting muscle growth through a balanced and suitable diet, you will grow muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep taking photos and assess progress every 3 months using them. You may need more weight training stimulus or more food, its impossible to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T08:01:48.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-20T10:08:34.610" Score="0" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a member of a local gym which I attend three/four times at week, after my work schedule is finished. Lately I've been waking up early in the morning, early enough that I'm thinking to go at the gym in the morning before going to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout routine is quite standard, I do some cardio as warm up, then I lift weights, and some abs exercises in the end. By standard routine I mean I'm not one of those guys who have a &quot;massive&quot; body and &quot;massive&quot; strength (I'm in shape and I can lift enough and I'm happy with that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example where a &quot;tough guy&quot; could lift I don't know... 40 kg I could lift 28 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any kind of physical problems, literally I get there because I wanna keep my body in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how hard should I go for an early gym session. Is there anything I should keep in mind? Can I follow more or less the same routine (specifically in terms of intensity) I usually follows in the evening? Should I do more? Should I do less?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18401" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T22:23:23.690" Title="Going at the gym in early in the morning other than in the evening, how hard should I go?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33634" CreationDate="2017-03-20T12:22:11.307" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;To build a good running foundation, I come to know that I have to increase my weekly mileage (by avoiding injury). I found that I should do most (90%) of my run as easy.  Earlier, I use to push myself in every session to give my best time.  But now, I started running with 7km/hour speed for  5km unlike earlier where I need to push my self every day to run with Average speed 11.5km/hour. My PB for 10k(56:43min used strava) and 5k outdoor(27:28 used strava) Gym(25:55min treadmill). Will my current easy speed help me to build the good foundation?  How many days in a week should I run?  Current weekly mileage is 30KM and I want to increase to 70KM by increase 10% each week.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24530" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T13:04:55.530" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T14:41:14.360" Title="my easy run speed will help me or not?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-20T12:24:02.140" Score="0" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I calculate the VO2max on each split of a run using the formula from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/15608/energy-expenditure-calories-burned-equation-for-running/25564&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Would the VO2max estimate for the entire run be the mean of all the splits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25126" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.207" LastActivityDate="2019-04-24T17:31:36.093" Title="VO2 max per split vs per run" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33632" CreationDate="2017-03-20T14:41:14.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recovery runs are usually pitched at a &lt;a href=&quot;http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/rpe-scale-heart-health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rate of Perceived Exhaustion&lt;/a&gt; or &amp;quot;RPE&amp;quot; instead of specific paces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most 2-3 day-per-week running plans split the exercises up over a week into:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Rest&#xA;Easy Run&#xA;Rest&#xA;Training Run (Tempo/Fartlek/etc)&#xA;Rest&#xA;Rest&#xA;Long Run (normal/progression/fast-finish).&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the programmes increase to 4 and 5 times a week usually all that is added is more mileage at the &amp;quot;easy run&amp;quot; end of the RPE scale by swapping out the rests with more easy runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These easy runs should feel good, leave you energised and generally be around the 3-5 mark on the RPE scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I use a heart rate monitor to help me stay towards the lower-end of my heart rate zones. I have similar run stats to you and usually do my easy runs at around 6:30/km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to just experiment, try 7 and if it is too easy, bump up to 6:45, 6:30 until you find a happy place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Footnote: You are adding a lot of mileage on if you aim for 10% per week. I recommend you run for time, not distance, as you get more experienced you can run for longer and faster which will bring up your mileage more naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T14:41:14.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33630" CreationDate="2017-03-20T16:26:19.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer:&#xA;Go as hard as you can go!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long Answer:&#xA;The level of effort that you put in would depend on how much you've had to eat.  I found it easier sometimes when I lifted at night because I had eaten several meals before lifting heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have a difficult time not eating much, then hitting the gym and lifting weights as far as energy availability and focus is concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you can muster up the energy by eating early enough; your circadian rhythm and science shows it is better to work out in the morning hours.  Especially with high intensity as your test and growth hormone levels are naturally higher.  This is increased further by performing heavy compound exercises like squatting, deadlifting, bench pressing, shoulder pressing, or bent-over rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/best-time-to-work-out/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bayesian Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2681273/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NCBI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T16:26:19.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33625" CreationDate="2017-03-20T17:29:29.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer:&#xA;NO, your age is NOT limiting you...you are.  You are the in the beginning stages or the prime of your life, especially hormonally speaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to ask yourself some questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are your goals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you trying to build muscle mass?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you training to build cardiovascular endurance?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What time frame do you want to accomplish said goals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does your exercise program support your goals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does your diet support your goals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These questions are important because they give you a compass, a direction, and something to work toward.  Also, it gives you focus and perspective, you need to measure where you're at in your journey and where you want to end up.  If you don't have a starting and ending point, you have no frame of reference for measurement.  How do you know where you're going if you don't have a focused goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stating that you eat considerably well by eating 4 meals a day and drinking protein shakes doesn't define anything or mean that you actually &quot;are&quot; eating well.  Again, how do you know if you don't measure?  How do you know if your diet is well enough to support your goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when you say that you workout...what does that mean?  Are you on a program?  Are you performing specific exercises every day that you workout?  Do you keep a training log?  This is important so you know where you have been and what to do better the next time you perform those set of exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an example, with some quick math, and a general starting point for building muscle mass:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;65.5 KG (144 lbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;14% bf&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;56 KG (124 lbs) of Lean body mass (LBM)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1586 kcals - Basal metabolic rate (BMR)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2142 kcals - Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2356 kcals - Daily caloric intake (TDEE + 10% of TDEE)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;144 grams of protein&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;327 grams of carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;52 grams of fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These numbers are based on 4-6 hours of exercise a week.  If you workout more or your metabolism (this is subjective) is faster than average, then you need to increase your caloric intake.  You can get an idea of how well this diet is working by getting an average of your weight over 7-10 days.  If it isn't going up, then you add calories until it does.  Weigh yourself every day after going to the bathroom and keep an average.  You need a data point for comparison or you don't know if your changes are working. Realize that weight gain isn't necessarily always linear, it'll look like a stock market graph if you put your daily weight in a spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to add calories, do so at 50-100 kcals at a time, then wait for 7-10 days to see if your weight climbs.  Add calories to carbs and fat first, then consider protein later.  Typically, you'll want 1.1 to 1.3 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass - there is much debate over this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above coupled with a proper weight training program will yield incredible results at your age between now and high school graduation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T17:29:29.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-20T20:44:51.517" Score="1" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a pretty healthy 22 year old who has started eating better. I've been working out and being active for about 5 years, I weight 192 lbs and am 6'3''. I've decided that I want to get more defined abs but from what i'm reading on the internet it seems pretty impossible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I need to lose the fat on my stomach, but from what i've heard the stomach is the last place your body converts fat to energy. Since I can't lose fat specifically in my stomach, it seems i'd have to lose a lot of my current muscle and fat elsewhere before i'd lose it. Then after months of that I might be able to see some definition, and then i'd have to rebuild all the muscle I lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the answer i've determined from watching multiple youtube videos on the subject. Is this close to correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25129" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T23:06:28.937" Title="Can I get abs without losing muscle in other parts of my body?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33638" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-20T22:56:22.870" Score="2" ViewCount="727" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get the feeling if I don't drink protein shake after workout I feel low. Is it a mind thing or is it really a nutritional fact that hits the body? I usually don't go to gym and it has been 1 year since I could afford any supplements so I stopped it as I think I will be putting my body under stress if I don't have protein shake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really true or just my mind being lazy? What are the alternatives when one does not have protein powder to gulp down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T21:19:37.290" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T21:19:37.290" Title="Alternative to protein shake after gym" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33637" CreationDate="2017-03-20T23:06:28.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fortunately for you, you're wrong on almost every account. First of all, getting defined abs is certainly possible. Second, you cannot lose fat in different places on your body at different rates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/870/35&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/870/35&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, you can reduce the amount of body fat on your frame without losing muscle. Look at professional bodybuilders right before a competition for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you need new sources of information or you need to think more critically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting ripped abs happens in the kitchen, not the gym. You need to reduce your overall body fat percentage so that it's low enough to see your abs. The body fat percentage you need to accomplish this depends on the person. You actually don't need to exercise much to see your abs. Look at 9 year old boys that run around outside all summer for proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:48.920" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T23:06:28.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33626" CreationDate="2017-03-20T23:14:35.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is a natural genetic limit that everybody reaches. This is different depending on the person's age, gender, and genetic makeup.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Steroids allow your body to go beyond your natural genetic limit and approach your physiological limit - the point where your body simple cannot function at a given size. For example, Andre the Giant (who didn't take steroids) grew to such a large size that his organs and skeleton could not keep up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Correct. I've heard that all types of athletes can benefit from the effects of steroids, even long distance runners who obviously aren't hugely muscular. Steroids have a lot of effects on the body including a faster recovery. Body builders use this to build muscle, but other athletes use this to train longer, harder, and more often.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that steroids are not a magic button you can press to become swole. Even if you're on steroids you still have to put the time in at the gym or on the track to achieve your goal. Will you get there faster and go further than you would without steroids? Certainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T23:14:35.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33641" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-20T23:17:19.640" Score="2" ViewCount="9991" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started to exercise and eat healthy. I started following my macro intake and surprisingly I have been eating much less of my supposedly daily values (almost always short on protein about 80g and about 20g of fat). I'm in a caloric deficit of around 700cals since my goal is to lose body fat. I'm not sure if I should eat even if I am not hungry in order to reach my macros, or if not reaching my macros is fine (but then is the caloric deficit too high).I am concerned of what might be the side effects of not even reaching my macro intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using many youtubers and bodybuilding websites I have calculates my macros at:&#xA;Carbs= 205g&#xA;Fat= 80g&#xA;Protein= 200g&#xA;Calories= 2,340 cals&#xA;BMR= 3050 cals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 19 years old, 6'3&quot;, 225 bodyweight (around 200 lean body mass), and workout 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help will be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25130" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T18:14:46.353" Title="Effects of not eating all my macros?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33642" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-21T01:58:05.353" Score="3" ViewCount="483" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard of an old buddy that claimed he could aggressively lower bodyfat if needed (say he was feeling a teeny-bit chubby and wanted to get as &quot;firm and lean&quot; as quickly as possible, say for beach day) within 3-5 days. He says this can be done without muscle loss if you eat a protein surplus and eat above TDEE, but then do cardio excessively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He claims that the body will get &quot;fooled&quot; because it would have had a small period in which it was overly nourished (a surplus to feed muscles), but then you can aggressively do cardio to deplete fat stores while the body is still using the surplus of nutrients -- and then give it a 6-12 hours split and repeat, or flip  it backs (i.e., skip cardio and eat excessively -- next day, skip eating and cardio more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He says this works and he maintains muscle and can slim down 1-2 pounds on short notice and hide any belly bloat/lack of firmness from a possible big day or two of heavy eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bloating//belly can be reduced in 1-2 days with cardio and eating at or above TDEE with the beneficial addition of cardio and heavy abdominal work to tighten/firm the stomach and burn maybe 2 calories in the target region (yes, spot reduction is mostly not working, but long-term use still burns fat locally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, does this make sense? Does any evidence show this can generally work (outlined above)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because I might be going to the beach in a few weeks, but I've been slacking off exercising and eating a little too much junk -- and I got a teeny-bad case of belly bloat and want to look solid/firm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25131" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T11:31:52.707" Title="Can you aggressively lose fat and maintain muscle?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33642" CreationDate="2017-03-21T04:09:00.050" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question directly the answer is &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let me detail why and how you can lose fat and maintain muscle in 4 points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I Rate of body fat loss&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 gram of fat is approximately 9 calories.&#xA;To consume one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of fat you need to create a deficit of 9000 calories.&#xA;Meaning that if you plan on losing one kilogram of fat in a week you'll have to eat a total of 9000 calories less than what you spend which is roughly 1300 calories a day.&#xA;If you add cardio/weight training (which is tremendously more effective) to the point where your calorie expenditure is 3000 calories a day, you'll need to eat 1700 calories a day for a week... THEORETICALLY.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not taking into account the variations in metabolic rate that occur in a deficit for example (eating less makes your body consume less in summary). Not even taking into account the loss of muscle to get energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;II So how did my friend lose so much ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water my friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water mass is very variable and can change really fast overnight.&#xA;I myself can lose 1 kilogram in one day without being on a deficit.&#xA;It happens if I go out a little, drink some alcohol (even two beers are enough). I am therefore a bit dehydrated and lose water really fast.&#xA;I've lost up to two kilograms in one night (even with less than 10% body fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your friend is probably losing glycogen and water fast. That's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III What can I do to trigger faster results ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing what your friend does is not necessary. There are a few ways to lose mass fast which I wouldn't recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keto diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By eating mostly fats and protein you deplete your glycogen levels. To be stored inside the muscle, it needs water. On that kind of diet you lose glycogen and water very fast.&#xA;However as soon as you start eating carbs again your glycogen levels rise up as well as muscle water retention.&#xA;Your weight will get back to normal really fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What your friend does, which is basically losing a lot of water but then getting it back when diet is back to normal.&#xA;This isn't sustainable and your weight will go back to normal fast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IV Then what can I do to trigger sustainable results ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;a. Slow and steady fat loss.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As boring as that sounds, it seems to be the best way to keep a good amount of muscle mass and lose fat.&#xA;Weigh yourself daily upon waking up. Aim for 0.5-1% bodyweight loss a week (if you're not obese - in that case it will be higher).&#xA;If your weight loss is higher, eat more. Otherwise you're losing more muscle than you think.&#xA;If you don't lose weight, check your weightlifting program, macros/calories, sleeping habits and stress levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;b. Protein intake&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28166780&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt;, having a higher protein intake for the same total calorie intake will make you keep more Fat free mass. Try consuming 2g protein/kg of bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;c. Exercise&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercising properly will make you retain more muscle mass too according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18580399&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt;. So pick a good weightlifting program that you enjoy and stick at it. One small very personal advice on this: the simpler it is, the more efficient it will be. Try to find one with very few full body movement (Starting strenght... ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;d. Lower sodium intake.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water retention will add mass around the waist. At very low body fat percentages, I personally noticed that after a high-sodium eating meal, I woke up with less definition in my abs. Considering of course that caloric intake wasn't higher.&#xA;Therefore try getting less sodium. Progressively from what you get now.&#xA;Caution: According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25852864&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt;, adverse effects can happen on very low sodium levels&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;e. Sweat it out&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lose water. And drink a lot to replace what you lost in order to avoid water retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;f. Sleep&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find online quite a bit of research on sleep deprivation and testosterone levels. This hormone is highly correlated to muscle repair and fat mass. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110531162142.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; talks about the effect of sleep reduction on testosterone.&#xA;Sleep well to get the most out of your training and diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sum it up:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no way to lose weight fast (except for obese people) without having adverse effects on health or muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get in a slight calorie deficit to lose around 0.5-1% bodyweight a week. Weigh yourself daily. If progress stops, check calorie intake, training, sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water and reduce (safely) your sodium consumption&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat until goal is achieved&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One quick thing on abdominal tightness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never do abs and am lucky enough to have a low bodyfat percentage. Abs are very small muscles. Training them will not make you consume a lot of calories. Train bigger muscles and do some abs/vacuums when you get to less than 10% bodyfat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your goals ! I hope this helped !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T05:03:25.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33646" CreationDate="2017-03-21T05:19:53.977" Score="-1" ViewCount="2169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday was my first day of Keto Diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started experiencing headache in the evening. Was it due to me being on Keto? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25096" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T06:02:22.437" Title="Experiencing Headache while on Keto diet" Tags="&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-03-21T15:05:06.427" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-21T05:21:24.970" Score="0" ViewCount="573" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have come across strong opinions which suggest that whey supplements without digestive enzymes are waste. The counter argument that our body has all necessary enzymes to digest whey and added enzymes may harm is also very strong on internet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is If I am using whey to fill the protein gap in my diet and post workout recovery what should i use whey with enzymes or whey without enzymes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks !!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24528" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T13:56:46.800" Title="Are digestive enzymes a must in whey supplements?" Tags="&lt;protein-shakes&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;&lt;whey&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-03-21T14:55:55.820" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33644" CreationDate="2017-03-21T06:02:22.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Experiencing headaches on Keto diets in normal. It usually happens after 2-3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two mains reasons for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I Your brain normally functions on glucose.&#xA;When glucose is missing, your liver starts producing ketones. These are the only substitute your brain can use to get energy.&#xA;However it can take some time for them to be produced. During that time your brain will not have enough energy and fogginess/headaches can occur.&#xA;You will get passed it once your liver starts producing enough ketones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;the ketogenic diet&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;strong&gt;Lyle McDonald&lt;/strong&gt;, your brain can only get around 75% of its energy from ketones. Make sure you still get some carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;II Keto diets can be high in sodium. A high sodium intake results in dehydration (sodium being a diuretic). Mild headaches are usually caused by dehydration. Make sure you drink more water to avoid that common side effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T06:02:22.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33642" CreationDate="2017-03-21T08:21:12.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I loathe picking apart posts, it makes me feel like a snarky nerd who insists on being &quot;technically correct&quot;. However, your question has a not of incorrect information in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...claimed he could aggressively lower bodyfat if needed (say he was feeling a teeny-bit chubby and wanted to get as &quot;firm and lean&quot; as quickly as possible, say for beach day) within 3-5 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way you can change how you look in 3 days is through dehydration which is not sensible or healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...He says this can be done without muscle loss if you eat a protein surplus and eat above TDEE, but then do cardio excessively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle is lost when it is not used. Muscle mass can be reduced over time through lots of steady-state cardio but that requires months/years of effort. Muscle reduction due to 'cardio' is vastly overestimated by most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...He claims that the body will get &quot;fooled&quot; because it would have had a small period in which it was overly nourished (a surplus to feed muscles), but then you can aggressively do cardio to deplete fat stores while the body is still using the surplus of nutrients -- and then give it a 6-12 hours split and repeat, or flip it backs (i.e., skip cardio and eat excessively -- next day, skip eating and cardio more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of 'fat you will burn' during a single day is minimal. Even over a few weeks it will be minimal while eating at a caloric-sustain (which this sounds like). Your body does not adapt that fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Eat Excessively&quot; is wonderfully inaccurate, &quot;excessive&quot; could be anywhere between 3000 and 10,000 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...He says this works and he maintains muscle and can slim down 1-2 pounds on short notice and hide any belly bloat/lack of firmness from a possible big day or two of heavy eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bro-science aside, if his method works for him then no-one will be able to tell him differently. I suspect his weight loss is to do with the dehydration from performing cardio. 1-2lbs is basically nothing, your body will vary more in water weight over a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...heavy abdominal work to tighten/firm the stomach and burn maybe 2 calories in the target region (yes, spot reduction is mostly not working, but long-term use still burns fat locally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, say after me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yalescientific.org/2011/04/targeted-fat-loss-myth-or-reality/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SPOT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;REDUCTION&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/spot-reduction-one-final-attempt-to-kill-the-myth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;IS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bing.com/search?q=more%20muscle%20in%20area%20spot%20reduction&amp;amp;src=IE-TopResult&amp;amp;conversationid=&amp;amp;first=11&amp;amp;FORM=PORE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_reduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MYTH&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body does not pull from fat stores near the muscle to only give that muscle energy. Harvard did a study on tennis players, if your friend was correct their dominant arm would have less fat than their non-dominant arm. They found that both their arms have the same amount of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Basically, does this make sense? Does any evidence show this can generally work (outlined above)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. If you find any evidence to the contrary I would suggest that that is not good evidence and is false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T08:21:12.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33641" CreationDate="2017-03-21T08:37:15.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Too little protein and you won't be building muscle/getting stronger&#xA;  (and if you're seriously deficient it can lead to worse health&#xA;  problems). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Too little fat could throw off your sleep/mood, as fat helps regulate&#xA;  horomones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Too few carbs leaves you feeling sluggish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/5ze7a6/tell_tales_signs_you_are_lacking_in_a_specific/dexe5xf/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;/u/LiveAndLetLift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some other gems from that thread:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was cutting hard a couple of summers ago, and like an idiot, I was eating around 30g of fat with abysmal saturated fats. I could not get an erection - you could have spawned Kim Kardashian butt ass naked in my room and nothing would happen. Fast forward to now, I eat loads of saturated fats and have my fat intake at around 90 - I'm keeping more muscle, have a sky high libido.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;/u/Kalashnikovxx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If while shitting you are willing to confess to all manner of crimes to make the pain go away you could probably use more fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;/u/Fitzmagics_Beard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T08:37:15.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33638" CreationDate="2017-03-21T08:39:23.953" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An Apple (or other fruit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a workout it is highly likely that your glucose stores are depleted. Something healthy and containing some sugar will make you feel a lot better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T08:39:23.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33642" CreationDate="2017-03-21T11:31:52.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's how you can drop as much fat-weight as possible without destroying your lean body mass:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You basically fast, except you only get in around 1.2-1.4 gm of protein per kilogram of your &quot;ideal body weight&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1278601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1278601&lt;/a&gt;). This is called protein sparing modified fasting and it represents the fastest science-backed method that allows you to reach high fat burn rates without causing major destruction of your muscle mass (apart from what you'll lose from being inactive).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You avoid any cardio exercise (strength training could help you out even under &quot;fasting&quot; conditions, but that's a story for another day), because every hour of exercise in a glycogen deprived state can destroy upwards of 100 grams of your lean body mass (at least according to this nitrogen balance study: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7380688&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7380688&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T11:31:52.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33645" CreationDate="2017-03-21T13:56:46.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whey is a byproduct of milk after it's been curdled and strained to form cheese. So taking whey is not much different than drinking milk. If you can digest milk (I.E. not lactose intolerant), then you can digest whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are lactose intolerant, then you probably would need to take a Lactaid or something to digest it. Though, a better alternative would be to just not take it. There are plant and egg based supplements that can be bought instead of whey. Or fulfill your protein needs through regular diet over supplementation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T13:56:46.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33654" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-21T15:11:39.730" Score="4" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question on recovery after cardio.  Given that hydrating and electrolyte post-workout is vital, what is the virtue of sports drinks over water+potato chips (baked)?  To be clear, this is a question about quality not quantity of nutrition, or even better options such as real potato or bananas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To wit, both have sodium and potassium, but while sport drinks is otherwise sugar, potato chips have a little bit of sugar, fiber, carbs, fat and protein.  All of which are, in general, vital nutrients and nutrition-delivery mechanisms.  On top of that, potato chips are more delicious/satisfying (IMHO) plus in general, both electrolyte-per-calorie and nutrition-per-dollar is higher than for sports drinks (at least the version with water). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, what, if any, of the potato-chip carbs/fiber/fat/protein is counterproductive to the overall health benefits of cardio?  maybe glycimic-index?  To me however, it seems like the opposite would actually true.  Indeed, I would go as far as to &lt;strong&gt;recommend&lt;/strong&gt; baked potato chips (+water) over sports drink, but it does not seem to be a recognized option for post-workout recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly, I think for intra-workout hydration, sports drinks might be better, less loggy, but what about post-workout?  Does potato chips have a bad reputation from the old days, or is there a genuine reason for avoiding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25135" LastEditorUserId="25135" LastEditDate="2017-03-21T15:19:26.723" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T06:01:24.480" Title="Cardio/workout recovery: Potato chips v sports drink" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;electrolytes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33638" CreationDate="2017-03-21T18:29:30.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a very simple answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gummy bears, pixy stix, skim milk, egg whites.  Fast carbs and quick protein absorption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're splitting hairs if you're not working out because you don't have fast acting carbs and/or a protein powder to eat directly after strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat a balanced diet based on macros for whatever your goal is (cut, bulk, maintain), push/pull the weight, and sleep.  Rinse and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training and diet are simple, supplements are &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; necessary to build an amazing physique that you'll be proud of and your friends will be jealous of, don't over think it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T18:29:30.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4435" CreationDate="2017-03-21T18:50:24.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do not need supplements to be a body builder, period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An argument &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be made if you were chemically enhanced...steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Train hard and efficient with a proper program, eat balanced based on macros for your goals, rest on rest days, sleep.  Repeat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To appeal to the people that love spending money supplements, most of which are COMPLETELY worthless, then go ahead buy some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you had the money to spend, buy some protein powder, a good multivitamin, and fish oil.  The rest is just superfluous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T18:50:24.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33641" CreationDate="2017-03-21T19:34:12.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you're on a cutting diet, I think that 3050 is a bit too high and seems more like a maintenance diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my issues with some of those equations online is the activity multiplier is too high based on the exercise you commit to during a week.  I can see how you'd get tired of eating over 3,000 kcals a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One trick that makes hitting your macros a little easier, instead of eating, is to drink them.  Put what you need in a blender and drink up! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a better starting point for you daily diet would be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2573 kcals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;257 grams of protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;257 grams of carbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;57 grams of fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start there and then adjust 50-75 calories at a time, plus or minus.  Weigh yourself every morning after you take care of business and before you eat or drink.  Take an average of your weight over 7-10 days, if it is going down, then you're on point assuming it isn't a radical drop.  Aim to lose about .5% to 1% of your body weight per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to measure your fat loss (especially if the scale is playing tricks on you) is to get a tape measure and measure the widest part of your midsection.  If that number is shrinking every week, you're losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, take pictures every 10 to 14 days.  One front, one side, and one back and compare them to the previous pictures for a more visual comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FINALLY:  &lt;strong&gt;ALWAYS DO YOUR SQUATS AND ALWAYS HIT YOUR MACROS!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T19:34:12.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33654" CreationDate="2017-03-21T21:58:50.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does depend on the intensity and duration of your cardio workout. Potatoes are starchy which takes longer to digest and takes longer to replenish those lost carbs. If you are doing back-to-back high intensity workouts i'd suggest the sports drink for quicker replenishment. This becomes a non-factor after a night or day of rest(or even around 6 hours depending what you read).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general: if you need carbs now, sports drink. If not, it doesn't really matter then. As always make sure your diet is balanced and nutritious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.if you want to get really technical about quality of carbs research the glycemic index.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24796" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T21:58:50.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33669" CreationDate="2017-03-22T00:44:14.700" Score="0" ViewCount="6566" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me I'm overweight but not a beginner (slight knee injury though, partial lcl tear but I'll deal with that with physio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 6'1 and wake up and where between 242-247. I have muscle but only got back in gym last 10 weeks trying different routines (after 1-2 years off) I just did 1 day of the 5x5 and would like to burn the stubborn fat with squats but future goal to possibly do a physique/bodybuilding show for natural. Would this be a good program to do for 3-4 months to build a good frame and muscle before the isolated/bodybuilding exercises later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check my IG: @markpolan if you guys want a better look at my physique so you can see what I'm talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks guys!! I was 273 and down in the 240's in 10 weeks. So I wanna keep it going but enjoy lifting big as well. I enjoy compound exercises and get bored with isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7F7rC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25141" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T12:46:35.827" Title="5x5 stronglift to lose belly fat/base for future physique/bodybuilding comp" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33660" CreationDate="2017-03-22T01:13:58.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, Stronglifts or Starting Strength are very good programs.  You can stay with either of these programs for a couple years or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get your lean body mass where you want it, sculpt through some isolation exercises, and then cut to single digit body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there is some minutia in between all that, but it won't matter until you have a solid base of muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T01:13:58.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33630" CreationDate="2017-03-22T04:09:04.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From research and personal experience there is no difference.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came accross &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19910830&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt; where they analyzed the differences between people working out in the morning (7-9 am) and people working out in the afternoon (5-7 pm). They found no statistical difference between the two in terms of hypertrophy.&#xA;So research tells you to go all out as you would do in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out in the morning for 3 years and a half now. My sport is powerlifting (I tend to handle heavier weights and not do cardio/high reps).&#xA;As a student in a medium-sized town there was no gym available in the morning before 9 so I bought a small rack, a barbell and some weights for my dorm room. I woke up at 5, ate and started warming up around 5.30. I usually hit my top set around 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never had any issues although I have to admit that eating enough in a short amount of time and working out on a full stomach is not ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now work and take transportation to go to the gym before starting the workout. I therefore have 1 hour and 15 minutes between my meal and my workout. It feels great, I don't feel full anymore and it fits the schedule perfectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In summary&lt;/strong&gt;, research shows that there are no differences in terms of efficiency of the workout. And as long as you have enough time between your meal and your workout you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T04:09:04.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33660" CreationDate="2017-03-22T05:18:00.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Must say your 10 week transformation so far is already nothing short of being amazing! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both SS and SL are good programs and you should continue till you reach at least 1-2x your bodyweight in large lifts like deadlift and back squat. Just like you I do not like isolation exercises, I feel it does not challenge me enough. Also the focus is not there. With barbell complexes its much better and it definitely helps in building good strength which will be the base for you when you want to branch out to bodybuilding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: My IG is @pravfit and the goal is to double the strength this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T05:18:00.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33654" CreationDate="2017-03-22T06:08:54.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the difference between nutrients and sport drinks is that sport drinks are designed in such a way that most of them have approximately %6 Carbs which is the best rate of absorption by the metabolism. On the other hand, it is very difficult to arrange quantity the nutrients such as %6 Carbs from potato chips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19346" LastEditorUserId="19346" LastEditDate="2017-03-31T06:01:24.480" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T06:01:24.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33464" CreationDate="2017-03-22T07:37:40.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone's hip mobility is a little bit different. The only thing that should change between your low and high bar squats is the bar position and torso lean. Unless you are specifically squatting with a different stance as in its programmed in as a squat variation. Mobility work will help you change your stance width but generally a more natural approach of wherever your feet feel most comfortable is usually best in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are hell bent on getting your stance in though I always felt like breathing pause squats helped me with hitting depth when I had a closer stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8159" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T07:37:40.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33080" CreationDate="2017-03-22T07:55:24.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak for weightlifting as I'm by no means educated on it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to powerlifting though, there is a general theory of 'you are x height so should compete in x weight class'. It's not to suggest if you are 6'4 you can ONLY be competitive in the super heavy weight class it's just a general observation of majority bigger athletes usually compete heavier as they are bigger humans overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I don't think height is that much of a  factor, I personally feel its body proportion. It's very apparent with different athletes, Layne Norton's squat for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8159" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T07:55:24.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33660" CreationDate="2017-03-22T12:46:35.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I enjoy compound exercises and get bored with isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you may be under the impression that bodybuilding training is all about isolation movements.  It is not. Bodybuilding training is about learning what you need to work on to sculpt the best physique you can.  In a sense, you’d be an artist constantly critiquing your physique.  If you need more mass on your deltoids, you perform heavy lifts for deltoids.  Same for any other body part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isolation movements typically come into play when preparing for competition.  They are yet another “sculpting” tool that can be utilized to add a “finishing” touch to your physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s no one “best” program to lose weight.  That’s because you can’t pick and choose where it happens.  If you want to pursue a specific training methodology, go ahead.  But, if your eventual goal is to stand on stage, there’s no reason why you can’t adopt a bodybuilding lifestyle now.  That would mean working on improving your weaknesses and watching your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, in the early days of bodybuilding, there were no training methodologies.  Guys just went to the gym and lift heavy and ate right.  Guys like Arnold, Frank Zane, and Dennis Tinnerino were able to build phenomenal physiques by constantly adjusting their training to improve their weaknesses while following a sound nutrition plan.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T12:46:35.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33672" CreationDate="2017-03-23T00:57:39.173" Score="3" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a animated TV show (dragon ball Z) characters would have clothes which seamed 3 times there weight. &lt;strong&gt;Gradually&lt;/strong&gt; building up weights (say a pound a day), could one be able to carry evenly across there body 3 times their own weight and feel normal? What would be the upside and downsides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25147" LastEditorUserId="25147" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T17:06:30.007" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T10:17:20.367" Title="Normal life with heavy weights" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33671" CreationDate="2017-03-23T08:38:50.347" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now, some work has actually been done on this where scientists looked at what would happen if you were crushed by 2.5g:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was the hyper-g work done on chickens, for example, by Arthur&#xA;  Hamilton (&quot;Milt&quot;) Smith in the 1970s. Milt Smith was a gravity&#xA;  specialist at the University of California at Davis who wanted to find&#xA;  out what would happen to humans if they lived in greater-than-normal&#xA;  g-forces. Naturally, he experimented on animals, and he decided that&#xA;  the animal that most closely resembled man for this specific purpose&#xA;  was the chicken. Chickens, after all, had a posture similar to man's:&#xA;  they walked upright on two legs, they had two non-load-bearing limbs&#xA;  (the wings), and so on. Anyway, Milt Smith and his assistants took a&#xA;  flock of chickens – hundreds of them, in fact – and put them into the&#xA;  two eighteen-foot-long centrifuges in the university's Chronic&#xA;  Acceleration Research Laboratory, as the place was called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They spun those chickens up to two-and-a-half gs and let them stay&#xA;  there for a good while. In fact, they left them spinning like that day&#xA;  and night, for three to six months or more at a time. The hens went&#xA;  around and around, they clucked and they cackled and they laid their&#xA;  eggs, and as far as those chickens were concerned that was what&#xA;  ordinary life was like: a steady pull of two-and-a-half gs. Some of&#xA;  those chickens spent the larger portion of their lifetimes in that&#xA;  goddamn accelerator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, it was easy to predict what would happen. Their bones would get&#xA;  stronger and their muscles would get bigger – because they had all&#xA;  that extra gravity to work against. A total of twenty-three&#xA;  generations of hens was spun around like this and the same thing&#xA;  happened every time. When the accelerator was turned off, out walked&#xA;  ... great Mambo chicken! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These chronically accelerated fowl were paragons of brute strength&#xA;  and endurance. They'd lost excess body fat, their hearts were pumping&#xA;  out greater-than-normal volumes of blood, and their extensor muscles&#xA;  were bigger than ever. In consequence of all this, the high-g chickens&#xA;  had developed a three-fold increase in their ability to do work, as&#xA;  measured by wingbeating exercises and treadmill tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Smith, A. H, &quot;Physiological Changes Associated with Long-Term Increases in Acceleration.&quot; In &quot;Life Sciences and Space Research XIV&quot;, edited by P.H.A. Sneath. Berlin:Akademie-Verlag, 1976.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Smith, A. H., and C. F. Kelly, &quot;Biological Effects of Chronic Acceleration.&quot; Naval Research Reviews 18:1 (1965)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Smith, A. H., and C. F. Kelly, &quot;Influence of Chronic Acceleration upon Growth and Body Composition.&quot; Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 110: 413 (1963) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more in this book: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.ca/Great-Mambo-Chicken-Transhuman-Condition/dp/0201567512&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.ca/Great-Mambo-Chicken-Transhuman-Condition/dp/0201567512&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what you are asking is slightly different in methodology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully at some point in your life you have had the experience of putting on chainmail. A full compliment of it weights anything up to 27kg (60lbs). Wearing it feels heavy. A suit of the heaviest plate armour would be about the same on top. With both on you are approaching the weight of a human being evenly spread over your body, pushing you into the floor. It feels crushing, every muscle will be working overtime to stop you crumbling into a ball on the floor. Moving is extremely hard. But, with some gentle progressive overload your muscles could build up to this and get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your joints however...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your joints have cartilage protecting them and tendons holding them together. You can't make tendons stronger and you cant replace cartilage (IIRC). By wearing 3x your bodyweight in clothing your cartilage will be crushed much like butter in a mortar and pestle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Get some gristle from a chicken and try this at home in your own mortar and pestle!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any fast or sudden movement would put massive strain on your tendons and you would get a LOT of tears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eddie Hall is arguably the strongest man alive right now and his maximum deadlift is 500kg with a bodyweight of 185 kg. He only did this for one and ruptured his sinus. He would not be able to support 3x his bodyweight in clothing on the regular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: No, you would be restricted by the maximum power output of a human relative to their bodyweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T08:38:50.347" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33438" CreationDate="2017-03-23T15:12:53.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is a fundamental difference between the Pendlay row and the bent-over barbell row.  Neither of which, if you execute proper form, put your shoulders in a position to impinge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Pendlay Row has your torso, more or less, parallel with the ground and you pull the bar to your sternum (or just below) from the ground.  You can pull a barbell to sternum without having your shoulders perpendicular to your torso.  Your arms are typically between 45 and 75 degrees depending on your anthropometry and bio mechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Bent-over Row is where your torso is at 45 degrees, plus or minus a little, and you pull the barbell to your hips.  Also, you continue holding the barbell during the exercise as opposed to starting each rep from the floor like the Pendlay Row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stabilizer muscles that are engaged are pretty much the same, the difference might be which ones have more stress on them.  This is a result of the differences in how these similar exercises are executed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T15:12:53.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2017-03-23T15:14:41.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is a fundamental difference between the Pendlay row and the bent-over barbell row. Neither of which, if you execute proper form, put your shoulders in a position to impinge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Pendlay Row has your torso, more or less, parallel with the ground and you pull the bar to your sternum (or just below) from the ground. You can pull a barbell to sternum without having your shoulders perpendicular to your torso. Your arms are typically between 45 and 75 degrees depending on your anthropometry and bio mechanics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Bent-over Row is where your torso is at 45 degrees, plus or minus a little, and you pull the barbell to your hips. Also, you continue holding the barbell during the exercise as opposed to starting each rep from the floor like the Pendlay Row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stabilizer muscles that are engaged are pretty much the same, the difference might be which ones have more stress on them. This is a result of the differences in how these similar exercises are executed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T15:14:41.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T00:51:50.920" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've played hockey for 9 years. But, because of my accident, I stopped playing for 3 1/2 years due to injuries. I got cleared on Monday after having surgery on my ACL and meniscus. And yesterday, (Wed) I went to play a pick up game. It was horrible. I could still skate, but, after a 5 minute shift I was dying out of breath to the point where I was getting light headed and I just couldn't get anywhere. How can I improve my cardio at home? I'm a 6'2&quot; Male weight about 230LBs with strong legs. I have a bit of a stomach but not fat. I have good balance and I have no problem skating, but, I need something that can work for me. Any advice or tips would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25158" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T14:11:16.723" LastActivityDate="2017-03-25T18:25:42.023" Title="Need Workout advice for home training on Cardio and stamina. I'm Training for Ice hockey" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33677" CreationDate="2017-03-24T03:24:12.250" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym has a track that is used for walking and running. I often walk on it at a time when there are also runners. Unfortunately, I don't know if I should be walking on the inside or the outside of the track. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other guests at the gym do both, which ultimately becomes worse since then runners have to either go through the middle or slow down. While I can't control others, I would rather know the more courteous place to walk so that I don't contribute to the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, this is a second story track overlooking exercise equipment below. I sometimes see people carrying weights on the track, and have wondered if they might be better off walking on the outside so that if they were to drop the weights, there is no chance it would go over the railing and hurt someone below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25159" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T07:27:10.307" Title="Which side of a gym track should I walk on to be courteous to runners?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33676" CreationDate="2017-03-24T07:27:10.307" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slower traffic should be to the outside of the track. Everywhere I've been (high school tracks, college/university tracks, and community tracks) this has been the convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="363" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T07:27:10.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33678" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T08:48:14.073" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing PPL / Rest(yoga) / PPL 6 days a week for the last 2 months. I absolutely love this program and I made a lot progress during it. My question is should I start alternating my reps/sets or switch to completely different workout program to avoid adaption? I'd love to continue my program as it is but everybody says it's a bad thing and hinder my results. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25097" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T08:48:14.073" Title="Should I Alternate My PPL Workout To Avoid Adaptation?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-03-27T20:26:30.037" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33679" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T12:48:25.963" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I feel comfortable with, for example 15 push-ups, should I start making them harder (legs elevated), or add some more to these 15? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I add reps now, when should I add weight? And if I add weight, when should I add reps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially I want to know what target I should set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastEditorUserId="20124" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T12:58:53.550" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T13:29:15.777" Title="How to decide between adding reps or adding weight?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33679" CreationDate="2017-03-24T13:29:15.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be able to do 500 push-ups in a row someday, you'd want to add reps. If you want to get stronger, you'd want to add weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to grow in size, you'd want to add weight. If you'd want to train for endurance, you'd be better off adding reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T13:29:15.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33675" CreationDate="2017-03-24T14:30:30.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can relate to your experience.  I rowed competitively for a club until an injury that required surgery sidelined me for 10 months.  First off, you can't expect to compete at the same pre injury level after a long layoff.  It's best to set your expectations early.  Just as your stamina took some time to diminish, it will take time to build it back up.  Factors like the extent of your injury, your age and prior health and fitness level will affect how soon that happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I started out slow.  I used a stationary &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recumbent_bicycle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;recumbent bike&lt;/a&gt; to rebuild leg strength.  After a while, I transitioned back to a rowing machine for multiple weekly sessions.  I started out with the goal of increasing the intensity and time I spent on the machine every two to three weeks, until I could comfortably row for 20 minutes with relative ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really doesn't matter what type of exercise you do, as long as, you start &lt;strong&gt;slow&lt;/strong&gt; and continue to increase the demand on your heart and lungs.  Something as simple as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/multimedia/step-up/vid-20084661&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;step ups&lt;/a&gt; in your house should suffice.  The important thing to remember is to set your goals such that the end result is you can elevate your heart rate for 20 or minutes without much discomfort.  For a more intense workout, you may want to shoot for 30 to 45 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T14:47:26.520" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T14:47:26.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T20:40:15.017" Score="1" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question has proven harder to find than I first thought it would be, so I decided to ask it here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what is the optimal rep duration in a resistance training regime designed for maximum muscle growth (so not for strength or endurance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can provide a reference to original research, that would be beyond awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user15206" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T17:41:11.493" Title="How does rep duration affect muscle growth?" Tags="&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-04-29T17:17:59.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T23:22:38.070" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 days a week to go the gym, while during the weekends I rest, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I workout and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I play volleyball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workout routine is a full body workout 3x a week, So I was worried about my legs, since I train them 3x a week and jump a lot in volleyball. Is it too much And I should change my workout routine? Or is there a way I can conciliate these two things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My workouts and meal plan are focused on muscle building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24097" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T07:27:47.983" Title="Is doing full body workouts and other sports too much?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-25T00:22:58.023" Score="0" ViewCount="668" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing sronglifts 5x5 off and on for about a year and a half. I've had to stop for a quite some time due to a knee injury (bad form) I've worked on it though and I think Ive fixed it. If my knee gets hurt again I will have to put the squats and likely deadlifts on hold. I'd like to keep doing the other exercises but I'm wondering if I will still make gains with the other exercises while my knee is healing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25170" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T04:07:17.840" Title="Stronglifts 5X5 Question about Gains and injuries" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33686" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33712" CreationDate="2017-03-25T05:46:08.940" Score="2" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've had my ACL reconstructed using hamstring tendon graft. I have done physiotherapy course with a doctor which restored ROM and quads control. However apparently the initial injury itself has occurred due to weaker hamstring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now knowing that information I realized I have good control (isolated flexion in any position) of quads and many other muscles but not hamstring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question which exercises I can do (preferably bodyweight or with common gym equipment) that would first strengthen hamstring and second help me to gain control over it to same extent that I hade with other muscles (if that's even possible)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I've been told by PT to do stationary (for now) biking. However I can see that only quads are getting most of the work done. And not hamstrings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15806" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T13:18:54.963" Title="Hamstring isolation exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;isolation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-25T21:15:43.060" Score="4" ViewCount="1342" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware that one should &lt;a href=&quot;https://redd.it/5odwsb&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;avoid performing lat pulldowns with the bar behind the neck&lt;/a&gt;. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170325211749/https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/5odwsb/which_method_of_lat_pull_down_is_more_effective/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to arch one's back when performing lat pulldowns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example where the back is arched:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TE2MZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TE2MZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example where the back is not arched:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D4hRy.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D4hRy.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dU5a2.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dU5a2.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T19:56:41.890" Title="Is it ok to arch one's back when performing lat pulldowns?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;machine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33690" CreationDate="2017-03-25T21:40:36.257" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only is it OK, it's something you SHOULD do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pull your shoulders down and back. It pushes your chest out, and engages your lats, which is the entire point of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-03-25T21:40:36.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33693" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-26T18:11:00.193" Score="1" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to loose weight. My main approach has been to eat healthy, lift weights 4~5 times a week and do Vinyasa yoga (power yoga) 4~5 times a week. I also fit in the occasional  60 minute run on the elliptical (I can't run or do the treadmill because of an ankle injury). I'm not looking to become &quot;ripped&quot; but some muscle definition would be nice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This worked for a few months and I was able to go from 264 lbs to 224 lbs (I'm 5 ft 11), but now I've &quot;relapsed&quot; back to 233 lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend has told me that the Yoga is actually harming my fitness goals, since the weight lifting builds muscle and burns fact, but the Yoga burns muscle tissue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always assumed that the Yoga could only be good for me, especially given the physic of the more experienced Yoga practitioners, but now my friend has me doubting myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he right? Should I stop the yoga and stick to lifting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the rough details of my routine: &#xA;I cycle through the 4 following workouts (Chest, Back, Shoulder, Arms) taken from this website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/beginner-chest-training-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/beginner-chest-training-guide.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/5-back-workouts-for-mass-a-beginners-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/5-back-workouts-for-mass-a-beginners-guide.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/5-shoulder-workouts-for-mass-a-beginners-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/5-shoulder-workouts-for-mass-a-beginners-guide.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/beginner-arm-training-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/beginner-arm-training-guide.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't usually do abs or legs because they are already part of the Yoga flows. &#xA;I do Yoga 4~5 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I throw in one or two 60 minute sessions a week on the elliptical as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25184" LastEditorUserId="25184" LastEditDate="2017-04-10T17:22:20.070" LastActivityDate="2019-10-03T07:18:02.700" Title="Is Vinyasa yoga hurting my fitness objectives?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33690" CreationDate="2017-03-26T19:56:41.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my personal opinion, I think you get a better contraction when you arch your back and activate more back muscles. To add to this post, another big mistake is to start swinging the bar down when you go up in weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T19:56:41.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33686" CreationDate="2017-03-26T20:03:53.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of weight training movements that can improve hamstring strength. I think a great one to get your legs back into condition collectively would be barbell squats and leg presses. Proper form is KEY if you want to activate your hamstrings. Make sure you keep all your weight in your heels and off your toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T20:03:53.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33638" CreationDate="2017-03-26T20:14:38.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your protein levels are usually low after a work out. same with everything else. So your body absorbs pretty much everything(almost everything) your put in it. Look up post work out meals and nutrition. Optimum Nutrition makes a protein specifically for after workout shake. It's called Hydrolized Whey. When your protein levels are low your body can go into a catabolic state so it's important to re fuel to stay anabolic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T20:14:38.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33684" CreationDate="2017-03-26T20:23:10.740" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Break up your muscle groups up and do legs on Friday so you'll have a couple days to recover before you hit the court on Tuesday. Playing volleyball with sore quads sounds like torture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T20:23:10.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33682" CreationDate="2017-03-26T20:32:22.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a loaded question. First off, Everyone's body responds differently to different rep ranges. I'm going to give your a broad answer and say all rep ranges are good. The reason is because you never want to let your muscles get into a routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point to be made is that heavier weight recruits more of the muscle to perform the movement. So doing 6x5 is &lt;em&gt;technically&lt;/em&gt; better for building muscle than 4x12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like heavier weight and lower reps on compound movements like bench press and rows, but I add more reps on isolated movements like bumbell flies for inner chest and preacher curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T20:32:22.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33686" CreationDate="2017-03-26T22:03:04.970" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Straight legged deadlifts work REALLY well for me and my gym partner. We usually do them after squats as a complete leg routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/stiff-legged-barbell-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/stiff-legged-barbell-deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T22:03:04.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32913" CreationDate="2017-03-26T22:12:28.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some men carry fat in their lower chest as body fat goes up(this applies to myself). So I notice I lose alot of lower pec definition when I'm bulking. You might fall into the same category. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like wider grip dips to get that lower contraction. You could set up something like that at home with some chairs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T22:12:28.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33630" CreationDate="2017-03-26T22:23:23.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tip. I'm terrible at waking up so when I lift at 6am coffee or pre workout does wonders for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also stretching is very neccesary when lifting and running in the morning. Save yourself alot of injury and grief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T22:23:23.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33686" CreationDate="2017-03-27T01:37:26.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great body weight exercise to strengthen your hamstrings are hyperextensions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/hyperextensions-back-extensions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hyperextensions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you get stronger you can get weights and hold them against your chest or wear a weighted vest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're physically capable of performing barbell exercises, then I would work on good mornings or stiff legged deadlifts.  Then you can incorporate barbell squats and full deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/good-morning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Good Morning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/stiff-legged-barbell-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stiff-legged deadlift&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:37:26.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29625" CreationDate="2017-03-27T01:41:06.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your optimal grip is that perfect medium between to close and too wide. You'll know it's the right grip because you'll feel a dominant chest contraction. If your grip is too close you'll feel it in your arms. If your grip is too wide you'll feel it in your front delts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Close grip bench press is great for triceps. It works well with the incline variation too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wide grip bench press is very dangerous. It puts too much direct tension on the front delts that don't have alot of strength in the bench position. This can cause a tear in the delt or a rotator cuff injury. This is a very serious injury that you don't want to ever deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SO.... depending on what muscle you want to target, inter change a regular grip and close grip. You'll know when your grip is too wide when you start feeling pain in the shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:41:06.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33550" CreationDate="2017-03-27T01:50:17.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your trying to move up in weight, try this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15 reps at 10 lbs(This is your warm up set to get your form straight and wake up the muscles )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 reps at 15 lbs (This set adds a little more resistance but still light enough to maintain form)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 reps at 25 (go all out on this one and see try and maintain form. ) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you did the last set ok, repeat the 6 reps at 25 lbs. The point of these rep ratios is to get your muscles in tune with good form. Once your muscles are warmed up you can start really lifting hard. keep adding to the reps on the last set and soon you'll be doing 25 lbs for ten reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:50:17.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33685" CreationDate="2017-03-27T01:54:06.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you will continue to make gains on the other exercises if you're diet is on point.  Although, if you're not squatting and deadlifting, you progress and gains will slow down.  Squatting more than deadlifting initiates quite the hormonal response in your body as far as testosterone and growth hormone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:54:06.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33432" CreationDate="2017-03-27T01:57:28.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look up Pitbull from strength cartel. He competes at 160 weight class and moves unbelievable amounts of weight. He's probably just as strong as Rich Piana. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get strong, You should look into power lifting routines instead. I know you mentioned Rich Piana who is a bodybuilder. His goals aren't to get strong but to get big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie surplus does help ALOT too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T01:57:28.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33514" CreationDate="2017-03-27T02:09:00.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the rate of muscle loss would be most affected by diet. The body would have to stay catabolic to decrease the amount of muscle loss. This is such a great question. I think to really find the answer to this, you would have to look at the cellular level of the muscle fibers and see if there are any differences between muscle composition in professional powerlifters and bodybuilders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T02:09:00.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33711" CreationDate="2017-03-27T02:18:04.603" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 31 year old with moderate fitness. I cycle 3 times a week about 40 mins average and my heart rate monitor data shows I average more than many other people on strava. I know beats per minute may be considered as a fitness parameter and was wondering why people like Amanda Coker average out 115bpm after a 300+ km ride and mine turns out to be 140bpm for 10k ride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the factors which control heart beats? Are there any contributing factors like hormones imbalance, blood count, adrenal fatigue etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15392" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T01:04:11.397" Title="What controls heart rate while workout?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate&gt;&lt;performance&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33685" CreationDate="2017-03-27T04:07:17.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you're coming back from injury, I suggest you get your form checked by a decent coach/pt (one who specialises in strength/lifting), maybe also see a physio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will still make gains with the other exercises, but the program works best when followed as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing Stronglifts myself, and started to feel funny in the knees as my squats went above 120kg - I found knee sleeves have really helped, but we're different people under different circumstances.  See a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25083" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T04:07:17.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33708" CreationDate="2017-03-27T07:21:08.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its all about conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have not stated for how long have you been cycling and am assuming not very long. The person you mentioned might also have sub 50 resting heart rate while yours would be in 70-90 range. Once you keep performing the same exercise over a period of time, your body/heart becomes very efficient in doing so. Basically the same 40 mins ride on same tempo would feel a lot easier after few weeks of continuous training. Even your average HRM would gradually lower as the energy expenditure goes down due to the cardio conditioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T07:21:08.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33686" CreationDate="2017-03-27T13:37:12.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would tend to agree with the advice given by your PT to concentrate on stationary bike.  While it does primarily work the quads, you do get some hamstring work.  However, if you feel that you can safely perform body weight movements, you should consider using a resistance band.  Using one will allow you to perform &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBXQdlzBxM4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lying Hamstring Curls&lt;/a&gt;.  Additionally,  if you have access to a stability ball, you can perform &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVrtIk_FKuw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stability Ball Leg Curls&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using resistance bands and/or a stability ball should provide you with the ability to perform isolation movements at home.  I would suggest you check with the PT to make sure you should be doing additional work on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lying Hamstring Curls&lt;/strong&gt; can be performed by securing a resistance band to the bottom of a door or similar stationary object.  Then, attach the band to the ankles, lay flat on the floor at a distance away from the door that provides sufficient band resistance.  Then, perform a leg curl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stability Ball Curls&lt;/strong&gt; are performed by placing the heels of your feet on top of a stability ball and drawing them towards the glutes while extending the hips upward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-03-28T13:18:54.963" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T13:18:54.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33686" CreationDate="2017-03-27T15:47:41.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two bodyweight execises popping up in my head:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First one:&#xA;look 5:08 of this video with usage of furniture gliders: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ubEQsrF3dH4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/ubEQsrF3dH4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Second one is with a partner or a stable place wjere you can fix your heels under safelly:&#xA;Look at the image with title - Advanced Natural Glute Ham Raise&#xA;On this page: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dieselcrew.com/extreme-hamstring-training-how-to-build-big-powerful-legs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dieselcrew.com/extreme-hamstring-training-how-to-build-big-powerful-legs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T15:47:41.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-27T20:45:56.860" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a great weight loss (46lbs!) mainly focusing on a life style change. I have recently started a fight fit class which involves kicking and punching a bag and some cardio for 45 minutes.  A great workout! heres my question: I live 5 minutes away from the gym, is it ok to drive home and do my stretching then... say 10ish minutes after this workout. its not really a gym its a dojo and I have a video I like to do for my stretching at home but are my muscles cooled by then?&#xA;Thank you for your time!&#xA;Misty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25195" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T21:53:04.883" Title="Stretching after workout" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33715" CreationDate="2017-03-27T21:53:04.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, congrats on the weight loss, great job, Misty!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would perform your stretch routine within 30 minutes, but I'm not sure I would push it much more than that if you want to have an effective stretching session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wait too long, it'll be like trying to stretch a frozen rope and you won't be as effective at removing lactic acid.  Once the muscles and tendons cool down, the chances of tearing of either or other unwanted trauma increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24470" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T21:53:04.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33718" CreationDate="2017-03-27T22:14:50.830" Score="4" ViewCount="4431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to be much better at pull-ups.  I can sort of just barely almost do two in a row - on a sufficiently high bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trouble is I am tall enough that in almost all gyms, I can reach the pull-up bars with my feet flat on the ground, my shoulders engaged and pulled down, and my arms slightly bent.  That means that I can't start from a dead hang with my legs straight, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3095/where-should-our-legs-be-when-we-do-pull-ups-or-chin-ups&quot;&gt;as recommended in this answer&lt;/a&gt;.  Instead, I have to either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bend my knees so that the soles of my feet are pointing backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As above, but with my knees further bent, so my soles point up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bend at the waist with my legs straight out in front - eventually moving toward pull-ups in a seated position with my feet off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sit in what my daughter would call &quot;criss-cross applesauce&quot; fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold on with a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; wide grip.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these approaches seem easier than the others - they all feel pretty darn awkward, and I have a harder time with even getting a single pull-up when the bar is too low (again - most bars)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;QUESTION:  How should I modify my leg position when working on a pull-up bar that is too low for a proper dead hang?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Questions:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3095/where-should-our-legs-be-when-we-do-pull-ups-or-chin-ups&quot;&gt;Where should our legs be when we do pull-ups or chin-ups?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/9892/whats-the-optimal-height-for-a-pull-up-bar&quot;&gt;What's the optimal height for my pull up bar.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/31602/is-moving-the-legs-forward-on-pull-ups-a-bad-thing&quot;&gt;Is moving my legs forward on pull-ups a bad things?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12098" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.957" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T22:45:22.547" Title="Modified pull ups when the bar is too low" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33717" CreationDate="2017-03-27T22:44:24.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest form I've found would be with knees bent back and crossed so one leg is essentially holding up the other. So that is basically #1, but it takes less focus and energy and your torso is in the most neutral position. It is the closest variation to a standard pull-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Option #3 is actually called an &quot;L-sit&quot; pull up and it's another common variety. It's sometimes harder because it takes more core activation to perform. Likewise, you can cross one leg over the other to make it easier. You can also keep the knees bent down to lessen the leverage which makes it easier. The &quot;criss-cross applesauce&quot; method might even be easier as the legs would be holding each other up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternate approach would be find something that's not a pull-up bar but strong enough to hold a person (that last part is very, very, very important). One gym I went to had the pull up bar attached to a cable machine. The pull-up bar itself was too low, but the frame it was attached do was higher. So instead I just used the frame with a false grip (no thumbs). I have also used the frames of Smith machines and power racks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T22:44:24.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33719" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33720" CreationDate="2017-03-28T00:51:07.200" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 17 years old 180cm and i weight 70kg and I train 6 days a week, around 1 hour per day and my routine is pretty much like this monday-legs abs and biceps, tuesday -chest, tricep and bicep, wednesday- shoulders, Jack and bíceps, i then just repeat that plano the resto of the week AM i doin it right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25199" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T05:57:00.487" Title="Have a question about training routine" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33719" CreationDate="2017-03-28T02:59:47.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for adding more info in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say your routine is bad, but here are a few things to remember when designing a workout routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I Progressive overload&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a beginner, you need very little stimulus to progress. You can do 2 sets of 12 reps 3 times a week and see massive results.&#xA;The volume (weight * sets * reps) that you do for each body part seems very high for a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is this: There is a point where your body gets used to the training stimulus and will need more to progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you start by doing 2 sets of 12 reps 3 times a week. After a few weeks/months, you won't see as much results. To trigger more reaction, all you need to do is start doing 3 or 4 sets of 12 reps 3 times a week. It is still reasonable. Then after a few weeks add a seconds exercise for example. Then more reps/weight/sets. Build up the volume over the years to keep progressing and counter the ability of your body to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if you start straight away like you did by doing quite a lot of volume, you won't have much room left for increased stimulus. Doing 9-12 sets total for each body part is a lot. When you hit a plateau, you'll have to go up to 15 or even 20 sets. Maybe play on frequency too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25559905&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is an interesting study on progressive overload&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;II Muscle protein synthesis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training your biceps every day is not an issue itself. Biceps are fairly small muscles and recover fast. However you don't get the full benefit of muscle protein synthesis response after a workout. It lasts for 48 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try training them every other day instead and let them fully rest before hitting them again. See if it works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You can read about it here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III What I would do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to add up on this and be more precise. Here is what I would do, assuming that your goal is aesthetics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train 3 times a week. Full-body routine. Starting with the main lifts (Squat, bench, deadlift) for 3 sets of 5-8. Adding 2.5/5 pounds every time or change for a variation of the main lift.&#xA;Then move on to accessory movements. One for each body part. 3 sets of 8-12. Add weight if possible every time/change the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Full example&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back Squat: 3 sets of 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press: 3 sets of 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deadlift: 2 sets of 5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;OHP: 3 sets of 8&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent-over Rows: 3 sets of 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps extensions: 2 sets of 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicep curl: 3 sets of 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upright Rows: 2 sets of 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Raises: 2 sets of 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calves Raises: 2 sets of 20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then go home, eat well, sleep well, avoid stress, drugs. Repeat.&#xA;This is just an example, feel free to add/change to whatever you like the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to clarify about your routine. I think it is good, but a bit too advanced for someone who can still gain 5 kg in 3 months. Start with less, build over time and it will pay off more in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastEditorUserId="25042" LastEditDate="2017-03-28T05:57:00.487" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T05:57:00.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25208" CreationDate="2017-03-29T06:32:46.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is exactly what I have, I swam and played water polo through high school and always knew I had a bigger range of motion than others when I did butterfly. Fast forward 4 years and I dislocated my shoulder snowboarding and everything went to shit. My hips got Kinked out from overcompensating and then my back, quads, pecks, biceps all feel like they are knotted up so tight just trying to hold everything together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried everything for six months to fix this problem and as of 1 month ago, I subscribed to a program Calle gymnasticsbodies that takes you through slowly strengthening every aspect of your body, well worth the money, I have found salvation in this. Just thought I'd pass on the tip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and if you have muscles that absolutely won't release, foam roller, lacrosse ball, nothing works?... molly  I swear it's the only way. Roll yourself out while rolling, it's the only thing that worked for me. But I know how bad it is..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25215" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T06:32:46.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33723" CreationDate="2017-03-29T07:48:36.793" Score="5" ViewCount="371" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am male 70 KG 170cm tall, I have recently started muscle building exercise to improve my thin frame, I know protein is essential for muscle building, but I cannot eat egg and meat, Could you please advice me veg food needed for better protein for muscle growth from plant resources ?&#xA;I workout 1 hour 5 days a week.&#xA;Right now I am having bananas milk and lentils like mung beams etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="25216" LastEditDate="2017-04-02T19:08:57.023" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T06:18:19.350" Title="Diet plan for vegeterian for building muscle" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33722" CreationDate="2017-03-29T11:08:13.583" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for WHOLE plant-based foods, I would say the best (as in &quot;most dense&quot; - pretty much every plant-based food has a complete amino-acid profile) protein sources are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lentils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beans (all sorts.. kidney, black, garbanzo, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and also Peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you struggle to meet your protein needs with your regular diet for whatever reason (which shouldn't be the case if you feed yourself with sufficient calories and make sure that around 15% from calories are from protein), any cheap plant-based protein powder is going to help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rice protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hemp protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pea protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't really matter which source the protein is coming from. The effectiveness is going to stay pretty much the same. Make sure you give your body a CONSTANT supply of protein throughout your day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further information, check these studies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1997115/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1997115/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25628520&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25628520&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698202/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698202/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6968" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T11:08:13.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33722" CreationDate="2017-03-29T18:30:52.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a vegetarian too and I eat a lot of tempeh. It has a good amount of protein and I like the flavor and texture anyway.. you can also eat &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeds and kernels. For example pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, sunflower    seeds. Nuts, e.g. Cashew nuts, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachio    nuts etc. &#xA;Cottage cheese, quark, mozzarella. &#xA;Lentils, chick peas and beans. &#xA;Goji berries&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or get the whole list of [&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vegetarian Sources Of Protein&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;][1]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.statusofhealth.com/13-surprising-vegetarian-sources-of-protein/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.statusofhealth.com/13-surprising-vegetarian-sources-of-protein/&lt;/a&gt; hope my answer would help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25122" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T18:30:52.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33722" CreationDate="2017-03-29T21:31:27.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, and we get them more easily from animal sources.  We can also get them, quite readily, from vegetable sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have enough of certain basic amino acids, my body can synthesize certain others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's important in your diet, and what is considered a complete protein dietary profile, is a combination of vegetable protein sources that insure you are getting all of the &amp;quot;essential&amp;quot; amino acids, that your body cannot produce itself from other amino acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, my recollection is that tofu and brown rice is an excellent combination for getting a good spectrum of essential amino acids in sufficient quantities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These nine (essential amino acids) are leucine, isoleucine, lysine, tryptophan, histidine, phenylanaline, valine, methionine and threonine. While proteing sources such as meat, eggs and dairy are good sources of amino acids, vegetables can also help you to meet your daily requirements of these essential nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/426939-essential-amino-acids-in-vegetables/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;LiveStrong.Com: Essential Amino Acids In Vegetables&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of Complete protein vegetarian combinations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grains and legumes: rice and beans; peanut butter sandwich; tortillas with beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grains or vegetables with dairy or soy: pasta with cheese; baked potatoe with dairy/soy sour cream; rice pudding; cereal with milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stack.com/a/vegetarian-food-combinations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Vegetarian Athlete: Combining Foods For Peak Performance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T15:48:52.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-29T23:49:26.563" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does sugar and alcohol have in common? They are empty calories; offer no nutritional value, so avoid them whenever you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why haven't I heard anyone ever make the same argument about other types of carbs? I understand that a negative effect of sugar is that it causes spikes of insulin levels because of how fast the body can process them, but other than that, they are no different to other types of carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex carbs are considered to be healthy because they do not cause insulin spikes, but they are just as empty calories as sugar. Why not avoid complex carbs altogether and get your calories from healthy fats and protein instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23500" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T12:24:08.427" Title="Why does sugar get such a bad rap for being empty calories while other carbs don't?" Tags="&lt;calories&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2017-03-30T17:20:27.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33726" CreationDate="2017-03-30T10:29:42.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It all comes down to the speed at which your body can process the sugar&lt;/strong&gt;. Simple sugars make it into you blood stream very quickly and so you should avoid them unless you are exercising while consuming them ... or else they will have to be converted to glycogen, or even fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex carbs take a lot more work/time to be processed and released as simple sugar into the bloodstream, and so provide your body with energy without the spike you mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's definitely been a degree of overcompensation against carbs in recent years after a lot of anti-fat rhetoric. I think bundling complex carbs together with added refined sugars in the &quot;bad for you&quot; category is a similar mistake to the &quot;All fats are unhealthy&quot; of the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the NHS advice on carbs:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/the-truth-about-carbs.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/the-truth-about-carbs.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6169" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T10:29:42.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33729" CreationDate="2017-03-30T10:51:26.077" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding the RPM (revolutions per minute) while bicycling: I have heard that a too low RPM is bad for your knees. Both too low and too high is a waste of energy. What is the optimal RPM when cycling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24972" LastEditorUserId="24972" LastEditDate="2017-03-30T17:04:42.203" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T17:04:42.203" Title="Optimal RPM when bicycling?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-03-30T17:20:43.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33728" CreationDate="2017-03-30T12:22:54.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bikeradar.com/us/gear/article/technique-cadence-matters-16394/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;it depends on what you're optimizing for and what you've trained for&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general wisdom is that 80-90 rpm is ideal for reduction of muscular fatigue and 80-100 rpm (possibly as low as 60 rpm) is best for ideal oxygen usage. But those are values for trained cyclists. More recreational cyclists have been found to have the longest cycling time around 50 rpm. Basically, the faster your cadence, the better the blood flow, but the more that you have to actively &quot;push&quot; to keep pedaling at that speed, creating a tradeoff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T12:22:54.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33726" CreationDate="2017-03-30T12:24:08.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's just based off reputation. &quot;Empty calories&quot; basically means just &quot;all of the calories with none of the benefit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the case of simple sugars, they're more associated with candy. Pop rocks, jellybeans, gummies, rock candy, etc. are all made of pure sugar. Soda is also another source of &quot;empty calories&quot;. They do not have any nutritional micro-nutrients which are vitamins and minerals. Yet they are a very concentrated source of calories. Pair that with the fitness industry's demonization of calories, you get the idea that you shouldn't waste your limited calorie budget on &quot;empty calories&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex carbs are more often found in fruits and vegetables and hence are not &quot;empty&quot;. That's not to say there aren't simple carbs in fruits, but the concentration is considerably less. Also when people think of &quot;sugar&quot;, they don't think of &quot;bananas&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex carbs do, however, increase insulin.  As does protein in fact. The digestion rate is slower than simple carbs, so rather than a spike you get an elevated increase over time. One of the reasons that simple carbs are far less satiating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are actually a lot of people who argue that carbs primarily should be avoided regardless of source. Particularly Keto community. Then the IFIYM (It Fits Your Macros) community argues that a &quot;carb is a carb&quot; and the source of it doesn't matter as long as you get your macros in. Though since the body doesn't run on only macros, it's best to get your carbs mainly from &quot;non-empty&quot; food sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T12:24:08.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-30T17:41:23.013" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I weigh quite a lot and I am trying to lose weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently 6 feet tall and my weight is 216 pounds, which is clearly too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out doing mainly clap pushups, pullups, and throwing a medicine ball and playing basketball &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never lifted weights in my life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, I am not really that fat, and I recently got my body fat measured from a doctor, with it coming out around 18%, which is ridiculous. It would give me an FFMI (Fat Free Mass Index) of 23.48, without ever lifting weights or anything like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something has to be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25225" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-03-30T18:16:18.760" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T10:41:36.457" Title="Where does my weight come from?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33734" CreationDate="2017-03-30T20:03:11.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your 'natural' body-mass percentages are hugely affected by genetics. Your hormone levels control how much muscle-mass you will have with any given level of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's entirely possible you're genetically gifted. If you start lifting weights more regularly, and get a solid plan for your diet, you could end-up being quite muscular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The flip side is the body-fat % test might be waaayyyy off. Was it a body-caliper test? They can have major discrepancies, even when done by a doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T20:03:11.293" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33638" CreationDate="2017-03-30T21:06:46.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't like the shakes as much as I tend to feel bloated when drinking them post workout. But there are a few &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.viciouscandy.com/alternatives-to-protein-shakes-gym/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;alternatives to protein shakes&lt;/a&gt; that I like including chocolate chip cookie dough balls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25151" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T21:06:46.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-31T02:21:12.347" Score="3" ViewCount="4423" Body="&lt;p&gt;What happens if you only work your arms at the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25230" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T14:06:42.727" Title="What happens if you only work your arms at the gym?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-31T02:44:21.577" Score="1" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;31 yo F, 5'9&quot;, 67kg. Been working out about 3/4 yrs. Previously was 'skinny fat' - no core strength, fitness or even sports ever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About two years ago, after a year+ of weights, I wanted to start working on my bodyweight strength. I could not hang or plank at all. Over the 2 yeas working on it my planks have improved, but I have been unable to get past hanging or knee pushups (4-5 tops). I also struggle with some yoga (plank lower to cobra - completely impossible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive read the articles. I work the same muscles. I can deadlift 45kg, row 40, Lat pull down 35, etc, etc. I try to do negatives, but can barely manage to hold before I drop. Asked gym peeps for advice to no avail. Recently began wrist exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question is.. could it be another issue? My elbows click and grind when I try to do pushups. And, I get electric shocks down my forearms when I do shoulder press over 15kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be great.. cant afford doc visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25231" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T09:27:01.820" Title="After 2 years cannot do push or pull up - is it more than a strength issue?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;joints&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-03-31T23:52:38.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33738" CreationDate="2017-03-31T06:44:39.920" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will get stronger arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's working out, not rocket science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T06:44:39.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33740" CreationDate="2017-03-31T09:27:01.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What you should be doing is increasing the strength of the muscle groups you use during a pull-up or push-up.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, do lat pull-downs or inverted rows to work your back muscles to the point that you're back becomes strong enough to do a full pull up. Assisted pull ups are also a great way, for more details see my &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/33058/pull-ups-should-i-start-greasing-the-groove/33102#33102&quot;&gt;answer on another question about pull ups&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For push-ups, you can start doing things like bench pressing, using both dumbells and barbells. This way you can steadily increase the weight, improving your strength as you go. You can also do push ups on your knees instead of your feet, this will make it a but easier. You can also do chest flies with either dumbells or on a cable machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:46:49.213" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T09:27:01.820" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33738" CreationDate="2017-03-31T14:06:42.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You make no mention of your goal.  So, let's assume that it's one that's shared by many people: a &lt;strong&gt;balanced&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;symmetrical&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;aesthetic&lt;/strong&gt; physique.  Working only arms will not accomplish that since you are neglecting other body parts. In a sense, if you were an artist, you're painting a small portion of the picture and leaving the rest unfinished.  Additionally, while you may get bigger arms, and that's not a given, your potential for an overuse injury increases.  And, having an unbalanced physique may put more demands on the other body parts that you have neglected.  All in all, working only one body part is never a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T14:06:42.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-31T22:45:15.153" Score="0" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;My routine is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday - Volleyball and soccer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday - Workout A&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday - Volleyball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday - Workout B&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday - Workout C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weekend - rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout A - Full Body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;workout B - Lower body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workout C- Upper body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My target volume is 12 sets a week for bigger muscle groups (i.e quads and back)  and 9-10 sets for smaller ones (I. e biceps and shoulders)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this routine be effective on building muscle mass or should I stick to a 3-day full body workout plan (assuming that I have a proper diet)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;personal info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;15 years old/ &#xA;65 kg/ &#xA;171cm/ &#xA;14%bf/ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24097" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-04-01T16:53:12.287" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T14:18:09.217" Title="Full body + upper/lower workout division" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-01T02:19:10.787" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to reduce belly fat in a few days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nncqe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nncqe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25238" LastActivityDate="2017-04-01T02:19:10.787" Title="What is the best three exercises for belly fat?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-04-04T18:24:10.053" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-01T15:22:29.177" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an operation for an ACL tear in my left knee and physiotherapy for tennis elbow in my right hand plus a weird problem in my right wrist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What happened because of these&lt;/strong&gt; - My left leg looks skinnier than the right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I want to do&lt;/strong&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase the muscle mass of my left leg to match the right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maintain my current level of upper body fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I need your help with&lt;/strong&gt; is to do these things keeping in mind that I cannot handle/manoeuvre more than 15 kilograms with my right hand in rotational motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help with the things I want to do. I have 12 years of experience in fighting, martial arts and numerous other endeavors. I have the discipline to do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What exercises should I perform?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Available resources - Access to gyms with machines adn weights and stuff. All supplements available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25239" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-04-01T17:21:26.633" Title="Increasing muscle mass in my left leg considering the following conditions?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33747" CreationDate="2017-04-01T17:21:26.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Years ago, I also had an ACL tear.  I concentrated on a couple of different &lt;strong&gt;isolation&lt;/strong&gt; exercises as well as &lt;strong&gt;compound&lt;/strong&gt; exercises to try and restore my size and strength.  I used the following exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 legged &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIL2rLNLvog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RMT squat with an exercise&#xA;band&lt;/a&gt; – you basically&#xA;wrap an exercise band around your knee, attach it to an unmovable&#xA;object, and, squat on one leg.  This will build balance, strength, and size.&#xA;I would tuck my “good” ankle under my glutes when I squatted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 legged leg extensions.  Make sure to progress slowly with the&#xA;weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full (2) leg extensions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also recommend some hamstring work like lying hamstring curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should clear any of these exercises with your PT or personal physician before attempting to do them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-04-01T17:21:26.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33754" CreationDate="2017-04-02T01:10:44.717" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this question is the perfect setup for innuendo-laden comments, but it is a serious question, so please limit responses accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are at least a few activities where my natural inclination may be to kneel (e.g. sitting on the floor to play with my nieces/nephews, rotating tires on my car, working on appliances).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like children can sit on their knees all day long. However, any time I have seen anyone over the age of 20 get up from kneeling to talk/play with children on the floor (myself included), they say &quot;I'm not as young as I used to be&quot; implying some degree of stiffness/knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short of knee pads, is there an exercise or activity that can done to significantly improve the ability to kneel for extended periods of time without pain? Or, is this really just an unnatural position for humans that requires additional padding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23563" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T15:26:30.810" Title="Are there any specific exercises that can reduce pain from kneeling?" Tags="&lt;knee-pain&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33751" CreationDate="2017-04-02T13:22:57.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, there's not much in terms of exercises to &quot;build up&quot; the knee in any way for kneeling, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kneepainguide.com/knee-pain-when-kneeling/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the damage done is largely&lt;/a&gt; from the static position (most people, when kneeling, stay there for quite some time), weight directly on the joint (many people kneel with with kneeling weight entirely on their kneecap), and strain getting up. What you need to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maintain an active position&lt;/strong&gt; - Shift positions as often as you can so that the blood keeps flowing and you shift the strain. This is where having better leg fitness can pay off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Distribute your weight&lt;/strong&gt; - Try to evenly place your weight between your two legs, and on the kneeling leg, use your entire lower leg from foot to knee. As with Step 1, shift when possible, both between the legs and along the kneeling leg, to maintain blood blow and distribute strain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practice proper technique when getting up&lt;/strong&gt; - I am not an expert here, but I have found that the ideal way, if you can do it, is to simply go straight up with your feet winding up with weight evenly distributed, one foot in front of the other. That takes some muscular strength and coordination, though, so your next best bet is to shift your bodyweight largely onto the non-kneeling leg (if you've been kneeling on one leg, shift one so that the sole of your foot is down and use that leg), centering your torso over that leg, and lean forward as you rise up, knee bent, optionally using your hands on either side of that supporting leg to keep your balance, and then straightening up at around the halfway point. Either way, a good training to build up the knee and leg strength (and to emphasize technique) is the &quot;drop-knee lunge&quot; which can either be done as a standard lunge where the trailing leg is bent so that the knee just touches the ground, then pushing back into position, or can be done from a standing split position by going straight down and straight up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-02T15:26:30.810" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T15:26:30.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-02T18:47:24.213" Score="1" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am a newbie athlete, I have only ran half a marathon, and on a treadmill. I am very keen on running a full marathon, but I wanted to learn about it from professionals first. If you google &quot;marathon world record&quot;, you will see &lt;strong&gt;Dennis Kimetto&lt;/strong&gt; of Kenya holds the record of &lt;strong&gt;2 hours and 2 minutes&lt;/strong&gt;. This arises a few questions-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do athletes track their running pace while they are running?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where do these athletes make their records? Indoors, Outdoors, Track or Cross country?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do they Not run out of water? Do they wear those inconvenient fuel belts which can barely hold a few sips?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25252" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T11:42:50.850" Title="How do marathons work?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33757" CreationDate="2017-04-03T02:32:52.203" Score="5" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During training, modern athletes can use GPS watches to track distance and times. The old-school way would be to map out a route pre-mapped out route with known distances and record the start and stop times. This is of course still used in countries like Kenya.  For races, they're tracked by the operators of the race. Modern marathons will put a small chip in your bib that records when you cross the start line and when you cross the finish line. There may also be checkpoints in the middle of the race that record your times at specific points.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All world records must be run during an official race that follows a strict set of guidelines to ensure time tracking and distances are accurate. Typically international competitions like the Olympics have officials on site to judge a successful record. So you can't just call up some official at the Guinness Book of World Records and tell them you ran a marathon in 1 hour. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression#Criteria_for_record_eligibility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The official rules&lt;/a&gt; state:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order for a performance to be ratified as a world record by the IAAF, the marathon course on which the performance occurred must be 42.195 kilometers[7] and measured in a defined manner using the calibrated bicycle method[8] and meet other criteria that rule out &amp;quot;artificially fast times&amp;quot; produced on courses aided by downhill slope or tailwind.[9] The criteria include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed an average of one in a thousand, i.e. 1m per km.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the huge variety of tracks, you very often won't see &amp;quot;world records&amp;quot; but you'll see &amp;quot;course records&amp;quot; which sometimes can be just as important.  For example, the Boston Marathon is one of the biggest races in the world, but it does no meet the criteria for IAAF. Yet holding one of the track records is an incredible feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They would not wear anything to weigh them down for world record attempts. During races, there are water stations lined up at various checkpoints. If necessary, the athlete will grab and chug a cup or bottle of water while running. I don't know much about Dennis' record, but if I had to guess he just bolted straight through and dealt with the consequences while on the victory circuit. There is, of course, nothing stopping you from carrying your own water. It is quite common for people to wear sip belts or camalbacks. Though always check the rules of the race. Each race is different. For training, you could wear a sip belt or camalback as well. They will weigh you down, but it's better than being in the middle of nowhere after two-three hours of running and no water. Typically long-slow-distance runs are not about the speed and more about the distance, so the added weight is suitable. An alternate approach is to set up your own &amp;quot;water stations&amp;quot; by setting water bottles out throughout your route. The upside is there's no added weight. The downside is people will steal them sometimes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T11:42:50.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33759" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33780" CreationDate="2017-04-03T06:20:33.973" Score="2" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't care about being flexible. I can touch my toes fine because I did a lot of stretching as a kid, I feel like I am naturally flexible. I am definitely not 'tight'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think stretching is boring. Given that I don't care about being more flexible, is there any possible benefit to stretching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24140" LastActivityDate="2017-10-14T04:29:48.193" Title="Benefits of stretching if you don't care about flexibility" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-03T06:20:53.140" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a man, 28 y.o., about 100 kg and 6 feet tall. I want to avoid weights if possible for a few months of initial training. I'm of the skinny fat types&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25255" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T09:42:12.190" Title="To reduce obesity, can I depend on elliptical trainer exercise at high resistance?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;elliptical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33760" CreationDate="2017-04-03T07:29:04.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR&lt;/strong&gt;: Yes you can, but you'll be doing the same stuff over and over, which your body will get used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basics are that it's calories in vs calories out when it comes to weight loss, so doing what you're saying will work to lose weight (if your diet is good). Your body will get used to the movement that you're doing though, so the results might decrease after a long period of doing the same thing a few times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lose weight it might also be a good idea to start swimming, it's great because it won't put a lot of strain on your joints which can be a problem for overweight people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-04-03T08:59:05.137" LastActivityDate="2017-04-03T08:59:05.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33744" CreationDate="2017-04-03T14:29:04.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There’s no way anyone can predict for sure that your plan will be effective for building muscle mass.  And, that’s because there are many factors such as age, current health, nutrition, rest/recovery, genetics, etc. that all play a synergistic role in whether you will be successful in making the gains you want.  I’d encourage you to experiment with different training routines, if for nothing else, but, to avoid training stagnation.  You need to learn what &lt;strong&gt;works for you&lt;/strong&gt;.  Only time and consistent training effort will provide the answer to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-04-03T14:29:04.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-04T03:30:07.530" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wanted to share my bulking diet, and see what I could improve to put on more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently a 25yo male, 1.72m tall and weight 68 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to reach 72 kg which is the weight I will be happy about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train about 3-4 times a week and focus on low reps and heavy weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of improvements in the last year because I started at about 56kg weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I have a reached a plateau with my weight ... this is why I am looking for some advices. I have also lost a bit of weight because developer a lot of lactose intolerance so can only handle isolate and not so much cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wake up&lt;/strong&gt; - Isolate shake with lactose free full milk &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Oats , with lactose free greek yoghurt with spoon of honey &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Banana &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning snack&lt;/strong&gt; - Kit kat, fruits &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt; - Always carbs and meat and veggies every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Afternoon snack&lt;/strong&gt; - 2 sandwiches of peanut butter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt; - Mostly carbs , meat and veggies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After dinner snack&lt;/strong&gt; - half a Cup of almonds &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25259" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T14:50:29.070" Title="Bulking diet good enough?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33775" CreationDate="2017-04-04T03:41:32.243" Score="2" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play Dance Dance Revolution and similar games to exercise. On especially difficult levels, I lean back and grab the bar behind me, putting some of my weight on it and on my arms and wrists, to be able to move more quickly while expending less energy. After having done this for a few weeks, my wrists are starting to ache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what it looks like when I use the bar: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZC-q9qY3Uw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZC-q9qY3Uw&lt;/a&gt; (That's not me in the video, but that is the posture I use.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three ways I believe using the bar stresses my wrists:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Of course, putting much of my weight on my arm for a couple minutes at a time while moving around a lot probably strains my wrists, especially if my wrists are bent backwards like in the video.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I often switch from holding the bar to not using it in the middle of a song. In order to avoid disrupting my combo while transitioning, I push myself off the bar with my arms so I get off of it as quickly as possible. I've noticed that this often hurts my wrists a little more intensely as I transition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Likewise, when I first grab the bar in the middle of a song, I usually try to grab it as quickly as possible and might be dropping all of my weight right onto my wrists during the transition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I use the bar and still transition onto and off of it quickly during play without damaging my wrists? Is there a certain posture I should be using or a particular way I should be positioning my weight on my wrists? Are there exercises I can do to increase my wrist strength so that they're less likely to be injured?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7866" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T12:26:40.857" Title="How can I avoid hurting my wrists when using the bar while playing DDR?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-04T04:26:07.897" Score="5" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’m a 33 year old male. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5’11. 156 pounds. I'm approx 14% bodyfat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m looking to get ‘fit’. I’ve worked out (5km-half marathon, swimming, squat, bench) at various times in my life and tracked calories, macros etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current Stats&#xA;Have not worked out in a few years.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardio&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can run 5km in about 23 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can do half marathon in around 2hrs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength (have not lifted in a few years) - 1 rep max&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prob Bench around 100 pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prob Squat around 100 pounds (squat has always been relatively weak&#xA;compared to bench)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve lifted weights before, including squats and bench. I’ve got the starting strength book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general I’m looking to improve functional strength and cardio. I’m not looking to be able to lift really heavy in gym. Or put on a ton of size. I’d prefer to optimize first for cardio, then for aesthetics, then for strength,&#xA;In order of priority:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’d like to get to 9% bodyfat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’d like to run a 5km in sub 20mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swim: Not sure, but I’d like to    increase swim performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’d like to increase my strength to Bench:150lbs&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/bench-press&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/bench-press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat:    200lbs &lt;a href=&quot;http://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/squat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/squat&lt;/a&gt; •&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’d like to put on 5-10 pounds of muscle - but most of all I’m&#xA;optimizing for body fat loss, while increasing strength to&#xA;novice-ish levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m confident I can hit the right meal goals, as I’ve dropped down to 11% body fat fairly ‘easily’ by heating a bit cleaner.I may get a BodPod test&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meal Plan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1g of protein p/pound:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;120G - 150g protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No sugar, sweet, snacks except on cheat day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breakfast: 3 eggs, smoothie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunch: Rice, Chicken, Salad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dinner: Sandwich, Pasta, health protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplements: Whey Protein, Caffeine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Workout&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M - Starting Strength program (beginning from start)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T - rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W - Starting Strength program (beginning from start)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T - rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F - Starting Strength (beginning from start)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S - Swim&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S - Run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything you’d change?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I be looking to run more crossfit type programming than&#xA;Starting Strength, if I'm looking to build functional strength?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25261" LastActivityDate="2018-04-02T17:08:53.587" Title="Is this an optimal plan for strength and cardio?" Tags="&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;meal-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33776" CreationDate="2017-04-04T08:42:41.900" Score="0" ViewCount="9074" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gap between my shoulder and collar, what exercise I should be doing to fill the gap.&#xA;In other words, I don't want my collar bone to be shown, how to cover them with muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I picked a photo to show problem.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q00Gm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q00Gm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;collar gap&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25263" LastEditorUserId="25263" LastEditDate="2017-04-04T14:58:23.563" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T12:57:15.160" Title="How to fill collar gap?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2184" CreationDate="2017-04-04T11:04:01.347" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, your lucky to have a soft mat.&#xA;Try falling on the mat back first with your hands to break your fall.&#xA;Then try doing it without your hands.&#xA;Then try hopping then falling on your back.&#xA;Now jump and fall.&#xA;P.s. I cant do a bhs because i dont have access to a gym, spotter, or trampoline or even grass/sand pit. All i have is my living room of tiles. Cant even use my super thin mattress. So good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25266" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T11:04:01.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33768" CreationDate="2017-04-04T12:26:40.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the central fundamentals of exercise is that the best way to get good at something is to do it repeatedly in a safe manner. You've already isolated three aspects that you can work on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Building wrist strength and flexibility&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you'll want to build up static hold strength. This is simple. Find a bar at about the right height, put your arms behind you grabbing the bar, and bend your knees, transmitting weight into your wrists. Hold it as long as you can, then gently push yourself back up. Once you're comfortable with a static hold for a decent amount of time, start to experiment by being more off-center, shifting left and right as you might when trying to hit the buttons with your feet, but do it under control rather than the flailing that you might do while dancing. You will also want to drop your weight further than you actually would while dancing because training for more extreme cases makes it easier to do the more moderate ones (and helps prepare you for a situation where you lose your footing and drop further than you intend). I would also advise doing some exercises on the floor where you hold yourself backwards on all fours, wrists turned the direction you'd have them turned on the bar, and holding it for several seconds. This will further help in building strength and flexibility in your wrists, elbows, and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Practice pushing off&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As before, hands on the bar, drop your weight. But here, don't drop it quite as far. Now, you drill pushing off into a standing position with your weight neutral and centered. Doing this repeatedly will help build the muscles that you need for doing it mid-dance. Doing it under controlled circumstances lets you do so safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Practice pushing back into the bar&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not advise starting out by dropping back toward the bar because if you miss, you could injure yourself. Instead, reach back for the bar, lightly touch it, then lean back in a controlled manner. As you get more comfortable, you can experiment with leaning back before reaching out for the bar, but start out with the easier and safer exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T12:26:40.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33772" CreationDate="2017-04-04T15:27:58.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no muscles that directly overlay the collar-bone, so you can't really cover it. Poking around online, it looks like this isn't an uncommon question. The general solution is to build the muscles on either side, which would be the upper pectoral and the trapezius muscles. As for what exercises to do, upper-pec is generally a matter of decline pushups (feet raised) if you want to use your bodyweight, incline benchpress if you want to use weights. For the traps, it's generally &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/480160-trapezius-bodyweight-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shrugs, handstand pushups, and arm circles&lt;/a&gt; to build them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T15:27:58.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-04T15:46:31.850" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out in the same t-shirts I normally use, recognised that's a mistake, the washing machine dont remove the odors completely, still some left after rinsing once with vinegar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should i look for in workout t-shirts and fabrics? I do bodyweight training, running and some machines at a gym.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Merino wool, cotton, bamboo, synthetics? &#xA;Whatever they sell in a sports store? &#xA;Cheap cottonshirts from clothing stores?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25269" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T15:46:31.850" Title="Workout t-shirts and types of fabric" Tags="&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-04-06T21:22:44.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33786" CreationDate="2017-04-04T17:57:21.130" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if wearing weights during your daily life work as a &lt;em&gt;pseudo-high gravity training&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider, I wear leg weights, weights on my back and arms, and wear them throughout the day &lt;em&gt;(not while sleeping, since it would be uncomfortable)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now after a few months the weights seem to have become a normal part of my body, so I remove the weights now I guess I would feel very light similar to how it would feel when going to a place with a less gravity than the Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now, is my assumption correct? Or there is something I am unaware of?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21899" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-05T13:36:21.213" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T13:36:21.213" Title="Pseudo - High Gravity Training" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;&lt;weighttraining&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-04-05T21:20:44.707" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33769" CreationDate="2017-04-04T23:32:37.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m only going to be able to address a small subset of what I’d have clients do.  Cross-fit – is backwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting the most technical and power centeric Olympic lifts and doing them to exhaustion is sloppy and dangerous.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My abridged recommendations are as follows:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proceed all workouts with a 5-10 min dynamic warmup &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Lifting Days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dynamic Lifts (Unilateral to Destabilize) as your routine Progresses decrease stability (heavy lifts first).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate Push/Pull and UE/LE exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~30 second rest period between lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~10-15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sun  Rest &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mon:Steady State Run 1.5x Target Distance (Best Time Focus) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tues:  Lift &amp;amp; 3:1 ratio as tolerable ~ 20-30 min Intervals  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wed:  Lift and Steady State Run to 3/4 Target Distance &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thrus: Rest &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fri:Intervals 3:1 ratio as tolerable ~ 30 min  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sat: More Intense Lift – Light Steady State Cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T23:32:37.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33759" CreationDate="2017-04-05T00:28:17.033" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Research is mixed regarding the importance stretching after exercise. Adaptive shortening of muscles however will cause a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Re-Thinking Movement&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body moves as a unit in patterns not as isolated muscles.  Think in terms of movement patterns not muscles.  Here's my random example that hopefully makes some sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of your spine like a fishing rod as it bends and your attached muscles to the fishing rod (you're spine) are all affected. They are all shortening or lengthening and pull from different angles with various forces.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving it in any direction will effects the other attached muscles ability to work properly. This throws off your body's entire kinematic chain. If one sides tight your essentially weakening the opposing muscle group -- up and down the kinematic chain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Janda's upper and lower crossed syndrome shows this relationship of a weak / tight muscle imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jandaapproach.com/the-janda-approach/jandas-syndromes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.jandaapproach.com/the-janda-approach/jandas-syndromes/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-14T04:29:48.193" LastActivityDate="2017-10-14T04:29:48.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31606" CreationDate="2017-04-05T00:45:33.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do what's called active assisted stretching &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lay on your back and get a rope or a dog leash even works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrap it around one footer and raise that foot in the air until you feel it on the back of your leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once tight hold it still and flex that foot toward the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the range of motion you can get before vs after -- it's a huge difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very briefly what you're doing is activating an opposing muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT | Here's an image if it helps you:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_400_400/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAO9AAAAJDNjNzZjZTUzLTRkYWItNDdkNy1hNGM3LWU0YjU3YTVjYTM1ZQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_400_400/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAO9AAAAJDNjNzZjZTUzLTRkYWItNDdkNy1hNGM3LWU0YjU3YTVjYTM1ZQ.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T00:45:33.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8014" CreationDate="2017-04-05T01:05:30.440" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would read running to the top by Arthur Lydiard or at least some of the books he has written.They are good for all types of runners. I was in a similar situation because i am now 13 and when i was about 9 i was quite fat and i got encouraged to do running. I would do park runs every weekend and then i started losing weight rapidly. I then started training and now i am 6th in my state for cross country and my PB for 5km is 18 minutes flat. I would continue to do cycling as well because that is great fitness. Maybe once you get better at running you can do tryathlons&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25277" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T01:05:30.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-05T01:19:13.653" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing jump lunges as one of my exercise(. I read online that you should be able to do 8-12 reps in 4-5 sets with 45-60 sec rest in between. In the first set I was able to complete 12 jump lunges(excruciating pain), the second set I went down drastically to 5 and after that to 3 and after that my legs just give out when I attempt another jump. Maybe I am doing it wrong somehow or maybe I am just too weak. Does each side of the leg count as one rep or is it after completing both legs does it start to count as one rep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note this also happens when I do push ups 28 reps per set &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any solution to this and how do i keep training when I keep failing after the 2-3 sets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25276" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T07:37:06.190" Title="Depreciating repetition after each set" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;reps&gt;&lt;sets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33784" CreationDate="2017-04-05T07:16:02.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree a fit person should be able to relatively easily do 4-5 sets of 8-12 jumping lunges with a short rest period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without some video of you doing the exercise we cannot tell if you are doing It wrong, but it sounds like you are just weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rep counting is whatever you make of it, in my view (and CrossFit's view) every time you move your legs it counts as a rep. If you were doing a standing lunge you might up it to 8 on each leg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;28 reps of press-ups is reasonably good, and is quite high, I wouldn't personally bother going above 20 reps because beyond that you are just building muscle endurance which I don't really care for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solution: Use a easier scaled movement. Instead of jumping, just lunge from a standing position and then return to standing straight (step lunge). The more you practice, the better you will become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T07:16:02.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33778" CreationDate="2017-04-05T10:49:57.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you correctly asserted, the body adapts to stressors put on it. Remove those stressors and the body reduces its expenditure. In relation to your question, yes. However, much the way that wearing a rucksack for a long hike gives you a small (10 minute) period of relief after taking it off your bodies compensation period would be also small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body is good at adapting to get good at what it is doing. However, it works both ways. People that stop working out don't stay strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend doing this for two reasons. Firstly, high gravity does not feel the same as strapping weights to yourself. Secondly, wearing weights are part of normal life puts a lot of sudden force on your joints. You will get joint pain doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-05T13:35:46.320" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T13:35:46.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32908" CreationDate="2017-04-05T11:16:49.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes weightlifting is beneficial for children. If you join a proper Olympic weightlifting club and receive proper instruction from a qualified coach.&#xA;It is a sport which can be fun if the environment and instruction is right.&#xA;Any type of activity is better than a sedentary lifestyle.&#xA;My daughters (11 and 13) have been doing weightlifting at a club and they really enjoy it. They also do gymnastics and cycling and netball etc.&#xA;They practice the Snatch and Clean and Jerk with comfortable weights as well as strength and conditioning exercise such as squats, jumps, press ups etc.&#xA;I have noticed a big difference in their confidence, self esteem etc.&#xA;The good thing about weightlifting is that not only is it healthy, improves your appearance, it also makes you better in general at many sports.&#xA;Weightlifting strengthens the muscles of the legs and core so will make kids better at any sports which require jumping sprinting etc.&#xA;I have also found that my daughters really seem to enjoy the training and the atmosphere and environment at the weightlifting club.&#xA;There are older girls at the club who are fit and strong and good role models. They hang out, chat and listen to music while they are practicing.&#xA;Healthy bodies make for healthy minds and I have found that their ability to concentrate and focus on homework has improved since they started weightlifting.&#xA;Any comment about just letting kids be kids is ill informed and could be applied to any sport.&#xA;Why should kids do any sport at all such as gymnastics, martial arts, cycling, swimming, weightlifting?&#xA;Because it is good for them and sport can be fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://britishweightlifting.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/British-Weight-Lifting-Position-Statement-2015-FINAL-VERSION.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://britishweightlifting.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/British-Weight-Lifting-Position-Statement-2015-FINAL-VERSION.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25278" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T11:16:49.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32908" CreationDate="2017-04-05T12:10:35.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting weights with proper form while maintaining a healthy diet will not stunt growth. In fact, weight lifting has many benefits for youths including increased strength for sports and higher self-esteem. In particular, Olympic Weightlifting (with its technique-heavy requirement) is very suitable for young people and if they are looking to develop into that sport they should start as early as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comprehensive analysis of strength training in youth can be found on ExRx (summary below): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/YouthMisconceptions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/YouthMisconceptions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weight training programs for youth should be conducted by well-trained adults...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weight training should take place in facilities equipped to support safe training practices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Skill-based weightlifting programs that include a wide variety of general athletic preparation are appropriate for children and can&#xA;  commence between the ages of 9 and 12 years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Total exercise training time should not exceed 15 hours per week. Coaches must consider the cumulative effect of all the trainee’s&#xA;  physical activities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Utilization of maximal weights, although no data currently establishes a clear-cut relationship, has been opposed as a practice&#xA;  that places the child athlete at risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also the following articles: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength training in children and adolescents. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2216562&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2216562&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resistance training, skeletal muscle and growth. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16437017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16437017&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T12:10:35.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33772" CreationDate="2017-04-05T12:57:15.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s important when you are prioritizing body parts to continue working supporting musculature.  If you don’t, you run the risk of creating an imbalance.  In your case, that might mean working the deltoids and upper chest, as well as, the trapezius.  One of the better exercises, in my opinion, for pectorals is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBPullover.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dumbbell pullover&lt;/a&gt;.  It’s a somewhat forgotten exercise that works lots of supporting muscles.  I’d also recommend an incline movement like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/DBInclineBenchPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;incline dumbbell press&lt;/a&gt; which work the pecs and the &lt;strong&gt;clavicular&lt;/strong&gt; head.  Lastly, you should consider working all three heads of the deltoids to balance out your upper body.  Something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/CBSeatedFrontRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Front Raise&lt;/a&gt; should help the Anterior head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T12:57:15.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13892" CreationDate="2017-04-05T18:33:39.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you exhaling as you lift and not straining?  I'm assuming yes as you've been lifting for years. Either way that wouldn't cause it...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides older adults I don't see that often. Are you taking any NSAIDs before or after you life? they don't allow your blood to coagulate - resulting in bruising. Can happen as you age or could be an underlying auto-immune disease (such as vasicitius) etc..  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T18:33:39.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33769" CreationDate="2017-04-05T19:15:22.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely, more functional strengthening in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;II'd focus on improving all major energy systems and raise your bodies H+ tolerance  -- it's actually not lactic acid that causes the burn, it's a build up of excess H+ atoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a few meal things -- &#xA;Post workout you want simple sugars (dextrose is best but table sugar is just fine) to spike you insulin levels so protein can be delivered to your muscles post workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy fats before bed to to increase natural hormone production.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T19:15:22.647" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-06T02:02:55.880" Score="3" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone basically only do crunches (or other exercises with a similar contraction) for his abs (many people seem to be in this group), what would be the result? Would this be unhealthy? Should I complement them with other exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T12:00:51.213" Title="What happens when someone does too many crunches?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-04-06T21:22:26.517" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-06T03:16:04.420" Score="1" ViewCount="939" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I completed a 4 month long clean bulk a couple of weeks ago. Over those 4 months I put on 10lbs and my lifts went up significantly. I followed a keto-paleo diet (unconventional for bulking I know) and 6 day push, pull, legs split. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to start a cut to lean out, while still preserving as much muscle mass and strength as possible. Based on my background and goals, should I do a slow cut (200-300 calorie deficit daily) or a fast cut (1000+ calories)? And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21710" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T03:58:40.743" Title="What are the pros and cons of slow cuts versus fast cuts?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33793" CreationDate="2017-04-06T03:58:40.743" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To answer your question directly, there is indeed a huge difference between fast cuts and slow cuts.&lt;/em&gt; The first point I'm making will point you to a very clear study about it.&#xA;To add more on it, here is a bit more detailed answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are multiple factors to consider when planning a diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I Rate of weight loss&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21558571&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Studies have shown&lt;/a&gt; that there seem to be an optimal threshold with which fat loss was optimal in regards to lean body mass. It is said that 0.7% of body weight loss a week is optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;II Protein intake&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28166780&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;According to this study&lt;/a&gt;, a combination of high protein diet and resistance training is the best way to conserve muscle when trying to lose weight. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28166780&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A diet high in protein is key during prolonged weight loss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III Sleep&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleep is a huge factor. &lt;a href=&quot;https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2010/10/03/sleep-loss-limits-fat-loss-study-finds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; is about a study where they compared the rate of fat loss between people sleeping 5.30 hours a night versus 7.30 while being on the same caloric intake. They found a tremendous difference between the two, in favor of the more sleep group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IV Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multiple styles of training exist. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23019316&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This paper&lt;/a&gt; argues that Aerobic training is the best regarding weight loss while resistance training is optimal for conserving muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helped !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T03:58:40.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33767" CreationDate="2017-04-06T06:26:05.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As pointed by @Dark Hippo in the comment section, many parameters can influence your weight gain.&#xA;But as far as nutrition goes, here is how to go about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's set optimal weight gain for a beginner/intermediate to be around 0.5% of your body weight a week.&#xA;Since you weigh 68 kg, that would mean 340 grams a week. Your goal being to be 72 kg, you can be there in 11-12 weeks. Let's round that up to 3 months.&#xA;At that rate, you'll mostly put on Fat free mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest weighing yourself every morning upon waking up. Track your progress. And count calories/macros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If after a week you see yourself weighing more than what you're supposed to, back off a bit on the calories.&#xA;If instead you're not putting on enough weight, up your calories.&#xA;Repeat the process until the goal is achieved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastEditorUserId="25042" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T09:40:42.787" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T09:40:42.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33769" CreationDate="2017-04-06T08:23:51.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Preface:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why should you listen to me?&lt;/strong&gt; I have created fitness plans that, most importantly, people have stuck to and seen progress on. There is no point prescribing a program you won't follow for more than 3 months. I am a level 2 fitness instructor (UK qualification). In terms of DYEL BRO I am at the top end of intermediate in all lifts (Power/Olympic/Crossfit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background Fitness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You clearly can run well, I'm personally training for my first half-marathon and my running is very average but I know that a sub 20min run take a lot of dedication. Fortunately running programming is fairly simple to plan and to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You aren't fat but want to get a lower body fat, this makes that task hard. What also makes your task harder is you want to make strength gains while losing body-fat. It is do-able, just hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goals are a bit all over the place, you have quite a few conflicting ones: you say you want functional strength but tote the starting strength book and a arbitrary strength standard you want to meet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order of difficulty (for you) here are your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9% bodyfat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 5km in sub 20mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat: 200lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench 150lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’d like to put on 5-10 pounds of muscle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase swim performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Planning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of them work well together and we should pair them up. You have also expressed a interest in starting strength so we should include that (&lt;em&gt;aside, I personally am not in favour of SS for most clients, however you want your squat to go up a lot more than your bench so it is suitable&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running takes significant time to get good at, you might see a 30 second improvement on your 5k time after 6 weeks running. Especially since your run times are fairly good already (diminishing returns).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your strength goals aren't really that aspirational though and at most 6 months of training should get you there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I would recommend the following: 2 running days to build up distance and experience while you work your way through starting strength (3 days a week). If you feel that is too easy and feel restless then you should look to move onto 3 days running and 3 days strength training (this is what I currently do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You week would look like this, I have purposely not given rest days as its up to your schedule when you take them (take them between any of the sessions):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1: Starting Strength 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2: Alternate Weeks Easy/Fartlek Runs (40-50 mins)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3: Starting Strength 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 4: Long Run (50mins-1h15m)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 5: Starting Strength 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would cut out the swimming for now but you have explicitly said you want to do it, so if you do then do it on one of your rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Footnotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;CrossFit is a workout, nothing more, nothing less. I personally have done 6 months of it and became frustrated with the lack of a consistent program where I can see clear progress over time. The movements are usually fun (plyometric, gymnastics, Olympic lifts) but the coaching isn't high level (you won't often get a Olympic weightlifting coach leading a CrossFit gym). However, the social atmosphere is often very good and can help you keep coming back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga, seriously. Every person should be doing yoga. Even more so if they are regularly (&amp;gt;4 times a week) doing exercise. The benefits are enormous and the time to be mindful and relax is great. Depending on the instructor you can have good fun too (ours always does handstand holds). Only downside is the cost of classes. 1 session a week can make a lot of difference.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't go overboard with the exercise. Never go full 7 days a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you run out of progress with starting strength look at 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T08:23:51.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33792" CreationDate="2017-04-06T08:26:50.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If someone basically only do crunches (or other exercises with a similar contraction) for his abs (many people seem to be in this group), what would be the result?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would get good at doing lots of crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would this be unhealthy?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe, might want to use a small mat to protect your lower spine form the floor. If you manage to keep the high volume of just crunches up your will get developed abs but nothing else. Your back will be 'over-powered' by your core and you will hunch over, causing back issues long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I complement them with other exercises?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T12:00:51.213" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T12:00:51.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31162" CreationDate="2017-04-06T19:11:57.203" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is what my long life experience and lots of my own research show.&#xA;As soon as person overweight it means there is a problem, health issue. Mostly it linked to sweets - all kinds of sugars. The bad news is that sugar is more addictive than anything else. The serpent tempted Eve with apple. &#xA;It means being addicted we need to stay clean of it all our life and it never gets easier.&#xA;So the thing is to find your own lifestyle and keep it. How to find and keep - its another story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25289" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T19:11:57.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-07T18:40:17.240" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/try-pushup-push-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Military.com&lt;/a&gt;, a source that I actually trust, a good start would be a routine of 200 push-ups/a day (for people who, like me, can't perform more than 50 push-ups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More exactly: in odd days, 200 pushups in as few sets as possible. In even days, 200 pushups throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't this way too much? Isn't that already slipping into the unhealthy territory and it's a recipe for lesions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastEditorUserId="20124" LastEditDate="2017-04-07T18:51:29.810" LastActivityDate="2017-04-07T20:00:40.527" Title="The Push-up Push Workout" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33805" CreationDate="2017-04-07T20:00:40.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing is, if you can do 50 pushups in a row, you're due for some added resistance. The key to progress is overloading, and that can be done either with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;volume (doing more reps/sets), which you've accomplished&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;intensity (using more weight), which is the second piece of this puzzle you're trying to complete&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you're right to be concerned, not just about lesions and tendonitis, but also about the effect on your body from doing ONLY pushups. What do you think is going to happen when you have a big chest? That the rest of your body is going to look equally good? No! It's going to look weird, and you're going to develop imbalances which, around your core, means chronic neck/back problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you push, you also need to pull. And if you're working your upper body, you need to work your lower body too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't neglect anything! If you have the time to do 200 pushups, try instead to do a total of 100 pushups with more weight instead, and spend the rest of the time doing pullups and squats. Then you have something that's starting to look like a more well-rounded routine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-07T20:00:40.527" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-07T22:02:52.813" Score="4" ViewCount="6920" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a good bodyweight antagonist exercise to the squat? In the same way the push up has the pull up or the inverted row?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25298" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T05:13:33.980" Title="What's the opposite exercise to the squat?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33807" CreationDate="2017-04-07T23:23:25.827" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, we have to divide the body up into chunks that make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Opposites&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For exercises where we push forward, e.g. the pushup, we train mainly chest, triceps, and front deltoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For exercises where we pull backward, e.g. inverted rows, we train the upper back and biceps. These muscles are opposite the ones in the pushing exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squats, I'm not sure we can follow the same pattern. During the squat you train a lot of quadricep. On the other side of that is the hamstring, but the squat trains that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the squat we also train the lower back. On the other side of that are the abdominal muscles, but again, the squat forces you to engage this muscle group too, in order to keep correct posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually why we love and preach the glory of the squat. It does so many things all at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, while it does &lt;em&gt;train&lt;/em&gt; all these muscle groups, it trains some more than others. For instance, the quadriceps are far more active than the hamstrings. Luckily we have other movements that train much of the same areas, but with different foci.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, the deadlift also trains quads, hamstring, lower back, abdominals etc, but it requires more hamstring work than the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as far as your question goes, I'm not sure the squat has an &quot;opposite&quot; exercise in that regard. Just &lt;em&gt;complementary&lt;/em&gt; ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and whenever you're in doubt as to whether you should be doing this move or that move, the answer is usually both. Variety is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-07T23:23:25.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33809" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-08T05:08:22.443" Score="1" ViewCount="686" Body="&lt;p&gt;When watching bodybuilding shows with a lover I was engaged with, I always noticed that bodybuilders seem to flex really hard to the point I cannot fathom their physical prowess. But, I noticed how much their bodies start shaking, they scream and shout as one does when one feels pain and even their faces deform from the seemingly extreme exertion of physical strength with every pose. Even though bodybuilders seem to love the flexing it looks painful like it can wear out your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who lacks the drive for extreme physicality, I'm curious to know if flexing the way bodybuilders do hurts, or, if it just an appearance of pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25300" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-04-08T14:26:22.230" LastActivityDate="2017-04-08T14:52:59.340" Title="Do bodybuilders feel pain when flexing their muscles hard during competitions?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33818" CreationDate="2017-04-08T12:13:47.593" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a person who does workouts.My problem is that i am trying hard to obtain obvious muscles.In workout it seemed my muscles but when i stop after 2hours there are not seemed obvious. Additionaly,I did blood test my sugar level was 94 to 108 ml/gr and my cholisterol 204 from 200.Now,there are pass 3-4 weeks i havent eat sugar not a single sweet and i am not eating much things has to do with cholisterol. I start eating more healthier.Before workout i eat banana after i eat some of the depeneds on my will  eggs or milk with quaker/ omega-3/green apple/ greek yogurt/ honey/chicken/meat/other food or vegetables salats.I am 65kg i have little obvious muscles but nothing the truth for the distance i am workout.Guys how will i see quaranteen results. Should i do from morning until night workout to change my food. What should i add ..my workouts are good . all say its my metabolism or the foods..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24116" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T22:29:36.053" Title="obvious results" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-04-09T23:05:40.087" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33811" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-08T13:03:06.680" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the short-bridge (shoulders on the ground) and the straight bridge (hands stretched, back straight) as good for the back as a full-bridge? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are these just a stepping stone to the full-bridge, in the same way that a knee push-up is for those unable to do full push-ups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T23:16:11.327" Title="Bridge variations" Tags="&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33809" CreationDate="2017-04-08T14:52:59.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from experience, I can tell you that well prepared bodybuilders do not experience pain when posing in competition.  Rather, when done, they typically feel fatigue.  And, that's because holding various poses during a competition is a from of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.verywell.com/isometric-muscle-contraction-3120354&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;isometric contraction&lt;/a&gt;.  Successful bodybuilders typically practice posing for hours leading up to a competition.  Posing helps to add the finishing touches onto a physique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical competition consists of two parts.  The “pre-judging” where all competitors of a specific “class” are required to perform and hold various poses while the judges score them on various factors.  This allows the judges to make comparisons among each competitor.  Each pose is typically held for many seconds.  Competitors try to impress the judges by showing their prowess and confidence in each pose (hence, the varied expressions of each competitor).  Judges often ask competitors to repeat and hold poses which may very well result in “shaking”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second part of the competition is the individual posing.  This occurs after a “break” in the “pre-judging”.  Once again, competitors are asked to hold poses, but, this time it's individually choreographed to music.  And, the competitor decides how long to hold the pose to impress the judges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending upon the competition level, the whole event can last an entire day.  Needless to say, after isometrically contracting each major muscle in the body multiple times, it's easy to feel drained, depleted, and fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-04-08T14:52:59.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2017-04-09T12:40:58.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, as an exercise physiologist, drumming (e.g., playing a kit vigorously) is indeed exercise.  What most people fail to get about what they consider exercise is that it mimics and is a substitute for, real functional work. Your body doesn't care if it's lifting logs or weights.  It doesn't care if your 150 bpm cardio workout is from a bike or playing double bass - all your body knows is that, &quot;hey, my heart is beating faster &amp;amp; I need to remodel myself &amp;amp; the vascular system so I can adapt to this workload&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, nope, drumming is not running marathons &amp;amp; it's not lifting weights to failure...  However, if you're playing vigorously and sustained, if the heart rate is within the ranges necessary to illicit a response (according to my Polar the average is indeed), it is exercise - valid, cardiovascular exercise with all the benefits of &quot;real&quot; cardio.  In addition, it uses all 4 limbs &amp;amp; the core for stabilization, unlike running or cycling (little to no upper body).  It doesn't receive the benefits of being weight bearing as does running, but neither does cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To conclude, if you're playing vigorously and regularly you're getting a decent cardio workout.  You'd never train beyond a certain level - would never really experience the benefits of overloading to constantly push for increased benefits - but the benefits would remain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25306" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2017-04-09T23:07:41.810" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T23:07:41.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33819" CreationDate="2017-04-09T16:27:36.750" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 48, male, 5ft 9 inches tall, and weigh 225 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My daily calorie intake is approximately 2200 calories...this is a balanced diet, high in protein and fibre, not high in carbs, low in fat...I don't snack apart from fruit in the morning and some chocalate in the evenings (and that's been factored into the 2200 calories)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have low muscle mass, and have always had a low metabolism...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/164608-how-to-lose-10-pounds-a-month-by-walking/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;LiveStrong - How to lose 10 lbs a month&lt;/a&gt; I can caculate my metabolic rate as below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;66 + (6,23*225) = 1449.06&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;add 12.7 * height in inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;12.7 * 69 = 876.3&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;subtract 6.8 * my age (48)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- 6.8 * 48  =324.6&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this totals up to &lt;strong&gt;1998.96&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it says to multiply that by either &lt;strong&gt;1.35&lt;/strong&gt; (for lightly active) or &lt;strong&gt;1.55&lt;/strong&gt; for very active....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and these give either &lt;strong&gt;2748&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;3098&lt;/strong&gt; calories needed to maintain weight...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I am walking 35 miles a week in total, walking around 3.5 miles per hour...this is my &lt;strong&gt;only exercise&lt;/strong&gt; as I have a shoulder injury that will take some months to fix with physio and injections&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, am I &lt;strong&gt;lightly active&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;very active&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am guessing I am something between the two, it would certainly make me feel better if I could put &lt;strong&gt;very active&lt;/strong&gt; considering that I am only taking in around 2200 calories a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do I need to ramp up the daily walking to 7 miles a day, around 50 miles a week before I can call myself &lt;strong&gt;very active&lt;/strong&gt; and calculate my BMA as 3098?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, I am aware that I am obese/morbidly obese - trying to do something about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25307" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T13:48:42.100" Title="Basal Metabolic Rate calculation" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;&lt;resting-metabolic-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33811" CreationDate="2017-04-09T21:47:47.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bridges are an amazing exercise – great to use for a dynamic warm up.&#xA;Obviously, a short bridge and straight bridge are less challenging.  A natural progression would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short Bridge &gt; Straight Bridge &gt; Full Bridge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is looking for exercises that are “good for your back” – I’d add other planes and sources of instability before attempting a full bridge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently you’re only creating sagittal plane instability.  For maximum lower back stability, I would add anti-rotational variations in the &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transverse plane (Bridge with one leg out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also sagittal plane instability (a common variation I like to do is put a TheraBand around a patients waist and pull outward parallel to the floor (varying the force throughout) or side planks is an simple version of this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also alter the stability of the surface you’re on (straight leg bridge with your feet on a stability ball)… there are tons of possibilities and effective progression patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially for lower back stability you want to be targeting the innercore (not your global back musculature such as your lats for example).  Targeting the TrA (Transverse Abdominus)  and deep lower back musculature (Multifidi) and your pelvic floor muscles (if you're a fan of Kegel Exercises I'm not) is the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nolanlee.com/blog/anatomy-language-part-ii&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nolanlee.com/blog/anatomy-language-part-ii&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://slideplayer.com/slide/5950848/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://slideplayer.com/slide/5950848/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/functional-anatomy-of-the-core-the-abdomen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/functional-anatomy-of-the-core-the-abdomen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-04-09T22:31:49.990" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T22:31:49.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33810" CreationDate="2017-04-09T22:22:14.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I 1/2 understand what you're saying but to simply put on size --  From your post it sounds like your lifting for 2 hours.  WAY too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a simple tip if you're trying to put on muscle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do eccentric exercises -- this is when growth occurs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example here's a great exercise for biceps -- bring an adjustable bench over to the pull-up bar (your using this to kick yourself back to the top after you reach the bottom)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kick off the bench or jump up and Start with your chin at the top of the bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Resist your body weight from pulling you down (but it will slowly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Right before you get to the ground kick off the bench to go back to the starting position and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do this 5 times hold as long as you can -- rest 1:30 - 2 min between sets &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially you're attempting to curl your body weight.  So you're maximally contracting as your being lower to the floor by gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-04-09T22:29:36.053" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T22:29:36.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33816" CreationDate="2017-04-09T23:15:38.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would classify you as moderately to very active, depending on how vigorously you are walking. However, I would caution you a bit on rigidly adhering to a specific number, at least once you get a little more into your routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Take a look at this wiki page&lt;/a&gt; and run your numbers using each of the equations, and a moderately active level. Average them all out. When you track calories, make sure you do it rigorously, as it is easy to get extra calories without realizing it. This may mean weighing your food for the first few weeks until you get a good idea of your intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would let the scale be your guide. Weigh your self under the same conditions each day, and track it. Watch for trends, not day to day fluctuations. Daily weight can vary by pounds. If the trend is downward, you're good. If it stagnates or creeps up, then you need to adjust activity or calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest getting with a doctor to make sure you're healthy, and then a personal trainer to get some solid basic weightlifting routines built. Muscle mass will accelerate the weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-04-10T13:48:42.100" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T13:48:42.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33807" CreationDate="2017-04-09T23:17:31.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the opposite of sit to stand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Break the motion down concentric vs eccentric contractions, joint by joint -- quite simply there isn't one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great exercise to add to your arsenal is the hip dominant Split Stance Romanian Deadlift&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDEMmKocxbM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDEMmKocxbM&lt;/a&gt; (Direct Example)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XowKMitOVNc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XowKMitOVNc&lt;/a&gt; (This Guy Knows His Stuff)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T23:17:31.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33822" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33823" CreationDate="2017-04-10T05:04:51.217" Score="1" ViewCount="14030" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have noticed that when I sit at a place for too long say 8hrs my legs begin to ache.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In between twice or thrice I do take a break and walk around although it's very little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now why does this happen? Also, is this an indication of poor physical health?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I am a 17 yr old male. The only form of exercise I get from is playing outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21899" LastEditorUserId="21899" LastEditDate="2017-04-10T06:50:32.877" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T07:48:21.370" Title="Leg pain after sitting for too long?" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;foot-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-04-10T18:21:28.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33822" CreationDate="2017-04-10T10:15:12.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your age, the fact the pain is bilateral (both legs) and the long duration required to trigger symptoms, it sounds like it’s a combination of factors &lt;em&gt;(obviously I can't give you an official diagnosis)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood pooling, contributing to venous insufficiency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimal lower extremity movement that aids venous return to your heart especially against gravity. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, if you tend to lean back when sitting still, that will exacerbate the effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WHAT YOU CAN DO:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d recommend buying a swiss ball ($8 at Walmart)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-s-Gym-75-cm-Anti-burst-Body-Ball/39082935&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-s-Gym-75-cm-Anti-burst-Body-Ball/39082935&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’re going to be sitting for a long time, that’s your best bet.  It will require you to constantly stabilize yourself and once you get used to it you don’t have consciously think about while you're on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal-muscle_pump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal-muscle_pump&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-04-29/your-office-chair-is-killing-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-04-29/your-office-chair-is-killing-you&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/06/12/how-to-stop-your-office-chair-from-killing-you/#7edaa24c10a6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/06/12/how-to-stop-your-office-chair-from-killing-you/#7edaa24c10a6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="16460" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T07:48:21.370" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T07:48:21.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2017-04-10T11:49:04.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A trainer did research on me over a 3 month period as a part of his bachelors studies in sessions twice a week, one hour each. The subject (me) is a 37 (36 at the time) year old metal drummer with 22 years behind the kit who puts in about an hour behind the kit on average pr. day and does no other exercise. Here's some data.&#xA;Average resting heart-rate: 49.&#xA;Body fat: 8%.&#xA;Average heart rate while drumming: 156.&#xA;Peak heart rate while drumming: 203.&#xA;I need a strict high-calorie diet to maintain my body weight.&#xA;You may not acquire a bodybuilder's physique by drumming but stating that regular vigorous drumming does not build muscle is nonsense; drumming is a full body workout which will particularly build your entire lower body muscles, lower back, abs, shoulders, triceps and forearms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25317" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T11:49:04.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33123" CreationDate="2017-04-11T16:13:44.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that left a huge impression on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Years ago when I was finishing up grad school -- I worked as a personal trainer. I would rent a gym hourly from a (friend of a friend).  The guy had an entire wall full of trophies and metals.  He told me he's a ultra marathon runner (50 - 100 mile runs) he was #2 in the world at the time...   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway long story short &lt;strong&gt;he always lifted 3 / week&lt;/strong&gt; ran the other 3 with 2 being a mix of interval type of work.  &lt;strong&gt;He only ran the distance of his races once per week&lt;/strong&gt;. He was ripped and didn't have the haven't ate in 2 weeks look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom Line -- All of his work involved increasing &lt;strong&gt;INTENSITY NOT DURATION&lt;/strong&gt; (yes these workouts will save you time and give you faster results)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best books I've read to date &quot;Core Performance&quot; it has some great sample plans of how to setup and progress your workouts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Energy System Development (ESD) is the cardiovascular component of&#xA;  your training program. Your body has different energy systems and ESD&#xA;  trains them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T16:13:44.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33838" CreationDate="2017-04-11T21:07:10.633" Score="2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot find this information anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming I have my &quot;Magic Mile,&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I use the Jeff Galloway Run/Walk method, how slow are you supposed to walk?  If my interval is run 2, walk 1, how slow is that walk supposed to be or allowed to be?  I'm not trying to win anything, but I don't want to cheat myself or stop my ability endure for longer races.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the same could be asked about the running.  How fast should it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 5k is about 43 minutes.  Slow, but I'm not too, too worried about it.  I will up the running part, when I am ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5k at the moment.  But does it change for 10k and half-marathon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25330" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T17:12:11.503" Title="How slow is slow walking pace part of the Jeff Galloway Run/Walk method?" Tags="&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33835" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-12T04:19:22.853" Score="1" ViewCount="689" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never used any anabolic drugs/etc., but have used many, many supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not able to successfully achieve &quot;the pump&quot; without supplements, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;strong&gt;very high doses&lt;/strong&gt; of nitric oxide stimulators, creatine, test boosters (not steroids -- mostly/all just placebo), high sugar (yes, simple sugars), high caffeine, and high protein/calories -- then start lifting and push as hard and long as possible. I get &quot;the pump&quot; like this, but without the previous mentioned stuff, I can't get a true pump. I know pumps are not really indicative of much, but I like knowing I can get the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;steroid pump&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; without steroids/prohormones, but I'd like to get it without ANY supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been training around 8 years and I'm very, very far from a beginner or even intermediate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried extremely high reps, low reps, medium reps, and low and high reps -- every combo, every angle, and cannot get &quot; the pump&quot; properly if I'm not taking supplements and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not asking for specific workout advice -- more so, just on how I can get the pump sans supps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25334" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:09:15.973" Title="How to get &quot;the pump&quot; without supplements or steroids?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;blood-flow&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-12T06:17:24.657" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had surgery performed on my shoulder. This greatly limits the exercises that I used to perform at the gym. What, if any, workouts can I do with one arm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25335" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2017-04-12T18:58:32.040" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T20:55:28.923" Title="Workouts with one arm" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T17:39:15.913" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33833" CreationDate="2017-04-12T17:12:11.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In specific to the Jeff Galloway Run/Walk method.  The point of the method is to ease the stress that running has during training and races. It splits the race up in to running segments and walking segments with the idea that the walking segments facilitate recovery which allow the running segments to be faster and easier than if you just ran the entire course. Each walking segment is &lt;em&gt;deliberate&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;planned&lt;/em&gt;. The runner doesn't run up to the point of exhaustion and is forced to slow down. Instead, the runner slows down to a walk well before that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How fast should the walking be?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A leisurely pace. Walking segments typically are not that long to begin with. The point is to give some rest period for recovery. Though, it won't necessarily hurt to speed walk if you can spare it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How fast should the running be?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During training, you should be running at a &quot;conversational pace&quot;. Meaning, you should be able to hold a conversation with somebody while running. A common test (if you're in the U.S.) is the &quot;Pledge of Allegiance&quot; test where you recite the Pledge of Allegiance. If you can't finish a sentence without gasping for air, then you're going too fast. Faster, more fit people, can do this at a faster pace, but it's always relatively easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a race, you don't necessarily have to change the tactic. Especially if you're only competing against your own time. A training schedule should have a period of rest for you body to overcompensate. Plus all the adrenaline and people around you. It all combined generally would push you to have a faster &quot;conversational&quot; pace. (As a side note, it's never a good idea to do something dramatically different on race day.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does it change for half-marathon or full-marathon?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The running and walking paces do not change for these.  The lengths of the segments may change depending on the training requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T17:12:11.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33841" CreationDate="2017-04-12T20:07:09.673" Score="4" ViewCount="1986" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone grabs my forearm, he/she can easily grasp it just with one hand. It is because my forearm muscle is not thick enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VSRZ1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VSRZ1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Question&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What exercise is good to make my forearm (especially the wrist part and its vicinity) thicker or bigger but strong so it becomes difficult to be grasped? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What food is good for it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25296" LastEditorUserId="25296" LastEditDate="2017-04-12T20:20:11.443" LastActivityDate="2018-10-18T23:21:29.563" Title="How to make my wrist muscle thicker but strong?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-12T22:46:51.330" Score="-5" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Genetics are 70% or 80% that influence how tall we will be. 20% is food how healhty we eat.I came to ask three questions.First, workouts arent influence our body how tall could we be?I give an example, muscles, when we give effort to build on biceps we can make it bigger if we try for a long period.As a result ,what about hanging workout,this workout  influence the body to &quot;become&quot; taller or not?Second,when someone take 4inches lets say he takes which part of the body increase legs or his back? Third, i am hanging everyday at moring for 10 minutes my age is 26. If it could be to take an inch could this a good way? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24116" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T07:27:37.320" Title="Genetics-healthy foods-workouts result get taller" Tags="&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-04-14T15:27:10.607" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33839" CreationDate="2017-04-13T02:29:41.140" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that's purely genetic. The only &quot;muscles&quot; in that part of the wrist are the Pronator Quadratus, and they are so small, they'll never get noticably bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want thicker wrists, I'm afraid you're going to have to gain a LOT of weight. Fat, specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, just to squash your food question; there is no food that is good for growing a particular set of muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CfgTW.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CfgTW.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T02:29:41.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33842" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33843" CreationDate="2017-04-13T02:32:31.733" Score="0" ViewCount="923" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to stepping and benching to my exercise routine. Instead of two pieces of equipment, is it feasible to also use a step with risers as a bench?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I could use a bench as a stepper, but as best I can tell, there's just one flat height for a bench and therefore one height for a stepper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preference is an adjustable step that can be used as a bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is that feasible (safety, comfort, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13736" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T02:39:14.067" Title="Feasible to use an exercise step with risers as a bench?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33842" CreationDate="2017-04-13T02:39:14.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would caution against using a stepper as a bench press bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the reason why benches are so high, is because if you fail a rep, there needs to be some height to it so you can load the weight off to one of the sides, and escape the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a stepper is a hard plastic surface. With the way we place our scapulae on the bench for the press, some padding is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as for your question, both for safety and comfort, I strongly advise against using a stepper as bench press support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T02:39:14.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33849" CreationDate="2017-04-13T03:46:35.333" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;When trying to do clap pushups or any pushup where both hands leave the ground is there an ideal hand positioning for maximizing power? I typically do them with my hands directly below my shoulders and wonder if I should use a wider stance for training/execution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24720" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T15:22:35.600" Title="best position for explosive pushups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;explosiveness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-13T04:27:48.543" Score="0" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to lose some fat in my lower body and exercise some muscle. But, due to intense activity, I rarely hit the gym. I think there must be some workout that I can do in my house/anywhere possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My objective is to lose fat in inner thighs, buttocks, and lower abdomen. So, what workouts can I do without any gym equipment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25344" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-19T11:31:29.400" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T14:47:34.043" Title="What're the best exercise for lower body in home?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-04-19T23:33:00.303" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33840" CreationDate="2017-04-13T07:27:37.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Genetics are 70% or 80% that influence how tall we will be. 20% is&#xA;food how healthy we eat.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not true. It is 100% Genetics. Nutrition can only influence height if you are malnourished and have a disorder as a result that affects your bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, workouts arent influence our body how tall could we be?I give an example, muscles, when we give effort to build on biceps we can make it bigger if we try for a long period. As a result ,what about hanging workout ,this workout influence the body to &amp;quot;become&amp;quot; taller or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are making your biceps bigger through muscle development. The length of your upper-arm is the same, determined by your bone size, genetics. Hanging only will make your arms temporarily longer (by 1 inch at most) due to the joints being streached. Your arms will quickly return to their normal length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second,when someone take 4inches lets say he takes which part of the body increase legs or his back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes no sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, i am hanging everyday at moring for 10 minutes my age is 26. If it could be to take an inch could this a good way? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't make you taller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, repeat after me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;I cannot alter my height permanently through exercise or nutrition, it is 100% determined by my genetics.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T07:27:37.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33844" CreationDate="2017-04-13T15:22:35.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I do push-ups, I do them to best match for the goal I'm trying to achieve. As an example when focusing on my triceps I choose a narrower hand position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When focusing more on shoulders I prefer wider stances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general I would suggest the most 'healthiest' one and that would be where you place your hands shoulder width appart and try not to flare your elbows out too much, rather they should be held more closer to your body. Your whole body should look like an arrow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qU1Qe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qU1Qe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;symbolic picture&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T15:22:35.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33895" CreationDate="2017-04-14T06:23:35.607" Score="0" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while ago I met a guy who was representing his country in swimming as junior. He said, that for every swimming season (6 times per week) they have session in gym, because, in his words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Swimming is about strength!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do some swimming for many years (once a week of so). And in my experience, I think he was right (at least partially).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I wonder, what swimmers do in the gym. I search for some routines but first links contain stuff like from $5 DVD about bodybuilding in 90s. Including biceps curls, seated exercises, exercises with low weight for high repetitions, &quot;core&quot; exercises on swiss ball and lines like &quot;it is great for trices!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not surprised, it is hard to find out what the professionals actually do also in other sports - short distance running and combat sports are prime example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where I can find out, what the good swimmers actually do or should do in gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20424" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T00:07:35.797" Title="Gym training for swimmers" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;resistancetraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-14T09:13:51.310" Score="1" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 16 year old guy, about 5'7&quot; (1.7m) and 232lbs (105kg). I have only started to go to gym for about a week now. Since the gym does not have a trainer, I have only done cardio (elliptical 20 min,cycling 10min and treadmil 20min). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just continue doing this till I am at say 180-200 lbs (81-91kg) and then start doing weight training or should I start now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25351" LastEditorUserId="3778" LastEditDate="2017-04-14T16:14:39.630" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T20:06:22.087" Title="Should I do weights If I am obese?" Tags="&lt;weights&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33853" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-14T11:44:29.140" Score="0" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone just talks about inhaling, but no one ever specifies whether to breath in your &lt;strong&gt;chest&lt;/strong&gt; (shallow breathing, clavicular breathing, thoracic breathing), your &lt;strong&gt;stomach&lt;/strong&gt; (Diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing), or maybe both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does one of these techniques have an advantage over the other?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there consensus about which technique to use?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, why?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25352" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T11:44:29.140" Title="Freestyle swimming: Where to breath in (chest vs. stomach)?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33871" CreationDate="2017-04-14T13:22:19.380" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I exhale through my nose, but get water in it when I turn my head and start to inhale. I thought this could have something to do with the timing, and as far as I can tell there are 3 different moments when one could &lt;strong&gt;stop exhaling:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Right before the head is turned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The head is turned to one side and right before the nose leaves the water (under the surface).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The head is turned to one side and right after the nose has left the water (above the surface).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is the best moment to stop exhaling and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25352" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T14:55:40.787" Title="Freestyle swimming: When do you stop exhaling?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33854" CreationDate="2017-04-14T15:34:26.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that you are doing freestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without actually seeing you, I'm guessing that you have a form problem, and/or are going slow enough that you aren't able to create the &quot;bow wave&quot; effect where the water coming over your head flares out slightly to give you a space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you breathe, you want to turn your head to the side, and slightly tuck your chin in towards your shoulder. As stated, the water should sheet over your head in a way that leaves you a pocket of air to breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as when, I generally start breathing in through both my mouth and nose as soon as my face starts to emerge enough. Occasionally I do get some water in my mouth, but that's just the nature of swimming. I start breathing out as soon as my face goes underwater again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't say how long you have been swimming, but I suspect this is mostly a form/timing issue, and that you need to get an instructor to show you the technique. It's simple once you get it, but it's not that intuitive to just be able to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T15:34:26.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33852" CreationDate="2017-04-14T19:35:17.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start weight training as soon as you know how to do the movements. You can probably start fairly safely with things like body weight squats and push ups. I would get a trainer or someone who knows how to lift before I started things like back squats, bench press, overhead press, etc. Weight training, in addition to cardio and eating sensibly, will help you lose weight. The exercises themselves will burn calories and as they repair they will burn more calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25340" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T19:35:17.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33852" CreationDate="2017-04-14T21:27:53.643" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 1.7 m and 105 kg, your BMI is 36.3, which is above the 99th percentile for males your age and if you are experiencing any health conditions related to your size, this puts you in the morbidly obese category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, anybody who is interested in embarking on a diet and exercise plan would do well to consult a physician before doing so.  In your case, I would say it is a requirement, because the potential for injury is something that should not be ignored.  It is not the role of this site (or any online forum, for that matter) to dispense medical advice, so I strongly urge you to exercise in a supervised setting (i.e., you should have a trainer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, let us assume that you've got physician approval for whatever exercise and diet plan you are going to do, and you've got adequate supervision.  Let's answer the specific question you asked:  should you incorporate resistance training in your exercise plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple answer, of course--and this is true for just about anyone--is yes.  Resistance training, specifically weight training, has numerous benefits that cardiovascular training alone does not target:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increases muscular strength and endurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Results in neurological adaptations benefiting coordination, proprioception, balance, and general musculoskeletal control&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Promotes increase in muscle-to-fat ratio with corresponding metabolic changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The unasked question that is implied is, &quot;what &lt;em&gt;kind&lt;/em&gt; of resistance training should I do?&quot;  And this is something that is difficult to answer, because every person is different.  We each have different health conditions, physical needs, body shapes, ages, and strength goals.  What works for me may not work for you, and vice versa.  That's why a supervised plan is likely to be safest and most effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up to now, I think I've largely stayed away from personal opinion, so what follows is only my thinking; others may disagree.  In my view, you are already carrying at least 40 kg of excess weight with you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  If you do a bodyweight squat, that's like me doing a barbell squat with an extra 40 kg (well, not exactly, of course, since the weight is distributed differently).  But the point is, your own excess weight is already providing a nontrivial amount of resistance on your muscles.  So your initial resistance training should be focused on bodyweight exercises (e.g, push-ups, crunches, bodyweight squats, etc).  You can of course do free weights or weight machines, but don't look at a plan that is designed for non-overweight individuals and think that that's where you need to start.  The intensity of your resistance training should be extremely low initially:  this minimizes risk of injury and overtraining and allows gradual adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one major mistake I think that people make when starting regular exercise for the first time in order to lose weight, is to overdo it.  You didn't gain that weight overnight.  Why do you think you can lose it overnight?  Cardiovascular training should be the central focus of your workout plan at this time.  If you can supplement that with resistance training, fantastic.  But do not sacrifice the former for the latter.  For you, just &lt;strong&gt;walking&lt;/strong&gt; is going to make you lose weight, provided you adjust your caloric intake.  And it will happen &lt;strong&gt;fast&lt;/strong&gt;.  Not overnight, but a lot faster than you might think, if you are consistent.  And the more weight you lose, the more you can shift your program toward weight training, because you're not carrying as much extra mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T21:27:53.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16345" CreationDate="2017-04-16T07:48:16.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally one has a greater mechanical advantage holding onto something, such as a barbell, via a &quot;pure&quot; support grip than via a &quot;pure&quot; crushing grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same reason it's easier to hold onto a barbell weighing &quot;X&quot; pounds than closing a hand gripper rated at the same &quot;X&quot; lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually people don't use a &quot;pure&quot; support grip to deadlift or pullup -- they usually &quot;augment&quot; it with a little bit of their crushing grip to hold onto the barbell more securely, making the resulting grip look like something more in between a pure support and a pure crushing grip. In most gym exercises, the latter is only used to reinforce the former anyway, hence it's not surprising why it would often trail behind. Likewise, I would not expect a lot of carryover into support grip strength by training up the crushing grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastEditorUserId="19495" LastEditDate="2017-04-16T08:03:58.600" LastActivityDate="2017-04-16T08:03:58.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33860" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T00:16:42.813" Score="0" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often people say that the only &quot;real&quot; way to see &quot;real results&quot; is with AAS/PEDs. I disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have to be various other ways to improve things like muscle synthesis; improve satellite cell functioning; increase nervous system and muscle recovery; and even increase size too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously besides just working out and &quot;hoping.&quot; I'm talking about &quot;natural enhancements.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know of the typical stuff people taut: creatine, caffeine, &quot;supplements,&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else is there? What's the real holy grail that can (almost) compare to high doses of AAS/PEDs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as it isn't AAS/PEDs. Good sleep never made me wake up looking like Phil Heath; neither did a 20,000 calorie surplus, 900g of protein, zero stress, or years of training. Something's gotta give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we create true enhanced natties, without the steroids, growth hormones, insulin, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, before this garbage existed we still played sports professionally &amp;amp; adored great bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25364" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T10:38:36.377" Title="Natural ways to &quot;enhance&quot; your results?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;testosterone&gt;&lt;hormones&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33860" CreationDate="2017-04-17T00:35:31.327" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't. You've been answering your own question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There have to be various other ways to improve things like muscle synthesis; improve satellite cell functioning; increase nervous system and muscle recovery; and even increase size too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increase compared to what? You state no baseline for comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Obviously besides just working out and &quot;hoping.&quot; I'm talking about &quot;natural enhancements.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Define &quot;natural&quot;. Heck, define &quot;enchancements&quot;. We're not replacing our weak limbs with bionic limbs on a whim just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What else is there? What's the real holy grail that can (almost) compare to high doses of AAS/PEDs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't a secret we're keeping to ourselves. If we had the knowledge to gain equal progress WITHOUT anabolic steroids, why would people still be using anabolic steroids?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As long as it isn't AAS/PEDs. Good sleep never made me wake up looking like Phil Heath; neither did a 20,000 calorie surplus, 900g of protein, zero stress, or years of training. Something's gotta give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, nothing's gotta give. A 20k kcal surplus is going to kill you. 900g of protein is going to give you gastric distress. Zero stress is going to be impossible, especially with the aforementioned diet. Years of training is what we're doing. That, and a slightly more reasonable approach to dieting and rest than what you said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can we create true enhanced natties, without the steroids, growth hormones, insulin, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you're just throwing out buzzwords to see what sticks. Like I said, if bodybuilders didn't need the AAD's, why would they still be using the AAD's?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Remember, before this garbage existed we still played sports professionally &amp;amp; adored great bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, and the bodybuilders of yesteryear looked pretty damn different from what they do now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case in point; here's Mr. Olympia 40 years ago, vs. today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vGEtQ.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vGEtQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;Frank Zane&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eUhsx.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eUhsx.png&quot; alt=&quot;Phil Heath&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look, here's the answer to the question you're afraid to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I look like a bodybuilder without using the same supplements as they use?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't. They use these supplements to break the barriers that the human body imposes on itself. Through decades of research, we have come up with the best way to do so, and the bodybuilders you see compete for the title of Mr. Olympia, are the result of this research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to look like they do, do what they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T00:35:31.327" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T09:38:35.653" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out in the gym for more than a year now after previous experience of 3 years during high-school. Also I have been running for 9 years, used to run half a marathon some 5 years back from now. I am 29, 1.83 meter (6 foot), 86 kg (200 pound), about 15 percent body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started with free weights in the 18+ rep range (due to an injury) and gradually moved to the 4-8 rep range, also I incorporate a lot of body-weight exercises.&#xA;Now I do strength training for 2-3 times a week for about 90 min (including warm-up and stretching), everything is in super-sets, and run 2-3 times a week for 30 min, mostly high intensity interval running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is strength, calisthenics skill, and overall fitness and health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not take any supplements except from an sports drink (Isostar). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I improved strength and physique and mastered some difficult calisthenics exercises, added about 8 kg (~17 pounds) while remaining lean, and I am happy with my progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The problem I am facing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am consuming large and growing amounts of food. I am not stuffing myself forcefully, I actually have an insane appetite, and it takes a lot of food to satisfy it. I eat healthy whole foods most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has literally became a time and energy consuming issue, I have to cook a lot, when I take food with me during the day it usually wont suffice and I buy some extra. And when I finally feel full I usually consumed so much that it makes me tired and heavy. Preparing and eating lots of small meals isn't an option due to time shortage. Also my metabolism send's me to the bathroom after each meal I consume, so you can understand why I am not excited about eating many small meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure that this appetite is a result of training, because it usually lasts 3 days after the last workout. If I stop training, after about 5 days my appetite decreases and I eat half the food I usually do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will supplementing some of my food intake with a workout supplement allow me to decrease the amount of food I have to consume daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you advice to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to drink something that has high nutritional value and eat reasonable amounts of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, will I have to drink it for a few days after exercising, or just after my workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16461" LastEditorUserId="16461" LastEditDate="2017-04-17T10:18:00.573" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T20:23:47.383" Title="Should I use workout supplements to decrease food amounts?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T10:59:02.090" Score="3" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the number of days since the last time i went to the gym in which i will start feeling weaker and start losing the progress I've made?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23180" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T13:06:46.220" Title="How long does it take for my muscles to grow weaker if i skip the gym?" Tags="&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T11:51:22.593" Score="3" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;A question out of curiosity. What's the best way to stand in one place for a long time, say an hour? &quot;Best&quot; in terms of energy consumption; but mainly ankles, knees and muscle fatigue. Stand evenly on both feet? Or shift most of your weight on one foot in turns? Is there some &quot;optimal&quot; foot alignment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking both for answers from experience and a theoretical explanation what and why :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update&lt;/em&gt;: not required to stand still. If you want to be precise, assume you can use no more than a square meter of floor, as long as you're standing the whole time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25366" LastEditorUserId="25366" LastEditDate="2017-04-17T19:21:31.717" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T19:21:31.717" Title="Most efficient way to stand?" Tags="&lt;legs&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33864" CreationDate="2017-04-17T16:11:12.880" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is a complex question with no simple answer. You might even feel stronger after a short break. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general, I would do some earnest thinking after missing two weeks straight, or if I would keep missing individual days regularly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25048" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T16:11:12.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33867" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T16:43:11.747" Score="3" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stretch my forearm extensors as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KpxAO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KpxAO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I use a bed/chair/etc. instead of using my other arm to perform the stretch, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e9rdA.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e9rdA.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I clench my fist when doing such stretches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, should I clench my fist in a specific way, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S7mLF.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S7mLF.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T13:37:48.733" Title="When stretching my forearm extensors, should I clench my fist?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;forearm&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33865" CreationDate="2017-04-17T16:50:10.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably depends just how still you have to stand.  Beefeaters (the fellows in black hats and red jackets who stand at attention at the Tower of London) have to stand absolutely still for hours at a time.  They alternate weight between toe and heel, with the feet a half-phase off from each other (left toe &amp;amp; right heel, then left heel &amp;amp; right toe.)  Knees not locked.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/guard-of-honor-passes-out-as-queen-elizabeth-ii-rides-past-during-the-trooping-the-color-parade-1970/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;occasionally the blood pools and they pass out.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JEBQe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JEBQe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A beefeater passes out&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For versions of &quot;stand still&quot; that don't require quite so much &quot;still&quot;, there are probably other techniques that are better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12098" LastEditorUserId="12098" LastEditDate="2017-04-17T17:00:19.510" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T17:00:19.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2017-04-17T19:05:56.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do both. I find the treadmill a very nice alternative on days with nasty weather. Also, I tend to use the treadmill for a while if I'm just recovering from an injury. Nothing sucks more than being 5 miles from home/transportation and getting re-injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One drawback, for me at least, is that treadmills tend to give you up-to-the-minute distance statistics: 1.2 miles... 1.3 miles.... 1.4 miles... and time statistics: 25:46, 25:47.... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is something about that that completely gets into my head. I can run for 30, 40, 50 minutes outdoors with no problems whatsoever. Have me watch the clock on a treadmill and there's something about it that gets completely inside my head. By the 15 minute mark I'm thinking I'll never make 20 minutes... &quot;You mean I feel like this at the 15 minute mark? How will I ever get 'x' far?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard not to notice these little incremental changes since the treadmill is designed to prominently display it to you. I would prefer it just flash statistics maybe every 5-10 minutes or so rather than always being present. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running outside, I have to deliberately check my fitness tracker for a time and/or distance check. Most of the time, I don't even really care. I might look down, especially when running trails or in a place with a lot of scenery, and say, &quot;Wow! It's already been 45 minutes?!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T19:05:56.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33864" CreationDate="2017-04-17T19:55:11.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be interested in my response to a similar question I answered: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/33375/will-i-lose-gains-in-this-situation/33379#33379&quot;&gt;Will I lose gains in this situation?&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;.  Since each of us is an &lt;strong&gt;individual&lt;/strong&gt;, no one can say for sure how long it would take for you, specifically, to “lose progress”.  However, if you look at the study results mentioned in my answer, you’ll see that there are some guidelines that may shed some light and help you understand your individual situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T19:55:11.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33854" CreationDate="2017-04-17T20:00:07.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I breathe in through my mouth, only, and exhale through both nose and mouth.  For the most part, any water coming in during the inhale phase gets caught in my mouth and gets spit out on exhale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My inhale starts as I'm turning my head, as my face breaks the surface of the water.  Since I'm not inhaling through my nose, my nose never gets water going in the wrong direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it seems unnatural, you can practice the breathing pattern just sitting around, watching TV or at your desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT - Happened to get this link via email the other day....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kiefer.com/blog/freestyle-swimming-breathing-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Blog: Freestyle Breathing Tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T14:55:40.787" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T14:55:40.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33852" CreationDate="2017-04-17T20:06:22.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You goal should be more focused on body composition vs numerical body weight.  As such, there's no reason to not do resistance or weight training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phlegon's answer about starting with body weight resistance via what's generally considered calisthenics is a good one.  That's also a way to do some of the exercises at home and build up some strength and fitness if you're at all self-conscious about the amount of weight you'd be pushing at the health club.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So.... doing resistance exercises doesn't have to mean developing bulk, if that's what you're worried about.  Lower weight, higher repetition sets will develop some strength, but will develop more fitness, tone and endurance, which will also help with your general stamina for your other aerobic activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Variety is good, so why not do more types of exercise?  It's better, mentally, to keep you from getting stale, and a cross section of exercises and types of exercises gives you good functional fitness, where the advantages and drawbacks of any particular exercising method even out with cross-training with other methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T20:06:22.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33867" CreationDate="2017-04-17T23:16:11.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I am not aware of any studies done on specific hand/finger positions for optimal stretching of the forearms, I would suspect that you will get better stretching with an open fingered position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple reason is that even if you have a very loosely curled fist, you are still tensing your finger flexors, which pass through your wrist. This limits the range of motion in your wrist, which will oppose the purpose of the movement, which is to get as much stretch through the wrist as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T23:16:11.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33845" CreationDate="2017-04-18T06:39:12.287" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would couple squats with lunges and hip thrusts however building muscle is not equivalent to losing fat. To lose fat you must be in a caloric deficit through either dieting, cardio or a combination. Do both exercise and cardio and your legs will look great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19963" LastEditorUserId="25388" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T14:35:00.003" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T14:35:00.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22450" CreationDate="2017-04-18T07:44:59.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reality check: If you are &quot;morbidly obese&quot; in BMI you are definitely NOT at 10% body-fat. It's impossible to prove without a photo but I suspect you still have a lot of weight you can lose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who has big legs myself I can recommend a few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat Less: Go on a hard diet and cut calories. You legs have a large surface area and so losing fat around them takes a while.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Move More: Run: Long distance running helped me a lot in fitting into my clothes. Again, this takes a while to have any effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Accept it: I worked for 2 years trying to make my legs smaller but in the end I gave up because it doesn't matter what other people think, I look awesome and strong. I found that boot-cut/loose-fit jeans work really well and everyone should have a tailored suit anyway. I worked (and still do) hard on my upper body to bring it up to scratch and the amount of compliments I get increased 1000%.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T06:47:45.393" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T06:47:45.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-18T08:26:34.227" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;When completing a snatch how should one be tensing/controlling their back/shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be looking to inwardly rotate (bend the bar so the plates would end up in front of me? Or should it be the opposite, pushing elbows backwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be trying to shrug up or down in the receiving position? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T16:36:33.180" Title="Snatch-grip Shoulder Rotation" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;&lt;snatch&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33867" CreationDate="2017-04-18T13:37:48.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I don't think he has any sort of certification, Lucas/pigmie of Only Kinds Fitness suggests doing wrist rotations first with outstretched fingers, &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/rsRaPGZ275k?t=1m5s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;then with closed fists&lt;/a&gt; because the fist makes the tendons tighter when the wrist is bent forward. He explains it a bit further around the 1:23 mark where he notes that it specifically makes pronation a bit more difficult, but easier bending the opposite way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under the general heading of exercise generally training you to get better with that specific motion, it makes sense to do both if you think you might encounter both situations (even accidentally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T13:37:48.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33877" CreationDate="2017-04-18T16:36:33.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mike Burgener (Level 5 Senior International Weightlifting coach) uses the cue &quot;Show your armpits&quot; at the top of the snatch, meaning, as you suggest, you should put pressure on the bar as if bending the weights forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you should always maintain active shoulders, meaning you use your muscles to lift the weight off of connective tissue. Shoulder blades should be pressed together. (Active shoulders during a pull up would be shoulder blades together, but shoulders down, because you are fighting gravity and not relying on connective tissue to hang.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T16:36:33.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33863" CreationDate="2017-04-18T20:23:47.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is more appropriate for &lt;a href=&quot;https://health.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Health-stackexchange&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I know that drinking your calories isn't ideal. Especially when you aren't controlling what goes into your meal supplement. That being said, anything that doesn't slow gastric emptying will not make you feel full. Starches and fat do this. It is the reason eating a bagel makes you feel hungry 15 minutes later while a bagel with Peanut Butter or Cream Cheese keeps you more full, longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T20:23:47.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33836" CreationDate="2017-04-20T01:07:51.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like exercise bands. One arm curls. [reverse] fly is my favorite. Keep your core tight to counter the torque from the one armed fly to avoid moving your body. I do that more for a core workout than an arm workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25384" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T01:07:51.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33851" CreationDate="2017-04-20T01:52:17.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;High level competitive swimmers do a little bit of everything in the gym. The focus is always on core strength (tons of abdominal and lower back work, lots of resistance added), range of motion exercises, and body resistance (pushups, pullups, squats, lunges).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upperbody and leg work is mostly lots of high rep, low weight stuff. Strength is important, but there's also a lot of emphasis just on generating lactic acid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming itself is most of the cardio swimmers need, but in between strength exercises, good programs will keep the athlete active with something to keep the heartrate up like jumping rope or yoga poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25386" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T01:52:17.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28227" CreationDate="2017-04-20T14:08:25.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It wont hurt you. The type of stretching you're going to be doing on an office break isn't that intense. It's also necessary or you will loose range of motion. Nursing home patients regularly receive ROM exercises and they aren't doing any cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the stuff written on these fitness sites is as you noticed copy and paste. They also tend to target people who know nothing about fitness in order to sell them something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching does increase blood flow on its own. Just start slow you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25390" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T20:53:22.523" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T20:53:22.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33403" CreationDate="2017-04-20T18:44:36.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously the correct response is going to be, consult with your doctor before you make a change like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I would start doing the C25K now if I were you; a few years ago, I started and I was 10 years older than you and 300 lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25340" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T18:44:36.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1279" CreationDate="2017-04-20T18:51:14.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Truth&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;People tend to go overboard with the &lt;strong&gt;POWER&lt;/strong&gt; of vitamins. You're likely getting what you need from food already, but taking a multi-vitamin won't hurt.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat Soluble&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;Vitamins A, D, E, K are stored in the liver and the only vitamins you can &quot;overdose&quot; in a healthy adult this is faily rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;They can build up in your system as they don't dissolve in water. Again if you're healthy and aren't taking 1/2 a bottle of multi-vitamins daily this is something you really don't need to think too much about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water Soluble&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;Vitamins B and C are filtered by the renal system (your kidneys). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Misconceptions&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Mega Does of Vitamin C (or any other water soluble) will cure your cold. The majority of research shows it does nothing.  The placebo effect is a powerful thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Special Populations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One big exception is B-12 for vegan or vegetarians patients.  Found in meat, dairy and soy it's recommended to take a B-12 supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;  Your stomach produces a protein called gastric intrinsic factor (GIF). GIF is required by the small intestine to absorb B12.  Without this your body cannot create red blood cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-14T04:48:56.093" LastActivityDate="2017-10-14T04:48:56.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33980" CreationDate="2017-04-20T19:16:12.390" Score="0" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not understand what pace is and how that relates to run/walk ratios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, On Jeff Galloway's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/magic-mile/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;8:00                4 min      30 sec (or 2/15)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that mean if I can already run an 8 minute mile that I do run 4, walk 30?  Ok.  But what if I can do run 4 walk 1 (or 30sec), but my pace isn't 8 min. a mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I'm saying, if I can run for four minutes and walk one and then run four  again, all without bad fatigue, over-training, injury, out of breath, etc., but, my pace is not an 8-minute mile, what am I really accomplishing?  Am I &quot;doing it wrong&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My time ends up being 39 for a 5k at 4/1 or 12:33 a mile.  I really don't want to do, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;12:15-14:30    30/30 or 20/20 or 15/15&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like all the benefits of cardio and weight loss go away.  No proof, just mental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel no need to stop the run/walk method, nor do I want to get to the full run without the walk, but I still don't know what I'm getting here with 4/1.  I would like to do more than a 5k, eventually.  I'm just doing 4/1 because I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25330" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T22:00:48.380" Title="How do I correlate pace and walk run ratios?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33836" CreationDate="2017-04-20T20:02:18.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming the standard 4-6 weeks was your prognosis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When attempting to recover from a rotator cuff injury, the&#xA;main goal is to strengthen the muscles of the shoulder evenly and targeting your external rotators.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Workouts and not designed build muscle, but rather stabilization and&#xA;flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I know you want to lift the way you normally do I'd highly recommend seeing a Physical Therapist to set you up with a plan during your recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You do not Want this to become a recurring injury, besides lower back pain RO cuff injuries can very easily become chronic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Each subsequent injury the collagen becomes weaker.  This is because collagen lacks a blood supply and instead of healing normally with fibers running parallel to each other, it's forms a random matrix (picture a plate of spaghetti).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eccentric exercises are one proven way to combat this. They've been show to encourage collagen fibers regrowth in a more aligned pattern.  Again you should be doing this with your PT during the healing phase.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T20:02:18.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33900" CreationDate="2017-04-20T20:57:48.797" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 48, male, 5 foot 9 inches tall, and weigh around 99 kg (so yes, obese).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a little confused by the way to determine what weight I should be losing in a week or a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my age, weight, and height I have a BMR of around 1900 (while lying in bed) and I walk around 50-60 miles a week at around 3.5 MPH ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My diet is around 2100 calories a day including everything...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if I multiply the 1975 * 1.55 I get around 3100, so I should be down by about 1000 calories a day, or 7000 calories a week, which means I am losing 2 lb a week just i my diet...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But do I also factor in the basic 100-120 calories burnt per mile walking, which would be around 7000 a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's the case I should be losing around 3-4 pounds a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that right, or do I need to be more flexible, and not worry so much about the numbers, just keep at it for 13 weeks and see where I am?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25307" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T09:35:33.207" Title="Right way to calculate calories loss while dieting and exercising" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33904" CreationDate="2017-04-20T21:07:00.627" Score="6" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like the rectus abdominis plays a role in posture and contributes a bit towards increasing intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). Also, it is used for trunk/lumbar flexion as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what benefit is there to having a particularly &quot;strong&quot; rectus abdominis? By strong, I mean &lt;em&gt;significantly beyond&lt;/em&gt; whatever may be required for basic mere things like posture and the occasional sit-up (or crunch). I understand IAP can be quite helpful for lifting and handling heavy weights, but it seems it's the &lt;em&gt;transverse abdominis&lt;/em&gt; that's much more important for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, is there any &quot;heavy lifting&quot; or exercise significantly helped by a specifically strong &lt;em&gt;rectus&lt;/em&gt; (not transverse!) abdominis? I'm not referring to some contrived &quot;weighted sit-up&quot; or crunch exercise here : )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastActivityDate="2019-04-30T22:03:59.053" Title="Purpose of rectus abdominis training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29069" CreationDate="2017-04-20T22:36:20.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem with elliptical machines for cardio training. My leg muscles became very used to the movement so it became hard for me increase my heart rate. I realized that there are two points of power to make the elliptical spin: from your legs pushing on the pedals, and from your arms pushing and pulling on the handles. I was very dominant with my legs so I tried to focus more energy on pulling and pushing from the arm handles. This definitely changed the dynamics for endurance resulting in my heart rate jumping in a short amount of time which was my goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you can adjust the amount of energy you are using from your legs to your arms or vise versa to add difficulty depending on your current strengths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25037" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T22:36:20.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33892" CreationDate="2017-04-20T22:57:49.577" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seriously -- great question. Really making me think... Love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strange, as so much emphasis is placed on a having a &quot;six-pack&quot; for very little benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it would be incorrect to say that it's insertion, which is essentially directly down to the pubic region, would cause any significant posterior tilt during rest or have any effect on the resting position of the antagonist back musculature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're dead right, the TrA is activated before all movement, so that would be the key stabilizer. I would have to say beyond generating force for function movements like sitting up.  It seems to be a hybrid muscle both generating global movement and also preventing it -- but nothing of significance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only benefit I see is preventing altered length-tension relationship in the opposite case -- the global back musculature being tight causing an anterior tilt and weakened rectus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are your thoughts? I can’t see how it would significantly help any type of heavy lifts… &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="15433" LastEditDate="2017-04-23T22:53:03.950" LastActivityDate="2017-04-23T22:53:03.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33851" CreationDate="2017-04-21T00:07:35.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I competed at national level in my youth, and when we did our dry resistance training, it was almost always compound movements with a few isolation exercises focusing on explosiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sprinters (such as myself) would focus more on the explosive stuff, and do the compound movements with a medium-heavy load for strength/power.  The distance guys would focus less on explosive and do more high rep training for endurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From memory my resistance training looked like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower body:&#xA;Squat (medium-heavy), &#xA;leg extensions/ham curls (low weight high rep, but explosive on the lifting phase)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upper body:&#xA;Bench (medium-heavy), &#xA;bar/cable rows (high rep), &#xA;wide grip lat pulldowns (low weight high rep explosive on lifting phase), &#xA;Tricep rope pulldowns (low weight high rep explosive on lifting phase), &#xA;endless chinups/pullups to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core:&#xA;Russian twists, medicine ball sit-up-throws with a partner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We only did this once/twice a week - our coaches wanted us sleek and strong, but not to bulk and lose flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25083" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T00:07:35.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20936" CreationDate="2017-04-21T07:02:27.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not for free. There is no publicly-available comprehensive list of cues to describe particular motions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it is worth money and requires a lot of work and research to do well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T07:02:27.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33891" CreationDate="2017-04-21T07:18:51.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The estimated TDEE is just that, estimated. There are many other factors which can affect your BMR that those calculators don't take into account. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a 2 week cycle to set a TDEE, eat at it and then measure the difference on the scale and in your energy levels/mood. IF you don't lose weight and feel good then reduce the calorie intake further and try for another 2 weeks. If you lose slightly over what you expect or feel awful then up your calorie intake a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your BMR is highly personal and cannot be &quot;prescribed&quot; using a calculator. At best it gives you a starting point. Go out and do some science. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T07:18:51.193" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-21T07:49:04.693" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;is this ok if i don't take rest between cycling and running activities ... here is my routine &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;first five days : running ( 30 - 35 km )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sat,sun : cycling ( 80 - 100    km )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25399" LastEditorUserId="25399" LastEditDate="2017-04-21T10:30:03.613" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T10:30:03.613" Title="No Rest Between Cycling And Running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-05T14:47:59.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33901" CreationDate="2017-04-21T07:49:54.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recovery is important. You should have at least 1 day a week without any exercise (or at most some gentle yoga/walking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T07:49:54.337" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33860" CreationDate="2017-04-21T10:38:36.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/how-natural-is-natural-bodybuilding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Natural is Natural Bodybuilding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Natural&quot; in this case simply means &quot;not currently on steroids and other drugs at this very moment... as least not the ones that can be detected by a lame drug test at a bodybuilding show.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can beat a drug test like this by doing a few little tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it's unlikely that you can even get close to without unnatural enhancements if even associations devoted to natuaral bodybuilding are not close to natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T10:38:36.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33892" CreationDate="2017-04-21T21:31:10.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Global muscles &lt;strong&gt;produce&lt;/strong&gt; movement. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Local muscles &lt;strong&gt;prevent&lt;/strong&gt; movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For examples of over-developed rectus abdominis you can look towards the sport of super-heavyweight powerlifting/strongman where many have extremely large rectus abdominis to stop their body folding in two&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rectus abdominis generates spinal flexion.  A physical barrier like a large stomach may create a physical barrier to stop movement but it doesn't matter if it's fat or a &quot;six pack&quot; that's blocking the movement.  There's no relation to muscle function&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason this was such a good question is that the rectus is considered a global muscle and not consider a part of the innercore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failure to stabilize the spine isn't ONLY due to weakness. Altered neuromuscular firing patterns produce the same result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're more powerful global muscles are firing before your deep stabilizers this results in large force being applied to an unstablized spinal column.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why the trA is so important. It is activated first before movement in any direction.  Unlike your quadratus lumborum which is only active during sagittal plane movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T21:31:10.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15221" CreationDate="2017-04-21T23:04:09.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a little late, but I'll bet you're smelling ammonia.  It's very common when you exert yourself.  See the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/290746-acidic-smell-after-cardio-exercise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.livestrong.com/article/290746-acidic-smell-after-cardio-exercise/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/weight-resistance-training/94703-smelling-like-ammonia-after-good-cardio-workout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/weight-resistance-training/94703-smelling-like-ammonia-after-good-cardio-workout.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps,&#xA;Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25403" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T23:04:09.400" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15510" CreationDate="2017-04-22T08:06:37.100" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, what works is using sites like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikicalories.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikicalories&lt;/a&gt; to know how many calories are there in the food I eat in every meal. Diet in my opinion and calorie counting is more important than going to the gym regularly - at least, this is what works for me. I dont log my food but I check the calories in them before I consume. Good luck with your goals!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25406" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T08:06:37.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33909" CreationDate="2017-04-22T14:43:46.400" Score="-1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that the heart, as an organ, has a limited number of heartbeats and by doing exercise you will decrease its lifespan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that exercising itself its healthy for the heart but is it better to do less intensive exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say one's bpm is 130 and other's is 150. Will the second person have a smaller heart lifespan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21616" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T15:22:41.043" Title="Will exercising decrease the heart lifespan?" Tags="&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33908" CreationDate="2017-04-22T15:22:41.043" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't die because you run out of heartbeats. You run out of heartbeats because you die. Since death is certain, we have a limited number of heartbeats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But pay attention to the chain of causality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The man is from New York, therefore he is from the United States&quot; holds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The man is from the United States, therefore he is from New York&quot; does not hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, your lifespan is not dictated by your bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T15:22:41.043" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2017-04-22T22:40:32.583" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kayaking is a good exercise for HIIT. Try doing 10 intervals of 1 minute, 30 seconds on, 1 minute off to get the good, telomere-building exercise and don't worry about the number of steps is my advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25410" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T22:40:32.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33912" CreationDate="2017-04-23T06:33:13.543" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I failed a marathon at 40km recently due to pain in the left knee and pain in the muscle of the right leg, what I believe could be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.viviangrisogono.com/images/anatomical-diagrams/pg-front-thigh-muscle.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vastus Medialis Obliquus&lt;/a&gt; according to the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you can see the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.endomondo.com/users/3654147/workouts/903120726&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;process of the marathon&lt;/a&gt;. You can see that it was a rather slow and steady decline after the first 21km or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a 12 weeks training plan successfully and without any health issues; see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runnersworld.de/trainingsplan/trainingsplan-marathon-unter-3-30-stunden.263784.htm?startdatum=&amp;amp;wettkampfdatum=09.04.2017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the training plan&lt;/a&gt;; it is from Runner's World and I used it successfully before (though it was for a marathon under 4h). The max. heart frequency I used for the training plas was 190 beats per minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also see the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.endomondo.com/stats/3654147&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;statistics&lt;/a&gt; and from there the workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could have walked slowly till the end, but the gates closed after 4h. So it did not make any sense for me to continue with the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what could be the reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The course had some (slow but rather longer) slopes, whilst I trained on a rather flat course. Does this make a difference? Does this make sense?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have issues with my left knee. Though I trained well and had no issues whatsoever during the training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During the run I only had water every 5km and a fruit bar. No special food or energy gels were taken or provided. The days before the food was mostly rice, noodles and meat. Porridge for breakfast on the day of the run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I used the running shoes that I trained with during the whole time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had no respiratory problems nor did I feel exhausted. I was feeling very fit. That is the part that wonders me most. I felt fit, but my legs refused service?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I trained in Málaga, Spain. The marathon was in Pyongyang, North Korea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to understand my situation, but my thoughts so far are not really satisfying. I hope to find hints or answers here. Please share this question with anyone you may think could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25413" LastActivityDate="2017-04-23T22:49:27.697" Title="After a successful 3 month training, what could it be that made my legs refuse to finish a marathon?" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33911" CreationDate="2017-04-23T22:49:27.697" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your question is extremely broad, but there are some commonalities to this situation that are applicable across a wide range of endurance events, so I will hit the high points of the things that beginning endurance athletes often don't think about or do wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Climate: Many times people underestimate the effect that climate has on an endurance event. Either much hotter or cooler, or differences in humidity can wreak havoc on the race.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevation: Going either up or down drastically can have an effect on the race. Going down is usually preferable, people have much greater impact going from low to high.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In race nutrition: If you don't train with it, don't do it on race day. Too often people either drink/eat way more or less than they do during a training. This can have a drastic impact on race execution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre race nutrition: Again, if you don't do it in training, don't do it on race day. See above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pacing: This is another very common one for people to miss when racing. They get out there, they are amped up and excited, and they feel good, so they push a little more than they were planning. Even a few seconds per mile faster at the beginning can put you in a huge hole by the end of the race. Even if you feel awesome, wait until after 1/2 way through a race before you think about deviating from your plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Terrain: Same as pacing. If the terrain is different from where you train, you either need to travel to train occasionally under the same terrain conditions, or be prepared to slow your pace accordingly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for your specific situation, the climate and elevation between the two locales are fairly similar, so barring some major difference on race day, I would not count those. You give your nutrition, but you don't state if it is the same. Since you say they &quot;only had&quot; certain items, I am guessing that it is less than you trained with. Might want to have a snack belt or something next time, just in case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the pacing and terrain, I am putting forth as a guess that the extra hills, even slight, plus the different nutrition are what threw off your game. (Unless it was because North Korea, I am surprised they closed the finish gates at 4 hours. That's an awfully short time for a typical non elite marathon group).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final thing to consider, is that when people say &quot;I feel fit but I just can't make myself go&quot;, is that you are over trained or not rested enough. You don't mention what kind of taper you had, or how long the rest was in your training plan, but it may be that you weren't rested enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry, a lot of these things are learned through experience. Keep at it, and keep a log of things you do in training, see what common elements are there on the days you feel great, and try and put that all together on race day. Have fun with it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-04-23T22:49:27.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-24T04:11:35.150" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello I'm about to start using the p90x and I'm looking over the fat shredder menu and was wondering when it says protein powder is that meaning to drink a protein shake or what because that's got me confused of what it is meaning to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25418" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T08:47:40.990" Title="P90x protein menu" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;p90x&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-24T04:18:58.953" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if I could participate in bodybuilding contests without drugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been focusing lately on muscular size and development while stringently, making sure I don't increase bodyfat (and so far it's actually working, but it's very time consuming). I am not super lean, but I'm far from being fat -- which makes me think I could turn a few heads in, say, local bodybuilding contests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't plan on winning any, but I do know that I have almost no chance at winning when other competitors will almost assuredly be using enhancements that I won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, can I get any recognition in the bodybuilding world being 100% natural? I'm not asking to be Mr. Olympia -- I just want to know if I can make it anywhere being 100% natural (no AAS, PEDs, SARMs, Clen, prohoromones, or etc.) in bodybuilding/fitness/physique world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25419" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T14:49:35.633" Title="Could I be a contest bodybuilder without drugs?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33914" CreationDate="2017-04-24T07:01:37.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tested competitions alongside untested. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T07:01:37.030" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33913" CreationDate="2017-04-24T08:39:57.603" Score="-2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when it says protein powder is that meaning to drink a protein shake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, drink a protein shake. You could try just dry swallowing the protein powder (I know a guy who used to do this), but I wouldn't recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-09-26T08:23:37.177" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T08:23:37.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33925" CreationDate="2017-04-24T09:15:13.530" Score="2" ViewCount="816" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a physio about a year ago due to some knee problems I'd been having, and while I was there he showed me how I could adjust my form in order to squat deeper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said for me to point my feet forward and externally rotate my hips, so that my knees didn't go inwards (perhaps due to me having flat feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rotating my hips feels great as it makes my feet arch, and I'm pretty sure that has solved some problems with squat-related knee pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I'm just not sure about my feet pointing forward, it really doesn't feel natural... and I get the impression my toes want to point out slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My knee has also started hurting again recently after squats and I can't help but think it's due to my feet pointing straight in front of me, surely there must be some twisting going on in my knee? as my knees are going outwards, but my feet are pointing forwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24798" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T15:02:33.270" Title="Squats: point feet forward and externally rotate hips?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33924" CreationDate="2017-04-24T09:30:13.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone's hips are slightly different. Most people turn their toes out to ensure that their knee tracks over their toes. That said, squat stances can vary massively depending on type and sport: Powerlifting vs Olympic and the myriad of squat types: Safety Bar, Back Squat, Front Squat, Overhead Squat, Sissy Squat, Zercher Squat, Box Squat, High Bar, Low bar...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do lots of squatting and with nearly all of them I take a slightly different stance. I worked out my stance by following a 3 month linear progression on them to find what was comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping feet parallel and forwards puts a lot of pressure/torque on ankles and is not really efficient for holding extremely heavy loads as it can often lead to you shifting weight onto the outside edge of your foot, rather than centre/mid-foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposite, toes out further than knees track causes torque on the knee joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is simple: Squat in a position that feels natural and reduces/eliminates knee pain without your knees caving in or your lower spine flexing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend finding a safety squat bar if your gym has one, they can eliminate a lot of common issues with squatting when used correctly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T15:02:33.270" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T15:02:33.270" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33891" CreationDate="2017-04-24T09:35:33.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To estimate your BMR use this formula 66 + (6.25 x weight in lbs) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years) = BMR.&#xA;66 + 1362.5=1428.50 + 876.3 = 2304.8 - 326.4 = 1978.4 BMR. times that by the amount of physical activity (charts available online) i would say walking 50 to 60 miles a week at 3.5 mph would moderate(only because of the speed) so, 1978.4 x 1.375 = 2,720.3 calories a day to maintain your weight. If you want to lose 2 lbs per week yes you would have to decrease calories by 1000. Although it is very possible that 1,720 calories will not be enough to give you the energy needed to exercise even at a moderate rate. What I would suggest is to eat around 2500 calories per day and add muscle building exercises to your workout to help increase your metabolism. Also it is good to know what your body composition is or how many lbs of fat you are carrying. There are several ways to determine this the most popular way is the Pinch Test using calipers. you may weigh 218 lbs but knowing how much is fat is very critical because you don't want to lose muscle. If you have 35 lbs of fat then subtracting that from 218 lbs would mean that you have 183 lbs of fat free mass(muscle, bones, blood,organs etc.) now 35 lbs of fat means your bf % is 23. A man 40 - 49 who has BFP is over 28% is considered to be obese. In the case of the example this man is perfectly fine and shouldn't need to lose weight. Gosh I hope this helps and I hope I wrote it so you could understand. Good luck on your journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25421" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T09:35:33.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33932" CreationDate="2017-04-24T11:03:38.647" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some good tutorials, tips or advice on how to increase my flexibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly stretching regularly and high water intake helps but I'm wondering what else I can do to improve my flexibility, particularly in my core and back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25424" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T11:56:42.990" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T13:00:04.150" Title="Getting the best from flexibility training" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33930" CreationDate="2017-04-24T12:54:15.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who is pretty stiff and has been looking at improving his flexibility for a while I can probably help you out a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you my background and some hope, I am a sporty person since I am 7 years old. I have always been quite active since then (competition in track &amp;amp; field, ...) and am now 29 years old. Yet, flexibility has never been my focus and has never been my strength. It became a problem when I started doing weightlifting: it hit my face pretty hard that i was not able to perform some movements because of a lack of flexibility. So I searched a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The effective solution I found (I really improved my mobility significantly) is the following :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, understand that the goal of stretching is to make your Central Nervous System (CNS) understand that a new Range Of Movement (ROM) is desirable and safe. It has (to my belief) nothing to do with  actually lengthening the muscle. Old beliefs said so. New research suggests the adaptations are mostly neurological. Apparently, if you put yourself under general anaesthesia i.e. remove your CNS from the equation, you shall be able to do a full split without any issue. &#xA;Once you understand and accept that, then you will also understand the proper techniques to gain flexibility and mobility&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second, incorporate daily flexibility work wherever you can e.g. reach overhead, reach at your feet, squat, ... Do as much as possible the movements you want to achieve and avoid sitting for extended periods of time. When at home, try incorporating mobility work when watching TVs, playing games, playing with your kids, ... Recognize that you need to move more. Except if you are a pro athlete, 1h of daily activity does not (unfortunately) undo 8 hours+ of sitting (office, car, plane, sofa, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Third, do one (or more if you can support it) dedicated flexibility training a week with proper focus on breathing and using PNF techniques (google that if needed). &#xA;Proper breathing i.e. belly breathing is essential since (see first point) flexibility is mainly associated to neurological adaptations i.e. making your body understand that a new ROM is safe. This is achieved by proper breathing which allows you connecting with your CNS and telling him &quot;this ROM is safe, go there&quot;&#xA;PNF techniques allow you to use body reflexes to increase your improvements rapidly.&#xA;Also if you can, stretch with a partner. This allows you to get deeper stretching and to relax more since the partner helps you get into the position i.e. you use less tension and it is highly beneficial to get the desired adaptations. Stretching using weights can also be very useful e.g. goblet squat to improve squat depth, loaded shoulder flexion. Just make sure you have a proper movement pattern and you are correctly mobilising your joints. A coach, an educated friend or peer review (post a video on reddit asking for form assessment) can be of help.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The resources I would recommend are MobilityWod from K.Starret (soft tissue and banded distractions, The Roll Model from Jill Miller (lot on breathing) and Stretch Therapy from Kit Laughlin. From there and with this knowledge, you shall be able to fine tune your own routine, learn advanced techniques and navigate through the many youtube videos on the subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastEditorUserId="25426" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T13:00:04.150" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T13:00:04.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33864" CreationDate="2017-04-24T13:06:46.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can search studies about &quot;residual training effects&quot; for different sport performance parameters e.g. aerobic endurance, maximal strength, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Average numbers suggest aerobic endurance adaptations last for about 30 days, strength also. Anaerobic glycolytic adaptations last for about 18 days, strength endurance about 15 days and maximal speed 5 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These numbers explain the idea behind periodizing for competitions. If you train for the 100m dash then your training program shall allow for maximal speed training near your competition while GPP shall be placed at the beginning of the season. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T13:06:46.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33924" CreationDate="2017-04-24T14:35:56.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m going to disagree with the statement that “…&lt;em&gt;pretty much everyone turns their feet out slightly&lt;/em&gt;”.  I tend to vary my foot placement, and, I know of others that do also.  This includes ‘neutral’ (toes forward) placement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are reasons to squat with different foot placements.  A 2013 study, &lt;a href=&quot;http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1446&amp;amp;context=ijes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effects of Foot Position during Squatting on the Quadriceps Femoris: An Electromyographic Study&lt;/a&gt; showed that foot placement did affect activation of specific muscle groups.  Four foot placements were studied and the effects of each were recorded using Electromyography.  The study showed that foot placement activated those muscle groups differently based on foot placement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c4fa/4ecd4ce17cc85dfc29dd5894de076e95e68e.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SQUATTING KINEMATICS AND KINETICS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO EXERCISE PERFORMANCE&lt;/a&gt;, looked to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“…examine kinematics and kinetics of the dynamic squat with respect to&#xA;  the ankle, knee, hip and spinal joints and, second, to provide&#xA;  recommendations based on these biomechanical factors for optimizing&#xA;  exercise performance.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, in regards to foot placement, the article may provide some insight into the advice you were given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“This suggests that a narrow stance may be preferable over wide stance&#xA;  if the goal is to minimize compressive forces at the knee. On the&#xA;  other hand, a narrow stance squat resulted in approximately 4 to 6 cm&#xA;  greater forward knee translation and thus greater shear as compared&#xA;  with a moderate or wide stance. Therefore, a wider stance might be&#xA;  preferable for those seeking to minimize shear at the knees (18).”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article then states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Several studies reveal that varying squat stance alters muscular&#xA;  recruitment patterns. Escamilla et al. (18) found activity of the&#xA;  gastrocnemius was 21% greater in a narrow versus a wide stance. McCaw&#xA;  and Melrose (45) reported a wide stance significantly increased&#xA;  activity of the GM and adductor longus, with greatest activity seen at&#xA;  140% shoulder width. Ninos et al., Paoli et al., and Escamilla et al.&#xA;  (20,50,53) also reported increased muscular torque of the hip&#xA;  extensors and adductors in wider stance squats. Stance width has not&#xA;  been shown to alter muscular activity in the quadriceps and&#xA;  hamstrings, however (20,42).”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the above comments, I tend to vary my foot placement on leg movements.  This includes squats, leg press, and leg extensions.  I find that the variation allows me to optimize my leg training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T14:35:56.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33914" CreationDate="2017-04-24T14:49:35.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand on JJosaur's answer, I can personally attest to drug free competitions.  I was a drug free competitive bodybuilder, and, I successfully competed locally (in my state) and at locations in the US.  The competitions were sanctioned by a specific Natural Bodybuilding organization.   The testing typically involved urine and/or lie detector before the event.  Granted, it’s not a fool proof method, and things may have changed since I “retired”, but, it was what was used by many organizations.  The one thing you must understand is that training drug free is a much more difficult challenge.  You must be smarter, and, be prepared to train for many years paying close attention to detail (nutrition, rest, etc.) in order to maximize any potential you may have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T14:49:35.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33936" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-24T15:01:13.800" Score="7" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 year old daughter is tall (5'9&quot;) and still growing. At her checkup this fall, the pediatrician felt she had about two more years of growing to do. Most of her teammates (and competitors) have completed their growth spurts. This has led to her becoming less agile than them. She is one of the fastest at a full field sprint or longer distances, but she is struggling with quick, up close movements. She is quite competitive, so this is frustrating her. Any suggestions for how to improve quickness and agility while still in the adolescent growth spurt? She primarily plays lacrosse and field hockey but also some basketball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25430" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T17:25:26.387" Title="How to improve teen's agility" Tags="&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33937" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-25T06:03:12.237" Score="0" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22 year old male and i am software developer.I am doing gym for months but i got little fat in my belly.So to burn that i started doing cardio in morning and gym in evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My schedule is like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7:00 - 7:45 am cardio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9:30 am - 8:30 pm Work(Including One hour of travelling)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9:00 pm -10:30 pm Gym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12:00 pm Sleep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6:30 am Wake up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After doing this for weeks i started losing my arms muscle not my belly fat.&#xA;I dont want to lose my arm muscle because its already too weak..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here What i eat Five Times a week(Excluding Saturday and Sunday):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 banana after Cardio and 1 cup of Oats with milk (Honey for sweetener)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 12:00 Am i eat Omelet(2 Eggs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At Lunch 1 cup of Rice and Dal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before Workout I eat 2 banana and 1 glass of pomegranate juice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After Workout I eat 4 Eggs and 1 glass of Home-made Protein Shake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had 12 inch arms which reduce to 11.5 inch now and my belly is same. I dont feel any weakness in my arms. All i feel is small biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in Advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24918" LastEditorUserId="24918" LastEditDate="2017-04-25T10:53:32.023" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T12:26:35.200" Title="Losing My Arms Muscle" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;meal-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33937" CreationDate="2017-04-25T06:25:18.170" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The body does not want muscle, but fat. Muscle uses much more energy than fat. I suppose your problem is in the food. Can you show us your typical day of eating ? Maybe if you do not eat enough, your body has gone in &quot;starvation mode&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25435" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T06:25:18.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33937" CreationDate="2017-04-25T06:47:28.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're experiencing a decrease in strength when you're doing arm exercises, then the decrease in size can be due to the loss of muscle. You would need to take a note of how much protein you're consuming, a lack of which could result in the muscle not being able to recover completely before the next workout. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529694/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; here recommends 1.2-2g protein per kg of weight for building muscle.&#xA;Note: If you want to up the protein intake then do so gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, If you're strength levels are not declining, then the loss of excess fat from arms could be a plausible cause of the reduction in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to your goal, there is no spot reduction, fat gets reduced all over the body contingent of course on your calories intake.&lt;a href=&quot;https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/spot-reduction-one-final-attempt-to-kill-the-myth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spot-reduction-myth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25434" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T06:47:28.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33937" CreationDate="2017-04-25T12:26:35.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are not weaker:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I dont feel any weakness in my arms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it is extremely unlikely you lost muscle. You probably either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lost fat from that area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are dehydrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T12:26:35.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-25T17:35:57.983" Score="0" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little bit of background which might help in appraising the situation. If you want to avoid the fluff, the actual concrete question in bold at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up until the start of April this year I've done a linear progression using more or less the Starting Strength model, with some of the typical shenanigans that Mark Rippetoe would not approve of. No powercleans (I can't for the life of me get into the rack position, not that interested in explosive power), added rows. Prior to that I had already done 1.5 years of strength training with very mediocre results, mostly due to a fear of regaining fat and not eating through plateaus. This time I ate like I meant it and the 6 month progress was better than everything before then. I wouldn't say it was a waste experience-wise, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the time has come to lose some of that excess fat, so since the start of April I've introduced a caloric deficit. I'm lowering the calories from week to week rather than directly plummeting to some bottom value, since this is easier to maintain for the planned 12-or-so weeks and seems to avoid the typical weight loss stalls. Regardless of whether I'm right, it seems to work and losing weight is currently easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, for the past few weeks my motivation to do my workouts has taken a nosedive. I find myself making mental excuses, such as &quot;I'll go to sleep early and get more time for it tomorrow&quot; or go to check some Stack Overflow questions on my laptop and stick around until it seems too late to still go to the gym. I've maintained a rather consistent gym discipline for two years, apart from the occasional bad week, and usually enjoyed my workouts despite self-doubt and grinding through some exercises. So I'm not sure why things have taken this turn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some reasons I can think of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've had a clear goal for half a year (get stronger no matter what) and now that this goal shifts (lose weight, maintain strength) I'm a bit directionless.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm anxious about a workout going &quot;badly&quot; compared to previous ones because some loss of strength is inevitable with a caloric deficit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've grown tired of doing the same workouts and exercises (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, rows, chin-ups) all the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The idea of squatting 3 times a week and every time having to give it my best down to the last rep has burned me out (me and the squat aren't on the best terms).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If after a prolonged and successful period of working out there's a sudden lack of desire to continue, what is likely the most important factor? What change would turn things around?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19986" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T19:13:26.507" Title="What would cause a sudden drop in motivation and workout avoidance?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;motivation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33941" CreationDate="2017-04-25T19:13:26.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think all your reasons are valid reasons to lose motivation, and you have to tackle each one independently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you have to remember one of the fundamental rules of success in anything, including your gym ventures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Motivation&lt;/strong&gt; is going to the gym because you look forward to it, and enjoy it. The downside to relying on motivation, is that it is a fleeting emotion, and one that is hard to invoke on command. Most often, you find motivation in periods before the work, and find it disappearing as soon as the time comes to put in the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Discipline&lt;/strong&gt; is going to the gym &lt;em&gt;even though&lt;/em&gt; you don't look forward to it, or enjoy it. This is predicated on the idea that you are able to do hard work for delayed gratification. I.e. you won't be feeling good there and then, but you're hard set on reaping the rewards later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is, if you have periods of low motivation, you need to rely on discipline to get your ass back in the gym, lest you end up not going at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But discipline is hard to come by. Discipline means acting against your own wishes for the &lt;em&gt;right now&lt;/em&gt;, in order to get paid &lt;em&gt;later&lt;/em&gt;. And in the end, since we all experience lack of motivation, it's discipline that separates us from those who never go to the gym at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for anything where you need to put in work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take anything at all away from this post, let it be this: Delayed gratification! If you learn to appreciate working for delayed gratification rather than instant gratification, you'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T19:13:26.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33943" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-26T00:30:00.977" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to achieve a side star elbow plank. I am quite adept at the regular elbow plank (5 mins) and side planks (1.5 minutes). However, I can not even hold a side star plank for 10 seconds. It is physically almost impossible to keep my leg up in the air. Rather quickly I get pain on the side of my leg and the lower part of the glutes (perhaps &lt;em&gt;gluteus maximus&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;obturator interanus&lt;/em&gt;) that makes it difficult to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have strengthened those muscles a lot with high resistance biking and squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is going on that is making it difficult for me to do a side star plank? Is this normal? How can I strengthen my leg so it can do this better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25441" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-04-26T12:07:00.547" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T12:07:00.547" Title="Leg hurts during side star plank" Tags="&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-26T01:30:00.803" Score="1" ViewCount="982" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an issue where my arms go sorta tingly and numb after about 25 chair dips. I can still do reps afterward (have gone up to 42) however my arms feel really weird doing it. Nothing like they normally do after I am getting tired from push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth noting that that point of 25 has been slowly going higher, but at a much slower rate than my maximum reps is going up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be going on here? How can I make it better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25441" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T07:01:04.120" Title="Arm goes numb during chair dips?" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33956" CreationDate="2017-04-26T05:22:37.770" Score="2" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was born without the ability to supinate (turn my wrist so my palm faces upwards) my wrist. This is a problem only on my right hand. Therefore I can’t do regular curls, preacher curls or concentration curls. I can and am doing hammer curls. I have access to dumbells, kettle bells, and a lat machine (and body weight ofc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25446" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T23:58:17.077" Title="How can I build biceps without supinating the wrist?" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33950" CreationDate="2017-04-26T05:45:02.730" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do regular body weight exercises like push-up (25reps,3 sets), chin-ups (10reps,3 sets), Inverted Rows (15reps, 3sets), Squats (20reps, 3sets), Lunges (15reps, 3 sets), Chair Dips (10reps, 3sets), some abs exercises and cardio workouts. Recently I am feeling ache in my upper-back (basically Shoulder Blade) region. Sometime I feel pain in the shoulder blade region when try to move my head or take a deep breath. I tried to take rest for 2-3 days which helps to reduce the pain but after 8-10 days regular exercises the pain comes back again. May be the pain is due to some injuries which are not healing and pressure during body weight exercises increasing it or may be the muscles of that region is too weak. Please provide some guidance so that I get relief from the pain maintaining the strength and stamina of the body. Does practicing yoga helps to get relief from the pain? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;N.B. - I have neck spondylitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23236" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T08:55:05.337" Title="Should I do yoga to avoid upper and lower back injuries?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33944" CreationDate="2017-04-26T07:01:04.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be that your arms are in such an angle that bloodflow is slightly cut off, which would cause this feeling of going numb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you doing the dips behind your body (assuming you are since the title says chair dips)? In that case you could try doing dips on parallel bars. This way your arms aren't as far back (basically next to your body) which could solve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T07:01:04.120" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33684" CreationDate="2017-04-26T07:27:47.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to assess By yourself if you are overtrained or not. This depends on a lot of parameters e.g. your capacities, your sleep, your diet as well as external stress factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training and competing equals imposing stress on the body. You want the stress  (training + external) to be compensated  (capacities + diet + recovery) to achieve adaptation and perform better in the end.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So an easy way to assess if you are over training is to check your performance. Do they keep increasing or do they decrease? A decrease indicates overtraining. Take care that à decrease in performance during à training cycle is possible and sometimes expected. You need ton assess your performances after a proper deload  (rest) week in such case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also difficulty to sleep and Other symptoms indicate overtraining. Google it to find all symptoms and assess yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T07:27:47.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33946" CreationDate="2017-04-26T07:39:15.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comment you received above is the right answer : go consult a physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, go to him with the proper amount of information and previous medical/sport history. &#xA;You say you started to feel this ache &quot;recently&quot;. What did you change ? Did you start doing exercises you are not used to ? Increase the repetitions ? What else ? Or did you just start exercising ? Obviously, something has changed and is the cause of your pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it it does not seem to be an acute pain (i.e. a muscle tear or something like that) it probably means you are doing something wrong i.e. you are not moving correctly in the exercises you are doing and you start irritating your structures. Moving correctly means moving with the right technique and using the right muscles taking into account your own anatomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resting is usually not the way to go except for acute pain. Obviously while you rest, your structures will heal but as soon as you resume exercising, you will again make the same mistakes and the pain will come back. Understand your movement problem (with the help of a physical therapist), keep training around the pain/injury to increase bloodflow and recovery and eventually resume normal training with proper movement.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T07:39:15.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-26T09:27:27.670" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aunt is severely asthmatic. She is slightly overweight, with most of her fat being on her hips and tummy. Our family doctor has advised light yoga to keep her fit as she is also prone to high blood pressure and joint aches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some ways to ease her into yoga? She is almost always out of breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25449" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T12:05:34.063" Title="What are some ways to ease a 50 year old asthmatic woman into yoga?" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-04-26T23:48:11.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33951" CreationDate="2017-04-26T12:05:34.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If her doctor has not already given you a list of exercises, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.expandinglight.org/free/yoga-teacher/round-bodies/introduction.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; has a list of concerns for more obese people doing yoga:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bending forward is in varying degrees hampered by the abdomen. If one is quite fat, it’s like trying to lean over a beach ball.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fat person usually finds it difficult to internally rotate the hips. Fat on the thighs spreads the legs apart, outwardly rotating the hips. This accounts for the characteristic widebased gait and open-legged seated posture of the fat person. The resultant contracture (if a person has been fat for a long time) in the external rotators makes postures that require the legs to remain together difficult and even painful.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fat in the upper arms and the upper/middle back makes putting the hands together behind the back difficult, as does the fat person’s increased ratio of torso circumference to arm length. Take the Circle of Joy, add a fat person, and presto! — instant Circle of Frustration. (Actually, this is easily solved simply by moving the arms behind one instead of clasping the hands.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fat people tend to have some neck difficulty, because of the habitual need to crane the neck forward to get closer to something to read, eat or whatever. If the tummy dictates that the person must sit further from a desk, the neck and shoulders bear the brunt of bringing the head and hands forward to lean over a book or dinner plate. Unlike in pregnant women, for a fat person this “lean forward” part happens for an extended period of time; it could lead to a chronic unhealthy curve in the cervical spine, and even a “widow’s hump.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s interesting that, because of these four differences, it’s often the simpler asanas that are difficult for the fat person, whereas some more challenging ones are actually easier for most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also have a list of recommended exercises at the bottom (site provides links, which I am too lazy to provide here):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Adho Mukha Shvasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Ardha Matsyendrasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Balasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bhujangasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chandrasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dandasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dhanurasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Garudasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Janushirasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jathara Parivartanasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Matsyasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Padahastasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Parvatasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Paschimotanasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Salabhasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sarvangasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sasamgasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Savasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Setu Banghasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Siddhasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Standing Backward Bend&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Tadasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Trikonasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Ustrasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Utkatasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vajrasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Viparita Karani&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Virabhadrasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vrikasana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T12:05:34.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33682" CreationDate="2017-04-26T17:02:55.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For maximising muscle growth(Hypertrophy) you need to make sure that you're keeping higher time under tension which will incorporate more muscle fibre against the resistance and incur in a much better growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A prolonged muscle time under tension, only when fatigue leads to full motor unit recruitment, affects the acute amplitude of muscle protein synthesis and mediates a delayed effect on rates of synthesis during 24–30 h recovery. Provided your protein intake is to the point. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3285070/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Time under tension Reference&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, increasing your time under tension to about 40-45s will be optimum.&#xA;The reason you shouldn't look for reps as a rule of thumb is exemplified here. Consider these three cases for Bicep curl(This is applicable to almost every exercise):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case1:-&#xA;1 rep: 1second concentric(lifting the weight up)+ 1 sec pause for squeezing the muscle + 2 sec eccentric(lowering the weight)&#xA;Time per rep = 4sec. Reps required for optimum time under tension = 10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case2:-&#xA;1 rep: 1 second concentric + 2 second eccentric&#xA;Time per rep = 3 sec. Reps required for optimum time under tension = 13(~12)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Case3:-&#xA;1 rep: 1 sec concentric + 1 sec pause + 3 sec eccentric&#xA;Time per rep = 5sec. Reps required fo optimum time under tension = 8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal level, I have experienced more satisfying workouts after incorporating these techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25434" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T17:02:55.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33682" CreationDate="2017-04-26T17:41:11.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general when you are talking about fitness here are the 4 areas that you have to look at with exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequency - How often do you exercise or perform the movement. Ex: Are you working out 3 times a week or 6 times a week. This of course does have a cap on it as over training is a real thing. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Duration - How long do you perform the movement for. Ex: Are you lifting weights for 20 minutes each time you work out or for 60 minutes.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intensity - How intense is your workout each time. Ex: In the case of weight lifting are you benching 145 pounds 10 times or are you benching 160 pounds 10 times. As the weight increases the intensity will naturally increase. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer about are more reps better should be framed withing this context. As each one of these 3 factors increases, your strength and fitness levels will generally increase (all other factors being equal, ie diet, sleep, stress). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25451" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T17:41:11.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33945" CreationDate="2017-04-26T23:58:17.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two things to consider would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlifts&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbell rows&lt;/a&gt;. Done correctly there's not much movement in your wrist for those, and the deadlift will train your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Glossary.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;biceps isometrically while the barbell row will do concentric&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a little soap-box-y, but I'd add that except for a very small portion of bodybuilders, most everyone would be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; better off doing compound barbell lifts. Targeting individual muscles in isolation (curls, skull crushers, etc) are a great way to build imbalances and tendinitis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, while you may feel dismayed that you can't curl, you're probably better off anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T23:58:17.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-27T03:11:58.183" Score="1" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this question isn't too good, but I just wanted some insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people often speak volumes regarding how excellent some personal trainers are. I assumed personal trainers/coaches/etc. were primarily for motivation, and didn't make nor break any potential or results. I've played minor league professional sports and always had a coach to train with, but typically preferred to &quot;do it my own way.&quot; I know this doesn't always bode well, but what's the idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do personal trainers/etc. really help break past barriers, or are they more for motivation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are already perfectly self-motivated and disciplined, what can a trainer/coach offer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume someone with a good workout plan, diet, motivation, etc. What do they have to gain by listening to someone telling them to do what they already know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't that be like a teacher being taught by ... another teacher? Sure, one can always learn, but if you already do your own thing, what's the benefit in being &quot;trained&quot; when you train yourself already?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25455" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T08:13:13.013" Title="Do you need a trainer to be in good shape? Or can people really do it themselves?" Tags="&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33957" CreationDate="2017-04-27T04:25:21.620" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personal trainers come in a wide variety of styles so some may not fit for you while others may produce wondrous results. A lot of personal trainers from commercial gyms may be best for beginners who need a good starting point. They want/need someone to teach them the basics and foundations and bring them up to a level to make progress on their own (ideally). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You sound like you're beyond that stage. So, for the crux of your question. What advantage can a personal trainer give for a more intermediate level person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experience and lots of it. A good personal trainer (assuming they haven't just started) will have quite a bit of years of experience in both themselves and their clients. They've seen it all. They know what works and what doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How good is your workout plan really? Are you missing anything vital that could help in the long run? Are you doing something risky that could set you back? Are you missing anything vital for your goals? Is there anything that you should be focusing on? What do you do when you come across something unexpected? Without any feedback you're basically going off your own knowledge. Because of that, you don't know what you don't know. Hiring a coach will give a second set of eyes on both your goals and your training to fill in gaps that you may be missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, do you need a personal trainer?  Not really. It's entirely possible to get in good shape without one. Plenty of people do it. It may take longer since you'll be learning along the way, but that's also part of the fun (or maybe I have a distorted view of what's &quot;fun&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-04-27T04:25:21.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-27T14:30:14.997" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to build my stomach muscles, but can't afford to have a specified diet (I am not working yet). I eat home-prepared meals and no fastfoods etc.. often salads with chicken meat. I have been regularly exercising before with some good effects. They say, that 70% of building muscles is diet, but does that mean, that we need diet prepared by dieticians for making even small progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25460" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T06:07:46.040" Title="Should I exercise without having a rigorous diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33957" CreationDate="2017-04-27T15:15:59.633" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While training to be a teacher, I was trained by... you guessed it... another teacher. The difference was the experience level and qualification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once can split workout-types into two groups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Competition-centric&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Non-competition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets review the impact of a PT/Coach in both:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Competition-centric&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is your Olympic weightlifting coach, baseball coach, football coach, running coach, etc. You are working in a competitive environment. A common term for this kind of person is &amp;quot;athlete&amp;quot;. A coach does not commonly receive direct payment from a athlete, they often are paid through club membership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a coach for a few reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Programming:&lt;/strong&gt; No need to worry about planning around competitions, a good coach will carefully peak your training around competitions. They aren't  At a national/international level an athlete will need a coach or be working on their programming full time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experience:&lt;/strong&gt; Your coach should have a significant amount of experience in the sport they are coaching you in and/or have significant experience in coaching with examples of past students with good results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2nd Eye:&lt;/strong&gt; With a coach you can get instant and balanced feedback on your movement during the exercise. It is extremely difficult to become a successful (medal winning) athlete without a coach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Competition Support:&lt;/strong&gt; They will be there with your towel, chalk, nice words, at the finish line. They will provide help with transport, nutrition and ensuring that you do the best you can while competing. It reflects on them as much as you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Downsides to a coach is they ONLY care about you succeeding in the competition. They will get you to only movements that will make you better at the sport. A running coach wont make you lift weights, a baseball coach doesn't care about how much you can deadlift. Cross-training is very much a dirty word to a lot of coaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A experienced coach will know what will work best for you, what movements to practice and how to best get you to improve. You will probably have the same coach throughout your career as a developing athlete. They want you succeed as much as you do, everything is based around succeeding in competition. A coach isn't just a &amp;quot;fitness trainer&amp;quot; they are a part of your family/friendship circle. They will probably be at your wedding. &lt;strong&gt;I can't speak for all coaches but I have found this to be the majority.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Non-Competition&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(With the exception of bodybuilding, where coaches aren't prevalent but competitions are)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have someone doing the job of personal training and you have no competition the goals become a little less wholesome. Even with the goal of losing weight a PT quickly learns that their clients cannot out-exercise a bad diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the reasons people use PTs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical restriction:&lt;/strong&gt; Those with specific disorders or injuries can benefit from a knowledgeable person helping them athrough specific exercises. However, a physiotherapist would just tell you what to you and you could just follow that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Laziness:&lt;/strong&gt; To have successful programming there is some learning involved. Linear progression on weights will run out and progression slows. Periodization and other methods become more important if progression is still required. A PT can design a program for you to follow. PT's can also provide motivation through encouragement by having a 1 on 1 relationship with their client, this works well for a lot of people struggling with motivation to work hard at the gym.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nervousness:&lt;/strong&gt; A PT provides a safety barrier at a lot of gyms, you don't need to worry about asking to share equipment and you don't need to worry about integrating with the other gym-goers. It gives you a change to work out with the comfort of a &amp;quot;friend&amp;quot; supporting you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Commitment:&lt;/strong&gt; PT's aren't cheap. By committing to paying a PT for a session you are committing to completing that exercise. The simple act of putting money down on something can help a lot of people with gym-commitment issues. If you don't turn up you are letting down a person as well as your own wallet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second Eyes:&lt;/strong&gt; Positively, they provide the same level of second-vision on the exercises you are doing. However, while coaches are masters in their sport PT's have a tendency to become jack-of-all-trades and their knowledge on the safety of movements can fall behind the times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see a lot of PT's at my local gyms just planning workouts off-the-cuff. I personally got a few free sessions and quickly learnt through talking to them that a lot of them don't bother doing detailed programming for their client. Truth is many they don't care if you lose weight or become stronger, they care that you pay them and continue to do so. I have seen &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of scummy tactics used to keep clients signed up and paying. &lt;strong&gt;I can't speak for all PT's but I have found this to be the majority.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Summary&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PT's are good for those with injuries or just getting into working out and need extra motivation or basic knowledge. Coaches are good at developing an athletes prowess at a specific sport for competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-04-27T15:15:59.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33959" CreationDate="2017-04-27T15:19:17.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They say, that 70% of building muscles is diet, but does that mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means you cannot out-exercise a poor diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read through &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/29860/i-need-help-making-a-diet-meal-plan-for-exercise-regime-to-lose-weight-what&quot;&gt;this question and answer&lt;/a&gt; to help you design a balanced diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-04-27T15:19:17.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-27T17:01:20.940" Score="-1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 15 and I'm super skinny. I'm about 5 feet 8 inches tall and My weight is about 4o k.g. I'm so weak. What exercise should I do and what should I eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25463" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T06:22:44.907" Title="Can I build some muscle?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-04-29T17:18:34.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33973" CreationDate="2017-04-27T20:41:03.247" Score="2" ViewCount="572" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been doing following the Push Pull Legs (PPL) plan, In my Push workout routine, there is shoulder press with 3 sets of 12 reps. However, the instructions say that I can alternate this with Over Head Press with 3 sets of 5 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know both of these exercises works my shoulders but isn't it doing 5 reps and 12 reps are totally different (I believe 5 reps is for strength and 12 reps is for aesthetics)? Why is the documentations have this option then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25097" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T17:46:58.273" Title="Difference between 3x5 Over head press and 3x12 shoulder press?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;overheadpress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33962" CreationDate="2017-04-28T06:22:44.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you start with the basic compound movements - deadlift, squat, bench press, overhead press, dumbell row, pull up, dips, push ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For starters learn proper form on each of these exercises, then I can suggest you the &lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is good for beginners and you will see progress quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the food - start eating 3-4-5 times a day and try to have protein and carbs in every meal. Eat mainly meat, eggs, fish, vegetables, fruits, rice, pasta, potatoes and drink milk. When you stop progressing, just try to eat a little more. Don't avoid fats completely - eat nuts, use some oils, but don't spill yourself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25435" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T06:22:44.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33966" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-28T08:07:53.933" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi i am 17 year old and have been using computers since age of 11. I had bit lower back pains but never bothered to inquire about it. I have sat most of my life and now i am 17 since 2 years my back strength is too weak i cant even stand erected for long time i have to lie down or sit. My weight has also increased and problems have become worse. Daily in morning my shoulder neck and back is paining at least for fifteen minutes and my chest feels short of breath. My posture has become very odd (I have added pictures). This is indirectly affecting my work and studies a lot my self confidence has also decreased. I need proper guidance for improving my posture and strengthening my back. Thanks for help in advance. I really appreciate everyone's help.   &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FiQYI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FiQYI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My back posture right now.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25467" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T17:01:43.477" Title="Really Bad posture now hurting me whats the best solution?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33966" CreationDate="2017-04-28T08:22:15.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can't provide a full life-routine for you to follow, as we'd need to diagnose a lot more than what we can see in the picture, and the paragraph you wrote. But I'll touch on the most immediate pitfall I see, and provide some further learning resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, it's up to you to seek out a qualified physician, or a physical therapist to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The anterior pelvic tilt&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we sit a lot - and I mean a LOT - our &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sports-injury-info.com/image-files/hip-pain-hip-flexor.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hip flexors&lt;/a&gt; will do what's called &quot;adaptive shortening&quot;. Essentially, they realize that in the seated posture, they don't have much room, and they get sort of squished together, and the react by making themselves shorter to avoid the tension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This causes the anterior pelvic tilt, where the front of your pelvis is pulled down, which pushes your rear upward. This, in turn, can very quickly cause lower back pain because it's like a big pinch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info and guidance: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-CrEi0ymMg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-CrEi0ymMg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1sfPfsESDQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1sfPfsESDQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The guy in this video is very well educated in anatomy, physical therapy and personal training, and in this way he separates himself from most of the fitness gurus of YouTube. In fact, I advise you to scroll though his entire library, and watch any video that applies to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T08:22:15.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6649" CreationDate="2017-04-28T12:28:42.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is quite an old answer, but just to add a couple of remarks which might be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the &quot;180 steps per minute&quot; metric is attributed to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1450431836&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jack Daniels&lt;/a&gt;, a known running coach which was training runners for the 1984 Olympics. In his reports, he stated that of the 46 olympic runners he studied, only one took &lt;em&gt;less than 180 spm&lt;/em&gt; (176 spm). On the other hand, he noted that he never met a beginner runner in his career who ran over 180. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are two important caveats here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The 180 spm he mentions is not a &lt;strong&gt;target number&lt;/strong&gt;, it's actually a &lt;em&gt;minimum number&lt;/em&gt; (after discading that one &quot;176&quot; outlier) at which these professional runners were running, at &quot;olympic paces&quot; (around 6 meters per second, or 2.8 minutes per km).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to make a fair comparison of olympic runners' cadences with those of beginner runners. I.e. an olympic runner might keep a 3 min/km pace at 200 spm, while a beginner runner might not be able to run faster than 6-7 min/km, so it's not surprising that the cadence would be lower for beginners.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/89/5/1991.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, stride frequency varies from 150 spm (during light jogging, ~3 m/s), through 180 spm (olympic race pace, ~6 m/s), and goes way up to 230 spm (at 9 m/s). The chart can also be seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://sweatscience.com/the-problem-with-180-strides-per-minute-some-personal-data/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; by Alex Hutchinson (multiply stride/sec with 120 to get spm):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oOqYL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oOqYL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Stride length and frequency at different paces&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So target cadence of 180 at &lt;strong&gt;all running paces&lt;/strong&gt;, is a very poor suggestion IMHO. It simply isn't supported by the data. Yes, it might be the most optimal cadence while &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5000_metres_world_record_progression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;running 5k in 13 minutes&lt;/a&gt;, and yes, there are many people who will tell you that you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; jog at 180 spm, but if research is showing that olypmic athletes aren't doing this, then perhaps it isn't &lt;strong&gt;the most efficient&lt;/strong&gt; way to jog after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether slow jogging at 180 spm can reduce injuries, that's a different story. There are claims around the internet that slower cadences result in &quot;heel striking&quot; and that 180 spm jogging can reduce knee problems, but I wasn't able to find actual research supporting this (and since olympic athletes seem to &quot;ignore this advice&quot;, I am not so sure about its merits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/89/5/1991.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements, Weyand et al.&lt;/a&gt;, Journal of Applied Physiology&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20094" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T12:28:42.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33970" CreationDate="2017-04-28T13:30:11.183" Score="4" ViewCount="14494" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lateral pelvic tilt (left hip up, right down, upper body turned toward the right side, left shoulder seems down)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had this issue recently (I'm grown up with symetric pelvis) because (&lt;strong&gt;im not sure&lt;/strong&gt;) I've done lot lot of house work (cleaning)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I visited a chiropractor and he confirmed that the pelvis is tilted and he made a small manipulation and he said that the pelvis is again in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I'm so skeptic about that ( I still see the asymmetry in my pelvis), I dont think that a small one shot maneuver could fix my tilt. I've tried many exercises but nothing helped&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;does anyone of you had a pelvic tilt issue and can a chiropractor realy fix it wih a single shot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25468" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T14:37:18.770" Title="Can chiropractor really fix lateral pelvic tilt?" Tags="&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-04-29T17:18:08.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33969" CreationDate="2017-04-28T14:37:18.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right to be skeptical about this, because a lateral pelvic tilt can be caused by either something very severe, or something mild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had this issue recently (I'm grown up with symetric pelvis) because (im not sure) I've done lot lot of house work (cleaning)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests that the cause for this lateral pelvic tilt (LPT for now) is not very severe. LPT can be caused by scoliosis, in which case a chiropractor would possibly only be a small part of a much more elaborate solution. And often times, the solution wouldn't even be a complete fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is something you've developed recently, it's likely due to postures you've imposed on yourself for long periods of time. It could be the way to sit (pay close attention to this in the future), or indeed extended physical labor with poor posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Today I visited a chiropractor and he confirmed that the pelvis is tilted and he made a small manipulation and he said that the pelvis is again in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely he meant temporarily. If, for example, the tilt is caused by a shortening of the hip flexor, &lt;strong&gt;the tilt will arise again and again, until you fix the &lt;em&gt;source&lt;/em&gt; of the problem&lt;/strong&gt;. We can rebuild a house over and over, but if you keep building it in a sand-pit, it will always crumble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;but I'm so skeptic about that ( I still see the asymmetry in my pelvis), I dont think that a small one shot maneuver could fix my tilt. I've tried many exercises but nothing helped&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should see a physical therapist and find the root of the problem. If, for example, it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; caused by a shortened hip flexor, you will need an elaborate therapy plan involving some light workouts with focus on stretching. This is not something we can create for you on this site, since we don't know your entire situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;does anyone of you had a pelvic tilt issue and can a chiropractor realy fix it wih a single shot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly. If the tilt was caused by a single day of intense work with poor posture, it's likely that the problem isn't very deeply rooted. Easy come, easy go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a problem that has manifested itself over a longer period of time, will require a solution to be applied over a longer period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He can fix the tilt, but if he didn't fix the &lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; of the tilt, it will just keep tilting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T14:37:18.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33966" CreationDate="2017-04-28T17:01:43.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Alec mentioned, it's anterior pelvic tilt and it's a common result of our sit-on-butt lifestyle. It takes a long time to develop, and it will take a long time to resolve fully. Some general notes I would make:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't just start &quot;lifting weights&quot;, follow &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a proper strength training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't fall victim to the &quot;1 &amp;amp; 23 problem&quot; whereby you spend one hour a day exercising and the rest sitting down or laying down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to build strength (via &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a proper program&lt;/a&gt;) and change your lifestyle. Instead of sitting down, get a stand up desk. Go walking for lunch, ride your bike or walk to something instead of driving, and basically try to get out of the seated position as often as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body will adapt to whatever you throw at it. Start providing it stimulus it needs in order to get stronger and healthier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T17:01:43.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33936" CreationDate="2017-04-28T17:25:26.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a parent of two athletic kids, this is my take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 13 there isn't much difference in types of exercises you'd do versus an adult. The big modifiers are volume and form. Kids actually recover fairly quickly, and all available scientific studies show that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/22149/how-old-should-children-be-to-train-with-weights&quot;&gt;once kids over 6 know how to do exercises properly there are only advantages to them doing it&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So since we don't need to slice and dice between &quot;kid&quot; and &quot;adult&quot; exercises, you're looking at a straightforward question of &quot;how do you train explosive movements?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ballistic and explosive movements require a lot of training for most people to grasp, and they are easy to get wrong. Once you start a lift/jump, you're committed and backing out doesn't work, sort of like pitching or swinging in baseball. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some that I would add in for general athleticism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Plyometrics/BoxJumps.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The box jump&lt;/a&gt;. Big boxes require a lot of force production in a very quick amount of time, and they work well to train for other more complex weight lifting moves. There are also lateral jumps and multiple jumps; lots to read up on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/Clean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The clean&lt;/a&gt;. Very easy to do wrong, but also the staple of basketball players and anyone needing to be able to explode up and work on their vertical jump. There are squat cleans, power cleans, clean and jerks, and others. They all have their advantages but I favor the squat clean because you get a squat in there too which is awesome.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on what you mean by &quot;agility&quot;, if you consider someone like an NFL running back, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/296804654_What_is_the_scientific_basis_of_speed_and_agility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this definition&lt;/a&gt; works well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Agility is the ability to rapidly change directions without the loss&#xA;  of speed, balance, or body control. As with other fitness components,&#xA;  agility is specific to a particular movement pattern. One problem with&#xA;  agility training is that an athlete can learn to anticipate the next&#xA;  movement. Therefore, the athlete should be required to respond to a&#xA;  directional order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For something like that, you can consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&amp;amp;catalogId=10751&amp;amp;pagename=314&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the agility ladder&lt;/a&gt;. Doing a pattern forward, then on a verbal command switching immediately to a reverse pattern, is very helpful but extremely difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, agility and rapid force production training is no different than with an adult. I wouldn't take a fit 28 year old and have them do barbell cleans unless they had good form and I wouldn't do it with an 8 year old either. But if both of them have been taught and know what to do, evidence and practical experience in professional training shows exercises like the clean to be incredibly valuable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For agility, consider what your young athlete really needs. Quick direction changes? Immediate stops? Combining explosive training with the mind-muscle connection that comes from agility drills will serve any athlete well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T17:25:26.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33963" CreationDate="2017-04-28T17:46:58.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So just to level set on &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/8238/what-are-the-trade-offs-of-weight-versus-repetition/8239#8239&quot;&gt;the difference in rep ranges, read up on this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBShoulderPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shoulder press&lt;/a&gt; is very different than the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overhead press (aka barbell press and aka &quot;the press&quot;)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shoulder press, because you're sitting on your butt, locks out everything south of your upper back but does have an advantage in overall shoulder stability. One core area that it lacks in is weight increase, as you're usually limited to dumbbells and getting them up and down starts to get impossible if you're pushing a lot of weight around. An advantage is that you have to handle each load individually, which helps train shoulder stability and not letting the strong arm make up for the weak arm like what can happen with a barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overhead press has the weight getting loaded all the way from your wrists to the bottom of your feat. Your legs, lower back, abs, and obviously arms/shoulders are all involved. As you normally start in a rack, it's much easier to handle bigger weight and if you fail a rep it's somewhat straightforward to bring it back down, either into the rack position or the physical rack itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Directly answering your question, I think they're trying to keep you from max exertion (~5 rep range) on your shoulder presses because (a) it's harder to get the weight just right (b) it's harder to haul that much weight up and (c) it's easier to get a little cock-eyed in a shoulder dumbbell press and get hurt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would follow your program first and foremost, but in generally I don't find the time for a seated shoulder press because between overhead pressing, bench pressing, and other upper body work there's just not a lot of room for them to get tucked in. They're not bad persay, but there is better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I'd follow your program first and foremost. Good programs were put together by smart people who know what they were doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T17:46:58.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33959" CreationDate="2017-04-29T03:53:39.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your diet sounds great. If your body fat is good then you're probably eating fine. Chicken and salad is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're probably talking about protein requirements. Top end stength training usually asks for 1gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight, every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not like coming in a little short sometimes will be horrible. Chances are it won't make a difference at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yeah, if your body is repairing damage and growing tissue in a big way you need to eat more protein. Whey protein is pretty cheap and effective, check prices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T03:53:39.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3718" CreationDate="2017-04-29T17:21:02.820" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why does it matter how long protein digestion takes? is it because we do not want it to be released faster than body can absorb or needs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://redd.it/39xveo&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://redd.it/39xveo&lt;/a&gt;  (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170429171528/https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/39xveo/the_benefits_of_casein_protein_before_sleep/?st=j23j2wrz&amp;amp;sh=35a27275&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Article (2014)  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20170429171528/http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-117-protein-ingestion-prior-to-sleep-potential-for-optimizing-post-exercise-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;): Protein Ingestion Prior to Sleep tl,dr: &quot;[...]the post-exercise increase in muscle protein synthesis rate is not maintained during subsequent overnight sleep. Recent work shows that protein ingested prior to sleep is effectively digested and absorbed during the night[...]dietary protein ingestion prior to sleep may represent an effective dietary strategy to inhibit muscle protein breakdown, stimulate muscle protein synthesis, facilitate the skeletal muscle adaptive response to exercise training and improve exercise training effectiveness.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Study 1 (2000) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20170429171528/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10838463&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;): Effect of a hypocaloric diet, increased protein intake and resistance training on lean mass gains and fat mass loss in overweight police officers. Results: &quot;Mean increase in strength for chest, shoulder and legs was 59 +/- 9% for casein and 29 +/- 9% for whey, a significant group difference. This significant difference in body composition and strength is likely due to improved nitrogen retention and overall anticatabolic effects caused by the peptide components of the casein hydrolysate.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Study 2 (2012) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20170429171528/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330017&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;): Protein ingestion before sleep improves postexercise overnight recovery. Results/conclusion: &quot;During sleep, casein protein was effectively digested and absorbed resulting in a rapid rise in circulating amino acid levels, which were sustained throughout the remainder of the night. Protein ingestion before sleep increased whole-body protein synthesis rates[...]and improved net protein balance[...]This is the first study to show that protein ingested immediately before sleep is effectively digested and absorbed, thereby stimulating muscle protein synthesis and improving whole-body protein balance during postexercise overnight recovery.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T17:21:02.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="81" CreationDate="2017-04-29T21:19:02.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Creatine_supplements&amp;amp;oldid=773955903#Micronized_creatine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Creatine_supplements&amp;amp;oldid=773955903#Micronized_creatine&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170429211256/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_supplements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since 2011, products containing micronised creatine monohydrate have been marketed as sports supplements. Micronization involves reducing the size of creatine particles to between 0.36 and 9.08 μm in diameter.[37] Purported benefits of these products include easier mixing into drink format for supplementation and faster absorption of the creatine into the bloodstream. While reducing particle size may make powdered creatine easier to dissolve in water due to exposure of a greater total particle surface area to collisions with solvent molecules (increasing the rate of reaction), it cannot change its overall solubility. &lt;strong&gt;There is no evidence that micronized creatine monohydrate offers any physiological benefit over other forms or can reduce the risk of gastrointestinal side effects&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the claim is unreferenced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T21:19:02.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33888" CreationDate="2017-04-29T22:00:48.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jeff Galloway's book can answer the question&lt;/strong&gt; on how to correlate the run/walk ratio to a given pace using specific formulas, and from a given pace to the run/walk ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;gains to walking inbetween running&lt;/strong&gt; drop off quickly past the 1 minute mark according to some research Galloway gives or I read somewhere else.&#xA;From my experience the run/walk method gives your body a chance to recover, clean up some lactate acid, give your muscles a break, allows you to run longer, allows a faster method to change pace, and allows many short spurts of faster running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;These last two are my conclusions&lt;/strong&gt;. Ive found that it is harder to run too hard when your taking short breaks because just changing paces by walking takes some effort in itself. Also Ive found that at a start of a run interval the easy pace is significantly faster than if I slowed down while running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might not run the same pace for any run/walk ratio for short distances &lt;strong&gt;unless that distance relatively long&lt;/strong&gt; for you. For example if you cant run the 5k without stopping then 5k is long. Also dont assume that a 1 mile pace can be done over a 5k distance. If you look at the paces each world record is done at the pace will get slower over distance. Use the formula (your 1 mile pace)*(5k WR pace)/(1 mile WR pace) = your 5k pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think if the run distance part of the run walk ratio is much smaller than the overall distance then you'll find that the &lt;strong&gt;run/walk pace is faster&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want an &lt;strong&gt;example&lt;/strong&gt; then check out a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.endomondo.com/users/2611747/workouts/798430039&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;46 mile run&lt;/a&gt; Ive done using 5 min run 30 second walk (maybe 1 minute walk??) and the training I did to do it (not as much as you'd expect). Compare to a better trained &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.endomondo.com/users/2611747/workouts/596188751&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;50k run&lt;/a&gt; but shorter without regular breaks. Sometimes checking out what other people are doing can help you achieve your goal too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I advise you to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;buy Galloway's book&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; because he tells you exactly what to do. Local running clubs are the next best bet and you can get your running questions answered while your running, or at breakfast afterwards with your new running friends (or old friends that are now running friends too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, last thing. &lt;strong&gt;Try 30 min to an hour of walking fast.&lt;/strong&gt; Putting power into your hips, keeping your feet moving fast, and try to hit 15 min miles. Then aim for 12 min miles. I was surprised to hit a few 13 min miles while recovering from an injury, and I keep much of my speed from walking and biking during a 4-6 week recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T22:00:48.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33633" CreationDate="2017-04-29T22:20:11.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, those formulas are for the VO2 amount you used/expended and is not your max. The largest one of the set should be a good minimum number for what your max might be. The max VO2 can be considered a physiological constant of your body over an entire run, and it only changes over a matter of months of running or at 2 or more weeks at best. I dont know if you can achieve your max VO2 during exercise. I believe that you cant achieve your max heart rate without fainting, so I bet this is similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are alot of calculators and your link has a link to one, but check out some places locally that can do it. On their website usually your find the method or procedure they use summarized. That can help you understand what exactly the VO2 max is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that if you want to predict race times you would need to know your lactate threshold instead any races or efforts that last longer than 5-8 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastEditorUserId="8485" LastEditDate="2017-05-04T01:20:04.230" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T01:20:04.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-29T23:50:10.900" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long before a weightlifting session should I ingest proteins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read different durations as shown below, and I wonder whether the scientific literature has reached any consensus on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myprotein.com/thezone/nutrition/protein-timing-drink-shake-before-after-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.myprotein.com/thezone/nutrition/protein-timing-drink-shake-before-after-workout/&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170429234411/http://www.myprotein.com/thezone/nutrition/protein-timing-drink-shake-before-after-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There’s very little quality research in existence to provide practical recommendations with regards to timing of ingestion of a pre-workout protein beverage, however use &lt;strong&gt;within a 30-minute window beforehand&lt;/strong&gt; should allow some of those amino acids to be floating around in your bloodstream by the time you begin your workout, if the right protein sources are ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nutritionexpress.com/showarticle.aspx?articleid=787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.nutritionexpress.com/showarticle.aspx?articleid=787&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170429194443/https://www.nutritionexpress.com/showarticle.aspx?articleid=787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Untrained men participated in a 10-week resistance training program and either supplemented with 40 grams of carbohydrate or 40 grams of protein containing a mixture of whey and casein. Half of the supplements were consumed &lt;strong&gt;one hour before&lt;/strong&gt; and then immediately after exercise on workout days. The results were overwhelmingly positive for the combination protein group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16896166&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16896166&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170430004818/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16896166&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A solution of whey proteins was consumed either &lt;strong&gt;immediately before exercise&lt;/strong&gt; (PRE; n = 8) or immediately following exercise (POST; n = 9).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/32750/3806&quot;&gt;Window to utilize protein after weightlifting?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/3167/3806&quot;&gt;Best timing and amount of protein intake for building mass&lt;/a&gt; (the question is quite general and doesn't focus on the timing of pre-workout protein intake.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastEditorUserId="3806" LastEditDate="2017-04-30T15:02:17.607" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T07:21:37.630" Title="How long before a weightlifting session should I ingest proteins?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-30T00:56:52.543" Score="3" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read on {1}:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been established that the &lt;strong&gt;ingestion of carbohydrate and protein&lt;/strong&gt; before (13,14) and/or after exercise (5,10,11,13–15) inhibits protein breakdown and stimulates muscle protein synthesis, resulting in net muscle protein accretion during recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and {2}:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OtfWQ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OtfWQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the protein intake should be around 25g immediately after exercise. How much carbohydrate am I supposed to eat before/during/after a weightlifting session when coingested with proteins to optimize  muscle protein synthesis and recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware of the Stack Exchange question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/11998/3806&quot;&gt;Eating enough carbohydrates to build muscle&lt;/a&gt; but it doesn't focus on the coingestion of carbohydrate and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;{1} Beelen, Milou, Michael Tieland, Annemie P. Gijsen, Hanne Vandereyt, Arie K. Kies, Harm Kuipers, Wim HM Saris, René Koopman, and Luc JC van Loon. &quot;Coingestion of carbohydrate and protein hydrolysate stimulates muscle protein synthesis during exercise in young men, with no further increase during subsequent overnight recovery.&quot; The Journal of nutrition 138, no. 11 (2008): 2198-2204. &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=14076123771562292313&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=14076123771562292313&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/11/2198.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/11/2198.full&lt;/a&gt;  (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170430005107/http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/11/2198.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;{2} Van Loon, L. J. &quot;Protein ingestion prior to sleep: Potential for optimizing post-exercise recovery.&quot; Sports Science Exchange 26, no. 117 (2013): 1-5. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-117-protein-ingestion-prior-to-sleep-potential-for-optimizing-post-exercise-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-117-protein-ingestion-prior-to-sleep-potential-for-optimizing-post-exercise-recovery&lt;/a&gt;  (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170115135007/http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-117-protein-ingestion-prior-to-sleep-potential-for-optimizing-post-exercise-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastEditorUserId="3806" LastEditDate="2017-04-30T01:04:35.500" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T03:34:37.183" Title="Coingestion of carbohydrate and protein before/during/after a weightlifting session: how much carbohydrate?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="33991" CreationDate="2017-04-30T01:32:24.123" Score="1" ViewCount="999" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering which one is better, knuckle push ups or finger push ups. I know that knuckle push ups strengthen your wrists, and finger pushups strengthen your fingers. But is it better to do them both in one session? flip-flop between them (knuckle pushups on one day and finger pushups on the next, then knuckles again and so on), or doing one of them exclusively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm building up to do is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diamond pushups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;normal knuckle push ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;finger wide grip pushups &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is appreciated &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25482" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T15:14:49.647" Title="Knuckle push-ups vs Finger push-ups" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;&lt;bones&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-30T04:25:44.400" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering how/if the use of steroids without a work-out plan can result in muscle gain, fat loss, or etc. I'm not looking for massive gains, just moderate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25483" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T04:25:44.400" Title="Will Steroids Without Major Exercise Provide Moderate Gains?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-05-01T18:25:50.543" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33985" CreationDate="2017-04-30T15:14:49.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The long and short of it is that neither is &lt;em&gt;better&lt;/em&gt; than the other. They're different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any and all training should have elements of variety, and you should definitely be doing both of these variations, and more. Many more. In fact, here's a video displaying some 30 variations, grouped by difficulty level: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqPe_iAm8lI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqPe_iAm8lI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't advise you do them all in one session. I'd say pick 5-6 variations each time, and keep it fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T15:14:49.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28409" CreationDate="2017-05-01T01:51:31.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few years ago my right shoulder had bursitis and I could barely move it, if at all, due to excruciating pain. I know what you are mentioning is probably more subtle compared to that, but even today my shoulder isn't back to 100%. However, when my shoulder gets stiff or feels like its weaker, I usually do 5 different exercises and within no time my shoulder feels back to about 99%. The exercises I do that should help you as well are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Dumbbell Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Shoulder Press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bent-Over Dumbbell Rear Deltoid Raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Upright Row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually do three to four sets of these each, from 10-20 reps depending on the weight. Definitely start with light weights at the start until you feel comfortable going up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25494" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T01:51:31.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-01T02:03:14.530" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read on {1}:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been established that the &lt;strong&gt;ingestion of carbohydrate and protein&lt;/strong&gt; before (13,14) and/or after exercise (5,10,11,13–15) inhibits protein breakdown and stimulates muscle protein synthesis, resulting in net muscle protein accretion during recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and {2}:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OtfWQ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OtfWQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some specific &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carbohydrate&amp;amp;oldid=777926424#Division&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;types of carbohydrates&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170501020452/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate#Division&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;) that I am supposed to eat before/during/after a weightlifting session when coingested with proteins to optimize  muscle protein synthesis and recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware of the Stack Exchange question &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/11998/3806&quot;&gt;Eating enough carbohydrates to build muscle&lt;/a&gt; but it doesn't focus on the coingestion of carbohydrate and protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;{1} Beelen, Milou, Michael Tieland, Annemie P. Gijsen, Hanne Vandereyt, Arie K. Kies, Harm Kuipers, Wim HM Saris, René Koopman, and Luc JC van Loon. &quot;Coingestion of carbohydrate and protein hydrolysate stimulates muscle protein synthesis during exercise in young men, with no further increase during subsequent overnight recovery.&quot; The Journal of nutrition 138, no. 11 (2008): 2198-2204. &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=14076123771562292313&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=14076123771562292313&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/11/2198.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/11/2198.full&lt;/a&gt;  (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170430005107/http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/11/2198.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;{2} Van Loon, L. J. &quot;Protein ingestion prior to sleep: Potential for optimizing post-exercise recovery.&quot; Sports Science Exchange 26, no. 117 (2013): 1-5. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-117-protein-ingestion-prior-to-sleep-potential-for-optimizing-post-exercise-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-117-protein-ingestion-prior-to-sleep-potential-for-optimizing-post-exercise-recovery&lt;/a&gt;  (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20170115135007/http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-117-protein-ingestion-prior-to-sleep-potential-for-optimizing-post-exercise-recovery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mirror&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T02:03:14.530" Title="Coingestion of carbohydrate and protein before/during/after a weightlifting session: what type of carbohydrate?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33984" CreationDate="2017-05-01T05:49:42.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the last paragraph of {1}:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even more so than with protein, carbohydrate dosage&#xA;  and timing relative to resistance training is a gray area&#xA;  lacking cohesive data to form concrete recommendations.&#xA;  It is tempting to recommend pre- and postexercise&#xA;  carbohydrate doses that at least match or&#xA;  exceed the amounts of protein consumed in these meals.&#xA;  However, carbohydrate availability during and after exercise&#xA;  is of greater concern for endurance as opposed to&#xA;  strength or hypertrophy goals. Furthermore, the importance&#xA;  of co-ingesting post-exercise protein and carbohydrate&#xA;  has recently been challenged by studies examining&#xA;  the early recovery period, particularly when sufficient protein is provided. Koopman et al [52] found that after&#xA;  full-body resistance training, adding carbohydrate (0.15,&#xA;  or 0.6 g/kg/hr) to amply dosed casein hydrolysate (0.3 g/&#xA;  kg/hr) did not increase whole body protein balance during&#xA;  a 6-hour post-exercise recovery period compared to&#xA;  the protein-only treatment. Subsequently, Staples et al&#xA;  [53] reported that after lower-body resistance exercise&#xA;  (leg extensions), the increase in post-exercise muscle&#xA;  protein balance from ingesting 25 g whey isolate was not&#xA;  improved by an additional 50 g maltodextrin during a 3-&#xA;  hour recovery period. For the goal of maximizing rates&#xA;  of muscle gain, these findings support the broader objective&#xA;  of meeting total daily carbohydrate need instead&#xA;  of specifically timing its constituent doses. Collectively,&#xA;  these data indicate an increased potential for dietary&#xA;  flexibility while maintaining the pursuit of optimal&#xA;  timing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;{1} Aragon, Alan Albert, and Brad Jon Schoenfeld. &quot;Nutrient timing revisited: is there a post-exercise anabolic window?.&quot; Journal of the international society of sports nutrition 10, no. 1 (2013): 5. &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=15105262524877299902&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=15105262524877299902&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,22&lt;/a&gt; ; &lt;a href=&quot;https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T05:49:42.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34003" CreationDate="2017-05-01T10:52:19.370" Score="3" ViewCount="1032" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve been rehabbing a case of shoulder impingement for several months now… I've had a couple visits to the physio since being injured and it feels like it is almost better. Originally I couldn’t do any rowing movements or chest exercises, however now I’m fine with all those provided I don’t go too heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exercise it seems to be interfering with it now is back squats, even if just squatting with no weight on the bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I emailed my physio with an update and he said for me to try short lever exercises, which feel great... and my impingement seems to go away temporarily after a couple sets of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thing is, that was 2 months ago and my shoulder hasn’t improved much. It will seem to improve temporarily but as soon as I do back squats the pain returns, and stays for a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be that the squats are preventing my shoulder from fully healing? I really can’t think of any exercise that may be making it worse, and a lot of the exercises I’ve been doing feel great on my shoulder, but it just doesn’t seem to be getting back to 100%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I’m posting this is because there doesn’t seem to be much info online with regards to squats and shoulder impingement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24798" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T08:43:45.507" Title="Squats preventing shoulder impingement healing?" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-14T19:14:11.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33983" CreationDate="2017-05-02T07:21:37.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote this answer on another site so, disclaimer: I am copy-pasting my own work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How important is nutrient or meal timing?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under most circumstances and in the grand scheme of things, it's not critical. Of far greater importance is hitting your calorie, macro- and micro-nutrient needs over the course of the day. After that, consistency and commitment should be applied to an appropriate workout plan that suits your performance and/or body goals. If you tend to train in a fasted state, getting your post-workout nutrition in as soon as possible is a good idea, but the first two points (daily diet goals, consistent training) still take precedence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a good paper reviewing the literature examining the ideas and research behind nutrient timing and the &amp;quot;post-workout window&amp;quot;, check out this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3577439/pdf/1550-2783-10-5.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;meta-review&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a review specific to protein timing and it's effect on strength and muscle building, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879660/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this review&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T07:21:37.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33957" CreationDate="2017-05-02T08:13:13.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR: No, you don't need a personal trainer.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is enough information out there to learn what you need to learn to get in shape. You simply need a lot more discipline when you're going to do everything on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are personal trainers redundant?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No they aren't. A lot of people need some extra motivation. Some people lack basic knowlegde to start working out and don't know where to begin. Some people are recovering from an injury. In these examples it can be very useful to have a personal trainer or coach to help you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even for more advanced people, a personal trainer can spot what you're doing wrong in order to fix that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T08:13:13.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33999" CreationDate="2017-05-02T08:43:45.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a doctor and can't diagnose medical stuff, go see an actual doctor / physio, etc, etc, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that a disclaimer, this is all my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at your grip width. If you're trying to use a really narrow grip to keep upper back tightness, then it'll place a lot of stress on the shoulder structure you're talking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a look at the squat technique of a lot of lifetime power lifters, a lot of them have jacked up shoulders, so squat with a wide grip. You should be able to find some articles on squatting with bad shoulders on places like T-Nation or EliteFTS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try a wider grip, right out to the point you're wrapping your arms around the bar with your hands at the bar collars but you'll probably be better with either a more specialist bar (cambered bar springs to mind) if your gym has something like that available (most gyms don't, unless you happen to train at a decent power lifting gym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're struggling with squats that much, then just drop them from your routine and substitute in something else, such as trap bar deadlifts or dumbbell Bulgarian split squats. You can look at the work of Mike Boyle for into on how he dropped back squats for his athletes and what he uses in their place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if your physio isn't fixing your shoulder to your satisfaction, and you're following his instructions to the letter, find another physio (or at the very least, get a second opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T08:43:45.507" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-02T13:28:42.283" Score="2" ViewCount="5803" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is &lt;strong&gt;more effective&lt;/strong&gt;, Push Ups or Dumbbell in gaining &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;muscle&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often should I work every week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I eat to gain fast?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25506" LastEditorUserId="25506" LastEditDate="2017-05-02T13:34:43.800" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T23:34:33.637" Title="Push Ups vs Dumbbell" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34006" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-02T20:02:12.127" Score="0" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 16, Male, 250 pounds, and am at a body fat percentage of 34%. At this point I'm considering cutting calories and consuming only 1900 calories since it is 500 calories below my TDEE as well as eating as clean as I can, and if I follow it strictly I should be able to lose 1 pound a week. I may also consider cardio. The only trouble here is that I'm not sure if it will hinder my natural growth. I would get in touch with a doctor but I my parents aren't willing to do so since we have financial issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are there any good fat loss communities on here? I don't use this site&#xA;often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Also, I forgot to mention. My height is &lt;strong&gt;5'8&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25514" LastEditorUserId="25514" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T20:29:30.813" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T23:46:34.597" Title="Should an obese 16 year old male cut calories?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-03T01:08:16.657" Score="2" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past few weeks, I have been carefully recording my food and drink intake, together with my exercise. I would say that my net calorie intake is accurate to within 100 calories either way. I have also been weighing myself at the same time every day, first thing in the morning after visiting the loo, and with no clothes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plotting a graph of net calories vs body weight shows a strong correlation. On days that I have a calorie surplus, my weight increases the next day, proportionally to the calorie surplus. This trend is even more noticeable if I average the calorie surplus and weight over an entire week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one thing I have noticed, is that calories from alcohol do not seem to particularly affect my weight, certainly not as much as you might expect from the calorific content. For example, every now and then I might have a big night and drink, for example, 6 beers. This is the equivalent of 1200 calories. On days when I eat that level of calorie surplus from food, my weight difference is very noticeable the next day. However, there is not a major weight difference after drinking this level of alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best correlation I can find is when I only include the carbs from the beer. So, 6 pints of beer is 100 grams of carbs, which is 400 calories. Including this in my graph shows a good correlation, as with the food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my conclusion from this is that the calories from the actual alcohol itself are not used by my body, but simply excreted. Only the calories from the carbs in the drink are burned for energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct? I have seen so many different articles on this, which do not seem to agree. Some say that all calories in alcohol are burned for energy. Some say that all calories in alcohol are excreted immediately. Some say that all calories in alcohol are stored immediately as fat. And all these articles claim that the other theories are simply &quot;myths&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is the truth as to how alcohol is used by the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18281" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T20:37:30.620" Title="The truth about calories from alcohol" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;&lt;alcohol&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34007" CreationDate="2017-05-03T04:04:09.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the top answer in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/2475/how-does-alcohol-really-affect-gains&quot;&gt;How Does Alcohol Really Affect Gains&lt;/a&gt;, the first bullet point state:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unlike proteins, carbs, and fats it cannot be stored by the body, so it takes precedence over all other metabolic functions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning that alcohol &lt;em&gt;can not be stored as fat in the body&lt;/em&gt;. So the body's natural reaction is to burn it all out as fast as it possibly can. This effect takes precedence over the carbs, fat, and protein already in the body, so &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt; will be stored as fat as they are no longer being used for energy. It does not just pass through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight effects you're seeing are caused by a number of things. Primarily it is water fluctuations. Alcohol lowers muscle glycogen and causes dehydration. Food does the exact opposite. Lower glycogen and dehydration means lower amount of water in the body which means less weight. The less weight will offset the weight gained from the beer. On the scale it &quot;looks like you gained nothing&quot; when in fact you're just dehydrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T20:37:30.620" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T20:37:30.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34006" CreationDate="2017-05-03T04:19:23.790" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey don't cut the calories. Cut the calorie chase!! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to eat clean - Chuck out any store brought items. Try preparing meals from scratch. Eat lots of lean protein. Balance carbs, protein and fats. &#xA;don't measure weight, measure fat %.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do strength training along with Cardio. I have never known that physical activity hinders natural growth.  Eat hard and play hard! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16180" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T04:19:23.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34004" CreationDate="2017-05-03T06:31:27.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'd say, you shouldn't compare the two, and implement both of them in your workout routine.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solely for chest gains, dumbbell press would be better since you can add resistance more easily and it focusses on your chest. Doing a push-up works a lot more than just your chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A push-up will work your chest, shoulders, triceps and core. You're even using your legs to stabilize your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T06:31:27.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34006" CreationDate="2017-05-03T07:16:42.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index#/media/File:Body_mass_index_chart.svg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;At (250 lbs) 113kg you are obese.&lt;/a&gt; To lose weight you need to eat below the amount of calories you need for a day. Once you are 17 you are medically classified as an adult by most doctors and are heading towards the end of your growth (more so as a male).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie restriction below 1500 is not recommended for any healthy male of any height and is the bottom limit. Your chosen limits sound sensible, I would still reassess every 6 months to make sure you don't plateau your weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calorie restriction can in some cases still lead to underdevelopment, but its also worth considering that remaining obese in your teens has a very strong correlation with weight increase to morbidly obese in your yearly 20s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Echoing the other answer, eating healthily is extremely important at your age, you need your vitamins and minerals to ensure you grow properly and 1900 calories is still plenty to ensure that you are properly nourished. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all &quot;pure advice&quot; you should seek the comment of a doctor before taking on a diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T07:16:42.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33744" CreationDate="2017-05-03T15:36:04.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, I see that on Monday you do soccer and volleyball, both leg-intensive, and on Wednesday you do volleyball, where you want leg-explosiveness for performance.  I'm assuming you are playing at an intermediate to better level, with blocking and spiking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's the case, I'd go with Upper Body for Workout A.  The Monday and Wednesday sports are leg and explosive leg intensive, not much for the arms and torso, so you'd be getting work in on an area that is neglected on the two days around it, and your workout wouldn't impede performance on your second sports day, like a heavy leg workout the day before might.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout B would be the leg workout, Workout C, full body, but I can easily see that order being flip-flopped without much difference in quality of your workout regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; build a bit more mass, if your leg and upper-body only days allow you to devote more time and focus on overloading those muscle groups on those days that would wouldn't have with a full-body workout of equal time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T15:36:04.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33311" CreationDate="2017-05-03T16:10:17.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the ordering is somewhat a matter of opinion, but here is how I feel you ought to go, and the progression (which I will be doing in stages over the next day or so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Handstand&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, this is the easiest of the lot, requiring little more than a bit of balance and the ability to hold your bodyweight above your head with straight arms. The progression is simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstand with your legs on a chair or bed - Many people can skip this part, but it's important if you don't have enough arm strength to hold your bodyweight yet. With your feet on a bed, chair, or other raised platform of hip height or higher, hold yourself up in a handstand position. Try to get your torso vertical and everything from hips to chest to shoulders stacked over your hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstand against a wall - This can be built up to from the prior step, elevating your feet higher in the air until they're practically vertical. A common method involves facing away from the wall, putting your hands on the ground, and &quot;walking&quot; your feet up the wall, adjusting your hands to get closer to the wall, until you're vertical. Alternately, you can put your hands on the ground and kick up into the handstand. The former is more controlled and less likely to damage interior walls. The latter will start teaching you to kick up into a handstand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now, you're going to start kicking up into the handstand. This can be the scariest part for people because they're afraid of falling over and hurting themselves, particularly if their feet overbalance forwards. The best trick here is the one-handed handstand escape. If you're in a handstand, and you lift one hand, you will naturally rotate to land on your feet. That solves 90% of the problems, but I would also recommend starting on grass or carpet at first just in case you panic and forget. I have been taught two different ways to learn to go up into a handstand at the start and different people prefer one or the other. The first is to put one foot in front of the other, lean forward, put your hands on the ground, and kick up one leg while jumping up with the other, then trying to bring your feet together. You may notice that this is the same technique you may have used to kick up into the wall in the prior step. It's slightly unbalanced since one leg is going up first, but most people seem to find it easiest. The other is to start in a squat, put your hands on the ground, then lean forward and kick upwards into the handstand. Either way, your two main methods for maintaining your balance are leg position (try to get them above you, or slightly past your head, and you'll probably want to start with straight legs) and your hands (pushing with your fingers  or the heel of your hand depending on which direction you're tipping). Really, from there, it's just a matter of continued practice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, you could try Lucas's &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/p0j4DY_io7I?list=PLpJRb_Th3m5SeaC_LSkJxk5HrBB13W_6H&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5 minute tutorial&lt;/a&gt; on Youtube. I'm not affiliated with him, but I'm a fan of his work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;L-sit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a fairly elementary skill, but one which does seriously tax your core pretty quickly. There really isn't a progression to follow for the most part. You just sit on the ground with your legs out, put your hands down, push down as far as you can, and then lift your legs for as long as you can. If you are truly finding that you can't lift them at all, you might try starting sitting on an elevated platform like a chair so that you can start with your legs at a greater angle than 90 degrees. You can also start by doing &quot;tuck sits&quot; where instead of lifting your legs straight, you bring your knees up to your chest. If you lack the core strength to lift your legs, start by doing hanging leg-lifts, first with your back against a wall (standing against a door and reaching up and grabbing the top is a good way to get here, although you will probably want to use a towel to prevent splinters) and then without that bracing in the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscle up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll admit that this is one that I haven't done, so I'm cribbing from &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/JbtofgFxzFM?list=PLpJRb_Th3m5SeaC_LSkJxk5HrBB13W_6H&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lucas's 5 minute tutorial&lt;/a&gt;. Prerequsite for this is being able to do a chest pull-up (overhand pull-up where you bring your chest to the bar) and a bar dip (starting &#xA;stiff-armed over the bar, lowering your chest to the bar, then pushing back up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang from the bar and swing your body forward. Right after the apex of your swing (as you're starting to swing back), do the chest pull-up. You'll feel the backwards swing pushing you to the back of the bar as you do the pull-up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice doing a pull-up and releasing your grip before you hit the top, then grabbing again. You should have enough explosive power to move up a bit vertically during the release. There's a grip switch for muscle-ups between the pull-up and dip parts, and this will help you learn it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Combine the prior two steps, swinging back into the pull-up and then doing the re-grip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice a reverse muscle-up (eccentric motion, I think), going to the top of the dip position, and lowering yourself through the motion, including the hand switch between the dip and pull-up part.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proceed to the full muscle-up. Don't be afraid to kip your legs while you're learning to gain momentum. It's practically necessary starting out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;One arm Push up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two keys to this are balance and arm positioning. For balance, start with your legs spread to make the balance part easier. As regards arm positioning, you'll want to start with your hand further inwards and with your fingers point outwards to your side. The progression from a regular push-up to one-armed is basically one of progressively loading the arm with more of the bodyweight. I will assume you can do a regular pushup already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side-to-side pushups: This is just a regular pushup, but shifting your chest over one hand during the down and up, then doing the other side. Start off with a smaller shift and continue working it until you can comfortably do pushups with the dominant hand at the center of your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the leverage of one-hand: Decide which hand will be the dominant one. The other one, move it to one side, or in front of you. As you descend, let the non-dominant hand slide out with a nearly straight elbow. You won't be able to as easily support your weight with it, which will force you to put more of your bodyweight on the dominant arm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue putting less weight on the non-dominant arm until it's largely just for balance. Now, you'll do the leg spreading trick for balance and just use the one arm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As is always the case for push-ups, you can do progressions for any given step by having your arms start at a more elevated position. I personally skipped steps 1 and 2 when I started, because I was unaware of them, and started by doing one-armed pushups on a counter-top, then a chair, then a low platform, then the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Back Lever&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first step, as with most planche and lever moves, is to start with a tucked version. Grab hold of your bar, or rings, and bring your legs up and through your legs. Get used to hanging upside down for a time. Then, start extending your legs further, controlling your movement. Your first step will probably be a &quot;skin the cat&quot; where you let your legs go down past the horizontal into vertical. By doing that repeatedly in a slow and controlled manner, you will build up the core and shoulder strength to do the back lever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Front Lever&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Human Flag&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;One arm pull up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Full Planche&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T16:10:17.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-03T18:41:56.827" Score="1" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oWva6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Uneven chest. Please help.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body fat will be around 9-11%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25519" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T06:24:41.060" Title="Uneven chest.... Please help" Tags="&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-04T03:35:47.267" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;What can I drink all day which is,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) easy to obtain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) tasty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(3) help to lose my weight (or, at least doesn't make me gain weight)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to drink it whenever I am bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3470" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T01:50:29.370" Title="What can I drink all day in lieu of water?" Tags="&lt;water&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-05T13:45:09.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34017" CreationDate="2017-05-04T06:14:07.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a part of the problem is that you drink because you're bored, rather than thirsty. It may be worth trying to break that habit of consuming things for stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make your water more interesting, though, you could add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A touch of lemon or lime juice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low calorie/low sugar squash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tea or coffee without milk/cream&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green teas and herbal teas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23170" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T06:14:07.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34016" CreationDate="2017-05-04T06:24:41.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I don't see it, and it could be the way you're standing, positioning your body, or holding your phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still see it and it bothers you, keep in mind a certain amount of asymmetry is entirely normal. It may be just be structure of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide you really want to do something about it, try exercises that recruit muscles from both sides of the body equally. For example, dumbell incline press or dumbell bench press. You'll be able to detect any imbalances there. Read more about this subject by searching for &lt;strong&gt;unilateral&lt;/strong&gt; exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also think about minimising any activities you do regularly which favour one side of the body. For example, always carrying or moving heavy objects in one hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23170" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T06:24:41.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16210" CreationDate="2017-05-04T13:47:33.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best suggestion for you question would be to visit a podiatrist to see if the toe position can be corrected in alignment with your shins and knee to prevent achilles tendon wear'n'tear and also to prevent the future issues reflecting themselves further up in the kinetic chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The running shoes that you choose should also have hard soles if you don't have mobile enough ankles. I am assuming that you run either tip-toe or heel strike since your proprioception should already have been set to prevent direct impact on the waek side of your feets balls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly advise you to get screened by an orthopedic- surgeon or practitioner to rule out and prevent possible (future) issues and see a podiatrist to get proper insoles. This will guarantee that you will have the best setup that your body permits and you will receive all the answers because they are the only specialists who can ELI5 all the questions and doubts you have regarding that matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T13:47:33.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-04T15:27:20.300" Score="2" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;What muscles am I working on when climbing stairs as an exercise (that's several floors each day)? Do I have to compensate it with another exercise? What effect will be visible after a while?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T14:34:35.967" Title="Stairs exercise effect" Tags="&lt;stairs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-04T20:24:40.660" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;hi I just started working out a month ago and was wondering what the gains I should be expecting. I only go for an hr or so every day to every other day and was just curious on what everyone's thoughts are. I've had 4 knee cap dislocations as well as knee surgery repairing cartilage as well. &#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25527" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T08:33:39.643" Title="Is it good or bad to have a weight lifting increase of at least 40-50 lbs on max Squat and RDL in a month?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34017" CreationDate="2017-05-05T01:50:29.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try lqd+ (or off brand alternatives) - basically flavoring with low calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tho green tea (without sugar) would be better and may help with losing weight a little due to the caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25528" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T01:50:29.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34024" CreationDate="2017-05-05T08:33:39.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to ignore the knee issues because a) I'm not a doctor, and b) they're unrelated to the question you're actually asking (though if you're concerned, go talk to a sports specific medical professional about it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're experiencing are commonly referred to as &quot;newbie gains&quot;, as in, as a person new to working out, you're finding that the amount of weight you can lift rapidly increases as you get more comfortable under the bar / handling the weight, your technique improves and you build a better mind-muscle connection (i.e. you learn how to recruit muscles better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make the most of them while you can, but try and not go crazy and injure yourself. You'll find at some point the amount you add to the bar session to session will drop off until you're making either very small gains or seemingly plateauing. This is what's commonly referred to as &quot;the grind&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the point where most people quit. Don't be most people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you hit this point, recognise it for what it is and make sure your diet and recovery and on point, then do what you can to push through. You may need to mix up your training a little, you may just need a week off, but that's a question for another time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T08:33:39.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34023" CreationDate="2017-05-05T09:17:07.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of your lower body will work while climbing stairs but the majority will be done by your glutes. There might be a slight visible gain in size if you don't already go up stairs often it's unlikely though as the resistance in this instance is your body weight. It's almost certain that your glutes have grown to a size required already to move your body weight. If anything you could potentially loose a little bit of weight from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why back squats are recommended to grow the lower body, you can drastically increase the weight you lower body has to move thus stimulating the muscles to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8159" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T09:17:07.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-05T14:45:25.893" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had bone fracture in my right arm couple of years ago and it is not same in strength as left one. While doing exercise like bicep curl I find while I can take 10kg on left I can take only 7.5 on right. Is it okay to do different weight on two sides or I should keep pushing right arm for same weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T17:24:35.480" Title="Dumbbell for arms with different strenght" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33641" CreationDate="2017-05-05T14:58:36.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how your BMR works out to be that. Which could mean your off on every thing and actually losing a lot more than 700. Around about 1200 &#xA; your BMR is around 2300- 2500&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But your TDEE should be around 3500.. Work your macros to this and then remove the deficit in the fats and carbs. 500 is the best for fat loss..  so 250 for each works well &#xA;So 27.7 g OFF fats &#xA;And 62.5g OFF carbs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can work out from what your saying is this but thats based on your workout levels being 45-hr each time bringing your heart rate up to 60% capacity..and assuming your &quot;job&quot;is not in an office but standing or walking around for 7 hours a day &amp;lt;&amp;lt; IF THIS IS NOT THE CASE THE FOLLOWING IS WRONG&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;your protein should be 225g Fats 108g and carbs 285g &#xA;That's with the deficit taken off!  try hard not to go lower unless it's on fats and carbs and only by another 200-300 kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always always try to hit proteins to keep muscle mass.. Counting macros is good as long as your doing it properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your really struggling to get protein top up with a shake.. But dont substitute it.. Meats and fish plus nuts yoghurts and certain greens should still be fine to meet that target..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally I'm going to assume that your not 200lbs lean mass and trying to lose weight when only weighing 225.. &#xA;If it is the case then you really really! need to be eating everyone of your macros plus some more! Before you drop to the floor.. Xxx   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are loads of ways to diet but  I found macros is the best way myself and it's very individual to you... Yes I just worked them out...just for you! So only you can follow it and get results.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So jack and Jill please don't follow the same thing! It's not meant for you and will not have the same affect xxxxx &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25534" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T14:58:36.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34030" CreationDate="2017-05-05T17:24:35.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend working with whatever weight and rep thresholds the weaker arm can manage.  Doing different workouts for each will only increase the disparity between the two.  Eventually, the weaker one will catch up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you body doesn't just work only that specific muscle, in isolation, in normal, non-dumbbell functioning, I'd think an imbalance between sides of the body could lead to other, unforeseen problems, but maybe I'm paranoid about that because I had a bit of scoliosis, as a youth, in part to an imbalance between development between the two sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, there may not be a detriment, but my own bias is towards relatively equal balance, when possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T17:24:35.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-05T18:01:13.227" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this personal trainer for a couples of times, and she seems really smart in her field of work. I feel I could actual see results from her work. Is it better for me to get a program to work on my own, or, to get her to be my personal trainer for a couple of weeks? I have a shoulder injury and I really can't stand it any more and would like to over come the issue. Would I be getting more result from her, or, more result from her program? I mean she is going to be making sure that all the exercise is done in the right form and that functional training exercises are effective. If I did it by myself, it may not be done correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another question: has any body had any issues, like in the shoulder and or another part that they got a personal trainer and saw result from their work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that personal trainers cost money and program is the cheaper option. But at this point I don't mind seeing a personal trainer one or two month, if I am going to see genuine results!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25536" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-05-06T19:01:28.767" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T19:17:38.987" Title="What is better for me: get a personal trainer, or, a program from a personal trainer?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34033" CreationDate="2017-05-05T18:31:40.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I have noticed in the past couple of months, I have benefited more in terms of muscle mass with having a personally trainer. Of course I do not know your personal preferences but depending on the cost, I would hire a personal trainer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24102" LastActivityDate="2017-05-05T18:31:40.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-06T18:32:16.087" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have any idea's what could be a good 10 minute dumbbell workout? I'm looking for compound exercises for the whole body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25544" LastActivityDate="2017-05-07T09:49:27.470" Title="What are some good 10 minute dumbbell workout for the whole body?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-05-14T19:13:57.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34033" CreationDate="2017-05-06T19:17:38.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll preface this by saying that I'm somewhat biased.  I used to be an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acefitness.org/default.aspx?adpos=1t1&amp;amp;creative=116220297204&amp;amp;device=c&amp;amp;matchtype=b&amp;amp;network=g&amp;amp;gclid=CJf9y_z629MCFZCEswod3nQHnA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ACE&lt;/a&gt; certified personal trainer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You make no mention of the time frame, or, the severity of your injury.  If the injury is relatively new, I would suggest you seek the help of a physical therapist first.  Physical therapy can help you regain range of motion and strength in an injured muscle or joint, as well as, provide other modalities to help you rehab more effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you've already seen a therapist and have been released, hiring a trainer, in the context of rehabbing an injury, would be more beneficial for you.  A certified personal trainer (CPT) will work with your physician or therapist to institute a program to help you to continue to rehab your injury in a safe and efficient manner.  A CPT can insure that you are complying with any medical advice, and, provide feedback on performing exercises.  If you attempt to rehab your injury on your own, you risk re-injuring yourself if you perform an exercise that's contraindicated for your current condition.  If you can afford it, a CPT is the better approach to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T19:17:38.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-07T00:26:15.327" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 13 years old (14 in June) and I've been working out for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting what I feel like are awesome results in definition and size of the muscles, but I feel the actual quantity of weight I can lift is growing at a pretty slow rate (I haven't figured out what the problem is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other guys at my gym are telling me I shouldn't worry, but I can smell they are telling me that only because they don't want me feeling bad about it; consider that they are older than me (a couple of guys aged 17 have been coming to the gym in the last weeks, but their knowledge is worse than mine), the youngest one is 18/19 (unless there is someone younger coming at different schedules, which is unlikely if you know my gym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week I went to a nutritionist who made me a diet which I'm following right now, but I want to do more, I want to up my game, I'm a really competitive dude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked my gym mates their opinion on the matter, they told me they think I'm too young for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't see why, I'm pretty sure it doesn't mess up someone's growth (I'm talking about growing up, not gym-related growth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they think that? I have the motivation to do it, is there something important I'm unaware about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping that taking them would give me a boost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25548" LastEditorUserId="25548" LastEditDate="2017-05-07T11:41:28.187" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T23:05:10.313" Title="At what age can I start taking supplements?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34038" CreationDate="2017-05-07T09:49:27.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;10 straight minutes of man-makers would be a killer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-6EPLtSLwU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Man Makers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could not recommend this exercise more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24504" LastActivityDate="2017-05-07T09:49:27.470" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-07T15:19:24.273" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are about as many &quot;methods&quot; to improve pushups as are there web pages that talk about improving pushups. Most of these are &quot;it worked for us&quot; and &quot;seems common sense&quot; types of methods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the science say? What scientific studies are out there that compare an measure different ways to improve pushups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25550" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T23:57:49.100" Title="Scientific studies on methods to improve pushups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-07T23:34:58.617" Score="0" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 44 yr old male. I have been lifting weights for 3 ~ 4 yr now. The beginning was difficult, but in the last 2 ~ 3 years I have made progress without injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hit the gym twice a week and, after much trial and error, I am positive that it is the right frequency for me at this stage of my life, and I am not willing to discuss this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently inserted deadlifts once a week in my routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if that is enough or if I should do twice a week (I train twice a week, so it is either once or twice a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not interested in &quot;optimal&quot; progress, but rather in &quot;any&quot; progress at all, no matter how slow. Deadlift may be a risky exercise and I am happy with the least amount of it that still produces results. If each time I become deconditioned because a week is too much, then it is useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remark:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I am currently doing full body twice a week, but with different exercises. Day B has bench press where day A has push ups. Day B has barbell row where day A has inverted row, and so on. The goblet squat is the only exercise that repeats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5851" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T11:43:55.417" Title="What is the minimum amount of deadlifting sessions a week that is still productive?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-05-19T16:47:55.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34044" CreationDate="2017-05-08T07:03:48.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a week, provided you are going heavy enough and build up to a heavy set of 1-5 gradually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend the following progression for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting at a working weight 40kg for 5 reps, increase by 5kg each week once you have completed all sets successfully in the previous week. Complete at least 3 warm-up sets at below your current working set weight. Once you cannot do 5 reps at that weight then reduce to 3 reps, reduce weight by 20% and repeat progress. Once 3 rep max has been established, deload by 20% of that weight and go for a 1 rep maximum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at any point you reach 100kg then subsequent increases should only be by 2.5kg per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example log of a first run of this program might go ('Weight[kg] x Sets x Reps' notation is for the working-set only, remember to warm up as well). Remember, you could do this program 2 times or even 3 times a week if your nutrition support it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;WEIGHTLIFTING LOG&#xA;--------------------------------------------------------&#xA;Week # | Weight(kg) x Sets x Reps &#xA;Week 1: 40x1x5&#xA;...&#xA;Week 11: 90x1x5&#xA;Week 12: 95x1x5 fail, try again next week&#xA;Week 14: 95x1x5 fail, deload 20% to 1x3&#xA;Week 15: 75x1x3&#xA;Week 16: 80x1x3&#xA;Week 17: 85x1x3&#xA;...&#xA;Week 20: 100x1x3 lower weight increase to 2.5 per week&#xA;Week 21: 102.5x1x3&#xA;Week 22: 105x1x3&#xA;...&#xA;Week 25: 112.5x1x3&#xA;Week 26: 115x1x3 fail, try again next week&#xA;Week 27: 115x1x3 success&#xA;Week 28: 117.5x1x3 fail, try again next week&#xA;Week 29: 117.5x1x3 fail, deload 20% to 1x3&#xA;Week 30: 95x1x1&#xA;Week 31: 100x1x1 lower weight increase to 2.5 per week&#xA;Week 32: 102.5x1x1&#xA;...&#xA;Week 43: 130x1x1&#xA;Week 44: 132.5x1x1 fail, try again next week&#xA;Week 44: 132.5x1x1 fail&#xA;--------------------------------------------------------&#xA;END PROGRAM&#xA;--------------------------------------------------------&#xA;Finishing Data:&#xA;5RM 90kg&#xA;3RM 115kg&#xA;1RM 130kg&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After completing all of this you can choose a new program or repeat the same one but start at 40% of your 1RM instead of 40kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-05-08T11:43:55.417" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T11:43:55.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34052" CreationDate="2017-05-08T12:38:01.027" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the process of beginning training for an Olympic distance triathlon in September. I have a good routine set-up for that which will involve six days of training per week (swim, cycle, run). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would also like to achieve in the process is to put on some muscle mass. I know that training for a triathlon is not really conducive to muscle mass gain, but I see no reason why incorporating some weight training will see at least a small amount of mass gain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in mind, I have the following routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest&lt;/strong&gt;: Decline push ups, incline push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulders&lt;/strong&gt;: Upright row, shoulder press, rear deltoid raise, shrugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arms&lt;/strong&gt;: Bicep curls, tricep extensions, palm-up wrist curls, palm-down wrist curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each will be performed with dumbbells (adjustable up to 40lbs) with sets of about 3x12. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will this build much mass? Bear in mind I am starting essentially from scratch with regards to weight training.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight - 70kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height - 6'1&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sex - male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age - 20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goal - upper body mass gain (in particular arms)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injuries - injury free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet - very good (whole foods, majority plant based)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current level of fitness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 1x per week (10k, p.b. 55 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cycle 3x per week (50k)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Access to gym:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not currently, although I can join. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25558" LastEditorUserId="25558" LastEditDate="2017-05-08T13:02:16.477" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T07:54:33.617" Title="Will muscle mass be built on this routine?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;triathlon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34046" CreationDate="2017-05-08T22:29:04.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, as long as you eat enough and consume the right amounts of nutrients to do both. I would recommend doing some research on nutrition for triathlon and also for body building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that there is a massive difference between what most people consider ‘healthy’ and eating the right things for what you are doing. &lt;em&gt;This is the most vital thing to remember for your long term fitness success.&lt;/em&gt; You may also want to start recording what you are eating to ensure you are sticking to your diet; especially given that you are doing massive amounts of cardiovascular exercises which, if not done right, will be detrimental to muscle building. There is a nice &lt;a href=&quot;https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=156380533&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;write up here&lt;/a&gt; which is a good starting point to figure out your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also given your age and lack of weight training experience I imagine your routine with those weights will become really easy fast, I would recommend starting to do more reps if you cannot go heavier. Also look into harder bodyweight training such as one handed pushups/pull ups, otherwise look at joining a gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25528" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T22:29:04.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34040" CreationDate="2017-05-08T23:05:10.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;At your age you will start to see massive amounts of improvement soon if you just keep going with lifting, one of the biggest factors in making muscle/strength gains are you hormonal levels which will be quiet high during your teen years. I suspect you have no idea the things people (20+) do to try and get their hormonal levels to similar to what your body produces now. I wouldn’t be concerned with supplements and focus more on right eating and sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest misconceptions I find with beginner lifters (and many intermediate people as well) is trying to use supplements to replace proper food (I leave out advanced lifters here as people who don't understand nutrition wont ever make it to this stage). This is not something I would recommend, especially at your age given the amount of nutrients required for growth (I’m not talking about the gym here). If you don’t understand what your body needs then do not try to supplement it, focus on eating and sleeping right. Taking supplements won’t give you the results you think it will; start researching nutrition – once you understand what your body needs you won’t need to ask the question here. But hey the placebo effect might motivate you until you know better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also when researching nutrition keep in mind that most of the research was done on adults; knowing this I would follow advice given by your nutritionist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25528" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T23:05:10.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34057" CreationDate="2017-05-09T00:01:12.850" Score="2" ViewCount="2056" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is an incline setting of 15% on a treadmill the same as a road at 15% grade?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be off by at least 1% since that is required to make the treadmill closer to running outside on flat land so 1% tread = 0% road, but how about 15%?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T15:27:29.553" Title="Is 15% grade/incline on the treadmill the same as on a road?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34046" CreationDate="2017-05-09T06:31:01.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will build some mass, but it won't be balanced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're missing any form of back exercise in this plan, I'm assuming you'd want to train your back aswell to keep your upperbody balanced so that your chest and front delts don't over power your back and rear delts. (so you maintain a natural thoracic extension)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could add things like: pull-ups, inverted rows or bend-over rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to add that upright rows are harmful for your shoulders and I'd suggest NOT doing these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T06:31:01.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34046" CreationDate="2017-05-09T07:54:33.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To build muscle you need 3 components: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sufficient Quality Rest &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sustained consistent programming with progressive overload. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sufficient nutrition (particularly protein).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets look at all of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 times a week triathalon training is already a lot, add weight training onto that and you are leaning towards overtraining. 6 days a week training is the maximum recommended and that includes weight-training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To get bang-for-your buck you should look to the compound exercises below. You want to aim for higher repetitions 10-15 range  for the majority of your exercise as the endurance of this rep range will help your triathlon effort. You want to aim to increase the weight linearly by a small amount every week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your diet sounds healthy but I doubt you are eating enough protein to develop muscle if you are already in a trained state. You should carefully monitor your diet, especially in the run-up to the tri.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Basic Routine:&#xA;&#xA;Add whatever other exercises you want but you MUST do these ones. I'd&#xA;recommend looking to add pull-ups and dips first.&#xA;&#xA;Pick 2 exercises from group A and 1 exercise from group B each session,&#xA;then just rotate your picks every session increasing the weight by the&#xA;smallest increment you have every time you revisit that exercise.&#xA;&#xA;GROUP A&#xA;Bench Press (use dumbbells)&#xA;Overhead Press (use dumbbells)&#xA;Row (dumbbell row would be fine)&#xA;&#xA;GROUP B&#xA;Deadlift (look up single leg Romanian deadlift)&#xA;Squat (look up goblet squat)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T07:54:33.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34056" CreationDate="2017-05-09T09:25:08.810" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;After several half marathons and trailruns of around the 25km, I started training for my first marathon on the 15th of Octobre this year. Currently I'm running about 4 times a week with the longest run about 24km (15 miles) without getting into trouble. Running a total of 55km (34 miles) a week. Steadily (without exaggerating) i'm building up my training volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine (who already ran several marathons so far) advised me to incoperate some speedwork into my training. However i don't want to race within a specific time, I just want to finish without suffering too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, what are the benefits of speedwork during marathon-training? Keeping in my mind that I won't race to arrive within a specific time. Wouldn't it be better just to keep increasing my milage at a steady pace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I did ready up on some internet-pages. But they all seem to refer to a better finishing time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T16:20:28.377" Title="Benefits of speedwork during Marathon-training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34054" CreationDate="2017-05-09T14:42:16.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What speed work can do is make the slower paces easier to maintain at a great distance. So let's say your current LSD pace is 12 min/mi. You can currently run a half marathon at 11 min/mi. If you did speed work and got your half marathon pace up to 10 min/mi.  The 12 min/mi pace would be much more comfortable. As such, you would be able to run a 12 min/mi pace longer than you could previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first marathon, I would say the thing to focus on right now is distance. You want to make sure you can make those numbers first before you make sure you can make those numbers fast. There is no need to make changes to a program as long as it works. You'll definitely want to incorporate speed training eventually, but don't start just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T14:42:16.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34050" CreationDate="2017-05-09T16:44:46.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://livehealthy.chron.com/incline-treadmill-indicate-grade-5216.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The intent is that the incline of a treadmill matches a grade&lt;/a&gt;. However, as noted with your comment on 0% incline, there's no air resistance, and some people have noted that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/fitness/treadmill-gradient.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inclines aren't always accurate&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T16:44:46.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-10T04:52:48.557" Score="-1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an undergraduate at Madison, WI, with a goal of building my body and stay in a strong fit.  As a start, I have been enrolling for group classes such as Cyc Fitness (intense cycling) and Muay Thai, but I might need a personal trainer as I have no idea about how to use various instruments, what exercise I must do per day (I learned that I cannot simply do shoulder, back, leg, etc. exercises in one day), meal plan, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with quite many other college students, my financial stability is not quite strong, so I cannot afford famous personal trainers from private gyms near my area (cost like $1000 per 20 sessions, one session for 50 minute long)...My university's sporting department offers paid personal training (much cheaper than the private gyms) but the trainers are fellow undergraduates that might not have strong experience as trainers form those gyms.  I do not mean any offense to student trainers, but I am debating whether it would be good idea to get personal trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I am debating if I should suck up and train with those private personal trainers, or choose campus' personal training.  What are your thoughts?  How long one must do personal training before able to do on my own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very sorry for this long email!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25572" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T06:38:28.020" Title="Debating Whether to Get Personal Trainer or Not" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-05-14T19:14:18.140" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34058" CreationDate="2017-05-10T06:38:28.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are excellent, well qualified personal trainers working at private gyms, but the minimum standards in the industry are quite low.  Check out what the requirements of any certificates they have actually are - they range from completing a weekend seminar to sitting exams after at least 2 years of college/university training.  Work experience on the other hand can improve their ability on how to successfully train people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your university &lt;a href=&quot;https://recsports.wisc.edu/employment.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;requires&lt;/a&gt; their trainers to have passed the ACE Personal Trainer exam and some in house training, which I believe is sufficient for your needs as a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how long to achieve effective independence from a personal trainer, that depends on how quickly you learn why the trainer is having you do what you do rather than merely how.  Note that some gyms discourage their trainers from teaching the why in order to maximize revenue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10872" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T06:38:28.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34050" CreationDate="2017-05-10T15:27:29.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/5288/is-running-on-treadmills-easier-than-running-outdoors-because-the-ground-is-pull/5304#5304&quot;&gt;The Fitness.StackExchange link provided by @Adam&lt;/a&gt; is great and probably the most complete when answering your question directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual calculations for treadmill v road grade are as follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.topendsports.com/fitness/treadmill-gradient.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This link&lt;/a&gt; talks about calculating grade from a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The treadmill grade is basically a measure of the height distance for every 100 (insert unit of measurement here) horizontal distance. e.g. A one in 100 gradient = 1%, and a rise of 15 meters for every 100 meters is a 15 % grade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an excellent answer about road grade from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/206242-how-calculate-grade.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;biking forum.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does percent grade mean on a road?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you travel through the mountains, you often see signs that say things like &quot;Trucks check brakes -- 10% grade&quot; or &quot;6% grade -- Trucks use right lane only.&quot; These numbers obviously have something to do with the steepness of the road, but their exact meaning is a mystery to most drivers.&#xA;  The grade of something is simply a measure of its rise over its run. To understand rise and run, it helps to think of the hill as a big right triangle (a triangle with a 90-degree angle), like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rise is the length of side B, or the height of the hill. The run is the length of side A, the horizontal measure of the hill at ground level. So, if you rose 100 feet over a horizontal distance of 1,000 feet, rise over run would equal 100 divided by 1,000, or 0.1. To get the percent grade, you simply multiply by 100, which gives you 10%. It doesn't matter whether you use feet, meters, miles or kilometers -- if you know how far the road rises in a given horizontal distance, you can calculate the percent grade. To calculate percent grade exactly, you need to figure out the horizontal distance traveled (A). Since you know B and C, you can calculate A using the Pythagorean theorem -- &quot;the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides,&quot; or:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  C2 = A2+ B2&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This means that:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A = SquareRoot (C2 - B2)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If you had driven 1,000 miles down the road and risen 100 miles, the horizontal distance would be the square root of 990,000, which is approximately 994.99 (rounded up).&#xA;  So what good does all of this do you? First of all, the percent grade gives you a relative sense of how steep the hill is. If you've climbed a hill designated as having a 5% grade, for example, you'll know approximately what to expect from any other 5% grade hill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that the same measurements occur both in treadmill and road form. The downside to both become the accuracy of the equipment and the real world application. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treadmills can be off for any number of reasons. Because the grade is measured via distance and height -&gt; if the odometer or incline motor are off, the calculations produce the same on-screen Grade% while the treadmills can be at very different angles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the real world, a 10% grade over a 5 mile long climb (in the mountains, for example) is not always a change of 528 feet per mile (5,280 feet). Sometimes there are longer somewhat flatter sections and then more steep sections. On my drive back from college there were several &quot;severe grade&quot; warnings where you wouldn't be through the full decent of the mountain but you'd be climbing a hill again because of the lay-of-the-land. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T15:27:29.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34067" CreationDate="2017-05-10T18:56:15.253" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I do not belong to a gym, but my apartment building has a one. All I have access to are dumbbells that start at 10 and go up to 50. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could I maximize my workouts with these dumbbells? I have done some research and pull workouts from Bodybuilding.com and just convert the barbell exercise to their dumbbell equivalent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I do dumbbell bench press instead of barbell bench press. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I feel like there must be a better way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25576" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T08:54:41.330" Title="How to maximize dumbbell workouts?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-10T19:14:42.867" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, I have lots of injuries and always get them, and would like to prevent them from happening again in the future, I believe they occur due to poor stretching or poor technique. I want to educate myself to prevent it from happening and do the exercises with the right technique. Is there any good book for self-teaching on biomechanics and just rehabilitation? Books that teach you to stretch probably and do's and don'ts. Good books on functional training? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25536" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T14:56:39.937" Title="What is a good book for self-teaching, biomechanic and generally well rehabilitation?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;sports&gt;&lt;physical-therapy&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34063" CreationDate="2017-05-11T00:14:23.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly having spent 10 years studying biomechanics, rehabilitation etc etc.. I commend you for taking the time to educate yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What types of injuries do you keep getting and what is causing them?  I may be able to offer some general advice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;As far as books go&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I highly recommend &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Core Performance by Mark Verstegen&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  you can find&#xA;it for $2 on amazon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also have a look at the following page.  Under the heading &quot;Popular Topics&quot;,  you'll find a ton of great dynamic warm up, prehab and region specific exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/movement/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/movement/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anything by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gray Cook&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is another fantastic resource.  The man's a genius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://graycook.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://graycook.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He offers both basic and medically based movement screens that&#xA;provide a quick way to identify imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See his Functional Movement Screen (FMS)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.graycookmovement.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.graycookmovement.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope they help. If you need more or have any questions let me know.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T00:14:23.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34061" CreationDate="2017-05-11T08:54:41.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just because your apartment gym only has dumbbells doesn't mean you have to limit yourself to them, bodyweight training is also a fantastic way to get yourself in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An exact routine would depend on knowing your goals, but essentially movements break down into one of about 6 different movement patterns (I'm not going for the 7 primal movement patterns here, before anyone decides to contradict me). They are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hinge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everything else&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are various ways of splitting these up, you could do a push / pull split, push / pull / legs split, upper / lower split, full body every day, it's entirely up to you. The most important things are consistency and progress (progress with dumbbells can be tough with the larger weight jumps, instead of trying to jump between bells to progress, you could also consider adding reps or sets to slowly increase the volume before jumping in weight, or decreasing your rest between sets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Push&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is when you extend your arms to push something, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell floor press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handstand push ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And variations on all of the above. Dumbbell exercises can be either with one dumbbell (unilateral movement) or two (bilateral movement), using a single dumbbell can also be a nice challenge for your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat and some lunge movements can also be included in this is you just want to do a push / pull split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pull&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is bending the arms to pull things towards you, or yourself towards things, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell row variations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Renegade row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted row (also known as an Australian push up by some)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chin / pull up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front / back lever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell high pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hinge movements and the lunge and reach can also be included in this if you want to do a push / pull split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hinge&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This group of movements involve hinging at the waist (like when you bend forward to touch your toes, or pick something up off the floor), e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell deadlift variations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell swing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse hyper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably where you're doing to see the greatest variation from traditional barbell exercises. Most people thing of deadlifts as being bar bending, massive weight pulling exercises. But try doing a few sets of high rep stiff leg deadlifts with the 50's and see how your glutes and hamstrings feel the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Squat&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;As the name suggests, this is when you squat (think, the resting position quite commonly seen in parts of Asia and Africa), e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblet squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear foot elevated split squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrimp squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pistol squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with deadlifts, these are usually thought of as having massive weight across your shoulders and squatting while your face goes the colour of beetroot, but try working up to a set of 10 pistol squats on each leg, you'll have pretty solid legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunge&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Possibly one of the most hated movements with anyone I've asked, from a position of one foot a few feet in front of the other, bend both legs until your back knee touches the floor, then stand up again. Simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight / dumbbell lunges (or split squats, same thing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front / back lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunge and reach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think lunges are too easy? Grab the 50's and do walking lunges until either your legs give out or your grip does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Everything else&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;As the name suggests, this is everything that doesn't fall under the above. When thinking about a workout routine, you should base it on the above, and throw in a couple of exercises from here, normally at the end&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Core work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell farmers walks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bridging exercises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turkish get ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Direct arm work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grip work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a push / pull split could be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy rear foot elevated split squat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bodyweight walking lunges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy dumbbell overhead press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging leg raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell triceps extension&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one day, then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy dumbbell stiff leg deadlift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunge and reach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell bent over row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell curls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully that'll give you some ideas, if all else fails and you're completely lost, look up a bodyweight workout routine, such as on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness&lt;/a&gt; and go with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T08:54:41.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-11T13:54:36.873" Score="0" ViewCount="682" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am finishing designing a personal trainer and fitness app and looking for an exercise database including pictures of the exercises.  I have found a couple different websites, but the information and content is copyright protected.  I am willing to pay for use of the database, but not having any luck on finding such a database.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25582" LastActivityDate="2019-05-12T02:00:28.580" Title="Exercise Database with Pictures" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;personal-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34068" CreationDate="2017-05-11T15:41:19.943" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;exrx.net is pretty much the best resource. They have clip-art style pictures and are a suitable paid resource. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T15:41:19.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-12T01:33:41.263" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am emasculated by the roid boys at the gym who can grind through dozens of sets and look like they're just starting their workout after spending days in the sauna. I often have to compensate for this by pushing myself extremely hard, which results in hours of trembling/shaking in said muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get me wrong: it's not overworking because I'm still seeing results, but it's just unsettling to have to shake like I'm (no offense to him personally) Michael J. Fox. I know the shaking is a result of extreme nervous system taxing (and I extra stimulate my nervous system with lots of caffeine too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also not just in said muscle area, but makes my whole body have spasms/tiny tremors and even mild eye/facial twitches for a while. This happens only after extreme exercising and usually caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to get through a super-intense workout without having to shake as it greatly affects things like typing; sitting still without looking like I'm having tremors; etc. I just push myself this hard because I know that I'm comparing against IFBB pros without having to use the dope, and that's confidence boosting. I'd be highly proud of myself if I could reach 2/3 the size of those IFBB guys naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be even more ecstatic if I could do it without having to shake excessively after a die-hard workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips? How to reduce the shaking/trembling/etc.? Assuming I don't lower-intensity of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25588" LastActivityDate="2017-05-12T10:58:06.093" Title="Twitching/shaking after intense exercise? How to lessen it?" Tags="&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31145" CreationDate="2017-05-12T08:16:48.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that left a huge impression on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Years ago when I was finishing up grad school -- I worked as a personal trainer. I would rent a gym hourly from a (friend of a friend). The guy had an entire wall full of trophies and metals. He told me he's a ultra marathon runner (50 - 100 mile runs) he was #2 in the world at the time...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway long story short he always lifted 3 / week ran the other 3 with 2 being a mix of interval type of work. He only ran the distance of his races once per week. He was ripped and didn't have the haven't ate in 2 weeks look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom Line -- All of his work involved increasing INTENSITY NOT DURATION (yes these workouts will save you time and give you faster results)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best books I've read to date &quot;Core Performance&quot; it has some great sample plans of how to setup and progress your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Energy System Development (ESD) is the cardiovascular component of your training program. Your body has different energy systems and ESD trains them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-05-12T08:16:48.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33131" CreationDate="2017-05-12T08:31:05.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you exercise, the body uses two sources of fuel, glucose and free fatty acids to generate energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The glucose comes from the blood, the liver and the muscles (glycogen) as you were saying in your post. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the first 15 minutes of exercise, most of the sugar for fuel comes from either the blood stream or the muscle glycogen, which is converted back to sugar. After 15 minutes of exercise, however, the fuel starts to come more from the glycogen stored in the liver. After 30 minutes of exercise, the body begins to get more of its energy from the free fatty acids. As a result, exercise can deplete sugar levels and glycogen stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body will replace these glycogen stores the process usually takes about 4-6 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-05-12T08:31:05.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-12T10:42:47.557" Score="2" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that an adult could add height (or rather appear taller) by posture correcting exercises? Besides Wall Angel exercise and stretching exercises, what would help? How much could this affect the height?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20124" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T23:53:48.527" Title="Increasing height by back/neck straightening exercises?" Tags="&lt;height&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-18T12:23:26.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34073" CreationDate="2017-05-12T10:58:06.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shaking or trembling after a workout might be cause for alarm, but in many cases, the problem is due to something simple, such as fatigue or malnourishment. Taking measures before and after working out can help prevent the shaking in many cases, and it is often easily treatable when it occurs. If you shake consistently after your workout or shake when you are not working out, &lt;strong&gt;consult a doctor.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-05-12T10:58:06.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34079" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34080" CreationDate="2017-05-12T21:42:31.730" Score="0" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what I've been doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each serie has the maximum number of repetitions I can do. So, the first serie is 10 reps then the next serie is 7 and so on, until I cannot lift my weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each repetition is done at a moderate speed and without any delay between reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After each serie I rest for at least 15 mins (not sure if it's too much) so that the effect of the lactic acid should be gone by them (not sure if that is true either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't use weights, and I'm a skinny guy (about 155 lb. or 70 Kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly I rest for two days before repeating the same routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25596" LastEditorUserId="25596" LastEditDate="2017-05-12T23:21:39.820" LastActivityDate="2017-05-13T14:03:18.880" Title="What can I change in my routine to get to 20 push-ups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34079" CreationDate="2017-05-12T22:38:22.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're resting too long. To train for muscular endurance, i.e. to do 20 pushups in a row, shorter rest intervals are better. Try resting for 30 seconds between sets rather than 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you don't need two days between body weight exercises. Every other day is a good frequency when you're starting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21694" LastActivityDate="2017-05-12T22:38:22.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-13T09:33:47.660" Score="0" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to gym around 4 months ago - I love the experience and the feeling. One problem I have is that I feel my shoulders are substantially weaker than my other groups - i.e. they limit how intensely I can work my other groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to start isolating shoulders twice a week. Is this a good starting point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shrugs, Machined Shoulder Press, Lateral Raises, Dumbbell Front Raises.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) Source: toughbodybuilding.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25598" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T09:44:37.077" Title="Getting started on shoulders" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;&lt;muscle-groups&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34079" CreationDate="2017-05-13T14:03:18.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rest time should be shortened significantly. Rest only around a minute and like J.Vance said, train every other day, it's a great way to build the muscles endurance. Even if you can't keep your same amount of push-ups, you would just go for failure, every set. If you go for failure every set you will be able to see those 20 push-ups in no time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25600" LastActivityDate="2017-05-13T14:03:18.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28317" CreationDate="2017-05-13T19:42:53.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's not about strength and as mentioned in earlier posts it's just physics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's similar to a seesaw, it's all relative to weight and distance from the pivot point.  If two equal weights are positioned at each end of a seesaw, at equal distances from the pivot point, then it is perfectly balanced.   However if you increase one of the weights or move it further from the pivot point (such as a long torso) then the other end (feet) will lift up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only ways to prevent the feet lifting up are; Reduce weight to torso, increase weight to legs or get someone to hold your legs... or any combination of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25602" LastActivityDate="2017-05-13T19:42:53.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34081" CreationDate="2017-05-14T20:34:36.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is pretty understandable since shoulders are a difficult muscle to contract and extend completely thus putting a limit on the hypertrophy. I've followed this and substantially increase the size and vascularity in my shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The deltoids are composed of three different fibres, also referred as heads.&#xA;Anterior, lateral, and posterior&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anterior or the front delts are much more developed than the other heads, therefore can be limited to compound exercises like overhead press.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lateral head or the side delts are considerably weaker for beginners so it's imperative to keep good form, time under tension, and leave your ego outside the gym :) Your muscles don't know whether it's 10lbs or 25lbs&#xA;Starting with dumbbell lateral raises and then add variation with cable lateral raises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Posterior deltoids or the rear delts are the least used muscles and therefore not as much developed as the other heads. These have to be emphasised more with exercises rear delt raises, W raises, or reverse flys.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a good split of 1-Compound, 1-Front delts, 1-side delts, 1-rear delts, and 1-shrugs. And depending on your mood that day, you can add 1 exercise to either side or rear delts to emphasize more on that muscle. This will be a good start for shoulders as an all round shoulder development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25434" LastActivityDate="2017-05-14T20:34:36.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-15T00:57:15.107" Score="1" ViewCount="1151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 21 years old, resting heart rate about 55bpm, I'm 6'3 and 190lbs. I never used to pay too much attention to my heart rate, but I recently got a heart rate monitor, and even during intense exercise, i can only ever get my heart rate into the high 80's, even when I'm trying to get my heart rate up as high as possible. I'm in relatively good shape, and according to everything I read, my max heart rate should be at least double what it is. Just wondering why this might be, and if I should be worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25612" LastActivityDate="2018-02-18T15:07:40.173" Title="Can't get my heart rate above 90bpm" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34088" CreationDate="2017-05-15T05:11:07.780" Score="2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a football (soccer) player and an occasional hiker. I am also a relatively new gardener and some of the works demand a lot from upper body strength. It seems to me that my upper body is really thin compared to my thigh (basically the entire upper body, from shoulder to waist).  I have a rather small skeleton in my opinion. Is there any effective way to train my whole upper body to grow bigger and stronger &lt;strong&gt;at the same time&lt;/strong&gt;? If it is not possible, which part of my upper body should I train first? (e.g. chest). I rarely go to a gym or do weight bearing exercise on my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25614" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T06:07:43.447" Title="How to build a bigger and stronger upper body?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34087" CreationDate="2017-05-15T06:07:43.447" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should definitely do the big compound movements. Deadlifts, Bench press, Shoulder press (standing). Doing shoulder press while standing will add that you'll be contracting your core to stabalize, making it an exercise that works your shoulders, arms and entire core. You can also do pull-ups and/or bend-over rows for your back. If you feel like your upper body has caught up to your legs you can add squats to the mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hit them hard and heavy for 5 sets of 5 reps. You can add some isolation movements to target your arms like diffirent variations of bicep curls and tricep extensions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to eat enough and take ample rest because your body will need it when doing this type of exercising, especially combined with playing football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T06:07:43.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34081" CreationDate="2017-05-15T13:02:54.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's great to hear that you're enjoying resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of the exercises you listed, I recommend presses and bench presses.  The Aasgaard Company's &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/video/lifts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Starting Strength&quot; videos&lt;/a&gt; might help you start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider exercising thrice weekly (every 48-72 hours), alternating the press with the bench press on successive workouts, for three sets of five repetitions each (&quot;3x5&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once progress slows or you miss reps on successive sets, switch to five sets of three repetitions each (&quot;5x3&quot;).  If you are female then consider switching as soon as the 3x5 gets &quot;hard&quot;, before you start missing reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the first workout, work up from the empty bar (20 kg, or smaller, if necessary) to a weight that you can handle safely and with good form for the 3x5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to eat a caloric excess and especially lots of protein (1 gram per pound of total bodyweight, per day), and to get enough sleep/rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T13:02:54.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34092" CreationDate="2017-05-15T14:01:52.667" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between lat pull-downs and regular pull-ups? Specifically the wide grip overhand version of both these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2018-05-05T18:38:24.580" Title="Lat pull-downs vs regular pull-ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34090" CreationDate="2017-05-15T18:33:53.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest difference is your ability to increase or decrease workload (or amount you're moving). Pull downs can allow the person to pull as little as 10 pounds (right right there are variances in actual weight versus stated weight depending on the machine) while pull-ups are limited to a minimum of user body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/How-Use-Assisted-Pull-Up-Machine-20316599&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;machines that offset user weight&lt;/a&gt; for pull-ups that could even out this discrepancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other is availability. Anywhere there is a ledge/bar/etc over head, you can do pull-ups. Lat pull-downs are limited to machine access or potential stretchy &lt;a href=&quot;https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSqmoz4Sjx1kokzyY3UfaI5McRVynGfwKCu0sYbEVGuGlA8vjHq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;band (we call them thera-band) with fixated overhead point access.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other factor that stands out for me as a big difference is the use of stabilizer muscles when performing pull-ups. Unless you are trying to kip-up for cross-fit-like pull-ups, or muscle-ups... you have to have good form and a tight core to keep from swinging back and forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T18:33:53.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32834" CreationDate="2017-05-15T19:28:50.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You’re actually “pre-habing” correctly – by strengthening your scapular retractors. Since you're also hitting both secondary and primary (to a lesser degree) external rotators, isolation strengthening is unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Understanding Rotator Cuff Injuries:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rotator cuff injuries tend to be overuse / &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/rotator-cuff-tear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;impingement&lt;/a&gt; injuries. Resulting from repetitive micro traumas to muscle tendons that attach to your arm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As tendons are made of collagen and have no blood supply, strengthening the supporting muscles (like you’re doing) is the way to go.  Most shoulder injuries are treatable and don't require surgery..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a muscular standpoint; shoulder pain is often due to a lack of stability of the scapula. The control of these muscles provides movement of the scapula and allows for the arm to reach overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T19:28:50.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32948" CreationDate="2017-05-15T21:15:44.073" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a quick note - Front Squat is almost always not as strong as the Back Squat. Here is a ratio my coach gave me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BS  80%&#xA;FS  68%&#xA;DL  100%&#xA;PC  53%&#xA;PS  41%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My estimation is that for conditioning WODs, try to stay around 50% (+/-10%) of 1RM. Anything more is strength training. Anything less is warming up or technique work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the WODs can influence the choice of weights. Maybe you want to train at the desired tempo or just set a personal record to measure progress at an Rx weight. Maybe train WODs alternating too heavy, too light and just right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25620" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T21:15:44.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34086" CreationDate="2017-05-15T21:28:32.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart Rate training is not a hard science like physics or math - it is a soft science meaning it generally applies to most populations or sample groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think of the bell curve, standard HR Training applies to maybe 80% (or whatever) of the sample population. It does not exactly apply to the two groups of 10% at either outlying sides of the graph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are an outlier, which is fine. Some people can get their HR up to 240bpm, and some can't get their HR above 100bpm. The &quot;220 minus your age&quot; max HR formula doesn't work for outliers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just use the percentage of Max HR or the &quot;talk test&quot; and ignore the whole 140-150bpm numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I coached a kid swimming who couldn't get his heart rate above 120 or so and he eventually was a finalist at Canadian swimming Nationals. It has no bearing on how hard you are working or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25620" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T21:28:32.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33708" CreationDate="2017-05-16T01:04:11.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many things affect your heart rate. Illness, overtraining, the weather, medication, dehydration, stress...and the list goes on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to do tons of aerobic work if you're just starting out and keep your heart rate below 75% of your maximum.  You should see your speed increase and your heart rate drop.  You might never have as low a heart rate as Amanda Coker, but it will be strong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25617" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T01:04:11.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34097" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34098" CreationDate="2017-05-16T06:09:46.767" Score="2" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old, M, 5'7 height. I have been doing exercise running- 30 mins daily and cycling - 20 mins. I do crunches also in my daily activities. I drink lot of watter like hell, not taking alcohol, taking less calories these days. I have stopped taking sugar also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had almost 72kg weight 3 months back, I made it to 67kg now. I have still a fat on my face and stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Food Structure :-&#xA;&#xA;Start with breakfast - Sprouts, Poha&#xA;Lunch - 2 Chapati with Vegetable&#xA;Dinner - 2 Chapati with Vegetable&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest what exercise and daily practice should I  do to reduce face and belly fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25622" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T09:51:49.203" Title="How to reduce belly and face fat" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-05-19T16:49:47.240" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34097" CreationDate="2017-05-16T06:29:55.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, &lt;strong&gt;you can't target fatloss.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can however make some healthy changes to your life, most of which you've already done by the looks of it. Most people have a hard time losing fat on their abdominal area. The only thing you can do is keep living healthy, tracking caloric intake, making sure you get enough rest and working out regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things like ab workouts won't help you lose belly fat faster than doing cardio,the contrary is actually true. You'll lose faster doing cardio, high intensity interval (HIIT) or heavy compound lifts rather than doing isolation exercises like crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T06:29:55.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33615" CreationDate="2017-05-16T17:10:05.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Massage/roll first and then stretch. Trigger points (hyperirritable muscle fibers, aka 'knots') cause pain and tightness in the muscle and are frequently aggravated/made worse by stretching a muscle that's full of trigger points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25617" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T17:10:05.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33615" CreationDate="2017-05-16T23:35:39.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/455/should-i-stretch-after-exercise&quot;&gt;Stretching is still debateable as a need anyway&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637917/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the only study I'm aware of on foam rolling&lt;/a&gt; shows it to have short term benefits but not much in the long term. Neither is proven critical to athletic performance. Full range-of-motion activities however do tend to increase flexibility and strength throughout that range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So combining two things with clinically debatable value and then trying to figure out which should come first is fairly subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to feel good afterwards then do whatever feels the best. From a practical perspective I see most folks foam rolling at the gym and stretching is something you can do throughout the day after the fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T23:35:39.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34076" CreationDate="2017-05-16T23:53:48.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand you cannot naturally increase your height as an adult. However you might be able to appear taller with correct posture; doing exercises back and core exercises will help with this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some recommendations: Deadlift, Squat, Russian twist, Reverse flyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to do those exercises with proper technique otherwise it maybe detrimental in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25528" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T23:53:48.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-17T01:23:43.313" Score="2" ViewCount="891" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started stronglifts 5x5 about 7 weeks ago. I have started out with a completely empty bar (20kgs) and moved up to the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat 105Kg, Deadlift 102.5Kg, Bench 62.5Kg, OH Press 55Kg, Row 65Kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks back I stopped for a week and my progression got screwed up and I ended up with a bigger squat and a fairly weak bench. How can I safely catch up on those two lifts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25630" LastEditorUserId="25630" LastEditDate="2017-05-17T01:37:16.487" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T16:12:30.073" Title="Stronglifts 5x5- How can I catch up on weak dead lift and bench?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;stronglifts&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;bench-press&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34106" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-17T03:07:14.443" Score="4" ViewCount="2954" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a significant anterior pelvic tilt, which is problematic because it has resulted in lower backpain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've decided to fix this problem by doing the necessary exercises and maintain a good sitting posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, maintaining neutral sitting posture is quite tiring because my core muscles are contracted, should this be the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25631" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T13:37:00.597" Title="Should maintaining neutral sitting posture be tiring for someone trying to fix anterior pelvic tilt?" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34106" CreationDate="2017-05-17T05:51:25.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes this can be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anterior pelvic tilt basically means that your hips are tilted forward, because of this your entire spine is tilted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your hip flexors are probably shortened which causes your pelvis to tilt, if you maintain a neutral posture this will be harder on your muscles because they are essentially stertching at that point. So yes, you will get tired from it and might even get sore muscles around your hips and lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T05:51:25.007" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2017-05-17T11:12:11.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You sound like one of the lucky ones. i was diagnosed with a Bakers Cyst over 3 months ago and it shows no real sign of leaving anytime soon. It was excruciating at the hospital and they gave me pain killers and anti-inflammatory s. That helped a bit but the leg is still bad. Eventually went to the docs about a month ago to get it drained and have a shot of steroids. That worked for a bit but not long, back to the drawing board. It has started to ease up a bit recently, I'm hoping another month or 2 and I'll be able to do some VERY light exercise. Very worried it will just go again as soon as I step back on the football pitch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is why it went I think. Football twice a week for the last 5 or 6 years. I'm 35 this year and it looks like I may have to hang up my boots. I really can't risk getting another one of these suckers as it kept me off work for a week and has mean I've hobbled to work every day for 3 months after. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absolute nightmare, I would not wish it on my worst enemy. Problem is you should keep your weight off it, probably for a whole month but I just can't get away with that. Plus we just got a new house and all the DIY has to be done. Can't wait for my stupid leg to get better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25635" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T11:12:11.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13665" CreationDate="2017-05-18T06:32:18.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I must disagree with the above mentioned, my personal experience has been to the contrary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I deadlift 5 or 6 days a week with no additional psychological stimulus (music, yelling, screaming etc), approach the bar and pull my 85% CALMLY for 5 singles. Also at 80% Daily is 1x5, Military Press, Barbell Row,Bench Press, and 1x8 curls/tricep depending on mood. My weekly volume is evenly spread, which I believe is giving me maximum protein synthesis uptime for a natural lifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I advice that you should keep your volume low, the act of training every day will overload your muscles by way of frequency. Your 1x5 lifts should begin to get 'easier, more punchy'. At that point you increase volume by way of additional reps ie. 1x8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When 1x8 is tight and clean, increase intensity marginally to facilitate another round of 1x5. If at any time, you have acute soreness, tendon pain or malaise take a 1 week deload/break. You may rotate other accessories in the 1x8 if you wish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the volume and intensity managed avoiding &quot;grinding&quot; reps out. Rinse and Repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References: Jason Blaha, &quot;Let's Talk About Full Body Training EVERY Day &amp;amp; The Natty Lifter&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soJK_VLaTno&amp;amp;t=689s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soJK_VLaTno&amp;amp;t=689s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25641" LastEditorUserId="19738" LastEditDate="2017-05-22T09:31:19.210" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T09:31:19.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34115" CreationDate="2017-05-18T07:26:21.013" Score="5" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;Within 10 days, the fasting month of muslims will start ( Ramadan Month). In this month muslims  fast all the day( not eating or drinking from morning till the sun set). So in such a case what is the best way to preserve muscles ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did  some search in previous  questions, where the discussion was how to preserve muscles while loosing weight. The idea was to eat enough protien ( 1.5 x body weight in Kg), keep  working out, and have calorie in &amp;lt; calorie out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should some thing similar be for the case of fasting ? Especially that  the principal meal  will be the dinner taken after sunset.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Living in a country where the sun rise at  6:30 am and the sunset at  10:00pm, this will count about 16 hours of fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for any suggestion, article, reference, or answer  about the subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastEditorUserId="23709" LastEditDate="2017-05-18T07:34:09.817" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T08:38:35.593" Title="Preserve muscles while fasting" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;eating-habits&gt;&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34114" CreationDate="2017-05-18T08:38:35.593" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The idea was to eat enough protein ( 1.5 x body weight in Kg), keep&#xA;  working out, and have calorie in &amp;lt; calorie out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the above understanding, you're on the right track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're allowed to eat and exercise during the night, it seems that you've basically inverted the day-night cycle as far as nutrition is concerned because quite a few people sleep for 8-10 (your 16 hour fast is still longer) hours a night without eating or drinking in between.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's absolutely nothing you're allowed to eat/drink during the day then the only thing that you can really do is to ensure that your body gets sufficient nutrition and exercise during the night and that you take long lasting / slow digesting Casein like protein in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would exercise in the evening (after taking a decent protein, BCAAs and other nutrient rich pre-workout shake or a light meal), then take a solid high quality protein meal post-workout and potentially a few protein shakes/bars if I wake up during the night (unless you can just have another solid meal 4-5 hours into the night) followed by another high quality long lasting protein (Casein, for example), BCAAs and nutrient rich solid meal in the morning to last me the day. Casein or equivalent would last for 7-10 hours depending on what else you've eaten giving you a steady trickle of protein for most of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that slow digesting protein might make you more thirsty than usual (my personal experience, everyone is different), but I guess there's just no way around it other than drinking a lot of water during the night and morning if you can't drink water during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23311" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T08:38:35.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34119" CreationDate="2017-05-18T09:06:40.393" Score="2" ViewCount="4154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running 3+ times/week for cardiovascular fitness and other benefits but recently been feeling a bit of strain on my right knee. Its not painful but I guess it's prudent to hear the message that the body is trying to send and replace running with something more knee friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that the action of pushing the pedal does put stress on the knees so all that cycling really seem to do (compared to running) is to eliminate the sudden impacts of feet hitting the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given above - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much more/less stressful on knees is cycling compared to running? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is cycling really more knee-friendly compared to running or is it just a different type of equivalent stress? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any scenarios where it could be worse on some joints/tendons/muscles than running?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS:&#xA;1. I won't be getting a bicycle with gears etc.&#xA;2. The objective is to minimize joint damage while improving overall fitness.&#xA;3. Not planning to train for races etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23311" LastActivityDate="2021-03-01T05:40:18.727" Title="Is cycling significantly better for knees compared to running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34116" CreationDate="2017-05-18T09:49:27.820" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR: Yes, cycling is better for your knees (and more than that)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling is significantly better for not only your knees but also your ankles and your entire spine. The fact that you push a pedal won't hurt your knee, the sudden impacts while running is what will hurt the join. These sudden impacts are also the reason why it's worse for your spine and ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling is actually a good sport if you have problems with your spine, for instance if you have a herniated lower back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep in mind&lt;/strong&gt;: You burn less calories while cycling than whilest you're running, so if your goal is to lose weight you have to keep in mind you'll have to spend more time on a bike to burn the same amount of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-05-18T09:55:04.010" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T09:55:04.010" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-18T16:15:24.827" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started the 100 push ups a day challenge. Currently I am on day &lt;strong&gt;5&lt;/strong&gt; and I started having difficulties completing one hundred push ups. In order to finish up my &quot;quota&quot; of push ups, I set my knees on the ground and do it like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if this by any chance is &lt;code&gt;ruining the idea of the whole challenge&lt;/code&gt;? I am not not a complete beginner tho, I'd say beginner to intermediate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I haven't done nay rest days, should I take every 5th/7th or 10th day as a rest day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25644" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T18:50:12.597" Title="100 push up challenge." Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;freeweights&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34122" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-18T17:04:40.260" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am 24 years old, 62.35 kg in weight,and 5 feet 6 inch in height&lt;/em&gt; I have been working out daily at home, mainly cardiovascular workout from top rated app. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to grow a good fitness, a bit of abs, wide shoulder, good biceps and triceps. For this I am checking my calorie intake and keeping it within 2200 calories everyday for last few months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result I am seeing few changes in my fitness but I lost weight from 65ks to 62.35 kg; but my goal was to lose fat not weight. I want to keep the weight but lose the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should not I be concerned with the weight loss? What should I do to keep this weight at around 62-65 but grow muscular?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25645" LastEditorUserId="25645" LastEditDate="2017-05-18T20:13:35.380" LastActivityDate="2017-05-19T06:27:40.897" Title="weightloss vs fatloss" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34121" CreationDate="2017-05-18T18:50:12.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the idea of the challenge ruins the idea of the challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the points we try to hammer home, is that exercise breaks the muscle down, and then you build it back up stronger through eating well and resting well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should be taking every other day off, and see how that goes. That way, you give your chest and triceps some time to recover, and get ready for the next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I knew this sounded familiar. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/23948/is-doing-push-ups-every-day-healthy?rq=1&quot;&gt;Is doing push-ups every day healthy?&lt;/a&gt; Note also Dave Liepmann's answer, suggesting to not just workout two parts of your body, neglecting the rest. It tends to cause imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T18:50:12.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34122" CreationDate="2017-05-18T18:57:41.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working out daily at home, mainly cardiovascular workout from top rated app.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to grow a good fitness, a bit of abs, wide shoulder, good biceps and triceps. For this I am checking my calorie intake and keeping it within 2200 calories everyday for last few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of this will be accomplished just by eating and doing cardio. If you want bigger muscles, you need to lift heavy things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result I am seeing few changes in my fitness but I lost weight from 65ks to 62.35 kg; but my goal was to lose fat not weight. I want to keep the weight but lose the fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've lost fat, it means you're spending more calories than you are taking in. It could be because you need to eat more, or because your calorie counting is inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should not I be concerned with the weight loss? What should I do to keep this weight at around 62-65 but grow muscular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be slightly concerned, yes, but that's because I'm 187cm. For me, that would be dramatically underweight. You didn't mention your height though. If you're pretty short, it could be ok. If you're around my height, you should be aiming for at least 75+ kgs in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T18:57:41.977" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-19T03:44:28.167" Score="2" ViewCount="560" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been working out intensely as usual, but notice that my weight has begun to average around 3-5 lbs. lower than what it mostly would sit at. I feel like I've been getting fatter, but at the same time more muscular, but my weight has gone down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can tell, when you get more muscular your weight should go UP. I have seen more arm muscle size with measurements and have been cutting back on cardio due to losing focus and not sticking to my old routines, but I've still lost some weight while adding more muscle size -- and strangely I feel fatter. I have not made any dietary changes/energy expenditure changes/etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would I be gaining muscle size and feeling &quot;fuller&quot; and fatter, but be losing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't be getting leaner because I wouldn't feel fatter -- and I can't be losing muscle because I'm seeing size improvements that are both visibly more noticeable and measurably larger too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why would I be losing weight slowly? I'm not losing fat nor muscle, so what else could it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not &quot;chronic&quot; changes -- more so it just seems that a couple of pounds have shed away from nowhere. I don't feel or look leaner, and I'm more muscular -- so why would I lose instead of gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, I did more cardio before and ate less my weight always stayed steadily at 162 lbs. I do less cardio and eat the same, but now my weight is going down. Why? &lt;strong&gt;I'm not trying to force or change my weight&lt;/strong&gt; -- I'm just noticing that it's going down and wondering why, if anything, it's not going up some due to more muscle. I'm male, 25, ~5'10&quot; and around 162 lbs. at 13% bodyfat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25647" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T13:47:19.283" Title="Weight has gone down several pounds, but not trying to lose weight and feel fatter. Why?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34122" CreationDate="2017-05-19T06:27:40.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you may have calculated the wrong calorie content of the food you are taking or your metabolism is high which is burning all the calories you are taking. As you have mentioned you workout mostly consist of cardiovascular activities this will also be burning some more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to grow muscles then working out in home following some app wont be of much help to you. I would suggest you to join a gym and start lifting. To build muscle you have to strain them so that muscle fiber gets microscopic tear up and then feed them with protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 5 feet 6 weight in between 65-70 will be ideal for you. As you are on 62.35 you need to gain 5 kg and that should be lean muscle mass. For that you need to make sure that your macros are correct. You should get protein per pound of your muscle mass so all your diet for a day combined together should have approx 150g of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having abs depends on you body fat percentage. The better muscle mass you will have and the lower your body fat percentage will be, you abs will be more visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25648" LastActivityDate="2017-05-19T06:27:40.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34130" CreationDate="2017-05-19T08:28:10.270" Score="7" ViewCount="4826" Body="&lt;p&gt;For beginners, is there a much a difference in training and diet regimen whether one's &quot;end&quot; goal is strongman or powerlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does training/diet for the two diverge only at advanced levels, or even for beginners/newcomers as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastActivityDate="2017-11-12T09:25:51.677" Title="Powerlifting vs Strongman" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34128" CreationDate="2017-05-19T15:44:20.020" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The very quick answer is that Powerlifting is more about standing in one place and moving a heavy weight through a range of motion (be it &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/barbell-deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;deadlift&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/barbell-squat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;squat&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/barbell-bench-press-medium-grip&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bench press&lt;/a&gt;). There is a certain technique element to these lifts that can yield large jumps in weight (i.e. arching your back more on a bench press so the range of motion / distance you move the bar decreases). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Powerlifting requires one big effort for a single rep (though you do get multiple attempts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strongman is about moving big weights, sometimes rather unusually shaped big weights (i.e. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theworldsstrongestman.com/events/atlas-stones/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Atlas stones&lt;/a&gt;). Unlike powerlifting, there is a locomotion aspect to a lot of strongman events. Picking up heavy &quot;stuff&quot; and carrying it for distance or loading it onto something is a common in strongman events (i.e.&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/farmers-walk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;farmers walks&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of strongman events are also done for reps, distance, or time. Whereas powerlifting is all about the total amount of weight. In a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/5-minute-workout-log-clean-and-press&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;log clean and press&lt;/a&gt; event, you'll be given something like 75 seconds to clean and press a weight as many times as possible, which requires a surprising amount of work capacity / conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, powerlifting has competitions for lifters using powerlifting gear (squat suits, bench shirts, etc) and raw lifters. As far as I'm aware, strongman doesn't have the same restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both sports have weight classes, though admittedly the most famous strongman events are open weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To someone starting out, I'd recommend concentrating on getting strong in the big 3 powerlifts as well as the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/how-to-overhead-press-a-beginners-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;overhead press&lt;/a&gt;, and also throwing in conditioning in the form of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/sled-push&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;sled pushes&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/push-pull-perspire-7-sled-workouts-to-leave-you-in-a-heap.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;pulls&lt;/a&gt; and a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpUrXJNcS_8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;picking up heavy stuff&lt;/a&gt; and carrying it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastEditorUserId="3865" LastEditDate="2017-05-19T16:11:34.860" LastActivityDate="2017-05-19T16:11:34.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-20T00:41:27.543" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;On my gym days, I have developed a habit of mixing about 70 grams of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000MD8AAM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this complex, slow releasing carbohydrate supplement&lt;/a&gt; with about 60 grams of literally &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pure-Sugar-25-Lb/10403009&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pure sugar&lt;/a&gt;, and about 24 ounces of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that this mixture keeps me energized throughout the entire workout, and I assume it's because of the sugar's high glycemic index, but is this a bad idea for some reason I don't know about? Is it bad for my health to be taking this much sugar this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, I'm 25 years old, 5' 10&quot; tall, weight 140 Lbs, consume about 2,500 Calories a day, and just started the bulking phase after a long cutting phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23500" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T03:33:42.307" Title="Is having pure sugar during a workout a bad idea?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;sugar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34132" CreationDate="2017-05-20T02:57:09.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The health aspect of the question would get a better response in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://health.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Health.SE&lt;/a&gt; site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea for a workout?  Pretty much every single &quot;energy supplement&quot; uses pure sugar as its base. They also typically include caffeine, b-vitamins, and other things, but the main active ingredient is the sugar. So it is widely used. Powerlifters will eat pure-sugar candy like gummy bears when they need explosive power for their heaviest lifts. Endurance athletes will use gels, or pure-sugar candy to sustain energy through their longest workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would suggest not becoming reliant a supplement to get you through a workout. It sort of defeats the purpose of training (in my eyes. Other opinions may differ). You also shouldn't really &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; a supplement to get you through &lt;strong&gt;every&lt;/strong&gt; workout. Becoming reliant is usually a sign of another problem like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need more cardiovascular conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need more sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to re-adjust  your diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are doing too much. You need to scale back and build up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though for those occasional workouts where you just need the energy. You're about to attempt a new PR, you had a long day at work, the neighbor's dog kept waking you up all night, etc.  Then pop a few jellybeans and get through it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-05-20T02:57:09.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34135" CreationDate="2017-05-20T14:18:13.300" Score="0" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a followup to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/q/34079/25596&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, can I get to 20 pull-ups (instead of push-ups), doing the same routine as in the ascepted answer? i.e. going for failure, with moderate speed repetitions, and resting half a minute between each serie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is it possible to get some muscle growth while doing that routine? I'm asking because I don't know if one can train to have muscular endurance while having muscular growth at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25596" LastActivityDate="2017-05-20T18:30:04.393" Title="How to get to 20 pull-ups while having also muscle growth?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34134" CreationDate="2017-05-20T18:30:04.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;20 pullups is more strength than endurance. The only way to get you to 20 pullups, is to increase strength in the relevant muscle groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in short, you don't need to worry about the dichotomy of &quot;strength OR endurance&quot; here. I'd save those thoughts for when you start thinking of doing some number that requires you to go on for several minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-05-20T18:30:04.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34141" CreationDate="2017-05-20T21:46:38.753" Score="2" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 29 year old reasonably fit man. I used to run regularly but haven't ran much for the greater part of two years now. I do my 10 minute commute on a road bike daily, usually trying to go as fast as possible. I also practice the relatively &lt;em&gt;niche&lt;/em&gt; sport of freediving where I train to hold my breath for a few minutes and swim to depths without air. My heart rate usually drops to 38 to 42 when I'm doing a breath hold (in the air, i.e. without the mammalian dive reflex).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I picked up running again just yesterday (for a race which is in ten days), and I was surprised to see that my HR monitor reports I'm doing most of my run in anaerobic, cf. the screenshot below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a maximum amount of time one should spend doing anaerobic exercise before it gets eventually dangerous?&lt;/strong&gt; What should I watch out for if most of my running is in this HR range?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c9CP3.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c9CP3.png&quot; alt=&quot;HR&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25659" LastActivityDate="2017-05-21T19:27:58.423" Title="Maximum amount of time for anaerobic exercise" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;anaerobic&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34136" CreationDate="2017-05-21T19:27:58.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your machine is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anaerobic literally means &quot;without oxygen&quot;. It is impossible for you to be spending 19 minutes of a 25 minute workout without oxygen. Anaerobic lasts anywhere from 10-30 seconds normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suspect that somewhere in the algorithm where it compares resting and &quot;max&quot; heart rate it thinks that because of an elevated measurement for heart rate, it arbitrarily decides that you are in an anaerobic state, which isn't actually the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-05-21T19:27:58.423" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-22T00:35:16.903" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suffered a small lesion some weeks ago, and the spot is still a little bit sore, but no pain. Should I wait until I don't feel no soreness at all, or is it oK to restart exercising? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25663" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T05:54:35.543" Title="Exercise after lesion" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34142" CreationDate="2017-05-22T05:54:35.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wait till you fully recover and 100% fit to carry on your workout. If the injury hasn't healed properly(soreness is an indication to that), then you may risk further damage. Also, consult with your doctor and take his advice on this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23369" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T05:54:35.543" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-22T15:05:29.693" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok guys I'm working on tightening my core and getting a six pack back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I max out at 60 seconds for a single plank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone could help me set up a plank workout routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like how many planks I should do in a set, how long should I hold the planks for, and how many sets I should do a day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to do the work out 3 days a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25668" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T21:20:25.707" Title="Plank Workout Ruotine?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-26T16:00:51.923" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34144" CreationDate="2017-05-22T15:13:06.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing planks is good, you can increase the difficulty by putting weight on your back (10kg plate should do the trick). I usually do 3 sets of weighted plants (30sec-1min).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also do movements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Captains Chair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging leg raise/toes-to-bar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Windscreen wipers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crunches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oblique-twists&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to getting a 6-pack to show: Abs are made in the gym but are revealed in the kitchen. Your body-fat percentage should be low to show abs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T15:13:06.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34147" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-22T17:37:58.313" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a mild tennis elbow about 3 months ago. I went to the doctor and she confirmed it. It took about 2 months before it healed. I think it was the result of doing dips and/or pullups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain has been gone now for about a month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, now I am experiencing a very mild version of the same thing. It is not nearly as bad, and feels like it could recover in a few days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read a lot of contradicting things online about what to do to prevent elbow pain:&#xA;1. Stop doing arm exercises&#xA;2. do arm exercises to train the tendons&#xA;3. apply ice&#xA;4. apply warm water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What in general should I do to prevent elbow pain from dips and pullups, and how to I make sure I recover well?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25670" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T20:49:34.767" Title="What to do with mild elbow pain" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;dips&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-22T19:21:25.657" Score="1" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't ever feel sore though. I'm afraid that I'm not seeing the gains and muscle definition I want too because of these training style. I should have abs, but don't see them.  And before anyone says diet, I'm a vegan who eats whole foods and barely ever anything processed.  Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25672" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T08:20:02.337" Title="I workout everyday. Weightlifting in the morning and crossfit after work and I never take a rest day" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-22T20:15:09.597" Score="0" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the pull ups I use slightly wider than shoulder and reverse/pronated (palms facing away) grip, I weigh 135 lbs. For shrugs I am standing holding dumbbells - 15 or 20 lbs. - at my side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these opposing exercises? I mean, do they exercise opposing muscle groups? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is shrugs lift the should blades, while pull ups pull the arm down. So, not really opposite movements. However, I do pull my shoulder blades down and together as I perform the pull ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe another way to state my question is what the ideal opposing exercises for pull ups and push ups? I do both of those, but they don't seem to have a perfectly match opposite like bicep/tricep. I have been doing push ups paired with reverse dumbbell flies and pull ups paired with shrugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25674" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T06:29:08.530" Title="Are pull ups and shrugs opposing exercises?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34144" CreationDate="2017-05-22T21:20:25.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a plank routine in my exercise days - about every other day. Basically, it's ten minutes where I do either 1 minute plank/1 minute rest or 30 sec plank/30 sec rest until the 10 minutes are up. I do the planks on my elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if that seems to easy/hard for you, but you could vary the durations as needed. (I recently moved up 35 sec plank/25 rest.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However you time your sets I suggest you pay attention to &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; you do the work. I don't just hold the position, I squeeze my ads tightly as much as I can. A bit of glute and quads tighten too. I think this is what trainers call posterior pelvic tilt. The point is to maximize the work of the muscles not simply hold a position. You want to avoid a limp, saggy plank. 'Walking' on your hands to get in and out of the plank position is another way to keep up the work on your core when doing planks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25675" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T21:20:25.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-23T01:56:37.963" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I weighed 331bs.  For last 10+ yrs struggling against obesity. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;For quite sometime I had been doing cardo 1 hr daily . Here are my questions &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I read someplace in the past that low intensity - prolonged cardios cause muscle mass depletion at the cost of preserving fat. Now being morbidly obese   ( currently I am at  317lbs from 330lbs . 325-330 would be my weight if I just ate whatever I felt &amp;amp; did 0 workout ) , I had not ventured out to run on the treadmill  but instead I increase the elevation to 9-10 ( I think 14 is Highest ) &amp;amp; walk at lower speeds ( 4.6 compared to what most people run on around 8+ speed ) . I assured this is not &quot;low intensity&quot; cos I SWEAT  all over ( even with 3 AC's on  in that room ) . I think my heart rate would easily be 90-100 while I did that. Does this fit into the &quot;low Intensity&quot;  cutout ?  ( I do this for 60 mins daily. With breaks .  During the breaks I will do sit ups around 2--30 totally ) &#xA;&lt;br&gt; (  Off recently I started running on the tread-mill but I can barely manage 1 min at a time before I start panting- so I  increase my walking pace to around 4.9-5 and reduced the incline from 9-10 to 6.5-7 and I try and give more frequent 1 min sprints  around 4 mins running in a 60 mins work out ) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In-spite of that I see the weight increases or remains status quo but wont go down. I wonder if this muscle mass depletion at the cost of fat preservation. Before you tell me it is - and hit me with the &quot;oh you got it totally wrong&quot; stick -consider the fact that fat loss should cause extremely slow weight reduction as compared to muscle mass depletion. Fat is lighter and floats compared to muscle. So  coming to my weight gain/ constant weight - problem. What seems to happen here. I am frustrated.. Should I continue on this path or change. In the past I had bounced between 302lbs to 330lbs but this kind of exercise would made me consistently loose weight EVEN when I did not diet seriously just because It made me sweat. My age has advanced (43) and I do dieting and cardio. Same / more intense work out + some kinda diet control - no weight loss. I  guess a direct way would be to buy those body fat scales - what changed muscle mass , water etc . I DID . But it will  (its  one from Amazon  - EatSmart  body scale ) error out after reading my weight , which it does apparently correctly  ( for someone who is 200lbs it works well ) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20220" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T22:51:09.937" Title="cardio workout : grading and fat loss efficacy" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;obesity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34149" CreationDate="2017-05-23T06:29:08.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The opposite to a pull is a push/press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So an opposing movement for pullups would be any kind of overhead press movement.&#xA;The opposing movement for pushups would be any kind of horizontal rowing movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25083" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T06:29:08.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6392" CreationDate="2017-05-23T10:10:37.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just finished a trial run with dumbells in my hand, each 2 pounds. It gave me the idea and feeling that I could more compensate for shocks when the feet hit the ground. It is like exaggerating your arm movement to do the same compensation, which is a known way to minimise shocks on knees. &#xA;If you do not do it to often, I also see it as an extra workout for arms and upper body while running.&#xA;The times you do not use them, running feels a lot lighter. Like the pianist who practises under very uncomfortable circumstances to improve his performance on stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25682" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T10:10:37.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34148" CreationDate="2017-05-23T16:48:32.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a week off from all training. Come back the following week with a written workout plan that is progressive in weight and intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25686" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T16:48:32.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33892" CreationDate="2017-05-24T05:53:10.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have a strong core is essential in anything you do while standing up. Your rectus abdominis are a big part of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, is there any &quot;heavy lifting&quot; or exercise significantly helped by a specifically strong rectus (not transverse!) abdominis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, your rectus abdominis will help stabilize your body while doing things like deadlifts, squats, bend-over rows, military press, push-ups, if you do these movements will standing (apart from the push-ups). Even if you do bicep curls while standing, your core is working to keep your body erect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I'm not saying rectus abdominis is the only muscle that is stabilizing your body, your entire core does this. I'm saying rectus abdominis is a part of this and therefore making it stronger will help in anything that requires your core to stabilize your body during heavy lifting or any daily activitie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T05:53:10.533" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-24T22:08:46.637" Score="1" ViewCount="2102" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does the dynamic version of an exercise compare with the static version? For example, in the case of the side plank, how results would differ between the two? Is this just a question of personal preference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25697" LastActivityDate="2017-06-24T21:36:58.613" Title="Dynamic or static version of exercise, like the side plank" Tags="&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34151" CreationDate="2017-05-24T22:51:09.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just seriously restrict calories intake, what kind of exercises you are doing is not that important, it's about calorie restriction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25225" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T22:51:09.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-25T02:40:49.490" Score="3" ViewCount="1086" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see many on-line calculators for calculating calories burned while riding a bicycle. Would riding a unicycle be similarly useful for losing weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice there are several differences between riding a bicycle and riding a unicycle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycles have larger wheels and a chain, which changes how fast the bike moves relative to how fast one is pedaling, but unicycles have a smaller wheel and the wheel only turns as fast as one pedals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycles can easily reach more than 20 mph, but a unicycle rider will have difficulty reaching more than 7 mph.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bicycle riders can shift gears when encountering a hill. Unicyclists cannot shift gears.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will riding a unicycle still be of benefit for weight loss? Will it be considerably less useful than riding a bicycle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25619" LastActivityDate="2019-04-28T02:47:42.740" Title="How does riding a unicycle compare to riding a bicycle for weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34166" CreationDate="2017-05-25T14:44:30.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitday.com/webfit/burned/calories_burned_Unicycling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This link&lt;/a&gt; goes to a calories-burned-calculator. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unicycle Input Values&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Weight: 220 lbs (99.8kg)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Height: 67 in (170.2cm)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Age: 30&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Gender: Male&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Result&lt;/strong&gt; 348 Calories per hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same input values for bicycling @ 14-15.9 mph yields a burn of &lt;strong&gt;784&lt;/strong&gt; calories per hour.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there is no doubt the unicycle takes more skill to ride (especially if you're climbing hills), it is not using as much muscle consistently as the bicycle. As one who has never unicycled for fitness or ever... I can't speak to the intensity (in terms of aerobic exercise) this modality provides.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a coach and motivator - If unicyling is going to encourage you to exercise and enjoy what you're doing. &lt;strong&gt;DO THAT!!&lt;/strong&gt; Pay little to no attention to the calorie difference at first. Get to a healthy place in terms of enjoying the exercises you are participating in and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; worry more about the calories.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on one's diet...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you started unicycling and dropped one 20 ounce Mountain Dew (using the same values/calories burned above):  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unicycling - 348 calories&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Not Drinking 1 Mountain Dew - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/mountain-dew/mountain-dew-(20-oz)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;290 calories&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Net loss for doing something you like and getting rid of a sugary drink-&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;638 Calorie deficit for the day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your diet is clean already, this is a moot point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3865" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T14:44:30.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34166" CreationDate="2017-05-25T16:41:17.370" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I would not trust calorie calculators for activities like unicycling at all.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, it depends on how skilled the rider is. The learning curve for the unicycle is quite steep so it takes time to be able to ride it efficiently. Second, how often does the rider mounts/dismounts? The mount is a short explosive movement (basically jumping on it), so, especially when learning a new skill, with lots of falling/mounting, it would require more energy. Third, are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R685-viwWF8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;jumps&lt;/a&gt;, tricks also part of the training? They can be &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; intense. In contrast, riding the unicycle in a flat, straight line by an experienced rider would be low intensity, similar to jogging/running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conclusion is, the amount of energy required by unicycling is quite individual and depends on how exactly the person is using it, and I doubt that there is extensive research on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I think it is better to approach this question from another point of view. What really matters is motivation and what makes you stick with an activity. Even if we knew how many calories per hour you specifically burn on the unicycle, it makes no sense to compare with something else, without knowing how much time you will actually be motivated to spend on each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unicycling requires skills, so it really comes down to your personality. &#xA;Are you that kind of person, who easily gets hooked on something hard, and enjoys learning difficult skills? Or do you just want to lose weight in the most efficient way with the least effort invested? Anecdotally, all unicyclists I know are slim, because they spend too much time on the unicycle and often even forget to eat when they are really hooked on learning a new trick :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2017-05-26T07:41:20.523" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T07:41:20.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34163" CreationDate="2017-05-25T16:45:15.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have specific information related to planks, but in general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research shows that the most effective training programs include exercises involving concentric-eccentric repetitions (dynamic exercises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric exercises are a beneficial alternative for those with joint disorders where dynamic exercises might cause pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25707" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T16:45:15.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-25T19:38:39.443" Score="2" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;So far I have been doing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 consecutive days of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 burpees x 2&#xA;1 minute planking x 3 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then rest &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the recommended resting for me?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25710" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T00:59:52.683" Title="Rest day for a male in 30s who do planking and burpees?" Tags="&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34179" CreationDate="2017-05-26T11:24:42.093" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it important, and why? I heard it helps you stabilize the shoulderblades but I don't get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15784" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T17:21:06.170" Title="Why am I instructed to stretch/prolong my fingers when doing pushups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34177" CreationDate="2017-05-26T17:21:06.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretching the fingers and keeping your entire hand actively pressed against the floor helps to distribute the pressure away from your wrist.  Experiment with some planks, where you first think about pressing the entire palm and fingers against the floor, making as much contact as possible, and then try relaxing and even lifting your fingers off the floor, so the weight is concentrated in the heels of your hands.  For some folks, this is painful, so certain hand placements are safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what if you want to strengthen your wrists and fingers? I don't think anybody would tell &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WCQGghedDM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bruce Lee&lt;/a&gt; to spread his hands.  Fingertip pushups, kettlebell pushups, and other variants (&lt;a href=&quot;https://greatist.com/fitness/bodyweight-push-up-variations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a fun list&lt;/a&gt;) are designed to create instability so you work different muscle groups.  They are perfectly valid exercises where the cue to spread hands is meaningless, and yet stability still matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding scapular stability, my guess (just a guess) is that you heard that because someone thinks that a person who is spreading their hands will naturally flex and stabilize other parts of their body.  Like if you were to clench your fists without thinking too much, do you also flex your biceps, pecs, or abs a little?  And if you think a little more about it, is it possible to clench your fists without also flexing those other muscles?  Scapular stability is similar.  You need it, but you need body awareness and actual upper back strength in order to have real scapular stability.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last link:  &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/7ngnZDQ3glg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here's a guy&lt;/a&gt; with a pretty solid push up, and his hands look relatively relaxed against the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20065" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T17:21:06.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34175" CreationDate="2017-05-26T18:47:39.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rest days are incorporated to give your body time to heal from activities that break down a lot of tissues or otherwise generate waste products. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A proper training plan will keep you on the edge of what you can just barely do and provide for enough rest that you will heal and progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your workout is light years better than nothing, it's a far cry from a real training program. Your best bet is &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;something that uses barbells&lt;/a&gt;, but if you're confined to &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2qnvYZe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;just bodyweight there are programs out there as well&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick check to whether or not you need a rest day is if you can't do as much as you did the day before. Example: you do what you mentioned above on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday you can only knock out 15 burpees and you fall out of your plank before a minute is up. That's your body not being rested/repaired enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The odds are that the exercises you listed aren't nearly enough to cause your body to need 24 hours to repair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T18:47:39.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-26T18:49:51.047" Score="0" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 16 year old, American girl who wants to lose weight. Obviously, I am not unique in this regard, but I'm not interested in magic pills and chemicals and Jenny Craig programs that promise results that one never sees. I am about 5' 6.5&quot;, or 5' 7&quot;. I weigh approximately 172 pounds, give or take a few ounces. I have a pretty average, medium sized frame, I think. My wrists are pretty small and I have naturally very thin legs, but I am not really petite. I am not grossly obese. But I am larger than I'd like to be. I carry my extra weight in my upper body, meaning stomach, back, and arms, but it's strange because once you make it up to my shoulders, collar bones and face, they're pretty slender. I have small hips, my thighs are a rather fat but I guess I'm pretty Apple shaped. I'd like to lose some noticeable weight before school starts back at the end of August because I'm starting a new school and want to re invent my image. I'm tired of being the butt of chubby jokes, but not being fat enough to fit in with the big girls. I'd rather just lose the weight. I'm willing to work hard for it and observe dietary restrictions. I have self control that I pride myself on. That isn't my issue- my issue is that I don't know where to start or what to do. I've received nothing but bad advice from my family. My older sister takes diet pills and my aunt says to eat whatever you want as long as you exercise occasionally. (She has a fast metabolism and fails to recognize that others do not.) If you're reading this, and you've been in my place before and have achieved success, please help me in coming up with a plan. I'd like to lose 40 pounds total before school starts. I know this will be hard but I know that I am capable of doing it because my weight fluctuates between 5-10 pounds without much effort- I just never know what I did to lose the weight or how to maintain it. I never gain a lot- just lose it and then come back up to even. I'm also dedicated and a hard worker who detests quitting. I want to do this the right way. Please aid me in doing so. Thanks a bunch, -S. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25720" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T05:47:25.333" Title="Will someone help me construct a weight loss plan?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33913" CreationDate="2017-05-26T18:55:27.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3574/7091&quot;&gt;more complete answer you can read up on&lt;/a&gt;, if you're interested. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;protein shake&quot; is exactly what you guessed: protein powder (typically whey) shaken up with liquid (typically water, sometimes milk). It's a quick, cheap, and convenient source of protein. Most people simply don't eat enough protein and to get the levels required for high intensity strength training it tends to be hard to beat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Real food&quot; that fits your macronutrient and calorie goals is always going to be superior in the long run: your body needs more than a whey shake. But if you're ~50 grams short for the day a shake in the morning and one at night can be a convenient and easy way to solve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T18:55:27.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-26T19:57:31.607" Score="1" ViewCount="1125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do push/pull days MWF, my pull days consisting of 9 sets of 4-8 reps compound back movements, and then 6-9 sets of 4-8 reps on bicep isolation. I do different arm positions for biceps (incline dumbbell curls, preacher curls, etc.). I focus a lot of the negative portion and generally go slow with around 30 seconds between sets and exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that whenever I do pull days, if my biceps get sore afterwards, it seems to always be the brachialis (sore near the joint and &quot;outer&quot; bicep area, not the much larger &quot;two-headed&quot; bicep ball), but not the long or short head of the brachii. My palms are always facing away from me for the entire movement on all biceps exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no issue working different parts of my triceps, but for some reason, it seems as though my brachialis are always the part that gets hit and nothing else when doing biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe my brachialis is comparatively weak and therefore is the limiting factor? Maybe the brachialis must first be flexed before the brachii, and I'm unknowingly doing too limited of a range of motion to hit the brachii? Any other ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25721" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T00:00:44.497" Title="Biceps brachialis sorness but not brachii" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34183" CreationDate="2017-05-27T00:00:44.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're lifting to get stronger, progress is measured in your weights. If you're lifting to get bigger, progress is measured in the mirror and with a tape measure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;Soreness is never a good indicator of progress or the effectiveness of a workout&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eccentric lengthening (negatives) tend to cause Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) much more so than concentric exercises. If negatives made you stronger and bigger, everyone would sit around doing negatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different parts of a muscle have leverage and power at different angles of extension. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19206/7091&quot;&gt;If you look at the deadlift, there are sliding muscle recruitments occurring&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isolation exercises in general promote imbalances; your body was never designed to be braced and for heavy loads to solely be handled by your forearm hinging on your elbow (a curl). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like you're getting the progress you want, no worries. If you want to have something more effective, look towards &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;proven lifting programs&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T00:00:44.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-27T00:23:51.880" Score="2" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering i there're any specific benefits to pushing yourself extremely hard vs. just pushing yourself a little hard. Does pushing harder create more muscle? Make you stronger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To simplify, imagine someone works out hard, and doesn't get injured; and now imagine someone pushes themselves EVEN harder and still doesn't get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disregarding any potential injuries or halting in the process (let's assume pushing yourself EXTREMELY HARD will still not be considered &quot;overworking&quot; yet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does pushing harder have any extra benefits vs. just pushing a little hard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like fighting for every next rep vs. just stopping altogether when feeling a bit tired. Is that extra push and &quot;drive&quot; beneficial vs. someone who may not otherwise fight or go as hard/long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, assuming NEITHER one sustains injury nor impedes progress, would pushing yourself to your hardest be anymore beneficial than just going at it until feeling a little tired and then stopping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does pushing harder make it more likely that you'll break past plateaus? Stimulate nuclei better? Work the muscle better? Expect results sooner/later? Stimulate the nervous system in a different way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine someone on a rep curling and they have it half way up, but the force is tough and they're tired and just let it go down without exerting the force -- but another person stays halfway for 20 extra seconds, giving every bit of might and mental power they have to get it up one last time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would that person who killed themselves trying to fight and exert every bit of mental fortitude they have benefit from anything vs. the guy who works hard, but doesn't kill himself to get that one last rep after 10-20 tough sets of arms? Basically, does pushing yourself very hard have any upsides, assuming it's not hard enough to impede progress, but hard enough to take a mental/physical toll?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just picture the guy that worked hard, but sweat a little -- and that other guy that worked harder, and is trembling for hours due to pushing his nervous system beyond his &quot;comfort zone,&quot; but still doesn't impede or &quot;overwork.&quot; I put quotes around &quot;overwork&quot; because people think doing extra 5 sets is overworking, when overworking means excessively exercising for prolonged periods of time and lacking in diet, sleep, or adequate &quot;downtime.&quot; Most people never reach &quot;overworking&quot; because most people do not work hard enough to have a chance at getting there anyways. &quot;Overworking&quot; is not just pushing yourself extremely -- it's a constant, ongoing fatigue and lack of attention to your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25647" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T19:49:34.773" Title="Does pushing yourself harder have any benefit to your results?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-27T00:42:10.487" Score="2" ViewCount="8608" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people seem to focus solely on one vs. the other, but I'd imagine many people want both. Can you train for both of them adequately? For example, train to get bigger and maximize muscle size; but also train to get stronger and be able to lift more weight and have more overall power too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I follow my own routines which work for me, but I can't comment on how &quot;efficient&quot; they are for anyone else -- and I can't say they're positively the best method for me either. Basically, here's what I do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I set aside one &quot;brutal&quot; day -- that is, a day where the muscles are worked very, VERY hard. I combine higher reps with lower weights, and higher weight with lower reps -- and often go to failure or beyond. I do not limit reps and go anywhere from 1 to sometimes 50+. I basically combine elements of power, strength, endurance, and hypertrophy in to one workout as feasibly as I possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice results, but they're not very fast -- but that could be just the way my body is. No workout is &quot;perfect&quot; -- people often have to find what's the best their body can do. I believe my body can't do much better, so I generally stick to what years of experience and reasonably acceptable results gets me. So, back to the point, can you have the best of both or &quot;all&quot; worlds, or am I going at it the tougher way? I don't care personally -- I just want to know if doing both is more efficient or not. I know I can make heads or tails either way since I'm dedicated and motivated enough to accomplish anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25647" LastActivityDate="2019-09-18T16:31:43.473" Title="Can you build size and strength at the same time/together efficiently?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-27T01:18:04.987" Score="2" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as the title states. Is it possible for anyone to have the physical capacity to be a professional-level athlete without ever taking any steroids/AAS/testosterone, growth hormones/peptides, SARMs, or any other enhancement drugs like such? Or in other words, can one be 100% natural and be capable of performing well enough to play in professional sports teams, whether high or low level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because people point fingers and make blanket statements like, &quot;99% of pro athletes are on drugs&quot; and etc. If that's true, is it because it's impossible to be a pro athlete without them, or it's just easier to be a pro athlete with them? I'd like the reality here. I know it's a broad question, but still.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really ask because I have a smaller brother who wants to be an NHL player. People have told him that all of those guys use drugs, so he'll have to if he wants any chance at succeeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25647" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T09:07:32.927" Title="Can you be a professional athlete without the use of steroids/AAS, SARMs, peptides/GH, etc.?" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-27T05:59:09.917" Score="-1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 27 years of age. I am 5.4 feet tall. I am weighing 80kg these days(BMI 29.6). I want to reduce it to 67kg(BMI 25) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Three months ago, when i started gym i was weighing 84kg. I cut out sugar,bakery items from my diet, no cold drinks, no junk food. With that i was able to reduce my weight to 80kg. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;My diet is same now a days but i am observing that my weight is not reducing now rather it is stable. When i talked to the gym instructor he told me to use fat burner for this purpose. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I use Fat Burner or do more exercise? Are the fat burners good for body? Do they work? What are the pros and cons fo using fat burner? &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;My workout routine:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Monday Chest exercises:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.  Barbel Bench Press(12.5 kg+12.5kg) 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.  Inclined Barbel Bench Press(12.5 kg+12.5kg) 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3.  Inclined Barbel Bench Press, Head is lower(15 kg+15kg) 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.  Bench Press butterfly(12kg dumbbells each) 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5.  Pushups&lt;br&gt;&#xA;6.  Dumbbell Pull Over(13kg)3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuesday Wings Plus Back exercise:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.  Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind(7 plates not sure about weight)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.  Closed-Grip Pulldowns front&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3.  Seated Cable Row&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.  Standing T-Bar row wide grip(15kg) 3 sets of 15 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5.  Standing T-Bar row closed grip (15kg) 3 sets of 15 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;6.  Single arm dumbbell Row(12Kg) alternating for both arms&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wednessday Biceps exercises:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.  Ez Bar Curl wide grip (5kg+5kg) 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.  Ez Bar Curl closed  grip (5kg+5kg) 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3.  Seated Biceps Curl (6kg ) alternating arms 3 sets of 24 reps(12  for each arm)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.  Seated Biceps Curl(6kg) simultaneously both arms, 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5.  Preacher Curl(5kg +5kg) 3 sets of 12 reps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;6.  Cable Hammer Curls&lt;br&gt;&#xA;7.  Concentration Curls(6kg) 3 sets of 12 reps for each arm&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thursday Legs exercises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Friday and Saturday mix exercises&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6848" LastEditorUserId="6848" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T19:02:39.037" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T19:02:39.037" Title="Should I use Fat burner or do more exercise?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;&lt;bmi&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-06-20T18:15:52.657" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34188" CreationDate="2017-05-27T11:48:14.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've hit a plateau in your weight loss, it does happen. The body seeks homeostasis, so if you don't change anything for a few months, you'll reach a point where your body is &quot;happy&quot; with where it is and you won't progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting out of a plateau isn't usually too hard (in my experience), you just need to change things up. I would avoid using fat burners, but then that's just my opinion and I have no scientific basis for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I'd say try and change up your training routine, if you normally do weights, throw in some interval training. If you do interval training, throw in some steady state cardio and some weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that your body will adapt to whatever you're asking it to do, and become more efficient at doing that exercise, and as such, you'll burn less calories while doing it. Try doing something that you've never done before (or not very frequently) that your body isn't used to. It'll feel a lot harder than you'd expect, but it'll hopefully help with shedding more pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative is to try and reduce your daily caloric intake a bit more to see if that helps. I've always found the mixing up your exercise routine to be preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T11:48:14.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34188" CreationDate="2017-05-27T15:43:31.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is easy to answer, but your problem is a bit more complex. &#xA;Most fat burners are trying to increase your metabolism, either by adding caffeine or some other &quot;secret&quot; ingredient that will increase your metabolism and help you burn more calories. My personal opinion is that these product do little good other than making somebody else than you richer. I don't see that many pro's or cons in fat burners, they just don't really do any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing 4 kilo's in three months is not that bad for a steady weight loss program. I'm not sure what your exercises are and what your normal diet is. Let me give you some guidelines that have worked for me. I lost 7.7 kilo's in 5 months and I am still losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First look at your exercise level and the exercises you are doing. I do a lot of muscle training. Not really to bulk, but muscles are &quot;expensive&quot; tissue and will increase your metabolism (amount of calories you burn) considerably. You don't have to look like a body builder, but the more muscles you build, the higher your metabolism and thus the more calories your burn per day. If you do train your muscles, do train all muscle groups equally to ensure your body develops normally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next to your muscle training add in some fat burning training, like biking or running. This will help you burn your visceral fat, which resides around your organs and is the unhealthy part of your fat. Biking can also be riding to work if it is a considerable distance (&gt;10 km).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now your diet. If you mainly train your muscles, you will need more carbs than fat. Fat is not readily available and muscle training is explosive, so you need to get the ATP in your tissue. Fat food will not provide you this energy and you are going to need the energy for the muscle training. Went eating, try to eat 6 times a day small portions. This will help you increase your metabolism and it will keep your stomach smaller, which prevents you from feeling hungry all the time. Also look for the kind of carbs you're eating. Don't eat too many &quot;fast carbs&quot;, since they will be turned into fat reserves that will be difficult to get rid of. Slow carbs take more time to digest and it will provide you the supply of energy over the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do take in mind that now and again you will reach a plateau where your weight will stay the same for a short while and then will start dropping. This is normal, your weight will not drop in a steady line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T15:43:31.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34185" CreationDate="2017-05-27T16:57:40.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overtraining is a thing. If you wanted to get better at running, 100 miles a day might not be the best place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with everything in exercise you are looking for a dose response, think about the goal in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, hard training is smart training, there has to be a certain intensity to elicit adaptation. So if you're tired, that was probably a good session, if you can barely walk after you squat session, that might have been a little too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worry about how much of your 1RM of a lift or &quot;relative intensity&quot; rather than your perceptions about the intensity, or your &quot;feels&quot;. How you feel is a lie, the weights don't change, your mind does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing you have to think about is the Stimulus-Recovery-Adaptation, cycle. So if you are training again tomorrow, destroying yourself today doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But if you are going on a week long vacation tomorrow, going a little ham today makes a lot of sense because you will have ample time to recover and adapt. We generally call this &quot;functional overreaching&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about your goal, frequency of training, where you are at in your training (beginner, intermediate, or advanced; or how far you are from competition if you're an athlete or if you just want to look good shirtless, how far away is summer?) All of these will help you understand how intense your training should be day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where most of this came from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iV1N4gjGoA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iV1N4gjGoA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15142003&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15142003&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25727" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T16:57:40.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2017-05-27T19:49:14.027" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All is good, but stop saying that the pectoral major is being worked at any pull up exercise. Pecs work ALWAYS as pushing muscles, never as pulling muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25730" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T19:49:14.027" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34188" CreationDate="2017-05-27T20:28:34.727" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am against supplements. I do take one for a proven deficiency: magnesium, but even that I try to compensate and eat as much as I can in my diet (mainly cruciferous vegetables and nuts). I am not a conservative person when it comes to nutrition, on the contrary, but after multi year studies, most of the supplements either provide no long term benefits, or come with serious health dangers such as heavy metals.&#xA;Your goal is not to lose weight. Repeat it after me: Your goal is not to lose weight. Your goal is to lose body fat.&#xA;Your trainer seems like he is trying to give you the easy way out. I am a trainer, and I am appalled by what he suggested.&#xA;But first things first: You have to tell us about your workout regime.&#xA;All things worth fighting for are hard. ALL. You want to lose fat, and get toned fast?&#xA;Then these must be your guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)Do a 20-45 minute rigorous cardio every day. HIIT or even better SMIT. SMIT, as I've seen is even better at preserving muscles, and the studies back me up.&#xA;You want it get done, the easy way? Go on a treadmill and walk at a pace of 3.5mph for 1 minute, then for the next minute run for 7-10 mph, depending on what you CAN do. Walk again for 1.5-2 minutes, and run again. Change your speed accordingly, to max speed you can do, or to maybe a 85-90% run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)Do proper weight lifting 3 times a week. Most women I know go to the machines. Machines are fine for acquiring muscle memory, but for anything else they are useless. So, three times a week do squats, overhead presses and bench presses. In every single workout. Do a max of 4 sets of 12 repetitions. 10 is even better in my opinion. Choose appropriate weight, NO YOU WON'T GET BULKY, it's the growth hormone that men have that makes us bulky, not simply choosing to lift heavier. The appropriate weight is the one you can't lift in your final repetition. For the rest of your weight lifting days, do lunges, hip thrusts and calf raises for your legs, dumbbell flys, and incline bench press for your chest, lateral raises for your shoulders, curls for biceps and overhead extensions for triceps, and the only muscles I allow you to use machines, as you probably can't do pull ups, is lat pulldowns and seated rows for your back muscles. Do your weightlifting sessions for about an hour, before you do cardio for 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)Eat whole food protein, as much as you can. 110 grams a day, seems appropriate for your lean body weight. 1 whole chicken breast and a Greek yogurt a day, or 4 eggs (eat the yoke in two of them), half a pound of turkey and a quarter pound of very low fat cheese. Make this your mantra, no matter what, your protein goals WILL BE MET. Your destroyed muscles after a workout, seek protein to replenish and become stronger to adapt to the challenges you are giving them. Muscle mass also has a higher metabolic need for calories, so that's another plus. They also need something else:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4)Carbs. Good, complex carbs which will give you energy for a great part of the day, and you won't get hungry soon. Leafy vegetables, lentils, bananas, brown rice and oats are great choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, tire yourself out. If you are not super tired in your weightlifting days, then you are doing something wrong. Also, try to eat complex carbs, as they dietary fiber will keep the hunger pangs at the bay.&#xA;Good luck, and NEVER give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25730" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T20:28:34.727" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34186" CreationDate="2017-05-27T20:39:40.570" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle mass corresponds to muscle strength. This is they way it is and has always been.&#xA;Now, are they are equivalent? No.&#xA;You want to hit the sweet spot, between muscle strength and hypertrophy?&#xA;Conventional wisdom tells us, it is doing 3/4 sets of 5-8 repetitions, to failure. &#xA;Have you reached 7-8 repetitions in an exercise? Then increase the load! Eat plenty of good carbs and protein, and the muscle will both get stronger AND bigger. &#xA;Many of the gym goers seem to forget the whole mantra behind weight lifting:&#xA;It's progressive overload.&#xA;Don't let yourself plateau. Just don't, push it! Every week should be a rep or two more, or a 5% increase in the weight you are lifting!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25730" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T20:39:40.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-28T02:46:58.697" Score="0" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 5&quot;10 16 year old male weighing at 180 pounds (81.6kg). I'm not terribly fat, however I do appear to be a wider guy when compared to most of my friends. I begin working full-time this summer (7:00AM-4:00PM, 5d/wk) and I want to squeeze a plan to lose about 50 pounds within that schedule. However, I also do not want to go on a diet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am willing to do any kind of physical exercise needed to obtain my goal, but I would prefer to not have to diet. Here's why:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My parents are in charge of my dinner and breakfast options, and I don't want to make them get other foods to fit my diet.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I cannot afford to buy healthy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to spend the &lt;em&gt;absolute minimal&lt;/em&gt; amount of money on this weight loss plan.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't necessarily eat bad, everyday for lunch I get a 6-inch turkey sub (cheese, olives, and lettuce) with a coke from subway. I usually have toast for breakfast, and dinner I just eat whatever is available. I don't snack too often, and I eat quite a bit of fruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercise routine would you recommend to meet this goal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25733" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T00:54:41.200" Title="What's a good plan for losing 50 pounds in 3 months without diet?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-28T12:19:13.503" Score="0" ViewCount="447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this list of more than 2000 different types of exercises that can be done for fitness purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say each time I go to gym (3 times a week), I randomly select 12 items from this list. Completely random. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What negative and positive effects this might have on my body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm asking is what happens if we simply get past traditional workout routines which are written by trainers and should be repeated for a while until we get new routines. I want to know this practice is just a traditional practice being around that can be changed, or is it something backed scientifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23204" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-05-30T13:40:14.967" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T13:40:14.967" Title="What negative and positive effects random workouts might have on our body?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34197" CreationDate="2017-05-28T13:37:18.843" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Random workouts may or may not harm your health.. It depends on the combination. If you don't do free hand exercises before and after hard work then your muscles may get hardened nullifying the possibility of further growth. If you stretch and after that don't do jogging you will feel pain in your leg muscles later... Every rules regarding this has a logic. You can also make your own combination but that you have to understand the logic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25735" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T13:37:18.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-28T13:42:54.120" Score="0" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually when I workout some day. Like lifted dumbles,or do sit-ups , then I feel everything is normal,I actually could do without any problem.. But the next day I always feel pain in my muscles of hand and also belly muscles...My question is that is it normal...Or am I doing something wrong....&#xA;I become unable to workout the next day due to the pain...after 2-3 days I start the workout again,but the same thing happens again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25735" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T03:14:47.813" Title="Muscle pain after workout" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;post-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-30T14:24:00.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34195" CreationDate="2017-05-28T17:24:11.463" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say you currently eat as much as you burn power day. Meaning your weight is constant. One kg of fat contains about 7000 kcal. You want to lose 22kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that makes 154.000 kcal. 3 months have 90 days. That's 1700 kcal per day you need to burn additionally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a little more than 2 hours of jogging every day or something equally demanding.  All based on unreliable first hit Google links. Might be off by quite margin but give you a general idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18803" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T17:24:11.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-28T19:46:11.890" Score="2" ViewCount="575" Body="&lt;p&gt;At a bodyweight of 101kg, I have the following 1RMs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overhead press: 60kg&#xA;Bench Press: 95kg&#xA;Deadlift: 170kg&#xA;Squat: 120kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing particularly amazing, but it still took a fair amount of training to get here, as I started out as a 140kg extremely weak nerd who'd done nothing but sit at a desk for over a decade. It took a fair bit of posture and mobility work before I could do these lifts properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, despite this level of strength, I'm not visibly muscular. I don't expect to see muscle definition, as my body fat level is still too high, but my arms almost look skinny, and my thighs just have barely visible curves of muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been mostly training with sets of 3-5 reps. Is this why I haven't developed much muscle size? It bothers me a little bit that I don't even look like I go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25740" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T13:29:30.643" Title="I have decent physical strength but do not look muscular. What do I need to change in my workout?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34202" CreationDate="2017-05-28T21:09:57.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's entirely possible that what you lack in size is due to what you've lacked in the volume of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying it's wrong to work this or that rep-range, but it's largely agreed upon that if you want to prioritize size-gain, then you should consider increasing the volume of the work. I.e. the number of total reps performed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some pretty decent programs out there for those who want to gain size, and I'm sure you'll be able to find it by googling. Also there, I expect you'll find that there is more emphasis on total volume of work, as well as a good chunk of isolation work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think burning some fat will do your body more justice. It's often the case that we build strength while gaining both muscle and fat, and if we spend some time shedding some fat afterwards, we'll start to reap the aesthetic rewards of our work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, you could probably lose, say, 10kg of fat while maintaining most, or even all, of your strength. And as you no doubt agree, a 90kg person with those 1RMs is going to look more defined and muscular than a 100kg person with the same achievements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I'm mostly just confirming what you already suspect. You seem to have it figured out, to be honest. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T21:09:57.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34199" CreationDate="2017-05-29T03:14:47.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In 99.9% of cases it's called DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness. When you start working out again after a gap of non activity, your muscles will get really sore. However, in my personal experience and that of many others around me, the best way to deal with DOMS is to get back in the gym and keep moving around. You have to push through the pain and still try to hit those reps albeit at lower weights. Do some light cardio and active stretching around the area you feel sore in. Just don't sit around. Drink lots of water, get your protein/carbs to repair the fibers you tore and stay consistent with your workouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an unlikely chance you worked out so hard you got rhabdo. You can look that up for the symptoms and if you feel it might match you, see a doctor, don't consult an online forum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T03:14:47.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34181" CreationDate="2017-05-29T03:43:36.953" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one can just 'construct' your diet plan for you. You have to put in the work and learn about the factors that will help you construct your own successful meal plan because you know yourself the best. That being said, I can point you towards some helpful communities where you can get involved and learn about certain topics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keto diet - Beginners Guide to Keto: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/27vx2z/beginners_guide_to_keto/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reddit Keto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reddit Fitness and basic FAQs: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reddit Fitness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put in some time and do a lot of reading into those pages to make sure you understand what's going on when you lose a pound of fat. It's not hard, just gotta start. It all comes down to burning more than you consume to lose weight but those links/communities can give you a lot more helpful tips/support than stackoverflow can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meanwhile:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;do not drink your calories from now on. Anything with sugar in it (sodas, fruit juices you buy etc.) just drink water. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;learn how to use myfitnesspal on your phone and track your calories. See how much you eat normally and see what you can cut back on. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to eat less carbs/sugar. Get your veggies in because they're mostly fiber and help you feel full.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are you involved in a physical activity? No? Start taking some light walks. Great to clear your mind and burn some calories.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T03:43:36.953" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34273" CreationDate="2017-05-30T09:43:09.470" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why most trainers recommend you to train your abs every day? Why are they not respecting the 24-48 hour training window?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23220" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T19:28:37.440" Title="Abdomen training window" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34197" CreationDate="2017-05-30T13:39:31.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There’s nothing wrong with mixing up the exercises for your routine.  Years ago, this was called the “non-routine” exercise routine.  This meant that you did not follow a formal training program.  Rather, you went to the gym and worked on whatever you felt needed improvement.  Of course, that’s going to depend on your training goal(s).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this type of routine, the importance is placed on the individual body part that needs improvement and &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; the exercise.  Following this approach can help in preventing boredom and training plateaus since you’re constantly mixing up things.  Additionally, switching up set/rep combinations can be used to further help in reaching your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following a specific rigid program from a trainer is a typical progression for someone new to fitness training.  Again, the trainer should be designing the routine to accommodate an individual’s goals.  But, over time, and with experience, the trainee should assume responsibility for his/her goals and become less reliant on a trainer’s direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T13:39:31.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-30T15:42:59.083" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for about a year now, and am at a point now where I am able to run for 15 km. But now I have a problem. At the point where I reach 15 km, my heart and lungs are fine, I'm not even out of breath, but my legs aren't strong enough to go further. Either my calves start to ache, or my knees start to pain, or sometimes my upper legs start to become weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: How can I strengthen my legs so that I can run further, and also faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is about training for &gt; 15 km running, and more about endurance than speed, although speed is also asked. I require tips / techniques to be able to run longer / further, not so much faster. I would like to one day be able to run a full marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21691" LastEditorUserId="21691" LastEditDate="2017-05-31T06:34:10.347" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T20:28:56.977" Title="How can I strengthen my legs for running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-06-02T00:14:38.817" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34187" CreationDate="2017-05-30T20:47:12.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is NO, not all professional athletes are on drugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of them are, some aren't. The ratio of on drugs to not on drugs athletes is frankly a mystery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have testing organizations either within or outside of the professional organizations, etc, that specifically look for athletes they think are on drugs. And &quot;randomly&quot; test them, I say random because that's what they call it but it is almost always based on what the organization thinks the test will show, and is done with little to no warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all pro athletes were on drugs the percentage of positives we get back would be much higher than it is. But to say that all or none of them are on drugs would be naive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, for your little brother, don't worry about the drug thing yet. 95-97% of the things that will make you a professional athlete (on drugs or not) consist of forms of Training, Nutrition, Recovery, and Genetics. You need to have all 4 of these on point before doing drugs will make the 3% difference between making it to the pros or not. Most people who do drugs in sports still suck, because they don't have the previous 4 things before doing the drugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worry about being good before you worry about being legendary. Chances are you don't have the genetics to be a pro athlete but if you do, worry about Nutrition, Training, and Recovery before Drugs is even on your radar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25732" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T20:47:12.577" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34219" CreationDate="2017-05-31T02:22:01.457" Score="4" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 42 and would like to start doing some body building exercises (especially my chest and arms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something achievable or the age factor will be an obstacle?&#xA;if so, can I use same routines as other younger people or I need something special for my age?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T03:59:20.143" Title="Body Building for 40+" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34218" CreationDate="2017-05-31T03:46:10.050" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Body building&quot; is about body modification: unless your dead set on it I would highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;an effective strength training program&lt;/a&gt;. A book recommendation I'd toss at you is &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2qzkZfj&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm around your age, and still hover &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;between intermediate and advanced in recognized strength standards&lt;/a&gt;. As I've gotten older, I've noticed a few things that are also noted in &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2sc1sTp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Rippetoe's notorious book&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need a longer warmup. I used to warmup for maybe 3 minutes before squatting an empty bar, and now it's more like 8 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The penalty for dumb mistakes is higher. You don't recover as fast, which really isn't a huge deal, but it's hard enough balancing recovery with an effective program let alone collecting injuries from bad form or overuse (like bicep curls and catching tendinits). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've ever read up on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcopenia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;sarcopenia&lt;/a&gt;, it's the loss of muscle mass with age. Strength training is the most effective weapon in your arsenal to combat it, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10936901&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;as this 2000 study notes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The evidence presented suggests that [strength training] is an&#xA;  effective intervention for improving strength, muscle mass and muscle&#xA;  quality and delaying the onset of physical disability in the elderly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to think that I can't stop getting older, but I can choose to be older and weak/fat or older and strong/fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously though, don't go down the road of mirror muscles and bodybuilding if your goal is strength, fitness, and a healthy life. Squatting 300 pounds and deadlifting 400 will make you &lt;em&gt;plenty&lt;/em&gt; jacked looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2017-05-31T03:59:20.143" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T03:59:20.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34187" CreationDate="2017-05-31T03:58:56.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every high level cyclist I knew when I raced was on some form of banned or quasi-banned substance, at the time (mid 90's) primarily &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_doping#Erythropoietin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPO&lt;/a&gt;. We heard in the old days that guys would take a pint of blood out of themselves during the fall and pop it into the freezer. Thaw and re-inject during the spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have that much of your career and life on the line (skipped college, no real alternatives, whole identity is your sport, etc) it's really hard to say &quot;no&quot; to something that lots of other people are doing with no adverse side effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone has enough knowledge to speak across all professional sports, and you can split hairs and talk about things like creatine which was banned, then it wasn't, and is now sort-of-not-really banned by some agencies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some sports, like snowboarding, I can't really see much advantage to performance enhancing drugs because it's really just about technique and practice. In cycling EPO was popular because you could train with it during the spring to push really hard and then by the summer racing system (when you got tested) it was out of your system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some folks, especially that live at high altitude, EPO levels are naturally higher anyway as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17955945&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this 2007 study notes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Short or prolonged residency at HA is associated with increased&#xA;  secretion of EPO. The EPO response to hypoxia is not significantly&#xA;  altered in AMS but is markedly enhanced in HAPE, which may be due to&#xA;  exaggerated hypoxemia in these patients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So back to splitting hairs, if you live at 8,000 feet and I live at sea level and I take EPO to get to the level that you have from being up there, how &quot;unfair&quot; is that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you get into blood doping and performance enhancing drugs the grayer it gets. In general though I stayed out of it, and ultimately pulled out of high level cycling, because I didn't want to make a chemistry lab out of my blood stream. But it's a choice every athlete has to make for themselves. At minimum, I would work with a doctor you (or your brother, in this case) trusts. Tell them what you're doing, have blood tests done, and have a physician watching over you as you try to outsmart the human body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T03:58:56.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-31T06:28:44.953" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get intense pain in arm when I do biceps curls either with dumbbell or bar, I am fine with exercise of other part of body u.e. triceps back , chest etc, Is there any exercise of biceps which does not involve curls but give sufficient benefit to increase biceps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T03:08:46.930" Title="Biceps increase without curls" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34222" CreationDate="2017-05-31T06:39:12.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any sort of rowing motion with a barbell and chin-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T06:39:12.127" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4681" CreationDate="2017-05-31T07:33:35.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started fasting for extended periods of time when I was a teen in high school, while I was in football and weightlifting. I'm now almost 50 and have fasted for extended periods numerous times up to 22 days on water only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the fasts I lost no discernible muscle mass and back in high school my weightlifting maxes remained the same both during and after fasting. All I lost was unnecessary fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there were some side effects to fasting...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years ago my blood pressure was a bit too high and my doctor had me on blood pressure drugs. I fasted 22 days (for another reason) and my blood pressure dropped to normal...and stayed normal without the drugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My senses were sharper (especially taste and smell), aches and pains disappeared, my psoriasis cleared up, and I felt almost as good as I did when I was a teenager.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those who think fasting is overrated, unproductive, causes muscle loss, or have any other negative opinion, all I can say is that they are missing out on a tremendously healthy experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25766" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T07:33:35.440" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34227" CreationDate="2017-05-31T15:02:51.680" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I took swimming lessons while I was a kid, I was never super strong and never mastered good free style form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now 50, and attempting to complete in a triathlon (sprint).  As a person with a partial disability, this is a really big deal for me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I notice, is that I do not seem to get enough air on the input breath during proper free style form.  My body seems to want to use far more air then what I am able to bring in.  Additionally if I stick my head out of the water to breathe, I can only go a short distance while reverting to my favorite energy conserving stroke:  the side stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sensation is that of a slow suffocation as I do not seem to have the ability to take a really good breath.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on overcoming that sensation?  Any advice on how to become comfortable for the amount of air received?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25585" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T17:42:03.493" Title="Enough Air Input for Free style" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;crawl&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34187" CreationDate="2017-05-31T17:34:12.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep the answer short, from my opinion and experience: YES, but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes - if you only want to be in that league or to earn money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NO - if you want to be in the top of those leagues or Elite level competitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are all genetically limited to a certain degree, and the top genetically gifted athletes still take some performance enhancements to set them appart from the other genetically gifted athlete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply compare oldtime strongman like Louis Cyr against someone like Bill Kazmeier and you will easily understand.&#xA;How many of those Kazmeier-Types do we see today in comparison to then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it is related to strength only but it can be referenced to all sports where a lot of money and pressure for success is in the game... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T17:34:12.440" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34225" CreationDate="2017-05-31T19:32:18.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best advice I can give you is that it's okay to swim some sidestroke when you need to. It will obviously not be as fast as freestyle for the duration of your race, but breathing patterns are a huge part of racing, and it will take some work to master a pattern that works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also during training, maybe try one of my go-to drills: 3 Strokes, 10 Kicks. Take three regular arm strokes without breathing, then stop &lt;em&gt;on your side&lt;/em&gt; with your bottom arm stretched above your head and your top arm at your side while you perform 10 kicks. Take a couple breaths while you are kicking. After 10 kicks, take three more strokes, stop on your other side, and ten more kicks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This drill provides a very sustainable breathing pattern that you could use as a base to build from. As you get more comfortable, you can decrease the number of kicks (aka less pure breathing time) to 8, then 6, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25386" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T19:32:18.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-01T11:13:04.330" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I watch professional martial arts fights, I often find myself baffled how fighters that - judging by the looks - share my body composition compete in weight classes that are more than 10 kg below my own weight. I found out that most of this is due to manipulating the amount of water in your body and read about professional middleweight boxers whose difference in weight between weight-in day and the fight the day after could go up as high as 25 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside of this practise is that you take a huge risk: There's of course the acute danger to die of rehydration if you go too far, but even if you survive this process, you could impede your fighting potential because of malnourishment - or because you gorged yourself too hard after making weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is: Assume you are at the exact body composition level (lean body mass and %body fat) you also expect to have at the day of the competition. How much additional weight can you expect to lose by means of fasting, emptying out intestines, losing water, spitting,... &lt;strong&gt;safely&lt;/strong&gt; (*) when&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a) the weight-in is 24 hours before the competition?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;b) the weight-in is 3 hours before the competition?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do martial arts competitions and weightlifting competitions require different considerations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) by 'safely' I mean 'not significantly impeding your competition capabilities' and with 'not significantly' I mean that the benefits of competing in a lower weight division still outshine the negative effects of the weight cutting process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25777" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T11:13:04.330" Title="How much competition weight loss can be considered safe?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34241" CreationDate="2017-06-01T11:55:57.020" Score="-1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;My height is 170 cm and weight is 88.7 kgs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per the BMI index the ideal weight range for my height is 64-68kgs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got my gym schedule stated on Monday of this week and as per the measurement by body has 26.7% fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can you suggest me a diet or any suggestion for my weight loss goal. I want to achieve the weight in my ideal date range i.e., 64-68kg and am targeting to loose atleast 5-10 kgs per month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note : I am an Indiana and strictly vegetarian. Also, I am living with friends in a rented apartment so not having the liberty to anything at any point of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kinldy suggest some light, or grab 'n go, or something that can be made easily and quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also let me know if there are any activities / exercises that I can perform during or after my workouts. I usually gym at morning 6:00 am&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25769" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:04:26.273" Title="Weight loss and fat reduction with workouts / exercise / activity / diet" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-06-02T17:57:51.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-01T14:50:32.907" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;im 13 and i want to be taller is ther any sports can help to increase height cause im Short compared to the same age hope find a sport&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25779" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T14:59:00.887" Title="Is there any sport that helps increase height?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-06-01T20:31:03.570" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34235" CreationDate="2017-06-01T14:59:00.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No sport can increase your height. Your maximal physical height is limited by your skeleton.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T14:59:00.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34225" CreationDate="2017-06-01T17:42:03.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the best tips that helped me a lot for getting enough air when swimming FS is to breath out as much as possible while submerged. This will let you exhale the air that is high in CO2 to free up space in your lungs for the air that is low in CO2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5804" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T17:42:03.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34215" CreationDate="2017-06-01T20:28:56.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a good runner. But I enjoyed a great amount of various pains and issues during running. The suggested plan how to avoid all the problems follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Revise your running technique&lt;/strong&gt;. This step is the most crucial and you should not skip it. If you find an issue in your technique. Correct it. Test it for few months. If you do not know how to check your technique, hire a professional (choose carefully).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do mobility drills&lt;/strong&gt;. The book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1628600098&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ready to Run: Unlocking Your Potential to Run Naturally&lt;/a&gt; is far the best textbook (at least as I know). Test all new exercises/drills for few months at least&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Additionally on top of that, you should add some strength training (as you suggest/request). Great place to start is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strongfirst.com/training-the-endurance-athlete/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.strongfirst.com/training-the-endurance-athlete/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that all three steps are strongly related together. The mobility and strength is a must for safe running (as for everything else).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20424" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T20:28:56.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34222" CreationDate="2017-06-02T02:29:10.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried curls with an ez curl bar, maybe that will help. Also pull ups wit a reverse grip or a neutral grip. Hammer curls should take some stress off your forearms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25782" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T02:29:10.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34222" CreationDate="2017-06-02T03:08:46.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can do pullups, that would be my recommendation. In general I frown on isolation work because it's not natural and a good way to get tendinitis and other overuse injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With pullups, you have some options that hopefully won't hurt: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBUnderhandChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;palms towards you&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBPullup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;palms away&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/BWCloseGripChinup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;palms towards each other&lt;/a&gt; (if you have that piece of gear).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what part of your arm is bothering you, but another option is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/STPullup.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ring or suspension pullups&lt;/a&gt;. Those are a bit tougher because you have to stabilize on them, but they're somewhat more forgiving on your joints because you can freely move into a position that's more comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/25920/7091&quot;&gt;The good news is that regardless of the particular technique you use, you'll get a terrific upper body pulling exercise, with ~85% recruitment of your biceps&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you got tendinitis from doing curls (typical), it's a great learning moment to switch to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_training#Isolation_exercises_versus_compound_exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;compound exercises&lt;/a&gt;. And in particular, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a proven strength training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T03:08:46.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34234" CreationDate="2017-06-02T09:50:03.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, see a dietician that specializes in obesity.  This can not be stressed enough.  If you're in an exercise program make certain that the frequency and type of exercise are accounted for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most research for the past 15 years seems to indicate that you will get the best loses at 75-80% of your estimated burn rate.  Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) + Calories from exercise.  There are some minimums regarding bodily functions that you should stay above, around 1200kcal for women and 1800kcal for men.  Well over 100g carbs/day (unless going ketogenic, don't do this if you're diabetic) and 0.8 - 1.2 times your lean weight (in pounds) in grams of protein per day, more if exercising heavily.  Fats need a mix of different fatty acid chains (omega3/6, etc) and should be above 50g a day, minimum.  Minimal sugars, avoid all refined sugars.  (Again, talk to your nutritionist).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do less than the above minimums, your body's metabolism will shift, and will have to work harder to create the nutrient chains that it needs.  Either from other sources when possible, or by cannibalizing fat and muscle stores, etc.  Some nutritional needs are difficult or impossible to synthesize and will present as various malnutrition symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some plans will have you go &lt;em&gt;VERY&lt;/em&gt; low calorie (under 600/day) this forces your body to use it's own resources in order to lose weight.  You &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; lose lean muscle in addition to fat if you do this, and should not do it for more than 2-3 months at a time.  You will also be at risk for various malnutrition diseases.  This is a tactic used when extremely obese with the theory that the fast lost and associated risks are outweighed by the long term benefits.  If you are advised to go this route, make certain your various vitamin, electrolyte and other indicators are tested before and throughout this process, you will need to take supplements, and your absorption will vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read, it's far better to have an appropriate calorie load, with some attention to your macro needs, and a variety of food.  With modest additional exercise and an appropriate caloric intake you will have the best results over time.  You should reevaluate your burn rate (BMR + Exercise) every 1-3 months as you lose weight, or if you plateau for more than a few weeks.  It will be lower for your resting burn rate but you should be able to be more active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get enough rest and push yourself now and then.  Make sure to have a rest day or two a week you can do some cardio, but not a full load workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the macros, your dietician can guide you... If you join a cross fit (boot camp) program, or other heavy program with a lot of weight and resistance, you definitely need more protein than carbs...  Your dietician can guide you to a good range to strive for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm around 400# (us) and 6'1&quot; tall.  My resting burn rate is 3300kcal and I'm burning another 800-1100 on training days.  My own targets are around 3000-3400 intake on training days and around 2000-2500 on down days.  My macro ranges are 150-200g of carbs a day, avoiding sugary fruits and refined sugar.  I get 250-300g protein per day and 100-160g fats a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you weigh less than half what I do with a much closer target, so your calorie needs are probably closer to half, which is the suggested  level for women near a healthy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own dailies are as follows...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wake up and have a serving of bcaas, with a protein shake, 2 scoops whey and a banana, 2tbsp pbfit, and unsweetened coconut milk and a tbsp of coconut oil and 2tbsp flax meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning snack is about 1.5 servings of medium digesting protein, I have chicken most days, but if you eat egg whites, that works (will do 3 whites, and one whole egg hard boiled).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch is usually a salad with extra protein, I and a carb side in training days.  Quinoa, lentils, beans, etc preferred over bread/rice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afternoon snack is another protein shake (double size) no banana with water. Then a pre workout supplement with bcaas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gym training is about 40-55 minutes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Post workout bcaas, creatine as one scoop protein.  Along with a banana, 1-2oz mixed nuts (no peanuts) and a cup of kefir.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last meal is a large salad with cottage cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your portions and needs will be very different... The final meal is dairy protein which trends to be about 20%whey and 80/ casien.  This is for slow digestion and continued muscle rebuild over night... The carb (banana in the morning with fast acting whey and a fast acting carb is a good fasting recovery) a medium protein for morning snack to stay anabolic, and a healthy lunch, complex carbs are best here for the energy working out later.  More fast protein to stay anabolic and prep for workout...  The workout is rough... Post workout is a mix of protein and mostly fast carbs...  This helps replenish glycogen stores with enough protein to keep your body working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been at this for 3 weeks now, down about 24# and about 1# muscle added, ymmv.  I'm starting from a very different point.  You didn't mention your gender or age.  I stalled the second week which is when I was told to eat more...  Again, 75-80% of calories burned.  With a variety of different fats, proteins and carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25785" LastEditorUserId="25785" LastEditDate="2017-06-06T19:04:26.273" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:04:26.273" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34148" CreationDate="2017-06-05T03:04:52.757" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally you'll have to put in enough intensity, volume, and time-under-tension to feel sore the next day. If you're just going light on these, then that's just a lightweight workout you can do everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of people go out on a walk and/or a short run on a daily basis too -- it just depends on how hard your workout &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; is!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T03:04:52.757" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32271" CreationDate="2017-06-05T05:09:59.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As this can have chronic implications if not corrected, I feel an obligation to respond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clinically I commonly see variants of this presentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Without a full assessment by a physical therapist you will not have the full picture of what's going on, however this is most common culprit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case the muscles between your shoulder blades (scapular retractors) along with tight pecs (chest) are altering the resting position of joints; specifically your jaw (temporomandibular joint or TMJ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For every inch your head extends forward, your neck has to support an&#xA;  additional 10 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These imbalances cause &lt;strong&gt;“Kyphosis”&lt;/strong&gt; (a rounded spine) and &lt;strong&gt;“Forward Head”&lt;/strong&gt; and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Symptoms Include&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Headaches and migraines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chronic pain syndromes or increased pain sensitivity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Psychological factors: these may contribute, as with other chronic pain syndromes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle overactivity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bruxism (grinding of the teeth and clenching of the jaw)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clicking, popping, or grating sounds in the jaw joint when you open or close your mouth or chew. This may or may not be painful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may also have toothaches, neck aches, dizziness, earaches, hearing problems, upper shoulder pain, and ringing in the ears (tinnitus).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ways to Correct it&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chest Expansion&lt;/strong&gt; - Stand up straight maintaining a correct posture alignment. Interlace your hands behind your back, your knuckles should point to the floor. Now, lower your shoulders down and while taking a deep breath push your arms away from you (see image). This helps loosen tight chest muscles which are a known factor in developing a forward head.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder Blade Pinches&lt;/strong&gt; - Sit upright on a chair with your arms by your side. Lower your shoulders down and then ‘pinch’ your shoulder blades together. Hold this position for around 30 seconds before you relax. Repeat up to 10 times several times a day. Slouching forwards stretches and weakens upper back muscles, another cause for a forward head, this exercise helps to strengthen them which will help your head go back to it’s proper alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nose Nods&lt;/strong&gt; - Lay down on the floor flat on your back with your legs bent, knees will be up. Make sure your nose is facing straight up to the ceiling (or the sky if you’re outside!). While making sure to keep your neck still, slowly nod your head forwards until you feel the ‘double chin’ come. After just a second or two bring your head back up so your nose is pointing straight up once again. This exercise helps train your brain into making this movement a habit as apposed to bending your neck forwards while doing things like texting on your phone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T05:09:59.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-05T12:44:48.003" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking to take a prework out supplements which can help me keep energised during workout and help me do hardcore workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now i am doing weight lifting exercise like Chest,back,Bicep,shoulder etc.I have decided like after i finish my weight lifting exercise(like i did my chest exercise today) i will do cardio for 15-20 along with stretching but problems is i am unable to do it.Sometimes i do only running for 10 minutes after that i am not able to do anything and i dont know why i get so de-energised so early so that i am not able to do cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now i am taking following things half an hooru before before hitting the gym :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 glass of juice.&#xA;1 glass of milk which contains some dry fruits along with banana.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my friend is taking &lt;a href=&quot;https://in.bodybuilding.com/store/sv/xtend.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BCAA&lt;/a&gt; and i can see that he is able to do heavy liftings than me and he told me that BCAA helped him alot and gives him boost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my friend also suggested me &lt;a href=&quot;https://in.bodybuilding.com/store/cobra-labs/the-curse.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cobra Lab curse&lt;/a&gt;.So guys can you suggest me any good prework supplements which can help me do hardcore workout and doesnt have any kind of side effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16583" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T15:09:35.480" Title="Suggestions regarding prework out supplements to boost workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;pre-workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34255" CreationDate="2017-06-05T13:39:50.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If possible, you should look to get your “energy” from quality food, rather than supplements.  The supplement industry is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Markets/NBJ-The-US-supplement-industry-is-37-billion-not-12-billion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;billion dollar industry&lt;/a&gt; laden with promises for quick gains.  While some supplements may benefit the user, it’s best to not rely solely on a “magic pill” to enhance performance.  Rather, make sure you are getting sufficient rest and consuming quality protein, carbohydrate and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T13:39:50.093" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34255" CreationDate="2017-06-05T15:09:35.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, don't compare yourself to others. This is especially important when concerning fitness and nutrition. Your body may be &lt;em&gt;similar&lt;/em&gt; but it is not the &lt;strong&gt;same&lt;/strong&gt; as other people. Also be careful about drawing your own assumptions on causality: Your friend's intake of BCAAs is unlikely to be the reason he is lifting more than you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;On BCAA's&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meta-analysis completed by &lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/branched-chain-amino-acids/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;examine.com&lt;/a&gt; summerises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) are three amino acids with similar structures that beneficially influence the muscles. They can be found in any food containing protein, such as eggs or meat. Supplementation is not necessary, but BCAAs may benefit the body if taken at specific times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarising the meta-analysis from examine (I recommend you go read it), supplementing BCAA's may improve your recovery during a fasted state where you might not be able to obtain them form your diminished diet. The effect on reducing perceived fatigue is more noticeable in untrained/beginner individuals. Remember that utilising the placebo-effect can be a very real performance enhancer for untrained individuals. You observing this and commenting to him only serves to increase his perception of the (potential) placebo intra-exercise 'energy boost'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;On Preworkout&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pre-workout is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and everyone is looking for that little pill to make you &amp;quot;get ripped in 30 days!&amp;quot;(tm). In reality, most preworkouts follow the same formula with some extra &amp;quot;special enchancers&amp;quot; that have no scientifically backed evidence to prove they enhance your performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that the following do improve performance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt;: Though you can get this from eating enough meat and the timing of taking creatine does not matter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/branched-chain-amino-acids/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BCAAs&lt;/a&gt;: As above, can help improve recovery. You can get this from food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://examine.com/supplements/caffeine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Caffeine&lt;/a&gt;: Raises your heart rate and give the feeling of higher energy levels. The &amp;quot;healthiest&amp;quot; way to get it is either pure (pill form) or from black coffee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The rest is just stuff that might give you a stronger pump, might help you recover, might help you burn fat for longer or might increase your chance of a early-age heart attack, a lot of pre-workout is unregulated by the FDA.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To assess the suitability of a pre-workout, check it on labdoor.com which is a un-biased website comparing the scientific composition of these powders (amongst other things). Don't just look at the numbers, read into their investigations. Here is the page for your chosen pre-workout: &lt;a href=&quot;https://labdoor.com/review/cobra-labs-the-curse-pre-workout/report&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://labdoor.com/review/cobra-labs-the-curse-pre-workout/report&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;Personal Recommendation:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't compare yourself to others.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the hard work in, develop mental toughness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take creatine, 5 grams, every day, forever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drink water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are low on energy you can occasionally use coffee as pre-workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough and eat well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T15:09:35.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3698" CreationDate="2017-06-05T17:11:51.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;the average human can use up to 40-50% of their strength while a pro body builder can use 60-65%, the reason being is because our brain cannot receive all messages sent by protein cells or muscle cells in general at once, apparently we are supposed to be 7X stronger than chimpanzees, chimps are stronger than us since they have access to most cells in their bodies and they can receive most neuron waves sent to the brain(messages). in the end this is why we cannot use 100% OF OUR STRENGTH just yet, eventually well evolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25813" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T17:11:51.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-05T18:25:02.900" Score="0" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;i've been reading about ankle weights. And i was wondering if they really help for glute exercise. Also, if my thighs are gonna be bigger. If you have an experience, please, share!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25814" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T16:14:07.353" Title="ankle weights for glutes" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34267" CreationDate="2017-06-06T05:53:01.133" Score="3" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was doing butterfly chest excercise with machine as shown &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/butterfly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, my trainer said I am doing it wrong as my hands should be straight when coming to front. While earlier, my elbow was bent when I bring my hands together. I was able to do 110 pounds with my prior technique. However, with the technique told by trainer I was hardly able to do 60 pound. So, if the trainer told me the correct form, which I think he did, which muscle was I training earlier? He told me it was shoulders, but, I have my doubts. Can someone clarify proper method of butterfly fly on this machine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="25816" LastEditDate="2017-06-07T10:22:29.650" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T10:22:29.650" Title="Proper hand placement for chest flys?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27952" CreationDate="2017-06-06T10:31:48.033" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without goals, devising a program is difficult since one does not know where to put the emphasis (cardio? Strength? Technique?).&#xA;Plus, when you have a precise goal, you sometimes need to favor efficiency over fun factor while if you just train/do sport to be fit and in shape then you shall rather do what you find fun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the assumption that you just want to be fit and in shape without any particular goal, your programming shall be just based on common sense and personal feedback i.e. if you know you will rest during the weekend, then favor putting a difficult training (e.g. long bike ride or long run i.e. high volume) on friday, favor putting technical work when feeling fresh e.g. strength training involving barbell lifts or technical movement beginning of the week or before doing a run/bicycle run the same day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arrange your workout to avoid strength/cardio work the same day (it is possible to do but since you just want to be fit, I would not see the point except if you have time constraints) and arrange your split in strength session to avoid fatiguing muscles you will use the next day e.g. legs before run/bike is not optimal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To adjust your training log, keep track of your own sensation (tiredness, stress from work and other factors) and your results (e.g. a heavy drop in performance can indicate over training and you should reduce the load). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you will have more precise goal (if you do) then you could fine tune your programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example programming for a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday : Strength (upper)&#xA;Tuesday : Running&#xA;Wednesday : Rest or Strength (core/legs or all body)&#xA;Thursday : Strength (Upper)&#xA;Friday : Biking&#xA;Week-end : rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T10:31:48.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33769" CreationDate="2017-06-06T11:07:23.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sub 20 5k run is in my opinion not that difficult if this is your main goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have reached 19'50 5k without looking at my diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Build your aerobic Base (aerobic treshold), increase your lactic treshold (treshold training) and work on your running technique (might require an external coach). Then plan strength training around that and rest accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read good books to get an understanding of Training in both endurance and strength and you will be good (Chris hinshaw, Cal dietz triphasic are ressources I recommend) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T11:07:23.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34261" CreationDate="2017-06-06T19:06:25.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to answer this question since you did not describe your form very well.  The picture provided is the correct technique, and I don't know what your trainer is telling you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest flys primarily target the chest.  Secondary muscles used in this exercise include the front deltoids and the biceps.  Biceps act only as a stabilizer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chest is much bigger than the front deltoids, so if you are lifting less weight, chances are that you're using your deltoids.  This means that you are performing the exercise incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go by feel.  If you feel a squeeze in the middle of your chest, you're on the right track.  If your shoulders are burning, or even in pain, then you're probably doing it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.  Chest flys are an &lt;em&gt;accessory&lt;/em&gt; movement.  You shouldn't really be concerned with how much weight you're moving.  Stick to bench presses to build strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25816" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:06:25.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34259" CreationDate="2017-06-06T19:15:28.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply wearing ankle weights will do nothing for your glutes.  If you perform an exercise with them, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/glute-kickback/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;this&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, then you will target your glutes, and not your thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deep barbell or goblet squats with a wide stance or walking lunges with dumbbells are great glue exercises.  They will tone your legs, and not add to much size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25816" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:15:28.973" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34213" CreationDate="2017-06-06T19:25:44.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of your muscles vary in degree of resistibility to training.  For example, you use your calves every single day, but you don't have to wait 24-48 hours to use them again.  They are much more resistant to training.  The same goes for your abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to think about is the way you train your abdominals.  Usually, abs are trained in sets with high repetitions and no extra weights.  Like running everyday, these low intensity workouts do not tax your muscles like heavy bench presses or squats do.  Your body is able to recover much faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25816" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:25:44.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34202" CreationDate="2017-06-06T19:38:02.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to understand that strength and muscle size are very weakly related.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-097X.1985.tb00590.x/full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; study comparing leg size and strength and &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-097X.1985.tb00590.x/full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; study on the relationship between size and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build size quickly, you must maximize muscle hypertrophy.  This has been studied for years, and the general consensus is that sets of 8-12 reps are best.  Make sure your last rep is really tough to complete.  You may not get the last rep each time.  Proper form goes a long way.  It will prevent injury and properly isolate the muscle(s) you intend on training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for leg definition, it takes a relatively low body fat to start seeing the &quot;curves of muscle.&quot;  The majority of body fat is stored on the mid-section of your body and on your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25816" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:38:02.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34186" CreationDate="2017-06-06T19:47:56.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Muscle size &lt;strong&gt;weakly&lt;/strong&gt; correlates to muscle strength.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-097X.1985.tb00590.x/full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; study that compares size to strength in leg muscles and &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/acsm-essr/Abstract/2003/01000/Role_of_Body_Size_in_the_Relation_Between_Muscle.3.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no perfect way to build size and strength at the same time, but it is certainly possible to do it efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that heavy weights and sets with low repetitions(less than 5) build muscle strength.  Sets with 8-12 repetitions maximize hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two options come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have days that focus on building strength, and separate days that focus on building size&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perform heavy, compound movements in the beginning of your workout, and lighter, accessory movements in the later part of your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer the former.  In my experience, it is a great way to train for both size and strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focusing on either strength or size, not both, will yield the most progress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25816" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:47:56.417" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34126" CreationDate="2017-06-06T19:59:56.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chances are that the weight lost is from water.  You would need to be in a 500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound of fat per week, and it's doubtful that you are since you're not eating less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check your macronutrient and micronutrient ratios.  Limiting carbs and sodium will cause you to retain less water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it just seems that a couple of pounds have shed away from nowhere. I don't feel or look leaner, and I'm more muscular -- so why would I lose instead of gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A couple of pounds difference will not result in much visible change&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Losing weight, whether its water or fat(you definitely did not lose this much muscle), will make your muscles more defined.  Your skin will look tighter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing weight makes your mid section smaller before it does your upper body, and this will aid in the illusion that you are more muscular.  Professional bodybuilders seek to maximize this illusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25816" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T19:59:56.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34213" CreationDate="2017-06-06T21:41:14.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the &quot;training&quot;, like any other muscle or muscle group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically people are not approaching their 1RM or training their abs for strength, and as such they're not tearing down the tissue as much. If you were doing something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtInclineCrunch.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;weighted inclined crunches&lt;/a&gt; and training for strength (maxing 3-5 reps) then you would treat your abs the same as performing any other 3RM-5RM lift as far as recovery goes: taking time off for recovery to complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side, if you just did the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/support-position-a27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;isometric support position on rings&lt;/a&gt;, you could do that every day because it's akin to holding a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plank&lt;/a&gt;. They're both exercises, but similar to going for a walk there simply isn't as much tissue damage for the normal person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarized, rest periods are directly related to the time it takes for your body to heal the damage you did. Most ab exercises are higher repped, and the issue is more about waste products (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acidosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lactic acidosis&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_glycolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anaerobic glycolisis&lt;/a&gt;, primarily) than repairing and rebuilding torn tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1494/how-often-can-a-person-work-on-their-abs?rq=1&quot;&gt;I found this well written answer which is possibly a duplicate question&lt;/a&gt;. Regardless, it's relevant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2017-06-19T19:28:37.440" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T19:28:37.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-07T00:43:35.030" Score="0" ViewCount="867" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's common parlance in the bodybuilding and muscle building world to assume that you need a surplus or diet above TDEE over constant periods called &quot;bulking&quot; in order to build muscle. I refused to do this when I had my first major dietary and exercise changes about 8 months ago. I decided to do a DEXA scan once a month and see what would happen to my body makeup without bulking or cutting, and just eating a calorie range that I &lt;strong&gt;feel&lt;/strong&gt; is right for me to build muscle and lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interesting part is simple. Since I wanted to also quickly test the &quot;bulking&quot; and &quot;cutting&quot; theories, I threw in a few days here and there where I would cut and bulk just one or two days per week. Overall, I didn't really &quot;bulk&quot; or &quot;cut&quot; in the traditional sense, but two days before the DEXA scan I would eat high-calorie diets after a brutal, total body workout to see if it made any difference in muscle the prior month. Overall, here's the breakdown:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First month DEXA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 133.9 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF%: 18.6%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: 171 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skeletal muscle: ~74 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second month DEXA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 134.5 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF%: 16%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: ~164 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third month DEXA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 135.3 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF%: 14.9%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: ~157 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fourth month DEXA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 135.7 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF%: 13.3%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: ~153 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fifth month DEXA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 134.2 lbs (lost muscle)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF% 12.6%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: ~149 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sixth month DEXA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 134.9 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF% 13.6%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: ~154 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seventh month DEXA (&lt;strong&gt;big surprise here!&lt;/strong&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 138.6 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF% 14.4%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: ~160 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eighth month DEXA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LBM: 140.9 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BF% 14.7%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BW: ~163 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skeletal muscle: ~81 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I would eat more and LOST muscle at the end of that month -- on another month I ate less and happened to have gained a pinch of bodyfat, but also gained a massive amount of muscle! It would be in the contrary as a 2-day after workout surplus resulted in MUSCLE LOSS and my bodyfat did not increase overall despite this -- and on the gain month, I had a 3-4 day deficit before the scan, which showed more fat but more muscle as well. Overall, cutting/bulking doesn't work for me efficiently since I can gain more muscle in a fast than I had managed in a surplus, all dietary perfections followed with macros and nutrients otherwise, every single day of the challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25647" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T07:03:10.667" Title="DEXA scan showing I gain more muscle when restricting calories. Why?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34274" CreationDate="2017-06-07T02:26:25.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot more to the human metabolism and cellular workshop than bodybuilding.com threads are going to get into. Here are some factors you may want to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't discuss your program/training. Some programs are much more mass-building than others. Also, if this was your first exposure to strength training then you are dealing with the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12512/how-much-muscle-gain-can-be-expected-within-1-month-of-training-on-average-m-w/12562#12562&quot;&gt;noob gains&lt;/a&gt;&quot; category. An untrained athlete could basically throw a telephone book around in a room while fasting and would probably put on some muscle. The things you can do in the first 6-12 months are a lot different than 6-12 years in when you're knocking on your genetic potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This line of yours caught my eye:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a brutal, total body workout&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with total body training, I'm in fact a big advocate of &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;things like Strong Lifts 5x5 and Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;. But the &quot;brutality&quot; in them isn't really about any single day, rather it's the progressive overloading week after week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19114/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-for-better-fat-loss/19117#19117&quot;&gt;your metabolism changes as you add increased muscle mass, knocking on nearly 10%&lt;/a&gt;. Inversely, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19351/zyzz-body-without-steroids/19353#19353&quot;&gt;the lower your body fat goes the more readily your body will store fat (via increased insulin response)&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You, me, and everyone else on the planet shares nearly identical DNA. Our bodies respond pretty much the same way in aggregate, which is why certain fundamentals of fitness and nutrition really are universal. Unless you have a metabolic disease or endocrine issue, there's nothing special or unique about your physiology. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't add muscle tissue indefinitely, the rate of your strength and muscle mass gains will drop rapidly, and your body wants to store fat when you get lower. There's no way around this. Rather than try to solve any particular quirk with yourself which is really just an artifact of your first year of lifting (I'm assuming), I'd stick with solid programs and proper nutrition advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T02:26:25.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2017-06-07T06:24:18.810" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;more wieght = more mass. Do lower back bodywieght excersizes like laying belly down on the floor with arms in various position and raising your trunk. Also, and this pertains to wieghted squats and bodywieght squats, don't lock out your knees and only go as far down till you start to feel a relief in tension. You want tension in your legs the whole time not just parts of the rep. Only go between 3-7 inches if neccessary for the entirety of the rep. Its science and its called time under load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25820" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T06:24:18.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34278" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34280" CreationDate="2017-06-07T10:43:56.287" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why elbows have to be bent for shoulder exercises like front and lateral dumbbell raise? &#xA;Does it harm or benefit any other muscle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2018-10-14T04:46:05.403" Title="Shoulder training technique" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34278" CreationDate="2017-06-07T15:34:56.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; bend your elbows for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBFrontRaise.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;db raise&lt;/a&gt;. EXRX, as an example notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grasp dumbbells in both hands. Position dumbbells in front of upper&#xA;  legs &lt;strong&gt;with elbows straight or slightly bent&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you bend your elbows, you do three things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You lower the leverage because the lever arm (literally, your arm in this case) is shorter. If you have a 33&quot; arm, at fully extended the dumbbell is 33&quot; in front of you (basically). If you bend a bit, the dumbbell is now maybe 25&quot; in front of you: that's a big difference in the amount of weight you can lift. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If something hurts, or you have any particular weakness in the range of motion you can quickly shorten the lever even more, reducing the loading on your shoulder in a dynamic as-needed fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A locked elbow puts much more load on the elbow joint itself and does not engage the muscles (particularly the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Brachioradialis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;brachioradialis&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/BicepsBrachii.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;biceps&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Brachialis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;brachialis&lt;/a&gt;) to share the load. Static loading the bones and connective tissue and not using muscles as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Glossary.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stabilizers&lt;/a&gt; is frequently why for most exercises you want to have a &quot;slight bend&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The human body has a pretty natural way to produce force. If you had to push a car, you would (probably) take a breath, hold it in, bend your knees, and bend your elbows. Giving a car a push with arms fully locked is naturally unappealing for the reasons I tried to breakdown above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T15:34:56.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34293" CreationDate="2017-06-08T02:17:40.350" Score="3" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to run at your maximum heart rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont think a running maximum heart rate is the same as an absolute maximum heart rate, but I have no evidence for this. &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2039/8485&quot;&gt;One answer&lt;/a&gt; to a Stackexchange question of how to find your max heart rate states that you will pass out before hitting your max. McMillan's pace graph implies that there is a pace at which running faster will no longer increase your heart rate. That implies sprinting is possible at max HR.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3JGtS.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3JGtS.gif&quot; alt=&quot;McMillan Training Zone Graph&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T15:49:33.327" Title="Can you run at your maximum heart rate?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;heart-rate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-08T05:01:14.597" Score="1" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of doing an amateur bodybuilding show, but I'm drug-free and build muscle super-slowly no matter what. I am in need of going to a local bodybuilding show that I signed up for, but it's in four months and I'm looking to gain 12 pounds of muscle before then and lose about 8 pounds of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't ever use steroids, but I'll do anything else that can help, as long as it's still not prohormones, HGH or SARMs. I gain only about half a pound of muscle a month, and I'd like to speed this up naturally. What supplements can help? I take tons of creatine but it unfortunately doesn't do enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried caffeine for heavier workouts, but workout intensity has no bearing on speed. I sleep 8-12 hours a day, and sleep quite well -- and this makes little difference. I get adequate protein, carbs and calories -- but it doesn't make a difference. I try different workouts and mostly only bodybuilding sets that focus on pump, intensity and many sets and reps -- but this yields no difference vs. any other regimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to show up and look &quot;small&quot; because people expect bodybuilders to have decent size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get as big as possible naturally within 4 months? I've heard of blood restriction and doing and workout out 50-100 sets can force excess blood to muscle which makes them get filled and huge. Also, I heard that you can take 200mg of creatine and drink five gallons of water and bloow flow restriction/pump creams that help put on size instantly. Do these help with looking bigger at least?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm lean and have okay size, but don't feel it's enough to be in an amateur bodybuilding contest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot back down from this. What are my options? 10-12 lbs. of muscle within four months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know muscle heals when not working, but I need this to be quick, like 1 day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I realize that 4 months is really pushing it, but I'd like to basically super-charge my progress now as best as it can possibly go until the show that's coming up. I believe there's something extra that can slightly help more than just the usual diet/macros, sleep and rest, which I have at the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25647" LastEditorDisplayName="user25647" LastEditDate="2017-06-10T21:29:09.730" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T01:08:18.613" Title="What can help me build muscle faster than diet, exercise, and rest alone?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2017-06-08T15:42:15.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a hip disarticulate amputee my entire life, you should look for cardio exercises that protect and save your good knee.  Examples are swimming, upper body cardio (arm pedal machine on table top), and rowing without use of your leg.  You do not want weight gain so exercise is key.  You also expend twice the energy walking as a two-legged person. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25833" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T15:42:15.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34284" CreationDate="2017-06-08T15:49:33.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience, &quot;maximum heart rate&quot; is a bit of a wildcard but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887?pg=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic describes it&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the upper limit of what your cardiovascular system can handle&#xA;  during physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always understood that as &quot;&lt;em&gt;the maximum heart rate your body can safely achieve.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; It's not like you drop dead one BPM over your &quot;max&quot;, and there's way too much variability in the human population to simply do the &quot;220-[your age]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long before you get near your &quot;max&quot;, you'll cross the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactate_threshold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lactate/anaerobic threshold&lt;/a&gt;: the point where you cease &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_respiration#Aerobic_respiration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aerobic cellular respiration&lt;/a&gt; and switch to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_respiration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anaerobic&lt;/a&gt;. Even someone well trained in anaerobic threshold training can only maintain that level for a short time (minutes, typically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3438148/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2004 study&lt;/a&gt; that really gets into some of this as well if you're interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically answering your question of: &lt;strong&gt;Is it possible to run at your maximum heart rate?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Indeed, it's probably the only way you will ever get to your &quot;max&quot;. I personally saw my heartrate monitor blinking 199 (meaning it was higher than 199) when doing hill sprints on my road bike during my training years ago. &lt;em&gt;It hurts&lt;/em&gt; to push that hard, and I would encourage you to only push into levels like that with a solid training plan and under the eye of a competent trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T15:49:33.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36025" CreationDate="2017-06-08T15:58:28.147" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to weight exercise and don't know much about different accessories in gym, moreover i have problem in my pinki finger controlling muscle so i want to avoid tighter grips, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00DVM34NO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lifting hook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;on internet, how effective are they do they reduce strain in forearm muscles and is there nay other accessorize to reduce grip force but still able to do biceps curl, or shoulder shrugs ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T14:50:21.707" Title="Gym accesories for less force for grip" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34054" CreationDate="2017-06-08T16:20:28.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've read from coaches like Jack Daniels, the main purpose of incorporating speed work (whether it's intervals on the track or tempo runs) is to increase your lactate threshold and your running economy (how efficiently your body uses oxygen). While being able to comfortably run faster is a huge benefit, it can also help in longer runs since your legs won't build up lactic acid as quickly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you're just looking to complete a marathon, hitting your weekly mileage is definitely more important - not only will it prepare you physically but mentally as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck in your training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25834" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T16:20:28.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-08T18:49:29.977" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's strange because it only occurs in my left feet.  There is a strong bruise and slight pain to start with. If I keep running it turns into a hell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It gets recovered in day or two of rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have taken the wet test and both my feet are normal in terms of arch. Hence I have taken a neutral shoes (Hoka One One Clifton 3). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what can be the issue? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T17:22:49.930" Title="Pain in lower inward part of my feet during long run (and certain type of shoes)" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-06-19T13:58:00.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-09T07:57:10.243" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had Dexa scans three months apart (the first in the middle of a cut, another three months later). I was still strength training 3 days a week, still eating a lot of protein, kept cardio light, and I was deliberately on a slow cut (&amp;lt;1 lb a week) to avoid losing too much lean mass -- and yet according to the scans, I lost a little more muscle (5 lbs) than fat (4 lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was pretty surprised, since most people seem to think muscle loss is overrated,&#xA; and I was also deliberately trying to structure things to minimize it. (And I don't think it's just water loss, as I was already two months into a cut at the first scan, and I've been steadily losing weight at the rate I've been expecting according to my calorie intake.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some things I should try to avoid losing more muscle? Even if the jury is still out on whether a technique is proven to be effective, I'm willing to try it anyways as long as it probably doesn't hurt. (For example, I think people have differing opinions on the effectiveness of taking BCAAs throughout the day or during workouts, but as long as they're unlikely to hurt, I'll probably try taking them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male, 25yo.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First Dexa scan was at 19% body fat. Next one was at 18% body fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lost 9 lbs over 12 weeks (5 lbs muscle, 4 lbs fat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy barbell training 3 days a week (lifts have actually increased slightly), martial arts or light cardio 3 days a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintenance calories over TDEE on strength days, -650 calories on non-strength days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At least 1g/lb of protein every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25844" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T07:57:10.243" Title="Tips to avoid muscle loss when cutting?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-06-15T02:57:46.357" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34303" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-09T18:01:59.150" Score="0" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best beach incline &lt;em&gt;angle&lt;/em&gt; for reverse dumbbell flyes for rear delt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25624" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T22:35:34.487" Title="Angle for reverse dumbbell flyes" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;deltoids&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34303" CreationDate="2017-06-09T22:35:34.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most times, when you ask yourself &quot;what's the best [some detail] to perform [some exercise] with?&quot;, the answer is usually none. You should be aiming for variety. Try flat, try a little bit of incline, and try more incline. You'll target the muscles in different ways, and guarantee yourself the right stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T22:35:34.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2017-06-10T08:34:08.970" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the reason that management denied the permission. Is it noise from running on a treadmill? A solution to that could be to get an elliptical trainer or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was looking for something more effective and interesting than a treadmill and found the Bowflex Max Trainers. They're neither treadmill nor elliptical, but kind of it's own breed of trainers. Apparently they help you burn 2.5 times as many calories as traditional treadmill or elliptical equipment. And, because you don't run or lift your feet of the device, there won't be any noise your neighbors or management can complain about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote a review on the Bowflex Max Trainers on my blog &lt;a href=&quot;https://tomlikesbest.com/bowflex-max-trainers-m3-m5-m7-reviews/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tomlikesbest.com&lt;/a&gt; to share what I found. &#xA;Maybe it's something for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up, I found that the Max Trainers are a really good alternative to treadmills. They help you burn much more calories and are better for your joints. Which one you get depends mostly on your budget. The M3 is a good tool, but the M7 is worth the extra money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25822" LastEditorUserId="25822" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T11:46:58.283" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T11:46:58.283" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34063" CreationDate="2017-06-10T14:08:48.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Barbell Prescription&lt;/em&gt;, which explains from human physiology why to train for strength, and why to use barbells to do so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training&lt;/em&gt;, which explains from physics, anatomy, and biomechanics how to perform the basic barbell movements (that is, squat, press, deadlift, and bench press), and why to do them in the described ways, and what to do to correct common movement-pattern errors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that neither of these books devotes much attention to stretching.  Similarly, neither of them discusses &quot;functional training&quot; much; they advocate &lt;em&gt;strength training&lt;/em&gt; as the most functional training, because strength is the most-significant and most-trainable factor in physical function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-06-10T14:08:48.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34105" CreationDate="2017-06-10T15:46:22.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's OK to have a bigger squat than the other lifts, and it's one of the best exercises anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing 5x5 for more than a year now, and my lifts are exactly as PravinCG said : DL &gt; SQ &gt; BP &gt; BR &gt; OHP.&#xA;But I did not follow exactly the plan : I added 5kg for the deadlift until I reached 160kg (instead of 2.5kg after 100kg), otherwise I guess my deadlift would be closer to my squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to catch up, be humble, and don't hesitate to drop weight when you miss a few sessions. When I miss a week I drop the weights as many sessions I missed, it's just a way to make sure your form is perfect, because let's be honest : when you add 2.5kg to your best lift every time, at some point your form won't be as good as before. Even if my 5x5 curve is sometimes flat, I warm up heavier than a lot of guys in the gym, so don't worry about catching up : take your time, you'll be strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20260" LastActivityDate="2017-06-10T15:46:22.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34316" CreationDate="2017-06-10T17:05:03.093" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started dieting and walking about 4 months ago, building up to around 60-70 miles a week, and lost 11kg/23lbs up to the middle of May ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the last month I have had no weight loss so I think my body has adapted...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I carry on walking is it likely that the weight loss will start again, or do I have to change to swimming and gym work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25307" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T15:49:23.750" Title="My body has adapted to walking" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34287" CreationDate="2017-06-10T20:13:02.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sleep 8-12 hours a day, and sleep quite well -- and this makes little difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes a lot of difference. To prove this, try sleeping for 4 hours per night, and see how much better off you were with 8-12. You're taking the effects for granted, because you don't see the direct corrolation between good sleep, and the progress you've made this far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I get adequate protein, carbs and calories -- but it doesn't make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, try NOT getting adequate protein, carbs and calories, and see what happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are you trying to discount the good effects of good habits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I get as big as possible naturally within 4 months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're already describing the process. 4 months is nothing if you're looking for big changes. It takes years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've heard of blood restriction and doing and workout out 50-100 sets can force excess blood to muscle which makes them get filled and huge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where did you hear this? I'd be interested to read this peer reviewed research report.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I heard that you can take 200mg of creatine and drink five gallons of water and bloow flow restriction/pump creams that help put on size instantly. Do these help with looking bigger at least?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you mean 200g? Because 200mg is very little. A normal serving size is 5g. The rest sounds like mumbo jumbo to me. Again, I'd be interested to know where you get this info. 5 gallons of water is sure to make you puke. And what the hell is pump cream?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listen, what you're trying to do is circumvent normal human limitations. Normally, when people do that, they use steroids. Barring that, I'm afraid you're stuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-06-10T20:13:02.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34287" CreationDate="2017-06-11T01:08:18.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;4 months to gain 12 pounds of lean mass, and drop 8 pounds of fat? It's possible, perhaps, but &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; unlikely. Like the odds of winning the lottery unlikely.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Untrained, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you can add ~1% of your bodyweight in muscle per month&lt;/a&gt;. Since you said you're not putting on much, let's assume you're on the lighter side coming in at 165. Which means you could add 1.65 pounds a month, putting you (1.65x4 = 6.6) well short of 12. And that would not be in the kind of caloric deficit needed to drop 2 pounds a month of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't &quot;supercharge&quot; your progress, and attempts to do so invite issues like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendinitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tendonitis&lt;/a&gt; and other &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/overuse-injury/art-20045875&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overuse injuries&lt;/a&gt; which will submarine everything. No one likes it, but strength/size/endurance training is akin to filling a bathtub up one teaspoon at a time. The people squatting 700 pounds, winning bodybuilding contests, and clocking 2 hour marathons are the ones who've been at it &lt;em&gt;a long time&lt;/em&gt; with smart training and years (decades, frequently) of discipline. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't like this answer but you picked the wrong goal. Be realistic about the time you can invest in your training and what you can reasonably expect if you do your part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T01:08:18.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-11T05:35:40.523" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the start of this year I put a goal to myself, to keep light-lifiting trainning until it's month 6, so it's month 6 and I started to be a bit heavier.&#xA;So my question is, my personal trainner at the gym tells me to do, for example, barbell front raise 3 series of 10 repetitions, and I think the weight is cool, not extremely heavy, but my arm can't hold on 10 repetitions so I stop in the moment I think I'll not make it till the end, so I make like 8-7-6 repetitions instead of 10-10-10 as my personal trainner told me.&#xA;There's any problem in doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25855" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T07:47:24.787" Title="There's any problem in not completing the repetitions in trainning?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34309" CreationDate="2017-06-11T06:17:12.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Walking with less weight is obviously easier, so you are now burning fewer calories for the same distance. It does feel easier and you are not getting out of breath any more, doesn’t it? (Good things! I’d like to point out) Try to increase speed and inclination (e.g. walk over some hills or steps) or change the exercise (e.g. running or cycling where you can increase intensity almost infinitely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it’s only about losing weight I agree with Eric Kaufman in the comments, strength training and diet are easier. I always get very (unproportionally) hungry from (intense) cardio and it does take a lot of time. But do what you enjoy, because otherwise you won’t stick with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21796" LastEditorUserId="21796" LastEditDate="2017-06-11T06:24:40.800" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T06:24:40.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34331" CreationDate="2017-06-11T09:36:50.753" Score="0" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been in gym for 3 months. It's quite rewarding, while I will travel to another place for one month during which I have no access to gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, during the one month, what can I do to ensure that I am ready for exercises when I return and that I am not too out of shape? What I can think of is some self-weight leg exercises and pushups. Nothing else. &#xA;Advice on diet is also welcomed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 5'10'' and around 150 pounds. My goal is to be more muscular but not too much bigger. I put even time on each part of my body so I don't have something specific to work on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25858" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T20:59:18.130" Title="No access to gym for a month" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-11T14:47:04.473" Score="3" ViewCount="606" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to enhance my &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDx1xfSobG4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stomach vacuum&lt;/a&gt; routine.&#xA;What are the alternatives and differences for the stomach vacuum exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25859" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2017-06-24T03:13:05.750" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T15:33:44.283" Title="Positions and variations in stomach vacuum" Tags="&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2017-06-11T20:10:08.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think two ways to go further in leg training with body weight would be jumps and slope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jumps offer lots of interesting dynamic variations. If you're not interested in jump squats, then maybe jumping onto a higher platform. After all, these dancers also do jump a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for slope (or stairs), it would definitively make sprints more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25863" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T20:10:08.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34333" CreationDate="2017-06-12T02:02:58.617" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I felt super drained sticking to the 8 hour work stretch.  I dont prefer morning because it makes the matter worse. so I typically go after work but I feel like working out in the middle of day may make me more productive in the afternoon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25533" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T07:38:34.960" Title="is working out before lunch the best during the work day?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-06-15T02:56:55.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34314" CreationDate="2017-06-12T07:47:24.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming your trainer knows what he's doing, you should be following his advice instead of undermining it by asking us. Your PT knows more about you than we do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he says to do 3x10, then that's what you should do. If you're unable to do so, ask him if you should lower the weight, or lower the rep count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T07:47:24.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34394" CreationDate="2017-06-12T13:02:10.900" Score="0" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am workingout about 6 weeks.&#xA;I don't want to hit plateau. My question is I have to change the workouts am doing or I have to increase the weight to make a change in my routine??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example : I am currently doing benchpress (incline + decline )  and dumbell press ( incline + decline )....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;now what can I do??&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have to change the workout or the weight???  or rep and sets...?? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am so skinny, weight is about 52kg and my height is 5'5&quot;. am eighteen years old.  I want to gain a lot of muscles.&#xA;  I go to the GYM 3days in a week. Sunday - Tuesday - Thursday.     I do 4-5 exercises for a single muscle group.  I try to lift hravy all the time. I do 5 sets of each exercise and try to do 5-8 reps in each sets...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  6 months ago I think I was plateaued,  and then I left the gym...   and now I joined the gym again...   So this time I want to be aware  about plateau.  So I want to change the routine in every month to make sure that I'm not doing anything bad.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13670" LastEditorUserId="13670" LastEditDate="2017-06-22T10:38:31.537" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T10:38:31.537" Title="How Can I avoid Plateau?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;&lt;plateau&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29714" CreationDate="2017-06-12T23:30:53.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;h3&gt;I seem to have finally &quot;debugged&quot; this.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm reasonably certain that it was due to insufficient sodium. I eat too healthy, avoiding high sodium processed foods and watching the salt in cooking. Somehow I didn't suspect that as the culprit. My wife is into low sodium; she does okay, because I'm the big exerciser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several weeks ago, on a hunch, I started experimented with a higher sodium intake. On a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I drank a shot glass of soy sauce. The problem completely went away; I didn't have the strange fatigue over the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been going with the increased sodium intake since then and, haven't seen the problem any more for several weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, various other problems I didn't mention also cleared up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Placebo effect should always be suspected in cases like this, but it's just impossible; a positive attitude or belief will simply not fix this real, physical problem which makes almost every movement a chore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been suffering with this for &lt;strong&gt;years&lt;/strong&gt;; so I hope the information is useful to someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4550" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T23:30:53.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34318" CreationDate="2017-06-13T02:59:25.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burpees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pull-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inverted rows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Air squats (single leg if needed)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clams (bring a resistance band)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Planks, crunches, sit-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and burpees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to eat &quot;real&quot; food in moderation. Veggies, lean meats, and more veggies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastEditorUserId="24487" LastEditDate="2017-06-13T20:59:18.130" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T20:59:18.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34325" CreationDate="2017-06-13T07:38:34.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been training during lunch time for 6 years now (the start of my professional life)&#xA;Before lunch is obviously better than after regarding your comfort and risk of regurgitating food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Energy levels will vary depending on the type of workout you do. Light workouts will most certainly raise your awareness while hard workouts would decrease the energy you have for your work. From my experience, this is manageable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding diet aspect, it does not matter much when you train. Digestion takes a while and if you eat something regularly (morning, mid-morning, ...) you probably always have something digesting in your body while training and therefore energy available. So taking this into account is not relevant.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T07:38:34.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34318" CreationDate="2017-06-13T07:49:55.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For strength, look at gymnastic type exercises. Plenty to do without any material and working on the principles of decreased leverage. Try to do a planche or strict handstand push up and you will maybe notice that you could get stronger doing this kind of workout. Overcoming gravity book is a good reference but there are plenty others over the web and youtube. GMB is also good if you like more guided approach and programming supported by video. &#xA;Pistol squats are also a good movement to make you realize that body-weight training can be challenging. Then if it becomes too easy, try doing it while having a weight in your hand (a book or whatever you have at hand)&#xA;You can also use bodyweight movements to increase strength endurance (instead of strength, using higher repetitions range).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For metabolic conditioning, you can always go running and use different pacing to target different energy system (sprint, treshold, long slow distance, intervals). Sprinting up a hill can also serve as a strength workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you can use this time to work on things you avoid when you have access to everything e.g. flexibility and mobility. I always pack something to foamroll and resistance bands in my luggage when I travel so that I can use them to work on my mobility/flexibility&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T07:49:55.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-13T09:30:49.810" Score="3" ViewCount="456" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it feels like to generate strong punching power you'd need starting strength, high RFD, and good limit strength. General exercise + Plyometrics, Westside , vand dyke style training or triphasic training, contrast should work very very well for that. But I read an interesting thing by Waterbury and always wondered if he was right. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://chadwaterbury.com/should-you-bench-press/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://chadwaterbury.com/should-you-bench-press/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(An immediate counter example would be Shane Carwin if I'm not mistaken, who mostly bench presses). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He says that since you retract your scapula when benching, it neglects the serratus anterior and the transfer/efficiency of transfer to the mechanics of a punch are subpar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also wondering about overhead pressing, eventually very explosive, as a carry over towards punching, since it's a rather different plane of movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25879" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T17:20:07.957" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T19:18:36.670" Title="Punching power and Incline bench pressing" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;boxing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34340" CreationDate="2017-06-14T02:55:11.050" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a warm up to the weight-lifting, I run on a treadmill for like 10-20 min. However, I sometimes like to run longer distances, 5-10 km, on the upper body day. Is it better to run before or after the weight-lifting circuit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25884" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-06-14T13:00:56.207" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T13:11:07.103" Title="Aerobics before or after weight lifting?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-06-15T02:57:02.843" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34336" CreationDate="2017-06-14T13:11:07.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's your priority? Getting better at lifting, or running? General rule of thumb is to prioritize what is more important to you. If you want to improve your squat or bench, you should lift while you're fresh. This way you can put more effort into that and work your way up instead of putting half the effort because you spent all your energy running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, if you want to run a marathon, you should focus on your running as you will be fresh and able to put more effort into running. Then lift weights after, you don't want to start your marathon training when you're exhausted, it's counter productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Warm-up is necessary for both of these. Don't just jump in without a warm-up, but you seem to already be doing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18977" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T13:11:07.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-14T15:14:58.913" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there sites (free or otherwise) that will create a workout routine based on what your target goal is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my girlfriend (who's heavyset and does weights) measures 5'8&quot; and weighs about 170. She told me she wants to gain healthy weight and weigh between 190-200 pounds. She currently goes to the gym and has a normal fat percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What site can assign a good routine (exercise and diet, I guess) that will allow her to reach that target weight? Basically, it would be a site where she inputs all her current data (height, weight, fat %, etc) and with that specific information, assign a real routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23745" LastActivityDate="2018-08-18T15:01:33.207" Title="Sites that create personalized workout routine based on target weight?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13675" CreationDate="2017-06-14T16:09:54.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following study had three groups of women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step Aerobics (SA)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SA for 25 minutes + Resistance Training (SAR25)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SA for 40 minutes + Resistance Training (SAR40)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The resistance training was solely done with bands. Training was 12 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I boxed the relevant groups, and then subboxed the relevant attributes for this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vlU5O.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vlU5O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;resistance bands improving strength and body composition&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Credit: Resistance training combined with bench-step aerobics enhances women’s health profile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any solid resistance training program would work e.g. muscle groups hit twice per week, regularly trying to engage in progressive overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key for bands is using ones which are strong enough. A good place for these is EliteFts. Their bands get quite strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My clients are everyday people. We haven't needed to go above a couple of their monster minis, though we did focus more on upper body. Some might need stronger bands for the lower body. I don't have exact rep numbers, but six months of ~five clients per day, three days per week, doing ~100 band reps per client, is when the bands started to wear. Long story short, they should last a single person a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My experience has also been to avoid the tubing type of band. They're more likely to snap, leaving people feeling much more uneasy (many have had a bad experience or have heard of one), where people won't exert themselves the same. You can wrap PVC pipe on an EliteFts band if you want to make a handle.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EliteFts' bands are commonly used in powerlifters. Westside Barbell, perhaps the strongest humans on the planet, use bands often. Force curves are nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Relative to other stages, the terminal range of motion of many&#xA;  exercises, like a squat and bench press, involves little force. Nobody&#xA;  gets stuck during a squat the last six inches. Once past the sticking&#xA;  point, the latter portion of the range of motion is never maximally&#xA;  worked. You can quarter squat more than you can half squat. If we’re&#xA;  going to criticize bands for what they lack in providing at the bottom&#xA;  of a rep, we need to concurrently criticize free weights for what they&#xA;  lack in providing at the top of a rep. (And no one has trouble getting&#xA;  strong muscles and bones from free weights!)”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More details if desired, such as how bands can improve bone density as well, EliteFts chart of band strengths, etc: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2016/03/25/can-resistance-bands-improve-bone-density/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://b-reddy.org/2016/03/25/can-resistance-bands-improve-bone-density/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T16:09:54.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13817" CreationDate="2017-06-14T21:22:58.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some benefits you actually get out of Carb cycling, Maintaining that metabolism normally when you are a quart deficit your metabolism starts to slow down you notice that your body starts burning fat less and you can even go into starvation mode where your bus or your body starts to break down your muscle instead of utilizing fat as an energy source but with carb cycling your spikes and calories or spike and carbs helps to keep your metabolism riding throughout the week instead of just dropping straight down to the cut,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It drops on the low carb days and comes back up and drops and comes back up you will also be able to retain muscle, the insulin manipulation your body is going to be muscle sparing you are going to use readily available energy as well as utilizing fat as an energy source and then there’s consistent fat burning your body instead of using those carbs because you don’y have them it’s going to utilize fat to get you through your work your workouts to get your gives you through the day just staying alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25893" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T21:22:58.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3851" CreationDate="2017-06-15T13:50:42.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is almost no direct evidence that muscle cramps are caused by electrolyte or water imbalances (given normal hydration prior to start).  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445088/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445088/&lt;/a&gt;  Its most likely due to the muscle being &quot;pre-tight&quot; and stretching is the best prevention and therapy.  No one knows actually the cause of cramps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25898" LastActivityDate="2017-06-15T13:50:42.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3851" CreationDate="2017-06-15T21:07:10.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to provide a slightly different answer on this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if there is any permanent damage done when pushing through cramps when&#xA;  exercising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potentially&lt;/strong&gt;. Similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19157/7091&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;, a lot of the focus on training through the discomfort assumes that you can hold perfect form. If you are squatting, as an example, and develop pain your left leg, there is a very good chance you will reflexively transfer weight to your right side. While this is a natural and terrific way for our bodies to adapt in real-time to injuries, it's a big issue if you're trying to hold good form during exercises that have a big price tag for bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With DOMS, cramps, and even just being really tired, I would caution folks to ensure they are holding a proper form. Not favoring one side or another, and not trying to work around the pain by shifting the load a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-15T21:07:10.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34350" CreationDate="2017-06-16T03:23:33.160" Score="0" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's believed by some that too much fitness destroys muscle. How can one know that line? Some arguments point to long-distance runners/marathon runners as an example, which are not known to be the most muscular people, but are usually developed well and are quite lean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because I'm trying to be both very fit and athletic, but want to keep building muscle at the same time. People have told me crazy things like claims that I should avoid cardio altogether because cardio supposedly drains or &quot;saps&quot; muscle away directly. I'm not talking about excessive cardio -- these claims point to any cardio and claim that it &quot;burns muscle&quot; even if done very mildly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I saw a thread (BB.com) where people trying to put on size were actively NOT doing any cardio/fitness beyond weight training, and strictly avoided it out of fear of muscle loss from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean things like running/jogging, plyometrics, sports, etc. Some said how &quot;out of shape&quot; it made them. I foolishly believed this to be true, and now I feel incredibly out of shape as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I basically cut down things like running until I eventually just did weight training, and I feel out of breath now on the first set. Back when I did loads of cardio I never felt out of breath and still felt strong/etc., but feared that all of the sports/cardio I was doing would be halting the progress of muscle gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the conclusion here? Can most people generally be highly fit and put on+maintain muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean &quot;highly fit&quot; like being able to run a 5K and still bench three plates while looking built. A lot of those &quot;big guys&quot; tend to have loads of power, but look like they're out of breath after 10 reps at 50%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to be built and muscular if I'm going to be an out of shape lardass -- I want both worlds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm trying to get back in good shape again, but struggling to find the right balance. I used to easily run at least one mile a day, every single day -- and do 50-100 box jumps a day with no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I know the fine line between &quot;too fit and a risk for effectively building muscle&quot; and &quot;building muscle, but still can run and not get tired easily?&quot; I've read conflicting studies, reports, anecdotes, and etc. I'm lost and don't know how hard I should push to be fit while keeping certain that I'm not &quot;sapping&quot; muscle away. My diet is fine, and I certainly know that more active means more food needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I worrying for nothing or what should I/others need to take note of in these endeavors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I don't only do cardio/steady-state stuff, but also plyometrics/jumping, springing/HIIT, bodyweight exercises, sports, cycling/bike riding and other explosive, heart-tapping exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25900" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T12:21:57.030" Title="Can you effectively put on mass while being highly active/fit?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34696" CreationDate="2017-06-16T10:43:47.790" Score="4" ViewCount="15385" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my Push Pull Leg Split, I'll be doing Deadlift on Pull day and next day, i.e leg day, I'll be doing Squats. Is there any problem doing this? Will you get any injury due to both have a great presure on your spine and enough recovery time is not given?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25624" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T07:58:36.677" Title="Squatting a day after Deadlift" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;splits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34353" CreationDate="2017-06-16T11:24:18.103" Score="3" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;70 % of muscle is water.  Less than 30 % is protein.  10 kg (22 pounds) of muscle contain less than 3000 g protein.  It takes several months to build that much muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is bodybuilders need 3000g extra protein per few months which is not that big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25902" LastEditorUserId="25902" LastEditDate="2017-06-16T11:31:49.830" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T18:06:29.240" Title="Why do bodybuilders need so much protein when 70 % of muscle is water?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34346" CreationDate="2017-06-16T12:21:57.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an article from Greg Knuckols entitled &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.strongerbyscience.com/avoiding-cardio-could-be-holding-you-back/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Avoiding Cardio Could Be Holding You Back&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and another from Juggernaut Training entitled &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/04/12/conditioning-how-to-do-it-right/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Conditioning: How To Do It Right&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combined there's easily maybe 20 pages of material to shift through, but the TLDR version is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting weights requires energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The better you get at weights, the more weights you have to lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The heavier the weights gets, the more energy it requires to lift them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more energy you need to expend, the better conditioning you need to be in order to expend it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good conditioning helps you not get exhausted as easily which helps with recovery between sets. Cardio conditioning has also shown to help recovery between workouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's even this nice info-graphic that highlight other benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GyHBr.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GyHBr.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kind of cardio that the Knuckols article recommends is steady state cardio on a bike for up to two hours a week.  Where-as the Juggernaut article recommends more explosive, polymetrics style cardio three to four times a week for about 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is, cardio is not a &quot;gains killer&quot; that some people seem to think it is. If you want more real-world examples, look at Rugby players and American Football players.  Two types of athletes that tend to be incredibly strong and well conditioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some arguments point to long-distance runners/marathon runners as an example, which are not known to be the most muscular people, but are usually developed well and are quite lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People always point to these extreme examples. Basically, you don't see large marathon runners because marathon runners spend most of their time marathon running. Endurance sports take a lot of energy and time. If you spend too much time doing one thing, it's going to take away from the other. Not to mention, it is to their benefit to be as light as possible as each extra pound has to be carried for miles. Finally, endurance sports promote type 1 endurance muscle fibers where-as strength sports promote type 2 fast-twitch muscle fibers. Sprinters and track-athletes tend to be much more muscular because of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T12:21:57.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34348" CreationDate="2017-06-16T16:06:16.683" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is no obvious problem with squatting on the day after deadlifting.  Squatting and deadlifting during the &lt;em&gt;same workout&lt;/em&gt; is fairly common, and fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T16:06:16.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34349" CreationDate="2017-06-16T17:18:17.207" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are already &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/792/protein-how-much-is-too-much?rq=1&quot;&gt;some answers that address this&lt;/a&gt;, basically tissue is being torn down and needs to be repaired. But it goes further: &lt;a href=&quot;http://advances.nutrition.org/content/3/3/322.full&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;there are simply a pile of benefits to upping protein&lt;/a&gt; (2012 study):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Protein seems to play an important role in the emergence of [feeling full].&#xA;  Long-term ingestion of a high-protein diet not only decreases food&#xA;  intake but also lowers animals’ body weight and reduces body [fat deposits]&#xA;  in animals and humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just at a baseline (no strength training involved), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-much-protein-do-you-need-every-day-201506188096&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a 170lb man would need 61.2 grams of protein according to the US RDA&lt;/a&gt;. So bumping that up to the generally accepted &quot;1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight&quot; is a 110 gram bump from the baseline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond the gram-for-gram measurements, there's a lot going on about availability (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15798080&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2005 review&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The response of muscle protein metabolism to a resistance exercise&#xA;  bout lasts for 24-48 hours; thus, the interaction between protein&#xA;  metabolism and any meals consumed in this period will determine the&#xA;  impact of the diet on muscle hypertrophy. &lt;strong&gt;Amino acid availability is&#xA;  an important regulator of muscle protein metabolism&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiled down, there are three reasons for the protein recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1) Muscle Repair.&lt;/strong&gt; You are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;destroying muscle tissue when you do resistance exercises&lt;/a&gt;, and your body needs building materials (protein) repair that damage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Resistance training leads to trauma or injury of the cellular proteins&#xA;  in muscle. This prompts cell-signaling messages to activate satellite&#xA;  cells to begin a cascade of events leading to muscle repair and&#xA;  growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2) Carbohydrates.&lt;/strong&gt; There is a lot going on with carbohydrates and although your body needs them, they &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Physiological_effects&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;tend to make up too much of a western diet and need interfere with muscle growth via insulin response, and promote fat storage&lt;/a&gt;. If you have a 2,500 calorie full of carbs and you increase your protein, chances are you'll be opting for chicken instead of bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3) Availability.&lt;/strong&gt; Muscle repair can take dozens of hours to complete, during which the easy access to amino acids promotes tissue repair and regeneration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2017-06-16T18:06:29.240" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T18:06:29.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-16T20:37:32.473" Score="1" ViewCount="1762" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say that, if you're seriously trained and take a small break, you may lose strength, but the ability to get it back is beyond that of a lesser trained individual. In other words, if you take a few weeks off, you can probably get back to where you were in just one week's time max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is fitness this way too? If you were once very fit, is it easier to become equally as fit once again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because some people discuss how hard it is to get fit from step one. If you were and have been highly fit all of your life and take a set back of a few months, can you get fit again in a shorter time than when you, say, first ever became fit? I know because I've read of people who regained muscle quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, sort of like how muscles can adapt quicker if they've been used for long periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question that's claimed to be similar to this one fails to address the cardiovascular aspect of training. I expected insightful answers regarding cardiovascular adaptation, not muscular adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25900" LastEditorDisplayName="user25900" LastEditDate="2017-06-17T00:31:42.647" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T05:02:26.273" Title="Can fitness be &quot;regained&quot; like muscle can with muscle memory?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;athletic-performance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34355" CreationDate="2017-06-17T00:04:00.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardiovascular Exercise Adaptations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aerobic exercise causes important cellular and vascular changes including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased number of mitochondria (intracellular respiration). Simply put with more mitochondria, you can produce more energy (ATP).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your heart becomes more efficient.  With each beat more blood is pumped to your body resulting in a increase of available oxygen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Capillary density increases.  Resulting in an increased amount of oxygen and nutrient rich blood delivered to your muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cardiovascular Development vs Detraining Rates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;These changes gradually occur in approximately 4-8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;These beneficial adaptions disappear when you stop training. &#xA;Detraining occurs approximately 2 times faster than the development&#xA;rate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not exercising for two to eight months leads to loss of virtually all fitness gains. The loss of aerobic capacity occurs much more rapidly than declines in muscle strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jap.physiology.org/content/60/1/95.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jap.physiology.org/content/60/1/95.short&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/122/12/1221.short&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/122/12/1221.short&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight Training Adaptations&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you start weight training, during the first 3-4 weeks&#xA;strength gains are due to nervous system changes.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You’re getting    stronger due to an increase in muscle fiber&#xA;activation (you’re    training your brain to activate previously&#xA;dormant motor neurons).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In addition, you’re also training your nervous system to decrease&#xA;activation of the opposing muscle group.  Essentially you’re getting stronger&#xA;without any change in muscle size.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After 3-4 weeks strength changes are due to increase in muscle fiber&#xA;diameter (called hypertrophy).  A common misconception is that the&#xA;number of muscle fibers is increasing (this is called hyperplasia).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle Development vs Detraining Rates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Detraining occurs differently with strength training.  Neural changes&#xA;remain, so a formerly conditioned person can regaining lost muscle&#xA;mass faster compared to someone that has never weight trained.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle mass also takes approximately 2 times longer to lose than it&#xA;takes to initially gain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50401359_An_examination_of_the_time_course_of_training-induced_skeletal_muscle_hypertrophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50401359_An_examination_of_the_time_course_of_training-induced_skeletal_muscle_hypertrophy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sci-fit.net/2017/detraining-retraining/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://sci-fit.net/2017/detraining-retraining/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16464122&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16464122&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-06-17T00:11:15.050" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T00:11:15.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34355" CreationDate="2017-06-17T05:02:26.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One last attempt.  Hopefully this article helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s the runner’s biggest question and worst fear: how quickly can I get out of shape? After putting in hours of training and hundreds of miles, most athletes worry it will all go to waste if they stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That’s only partially true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, plenty of hard-earned fitness can go away within two weeks. Most studies suggest that an athlete’s VO2 max, the maximum oxygen he or she can uptake and utilize, plunges in the first month of inactivity, according to Dr. Edward Coyle, the director of the Human Performance Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. VO2 max continues to decrease, albeit at a slower rate, for the first three months after ceasing activity. In highly-trained athletes, VO2 max decreases by 7 percent in the 12 to 21 days after stopping training and another 9 percent during days 21 to 84. In athletes who have trained for a few months, and increased their VO2 max with exercise, those changes are completely reversed with several months of not training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“It’s all about supply and demand. If you stop running, you take away the demand,” said Jason Karp, a coach and author of Running a Marathon for Dummies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the biological systems that come into play when we run are closely connected, so while VO2 max might be one of the most noticeable and important changes, it’s not the only one. Blood volume also rapidly decreases, which affects oxygen uptake. Mitochondrial density, lactate threshold, and the ability to oxidize fat stores all decrease. Even the enzymes involved in metabolizing energy decline and become less active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“What really changes is the ability to consume and process oxygen,” said Karp.&#xA;After endurance and cardiovascular abilities take a big hit initially, muscle mass and strength also begin to atrophy. In practice, runners often notice that while endurance capabilities go first, it can be possible to hang on to some speed for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the good and bad news: all this depends on the individual.&#xA;Ann Alyanak, who won the 2011 Columbus Marathon and was the 2002 Big Ten champion in the 10,000m, sees a wide variety of detraining effects with her athletes, particularly when she was coaching college. Some athletes would be fine after a week or two of not running and other athletes would lose fitness in that same time frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How quickly that happens can also depend on where an athlete is at in training. “If you’re at peak fitness, then it goes really fast,” Alyanak said, often because you’re already tapering. “You’re holding onto it anyway, at the end of the rope.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, if you’ve been training for a long time, then you can maintain some fitness longer. Long-term athletes are often in a better position than those who have been running or working out for a shorter period of time. That can be true even after months of inactivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“If you’ve done it in the past, it’ll come back faster,” said Alyanak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elite athletes or those who have trained consistently for upwards of 10 years may see more rapid decline initially than people who haven’t been exercising as long. The elite athletes simply have further to fall. But highly-trained athletes don’t decline to the same levels as less-trained individuals, even after three months of no activity — and, in most measures, they certainly don’t decline to the level of people who have never exercised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Endurance athletes, however, do not regress to the levels displayed by individuals who have never trained,” wrote Coyle in a scholarly review of the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If getting back in shape after taking time off, whether for injury or a mental break, seems like it takes far longer than getting out of shape, that’s not just your perception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“It takes at least twice as long, if not longer, to gain fitness as to lose fitness,” said Karp. “It takes much, much longer to build a house than to knock it down.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of your systems have to be built back up from the cellular level, synthesizing protein and increasing the number of mitochondria. The half-line of decline in mitochondrial enzyme is 12 days, which means 12 days of detraining requires 36 days of re-training to return to the same levels, according to Coyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much, if not all, of the decline in fitness can be alleviated, though, through cross-training and through shorter intense efforts. If the intensity is kept up two or three times a week, then the overall training volume can decline without extreme decreases in fitness. When athletes taper before races this is exactly what they’re doing: maintaining fitness through short, hard efforts, but allowing their bodies to rest with less overall training volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“You don’t need as much of a training load to maintain fitness,” said Karp.&#xA;Losing fitness is not a reason, however, to not take a needed break — a fear Alyanak says pushes too many athletes not to rest. A yearly offseason is important for physical and mental health and can allow an athlete to come back stronger. Rest periods for injury or illness, particularly if they allow some cross-training, are far better than poor training and hurting yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“You’re not going to get out of shape in a few days,”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Article from competitor.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T05:02:26.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34297" CreationDate="2017-06-17T07:51:31.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PLEASE NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt;  This is by &lt;strong&gt;NO MEANS&lt;/strong&gt; a clinical diagnosis. Any advice received &lt;strong&gt;ANYWHERE&lt;/strong&gt; online should &lt;strong&gt;NEVER&lt;/strong&gt; be taken as such.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;strong&gt;ALWAYS&lt;/strong&gt; consult a medical professional in your area.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the information given it sounds like a Tarsal Bone Stress Fracture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you did not indicate location it's hard to rule out other probable causes. However the most common I see in patients involve the Navicular (which is a tarsal bone or foot bone).  If you haven't already please consult your physician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Navicular Stress Fracture&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A navicular stress fracture is one of the most common stress&#xA;fractures affecting athletes, especially those in explosive events&#xA;such as sprinting and jumping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Navicular Stress Fracture Symptoms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms of a navicular stress fracture include &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poorly localized ache with bruising in the midfoot area, which gets worse with exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pain may radiate along the inside arch of the foot and is minimized at rest only to return again as training resumes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tenderness may be felt when the thumb is pressed into the top of the &#xA;foot over the navicular bone, called the N spot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Navicular Stress Fracture Explained&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The navicular is one of the tarsal bones in the ankle. It sits on top&#xA;of the calcaneus or heel bone. A stress fracture of the navicular is&#xA;caused by over use or repetitive strain, usually from high impact&#xA;sports such as sprinting, hurdling and jumping. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Poor technique or    training errors can also contribute to the&#xA;likelihood of sustaining a    stress fracture of the foot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The navicular bone gets pinched or impinged between the bones to the&#xA;front and back of it causing it to be compressed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An X-ray may or may not show the appearance of a stress fracture therefore a bone scan or MRI is of more use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-06-19T17:22:49.930" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T17:22:49.930" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33013" CreationDate="2017-06-17T17:07:45.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In grad school I did a study on the Postural Effects of Pain -- so I love these questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is so much going back there I don't have nearly enough info to give you an answer (there is no way to give any rational diagnosis with what is currently known)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What side is sore?  The side your bending towards or opposite side?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What type of pain (burning dull etc) and where exactly do you feel&lt;br&gt;&#xA;it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How long has this been happening?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Besides massaging -- does anything else decrease or increase the pain?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What movements make the pain worse or better?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if you'd like help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T17:07:45.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34371" CreationDate="2017-06-18T10:48:55.327" Score="1" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about body fat we all know it that about abs.I have heard much methods but I am curious about &quot;no stop abs workouts&quot;. I plan on lots of abs training everyday (and good nutritional food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My 5 times per day ab workout plan:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Morning 2 sets of 50.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evening 3 sets of 50&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Night 2 sets of 30.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do this everyday can abs become like rocks and big? I want an answer only to this. I think it &quot;burns&quot; the fat and the frequency so will be done great results. Your opinion will be great to be hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T16:13:21.333" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T04:22:42.960" Title="training abs every day, several times a day" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;starting-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-18T14:55:16.607" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what is the best time for a short brisk walk, before or after a heavy meal. I searched for it but I found some people online suggesting to walk after the meal citing some of the research papers while others were the exact opposite and suggested walking before the meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25909" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T14:55:16.607" Title="What is the best time for a short walk before or after the meal?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-06-19T13:56:11.263" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4974" CreationDate="2017-06-18T17:45:22.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;By neutral they mean subtalar neutral.  This is the position of the subtalar joint in which the foot is neither pronated nor supinated. When the hindfoot is neutral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Excessive or prolonged motion or lack of motion will cause various deformities and pathologies. Proper biomechanics allow human beings to walk, run, jump, and move freely without pain or dysfunction.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pair of shoes off the shelf cannot be &amp;quot;neutral&amp;quot; as the topography of everyones foot differs. In addition the density (hardness) of your shoe insert will vary based on your unique requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To attain this neutral position you must be assessed by a Podiatrist and have a custom orthotic (shoe insert) casted and created.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foot biomechanics studies the relationship of the foot to the lower&#xA;leg. During walking and running the musculoskeletal system generates&#xA;forces to propel the body forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The foot serves two main functions.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It acts as a mobile adaptor to adjust to varying terrain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rigid lever for forward propulsion in locomotion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two functions are time specific in that when the foot spends too much time being a&#xA;mobile adaptor it is not spending enough time being a rigid lever and&#xA;vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biomechanics of the foot analyzes how the various&#xA;structures of the foot, work together to perform specific functions&#xA;(timing being of utmost importance.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wefixfeet.ca/sites/default/files/biomechanics.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wefixfeet.ca/sites/default/files/biomechanics.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T17:52:26.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34086" CreationDate="2017-06-18T22:10:19.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heart rate monitors often don't work well, when I tried to use one, the band had to fit so tight around my waste that this was just uncomfortable. But I don't need to use one because I can always feel my heart beating so I just need to count and look at my watch. When running your heart rate should be around 150 bmp, it can be somewhat lower or higher, but if it is around 100 then you're probably not running fast enough and if it is well above 180 then you're probably running too fast for optimal training results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To measure the heart rate when you can't feel it, you need to put a finger on your wrist below the thumb. But this is not easy to do while running, so you may need to stop for ten seconds and then count the beats. Your heart rate immediately after stopping can then be a lot lower than what it was while you were running, even if the measurement took just ten seconds. The fitter you are the faster your heart rate will go down, this rate of decline is the fastest during the first few seconds and it's also a lot more when you do the measurement when you've just started to run. That's why I think it's better to learn to feel your heart beating without having to feel your pulse by putting a finger on your wrist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're doing strength exercises and you have excellent cardio fitness, you may find that your heart rate doesn't get very high. In my case, immediately after doing 50 pushups in a row, my heart rate will be around 90 bpm. But this is then up from the resting heart rate which in my case is slightly below 40 bpm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8763" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T22:10:19.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34369" CreationDate="2017-06-19T13:21:18.160" Score="0" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been rehabbing a case of shoulder impingement for several months now (with a few trips to the physio). The actual &lt;em&gt;impingement&lt;/em&gt; feels like it is now gone, but I'm having a few mobility issues in that same shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem being that I can't do back squats without getting pain in my shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my most recent trip to the physio, he said I should work on improving the mobility in that shoulder. He said for me to focus on things like rotator cuff stretches (e.g. in a doorway) and wall slides / W-stretches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm finding that I get a bit of pain just from doing the stretches he gave me. Which is strange because I can do all my back and chest exercises now pain-free. But my shoulder just doesn't seem to agree with anything that requires a lot of mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be that I just need to stretch more gently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I have noticed however, is that stretching around my anterior deltoid like the below feels pretty good (as though it is what my shoulder has been crying out for):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cyCPo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cyCPo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to do the above with something to grip my hand on, so that I can stretch it more, rather than just moving my arms behind me &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24798" LastEditorDisplayName="user24798" LastEditDate="2017-06-19T13:29:46.477" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T05:16:25.050" Title="Shoulder mobility exercises cause pain" Tags="&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34368" CreationDate="2017-06-19T13:48:50.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;IANA doctor, but I recommend stretching more gently, or simply stretching only to the extent that you need to do so, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/training/low-bar-position-stretch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;to achieve a low-bar back squat position&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T13:48:50.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-19T20:44:06.557" Score="3" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a freelance programmer working from home, I recently realized that my physical condition is getting worse so I would like to start with some sort of exercise program which I can do at home, it would be fun and I would eventually build some muscles or strengthen my body (don't really need to loss weight - at least not yet :)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not completely lame, I go swimming occasionally and I play local amateur badminton league. I used to sport a lot in the past (martial arts, squash for couple of years, gym, climbing, swimming at least once a week for ~5 years). But I kinda became lazy in past two years so I want to change that :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what do you think is a good exercise system for such a person? I've heard about various like P90 or others but I cannot really decide which one would be a good fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot for any answers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25924" LastActivityDate="2018-03-01T09:56:42.633" Title="What kind of exercise would you recommend for relatively fit person working from home?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34360" CreationDate="2017-06-20T04:22:42.960" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone wants a six-pack and everyone wants to increase core strength, but should you do abs exercises every day to accomplish that goal? Some of the most frequent questions I get about abs training are – &lt;strong&gt;“Can you work out abs everyday“&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;“Should I workout abs everyday“?&lt;/strong&gt; Conventional wisdom tells you the more abs exercises you do, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer to the first question is yes, you can train your abs every day, but I don’t think you should train your abs every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work Out Abs Everyday Issue #1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You don’t need to do abs exercises to get a strong core, or even a six-pack&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One big misconception about exercise is that you need to do abs exercises in order to get a six-pack, or even a stronger core. You can have a very impressive six-pack with a core as strong as steel by focusing on core, compound exercises like front squats with a barbell/dumbbell, dumbbell lunges, or even polymeric push ups to name a few. Another option is using stabilization exercises like an advanced bird dog exercise that works not just your abs, but your balance, lower back, and even arms and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work Out Abs Everyday Issue #2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frequently working abs can lead to posture problems&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just about everyone I’ve ever consulted, or trained has moderate, to severe posture problems from a sedentary lifestyle. When you have a desk job, or simply sit down in a chair for a few hours, your shoulders tend to rotate forwards so that your body becomes hunched over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does doing a bunch of crunches every day do to this pre-existing problem? Well it makes us hunch over even more by forcing our abs muscles to tighten and shorten. Soon you may be looking like the hunchback of notre dame! Stretching and foam rolling can help correct rounded shoulders and improve posture, but working abs every day may only make whatever posture problems you have worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work Out Abs Everyday Issue #3:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abs exercises don’t remove belly fat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that you can remove stubborn body fat from one particular body part could be the most prevalent myth in the fitness industry. Certainly abs belts and abs machines try to promote this idea of “spot reduction”, but doing abs exercise will not burn any more fat off your body. In fact, when someone asks me how to get a six pack, I tell them “don’t do any abs exercises!”. Getting a six-pack requires achieving a low level of body fat that has nothing to do with how many crunches, or abs exercises you do. Your time is much better spent preparing your meals, planning your meals, or focusing on core, compound exercises. Overall, traditional abs exercises like crunches are extremely overrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work Out Abs Everyday Issue #4:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Working abs every day is inefficient&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a six-pack is like the international sign of fitness, but working out abs every day is unnecessary.&#xA;Let’s say you spend 10-20 minutes every day doing abs exercises. You could have spent that time doing high intensity interval training, stretching, foam rolling, and a lot of other fitness activities that would likely be A LOT more beneficial to your body and how it looks and feels. Spending 1 hour of your week working on one muscle group that is really a complex web of muscles is not a very good use of your time. My assumption is you are busy and you would rather spend that time hanging out with friends and enjoying your life!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better approach would be to work out your abs intensely 2-3x per week using circuits to get a great abs workout in much less time, which is what I personally do. While your abs muscles are most likely comprised of resilient type 1 muscle fibers that can take a beating without getting sore, just like training other muscle groups, they tend to respond better to less frequent training. A similar muscle to abs that has type 1 muscle fibers is your calves, yet you don’t see people doing calves exercises every day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work Out Abs Everyday Issue #5:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Working abs every day can lead to muscle imbalances&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only can working out abs every day lead to postural problems, but also muscle imbalances. Your abs complex, which is all your abs muscles are comprised of the rectus abdominus, transverse abdominus, internal obliques, and external obliques. If you do standard crunches 7 days a week for 300 reps, your rectus abdominus muscle (the six-pack muscle) is likely to get trained much more intensely than the other abs muscles. Doing a bunch of crunches does not necessarily translate into a strong abs, or a stable core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even worse, if you do get your rectus abdominus too strong relative to your other abs and lower back muscles, you may be more susceptible to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While having nice abs is like the international sign of fitness, there are much more effective ways to work out your abs then to do a bunch of crunches every day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.builtlean.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.builtlean.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T04:22:42.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34368" CreationDate="2017-06-20T05:16:25.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to focus on warming up your shoulders before any workout. For this grab a 5 lbs dumbbell (or lighter) vertically, maintain an angle of 90° between biceps and forearms and perform movements for Right hand towards RHS &amp;amp; for left hand towards LHS, perform 10-15 reps.&#xA;Then raise your hands to shoulder height(maintaining 90° b/w biceps &amp;amp; forearms) &amp;amp; palm facing down, perform rotation in upward direction for 10-15 reps and then in downward direction for 10-15 reps, maintaining the upper arm aligned with the shoulder and rotating deltoids in proper position.&#xA;Do it before any workout for few weeks &amp;amp; see the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25925" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T05:16:25.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34379" CreationDate="2017-06-20T05:40:01.827" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does back pain hurt after doing exercises that has nothing to do with back , line bicep curl etc.? Can I strengthen my lower back to avoid this pain ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T16:34:24.530" Title="Back Pain after workout and Remedies" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34375" CreationDate="2017-06-20T05:56:00.827" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be use of Neck exercise (excluding treps muscle), does it look good visually or does it help in lifting? I don't see any utility in training them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T06:56:13.803" Title="Neck Excercise utility" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;neck&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34374" CreationDate="2017-06-20T06:56:13.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can answer this. One day when you're my age, you'll turn your head at work to talk to a co-worker and you'll feel a pop in your neck. You'll go numb on the left side of your face, have shoulder, chest and arm pain, and suffer with mobility issues for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only after months and months of physical therapy will you be able to turn your head again. All this because the stabilizer muscles in my neck had to support my crap posture using phones, computers and other bad positions my entire life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your head is somewhere between 12-20 pounds. It's the job of your neck muscles to support and hold the head. If you have poor posture like 99% of modern people, you'll slowly start wearing away at those muscles. Don't end up like me. Treat your neck well and do exercises to strengthen them!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T06:56:13.803" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-20T07:52:54.877" Score="7" ViewCount="1680" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently dont have a bar, but luckily I have a tree branch about 5 inches in diameter, I can jump to and hang easily off. Should I be expecting to do more or less reps on an actual bar. I should also probably add I'm already doing pull ups around 10 per set but I am not extremely active and trying to figure out what I should be expecting when I enter the airforce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25927" LastEditorUserId="25927" LastEditDate="2017-06-20T23:20:57.877" LastActivityDate="2017-11-17T13:42:03.520" Title="which is better for a pull up tree branch or actual bar" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34373" CreationDate="2017-06-20T11:41:23.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you be specific, like which part does it hurt. If its the back muscle after a bicep curl it might be because of bad posture during exercise or might be cause you are moving your body during the point of fatigue of the bicep curl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if it lasts more than two days, you better take a day or two off , or avoid working that muscle group.&#xA;some useful tips &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prevention.com/fitness/fitness-tips/relieve-back-pain-with-these-workout-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mensfitness.com/training/pro-tips/trainer-qa-why-my-lower-back-sore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25930" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T11:41:23.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34373" CreationDate="2017-06-20T11:43:09.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back pain whether it's upper back pain or low back pain frequently is caused by weak abdominal muscles. Since your abs are the front anchor of your spine, if they are weak, then the other structures supporting your spine (your back muscles, for example) will have to work harder. By developing stronger core muscles, you'll be less likely to injure or strain your back muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core strengthening is more than just achieving six-pack abs. Developing strong abdominal muscles may actually help prevent back pain by making you less prone to back injuries and teaching you proper spinal alignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Significance of Core Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think about it, your core is in the center of your body. It needs to be strong to support the weight of your entire body, including your back and neck. Adding core strengthening to your exercise routine can help protect your back and neck. By boosting your core strength, you'll also be less likely to rely on other back pain treatments, such as medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to incorporate exercises that work all of your abdominal muscles equally. Core exercises should involve the major muscles in your abdomen, including your internal and external obliques and the transverse abdominals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Core Strengthening Exercises for Back Pain: Prehab&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are some exercises that can help you develop strong abs and prevent back pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Pillar Bridge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral Pillar Bridge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glute Bridge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hand Walking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half-Kneeling Chop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Half-Kneeling Lift&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Movement Prep&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incorporate these movement prep exercises into your warm-up routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadruped Posterior Rocking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foam Roll (but not directly on the area of a strained muscle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quadruped Opposites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You should consult your physician or other health care professional before starting this or any other fitness program.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20581648&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20581648&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Response:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Valsalva maneuver was not mentioned in my post.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First important concepts to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Global muscles &lt;strong&gt;produce&lt;/strong&gt; movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Local muscles &lt;strong&gt;prevent&lt;/strong&gt; movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failure to stabilize the spine isn't ONLY due to weakness. Altered neuromuscular firing patterns produce the same result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're more powerful global muscles are firing before your deep stabilizers this results in large force being applied to an unstablized spinal column.&#xA;This is why the trA is so important. It is activated first before movement in any direction.  Unlike your quadratus lumborum which is only active during sagittal plane movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Directly from a Systematic Review:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When rehabilitating a patient with low back dysfunction, low-load isometric motor control exercises for the TA and multifidi should be emphasized. The drawing-in maneuver should be performed with each exercise to elicit TA and multifidi contraction without activating global muscles. Rehabilitation of the local muscles with specific motor control exercises is necessary to enhance stability while protecting the spine from excessive loads during the rehabilitation program.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The local muscles promote segmental stabilization. Inclusion of global&#xA;  muscles too early may be deleterious during the rehabilitation&#xA;  program.  Local muscles are superior to global muscles in controlling&#xA;  shear loads; unnecessary activation of global muscles may impose&#xA;  excessive compressive loads to the spine. Activation of global muscles&#xA;  in the presence of dysfunction may actually increase the challenge on&#xA;  the local muscles to provide segmental stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Richardson C. Therapeutic Exercise for Spinal Segmental Stabilization in Low Back Pain: Scientific Basis and Clinical Approach. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read these studies (download the PDF free).&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3806181/#bibr2-1941738113502451&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3806181/#bibr2-1941738113502451&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10617782_Core_stability_exercise_in_chronic_low_back_pain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10617782_Core_stability_exercise_in_chronic_low_back_pain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-06-20T16:34:24.530" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T16:34:24.530" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34376" CreationDate="2017-06-20T11:54:02.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no clear answer.  You almost certainly will be able to grip a normal bar more easily (and therefore for more reps) than you can grip a 5-inch tree branch.  You probably cannot finish the pull-up as completely on the tree branch (due to its relative thickness) as you can on a bar.  That said, I applaud your pragmatism and motivation to make-do with what's available to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastEditorUserId="20213" LastEditDate="2017-11-17T13:42:03.520" LastActivityDate="2017-11-17T13:42:03.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34373" CreationDate="2017-06-20T12:56:55.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your back hurts after performing movements (such as a standing bicep curl) in which your spine is (or should be) vertical and rigid, then you probably are not actually keeping your spine vertical and rigid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider doing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having someone watch your exercises, especially for any spinal flexion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthening your back with properly-programmed and meticulously-executed low-bar back squats and deadlifts. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T12:56:55.287" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34376" CreationDate="2017-06-20T13:42:04.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is a difference in grip it might change the amount of reps you can do. Other than that, from my personal experience I can do the same amount of reps on virtually any kind of horizontally oriented object I come accros. It doesn't even need to be round, it could be a brick wall or the (squared) metal frame on a bridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This probably due to the fact that during pull-ups, even on a bar, I have my thumbs over the top of the bar rather than underneath (see image). So I basically hang with my fingers. You can have this type of grip on most objects. &lt;strong&gt;If you're not used to doing pull-ups like this I could see this being a reason to not being able to do the same reps as on a regular bar.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NMqS3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NMqS3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-06-21T09:27:04.360" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T09:27:04.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34385" CreationDate="2017-06-20T14:46:30.303" Score="1" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;My trainer told me about this exercise for the chest, but I couldn't find it on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/1/muscle/chest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BodyBuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it involve is to have dumbbells on your sides with arm straight at initial position and then move the dumbbells to front and make them meet at shoulder height with the hands pointer upward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this exercise and does it help the chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-06-20T15:40:05.120" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T04:36:50.627" Title="What is this weird exercise given to me by my Trainer for chest?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34384" CreationDate="2017-06-20T15:42:18.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your description could describe a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Front Raise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S0TGum.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S0TGum.png&quot; alt=&quot;Starting Front Raise Position&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JwRnGm.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JwRnGm.png&quot; alt=&quot;Front Raise End&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As regards how the Front Raise can target the pectoral muscles, &lt;a href=&quot;https://forum.muscleandstrength.com/threads/65782-what-do-underhand-front-raises-do?s=a9a0164c8decff86fbabb5651617ed61&amp;amp;p=773878&amp;amp;viewfull=1#post773878&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this fellow comments on underhanded Front Raises&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Depending on how you do underhand front DB raises they can be for the anterior deltoid or they can be a focus on the upper peck [sic]. When bringing the palms together at the peak of the movement in front of you its a good contraction on the upper pecks. When going more straight it hits the anterior deltoids more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia says many of the same things in different language (bolding mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It primarily works the anterior deltoid, with assistance from the serratus anterior, biceps brachii and &lt;strong&gt;clavicular portions of the pectoralis major&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-06-20T17:17:26.407" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T17:17:26.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34376" CreationDate="2017-06-20T16:34:28.687" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll do less; 5&quot; diameter will be pretty hard to grip. Also, branches generally aren't totally flat so it will be a little off-balance. I'd consider picking up &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/20860/7091&quot;&gt;a set of gymnast rings to hang from the tree branch&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some rings, you get a few advantages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They're even in height.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do pullups.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can do ring dips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/lord-of-the-rings-how-to-get-in-great-shape-using-gymnastic-rings/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;You can do a host of other gymnastic exercises like levers, crosses, and shoot-thrus&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus, they're portable and relatively cheap. For several years of my life (living in a developing nation) I got by with some gymnast rings and a kettlebell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T16:34:28.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32621" CreationDate="2017-06-20T20:15:02.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also try running backwards or sideways, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.1984.58.1.149&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this requires more energy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25863" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T20:15:02.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34389" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-20T20:17:20.453" Score="2" ViewCount="485" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 26 &amp;amp; 5'5&quot; (6weeks postpartum). I weigh 180lbs, BMI of 29 &amp;amp; 27% fat. My goal weight was 140 till I started doing some math. If I lose 40lbs of fat I'll only have about 9lbs of fat left. Not what I want, not aiming for body builder status. So my question is how accurate is fat% using measurements &amp;amp; what should be a good goal weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25935" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T00:30:06.360" Title="How accurate is body fat calculator?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32621" CreationDate="2017-06-20T20:20:33.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do what one of my running partners does with me. Run alongside me until you feel the need to &quot;stretch it out&quot; and then go sprint ahead for a bit. Then return back and run alongside. In some cases you can get close to running 1.5 times the distance (as logged by our fitness trackers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T20:20:33.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-21T06:34:24.110" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually go for hikes and I have one problem, that my shoulder hurts after a few meters with a heavy back pack, of about 25 pounds, on my back. Which muscles and exercises should I focus on to increase my carrying capacity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the rotator cuff involved in this activity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-06-22T11:44:12.920" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T11:54:47.353" Title="Backpack carrying problem resolution excercise" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34328" CreationDate="2017-06-21T13:37:09.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your situation, my biggest two practical recommendations to avoid plateau/sticking are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat enough food (and get enough good sleep) to ensure that you gain two to five pounds of bodyweight per week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't get greedy with your weight increases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest that you read &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/article/the_first_three_questions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;The First Three Questions&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/article/the_novice_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;novice linear strength progression&lt;/a&gt;, using the low-bar barbell back squat, the overhead press, the deadlift, and the bench press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T13:37:09.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34403" CreationDate="2017-06-21T15:25:40.497" Score="4" ViewCount="1797" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently started my weight loss journey to get rid of some excess fat I have. My goal is to lose about 50 lbs, in a year. I'm not really married to the whole timeline, so I would actually like to go slow, and might take it longer than a year too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently (a month now) started my workout and and diet regime and it's going well so far, no more than a pound per week. That's good, but my question is, what are some early signs of loose skins, if any? I would really like to get out of this pot and without landing on fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been reading up on tips that help avoid loose skin: drink a lot of water, eat healthy, workout and tighten muscles rather, etc. But still, if there are any early signs of loose skin, I would like to know early on and, maybe slow down my progress, or even alter the regime, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25941" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2017-06-22T16:01:03.430" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T16:01:03.430" Title="What are some early signs of loose skin when trying to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;skin&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34389" CreationDate="2017-06-22T00:30:06.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fat percentage by measurements is towards the lower end of the scale dor reliable and accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The order generally goes (with the caveat that the tester must be trained/experienced)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DEXA scan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Underwater weighing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9 site caliper (there are also 7 5 and 3 site methods, with accuracy decreasing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measurements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bioelectric impedence (note: while it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be inaccurate, the same machine will generally give the same error rate, so it can be used to track trends).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as goal weight, that is going to be highly personal, and somewhat irrelevant. I would rather have someone pursue a picture of what they want to look like. An arbitrary weight goal may be unhealthy, unattainable or not allow you to enjoy life. If you are happy with how you look and are fit enough to enjoy life and your pursuits, that is a goal to shoot for. Only worry about a specific weight if it matters for something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T00:30:06.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34384" CreationDate="2017-06-22T04:21:48.777" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly advise against this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biomechanically an underhand grip leads to a chain of events.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supinating your forearm (palm up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Results in external rotation of your humerus (arm bone).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your deltoid (big shoulder muscle) attaches midway down on your humerus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your rotator cuff - key shoulder stabilizers, attach to the head (or&#xA;top) of your humerus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1NB68.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1NB68.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WEI0L.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WEI0L.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Result:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This alters the resting position of your shoulder stabilizers so they &lt;strong&gt;fire late during overhead movements&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your anterior deltoid (also attached to your arm) is the primary shoulder flexor (when you raise your arm in front of you) an &lt;strong&gt;increased shearing force  is applied to a now unstable joint / and rotator cuff&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You'll &lt;strong&gt;feel this more the higher you raise your arm&lt;/strong&gt; (the shearing force increases).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There’s actually a lot more going on but no need to go farther.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-06-22T04:36:50.627" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T04:36:50.627" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34328" CreationDate="2017-06-22T05:27:47.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at your comment on your question explaining your routine and current physical state , I'd say follow these or look into these points :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since you're going to the gym for about 3 days a week , I'd say increase that to about 5 days with 2 days off in a week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change your exercises, this is pretty straightforward since hitting your pecs with the same decline + incline presses will just make your body get used to that motion and hence result in no progress. Change to other pec hitting exercises ; I can't remember any but there are many available on the internet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You'll hear this from everyone but eat more and eat high in protein and carbs and don't forget to add a little fat too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since I can't see any other muscle groups being trained, add some squats, deadlifts, rows .&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With regard to the 4th point , add the compound exercises to your training, They help alot for amateurs who are looking to build their cores, add initial mass and set their form right for the future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25946" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T05:27:47.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34328" CreationDate="2017-06-22T10:11:22.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You don't want to hit plateau.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all there is nothing wrong with hitting plateau. Keep working out. Keep pushing further. Add 1 kilo or whatever weight you can. See if you can still do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you finally cannot lift any further weight, try to do the same workout but in small amount of time. For example, if you completed your workout in 50 mins last time and if you manage to complete the workout in 45 mins now you are still better and stronger than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try drinking water(maybe with honey) between sets, just few sips. It might help.&#xA;Remember your muscle doesn't know how much weight you are lifting, it only knows the stress it has to go through. You can still create higher stress with low weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are completely blocked out, and can't imporve any further. Reduce the normal weight you lift by half and try going 25 reps for each set. Do this for week. Then go back to normal routine, you should be able to lift heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you are just starting I would recommend to concentrate on proper form and technique rather than just hitting higher weights. Also most important thing is which we don't usually think is you can still gain muscle without lifting heavy, you just need to now how to surprise your muscles from time to time. So that you can break it can build it up with proper food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7916" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T10:11:22.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34395" CreationDate="2017-06-22T10:18:17.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;50lbs a year equates to 1lb a week which is a healthy amount of weight to lose (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/weight-loss-guide/Pages/losing-weight-getting-started.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/weight-loss-guide/Pages/losing-weight-getting-started.aspx&lt;/a&gt;). This should help you avoid getting loose skin. Losing too much weight to fast, as you correctly asserted, is usually the reason for loose skin. Take photos every month of yourself and review them, you should be able to see and feel the effects. Alternatively, ask to get a independent review from a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T10:18:17.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34393" CreationDate="2017-06-22T11:54:47.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/554215-exercises-to-prevent-shoulder-pain-from-a-backpack/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The chief thing that you need to do is to wear a good backpack, and to wear it properly&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whether a backpack is used by a hiker, a traveler or a schoolchild, it should fit the person, be worn on both shoulders and not be used to carry too much weight. An overloaded backpack not only puts too much pressure on the shoulder, it disperses extra weight on the hip, knee and ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted by Julian above, a waist band can help distribute the weight into your hips and trunk. Also, make sure the straps are tight (but of course, not so tight that they're cutting off circulation). If they're loose, the bag will hang backwards, which will not only put strain on your shoulders, but also displace the weight into pushing your hips forward, taking you out of proper posture. Lastly, make sure that the straps are padded, and that the padding isn't worn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the rotator cuff is involved in carrying the backpack and there are exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shoulder exercises can strengthen muscles, promote range of motion and stretch muscles that are tight. The rotator cuff stabilizes the shoulder, and it is important to strengthen that group of muscles. Internal and external rotation are good exercises for the rotator cuff. Stand near a wall. Bend the elbow to 90 degrees and keep the elbow close to the body, with the lower arm parallel to the floor. Press the palm into the wall for 10 seconds; repeat on other side. For an external rotation, follow the same steps but use the back of the hand rather than the palm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also suggest shoulder shrugs and wall push-ups to stabilize your scapulae:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To help stabilize the shoulder blade, stand with your arms at your sides, holding a light dumbbell in each hand. Your palms should face the body. Keep your arms straight and shrug your shoulders upward toward the ears. Pause and lower the shoulder; repeat 10 times. Wall pushups are another shoulder exercise. Stand about 18 inches from the wall. Place your hands at shoulder level with palms flat on the wall. Slowly lower yourself toward the wall, then return to the starting position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you might simply want to be carrying less weight. A common figure thrown out (often credited to some website entitled &quot;The Athletic Advisor&quot;) is that a backpack should not weigh more than 10% of your bodyweight. So if you're under 250 lbs, you may be overloading yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T11:54:47.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34405" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-22T13:18:11.457" Score="2" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work 9-6 in a software company. There's not much physical movement in office. I experience fatigue on reaching home. What can I do on weekends and even weekdays so that I don't feel tired after coming home from office?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is not related to fat loss / weight loss. But related to fatigue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18775" LastEditorUserId="18775" LastEditDate="2017-06-22T14:55:18.940" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T13:46:00.440" Title="How to reduce fatigue after office?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;water&gt;&lt;brain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33537" CreationDate="2017-06-22T17:01:57.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are quite right: some dumbbells are too small to allow a triangle hold, so the hands must overlap.  When the hands overlap to a significant extent, it's difficult (impossible?) to tell whether the arms are providing equal forces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It such cases, I would consider using an EZ-Curl bar or a fixed-weight bar instead of a dumbbell.  You can space your hands on opposite sides of the center of the bar, with perhaps two hand-widths of bare bar between your hands.  When you do a French press with this set-up, unequal forces from the arms will cause noticeable rotation of the bar, which you can correct as you move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastEditorUserId="20213" LastEditDate="2017-06-23T17:06:30.090" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T17:06:30.090" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-23T00:27:08.257" Score="0" ViewCount="648" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are other questions around that are similar to this one, but read on and see that mine has more concerns regarding muscle building vs. fat building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a common thing in bodybuilding: bulking and cutting. The mantra behind bulking is that one &quot;must accept the fat gains in order to gain muscle.&quot; The idea behind this is cut and dry: it's generally believed in bodybuilding circles that one &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;has to&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; gain fat in order to gain muscle, and that there's no easy way around it (aside from steroids and other alternatives that need not be discussed here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if one is to believed to have to get fatter in order to get more muscular, how does one steadily and efficiently gain muscle while not gaining fat? The problem with the formula is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Calorie surplus needed to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Calorie surplus adds fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Ergo, gaining muscle means gaining fat is guaranteed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same formula works backwards and is not sexy either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Calorie deficit needed to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Calorie deficit means muscle loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Ergo, losing fat means losing muscle is guaranteed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we go by calories in-vs.-out and a basic understanding of the human body's thermodynamics, how can one accurately design a program surrounded by building muscle constantly (anabolic) and losing fat (catabolic), when all the knowledge we have and programs we tend to follow preach that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Building muscle and losing fat is impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.You can't build muscle without building fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.You can't lose fat without losing muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therein lies the born notion of bulking and cutting.&#xA;Is this fact or is there more to the story here? If this is all true, then everyone who wants to build some muscle must get fatter too? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't that a contradiction for athletes? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can imagine that it'd make no sense for an athlete to be shoveling down a surplus and slowly getting fatter if the goal to be an athlete is generally remaining lean and built, engaging muscle building, endurance and power + speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now trying to find the holy-grail: do both at the same time, or as simultaneously as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to do &quot;my own thing,&quot; but I fear that it doesn't really work too well and it seems nearly impossible for me to keep revealing my six-pack through fat loss, while assuring I'm building the most muscle I possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the answers given, I won't &quot;stop&quot; trying to achieve my goals whether they're unrealistic or not. I'd rather die trying to reach the holy-grail than live in an uncomfortable burden of bitter taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25900" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T00:27:08.257" Title="Impossible to naturally build muscle steadily without gaining fat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-23T03:59:58.017" Score="-2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to lose 6kg for my medical test, i already lost 2kgs but I'm stuck now and not loosing weight anymore.someone please tell me a faster and effective way to do this, i just have to lose as much weight as possible temporarily for the test, so how can i do that? &#xA;Also i would like to add that i have 25bmi and my goal is 23bmi and my hieght is 5feet 2 inches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25954" LastActivityDate="2018-06-21T05:49:11.740" Title="Faster way to lose weight for med test" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-06-22T19:31:24.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34086" CreationDate="2017-06-23T09:10:21.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your heart-rate monitor is configured to showing you the percentage of your maximum heart-rate, not your actual heart rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you set your max correctly, if you don't know your correct max HR (I assume you don't :) ) you can go with that formula (220-age) and adjust it when you start noticing that you are actually going above it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25955" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T09:10:21.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34405" CreationDate="2017-06-23T14:51:10.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You’d be amazed how much more productive and energized you feel after starting a strength and cardio training regimen.  As you’re just starting out, &lt;strong&gt;developing consistency is &lt;em&gt;far more important&lt;/em&gt; than what exercises you do&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Discipline is everything.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defined as:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Control gained by enforcing obedience or order: orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior: self-control.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As health is not temporary, approach it with the mindset you’re making a lifelong change. I'd recommended starting doing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each week &lt;strong&gt;start by writing down 3 days&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(say Monday, Wednesday and&#xA;Friday)&lt;/em&gt; you’re going to workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DON’T go home after work on a workout day&lt;/strong&gt;.  You’ll &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; end up going back out. Bring your gym stuff with you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You’ll run into days you really &lt;strong&gt;don’t feel like it&lt;/strong&gt; – that’s&#xA;normal.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Still go, get changed and if after 15 minutes you still&#xA;don’t feel like exercising – leave.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Need help developing an exercise plan?  That’s the easy part. Google one or hire a trainer to help you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, diet plays an important role too but the &lt;strong&gt;carryover effect&lt;/strong&gt; from the &lt;strong&gt;discipline developed is your initial focus&lt;/strong&gt; will help directly with dietary changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a tremendous amount of research linking exercise to an &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;increase in energy and productivity&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Discipline&lt;/strong&gt; has been shown to be &lt;strong&gt;most important aspect of habit development and therefore should be developed first&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T14:51:10.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33537" CreationDate="2017-06-23T16:21:50.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Standing Unilateral Dumbbell Tricep Extensions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OgGHV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OgGHV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Lying Unilateral Dumbbell Tricep Extensions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9nziK.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9nziK.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: weighttraining.guide&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T16:21:50.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34163" CreationDate="2017-06-24T21:36:58.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/32646/isometric-eccentric-concentric-training-differences-and-what-each-is-good-for&quot;&gt;There's already an answer to this, sort of&lt;/a&gt;, but I'll specifically try to address your question which is a smidge different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically you want to exercise muscles for whatever their role in athleticism or daily life will be. Also, some muscles have evolved to perform certain roles in certain ways. If you need to push a car, it's natural that you'll engage all of your big muscles (quads, glutes) more than your smaller pushing muscles (soleus, triceps). They all work together, but it shouldn't be any surprise that larger and more powerful muscles were designed to handle more of a load than smaller ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdomen#Muscles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;abdominals&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_spinae_muscles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;erector spinae&lt;/a&gt; tend to be used in an isometric fashion for load bearing, both just to keep the human body upright and to stabilize the trunk for lifting heavy objects (whereby the prime movers again become the larger hamstrings, quads, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, concentric exercises are generally more likely to result in increased muscle size and force generation, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1356689X11001019&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;studies show that simply having larger abdominal muscle tissue creates better posture&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to specifically answer your question you'd want to do both concentric and isometric ab activities. Isometric because that's generally what your body does all day long and during advanced training, and concentric because it will create stronger and larger muscle tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people have weak abs and short (inflexible) &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliopsoas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;iliopsoas&lt;/a&gt;; the classic &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/33967/7091&quot;&gt;anterior pelvic tilt&lt;/a&gt;. A rather decent silver bullet for all of that is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWFrontPlank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;isometric plank&lt;/a&gt;:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0RwKx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0RwKx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easy to train, and especially when you look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/want-a-stronger-core-skip-the-sit-ups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;potential back injuries from sit ups&lt;/a&gt; and neck injuries from crunches, it's easy to see why it's a go-to abdominal exercises especially for people looking for good-enough fitness (ie: not strength athletes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to beef up your ab exercises, I'd recommend &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.skimble.com/exercises/1570-churn-the-pot-on-ball-how-to-do-exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;churn the pot&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. Toes on the ground, plank position, elbows on a yoga ball, fingers interlaced or at least hands close together. The smaller the ball, the harder it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Move the ball slightly to the left, then the right, then front, then back. You'll quickly feel how hard it is to stabilize. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-06-24T21:36:58.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34422" CreationDate="2017-06-25T11:55:24.103" Score="2" ViewCount="1216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training my upper body using only body-weight for a long time now, and I recently started using a weighted backpack with nice tight straps (~+30% of my body-weight) directly over my center of mass.&#xA;Then a personal trainer told me, it is much healthier to do Bench Presses instead, because they are an &quot;Open Kinetic Chain Exercise&quot; and thus put less stress on the joints.&#xA;So two things: &#xA;1. Is he right? &#xA;2. If not, Are there any other reasons I would want to do bench presses instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25652" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T07:51:45.590" Title="Can weighted Pushups replace Benchpress?" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34424" CreationDate="2017-06-25T20:59:29.723" Score="1" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;Musculoskeletal-ly speaking, I would just like to get a take from peers here who do what I'm calling &quot;full-rest&quot; pull-ups, where you pull up with arms straight above you, then go all the way back to a straight-arm position for each pull-up. Guys here in the gym say they can do so many pull-ups, but they don't go all the way. Anyway, I was wondering since most people do pull-ups the short way, in bursts with no straightening of the arms to the &quot;full-rest&quot; position, is that because doing it the long way causes ball-and-socket damage in the long term, or are they just doing it that way because it's easier. Which is better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25968" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T12:34:01.957" Title="Long term effects of full-rest pull-ups" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34419" CreationDate="2017-06-25T21:11:00.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're not locking out, I'm not counting it. They'd get 0 reps counted in a competition, so they're just fooling themselves into thinking they're doing lots of reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, getting a full stretch on the muscle (in this case, the latissimus dorsi and bicep in particular) before starting the rep will give you more of a payout if you're doing it for the actual training, and not just to show off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their delusions will hold them back, gains-wise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're having some sort of internal competition, impose a lock-out rule. If you don't, people will just go down as far as it pleases them to get a higher count, and people will stop at different points. A lock-out rule will keep everyone honest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-06-25T21:11:00.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34175" CreationDate="2017-06-26T00:32:25.963" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rest until your muscles stop feeling sore.  If your muscles don't feel sore, increase intensity, duration, or sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually 1 day is a minimum between workouts that involve the same muscle groups, so you don't experience muscle loss or damage, but you can rest up to 5 days for larger muscle groups if they are still feeling sore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T00:32:25.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34418" CreationDate="2017-06-26T00:54:15.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can weighted bench presses replace bench press?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sure, they will work your muscles slightly different and incorporate core strength, which can be a bonus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is he right?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It uses more joints to do push-ups, because your vertebrae, knees, and ankles get involved, which might be bad in the long run if not taken into consideration, but again, it does incorporate core muscles, which is a bonus.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you do the push-ups at home, he may be interested in keeping you at the gym in sessions with him.  After all, he does make money off of it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things to consider..&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;bench press will work muscles differently, and it will be a more efficient way of achieving large muscle mass  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;keep your core and leg strength up to accommodate the extra weight that you add to your vest.  The extra leg, lower &amp;amp; mid back, and abdominal muscles will support your joints and help prevent injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;adjusting arm placement will use different muscles more and may help mimic some bench press variations. Try wide-grip push-ups (pectoral focus), close-grip push-ups (tricep focus), reverse-grip pushups, decline/incline pushups , etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;bench press allows you to go heavier with a lot less spine, leg, and foot involvement&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T00:54:15.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34409" CreationDate="2017-06-26T01:05:36.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can adopt a juicing diet or fast with exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1lb of body fat has 3500 calories (~8000cal/kg), so losing calories and not replacing them would be the quickest option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend erring on the side of caution, as I often hear people say to see a doctor before doing this (perhaps diabetes is a concern here), although I'm skeptical of the need to do that, as we adapted to have days without food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your body goes into ketosis after some time, you will have increased vision and other senses, because your body is preparing you to find more food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take this route with exersise, you may want to have a protein supplement after workouts to avoid muscle loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note - too much sugar or carbohydrates will kick you out of ketosis as well as very large amounts of protein. Try to keep sugar and carbs under 20g/day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T01:05:36.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34419" CreationDate="2017-06-26T05:24:50.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're describing is, I believe, called a &quot;Deadhang Pull-up,&quot; in which you return to the Deadhang position at the end of the eccentric portion of the exercise. Simply put, this is what I consider to be a correct pull-up. That being said, your mention of ball-and-socket joint issues is not incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you're performing a deadhang pull-up or you're just doing deadhangs, a critical component of the form is to ensure that you're &quot;packing&quot; your shoulders. That is, you should be retracting your scapula. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2lOW0ndH00&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; video shows how to properly deadhang and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkOeoEcKW0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video gives a lot of good advice on pull-ups in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T05:24:50.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34320" CreationDate="2017-06-26T12:30:02.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak too much to the stomach vacuum itself, but this is basically an isometric exercise, one where you're working one set of muscles against another, here your abdomen and your lower back muscles. My suspicion is that the benefit of this exercise is less a strengthening or toning of the muscles, and more a matter of teaching yourself to hold that area in, making it easier to hold extra bulk &quot;sucked in&quot;. It's not a bad exercise in that it's making you aware of those muscles, and your general core position. However, by itself, I'd argue that it's too isolated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, if you want something similar, consider the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dragondoor.com/articles/gymnastics-tension-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hollow position&lt;/a&gt;, a gymnastic exercise where you contract your entire body to bend it forward. As a whole-body movement, you're learning to use everything in concert rather than just your stomach. The link I have above has several variations, but the two key ones are either doing the hollow lying on the ground, or do it hanging from your hands from a ledge or bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To experience the hollow position, lay down on your back on the floor. Tuck your pelvis forward with your lower back maintaining contact with the floor. Lift your straight legs slightly off the floor. Extend your arms up straight beside your ears and raise your head and shoulders slightly off the floor. The hollow is an effective body position for the handstand, front lever, back swing on parallel bars, dragon flag, and the bottom position of the wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're focused on the stomach vacuum itself, I'd say that your three major variation will be doing the exercise standing (most natural to your natural posture), lying on your back (this one seems to carry the least benefit, but might be reasonable if you're doing this exercise while doing something else, like watching TV), or on all fours (&lt;em&gt;Marjaryasana&lt;/em&gt; or &quot;cat pose&quot; in yoga. Doing it like this will be working against gravity and better contrast your movement front and back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T12:30:02.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34419" CreationDate="2017-06-26T12:34:01.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is basically one that addresses full range of motion (ROM) versus “cheat” movements.  Exercising a muscle (any muscle) through its full ROM tends to provide more long term benefits than “cheating” for the simple fact that full ROM tends to correlate with strict form.  Full range movements also tend to enforce a longer &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.t-nation.com/training/new-science-of-time-under-tension&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;time under tension&lt;/a&gt;.  Lastly, those that use “cheat” movements are typically more interested in the “numbers” (sets, reps, etc.) rather than doing the exercise(s) correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, full ROM movements win out every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T12:34:01.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34405" CreationDate="2017-06-26T13:46:00.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One primary reason for fatigue is due to lack of oxygen supply to cells. So, you should make sure you are breathing properly (ie. deep inhalation and exhalation) and conscious breathing.&#xA;There are lot of breathing exercises (Pranayama) in Yoga. By doing it regularly, it regulates breathing and rejuvenates each and every cells in the body.&#xA;Pranayama also gives so many other physical &amp;amp; mental benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25974" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T13:46:00.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3262" CreationDate="2017-06-26T13:47:45.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good Mornings (heavy, moderate, light weights)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kettlebell / Dumbbell Swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All types of Rowing &amp;amp; Pull-ups / Chin-ups / Pull-Downs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Farmer's Walk / Loaded Carries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25975" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T13:47:45.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-26T19:06:22.780" Score="0" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you call an exercise that consists in holding the dip bars with the arms straight (during the whole exercise) and contracting the abs? What is it good for? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25979" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T07:54:48.147" Title="Name exercise for abs in the dip bars" Tags="&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34431" CreationDate="2017-06-26T21:03:22.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're just engaging the abs, that's &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/479681-does-tightening-your-stomach-make-you-get-abs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bracing&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Abdominal bracing is the second way to strengthen your stomach with simple tightening maneuvers. To do the move, imagine preparing your stomach muscles for a punch in the gut. You’d automatically contract and stiffen your midrift to brace for the jolt, right? That’s abdominal bracing, which is a key component of plank and its many variations, as well as push-ups. Abdominal bracing activates all three layers of the entire abdominal wall, causing them to bind together. It works both the deep and superficial muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More likely, given you're using the bars, is that you're doing &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dragondoor.com/articles/gymnastics-tension-exercises/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hollow body&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which is the same technique, except you're bringing your head and legs in as well, and sort of &quot;sucking in&quot; the gut. This is more useful, because it promotes a whole-body movement and static strength, and can be done in a larger variety of positions. You can see a video of this being done on the parallel bars &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/eLI7t-5wHno?t=1m1s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; which sounds like what you're describing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T18:45:10.887" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T18:45:10.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-26T22:19:44.387" Score="4" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;These might be the characteristics of a decent treadmill for running:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;powerful motor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;max speed. The more, the better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hydraulic incline adjustment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weight of the device. 70kg unit will be, on average, more durable than 30kg flimsy toy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;price. In general, the higher the MSRP, the better the unit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;user reviews&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, I wanted to browse my local 'Craigslist' and pick a treadmill for a &lt;a href=&quot;https://nutritionfacts.org/video/standing-up-for-your-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Walking Desk&lt;/a&gt; by applying above evaluation scheme.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I came across an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.workwhilewalking.com/selecting-the-right-treadmill-base-for-your-diy-walking-desk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on workwhilewalking.com&lt;/a&gt;, which states that all those parameters are irrelevant, or even misleading.&#xA;The reason being, treadmill-base of a Walking Desk is used…:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;…for walking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When running, you’re kicking the belt backwards and are in the air&#xA;  part of the time. When you’re walking at 1-2 mph, the belt is pushing&#xA;  your entire body weight while overcoming friction between the belt and&#xA;  the deck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;…at low speeds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any motor specifications other than the torque of the motor when running at speeds of 1-2 mph is utterly irrelevant.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When walking at 1-2 mph, the motor will only produce a fraction of its rated horsepower. […]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When you need the most horses to pull the belt along, the motor delivers the fewest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;…for much longer periods of time than, say, running 5x1h / week&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these combined lead to overheating and premature death of, allegedly, any treadmill that was not designed specifically for walking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’ve seen 2.5 HP motors used in high-end running treadmills burn out every few months under the strain of daily walking at 1-2 mph for hours at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the article, instead of grabbing a sweet second-hand deal on Craigslist, they advise either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Splurging on a walking-dedicated treadmill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finding a rehab-dedicated treadmill:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’ve seen 1.5 HP motors in low-cost treadmills originally designed for rehab applications (typically topping out at 4 mph) last forever with constant use in a treadmill desk application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buying an inexpensive running-dedicated (aka 'regular') treadmill with a long warranty period on the motor. One'll have couple of warranty replacements, and, after the warranty period is expired, one will buy another unit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like approaches 1. and 2. above, because of a) limited availability of those high-end units in my country b) their insane price as for a treadmill with no incline, no heart rate sensors, etc. - I feel like I'm overpaying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps there are some other ways to tell if a running treadmill will be suitable for walking ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the arguments in the article sound really wise, I've seen positive&#xA;feedback on regular treadmills coming from users, that used them&#xA;exclusively for walking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe I should look for a different type of treadmill?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Magnetic, &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ht-YPlQtKRY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manual&lt;/a&gt; ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25978" LastEditorUserId="25978" LastEditDate="2017-06-30T11:48:22.260" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T16:26:08.523" Title="How to choose a treadmill for a Walking Desk aka Treadmill Desk" Tags="&lt;walking&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-27T03:54:46.763" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a recumbent trike. Basically you sit back in a comfortable chair, pedal with your legs, and steer using the bars on either side. It uses different muscles from a regular bike, as one does not rely on gravity to turn the wheels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of stretches would be helpful to do before setting out on one of these trikes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25619" LastEditorUserId="25619" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T15:14:49.080" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T00:11:39.540" Title="What stretches are useful before riding a recumbent trike?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34439" CreationDate="2017-06-27T04:23:41.457" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing excercise cruches for abs but my upper and near chest only hurt while lower down I don't see any effect at all. Why is this are abs are worked out separately for lower middle and upper ? Moreover I am feeling backpain while doing crunches just behind upper abs is that normal &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T17:06:08.817" Title="Lower abs not hurting" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34435" CreationDate="2017-06-27T06:25:49.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is because crunches mainly target the upper abs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To target the lower abs I suggest doing hanging leg raises or reverse crunches. If hanging leg raises are to hard for you at the moment you can also do leg raises while laying on the floor. Static holds (like planking for instance) will also develop your abs overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the pain as you describe it, does that feel like pain in any muscle or is your back hurting from laying on the ground? I never felt anything like that before while doing crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T06:25:49.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31843" CreationDate="2017-06-27T14:51:09.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/31848/18296&quot;&gt;@MiloMartinovich's answer&lt;/a&gt;, and want to add a couple of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't indicate which type of squat you do.  I recommend the low-bar back squat, because it uniquely engages the hamstrings as well as all of the other musculature engaged in other squat variants.  It is the most-complete exercise for the legs and the posterior chain.  Conventional (not &quot;sumo&quot;) deadlifts are extremely valuable for the legs, posterior chain, and back, too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ten sets of ten repetitions comprise far too much volume.  Three sets of five reps is more reasonable and trainable.  Consider using a program such as Starting Strength to structure your training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastEditorUserId="18296" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T02:00:59.903" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T02:00:59.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="34439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34435" CreationDate="2017-06-27T17:06:08.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your focus isn’t to train the upper / mid / lower abs -- crunches only target the rectus abdominis. In addition, &lt;strong&gt;crunches places unnecessary strain on your back&lt;/strong&gt;, which would explain the LBP.  Try to think of your core as &lt;em&gt;layers&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;sections&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core and low back muscles work together. The &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;transverse abdominis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (TrA) is the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;first muscle that fires literally every time you move&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. If you can keep your (TrA) correctly activated you’re on the way to more efficient movement, a stronger body, decreasing your pain etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here’s a better alternative to crunches&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plank with hip flexion adds &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;emphasis to key foundation areas&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; including your &lt;strong&gt;shoulders, torso, and deep spinal stabilizers&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Planks with Hip Flexion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H19nz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H19nz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start in a push-up position with your hands beneath your shoulders&#xA;and feet shoulder-width apart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping your hips and torso still, draw one knee toward your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Return to the starting position and repeat with the opposite leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T17:06:08.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32635" CreationDate="2017-06-27T18:32:35.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Common Dangerous Core Exercises&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Every situp causes &lt;strong&gt;730 pounds (3300 N)&lt;/strong&gt; of spinal compression forces.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research confirms &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;no single core exercise challenges all of the abdominal musculature while not harming the back&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Multiple exercises are required to strengthen the core and related muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unfortunately there are many inappropriate exercises unsafe for most people&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises does not help relieve back pain, but instead &lt;strong&gt;increases low-back damage&lt;/strong&gt; because of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;high compressive forces placed on the lower spine&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leg raises:&lt;/strong&gt;   Lying flat on the floor, raising your while straight. These cause &lt;strong&gt;even higher spine compression than sit-ups.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=mLMLFOlua3YC&amp;amp;pg=PA105&amp;amp;lpg=PA105&amp;amp;dq=These%20cause%20even%20higher%20spine%20compression%20than%20sit-ups&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=txnAzM8zZG&amp;amp;sig=mP0xlcBlOHxqOfecNl6sIOrX7Ec&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiw5Zzmz97UAhUEcD4KHX8OAV8Q6AEITjAG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rehabilitation of the Spine: A Practitioner's Manual&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T18:38:06.080" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T18:38:06.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34443" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-28T11:37:59.797" Score="4" ViewCount="756" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crunches is the go-to exercise for people wishing to reduce the belly. But wouldn't training the belly muscles actually increase the belly size? Given the fact that fat spot reduction is a myth, wouldn't we end with more mass by performing crunches (or similar exercises)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25979" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T13:39:34.153" Title="Do crunches actually increase belly size?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34443" CreationDate="2017-06-28T12:27:57.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, crunches are not necessarily the “go to” exercise for abs because no one exercise is more effective at burning fat than others.  And, yes, training a muscle may increase its size.  But, in the case of abs, that typically doesn’t happen to the degree that you might think.  You must combine proper diet and training for effective fat loss.  The goal should be to lose the visceral (or intra-abdominal) fat by combining exercises that burn calories with an effective eating plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T12:27:57.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34443" CreationDate="2017-06-28T13:15:51.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I try to separate this question in two parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Crunches reduce the belly?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. Because you just lose fat if you are in a caloric deficit. Therefore, the biggest part to worry about is your diet. Of course activities like crunches or weight training at all (or any other activity) increase your caloric output but the main part to focus on is your caloric input. By the way it is much easier to focus on the input (mostly with tracking your calories or other methods) than increasing your output with exercises like crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. With more crunches you gain belly size?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No I wouldn't say that. Of course with more strength (e.g. more repetitions or more resistance / weight) you'll get a bigger muscle. But this won't be visible in your abs if your on a natural basis. Maybe you know some pictures of bodybuilders there you can see the increased size of their belly but thats a complete different level so don't worry about it :-) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25991" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T13:15:51.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34443" CreationDate="2017-06-28T13:32:47.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;GREAT question! Actually the answer is more complex then I thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;em&gt;deep abdominal muscles&lt;/em&gt; are primarily &lt;strong&gt;stabilizers&lt;/strong&gt;.  These muscles are primarily composed of Type I, oxidative muscle fibers.  They're &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;responsible for maintenance of body posture and skeletal support&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  As such, cellular changes will occur in these fibers. &lt;strong&gt;Hypertrophy (or growth) in your &lt;em&gt;deep abdominal musculature&lt;/em&gt; will be negligible&lt;/strong&gt; - as they're frequently activated for sustained periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The front &quot;&lt;strong&gt;six-pack&quot; muscle (your rectus abdominis) is more of a &quot;hybrid&quot; muscle&lt;/strong&gt;, having roles in both &lt;strong&gt;spinal stability and movement&lt;/strong&gt;. It was surprising &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;how few studies exist&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; relating to the growth or hypertrophy of this muscle or even it's fiber composition.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;From the research I've found:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;males&lt;/strong&gt; -- &lt;strong&gt;yes, to an extent, your abdominal muscle fibers (retcus abdominis) can physically grow&lt;/strong&gt; (called hypertrophy), however the study did not include female participants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As testosterone levels are very low in women and approximately 100 times higher in men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;females&lt;/strong&gt; I've found &lt;strong&gt;no direct evidence supporting abdominal muscle fiber growth&lt;/strong&gt; (hypertrophy).  &lt;strong&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;applying physiological and hormonal differences&lt;/em&gt;, it's pretty safe to assume abdominal fiber growth would be minimal&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013134/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013134/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2917954/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2917954/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.endocrine.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.endocrine.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-06-28T13:39:34.153" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T13:39:34.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34202" CreationDate="2017-06-28T21:02:27.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience with clients, mainly males for this issue, is they overestimate 1) how heavy they need to be 2) how strong they need to be to look muscular, yet they underestimate how lean they should get. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fat can dramatically smooth out a person's appearance. This a famous internet example from years ago:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HEwGk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HEwGk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dave Gulledge before and after&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That’s Dave Gulledge. On the left he’s at something like 312 pounds. On the right he’s about fifty pounds lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more relatable examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From ~210 lbs to 190 lbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V7PwB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V7PwB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Jason Before and After front https://b-reddy.org&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Qp1a.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Qp1a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Jason Before and After side https://b-reddy.org&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XfigZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XfigZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Jason Before and After back https://b-reddy.org&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Image credit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2017/06/12/quick-tips-for-sustainable-cheat-days/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://b-reddy.org/2017/06/12/quick-tips-for-sustainable-cheat-days/&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From 150 lbs to 130 lbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6zTsZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6zTsZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Calvin before and after https://b-reddy.org&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Credit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://b-reddy.org&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wanted to give a wide spectrum of weights to show leaning up can make people look bigger / more muscular pretty much regardless of starting weight (provided the person is lifting of course). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A person regularly weight training, regularly trying to get stronger, at a lean 190 lbs, at a reasonable height, is going to look muscular. But when a person is heavier fat can hide curves, a big belly can make arms look disproportionately smaller, and so forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least for teenagers to the early 20s, populations they pay attention to -like NFL players and bodybuilders- have given a grave distortion of how heavy a person needs to be to look muscular. Couple that with how heavy most are to start with, and this often gets lost in the shuffle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most everyday people will want to go what I call the &quot;butting&quot; route. Bulking through cutting!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T21:02:27.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-29T02:02:00.603" Score="2" ViewCount="512" Body="&lt;p&gt;I havent worked out consistently in 3 years, and have been trying to get back into it cuz i miss being skinny and fit. Im around 175lbs at 5'5&quot; which is...not healthy at all if you look at the amount of fat compared to muscle. So i decided to get off the couch and work out again, starting with simple, easy-breezy exercises like squats without weights, mind you 55 squats was nothing to me back then with 40lbs added. 55 squats later (nonstop 55) my legs give out and i collapse on the floor like a sad fat kid. My quads would not cooperate for the like of me. The situation here was pretty much &quot;help me, ive fallen and i cant get up&quot;. Now that i cant even do simple exercises.. what can i do to get back up there? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25995" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T12:57:32.563" Title="Legs gave out after 55 squats?" Tags="&lt;beginners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T17:38:18.100" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34451" CreationDate="2017-06-29T03:39:50.920" Score="2" ViewCount="2080" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why it is difficult to do one side farmer carry i.e&#xA; I am carrying heavy weight only on one side. I can carry 60 pound each on my both hands in farmer carry. But one sided is hard enough.  Is one side also is any kind of excercise , read somewhere that it puts unnecessary strain on spine. But in everyday life we will carry weight on one side only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T13:45:21.840" Title="One side farmer carry" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;hands&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34448" CreationDate="2017-06-29T06:16:13.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fitness is a sport of patience.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is not trying to rush into getting fit again. You need to set goals 6 or 12 months from now and progress towards them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with sets of 3 or 4 sets of 15 bodyweight squats. Bodyweight exercises are a great way to get back in shape before working out with added weights, do squats, push-ups, sit-ups, leg raises, pull-ups (or inverted rows if pull-ups are too hard).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to make sure you &lt;strong&gt;eat enough healthy foods with the right nutrients and get ample resting time.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-06-29T12:43:41.343" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T12:43:41.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34449" CreationDate="2017-06-29T06:33:58.033" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One sided or Unilateral Farmer Carries are actually a &lt;em&gt;fantastic exercise&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;carrying the weight on one side&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;causes a lateral flexion (side-bending) and rotational forces&lt;/strong&gt;.  To prevent yourself from &lt;strong&gt;literally falling over&lt;/strong&gt;, these forces must be &lt;em&gt;neutralized&lt;/em&gt; -- &lt;strong&gt;by utilizing smaller stabilizing musculature.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, during a &lt;strong&gt;Standard Farmers Carry&lt;/strong&gt; you have weights in both hands, &lt;strong&gt;rather activating key stabilizers the&lt;/strong&gt; weights you're carrying simply offset.   &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The anti-rotational / lateral flexion component has been removed&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to note.  &lt;strong&gt;“Unnecessary” stress on the on the spine&lt;/strong&gt; (core) is created by movement done in an unnatural, non-functional position.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, sit-ups cause dangerously high compression and shearing forces to your spine  -- &lt;strong&gt;about 730 pounds (3300 N)&lt;/strong&gt; which well exceed safe levels established by the CDC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Larger muscles, with high force production&lt;/strong&gt; (global musculature) must compensate by &lt;strong&gt;improperly activating to counteract these forces.*&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Done over time, &lt;strong&gt;your literally programming your nervous system to recruit (activate) these muscles at the wrong time&lt;/strong&gt; -- such as smaller movements when those large muscles aren't needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-06-29T06:46:05.557" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T06:46:05.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34448" CreationDate="2017-06-29T12:57:32.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply enough, you've been three years out of the game, you're carrying more weight, and squats are more difficult than most people give credence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to do is to rest long enough to be able to move without pain. You overdid it this time. You need to start with a lesser amount, and gauge results from there. There are any number of &quot;X reps of this exercise in six weeks&quot; programs available online. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twohundredsquats.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is one for squats&lt;/a&gt;. It's nothing terribly scientific, but it produces a guide for how many squats to do in each set. I got up to 30-40 in each set, 4 sets a night, when I last did it, before I got bored and moved on to something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing that you may want to watch out for is overriding your body's natural signals via willpower. Some people are better at powering through discomfort and pain than others. I'm one of those myself. It's an issue because it means I'm prone to winding up unable to continue a program a few days later. If you find that you're prone to that sort of thing, intentionally pick a lower goal and work from there. It will mean that the first week or two will probably seem like you're doing nothing, but what you're doing is conditioning your body to the movement, getting it prepped. By the time it gets difficult, you will be significantly less likely to actually hurt yourself to the point where you can't get up in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T12:57:32.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34202" CreationDate="2017-06-29T13:29:30.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Looking muscular&quot; largely depends on your bodyfat percentage, which you seem to know.  Sets of five reps are good for stimulating development of strength and size, but ultimately, to &quot;look muscular&quot;, you probably will need to continue to lose bodyfat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T13:29:30.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34449" CreationDate="2017-06-29T13:45:21.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unilateral/imbalanced movements are more difficult than bilateral/balanced movements precisely because (and to the extent) of the imbalance, which you must overcome by exerting asymmetric force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bilateral/balanced movements such as barbell squats and deadlifts are better for strength development than unilateral/imbalanced movements because the latter, while difficult, significantly reduce the amount of weight that you can handle over a long effective (and safe) range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, and bench presses stimulate essentially all of the muscles (large and small) that are worth training for most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T13:45:21.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-30T22:13:14.983" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ribs on both sides hurt extremely bad when I move. However, if I'm resting they don't hurt. Is it possible I pulled some kind of muscle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26007" LastEditorUserId="24242" LastEditDate="2017-07-03T03:15:05.463" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T03:15:05.463" Title="I pulled my toddler in a wagon almost all day yesterday" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-07-03T18:34:05.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-01T01:04:10.780" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I measure my weight every morning. I find that my weight increases by 2 to 3 pounds if I have my dinner at a restaurant instead of home the night before, even the portions are about the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I know if there is any reason behind this? Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26008" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T03:28:35.967" Title="Weight effect when dining out" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;weights&gt;&lt;bodyweight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34418" CreationDate="2017-07-01T01:15:39.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your personal trainer is right. Your wrists will be at risk too if you do too many or too heavy pushups. So be careful. Read the story from this answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6489/25851&quot;&gt;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/6489/25851&lt;/a&gt;, I also experienced the same wrist pain. The trick is to &lt;strong&gt;use knuckle on soft surface&lt;/strong&gt;. But this solution is only for the wrists, not for all the joints mentioned in Craig's answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to give up pushups if you do bench presses.&#xA;You should do both. They have their own advantages. Some people (like me) find their pectoral muscles work more with pushups. Also try to &lt;strong&gt;do your pushups after your bench presses&lt;/strong&gt; and other pectoral exercises. Then, you need not to go heavy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25851" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T01:15:39.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34458" CreationDate="2017-07-01T03:28:35.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rapid increases in weight over a night is usually caused by water retention. Various things can cause the body to hold more water for longer, so the overall body weight goes up.  The effect can last a few hours to a couple days depending on the cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common culprit is salt because restaurants love putting salt on everything. It also makes you thirsty so you drink more. Starchy carbs like potatoes will also cause water retention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A secondary cause is you may be underestimating the portion size of the meal. Eyeballing portions is a learned skill which is why some people will actually bring mini scales. Restaurants sometimes also add oils that go unaccounted for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T03:28:35.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34457" CreationDate="2017-07-01T11:23:32.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's indeed possible that you pulled a muscle. But, since the discomfort seems to be mostly symmetrical and less apparent while you rest, it seems more likely that you are experiencing Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's true, then your discomfort may peak about 48 hours after the initial stressor (pulling the wagon).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult a health professional if the discomfort persists more than a week later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T11:23:32.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24386" CreationDate="2017-07-01T14:55:59.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 64 yrs, and had significant problems with my knees for injured ligaments near my knee. Even walking was a problem but very variable. I worked out eventually my knee problems were to do with muscle tension and weakness in my lower legs ankles and flat feet. I started with somatic exercises 4x daily to reduce tension in knees/intrinsic muscles of calf/foot and exercises to get my flat feet moving (I use vivobarefoot shoes during day now for walking). Moved on to running short steps and slowly in garden grass barefeet. Then added a small backpack with one brick as weight. Now I am up to 2 bricks 20mins per day. Posture and form is the key not speed, and short steps help. My knees are hugely improved for walking now (I also used a pine pollen extract supplement for testosterone balance). So if done for short periods in right way with small weights I would say it is a great way to strengthen legs. Worked for me as a part of broader programme. I will not go beyond 3 bricks - do not see the need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26010" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T14:55:59.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-01T17:08:21.883" Score="1" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I run with out drinking on the move it is fine but if I drink any amount of liquid whilst running my stomach starts to slosh the I get a stitch. I have tried taking small sips at a time or stopping to drink but I cant find a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can i prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26011" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T22:32:35.010" Title="stomach sloshing then a stitch" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T17:30:46.053" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-01T20:44:45.977" Score="1" ViewCount="769" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been gradually coming back from ITBS over 18 months and am nearly back to my previous mileage (15/week) but over shorter runs.  Recently I've being doing some longer runs up to half-marathon distance, and getting really sore calf muscles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The odd thing is that it seems to be isolated to the soleus.  Any clues as to what might be the cause?  Seems to me like soreness in one very specific place would suggest an issue with form?  So what does the soleus do that the gastrocnemius doesn't (in running terms ideally)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26013" LastEditorUserId="26013" LastEditDate="2017-07-04T06:24:53.610" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T17:08:20.653" Title="Sore soleus (but not gastrocnemius)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;running-form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T17:32:10.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34465" CreationDate="2017-07-01T21:40:39.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soleus Function&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The soleus assists the gastroc and other muscles in the posterior leg during the gait cycle lifting the heel off the ground during propulsion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It stabilizes the ankle - preventing it from flexing as it decelerates forward momentum of the tibia.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The muscle also has a very strong force turing the foot outward or supination, which stabilizes the outside of the foot to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Its action also helps the knee.  When the tibia is moving forward it&#xA;stops excessive movement so that the knee joint can be extended.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soleus Injuries&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injuries to the soleus are relatively rare.  Because of its attachment to the tibia, the soleus is most often implicated in shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the foot rolls in during shock absorption, the soleus helps to prevent the foot from excessively pronating.  The muscle may pull excessively on the bone causing inflammation at the muscle-bone junction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accessory soleal muscles have also been implicated in tarsal tunnel syndrome.  The muscle can extend more distally into the inner portion of the ankle.  It would take up space into the tarsal tunnel and during activity and fill with blood, causing compression of the posterior tibial nerve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treatment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acute Injuries&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Treatment for acute injuries of the soleus include:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest by placing the foot in a plantarflexed or pointing down posture.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ice can be applied over a sock or a towel on the back part of the leg&#xA;to lessen the pain and swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Compression in the form of an ace bandage will also help to lessen&#xA;some of the swelling in the region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Any shoe that has a small wedge that keeps the heel higher than the&#xA;ball of the foot will also minimize stress to the region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Chronic Injuries&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA; Chronic cases of problems with the soleus are usually associated with medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Treatment for chronic injuries of the soleus include:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Activity modification and changes in the running surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shoes with more support and a lift to lessen the stress to the soleus&#xA;and prevent the foot from pronating.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Orthotics to prevent excess pronation and excessive stress to the&#xA;soleus.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22578743&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22578743&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.southfloridasportsmedicine.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.southfloridasportsmedicine.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-04T17:08:20.653" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T17:08:20.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34464" CreationDate="2017-07-01T22:32:35.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The medical term for a side stitch is “&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;exercise-related transient abdominal pain&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;” and the words tell us as much about the condition as anyone knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side stitches occur during physical exertion (usually running or walking briskly). They're transient. They affect the abdominal area to the right of the navel. And they hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond the basic definition, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;there's little consensus and no proof about the cause, cure or prevention&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Much of what we know comes from a 2005 study published in a 2005 issue of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16075775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How it Happens &lt;em&gt;(Current Theories)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side stitches are caused by the pumping action of the legs putting pressure on the diaphragm from below, while rapid breathing expands the lungs and puts pressure on the diaphragm from above. This &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;“dual pinching”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; effect &lt;em&gt;shuts off the flow of blood and oxygen&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;causes pain, cramps or both&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other researchers believe that side stitches are caused by&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;stretching the ligaments that extend from the diaphragm to the&#xA;liver&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. When a runner or walker pounds the surface while breathing in&#xA;and out these ligaments are stretched which causes the pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A third theory is that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;eating a lot of food or fatty food&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, in&#xA;particular, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;before exercise may cause stress on the diaphragm&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;No one knows for sure&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; what causes the pain, but it's real and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;there are some things you may be able to do about it&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who’s At Risk of Side Stitches?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Runners are more susceptible than walkers; women more likely to get&#xA;side stitches than men; younger people more than older exercisers;&#xA;and less conditioned runners more than well conditioned ones.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Again, in the Australian study mentioned above, the &lt;strong&gt;pain began to&#xA;develop equally during the first, middle, and latter part of the&#xA;race&lt;/strong&gt;, so &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;warming up or not warming&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; up &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;does not seem&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to have an&#xA;effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The amount of food eaten prior to exercise appears to make a person&#xA;more susceptible to side stitches. Runners who &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ate the most during&#xA;the two hours before the event&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; were the ones most likely to&#xA;experience pain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Almost 50 percent said that the pain occurred after they had ingested&#xA;water or a sports drink.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;These findings were the result of just one study, so they must be considered in that context.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Symptoms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A temporary stabbing pain on the lower right side of your abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The pain subsides almost immediately after exercise stops.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treatment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no treatment. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Simply stop doing whatever causes the pain or stop and try some of the in-race suggestions below&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, then resume the activity after 1-2 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to Avoid Side Stitches&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many suggestions for avoiding side stitches, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;but what works for one person may or may not help another&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Experiment with the ideas below, use the ones that work, and disregard the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;moderately-sized, low-fat meals 2-3 hours before&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; practice or&#xA;competition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stick to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;familiar foods that are easily digested&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  A small snack&#xA;about an hour before a workout or run is ok, but this snack should be&#xA;comprised mostly of carbohydrate and fluid, not fat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If all else fails, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;try different sources of pre-workout foods&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (energy&#xA;gels, sports drinks, bread, pasta, oatmeal, fruits) till you find&#xA;something you can tolerate without getting a pain in the side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop running or walking and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;bend forward, while tightening the&#xA;abdominal muscles&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exhale through pursed lips (to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;focus on breathing pattern&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stretch&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (right arm extended upward, lean to the left, hold for 20-30 seconds, repeat with the left arm stretched upward).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathe deeply (to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;stretch the diaphragm&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change breathing patterns while running, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;inhale one extra beat than when exhaling&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (inhale 1-2-3; exhale 1-2).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Slow your pace&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of running or walking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hydrate during your workouts with 7-10 ounces of water or a sports drink&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (Gatorade) every 10-15 minutes. These amounts and types of beverages will &lt;em&gt;promote better fluid absorption&lt;/em&gt; compared to consumption of larger amounts of beverages such as fruit juices.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16075775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16075775&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T22:32:35.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-02T11:11:13.167" Score="1" ViewCount="472" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gym instructor told me that doing planks with elbows on the vibrating Power Plate gives better results than a normal plank on the floor... Does anyone know if there's some truth to it or is it just bro science? &#xA;I'd appreciate it if the answers stated whether they are based on experience or literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26022" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T18:44:50.230" Title="Any advantages of using a Power Plate for planks?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34471" CreationDate="2017-07-02T11:15:36.000" Score="-5" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scenario: You are stuck in cube room. The room is completely bare. It is 10 metres by 10 metres by 10 metres. There are no weights of any kind in the room. The room is well lit and ventilated. You have access to an infinite amount fruit,vegetables,herbs,nuts, and water. (You also have access to toilet facillitys however you cannont use them in anyway as a surface to preform any form of exercise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Objective: To work out all the muscles given the restrictions of the Scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know(regarding the Scenario Given):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q1.-Can I achieve a full body workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q2.-What muscles would be the hardest to build? (Given the scenario)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q3.-What exercises are the best exercises available for those muscles? (Given the scenario)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q4.-What muscles would be the easiest to build? (Given the scenario)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26021" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T13:47:48.180" Title="How would you acheive a full body workout in a bare cube room?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-07-03T18:42:04.583" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34470" CreationDate="2017-07-02T13:47:48.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So your scenario calls for body-weight training without objects (other than maybe walls).&#xA;There are a ton of resources on body-weight training available for you on the internet. I will not even start to describe them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q2: I would say the hardest ones will be muscles used for pulling, as you will have nothing to pull. I am thinking about back muscles and biceps.&#xA;Q3: Maybe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.12minuteathlete.com/bridges/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bridge exercises&lt;/a&gt; for the back.&#xA;Q4: Easier muscles to build would be most others: &quot;pushing&quot; muscles like chest muscles, as you can always push against the floor, stabilizing muscles like abs with all sorts of planks, leg muscles with running, squatting and jumping...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25863" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T13:47:48.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34469" CreationDate="2017-07-02T14:45:48.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd give it some credit, and say that planking on a vibrating surface &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; have some extra yield, since you have to activate more core muscles to keep stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the Power Plate is NOT worth paying for. It's a niche product, and whatever benefit it does give, can be offered by conventional equipment found in any gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T14:45:48.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-03T03:03:20.553" Score="0" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Reverse-Push-Ups&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reverse push-up&lt;/a&gt; executed by pushing with the elbows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/cszJcRz5UB0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A9dFt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A9dFt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T14:56:13.030" Title="Is there a name for a reverse push-up executed by pushing with the elbows?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;movements&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2017-07-03T12:12:22.580" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting for years. As a 46 year old 135lb female I was just taking in about 80 grams a day roughly. I did one 32 gram shake after my workout and then just ate whatever. I notice a plateau in my gains and getting weak shortly into my lifts so I added quite abit more protein, I'm up to my body weight in grams and it does seem to be helping already and its only been a couple weeks. My lifts are stronger and I'm seeing slightly more definition. Keep in mind too, its what else you are eating- are you getting enough fruits/veggies? Whole grains? The whole diet needs to be good, can't just gulp down protein supps all day and expect great results. Its worth the effort to pay attention to diet. After all you're working your butt off in the gym, finish it by truly feeding your body what it needs. Just from my own experience I'm thinking your body weight is grams of protein is essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26029" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T12:12:22.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33744" CreationDate="2017-07-03T20:17:40.727" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you’re 15 years old, you’re right on cusp of when you’re able to add lean muscle mass.  Does this mean you should start training for size by squatting / benching and deadlifting at age 15? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe, maybe not, as there are other things to consider as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bone Growth&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bone growth doesn’t stop till about age 20. so you still have some growth yet at age 15. The question is do you want to put these kinds of loads on a skeleton that is not yet mature? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many medical professionals say no, but many strength trainers ignore this advice and start deadlifting and squatting in their teens. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;No, these lifts will not stunt your growth&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;injury is a concern&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in a skeleton that is still growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coordination&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue is coordination, doing complex exercises like squats and deadlifts require a lot of coordination to perform properly and &lt;strong&gt;bad form WILL cause injury&lt;/strong&gt;. Teens tend to be less coordinated because their bodies are changing size and proportions faster than the brain can figure out how to control everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neurological Development&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last issue to consider when deciding whether to start training for mass / size right at age 15 is maturity and judgement. For most teens, the brain tends to lag behind the body in terms of development. There is a reason that the legal age for being an adult is 18, it’s because until that time &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;judgement skills have not fully developed&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Before age 18, one is much more likely to do try something dangerous in the gym - such as lifting more weight than you're safely able to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The split you outlined is fine. Since you’re new to training your body will respond to almost any exercise routine.  As you don’t mention the specific exercises you’re doing. I'd stick to basic, body weight focused exercises. &#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'd suggest placing your primary focus on developing good form&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; – habits developed now will be tough to change down the road. Consider seeking guidance from an experienced trainer to help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d advise waiting till your growth is complete (around age 19-20) and coordination / judgement is under control before doing more complex exercises such as squats and deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said it's up to you.  Do your own &lt;em&gt;(or with a parent)&lt;/em&gt; risk / benefit analysis and decide what is right for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2029881&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2029881&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811913010094&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811913010094&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-04T14:18:09.217" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T14:18:09.217" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16210" CreationDate="2017-07-03T21:36:48.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;strong&gt;bunions and a &quot;flat-foot&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; are &lt;strong&gt;CAUSED&lt;/strong&gt; by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;over-pronation&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; during running.  It seems you were told the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flat arches and bunions on the base of your big toe is indicative of “over-pronating”&lt;/strong&gt; (your foot everts or rolls inward).  If you look at the tread on the soles of a pair of running shoes you’ve used for a while -- &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you’ll notice more wear on the medial side (or inside)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VivuJ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VivuJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;pronation puts pressure&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; on the inside of your foot &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(where the painful bunion is)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;this pain&lt;/strong&gt; could cause you to &lt;strong&gt;COMPENSATE&lt;/strong&gt; or try &lt;strong&gt;reduce the pressure / pain&lt;/strong&gt; by walking on the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;outside of your foot or supination&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't confuse the response to pain or &lt;strong&gt;COMPENSATION&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(supination&#xA;  to avoid the pain)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; with the &lt;strong&gt;ACTUAL CAUSE&lt;/strong&gt; which remains the same&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;over-pronation&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excessive pronation throws off the entire gait cycle and can lead to &lt;strong&gt;not only foot problems but also problems up the kinematic chain (such as low back pain, chondromalacia patella etc.)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially what you’re seeking is subtalar joint neutral.  This is the position of the subtalar joint in which the foot is neither pronated nor supinated - Where hindfoot is neutral.  In addition, a &lt;strong&gt;normal gait line or the center of pressure as you move through the stance phase of gait&lt;/strong&gt; is required (the red line below shows a normal example of this).&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MFoIN.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MFoIN.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Excessive or prolonged motion or lack of motion will cause various&#xA;  deformities and pathologies. Proper biomechanics allow human beings to&#xA;  walk, run, jump, and move freely without pain or dysfunction.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pair of shoes off the shelf cannot be &quot;neutral&quot; as &lt;strong&gt;the topography of everyone’s foot differs&lt;/strong&gt;. In addition, the &lt;strong&gt;density (hardness) of your shoe insert&lt;/strong&gt; will vary based on your unique requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;To attain this neutral position, you must be assessed by a Podiatrist and have a custom orthotic (shoe insert) casted and created.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wefixfeet.ca/sites/default/files/biomechanics.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wefixfeet.ca/sites/default/files/biomechanics.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-04T13:22:13.083" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T13:22:13.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34465" CreationDate="2017-07-04T03:15:32.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider switching shoes. Running is basically managing overuse injuries; that's the upper limit that keeps you from just going out and doing 20 miles of speedwork every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that switching shoes was enough to change some dynamics enough to give certain injuries a break and allow me to keep knocking out miles. It's not a magic bullet, but it can alleviate some issues and give you some cross reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you switch shoes, make a big switch. If you run in minimals, use trail runners. If you're in trail runners, try some Nike Free 3.0's or something of that ilk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's coming on during your run, it's not &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19155/why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-i-lift-how-come-not-asap-after-my-workout/19157#19157&quot;&gt;DOMS&lt;/a&gt;, the keyword in DOMS being &quot;delayed&quot; and that time period usually being 24-48 hours. No one is going to diagnose you via the Internet, but trying a different shoe seems pretty reasonable to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T03:15:32.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16210" CreationDate="2017-07-04T14:55:45.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not an expert in running form or podiatry.  This is my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a bunion on one foot, which was I suspect caused by over-aggressive rock climbing shoes, but when it flares up it can also make running painful.  What seems to set off the pain is shoes that put lateral pressure on my toes (i.e. squeeze my toes together).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What has really helped has been switching to toe shoes (Vibram FiveFingers) and running barefoot.  I guess because there is then no inward pressure on my toes at all and they are free to move.  This is slightly at odds with professional advice I was given which was to get custom splints and inserts made to immobilse the toe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth bearing in mind when receiving advice who stands to profit from it.  Not that people are profiteering, but that they will naturally know more about, be more interested in, and be more likely to recommend interventions they have a professional interest in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26013" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T14:55:45.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-04T18:24:09.953" Score="1" ViewCount="1406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to sit on the floor but it causes my low back to round. I can feel the vertebrae sticking out and it's fully rounded. I can't straighten it because it feels like my hamstrings are too tight to allow my pelvis to tilt to 90 or better. It's stuck tilted slightly backward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm standing, my pelvis is slightly tilted forward like it should be and my low back is in good position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So should I be able to get normal pelvic tilt while sitting on the floor (in any position, including legs out straight) and  does this mean my hamstrings are too tight and I should stretch them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26036" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T00:58:38.623" Title="Sit on the floor makes low back round" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34482" CreationDate="2017-07-04T19:17:55.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your posture is good while standing, and while seated in a chair, I wouldn't worry about the back rounding while sitting feet forward on the floor. That's very natural, because the pelvis will tilt posteriorally in that position, and this will cause your lower back to round off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you could include this into your stretching routine: Sit, as you describe, with your legs straight, pointing forward, with your back against the wall, your butt scooched all the way in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to arch your back in this position, and try again to see which body part is stopping you from achieving this. If, still, it's the hamstrings, then by all means, make sure you stretch them. But don't overdo it, and don't over-focus on it. The hamstrings serve a purpose, and if you stretch them too much, you might cause an anterior pelvic tilt further down the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should stretch the entire area around your lower back; front &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; rear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T19:17:55.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34004" CreationDate="2017-07-04T22:58:26.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my early years in the Army I noticed that those who relied solely on body weight exercises were almost always outperformed by those who used weights in the gym. I would do about 15-20 pushups before doing chest workouts to warm up and stretch, and then hit the dumbbells and barbell. I always maxed out my pushups on the PT test. If you can bench 200 lbs, then 75 pushups seems easy when the time comes for it. I'd concentrate your efforts on weights, but don't completely neglect body movement exercises. They have their place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24448" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T22:58:26.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34148" CreationDate="2017-07-05T08:20:02.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To gain muscle you need progressive overload. By the looks of it you train very intense, but in a different way.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain muscle, you should train a bit less, I'd say 4 to 5 days a week, and go heavier on your lifts. You should try a 5x5 program on your compound lifts, this is highly effective. &lt;strong&gt;Resting periods and a proper diet are as important if not more than the lifting itself,&lt;/strong&gt; keep this in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you're vegan, which is great! But you need to make sure you are getting enough nutrients to gain muscle, if you're eating 2000 calories a day but also burn that much, your body doesn't have anything to build muscle from. I would suggest a lot of lentils, beans, chickpeas, broccoli, that kind of foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, abs are made in the kitchen, as stated before. As for building the actual muscle, my opinion is that heavy compound lifts like squats or deadlifts are more beneficial than doing an endless amount of crunches or leg raises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T08:20:02.337" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34487" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34491" CreationDate="2017-07-05T11:29:47.537" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing shoulder shrugs, I can do 66 pounds, but that is max weight available.&#xA;My question is can i use barbell like dumbbells and do side shrugs or does weight being far away from center will affect exercise. In barbell weights are far away from center hence more torque while with dumb bell less torque so would not it be hard to do shrugs with barbell&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="25216" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T15:54:01.797" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T17:28:25.020" Title="Shoulder shrug with weight limitation" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34023" CreationDate="2017-07-05T14:19:24.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To complement &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/34029/20213&quot;&gt;@lolnotacodecutter's answer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No, you do not need to compensate your stair-climbing with another exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other than slightly-increased glutes, no other effect will be visible, unless you use this exercise (probably in conjunction with reduced caloric intake) to cause a net caloric deficit such that you lose bodyweight/bodyfat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T14:19:24.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-05T15:12:50.720" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing dumb bell pullover as shown in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBPullover.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;excercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except that i lie down completly on bench, when I bring DB up i kinda feel twitch around my delts , is it normal , does shoulder also involve in this one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T15:28:38.740" Title="Dumb bell pullover muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34489" CreationDate="2017-07-05T15:28:38.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, deltoids are involved in the exercise.  As far as a “twitch”, you should not feel any pain or discomfort performing the exercise.  If the “twitch” persists, seek medical help, or, try a different chest exercise.  The link you provided for that exercise lists all the potentially affected body parts.  You'll see that Deltoid is listed.  And, the position of your body on the bench is not important if you follow proper form&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T15:28:38.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34487" CreationDate="2017-07-05T17:28:25.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most folks doing heavy shrugs use barbells; dumbbells simply don't have enough weight. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/BBShrug.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;It's in EXRX's index&lt;/a&gt;. EXRX also has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Errors.html#ShoulderShrugs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a great list of common errors during the shrug&lt;/a&gt; you may want to read about, particularly the &quot;rolling&quot; motion that people tend to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not that you asked, but personally I don't find much use for them. If you're deadlifting, rowing, doing barbell presses, and cleans (a typical compound week) you'll be beating the tar out of your shoulders and upper back anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T17:28:25.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34492" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36331" CreationDate="2017-07-05T18:28:40.753" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an experienced runner recently starting triathlons. So far I am not able to do freestyle for more then a couple of minutes (althou I can do breast stroke for hours). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recent training was quite successfull getting me to freestyle: The last few times did &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 x (50m + 60s rest)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I wonder how to proceed. Should I try to do 75m in each repetition, should I try to reduce the rest, or should I try to increase the number of repetitions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ultimate goal is to be able to swim 1000m freestyle, as soon (not as fast) as possible. Having the perfect style is secondary, I try to apply the pareto principle and get as much progress out of my training as I humanly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26044" LastActivityDate="2017-10-16T14:50:23.207" Title="Learning freestyle: More or longer repetitions?" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-05T20:02:06.383" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deadlifts and Kettlebell Swings are both FANTASTIC compound exercises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in my experience I've found these exercises are frequently done incorrectly &lt;em&gt;(with low back pain and/or intervertebral disc issues as a result)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s a natural tendency to pull with your back rather than generating the force from your hips.  Both the hip-hinge and maintenance of a neutral low back can be tough to teach / learn &lt;em&gt;(understandably so)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Without paying for a trainer&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(which can be costly)&lt;/em&gt; - what's the best way to teach someone to deadlift correctly (and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;self-verify&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; they're being done correctly)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="20213" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T21:27:20.150" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T21:27:20.150" Title="Teaching Deadlifts and Kettlebell Swings" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;back&gt;&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34494" CreationDate="2017-07-05T20:35:10.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the deadlift is easier than the kb swing because a deadlift is rather static. You get in the right neutral back position and then maintain it as you lift. The kb swing is a dynamic / ballistic movement similar to a barbell clean or a baseball throw: it's hard to stop in the middle and correct something. People tend to learn dynamic movements in little pieces, focusing on them one at a time until all the key areas are dialed in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically answering your question, I think a good text and a cell phone video recorder is the key. Something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2tJSMXZ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt; or the instructions on &lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/5x5/#Exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;StrongLifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt; give you the pointers, and video recording from angles (particularly from the side) allows you to critique yourself and put that video online for others to comment on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.meta.stackexchange.com/q/74/7091&quot;&gt;Form and critique videos are on topic here on fitness.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Particular to KB swings, there are the Russian hip-hinge and the more drop-squat style, so back on the topic of authoritative texts someone would need to understand those differences and pick which one they think is most applicable to them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T20:37:04.810" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T20:37:04.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34494" CreationDate="2017-07-05T20:35:19.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Self-verification of a trainee's movement execution may be difficult or nearly impossible, especially if that trainee is unathletic.  If a coach is absent then the next best -- though not necessarily &lt;em&gt;sufficient&lt;/em&gt; -- option available to the trainee is self-made videos of the movement, reviewed immediately thereafter (for example, after a set of deadlifts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training&lt;/strong&gt; details five steps that a trainee can use to teach herself to deadlift, as well as symptoms of common movement errors and how to correct such errors.  You can use these steps to teach someone to deadlift correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Aasgaard Company has published &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/video/lifts/main-lifts/deadlift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;several videos of trainees being taught/coached to deadlift&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T20:35:19.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34492" CreationDate="2017-07-06T00:00:52.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of your suggestions are good ideas, I suggest trying them all. Increasing to 75m in each rep, and then up to 100m, then 150m, etc., is probably the best bet to get you towards your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest another style of workout - Instead of doing a set like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 x (50m + 60s rest)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;try instead&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 x 50m @ 2:00min&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that I mean do a set of 10 x 50s, but the total time for swimming &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; rest is 2:00min, so if you swim 50m in 1:00min you have 1:00min rest, but if you slack off a little, then you won't have as much rest. I don't know how fast you actually swim, so maybe 2:00min is not the right interval and you should adjust that time as you need to. The goal is to be consistent with how fast you swim, and how much rest you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25386" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T00:00:52.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33513" CreationDate="2017-07-06T05:53:18.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I see where the problem is. For reference, I like to use this calculator: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.runfastcoach.com/calc2/index.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.runfastcoach.com/calc2/index.php&lt;/a&gt; . Now, if you input your PR into the calculator (which, if those injuries are still around, could very well be too fast), you can see that your projected 2-mile pace is 9:04 min/mile. A 5x800 session is bread and butter for VO2Max/2-mile pace, so taking them at 8:20 is probably too fast. You'd be far better off doing them at ~9:04-8:38 pace, starting on the slower end and moving up. That's my advice for this specific session. For general speed work advice, I would recommend strides 3-4 times a week after runs. If you think about it, you're chopping off a large percentage of your pace when you do speed work. Naturally, this faster running recruits different muscles, releases different hormones, and stimulates your CNS. Doing a single speed session every two weeks might not be enough for your body to adapt to this different type of running. Therefore, try running 5-10s as hard as you can, and then taking 2-3 minute breaks after, 6-8x a couple of times a week. They might feel like a waste of time or like you're getting too much rest, but they will train your body to know what it feels like to run quick and hopefully help it adapt better to your speedwork. Best of luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26048" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T05:53:18.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="40" CreationDate="2017-07-06T06:12:50.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's certainly injury-prevention benefits depending on how many miles you are running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having a change of terrain is great for strengthening all the little stabilizing muscles in your feet and legs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Varying the surface you run in (variable stimulus to you legs) ensures that you never become complacent and are more resistant to injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are plenty of accidents that happen in gyms and treadmills. Running at a decent clip while watching Netflix is bound to end in disaster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, there are counter-arguments for each of these points, and you might be more willing to fall off your treadmill than to be mugged if you take a wrong turn. Ultimately, both training environments have advantages and disadvantages, but I believe the benefits of running outside far outweigh those of running on a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26048" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T06:12:50.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-06T06:29:43.733" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am gym beginner and my trainer suggested to me the following diet plan with about 400g protein. I am 210 lbs and 6 ft tall guy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;07:00Am&lt;/strong&gt; - 1 Scoop Protein, 60g oats, 10 Almonds, 4 Walnuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;08:10Am&lt;/strong&gt; - 1 Scoop pre Workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;09:30Am&lt;/strong&gt; - 1 Scoop Protein, 1 Apple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10:30Am&lt;/strong&gt; - 4 Brown bread cottage cheese sandwich&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;01:30Pm&lt;/strong&gt; - 500g Chicken, 2 Chapati, Salad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;05:00Pm&lt;/strong&gt; - 1 Apple, 5 eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;07:30Pm&lt;/strong&gt; - 1 orange, 1 Scoop protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;09:30Pm&lt;/strong&gt; - 500g Chicken, Salad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26051" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T07:42:52.083" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T22:17:12.440" Title="Please help me with the diet plan plan" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34512" CreationDate="2017-07-06T06:36:41.157" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have watched a lot of videos on YouTube and have searched on Google but I am disappointed because my abs aren't as defined as I think they should be. My food intake is good, I have cut out sugar and am not eating anything that contains sugar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables too for abs? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What workouts will be the most effective for my abs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have the money to go to a gym so I can only train at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What workouts will give me obvious results, because I have worked a lot on my abs. I know food is playing an important role but I think my abs routine isn't good. I train abs everyday only in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope to give me good information, I am not a professional and may do somethings wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T07:39:40.080" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T14:45:21.603" Title="abs at home workouts-diet" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34510" CreationDate="2017-07-06T10:07:38.790" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;How effective is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TransverseAbdominus/AbdominalVacuum.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Abdominal Vacuum&lt;/a&gt;? I like the exercise because I can do it anywhere, sitting on a chair, walking, sitting in bus, but I don't feel any pain like I do in other muscles after exercise, so I am skeptical if it has any benefit at all. Does anyone get any gain from this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this exercise not cause pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T12:19:08.883" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T14:11:32.090" Title="Effectiveness of Abdominal Vacuum" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-07T15:20:06.800" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-06T11:09:04.210" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drowning in the sea is a common phenomenon in Summer. I have heard a lot of things about why it may happen, and I have searched on the Internet, but I've found a lot of different answers. I will ask a couple of questions because all are relative to how the body acts in those situations. I have seen people drowning and I would like help on this topic. We sometimes talk about one plate meal, at least I think this is the harmful thing. I don't even know if most swimmers are victims of that of those I know who have been drowning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If someone eats, and immediately enters the sea (not swimming, but his whole body is in the water), is he in danger of drowning, or to die by other reason like a heart attack?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If someone eats and he/she goes immediately for a swim, is he in danger of drowning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can we prevent drowning if we want to go for swim? How much time should we wait to get in?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;Optional&lt;/strong&gt;) Is there something we can do if we get in and we forgot we had already eaten?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T12:38:21.227" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T12:46:35.127" Title="Drowning in the sea when swimming" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;sea-swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T17:35:05.570" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34511" CreationDate="2017-07-06T11:45:08.037" Score="0" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically My &lt;strong&gt;hands and shoulders&lt;/strong&gt; looks &lt;strong&gt;thin&lt;/strong&gt; and I have &lt;strong&gt;lot more belly&lt;/strong&gt; fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to make my hands and shoulders fat and want to reduce belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually i eat &lt;strong&gt;2/3 times rice&lt;/strong&gt; in a day , less amount of &lt;strong&gt;fruits&lt;/strong&gt; and 100 gm of &lt;strong&gt;chicken&lt;/strong&gt; per week . I dont drink &lt;strong&gt;milk&lt;/strong&gt; . and almost no &lt;strong&gt;junk foods&lt;/strong&gt;  no &lt;strong&gt;chocolates&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;sweets.&lt;/strong&gt; But i eat curd a lot in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont do any &lt;strong&gt;workout, running&lt;/strong&gt; but 90 minutes &lt;strong&gt;walk&lt;/strong&gt; per day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i am &lt;strong&gt;26&lt;/strong&gt; years old with &lt;strong&gt;6.1&lt;/strong&gt; tall , about &lt;strong&gt;171 punds/78 kg&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give me some suggestions what procedures i need to follow to reduce my belly fat ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T05:37:26.510" Title="Make hands and shoulders fat and reduce belly fat at a time" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2017-07-07T15:19:52.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34503" CreationDate="2017-07-06T12:20:03.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking a strict abdominal vacuum, it exercises the &lt;em&gt;transversus abdominis&lt;/em&gt; (TA) and pretty much nothing else. As an isometric exercise, the load is limited, but it is present. There will not be any real muscle build-up, but it may help stabilize your abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T12:20:03.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34504" CreationDate="2017-07-06T12:46:35.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your primary question, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/hourwait.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eating before swimming does not cause cramps&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether oxygen-deprivation stomach cramps are real or not is open to debate, as is whether they can be brought on by eating right before engaging in strenuous activity. What’s not in doubt, however, are the lack of deaths associated with swimming right after eating — there hasn’t been so much as one drowning attributed to this, not even a near drowning. For something that was supposed to be fatal if you so much as dipped a toe, this particular old wives’ tale proved to be a dud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what to do with this information? Those who are very careful about not taking any risks that are avoidable might want to put off striking out for the other side of the lake right after having tucked into a large meal. However, ordinary levels of swimming or just general horsing around in the water need not be eschewed, even if a whole turkey has just been consumed, feathers and all. Likewise, strenuous sidestroking can still be safely undertaken after a snack or a light to moderate-sized meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As regards heart attacks, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;entering cold water can cause a heart attack&lt;/a&gt; or lead to accidental inhalation, but it's a rare occurrence which has nothing to do with eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In humans, cold shock response is perhaps the most common cause of death from immersion in very cold water, such as by falling through thin ice. The immediate shock of the cold causes involuntary inhalation, which if underwater can result in drowning. The cold water can also cause heart attack due to vasoconstriction; the heart has to work harder to pump the same volume of blood throughout the body. For people with heart disease, this additional workload can cause the heart to go into arrest. Inhalation of water (and thus drowning) may result from hyperventilation. Some people are much better able to survive swimming in very cold water due to body or mental conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This involves &lt;a href=&quot;http://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2012/05/30/scientists-warn-swimmers-of-heart-attack-risk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;freezing water, and sudden immersion&lt;/a&gt;. If you're not falling through ice, it's probably not cold enough, and gradual immersion helps to prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T12:46:35.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33769" CreationDate="2017-07-06T13:07:27.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You indicate that you'd &quot;prefer to optimize first for cardio, then for aesthetics, then for strength&quot;, and that you're &quot;looking to get ‘fit’&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increased strength and muscular bodyweight will help you run faster and burn more calories.  I suggest first training for strength, including gaining muscular bodyweight (and some bodyfat, inevitably).  Contrary to the BMI calculators, etc., you are underweight for your height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardiovascular adaptations occur much more quickly than strength adaptations; decreased bodyfat depends primarily on a caloric deficit, which is most-effectively achieved by consuming fewer calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm glad to hear that you have &lt;strong&gt;Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training&lt;/strong&gt;.  I see three &quot;Starting Strength&quot; days per week in your workout schedule.  Please consider using these to do a &quot;novice linear progression&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to another answer, you can indeed use &quot;Starting Strength&quot; even when you're no longer a novice (that is, you can't add weight to the bar on each successive workout).  You can use the barbell lifts to gain strength for &lt;em&gt;years&lt;/em&gt;; you will need to adapt your &lt;em&gt;programming&lt;/em&gt; of those lifts as you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, keep it simple (and hard!): lift heavy, get stronger, gain muscle.  Your other goals will come more easily thereafter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T13:07:27.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34503" CreationDate="2017-07-06T14:11:32.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on personal experience it will not improve the appearance of your core much, but it does help stabilize your core (increase strength of Transversus Abdominus) which improves your lifts and overall balance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T14:11:32.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34505" CreationDate="2017-07-06T14:28:06.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's not possible to reduce fat in only certain parts of the body&lt;/strong&gt;. When you lose weight your body takes fat from everywhere on the body. The only way to actually lose weight is to stay in a caloric deficit, so either eat less or increase the amount of physical activity you do. I personally use an app to keep track of my calories - something you should try too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you wish to get bigger shoulders I would recommend working out as it will help you lose weight and build muscle simultaneously (if you have not done much physical training before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastEditorUserId="26056" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T14:57:05.727" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T14:57:05.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34501" CreationDate="2017-07-06T14:39:22.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, there is a genetic factor that plays a role on how your abs will look. However, the best (only) way to get defined abs is to lower your body fat percentage - which would be obtained by staying in a caloric deficit, so eating healthy is optimal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab workouts help to further shape your abs and improve definition. I would recommend doing workouts which target different parts of the abs so add more variety to your core workouts (leg raises, planks, air bikes, reverse crunches, etc) rather than just basic sit-ups and crunches. Try to stay in the 8-15 rep range for your workouts. Increasing the protein in your diet with these workouts will also help you notice more muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you are able to train core everyday you are not going hard enough. You should train your core 3-4 times a week, but when you do train it, give it your best. You should let your abs rest so they can grow and get stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastEditorUserId="26056" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T14:45:21.603" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T14:45:21.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34519" CreationDate="2017-07-06T14:53:32.283" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBUnderhandPulldown.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this excercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what I felt was that my biceps were getting more tensed than my back, what is I am doing wrong?&#xA;P.S. my trainer is worst, dont teach much , but office gym so I have to cope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="25216" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T15:01:14.800" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T20:24:19.550" Title="Cable Pulldown wrong muscle activation" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34513" CreationDate="2017-07-06T15:00:48.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hardest part of working out the back is that your biceps always end up doing work. The best way to minimize this and make sure the back does most of the work is to lower the weight and do it slowly. Make sure you focus your mind on your back when doing the workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another useful tip is to pretend you are doing the pulling from your elbows rather than your biceps, if that makes sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I would recommend leaning a bit back when doing it and using a wider grip if you wish to workout your back. Watching videos on form can be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastEditorUserId="26056" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T18:25:48.853" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T18:25:48.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34518" CreationDate="2017-07-06T15:11:43.673" Score="0" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing bicep curls standard nothing special, But I don't feel muscle soreness in middle of biceps, i fell it near lower end of it, near elbow one. is it normal or am I doing curls wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T18:36:12.737" Title="Pain Point in Bicep curl" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-07-06T23:12:49.897" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34516" CreationDate="2017-07-06T18:36:12.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cant say if you're doing the curls wrong without seeing your form. However if you &lt;strong&gt;feel pain&lt;/strong&gt;, then yes you are doing something wrong and should watch videos on proper form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, If you feel like its only targeting a certain part of your bicep, try to add more variety of workouts, try different types of curls such as hammer, seated, etc and see if that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also adding compound movements to your workout routine, as suggested above, is always a good idea for muscle growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T18:36:12.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34513" CreationDate="2017-07-06T20:24:19.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The link you provided shows the exercise being done with the supinated (underhand) grip, and this grip does in fact recruit more of the bicep than doing this same exercise with the pronated (overhand) grip. If your goal is to work your back more with this exercise, I would suggest doing it with an overhand grip so that your biceps don't do most of the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3250" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T20:24:19.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34524" CreationDate="2017-07-07T05:36:53.150" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw lot of companies advertising in online or in TV that we can reduce belly fat by using their machines. Is that really works , Is there any disadvantages  ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aXFCW.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aXFCW.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastEditorUserId="26052" LastEditDate="2017-07-07T05:48:35.287" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T17:00:55.680" Title="can we reduce belly fat by machines or by medical treatments" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34535" CreationDate="2017-07-07T06:20:27.933" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 26 years old, height : 6.1 , weight : 78&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look thin, but i have too much belly fat , I guess its all because that i eat white rice 2/3 times in day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so I want to reduce &lt;strong&gt;belly fat&lt;/strong&gt; , so if i &lt;strong&gt;run&lt;/strong&gt; daily for an hour and do &lt;strong&gt;cardi&lt;/strong&gt;o for an hour,  spending one hour in &lt;strong&gt;gym&lt;/strong&gt; and one hour in &lt;strong&gt;yoga&lt;/strong&gt; class and if i control my &lt;strong&gt;diet&lt;/strong&gt; is it going to affect on my health ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T13:37:29.320" Title="Is there any disadvantages in losing too much weight in minimum time" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34521" CreationDate="2017-07-07T06:37:48.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, &lt;strong&gt;you can't target fat loss&lt;/strong&gt;, and what these types of companies are claiming is purely marketing. Sure, if you use a machine like this you will burn some calories, and if you burn more calories than you're consuming you will reduce fat (on your entire body) and get some results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, &lt;strong&gt;these types of machines aren't as effective at burning calories&lt;/strong&gt; as doing cardio (running, cycling, swimming) or doing heavy compound lifts (deadlifts, squats). They will burn a lot more calories, and combining this with some ab work like leg raises, crunches or planks will give you more results than these machines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;strong&gt;abs are revealed in the kitchen&lt;/strong&gt;, track your caloric intake and make sure you are burning more than you're consuming. And if you want to build some muscle, you have to make sure you get enough protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-07-07T12:11:16.133" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T12:11:16.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-07T07:01:29.053" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;some suggest cut 3 times food and eat same amount 6 times....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;still total calorie that body take is same right ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;than how its going to reduce belly fat ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or skipping morning breakfast will help us to reduce belly fat ? than we will face gastric Problems right ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T07:52:17.873" Title="is eating 6 times instead of 3 times will help reduce belly fat?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-07-08T13:26:46.093" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34534" CreationDate="2017-07-07T09:07:37.687" Score="0" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we all know sugar will increase belly fat, but what about sugar which present in fruits ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so is we need to avoid fruits like &lt;strong&gt;mango, banana&lt;/strong&gt; to reduce belly fat ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so what fruits i need to take and what i need to avoid ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T13:32:13.180" Title="Is really sugars present in fruits will increase belly fat?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34528" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34548" CreationDate="2017-07-07T09:47:47.377" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;when we &lt;strong&gt;overeat&lt;/strong&gt;, fat should store equally in every parts of the body&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;why it will store only in belly region &lt;strong&gt;for some person&lt;/strong&gt;s ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for some persons, if they &lt;strong&gt;eat more with no workouts&lt;/strong&gt; also they look &lt;strong&gt;slim&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for some persons, if they &lt;strong&gt;eat less&lt;/strong&gt; , than also they look &lt;strong&gt;fat&lt;/strong&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it all depends on individuals ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T16:36:56.417" Title="why fat will store only in belly region" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34529" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34532" CreationDate="2017-07-07T10:28:02.913" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard if we drink 4 cups of green tea daily, than we can reduce belly fat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is green tea will burn the calories ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if so is there any other solid or liquid foods like this ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or is all low calories foods will help to reduce belly fat ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T13:15:26.940" Title="is there any food for weight loss" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34544" CreationDate="2017-07-07T11:08:48.693" Score="2" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically My &lt;strong&gt;hands and shoulders&lt;/strong&gt; looks &lt;strong&gt;thin&lt;/strong&gt; and I have &lt;strong&gt;lot more belly&lt;/strong&gt; fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to make my hands and shoulders fat and want to reduce belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually i eat &lt;strong&gt;2/3 times rice&lt;/strong&gt; in a day , less amount of &lt;strong&gt;fruits&lt;/strong&gt; and 100 gm of &lt;strong&gt;chicken&lt;/strong&gt; per week . I dont drink &lt;strong&gt;milk&lt;/strong&gt; . and almost no &lt;strong&gt;junk foods&lt;/strong&gt;  no &lt;strong&gt;chocolates&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;sweets.&lt;/strong&gt; But i eat curd a lot in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont do any &lt;strong&gt;workout, running&lt;/strong&gt; but 90 minutes &lt;strong&gt;walk&lt;/strong&gt; per day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i am &lt;strong&gt;26&lt;/strong&gt; years old with &lt;strong&gt;6.1&lt;/strong&gt; tall , about &lt;strong&gt;171 punds/78 kg&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)If i &lt;strong&gt;workout in gy&lt;/strong&gt;m, than i need to &lt;strong&gt;eat more food&lt;/strong&gt;, than again my belly will become increase again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or 2) may i &lt;strong&gt;workout in gym&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;eat less&lt;/strong&gt; - is that fine ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or 3) may i first reduce my complete belly and get some fat on hands and shoulders , than should i go to gym to get better results ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give me some suggestions what procedures i need to follow ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T06:54:01.363" Title="going to gym and workout with thin or fat body - which is better?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T17:39:25.253" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34537" CreationDate="2017-07-07T11:30:00.550" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing barbell shrugs as dumbbells has maxed out, but i am finding doing same weights with barbell is bit difficult as compared to dumbbell as my hands are in front. Is there any science behind it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T18:36:47.977" Title="Bar bell shrugs difiicult" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34529" CreationDate="2017-07-07T13:15:26.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green tea can help aid in weight loss, but the only way to actually lose weight is to stay in a CALORIC DEFICIT - so your body burns more energy than you give it through food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically as far as I know, green tea has the ability to burn more calories, so it helps you achieve the caloric deficit easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for drinking green tea 4 times a day. I would recommend drinking each cup at the same interval throughout the day for maximum benefits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T13:15:26.940" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34528" CreationDate="2017-07-07T13:25:04.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every person is different in terms of how many calories they burn each day and how fast their metabolism is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;People store fat first in different body parts. For example person A could store fat first in their belly and then their face. Person B could store fat first in their face and then their belly, its different for every person. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neglecting metabolism, people who say they eat a lot and don't gain weight are not actually eating enough and vice versa. Best way is to count calories!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastEditorUserId="26056" LastEditDate="2017-07-07T15:41:19.530" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T15:41:19.530" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34527" CreationDate="2017-07-07T13:32:13.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once again the most important thing is staying in a caloric deficit. There was an individual who only ate twinkies and donuts and still lost weight. Stop worrying too much about little things, just focus on eating healthy and not over eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T13:32:13.180" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34523" CreationDate="2017-07-07T13:37:29.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing too much weight quickly can be bad for you health, not going to list all the side effects, so its better to do a controlled weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By your description its seems like you are skinny fat, and the only way to correct this is to lose weight. I would recommend adding weight training to your routine for a more aesthetic look. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T13:37:29.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34530" CreationDate="2017-07-07T14:03:08.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your goals, but since your are skinny fat I would recommend eating less and losing weight first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Start off by eating less and going to the gym. If you wish to build muscle, increase the amount of protein you eat. Since you are a beginner you should be able to burn fat and build muscle at the same time by eating less calories but increasing protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) refer to 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) This depends on your goals, but like I said above you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time if you haven't worked out before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T14:03:08.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34531" CreationDate="2017-07-07T15:02:19.710" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Friction between the barbell and your thighs effectively increases the bar's resistance to movement.  I assume that the dumbbells do not rub appreciably against your thighs when you shrug them.  So, you must work harder to shrug a barbell weight than to shrug dumbbells of the same nominal total weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the barbell is in front of you, its center of mass (COM) is horizontally displaced from your COM, whereas the dumbbells' COM &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; (very nearly) coincide horizontally with your COM.  The barbell's COM's horizontal displacement requires you to to lean backward to balance the barbell's COM and your COM on a virtual &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever#Force_and_levers&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;lever&lt;/a&gt; about your ankles and above your mid-foot.  Otherwise, you will tip forward, out of balance.  This increases the balance challenge, and increases the friction between your thights and the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastEditorUserId="20213" LastEditDate="2017-07-07T16:38:28.240" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T16:38:28.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-07T15:23:34.387" Score="3" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do 200 burpees every day. 20 sets of 10, with 15 sec rest between sets. I am not losing any weight. Is it possible that I'm doing them wrong? Would doing them more precisely be more effective? I also do 40 minutes of cardio on my elliptical every day. I keep my calories under 1300/day and I am following a low carb diet. I have lost 55 pounds, with about 45 to reach my goal. I have hit a plateau and keep gaining/losing the same 5 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26067" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T21:27:33.177" Title="burpees for weight loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34538" CreationDate="2017-07-07T15:30:15.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than likely, you're not doing them incorrectly.  Weight loss plateaus are as common as training plateaus.  The body tends to adapt to weight loss and training stresses.  That means you'll need to devise a new plan to kick start your progress.  That might mean trying different exercises.  And, if you aren't keeping a food journal, you should start.  Guessing at your caloric intake when trying to lose weight is counter productive.  You must have a good handle on the calories you are consuming in order to make any necessary adjustments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T15:30:15.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-07T16:23:29.757" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started a programming job and have notice my shoulders have started to round. I try to sit with good posture but my posture breaks after a certain time and I don't notice it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I workout 5 times a week and follow a good workout plan (includes all compound lifts). Whats some good workout or stretches I can add to fix rounding shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T16:23:29.757" Title="Best way to fix rounding shoulders?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T17:39:45.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18742" CreationDate="2017-07-07T19:21:57.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suspect that the mechanism has do do with inflammation related to too much prolonged stretching of of brain blood vessel walls? I would say to continue to stay hydrated and try to get a sense of when to get out of the sauna before a headache is induced? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26068" LastActivityDate="2017-07-07T19:21:57.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34530" CreationDate="2017-07-08T02:50:32.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like you can't target fat loss, you can't target fat gain. However, making regions of your body bigger &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;can be targeted doing specific exercises to add muscle.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding muscle will &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;also help you lose fat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; by increasing your resting metabolic rate. Think of this as the number of calories your body burns at rest. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lean, &lt;strong&gt;muscular&lt;/strong&gt; body builder may burn 4000 calories per day (by doing nothing).  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lean model &lt;strong&gt;(with little muscle)&lt;/strong&gt; may only burn 1500&#xA;calories per day (by doing nothing)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consider what's required by your body to build muscle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Proper diet is required to build muscle.  You need enough protein and carbohydrates and fats to fuel and enhance recovery from your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You also need rest and recovery time between workouts to allow your body to rebuild and increase your muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You don’t grow muscle during your workout - but rather between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Think of these resources like a bucket of water&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more often the bucket is full - the faster you're able to gain muscle mass. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The emptier the bucket - the harder it is to build more muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For each strength training workout you perform:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You take a scoop of water out of the bucket. The harder you train, the bigger the scoop of water you take from the&#xA;bucket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As you replenish your muscle-building and energy supplies&lt;/em&gt; by resting and eating effectively - you assure that you have all the necessary resources necessary to build muscle.  In other words: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You refill the bucket&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The problem with doing 90 minutes of cardio&lt;/em&gt; is that you draw on the same resources that you have available to build muscle. In other words: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You take more scoops out of your bucket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That not only means fewer resources that are available for building muscle, but because your recovery is also compromised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It becomes even harder to refill the bucket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;That doesn’t mean you can’t do any cardio while building muscle&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. It just means that you need to perform cardio that minimally impacts the resources necessary to build muscle - such as shorter, more intense forms of cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-10T06:54:01.363" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T06:54:01.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34584" CreationDate="2017-07-08T15:18:20.393" Score="2" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 31 and I started to run since December 2016. Currently I've 8 months running without any training plan, my schedule is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 3 or 4 time per week, leaving one day to rest between running day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do intervals, mixing 500 mts running 80%, rest 15 seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running on hills (Only 1 km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, I think my training is not ok, because when I rest more than one day, when I back to run I feel tired. Also for me is imposible to run more than 4km without walk to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Question is, How can I organize my training?? Any play for?? Should I increase my running days???&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26043" LastEditorUserId="26043" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T22:58:51.307" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T22:54:18.517" Title="Improve my running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-08T15:23:26.400" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have wondered this for so long. Because I live in Florida, and I've been told that I need under armor for working out outside because it supposedly works like magic to take moisture away from your body so you don't sweat at all. I'm considering using it for when I go on nature trails. But I don't exactly know what under armor even does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to find some clothing that will help me in Florida because it is so hot outside and I sweat ridiculously if I wear anything cotton. For example I have this Calvin Klein black cotton shirt… I wore it yesterday to walk around for 20 minutes at 7 o'clock when the sun had already gone down… So the black texture wasn't really a problem because the sun wasn't beating down on me but it was soaking wet afterwards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26071" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T16:52:11.303" Title="What does under armor actually do?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;clothing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34433" CreationDate="2017-07-08T16:26:08.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One more note here:  I experimented with manual treadmills and magnetic.  They are NOT well suited for a treadmill desk, again because the speeds are so slow.  It is a very difficult mechanical challenge to produce smooth quiet movement at SLOW speeds.  It's almost opposite to making a good running treadmill. For a manual treadmill to work it would need to be at a very steep incline which is very awkward for doing desk work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;ALSO NOTE:  Horsepower largely meaningless when it comes to treadmills because there has never been a standardization of horsepower ratings. Manufacturers put all sorts of misleading HP ratings on their treadmill motors.  What matters is the number of copper windings and weight of the flywheel and gearing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Again, try a cheap used one from craigslist to make sure you like treadmill desks in the first place, then look at getting one designed for the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26057" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T16:26:08.523" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34528" CreationDate="2017-07-08T16:36:56.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look into adrenoceptors – specifically alpha-2 and beta-2. These are receptors that control blood flow into/out of the fat cell, as well as cell metabolism (and a host of other biological functions not related to fat storage). Alpha-2 receptors are the nasty ones – areas around the hip and thighs (especially for woman), and the abdomen and low back (for men) have up to 10x the amount of alpha-2 receptors compared to beta-2. The alpha-2 receptor distribution is why it is extremely hard to lose fat around these areas, and why they are the last to go when losing weight; the alpha-2 receptors just won’t let the fat be released from the cell (and the lack of blood flow makes it hard to get the necessary fat-loss (really, fat-release) hormones (epinephrine/norepinephrine, catecholamines, and others) into the fat cell in the first place.) There are most likely evolutionary reasons for the distribution of these receptors (e.g., woman to support child bearing). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also biological reasons fat is not stored evenly around the body; but that’s beyond the scope of this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, during normal activity during the day (and weeks/months/years), we are constantly storing and/or burning fat to support normal metabolic function (e.g., at night when we’re sleeping and in a fasted state we’ll burn fat). So, at least part of the uneven distribution of body fat is due to the fact that we store fat around the body when in a calorie surplus, but when we burn fat, it’s being taken from the face, arms, chest, legs, etc. preferentially, and not from the hip/thighs or abdomen/low back. Over time, this exacerbates the uneven distribution of fat around the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a comprehensive examination of the above concepts, look into the work of Lyle McDonald. He goes into excruciating biological detail into the above concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25685" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T16:36:56.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34546" CreationDate="2017-07-08T16:40:25.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Much of Under Armour's product-line is intended as a 'wicking-layer' - made of fabrics that are really good at drawing sweat away from your body and letting it evaporate on the surface. Cotton tends to not be very good at this in comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They allow you to remain cool, dry, protected from wind, warm, and comfortable through a wide range of temperatures and activity-levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10879" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T16:40:25.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34550" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-08T16:54:12.150" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been running for a while now and dieting, and I've lost a couple of pounds of weight. I'm now 130 lbs and 5 foot 11, and 25 years old. As a result, my breast size has also decreased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that you lose more of your breast fat if you're on a calorie deficit, than what you gain if you're on a calorie surplus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, I've heard that if you lose 5 pounds, and then gain 5 pounds, you will have relatively less fat in your breasts in the end than before you lost the 5 pounds, and relatively more in your belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? is there scientific evidence for this, or for it being false?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26072" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T01:02:24.143" Title="Does my breast size decrease permanently after weight loss?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34521" CreationDate="2017-07-08T17:00:55.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There actually are a few medical things you do (beyond liposuction). Look into CoolScuplting and SculpSure. Both are FDA-approved. No experience with CoolScuplting, be we have a ScuplSure machine at our medi-spa, and I've seen it work firsthand. Up to a 25% reduction in fat for treated areas. Currently approved for abdomen, flanks, back and inner/outer thighs. Uses lasers to burn the fat away. Usually takes about 12 weeks to see full results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, for true body-recomposition, the comments and answers above hold true - abs are (mostly) made in the kitchen. Get into a calorie deficit, and stay there. I say mostly because without direct ab work, abs won't &quot;pop&quot; when you lose all the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25685" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T17:00:55.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8207" CreationDate="2017-07-08T17:31:07.763" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;yes it does, ive worked on certain muscles and noticed that fat around that particular muscle gets burned, thats why you will notice that fat mainly accumulates around muscle areas that are largely dormant, ie , bum , stomach, upper thighs chest, whereas you will notice that calves , forearms, biceps, upper thighs, shoulders rarely have fat in those areas as they are used daily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26073" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T17:31:07.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-08T17:33:41.130" Score="3" ViewCount="1280" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read some stuff online about how to naturally increase your breast size. However, I don't know whether to believe it, because it looks commercial, so they have a good reason to hype it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering if there are books or scientific papers or anything that is based on science, that explains what determines fluctuations in breast size (for women who are not in puberty or pregnant). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming the only way to increase breast size while retaining a calorie neutral diet, is through anything that naturally influences certain hormones (in whatever way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something about which there are scientific answers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26072" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T14:40:44.780" Title="Scientifically valid ways of naturally increasing breast size?" Tags="&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-04-30T15:23:49.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-08T19:10:06.010" Score="0" ViewCount="1729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't count calories, but know I'm getting leaner on my current diet and it's 100% fat loss. I am having trouble building biceps size however. I have worked my biceps for a long time and they do not get bigger. My triceps grow easily even on a big calorie deficit, and so do quads -- but bis seem to stay 13-14 inches for years with this kind of diet. Do biceps specifically need higher calorie diets to gain more muscle on that region? Because otherwise how do you explain the fact that I can build muscle in other regions with a deficit running and not on the biceps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My traps have grown tremendously naturally while still cutting over months. I have been training for 3-4 years max. Why don't biceps grow on a deficit? They look leaner and get a &quot;pump&quot; which makes them bigger, but in a few days they shrink again a bit. I am not losing muscle, but none will be added to them. What can I do to force direct biceps brachili growth on a calorie deficit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried huge dropsets, tons of reps/sets, heavy weights, etc. My macros are well, but I don't eat too many carbs overall. I usually either float somewhere below and above calorie maintenance. I don't measure calories anymore, but I'm still gaining in other regions -- just not the biceps. They have been stuck at 13-14 inches for a good 2 or so years of steady training. I'm fairly lean and have very small bone frame. I have like 13% bodyfat give or take. What gives? I don't want no fatceps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25900" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T00:00:33.410" Title="Can't get big arms in a sparing calorie deficit?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-08T19:20:02.903" Score="1" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard people claim that steroids or just even higher natural test with make the body remove fat regardless of diet. I think this idea comes from those YouTube fitness guys who do massive calorie binges and have ripped bodies year round. It's claimed that they can eat anything they want and never gain an ounce of fat because they're on such high amounts of exogenous testosterone and other drugs. Is this true? The guys on gear can lower their bodyfat constantly while still building loads of muscle and eat like pigs all day and have perfect bodies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturals can't seem to do this -- or at least the people who claim to be. I have spend a long time trying to up my test naturally in hopes that my bodyfat will keep decreasing in spite of eating a constant calorie surplus, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I raised my natty test from 435 to 830 over less than 2 years, but I don't seem to be losing fat any faster or building muscle any faster either. I feel a massive difference in libido and m&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common beliefs would have it that you just down 5 grams of trenbolone and clenbuterol and sit around all day and you'll be shredded with tons of muscle even if you worked out like twice a year only. Some natties murder themselves and reach six-pack ab bodyfat while looking like skeletons because they lose so much muscle when dipping under 10% bodyfat with no drugs and/or can't maintain it. Guys on gear seem to not only maintain but gain substantial muscle even while cutting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this relate to testosterone? How can they eat so much and never get fat? Diet so much and never lose an oucne of muscle and even build some too?  Are drugs really that magical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25900" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T22:46:57.550" Title="Testosterone and bodyfat correlation -- a myth or no?" Tags="&lt;testosterone&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34554" CreationDate="2017-07-08T23:55:26.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trust me, stay 250-300 above your maintenance level of calories and keep your protein high and you won't gain much fat. This way you will get bigger a lot quicker rather than sitting in a caloric deficit all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when you first start working out you can easily build muscle and lose fat at the same time, something referred to as &quot;beginner gains&quot;, but after you workout for longer than a year, the way to see more progress is to be above maintenance level in terms of calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of biceps not getting bigger, I think you should keep doing compound lifts while in a caloric surplus. Compound movements do help your arms get bigger, just keep increasing the weight as you get stronger. Also, including curls can help shape your arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there is a genetic factor that comes into play. Some people have better chest genetics and others have better arm genetics. So if your biceps are lacking and you have tried everything, it could be genetics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastEditorUserId="26056" LastEditDate="2017-07-09T00:00:33.410" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T00:00:33.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34434" CreationDate="2017-07-09T00:11:39.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As general rule, static stretches before exercise aren't particularly effective, and most studies show that they can be detrimental to muscle performance (the muscle is in a weakened state after a static stretch), and can even increase the risk of injury. Static stretches are what we think of as regular stretches - stretch a muscle and hold for x seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Save static stretches for AFTER your workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do dynamic stretches/warmup before an exercise. Dynamic stretching/warmups are when you slowly take a muscle/joint through a range of motion, gently increasing the range as you progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best dynamic stretch are the ones that most closely mimic the actual activity you'll be doing. So, for biking, that might be the squats, jump squats, lunges, and other leg-pressing motions. Although honestly, as an avid biker myself (70+ miles a week), I usually let the bike itself be the warmup/stretch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25685" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T00:11:39.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-09T05:46:49.147" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is difference b/n walking fast and running, which different muscles get activated are they different for both?&#xA;I am asking cause I found my calves getting tightened more while walking fast while running does not cause this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="25216" LastEditDate="2017-07-10T06:34:29.977" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T13:59:31.210" Title="Walking faster V/s Running" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34560" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-09T09:43:05.833" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine is moving to his new house in a week, and I am going to help him with heavy lifting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I am concerned with low-back injury prevention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is : how to best prepare for such work given only one week ? Maybe back and abdominal exercises ? Thank you for your ideas and suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16767" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T01:54:04.933" Title="Preparing for moving to new house" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34560" CreationDate="2017-07-09T12:53:26.153" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;With only one week before the move, you don't have enough time to develop significantly more strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, focus on these tips for safely moving things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Before lifting an object, take a big breath and hold it (Valsalva maneuver) at least until you are standing upright.  The goal is to keep your torso rigid.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Move with your feet, not your back. Do not twist your spine while loaded; otherwise, risk of injury (strain, disc damage) increases dramatically.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T12:53:26.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-09T19:21:15.363" Score="1" ViewCount="2691" Body="&lt;p&gt;This week:&#xA;72kg Body weight.&#xA;Bench 85kg 5 sets of 3.&#xA;Deadlift 110kg 5 sets of 2.&#xA;Squat 95kg 5 sets of 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in using the Greyskull Linear Progression program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can not seem to find a suggested starting weight online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anybody done this and could suggest a weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18937" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T23:33:11.443" Title="What is the suggested starting weight for The Greyskull Linear Progression?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;powerlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34562" CreationDate="2017-07-09T23:33:11.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not going to say a weight to start with in absolute terms. I could try to suggest something as a percentage of your one rep max, but I think it's better to start training with something and adjust as required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/greyskull-lp/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Greyskull LP Program&lt;/a&gt; combines 2x5 with 1x5+ (as many as possible with good form). So start with something you're comfortable doing 3x5. For example, If 85kg is your 5x3, it's going to be a bit less weight than that, I'd say no more than 80kg. Whatever you pick, make sure it's something you know you can manage because failing on the first workout sucks (for consistency and motivation) and because the program provides a mechanism for increasing weights faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can double up your weight increases. Usually you'll be putting on 2.5lb/1.25kg increments, but, if you're so comfortable with the current weight that you're getting 10-12+ reps in that third set, you just double that increase for next time (5lb/2.5kg). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17914" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T23:33:11.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34553" CreationDate="2017-07-09T23:51:21.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/421223-how-to-increase-breast-size-naturally-by-exercise-and-eating/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Livestrong article&lt;/a&gt;, looks like the most legit thing on this subject. You can either get fatter (which isn't recommended, unless you're underweight of course) or you can get bigger pecs (which won't typically make much of a difference). I'd also point out better posture will make the most of what you've got, and that can be one of the results of regular exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you're suggesting that some way of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/354463-how-to-boost-estrogen-levels/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;naturally increasing estrogen&lt;/a&gt; would help, which is after all the cause of breast growth during pregnancy. But I don't think there is one, unless you're currently underweight or something. Some people think soy helps with this. There's really no evidence for this, but soy is generally quite good for you, so try that if you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the plus side, much more is possible with the lower body (if your goal is achieving the commonly desired female body type). I've heard Mark Rippetoe talk about a plastic surgeon acquaintance of his who does breast implants and then recommends his patients do a lot of squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17914" LastEditorUserId="17914" LastEditDate="2017-07-09T23:57:37.913" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T23:57:37.913" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34560" CreationDate="2017-07-10T01:54:04.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its too late to make an effective difference physically.  At best you can stretch and warm up before moving stuff on the day, but it won't drastically increase your endurance or capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However but you do have time to go buy or borrow some lifting equipment.  A sackbarrow and a sampson (flat platform with 4 wheels) would be good, and get a light truck with a hydraulic tail lifter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your risks are being tired and throwing yourself into a lift (gung ho) rather than slowing down and taking your time.   Stairwells and second floors are also risky locations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you hire a truck with movers, they can do the big items.  Don't try to emulate their lifts though!  I've seen two movers easily move a piano that was a struggle for 6 normal-size adults to move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thought is to make sure all the stuff is boxed up ready to go.  You don't want a box heavier than 20 kilos maximum, and ideally should be under 10 kilos.  If you're packing books, more+smaller boxes is wise.  It helps if boxes are all regular-sized; which is why banana boxes are valued for moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26080" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T01:54:04.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34274" CreationDate="2017-07-10T06:17:35.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Replication of pre-test conditions is vital.  A DEXA scan interprets water as an organ (or lean mass)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Variables Altering Results&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hydration Level&lt;/strong&gt; (or dehydration)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glycogen Levels&lt;/strong&gt; (carb loading vs fasting)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time of Day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recent Workouts&lt;/strong&gt; (intensity, timing etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recent Activity&lt;/strong&gt; (simply walking around the room resulted in a 7% change)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Patient Positioning&lt;/strong&gt; (baseline vs re-testing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DEXA Scan Results&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Before vs After drinking a gallon of water:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                    Before Water        After Water      Difference&#xA;&#xA;Total Mass (lbs)    179.6               186.0             6.4&#xA;Body Fat (%)        14.6%                13.6%           -1.0%&#xA;Fat Tissue (lbs)    26.2                 25.2            -1.0&#xA;Lean Tissue (lbs)   145.5               152.9             7.4&#xA;Bone Density (lbs)  7.9                   7.9             0.0&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body Fat measurements only changed 1% &lt;em&gt;(seemly a small difference)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;It’s not.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;It also adds 7.4 lbs of &quot;lean tissue&quot; to the results.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Major Problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let’s say after altering your diet / muscle training regimen a repeat scan and finds you’ve gained 15 lbs of &quot;lean tissue&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you gain 15 lbs of muscle?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or did you gain only 5 lbs and come in with 10 lbs of retained water?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A DEXA scan literally can't tell the difference.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the understanding that DEXA has this &lt;strong&gt;&quot;water = muscle&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; limitation - you can easily &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;end up drawing incorrect conclusions about your fitness and diet regimen.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reproducibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To obtain accurate results it's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;vital to control as many variables as possible during the baseline and all subsequent scans&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  An easy set of conditions to replicate is having all scans done first thing in the morning without eating or drinking anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://courses.washington.edu/bonephys/opBMDp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://courses.washington.edu/bonephys/opBMDp.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-10T07:03:10.667" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T07:03:10.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2017-07-10T06:22:42.727" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an exercise that will give you a lot of mass on your legs provided you do it right. It's called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhan_zhuang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zhàn zhuāng&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;standing like a post&quot;). It's basically just standing but it takes a lot of tweaking to get it right in the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no reps or anything needed; it will work the whole body as well and especially the knees, but you have to devote time to it. If you just start with one minute and progress to 10 minutes you will see and feel the progress. Its basically standing with your knees slightly bent and whole body completely relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26082" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-10T18:24:15.423" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T18:24:15.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34559" CreationDate="2017-07-10T10:15:38.890" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Gait Cycle&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;em&gt;(Walking vs Running)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above image compares the gait cycles of walking and running. The same concepts that apply to walking apply to power walking. The only thing that changes is the faster you walk shorter the overall cycle length and caddence &lt;em&gt;(the proportions remain the same).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dgFeT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dgFeT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biomechanical Comparison&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;em&gt;(Walking vs Running)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Initial Contact&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Walking&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking mechanics of the lower leg, foot and ankle are inefficient. as most energy from momentum is lost. During heel strike your knee is locked and fully extended causing this energy to be absorbed rather than transferred. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Running&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While running your foot does not strike the ground with your heel. Instead contact first occurs more distally on your foot (around your forefoot).  Also your knee is never fully extended. Resulting in a more relaxed calf and shorter, more efficient stance phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Propulsion Energy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Walking&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right before push off, the calf -- which crosses both the knee and ankle, is fully extended and dorsiflexed (called passive insufficiency).  While in this position of maximal tension, it’s also supporting the weight of your body. During push off (or propulsion) the lower leg contracts to produce the force lost during heel strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Running&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During running, the body has an effective muscle work-minimizing strategy.  Your lower leg muscles don’t propel you forward like during walking. Energy instead rebounds along compliant legs and unlocked knees. The leg and foot uses recycled energy for propulsion. As your foot hits the ground, impact energy is stored in the muscles and tendons are used to propel you forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/11/2150&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/11/2150&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-10T13:59:31.210" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T13:59:31.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34579" CreationDate="2017-07-10T14:44:41.583" Score="2" ViewCount="1642" Body="&lt;p&gt;How important is angle in inclined chest fly, i found that if angle is low chest fly become more difficult and my biceps also get engaged but if angle is high near 90 than more pressure in chest? &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralClavicular/DBInclineFly.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to be clear I am talking abt elbow angle not bench, while my humerus arm is parallel to ground while forearm is making an angle at elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="25216" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T11:30:47.520" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T13:20:29.907" Title="Angle importance in Inclined Chest fly" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34569" CreationDate="2017-07-10T21:00:44.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Chest vs Lower Chest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ah yes, the upper and lower chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there an upper and lower chest?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Does the incline isolate one area and the decline isolate another?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will my chest muscles grow unevenly if I don't hit it all from every&#xA;possible angle?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do I target one area and make it bigger?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next it turns into debate about how the chest is one solid muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or that there's no such thing as an upper or lower chest. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or how you can or can't target one area in isolation of the other.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or how you must hit it from all angles for the best results.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's see if we can solve it once and for all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Here's Why You DON'T Need To Build A Bigger Upper Chest&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Before we get to the answer you're looking for -- let's begin with the answer you need.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Lack Of Overall Muscle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majority of the people who think they need more upper chest muscle really just need more chest muscle, period. Or just as commonly, more muscle on their entire body. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Body Fat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have the people mistaking chest fat that has accumulated around the lower portion of their chest &lt;em&gt;(creating the &quot;man boobs&quot; appearance no guy wants)&lt;/em&gt; for a lagging upper chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, your chest fat is just making it appear as though your lower chest is big and your upper chest is small by comparison. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building a bigger upper chest isn't the real solution here -- &lt;strong&gt;losing body fat is.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Reality&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, we have good old reality. What do you mean by reality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, aside from the huge role genetics play in the shape of your chest &lt;em&gt;(a big reason why one person's chest can look very different than anothers)&lt;/em&gt; actually seeing a person who has &lt;em&gt;JUST&lt;/em&gt; a big upper or lower chest doesn't actually happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even seeing someone with a noticeably underdeveloped upper or lower chest is surprisingly rare. I mean, once you eliminate people who fall into one of the previous 2 categories &lt;em&gt;(plus genetics / chest shape)&lt;/em&gt; the number of legitimate cases of people with one part of their chest clearly lagging behind the other is much lower than you think. &lt;em&gt;A lot lower.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is just a nice way of saying that worrying about different &quot;parts&quot; of your chest is usually a big waste of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is There an Upper Chest / Lower Chest?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For starters, we have what many people confuse as being the upper and lower chest: the &lt;strong&gt;pectoralis major&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;pectoralis minor&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(aka &quot;the pecs&quot;)&lt;/em&gt;. They are in fact &lt;em&gt;NOT&lt;/em&gt; fancy words for upper and lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, the pectoralis major is the big fan shaped muscle that makes up the majority of your chest musculature. When we talk about the upper and lower chest, we're actually talking about the upper and lower part of the pectoralis major. The pectoralis minor on the other hand is just a small muscle that lies underneath the pectoralis major.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words we're really looking for here are the &lt;strong&gt;clavicular&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;sternal head&lt;/strong&gt;. The clavicular head is the portion near the top of your chest right below the clavicle, while the sternal head comprises the middle and bottom portion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, while it's technically all just &quot;the chest&quot; or &quot;the pecs,&quot; there are indeed different &quot;parts&quot; to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;And this of course brings us to the next big question&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can You Isolate The Upper or Lower Chest?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, you can't.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of anything you've seen or heard before. &lt;strong&gt;It is impossible to isolate different parts of your chest.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;That's a myth.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, &lt;em&gt;EVERY&lt;/em&gt; chest exercise will hit &lt;em&gt;EVERY&lt;/em&gt; part of it. So yes, that means incline exercises still hit your lower chest, and decline exercises still hit your upper chest. Even if you only did one type of pressing exercise for the rest of your life -- you're still going to build your entire chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can You Put More Emphasis On One Area Than Another?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, you can.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;At least a little.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me clarify the difference. What you can't do is just train your upper chest or lower chest in isolation of the other. But, what you can do to some extent is put a little more targeted training stress on one area than the other. Not isolate just put a bit more emphasis on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it's all exactly what you've probably already known.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various decline pressing/fly exercises and dips DO target the &quot;lower chest&quot; a bit more than incline movements do, while various incline pressing/fly exercises DO target the &quot;upper chest&quot; a bit more than decline movements do. Flat exercises fall somewhere in the middle and hit a good bit of everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing too surprising there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, it's not that one exercise targets one part of the chest and NOTHING else. Every exercise still &quot;hits&quot; every part of the chest. There are just certain exercises and certain angles that place slightly more emphasis on one portion than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you need to do Flat, Incline, Decline and Fly Exercises to build your chest?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can say with 100% certainty that &lt;strong&gt;you absolutely DON'T.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your &quot;chest day&quot; involves a flat barbell and dumbbell press, an incline barbell and dumbbell press, a decline barbell and dumbbell press and dumbbell flys to hit the upper, lower, inner, outer, major, minor, bigger, smaller, taller, shorter and whatever other part of your chest you think needs to be hit - you can stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is, there are plenty of people who have built an great looking chest by doing nothing but flat pressing variations. Their upper and lower chest grew just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll again find plenty of people with a great looking chest who, because of shoulder injuries, have avoided most typical exercises (flat bench press, incline bench press) in favor of more shoulder friendly exercises like decline presses and floor presses. Again, no portion of their chest ended up lagging. It all grew just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of people who have built a great looking chest despite doing all of their chest exercises at a slight incline because they just &quot;feel&quot; it better that way. They aren't all walking around with an amazing upper chest and a big empty space underneath it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are even plenty of people with an great chest who built it by doing nothing but different types of push-ups. Or just dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the grand scheme of things, none of it really matters all that much. Everything gets hit, everything grows, the upper and lower chest still get built anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Is Optimal For Overall Chest Development?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's some combination of either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A flat and incline exercise &lt;em&gt;(always a 15-30 degree incline anything higher becomes mostly shoulders)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A decline and incline exercise (extra good for those who have shoulder issues when flat pressing).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some kind of flat OR decline pressing exercise, plus some kind of incline pressing exercise, plus an isolation movement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically for me with &quot;3&quot;, the flat barbell bench press, incline dumbbell press and/or the Hammer Strength incline press machine, and dumbbell flys. I never do all of this in a single workout. I also don't have a &quot;chest day&quot; &lt;em&gt;(and there's a 99.9% chance you shouldn't either)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Most Important Part&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all of this chest training stuff is meaningless in the absence of the small handful of things that matter most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Actually train your chest.&lt;/strong&gt; If you do a chest press of some kind and feel it mostly in your shoulders and/or triceps but hardly at all inyour chest, you're probably going to have great triceps and shoulders and a not-so-great chest. Either improve your ability to actually activate your chest (by either fixing your technique or fixing your &quot;mind/muscle connection&quot;) or adjust your exercise selection so you're doing exercises that don't have (or at least minimizes) this problem for you. For me, it's that combination I mentioned a minute ago. For you, it could be something different altogether.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do it safely.&lt;/strong&gt; Chest exercises and shoulder injuries go hand in hand. So if there happens to be one (or more) that cause any pain, problems, discomfort or just feels as though it may not be perfectly suited for your body in some way, avoid it in favor of exercises that feel safe and right for you. For me, it's that combination I mentioned a minute ago. For you, it could be something different altogether. Nothing prevents you from building an great chest quite like a shoulder injury that prevents you from actually training your chest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it all up, there &lt;em&gt;IS&lt;/em&gt; an upper and lower portion of your chest. You can't isolate them. Every exercise will always hit every part to some extent. But, certain exercises can indeed put slightly more training emphasis on one part than another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all of that in mind, the true keys to building an great chest are choosing exercises that best allow you to actually train that target muscle group &lt;em&gt;(as opposed to just your shoulders/triceps)&lt;/em&gt; and train it in a way that is both safe &lt;em&gt;(by choosing exercises that feel right for your body)&lt;/em&gt; and progressive &lt;em&gt;(by getting stronger over time)&lt;/em&gt;. And eat to support it, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do that, and you'll build the most wonderful upper, lower, inner, outer, eastern, western, etc. chest you are capable of building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sources:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19528871&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16464122&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;www.aworkoutroutine.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T21:00:44.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34555" CreationDate="2017-07-10T22:46:57.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can't speak from experience but there are studies -- However I don't see a reason to post these.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are you just asking this to see if they'd work for you - or what's your plan?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do realize any weight you lose or muscle gained from &quot;roids&quot; &lt;em&gt;(working out or otherwise)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;you'd lose once you stop taking them&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; rebound effects you'll experience which include damaged or desensitized androgen receptors, lower levels of bound and free T-testosterone along with increased estrogen and progesterone levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also plenty of life-altering, permanent and lethal side effects &lt;em&gt;(yes, really)&lt;/em&gt; that would stick with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you're trying to add size - post your workout routine / diet etc. &#xA;  Myself and others would be glad to help you out. Free professional&#xA;  advice helping you add mass seems like a no brainer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the long term effects known -- unless you have a terminal illness where it has been proven to be beneficial (such as adding lean muscle mass in patients with HIV) -- there isn't a reason to even consider taking them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Here are a few side effect which are often permanent:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cancer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe Acne&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Damage to the Gonads &lt;em&gt;(testicles or ovaries)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver Diseases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Malfunctions of the Kidneys &lt;em&gt;(liver or heart)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Roid Rage', which is characterised by uncontrollable outbursts of&#xA;psychotic aggression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paranoia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mood Swings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe Depression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T22:46:57.550" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34588" CreationDate="2017-07-11T01:00:10.617" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one on the bottom right - I often have upper back pain and it seemed interesting! &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GknSD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GknSD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Stretch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26090" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T10:11:31.747" Title="Which pose/stretch is this?" Tags="&lt;stretching&gt;&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34550" CreationDate="2017-07-11T01:02:24.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pound of fat lost from breast tissue is no different than a pound of fat anywhere else in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Females tend to accumulate fat around the hips, buttocks, and thighs while men have a larger intra-abdominal (visceral) fat mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet and genetics also have major roles in determining the proportion and site of fat storage.  Fertility hormones (leptin, oestrogen), ovarian function seem to mainly signal a general increase in lipogenesis and storage (in the predisposed areas mentioned above). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put if it was there before I see no reason why it would no longer return to that area.  See if you're able to find supporting research.  Use the search box at NIH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17977473&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17977473&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11706283&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11706283&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11706283&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11706283&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T01:02:24.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34574" CreationDate="2017-07-11T01:04:07.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure of the exact name, but many people just call it &quot;tricep stretch&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSaqjF0dMMg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; explains how to perform the stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastEditorUserId="26056" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T13:43:11.440" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T13:43:11.440" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34553" CreationDate="2017-07-11T01:11:40.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have read some stuff online about how to naturally increase your&#xA;  breast size. However, I don't know whether to believe it, because it&#xA;  looks commercial, so they have a good reason to hype it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there were a “magic way” to increase breast size naturally considering the popularity of elective painful surgery – this would NOT remain a secret.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t even know what it is but I’m going to guess it’s an unregulated herbal supplement.  Supplements are &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; reviewed by the FDA or any third party before you open take them - they frequently don’t contain the ingredients that are listed – or they’re simply labeled as a “proprietary blends”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T01:11:40.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34569" CreationDate="2017-07-11T06:21:37.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR: There isn't a specific angle you should be at, but your arms shouldn't be locked out.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to know is that you don't want your arms to be fully stretched or locked out. This will put a lot of stress on your elbow joint and cause injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T13:20:29.907" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T13:20:29.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34569" CreationDate="2017-07-11T13:03:23.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no specific angle. Focus on what feels right for you. Since you feel your chest more when doing it at 90 degrees, try to keep it around that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T13:03:23.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34586" CreationDate="2017-07-11T14:22:53.443" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;a little bit of background: I started working out more about 6 weeks ago. doing 30 mins of cardio a day and 30 mins strength a day as well. So on my arms day, I will lift weights. Lately i have been feeling like my boobs weigh more and feel fuller than than my usual c-cup, almost like a D- cup. The thing is when i go on a run and use the same Sports bra i used previously for running,my boobs feel painful and heavy. I guess i want to know if this is normal for women when they start lifting and what i can do to make running more comfortable.&#xA;I am also not pregnant. I am 28, 61 inches, and weigh 130ibs. &#xA;Please help. &#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26093" LastActivityDate="2017-07-15T05:04:57.363" Title="Lifting weights" Tags="&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34585" CreationDate="2017-07-11T14:41:03.577" Score="2" ViewCount="4426" Body="&lt;p&gt;What muscles are used  in sidewalking with a resistance band? &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sLSg9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sLSg9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T14:27:56.577" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T21:08:37.597" Title="Exercise band lateral walk muscles used?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;workout-types&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34582" CreationDate="2017-07-11T15:06:29.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.verywell.com/g00/lateral-band-walking-exercise-3120456&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;, the primary muscle being exercised is the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluteus_medius_muscle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gluteus medius&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CbRrz.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CbRrz.png&quot; alt=&quot;Illustration of glutueal muscles including the gluteus medius&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T15:06:29.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34545" CreationDate="2017-07-11T15:31:22.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't actually have facts to support my answer, but I will respond speaking from personal experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a 28 year old female and I started running when I was around 13 and also played soccer and tennis. I would say for me just doing any kind of cardio improves my run. I run every other day at least for 30 mins. On the other days, I play soccer. When you play another sport, it forces you to sprint short distances, rest/walk in between and sprint again, there by increasing your endurance, so when you actually go for a run, you end up running longer and faster without feeling like you need a break. Also, I alternate between long distance 10min mile for about 6miles(which ends up being about 12min mile) on day one of running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second running day, I do a short 2-3 mile run and push myself to average 7-8.30min mile. Day 3 of run day, I do sprints. I actually count up to 100 in my head while sprinting as hard as I can, then walk counting till 200. On the next sprint, I count till 150, walk for 300. I do so until I can't any more and then walk back home haha. Generally I found, sprinting is the key to improving running without feeling like you have to rest when you go on runs. Running up a hill will definitely increase your endurance so keep doing that. Don't be discouraged, every time you go for a run, run an extra minute from your last run ,i.e. if you ran 28 mins, total last time, run 30 mins total this time; or run an extra .2 miles this rime from your last run distance. It makes a whole lot of a difference. Don't give up and stay active. Don't give  up, keep records of what you did last time and try to beat your record the next time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope I helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26093" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-07-12T07:50:44.937" LastActivityDate="2017-07-12T07:50:44.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34582" CreationDate="2017-07-11T18:26:20.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prime Movers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hip Abductors:&lt;/strong&gt;  Gluteus Medius &amp;amp; Minimus &lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hip Adductors:&lt;/strong&gt;  Adductor Longus, Brevis &amp;amp; Maximus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EQLHl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EQLHl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contraction Types&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concentric Contraction:&lt;/strong&gt; Muscle is &lt;em&gt;Shortening&lt;/em&gt; and Generating Force&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eccentric Contraction:&lt;/strong&gt;  Muscle is &lt;em&gt;Lengthening&lt;/em&gt; and Generating Force&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscle Activation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;During each Lateral Step&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;(Only looking at activation of key hip muscles)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oKWhG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oKWhG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Leading (or Moving Leg)&lt;/strong&gt;: Concentric Contraction of the Hip Abductors &lt;br&gt; &lt;em&gt;(Generating force to both stretch the band &amp;amp; advance&#xA;    your leg)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Trailing (or Stance Leg)&lt;/strong&gt;: Eccentric Contraction of the Hip Abductors &lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;(controlling the movement)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After the Step&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  &lt;br&gt;The leading leg now becomes the weight bearing leg (or stance leg).&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PqTSo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PqTSo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Leading (or Stance Leg):&lt;/strong&gt; Concentric Contraction of the Hip &lt;strong&gt;Add&lt;/strong&gt;uctors &lt;br&gt; &lt;em&gt;(controlling the movement)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Trailing (or Moving Leg):&lt;/strong&gt; Eccentric Contraction of the Hip Abductors&lt;br&gt; &lt;em&gt;(controlling the movement)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The stretched elastic band generates the force to advance your trailing leg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T21:08:37.597" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T21:08:37.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34581" CreationDate="2017-07-11T21:40:38.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I am not a woman I think your problem is quite understandable from a physiological perspective. Let's first relate your problem to a standard situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I start lifting weights and for every volume of fat I lose, I get the same amount of muscles back, I will gain weight. Muscles weigh more than fat and therefore every percentage muscle increase will increase my weight more than an increase in fat. When you are on a weight lifting program, you expect to lose more fat than you gain muscles and therefore you lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now back to your breasts. Usually, female breasts mostly consists of fat. There are some milk glands and underneath the fat there is some muscle tissue, the breast muscles. If you are early in your program, you expect to lose fat in the &quot;easy&quot; places, but not in your breasts. Why, I don't know, but it is known that a woman loses fat tissue last on her breasts and belly. By the way, men lose fat last at their belly too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you are gaining muscle tissue and if you do a lot of arm exercises, you will indirectly train your breast muscles. In gaining breast muscles and not losing significant fat tissue in your breasts, they will at first start to become heavier and not smaller. This means, with c-cup fat and extra muscle mass, it might well be that your breasts at first will feel heavier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as a man I do also experience growing breast muscles up to a level where the are pronounced and they aren't that flat on your body. When you run, however, you don't tighten your breast muscles (why should you?) and they will probably freely move along with the rest of your breasts, which are mostly fat. When you're a man and your breasts aren't that pronounced, it is not an issue. If you're a woman and you have exercised your breast to a slender a- or b- cup, it might also be bearable. However, when you just started, your muscle gain and lack of fat loss in your breasts might temporarily be a burden / bother. Once you see your BMI decrease and your fat decreasing, I would assume your breast pains will decrease with your fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that your breasts will be the last to give up the fat, or the second to last and your belly holds on for longer. Either buy a stronger / tighter bra, go biking for now, or run like a kangaroo (with your hands high under your breasts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-12T13:16:47.993" LastActivityDate="2017-07-12T13:16:47.993" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34574" CreationDate="2017-07-12T10:17:20.920" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm mainly familiar with this exercise with the other arm reaching up to reach the arm going down. My &lt;a href=&quot;https://gmb.io/ff/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stretching program with GMB&lt;/a&gt; calls it &quot;Shoulder Combined Motions&quot;. When I was a child, checking out yoga books, they called it the &quot;Cow pose&quot;, but that's typically used to refer to a different pose, and instead you'll see it called &quot;Cow Face pose&quot;, or &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomukhasana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gomukhasana&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (and technically also involves a particular leg positioning). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we did it in martial arts or soccer warmups more like what you show in the image, it was simply described as &quot;reach your arm over your head and down your back, and lightly push down on the elbow with your other hand while resisting with the stretching arm.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T10:11:31.747" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T10:11:31.747" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2635" CreationDate="2017-07-13T06:51:24.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please suggest me a good exercise for a fat belly, specially the area around the navel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry to break it to you but there isn't such a thing as losing fat in a specific area. If you want to lose fat, you'll have to lose fat all over your body. I would suggest doing heavy compound lifts (squats, deadlifts) combined with some cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also need to work on your diet. You stated that you think it might be because of &quot;lots of food and no exercise&quot;. Try to find out how many calories you need in a day and don't eat more than that if you want to lose some fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a small tip; doing ab exercises won't do as much for buring fat, as one might think. This is because you need to burn calories, and ab exercises don't burn a whole lot of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T06:51:24.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34581" CreationDate="2017-07-13T14:09:09.123" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not very likely that exercise is increasing your breast size. &lt;a href=&quot;https://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13058-015-0647-3&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; states that estrogen levels typically go down when you are in better shape. More likely, you feel like they are bigger because a combination of other effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The muscle underneath could be growing. After only 6 weeks, I&#xA;imagine this is not a large effect unless you were previously&#xA;stronger and are getting back to that level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are losing fat around the base. Again, this is probably a minor&#xA;contributor after only 6 weeks, but you are doing 1 hour a day of&#xA;disciplined exercise, so you could be losing significant weight at&#xA;the base of your breasts. Imagine a boulder sticking out of the&#xA;ground, and you dig away some of the dirt surrounding it. If you dig&#xA;away 1 foot of dirt, the boulder seems 1 foot taller.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are increasing your testosterone and the fat in your breasts is&#xA;taking on a more masculine character. Masculine adipose tissue is&#xA;firmer, but I am not aware of any studies that show hormonal changes&#xA;will convert existing fat. This is not likely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are improving your posture. You should definitely see posture&#xA;improvements after 6 weeks of the intense exercise you are&#xA;describing. If your shoulders have gone back and back has&#xA;straightened, then your ribs will have taken a new position. It is&#xA;like you have upgraded the pedestal that your breasts are displayed&#xA;on. This is the most likely explanation for an increase in size. You&#xA;may have always had D cups, but they have been hiding in the shadow&#xA;of bad posture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for causes of pain while running, it's hard to blame the exercise itself. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/how-working-out-affects-boobs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; says most people who start exercising experience a reduction of pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would probably be of benefit to know what specific pain you are experiencing. If the pain is close to your ribs, then it may not be related to your breasts at all. It may be the normal pain from working out your pec muscles, aggravated by the bouncing weight on top of them. If so, some stretching or longer recovery time could reduce this. if the pain is inside the breast, it might be because your new posture or fat allocation no longer provides the support it used to. It might be time to try new sports bras. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16781" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T14:09:09.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34063" CreationDate="2017-07-13T14:56:39.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you check out &quot;Becoming a Supple Leopard&quot; by Dr. Kelly Starrett. The book itself is a major investment, but you can check him out online, there are plenty of videos that will introduce you to his approach. His focus is on body mechanics and injury prevention and his book goes into great detail and is packed with photos. As a 57-year-old man who wants to stay strong and hates pain, I have found him invaluable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26111" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T14:56:39.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-13T15:07:34.727" Score="2" ViewCount="590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently took up on swimming in the mornings, monday, wednesday and friday &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, I also run. I can easily do 6K or 10K (and rarely sometimes 15k)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to exercise more often, specifically do things I can do on my own without going to a gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I schedule my runs? How much should I run? And when should I try dumbbells exercises? — So that I can also recover and don't interfering with my swimming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note: My main goal at the moment is to loose weight. I have a very sedentary work. Obviously I've been control what I eat as well. And it has been working!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26108" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T18:39:57.933" Title="I swim 3 days a week — How much and when should I run, and lift dumbbells?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;dumbbells&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34592" CreationDate="2017-07-13T15:25:26.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your main goal is too lose weight then just staying in a caloric deficit of 250-500 calories should be what you aim for. So find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and then just subtract 250-500 from it. This will help you lose weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your runs, it depends on what your goals are. Do you want to increase your stamina?, become faster?, etc. But what I would recommend is making a routine and tracking your progress. So I cant really say how often you should do it without more information, but getting enough rest is always important&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for building muscle, if you haven't worked out before, you will be able to lose fat and build muscle at the same time. So doing exercise with the dumbbells and other body weight movements would be beneficial. Also remember to get enough protein if you plan to build muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T15:25:26.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-13T18:03:43.897" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm jogging for everyday. i use to get stopped by myself due to high breathing though i jogging in good pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to improve and keep it steady my jog and is that good to drink water after / before jogging?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6078" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T12:37:54.043" Title="breath technique during jogging" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-17T15:42:07.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34592" CreationDate="2017-07-13T18:34:40.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to just lose weight, you definitely want to make sure you add jogging/running into your routine.  If it's a matter of losing fat or improving your body composition, then that's less important.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at mid- to long- distance runners, their body type is very very lean and wiry.  Swimmers, because they are using their upper bodies so much, even if they are very lean, they tend to carry a lot of muscle in the back, chest and shoulders.  That muscle = weight.  When I used to swim competitively in my high school years, I'd actually gain weight through most of the season from that added muscle (even though I was getting in better shape and losing fat), and then a lot would drop off in the end of the season taper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as weight training goes, you probably want to do more high-rep sets to build some strength, but strength over a prolonged period of time.  Being able to push a lot more weight for just a few reps does not translate well in to activities like swimming and non-sprinting running, which are do not require instant, single-explosion effort (except the start, but then you still have the entire race).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better to work with a lighter weight for 30 seconds (should get 25 reps in that cycle, if you can do it easily, increase the weight. If you're getting to the end and struggling with those last few reps, you've got it about right).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would run on &quot;off&quot; days when I'm not swimming.  Weights, I'd split exercises into torso (chest, shoulders, back) on one day, limbs (arms legs) on the other, and alternate, getting in four or five days a week.  Core work - every day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer weights before swimming, because if I'm fatigued from doing weights, I can still swim, just not as fast a pace on my repetitions, but I still get the overall distance covered.  If I'm fatigued from swimming, that means failing to move the weights, and losing that exercise benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T18:39:57.933" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T18:39:57.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34595" CreationDate="2017-07-13T19:14:40.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good breathing exercise to slow down your breathing is to time your breathing with your steps. Inhale for three steps then exhale for two. &quot;Steps&quot; in this case would be for one foot. If you chose your left foot, the pattern would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inhale:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Right&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Right&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exhale:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Right&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would mean that the faster you run, the faster you breath, and the slower you run the slower you breath.  If you focus on this for enough time, you should eventually just start doing it automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can drink water any time. Although drinking &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of water before a jog may cause minor stomach pain. I've personally never had a problem with it, but I know people who have. I would say it's an absolute requirement to drink water before and during a jog on hot days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T19:14:40.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-13T20:39:25.013" Score="1" ViewCount="1305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a bulking phase and I like going for a run after my gym sessions (5 days a week). I estimate that I burn a little less than 500 Calories per run. Will these running sessions not affect muscle growth if I consume an extra 500 Calories (total 3,000 Calories) on those days to account for the extra Calories burnt? Or am I putting my body in such a deep catabolic state from running so often that I'm sacrificing muscle growth despite the extra calorie consumption?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23500" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T21:24:02.330" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T19:07:13.543" Title="Is running almost every day bad during a bulking phase?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34545" CreationDate="2017-07-13T20:51:43.547" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For cardio training, a big question in the past few years seemed to have been: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Should people engage in HITT (high intensity training intervals) or Steady State Training?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're new to HIIT, HIIT is cardio training that alternates between high-intensity and low-intensity exercise. Another answer here touches on that subject and a real life example of HIIT would be if you sprinted for 60 seconds, and walked for 120 seconds, and continued on cycling through that process of sprinting and walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just going by your description above, you're likely not new to steady state cardio. Steady state is where you are constantly running/jogging/biking/etc at the same pace/effort throughout the entire activity; there is no variance in intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some fitness websites believe that HITT is the best type of cardio training to engage in if your desire is to burn fat. In this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.builtlean.com/2010/06/04/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-best-cardio-to-burn-fat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; on Built Lean the author argues that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT is the best cardio to burn fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT results in increased aerobic capacity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT results in increased lactate threshold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT results in improved insulin sensitivity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HIIT results in the anabolic effect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, Built Lean is not the only fitness website that agrees on the advantages of HIIT over steady state. Mens Fitness and BodyBuilding.com feel the exact same way. Interestingly enough, BodyBuilding.com makes a case for including both types of cardio training into your workout routine in this article &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/going-steady-5-reasons-to-do-steady-state-cardio.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657417/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity&lt;/a&gt;, an article from the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, a study has revealed some interesting results about HIIT versus steady state training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;our results suggest no particular advantage for very high intensity training models, such as that which has been widely adapted from the results of Tabata et al. (1996)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I do want to say this study was on the Tabata regimen, and since then we've developed the Gibala, Zuniga, and Timmons regimen. But, in the choice of which cardio program you should choose, apparently the results of the study suggest that either works. What I found most significant in the study: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The observation that the Tabata protocol was less enjoyable is not surprising. The progressive loss of enjoyment across all the protocols suggests that perhaps variety in the type of exercise is as important as the type of exercise per se. Particularly considering that the health benefits of exercise have to be viewed in the context of the likelihood that exercise is continued for several years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all sort of resonates well with me because when I first got back into exercising, I found myself plagued by a lack of enjoyment. I found that if&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was at the gym, I needed to vary the machines throughout my one hour cardio session. I could not be on the elliptical for an hour straight. I had to switch up the machines and I had to switch up the modes. Some machines were strictly cardio trying to maintain &quot;x&quot; heart rate. Some other cardio machines were for building resistance, and so on and so forth. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I was running in my neighborhood or at the park, I couldn't just run 3 miles at 8 minutes per mile. I needed to run 3 miles to get to the park, then participate in HIIT once I got there, then run back home at 8 minutes per mile.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, what I found most successful (because believe me, I did initially struggle for a long time figuring out what made me happy) is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;engaging in cardio daily to maintain the habit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;making every cardio session different to prevent lack of enjoyment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;always trying to improve on previous records so that you have something to look forward to which is really just a form of motivation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say records because it will be different depending on your goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you run 1 mile today, run 1.1 miles tomorrow. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you run 1 mile in 9 minutes, shoot for 8:55 or 8:50 on the next run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smalls steps are the best route for improvement in cardio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice to you would be to decide whether or not you want to continue steady state, incorporate HIIT instead, or engage in a combination of both. You should also develop short and long term goals for whichever cardio training you prefer to use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25768" LastEditorUserId="25768" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T22:54:18.517" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T22:54:18.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34599" CreationDate="2017-07-13T21:36:40.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say yes! I'm not a certified physical trainer but I know from my own experience and research that doing cardio everyday while bulking will make it more difficult to make the gains you're looking for!  Of course, the caveat would be that you are eating in a SUPER surplus because you should already be in a surplus for a bulk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25672" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T21:36:40.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34599" CreationDate="2017-07-13T22:24:22.187" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I addressed this in &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/34346/can-you-effectively-put-on-mass-while-being-highly-active-fit/34350#34350&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;. I basically state that not only is cardio &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; killing muscle gains, but &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; doing cardio would possible hold you back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things that could hurt your progress to gain muscle are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not eating enough which you've stated you are actively trying to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spending too much time running and not enough time lifting. There's a limit number of hours in the day and sometimes you have to pick one over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being too tired and exhausted to fully complete a workout. To gain mass you need to practice &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;progressive overload&lt;/a&gt; which means lifting heavier weights more often over time. Excessive cardio can tire you out which could hinder progress. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, what you've stated doesn't sound to be that much. If you&#xA;    can do it five days in a row, then it doesn't sound very intense to you. You should be just fine as long as you're getting the appropriate calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T00:18:48.087" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T00:18:48.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-14T04:37:31.780" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;TLDR: What can I do at gym wise, the gym is Planet Fitness, and nutrition wise to gain strength and muscle and also lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 17, going to be 18 in August, and I've wanted to be muscular and strong for a while. I was obese for most of my life, and I recently lost about 70 pounds in about a year and a half, going from 220 to 150. I'm an athlete, I play cricket, so I also want to get fitter and stronger for that. I used to rely on calisthenics as exercise, since I'd had very little time to devote to going to the gym. I'd gone from zero pushups to about 30 in a set. Can't do a pull up yet though. I'd gone to my gym, Planet Fitness, for about 3 months earlier this year when my schedule cleared up, from January to March, for 3 times a week each week. I had noticed increases in strength, but nothing for increase in size. Recently, I've started going to the gym again and working out with the weight machines and I have noticed the increase in strength again, but again nothing in terms of size gain. I've heard from friends that to build muscle I need to do 4 sets of 10 reps, other sources say 3 sets of 8 reps, other friends say to go high weight and low rep to train for strength and my muscles will get big. As a general rule, I do no cardio other than when I play cricket, since I've heard that cardio hampers any gains. But again, I've seen no mass gain at all. As you can see, I'm very confused about all this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition wise, I'm a vegetarian, so most of my protein comes from dairy, soy, and protein shakes. I try to get 1 gram per pound of body weight on workout days, but I'm scared that I'll be putting on more fat than anything. I make sure to get protein in at least 2 hours after a workout, and I spread my protein out through my meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I would appreciate any and all help offered here. I'd been obese and fat for my whole life until just recently, and I'd always dreamed of one day being strong and muscular. I'm hoping that this is my chance to do it. Thanks very much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26115" LastEditorUserId="26115" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T11:52:40.470" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T11:52:40.470" Title="Gaining muscle/strength while losing weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;vegetarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-14T14:51:01.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34604" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34605" CreationDate="2017-07-14T06:28:04.920" Score="2" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm hitting gym for 6 months, When I started I had about 20% of body fat, I was a skinny guy with big fat belly.&#xA;Now after 6 months of weight training and cardio I reduced body fat to 14% without lossing or gaining weight and I a have a better upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I like to put on 5kg (11.5lbs) and I want to reduce body fat to 10%. My current wieght is 65kg (143Lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Should I keep reducing my body fat, and once its reaches 10% start caloric excess diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Should I start a caloric excess diet and gain weight, once I reach my goal cut the fat to 10%?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) If I do second approach, will I gain more body fat on weight gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25624" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T14:52:15.560" Title="Should I bulk up or keep cutting fat?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34604" CreationDate="2017-07-14T06:38:30.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR: You should eat a small caloric surplus and lift heavy weights.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cut down to 10% bodyfat now, and start adding calories later to gain mass, you will also increase your bodyfat again. Even if it won't be a lot of fat, you will also gain some fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be best to have a small caloric surplus, let's say about 200-300 calories above the amount of calories you need to stay on your current weight. This will allow you to gain mass while not overdoing it and gaining a lot of fat while doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also hit big lifts, and hit them heavy. Don't just do isolation movements at 12 reps, this won't make you grow as effectively as a natural lifter. Combine heavy weight and low reps on compound movements with lower weight and high reps on isolation movements so you will gain muscle and burn calories during the workout as well (things like deadlifts actually burn quite a lot of calories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;: when training legs, do 5 sets of 5 reps on squats, after that, do things like lunges or leg extensions for 4 sets of 8-10 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 2&lt;/strong&gt;: when training back, do 5 sets of 5 reps on deadlifts, after that, do things like pull-ups, rows, lat-pulldown for 4 sets of 8-10 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it helps, it definitely helped me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T14:52:15.560" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T14:52:15.560" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-14T11:41:30.193" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had lots of injury in gym and I kept hearing it is because of bad form.&#xA;I am sure i was doing correct form in half of them.&#xA;Does proper form never cause injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T14:27:57.627" Title="Proper form for excercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34606" CreationDate="2017-07-14T11:54:20.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not that black and white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes you can still get injuries using proper form because injuries are related to more factors than just form, but you can reduce the risk of getting an injury by using proper form on during an exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also has to do with how often you use proper or bad form. If you work out for years and years and u constantly use bad for you will almost guaranteed get an injury, while if you only use bad form once it might not have as big of an impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sum it up&lt;/strong&gt;: Using proper form will greatly reduce your changes of getting an injury, but you cannot prevent injuries with 100% certainty &lt;strong&gt;just&lt;/strong&gt; by using proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T11:54:20.393" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34595" CreationDate="2017-07-14T12:37:54.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good breathing exercise you should consider during jogging is to close your mouth during the process. Though there has been studies to suggest that it doesn't matter if you breath through your nose or mouth, i am a strong advocate for nasal breathing during run/jogging. The reason is that, when you breath through your nose, it forces you to breath from your stomach and causes you to be more calm as it slows your breathing down. I always run this way and i can run forever and not feel like i'm running out of breath but the minute i open my mouth, i feel like my chest gets hit with too much air. My suggestion for you is to close your mouth while running and perform  the left right breathing exercise suggested in Answer1 by @DeeV and see how it works for you. Try to hydrate hours before you run. It's always better to be hydrated hours before the run than to try to hydrate during run. Lesson: stay hydrated all the time so that when ever you feel like running, you will be good to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26093" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T12:37:54.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34606" CreationDate="2017-07-14T15:40:19.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, form is everything when it comes to preventing injury. &quot;Men's Health's Big Book of Exercise&quot; is my go-to for clear, quickly understandable directions on proper form. It also has detailed workouts. The Kindle version is super cheap and you can access it on your phone, while at the gym. &#xA;Edit: I should add that physical therapy has helped teach me how to strengthen critical muscles and prevent injury. For example, I had lots of shoulder problems until a physical therapist taught me how to target specific muscles with simple, very low-weight exercises. This also helped with my knee and shoulder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26111" LastEditorUserId="26111" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T16:06:22.470" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T16:06:22.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34599" CreationDate="2017-07-14T19:07:13.543" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consider what's required by your body to build muscle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Proper diet is required to build muscle.  You need enough protein and carbohydrates and fats to fuel and enhance recovery from your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You also need rest and recovery time between workouts to allow your body to rebuild and increase your muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You don’t grow muscle during your workout - but rather between workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Think of these resources like a bucket of water&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more often the bucket is full - the faster you're able to gain muscle mass. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The emptier the bucket - the harder it is to build more muscle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For each strength training workout you perform:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You take a scoop of water out of the bucket. The harder you train, the bigger the scoop of water you take from the&#xA;bucket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As you replenish your muscle-building and energy supplies&lt;/em&gt; by resting and eating effectively - you assure that you have all the necessary resources necessary to build muscle.  In other words: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You refill the bucket&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The problem you can run into with cardio&lt;/em&gt; is that you draw on the same resources that you have available to build muscle. In other words: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You take more scoops out of your bucket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That not only means fewer resources that are available for building muscle, but because your recovery is also compromised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It becomes even harder to refill the bucket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;That doesn’t mean you can’t do any cardio while building muscle&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. It just means that you need to perform cardio that minimally impacts the resources necessary to build muscle - such as shorter, more intense forms of cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T19:07:13.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16376" CreationDate="2017-07-14T20:46:28.853" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are self timing you cannot use starting blocks. Since proper use of blocks can take about 0.2-0.4 off 100m times, I figure my self timing is fairly accurate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26120" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T20:46:28.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34581" CreationDate="2017-07-15T05:04:57.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Really great answers here! I just wanted to add that my chest muscles -- I'm a guy -- hurt for a few days after I bench press, especially if it has been awhile or I push the weight. So, that might explain some of your pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26111" LastActivityDate="2017-07-15T05:04:57.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34617" CreationDate="2017-07-15T14:57:16.750" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is about the kind of muscle exercises done by people for bodybuilding or strength training, where they want to focus on strengthening a specific muscle (or set of muscles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that these individuals can learn to feel that their exercise is actually strengthening the correct muscle(s), without testing/measuring the muscle(s) afterwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are even experienced people always dependent on either correct technique or on testing/measuring the muscle(s) afterwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26124" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T15:03:26.533" Title="Is it possible to learn to &quot;feel&quot; that the right muscles(s) are being exercised?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34616" CreationDate="2017-07-15T15:22:09.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, yes. But, it takes awhile. I had to learn proper technique to ensure other muscles aren't taking the load. Then, the muscles I wanted to work had to get strong enough. The key for me is stopping when I can't maintain proper form. If you don't, then other muscles get engaged. Anyway, it is a beautiful feeling to suddenly become aware that long dormant muscles are engaged and doing work. You might have to go on faith for awhile, but it will happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26111" LastActivityDate="2017-07-15T15:22:09.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34618" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-15T17:11:02.823" Score="2" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to get an idea of which exercises are used for developing a six-pack stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, let's say that the individual already has a relatively small stomach with very little fat on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which exercises could he use if he solely wanted to develop the stomach muscles into a &quot;six pack&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26126" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T19:46:45.767" Title="Is a &quot;six pack stomach&quot; dependent on only a handful of exercises and if so, what are they?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34620" CreationDate="2017-07-15T17:16:52.250" Score="0" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is about the stomach movements done by the &quot;Aikido instructor&quot; in the &quot;Incredible Hulk&quot; movie from 2008.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A GIF image showing this scene can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sJ0ZgsRo_Qc/UrExZxKzQ9I/AAAAAAAAFBo/5Q5g0qJEkMw/s1600/Hulk-4-400-sg.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (the GIF is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stickgrappler.net/2013/12/rickson-gracie-in-incredible-hulk-2008.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this kind of stomach muscle control actually possible or is this just CGI animation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26125" LastActivityDate="2017-07-15T18:09:44.217" Title="Is it actually possible to control stomach muscles to the level done by the Aikido instructor in the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stomach&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34619" CreationDate="2017-07-15T18:09:44.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. What he seems to be doing is a mix of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shEhrwqcdAU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kapalabhati breathing&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDx1xfSobG4&amp;amp;t=163s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stomach vacuum&lt;/a&gt;. He's mostly sucking in his stomach in such a way that it flattens. He also sucks in the sides of his stomach while pushing out the abs to make it look like he's controlling his obliques and serratus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-07-15T18:09:44.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34616" CreationDate="2017-07-15T23:06:30.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You know that moment. You wake up a few days after a workout and think to yourself, &lt;em&gt;&quot;Ah, now I feel it.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; The technical term for this post-workout evidence of hard effort is delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Is DOMS?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we work our bodies harder than they are used to, the natural response is inflammation. DOMS is the temporary soreness felt 24-72 hours post workout due to muscle tissue microtrauma.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When our bodies can't deal with exercise-induced muscle damage, we experience DOMS. The healing response leads to increases in strength and muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes you can feel if your workout was effective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s also worth mentioning that while most exercise can induce some DOMS, exercise with a greater emphasis on the eccentric phase (the lengthening or stretching phase) plays the most significant role in the manifestation of DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-15T23:06:30.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34618" CreationDate="2017-07-16T04:44:08.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may already know this, but it's my understanding that diet is a key factor in getting your six pack to reveal itself. In other words, you can have rock-hard abs, but nobody will see them if they are covered up in a layer of fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As has been pointed out, I didn't include information about exercises. Here is a link that should help educate people on how to strengthen their core, a worthy goal even for those not willing to commit to the diet needed to reveal a six pack (Wait, what NO beer?) As an aside, any claim of quick success -- as the title of this article suggests -- is absurd. The information, however, is valid.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/four-week-six-pack-plan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/four-week-six-pack-plan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26111" LastEditorUserId="26111" LastEditDate="2017-07-17T14:43:45.347" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T14:43:45.347" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34625" CreationDate="2017-07-16T14:41:55.427" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the proper way to carry a fellow human being when they are incapacitated?&#xA;I usually go for high altitude hikes and I find I need to be ready for an emergency.&#xA;Which muscles would do better work?  Should I carry in my arms or on my back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2017-07-16T17:32:56.893" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T18:08:37.233" Title="Proper way to carry weight for long distance" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34624" CreationDate="2017-07-16T18:08:37.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should look into the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=fireman%20carry&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjI1bmWso7VAhUhKpoKHQURB9IQ_AUICigB&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=990&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fireman carry&lt;/a&gt;. As the name suggests, it's how firemen choose to ideally carry a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relying on arms alone probably won't get you far, but the fireman carry utilizes the stabilization potential of your entire core and legs, by carrying the person slumped over your shoulders. The weight stays close to your core for maximum stability, and spreads it over a larger area to prevent a single muscle-group from fatiguing long before all others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XYTjA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XYTjA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T18:08:37.233" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-16T18:58:23.250" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to start going to the gym in a few days. I am an 18 year old boy. I wear spectacles with power of -4 in both eyes. I have a somewhat skinny physique, but I really want to improve it. My fear is that I have heard that people who wear spectacles should not go to gym, as it may lead to eye problems. Is it actually an issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26133" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-17T19:42:31.893" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T19:56:06.967" Title="Exercising with spectacles" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34626" CreationDate="2017-07-16T20:04:37.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;People with spectacles are built the same way as everyone else, and will benefit equally from going to the gym and working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whoever told you that bespectacled people should not go to the gym is wrong. Next time, ask them why they think that. You'll find that they have no real scientific knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I start gyming or not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. You should start gyming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T20:04:37.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34638" CreationDate="2017-07-16T21:32:00.650" Score="0" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have decided to give protein shakes a try (with no specific goal for now, I'm just interested in the effect) and since everyone seems to have a different opinion about them and several guides are even contradicting each other I wanted to ask here about how to properly use them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train about 3-5 (mostly 4) times a week for 60-75 minutes without a special dedication to muscle growth. I mainly do stamina and cardio workout (TRX and Cross) with bodyweight, so pull ups, push ups, burpees, plank, star jumpers, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 1: I'm sure additional protein always affects your body, but are specific exercises required to maximize the effect of protein shakes? I'm not really interested in lifting weights for that purpose and if I don't do that is the effect too little to bother?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 2: Most common information is that it's suggested to take 1g/1lb body weight. I'm not weighing very much (75kg or 165lb) and taking in 165g of protein seems way too much. On my package it says 30g per drink with 200ml of milk or water and that seems just about right for me - as someone who has no idea about all of this. On the other hand I don't know if they assume you consume multiple drinks daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26113" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T14:28:59.613" Title="How to properly use Protein Shakes" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;protein-shakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34626" CreationDate="2017-07-17T04:02:21.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wear spectacles with half of the power that you have and have been gymming for a long time. I have not faced any problems till date and know of people having power comparable or more than what you have been regular to workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Retinal detachment is the term I read for the first time and looked up briefly. It does not include working out as one of the risk factors though extreme high speed sports like bungee jumping, skydiving etc are included. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start slow and perform progressive overload both for strength and cardiovascular conditioning to let your body adapt. This advise is same for all beginners irrespective of them being spectacled or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T04:02:21.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34628" CreationDate="2017-07-17T05:17:45.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this answer might offend a few, but here it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of BS that gets thrown around regarding protein which are more often than not marketing gibberish that supports this more than $10B market. Anything in excess is either stored as fat in your body or simply excreted out. Just by eating excess protein does not mean that your body is going to change. In fact, it can be quiet the opposite as your kidneys need to work extra hard to filter and expel these from the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rather suggest to look at natural ways to fulfill your macros, if you are tracking them and follow a healthy diet without reading too much into these or succumbing to peer pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T05:17:45.200" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34633" CreationDate="2017-07-17T05:24:34.380" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently overweight and have been doing the 5x5 program pretty consistently but want to integrate more cardio into my workout plan. After jogging, my legs/knees feel pretty tired as it is and am afraid of hurting my knee (already have a torn ACL). Does jogging/running suffice as a leg workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16432" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T05:31:03.673" Title="Does running/biking suffice as a leg workout?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;legs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34632" CreationDate="2017-07-17T05:31:03.673" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please use low-impact exercises till you are fit enough to run. A lot of people make the mistake of using running as an exercise to get fit which can backfire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rowing - Uses upper body as well and low on impact. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ellipticals - Again relatively low impact  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spinning - Relatively Low impact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are doing good in following 5x5, please continue that and build on strength and with calorie deficit you will lower body fat. Patience is the key!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T05:31:03.673" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7927" CreationDate="2017-07-17T06:15:45.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Underhand grip allows more bicep and lat activation and also allows up to one-third more weight compared to overhand... BUT the most important thing is how either grip feels to YOU. You'll have some people tell you that you SHOULD do them one way or the other, but that is based on THEIR biomechanics. YOU need to do both exercises for about 3 months regularly each, and only then will you know which grip-over or under-is right for YOU.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26140" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T06:15:45.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34628" CreationDate="2017-07-17T11:05:16.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Question 1: Most people do look to protein shakes for the purpose of gaining muscle. You may still benefit from protein supplements if you do not care about that. If your exercise focuses on stamina, then extra protein can help your body build more capillaries in your lungs for oxygen exchange and more in your muscles to deliver fuel and oxygen. Also, if your workouts extend past the point when all carb reserves in your body are consumed, then your body will use protein as a fuel source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 2: Since you are not looking to add muscle mass, you should probably look more at your existing diet and see if shakes are needed to balance out your intake. You can track what you eat and find a site that will tell you what percentage of your calories are coming from carbs, fat, and protein. You may find that with the foods you prefer, you are getting less protein than you should be getting for your lifestyle. If that's the case, add the protein in the amount needed for balance. It's okay to drink it multiple times a day if needed, preferably with a low-protein meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16781" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T11:05:16.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34618" CreationDate="2017-07-17T11:37:09.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Adam Orth pointed out, a six pack is less a question of training as much as an excises in reducing body fat. For men, your body fat needs to drop to the region of &amp;lt; ~12%- 10% before the banding created by the rectus sheath cause the Rectus Abodminus to bulge between the tendinous intersections that traverse the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, any exercise such as press-up/plank, reverse crunch, ab-wheel, leg raises, will train and strengthen the muscle, on the proviso that the lumbar spline is straight (reverse crunch), which disengages leg/hip muscles and put the load onto the RA. Try this explainer &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Q3XdeGTvM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Q3XdeGTvM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15990" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T11:37:09.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34628" CreationDate="2017-07-17T14:28:59.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein shakes have done two things for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, a morning protein shake -- which I have done now for about 5 years -- helped me take control of my diet. It allows me to make breakfast my biggest meal, giving me all day to burn the calories, instead of eating a big dinner and then storing it as fat while I sleep. Since I load it up with fruit, I also get my fiber. It is also super easy: throw everything in the blender and you are good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, protein shakes helped me build muscle after lifting weights. I don't actually do that right now, since I've been working out mornings lately. But, when I worked out at night, it was standard to toss down a quick shake -- powder and almond milk -- before or after. I'm not a bulky guy -- alas, that is not how I am built -- but the protein definitely helps my body recover from a good workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous commenter is right that too much protein just gets dumped, but adding a 30-gram drink to your day doesn't even get you close to that, I wouldn't think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's also right that there are companies out there selling protein making all sorts of questionable claims. I just stick to Whey protein that mixes well and tastes good and is not too expensive. Currently, that is GNC because Rite Aide often has sales on it. The strawberry is the bomb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein powder has helped me cut sugar and reduce my daily carb intake. Now, I could just eat a lot of meat or other sources, such as beans, but powder is much easier. And, it tastes great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how much: 1 gram per pound of your targeted body weight (the weight you want to be. For me, that is always less than I actually am) is the general goal. It is less for women, maybe half to three-quarters of a gram? I don't count such things anymore -- maybe I should, just for a reality check? -- but I rarely got that much into me, even with two shakes a day. Basically, I throw in one scoop per shake these days and each scoop is around 30 grams. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a 56-year-old guy and I lift three times a week and do cardio in between, when I'm being good. I'm just trying to stay strong so I can keep active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I am gassing on here, I'll add that my shake typically includes powder, peanut butter, Greek yogurt, blueberries, some other fruit and almond milk (because I avoid dairy) My wife's shake has cranberry juice as it's base. My buddy Brant puts so many greens into his that it glows alarmingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, Men's Health has a ton of good information online, if you want to research it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26111" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T14:28:59.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34652" CreationDate="2017-07-17T15:32:01.290" Score="1" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;When doing wrist curls or reverse one should dumbbell should move in plane perpendicular to ground or should it follow normal curved path as ulnar is shorter so weight moves toward  ulnar side naturally. Which form is perfect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T11:37:25.580" Title="proper wrist extension movement" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-28T16:27:06.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34626" CreationDate="2017-07-17T19:56:06.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you're talking about retinal detachment and the possible link to high exertion. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/386215-eye-problems-from-weightlifting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yes, it is possible&lt;/a&gt;. Lifting heavy weights, particularly if using the &lt;em&gt;Valsalva maneuver&lt;/em&gt;, holding your breath to increase your lift. Basically, it increases overall blood pressure, which includes ocular pressure. High pressure in the eyes is linked to retinal detachment, glaucoma, and &quot;floaters&quot; in your vision. This is supported by &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3430929/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Occupational Lifting Tasks and Retinal Detachment in Non-Myopics and Myopics: Extended Analysis of a Case-Control Study&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which concluded that there does seem to be a link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For all indexes, the most exposed subjects showed an increased risk of retinal detachment compared with the unexposed (index 1: OR 3.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21-10.48; index 2: OR 3.24, 95% CI 1.32-7.97; index 3: OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.27-8.74) and dose-response relationships were apparent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, unless you have other markers such as high intraocular pressure, your eyesight does not make you more disposed to this than other people in the gym. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rnib.org.uk/eye-health-eye-conditions-z-eye-conditions/myopia-and-high-degree-myopia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;High degree myopia (-6 and higher) is associated with increased risks of glaucoma and retinal detachment&lt;/a&gt;. But you don't have it that bad yet, and if you lift more modestly, and avoid holding your breath, your risk is minimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally advise getting a strap for the glasses that goes around the back of your head, because having your glasses fall off of your face mid-lift while bending forward can throw you off. Don't tighten it all of the way because it will increase fogging, just enough that your glasses, if they slide forward, stay on your face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T19:56:06.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2297" CreationDate="2017-07-18T02:15:48.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have this problem you should definitely tell your doctor. You might ask to see a neurologist to rule out a number of neurological possibilities. A rheumatologist might be consulted if it seems to be autoimmune. &#xA; I have this and it has continued to get worse year after year until now I can hardly walk. It turns out I have mitochondrial disease. I saw a mitochondrial geneticist in Atlanta Ga. Almost all of these conditions are progressive and most of them take a long time to diagnose so don't give up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26148" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T02:15:48.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-18T03:34:16.760" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently 15 years old. I am 6' tall and I weigh 157 pounds. I am not fat however I am not comfortable with my shirt off because of my unappealing, &quot;skinny-fat&quot; stomach and chest. My goal is to be proud of my body and comfortable with a shirt off by next summer. More specifically, Defined Upper body and core. My workout plan is geared towards slow, but steady progress. I am aiming towards small lifestyle changes and consistent exercise to reach my goal. So far I have made a simple plan open too tweaks as I go on. Here's my plan: I Bought a simple set of dumbells, and I am alternating between Upper body, and Lower Body workout days. For the workouts I do 4 sets of 10 Bicep curls, Tricep Extensions, Hammer curls, Tricep Kick backs, spyder curls, and finally push ups. On lower body days I do Weighted Squats, Weighted Crunches, Lunges, Halos, Goblet Squats, again 4 sets of 10 each side. Currently using two 15 pound dumbells but will increase weight as soon as I feel comfortable with the increase. I finish each workout with a protein bar. On top of the daily workout, I fill my day with plenty of cardio, and trying to make better dietary choices. Can anyone tell me if I will reach my goal with this program? if not, what changes can be made?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26150" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T06:41:47.370" Title="Help and Tips needing for workout plan" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;goals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34657" CreationDate="2017-07-18T05:57:45.057" Score="0" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;i am skinny fat &amp;amp; badly wanted to &lt;strong&gt;reduce belly fat&lt;/strong&gt;. I am not such powerfull boy at the age of &lt;strong&gt;26&lt;/strong&gt;. maximum i can run &lt;strong&gt;half an hour&lt;/strong&gt; in &lt;strong&gt;morning&lt;/strong&gt; , so may i run half an hour in &lt;strong&gt;evenin&lt;/strong&gt;g also , is that fine ? or is it better to take some rest in morning and run for half an hour again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T16:33:35.670" Title="Running both morning and evening everyday" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-07-18T17:54:48.530" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34641" CreationDate="2017-07-18T07:30:03.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is never &quot;one perfect form&quot; in any exercise. One of the keys to progress is variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find one motion, and do it over and over and over, the benefits will suffer diminishing returns very quickly. You need to overload the muscles, both in terms of volume (sets x reps), intensity (weight), and variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just to nitpick a bit; there are two planes perpendicular to the floor. The sagittal and the frontal planes. Only the transverse plane is parallel to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T07:30:03.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34649" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-18T08:34:19.803" Score="0" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any personal experiences or information related to &quot;Tennis Elbow&quot; or tennis related injuries. I'm looking for feedback relating to all age groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally only seen overuse &quot;wear and tear&quot; injuries in adults has anyone ever seen this happen to any younger player?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your opinion what age do you think is reasonable to allow my child to play tennis?  Any basic safety tips are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19082" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T12:47:06.683" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T13:39:10.447" Title="Would you allow your child to play tennis?" Tags="&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;children&gt;&lt;tennis&gt;&lt;elbows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-19T10:21:05.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34649" CreationDate="2017-07-18T10:37:05.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;The Institute for Sports Medicine&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Children rarely get tennis elbow&lt;/strong&gt;. It is most common in adults, but can affect adolescents as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is it?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is an overuse injury the tendons that originate at the outside of the elbow. Tendons are like ropes which connect the ends of muscles to bone. The tendons affected in tennis elbow attach the muscles of the forearm to the humerus (upper arm bone). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Causes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overuse of these forearm muscles causes fraying of the tendon. With tennis, the stress is greatest on the outer elbow of the dominant arm during a backhand swing. Incorrect grip size or swing mechanics can contribute to the injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Symptoms&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your child may have pain in the elbow during or after activity without significant swelling or redness. The pain may travel down the forearm. Pain usually begins gradually without one specific injury to the joint. The pain may improve with rest, but often returns when the activity (such as tennis) is resumed. Some individuals notice decreased grip strength on the affected arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Prevention&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For young athletes, attention to proper technique and equipment can help prevent tennis elbow. If they've have had tennis elbow in the past, continuing with stretching and eccentric forearm strengthening may prevent return of this condition. Tight muscles put more stress on the attached tendons and bones, putting these tissues at risk for injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hopefully that helps.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as always, if you suspect your child has any signs or symptoms of tennis elbow please consult a medical professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://luriechildrens.org/en-us/care-services/conditions-treatments/tennis-elbow/Pages/index.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://luriechildrens.org/en-us/care-services/conditions-treatments/tennis-elbow/Pages/index.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T13:39:10.447" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T13:39:10.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34645" CreationDate="2017-07-18T11:02:58.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of doing lots of cardio, you should do interval running over distances ranging between 100 and 800 metres. If you run hard and give yourself a little bit of rest between the runs, your body will release a lot of testosterone which will help you gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26152" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T11:02:58.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34641" CreationDate="2017-07-18T11:37:25.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would be correct, as the ulna is shorter you do tend to naturally deviate toward that side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xiKD2.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xiKD2.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However a major stabilizing structure called the Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex (TFCC) basically helps cushion and minimize any ulnar deviation seen at rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8vczI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8vczI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly whatever's comfortable.  Wrist Flexion / Extension is essential a pure sagittal plane movement.  Try a straight or ez-curl bar, use whatever feels best -- risk of injury is low as this is a distal joint (so it's a much more isolated movement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other Exercise Options:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a variety of exercises to help to maximize the strength and contours of your hand, wrist, and forearm. This increase in the overall strength of your upper extremities will also help to improve your hand and wrist dexterity, which in turn can improve competitive performance in athletics, gaming, and even in day-to-day tasks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seated Wrist Hammer Curls&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;In a seated position with your back straight, place your forearm on your thighs with your thumbs pointed upward. Use a 5-, 10-, or 20lb weight in a hammer position and lift it back and forth slowly for 3 sets of 20 repetitions. This will develop your brachioradialis muscle, which inserts at the distal aspect of the forearm at the wrist. Greater hypertrophy of this muscle will give more definition and balance of the forearm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seated Reverse Wrist Curls&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;This is to develop your extensor muscles and is also done in a seated position with your forearms on your thigh, palms facing downward, with the wrist three to four inches away from the knees. Grasp the weight and extend the wrist fully. Do this for 3 sets of 20 and be sure to not lift the elbows from the thighs when extending the wrists. Keep the palms down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T11:37:25.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15072" CreationDate="2017-07-18T11:54:38.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been dealing with the same problem; a nasty slap tear.  After searching the web for exercises/ routines that I could still do, I found a video that somewhat clarifies doing lateral and front raises at an angle.  I observed that front and lateral raises were performed with a &quot;thumbs up&quot; hand position, not the typical palms down position.  I also read that performing light, rotator cuff strengthening exercises to build support muscles is helpful.  Another observation about angled front raises is to perform the front raises, not directly in front of you, but at a point midway between in front and a lateral raise.  Be cautious, though. Since light weights are to be used, it is easy to be seduced to use heavier weights to better challenge yourself.  This can put you back at square one.  Take some time and search the web for some of these videos that I have described.  Most are on U-tube.  Good luck and if possible, avoid surgery.  The results are often not what you fantasize they will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26153" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T11:54:38.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34645" CreationDate="2017-07-18T12:23:05.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your plan doesn't have any back work, it's important to do back work or you'll get muscle imbalances and you'll injure yourself, it's also very important for a good posture. If you're just starting out I recommend starting with a routine that was made by people who know their stuff instead putting something together yourself. If you want to workout at home, I would recommend the reddit bodyweightfitness Recommended Routine. It's mainly bodyweight, your dumbells can be used for the squats. Lots of people have used it, it's been refined over time by a community, there's a friendly space to ask any question you have, it has a good warmup, and it will teach you cool shit like handstands, planches, L-sits, etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Demonstrated there: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpobvFPR6hQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpobvFPR6hQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have some experience, you can make the modifications you want or switch to something else&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26154" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T12:23:05.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32794" CreationDate="2017-07-18T12:24:24.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intense Exercises Influence on Appetite Regulating Hormones.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;(especially aerobic)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following hormones play a role in appetite regulation. These hormonal effects can be seen after acute exercise and are also associated with long-term appetite changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hormone Release: &lt;em&gt;Increases&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GLP-1:&lt;/strong&gt; Delays the speed of digesting food (kind of like fiber reduces sugar spikes). GLP-1 reduces the speed of glucose intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PYY:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;A hormone released after eating, it inhibits gastric motility and increases water and electrolyte absorption in the colon. When released it reduces appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pancreatic Polypeptide (PP)&lt;/strong&gt;: Is a gut hormone released in response to ingestion of food. Plasma PP has been associated with decreased appetite and food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hormone Release: &lt;em&gt;Decreases&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ghrelin:&lt;/strong&gt; is a fast-acting hormone, when released it play major role in meal initiation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24174308&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24174308&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17212793&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17212793&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12915697&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12915697&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-18T12:33:48.487" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T12:33:48.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34647" CreationDate="2017-07-18T15:08:11.667" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose belly fat you should be aiming to increase your testosterone and GH levels by doing high intensity exercise, for example sprinting. This will also increase your metabolism which will help you to use more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26152" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T15:08:11.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34647" CreationDate="2017-07-18T16:33:35.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not  specialist in specifying how you  lose more calories: running morning or running evening. But I can say for you, to lose you belly fat you should lose some pounds totally since you can't  do a spot reduction  of fats from your body. What is important through out your routine is to maintain calorie less than calorie out, so try to do  workout so that you are  in a calorie deficit, whether you do it at  morning or at evening is not a matter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T16:33:35.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16218" CreationDate="2017-07-18T16:56:37.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may also consider having an EMG test done. Similar imbalances have affected me due to a nerve injury which has caused paralysis/parasthesia of my left rhomboid. Considering the innervation still present in other muscles groups connected to the brachial plexus chain, my hope is that I simply neglected to rehab after the injury before beginning to workout again thereby creating a need for many other muscles to compensate over time. Hopefully rehabbing with proper form with foundational exercises will alleviate a worsened impingement and return my body back to functional anatomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26159" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T16:56:37.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34665" CreationDate="2017-07-18T17:37:49.463" Score="1" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why reverse wrist curl is difficult as compared to wrist curl, I recently started training my wrists and I find it, are muscles for reverse wrist curl weaker by nature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T03:45:06.207" Title="wrist curl and reverse wrist curl" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;wrist&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34664" CreationDate="2017-07-18T18:03:40.003" Score="0" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I eat avocado and bacon, does the good fat from the avocado cancel out the fat from bacon? pls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26160" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T21:06:44.410" Title="Do Avocado and Bacon Fat Cancel Out?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-19T08:17:09.880" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34663" CreationDate="2017-07-18T18:36:54.743" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm tired,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My workout sucks and,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I really don't feel like working out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine helps with #2 but I'm wondering if it affects #1. Because apparently caffeine's effect is in the brain not the body, like it &quot;hides&quot; tiredness rather than eliminating it. So perhaps it's useless for bodybuilding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-07-18T19:29:20.443" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T19:32:23.043" Title="Does caffeine restore performance when tired?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34662" CreationDate="2017-07-18T20:00:04.867" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Caffeine&lt;/a&gt; is a central nervous system stimulant, and, as such, has been shown to improve athletic performance in some studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Caffeine ingestion (3-9 mg/kg body weight) prior to exercise&#xA;  increases performance during prolonged endurance exercise and&#xA;  short-term intense exercise lasting approximately 5 min in the&#xA;  laboratory. These results are generally reported in well-trained elite&#xA;  or recreational subjects.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7550260&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;School of Human Biology, University of Guelph, ON, Canada&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, while caffeine may affect your mood and outlook, it will not affect whether your training routine “sucks”.  That’s simply something you need to resolve on your own.  And, as for its use in bodybuilding, there are other lesser known uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 1990s, it was not unusual for bodybuilders to use caffeine with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ephedra&lt;/a&gt; and an aspirin (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECA_stack&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ECA stack&lt;/a&gt;) to boost weight loss during preparation for competition.  Since then, however, those supplements have been banned as reports showed they were implicated in heart attacks, stroke and death.  &lt;strong&gt;I do not recommend this as a weight loss regimen.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for its usefulness in bodybuilding, you’ll need to assess whether it helps you train on those days when you can’t seem to get a good workout.  But, rather than relying on caffeine as a training aid, you’d be better served to make sure you are eating properly, resting adequately, and recovering effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T20:00:04.867" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34660" CreationDate="2017-07-18T21:06:44.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If what you're asking is if, say, you eat 2 strips of bacon which contain 7g of fat and then an avocado which contains 20g of fat, then your body carries on as if it only consumed 13g of avocado fat then no. Fats do not &quot;cancel out&quot; in that sense and the only way to limit negative affects from saturated fats is to consume less of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26162" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T21:06:44.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34659" CreationDate="2017-07-19T01:14:31.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wrist flexors are stronger than extensors due to differences in muscle compartment composition.  The wrist and finger flexors provide more precise movements, including an additional muscle that's a powerful wrist and finger flexor called the: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Flexor Digitorum Profundus&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KQUVO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KQUVO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, the primary wrist extensor is the &lt;strong&gt;Extensor Digitorum&lt;/strong&gt;.  As a matching &lt;strong&gt;Flexor Digitorum&lt;/strong&gt; also exists the absence of an &lt;em&gt;&quot;Extensor Profundus&quot;&lt;/em&gt; results in less precise, weaker wrist Extension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Extensor Digitorum&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HEIBS.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HEIBS.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;View Free Muscular 3D Model's&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; -- &lt;em&gt;Great Site!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://human.biodigital.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://human.biodigital.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T03:45:06.207" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T03:45:06.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33579" CreationDate="2017-07-19T05:00:28.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to clarify one concept, there is no hip extension while doing planks &lt;em&gt;however&lt;/em&gt; don’t mistake joint movement with muscle tension &lt;em&gt;(or a muscle contraction).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, planks require an isometric contraction of your hips to stabilize yourself.  You're generating muscle tension with no movement. &lt;em&gt;This is FINE - every time you walk, sit, stand etc you're contracting your hip flexors - it's unavoidable.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do planks now&lt;/strong&gt; -- in conjunction with your exercises. Do not wait until you have strong glutes, abductors and hamstrings.  &lt;em&gt;Planks are a great exercise for stabilizing your deep core musculature.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have the right idea with the muscles you're targeting however. &lt;em&gt;(See the Diagram Below)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Janda’s Crossed Syndromes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L0WJ3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L0WJ3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Would Benefit you the Most&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reverse Lunges&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reverse Lunges make the most sense in your case &lt;em&gt;(add a unilateral dumbbell carry if you’re able to maintain your balance).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nnafc.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nnafc.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lunges add instability in the Frontal Plane – exactly what you need&#xA;as you’ll be forced to use your hip abductors to stabilize yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing them backwards, holding one dumbbell will simultaneously strengthen your hamstrings, glutes (Min / Med / Max), core, quads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Active-Assisted Stretches&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active stretches require muscle force to attain and hold a position, whereas active-assisted stretching employs additional leverage to provide greater relative ROM during the stretch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The force is produced internally via use of a stretching device (such as stretching strap or towel). The protocol for employment is similar to active stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Holds may last 30-45 seconds depending on tolerance of discomfort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunge Position Rectus Femoris &amp;amp; Iliopsoas Self-Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rectus femoris acts as a knee extensor and hip flexor as it crosses both joints. Tightness in this muscle group can contribute to low back pain and is usually involved in any type of knee pain or instability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZyUaM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZyUaM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;How to Do the Rectus Femoris Self-Stretch:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First attain a pronounced lunge position with the front hip and knee&#xA;bent a 90° and back hip opened broader than 90°.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A towel or stretching strap is wrapped around the dorsal aspect (near&#xA;your shoelaces) of the trailing foot which is held by the opposite&#xA;hand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rear foot should be drawn toward the glutes by light pulling on&#xA;the towel or strap as well as active knee flexion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once maximal knee flexion has been attained, the hip should then be&#xA;extended forward to maximize the stretch of the tissues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T05:19:46.690" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T05:19:46.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-19T06:49:34.163" Score="2" ViewCount="5186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to do sledgehammer workout at home. Unfortunately, my apartment is not large enough for the tire, and the noise is a problem between neighborhoods. Therefore, I am looking for a smaller and quieter alternative for a tire. For example, maybe a 12&quot; cube of foam or rubber?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19274" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T12:03:21.867" Title="Smaller and quiet alternative of a tire of sledgehammer workout" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24782" CreationDate="2017-07-19T09:34:18.883" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, You need to check your foods that you consume. Start eliminating the fats/calories contains food first. And climbing stairs is a good exercise, you need to do it regularly. along with you should start walking for at least half an hour a day. Then, you will definitely start loosing weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26167" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T09:34:18.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34667" CreationDate="2017-07-19T11:32:41.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people have suggested the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shovelglove.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shovelglove&lt;/a&gt; workout (I'm not affiliated with the guy, but his webpage looks to be the best description I've found). It's basically the sledgehammer workout without actually hitting anything. Alternately, if you do want to be hitting something (and have room in your apartment to do so despite not having room for a tire), people have suggested &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosstraining.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=219672&amp;amp;sid=17e6e77221048d51d19530ad48c729b7#p219672&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a roll of old carpet&lt;/a&gt;, which they also say is quieter. If you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in your area, they usually sell rolls of carpet very cheaply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T11:32:41.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31250" CreationDate="2017-07-19T14:58:06.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/strong&gt; I am not a medically trained professional. Please consult with your doctor before making changes to your diet or exercise habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to post an answer to my question because in the last few months I have figured out some very important mistakes I had been making. Please note that these changes worked for me but they may not be appropriate for everyone. I think my answer can help serve to avoid making the same mistakes I did if you find yourself struggling with weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first wrote this post, I mentioned that, despite the diet changes I was making, I was gaining weight. You can see this here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Can2x.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Can2x.png&quot; alt=&quot;Early weight loss trend&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what happened on August 17th with the huge drop in weight (nearly 7 pounds)? This was the early part of my diet where I lowered my carb intake to roughly 20g a day. This rapid loss is likely attributed to water weight and is normal in the beginning of caloric restriction (which happened quite naturally with carb intake that low) as far as I know. I used this to &quot;jump-start&quot; my diet and did not intend to keep this up permanently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there, I made the following observations and/or changes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was counting calories wrong. Horribly wrong.&lt;/strong&gt; I was convinced I was counting my calories perfectly but my estimations were far off. Worse, even though I mentioned all the measurements in my post I wasn't &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; following it to the extent I claimed in my question (sorry about that!) but I didn't want to admit it. The point is, there is a massive psychological factor to weight loss that makes it so difficult. A cheat meal here and there, a snack here because I was just so hungry - it adds up! On August 17th, I started measuring calories properly. I was averaging 1200-1500 calories a day and it showed. The take home message is this: If you think you're counting your calories correctly but your weight increases or stays the same, reassess it. Are you sure? Did you go out to dinner, have half the meal and say, &quot;This whole thing was about &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; 1000 calories so half of that is 500, I'm good.&quot; Eating out can be crippling to your diet and meals can range from 1000-2500 at many restaurants. Don't fool yourself! Constantly reevaluate your estimation strategies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was stressed&lt;/strong&gt;. Trying to writing a doctoral dissertation and juggling some personal stress is not easy! I tend to stress eat so I would just be hungry all the time since it distracted me from work and made me happy. Just remember that sometimes focusing on weight loss might be a project for when your life has slowed down a little. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I wasn't exercising enough&lt;/strong&gt;. For weight loss, all I have read suggests that exercise doesn't make nearly as big of a difference as diet. The fact is, you can run on a treadmill for 30 minutes and, assuming you are at max heart rate and you don't hold the support bars, you will probably only burn 250-300 calories at best (despite what the machine says). You could immediately nullify this with a protein shake, candy bar, or snack. For me, exercise became a psychological motivational tool and just made me feel amazing throughout the day. This encouraged me to persist in my diet. I started by taking long walks everyday, increasing to 4-5 miles. Then I started running. Slow at first, but suddenly I overcame the wall and at my best, was running 16-20 miles per week (5.5 mph pace). This, combined with weight training surely raised my BMR (though I never had it machine-tested) and pretty soon, I noticed that I could run 3 miles at a 5 mph pace and barely be panting by the end. I cannot stress the incredible changes this had on my psychological state and my desire to continue my diet. I also started lifting as per the suggestion of Brofessor in their answer and found it very helpful to maintaining my fitness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I wasn't cooking nutritionally balanced meals as I thought&lt;/strong&gt;. This one is tough since finding the right diet by looking online takes you down a rabbit hole of conflicting scientific data and personal anecdotes. Basically, I followed a diet that was fairly low on carbs (80-120g per day) and medium on protein and fat intake. I tried to eat plenty of vegetables, lots of fish/chicken (occasionally beef but no cold-cuts), occasional nuts, whole grains, and drink lots of water (80-100 fl. oz. per day). Mostly I cooked with sesame oil, avocado oil, and sometimes olive oil.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I wasn't used to calorie restriction&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the toughest part. I began intermittent fasting on this schedule: Wake up at 7:00 am, workout, eat a small lunch at 2:00 pm (400-500 calories), eat a larger dinner around 7:00 pm (700-800 calories), and a small snack if I needed it (100-200 calories). This ~16 hr fasting gap landed me in the 1200-1500 range. On my best weeks, I was losing 2 lbs/wk but more often, it was closer to 1.5 lbs/wk. The first two weeks of this were &lt;em&gt;miserable&lt;/em&gt;. It was so challenging and I went to bed hungry every night. When I got hungry it was so easy to justify going to fridge and just having 300 calories right away. But then, around week three, an amazing thing happened. I stopped craving things and wouldn't get hungry until around 1:30 pm. I felt incredible, had so much energy, and slept better. My meals were much lighter so I had very little post-lunch slump. What was initially a calorie-restrictive diet actual became my norm and made me feel great. &lt;strong&gt;Important note&lt;/strong&gt;: I don't know if this was a safe diet; everything I read suggested it was okay, but it made me feel very good so I persisted. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, nearly one year later, here is my progress:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G2tHv.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G2tHv.png&quot; alt=&quot;Remaining weight loss trend&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I could have done better too. I lost the majority of the weight from August through December. Then I more or less maintained through May with a bit of weight loss (I also stopped recording weight during some of this). Since July, I've started losing weight again, with my new target of 150.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest message I can tell you is: Don't give up, be disciplined, and don't become complacent about your habits! Question them, restructure, and try again. This was one of the most difficult challenges I've been faced with and I overcame it. Best of luck to anyone in their health endeavors!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21699" LastEditorUserId="21699" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T18:53:39.837" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T18:53:39.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-19T15:09:38.253" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the &lt;em&gt;exercise&lt;/em&gt; running shoe illiterate, there are so many different varieties of &lt;em&gt;exercise&lt;/em&gt; running shoes and so many different brand choices that it becomes overwhelming when looking for the right fit. Even reading online is tricky because what may be sound advice, easily gets lost in: the vast amount of information, scheming marketing articles, hype for new shoes, and the very large number running shoe choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here I am wondering if you can help me solve this riddle, &lt;strong&gt;how can I objectively choose a good running shoe?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question aims to answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What type of running shoes exist, so that I may understand what I am looking at and how to select a shoe based on what it offers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do you identify the superior shoe based on their longevity, quality, brand trust, and other factors?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What else should I need to know that is not included here?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: If it matters to you, here are my personal goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To run distances up to 10 miles, I currently run 3 miles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To have the shoe reflect support during runs, whether long or short.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would prefer them not to be barefoot, and to be on the lighter side vs the heavy side (although feel free to slap my hand show me why).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am 6'4&quot; if that matters, I am in my target BMI and I have no medical issues/orthopedic necessities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I plan to run at most 3 times a week (both long and short runs).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will run on flat, solid terrain. I do wonder if trail shoes are superior to shoes for flat surfaces, and whether or not they will work on flat surfaces too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26171" LastEditorUserId="26171" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T17:06:19.890" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T08:32:40.557" Title="How to select running shoes for performance?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;running-shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34674" CreationDate="2017-07-19T15:29:20.580" Score="22" ViewCount="40271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what the make of the weights is but here is a google image of them in the gym. It's not clear but hopefully someone can recognise the make&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vv3z0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vv3z0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26172" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T21:23:36.910" Title="Barbell says 20kg on each side. Am I lifting 20 or 40kg?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34673" CreationDate="2017-07-19T15:52:14.340" Score="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically on those types of barbells the number marked is for the entire object: both ends, and the bar itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's different than separate plates and bars, where you need to figure in the weight of the bar and each plate weighs as much as it says on the side. 135lbs on a typical Olympic barbell is 45 for the bar, and a 45 plate on each side (45+45+45). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, the ones in your picture are more like dumbbells in that the weight indicated is for the entire object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T15:52:14.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34662" CreationDate="2017-07-19T19:32:23.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Caffeine will improve your mental state, not your physical state. If that is all that is wrong, then it will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However you need to assess why you are tired. Fixing it with caffeine is a loosing battle. You will need more and more of it as time goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plain and simple, if your tired:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body needs rest and plenty of food, and as little stress as possible when your trying to build as much muscle as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, it's not useless. If you had a bad day, but ate enough, slept enough, then it's not unreasonable to have some caffeinated drink to add some &quot;pep&quot; to your workout. But don't rely on this all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be aware that your body needs a break from intense training every few weeks to every few months. If you have no motivation to lift even with plenty of food and sleep, consider taking a week off and coming back to training after that. During your week off, you still need to eat and sleep as if you were training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26178" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T19:32:23.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34618" CreationDate="2017-07-19T19:46:45.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, while you say you have a small stomach, if you cannot see your abs, you are not lean. Leaning out is up to your diet, not exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest thing to do if you want to lose fat and lean out quickly (this is assuming your entirely healthy and have nothing like diabetes or anything else ) stop eating all the foods with sugar in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the labels, nearly everything you buy packaged has sugar in it. If you can manage to cutout sugar from your diet, you'll lean out in a couple of months naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reducing carb intake (you need to up protein and fat to compensate for loss of calories) will accelerate this process. Again, assuming your healthy, your body doens't actually need carbs or sugar. It's perfectly capable of making glucose from fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want exercises that are good for ab strength, consider squats and deadlifts. Contrary to what our culture would believe, your abs are for keeping intra-abdominal pressure at a level that compensates for the stress placed on our spine when we lift and move. In other words, they force your guts against your spine so you don't snap when you lift things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do not make you bend over, though they do assist with that motion, and are involved in helping the pelvice move among other torso motions. However, their primary function is to keep your guts in place, and support your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus lifting exercises that force you to tighten your whole body to complete the lift will greatly strengthen your core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deadlifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;overhead pressing of any kind while standing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;olympic lifts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and anything like these&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26178" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T19:46:45.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34680" CreationDate="2017-07-19T21:25:03.800" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a blood test and my cholesterol level was 202mg/dL from 200.  I am little above normal.  Everyday, I eat meals that include cholesterol (3 meals.)  My age is 23, my height is 1.79m and weight is 68kg. Now, I every day walk at least 2 hours.  Yesterday, I walked more than 4 hours.  Once a week I go for football for two hours.  Also, I do my whole body workouts.  I don't eat anything that has sugar.  Now, is this &quot;program&quot; good to bring down cholesterol levels?  What workouts will give good results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="10872" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T23:19:14.953" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T23:30:32.987" Title="How to bring Cholesterol down with workouts" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34677" CreationDate="2017-07-19T23:25:19.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Research on Exercise and HDL Cholesterol&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise helps increase the production and effect of certain enzymes that enhance this &quot;reverse cholesterol transport&quot; process. A study conducted a few years ago analyzed how exercise type, frequency, and intensity impact HDL cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While exercise regimens varied, on average patients in these studies&#xA;exercised for 40 minutes, 3-4 / week, and the effect on HDL was&#xA;measured after 8 to 27 weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Across the studies, participants had increases in HDL cholesterol&#xA;averaging about 2.5 mg/dL. This increase in HDL cholesterol was only&#xA;modest but was statistically significant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Furthermore, since cardiac risk is thought to drop by two to three&#xA;percent for each 1 mg/dL increase in HDL, a 2.5 mg/dL rise in HDL may&#xA;actually amount to a substantial reduction in risk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the most interesting finding from this study is the observation that the &lt;strong&gt;duration of exercise sessions - and not the frequency or intensity&lt;/strong&gt; of exercise - correlated the best with rises in HDL levels. The investigators report that in research subjects exercising for at least 20 minutes, each additional 10-minute increase in exercise duration increased HDL levels by an additional 1.4 mg/dL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other Lifestyle Changes to Boost HDL Cholesterol&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results of this study indicates that exercising at least three to four times per week for at least 20 minutes will help you increase your HDL levels. In fact, increasing the duration of your exercise sessions by pacing yourself (that is, by going slower if necessary) appears to be the best way to translate exercise into higher HDL levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to exercise, other lifestyle changes can help you increase your HDL level. These include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quitting smoking, which can increase your HDL cholesterol by up to 10&#xA;percent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Losing weight: For every 6 pounds lost, HDL may increase by 1 mg/dL.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choosing healthier fats such as the monounsaturated and&#xA;polyunsaturated fats found in olive, peanut and canola oils as well&#xA;as nuts, fish and other foods containing omega-3 fatty acids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consuming alcohol in moderation: No more than one drink a day for&#xA;women and two drinks a day for men age 65 and younger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0023971/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0023971/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T23:30:32.987" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T23:30:32.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34677" CreationDate="2017-07-19T23:26:23.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is important to emphasize that two numbers of cholesterol levels exists: LDL and HDL.&#xA;To stay healthy you want to keep LDL low and HDL high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, it is hard to change the LDL level by exercises. A reduced fat percent of your body or a diet could be the proper tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HDL can be increased by cardiovascular exercises. Such exercises may just be running.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/cholesterolNEW.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This paper&lt;/a&gt; mention a threshold of 7 to 10 miles/week to increase HDL.(Men)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that you have to do exercises for a longer period to achieve a measurable effect.&#xA;Don't expect any changes in the blood test before doing exercises (running) for several months.&#xA;Football two hours a week might be very helpful. Walking is just fine too, but I think you could spend your time better doing short workouts at a high heart rate, if you walk two hours a day just for staying healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T23:26:23.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34672" CreationDate="2017-07-20T00:18:03.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to a leading expert in the field, Daniel Ramskov, you should choose the shoes, which makes you feel most comfortable, when you run. This means the most objective criteria for choosing the right shoes is your subjective experience of the shoes. Do they feel good, then they are good for the purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This advice is valid for avoiding injuries as well as for selecting the shoes for the best performance. (Run faster, better endurance)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Science can't prove any other correlations and expensive analyses are usually waste of time and money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at his (and his colleagues) &lt;a href=&quot;http://runsafe.au.dk/publications/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;work&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T00:18:03.497" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28836" CreationDate="2017-07-20T01:01:38.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your assumption #2 is wrong.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4426/7/2/3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Typical fitness trackers have an error of between 30% and 90% when estimating calorie burn&lt;/a&gt;, and exercise machines don't do any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19891" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T01:01:38.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34673" CreationDate="2017-07-20T01:28:13.600" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general rule of thumb is that for free weights, a weight that is designed to be used interchangeably will have its own weight indicated on it, whereas a weight that is fixed will represent the total weight of the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For non-free weights, a weight that is located on a stack in a machine will indicate the weight of itself and all the weights on top of it; that is to say, it is given a value that reflects the effort to lift it and the weights stacked atop it.  However, if it is attached to a pulley system, the actual force needed to lift it will depend on the arrangement of pulleys and may be substantially less than the nominal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are of course exceptions (hopefully rare) to these rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the weights shown in the picture are of the fixed type--the bar is not detachable from the end weights--the weight indicated is the total object weight, including the bar.  By contrast, a plate indicates the weight of the plate itself and not the bar that could be attached to it, since the bar can be nonstandard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't discuss the apparent proliferation of fake plates that some lifters appear to be using when posting images and video on social media to give the impression of being stronger than world champion lifters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T01:28:13.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34645" CreationDate="2017-07-20T06:41:47.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pancake&lt;/em&gt; already has made a good point. &#xA;I would add that the nutrition is at least as much important as the workout itself, I think it's even more important. Eat clean, much protein and lots of vegetables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend you to track and review your progress. Write down your sets and reps, track your weight and make photos of your body (no ad: the app MyFitnessPal has a cool feature for this). So when you notice there are not the wanted results you can look what may be the problem and change things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's hard to change all these things. &#xA;I would suggest you to break everything into little sub-goals and reach them one after another, it's likely not going to work if you change all at once. Focus on the basics first and slowly add new things. So take your time and don't worry if something don't work at first or second try, you'll learn and do it better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you good luck with your goals!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26190" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T06:41:47.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34673" CreationDate="2017-07-20T08:42:21.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As above are - fixed weights typically include the bar, free weights don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to find out for a fact is to weigh it. Most gyms have a scale, follow these steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weigh yourself on the gym scale. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weigh yourself holding the barbell. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subtract your weight from the combined and you have the mass of the barbell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically the same type/make of barbell will follow the same pattern. So if you weigh 250lb, don't try weigh yourself with a 120lb barbell, just measure with a 30lb or similar to see if the bar is included or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26193" LastEditorUserId="26193" LastEditDate="2017-07-20T11:33:09.460" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T11:33:09.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34691" CreationDate="2017-07-20T09:23:20.373" Score="1" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;i  know a man that facing problems with his ears when he diving on sea(after 4 meters deep).He has pain a lot in ears.Its weird,isnt it?. Its not only in sea diving but also in aeroplane.Facing exactly the same pain in both cases.He thinks he caused by streptomycin.He has a long time ago (when he was young)an ill bronchitis and he use streptomycin for to be well.Nowdays he check his ears and he found that the respond curve stops at 7KHz .Did streptomycin cause this or something else?What cause  those pain in diving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="25907" LastEditDate="2017-07-20T09:30:53.127" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:11:31.717" Title="Why ear pain in diving" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;sea-swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34672" CreationDate="2017-07-20T11:06:20.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you to get to a shop, where the worker is a runner by him/herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got my current running shoes (&quot;saucony&quot;) from such a shop. You normally pay a little more, but the experience of a long distance runner, who has run him/herself is priceless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example (in my case) he investigated my old running shoes and said &quot;oh yeah, you need shoes that prevent you from running on the outer foot&quot;. This is something I would not have known, and he knew only by looking at my old shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;s&gt;A little hint: The more solid the ground you run on, the softer your shoe sole should be. A trail running shoe is most likely for soft forest ground, so keep away from them, they are far too hard.&lt;/s&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend to get a proper guidance by a professional runner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;JohnP pointed out some great articles about the shock absorption of shoes, regardless of price and brand, etc. &#xA;However, I still think, that a professional runner can get you a shoe that (at least partly) corrects your feet posture an running style (which I would not want to miss anymore). Thanks John!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26203" LastEditorUserId="26203" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T08:32:40.557" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T08:32:40.557" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34667" CreationDate="2017-07-20T11:06:27.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can imitate the movement using a TRX Rip or a similar rip / training bar of any brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attach the end of the rubberband to the top of a closed door. Stand 1-2m from the door with your back facing the door. &#xA;Now, you can hit an imaginary tire in front of you. Using the rip/rubberband makes virtually no noise. &#xA;Change the load by using a stronger/weaker band or two parallel bands (not possible on a TRX rip).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the feeling and the load will be different from using a real sledgehammer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T11:06:27.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34687" CreationDate="2017-07-20T12:44:40.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Based on your implication, he should have serious problem even while&#xA;  sitting in car or any moving vehicle? Is that understanding correct&#xA;  for this diagnosis?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Great question.  No not necessary.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms of a vestibular or balance function loss depend upon the degree of damage, if the damage occurred rapidly or slowly, if it’s one-sided or two-sided, and how long ago the damage occurred. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A slow one-sided loss might not produce any symptoms.&#xA;While a rapid loss could produce enough vertigo, vomiting, and nystagmus (eye jerking), to keep a person in bed for days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, the symptoms slowly pass, allowing a person to return to normal activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ototoxicity can be temporary or permanent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms range from mild imbalance to total incapacitation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two areas can be damaged or destroyed through ototoxicity: the hair cells within the inner ear, and the vestibulocochlear nerve that links the inner ear to the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When damage occurs, any degree and combination of hearing loss and balance disruption are possible depending upon the part(s) affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hair cells are located in both the cochlea and the vestibular areas of the inner ear (there are millions of these). They are composed of a cell body with a hair-like attachment. When these “hairs” are normally bent with sound vibrations or movement, they send electrical signals to the brain about hearing or balance function. In ototoxicity, these hairs can be damaged to the point that they no longer stand up, thus reducing the auditory and/or balance signals sent to the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figured he's already been diagnosed.   It's due to the hydrostatic (water) pressure and pressure changes that occur when flying.   Really simply put he has some genetic based reaction to streptomycin – it’s pretty rare.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some reason it damaged part of his inner ear (a part called the “hair cells” of your ear) and nerve.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second picture, you can see “hair cells” – when they work correctly they bend sending signals to your brain in response to movement and sound. Unfortunately his don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Send him that page -- it has everything about it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/types-vestibular-disorders&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/types-vestibular-disorders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also reading your second answer not sure if he saw a doctor or not but the toxic effects of the drug will keep making things worse until he see's his doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The condition described below is directly related to certain drugs including streptomycin and present nearly identically to what you've described. However other conditions cannot be ruled out. Again please get this examined right away.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Is Ototoxicity?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OTO = EAR; TOXICITY = POISONING&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ototoxicity put simply is ear poisoning, which results from exposure to drugs or chemicals that damage the inner ear or nerve. As the inner ear is involved in both hearing and balance, ototoxicity can result in disturbances of either or both of these senses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With cochleotoxicity, hearing loss or the start or worsening of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) can occur through damage to the cochlea (the hearing apparatus) or the cochlear branch of the vestibulocochlear nerve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M9iqs.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M9iqs.gif&quot; alt=&quot;![enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Substances Can Cause Ototoxicity?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problems with a particular drug are usually only discovered after enough people have suffered the consequences and when physicians or other health care professionals can see a probable connection between the symptoms or problems and a drug. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was the case with aspirin and quinine centuries ago, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;With the &lt;strong&gt;antibiotic streptomycin&lt;/strong&gt; Since then, scientific studies have shown that these drugs cause ototoxicity in animals and people.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; if you are taking drugs on the advice of your physician, &lt;strong&gt;DO NOT STOP TAKING THEM&lt;/strong&gt; just because you see them listed here! Speak with your doctor about your concerns to determine the best choice in your own unique situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Damage Occurs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two areas can be damaged or destroyed through ototoxicity: the hair cells within the inner ear, and the vestibulocochlear nerve that links the inner ear to the brain. When damage occurs, any degree and combination of hearing loss and balance disruption are possible depending upon the part(s) affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tSUNA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tSUNA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hair cells are located in both the cochlea and the vestibular areas of the inner ear. They are composed of a cell body with a hair-like attachment. When these &quot;hairs&quot; are normally bent with sound vibrations or movement, they send electrical signals to the brain about hearing or balance function. In ototoxicity, these hairs can be damaged to the point that they no longer stand up, thus reducing the auditory and/or balance signals sent to the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Are The Symptoms?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cochleotoxicity symptoms range from mild tinnitus to total hearing loss, depending upon each person and the form and level of exposure to the ototoxin. They can include one-sided or two-sided hearing loss and constant or fluctuating tinnitus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vestibulotoxicity symptoms range from mild imbalance to total incapacitation. Symptoms of a vestibular or balance function loss depend upon the degree of damage, if the damage occurred rapidly or slowly, if it's one-sided or two-sided, and how long ago the damage occurred. A slow one-sided loss might not produce any symptoms, while a rapid loss could produce enough vertigo, vomiting, and nystagmus (eye jerking), to keep a person in bed for days. Most of the time, the symptoms slowly pass, allowing a person to return to normal activities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A two-sided loss in vestibulotoxicity typically causes headache, a feeling of ear fullness, imbalance to the point of being unable to walk, and a bouncing and blurring of vision rather than intense vertigo, vomiting, and nystagmus. It also tends to produce inability to tolerate head movement, a wide-based gait (walking with the legs farther apart than usual), difficulty walking in the dark, unsteadiness or the sensation of unsteadiness, lightheadedness, and significant fatigue. If the damage is severe, symptoms such as oscillopsia and problems with walking in the dark or with the eyes closed will not diminish with time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vestibular.org/ototoxicity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://vestibular.org/ototoxicity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/types-vestibular-disorders&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/types-vestibular-disorders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vestibular.org/diagnosis-treatment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://vestibular.org/diagnosis-treatment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/balance_disorders_pictures_slideshow/article.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.medicinenet.com/balance_disorders_pictures_slideshow/article.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987789/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987789/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:11:31.717" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:11:31.717" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34341" CreationDate="2017-07-20T13:51:04.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you an online or personal trainer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once had an online coach as well. I got a more or less personalized nutrition plan, a new workout routine each week and skype sessions to talk about slight modifications in order to reach my specific goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were other people doing the more or less same workouts and there has always been a community to power you (it was a facebook group).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By now, approx. 4 years have passed since I had this course and I still like the plans I got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26203" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T13:51:04.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34616" CreationDate="2017-07-20T15:03:26.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start doing biceps curls and continue until your biceps feel tired and hurts terrible. Now you know how it feels, when you use your biceps. (You probably already knew that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing exercises known to isolating just one muscle or muscle group let you learn how it feels, when you activate exactly that specific muscle, and this knowledge is easely reused doing more complicated exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this technic you can learn to feel even small deep muscles covered by larger muscles, like e.g. Gluteus medius.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you need to know isolating exercises, and such exercises can commonly be found in the litterature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T15:03:26.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34348" CreationDate="2017-07-20T15:35:10.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your goals, your deadlift style, and your intensity - and intensity is driven by your goals. It is intensity that determines how you split your training up and how many rests days you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are deadlifting conventionally, this will probably work fine, assuming that your intensity is moderate to low. If you've only been training for 6 months then this is likely the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your deadlifting sumo style, it would have a greater impact on your performance in the squat the next day, but you certainly are not going to hurt yourself if your are resting and eating enough and using proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only danger that would come into play here is if you made yourself so sore from deadlifts that your form broke down on squat day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what your goals are, so beyond this it's hard to advise. Personally I always deadlift after squatting because for many people, myself included, squatting will increase your deadlift, but deadlift - conventional or otherwise - will do nearly nothing for your squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus I like performing the most efficient strength builder first, the squat, and then I hit deadlift with lighter weight and focus on strict form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, there is nothing inherently wrong with this at all. Just be mindful that as the weights climb on the deadlift day, they will slow down and eventually stall out on squat day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26178" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T15:35:10.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34699" CreationDate="2017-07-20T16:00:39.917" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be a national, competitive swimmer - University put a stop to that. So from a 11st, 6ft swimmer I turned into 16st 12lbs after 3 years. I decided to start my gym work to get this under control last month and have just lost 1 stone (now weighing at 15st 12lb on today's date).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to try and decrease my weight quicker. To me, a stone a month is very slow, when I'm trying to get back down to at least 12st with muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Porridge with protein powder (breakfast 8.30PM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken Salad (lunch 1PM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protein bar + 2x pre-work out tablets (~6PM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken + rice (dinner 8:30PM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;about 2-3 litres a day of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cal intake a day ~1600&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not swayed from this for the whole month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a trainer who focuses on my muscle gain every 2 days a week, and then the rest of the days I do cardio by myself to burn between 400-500 cals. I do have 2 rest days in the week. So thats 2 days muscle, 3 days cardio, 2 days rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing this right? I always used to just swim so doing gym to lose weight is weird to me and I don't really know if I am burning too much, not resting enough, eating too much / less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: My cardio is basically the rower with 45 seconds medium intensity with then 15 seconds high intensity for sets of 20 mins with a break between until I reach the cal goal count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26206" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T16:16:25.207" Title="Am I losing weight too slowly?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-20T16:12:48.873" Score="0" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Updated :&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://bretcontreras.com/do-we-even-need-to-lift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://bretcontreras.com/do-we-even-need-to-lift/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bret gets it. LOL&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the small sample size. You do realize how common studies of less than 20 people are?  Large RTC studies are obvious the best but unless big pharma's backing you it's tough to find the funding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just saw this part &amp;quot;Even if you do completely unloaded bicep curls you will still stimulate red muscle fibers.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type I - Muscle Fibers are Red due to myoglobin content / O2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type IIa (are    Red / Pink)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type IIx are (Pale / Whitish) as they are glycolytic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is well known, that slightly loaded work stimulates the growths of red muscle fibers and myogenesis.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I may be wrong but I believe Type I changes seen are more vascular and metabolically related.  Do you have a study showing hypertrophy occurs in Type I fibers?  I know that myofibrils / the overall number of sarcomeres increase with resistance training.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're basically illustrating by accident why I find this study so interesting.  What is inducing the hypertrophy? Are the IIx and IIa saying contacted for a sustained period?  How?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically how are you getting to threshold to depolarize your largest muscle fibers?  Sustained flexion I would think would have the opposite effect vs a normal isotonic concentric contraction.  What's triggering this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wow didn't expect to find this.  A study released less than a year ago compared left vs right arm muscle mass changes with the following setup&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One arm no load (but maximally flexing muscle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other arm high load training (70% 1RM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 18 sessions they found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increased muscle mass on both sides&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;(with slightly greater gains on the heavy load side)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a way it actually makes sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As muscle tension increases so does recruitment&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;(or the number of active motor units)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Size Principle:&lt;/em&gt; Motor Units are activated from smallest to largest&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Motor Unit:&lt;/em&gt; Consists of a single motor neuron and all the fibers it innervates&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Recruitment:&lt;/em&gt; The number of motor units that are active.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone every seen a similar study? &lt;br&gt;How would you explain the&#xA;hypertrophy with a load?  &lt;br&gt;Do any hormonal changes occur by just&#xA;flexing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Source&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27329807/the-acute-and-chronic-effects-of-no-load-resistance-training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The acute and chronic effects of &amp;quot;NO LOAD&amp;quot; resistance training&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;Physiology &amp;amp; Behavior 2016 October 1, 164 (Pt A): 345-52&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T14:44:30.053" Title="Adding Muscle Mass using &quot;NO LOAD&quot; resistance training" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-07-26T08:34:24.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34697" CreationDate="2017-07-20T16:16:25.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is there will be a certain amount of trade-off, initially, when you start getting back into a workout routine.  Over the years, you have not only added fat, but your muscles have had a certain amount of atrophy due to not being as used as vigorously or frequently.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are getting back into a workout routine, while you are losing fat, you are also adding muscle, and this will continue for a while.  Keep in mind that muscle tissue is more dense/heavier than fat tissue.  What will eventually happen is that your muscle mass will stabilize as it reaches a level where it has adapted to the stress you are putting on it, and then it won't add as much new tissue, and you'll see more of the weight loss as there isn't the offsetting gain as you continue to lose fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you look in the mirror?  Leaner?  Tighter?  More defined?  This is a much better gauge for how you are doing than the scale.  Or maybe get your body fat percentage measured as you go to help you assess progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T16:16:25.207" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34698" CreationDate="2017-07-20T17:49:11.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The abstract of the study doesn't indicate the training level of the 13 participants, which is a ridiculously small sample size to start with. But I'll assume they are completely untrained and therefore will benefit from easy early gains. 18 sessions is also a relatively small amount of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No Load&quot; sounds like &quot;isometric&quot;, so this isn't anything particularly new. The muscle has resistance against its also-flexed antagonistic muscle (like a bicep tensing against a tricep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an interesting data point, but I don't see the applicability. If anything I could imagine a SUPER NO LOAD DVD EXTREME PACK being developed out of this and marketed as &quot;research shows it's nearly just as effective and weight lifting!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digging in a bit and focusing on isometric activities, specific to cardiology there's &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1576616&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a 1992 study that talks about the impacts of isometric exercises and the heart&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus, static exercise is characterized by a pressure load to the heart&#xA;  and can be differentiated from dynamic (isotonic) exercise, which&#xA;  involves a volume load to the heart. Physical training with static&#xA;  exercise leads to concentric cardiac, particularly left ventricular,&#xA;  hypertrophy, whereas training with dynamic exercise leads to eccentric&#xA;  hypertrophy. Furthermore, the magnitude of cardiac hypertrophy is much&#xA;  less in athletes training with static than dynamic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isometric activities also create much lower blood pressure than dynamic (concentric) activities, which is helpful at risk for ischemic stroke or having other blood pressure related issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I think the study mentioned in the question is valuable as a datapoint and there are surely a lot of people with health and mobility issues that make isometric activities the best or only option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastEditorUserId="7091" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T14:44:30.053" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T14:44:30.053" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34701" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-20T20:23:34.860" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 46 years old have had hysterectomy and I am over weight. I started taking Karate about a tear ago and trying to lose weight. I just cant seem to do it. the first of June my co worker and I decided to start walking everyday at lunch no less than one mile. sometimes more than 2 and 2-3 days a week we walk a route with a 95'grade up in the first 1/4 mile and down in the last. My co worker and I are having the same struggle not losing weight. plus our calves hurt more now than when we started. it is also very hot. so what do we need to do to help with weight lose and stop the burning and cramping on the front of our shin and ankle ? &#xA;I feel like I should really have had significant weight lose my karate class is brutal I can now do 10 sets of 10 push ups on my knees but i can barely grunt out the set ups due to my belly. HELP !!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26220" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T00:29:14.027" Title="walking to lose weight - what should I expect?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34701" CreationDate="2017-07-20T21:27:55.227" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diet. Don't fall for the BS low-carb, only eat watermelon on a full moon, except when dark chocolate has been conjured by a sorcerer diet. Those diet systems might work, but they're hard to sustain long term. What you are seeking... what anyone should be seeking.... is a LIFEstyle change - not a short term fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eat what you want. The only catch is that you get fanatical about logging your calories. If it goes in your mouth, you log it. Then try to burn 500 fewer calories a day then you take in. You'll lose about a pound a week and you'll quickly see where you're probably taking in extra calories. Usually it's sodas and lattes. For others it's that &quot;cheat&quot; donut they have every single morning for breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The FitBit, which is what I use, and other fitness monitors, will help you keep track of your calorie burn and intake. As long as you're willing to commit to tracking what you eat, weight loss isn't that hard. Walking 2 miles, while good for you, isn't really going to do a whole lot for weight loss - especially if you say &quot;I was good today, I walked 2 miles. I can eat that pizza.&quot; I'm not saying you do that, but it's the mentality most people have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put: Be disciplined about your diet and exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T21:27:55.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34701" CreationDate="2017-07-21T00:29:14.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Know Yourself &amp;amp; Stay Slow&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to your issue is to figure out how much you are taking in, and how much you are burning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though you are exercising, it may not be enough to offset the intake of calories.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is especially true if your caloric burn is low - we all know that some people burn 2000 calories a day just by staring at a wall! ;)  But, for the rest of us, we need to know how much we burn or at least a rough estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to get results is to &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt; reduce your caloric intake - keep everything else the same.  Monitor your weight.  Once you begin to lose weight at the rate you want, stop reducing your caloric intake.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SLOW&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - too fast and your body will think something is wrong which will cause it to react in an unnatural manner, messing up the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, once you have reached your weight target, increase your caloric intake until you are neither gaining nor losing weight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user18978" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T00:29:14.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35732" CreationDate="2017-07-21T05:24:42.023" Score="5" ViewCount="1047" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/34618/is-a-six-pack-stomach-dependent-on-only-a-handful-of-exercises-and-if-so-what&quot;&gt;this other question&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18750/tips-on-having-six-packs-and-losing-fat-and-keeping-the-muscles-i-have&quot;&gt;this other question&lt;/a&gt;, the most important thing in getting &quot;six packs abs&quot; seems to be removing the fat around the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact the answers nearly make it sound like the abs are already in place because they are your natural muscles...if you are not seeing them it is because they are just hidden by stomach fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I am exaggerating but doesn't look like by much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus the question: if the abs are already in place but just covered by body fat, why don't we see skinny teenagers or people from areas with severe famine have &quot;4/6/7/8/10 pack abs&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13847" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T04:19:30.530" Title="If the main part in getting &quot;six pack abs&quot; is removing fat, why don't we see people during famine have &quot;six-packs&quot;?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34704" CreationDate="2017-07-21T06:12:34.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason is that to maintain some form of muscle you need to feed your body. A person with a proper nutritional diet will have abs. If you feed your body properly while maintaining a low bodyfat percentage, your abs will be visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People in famine don't have enough nutritions, so their body starts to burn anything to stay alive, including muscle tissue. Because of this they still have abs, but they aren't defined enough to notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T06:12:34.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34715" CreationDate="2017-07-21T08:45:45.627" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work out every other day, and do cardio in between, with 1 or 2 days rest in a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My work out program: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1.5 km treadmill &#xA;Row machine: 2x10 &#xA;Chest machine: 2x10 &#xA;Leg Press: 2x10 &#xA;Back Extension: 2x10 &#xA;Torso Extension: 2x10 &#xA;TRX Rowing: 3x10&#xA;TRX Push up: 3x10&#xA;Russian Twist: 3x10&#xA;Leg lift: 3x10&#xA;Pull ups (As many as I can)&#xA;Dips (As many as I can)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My average daily diet consists of 3 meals per day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning&lt;/strong&gt;: 200ml milk, scrambled egg, and a banana&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt;: Chicken breast / Fish + boiled vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, or potatoes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Afternoon Snack&lt;/strong&gt;: Apple&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt;: 2 whole eggs, vegetables, and cheese&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snack&lt;/strong&gt;: Nuts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether adding a &lt;strong&gt;protein shake to my nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;, would be of any benefit in my muscle building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that eating more would produce the same effect, but I do not wish to add more food in my diet. I must mention that I am 21 years old, 188 cm and 76 kg, and my aim is to get &quot;toned&quot;. Since many people have different definitions of toned, mine is having low body fat and well-defined muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26034" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T13:32:34.777" Title="Improve workout endurance and results by adding nutrition supplements?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;performance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34698" CreationDate="2017-07-21T13:16:45.520" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;No load&quot;&lt;/em&gt; means no dumbell&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study investigates &lt;em&gt;&quot;unilateral elbow flexion exercise&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. That is one arm bicep curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abstract says &lt;em&gt;&quot;without the use of an external load&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, which means no dumbell or other weight, but they did not mean without any load:&#xA;Now, straighten your arm and do a bicep curl with your bicep brachii contracted as hard as you can through a full range of motion as stated in the abstract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will&#xA;A) Hit yourself in the face with your fist&#xA;or &#xA;B) Inhibit the movement by contracting your triceps too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel absolutely sure that B) is the case for the tests in this paper.&#xA;This means, the load for the study is the maximum muscle tension allowed by the participant's nerve system. The tension is limited by their 'will' and by reciprocal inhibition (antagonist muscle relaxes when agonist muscle is flexed)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you do completely unloaded bicep curls you will still stimulate red muscle fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any surprises in this study, I think it is the fact that reciprocal inhibition does not limit the use of the antagonist muscles as load and the participants has almost full hypertrophy in the arm exercised without weight.&#xA;Perhaps this is due to the that participants most likely are untrained persons and they only completed 18 sessions. I think it would be a surprise, if you could do bodybuilding without any weights at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;These results extend previous studies&quot;&lt;/em&gt; indicates that you can find &lt;strong&gt;similar studies&lt;/strong&gt; in the reference list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Any hormonal changes&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; is a very broad question: Cortisol, insulin, glucagon, testosterone etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, I think it has repeatedly been proven that almost unloaded muscle work (e.g. walking) leads to an improved response to insulin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is well known, that slightly loaded work stimulates the growths of red muscle fibers and myogenesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unloaded exercises for sure do not lead to overtraining and production of cortisol, and even moderate use of a muscle inhibits catabolic processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And testosterone? You certaintly get a testosterone kick when do a perfect barbell snatch with a weight at the level of your PR, but even the size of the kick is releated to size of the weight, the kick originates from your brain more than from your muscles.&#xA;Couldn't you get that kick too by doing unloaded flexings of your biceps in front of a mirror? ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19117" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:16:45.520" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34712" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34713" CreationDate="2017-07-21T13:32:27.263" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have belly fat and I want to reduce it. So I am in dilemma whether eating Dark Chocolate will help or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because many posts on google suggested it will help to reduce fat, but it contains sugar content. So will it increase fat much more ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastEditorUserId="26056" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:45:35.073" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:45:35.073" Title="Will Eating Dark chocloate help to reduce fat?" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34712" CreationDate="2017-07-21T13:40:08.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wish to lose weight just eat less. Find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight and just eat 250-500 calories less than that. If your main goal is to lose weight it doesn't really matter what you eat, but eating healthy is always better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for dark chocolate I believe it suppresses your appetite, due to the amount of fibre it contains. So it basically helps you stay in a caloric deficit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:40:08.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-21T14:18:26.837" Score="1" ViewCount="2779" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though their bodies literally exude maximised sex appeal thus bodybuilders naturally convey this idea of strong sex drive or horniness I heard a fit guy say that bodybuilders only look like the ultimate epitome of male sex energy, but in reality they lose their sex drive due to being so dehydrated and being so low in body fat when they compete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that right? Do dehydration and low body fat make bodybuilders' sex drive go away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The competitions always have a bit of sexual charge for obvious reasons (nothing wrong with that) so it surprised me to hear how that extreme preparation may deprive them of what they seem to project in abundance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26195" LastActivityDate="2018-09-30T09:12:18.040" Title="Do bodybuilders lose their sex drive when they are dyhadrated and extremely low in body fat for competition?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34708" CreationDate="2017-07-21T15:15:15.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To know whether or not you should add it is up to what your end goal is.  If your goal is to try and add muscle onto your frame then it might be an OK idea.  Else wise, I would need to know why you are eating so little and how much you currently weight/ your body fat %.  Over the years I've lifted/competed I haven't met a single person who doesn't question the legitimacy of most supplements.  Most of them, I feel, are scams to get more money in the companies pockets.  Whey Protein however is one of the &quot;better&quot; supplements as it gives you some extra protein if you feel you aren't getting enough.  That's why they're called supplements.  They are there to supplement your regular day to day diet.  Make sure you do your research on they protein company beforehand.  Most Walmart brands don't digest very well and in turn don't give nearly as much protein as they say they do.  I personally like MTS Whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR:  Most supplements are &quot;Scams&quot;.  Whey Protein, Creatine Monohydrate, and Caffeine (Pre-Workout) is all most people need to achieve their goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Must've missed the wanting to be toned part.  If you weight around 170 lbs and you're over 6ft tall (I'm American, I hate metric) then you definitely have plenty room to grow muscle wise.  Doing a slow bulk I feel would benefit you nicely to make sure you keep the extra body fat off.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fully answer your question, YES I think that a protein shake would help your ability to build muscle.  I say this though because you seem to be doing high cardio work and eating such few calories.  Because of this, I believe if you added 100 calories worth of food a week until you start seeing you seem to be getting a little Watery or &quot;Fluffy&quot; then it would drastically improve your body composition.  Once you seem to start getting watery just cut the calories a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you CAN retain your body composition by slowly upping your calories.  This will just increase your metabolism over the span of weeks slowly up until you reach a good staying point.  1900 calories for 170lbs is very little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26236" LastEditorUserId="26236" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T15:21:26.473" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T15:21:26.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34714" CreationDate="2017-07-21T15:19:27.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basic answer is yes. Testosterone and other hormones use and require fat to be made, stored, and/or processed by the body. So when body fat drops and fats from diet hit extremely low levels the body can't make or store the hormones like normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration can cause all sorts of issues depending on severity. Even being 2% dehydrated(the smallest amount measurable as of 2010) can cause a slight decrease in athletic performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24796" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T15:19:27.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34500" CreationDate="2017-07-21T21:44:07.233" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's not 400gr protein.&#xA;Besides, 400gr for a beginner trainer is way too much, try to aim for 1-1.25gr protein per pound (lean mass) bw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also would suggest to divide your calorie intake some more, meal 2,3,6,7 hardly contain calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18492" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T21:44:07.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34147" CreationDate="2017-07-21T21:53:08.980" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: Buy an elbow brace and give the body more time to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While refrain from exercising, your body will recover towards an elbow function for not exercising.&#xA;To fully regain the potential, try and find out what works for you, and keep monitoring it.&#xA;Buy a firm elbow brace, this will take away the peak loads.&#xA;Make sure to give the elbow enough time, and build up very slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18492" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T21:53:08.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34722" CreationDate="2017-07-21T22:16:49.430" Score="3" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to do martial arts but I'm very physically weak, I struggle to do 15 push ups in one go. I've got a very slim build and a bony body (this helps in fights because I have a harder than normal skeleton). My waist size is roughly 28-30 inches in circumference. Weight is 50kg. I don't know other info you may need but ask if you do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently starting with a small warm up, jogging for about 1 minute around the garden, stretching for another and then I start working my muscles. I do 10 push ups and then 20 squats and repeat that 5 times, take a 2-3 minute break and then do it again. after that I throw punches with my weight and muscle behind each one 150 times and go straight to... I have no idea what there called, I think crunches? hands behind my head lying down and lift myself with my stomach until elbows touch my knees, I do this thirty times, 1 minute break and then another 30. I know what to eat but I want confirmation if this is good or not, self made workout and I have no weights so I'm doing what I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also want to improve my reaction time, mine can take nearly half a second at its worst and 250ms at its best and I heard there are exercises that can improve that, I play games a lot of my day because I have nothing else to do. Anything else I should do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26242" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T07:44:00.923" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T19:01:51.673" Title="New to working out, is this good?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;martial-arts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34721" CreationDate="2017-07-21T22:31:33.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks good to me! Congrats on taking control of your own fitness! My advice:&#xA;1) Log your activities each time you do them.&#xA;2) Every so often (eg, weekly, biweekly, etc), gradually increase the difficulty of your overall workout. You can increase the difficulty by adding sets/reps, adding exercises, decreasing rest, etc. However, do not make huge jumps that are not sustainable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is gradually increase your work capacity over time. Also, be realistic with your performance levels: You will encounter personal setbacks, illnesses, etc, so you will have occasional regressions. Don't let these setbacks cause you to give up. Just dust yourself off, and try to stay active...then resume your lifelong journey towards gradual improvement over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26241" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T22:31:33.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34147" CreationDate="2017-07-21T23:26:46.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Prehab&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perform these rehab exercises to improve flexibility and enhance arm strength:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wrist Flexion Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold your injured arm out straight, palm down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use your other hand to hold the back of your injured arm's hand.&#xA;Press down so your fingers point to the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should feel a light stretch on the top of your forearm. Do not&#xA;stretch to the point of pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wrist Extension Stretch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold you injured arm out straight, palm up. Use your other hand to&#xA;hold the palm of your hand and press down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should feel a light stretch on the top of your forearm.  Do not stretch to the point of pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to Avoid Tennis Elbow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Movement Prep&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perform these exercises before you practice or play:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squeeze and Release&#xA; - Grip a tennis ball in the hand of your injured arm.&#xA; - Squeeze and release the tennis ball for 2-3 minutes, 3-4 times a day.&#xA; -  Wrist Flexion Stretch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold your injured arm out straight, palm down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use your other hand to hold the back of your injured arm's hand.&#xA;Press down so your fingers point to the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should feel a light stretch on the top of your forearm. Do not&#xA;stretch to the point of pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wrist Rolls&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a fist with your elbow bent at your side&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make circles with your wrist, 5 in each direction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straighten your elbow and do 5 more circles in this position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T23:26:46.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34042" CreationDate="2017-07-21T23:57:49.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are +1000 studies that have the keyword push up in them-on PubMed. A reliable site that gathers studies in the fields of medicine/health/exercices/supplements/...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=push-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=push-up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But honestly, this is an easy exercise to build up(and imo one of the most fun ones). Just be sure to use proper technique(body straight, and go down with your arms, not your belly/legs/...) Most of the basic rosters out there will help, even of you find 5 different ones. They will most likely all work for a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also begin to feel for yourself after a while what you're capable of and what method works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8729" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T23:57:49.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33389" CreationDate="2017-07-22T00:18:23.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an interesting study on this subject:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EMG activity of the serratus anterior and trapezius muscles during the different phases of the push-up plus exercise on different support surfaces and different hand positions&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4968519/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4968519/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the conclusion you'll find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;SA showed significant increase in activity in hand position P3, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P3 being a hand position with the fingers rotated internally, compared to P1/P2 where the fingers were parallel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8729" LastActivityDate="2017-07-22T00:18:23.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-22T13:01:16.053" Score="-3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 16 yrs old.my freestyle 100m timing is 1.05.14 is it possible for me to get my timing down to 54 secs before April 2018&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26246" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T06:27:07.910" Title="Swimming timing improvement help" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2017-08-09T18:48:26.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35733" CreationDate="2017-07-23T16:00:36.240" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BT2az.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;this is my bar&quot;&gt;&#xA;My food intake is proper. I want to focus only to the workouts :D&#xA;Hi there ,i want to obtain chest.I have only this gym bar as you see.In the image there are 10pounds each side.I have and more pounds.What i want to ask here ,on this same topic.First,can i obtain using this only bar a nice visible chest?Second,i will use it in floor is this bad for my back or somewhere else?Third,i will not doing everyday , i will do it monday ,after wedsnday ,friday ,sunday ,or should i do everyday? Four ,i will start 20pounds x3 ,after 24 x3 after 26 x3 and last 28 x2 or it would be better start from 28pounds ,26 ,24,what would be the preferable? Last question,in the same day should i re-doing it this program once more or more,would be giving me more results if i am doing more than once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="25907" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T16:07:10.310" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T14:22:44.480" Title="Home- chest workouts-gym bar only in floor" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34704" CreationDate="2017-07-23T18:28:23.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fat consumption &lt;em&gt;does not necessarily equate to more stomach fat&lt;/em&gt;, unless you are eating excessive amounts. In fact, carbs and estrogen mimicking/endocrine disrupting components found in food, alcohol, pesticides, vinyls, personal care products, and plastics may be more responsible for fat accumulation around the abdomen. Not to mention reduced testosterone, which may be the primary cause of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for muscles showing in skinny people, it is very unlikely unless they do ab exercises or have genetics for large ab muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Something to consider in a food shortage situation:&lt;/strong&gt; our bodies use fat &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; muscle to produce energy.  Our body prefers using fat first, but some people will experience losing muscles more quickly than others.  It is unlikely that you will see a starving person with abs, because muscle requires more energy to maintain.  Your body will use up muscles as energy to keep your organs running. Hence the abs disappear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have been working on abs for 4-5 years and they took a long time to grow.  When I eat significant calories or drink too much, they become less defined. When I cut out sugar, beer, and limit plastic/vinyl exposure they become more defined.  &lt;em&gt;Abs will usually be small and less noticeable unless they are trained intensely.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also adopted a ketogenic diet consisting of (as calories) 70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbs.  &lt;em&gt;I noticed a more even distribution of fat on my body, my abs becoming a little more defined after a couple months&lt;/em&gt;.  The fat was mostly, avocado, olive oil, cheese, and butter.  The next time I do this I will cut out the butter and soft cheese, as it has more estrogen mimicking compounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We hear a lot about BPAs and BPFs so here is a less known problem...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Source about Phthalates: &lt;a href=&quot;https://branchbasics.com/blog/2015/06/common-household-chemicals-phthalates-19-surprising-sources/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://branchbasics.com/blog/2015/06/common-household-chemicals-phthalates-19-surprising-sources/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastEditorUserId="24242" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T18:41:07.083" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T18:41:07.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34721" CreationDate="2017-07-23T19:01:51.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to get stronger, put on muscle and be overall healthier, depending on your age I would recommend resistance training.  Find a good weight routine that suites your schedule.  You can go to bodybuilding.com or just get the bodyspace app and there are tons of routines that break down every exercise step by step and let you log your activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be sure to ease into it.  Never bite off more than you can chew and you NEED to establish a baseline before you dive into heavy weight.  Along with a good weight routine, a healthy and proper diet, good sleep and time, you will get stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26252" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T19:01:51.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35728" CreationDate="2017-07-23T19:49:40.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The floor might not give you a bad back, but only training chest will &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; give you a bad back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chest muscles pull the shoulders forward. The upper back muscles pull the shoulders back. If you train only chest, your shoulders will be pulled forward, your chest will get caved in, and your back muscles will get very tense and sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j7H46.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j7H46.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will invariably end up like in the picture to the left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T19:49:40.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34704" CreationDate="2017-07-23T20:34:07.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just because you are skinny doesn't mean you necessarily are toned/have good muscle definition. If you lose weight but aren't exercising (including ab exercises) then you are probably not going to see defined abs. People that are starving are likely not expending what energy they have to do a bunch of sit-ups, etc. This applies all muscles, we all have biceps and triceps but if you don't do arm exercises (with resistance/weights) then those muscles will be smaller and less defined. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an expression (I might have mixed it up a bit) that is something along the lines of  'abs are made during your workouts but revealed by what you do in the kitchen'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous answer about the importance of having enough nutrients is also really important, something that is especially difficult during a famine. You have probably seen pictures of starving children with big bellies (known as kwashikor which is a severe protein deficiency). Even though they are very skinny and have minimal body fat, their abdomens are distended. This distention is due to edema or fluid retention, not fat, and results because the body isn't functioning properly (a very simple explanation of complex physiological process explained here if you are interested: &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/58894/why-does-edema-occur-in-kwashiorkor/58896&quot;&gt;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/58894/why-does-edema-occur-in-kwashiorkor/58896&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26253" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T20:34:07.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35728" CreationDate="2017-07-24T14:22:44.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If all you have is that bar, you can do three valuable lifts. Do all of them: building one part of your body up and ignoring the others will make you weak, prone to injuries, and have a funky posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbell overhead press&lt;/a&gt;. Be careful how you get it up to the &quot;rack position&quot;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PowerClean.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cleaning&lt;/a&gt; is actually a bit involved so consider setting the barbell ends on two ladders or something of the sort if you can. This will be your shoulder/chest lift and in my mind is much more valuable than bench pressing. Keep your butt and abs tight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/FrontSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Front squat&lt;/a&gt;. Push through your heels, keep your feet flat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbell rows&lt;/a&gt;. Don't always do it, but have a mirror at your side or video record (better, since you can keep your head straight) and watch for bouncing and a non-flat back (both bad).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do those every other day, 3x10, you'll be doing pretty good for yourself. It's not a perfect program but it's better than most. The only other thing to consider is that the weight will be different through all of them, the overhead press being easily your weakest lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point consider moving to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a more dialed in training program&lt;/a&gt; but again if you can stick to the above, and avoid the temptation to focus on &quot;mirror muscles&quot; (the ones you can see in the mirror when you flex) you'll be looking and feeling great within a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T14:22:44.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-24T17:27:04.807" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 35, I mesure 184cm and my weight is around 100kg. Do you have any ideas on how I could lose weight ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26259" LastEditorUserId="26259" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T17:54:11.207" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T08:21:15.070" Title="What are the fastest ways to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-07-26T08:35:05.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35734" CreationDate="2017-07-24T17:31:25.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good decision, I wish you best of luck during your weight loss period. But remember 1 thing never give up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are six simple weight loss tips you can use today: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Number 1:&lt;/strong&gt; STOP drinking beer (or any alcohol), drinking one single beer is equivalent to 7 slices of bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Number 2:&lt;/strong&gt; Allow yourself a cheat meal once a week. I know you might think why should I do that? It will do the opposite of losing weight! Well, yes that’s true, but remember you are not a ROBOT. Having a cheat meal once a week will keep you motivated and therefore you won’t think losing weight is too hard and finish by quitting everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Number 3:&lt;/strong&gt; Don’t eat the same food every day. Many people eat chicken and rice all the time because there is a low percentage of fat. But after a week or two, you will get bored. Go on some cooking website and try simple and healthy recipes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Number 4:&lt;/strong&gt; Go to the supermarket after eating. I know it’s weird, but its effective. Once you are full your body won’t desire any more calories and therefore you won’t buy any junk food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Number 5:&lt;/strong&gt; Buy smaller plates. This again, is another wired trick, but there are over 50 studies to support my tip. Having smaller plates will reduce the quantity of food you can put on it and your brain will think its full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Number 6:&lt;/strong&gt; If you are still hungry after your meal, eat either bananas or apples. These two fruits will help you full your stomach with a very low calorie count. And if you are still hungry after that drink water or green tea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more information on how to lose weight here is a website I quite like : &lt;a href=&quot;https://tip4fitness.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tip4fitness.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26260" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T17:31:25.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35734" CreationDate="2017-07-24T17:57:40.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't drink alcohol.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't eat a lot of sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat lots of salads and fruits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go to the gym and workout for 30 minutes to 2 hours (depends on fast you want to lose weight or how much you want to lose)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't workout for too long or you'll get hungry and eat junk food or such.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't consume lots of carbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26261" LastEditorDisplayName="user13787" LastEditDate="2017-07-25T08:21:15.070" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T08:21:15.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-24T22:26:39.577" Score="3" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many of those who close massively heavy gripper -- or any gripper at all -- seem to &quot;set&quot; the gripper, which means partially close it using both hands to get a better grip on it before completely closing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why isn't this cheating? It's like using two hands to get a barbell off the ground and then holding it a few seconds with one. I don't think that would count as a one-handed deadlift, but whatever. Anyways, I've never used grippers this way and just close them 100% with one hand never set them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why isn't the partially-assisting way cheating, but no props given to the harder way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25900" LastActivityDate="2017-09-23T13:30:02.413" Title="Why isn't &quot;setting&quot; a hand gripper cheating?" Tags="&lt;form&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;&lt;grip&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35738" CreationDate="2017-07-25T12:15:46.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what you consider to be the primary part of the exercise, and whether someone is doing this for the exercise, or to show off. Most hand-grippers are essentially springs, which means resistance increases as it's compressed, which should make the initial setting easy to budge. However, at that uncompressed position, you may be forced to squeeze from a position of mechanical disadvantage, with your fingertips and thumb at maximum extension, increasing the risk of straining ligaments as you pull with them strained tight against bone and joints. In comparison, if the gripper starts out partly compressed, you're able to work with your ligaments in a better position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare it to how, for benchpresses, the spotter often lifts the bar off of the rack for the person lifting. Sure, they could probably straighten their elbows and push it off themselves, but it's putting their body at more risk because they're applying a load when the limb is fully extended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T12:15:46.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-25T17:25:12.057" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I recently recorded myself and found out that I can do like 4 complete pushups(going full down), they sure are hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I found that I slowly wear out and my back starts bending a bit when I come up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also my elbows go outwards(whereas they should be bending inwards, like at a small angle with the body) and I cant correct this elbow problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please give me a solution for these 2 problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I havent exercised in 2 weeks(before today) due to some medical things if that info helps. Thanks for the answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24459" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T19:01:20.433" Title="Question about my pushups style" Tags="&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35743" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-25T17:28:42.600" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I recently lost like 2 kg from diarrhea and now I notice that my chest isn't pumped up anymore (or my tummy has swollen from the diarrhea)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also haven't been able to exercise for 2 weeks (before today) due to the same reason. So can diarrhea affect chest muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24459" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-11-22T20:56:50.170" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T20:56:50.170" Title="Can losing weight from diarrhea affect chest muscles?" Tags="&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;illness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35743" CreationDate="2017-07-25T18:17:19.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the short term, no you should not feel any adverse effects from a bout of illness.  However, if it becomes a chronic condition, that may lead to muscle deterioration as your body is constantly In recovery and you are not able to get to the gym.  In general, depending on your current fitness level, it takes a while to lose appreciable muscle mass.  You can read more about it in my response to &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/33864/how-long-does-it-take-for-my-muscles-to-grow-weaker-if-i-skip-the-gym/33870#33870&quot;&gt;How long does it take for my muscles to grow weaker if i skip the gym?&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T18:17:19.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-25T19:28:08.763" Score="1" ViewCount="1218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started working out quite recently and my trainer at the gym gave me the following diet plan as soon as I joined:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lZY8n.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lZY8n.png&quot; alt=&quot;Diet plan&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, most of the items are regular day to day meals (I'm an Indian and the menu is mostly Indian cuisine). I try my best to follow this plan. Since I'm lactose intolerant, I replaced Milk with Soy Milk. My intention of joining a gym was simple - workout to keep me fit (and keep my tummy flat). But seeing other folks there, I got motivated and asked my trainer how to put on a &lt;strong&gt;couple of inches on my chest, one inch on my biceps and half to three-quarter of an inch on my forearms&lt;/strong&gt;. He immediately suggested taking protein supplements. I have seen my cousin (who was quite a body builder in his early youth) who now has a sagging body which he thinks is the result of taking supplements earlier. I don't want that to happen to me. Now, after about 4 months of regular workouts, I have gained roughly half an inch on my chest and biceps and about a quarter of an inch on my forearm. I did get a few tips from &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/32594/is-it-good-to-take-protein-supplements&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6187/how-to-gain-weight-without-supplements-and-non-veg&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but nothing specific to my case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How right was my trainer? Is it hard to achieve my target with a supplement-free diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I'm a 27 year old, measuring 170cms (5'7&quot;) in height and weighing 58 kgs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26265" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T19:53:16.870" Title="Is it possible to gain 1.5-2 inches on arms and 2 inches on chest without protein supplement" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;body-measurements&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35745" CreationDate="2017-07-25T20:14:03.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein does indeed build muscle, so, it’s going to be hard to add mass without sufficient protein intake.  However, you don’t necessarily need to take protein supplements if your diet is adequately meeting your protein requirements when you train.  You should try to get your protein intake from food sources first and supplement only if you can't seem to meet your requirements otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your cousin, my guess is that his appearance has more to do with no longer training than it has to do with consuming protein supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastEditorUserId="7242" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T19:53:16.870" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T19:53:16.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35745" CreationDate="2017-07-26T05:56:50.560" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think your this diet plan fits for body building. This diet plan consists on daily food items which everyone eat. To add inches to your body, you need to focus on food that increase your body weight. Choose food items which are high in calories, protein and carbohydrates. There are plenty of diet plan available on the internet that guides you according to you goal level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once done with diet plant, set you exercise plan as well. LIFT HEAVY!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23304" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T05:56:50.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35745" CreationDate="2017-07-26T08:06:06.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question... You'd probably build muscle with that diet. I believe the recommended protein intake is 1.5 grams per kilogram to build muscle. Your diet has you at 95 grams if it's been calculated correctly so, yeah, no protein powder needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to be honest... While I applaud your efforts in eating right and trying to build some muscle (and stay/get in shape), I think you might be surprised by what eating a well-rounded, healthy, diet might do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoehorning oneself into a laser-focused diet to achieve a goal is usually a road laden with failure. I'm not saying it's impossible, or that it won't work, but you've given yourself so many rules to start with: At least 19 by each individual menu item you eat daily. Once you break one, it's generally only a matter of time before others fall. This is a pretty well-documented phenomenon in the weight loss world. There is little reason to think it would be much different in the weight gain world. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it another way... You've restricted yourself from ALL of the foods on this earth with the exception of the 19 menu items (23 if you count the ORs) provided to you. How long until you break the rules?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A diet rich with HEALTHY meats, veggies, fruits, and, OMG yes - whole grains, and maybe the occasional protein supplement will probably be indistinguishable (in terms of how much you gain) than from your pre-planned diet - especially as you embark on your fitness journey. Once you begin to make gains and stick with your workout regimen, I would maybe think about a stricter &quot;gains diet.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prove to yourself first that you're willing to put in the work to get those gains. Focus on a &lt;strong&gt;healthy&lt;/strong&gt;, well-rounded diet in the interim, and you'll be much better off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, did you have input into this plan or was it something your trainer made up for you? The reason I ask is that trainers have a habit of picking menu items THEY like to eat - not what you like to eat. I had a trainer tell me one time to eat three boiled eggs a day. That sounds great, but I hate boiled eggs. With a passion. How long do you think it was until I quit that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally... Your cousin is probably &quot;saggy&quot; because of an increased body fat ratio - not because of supplements. Although, depending on what type of &quot;supplements&quot; he was taking, it is possible they caused some of the problem, but probably not from protein powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T08:06:06.050" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-26T09:34:40.943" Score="0" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to gym from 3days.I'm doing thread mill for 15min and cycling for 15 min ,another cross machine for 15min and some exercises.I'm also doing abs for only 5min .totally I'm spending 1hour time in gym and also I'm following diet as instructed by my trainer.&#xA;Now I'm 67kgs n my height was 5.2&#xA;Is this exercises are enough..r I need to improve ?&#xA;I also want to know what are the best exercises to do in gym to burn more calories.&#xA;How much time beginners can spend in gym ?&#xA;Today I did for 1hr 45min,still I'm willing to do..can I do ?&#xA;Doing abs daily is necessary ?&#xA;Plz let me know &#xA;ThnQ&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26269" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T03:46:51.890" Title="What are the best excises to do in gym for beginners" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2017-07-27T08:03:36.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35751" CreationDate="2017-07-26T17:19:14.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to lose body fat, the first thing I'm going to assume is that you are otherwise healthy. I don't know how old you are, I don't know what condition your heart is in. That's up to you to figure out with your doctor. So with that massive caveat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to lose fat is to restrict your carb intake, and completely stop all sugar intake. No soda, no sweets of any kind, and NO alcohol. Check every packaged thing you buy because even yogurt has loads of sugar in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do NOT restrict your calories though. You need to keep your calorie intake on par with the workouts your doing. Compensate for low carb intake with more good fats, and more protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet is the most important thing, start there first, get that into your daily habbit, then move to exercise. The reason I say this is because no matter what you do in the gym, it's simply not possible to &quot;burn off&quot; what you eat. Your body is far too efficient. An hour of all out intense exercise, might burn 500 calories. A single burger and you've just wiped out all that work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SO, the way around this is to focus on exercises that cause your base level metabolism to rise for extended periods of time. This will burn a few extra calories every hour for a day or so, which adds up to far more than you can burn in a single exercise session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two primary categories of exercises that do this: interval prints, and heavy weight training. It's really up to you which one two focus on. For most people who have no strength ambitions, interval sprints are best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To perform interval sprints, take any exercise, treadmill, bike, running up a hill, literally anything working your whole legs, and perform a set as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. Then rest 60-90 seconds and repeat. You should only need 3-5 sets at most because as you get better at this your intensity will naturally climb so there is no need to endlessly add sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, take it easy the first few times to let your body get accustom to this form of exercise. Also, don't go all out on your first set, use it as a warmup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training this way will cause your metabolism to rise for the next ~48-72 hours (it's highly variable, don't get to caught up in that). That's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your interested in strength, ask another question and I'll answer it there as I believe for most people the interval sprints are the best option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are able to stick with the very simple diet I outlined for you, that will be the majority of your results. The interval sprints will do the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26178" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T17:19:14.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35742" CreationDate="2017-07-26T19:01:20.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two separate aspects here, with separate causes and fixes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your back bending  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak glutes or tight hip flexors: Your glutes cannot pull your pelvis&#xA;straight. Fix: Do glute bridges. Stretch hip flexors. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak abs or your lower back is tight: Your abs cannot straighten your&#xA;torso. Fix: Do crunches. Touch your toes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Edit: As per the comment above, planks will help with both of the above points at the same time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elbows bending outward (&quot;elbows flaring&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weak triceps. When you don't flare your elbows, you engage your triceps more. Fix: Do push ups correctly on your knees. Or do tricep extensions. I recommend the former. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16841" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T19:01:20.433" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35751" CreationDate="2017-07-27T03:46:51.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Studies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23019316&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt;, aerobic training is the most efficient in order to lose overall body mass and fat mass. However if you want to retain the most amount of muscle, they advise to engage in Resistance Training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal experience&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a more personal note, I used to do quite a bit of reps and sets with lost of different isolation movements. This lead me to have a low body mass and metabolism. I was eating around 2000 kilocalories a day.&#xA;When I switched to strength training, I was doing half the time in training, but only focusing on big movements (Squats variations, Press variations and Deadlift variations).&#xA;As a result, my time spent training went down, my strength exploded and my metabolism followed the same path. I was eating 4000 kcals a day, still not gaining weight. Sleep patterns were perfect too.&#xA;As a side note, it took some time before eating 4000 kcals a day without gaining weight. I had to go up over time, starting at 2500, gradually increasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also want to know what are the best exercises to do in gym to burn more calories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, as your goal is to burn more calories, I would suggest doing what I do now. Focusing on bit compound movements, and spend less time in the gym as a result.&#xA;A good program would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Starting Strength&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;If you are interested, here is a typical day of training of me (not like Starting Strength though):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front Squat, up to one top set of 5 - takes about 15 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press, up to one top set of 5 - takes about 10 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behind the neck Push press, up to one top set of 5 - takes about 10 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good morning, up to one top set of 20 - takes about 10 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total time: 45 minutes. I do that 3-4 times a week. Need around 3000-3500 kcals a day right now to maintain bodyweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a male, 23yo, 5'10 (177 cm) and 167 pounds (76kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Idriss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25042" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T03:46:51.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-27T04:03:46.197" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm a bit confused. I recorded myself doing pushups and got 3 screenshots&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my first pushup while coming back up:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KFPGx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KFPGx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pushup 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is me in my 2nd pushup:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ELOD7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ELOD7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pushup 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is me in my 3rd pushup realizing my back is bending:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fFDm5.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fFDm5.png&quot; alt=&quot;Pushup 3&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is weird uploading my pictures like this but I want to ask if my back is really bending or if it's just a body posture thing because a lot of people say it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24459" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T11:41:21.140" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T15:13:03.223" Title="Is my back bending during my push-up?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-27T08:45:47.670" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm tring to get all the nutritions from natural food. But I cannot find a alternate for Whey. I'm using cottage cheese instead of Cesain supplements, which is a low digesting protein. Eggs as medium digesting protein. But I cannot find any fast digesting protein, easy availble food as an alterante to whey supplements. So which is best fast digesting protein rich natural food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25624" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:50:55.630" Title="Alternate for Whey!" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;protein&gt;&lt;high-protein&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35756" CreationDate="2017-07-27T11:46:22.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not keeping your core tight enough. If you're ever not certain if you're in the correct posture, clench your buttock and stomach muscles tight while doing them. By the nature of body mechanics, that will pull you back onto the straight and narrow, and will lead to a better workout because you're maintaining bodily tension. You can relax to a less tense posture once you're certain you're in a correct straight line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned about maintaining proper form during the exercise, a full-length wall mirror can set sideways on a wall, allowing you to quickly glance over and see if your form is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T15:13:03.223" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T15:13:03.223" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35759" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35763" CreationDate="2017-07-27T12:51:44.343" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently jogging every day. I am not in very good shape (hopefully this will change), so I am not jogging a very long route. I am making a loop about 3km long, starting home and ending up back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually have two choices of loops that I could do, both about the same distance. The main difference is that one is mostly flat Streets, while the other has many slopes. Since I end up exactly where I started, there has to be an equal amount of upward sloping as the amount of downward sloping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, running 1km on an upward slope is significantly harder than running it on flat ground. On the other hand, running it on a downward slope is usually easier, sometimes so easy that I have to spend efforts on slowing down in order to avoid going down the slope too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure those two routes won't be equivalent, from a physical effort perspective. This sounds like one of them could be better for cardio, while the other better for muscles, or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are the advantages and downsides of both routes? Is one objectively better (from a fitness perspective) than the other, or does this depend on my goals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: I do not have any clear goal. I just started this routine because I'm getting fat, and I'm totally out of shape. I'm not really sure if I want to improve, cardio, muscles, or just lose weight. I just felt like it was time I started doing &lt;strong&gt;something&lt;/strong&gt;, and going for a jog every day is an easy habit to pick up, and I figured it would definitely be good, even if I'm not sure exactly which of those &quot;goods effects&quot; it will have, and how much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26278" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T07:38:27.513" Title="Advantages and downsides of route with slopes" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-27T13:14:57.860" Score="1" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;This came up in another question here - we had a little debate about the efficacy of crunches vs planks, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, what is the best way to train your abs without risking your spine too much and while relying on the abs (rather than the hip flexors) for the majority of the movement? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the progression? Let's say you got to the point where crunches and planks are a joke. What then? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good test of abdominal strength? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I was sure someone asked this question before, but I can't find it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16841" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T07:53:41.120" Title="How to Train Abs?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35745" CreationDate="2017-07-27T15:11:49.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't hold yourself back by looking at your cousin. Everyone has a different body type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on what you want to achieve and track your progress to see if you are getting there. I would stick to the diet plan and see how you progress. If things don't work after a couple of months you can consider changing or increasing the protein intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2445" LastEditorUserId="2445" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T15:17:51.610" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T15:17:51.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35759" CreationDate="2017-07-27T16:44:49.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running up hill is almost always better for cardio and fat loss as one would expect. Not so much for muscle gaining, though it would contribute more to legs than running on a flat road.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running downhill on the other hand is almost worse in every way because as you stated, it's easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the same amount of effort, running on the flat loop vs the hilly loop will yield roughly the same results.  You'd run slightly slower on the uphill parts and slightly faster on the downhill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention how steep the hill is, but you mentioned that you actively try to slow down so I'm going to assume it's fairly steep. One big downside to steep downhill running is the impact it has on your legs and feet. Because you're fighting gravity, you're actively trying to slow yourself down. In order to do that, you have to basically lean backwards which causes you to run at a very weird angle. Your feet will strike hard at the heels, and the impact travels up the entire leg. All of which can cause ankle, knee, and hip problems eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more advanced way to run downhill is to actually use gravity to your advantage and run &lt;em&gt;faster&lt;/em&gt; so that you maintain the proper form down the hill. The steeper and longer the hill, the harder it is to do without tripping as you will be going much, much faster than you're used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although for a beginner, I would suggest a simpler approach.  Run up the hill version and then walk back down it. You would be pushing yourself harder on the uphill movements and then using the downhill as a rest period. Some routes with many crests and valleys can be used as a form of interval training where you sprint on the uphill and then walk on the downhill parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use the flat loop as well in which you run consistently around at a more moderate pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastEditorUserId="21868" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T19:33:12.607" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T19:33:12.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-28T04:08:39.310" Score="0" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was skinny and worked out(3 days a week) and ate a lot, became fat and then came back in shape(but bulged out tummy, I don't know how I shrinked, but left gym and hence a change in meal plan) , i.e. not skinny, but  not a big beast either. I started gym again(now 5 days a week) and below, I am sharing my meal plan ,&#xA;Please suggest alternatives if any&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;7:00 AM wake up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;8:00 AM 50 gms of cheese&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;8:45 AM Prauntha (fried wheat chapati with stuffed potato and onion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;11:00 AM banana shake and a patty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1:00 PM Gym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2:15 PM Protein Shake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3:30 PM Banana shake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5:00 PM some random food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;6:30 PM glass of Mix juice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;7:30 PM Street food (chicken burger)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;9:00 PM wheat chapatis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want stamina, I want strength, I want to look big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even half of the following image will do for me,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qmQRy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qmQRy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and I am like this right now, with a little tummy hanging out,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fvNdU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fvNdU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26282" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T10:06:44.003" Title="IT Guy meal plan" Tags="&lt;meal-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" ClosedDate="2017-07-28T16:16:42.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35790" CreationDate="2017-07-28T05:38:40.223" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started running after I discover I am putting a lot of weight.When I started running my distance keep on increasing from 2.5 km to 5.0 km.But from few days I am unable to complete even 2.5 km.There is the pain in calf muscles and what I do is jog continuously and when there is a break in momentum I stop.So, my question is why there is a drop in stamina?&#xA;I have a 400 m track near my locality and i started with 5 rounds and gradually increasing with half round per day and i have  arest day on sunday.&#xA;It was like &#xA;day 1:5 rounds&#xA;day 2:5.5 rounds&#xA;day 3:6 rounds&#xA;day 4 :off&#xA;day 5:6.5 rounds&#xA;going on and on day appart from sunday i had a day off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am new here if I didn't follow the question guidelines so please ignore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26284" LastEditorUserId="26284" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T06:15:33.350" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T11:18:05.400" Title="Regarding drop in stamina while running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;jogging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-28T07:34:01.313" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some years of strength training experience but haven't lifted in a couple of years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get back on track I am following a Starting Strengh/Stronglifts hybrid (basically stronglifts 3x5). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always had a bad posture (arched back and forward head), and being a desk jockey isn't helping it either. I always notice that when my (back) strength goes up, my posture improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is why I decided to do a little extra for the back. Build a little bit of extra muscle and extra strength by introducing a dedicated back day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the program I came up with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Pullup negs (alternate between neutral, pronated and supinated grip): 10x1  &#xA;Deadstop db rows (with straps so I can focus more on lats): 3x8  &#xA;Snatch grip high pull: 8x3  &#xA;Seated cable rows: 5x8  &#xA;Wide grip lat pull down (alternate BTN and front): 3x15&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must say I haven't gone to failure yet on any exercise, but it is a heavy program. I am pretty exhausted the hours after I have completed this workout. More than on my strength days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: I know that DOMS is not a measure of an effective workout, but with this amount of volume and intensity I would expect to get at least a little bit sore. &lt;strong&gt;What do you think of this program? Would you think it is effective in building strength and/or size?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I want to know if it would be effective for strength/size not whether or not it would improve my posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T07:34:01.313" Title="Is this back program complete?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35759" CreationDate="2017-07-28T07:38:27.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both have their merits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the flat route is more like steady state cardio. While the sloped route is like an interval training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also increase the difference in intensity between uphill/downhill by increasing your speed uphill and using downhill as active recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the flat route the next day to not burn yourself out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T07:38:27.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35764" CreationDate="2017-07-28T09:56:49.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start with either StrongLifts 5x5 or Starting strength for linear progression. Every session/week you need to progressively overload thereby increasing the strength and it is quantifiable progress that you can measure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Highly recommend to start with just the barbell (45 pounds in case of olympic bar) and then add weights to it progressively. The lighter load initially will help you perfect the form and also condition your body for strength gain in the coming weeks and months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above done for a period of 6-12 months will make you strong and help you move 1.5x-2.0x weight which should be a very respectable goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as meal plan is concerned, it looks okie to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1621" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T09:56:49.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18372" CreationDate="2017-07-28T10:46:34.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What helps for a lot of guys to take arms out of the equation a bit is by using straps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this helps me tremendously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T10:46:34.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35772" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-28T14:46:05.340" Score="4" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;On max effort days when I lift weights at ~95% or more of whatever I'll achieve on that day, I am unable to keep my breath in the middle of the concentric part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A recent attempt at &lt;a href=&quot;https://sendvid.com/6am5xvv8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;130 kg @ 87 kg&lt;/a&gt;, where I am happy about my form, yet you can hear a lip fart, barely at my limit of holding the air in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the difference in effort between 120 kg and 130 kg, I expected to have a relatively easy 140 kg and most likely grind a 145 kg lift. Yet, my &lt;a href=&quot;https://sendvid.com/fkz5mubw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;140 kg attempt&lt;/a&gt; came to a complete stop. After exhaling, if it wasn't for the belt pushing against my ribs, I know I would have folded in half. Admittedly, my knees shifted back and my hips went up, so I can appreciate how a good morning position would put extreme pressure on my core.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an older attempt at &lt;a href=&quot;https://sendvid.com/xrhd3thp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;125 kg @ 82 kg&lt;/a&gt;. I don't believe I get in a good morning position there, yet it still happens. I have relatively long legs for my height, so I except to get quite a bit of a torso lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My DL is at a ridiculous 190 kg with great form, yet no sign of even being close to my limit of losing bracing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I brace slightly differently between the two lifts. For the squat, I try to take in as much air as possible and keep everything tight, while for the DL I take a smaller breath or the pressure and general feeling of about to explode makes me sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what gives? Am I just generally weak in the squat and my sticking point breaks my form down? Is my core weak? If there could be various reasons, how do I go about figuring out which one it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it matters, but when my low bar was at 120 kg, I had to grind 3x5 @ 80 kg front squats and I'm almost certain I wouldn't have had a single at 90 kg. I don't do front squats frequently, but still, the effort exerted was on a completely different level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't done direct ab work in forever, because I noticed my core strength improved so much more with just squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26288" LastEditorUserId="26288" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T14:56:56.290" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T15:28:05.370" Title="Forcefully exhaling during heavy squats" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;squats&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35726" CreationDate="2017-07-28T16:25:40.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it is stated, it's not really possible to say for sure if you can get your 100m freestyle time down to 54 seconds in a year. 10 seconds in a year is a very big jump, but there are some things to look at that may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Form - Freestyle sprinting is all about efficiency and form. If your form is whonky or you are not as streamlined as you could be, then you could be costing yourself valuable time that is basically free for drills. This can really only be assessed by an on the deck instructor that can look at your form. The best ones will also utilize above and underwater video from multiple angles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strength/Conditioning - Dryland drills are just as important as your workout routine. Flexibility in your ankles/calves and shoulders will allow greater range of motion and efficiency (See #1).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Threshold/Interval work - No two ways about it, you have to spend a lot of time in the pool making it hurt. Interval is short distance, long rest done at above race pace. Threshold work is also short to medium distance, done on shorter rest, at about 80-90% (Depending) of race pace. Along with that, you need the usual form drills, distance conditioning, multiple stroke work, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition - Critical. You have to be properly fueled, and have quality food at that. If you are doing huge volume, then you may need to take some shortcuts with high calorie dense foods, but try to make sure that a majority of your calories are serving a purpose and not just more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest - Also critical. You can't perform good workouts or races when you are tired. There will be days when you feel awesome, days when you feel like dog meat. Take advantage of the great days and push extra, and relax and/or skip days when you don't feel good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of other little details, like shaving, tapering, race preparation, start practice, etc., but that you really need to have a coach help you with planning and details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T16:25:40.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-28T19:11:31.233" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like there are so many mobility stretches out there for your body, but which ones do you really need to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be an all around CrossFit athlete and have continual gains you must improve your mobility just as much as you weightlift/strength train and perform metcons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you should have good mobility in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wrist&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shoulder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hip&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ankle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I missing any? By performing these they will aid in performing the following foundation of CrossFit movements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overhead Squat, Deadlift, Push Press, Snatch, Clean &amp;amp; Jerk, Push Jerk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to find out what series of mobility exercises I should repetitively do in order to aid in the above movements. What's the timeframe and frequency of doing these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26292" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T08:02:52.907" Title="Foundational Stetches for CrossFit" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-28T22:05:44.643" Score="-5" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I increase ankle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26293" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2017-07-30T05:40:12.130" LastActivityDate="2017-07-30T05:40:12.130" Title="What is the best way to gain size in ankle area" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35776" CreationDate="2017-07-29T02:45:06.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EuGfs.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EuGfs.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ankle is mostly comprised of bone and tendons.  There's no way to make it bigger unless you got so fat that your body stored fat at the foot and ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-07-29T02:45:06.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-29T17:08:49.910" Score="-3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to influence genetics.Can someone from 6pack obtain example 8pack?or 10pack?I care not only about abs but for whole body.Example ,how would be a body trasformation from a thin guy to &quot;normal&quot; look or someone seems normal body to become &quot;advance&quot;.I know there are a lot of programs someone can follow with foods but our genetics are playing a role.Can we influence to see more results ?Its not about abs,or transformation the body,its how do we &quot;change our genetics&quot; with physic way.Do we change by our food?by doing extreme activites?what?or we cant do anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="25907" LastEditDate="2017-07-30T11:08:19.567" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T15:19:10.893" Title="How to Influence genetics" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-07-31T20:37:35.263" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-29T20:48:52.057" Score="0" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my gym we have a squat-rack similar to this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OhGJE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Squat Rack Photo&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can lower myself if I fail a squat, and the bar ends up on the bars on the side. But I wonder what to do if I lose my balance and stumble either forwards or backwards. Normally I'm standing rotated 180 versus the dude in the picture btw. Do I need a spotter, or can I just safely train in this rack somehow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26299" LastEditorUserId="12098" LastEditDate="2017-07-30T13:51:28.250" LastActivityDate="2017-07-30T13:51:28.250" Title="How to fail in a squat-rack" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35780" CreationDate="2017-07-29T21:08:17.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't get up, you toss the weight behind you, and step forward. If the handles don't catch it, they were too short anyway. In fact, the ones in the picture don't look very long at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, whether there are handles in place or not, dump it and step forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a video of this exact problem being explained and demonstrated: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlPE49zlez4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlPE49zlez4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-29T21:08:17.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35782" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-30T06:22:21.933" Score="1" ViewCount="457" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't do many pushups, For now, i simply do 15 knuckle pushups/day increasing 1/week. After I completed my push-ups, i look into the mirror, I see red eyes. is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26302" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T05:56:25.577" Title="Eyes goes red when i do knuckle pushups. Is this normal?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-07-31T20:58:52.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35802" CreationDate="2017-07-31T04:49:26.320" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had been diagnosed diabetic recently and hence decided to go to gym for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gentleman there gave me a test that I suppose is checking my fitness or metabolism and it was basically done by putting me no the cycling machine, keep raising the resistance while taking the readings of my heart rate at the end of each 5 min on the specific resistance level, then move to the higher resistance.&#xA;I guess this test indicated to him that I haven't been exercising and I am not in a good shape and he chose some introductory plan for me to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what is this test called and what is it exactly testing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I do it to myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is getting better scores on this test means my body is burning sugars better which means better position with my diabetes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[EDIT] Just wanted to add that the final equation was using my weight, age, and the heart rate against each resistance level to get a final number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26306" LastEditorUserId="26306" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T05:41:39.487" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T18:50:11.040" Title="What is the name of the test I had on my first day at gym?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35782" CreationDate="2017-07-31T05:47:31.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DISCLAIMER.&lt;/strong&gt;  This site is not intended to provide medical advice, and this answer should not be interpreted as the advice of a medical professional.  You are advised to seek medical attention from a licensed physician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the sclerae of the eyes appear red, this is due to the capillaries and blood vessels dilating in one or more of the associated tissues (conjunctiva, episclera, and sclera).  If this is a transient and short-lived phenomenon with no concomitant pain, change in vision (e.g. loss of visual acuity, peripheral vision, color perception, sudden floaters or bright flashes), or other sequelae such as evidence of infection (pus, discharge), it is likely to be harmless, but again, you are advised to consult an eye doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The underlying physiological mechanism is that an increase in blood pressure can cause these capillaries and vessels to dilate.  This can be observed, for example, by standing on one's head.  The effect should be very brief and resolve rapidly.  However, if it lasts for more than a few minutes or is accompanied by pain, headache, shortness of breath, or nausea, that may be cause for concern.  Prolonged physical exertion for some individuals with high blood pressure could also cause this sign.  However, there are other common (and uncommon) disorders of the eye that can cause redness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, without knowing more about your medical history, let alone your level of physical fitness and your exercise plan, it is impossible to determine if this is something to be concerned about.  This is why, whenever embarking on new forms of exercise, it is important to consult your physician, and when experiencing unexpected medical signs or symptoms as a result of exercise, your physician should be the first person to hear about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastEditorUserId="7576" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T05:56:25.577" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T05:56:25.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35793" CreationDate="2017-07-31T08:18:52.307" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercises like crunch and twist in which we have to lean on floor but can we do this on a bed? Our bed mattress is mostly hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26308" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T14:35:36.320" Title="Can I do crunch and twist exercise on bed?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35760" CreationDate="2017-07-31T09:59:04.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hollow Holds, Hollow rocks, weighted hollow holds/rocks (a backpack or dumbell dangling on you feet by example). Failure is when you are unable to keep your lower back in contact with the ground. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/Ln4P4WQ7EWU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/Ln4P4WQ7EWU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holds: One legged L-Sit, Tuck L-Sit, L-Sit, V-Sit, Manna (the gymnastic move) . On the floor, paralettes, and parallel bars. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/GbZeD4q_cSE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/GbZeD4q_cSE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knee raises, Toe raises, Toes to bar, Toes to bar with ankle weights (all strict, no swing). You can make them in a circle instead of just up and down to target the obliques too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Front Lever work you abs pretty well too (in addition to your lats, your back, your and glutes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dragon Flags, Human Flags&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T09:59:04.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35766" CreationDate="2017-07-31T11:18:05.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you just need to let your body rest/repair a little more.  Eat some protein after a run and have a rest day in between.  Try it out for a week or two...  This was supposed to be a comment and I don't know how to delete. Sorry!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24242" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T11:18:05.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35787" CreationDate="2017-07-31T14:47:58.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can, but the bed will absorb a lot of your movement which makes it easier to do and can make it hard to achieve good form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try doing a pushup on a bed as an example: you can sort of do it, but without the full resistance of the floor your back is at a weird angle and your hands sink into the mattress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the same reason that you should squat and deadlift (and most other barbell lifts) with flat non-squishy shoes (converse, etc) on hard flooring like concrete. It's the same reason gloves are generally frowned upon: it's squishy stuff between you and something hard (the bar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T14:47:58.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35779" CreationDate="2017-07-31T15:19:10.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There is no way to change your genetic potential.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to get bigger and stronger you should eat more (healthier is better, and protein is important) and workout. If you wish to lose weight you should workout and eat less. Its important to determine how many calories you need each day and then either increase or decrease them to reach your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With hard word and proper diet you can reach your genetic potential after 3-4 years of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't satisfied with your genetics then steroids would be an option but I &lt;strong&gt;would not recommend that&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26056" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T15:19:10.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34673" CreationDate="2017-07-31T21:23:36.910" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're lifting 50,because of 10kg added weight of BB&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26312" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T21:23:36.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35726" CreationDate="2017-08-01T06:27:07.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to say without knowing your physical attributes, your technique or training program....But shaving 10s off in 9 months is a big task for anybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only make these suggestions based on my own experience - training (lots of it), a good coach, and attitude/perseverance.&#xA;Sleep and nutrition helps too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I competed at state and national level in my youth, and my best at 16 was 54.9s for the 100m free. I'm not a tall bloke - 175cm, weighed about 55-60kgs at 16, so not a big bloke either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trained about 8-9 times a week - both morning and night, both at club and school. Some sessions would hit the 10km mark. Club races on the weekend.  My training consisted of lots of sprint work, heart rate sets, some distance/endurance work, and dry-land strength work. And a good taper period before a state/national meet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 50m and 100m are explosive movements - you'll need to improve your technique, your stroke efficiency (distance per stroke), but probably more importantly your kick (both power and endurance).  It's hard to perfect form in an all-out sprint, but for me, the breakdown was this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dive - Sets you up for a good sprint.  Work on getting speed and distance off the block, and your streamlining/speed under the water up to the maximum legal distance. Not sure what it is these days, but when I completed it was something like 15m underwater...Improving your butterfly/dolphin kick here is important - remember that you travel faster under the surface than you do on it. DO NOT take a breath as you surface - you'll drastically lose speed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The first lap - explosive, but pace yourself. This is where you'll focus on technique - You'll need every bit of energy for an all effort on the last lap. As many strokes as possible before taking the first breath, and then as many as possible in between breaths - a minimum of 4 strokes/breath was my aim.  Try to get as far as possible with each stroke. And kick - use those legs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Turn - Fast and efficient, and set up for getting good power off the wall for fast underwater movement up to the legal distance - same as the dive.  Again, do not take a breath right before the turn, nor as you surface coming out of the turn.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The last leg - all out effort.  No time to focus on technique (nor your competitors) here, it's all or nothing.  Again, as many strokes as you can between breaths, and get those legs moving.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hitting the wall. Literally. Power through your last few strokes and finish with an almighty reach to punch through that wall.  Don't back off - let the wall stop you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one last note - I always shaved down on the morning of the meet. Whole body.&#xA;Those shaving cuts serve as real motivators to get to the finish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25083" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T06:27:07.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34431" CreationDate="2017-08-01T07:54:48.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The L-Sit and V-Sit fit your bill, they can be done on dip bars (as well as on the floor), arms are straight, and they involve a whole lot of contracting your abs. Maybe that's what you're looking for ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T07:54:48.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34469" CreationDate="2017-08-01T18:44:50.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I briefly scanned PubMed for relevant studies and it seems that most have been done in the sick, elderly or sedentary individuals and it is used more in a rehab setting. Some studies do show an, albeit small, effect on strength so it doesn't seem like you can just discard any claims made by vibration training advocates wholesale. However, it doesn't seem to do that much so my advice would just be to do the type of training that you enjoy the most. Like the vibration plate? Go for it. Don't like it? Well, just don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26320" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T18:44:50.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35785" CreationDate="2017-08-01T18:50:11.040" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a former &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acefitness.org/default.aspx?adpos=1t1&amp;amp;creative=197105854746&amp;amp;device=c&amp;amp;matchtype=b&amp;amp;network=g&amp;amp;gclid=CJC2k5zYttUCFQtLDQodvYsN6w&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ACE&lt;/a&gt; certified trainer.  What you describe sounds very much like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/Testing/YMCACycleTest.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;YMCA Sub-maximal Bicycle Test&lt;/a&gt;.  It's used to evaluate physical work capacity, especially for someone new to the gym.  It's used to estimate maximal oxygen uptake.  It's a way to establish a relationship between heart rate and workload.  Trainers typically perform this test on someone new to determine a base line for exercise planning.  This test has nothing to do with metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T18:50:11.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35804" CreationDate="2017-08-01T19:11:55.093" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;First,why is bad ldl cholesterol is affecting bad the muscle growth ? The truth is I want to obtain muscle but with no eating it can't be obtained ,I don't want to have muscle with ldl cholesterol.About me ,I can eat everything .I eat healthy vegetables,protein, fruits and right foods.As far as I read is bad.My questions  are is doing bad in my muscles growth( on entire body) the ldl cholesterol? Strength ,if there is ldl cholysterol influence the blood so influence and the strength we gain when we workout?I mean if i have high level ldl that will be doing me not to obtain strength as i would gain if my cholyaterol ldl was low.Additional,ldl affecting height gain?The bones?etc? example ,milk is have a lot of calcium needed for height but it has a lot cholesterol, so milk isn't helpful for gain height,right?Cholesterol ldl is doing bad in blood so no much muscle gain ,no much strength gain ,no much height gain as a result doing bad in whole body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T20:17:13.910" Title="Muscles-strenght-height by avoiding ldl cholesterol" Tags="&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-02T00:22:53.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35803" CreationDate="2017-08-01T20:07:43.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, the notion that LDL cholesterol is bad per se is a bit oversimplified. Yes, it's called the &quot;bad cholesterol&quot; for a reason but context matters. In presence of enough HDL, good triglyceride values etc., higher than average LDL isn't much of a problem. It's not enough just to look at LDL cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to understand that eating cholesterol does not necessarily result in high cholesterol in your blood. This notion is also oversimplified. Your body makes its own cholesterol and it's very important because your body makes hormones (such as testosterone, very important for muscle growth) or Vitamin D from it. Caution: More cholesterol does not mean more testosterone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know cholesterol does not directly influence muscle growth. If your doctor says your blood values are OK, don't think about cholesterol too much. This is not the reason you are not gaining muscle. The master levers for muscle growth are: heavy exercise, a high protein intake, eating enough (more than needed) calories and adequate levels of testosterone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people who have trouble gaining muscle undereat or don't eat enough protein. Most of the time it's both because if you eat enough on a regular diet, you also get enough protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No food will you help you become taller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26320" LastEditorUserId="26320" LastEditDate="2017-08-01T20:17:13.910" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T20:17:13.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-02T11:32:29.207" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;first time here but need some advice. I am 19 year old male and have a police physical test in roughly 40 days. For this test I need to get 34 push ups (hopefully more) in one go, now I can currently push out 22 comfortable. My question is what routine I could use to improve to be able comfortably reach as close to this requirement as possible in this time, and for me the gym is not a option due to where I live and other commitments. Thanks guys&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26326" LastActivityDate="2017-08-02T15:56:56.827" Title="Pushup Requirement for Test" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-07T05:01:03.133" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35805" CreationDate="2017-08-02T14:26:30.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try a variation of Pavel's greasing the groove technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that multiple times throughout the day, do a set of half you maximum reps, so if your current maximum is 22, then several times a day, drop and knock out 11 reps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of a couple of weeks, test your max and see if you've improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works very well for strength, and is usually used for things like pull ups. I'll admit, I don't know how well it'll work with higher rep (above 10) stuff, but it's probably worth a go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-08-02T14:26:30.640" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-02T14:44:04.730" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to walk a lot and ususally I am walking quite fast covering large distances on foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What if I buy a couple of running shoes (particullary I like those: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newbalance.com/pd/fresh-foam-boracay-v3/MBORA-V3.html#color=Thunder_with_Alpha%20Orange&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fresh Foam Boracay v3&lt;/a&gt;) for everyday walk. Will it be healthy for my foot wearing it for non-sport activities / causually?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8165" LastActivityDate="2017-08-02T14:44:04.730" Title="Wearing running shoes for casual walk" Tags="&lt;running-shoes&gt;&lt;shoes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-09T18:49:15.710" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35811" CreationDate="2017-08-02T15:55:10.840" Score="1" ViewCount="1139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently , I record my self doing planks and squats. After I was supposing I am doing them right,  I detect that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;during planks: my sholders are directed down and they are  making  my upper back  to appear like a mountain and I dont know what to do with my head&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During squats:  my upper body is shifted forward and  it is rounded&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I  am not able to go to gym due to my work time, I work  from  8 am  till 8 pm, so usually I do my workout at moring (6 am). So I have no coach to help me fix this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can some one here help me?   what should i do to make my plank in the correct form? what muscle should be strengthened so that  I get rid of the rounded shoulders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note : I find this answer on this answer on this website, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18989/plank-progression/28024#28024&quot;&gt;Plank Progressions&lt;/a&gt;,  I am not sure it is sufficient for  me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23709" LastEditorUserId="23709" LastEditDate="2017-08-02T16:11:02.527" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T06:36:02.060" Title="rounded shoulders in planks" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;performance&gt;&lt;planks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35805" CreationDate="2017-08-02T15:56:56.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two ways I'd attack this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1) Make the push-ups easier.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not able to get 34 push-ups on the floor right now, so elevate your body to a point you are. There are two ways to do this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, elevate the upper body using e.g. a couch, bar, countertop: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ecJQXf1ps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ecJQXf1ps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, make the push-ups partial reps by placing something under the chest: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a6wk2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a6wk2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;b-reddy.org push-up progression&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2014/08/28/a-program-for-push-ups-at-75-years-old/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;b-reddy.org push-up progression example&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do from there is pick a height where you can get 34 reps. Try to increase that number to 40 reps over a week or two. Alright, now decrease the height ~6 inches where you're back to 34 reps and repeat, until you're on the floor. This way the body gets some work in the rep range you're trying to attain, and you're not always working to failure by being on the floor. That quickly gets arduous. It's best to leave a rep or two in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note if you're using something like a countertop, you obviously can't decrease the height of it. But you can increase the height of your feet by standing on something. Think of making the body more and more parallel to the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If using something under your chest, you could simply start with three books, then work to two, one, floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Ocok.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Ocok.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;b-reddy.org push-ups&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/stUwW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/stUwW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;b-reddy.org push-ups working towards floor&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2) Make the push-ups harder.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were trying to bench press 100 pounds as many times as possible, you'd prefer to have a 400 pound maximum than only a 150 pound. The 100 pound rep test only occurs at 25% of the 400 pound lifters maximum, whereas the 150 lb lifter has to do a rep test at 66% of their max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a variety of ways of doing this. If you have no gym, you can still do push-ups with a backpack on, adding weight in the bag. You could elevate your feet, you could do clap push-ups: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LLzmRMRDA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LLzmRMRDA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first video linked you can see the push-ups are actually sliding in and out. That's &lt;strong&gt;much&lt;/strong&gt; harder on the chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Programming&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With preparing for a bodyweight test people inevitably end up doing the activity every single day. That gives no days for recovery. Three to four days per week, with a day off in between each workout, is a better route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example week:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monday: Easier push-ups, entire body elevated. 3-4 sets of 30-40&#xA;reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Harder push-ups. 6-8 sets of 6-8 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Easier push-ups, body on floor but partial reps. 3-4 sets of&#xA;30-40 reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday: Practice session. As Many Reps As Possible with regular floor&#xA;push-ups. 1-2 sets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: Start the schedule over, trying to improve each session's&#xA;numbers from the previous week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way about once a week you're gauging your improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If looking for justification on the rep ranges, 40-70 reps, 60-80% of max, is what works best for strength. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12618576&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Study&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2013/06/20/how-many-reps-and-sets-to-correct-muscular-imbalances/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;discussion&lt;/a&gt;, such as how more is not only not better, but can be detrimental.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Elephant In The Room&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, don't underestimate the importance of being lean. If worried about losing muscle, when in doubt it's better to err on the side of being lighter than heavier. Events revolving around moving one's bodyweight, particularly in an endurance manner, always lend themselves to being lighter. Gymnasts, cyclists, good runners who run more than 400 meters, they're always light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-08-02T15:56:56.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35812" CreationDate="2017-08-03T03:42:39.520" Score="4" ViewCount="829" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm sitting on a chair or even on a low step, I have no problems standing up with no assistance or touching or holding onto anything.  If I'm sitting butt on the ground, I don't seem to have the strength to stand straight up without pulling myself up or rolling onto all fours or using momentum.  As long as my feet are a couple of inches lower, I'm fine, but once they're on the same level, I'm stuck. &#xA; What exercise would be best for this?  Proper squats seem to stop with your thighs at about a 90 degree angle to your body and calves.  What helps when your heels are touching your but and your thighs are pressed to your stomach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1800" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T14:54:43.703" Title="Exercise for standing from position sitting on the ground?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35808" CreationDate="2017-08-03T06:06:59.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing to be concerned with, that’s a normal compensation while doing planks.  A couple things are going on here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you raise your glutes, your shoulders begin to point downward as&#xA;you're moving your center of mass forward.  The more weight loaded on&#xA;your forearms the less work your core has to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H7q17.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H7q17.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This also results in scapular protraction.  A motion that should be&#xA;stabilized &lt;em&gt;(or minimized)&lt;/em&gt; during this exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A simple fix for this:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do planks parallel to a mirror &lt;em&gt;(provides visual feedback allowing you to self correct)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Focus on keeping your shoulder blades together &lt;em&gt;(scapular retraction)&lt;/em&gt; and keeping your glutes in line with your body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Areas of Focus:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proprioception&lt;/strong&gt; - which is the awareness of your body's position in space – the mirror will help correct this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scapula Retractors Strengthening&lt;/strong&gt; - Rhomboids Major and Lower Trapezius&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For squats ideally I'd have a friend or someone with experience teach you.  Try to keep your back straight while:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UM7Ol.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UM7Ol.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Holding a Wooden Stick or a Lightly Padded Weighted Bar and Practice Lowering your body keeping your back straight&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add a tactile cue (such as a plyo box or some object that you squat and try to touch each time you go down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot more going on with squats (foot position etc) so I'd really try and find some in person help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Want to see someone do a perfect squat?&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;br&gt;Look at any child --&#xA;  seriously &#xA;  &lt;em&gt;(faulty &lt;strong&gt;functional&lt;/strong&gt; movement patterns are learned)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GESLS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GESLS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T06:36:02.060" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T06:36:02.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35810" CreationDate="2017-08-03T07:35:09.517" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very common question - so know you are definitely not alone.  There are some easy exercises that you can do to get better at it. A lot of people actually just don’t get onto the ground for fear of getting stuck there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;The Best Techniques for Getting up off the Ground and Out of a Chair&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercises to strengthen the muscle that should be powering you out of a chair or off the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Technique - &lt;em&gt;Lets get the basics right&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you need to be doing it the right way (which is the easiest and most efficient way). If you aren't, you will  just be battling away and wasting energy -- potentially leading to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fRDmO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fRDmO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;Correct Form: Sit-to-Stand&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting up out of a chair is something that is very, very often done wrong and there are some great tips to improve how you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lean forward at the hips&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Look up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nose over toes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Drive up!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip: This technique utilizes your body weight going froward &amp;#8211; hence why you need to lean forward so that you nose goes over past your toes. This will start you falling forward, and then all you need to do is push up with your legs to stand up-right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: remember if you are looking down, you might go down, so keep you chest up-right and focus on the top of the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;How to get up off the floor&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing here is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roll onto your side and plant your hands on the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push your upper body up, so that your arms and straight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pivot onto your knees so that your hip comes off the ground &amp;#8211; This will get you into four-point kneeling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From there you need to bring one foot forward and plant it &amp;#8211; from there you can drive up with that leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/tXpeFnD52nk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Watch the video here for a good demo of how to get both down safely and up again&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercises to Strengthen&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strengthening exercises, when done regularly can make so many daily activities a lot easier. And I don&amp;#8217;t mean going to the gym and throwing iron around &amp;#8211; There are some great exercises that you can do from home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;1. Sit-to-stand&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great functional exercise. If you are finding it difficult to stand up out of a seat, then one of the best ways to improve is practice &amp;#8211; build up the muscle memory using the correct technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mOD9j.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mOD9j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sitting down into a chair and standing up again is almost like doing a good squat and you can use the same technique to do it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I know that not everyone can start doing this straight away, so I have included two levels:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Level 1: Modified sit-to-stand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, we make it easier by adding a pillow or cushion to the chair &amp;#8211; This raises up the platform and means less distance for you to go up, making it easier on your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I want you to use the correct sit-to-stand technique I taught you above, to do this exercise. Stand up from the chair, not using your arms (your legs are only going to get stronger by working at it) and then slowly sit back down again using the same technique as when you came up (except in reverse!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a great one for strengthening your posterior chain and is very functional. Remember to make it easier just place cushions, or solid books etc on the chair seat to raise the platform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do 3 lots of 10 &amp;#8211; that means do ten sit-to-stands, have 1 minute break and repeat 2 more times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Level 2: full sit-to-stand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This the same as above but without the cushion or pillow to raise it up &amp;#8211; you are doing it right onto the chair seat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tip: to make it harder hold, a small weight in your hands in front of you , start with 1-3kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;2. Bridges&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your extensors (Glutes, back muscles, hamstrings etc) are what really drive you upwards and straighten you up at the hip and torso. This is a great exercise to do to get them working for YOU and the good thing is that it can be done on a firm bed or bench, as well as the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9dQNl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9dQNl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Action:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying on your back, on the ground, firm bed or bench, bend your knees up and place your feet on the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushing through your heels and keeping your back straight, lift your bottom off the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower down again, in control the entire time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat 10 times for 3 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip: If you get back pain doing this or hamstring spasm, try moving your feet in closer to your bottom -- this will likely make it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;3. Lunges&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TBtt9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TBtt9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Action:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From a standing start, take a step forward, planting your front foot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As shown in the picture, bend the back knee towards the ground, keeping your toes on the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Control this all the way with your front leg &amp;#8211; this will be doing a lot of the work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only go down as far as you can comfortably and safely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push off with your front leg so that you come back to standing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat 5 times on each side for 3 sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;4. Wall squats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These exercises are easier than the name lends to thinking and is great for targeting your quads (thighs), these, along with your extensors help drive you upwards, straightening out your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lFOSc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lFOSc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, there is two levels here, so that you aren't thrown straight in the deep end and can start where you feel comfortable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Level one: Squat and hold&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Action:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lean against a wall with your feet at least a foot out from the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slide your back down the wall, controlling this with your legs until you are about halfway down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only go down as far as you are comfortable with!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold this for 5 seconds and then slide back up again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat 10 times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Level two: Swiss ball wall squats&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need a swiss ball (also called gym balls among other things) for this good little exercise&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pbphM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pbphM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Action:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place the ball against the wall and lean against it at the height of your low-back -- make sure your feet are out from the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly squat down, keeping the pressure against the ball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only go down as far as is comfortable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Return back up and repeat 10 times for 3 sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;5. Single Leg Stance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mVUnG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mVUnG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Level 1&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Action:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand on one leg on the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let your legs touch each other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goal: hold for 1 minute&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip: if you cannot hold this very well, you can start with one finger on a wall or bench close to you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Level 2:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Action&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand on a wobble board, dura disc or bosu ball on one leg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aim to hold this for 1 minute or build up to it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you cannot afford one of these you can also fold up a towel and stand on that rolling it up firm to make it harder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned above, &lt;strong&gt;these exercises are effective if they are done regularly, so make it routine and stick to it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aim to do these exercises at least 4 times per week and you will really notice the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: physioprescription.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T14:54:43.703" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T14:54:43.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35817" CreationDate="2017-08-03T09:40:44.423" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to manage &quot;openings&quot; with no injuries. As example ,I want to manage toe touch &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.gr/search?q=standing+knee+touch&amp;amp;prmd=ivn&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiD5tD-m7vVAhWMDBoKHbPWCbwQ_AUICSgB&amp;amp;biw=360&amp;amp;bih=559&amp;amp;dpr=2#imgrc=crDQ05J71QDkGM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.google.gr/search?q=standing+knee+touch&amp;amp;prmd=ivn&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiD5tD-m7vVAhWMDBoKHbPWCbwQ_AUICSgB&amp;amp;biw=360&amp;amp;bih=559&amp;amp;dpr=2#imgrc=crDQ05J71QDkGM&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;οr &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.gr/search?tbs=sbi:AMhZZisIex0aA9Z1YcQiPlP2dn_1rcqlgJrxbuUFVtYilgn5bRW6ByCEKYyY6O3mcV8LI5kQFJiEIRsQXXoWGpea_1O90OSbwige2qmyUDqeDDmEjk-fsDCwMk19BTYFY_153KX8h13QgBRHrIv3T52z72WnBUCgvO_152RoMElfiiph7TC6jLJAk3MwGH9d_1acS23TRw761QiN_1GXbyjM4uGFLKZB6cDRSD2Lc5wN658dIk1ABM6ROuW3Zq_1z2zV7rGxyiBBBbvuglHrJIa0pGv7a-IbpE9C8D6KXcea0BNPilJxITVW_1TYe8tyP9dbjkpIZzXYH0AwFa9gOjB8n789DgrwLymbxgUsFg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.google.gr/search?tbs=sbi:AMhZZisIex0aA9Z1YcQiPlP2dn_1rcqlgJrxbuUFVtYilgn5bRW6ByCEKYyY6O3mcV8LI5kQFJiEIRsQXXoWGpea_1O90OSbwige2qmyUDqeDDmEjk-fsDCwMk19BTYFY_153KX8h13QgBRHrIv3T52z72WnBUCgvO_152RoMElfiiph7TC6jLJAk3MwGH9d_1acS23TRw761QiN_1GXbyjM4uGFLKZB6cDRSD2Lc5wN658dIk1ABM6ROuW3Zq_1z2zV7rGxyiBBBbvuglHrJIa0pGv7a-IbpE9C8D6KXcea0BNPilJxITVW_1TYe8tyP9dbjkpIZzXYH0AwFa9gOjB8n789DgrwLymbxgUsFg&lt;/a&gt;  .  I don't want to push my self as hard as I can and provoke an injury. What should I do to manage workouts like those with not get hurTed? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastEditorUserId="25907" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T14:15:12.157" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T15:25:10.540" Title="Leg &quot;Openings&quot; for beginner" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35814" CreationDate="2017-08-03T14:50:50.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not in a position to teach as I am still a begginer in flexibility and mobility, but these ressources have helped me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/flexibility/comments/2j8sup/dont_know_where_to_start_click_here/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/flexibility/comments/2j8sup/dont_know_where_to_start_click_here/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the &quot;getting started&quot; page of a community of people pursuing the same goals you do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among other things, it links to a splits routine and a toe touching progression. It also recommends a routine called Starting Stretching as a basic stretching routine for overall flexibility. Hope it's what you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T14:50:50.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35814" CreationDate="2017-08-03T15:25:10.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt; Avoid Injury with Prehab&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prehab is a proactive approach to avoiding pain and injury. You&amp;rsquo;ll build strength and stability around your most vulnerable areas, while improving mobility, balance and joint function to decrease the potential for injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How&amp;nbsp;Prehab Works&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prehab exercises strengthen your most vulnerable areas that get stressed in everyday movement: your hips, core and shoulders. Also known as your &amp;ldquo;pillar,&amp;rdquo; strengthening these areas will improve posture and alignment, allowing your joints to move more efficiently. You&amp;rsquo;ll also build up your most injury-prone areas before you&amp;rsquo;re struck with chronic aches and pain that may, in the worst cases, require surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Correcting for Life&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prehab also helps correct problems created by life outside the gym or playing field. There&amp;rsquo;s a good chance you spend hours hunched over in front of a computer every day. This lifestyle causes your shoulders to roll forward and tighten. That&amp;rsquo;s bad enough, but now let&amp;rsquo;s say that you go out and try to play tennis. Since your shoulders are so tight, they lack the necessary stability and range of motion. Your body has a knack for compensating, however, and you end up using more of your elbows when you swing the racquet. That, combined with the poor joint alignment caused by your poor posture at work, could produce a nasty case of tennis elbow or rotator cuff issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With prehab, you&amp;rsquo;ll strengthen the muscles supporting your upper back and shoulder rotators. This improves your posture by pulling your shoulder blades back and down. The shoulder joint&amp;rsquo;s ball and socket will move freely and efficiently, as it was designed to do. You&amp;rsquo;ll feel the difference in every aspect of your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Preparing for Sport&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting at a desk all day also puts undue stress on your lower back and inevitably affects your core. After a long day on the job, it&amp;rsquo;s difficult, if not potentially harmful, to go out and do something that requires strength in your torso without first &amp;ldquo;waking it up.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of sitting also causes hips to become locked down and less mobile. The hips support the pelvis and have more musculature attached to them than any other joints in the body. We want to make sure your hips have exceptional mobility and stability so that they can keep your pelvis in alignment. Prehab movements work on this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;When To Do It&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perform prehab two to six times a week. You can do it at home when you wake up&amp;nbsp;or at any point during your workout, but it's best performed near the start of a training session. Many of these movements can be done with no equipment so there&amp;rsquo;s no excuse not&amp;nbsp;to take 5 minutes of your day&amp;nbsp;to do it. You owe it to yourself to find the time&amp;mdash;it&amp;rsquo;s one of the best investments you can make in your long term health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Results&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;rsquo;s how all this preemptive protection of your shoulders, lower back, and hips ultimately improves your life: About 65 percent of injuries&amp;mdash;both athletic and lifestyle related&amp;mdash;come from overuse, which is to say from repetitive use of joints that are rendered dysfunctional by muscular imbalances. Since prehab addresses the muscular imbalances that lead to injuries, it helps prevent many of the lower-back injuries, shoulder-joint problems and hamstring pulls, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other 35 percent of injuries are caused by trauma. If you run into a wall or take a tumble on the ski slope, something is likely to break, regardless of how carefully you&amp;rsquo;ve followed your training program. Still, prehab and the other components of your training plan can improve your chances. Maybe, because of your balance and stability, you won&amp;rsquo;t tumble at all. Maybe you&amp;rsquo;ll tumble but not suffer as hard a fall as you would have before training. Professional skiers, for example, can walk away from nasty falls that would leave out-of-shape skiers paralyzed or even dead, because the pros have developed stability, elasticity and strength. And even if you do fall and get hurt, your conditioned body should recover faster from the injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you&amp;rsquo;ve built pillar strength through your prehab routine, you&amp;rsquo;ve gone a long way toward creating a body that&amp;rsquo;s capable of remarkable movement and, more important, is resistant to injury and long-term deterioration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: Exos&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T15:25:10.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35818" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35819" CreationDate="2017-08-04T07:52:27.810" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know in order to gain muscle you have to be in a calorie surplus, and I know losing fat and gaining muscle don't mix together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm just wondering why can't it be possible for someone who's in a calorie deficit to gain muscle just by replacing their normal calories with protein and muscle building calories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say I have to consume less than 1800 calories a day in order to lose fat. Can I hit the gym before one of my main meals, lunch for example, and then instead of having a normal lunch I would take proteins (chicken breast, eggs, potatoes, etc...) so that hopefully I can gain muscles ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26342" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T11:20:39.370" Title="Is it possible to gain muscle while being on a calorie deficit?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;calories&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35818" CreationDate="2017-08-04T08:01:50.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer: No.&#xA;The more nuanced answer: It depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two groups that can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. This is generally true for beginners that have a surplus of bodyfat. And also people who have previously been lean and muscular, but lost it due to inactivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides those groups you should either be in a caloric deficit to lose fat (keeping protein high to hold on to as much muscle mass as possible).&#xA;Or being in a caloric surplus to gain muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T08:01:50.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35757" CreationDate="2017-08-04T09:56:48.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, as the name &lt;code&gt;whey&lt;/code&gt; suggests, you could maybe go to your local farmer and get some fresh whey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this does not suit you, you could try to get some natural whey powder. I do not mean the &lt;code&gt;unflavoured whey protein&lt;/code&gt;, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dairy.naturalpoland.pl/product/sweet-whey-powder/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;really natural whey.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still do not want the powder, you could simply drink milk. It also has a decent amount of whey protein by nature....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There does not seem to be a real alternative besides that. I dug through some posts on  the internet now and some suggest egg whites, but I think the best would be a whey shake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of a shake in general is the better and faster digestability, so maybe you should really consider it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26203" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T09:56:48.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35757" CreationDate="2017-08-04T10:08:49.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend quaker with milk,yogurt,banana (general fruits).I haven't take never whey. I can't say whey if it gains more but like those it can replace.I hope to help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T10:08:49.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35826" CreationDate="2017-08-04T13:06:45.157" Score="2" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get the typical 1 hour for lunch each Monday to Friday. How can I schedule/structure a good workout which doesn't tire me out for the afternoon and lets me take it flexibly, as I don't necessarily know when that hour will be (though generally somewhere between 12 and 3)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be specific, with a general goal of losing weight (fat) and building strength (both cardio and muscular) and being of reasonable fitness to begin with, I want to structure a workout which:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;won't get stale&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;works toward those three goals progressively&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doesn't leave me lagging in the afternoon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;provides enough of a workout that it doesn't require bolstering outside of work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clarification:&#xA;We have a fully equipped on-site gym with shower, so travel time is as minimal as it can possibly be, and I can also eat at my desk before/after (this is pretty common.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26345" LastEditorUserId="26345" LastEditDate="2017-08-04T15:47:20.870" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T15:47:20.870" Title="Fit a good workout into the lunch hour?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;food&gt;&lt;timing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35825" CreationDate="2017-08-04T14:59:03.697" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you work out at your workplace / close to it, or do you have to go to a gym ? if so, I suppose the travel time to be taken in the hour ? Do you also need to eat during this hour ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do cardio you are going to sweat and need to take a shower, so it's probably not a good idea since you don't have time for that. Strength training doesn't really raise your heartrate and make you sweat nearly as much since there are minutes of rest between sets. So, I would advise to do strength training during your lunch hour, but to move any cardio to another time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm assuming you're gonna work out at your workplace or close to it to save the travel time, I'm also going to assume you don't have access to a lot of equipment, barbells, dumbells, machines, etc, so it's going to be mainly bodyweight strength training. This is a modified version of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine&lt;/a&gt; to suit your time requirements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a tree from wich you can hang gymnastic rings in walking distance from where you work, that's ideal. Gymastic rings are light, easy to carry around, and very versatile. If there isn't anywhere for you to hang the rings, drop the dips and pullups, and replace the rows by resistance band rows (these are also very easy to transport and they don't require something to hang)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the pairs, you're supposed to do one set of the first exercise, rest 90s, do a set of the second exercise, rest 90s and start over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the progressions, you're supposed to choose the exercise that you CANNOT do 3 sets of 8 reps of. When you are able to do it, you go to the next exercise on the progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* = see below for the condensed version, see the link to the recommended routine for more info and videos&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday Wednesday Friday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm-up dynamic stretches*&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Warm-up: 20 burpees&lt;br&gt;&#xA;First pair: 3x5-8 Pullup progression* + 3x5-8 Dip progression*. Skip this pair if you can't do 3x8 diamond pushups and 3x8 horizontal rows yet&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Second pair: 3x10sec-30sec L-Sit progression* + 3x5-8 Squat progression*&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Third pair: 3x5-8 Pushup progression* + 3x5-8 Row Progression*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday Thursday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm-up dynamic stretches*&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Warm-up: 20 burpees&lt;br&gt;&#xA;60s Plank&lt;br&gt;&#xA;60s Side Plank&lt;br&gt;&#xA;60s Reverse Plank&lt;br&gt;&#xA;60s Hollow Hold&lt;br&gt;&#xA;60s Arch Hold&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Support practice*&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Handstand progression*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The warm-up dynamic stretches routine (~5min):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;shoulder rolls&lt;br&gt;&#xA;scapular shrugs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;cat-camels&lt;br&gt;&#xA;band: straight arm overhead pull downs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;band: straight arm chest flies&lt;br&gt;&#xA;band: dislocates&lt;br&gt;&#xA;wrist mobility exercises&lt;br&gt;&#xA;front and side leg swings  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dip progression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parralel bar dips (or negative dips if on rings, or dips between 2 chairs)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ring Dips&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rings L-sit Dips  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;L-sit progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foot Supported L-sit&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One-Leg Foot Supported L-sit&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tuck L-sit&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Advanced Tuck L-sit or One-Leg L-sit&lt;br&gt;&#xA;L-sit&lt;br&gt;&#xA;V-sit  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squat progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assisted Squat&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Squat&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Step-ups (one leg)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Deep Step-ups (one leg)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pushup progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vertical Pushup&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Incline Pushup (lowering the incline over time)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Full Pushup&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Diamond Pushup&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rings Wide Pushup / If no rings -&gt; pseudo planche pushups (PPPU)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rings Pushup&lt;br&gt;&#xA;RTO Pushup (Rings Turned Out)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;RTO PPPU  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Row progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vertical Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Incline Rows  (lowering the incline over time)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Horizontal Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wide Rows&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tuck Front Lever&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tuck Ice Cream Maker&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tuck Front Lever Row&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Advanced Tuck Front Lever Row  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Support practice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parallel Bar Support (can also be done on the back of 2 chairs)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ring Support Hold&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rings Turned Out Support Hold  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handstand progression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wall Plank&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wall Handstand&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Freestanding Handstand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastEditorUserId="26155" LastEditDate="2017-08-04T15:07:57.157" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T15:07:57.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-04T20:00:20.007" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to learn dance moves much more quickly after I've had a weight lifting workout or even during. Of course, not from the very exhausting ones, but still with huge muscles pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is that? One of my assumptions is because I'm flexing more while doing the moves. It is still confusing, though. If that was the case, wouldn't every dancer do a weight lifting workout before a dance workout? And most don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15556" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T10:18:32.637" Title="Better muscle memory(dancing) after weight lifting" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;dancing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35861" CreationDate="2017-08-06T07:53:25.173" Score="5" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm kinda a weak person compared to other people who are at my age (mid 20s) and I want to build some basic strength (or actually, even get stronger than an average person).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm in a caloric deficit right now. Can I get stronger while I'm losing weight(fat) ? Can I lift weights, do pushups, etc.. and build strength? (I barely can do even 10 pushups at this point)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about nutrition, Do I have to take lots of proteins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26342" LastEditorUserId="26342" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T08:42:17.850" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T04:08:21.633" Title="Do I need to be in calorie surplus to get stronger?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-06T10:12:19.307" Score="0" ViewCount="404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to buy a resistance band to do weighted pushups, stretching and assisted pull ups. Are all resistance bands the same? Will they all give me the same resistance/assitance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like, if I buy one from a local store then will it really give me good assitance and resistance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, can you please link me to good amazon resistance bands if you know any? I am 70 kg and 6 feet in height. My age is 16. I can't buy bands from &quot;america only&quot; websites as the shipping cost is very high tho..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24459" LastActivityDate="2017-12-04T19:19:39.833" Title="Are all resistance bands the same?" Tags="&lt;resistance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10055" CreationDate="2017-08-06T14:20:31.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on what you are trying to achieve.  If your doctor tells you (as mine did me) that you need an HRM, that means, Doc is concerned, you should be too, and so, accuracy is extremely important.  However, if you are casually measuring HR and accuracy isn't important, or, you have other means to account for accuracy of a particular device, or, you can change the method of calculating HR, then you have lots of options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, there are two popular methods on the market to measure HR.  One is optical heart rate monitoring, which uses LED to measure the expansion and contraction of capillaries, which do so because of the heart beats.  The problem is that certain exercises can cause muscles and tendons to affect the contraction and expansion of capillaries, in addition to the action of heart rate, and so, OHRM method is not usually reliable when used during some workouts.  Weightlifting, martial arts, combat fighting, some calisthenics, etc, anything which uses the arms, can garner an inaccurate reading.  Walking, resting, some swimming, some yoga, etc which do not generally use the arms, can garner a more accurate reading.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OHRM is mostly found in wrist-worn devices, like FitBit.  The latest news reports show these devices to be as low as 60% accurate, and cite the reasons I mention.  Read the sources to find the details.  These are convenient and comfortable devices, and as long as you know the limitations and can work around them, these are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other HRM technology are the chest strap-ons, these usually go around the chest and measure electrical impulses, much like an ECG machine.  These are much more accurate, but many people find them to be uncomfortable, and the devices are devoid of the many other features a wrist-worn device has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is, if you find a device which uses chest strap-on for HRM combined with wrist-worn for data gathering and other features, that would be an ideal compromise when you need to measure HR during those exercises which are known to garner inaccurate readings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1565&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How accurate are Fitbit trackers?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/technology/personaltech/fitbit-accuracy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Just How Accurate are Fitbits?  The Jury is Out&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27015387&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Validity of Consumer-Based Physical Activity Monitors for Specific Activity Types&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolenguyen/fitbit-alta-hr-heart-rate-accuracy?utm_term=.spL4lPvr2#.vpWqV9GX2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's How Accurate The Fitbit Alta HR Actually Is&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the BuzzFeed article, the last one, went on the cheap and compared their results with a chest-worn device, which they claim to be &quot;scientifically more accurate&quot;.  However, they do point out an important warning: that FitBit specifically states that their devices are not to be used for medical or scientific purposes.  That means, Fitbits, et al, are for entertainment purposes only.  You'd have to get a device which IS meant for such purposes... and gue$$ what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My doctor told me the devices are great, but for accurate HR monitoring, short of lugging around an ECG on a tricked out gurney, a watch and two fingers is best, if not convenient.  He wanted my HR within ranges, and so, accuracy for me was not important to me as it was for one of his other patients who had severe weight and heart issues.  In that case, his patient had to wear devices which were needed for accuracy, and had to have insurance take care of the costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26349" LastEditorUserId="26349" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T14:25:49.617" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T14:25:49.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-06T17:03:19.073" Score="1" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last month i've noticed how my belly is getting bigger and it's just adding to my body problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something i can do to correct/fix my posture and belly at home or is going to the gym inevitable ?  What kind of exercises should I focus on and what not to ? Also I don't count my calories intake but i think i'm slightly underweight even if I eat normally.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thank you all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26354" LastEditorUserId="26354" LastEditDate="2017-09-28T12:06:45.997" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T12:06:45.997" Title="Skinny 141lbs 5'10&quot; with bad posture and belly pouch" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;posture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-30T19:17:21.707" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35832" CreationDate="2017-08-06T17:35:24.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise resistance bands are not all alike.  The typical difference is in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/145490-what-is-the-difference-in-colored-resistance-bands/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;colors that indicate the amount of resistance&lt;/a&gt;.  When purchasing resistance bands, you should consider the  muscle groups you plan to target and buy bands that are appropriate for your goals.  And, since it is beyond the scope of this site (and purely opinion) to recommend what bands to purchase, you'll need to research that on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T17:35:24.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35834" CreationDate="2017-08-06T20:44:20.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You look like you have an anterior pelvic tilt (weak abs, hamstrings and glutes with tight over-active lower back and  and hip flexors)  and rounded back (weak rhomboids and lower traps with tight over-active pecs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fixflatfeet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/APTcomponents.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;APT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52d56225e4b0e9203b2a6579/t/584ebdbcd2b8572e19536d31/1481555393326/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rounded shoulders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not a comprehensive list at all, but these exercises should do some good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat cow (will stretch some problematic areas): &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOj76wV2WfPvwk3LlWoEMDjcBeWZ93YIi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOj76wV2WfPvwk3LlWoEMDjcBeWZ93YIi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;YTWL: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/3MxHX9j15BU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/3MxHX9j15BU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rows: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;APT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/3q6i3b/my_progress_with_apt_anterior_pelvic_tilt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/3q6i3b/my_progress_with_apt_anterior_pelvic_tilt/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plank (abs): &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/kL_NJAkCQBg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/kL_NJAkCQBg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hollow hold (abs): &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/LlDNef_Ztsc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/LlDNef_Ztsc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glute bridge: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/O9j_DU_4KXs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/O9j_DU_4KXs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunge stretch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T20:44:20.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3698" CreationDate="2017-08-07T00:11:21.540" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm. Good question. It'd be best to be in a life or death situation, as your survival instincts kick in and you can get a boost in strength, speed, and reaction time in order to survive. It's been witnessed. But just as you are, in no danger whatsoever don't count on being able to use your full power any time soon. Rather I'd focus on making your base form stronger (yes I said that). Just make yourself stronger and you'll be good, you could reach peak physical strength and just be strong without having to use the full capabilities of your muscles. Maybe one day we will evolve, but right now if we try to go past our limits as humans our bodies will tear apart. That's why we have neurological limiters on our brains. They are there to make sure we don't accidentally kill our selves. Animals have to use their full strength because they have to survive and thus are born without the same limiters we have. So most likely no it is not possible to use the full extent of your muscles. Hope that helped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26357" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T00:11:21.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19376" CreationDate="2017-08-07T04:06:17.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Primary goal in exercising is to be healthy: to live as long and as ably/comfortably as I can.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right, well in terms of doing cardio, and your 3 mile walk to the gym you're on the right path. If you're too tired during or after maybe consider some supplements etc, I personally take caffeine pills for the extra boost for a 2 hour weightlifting session if I feel at all tired before I go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Secondary goals are to maintain a reasonably good weight (preferably BMI &amp;lt; 25) and physique, and to elevate my mood.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right, most important thing is going to be your calorie consumption. Doesn't matter how much time you spend in the gym if you're stuffing your face every second you're not in the gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going to do weightlifting to gain muscle, then you don't want to just to bicep curls, otherwise you end up with big biceps and the rest of your muscles remaining small which is going to look very strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get bigger then you need to do some kind of full body weightlifting program, if you just want to lose weight then keeping track of what you eat and doing cardiovascular exercise 3 times a week is a great way to achieve that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer the question in your title&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There really isn't an answer for that, it depends on what exercises you're doing and what you are trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you want to elevate your mood, well if you're absolutely worn out after every workout and you feel like crap, you're not elevating your mood are you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26348" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T04:06:17.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34704" CreationDate="2017-08-07T04:19:30.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all abs are still muscles that need to be trained to be big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not everybody has a &quot;huge 8 pack&quot; underneat their fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are abs there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like how a person who doesn't go to the gym has wafer thin biceps and legs, they are going to have wafer thin abs too. But yes they are there&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To answer the question in the title&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is something called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwashiorkor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kwashiorkor&lt;/a&gt; and is the characteristic pot belly look of children who are severely malnourished and starving&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The defining sign of kwashiorkor in a malnourished child is pitting&#xA;  edema (swelling of the ankles and feet). &lt;strong&gt;Other signs include a&#xA;  distended abdomen,&lt;/strong&gt; an enlarged liver with fatty infiltrates,&#xA;  thinning hair, loss of teeth, skin depigmentation and dermatitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26348" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T04:19:30.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36122" CreationDate="2017-08-07T08:16:41.550" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had my heart-rate zones measured lately and I know where my Aerobic &amp;amp; Anaerobic thresholds are. The doctor made an in deep explanation what it means. Though I feel I lost him midway the explanation of the training part. It was going way to technical...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the basics like 70% of the weekly milage below the aerobic thresholh &amp;amp; 30% above the aerobic threshold. And how to plan my training with warmup/cooldown-parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought I would find the remaining explaination on the net. Though I was wrong, it always seems to be to broad without any real-life examples to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was hoping you guys might be able to help me. I'm looking for clear explanation on how I should plan my weeks. Something mainly focused for long distances runners (half-to-full marathons), so I can adjust my training accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FYI: My weekly training scheme&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monday: 1h to 1h20 Easy Tempo&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday: 20min Warmup - 40 min Intensive/extensive duration - 20min cooldown&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday: Rest or some light cycling&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thursday: 20min Warmup - 5 times 4min at Anerobic Threshold with 2 min rest inbetween - 20 min cooldown&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Friday: Rest&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Saterday: LSD-run (20 to 30k) at low intensisty&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sunday: Rest of recovery training (cycling)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="23370" LastEditDate="2018-08-23T09:17:46.120" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T09:17:46.120" Title="Clear cut explaination of threshold training" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;lactate-threshold&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="35846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35849" CreationDate="2017-08-07T12:29:39.553" Score="0" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are formulas that take how much you can lift at however many reps and convert to a 1 rep max. Are there similar formulas that take the same parameters and calculate how much you can lift at any rep amount? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I just calculate my 1 RM then use %s of it at different rep ranges (for example 10 reps at 75% of my calculated 1RM)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23727" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T21:34:05.810" Title="How can I convert from one rep range to another?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;reps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35858" CreationDate="2017-08-07T13:45:30.180" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my full gym experience is around 2 years (counted only periods without long breaks, first time visited gym at the end of 2013 etc). Last 1.5 year only once I was skipping for 1.5 month because of eye trauma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, i always was wanted to have good abs. Still I'm on my way to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this is year 2014&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pm0IR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pm0IR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This previous year 2016 summer&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sv6gX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sv6gX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is today&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ONUZg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ONUZg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a big difference between first an the other pics. But no difference between 2 and 3. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do crunches with dumbells, leg raises to the bar, cable crunches. Tried different way.&#xA; Like 4 times per 20 w lightweight, or like 3 times 15 heavy etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the weight is grown a little, btw (since last year). But the way how abd looks like - no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And not so long ago i met one guy at the gym who said that abs exercises are not working and abs can't grow at all, it's all about fat + genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is he right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastEditorUserId="7077" LastEditDate="2017-11-20T18:17:22.927" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T18:17:22.927" Title="Are abs muscles able to grow?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34259" CreationDate="2017-08-07T14:07:55.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ankle weights are mainly useful for abs by making Toes to bar, L-sits, and Hollow holds harder, they can also be used for glutes and hamstrings (Reverse hyperextensions, and Arch holds) and if you are there, you can also make your handstand pushups harder with them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T14:07:55.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35846" CreationDate="2017-08-07T14:50:02.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an algorithm to convert from one rep range to another using Epley formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calculate your 1 rep max (1RM) using the formula 1RM = w(1+r/30) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the formula around to this 1RM/(1+r/30) = w&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enter in your known 1RM and the new rep amount you want to use to calculate the weight you should use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(other formulas could be used. Here is wiki with formulas: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-repetition_maximum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-repetition_maximum&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23727" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T14:50:02.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-07T15:30:16.330" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to workout by posterior delts, so I was doing revese chest fly on machine and I was able to do it with 80 pounds, but when Dumbbell Bent-Over Reverse Fly i am doing i can take only 10 pounds of dumbbell, why such a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T22:21:30.843" Title="Weight difference in excercise for same muscle" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35850" CreationDate="2017-08-07T22:21:30.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this can help, i came across it the other day when i had the exact same question. &lt;a href=&quot;https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/why-the-numbers-on-weight-machines-are-a-lie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/why-the-numbers-on-weight-machines-are-a-lie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26366" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T22:21:30.843" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35853" CreationDate="2017-08-07T22:25:38.877" Score="2" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everywhere on the internet if you look for gym programs to promote hypertrophy you will see 3 sets of 7-10 reps etc. A personal trainer in the gym i go at has warned me not to believe most of what is written on the internet regarding hypertrophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26366" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T23:01:55.020" Title="Are the idea of 3x10 reps just internet talk?" Tags="&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35852" CreationDate="2017-08-07T23:01:55.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;XY-problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I want to address the XY-problem. You're looking for information on how to attain hypertrophy, but I percieve the problem as being that you don't know where to go to get the best advice. I feel this warrants some explaining, as it will help you in this question, and any other you may have in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any setting where you experience disagreeing inputs, you have to be critical of where you get your inputs from, if you're going to make up your mind. &quot;The internet&quot; largely agrees on certain rep ranges for hypertrophy, but at the same time, &quot;the internet&quot; acts like a hivemind that never changes its opinions on anything, even when presented with new facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what did your trainer tell you? Did he offer some other advice? Because he should. If someone wants to say &quot;no, those people are wrong&quot;, they should be competent enough to not just say &quot;this is the right way&quot;, but also &quot;this is why you should trust me&quot;. In the end, trust the one who can actually argue their point, and not just throw out the bottom line without any explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, here you are, asking the Internet again, so instead of being another one of the people spouting my own opinion, I'll refer you to where we actually get our facts from; peer-reviewed scientific studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to learn how to seek out factual content, and be able to separate it clearly from the articles written by another clueless soul.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The inside scoop&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Append &quot;study&quot; to all your google searches. For instance, simply searching &quot;hypertrophy&quot; will yield the Wikipedia pages, and then a bunch of articles in Men's Fitness and other magazines. However, if you google &quot;hypertrophy study&quot;, you'll get straight to the good stuff. Research notes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, you'll also find more articles that simply mention &quot;this study&quot; and &quot;that study&quot;. But the site we like to hump for information, is the one that contains the dry info. No lame picture with six-packs to trick you into clicking this and that. No articles with ads and clickbait titles. Just the info, thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see the site *ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&quot; a lot, and that's a goldmine. People post their research notes there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can further improve your googling skills by searching &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enNO755NO755&amp;amp;q=hypertrophy%20study%20site%3Anih.gov&amp;amp;oq=hypertrophy%20study%20site%3Anih.gov&amp;amp;gs_l=psy-ab.3...19886.23151.0.23412.13.13.0.0.0.0.152.1003.10j3.13.0.foo%2Cersl%3D1%2Cfett%3D1%2Cewh%3D0%2Cnso-enksa%3D0%2Cnso-enfk%3D1%2Cnso-usnt%3D1%2Cnso-qnt-npqp%3D0-1%2Cnso-qnt-npdq%3D0-45%2Cnso-qnt-npt%3D0-09%2Cnso-qnt-ndc%3D300%2Ccspa-dspm-nm-mnp%3D0-045%2Ccspa-dspm-nm-mxp%3D0-1125%2Cnso-unt-npqp%3D0-15%2Cnso-unt-npdq%3D0-25%2Cnso-unt-npt%3D0-06%2Cnso-unt-ndc%3D300%2Ccspa-uipm-nm-mnp%3D0-0075%2Ccspa-uipm-nm-mxp%3D0-0525.2..0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.6.563...0i22i30k1j33i160k1j33i21k1.2GXol5C4KYw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hypertrophy study site:nih.gov&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. You'll find that a lot of people have studied this exact question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, which rep range?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two studies in particular (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25853914&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24714538&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;) that suggest that high-rep/low-weight and low-rep/high-weight schemes for well-trained men seem to be about equal when it comes to building size, but that the latter seems to be better at developing strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find many more studies with the google search I gave you, and don't worry about reading ALL of it. Most of them have a &quot;results&quot; or &quot;conclusion&quot; section that states what you need to know in understandable terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to give you a push in the right direction; instead of just looking at set/rep ranges, make sure you familiarize yourself with the concentric, the eccentric, and the static portions of each lift. They also contribute in their own way to hypertrophy, and muscle fibre breakdown (and subsequent repair).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T23:01:55.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36894" CreationDate="2017-08-07T23:27:46.720" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 42 and have been working out for 2 months&#xA;my primary goal is to bulk up I am working out every day, and every day I do chest, bi, back, shoulders, I spend between an hour and a half to 2 hours in the gym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my question is,&#xA;what kind of diet and workout out plan should I use to bulk up my 42-year-old body because I have not seen the results I would like to see for the amount of work I have put in the last 2 months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastEditorUserId="15689" LastEditDate="2017-08-08T12:10:15.310" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T19:00:14.977" Title="workout daily or not?" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T01:36:55.660" Score="0" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often times people devise formulas and objective/subjective viewpoints on how far one can take their progress in fitness and weight lifting/muscle building/strength/etc. I have found that there's no possible way to know how far one can take their body because ... it's not possible to be exact. People say that your size and strength is limited by your genes. What are those limits though?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at it this way: If nobody can be 100% sure what someone's genes will allow them to do -- if that even makes sense -- how can someone know there's a real limit? People say you always reach a limit, but does any evidence prove this? Are limits reached or do people stagnate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biologically and physiologically speaking, all human cells constantly are regenerating themselves, living and dying 24/7. No evidence shows that there's any reach, measurable limit of human potential with strength and muscle. Years of exercising teaches and forces the body to grow; get stronger; get fitter; and be able to endure more -- even skeletal and ligaments/etc. adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the ideal of &quot;adapt or die&quot; takes the form of true human potential. One does not know the limit until they're dead. I know it sounds crazy, but can evidence prove there are limits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not just something like &quot;max for this weight class&quot; or etc. -- those limits just keep getting broken. If someone can keep breaking limits and surprising others, potential is clearly not set in stone -- therefore, is it say to say that there's no real such thing as &quot;fitness potential&quot; or the like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or even if there was, perhaps your body's genetics can reprogram themselves from forced use? If the human body truly is meant to adapt or die, I can imagine there must be some truth to this, no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only true limit is death? If your arm hurts but it still works, keep pushing hard? Never give up? Force yourself? You can do anything? Why believe potential at all? There's no such thing, is there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25900" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T16:58:35.067" Title="What does &quot;genetic potential&quot; really mean? Does it really mean anything?" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;power&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T08:47:35.033" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goal was to build a program that accomplishes a few goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit all muscle groups twice a week (compounds + accessories)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Utilize agonist antagonist supersets (staggered) in order to maximize gym efficiency + improve conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Include core every workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;workouts under 50 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 1 - Horizontal Push Pull&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Bench Press - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Bent-Over Row - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP B&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline Dumbbell Bench Press- 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Row - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP C&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Calf Raise - 3 sets x 12-15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging Leg Raise - 3 sets x 5-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP D&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romanian Deadlift - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long Lever Plank - 3 sets x 60 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 2 - Vertical Push Pull&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weighted Pull Up - 3 sets x 6 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overhead Press - 3 sets x 6 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP B&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lat Pulldown - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell shoulder press - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP C&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging Leg Raise - 3 sets x 5-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Side Raise - 3 sets x 12-15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP D&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MAchine Ab Crunch - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbbell Front Raise - 3 sets x 12-15 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day 3 - Arms + Legs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging Leg Raise - 3 sets x 5-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Squat (heavy) - 3 sets x 5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP B&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long Lever Plank - 3 sets x 60 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbell Deadlift - 3 sets x 5 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP C&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EZ-Bar preacher curl - 3 sets x 10-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;French Press - 3 sets x 10-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GROUP D&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer Curl - 3 sets x 8-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable Pushdown - 3 sets x 10 - 12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming it's going to be pretty intense so I'll be lowering my weights a bit until conditioning improves. The goal is to balance out strength, conditioning, core, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put the leg accessories with the upper body compounds and the upper body accessories with the leg compounds. Gonna run this 3/6 days in a row with breaks after every 3 or after every 6 depending on fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26367" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T05:35:39.653" Title="Optimal program for saving time, hitting all muscles 2x a week + abs every workout" Tags="&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35847" CreationDate="2017-08-08T12:57:19.247" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abs are a muscle and behave the same way every other muscle in the body does when you use a resistive load to work it consistently; they grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Genetics &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; affect posture which changes how abs appear in the mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The saying is still correct: &quot;Abs are &lt;strong&gt;grown&lt;/strong&gt; in the gym and &lt;strong&gt;revealed&lt;/strong&gt; in the kitchen.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T12:57:19.247" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35856" CreationDate="2017-08-08T20:25:17.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks good. A few tweaks I’d recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day #1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Group C&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend removing dumbbell calf raises.  No need for isolation  gastroc/soleus training (due to fiber composition etc. you hit these else where in your workout and won’t notice much doing these alone). Instead I’d add in some kind of Plyo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day #2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ab crunch machine I would 100% ditch.  Any compound functional movement will hit your abs.  Aside from hitting your innercore (as a dynamic warm-up) stay far away from isolation ab training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You’re hitting anterior delts twice (shoulder presses and front raises).  I’d add in some kind of D2 Flexion / Extension (Diagonal shoulder movements) using a med ball w/ lunges or battle ropes (X pattern).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day #3:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks pretty solid, I’d keep it as is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T20:25:17.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35831" CreationDate="2017-08-09T04:08:21.633" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: no&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's definitely good to get your proteins in for recovery and building up your muscles/physique (which definitely makes it easier to lift more). However, it's not necessary to develop for strength because strength is neural. Keep in mind you'll eventually hit a plateau but you don't have to worry about it for now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The human body's potential is amazing. You can't do 10 push ups? Do 5 throughout the day (greasing the groove) whenever you got a break or you're about to enter a room in your house. Get a check on your nutrition (which it sounds like you're doing via caloric deficit but try to get a good mix of fats/carbs/proteins in as well). Go for a walk, hit the monkey bars in your local play ground, ease into it. Or better yet, join your local gym and hit the weights. Point is, don't get bogged down in research, move! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T04:08:21.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35864" CreationDate="2017-08-09T11:23:35.117" Score="1" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the Lat Pulldown is a great exercise for the back, but whenever I do it, my shoulder starts hurting. Is there an alternative to it in without overhead movement, where the hand does not move above the shoulders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T15:55:41.763" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T19:23:06.040" Title="Alternative to lat pulldown" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;back&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35863" CreationDate="2017-08-09T12:24:30.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same issue. Rows, will work the lats very well. There are about a million variations on rows too, so try them and see what works best for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite frankly, I think the inverted row is one of the best back exercises one can do. It's body weight, but beginners can bring their legs closer to their body while more advanced folks can leave their legs extended. Once that's no longer challenging you can switch to a one-armed row too. Oh, and you need almost zero equipment. Maybe a broomstick and two chairs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, look around &lt;a href=&quot;http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/BackWt.html#General&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and see if there are any other back exercises you can do that won't hurt your shoulder. But, give the inverted row a shot. You might be surprised that it's such a challenging exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24487" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T12:24:30.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-09T13:07:11.317" Score="0" ViewCount="596" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently bought some resistance bands to use along with my barbell. For Squats there seems to be two main ways to do this. Banded Squats where the bands are attached to the bar from the base of a squat rack, and Reverse Band Squats where the bands are attached to the top of the rack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read (and not understood) you would attach the bands either at the bottom or at the top of the rack depending on what you were wanting to achieve from the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't really understand this. In both cases it seems to me that the total resistance is greater in the top position than in the bottom than when in the hole. The only difference would be in the distribution of resistance between the bar and the bands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Banded Squats: In the bottom position it's mainly bar load and then as you work towards the top position the bands get stretched and increase the resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reverse Banded Squats: in the bottom position the bands are stretched and so take weight off the bar but as you move to top position the bands go slack and so the weight of the bar is no longer supported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case the weight is less in the bottom position and greater in the top position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I can only assume that it is the effect of the stretched position and subsequent recoil of the band that would determine the choice of banded or reverse band squats and that for banded this would occur during the eccentric portion of the lift (gravity plus recoil) while for the banded reverse lift it would occur during the concentric part of the lift. (I think)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can't get my head around which is most desirable or why and could do with a decent explanation if anyone out there could give it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26375" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T13:45:43.490" Title="I don't understand the difference between banded squats and reverse band squats" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;resistance-cord&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35865" CreationDate="2017-08-09T13:45:43.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With reverse banded squats the total weight moved decreases as you get lower in your squat. With banded squats you start at an overloaded level. The main difference is how you load the bar, both are effective at helping you improve your lockout during the squat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With banded squats you load the bar with less weight overall to compensate the banding resistance. Reverse banded also means that you potentially will break your bands if you bail the bar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physically both are similar but due to the assistance in stabilisation at the top I prefer to do them using normal banding method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T13:45:43.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35855" CreationDate="2017-08-09T16:58:35.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah, perhaps one of the most philosophically challenging aspects of physiology. This is almost a religious test within the strength training community. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure there is a single factor. Where we can always say &quot;This is the reason for the limit.&quot; However, I can give a few factors which may wet your appetite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Surface Area to Volume Ratio&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cells are spheres. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zhn2d.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zhn2d.gif&quot; alt=&quot;surface area volume sphere equations&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ratio of surface area to volume is important when it comes to cell function. The more volume, the more nutrition required. However, as a cell gets bigger there is a disproportionate increase in volume relative to surface area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRFYr.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRFYr.gif&quot; alt=&quot;surface area volume ratio diagram&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/LAD/C5/C5_ProbSize.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Credit&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, a cell can't get the required nutrition after a certain point. It's like an animal getting bigger and bigger, without increasing the size of their mouth. At some point, they can't get enough food in anymore, putting a limit on their size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A natural position then is &quot;So what? We can just make more cells rather than making our current ones larger.&quot; This is the difference between hypertrophy (current cells bigger) and hyperplasia (new cells). This has been debated for a long time, but last I checked no significant (skeletal muscle) hyperplasia has been found in, for lack of a better term, regular humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xYZkz.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xYZkz.png&quot; alt=&quot;hyperplasia hypertrophy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The caveat here is drugs. If you're a bodybuilder taking drugs for muscle growth, then hyperplasia may be on the table. This is believed to be one of the biggest advantages of steroids and the like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, hyperplasia is an endlessly debated topic in the strength and conditioning world. It's been that way for decades. Part of the issue is counting muscle fibers is apparently something no researcher wants to do / can do precisely. But that should say something. If it's that hard to find a difference in fiber number, it's unlikely to matter much, if at all. (Whereas finding a difference in fiber size is rudimentary.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Testosterone&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of testosterone as workers who help hold up a building. If you have more testosterone flowing through your body -more workers- OR more room for testosterone to be housed (receptors), you can hold up more muscle- more of a building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a commonly thrown out theory for why people have individual limits when it comes to how much lean mass they can hold. The amount of testosterone flowing through people tends to vary quite a bit, hence, the amount of muscle a person can hold tends to vary quite a bit. Sure, one can take drugs to increase this natural limit, but increasing the amount flowing through the body is futile without increasing how much can be used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also believed to be why some respond better to steroids than others. Charlie Francis, sprint coach of the infamous Ben Johnson, said the irony with drugs is the better athletes are the ones who will get more out of them, due to more androgen receptors. You can see Lance Armstrong bring this up nowadays when asked whether he was cheating. He'll tell you everybody was doing it, but he'll honestly remark it's possible he responded to drugs better than his competitors, giving him an unfair advantage. What he's missing is that advantage is thus inherent. Where he was already ahead of them, drugs or not. (He was a teenage endurance phenom.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Receptor wise, what you start off with is what you end up with. (At least theoretically. Not sure if this has been examined.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that might not be a satisfactory answer, but for many asking why is like asking why our genes can't reprogram themselves to grow a new finger or make ourselves taller. It's just not something humans can do. Epigenetics is not my strong suit, but I wouldn't be surprised if certain parts of the genome are forever locked away after a certain age.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tradeoffs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to regular humans, I think it's fairly clear we have limits, and what some of those factors are. However, what's limiting one person is not guaranteed to limit another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal theory for endurance limits is the amount of heat a person can dissipate. That said, two runners may be have the same limitation here, but if one has less volume on their body e.g. smaller calves, with the same surface area, then they will be able to dissipate more heat, increasing their performance. This is one reason Kenyans are so dominant. More surface area; less volume. Their limbs are long and skinny; their torsos short and narrow. But you can only decrease your volume so much. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2016/08/22/white-men-can-jump-kind-of-but-they-still-cant-run-sort-of/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Interestingly, you notice African-Americans dominate more as the event distance goes up&lt;/a&gt;. Further distance =&gt; heat becomes a bigger concern, where African-Americans have an inherent advantage?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tradeoff is those who are better at dissipating heat will not be able to handle cold weather as well. Whenever you get something in biology, you lose something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Survival of the Sickest, it's proposed type 1 diabetes is a positive adaptation to cold weather. Diabetics pee more =&gt; have less water in their body =&gt; less likely to freeze to death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More mobile joints are less stable ones, and vice versa. This is why world class powerlifters look so stiff and why world class ballerinas look like they'd break in half with a barbell on them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those who try to be great at everything end up mediocre at everything. The CrossFit games are fun to watch, but none of those guys have impressive lifts or running times compared to sole lifters and runners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Rabbit Hole&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also point you to these two videos on asking &quot;why?&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The technical: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36GT2zI8lVA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36GT2zI8lVA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The funny: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u2ZsoYWwJA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u2ZsoYWwJA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T16:58:35.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-10T06:42:51.207" Score="1" ViewCount="755" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a smalls scrony 18 year old, and I want to get ripped! I have no self confidence issues, I just hate people taking advantage of me beacuse I'm a smaller build! I'm never hungry but I eat enough to maintain my weight.&#xA;I'm about 5'6&quot; and weigh 125 lbs. I have know idea where to start gaining weight and turning it to muscle. I don't play sports so my endurance is not great either. I'd like to know how to build that as well. Help with daily diet and a 7 day work out plan that I can slowly increase difficulty would be nice too!&#xA;A specific question i have is: How many calories should I be eating everyday for weight gain? And does it matter if it's junk food? I heard that if your gaining weight it doesn't really matter, idk if that's true or not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body:&#xA;Ht- 5&quot;6'&#xA;Wt- 125 lbs.&#xA;Age- 18&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Need help with:&#xA;Diet/how many calories daily do I need&#xA;Muscle building workout plan&#xA;And endurance training workout plan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am hoping to workout daily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26388" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T13:31:30.657" Title="I want to get ripped but don't know where to start. HELP!" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-12T04:57:13.593" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35873" CreationDate="2017-08-10T07:09:28.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a basic strength program like Stronglifts or Starting Strength.&#xA;And for your dietary needs: GOMAD. Gallon Of Milk A Day. That is ~2400kcal and ~120g of proteins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep eating your normal amounts. I would still stay clear from too much junk food and focus on meats and veggies. &#xA;A cheeseburger every once in a while is okay, just don't overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T07:09:28.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35873" CreationDate="2017-08-10T07:27:13.503" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all you need to know how much calories you need for doing your job. As a worker in a office you need like 2.2k calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will do the calculation with my daily work and my added calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I eat 2.2k calories to do my daily job but if I need to gain more I add like 700 more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that I eat like 3k calories a day.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do a heavy workout like legs or back I add more because a heavy workout burns like 600 calories(yeah I know someone will say more or less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain muscles the muscle need protein.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I do it with 1kg=2g protein. In your case 56kg=112g &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also keep the fat small to eat clean and train dirty &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are new to training you should start with full-body training but with many rest days. Don`t go every day.&#xA;Later you can do a split.&#xA;I do a 3-split:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;chest-tricpes&#xA;back-biceps&#xA;shoulder-leg-abs&#xA;and 2 rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26389" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T07:27:13.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35873" CreationDate="2017-08-10T08:15:11.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like your goals same as mine :) (i waked this path and still on it, look at my last question. Also i made many mistakes and here they are)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; So, first of all - you don't need to workout every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body need time to regenerate all &quot;damage&quot; caused by working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you full body program 2-3 times per week for first two month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/the-ultimate-beginner-3-day-full-body-routine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; Watch your nutrition! You more need to care about what you are eating than about counting calories. Because of 200kcal u get by boiled chicken and 200kcal u get from chocolate bar impact different.&#xA;So simple rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wipe out sugar and all sweets/soda from your mind (but u can drink&#xA;zero stuff). If you like your coffe/tea sweet - you can buy&#xA;sweetener. Like aspartame, you can find it in every supermarket.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't eat buns/bread (but in your case of underweight actually you can eat some dark bread I suppose)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce sauces.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No aclohol/smoking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try eat meat/fish more, but better boiled than fried.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&lt;/strong&gt; You need to sleep minimum 8hrs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And last one&lt;/strong&gt; - try to walk by feet (not running, it's exausting and you can't run for like 40mins - 1hr straight) like around 6-12km per day. On your way to job. Or to the bus station (u can skip some just walking by feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.S.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;I think you can ignore last advice because if your weight is so low you don't need that. I gain fat really fast thats why I trying to walk a lot, and it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastEditorUserId="7077" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T08:25:50.150" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T08:25:50.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-10T12:55:46.480" Score="-2" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sure this question has done the rounds, so pardon me if I regurgitate an old topic, but today I did my usual cycling time trial (steep hill), and broke my PB. I then checked my HR stats and my average was 172, maximum 186 but the time I spent training in Zone 5 was 14 minutes (of a 21:48 course) ***&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 43 and male, I would say I was pretty fit but hardly Chris Froome. I push myself on this ride to almost my limit (I stress, almost) and although I don't have much left in the tank, I would also refute any claim that I am at my absolute limit and ready to pass out or puke. Put simply, I can cope with this level of intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either I am very fit, which I doubt, given the time to distance ratio (see my stats) or very unfit and need to rethink my training. You can also see my HR recovery although I did not just stop... there were Russians drinking vodka in the forest at the top of the route and I didn't want inviting to join them (a refusal may offend), so I stopped and walked away with the bike slowly but purposefully :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am mindful that we are advised not to train like this but my body does basically allow it (although as I said it is not exactly easy). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*** NB I started the stopwatch late, I use Runtastic to time myself, Garmin just for HR and I forgot to start it, and then forgot to stop it at the finish line, hence the time discrepancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lKOVg.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lKOVg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26393" LastEditorUserId="26393" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T13:08:56.060" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T07:58:52.017" Title="Training in HR Zone 5" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;&lt;heart&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35873" CreationDate="2017-08-10T13:31:30.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this is allowed but I bought a book called &lt;code&gt;Bigger, Leaner, Stronger&lt;/code&gt; and I am currently following this program and I have seen good gains over the last 6 months. It's a great starting point and perfect for beginners because it teaches you the basics so you understand how training and nutrition affect your body and it also dispels a lot of myths that are banded around by so called &quot;health/fitness/nutrition&quot; gurus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out some of his blog post's on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleforlife.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;muscleforlife.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also do a search on this site for &lt;code&gt;macro calculator&lt;/code&gt; and you'll find a handy little calculator for working out your macro's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the author or muscleforlife.com. I just love the program and the knowledge he shares.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and one last thing...your technique is by far more important than how heavy you can lift. Don't ever forget that :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26396" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T13:31:30.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35863" CreationDate="2017-08-10T13:45:41.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it hurts you may be injured. In which case, stop all training and get it checked out. Otherwise you risk making it worse and a longer lay off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26396" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T13:45:41.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35887" CreationDate="2017-08-10T14:37:25.690" Score="0" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;Protein is present in a lot of foods: Fruits, vegetables and plenty of other sources. First of all: Is it all the same? Or are there different types of protein? Second: Chicken for example contains protein (it belongs to category of foods) and banana contains protein (it belongs to fruits category), quaker contains protein (category unknown for me) and some vegetables contain protein too, also eggs. &#xA;&#xA;Which food is better for our body to create muscles and why or is same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third question: Even in category of foods the protein differs, too. Chicken, red meat and foods like beans have different values for human body-muscles, as far as I've heard. Which option is better for foods? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of those types of protein is more helpful to build muscle? (Avoid healthy way, my &quot;exams&quot; was very good. I look care what I eat but I may increase some of those for better results that's why I am asking-of course I am not talking about anabolic or steroids. I hope you understand me about this &quot;healthy&quot; foods which are better.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24305" LastEditorDisplayName="user25968" LastEditDate="2017-09-01T20:48:57.673" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T22:44:15.790" Title="The best protein intake to build muscles" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35882" CreationDate="2017-08-10T15:37:41.740" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chicken, turkey, beef, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26396" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T15:37:41.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35863" CreationDate="2017-08-10T19:23:06.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do some shoulder mobility work before starting your workouts. Take a pvc pipe or a long stick of sort, hold it in front of you and put it behind your back. Do band pull aparts. Do some rotator cuff work. Warm up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do assisted pull up machine, yates rows (look it up), dumbbell pulls, high row machine etc. Do some dead hangs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think your emphasis should be on checking out your shoulders, doing mobility work (look up kelley starr's becoming a supple leapord) and warming up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T19:23:06.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-10T21:21:13.040" Score="0" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 19 years old boy and this week my one rep max front-squat improved from 72.5 kilograms to 85 kilograms but legs  didn't grow in width at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the process slower than i though or am I doing something wrong? Consider my diet consist of 4574 calories every day of the week...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26400" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T12:14:56.803" Title="Squat getting strong but legs don't grow" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;squats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35882" CreationDate="2017-08-10T23:45:53.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out NutritionExpress' protein rankings and relevant info &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nutritionexpress.com/article+index/authors/editor/showarticle.aspx?articleid=743&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ua8qQ.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ua8qQ.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, be aware of complementary protein paring. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.bastyr.edu/news/health-tips/2011/09/what-are-complementary-proteins-and-how-do-we-get-them&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for starters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you should be acquainted with the notion of proper/optimal absorption of nutrients too. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/important-nutrients-you-need-for-healthy-digestion/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for that. It's not mentioned in the linked article, but a good way to absorb magnesium is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ancient-minerals.com/transdermal-magnesium/how-topical/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;through the skin&lt;/a&gt;, so rub it all over your body&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; before you take a bath/shower or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put chlorophyll in my tea too, which &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.academicfoodjournal.com/archive/2011/issue2/26-32.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I've come to believe&lt;/a&gt; helps in long term absorption of protein via its ability to clean the intestines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8zz7C.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8zz7C.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's not what the question asked, but I'd like to also add that using the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.choosemyplate.gov&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MyPlate&lt;/a&gt; resource as a &lt;em&gt;guide&lt;/em&gt; (as opposed to strict adherence) is a good practice and try to be as primitively inspired while shopping/hunting/foraging as feasibly possible, &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt;, in the sense of (a mix between) Michael Pollan's ethos in &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0143038583&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Omnivore's Dilemma&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Omnivore's Dilemma SPOILER ALERT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; The final section finds Pollan attempting to prepare a meal using only ingredients he has hunted, gathered, or grown himself. He recruits assistance from local foodies, who teach him to hunt feral pigs, gather wild mushrooms, and search for abalone. He also makes a salad of greens from his own garden, bakes sourdough bread using wild yeast, and prepares a dessert from cherries picked in his neighborhood. Pollan concludes that the fast food meal and the hunter-gatherer meal are &quot;equally unreal and equally unsustainable&quot;. He believes that if we were once again aware of the source of our food – what it was, where it came from, how it traveled to reach us, and its true cost – we would see that we &quot;eat by the grace of nature, not industry&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Paleo Diet&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H7Gx5.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H7Gx5.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, like I said, use these as a guide as opposed to a strict singular dietary adherence. In practice it's a subtle balance of them all. If you're a vegan it's trickier: In my own experience as a vegan---in the past, but not anymore---for six years it's how well you can pair proteins, the time you can spend preparing this, and the amount of plant-based food you can consume in a day, but it is possible. Check out an example of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHeyp2UwLQE&amp;amp;t=1m43s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kendrick Farris&lt;/a&gt;'s approach, and there are a lot of other examples. But I quit this way of eating because of prep time (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylG8b8ivy7M&amp;amp;t=6m50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for an idea), and it's my understanding (I could be wrong) that our dentition---canine teeth---is reflective of our nature/evolution to eat meat that contains the concentrated nutrients formed from the animal's efforts from consuming mostly plant-based foods. Personally, I try to eat two/three wholly vegan meals a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're body building, you've got to remain kinda consistent, so I'd recommend a &quot;meal prep&quot; schedule of some kind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VolM0.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VolM0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working out in the morning increases your metabolism throughout the day, which I find compliments a scheduled meal plan, but I also dislike sameness, so I do that every other day (3-to-4 prep'd meals a week) with random snacks/meals and eating out on off days&lt;sup&gt;**&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;* If you like Conan O'Brien, you'll like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwsoBtqoB8A&amp;amp;t=1m9s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; that touches on magnesium absorption.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;** I hope this hasn't come off as a humblebrag-type rant. I can assure you my heart is in the right place.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25968" LastEditorDisplayName="user25968" LastEditDate="2017-11-24T22:44:15.790" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T22:44:15.790" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35886" CreationDate="2017-08-11T06:58:12.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For hypertrophy go for higher number of reps. Low reps high weight definitely build strength and some size, but if you're aiming for size, you'll want to lower the weight a bit, and hit higher reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are you doing anything else for legs? Romanian deadlifts (absolutely killer for hamstrings), deadlifts, leg press, extensions, reverse hypers etc. All those stimulate different muscles and adjusting rep ranges towards 8+ will definitely result in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For measurements, you'll want to measure every week or two, in the same areas around the same time. Water intake, time of the day etc. can all affect measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, if you're gaining strength, keep at it. It's not like you'll see a lot of progress in one week. It's a marathon. Experiment with the rep ranges and have fun. It's like experimenting on your own body!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T06:58:12.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-11T10:46:29.437" Score="5" ViewCount="1189" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Wikipedia about &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordosis#Lumbar_hyperlordosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lumbar hyperlordosis&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Commonly known as swayback, it is common in dancers. Imbalances in&#xA;  muscle strength and length are also a cause, such as &lt;strong&gt;weak hamstrings&lt;/strong&gt;,&#xA;  or tight hip flexors (psoas). A major feature of lumbar hyperlordosis&#xA;  is a forward pelvic tilt, resulting in the pelvis resting on top of&#xA;  the thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means cycling, which uses the hamstrings a lot should have corrective effects for hyperlordosis. Is this reasoning correct, or are there other factors that need to be considered?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4250" LastActivityDate="2018-11-05T18:41:32.010" Title="Is cycling good or bad for lumbar hyperlordosis?" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;&lt;spine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-11T15:46:06.927" Score="1" ViewCount="2098" Body="&lt;p&gt;what is point of cross body hammer curl , aren't they same as hammer curl work same muscle, is their any benefit except tat they can carry more weight ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-12-10T05:53:43.163" Title="Point of cross body hammer curl" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;arms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35897" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-12T01:11:11.943" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have differently shaped shoulders through a disability so I purposely work my right arm with heavier dumbells.  What is the consequence of doing this to the left side of my body?  I mean is there corresponding muscles that could inadvertently be toning my left side whilst working my right?&#xA;I think my lower back on my left has more definition. Could that be due to more strength training on my right arm?  Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26408" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T20:32:22.590" Title="Lifting heavier weights with my right arm" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;&lt;toning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35896" CreationDate="2017-08-12T02:27:11.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a fallacy to think that bad form results in no muscle development in ALL cases. I'm not saying put on 3 plates on your squat and quarter rep it or try curling 135 lbs by thrusting your pelvic in and jerk the bar into your chest but you should no you have to lift heavy (or progressively so) to further scar muscle tissue and hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, people who've been doing it a while probably know the drill on doing it with perfect form but probably start off their workout with something like a cross body curl with heavy weight to get some cheat curls, and stimulate lots of different fibers. When you cross curl vs regular hammer curl you're hitting different parts of your body (try it out, it's harder in some cases because it's like a standing concentration curl). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment on yourself to see how it feels. Try combining cheat curling and strict form curls. Try both hammer and cross body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T02:27:11.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35901" CreationDate="2017-08-12T19:52:38.183" Score="2" ViewCount="2858" Body="&lt;p&gt;General question: why would the upper glute area (piriformis, gluteus minimus, gluteus medius) get disproportionately tight and sore from running?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, the tightness and soreness in this specific region seems out of proportion to other areas of my body. Nothing else gets this sore or tight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This area gets sore enough that it is the limiting factor in my recovery from longer runs. Following a long run, typically the rest of my body is ready to go again on schedule, while this area has yet to recover completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Info specific to me: I am not currently doing weight training, but I think my strength is fairly balanced across all the muscle groups involved in running. My glutes have genetic capacity to be one of my stronger body parts; this area has never been my weak area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in improving my running technique, training methods, mobility or whatever else is required so that I do not over-stress these muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If more info is needed, please leave a comment and I'll update the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have no numbness. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My soreness is normal delayed onset muscle soreness. I would not say I have pain other than DOMS. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have no symptoms of nerve compression. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do have tightness immediately after running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Response to Mike-DHSc&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you are generally on the right track. I sit a lot, and my sitting posture is not great. I would not be surprised if my hip abductors are lengthened. My hip flexors are shorted, and I have been working on that through Dr. Kelly Starrett's mobility program for a few months (and getting good results). But I have not been addressing lengthened hip abductors. What do you recommend (given that I'm already doing all the stretches you recommended)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Final Update&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I implemented some hip abductor strengthening exercises and continued the mobility work and the issue has almost entirely gone away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3283" LastEditorUserId="3283" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T23:16:13.520" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T23:16:13.520" Title="Sore glutes from running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;muscle-recovery&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35899" CreationDate="2017-08-13T00:11:27.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pain and numbness &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; results from either blood vessel or nerve compression /restriction.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You’re describing a classic presentation - movement followed by tight musculature along with pain &amp;amp; numbness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the region the majority of these cases are related to a tight Piriformis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why not the Glutes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, your hip abductors (Glute Min / Med) are weak or lengthened &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jandaapproach.com/the-janda-approach/jandas-syndromes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jaunda’s Upper and Lower Crossed Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the pain is located in the upper gluteal area - the glutes are rarely implicated as you’d likely see pain laterally.  This would also commonly present as lateral knee soreness or hip snapping (during movement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the image below it shows the vessels that pass exactly where you’re describing.  As the sciatic nerve actually pierces the Piriformis muscle in 15% of the population. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eBo3o.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eBo3o.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://human.biodigital.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Free 3D Anatomy Model&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms are very similar to &lt;strong&gt;Piriformis Syndrome&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;SI Joint Dysfunction&lt;/strong&gt;.  There are a ton of secondary causes that could exacerbate this &lt;em&gt;(spinal pathology, an innominate torsion, stenosis, weak abdominals etc.)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below I posted some great exercises aimed at alleviating this found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://spine-health.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spine-health.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Supine Piriformis Stretches&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Three Different Stretches)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie on the back with the legs flat. Pull the affected leg up toward &#xA;the chest, holding the knee with the hand on the same side of thebody and grasping the ankle with the other hand. Trying to lead with&#xA;the ankle, pull the knee towards the opposite ankle until stretch is&#xA;felt. Do not force ankle or knee beyond stretch. Hold stretch for 30&#xA;seconds, then slowly return to starting position. Aim to complete a&#xA;set of three stretches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie on the floor with the legs flat. Raise the affected leg and place&#xA;that foot on the floor outside the opposite knee. Pull the knee of&#xA;the bent leg directly across the midline of the body using the&#xA;opposite hand or a towel, if needed until stretch is felt. Do not&#xA;force knee beyond stretch or to the floor. Hold stretch for 30&#xA;seconds, then slowly return to starting position. Aim to complete a&#xA;set of three stretches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lie on the floor with the affected leg crossed over the other leg at&#xA;the knees and both legs bent. Gently pull the lower knee up towards&#xA;the shoulder on the same side of the body until stretch is felt. Hold&#xA;stretch for 30 seconds, then slowly return to starting position. Aim&#xA;to complete a set of three stretches. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Buttocks Stretch for the Piriformis&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Begin on all fours. Place the affected foot across and underneath the&#xA;trunk of the body so that the affected knee is outside the trunk.&#xA;Extend the non-affected leg straight back behind the trunk and keep&#xA;the pelvis straight. Keeping the affected leg in place, scoot the&#xA;hips backwards towards the floor and lean forward on the forearms&#xA;until deep stretch is felt. Do not force your body to floor. Hold stretch&#xA;for 30 seconds, then slowly return to starting position. Aim to&#xA;complete a set of three stretches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Single Knee to Chest Stretch.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull one knee up to the chest at a time, gently pumping the knee&#xA;three to four times at the top of the range of motion. Do 10&#xA;repetitions for each leg. Press-up. From the prone position, press up&#xA;on the hands while the pelvis remains in contact with the floor. Keep&#xA;the lower back and buttocks relaxed for a gentle stretch.  Hold the&#xA;press-up position initially for five seconds, and gradually work up&#xA;to 30 seconds per repetition. Aim to complete 10 repetitions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;UPDATE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the additional info – love trying to make sense of what’s going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work PRN as a PT so I can run it by coworkers if needed but obviously would need a full eval to get a proper Dx.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A couple questions:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this pain unilateral or bilateral?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When exactly does the pain first occur (are you just tight after a&#xA;run or is there pain as well)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When is the pain most intense?  How long before it goes away?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When did you first notice this (sudden onset or gradual)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once sore, any specific movement(s) make the pain worse or better?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you recently changed your program in anyway (distance,&#xA;intensity, mode etc.)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you even had any kind of movement screen done?  Such as the&#xA;FMS, SFMS etc.. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.functionalmovement.com/system/home&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.functionalmovement.com/system/home&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;See this:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irunfar.com/2016/04/if-you-cant-do-this-exercise-you-will-get-hurt-hip-stability-and-alignment-for-trail-runners.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.irunfar.com/2016/04/if-you-cant-do-this-exercise-you-will-get-hurt-hip-stability-and-alignment-for-trail-runners.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly hip and altered neuromuscular firing patterns.&#xA;I’ll wait to go any further till I have more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-08-13T10:34:51.640" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T10:34:51.640" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-13T02:43:33.357" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in my 30's, new to running and training to run my first marathon. Currently I'm at the 15-20 miles/week mark and looking forward to running my first half in November and my first marathon in December. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still like to drink wine &amp;amp; occasionally drink a few bottles in a night that hasn't necessarily affected my training schedule progress so far but I fear that it may in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I quit drinking for the rest of my training? Is it okay to have a couple glasses of wine 3-4 days/week without substantially hindering my progress or limiting my performance or is it okay as long as I'm staying hydrated and eating appropriately, sleeping well, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26411" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T07:47:16.283" Title="Can I still drink and train to run a marathon?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-30T19:18:21.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-14T06:10:03.143" Score="2" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering how one can progess into an iron cross. My shoulders are strong enough for stuff like handstands, muscle-ups and human flag, but this movement is very different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what kind of movements I should do to strengthen the muscles I need to hold myself up like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LkE2g.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LkE2g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-08-14T10:10:22.223" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T13:00:37.393" Title="Progressing into iron cross" Tags="&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;gymnastics&gt;&lt;progress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35902" CreationDate="2017-08-14T07:47:16.283" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Making sure you are hydrated well and keep your electrolytes up is the first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't go so far as to advise to quit drinking completely. There might also be some relaxation benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do realize though that you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; hampering your recovery. And if you do 15-20 miles/week at the moment and want to do a full marathon in december I guess you have some ramping up to do. And you need to recover well from your workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T07:47:16.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35903" CreationDate="2017-08-14T13:00:37.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stevenlow.org/book/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overcoming Gravity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; recommends the following progression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rings Strap Handstand Pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-sit / Straddle-L Straight-Arm Press Handstands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full Back Level (With Supinated Hands)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1/2 Layout / 1 Leg Extended Front Lever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rings Advanced Tuck Planche&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rings Dips (Deep &amp;amp; With Rings Turned Out to 75 Degrees Past Parallel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the actual movement itself, if you can't quite hold it yet, Dr. Low recommends training with either a partner to hold your legs, or with elastic bands such as Therabands pushing against your feet. In either case, the load should be managed so that you're exhibiting maximal effort to hold yourself aloft in the cross position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T13:00:37.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-14T16:40:57.070" Score="2" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Details&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do train by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://stronglifts.com/5x5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5x5 program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to gain muscle and weight, 3 times in the gym per week, keeping my training sessions short: 30 - 45 min, each workout I wear very warm: t-shirt, hoodie, underpants and short pants (and it's in boiling summer) so it's not surprising that I'm very sweating while the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm wearing warm I feel that training being better in terms of a better stretch of muscle, feeling the power/ability to do more reps by keeping muscle warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things that also should be considered:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm 23 years old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weight: 66 kg / 145 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;height: 185 cm / 72,8 inch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;during the training, I'm drinking the gainer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Questions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does sweating interfere to the muscle/weight gain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can a workout of this kind somehow hurt the heart?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23669" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T20:43:08.597" Title="Does sweating interfere to the muscle/weight gain?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;sweat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35909" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-14T17:29:05.517" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what happens to their testosterone levels when they are ready for competition after their body fat has gone down dramatically and are very dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm tempted to think it may go down too because I know their libido goes away and, as far as I know, testosterone has a lot to do with sex drive, but I recalled this Greek bodybuilder who at the end of 2016 made a great fuss when he punched a judge to the floor with a lot of strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26195" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T17:29:05.517" Title="What happens to testosterone levels when bodybuilders are low in body fat and dyhatrated?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-30T19:19:04.737" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35908" CreationDate="2017-08-14T22:00:39.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, quit overthinking. Keep at it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult a doctor, not an online forum about your heart health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T22:00:39.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35915" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-15T15:00:49.217" Score="4" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I won't be able to work out for at least 2 months (November 2017), I'm undergoing a surgery... I'm only able to walk... and that's it! SO, do you maybe have tips and tricks for not losing the muscle mass I gained until now... I'm working out now for 6 months and I'm scared I'll lose my strength and muscle mass..Thanks anyway for the tips!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;best regards,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Selin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26431" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T06:55:34.420" Title="Any tips for not losing muscle mass?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;mass&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35919" CreationDate="2017-08-15T22:06:14.490" Score="1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does spending more hours in the gym makes you getting bulkier and reach the body you after faster?&#xA;I know that rest is needed to get bulkier but if I exercise the same muscle over and over in the same day, does that make it getting bigger faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen a report about a big transformation for a fat guy in 6 months, as he was spending long hours in gym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fitness/weight-loss/how-a-12-million-bet-helped-this-guy-lose-weight/news-story/8d66b48a3f3b686e1f828e11dacaf6b4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fitness/weight-loss/how-a-12-million-bet-helped-this-guy-lose-weight/news-story/8d66b48a3f3b686e1f828e11dacaf6b4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T05:54:13.880" Title="More hours in the gym" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35924" CreationDate="2017-08-16T05:14:30.000" Score="0" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;My target is to get bulked&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that sometimes when I increase weight I cant finish the 10 reps in the set, so I stop at 7 or 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shall I reduce weight so I can finish the whole 10 or shall I stop at the number of reps I can do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T15:19:24.983" Title="cant do my 10 reps" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35917" CreationDate="2017-08-16T05:52:15.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't make it past 6 or 7 than you have probably made a too big jump or you're not pushing yourself hard enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try making smaller jumps, push yourself hard and see what happens. If you can't make it to 10 that is expected, but you should at least see improvements between workouts. If you do 6 in one workout, you should be able to do 8 or so the next workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another variable to play  with is rest. How much do you rest between sets? For mass you should restrict the amount of rest to 30-60 seconds usually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T05:52:15.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35916" CreationDate="2017-08-16T05:54:13.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, no. With body transformations there are no shortcuts, you just have to put in the work. And  that &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt; consists of three parts: train, rest and eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train hard, rest (and sleep) a lot, and eat to support your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T05:54:13.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35915" CreationDate="2017-08-16T05:57:40.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any answers directly for your question, but maybe I can still help a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Atrophied muscles seem to 'remember' they were once larger. If you are lean and muscular and stop training for a (long) while and you become fat and lose your muscle mass. Once you start training again and eating right you drop the fat very easy &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; rebuilding your muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is, even if you might lose muscle mass, you should regain it fairly easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T05:57:40.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35915" CreationDate="2017-08-16T10:45:03.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no way to keep muscle mass without working out but if u keep your diet clean as u do while work out, u can minimize your loss and as they said before its easy to regain when u start back. So only tip I can give is taking care about your diet. Keep your protein intake as much as before and keep your daily caloric intake in maintenance (no weight loss and gain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T10:45:03.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35917" CreationDate="2017-08-16T10:51:06.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Progressive overload is one of the basic principle of building muscle mass so not be able to reach the rep count you mention is not so important. Always start with a weight you can do and increase the volume in each session. Never jump so much be patient and that weight will be your warm up set if u keep doing and taking care of your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T10:51:06.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35927" CreationDate="2017-08-16T14:36:51.700" Score="1" ViewCount="15089" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having a long existencial issue with touching my heel with my butt as part of stretching, I see most people can do it, why can't I? I can't even squat well! I'm afraid of over stretching the ligaments of my knee or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 6,0&quot; tall (1,82m) and I don't think that's an issue. I couldn't even do it in my childhood and now since I've started jogging as part of my training for future marathons (a long journey) I'm genuinely afraid to have an injury because of this. Thank you for your time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26439" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T19:41:53.853" LastActivityDate="2018-08-18T13:53:20.693" Title="I can't touch my butt with my heel" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;stretching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35917" CreationDate="2017-08-16T15:19:24.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As another response says a basic principle of building mass is Progressive Overload which means increasing the volume of weight you lift at each session. &#xA;However, increasing the volume of weight isn't only about increasing the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, you shouldn't only focus on getting my 10 reps, you need to take multiple things into consideration : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight (are you lifting more than last time ?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest time (are you resting less than last time ?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Number of reps (pretty straight forward)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one of those increase (with the others being equal) then it's progressive overload and you are on your way. The goal is to work more (even a little) each time you lift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26442" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T15:19:24.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35926" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-16T18:40:40.317" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently bulked up to prepare for the upcoming rugby season. I put on roughly 9 kilos. However, I need to get fit again and have decided to do some runs and sprint training. Having just started running again for the first time after the bulk I felt very heavy and I was very unfit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is should I continue to eat plenty of food and calories so that my muscles, lungs (or whatever it may be) can repair and grow after these runs/sprints or should I return to eating more like a normal person (3x a day) to focus more on losing the excess puppy fat from the bulk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other tips for someone in this situation would be very welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26444" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T13:10:06.397" Title="Diet for increasing cardiovascular fitness" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;cutting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35923" CreationDate="2017-08-16T18:44:25.303" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are two exercises I like for this purpose: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toddler Squat: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc3V3f45nOI&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc3V3f45nOI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have people hold that position for 30-60 seconds, for either three sets, or have them spread it out during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harder version: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQdPjpP5k8A&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQdPjpP5k8A&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good to have something nearby to hold on to. Often the person will feel like they're going to fall backwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another exercise: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSSGeymXUgw&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSSGeymXUgw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can think of the latter as a horizontal squatting motion. Because resisting gravity and stability isn't a concern, it's easier. It's also a good assessment because of how relaxed the body can be. If after a couple weeks of working on this the person isn't getting anywhere, that's a good sign something structural is going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, notice how this guy's lower back rounds when he rocks back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lilE6.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lilE6.png&quot; alt=&quot;hip rocking hip flexion range of motion 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/muhJr.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/muhJr.png&quot; alt=&quot;hip rocking hip flexion 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, notice once he opens his knees, he now has more range of motion before his lower back rounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lilE6.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lilE6.png&quot; alt=&quot;hip rocking hip flexion range of motion 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fQ1Qi.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fQ1Qi.png&quot; alt=&quot;hip flexion better&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;b-reddy.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is due to how his hips are built. This gets rather anatomically technical, but you can see more details in the following links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2013/05/09/talking-about-hip-retroversion/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Talking about hip retroversion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2015/07/29/on-structural-adaptation-limitations-of-the-hip/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hip adaptation limitations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2015/08/03/hip-mobility-issues-in-basketball-players-why-the-lack-of-internal-rotation/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hip mobility issues in basketball players&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the above is a discussion on hip flexibility -because that's what I've seen to be the most common limitation- the ability of the ankles to plantarflex (toes point down) has to be considered as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knee wise, the range of motion is usually there. Unless the person has awfully tight quads, or has an injury history where they never regained their flexion range of motion. Not common issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, not being able to get all the way is no big deal. Much like not everyone can do a split, not everyone can squat the same either. You want to be careful about forcing range of motion though. You end up jamming bones together, which can cause issues over the longterm. If you feel some tightness while stretching, that's a sign improvement can be made. If you feel a blocking, like you just can't move further, that's likely bone in the way. Pushing that will only make the matter worse. (Bone gets bigger when it gets pushed or banged on sufficiently.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T18:44:25.303" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-16T18:56:06.477" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;To maintain a good posture during sitting or standing still, one has to use spinal and abdominal muscles (in a perfectly healthy individual it is supposed to happen unconsciously) quite a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if one has to stand still or sit for a long time, these muscles start to experience fatigue (even if they are well trained). I have heard from a doctor once that in order to help this, normally these muscles relax and contract back following the breathing cycle. In my case apparently it does not happen automatically so I have a muscle fatigue very fast when I sit or stand for longer times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can somebody suggest me some references on this coupling between the breathing and spinal/abdominal muscles relaxation? I have not managed to find anything on the web. The only things I was able to find were about how difficult it is to breathe normally if you have a bad posture, which is of course a useful thing to know, but it is not at all what I am interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I am not quite sure if I have to place this question here or to health.se&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26445" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T03:20:13.037" Title="Influence of breathing on posture (NOT posture on breathing)" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35928" CreationDate="2017-08-17T03:20:13.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a ref. you may find very useful &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.energyarts.com/taoist-longevity-breathing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.energyarts.com/taoist-longevity-breathing&lt;/a&gt;.  The class I took taught us to use breathing to support a variety of postures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in prone extension the back muscles begin to fatigue, but when you combine this with breathing into the posture, the muscles do less of the work allowing you to maintain the posture with less effort.  The lessons take &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;diaphragmatic breathing&lt;/a&gt; well beyond the basics.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry that I can't take the explanation farther than that, but I hope that gives you a start of where to look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T03:20:13.037" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35931" CreationDate="2017-08-17T06:48:35.007" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this exercise and i cant remember where but it is a chest exercise,&#xA; You lie down on floor, put dumbbell on your chest, grab it firmly with both hands in middle and raise it to top and them back again to chest and so on.&#xA;I this exercise legitimate and is it effective for chest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T07:50:42.227" Title="Identification and Effectiveness of excercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;chest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35930" CreationDate="2017-08-17T07:50:42.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X54ZWq8lEUU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; (@5'30) describes the exercise you want. It also describes the way you can use it to target the chest. One exercise can target different muscles depending on how you use it i.e. changing little details can change the targeted muscles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T07:50:42.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35879" CreationDate="2017-08-17T07:58:52.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say : Listen to your body and track your progression rather than blindly following prescription such as &quot;don't train too much in zone 5&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you may not actually be in your zone 5. Your monitor could not be 100% accurate. Did you perform an actual lab test to determine your zones ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, if your body and mind both recover well from such training sessions (i.e. you sleep well, you feel good, you do not feel completely broken physically and mentally, you still want to train) and your metrics of interest (speed, endurance, ...) keep improving, then all good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each person is different and responds differently to a training stimulus. If this works for you, all fine. Although remember also to think long term. If at some point you start noticing little injuries, pain, ... This might also be an indication that you are training too hard without enough rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T07:58:52.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35926" CreationDate="2017-08-17T13:10:06.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends a lot on your goals, and rugby position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a football player myself (American football), and it's very easy to get carried away during the bulking phase so i know this feeling of being unfit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems you do not want to get any bulkier at this point, so i would recommend you get enough calories just to be in a &quot;maintenance&quot;.&#xA;Or just slightly above maintenance to take into account for the cardio training you are now incorportating into your training regiment. That way you will be either in a maintenance, or low deficit in terms of calories which will not change your weight very much but shouldn't put you in too much trouble in term of energy level.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26450" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T13:10:06.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-17T13:38:48.230" Score="2" ViewCount="362" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am on a cardio machine at the gym - cycle, running, stairs, whatever - wearing a telemetry strap around my chest to pick up my heart beat and transmit it. I am also wearing a watch that was sold with the telemetry strap, that picks up the transmitted signal and gives a readout of my heart rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile the machine itself is picking up the same signal and showing my heart rate. (I am not touching the sensors, so it is not reading my pulse directly; it has detected the telemetry strap.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two heart rate displays regularly differ, normally by 2-10 bpm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a general rule about which one I should believe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The watch is the same brand as the telemetry strap, and is better tuned to it. Trust the watch over the cheap electronics they put in gym machines.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The machine has a much larger antenna, and is plugged into mains so it can be more sensitive. Trust the machine over the low-power processing they put in watches.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of them is missing beats. Trust whichever reads higher.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Like uncalibrated scales, they all have their biases, so use your watch because at least the bias is always consistent, no matter which machine you are on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26397" LastEditorUserId="26397" LastEditDate="2017-08-17T15:49:10.543" LastActivityDate="2017-10-16T20:27:21.760" Title="Are heart rate monitors in watches or exercise machines more accurate?" Tags="&lt;heart-rate-monitor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35915" CreationDate="2017-08-17T14:50:53.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To elaborate a bit on the previous answers,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't workout at all for 2 months, you will lose muscle mass and strenght that's a fact nothing you can really do about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, There is a few things that makes it not as demoralizing as it may sound : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, not working out for 2 month can actually be a good start to optimize your training program, diet etc.. while you're not actually training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Second, As Dennis mentionned it Muscle Memory is a real thing, i don't know what is your training regiment but you won't be starting again from scratch as it's only two month and you will regain your strenght and mass faster than you gained it in the first place. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Third and last, try to keep your diet on point, especially your protein intake it can help not lose too much mass. Reduce your calories though as you will not be working out for 2 month. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26451" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T14:50:53.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35915" CreationDate="2017-08-17T16:53:10.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you don't want to give the details of your surgery,but maybe you will be able to work the parts of your body that aren't affected (by example a hip surgery will prevent you from doing squats but probably not from bench press, dumbbell row lying on bench, and military press)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T16:53:10.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36050" CreationDate="2017-08-17T18:06:58.380" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have calluses on the inside-side of the balls of my feet.  I have tried a few pairs of trainers and still get persistent blisters under the calluses.  I would like to minimise blistering whilst running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be reducing the size of the calluses to reduce blistering when running, or have they formed to reduce the effect of blistering, and getting rid of them would lead to increased blistering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23747" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T03:39:21.077" Title="Will reducing Calluses improve or worsen blistering (running)" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;foot&gt;&lt;foot-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35934" CreationDate="2017-08-17T18:59:18.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard protocol for networked fitness devices is is &lt;a href=&quot;http://file:///C:/Users/sduggan/Downloads/D00000652_ANT_Message_Protocol_and_Usage_Rev_5.1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ANT&lt;/a&gt;, with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thisisant.com/developer/ant-plus/ant-antplus-defined&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ANT+&lt;/a&gt; typically implemented for interoperability. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://err.no/tmp/ANT_Device_Profile_Heart_Rate_Monitor.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standard for heart rate devices&lt;/a&gt; is to send full pages of compiled data from the device. Thus, it is extremely likely that both the treadmill and your watch are receiving the same data from your monitor. Unless they are changing that data (for example, smoothing out the data to guard against infrequent messages, or modifying the displayed heart rate data based on other information) or displaying different fields (the standard page only has the timing, count, and computer heart rate, but you could have a sensor that sends additional information), the odds are that both devices are accurately displaying the data given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely case I can think of is data latency. Either your watch or the treadmill may be operating at a different speed, either delaying the readout of your heart rate or displaying a smoothed value based on multiple inputs during the time frame between updates. If you were to catalog the values from both devices, I suspect that the answer would probably jump out in the data, but ultimately, I think the biggest takeaway here is that the data you are being given is accurate, just not necessarily in the same time frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T18:59:18.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33403" CreationDate="2017-08-18T21:16:10.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I say start now. The program really does ease you into it. The worst that happens, you repeat the first week again until you can work up past the initial 15 seconds of running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T21:16:10.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35962" CreationDate="2017-08-18T21:32:41.260" Score="0" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My only option is to lift in a bedroom; there are are no other options than this room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The room contains a double bed and nothing else. There is enough space on three side of the bed to walk around it, but not much more. The bed stands against one wall, and I would very much prefer not to move it to be against two, to gain space on the other side, as there are things under the bed which would no longer be accessible and it's a heavy bed, which is not so easy to shove around (yes, I realize the irony :-) ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a straight barbell, an EZ-curl bar and some dumb-bell handles, plus rubber coated plates which fit them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is room to curl the EZ-curl bar, but not, for instance to squat or do push ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exercises can I do &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;safely&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, on or by the bed, in such limited space?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26461" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T18:02:54.827" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T18:02:54.827" Title="Weight lifting in a very small space" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2017-08-19T12:00:12.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are moving I can't see how they help. If you are not warmed up and then get up to move about you may risk more strain as the tissues involved are not flexible when colder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train with 15kg on each leg (scrap lead bolted to gravity boots) and wear weights elsewhere up to 100kg. I've built up to this over several years yet I don't wear them till I'm warm and have done basic body weight exercises. Even then the longest I've kept them on for is an hour, but usually it's half that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt there's any positive benefit to anyone not in an active job wearing weights during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its just a considered opinion not an expert one mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26465" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T12:00:12.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35958" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35970" CreationDate="2017-08-20T07:28:06.910" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;What muscle are worked if I lower my arm? It can't be the deltoid, as front and lateral raise use deltiod.&#xA;But lets say I am upside down and lower my arm, which muscle I will work out? Just like triceps are opposite to bicep, what is opposite to deltoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T11:47:24.640" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T06:23:53.910" Title="Muscle helping Arm lowering" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35960" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35965" CreationDate="2017-08-20T13:03:15.810" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to ask this probably very obvious and silly questions to people who are into physical fitness, but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was looking into getting more physical activity lately and I have no idea where should I start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to play football a lot (as in train in a football club) when I was younger and I always had these problems with groin strains (now that I'm more aware I would say I didn't prepare well enough before training sessions back then) and it led me to drop-off at one point. I didn't do much PA since then, now, about 8 years later I feel like that's the last call to mitigate physical issues I started to have recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel very weak physically - as in my muscles are weak, so are my ligaments, I also have the feeling my joints (especially knees &amp;amp; elbows) are really worn, torn and &quot;dry&quot; (I hope you know wihat I mean by that!).&#xA;With that in mind I excluded running from possibilities (and also because I simply hate running which would make me lose interest quickly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any kind of physical activity that would be safe for my joints and ligaments, yet would help me build enough muscle strength to gradually  shift the load from these to muscles, so I could get into move &quot;advanced&quot; and demanding activities (like football for example)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preferrably it would be something I can do at home, but it could also be something that I can simply practice nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of swimming, but no swimming pools are easily accessible where I live and my tight work schedule would make it very hard to go regularly to a swimming pool. So basically, I'd like to ask for an alternative with similar load profile (in terms of joints and ligaments).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26469" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T00:08:55.980" Title="Home training / workout for very inactive person (swimming alternative?)" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;beginners&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35960" CreationDate="2017-08-20T17:40:49.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your recent history and limitations, I think the safest alternative for you is to look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;body weight exercises&lt;/a&gt;.  They offer the following benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can be done just about anywhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relatively low impact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No equipment required&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train most body parts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body weight movements will allow you to build some initial strength at your own pace.  Additionally, you should look to incorporate some form of stretching to improve flexibility.  Once you feel you've made sufficient improvements, you should consider some type of formal resistance training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T17:40:49.517" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35950" CreationDate="2017-08-20T18:06:47.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your lack of space, and, the proper environment for training, I would &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; consider using an ez-bar or any other form of equipment.  Your current situation, in my opinion, is not conducive to obtaining an efficient work out and you run the risk of injury and damaging things in the room.   Rather than looking to use an ez-curl bar, etc., you should consider body weight movements until such time as you have sufficient space to train effectively.  For example, using resistance bands and the bed, you should be able to train most large body parts.  It may require you to be creative, but, you should be able to get an effective work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T18:06:47.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31872" CreationDate="2017-08-20T19:13:05.010" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course fat may be an element, but so are lax muscles. It is definitely possible to target muscles and make them stronger, thus tightening the tissue and diminishing the look of a double chin. There are plenty of slim people with double chins!&#xA;It's the same as facial muscles. If you work them regularly, you'll reduce the sagging that comes with age, or at least hold it off for a few more years than the average person. Yes, a lot of the exercises look and feel silly, but they do work. How can that basic logic be denied? A lot of regular gym exercises look kind of silly when you think about it, but should that prevent someone from trying them? &#xA;Good information and products are out there, but unfortunately yes, there are many useless sites and products available. Do research, continue to ask questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26470" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T19:13:05.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9608" CreationDate="2017-08-20T22:59:08.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience and, as a result, my professional opinion as a certified fitness instructor, I found that the width of the grip in &quot;hanging leg raises&quot; is better and longer tolerated when it is a little more than shoulder-width apart.  This may be due to less impingement of the shoulder structures involved when hanging by the hands.&#xA;Bracing the whole shoulder-girdle by actively drawing down the shoulders (shoulder depression) is yet another recommended habit to help reduce the chance of impingement of shoulder structures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26471" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T22:59:08.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35960" CreationDate="2017-08-21T00:08:55.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your history with previous strains and present joint problems, it is worth planning a gradual re-entry into exercise.  Otherwise if you overdo, you'll hurt and have to take time off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/12860/beginner-in-physical-fitness-need-tips-and-advices/12864#12864&quot;&gt;q/a&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; may give you some good information about the different aspects to consider in getting back in shape. Injury prevention includes proper warm-up, strengthening to stabilize, flexibility and gradual cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking is a good way to start. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtogetbackinshape.com/Nordic-Pole-Walking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nordic Walking Poles&lt;/a&gt; can give you a better workout while helping to add some support to your knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water exercise is excellent, but without easy pool access this could only be an adjucnt exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodyweight exercises as suggested are good to increase your strength and can be done at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling is low impact and often good to lubricate &quot;dry&quot; joints.  However, you may want to try a stationary cycle at low resistance to see how knees like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps get you started.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T00:08:55.980" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35967" CreationDate="2017-08-21T04:21:06.533" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing a translation into French and I cannot understand the meaning of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;time in zone&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. The sentence reads: &quot;It allows you to analyze your &lt;strong&gt;time in zone&lt;/strong&gt;, cycling-specific VO2 and recovery time.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody explain, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many thanks! &#xA;Lou&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26474" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T10:18:38.703" Title="Meaning of &quot;time in zone&quot;" Tags="&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35966" CreationDate="2017-08-21T10:18:38.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are heart rates zones that specific for each person depends on the VO2 max value. As they mention most treadmill boards there are aerobic, anaerobic, cardio, etc... The zone you should analyze is the maximum heart rate(effort) zone that you don't allow lactic acid to decrease your muscle activity. In that zone you can cycle for hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T10:18:38.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T10:23:18.417" Score="5" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been going to both Gym and Crossfit alternate days for the past 3-4 months regularly. Lately, I have started feeling stressed about going to the Gym. I feel I am missing rest after coming from work and getting ready to go to the gym\workout is seeming like a regular activity and stressing me. Is this a normal thing people undergo? Is there a good way to deal with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26476" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-28T17:06:48.753" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T10:15:45.117" Title="Getting stressed for going to gym" Tags="&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35958" CreationDate="2017-08-21T10:40:07.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The topic you talk about is &lt;strong&gt;Synergist&lt;/strong&gt;(something such as a chemical or a muscle that enhances the effectiveness of an active agent) and &lt;strong&gt;Antagonist&lt;/strong&gt;(a muscle that contracts with and limits the action of an agonist with which it is paired) muscles. The action of deltoid is shoulder abduction, flexion and extension so synergists of deltoid are Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres major and minor, Subscapularis and antagonists of deltoid are Pectoralis major and minor, Subclavius, Serratus anterior, Trapezius, Latissimus dorsi, Rhomboid major and minor, and Levator scapulae. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T10:40:07.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T12:11:46.917" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 24 year old male, 154 pounds. My goal is to lose 12 pounds. It's my first weight-losing experience, I've never read anything about it, so feel free to explain the basics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for my question is that, psychologically, it's much simpler for me to maintain an extreme diet for a fortnight, rather than a moderate diet for months. But such pace is not recommended in MyFitnessPal app. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exactly is wrong with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it much harder to maintain a constant weight after extreme dieting, than after a moderate diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I expect certain health issues because of such a diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26477" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T18:03:16.220" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T18:03:16.220" Title="What's wrong with losing more than 6 pounds per week?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35971" CreationDate="2017-08-21T12:31:44.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long story short, it falls under the &quot;easy come, easy go&quot; category. Whatever progress you make fast, can be lost equally fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Losing a lot of weight is more than just losing a lot of weight&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, there's no problem with losing weight in short bursts, but you have to keep a pretty strict diet in between those bursts too, if you're not going to gain the weight back again. And then you're on the &quot;minor adjustment, longer period of time&quot; after all, so why not do that from the get-go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why small adjustments are better, is because your body needs to adapt to the changing circumstances. Your spine might get some much needed relief, your muscles might suffer some loss, your hormonal balance might change, your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, sleeping pattern... I could go on and on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These should not be subject to overwhelmingly rapid change. The most notable exception is if someone chooses to undergo elective surgery, such as gastric bypass. But this is the most drastic measure one can take, and is done under very close supervision by medical professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it much harder to maintain a constant weight after extreme dieting, than after a moderate diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exactly the correct question, and I think I've said most of what needs to be said here. Yes, it's harder. However, you could get a medical check-up, and get some feedback from a doctor. It's still doable. There's just a lot more you need to be aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I expect certain health issues because of such a diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your diet should be meticulous no matter what you're trying to accomplish. Even someone who isn't making weight changes should endeavor to fill their quota of all the vitamins, minerals, and other essentials that the body needs to function properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A weight loss diet has to be even more carefully planned, because you have to cover all your quotas over a smaller caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you have this down, there's no reason why any diet would cause you harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T12:31:44.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35975" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T14:00:21.960" Score="1" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 29 years old, 5'10&quot;, 165 pound, 12% body fat percentage man. I have so small Gluteus Maximus size and I want to gain some size there. I do hip thrusts, glute bridges, squats, deadlifts, hyper extensions and any variation of lower body exercises for gluteus, I consume 2.2 times kg of LBM protein from highly bioavailable sources, enough macro and micro foods but still not enough result. I don't believe about genetic limit if you are not IFBB level. So i need some tips and advices about gluteus development techniques(not about how to do a good diet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastEditorUserId="15980" LastEditDate="2017-08-25T06:40:26.967" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T11:55:06.727" Title="Gluteus Maximus Development Tips For Men" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;lower-body-strength&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T15:11:44.707" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 25 year old male and I added 20 pounds of fat in the last 3 months. My father had a similar experience at the same age, so I guess it's age-related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before my mid-20s, gaining muscle, actually any type of mass, was really hard for me, regardless of how much I ate or exercised. Now, I have the opposite situation, I can't lose weight. So, my idea is the following: instead of trying to lose weight, in my current situation, I should focus on gaining muscle mass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how likely is it that I will gain muscle mass more easily now? Or is growing fatter not usually related to gaining muscle mass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26478" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T22:11:56.053" Title="I grew fat due to age-related changes. Will I gain muscle mass more easily now?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T17:14:35.473" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sprained my ankle a couple years ago. Nowadays, if I do hard physical exercises continuously for a couple of days, it bungs and my ligaments start to hurt and I cannot encumber it. It usually occurs after some wrong ground contacts/touch-downs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you give some exercises to strengthen it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26481" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-08-27T11:46:17.867" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T11:46:17.867" Title="How to strengthen my ankle after an injury?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-30T19:18:29.580" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35979" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T19:29:42.613" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing 25 pound dumb bell curls for a while and now I'd like to move to 35 pounds. The problem is, that I am afraid that my wrist will get injured with that much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will wrist bands help or should I support my wrist with the other hand while taking up and letting down the weights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-08-22T06:49:24.607" LastActivityDate="2018-03-02T10:26:35.167" Title="Prevent wrist-injuries when doing curls with high weight" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;curls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34538" CreationDate="2017-08-21T21:27:33.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise increasing your reps per set (not total reps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You likely aren't pushing yourself enough and your body has adapted to this particular workout to the point that it has become too easy to really be effective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to do sets of 20 reps instead until you reach 200. Even if you need to increase your rest time that's ok. But you should feel very exerted in the last reps of your sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a week, following a day or two of complete rest, try to best your personal time record for doing a set of 40.. measure the time it takes you to complete those reps with good form and then try to best that time the next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you are doing proper form.. go on youtube and watch the form. I see a lot of people entirely skip the pushup portion of the burpee and still call it a burpee.. that's not a burpee. Make sure both your feet actually leave the ground together in the jump portion, even if only a centimeter or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, for optimal fat loss try to do your cardio (in this case burpees) in the morning while in a fasted state. Then following the workout, remain fasted for as long as you can handle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26484" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T21:27:33.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35977" CreationDate="2017-08-21T22:11:56.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately as you get older you are likely to add roughly a pound of fat to your body per year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no it doesn't mean you will put on muscle more easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a more serious note unusual rapid weight gain is probably worth a visit to the doctor to ensure it's not a metabolism issue or thyroid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could just be stress, but that's a lot of weight to put on in a short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19271" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T22:11:56.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35982" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-22T01:03:41.067" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already saw youtube videos on &lt;strong&gt;kettlebell&lt;/strong&gt; but none does&#xA;like Tyler (Character) does in Never Back Down (2008) movie:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/Ajzhnbs.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/Ajzhnbs.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I use &lt;strong&gt;kettlebell&lt;/strong&gt; like this also?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26487" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-08-22T17:42:41.777" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T17:42:41.777" Title="Can I use kettlebell like this also?" Tags="&lt;kettlebell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="35984" CreationDate="2017-08-22T04:10:41.120" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before training I first take BCAA an then creatine, after my training I first take a smaller amount of BCAA and then whey protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, if I can mix the BCAA &amp;amp; Creatine powder in one bottle, instead of taking it separately? Same for BCAA &amp;amp; whey protein powder. Is there any use taking them separaterly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-08-22T05:45:51.367" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T11:27:49.777" Title="Mixing Supplements" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-28T14:12:21.620" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35983" CreationDate="2017-08-22T06:41:33.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about mixing, just make sure flavors match. Creatine supplements are mostly have no flavor so you can mix any but most bcaa has fruit based flavors so maybe its not a good idea to mix it with whey unless they have flavor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T06:41:33.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35982" CreationDate="2017-08-22T06:57:29.987" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure you can, but why would you want to? There is no benefit to slapping the kettlebell in mid-air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're new to kettlebells, stick with the tried and true routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T06:57:29.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-22T09:47:46.620" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 27 and I've never stayed in lotus position my whole life, now I'm trying because I find it the best position for meditation, but I'm very inflexible. I read somewhere that it's too late to develop a lotus position at this stage but I think that if I develop proper stretching specially hip openers I can get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is there any step by step method to follow to get that ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25468" LastEditorUserId="25468" LastEditDate="2017-08-22T10:07:45.753" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T14:07:25.757" Title="Is there a chance to develop lotus position during adulthood?" Tags="&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;hip&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-30T19:17:08.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36004" CreationDate="2017-08-22T16:46:30.007" Score="2" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, I was listening to a discussion of parkour and they mentioned two painful falls you should avoid. One I recognized, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5XxbnAwS8o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;scorpion&lt;/a&gt;, which is basically a faceplant where you have sufficient momentum that you wind up with your legs going up into the air and toward your head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kss24.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kss24.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Scorpion fall&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other was a &quot;suitcase&quot; fall and it's driving me crazy for some reason, trying to figure out what they're referring to. Is that like the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/IZ1Z_NnL6vk?t=3m30s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;taco&lt;/a&gt;&quot; for a backfall where you land on your back (or the back of your head) and your legs flip forward and over your head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context was this &lt;a href=&quot;https://parkouredu.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ParkourEDU&lt;/a&gt; video where they're mentioning that a particular diveroll is superior to &quot;suitcase or scorpion&quot; when recovering from a &lt;a href=&quot;https://parkouredu.org/peel-out/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;peel-out&lt;/a&gt;. I've left a message asking for explanation, but I figured I'll keep this query up here as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T10:03:42.280" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T11:46:22.957" Title="What is a &quot;suitcase&quot; fall?" Tags="&lt;parkour&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35986" CreationDate="2017-08-22T16:58:05.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have an authoritative source, but yes, you can likely learn to do the lotus position even as an adult. Typing &lt;em&gt;lotus position progression&lt;/em&gt; into Google gets you a number of poses and positions to work up to a full lotus. Here are a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://yoga.com/article/5-poses-to-prepare-you-for-lotus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Five Poses to prepare your for Lotus&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Revolved Head to Knee Pose (Parivrivritta Janu Sirsasana)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pigeon (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cow Face Pose (Gomukhasana)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Half lotus pose (Ardha Padmasana)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/10/how-to-lotus-a-beginners-guide-for-the-inflexible/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Lotus: a Guide for the Inflexible&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Exercise 1: Foot to Thigh&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Exercise 2: Butterfly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Exercise 3: Elevated Butterfly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also video tutorials out there, but that would require me to transcribe the contents and I'm lazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T16:58:05.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-22T17:29:57.567" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;After my warm up, I have a relatively low breathing rate. When I begin to sprint should I start breathing quickly and deeply immediately or wait until I'm just out of oxygen? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I start deep breathing immediately I tend to get light-headed. If I start later on I tend to run out of breath quickly and have to stop to catch my breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19214" LastEditorUserId="26631" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T12:36:04.003" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T09:53:51.513" Title="Should I start breathing deep immediately starting a sprint" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35978" CreationDate="2017-08-22T20:02:58.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dogen's Titanium Ankles&quot; - an excellent program designed for ankle injury prevention under extreme load:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B1XvEbJUKE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B1XvEbJUKE&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Source 2: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2oqcyn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2oqcyn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is pretty much the authoritative source on preventing ankle injury. Also, lots of calf raises with weight. Obviously progressing from no weight / with assistance, etc, since you were injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16841" LastEditorUserId="16841" LastEditDate="2017-08-22T20:24:48.187" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T20:24:48.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35983" CreationDate="2017-08-23T05:55:52.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that BCAAs or individual amino acids ought NOT be taken with protein as it eradicates the specific benefits of the aminos alone. The two compete for absorption and the proteins win... or, the aminos are simply chained with the  protein's aminos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BCAAs should be taken on an empty stomach before, during or after training (and upon awakening). Creatine is not an amino or protein so include it with the BCAAs and with the protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sugar is beneficial, fueling muscle and brain cells... and supposedly &quot;bringing&quot; aminos and other nutrients into the cells as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25578" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T05:55:52.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35975" CreationDate="2017-08-23T06:21:08.263" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some say diet is much more important than training regime. What are you eating on a daily basis?... number of calories, grams of protein carbs, fats? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the science, I require 244 grams of protein a day in order to grow, when working a training program. (Google &quot;protein intake calculator&quot; for your amount). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's 80 gms each meal (3 meals/day), or 60 gms (4 meals). One large egg is about 6 gms, so I eat at least 8 eggs for breakfast. I eat 5 meals, counting my post-workout protein shake... about 50 gms each meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At only 3 meals, I would require 13 eggs for maximum growth. And, when training hard, my body would need  every bit of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They&quot; say six meals is best... for metabolism, weight loss and to keep the muscles in a  constantly growing anabolic state vs catabolic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We grow muscle in recovery, not at the gym. You can actually shrink if you're not giving the body what it needs. The body will catabolize existing flesh, organ tissue including the heart (that's what eventually kills the anorexic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom Line: If you want to get big, you gotta eat big. And, you gotta rest... get plenty of sleep and naps are good too! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25578" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T06:21:08.263" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35915" CreationDate="2017-08-23T06:55:34.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once took six months off from training. My first day back I tested my maximum amounts and surprisingly was able to lift about 10% more weight on all motions. Go figure! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, wouldn't worry about it too much. There's good feedback here regarding protein an calorie intake. Plus, you'll need good nutrition for surgery recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies show that a special diet high in protein BEFORE an operation speeds recovery. Naturally, lots of protein AFTER is paramount. There may be times when you just won't feel like eating but you gotta anyway. Find a tasty protein powder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the hospital, they actually feed glutamine intravenously while recovering. (Google &quot;wound healing,&quot; &quot;Pre and post-op nutrition&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus, creatine and BCAAs have nootropic benefits, improving brain function, even if you're not working out. (maybe it's a time to train the brain?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a positive perspective... God's giving you an opportunity to grow in other ways. Find'em and have fun! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25578" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T06:55:34.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33242" CreationDate="2017-08-23T11:14:08.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using preworkouts for years too. I tried many brands and there is no magic in that stuff. Now im doing my own preworkout with my way. I like tingling feeling and i put arround 2gr of &lt;strong&gt;beta-alanine&lt;/strong&gt;, cold brew coffee that contains 150mg &lt;strong&gt;caffeine&lt;/strong&gt;, 5gr of &lt;strong&gt;creatine&lt;/strong&gt;, 5 gr of &lt;strong&gt;arginine&lt;/strong&gt;, 5 gr of &lt;strong&gt;bcaa&lt;/strong&gt;, 5gr of &lt;strong&gt;citrulline&lt;/strong&gt; ...etc in my shaker and voila. That's way cheaper compared with ready product and I can manipulate it as I want. But the most important thing about preworkouts, body get used to the stimulants like caffeine so i don't consume coffee in workout days and i do caffeine diet to give body a rest. If you dont mind about taste thats a great method but if you care my favorites are C4 and PRE-JYM as preworkout.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15980" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T11:14:08.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-23T21:28:12.070" Score="2" ViewCount="3730" Body="&lt;p&gt;So , I've been having these issues for a while now and did a little research on that across the internet. Surprisingly I've found a quite a bit related topics though haven't really found a good advice/answer due lack of information. These issues I'm about to point out here also varies from person to person and that's why I've decided to make a new clear topic with as many details provided as I can provide. This is my story;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;/Quick bio&#xA;I'm 19 years old guy who has been doing street workout for about 1 year or so. I would consider myself as an intermediate since I am able to perform a couple of really clean muscle-ups and varieties of front lever progressions. I have been exercising since I was like 16, but started doing &quot;elements&quot; a year ago. So in summer 2016 I had started my sw-story by doing various progressions for front lever , one arm pull-up, planche and muscle up. After 3 months of working out like this and managing to do one-leg front lever and really &quot;broken&quot; muscle up , I've seen it won't get me anywhere and also my first year of college was about to start so I got back into doing regular pull-ups and push-ups till the beginning of this summer ( 2017. ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I've got a different look at progression itself. I have decided that I'm gonna dedicate myself into only one progression until I master it and then I would continue doing other as well by the same routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 1 month ago, I've decided I'm gonna stick to front lever only . It started well. I had some pain in my right shoulder from doing wide pull-ups which passed really quickly by ignoring the pain and doing pull-ups despite it. I also had some pain in my right tricep which also passed quickly also by ignoring it . Weird way of getting rid of pain in muscles, but it had worked for me. Now we come to my real issue which is the reason I wrote all of this. I also had pain in my lats from doing fl progressions which i also get rid of using the same &quot;technique&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quick look at my current workout sessions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1 - whole day doing fl progressions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2 - other street workout exercises excluding dips&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat until Sunday . Start again in Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been getting this mid-back pain after doing any FL progression. I had it before as well, but the pain would usually appear at the end of workout and it wouldn't be so strong. I used to do one-leg fl for as many times as I could and wouldn't feel anything. I wish I could say the same thing now. Pain occurs directly after any progression and it is pretty strong . Last for a couple of seconds and sometimes it feels like I can't breathe. It's located in my middle back area, mostly right around the spine. Pain started getting pretty strong about a week ago and follows me since. Pain also occurs at the very beginning of workout after first fl exercise and increasingly getting stronger after each fl exercise .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am able to do advanced tuck fl , one-leg fl, one-leg fl switching legs for 10 about reps and slightly-bad-form straddle fl holding for 2-3 sec.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the advices I found on the internet were to stop doing it for a while / forever . The thing is ; I don't really want to stop doing , even for a while like for a week or longer. This is my current goal and I would be extremely disappointed if I had to stop. I also found that  it could be the result of doing fl with &quot;arched&quot; back ( bad form ), though I feel that my holds are pretty decent in that sense since I recorded myself tons of time and asked my s-w buddies to criticize my holds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help/comfort ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26499" LastActivityDate="2019-04-30T11:48:29.657" Title="Mid-back pain after front lever exercises" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;back-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7533" CreationDate="2017-08-24T05:43:41.087" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burpees Enthusiast Guy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, I would like to tell you this: You have to change first your attitude towards exercise. Instead making it feels you boring, try to make it fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Climbers is easy than Burpeers and so Pushups than Burpees and so Squats than Pushups in the &quot;Bodyweight Training Sense&quot;. However, each of these workouts has their specific functions or target area/s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, why not try this Set of Workouts for 5 to 7 sets and take only 1 minute rest after every set is rightly and completely done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SET OF WORKOUTS that you might get interested:&#xA;10 Burpees&#xA;20 Climbers&#xA;15 Pushups&#xA;20 Squats&#xA;15 High Knees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then take 1 minute rest&#xA;and repeat the whole set 5 times or 7 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: NO rest between workouts. you can only take 1 minute rest after completing the whole Set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get use to this setup for 7 sets, try to increase the numbers of each workout, for example to:&#xA;20 Burpees&#xA;40 Climbers&#xA;30 Pushups&#xA;40 Squats&#xA;30 High Knees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then if you have time to go out for Running, Jogging and Sprint, you may also try this SET of WOrkouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WARM UP&#xA;1.6k kilometer Warm Up Slow Run or Jogging&#xA;50 meters Walk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;STARTS:&#xA;200 meters Sprint ( Run like there is no tomorrow BUT with extra care)&#xA;10 Burpees&#xA;20 Squats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then take 2 minutes rest while walking.&#xA;Repeat the whole workout at least 3 Sets to 4 Sets then gradually increase to 6 sets to 7 sets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: NO rest between workout. Complete the whole set then take the 2 minutes rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get accustomed, increase your Sprint, Burpees and Squats with Jump, like for example to:&#xA;400 meters Sprint ) run like NO hell tomorrow)&#xA;20 Burpees&#xA;40 Squats with Jump&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then take 2 minutes rest and repeat at least 3 sets to 4 sets, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember: NO rest between workout. Complete first the whole set then take your 2 minutes rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After completing your Training, do stretching then go home. ^_^&#xA;oh by the way, don't forget to eat light that can easily be digested for your fuel an hour or half hour before you start your training. In my case, I just eat Banana before my training. And I also bring Banana with me In case I feel hungry along my training. of course your water to keep you hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to do the training at least 3 to 4 times a week.&#xA;In my case, I do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1st Day: Long Run, for an approx distance of 8k to 10k or more. up to you.&#xA;2nd Day: Rest&#xA;3rd Day: Combo Training (Burpeers, Climbers, Pushups, Squats, High Knees)&#xA;4th Day: Core Workout (Do Pushups, Dips, Situps, Planks) it is a short light workout though to serve as your rest&#xA;5th Day: Combo Training (Sprint, Burpees, Squats and Sprint)&#xA;6th Day: Rest ( do your house core or whatsoever)&#xA;7th day: Rest ( do your house core or whatsoever)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh Diet....&#xA;NEVER skip meals.&#xA;EAT your Breakfast healthy.&#xA;EAT your lunch&#xA;EAT your Dinner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always include VEggies in your every meal a day, at least half of your meal are veggies then 30%-35% Healthy Protein then 15-20% Healthy Carbs like Brown Rice, Steamed Potato, etceteras. Hmmmmm but it depends, what's your goal. if losing weight for lean muscles mass, this may work. but if you're trying to increase your weight because you're so very thin then your Carbs should be at least 30-35% then protein at least 20% while veggies at least 50%. ^_^ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, it also depends with your Body Type if you're a &quot;Ectomorph&quot;, &quot;Mesomorph&quot;, &quot;Endomorph&quot; or a &quot;mix of both&quot;. Knowing your Body Type is very important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then once in a while, if you want to eat from fastfoods, no worries... as long as your daily diet are real foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I think it is effective, not sure with you.&#xA;Becuase in my case, I was once a 90kilos 34 yrs. old man,&#xA;But today, thanks God, I'm now a 67kilos 34 yrs. old man&#xA;in just 3 months.&#xA;My target weight is 65kilos until 62Kilos.&#xA;When I reach my target weight, I'll start to increase my muscles mass,&#xA;But for now, I'm more into Lean Mass, Lean Muscles Mass while Losing Fats&#xA;BEcause I still have some fast in my belly area.&#xA;Oh my height is, 5'6&quot; and the recommended weight for my height is from 62kilos to 70kilos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ADIOS, AMIGO!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26501" LastEditorUserId="26501" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T05:52:11.337" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T05:52:11.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-24T07:45:46.937" Score="6" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly is the body's mechanism to recover from the stress of strength training and to adapt to greater loads, and how does frequency of training affect this mechanism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For illustration, consider two people not on drugs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Person A squats 6x5, once every 3 days, with a weight that takes the last rep close to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Person B squats 2x5, every day, with a weight that takes the last rep close to failure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who gets stronger faster? Three possibilities are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person A gets stronger faster. After being stressed by tension and activation near maximal effort, muscles and the nervous system need a minimum amount of time (I've heard 48-72 hours) to recover fully. Stressing them again in that time interrupts the recovery process and voids it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It makes no difference. Person B's muscles and nervous system take one third the time to recover from one third the stress of person A's workout. Both people are getting enough rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person B gets stronger faster. Not only are both people getting enough rest, but:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he releases testosterone more often and therefore spends more time in an anabolic state.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;his reps are higher quality, with better form and more explosiveness, because he's not fatiguing himself with so many sets in one session. Therefore, his average rep recruits muscle fibers more efficiently than person A's average rep, and he is less likely to injure himself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26502" LastEditorUserId="26502" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T08:22:04.997" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T19:10:33.170" Title="How does frequency affect recovery, controlling for intensity and volume?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;rest&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36009" CreationDate="2017-08-24T08:02:21.933" Score="1" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does putting weight on stomach and then hardening abs, helps in building abs?&#xA;was doing some excercise in which i had to keep weight on my stomach before carrying with hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="25216" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T11:25:23.633" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T17:08:26.980" Title="Putting weight on stomach" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36005" CreationDate="2017-08-24T08:29:06.910" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now I alternate between Push weights day, and Pull weights day. Then after that is a rest day. So the flow looks like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Weights&#xA;Weights&#xA;Rest&#xA;Weights&#xA;Weights &#xA;Rest&#xA;...&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do cardio for warm up and cool down (10 minutes warm up, 10 minutes warm down) on the weights day but obviously most of my time is put on weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it OK to do cardio on my rest days where I do no weights whatsoever? I use the rower for my cardio and would use that for the rest days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this cardio impact my muscle rest/growth and result in them not repairing as quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By cardio i mean burning around 400 cals to help reduce my weight while gaining muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26206" LastEditorUserId="26206" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T08:42:12.970" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T12:26:11.153" Title="Is it OK to do Cardio on a weight training rest day?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;growth&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35988" CreationDate="2017-08-24T10:02:45.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The people at &lt;a href=&quot;https://parkouredu.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ParkourEDU&lt;/a&gt; got back to me. Indeed, this is the opposite of a scorpion, where you're falling on your back with forward momentum such that you're landing on your back to the top of your head with your legs flopping forward and up. They also sent me a video of Ryan Ford falling into a &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/j68n3OwYTGA?t=14s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;suitcase&lt;/a&gt; as a result of a foam block slipping out from under his feet during a flip routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also makes sense in the context of it being mentioned in the context of a peel-out, since that provides the perfect storm of forward momentum and backwards rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T11:46:22.957" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T11:46:22.957" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36002" CreationDate="2017-08-24T11:18:44.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of factors this depends on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: For me, I'm trying to build muscle and gain weight. I'm eating in a caloric surplus. I'm only 19 years old; my metabolism is crazy. I workout 6 times a week for around 9-12 hours a week. I don't want to burn any fat or calories than I already am... So I never do cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends on how fast and much weight you want to lose, but if your main goal is to lose weight and burn fat while maintaining muscle, and you're doing solid work with the weights on your Push and Pull days, you can absolutely do cardio on your off days. Especially if you want to lose weight faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it depends on you personally and how your body responds, but I would never do that much cardio while trying to &lt;strong&gt;build&lt;/strong&gt; muscle because cardio not only burns fat, but it will hinder your maintenance and gaining of muscle mass, too. So if you're leaning more towards building muscle rather than burning fat, I would limit my cardio and just make sure I have a good diet plan for myself and eat cleanly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really all about balance, knowing your goals, and understanding what works for you. Sometimes you have to just give things a try, asses the results, and adjust accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your goals, I'd recommend modifying your split. Rather than&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Push, Pull, Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you might benefit more from something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Push, Pull, Legs, Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, Legs, Rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead of doing cardio, just do more weights. After all, there are tons of studies and articles on why building muscle is actually a better way to burn fat and lose weight than cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason being having more muscle speeds up your metabolism. Another being when you train with weights consistently, your muscles becomes more insulin-sensitive, and you body will more eagerly transform and store the majority of the carbs you consume as glycogen in your muscles for fuel, rather than store it as fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say don't do &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; cardio, but instead use it as a supplement to your weight training rather than it being your main activity. After all, cardio does have valuable benefits for overall cardiovascular health, so even an hour a week of direct cardio with 5-6 days of weight training would be solid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26504" LastEditorUserId="26504" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T12:26:11.153" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T12:26:11.153" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35983" CreationDate="2017-08-24T11:27:49.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can mix BCAAs and Creatine together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there is no benefit of taking them separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, like CanESER said, Creatine (monohydrate, at least) doesn't have any flavor, so it definitely doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26504" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T11:27:49.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33242" CreationDate="2017-08-24T11:35:45.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking preworkout consistently for 3 years is &lt;strong&gt;way too long&lt;/strong&gt;. Taking preworkout consistently for 3 &lt;em&gt;months&lt;/em&gt; is way too long. You've probably developed a complete tolerance for any sensible amount of caffeine now and will never achieve any stimulation from it. Safe to say after 3 years your body has adapted. You have to cycle off stimulants to (attempt to) reset your tolerance. If I was in your situation, I'd take at least a couple months off any stimulants (besides coffee if you're a drinker) and see how you respond after that. And if a few months go by and when you take it you don't feel any benefits, stay off it for another while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26504" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T11:35:45.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2258" CreationDate="2017-08-24T13:25:27.340" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weighted vests people. Benefits you are looking for in the wrists and legs bands but less chance of injury because the weight isn't localized at the max leverage point of your extremities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26505" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T13:25:27.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36001" CreationDate="2017-08-24T17:08:26.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It probably does something, but this is not how your abs are designed to work. Your abs primary job is to produce intra-abdominal pressure when you are lifting. This just means they literally press your guts against your spine to support your spine when you lift. That is your abs primary job. They also assist in any movement of the torso. It's almost impossible not use your abs to some extent when you move your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it working your abs? Eh maybe a bit. Is it the best thing to spend your time doing if your looking to increase your abdominal strength and size? Not at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26178" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T17:08:26.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35975" CreationDate="2017-08-24T17:29:34.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your looking to increase your glute size focus on deep squats. That is squat low, below parallel, the lower the better without compromising your back arch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also must squat heavy. You are 165lb, and I don't know what your lifting, but a good goal is to shoot for ~305lb for a couple sets of 12. If getting bigger glutes is your primary goal right now, you should be squatting 3 times a week. Do a heavy-light-medium rotation of the weights and reps. When the weight is lighter do more reps, shoot for 15. When it's heavier do less reps, shoot for 8 minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every week try to increase your weight across the rep range. You should be able to push yourself like this for 6-8 weeks before needing a break, and that should be enough time to tell if it's working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get yourself tied up in doing endless sets. 2 sets is fine, just push hard, and get the reps with the heaviest weight you can safely lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for diet, if you are training as hard as I list above, then you should be eating a MINIMUM of a gram of protein per pound of body weight every single day. Doesn't matter how many meals it takes to get that into you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to increase your caloric intake if you are pushing this hard on squats. Simple rule of thumb, if your really sore, your not eating enough. But you have to eat good food. Filling up on junk food just to get calories in will just make you fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to drop all other exercises for the lower body. This is ok, as the squat provides excellent overall development for the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be warned, you will have to buy new pants. Just getting into high volume heavy squats will start your legs growing like weeds IF YOU EAT. I did about half this much squatting when I was prepping for a powerlifting meet, and I was NOT trying to increase leg size as I needed to stay in my weight class, and I still ended up breaking 2 pairs of pants in a 6 month period. I had to to stop drinking water for 12 hours to make weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heavy squats make you grow. Plain and simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26178" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T17:29:34.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36012" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36014" CreationDate="2017-08-25T00:19:22.893" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nowadays during running, I have noticed that my thighs have started to rub with each other which wasn't the case before. &#xA;What can be the possible reason and how to avoid it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26507" LastEditorUserId="26507" LastEditDate="2017-08-25T00:46:04.777" LastActivityDate="2017-08-25T08:16:10.670" Title="Thighs rubbing during running" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;thigh&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36012" CreationDate="2017-08-25T08:16:10.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chafing thighs is usually a sign that you've gained some weight in that area of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately we can't target where we want to lose or gain fat, but the good news is, if you regulate your diet, you will be rid of this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; been gaining weight, it might be a change in posture. This isn't something we can help you with based on two sentences of background. In this case, you'd be better off seeking the help of a physical therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-08-25T08:16:10.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36016" CreationDate="2017-08-25T12:22:18.967" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;In articles and write ups there is an argument for and against carbs when&#xA;following a workout plan and diet while hitting ones macros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it seems that some recommend taking an approach where they consume&#xA;little to no carbs (as much as they realistically can) and others recommend &#xA;balancing carbs and fats while keeping the intake of protein constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the latter, either higher carbs and low fat or high fat and low carbs depending on the individuals preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it advantageous to completely cut out carbs or is the balanced approach best&#xA;for someone aiming to lose fat and build muscle over a 12 week exercise plan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: my goal isn't to lose weight, but rather to build lean muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26510" LastEditorUserId="26510" LastEditDate="2017-08-25T12:29:43.140" LastActivityDate="2017-08-25T13:32:17.780" Title="Carb intake when following an exercise plan?" Tags="&lt;carbohydrate&gt;&lt;low-carb&gt;&lt;nutrition-information&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36015" CreationDate="2017-08-25T13:32:17.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is... it depends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The little to no carb approach you mention is known as ketosis after the ketones produced by the liver when the body utilises fat stores for energy instead of carbohydrates and has been shown to be beneficial for a variety of things from fat loss to aiding focus and concentration to increasing life expectancy by cutting down the inflammation caused by carbohydrate intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People generally go high fat low / zero carb as a way to control calories as fat has 9 calories per gram, as opposed to the 4 per gram in protein, so if one increases fat, carbohydrates must decrease to avoid excess calorie intake (note: protein is very rarely decreased except for those with liver issues), but also because the body more easily converts carbohydrates to energy than fats, so eating too many will stop your liver producing ketones, knocking you out of ketosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main issue with this approach is that if you're undertaking very intense, very frequent training (i.e. Crossfit style training daily), then the lack of carbohydrates in the body, combined with the stress of such high intensity training, can lead to decreased testosterone levels and higher cortisol levels as training stress accumulates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The high carb low fat style of dieting is a bit of a throwback to the traditional bodybuilding style diet, and, I believe, was influenced somewhat by the mistaken belief that eating large amounts of dietary fat leads to heart disease (note: I say mistaken belief because, as usual, things aren't quite as clear cut, black and white as the media and marketing companies would have us believe).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher carbohydrate intake helps in recovery from intense training sessions, but, similar to following a keto diet and high intensity training, if dietary fat is too low, then testosterone and other androgen hormone production is impacted due to limited intake of dietary cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it depends partially on your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to take into account, is the practicality of any diet / carb intake plan that you choose to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I find it much easier to cook up a large batch of chilli and rice and take that to work as lunch for several days than I do to cook up something that has a high fat / low carb profile and keeps me full throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing you, as a general recommendation, I'd say get enough protein (you can look up how much they're recommending this week, but it tends to be about 0.8g per lbs of bodyweight), and keep carbs / fats moderate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep at that for 6 weeks and see how you're doing, then, if you think you need to, try shifting the carb / fat ratio up or down and see if it makes any difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-08-25T13:32:17.780" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36039" CreationDate="2017-08-26T03:42:05.903" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I found a speed rope, those really light jump ropes in my garage, and I need to exercise, so I took it in my house. I went on YouTube, but it seemed there were only tutorials using a heavy rope and I'm not willing to spend money cause I'm cheap, and I want to use the jump rope for something, so how can I reach the same results from a speed rope. My goal right now is to improve stamina, since I get tired after less than a third of a mile, and also build upper body strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26341" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T06:01:14.593" Title="Using a speed rope?" Tags="&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;stamina&gt;&lt;jump-rope&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36000" CreationDate="2017-08-26T19:10:33.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that Person A gets stronger faster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long answer is that it depends, because recovery is defined by different factors, mainly: gender, weight and muscle group. A 54 kg female athlete could squat 4 times a week and not be overtrained, but if a 200 kg male athlete deadlifts 4 times per week, his recovery will be greatly affected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to distribute your volume through the week, you must take care to perform a minimum number of sets to elicit a growth stimulus in each day. 2 sets of 5 may not be enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is Prilepin's Chart, which gives you a minimum number of reps/sets to perform every training session to provoke a stimulus, and a maximum number to prevent overtraining. These numbers might seem low, but they are designed to avoid technical failure and, thus, preventing injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jaXaq.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jaXaq.png&quot; alt=&quot;Prilepin&amp;#39;s Chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot more to fatigue management than this. You need to take into account the phase in your training cycle (deloading or overreaching, etc), your gender, genetics, your age and many other factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you to google about Hristo Hristov's INOL index. Also, this is quite an informative read if you are interested in the subject of fatigue management: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2016/02/29/47634/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2016/02/29/47634/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, If you are a beginner or intermediate lifter, you can pick any cookie cutter program like 5/3/1 and go with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26518" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T19:10:33.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34294" CreationDate="2017-08-26T22:38:36.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your grip is limiting your ability to perform heavier lifts (like, for example, a heavy deadlift), then you should consider shifting to a hook grip &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/34294/gym-accesories-for-less-force-for-grip#comment53453_34294&quot;&gt;as suggested in the comments&lt;/a&gt;, or you could use &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B013J4KIXW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lifting straps&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, if you have a weak grip, the best thing you can do is perform specific exercises to strengthen it. Holding the weight at the end of the concentric portion of a deadlift for some time, for example. Now, if you want to spend your money in gym toys, you could buy some &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B005FIS14Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fat Gripz&lt;/a&gt; to help you with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26518" LastEditorUserId="26518" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T14:50:21.707" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T14:50:21.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36034" CreationDate="2017-08-27T11:11:16.533" Score="1" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently training to run in a specific HR zone (135 +/- 2 at the moment), in order to build up aerobic endurance. I'm observing that the pace with a given HR is constantly increasing during the workout - if during first 5-10 minutes of the workout I'm able to keep pace around 7:50, closer to the end it falls to around 9:30. I have tried to split running into several 15-20 minute blocks with 5 minutes of walking in between, the performance is still the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any techniques or workout plans, apart of just keeping running in a zone for extended time, that may help to get to stable performance while running in a heart rate zone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for your answers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10119" LastEditorUserId="10119" LastEditDate="2017-08-27T11:25:15.977" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T16:49:06.873" Title="Keeping constant pace while being in same HR zone" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;running-training-plan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35986" CreationDate="2017-08-27T13:23:39.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise you to check &lt;a href=&quot;https://stretchtherapy.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stretch Therapy&lt;/a&gt; from Kit Laughlin. He is one of the best person I know for improving flexibility as an adult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nice forums, nice resources, nice vimeos. Everything at a reasonable price. I even would like to attend one of his seminars in Europe one day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-28T14:07:25.757" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T14:07:25.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36029" CreationDate="2017-08-27T15:49:51.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first minutes of training, the body simply warms up, so you run fast with a low heart rate. Upon reaching a certain level, the pulse stabilizes. But then it starts to increase, and you have to slow down. This is explained by the fact that as the readily available carbohydrate stores are used, the blood becomes less &quot;sweet&quot;, and the body becomes increasingly difficult to supply muscle with energy. Therefore, to maintain the desired pace, the heart has to pump blood faster - the muscles receive less sweet blood, but it comes more.&#xA;There is no way to avoid this process altogether. You can only improve your performance.&#xA;Longer training sessions - they develop metabolic efficiency, accustom the body to extract energy from fats faster. Improve the technique of running to run more economically. And store more carbohydrates before the race.&#xA;(google translated)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26524" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T15:49:51.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36029" CreationDate="2017-08-27T16:49:06.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are experiencing is a phenomenon that is related to cardiac drift - whereby if you were to run at a constant pace, you would see your heart rate increase over the run. This is due to the stress experienced by the body with prolonged exercise.&#xA;However, the alternative is that if you keep a constant heart rate, then you will see the pace come down in order to keep the effort the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you run, you start to deplete your muscles of glycogen, up to a point at which you may notice your heart rate increase markedly - signalling depletion. &#xA;You can improve your performance, resulting in heart rate stability, by running aerobically - that is, at an easy, comfortable pace (less than 75% HRMax). This allows for your muscles to adapt, resulting in more economic running - which is reflected by a faster pace for a given HR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to an extent, you will always see a tail-off in pace, or an increase in HR, however consistent aerobic training will have a marked effect on stabilising your pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19348" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T16:49:06.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-27T23:31:48.960" Score="8" ViewCount="1268" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my wacky theory.  The human body is extremely complex, but looking at it as a black box which aggressively adapts to external challenges, could performing bodyweight exercises (with added weight when necessary) induce fat loss more when compared to similar non-bodyweight based exercise?  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pullups (with weight)  vs.  Seated overhead cable pull-downs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pushups (with weight)  vs.  Benchpress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dips    (with weight)  vs.  Seated dip machine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running                vs.  Stationary Biking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In every exercise, the body adapts to make that exercise easier the next time.  Bodyweight exercises are easier when you have more muscle and less fat, i.e. a higher power to weight ratio.  Incidentally, that is also the very thing a lot of people are trying to achieve with their physique when they start working out.  Lose some fat, maybe add some muscle.  Could focusing on exercises which are sensitive to (affected by) one's own bodyweight induce the body to adapt its power to weight ratio?  Has this been tested or studied scientifically?  I couldn't find any studies looking at this, but maybe you've come across some?  Thanks for reading!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26527" LastActivityDate="2018-04-12T18:48:02.020" Title="Can bodyweight exercises induce body recomposition?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight&gt;&lt;energy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36041" CreationDate="2017-08-28T01:25:36.047" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing groups of exercises in the same day. My usual pattern is to do one exercise each of Chest, Shoulders, Back, Bicep, and Tricep respectively.&#xA;After finishing I do another exercise for Chest, Shoulders, Back, Bi, and Tri respectively, and again for the 3rd time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know whether is it better to do it the way I am doing it, or to train each area through three different exercises one after the other, then move on to the next body part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-08-28T17:03:55.133" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T17:12:24.333" Title="Exercise grouping - Should I group exercises targeting the same part of the body?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36017" CreationDate="2017-08-28T09:05:57.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A speed rope is good for working on conditioning , a weighted rope would be what you use to gain upper body strength. Since  you say  you are cheap and don't want to go out and buy another rope.  I would advise you to find something you hold in your hands that has a little weight to it. That something would have to allow you to hold the speed rope at the same time.  A weighted rope does not weigh that much  and it does everything else a speed rope does. Great cardio ,helps your agility and it does help you strengthen your upper-body.You can also find some 3 pound dumbbells  and simulate jumping rope with the dumbbells in your hands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15689" LastEditorUserId="15689" LastEditDate="2017-09-16T06:01:14.593" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T06:01:14.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36036" CreationDate="2017-08-28T13:06:05.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way you pose it there seems to be at least a big imbalance in your program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train a large &lt;em&gt;group&lt;/em&gt; of muscles like the back with the same volume as a small muscle like the biceps, it is unbalanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I see no mention of training legs. Again, balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like to do a split routine I would recommend doing a three-way split: legs, back and front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T13:06:05.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-28T15:03:11.687" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to burn off LDL cholesterol by trying to stay in the fat burning zone(i use a wahoo HR monitor to track my zones)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have hypertension and i love cycling, i usually take whey protein post my rides (Like whey from my history at gym and the filling feeling of post workout diet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if taking whey post cycling might be taking me back to square one in terms of calorie burning equation. Should i be worried about it or its fine to keep taking whey with milk? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15392" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T23:38:26.353" Title="Burning LDL with bike rides" Tags="&lt;nutrition&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-28T15:03:20.517" Score="4" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I work out and see that I have more muscle, does that also mean that I have lost some fat? I have visible muscle but also a lot of fat just hanging from my bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26534" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2017-08-28T17:09:04.173" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T01:39:26.010" Title="Does muscle gain equal fat loss" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36043" CreationDate="2017-08-28T16:50:40.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Gaining muscle does not directly equate to losing fat. Case in point; it's possible to gain both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more likely, is that through gaining muscle, you have lowered your bodyfat &lt;em&gt;percentage&lt;/em&gt;. There's more fat, but a smaller percentage of it overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the bodyfat &lt;em&gt;percentage&lt;/em&gt; that mostly dictates muscle visibility and definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T16:50:40.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2017-08-28T16:56:17.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty late to the party on this one but thought it was worth adding that the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.runnersworld.com/sites/runnersworld.com/files/custom-js/1263036-f1703073e5ee4e4ce5923dc03ff02975.js&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;JavaScript behind the runners world calculator&lt;/a&gt; is pretty simple. Looking at the function toolSubmit (which is called when the &quot;Calculate&quot; button is clicked) it's clear that it calculates calories burned as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;calories burned = distance run (kilometres) x weight of runner (kilograms) x 1.036&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is rounded to a whole number and then formatted as the message displayed in the browser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26537" LastEditorUserId="26537" LastEditDate="2017-11-08T14:25:36.647" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T14:25:36.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36042" CreationDate="2017-08-28T23:38:26.353" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trick to lose fat by cycling is start a ride with empty stomach with a super light breakfast/snack. Then ride must be steady for long period as much as possible like 5 to 6 hours without stopping for any food/lunch. Drinking as much water as wished. Short stops when tired. For energy small sesame biscuits can be used and are best energizer. During bike ride body begins using fat to transform into power only when it finds insufficient carbs in stomach. So eating chocolate bars is not beneficial for losing fat. Remember that after 6 hr ride when you weigh your self most of wt deduction is due to dehydration and fat is lost such rides be continued for some weeks then you will notice your fat belly is getting flat and bending down becomes much easier. &#xA;If for your hypertension you take medications like diuretics that cause dehydration you need enough water to drink while riding. Additionally, due to sweating you lose bodily salt and hence you need to add 1.5gr table salt to each liter water you drink during cycling otherwise you can get leg muscles cramps causing you unable to pedal after few hours. After ride you can take potassium supplements with food in order to keep your K/Na ratio at normal levels.&#xA;After 2 weeks steady cycling not only you notice losing fat but will be surprised that your blood pressure also normalized. Consequently, during rides if you feel lightheaded then ask your doctor to reduce/adjust your HTN medication doses so your BP does not drop too low while cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26539" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T23:38:26.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35938" CreationDate="2017-08-29T03:39:21.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Understanding Calluses&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A callus is an area of thickened skin that develops where there's a lot of friction or pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The outermost layer of your skin is made of dead skin cells. That may sound weird, but it's how your skin is built. These dead, flattened cells protect the living layers of skin underneath. So when there is extra friction or pressure on your skin, your body responds by creating more cells to join that outer, protective layer of dead skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Blisters Form&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A blister can form when rubbing causes layers of skin to separate from each other. Because your cells are always surrounded by a clear fluid, some of that fluid fills the space in the separation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not pop your blisters. Since your blister is under a callus it will be particularly painful because you need to get through multiple layers of skin to drain it. This also exposes the blister to infection and related complications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Treatment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your focus should be on taking care of your skin in the area (keeping&#xA;it clean, dry and soft)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reducing the cause (the excess friction or pressure). Your blister&#xA;will heal on it's own with time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finding a balance between keeping enough callus to protect you, and&#xA;keeping it thin enough to not become a problem (it will take a little&#xA;time to figure out what works best for you).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Here are some things you can do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you plan on filing down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soften your callus by taking a shower and then rubbing it with a warm washcloth and/or olive oil to soften skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To reduce pain put padding around the painful area, not directly on&#xA;top of it or else you're just adding to the problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can reduce friction by coating sore spots in bodyglide or gel&#xA;deodorant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can wear low friction (non cotton socks).  An athletic quick-dry &#xA;fabric pair of socks under your normal socks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can use paper tape &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27070112&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(this was done in a recent study consisting of&#xA;ultramarathon runners)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some time you can find out what regimen works best for you to maintain the optimal level of callus and eventually eliminate them completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27070112&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27070112&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T03:39:21.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-29T14:48:00.217" Score="4" ViewCount="678" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running on and off for the past 12 years, having originally started in high school with XC. Given that fact, I've typically always been interested in running longer distances, however, within the past year or so, I've shifted my focus to sprinting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I currently understand about the matter, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1250/are-fast-twitch-and-slow-twitch-muscles-actual-scientific-terms-if-so-are&quot;&gt;sprinters prefer having a high ratio of &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt;-twitch muscle fibers&lt;/a&gt;. What I would like to know, or at least get some idea of, is what kind of fast/slow-twitch muscle fiber ratio my legs contain (without going to the hospital and requesting a biopsy, if that's even possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon searching YouTube, I wasn't really able to find any videos that demonstrate how to get an assessment of this ratio, other than &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZsAdX9mAHs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;, however, the guy is testing his chest, and, IMO, his test doesn't seem to be designed very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, is there a way to at least somewhat accurately test the fast/slow-twitch muscle fiber ratio, specifically in your legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26337" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T13:09:44.140" Title="Is there an accurate way to assess the fast/slow-twitch muscle fiber ratio in your legs?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;sprinting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36056" CreationDate="2017-08-29T15:35:53.320" Score="1" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of Prone Y/I Raises in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I once read somewhere that having a 120 degree abduction is most effective for engaging the supraspinatus, though I'm not sure how true this is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do these exercises, I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; I can feel them working my supraspinatus, but I could be getting confused with something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24798" LastActivityDate="2017-08-31T12:00:24.933" Title="Do prone raises work the Supraspinatus?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36054" CreationDate="2017-08-29T22:41:34.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Shoulder Kinematics During Abduction&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is so much going on at the shoulder during any type of overhead and rotational movement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The supraspinatus is a smaller GH stabilizing muscle that never works in isolation - so this may be one of many muscles you are feeling.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The contracting muscles are dynamic related. With a line of pull (or force vector) that is constantly changing and it's involvement during movement is heavily tied to it's position at any given time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exercises you mention involve shoulder flexion (and therefore high anterior deltoid activity.  Below shows the significance of the 120 degrees your friend mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you'd like more detailed info on any part of this let me know.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Scapulohumeral Rhythm&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f0Ere.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f0Ere.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Musculature Involved During Abduction&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/THF51.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/THF51.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes those exercises would work fine.  The Y being a better choice than the I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also just curious what is your goal and why are you trying to target the surpaspinatus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally to get the most &quot;bang for your buck&quot; I'd use a more function pattern (consisting of a diagonal and rotational pattern) such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://shouldergirdle.wikispaces.com/Functional+Movement+Patterns+%28PNF%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;D2&#xA;   Flexion&lt;/a&gt;.  Some of the best shoulder injury prevention and rehabilitation programs consist of variations of these exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kp3nz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kp3nz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE #2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you sure it's the supraspinatus?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can see a PT in your area, however this is a simple clinical test that used to test for supraspinatus lesions:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAgCzTN5vnI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAgCzTN5vnI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-08-31T12:00:24.933" LastActivityDate="2017-08-31T12:00:24.933" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-30T06:53:20.260" Score="0" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a torn meniscus and I am looking for an alternative to Hang Cleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dPs5x.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dPs5x.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Hang Cleans&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor has told me that I can do any exercise as long as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am sure my knee does not bent up to 90º or more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This eliminates deep squats and hang cleans. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an alternative that uses as many muscles as hang cleans? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this moment I am doing Dead lifts as shown in image but I am not sure it uses as many muscles as Hang Cleans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YdDw1.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YdDw1.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Dead Lift &quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26482" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-09-01T12:45:00.553" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T12:45:00.553" Title="Alternative exercise for Hang Clean (torn meniscus)" Tags="&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29050" CreationDate="2017-08-30T17:20:57.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something to consider in the mean time is everything you're &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; doing in physio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, it's a good idea to examine your footwear. Think of how people often say they rolled their ankle when stepping on something. This could be someone else's foot, or stepping on the side of a curb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JVW6f.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JVW6f.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Klay Thompson Ankle Sprain&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2016/07/13/how-golf-can-negatively-impact-the-ankles-is-golf-a-good-off-season-activity-for-basketball-players/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Found&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/Warriors-Thompson-out-7-10-days-6139526.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Original Source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B5rBM.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B5rBM.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Klay Thompson ankle sprain GIF&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2016/07/13/how-golf-can-negatively-impact-the-ankles-is-golf-a-good-off-season-activity-for-basketball-players/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Found&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the higher your foot is off the ground, the more easily it can roll over to sprain. A shoe with a big heel lift provides room for the ankle to sprain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i6sa0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i6sa0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ankle roll potential shoes&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2013/02/01/can-foot-pain-and-hip-pain-be-related/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can foot and hip pain be related?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of the plate as a curb, lifted shoes, whatever. You can imagine if that foot is only on the ground, it's harder for the ankle to sprain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another aspect to consider is how you hold that ankle throughout the day. After a sprain, it's common for the ankle to become lax / hypermobile. For instance, you're laying down. Rather than the foot be held straight,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2HRmq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2HRmq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;straight ankle&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It lays like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qDuiW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qDuiW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ankle sprain laxity&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the main ideas of strengthening the ankle is to tighten up what was stretched out in the sprain. We can do that throughout the day too though. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vzyvJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vzyvJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ankle sprain supported&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Images from &lt;a href=&quot;http://b-reddy.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;b-reddy.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're Steph Curry, who has a history of nasty ankle sprains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oisqP.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oisqP.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Steph Curry ankle sprain&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you don't want to be sitting like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gut9D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gut9D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Steph Curry ankle sitting laxity&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather you want that foot flat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gkclT.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gkclT.png&quot; alt=&quot;Stephen Curry ankle better&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you might want to be careful about playing golf, doing this to his ankle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LnyY5.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LnyY5.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Steph Curry golf ankle&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rjqU5.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rjqU5.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Steph Curry ankle sprains golf&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Close up from one of his sprains and another one of his swings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H6ky3.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H6ky3.png&quot; alt=&quot;Steph Curry golf ankle sprain&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Curry media from &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2016/07/13/how-golf-can-negatively-impact-the-ankles-is-golf-a-good-off-season-activity-for-basketball-players/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How golf can negatively impact the ankles.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use Curry as an example due to his fame, but the principle is don't ignore the other 23 hours of the day. You might attempt to tighten your ankle with 30-60 minutes of exercise per day, but if you're holding the ankle in a stretched position many hours outside of the exercise, it's hard to offset that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T17:20:57.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36053" CreationDate="2017-08-31T11:47:33.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accurately no. Unfortunately there are &lt;strong&gt;no proven ways&lt;/strong&gt; to measure muscle fiber composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;muscle biopsy&lt;/strong&gt; is an invasive technique involving the surgical removal of a small muscle tissue sample. This procedure is done to diagnose muscle tissue diseases when less invasive tests are not available.  This is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a method used to determine whole muscle fiber composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscle Fiber Types&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skeletal muscle fibers can be classified into three types:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type I: Slow oxidative fibers &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type IIa: Fast oxidative fibers &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type IIx: Fast glycolytic fibers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most muscles contain mixture of fiber types, resulting in a range of&#xA;contractile speed and fatigue resistance&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;All fibers in one motor unit are the same type&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Genetics dictate individual’s percentage of each&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U51Hc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U51Hc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Training Effects on Muscle Fiber Type&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aerobic (Endurance) Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Such as jogging, swimming, biking leads to increased:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle capillaries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Number of mitochondria&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myoglobin synthesis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Results in greater endurance, strength, and resistance to fatigue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;May convert fast glycolytic fibers into fast oxidative fibers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resistance Exercise (Anaerobic)&lt;/strong&gt;, &#xA;Such as weight lifting or isometric exercises, leads to increased&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mitochondria &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myofilaments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glycogen stores&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Connective tissue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle strength and Size (hypertrophy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-08-31T11:47:33.333" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2445" CreationDate="2017-08-31T19:57:33.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what I do (more frequency and time but same principal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Split body in 3 days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1 - Chest and triceps, usually shortest day for me so can include some cardio&#xA;Day 2 - Back and biceps&#xA;Day 3 - Shoulders and legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the restricted time, most exercises will have to be performed in super sets (a form of cardio) while the weights will be moderate to heavy (increase a tad of weight after each set).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On back day, I do so much back work that I only do one bicep exercise since your biceps are being used in pulling exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same principle for chest and triceps, your triceps get used in pushing exercises so no need to really target them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some exercises work on your core and abs at the same time so no need to waste time on those as well! Standing shoulder press, squats, dead-lifts, standing triceps work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutrition is key if you want definition but the above will keep you in shape and add muscle. Going heavy works on your VO2 max which in turn is like doing cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, avoid using machines, compound movements (movements that work many muscles at once) are the best when short on time or want general strength (which is this case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6625" LastActivityDate="2017-08-31T19:57:33.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36043" CreationDate="2017-09-01T00:48:01.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually you gain both at the same time if you eat with a caloric surplus. Most people do this because it's much easier to gain strength and muscle under these conditions, however it is not a prerequisite for muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscle tonus you are referring to might very well be evidence of increased muscle mass or fat loss. You can also notice more defined muscles if you are dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15217" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T00:48:01.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36043" CreationDate="2017-09-01T01:39:26.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, not necessarily, and generally when you're gaining muscle, you're not losing fat. It's very difficult (aside from undergoing puberty or taking steroids/hormones) to gain muscle while losing fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, gaining muscle makes you look better at the same bodyfat percentage. Someone 6'0 who weighs 180 lbs at 20% body fat might have a little pudge on them, but someone at 220 lbs at 20% body fat is going to look significantly more built. This is because the former will have 144 lbs lean mass and 36 lbs fat whereas the latter has 176 lbs lean mass and 44 lbs fat. 8 lbs of fat isn't very much whereas a difference in 32 lbs of lean mass is going to be massive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more muscle you have, the more bodyfat you can have on your body before it starts looking &quot;fat.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8316" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T01:39:26.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-01T04:03:37.277" Score="0" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 200 lb. hand gripper which is very accurate. I can close these grippers for about 2 reps perfectly -- and don't cheat using the other hand to &quot;set&quot; it. In general, my hands are stronger than the majority of men my age -- 25. I can close it with both hands, which should say something about my grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This last week I visited a YouFit and attempted to deadlift a low 225 lbs. I have been &quot;off&quot; deadlifting for years, but knew I could at least hit it once -- and I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem? The bar seems incredibly hard to hold on to. Surprised me since, well, read above. It makes no sense that I could rep a 200 lb. gripper but have trouble holding on to 25 lbs. more with BOTH hands. The bar felts loose when I was grabbing it and it kept spinning in place (meaning the inner-bar rotates constantly without the weights moving). The bar was a standard 45 lb. bar -- no fat grip or such. I only tried that one bar in the gym, though there were plenty more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On squats I didn't notice this issue of the bar rolling. Again, I highly doubt it's my grip at all. I have a &quot;tight&quot; bar at home which does not roll/rotate upon grabbing and have pulled close to the weight at the gym with my bar with ONE hand and it was barely as difficult as the gym's bar with two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it me or is it the bar? Am I seriously in another dimension here or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the weights were hex if that matters. To give a better visual description, I drew a pic of what I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pbINV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pbINV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first assumption was that I got a bad bar -- but is this a &quot;thing&quot; or no? Are olympic bars like this? I've always deadlifted with the bar I have at home -- a  hollow, slightly bent, thin bar that holds about 225 lbs. max. Obviously the guys who complain of gripping in deadlift and such tend to possibly, legitimately have grip issues -- but I have credentials with grip and lots of training: with support, pinch and crush for years. I could deadlift this weight with one hand on a &quot;stiff&quot; bar that doesn't rotate constantly as you pull, but on the bar I had, it was tough with two hands to pull 225 -- even a tiny bit tough with just 185 as well. What gives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26557" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T05:51:57.490" Title="Is it my grip or is it the bar?" Tags="&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;barbell&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36072" CreationDate="2017-09-01T04:44:03.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically what is happening is the bar has ends that don't rotate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the weights on the end are fixed -- this results in a torsional force &lt;em&gt;(which is why the bar is spinning in your hands).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-09-01T05:51:57.490" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T05:51:57.490" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36079" CreationDate="2017-09-01T08:01:57.487" Score="2" ViewCount="1804" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm rehabbing a pulled hamstring, so I'm doing weight lifting for the first time, on the instructions of the physio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has me doing both &quot;Good Mornings&quot; and &quot;Romanian Deadlifts&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like the action in both of these is exactly the same? (except the arms/ upper body, obviously?)&#xA;Should it be exactly the same action? Or is my technique wrong for one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the same action, then I assume that the different position of the weight changes the biomechanics of the action, thus putting stress into different muscles / different parts of the same muscle / etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18649" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T13:53:04.240" Title="Movement for Good Morning vs. RDL" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;posture&gt;&lt;hamstring&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36074" CreationDate="2017-09-01T11:38:16.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct that &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/good-morning-vs-romanian-deadlift-16038.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;they are the same action other than the bar placement&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both exercises place a high degree of emphasis on your posterior chain -- the group of muscles comprising your hamstrings, glutes, adductors and lower back. You also need a strong midsection and core to maintain your lower back arch and to stop yourself from rounding over. Romanian deadlifts have the added bonus of targeting your forearm muscles too, as you have to hold the bar for a sustained period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T11:38:16.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36057" CreationDate="2017-09-01T12:15:46.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The power variations (power cleans and power snatches) involve landing in the power position (with your legs above 90 deg), like a half or quater squat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said however I am not a medical professional but I would avoid the O-lifts in general. You usually land up putting yourself in dangerous situations during the learning process. I would stick to deadlifts and barbell rows. They're both very good compound exercises which sound a bit safer for you condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult your doctor and please be careful with the deadlifts as well. It is a good exercise but can be dangerous if carried out with bad form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T12:15:46.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36074" CreationDate="2017-09-01T13:17:12.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Romanian deadlifts and good mornings are both hinge patterns, however there are some major differences.  Such as the lever action in relation to where the load is placed.  A true good morning is a posteriorly top loaded hip hinge. The difference being the loading vector and range of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good morning is what is called a class three lever &lt;em&gt;(Romanian dead-lifts are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://deansomerset.com/the-low-down-on-levers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;class one lever&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The load is at one end, in this case on your upper back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The force is generated from the musculature of the hips, with the bend&#xA;(or fulcrum) of the movement bearing down from the pelvis, through&#xA;the feet, and into the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially in a good morning, the entire length of the body is acting as a lever arm with the load being distributed throughout your entire posterior chain. That's a lot of muscle worked. This is an important concept to grasp. The good morning is not simply a &quot;lower back exercise&quot;. Done properly, the good morning works the entire length of the erector spinae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do both as your PT has recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put very simply - yes the motion is very similar and they're both great exercises. The same &quot;major&quot; muscles are activated but at a different times and for different durations.  You're teaching your muscles to activate correctly.  It helps with balance, stability and improves overall movement quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1378/The_Most_Important_Back_Exercise_Youre_Probably_No.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1378/The_Most_Important_Back_Exercise_Youre_Probably_No.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stack.com/a/why-you-should-be-doing-good-mornings-to-strengthen-your-glutes-hamstrings-and-lower-back&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.stack.com/a/why-you-should-be-doing-good-mornings-to-strengthen-your-glutes-hamstrings-and-lower-back&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://deansomerset.com/the-low-down-on-levers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://deansomerset.com/the-low-down-on-levers/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-09-01T13:53:04.240" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T13:53:04.240" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36086" CreationDate="2017-09-01T15:38:13.157" Score="0" ViewCount="1327" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not done a squat or a deadlift in close to 4 weeks.  I overtrained and hurt MCL- based on what I read online I think it was a class II tear. I haven't had any pain for my re than a week. If I body weight squat I do feel a little discomfort. My questions would be the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I wrap my knees during squat and deadlift?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is an optimal foot position for relieving sheer force on the mcl? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19992" LastActivityDate="2017-10-14T04:17:30.537" Title="Deadlifting during and after MCL class Ii" Tags="&lt;squats&gt;&lt;deadlifts&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14082" CreationDate="2017-09-01T18:02:23.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try out hanging ab exercises. Click &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmRKFZg9DR0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for a video on the various techniques using the below piece of equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uUxGI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uUxGI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spine doesn't come into contact with any form of spinal compression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, these are very easy to DIY with &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01L9U23FO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;load straps&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002JFWDU4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pool noodles&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25968" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T18:02:23.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36083" CreationDate="2017-09-01T18:04:23.987" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to take a break from working out for 3 months due to Trapezitis(inflammation of Trapezius muscle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While resuming after a long break, what precautions do I need to take so that I won't encounter the same problem(Trapezitis) again??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to avoid/add any exercises to get rid of Trapezitis??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23339" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T19:04:12.377" Title="Could not work out for 3 months due to injury.....Any suggestions?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36082" CreationDate="2017-09-01T19:04:12.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;“&lt;em&gt;itis&lt;/em&gt;” type injuries typically result from overuse.  The overuse can be caused by poor posture, bad exercise form, and, not enough rest between training the affected muscles to name a few reasons.  If you haven't already, you should speak to a Physical Therapist about how to rehab your condition.  A physical therapist will be able to determine the root cause of the problem and suggest ways to resolve your condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T19:04:12.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36017" CreationDate="2017-09-01T19:53:56.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest doing a 21-15-9 complex with the rope and something else to build up general fitness. A good workout would be for time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;21 double unders (or 60 single unders), followed by 21 burpees&#xA;15 double unders (or 45 single unders), followed by 15 burpees&#xA;9 double unders (or 20 single unders), followed by 9 burpees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do this in around 8 min you can add another exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both skipping and burpees tend to help with general fitness. They're also reasonably safe and don't require much equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T19:53:56.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36080" CreationDate="2017-09-01T20:05:53.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am no doctor but &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't think that knee wraps are used for the purpose of supporting damaged joints. If body weight squats cause discomfort weighted squats should be avoided. Also I think knee wraps aren't that good for recovery because they restrict blood flow in the area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am not qualified to answer this question.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said I cannot stress enough how careful you should be with your knees. Ligaments grow slowly and take longer to repair than muscle. I seriously advise you to see a medical proffessional and enjoy some low impact and &quot;easy on the joints&quot; sports. Swimming, cycling (not off-road), etc. I have a friend who tore a ligament and it is something I would urge you to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T20:05:53.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36080" CreationDate="2017-09-01T20:45:01.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes you need to be seen.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Knee braces i.e. CopperFIT do nothing.  If you're orthopedically evaluated - if indicated - they'll recommend a brace.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A grade II MCL sprain means it's partially torn &lt;em&gt;(to what degree?)&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;however it sounds like this was a self diagnosis&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Realize a few things here:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Collagen is avascular and consists of fibers that run parallel to each other.  &lt;em&gt;(this provides it's tensile strength)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It heels slowly and if you're not receiving proper rehab the fibers&#xA;heal in a random &quot;spaghetti&quot; like pattern.  As the majority of fibers are no longer parallel it provides little support and a full tear becomes likely.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With an MCL tear medial movements should be painful - avoid&#xA;knock-knee positions &lt;em&gt;(genu valgum)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your foot position doesn't really matter in this case. This does not change the fact your MCL is still partially torn.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your knee position is what you need to watch.  Minimize lower extremity movements toward the midline of your body.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-14T04:17:30.537" LastActivityDate="2017-10-14T04:17:30.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36087" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-01T22:14:36.263" Score="3" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can easily run in place at a fair pace for literally hours after calves have been conditioned, burning well over 1,000 calories. I have thought this would roll over into distance running at the same pace, but it doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if I run the exact same speed or a lower speed with movement (and not in place):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.I tire much easier (though I've lost physical conditioning due to depression, but remain able to run in place endlessly and seemingly never get tired).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.I can lower my running pace, but still get tired and can't breathe correctly through my mouth (and nose is constantly stuffed and problematic due to sinusitis and congenital shape defomration).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.None of the above applies anywhere near the same when running in place. For example, I could run in pace as fast as possible, and would hold up breathing well and get an amazing cardio session in -- but trying a slower, jog-ish kind of run murders me after a good 5-10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the biggest problem I've had in trying to run a proper 5K prior to my depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why can I run in place and not get tired much, even if super intense, but tire running with moving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26557" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T03:36:42.007" Title="Can run in place endlessly, but tire for distance. Why?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;conditioning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11595" CreationDate="2017-09-01T22:35:38.773" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar issue. I never had this before.... and then, in the last month, had a hardened spot in my upper thigh (maybe the length of a medicine bottle) and one in my lower abdomen. I was worried about them and asked about it at my doctor appointment. The doctor told me they were, actually, small pockets of fat that were hardened. He said there was no need to worry (about cancer, tumors, etc), as they were not harmful. But, that they would not go away with exercise, etc (I asked.... because I am a runner and average weight... but not overweight). He said that if they get bigger or become bothersome to me, we could schedule for them to become surgically removed, as that is the only way (Outpatient-type surgery). I really don't know why I&quot;m 47 years old and they suddenly both appear in the last month... and I don't think he really know.... but they did. Ugh. :(  But, glad they aren't something more serious, so I guess I'll count my blessings....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26560" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T22:35:38.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36087" CreationDate="2017-09-01T22:47:20.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The physics of running in place&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fear your calorie burn measurements may be off. &quot;Calorie&quot; is a measure of energy transferred to (or work done on) an object when force is applied to the object over a distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you don't move forward, the only direction you move against any resistance, is upward. And during a stationary run, you don't do much up and down movement. Sure, your feet and hands may travel some distance over time, but your center of gravity remains largely on a single point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://calorielab.com/burned/?mo=ac&amp;amp;ac=12025&amp;amp;ti=Jogging+in+place&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;wt=150&amp;amp;un=lb&amp;amp;kg=68&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this website&lt;/a&gt;, burning &quot;well over 1,000 calories&quot; is going to take well over 2 hours. And it begs the question; why would you spend your time doing that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The biology of running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you're not tiring out, is because the intensity of the work is so low, you're not training your cardiovascular system, or your lungs. But if your goal is to run a 5K, then you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to train these things. And the best way to do that, is to increase your intensity and running distance, little by little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My recommendation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it can be demoralizing to realize how short of a distance you can run (been there), but the trick to de-demoralizing yourself, is to set small, achievable goals, write them down, and tick them off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to share the ones I made, because I still have this journal as a reminder. I'm Norwegian though, so this is of course translated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went for a test-run to see how far I could jog without needing a break. Here's my first goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by the end of the month, I want to jog 500 meters without stopping or walking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I managed this, because I got to 460 or something. Like I said, small goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When that was done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;in three weeks, I want to jog 600 meters without stopping&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I also want to run that previous 500 meters 5 seconds faster&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing your progress laid bare - documented, numbers and all - is a good feeling. It gives you a sense of accomplishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I kept this going, because I got drafted, and I needed to be able to do a 3K in 15:00 or less. I got 18:11 and puked in a bush. A year later, I got 12:11 and a pat on the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T22:47:20.293" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36087" CreationDate="2017-09-02T03:36:42.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Treadmill vs Outdoor Running&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are key biomechanical differences between running on a treadmill vs outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Muscle Demands - Hamstrings &amp;amp; Quads&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On a treadmill a machine powers the treadmill belt, the mechanics of your running stride are different vs running outside.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When running on the treadmill, you use your quads to push off. However unlike outdoor running where you use your hamstrings complete your stride and lift your leg behind you.  The propulsion of the belt does much of that work for you.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outdoor running also requires more energy from your quads to propel your body forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Running on the treadmill is easier than running outdoors.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T03:36:42.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33759" CreationDate="2017-09-02T19:18:26.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that it helps with balance, however, there are two commonly accepted &amp;quot;types,&amp;quot; as it were, of stretching, namely &amp;quot;static&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;dynamic.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about it &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3990897/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but static stretching has been shown to have a negative effect on balance as opposed to dynamic stretching. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hss.edu/conditions_stretching-tips-athletes-dynamic-static.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to read up on these terms in depth, but the main take-aways are this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) &amp;quot;Dynamic stretching involves active tightening of muscles to move joints through their full range of motion. Functional and sport-specific movements help increase muscle temperature and decrease muscle stiffness. This form of stretching improves speed, agility, and acceleration.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) &amp;quot;Static stretching requires you to move a muscle to the end of its range of motion and maintain it without pain for 20-45 seconds. Repeat this 2-3 times each. This is a very effective way to increase flexibility. It must be noted that using static stretching post-event will help prevent injury; however, if static stretching is performed prior to an athletic competition, it may negatively impact performance. Static stretching may limit your body’s ability to react quickly. This may last up to two hours in activities such as vertical jumps, short sprints, balance, and reaction speeds.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25968" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user25968" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T00:23:50.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18742" CreationDate="2017-09-03T19:00:21.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am convinced that it is from alcohol and caffine. Of course  the sauna experience is a lot better with lots of hydration, but they can still occur. I am sipping a mango drink and praying that it goes away. Diblerately wearing a dampened skull cap too. I feel your pain.. it is a 1st world problem. Cover your head with a cloth before you sleep and sip water, the only effective cure I know. Happy days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26570" LastActivityDate="2017-09-03T19:00:21.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-04T04:25:47.053" Score="0" ViewCount="1936" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started on a long journey from being almost morbidly obese with test around 320 ng/dl to where I am now -- lean, 13-14% bodyfat and test recorded at 800 -- highest ever record for myself early in the morning. I have noticed zero difference from having 320 and 800 when it comes to muscle building. For example, weightlifting at a low test level showed the same timeframe and gains as they do now with a higher one. I workout religiously and do everything right -- but I build muscle painfully slow -- less than 6 pounds a year -- and highly inconsisent results (strong as hell one week -- very weak the next). For example, I could bench 315 2 times less than a month go -- now I struggle to do 275 twice. I get excellent rest and never feel tired or fatigued -- I just poorly build muscle it seems. I figured higher testosterone would make a massive difference, but it doesn't -- at least not for me. A near 500 ng/dl increase and virtually no difference in protein synthesis/etc. I recover very quickly, big there's never much mass. I get unbelievable pumps, but after 1-2 days I go back to normal size. My arms have been stuck at 13.5 inches for 2 years even though I've added 10-15 lbs. to my biceps curls in that timeframe. I at first assumed &quot;genetics&quot; but all steroid users take high test and they easily gain size -- so I figured naturally increasing my testosterone would work the same -- just at a lower level. I've noticed my jawline is prominent -- I have an incredibly high libido -- my self-esteem has improved -- everything basically. I did not need TRT like a beta male and I'm definitely an alpha male -- I just can't look like the ideal one with muscularity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I just accept genetics? Do I keep trying to up my testosterone naturally? I can re-evaluate diet and rest more or try and have sex more and fight (all things that supposedly increase testosterone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wish I could look like the ideal alpha male when it comes to muscle. I look too small for my leanness and I'm trying to get ripped, but I can't put on much size even in a surplus for months. I gave up bulking when I just got fat and DEXA scans show virtually no change in muscle mass over months of steadily checking while bulking. I just do a steady re-comp and try to lose/gain now, but it seems I can keep losing fat but barely put on muscle, bulking or not. What are my options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At my current musculature I'll look like a puny marathon runner or cyclist at ripped status.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to get (something like) this body type, but with a little lower bodyfat naturally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LadfI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LadfI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can genetics let me succeed? Can I break any genetic limitations I may have without drugs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26557" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T20:25:24.187" Title="High testosterone, but can't get muscular or ripped easily?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-04T10:13:43.083" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am walking  i observed I have two mode, in one I am walking normal way with all my body felling no tension, other one is in which my torso fill bit of stiff, it is feeling like walking by someone forcing me. Which muscles are getting worked out in both scenario?&#xA;I hope other people also experience same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T10:13:43.083" Title="Muscles involved in Walking with different way" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;legs&gt;&lt;walking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10012" CreationDate="2017-09-04T14:39:43.900" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a &lt;strong&gt;warmup&lt;/strong&gt; with &lt;strong&gt;3D plank&lt;/strong&gt; to activate your core:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;simple plank or bird dog plank (one arm one leg), &#xA; side plank and reverse plank(glute bridge), aim for one minute each.&#xA;see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommended routine&lt;/a&gt; for details and an advanced strength program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Then do strength training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;only don't eat big so you don't get big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;do 1 or 2 sets to train almost every day,&#xA;or kick 5 sets and train 3 time a week&#xA;with 2 to 5 reps (strength range) for each set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for legs: pistols(one leg squats) and/or weighted lunges (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85XSvLO3uXY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Elevated Reverse Lunge&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for the core: leg raises/L-sit-&gt;V-sit, back lever progressions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for arms horizontal: push-ups, body-rows (reverse rows)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for arms vertical: pike push-ups/handstand push-ups , negative pull-ups/pull-ups&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Then do endurance/stamina training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;alternating between high knees(hip-flexors) and butt kicks(hamstrings) (High Knees Butt Kickers in Place for spring training www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVE_r1Af9r8) (Non Stop 1 hour High knees challenge v=l_p-wokHvzQ)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tons of reverse lunges (or walking lunges) with  knee raises combo they are better than squats for running (sets of 100 to thousands) build to do them for the time of your distance (example: for 10k aim for 40min-1hour of lunges) (Runners lunge to knee drive www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KjeQxK3ii8).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;jumping lunges, jumping jacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for more stamina you can also have days of Burpees, kettle-bell swings(for posterior chain)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and finally you can have days to build core stamina through plank sets and then build for one [knee] plank of 40min or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26574" LastEditorUserId="26574" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T13:30:49.550" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T13:30:49.550" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36100" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36113" CreationDate="2017-09-04T14:53:39.813" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working with toddlers, my girlfriend has to lift them in and out of various kinds of prams. That has led to lower back problems for her since the common lifting advice do not apply for all prams. In the case of some strollers, she can lift the kid without bending forward. However, in other cases that does not work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper lifting technique in lifting a toddler in or out of a pram? Or, would you guys rather recommend some back exercises for her to get rid of her back pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18105" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T07:15:56.073" Title="Carrying a child out of a pram (back pain)" Tags="&lt;back-pain&gt;&lt;lower-back&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32806" CreationDate="2017-09-05T06:18:45.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will need to learn a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all; &lt;strong&gt;are you holding the rings correctly?&lt;/strong&gt; Using a false grip makes a ring muscle up easier, see these images of false grip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SHmif.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SHmif.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u1URp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u1URp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly; &lt;strong&gt;you need to practice the transition movement.&lt;/strong&gt; You'll need to create some sort of momentum to get your first muscle up done. After that you can start to perfect the movement and use less and less momentum until you can do a strict muscle up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have different variations, &lt;strong&gt;some people use a swing&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;note that the person isn't holding the rings correctly in this image&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c7ien.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c7ien.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilest others &lt;strong&gt;turn the rings inward&lt;/strong&gt; in other to make the movement easier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ngm6E.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ngm6E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My advice:&lt;/strong&gt; Try the second technique. It is simply the better way. While the first technique might be easier and get you your muscle up faster, you're also at risk of getting injuries because of the uncontrolled movements you are doing. Even if you use the first technique to get to your first muscle up, you want to work towards a more controlled muscle up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it helps. If you have any further questions let me know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2017-09-06T06:11:22.343" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T06:11:22.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-05T07:11:37.067" Score="1" ViewCount="858" Body="&lt;p&gt;One may sleep very well last night. But after playing basketball(40 minutes, mild), he may become very sleepy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is probably because his brain needs more oxygen. But why is he much better after running 5 miles quickly? Running seems more sensitive to oxygen and it depletes more calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to reduce the level of fatigue after playing basketball?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26583" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T19:08:06.250" Title="Why is one sleepy/tired after playing basketball but not after running?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;brain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36109" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36165" CreationDate="2017-09-05T14:57:46.053" Score="1" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't been in gym since 11 of the August because of some complicated flue/cold + tonsillitis I got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All stuff I do I do naturally, so, basically, here is some of my excercise info was like that before illness:&#xA; - 62.5 kg barbell bench press (3 * 10 times)&#xA; - Chin ups (with 5kg weight in additional) (3 * 10 times)&#xA; - 70kg deadlift (3 * 10)&#xA; - 130kg (3 * 15) leg press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throught my ilness sometimes I've visited friends and office, but no any hard load. Temperature most of the time was normal but it was like 37.5 last 3 days (when I get my tonsillitis, yeah)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what do you think guys, how long should I train to get all back? How deep is fall after such hard flu?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T12:03:23.510" Title="Been sick with flu almost for a month - how deep is fall" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;getting-in-shape&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36112" CreationDate="2017-09-05T17:06:38.820" Score="2" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essentially, what the title says - are there programs targeted at beginners, or could you do these forever and still see &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are there better programs once you have been lifting for years? Should I be doing a 5-day split or something? Is there anything established to do as as an &quot;Intermediate lifter&quot; (as judged by exrx Strength Standards)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just the program I am talking about if anyone is unfamiliar, Starting Strength is similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The StrongLifts 5×5 Routine:&#xA;Day A:&#xA;Squat: 5×5&#xA;Bench: 5×5&#xA;Deadlift: 1×5&#xA;&#xA;Day B:&#xA;Squat: 5×5&#xA;Press: 5×5&#xA;Barbell Row: 5×5&#xA;&#xA;StrongLifts Two Week Cycle:&#xA;Mon: Day “A”&#xA;Wed: Day “B”&#xA;Fri: Day “A”&#xA;Mon: Day “B”&#xA;Wed: Day “A”&#xA;Fri: Day “B”&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16841" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T18:02:20.337" Title="Are 5x5 or Starting Strength Beginner Programs (That Shouldn't be Used Indefinitely)?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36111" CreationDate="2017-09-05T17:23:00.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting Strength recommends that each trainee commence training with the following simple &quot;&lt;strong&gt;novice&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; program, alternating the following &quot;days&quot; across workouts that should be performed every 48-72 hours:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 1x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day B&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squat 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench Press 3x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deadlift 1x5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core principle is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(biology)#General_adaptation_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;General Adaptation Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; (GAS): the ability of a living organism to undergo a &lt;strong&gt;stress&lt;/strong&gt; and, by &lt;strong&gt;recovering&lt;/strong&gt; from that stress, &lt;strong&gt;adapt&lt;/strong&gt;.  In this case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the barbell work is the stress,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eating, drinking, and resting facilitate recovery, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increased muscular strength is the primary adaptation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the trainee's ability to recover from the stress imparted by the barbell lifts, progress will be made on this simple program over a time period of weeks to months.  This program &lt;strong&gt;cannot be used indefinitely&lt;/strong&gt;, because of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminishing_returns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the law of diminishing returns&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength can be built for &lt;em&gt;decades&lt;/em&gt;, but more-complex programming and longer stress-recovery-adaptation (SRA) cycles become necessary.  In particular, once the trainee can no longer complete an SRA cycle within 72 hours, that trainee is no longer a &lt;strong&gt;novice&lt;/strong&gt; trainee, but is instead by definition an &lt;strong&gt;intermediate&lt;/strong&gt; trainee: one who can increase strength over a time-range of four days to four weeks.  Trainees who cannot increase strength that quickly have become &lt;strong&gt;advanced&lt;/strong&gt; trainees; extremely few trainees ever reach this level of training advancement.  Note that these definitions do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; depend on actual strength levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intermediate -- and especially advanced -- training programs are extremely varied because they must be individualized to suit each trainee's particular needs and interests.  For example, an intermediate trainee interested in competing in powerlifting needs a program that differs from the program needed by an intermediate trainee interested in marathoning.  The &lt;a href=&quot;https://startingstrength.com/article/understanding-the-texas-method-intensity-day&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Texas Method&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://startingstrength.com/training/heavy-light-medium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Heavy-Light-Medium&lt;/a&gt; are &lt;strong&gt;templates&lt;/strong&gt; for intermediate programs.  Advanced trainees might use bespoke programs, but such programs, to be effective, must still exploit the GAS using (long) SRA cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastEditorUserId="20213" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T18:02:20.337" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T18:02:20.337" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36100" CreationDate="2017-09-05T18:08:58.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend some lifting exercises.Lifting would:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strengthen the posterior chain (back, hamstrings, bascially the backside of the body). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifts (deadlifts and squats) teach you how to recruit the correct muscles (usually glutes) and handle off center loads. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical lifts to explore :Deadlifts, good-mornings, back squats, front squats, and hamstring curls. Careful when doing deadlifts concentrating on back position and with squats watch knee position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often back pain is also caused by flexibility issues that can usually be traced to tight hamstrings. Try yoga if you think could be a contributing factor. As mentioned below Abdominal is also important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I would just like to caution women who had a C-section to be extra careful. Pregnancy and C-sections weakens the Abdominal muscles, therefore it is important &lt;strong&gt;to take it easy&lt;/strong&gt; and slowly start increasing the strength of the abs. Pay special attention to the lower abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastEditorUserId="13761" LastEditDate="2020-06-01T04:50:17.823" LastActivityDate="2020-06-01T04:50:17.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="36114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36109" CreationDate="2017-09-05T18:23:00.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically when I get back in the gym after a long period I typically start with high volume (light weight) for 2 weeks. For example 40 kg bench press (4*15). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Followed by either &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;periodisation which Jim Stopani explains very well in this program (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html&lt;/a&gt;) or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;German Volume training (40kg*10*10) (Google: German Volume Training for more info).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming from the tags that your goal is bodybuilding (massbuilding) with little emphasis on strength. If that's the case you need to eat healthy meals and get enough rest. I know this is hard as a student but training takes a huge toll on your body and treating it well will improve your performance and reduces the chance of you getting sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goodluck and happy lifting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13761" LastEditorUserId="13761" LastEditDate="2017-09-08T15:03:23.423" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T15:03:23.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32806" CreationDate="2017-09-05T20:08:00.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have access to cable pulls, you can do one arm cable pulls from overhead all the way down to your side, simulating the full muscle-up movement (you may need to sit).  This is a great option because it allows the same sort of progressions you would use with other weightlifting, such as 5 sets of 5, rather than trying the max effort it takes most people to do a single muscle-up. By increasing the weight over time, combined with the false grip described in many other places, you will be able to build to a &quot;strict&quot; muscle up with no swing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strength is not necessary though, for kipping muscle up, given the proper technique. When you train on the rings, the purpose of the swing is to raise your center of mass before rotating around it. If you can swing high enough (hips to the hands) and time your rotation correctly (the kip), you can raise yourself to the top of the rings almost effortlessly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combining some strength with a decent kip is your best bet rather than having either part be flawless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T20:08:00.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36097" CreationDate="2017-09-05T20:25:24.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JJ references in his comment, having high testosterone does not translate to easier bodybuilding. Fluctuations within the normal range do not appear to have much effect on building muscle. It may however have an effect on bodyfat levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual studies are behind paywalls, but the abstracts can be referenced in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.muscleforlife.com/how-testosterone-levels-affect-muscle-growth-and-fat-loss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the cited studies in this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you state &quot;but with lower bodyfat, naturally&quot;. It is unclear whether you mean through natural methods (no drugs) or that &quot;naturally you want lower bodyfat&quot; referencing the guy in the photo. That guy is actually in the 5-10% bodyfat range already, which is about the lowest healthy, maintainable bodyfat level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, your statements about being weak one week, strong the next, and building less than 6 lbs of muscle a year points at something not quite right either in nutrition or your workouts. Working out religiously doesn't automatically translate to huge gains unless you are also doing so intelligently. The statement &quot;I've added 10-15 lbs to my curls in the last 2 years but stuck at 13.5 inches&quot; is especially telling. 10-15 lb increase in 2 years is basically nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of going on about your high test levels, put a question with a full delineation of your last month of workouts, rest and food levels. That will be much more telling than hormone test results. If you aren't tracking that, then you aren't &quot;religious&quot; about working out, you're just someone who goes to the gym a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T20:25:24.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-06T03:10:18.560" Score="2" ViewCount="441" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in starting a HIIT regimen to maximize my fat loss but the issue I am having is that it takes a while for the treadmill to speed up and slow down. I am trying to start by doing 30 second sprints going at 9-10 miles per hour followed by 30 second slow jogs/walks going at 3-4 miles per hour but the treadmills at my gym take about 10-15 seconds to speed up and slow down from those speeds, meaning I cant have the full 30 seconds of sustained sprinting or restful walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to make this work? How to you guys factor in how long it takes the treadmill to speed up and slow down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26587" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T11:11:52.627" Title="How to do HIIT when it takes a while for the treadmill to speed up and slow down?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;high-intensity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2848" CreationDate="2017-09-06T15:22:44.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to start with addressing your edit first re: some scientific studies. You're right research on this type of stuff often leaves something to be desired. However, long distance running is actually one sport we have a lot more research than most. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice the theme of these studies, bolding mine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Like Slovic, other investigators have demonstrated a relationship&#xA;  between &lt;strong&gt;quantity of training mileage and final time&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;PHYSICAL TRAINING AND PERSONALITY FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF MARATHON TIME AND TRAINING INJURY&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The better runners were seen, on the whole, &lt;strong&gt;to have been running&#xA;  longer, and to have more strenuous regimes, both in terms of intensity&#xA;  of training and distance run per week.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anthropometric and training characteristics of female marathon runners as determinants of distance running performance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Marathon Performance Time was also negatively related to previous&#xA;  marathons completed (r= -0.47), &lt;strong&gt;workout days (r= -0.47), two a day&#xA;  workouts (r= -0.52), total workouts (r= -0.56), km per workout (r=&#xA;  -0.58), total training min (r= -0.56)&lt;/strong&gt;, training pace (r= -0.66), &lt;strong&gt;max km per week (r= -0.70), km per week (r= -0.74), km previous 12 weeks&#xA;  (r=-0.74), and km per day (r=-0.77)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Marathon Performance Time for our population of runners may be&#xA;  predicted (r= 0.82, R2= 0.68) by the following equation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;MPT, (min) = 449.88 - 7.61 (&lt;strong&gt;km per day&lt;/strong&gt;) - 0.63 (training pace)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MARATHON PERFORMANCE IN RELATION TO MAXIMAL AEROBIC POWER AND&#xA;TRAINING INDICES IN FEMALE DISTANCE RUNNERS&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Marathon performance correlated to 5-km, 10-km, and half-marathon&#xA;  performance and to years training, &lt;strong&gt;average and peak weekly distance&lt;/strong&gt;,&#xA;  number of weekly runs, and number of runs ≥32 km for women.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training Characteristics of Qualifiers for the U.S. Olympic Marathon&#xA;Trials&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;the average weekly training volume in kilometers&lt;/strong&gt; (r2 = 0.224, p &amp;lt;&#xA;  0.01) and the personal best time in a marathon (r2 = 0.334, p &amp;lt; 0.01) were significantly associated with total race time, whereas no&#xA;  anthropometric variable was related to race performance (p &gt; 0.05)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training Volume and Personal Best Time in Marathon, Not&#xA;Anthropometric Parameters, are Associated with Performance in Male&#xA;100-KM Ultrarunners&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;body mass index (r = 0.24), the sum of eight skinfolds (r = 0.55),&#xA;  percent body fat (r = 0.57), &lt;strong&gt;weekly running hours (r = −0.29), weekly&#xA;  running kilometres (r = −0.49)&lt;/strong&gt;, running speed during training&#xA;  (r = −0.50), and personal best time in a marathon (r = 0.72) were&#xA;  associated with race time. Results of the multiple regression analysis&#xA;  revealed an independent and negative association of weekly running&#xA;  kilometres and average speed in training with race time.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is associated with race performance in male 100-km&#xA;ultra-marathoners – anthropometry, training or marathon best time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In men, the &lt;strong&gt;mean weekly running distance, minimum distance run per&#xA;  week, maximum distance run per week, mean weekly hours of running,&#xA;  number of running training sessions per week&lt;/strong&gt;, and mean speed of the&#xA;  training sessions were significantly and negatively related to total&#xA;  race time&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sex Differences in Association of Race Performance, Skin-Fold&#xA;Thicknesses, and Training Variables for Recreational Half-Marathon&#xA;Runners&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one reason to engage in long, slow, distance training, is because it helps you run more miles, and the more miles people run, the faster their times tend to be. However, that doesn't mean it's optimal or the cause of faster times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason to not immediately buy into this philosophy is it's really quite different than other human performance events. There are far and few events where merely doing the event more and more will keep increasing performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll give two areas for food for thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For non-professional athletes, time is a limiting factor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not easy fitting e.g. four+ hour workouts into a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You almost always find everyday people basically do the best they can during the work week, then on the weekend have one long workout, trying to simulate the event the best they can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why first timers to these types of activities often end up destroyed after the event. By far the biggest mistake I see first timers do is,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Eh, I mean, I've done a 10 mile run in training. I think I'm ready&#xA;  for a marathon.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is no different than a lifter going,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Eh, I mean, I've squatted 200 pounds in training. I'm sure I'm ready&#xA;  for 400 pounds. Or more.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're talking more than a 100% increase in volume, overnight. Cue the stress fractures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the average rec person has a hard time getting the required volume in, then ends up delusional thinking what they've been doing is enough. Until they get hit by a wrecking ball on event day. The more running they can do before the event, the less likely this happens, the better they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, more a concern for rec people. The more they run, the more likely they are to weigh less, the better performance in longer distance events tends to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, a person could likely do just as well running less with more attention to their eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, there is really only so many calories a person can burn from exercise. (See: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2016/03/21/new-insights-as-to-why-you-cant-avoid-exercising/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;New insights as to why you can't avoid exercising&lt;/a&gt;.) The idea someone burns e.g. 10,000 calories is false. Where I wouldn't be surprised if those engaging in more training simply do two things 1) blunt their appetite more 2) have less time to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to back this up is in many of the above studies you can see anthropometry is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; correlated with performance. Well, at the elite level, we know that's not true. Kenyans dominate, and they have a very specific body type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the majority of people engaging in long distance competitions, the ability to merely do the event is an enormous hurdle. The ability to then run the whole thing is another hurdle. The ability to do that with any level of regularity and not got hurt yet another. Finally, we have speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will see average running pace is also correlated with performance in the studies above. Speed of course matters. But for the average person looking to run these distances, it's not a priority. Finishing without having to limp for a month afterwards is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you're an everyday person following a common marathon training plan, where there's one long run on the weekend. Your options are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 10+ miles at a relaxed pace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run 10+ miles at race pace or faster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second involves more injury risk, and a greater chance you won't even hit the distance. Marathon training has an absurd injury rate. You have to get people to the distance before you worry about speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But once someone's body can regularly handle the distance, then you're right. Speed needs to be addressed, and not just in shorter workouts. (That said, even at the elite level, they will often run longer distances slowly, just to maintain the ability of their body to run that far, while lessening the stress of how intensely they run it. You can't run hard every workout.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T15:22:44.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35843" CreationDate="2017-09-06T15:43:12.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of your confusion stems from the fact that people use threshold training to mean different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, joe runner on the street uses threshold and interval training as terms in comparison to race times, not to the actual physiological AnT (Anaerobic Threshold, or lactate threshold).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In those terms, threshold training is training done near race pace, with short rest. Interval training is done above race pace, with long rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an example: You go out and run an all out 5k, and get a time of 18:38, which is a 6 minute per mile pace. This establishes your baseline max. A threshold workout would be something like 8 x 400 on 2:00, hold 1:45. (Meaning run 8 400's, try to keep every one under 1:45, leave on the 2:00 mark for each one). An interval workout would be 8 x 400 on 1:15, 1:00-1:30 rest between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Threshold workouts are done to increase the amount of time you can spend at or near race pace. Interval workouts are designed to make your race pace faster. The rest of the time should be mostly LSD, done well below your AnT, maybe with some occasional pickups/strides for tempo. The biggest mistake the vast majority of endurance athletes make is they don't go easy enough on the easy days, and they don't go hard enough on the hard days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, since you had a doctor do your HR zones, you may actually have a decent idea of your HR max. (Ignore 220-age, it's meaningless drivel. I'm 51 now and I can still hit 190. It was originally based on bad science, and repeated because it was easy). Your AnT is going to probably be in the neighborhood of 80-85% of your HR max, but that's not 100% given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your training plan, I'm not really a fan of it. You have two days where you run great big whacks of distance, a couple interval days, and 3 days rest. For half to full marathons, I would keep the long Sunday run, but then chunk up the Monday run and add a couple days, so make Mon, Wed and Fri each 10kish in distance (at an 8 minute pace, a 10k takes you about 50 mins), and make sure they are easy tempo, well within the aerobic range. Vary your interval and threshold distances from 400-1600m (10 minute warmup, 5x1600 at 6:30 with 1 min rest, 15 min warmdown is a great workout), and pay attention to nutrition and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T15:43:12.487" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="774" CreationDate="2017-09-06T18:22:45.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine hanging a string (that is, a plumb bob) between the racked barbell and the bench itself.  The &quot;foot side&quot; of the bench is the long (majority) portion of the bench, that is, the part closer to your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Position yourself on the bench so that your eyes are not directly under the bench, but instead are perhaps one or two centimeters &quot;down&quot; (toward the &quot;foot side&quot;) of the bench from the barbell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T18:22:45.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36128" CreationDate="2017-09-07T06:22:13.440" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been swimming in pool for about close to a year now. I'm able to swim freestyle  500m in 30 mins in easy pace. (I don't know if it is good or needs improvement).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The next 500m I intend to train my legs and shoulders for kick and pull.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So I do 50m kickboard - 100m pull until I reach 500m mark.  The overall routine looks like this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;| Activity  | Distance | Remarks  |&#xA;|-----------+----------+----------|&#xA;| freestyle | 500m     | 25m X 20 |&#xA;| kickboard | 50m      | 25m X 2  |&#xA;| Pull      | 100m     | 50m X 2  |&#xA;| kickboard | 50m      | 25m X 2  |&#xA;| Pull      | 100m     | 50m X 2  |&#xA;| kickboard | 50m      | 25m X 2  |&#xA;| Pull      | 100m     | 50m X 2  |&#xA;| kickboard | 50m      | 25m X 2  |&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing this routine since August 2017 - all days except Mondays.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After the swimming session, my right thigh is sore and there is calf pain as well. Why is this happening and &lt;em&gt;more importantly how can I overcome this&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.S:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm training myself to become a triathlete and I'm learning swimming for this reason&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12111" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T14:29:26.350" Title="Right leg becoming sore after swimming 1000m" Tags="&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;routine&gt;&lt;soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-07T08:55:18.157" Score="0" ViewCount="1710" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the normal range of motion (in degrees) expected from the most proximal joint during the push-up movement i.e. shoulder for pushup? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26593" LastActivityDate="2018-01-05T22:13:23.300" Title="Push-up Range of Motion" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36126" CreationDate="2017-09-07T12:58:46.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what sort of push-up you're doing, but if you're doing the traditional &quot;hands under shoulders, elbows to the sides&quot; pushup, the angle goes from a bit less than 90 degrees at the top (actual angle dependent on your height and arm length, but with your arms perpendicular to the ground) to about 0 degrees with your nose or chest touching the floor and your elbows at your sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T12:58:46.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36125" CreationDate="2017-09-07T14:29:26.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the first part of your question, 500m in 30 minutes is slightly faster than floating with the waves, unfortunately. Top high school boys will be near 4:30 (4 minutes 30 seconds) for that distance, girls will be 15ish seconds slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this combined with the leg pain in the kicking portion tells me that most likely you have a form problem, that causes you to use your right leg much more than your left in your swimming stroke. Then, when you isolate during the kicking, it is more fatigued than your left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have two recommendations for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lessons - Get some swim lessons, or at least some time with a decent stroke instructor who can tell you what you can improve on. Ask for specific drills.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workouts - Your workout isn't really structured to make you a better or a faster swimmer. I would look at &quot;Swim workouts in a Binder&quot; in any of the variations (They have one specifically for triathletes) to get an idea of what a swim workout would look like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get your (suspected) form issues cleaned up and get some good structure to your workouts, your times will drop dramatically. It will also improve your triathlon times, as you won't get out of the water already tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T14:29:26.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36132" CreationDate="2017-09-08T09:13:03.747" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to reduce sodium from canned foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canned foods such as tuna contain protein but do contain a lot of sodium too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there smart way to remove sodium from the food? Maybe by boiling or using &#xA;some other technique?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HmyOS.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HmyOS.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26600" LastEditorUserId="24334" LastEditDate="2017-09-08T14:35:16.020" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T14:35:16.020" Title="Sodium - reduce salt from a salty food?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-09-08T14:34:05.043" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36131" CreationDate="2017-09-08T11:43:21.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;At least within the context of canned vegetables, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bestfoodfacts.org/rinsing-canned-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;draining the liquid and rinsing the vegetables&lt;/a&gt; yields a 9-40% reduction in sodium. Although, note that the US Department of Agriculture has also pointed out that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Articles/EB11_DrainedVeg.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;draining the can, or rinsing, can reduce the nutrient content&lt;/a&gt;, because you're dumping water-soluble vitamins that have migrated into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T11:43:21.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5652" CreationDate="2017-09-09T10:47:31.973" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According my thinking as half of our body's mass consists of quadriceps, thighs, calves, and buttocks, so leg press will definitely affect your body. Not only it will make you fit but also stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are thinking that after using the leg press machine and doing heavy weight lifting you will develop muscles like a bulky men body builder the answer is a big NO!.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to go for a leg press, you should try Squats. But i would recommend you to go for a leg press machine. You can read more about leg press machine using &lt;a href=&quot;https://menslift.com/best-leg-press-machines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; where they have mentioned why working on leg press machine is essential for both men &amp;amp; women and have also outlined some of the best leg press machines including their pros and cons, features, specifications etc,.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26609" LastEditorUserId="26609" LastEditDate="2017-09-09T11:01:44.610" LastActivityDate="2017-09-09T11:01:44.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-10T00:42:19.457" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done yoga several times, but am not really big into it.  I'd like to get more into it.  The problem is, I'm the type whose mind is always running.  Trying to simply stop and feel my inner self, or feel the posture, or whatever seems very hard.  Is this something someone picks up as they progress, or is there a trick to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T07:19:58.763" Title="Getting into a meditative mindset for yoga" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-09-11T18:25:01.547" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-10T09:22:10.217" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not losing weight instead I'm gaining &#xA;I've been on calorie diet with range 1300 or 1200 &#xA;With workout for 5 days per week and also lifting weight &#xA;But I'm not losing weight !!&#xA;I Donnu what's wrong with my body someone can help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26619" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T06:53:27.100" Title="I'm not losing weight" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;metabolism&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36138" CreationDate="2017-09-10T12:18:51.630" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on the exercise you do.Swimming ,running the best workouts for losing fast weight and gaining muscle.Drink a lot of water than eating is good solution too.Instead of getting an answer of why you don't lose weight try to do more workout. Example,morning go walking 6kilometers or running. Eat cornflakes, continue,after 2 hours go bicycle,sleep well go swimming,1 kilometer is good.Lifting is not for me the best solution to lose weight. Move as possible as you can.This is the best solution.Even more,if you are beginner don't try  what I wrote .Do 2 kilometers for start.Run 20minutes (if you get tired ,walk and continue).Swim 200meters.Don't accept my answer.Try to do this or a similar program like that and after 2-3 days come back.Try eating 1 meal ,increase vegetables and fruits. I hope I helped we will see&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25907" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T12:18:51.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-10T20:34:49.557" Score="1" ViewCount="10023" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I train my arms equally, my right arm looks slightly more trained and muscular than the left arm, also my right arm feels tired after training in contrast to my left arm, what's the solution to make both look the same?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26613" LastEditorUserId="26613" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T20:41:02.127" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T01:27:58.440" Title="My right arm looks slightly bigger than the left arm" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-11T01:21:27.067" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question that's been runnin round my mind for a while now..... I don't have access to a gym, so I decided about doing body weight exercise but I don't know which ones to do!?! I'm not fat but I'm no skinny either, I have a little bit of lower belly fat and I can see a little bit of my lower ab, should I do cardio before body weights? Or should I not do cardio at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26623" LastEditorUserId="26623" LastEditDate="2017-09-11T05:57:41.010" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T05:57:41.010" Title="Lose weight at home?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-09-11T14:43:59.163" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-11T01:27:31.477" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a very active person and I work behind a desk, but I am trying to be more active and get into better shape. I am overweight, but not obese. (According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rush.edu/health-wellness/quick-guides/what-is-a-healthy-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt;.) I bike, walk, have been doing some indoor, low impact exercises, and I chase around my 3.5 year old. But doing these physical activities makes me yawn A LOT. Doing these things is hard enough when I'm in poor shape and don't have much endurance, but yawning makes it just that much more difficult. I'm trying to figure out what could cause this and what I can do about it. I don't have any idea where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26622" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T03:55:19.580" Title="Yawning during physical activity" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36143" CreationDate="2017-09-11T02:18:11.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get intermittent yawning-attacks during workouts too. I ignore it, and go about my business. I've read this and that about it, but nothing conclusive. The most plausible one is that you're simple tired from lack of sleep. Barring that, some say it's because you're rapidly heating up, and yawning is an attempt to cool down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a study in 2007 in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, researchers reported that subjects who cooled their brains by breathing through their noses or holding cold packs to their foreheads — proven brain-cooling strategies — were less likely to yawn when shown videos of other people yawning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no ready explanation for your &amp;quot;aerobic yawn.&amp;quot; Perhaps your alveoli need a boost to stay open. Or maybe your brain needs cooling to stay alert. Or it may simply be a reflex. Whatever the case, there's probably no reason to worry about it, and you should keep up with your aerobic exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/By_the_way_doctor_Why_do_I_yawn_when_I_exercise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/By_the_way_doctor_Why_do_I_yawn_when_I_exercise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But note, this is referred to as a &amp;quot;novel theory&amp;quot;. Could be a legitimate reason, or it could be circumstantial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said, it's been hard to find anything conclusive on the topic of yawning during exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T02:18:11.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36142" CreationDate="2017-09-11T02:20:17.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no definitive answer to the question of which order you should do these things in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether or not you should do cardio; yes, you should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But keep in mind, if you want to lose weight, you're better of adjusting your diet first, and exercise second. Exercising does NOT compensate for an untidy and lazy diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T02:20:17.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36136" CreationDate="2017-09-11T07:37:59.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Concentration on your breathing during any posture is one of the primary thing you can start with. Bring your mind on your body part(s) where you feel more stretch (or pain at initial time) during any yoga posture. ie. observing the posture along with normal breathing.&#xA;Over the period of time (3 to 6 months ), gradually you will feel that your mind will be coming under your control&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25974" LastEditorUserId="25974" LastEditDate="2017-09-12T07:19:58.763" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T07:19:58.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-11T08:35:18.217" Score="2" ViewCount="2673" Body="&lt;p&gt;So here's a couple of things that a workout can consist of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm-up cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cooling-down cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mobility drills&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dynamic stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Static stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat-burning/endurance training cardio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm-up sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weightlifting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did I forget anything?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is the correct order to do these things in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some stuff I already know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If doing cardio, do it after lifting. This is because cardio will use stored energy in your muscles that you need for doing strength training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm up muscles that are going to be used before heavy lifting (but at what point before? See questions below). One reason for this is so you can feel this muscle better, so you can have a better mind-muscle connection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Divide the lifts from heavy compound exercises to isolation exercises, because you'll need multiple muscles working together in the compound movement, and if one of those muscles is already tired out, they can't do this as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If doing core work, do it after other lifts. If your core is already tired, your body has more difficulty keeping good form and exerting power.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some specific questions I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretching in between sets? Or after a couple of exercises? Or after all your lifting?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm-up sets of everything before you start any lifting, or just a warm-up set before every exercise? Or both?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When to do dynamic and when to do static stretching?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26599" LastEditorUserId="26599" LastEditDate="2017-09-11T09:14:24.920" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T20:18:31.180" Title="What is the correct workout order? (I.e. warm-up, mobility work, lifts, stretches, cooling down)" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;warm-up&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36152" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36161" CreationDate="2017-09-11T12:45:02.843" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing althernative days training&#xA;I mean one day Chest/Arms/Abs&#xA;the other day Back/Shoulders/Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know rest is important for muscle growth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So If I trained my chest/Arms/Abs on Monday &#xA;idially the muscles will have 48 hours rest till the next exercise time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But actually when I train my back the Biceps get used as well&#xA;Like when I do Lats Pulldowns, I fell Biceps are fatigue a little too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So Should this be consider as rest time as muscle get trained lightly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or by rest we me dont use this muscle as much as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:05:23.210" Title="Rest time and training other muscles" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;rest&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-11T13:13:32.077" Score="1" ViewCount="4885" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a disability affecting my legs. For many years I excercised with a bench and weights to get at least some workout. At the moment I can't. So I figured I could at least do some simple things such as push ups, planks and the like. I have little control over my legs and feet, much less toes, so I need a wall to press my feet against. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am able to do push ups and planks in this manner, but my toes always hurt quite a bit, so I have to stop much earlier than I probably could. I have tried soft shoes that protect my feet and softer surfaces underneath me, but they don't help much. Is this something everyone experiences and overcomes with time, as the toes harden, or does it only happen to me, because my toes are not flexible enough? Do you have any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update 2020: I now do them wearing very thick, closed slippers, pressed against doors or walls and it works reasonably well, but it costs me about one pair of slippers per month...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26627" LastEditorUserId="26627" LastEditDate="2020-06-13T10:37:08.747" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T11:11:15.180" Title="Avoid hurting toes during push ups" Tags="&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="36154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36152" CreationDate="2017-09-11T13:37:34.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To work around this issue, you can divide your routine into push+abs, pull+legs. Because you're right: many exercises for your back also include your biceps. This is because your back is mainly used for pulling movement, and your biceps as well.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your chest is mainly used for pushing movements, and your triceps as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason, triceps and chest go together and biceps and back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26599" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T13:37:34.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-11T14:53:37.357" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a kickboxer. A few weeks back, I played an unrelated game in a field where I sprinted a lot. When I was finished, my left leg around the knee was really sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, two weeks later, my left knee hurts a bit, but only on flexion, especially with resistance. Flexion with resistance is not a motion that is commonly done, but think: pulling your foot out of a really tight shoe. That hurts. Extension doesn't hurt at all. Kickboxing and walking cause no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also noticed as a kickboxer, I almost never perform flexion with resistance at the knee (always pushing outwards -- kicking). So perhaps my muscles/tendons for this movement have simply atrophied, leading to the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I check if my left knee flexion pain is tendinopathy or a muscular imbalance, and what exercises I can do to prevent this from re-occurring?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26630" LastEditorUserId="26630" LastEditDate="2017-09-11T18:42:36.690" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T23:04:55.483" Title="Is my knee pain during flexion a tendon issue?" Tags="&lt;knees&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-10-10T23:53:04.420" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36138" CreationDate="2017-09-11T16:46:54.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you haven't already done so, start a food journal.  Most people underestimate how many calories they are consuming.  Guessing at what you are eating while trying to lose weight will not help.  Use the food journal to record what you eat and drink for a structured period of time.  Then, look where you can slowly cut calories from your diet until you reach your goal weight.  Set a goal weight that is realistic.  Don't expect to lose a lot of weight all at once.  It's not healthy, and, in the long term, is counter productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Structure your lifting around a strength training program that includes some form of aerobics.  Adding muscle mass will help you burn more calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you do, don't give up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T16:46:54.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36149" CreationDate="2017-09-11T17:51:02.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very open question.&#xA;I will start with some additional information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warm up:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brings additional fluids to the joints, helping them move more smoothly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warms up tendons and ligaments, making them more flexible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increases blood flow, generally warming up the body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activates the muscles used, gets them ready for higher intensity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the basics (at least for a strength training perspective).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Warm-up sets of everything before you start any lifting, or just a warm-up set before every exercise? Or both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically you could do either/or. Once you start lifting your whole body will start to warm up as a by product of increased blood circulation and heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it won't necessarily increase joint flexibility (which is considered an important aspect of avoiding injury) in the areas you haven't touched on specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stretching in between sets? Or after a couple of exercises? Or after all your lifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read researches that claim it's better not to stretch at all before exercise. Just warm up, do some mobility drills. Keep the Static stretching for your cool down (or when your done lifting with that muscle group). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason to keep &quot;cardio&quot; at the end of a strength training workout, is that Aerobic exercise helps speed up recovery and reduce soreness. (though some studies have shown that a pre-workout warm up is more effective in reducing muscle soreness)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand I don't think you need to worry about a short 5 - 10 minute warm up cardio routine tiring the muscles you want to lift with. The stored energy in your muscles (ATP,CP) is replenished quickly (and not really used in light cardio) plus the small amount of sugar burned can also be replenished if you feel it's necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's plenty more to say. This should help clear up some confusion and steer you on the right path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26631" LastEditorUserId="26631" LastEditDate="2017-09-13T07:35:33.927" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T07:35:33.927" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36141" CreationDate="2017-09-11T19:03:30.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No human body has perfect symmetry. It is normal. I would train them both the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:03:30.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36152" CreationDate="2017-09-11T19:05:23.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are primary movers and secondary movers. You won't have any problems with that split. The aim of muscles are to work :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that logic, we should not climb stairs after we trained legs. Do not get into that much detail, just go with common sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13772" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:05:23.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35757" CreationDate="2017-09-11T19:50:55.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nuts and soy products are a great source of fast non-dairy protein. (You can generally find a soy isolate protein powder in a nutrition store).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'm a big fan of peanut butter and almonds. Just watch your fat intake with adding nuts to your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26631" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:50:55.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-12T08:12:42.320" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a fitness fanatic but like to maintain general health and condition by doing 30+ minutes of cardio and 30+ minutes of strength training each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to swim every day for 30-35 minutes each morning before breakfast, which worked great since it is hard to overload or injure yourself that way and it was very refreshing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I cannot swim anymore (pool closed) so I am looking for a suitable simple alternative for a daily refreshing cardio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can it be replaced by just going for a 30-35min jog every day? What would a good pace be? At the moment, I'm doing it everyday and do around 6.5-7km if my Vivosmart HR is to be believed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what do you think? Is this a good way to approach the loss of swimming? One of the downsides is that one of my strength days also focuses on legs, which makes the jogging a bit more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26635" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T19:59:06.700" Title="Lost swimming cardio, replacement with jogging" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36109" CreationDate="2017-09-12T12:03:23.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A month's rest isn't enough to undo all the work you did. Deloading by 10-20% of your previous weight moved is a common recommendation. eg. If you were pushing 60kg 3x10 then move down to 47.5-55kg depending on how you feel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progress linearly back up to where you were, this shouldn't take more than 4-6 weeks or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T12:03:23.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36164" CreationDate="2017-09-12T15:56:18.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardio is cardio. There are benefits and detriments to all of them, and what it basically boils down to is your own personal choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can running be a good replacement for swimming? Sure. There is different equipment costs (Good running shoes in the US run $125-200 US per pair, with a life of 3-400 miles usually), and there are different body strains (More impact, different muscles utilized), but your cardio system gets worked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it boils down to, is finding something that you enjoy and can do every day. If running is a chore, you will soon stop doing it. Enjoy it, and you will do it more often and get more out of it. Try a bunch of different stuff, find one or two (or even three) things you like to do and do them. You could run on day one, bike on day three, go rowing day four, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T15:56:18.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36169" CreationDate="2017-09-12T16:36:05.460" Score="0" ViewCount="528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to lose weight and at the same time build strength. I am 6'2&quot; and 33 years old. I started out at 258 lb about 5 months ago. Now I am at 205 lb, mostly due to switching to a modified Keto diet (bit less fat and a bit more protein). A healthy weight for my body type would be around 190 lb as I am right now, 200 lb with some muscle. I mostly have been doing calisthenics, but I am just not progressing very much at all. Still after about 3 months of trying I can only do one pullup and about 6 pushups. Not really progressing in other areas as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels like I am working hard, but I am just not really see any real progress. I want to train for strength rather than hypertrophy, but at this point I would take any progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I not progressing because I am not eating enough? I generally love my current diet and don't feel hungry usually. Should I just weight until I hit my 190 lb goal and then eat more and try to build muscle. Is there a good way for me to build muscle and more importantly strength while continuing to lose weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26639" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T12:54:38.633" Title="Progressing while losing weight on a low carb diet?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36141" CreationDate="2017-09-13T01:27:58.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Naturally, everybody has one dominant arm over the other. Odd are if you're right handed, you tend to do most tasks with that hand.  However an unwanted result can sometimes be exactly what you're experiencing, arms that are uneven in strength and appearance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The good news is that there are some ways to even them out. Be patient as they won't even out over night.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Ditch the Barbells&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells are an excellent mass builder. It may be true that they are excellent for building strength on power movements.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;However they are a common cause of uneven arms&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbells allow your stronger arm to take over the movement and you may not even realize it. Switch to dumbbells for all of your bicep and tricep exercises to allow each arm to be worked more evenly. For example, instead of barbell curls and tricep presses - do dumbbell curls and dumbbell presses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Work Each Arm Separately&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building on the previous tip, &lt;strong&gt;not all exercises are done with a barbell but that doesn't mean your arms are being worked evenly&lt;/strong&gt;. Exercises like machine preacher curls and tricep pushdowns don't use a barbell but still work both arms at the same time which means that one arm can dominate. For these exercises, you should work each arm separately to ensure that one arm isn't doing more work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Weaker Arm First&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When working your arms separately, it's important to start with your weaker arm first. This way, you know when to stop with your stronger arm so you're doing equal work with each arm. The whole point of working your arms separately is to ensure you get an equal work out with each arm. If you do more with your stronger arm this defeats the purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Work Each Arm Equally&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is probably the most important tip.&lt;/strong&gt; Some people try doing extra sets with their weaker arm or do more weight and more reps. This isn't a good idea. You should use the same weight for the same reps and same sets or else you may end up over training one side and under training the other. &lt;strong&gt;Select a weight that your weak arm can handle&lt;/strong&gt; for the selected amount of reps and do the same weight with your strong arm too. Over time, they will even out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Use Your Weaker Arm More&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may seem odd, but try to use your weaker arm for some more everyday activities. Open doors, carry groceries, drink water, eat meals, etc. with your weaker arm. It will help you become more comfortable using your weaker arm and over time will help you become more comfortable using it in the gym which will improve your neuromuscular efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16972050&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16972050&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15335243&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15335243&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12436270&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12436270&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17241104&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17241104&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T01:27:58.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36167" CreationDate="2017-09-13T07:06:52.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to progress on low carb and a caloric deficit if done right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't say that you are eating not enough if we don't know how much you are eating. Try not to go lower than 20% of your daily needs or your body will start to punish you. Not being hungry is a good indicator that you can't be doing it that terribly. Are you tired all the time? That could mean amongst other things that you don't eat enough (of the right stuff). Getting weaker? Another possible indicator. The only way to be sure is to count calories. That has gotten very painless thanks to smartphone apps, consider start doing it if you haven't already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not the biggest fan of low carb because: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbs are great, especially for sport &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low carb is made for short-term weight loss. You still have 40 years of life ahead of you, can you not eat carbs for 40 years? That sounds unnecessary hard for almost 0 benefits. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to sacrifice great (sometimes called &lt;em&gt;healthy&lt;/em&gt;, but I hate that word) food but still are allowed to eat garbage if it's low carb instead of learning how to eat a balanced diet. Anything that tells you to not eat lentils is doing something wrong if you ask me. Also, a lot of carb stuff tastes great! &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I wouldn't agree with those that say you absolutely have to eat carbs. You have been doing great so far regarding your weight loss goals, why not continue? I'm just saying if you have a good reason to do it, do it. If you're just doing it because it's the latest fad, ask yourself if another option might be better suited and leave you with more energy. You have to keep in mind what happens once you have reached your target weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One cannot also say if you work hard enough (or maybe too hard) because that information is also missing from your post. Do you do 6 pushups and then collapse on the floor and can do no more 3 times a week or more?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not that heavy, but still you have to start lifting a lot of weight with exercises designed for guys ~25 pounds lighter and 15 years younger than you. Also, remember, as a kid, you would be doing all kinds of athletic stuff all day. Those muscles might have been inactive for a decade. The same is true for your coordination and your nervous system might also have forgotten a couple of things. The great thing is that you started using all of that again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with bodyweight training is that there is of not a clear progression as there would be with weights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you can still do a progression, you just have to use your head a bit: Instead of pushups, do inclined pushups for example. The larger the angle, the easier it gets. Try to get ~ 3x12 done maybe 3 times a week. If you have to almost stand up, do it. Decrease the angle until you get better at it and at one point you'll be doing standard push ups or better. You will find such progressions for basically any exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, I assume that you have made a good training plan and train your entire body, avoiding imbalances and so on. Oh, and btw you are &gt; 30 = you might have a job and so on. If being cheap is the reason why you are doing bodyweight stuff (as I said, as an heavier and out of shape person, dumbbells and so on might be a better idea. You can more easily progress) - don't be cheap. But if you have better reason, stick with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26480" LastEditorUserId="26480" LastEditDate="2017-09-13T08:52:47.127" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T08:52:47.127" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36167" CreationDate="2017-09-13T12:54:38.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://startingstrength.com/article/maybe-you-should-gain-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Maybe You Should GAIN Weight&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  205 lb at 6'2&quot; is thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that, &lt;em&gt;generally&lt;/em&gt;, one can &lt;strong&gt;either&lt;/strong&gt; build muscle (that is, strength) and some bodyfat &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; lose bodyfat and some muscle. Only in rare cases, if at all, can one both build muscle and lose bodyfat at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider using &lt;a href=&quot;http://startingstrength.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbell-based strength training&lt;/a&gt; (with a caloric &lt;em&gt;surplus&lt;/em&gt; instead of a &lt;em&gt;deficit&lt;/em&gt;) instead of bodyweight-based exercises to build strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T12:54:38.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36149" CreationDate="2017-09-13T13:53:35.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be an entire day at a personal training conference, so forgive me if we generalize a fair amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;General warm-up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to go with dynamic over static stretching. Static is a more relaxing type of stretching. We don't want to do that to our body before getting into more intense exercise. We want to gradually up the intensity, which dynamic stretching can provide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I've had some clients who whether they be into yoga, in their 50s and used to habit, they're going to do static stretching before they start their weights. I've had clients get to the gym an hour before me to do this work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings us to weights being part of the warm-up. If someone does whatever type of stretching before we start squatting, it's not like we just jump to their max squat weight. We still warm-up that exercise, which in effect is adding more dynamic stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, the static stretching isn't some huge no-no / the person is going to die. It's not desirable, but it can be worked with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Specific warm-up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're someone with a shoulder surgery history, you might have some exercises you want to do most won't care about. Like some rotator cuff work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Weights vs Cardio&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no hard rules here. Prioritization is the theme&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're someone who is interested in maximizing their running&#xA;performance, then cardiovascular work should typically be done first.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're most concerned about lifting performance, then lifting&#xA;should be done first.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do what's most important to you first, because that's when you&#xA;are freshest. Whatever is done first, gets the most attention, as&#xA;attention is a finite resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You used the compound lift vs isolation lift example. That's mostly true. Mainly because compound lifts are more intense, thus riskier -a bench press is riskier to your shoulders than lateral raises- so they should be done when a person is least fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're a bodybuilder looking to build up your triceps and bench pressing isn't hitting them well, you might not care about compound movements being done first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For most, they don't have a dominant goal. In those cases, you do&#xA;whatever works best for your schedule. The biggest concern with&#xA;everyday people is actually sticking to a routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my personal training clients, if they have to see me at 5pm due to work, I'm not going to tell them to take off work early so they can do cardio first. We'll train first, which will be mostly resistance training based, then they can hit the cardio afterwards. Or, we'll simply make the resistance training have a cardio element too e.g. circuit training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a more intense cardio like running wants to be done, then maybe we'll lighten up the leg work beforehand. And that doesn't necessarily have to be every day. If we train three days per week, but they only run two, then we still have one day we can hit the legs harder weight wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had many clients who will train in the morning, then walk at night, because doing both is too much at once time wise. That's perfectly fine. An alternative would be telling that person they need to wake up earlier. That's miserable for most, and misery isn't a longterm accomplice we want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Warming-up within weights&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's break it up by upper and lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's our first upper and lower body lifts of the day, we want to warm-up. For average strength, I work people up to their work sets with 2-3 warm-up sets. (More strength, often more warm-up sets.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we're in the latter parts of the workout, then the warm-up can be cut down, if not taken away. This is exercise dependent. If after doing some bench pressing, you then go to rope tricep extensions, you probably don't need much of a warm-up for that exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going from bench pressing to chin-ups later on, then you want to warm-up as you did for bench pressing. Chin-ups are a much more intense exercise (use more muscle mass), and the muscles involved are not related to bench pressing. Bench pressing gets the triceps warmed up; it doesn't get the biceps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Flexibility / Mobility&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go with filler sets. Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A1) DB Bench Press &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A2) Chin-ups &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A3) Wall Slides (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNtKWvkICoM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNtKWvkICoM&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first two exercises we work the pecs and lats (amongst other muscles). In the third mobility exercise, we loosen up those muscles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I typically either go this route of work an area, then loosen that area, or I break it up by body section. Where we work the upper body, then loosen up the lower body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another part of the workout or another day, we'd work the lower body but loosen up the upper body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people's time between sets is either sitting down, looking at their phone, or walking around. Doing some mobility work is more productive, and not likely to take away from the lifts. We can also add some more work for that bum shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Because we're in the middle of the workout here, this is still primarily dynamic type mobility / flexibility work.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Core work is towards the end&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's commonly thrown out that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4339077/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;80% of people will experience lower back pain at some stage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core can be part of this. But it's not usually core strength which is lacking. It is typically more a person's ability to use their core for long durations of time, or while fatigued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, have someone do a plank, and it's going to be easier for their core to hold their back in neutral at the beginning of the workout than at the end. In this case, we actually want to feed into that fatigue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translating that during the day, if a person has trouble with anterior pelvic tilt, they can typically hold themselves in neutral if they think about it. The tough part though is being able to do that for hours at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is just one example. Low back pain is rarely this simple.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Cool down doesn't have to be cardio based&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People's most favorite time of yoga is the end. They often lay down on their back, work on breathing, and listen to some Enya. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to do a version of this. I use these two exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hip Rocking: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSSGeymXUgw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSSGeymXUgw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Belly Breathing w/Arms Up: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BP9GA5VvWs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BP9GA5VvWs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theme of the cool down is relaxation. Think of it like a movie. If a movie is good 90% through, but the ending sucks, that influences &lt;em&gt;disproportionately&lt;/em&gt; how one feels about the entire movie. Endings matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By making the end of the workout as relaxed as we can, we can change how one feels about what preceded it. More details in &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2013/10/30/making-your-memory-of-your-workout-more-enjoyable/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Making your (memory of your) workout more enjoyable.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting on a treadmill in a gym, where it's typically loud, busy if not zoo like, isn't the best. Hey, if you workout at home and can do a cool down by yourself on your treadmill, or out in your backyard with trees, then alright. But I usually put people in a corner or the aerobics room where it's quietest and have them stretch the thing most commonly tight- the low back, and work on some deep breaths into the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Summing up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bolded above are a solid order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General warm-up with predominantly dynamic stretching.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Specific warm-up based on how your body is currently doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weights or cardio, with a warm-up specific to that exercise e.g. if you're going to start running, you don't start running at your maximum pace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lessening of warm-up later on in workout. If after doing chin-ups you're going to do bicep curls, you don't need the same warming-up, if any, that chin-ups necessitated.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More flexibility / mobility within the workout to increase productivity of rest sets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Core work&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cool down, relaxation focused.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T13:53:35.143" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36149" CreationDate="2017-09-13T14:02:04.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Movement Prep vs a Traditional Warm-up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found Mark Verstegen's version to be most efficient way to dynamically workup before exercising.  See the highlights at the Guidelines link below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/training/movement-prep.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Movement Prep Guidelines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Program Consists of the Following Movements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;1 Set and 6 Reps of Each of the Following:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glute Bridge - Marching&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;External Hip Rotation - Sidelying&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg Overs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knee Hugs - Moving&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reverse Lunge - with Twist*&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knee Hug to Forward Lunge - Elbow to Instep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drop Lunge Lateral Squat - Low&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted Hamstring - Moving Forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heel to Butt - Moving Forward with Arm Reach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/workouts/a-better-warm-up.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;View the Full Program and Sample Videos&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cool Down / Regeneration&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend a few minutes at the end of each working doing regeneration work.  This is simply a restorative and pain reducing routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/recovery/5-moves-to-cool-down-after-a-workout.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sample Cool Down Program after your Workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://coreperformance.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://coreperformance.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-09-13T14:19:13.253" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T14:19:13.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25226" CreationDate="2017-09-14T13:08:16.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually during abs workout you would breathe-out at the end of the contraction (and not during the phase of contraction) and slowly breathe-in the way back (muscle relaxing phase). Also, please keep in mind to tighten the muscle during the contraction. I am practising this currently and could see improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. During ab crunches, breathe-out at the end of the crunch and breathe-in way back while you lie back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18232" LastActivityDate="2017-09-14T13:08:16.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-15T02:56:02.127" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am tall 192cm (6'4&quot;) and I weigh 100kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use Protein shake after gym around 30gm of Protein&#xA;and because I go to gym late night,&#xA;immediately after gym i eat 2 cans of Tuna ( around 15gm Protein each) then drink Milk then go to bed.&#xA;In the morning I eat a sandwich and light lunch at work and eat a medium meal around 6 pm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is this too much Protein for me?&#xA;shall I stop the night tuna because I already had the Protein shake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastActivityDate="2017-09-15T02:56:02.127" Title="Is this too much Protein?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-09-15T14:39:59.647" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16251" CreationDate="2017-09-16T09:09:46.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been dealing with this issue for 2 years- it has been getting significantly worse over the last 6 months or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to strength train 3-4 times a week. I now get &quot;sick&quot; about 24-48 hours after each time I go to the gym- runny nose, headache, sore throat, body aches (not muscle related). If I don't workout or 2-3 weeks or reduce my intensity, I can work out several times in a row before I get sick again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been given every blood test known to man with no abnormal results. My doctors are currently exploring sleep quality as a culprit. I am sleeping 7-8 hours a night but they say it is possible I am not entering the critical deep sleep stages that allow the body to heal. They encouraged me to correct my circadian rhythm by avoiding naps, introducing Melatonin in proper doses (3-5mg), and trying light therapy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26654" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T09:09:46.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35968" CreationDate="2017-09-16T17:22:05.303" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try hit the treatmill n jog for 10-15mins.this is how i get my mood.if we moody trust me we will not finish our workout so i always hit the treatmill n jog for 15mins.try it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26660" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T17:22:05.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35908" CreationDate="2017-09-16T20:43:08.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's happening is that you're burning more fuel because your body has to keep itself cool (which is why you're sweating). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to gain weight, you need a caloric surplus. So if you have a hard time consuming enough calories then you might want to stop wearing all of these clothes in order to make your body burn less calories. If you don't have a problem consuming these extra calories, then you might aswell train like this is you prefer it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T20:43:08.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34106" CreationDate="2017-09-17T10:06:33.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Anterior Pelvic Tilt vs Innominate Torsion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How exactly was it determined you have an &lt;strong&gt;anterior pelvic tilt&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(symmetrically bilateral tilt)&lt;/em&gt; vs an &lt;strong&gt;innomate torsion&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(R) vs (L) asymmetrical tilt?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ASIS Palpation? Clinical Testing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does a LLD exist &lt;em&gt;(if so True or Functional)&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Any Frontal Plane Deviations?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neuromusclar Involvement?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Knee Alignment (Genu Valgum vs Varum)  Any Pain?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any secondary contributing factors?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I've decided to fix this problem by doing the necessary exercises and&#xA;  maintain a good sitting posture.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not that simple.  You first need to figure out what the exact issue(s) are and what tests will rule in / rule out the possible contributing factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example -- Without knowing these answers, you can end up treating a neuromuscular issue &lt;em&gt;(such as incorrect muscle firing patterns)&lt;/em&gt; presenting as Lower Back Pain (LBP) by stretching your hamstrings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pain and Dysfunctional Movement&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Exercise of the core musculature is more than trunk strengthening. &#xA;  In fact, &lt;strong&gt;motor relearning of inhibited muscles may be more important&#xA;  than strengthening in patients with LBP&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Poor movement can exist anywhere in the body poor movement patterns&#xA;  can only exist in the brain.&lt;/strong&gt;  Pain attenuated movement patterns may&#xA;  lead to protective movement and fear of movement, resulting in&#xA;  clinically observed impairments such as decreased ROM, muscle length&#xA;  changes, declines in strength, and ultimately contribute to the&#xA;  resultant disability.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Kinematic Relationships&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some pictures that show the chain of muscular imbalances associated with pelvic dysfunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pelvic and LE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kLfHy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kLfHy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;An Innominate Torsion with a Lateral Lumbar Deviation.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JEom8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JEom8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Basic Imbalances&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XW815.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XW815.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper testing is required to understand what is happening.  Without this an accurate treatment plan cannot be developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3364068/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3364068/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pelinks4u.org/bookreviews/media_1011.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.pelinks4u.org/bookreviews/media_1011.htm&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.profedf.ufpr.br/rodackibiomecanica_arquivos/Books/Duane%20Knudson-%20Fundamentals%20of%20Biomechanics%202ed.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.profedf.ufpr.br/rodackibiomecanica_arquivos/Books/Duane%20Knudson-%20Fundamentals%20of%20Biomechanics%202ed.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4060319/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4060319/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127517/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127517/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-09-17T10:40:10.397" LastActivityDate="2017-09-17T10:40:10.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36194" CreationDate="2017-09-18T01:01:11.427" Score="0" ViewCount="1979" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many days does the body need to get rid of all Creatine and Amino Acids?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is not using any Creatine and Amino Acids for a week is enough to clean Liver and Kidney of these supplements? If not then how long needed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T14:46:25.743" Title="Cleaning your body of Creatine and Amino Acids" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;&lt;health-risk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-09-18T15:22:50.123" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12567" CreationDate="2017-09-18T11:45:22.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told a good tip to overcome the initial gasping for air when using freestyle/front crawl is to breath out into the water during your first few strokes, then breath normally after that. It works for me.&#xA;My personal guide temperature for donning a latex cap is less than 16 degrees C, which will happen later this week at Brockwell Lido!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26679" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T11:45:22.070" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36191" CreationDate="2017-09-18T14:44:38.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For creatine, &lt;a href=&quot;http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/12/12/how-long-does-creatine-stay-in-your-system/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;about 16.5 hours&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’ve recently ceased exogenous creatine supplementation due to adverse effects and/or (relatively unwarranted) concerns that it may cause kidney damage, you may be highly concerned with the duration it is likely to stay in your system.  To determine how long exogenous creatine stays in your system after discontinuation, it is necessary to examine its elimination half-life.  The elimination half-life of creatine is approximately 3 hours, indicating that 50% of a dose will be cleared from your plasma at roughly 3 hours post-ingestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this information we can calculate that 100% of exogenously administered creatine should be out of your system within 16.5 hours of your final dose.  In other words, after 24 hours have passed since your last creatine dose, there won’t be any lingering exogenous creatine in your plasma.  Exogenously administered creatine does form metabolites including: phosphocreatine (67%) and creatinine (2%).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't really answer for a general question of &amp;quot;amino acids&amp;quot; that you've taken, but I suspect that the answer isn't much different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T14:44:38.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36191" CreationDate="2017-09-18T14:46:25.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are referring to creatine and amino acids as supplements? As mentioned above, these are both naturally occurring in the body and in food. For example, higher amounts of creatine can be found in beef. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about supplements, there is effectively no straight answer as it will depend on how your body reacts to the supplements and how much you have taken and how you have taken them. If you have saturated levels of creatine in your system, this would take longer to deplete than if not. As a reference point, you can absorb upto ~5g of creatine at one time; any more is passed through the urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a doctor but generally speaking, it will take 1-2 weeks having stopped taking supplements for the creatine and amino acid levels in your body to return to its base level.&#xA;This is based on personal experience and speaking to health professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26490" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T14:46:25.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-19T06:02:47.877" Score="1" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been lifting weights for the past 1 year or so and my muscles barely show, i can see some growth but nothing more then that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before starting lifting i was skinny fat(mostly around the waist area),and after following a balanced diet(1:1 ratio) i almost reduced my weight by 18 kg's in 3.5 months and my weight has remained constant throughout the year after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am really confused that even after following a good diet, sleep pattern and gym routine my muscles won't grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly I have gained a lot of strength over the same period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So can anyone give a tip or point any mistakes that i may be doing that's hampering my growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;EDIT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am &lt;strong&gt;24&lt;/strong&gt; years old &lt;strong&gt;6 ft&lt;/strong&gt; and before starting to lift my weight was around &lt;strong&gt;106 kg&lt;/strong&gt;  and after 3.5 months my weight dropped to &lt;strong&gt;87 kilos&lt;/strong&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now i weight around &lt;strong&gt;85 - 86 kilos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nutrition Plan&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am following the fat loss plan as i have still fat around my waist area&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gurumann.com/Muscular_8_eBook.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.gurumann.com/Muscular_8_eBook.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26686" LastEditorUserId="26686" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T08:30:52.527" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T10:45:37.870" Title="Muscles Won't grow even after following Good diet and Routine" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="16" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-19T11:08:20.840" Score="1" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been 3 days since i joined gym, i'm a rookie.&#xA;First 2 days are fine I was able to do everything i.e. pushup, benchpress, pulldown, etc. But at 3rd day i,m not able to do even 1 pushup or benchpress.&#xA;I want to know why, where is the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26689" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T15:22:47.777" Title="I'm having problem with pushup, benchpress at 3rd day at gym" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-09-21T14:43:51.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2017-09-20T05:36:56.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think in order to tell to your biceps to grow , you need to shock the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change your training completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the video&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ZenoYWOL1bs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Method 1. From 1 - to 10 Method&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ZenoYWOL1bs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Method 2. Stripping Method&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26702" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T05:36:56.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35760" CreationDate="2017-09-20T07:53:41.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to jump to the conclusion here that when you say &quot;abs&quot;, you mean the core musculature in its entirety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/35789/20219&quot;&gt;Pancake's answer is good&lt;/a&gt;, it does only address part the story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core musculature does have several functions, flexion (as in a crunch), anti-flexion (when you brace such as in a squat or deadlift), extension (superman style exercise), anti-extension (a plank exercise), lateral flexion (side bends), anti lateral-flexion (1 arm farmers walks / suitcase carries), rotation (cable core rotation thing) and anti-rotation (Pallof press).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now arguably, it's the anti exercises that are more important for proper spinal alignment and health than the flexion / extension exercises, as in life you're more likely to need to brace yourself against forces through your core than the opposite (picking up shopping from the floor, lifting children (preferably yours) overhead, holding a door for someone), though I have also read from some highly regarded strength coaches that flexion type exercises help lubricate and provide nutrients to the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think pretty much all coaches agree on is that there's little point in doing thousands of crunches a day in pursuit of a six pack. Though I don't have time to search for it at the moment, from memory the rectus abdominis (six pack muscle) is made up from roughly equal parts fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibres, so it's a good idea to mix up heavy, strength based crunch style exercises with more endurance type ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, work everything, but don't go too nuts in any single direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T07:53:41.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36198" CreationDate="2017-09-20T14:58:25.697" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is over-exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Working out&quot; helps to develop the muscles and fitness by stressing the body.  The body responds by gradually adapting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've never run before, and you try to run a marathon, you will get exhausted, your legs will cramp up, your feet will blister, ankles and knees will swell, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's because you're body is not prepared to run a marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are doing pushups, benchpress, etc, you are similarly stressing those muscle groups.  When your body adapts to the stress/mild injury that workouts put on those muscles, it grows more muscle of different types of cells, which will allow you to do more reps, and more weights, and over time, your recovery time from the workouts will decrease, as well, since your body is acclimated to regular stressing of those groups, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you first start out, it's pretty normal that, after the first day of bench pressing or squats, you feel fairly sore and more easily fatigued, but that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; day, rigor mortis sets in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your muscles need to rest and recover.  You also might need to start with lighter weights and/or less reps and sets.  Gradually increase over time as your body adapts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite simply, the muscles are broken down, sore, swollen and inflamed and are unable to work, because they have been, temporarily, &quot;damaged&quot; by the exercise.  Ease up and recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really, really are jazzed about going to the gym and have boundless enthusiasm, then split your muscle groups up and alternate for each time at the gym.  You don't need to go every day, but if you split it up, then probably at least four times a week, total.  One example - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day One - Chest/back/shoulders&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day Two - Biceps, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves (arms and legs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both days - Aerobic work like stationary bike, elliptical, stairmaster, jogging, treadmill, rowing machine, swimming, jogging or sports. Do it after your weight workout, not before, and it can be fairly light when done along with resistance training... half an hour or so.  On days when you don't go to the gym, maybe incorporate a little longer aerobic work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both days - Core&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23233" LastEditorUserId="23233" LastEditDate="2017-09-20T15:22:47.777" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T15:22:47.777" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-21T09:55:05.093" Score="1" ViewCount="2589" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Garmin fenix 2 that gives me an estimate of my VO2max. I use the watch with a Scosche rhythm+ strapped to my arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in knowing how accurate Garmin's estimate is? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with the VO2max estimate, Garmin also gives me estimated finish times for standard distances -- 5k, 10k, HM and FM. I know from personal experience that Garmin overestimates my finish time (put otherwise, underestimates my avg. speed). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any comments or links to analysis would be quite helpful. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15894" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T10:04:18.160" Title="How accurate is Garmin's VO2 max estimate?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;long-distance-running&gt;&lt;vo2max&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36208" CreationDate="2017-09-21T10:04:18.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Garmin use the VO2 data supplied to them in tabular form from the Cooper Institute, for example here is the table for age 14 females: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cooperinstitute.org/vault/2440/web/files/732.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cooperinstitute.org/vault/2440/web/files/732.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be familiar with the Cooper Institute as they are the creator of the PACER test which is used across nearly all schools in the US as an assessment of physical capability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your One-mile run data is used as an indicator of your aerobic capacity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;One-Mile Run. The reliability of distance run tests in youth was summarized by Safrit (1990). Reliability coefficients for 600-yd, 1600-m, 9-min, and 12-min runs ranged from approximately .60 to .90.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;How Reliable Are the Field Tests of Aerobic Capacity?&lt;/strong&gt; FITNESSGRAM®/ACTIVITYGRAM® Reference Guide (4th Edition)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tables are established through referencing scientific studies on the expected VO2 levels of various age/gender groups, more detail on that can be found here in chapter 6: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cooperinstitute.org/vault/2440/web/files/662.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cooperinstitute.org/vault/2440/web/files/662.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T10:04:18.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36214" CreationDate="2017-09-21T11:48:43.553" Score="2" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing Yoga for over 1.5 years now. Recently I started doing Acro Yoga. I noticed one of my limitations are my hamstrings. When I started Yoga, I couldn't even reach my ankle with my fingers. Now I can reach the floor with my knuckles. When laying on my back, bending one leg up. Keeping my leg straight and my lower back flat on the floor, I get about 75 - 85 degrees. For Acro Yoga 90 - 100 degrees are required to fully rest in several basic positions, like the bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I committed myself to a daily hamstring workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been researching typical forward folds and even some stretching videos on Youtube. Still I am unsatisfied. Most of the poses are active or hard to hold at exactly the right position. Where I feel a stretch but not over-strain. I am looking for some poses that are easier to hold. Where I can relax into them just by me letting go. Similar to how a yin pose would be set up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have been settling for three poses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The leg up the wall pose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/352R3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/352R3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing forward bend&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U3wy6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U3wy6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seated forward bend&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jFafs.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jFafs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any other pose along this lines that you can recommend me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe someone who has been doing Yin Yoga classes can recommend me some. The internet didn't give much here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26716" LastEditorUserId="26716" LastEditDate="2017-09-21T12:24:26.310" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T20:44:01.090" Title="Daily Yin Yoga Hamstring Workout" Tags="&lt;yoga&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34106" CreationDate="2017-09-21T13:37:00.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sitting in general is pure poison for the spine (search online for 'Sitting is the new smoking') &#xA;For the 'necessary exercises' you should actually consider a well balanced training plan including ALL parts of the body with equal emphasis on all areas. &#xA;By focusing mainly on the affected area in your routine you are merely shifting imbalances from one area to another. &#xA;The tiring core muscles are the best example for an imbalance. Your body is hereby sending you a clear message in bold, bright letters. &#xA;My personal advice to you is: &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Get in tune with your body&lt;/strong&gt;. &#xA;It is constantly communicating with you, telling you every detail you need to know but in a language you don't understand yet. LEARN IT!&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;MIX IT UP&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Aim to keep the periods in a seated position very short. &#xA;Stand up, stretch and move around as often as possible.&#xA;Switch seating positions often.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Play it out!&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Engage different muscle groups while seated, contract, hold, release. Challenge yourself on the time you can hold the contraction.&#xA;Or even skip the chair completely on occasion, remaining in a squat position (in front of your workspace) as long as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be kind to your body and it will be kind to you.&#xA;All the best to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26718" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T13:37:00.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-21T13:44:52.960" Score="1" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love my city but there are some steep hills - because of my weight and my lung capacity, I'm reluctant to spend much time climbing them (but I also love doing it!).  How can I build lung capacity and leg endurance in the gym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26721" LastEditorUserId="26727" LastEditDate="2017-09-25T13:29:05.730" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T05:47:47.133" Title="How should I train to build my endurance for climbing hills?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;endurance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36211" CreationDate="2017-09-21T17:54:49.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to get better at acro yoga is to practice more acro yoga. If the classes are designed well, so that you can progress from simpler, accessible variations to the more challenging ones, you will quickly get the necessary flexibility along the way. As a beginner in acro yoga, keep in mind, that it is always best to ease into a new exercise routine, without forcing results too much, giving your body time to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd like to supplement your training with solo practice, it will be more effective, when the exercises are similar to what you will be doing with a partner. Acro yoga training is mostly dynamic (either moving, or stabilizing weight in an unstable position). Take for example the bird, where you have to support and balance your partner's bodyweight on your legs. That is, your hamstrings are loaded in a stretched position. I am not saying, that relaxed static stretching isn't useful for you, it might be, but it is quite different from what you need for acro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few ideas for exercises which work the hamstrings in a similar way what you need in acro are: one leg bird stretch, lying one leg raises, lying one leg stretch against a band, single leg deadlifts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastEditorUserId="5752" LastEditDate="2017-09-21T20:44:01.090" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T20:44:01.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36218" CreationDate="2017-09-22T07:23:33.460" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;there are many who has this muscle.  I don't know the name of the  muscle or how can I do it so open.I cut the picture from a bodybuilder just to show you this.How he did this ?I train my body abs ,chest ,legs, biceps, triceps etc but I want to obtain and those &quot;opened muscles areas&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WtriM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image -check it&lt;/a&gt; . I am not talking about obliques .Thanks&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9H1a0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;the muscle-better image &quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26728" LastEditorUserId="26728" LastEditDate="2017-09-22T07:29:52.933" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T08:50:09.073" Title="Exercises for this muscle" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36217" CreationDate="2017-09-22T07:31:30.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is the Latissimus Dorsi, or most commonly called 'the lats'. A muscle group of the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good exercises to build them are deadlifts, pullups and rows, or any pulling movement really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26232" LastEditorUserId="26232" LastEditDate="2017-09-22T08:50:09.073" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T08:50:09.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36231" CreationDate="2017-09-22T08:00:41.713" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am able to do dumb bell curl with 25 pound but if I don't do exercise for 3 weeks, i am still able to curl 25 pound but now with pain afterwards, i am assuming hypertrophy, This repeat hypertrophy y loss of muscle and gain of muscle ,Will it help muscle easy hypertrophy in future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T12:37:23.847" Title="Benefit of repeat hypertrophy" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-22T13:34:32.850" Score="0" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have a pain down the front of one of my legs around the ankle/shin area. I believe this is due to frequent high-intensity running on a treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to continue an equivalent intensity exercise in the gym which puts no pressure on that area. I've been recommended swimming multiple times. However, I do not know how to swim. I've also heard that a cross-fit machine would be a good option, but am not 100% sure that it will put no pressure on that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26734" LastActivityDate="2017-10-12T09:13:53.913" Title="Cardiovascular exercise with mild injury" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;injury-prevention&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36221" CreationDate="2017-09-22T14:49:58.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shin pain after running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain you experience is likely &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_splints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;medial tibial stress syndrome&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Here is an excerpt from a study on treatment options of MTSS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] However most studies support rest, ice, and analgesics in the acute phase. Many experts also recommend modifying the training routine, stretching, and strengthening the lower extremity, wearing appropriate footwear, using orthotics and manual therapy to correct biomechanical abnormalities, and gradually return to activity. ESWT, injections, and acupuncture are commonly used for other lower extremity tendinopathies with some success, but little current objective evidence exists for their role in MTSS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848339/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the &quot;usual treatment&quot; of ice-packs and rest, escalating to a trip to the doctor's office if you feel the pain is too overwhelming. And if you're not already doing it, make sure to warm-up properly before, and stretch after, your exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding swimming&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly recommend learning to swim. As an exercise, it trains you, both in terms of strength, and cardiovascular endurance, with negligible wear and tear on joints, bones, and other tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a miracle exercise, whether you're dealing with injuries or are completely fine. Depending on where you live, I'm sure there are classes you can take. I've known several people who have had to learn it in an adult age, some for exercise, some for peace of mind, and some because they got a job on a boat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T14:49:58.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-22T23:18:18.040" Score="2" ViewCount="483" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is 1 question that has always been in my head ever since I started trying to go from fat and obese to muscular and healthy weight. If my abs are sore or down and outright in pain, I will not do abdominal exercises. I sometimes will do sit ups to relieve gas if having a bowel movement isn't helping. In rare cases that I have both intestinal and stomach gas, sometimes if I have a bowel movement and my torso is at a 45 degree angle from the pelvis the extra abdominal pressure pushes the gas out of both ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there is 1 thing that I have every month that makes me want to stop exercising my abs until it is gone. That is menstrual cramps. Ovulation pain I get late at night in combination with nausea and that is long after any abdominal exercises so ovulation doesn't stop me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But menstrual cramps can occur at any time of day and any reasonable time relative to the start of my period. This is why I don't exercise while I am on my period(or at least while I have the cramps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here is my reasoning as to why I shouldn't exercise when I have menstrual cramps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The uterus is a muscle and like any muscle, it contracts. Prostaglandins make the uterus contract more forcefully and this causes the endometrium to get ischemic which ultimately leads to your period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These uterine contractions I can sometimes feel on top of the cramps and I know when I have a contraction when the pain gets worse for a few seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I exercise my abs while my uterus is contracting, it could cause me to have more uterine pain which would make me stop the exercise because the external pressure the abdominal muscles put on the uterus will make it contract more during the exercise than before or after. Exercising my abs when I am not on my period can actually decrease the amount of pain I feel from the uterus to the point that in just a few months, my periods could be painless or at least not so painful that I can feel contractions. I guess you could say that it tones my uterus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't think I should exercise my abs when I have menstrual cramps. But is this actually true, is my reasoning right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23792" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T23:18:18.040" Title="Abdominal exercise through menstrual cramps or stop?" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36250" CreationDate="2017-09-23T02:23:41.023" Score="3" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been exercising regularly (daily with a resting day per week) at the gym for a couple of months now. As I am quite busy, I exercise about one hour each session. This includes intensive (for my condition) PT about 2 or 3 times a week, and self-exercising (treadmill).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel exhausted at the end of each session. I will have a 10 days vacation coming soon and I plan to use that time to exercise, staying at the gym for longer and self-exercising (no coach). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How should I manage my time there to maximize the benefits of staying a long time at the gym ?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My training objective: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss: I am in the higher part of the normal BMI range. My fat percentage is about 21%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle gain: I have weak back and regular pain in the back. My condition improved since I started training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10297" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-09-29T09:32:35.413" LastActivityDate="2017-10-21T10:01:54.447" Title="How to maximize the benefits of a long time at the gym?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25472" CreationDate="2017-09-25T11:58:10.017" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has been answered &lt;a href=&quot;https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44353443/how-can-i-get-the-calories/46374782#46374782&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and codes are in java and objective-c using research of &lt;strong&gt;Compendium of Physical Activities&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26757" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T11:58:10.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36230" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-26T03:57:45.430" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;140ib 18 year old girl. My diet is generally good but I've never really dedicated my time to fitness. I want to get the yearly pass for the gym at my school so I can start regularly exercising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently thinking of doing indoor cycling for about an hour 3-5 days a week with maybe a couple of other exercises. Is this enough to help me become more fit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26762" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T20:05:42.510" Title="Will this help become more fit?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;&lt;bicycling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36219" CreationDate="2017-09-26T05:35:42.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Understand the first month neural changes not hypertrophy are responsible for your strength gains.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your nervous system is rearranging as it is acquiring new muscle activation and recruitment patterns.  You're initially forming the &quot;skill&quot; (Notice systemic changes are typically seen first -- slightly increased vascularity, improved coordination, i.e. the lifts don't feel nearly as awkward as you get used to them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight you're lifting and the extent to which it's challenging for you is relative, looking at it from an absolute stanpoint 25lbs will not be inducing much if any hypertrophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age, genetics, diet, recovery etc, etc.... all play a huge role in how much muscle you're actually putting on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike cardiovascular exercise which leads to a fairly fast and significant level of detraining (again this level is relative and depends on your baseline level of fitness). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypertrophic gains require much less subsequent exercise to maintain (some studies show as little as once bi-weekly to maintain gains) muscle mass also takes much longer (~3x's as long) to lose once you stop completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T05:35:42.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36213" CreationDate="2017-09-26T08:12:16.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arguably, the best way to build up work capacity for walking / running the hills in your city, is to go out and either walk or run the hills. The very act of doing the activity itself will, over time, condition you to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want gym specific exercises to help, then you should be looking primarily at things like squats (both weighted and body weight), split squats / lunges and step up variations to strengthen your legs (doing these with effort will also help with lung capacity), and pretty much any form of cardio to build lung capacity (walking on an incline treadmill, exercise bike, stepper, even something like rowing will help).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a pretty generic answer as you haven't provided that much information, so I don't know your familiarity with the exercises, level of fitness, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more specific, then when you get into the gym, do a decent warm up, including mobility exercises for the general hip area, including the hamstrings, then move onto some strength work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say do Bulgarian split squats in alternating sets with step ups; the idea being that both should roughly mimic the action of walking up hill but with differing levels of specificity, then follow that up with several sets of sled push / pulls if you have access to a sled (unfortunately, not many gyms do), and finish off with something like some low effort incline treadmill walking, or lower effort exercise bike work, just to get the blood flowing around the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do that a few times a week, after the first few times, you'll probably find you get some pretty bad DOMS, if so, still head into the gym, but just do some warm up exercises followed by lighter treadmill or exercise bike work, again, to get the blood flowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly though, if you really want to walk the hills where you live, head out and do it. Nothing can compare to getting out in the fresh air and being active (obviously fresh is relative, depending on where you live ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T08:12:16.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36230" CreationDate="2017-09-26T08:20:28.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gym that I train at has several rather cheesy quotes sprayed on the walls, one of the ones that seems particularly apt here is &quot;You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean by that is that if you haven't dedicated any time to fitness in the past, then any time you can dedicate to fitness, be it cycling for an hour, or something else, is going to be an improvement and help you become more fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest adding in some basic strength work, so something like squats, lunges, inverted rows, that sort of thing, as the benefits of getting stronger are numerous and can help with other activities, such as cycling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T08:20:28.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13888" CreationDate="2017-09-26T10:45:42.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agree with all of the above - a gym should have round plates available if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can't clean and jerk, clean and press or deadlift properly with them (unless you have small ones outside a round bumper plate. &#xA;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HOWEVER &#xA;For a lot of things the difference is pointless, or favours the octagonals &#xA; - got a leg press with pins that are hard to reach? &#xA; - want to do some inclined sit ups with some added weight?&#xA; - got idiot members who lie your nice flush round 25s on the floor so they're an arse to pick up?&#xA; - for pretty much any plate loaded machine the ease with which plates can be handled, and how slim they are trump any other consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the choice I'd want both available - but mostly round ones, if you're buying one type for all purposes then get round plates - preferably slim if you ever plan/hope to lift very high weights and pick ones that are going to be easy for users to handle in comfort if you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26764" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T10:45:42.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-26T12:02:38.443" Score="9" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;It makes no sense to me why the rep range for &lt;strong&gt;“hypertrophy” and body builders&lt;/strong&gt; is according to NSCA and many other sources is &lt;strong&gt;3 sets and 10-12 reps&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the most basic level &lt;strong&gt;cross bridges formation&lt;/strong&gt; determines strength, hypertrophy (muscle size), cross-sectional area and force are all and direct related.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in theory current training recommendations for strength such as 5 x 5's would lead to a &lt;strong&gt;greater increase in both size and hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming all major factors to be equal &lt;em&gt;(diet, rest, volume load etc.)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;How does that recommendation make sense?  What am I missing?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Related research is always a huge plus)&lt;/em&gt; – thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Just read that study. He definitely makes some great points. The article is literally what quite a number of strength training foundations are based on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;HOWEVER -- he draws some very BROAD conclusions and at times&#xA;  selectively uses one way data to provide single sided explanations to&#xA;  support what have been adopted as industry standards.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;IMO crazy we place so &#xA;  much weight on certain aspects of his findings...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE #2&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The 3-5 min just provides more recovery time so you're moving more weight per rep and avoiding muscular endurance training (nothing too earth shattering) - glycogen obviously is replenished to a greater degree the longer you rest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study below talks about the same range for power.  No study would be complete if it did end by contradicting itself -- 30-60 sec is best if according to the last paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it's too idealistic to expect a clear rep range (there are too many factors to take into account).  I also don't agree with their recommendation to rest 3-5 min for power in favor of a shorter rest time.  If it's used for sport specific training, not exactly a realistic timeframe to rest vs game scenarios.  Even in a general sense; to me power based training make the most sense as a mix b/n endurance and power (for efficiency etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19691365&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19691365&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-09-26T23:26:40.623" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T23:26:40.623" Title="Rationale behind Rep Range recommendations - Strength vs Hypertrophy" Tags="&lt;strength&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;muscle-mass&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36235" CreationDate="2017-09-26T14:49:51.880" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a little digging around, and I found a review article that was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2010 (So relatively recent), with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ucam.edu/sites/default/files/Oct_13/mechanisms_of_muscle_hypertrophy.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;full link to the PDF here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author went through 200+ articles to try and determine the best mechanisms for muscular hypertrophy as noted by the abstract (Emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Schoenfeld, BJ. The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. J Strength Cond Res 24(10): 2857-2875, 2010-The quest to increase lean body mass is widely pursued by those who lift weights. Research is lacking, however, as to the best approach for maximizing exercise-induced muscle growth. Bodybuilders generally train with moderate loads and fairly short rest intervals that induce high amounts of metabolic stress. Powerlifters, on the other hand, routinely train with high-intensity loads and lengthy rest periods between sets. &lt;strong&gt;Although both groups are known to display impressive muscularity, it is not clear which method is superior for hypertrophic gains.&lt;/strong&gt; It has been shown that many factors mediate the hypertrophic process and that mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress all can play a role in exercise-induced muscle growth. &lt;strong&gt;Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to extensively review the literature as to the mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to exercise training and (b) to draw conclusions from the research as to the optimal protocol for maximizing muscle growth.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a conclusion, the author determined after the reviews that the apparent optimal workout routine should have the following points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reps should be in the range of 6-12 reps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;60 to 90 second rest intervals between sets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiplanar, multiangled exercises to give maximal stimulation of all muscle fibers (i.e. flat, incline, decline, fly for chest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple sets should be done in a split training routine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some sets should be carried out to concentric muscle failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Concentric repetitions done moderate/fast (1 to 3 sec)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eccentric repetitions done slower (2 to 4 sec)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypertrophy phase should culminate in a brief period of higher-volume overreaching followed by a taper to allow for supercompensation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The linked article also gives all the papers that he researched to come up with these conclusions. I have not gone through the list to determine the validity of all the studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am still looking for a similar study for pure strength gains as opposed to hypertrophic gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T14:49:51.880" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34185" CreationDate="2017-09-26T19:41:36.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is no and here is my not very scientific reasoning. Last year I did the year-long Precision Nutrition program. I was in Coach Toni's group. I worked hard to keep up with the prescribed workout routines. All of the routines were a stretch for me fitness-wise, and since they are over the web there was no trainer or spotter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really sure what my limits were, I tried to perform each exercise to a T. By the 7th month I had injured my right arm and left shoulder because I &quot;pushed myself harder.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just finished 10 weeks of physical therapy on my left shoulder (PT didn't put a dent in the pain level). Now I'm looking at shots, and possibly shoulder surgery. (Arm is much improved) So in the end, I spent the last 5 months of the program not lifting any weights which I absolutely hated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pushing myself cost me. You may be looking for a more broad or definitive answer, but that is my personal story and the lesson I learned to stay within what I think my limits are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25279" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T19:41:36.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36238" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-26T20:36:15.147" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;78kg, 1.86m, male, skinnyfat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently started training more serious again (been working out twice a week for the past 6 months). Now I'm aiming for 4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to reduce my fat percentage so my abs will show again (became skinny fat) while not losing any/much muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gym I'm currently going printed out a quite basic 3-split hypertrophy routine, since I was training 3 times a week then. Their philosophy is: &#xA;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Gain muscle, up your metabolism, eat less calories than you burn.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1 (Mon): Chest, Triceps, bit of abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2 (Tue): Back, Biceps, bit of abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3 (Wed): Legs, Shoulders, bit of abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to pick up the Thursday, Day 4. Now I'm asking myself if I should continue my current routine but not be bothered by the 7-day span, so if I would continue with the previous list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 4 (Thu): Chest, Triceps, bit of abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 5 (Mon): Back, Biceps, bit of abs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or would a 2-split be better? Or f.e. 4th day cardio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chest/triceps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bench press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline dumbell press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumbell fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fly (machine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Triceps pushdown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rope pulldown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over the head pull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back/Biceps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight bar pulldown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Machine row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cable row&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biceps machine (preacher idea)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hammer curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bar curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoulders/Legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamstring curl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leg extensions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calves extension (not sure what the name is)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shoulder press&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lateral raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Front raise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back fly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the 'bit of abs' consists usually of some situps, leg raises and some rotation to hit the obliques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastEditorUserId="19555" LastEditDate="2017-09-27T10:31:27.910" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T13:45:47.603" Title="Adding a 4th day, how to alter my current routine?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;body-fat&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34147" CreationDate="2017-09-26T20:38:14.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had tendonitis in both elbows for about 12 years. I had 1 tendonitis surgery which helped a lot. The right surgeon makes all the difference. Shop around if you end up needing surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 2nd arm was heading to surgery but my chiropractor massaged it, gave me exercises and had me ice it about 4 times x day for a few months. All the symptoms went away. She saved me from having surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is totally controllable. I would ice it, do exercises and wear the tendonitis strap. This is not the same as an elbow brace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25279" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T20:38:14.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36117" CreationDate="2017-09-27T00:37:09.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just do a full 30 seconds at the sprint speed and a full 30 seconds at your walking speed. It will still be considered a HIIT workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26767" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T00:37:09.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36117" CreationDate="2017-09-27T07:35:40.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've got a few options, though honestly none of them are going to fit your ideal scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) As Kevin Lee suggested, just do 30 seconds sprint, let it slow down and do 30 seconds walking. You're still doing intervals. If you're worried about the time that the treadmill is spending changing speed, then shorten your walking period to take that into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Get off the treadmill and go sprint outside (up a hill is better). No, you can't keep an accurate record of the speed, but it probably doesn't matter that much as long as you're still going all out during your sprinting periods. This has the added benefit of being self limiting, so as you get more tired, you'll naturally sprint slower, instead of stumbling on the treadmill and ending up embedded in the vending machine opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, unless you're using the treadmill on an incline, sprinting outside recruits the hamstrings a lot more, so is a much more complete exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Use the hop on / hop off method. Get the treadmill up to your sprint speed, sprint for 30 seconds, then, using the sides / arms / grips / non-moving-parts-within-reach bits of the treadmill, hop off so you're standing with your feet either side of the moving belt. After your rest period, (slowly!) lower yourself onto the moving belt and sprint again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a few people use this method, and it seems to be a reasonably good option. Obviously, you're not getting your walking periods in, you're only getting the sprinting parts, but they're arguably the most important bits of HIIT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Use another machine that makes it easier to adjust the speed, i.e. exercise bike or rower (as suggested in the comments). If you want the most bang for your buck and a challenge, do tabata front squats. If you can still walk afterwards, you're not going hard enough :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T07:35:40.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36238" CreationDate="2017-09-27T13:45:47.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Resources&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the best sources of information you'll find are from &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/training/energy-system-development.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mark Verstegen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://graycookmovement.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gray Cook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  Marks company trains the &quot;best of the best&quot; athletes, there's a reason why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow their principles and systems and things will start to make sense with time.  I'll help you integrate a plan over time if you're willing to put the work in...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise for a basic workout and split there's so many apps out there I'd just grap a free one of those.  Or use Google, YouTube etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Energy System Development or ESD &amp;lt;------ Cardio&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now just keep your lifting as is, and implement &quot;cardio&quot; twice per week. How you're setup now the do cardio the first and last day of every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than viewing cardio (also known as ESD) as running for X amount of time with no structured intensity or X distance.  Approach it in terms of sets and reps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Introduction to ESD&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/training/energy-system-development.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Read the Following Site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forget everything you currently believe about cardio work. Forget&#xA;  keeping your heart rate in some “fat-burning” zone. Forget plodding&#xA;  along with the vague goal of increasing the distance you can plod.&#xA;  Instead of training like a plow horse, start training like a&#xA;  thoroughbred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You’ll only work at the same effort level for an extended period of&#xA;  time, as you would with traditional cardio exercise on regeneration or&#xA;  recovery days. But you’re going to take the time you typically spend&#xA;  on cardio and develop the ability to perform at a more intense level.&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;You’ll improve your energy levels, gaining physical strength and&#xA;  stamina without investing additional time.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You don’t have to head to the track and train like a middle-distance&#xA;  runner, although it’s not a bad place to do your ESD work. For&#xA;  convenience, you’ll probably want to work on a stationary bike,&#xA;  stair-climber, or treadmill at the gym. Even better is to find a hill&#xA;  or stairwell somewhere nearby. If you’re city bound, parking garages&#xA;  are perfect for uphill running. Sprint up the ramps and walk down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt; Instead of slow, plodding workouts, ESD will have&#xA;  your muscles, nervous system, and hormones acting together into&#xA;  efficient movement patterns that help your body work as efficiently as&#xA;  possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Beginner ESD Plan&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stage                      I &lt;em&gt;(Day 1 Each Week)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Equipment: Treadmill&lt;br&gt; &#xA;Warmup: 3min&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work (Hard)        2 min &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Recovery (Easy)  2 min&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Number of Reps:    3X &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cool Down:         5 min &lt;br&gt; &#xA;Total Time         20 min&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stage                      Ia &lt;em&gt;(Day 2 Each Week)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Equipment: Treadmill&lt;br&gt; &#xA;Warmup: 3min&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work (Hard)        1 min &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Recovery (Easy)  1 min&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Number of Reps:    6X &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cool Down:         5 min &lt;br&gt; &#xA;Total Time         20 min&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T13:45:47.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36230" CreationDate="2017-09-27T20:05:42.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to be committed to this. Nice work! That's the first part of the battle won. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor cycling is great! Even 3 times a week is enough. When you get tired through the session, don't stop. Keep going, especially when you think you can't, because that's when you start to become fit. Every second you keep going you get exponentially fitter than you were a second before. It might seem hard, even impossible, but believe me, it's worth it. Afterwards you will experience a rush like you wouldn't believe. Pretty soon you'll find yourself going 4-5 times a week, maybe even outdoors, the sky is the limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yeah I just wanna encourage you because I can relate to where you are now. Just push through for 2, maybe 3 weeks, and the fitness bug will bite, and you will be well on your way to an endorphin-filled, wide awake life. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21691" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T20:05:42.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36245" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-28T04:32:03.873" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of building some muscle to help burn off the excess fat on my body. Of every part of my body, my abdomen has the most fat. So, I was thinking of focusing on my abs and obliques. But I have heard that a muscle imbalance can cause pain similar to that of a pulled muscle. So should I focus on my abs and obliques or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23792" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T06:44:29.330" Title="Focus on 1 muscle group or not" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;&lt;muscle-imbalance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36245" CreationDate="2017-09-28T06:44:29.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few things you should understand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle imbalance can indeed cause long term pain or injuries&lt;/strong&gt; so if you work out, you want to work on your entire body (and work on mental health is as important in my opinion but this ain't the place for that I guess).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;strong&gt;focussing on your abs will not help on getting rid of belly fat faster&lt;/strong&gt;. The contrary will happen. You need to burn fat over your entire body and most ab exercises don't burn a lot of calories, so you won't lose fat fast. It's better to do compound movements and some cardio if you want to burn fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T06:44:29.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36247" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36255" CreationDate="2017-09-28T11:37:23.043" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a case of shoulder impingement a while back and it got 85–90% better with physio, but then found this exercise online which appears to be helping to finish my recovery:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1wyoU.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1wyoU.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really feels like it's doing the trick... but I'm just wondering what muscles it's actually working?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume it targets around the rotator cuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user24798" LastActivityDate="2017-10-01T16:54:49.667" Title="Side laying flexion: what muscles worked?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;rotator-cuff&gt;&lt;rehabilitation&gt;&lt;shoulder-cuff&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-26T14:43:45.647" Score="6" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a good 45 minute cardiovascular workout just before swimming. Although I’ve got my breath back when I go in I imagine my body is still depleted in some way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What factors affect my (or anyone’s) ability to conduct sustained swimming under water? And what can I do to improve my performance? Is the change in performance more likely to be due to age or to the prior cardiovascular workout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A little back ground&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;I’m now 57 and I do an hour’s cardio workout of quite vigorous intensity twice a week with heart rate up to 170 bpm for the last 5 years. I also play short tennis once a week and do a reasonable amount of walking. So I’m active and reasonably fit. In my early forties I was doing a desk job, didn’t go to the gym and was not that fit, but I was still able to swim a 25m length under water (just) most of the time that I really tried. Now I find that I can only do 20m before coming up for air. That said I swim after going to the gym so I’m not “fresh”, although my breathing has returned to normal when I’m in the pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose what I should do is try the swimming first as a proper comparative test for myself, age v fitness. But this made me wonder what factors would affect my performance. Some things I have noticed are that hyperventilating (but not going to mad!) seems to help so perhaps not being fresh is important, as I have only ever been able to do the underwater length once per pool visit, but I’m not sure why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update - I am now able to swim this under water length without difficulty provided I spend 7 minutes breathing quickly before trying. Not enough to make me feel dizzy but the blood must be well oxygenated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26780" OwnerDisplayName="Slarty" LastEditorUserId="26780" LastEditDate="2018-08-15T21:28:05.597" LastActivityDate="2018-08-15T21:28:05.597" Title="What factors affect underwater swimming endurance and how to improve it?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;breathing&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="36250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36225" CreationDate="2017-09-29T09:31:32.653" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the best will in the world, having 10 days to work on yourself isn't going to make that much of an impact. Body recomposition, which is what you're after (losing fat, gaining muscle) is a much longer endeavor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be to try and do that same sort of workout that your PT puts you through; although you currently find it exhausting, over time you will adapt to it, provided you're recovering adequately, and then do your self-exercise as you normally do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking at making changes to your body, consistency over time is the most important thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'd also look at is the other aspects of your life with regards to your goals; Are you eating enough? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you stretching and doing mobility work (which can help with back pain). These are the often neglected things that you can work on with your time off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How's your eating? This is the key to fat loss. If your diet isn't great, or you're eating too much or not enough, take the time off to figure out how to eat better and do meal prep / cook some simple, nutritious food. Maybe take a quick cookery class, spend a day in the kitchen and learn a few recipes. There are a lot of resources online for healthy meals, try some and find some you like!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How's your recovery? If you don't feel like you're recovering from training sessions well enough, then have a look at your sleeping environment and see if you can improve it at all (again, searching for information about better sleep should yield a host of results). Go treat yourself to a massage, take a few yoga classes to work on your flexibility and chill out a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel completely burned out from your training, and you've been hitting it hard for a couple of months, then it doesn't hurt to take a week off and just do some light exercise instead. Go swimming, go for a hike, take a yoga class (though some of those can actually be pretty intense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this isn't the answer you want... telling you to hit the gym for 17 hours a day, work every body part 121 times in those 10 days and generally wreck yourself would be a much sexier answer, but honestly, you're doing the right thing with regards to your training at the moment, just stick at it, it takes time to make changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T09:31:32.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36248" CreationDate="2017-09-29T12:12:43.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main limitation here is that the oxygen you inhale before you submerge, is consumed by your muscles as you swim. The more energy you use, the faster your oxygen depletes, and this is what causes the &quot;damn, I need to go up top and breathe again&quot; feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to improve your underwater distances, is to learn the best techniques; that is to say, the technique that is most energy efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Performance is expected to drop with age, but since you haven't told us your age, I wouldn't default to using that as an explanation. Where I swim, there are seniors who will out-swim me with a broken hip, simply because they know their shit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the opportunity, join a swimming class for intermediate/advanced swimmers, and they'll show you the ropes. Competetive swimmers rely heavily on having the most optimal technique in terms of each stroke's distance-to-oxygen-cost ratio, and they'll clear over half the length of the pool after the dive, with leg-drive only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T12:12:43.833" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-30T04:36:24.930" Score="1" ViewCount="867" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 11 yrs old, and have been doing gymnastics for about 2 1/2 years. I'm a level 4 gymnast, but I can't get over the fear of jumping into my back handspring. Since I only go to the gym one time a week, and only have a beam and a mat at home, does anyone know a way to help me get over the fear of jumping into my back handspring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user26784" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-10-02T13:15:30.577" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T13:36:55.737" Title="how to get over the fear of doing a backhandspring" Tags="&lt;gymnastics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36197" CreationDate="2017-09-30T09:23:57.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume by skinny fat you mean that your muscle mass is low. A total mass of 85-86 kg and height of 6 feet (interesting combination of units) would therefore imply that you should lose some 10 more kilograms to reach a bodyfat percentage of about 8-10. It is possible to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously on a hypocaloric diet but it is usually easier to gain muscle on a hypercaloric diet. In order to maximize muscle gain, you should start the hypercaloric diet in a lean state. Otherwise fat gain will not be as low as it could be. Also you should adjust your training for maximum hypertrophy. Since you have already gained a lot of strength, probably no harm will be done if you focus on hypertrophy. Studies (e.g. &lt;em&gt;Hubal MJ et al.&#xA;Variability in muscle size and strength gain after unilateral resistance training. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2005 Jun;37(6):964-72&lt;/em&gt;) have shown that people exhibit a wide range of hypertrophic response to resistance training. Some people, around a few percent, gain almost no muscle. You could be among this group but it is not possible to definitely conclude so with the data available. You need to take time to gain knowledge and experience on how you respond to training. My recommendation is to use training programs from reputable authors in order to eliminate rookie mistakes. There is some correlation between strength and hypertrophy gains in individuals but definitely this is not 1:1. Gaining strength but not muscle is not anything out of the ordinary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26786" LastActivityDate="2017-09-30T09:23:57.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="656" CreationDate="2017-09-30T09:36:21.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well instead of wasting time in searching for treadmill workouts for weight loss. You should ask yourself whether its important to stay for more time on treadmill or to try some harsh intensity workouts and after few days get fedup of practicing them daily (As those workouts are very hard to follow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a fitness consultant with more than a decade of experience in personal health and physical fitness, i will recommend you to look for entertaining treadmill workouts that will make you stay on your treadmill for long time, indirectly helping you in burning more calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found one &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.treadmillreviewguru.com/articles/treadmill-workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;useful article&lt;/a&gt; where they have mentioned some great treadmill workouts that are not very hard to follow and will keep you entertained on treadmill for a long period of time, resulting in burning of more calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26785" LastActivityDate="2017-09-30T09:36:21.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36247" CreationDate="2017-09-30T14:35:48.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This movement can be understood by breaking it down into it's parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Position:&lt;/strong&gt;  Side-lying &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Shoulder:&lt;/strong&gt; (GH Joint) 0 degree's of Flexion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Elbow:&lt;/strong&gt; Fully Extended. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Movement:&lt;/strong&gt; Shoulder Flexion from 0 to 90 degrees &lt;em&gt;(gravity minimized)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to keep your hand parallel to the floor, and modulate the force needed to complete the movement, scapula stabilizers (retractors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scapula Retractors:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1.) Lower Trapezius&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2.) Rhomboids &lt;em&gt;(Major and Minor)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is great about this exercise - the shoulder flexion provides various degrees of muscle activation throughout the range of motion (ROM) also known as dynamic stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-01T16:54:49.667" LastActivityDate="2017-10-01T16:54:49.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36281" CreationDate="2017-10-02T01:05:21.993" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is better for gaining bigger muscles.&#xA;To group all exercises for the same muscle or distribute over the whole day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in other words&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 1 :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Chest exercise 1 then Bi ex 1 then Tri ex 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then Chest exercise 2 then Bi ex 2 then Tri ex 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then Chest exercise 3 then Bi ex 3 then Tri ex 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 2 :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Chest exercise 1 then Chest exercise 2 then Chest exercise 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then Bi ex 1 then Bi ex 2 then Bi ex 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then Tri ex 1 then Tri ex 2 then Tri ex 3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T12:53:23.993" Title="Group same muscles exercise" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-frequency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36252" CreationDate="2017-10-02T13:22:54.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditionally speaking, the technique generally used for training a person for a back handspring involves either a spotter with their hand lightly on your back, ready to push up if you need it, or a giant foam roller so that you can literally roll through the movement at first. Other than that, the other bit of advice I seen is doing the back handspring a little bit sideways, what Capoeira generally calls a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwWKvLzSU9c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;macaco&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Because you're not going straight back, it's a lot less scary. Once you feel comfortable doing one from a standing position, you start trying to do it more and more straight over your head until you're able to plant that other hand, at which point you are doing a back handspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-10-02T13:22:54.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36213" CreationDate="2017-10-02T13:34:06.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;During each marathon training cycle, our running group always incorporates at least one hill workout every other week. (For the Twin Cities Marathon we do one per week). There is no set time to do our hills, instead, we concentrate on good form going up and down the hill. In the beginning, I may run slow and I put all my focus on form. I always try to complete the distance even if I walk a good portion of the hills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the cycle, I find that the effort is much easier than it was in the beginning and the hills pay off even on a flat course. (Like Chicago).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use my running workouts to gain endurance and gym workouts to gain strength.  glutes, hamstring, and quads are good areas to focus on for strength. I have never found that the gym builds any aerobic capacity for hills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To really build endurance we also mix in an LSD run incorporating hills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10532" LastActivityDate="2017-10-02T13:34:06.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36213" CreationDate="2017-10-03T05:38:04.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very workable solution -- Activity specific training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your focus should be on increasing intensity, not duration.  &lt;em&gt;(the hills will become progressively easier)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write down a simple workout plan - something like M W F you'll&#xA;walk/jog/run up and down your hills. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a plan in mind (a set number of times you're gonna run it - if it's too hard take a break just make sure you finish what you plan).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep it simple.  Maybe M and F you run 20 times up and walk 20 times down - Wed do the opposite walk up, run down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T05:38:04.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36117" CreationDate="2017-10-03T11:11:52.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do you live near a track or in a good neighborhood to run in?&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do this outside - make it fun.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do Intervals in Sets and Reps - Get AWAY from using time&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing in life that's fun and consists of you &lt;em&gt;&quot;watching the&#xA;clock&quot;&lt;/em&gt; why add cardio to that list?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use a set distance instead -- &lt;strong&gt;it gives you an insensitive to push yourself.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The harder you work the sooner you can relax.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T11:11:52.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32271" CreationDate="2017-10-03T11:34:34.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you considered &lt;em&gt;Simhasana&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnyhealingarts.com/2011/03/13/the-health-benefits-of-simhasana-lion-pose/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lion's Pose&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YWCkw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YWCkw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Simhasana&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pose is all about stretching out the jaw, neck and chest, so it seems like it would be ideal for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Begin by kneeling on the floor with knees shoulder-width apart. Cross your right ankle over your left and carefully sit back on your heels. Make sure your feet are pointing outward and your calves are kept flat on the floor. Lift your chest up just enough that you are not slouching and your spine is fully straightened, but don’t over-arch your back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now, place both your hands on top of your knees. REMEMBER: don’t slouch as you do this. Widen your palms and press them firmly against your knees. Splay your fingers like a lion’s claws. Inhale deeply through your nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This next step is the focal point of Simhasana, but it can also be quite challenging. If you struggle here, be sure to practice your movements in coordination with each other. So, simultaneously do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lower your jaw and open your mouth as wide as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Stretch your tongue out and curl its tip down toward your chin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Open your eyes wide, looking upward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Focus your eyes in between your eyebrows or on the tip of your nose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Contract the muscles at the front of your throat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Activate your hands, splaying your fingers further out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now, hold this position and exhale slowly through your mouth. Feel the air pass over the back of the throat as well as the contraction of your throat and neck muscles. You should make a distinct “haaaaa” sound as you exhale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't forget to give your best lion roar. In fact, roar two of three times then retract your tongue. Relax your face, mouth, eyes, throat, and hands. Cross your ankles the opposite way and repeat Simhasana. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T11:34:34.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36268" CreationDate="2017-10-03T20:51:50.180" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 43 years old, 5'-9&quot; and 145lbs. I'm currently eating a bit light, lifting light, running and some additional cardio to trim down some unwanted body and chest fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm done, my goal is to gain some weight in muscle. I plan on cutting out cardio and upping my lift program. From what I read, I need to take in a lot more calories than usual, perhaps 3500/day. What I'm concerned with are all those calories going back to fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I need to do to make sure that I'm adding enough calories to build muscle, but not so much I'm adding on to fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7088" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T21:36:02.157" Title="How do I make sure extra calories go to muscle?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36267" CreationDate="2017-10-03T21:36:02.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best approach is to use a calorie intake/metabolic rate calculator like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There many out there but I trust this one. Though even with good calculators this is still just an estimate. Often time I &quot;thought&quot; I was cutting based on projections from iifym but with my slightly higher metabolism I had to cut more than what was recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took me a couple years to really hone in on the right numbers when it came to bulking and cutting. It may not take you as long but certainly there will be some trial and error involved. Just be patient and don't change things every couple of days when you don't see results. Stick to it for a couple week or a month then re-evaluate and adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You build muscle when you bulk, you lose fat when you cut. It's really not sustainable to build muscle and cut fat simultaneously. Be clear about your goals. I'd recommend cutting to where you want to be bodyfat wise, then start a bulk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of great answers on this site already that cover in more detail. Good luck! Also if you're new to fitness articles and blogs be prepared to hear a lot of conflicting and contradictory advice. Don't listen to anybody at the gym ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mike Matthews is a good author if you're just getting started. He has a good online and social media presence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26806" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T21:36:02.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-04T00:30:39.943" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://sworkit.com/exercises&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sworkit&lt;/a&gt; is pretty good for demonstrating and explaining various exercises, but I'm looking for something more. Like difficult and weird exercises, you know, something with an unfamiliar range of motion. I mean, I make up my own exercises here and there, but I'm looking for something that's fun, unheard of, undervalued, and esoteric. What do you know that is like this? This includes the novel use of equipment, like, say using a disconnect &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-grip-triangle-standard-grip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;grip triangle&lt;/a&gt; for some difficult balancing push ups or using a barbell as an ab roller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25968" LastEditorDisplayName="user25968" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T21:28:15.857" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T21:28:15.857" Title="Looking for new ideas for exercises" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36270" CreationDate="2017-10-04T01:14:08.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to train for skill acquisition, like in gymnastics. There are endless skills to get, so there's plenty of variety, it's very fun IMO&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-Sit / V-Sit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tuck planche / straddle planche / full planche&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;handstand / handstand pushups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;handstand walk / handstand pirouettes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iron cross (there are progressions for this but it's quite advanced)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;back bridge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L-pullups / L-muscle-ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rings muscle ups&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hollow Holds (with ankle weights if you want it harder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arch holds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;back flip / front flip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pommel horse circles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These should keep you busy quite a while. Some of these do require spécial equipment that you'll only find in a gymnasium, but most of if can be done without&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T01:14:08.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36273" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-04T06:46:58.503" Score="2" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to pinpoint why on some days I can cycle on the same stationary bike, with the same settings (saddle @ &quot;E&quot;, handlebars height at &quot;7&quot;), for 20 minutes, while other days I can only cycle for 7 minutes before I have to stop due to muscle aches in my thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been tracking variables like,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sleep - same amount, including &lt;a href=&quot;https://wiki.dandascalescu.com/reviews/fitness/the_lesser_of_two_sleep_monitors_-_qs_emfit_vs__oura_ring&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deep sleep&lt;/a&gt;; sometimes I can cycle for 20 minutes on only 4 hours of sleep, other days I have to quit after 7 minutes despite 7 hours of sleep (in both cases the deep sleep was about 50 - 60 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;food intake - both types of days, after dinner, which includes some carbs (though I haven't tracked the amount of carbs very precises). I could also do 20 minutes on an empty stomach in the morning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;time of day - early afternoon, early evening or late evening don't seem to make a difference&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hydration - did ~20 minutes while pretty dehydrated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else could I track more precisely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I don't have sore legs afterwards, and on the days I can cycle for 20 minutes, I don't really stop due to muscle pain, but rather due to running out of breath or just beating my PR by 1 minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cycle every other day, so I don't think there's risk of overtraining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="5296" LastEditDate="2017-10-11T08:36:55.610" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T01:26:54.347" Title="Why do I develop leg muscle pain 3x faster when cycling only SOME days?" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;pain&gt;&lt;muscle-soreness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33693" CreationDate="2017-10-04T08:33:27.067" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per my knowledge there is nothing like that you will lose your muscles while doing yoga. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26763" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T14:35:28.810" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T14:35:28.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33946" CreationDate="2017-10-04T08:55:05.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definately yoga helps to relief from upper and lower back injuries, but you need to stop those body weight exercises which is the cause and increasing your upper or lower back pain. However, you can start doing yoga along with body weight exercise. Do some research over the internet and proceed accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26763" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T08:55:05.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36270" CreationDate="2017-10-04T21:50:28.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend you try some brazilian jiu jitsu, which is a mixture of grappling/wrestling/submissions/judo. Do a drop in class. You'll be using muscles you never knew existed (a lot of hip motion and weight distribution mechanics). A lot of great condition rolling (6 minute sparring sessions) with an opponent where the fear of claustrophobia and getting choked out has you going hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's basically 3d chess with a human whose body opens up a plethora of moves that you will have to drill and train in to either counter/beat. It's going to suck in the beginning but if you're looking for a workout and a challenge, you'll be hooked (no pun intended). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T21:50:28.373" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36225" CreationDate="2017-10-04T22:19:50.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dark Hippo has a great answer! It's awesome you are up for some intense training over your 10 day vacation period. Here's how I would approach this 10 day period that you have coming up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instead of aspiring to spend over 2 hours a day at the gym for 10 days straight, I would spend your usual hour a day or more if you're up for it at the gym doing what your PT has you do. You don't need your PT for every one of those 10 days. Try repeating what he had you do on the days he's not there with you to build some self confidence in working out on your own. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since you're on vacation, you can also afford to spend some time understanding macronutrients, caloric intake, protein/carbs/fats etc. Youtube is an awesome resource for people who don't have the time to go through books. I would recommend youtubers like Omar Isuf and Alan Thrall. There are others that you can find as you get into fitness and start finding your fitness style. Specifically look up how to calculate/track macros. You can use a site like  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;IIFYM&lt;/a&gt;. Start using myfitnesspal (a mobile application that you can use to search up food and scan barcodes to track the macronutrients (fats, carbs, proteins, calories) of. Your physique is built in the kitchen as they say. Working out is needed but if you aren't eating well and in deficit (less than you burn just existing), you won't lose weight. It's a lot, but spending the time learning about macros/calories/maintenance/deficit etc. will have a huge return.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're at the gym, I would highly recommend you start lifting if your PT doesn't have you lifting weights yet. Use light weights, search up form vids online and do the lifts properly. Get used to these lifts. This is not to say ignore bodyweight exercises and cardio because those are important as well, but since you are paying for a gym, might as well capitalize right? You mentioned you had a weak back so things like deadlifts/rows (crucial to have good form) and lat pulldowns, cable rows will help build up your back. Start getting an idea of the different exercises and which parts of your body they hit. For example, you could do a standard bodybuilding style workout program where you hit different body parts every day with 10 to 12 repetitions per set. Or maybe you want to start lifting as a sport/strength gaining regimen and might want to check out  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjpxJ-o_dfWAhVM1GMKHYG-BPIQFggmMAA&amp;amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fstronglifts.com%2F&amp;amp;usg=AOvVaw1ZJ5pJ0FvvRPr1iMIQ93Qs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stronglifts 5x5&lt;/a&gt;. There are lots of programs and it's cool to experiment but you want to pick something and stay consistent. Don't be the kid in the candy factory after a month or two of being comfortable with the gym. Pick a program and stick with it for the goals you set for yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's becoming a theme here but I want to emphasize these 10 days will be valuable for &lt;em&gt;information gathering&lt;/em&gt;. Start looking up basic mobility work/stretches because as most of the stack exchange community tends to be desk workers, they have a host of problems from sitting too much (tight hips etc.) Check out mobilityWOD by Kelly Starrett (he also has a great book called Becoming a Supple Leopard and another one on desk related exercises which I cannot recall). Supple Leopard is a treasure trove of stretches/mobility work for your back and other areas. This basic mobility/stretching work will go a long ways in living a healthy/injury free lifestyle well past your prime. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The mentality. I can tell you're eager to get in there and start working at it. Capture this feeling and remember it. However, consistency is king. Don't burn yourself out thinking you can go 3 hours a day, 10 days straight and when the DOMS hits (delayed onset muscle soreness), you won't even want to walk let alone go to the gym (Force yourself to go even if its just walking on a treadmill because its a habit thing, get used to quitting and who knows how long till you go back?). Terry Crews said it best: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TREAT THE GYM LIKE A SPA.&#xA;  Yes. It has to feel good. I tell people this a lot - go to the gym, and just sit there, and read a magazine, and then go home. And do this every day.&#xA;  Go to the gym, don't even work out. Just GO. Because the habit of going to the gym is more important than the work out. Because it doesn't matter what you do. You can have fun - but as long as you're having fun, you continue to do it.&#xA;  But what happens is you get a trainer, your whole body is sore, you can't feel your legs, and you're not coming back the next day - you might not come back for a year!&#xA;  I worked my way up to 2 hours a day. I ENJOY my workouts. They are my peace, my joy - I get my whole head together! I value that time more than my shower! And it really gets me together. But it's a habit.&#xA;  There are times when - I'm not even kidding - there are times when I&quot;m in the middle of a work out, and actually woke up because i am so engrained with going to the gym and being there - it's that much of a habit to me. The first thing I do in the morning is work out - I lay out my workout clothes the night before, and just hop in 'em.&#xA;  So lay out your clothes, and go to the gym, and relax.&#xA;  HaAHAHAH!&#xA;  But sooner or later, you WILL work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fitness is a lifestyle, a marathon not a sprint. Discipline will carry you a lot further than just a spurt of motivation. Learn to love your body and work at it like a sculptor. Congrats on embarking on this lifestyle and good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T22:19:50.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-05T08:05:30.460" Score="2" ViewCount="686" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it necessary that our body be warmed up before doing push ups? (Condition)&#xA;Is it OK to do strength exercise (mainly push ups) every 2-3 hours? (Definitely not just after and before eating, but do it whenever I get the chance)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scenarios:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Suppose I'm studying in my room and after 2 hours, I need to give myself some rest from studying, so I switch to stretching, push ups, plank, dumbbells, sit ups, hand gripper. Is it OK to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it OK to use a hand gripper during a boring class?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native English speaker, so please excuse my English and my inability to formulate the question properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26815" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T11:54:25.060" LastActivityDate="2018-05-06T22:12:46.807" Title="Interval of time and Conditions for doing push ups and strength training?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;grip-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36507" CreationDate="2017-10-05T09:08:27.690" Score="3" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been sick for the last two weeks and my doctor told me to get &lt;i&gt;Finalgon&lt;/i&gt;, which is a heat cream. (Note: Finalgon is not only reacting with the skin, like some sticking plasters)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I really liked the effect and it really benefited my curing, it felt like it was stimulating my blood circulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This made me curious, if there is any benefit using heat cream when it comes to regenerating from aching and sore muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not want to question the effectiveness of heat creams in general, but if there is any value using it when trying to regenerate faster from hard workouts (which in my case is bodybuilding)? Maybe because of its stimulating effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came up with this, as I regularly read about blood circulation aiding supplements and foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26203" LastActivityDate="2017-11-14T17:55:24.713" Title="Does heat cream benefit the regeneration?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;blood-flow&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36257" CreationDate="2017-10-05T12:53:23.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main factor for muscle hypertrophy is volume. It doesn't matter which order you use in your workouts while training as long as your muscles are getting sufficient stimulus for growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @mjb in comments as said, you there is no method which is 'better' here. I'd like to repeat the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the option 2 is the better split for someone who wants to optimize their workout since it will allow the muscle to relax a bit before you pound it with another exercise after your first one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue, however with the option 2 is that you will not get a big pump, but as long as the volume remains the same, it won't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26756" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T12:53:23.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-05T13:53:29.370" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do 20 minutes of minutes and then 20 minutes of stretching every morning.&#xA;I go gym for 3 day per gym. As i am a skinny fat guy. I want to remove my belly fat while growing muscle. So this is what i do per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this good for my health? Or is it good if i continue this routine for 1 year or may be more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24280" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T06:01:08.167" Title="Doing HIIT everyday and 3 day workout routine per week in the gym is good for my health?" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;gym&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-16T14:12:42.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11643" CreationDate="2017-10-05T18:23:04.567" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretching, hydration, rest, nutrition all play a part in staving off DOMS. However, as Daniel states: getting the lymphatic system to drain more effectively is key in shortening the duration of DOMS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hot/Cold shower rotation will get the system going as your bodily tissues expand and contract with the temperature changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skipping (Jump Rope) is also a fantastic post-leg day exercise.  2 days AFTER leg day, skipping can be a great source of cardio/caloric burn, and the shaking/jumping is a great way to &quot;shake&quot; up the lymphatic system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26821" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T18:23:04.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36221" CreationDate="2017-10-05T19:21:18.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit biased, but, I tell anyone with a similar question to give rowing a try.  Using a good quality  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;indoor rower&lt;/a&gt; can provide a great workout.  There's a small learning curve to using the machine, but, once you've got the motion down, you can easily control the intensity and duration of the workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for any usage contraindication,  you'll need to be able to move your shins to a vertical position.  If that position puts too much strain on your ankle/shin, you can shorten the stroke and still get a decent workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T19:21:18.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-07T11:16:46.780" Score="3" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I googled around but did not find any clear ways except for this one quote from 2012 where its not clear how that was being done/ practiced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts/ ideas on how this can be done?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the only way I can think of holding the rings when Curling is Parallel the body plane. How could one hold and do Hammer Curls with Rings?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt; &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Re: Ross, bicep curls?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Post by &lt;strong&gt;ExplosiveStrength85&lt;/strong&gt; » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:52 am&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey guys curls have their place when needed but I would highly recommend bicep curls on gymnastic rings. Regular bicep curls don't really do too much for that top portion of lift. By using rings it reverses the role of regular curls and focuses on that top end strength. You will develop the bicep to higher degree and they are really good for developing that close end locking strength. I do regular, reverse, and &lt;strong&gt;hammer curls on rings&lt;/strong&gt; and they will build ridiculous strength for anyone involved in grappling or arm wrestling. I do these along with heavy chins all variations. All gymnasts use the ring curls but they also do some regular curls for that lower end strength. Every exercise has its place somewhere.&#xA;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15238" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T07:20:58.307" Title="How would it possible to do Hammer Curls on Gymnastic Rings?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;rings&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36279" CreationDate="2017-10-07T18:48:19.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Stretching&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stretching advice is backwards @Goralight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The basic science literature supports the epidemiologic evidence that stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do static stretching &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; exercising&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Abs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As this works your innercore these are fine to do daily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ditch basic sit-ups &lt;em&gt;(Spinal Loads ~2000N of Force)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Push-ups&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your chest needs time to recover.  Try the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On Odd Days&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do 200 pushups in as few sets as possible in addition to your&#xA;regularly scheduled workout of cardio exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can still do upper body workouts on these days if you are already&#xA;on a program.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is a supplemental 200 pushups using maximum repetition sets (4 x&#xA;50, 8 x 25 ... it's your choice how you get to 200).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On Even Days&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do 200 pushups throughout the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This can be little sets of ten done every half hour or fifty pushups&#xA;done four times throughout the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rule&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your maximum is under 50 pushups, do 200 a day. If your maximum is&#xA;above 75, do 300 pushups a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat the ODD/EVEN routine for a &lt;strong&gt;total of 10 days&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then &lt;strong&gt;take three days off&lt;/strong&gt; and do NO upper body pushing exercises&#xA;that work the chest, triceps, and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend this workout more than once every six months,&#xA;since it rather challenging on the same muscle groups repeatedly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other Exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a ton of new exercises here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/workouts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/workouts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sources:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10593217&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10593217&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/try-pushup-push-workout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/try-pushup-push-workout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-07T18:53:33.343" LastActivityDate="2017-10-07T18:53:33.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-07T20:28:42.727" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me: Overweight 30 year old male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This year has been a particularly inactive year* leading me to grow increasingly interested in getting into shape. Because of this, and other reasons, this lead me to start a new hard labor job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this puts me on my feet 12 hours a day, doing physical labor, with a lot of walking. And shortly after this started my big toes have become constantly tingeing and numb feeling when pressure is applied to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, my first thought would be diabetes, or some other overweight disease, but I know of none that are exasperated by extreme exercise. If it matters, prior to this job I did everything barefoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question&lt;/strong&gt;: Is this normal? Will bruised feet feel like this? Will it go away? Or is this likely a more serious condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This year was an anomaly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15471" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T19:36:25.837" Title="Numb Tingeling in Big Toes" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;fat&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;&lt;numbness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-09T04:06:49.573" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36286" CreationDate="2017-10-08T07:20:58.307" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the real question is how to do curls with rings. From there, forearm rotation will refine these to hammer curls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HObU9DN4TQg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; illustrates the technique; I'll attempt to describe it in words for future-proofing: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang from the rings with feet on the ground such that the arms are held straight out from the body at a 90 degree angle, and the body is 45 degrees from the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Curl up, keeping the shoulder/arm angle constant. At the top of the curl, the rings should just pass the ears.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For hammer curls, keep the grip vertical throughout the curl (which is a deviation from the linked video).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T07:20:58.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36288" CreationDate="2017-10-08T19:36:25.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as a runner, it could be as simple as your shoes being too small and/or tied too tight. Feet swell throughout the day, so either of those will make uncomfortable feel unbearable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24442" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T19:36:25.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36282" CreationDate="2017-10-08T19:40:42.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing HIIT every day? I'd do that only every other day - too much of a good thing is a bad thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not giving your body enough time to rest and recover by doing HIIT every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24442" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T19:40:42.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-09T07:12:03.777" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to create a trdemill for home purpose. My weight is around 70kg. So what should be the ideal power of motor to be used?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any video tutorial for making trademill will also help considering low cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7079" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T07:12:03.777" Title="What should be the ideal power of a trademill motor for 70 kg man?" Tags="&lt;gym&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-10-09T16:39:35.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-09T17:47:23.373" Score="1" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to work out my bmr and so the amount of calories i burn a day. Based on the online calculator for my height and weight, 14 stone and 5&quot;11, my bmr is 1800, which is a fairly average value I'd guess. Given that the the recommendation for men is to consume up to 2500 calories per day, this would leave 700 calories a day to be burned off by exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using my fitness tracker app 700 would require roughly 12 miles brisk walk ever day. This sounds like a lot to me, and I find it very difficult to believe that the average person walks 12 miles a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone explain to me how this 2500 calories value can be correct for the average man?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26837" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T18:54:58.617" Title="Bmr to 2500 calories explained" Tags="&lt;bmr&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36293" CreationDate="2017-10-09T18:48:50.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are not taking into account normal daily activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate, or for a comparison, if you wake up in the morning, don't roll over or anything and just sit there and blink your eyes and breathe in and out all day, that is how many calories you need to sustain yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are minor calories involved in the act of eating, digesting and eliminating. In addition, you get up and move around during the day, go to work, school, whatever. A &quot;typical&quot; desk job will burn ~ 34 calories an hour. So if you work an 8 hour day, that is ~ 280 calories. Now your exercise goal is 420 calories, not 700. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything you do besides just breathe uses calories, and you need to factor them all in to get an accurate estimation of your true calorie needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Also, just a quick peek, I'm not sure what you mean by a &quot;brisk&quot; walk, but walking at 4.5 miles per hour will burn about 425 calories per hour for a 200 lb person (14 stone is 196 lbs). Add that to the desk job and you are at your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-10-09T18:54:58.617" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T18:54:58.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-09T21:00:21.807" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like some feedback on a workout program to support my goals towards a major martial arts competition and possibly re-entering the military. Timeline for both is mid July of 2018.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Current Status&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5'10&quot; (1.78 meters)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;178 lbs (80.9 kilos)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;18 % body fat (Measured 9 fold caliper test, averaged with two different impedance measurements)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Goals&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;168 lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Functional increase of 15% in strength (So if I can do a 165 lb bench press now, a 190 bench press by goal dates)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;40 minute 5 mile run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50% increase in major flexibility (So if I can do a side split to a 90 degree angle now, increase to 135 degree angle. Full side splits would be 180 degree angle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase in jump height and lateral speed (No specific %)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Equipment/Constraints&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Access to full gym at work (Usual treadmills and cardio, aerobics room, couple good benches, dumbbells, etc. Not a commercial gym but good for a corporate facility)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;TRX training kit (Basic full suspension kit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Agility equipment (2 ladders, 2 sets 6&quot; hurdles, 100 cones, 2 step platforms)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 hour desk job (Constraint)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 kids under 3 (Constraint and motivation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Sample workout structure&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday AM: Weight room, focus on upper body. Common exercises with rotation/variation on the theme every 6ish weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday PM: Forms class (Martial arts), 30 minutes stretching after class&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday PM: Cardio, stretching (Including some PNF work for splits increase)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday PM: Cardio, TRX bodyweight exercises (Full body), stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday AM: Cardio, forms/weapons work, stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday AM: Weight room, focus on lower body. Same emphasis as Monday weights&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Saturday: Forms/weapons class&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunday: Cardio, stretching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardio will be mainly running, initial focus will be a couch - 5k program, followed by the 3:2:1 program I have outlined on here before. I'm not worried about the running, that's just putting in the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current diet is about 80% clean eating, 20% cheat/junk. That isn't going to change much. I currently eat the traditional 3 meals/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like is specific feedback on the weekly schedule, with emphasis on points for improvement and possibly nutrient timing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T07:51:28.447" Title="Feedback on workout plan and timeline" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18742" CreationDate="2017-10-09T23:37:16.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Serious banya (sauna) users in Russia wear skull caps to prevent dilation of the blood vessels in the head and thereby preventing post banya headache Also do not forget the cold dip after the banya. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26840" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T23:37:16.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36298" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-10T00:26:10.297" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;what sport or workout would elevate your center of mass/gravity?&#xA; bigger arms, tighter calves. would sprinting be a good exercise for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26841" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T00:26:10.297" Title="what activity elevates your center of gravity?" Tags="&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;upper-body-workout&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ClosedDate="2017-10-16T16:46:42.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1118" CreationDate="2017-10-10T05:17:52.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had the exact pain experience as you have albeit not with skipping but with running. And through this ordeal, I have discovered a solution to this problem through self analysis and trial-n-error which eventually work. I said 'self' analysis because various consultation to the doctors did not lead me to the right conclusion although their protocol was perfectly correct. Modern medicine tends not to be poor 'wholesome'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since about 2 years ago, I started having debilitating ankle pain with big swell, redness and pain that is so bad I could not move my feet even while on bed nor stand to go pee. Went to doctors, had my blood checked and found that I have high uric acid which they concluded was causing me to have the gout pain. Put me on medication and the uric acid went down to within the normal range. But I was still having those severe pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Self analysis&lt;/strong&gt; - like said, my pain pattern was exactly like yours. Long story short, I realized that the culprit was the 'impact' I experienced when running on hard ground such as tarred roads, terrains etc. The impact hit at my ankles the hardest and not as bad on the knees which did exhibit 'noises' and slight pain after runs. BTW, I also trained with skipping for a while and stopped in no time after first experiencing your type of pain. I believe that the 'springing' action during skipping puts tremendous strain on the lower leg region [knees and below] by which tendons and ligaments get overworked easily. This also has lots to do with how heavy the body is that those lower leg muscles have to 'lift' during the spring action of skipping up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Doctors&lt;/strong&gt; - they could not figure out why I still had the pain despite the uric acid being normal and could only referred me to more specialists for MRI etc. I did not want to go that route as they can probably only propose physical therapy and perhaps try surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I did / am doing&lt;/strong&gt; - &#xA;1. Continue with the uric meds so that there is no high uric acid to cause future damages to joints and bones [this is just for long term avoidance of possible ramification due to high UA]&#xA;2. Stopped my running all together and switched to swimming for cardio ever since. Surprised benefit includes - more intense cardio-vascular workout than running. Swimming restricts the breathing [when under water] and this trains the lungs better than the free flow of air while running. It trains and transforms my upper body which gave me bigger triceps, lads and delts. This is the beautiful part - when I missed running, I could run on the treadmills - the 'floating' belt provides good absorption of the impact - or use the elliptical machine which removes the feet pounding onto surfaces and I never got the pain returned once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's my experience on how I resolved this [literally] painful 2 years plus of agony - with non medical intervention. Perhaps you can consider this approach too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26842" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T05:17:52.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36295" CreationDate="2017-10-10T07:51:28.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Summarising your goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower your weight (starting at a fairly good 18% bf).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Run faster over mid distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Better flexibility.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve explosive leg strength.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because there are a lot of goals here it's definitely worth your training being very targeted in achieving these points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Running:&lt;/strong&gt; In terms of running, your 3:2:1 program will be just fine, &lt;a href=&quot;http://trainology.org/PDF/v3-1%2003%20Gleason%20etal.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is a nice article&lt;/a&gt; I spotted about achieving military standards of running through various training methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lower weight:&lt;/strong&gt; This is going to be very difficult, you should look to weight all your food and be extremely strict in your dieting if you want to continue to lose weight. Your macro-nutritional profile should be tight as well. Neglecting either of these will lead to you becoming very tired, very quickly. Personally, I would reduce that 20% junk to 10%, or move to better junk options: Peanut butter, Nuts, high fat &amp;amp; salt snacks, anything that is low calorie and provides a good amount of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase Strength:&lt;/strong&gt; Speaking of protein, you are going to need a good source to increase your overall strength by 15% as you don't sound like you are coming at this untrained. A untrained individual can increase their max linearly and 15% isn't a impossible target for a novice. Someone at a intermediate level will struggle though and should look to 3-6 days a week strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explosive movement:&lt;/strong&gt; Your amount of calisthenics is good to support an increase in jump height, definitely include box jumps in there. In term of other exercises to increase jump height, consider looking at Olympic weightlifting movements: clean and jerk require a lot of explosive, fast movement. However, consider getting a coach to teach you the basics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretching:&lt;/strong&gt; Every time you are doing a cool-down, do the split stretch and variants therein. With the amount of exercise you are planning to do I believe your flexibility goal is easily achievable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Criticisms:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are trying to achieve too much at once. If you focussed on a specific goal for 3-4 months at a time you would achieve it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your aim of reducing body-fat (starting at 18%) and increasing strength is aspirational at best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't have a rest day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To make good progress against all of your goals you are going to need to spend a lot of time in the gym/running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutrient Timing:&lt;/strong&gt; For the majority of individuals this does not matter in the slightest, however with training so much you will need to make sure your body has access to the carbs it needs, to provide you with energy. For you carb timing is important and you should look to experiment with your carb timing and running to find out what works best for you. This is highly personal and is impossible for me to specify an appropriate time. As I have said previously...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under most circumstances and in the grand scheme of things, it's not critical. Of far greater importance is hitting your calorie, macro- and micro-nutrient needs over the course of the day. After that, consistency and commitment should be applied to an appropriate workout plan that suits your performance and/or body goals. If you tend to train in a fasted state, getting your post-workout nutrition in as soon as possible is a good idea, but the first two points (daily diet goals, consistent training) still take precedence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a good paper reviewing the literature examining the ideas and research behind nutrient timing and the &amp;quot;post-workout window&amp;quot;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3577439/pdf/1550-2783-10-5.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;check out this meta-review.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a review specific to protein timing and it's effect on strength and muscle building, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879660/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this review&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within your question contraints I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take Sunday as a rest day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stick to compound movements for weights: Bench, Press, Squat, Deadlift and Row.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look to add power cleans to your strength work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add pylometrics (box jumps, etc.) to your calisthenics/agility work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ditch the TRX for this program, it's a great bit of kit (I have one too) does not fit in with your goals currently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stretch after every time you do exercise, specifically work on your split.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow the 3 forward, 1 rest principle and every 4th week back off on all exercise. Keep doing it but reduce weight moved to 60% 1RM, running at a gentle pace, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19738" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T07:51:28.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35886" CreationDate="2017-10-10T12:14:56.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can see you've been only working out for 3 weeks. I suggest you take some pictures or measure your legs right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After measuring, be consistent in your training, eating and rest periods for the next 6 months. I see that you're eating over 4000 calories and 120+ grams of protein a day, this should give you ample fule to grow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 6 months, measure again and I'm without a doubt sure that you will have gained mass on your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20039" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T12:14:56.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36303" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-10T15:59:52.767" Score="1" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;Male, 16, 167 lbs. If I have anterior pelvic tilt, can I use the treadmill or will it worsen my situation? I’m trying to activate my glutes and hips (I can feel glutes, but can’t feel my hip at all), but my hamstrings keep tighteting intensely  instead in any exercise I try. I heard that mindfulness will help, and that it will work when I lose weight (my thighs and butt are way too fat), and I want to use the treadmill. Will it worsen my APT? Is there any other way? I have a sedentary lifestyle if that helps, too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26846" LastActivityDate="2018-04-06T14:16:43.503" Title="Can you use the treadmill with APT?" Tags="&lt;treadmill&gt;&lt;hip&gt;&lt;glutes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-04-06T14:20:17.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35896" CreationDate="2017-10-11T04:52:22.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Elbow Flexor Activation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep this part simple..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Palms face up (full supination) you'll emphasize the biceps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Palms face down (pronation) you'll emphasize the brachialis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The brachioradialis, which is targeted with a neural grip, attaches&#xA;too close to your forearm for there to be any major difference.  This&#xA;position would have the greater effect the on the biceps…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little applied anatomy. The biceps -- a two-headed muscle, comprised of the short head (which sits on the inner portion of the upper arm) and the long head (which sits on the outer portion of the upper arm). The long head of the muscle crosses the shoulder while the short head originates from the front of the scapula. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nOtq9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nOtq9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why does this matter?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, during performance of exercises where the upper arm is held behind the body, the long head is placed in a greater position of stretch compared to the short head and therefore is able to generate maximal force. Conversely, during performance of movements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the upper arm is &lt;strong&gt;held out in front of the body, the long head is&#xA;  slackened to a greater degree&lt;/strong&gt; (this  phenomenon called active&#xA;  insufficiency) and therefore force production is compromised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Neural Control&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research shows that aspects of the biceps are “partitioned”, with both the long and short heads comprised of individual compartments, innervated by branches of the primary nerves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lateral portion of the muscle are recruited for elbow flexion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fibers in the medial aspect are recruited for supination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Centrally located fibers are recruited for non-linear combinations of&#xA;flexion and supination.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the short head appears to be more active in the latter part of an arm curl (i.e. greater elbow flexion) while the long head is more active in the early phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sources:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/jbjsjournal/Abstract/1957/39050/Integrated_Actions_and_Functions_of_the_Chief.11.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://journals.lww.com/jbjsjournal/Abstract/1957/39050/Integrated_Actions_and_Functions_of_the_Chief.11.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.lww.com/corr/Abstract/1997/03000/Biceps_Activity_During_Shoulder_Motion__An.17.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://journals.lww.com/corr/Abstract/1997/03000/Biceps_Activity_During_Shoulder_Motion__An.17.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7570586&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7570586&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7570586&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7570586&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Some of these journals require membership to access.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T04:52:22.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18914" CreationDate="2017-10-11T08:30:00.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note: this got a bit long, so the TL:DR is, the best diet is one that fits into your lifestyle and helps you maintain a caloric deficit.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In simple terms, your body weight is a balancing act between calories in vs calories out (calories in being what you eat / drink, calories out being what you burn through exercise, everyday life, or pass naturally from your system), arguably your body composition is a symptom of the quality of the food you eat, but that's a completely different topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to lose weight, you have to shift the calorie equation more to the right (i.e. your calories out are greater than your calories in), to gain weight, you have to go the other way. There's no way around this, it's just how we understand* the body to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understanding this, the answer to your question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does the low carb Atkins type diet really works when it comes to losing fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is yes, &lt;strong&gt;as long as you maintain a caloric deficit&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address your primary question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is LCHF diet the best and easy way to loose fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is, it depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people read about the latest diet fab, low carb / high fat, high carb / low fat, vegetarian, vegan, weight-watchers, zone diet, gluten free, slimfast plan, and immediately assume it's going to magically help them lose weight, they hit it hard for a week or two, then they relapse into their old habits because they find that being vegan is really hard when your family invites you to a BBQ on a sunny weekend, or low carb / high fat or gluten free is really tough when someone brings a box of doughnuts into the office, or high carb / low fat is very confusing when people tell you salmon and avocado are healthy foods (but they're so high in fat!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The best diet is the one can you stick to.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want you to read that again. Then think about your life, your day to day existence and really consider, I mean actually seriously consider if you'll be able to stick to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets say you're going to go with an Atkins style low carb / high fat diet (I haven't read the Atkins diet, but hopefully this isn't too far off the mark), consider the usual daily meals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt; - You can't eat cereal, toast, crumpets, pop-tarts, or pretty much anything that comes in a box. A lot of people have eggs for breakfast (a good choice by the way), but eggs aren't really a grab and go food unless you remembered to boil them the night before, which means you now have to get up and make breakfast before work. What about if you've got kids and you have to get them ready for school, do you have time to cook for yourself? What if your alarm doesn't go off, you oversleep and have to rush to work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt; - You can't nip out and grab a sandwich, or jacket potato, or sausage roll, or anything with rice or pasta. Which means either a salad, a restaurant where you can order steak and veg (no chips now!), or something pre-made that you've brought in with you (gotta love those business meeting sandwich buffets, where you're left with carrot sticks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt; - This one is, usually, easier at least, as most people have time to cook, but this is also where you find out that eating out with friends / family can be tricky, especially if your partner has a love of Italian, Chinese or Indian food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Desert&lt;/strong&gt; - Ha. Ha ha. Hahahahahahaha. Wait, you're serious? Ok... there are a number of deserts you can make yourself, and you may be ok with some yogurts, but most deserts aren't that Atkins friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat a gluten free diet, which I believe helps me maintain a relatively healthy physique (that's along with regular weight training, and despite working a desk job), so I tend to veer towards a low carb / high fat diet, so a lot of the above is from personal experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My meals will generally look something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breakfast&lt;/strong&gt; - fish or scrambled eggs, avocado, sauté veg and a smoothy (made from more vegetables plus a banana and a little protein powder). Sometimes I'll treatmyself to a bowl of gluten free granola, and I do keep some in the cupboard for emergencies (that thing about your alarm not going off? Yeah, that counts as an emergency).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lunch&lt;/strong&gt; - leftovers from the night before, generally a stew type concoction (gotta love that slow cooker) which is usually just meat and veg, or a frittata. If, for some reason I don't bring lunch with me, then it's a tin of fish with rice and sweetcorn (yes, rice is high carb, so you'd have to swap it out for salad).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dinner&lt;/strong&gt; - Remember when I said about loving the slow cooker? Yep, it's generally a slow cooker stew type things that I've prepared either the night before or that morning; or some form of meat and veg, sometimes with rice if I've trained that evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Desert&lt;/strong&gt; - No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't think you live like this, and there's honestly nothing wrong with it if you can't (I don't eat a gluten free diet by choice, I eat it because I have to), then no, a LCHF diet isn't the best and easiest way to lose fat &lt;strong&gt;for you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*at the moment, anyway, until we realise that everything is actually controlled by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flying Spaghetti Monster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T08:30:00.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-11T10:38:33.273" Score="1" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started bodybuilding about two to three weeks ago and I feel like I was gaining some muscle. Now it seems I'm back to square one. It's not like I gained a lot, but what I did gain, I've lost. Why is this happening when I am keeping up with my routine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26850" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-10-12T14:44:29.290" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T21:06:35.090" Title="I am losing mass even tho, I've been consistent with my training from time I started gym" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36306" CreationDate="2017-10-11T11:57:58.543" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bodybuilding is a long term endeavor, two to three weeks is &lt;strong&gt;nothing&lt;/strong&gt; in the world of bodybuilding. If you'd said &lt;strong&gt;two to three years&lt;/strong&gt;, then it would be a different matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you're doing, carry on doing it for at least 6 months, then see where you are with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you want to gain muscle (which I assume is what you mean by bodybuilding) check your diet and recovery, if either of those aren't up to par, then it'll stifle your gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:57:58.543" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2255" CreationDate="2017-10-11T21:12:35.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For rec athletes, this is one of the harder problems. You see this with marathoners, softball players, pretty much anybody who regularly does rec sports. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I frame this to my clients is, &quot;Ok, we've been lifting 100 lbs the last few weeks. Tomorrow, we're going to lift 200 lbs. Sound like a good idea?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the answer to that is no. &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2015/02/23/the-biggest-mistake-recreational-athletes-make/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yet this is the biggest and most common mistake rec athletes make.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in running a marathon, and you've only been running 10 miles, running 26.2 is going to &lt;strong&gt;hurt&lt;/strong&gt;. If you're a softball player, and you've been playing one game a night, per week, but championship week you have to play two games back to back, you're going to feel it the week after that. You've, overnight, doubled your work load. In any scenario, this is a recipe for pain. (Imagine you've been regularly working four hour shifts, an eight hour, double shift, out of nowhere is rough. Even just mentally.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Name the sport / activity, tennis in your case, and the same rule applies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to do, and this is why rec sports can be so hard, is gently build up your stress tolerance. There are various ways to do this. &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2016/10/24/the-variables-and-an-equation-to-consider-when-starting-a-physical-activity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I have an equation I use&lt;/a&gt;, where the primary variables in your situation would be how fast you're going, how long and days per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest change you're going through on those weekend days is you're e.g. tripling the duration of a day of tennis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you'd go into that weekend and say, the previous eight weekends, have built up to that amount. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, say you typically play an hour at a time. A couple months before a weekend competition, you could add 15 minutes per week to that hour at a time. After eight weeks, you're now pretty damn accustomed to that much tennis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, this is not always practical due to the rec athlete's time constraints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to the variables I gave, you might find you can't play tennis for e.g. two+ hours at a time, but a month out, you can build up to playing 4-5 times per week rather than 1-3. Or you can try to play faster in each hour you play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways to attack it, but the idea is you need to build the level of stress up, &lt;strong&gt;gradually&lt;/strong&gt;, so a given weekend tournament isn't such a drastic change from what you've been doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T21:12:35.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36273" CreationDate="2017-10-11T23:21:29.597" Score="-1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Dan you need to see your doctor ASAP to rule this out.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intermittent Claudication&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If left untreated, claudication and peripheral artery disease can&#xA;  reduce the quality of your life and lead to potentially&#xA;  life-threatening complications.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is partial obstruction of the arteries. If the obstruction dislodges this can cause a heart attack or pulmonary embolism. Your symptoms sound similar to early stages but is very treatable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS ADVICE. See your doctor ASAP.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/claudication/basics/definition/con-20033581&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/claudication/basics/definition/con-20033581&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://allnurses-breakroom.com/lounge/right-calf-pain-137717.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://allnurses-breakroom.com/lounge/right-calf-pain-137717.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-11T23:38:26.763" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T23:38:26.763" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36282" CreationDate="2017-10-13T06:01:08.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're building muscle and doing HIIT, most trainers recommend doing it no more than 3 times a week since HIIT is considered rather strenuous training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href=&quot;https://muscleevo.net/how-to-avoid-the-fat-trap/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; from Muscle Evo:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even so, lifting weights and doing HIIT every day is not a great idea.&#xA;  If you want to do HIIT while you focus on building muscle, limit it to&#xA;  1 or 2 short sessions a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to find a good trainer to put together a long-term plan that works for your fitness goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4370" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T06:01:08.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36322" CreationDate="2017-10-13T15:02:28.823" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, this is my first post on the forum so sorry if I'm not doing something correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really appreciate help in finding a good home workout. I gave up doing workouts because the plan wasn't good. I can buy a pullup bar if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 15 and a half years old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Equipment: 2x0,7kg and a rope, but I'm able to buy other equipment if needed for better improvement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sports: I do no sports, I do go on my bike to school every morning and back, something like 8km a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physich: I've done some workouts in the past, my condition is ok&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Current heigh: 5&quot;8 - 174 cm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goals: Get stronger and improve Stamina. Also because I'm kinda skinny and want to change this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly appreciate some help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26866" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-10-16T19:41:04.373" LastActivityDate="2017-10-16T19:41:04.373" Title="15 year old needs workout plan and help" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-13T19:28:28.323" Score="0" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is most efficient way to burn fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not the fastest. I want to know how to target fat specifically if possible or just calories in general if not for the least effort output. Time spent exercising or the activity doesn't matter as much as long as total energy used is less (or maybe... perceived to be less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read all about how HIIT will blast fat off - even after you are done working out, but that slow running will target fat specifically - and you can do that for a longer time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 hour of slow running generally seems easier to me than 20 minutes HIIT. At least psychologically. But is it really more efficient fat burn? You can (and should?) feel like death after a good HIIT session, and pretty fine after a pretty long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The math I tried:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT feels like 100 effort&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy Jog feels like 20 effort&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;HIIT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;100 effort expended over 20 minutes &amp;amp; 500 fat-based-calories burned &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT_EFFORT = 100 * 20 = 2000&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Easy Jog&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 effort expended over 60 minutes &amp;amp; 500 fat-based-calories burned&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;JOG_EFFORT = 20 * 60 = 1200&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Results&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIIT: 500 calories / HIIT_EFFORT = 0.25 calories burned per effort&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jog: 500 calories / JOG_EFFORT = 0.42 calories burned per effort&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case the easy jog is more efficient at fat burning than hiit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26558" LastActivityDate="2017-10-20T19:38:16.830" Title="Most efficient way to burn fat?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;burn-fat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-13T19:58:48.247" Score="16" ViewCount="380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never fully understood how this exactly works.  These questions pertain to the &lt;em&gt;long term effects of&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;strength training only&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basic Physiology of Hypertrophy&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(what is understood)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;During muscle hypertrophy you’re tearing myofibrils, which are&#xA;composed of stacked sarcomere’s.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This tearing causes the immune system to repair the damage.  Proteins&#xA;called cytokines are released to the damaged area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The repair occurs as satellite cells differentiate into myocytes&#xA;(muscle cells) which then fuse the torn myofibrils together which&#xA;increases the diameter of the myofibril.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4vuUO.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4vuUO.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sources:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2785020/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2785020/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2785020/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2785020/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Physiological Effects of Detraining&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(what &lt;strong&gt;I DO NOT&lt;/strong&gt; understand)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Detraining &lt;em&gt;(as related to long term strength training)&lt;/em&gt; obviously&#xA;   leads to loss of muscular strength and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At a basic physiological level, how is this occurring?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are the sarcomeres (containing myosin and actin) used as fuel by&#xA;  your    body and expelled?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After myofibrils decrease in diameter since they now contain less&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  contractile proteins?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Full and Partial answers are both great -- ideally with supporting research.  Thanks!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T16:13:34.113" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T16:13:34.113" Title="Losing Lean Muscle Mass (Detraining)" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;hypertrophy&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;muscle-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-13T20:03:14.317" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to determine my metabolic rate for the TDEE calculator but I'm a little confused on how to choose the correct one. A little context about myself: I'm a 23 year old, male, Software Engineer, and work out every day for an hour at a crossfit gym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than the 1 hour I get at crossfit, most of my day is sitting at a desk and/or walking to meetings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I classify myself in terms of my metabolic rate? I feel like all the information I got online is too vague &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26867" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T22:55:35.957" Title="Choosing the correct metabolic rate" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;calories&gt;&lt;crossfit&gt;&lt;daily-caloric-intake&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36314" CreationDate="2017-10-13T21:15:08.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your &quot;perception&quot; of energy/effort used is strictly personal opinion. Taking the HIIT vs Jogging example. If both burns the same amount of calories, which is better? Whatever you like better is the answer. Why do people say HIIT is better for losing fat? Because of what you mentioned. It only takes 20 minutes compared to 60 minutes of jogging for the same result. In the end though, if you'd rather jog longer for less effort, that's what you should do. In the end, the only way to lose fat is a caloric deficit. How you reach that deficit, in the end, doesn't matter much (strictly in terms of losing fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you simply starve yourself and eat nothing, you'll be at the maximum deficit, but you're not only going to lose fat. You'll lose muscle and suffer health issues. So to answer the primary question, the most efficient way to lose fat is to not eat. That comes with the possibility of death due to starvation, or severe health issues and malnutrition at least. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to lose fat efficiently, while maintaining muscle and health, I would suggest aiming for a 750 calorie deficit per day while doing some weight training and supplementing with protein and BCAAs. BCAAs have been proven to help reduce the amount of muscle lost when cutting. For general diet, keep your protein high while keeping fat and carbs relatively low. When eating fats and carbs, try to get good fats (avacados, olives, olive oil, almonds) and good carbs (black beans, brown rice, oatmeal). With a 750 calorie daily deficit, you should burn about 1-2 pounds of fat per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll likely lose some muscle too, but that's what the weight training is for. You weight train to help you reach your caloric deficit, minimize muscle loss, and maximize fat loss. Doing cardio is ultimately not necessary for minimizing muscle loss, nor is it necessary to reduce your caloric deficit. But, If you feel like you're hungry and want to eat more, you can, for example, eat 600 more calories per day and jog at 5mph for 1 hour per day. 1 hour of 5mph jogging will burn about 600 calories (on average), so in the end, your deficit remains the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26869" LastEditorUserId="26869" LastEditDate="2017-10-13T22:28:42.753" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T22:28:42.753" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36316" CreationDate="2017-10-13T21:24:44.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the information you get online IS vague. Everything you find online are ways to simply estimate an average of what you can expect based on factors like your age, sex, height, etc. If you really want to figure out your metabolic rate as accurately as possible, get it tested. You can find places that will put you through breath by breath resting metabolic rate tests to accurately find out how much you burn at rest. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.body-comp.com/testing/metabolic-testing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Body Comp&lt;/a&gt; is in example of one, specifically the one I did, to find out my own body composition and resting metabolic rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as 'how to classify yourself,' if you're looking at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calculate-your-total-daily-energy-expenditure-tdee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BodyBuilding's&lt;/a&gt; TDEE calculator, you would fall under the &lt;code&gt;moderately active&lt;/code&gt; category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26869" LastEditorUserId="26869" LastEditDate="2017-10-13T21:30:16.867" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T21:30:16.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36316" CreationDate="2017-10-13T22:55:35.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try using this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/nSuns/comments/6lv33j/faq_about_tdee_30/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TDEE Tracker&lt;/a&gt; made by a friendly reddit user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that it is better than any TDEE calculator because of two reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activity levels are not rigidly defined&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may not be tracking your calories accurately&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this spreadsheet, as long as you track calories (doesn't have to be accurate, just consistent), it'll find your TDEE based on how YOU track your calories (maybe you over or undershoot)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26870" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T22:55:35.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36314" CreationDate="2017-10-13T23:05:21.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As your question states you're not concerned with how long your workout takes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Steady state will burn the highest % of fat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt; As you keep saying efficient in your post. I'm not taking &lt;em&gt;efficiency&lt;/em&gt; into account here, just workload and substrate utilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;ef·fi·cient&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition:&lt;/strong&gt; achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The graph shows exercise intensity related to the % of fat used as a fuel source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;CHO = Carbohydrates &lt;br&gt;&#xA;SNS = Sympathetic Nervous System&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sIi5J.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sIi5J.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image Source&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://leanitup.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://leanitup.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;UPDATE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point on the graph where the lines intersect is where you switch the primary substrate utilized (from carbs to fat or vice versa) - this corresponds roughly with the lactate threshold.  This point is not fixed and can change with proper training as you become more conditioned the onset of this threshold is delayed  (you can exercise harder longer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s a misleading chart so it’s easy to draw the wrong conclusion.  All the chart shows is the % of calories burned by “fat” based on intensity.   To apply the chart to a workout plan, It’s key to understand the difference between relative and absolute intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an over simplistic way to think of it…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person A is jogging at 25% intensity for 10 minutes. &#xA;Person B is running at 75% intensity for 10 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person A burns 100 total calories during their workout, 75% from fat and 25% from carbs.&#xA;Person B burns a total of 400 calories 25% from fat, 75% from carbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person A at is burning more REALTIVE calories from fat (75%) &#xA;However the ABSOULTE number of fat calories burned is only 75 calories out of the 100 total calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person B was only burring 25% of his calories from fat (this being the RELATIVE amount)&#xA;The ABSOULTE number of calories from fat burned is 100 calories out of the 400 total calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you’re burning a higher % of your calories from fat at lower intensities, but you’re also burning less overall calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we made this more realistic (and had person B do intervals – as they would need the recovery) they’d still be burring more ABSOLUTE calories and fat and therefore lose more weight  (but tough to show this on a graph….) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-20T19:38:16.830" LastActivityDate="2017-10-20T19:38:16.830" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24424" CreationDate="2017-10-14T11:50:02.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used the formula found in the link bellow which is for imperial system, but with some calculations you can adapt it to metric system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/body-fat-formula.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/body-fat-formula.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Imperial system formula:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lean Body Mass = (Total body weight x 1.082) + 94.42 - (Waist measurement x 4.15)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Metric system formula:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lean Body Mass = (Total body weight x 1.082) + 42.83 - (Waist measurement x 0.74)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Total weight: 80kg/176pounds&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Waist: 88cm/34.5inches&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body Fat = 19% (in both formulas)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you can check your results with the website which provided formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/metric-body-fat-calculator.php#result&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/metric-body-fat-calculator.php#result&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(you can ignore values for wrist, hips and forearm; just put something)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26873" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-10-14T11:50:02.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36313" CreationDate="2017-10-14T14:31:26.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry for not giving direct answer. Partially that is because it is not my way, partially because I fill there is not enough information here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all. Read. Watch youtube channels. How to distinguish if that particular one is good? Well, if they are PHDs, or referring other sources of information, that goes higher. If they say that advices are for all - they go down. All of us are different, and everyone needs to check what works, what is not - that is why I can't provide plan for you. So first advise is to build your own knowledge, by looking others, and trying their advices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Write notes - to see progress. To have evidence what works what not. Our brain can be easily fulled, so notes are much better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy a book. Something that gives you some kind of background, on which you can build your knowledge from blogs, vlogs. It can be &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1628600837&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kelly Starret&lt;/a&gt;, or something like that. Be sure to read criticism - to have better understanding... For the moment I'm reading about Myer's fascials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do something do for both - antagonistic muscles. I mean you should train biceps, as well as triceps. That is important, since you don't have access to gym, equipment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about push-ups, if you can do pull-ups - it would be great. Since that way you would train chest, and back. For abs I would propose plank. For legs - you can start with wall-sit. That is quite static set. But as starting point should be OK. Try to do 3-4 sets with 10-20 reps - for push-ups. For other exercises - try to have filling of same effort. Note that, and treat as starting point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having that of some time, perhaps 2-3 months I would advise to buy kettle-bell. Think about 15-18kg. Go to the shop or some other place, where you can grab one and try, which weight, and style fits you best. Idea is that you should not be able to keep it in your straight arm at eye level. To see exercises - find Pavel Tsatsouline. There are many videos at youtube, also there are his books, about kettle-bell, stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we have last point. Read about stretching, and do it. Long, full body stretching is quite stressful for your muscles, so do not put it with your normal load. To deal with it. Spend 10-20 min. at start or at the end. At start do fast, dynamic moves, to get more energy. At the end - slowdown, think about breathing, more yoga style. :) Stretching and mobilization can be something else. To mobilize buy roller, or small ball like for lacrosse. Fast moves on that will activate muscles, and your brain can imminently use new range of move. Do not do ballistic stretching, a specially at the end. That can end your training, or stop you for 2-3 months...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've watched so many vids, read so much information that Ive skipped workouts reading etc. I will definitely write notes. I don't quite understand the streatching point. Should I stretch before or after workout? Should those stretches be standard ones or is are there specific vids of it? Also I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://gyazo.com/6dcafa95740ec3580663c1a131fc8099&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plan&lt;/a&gt; on forum.  I will do this until I found something better. - Thom :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;... and answers&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see you point. There is so much different videos saying &quot;do this&quot;, &quot;do that&quot;, or &quot;ten steps to have great abs&quot;. What to do with it? Try, give it a try. Be careful, watch your body, but... if you don't have clear clue, just try it and check if that works for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About plan from gyazo. In first section I would move Burpees just after Jumping Jacks. Start with something easy like jumps, and then use most complicated exercises. That, which are heavy, or that which uses many muscles, moves many joints. I would use same start for second part. Later on you can change / shuffle it. Your body will learn the order, so please be sure to change it - let's say every 2-4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About stretching. I can't recall the book. But I've red that strong, static stretching gives more stress to your muscles. That can pull down your scores, and give more soreness. However if you do mobilization - like with roller - it can be beneficial. For squat you can do something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtube.com/watch?v=lbozu0DPcYI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; - just 10 moves of a kind, without that 30s and longer holds. Concentrate on correctness, and speed. Deep of move will come later. Then jumping jacks ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After training you can do slow stretching, concentrate on position, breath. Going a bit deeper when exhaling... But be careful, and do not do too much. I've tried to do 45 min stretching after normal 50 min training soreness was doubled, so I've stopped. Idea is that not always more is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @JohnP spotted. By stretching you give some motion range, and it is good idea to let your brain, and body be aware of that. So separate stretching session can give less then short, fast sessions before actual training. To get it - you need to concentrate on muscles you are going to train, and use dynamic stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note. Dynamic stretching and static are addressing different problems. What I wanted to say is to be aware that when you train your muscles it is good to stretch at same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;another question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found this video for &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtube.com/watch?v=1RZ0WUn8S34&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pre workout&lt;/a&gt;, and this one for &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtube.com/watch?v=2wMSSupoCI8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;after workout&lt;/a&gt;, are they ok/good? This is how my &lt;a href=&quot;http://gyazo.com/6559e6c7a0aa27585a1abad9a7ec0dc8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;workout&lt;/a&gt; looks like now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;and answer.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start doing, and watch your body. Do not stress yourself too much. Your initial target is to hold on doing it for 2 months. In that time, you will develop better understanding, muscles, neural connections - all that is needed to carry on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to pre workout stretching. Be careful with straight leg kicks. That is ballistic move, you are young, so it should not be a problem, but do that at the end of stretching, when your legs, are wormed enough. Other point - try to kip pelvis in a line. When one leg is in front, it should not influence on pelvis, spine. That is why there are mirrors at the gym. :)  On the other side - you are training under your weight, you are young - so just start, and do. Remember about notes. Hope to see some comments from you in a month or so!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some more links from NSCA youtube:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5kbGUMwsWw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bridge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUKZQix9x_E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dynamic warmup&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gs8ePEvDLY&amp;amp;t=1575s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dynamic exercises, without equipment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastEditorUserId="20149" LastEditDate="2017-10-15T20:52:22.043" LastActivityDate="2017-10-15T20:52:22.043" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-14T17:01:53.950" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;as it says in the post I am type 1 diabetic, I got it randomly when I turned 23, I am in pretty good shape, work construction everyday, I'm 6ft 165. I am trying to put on some weight and whey protein has basically no carbs, just calories and protein which is perfect because it wont make my sugar spike up. I do the gym a few days a week after work, or on the weekends, but not working out everyday other than manual labor in construction. When should I take the protein? In the morning before work? or before the gym if I'm not working that day? Or should I take it after work or after a workout? any opinions would help, thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26874" LastActivityDate="2017-10-15T12:01:01.370" Title="Whey Protein before or after workout? type 1 diabetic." Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;protein&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36323" CreationDate="2017-10-14T20:06:18.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey I think you should have protein in the morning or afternoon when your day is still going. Protein is a little difficult to digest so taking it in morning is a better choice. It shouldn't matter if you take it after or before workout as the purpose is to repair the torn muscles. Given that you do construction  work everyday, I think it is good if you take it in morning time when you start your day. Also, on the days when you are not working, just to give your body time to digest the protein you should go for morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26875" LastActivityDate="2017-10-14T20:06:18.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-15T11:01:45.640" Score="3" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking into buying a weighted chest vest (probably adjustable 140 lbs in 2.5 increments) and adustable ankle and wrist weights. I do alot of walking and moving around at work but I'm not wanting to build muscle would wearing these three in combination help tone and build up longer lasting muscle and help tighten up tendons and muscles instead of bulking up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26877" LastEditorUserId="8828" LastEditDate="2017-10-15T11:21:40.487" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T21:46:35.003" Title="Whether or not to buy weighted vest" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36323" CreationDate="2017-10-15T12:01:01.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Muscle Development&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s a common belief that a rush of fast-acting carbohydrates along with whey protein is ideal.  In reality is you don’t have to &quot;spike&quot; your insulin; a slow, insulin response &lt;em&gt;(as seen with low glycemic carbohydrates)&lt;/em&gt; will provide much the same muscle protein synthesis benefits as a rapid, acute surge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insulin's Role&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insulin is a highly anabolic hormone that is conducive to skeletal muscle protein synthesis requires an external source of amino acids to create this effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A state of hyperinsulinemia &lt;em&gt;(high insulin levels)&lt;/em&gt; and hyperaminoacidemia &lt;em&gt;(high levels of amino acids)&lt;/em&gt; will facilitates muscle protein synthesis, and what better way to induce such a state then by simply eating protein and carbohydrates together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not mean &quot;the more insulin the better&quot; some insulin does increase muscle protein synthesis response. There is a point where extra insulin doesn’t facilitate a more intense response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  It's critical that you're eating protein and carbs together.  Post workout is when your body requires protein to aid recovery and facilitate increases in muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sources:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27271661&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27271661&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9022953&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9022953&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28296942&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28296942&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-10-15T12:01:01.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36328" CreationDate="2017-10-15T15:16:08.927" Score="5" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm Emily. So, the past few months I noticed that I gained quite a bit of weight. I know why. I can't stop eating. I try but it's so hard. My diet and exercises only last for a day or two, then I'll just eat a whole tub of ice cream. Im ashamed of myself. I hate my body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm on a diet right now, but the thing is I can't exercise. It's not because I'm lazy, please dont make fun of me, but I can't run. The doctor said Im not allowed. I have problems in my hips, legs and feet. I don't want to go into detail, jeez I dont even understand half the stuff that's wrong with me. I have to skip P.E in school and the only thing I can do is swimming and cycling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate swimming and cycling hurts. But I'm still gonna try it. I think I'm just unfit, so I'll keep at cycling. My legs are so fat and I have rolls of fat on my belly. I am 5 ft and I weigh 103 pounds. Apparently that's underweight for some people but how come all my friends are like 90 pounds? Please  I hate it, I feel left out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People are always talking about how they look and everything at school makes me feel really bad about myself. Thank you. (I made tons of mistakes in typing) Sorry if this is in the wrong catagory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26878" LastEditorUserId="26932" LastEditDate="2017-10-23T06:17:26.950" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T06:50:04.963" Title="How can I lose weight? 13yr old" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36327" CreationDate="2017-10-15T20:21:39.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're in a tough spot right now, but fight through it - this stage will pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing is to be healthy - weight in and of itself isn't the key. To promote health, you'll need to control three things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; - eat healthy food (fewer processed foods, junk food, soda, etc.). Portion control may be required - binge eating (like the tub of ice cream mentioned) isn't healthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical activity&lt;/strong&gt; - if running/walking are out of the picture, then try moderate amounts of swimming and biking. If biking hurts, find a trainer or visit a bikeshop to find a bike setup that is comfortable for you. The key thing is to find some physical activity that you'll enjoy doing - it's hard to be consistent with activities you dislike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mental attitude&lt;/strong&gt; - find a way to keep positive outlook, it'll be hard to keep your motivation up if you're always down on yourself. There are as many different paths to a healthy attitude of life as there are people - for some, it's volunteering, for others, religion is a big help. In this case, no one other than you (and perhaps family or close friends) can decide what is the right way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4370" LastActivityDate="2017-10-15T20:21:39.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36325" CreationDate="2017-10-16T04:01:03.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weighted vest should ideally be used to add resistance to pull ups or push ups. I would not recommend buying one just to wear when walking around due to the pressure added on joints over time. You'd be better off doing body weight exercises like push ups/pull ups/air squats to shape up if you're not able to go to the gym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23615" LastActivityDate="2017-10-16T04:01:03.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34492" CreationDate="2017-10-16T14:39:58.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the workout and intervals are fine, both more distance and reps, I'd like to suggest focusing on techniques as you mentioned you have just recently find success with the stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do 200m, then you can easily do 500m. If you can do 500m, reaching 1000m isn't a problem. I often tell folks that endurance is the cheapest &amp;amp; easiest part of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you presented, you already have a cardiovascular base to easily do 1000m. What hinders you sounds a lot more body mechanics and techniques than anything  endurance or conditioning related. That said, different muscle sets involved in swimming will have a different metabolic tax on you, but generally, this seems a minor concern in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting your techniques &amp;amp; body mechanics down solidly will carry you along very very fast, although nailing them down may seem arduous at times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Race Club, out of Florida Keys has excellent videos that explain concepts very well. I use them on my kids often. Here is their page on freestyle (but do explore more):&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theraceclub.com/videos/freestyle-picking-the-right-technique/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Picking the Right Freestyle Techniques via The Race Club&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with that Ruth Kazez has a simple progression workout plan for swimming a mile in 6 weeks. I have applied this for both adults and kids with success. Here is Ruth's mile plan&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ruthkazez.com/ZeroTo1mile.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruth Kazez's ZERO to 1650 in Six Weeks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24550" LastEditorUserId="24550" LastEditDate="2017-10-16T14:50:23.207" LastActivityDate="2017-10-16T14:50:23.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-16T19:46:39.057" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm getting into bodyweight training and looking to buy a pullupbar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you guys recommend me to do: buy a pullupbar for in my door or a station?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also recommendations on which pullupbar (which product) are welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got some space for a station but it can't be too big (I'd say 1m by 1m&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26866" LastEditorUserId="26866" LastEditDate="2017-10-16T20:05:41.057" LastActivityDate="2017-10-16T20:05:41.057" Title="Pullup bar for door or station?" Tags="&lt;pull-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35968" CreationDate="2017-10-17T08:24:23.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main question here is why do you go to the gym? Personally, I go for a bit of stress relief, because I want to get stronger, and because I enjoy the training and shooting the sh!t with the people I train with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying that, I do sometimes hit periods where training seems like a chore, and when that happens, I take a week or two off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that I don't just sit on the sofa in my underwear and binge watch Netflix (well, maybe on the occasional Sunday...), I stop my regular training, but still do something to keep me active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As was eluded to in the comments, getting &quot;me&quot; time is important, something that you can do by yourself without feeling pressure from anyone. The gym can sometimes provide this, but if you're the sort of person who's very aware of the people around you, it may feel like you have to perform at peak every time you're in the gym, so you're not judged too harshly by others (though honestly, most people very rarely care what others are doing in the gym, as long as they're not in the way, or not doing something stupid or amusing (or stupidly amusing)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a little hesitant to mention it, but it is also possible that you're over training. If you're hitting the gym and Crossfit classes on alternate days, then depending on what you do, that has the potential to be a lot of work and stress on your body. If you're not recovering fully between each session, then systemic fatigue is going to build up over time, until it hits a point where your body just needs to rest and doesn't want to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look up symptoms of over training (or, under recovering, which is usually what it is), but from memory they do include things like a lack to motivation to train. If you're lacking motivation to train, but still put on onus on yourself to hit the gym every day, then you're going to be stressing yourself out over the perceived belief that you HAVE to train every day, even when you really just don't want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to go back to my original point, take a break. Take a week off of training, that time when you're supposed to be training in the evening after work, go for a walk and listen to a podcast, or go and gently swim for an hour. Treat yourself to a spa day, take a yoga class, or even just do 30 minutes of stretching for those parts of your body that need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what your goals are, or why you've been hitting it so hard, but taking a week off isn't going to mean all your muscle suddenly wastes away, or that all the body fat you've lost magically appears back overnight. What it might mean is that you reignite your passion for it, and carry on making progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T08:24:23.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9933" CreationDate="2017-10-17T08:45:00.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being tired throughout a day is not normal even your workouts are intense. I had a very similar issue, I was feeling very tired after my workouts. Later on, I figured out that I have high blood pressure problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please go to a doctor and get checked your body up, especially your heart. Drinking energy drinks is not the real solution and may worsen the situation since they may effect your recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, lifting very heavy every day is not optimal and may burn your central norvous system out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no problem related to your health try these&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Change workout system. 2 or 3 times a week, concurrent style gives very optimal results.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are on deficit eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleep enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drink enough water, eat vegetables and take vitamin tablets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep me updated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26889" LastEditorUserId="26889" LastEditDate="2017-10-18T21:05:54.950" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T21:05:54.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-17T09:40:26.267" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just completed my first marathon last sunday. It was pretty much a global disaster. I started &lt;strong&gt;cramping up at the 18km (11mile)&lt;/strong&gt; mark before completely comming to a &lt;strong&gt;halt at km 31 (19.5 miles)&lt;/strong&gt;. I finished in around 5hours. Way beyond the 4h mark which was (based on my training) calculated as expected finishing time (=my long run training tempo). In the end I wasn't tired(=which frustrated me), I just had cramps all over the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I trained thoroughly for 6 months &lt;strong&gt;completing no less then 7  times a 20milers&lt;/strong&gt; without feeling any exhaustion/cramps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the reasons of my failure was the warm day I believe (next to me being nervous). It was 26°C (78,8 F) at its warmest. And I tend to fail/cramp up during warmer weather. I've tried pretty much every trick in the book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drinking extra during the run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drinking sports-drinks or any electrolyte rich drink which I used in training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking electrolyte/salt-rich tablets during the run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Antacid tablets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The marathon itself was at a near-coastal town (Bruges) and 100% on paved roads. I live some 40km from the town and experience the same climate/temperatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So I was wondering if there are any training techniques/tips which might help my body perform better during warmer days&lt;/strong&gt;? Does any had the same problem &amp;amp; how did they overcome it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sidenotes: before any mentions under-training&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre marathon Training load: around 65k/week (=40miles)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Number of 20milers: 7 in the 2,5 months leading up to the marathon. all without cramps or fatigue. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preparation Distance(6 months): 1800k (1125 miles)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;My trainingscheme up to the marathon&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Monday: An Easy 10 to 12k at 5'45&quot;/km (hr below Aerobic threshold)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Tuesday: 15k with 6 times a mile at 5'/km (hr on the border between extensive/intensive workout) (rest 400m at 6'/km)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wednesday: Off or Crosstraining (40km on the bike Max)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Thursday: 12k with either 4 mile repeats (pace like tuesday) or 6 times 4minutes at 4'20&quot;/km (hr on the lactate treshhold) &amp;amp;  rest 2minutes at 6'15&quot;km&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Friday: Off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Saterday: Long Run: 22 to 30 km at 5'45&quot; (hr below Aerobic threshold)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sunday: off or some light cycling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The marathon&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pace from km0 to km18 (first cramps): 5'55&quot;/km (HR above aerobic threshold somehow). Was following the 4h15' flag.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pace from km18 to km31 (reduced speed to compensate for the cramps): 6'10&quot;/km (HR around aerobic threshold)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18339" LastEditorUserId="18339" LastEditDate="2017-10-17T15:37:19.487" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T23:08:14.367" Title="Unable to accustome to running in higher temperatures as a runner" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;marathon&gt;&lt;cramps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36336" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-17T10:05:13.273" Score="9" ViewCount="6621" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some help please. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m 40, female and 173cm tall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to be fit and active but over the last 8 years a combination of back problem, depression and insomnia mean things have slipped quite a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weighed in at 95kg 2 weeks ago, ideally I’d like to be 67kg or bit less. So I need to lose around 28kg. I’m vegetarian, cook from scratch and have a pretty good grasp on biology, nutrition etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had some success with fasting and keto diets in the past. So I started my diet with a 5 day fast to kick start ketosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do blood tests for ketones and blood sugar each morning. &#xA;By day 3 my ketone levels were &gt;1.5 - the so called Optimum Ketosis zone. &#xA;I ended my fast on day 5 and moved to a eating primarily fats and a bit of protein, making sure it was all v low carb.  I continued intermittent fasting, eating just one very modest meal each evening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By day 7 I’d lost 4kg, mostly glycogen and water weight I guess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Days 8 and 9 there was no further weight loss, but my ketone levels were now &gt;3 so I decided to switch to a low carb diet (&amp;lt;20g), still eating just once a day and also trying to restrict calories to 500-800. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve been sticking to this religiously. Today is day 16 and I haven’t lost any further weight at all. I’m stuck at 91kg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand weight loss sometimes stalls, but given I’m on a pretty strict regime, have lots of weight to lose and am just at the start of my diet I’m quite confused about what I’m getting wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had blood tests last March which checked my Thyroid etc and I am healthy. &#xA;Since I started the diet I haven’t been doing any intensive exercise, but I have been keeping active - walking my dog, heavy gardening, helping a friend move house (actually that was quite intensive!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this diet reasonably easy to stick to when I am seeing results, but I am getting really demoralised at the moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideas please...? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26891" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-10-17T13:15:03.863" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T16:02:38.010" Title="Strict keto diet - still not losing weight" Tags="&lt;ketogenic-diet&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-10-09T17:15:49.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36306" CreationDate="2017-10-17T10:10:26.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its a long journey. For natural lifter, being very strong and muscular takes a good couple of years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are a new lifter progressive overload works fine for a few months, say 6 months. Then you can change program and still continue adding weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last but not least, if you are eating too much it may cause belly fat that changes your appearence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26889" LastEditorUserId="26889" LastEditDate="2017-10-18T21:06:35.090" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T21:06:35.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36336" CreationDate="2017-10-17T12:09:12.543" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all eating under BMR may slow down your metabolism - that is the case we do not want. Some researches have shown that keto diet can cause some problems. If you push your body in a bad way, you will end up with some health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my recommendations that worked for me while burning fat and losing weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Calculate your TDEE and eat 300-500 less of it. You do not have to pay attention too much about what you eat. Since you are on deficit, your body will not store fat. Losing a lot of weight suddenly is unhealthy. The process will take time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do exercise moderately. Moderate weightlifting is best to burn fat effectively. 2 or 3 times moderate full body workout and 1 or 2 times cardio like swimming is ok. Cardio should also be moderate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat enough carbs, fat and protein. Do not be afraid of carbs. Carbs do not make you fat, caloric surplus does. Eat good carbs and do not limit how much carbs you eat. Have balanced meals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay away from garbage food as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drink enough water and sleep enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning you can gain a few pounds since you will increase  your carb intake. Do not worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before doing anything consult several doctors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: If you are going to increase your caloric intake, do it gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any question feel free to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26889" LastEditorUserId="26216" LastEditDate="2017-10-17T20:53:48.163" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T20:53:48.163" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36219" CreationDate="2017-10-17T12:37:23.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having pain (or namely DOMS) after a workout doesn't mean that your muscles are going under hypertrophy, it's just DOMs, it won't cause any extra hypertrophy and it is actually detrimental that you stop in between and then do it after 3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a frequently asked question by new people and I would refer you to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/doms-muscle-growth.html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article by Lyal McDonal who shows that DOMs is not an indicator of muscular growth, in fact, it is a factor of detrimental growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16174" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T12:37:23.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36335" CreationDate="2017-10-17T15:36:43.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't state that the temperature was your problem, but it's the title of the question so I'm going to answer that specifically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone who is &lt;a href=&quot;http://ksi.uconn.edu/prevention/heat-acclimatization/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;acclimated to heat&lt;/a&gt; will have numerous physiological advantages over someone who is not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They will sweat out less &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;electrolytes&lt;/a&gt;, particularly salt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They will sweat earlier, starting heat regulation early on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They will not &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasoconstriction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vasoconstrict&lt;/a&gt; as much, keeping blood pressure lower, keeping perfusion higher.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other advantages, but clearly those alone are enough to show the importance of being &quot;heat acclimated&quot;. Losing electrolytes wreaks mayhem throughout your body, affecting cellular activity when it's needed most. Slower thermal regulation causes your temperature to flare up, exacerbating the issue. And &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8901936&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hyperthermia triggers vasoconstriction&lt;/a&gt; which reduces blood flow to skeletal muscles, your heart, your lungs, and every cell in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2681206/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;14 days is the generally accepted period of heat acclimation, with the first 3-5 being quite important in their own right&lt;/a&gt;. It's been noted that there is a difference in adaptation between high and low humidity environments as well, pertaining to heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A reality of athletics is that you need to train for the event's conditions. I live at 8,000 feet and we have plenty of trails and lakes above 10,000 feet so high altitude training is just how we live. When people from sea level come up here they are severely impacted, and there's just no way to train hard enough to combat that other than real altitude acclimating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar to the biological changes from heat acclimation, altitude includes the increased production of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythropoietin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPO&lt;/a&gt;, a hormone that triggers red blood cell production. At 10,000 feet, after acclimating, you will simply have more red blood cells. I bring it up to make it clear that you really cannot train hard enough at sea level, or in a cold environment in your case, to makeup for the biology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to ask yourself how important any given race is to you, and knowing conditions like altitude and temperature, are you going to put yourself on even footing with the folks conditioned to those environments? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T15:36:43.953" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36336" CreationDate="2017-10-17T15:58:22.750" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most successful (pardon the pun) recipe I've seen for weight loss has the same basic ingredients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Control your diet.&lt;/strong&gt; I think you definitely have the discipline but 500-800 calories is generally pretty dangerous. I'm not being hyperbolic to state that your body will eventually die if you only consume that many calories, but you'll have plenty of serious health complications first to sound the alarms. There are some good &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cancer.org/healthy/eat-healthy-get-active/take-control-your-weight/calorie-counter-calculator.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;calorie calculators&lt;/a&gt; out there that will tell you (a) how many calories you need to sustain your current body and (b) what kind of reductions you can think about with corresponding anticipated fat loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I reject the notion of &quot;it doesn't matter what you eat&quot;, and I've seen vegetarians and vegans in particular quite guilty of having terrible &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_macronutrients&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;macronutrient&lt;/a&gt; profiles but wrapping it up in a banner of &quot;I'm eating vegetarian/vegan so therefore it's healthy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength training.&lt;/strong&gt; Several times over again, &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19117/7091&quot;&gt;strength training (typically weight training) has shown to be more effective than &quot;cardio&quot; for fat loss&lt;/a&gt;. In short, your metabolism increases as muscle tissue is expensive to maintain from a caloric prospective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Systemic positive health choices.&lt;/strong&gt; To this I would put in treating any chronic health issues, getting sufficient sleep, and trying to move around rather than sit down throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that your current weight gain and fitness loss is over a roughly 8 year period. It took a while to get where you are, and it will take a while to get back from it. Fortunately it won't be 8 years though, I think reasonable in-the-mirror-changes can be expected within the first six months if you stick to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a whole lifestyle change, but arguably the most critical for any of us to make. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T15:58:22.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36336" CreationDate="2017-10-17T18:15:21.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does not look like what you are doing is wrong.  General approach to problem solving: if what you are doing is not working, do something different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1:  I am curious whether you maintained your ketone levels after your switch on day 9.  Did they stay high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2:  There is a difference in opinion in the literature as to whether one needs to count calories with a ketogenic diet.  Currently you are, and what you are doing is not working.  &lt;strong&gt;So try not counting calories.&lt;/strong&gt;  Eat when you are hungry (maintaining ketosis / very low carbs).  Eat until you are full.  Eat at regular times of day.   It is not inherently wrong to eat until you are full and it will not be harder than what you are doing now.  And it is different, and still a ketogenic diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Review meds&lt;/strong&gt;.    Some medicines including some commonly prescribed to people with your problems can promote weight gain.  Mirtazepine is one example - good for sleep, depression, pain and making you hungry.  Review your meds and the side effects and then review them with your prescribing physician.  DO NOT TAKE THIS TO MEAN GO COLD TURKEY ON YOUR MEDS.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I suspect &lt;strong&gt;exogenous hormone changes&lt;/strong&gt; (read birth control pill or the like) sabotage some women who are trying to lose weight.  Certain progestins have prednisone-like side effects, for example.  40 is a time of life when some people change what they have been doing - stopping something they used to do, or starting something new.  If you are one that uses exogenous hormones, consider going back to what you used 8 years ago before you picked up the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consider exercise&lt;/strong&gt;.  Some people consider the presence of ketones to be commanding the body to use fats for fuel, as carbs are in short supply (and need to be reserved for synthetic functions).  If you are actually eating until you are full you might find that you have a lot of energy.  If you exercise during ketosis, calories you burn will be fat calories.  The combination of exercise with ketosis can produce impressive weight loss.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical therapy.&lt;/strong&gt;  If you are getting back into exercise it can be good to have guidance.  If you have had medical attention for depression / back pain maybe you have been offered physical therapy.  If not usually a request will yield a prescription.  A nice thing about PT is that insurance will often pay.  You can use your therapist like a personal trainer, guiding you to exercises that suit your body as it is now, and preventing you from hurting yourself.     &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: I must say the idea of a vegetarian ketogenic diet is a little daunting to me.  I am sure there is a literature about it.  But even a handful of nuts was enough to break ketosis for me.  No beans either.  With no meat, fish, beans or nuts I don't know where you will get your protein.  A lot of cheese, I guess.  Maybe those synthetic soysages.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26895" LastEditorUserId="26895" LastEditDate="2017-10-17T18:26:55.130" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T18:26:55.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35897" CreationDate="2017-10-17T20:32:22.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone has a more dominant side than another, and after a few years of good living most people have picked up random injuries. My &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adductor_muscles_of_the_hip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;left hip adductor&lt;/a&gt;, as an example, has some damage in it so I can never really do as much on my left side as my right. Worse, I'm right handed so I end up using my right side more for pretty much everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muscle imbalances can be a problem, and although the &quot;go see a doctor&quot; can be applied too widely you should have a firm understanding of what kind of use and mobility you can expect from your left side. A good physical therapist will be able to give you very targeted exercises that will strengthen surrounding musculature without causing any new problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some amputee athletes out there that are in phenomenal shape, and that's been primarily through physical therapy setting the direction and the disabled person themselves doing a boat load of work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, muscle imbalances are common and universal. But when they border on or cross over into disability management, you need a plan that really works for you set up by someone who understands your situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T20:32:22.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36335" CreationDate="2017-10-17T23:08:14.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note: Much of this is taken &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/33911/after-a-successful-3-month-training-what-could-it-be-that-made-my-legs-refuse-t&quot;&gt;from my answer here&lt;/a&gt;, as I believe they are similar situations. However, I would disregard the pacing, as I ran your pace through the Macmillan calculator, and I don't see anything indicating that your pace was too ambitious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Climate: Many times people underestimate the effect that climate has on an endurance event. Either much hotter or cooler, or differences in humidity can wreak havoc on the race.    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevation: Going either up or down drastically can have an effect on the race. Going down is usually preferable, people have much greater impact going from low to high.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In race nutrition: If you don't train with it, don't do it on race day. Too often people either drink/eat way more or less than they do during a training. This can have a drastic impact on race execution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pre race nutrition: Again, if you don't do it in training, don't do it on race day. See above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pacing: This is another very common one for people to miss when racing. They get out there, they are amped up and excited, and they feel good, so they push a little more than they were planning. Even a few seconds per mile faster at the beginning can put you in a huge hole by the end of the race. Even if you feel awesome, wait until after 1/2 way through a race before you think about deviating from your plan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Terrain: Same as pacing. If the terrain is different from where you train, you either need to travel to train occasionally under the same terrain conditions, or be prepared to slow your pace accordingly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the cramping, Erik addressed that rather nicely, so I would only add that for myself (n=1), I find that I tend to cramp if I am underprepared or I push too hard for the training that I have put in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one thing that does concern ;me about your training is the volume and frequency. You would be much better off doing the same amount of training, but spread out through the week in 5-7 workouts rather than lumped into 4 days with 50% of it on one day. I would keep the speedwork, shift some of the distance from your longest run to an off day and add a day. Ideally I would also increase the weekly mileage by 50% over time, but that is up to you. Most high level distance runners are somewhere in the 85-120 miles per week range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T23:08:14.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36352" CreationDate="2017-10-18T02:19:32.073" Score="3" ViewCount="1777" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost every back anatomy diagram I see draws a giant trapezius muscle across the upper back. I work out frequently and I would say (for my body type/size) I have rather large &quot;upper&quot; traps, but have always wondered about the &quot;lower&quot; parts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like they are always primarily mentioned in the context of scapular &quot;depression&quot;. However, I have never &quot;isolated&quot; or purposefully tried to train &quot;lower traps&quot;, nor do I feel any &quot;weakness&quot; when trying to depress my scapula manually or when doing exercises (such as weighted dips or pullups) that would make use of any scapular-depression musculature. In other words, I feel no &quot;weakness&quot; in my lower traps when doing exercises involving scapular depression or that seemingly would invoke lower traps for scapular depression or stabilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, are strong lower traps really that useful for most exercises? Do they need to be isolated, or are they pretty well invoked in any exercises involving traps anyway?  It seems to me like whatever weaknesses one may have in exercises -- such as dips and pullups -- that should make the most use of scapular depression musculature, the trapezius in general seems like the least likely muscle one would commonly need to strengthen in order to progress in those exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastEditorUserId="19495" LastEditDate="2017-10-18T05:30:24.987" LastActivityDate="2018-05-06T22:08:38.260" Title="Lower trapezius usefulness?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;&lt;functional-strength&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36336" CreationDate="2017-10-18T09:47:56.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me share some things I've learned about good health and effective weight loss/control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's a long-term journey:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good health (which includes a healthy body fat composition) is a lifelong journey.  Don't get impatient or frustrated.  It's great that you're looking for ideas and things to try, but remember that you are in this for the long haul, and two weeks is a short time.   I haven't tried a ketogenic diet, but I eat a healthy vegetarian diet, and try to keep the carbs a little low, and the fats a little high.  It doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong, but subjectively speaking your approach  sounds difficult and complicated.  It'll take you months to get to where you want to go, and your strategy has to be something you can keep up for months.   If keto works for you and is sustainable, go for it.  If not I would suggest mixing intermittent fasting with &quot;eat food, mostly vegetables, not too much&quot; on your non-fasting days, combined with intermittent fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fasting is good for you&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't believe anyone who tells you that fasting is unhealthy or dangerous.  There is a large and growing body of evidence that fasting is both safe and effective, and has a large &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3680567/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;body of positive health benefits&lt;/a&gt;.  If you are going to do longer fasts (over a week say), you may want to take a multivitamin and mineral supplements, but fasting has been a part of the human experience and human culture for millenia.  Unless you are malnourished or have some complicating medical condition, fasting isn't just safe, it's good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently completed a seven day fast which I intend to repeat years after reviewing the pretty compelling evidence that doing so dramatically reduces your chances of getting cancer.  The evidence is growing that fasting reduces the probability of dementia and Alzheimers as well.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an excellent survey of the health impacts of periodic fasting and its use for weight loss, I would strongly recommend &quot;The Complete Guide to Fasting&quot; by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore.  It's an extremely well researched and data grounded book, while still very approachable to the lay person.  I found it informative and motivating.  Dr Fung has a pretty large online presence and you might find it helpful to watch some of his videos.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fasting isn't just an effective weight loss strategy, it's really healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Listen to your body&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Checking the scale regularly is a good way to measure progress, but it's not the only way, and it shouldn't be your only metric.  How are you feeling?  If you're in the middle of a fast it's normal to be hungry, and in the first couple of days of a fast it's common to be tired or irritable, but those shouldn't be chronic experiences.  In my seven day fast I found the third day really hard, but the fifth through seventh days I felt great.  I also notice my skin clear up and soften and my joint aches disappear, both of which were very pleasant surprises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are physiological reasons you plateau&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be real tendency for the human body to attempt to maintain a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/weight-loss-surgery/body-weight-set-point-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-know&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;set-point weight&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  If your body is used to being 95 kg, it's going to have physiological responses which try to keep it at that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Okay, so what does that mean about your frustration?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, you lost 4kg and now you're plateauing for a while...  I have read that it's typical to shed excess water during a fast.  In one 4 day fast, I lost a kg per day, and regained ~3.2 kg when I broke the fast.  My seven day fast was similar:  3 days of 1kg per day weight loss, followed by .2 kg per day, and then regaining a couple kilos after breaking the fast.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When fasting you can expect to burn about 200g of fat a day, more or less depending on your metabolism and activity level.  It's very likely that you're continuing to burn fat, but it doesn't show up on the scale because you're retaining more water.  Feel free to experiment, but don't get discourages.  If you lose 1/2 to 1 kg per week, you're doing great.  You do have to keep it up though, so adjust your strategy to something you can maintain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the set-point weight effect, I set myself plateau goals.  I maintain a pretty steady workout regime, and then vary the number of fasting days I do to either lose or maintain weight.  So for example, this October I'll do 5 days of 21 hour fasting (and eat healthy on the weekends), expecting to lose a few hundred grams of fat each week.  Then I'll try to maintain my new weight for a week or two with a number of fast days, and then I'll try the cycle again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a bit of a personal philosophy, but when doing physical training, be it for strength or endurance, it's important to vary your workout, and it's important to plan recovery periods -- typical marathon training involves 3 weeks of training followed by a recovery week (where you still exercise, but less so you can recharge your batteries).  Often a recover week helps you avoid or surpass a plateau.  I don't see why it should be different for weight loss.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week I didn't lose any weight at all, but looking in the mirror and pinching my belly, and looking at the progress along my belt notches, I'm confident my body fat composition moved in the right direction.  So while the scale is important, I'm not letting it be my only measure of progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm not making my 2 kg goal per month goal that way, I'll try doing a couple 2-day fasts, or maybe another 4 or 7 day fast  -- whatever is convenient.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully some of that helps you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26906" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T09:47:56.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36353" CreationDate="2017-10-18T12:51:38.647" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;which is better option in below to reduce body fat &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)morning - 80 % protein , afternoon - 80 % carbohydrates , evening - handfull of nuts &amp;amp; eating only fruits at dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)taking carbs, proteins , fats &amp;amp; fruits for breakfast, lunch, dinner ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26052" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T10:19:58.893" Title="split carbs, proteins, fruits for each meal or combined all in one meal" Tags="&lt;bellyfat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-10-19T15:41:37.960" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36347" CreationDate="2017-10-18T12:58:28.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Floor L-Sits would use the scapular depression and force you to really push your body away from the floor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strong lower traps are important for healthy stable shoulders and good posture (rounded shoulders, etc), and we tend to have weak lower traps from our bad posture, smartphones, and desk jobs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T12:58:28.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36349" CreationDate="2017-10-18T14:03:04.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;3) The one that adds up to the least calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/36305/20219&quot;&gt;in another answer&lt;/a&gt;, the better option is the one you can stick to as pertains to your lifestyle, and results in a total caloric intake low enough to put you under your daily energy expenditure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're at figure athlete level body composition, you probably don't need to overthink individual meal make up to this degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T14:03:04.203" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36347" CreationDate="2017-10-18T15:53:17.557" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scapular depression is a small part of the lower traps. They also,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upwardly rotate the scapula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Retract the scapula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vqo0t.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vqo0t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Shoulder motions&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image found &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/shoulder-scapular-motions.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Unsure of original source.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upward rotation tends to be hard for people to visualize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8itOP.gif&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8itOP.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Upward Rotation GIFs&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;GIF made from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VygGuBObVc&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower trap: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7voNC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7voNC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lower trap zoomed out&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u6YQQ.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u6YQQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;Lower trap zoomed in&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anatomy drawings are a little funny this way. Look at them enough, and you'll see inconsistencies in attachment points. To be fair to the artists, anatomy isn't all that consistent itself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point being, if you look at the red circle insertion point of the lower trap above, we can see with its medial (inside) attachment, when it pulls down the lateral side will go up. Ala: upward rotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can also see pure scapular depression isn't going to be a big job of the lower trap. Because again, if it pulls down by itself, part of the scapula will actually move up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short- we don't really want to isolate a muscle in a vacuum of one action. We want to use the full breadth of its potential work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when you mention doing dips and pull-ups, sure, there &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be scapular depression at the top of those movements. However, there doesn't have to be. For instance, in pull-ups, at the bottom we start with the shoulders shrugged into the ears. Who says we can't be at the top of the rep that way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qmrce.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qmrce.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pull up form shrug lower trap&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of people end their pull / chin-ups like above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, even if we are hitting scapular depression in dips / pull-ups, we're not maximizing how much we can work the lower trap. There's no (active) upward rotation, and retraction is similar to depression- it may or may not happen. (&lt;em&gt;Downward&lt;/em&gt; rotation &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; happen.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get all three actions, we should&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raise the arms overhead (upward rotation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once getting overhead, pull the arms back (retraction)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, end with a little pull down of the shoulders (depression)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video is an example of trying to focus on the &lt;strong&gt;upper&lt;/strong&gt; traps. The movement finishes at the top with a little extra elevation. If you did the opposite -some depression- you'd then shift focus more to the lower traps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;- &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09jfP_lyT3A&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09jfP_lyT3A&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Credit and&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2013/09/05/a-progression-to-lifting-your-arms-overhead-pain-free/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;more about arm raise variations&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Close up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;- &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5IcQX3P_Y0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5IcQX3P_Y0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for standing with the back against the wall is it's super common to arch the lower back when raising the arms overhead. That is, a person will think they're getting the arms overhead, but really they're leaning back to get that positioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how this person's hands &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; overhead,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PX27q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PX27q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Overhead range of motion compensation&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, that's because they're leaning back. In reality, their arms hands are not above their shoulders, but in front:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cvvjM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cvvjM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Arm raise compensation lumbar extension&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=15527&amp;amp;action=edit&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Credit and more details&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bring this up because this is an extremely common pattern, particularly in males who lift a lot. Where overhead motion is often lacking. Bodybuilder types spend wayyy more time in the horizontal plane, and pulling their arms down, than they spend pushing their arms up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can view that as lower trap weakness being common, but that's fairly simplistic. Considerations like latissimus dorsi stiffness, upper trap weakness, and more need to be part of the picture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One tangential note- the order of upward rotation, retraction, depression, is important. You do not want to say, attempt retraction, depression, then upward rotation. This is the common mantra of &quot;Pull your shoulders back and down!&quot; If you do this first, it's damn hard to get your arms up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also a common impairment of those with shoulder pain. Where they lack upward rotation, retracting too soon, causing shoulder pain / discomfort. In my experience, overwhelmingly issues of the lower trap are with upward rotation. Not depression or retraction. That is, your average person with shoulder problems does not have problems pulling them down or together. They have problems raising them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming full circle to usefulness- that's fairly subjective. Most are going to say overhead range of motion is important to them. Somebody only concerned with hypertrophy for the time being? Maybe not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the lower traps rarely need dedicated work. For instance, overhead pressing will work them plenty. Many have a lot of scapular retraction work in their programs e.g. seated row, where the lower traps get worked a ton in that fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're simply curious will targeting the lower traps lead to noticeable hypertrophy / performance improvements elsewhere, then unless one of those performance measures is shoulder health / overhead range of motion, probably not. It's not like how a bench presser might want extra tricep work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastEditorUserId="25892" LastEditDate="2017-10-18T16:05:39.140" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T16:05:39.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36349" CreationDate="2017-10-18T16:23:06.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes the underlying theory is absolutely true &lt;em&gt;(calories in vs calories out)&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's so frustrating to see people all the time trying to lose weight.   The approach while well intended is backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like running out of gas and Triple-A informing you that when you burn more gas than you've put in your tank your car doesn't run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's SO MUCH more to it than that.  How fast you accelerate, break, oil levels, tire pressure, the area (rural vs city) and on and on.......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of learning about your body and the whys behind what you’re doing. Many people will hire a nutritionist to &quot;tell them what to do&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight loss is in a lot of ways counter-intuitive.  At the extremes it's obvious &lt;em&gt;(eating an entire pie is worse than eating a few apples)&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The middle ground, which is less obvious such as the types of foods, combinations of macronutrients, frequency, sizing and timing (etc.) will come as you learn....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body is incredibility adaptive. Restricting and starving yourself is the perfect way to teach your body to hold on to all the fat it can as it never knows when the next meal is coming.  Conservation and efficiency becomes your bodies plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The act itself of counting calories implicitly implies temporary.  Are you going to meticulously count calories for the rest of your life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It incredibly inaccurate -- so if you spend the day measuring each meal and tracking calories and following it to a T the reported calories for many foods have been consistently found to be misreported, based on calorimeter data that's 1/2 a century old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give yourself &quot;outs&quot; foods there's literally no limit on . Or allow yourself to eat all the chocolate you want, it just has to be covered in mustard or whatever..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;UPDATE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In its simplest terms, yes, a “calorie deficit” is the only way to lose fat. It’s more insightful for me to tell you to become a millionaire you need to deposit $10,000 - 100 times.  Calories can’t be linearly measured like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, yes you can definitely put on “fat” eating too much of anything…. Vegetables and fruits included&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m saying allow yourself more “wiggle room” as it’s MUCH harder to overconsume healthy food (that are typically higher in water content, less processed and require more energy to digest).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even something calorie dense like almonds, not that you should make plans to “binge eat almonds” (it’s tough to even do so) but if you want them that bad, then you can them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or say you have lunch daily at noon, decide to start drinking 20oz of water at 11:30.  You’ll eat less (and you can carry this practice over to other times you tend to over eat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is restrictive does not work, some days you may eat more calories than you consume, that’s ok.   Adding the boringly painful task of calorie counting on top of restrictive eating (aka dieting) does not work long term.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly learn about healthy eating and living and swap unhealthy foods with healthier alternatives.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-19T10:19:58.893" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T10:19:58.893" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-19T22:17:07.493" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be travelling soon through a couple of cities and I would like to know running routes that others have submitted, i.e. good 5k, 10k routes. What website can I use for this? I tried strava, but could not find search for the routes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26920" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T22:17:07.493" Title="Site where I can easily see running routes in a city" Tags="&lt;running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-10-20T14:16:16.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2017-10-20T13:01:50.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a big proponent of barefoot in general, something I sometimes blame on growing up in Kentucky. I've been walking barefoot for decades, but I personally use minimalist shoes when running, because a) my feet have a tendency to harden and crack and having some sort of a sole helps with that and b) it helps protect against foreign objects and hot pavement. I've never gotten a blister from barefoot, but I have received 1st degree burns from hot asphalt I've had to cross and I've had a few objects I'd had to pull out of my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of minimalist shoes out there. I personally use &lt;a href=&quot;https://xeroshoes.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Xero Shoes&lt;/a&gt;, specifically their DIY huarache sandals (I disclose that I own stock in the company, but I do not work for them. I'm just a big fan), which had very few contact points to create sliding blisters, but help protect my feet from sharp objects and hot asphalt (although I will note that they do not protect your feet from bruising. I currently have a quarter-size bruise from stepping onto a large pebble while casually walking with my cousin's son in Vermont and I avoid grates and gravel when running in them). I also have their Hana shoe, but I picked that up for Capoeira, because the sandals don't handle torsion very well in my opinion. They do not recommend those for running because they're not build for that sort of extremely repetitive stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your feet will adapt over time, developing calluses that will help protect them, but mostly, &lt;a href=&quot;https://xeroshoes.com/barefoot-running-tips/do-not-transition-slowly-to-barefoot-running/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;it's about technique&lt;/a&gt;. You need to land on the balls of your feet, not your heel, which naturally shortens your stride and leads to a higher cadence. You'll also learn to place your feet and not drag them, which will help with the blisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-10-20T13:01:50.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-21T01:07:26.017" Score="4" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;The middle-aged person is in his early 40s. His sole purpose of exercising is to keep healthy. Looking good and having an attractive body is not a concern. Over-exercising can lead to damage of body parts, particularly when the person is no longer young. How does a a middle-aged person know when he is over-exercising to the extent that he is wearing off his body parts? Body aching?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26925" LastActivityDate="2017-10-21T13:04:22.453" Title="How does a middle-aged person know when he is over-exercising?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;recovery&gt;&lt;overtraining&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-21T13:16:10.073" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36225" CreationDate="2017-10-21T10:01:54.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ten days are not enough for anything, you can surely exercise for longer and sleep for longer which would give you a bit boost, but 10 days are a drop in the grand schemes of staying fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have been doing this regularly and that's the biggest step towards betterment, consistency matter more than doing a few days then taking off for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are able to do 1 hour session, 3-4 days a week, you are already set and don't need to tweak much beyond that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You currently can't decide to fix weakpoints since you have only been doing this for a few months, keep your general fitness going and then we can focus on weakpoints. I hope you have been following a good strength training program, I suggest Candito's Linear program, the rest is your choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are training deadlifts twice a week at least with some kind of accessories added in and progressing on it too, you don't have to worry much beyond that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weightloss/fatloss, you need to focus on diet more than training, currently training will give you a nice boost in strength and general fitness, but if your main focus is fat loss you need to find out how many calories you need, then eat 200 calories less than that. Log your weight weekly and keep measurements of body to see how well you are losing fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are gaining weight too drastically that means that can't be accounted with the muscle gains which means you are gaining fat, in which case you will need to reduce calories further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this much and you'll be stronger and at a better fat% in about a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't focus on the short term, see the bigger picture and don't give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16174" LastActivityDate="2017-10-21T10:01:54.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36387" CreationDate="2017-10-22T23:57:08.693" Score="4" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been training for 4 months now and for certain exercises I feel like I'm hitting a plateau. I'm planning to change my program so it contains new exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For new exercises I will start from lower weights so I can go up gradually, but what worries me is to lose muscles mass because of going down on weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make sure I don't lose the muscle mass that I've gained over the last 4 months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25767" LastEditorUserId="20039" LastEditDate="2018-02-23T13:16:15.223" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T13:16:15.223" Title="Hitting a plateau in exercises" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;workout-routines&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36850" CreationDate="2017-10-23T01:35:59.813" Score="5" ViewCount="1295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have come to situations where I finish exercising, or not even exercising , I lift my right arm, and within the shoulder muscle (Deltoid); the muscle cracks (inside the muscle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My left shoulder does the same thing, only it doesn't do it that loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why does my muscles do this&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26932" LastActivityDate="2018-01-07T17:05:26.763" Title="Why is it that my Deltoid muscle cracks sometimes when I lift my arm?" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;muscle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36360" CreationDate="2017-10-23T01:58:38.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stretch your muscles before and anfter you exercise. When you exercise; your muscles tend to go tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about the loose muscles bit, it's great that you are starting low and working your way up, however; you should focus on adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To adapt to something like the weights workout, you should start at a low weight, stay at this weight for a few weeks (to allow your body to adapt to it and then they build themselves up to deal witht the presure and intensity of the work load they have to lift) and them alternatively work your way up to the next one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't throw yourself into the next load up, because you're going to hurt yourself. What I suggest there is you stagger the work load (say...5 kg, the day after 8 kg, back to 5 kg, then back to 10 kg so the muscles get used to it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also core strength is a major. Core strength goes with absolutely everything, that is the thing that holds you up, work on that too if you want to be able to lift statically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't even try to think you can't go any further, you can, you just need the mindset for it. Think positively over it, it works, especially when you exercise you need to be patient and you need to be very considerate about how you go with exercising. A positive mindset is what works most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26932" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T01:58:38.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35968" CreationDate="2017-10-23T10:26:33.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try and divide your workouts properly.&#xA;You are no machine. Your muscles need rest as much as they need to be worked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, a muscle needs rest for about 72 hrs to properly recover. But 48 hrs of a gap is also sufficient to re-train the muscle. I believe you are overstressing the muscle by working out in the gym and also Crossfiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;30-40 Min of weights training is sufficient in the Gym if you are into CrossFit as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And apart from all this make fitness a lifestyle, not stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25380" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T10:26:33.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-23T20:50:07.817" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;What &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;effective&lt;/em&gt; exercises exist to &lt;strong&gt;treat an existing&lt;/strong&gt; runners knee injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runners knee often occurs when quadriceps are too weak to support the knees. Thigh-strengthening exercises are needed. Some exercises, such as lunges, might not be appropriate for &lt;strong&gt;existing knee injuries&lt;/strong&gt; since it might cause pain and make it worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far in my research I came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_5/183.shtml#quads&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CoolRunning&lt;/a&gt;, suggesting &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing Leg Lifts:&lt;/strong&gt; Stand with your back against the wall. Lift one leg up as high as you can with the knee straight. Hold for five seconds, then bend your knee to relax, hold for five seconds. Straighten your leg again, and do five of these before switching to the other leg. Over time, see if you can build up to ten seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Foot Turns&lt;/strong&gt;: Lie down or sit in a chair and stretch both legs out, knees straight and feet pointed up toward the knees. Tighten your thigh muscles and turn your feet out as far as you can, holding for ten seconds. Now turn your feet in as far as you can and hold for ten seconds, keeping your thigh muscles tight for the entire exercise. Do three of these sets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Foot Press&lt;/strong&gt;: Either sitting or lying down, put one foot on top of the other and pull up with your lower foot as you push down with the upper foot. Hold that for ten seconds, and then switch feet and repeat. Try five sets of these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you agree with these suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26939" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T23:38:21.423" Title="Which exercises best treat an existing runners knee injury" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36370" CreationDate="2017-10-23T23:38:21.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbell back squats&lt;/a&gt; are probably the most effective exercise for strengthening everything south of your belt line. Everything else is a half measure or more dangerous. If there was a more effective way to build lower body strength it would be used by professional athletes instead of squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what your existing knee injury is and what it would preclude you from doing. It's fairly common for people to avoid squats because they have some random knee pain that very well could be resolved by (as you stated) strengthening your legs. I wrote up an answer a while back that you may or may not find useful, it's basically &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/19490/what-are-some-good-strength-training-routines-for-runners/19501#19501&quot;&gt;how I structured running and strength training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backing up a bit though, &lt;em&gt;you should be able to do a squat without pain&lt;/em&gt;. If you can't squat (no bar, no weight) without pain then you really do have an injury that you either need to let heal or you need to have some professional medical help for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do that, start working with an empty bar. Then put 5lbs on the sides, and then ramp up. Follow &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/24596/7091&quot;&gt;a proper strength training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't look at squats as something other people do. Look at it like a very normal movement for a human being. If you can't do it without pain, it's akin to not being able to lift your arms in the air: it's a problem and you need to address it. Start light, pay attention to your form, and ramp up safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T23:38:21.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35968" CreationDate="2017-10-23T23:45:12.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going to the gym every other day for 3-4 months is a pretty tough schedule to be honest. Hopefully you've seen some great results but that's a tough program if you've stuck with it and really given it your all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me the point of fitness is to be able to (a) live a long and healthy life and (b) to let me use my body for a variety of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider dropping down to lifting twice a week for an hour a pop, maybe on Mondays and Fridays, and then doing some sports a few days a week. Racquetball, soccer/football, volleyball: anything that keeps you moving and is new and different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lift twice a week you won't really get sore and you'll maintain your strength and maybe even bump it up a notch. It's only two hours out of your week and it frees you up to do other things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the mountains so come winter time I spend a lot of time snowboarding and my weight lifting drops to twice a week. But I have &lt;em&gt;way more fun&lt;/em&gt; and come spring I didn't really lose much strength. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T23:45:12.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-24T05:47:32.837" Score="2" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing bodyweight excercises for some years now with mediocre results (I know that the results can be way better when lifting, but due to time constraints, doing BWE at home is the way to go for me). To improve my results and accomodate my restrictions I made up my own program based on my experiences with YAYOG and Start Bodyweight, considering how my body reacts to different types of stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically my program is a &lt;em&gt;split routine&lt;/em&gt; with workouts on four days a week (monday, tuesday, thursday, friday - for what it's worth), dedicating two days to push/pull excercises and two days to core/legs. More or less I will build my program upon the progressions from start bodyweight, e.g. start with assisted pull-ups, then eccentric pull-ups, normal pull-ups, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will do four sets of each progression, the first one being a warm-up set with a decreased load (e.g. 3/4 push-ups) and the subsequent normal sets with full load (e.g. normal push-ups). I will aim at 8-12 reps per set, gradually increasing reps until I reach the 12 reps, then proceed to the next excercise from the progression. I know that it's little rest, but I'll aim at sets of two minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workouts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 1: Push-up, Pull-up, Pike Push-up, Australian pull-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 2: Squat, Leg-raise (or ring crunch), (missing), Plank (maximum holding time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 3: Push-up, Pull-up, Dips, Autralian pull-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 4: repeat day 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aim is to build strength and moderate muscles. Is there anything to improve with this program? Are there any seriaous flaws? What additional leg excercise can I incorporate in day 2/4?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T12:26:43.047" Title="Is this program suited for strength end moderate growth?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;programs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-24T07:56:29.027" Score="8" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found I have two different foot usages when I walk, stride or lightly jog/run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I touch down with the heel first. I either roll or more usually, tread/lift. Other times I extend the ball of my foot as the foot approaches the ground, and it acts as shock absorption (the heel doesn't touch or barely touches throughout). This feels like it puts less strain on the foot and heel area and is comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm equally comfortable with all of them.  What are their differences in terms of health, efficiency, impact effect, and either improved tone or adverse effect on the muscles and joints? Should I prefer any of them over another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note on context&lt;/strong&gt; - I'm not a runner nor a jogger; I walk a lot and stride heavily (long and fast distance-consuming stride), and sometimes lightly run/jog. Sometimes I'm carrying extra weight such as a heavy backpack or shoulder bag at the same time. So I'm not really looking at serious running or jogging fitness, more for general but ongoing all-the-time daily practices. Answers covering running are welcomed but if they are more geared to my use it would be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26941" LastEditorUserId="26941" LastEditDate="2017-10-24T11:18:37.267" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T14:32:05.053" Title="Ball vs heel strike when walking or light jogging?" Tags="&lt;jogging&gt;&lt;walking&gt;&lt;joints&gt;&lt;technique&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36375" CreationDate="2017-10-24T12:26:43.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This program could be improved by using &lt;em&gt;incrementally and progressively increasing&lt;/em&gt; load(s) instead of relatively-constant (body) weight loads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lack of &lt;em&gt;progressive overload&lt;/em&gt; in this program is its primary serious deficiency for strength-training purposes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-bar back squats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T12:26:43.047" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-24T16:48:18.413" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chicken requires cooking, I hate tuna or stuff like that. Any easy alternative for steady protein supply during sleep after a training day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T16:48:18.413" Title="What handy protein source before going to bed after training day?" Tags="&lt;bodybuilding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-10-24T22:30:29.100" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36384" CreationDate="2017-10-25T08:11:27.087" Score="7" ViewCount="1174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert in glenohumeral anatomy, but I've noticed that if I do &quot;triceps-style&quot; bar dips, I have no pain nor impingement in the shoulder joint whatsoever. This is the version of dips where the elbow go as far back as possible, almost as if they're trying to touch one another, as opposed to &quot;chest-style&quot; bar dips, where the elbows are much more flared out to the sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, taking a look at the skeletal structures of the shoulder joint, I see no reason why moving the humerus &quot;backwards&quot;, as opposed to just flaring it out to the sides, should somehow make the movement a lot more impingement-less (mainly across the AC joint, which seems to be the most likely source of impingement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, a simple &quot;skeletal/ligament&quot; view may omitting some other important detail as well --- if my elbow is pointed backwards (with scapulae retracted), I can move the elbow upwards only so far (I cannot raise my elbow above my shoulder joint when it's pointed behind me, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, are there actually other structures in place (e.g., muscle tissue) that could be keeping 'triceps' dips from hurting the shoulder joint? My best guess so far is just deltoids, traps, and the long triceps head simply all bumping into each other thereby blocking any pain-causing or impingement-causing ranges of motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: According to the image below, what exactly prevents sagittal shoulder extension a full 360°? Is it the stretching of the deltoids, or some occlusion between the rear muscle groups bumping into one another, or something else? Since whatever it is, it allows me to do triceps dips comfortably with no pain or impingement whatsoever.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4HADu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4HADu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastEditorUserId="19495" LastEditDate="2017-10-25T20:38:11.247" LastActivityDate="2019-05-15T12:39:02.063" Title="&quot;Triceps&quot; dips completely alleviate shoulder pain?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;&lt;mobility&gt;&lt;dips&gt;&lt;trapezius&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-25T09:39:00.043" Score="5" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 22 years old, weighing around 70 kg and 5ft 11 inches in height. I want to gain strength overall and i have some concerns on choosing weight lifting  to achieve this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started training MMA and i have reasonable speed and flexibility as of now and i expect to increase them with further training. Meanwhile I also want to increase strength without affecting the speed and flexibility. I am concerned that i will lose speed and flexibility if I do weight lifting to increase my strength. Will I gain more weight by weightlifting? How will it affect my speed and flexibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26905" LastEditorUserId="26905" LastEditDate="2017-10-27T04:12:52.367" LastActivityDate="2017-11-26T18:15:33.793" Title="Will weight lifting affect speed and flexibility?" Tags="&lt;weightlifting&gt;&lt;strength&gt;&lt;weight-gain&gt;&lt;flexibility&gt;&lt;speed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36381" CreationDate="2017-10-25T18:49:25.520" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of the humerus as a lever. Top of the lever being the shoulder, bottom of the lever being the elbow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y8wpf.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y8wpf.gif&quot; alt=&quot;humeral extension&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the bottom goes backward, the top goes forward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7CX6c.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7CX6c.gif&quot; alt=&quot;humeral extension anterior glide GIF&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2015/07/20/why-typing-annoys-your-neck-shoulders-elbows-and-wrists-and-what-to-do-about-it/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why typing annoys your neck, shoulders, elbows and wrists, and what to do about it&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've probably seen that old cop move to disengage a suspect, where they pull the arm way behind the suspect. In other words, the further your elbow goes behind your shoulder, the more the humeral head goes forward, the more likely you get pain in the front of the shoulder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So impingement of the AC joint isn't the only concern. Excessive anterior glide of the humeral head can also cause pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned you can't move the elbow as far back when the shoulder is abducted 90 degrees. That is, when trying to move the elbow back in this position, &lt;em&gt;anterior glide of the humeral head is &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; likely&lt;/em&gt;. You have less room to move the bottom of the lever back before the front of the lever goes forward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one reason people feel better bench pressing with their elbows in, rather than out. Or, if the elbows are out, why a person will feel better with a floor press than a regular press. With the floor, the elbows can't go as far back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izkl-QRPn48&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izkl-QRPn48&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Impingement is a concern too though. As the arms get to about 90 degrees of abduction is when the shoulder blades kick in with upward rotation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WJ0Bf.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WJ0Bf.gif&quot; alt=&quot;upward rotation skeletal animation&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Made from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VygGuBObVc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; video.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, during a dip, we are doing the opposite of what happens when we raise our arms. When we abduct to 90 and past 90, we protract and upwardly rotate the scapula. During a dip, we're abducting the humerus, yet retracting (and possibly) downwardly rotating the shoulder blades. (For instance, someone who has focus on &quot;shoulders down and back.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J67GW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J67GW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;shoulder motions&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Found in &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2013/05/20/issues-with-foam-rolling/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Issues with foam rolling&lt;/a&gt;. Unsure of original source.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't upwardly rotate the scapula, then the humeral head is more likely to jam into the structures above it (impingement.) Just try to move your arms overhead without moving your shoulder blades. It won't feel great.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, this is more of an individual concern opposed to general anatomy talk, excessive superior glide is more likely when the humeri are at 90 degrees abduction. Notice this person's humeral head gliding upwards. Red is where it is, gray is what we'd prefer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wUFjo.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wUFjo.png&quot; alt=&quot;humeral superior glide&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, just by having the arms at 90 degrees abduction a person may already be excessively impinging. In other words, many people have pain at 90 degrees abduction without even doing anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, superior glide can occur just at rest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ArIMX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ArIMX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;superior glide posture&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Credit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2013/02/20/another-example-of-a-postural-evaluation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example of a postural evaluation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But during abduction and it's more likely, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; more likely to cause pain. (People don't typically have pain just holding their arms at their side.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&gt; Why would someone have superior glide? Maybe they lean on their elbow a lot: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lsw5H.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lsw5H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;humeral superior anterior glide leaning on elbow&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2011/06/19/best-exercises-for-the-subscapularis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More details&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recapping,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anterior glide is more likely when attempting to bring the elbows back in 90 degrees abduction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At 90 degrees abduction the shoulder blades should be starting to engage in upward rotation, yet in a dip we are doing the opposite, making impingement between the humeral head and the AC joint more likely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Superior glide is more likely in a position of abduction than not, further increasing the odds of impingement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2019-05-12T21:53:34.430" LastActivityDate="2019-05-12T21:53:34.430" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="36385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7261" CreationDate="2017-10-26T01:58:07.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not all anatomical texts will mention this but there is a &lt;strong&gt;lot of personal variation&lt;/strong&gt; within human lat anatomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You were probably born with lats sitting too high up on the spine, likewise with a bit of distance/empty space from your iliac crest (pelvis) up to the bottom of your lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consequently their fibers will tend to be more &lt;em&gt;horizontally-oriented&lt;/em&gt; and so with a rather &lt;strong&gt;ineffective&lt;/strong&gt; pull-angle on your arm for exercises like pullups/chinups (a perfect angle is always 90° to wherever your arm is). Or phrased more simply, basically your lats just cannot pull &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;down&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; nearly anywhere as well as, say, pulling more &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;in&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; instead. So, you simply have to compensate by using some &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; muscles (in this case, your elbow flexors!) instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; a simple way to activate the lats during pullups might be to loosen up your &amp;quot;form&amp;quot; too. In other words -- do &amp;quot;kipping pullups&amp;quot;, like those you see in Crossfit. Optimal lat activation can sometimes require more &amp;quot;sagittal&amp;quot; movement (i.e., arm adduction partially in the sagittal plane, not 100% frontal), which can very well cause you to &amp;quot;swing&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;sway&amp;quot; during your pullups in turn. Hence, it may be useful to &amp;quot;forgo&amp;quot; the conventional &amp;quot;strict&amp;quot; pullup form in favor of the kipping version to make the exercise feel &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; like an &amp;quot;arms isolation movement&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastEditorUserId="19495" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T15:10:42.407" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T15:10:42.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="36386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36383" CreationDate="2017-10-26T06:50:33.300" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will I gain weight by doing weightlifting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes and no. Doing weight lifting will set the stimulus your body needs to grow (gain muscle mass), but lifting alone will be of no use. Imagine that your caloric intake was 1000 kcal per day (extreme value, just to make the point) while lifting. If your caloric intake would not suffice to supply you basic functionality (movements, keeping temperature, etc.), how should you gain any mass? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;How many calories should I eat then?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I think that in former times way larger values have been promoted, state-of-the-art seems to be a caloric surplus of around 500 kcal on training days (depending on the source in the 300-600 kcal range). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Getting your macros right&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important factor is the macros. If you are mostly eating fats and (especially) carbs/sugars you will have a hard time gaining muscle mass (you will most likely gain fat if you are on a surplus). You'll have to intake protein to a certain extent. There is much ado about the exact ratios of protein/fats/carbs and I will not make a recommendation here, but it won't be too hard to find ballpark figures online. Anyway, make sure to avoid unprocessed foods as far as possible. Don't be too dogmatic, but processed foods are (often) packed with minor quality nutrients that might be detrimental to your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Strength ≠ Mass&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've talked about how to gain mass. Now let's see how to avoid it. First thing to note is that strength and muscles are not the same. You can get way stronger without bulking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The effect of the reps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides what you eat, another important factor is the number of repetitions per set. To gain strength without gaining mass, you should stick to a lower rep count. Strength regimen is (depending on the exercise) around 4 to 6 repetitions, while classic mass regimen is around 8 to 12 repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-11-03T12:59:07.783" LastActivityDate="2017-11-03T12:59:07.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36360" CreationDate="2017-10-26T09:33:35.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most gym newbs have the same issue. If you are running a minimalist program with linear progression you will hit plateaus all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two options.&#xA;The first one, find a good organized novice program with linear progression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second one is running a conjugate or concurrent method. What you are doing is basically you change exercises with similar movement pattern after a few weeks and try to milk every exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my point of view, if you are not eating very very good you hit the wall in linear progression. Concurrent and co jugate methods work well for novices, intermediate and advanced lifters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26889" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T09:33:35.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35968" CreationDate="2017-10-26T10:15:45.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need to work out 5 days a week, if you're not enjoying it anymore, there's no point. Do it 3 times a week and you'll be fine. Rest on the other days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need to adjust your routine (maybe full body instead of a muscle split if that's what you're doing), but it will give you more time to yourself and more time for your muscle to rebuild after you break them down. 3 lifting sessions a week is enough to be quite fit. You can also do a stretching routine to work on your mobility at home instead of going to the gym/crossfit on your off-days, it's less of hassle IMO&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also why do you go to 2 different places (with 2 different subscriptions I assume) ? Can't you do everything you want to do at one place ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, what I do is that I go to a gymnastic gym twice a week, to have access to parallel bars, rings, pommel horses, etc, and do my skill training plus a strength training session (pushups, dips, pullups, rows, handstands, deadlift), and do one session a week at home of just bodyweight strength training. I like that it's so varied, and it gives me at least a day between training sessions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26155" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T10:15:45.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36389" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-26T10:37:31.840" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will start consuming cocoa every day based on a diet that I will follow. I wonder if this is good or bad.&#xA;It is pure cocoa, without sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8593" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T10:37:31.840" Title="Is cocoa consumed every day bad?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-10-26T13:39:22.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="35975" CreationDate="2017-10-26T11:55:06.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So your objective is to build muscle, in this case glutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build muscle you need to stress those muscles the proper way. In this case, the proper way would be adequate repetitions  (8-12) and adequate series (4-5) therefore defining the weight to be used depending on the exercise. That is up to you to define. The exercise selection you provided is adequate altough you might want to experience with some sprinting-focussed training (so ... sprinting, jumping, ...) or other glute-focusses exercises like clam-shell, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second parameter you can play with is the kind of muscle contractions. To build muscle, focus on eccentrics (eccentrics tend to increase hypertrophy) so do slow tempo on the eccentric part and then fast tempo on the other parts (isometric and concentric). For a squat, this would mean something like 4 seconds on the descent, 0 seconds isometric, 1 second concentric, 1 second pause and do that all again.&#xA;Now in training, routine usually is the enemy so mix it up. Change the tempos, do 1 week eccentric, 1 week isometric, 1 week concentric&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third thing is having the right frequency of training too much or too little and you won't get the gains you want. Again, up to you to determine that. Also pay attention to all the other training you are doing. Performing aerobic exercises during/near your strength training have been shown to impede the signaling pathways for strength gains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure you are actually using your glutes during the movements and not using other muscles. This requires self-awareness and focus on your part. Or you could use other exercises to fatigue the muscles around your glutes then perform the glutes-focussed exercises to make sure they are actually doing the work. Using electrostimulation during exercises could help a little but this is expensive and not 100% certain it will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T11:55:06.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-26T20:07:30.593" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planing to participate in Spartan Race on 10th Nov.&#xA;What do you advice me to do during 10 days time before the race. Taking in consideration my max run was 10 K last week &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26958" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T20:07:30.593" Title="Runing 20 km after 10 days" Tags="&lt;long-distance-running&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-10-27T14:09:11.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36397" CreationDate="2017-10-27T16:55:31.757" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm doing push-ups to failure, most of them are relatively effortless, then I'll have 2-3 where I'm feeling the strain in my arms and they start feeling rubbery, and then I can squeeze out 1-2 more push-ups, but only by clenching the muscles of my torso, my buttocks, and my legs. I've tried experimenting with not doing that (and thereby doing a few less) and it seems like that's correlated with not feeling muscles soreness the next day (it's not 100%, but those 1-2 extra push-ups just seem to put me over the edge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that muscles soreness can be sign of breaking them down to build them back up, and that the last few reps, when you initially think you can't do any more, are where you're really getting the benefit of the exercise because you're pushing your limits. But, such pain can also mean that you're doing something wrong, or pushing yourself into the area of damage. So, the long and the short of it, is tightening those muscles to squeeze out the last rep or two a bad thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastActivityDate="2017-10-28T02:20:05.873" Title="Is clenching one's legs and torso bad form for squeezing out one more push-up when going to failure?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36393" CreationDate="2017-10-27T18:09:29.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not bad to contract the muscles of your torso, buttocks, and legs during push-ups, regardless of whether you're going to failure.  You must be contracting them to some extent regardless.  Consider: Why would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; want to contract those muscles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20213" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T18:09:29.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-27T20:10:43.667" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some help. I made a plan for my exercises and they go like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monday-biceps,1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday-chest,1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday-Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thursday-shoulders,1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Friday-triceps,1 hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do abdominal workouts at home as well as pressups and other sorts of exercises when the group recovers but I don't do it at gym. I want to know if this is a good setup as I am getting a good rest interval between each specific muscle group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26966" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2017-10-27T23:59:05.767" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T15:20:46.127" Title="Is this good or not" Tags="&lt;routine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36393" CreationDate="2017-10-27T20:54:57.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clenching your torso and butt &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.livestrong.com/article/32382-proper-pushup-technique/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is a common tip&lt;/a&gt;* in proper push-up technique. It helps keep your entire body straight and flat. Push-ups are a core exercise as much as an arm one, so it does make sense that engaging more of your core would be beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sudden ability to do two more may be because you're in a bad position to begin with and this corrects it (butt too high or too low usually). It could also be you're focusing much harder so mentally you're capable of doing more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's always a good idea when doing push-ups, or any workout for that matter, to film yourself on a side-angle. With a push-up, you should be flat and straight from head-to-heel. While filming yourself, you may find that you suddenly correct yourself when you clench. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tips also helps with planks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*It's step 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21868" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T20:54:57.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36396" CreationDate="2017-10-27T22:32:51.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For biceps whole week to rest is way too much. Chest usually needs 2 days of rest. Your front actons of deltoids can be a bit tired, during shoulders day. Well, that also depends on your age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't see legs, back here. Even if you don't want to build them up - that is good for testosterone level, at least. So your chest can gain from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be more precise I need to know what you are doing during each training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T22:32:51.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36393" CreationDate="2017-10-28T02:20:05.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its not bad. You are probably shifting your weight by doing this. I got the standard pushup PhD from the Army. There are several different ways to do a pushup and if you do a set each way you'll get more of a workout in and do more overall. The biggest boost in strength Ive gotten from pushups have come from repeatedly going through muscle failure in many different ways in the same workout. Using my knees became a normal part of my routine. Also became a fan of the 8 count pushup where you start standing and get down to do two then recover. Im not very strong in my arms so Ive always had to work harder than others to get that strength, so that was one good way for me to get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For situps though I never grabbed my legs and followed the advice that it will hurt your back, but I did the same thing in general. There are a bunch of ways of doing a situp too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually Ive started doing the same thing for running related strength training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah so the answer is yes because overall you extend the session training yourself to do that one fundamental movement... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... darn, another reason for long runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8485" LastActivityDate="2017-10-28T02:20:05.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-28T23:26:23.837" Score="1" ViewCount="740" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 55 yrs old and just bought a rowing machine. I row for 2 1/2 minutes very hard (very winded!) 3 to 5 times a day. Is this enough or should I be doing more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26970" LastEditorUserId="26970" LastEditDate="2017-10-28T23:32:11.460" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T16:53:14.190" Title="55 year old and new to rowing machine cardio workout" Tags="&lt;cardio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-29T00:57:26.797" Score="4" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to not only exercise my upper body, but my legs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, whenever I do squats I hear my left knee 'clicking'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone posted that swimming is a good exercise, but I'm not so sure about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried swimming before, but found running and jump-roping to be far more effective when I'm trying to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, I have a bad knee, so I can't just keep running or jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26972" LastActivityDate="2017-11-13T22:16:49.990" Title="Good exercises to burn fat with bad knees?" Tags="&lt;weight-loss&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;&lt;knee-pain&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-29T04:51:52.373" Score="2" ViewCount="561" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started doing serious push-ups in July (60 a day). It's been almost 4 months and I got good results. My chest, biceps, triceps have become bigger, much more defined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, my left side chest, bicep and tricep are noticeably bigger than the right side ones. I am right-handed and always favor the right side when working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand how this happened. As far as I know I don' have any disease. The last time I was seriously sick it was the flu (last winter). Other than catching a cold from time to time, I have never been seriously sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pleas help me understand!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.s.: I am forty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26973" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T02:18:57.203" Title="Left side bigger than right side" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;chest&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36401" CreationDate="2017-10-29T13:13:30.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to agree with whoever suggested swimming to you in the past. The water provides resistance, and the distance provides the heartrate. In effect, it's both a strength exercise, and a cardiovascular exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end though, fat burning is most effectively done in the kitchen, as whatever calories you burn in an hour on a treadmill, can be undone in three minutes eating the wrong food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learning the basics of nutrition is going to do far more for your fat percentage, than any one exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-10-29T13:13:30.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-29T16:18:47.293" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was playing football ,my nose has been hitted by ball and did it a red mark from hit.I didn't put ice immediately. I put ice after 1 hour but nothing happens. What to do now to make this bruise go away? Or reduce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26728" LastEditorUserId="26728" LastEditDate="2017-10-29T16:23:59.423" LastActivityDate="2017-10-29T16:23:59.423" Title="Injury - bruise -mainly on face" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-30T01:13:09.517" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36401" CreationDate="2017-10-29T18:53:46.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer using an indoor rowing machine.  Rowing machines allow for a &lt;strong&gt;complete&lt;/strong&gt; body workout and are relatively low impact on the knees.  You can easily set the machine to provide a low or high impact workout based on your goals.  I, personally, have had knee problems in the past and have not found the rower to cause any added stress on the knees.  However, before attempting to use a rower, or, any exercise equipment, you should check with your personal physician first to insure you will not exacerbate an existing condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-10-29T18:53:46.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1808" CreationDate="2017-10-30T00:10:52.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way some people do their pullups (there are many variations) can place some rather unique and interesting loads on the traps (even more so sometimes with an added weight belt). Your &quot;pain&quot; is most likely just some tendinitis of the tendon connecting the shoulder blade to the trap muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your traps are really solid and strong before attempting significant loads with pullups exercises.  Your traps are here to stabilize the scapulae while you do your pullups --- and, as with many arm exercises, failure to stabilize the shoulder blades can have some pretty nasty consequences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, farmer's walks and weighted vests are my goto for traps strengthening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastEditorUserId="19495" LastEditDate="2017-10-30T17:07:44.077" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T17:07:44.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-30T05:27:52.973" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working out for about two years and I am planning to go on my second cut next year. I'm currently on a bulk weighing 154 pounds standing 5&quot;10.(11%BFP currently) (137pounds, 7%BFP on my last cut) I'm planning to bulk up to 165 pounds making use of my remaining 3months of bulking. I'm planning to cut down to 143-145pounds (85BFP). While planning I would be grateful on tips to plan cutting, and I want to hear out how long you guys plan your cut. I'm currently planning from about 2-3 months. Let me know what you think. Thanks!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23748" LastActivityDate="2020-06-12T22:13:46.790" Title="How long would cutting phase last" Tags="&lt;cutting&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36439" CreationDate="2017-10-30T14:23:29.550" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating right has many advantages on our health and can help building muscles. On the other hand fast foods, sugar etc. are detrimental for gaining muscles. What is the reason for this? If a thin guy or normal body fat like me starts eating badly he will increase his body fat. As a result he will obtain obvious muscles faster than someone who is trying to eat healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm talking about someone who eats fast food, etc. but takes protein meals in their program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will the guy who eats badly for a small period of time have a greater success than a guy who is eating healthy? Compare same workouts but different food. (For example three meals of beans versus three meals of fast food.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26728" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-11-03T21:44:12.943" LastActivityDate="2017-11-03T21:44:12.943" Title="Eating not right -gain muscles or no" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;workout&gt;&lt;muscle-gain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36414" CreationDate="2017-10-30T14:35:28.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just from the top of my head:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main bad thing about fast food, it contains &quot;bad&quot; fat and &quot;empty&quot; sugar calories, is how it impacts in some ways  how your body produces testosterone or how the body processes consumed food nutrients (I recommend watching &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3892434/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;That Sugar Film&lt;/a&gt;, it tells a lot about such things)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in any case even on fast food you can gain some muscle, for example, you can get some protein from burgers or steaks etc. But also you will get fat and it could damage your stomach etc, so, thats the reason better stick to the healthy food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastEditorUserId="7113" LastEditDate="2017-11-01T05:53:27.403" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T05:53:27.403" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36376" CreationDate="2017-10-30T16:21:02.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Gait Cycle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/23ad7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/23ad7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gait essentially is a transition between repeated loss of balance and recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During movement there is a cyclic transfer between potential and kinetic energy which will minimize the energy cost of walking.  Efficient movement involves preserving and transferring the greatest amount of energy (your momentum) to help propel you forward during your next step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By sliding your feet, yes, the ground reaction force is minimized but you’re moving (and programming yourself in the future) to move inefficiently (by dragging your feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides friction, the net energy cost during gait is proportional to medial, lateral and vertical displacement of the body’s center of gravity. The greater the displacements, greater the energy costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other considerations include width of base of support, angle of toe out, stance phase, period of double limb support, along with increasing the base of support will see an increase in the medial/lateral displacement – all of those increasing factors will serve to increase the M/L displacement of the COG which will require you to expend more energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3 Kinds of Forces&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contact with the ground results in one of 3 forces acting on the body during the stance phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vertical Forces&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;are going to be equal and opposite, and included reactions to loading and propulsion, at mid stance these vertical forces are less than your body weight (BW).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anterior and Posterior Forces&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;are designed to prevent the foot from slipping, at initial contact the AP force is directed post, it will peak at about 20% of the BW and is related to the bodies COG.  As your foot first touches the ground, while entering swing, the forces will be directed anteriorly to help the body accelerate forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medial Lateral Forces&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;tend to be smaller than other components and will vary with the base of support (medial / lateral forces are less if you walk with a small base of support because you would be getting more vertical support).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;UPDATE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to clarify.  What part of the foot (optimally) strikes first depends upon speed - Above ~120 steps/min you can no longer increase the stride length.  This marks the transition from walking to jogging/running and occurs at ~190 cm/sec.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you want to start jogging when you start to feel like you have to.  Jogging too soon is similar to jogging in place (wasted effort and energy).  Without going into plantar pressures and a joint by joint kinematics -- have a few days? ;) - I'll leave it there and can clarify further if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/34559/walking-faster-v-s-running/34568#34568&quot;&gt;My other answer may be helpful to you as well.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.stanford.edu/class/engr110/2009/Rose-08a.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://web.stanford.edu/class/engr110/2009/Rose-08a.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/962568&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/962568&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.citeulike.org/group/532/article/379138&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.citeulike.org/group/532/article/379138&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-10-30T20:56:46.387" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T20:56:46.387" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9960" CreationDate="2017-10-30T17:04:32.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure to eat well following intense exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not low glycogen that is keeping you up, it's your post-workout catabolism (yes catabolic hormones can still flow quite freely even hours after a workout).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution here is simply to bump up your insulin (which has anti-catabolic effects) level. Get your carbs -- simple carbs work great here -- replenished soon after exercise, and throw in some protein too. Don't try going to bed in a catabolic state -- insulin is your friend here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19495" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T17:04:32.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-30T18:55:41.750" Score="4" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just discovered a nice calisthenic exercise that I feel is better shown than described. Is there a human body animator where I can move it, record it, and then share it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user25968" LastEditorDisplayName="user25968" LastEditDate="2017-11-25T08:29:26.240" LastActivityDate="2017-11-25T08:29:26.240" Title="Is there a body animator I can use to demonstrate exercise movements?" Tags="&lt;calisthenics&gt;&lt;calculation&gt;&lt;movements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-30T23:32:08.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36400" CreationDate="2017-10-30T20:51:31.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just based on age, exercise response and the fact this piece of equipment is new to you - just keep working up your intensity.  There isn't a &quot;set time&quot; per se.  For now just stick to what you can do.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @rriower said as you progress you should look to start a regimented plan (based on your goals etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T20:51:31.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-31T05:00:12.147" Score="5" ViewCount="430" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love intermittent fasting and I lift a fair amount. I often lift a few hours after eating and then fast for another 18hrs or so. Conventional wisdom says this isn't too bright, but I have continued to see muscle gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else experimented with this routine? Has he/she found muscle gain a problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26985" LastActivityDate="2018-06-08T14:06:22.620" Title="Intermittent fasting and lifting?" Tags="&lt;intermittent-fasting&gt;&lt;lifting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9960" CreationDate="2017-10-31T05:06:22.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm late to the game since this is a really old post, but I'd consider the possibility that its your brain and not your body/workout keeping you up. To be clear, it could definitely be either but you sound pretty fit, and I've found that my brain/anxiety/emotional state is the biggest determinant of my sleep. It's probably also pretty easy to isolate and eliminate this variable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26985" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T05:06:22.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1808" CreationDate="2017-10-31T05:26:49.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could also be that you're not well balanced from a strength perspective. The result of that might be bad form like the other folks are calling out, but if I were trying to beat my friend in a pullup contest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lose all the excess weight (fat) you can --&gt; I love intermittent fasting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work our your core/biceps/back/chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do pull-ups with good form as was already suggested&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yoga --&gt; always improves my form for anything, ability to lift, and stretches me out so I don't get sore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26985" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T05:26:49.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36400" CreationDate="2017-10-31T16:53:14.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, congrats on your purchase of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Concept2 Indoor Rower&lt;/a&gt;.  I, too, own that same rower.  In my opinion, you've purchased the gold standard for rowers.  With any training program, it's important to use the best equipment if you're serious about achieving your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as for your goals.  Your current approach is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; optimal for your stated goals.  Rather than performing a series of brief, intense rows, you should consider switching to &lt;strong&gt;Steady State&lt;/strong&gt; rows.  “Steady State” can mean different things to different people, but, in this context, it implies longer rows at a consistent stroke rating (eg. 18-20 spm).  You won't need to totally abandon interval training, but, the majority of your rows should be steady state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“From my experience, the biggest mistake people make with the erg is&#xA;  that they only, or mostly, use it for testing and hard interval&#xA;  training. The erg becomes a painful experience and we learn to dislike&#xA;  it, often to the point of being afraid of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instead, try to spend time on the erg doing steady state. I find the&#xA;  more I erg, the more I get into a rhythm and the easier, both mentally&#xA;  and physically, it becomes. Listen to music, books on tape, watch TV,&#xA;  but simply, spend time on the erg.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://archive.usrowing.org/news/details/11-01-31/Make_the_Most_of_Your_Time_on_the_Erg.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;US Rowing: Make The Most of Your Time on the Erg.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your goal to row 2k under 8 minutes is somewhat ambitious for a rowing “newbie”, using steady state training will assist you in preparing for that goal.  Steady state training will help build a &lt;strong&gt;base of fitness&lt;/strong&gt; by training your heart to be more efficient over longer distances.  In addition, there's the added benefit of weight control since you should be training within your aerobic zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rowing a measured 'piece' (eg. 2k) requires correct form.  Contrary to popular opinion, rowing is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a pulling sport.  Rather, it's a pushing sport since the first movement of the rowing stroke is to engage the legs to push against the foot plates. If you haven't already done so, I would strongly recommend you take a look at the C2 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/technique-videos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;technique videos&lt;/a&gt; to make sure you start with correct form.  Using correct form will assist you in achieving any rowing goal.  In addition, take a moment to read up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/tips-and-general-info/damper-setting-101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Damper Setting 101&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/news/debunking-myths-damper-setting-stroke-rate-and-intensity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Debunking  the Myths: Damper Setting, Stroke Rate, and Intensity&lt;/a&gt;.  Those articles will help you avoid many common mistakes made by first time users of the C2 rower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as you progress towards your goal(s), there are lots of resources available to you.  Depending on the C2 model you own, you can track your progress using the on-board performance monitor and log the results in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://log.concept2.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;C2 Logbook&lt;/a&gt;.  The logbook provides a history of your training sessions.  Also, there's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/wod&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;daily workouts&lt;/a&gt; available so you can maximize your time on the rower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7242" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T16:53:14.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36402" CreationDate="2017-10-31T17:42:23.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I am right-handed and always favor the right side when working.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's pretty much the reason for the asymmetry in your body. In fact, most people have these kinds of issues when they train. Simply because our dominant hand tries to compensate for the weaker hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can fix this by balancing the amount of work according to how much the difference there is between your muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For e.g., in the bench press, use dumbbells instead of barbells and end your session with a few sets (1-2) with your weaker side. Repeat this until you feel symmetry in your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26756" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T17:42:23.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36401" CreationDate="2017-10-31T22:32:48.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also be inclined to suggest biking. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.livestrong.com/article/372790-cycling-vs-running-calories/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt; Livestrong &lt;/a&gt; goes through the calorie math when compared to running and shows that biking can burn an equivalent number of calories to running. I don't really have the prototypical running body type and most of my friends that ride also don't. (We're all a little bulky, not fat but sturdy) Biking allows me to do a lot of cardio and endurance training without starting to feel any joint pain from the impact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can ride my bike for two hours at a fairly high pace with the only discomfort being muscular fatigue while if I were to run at an equivalent effort level for the same amount of time I would be in a lot of joint pain that day and the next. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said I have a road bike that I had fitted for me. So make sure you get your bike fitted to ensure that it works for you. Biking isn't really a full body workout but it will definitely help you burn calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7113" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T22:32:48.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36428" CreationDate="2017-11-01T06:42:27.897" Score="5" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing calisthenics for more than one year, with strength and body shape results much appreciated by myself. However, in the last few months, my body hasn't changed much, which I can probably understand, since I haven't taken any product like protein whey and stuff like that. I was wondering if using the 90% protein whey after training only, as I am doing now, is somehow a good choice or not in terms of gaining more muscle mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26991" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-11-01T11:48:05.830" LastActivityDate="2018-05-30T14:26:01.707" Title="Consuming proteins only after training?" Tags="&lt;protein&gt;&lt;calisthenics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36427" CreationDate="2017-11-01T07:07:58.387" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supplemented protein should ideally be only a small part of your total daily protein intake. There are sources of very good proteins (depending on your diet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dairy (such as (lowfat) quark, cottage cheese and the like)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lean meat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soy Beans &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ballpark is something around 2 grams of protein per kg bodyweight to gain muscles. Assuming a weight of 80 kg that would be roundabout 160 g. You could reach this (for example) whith&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50g 90% Whey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;300 g chicken breast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;300 g cottage cheese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(only a rough estimate, just to give you an idea). This is not considering that other foods contain proteins, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 g per kg bodyweight seems to be too much. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2018-05-30T14:26:01.707" LastActivityDate="2018-05-30T14:26:01.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="36429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36430" CreationDate="2017-11-01T16:45:08.960" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a chronic neck pain that is always in my left lower neck/shoulder area (left trap). Doing standard core workouts (i.e. situps, crunches, oblique crunches) intensify that pain to the point I lose full range of motion in my neck for a couple days. This is a chronic pain that I'm fully aware of and not asking for medical help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, given the chronic pain in my left trap, what are some core workouts that you can suggest I do, that won't strain my neck. I know most lower ab exercises like leg raises, scissor kicks, etc and planks wont strain my neck, but particularly what other upper ab and oblique workouts can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26869" LastEditorUserId="26869" LastEditDate="2017-11-02T16:37:59.693" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T16:37:59.693" Title="Exercises for Abs (Chronic Neck Pain)" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;core&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36429" CreationDate="2017-11-01T19:09:58.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's one I haven't seen bother the neck, the Pallof Press. (Or, because I hate exercises named after names, what I call &quot;Ab Punchouts&quot;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3siU3GmosE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3siU3GmosE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s crucial to make sure the hips / spine are not moving. If they are, we’re defeating the purpose of the exercise, which is to &lt;em&gt;prevent&lt;/em&gt; torso rotation. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxFdgOcN3iI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxFdgOcN3iI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abs are often worked as a generator of movement. However, for reasons beyond the scope of this post, it's better to train them as a preventer of movement. What we're doing with Ab Punchouts is using the abdominals to resist the torso from being rotated to the cable. (Hands should punch directly in front of the chest. Not get pulled inward.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I find the standing version of this exercise hard to get people to do properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, getting people to accept the notion of doing an ab exercise where their abs don’t move is work in itself. Getting them to know when they’re moving is more work, getting them to then understand how to prevent the motion yet even more work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s not that it can’t be done, I just think there’s an easier way.  I put people on the ground:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWgySytH_EY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWgySytH_EY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works wonders. Now all you have to say or think about is, “Don’t let your body come off the ground, at all.” (One often feels one hip being pulled off the ground, to the cable.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, people realize how much their lower back moves because of how much concentration it takes them to not move. Once they go to a standing version of this they have more understanding of the goal of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, it’s typical for one side to feel harder than the other. This is especially true of those with any type of rotational sport history (tennis, baseball, etc.) or those with lower back issues (imbalance between obliques).  Hence, a major purpose of the exercise- to even things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight wise, with a cable stack starting at 10lbs, I don't have many everyday people who go heavier than 20-25 lbs. I have them do 3-4 sets, 15 reps per side. If no cable stack, you could also hook up a resistance band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Credit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://b-reddy.org/2012/11/13/another-better-pallof-press-variation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another (better?) Pallof Press variation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tangent: plank variations can take one quite far. Whether that's abdominal strength, or even fending off boredom. The variations are practically endless. Here's one I used with a Canadian professional football player (strong dude), but this was still challenging:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukhGLgHFx74&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukhGLgHFx74&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25892" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T19:09:58.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-02T04:19:16.483" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an app / website thats a HIT timer but also chooses the exercise for you? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive Googled this and look on app stores but I can only find timers only. With some you can set the exercises you want to do but non pick them for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4681" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T05:59:46.693" Title="HIIT timer with exercise?" Tags="&lt;hiit&gt;&lt;app&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-02T04:35:53.887" Score="5" ViewCount="1390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like doing hand stand pushups cause its a full shoulder workout, but I tend to get little red dots on my face -- a result of pressure and bursting tiny capillaries apparently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone figured out a way around this? Special breathing, different head position, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26985" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T14:44:47.223" Title="How to avoid little red dots when doing hand stand pushups?" Tags="&lt;push-ups&gt;&lt;shoulders&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-02T11:35:23.113" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 17 and I'm 5'6&quot;. What are the steps to increase height by at most 4 inches? Is there any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27000" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T11:35:23.113" Title="Increasing height by at most 4 inches" Tags="&lt;height&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-11-02T14:15:48.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-02T16:28:25.547" Score="1" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am on the upper limit of large in terms of weight (70kg). I'm not short (about 179cm)  My shoulders are wide compared to my stomach width. The only problem is, after my body curves in from the shoulders to my stomach, it curves out at my waist again. It is not fat that makes my waist appear wide, because when I feel it, it seems like there is only bones here. I work out regularly, but I cannot shake off this overweight appearance because the width of my waist is as much as my shoulders. Because of this, my shirts take the width of my waist and my body appears to be a fat block. I understand it is impossible to alter my bone structure with exercise, but I am wondering if there are any exercises to reduce the width of my waist since it does look unnatural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS -- the width of my weight is about 100 cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27003" LastEditorUserId="27004" LastEditDate="2017-11-02T18:32:19.937" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T19:59:15.617" Title="Exercises to reduce waist width" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36434" CreationDate="2017-11-02T19:59:15.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If all you said is true and you just have a wide pelvis, and it's definitely not fat, I'd say there's not much you can do about that. Like you said, you cant alter bone structure with exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say, however, given your height, you could probably pack on some more muscle so you fill out more evenly. You can probably gain like 5-10 kgs of muscle and still be within a normal weight range for your height so your body looks more balanced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this may be the only way to alter how your waist and body &quot;looks&quot; with exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26869" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T19:59:15.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-02T23:06:12.410" Score="2" ViewCount="584" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been lifting on and off for years, and recently have returned to it. However the bench press has always been an exercise in which I encounter very little payoff or progress. Whenever I get a good workout in, I feel a good soreness (at least slightly) in the muscle group of concentration, but this never happens with bench press. Whether I lift as much as I can with a spot, or if I do a more hypertrophic routine with less weight and more reps, I never feel sore in my chest the next day. Subsequently, I make very little progress being able to add more weight as I go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the press machine, I feel it. Doing pushups, I feel it. I've had trainers before who say my form is fine, and they are left scratching their heads about my progress. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? And is there anything that I can do differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add: If it makes a difference, my arms are long for my body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27006" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T17:57:36.363" Title="I feel no burn from the bench press" Tags="&lt;bench-press&gt;&lt;bulking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36437" CreationDate="2017-11-03T05:56:19.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, feeling sore dosen't mean that you had a good workout and muscles grow. (cf. &lt;a href=&quot;https://muscleevo.net/sore-muscles-after-a-workout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscle Evo&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/henkin6yy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bodybuilding.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, if you can't feel your chest in bench press while you doing this exercise then better stick to exercises where you feel it properly - as example, try incline bench press or incline dumbell press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. &#xA;I never felt my chest properly in exercieses without incline,  btw, and my arms are kinda long too (I'm 182cm high)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastEditorUserId="7077" LastEditDate="2017-11-03T06:36:50.713" LastActivityDate="2017-11-03T06:36:50.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36414" CreationDate="2017-11-03T09:47:42.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL/DR:&lt;/strong&gt; Fast food should not be considered for bulking, there are better alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have an issue with the categories you are thinking in. It's not only healthy vegetables vs. unhealthy fast-food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all I'd doubt that fast-food will have any beneficial effect on the body. Of course, when working out, it's possible to gain some muscles when eating fast-food, but this is not because, but despite the fast food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] he will increase his body fat. As a result he will obtain obvious muscles faster than someone who is trying to eat healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person eating fast food will mostly gain fat, not muscles and therefor maybe look bigger, but this is not due to more muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, eating healthy and gaining are not mutual exclusive, but you have to consider the following &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To bulk (gain weight - muscles at best) you have to be in a caloric surplus, i.e. take more calories than your body would normally need - at least on training days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; possible to eat healthy &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; be in a caloric surplus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To gain muscles you have to take a considerable amount of protein (about 2 g per kg bodyweight)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are many sources of good protein that are healthy (or at least not unhealthy): Lowfat quark, cottage cheese, chicken breast &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can supplement protein with whey and the like (look for quality products)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nuts and seeds have a high caloric density, but are considered quite healthy, opt for them if you need some extra calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whole grain unsweetened cereals are great, too. Many fibers, still good source of calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastActivityDate="2017-11-03T09:47:42.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36431" CreationDate="2017-11-03T10:34:11.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.freeletics.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Freeletics&lt;/a&gt;. There are many workouts you can choose from, most of them being HIT workouts based on bodyweight exercises. I don't know, if there actually are HIIT workouts, but it's definitely conceivable. There are some free workouts, but for most of them you'll need to have a subscription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start the workouts both from the website and from the app. Both will keep track of your times and guide you through the workouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastActivityDate="2017-11-03T10:34:11.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36431" CreationDate="2017-11-03T12:26:43.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjouO-ioqLXAhWGORoKHeMlB6UQFggnMAA&amp;amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fapps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dcom.leafcutterstudios.yayog%26hl%3Dde&amp;amp;usg=AOvVaw2IgajkZC3Pjgmkvp-V-dsO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;YAYOG&lt;/a&gt; app lets you define your custom workouts. They have multiple exercise types, including Tabatas, which are HIIT intervals with 20 s load and 10 s rest. You could - for example - create a Tabata workout with 10 rounds (3 min) of push ups and 10 rounds of squats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastEditorUserId="18395" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T05:59:46.693" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T05:59:46.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36443" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-03T14:52:19.473" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I'm &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; endorsing this supplement here. Scientific literature generally describes it as inefficient, but in my particular case it seems to be working, is all. There's zero guarantee that it would work the same way for anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I'm moving to a country where potassium orotate just doesn't appear in either drug or sport nutrition stores. Hauling a several months worth amount of anything remotely drug-related over the border is bound to arise questions. I'd like to find a replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The key here is not potassium but the orotic acid.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being middle-aged and physically active, I've experimented with many legally available substances considered 'energy supplements' for what it's worth. Creatine, carnitine, etc. don't do anything for me. No idea why. I need something chemically close to orotic acid.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. No worries; &lt;a href=&quot;https://health.stackexchange.com/questions/14212/what-to-replace-potassium-orotate-with&quot;&gt;posted it on the health site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27012" LastEditorUserId="27012" LastEditDate="2017-11-04T09:31:36.413" LastActivityDate="2017-11-04T09:31:36.413" Title="What to replace potassium orotate with?" Tags="&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-11-03T21:44:43.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36444" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-03T23:45:06.063" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm 22, in college and I can't always get out to the gym as often as I'd like due to hours of it being open and my hours of availability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've no health problems, just out of shape. Very thin/lean build and I'd very much like to change that to solid fit base. I was looking into burpees, as an example, however I've no idea how many/ how long/ rest intervals/ etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind I'm looking for at home workouts when I've no equipment at home and am looking for the best results regardless of how &quot;hard&quot; something is. If it's hard but it works fairly quickly then I'd be sure to reach for that workout. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've no fat on my body to burn either so cardio/fat burn intensive exercises will not have the best results on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;================================&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age: 22&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sex: M&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Body Type: Thin/Lithe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight: Underweight, 103lbs or 46.72kgs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically able to properly hit the gym Tuesdays-Thursdays, maybe Monday or Friday as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27015" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T17:41:38.927" Title="What would be the best at home exercises I can do when I can't get to the gym?" Tags="&lt;strength-training&gt;&lt;home-exercise&gt;&lt;hiit&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-11-07T17:56:18.497" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36452" CreationDate="2017-11-04T14:19:59.927" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a exam which involves lots of writing 50 pages 3 hr , nine times in 6 days. I can increase my speed by simply writing practice, but is there any Gym exercise so that my writing muscles will be stronger and enduring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T15:12:12.097" Title="Excercise to strengthen for writing speed" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;fingers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2017-11-04T19:56:47.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You LITERALLY ONLY work your abs on Cable Crunches when you are consciously, tightening and squeezing your abs. Cable Crunches even in the correct &quot;form&quot; will only give a small amount of benefit to your abs. They are however, a GREAT upper back exercise- but ONLY the upper part of the lats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27020" LastActivityDate="2017-11-04T19:56:47.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-05T07:15:58.960" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try not to look directly at the sun, but there have been lots of situations where the sun is in the direction where I need to look. For example while I'm running, the sun is setting ahead of me, and I need to keep my eyes on the road so I don't trip. Or, while playing tennis or volleyball, someone hits the ball between me and the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if I wear sunglasses, it's not effective enough when the sun is almost directly in front of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes avoiding sports or workouts during sunset hours is not feasible (my busy schedule) or negotiable (event not planned by me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing my best bet is better sunglasses, but sunglasses don't seem to advertise their strength in terms of how much light they block.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27023" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T09:22:11.190" Title="Sun in my eyes while running; sunglasses not cutting it" Tags="&lt;running&gt;&lt;volleyball&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19287" CreationDate="2017-11-05T10:40:25.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm on the heavier side myself, and so sitting crossed legged was a challenge,  especially when I wanted to go to the temple or have a festive meal where the plate would be on the floor, can't be picked up, and has to be eaten by hand with no spoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What worked the best for me was sitting cross legged as much as I could on the floor every day for a meal, and butterfly stretches. Also, if it's easier for you, try to put your hands under your bum when doing this position. It helps because while the legs are adjusting, the arms provide support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! Hopefully it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27024" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T15:22:44.110" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T15:22:44.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36445" CreationDate="2017-11-05T12:32:50.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be precise - you want better stamina? I would use powerball, or some other exercises that requires squeezing. Instead of short term - high intensity, use lower intensity, and train longer. Please observe your body, elbows a specially. You can develop golf elbow, and that is quite tricky to get rid of. You need to stop, and rest... and you have exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;EDIT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And agree that it can be done anywhere, not only at the gym. For instance you can buy something to squeeze, like de-stress ball, and squeeze it while watching TV...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other from that. Famous violin players ware able to squeeze porcelain cups. So strong their fingers ware. Also talk with guitar players - they have strong fingers too. Problem is that writing requires more precision, and your pain comes from having muscles stretched to control pen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20149" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:48:51.740" LastActivityDate="2017-11-05T21:47:51.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-05T13:06:17.690" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cousin, whom is a professional bodybuilder suggested I start a diet plan.&#xA;I am  5' 8&quot; tall and weigh 69 kilograms.&#xA;I want to build muscle and lose belly fat at the same time and was skeptical as to whether or not the diet he suggested would accomplish my goals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings me to my question, Will the diet I have listed below help me accomplish building Muscle and losing belly fat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just after waking up 1 scoop(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnc.com/whey-protein/IsopureLowCarb.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Isopure protein&lt;/a&gt;)  in cold water 30&#xA;  mins hiit aerobics or anything without weights Nothing to have for&#xA;  next 1 hr except water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BreakFast(4 eggs full. Either boiled or cooked in butter) 1 bowl&#xA;  oatmeal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;15 Almonds ( peel them off n consume after being left in water last&#xA;  night) 1 banana In lunch have half plate of rice with water removed&#xA;  during cooking n have chicken with it as u wish... Cooked in olive oil&#xA;  or butter After 2 hours have some green veggies as per ur taste 5 pm&#xA;  have a green tea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an Apple in evening&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before going to gym - have a cup of black coffee... In warm water&#xA;  without sugar After gym take 3 slices of white bread plus a protein&#xA;  shake in water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before sleeping have 3 pieces of thigh( No roti/rice)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before sleeping 1 bowl of papaya -  excretion purpose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Few Points- &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Multivitamins - Fish oil to be take before sleeping... Around 3gm Buy&#xA;  a box of creatine monohydrate, to be consumed with the acoop of&#xA;  protein poweder at night Only time when u won't be taking butter is&#xA;  just after the exercise No Milk (Instead u ll take a calcium tab&#xA;  daily) No Curd  Have yogurt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Berries, Avacado,Strawberries, Blueberries and other non-tropical&#xA;  fruits can be taken alongside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly suggest as to whether the above mentioned plan is a good one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27026" LastEditorUserId="15689" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T23:29:08.357" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T23:29:08.357" Title="How to burn fat and build muscle at the same time?" Tags="&lt;muscle&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;bellyfat&gt;&lt;fat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-11-06T23:44:01.303" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36450" CreationDate="2017-11-06T08:36:06.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about better sunglasses!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seem to be two names for the relevant metric here (how much light is blocked out) and they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Visible light transmission&quot; (VLT) - the amount of visible light that passes through&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tint density&quot; - how much light is blocked - basically the opposite of VLT&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ameritasinsight.com/wellness/health-and-wellness/finding-the-perfect-sunglasses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ameritasinsight.com/wellness/health-and-wellness/finding-the-perfect-sunglasses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lens Tint Levels – Eyeglass lenses vary in tint levels, depending on&#xA;  the length of time they are immersed in a color solution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;20 percent tint density – Designed for fashion only; provides minimal sun protection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;50 percent density – Common tint density that provides moderate or normal protection from the sun&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;80 percent tint density – Considered the maximum level of sun protection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hidalgos.com/selecting-sunglasses/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.hidalgos.com/selecting-sunglasses/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lenses of 15% to 30% visible light transmission seem to reduce glare&#xA;  sufficiently. ... A 15% transmission is dark, a&#xA;  30% lens is lighter. Most high quality sunglasses with glass lenses&#xA;  will usually have visible light transmission levels of 15% to 20%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This site also advertises that they sell 2% VLT which they call &quot;extremely dark&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, most of the sunglasses offered (including the most&#xA;  expensive) do not publish their UV, IR or Visible light transmission&#xA;  levels. The only guide we can offer for you to judge on your own is to&#xA;  find a pair of Ray-Ban© sunglasses with the G-15 GreyGreen lenses and&#xA;  look through them, they have had a VLT of 16% for over 40 years. The&#xA;  Randolph Engineering Military Issue glasses with the Neutral Grey&#xA;  lenses (Dark grey) also have a 16% VLT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;^ Same, Hidalgos. I agree this is unfortunate. On Amazon, you can ask the manufacturer under the &quot;Customer questions &amp;amp; answers&quot; section of any product listing. Ask about the tint density or visible light transmission of the lenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And did you know lenses can be made of either glass or plastic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The color in glass lenses last forever and is very consistent between&#xA;  batches. Plastic tinted lenses can vary between batches, color fades&#xA;  as they age and sometimes need to be re-tinted at a later date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I'm not sure if that's even true. And I've been reading elsewhere that plastic is better for blocking UV rays. I think they're trying to sell something there. So yalls best do your own research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Polarized lenses will help too, as Michał mentioned. They reduce glare and eye strain. Beware, they're not for skiing as you can't see ice and other dangers with polarized lenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent sunlight coming in from the sides, look for &quot;wraparound&quot; glasses (which are thicker on the sides, and aren't too stylish IMO) or glasses that have a so-called &quot;gasket&quot; (padding inside the frame to fill in the gaps where the sun could sneak in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27023" LastEditorUserId="27023" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T09:22:11.190" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T09:22:11.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36466" CreationDate="2017-11-06T09:06:04.937" Score="8" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to build my abs. I am eating well, and I wonder if there is a piece of small equipment that could be helpful for me to build abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26728" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T12:46:48.990" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T07:08:04.813" Title="Small equipments for abs" Tags="&lt;abdominals&gt;&lt;exercise-equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36456" CreationDate="2017-11-06T12:58:27.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check gymnastics related workouts and you will be fine regarding core strength. No equipment required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like to get new toys to keep you motivated and/or vary the exercises, paralettes can be a small and very useful piece of equipment, pull up bar and/or rings can also help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T12:58:27.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33513" CreationDate="2017-11-06T13:52:53.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long distance runners (anything above 800m) usually struggle with speed work because they don't take it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During speed work you must run fast. If you drop below your target in terms of speed after a few reps, then increase your recovery between reps. Recovery during speed session is necessary and must not be seen as a weakness. Respecting the recovery while slowing down is counterproductive in such sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at how sprinters train. They do 3x60m full speed and then take 6 minutes rest before their next series. I am not saying you should go toward such extreme if you are not targeting max speed but you can certainly grasp the philosophy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25426" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T13:52:53.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36460" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-11-06T15:34:04.577" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T15:34:04.577" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T15:34:04.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36461" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-11-06T15:34:04.577" Score="0" Body="This is a special tag that is designed to be used only by the system for questions that have had all of their other tags removed. Do not add this tag to existing questions, it is reserved for use by the system to identify posts with no valid tags." OwnerUserId="24237" LastEditorUserId="24237" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T23:28:37.267" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T23:28:37.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6677" CreationDate="2017-11-06T18:09:01.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to eating well, I'd recommend intermittent fasting. That's a great way to control your fat cause you train your body to use fat reserves instead of sugar in your blood for fuel. There are tons of articles you can read all over the web and probably a lot of Q's in here too on intermittent fasting. I tend to just feel better head to toe too when doing intermittent fasting so that's another benefit after you get acclimated to the eating schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26985" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T18:09:01.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36465" CreationDate="2017-11-06T21:18:24.423" Score="5" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a long hiatus from any form of workout, I'm attempting to scale myself back into a regular bodyweight routine. The only issue I'm having is with Dips. I don't have access to a set of parallel bars, but I do have access to rings. The issue is I'm not quite strong enough to manage dips on the rings yet, so I'm not sure where to begin in order to transition to rings dips. What do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27031" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T23:41:58.287" Title="Scaling Bodyweight Dips" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;dips&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36473" CreationDate="2017-11-06T22:01:48.400" Score="4" ViewCount="777" Body="&lt;p&gt;In working toward a full handstand, I'm scaling by starting on the wall and holding my form for as long as possible. The question I have is around handstand technique--particularly elbow locking. There's a point at which I feel my elbows lock into place when they're completely straight, which isn't painful and makes holding my form for longer periods of time significantly easier. However, I'm not sure if this increases the potential for injury or would impact a smooth transition to handstand pushups. Curious to hear your thoughts as to whether or not locking in this way is good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="27031" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-11-08T12:05:10.497" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T12:05:10.497" Title="Handstand technique - Should I lock my elbows?" Tags="&lt;bodyweight-exercises&gt;&lt;exercise-technique&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36463" CreationDate="2017-11-06T23:41:58.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to start with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/support-position-a27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;support position&lt;/a&gt;, or what would be the top of the dip. You can move your hands away from your sides a bit, which will &lt;strong&gt;dramatically&lt;/strong&gt; increase the leverage on your shoulders. As an aside, if you go far enough (with years of training) and you can even hit the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/35903/progressing-into-iron-cross/35907&quot;&gt;iron cross&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GYIdh.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GYIdh.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would practice the support position, being able to hold that for maybe ~10 seconds at a pop. Once you can do that, start dropping a little bit, letting your elbows go up/back/out. It will be pretty natural once you have the support position dialed in and have moved up and down a bit to do a real dip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hardest thing about ring dips (as you're probably experiencing) is the shoulder stabilization, but once you get it I think you'll find them much more comfortable than regular dips. Mark Rippetoe has stated (Starting Strength v3, I think) that weighted ring dips are pretty dangerous, and I'd agree. The loads on your shoulders can be immense if you flare your hands out at all. So there's still a good place for regular dips if you want to pile on weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But good work on getting some rings, there are some awesome things you can do with them. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beastskills.com/front-lever/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Beast Skills for stuff like the front plank&lt;/a&gt;, Jim does a great job of explaining those. Between front/back planks, dips, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/ring-l-sit-a25&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;l-sits&lt;/a&gt;, and pullups they really are a fantastic investment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T23:41:58.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36456" CreationDate="2017-11-06T23:52:06.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about reducing belly fat, you should read up that &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/869/what-exercises-should-i-perform-to-reduce-fat-on-a-specific-area-of-my-body&quot;&gt;spot reduction is a myth: you can't target fat on any part of your body&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But directly answering your question the smallest piece of equipment I know of for abdominals is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/27950/are-bigger-ab-wheels-better&quot;&gt;ab wheel&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w2MNw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w2MNw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A caveat to the ab wheel is that it actually takes a pretty fit person to safely use it. If you can hold a plank for a minute or so, I think you're in a good spot. It can be a lot of load on wrists, shoulders, and your abs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Used incorrectly, it can put a lot of load on your lower back as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7091" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T23:52:06.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-07T06:15:16.563" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to carry things in my arms for a longer period, carrying like carrying someone on your lower arms, half bicep curl position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I increase endurance in this type of carrying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25216" LastEditorUserId="20219" LastEditDate="2017-11-07T08:51:19.590" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T08:51:19.590" Title="Exercise for carrying things on arms" Tags="&lt;biceps&gt;&lt;arms&gt;&lt;triceps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36456" CreationDate="2017-11-07T07:08:04.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most important thing in &quot;buliding&quot; your abs is low fat procentage - you proably even know some guys who have never done any exerciese but got some visible abs, just because of genetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, exercieses are second, but matter as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if the question about an equipment I can recommend pull up bar chrunces as exercise where as an equimpent you can use just some dumbell - just hold it between your legs and perform crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T07:08:04.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36468" CreationDate="2017-11-07T08:49:33.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ideal exercises for training to carry stuff are, surprisingly, carrying stuff. On the assumption you can't find a willing person to be carried around, then something like sandbag work would be ideal. You can do sandbag carries for distance or time, in a bearhug or cradle position, practice picking it up off the floor, you can even try pressing it overhead for a bit of extra fun (note: I use fun in the sadistic sense). You can also use a keg, filled with sand or water, but a sandbag tends to be a little more forgiving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use barbells and dumbbells to work some of the related musculature, but honestly the best way to get better at carrying something is to practice carrying something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're carrying something (or someone), particularly in the cradle position, it's not just the arms you need to take into account, there's also a lot of stress on your posterior chain, spinal erectors and upper back, as well as your legs when you're actually in motion with the load, not to mention your core fires like crazy. If anything, I'd say that the arms are actually the least important element when it comes to carrying something in that position, as you can normally shift the weight around to move it more towards your own body, making it more mechanically advantageous to carry (lift it higher, lean back so it's more over your own center of gravity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides sandbag work (seriously, if you've never tried picking up and carrying even something like a 75kg sandbag or keg, you're missing out), I'd look at a routine consisting of deadlifts, squats, rows, farmers walks, and if you have access to them, yoke carries and stone lifting. Yes, throw in some curls as well, because having stronger arms will help, then you may as well throw in some overhead presses to round things out (if this is starting to look like a strongman training program, there's a reason for that... a lot of their training revolves around lifting heaving things off the ground and carrying them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But seriously, get out there and carry stuff, as Dan John says, it tends to be the missing element in most people's training programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20219" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T08:49:33.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-07T10:58:25.027" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing weighlifting for 5 days and 1 day is for cardio but i also do abs workout on my shoulder day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is when i do cardio then i am not able to do with my full strength i.e i get tired bit early after running for &#xA;15 minutes on treadmill and then cycling for some 10 minutes,leg raise and plank etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than this problem is i dont think so i am providing enough protein to my body and because of that i am not seeing th result which i want to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also want to do body building and cardio with full strength and i have heard that black coffee before workout can keep me energised but the problem is drinking black coffee on empty stomach have have a bad result on my stomach when i researched about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i have to stop that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When i wake up i dont feel that refreshed and a feel bit of laziness which in turn affect my workout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i decided that may be i should start taking prework out and post workput supplements to help my body immediately recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So which standard preworkout and post workout supplements i should opt for which can really help me to get a good aesthetic body which i want?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16583" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T11:54:11.677" Title="Best preworkout and post workout supplement to help body recover immediately" Tags="&lt;workout&gt;&lt;bodybuilding&gt;&lt;cardio&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36471" CreationDate="2017-11-07T11:48:25.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whey Protein (~25-40g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Complex Carbs (Fiber Based Foods i.e Whole Wheat Bread / Fruits etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post Workout:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whey Protein (~25-40g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simple Sugars (i.e. White Bread, Table Sugar, Honey)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rationale:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whey Protein&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; as it's one of the fastest digesting proteins&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Studies have shown increased hypertrophy (muscle growth) by stacking&#xA;these pre and post workout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fructose&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  as fructose has different carriers than glucose, delivery of protein and therefore recovery and muscle growth has shown to increase when taken as part of a post workout drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sucrose&lt;/strong&gt; - Simple sugars as your muscles are starving - refined sugars post workout spike your insulin allowing maximum delivery of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water&lt;/strong&gt; - to help deliver it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529694/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529694/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24836" LastEditorUserId="24836" LastEditDate="2017-11-07T11:54:11.677" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T11:54:11.677" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36464" CreationDate="2017-11-07T13:10:29.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amnacademy.com/should-i-lock-my-joints/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;locking your elbows is fine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Locking&quot; one's joints is simply bringing them to the maximum range of motion. It is the strongest position that you can be in, because you are using your body's full strength and durability (you are also more safely strengthening the connective tissue). The one exception is where you're applying sudden force to the limb where you need to absorb some of that force. The classic example there is bending your knees when landing from a jump. For a static hold like a handstand, you want to lock your elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under general caveats, as mentioned below, it can be a bad idea to lock your knees on something like a weighted leg press. This is in part because knees hyperextend relatively easily, and the amount of weight can cause damage if it bends them backwards. In general, maintaining hyper-extension is a bad idea, but it tends to feel so uncomfortable that most people won't stay in that position for long (leg presses can be dangerous in that respect because you're used to bearing weight on your legs due to standing, so it's easier to &quot;hold&quot; there and not realize the discomfort). Also, while the mechanism is sometimes debated, standing with locked knees can lead to fainting. My best understanding is that it actually has less to do with locked knees than it does standing too still, causing blood to pool, or with general over-exertion such as hot weather and heavy uniforms. With locked knees, you're not moving your muscles to encourage blood flow, and you may be less likely to realize that you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; getting faint because your knees don't start to buckle first, which means it hits you all at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another caveat, while I'm at it, although I don't think it applies to you, not everyone can lock their joints in a straight position. Some people aren't flexible enough, or are too flexible, and have to work in a less than fully-extended stance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="8039" LastEditDate="2017-11-07T19:36:11.077" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T19:36:11.077" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="36444" CreationDate="2017-11-07T17:41:38.927" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Search youtube for home/body-weight exercises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some basic information to get you started:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push-Ups - Your go to Chest exercise (also works shoulder and triceps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull-Ups - For your Lats (Back) requires